David Howells/Corbis/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Kate Spade New York will donate $1 million to suicide prevention groups after its founder's death by suicide earlier this month. Kate Spade was a true fashion icon who brought joy to the lives of women around the world, and inspired women to live life to the fullest. We are dedicated to carrying on her legacy, Anna Bakst, CEO of Kate Spade New York, said in a statement. The outpouring of love on social media and in our shops from customers of all ages has been overwhelming and moving," she added. "It is such a beautiful reflection of how much Kate was loved. Spade was found dead in her New York City apartment on June 5 by a housekeeper, police sources told ABC News. A suicide note was left at the scene, but police officials declined to disclose its contents. The New York City medical examiner officially ruled it a suicide on June 7. She leaves behind her husband, Andy Spade, and their 13-year-old daughter. The creative mind, known for her fun and eclectic style, started her namesake company in 1993 and grew it to become a massive fashion empire before she sold the remaining stock she owned in it in 2006. The Kate Spade New York Foundation will start with a $250,000 donation to the Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit organization proving free crisis support. It will also match all public donations to the Crisis Text Line between June 20 and June 29, up to $100,000. Spade's death shocked many in the fashion community, as well as women around the world who wore her name on their handbags for years, and shed a blinding light on the indiscriminate nature of suicide and depression. Suicide rates for white females increased 60 percent between 1999 and 2014. Middle-aged women, between ages 45 and 64, had the highest suicide rate among women in both 2014 and 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just days after Spade's death, suicide was thrust into the spotlight again when beloved chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room in France, and local authorities ruled it a suicide. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 WASHINGTON The United States withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday, condemning the "hypocrisy" of its members and its alleged "unrelenting bias" against Israel. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, came to Washington to announce the decision alongside President Donald Trumps top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Both insisted the United States would remain a leading champion of human rights but, for many, the decision will reflect Trumps general hostility to the world body and to multilateral diplomacy in general. The announcement came after the top UN human rights official criticised Washington for separating migrant children from their parents who are seeking asylum after crossing into the country from Mexico. But Haley and Pompeo stressed the decision had been made after a long year of efforts to shame the council into reform and to remove member states that themselves commit abuses. "These reforms were needed in order to make the council a serious advocate for human rights," Haley said. "For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded." The Geneva-based body was established in 2006 to promote and protect human rights worldwide, but its pronouncements and reports have often clashed with US priorities. In particular, the councils focus on Israeli behavior towards Palestinians in the territory it occupies on the West Bank and in Gaza has infuriated Washington. But, as Haley stressed, Washington also believes it comes up short on criticising even flagrant abuses by US opponents like Venezuela and Cuba. "Countries have colluded with each other to undermine the current method of selecting members," Pompeo said. "And the councils continued and well-documented bias against Israel is unconscionable," he said. "Since its creation, the council has adopted more resolutions condemning Israel than against the rest of the world combined." Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US move, branding the council "a biased, hostile, anti-Israel organisation that has betrayed its mission of protecting human rights." Haley, who issued a warning a year ago that Washington would make good on its threat to leave the council if reforms were not carried through, used even starker language. "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regretted the US decision, adding: "The UNs human rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide." On Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein a Jordanian -- had rebuked Trump over the US practice of splitting up migrant families detained on the Mexican border. "The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable," he said. Independent watchdog Human Rights Watch criticised the move, warning Washingtons absence at the council would put the onus on other governments to address the worlds most serious rights problems. US criticism stems from the fact that Israel is the only country that has a dedicated agenda item at council meetings, one defended in particular by the Arab bloc of countries. The United States refused to join the body when it was created in 2006, when George W. Bush was in the White House and his ambassador to the UN was John Bolton -- now Trumps UN-skeptic national security advisor. After Barack Obama came to power, Washington joined the council in 2009. But when Trump took office, he adopted a hostile approach to world governance, leading Washington to quit the UN cultural agency UNESCO, cut UN funding and planning to leave the Paris climate agreement. AFP SANTIAGO The Vaticans top investigator called Tuesday for justice for child sex abuse victims of Chiles Catholic Church as fresh cases involving pedophile priests came to light. Malta Archbishop Charles Scicluna spoke as he wound up a weeklong mission to Chile, where a child sex abuse scandal has rocked the Church. "Investigating is a duty of justice, we need to do justice to the victims for the good of the country and the good of the Church," Scicluna told reporters. Shortly before leaving Santiago airport, Scicluna testified as a witness in one of the sexual abuse cases being investigated by Chilean state authorities. It was Sciclunas second visit in four months to Chile in a scandal that has directly embroiled Pope Francis and led to the resignation of some 34 bishops, only three of which have been accepted by the pope. Several members of the Chilean church hierarchy are accused by victims of ignoring and covering up child abuse by Chilean pedophile priest Fernando Karadima during the 1980s and 1990s. Dioceses in the southern cities of Temuco and Aysen said four more priests were being investigated for the sexual abuse of minors. In a statement, Church authorities in Temuco reported that Pablo Isler Venegas was punished in 2015 for the sexual abuse of minors, and prohibited from publicly practicing as a priest or working with adolescents and young people. Scicluna told reporters that "recognising and admitting the full truth, with all its painful repercussions and consequences, is the starting point for authentic healing, both for the victims and the author of the abuses." Victim outreach Scicluna and another papal envoy, Spanish priest Jordi Bertomeo, said they had taken testimony from sexual abuse victims during their stay, and set up a victim outreach or "listening service" to help others come forward. Franciss defense of one of the bishops at the heart of the scandal, Juan Barros, tainted his visit to the country earlier this year. At the time, the pontiff said he was convinced that Barros was innocent and demanded "proof" before he would speak out against him. Francis later apologised to the victims, three of whom he recently received at the Vatican, and admitted he had made "grave mistakes" after reading a 2,300-page report by Scicluna on the abuse in Chile. He accepted Barross resignation last week. AFP According to recent reports, Apple Pay is now available in Poland with support from eight local banks. Apple has also updated its regional website to advertise the availability of the new payment option. You can start using the service by adding supported credit and debit cards inside the Wallet app on your iPhone. Currently, a total of eight banks are providing support for the service, including BGZ BNP Paribas, Bank Zachodni WBK, Alior Bank, Raiffeisen Polbank, Nest Bank, mBank, Bank Pekao and Getin Bank. However, some unconfirmed reports claim that more banks will be added in September, including PKO BP, Poland's largest retail bank. Beyond supporting banks, Apple's website fails to provide a breakdown of retail stores that accept the payments platform. The company typically gathers a short catalog of large vendors and popular regional chains in a bid to goose adoption, though such a list was not made immediately available for Poland. Apple CEO Tim Cook first promised to expand Apple Pay to Poland during Apple's earnings call covering the second fiscal quarter of 2018. At the time, he also said Apple Pay would come to Ukraine and Norway, with the payments service yet to launch in the latter country. In May, Apple added support for its mobile payment service in Ukraine. The company has also been aggressively adding support for more banks in the United States, and several other countries. Since its launch in 2014 Apple Pay has expanded to 23 countries around the world, including United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, UAE, Brazil, Ukraine and now in Poland. Norway is next on the list of expected rollouts, though a firm launch date has yet to be announced. Apple Pay in stores is available on the iPhone 6 and later, iPads with Touch ID, the MacBook Pros with Touch Bar and all Apple Watch models. With iPhone and Apple Watch, you are able to make contactless payments in-store in addition to online and in-apps. With iPads and MacBook Pros, you are able to use the service online in addition to supported apps. Source: 1, 2 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. WASHINGTON US President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers Tuesday, June 19, he backed their efforts to craft an immigration solution that ends the politically toxic practice of separating families on the US-Mexico border. Just hours after doubling down on his administrations much-derided policy that triggers separations of migrant children from their parents, Trump braved frustrated and in some cases angry fellow Republicans to assure he wanted their swift resolution to the crisis. While top officials have stood by Trumps "zero tolerance" approach, insisting children are being held in humane conditions, criticism has swelled from international rights groups, Christian evangelicals, former US first ladies and the presidents own Republican Party. Democrats who have visited minors in detention in Texas and California describe crying children held in cage-like conditions behind chain-link fencing, with no idea when they will see their parents again. An audio recording purported to feature Central American children separated from their parentssobbing and wailing has also struck a nerve. With emotions running high, a handful of House Democrats protested the Trump meeting, yelling out at Trump in a rare face-to-face demonstration against a president by sitting members of Congress. "Quit separating the kids!" Juan Vargas, a Democrat from southern California, shouted as Trump exited the meeting. "Mr President, dont you have kids?" Republican lawmakers emerged from the 45-minute huddle energized that Trump was giving his backing to legislation that House leaders expect to bring to a vote this week. It contains several of Trumps main priorities, including border wall funding, protecting young "Dreamer" immigrants who were brought to the country as children and curbs on legal immigration programs such as an end to the visa lottery. House Republican Mario Diaz-Balart said the priority of ending the separations has been slotted into a compromise bill currently under consideration and favored by GOP moderates. "Not only does he support the compromise bill, but he backs it all the way," Diaz-Balart said of Trump. But even after the meeting, it was unclear whether Trump favored that bill over a more hardline measure supported by conservatives. White House spokesman Raj Shah said Trump "endorsed both House immigration bills" during the meeting, adding that they "solve the border crisis and family separation issue by allowing for family detention and removal." "Im with you 100%," Trump said, according to Shah. Several Republicans have said the more conservative plan is doomed, and that Trumps address was helpful in unifying the divided caucus. "Were going to have work to do" to get the compromise across the finish line, said number 3 House Republican Steve Scalise. Earlier in the day, a defiant Trump sounded unfazed by the mounting pressure to alleviate the situation before it ruptures into a public relations disaster for his party. Take the children away "I dont want children taken away from parents," he told a gathering of small business owners, before adding: "When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away." Trump has accused Democrats of provoking the current crisis by blocking legislation to combat illegal immigration. But Democratic leaders have pushed back. Senator Chuck Schumer said the president "continues to try to use these separated families as hostages in the legislative process." Calling for an immediate fix, Schumer added: "The president can end this crisis with the flick of his pen, and he needs to do so now." Senate Republicans are also moving to block Trumps policy. A group led by Senator Orrin Hatch wrote Attorney General Jeff Sessions demanding a pause in separations, while Senator John Cornyn was drafting "emergency" legislation to allow families to remain intact while their cases are adjudicated. The United Nations has slammed the separation practice as unconscionable, while Amnesty International blasted it as "nothing short of torture." Mexicos foreign minister condemned it as "cruel and inhuman." The issue risks becoming a political nightmare several House Republicans who face tough re-election fights in November. Some may worry that public outrage over the family separations could hurt their chances. Outcry Democrats say the crisis is of Trumps own making, and accuse him of using children as pawns. "This has caused an outcry throughout the country," said Senator Chris Van Hollen, who visited a detention facility in McAllen, Texas over the weekend where some 1,500 children are being held. US officials say more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents or guardians since early May, when the administration announced its "zero tolerance" push to arrest and charge anyone illegally crossing the US-Mexico border, regardless of whether they were seeking asylum. Since children cannot be sent to the facilities where their parents are held, they are separated from them. Separated children make up a minority of immigrant minors in US custody. The Department of Health and Human Services said there are currently 11,700 children under its care in 100 shelters across 17 states. Most crossed the border without their parents. US public opinion appears divided along partisan lines on the family separations, with two thirds of all voters opposed, but 55% of Republicans supporting the policy, according to a Quinnipiac University National Poll. AFP IRVINE, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mazda MX-5 Miata has never been about power; it's a car whose sole purpose is to help the driver and passenger fall in love with driving. But, a little extra power never hurts, which comes as one aspect of numerous updates for the 2019 model year. 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata Packs More Punch, Features Mazda's engineers enriched MX-5's SKYACTIV-G 2.0-liter engine with the goals of improved response, performance, feel and efficiency. The net results are 181 horsepower at 7,000 rpma 17-percent improvementand 151 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm, with a richer torque curve throughout MX-5's entire rev range. Speaking of rev range, redline has increased from 6,800 rpm to 7,500 rpm. Engineers were able to increase performance through several means, including: Reducing internal mass and friction: Each piston has been reduced 27g in mass, thanks to a minimized skirt area. Connecting rods are 41g lighter than previous units. Reducing exhaust loss: The upgraded engine carries an increased valve opening angle and valve lift height. The inner diameter of the exhaust manifold has also been increased. The net results are a 30-percent reduction in pumping losses. Improved combustion: Reconfigured intake ports and new high-diffusion, higher-pressure fuel injectors improve the tumble and swirl of fuel in the cylinder and better-atomize fuel. The benefit is improved efficiency and torque at all rpm. Dual-mass flywheel: Replacing the single-mass flywheel with a low-inertia, dual-mass flywheel improves smoothness and responsiveness. A new exhaust system with richer sound quality. New final drive ratio: The transmission's final drive ratio has been increased from 3.454 to 3.583 in models equipped with an automatic transmission in order to improve linear response to match the driver's intentions. Gear ratios are otherwise unchanged from previous models. As a result of numerous changes, MX-5 is quicker, more responsive and aims to be more engaging to drive, adhering to Mazda's unique Jinba Ittai"horse and rider as one"engineering philosophy. Beyond engine improvements, the 2019 MX-5 introduces an available brown canvas soft top, new black metallic 17-inch wheels, a newly telescoping steering wheel (42mm of travel), easier-to-open doors and revised door stops and revised cupholders and seat levers. On the safety front, the new MX-5 will be sold with a new, standard rearview camera and newly available features such as Traffic Sign Recognition and Smart City Brake Support in addition to other i-ACTIVSENSE safety technologies found throughout various trim levels. In the process of gaining many new features, the 2019 MX-5 gains just 7 lbs. from previous models, owing to a strict adherence to Mazda's "Gram Strategy" and ingenious solutions like adopting an aluminum steering shaft in place of the previous steel unit. When the fourth-generation MX-5 launched, its development team rallied around the idea of innovating in order to preserve. The latest round of innovations aim to continue that mission. The 2019 Mazda MX-5 will be available in the U.S. this fall, with pricing, packaging and full specifications to be announced closer to on-sale timing. Details concerning the 2019-spec Global MX-5 Cup racecar will also be announced at a later date. Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at InsideMazda.MazdaUSA.com/Newsroom. Follow MNAO's social media channels through Twitter and Instagram at @MazdaUSA and Facebook at Facebook.com/MazdaUSA. SOURCE Mazda North American Operations Related Links http://www.mazdausa.com Approximately 2,500 bottles will be produced of this first edition and consists of a blend of aged rums in "Oloroso" white oak casks for up to 35 years, handmade with the same craftsmanship and tradition that has prevailed in this Puerto Rican brand since 1880. The first 200 bottles of Ron del Barrilito Five Stars will be presented in a wooden chest, handcrafted by Puerto Rican artisan Gil Rodriguez. Inside the chest will be an elegant, numbered bottle, maintaining the elements of the original label that have distinguished Ron del Barrilito, the oldest rum in Puerto Rico. Behind this historic creation is the original recipe and vision of the Fernandez Family and the experience of another great Master Blender, M. Luis Planas, an industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience in crafting rums. "Ron del Barrilito is much more than a fine aged rum; this product is recognized and praised by rum and cognac connoisseurs worldwide as a true Puerto Rican treasure," says Planas. "Ron del Barrilito Five Stars was conceived for the rum connoisseur, who collects high-quality spirits and savors their careful craftsmanship," adds Planas. This limited edition of 2,500 bottles will be on sale beginning in August 2018. The bottles will be priced starting at $750 per bottle. For more information, please call Hacienda Santa Ana: 787-785-3490 from Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm EST or visit www.rondelbarrilito.com. Hacienda Santa Ana: Established in 1797 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, by the Fernandez Family. Hacienda Santa Ana started as a sugar cane plantation, and as many family-owned sugar cane plantations, they produced their own rum for personal consumption. In 1880, Pedro Fernandez began to market the family rum under the name of Ron del Barrilito, which today, more than 130 years later, still uses the same artisanal craft, family recipe and aging process that has made it one of the best rums in Puerto Rico and the world. Ron del Barrilito is a premium-quality rum, awarded and recognized by experts as one of the best rums in the world. This rum is handcrafted since 1880 using its original recipe. It has two products: Ron del Barrilito Two Stars, which is aged for three to five years, and Ron del Barrilito Three Stars, aged for six to ten years. Edmundo B. Fernandez, Inc. is the parent company responsible for the production, bottling, and distribution of Ron del Barrilito. Contact: Andrea Rivero [email protected] (787) 641-2164 SOURCE Ron del Barrilito Related Links http://www.rondelbarrilito.com While maple syrup is most often associated with pancakes and waffles, the flavor is becoming more popular in a variety of foods and beverages, with Google Trends data showing an increase in searches related to maple and many heralding it as the "next pumpkin spice." "We know that maple is an increasingly appealing flavor, and we are always looking for ways to capitalize on trends in taste buds," Vice President of Catering Operations Charlean Gmunder said. "We are excited to offer our customers a light, crisp snack that is created by a woman-owned bakery." The cookie combines a rich buttery flavor with a hint of maple and just the right pinch of salt to create a delightfully addictive snack. It is a play on the benne wafer and a modern twist on a cookie that Byrd Cookie Company has been baking for almost 70 years. The maple wafers are baked in Savannah, Ga., and pair nicely with United's signature illy coffee, making them perfect for the early morning traveler. "We created this cookie using only the finest ingredients, and we continue to bake in small batches so that we can consistently deliver high-quality confections," Byrd Cookie Company CEO Stephanie Lindley said. Byrd Cookie Company is certified by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council as a woman-owned business. To celebrate the new partnership, MileagePlus Exclusives is hosting a live auction where customers can bid miles to travel to Savannah, Georgia and enjoy a tour of the Byrd's bakery and take in Savannah's local sites. The auction is available on the MileagePlus Exclusives website for members to start bidding today at exclusives.mileageplus.com/Byrds. This new snack replaces the Stroopwafel, the current morning snack. United is expanding its complimentary snack offerings in order to continue to appeal to a broad palate. The Stroopwafel will be available again in the future as the airline rotates between morning snack options. The Stroopwafel will remain on flights departing Europe prior to 9:30 a.m. About United United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,600 flights a day to 354 airports across five continents. In 2017, United and United Express operated more than 1.6 million flights carrying more than 148 million customers. United is proud to have the world's most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark/New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 750 mainline aircraft and the airline's United Express carriers operate 545 regional aircraft. The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 191 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United's parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the NYSE under the symbol "UAL". About Byrd Cookie Company Originally founded in 1924, Byrd Cookie Company is an award-winning, family-owned company providing fresh-baked products to a wide range of major retailers, from LL Bean to Bergdorf Goodman. The company, which is headquartered in Savannah, Ga., also creates private label items for companies including Neiman-Marcus, Ritz-Carlton and Cumberland Farms and operates successful retail stores in Georgia and South Carolina. For more information, visit ByrdCookieCompany.com. SOURCE United Airlines Related Links http://www.united.com AUSTIN, Texas, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), in partnership with more than 70 health care organizations representing NPs, nurses, physicians, hospitals, insurers, drug and device manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, employers and patients, released today first-of-their-kind comprehensive recommendations to help health care leaders, lawmakers and regulators address the escalating opioid crisis in the U.S. The "Roadmap for Action" provides a comprehensive action plan to better inform policies from those most immersed in the opioid crisis. "Opioid addiction claims more than 115 lives each day, and the problem continues to escalate," said AANP President Joyce Knestrick, PhD, APRN, CFNP, FAANP. "Policymakers need a cohesive industry voice to stand up and say this is what needs to be done, and this is how we do it. Roadmap for Action is that blueprint, and it will help loosen the grip opioids have on our nation." The effort, spearheaded by the Healthcare Leadership Council and executed in partnership with the Duke-Margolis Health Policy Center, led by former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mark McClellan, tackles the disparate aspects of opioid use that make it so dangerous. Participating organizations reached consensus for change in five priority areas: improving approaches to pain management, preventing misuse, expanding access to use disorder treatments, improving electronic care coordination, and funding more quality, seamless care. Within this framework, Roadmap for Action paves the way for informed decisions with actionable recommendations to address specific industry challenges and known catalysts for opioid misuse. Among these, Roadmap for Action calls for improved patient access to non-opioid pain management therapies, e-prescribing of controlled substances by 2020, better opioid stewardship and disposal, and a greater emphasis on telehealth to provide access to care in rural and underserved communities. Notably, it also calls on the health care community to leverage the expertise of primary care providers, including NPs, to coordinate care approaches for better patient outcomes. AANP has long been a vocal proponent of better opioid policies and industry practices, participating in the Therapeutic Innovation Workgroup to identify and develop actionable recommendations for Congress, policymakers, and health system leaders to advance innovative solutions for improving pain management while mitigating opioid therapy risks. Roadmap for Action takes this one step further by conveying powerful industry consensus and clear next steps on an issue that directly impacts more than two million Americans every year. To read the full Roadmap for Action policy and its recommendations, or to learn more about the organizations involved in its development, visit https://www.hlc.org/app/uploads/2018/06/Opioid-Roadmap-FINAL.pdf The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), the largest professional membership organization for nurse practitioners (NPs) of all specialties, represents the interests of the more than 248,000 licensed NPs in the U.S. As The Voice of the Nurse Practitioner, AANP provides legislative leadership at the local, state and national levels, advancing health policy; promoting excellence in practice, education and research; and establishing standards that best serve NP patients and other health care consumers. To locate a nurse practitioner, go to npfinder.com. For more information about NPs, visit aanp.org. SOURCE American Association of Nurse Practitioners Related Links http://www.aanp.org PHILADELPHIA, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aberdeen Japan Equity Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") (NYSE: JEQ) held its Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Meeting") on June 20, 2018. At the Meeting, stockholders of the Fund voted to re-elect one Class I Director to the Board of Directors. As of the record date, April 27, 2018, there were 13,389,072 outstanding shares of the Fund. 94.38 % of the outstanding shares were voted at the Meeting representing a quorum. The description of the proposal and number of shares voted at the Meeting are as follows: To re-elect one Class I Director to the Board of Directors: Votes For Votes Against Abstained Radhika Ajmera 11,129,918 572,433 934,576 Additionally, the Fund announced today that Mr. David Harmer retired from the Fund effective June 12, 2018. Mr. Harmer served on the Fund since 1997. The Board would like to extend its sincere gratitude to Mr. Harmer and acknowledge the invaluable contribution he has made to the Fund during his tenure and wish him the best of success in all his future endeavours. In connection with Mr. Harmer's retirement, the Board reduced the size of the Board to four effective June 12, 2018. Directors whose term of office continued beyond the Meeting are as follows: Rahn Porter, Richard Herring and Anthony Clark. Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. The Fund's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the fund's portfolio. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. If you wish to receive this information electronically, please contact [email protected] aberdeenjeq.com SOURCE Aberdeen Japan Equity Fund, Inc. This Saturday, June 23rd, the New England Air Museum will host its first annual Helicopter Day. The world-class museum will have over twenty helicopters and ancillary equipment on display, including a number of airframes which have heretofore been in long-term storage. Several exhibits will be open to the public to climb inside, and experts will be available to further explain the aircraft and their operation. The helicopters involved in the event will vary from the massive, 25,000-pound Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe, sometimes called the Skycrane, to the tiny, single-seat Benson Gyrocopter, similar to the one which James Bond flew in the motion picture You Only Live Twice. There will also be a U.S. Navy drone, and an award-winning man-powered helicopter, amongst many other helicopters to explore. The list below shows the aircraft which the museum plans to provide for the event, and a map which follows shows their locations within the facility. NEAM 1st ANNUAL HELICOPTER DAY Map # spot Open cockpit Aircraft Note 16 Yes Bell H-13 Sioux M.A.S.H. type aircraft 1 Yes Bell U-1B Iroquois Vietnam Workhorse Gunship Configuration 16 Bell AH-1S Cobra Vietnam Combat Veteran 15 Benson Gyrocopter Similar to James Bonds Little Nellie 9 Doman (Prototype) Sikorsky R-6 w/ Doman rotor head 10 Doman YH-31 15 Gyrodyne QH-50C D.A.S.H. Anti-Submarine Warfare (w/ control panel) 15 Gyrodyne XRON-1 Rotorcycle 16 Yes Hiller OH-23G Raven Observation & Transport 16 Hughes OH-6A Cayuse Vietnam Combat Veteran 2 Kaman K-225 Counter-rotating rotor prototype 3 Kaman HH-43F Huskie With fire bottle 4 Yes Kaman SH-2F Seasprite Anti-Submarine Warfare 13 Kaman K-16B Tiltrotor Prototype (test platform for the wing mechanism) 16 Kaman K-MAX 1/10 Scale Model K-MAX helicopter 11 Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly First used by military in WW II China-Burma-India Theatre (supply delivery/Casevac) 6 Sikorsky H-5A Dragonfly Painted in Sikorsky Corporate Colors, Search & Rescue, made famous in the movie Bridges of Toko-Ri 7 Sikorsky LH-34D Seabat Antarctic service 8 Sikorsky XH-39 Speed record holder (first heliocopter with a turbine engine and retractable landing gear) 12 Yes Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard Rescue record holder 5 Pod only Sikorsky CH-54B Tahe Flew with the CT Army National Guard 14 AeroVelo ATLAS Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition winner 17 Bell OH-58 Kiowa CT Army National Guard In addition to the helicopters at the event, former Sikorsky test pilot Kevin Bredenbeck will give a presentation titled X2 Technology: Sikorsky Door Step into The Future at 1:00pm. LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Citrus Obstetrics & Gynecology Medical Associates, Inc. (Citrus Obstetrics), formerly the local, independent OB/GYN practice of Dr. Carlos Beharie, M.D. for 16 years, today filed suit against the East San Gabriel Valley's largest health care facilities, Citrus Valley Health Partners and Citrus Valley Medical Center, and their affiliated medical group practice, Citrus Valley Physician Partners, Inc. The complaint filed this morning in California Superior Court in Pomona, California seeks millions in damages and sets out specific facts alleging a conspiracy by hospital management and individual doctors to destroy Dr. Beharie's practice by taking OB/GYN physicians under contract with him, encouraging two major federally qualified health centers to switch away from Dr. Beharie's practice, and faking negotiations to purchase Dr. Beharie's practice at fair value while all the time planning to take that for which they wouldn't pay fair value. "This case is not just about Dr. Beharie; an entire community is being hurt here," said Ed Susolik, attorney for Dr. Beharie's practice. "This is just one example of the sad trend we are seeing nationwide of the death of family and community oriented physician practices at the hands of hospital conglomerates." Dr. Beharie's practice was the largest OB/GYN practice in the West Covina area (which has been designated by the Department of Health & Human Services' Health Resources & Services Administration as a "Medically Underserved Area"), providing obstetrics and gynecology services to women in that community, many of them low-income, Hispanic women, for 16 years. Before being driven out of business, Dr. Beharie's practice was the only major OB/GYN group in the area serving high risk obstetric patients likely to deliver premature babies. He became well-known, trusted, and beloved in this underserved Hispanic community to treat such women, who now find themselves unable to receive the personal care formerly provided by Dr. Beharie's practice. The complaint alleges that the hospital progressively made it more difficult for Dr. Beharie's practice to treat its patients by first inducing three of his physicians, Jason Begley, Arthur Escamillo, and Ann Terai, to abandon him in violation of their contracts. At the same time, the hospital instructed its own physicians who had previously provided coverage to Dr. Beharie's patients to stop doing so "If only one of Dr. Begley, Dr. Escamillo, and Dr. Terai had left Plaintiff, or if all three left but over a more prolonged period, Plaintiff would have been able to continue its practice. However, the departure of all of them on the same day crippled Plaintiff and made it virtually impossible for Plaintiff to continue servicing its contracts and patients." "Defendants had now taken several of Plaintiff's employed physicians and hired these physicians themselves, and directed their own physicians to refrain from providing coverage to Plaintiff. Defendants' scheme ensured Plaintiff did not have the capability to treat all of its patients." The complaint also alleges that patients were negatively impacted by this: "As a result, Plaintiff was deprived of adequate staff to care for its patients, which caused two major health centers to terminate their referral relationship with Plaintiff" " "Plaintiff was forced to close shortly after that, and Plaintiff's patients had to then use Defendants' facilities and staff, both of which were new and unfamiliar to them, during a vulnerable time of their lives." "It was a scary feeling when I called Dr. Beharie's office to make an appointment and was told that I would no longer be able to see my doctor," said Allison Gladney, a former patient of Dr. Beharie's practice. "I trusted Dr. Beharie and his staff. Other OB/GYN physicians refused to see me because of my high risk pregnancy, and I will now have to travel longer distances to doctors I don't know and will not receive the same personal care I had at Dr. Beharie's office." The lawsuit seeks millions of dollars in damages for the loss in value of Dr. Beharie's practice, treble damages under California's Cartwright Act, as well as punitive damages for the hospital's malicious and predatory behavior. A copy of the complaint can be found at www.thetruthaboutcitrusvalleymedicalcenter.com. Callahan & Blaine, one of California's premier litigation law firms, is leading the litigation for Plaintiff Citrus Obstetrics, with Lanny Davis of Davis Goldberg & Galper PLLC, former White House Special Counsel to President Clinton. Contact: Eleanor McManus [email protected] (202) 460-1451 SOURCE Lanny Davis "Being honored in High Times Magazine is like winning an academy award but instead of acting its in cannabis," says DeLaRosa Green. "I grew up with all my guy friend's always having a copy of High Times Magazine, it was like a bible to us. So to be honored in this very special issue is so beyond awesome. I finally bought my own copy!" "The winners of The High Times 100 were nominated for their relentless, courageous, and innovative dedication to the cannabis industry," writes High Times Magazine. The edition is now online at https://hightimes.com/culture/the-winners-of-the-high-times-100/. The honor for Ms. DeLaRosa Green comes on the heels of her dispensary (99 High Tide in Malibu, CA.) also being awarded "Best Dispensary in California" by Cashinbis' Best Of Cannabis Awards (March 2018), as well as Dope Magazine's "Best Dispensary" in their "Dopest of the Dope" issue. (February 2018). DeLaRosa Green will also pen her very first foreword for the book "The Next Level -Cannabis Wisdom for Our World" by international best seller Scarlet Ravin and Beautiful Existence a born medium and cancer survivor utilizing cannabis. "Our Ganja Goddess not only balances our bodies, minds, and souls, but her entire intention is to heal our world," says Existence. DeLaRosa Green and Ravin serendipitously met at the High Times Magazine's awards show the night DeLaRosa Green was honored as one of the "100 Most Influential People in Cannabis." "It was kismet. I am so honored to be a part of this magical book," says DeLaRosa Green. "It brings me great joy to align with Yvonne through our cosmic meeting at the High Times 100 awards event," says Scarlet Ravin. "The Next Level- Cannabis Wisdom For Our World" will have a soft launch party at the 99 High Tide and Nalu Malibu- January 30th, 2018, 2-8pm with Co-Author Scarlett Ravin attending the event and book signing. For event details visit https://www.99hightide.com/hightide/events Media Inquiries: Vanessa Rodriguez 415.407.8056/ [email protected] Related links: www.99hightide.com www.hightimesmagazine.com http://scarletravin.com/book-launch/ SOURCE 99 High Tide Collective Malibu Related Links http://www.99hightide.com CHICAGO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- High volume futures broker Advantage Futures is honored to be an event sponsor for the 2018 Managed Futures Pinnacle Awards. The Pinnacle Awards recognize and honor the industry's top managers. This is the sixth year in a row Advantage has participated in this event. "The annual Pinnacle Awards provides a wonderful opportunity to welcome the futures trading community to Chicago. We look forward to meeting with many of our clients, prospects and industry colleagues," said Advantage Futures Senior Vice President, Business Development, Terry Duffy. "Advantage is excited to participate again this year. The Pinnacle Research Symposium and Pinnacle Awards Dinner bring together important and influential industry leaders to acknowledge the accomplishments of the top performing managers. We are pleased to celebrate their achievements," commented Bill Harrington, Executive Vice President, Business Development Manager at Advantage. About Advantage: Advantage Futures ranks among the high volume futures brokers in the industryprocessing over 4 billion contracts since inception in 2003. Advantage continues to expand its diverse client base by striving to deliver high level client service. Our team provides comprehensive, technology-driven clearing and execution services over robust and redundant network infrastructure. For more information visit: www.AdvantageFutures.com or call 312.800.7000. Follow Advantage Futures on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. SOURCE Advantage Futures Related Links http://www.advantagefutures.com MINNEAPOLIS, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ONCE, the world's leading supplier of research-based agricultural lighting systems, announced today that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire Germany-based iLOX GmbH (iLOX) and its Polish subsidiary iLOX Sp.z.o.o., an innovative lighting developer for agricultural livestock facilities. This strategic alliance integrates two industry leaders into the world's largest animal-centric lighting company. "We are extremely excited to welcome iLOX to the ONCE family. With our dedication to the development of scientifically backed, animal-centric lighting technologies and iLOX's superior electronic design ability and vast market knowledge, we can accelerate our commitments to lead and shape the fast-growing agricultural lighting market with disruptive innovation in respect to animal welfare," commented Zdenko Grajcar, CEO and founder of ONCE . "Since the inception, our team has focused into the untapped potential of animal-centric lighting and how it can transform the world of animal agriculture. Never could I have imagined the impact our work would make in eight years. ONCE has effectively demonstrated that spectrum and modulation of light can significantly affect animal performance, dramatically reduce stress levels, impact animal behaviors and influence expression of genes in an organism. We have not only changed how the agriculture industry perceives and uses light but we have also become a global authority in animal photobiology and optogenetics. Today, we take it a step further by joining forces with the iLOX team to accelerate product development and intensify market adoption while improving our ability to support European-based customers and expanding our sales territories into the Middle East and North Africa." "Combining ONCE and iLOX aligns well with the future goals we have previously established," adds Stefan Warnking, CEO and founder of iLOX. "We share very similar philosophies and business strategies in focusing on innovative lighting solutions for farmers. The synergy of ONCE 's broad IP portfolio of technologies combined with the electronic design capabilities of iLOX will enable us to create new product offerings and offer science-based lighting solutions to farmers across Europe and the rest of the EMEA region. I am very proud of my team's achievements and look forward to combining forces with the ONCE team." Under the terms of this agreement, iLOX will operate as an independent entity within ONCE group. Mr. Stefan Warnking will remain iLOX CEO. Financial details of the transaction are not being disclosed. About ONCE ONCE is the world's only supplier of research-based animal-centric lighting systems. The company applies photo-biology and optogenetics scientific findings into the development of innovative technologies in agricultural lighting, biosecurity and hatchery markets with a goal to enhance performance and improve welfare. ONCE agricultural lighting systems are used by the world's largest makers of open community chicken, layer and swine housings. Founded in 2009, the Minnesota-based company is led by lighting industry veteran Zdenko Grajcar. For more information, please visit www.once.group. About iLOX iLOXGmbH is a leading designer and manufacturer specializing in the development, production and sale of intelligent lighting systems for the animal farming industry based in Vechta, Germany. iLOX was founded by electrical businessman Stefan Warnking in 2001 as a product brand of Warnking Electric, a company with 50 years of history in the production of the switchgear for animal housing equipment manufacturers. iLOX became an independent company in 2007 with main operations in Vechta, Germany, and a subsidiary in Torun, Poland, a division focusing on the electronic research and controller development. For more information, please visit www.ilox.eu. Media Contact: Andrew Flemming VP of Sales and Marketing +1 (763) 447-5247 [email protected] Related Files iLOX PR.pdf SOURCE Once Inc. SIMI VALLEY, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Airborne Wireless Network (OTCQB: ABWN), an emerging growth company redefining global connectivity, announced today that Marius de Mos, vice president of technical affairs and development, will be presenting at the MIT Technology Review Conference EmTech Hong Kong on June 26, 2018. EmTech Hong Kong is a premier conference featuring global technology leaders and innovators. De Mos will discuss the development and patented technology behind the company's Infinitus Super HighwaySM, its impact on wireless communication technology, and potential future applications. "We are honored that the company has been invited to speak at the EmTech Hong Kong conference," said Michael Warren, CEO of Airborne Wireless Network. "This is one of the leading emerging technology conferences where companies with some of the most innovative and cutting-edge technologies are asked to speak." EmTech, which is short for Emerging Technologies, is a series of annual conferences produced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Review Magazine. These annual conferences highlight inventions and new developments in engineering and technology. For more information about Airborne Wireless Network visit: www.airbornewirelessnetwork.com About Airborne Wireless Network The Company intends to create a high-speed broadband airborne wireless network by linking commercial aircraft in flight. It is projected that each aircraft participating in the network will act as an airborne repeater or router, sending and receiving broadband signals from one aircraft to the next and creating a digital information superhighway in the sky. The Company intends the network to be a high-speed broadband internet pipeline to improve coverage and connectivity. The Company does not intend to provide retail customer coverage to end users, but, instead, act as a wholesale carrier with target customers, such as internet service providers and telephone companies. Currently, the world's connectivity is achieved by use of undersea cables, ground based fiber and satellites. The Company believes that the Company's airborne digital highway may be a solution to fill the world's connectivity void. Once the network is developed and fully implemented, its uses may be limitless. The Company's network, once developed, should provide low cost, high-speed connectivity to rural areas, island nations, ships at sea, oil platforms, in addition to connectivity to commercial and private aircraft in flight. Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward- looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, availability of capital; the inherent uncertainties associated with developing new products or technologies and operating as a development stage company; our ability to raise the additional funding we will need to continue to pursue our business and product development plans; our ability to develop and commercialize products based on our technology platform; competition in the industry in which we operate and market; general industry conditions; general economic factors; the impact of industry regulation; technological advances; new products and patents attained by competitors; manufacturing difficulties or delays; dependence on the effectiveness of the company's patents; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions. Contact: [email protected] 805-583-4302 SOURCE Airborne Wireless Network Related Links http://www.airbornewirelessnetwork.com DETROIT, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratview Research announces the launch of a new market research report on Aircraft Interior Fasteners Market by Aircraft Type (Commercial Aircraft, Regional Aircraft, General Aviation, and Military Aircraft), by Application Type (Seats, Galley, Lavatory, Ducts, Stowage Bins, Floor Panels, Sidewall Panels, Door & Windows, and Others), by Fastener Type (Screws, Bolts, Nuts, Rivets, and Others), by Material Type (Aluminum, Steel and Others), by End-User Type (OE and Aftermarket), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660595/Stratview_Research_Logo.jpg ) This market report, from Stratview Research, studies the aircraft interior fasteners market over the trend period of 2012 to 2017 and forecast period of 2018 to 2023. The research report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market. The Global Aircraft Interior Fasteners Market: Highlights Fasteners are used to assemble and hold various parts of an aircraft together. They play a vital role in an aircraft and are amongst the most essential hardware components. A wide variety of fasteners are used in the interior of an aircraft, such as bolts, screws, nuts, rivets, potted-inserts, clamps, and flanged spacers. It has a very large share in hardware components used in an aircraft as about 45-50% of the components used in an aircraft are fasteners. For instance; Airbus' A380 aircraft has six million components out of which more than three million are fasteners. As per Stratview Research, the global aircraft interior fasteners market is likely to grow at a healthy rate over the next five years to reach US$ 2,795.2 million in 2023. An incessant increase in air passenger traffic all around the world, which is triggering the production rates of key programs, such as B737, A320 family, B787, and A350XWB; market entry of new players, such as COMAC and Irkut; introduction of variants of existing best-selling aircraft programs, such as B737 max, A320neo, and B777x; and increasing aircraft fleet size are the factors likely to contribute to a sustainable growth platform for the aircraft interior fasteners market. Commercial aircraft is expected to remain the growth engine of the aircraft interior fasteners market during the forecast period of 2018 to 2023. Boeing and Airbus are increasing the production rates of their best-selling commercial aircraft programs in order to meet a huge pile of order backlogs. Also, COMAC and Irkut are entering the commercial aircraft industry with their C919 and MC-21 aircraft programs. Boeing anticipated that there would be total deliveries of 41,030 commercial aircraft worth US$ 6.1 trillion in the global marketplace during 2017-2036. This factor will create a sustainable demand for fasteners for commercial aircraft interiors globally in the foreseeable future. Register Here and Ask for a Free Sample on the Report Based on the application type, seating is expected to remain the dominant application of fasteners in aircraft interiors, driven by large number of seats per aircraft and gradual inclination of airliners towards economy class and premium economy seats by shying away from first class seats. Fasteners used in aircraft interiors are made from a wide array of materials, such as aluminum, steel, plastics, and alloys. Aluminum fasteners are the most preferred choice because of their numerous advantages, such as higher specific strength to steel, lightweight, and excellent corrosion and heat resistance. Plastic fasteners are steadily penetrating the aircraft interior fasteners market as they have the advantages of being lightweight at a considerable strength compared to the metallic counterparts. As per the study, North America is expected to remain the largest aircraft interior fasteners market during the forecast period. The region is the manufacturing capital of aerospace industry with the presence of many large- and small-sized tier players and fasteners manufacturers. Furthermore, stricter emission norms have led to a faster adoption of lighter aerospace grade fasteners in the region. Asia-Pacific is likely to depict the highest growth during the forecast period with China, Japan, and India being the key sources of growth. Substantial growth in the air passenger and freight traffic in China and India are compelling aircraft manufacturers and tier players to open their manufacturing plants in the region. Also, both countries are incessantly increasing their defense budget with the purpose to acquire the latest military aircraft to solidify their defense capabilities. This, in turn, will create a healthy demand for fasteners in these countries in the coming years. The involvement of Japanese conglomerates to become the risk-sharing partners in the next-generation commercial aircraft and upcoming indigenous regional aircraft (Mitsubishi MRJ) will further boost the demand for fasteners in aircraft interiors in the region. Major aircraft interior fastener manufacturers are Precision Castparts Corp., Arconic Fastening Systems, Lisi Aerospace, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., and Penn Engineering. Development of lightweight fasteners and forming strategic alliances with the aircraft OEMs and tier players are the key strategies adopted by the major fastener manufacturers to gain a competitive edge in the market. Report Features This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis. Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis. Market trend and forecast analysis. Market segment trend and forecast. Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities. Emerging trends. Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players. Key success factors This report studies interior fasteners market in the global aircraft industry and has segmented the market in six ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. Following are the six ways in which the market is segmented: Aircraft Interior Fasteners Market, By Aircraft Type Commercial Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Regional Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) General Aviation (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Military Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Aircraft Interior Fasteners Market, By Application Type Seats (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Galleys (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Lavatory (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Ducts (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Stowage Bins (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Floor Panel (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Sidewall Panel (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Door & Windows (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Aircraft Interior Fasteners Market, By Fastener Type Screws (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Bolts (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Nuts (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Rivets (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Aircraft Interior Fasteners Market, By Material Type Aluminum Fasteners (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Steel Fasteners (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Other Fasteners (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Aircraft Interior Fasteners Market, By End-User Type Original Equipment (OE) (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Aftermarket (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Aircraft Interior Fasteners Market, By Region North America (Country Analysis: The USA , Canada , and Mexico ) Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , The UK, Russia , and Rest of Europe ) Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China , Japan , Taiwan , Malaysia , and Rest of Asia-Pacific ) Rest of the World (Country Analysis: Brazil , Argentina , and Others) Stratview Research has number of high value market reports in the global aerospace & defense industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports: Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Aerospace & Defense Industry Some of our other premium market reports in the aerospace & defense industry: Global Aircraft Seals Market by Aircraft Type, by Application Type, by Motion Type, by Function Type, by Material Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2017-2022 Aircraft Aerodynamic Seals Market by Aircraft Type, by Application Type, by Material Type, by Motion Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023 About Stratview Research Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas. We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies. Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making. For enquiries,Contact: Stratview Research E-mail: [email protected] Direct: +1-313-307-4176 SOURCE Stratview Research CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), a leader in the global specialty chemicals industry, announced that it has signed a Heads of Agreement in the field of heavy feedstock hydrocracking for the company's catalysts business unit. Sinopec Catalyst Co. Ltd. (SCC), Sinopec Fushun Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals (FRIPP), and Albemarle's catalysts business are combining strengths by cooperating in the field of catalytic hydrocracking. The cooperation will be worldwide and on a non-exclusive basis. Albemarle, SCC and FRIPP will combine forces to be the supplier of choice for supplying hydrocracking pre-treat and hydrocracking catalysts and expertise. "We are pleased to strengthen our position in hydrocracking by this Heads of Agreement with SCC and FRIPP," said Silvio Ghyoot, Albemarle's President, Catalysts. "We look forward to developing this Heads of Agreement further towards a productive business cooperation from which a number of customers around the globe will benefit." Mr. Gu Songyuan, President of Sinopec Catalyst Co., stated, "Albemarle is a trusted catalyst supplier in the industry which is why we pursued a partnership with them. Together, we will offer the global refining industry strong profitable solutions for heavy feedstock hydrocracking by combining solid hydrotreating and hydrocracking expertise." Mr. Fang Xiangchen, President of Sinopec Fushun Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals, added, "Combining FRIPP's hydrocracking pilot plant expertise, references and application knowledge with Albemarle's hydrotreating know-how will lead to great added value propositions for refiners, enhancing their profitability in a significant way." About Albemarle Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is a global specialty chemicals company with leading positions in lithium, bromine and refining catalysts. We power the potential of companies in many of the world's largest and most critical industries, from energy and communications to transportation and electronics. Working side-by-side with our customers, we develop value-added, customized solutions that make them more competitive. Our solutions combine the finest technology and ingredients with the knowledge and know-how of our highly experienced and talented team of operators, scientists and engineers. Discovering and implementing new and better performance-based sustainable solutions is what motivates all of us. We think beyond business-as-usual to drive innovations that create lasting value. Albemarle employs approximately 5,400 people and serves customers in approximately 100 countries. We regularly post information to www.albemarle.com, including notification of events, news, financial performance, investor presentations and webcasts, non-GAAP reconciliations, SEC filings and other information regarding our company, its businesses and the markets it serves. Sinopec Catalyst Company Sinopec Catalyst Co., Ltd. (SCC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SINOPEC, is one of the world's biggest manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers for oil refining and chemical catalysts. With the support of Sinopec group which possesses industrial facilities of various technology resources, SCC improves its core strength to offer one-stop solution to different problems from the industrial facilities operation. SCC produces oil refining catalysts, polyolefin catalysts, catalysts for basic organic raw materials, coal chemical catalysts, environmental protection catalysts, additives, and absorbents. SCC pursues the business philosophy of Premium Catalyst Quality, Excellent Customer Care. To better serve our valued customers and to provide a complete range of business and technical solutions, Over 3,500 SCC employees safely and sustainably develop, manufacture, support, and sell finest technology around world. With its rich industry-leading experience and advanced technologies, SCC stands ready to work hand-in-hand with you to create a beautiful future of green catalysts. For more information, please visit at http://scc.sinopec.com. Sinopec Fushun Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals Sinopec Fushun (Dalian) Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals is a research institute directly under SINOPEC. Hydroprocessing is the core area of Fushun (Dalian) Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals and its achievements and R&D capabilities rank world leading edge. In particular, in hydrocracking, FRIPP has developed high pressure hydrocracking, medium pressure hydrocracking, mild hydrocracking, medium pressure hydroupgrading, etc. and matched hydrocracking catalysts with more than 50 brands in more than 10 categories. Its main research areas are: clean refining technologies focusing on clean production of gasoline and diesel, efficient conversion of heavy oil, and development of high value-added products; new energy technologies focusing on emerging energy resources, biomass energy resources and the exploitation of unconventional oil products; and utility technologies focusing on water-related affairs, environmental protection, equipment, storage, transport, energy conservation, energy storage, and intelligent power. It is an important support for upgrading oil products and providing petrochemical and environmental protection technologies. Sinopec Fushun Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals employs approximately 700 people and serves customers in the world. Information is regularly posted to http://fripp.sinopec.com/fripp/, Sinopec Fushun Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals is always committed to provide the customers with the up-to-date tailor-made technologies and catalysts. "Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Albemarle Corporation's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K. SOURCE Albemarle Corporation Related Links http://www.albemarle.com NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ALM Intelligence Consulting division, previously known as Kennedy Consulting, has released its 2018 ratings of Production Operations consulting providers. Ten firms were identified as leaders in the consulting industry: Bain & Company, The Boston Consulting Group, Camelot Management Consultants, Capgemini, EFESO, EY, McKinsey & Company, Performance Solutions by Milliken, Porsche Consulting and PwC. "While conventional means for achieving operational excellence, such as lean and six-sigma production methods, are mature and well understood, the integration of Industry 4.0 technologies accelerates implementation and unleashes a new wave of opportunities to reduce cost, complexity, and waste," said Naima Hoque Essing, Senior Research Analyst at ALM Intelligence. "This new version of lean, often referred to as digital lean or Lean 4.0, is generating renewed interest by companies in production operations consulting services as they explore new methods and tools to improve efficiency and create customer value." Providers that attained challenger status include: A.T. Kearney, AlixPartners, Argon Consulting, Deloitte, Newton Europe, PA Consulting, Roland Berger, T.A. Cook and TBM Consulting. Other firms that were rated include: Accenture, BearingPoint, Competitive Capabilities International, DuPont Sustainable Solutions, HAGEN & Company, The Highland Group, Hitachi Consulting, IBM, Kepner-Tregoe, KPMG, L.E.K. Consulting, Oliver Wyman, and Sinclair Group. ALM's Vanguard research series assesses firms in terms of their relative ability to create impact for their clients. In addition to its overall rating assessments of consulting providers' depth and breadth of capabilities and best-in-class provider designations, this series includes detailed capability evaluations for each covered provider as well as a qualitative analysis of their consulting organization, approach, and service delivery model. For more information or to obtain the full version of The ALM Vanguard: Production Operations Consulting, visit the ALM Intelligence website: www.alm.com/intelligence/consulting-industry About ALM Intelligence ALM Intelligence, a division of ALM Media LLC, supports legal, consulting, and benefits decision-makers seeking guidance on critical business challenges. Our proprietary market reports and analysis, rating guides, prospecting tools, surveys, and rankings, inform and empower business leaders to meet business challenges with confidence. Please visit www.alm.com/intelligence for more information. Contact Information: Rachael Wolensky [email protected] SOURCE ALM Intelligence Related Links http://alm.com DALLAS, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Board of Trial Advocates condemns the forcible separation of children from their parents at the U.S. border and the detainment of these children in locked facilities. These actions are an offense to human decency, violate the tenets of the U.S. Constitution and impede the proper administration of justice. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed last week that at least 2,000 children have been separated from their parents since the policy was announced in May 2018. National President Cynthia McGuinn said: "Politics must be put aside in this matter. A zero-tolerance policy that leads to children being separated from their parents is inconsistent with America's principles and values. We are a diverse country that has a rich history of the proper administration of justice and forcibly separating migrant children from their parents does not support the rule of law or due process." About the American Board of Trial Advocates Founded in 1958, ABOTA is a national association of experienced trial lawyers and judges. ABOTA and its members are dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the civil jury trial right provided by the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. ABOTA membership consists of more than 7,600 lawyers equally balanced between plaintiff and defense and judges spread among 96 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. For more information: Brian Tyson (214) 871-7523 [email protected] SOURCE American Board of Trial Advocates Related Links http://www.abota.org ROHNERT PARK, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Student loan borrowers may not be aware of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), which was written into law to assist low- and middle-income families to afford expensive higher education. In the decades since, HEA has been reauthorized eight times with changes reflecting the different parties in power. The latest iteration of HEA is the PROSPER Act (Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform Act), which has not yet been passed but is potentially set for a vote this summer. There are many concerns about the PROSPER Act. For example, some argue that the changes it proposes are an attempt to tackle the burgeoning student debt crisis, but they could ultimately be detrimental to students. In contrast, students and graduates may not be aware that there are already repayment plans, such as income-driven repayment plans (IDRs), available to them that could help them save money. Ameritech Financial is a private company that assists borrowers in understanding IDRs and completing the necessary application paperwork. "As student loan laws and payment plans have changed throughout the years, the rules surrounding them have become increasingly complex. It is important for students to know their options," said Tom Knickerbocker, Executive Vice President of Ameritech Financial. "They may not know where to turn, which is why we recommend they become financially literate. Wherever they are in the student debt journey, it's not the end of the world. They could even be eligible for help through a federal repayment program." As the PROSPER Act looms in the near future, experts fear the ramifications of some of its recommended changes to laws. In particular, if the loan repayment rate for an educational program is less than 45 percent from the 3 previous years, then it will lose its federal financial aid in the future. In other words, if a student studies a major that is historically low-paying, such as Social Work, and is not capable of repaying his or her loans upon entry into the workforce, then this law would greatly downsize the number of capable professionals who work to improve society. Students who chose a public service major and profession can learn more about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF) with the help of Ameritech Financial. PSLF requires federal student loan borrowers to make 120 qualifying payments while working for a qualifying employer. Qualifying payments are those made in one of the income-driven repayment plans, and a qualifying employer is a government agency or 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency. Borrowers must also have direct loans to be eligible for PSLF. Unfortunately, it appears the PROSPER Act wants to decimate PSLF supporters feel it allows education institutions endless power in raising tuition without meeting the needs of its stakeholders, namely the students in attendance. They want to see more fiscal responsibility and capped spending. On the other hand, one of the negative impacts already anticipated is that there will be less incentive for new students or workers to pursue a degree or profession in public service. Without PSLF, they would find it very difficult to pay back their student loans. "PSLF is too valuable to ignore, so we do what we can to help our clients meet the requirements if they fit the PSLF employment standards," said Knickerbocker. "Even if clients don't work in public service, being in an IDR can help them with their monthly finances. And they still receive forgiveness after 20 to 25 years of enrollment if they have any balance left." About Ameritech Financial Ameritech Financial is a private company located in Rohnert Park, California. Ameritech Financial has already helped thousands of consumers with financial analysis and student loan document preparation to apply for federal student loan repayment programs offered through the Department of Education. Each Ameritech Financial telephone representative has received the Certified Student Loan Professional certification through the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA). Ameritech Financial prides itself on its exceptional Customer Service. Ameritech Financial Newsroom Contact To learn more about Ameritech Financial, please contact: Ameritech Financial 5789 State Farm Drive #265 Rohnert Park, CA 94928 1-800-792-8621 [email protected] Related Images image1.png stressed-about-student-loans.jpg Stressed About Student Loans Credit: fizkes/Bigstock Related Links Ameritech Financial home page Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRza8MbLvuM SOURCE Ameritech Financial Related Links https://ameritechfinancial.com ROHNERT PARK, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In today's society lifestyle creep is a given. People are expected to save for retirement (or this or that), but in actuality, they are spending more as they make more. Individuals are able to view something that was previously out of reach as conceivable and thus it becomes a necessity. Ameritech Financial, a document preparation company that helps its clients apply for federal income-driven repayment plans, encourages federal student loan borrowers to look into federal repayment plans to help break the cycle and work toward realistic financial goals. Federal student loan borrowers experiencing lifestyle creep can look into income-driven repayment plans (IDRs) that align with their finances to potentially lower their payments and stay on track for student loan forgiveness in 20 to 25 years. "Spending habits can quickly change to include commodities that were previously considered luxuries," said Tom Knickerbocker, Executive Vice President of Ameritech Financial. "[Lifestyle creep] is so common that it can be viewed as personal finance law and that the more you make is automatically the more you spend, which should not be the case." Though the pull of lifestyle creep is great, so is the pull to combat it. The age-old "practice makes perfect" narrative comes to mind, and it doesn't end there. Thanks to income-driven repayment plans (IDRs), borrowers may have the ability to stay on track financially and potentially cut back on lifestyle creep. "Remind yourself of your goals," said Knickerbocker. "Your long-term goals can be the best way to keep yourself on track and not fall into habits that prime you for a change in lifestyle. In the end, it is up to you, and at Ameritech Financial, we help borrowers understand IDRs in the context of their financial situation and their goals." About Ameritech Financial Ameritech Financial is a private company located in Rohnert Park, California. Ameritech Financial has already helped thousands of consumers with financial analysis and student loan document preparation to apply for federal student loan repayment programs offered through the Department of Education. Each Ameritech Financial telephone representative has received the Certified Student Loan Professional certification through the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA). Ameritech Financial prides itself on its exceptional Customer Service. Ameritech Financial Newsroom Contact To learn more about Ameritech Financial, please contact: Ameritech Financial 5789 State Farm Drive #265 Rohnert Park, CA 94928 1-800-792-8621 [email protected] Related Images lifestyle-creep-can-affect-student.jpg Lifestyle Creep can Affect Student Loan Repayment Credit: KitzCorner/Bigstock image2.png Related Links Ameritech Financial home page Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRza8MbLvuM SOURCE Ameritech Financial ONALASKA, Wis., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sergeant Laboratories is pleased to announce AristotleInsight::K12's expanded Student Analytics will be on display at the upcoming 2018 ISTE Conference at booth #1396. AristotleInsight::K12's expanded Student Analytics now includes File Audit & Tracking for complete visibility into student files, Google Drive Materials, and emails. Educators can now view who has access to files, where and when they have been shared, and determine document permissions. The system also allows for auditing student email accounts for dangerous or inappropriate content. The Student Analytics Features of AristotleInsight::K12 provide detailed metrics for reviewing how students are using technology. These metrics are essential for reviewing if the money spent on educational technology is being put to good use. Additionally, AristotleInsight::K12 gives real-time alerts of inappropriate or unsafe student activity. Combining these alerts with automated reporting allows parents, teachers, and administrators to create teachable moments and promote strong digital citizenship. Director of Customer Success, David Losen, commented on the expansion of Student Analytics in AristotleInsight::K12. "Analytics are important in all areas of education. Educators and students need them to maintain progress, administrators need them to understand the current direction of educators, and school boards need them to validate expenditures. The expanded Student Analytics in AristotleInsight::K12 provide the data needed to answer today's most pressing technology questions in schools. AristotleInsight::K12 is engineered to meet the unique needs of modern school districts. Districts today have many types of devices, such as Chromebooks, PCs, Macs, CloudReady, and printers. AristotleInsight::K12 not only works seamlessly in the classroom environment, it also works outside of the school network to allow students to appropriately utilize school-owned technology from their homes and ensures school assets do not go missing. To learn more about the features of AristotleInsight::K12, including the expanded Student Analytics, Classroom Management, Asset Management and Reporting, and Student-Centric Filtering, visit www.aristotlek12.com or call 866-748-5227. AristotleInsight::K12 will be at the upcoming ISTE 2018 Conference in Chicago. Visit us at booth #1396. Contact: Josh Paape Sergeant Laboratories 866-748-5227 [email protected] SOURCE Sergeant Laboratories, Inc "Atlanta is our hometown and we look forward to expanding our reach to provide convenient banking services to the clients and visitors who travel through this great city," said Mark Chancy, co-chief operating officer and consumer segment executive for SunTrust. "Our partnership with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport gives us the opportunity to serve the 104 million travelers and 63,000 airport employees as they navigate and staff the world's busiest airport every day." SunTrust is dedicated to advancing the financial confidence of the clients and communities it serves. SunTrust recently celebrated the 125th anniversary of its founding in Atlanta. About SunTrust Banks, Inc. SunTrust Banks, Inc. is a purpose-driven company dedicated to Lighting the Way to Financial Well-Being for the people, businesses, and communities it serves. SunTrust leads onUp, a national movement inspiring Americans to build financial confidence. Headquartered in Atlanta, the Company has two business segments: Consumer and Wholesale. Its flagship subsidiary, SunTrust Bank, operates an extensive branch and ATM network throughout the high-growth Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states, along with 24-hour digital access. Certain business lines serve consumer, commercial, corporate, and institutional clients nationally. As of March 31, 2018, SunTrust had total assets of $205 billion and total deposits of $162 billion. The Company provides deposit, credit, trust, investment, mortgage, asset management, securities brokerage, and capital market services. Learn more at suntrust.com. SOURCE SunTrust Banks, Inc. Related Links http://www.suntrust.com NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Eric M. Beder, award-winning veteran consumer equity analyst, today launched Small Cap Consumer Research, LLC a company-sponsored independent equity research and consulting boutique firm focused on small to mid-cap publicly-traded companies with equity market capitalization under $4 billion in the consumer, specialty retail, apparel and brand licensing sectors. Worldwide Shift in Equity Research Model: Mr. Beder says, "We are poised to lead company-sponsored equity research in the consumer space and deliver independent, compelling institutional grade analyses. MiFID II compliance and implementation became effective in Europe January 1, 2018 and we believe it will impact U.S. capital markets near-term as equity research continues to materially shift away from small to mid-cap companies Small Cap Consumer Research, LLC is the emerging solution to provide higher visibility, insightful and impactful equity research coverage for companies and institutional investors. We believe our model is the future of equity research." Incorporating Best of Traditional Wall Street Firms: The Small Cap Consumer Research model is aligned with leading aggregators, data and research infrastructure providers including FactSet, BlueMatrix and other key delivery systems to distribute consumer equity research with the same institutional reach and quality traditional Wall Street firms provide. In addition to standard initiation, financial, and estimate updates - we deliver focused equity research coverage on overlooked drivers to institutional investors. Veteran Wall Street Analyst: Mr. Beder has covered the consumer space for over 20 years, demonstrating a unique talent for understanding complex companies and leveraging deep industry relationships in communicating investment ideas. Mr. Beder is a three-time The Wall Street Journal Best on the Street Honors winner for the Specialty Retail and the Clothing and Accessories categories. Mr. Beder also has extensive media exposure, including appearances on CNBC and Bloomberg TV and has also been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Businessweek, Investor's Business Daily, Forbes and WWD. Mr. Beder received a Bachelor of Science from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and earned an MBA from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. About Small Cap Consumer Research, LLC Small Cap Consumer Research, LLC is a leading company-sponsored equity research and consulting firm in the consumer space dedicated to helping publicly-traded small to mid-cap companies with equity market capitalization under $4 billion shift equity research into a strategic asset via independent, differentiated Wall Street-grade research. For more information about our services visit our website at www.SmallCapConsumerResearch.com and follow us on Twitter @SCC_Research. Contact: Eric M. Beder CEO and Managing Director of Consumer Equity Research Small Cap Consumer Research, LLC [email protected] 212-220-9212 340 Madison Avenue, 19th Floor New York, NY 10173 Media Inquiries: [email protected] SOURCE Small Cap Consumer Research Related Links http://www.SmallCapConsumerResearch.com "IBIS Global Summit is a must-attend event for any major players in the refinish industry," says Joe McDougall, Axalta's Executive Vice President and President of Global Refinish and EMEA, who hosted the company's delegation at the event. "Having prominent industry experts, major market influencers and many of our key customers in one place is a fantastic opportunity to discuss and to debate major challenges and strategic opportunities for the future with them." Jim Muse, Axalta's North America Sales Director and Global Refinish Accounts Director, was one of the key speakers at the IBIS panel debate dedicated to current trends in skills and talent development in the refinish industry. Muse says, "Employee engagement, training and talent development are a vital part of Axalta's human resource policy. But we also understand that the global refinish industry should attract fresh talent who can lead it into the future. Bearing this in mind, Axalta works closely with colleges and universities across the world, not only helping students to develop their professional skills, but also to spark their interest and to encourage them to continue their careers in the refinish sector." Axalta and its three global refinish brands demonstrate their commitment to improving skills across the industry via various professional development events, training courses and masterclasses for students and refinish professionals. For example, in the Netherlands, Standox works with Edudelta college organising dedicated refinish days for its students, installing a refinish workshop in the college, and encouraging local bodyshops to accept students as interns. Throughout North America, Axalta works with vocational technical schools providing products as well as instructional support to high school students who want to start a career in the refinish industry. "These activities help to bridge the existing skills gap in the coatings and refinish industries, but they also provide students with the necessary knowledge they need to succeed in today's highly competitive job market," concludes Muse. Axalta also exhibited at IBIS Global Summit. Its stand showcased a variety of relevant initiatives for the industry, including RepScore.net, a new, innovative digital network management system. RepScore.net has been specifically developed to help improve the cooperation between bodyshops and network owners. It helps to optimize the service and quality of both the bodyshop and the network in order to gain an advantage in a competitive marketplace. IBIS is the leading forum dedicated to the refinish industry. Since its inception in 2001, the event has been attracting an audience of refinishers, industry experts and refinish systems manufacturers from all over the world, keeping them up to date on the most significant industry developments and allowing refinish professionals to develop their professional network. For more information and to visit Axalta's newsroom, visit www.axalta.com. About Axalta Axalta is a leading global company focused solely on coatings and providing customers with innovative, colourful, beautiful and sustainable solutions. From light OEM vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish applications to electric motors, buildings and pipelines, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity and enable the materials we coat to last longer. With more than 150 years of experience in the coatings industry, the 13,300 people of Axalta continue to find ways to serve our more than 100,000 customers in 130 countries better every day with the finest coatings, application systems and technology. For more information visit axalta.com and follow us @Axalta on Twitter and on LinkedIn. Axalta Coating Systems GmbH Uferstrasse 90 4057 Basel Switzerland axaltacoatingsystems.com Contact Chantal Bachelier-Moore DA Public Relations Ltd D +44 207 692 4964 [email protected] SOURCE Axalta Related Links http://www.axalta.com "BJ's is committed to nourishing our communities and helping families thrive, and we're excited to support the Maryland Food Bank's Hunger-Free Summer Mobile and School Pantry Programs," said Kirk Saville, executive director, BJ's Charitable Foundation. "Hunger-relief programs are crucial for children and families who lose access to school lunches in the summer. Through our partnership with Feeding America, we're helping to provide access to fresh, healthy food to families when school is out for the summer." With BJ's $100,000 grant, the Maryland Food Bank will be able to increase the amount of fresh, nutritious food distributed during the Summer Club Hours and School Pantry Programs to assure every child and family can take additional food home. "Our child-focused feeding programs are critical during the summer months when children lose access to school meals," said Carmen Del Guercio, President & CEO of the Maryland Food Bank. "We're grateful to BJ's because this donation will allow us to increase the amount of healthy food we can distribute to children and families this summer." During the school year, more than 22 million children receive free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. In the summer months, fewer than 4 million children receive free or reduced-priced meals through the USDA Summer Food Service Program. From mobile and school pantries to congregate meal sites in public areas like summer camps, the Feeding America network operates different program models to increase the number of meals provided to children over the summer. Since 2009, BJ's has provided ongoing support to Feeding America through the BJ's Charitable Foundation and BJ's Feeding Communities program, helping local food banks successfully expand their programs to reach wider and more diverse audiences. In addition to summer programming and capacity-building grants from the BJ's Charitable Foundation, BJ's has secured over 70 million pounds of donated food, including fresh produce, frozen meats and fish, baked goods and dairy items, and helped distribute 58 million meals to neighbors in need through the BJ's Feeding Communities program. To learn more about the BJ's, visit BJs.com. About BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. Headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. is the leading operator of membership warehouse clubs in the Eastern United States. The company currently operates 215 clubs and 134 BJ's Gas locations in 16 states. BJ's provides a one-stop shopping destination filled with top-quality, leading brands, including its exclusive Wellsley Farms and Berkley Jensen brands, along with USDA Choice meats, premium produce and delicious organics, many in supermarket sizes. BJ's is also the only major membership warehouse club to accept all manufacturers' coupons. About the Maryland Food Bank The Maryland Food Bank is a nonprofit hunger-relief organization, leading the movement to end hunger throughout Maryland. For nearly 40 years, the Maryland Food Bank has partnered with communities across the state to distribute food to individuals and families in need. Through carefully-crafted programs, the food bank aims to meet the immediate needs of Marylanders while simultaneously working to find long term ways to reduce hunger statewide. Currently distributing more than 102,000 meals per day nearly 37 million meals annually the Maryland Food Bank will continue to expand its efforts until hunger ends. To learn more about the Maryland Food Bank, visit mdfoodbank.org. SOURCE BJ's Wholesale Club Related Links http://www.bjs.com In just nine months, flagship product, Active Skin Repair sold in over 200 specialty stores Dr. Chris Prosser , joins the company's Board of Directors as Medical Director , joins the company's Board of Directors as Medical Director Year-over-year anticipated growth of more than 500% in gross revenue Built with the goal of creating a new kind of medical company, BLDG Active's mission is to take medical grade products and launch them into specialty market opportunities providing improved accessibility to innovative, effective and non-toxic medical products. The brand's unconventional strategy meets consumers when and where they have need, from their local community in specialty retail as well as through multiple online shopping platforms. With a fresh commercial approach, BLDG Active is proving that a medical company can build a lifestyle brand and successfully reach consumers in a meaningful way. "We're doing something different here, and it's indicative of more than just a marketing strategy but highlights the way consumers want to access medical products," said Justin Gardner, co-founder and CEO, BLDG Active. "Our model changes the meaning of 'over the counter,' we're opening doors, bringing a whole new category to specialty stores that they've never considered." Active Skin Repair is now used by hundreds of professional and amateur athletes across a range of sports, on tour with professional medical teams, used by navy seals and thousands of other customers. If initial response is any indication, the market seems ready for this new breed of healthcare company. For more information please visit www.bldgactive.com, @bldgactive About BLDG Active BLDG Active was founded with the sole purpose of identifying clinically proven technologies that are superior to current over-the-counter solutions, both in effectiveness and environmental impact. The technology used in BLDG's Active Repair Hydrogel & Active Repair Spray is the same doctor-recommended product and formulation used in hospitals worldwide. BLDG Active makes products that promote personal health and recovery through clinically proven technologies. About Active Skin Repair Spray + Gel This clinically proven regenerative technology kills 99.9% of bacteria, without harsh chemicals or antibiotics and helps speed the body's natural recovery process. SOURCE BLDG Active Related Links http://www.bldgactive.com CHICAGO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) today released "The Health of America Community Investment Report," illustrating community investments made by its 36 licensees and their foundations in 2017. The report highlights Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies' continued support, growth and investment in building programs, forming partnerships and developing innovative technologies that have a proven impact on health outcomes and health of Americans. Underscoring the companies' deep commitment to helping Americans live healthier lives, BCBS programs focus on driving positive health outcomes and addressing the most pressing issues affecting the country today, including community health disparities, the opioid epidemic and quality and accessibility of health care. By leveraging data insights, BCBSA and its companies are making informed decisions and developing solutions tailored for the communities in which they serve in both rural and urban geographies. "As the health insurer to one in three Americans, Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are leading the way to improving the health of all Americans," said Scott Serota, president and CEO of BCBSA. "Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies understand that the best way to positively impact health outcomes is to stand with and serve our local communities and collaborate on solutions with partners across the country." In 2017, $284 million was invested in community health initiatives, and BCBS employees volunteered more than 540,000 hours and provided more than $17 million dollars in personal donations a $6 million increase over 2016 employee contributions. The tenth annual Health of America Community Investment Report showcases community investments by BCBS companies in four key areas: Addressing Social Determinants of Health BCBS companies and foundations support community programs that address social determinants of health including access to employment, education, reliable transportation, nutritious food and places for physical activity that affect a wide range of health and quality-of-life outcomes. A key initiative is the Blue Cross Blue Shield InstituteSM, which combines a social mission with business innovation and insight to address the "ZIP code effect" by targeting barriers to health care that can be solved with technology and strategic alliances. The first pilot programs are in partnership with BCBS companies, Lyft, CVS Health and Walgreens to address transportation and pharmacy deserts in cities across the country. Enabling Healthier Living BCBS companies and foundations empower individuals and communities by providing tools to prevent and manage disease, including: obesity, behavioral/mental health, diabetes, heart health and cancer, among others. The report also highlights how BCBS companies are addressing the opioid epidemic in three critical ways: Ensuring patients with opioid use disorder receive the best evidence-based, patient-focused care available Promoting awareness and prevention through community engagement and partnerships with community organizations Fostering research partnerships with academic and professional institutions that are working to identify better ways to care for people with opioid use disorder and stem the crisis Improving Health Care Quality and Affordability BCBS companies and foundations are dedicated to providing all Americans with high-quality and affordable health care by funding research and educational resources. The report highlights local investments in 2017 that supported programs leading the transformation toward a health care system that is more accessible, accountable and affordable for all Americans. Improving Health Care Access The report shows how BCBS companies and foundations develop strong local partnerships to ensure more Americans receive the care they need. From grant-based programs and partnerships with local community clinics to scholarships to help minority students pursue a career in the medical field, BCBS companies and their foundations help deliver health care to under- or uninsured patients in their communities. To learn more about how BCBS companies are improving the health and wellness of members and their communities, view the report at www.bcbs.com/investingincommunities. About Blue Cross Blue Shield Association The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a national federation of 36 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that collectively provide health care coverage for one in three Americans. BCBSA provides health care insights through The Health of America Report series and the national BCBS Health Indexsm. For more information on BCBSA and its member companies, please visit BCBS.com. We also encourage you to connect with us on Facebook, check out our videos on YouTube, follow us on Twitter and check out our blog. Lyft, CVS Health and Walgreens are trademark owned by their respective owners and used for identification purposes only and are in no way associated or affiliated with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Related Links https://www.bcbs.com/ This program targets corporations that are already operational with their own business models, and looking for additional financing through blockchain-based ICOs or Public Financing, not the traditional financial system. Companies can apply to BOScoin's "Reverse ICO Partner Program". Applicants are judged by and selected as partners according to their business models. Partner companies who successfully raise 500 million KRW (approximately $0.45 million) in the pre-ICO stage will be funded an additional 500 million KRW, bringing the total early capital to one billion KRW. The partners will be given technical consultations and blockchain technological support in order to facilitate the ICO process. After the ICO, business can be conducted on the BOScoin mainnet, and additional capital funded through public financing. When reverse ICO corporations use BOScoin, they can conduct business quickly, without the need for extensive technological investments into the blockchain. Furthermore, raising post-ICO capital on BOSNet through Public Financing is drastically cheaper than using the traditional financial system with its high fees. CEO Yezune Choi said, "Because the BOScoin mainnet development is on-schedule, we want companies who want Public Financing on the mainnet." He also said: "In order for the market to accept the new concept of Public Financing, we will cooperate with reverse ICO corporations beginning in the pre-ICO stage, and support building real businesses on the blockchain." About BOScoin Republic Of Korea's First Blockchain "BOScoin" is a Global Currency and Credit Creation Project: BOScoin combines PF (Project Financing), the most libertarian concept, with three alternative solutions -- credit creation through participation, democratic impact investments, and commonization of certain assets -- to form a new PF (Public Financing) concept to power a better capitalism. In April 2018, BOScoin announced Development of a fully homomorphic encryption solution for electronic voting, which guarantees both anonymity (secret ballot) and equality (one person, one vote). In May 2018, BOScoin announced Strategic agreement to launch the first public financing project in November with "Energy7", an O2O (online-to-offline) platform that is an innovator in the petroleum distribution industry. BOScoin is focused on technological developments and business partnerships in order to meet its goals of publicly launching the mainnet in the first half of 2019. SOURCE BOScoin Related Links http://www.BOScoin.io PETALUMA, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The success of a business depends on the achievements of those who work there. Employees must stay productive in order to complete tasks that keep the business running. However, business leaders should be cognizant of the difference between measurable progress and the appearance of busyness. Brandon Frere, CEO of Frere Enterprises and a successful entrepreneur, relies on data when examining production and progress in his companies. "I try to keep my employees busy with work that will benefit the company and push them to exceed their professional goals," said Frere. "But it's important to make sure that those goals are being met and the best way to do that is through data." Society today stresses the importance of staying busy, but business leaders should remember that busyness doesn't necessarily equate to success. For example, staying too busy can actually lower production and it may also cause mistakes and burnout, which can negatively affect production. Instead, Frere suggests that business leaders measure progress in a company based on concrete metrics. Employees who are up for a promotion should have a proven track record of completing tasks that are important for the business. Instead of merely noticing that they look busy all the time, a system to track projects they are working on can help inform the decision to promote them based on real data. Similarly, a busy office overall may suggest that a business is growing, but it could also simply show that the current workforce can barely keep up the minimum workload. "Businesses that use real data for marketing often see results and can make future marketing choices based on those results," said Brandon Frere. "The same is true for what goes on in the office. Knowing how many projects are finished each month can influence choices on next steps for the business and individuals in the workforce." About Frere Enterprises Brandon Frere is an entrepreneur and businessman who lives in Sonoma County, California. He has designed and created multiple companies to meet the ever-demanding needs of businesses and consumers alike. His company website, www.FrereEnterprises.com, is used as a means to communicate many of the lessons, fundamentals and information he has learned throughout his extensive business and personal endeavors, most recently in advocating on behalf of student loan borrowers nationwide. As experienced during his own student loan repayment, Mr. Frere found out how difficult it can be to work with federally contracted student loan servicers and the repayment programs designed to help borrowers. Through those efforts, he gained an insider's look into the repayment process and the motivations behind the inflating student loan debt bubble. His knowledge of the confusing landscape of student loan repayment became a vital theme in his future endeavors, and he now uses those experiences to help guide others through the daunting process of applying for available federal repayment and loan forgiveness programs. FrereEnterprises.com Related Images busy-chaotic-office.jpg Busy Chaotic Office Credit: TeraVector/Bigstock image2.png Related Links Frere Enterprises home page SOURCE Frere Enterprises Related Links http://www.frereenterprises.com LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Linda McMahon, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration and advocate for the nation's 30 million small businesses as a member of President Trump's Cabinet, will visit Los Angeles on Friday, June 22, 2018 to tour a minority and woman-owned small business assisted by the SBA, and highlight SBA programs. The visit is part of her nationwide Ignite Tour to listen to business owners, drive economic growth, and educate about SBA services that help entrepreneurs start up, scale up, and create jobs. WHO: SBA Administrator Linda McMahon WHEN: Friday, June 22, 2018 WHAT & WHERE: 1 p.m. PDT Small Business Visit to Porto's Bakery & Cafe OPEN PRESS 315 N. Brand Blvd Glendale, CA 91203 Porto's Bakery & Cafe is a minority and woman-owned small business that received SBA technical assistance and has since grown into one of the country's most popular places to eat. In 2016, Yelp identified Porto's Bakery & Cafe as #1 on their list of the Top 100 United States restaurants. WHY: Highlight SBA services that help Los Angeles entrepreneurs start businesses, grow their companies, and create jobs For interview opportunities, contact Dawn Golik, [email protected] (559) 666-8286 About the U.S. Small Business Administration The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs & Instagram Contact: [email protected] (559) 666-8286 Release Number: MA 18-16 SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration Related Links http://www.sba.gov DENVER, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pinnacol Assurance announced today that a new case study1 by Forrester Research, one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world, explores how Colorado workers' compensation leader Pinnacol beat expectations by creating a new digital platform to offer coverage to small businesses in only nine months, three months before its projected launch. The study notes that Cake, winner of the 2018 Celent Model Insurer and Digital Edge 50 awards, "has won more customers, increased its profits, and enjoyed higher Net Promoter Scores [a measure of customers' willingness to recommend a company's products or services] than expected in the six months since its first policy sale." "Pinnacol Assurance had to bear up under the same pressures facing the broad insurance marketplace: growth, new competitors, and emerging tech. It also faced an extra wrinkle: as a political subdivision of Colorado, it faced added regulations," one passage reads. "We felt the need to bring to market a workers' comp solution that incorporated what we know about the needs of Colorado small businesses: it had to be simple, fast and responsive to their individual needs," said Phil Kalin, CEO of Pinnacol Assurance. "Cake is all of those things and more and more employers are seeing the advantages of using such a low-maintenance, straightforward platform." In addition to Kalin, Rob Norris, Cake's Chief Executive Officer, is noted by Kalin in the case study with possessing 'the energy and self-direction needed to get the new business launched.' "We are constantly on the lookout for ways to cut down the friction in meeting customer needs," Norris is quoted as saying. In the case study "Pinnacol Assurance Fights Disruption by Launching A Digital Venture" Forrester's Ellen Carney explores how Pinnacol focused on five fundamental considerations while building Cake: Meeting the digital needs of a growing base of small employers, Staying competitive in the small business market, Preserving existing agency relationships, Respecting perceptions of small employers and how their premiums are used, and Ensuring transparency with policymakers and regulators. Carney concludes that Pinnacol responded to these challenges by: Being fast and simple (weeding out unnecessary steps), Putting the portal in customers' hands (making Cake mobile-friendly), and Remaining true to Pinnacol's brand specialty (workers' compensation). Carney also highlights the speed with which Pinnacol debuted its new portal. "While other insurers have stood up new digital businesses aimed at specific markets, these have been multi-year, not multi-month, endeavors," she writes. The study reports that in the first two months after its October 2017 launch, Cake exceeded its 2017 revenue projections by 140 percent, and by the end of the first quarter of 2018 surpassed revenue projections by 500 percent. It also notes Cake had above average customer satisfaction and higher profits because 90 percent of Cake's policies are automated and require no underwriting staff to complete. Moving forward, Pinnacol is expanding its operating footprint by offering the platform to other carriers. Access the full research at this link: https://reprints.forrester.com/#/assets/2/1395/RES143411/reports Read Pinnacol CEO Phil Kalin's blog about the research. Media usage guidelines: Media outlets are encouraged to share a direct link to the study in their coverage. About Pinnacol Assurance Pinnacol Assurance does just one thing, and it does it better than anyone: provide caring workers' compensation protection to Colorado employers and their employees. The 57,000 employers we insure enjoy fast claims support, convenient online tools, a keen understanding of their business, and the expertise of the largest workplace safety team in the state. We're responsible stewards of our customer premiums, giving back through general dividends and rate decreases for three years in a row. Pinnacol's commitment to the community went deep in 2017, with thousands of hours volunteered and thoughtful grants to nonprofits supporting rehabilitative health, employee safety and workforce development. Our online home is Pinnacol.com. About Cake Insure Cake is the fastest, easiest way to buy a workers' compensation policy online. We provide a mobile-centric platform for business owners who need straightforward workers' comp solutions. Cake fits the busy lifestyles of business owners and is powered by more than 100 years of underwriting expertise. Sure, we use algorithms. But our true secret sauce is listening to and understanding clients. Join us as we disrupt the world of commercial insurance at CakeInsure.com. 1 Case Study: Pinnacol Assurance Fights Disruption By Launching A Digital Venture, June 2018, Forrester Contact: Liz Johnson Senior Communications Specialist 303.361.4816 (office), 720.939.7238 (mobile) [email protected] SOURCE Pinnacol Assurance Related Links https://www.pinnacol.com DEARBORN, Mich., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- American Arab & Muslim Community Leaders Press Conference will be held at 4:30 pm Wednesday June 20, 2018 at Henry Ford Dearborn Centennial Library on Michigan Ave. American Arab & Muslim leaders in Metropolitan Detroit hold a press conference marking 70 years of Palestinian resilience since the 1948 disastrous Nakbah, upon establishing Israel onto the ruins & mass eviction of the entire Palestinian society. Detroit metropolitan area community leaders will announce at a later date a 'Celebration Day of Resilience.' As we stand today in full support of Palestinian People's marches every Friday of the last seven weeks in a row, in a nonviolent style of Gandhi & MLK peaceful protests at the Israeli Gaza boarder, where 134 people killed and 13,000 injured by Israeli live munitions. Palestinians are demanding (1) Return to their villages, according to UN Resolutions 194, from which they were uprooted by Israeli terror in 1948; and (2) ending the inhuman Israeli siege of the entire Gaza Strip, lasting since 2006, rendering the area an open air prison for two million people, most of whom are 1948 refugees. (3) Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, thus rejection of its designation by the US as the capital of Israel, declaration taken in violation of UN Resolutions. Lasting peace may only be achieved through an immediate end to the Israeli Military Occupation and an international guarantee for Palestinian self-determination & return. We call upon our elected representatives to follow a US policy upholding international law and joining the international consensus in support of Palestinian rights in accordance with the UN Resolutions. Our government must stop following a damaging policy standing with Israel against the entire international consensus, as it was reflected recently in the vote by UN General Assembly. For more info call: Imad Hamad 313 790-8453; Hasan Newash 313 579-9481 [email protected] American Midwest Leadership Council (AMLC): amlcusa.org American Human Rights Council (AHRC): ahrcusa.org SOURCE American Midwest Leadership Council Related Links http://www.amlcusa.org Among chief executives recognized by employees in the U.S., Hansen received an impressive 96 percent approval rating based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews Cengage employees shared on Glassdoor throughout the past year. "I have always maintained that I can only serve effectively with the support of two stakeholders: our shareholders represented by the Board of Directors, and the Cengage employees. I am deeply humbled to receive this award as a sign of support from my colleagues as we continue on our path to create truly affordable access to quality learning for every student," said Michael Hansen, CEO, Cengage. "Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day. I congratulate all of this year's winners on this significant achievement," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work." Cengage, an education and technology company, serves all levels of educationK20 through adult learning. The company's 5,000 employees live in and contribute to local communities across the U.S. and around the globe. Hansen assumed leadership of Cengage in December 2012 and swiftly transitioned the company from a traditional print publisher into a digital education company. In the past year, he has pioneered industry leading initiatives including Cengage Unlimited, the first-of-its-kind subscription for higher education materials. Commercially available in August 2018, Cengage Unlimited offers students complete access to more than 22,000 digital products across 70 disciplines and 675 courses for $119.99 per semester or $179.99 a year. When employees submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes like senior management. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing. Among the 770,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. See the complete list of all Top CEOs in 2018: https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Top-CEOs-LST_KQ0,8.htm. About Glassdoor Glassdoor is one of the largest job and recruiting sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for more than 770,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms. Glassdoor Media Contact: Amelia Green-Vamos, [email protected] About Cengage Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. As the largest US-based provider of teaching and learning materials for higher education, we offer valuable options at affordable price points. Our industry-leading initiatives include Cengage Unlimited, the first-of-its-kind all-access digital subscription service. We embrace innovation to create learning experiences that build confidence and momentum toward the future students want. Headquartered in Boston, Cengage also serves K-12, library and workforce training markets around the world. Visit us at www.cengage.com or find us on Facebook or Twitter. Media Contacts: Lindsay Stanley, Cengage 203-965-8634, [email protected] Susan Aspey, Cengage 202-695-6012, [email protected] SOURCE Cengage Related Links http://www.cengage.com AURORA, Colo., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cerebral Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage company focused on implanted drug-device combination therapies to improve the lives of patients with uncontrolled neurological diseases, announced today the closing of a $3 million Series A financing by institutional investors Granite Point Capital Management, L.P., and Vivo Capital, LLC. Cerebral Therapeutics is currently exploring direct intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of a proprietary formulation of an anti-epileptic drug to potentially enhance efficacy and reduce toxicity in adult patients with refractory epilepsy. This institutional investment follows the Company's promising results in a preliminary clinical proof of concept study being conducted in collaboration with Mark Cook, M.B.B.S., M.D., Professor and Sir John Eccles Chair of Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia. Proceeds from the financing will be used to progress the company's lead program to an investigational new drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enable further clinical development. In conjunction with the financing, Warren Lammert, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Granite Point Capital and former Chairman of The Epilepsy Foundation; Mahendra G. Shah, Ph.D., Managing Director at Vivo Capital; and Stephen J. Farr, Ph.D., Co-Founder, President and CEO of Zogenix, have joined the board of Cerebral Therapeutics. Andre Cheng, M.D., Ph.D., a serial medical entrepreneur and Partner and Portfolio Manager at Granite Point Capital will join as a Board Observer. "I am excited about the significant capability our new investors and board members bring to Cerebral Therapeutics," said Dan Abrams, M.D., CEO of Cerebral Therapeutics. "We believe we are now well positioned to advance our potentially life-changing therapy for adult patients with refractory epilepsy while establishing a strong foundation for future therapeutic opportunities in other uncontrolled neurological conditions." Mr. Lammert commented, "Chronic drug delivery directly to the brain is an innovative approach that offers hope to people living with uncontrolled seizures and to those living with other serious neurological disorders." Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological problem in the world. Approximately three million people in the United States are living with epilepsy, with one million people experiencing uncontrolled seizures because no approved treatment has been effective. Cerebral Therapeutics' initial clinical program uses a specialized implanted, refillable catheter and pump system to deliver a continuous ICV dose of a proprietary formulation of valproic acid called CT001, for which Cerebral Therapeutics has an exclusive license agreement from the University of Colorado. About Granite Point Capital Granite Point Capital Management, L.P., is an SEC registered investment advisor that manages a family of research-driven long/short equity hedge funds. Granite Point invests in public and private companies at different stages of growth. Healthcare is an area of focus and in the past Granite Point has made private commitments to biotechnology, medical device and healthcare services companies. The firm was founded in 2004 and is based in Boston, MA. For more information, please visit www.granitepoint.com. About Vivo Capital Founded in 1996, Vivo Capital is an investment firm focused on investing in the fields of bioscience and healthcare with more than $1.8 billion under management. Vivo Capital has offices in Palo Alto, California and Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei, Greater China. So far, Vivo Capital has invested in more than 100 private and publicly listed healthcare companies. About Cerebral Therapeutics Cerebral Therapeutics is a clinical-stage company dedicated to improving the lives of patients living with uncontrolled neurological diseases, with an initial focus on refractory epilepsy. Founded by experts in the fields of neurology, neurosurgery and drug delivery, the Company is pioneering the development of long-term implanted drug-device combination therapies that bypass the blood-brain barrier to deliver optimal doses of specially formulated neurological therapeutics directly into the target region of the brain. The goal of this novel approach is to maximize efficacy while greatly reducing systemic drug exposure and enhancing drug regimen compliance. Cerebral Therapeutics' infusion therapy may offer a more efficacious and reliable approach to treating neurological diseases for which oral and I.V. infused medicines are not able to achieve adequate control and/or are limited by systemic toxicities. For additional information please visit www.cerebraltherapeutics.com For Investors & Media: Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc. Joshua E. Drumm, Ph.D. (Investors) [email protected] (212) 375-2664 David Schemelia (Media) [email protected] (212) 375-2686 SOURCE Cerebral Therapeutics, Inc. Related Links http://www.cerebraltherapeutics.com STOCKHOLM, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Carolina Dybeck Happe, CFO and Executive Vice President of ASSA ABLOY has decided to leave the company for a position outside the Group. She will be leaving at the end of December 2018 and the process to find her successor has been initiated. "During her time as CFO of ASSA ABLOY Carolina Dybeck Happe has been instrumental in the Group's growth and acquisition strategy. She has successfully initiated and implemented a digital transformation program enabling the company's growth in digital services to our customers as well as improving the company's efficiency by streamlining the information flow within sales, supply chain, R&D and financial and administration services," says Nico Delvaux, President and CEO ASSA ABLOY. "I would like to take the opportunity to thank Carolina for her long and valuable time within the ASSA ABLOY Group, and I wish her great success in her new position," Nico Delvaux concludes. For more information, please contact: Nico Delvaux President and CEO tel. no: +46-8-506-485-82 Holger Lembrer Investor Relations Officer tel. no: +46-8-506-485-76 Ann Holmberg Head of Group Communications tel. no: +46-8-506-485-54 This is information that ASSA ABLOY AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 08.00 CET on 20 June 2018. About ASSA ABLOY ASSA ABLOY is the global leader in door opening solutions, dedicated to satisfying end-user needs for security, safety and convenience. Since its formation in 1994, ASSA ABLOY has grown from a regional company into an international group with about 47,500 employees, operations in more than 70 countries and sales of SEK 76 billion. In the fast-growing electromechanical security segment, the Group has a leading position in areas such as access control, identification technology, entrance automation and hotel security. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/assa-abloy/r/changes-in-assa-abloy-s-group-management,c2553679 The following files are available for download: http://mb.cision.com/Main/7333/2553679/863522.pdf Press release (PDF) SOURCE ASSA ABLOY BERKELEY, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Checkerspot Inc., a materials innovation company, announced today that it has closed its Series Seed financing for over $5 million. The round was led by KdT Ventures, and included Viking Global Investors, Refactor Capital, Sahsen Ventures and Godfrey Capital. DIC Corporation also invested as part of its recently announced Joint Development Agreement with Checkerspot. Cain McClary, general partner of KdT Ventures, will be joining the board of directors along with David Greenwood, who also participated in the financing and has worked with the company as an advisor since 2016. Checkerspot's innovation platform integrates biology, chemistry and fabrication. The company's initial materials focus has been on materials derived from novel triglycerides (oils) from microalgae. "We are so excited to support Checkerspot as they build capabilities that will allow for new green chemistries and fabrication to open doors to products and materials capabilities not yet imagined or even thought possible. The experience of the founding team and their integrated approach to partnerships and products across their disciplines is unique and a driving force at the company. Checkerspot's eventual expansion into a myriad of verticals will reveal the true power of the platform as their customers and the company itself forge new ground," said Cain McClary of KdT Ventures. "At Checkerspot we've sought out partners, including investors, that think differently, share our passion for innovation and share our mission to create new-to-the-world high-performance materials and unique products that also take the environment into account. Existing, converging technologies are unlocking a whole new world of development, allowing us to design with intention and enable better ways of doing things," said Charles Dimmler, CEO and co-founder of Checkerspot. "We see triglycerides as molecular scaffolds. Our technology platform leverages an understanding of biology, chemistry, materials science and fabrication, and through it, we believe we can imbue these molecules with properties that dramatically enhance the performance of Checkerspot's materials. As we grow, we'll continue to innovate around this platform, further developing its precision to allow us to penetrate into more and more applications areas," said Scott Franklin, CSO and co-founder of Checkerspot. About Checkerspot: Checkerspot is a materials company. Advances in our understanding of biology, chemistry and materials science are converging with breakthroughs in data science and unleashing capabilities we once only imagined. Checkerspot's technology unlocks this potential, expands the palette of materials available to product designers and enables a more intentional way to design performance materials for specific applications. As a graduate of the Illumina Accelerator program, we are building a technology platform that enables the design at a molecular level of new materials. Through applications development, we prototype and iterate on specific product embodiments. By engaging directly with product users and partnering with socially responsible corporations, we design and bring to market superior products with better materials. For more information, please visit www.checkerspot.com. About KdT Ventures: KdT Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on the enablement that data and frontier computational technologies have brought to the physical and life sciences. To this end, KdT invests in transformative technologies and platforms across the verticals of medicine, chemicals and agriculture, utilizing an extensive network of fellow entrepreneurs, advisors and funders to support its portfolio companies. For more information, please visit www.kdtvc.com. About David Greenwood: Mr. Greenwood currently serves as chairman of the board of directors of Corium International, a drug development and delivery company. He served as executive chairman from 2012 to 2015. In addition, Mr. Greenwood is an advisor to a number of public and private companies. Mr. Greenwood is a former chief executive officer, chief financial officer and director of Geron Corporation, a biotechnology company in the fields of regenerative medicine and cancer. He was previously chairman of the board of Geron Bio-Med Limited, chairman of the board of TA Therapeutics Ltd., a board director of ViaGen Inc., Clone International and Parnell Pharmaceuticals. He also currently serves on the President's Task Force at Pacific Lutheran University and previously served on the board of regents, including on the executive committee and as chair of the development committee. From 1979 to 1995, Mr. Greenwood held various positions with JPMorgan & Co. Incorporated, an international banking firm. Mr. Greenwood holds a BA from Pacific Lutheran University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Contact: Genet Garamendi at [email protected] Related Links Visit Checkerspot Visit KdT Ventures SOURCE Checkerspot Inc. Related Links http://www.checkerspot.com WASHINGTON, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nearly 50 child patients and their families will join children's hospitals from across the country in Washington, D.C., for Speak Now for Kids Family Advocacy Day, June 26 27, 2018, to speak to the importance of prioritizing children's health. The event enables patient families to meet with members of Congress on issues that directly affect their children's care. Specifically, the children and their families will ask Congress to: safeguard Medicaid and improve it for children with complex medical conditions by passing the bipartisan Advancing Care for Exceptional Kids (ACE Kids) Act; and to support training programs for children's doctors by reauthorizing the bipartisan Children's Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program. "Health care coverage and being able to see a doctor is vital to all children," said Mark Wietecha, president and CEO of the Children's Hospital Association (CHA). "Making children's health a national priority requires understanding the essential role Medicaid plays for the millions of kids who, through no fault of their own, rely on the program to receive health care services designed to meet their unique needs." Roughly six percent of children enrolled in Medicaid have complex medical conditions requiring specialized care from a variety of doctors, often in multiple states. While they make up a small part of the overall pediatric population, these children represent a large share of Medicaid spending on childrenapproximately 40 percent. Alex Beckwith and his sister Maddy are medically complex patients at Cook Children's Health Care System in Fort Worth, Texas. The siblings have mitochondrial disease and a host of other serious ongoing medical challenges. Under the ACE Kids Act, kids like Alex and Maddy will benefit from an enhanced medical-home model of care designed to meet their unique needs, easing the burden of tracking and coordinating care that often falls on the families. Improved care through Medicaid will help Alex and Maddy stay focused on the things they love like acting, violin, learning and inspiring each other. "Congress has an immediate opportunity to help kids like Alex and Maddy by working to improve the effectiveness of Medicaid for children," said Rick W. Merrill, president and CEO of Cook Children's Health Care System and chair of the Board of Trustees of Children's Hospital Association. "It's so important that we make children a priority and advance bipartisan solutions to improve care, reduce spending and help children lead healthy and productive lives. I'm honored to join the brother-sister dynamo of Alex and Maddy in bringing this urgent request to our lawmakers." The bipartisan ACE Kids Act of 2017 was introduced by lead cosponsors Sens. Charles Grassley, (R-Iowa), and Michael Bennet, (D-Colo.), in the Senate and Reps. Joe Barton, (R-Tex) and Kathy Castor (D-Fla) in the House. The legislation would improve care for children with the most medically complex and expensive conditions in Medicaid while reducing spending through coordination of care across multiple providers and services, and easing access to out-of-state care. The Senate bill (S. 428) currently has more than 30 cosponsors while the House version of the bill (H.R. 3325) has garnered more than 60 cosponsors to date. All children need access to well-trained pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The CHGME program trains half of all pediatricians and pediatric specialists in the United Statesmore than 7,000 annually. The bipartisan Children's Hospitals GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2018 (S. 2597/H.R. 5385) will extend the CHGME program for five years, and sets full program funding at $330 million annually. Led by Reps. Gene Green, (D-Tex), and Michael Burgess, (R-Tex.) in the House and Sens. Bob Casey, (D-Pa), and Johnny Isakson, (R-Ga), in the Senate, the bills are supported by more than 80 members of Congress. Children's Hospital Association is the national voice of more than 220 children's hospitals, advancing child health through innovation in the quality, cost and delivery of care. http://www.childrenshospitals.org | www.speaknowforkids.org Learn more about Speak Now for Kids Family Advocacy Day; read stories about the child patients coming to D.C.; and follow the families on Facebook, www.facebook.com/speaknowforkids, and Twitter, @speaknowforkids, #SpeakNowForKids. Contacts: Erin Hughes DCI Group 202-572-6228 I 303-667-4725 Gillian Ray Children's Hospital Association 202-753-5327 | 703-408-5310 SOURCE Children's Hospital Association Related Links http://www.childrenshospitals.org TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Circle of Blue, the leading global network of journalists and researchers tracking the planet's freshwater crises, today announced Circle of Blue "MISSION.4" to inform responses and accelerate solutions to the compounding water supply and pollution challenges that threaten nations, their citizens, and the planet. Circle of Blue's MISSION.4 initiative combines on-the-ground reporting, big data, and leading-edge analysis to inform urgent decisions vital to averting global water crises. Residents in Delhi often wait for hours or days for water. Fresh water scarcity and poor management are disrupting populations, economies, the environment globally. Photo: J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue circleofblue.org Water shortages and water pollution rank among the top risks destabilizing the world threatening mass refugee migration, famine, environmental contamination, economic disruption, and conflict. Political and business leaders are failing to recognize the cascading risks and widespread environmental pressures because trend data, early warning signs, and emerging solutions are scattered. Circle of Blue's MISSION.4 initiative combines on-the-ground reporting, big data, and leading-edge analysis to inform urgent decisions vital to averting crises. Without action, as many as 700 million people could become "water refugees" by 2030, according to the latest report from the United Nations - World Bank High Level Panel on Water. More than two billion people do not have access to safe water today, and over a dozen major cities worldwide are in danger of running out of water. MISSION.4 leverages the tools of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to redefine how powerful narratives and technology unite to tell the world's most important stories about the accelerating competition between water, food, and energy, and the environment in a changing climate. "Fresh water scarcity and poor management are disrupting populations, economies, the environment every aspect of life as we know it," said J. Carl Ganter, co-founder and managing director of Circle of Blue and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on the Environment. "We are making an end-run around the disruption taking the lead with a strategy of deep knowledge, big data, human ingenuity, and emerging technologies." MISSION.4 leverages the pioneering advances in artificial intelligence, big data and remote sensing the new ways of interacting with the world and builds on Circle of Blue's nearly two decades of award-winning, global news gathering. The goal: to bring clarity, context, and relevancy to political, corporate, and citizen leaders who are searching for sustainable options to the world's complex water problems. "These tools offer the promise of perception, innovation and communication, which are all key to the decisions shaping our water future. The stakes have never been higher," Ganter said. "It's also a moment to be keenly aware of unintended consequences that could further stress fragile eco- and social systems, which is why we're an active participant in the World Economic Forum initiative, the Fourth Industrial Revolution for the Earth." Among the principal data-gathering and visualization tools, Circle of Blue: MISSION.4 will use the Perception Reality Engine from Vector Center to compare public sentiment with empirical data sources and on-the-ground context. About Circle of Blue is the internationally recognized independent journalism, science, data, design and convening network that reports on global resource issues, particularly the competition between water, food, energy, and the environment in a changing climate. Its multi-disciplinary work, convenings, and collaborations across the Great Lakes, U.S., China, Australia, Mexico, India, and the Middle East earned the Rockefeller Foundation Centennial Innovation Award. Circle of Blue is part of the Water Security Rewired Initiative of the World Economic Forum. Twitter @circleofblue Facebook http://facebook.com/circleofblue Contact Laura Herd [email protected] +1 (231) 941-1355 Engage The Daily Stream Federal Water Tap Water policy trends What's Up With Water Weekly podcasts and interviews Hotspots H2O Reporting centers of conflict and urgent water stress Global Choke Point Award-winning series produced with the Wilson Center H2O Catalyst Interactive convenings Watershed: Replenishing the World's Water Values World Water Day / Circle of Blue at The Vatican SOURCE Circle of Blue TOKYO, June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) Project, which aims to provide a base layer of industrial grade open source software components, tools and methods to enable long-term management of critical systems, today announced a new collaboration with the Debian LTS Initiative to use Debian, the universal operating system that is available to developers & companies as free, open source software. This collaboration builds upon CIP's mission of creating an open source framework that provides the software foundation needed to deliver essential services for civil infrastructure and economic development on a global scale. In this new partnership, CIP will specifically help with Debian Long Term Support (LTS), which aims to extend the lifetime of all Debian stable releases to more than 5 years. CIP will work with Freexian, a multi-faceted services company that is leading the effort for Debian LTS, to maximize interoperability, security and LTS for open source software for embedded systems. CIP will contribute in several ways, including: Funding for Debian LTS activities Working toward interoperability by harmonizing software and other elements Collaborating on common elements "CIP's mission of creating industrial grade open source software aligns with our goal of developing a free and universal operating system," said Chris Lamb, Debian Project Leader. "We are excited about this collaboration as well as the CIP's support of the Debian LTS project which aims to extend the support lifetime to more than five years. Together, we are committed to long term support for our users and laying the 'foundation' for the cities of the future." CIP has had a long history of working with Debian as most control systems for transportation, power plants, healthcare and telecommunications run on Debian embedded systems. Hosted by The Linux Foundation, CIP aims to speed implementation of Linux-based civil infrastructure systems, build upon existing open source foundations and expertise, establish de facto standards by providing a base layer reference implementation, and contribute to and influence upstream projects regarding industrial needs. This collaboration with Debian will help CIP get one step closer to achieving their goals of providing long term support for critical systems through industrial grade software and a universal operating system. A Growing Ecosystem In addition to the new collaboration with Debian, CIP also welcomes Cybertrust Japan Co, Ltd. as a new Silver member. By joining CIP, Cybertrust, a company that supplies enterprise Linux operating systems, advances its commitment to building secure and reliable embedded equipment and systems. "Linux industrial or automotive-grade embedded systems are exposed to serious security threats and our customers expect long term Linux security patches," said Tatsuo Ito, Vice President, and CTO for Cybertrust. "CIP has this expertise and shares the same goals as we do. We believe that together, we can address these critical issues." Cybertrust joins other industry leaders, such as Codethink, Hitachi, Moxa, Plat'Home, Renesas, Siemens and Toshiba, in their work to create a reliable and secure Linux-based embedded software platform that is sustainable for decades to come. "The CIP Project continues to achieve milestones to build an interoperable open source platform that is secure, reliable and sustainable for more than 10 years," said Urs Gleim, Head of the Central Smart Embedded Systems Group at Siemens and CIP Governing Board Chair. "We are thrilled that Cybertrust has joined CIP and will provide expertise in security and digital authentication based on Server Linux Distributor (Asianux) and their OTA implementations." Open Source Summit Japan CIP will be at The Linux Foundation's Open Source Summit Japan from June 20 22, 2018. The project will have a booth in the sponsor showcase and interactive demos from Hitachi, Plat'home and Renesas. CIP leaders will also be on-site to answer questions, discuss the importance of industrial grade open source software and how it impacts the city of the future. Additionally, CIP has two speaking sessions including a CIP introduction and overview for the CIP Kernel Maintenance. For more details about those sessions, click here. Additional CIP Resources: CIP Website: https://www.cip-project.org/ CIP Wiki Page: https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/civilinfrastructureplatform/start CIP Core: https://www.cip-project.org/blog/2017/10/23/cip-launches-cip-core Board At Desk: https://www.cip-project.org/blog/2017/10/18/cip-launches-bd-v1-0 About CIP The Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) is an open source project hosted by The Linux Foundation. The project is focused on establishing an open source base layer of industrial grade software to enable the use and implementation of reusable software building blocks that meet the safety, reliability and other requirements of industrial and civil infrastructure. For additional information, visit https://www.cip-project.org/. About The Linux Foundation The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world's top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org. The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see its trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage/ Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Media Contact: Maemalynn Meanor The Linux Foundation [email protected] (602) 541-0356 SOURCE Civil Infrastructure Platform Related Links https://www.cip-project.org/ Ties has been with Perforce as COO/CFO since January 2016; during that period, Dryer served as CEO of the company. In that time, the company nearly doubled its revenue through a combination of organic and inorganic growth. This success was instrumental in attracting Perforce's current sponsor, Clearlake Capital, which acquired the company in January 2018. "There is absolutely no one better equipped to continue leading Perforce on its upward trajectory," said Dryer. "I have worked closely with Mark over the last decade, teaming up on over 20 acquisitions. In these past few years at Perforce, we've been daily collaborators, and I truly look forward to seeing him succeed in this new capacity." Perforce also announced that technology and finance veteran Mike Goergen is joining the company as CFO, effective immediately. Goergen has a background in technology and proven experience making strategic contributions to growth-oriented companies like Perforce. With 26 years in finance and accounting, he was most recently CFO at Digi International, a Minnesota-based technology company. Before that, he held leadership roles at two other technology companies, Trimble and PeopleNet Communications. "I'm thrilled that Mike is joining the Perforce team. He's a smart, driven, and proactive problem solver with a strong business perspective," said Ties. "His software background positions him perfectly, and we are confident he will step right in and contribute to our outstanding momentum." "We are excited about the growth at Perforce, the suite of solutions, and the strong leadership at the company," said Prashant Mehrotra, Partner at Clearlake Capital. "Perforce has an admirable culture of teamwork and innovation and history of successful acquisitions, and we look forward to supporting the Company's continued momentum." About Perforce Perforce is a leading provider of enterprise-scale software solutions to technology developers and development operations ("DevOps") teams requiring productivity, visibility, and scale during all phases of the development lifecycle. Enterprises across the globe rely on its Agile planning and ALM tools, developer collaboration, static code analysis, version control, and repository management solutions as the foundation for successful DevOps at scale. Perforce is trusted by the world's most innovative brands, including NVIDIA, Pixar, Scania, Ubisoft, and VMware. Perforce has offices in Minneapolis, MN, Alameda, CA, Mason, OH, Boston, MA, the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Germany, India, and Australia, and sales partners around the globe. For more information, please visit www.perforce.com. About Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is a leading private investment firm founded in 2006. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with world-class management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake's operational improvement approach, O.P.S. The firm's core target sectors are software and technology-enabled services; industrials and energy; and consumer. Clearlake has managed over $7 billion of institutional capital since inception and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 100 investments. More information is available at www.clearlake.com. Media Contacts Global Colleen Kulhanek Perforce Software Ph: +1 612-517-2069 [email protected] UK/EMEA Maxine Ambrose Ambrose Communications Ph: +44 1491 412944 [email protected] For Clearlake Blicksilver PR Kristin Celauro, 732-433-5200, [email protected], or Jennifer Hurson, 845-507-0571, [email protected] SOURCE Perforce Software Related Links http://www.perforce.com SAN DIEGO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Companion Medical, a leader in the development of advanced technology to improve diabetes care, announced today the launch of Insights by InPen, the first and only integrated diabetes management report powered by a smart pen. Last year, Companion launched the InPen system, the only FDA-cleared, smart insulin pen with a best-in-class diabetes management app. Insights by InPen on a user's smartphone. The report is ready to be sent to a healthcare provider by email or fax. Daily Timelines are available on the second page. View detailed information about a user's week such as blood glucose, insulin, and carbohydrate data. "Complete and reliable data are vital for people with diabetes and their healthcare providers," said Companion's Chief Executive Officer Sean Saint. "The InPen system empowers MDI users with meaningful, actionable and accessible data that can be sent from their phone directly to their physician. Using Insights by InPen, healthcare providers can optimize treatment for MDI users, just as they do for insulin pump users." The data presented by Insights by InPen include average glucose, average total daily dose, dose calculator usage, missed doses, and detailed daily views. This information enables providers to monitor glucose control and adherence patterns, identify the cause and effect of key decisions, and make targeted improvements to therapy. InPen is available in the U.S. by prescription only. InPen automatically tracks insulin doses, detects priming and transmits this information to the InPen app, which integrates glucose data from blood glucose meters and continuous glucose monitors through Apple Health. Download the InPen app on the Apple App Store. For more information, visit www.companionmedical.com. About Companion Medical Companion Medical, Inc. (www.companionmedical.com) is a privately held company based in San Diego, CA. The company leverages cross-functional engineering expertise, clinical experience and first-hand knowledge of diabetes to develop innovative solutions for diabetes management. Megan Hakes 858-522-0252 www.companionmedical.com [email protected] SOURCE Companion Medical Related Links http://www.companionmedical.com WASHINGTON, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, "If the Trump Administration-Congress wanted to get serious about companies ripping off the federal government they would simply force the company's executives to go to jail if these individuals oversaw the scheme. This would pretty much solve the issue with major overbilling of federal agencies overnight. However, it is unlikely this will ever happen. Too many former members of congress, former high ranking government officials and or generals/admirals now work or lobby for companies involved in the wrongdoing. Defense Department Waste "Recently a company providing contract services to the US Navy was forced to pay $20 million dollars for inflating the costs of their materials and or for billing for services never rendered. In this instance the whistleblowers will receive $4.4 million dollars. "We are in the business of helping whistleblowers with proof of wrongdoing build out their claim. If an employee of a company possess proof their employer is gouging the Department of Defense for services never rendered, for inflating the costs of materials beyond the agreed to contract price or any other type of scam we are urging them to call us at 866-714-6466 so we can discuss the potential value of their information. The wrongdoing must be at least a million dollars. Please do not sit on a potentially winning lotto ticket without ever knowing what it might be worth?" http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com The Corporate Whistleblower Center is especially interested in talking to an employee who can prove their employer is over billing the Department of Defense in the following areas: A food distribution providing meals or food services A company providing fuel or energy services A company providing private security services A company providing construction services A company involved in transportation or logistics A company providing engineering services An architectural firm Simple rules for a whistleblower from the Corporate Whistleblower Center: Do not go to the government first if you want to become a whistleblower: The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, "Major whistleblowers frequently go to the government thinking they will help. It's a huge mistake. Do not go to the news media with your whistleblower information either. Any type of public revelation of a whistleblower's information could destroy the prospect for a reward. Do not try to force a government contractor or individual to come clean about overbilling the federal government out of millions of dollars, by failing to abide by the terms of contract with the federal government or by falsely claiming to be a minority, woman or veteran owned business." The Corporate Whistleblower Center wants to emphasize there are high quality whistleblowers in every major city nationwide who can prove a healthcare provider or a company providing contract services for the government is involved in major overbilling. In the instance of overbilling the US Navy a whistleblower would probably be in Norfolk, Virginia, San Diego, California, New London, Connecticut, Bremerton, Washington, Bangor, Maine, Honolulu, Hawaii, Mayport, Florida, Kings Bay, Georgia, Yokosuka, Japan, or Naples, Italy. The Corporate Whistleblower is the premier advocate for whistleblowers in the United States. Unlike any group in the US, they assist potential whistleblowers with packaging their information and providing the whistleblower with access to the most accomplished whistleblower attorneys in the nation. For more information a potential whistleblowers in any state can contact the Corporate Whistleblower anytime at 866-714-6466 or visit http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com Special note: "If a filthy rich investor would like to replace Robert Mueller as the most feared person in Washington, DC please call the Corporate Whistleblower Center. Blowing the whistle on companies ripping off the federal government could produce revenue like a Fortune 500 company and the taxpayers would love you. Our group also has affiliates in all 50 states." For attribution please refer the May 2018 Department of Justice please release regarding this matter: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-settles-lawsuit-alleging-contractor-falsely-overcharged-us-navy-ship-husbanding. Contact: Thomas Martin 866-714-6466 [email protected] SOURCE Corporate Whistleblower Center Related Links http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com SAN DIEGO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) today announced its Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) business division has been selected by the Queensland Department of Transport & Main Roads (DTMR) to provide a new ticketing system for the state. Cubic has been awarded the contract, worth approximately $276 million (AU$371 million), to design, build and operate the new ticketing system as part of Queensland's investment in ticketing. Cubic will be responsible for upgrading the current system to incorporate some of the world's most advanced ticketing technologies including contactless payment and next-generation real-time passenger information. Operation and maintenance of the system are also included in the agreement. The new system will enable Queensland commuters to use bankcards, mobile phones and personal electronic devices including watches to pay for travel on public transport. "This is an exciting partnership that would provide Queenslanders with one of the most advanced, flexible and secure public transport payment systems in the world," said Mark Bailey, Queensland's Minister for Transport and Main Roads. "This payment solution will bring more convenience and freedom of choice for commuters. We're delighted that proven technology already used across London, Chicago and Vancouver will be further enhanced for the benefit of Queensland commuters." "The Queensland contract award is a testament to Cubic's commitment in revolutionizing fare payment systems," said Bradley H. Feldmann, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Cubic Corporation. "We look forward to leveraging our world-class technologies to deliver a system that will improve travelers' daily commutes." "This new ticketing system to be installed by Cubic will provide Queensland commuters with more options and greater payment flexibility in how to pay their fares," said Matt Cole, president, Cubic Transportation Systems. "Riders want speed, convenience and a more efficient travel experience. The new ticketing system will deliver just that." "Cubic is delighted to have been selected for this landmark project," said Tom Walker, senior vice president and managing director of CTS Asia-Pacific. "This cements the very strong partnership between Cubic and DTMR that has been established since we were originally awarded the go card contract in 2003." Cubic based its Queensland bid on the company's strong credentials in proven technology and experience in designing, installing and operating projects, as well as its financial strength and depth of resources. The company's expertise in advanced ticketing and payment technologies has been demonstrated in recent months with new contract wins for the installation of new systems in New York and Boston. About Cubic Corporation Cubic is a market-leading, technology provider of integrated solutions that increase situational understanding for transportation, defense C4ISR and training customers worldwide to decrease urban congestion and improve the militaries' effectiveness and operational readiness. Cubic Transportation Systems is a leading integrator of payment and information technology and services to create intelligent travel solutions for transportation authorities and operators. Cubic Mission Solutions provides networked Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities for defense, intelligence, security and commercial missions. Cubic Global Defense Systems is a leading provider of live, virtual, constructive and game-based training solutions for the U.S. and allied forces. For more information about Cubic, please visit the company's website at www.cubic.com or on Twitter @CubicCorp. SOURCE Cubic Corporation Related Links http://www.cubic.com PHOENIX, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) announced today that the company has expanded its safe medication disposal program to select CVS Pharmacy locations in Arizona to help facilitate proper and timely disposal of opioids and other medications that could be diverted or misused if left in medicine cabinets. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich attended the launch of the program at a Phoenix CVS Pharmacy location. "Every day, our pharmacy teams see firsthand the impact of the alarming and rapidly growing epidemic of opioid addiction and misuse," said Thomas M. Moriarty, Chief Policy and External Affairs Officer, CVS Health. "Expanding our safe medication disposal efforts here in Arizona is an extension of the many initiatives in place across our company to fight the opioid abuse epidemic and fulfill our purpose of helping people on their path to better health." "Reducing access to prescription drugs is a key component in preventing opioid abuse," said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. "I commend companies like CVS for stepping up and providing these public disposal boxes at a time when our community needs it." The 13 new medication disposal units installed in CVS Pharmacy locations across the state supplement the units CVS Health has donated to local law enforcement departments in Kingman, Tolleson and Wellton. Nationwide, the company has donated nearly 900 units to police departments, collecting more than 350,000 pounds, or 158 metric tons, of unwanted medication. In addition to a $2 million national commitment to support addiction recovery in community health centers nationwide through the CVS Health Foundation, CVS Health also said it is awarding grants to two Arizona non-profit organizations working to fight and prevent opioid abuse. ICAN, a family-centered youth service organization in Chandler is receiving a $25,000 grant to support the organization's Substance Abuse Prevention program. This program begins teaching youth as early as age five to develop the skills and confidence to make positive life choices, including resisting misuse of prescription drugs. ICAN uses five separate evidence-based curricula throughout the year, which are proven to successfully develop resiliency in youth. Additionally, El Rio Health in Tucson, Arizona's largest federally qualified community health center, will receive $85,000 to provide prescribers with support and education to appropriately and effectively manage their patients experiencing chronic pain and substance use. The extension of CVS Health's safe medication disposal program in Arizona is part of the expansion of 750 safe medication disposal units to CVS Pharmacy locations across the U.S. and other enhancements to the company's strategy to address and prevent opioid abuse, announced in September 2017. As part of that effort, the company also said it would enhance opioid utilization management aligned with the CDC Guideline for CVS Caremark clients and members, complementing measures already in place. This work builds on ongoing programs the company operates including the Pharmacists Teach program, which brings CVS Pharmacists to local schools to talk to teens and parents about the dangers of abusing prescription drugs. Nearly 400,000 teens nationally including more than 12,000 in Arizona have already participated in the program. CVS Health has also worked to expand access to the opioid overdose-reversal drug naloxone in 46 states, including Arizona. About CVS Health CVS Health is a pharmacy innovation company helping people on their path to better health. Through its more than 9,800 retail locations, more than 1,100 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy benefits manager with approximately 94 million plan members, a dedicated senior pharmacy care business serving more than one million patients per year, expanding specialty pharmacy services, and a leading stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, the company enables people, businesses and communities to manage health in more affordable and effective ways. This unique integrated model increases access to quality care, delivers better health outcomes and lowers overall health care costs. Find more information about how CVS Health is shaping the future of health at https://www.cvshealth.com. Media Contacts: Erin Shields Britt Corporate Communications (401) 770-9237 [email protected] Amy Lanctot Corporate Communications (401) 770-2931 [email protected] SOURCE CVS Health Related Links http://www.cvshealth.com With General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) having come into force and cybersecurity awareness continuing to grow in the EU, Dahua Technology has realized the significant changes it may bring to the global security industry. Daniel Chau, Dahua Overseas Marketing Director, Member of Dahua Cybersecurity Committee, affirmed Dahua's utmost attentions to complying with relevant local regulations, as well as the long-term commitment to the local customers. "Personal data security and data subject rights should be highly respected and protected. GDPR will lead to market changes and non-negligible impacts towards global security players, including Dahua Technology. We are working with industry-leading professionals to support our customers to overcome the challenges brought by the transition," said Daniel Chau. Dahua Technology became the first in the global video surveillance industry to deliver IP cameras and recorders certified by TUV Rheinland based on the GDPR. Together with Daniel Chau, Udo Scalla, Global Head Centre of Excellence-IOT Privacy, TUV Rheinland and Adam Brown, Manager of Security Solutions of Synopsys, held an inspiring discussion over topics including cybersecurity best practices in electronic security applications, GDPR implications within electronic security applications and required actions, and possible effects of GDPR over AI applications in security. "How we need to change our mindset, and even consider education so people start recognizing their personal data has value and should be managed in the same way our finances are. We know where our money is, but do we really know who has our personal data and how it's used?" Udo Scalla said. Adam Brown stated, "AI uses video meta-data, which can be personal data, so covered by GDPR. This means AI and GDPR are inextricably linked and GDPR should be considered in companies use of AI technology." In line with its strong product portfolios, Dahua's commitment to cybersecurity and readiness for GDPR compliance demonstrated its value for the electronic security industry. "We would like to explore a widest possibility between technology innovation and the growing demands for privacy and security. Dahua is devoted to enabling a safer society and smarter living, and we will focus on innovation, quality and service to provide world-class solutions to customers and partners globally," concluded Daniel Chau. SOURCE Dahua Technology NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CannabisNewsWire Editorial Coverage Dating back thousands of years, people have found ways to treat pain and other ailments with cannabidiol (CBD) oil which is harvested from the hemp plant. However, the natural healing properties of CBD are being jeopardized by the advent of man-made synthetic CBDs. These chemical analogs are dangerous imitations of plant-derived product, binding to human endocannabinoid receptors at astronomically larger quantities than natural cannabinoids. These designer drugs prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a national health alert warning about synthetic cannabinoids. Shunning synthetics, Marijuana Company of America, Inc. (OTC: MCOA) (MCOA Profile) provides consumers complete transparency and delivering only pure, plant-based 100% hemp-derived products through its hempSMART brand. While Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA) and PotNetwork Holding, Inc. (OTC: POTN) market hemp-derived CBD products, some companies such as Isodiol International, Inc. (CSE: ISOL) (OTC: ISOLF) (FSE: LB6A.F) and CV Sciences, Inc. (OTC: CVSI) utilize extraction techniques to produce isolated cannabinoid compounds for both commercial and/or research uses. Surging Demand Creates Copy Cats Hemp-derived CBD grew from a market category that didn't exist five years ago to generating $190 million in sales in 2017. The U.S. industry is poised to reach $1 billion dollars in 2018, led by hemp-derived CBD, food, personal care and industrial products. Hemp Business Journal estimates the U.S. hemp industry will grow to a $2.6 billion market by 2022 with an estimated five-year CAGR of 25%. In a recent article, "Fighting fakes: Hemp leaders on the dangers of synthetic CBD," public health investigators issued warnings when 50 people were sickened after consuming synthetic CBD. What the epidemiologists found was that the products, while labeled CBD, did not contain CBD compounds. Instead, the products contained a synthetically produced cannabinoid. CBD products are often mislabeled, both in how much CBD the products contain and where the CBD comes from. A study published in JAMA revealed that nearly 70% of online CBD marijuana extracts are mislabeled, some had extra CBD, some less, and some contained hidden CBDs. Blind testing found that only about 31% of the extracts tested contained the amount of CBD listed on the label. Differentiated from Others The company's commitment to quality may differentiate Marijuana Company of America, Inc. (OTCPK: MCOA) from all others in the sector. MCOA uses the highest-quality sourced raw materials to produce the finest quality botanical supplements and topicals on the market. To ensure quality and transparency, the company's hempSMART product line has been rigorously tested to validate its purity. Products developed by hempSMART are derived and formulated from industrial hemp containing naturally occurring CBD compounds that help support the body's natural endocannabinoid system. All hempSMART products contain tested levels and clinically researched ingredients designed to meet and exceed consumers expectations. The company is led by cannabis industry pioneer Donald Steinberg, MCOA's CEO and an experienced veteran of the cannabis and industrial hemp industries. Steinberg founded the first marijuana company ever to trade on a U.S. stock market, and his extensive background and knowledge of the industry may give the company unparalleled insights into the global industrial hemp and cannabis markets. Celebrated Family of Products Derived from industrial hemp containing CBD compounds, MCOA's hempSMART product line is among the finest quality of botanical supplements on the market. Scientifically driven, each of MCOA's hempSMART products are created to ensure only the highest quality products reach discerning consumers. MCOA's hempSMART CBD consumer products are researched, developed and sold at http://www.hempsmart.com. The company recently re-launched its patent-pending wellness nootropic product hempSMART Brain, a "first of its kind" researched formulation for optimal brain function support, with 300mg of full spectrum CBD per bottle. HempSMART products also include full spectrum bioavailable CBD drops in form of a tincture containing a high concentration and potency of CBD, hempSMART Pain capsules with a blend of premium CBD and botanical supplements, and hempSMART Pain Cream with a synergistic combination of natural botanicals and full spectrum hemp extract to treat aching muscles and joints. In addition, the company now provides hempSMART Full Spectrum Pet Drops, exclusively designed for fur-bearing family members. To virally expand sales, MCOA created its own unique hempSMART affiliate network marketing program. The affiliate marketing program provides a generous compensation plan to promote and sell hempSMART's CBD consumer products in the United States. Advocates of hempSMART's CBD products make the best ambassadors and the sales model lends itself to rapid global expansion. Diversified Opportunity In addition to the research and development of hemp-based consumer products, MCOA is strategically expanding its footprint across multiple facets of the hemp industry, building a portfolio of diversified investments and joint ventures to grow the company and potentially drive shareholder value. The company recently provided updates on its 125-acre industrial hemp cultivation project in northeast New Brunswick with joint-venture partner Global Hemp Group Inc. Planting on the first 77 acres is complete and the remaining 48 acres will be seeded soon. Drying equipment is being evaluated to process the biomass after harvest and management is in discussions with several potential processing partners for the material. To target impulse buys in high traffic convenience stores, MCOA secured a 25% equity stake in Convenient Hemp Mart, LLC's BeniHemp branded products. BeniHemp products will include topicals, tinctures, and edibles packaged in one-day, two-day, and 30-day supplies distributed to convenience stores, smoke shops, gas stations and similar small retail businesses. Each owning 42.5%, MCOA and Global Hemp Group formed a joint venture, Covered Bridge Acres LTD., to develop a high yielding CBD hemp cultivation project in Oregon and committed to jointly invest a total of US$1.2 million into the project. A cornerstone of the project is the acquisition of a 109-acre agricultural property in Scio, Oregon. The property, located 70 miles south of Portland, is situated in the fertile Willamette Valley and has a history of hemp cultivation over the past two years. The farm is ideal for cultivating hemp as it contains a high level of organic matter in the soil and has an established irrigation infrastructure with sufficient water rights. MCOA successfully raised $1 million in funding for Bougainville Ventures to construct and manage a turnkey state of the art cannabis cultivation and processing facility. The joint venture has completed the setup of 10,000 sq. ft. of greenhouse space and waiting for completion of inspection, the final step before commencing cultivation. Active Companies Vying for Market Position CV Sciences (OTCQB: CVSI) operates two business segments: a drug development division focused on developing and commercializing novel therapeutics utilizing naturally occurring CBD; and, a consumer product division focused on manufacturing, marketing and selling plant-based CBD products to a range of market sectors. The company recently announced the June 7, 2018, publication of the toxicology and safety results of an extract from the base raw materials used in its PlusCBD Oil consumer products. The study, designed to investigate the safety of oral consumption of the company's hemp CBD oil and to support a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) Independent Conclusion, concluded that the test article was non-mutagenic, non-clastogenic and non-genotoxic. Isodiol International (CSE: ISOL) (OTCPK: ISOLF) (FSE: LB6A.F) is focused on pharmaceutical grade phytochemical compounds and is among industry leaders in the manufacture and development of consumer products. The company pioneered the commercialization of 99%+ pure, pharmaceutical grade cannabinoids, micro-encapsulations, and nanotechnology for consumable and topical skin care products. Isodiol earlier this month entered into a binding agreement to acquire 51% of Round Mountain Technologies, LLC ("RMT"), a cultivator of organic hemp with operations in Nevada. Medical Marijuana (OTCPK: MJNA), the first publicly traded cannabis company in the United States (founded by current CEO of Marijuana Company of America Don Steinberg), develops, distribute and sells hemp oil that contains naturally occurring cannabinoids, including CBD and other products containing CBD oil. In recent news, MJNA announced its favor on the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) recent statement on the legality of CBD -- which further clarifies that some CBD products, such as hemp-derived CBD products, are legal to distribute throughout the United States and do not fall under the regulations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Additionally, the company's HempMeds subsidiary reported the historic authorization of its Real Scientific Hemp Oil-X (RSHO-X) CBD hemp oil product for import into Argentina. PotNetwork Holding (OTCPK: POTN) is a holding company for its subsidiaries, First Capital Venture Co. that owns Diamond CBD, Inc., the maker of Diamond CBD oils. Diamond CBD researches, develops and markets hemp extracts that contain a broad range of cannabinoids and hemp derivatives. The company recently announced that Diamond CBD's online sales increased 639% higher than the year prior. PotNetwork is in currently preparing to file with the SEC to become a fully reporting company. With an estimated 25% compound annual growth rate, there's little doubt the about the trajectory of the CBD market. As the market continues its rapid expansion and more people become aware of the dangers lurking in synthetic CBD, it seems reasonable that evermore consumers will gravitate toward high-quality natural CBD product. Companies like MCOA aim to answer that call. For more information on Marijuana Company of America, visit Marijuana Company of America, Inc. (OTC: MCOA) About CannabisNewsWire CannabisNewsWire (CNW) is an information service that provides (1) access to our news aggregation and syndication servers, (2) CannabisNewsBreaks that summarize corporate news and information, (3) enhanced press release services, (4) social media distribution and optimization services, and (5) a full array of corporate communication solutions. As a multifaceted financial news and content distribution company with an extensive team of contributing journalists and writers, CNW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that desire to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. CNW has an ever-growing distribution network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets across the country. 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Please feel free to visit the Investor Brand Network (IBN) https://www.investorbrandnetwork.com/ Corporate Communications Contact: CannabisNewsWire (CNW) Denver, Colorado http://www.CannabisNewsWire.com +303-498-7722 [email protected] FN Media Group, LLC [email protected] +1-(954)345-0611 SOURCE CannabisNewsWire In just 18 months, TDF has won public tenders to deploy, operate and sale to customers of more than 700,000 FTTH ports in France, in sparsely populated areas. To become a partner of TDF, known for the quality of its service and its professional requirement, it is well recognized that the equipments provided must be excellent. Accordingly, during the first period of this partnership, DASAN will focus on the performance of the services provided, especially on the quality and optimization of logistics. As TDF is a partner of French telecom operators such as Orange, Bouygues Telecom, Free as well as all television channels, like TNT, Digital Terrestrial Television, DASAN wishes to take advantage of this agreement to develop its reputation in France. More Information: TDF (Telediffusion de France SAS) CEO Olivier Huart http://www.tdf.fr DASAN Networks CEO Nam Min-Woo http://www.dasannetworks.com Press Contacts: DASAN Networks / Head of Communication, Jihyun Kim: [email protected] SOURCE DASAN Networks Related Links http://www.dasannetworks.com/en BEDFORD, Mass., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Intensity brings on board two new members of its leadership team a new Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Already established as the leading independent provider of mission-critical application services, Data Intensity are committed to becoming the next generation Managed Service Provider supporting customers in their digital transformations. Tony Sumpster, CEO of Data Intensity stated: "To support us in that journey, I am pleased to welcome Chris Vercelli and Karl Stubelis to the team. Their long industry experience is of utmost value to our organization and their contributions are going to play a major role in shaping a bright future for Data Intensity." Chris Vercelli Chief Sales Officer Chris Vercelli joins Data Intensity as the new CSO. Chris has held sales leadership positions within the software technology space, specifically within the areas of cloud automation, enterprise software and mobility. Most recently, Chris was CSO for Automic Software, an EQT company, with offices in Vienna, Seattle, London & Paris. Automic was acquired by CA Technologies in January 2017. Prior to Automic, Chris was with IPSoft the Intelligent Automation company, where he was super focused on new logo sales. Before that, Chris worked at BMC Software, building and developing the company's workload automation global sales team. Chris has held sales leadership positions at BMC Software, CA Technologies Inc., Cybermation, Legato Systems & IBM Tivoli. Upon joining Data Intensity, Chris commented: "I am very confident that the leadership team and the entire Data Intensity employee base is poised to take the next step in our evolution to be the leader in our segment of the market. The passion, and commitment from all facets of the business is very impressive." Karl Stubelis Chief Financial Officer Karl Stubelis joins Data Intensity as the new CFO. Paul Hausback previously acted as interim CFO, brilliantly leading the Accounting, Finance and Contract Administration teams, whilst the company searched for a long-term leader. Paul will be staying with Data Intensity for the next few months to continue to advise the teams as needed, whilst Karl settles in. Karl has held a variety of operational and financial leadership roles over the past 30 years, in a range of industries and in companies of all different sizes. Before joining Data Intensity, Karl served as senior vice president and CFO/COO at a SaaS based healthcare company Arcadia, and prior to that he was CFO of $1B healthcare company, athenahealth, leading all aspects of finance for this publicly-traded, multi-national company. Karl was also Vice President, Corporate Controller, and Chief Accounting Officer at global marketing and consulting firm SapientNitro Corporation. "I am really excited to have recently joined DI. It is a fantastic company with a great story thus far, and I wanted to be part of its next chapter," Karl remarked. "Tony and the team have positioned the company to achieve rapid growth over the next few years and I felt I needed to be part of that by both learning new things, as well as bringing my experiences to help that progression." Data Intensity welcomes both Chris and Karl to the company and look forward to what the future will bring with two new members of the leadership team. Learn who else is part of Data Intensity's Leadership Team by visiting www.dataintensity.com today. About Data Intensity Data Intensity is the largest independent multi-cloud services provider focused on managing mission critical applications and services in a hybrid cloud world. Our purpose-built solutions and services focus on the lifecycle Design, Implementation, Support and Operation of technologies and platforms that power our customers' business processes. Customers choose us and stay with us because working with Data Intensity allows them to focus on their critical business needs while we focus on their applications and multi cloud investments to drive faster time to value. SOURCE Data Intensity Related Links http://www.dataintensity.com Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. DUBLIN, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Dental Surgical Instruments Market by Product (Handheld Instruments, Laser, Dental Handpiece, Ultrasonic Instruments, Consumables), Therapeutic Area (Restorative Dentistry, Orthodontics), Patient Care Setting - Global Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global dental surgical instruments market is projected to reach USD 5.96 billion by 2023 from USD 4.48 billion in 2018, at a CAGR of 5.9%. Factors such as the rising incidence of dental diseases, growing demand for cosmetic dentistry, increasing number of dental practitioners and dental clinics, and growing dental expenditure are expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. In this report, the dental surgical instruments and consumables market is segmented on the basis of product, therapeutic area, patient care setting, and region. Based on product, the market is segmented into instruments and consumables. The dental surgical instruments are further segmented into handled instruments, handpieces, ultrasonic instruments, lasers, and electrosurgical instruments. Consumables include impression trays, intraoral tips, aspiration tips and accessories, retractors, mouth props and gags, syringes, sutures, needles, elastics, and bite blocks. By type of therapeutic area, the dental surgical instruments market is segmented into restorative dentistry, orthodontics, endodontics, and other therapeutic areas. The restorative dentistry segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market in 2018. The large share of this segment is attributed to the increasing geriatric population, increasing prevalence of dental diseases, and increasing adoption of adoption of implants and prosthetic treatments in developed countries such as the US, Germany, and Japan. On the basis of patient care setting, the dental surgical instruments market is segmented into clinics and hospitals. The clinics segment is projected to hold the largest share of the dental surgical instruments market in 2018. The large share of this segment is attributed to the increasing number of dental clinics in developing countries, rapid adoption of advanced surgical instruments, and growth in the target patient population. Geographically, the global dental surgical instruments market is segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Europe accounted for the largest share of this market in 2017. This is primarily due to the increase in the aging population, increasing government expenditure on oral healthcare across Europe, rising adoption of dental cosmetic treatments, and the high reimbursement rate as compared to other regions. The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. However, the high cost of dental surgical instruments and limited reimbursement for dental surgeries may expect to hinder the growth of this market during the forecast period. Key Topics Covered: 1 Dental Surgical Instruments Market: Introduction 2 Dental Surgical Instruments Market: Research Methodology 3 Dental Surgical Instruments Market: Executive Summary 4 Dental Surgical Instruments Market: Premium Insights 4.1 Dental Surgical Instruments and Consumables: Market Overview 4.2 Asia Pacific: Dental Surgical Instruments and Consumables Market, By Therapeutic Area, 2017 4.3 Dental Surgical Instruments and Consumables Market: Geographic Analysis 4.4 Dental Surgical Instruments and Consumables Market: Geographic Mix 4.5 Dental Surgical Instruments and Consumables Market: Developing vs Developed Countries/Regions 5 Dental Surgical Instruments Market: Overview 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Market Dynamics: Impact Analysis 5.2.1 Market Drivers 5.2.1.1 Rising Incidence of Dental Diseases 5.2.1.1.1 Dental Caries and Other Periodontal Diseases 5.2.1.1.2 Edentulism 5.2.1.2 Growing Demand for Cosmetic Dentistry 5.2.1.3 Increasing Number of Dental Practitioners and Dental Clinics 5.2.1.4 Growth in Dental Expenditure 5.2.2 Market Restraints 5.2.2.1 High Cost of Dental Surgical Instruments and Limited Reimbursements for Dental Surgeries 5.2.3 Market Opportunities 5.2.3.1 Growing Dental Tourism in Emerging Markets 5.2.4 Market Challenges 5.2.4.1 Lack of Awareness and Scarcity of Dentists in Low-Income Economies 5.3 Market Trends 5.3.1 Increasing Use of Dental Lasers for Quick and Painless Dental Surgeries 5.3.2 Consolidation of Dental Practices 6 Dental Surgical Instruments Market, By Product 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Instruments 6.2.1 Handheld Instruments 6.2.2 Handpieces 6.2.2.1 Air-Driven Handpieces 6.2.2.2 Electric Handpieces 6.2.2.3 Hybrid Handpieces 6.2.3 Lasers 6.2.3.1 Soft-Tissue Lasers 6.2.3.2 All-Tissue Lasers 6.2.4 Electrosurgical Systems 6.2.5 Ultrasonic Instruments 6.3 Consumables 7 Dental Surgical Instruments Market, By Therapeutic Area 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Restorative Dentistry 7.3 Orthodontics 7.4 Endodontics 7.5 Other Therapeutic Areas 8 Dental Surgical Instruments Market, By Patient Care Setting 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Clinics 8.3 Hospitals 9 Dental Surgical Instruments Market, By Region 10 Dental Surgical Instruments Market: Competitive Landscape 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Product Portfolio Matrix 10.2.1 Dental Surgical Instruments & Consumables Product Portfolio Matrix 10.3 Revenue Analysis (2017) 10.4 Geographic Reach of Top Market Players (2017) 10.5 Market Share Analysis 10.5.1 Dental Lasers 10.5.2 Dental Handpieces 10.6 Competitive Situations and Trends 10.6.1 Product Launches and Upgrades 10.6.2 Agreements, Partnerships, and Collaborations 10.6.3 Mergers & Acquisitions 10.6.4 Expansions 11 Company Profiles Dentsply Sirona Inc. Danaher Corporation 3M Company Company Coltene Holding AG Brasseler USA A-Dec Inc. Hu-Friedy Manufacturing Company, LLC Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corporation Nakanishi Inc. Biolase, Inc. The Yoshida Dental Mfg. Co., Ltd. Helmut Zepf Medizintechnik GmbH Prima Dental Manufacturing Ltd. B. Braun Melsungen AG AMD Lasers CAO Group, Inc. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/7grg47/dental_surgical?w=5 Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com LAS VEGAS, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Digipath, Inc. (OTCQB: DIGP), a service-oriented independent testing laboratory and media firm focused on the developing cannabis market, is pleased to announce that it was awarded Emerald Badges for its performance in the Spring 2018 Emerald Test for proficiency in a variety of cannabis tests, including potency in oil, heavy metals, terpenes, microbial 1 (quantitative), microbial 2 (qualitative salmonella), shiga-toxin expressing E. coli (STEC), aspergillus mold, and mycotoxins. The Emerald Test is an Inter-Laboratory Comparison and Proficiency Test (ILC/PT) program for cannabis testing labs. It brings to the cannabis industry a well-established standard for testing in the environmental, food, pharmaceutical, water, and petrochemical testing industries. Emerald Badges are awarded to the top performing labs in each proficiency test category, with criteria established by the ISO-accredited PT manufacturer. Labs that receive a Badge are not only recognized for their capabilities in comparison to their peers within a given series, but also for their commitment to good science in the cannabis industry. Todd Denkin, President and COO of Digipath Labs, commented, "Participating in blinded, third party facilitated proficiency testing at least twice every year demonstrates Digipath Labs' commitment to continuous improvement and to being the best cannabis testing laboratory in Nevada and wherever else we may open." About Digipath, Inc. Digipath, Inc. supports the cannabis industry's best practices for reliable testing, cannabis education and training, and brings unbiased cannabis news coverage to the cannabis industry. Digipath Labs provides pharmaceutical-grade analysis and testing to the cannabis industry to ensure producers, consumers, and patients know exactly what is in the cannabis they make and to help maximize the quality of its client's products through analysis, research, development, and standardization. Investor Relations Contact Harrison Phillips Viridian Capital Advisors, LLC 212-209-3086 [email protected] Information about Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that include information relating to future events. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which that performance or those results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time they are made and/or management's good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in, or suggested by, the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: the Company's need for additional funding, the demand for the Company's products, governmental regulation of the cannabis industry, the Company's ability to maintain customer and strategic business relationships, the impact of competitive products and pricing, growth in targeted markets, the adequacy of the Company's liquidity and financial strength to support its growth, and other risks that may be detailed from time-to-time in the Company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting Digipath, please refer to the Company's recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, which are available at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. SOURCE Digipath, Inc. Related Links https://www.digipath.com SHANGHAI, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to questions from our shareholders, we are voluntarily electing to issue this press release to assist our shareholders in understanding the significance of the record date, payable date and ex-dividend date that are mandated by the NYSE rules for the special cash dividend distribution for Acorn International, Inc. (NYSE: ATV) ("Acorn" or the "Company") that was previously declared and announced on May 25, 2018. As previously announced, below are the distribution dates for Acorn's distribution of US$0.75 per ordinary share, or approximately US$14.97 per American depositary share ("ADS"). Declaration - 5/25/2018 Record Date - 6/4/2018 Payable Date - 6/22/2018 Ex-Dividend Date - 6/25/2018 Under Section 703.02(B) of New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") Listed Company Manual, when as here a dividend distribution amounts to 25% or more of the stock price, the NYSE applies an ex-dividend date of one business day after the mail date for the distribution. Record shareholders who sell their shares before the ex-dividend date are obligated to pay a due-bill to the buyer, delivering the dividend payable on such shares. Accordingly, under Acorn's announced schedule, a record shareholder who sells his/her shares on or after June 25, 2018 shall be able to keep the dividends distributed. Record shareholders who sell their shares before June 25, 2018 shall be obligated to deliver the dividends to the buyer. About Acorn International, Inc. Co-founded in 1998 by Executive Chairman Robert Roche, Acorn is a marketing and branding company in China with a proven track record of developing, promoting and selling a diverse portfolio of proprietary-branded products, as well as well-established and promising new products from third parties. Its current business includes selling merchandise to consumers in China primarily through e-commerce and its outbound call center. For more information visit www.acorninternationalir.com. Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "future," "going forward," "intends," "outlook," "plans," "target," "will," "potential," and similar statements. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions, and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause the Company's actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties, or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE Acorn International, Inc. Related Links http://www.acorninternationalir.com WUHAN, China, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dunxin Financial Holdings Limited ("Dunxin" or the "Company") (NYSE American: DXF), a leading licensed microfinance lender serving individuals and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Hubei Province, China, announced today that it has been recognized as an Outstanding Enterprise by the Office of Business Administration, People's Bank of China Wuhan Branch in its 2017 Financial Statistics Report. During 2017, 90 financial services companies in Wuhan were evaluated by the People's Bank of China. Dunxin is one of the ten microfinance lenders that received full marks in the 2017 Financial Statistics Report. This report assesses each lender's corporate governance, financial system, risk management, and information disclosure. Mr. Qizhi "Ricky" Wei, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dunxin commented, "We are honored to accept the Outstanding Enterprise Award by the Office of Business Administration, People's Bank of China Wuhan Branch. This award is a testament to our achievement in meeting the high standard of compliance requirements set by the government." Mr. Wei continued, "We are also pleased that the authorities are recognizing our contributions to the local economy. Going forward, we will continue providing high quality services to both individuals and SMEs. As one of the largest microfinance lenders in Hubei, we are confident that our strong capital management capabilities and local network presence will fuel the long term growth of Dunxin." About Dunxin Financial Holdings Limited Dunxin Financial Holdings Limited ("DXF") is one of the leading licensed microfinance lenders in Hubei Province, China. We have been granted a microfinance license by the Financial Affairs Office of the Hubei Provincial People's Government to provide loans to individuals and small- and medium-sized enterprises. We received the Vice President Award from the China Micro-credit Companies Association under the China Banking Regulatory Commission in January 2017 and the President Award from the Hubei Micro-credit Company Association in December 2017. In 2016, we were recognized as a "National Excellent Microfinance Company" by the China Micro-credit Companies Association. We have been named one of the "Top 100 Most Competitive Microfinance Companies in China" by China Microfinance Institution Association for four consecutive years since 2013, an "AA- Credit Rating Enterprise" by China Credit Management Co., Ltd in August 2017, and one of the "Top 10 Private Enterprises in Wuchang District, Wuhan City" by the People's Government of Wuchang District in July 2017. The Company has a strong capital base and professional credit business experience in the microfinance industry. Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will", "expects", "anticipates", "future", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates", "target", "going forward", "outlook" and similar statements. Such statements are based upon management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions, and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under law. For additional information, please contact: Dunxin Financial Holdings Limited Ms. Claire Chen Telephone: +86(27)8856-9912 Email: [email protected] ICR Inc. Jack Wang Telephone: +1(646)809-7902 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Dunxin Financial Holdings Limited BETHLEHEM, Pa., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Quality Master Data is the key enabler to reducing costs and increasing sales. ISO 8000 Master Data Quality Manager (ISO 8000 MDQM) certification is the badge of those who know how to deliver portable master data that meets stated requirements, demonstrating true MDM leadership. ECCMA ISO 8000 is the international standard for quality master data defined as portable master data that meets stated requirements. If master data is not portable, it most probably belongs to the software application being used to manage it and the data within it is under license terms. Additionally, if master data does not meet organizational requirements, it is not quality master data and if it exceeds requirements, it is not better quality but it will be more expensive than necessary. Learning how to recognize ISO 8000 quality master data is the first step to creating a successful master data management or data governance program. ECCMA is a not-for-profit international association of data quality managers and application providers founded in 1999. ECCMA led the development of ISO 8000 and it is proud to be able to offer Master Data Managers the opportunity to obtain the qualification of ISO 8000 Master Data Quality Manager at no cost. To register for certification, visit the certification page of the ECCMA website here. The course material and multi-choice certification test is hosted on an online learning platform and on-site training delivered by an experienced instructor is also available for groups on request. On successful completion of the test, candidates will receive a certificate in electronic format and the logo of ECCMA Certified ISO 8000 Master Data Quality Manager (ISO 8000 MDQM). A live signature certificate is available for a nominal mailing and handling fee. Media Contact Peter R. Benson Executive Director, ECCMA [email protected] Related Links Register for MDQM Certification SOURCE ECCMA Related Links https://eccma.org NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a joint letter, New York City Councilmembers are urging Mayor de Blasio to "show environmental leadership by exploring the use of biomethane fuel." Biomethane is another name for renewable natural gas (RNG) made from organic waste. Twelve members of the City Council's Progressive Caucus signed the letter, which argues "Ultra-low emissions biomethane could be used both by NYC's surface transit and in our City fleets, further aligning the City's procurement practices with our climate and clean air goals." "Those goals and practices need better alignment, and the letter shows leadership in flagging that," said Matt Tomich, president of the NGO Energy Vision, which released the letter. "New York City pledged to achieve the best air quality of any major U.S. city by 2050 and to cut GHGs 80% from its municipal fleet vehicles by 2035. But City fleets plan to keep buying diesel heavy vehicles, which would lock in diesel emissions for years." Energy Vision issued a report last month finding that continued reliance on diesel for municipal heavy vehicles would prevent the City from reaching those goals, and that RNG offered by far the best fuel alternative for heavy vehicles. Last month health experts and public interest groups including Energy Vision called on New York City to stop procuring diesels, and adopt superior alternatives, especially CNG vehicles fueled with RNG. RNG is the lowest-carbon fuel available and can be net carbon-negative over its lifecycle. New York City generates 1.2 million tons of food waste annually, which could produce enough RNG to fuel all heavy vehicles in NYC fleets. Trucks and buses equipped with Cummins "Near Zero" natural gas engines, which can run on ultra-low carbon RNG, generate only a tenth of the health-damaging particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions compared to trucks and buses running on diesel or "renewable diesel" (RD). Nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions are of special concern in New York, since 13.3% of NYC youth under 18 suffer from asthma (almost twice the national average). Energy Vision experts testified on these issues at recent City Council budget hearings. At a May 17 hearing, Councilman Antonio Reynoso and Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia discussed the possibility of procuring refuse trucks equipped with Near Zero engines and fueling them at existing natural gas refueling stations. Contact: Stephen Kent, [email protected] 914-589-5988 SOURCE Energy Vision Related Links http://www.energy-vision.org HASSELT, Belgium, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Eurofins Digital Testing, a global leader in end-to-end quality assurance and testing services, today announced that it has acquired Insite Security, a leader in information security services, to reinforce its portfolio of cybersecurity services offered to companies around the globe. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Insite Security provides insights into the security level of IT systems of corporations and non-profit organizations. The company provides security awareness and training to create safe behavior amongst employees, implementation assessments and audits to apply appropriate security policies, and security testing and monitoring to ensure compliance across infrastructure, systems and applications based on certifiable international standards. Within its cybersecurity portfolio, Eurofins currently provides a range of services including security assessments, compliance services, security strategy and governance, device security testing, and content security compliance for the Digital Production Partnership (founded by ITV, BBC and Channel 4). The addition of Insite Security expands Eurofins Digital Testing's global cyber security footprint to the Netherlands. Earlier this year, Eurofins Digital Testing also announced that it acquired Edge Testing Solutions, a software testing provider in the UK. Eurofins Digital Testing operates globally with facilities in Belgium, Sweden, The Netherlands, UK, US, Poland and Hong Kong. "With today's digital transformation and increased connectivity, knowledge of security risks is essential to mitigate IT-related risks and ensure a safer IT infrastructure," said Johan Craeybeckx, Business Line Director, Eurofins Digital Testing International. "Insite Security is known for providing superior IT security services, and we look forward to extending their capabilities across the globe and offering state-of-the-art cyber security solutions to protect our clients' connected systems and data." "We are honored and excited to join Eurofins Digital Testing and to work together to address security vulnerabilities and security awareness for companies around the globe," said Erik Rutkens, CEO of Insite Security. "The combined strengths of both organizations will allow us to provide quality assurance for information security processes across a variety of sectors. We look forward to a successful future together." Erik and Insite Security's team of ca. 70 people will remain with the company. More information about Eurofins Digital Testing can be found at: http://www.eurofins-digitaltesting.com/. Additional details about Insite Security can be found at: https://www.insitesecurity.nl/. About Eurofins Digital Testing: Eurofins Digital Testing is a leader in end-to-end Quality Assurance (QA), providing test tools, test services and training to validate digital media systems for operators worldwide. Eurofins Digital Testing is part of the Eurofins Group. Eurofins Digital Testing operates globally with facilities in Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, UK, US, Poland and Hong Kong. For more information, visit: http://www.eurofins-digitaltesting.com/. The company is part of the larger Eurofins Group, a leading provider of multi-industry analytical services, with an international network of more than 400 laboratories in 44 countries, over 35,000 staff members, and sales of 2.97 billion euros in 2017. SOURCE Eurofins Digital Testing Related Links https://www.eurofins-digitaltesting.com WASHINGTON, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement after President Trump signed an executive order that will allow children to stay with parents who are arrested for entering the United States illegally: "Yesterday I assembled a small group of evangelical leaders and pastors to discuss with Attorney General Jeff Sessions ways in which the federal government can uphold the law on our southern border while at the same time showing compassion for families and children. Attorney General Sessions shared our concerns and pledged to work toward a solution that would be just, fair and enforceable. President Trump issued an executive order today that will compassionately keep families together while also upholding the rule of law. "However, this should not lessen the pressure for Congress to come together to overhaul our immigration system and secure our borders. The inaction of Congress has helped create this crisis on the border. We need an immigration policy that is truly just, fair, family friendly, and enforceable. If there is a silver lining, all this has brought much needed attention to the immigration issue. I am hopeful that all sides may finally come to the table and negotiate a solution," concluded Perkins. SOURCE Family Research Council Related Links http://www.frc.org RESTON, Virginia, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MinerEye, a provider of AI-powered data governance solutions that facilitate cloud migration in full compliance with government regulations and security, has announced a strategic partnership with Agile Defense, a leading information technology (IT) company that provides advanced services to the United States Department of Defense and many federal agencies. Agile Defense will offer MinerEye's Data Tracker as part of its cloud solutions portfolio, enabling government agencies to discover and track large data volumes, to downsize and facilitate secure and expedited cloud migrations; and to comply with data protection regulations. "MinerEye's Data Tracker addresses a key issue that many of our government clients face: knowing what data they have, where it resides and what part should move to the cloud," explains Agile Defense Chief Executive Officer Jay Lee. "Governments want to transfer their most critical data assets to the cloud and look to solutions like MinerEye to organize this data, cut migration costs, and ensure security, compliance, and privacy." "A partnership with one of the leading IT solutions and service providers serving the U.S. government is a strong vote of confidence for our products and capabilities," says MinerEye CEO Yaniv Avidan. "We look forward to deploying our Artificial Intelligence-based solutions to help the U.S. government better manage its data as it moves to the cloud." MinerEye has been working with a growing number of Microsoft Azure customers to help them migrate to the Azure cloud, extract more value from their data, and to lower risk. MinerEye helps these organizations detect and track sensitive information including dark and unstructured data - no matter where it is created, modified, or shared. About Agile Defense, Inc. Agile Defense, based in Reston, VA, provides information technology (IT) services to a number of U.S. Federal Government clients across civilian agencies and various branches within the Department of Defense. Agile Defense seeks to support and enable mission success through its innovative technology solutions and empowered workforce across the world. To learn more about Agile Defense, please visit www.agile-defense.com. About MinerEye Powered by Interpretive AITM, MinerEye continually tracks data whatever its form and wherever it resides. With MinerEye's unique approach, companies can now discover, organize and track vast information assets by scanning enterprise data repositories at the byte and pixel level. Sensitive data is mapped, tagged and secured according to data protection and compliance regulations including GDPR, HIPPA, PCI-DSS, SOC2, and EU-US Privacy Shield. Employing machine learning and computer vision, MinerEye's flagship product DataTracker is helping companies reduce data storage, fast-track and monitor cloud migration, protect previously undetected, undermanaged and unclassified data against security breaches, and continuously audit information to maintain regulatory compliance. For more information, visit www.minereye.com, or watch our videos on our solution. Contact: Andrew Lavin A. Lavin Communications 516-944-4486 [email protected] SOURCE MinerEye PHILADELPHIA, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Beginning Wednesday, July 11th, through Friday, July 13th, 2018, the Blockchain World Conference (BWC) will kick off the largest-ever blockchain event at Harrah's Resort in Atlantic City, NJ to bring together the blockchain community, elevate and expand the industry, and solidify the future of the technology. The conference will also hold the very first blockchain industry achievement awards gala, and the first-ever town hall meeting around regulatory and compliance as it relates to cryptocurrency at a major Blockchain event. "The cryptocurrency industry has tremendous growth potential and the capacity to revolutionize the economy as we know it, yet it is very complex and can be challenging to understand," said Alex Falcone, BWC COO. "This is exactly why the BWC was createdto serve as a platform to educate, increase awareness and culminate thought-leaders in the blockchain sector, aimed to amplify the professionalism and credibility to the industry to a whole new level." As the largest crypto event in the world, with over 12,000 square feet of exhibit space, this three-day conference will bring together over 8,000 members of the international blockchain community, 200 speakers, 120 exhibitors, 5,000 accredited investors, 1,000 developers and 250 ICOs to drive progress within the blockchain space. Attendees can expect to hear from a compelling lineup that includes venture capitalist and entrepreneur Founder of Overstock.com and tZERO Dr. Patrick Byrne, Managing Director of Comcast Venture Gil Beyda, Microsoft CTO, Azure Engineering and Blockchain Specialist Graham Mosely, Co-Founder of the Digital Asset Trade Association (DATA) and Bueno Capital Brittany Kaiser, Crypto-pioneer and founder of Mt. Khalifa Ezekiel de Jong, Founder & CEO of Celsius Network, Alex Mashinsky and Eric Moe, Advisor, Founder & CTO of Open Table. John McAfee, computer programmer, champion of blockchain technologies and a fierce advocate of cryptocurrencies, will serve as the keynote speaker for BWC. Each one of BWC's 150+ highly regarded speakers has been handpicked to deliver the most current and up to date information available anywhere in the blockchain arena. "Never before has an event in the Blockchain industry succeeded in bringing together more titans, experts, scientists, analysts, educators and business leaders on one stage," said Mahesh Chand, BWC representative, author & CEO of Mind Cracker, Inc. "The Blockchain World Conference will enable attendees to learn more over the course of three days than any other industry event." During the conference, attendees will have the opportunity to build relationships with leading blockchain investors and developers, invest in blockchain-startups and businesses utilizing crowdfunding, increase the security of their cryptocurrency assets and learn about the future of blockchain development. Attendees will also have the ability to participate in the town hall meeting, during a question and answer portion of the meeting, that will take place on July 12 at 2:00 p.m. During the meeting, pressing regulatory and compliance issues around evolving Blockchain technology will be addressed. For more information on the Blockchain World Conference, or to purchase tickets, visit www.bwcevent.com or call (657) 464-7195. The conference will also be broadcast live, and available to stream. To schedule an interview with a representative from the Blockchain World Conference, please contact Jessica Olenik at Neff Associates at (267) 457-2045 or [email protected]. ABOUT BLOCKCHAIN WORLD CONFERENCE: The Blockchain World Conference (BWC) team has scoured the globe to put together what is by far the most compelling lineup of Blockchain and crypto experts. Each one of BWC's highly regarded speakers has been handpicked to deliver the most current and up to date info available anywhere in the Blockchain arena. Never before in Blockchain history, has an event brought together more titans, experts, scientists, analyst, educators and business leaders on one stage. There is simply nowhere else where you can learn more over the course of three days than at the Blockchain World Conference. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit, www.bwcevent.com or call (657) 464-7195. CONTACT: Jessica Olenik Devan West Neff Associates Neff Associates O: 267.467.2045 O: 215.627.4747 x106 C: 732.740.5751 C: 610.428.3166 E: [email protected] E: [email protected] SOURCE Blockchain World Conference Related Links https://bwcevent.com Pine Grove Mayor Barbara King called a special informative meeting for June 11 for discussions pertaining to sewer and water increases for the town. A presentation to address the need for the increases, and to explain the steps necessary to acquire the funding, was presented by several groups in attendance. Among those speaking were representatives of the USDA, DEP, and PSC, along with A.C. Belomar Regional Development Council, Doug Forni from Thrasher Engineering and Zack Dobbins, CPA from Fairmont. Mayor King explained she had invited these individuals to the meeting to give council and residents a better understanding of the need for increases and what it takes to receive the funds necessary to move forward with Phase III of the sewer project. Recently the town has been receiving complaints from many of its residents and businesses concerning sewage in their basements, yards and streets. The majority of the complaints center around visible raw sewage and the odor of sewer gas. At Mondays meeting, Doug Forni of Thrasher said his company had performed a study of the current system and with Phase I and Phase II completed, in order for the system to work properly, Phase III needs to be finished. Zack Dobbins, CPA, also was in agreement. Both mentioned the cost associated with the project would be around $3,460,000 but in order for the town to be eligible for grant money and loans, they would have to approve an increase in sewer rates. According to the financial analysis, rates within the city would need to be increased by around 30 percent. The proposed increase would raise the rates on sewage from $59.76 per month to $77.67 based on water useage of 4,500 gallons. However, it would also raise $8.56 for every additional 500 gallons used. Accordingly, water rates would also need to be increased to qualify for grant money. The town heard information from the representatives of the various agencies, including the USDA, which explained the town is not in good standing with its loan for previous updates to the sewer system and has fallen behind in recent monthly payments, which could also affect their credit rating and ability to get grants and loans. Town Recorder Rhonda Spencer said the payment for June was just mailed out; however, the USDA representative told her the town is still considered behind on payment until it is received. According to the USDA, there had been a period of time in which a payment was not received for for four to five months, and there is interest owed on that. Residents questioned the need to finish Phase III of the system. Residents said their systems are now operating properly, and previous troubles were caused by failure to maintain the system. Within the past week, two new city workers and some volunteers have cleaned the sewage pits and cleared the lines. Workers changed oil in the pumps and have done other maintenance work and there is no problem. According to Thrasher, Phase III still needs to be completed because the two systems are not compatible and more maintenance problems would continue. Tim Flint, who helped recently clear the system, was asked how long the old vacuum system would last. He responded if properly maintained, he believes it could last forever. At that point, Mayor King and all the council thanked the visitors from the various agencies for coming to the meeting and for their input. King then called to order the regular scheduled meeting of council, at which time the agencies left. After approving the minutes of the last meeting and the financial report, Mayor King called for the reading of the ordinances for sewer and water rate increases. City recorder Spencer read the sewer ordinance, and Mayor King called for a motion to pass the reading. Councilwoman Cindy Figler made a motion to adopt the ordinance, but the motion failed for a lack of a second. Mayor King then responded if there was nothing else to be addressed, she would like a motion to adjourn. Councilman Richard Price asked that council read the ordinance for the water increase. After Spencer read the proposed ordinance, the measure died for lack of a motion. Councilwoman Stacy Judge said she would not vote for the increase because with the amount of water her and her family uses, it would raise her bill higher than her house payment. She said she just could not afford it, and she is going to have a daughter going to college. Councilman Casey Pingley said he could not vote for this ordinance because he has never once, since hes been on council, heard discussion about cutting costs. He said there are elderly people in the community and others as well, that are living on very little, and hes is not going to vote something in that would make it harder for them to live. Councilman Price stated there are ways to cut costs; he said recently the town has saved over $5,000 on wages, including overtime, by terminating the employment of workers that werent doing their job and hiring people that want to work. He said he recently watched as a lady cried because she couldnt afford the city utilities while living on $800 a month. I am not going to throw anymore weight on the backs of those people, and I will tell you now, if you dont like the way I vote, than you can vote me out. I believe we can keep the system we have and make it work fine without putting the burden on those who cant afford it, said Price No action was taken on the matter, and after brief discussion on how the old vacuum and new gravity sewage systems would work together, the meeting was adjourned. On Tuesday June 12, the Wetzel Chronicle was informed Mayor King and Councilwoman Figler had resigned from their positions on council. Councilman Richard Price has been appointed as mayor. According to Mayor Price, Figler said it was just time for her to leave council. Price said King gave no statement or reason as to why she was resigning. Mayor Price said he believes the town will be able to get all of its current sewage problems behind them and will be making repairs, working on pits, and working to get some much needed parts and equipment. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- FMC GlobalSat, a global provider of satellite and cellular services, has announced the signing of Miami-based Globalklass Groupe Inc to its growing roster of global sub-distributors. The agreement allows authorizes Globalklass Groupe to assist FMC GlobalSat in selling, delivering and installing Kymeta's satellite technology solutions terminals to Latin America and the Caribbean-based customers in the power and control, smart grid, security, communications and smart city sector. Fernando Ache, president Globalklass Group said, "Our ability to provide such ground-breaking technology to our clients will allow us to expand our portfolio beyond the typical electrical equipment and open a new advance technology to them." "FMC GlobalSat continues its rapid growth thanks to a number of new subdistributors," said Joe Sullivan, vice president of sales at FMC GlobalSat. "These partners are a key element of our go-to-market strategy. Our partner network enables a large variety of clients to receive the same excellent service that we and our partners offer while allowing FMC GlobalSat to expand its global reach in several key market sectors." About FMC GlobalSat FMC GlobalSat, a leading provider of global connectivity, provides best-in-class satellite and wireless solutions to markets and industries that requires long term visibility into cost, and demand strict adherence to regulatory requirements. FMC GlobalSat provides satellite communications solutions to the renewable energy industry including Kymeta communication solutions. The company configures, integrates and deploys Kymeta solutions to support the renewable energy market with reliable, high-throughput satellites leveraging 53 satellites, 8 teleports, 20,000 miles of fiber optic, 24/7 enterprise grade technical support with 56 points of presence in 37 cities around the world. FMC GlobalSat also offers 3G, and 4G cellular solutions across CDMA, GSM, and LTE networks in more than 190 countries, and more than 550 underlying carriers, all delivered on a single platform. FMC GlobalSat and its carrier partners' networks provide 99.995% reliability, unmatched in the IoT/M2M communications industry. www.fmcglobalsat.com About Globalklass Groupe Inc. The experience that GKG has gained put them as a leader in Smart Grid and Smart City solutions. It is focused on critical infrastructure as well as major cities / municipalities. GKG has staff certified and available immediately with online support that allows access to equipment in a very short time, also has field engineers that, in case of need, will be on-site as soon as possible directed by our technicians in the offices or the manufacturers. The spectrum of solutions and services is varied and ranges from furnishing, consulting, commissioning as well as turnkey packages according to the requirements of the customers. GlobalKlass Group Inc. partners with international leaders like Square D and Schneider Electric to deliver Smart Grid, Smart City, Communications, security and power and control solutions to major cities and municipalities in Latin America and the Caribbean. http://globalklass.com/ For Press Inquiries: Mark Del Franco Director of Communications FMC GlobalSat (954) 678-0697 SOURCE FMC GlobalSat Related Links fmcglobalsat.com South Dakota became a pioneer in the gaming industry more than three decades ago by being the first state in the country to implement a video lottery system. At the time, the state's Lottery Commission turned exclusively to a new company called GLI for start-up consultation and video terminal/system testing and certification. Soon after, the South Dakota Commission on Gaming was created to regulate casinos and contracted with GLI for slot machine testing. Now, 30 years later, GLI and the South Dakota Commission on Gaming are continuing their three-decade relationship by renewing GLI's consulting contract. Since it first began, the contractual relationship between GLI and the South Dakota Commission on Gaming has evolved along with gaming in the state. Today, GLI tests a wide variety of advanced electronic gaming equipment and consults with the state on the latest emerging gaming technologies. "In 1989, the State of South Dakota took a chance on a small startup gaming test lab and today we can look back with a sense of pride in all that we have accomplished together during these many years," said James Maida, President and CEO of GLI. "We have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the State of South Dakota and the South Dakota Commission on Gaming. We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude for believing in our company and sharing our vision of how gaming could flourish under the protection of independent testing. We look forward to working together for years to come to ensure the integrity and prosperity of South Dakota's trailblazing gaming industry." "Since the inception of gaming in South Dakota, GLI has been an invaluable part of our accomplishments from the outset," stated Larry B. Eliason, Executive Secretary for the South Dakota Commission on Gaming. "As we began the process of implementing gaming throughout the state, we needed to ensure our residents, and ourselves, that gaming could be conducted honestly and successfully, while protecting competition and public policy. Our close relationship with GLI was, and continues to be, a key element in achieving those goals." About Gaming Laboratories International Gaming Laboratories International, LLC delivers the highest quality land-based, lottery and iGaming testing and assessment services. GLI's laboratory locations are found on six continents, and the company holds U.S. and international accreditations for compliance with ISO/IEC 17025, 17020, and 17065 standards for technical competence in the gaming, wagering and lottery industries. For more information, visit gaminglabs.com. Contact: Christie Eickelman, VP of Global Marketing, [email protected] SOURCE Gaming Laboratories International Related Links http://www.gaminglabs.com MILL VALLEY, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Glassdoor, one of the world's largest job and recruiting sites, today announced the winners of its annual Employees' Choice Awards, honoring the Top CEOs in 2018 across North America and parts of Europe. Unlike any other workplace award, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback by completing a company review about their CEO's leadership, along with insight into their job, work environment and employer over the past year. This year, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards for the Top CEOs feature six distinct company categories across the U.S., Canada, UK, France and Germany. In the U.S., Glassdoor has revealed the 100 Top CEOs (honoring CEOs at employers with 1,000 or more employees) and the 50 Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies (honoring CEOs at employers with fewer than 1,000 employees). The ten Top CEOs in 2018 in the U.S. are: 1. Zoom Video Communications' Eric S. Yuan (99 percent approval) 2. Boston Scientific's Michael F. Mahoney (99 percent approval) 3. DocuSign's Daniel Springer (99 percent approval) 4. In-N-Out Burger's Lynsi Snyder (99 percent approval) 5. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's James Downing (98 percent approval) 6. Power Home Remodeling's Corey Schiller and Asher Raphael (98 percent approval) 7. H E B's Charles C. Butt (98 percent approval) 8. LinkedIn's Jeff Weiner (97 percent approval) 9. Wegmans Food Markets' Colleen Wegman (97 percent approval) 10. Salesforce's Marc Benioff (97 percent approval) The five Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies in 2018 in the U.S. are: 1. Samsara's Sanjit Biswas (99 percent approval) 2. Acceleration Partners' Robert Glazer (99 percent approval) 3. Sprout Social's Justyn Howard (99 percent approval) 4. Logical Position's Michael Weinhouse and John Ganey (99 percent approval) 5. Strive Consulting's Ron Rother (99 percent approval) "Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day. I congratulate all of this year's winners on this significant achievement," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work." Glassdoor's 100 Top CEOs in 2018 list features winning chief executives across diverse industries spanning technology, health care, finance, manufacturing, retail and more. Zoom Video Communications' Eric S. Yuan (No. 1, 99 percent approval) is among 42 CEOs debuting as a Top CEO, along with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's James Downing (No. 5, 98 percent approval), E. & J. Gallo Winery's Joe Gallo (No. 18, 96 percent approval) and Six Flags' James Reid-Anderson (No. 40, 94 percent approval). Of the eight women CEOs who make the top 100, the three highest-rated women are In-N-Out Burger's Lynsi Snyder (No. 4, 99 percent approval), Wegmans Food Markets' Colleen Wegman (No. 9, 97 percent approval) and Taylor Morrison's Sheryl Palmer (No. 19, 96 percent approval). On the 2018 list of the 50 Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies, four of the top five CEOs are all newcomers to this list. This year, there are 15 CEOs who are recognized by employees in multiple countries, including only one CEO who has made five lists Microsoft's Satya Nadella (U.S. Large, Canada, UK, France, Germany) and one who has made four lists SAP's Bill McDermott (U.S. Large, UK, Canada, Germany). When employees submit reviews about their employer on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experience, including sentiment around their CEO's leadership, in addition to rating workplace attributes like senior management, among others. Specifically, when rating their CEO on Glassdoor, employees are asked to report whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the performance of their CEO. Among the more than 770,000 employers reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. Employees' Choice Award winners for the 2018 Top CEOs and Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies are determined using Glassdoor's proprietary algorithm, taking into account the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews shared by U.S.-based employees between May 2, 2017 and May 1, 2018. At a minimum, employers considered for the large list must have received at least 100 company reviews, including at least 100 CEO approval ratings and at least 100 senior management ratings, while employers eligible for the small & medium list must have received at least 35 company reviews, including at least 35 CEO approval ratings and at least 35 senior management ratings, respectively, during the eligibility period. For reporting simplicity, CEO approval ratings are displayed as whole numbers, though calculations extend beyond the thousandth decimal place to determine final rank order. Complete award methodology can be found and downloaded here: https://www.glassdoor.com/List/about-employees-choice-awards.htm SEE THE 2018 WINNERS: All winning CEOs across this year's six categories can be found by visiting: 100 Top CEOs U.S. 50 Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies U.S. 25 Top CEOs Canada 50 Top CEOs UK 10 Top CEOs France 10 Top CEOs Germany WHAT MAKES A GREAT CEO?: According to a study from Glassdoor Economic Research, highly rated CEOs are statistically linked to companies with great cultures. Among measures of company culture, the biggest driver of high CEO approval ratings is employee satisfaction with senior leadership. The study also reveals a strong link between CEO approval rating and financial performance. CEO INTERVIEWS + EMPLOYEE COMMENTARY: Glassdoor is showcasing interviews with winning CEOs, revealing best practices into how they lead, fun facts about their journey to the top and insights into what makes them tick in and out of work. To access these interviews with winning CEOs at Zoom Video Communications and Samsara, please email [email protected]. Employee commentary about winning CEOs, their senior management team and company culture are also available upon request. About Glassdoor Glassdoor combines all the latest jobs with millions of reviews and insights to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for 770,000 companies located in more than 190 countries. For more information, visit glassdoor.com. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc. SOURCE Glassdoor Related Links http://www.glassdoor.com Founded in 2013, DaDa, China's leading online education platform, aims to "empower our children to do more." DaDa connects Chinese students, ages 4-16, to English tutors from around the world. Earlier this year, U.S. investment firm Tiger Global Management and New York Exchange-listed education and technology firm TAL Education invested USD $100 million in DaDa's series C financing. A selling point for investors and partners alike, is the platform's adherence to a unique "one-on-one" model. Unlike other companies that use a flexible matching system, matching students to a different teacher each time, DaDa's platform uses an exclusive matching algorithm to match students with the most suitable teachers, allowing teachers to cultivate meaningful relationships with students and customize lessons according to student needs. "Through several years of research and development, we have found the exclusive algorithm to be the most effective way to accurately match students and instructors. This finding has become our technical edge," said Johnny Wang, CTO, DaDa. DaDa's priority is student learning and, more than the algorithm alone, the cross-screen interactive technology makes these connections possible across all devices. The interactive platform allows students to see teachers in real time, with the virtual space mirroring a classroom environment. The system also uses an AI-powered facial expression recognition system, coupled with big data, to capture students' facial expressions, collecting student feedback and allowing parents and teachers to evaluate lesson effectiveness. The key to DaDa's success, however, is more than their technology. Exclusive partnerships with leading educational resource providers, such as McGraw-Hill Education, allow DaDa to provide the best English curriculum to their students. The curriculum is also a big selling point for teachers. Each lesson is curated, making them easy to understand and easy to teach. In fact, the teachers in western countries gain a lot from DaDa's "one-on-one" digital platform, including a flexible schedule, supplemental income, and cultural immersion. DaDa gives students and teachers a peek inside a different culture. This cross-cultural immersion creates lasting bonds and authentic learning experiences that would be hard to replicate in a traditional classroom setting, amplifying the student-teacher engagement and learning retention. These long-lasting relationships have another unintentional benefit: income stability. DaDa can virtually guarantee work for teachers, giving them a reliable source of income. Visions for the Future DaDa has always believed in the power of cross-industry and intra-industry collaboration. Cultivating partnerships beyond those with English education companies, DaDa has linked up with National Geographic and Highlights to create integrated learning opportunities for DaDa students. According to Mrs. Shen: "As the Chinese proverb says: When I walk along with two others, they serve as my teachers. At DaDa, we believe in the power of connection. We value our partners, which is strategically important for our development. When we all think of making education better together, we create a huge energy we can all benefit from." Given DaDa's history, it was no surprise when DaDa dropped the ABC from its name, a symbolic gesture implying further integrated learning offerings and commitment to move beyond English training without losing its core. The company established an R&D center called Brain Spark Lab in Hong Kong last September and recently announced partnerships with the international healthcare brand, United Foundation for China's Health, and STEM learning powerhouse, Mad Science. Blending the online portal with STEM education and optimized pedagogy could launch DaDa to the next frontier of education companies, not just in China, but on the global stage. The platform has the potential to grow internationally, educating students worldwide. With that said, DaDa's key focus has been and will always be refining their technology to provide superior learning experiences irrespective of location. The Chinese Education Industry In 2017, education spending exceeded $295 billion and is expected to reach $500 billion by 2020. China's thriving middle class drives this segment boom with their dedication to childhood enrichment. The industry provides everything from foreign language training to application consulting for students looking to study abroad. According to iResearch, the online English tutoring industry is on track to reach $8 billion by 2019. SOURCE DaDa NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MarketResearch.biz announces publication of its most recently generated research report titled, "Global Mutual Fund Transfer Agent Market by Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa) - Global Forecast to 2026.", which offers a holistic view of the global mutual fund transfer agent market through systematic segmentation that covers every aspect of the target market. The first five-year cumulative revenue (2017-2021) is projected to be over US$ 16 Bn, which is estimated to increase moderately over the latter part of the five-year forecast period. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/611427/MarketResearchBiz_Logo.jpg ) Transfer agents or registrars are the trusts or institutions that register and maintain detailed records of the transactions of investors for the convenience of mutual fund houses. Transfer agents deal with large volumes of financial data on a day-to-day basis, owing to which current focus is on cybersecurity to safeguard against unauthorized data access and possible breaches. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://marketresearch.biz/report/mutual-fund-transfer-agent-market/request-sample/ Global Mutual Fund Transfer Agent Market: Market Dynamics Rapid advancements in technology and platforms such as Internet and mobile devices have resulted in significant growth of the mutual fund transfer agent market. Flexibility and accessibility to wider customer/investor base has improved significantly in the recent past, and enhancement of back-end systems has led to automation of certain business processes such as transactions, workflow, etc. This has increased the efficiency with regard to offerings, in turn fueling growth of the market. Increasing profitable returns from mutual fund investments and technological advancements in software applications that aid in business processes and secure transactions are other factors expected to result in rising number of long-term mutual fund investments for purposes of tax savings or tax redemption. However, certain stringent regulations in developed countries may hamper profits and effectiveness of new entrants as well as established players in the global mutual fund transfer agents market. Implementation of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital investment platforms, Big Data analytics, RegTech, and others is an ongoing trend observed in the mutual fund transfer agent market which is expected to have a positive impact on the overall mutual fund value chain. Customization Request on this report @ https://marketresearch.biz/report/mutual-fund-transfer-agent-market/#request-for-customization Global Mutual Fund Transfer Agent Market: Market Forecast The comprehensive research report comprises a complete forecast of the global mutual fund transfer agent market based on factors affecting the market and their impact in the foreseeable future. According to the forecast projections, revenue from the global mutual fund transfer agent market is estimated to expand at a moderate CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period. Global Mutual Fund Transfer Agent Market: Segmental Snapshot The market report has been segmented on the basis of region. The regions covered in the analysis are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. By Region: The market in North America accounted for highest revenue share in the global mutual fund transfer agent market in 2017, and is estimated to record CAGR of over 5% between 2017 and 2026. Asia Pacific market is expected to register highest CAGR of over 6% over the forecast period. Browse Complete Report's Table of Content Here: https://marketresearch.biz/report/mutual-fund-transfer-agent-market/ Global Mutual Fund Transfer Agent Market: Competitive Analysis The research report on the global mutual fund transfer agent market includes profiles of major companies such as Computershare Limited, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC, Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, Inc., Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions, Inc., Karvy Computershare Private Limited, Franklin Templeton International Services (India) Pvt. Ltd., and HSBC Holdings plc. The Global Mutual Fund Transfer Agent Market: Global Industry, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2017-2026 report has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. This report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global mutual fund transfer agent market for 2017-2026. Related Market Reports: Heat Transfer Printing Machine Market Reports: https://marketresearch.biz/report/heat-transfer-printing-machine-market/ Bleaching Agent Market Reports: https://marketresearch.biz/report/bleaching-agent-market/ Dispersing Agent Market Reports: https://marketresearch.biz/report/dispersing-agent-market/ About Us: MarketResearch.biz is a specialized market research, analytics, and solutions company, offering strategic and tactical support to clients for making well-informed business decisions. We are a team of dedicated and impassioned individuals, who believe strongly in giving our very best to what we do and we never back down from any challenge. MarketResearch.biz offers services such as data mining, information management, and revenue enhancement solutions and suggestions. We cater to industries, individuals, and organizations across the globe, and deliver our offerings in the shortest possible turnaround time. Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketresearch-biz/ Follow us on Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/marketresearch.biz/ Contact Us: Lawrence John 420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170, United States Email ID: [email protected] Tel: +1-347-826-1876 Website: https://marketresearch.biz Referral Website: http://topexaminer.com/ SOURCE MarketResearch.biz BROOKLYN, N.Y., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Gotham Greens, a leading urban greenhouse developer and grower of locally and sustainably grown produce, has announced the closing of $29 million in Series C equity funding last month. The new round brings the company's total funding until date to $45 million, not including bank debt. Since its pioneering launch in 2011, Gotham Greens has grown from a single urban rooftop greenhouse in Brooklyn to a multi-state indoor farming leader and one of the largest hydroponic leafy greens producers in North America. The round was led by the company's existing investors, including the Silverman Group, along with a significant new investment from Creadev, a global private equity investment firm controlled by the Mulliez family. "This funding enables us to continue on our path of rapid growth that is providing consumers with fresher, better tasting, locally grown produce while transforming urban real estate and promoting sustainable agriculture," said Viraj Puri, co-founder and CEO. "We're inspired every day by the dedication and talent of our team to grow and purvey exceptionally high-quality, nutritious produce while contributing to the better food movement." Gotham Greens grows fresh produce in technologically advanced, climate-controlled urban greenhouses in close proximity to retailers and food service providers. This ensures year-round supply chain reliability, transparency, and traceability. The company currently owns and operates 4 production-scale facilities in NYC and Chicago totaling 170,000 square feet and has another 500,000 square feet under development in 5 states. The company announced new greenhouses in Chicago and Baltimore earlier this year. The funding will help finance the expansion trajectory, widen distribution, grow its team, and enhance research and development in controlled environment food production techniques, data science and machine learning. "The oversubscribed financing is strong validation of our proven farm unit economics, efficient utilization of capital, growth rate, and best in class brand," said Eric Haley, Co-Founder and CFO. "We are excited to welcome Creadev to the Gotham Greens family and for this next phase of growth to bring local produce nationwide." "Indoor farming is one of the most exciting and promising sectors in the world of food and ag-tech. Gotham Greens is a clear market leader and is positioned for significant growth. We were highly impressed by the company's proven track record, greenhouse profitability, exceptional product quality and human-driven values," said Delphine Descamps, Managing Director, Creadev USA. "We believe that the Gotham Greens team will continue to significantly influence how fresh produce is grown and distributed both in the US and globally." Gotham Greens' innovative business model combines proven hydroponic controlled environment agriculture together with proprietary cultivation techniques and the art of growing. The company reports best in class crop yields under the leadership of managing partner and renowned plant scientist, Jenn Nelkin Frymark. Gotham Greens' greenhouses are powered by 100% renewable electricity and yield up to 30 times more crop per acre than conventional agriculture while using 90% less water and eliminating agricultural runoff and the use of harmful chemicals. The company's growing methods and shortened supply chain reduce risk of food-borne pathogens. By locating its greenhouse farms in cities, Gotham Greens also eliminates the environmental footprint and food waste linked to shipping produce long distances, while advocating for improved healthy food access, environmental education and 'green collar' economic development. About Gotham Greens Gotham Greens is a global pioneer in urban greenhouse agriculture and a leading consumer brand of premium-quality local produce and fresh food products. Gotham Greens' produce is grown using ecologically sustainable methods in technologically-sophisticated, climate controlled, urban greenhouses. Gotham Greens provides its diverse retail, restaurant, and foodservice customers with a local, reliable, year-round supply of salad greens, herbs and fresh food products grown under the highest standards of food safety and environmental sustainability. The company owns and operates over 170,000 square feet of greenhouse across four facilities in New York and Chicago and currently has 500,000 square feet of greenhouse under development in five US states. Gotham Greens was founded in 2009 in Brooklyn, New York and currently employs over 150 full time team members. For more information, visit: www.gothamgreens.com About Creadev Creadev is a global private equity investment firm controlled by the Mulliez family, founders of one of the largest Business to Consumer retail platforms in the world. Creadev is committed to long-term collaboration with innovative, passionate and human-driven entrepreneurs that are focused on creating widespread access to essential goods and services such as food, education, healthcare and renewable energy. Based in Paris, and with offices in New York, Shanghai and Nairobi, Creadev invests in companies well positioned to scale and become worldwide leaders in their respective sectors. Launched in 2002, Creadev has invested over 1 billion in companies in stages ranging from venture to growth equity and buyout. www.creadev.com Media Contact Nicole Baum 718-935-0600 [email protected] SOURCE Gotham Greens Related Links http://www.gothamgreens.com Among chief executives recognized by employees in the U.S., Nielsen received an approval rating of 93 percent based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews Great Lakes Caring employees shared on Glassdoor throughout the past year. Currently, Nielsen's rating is at impressive 97 percent, compared to the Glassdoor average CEO approval rating of only 69 percent. "Winning the Glassdoor TOP CEO award is a true acknowledgement of Adam's exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of our employees," said Vice President of Human Resources Carrie Sorenson. "As a company, we work hard to make Great Lakes Caring a great place to work. This recognition is an excellent example of how Adam has prioritized this effort since becoming CEO." Sorenson shared some of the recent employee feedback about Nielsen and the positive impact he makes in their jobs and the entire company. "Adam is about as approachable of a leader as they come. He always makes his employees feel welcomed and respected. He treats each employee as they make difference in this company, which then creates a better employee and an overall better work environment." Lauryn, Physician Relations Specialist, Jackson, Michigan "Adam is the most 'present' CEO that I have ever had the pleasure to work with. His level of commitment to our company is obvious on a daily basis. With Adam, I never wonder if he really cares for all of our patients and our employees because he speaks it frequently and with a level of sincerity that is very obvious." Christi, Clinical Manager, Bingham Farms, Michigan Great Lakes Caring is a national award-winning company, receiving the Great Place to Work in Health Care award, as well as Great Place to Work for Women and Millennials. About Great Lakes Caring Home Health and Hospice Great Lakes Caring Home Health and Hospice is one of the nation's leading providers of in home health care. Great Lakes Caring dedicates its resources to providing value-based, high quality care wherever our patients call home. Great Lakes Caring's primary focus is to provide superior quality health care to those we are honored to serve, utilizing state-of-the-art technology and innovative processes which drive extraordinary patient outcomes. With locations across the country, Great Lakes Caring provides the right care, at the right time, in the right place. Great Lakes Caring is committed to being a great place to work for employees, and is the recipient of Fortune Magazine's Best Workplaces in Healthcare and Best Workplaces for Millennials awards, in addition to being recognized as a National Best and Brightest Company to Work For. Contact: Raquel Irwin Great Lakes Caring Home Health and Hospice [email protected] 800-379-1600 ext. 1061 www.GreatLakesCaring.com SOURCE Great Lakes Caring Home Health and Hospice Related Links http://www.greatlakescaring.com LONDON, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 120+ utility data professionals convene for a review of the latest big data management, analytics and visualisation approaches to power the smart utility Recent research carried out by Phoenix Forums reveals that European utilities are now fully invested in big data. Many have implemented internal centres of excellence utilising state of the art platforms and processes, operated by extensive teams of data engineering, data science and data visualisation specialists, recruited from outside of the industry and charged with injecting fresh thinking into the smart utility big data challenge. But whilst the operational foundations are now firmly in place, many are struggling to go beyond the well understood asset management applications and expand their suite of use-cases to achieve the return on investment levels that Boards are expecting. "The biggest hurdle right now is around data quality," says Robin Sarfas, Conference Producer at Phoenix Forums, organisers of Grid Analytics Europe 2018. "Many utilities are having to re-visit their data management processes to improve the quality and integrity of their data in preparation for more sophisticated modelling and analysis and faster use-case expansion. The sudden influx of multiple streams of data from smart meters, sensors, IoT devices, SCADA systems, GIS systems, and externally from weather and social media sources is creating a level of complexity previously unforeseen by utility big data teams." And it is with this in mind that the 4th annual Grid Analytics Europe 2018 conference, exhibition and networking forum is being launched. Drawing together 120+ utility big data professionals for 3 intensive days of implementation reviews, 16+ utilities are scheduled to share how they are implementing cutting-edge tools and technologies for advanced data collection, management, analysis and visualisation to deepen their insights into grid performance, fraud prevention, and new product development in preparation for the energy transition. Speakers share their technical strategies for migrating toward a more data-driven organisation, leveraging new and existing data sources to drive use-case expansion. Technical presentations address; the integration of legacy systems to ensure the seamless flow of data across multiple systems; new data governance frameworks to meet strict GDPR requirements; advanced data cleansing, standardisation and structuring approaches to ensure data quality and consistency; innovative data analysis and visualisation models to provide deeper insights for a range of use-cases spanning the smart utility organisation. Additionally, the impact of emerging technologies such as Machine Learning, AI, Blockchain and Cloud will be considered in the context of next generation big data capabilities. Alongside the case-study programme, there is a 2-hour Cloud tutorial, a technology innovation panel discussion, a series of intimate end-user roundtables, a live demo lab of the latest systems and solutions, an exhibition area displaying 10+ state of the art technology suppliers, and an evening networking reception open to all participants. "Since the original launch of this event in 2013 we have mapped utilities' progress with big data and recognise that many are now beyond the 'enthusiastic beginner' stage and have entered the 'disillusioned learner' phase of their big data implementation," says Mandana White, Director at Phoenix Forums. "Our intention is to provide a programme of inspiration, information and insights, that will help propel utility big data projects into 'peak performance'. We believe this year's programme builds up on the previous years and provides the perfect benchmarking, technology scouting, and partnering forum for those serious about pushing their big data plans to the next level." "The world of utilities is becoming better in getting their insights from data with advanced analytics. This conference showed that we have made a step forward again but still struggle in making the right IT platform selections, open source, or better still not having data management challenges and prioritise our key use cases. Let's go on and inspire each other. Plenty of value ahead." - Robin Hagemans, Manager Data & Insights - Alliander "All speakers shared openly their experience and knowledge about their grid analytics journey. Good networking and I believe that we are all going back home with more ideas on how to overcome the challenges." - Francisco Melo, Head of Mission Critical Application Development - EDP "The most useful were the shared case-studies of the actual problems, statements with a story about how the company approached the issue and what they did to solve the problem. That makes an event like Grid Analytics Europe beneficial for utilities who are seeking ideas, considering the problem, solutions and future platforms." - Raido Rosenberg, Head of Network Systems Development - Elektrilevi OU "This conference gives a very good overview of use and business cases of different European DSOs and other companies for analytics. You have a perfect environment for networking and information exchange." - Sven Schillack, Referent Data Management - 50Hertz Transmission "I enjoyed my time at Grid Analytics, learning about progress in Europe, and gaining new perspectives on how to enhance our analytics capability." - John R. Baranowski, Senior Consultant, EMS and Model Management - PJM Interconnection Discussion topics include Unlocking Value - Integrating advanced big data platforms and tools into legacy infrastructures and implementing data governance procedures to unlock the full value of your big data system Data Management - creating an effective data cleansing and processing procedure to maximise the value of smart meter, sensor, IoT, SCADA, GIS, weather, social media and other data Data Analytics - effectively combining multiple streams of structured and unstructured, complex and simple, real-time and historical data, and applying advanced models and algorithms to create detailed, accurate and actionable insights Data Visualisation - translating complex data-driven insights into compelling visual intelligence that communicate with impact for a variety of stakeholders Real-time Data - establishing a real-time data management and analysis framework to process data in the order of milliseconds to support daily network activity Use-Case Expansion - maximising the value of established grid performance use cases and identifying opportunities for new use cases across the wider smart utility Future Technologies - applying Machine Learning, AI, Blockchain and Cloud to drive the next phase of smart utility big data analytics Confirmed speakers include Robin Hagemans , Senior Manager, Data & Insights - Alliander , Senior Manager, Data & Insights - Alliander Samuel Young , Analytics Development Leader - National Grid , Analytics Development Leader - National Grid Luca Grella , Innovation Workstream Lead - UK Power Networks , Innovation Workstream Lead - UK Power Networks Borsu Shahnavaz, Innovation Analyst - UK Power Networks Jon Black , Load Forecasting Manager - ISO New England , Load Forecasting Manager - ISO New England Marina Grujic Milosevic , Business Strategist - Vattenfall , Business Strategist - Vattenfall Gunnar Hoffmann , Head of Department, Solution Owner Big Data Analytics - Innogy , Head of Department, Solution Owner Big Data Analytics - Innogy Stephan Lanz , Data Scientist - BKW , Data Scientist - BKW Jennifer Jennings , Data Scientist - ESB , Data Scientist - ESB Ana Filipa Ribeiro , Project Manager - EDP , Project Manager - EDP Ivan Sturlic , Head of IT Department for Power System Planning, Analysis and Market Support - HOPS , Head of IT Department for Power System Planning, Analysis and Market Support - HOPS Liga Sadovica, Head of Data Analysis - Augstprieguma tikls Petr Lang , Project Manager, Asset Strategy & Projects - E.ON Ceska republika , Project Manager, Asset Strategy & Projects - E.ON Ceska republika Prof David Shipworth , Professor or Energy and the Built Environment - UCL Energy Institute , Professor or Energy and the Built Environment - UCL Energy Institute Bas Van Dorst , Principal Solution Specialist, Data & Artificial Intelligence - Microsoft Advanced Analytics , Principal Solution Specialist, Data & Artificial Intelligence - Microsoft Advanced Analytics Ebisa Negeri, Data Solution Architect - Microsoft Advanced Analytics Iain Stewart , International Practice Partner, Utilities & Smart Cities - Teradata , International Practice Partner, Utilities & Smart Cities - Teradata Dieter Vonken, Manager, Asset Management Excellence & Data Analytics - Deloitte Chris Park , Data Scientist - formerly of UK Data Archive Event dates and location: Conference: Grid Analytics Europe 2018 Location: London Event website: www.gridanalytics-europe.com Phoenix Forums is an independent conference producer specialised in the smart grid sector. We work hand in hand with engineering professionals to create innovative event concepts and high-quality programmes that inform technical decision makers and enable them to deliver exceptional results. Our approach is entirely market led. We stay exceptionally close to industry developments. Through our regular, rigorous and unbiased process of depth research with TSOs, DSOs, power generators, engineering consultancies, and technology innovators, we stay one step ahead of industry developments and provide live events that act as a catalyst for new ideas, new directions, and new approaches to achieving future energy security. For more information, interview and media accreditation: Mandana White Director, Phoenix Forums Ltd Tel: +44(0)20-8349-6360 Email: [email protected] Phoenix Forums Ltd Central House 1 Ballards Lane London, N3 1LQ United Kingdom Tel: +44(0)20-8349-6360 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Phoenix Forums MEXICO CITY, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: AGUA) ("Rotoplas" or "the Company"), leading provider of individual and integrated water solutions in the Americas, announces, following up on the release from April 4th, the signing of final agreement to acquire 100% of IPS S.A.I.C. y F., leading provider of water flow solutions in Argentina, for a total net amount of MXN $1,030 million and an implied EBITDA 2018E multiple of 5.1x. IPS is a leading Argentinian company that focused on the manufacturing, distribution and commercialization of water flow solutions with over 4,100 active clients. Carlos Rojas Mota Velasco, Chairman and CEO of Rotoplas, remarked: "This acquisition reaffirms Rotoplas' commitment to consolidate its individual solutions portfolio in Argentina, incorporating leading brands and technologies. We welcome their collaborators, suppliers and clients and are convinced that this acquisition will maximize our growth in the region". The acquisition will be funded 100% with Rotoplas' own resources. The transaction will close during the first week of July and the Company will start to consolidate its results in the third quarter of this year. IR Contact: Ofelia M Lopez Aranda T 52015000 ext. 50163 [email protected] Safe Harbor This press release may include certain forward-looking statements relating to Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V., it relies on considerations of the Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V. management which are based on current and known information; however, the forward-looking statements could vary due to facts, circumstances and events beyond the control of Grupo Rotoplas, S.A.B. de C.V. About the Company Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V. is America's leading provider of individual and integrated water solutions for storing, carrying, and treating water. With 40 years' experience in the industry and 21 plants throughout the Americas, Rotoplas has a presence in 14 countries and a portfolio that includes 27 product lines. Grupo Rotoplas has been listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) under the ticker "AGUA" since December 2014. SOURCE Grupo Rotoplas S.A.B. de C.V. Related Links http://www.rotoplas.com NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States of America is preparing to celebrate Independence Day. The sound of the anthem, barbecues and fireworks will be an expression of taste and joy in all the states, from north to south and from east to west. Olives from Spain wants to add to the celebrations by introducing delicious proposals for the grills and for dessert. To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8351451-olive-day-launches-recipes-for-4th-july/ Have an Olive Day Launches New Recipes to add to the 4th of July celebrations Olives from Spain and the European Union are developing a campaign to promote American awareness regarding the possibilities of table olives when it comes to incorporating them into all kinds of recipes. The Have an Olive Day site has not been oblivious to the celebrations of the 4th of July. Because of this, a recipe has been developed, specifically designed to bring all the flavor of its Mediterranean origin to the barbecues of the United States, which is available everywhere in the country. This will be an explosion of flavors to celebrate the explosions of joy, demonstrated on the 4th July. The 4th of July is an important day for USA. As such, its most characteristic symbols are manifested in the millions of celebrations that take place throughout the United States. The whole country is filled with flags; Americans can hear The Star-Spangled Banner in endless versions and can see fireworks across the skies of all the cities of the country. Barbecues, an icon of North American cuisine, are prepared with the best ingredients, which will be served to celebrate independence. Olives from Spain have developed the following recipes to promote olives and celebrate independence: 4th of July skewers with olives http://www.haveanoliveday.eu/index.php/videorecipes/holiday-recipes/147-4th-july-skewers-with-olives And from a classic of the American kitchens, the barbecue, to another of the dishes for which the USA is known all over the world... brownies. The best of American cuisine and the best of the Mediterranean tradition go hand in hand in this brownie with black olives. Olives and pine nuts brownie http://www.haveanoliveday.eu/index.php/videorecipes/sweet-bites/111-olives-brownie There are many other ideas for making the Independence Day menus at www.haveanoliveday.eu Have an Independence Day. Have an Olive Day. About INTERACEITUNA and Olives from Spain INTERACEITUNA is the Interprofessional Organization of Table Olive recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Environment that represents the whole sector producing, processing and marketing table olives. Created to implement different programs and activities of general interest, INTERACEITUNA promotes knowledge of Spanish table olives and carries out research and development related to production and production techniques. INTERACEITUNA has partnered with the European Union to promote this product. @HaveanOliveDay haveanoliveday www.haveanoliveday.eu Mas informacion: [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Olives from Spain past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) 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Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) DENVER, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Health eCareers, the leading career resource for healthcare providers, announced this week its new partnership with the Endocrine Society, the primary professional home for endocrine scientists and clinical practitioners. The partnership will allow Health eCareers to post endocrinology-specific jobs on EndoCareers, directly connecting more than 18,000 healthcare professionals specializing in hormone disorders with the healthcare employers who want to hire them. This single access point will also enable endocrinology professionals to upload a searchable resume and sign up for job alerts. The career center will also include valuable articles, enriched employer profiles, access to CV consultations and other tools created specifically to support these professionals throughout their careers. "The Endocrine Society has been at the forefront of hormone science and public health for more than 100 years, and endocrinology professionals trust the Society to provide them with important career resources," said Jarod Collins, director of partner relations at Health eCareers. "Not only will this partnership enable the Society to provide their members with job opportunities, but it also enables Health eCareers to connect healthcare employers with the clinical practitioners and scientists they want to hire." "One of our main priorities as an organization is to support our members through all stages of their careers," said Endocrine Society Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd Keenan, FASAE, CAE. "Our new online career center creates a one-stop shop for job listings and professional development resources to make it easier for endocrinologists to climb the career ladder." All of Health eCareers' endocrinology jobs will automatically appear on EndoCareers at no additional cost to Health eCareers' clients. About Health eCareers Health eCareers brings together physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners and physician assistants with jobs in every medical specialty. With hundreds of healthcare employers across the United States and an exclusive network of premier healthcare associations and community partners, Health eCareers supports qualified healthcare providers in finding opportunities with employers looking for top talent. Health eCareers also offers industry news and career advice targeted to your healthcare specialty, as well as the latest healthcare salary data. For employers, Health eCareers reaches a validated job-seeker audience that includes 90 percent of all practicing providers and offers innovative recruiting tools and healthcare hiring insights that you won't find anywhere else. To learn more, visit healthecareers.com or find us on Facebook and Twitter. Health eCareers is an Everyday Health, Inc., service. About the Endocrine Society Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions. The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit www.endocrine.org or follow The Endocrine Society on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia. Health eCareers Media Contact: Stephanie Gilbert Senior Marketing Manager [email protected] Endocrine Society Media Contact: Jenni Glenn Gingery Associate Director, Communications & Media Relations [email protected] 202-971-3655 Related Images endocareers.png EndoCareers The career center for Endocrine Society. endocrine-society.png Endocrine Society health-ecareers.png Health eCareers SOURCE Health eCareers Nine students acted as the Douglas County emergency management team, dealing with a malware intrusion. Douglas County's team worked closely with the students leading up to the exercise and, along with other area experts, will receive the final plan as a resource for future emergencies. "This exercise provides an incredible opportunity for our first responders, the National Guard, emergency management officials, and media to test our coordination, policies and procedures now so we are better prepared for threats to our power grid," said Teri Smith, director of Douglas County Emergency Management. "Our emergency management community must be prepared to deal with the challenges posed by a short- or long-term mass power outage, and by training together, we continue building relationships that leave us better positioned to respond to a real-world event. Not only does this permit an opportunity to test our abilities, but it has an impact on students and maximizes active learning while supporting their community." Students took on roles similar to their diverse backgrounds logistics, communications, the Army National Guard, law, engineering, first response and medicine as they navigated civil unrest, the media, legal and political implications, and unforeseen circumstances. Mike Hoeflich, John H. & John M. Kane Distinguished Professor of Law and director of KU's Master of Science in Homeland Security: Law & Policy, designed the exercise after working with Kansas City companies, rural professionals and Washington, D.C., experts to learn what would happen in this scenario. "There's a lot at stake here," Hoeflich told the students. "This has a real-time impact; it's not just simulation." Tom Meier, retired Army officer and 2016 graduate of the KU School of Law, served as the team leader in the exercise. After witnessing legal challenges during his time in the Army and with defense contracting work under his belt, he's ready to go back and contribute. He credits the unique mix of students with adding to the learning experience: civilian law enforcement, active duty military including graduates from the U.S. Army Command General Staff College (CGSC) in Leavenworth and the Marine Corps and three attorneys from KU School of Law. "We had a perfect mix, and we're all at different points in life," he said. "Some are just out of school, mid-career professionals and career changers like me. We were able to ask hard questions as we worked with real people in emergency management to build a product that will help emergency management teams think ahead to make decisions. That's a big deal." Matt May, director of Wyandotte County's Emergency Management Department, and Rob Cole, emergency services planning and exercise program manager for Mid-America Regional Council, were on-site for consult as the students worked through the simulation. Cole told the students about an experience as a young officer when he was told such plans do not always exist. "That has troubled me since that day," he said. "So, I really appreciate the opportunity to be here and participate, and we in the emergency management community are very interested as to the plan that comes out of this. It will inform future plans." The homeland security program is offered in partnership between the Edwards and Leavenworth campuses of KU, recently ranked fifth on the 2018 Military Times Best: Colleges list. About KU in Leavenworth With accelerated coursework and evening classes, students in Leavenworth can complete a KU master's degree in as few as 10 months. The programs and class schedules are designed to meet the needs of professional and military careers. About The University of Kansas Edwards Campus The KU Edwards Campus at 127th Street and Quivira Road in Overland Park brings the high-quality academic, professional and continuing education programs as well as research and public-service benefits of KU to the Greater Kansas City community in order to serve the workforce, economic and community development needs of the region. Contact: Hannah Lemon, KU Edwards Campus 913-897-8755, [email protected] SOURCE University of Kansas Edwards Campus Related Links http://edwardscampus.ku.edu In the model segments, the Hyundai Tucson was the highest-ranked small SUV and the fourth-best model overall, while the Santa Fe ranked second in the midsize SUV segment. Hyundai's cutting-edge Ulsan Plant, which produces Tucson, was awarded the Bronze Plant Assembly Line Quality Award for the Asia Pacific region. "Customers of the Hyundai brand can feel confident that they are selecting a new vehicle that has one of the best initial and long-term quality rankings in the entire automotive industry," said Omar Rivera, director, Quality and Service Engineering, Hyundai Motor America. "J.D. Power's IQS is the industry benchmark for new-vehicle quality, and our 2018 ranking is a result of an enterprise-wide commitment to producing vehicles of the highest quality and educating customers on how to use their car's technologies and features." Hyundai's strong showing in J.D. Power IQS follows its third place non-premium ranking in J.D. Power's 2018 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS). Hyundai's results in both of these studies demonstrate its quality leadership over time. Tucson also ranked highest in its class in that study. J.D. Power measures initial quality by the number of problems owners experience per 100 vehicles (PP100) during the first 90 days of ownership, with a lower score reflecting higher quality. Hyundai had 74 PP100, outpacing the industry average of 93 PP100. The 2018 U.S. IQS is based on responses from 75,712 purchasers and lessees of new 2018 model-year vehicles who were surveyed after 90 days of ownership. The study is based on a 233-question battery organized into eight vehicle categories designed to provide manufacturers with information to facilitate the identification of problems and drive product improvement. The study was fielded from February through May 2018. For more information about the 2018 U.S. IQS, visit http://www.jdpower.com/resource/us-initial-quality-study-iqs Hyundai Motor America Hyundai Motor America is focused on delivering an outstanding customer experience grounded in design leadership, engineering excellence and exceptional value in every vehicle we sell. Hyundai's technology-rich product lineup of cars, SUVs and alternative-powered electric and fuel cell vehicles is backed by Hyundai Assuranceour promise to deliver peace of mind to our customers. Hyundai vehicles are sold and serviced through more than 830 dealerships nationwide and the majority sold in the U.S. are built at U.S. manufacturing facilities, including Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. Hyundai Motor America is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, and is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Please visit our media website at www.HyundaiNews.com Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram SOURCE Hyundai Motor America Related Links http://www.hyundainews.com Crafted with all-natural ingredients, the sparkling flavors include Tahitian Lime, a perfect balance of zesty and sweet; Sicilian Lemon, a classic citrus tang with a hint of sweetness; and Elderflower, a delicate floral taste, perfect on its own or as a hydrating yet flavorful cocktail mixer. Bottled at the legendary Olfus Spring in Iceland, the new line of flavored sparkling waters is sustainably sourced and naturally filtered by the fields of untouched lava rock it flows over, without anything but festive fizz and refreshing natural flavors added. "This is an exciting brand extension for Icelandic Glacial," said Jon OIafsson, Chairman & Co-Founder of Icelandic Glacial. "This brings us one step closer to fulfill all of our consumer's hydration needs under the Icelandic Glacial brand." Elderflower, Tahitian Lime, and Sicilian Lemon are now available at many fine retailers such as Dierbergs, Fareway, Hy-Vee, Piggly Wiggly, Publix, and Woodmans. The flavored sparkling waters are also available online through Amazon.com and IcelandicGlacial.com. "We have been astounded by the amazing response from both our consumers and retail partners," commented Reza Mirza, CEO of Icelandic Glacial. "We actually had one of our buyers tell us this is the best lime flavored sparkling water he's ever had." Icelandic Glacial is currently available in over 24 countries worldwide. As the world's first certified carbon neutral bottled water brand, Icelandic Glacial maintains a commitment to using 100% natural green energy to fuel its production in addition to using fully recyclable packaging and sustainable shipping methods. About Icelandic Glacial Icelandic Glacial is the super-premium natural spring water, bottled at the source from Iceland's legendary Olfus Spring, which was formed more than 5,000 years ago and is shielded from pollution by an impenetrable barrier of lava rock. The spring produces water so pure that nothing is added or taken away. As a result, Icelandic Glacial possesses exceptional balance featuring a naturally low mineral content and a naturally alkaline pH of 8.4. Icelandic Glacial is further distinguished as the world's first certified carbon neutral natural spring bottled water for product and operation. Icelandic Glacial uses 100% natural green energy to fuel its production delivering a premium bottled water to discerning consumers around the world while maintaining a "net zero" carbon footprint. Press Contact Sheldon Bachan [email protected] 310.734.7834 SOURCE Icelandic Glacial Related Links https://icelandicglacial.com BOSTON, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- IFM Therapeutics, LLC (IFM), a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies that modulate novel targets in the innate immune system to treat inflammatory disorders and cancer, today announced the appointment of eight distinguished physician-scientists in inflammation research to its clinical advisory board (CAB). These CAB members represent a broad range of research disciplines, from neurodegeneration to metabolic disorders, brought together by their profound expertise on the role inflammation plays in the progression of these diseases. The experience and guidance of the CAB will be instrumental as IFM advances its current research programs into clinical development and expands its pipeline of novel inhibitors. New IFM CAB appointees are: Jasmin Kummerle-Deschner, M.D. Head, Division of Pediatric Rheumatology and Autoinflammation Reference Center Tubingen, Department of Pediatrics at the University Hospital of Tubingen, Germany Head, Division of Pediatric Rheumatology and Autoinflammation Reference Center Tubingen, Department of Pediatrics at the University Hospital of Tubingen, Peter Libby , M.D. Cardiovascular Specialist, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Cardiovascular Specialist, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine, Giovanni Monteleone , M.D., PhD Professor of Gastroenterology, Chief of the Gastroenterology and Endoscopic Division, Systems Medicine Department, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy Professor of Gastroenterology, Chief of the Gastroenterology and Endoscopic Division, Systems Medicine Department, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Markus F. Neurath , M.D. Chair of Internal Medicine, University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany Chair of Internal Medicine, University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, D. Brent Polk , M.D. Professor of Pediatrics and Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California Professor of Pediatrics and Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Keck School of Medicine David T. Rubin , M.D. Joseph B. Kirsner Professor of Medicine, Section Chief, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Nutrition and Co-Director of the Digestive Diseases Center, University of Chicago Joseph B. Kirsner Professor of Medicine, Section Chief, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Nutrition and Co-Director of the Digestive Diseases Center, Arun J. Sanyal , M.D. Professor, Department of Internal Medicine and Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Virginia Commonwealth University Professor, Department of Internal Medicine and Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Scott B. Snapper, M.D. Director, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School "We are thrilled to welcome this accomplished and distinguished group of clinical and inflammation experts to IFM's clinical advisory board," said H. Martin Seidel, executive vice president of R&D. "The new CAB appointees represent IFM Therapeutics, LLC's current focus on inflammation targets following the company's sale of its former immuno-oncology programs in 2017. The new members are dedicated to expanding our understanding of the innate immune system and bringing patients with inflammatory diseases better treatment options. We look forward to gaining important insights from this renowned group of experts." The new IFM Therapeutics, LLC clinical advisory board appointees will join existing members Dr. Michael Heneka, Dr. Hal Hoffman, and Dr. Saurabh Saha. About IFM Therapeutics, LLC IFM Therapeutics, LLC is a privately held biopharmaceutical company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was founded by an international group of preeminent scientists and physicians who have spent decades understanding innate immunity and the role it plays in regulating the immune system. IFM's team has discovered and developed small molecules that modulate novel targets in the innate immune system as next-generation therapies for cancer, autoimmunity, and inflammatory disorders. For more information, please visit www.ifmthera.com. SOURCE IFM Therapeutics Related Links http://www.ifmthera.com "We are honored that Insitu has been selected to bring our professional aviation, aerial data collection and analysis experience to assist the DOI as they strive to suppress devastating wildfires," said Esina Alic, Insitu's president and CEO. Equipped with Infrared and electro-optical cameras, sensors, and a customized TK-5 Firewatch smart tactical mapping payload, ScanEagle will provide near real-time fire line maps and wide-area, high-resolution imagery intelligence to assist with fire suppression planning. With these payloads onboard, ScanEagle can "fly the gaps," operating in dense smoke and darkness, when manned aircraft typically are grounded due to hazardous flying conditions for pilots. As demonstrated in 2017 during the nearly 50,000 acre Eagle Creek, Oregon fire, as well as two wildfires in Northern California, Insitu's ScanEagle used aerial sensors allowing data gathering, analysis and dissemination to deliver critical situational awareness for incident commanders. This critical near-real time information allowed informed decision-making for more effectively and safely deploying firefighters. ScanEagle provided near real-time full motion video and geospatial mapping to pinpoint hot spots and locate fire lines in the rugged terrain. During wildfires, UASs operate within Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) established over large-area wildfires. This work is done in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration to allow beyond visual line of sight flight operations a critical capability in the smoky wildfire environment while keeping other aircraft aware and safe. About Insitu Insitu is an industry-leading provider of information for superior decision making. With its headquarters in Bingen, Wash., and offices in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, the company creates and supports unmanned systems and software technology that deliver end-to-end solutions for collecting, processing and understanding sensor data. We proudly serve the diverse needs of our global customers in the defense, government and commercial industries. To date, our systems have accumulated more than one million flight hours and nearly 125,000 sorties. Insitu is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company. For more information, visit insitu.com. Follow us on, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. CONTACT: Monica Golden Insitu Media Relations +1 509.637.6574 [email protected] SOURCE Insitu Related Links http://www.insitu.com (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/708520/Aspire_Leaderboard_2018_Infographic.jpg ) Intense Technologies has been positioned in the Aspire Leaderboard grids of Business Automation as 'Leader' and as 'Focused' in the overall leaders for CCM, Customer Communications and Omni-channel orchestration. On the occasion, Mr Shastri, MD, Intense Technologies Ltd. said, "We are honoured to be part of the Aspire Leaderboard, which is focused on Customer Communications Management (CCM) and digital customer experience. UniServe NXT, our low-code development platform focuses on helping enterprises build business agility by developing enterprise applications that enable seamless collaboration between processes and stakeholders. This positioning adds another laurel to Intense's growing list of accolades for 2018 reinforcing our positioning as a strong player in digital transformation for enterprises." "Intense Technologies performed well in the 2018 Aspire Leaderboard, due to its strengths in business automation, the company's focus on deploying its software as a low-code development framework, as well as employing new technology such as Robotic Software Automation. It is also seeing more success outside of its South Asian home market." Kaspar Roos, CEO & Founder, Aspire. For more details about the CCM Aspire Leaderboard 2018, please visit: https://www.aspireleaderboard.com/best-customer-communications-management-software Aspire Disclaimer The Aspire Leaderboard is copyrighted by Aspire Customer Communications Services Ltd. and is based on the findings and opinions of Aspire's consultancy organisation. Aspire does not endorse any vendor, product or service included in the Aspire Leaderboard. About Aspire Aspire Customer Communications Services is a boutique consulting firm specialising in the Customer Communications Management (CCM) and Digital Customer Experience (DCX) industries. Through deep market expertise and global insights, Aspire works with technology providers, service providers, enterprises and investors to help them achieve their CCM goals. Find more information about how Aspire is helping organisations navigate the complexities of the customer communications world at http://www.aspireccs.com. About Intense Intense Technologies Limited (NSE: INTENTECH) (BSE: 532326) (ISIN: INE781A01025) (Bloomberg: INTEC:IN) is a global enterprise software products company, headquartered in India with a strong and emerging presence in USA, LATAM, EMEA and APAC. Our enterprise software products are used globally by Fortune 500s for digital transformation of customer-centric business processes resulting in improved revenues, greater customer centricity and reduced operational expenses. We have customers in more than 45 countries and have established ourselves as formidable players in the domains that we operate. We help onboard more than 2.5 million customers every day; we send more than 200 million notifications in a day. Our solutions have been built for scale and have played a crucial role in enhancing customer experience across all our implementations. Intense Technologies has sales offices in Singapore, UAE, USA and UK. Website: http://in10stech.com/ For more information, please click on the below link: http://in10stech.com/news-room/news-2018/intense-tech-amongst-business-automation-leaders-in-aspire-leaderboard Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/in10stech Twitter: https://twitter.com/in10stech Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/In10stech Google+: https://plus.google.com/+In10stech For further information, please contact: Madhavi S, Head Marketing Intense Technologies Ltd. Phone: +91-40-4455-8578 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Intense Technologies CHICAGO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Equity Office, the U.S. office portfolio company wholly-owned by Blackstone's real estate funds, announced today the launch of a new identity focused on customer success: EQ OfficeSM. As part of the launch, EQ will provide a range of new products, services and experiences focused on addressing the evolving organizational needs in workplace culture and flexibility, with the ultimate goal of helping companies attract, retain and inspire talent. EQ is pushing the boundaries of the traditional commercial real estate industry, leveraging its scale, legacy and resources to shape how offices can accommodate customer workspace preferences, including more flexible, dynamic environments due to large-scale changes in technology and mobility that are affecting every industry. Seeing every real estate transaction through the customer's perspective, EQ intends to partner with its customers to help solve their most pressing business issues and create individual spaces for greatness not just places to work. "Technology has fueled a remarkable pace of change in how we work and live," said Lisa Picard, EQ President and CEO. "In order to create effective venues for companies to work and live, we must have a highly curious and empathic culture an emotional intelligence. Our new identity is a commitment to co-create spaces with our customers and help companies recruit the best talent through experiences that cultivate openness, foster humanity and generate potential." The new identity is one part of EQ's strategy to evolve its business to the changing world; a more agile and open culture organized around the customer before the product. In addition, EQ is: Repositioning select properties to deliver improved customer experiences. In addition to the massive changes underway at Willis Tower in Chicago , EQ announced today the repositioning of the Howard Hughes Center in Los Angeles . The property is being transformed into a dynamic work environment featuring new business and lifestyle amenities that enhance the work experience, including health-centric initiatives and programmed fitness, a robust farmers market, a dog-friendly campus, a conference and entertainment center and outdoor rooms and venues. , EQ announced today the repositioning of the Howard Hughes Center in . The property is being transformed into a dynamic work environment featuring new business and lifestyle amenities that enhance the work experience, including health-centric initiatives and programmed fitness, a robust farmers market, a dog-friendly campus, a conference and entertainment center and outdoor rooms and venues. Partnering with best-in-class flex operators to increase available workspace options beyond the traditional 7-10+ year leases. EQ has leased space to a number of flexible workspace providers, including Industrious, Regus, WeWork, Convene and Mindspace, and is eager to continue working with them to bring their unique offerings to the marketplace. Pilot testing new technology and data services for customers, including a Market Intelligence Tool to help employers find the best talent, as well as virtual concierge applications that allow anyone to effectively order lunch, make appointments, request cars from valet and schedule fitness classes, among other capabilities. Launching a new, hospitality-like Customer Experience (CX) training for EQ employees that drives creative solution-making into the virtual and physical experience of each property. The training will instruct employees on how to be more customer centric, from the start of investment through the development, management and eventual divestment of properties. "This is an exciting new phase for the company and we're proud to continue working with them going forward," said Rob Harper, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone. "The new identity and customer-focused initiatives, combined with EQ's strong assets in premium U.S. markets and continued partnership with Blackstone, positions the company well for the future." More information, including graphics, can be found here. About EQ We are EQ Office. While other real estate owners talk about square footage and floor plans, we focus on the experience; how space feels, activates and performs. At EQ, we partner with business leaders to find, design and manage balanced workspaces with the intention of helping to inspire talent. We're proud to work hand-in-hand with customers of all sizes from Fortune 100 companies to emerging startups to bring humanity back to the work place. Our diverse team of over 200 professionals is responsible for creating inspired office environments in cities across the country including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston. What began as Equity Office Properties 42 years ago, now reflects a new intelligence needed to address shifting workplace needs, as EQ Office. As a U.S. office portfolio company wholly owned by Blackstone's real estate funds, we have the resources to lead the changes happening in work space. Explore your space for greatness at www.eqoffice.com. About Blackstone Blackstone is one of the world's leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with $450 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone. SOURCE EQ Office Related Links http://www.eqoffice.com STOCKHOLM, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The press conference held in connection with the publication of Essity's interim report for the second quarter of 2018 will also be available via webcast and it is possible to join by phone. The interim report will be published on July 19, 2018 at approximately 07:00 CET. The subsequent press conference will be held at 09:00 CET at Essity's headquarters, Waterfront Building, Klarabergsviadukten 63, Stockholm, Sweden. At the press conference, President and CEO Magnus Groth will present and answer questions regarding the report. Press conference: Date: Thursday, July 19, 2018 Time: 09:00 CET Venue: Essity Headquarters, Waterfront Building, Klarabergsviadukten 63, Stockholm, Sweden Link to webcast: https://essity.videosync.fi/2018-07-19-q2 The press conference will be webcast live at www.essity.com. It is also possible to participate in the press conference by telephone by calling +44 (0) 203-009-57-10, +1-866-869-23-21, or +46 (0)8-506-921-85. Call in good time before the conference starts. Provide the code "Essity" or the conference ID 5288956. For further information, please contact: Karl Stoltz Media Relations Manager +46-8-788-51-55 [email protected] Johan Karlsson Vice President Investor Relations +46-8-788-51-30 [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/essity/r/invitation-to-essity-s-q2-2018-press-conference,c2552892 The following files are available for download: http://mb.cision.com/Main/15798/2552892/863178.pdf Invitation to Essityas Q2 2018 press conference SOURCE Essity NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumers around the world are demanding transparency and authenticity in every facet of their lives. This is manifested in our political climate, in the fast-changing world of advertising, in our fixation on natural and organic foodsand, increasingly, in the call from consumers for transparency in beauty. But what does "transparent beauty" really mean? Is it a call for clean cosmetics? Is it a demand for insight into how our beauty companies source their innovations and run their business? Or something else entirely? "The rise of technology and access to information on demand has shifted control to the individual. Newly empowered consumers, now more knowledgeable and vocal than ever before, are adding to the erosion of trust that fostered the current demand for transparency," stated the beauty industry professionals in the Fashion Institute of Technology's Master of Professional Studies program in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management (CFMM) at the program's annual Capstone Research Presentations, sponsored by Coty Inc., on June 13 in New York City. "The outstanding 2018 CFMM research on transparency spoke to the topic in a very modern way that has value to both retailers and brands, and the research identified actionable short- and long-term solutions for industry," said Norman de Greve, chief marketing officer, CVS Health, and keynote speaker at the presentations. "CVS Health has heard the consumer's demand for transparency and initiated several new programs to provide visibility on ingredients and authentic beauty images in brand advertising for beauty products in our stores." To reach their conclusions, the 2018 CFMM graduate students examined data, conducted extensive global research, designed and fielded the 2018 FIT Transparency Perception Assessment Survey, and interviewed industry executives, focusing on two key areas: (1) Clean Beautytransparency as it pertains to brands and products; and (2) Glassbox Organizationscorporations thriving in a transparent world. The following are highlights of their findings, predictions, and business imperatives. 2018 FIT Transparency Perception Assessment Survey: The proprietary survey discovered that consumers crave communication, accountability, and values from both brands and beauty industry employers. Lack of transparency is impeding the consumer path to purchase as well as the employee pursuit of purpose. 72 percent of consumers want a brand to explain what the ingredients do. 42 percent of respondents feel that they do not get enough information from brands on ingredient safety. 60+ percent of consumers want brands to identify sources for ingredients. 90 percent of respondents believe natural ingredients are better for them; however, only 10 percent of respondents use products made only with natural ingredients. 74 percent of consumers agree to share their data if they are getting something in return. 82 percent of the working population chooses their next job because the company's culture and mission align with their values. The beauty industry is 72 percent more likely to rank company culture as the top reason for employment over the general population. 55 percent of participants within the beauty industry said they do not have enough clarity or information about career progression. This is two times the rate of the general population. Clean Beauty: The emergence and growth of the clean beauty movement is a symptom of consumers' growing mistrust in the beauty industry and is likely only the tip of the iceberg. As consumers aim to gain control of their lives by making more informed decisions, beauty brands are at risk of losing customers due to a lack of transparency. What used to be a linear purchase decision journey has transformed into an ever-evolving maze, and brands need to adapt. The time has come to replace the proverbial "mirror" with clear glass. By embracing technological innovations, prioritizing relatability, and putting control into the hands of consumers, brands have the opportunity to evolve beauty industry practices, rebuild trust, and reinvent the way consumers view the beauty industry. The following four elements represent a transparency gap that exists between brands and consumers. The graduate research culminated in the creation of the Clear Beauty Radical Transparency Model. By addressing the four elements of knowledge, authenticity, relatability and collaboration, brands can bridge the gap. Knowledge: There is too much data and not enough information. The lack of clear information is impeding the path to purchase. Consumers are turning to naturals because they think green is clean. Companies need to: 1) Empower consumers through education by making owned media platforms an encyclopedia and share short, "snackable" content. 2) Leverage Google Translate and Google Lens technology to create the clearBEAUTY app, which will allow consumers to translate ingredient lists and to comparison shop in real time. There is too much data and not enough information. The lack of clear information is impeding the path to purchase. Consumers are turning to naturals because they think green is clean. Companies need to: 1) Empower consumers through education by making owned media platforms an encyclopedia and share short, "snackable" content. 2) Leverage Google Translate and Google Lens technology to create the clearBEAUTY app, which will allow consumers to translate ingredient lists and to comparison shop in real time. Authenticity: Knowing what is in a product and what it does is not enough. Consumers want to authenticate where it comes from and what it claims to do. Companies need to: 1) Ensure authenticity and protect consumers by adding clear dates to all products: batch date, production date, and expiration date. 2) Leverage blockchain and crypto-anchor technology to validate the product journey from source to skin, while also combating the industry's gray market and counterfeit problem. Knowing what is in a product and what it does is not enough. Consumers want to authenticate where it comes from and what it claims to do. Companies need to: 1) Ensure authenticity and protect consumers by adding clear dates to all products: batch date, production date, and expiration date. 2) Leverage blockchain and crypto-anchor technology to validate the product journey from source to skin, while also combating the industry's gray market and counterfeit problem. Relatability: Consumers want brands that are reflections of themselves. The new consumer collective trusts one another and wants to have a dialogue with brands. Companies need to: 1) Listen to consumers and leverage conversational commerce to guide product development and build advocacy. 2) Leverage the growth of the consumer genetic testing market to provide hyper-personalized product recommendations and foster "communities of you." Consumers want brands that are reflections of themselves. The new consumer collective trusts one another and wants to have a dialogue with brands. Companies need to: 1) Listen to consumers and leverage conversational commerce to guide product development and build advocacy. 2) Leverage the growth of the consumer genetic testing market to provide hyper-personalized product recommendations and foster "communities of you." Collaboration: Niche or heritage, mass or prestige, retailer or distributor, partner or competitor, the industry must come together to answer the consumer demand for transparency. Glassbox Beauty: In order to achieve success now and in the future, companies must create a structure to respond to these growing demands. This means laying a foundation that allows for responsible and transparent corporate governance. In a world where information is impossible to hide and constant change is the norm, companieslike countriesare being held to a new level of scrutiny. It is not enough to talk the talk: action is required. If not, employees and consumers will migrate. Organizations must prioritize the following three measures to not only to secure their own future, but the future of society. Obviously, organizations cannot succeed in a failing society and, therefore, must take responsibility for the welfare of citizens where governments have fallen short. The graduate students recommend that brands and corporations provide internal and external perspectives on identity, security, and opportunity. To that end, they have developed a model, called the "Insumer Loop," which empowers the "insumer"the convergence of the individual as consumer and employee. Identity: It is of the utmost importance that brands, and corporations establish and communicate the values for which they stand. The research further revealed that to grow their community, companies must: 1) Implement ongoing recruitment processes that leverage all employees, and 2) build an employee experience using modern human resource tools. It is of the utmost importance that brands, and corporations establish and communicate the values for which they stand. The research further revealed that to grow their community, companies must: 1) Implement ongoing recruitment processes that leverage all employees, and 2) build an employee experience using modern human resource tools. Security: Companies that prove they have employee and consumer safety and well-being in mindand are able to communicate this transparentlywill continue rise to the top, flushing out entities that do not. To gain trust, companies must ensure accountability by: 1) providing 360-degree feedback at all levels; 2) creating fairness and championing their best promoters; and 3) offering incentives by regularly reassessing salaries and clearly communicating progress. Companies that prove they have employee and consumer safety and well-being in mindand are able to communicate this transparentlywill continue rise to the top, flushing out entities that do not. To gain trust, companies must ensure accountability by: 1) providing 360-degree feedback at all levels; 2) creating fairness and championing their best promoters; and 3) offering incentives by regularly reassessing salaries and clearly communicating progress. Opportunity: Workplaces and brands that acknowledge individual opinions and empower people to create impact will benefit from continued loyalty, while those that refuse will be phased out of the consideration set. To cultivate loyalty, brands must: 1) Embrace mobility at all levels to satisfy internal curiosity, and 2) Create equality by reducing biases. Video of the event, white papers, and infographics of 2018 FIT Transparency Perception Assessment research are posted for public view here. High resolution photos can be downloaded here. About FIT The FIT Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management (CFMM) program, one of seven advanced degree programs in FIT's School of Graduate Studies, was developed in collaboration with industry as a leadership development program for outstanding mid-career executives. Global luxury firms including Chanel, Shiseido, Estee Lauder, and LVMH, and global consumer packaged goods companies including Coty, L'Oreal, and Unilever, nominate talented emerging executives to participate in the two-year program. The CFMM program has become the beauty industry's recognized think tank, producing high-level research presented to industry executives and organizations, and during specialized panels, symposia, and forums in both academia and industry. Visit fitnyc.edu/cfmm. FIT, part of the State University of New York, has been a leader in career education in art, design, business, and technology for almost 75 years. Providing its 9,000 students with an uncommon blend of hands-on, practical experience, theory, and a firm grounding in the liberal arts, FIT offers a wide range of affordable programs that foster innovation and collaboration. Its distinctive curriculum is geared to today's rapidly growing creative economy, including fields such as computer animation, toy design, production management, film and media, and cosmetics and fragrance marketing. Internationally renowned, FIT draws on its New York City location to provide a vibrant, creative community in which to learn. The college offers nearly 50 majors and grants AAS, BFA, BS, MA, MFA, and MPS degrees, preparing students for professional success and leadership in the new creative economy. Visit fitnyc.edu. About Coty Inc. Coty is one of the world's largest beauty companies with approximately $9 billion in pro forma revenue, with a purpose to celebrate and liberate the diversity of consumers' beauty. Its strong entrepreneurial heritage has created an iconic portfolio of leading beauty brands. Coty is the global leader in fragrance, a strong number two in professional salon hair color and styling, and number three in color cosmetics. Coty operates three divisionsConsumer Beauty, which is focused on mass color cosmetics, mass retail hair coloring and styling products, body care and mass fragrances with brands such as COVERGIRL, Max Factor and Rimmel; Luxury, which is focused on prestige fragrances and skincare with brands such as Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, Hugo Boss, Gucci and philosophy; and Professional Beauty, which is focused on servicing salon owners and professionals in both hair and nail, with brands such as Wella Professionals, Sebastian Professional, OPI and ghd. Coty has over 20,000 colleagues globally and its products are sold in over 150 countries. Coty and its brands are committed to a range of social causes as well as seeking to minimize its impact on the environment. For additional information about Coty Inc., visit coty.com. Cheri Fein Executive Director of Public and Media Relations (212) 217-4700; [email protected] SOURCE Fashion Institute of Technology Related Links http://www.fitnyc.edu CINCINNATI, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LasikPlus CEO Craig Joffe has won a Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award honoring the Top CEOs in 2018 in the U.S. SMB category. Glassdoor, one of the world's largest job and recruiting sites, released its annual report recognizing the Top CEOs, which highlights top leaders employees love working for at small and medium companies in the U.S. LasikPlus Among chief executives recognized by employees in the U.S., Joffe received an impressive approval rating of 96 percent, based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews LasikPlus employees shared on Glassdoor throughout the past year. Joffe's leadership style is best exemplified through the cultural values of LasikPlus, some of which include commitment, care, communication and consistency. He believes that it is a whole team, not one individual, that makes a company successful. This is what allows LasikPlus to maintain a high level of patient care and business performance. Thus, Joffe strives to teach and uplift every person who works for LasikPlus through his passion for providing high-quality laser vision correction. "Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgment of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day. I congratulate all of this year's winners on this significant achievement," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work." When employees submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes like senior management. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing. Among the 770,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. See the complete list of all Top CEOs in 2018: https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Top-CEOs-at-SMBs-LST_KQ0,16.htm About LasikPlus LasikPlus is America's most recommended LASIK provider. Since 1995, the company has completed more than one million LASIK treatments at over 50 vision centers across the country. LasikPlus' goal is to help every person, regardless of prescription, income, age and lifestyle, to achieve better vision. LasikPlus works with world-class surgeons and uses custom, "all-laser" vision correction. For more information, visit the LasikPlus blog. LasikPlus can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. LasikPlus Media Contact: Kevin Boothe, [email protected] About Glassdoor Glassdoor is one of the largest job and recruiting sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for more than 770,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms. Glassdoor Media Contact: Amelia Green-Vamos, [email protected] Related Images glassdoor-top-ceos-2018.png Glassdoor Top CEOs 2018 craig-joffe.jpg Craig Joffe lasikplus-logo.png LasikPlus logo SOURCE LasikPlus Related Links http://www.lasikplus.com Paul Simon's Homeward Bound - The Farewell Performance will be the first major concert event at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in decades. Simon will be donating all personal net-proceeds from the event to a previously-selected cause, which will be announced at a later date. Homeward Bound The Farewell Performance will be a celebration of a renowned touring career that began in the 1960s and has coincided with his artistic journey as a songwriter and recording artist through the present day. Simon said of this final show, "It seems more like fate than coincidence that I should do the final show on this final tour at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. I could have ridden my bike from home to the park in about 20 minutes, when I was a kid. But this is less a goodbye than a farewell. Thank you all for the ride, I had a great time." "When Paul Simon sings 'Homeward Bound,' there's no doubt he means New York," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "The grit, beauty and complexity of this city are woven into Simon's most haunting songs, and our greatest venues have formed the backdrop of his performing career. It's only fitting that this son of Queens comes home to Flushing Meadows Corona Park." Homeward Bound The Farewell Tour has received overwhelming critical acclaim: "A graceful, masterful and jubilant celebrationIt's the songs, some of the smartest and most important ones written by anyone in the rock era, that made Simon the icon he is.everyone who was there tonight, from the audience to the band, was honored to celebrate a truly legendary career." Steve Baltin, Forbes "Simon will leave the stage at the height of his powers a final trick from one of music's most beloved conjurers." Zack Ruskin, The San Francisco Chronicle "In a generous 140-minute show, the artist remained in top form and showed why we'll miss his band-leading and arranging talents as much as his rare sense of poetry." Chris Willman, Variety Tickets for Paul Simon's Homeward Bound The Farewell Performance at Flushing Meadows Corona Park will go on sale beginning Friday, June 29 at 10 a.m. ET at axs.com. American Express Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Monday, June 25 at 10 a.m. ET through Thursday, June 28 at 10 p.m. ET. The event is produced by The Bowery Presents and Madison House Presents, New York City's premier concert producers. "We're so thrilled that Paul's final concert will be held in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, a stone's throw away from his alma maters, Forest Hills High School and Queens College. Paul's farewell performance will be a once-in-a-lifetime event and we're so proud to share it with him here, in the borough of Queens," says Congressman Joseph Crowley "On behalf of NYC Parks, we're elated and excited that Paul chose to hold this historic final concert in his home borough of Queens. They say you can never go home, but actually you can," said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP. "In summer, there's no better place to enjoy live music than outdoors in a City park, and what a night this will be. Thank you, Paul!" This past February, upon the announcement of his Farewell Tour, Simon wrote the following letter to his fans: I've often wondered what it would feel like to reach the point where I'd consider bringing my performing career to a natural end. Now I know: it feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating, and something of a relief. I love making music, my voice is still strong, and my band is a tight, extraordinary group of gifted musicians. I think about music constantly. Sadly, we lost our lead guitarist and my friend of 30 years, Vincent N'guini, who died last December. His loss is not the only reason I've decided to stop touring, but it is a contributing factor. Mostly, though, I feel the travel and time away from my wife and family takes a toll that detracts from the joy of playing. I'd like to leave with a big Thank You to the many folks around the world who've come out to watch me play over the last 50 years. After this coming tour, I anticipate doing the occasional performance in a (hopefully) acoustically pristine hall, and to donate those earnings to various philanthropic organizations, particularly those whose objective is to save the planet, ecologically. Once again, I am very grateful for a fulfilling career and, of course, most of all to the audiences who heard something in my music that touched their hearts. Paul Simon February 5, 2018 SOURCE Legacy Recordings Related Links http://www.legacyrecordings.com RESTON, Va., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology leader, today announced the company has achieved Premier Consulting Partner status within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN). Premier Consulting Partner is the highest tier within the APN. It recognizes partners that have made significant investments in technical skills and AWS expertise to drive successful customer outcomes. Leidos joined the AWS Partner Network in August 2014. The Premier Consulting Partner status is the latest recognition Leidos has achieved while collaborating with AWS. In April, Leidos achieved the AWS Managed Service Provider certification, which qualifies a company to help customers plan, design, build, migrate, run and optimize an AWS cloud environment. Shortly after, Leidos achieved the AWS Government Competency certification for three industries: National Security & Defense, Citizen Services, and Public Healthcare. These recent achievements served as a stepping stone to obtaining the Premier Partner level. "Being named an AWS Premier Consulting Partner underscores our ability to provide a continuum of sustainable and scalable solutions that unleash the power of the cloud for our customers," said John Fratamico, Leidos Chief Technology Officer. "We have made significant investments to help customers optimize their cloud needs. Whether it's a small solution or one involving large, complex, and sensitive data sets, our cloud architects deliver innovative solutions that minimize a customer's information technology footprint." About Leidos Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 31,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $10.17 billion for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2017. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com. Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 29, 2017, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. SOURCE Leidos Related Links http://www.leidos.com LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism today announced it has given grants totaling close to $7 million to 100 unique American organizations. Since 2002, The Lenz Foundation's grant-making has focused on nonprofit organizations that reflect the universal Buddhist values of wisdom, compassion, mindfulness, and meditation. Says Norman Oberstein, Lenz Foundation CEO, "We are proud to have worked with 100 groups to date. Our founder, Rama Dr. Frederick Lenz, envisioned a foundation that would be impartial, providing assistance to many forms of American Buddhism. In addition to providing grants, we also offer training to help our grantees become successful at what they do." Grant categories include meditation and mindfulness in schools, prisons, at risk communities, and law schools; Buddhist programs at universities; women in Buddhism; assistance for the dying; programs for minorities and people of color; support for military veterans with PTSD; and Buddhist art and culture. Training has included nonprofit financial success from Lynne Twist's Soul of Money, collaboration skills from The Presencing Institute, and teaching mindfulness in business. The Lenz Foundation also maintains oversight and the availability of Dr. Lenz's materials including books, audio talks, music, and videos. According to Fleet Maul, President of Prison Mindfulness Institute, "The Lenz Foundation has been a consistent supporter of our work bringing meditation and mindfulness to correctional institutions all over the country. After their release from prison, individuals have the means to sustain and increase their ability to succeed in society." "The Lenz Foundation has supported our efforts to innovate within our tradition," says Jeremy Levie, Secretary of San Francisco Zen Center. "This makes Zen practice accessible and relevant to a wide audience of practitioners." The Lenz Foundation is a perpetual private foundation. Says Oberstein, "I am always inspired by the variety and commitment of engaged, socially helpful work being done by Buddhist organizations all over the USA." For a complete list of grant recipients, see Grant Activity. About the Lenz Foundation The mission of the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism is to foster the growth and development of an authentic American Buddhism that takes its inspiration from the wisdom traditions of the East but adopts new forms, approaches, and applications that are uniquely suited to contemporary American society and culture. The Lenz Foundation is based in Los Angeles, California. SOURCE Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism Related Links http://www.fredericklenzfoundation.org BOSTON, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Liberty Mutual Insurance has been named a winner of the 2018 Digital Workplace of the Year Award for its digital assistant that simplifies employees' day by managing their to-do lists, notifications, approvals, workflows, messaging and social media in a single, modern, and intelligent intuitive interface. This award, presented by the Digital Workplace Group in partnership with SMG and CMSWire, recognizes Liberty Mutual's digital workplace for its innovation and ability to drive significant and measurable business impact. "Liberty Mutual really wowed our judges this year - with high scores across the award criteria," said Paul Miller, CEO and Founder, Digital Workplace Group. "We were especially impressed with their strategic approach, with a clear focus on simplifying employees lives and impressive features, including a personalized Digital Assistant, a Chatbot for IT help, and a mobile app for anywhere access." Liberty Mutual's digital assistant was so successful with its employees that the company recently launched Workgrid Software, LLC - a wholly-owned company that creates and sells software solutions that are purpose-built for an enterprise. Workgrid Software brings Workgrid Assistant to other companies to help them integrate common systems and tools found in the workplace and accelerate digital transformation without the cost and time of a complete technology overhaul "The Digital Workplace award is one of the top in the industry and we are thrilled to receive this level of recognition for our Workgrid platform," said James McGlennon, Liberty Mutual Insurance Chief Information Officer. "What started as an internal digital transformation initiative has quickly become an industry-leading platform that brings together technology, culture and the physical work space to continuously improve the employee experience." Workgrid Assistant is easily customizable, making it one of the most ready-to-use, flexible employee-enablement platforms on the market to date and its modern interface and functionality was designed specifically to solve for the loss of productivity and engagement due to the complexity of the employee experience in a large enterprisebut applicable to companies of all sizes. The Digital Workplace of the Year Award is presented annually during the Digital Workplace Experience event held in Chicago, Ill. The award honors companies who have excelled in creating well-executed, high performing digital workplace environments. Winners are chosen by a panel of seven judges made up of active Digital Workplace Group members who have highly regarded expertise in the digital workplace field. The judging criteria encapsulates the key elements of a successful digital workplace program, from strategy to ultimate impact. About Liberty Mutual Insurance Liberty Mutual's purpose is to help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow. The promise we make to our customers throughout the world is to provide protection for the unexpected, delivered with care. In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, Mass., today we are a leading global insurer with operations in 30 countries and economies around the world. We are the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2017 direct written premium data as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. We also rank 68th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2017 revenue. As of December 31, 2017, we had $39.4 billion in annual consolidated revenue. We employ nearly 50,000 people in over 800 offices throughout the world. We offer a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, commercial multi-peril, property, general liability, commercial automobile, surety, workers compensation, specialty lines, and reinsurance. You can learn more about us by visiting www.libertymutualinsurance.com. Media Contact: Adrianne Kaufmann (617) 574-5983 [email protected] SOURCE Liberty Mutual Insurance Related Links http://www.libertymutualinsurance.com TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945 TORONTO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife Financial Corporation ("Manulife" or the "Company") will host an institutional Investor Day in Toronto on Wednesday, June 27, 2018 from 8 a.m. ET. Manulife's senior management will present the Company's strategic direction with an emphasis on portfolio optimization, expense management, and our Canadian and U.S. operations. Investor Day Agenda Roy Gori President and Chief Executive Officer A bold and exciting future Phil Witherington Chief Financial Officer Delivering strong results and driving expense efficiency Naveed Irshad Head of North American Legacy Business Extracting value from our legacy businesses Michael Doughty General Manager, Canada Winning in our home market Marianne Harrison General Manager, U.S. Building next generation protection and wealth solutions The event will include Q&A sessions with the presenters and other executives. Interested parties may access the live webcast through Manulife.com/Events-Presentations. An archived version of the webcast audio will be available the day after the live event at the same location for six months. The Investor Day slide presentations can also be found at Manulife.com/Events-Presentations. About Manulife Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. We operate primarily as John Hancock in the United States and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2017, we had about 35,000 employees, 73,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 26 million customers. As of March 31, 2018, we had over $1.1 trillion (US$850 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $26.9 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong. SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation Related Links http://www.manulife.com SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Marc A. Bronstein is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Lifetime Member in the field of Law in recognition of his role as an Attorney at Marc A. Bronstein, A Professional Law Corporation. Established in 1997, Marc A. Bronstein, A Professional Law Corporation provides legal assistance to California residents pertaining to estate planning, real estate, business, and taxation. Dedicated to providing comprehensive legal advice, Mr. Bronstein, and his firm, lend a multifaceted approach in their belief that aggressive legal representation is the best way to serve their clients. Through their legal counsel, Mr. Bronstein and the firm balance legal and financial perspectives in advising clients on taking actions to accomplish their important goals. As the founder and Senior Attorney at Marc A. Bronstein, A Professional Law Corporation, Marc A. Bronstein brings forty years of experience in the field of law, together with the knowledge and experience of a certified public accountant and practicing tax professional. A well venerated professional throughout his career, Mr. Bronstein has become well versed in the areas of Estate planning, as well as business, real estate and tax matters. Mr. Bronstein was admitted to the State Bar of California over forty (40) years ago and to U.S. Tax Court over thirty-five (35) years ago. However, despite this extensive experience, Mr. Bronstein continues to offer his clients quality services at affordable rates based on his strongly held beliefs that legal assistance should be readily accessible to those who seek it. Prior to embarking on his academic career, Marc A. Bronstein was an active member of the Boy Scouts of America, obtaining the highest attainable rank of Eagle Scout. Mr. Bronstein then earned his Bachelor of Science degree Magna Cum Laude in Accounting from California State University, Long Beach and his Juris Doctor degree-Cum Laude from Loyola Law School in 1977. Thereafter, Mr. Bronstein attained his Master of Science degree in Taxation from Golden Gate University in Los Angeles, California. Through Mr. Bronstein's education, he remained an active part of the community, including earning a Certificate of Heroism from the Boy Scouts of America and a Commendation for Community Service from the City of Culver City, as a result of his actions while serving as a Troop Leader with the Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Bronstein is also an affiliate of several distinguished organizations including the Beverly Hills Bar Association and California State Bar Association. For more information, please visit https://marcbronstein.com/ Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com RICHARDSON, Texas and BURLINGTON, Mass., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MedeAnalytics, a pioneer in health care analytics for payers and providers, and HealthEdge, provider of the only integrated financial, administrative and clinical platform for transformative health plans, today announced that they have entered into a partnership to bring integrated quality, advanced analytics, insights and reporting for population health to HealthRules customers. Together MedeAnalytics and HealthEdge will leverage each company's complementary capabilities to enable payers to reduce gaps in care, lower costs, improve quality outcomes, enhance broker and employer plan engagement and increase member satisfaction. As the industry rapidly shifts to value-based payment arrangements, both payers and providers agree that having smart analytics based on timely and shared datasets will be critical for improving clinical outcomes. HealthEdge customers will be able to leverage MedeAnalytics' offerings to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of their care management programs through improved risk stratification and tailored intervention programs specific to their patient populations, empowering them with the insights to rapidly improve care while reducing costs. Presbyterian Healthcare Services and its subsidiary, Fluent Health, leverage solutions from both HealthEdge and MedeAnalytics. Fluent/Presbyterian Healthcare Services is eager to see how this integration will help them identify high cost claimants sooner, measure the effectiveness of utilization management edits, improve auto-adjudication rates, see real-time membership migration and determine impact to claim volume. "It is imperative for next-generation healthcare technology companies like HealthEdge and MedeAnalytics to work together to help us solve complex healthcare challenges. Our organization in particular sees this as an opportunity to positively influence administrative expense, operational efficiency and our triple aim strategy," said Jack Towsley, president of Fluent Health. "By connecting real-time data from HealthRules into MedeAnalytics, the two organizations are opening the doors to powerful predictive analytics capabilities. We see tremendous potential!" "We are excited to embark on this new collaboration with HealthEdge, one of the nation's most rapidly growing innovators in payer solutions," said Paul Kaiser, chief executive officer of MedeAnalytics. "For years, payers have struggled to determine if a particular care management intervention was effective for their beneficiaries. This new partnership will change that by connecting the industry's most advanced healthcare analytics with HealthEdge's market-leading payer solutions, driving insights to help payers make even smarter decisions." "Payers have struggled to understand the full picture of their members' health due to siloed data and disparate technology solutions," said Steve Krupa, chief executive officer of HealthEdge. "Through this partnership with MedeAnalytics, HealthRules customers will have visibility into an enhanced, comprehensive member view that will enable a truly data-driven approach to focus care management resources most effectively." To meet representatives from both companies in-person, please visit their booths at the upcoming AHIP Institute & Expo, which is taking place from June 20-22, 2018 in San Diego, California. MedeAnalytics will be located in booth 338 and HealthEdge will be available at booth 609. About MedeAnalytics A pioneer in healthcare analytics, MedeAnalytics helps organizations make even smarter decisions. With the most advanced data orchestration in healthcare, our intelligent cloud-based analytics platform combines data to deliver state-of-the-art analytics, all in a business context. MedeAnalytics' scalable solutions for financial management, operations, value-based care, and strategic planning and the ability to tailor-build deliver the action-ready insights organizations need to achieve success. Helping clients realize financial and operational value almost immediately is just one of the many reasons why MedeAnalytics is the leading healthcare-only analytics provider. With offices in the U.S. and U.K., MedeAnalytics serves 1,500+ organizations and 60M covered lives, and has been named one of Modern Healthcare's Top 100 Best Places Work. Learn more at www.medeanalytics.com. About HealthEdge HealthEdge provides modern, disruptive healthcare IT solutions for core administration and care coordination that health insurers use to leverage new business models, improve outcomes, drastically reduce administrative costs and connect everyone in the healthcare delivery cycle. Our next-generation enterprise solution suite, HealthRules, is built on modern, patented technology and is delivered to customers via the HealthEdge Cloud or onsite deployment. An award-winning company, HealthEdge empowers health insurers to capitalize on the innovations, challenges and opportunities that await in the new healthcare economy. For more information, visit www.healthedge.com. Media Contacts: Alessandra Nix SHIFT Communications for MedeAnalytics 617.779.1860 [email protected] Melissa O'Dowd HealthEdge 781.419.6170 [email protected] SOURCE MedeAnalytics Related Links http://www.medeanalytics.com SAN DIEGO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA), the first publicly traded cannabis company in the United States, subsidiary HempMeds Brasil today announced that Norberto Fischer has joined as spokesperson for the company. "We're very excited to have Norberto, a very close friend of the company, join us as a spokesperson and help share his story about how CBD helps improve the quality of life for his daughter, Anny," said HempMeds Brasil Vice President Caroline Heinz. "Norberto is not only passionate, but he is knowledgeable and well-recognized within Brazil's cannabis community." Fischer and his wife Katiele first became involved in the cannabis industry when they received the first National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (Anvisa)-authorized import permit for cannabidiol (CBD) in Brazil for their daughter Anny. Anny suffers from a rare genetic disorder called CDKL5 that causes seizures. Once Norberto and Katiele realized that prescription medications wouldn't stop Anny's seizures, they discovered the Facebook page and story of Harper Howard, a girl in the U.S. who was taking CBD for CDKL5. The Fischers became interested in giving CBD to Anny, but all forms of cannabis were banned in Brazil at the time, preventing them from legally pursuing the treatment option. They then found themselves forced to fight for access to CBD for their daughter, suing the government in Brazil for the right to import CBD for Anny. Three days later, they became the first to receive an authorized import permit for CBD from Anvisa. Within the first three months of taking CBD, Anny went from having 64 seizures a week to zero. "I'm excited to represent a company that has brought my family and many families across the world great benefits and joy," said HempMeds Brasil Spokesperson Norberto Fischer. "I hope that I can help clear up the many misconceptions of cannabis and inspire people to give CBD a try." Fischer is a professor and world-renowned speaker at cannabis conferences and events across the world. In addition to sharing his story with the media, he will be contributing to the HempMeds Brasil blog with his own bi-weekly column. For more information about the Fischers and the company, please follow @HempMedsBrasil on Facebook. About Medical Marijuana, Inc. We are a company of firsts. Our mission is to be the premier cannabis and hemp industry innovators, leveraging our team of professionals to source, evaluate and purchase value-added companies and products, while allowing them to keep their integrity and entrepreneurial spirit. We strive to create awareness within our industry, develop environmentally-friendly, economically sustainable businesses, while increasing shareholder value. For details on Medical Marijuana, Inc.'s portfolio and investment companies, visit www.medicalmarijuanainc.com. To see Medical Marijuana, Inc.'s corporate video, click here. Shareholders and consumers are also encouraged to buy CBD oil and other products at Medical Marijuana, Inc.'s shop. About HempMeds Brasil HempMeds Brasil was the first company to receive approval from the National Sanitary Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to import a product based on cannabidiol, a substance derived from hemp, a plant of the genus Cannabis. Currently, it is authorized to supply its products, which help in the control of diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson's, chronic pain and multiple sclerosis, under medical prescription. For these indications, the products can be subsidized by the Brazilian government. HempMeds Brasil works on additional approvals for other indications. About HempMeds Brasil and all its products with natural hemp oil: www.hempmeds.com.br. FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Medical Marijuana, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA) DISCLOSURE These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease. LEGAL DISCLOSURE Medical Marijuana, Inc. does not sell or distribute any products that are in violation of the United States Controlled Substances Act (US.CSA). These companies do grow, sell, and distribute hemp-based products and are involved with the federally legal distribution of medical marijuana-based products within certain international markets. Cannabidiol is a natural constituent of hemp oil. MEDIA CONTACT: Andrew Hard Chief Executive Officer, CMW Media P: 858-264-6600 E: [email protected] www.cmwmedia.com SOURCE Medical Marijuana, Inc. Related Links http://www.medicalmarijuanainc.com Shanghai Pudong Medical Device Trade Association (MDTA) has been Medtec China' exclusive supporter for many years. In order to fulfill the huge need of regulatory consultant services including for the international and domestic markets, Medtec China decided to open a new exhibit zone called "Medical regulatory street," while a "Regulatory Lecture" will be held accordingly, which has been highly acknowledged and supported by the chief of MDTA, who is also going to be one of the keynote speakers at the conference "Chinese Regulatory Updates and Compliance". "Chinese Regulatory Updates and Compliance," as the most popular topic, has attracted many conference delegates, not only because it discusses the hottest topics, and boasts some very prominent speakers from government and associations, but also because it fills the audience's needs. This year, the event will talk about the development prospects of the Chinese medical device industry, and analyze the top three regulations and polices which are medical device review and approval system, medical device registrant system, and clinical trial quality management of medical devices. For the Quality track, William M. Sutton (FDA Assistant Country Director of China) has been invited to continue to introduce issues related to MDSAP as last year this topic was of high interest to many attendees and they would like to understand more related issues, such as the process of MDSAP regulatory implementation, how to integrate MDSAP into the quality system with ISO13485, and some case studies. Besides, both experience of FDA inspections and CFDI overseas inspection are going to be shared onsite. As one of the global MedTechWorld series exhibitions, Medtec China takes advantage of global sources from the U.S., Europe and Japan to introduce cutting-edge technologies and design conceptions to Chinese engineers. Hence, there are two technology conferences debuting at Medtec China 2018: "Perspective of End User Design & New Technology" and "Next-Gen Design & New Technology". The following are featured in this two-track event, "How to take advantage of patents and how to avoid intellectual property risks," "New developments in robotic surgery and innovations in sensor technology," and "what Innovative elements must be mastered in designing medical electronic products?" Online conference registration is now available to the public. Click here to book your seat. Meanwhile, more high quality free conferences and activities such as Market Report Track of Medical Device Industry, new technology theatre, and quality focus will also provide attendees with rich and valuable information. Please Click here to Pre-register now to Visit Medtec China 2018. Media\Exhibit\Visit\Conference Contact: Carina Li UBM China T+86 10 5730 6163 E[email protected] SOURCE Medtec China Related Links http://www.medtecchina.com Find parking in a preset radius based on current location, when integrated with vehicle telematics/GPS Find parking near projected location of HOS expiration, when integrated with Electronic Logging Device (ELD)/HOS Find parking near location most appropriate based on final destination and HOS expiration, when integrated with dispatch Using a proprietary Parking Favorability Score for each parking area, the app concept provides the driver with: Parking areas based on current or projected location A ranked order of the recommended parking locations Detailed pop-up including ranking, rating, and distance With DataDialogue|Park, Morpace seeks to maximize lucrative driving time, increase driver retention, save fuel costs, improve driver safety, mitigate HOS and unauthorized parking violations, and minimize driving in bad areas. The Smart Community Prize is awarded for the creation of a solution for the community that contributes to a better way of life for its citizens and visitors, using one or more datasets from Geotab's Intelligence Data. Geotab, a world leader in IoT and telematics technology, collects over 2 billion raw data points daily from the over 1 million commercial vehicles equipped with Geotab GO devices across the globe. Leveraging the Intelligence Data found on data.geotab.com, Geotab challenged customers, partners, and the general public residing in the U.S. and Canada to be as creative as possible by putting this data to use in interesting and innovative ways. They awarded prizes in two different categories during their annual conference, Geotab Connect, held June 2018, in Toronto. All entries were judged based on creativity, feasibility, and impact. About Morpace Inc. Morpace is a top 50 global research and consulting firm which has built a reputation as truth seekers who humanize data to connect clients with their customers. With offices in Detroit, Los Angeles, London and Shanghai, Morpace has been recognized as a global leader in its field. For more information on the firm and its services, visit www.morpace.com. About Geotab Geotab is advancing security, connecting commercial vehicles to the internet and providing web-based analytics to help customers better manage their fleets. Geotab's open platform and Marketplace, offering hundreds of third-party solution options, allows both small and large businesses to automate operations by integrating vehicle data with their other data assets. As an IoT hub, the in-vehicle device provides additional functionality through IOX Add-Ons. Processing billions of data points a day, Geotab leverages data analytics and machine learning to help customers improve productivity, optimize fleets through the reduction of fuel consumption, enhance driver safety, and achieve strong compliance to regulatory changes. Geotab's products are represented and sold worldwide through Authorized Geotab Resellers. To learn more, please visit www.geotab.com and follow us @GEOTAB and on LinkedIn. Contact: Stephanie Salvadero Marketing Manager 248.785.0448 [email protected] SOURCE Morpace Related Links http://www.morpace.com ATLANTA, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia, ("HHCGA"), Altierus Career College and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health will host the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Journey on Sunday, June 24, 2018. The traveling, hands-on exhibit raises awareness about the All of Us Research Programan ambitious effort to gather data from 1 million or more people living in the United States to accelerate research and improve health. "We are glad the National Alliance for Hispanic Health recognizes our region as an important stop on the national tour and they are taking on a national effort to focus on the Hispanic/Latino population. If you look at most biomedical, behavioral or social science research, it doesn't involve the Hispanic/Latino population," said Shirley E. Borghi, Executive Director & Co-Vice Chairman of the Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia. "All communities have their own unique challenges around wellness. Ours include the rising rates of chronic diseases and necessary pro-active data, measurement and protocols which empower our care providers with the necessary data needed to assist their patients in education, advocacy and to better health outcomes and information." said Ms. Borghi. ""All of Us", is so important to shaping the future of health in the United States," said Dr. Jane L. Delgado, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, the nation's leading Hispanic health advocacy group. "This research program will bring together communities throughout the United States to drive new discoveries, which may lead to earlier disease identification, more precise treatment solutions and better health outcomes for all in the future." "We are thrilled to be part of this important effort, which has the potential to improve health and encourage medical breakthroughs," said Moses Delaney, campus director for Altierus Career College in Norcross. "Our campus serves a large Hispanic/Latino and other populations, which can benefit immensely from this project. Our Student Ambassadors represent the sustainable human capital resources necessary to serve future generations." Who: Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia, Altierus Career College and All of Us Research Program What: Traveling exhibit When: Sunday, June 24, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Media suggested times 12-2:30 p.m.) Where: 1750 Beaver Ruin Road, Norcross, GA 30093. Why: To provide community and campus members information on the program and precision medicine. About the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (the Alliance) The Alliance is the nation's foremost science-based source of information and trusted non-partisan advocate for the best health outcomes for all. The Alliance represents thousands of Hispanic health providers across the nation providing services to more than 15 million each year. For more information, visit https://www.healthyamericas.org or call the Alliance's Su Familia National Hispanic Family Health Helpline at 1-866-783-2645. About the Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia (the HHCGA) The HHCGA, a 28+ year old non-profit, is Georgia's only statewide organization focused on Hispanic/Latino Chronic Disease prevention and better health outcomes. It identifies needs and service gaps leading to health disparities for Georgia Hispanics and offers direct community services and supportive activities to improve the health of Georgia Latinos. As an expert in community health promotion, education, policy and health advocacy, HHCGA creates high-quality, culturally sensitive, and linguistically appropriate health care and prevention services for their community. About Altierus Career College (Altierus) Altierus Career College is a dedicated community that fully equips students to thrive. With campuses in Tampa, Fla., Norcross, Ga. and Houston, Texas. Altierus helps students build strong professional and personal skills through 1:1 guidance and a community of students accountable to each other and faculty to help them stay on track throughout their journey. Altierus is part of Zenith Education Group, a nonprofit career education system that builds better student experiences through new programs, campus improvements, grants and scholarships. For more information, visit www.altierus.org. Precision Medicine Initiative, All of Us, the All of Us logo, and "The Future of Health Begins with You" are service marks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SOURCE National Alliance for Hispanic Health Related Links http://www.healthyamericas.org MILWAUKEE, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual announced today that The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) has awarded two company recipients for its 2018 Human Relations Award -- Anne Paradis, Northwestern Mutual Board Member and former CEO of MicroTek, Inc., and Amy Jamrog, wealth management advisor and founder of The Jamrog Group - Northwestern Mutual. Paradis and Jamrog were honored, due to their commitment to fostering social justice and inclusion for all people, regardless of identity. NCCJ's annual award recognizes individuals and companies for displaying strong leadership and advocacy for human rights and equality, and upholding high standards in treating others with open-mindedness and respect. Honorees are active in humanitarian concerns such as combating prejudice and discrimination in the community and workplace. Paradis' business involvement includes serving on the Board of Trustees of Northwestern Mutual, the board of Westmass Development Corporation, and serving as chair of the board of directors of Baystate Health Systems, the largest hospital system in western Massachusetts. Paradis has served on multiple nonprofit boards since 1985 and is active with the Human Rights Campaign. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Westfield State University and her Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. Jamrog serves as a Trustee for Health New England and The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, as well as Board Member of Tech Foundry. She also manages endowments for many local non-profits. Jamrog's passion for giving back to the community extends through her practice, The Jamrog Group, which has been recognized for philanthropic efforts with The Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts, The Care Center of Holyoke Massachusetts and The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. Jamrog earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature & Creative Writing from Middlebury College, and graduated cum laude in 1994. See the full list of NCCJ Human Relations Award recipients here. About the National Conference for Community and Justice Formed in 1927, NCCJ is a human relations organization that promotes inclusion and acceptance by providing education and advocacy while building communities that are respectful and just for all. Celebrating the diversity of races, religions, cultures, genders, abilities, and sexual orientations. Visit http://www.nccj.org/ for more information. About Northwestern Mutual Northwestern Mutual has been helping families and businesses achieve financial security for more than 160 years. Through a distinctive, whole-picture planning approach, we empower our clients to make the most of every single day and plan for important moments in their future. We combine the expertise of our financial professionals with a personalized digital experience to help our clients navigate their financial lives every day. With $265.0 billion in assets, $28.1 billion in revenues, and $1.8 trillion worth of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to 4.5 million people who rely on us for life, disability income and long-term care insurance, annuities, brokerage and advisory services, trust services, and discretionary portfolio management solutions. The company manages more than $125 billion of client assets through its wealth management and investment services. Northwestern Mutual ranks 104 on the 2018 FORTUNE 500 and is recognized by FORTUNE as one of the "World's Most Admired" life insurance companies in 2018. Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Northwestern Mutual and its subsidiaries offer a comprehensive approach to financial security solutions including: life insurance, long-term care insurance, disability income insurance, annuities, life insurance with long-term care benefits, investment products, and advisory products and services. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (securities), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company (NMWMC) (fiduciary and fee-based financial planning services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance). SOURCE Northwestern Mutual Related Links http://www.northwesternmutual.com MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- DataVisor, the leading provider of fraud detection solutions using unsupervised machine learning, today released its DataVisor Fraud Index Report for Q1 2018, providing the latest insights into trends in global fraud activity and attack techniques. Last quarter, DataVisor uncovered a total of 900 million malicious activities and transactions. The report reveals dramatic growth in fraud infrastructure, with fraudulent accounts growing by 50 percent from Q4 2017 to Q1 2018. North America Emerges as a Leading Source of Financial Crime The proportion of fraud originating from North America doubled since the previous quarter. The United States in particular hosts more than 51 percent of fake accounts targeting online and financial services in North America and Europe, dwarfing countries in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe that have historically been hotspots for fraud. Bad Actors Continue to Migrate to the Cloud Fraudsters are taking advantage of cloud service infrastructure, such as virtual servers and anonymous proxies, which allow them to easily orchestrate attacks at scale and hide behind legitimate networks. Approximately 27 percent of accounts associated with cloud service provider IP ranges appear to be fraudulent, with some data centers having more than 90 percent fraudulent activity. Fraudsters Step up Device Spoofing to Evade Detection Fraudsters are getting better at mimicking legitimate user activities, including using device platforms popular among real users. 28 percent of fraudulent accounts originated from Mac OS X devices this quarter, representing a 4-fold increase over last quarter. As Mac OS is associated with fewer fraud activities in the past, fraudsters are likely spoofing their user agent strings to avoid detection. "Our research shows that fraudsters are not only scaling up their attacks, but also becoming more sophisticated," said Ting-Fang Yen, director of research at DataVisor. "Fraudsters are evolving quickly and using the latest technologies to evade detection -- an example is the widespread practice of device and OS spoofing. Solutions that automatically adapt to ever-changing attacks will be critical for businesses looking to protect themselves against fraud and abuse." The DataVisor Fraud Index Report for Q1 2018 is based on attacks detected by the DataVisor UML Engine between January and March of 2018 from analyzing 40 billion application-level events and 680 million user accounts across some of the largest internet properties and financial services in the world. About DataVisor DataVisor is the leading fraud detection solution utilizing unsupervised machine learning to identify application fraud, identity theft, spam and abuse, fraudulent transactions, app install fraud, money laundering and more. DataVisor's full-stack risk platform provides an end-to-end solution for detecting and preventing attacks by modern cybercriminals, and protects the largest financial institutions and internet properties in the world. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with offices in Beijing and Shanghai. For more information, visit www.datavisor.com. SOURCE DataVisor Related Links http://www.datavisor.com NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. ("Oppenheimer"), a unit of Oppenheimer Holdings (NYSE: OPY), hosted its 18th Annual Consumer Conference in Boston on June 19-20, 2018. This year's event featured nearly 60 companies, including prominent consumer brands such as Starbucks, Yum! Brands, Domino's Pizza, Wayfair, Tiffany & Co., Autozone, and Carter's, among many others. In addition to connecting investors with private and publically traded companies, the conference allowed investors to learn more about the prospect of consumer stocks for the second half of the year a critically important time for retail given back-to-school and holiday spending. More importantly, the conference provided insights into how retailers are handling and addressing ever-shifting consumer preferences. The conference featured Oppenheimer Senior Research Analyst attendees, who provided insights on many aspects of the consumer sector: Anna Andreeva , Senior Analyst covering Specialty Retail , Senior Analyst covering Specialty Retail Brian Bittner , Senior Analyst covering Restaurants , Senior Analyst covering Restaurants Brian W. Nagel , Senior Analyst covering the Hardlines and Broadlines Retail sectors , Senior Analyst covering the Hardlines and Broadlines Retail sectors Rupesh D. Parikh , Senior Analyst covering the Food, Grocery and Consumer Products sectors , Senior Analyst covering the Food, Grocery and Consumer Products sectors Scott Schneeberger , Senior Analyst covering Industrial and Business Services , Senior Analyst covering Industrial and Business Services Ian A. Zaffino , Senior Analyst covering event-driven special situations "Disruptive change to long-established business models is a major factor impacting consumer preferences and buying behaviors throughout the consumer industry. This year's conference showcased a mix of both market-leading and emerging companies driving these changes," said Erica L. Moffett, Managing Director and Associate Director of Research at Oppenheimer. "Consumers want a seamless experience, from customized and innovative products, ease of payment, and fast delivery. Successful companies must be focused on all these as the consumer landscape evolves. Investment professionals attending the conference had an opportunity to engage closely with company management teams actively tackling these important trends." Oppenheimer's next conferences will be the 21st Annual Conference on Technology, Internet and Communications, which will be held August 7-8 in Boston; followed by the Midwest Corporate Access Day on August 15 in Chicago. Both events will provide opportunities for investors to meet a cross section of management teams. Other events this summer include the Boston Oncology Insight Summit on July 10-11 and the Newport Summit for Revolutionary Biotechnology on August 12-13. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. (Oppenheimer), a principal subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (OPY on the New York Stock Exchange), and its affiliates provide a full range of wealth management, securities brokerage and investment banking services to high-net-worth individuals, families, corporate executives, local governments, businesses and institutions. SOURCE Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Related Links http://www.opco.com NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans have ramped up their desire for transformative travel experiences (Skift). To meet this need, Original Travel, the London-based, private travel company that curates life-changing journeys for British celebrities and notables, today announced its expansion into the U.S. market and the launch of its first U.S. website, 15 years after its launch. In addition, Original Travel founders Nick Newbury (favorite travel moment: hiking the glaciers around jagged Mt FitzRoy on the Argentina-Chile border), Tom Barber (favorite travel memory: exploring Botswana's Okavango Delta by mokoro dugout canoe) and Neill Ghosh (favorite travel moment: snorkeling with killer whales in a Norwegian fjord) have created hundreds of new itineraries. Original Travel's new itineraries include tracking jaguars through the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil; a guided trek between a string of remote monasteries in India's beautiful Ladakh region to experience authentic Tibetan Buddhist rituals; or exploring Indonesia's remote Raja Ampat region, home to the best diving and snorkeling in the world, while bunking on a luxury liveaboard sailing boat. U.S. clients also have access to Original Travel's unique global network of Concierges, a service no other travel company in the U.S. offers. The Concierges, who live in the destinations featured in the itineraries, take care of travelers while they are in their area, arranging activities, making last-minute changes, recommending restaurants (including securing the best seats), providing insider tips including places and things unbeknownst to most travelers. Also unique to Original Travel is its specialist team of marine biologists, dive masters and instructors who have completed 3,800 dives in over 100 countries as Original Diving, the world's only luxury dive travel outfit. The 60-strong Original Travel team have extensive, personal experience of their regions and work with clients throughout the trip cycle from the discovery call for a deep understanding of vacation desires, to mapping out the itinerary, to on-the-ground support with local expert guides, VIP services and 24/7 support, to the welcome home. "With our expansion into the U.S. market we are redefining luxury travel as a high-touch, life-enhancing experience," said Nick, a reformed City financial executive. "We believe that Life Is In The Detail. It's the small details that make a vacation; whether it is knowing the spot for sleeping under the stars in the Namibian desert or the Greek Islands' hidden coves." "Twenty-two percent of our business is already made up of American travelers," added Tom, a travel-writer-turned-curator. "Our U.S. business has grown 10 times in the last five years through referrals and word of mouth. Our goal is to increase this significantly by expanding our U.S. presence and offerings, by curating a specific range of itineraries, being open during U.S. hours and by accepting payment in USD." Following 15 years of uninterrupted growth in the U.K., Original Travel caught the eye of Paris-based Voyageurs du Monde, the leading specialist in bespoke, high-end travel in France. Voyageurs du Monde, established in 1979, acquired a strategic stake in Original Travel in early 2017. Original Travel's already excellent customer service has been further enhanced by accessing Voyageurs du Monde's range of high-touch client services. Since its founding, Original Travel has created more than 50,000 bespoke itineraries and conducted fact-finding missions in more than 160 countries. Today it offers personalized vacations to 95 countries with numerous areas of specialization, including bold honeymoons, family getaways, winter sports, diving, opulent road trips, adventurous sabbaticals, cultural city breaks and more. Contact: Caitlin Sawyer 212.868.1900 x602 [email protected] SOURCE Original Travel Related Links https://www.originaltravel.com CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Our Village (https://www.ourvillage.com/) announces it now offers online Sellers a "no fee/no commissions deducted from sales" alternative to Etsy, which charges Sellers listing fees per item and recently increased its commissions deducted from each Etsy shop owner sale. Our Village was formed by two sisters recognizing the need for artisans, crafters, makers, and family-owned small shops to have an online resource that allows them to keep all money from their sales. Our Village shop owners present "products with passion, shopping with purpose" for customers shopping for unique gifts. Offering unlimited items for display for the monthly price of only five dollars, with no listing or commission fees, "The company provides an additional benefit for makers and shoppers: we have a strong commitment to non-profit organizations that make a difference," said Our Village Co-founder, Sara Miller Cross. "We are in a David versus Goliath position, in that Our Village is an option now for Etsy shop owners who are tired of paying listing fees and commissions on every sale. Also, for Sellers the first 30 days on Our Village is free!" "The mission behind Our Village is to provide support to organizations that are dedicated to making the world a better place. Twenty percent of our gross revenues are donated to nonprofit organizations that provide support to battered or homeless women and their families throughout the country," Co-founder Rachel Miller said of the majority woman-owned company. Based on the African proverb "It takes a village", as Our Village grows, so will their charitable efforts as non-profit organizations across America providing support to battered or homeless women and their families are selected to receive financial support. As the first recipient of their assistance, Our Village chose an organization from its hometown, Chattanooga Room in the Inn. Chattanooga Room in the Inn's purpose is to empower homeless women and children to become self-sufficient by offering a temporary home while providing programs and services necessary to meet their goals. Sellers are invited to open their Our Village shop at https://www.ourvillage.com/customer/account/create/. ABOUT OUR VILLAGE Our Village is the place where artisans, crafters, makers and small shops converge to market their products, offering unlimited items for display for the monthly price of five dollars and no listing or commission fees. The company provides an additional benefit for makers and shoppers: a strong commitment to non-profit organizations that make our world a better place. For more information about Our Village, visit www.OurVillage.com, like them on Facebook at Shop Our Village, follow them on Twitter @ShopOurVillage, or find them on Instagram or Pinterest at @ShopOurVillage. Contact: Gary Miller [email protected] 423.413.6258 SOURCE Our Village Related Links http://www.OurVillage.com AKRON, Ohio, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to increased demand for its search marketing and website development services, the digital advertising agency OuterBox is announcing the opening of a second floor. Currently headquartered in the 6,000-square-foot third floor of the Kaiser building in Akron, OH, OuterBox was able to negotiate a deal for the second floor, allowing the business to remain in its current building. OuterBox "We love being in downtown Akron and particularly in the Kaiser Building. It's been our home for the last 6 years and has a lot of character that we worked hard to build into it. Moving is not something we want to do, but the need to expand as we near 50 employees is a pressing issue. The second floor alleviates some of these pains for now, and we'll continue to investigate options for our next expansion, which we know is right around the corner," says Justin Smith, CEO at OuterBox. The success of OuterBox is a result of the innovative ways it delivers service. Years ago, OuterBox invested in custom-developed search marketing reporting software and other key solutions that set the company apart in the market. Having earned national top rankings for itself and for hundreds of other clients, OuterBox uses what its founders have learned over the years to provide data-backed SEO strategies and eCommerce SEO campaigns. "The reason we can be so successful for clients is that we have the knowledge and expertise, having been in this space for almost 15 years now. There are very few companies who have all of the data points we have at our fingertips. We can look at every task, how we did it and why we did it for hundreds of clients over years and years. That data is invaluable," Nick Nolan, COO at OuterBox, says. OuterBox's future growth plans stem from continuing to do what the company does best, not reinventing its service line. "All we want to do is deliver the services that we can confidently say we deliver better than anyone in the world," says Jason Dutt, Partner. "We're not interested in becoming a print agency or video agency at this time to drive expansion. We plan to dominate our market, the eCommerce website design and development space, and see huge growth opportunities by helping our clients grow their businesses through the web. When we do that, it's a win-win." About OuterBox Launched in 2004, OuterBox is a digital marketing agency and web design company focusing on custom website design, eCommerce website development, and search marketing services such as SEO and paid search marketing. With a constant focus on client ROI, OuterBox retains clients by increasing their profits. OuterBox now boasts of a team of nearly 50, all in-house. Media Contact: Kati Stephenson Phone: 1.866.647.9218 Email: [email protected] Related Links SEO for Popular CMS & eCommerce Shopping Carts B2B eCommerce SEO Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2YcdW8ofMM SOURCE OuterBox VANCOUVER, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Pacton Gold Inc. (TSXV: PAC, OTC: PACXF) (the "Company" or "Pacton") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding letter of intent ("LOI") to acquire 100% of the Bellary Dome ("Bellary Dome") exploration license 47/2555 from Marindi Metals Inc. (MZN:ASX) ("Marindi"). Highlights of the Bellary Dome Project: Located on the southern margin of the Hamersley Basin and surrounded by Novo Resources Ltd. (NVO:TSXV). Hosts approximately 25 km of strike extent of the basal contact between the Mt. Roe Basalt and the conformably underlying Bellary Formation with widespread fine visible gold panned across the project. Over six (6) ounces of coarse nuggets recovered from one alluvial "trap site", located directly downslope from mapped Bellary Formation conglomerate; nuggets are pitted, flattened, and elongate "watermelon seeds". Stratigraphic position of the conglomerates within the Bellary Dome Project is similar to the gold-bearing horizon at the Comet Well/Purdy's Reward Projects. Nature of nuggets recovered is very similar to those recovered by Novo Resources approximately 250 km to the north. Contains several km of Hardey Formation and more recently, work by others, has confirmed the prospectivity of the Beatons Creek Member of the Hardey Formation. "The acquisition of Bellary Dome provides access to a significant strike length of highly prospective Hardy Formation and Mount Roe Basalts, where multiple flattened nuggets have been recovered proximal to the Bellary Formation conglomerate," commented Alec Pismiris, Interim President and CEO of Pacton Gold. "The property is surrounded by Novo Resources and with over six ounces of gold nuggets recovered from one alluvial trap site, that were pitted, flattened, and in the elongated "watermelon seed" shape, provides additional key priority exploration targets for Pacton." "Marindi's initial work at Bellary Dome has only just begun to highlight the potential for this to be just one part of a much larger regional gold play across the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Conglomerate-gold-focused Pacton Gold has purposefully acquired an extensive land-holding of high-value projects across the region and the Bellary Dome project would be a natural fit to that portfolio. Marindi is pleased to have the opportunity to be invested in such a dynamic and focused conglomerate gold explorer, best placed in taking the Bellary Dome conglomerate gold project forward," stated Simon Lawson, Managing Director of Marindi. About Bellary Dome ELA 47/3555 is located on the Bellary Dome, and covers approximately 25 km of the basal contact of the Mt. Roe Basalt, where it conformably overlies the Bellary Formation. The Bellary Formation is described by the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) as the lowermost unit of the Fortescue Group and comprises fine grained sediments, sandstone, interbedded conglomerate, basaltic breccia and tuff. The recent discoveries at Purdy's Reward occur in conglomeratic beds interbedded with sandstone units lying conformably below the Mt Roe Basalt and it is believed this to be the equivalent position of the Bellary Formation. The prospectivity of the tenement is further highlighted by the presence of numerous alluvial gold workings, prospecting pits with gold values ranging from anomalous to 38.2g/t Au, and recent modern gold prospecting activity. The selected samples are not necessarily representative of mineralization at Bellary Dome and there are no assurances the Company will receive similar results. The Bellary Dome occurs on the southern edge of the Hamersley Basin where formations of the Lower Fortescue Group occur. Tenements neighbouring ELA 47/3555 are held by companies also conducting exploration for gold-in-conglomerate, including Novo Resources, Southern Hemisphere Resources and Hardey, whereas the majority of tenements in the Southern Pilbara remain in the hands of predominantly iron ore focused companies. ELA 47/3555 also hosts 10 km of Hardey Sandstone which sits conformably above the Mt Roe Basalt on the southern side of the ELA. This will also be assessed given the Beatons Creek conglomerate, which is associated with gold production at Nullagine in the East Pilbara, is also a member of the Hardey Sandstone. For location map of the Property, please see: http://www.pactongold.com/Pacton-Location-Map.jpg. LOI Terms Under the terms of the LOI, which will be formalized by a definitive agreement among the parties, the Company must pay C$2,000,000 and issue 10,098,000 common shares on closing of the transaction. The Company must also pay C$1,000,000 or issue shares equal to that amount both on 12 months and 18 months after completion of the transaction. Sprott Capital Partners will receive a fee for acting as advisory with respect to the transaction in the amount of 750,000 common shares of the Company. This transaction is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. About Pacton Gold Pacton Gold (PAC: TSXV; PACXF: US) is a well-financed Canadian junior with key strategic partners focused on the exploration and development of conglomerate-hosted gold properties located in the district-scale Pilbara gold rush in Western Australia. The Company recently raised approximately $5.5 million, currently controls the third largest conglomerate-hosted gold property portfolio totaling 2,227 km2, and continues to aggressively review additional accretive acquisitions. The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Peter Caldbick, P.Geo., a director of the Company and a Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101. The qualified person has not visited the Bellary Dome site and therefore has not verified the data disclosed, including sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the information or opinions contained in the written disclosure. On Behalf of the Board of Pacton Gold Inc. Alec Pismiris Interim President & CEO This news release may contain or refer to forward-looking information based on current expectations, including, but not limited to the Company completing the proposed transaction described herein, the prospect of the Company achieving success in exploring the Bellary Dome and the impact on the Company of these events, including the effect on its share price. Forward-looking information is subject to significant risks and uncertainties, as actual results may differ materially from forecasted results. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date hereof and we assume no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances. References to other issuers with nearby projects (Novo Resources Corp.) is for information purposes only and there are no assurances the Company will achieve similar results. Neither TSX Venture Exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE Pacton Gold Inc. HOUSTON, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Paysafe, a leading global payments provider, announced today that it will begin offering same day settlement in mid-July to small business merchants based in the U.S. It will do this through partnership with Company.com LLC, a small business products and services platform, and instant money technology company, Ingo Money. This latest customer offering in the U.S. supports its ongoing focus in the North America region where it has identified significant growth opportunities and reinforces its commitment to providing its customers with industry-leading tools. Through this new dual collaboration, Paysafe will be able to remove the wait typically experienced by merchants when dealing with the traditional interchange system and offer a solution that enhances the merchants' traditional funding window from days to minutes. Merchants will also be able to leverage Ingo Money's push payments technology to unlock same day settlement of fully guaranteed funds, saving them time and money. In the near future, they will also be able to access the complementary 'small business product and service bundle' to be rolled out by Company.com. Todd Linden, CEO of Paysafe North America said: "This offering is designed to provide a significant competitive advantage to our existing merchants and those outside of the Paysafe network seeking a processing partnership that offers proven cash flow products. This dual partnership is a testament to the highly-evolved Ingo Money technology platform, and Company.com's ability to leverage their extensive knowledge of the acquiring industry." Ingo Money has funded more than $15 billion in instant transactions through one of 25 gateway endpoints. Ingo Money CEO Drew Edwards commented: "Ingo is the first push payments technology company, and our experience, technology and success rate are years ahead of our competitors. Applying these advantages to same day merchant settlement is aligned with our mission to provide consumers and small businesses with instant access to their funds. We are excited to work with Paysafe to deliver a competitive advantage to their merchant base of small businesses." Company.com served as a project coordinator between the three companies in determining implementation guidance, sales strategies and timelines for deployment. Their expertise is proven through their four-year partnership with iPayment Holdings, Inc. (iPayment), Paysafe's wholly owned subsidiary, where they served to increase retention and provide incremental revenue for merchants. Bill Wade, CEO of Company.com stated, "The market today demands acquisition and retention strategies based on tangible competitive advantage. Same day settlement is an additional product that complements the business services that Company.com already supports for iPayment." The news follows the close of Paysafe's acquisition in June 2018 of iPayment Holdings, Inc. (iPayment) , a U.S. based provider of payment and processing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, generating processing volumes of over $25 billion in 2017 from more than 137,000 merchant customers across the country. About Paysafe Paysafe is a leading global provider of end-to-end payment solutions. Its core purpose is to enable businesses and consumers to connect and transact seamlessly through industry-leading capabilities in payment processing, digital wallet and online cash solutions. Delivered through an integrated platform, Paysafe solutions are geared toward mobile-initiated transactions, real-time analytics and the convergence between brick-and-mortar and online payments. With over 20 years of online payment experience, a combined transactional volume of US $56 billion in 2017 and approximately 3,000 employees located in 12+ global locations. Paysafe connects businesses and consumers across 200 payment types in over 40 currencies around the world. For more information, visit www.paysafe.com. About Ingo Money Ingo Money is the instant money company. Founded in 2001 with a mission to digitize the paper check, our push payments technology enables businesses and banks to disburse instant, safe-to-spend funds to more than four billion consumer debit, prepaid, credit, private label credit and mobile wallet accounts. This transformation of traditional payments helps businesses reduce cost and delays while dramatically improving the consumer experience. Headquartered in Atlanta, you can learn more at ingomoney.com/enterprise, or follow us on LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter. About Company.com Founded in 2008, Company.com specializes in aggregating and integrating best-in-class software and services for small businesses through its proprietary platform environment. Through both direct acquisition and channel partnerships with partners such as iPayment and Paysafe, this platform allows over 140,000 small business to access and manage multiple products from one integrated dashboard and billing platform. For more information on Company.com, please visit www.company.com or email [email protected]. SOURCE iPayment, Inc. Related Links http://www.paysafe.com ANDOVER, Mass., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced it has been recognized as Best Overall MedTech Company by the 2018 MedTech Breakthrough Awards, which also recognized Philips SmartSleep as Best Sleep Monitoring Solution. Over the last few years, Philips has evolved into a health technology company, focused on delivering solutions that can improve people's lives across the health continuum, including healthy living and prevention. Introduced at CES in 2018, the Philips SmartSleep solution is aimed at helping those who sleep less than 7 hours a night, get deeper, more restful sleep. As health systems move towards value-based care, Philips has been working closely with them to develop solutions in diagnostic imaging, image guided therapy, and oncology, among other areas, to help improve the patient and staff experience. In addition, to SmartSleep, Philips has been developed meaningful clinical innovations, such as Philips Azurion, Philips Intellispace Enterprise Edition, and Philips Elition to improve workflows and help improve patient outcomes. "At Philips, we're are working closely with our partners to create connected solutions that can achieve seamless care, helping them to provide the quality patient care their communities expect, while delivering on our goal of improving the lives of three billion people a year by 2025," said Vitor Rocha, CEO of Philips North America. "Being honored by our industry peers with the MedTech Breakthrough Awards for Best Overall MedTech Company and Philips SmartSleep validates our strategy and confirms that our digital health solutions are being recognized by those who understand what is needed in order to move the healthcare industry forward." Philips SmartSleep: Best Sleep Monitoring Solution of 2018 Philips SmartSleep is the world's only wearable solution that is clinically-proven to improve deep sleep quality for people who do not get enough sleep due to lifestyle. SmartSleep is the latest addition to Philips' growing portfolio of smart digital platforms and intelligent solutions that connect people, technology and data to give consumers data-driven insights into their health and access to professional expertise and advice. MedTech Breakthrough recognizes companies, products and people developing innovative solutions for today's health, fitness and medical technology industries. The awards for Best Overall MedTech Company and Best Sleep Monitoring Solution reaffirm Philips' leading role in developing digital health technologies that move the needle on solving today's global population health challenges. Learn more at Philips.com/SmartSleep. For further information, please contact: Silvie Casanova Philips North America Tel.: 781-879-0692 E-mail: [email protected] About Royal Philips Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2017 sales of EUR 17.8 billion and employs approximately 74,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at http://www.philips.com/newscenter. SOURCE Royal Philips Related Links http://www.philips.com NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area. You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network it's easy and free. Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform EXPERT ALERTS Trump Administration's Immigration Policy Trump's Zero-Tolerance Immigration Policy Build Better Communities, Spark Innovation in Teaching Preserving Centuries-Old Art and Architecture MEDIA JOBS Deputy Editor AccountingWeb.com (NY) Director of Content, Health Care SmartBrief (DC) Journalist, Medical Technology BioWorld MedTech (Virtual) OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES 10 Influencers Who Advance the LGBTQ Story Planning Ahead: What to Expect in the Next 12 Months in Sports Blog Profiles: Video Game Blogs ------------------------------------------------------------------- EXPERT ALERTS: Trump Administration's Immigration Policy Michelle Johnson-Motoyama Professor, Social Welfare University of Kansas Johnson-Motoyama can discuss the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy that separates children from parents at the border and the traumatic, lifelong negative consequences it has on children, as well as the child welfare system: "The zero-tolerance policy is a cruel and immoral human rights violation that uses children as pawns in the larger U.S. immigration debate. A large body of research demonstrates the deleterious cognitive and biological impacts that such trauma has on separated children in both the short and long term. The Trump administration has now heard about this research yet continues to engage in these crimes against humanity. These abhorrent practices of separating children from their parents indefinitely and placing them in abysmal conditions must end now. Separated children need to be reunified with their parents immediately to stop further suffering and damage." Contact: Mike Krings, [email protected] Trump's Zero-Tolerance Immigration Policy Alice Lieberman Professor, Social Welfare University of Kansas Alice Lieberman can discuss the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy that separates children from parents at the border and the traumatic, lifelong negative consequences it has on children, as well as the child welfare system: "A foundational part of our research focuses on the how best to intervene with children with ACES, or adverse child experiences. We know that these kinds of adverse childhood experiences literally change a child's brain, changes the chemistry of the brain and the way it transmits messages around flight-or-flight and that kids who have been subjected to this kind of trauma will find themselves in a perpetual state of flight, which will trouble them the rest of their lives. There is a real, serious lifelong impact as a result of this kind of traumatic experience." Contact: Mike Krings, [email protected] Build Better Communities, Spark Innovation in Teaching Anissa Kalinowski Board President Ignited "We need to better connect the future of research with the education of today. We need to connect educators with science and technology professionals to tackle tough problems and spark creativity in the classroom and in the real world." Kalinowski is board president of Ignited, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Silicon Valley focused on transforming STEM education. Their mission is to connect business leaders and scientists with teachers to transform the classroom experience, inspiring students to become the next generation of innovators. Ignited was founded in 1985 by a consortium of technology companies and universities. Originally called Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (IISME), the organization has provided fellowships for educators in the San Francisco Bay area and beyond for over three decades. Going forward as Ignited, they are expanding their programs to accomplish even more and change the future of education. Website: www.igniteducation.org Contact: Michelle Tennant, [email protected] Preserving Centuries-Old Art and Architecture David Sheppe Program Leader American Friends for the Preservation of Saint Germain des Pres "One of the things Americans love most about visiting Europe is the feeling of being transported back in time as they explore seemingly ancient architecture and history. Preserving the remarkable and diverse art and architecture from centuries ago allows future generations to continue benefiting from this uniquely transformative experience." Sheppe has enjoyed a long career in international banking and now works as a financial and risk management consultant. It was while living in Paris in the 1980s that he first took an interest in the church of Saint Germain des Pres, and he has been a frequent visitor ever since. From 2013 to 2016, he was once again a Paris resident, and it was then that he became acquainted with the work of the "Fonds de Dotation," the Paris-based fundraising arm for renovating the church. Following his return to the U.S. in 2016, Sheppe did volunteer work for the US-based American Friends for the Preservation of Saint Germain des Pres, before joining its Board in 2017. He is now leading the charge on the current Adopt A Saint Germain Star Campaign in the United States. Sheppe is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Cornell University. He resides in southwest Connecticut. Online Press Kit: http://preservesaintgermain.onlinepresskit247.com Website: www.PreserveSaintGermain.org Contact: Michelle Tennant, [email protected] **************** MEDIA JOBS: Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/ Deputy Editor AccountingWeb.com (NY) Director of Content, Health Care SmartBrief (DC) Journalist, Medical Technology BioWorld MedTech (Virtual) ***************** OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES: Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at [email protected] 10 INFLUENCERS WHO ADVANCE THE LGBTQ STORY. Pride month is here again. And while it may sometimes feel like there's a swell of opposition against anyone who identifies as or aligns with the LGBTQ+ community, here is a list of journalists and influencers who have inspired and continue to inspire us: https://prn.to/2JM3Bxm PLANNING AHEAD: WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS IN SPORTS. Preparation is key for any successful sports reporter or editor. Planning allows you to research, outline your story, and look for a unique angle that will separate your content from the competition. Here's what should be on your radar for the next 12 months -- a month-by-month look at sporting events to cover: https://prn.to/2sXJuGc BLOG PROFILES: VIDEO GAME BLOGS. Each week, PR Newswire's Audience Relations team selects an industry/subject and profiles a handful of sites that do a good job with promoting and contributing to the conversation. This week, they look at a few video game blogs: https://prn.to/2MDo7Sw **************** PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire. To contact ProfNet: [email protected] or 800-776-3638, ext. 1 SOURCE ProfNet Related Links http://www.profnet.com MENLO PARK, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Protiviti President and CEO Joseph Tarantino has been recognized as a 2018 Glassdoor Top CEO. Glassdoor's annual award, which highlights top leaders that employees love working for in countries in North America and parts of Europe, is based on voluntary reviews written and shared by employees throughout the year. Tarantino is ranked among CEOs at large companies in the U.S. The 2018 accolade marks the third time he has been named to the Glassdoor list. Tarantino, a founding employee of global consulting firm Protiviti since its inception in 2002, has been in his current role since 2007. Under his leadership, Protiviti has built a strong corporate culture that has been repeatedly recognized with numerous accolades, including Glassdoor's 2018 list of Best Places to Work and the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list (consecutively since 2015). In 2017, Tarantino was named to the NACD Directorship 100 list and was recently recognized by the National Association of Colleges and Employers as its Employer Recruiting Champion of the Year (2018). "Being recognized as a Top CEO by Glassdoor is one of my most meaningful career accomplishments," said Joseph Tarantino, on learning of the award. "It confirms to me that our people feel valued and that they appreciate the culture we've built together. We're committed to fostering employee trust at Protiviti, and this honor tells me they believe in the strategy set by our leadership team." "The tone of an organization starts at the top, and Joe epitomizes this," said Scott Redfearn, executive vice-president and head of global human resources at Protiviti. "Thanks to his clear vision for the company and his personal leadership style, Protiviti offers its people an open, collaborative and diverse culture with plenty of opportunities for career growth." CEO approval ratings are gathered through Glassdoor's online company review survey, which seeks to gain current and recent former employee sentiment about job and company satisfaction, the work environment and the culture. When employees submit reviews of their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including workplace attributes such as senior management and the job their CEO is doing. "Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work." Formerly known as Highest Rated CEOs, the complete list of all the 2018 Glassdoor Top CEOs is available here. About Protiviti Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) is a global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration to help leaders confidently face the future. Through its network of more than 70 offices in over 20 countries, Protiviti and its independently owned Member Firms provide clients with consulting solutions in finance, technology, operations, data, analytics, governance, risk and internal audit. Named to the 2018 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list, Protiviti has served more than 60 percent of Fortune 1000 and 35 percent of Fortune Global 500 companies. The firm also works with smaller, growing companies, including those looking to go public, as well as with government agencies. Protiviti is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Half (NYSE: RHI). Founded in 1948, Robert Half is a member of the S&P 500 index. Protiviti is not licensed or registered as a public accounting firm and does not issue opinions on financial statements or offer attestation services. Editor's note: Photos available upon request. SOURCE Protiviti Related Links http://www.protiviti.com CHICAGO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Modern Healthcare has named Rod Hochman, MD, president CEO, Providence St. Joseph Health (PSJH) and Rhonda Medows, MD, PSJH executive vice president of population health among the nation's 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders. The recognition program acknowledges physicians working in health care who are deemed by their peers and an expert panel to be the most influential in terms of demonstrating leadership and impact. "From the opioid crisis to dramatic changes in public policy to a shifting reimbursement model, health care organizations are facing significant challenges. The physician executives on this year's list are at the forefront of driving change in the healthcare industry," said Matthew Weinstock, Modern Healthcare's managing editor. Dr. Hochman leads Providence St. Joseph Health, the third-largest health system in the U.S, which includes Providence Health & Services, St. Joseph Health, and a diverse family of other organizations. Together, the health system has served the Western U.S. for 160 years and includes 119,000 caregivers who serve in 51 hospitals, 829 clinics and hundreds of programs and services in seven western states. The health system also includes an education ministry Providence High School in Burbank, Calif., and the University of Providence in Great Falls, Mont. and a supportive housing ministry. Dr. Medows leads PSJH's endeavors in population health, which focus on improving the well-being of entire communities by increasing access, quality, and affordability for all. This initiative promises to change the way health care is delivered and involves an extensive effort including physicians, health plans, hospitals, and public and private insures. At PSJH, Dr. Medows oversees the Providence Health Plan, value-based care, payer strategy and contracting, physician services, care management, population health informatics and the affiliated Pacific Medical Group. "Under Dr. Hochman's leadership, Providence St. Joseph Health has been a tireless voice for protecting and expanding access to care for those who are poor and vulnerable. The organization is also working rapidly to keep people healthy and make care more convenient and affordable through digital innovation, scientific wellness, population health and care for the whole person in mind, body and spirit," said Dick Blair, chairman of the Providence St. Joseph Health Board of Directors. "As for Dr. Medows, her ground-breaking efforts in population health are changing the health care landscape by going beyond the hospital walls and reaching deep into each community we serve, ensuring access to care and illness prevention for all. Both these leaders are bringing us closer to our vision of creating heath for a better world." Dr. Hochman is a board member for the American Hospital Association (AHA), chair of AHA's Regional Policy Board 9 and chair of the board of trustees for the Catholic Health Association. He was the recipient of the 2017 Partners in Care Foundation Vision and Excellence in Health Care Leadership Award and was named the 2015 Innovator of the Year by Press Ganey. Dr. Medows has an extensive background in both the private health sector and government health programs including Medicare and Medicaid. She currently serves as a member of the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee to make recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services on current and future physician payment models. The complete ranking is a main feature in the June 18 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine, and profiles of the winners are available at ModernHealthcare.com/50MostInfluential. For information on the Modern Healthcare 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders Awards Program, contact: SOURCE Providence St. Joseph Health HENDERSON, Nev., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Specialist Direct, Inc. announced a collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to provide 24/7 telepathology to Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs). Telepathology for OPOs will allow for real-time interpretation of biopsies from organ donor tissues. OPOs will have 24/7 access to Washington University's 25 board-certified pathologists and subspecialists, who will provide interpretations in less than one hour, 365 days a year. "There are approximately 114,000 people in the U.S. on the national transplant waiting list. Our Telepathology for OPOs solution promotes more organ transplants and can ultimately save lives. We're honored to collaborate with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to deliver this service to the OPO community," said W. Scott Rombach, CEO of Specialist Direct, Inc. Telepathology for OPOs revolutionizes the biopsy interpretation process, primarily for liver and kidney transplant cases. It utilizes a cloud-based, digital technology platform that is designed to improve timeliness and accuracy, two of the most critical factors involved in successful donor organ placement. In turn, having a consistent pathology interpretation team and a reliable, secure method to transmit data quickly, increases organ recovery rates and helps to save lives. The sad reality is that approximately 20 people die each day waiting for an organ transplant. Telepathology for OPOs supplements the traditional hospital model for managing transplant cases. Having real-time access to board-certified pathologists after hours, on weekends and during holidays provides an essential service for OPOs. See how the team at Specialist Direct, Inc. is enabling OPOs to achieve organ donor placement with unparalleled speed and accuracy at specialistdirectinc.com. About Specialist Direct, Inc.: Specialist Direct provides telehealth solutions that deliver remote access to specialists, providing medical facilities and patients with superior clinical care. The company specializes in providing diagnostic exam interpretations through its national network of board-certified specialists. It has deep clinical expertise and state-of-the-art technology within telecardiology, telepathology, and teleradiology. Media Contact: Angie Arriaza Email: [email protected] Website: specialistdirectinc.com Telephone: (888) 317-0776 SOURCE Specialist Direct, Inc. Related Links www.specialistdirectinc.com The data shows that consumers are quick to both penalize and reward a brand based on their experience. In fact, 77 percent of respondents claim to have chosen a product or service from a company because of good experiences they had with it, while 64 percent of respondents said they have avoided a brand because of a bad experience they had within the last year. "Consumers today are sophisticated and do their research before making a purchase. They expect to have a seamless and positive experience and if those aren't met, consumers know they have options," said Rachel Lane, Solution Principal, Medallia. "For companies looking to create a competitive edge, having a strong brand recognition, or even stellar product isn't enough. Customer experience is the tipping point, and without a strong plan to create and maintain a positive experience, businesses will lose out." According to the survey, the demand for a positive customer experience is especially high in the United States, and while loyalty is on the decline, expectations are on the rise, particularly among younger groups of consumers. For example, in banking and online retail, 30 percent of Gen Z and 22 percent of Millennials surveyed indicated that their expectations of customer experience are higher today than they were two years ago. The survey shows expectations have risen in the US across all six industries examined, and US respondents reported significantly higher expectations than European consumers for personalized experiences, real-time response, and ability to chat with a live agent. "Acknowledgement of customer experience as a driver of business performance is at an all-time high. Failure to properly understand customer needs leads to wasted money, time, and energy," said Jean-Francois Damais, Chief Research Officer at Ipsos. "Ipsos' extensive research has shown that when it comes to dealing with customer issues, the key is to reduce perceptions of unfairness. That's all about getting the balance of effort right. It's a time-critical case of reacting intelligently, being mindful of your customer and knowing when it's enough to say sorry. And perhaps more importantly, when it isn't." The study also revealed that: A single bad experience can cost a brand a customer. Nearly half (46 percent) of US mobile network customers said they are likely to switch brands after having one bad experience. Nearly half (46 percent) of US mobile network customers said they are likely to switch brands after having one bad experience. Every touchpoint matters. Customers expect their experience to be seamless and efficient on and offline. For instance, 56 percent of online retail shoppers and 49 percent of retail offline shoppers expect consistent levels of service across physical and digital channels. Customers expect their experience to be seamless and efficient on and offline. For instance, 56 percent of online retail shoppers and 49 percent of retail offline shoppers expect consistent levels of service across physical and digital channels. Customers don't want to be responsible for fixing a company's mistake. According to the study, 70 percent of consumers report that they expect an immediate response when they submit a complaint. Further, when customers believe they have put in more effort than a company to resolve an issue, they are twice as likely to tell friends, family or colleagues about the bad experience, and four times more likely to stop purchasing from the company, switch brands, or use the company less frequently. According to the study, 70 percent of consumers report that they expect an immediate response when they submit a complaint. Further, when customers believe they have put in more effort than a company to resolve an issue, they are twice as likely to tell friends, family or colleagues about the bad experience, and four times more likely to stop purchasing from the company, switch brands, or use the company less frequently. Consumers expect a personalized experience. Thirty percent of customers expect call center agents to be instantly familiar with their contact history, and 40 percent, on average, expect to be offered personalized experiences based on their interests, buying behavior, demographics and psychographics. Thirty percent of customers expect call center agents to be instantly familiar with their contact history, and 40 percent, on average, expect to be offered personalized experiences based on their interests, buying behavior, demographics and psychographics. Brands may be forgetting an important group of buyers. Many companies tailor to younger generations, but the 55+ age group is the fastest growing adult demographic in the US. This group of consumers indicated their expectations were exceeded in the last 12 months at a lower rate than any other group surveyed. Many companies tailor to younger generations, but the 55+ age group is the fastest growing adult demographic in the US. This group of consumers indicated their expectations were exceeded in the last 12 months at a lower rate than any other group surveyed. Women and younger generations are more likely to avoid a brand because of a bad experience. Sixty-six percent of women (vs. 62 percent of men) globally have avoided a brand because of a bad experience (with 64 percent being the global average for both men and women). In addition, this behavior is even more pronounced for millennials and Gen Z, with 70 percent and 68 percent respectively avoiding a brand because of a bad experience. Methodology: Medallia partnered with Ipsos to conduct a panel survey of 8,002 consumers from four countries US (2,002), UK (2,000), France (2,000), and Germany (2,000) across six industry sectors: online retail, offline retail, banking, insurance, mobile network providers and hotels. The collected sample was approximately matched to the census of each country on age and gender. The research was conducted online, in the local language for each country, and respondents were incentivized to participate. To view the full report visit The Customer Experience Tipping Point Study. About Medallia Medallia's vision is simple: to create a world where companies are loved by customers and employees alike. Hundreds of the world's largest companies and organizations trust Medallia's cloud platform to help them capture customer feedback everywhere the customer is (on the phone, in store, online, mobile), understand it in real-time, and deliver insights and action everywherefrom the C-suite to the frontlineto improve their performance. Medallia has offices in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Paris, Sydney, Buenos Aires, and Tel Aviv. Learn more at www.medallia.com. About Ipsos Ipsos is an independent market research company controlled and managed by research professionals. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has grown into a worldwide research group with a strong presence in all key markets. Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry. Ipsos is the global leader in designing, managing and delivering value from CX Management programs. We turn our clients' customer strategies into a clear CXM action plan and deliver the insights, technology and change-management services to achieve their vision. 2018 Medallia, Inc. All rights reserved. Medallia, the Medallia logo, and the names and marks associated with Medallia's products are trademarks of Medallia. SOURCE Medallia, Inc. Related Links http://www.medallia.com DENTON, Texas, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sally Beauty, the largest retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies, today announced the launch of Sally Beauty Cultivate - For Women by Women, a business accelerator program to help women beauty entrepreneurs grow their business. With an established track record of supporting emerging products and entrepreneurs before they were household names, Sally Beauty is actively looking for innovative hair care products and brands that will address the needs of their customers. "We are thrilled to launch the Sally Beauty Cultivate program," said Carrie McDermott, President of Sally Beauty. "We continue to be inspired by all of the terrific women entrepreneurs we have met over the years and believe in supporting women who are developing products to make her best accessory, her hair, even better." Beginning today, Sally Beauty will accept entries from female-owned hair care brands who are looking to expand their business. The top brand will receive $25,000 in financial support, product distribution at SallyBeauty.com, and mentorship from the Sally Beauty team as well as some of their brand's famous business owners. They will also receive the opportunity to get their product directly into the hands of high demand beauty influencers at one of Sally Beauty's monthly influencer events. Recognizing a need for female consumers to have access to natural-based hair products and for female entrepreneurs to have a platform, Sally Beauty was the first national beauty retailer to provide distribution to popular female-owned hair care brands including Made Beautiful, Mielle Organics, The Mane Choice and Arctic Fox, to name just a few. Additionally, Sally was the first to launch an exclusive ingredient range with Carol's Daughter called the Pracaxi Nectar Collection. Providing distribution support to these brands from the start helped their businesses to grow into being some of the most well-known and loved hair care brands sold today. Jamira Johnson, VP Digital and Innovation at Sally Beauty commented, "Sally Beauty has a long history of collaborating with women entrepreneurs to help launch their brands in our stores and online. We're excited to identify the next wave of women entrepreneurs and help support them through the Sally Beauty Cultivate program." She continues, "We believe there is so much hair care innovation happening every day in women's homes, salons, and communities, and we want to encourage that innovation to thrive and grow." Sally Beauty has a long history of supporting female-owned hair care businesses with nearly 1 in 3 sales supporting hair care and hair color brands created or owned by women and 1 in 5 textured hair sales supporting brands founded by African American women. "Sally is a great retail partner as they have been supportive of the Mielle Brand since the very beginning," states Mielle Organics founder Monique Rodriguez. "Sally works with our brand in creative ways that are beneficial for both Mielle and Sally's brand." Now, Sally Beauty is looking for the next big hair care brand founded by a woman with their Sally Beauty Cultivate For Women By Women program. If you think you have the next innovative product in hair care, you can visit www.sallybeauty.com/cultivate to enter between June 18th and July 18th. About Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SBH) is an international specialty retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies with revenues of approximately $3.9 billion annually. Through the Sally Beauty Supply and Beauty Systems Group businesses, the Company sells and distributes through 5,175 stores, including approximately 182 franchised units, and has operations throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany. Sally Beauty Supply stores offer up to 8,000 products for hair, skin, and nails through professional lines such as OPI, China Glaze, Wella, Clairol, Conair and Hot Shot Tools, as well as an extensive selection of proprietary merchandise. Beauty Systems Group stores, branded as CosmoProf or Armstrong McCall stores, along with its outside sales consultants, sell up to 10,500 professionally branded products including Paul Mitchell, Wella, Matrix, Schwarzkopf, Kenra, Goldwell, Joico and Aquage, intended for use in salons and for resale by salons to retail consumers. For more information about Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc., please visit sallybeautyholdings.com. SOURCE Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. Related Links https://www.sallybeauty.com BURLINGTON, ON, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Associated Tube Group, a division of Samuel, Son & Co., Limited, is pleased to announce that it has once again been awarded the General Motors (GM) Supplier Quality Excellence Award for the 2017 calendar year. This is the fifth year Associated Tube Group has received this distinction since 2012. The GM Supplier Quality Excellence Award is given to top performing supplier manufacturing sites that have met or exceeded a stringent set of quality performance criteria, including quality, delivery, and customer responsiveness, and have achieved cross-functional support of the entire GM organization. "We highly value our relationship with General Motors, and we are honored to receive this distinguished award," says Louie Bilobrk, President, Associated Tube Group. "Our team at Associated Tube Group is proud of what we have achieved over the years in meeting the unique and demanding specifications for the industry, and we look forward to continuing to provide a superior level of excellence and quality in the years to come." Associated Tube Group is a leading supplier of welded cold-drawn stainless steel, high nickel alloy and carbon tubular products. With facilities in Markham, Ontario; Birmingham, Alabama; and Saltillo, Mexico, Associated Tube Group offers turn-key design support, custom tooling and manufacturing to customers in a number of industries, including automotive. About Samuel Founded in 1855, Samuel, Son & Co. is a family-owned and operated integrated network of metal manufacturing, processing and distribution divisions. With over 5,000 employees and 100+ facilities, Samuel provides seamless access to metals, industrial products and related value-added services. We leverage our industry expertise, breadth of experience and the passion of our people to help drive success for North American business one customer at a time. For more information, visit www.samuel.com. SOURCE Samuel Son & Co., Limited Related Links www.samuel.com MILWAUKEE, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Joe Scanlin, CEO and co-founder of Scanalytics Inc., will share his knowledge of advancements in sensor technology during the International Facility Management Association meeting June 27 in Palo Alto, California. Scanlin's presentation, "The Future of Sensor Technology and Smart Buildings is Here Today," will cover the history of sensor technology as it has grown from data collection to a tool capable of learning, adapting and making decisions as the human brain does. "I'm always excited to speak with the facilities management audience. It is a group that knows exactly how buildings operate and has the best insight on how commercial space can be managed more efficiently, making it easy to discuss the integration of technology as a solution to filling gaps. The discussions always lead to pragmatic approaches to solving problems," Scanlin said. The event will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. June 27 at the SAP Labs Palo Alto campus, 3410 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, California, and will include an outdoor networking reception. IFMA professional and associate members can attend the event for free, while non-members can attend for $60. About Scanalytics Inc. Scanalytics Inc. is the leading Internet of Things company focused on sensor-fusion for physical environments that pioneered the smart-flooring sensor. Scanalytics helps future-proof buildings by using proprietary sensors that are embedded into permanent fixtures like floors and ceilings. These sensors, combined with other sensor data, give buildings the most granular, accurate, and consistent observation of space utilization so the building can automatically react to occupant behaviors. Scanalytics is making it possible for the built environment to have a "brain." Media Contact: Laurie Poellinger Phone: 414.588.8586 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Scanalytics Inc. IRVINE, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Secure Channels Inc., provider of innovative security solutions designed to complement existing security investments, announced today the release of its patented SUBROSA (Simple User Based Resource Oriented Segmentation Architecture) solution. This patented solution allows users to vastly improve their password security through choosing unique data resources to develop complex cryptographic keys. It's a vital part of a multi-factor authentication strategy, and provides users with personalized cryptographic authentication available on any device. SUBROSA is also extensible to other file formats, and can be used with audio, film, and other file types. SUBROSA works by taking the user through the selection of various image segments to develop a cryptographic key. The number of variables present in the image selection process creates the complexity needed to develop lengthy and secure passwords. Users can choose the number of images, the grid size, image size, and the tile sequences which combine to produce complex encrypted keys. The selection of each image segment within the grid is simple for the user to remember but is not easily shared or able to be stolen, which further improves its security strength compared to traditional password generation. Secure Channels Inc. developed SUBROSA to combat brute-force password attacks by developing cryptographic password key from image segments of at least of 65,000 or more characters strong. Passwords of such length would require even the most advanced hackers to spend an inordinate and inefficient amount of time to crack through brute force techniques. SUBROSA is simple to use, and easy to deploy through either an API or SDK, providing companies with the flexibility to utilize the solution in a way that best fits their current architecture. It effectively eliminates the need for insecure password storage and prevents common hacking attempts such as cracking, social engineering, or phishing. "The beauty of SUBROSA is its blend of simplicity and power," said Richard Blech, Chief Executive Officer of Secure Channels Inc. "It requires zero technical aptitude to use, and creates massively complex passwords that would take an inordinate amount of time to break, even with sophisticated or brute force attacks. We're in the age of sophisticated attacks, where creating an 8 to 12 character password with capital letters and special characters simply doesn't afford enough protection. The length of the password is what's necessary to thwart attacks, and our patented SUBROSA is able to elegantly build such long cryptographic keys through the simple image segment selection process." Experience Secure Channels industry leading technologies at the world's leading information security event, Black Hat USA 2018. Visit Booth #IC2530 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas from Aug. 4-9. Pricing for SUBROSA will feature a transactional cost for API deployments and yearly subscription costs when deployed through the SDK. For more information about SUBROSA's capabilities and Secure Channels' solutions, visit www.securechannels.com. About Secure Channels Inc. Secure Channels Inc. offers innovative, agile security solutions designed to seamlessly integrate with organizations' existing solutions. Agnostic by nature, solutions customize to user environments without compromising protection. Our mission is to help organizations make the most of their active security tools used for authentication and data protection, while providing a cost and performance effective solution to address the ever-increasing security challenges organizations face today. For more information, visit www.securechannels.com MEDIA CONTACT: Laura Waldron Interdependence PR 949-777-2485 [email protected] SOURCE Secure Channels Inc. SAN FRANCISCO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 21st, join the number one skincare brand in North America1 in their DO GOOD movement to raise $1 million through a 24-hour "selfies-for-good" viral event to raise funds to empower youth. On this day, Rodan + Fields will donate $1 for each makeup-free selfie shared with #RFGoNaked to their non-profit, Prescription for Change Foundation, to fund educational and leadership programs for students around the world. In its fifth year, #RFGoNaked Day is an event that encourages self esteem and confidence while supporting an important cause. It leverages the power of its Independent Consultant community and brand ambassadors' word-of-mouth to bring awareness to an important cause youth. "Each year on #RFGoNaked Day, our Consultant community, employees and brand ambassadors amaze me by coming together to make a significant impact. Our $1M goal is not just a number it is about changing the lives of young people. It is about supporting youth and having an influence on these students becoming leaders in their communities," said Amnon Rodan, Chairman of Rodan + Fields and Prescription for Change Foundation. Last year #RFGoNaked Day generated more than 500,000 makeup-free selfies and raised $561,000 for youth. Thanks to the community's support, #RFGoNaked Day has provided funding to build a school in Malawi, launch three service-learning programs for youth in Chicago, Boston and New York, and provided nearly 150,000 student program days. This June, Rodan + Fields calls upon women and men to believe in their selfie by snapping and sharing their bare face along with the tag #RFGoNaked to make a significant impact. To learn more about #RFGoNaked Day or Rodan + Fields, visit RodanandFields.com. About Rodan + Fields Founded by Dr. Katie Rodan and Dr. Kathy Fields, Rodan + Fields' dermatology-inspired skincare products and proprietary, technology-driven social enterprise platform are changing the way people engage in the skincare category, shop for products and care for their skin. In 2007, the Company made the unprecedented move out of department stores and into the world of social commerce in order to realize the doctors' vision for providing the closest alternative to a professional skincare experience outside of a medical office and, in the process, empowering entrepreneurial opportunity. Products are available through Rodan + Fields Independent Consultants and at www.rodanandfields.com. About Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Foundation The PFC Foundation is a non-profit organization funded through Rodan + Fields, voluntary contributions by Rodan + Fields Independent Consultants and public donations. The PFC Foundation mission is to serve youth with life-changing empowerment programs where they live. PFC Foundation believes that empowered youth can change their lives and the world we live in. That's why we partner with organizations across the globe that provide programs for youth, including buildOn (US), WE Charity (CA) and The Smith Family (AUS). These organizations enable our Consultants and employees to have a local impact on young lives. 1 Source: Euromonitor International Limited; Beauty and Personal Care 2018 Edition, retail value RSP terms; all channels, Skin Care includes Sets and Kits; North America defined as Canada and the United States. SOURCE Rodan + Fields Related Links http://www.rodanandfields.com Amongst the companies which will be taking part in the third edition of IN(3D)USTRY, from 16 to 18 October in Palau 8 at the Montjuic venue of Fira de Barcelona, the presence of companies who are leaders in their sectors is noteworthy, these include companies such as Siemens, Lufthansa Technik, the maintenance division of the German aeronautics company, as well as the British pharmaceutical industry multinational, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/659718/Fira_Barcelona_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/707304/Fira_de_Barcelona.jpg ) Therefore, within the framework of IN(3D)USTRY, Siemens will share its strategy for building a global business of additive manufacturing services for the aerospace and automotive industries, through the forthcoming opening of a 3D printing centre in Worcester, in which they have invested 30 million euros. They will demonstrate their advances as users of this technology and also as providers of software and solutions for the automation of 3D printing. For their part, Lufthansa will be represented by their maintenance division, Lufthansa Technik, one of the first companies to use a laser sintering technique, which permits rapid printing of metallic objects in layers. The company will provide details of 3D.aero, the company which they have set up with Pepperl+Fuchs with the aim of digitalising maintenance workshops in the aerospace industry. Another of the sectors which will have particular weight at this third edition of IN(3D)USTRY will be the healthcare industry, one of the biggest backers of 3D printing. GlaxoSmithKline will reveal details their project to introduce the production of 100% personalised medications using additive manufacturing, pills with the precise required dosage. This year the IN(3D)USTRY programme looks beyond 3D and incorporates new industry sectors. It will include a competition between start-ups from the health sector, the AYRI11 industrial robotics congress, with 20 companies offering one hundred conferences and mini courses, Transplast, the subcontracting fair aimed at plastic converter companies, the fourth edition of the Reshape awards focued on "wearable" technology and digital manufacturing, as well as an exhibition area with some fifty companies. SOURCE Fira de Barcelona Centered on the idea of celebrating technology that brings you together, the campaign, created with Sid Lee Paris, rolls out with a brand film that transports viewers to an imagined, yet not so distant future a future in which a universal dependence threatens fundamental human connection. In this ultra-connected world where technology has taken over human interactions, humanity has allowed smartphones, VR and technological innovations get the better of their sexuality. The campaign is designed as an imaginative way to reinforce the innovations of SKYNFEEL technology, SKYN's innovative ultra-soft and thin non-latex polyisoprene condom material. SKYNFEEL is a technological revolution in the bedroom one designed to let users feel everything with their partner. With "Save Intimacy," the SKYN brand brings to light an uncomfortable, yet irrefutable fact that technology is eating into all aspects of our daily lives, including bedroom time. "When Netflix launched, for example, sexual relations dropped 10%," explained Mehdi Benali, Managing Director at Sid Lee Paris. "Today, it's easier to look at strangers' everyday lives on Instagram than it is to meet someone in person." "With 'Save Intimacy,' our aim was to strengthen SKYN's brand message by putting sexuality at the heart of both the social and sensual discussion," added Marta Toth, Head of Strategic Planning Global Marketing at LifeStyles Healthcare. "We needed to shift away from functional speech to speak to a target that does not want to, and should not have to choose between safe sex and great sex." Launching globally across digital and social platforms, the "Save Intimacy" campaign will activate in the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, Poland, Italy, UK and Australia. To view the campaign and learn more about SKYN Condoms, visit: www.SKYN.com. To connect with SKYN and discover new products, condom giveaways, sex tips, data and more, join us on Facebook and Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/SKYNUSA and www.twitter.com/SKYNCondomsUSA. About SKYN Condoms by LifeStyles Based out of Iselin, NJ, the SKYN brand of condoms was launched by LifeStyles in 2008 as the first-ever polyisoprene, non-latex condom that met all the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements for safety and efficacy. The SKYN collection is the latest extension of the LifeStyles brand portfolio, which was launched in the U.S. in 1985. SKYN is the leading non-latex condom brand, and LifeStyles' core latex brands, such as LifeStyles, Jissbon, MANIX, Unimil and Blowtex, have 120 collective years of history, deeply rooted in each local market globally. More information on SKYN condoms can be found at www.SKYN.com. LifeStyles, and are trademarks owned by LifeStyles Healthcare Pte Ltd. 2017 LifeStyles Healthcare Pte Ltd SOURCE SKYN Condoms by LifeStyles LUXEMBOURG, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Steba Biotech, a privately-owned biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative and minimally invasive photodynamic therapies and systems to treat cancers, today announced that the Journal of Urology has published 4-year follow up data of the landmark PCM301 trial of TOOKAD (padeliporfin di-potassium), a novel treatment for localized, low-risk prostate cancer.[1] The publication of this study provides the longest reported Level 1 evidence of safety and efficacy of partial gland ablation (PGA) for early-stage prostate cancer to date. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/708192/Steba_Biotech_Logo.jpg ) Analysis of 4-year follow up of PCM301 - the first multicenter, phase 3, prospective, randomized trial evaluating PGA for the treatment of localized prostate cancer[2] - demonstrated that vascular targeted photodynamic therapy (VTP) mediated by TOOKAD significantly reduced the subsequent finding of higher-grade cancer on biopsy, and, consequently, significantly fewer patients converted to radical therapy (RT), typically surgery or radiotherapy. The rate of conversion to RT after TOOKAD VTP compared with Active Surveillance (AS) at 2 years (7% vs 32%) was maintained at 3 (15% vs 44%) and 4 years (24% vs 53%) (HR=0.31, 95% CI=0.21-0.46; p<0.001). The reduction in conversion to RT is a clinically-meaningful outcome, as it lowers treatment-related morbidity. "Men need a much wider range of options for prostate cancer, a disease that we can now characterise with much more certainty than in the past," said Professor Mark Emberton, University College London and Principal Investigator of PCM301. "Precision therapies such as TOOKAD create a much needed and welcome opportunity for men that want treatment but are unwilling to risk the harms associated with traditional radical therapies." TOOKAD[] was approved for commercialization in Mexico, Israel, as well as in 31 countries of the European Union (EU) and in the European Economic Area (EEA) in November 2017.[3] "Given prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, it is critical that we provide patients with effective treatment options to help tackle their cancer early on, " said Fabrice Harari, Chairman and CEO of Steba Biotech. "Currently, early-stage prostate cancer patients face the dilemma of choosing between a) treating their cancer with radical therapy, which is associated with frequent long-term sexual, urinary or bowel toxicities or b) being put under 'active surveillance' where the disease is monitored and only treated when it becomes more severe. This new long-term data shows that TOOKAD provides an effective alternative for men wishing to treat their early-stage cancer while still avoiding the debilitating sexual, urinary and bowel consequences of radical therapy. With European approval of TOOKAD in November 2017, we look forward to making this important treatment option available to patients in Europe soon." Dr. Peter Scardino, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, and senior corresponding author of the publication, commented, "These intermediate-to-long-term data provide further evidence that TOOKAD VTP is an effective treatment option for men with early-stage localised prostate cancer, offering a treatment that can kill cancer without removing or destroying the prostate. This is excellent news for men and for the treatment of prostate cancer - we now have a tissue-preserving treatment that will reduce the use of radical therapy and its significant long-term erectile and incontinence problems. An important milestone indeed" About TOOKAD (padeliporfin di-potassium) TOOKAD is a first-in-class, minimally invasive treatment that relies on photoactivation with low-energy, non-thermal laser to trigger selective tumor necrosis without damaging healthy tissue. The treatment is administered through a short (~1h30), 3-step outpatient procedure. TOOKAD's mechanism of action relies on fast vascular occlusion to eradicate tumors within a 5mm millimeter range of optic fibers. The technology was licensed from the Weizmann Institute in Israel. The lead program in early stage prostate cancer has successfully completed Phase III studies and is approved for commercialization in Israel as well as in 31 countries of the European Union (EU) and in European Economic Area (EEA) since Nov-2017. TOOKAD is also approved in Mexico, where its labeling includes intermediate risk prostate cancer (Gleason Score 3+4). The application to the US FDA for marketing authorization is ongoing. Beyond early stage prostate cancer, TOOKAD is also being developed in multiple other oncology indications. About PCM301 extended follow-up and analyses of effectiveness study design The PCM301 study is a European, prospective, multicenter, open label, randomized, controlled study that compared TOOKAD versus active surveillance. The study enrolled 413 low-risk prostate cancer patients (clinical stage up to cT2a, PSA < 10 ng/ml, absence of Gleason pattern 4 or 5, at least one positive cancer core with 3 to 5mm cancer involvement or 2-3 positive cancer cores with no more than 5mm cancer involvement) in 47 centers across 10 European countries. 206 patients were included in the TOOKAD arm (4mg/kg infusion and 200J/cm light activation) and 207 in the active surveillance arm. Two-year outcomes were reported previously. This study reports four-year rates of conversion to radical therapy and further assesses efficacy based on biopsy results. Prostate biopsies were mandated at 12 and 24 months. Thereafter, patients were monitored for radical therapy, with periodic biopsies performed according to standard of care in each institution. About low-risk prostate cancer Low-risk prostate cancer (typically defined by clinical stage T1c-T2a, PSA < 10 ng/ml, Gleason score 6) is one of the most common stages among newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients. It is currently managed through active surveillance, radical prostatectomy or radiotherapy. A key challenge in the management of the disease is to avoid progression to higher grade, which is associated with higher risk of metastasis and mortality, while preserving the patients' quality of life (in particular urinary and erectile functions). About Steba Biotech Steba Biotech is a privately-owned, biotechnology company headquartered in Luxembourg with offices in France, Israel, Switzerland, and the US. Steba Biotech is focused on the development of TOOKAD (padeliporfin di-potassium), an innovative and minimally invasive photodynamic therapy evaluated in late-stage clinical trials to demonstrate its ability to safely and effectively treat low-risk prostate cancer. Steba Biotech is also pursuing early stage studies of TOOKAD in esophageal cancer, urothelial carcinoma, advanced prostate cancer, and triple negative breast cancer in collaboration with the Weizmann Institute and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. References Gill IS et al. J Urol. 2018 Jun 1 . pii: S0022-5347(18)43299-5. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2018.05.121. [Epub ahead of print] Azzouzi AR et al. Lancet Oncol. 2017 Feb;18(2):181-191. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(16)30661-1. Tookad SPC. https://ec.europa.eu/health/documents/community-register/2017/20171110139127/anx_139127_en.pdf. Accessed June 2018 . Contact Sarah Giles, Rude Health Consulting [email protected] Emmanuel Coeytaux, Steba Biotech [email protected] SOURCE Steba Biotech FORT WORTH, Texas, June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Stephen L. Tatum is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Lifetime Member in the field of Law in recognition of his role as Partner at Cantey Hanger, LLP. Having been established since 1882 in Fort Worth, Texas, Cantey Hanger, LLP was founded "under the leadership of William Capps and Samuel Benton Cantey." Prominent trial attorneys, the firm has earned the repute of a reputable litigation firm. Dedicated to offering quality legal service at the fraction of the cost, its staff brings combined decades of legal experience and knowledge, and the attorneys pride themselves on their efficient strategy and problem-solving skills to assist clients for favorable outcomes. Having gathered over thirty six years of experience under his belt, Stephen L. Tatum has established himself as a prominent professional in the industry. Throughout his career, Tatum has attained extensive experience in the areas of appeals, arbitration and commercial litigation, such as defense and malpractice. Prior to joining the firm of Cantey Hanger, Tatum served as a Partner at the firm of Brown, Herman, Scott, Dean & Miles from 1993 2002. Tatum has been partner of Cantey Hanger for the past fourteen years. Admitted to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993, Tatum is authorized to practice in all four federal districts in Texas. Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas State Board of Legal Specialization, Tatum is admitted to practice in the 2nd, 5th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals. To further advance his professional career, Tatum is an esteemed member of several organizations including the American Bar Association, the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, the American Arbitration Association Arbitrator Panel and the International Association of Defense Council. Early in his career, Tatum attained his Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University. Thereafter, Tatum went on to complete his Juris Doctor from the University of Texas Law School, where he worked on the Texas Law Review. When he is not working, Tatum enjoys spending time with family and traveling. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors for Texas Health Resources and is a Trustee at Harris Methodist Hospital. He has previously served on the Chair for Tarrant County Samaritan House (1992-1994) and the Chair for the Tarrant County Metropolitan YMCA. (1987-1991). For more information, please visit www.canteyhanger.com. Contact: Katherine Green , 516-825-5634 [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com TORONTO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX: SLF) (NYSE: SLF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Helena Pagano as Executive Vice-President, Chief Human Resources and Communications Officer, effective June 11, 2018. Reporting to Dean Connor, President and Chief Executive Officer, Helena is responsible for leading Sun Life's enterprise-wide human resources and communications strategies, programs and governance. It is a critically important role as we drive for a disproportionate share of top talent, wrapped in a diverse, inclusive and engaging culture. "Since joining Sun Life, Helena has had a big impact, enhancing our approach to global wellness, data and analytics, and our employee agile program," said Dean Connor, President and CEO, Sun Life Financial. "She demonstrates the leadership and forward-thinking that will continue to support our Client For Life strategy and purpose of helping Clients achieve financial security and live healthier lives." Helena brings deep global human resources expertise, with more than 20 years in financial services supporting retail and institutional businesses. Prior to joining Sun Life, she held several senior roles in financial services. She joins an Executive Team committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workforce, which includes strong female representation in leadership roles. Helena succeeds Carrie Blair who announced her retirement from Sun Life earlier this year. Helena is a Board Member of the Artists' Health Alliance and is a member of the United Way's Major Individual Giving Cabinet. About Sun Life Financial Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life Financial has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of March 31, 2018, Sun Life Financial had total assets under management of $979 billion. For more information please visit www.sunlife.com. Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF. Note to editors: All figures in Canadian dollars Media Relations Contact: Irene Poon Manager, Media & PR Corporate Communications T. 647-256-2596 [email protected] Investor Relations Contact: Greg Dilworth Vice-President Investor Relations T. 416-979-6230 [email protected] SOURCE Sun Life Financial Inc. Related Links http://www.sunlife.com PRINCETON, N.J., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Taiho Oncology, Inc. today announced a Phase I study to examine the efficacy of TAS-120, an investigational irreversible pan-fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor as a potential treatment for patients with advanced solid tumors, including cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), who were previously treated with chemotherapy or other therapies including other FGFR inhibitors. This is a presentation of updated clinical data for TAS-120 in cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer with limited treatment options. These data were presented as oral and poster presentations on Wednesday, June 20 at 2:50 PM CEST at the ESMO 20th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer 2018 (ESMO-GI) in Barcelona, Spain, June 20 to 23. "We're very pleased to see that TAS-120 has shown great promise among CCA patients in this study," said Robert Winkler, MD, senior vice president and head of Clinical Development, Taiho Oncology, Inc. "With such a broad range of tumor types with high unmet medical need, Taiho Oncology has remained committed to pioneering innovative research in specific areas that we hope will ultimately lead to an expanded range of potential therapies." In this study of 45 patients with CCA harboring FGF/FGFR aberrations (e.g., FGFR2 gene fusions, FGF/FGFR mutations, amplifications and re-arrangements), TAS-120 demonstrated clinical activity in patients with CCA with FGFR2 gene fusions, and showed efficacy in patients who progressed on prior FGFR inhibitors. In 28 patients with FGFR2 gene fusions, 71 percent experienced tumor shrinkage and seven achieved confirmed partial response (cPR). The objective response rate in these patients was 25 percent, and 15 patients (54%) experienced stable disease as their best response, with seven still on treatment. The overall disease control rate was 79 percent. In 17 patients with other FGF/FGFR aberrations who received TAS-120, 18 percent achieved cPR. In 13 patients who had received prior FGFR inhibitors, 31 percent achieved cPR. "These results are encouraging for this rare and difficult-to-treat cancer," said Milind Javle, MD, professor, Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and investigator on the Phase I TAS-120 study. "Given the limited number of patients diagnosed each year with cholangiocarcinoma in the U.S., we recognize the sense of urgency for and importance of ongoing research to advance potential new therapies." The most common treatment-related adverse events (AEs) of all grades in all patients were hyperphosphatemia (78%), increased aspartate aminotransferase (29%), dry skin (29%), diarrhea (27%) and dry mouth (27%). Grade 3 treatment-related AEs were reported in 51 percent of patients (51%); the most common was hyperphosphatemia in 22 percent of patients. A Phase II study of TAS-120 in CCA patients has been initiated. The abstract for this presentation is available on the ESMO-GI website at http://sched.co/Drky. In May 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Orphan Drug Development granted Taiho's investigational TAS-120 orphan drug status for the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma. About FDA Orphan Drug Designation The mission of the FDA Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD) is to advance the valuation and development of products (drugs, biologics, devices, or medical foods) that demonstrate promise for the diagnosis and/or treatment of rare diseases or conditions. The Orphan Drug Designation program provides orphan status to drugs and biologics which are defined as those intended for the safe and effective treatment, diagnosis or preventive of rare diseases/disorders that affect more than 200,000 persons but are not expected to recover the costs of developing and marketing a treatment drug. The program has successfully enabled the development and marketing of more than 350 drugs and biologic products for rare diseases since 1983. In contrast, the decade prior to 1983 saw fewer than 10 such products come to market. About Cholangiocarcinoma Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), also known as bile duct cancer, is not common. About 8,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with CCA each year. This includes both intrahepatic (inside the liver) and extrahepatic (outside the liver) cancers. CCA can occur at younger ages, but it is seen mainly in older people. The average age of people in the United States diagnosed with cancer of the intrahepatic bile ducts is 70, and for cancer of the extrahepatic bile ducts it is 72. The chances of survival for patients with CCA depend to a large extent on its location and how advanced it is when it is found.1 The main treatment for CCA is surgery. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy may be used if the cancer cannot be entirely removed with surgery and in cases where the edges of the tissues removed at the operation show cancer cells (also called a positive margin). Both stage III and stage IV cancers cannot be completely removed surgically. Currently, standard treatment options are limited to radiation, palliative therapy, liver transplantation, surgery, chemotherapy and interventional radiology.2 About Taiho Oncology, Inc. (U.S.) Taiho Oncology, Inc., a subsidiary of Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd., has established a world class clinical development organization that works urgently to develop innovative cancer treatments and with a strong commercial business in the U.S. dedicated to bringing the company's approved medical innovations to patients. Taiho has an oral oncology pipeline consisting of both novel antimetabolic agents and selectively targeted agents. Advanced technology, dedicated researchers, and state of the art facilities are helping us to define the way the world treats cancer. It's our work; it's our passion; it's our legacy. For more information about Taiho Oncology, please visit: https://www.taihooncology.com. About Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Japan) Taiho Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd., is an R&D-driven specialty pharma focusing on the three fields of oncology, allergy and immunology, and urology. Its corporate philosophy takes the form of a pledge: "We strive to improve human health and contribute to a society enriched by smiles." In the field of oncology, in particular, Taiho Pharmaceutical is known as a leading company in Japan for developing innovative medicines for the treatment of cancer, a reputation that is rapidly expanding through their extensive global R&D efforts. In areas other than oncology, as well, the company creates and markets quality products that effectively treat medical conditions and can help improve people's quality of life. Always putting customers first, Taiho Pharmaceutical also aims to offer consumer healthcare products that support people's efforts to lead fulfilling and rewarding lives. For more information about Taiho Pharmaceutical, please visit: https://www.taiho.co.jp/en/. About Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd. (Japan) The Otsuka group of companies is a total-healthcare enterprise that aims to contribute to the health of people around world under the corporate philosophy, "Otsuka-people creating new products for better health worldwide." Healthcare is broadly and holistically addressed through the two main pillars the pharmaceutical business for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and the nutraceutical1 business to support the maintenance and promotion of everyday health. Our 46,0002 employees across 183 companies in 28 countries and regions take on challenges across various fields and themes to help fulfill the universal wish of people to be healthy. Our pursuit of these challenges is motivated by the Otsuka' s corporate culture, articulated as "Ryukan-godo" (by sweat we recognize the way), "Jissho" (actualization) and "Sozosei" (creativity), and fostered by successive generations of Otsuka leaders. By striving to provide unique products and services, we seek to achieve sustainable growth and be an indispensable contributor to the world. 1 Nutraceuticals: nutrition + pharmaceuticals 2 As of end of December 2017 For more information, please visit the company's website at https://www.otsuka.com/en/. U.S. Media Contact: Craig Heit GCI Health on behalf of Taiho Oncology [email protected] 212-798-9919 1 American Cancer Society; What are the key statistics about bile duct cancer? https://www.cancer.org/cancer/bile-duct-cancer/about/key-statistics.html#references. Accessed May 2018. 2 The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation.Treatment Options. https://cholangiocarcinoma.org/the-disease/treatment-options Accessed May 2018 SOURCE Taiho Oncology, Inc. Related Links https://www.taihooncology.com CHICAGO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Talman Consultants, one of the fastest growing engineering design consulting firms in Chicago, was recently named one of the 2018 Best Places to Work in Illinois. Talman ranked No. 4 in the small employer category in which 30 companies were recognized (15-99 U.S. employees) along with 24 companies in the medium employer category (100-499 U.S. employees), and 21 companies in the large employer category (500 or more U.S. employees). Companies from across the state were evaluated on workplace policies, practices, and demographics, worth 25% of the total evaluation and an employee survey worth 75% of the total evaluation. Over 75% of employee participation was required to qualify. Employees completed anonymous assessments and rated their employers in seven key categories from trust in leadership to compensation and benefits. Talman employees rated leadership, work environment and role satisfaction as the highest scoring items. "Besides taking care of their employees with fantastic benefits and fair pay, Talman also allows for a sense of ownership in our work," says an employee in response to the survey. "You are expected to meet deadlines and be responsible for your work without being micro-managed which shows they trust their employees." Added another employee in response to the survey, "The management team is open to new ideas and values employee's opinions. It's great to work for a company that not only listens to my input, but will improve because of my feedback. I feel empowered, respected and valued. I enjoy coming in to work." This award comes on the heels of significant growth and momentum, from 4 people to 36 and 300 percent sales growth in 2017. Talman celebrated its two-year anniversary on June 1, 2018. "We are humbled and honored to receive this award that spotlights our exceptional people," says Katherine Latham, managing partner at Talman. "This is an especially important recognition because it is based primarily on feedback from our talent. We appreciate their passion and commitment to our core values and collaborative work environment." "It is rewarding to learn our people ranked culture and role satisfaction as the highest scoring areas," added Jim Norton, partner at Talman. "We recognize the significance as we were equally focused on investments in culture and values as well as competitive compensation and benefits." Talman was recognized at the BPTW in Illinois awards ceremony coordinated by The Daily Herald Business Ledger on May 17 and was profiled in a special publication on June 18. About Talman Consultants, LLC Talman Consultants, LLC is a WBE and DBE-certified engineering design consulting firm specializing in telecommunications and utility infrastructure management. Talman serves as a strategic partner for utility leaders, helping them make smarter investment decisions to secure competitive advantage. For more information visit: www.talmanconsultants.com. SOURCE Talman Consultants, LLC Related Links http://www.talmanconsultants.com "A new NEMA survey indicated positive outcomes from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. However, electrical manufacturers identified three issues that, when resolved, will unlock the fullest benefits of the legislation," says NEMA President and CEO Kevin Cosgriff. "Specifically, a drafting error impacting the definition of qualified improvement property, base erosion anti-abuse tax, and global intangible low-taxed income would greatly benefit from clarifying language." Nearly one in three electrical manufacturers surveyed said they had already made investments in employee salaries and benefits, domestic employment, equipment, or research and development. The NEMA survey also found that 53 percent intend to take actions because of the TCJA. Of those manufacturers, nearly 74 percent intend to increase domestic employment, 71 percent intend to invest in new equipment, 66 percent will invest in research and development, and 64 percent will increase employee salaries, bonuses, or benefits. In oral testimony June 20, 2018, to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy ANAMET Electrical President Sam McCammon echoed the NEMA survey results citing that ANAMET had made investments in its employees and equipment as a result of tax reform. "After foregoing pay raises for consecutive years, we were finally able to give our employees a much-deserved wage increase," McCammon said. "Because of the increase in the Section 179 deduction limit from 100 percent of $500,000 to 100 percent of $1,000,000, and 50 percent above $1,000,000, ANAMET is planning to increase our capital expenditures in 2019 by more than 100 percent from normal investment levels, which will better position us among our competition." "NEMA will continue working with lawmakers to modify the legislation so that its fullest potential can be realized," added Cosgriff. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) represents nearly 350 electrical equipment and medical imaging manufacturers that make safe, reliable, and efficient products and systems. Our combined industries account for 360,000 American jobs in more than 7,000 facilities covering every state. Our industry produces $106 billion shipments of electrical equipment and medical imaging technologies per year with $36 billion exports. SOURCE National Electrical Manufacturers Association Related Links http://www.nema.org Standing amazingly 450 meters from the ground, Suzhou IFS was certified by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) as the "the eighth tallest building in Mainland China, the highest in Jiangsu Province of China" on June 20th, 2018. Now it officially becomes the highest building in Suzhou. CTBUH is dedicated in skyscrapers and urban design of future cities. In the past 50 years the CTBUH has been the recognized arbiter on tall building's height, and the body that determines the title of "The World's (or Country's or City's) Tallest Building". The ceremony gathered Dr. Anthony Wood, the Executive Director of CTBUH and a research professor of tall buildings at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago (IIT); Tim Neal, the Board of Trustee of CTBUH; Dr. Guoqiang Li, Director of Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Steel Structures of Tongji University; Dr. Peng Du, China Office Director and Academic Coordinator of CTBUH, visiting assistant professor of IIT. Suzhou is surrounded and nurtured by water. Drawing inspiration from the traditional Chinese culture saying of "to achieve the impossible one must be relentless in their efforts" , the design not only resonates with the profound history and culture of Suzhou, but also indicates a more prosperous future. Together with the expertise of 5 of the world's leading super high-rise architectural firms, including KPF, the world leader in high-rise buildings; Wilson, the world's No.1 interior design company; ALT, the world's leading curtain wall design firm; WAA, the leading international multidisciplinary landscape design firm and BPI, the world-renowned lighting design company, Suzhou IFS is one of a kind. The building is equipped with a curtain wall made up of 32,000 special glass tiles, 300 kg/1000 kg in weight. With a total construction area of approximately 380,000 square meters, Suzhou IFS is a blend of "Lakeside" Serviced Apartments, "Cloudtop Sky Villas", the NICCOLO Luxury Horizon Hotel and "Flagship Offices", offering Grade A office buildings and other cutting-edge property services to meet world standards and promoting the internationalization of East Lake CBD and Suzhou. The building also sets a couple of architectural records, such as the first world-class super high-rise in prefecture-level cities in China; East China's first automatic high-altitude sheet separation and reform at 400 meters; Jiangsu's first high-rise building more than 400 meters high; The first example in China of using TSD energy dissipation technology to improve building comfort, etc. It also received the Global LEED Gold Award for Jiangsu's Highest Green Building. Despite the principle advocated by the government that "a house is for living, not for speculation", China's real estate market refuses to cool down, thanks to the increasing urbanization rate and a lack of investment alternatives. An updated report released by an International Monetary Fund last month showed average home prices in 100 major cities in China rose 16.6 per cent in September 2016 alone, compared with the year before. It is no longer Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen where house prices are comparable to those in the wealthiest western cities like New York City and San Francisco. The hotspots have spread to Hangzhou, Chengdu, and even 2-tier cities such as Xi'an and Nanjing. According to the study by PIMCO, China's property market to be worth around US$22 trillion, approximately 1.8 times the size of its GDP in 2017. The country's top 10 property developers increased their market share from a mere 5.4% in 2006 to close to 25% by 2017. Suzhou IFS offers a rare opportunity for investors. Ranked first in most competitive development zones among Chinese cities. Suzhou is a major transit hub in the delta connecting the Yangtze River to the ocean, and a key docking point for many major ports in "the Belt and Road". Suzhou aims to position itself internationally, actively participating in China's largest foreign policy -- "the Belt and Road", making it an ideal investment opportunity. The Suzhou IFS represents the economic engine of the Yangtze River Delta. The East Lake CBD industry cluster, equipped with Jiangsu's highest-grade office buildings, and dozens of government departments such as government affairs, finance, commerce, culture, and transportation, is the perfect place for Global Fortune 500 businesses to conduct their 24 hour business with the rest of the world. Suzhou IFS, the Wharf Holdings' preeminent work in Suzhou is located on the banks of the Jinji Lake. It will become a window to the world of the modernization of Suzhou. Suzhou IFS is estimated to be completed in 2020. Founded in 1886 as the 17th company incorporated in Hong Kong, The Wharf (Holdings) Limited is a premier company with a long history and Hong Kong as its base. As one of the 30 constituent stocks in the original Hang Seng Index 50 years ago, Wharf is among the top local blue chips that are most actively traded and widely held. Backed by a long standing mission of "Building for Tomorrow" and a proven track record in management and execution, the Group has produced consistent and productive performance over the years. Wharf's Peak Portfolio redefines the concept of luxury living with a collection of the rarest and most prestigious residences nestled on the Peak, epitomising a unique and exclusive lifestyle at the most sought-after addresses in town. In the Mainland, investment properties are led by the IFS series at the very heart of CBD or new CBD in select cities. IFS developments are positioned as trendsetting landmarks with unrivalled location, superior planning and design, retailer and shopper critical mass, as well as top-notch management. SOURCE Suzhou IFS CHENGDU, China, June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The 12th annual meeting of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was held in Krakow and Katowice, Poland. Themed "Creative Crosscroads," and built on the idea of cross-sector cooperation among the UCCN members, the event started on June 12 and concluded on June 15. The opening ceremony saw the attendance of more than 350 delegates representing the 180 UCCN members from 72 countries across the globe, including 40 mayors. Mr. Ernesto Renato Ottone Ramirez, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Culture, when addressing the ceremony, expressed his appreciation to Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, for its strong support to the organization and great practice of sustainable development. At the meeting, a delegate from Chengdu made a presentation on the city's "Eat. Clean. Care." initiative, and shared its experience of eco-energy retrofit in the catering industry. Chengdu, having long been troubled by the environmental pollution in the catering industry, launched a city-wide eco-energy retrofit program a couple of years ago. Through the common efforts of local governments at different levels and industry practitioners, so far, most local restaurants have used clean fuel. After the opening ceremony, Mr. Ramirez received an exclusive interview with gochengdu.cn, a major city portal website on Chengdu. He spoke highly of Chengdu's effort and achievement in the sustainable development, from which other cities can learn a lot. "Chengdu contributes remarkable experience to the world which is highly helpful for the cities in South America and South Africa," said Mr. Ramirez. He also expressed his great interest in what else Chengdu had done to improve its environment and ecosystem. He had planned to visit the city in August or September, he said. Chengdu's "Eat. Clean. Care." initiative had been published on unesco.org, which says that "Chengdu's approach to reducing air pollution is praised for not only improving the environment and living conditions for the residents of Chengdu, but also for making vital steps in helping China achieve its goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." At a sub-meeting for the 12th annual meeting of UCCN, Chengdu shared its experience of building "Slow Villages" with the delegates from 26 UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy. It called on more cities in the world to join in a "Slow Village Co-building Plan," which promotes a rural development model focusing on environmental protection and bio-diversity conservation. UNESCO attaches great value to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Chengdu's "Slow Village" program perfectly reflects the vision of UNESCO and provides a new model for other cities in China to revitalize rural areas. It was highly recognized by all the delegates at the meeting. For more details, please visit www.gochengdu.cn. SOURCE Gochengdu.cn Related Links http://www.gochengdu.cn PLANO, Texas, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing its longstanding run as a leader in corporate social responsibility, Toyota Financial Services (TFS) was once again named one of the most community-minded companies in the nation by Points of Light Foundation. This is the fourth consecutive year that TFS earned a spot on the Civic 50 list. The company, which spent the greater part of the past year settling into its new headquarters in Plano, Texas, hasn't missed a beat in its philanthropic efforts, consistently expanding its corporate social responsibility initiatives and demonstrating its dedication to supporting and empowering communities. The Civic 50 sets the standard for corporate community engagement nationwide, and creates a roadmap for companies seeking to best use their time, talent, and resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business. Winners are selected based on four dimensions of their national community engagement programs: Integration, Investment, Impact and Institutionalization. As in previous years, TFS is recognized for its unwavering commitment to youth development and financial empowerment with successful initiatives such as the Making Life Easier program, various college scholarships, strong partnerships with Girl Scouts of the USA and Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and its Community Ambassador program, which promotes team member (employee) engagement within the community. This year, however, TFS also earned this recognition through its Small and Diverse Business Mentorship program that not only helps the community, but generates business value. The Small and Diverse Business Mentorship program began in 2016 as a pilot program for Women Business Enterprises, and was expanded in 2017 to include small businesses and LGBT business enterprises. Through the program, companies were invited to apply for a year-long mentorship with TFS executives who provided guidance in navigating corporate culture and operations. In turn, mentees committed to grow their organizations through the program and give back to the community. "It's encouraging and inspiring to see Toyota Financial Services team members continue to engage and support their communities more than ever before," said Mike Groff, president & CEO of TFS, and a Boys & Girls Clubs of America National Trustee. "Our ongoing partnerships with organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, and Junior Achievement allow TFS to provide educational opportunities and tools to underserved youth. Now we've identified an opportunity to partner with small businesses and diversity vendors as well helping these companies succeed and give back to their communities in their own way. TFS is incredibly honored that Points of Light Foundation has recognized these efforts, and again named us one of its Civic 50." Much of TFS' philanthropic success can be attributed to its highly-engaged team members. The company supports and develops its team members with community involvement programs such as its Community Ambassador program, which empowers them to build strategic partnerships with local nonprofits and engages team members to participate in community activities. The program provides a robust training and support network, giving team members an opportunity to develop key workplace skills, including relationship-building, project management, and communication. TFS is proudly recognized alongside companies such as AT&T, Comcast NBCUniversal, Delta Air Lines, Dr. Pepper, FedEx, and Hasbro. For more information on The Civic 50 and the latest trends on community engagement, view the report at www.civic50.org. For more information on TFS' community involvement and the partnerships the company supports, please visit: http://tfsinthecommunity.com. About Toyota Financial Services TFS is the finance and insurance brand for Toyota in the United States, offering retail auto financing and leasing through Toyota Motor Credit Corporation (TMCC) and Toyota Lease Trust. TFS also offers extended service contracts through Toyota Motor Insurance Services (TMIS). Lexus Financial Services is the brand for financial products for Lexus dealers and customers. TFS currently employs approximately 3,300 associates nationwide, and has assets totaling over $120 billion. It is part of a worldwide network of comprehensive financial services offered by Toyota Financial Services Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation. We announce material financial information using the investor relations section of our website (www.toyotafinancial.com) and SEC filings. We use these channels, press releases, and social media to communicate about our company, our services and other issues. While not all information we post on social media is of a material nature, some information could be material. Therefore, we encourage those interested in our company to review our posts on Twitter at www.twitter.com/toyotafinancial. For the past four consecutive years, Points of Light has named TFS one of its Civic 50, the most community-minded companies in the nation. For more information about the company's support of financial empowerment, youth development programs, and other community initiatives, please visit www.tfsinthecommunity.com. About Points of Light Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, mobilizes millions of people to take action that is changing the world. Through affiliates in more than 200 cities and partnerships with thousands of nonprofits and corporations, Points of Light engages four million volunteers in 20 million hours of service each year. We bring the power of people where it's needed most. For more information, visit www.pointsoflight.org. SOURCE Toyota Financial Services Related Links http://www.civic50.org From incredible beach towns, to unforgettable sunsets, natural parks, iconic sites, cultural cities, and A-list amenities, Southern California has it all. Whether action-packed or completely relaxed, the perfect vacation starts with a beautiful vacation home. TripsIn.com offers an ideal way for travelers to search vacation rentals and rent direct, with no additional fees. TripsIn.com is free to travelers to use and search vacation rentals putting the renter directly in touch with the Owner of the property or the Property Manager, someone who truly knows the property's location & amenities, not some call center far away. "Since our launch in late December, we are closing in on offering over 5,000 vacation rentals to happy travelers looking to book direct. We are excited about our growth and will continue to expand in a strategic manner to best serve both our renters and homeowners." Jay Gould, CEO & Founder, TripsIn.com TripsIn.com invites Owners and Property Managers to list their Florida and Southern California properties online. TripsIn.com will continue to launch in other vacation spots around the world, and already offers travelers a better way to search vacation rentals in Mexico, Colorado, South Carolina, Utah and now Florida and Southern California. Extraordinary vacation experiences await in these top coastal destinations. If you're looking to plan your next vacation in the sun, don't miss out on the new way to book, #BookDirect with TripsIn.com. SOURCE TripsIn Related Links http://www.tripsin.com SHANGHAI, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- From 28-30 May 2018, the most influential annual event in the global photovoltaic (PV) industry, the SNEC 12th (2018) International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Exhibition and Conference, was staged on a grand scale in Shanghai. In Booth E1-006, TUV Rheinland demonstrated its innovative PV solutions comprehensively, systematically and from a range of perspectives, showing how these solutions are helping to upgrade the industry and promote energy restructuring. TUV Rheinland Joins Global PV Industry Leaders in Discussing the Industry's Development from an Objective Third-Party Perspective During the event, Li Weichun, General Manager of Solar, TUV Rheinland Greater China, was invited to contribute to an exciting dialogue held by leaders in the global photovoltaic industry from the EU, Asia and North America, such as the CEOs of bedrock PV companies, experts and scholars in the field, market analysts, representatives of financial institutions and media representatives. Li spoke on behalf of TUV Rheinland, as an authoritative international third party assessment and certification institution, about trends in the development of the PV industry. Li discussed ways of furthering the development and enhancing the competitiveness of the PV industry both internally and by soliciting external assistance. He noted that whilst we must pay close attention to cutting costs and improving efficiency, "we should not forget quality enhancement, which relies on the mutual agreement and effort of the whole industry." He explained that the process of cutting costs does not apply solely to equipment and systems. "We should comprehensively consider the whole life cycle cost of a PV power system and rely on the professional strength of third party institutions to help control risk, reduce costs and improve earnings," Li said. In addition, Li noted, the PV industry should be "integrated with new technologies from other fields, such as energy storage, Internet and electric vehicle technologies, to achieve energy complementarity, energy intelligentisation and energy digitalisation and create more new ecosystems for PV applications." The expo held many highlights for TUV Rheinland. The company staged various certificate issuing ceremonies, entered into strategic cooperation agreements with numerous enterprises and showcased its outstanding service ability in the PV field. PV components TUV Rheinland issued the world's first cTUVus junction box certificate to Zhejiang Renhe Solar, providing strong support for Renhe Solar's entry into the US market. This also testifies to the importance of TUV Rheinland as a global PV certification institution. TUV Rheinland awarded Suzhou Jolywood the world's first 2PfG 1793 11/17 certificate and IEC 62788 certificate, which cover all aspects of the safety and performance of Jolywood products. This also indicates that Chinese PV backsheets now lead the world in terms of technological strength and quality. XTong Technology and TUV Rheinland held a ceremony to sign an agreement on cooperating on the RSD Safety Bridge. This will help to ensure that products meet the newest safety requirements of the North American market. The two sides will join hands to respond to market development with high-quality technological innovation, meet the diverse demands of the market and make power station management faster, safer, more intelligent and more practical. To meet the requirements of the latest double-sided solar cell, Suzhou Cybrid rolled out a highly waterproof transparent backsheet, which occupies a unique place among other such new products. Anhui Dh-Solar not only manufactures subassemblies, but also researches and develops brand-new intelligent junction boxes to ensure the intelligence of its products. TUV Rheinland has issued certificates for the latest Cybrid and Dh-Solar products, verifying the quality of these new products and the service the companies provide to clients. PV Modules Longi Solar and Suzhou Talesun Solar Technologies won laboratory accreditation from TUV Rheinland. In accordance with IEC/ISO 17025, "General Requirement for Testing and Calibration of Laboratory Ability", and the technological requirements of related testing standards, TUV Rheinland conducted numerous tests of the two companies' management systems, environments, staff technological ability and laboratory equipment, and ultimately approved of their capacity. This accreditation strongly testifies to the high management level and excellent testing capacity of the two companies' laboratories. At the event, TUV Rheinland also signed strategic cooperation agreements with Suzhou Talesun Solar Technologies. The two parties will together provide testing and certification across the PV industrial chain and pursue research on and discussion of technological innovation in the PV standard field. During the SNEC, TUV Rheinland issued many enterprises with new versions of the certificates IEC 61215 and IEC 61730. Yingli Solar received certification in accordance with IEC 61215, 61730-1/-2 (safety testing extra-strict version) and 2PfG 2645/11.17, TUV Rheinland's internal standard for bifacial modules. These standards solved issues that had long troubled the industry, such as how to measure the power, demarcate the limitations and comprehensively assess the safety and performance of bifacial modules. As the first company to be awarded this certificate, Yingli fully demonstrated both the advantages of bifacial technologies and the reliability of its products. Sun-tech Power's series of PV half-chip components won new versions of the IEC 61215 and IEC 61730 certificates. Zn Shine Solar was awarded the first multiple main gate double glass component certificate based on the new versions of IEC 61215 and IEC 61730. Gain Solar earned the first BIPV component certificate based on the new versions of IEC 61215 and IEC 61730 issued by TUV Rheinland. PV Electronics Goodwe's GW5000S-BP series of energy storage inverters was awarded a certificate by TUV Rheinland. This proved that Goodwe's ability to innovate in the household sector and pursuit of safer and more efficient products will lead the household PV market into a new era. ABB's latest PV string inverter was awarded a certificate by TUV Rheinland. This was the first product developed by ABB China to target the Chinese and global markets, based on ABB's strong technological platform. Guangzhou SAJ's R5 series of household inverters was awarded TUV Rheinland's certificate. These products are mainly used in household PV grid-connected systems. They demonstrate SAJ's determination to enter the household market, the strength of its technology and the quality of its products. Delta's M series of PV inverters was awarded a certificate by TUV Rheinland. These products meet the requirements of IEC/EN 62109-1/-2. Comprehensive testing and assessment of the products' structure, thermal stability, electromagnetic compatibility and grid connection characteristics confirmed the safety and reliability of this series. TUV Rheinland and Shanghai Trannergy signed a strategic cooperation agreement focusing on the design and production of solar power grid-connection inverters and PV monitoring systems; PV system planning; and the consolidation and deepening of mutual trust. TUV Rheinland will help Shanghai Trannergy to continuously enhance its research and development activities in new product lines and improve the reliability and performance of its products. PV Power Plants With years of experience of providing testing services for PV power plants, TUV Rheinland recently provided authoritative technological support for cross-over cooperation on PV power plant technology, capital and finance through a technology risk control service, and offered an innovative new paradigm for cross-over cooperation on financial capital and professional technology platforms. At the event, TUV Rheinland and Zhongjin Guotai signed a strategic cooperation agreement to achieve strong mutual advantages, attracting widespread attention. The two sides decided to cooperate comprehensively to provide technology risk control and financing services for key equipment factories, EPC companies, PV power plant investors, property owners and financial institutions. The technical risk control service provided by TUV Rheinland not only enables Zhongjin Guotai to comprehensively manage and control the quality risk associated with projects but also helps it to reduce financial risk and ensure its funding security. The two parties' cooperation is expected to provide a higher-quality technology risk control service and a one-stop customized financial service for all areas of the PV industry chain. In addition, TUV Rheinland signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Uniex New Energy on testing and certification, household system standard development and quality assessment for the whole PV industry chain, including PV cells, modules and power plants. The two parties will also cooperate comprehensively on power plant quality testing and assessment. Initiates strategic cooperation on PV block chains to catalyse a new energy business model Another highlight was the PV blockchain strategic programme co-launched by TUV Rheinland and other industry peers, which reflected TUV Rheinland's continuous innovation in the PV field, leading the development of the industry by applying cutting-edge block chain technology. The project, entitled "Benefit Trading of PV Power Plant Based on Block Chain Technology", will be jointly designed and operated by nine professional organisations, namely Pixiu, Gezhouba Electric Power, TUV Rheinland, Willis, ABB, CMB, Zhongcai Merchants Investment Group, Dasol and Rison. Blockchain technology is characterized by decentralization, transparency and trustworthiness, high security, traceability, non-tampering, intelligent management, etc., allowing it to effectively link energy flow, capital flow and information flow. It can thus be widely applied in the energy field. Introducing blockchain technology to PV power station projects may challenge and reshape power stations' existing models of centralized energy production and distribution, business and profit. The concept underlying the blockchain project is that of an "alliance chain"; the nine parties will maintain a long-term strategic alliance, cooperating on providing professional services and technical support in their respective product/service areas. They will work together to set up technical standards for the entire PV power plant industry, improve financing schemes and control operational risk, thus jointly promoting the development and upgrade of the industry. At the project signing ceremony, Chris Zou, Vice President of Solar, TUV Rheinland Greater China, described the use of blockchain technology to build PV power plants. He hoped that this "novel concept" would "break down the business structures and profit models of traditional energy enterprises and catalyse the development of new business models." He went on to explain that we are currently at a historical watershed in the transformation of energy structure. "In the future, the energy industry will experience great changes in energy generation, transmission, use and storage, as well as in energy-related financial transactions," he said, stressing TUV Rheinland's commitment to "working with industry colleagues to actively introduce new technologies and concepts to promote the long-term development of the PV industry." SOURCE TUV Rheinland Greater China SAN DIEGO, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- UE.co's Chief Operating Officer, Taryn Lomas, is a finalist in the San Diego Business Journal's "Next Top Business Leaders Under 40" awards. This event recognizes dynamic, young business leaders and role models who have significantly contributed to San Diego's business climate and the community. Taryn Lomas, COO of UE.co Ms. Lomas co-founded UE.co in 2008. Over the past ten years, she has played a critical role in growing the company and running day-to-day operations. Under Ms. Lomas' leadership, UE has been named San Diego Business Journal's Fastest Growing Company, made the INC 5000 list, certified as a Great Place to Work, and won San Diego Business Journal's Best Places to Work. In addition to her leadership in UE.co's operations, Taryn Lomas can also be seen championing UE.co's Corporate Giving Initiative. Ms. Lomas has volunteered and sponsored numerous San Diego nonprofits, notably The Special Olympics San Diego, Make a Wish Foundation, Monarch School, and The San Diego Humane Society, and prioritizes time monthly for UE.co team members to volunteer. "Taryn is the driving force behind the company's operations and is responsible for fostering a culture of leadership and community responsibility," said UE.co co-founder and CEO Jason Kulpa. "She continues to be a model for others in the organization and the community." "It is an honor to be named to this list with other notable leaders in the San Diego Community," said Taryn Lomas. "Each day I partner with an innovative team that prides themselves on providing the best service for our clients and the community." Learn more about The San Diego Next Top Business Leaders Under 40 List Here. About Taryn Lomas: Taryn Lomas, COO of UE.co, has been with the company since its origins in 2008. Since the beginning, she has headed the sales department and cultivated a standard for maintaining relationships with the company's best clients. Ms. Lomas has been recognized both locally and nationally for her outstanding leadership in the San Diego business community and contributions for women in business. She is a recent recipient of DMNews' '30 Under 30', the San Diego Business Journal's 'Women Who Mean Business Award', and the Stevie Award for 'Women in Business'. About UE.co: UE.co is a San Diego-based provider of software platforms, digital marketing services, and customer acquisition solutions. The platforms are custom built for companies looking to manage their consumer data better. UE.co has been recognized as an Inc. Fastest Growing Company, and is a Certified Great Place to Work, and was previously known as Underground Elephant. Media Contact: Laura Donaldson Email: [email protected] Phone: (800) 466-4178 SOURCE UE.co HOLMDEL, N.J., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Vonage (NYSE: VG), a business cloud communications leader, has announced new global programmable contact center capabilities through Nexmo, the Vonage API Platform, including split recording, real-time text-to-speech translation, onAnswer and WebRTC supported by the Nexmo Voice API (VAPI). These latest programmable capabilities from Nexmo allow cutting-edge software developers and businesses to build customized, innovative contact center capabilities tailored to their needs and unique specifications. The Company's powerful APIs enable greater contact center flexibility and efficiency, creating more meaningful customer interactions and better business outcomes. "Vonage is redefining how our developer ecosystem and businesses approach their contact centers with intelligent, voice-powered capabilities and analytical tools that can be used to build a unique and personalized customer experience," said Omar Javaid, Chief Product Officer, Vonage. Mr. Javaid continued, "More and more developers and businesses are seeking greater flexibility beyond traditional contact center products to create better business outcomes. By leveraging our cloud-scale programmable communications to enhance new or existing contact centers, businesses can quickly adapt to customer demands, generate new insights and innovate faster to serve and delight their customers." Supported by the global reach and scale of Nexmo, the Vonage API Platform, developers and businesses can implement these advanced capabilities globally, individually or in combination, to augment an existing contact center. Alternatively, these capabilities can be deployed as a standalone solution, empowering customers to engage with agents in their preferred language, on their preferred channel, with relevant context and in real-time. Some notable capabilities include: Split recording enables a business to record both participants of a call in stereo, creating a recording of what a participant hears on one channel, and what the participant says on a separate channel. This makes transcriptions easier to understand and more actionable, enabling a complete account of conversations, improved training, regulatory compliance, and ultimately driving better agent insight, agent performance, and customer experience. enables a business to record both participants of a call in stereo, creating a recording of what a participant hears on one channel, and what the participant says on a separate channel. This makes transcriptions easier to understand and more actionable, enabling a complete account of conversations, improved training, regulatory compliance, and ultimately driving better agent insight, agent performance, and customer experience. Market leading text-to-speech with expanded language coverage empowers a company's digital voice to grow and adapt with its geographical presence through the ability to program automated voice prompts in a wide variety of local languages. Nexmo has added 17 new languages, bringing the total to a market-leading 40 languages, spoken by more than 4.5 billion people. Notable new languages include Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, Cantonese, Bahasa, Portuguese and Korean. with expanded language coverage empowers a company's digital voice to grow and adapt with its geographical presence through the ability to program automated voice prompts in a wide variety of local languages. Nexmo has added 17 new languages, bringing the total to a market-leading 40 languages, spoken by more than 4.5 billion people. Notable new languages include Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, Cantonese, Bahasa, Portuguese and Korean. onAnswer functionality provides agents with a pre-call prompt to provide context and facilitate a smoother conversation. For example, the prompt could be programmed to tell agents which of several concurrent campaigns a call is related to, or provide call context as a customer is being transferred, reducing friction and creating a more personal experience for customers. functionality provides agents with a pre-call prompt to provide context and facilitate a smoother conversation. For example, the prompt could be programmed to tell agents which of several concurrent campaigns a call is related to, or provide call context as a customer is being transferred, reducing friction and creating a more personal experience for customers. WebRTC unlocks the value of the Nexmo Voice API functionality on mobile and desktop devices, offering a simple way for contact center agents to connect and work from anywhere they have a web browser. Setting up agents to work from home, or anywhere in the world, no longer requires communications hardware, or new landlines. Additional intelligent contact center use cases enabled by Nexmo include: Real-time sentiment analysis , providing real-time insight into caller sentiments and emotions, enabling better decision-making, customer support and outcomes. This technology can be easily integrated to any existing contact center, and is already pre-integrated into Vonage's Advanced Contact Center offering, Vonage CX Cloud. providing real-time insight into caller sentiments and emotions, enabling better decision-making, customer support and outcomes. This technology can be easily integrated to any existing contact center, and is already pre-integrated into Vonage's Advanced Contact Center offering, Vonage CX Cloud. Skills-based routing is our open source communications routing building block which allows administrators to decide which agents have the best skill set to field specific calls, such as those from Spanish-speaking customers, or sensitive calls to collect customer fees. By tagging agents with unique skills to address specific customer needs, callers can be connected to the most appropriate agent from the start, creating a smoother, faster path to resolution and a more positive customer experience. is our open source communications routing building block which allows administrators to decide which agents have the best skill set to field specific calls, such as those from Spanish-speaking customers, or sensitive calls to collect customer fees. By tagging agents with unique skills to address specific customer needs, callers can be connected to the most appropriate agent from the start, creating a smoother, faster path to resolution and a more positive customer experience. Call t racking captures metadata from every call, including who called, the dialed number, the call length, and more, allowing businesses to use analytics to improve marketing campaigns, and customer interactions. captures metadata from every call, including who called, the dialed number, the call length, and more, allowing businesses to use analytics to improve marketing campaigns, and customer interactions. Real-time speech-to-text transcription provides users with the ability to transcribe calls and better understand customers, improving experiences and business outcomes. provides users with the ability to transcribe calls and better understand customers, improving experiences and business outcomes. Automated, natural language FAQ uses AI to handle the most commonly asked questions, freeing agents to put a personal touch on answering more challenging questions from live customers who prefer direct interaction with a person. Attendees of Customer Contact Week in Las Vegas will have the chance to demo these capabilities and more at the Vonage booth A. About Vonage Vonage (NYSE:VG) is redefining business communications. True to our roots as a technology disruptor, we've embraced technology to transform how companies communicate to create better business outcomes. Our unique cloud communications platform brings together a robust unified communications solution with the agility of embedded, contextual communications APIs. This powerful combination enables businesses to collaborate more productively and engage their customers more effectively across messaging, chat, social media, video and voice. The Company also provides a robust suite of feature-rich residential communication solutions. Vonage Holdings Corp. is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, with offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Israel. Vonage is a registered trademark of Vonage Marketing LLC, owned by Vonage America Inc. (vg-a) SOURCE Vonage Related Links http://www.vonage.com WUXI, China, June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WuXi Biologics (2269.HK), a leading global open-access biologics technology platform company offering end-to-end solutions for biologics discovery, development and manufacturing, announced today that it has started the construction of a state-of-the-art integrated biologics conjugate solution center in Wuxi city, China. This $20 million 6,000 square meter facility will be operational in 2019 and provide integrated solutions from concept to commercialization for biologics conjugates including Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) and other protein conjugates. ADCs are complex molecules composed of an antibody linked to a biologically active cytotoxic drug and are becoming emerging treatments of targeted tumor therapy. WuXi Biologics plans to build this site into a world-class ADC R&D and manufacturing platform which will meet US, EU and Chinese cGMP standards. "I am very excited about this new investment in ADCs," Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics said. "In collaboration with chemistry division of WuXi AppTec Group, WuXi Biologics is one of the few global companies that can provide the one-stop service to global partners for antibodies, small molecule payloads, ADCs drug substance and drug products. Our vision is to empower any global partners to develop any ADC to benefit patients." About WuXi Biologics WuXi Biologics, a Hong Kong-listed company, is the only open-access biologics technology platform in the world offering end-to-end solutions to empower organizations to discover, develop and manufacture biologics from concept to commercial manufacturing. Our company history and achievements demonstrate our commitment to providing a truly ONE-stop service offering and value proposition to our global clients. For more information on WuXi Biologics, please visit www.wuxibiologics.com. SOURCE WuXi Biologics Related Links http://www.wuxibiologics.com "We have spent the past seven years studying industry best practices and given the challenges with and changes to convenience store retailing, we believe that a new approach to convenience store marketing is needed to compete effectively in today's increasingly competitive market," stated Thomas Nicholas Trkla, Yesway's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We hired Derek and Jeff because of their tremendous experience, creativity, and track record of successful inventive marketing. The traditional CMO role has changed markedly over the past several decades with tremendous advances in technology, changing consumer behaviors, and the changing nature of how convenience stores serve the communities in which they operate. We believe that greater, more focused attention should be given to the three primary pillars of marketing - strong brand management, creative and attractive food service, and relevant and customer-focused merchandising and that each of these pillars merits dedicated management attention and deliberate implementation." With this new structure, both Jeff Keune and Derek Gaskins, along with Darrin Samaha, Yesway's head of Brand Management, Tony Sparks, Vice President of Merchandising, and Frank White, Director of Food Service, will have the increased freedom and flexibility to ideate, innovate, and execute in their respective roles as the firm continues to grow and improve its brand. "I am confident that with their collective years of experience and depth and breadth of industry knowledge, they, working with the rest of our exceptional management team, will continue to improve our operations and performance, and help us become the exceptional convenience store retailer we aspire to be," added Mr. Trkla. As Senior Vice President of Merchandising and Procurement, Derek Gaskins brings a wealth of experience and industry knowledge to this newly created role. In addition to directing all merchandising and procurement efforts, he is responsible for developing relationships with Yesway's vendors as well as working with Jeff Keune and Darrin Samaha to further cultivate the growth and stewardship of the Yesway brand. He most recently served as Chief Customer Officer for Rutter's Farm Stores & Dairy. Prior to Rutter's, Mr. Gaskins served as Senior Vice President in Marketing & Merchandising with Mid-Atlantic Convenience Stores and as Vice President of Marketing with NACS - The Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing. Mr. Gaskins holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Iowa and an MBA in Finance, Marketing, and Real Estate from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In his role as Senior Vice President of Food Service and Innovation, Jeff Keune is responsible for expanding Yesway's food service and dispensed beverage offerings. He oversees strategic research and planning to ensure Yesway continues to be a leader in identifying consumer insights and culinary trends, which will create a pipeline of new, innovative, and high ROI products to bring to the market. He also leads and directs the company's food quality and safety areas. Mr. Keune brings to Yesway a vast array of knowledge from his extensive background in brand management, marketing strategy, and product development for retail, restaurant, and consumer packaged goods. Mr. Keune was most recently the Principal Consultant and Partner for the TruthPoint Consulting Group. Prior to TruthPoint Consulting, Mr. Keune was the Chief Marketing Officer for Thornton's Inc., Senior Vice President of Marketing at Bob Evans Restaurants, and a Vice President of Marketing for Wendy's International. Mr. Keune holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University and an MBA from Vanderbilt University. Rounding out Yesway's marketing leadership team is Darrin Samaha, Vice President and Brand Manager, who will continue to lead the charge with respect to the creation, growth, and cultivation of the Yesway brand across all channels. He is responsible for the launch and management of the award winning Yesway Rewards customer loyalty program, development of digital and social media marketing strategies, direction of the company's media relations efforts, and the creation and execution of its targeted advertising campaigns. Prior to joining Yesway, Mr. Samaha was Chief Creative Officer and founder of Blue Coda where he created and built Blue Coda's corporate brand and vision and led the firm's creative teams. Mr. Samaha is a graduate of Tufts University and was recently accepted into the Executive MBA Program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. "We are thrilled to have both Derek and Jeff join our senior management team," said Mr. Trkla. "I look forward to working closely with them and everyone on our senior marketing team as we continue to strengthen our brand and improve and grow our food service and product offerings." Editor Note: To arrange interviews with Yesway executives, please contact Erin Vadala of Warner Communications at [email protected] or 978-468-3076. High-resolution images and graphics are available on request. About Yesway BW Gas & Convenience, d/b/a Yesway, is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. Yesway recently debuted at #7 on the Convenience Store News "2018 Top 20 Growth Chains" list and was named a "2017 Chain to Watch" by Convenience Store Decisions. Yesway's fast growing portfolio currently consists of 116 stores located in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, Yesway plans to acquire, improve, and rebrand 500 convenience stores in selected regions of the United States over the next several years. For more information on Yesway, please visit the company's website at www.yesway.com SOURCE Yesway Related Links http://www.yesway.com BOZEMAN, Mont., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Zoot Enterprises, a global fintech company providing advanced origination, acquisition, and decision management solutions, today announced that Chief Technology and Operations Officer Tony Rosanova has been appointed President and CTO. Rosanova, who has been with the company since 1999, will continue to report to Chris Nelson, CEO of Zoot Enterprises. "We are delighted to announce this transition, which comes to an individual who has been instrumental in the maturation and growth of Zoot Enterprises over the last 19 years," said Chris Nelson, Zoot CEO. "Tony is an experienced leader who consistently delivers results while engendering an attitude of respect among those who work with him," Nelson continued. Rosanova first joined Zoot as the IT Resource Manager, and has also held positions at Zoot including Systems Administration Manager, CTO, and COO/CTO. During his tenure, Rosanova led the design of Zoot's data center and the expansion from one to five data centers across the US and Europe, as well as defined and implemented Zoot's internal and external audit programs. Rosanova has also been instrumental in the expansion of the organization's products and services, pushing for Zoot's entrance into the auto titling services space which the company did in 2017. Prior to Zoot, he worked for the United States Geological Survey. Rosanova studied Marketing at Arizona State University and Advertising at Northern Arizona University. "I am excited for the next phase of Zoot and for the direction we are headed as an organization both with our technology and the clients that we have the opportunity to work with," said Rosanova. "Our industry is changing rapidly and it is providing fantastic opportunities to be innovative and entrepreneurial in our response. Zoot is changing our entire approach to realize these opportunities, from our technology and processes to our culture and people. We want to thrill our customers with innovation and customer service," Rosanova continued. Concurrent to this announcement, Dennis Dixon, President of Zoot Enterprises, was named President Emeritus an appointment which will allow him to support Zoot during this transition. Dennis will retire next year after a distinguished 14-year career at Zoot Enterprises. "We are so grateful to Dennis for the experience, guidance, and personality that he brought to Zoot over his 13 years as President, and for the guidance that he will continue to provide over the next year," remarked Nelson. "Without him, we would not be where we are today." Dixon was President of Zoot Enterprises from May 2005 to June 2018. As President, he oversaw strong growth of Zoot's customer base and revenue, in addition to championing, developing and leading the Zoot Partner Program. Prior to joining Zoot, he was with EDS for 20 years, where he founded and managed EDS Montana and was founding Chairman of Tech Ranch technology business incubator. Earlier in his career, he held various managerial positions at General Motors during a 10-year tenure at that organization. Dixon earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Administration from General Motors Institute. For more information about Zoot Enterprises, visit zootsolutions.com. About Zoot Enterprises Zoot Enterprises is a global provider of advanced origination, acquisition and decision management solutions for financial institutions. We offer comprehensive and flexible platforms for specific business needs that include loan origination, fraud detection and prevention, data acquisition, and more. For more than 25 years, we have launched solutions to market faster than the competition. We have partnered with influential U.S. and international organizations including major financial institutions, retailers and payment providers to foster excellence in the financial services industry. From Data to Decision MEDIA CONTACT Sara Tatnall Zoot PR Manager [email protected] 339-237-0876 SOURCE Zoot Enterprises Related Links http://zootsolutions.com Los Angeles, June 20 : Actor Orlando Bloom says he had a major crush on actress Cate Blanchett while they were filming for "The Lord of the Rings". On an episode of "The Late Late Show with James Corden", which was taped in London, the 41-year-old actor joined Blanchett and confessed about his crush, reports etonline.com. When asked what his first impression of Blanchett was when she was playing Galadriel and he was portraying Legolas in the film, Bloom said: "I can't think -- I had such a crush. I had the biggest crush on you." Taken aback by the confession, Blanchett told him: "Well, it was your character!" Bloom stuck to his story, exclaiming, "No, it was me!" The actor said he was about 21 years old at the time of the filming and was intimidated by Blanchett, more than five years his senior. "What was I, 110?" the 49-year-old actress quipped. The crush wasn't mutual, but that may just be because Blanchett didn't know who Bloom was for a large portion of her three weeks on set. "I didn't recognise you, because the first time I saw you, you had hair -- like Fabio hair and blue eyes. And then I just saw you -- who is this really cute guy out of drama school -- and I didn't put two and two together," said Blanchett. Bloom added: "And I was just walking around spying on her from the corner of the room -- in a non creepy way." Panaji, June 20 : Goa's BJP unit has said that Vasudev Parab, holder of a government-allotted industrial plot in the coastal state where a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) raid unearthed a ketamine manufacturing racket, was not involved in its trade. "Parab does not have one per cent, even 0.1 per cent involvement in it. He has not committed a crime. The only crime he has committed is that he had put the plot on rent without informing the IDC (Industrial Development Corporation). This is his only crime. We have full faith in Vasudev Parab, that he is not involved in such things and he will not be involved in such things in the future," state Bharatiya Janata Party President Vinay Tendulkar said on Tuesday. Tendulkar's remarks comes two days after Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar ruled out a state government probe into the ketamine or date-rape drug manufacturing racket, which DRI has claimed as one of the biggest ever raids on drug manufacturing operations, which the enforcement agency has ever undertaken. Last week while responding to allegations of favouritism made by the Congress, BJP spokespersons said that Parab had no links with the party. However, Parab is an office bearer of BJP's North Goa district unit. Tendulkar also said, that Parab's only violation was that he had rented the industrial plot allotted to him by the Goa Industrial Development Corporation to a third-party, which is against the rules. After giving out the plot on rent, Parab earned Rs 75,000 per month and had no inkling about what was going on, he added. Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Corporation issued a show cause notice to Parab. The Congress has urged Parrikar to launch an independent probe into the case, while also accusing the BJP of trying to shield manufacturers of the date-rape drug. In a three-day operation code-named 'Operation Vitamin', the DRI last week, busted an internrational drug syndicate, seizing 308 kg ketamine, two tonnes of raw material at various sites in Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, arresting 10 persons including two from the UK and one from Vietnam. Nearly 100 kg of ketamine and raw material used to manufacture the drug was also found at Parab's industrial unit, which was used by an NRI Jimi Sandhu. Used as a tranquiliser for veterinary purposes, ketamine is a common party drug and is known for its hallucinating effects. Washington, June 20 : US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain at the White House. After arriving at the South Portico on Tuesday afternoon, the couples posed for a photo and then, reports USA Today. "It's a great honour to have the King and Queen of Spain," the President said in the Oval Office. "It's a beautiful country. We were in Spain not so long ago and we love it. "Our relationship has been outstanding over the years... Excellent trade relationship, military relationship. Just about everything you can have. So we love Spain," Trump added. This is the 50-year-old King's first meeting with Trump and his second visit to the White House since he took over the throne in 2014 after the abdication of his father, King Juan Carlos I. The Spanish royals wrapped up a five-day goodwill visit to the US that included stops in San Antonio and New Orleans to celebrate those cities' 300-year-old ties to Spain. "This is a great end to a perfect trip," the USA Today quoted the King as saying. "We appreciate very much our common history, our heritage. So many years that we share ... So many issues of common interest... As well as there is one basic common issue, which is our value for democracy." On Tuesday, the Spanish royal couple also had meetings at the World Bank. Washington, June 20 : US President Donald Trump has aggressively defended his policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexico border, accusing the migrants of "infesting" the country, media reports said. In a tweet on Tuesday, Trump used language evoking images of pests, not human beings, when describing migrants approaching the US border and blaming the Democrats for the problem, reports CNN. "Democrats are the problem," he wrote. "They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our country... They can't win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters! Later at a small business event here on Tuesday, Trump declared that he had no choice but to remove children from their parents at the border. "We want a great country. We want a country with heart. But when people come up, they have to know they can't get in," he said. "Otherwise it's never going to stop." He also declared that the US needed to be secured, whether or not that seems politically palatable. "You have to stand for something and you have to stand for safety and security of our country. We can't let people pour in," he said. "Maybe it's politically correct or maybe it's not. We've got to stop separation of the families, but politically correct or not, we have a country that needs security, that needs safety, that has to be protected." Trump has repeatedly defended his immigration crackdown, reports The Washington Post. But images of young children housed in metal cages have set off a nationwide outcry that has reached the White House. At least 2,000 children have been separated from their parents this year as a result of the administration's policy. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also defended the administration's controversial policy along with Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, who gave a forceful explanation of the actions, arguing that it had no choice, reports The New York Times. "Parents who entered illegally are by definition criminals," Nielsen said on Tuesday. "By entering our country illegally, often in dangerous circumstances, illegal immigrants have put their children at risk." House Republicans are planning to vote on two immigration measures this week. Beijing, June 20 : Nepal and China on Wednesday signed eight agreements worth $2.4 billion on the second day of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli's visit. These agreements were reached between the two governments and private sectors where Chinese investors will put money on developing hydroelectricity, water resources, cement factories and fruit cultivation and farming. The signing ceremony took place at the Nepal Embassy here. Additional memorandum of understandings will be signed on Thursday after delegation-level talks between Oli and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang. Oli, who arrived here on Monday on his five-day-visit, will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This is Oli's first official visit to China after returning to power in February and second foreign trip after India. Los Angeles, June 20 : "Sicario" and 'Guardians of the Galaxy" actor Benicio Del Toro has called for more representation of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. government. The "Traffi"c actor was born in San German, Puerto Rico and grew up on the island until he moved to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania at the age of 15 with his father and brother. During an appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" Del Toro shared that the territory was slowly recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Maria September 2017 but he wanted to see US officials do more, reports aceshowbiz.com. "They're getting back to normal. I was there about two weeks ago. Everything is getting back to normal, it's taking a while. The bottom line is, every American citizen that lives in Puerto Rico, if they don't get a right to vote or to have representation in Congress, nothing is really going to change." While Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and may move freely between the island and the mainland, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the U.S. Congress, which governs the territory. They have one non-voting member of the House of Representatives called a Resident Commissioner. During the interview, host Colbert also asked actor if he had considered a political career, to which he responded, "Not at all. Are you going to endorse me?" New Delhi : India's soft power and its new global outreach became apparent after the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 responded positively to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's suggestion that June 21 every year be commemorated worldwide as International Yoga Day. The date was recommended by Modi since it marks the longest day in the northern hemisphere. Many believe that it marks the day that Lord Shiva -- one of the Hindu Trinity -- began imparting yoga to his followers and became its first guru. Adopted in December 2015 in New York, the draft resolution had a record-breaking 177 co-sponsors, including the US and China. What is soft power? India is a repository of an astounding wealth of living patterns and modes of heritage. With about 1,400 dialects and 18 officially recognised languages, several religions, various styles of art, architecture, literature, music and dance, and several lifestyle patterns, the country is the largest democracy with a seamless picture of diversity and unity, perhaps unparalleled anywhere in the world. India's living cultural heritage has been shaped by centuries of adaptation, re-creation and co-existence. The country's intangible cultural heritage finds expression in the ideas, practices, beliefs and values shared by communities across centuries. It forms a part of its collective memory. Yoga was added to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in December 2016. The international impact of India's soft power was felt long before the term found place in popular parlance in the 21st century. What is new is its strategic reorientation by Modi, who combined new elements of soft power to re-position India in the international community. In a strategic context, its five pillars are Samman (dignity), Samvaad (dialogue), Samriddhi (shared prosperity), Suraksha (regional and global security), and Sanskriti evam Sabhayata (cultural and civilisational links). Cleverly crafted, this new mantra represents a fundamental challenge to China's quest for leadership in this area. India's political values have now been embedded in a larger geopolitical context. Modi's message is India can become a "viswaguru", or world teacher. Cultural diplomacy and soft power have emerged as forces to connect and build bilateral relations and heal ruptures created by history and politics. Unfortunately, there are some in India's neighbourhood, notably Pakistan, who remain apprehensive of cultural connectivity across states and frontiers. The process, however, is unstoppable. The internet, the social networking sites, Bollywood, and now yoga, have contributed to the cultural connectivity across borders. There are many in Pakistan who are trying to revive, re-establish and reinvent their past socio-cultural connectivity with India. Ultimately, culture and soft power remain powerful mechanisms to enable antagonistic states to overcome years of mutual mistrust and push forward the process of regional integration. The process is not new. Immediately after World War II, school children from France and Germany were sent on exchange programmes to learn about each other's culture, language and customs. The result today is striking. Within the European Union, the strongest partnership remains the Franco-German one. This year's celebrations of International Yoga Day are eagerly awaited by the diplomatic community in Delhi. On June 21, 2017, The Ministry of External Affairs organised a special yoga session for 100 diplomats. The Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Ambassadors and diplomats enthusiastically participated by practicing asanas and pranayams, giving a unique flavour to the event. "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" remains the first precursor of global citizenship as it is understood today -- the concept that all individuals are collectively responsible for each other and their shared future. Ultimately, this "international binding" through International Yoga Day represents India's new global narrative. It could be as important to its quest for great power status as her candidature for permanent membership of the Security Council. (Bhaswati Mukherjee is a former Indian Ambassador to UNESCO. The article is in special arrangement with South Asia Monitor) Los Angeles, June 20 : Actor-director Scott Baio will not be charged with sexual assault after his former "Charles in Charge" co-star Nicole Eggert accused him in January of molesting her for years. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office declined to press charges against the 57-year-old. "The applicable statute of limitations to the crimes alleged by the victim have expired. Thus, the case is declined," the District Attorney cited in a charge evaluation sheet obtained by people.com Eggert tweeted: "Wait for it... Dismissed on Statutes of Limitation... Never because of lack of evidence. Case closed molester Scott Baio." "Dismissed due to Statute of Limitation Gu(i)lty. Period," Eggert added. Baio has repeatedly denied her claims, calling them "100 (per cent) lies." "Why would I have a concern over something I didn't do?" he said on "Good Morning America". "Rather than take your case to social media, where people tend to beat up people like me, why not do it through the proper channels? You put up allegations like that, and it becomes like wildfire," he added. Baio said they were never alone together on the set. "I don't know if you've ever been on a sitcom set, but on any given day - on every day, especially 'Charles in Charge', which was like a picnic every day, it was one of my favourite jobs I've ever done - there's teachers, parents, family, crew, producers, my dad. So how any of this could have happened is absolutely impossible," he said. Eggert, 46, alleged on Twitter in late January that Baio had molested her from the age of 14 to 17. Generally, in California, prosecution of a sexual assault offence has to begin within 10 years of the alleged incident. Chennai, June 20 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for deciding to establish an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Madurai district. In a letter to Modi, Palaniswami said: "On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu and me, I thank you, Sir, for selecting the establishment of a new AIIMS at Thoppur in Madurai district." He said the state government would provide all necessary support to the Central government to facilitate the early commencement of work. Srinagar, June 20 : Scores of migrant Kashmiri Pandits arrived at Mata Kheer Bhawani Shrine in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district on Wednesday to attend an annual festival, officials said. Despite speculation that a lesser number of Kashmiri Pandits would come to attend the Kheer Bhawani Mela in Tullamulla town this year, they kept their tryst with Mata Ragnya. Scenes of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood were witnessed in Tullamulla where some local Muslim residents came out to greet their Hindu brothers. Kashmiri Pandits started arriving here on Wednesday in buses from Delhi and Jammu. Some of them used their private vehicles to attend the Mela and pray for peace and prosperity at the shrine. The holiest Kashmiri Pandit shrine in Kashmir Valley, Kheer Bhawani temple is dedicated to Hindu deity Mata Ragnya, who according to Hindu beliefs came to Kashmir from Sri Lanka during the rule of Ravana. It is said that displeased with the licentious and vicious life of Ravana, the deity asked Lord Hanuman to shift her image to Tullamulla village in Kashmir. The shrine, situated around 24 km from Srinagar, houses a spring which is considered sacred by Kashmiri Pandits. The Pandits believe the colour of the spring water on the annual Mela foretells the state of events in Kashmir during the year. Authorities have made adequate arrangements for the security and lodging of Pandits. Most of the devotees prefer to stay at shrine for the night to engage in extended prayers. Contingents of police and paramilitary force have been placed on the route for the security of devotees. Lucknow, June 20 : The death toll in the blaze at two hotels here climbed to six on Wednesday, with one person succumbing to his burn injuries, police said. A magisterial probe into the blaze has begun. Five persons died on Tuesday after a massive fire broke out at the SSJ International Hotel which soon spread to the adjacent Hotel Virat International, gutting both the buildings. While five bodies have been identified, the identity of a badly charred body of a woman is yet to be ascertained, an official said. The deceased have been identified as Ganesh Prasad (55) and his son from Patna, Priyanshu Sharma (40) of Aligarh, Santosh Mane (32) of Pune and a one-and-half-year-old Mehar from Kanpur. The mother of Meher, Rani, is in critical condition and is warded at the Civil Hospital. Others who were seriously injured in the incident include Asif from Kanpur, Indra Kumar Shukla from Rae Bareli, Sarthak from West Bengal, Amit Pathak from Delhi and Shubhashish Chatterjee from Allahabad. While their condition is stated to be out of danger, they are still in serious condition with over 30-40 per cent burn injuries. Meanwhile, the magisterial probe into the inferno has begun. A senior police official privy to the investigation told IANS that there were many shortcomings and non-compliances of safety measures and fire prevention in both the hotels. A safety audit of other hotels in the area has also been initiated by the police and the Fire Service Department. The owners of both the hotels continue to be on the run. An FIR under sections 285, 337, 338 and 304 (6) has been registered against the owners and management of these hotels. Thiruvananthapuram, June 20 : At least 1.50 lakh patients in Kerala who suffer from various ailments will have a better quality of life through palliative care, the government said on Wednesday. The care would be provided through a joint initiative between the private sector and state government, the Kerala Assembly was told. Palliative care is given to improve the quality of life of patients who have a serious or life-threatening disease. Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said even as Kerala boasts of having the best of health care, when it comes to palliative care to those suffering from serious ailments like cancer and other life threatening diseases, there has to be an improved effort to give them an improved quality of life. "At present, there are around 1.50 lakh patients suffering from cancer, several other ailments, old age problems and are mostly bed-ridden. It's here, where we wish to provide an improved palliative care," the Minister said. "For this, there will be a better co-ordination between the various organisations which are involved in this activity and the state government programmes," said Shailaja. She added that of 1.50 lakh such patients, around 49,000 currently getting benefits of palliative care through various private organisations and the ones in the state government sector. "We have already included palliative care in the state owned 232 community health centres. We have decided to appoint a physiotherapist and a nurse in addition to the existing staff so as to benefit those who need palliative care," she said. "There are 15 training centres which have the approval of the WHO which gives training to volunteers who are interested in providing service to the suffering," added the minister. She added that it has also been decided that the Ayurveda sector will also be asked to join the new initiative, as Ayurveda too provides elements to improve the quality of life of those who need palliative care. Mumbai, June 20 : Actress Rakul Preet, who last featured in Neeraj Pandey's "Aiyaary", says 50 per cent of the shoot of her forthcoming urban romantic comedy film with Ajay Devgn, is complete. During an interaction with the media on the sidelines of the Femina Miss India grand finale here on Tuesday, Rakul said: "Right now in the Hindi film industry, I am working on a film with Ajay Devgn sir. It is an urban rom-com and it is being produced by Luv Ranjan sir. "We are 50 per cent through the film, so the audience will be able to see the film really soon and then I have bunch of south Indian films. I am working on three Tamil films and one Telugu film." The Ajay-starrer also features Tabu in a pivotal role and it will focus on modern-day urban relationships in a quirky way. The film, slated to release around Dussehra in October, is being shot extensively in Himachal Pradesh and London. It is being directed by editor-turned-director Akiv Ali and co-produced by T-Series and Luv Films. Kabul, June 20 : More than 5 million Afghan refugees have returned to their militancy-plagued country over the past 16 years, a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) statement said here on Wednesday. The statement was issued to commemorate World Refugee Day which falls on June 20 annually, reports Xinhua news agency. On Tuesday, Afghan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Affairs Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi said that nearly 6 million Afghans were still living as refugees, with nearly 2.5 million in Pakistan and almost the same number in Iran while the remaining were in other countries. Since this January, some 332,000 Afghan refugees have returned from Iran and Pakistan, Balkhi added. However, the UNHCR said in the statement that a "lack of access to services including education and health, adequate housing and land remain key critical challenges for returnees to rebuild their lives" in their homeland. It also urged the Afghan government and the international community to back the livelihood of the returnees, offer them economic opportunities, basic services and include them in political and social structures. Washington, June 20 : US President Donald Trump's administration is expecting North Korea to return up to 200 sets of remains believed to be of American service members who died during the Korean War, according to officials. Planning is underway to receive the remains from North Korea in the coming days, although the actual transfer date and location have not been finalised, the administration officials told CNN on Tuesday. The administration is ready to receive the remains as early as this week if the North Koreans decide to move quickly. Trump has held up North Korea's agreement to return the remains as one of the successes of his historic June 12 summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore. According to Defence Department estimates, there are up to 5,300 sets of US service member remains still somewhere in North Korea. A total of 7,697 personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. New Delhi, June 20 : The BJP on Wednesday accused the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) of using the family of Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula for political motives. "I was anxious after reading Rohith Vemula's mother's statement. For how long will some opposition parties continue playing politics over it? The family is financially unstable and fake assurance of money was made to a distressed mother for political purposes," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Piyush Goyal told reporters here. "In her statement, Radhika Vemula said IUML made false promises of providing a sum of Rs 20 lakh and asked her to address their rallies and misrepresent the unfortunate incident," Goyal claimed. He said she was asked to travel to Kerala and address the rallies for the IUML. Rohith Vemula, a PhD student at Hyderabad University, committed suicide in the campus on January 17, 2016. His suicide triggered a massive row as the opposition parties described it as a case of atrocities against Dalits. Lashing out at the IUML leaders, the BJP leader said: "According to his mother, the IUML gave them two cheques of Rs 2.5 lakh, out of which one bounced." Targeting Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Goyal said, "I received information that even Congress President took Vemula's family to stages and asked them to make statements." "Rahul Gandhi should apologise for doing petty politics," he said. Beijing, June 20 : China on Wednesday was mum on its envoy's proposal that Beijing, New Delhi and Islamabad engage in a trilateral meet, an idea India has already shot down. The Foreign Ministry neither backed nor distanced itself from Chinese envoy to India Luo Zhaohui's suggestion, which India thinks was made in his personal capacity. "Both India and Pakistan are China's neighbours and friends. We are willing to conduct relations with all our neighbours including Pakistan and India to strengthen our cooperation for better development and stability in the region," ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said. "We also hope India and Pakistan can strengthen their dialogue to improve their mutual trust and bilateral relations. This is in the interest of the regional countries," Geng said. Asked if Luo's remarks in Delhi were China's official position, Geng said: "What I have just said is China's official position." On Monday, at a seminar organised by the Chinese Embassy in Delhi, Luo said that India, China and Pakistan should engage in a joint dialogue. "Security cooperation is one of the three pillars of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation). Some Indian friends suggested that India, China and Pakistan may have some kind of trilateral summit on the sidelines of SCO. So, if China, Russia and Mongolia can have a trilateral summit, then why not India, China and Pakistan," he asked while addressing the gathering, an assortment of China-watchers and specialists from the strategic community in the Capital. "May be not now, but in the future, that is the great idea. It will help to resolve bilateral issues and help to maintain peace and tranquility," he told reporters later. India was quick to reject the proposal, with its Foreign Ministry spokesperson saying the suggestion might have been Luo's personal opinion. "We have seen reports on comments made by the Chinese Ambassador in this matter. We have not received any such suggestion from the Chinese government. We consider the statement as the personal opinion of the Ambassador," the Ministry of External Affairs said. India says its dispute with Pakistan is purely bilateral and there is no scope for any third country's involvement in the matter. China has never officially stated that it is willing to broker peace between India and Pakistan over disputed Kashmir. Beijing is Pakistan's ally and the key route of its Belt and Road project goes through the same disputed Kashmir held by Islamabad and claimed by New Delhi. Thiruvananthapuram, June 20 : The opposition UDF and the ruling LDF locked horns in the assembly on Wednesday over the alleged custodial death of Varappuzha youth S R Sreejith on April 9. Moving a submission, congress legislator V D Satheesan charged that the legal advice not to arraign former Ernakulam rural SP A V George as accused in the case was obtained with a view to sabotaging the probe into the alleged custodial death. A team supervised by the former SP took Sreejith into custody at the behest of CPI(M) leaders, Satheesan alleged, adding that the government was now trying to let Mr. George off the hook since CPI(M) leaders were complicit in the arrest of the Varappuzha youth. The opposition UDF reiterated their demand for a CBI probe in the case. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan ruled out the need for a CBI probe, saying that the probe by the state police was moving on the right track and that a petition seeking a CBI probe was being considered by the Kerala high court. Besides, the family of Sreejith had expressed satisfaction with the police investigation, he added. However, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala accused the chief minister of trying to mislead the house, pointing out that Sreejiths kin had demanded a CBI inquiry into his death. On the probe team seeking legal advice on arraigning Mr. George as accused, the chief minister stated that there was nothing unusual about it, adding that the government had not poked its nose into the investigation or the legal advice sought by the probe team. If there were any shortcomings in the police probe, let the court examine it, Mr. Vijayan said. The opposition staged a walkout in protest against the chief minister turning down their demand for a probe by the CBI into Sreejiths alleged custodial death. Mangaluru, June 20 : Incessant rains measuring up to 15 cm lashed Karnataka's coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttar Kannada till Wednesday morning as the southwest monsoon remained active over the region. "As on Wednesday morning, the southwest monsoon remained active over coastal Karnataka and was weak in north interior Karnataka," the Bengaluru centre of India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on its website. The widespread monsoon rains led to flooding of arterial roads and national highways in the cities and towns affecting vehicular movement. There were also reports of damage to some bridges and houses in the coastal districts. But schools and colleges in the region remained open. The heavy rains took a break through the day on Wednesday as their intensity reduced, according to the weather office. While an average of 12 cm rainfall was received in the port city of Mangaluru in Dakshina Kannada district till 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, measured over the last 24 hours, Uttara Kannada and Udupi received an average rainfall of 8.9 cm and 10.3 cm respectively. The Met Office has forecast light to moderate rainfall in the coastal districts for the next two days. Heavy monsoon rains since the onset of southwest monsoon on June 4 have been disrupting normal life in the coastal and south interior districts of the southern state over the past few weeks. The rains, however, have been filling up the reservoirs in Cauvery basin, bringing hope to the farmers, who have been reeling under drought conditions, of better agricultural outputs. The Kabini reservoir in Mysuru district has been filled up to its maximum capacity and excess water has been released to neighbouring Tamil Nadu through Mettur dam. The reservoirs of Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) and Tungabhadra have also received better water levels in many years owing to the monsoon, the Director of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), G.S. Srinivasa Reddy, told IANS earlier. "If the monsoon continues in the same manner till the end of July, one can expect a better crop yield in the state," Reddy said. The districts of Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara and Tumakuru have been facing a deficit in rainfall. Ahmedabad, June 20 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi's estranged wife Jashodaben on Wednesday expressed her shock over Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel's statement in a leading Gujarati daily that Modi was unmarried. "I am surprised over Anandiben telling the press that Narendra bhai was not married (to her). He has himself mentioned in his declaration while filing papers for Lok Sabha elections in 2004 that he is married and mentioned my name in it," Jashodaben read out a statement in a video shot from her brother Ashok Modi's mobile phone. Jashodaben added: "It is very unbecoming of a well educated woman (Anandiben, former Chief Minister of Gujarat) to speak like this of a teacher (Jashodaben). Not only this, her conduct has tarnished the image of the Prime Minister of India. He is very respectable for me, he is Ram for me." Speaking to IANS from their hometown Unjha in north Gujarat, her brother Ashok Modi confirmed that it was indeed Jashodaben talking in the video. "We didn't believe this when Anandiben's statement came on social media... But this appeared on the front page of leading paper Divya Bhaskar on June 19. Now this could not be wrong. "This is why we decided to issue a rejoinder. We together recorded a written statement that Jashodaben read out from our home cell phone," he added. Chennai, June 20 : Actor-turned-politician S.Ve. Shekher, accused of sharing a derogatory message against female journalists on his Facebook page, got bail here on Wednesday. A local court granted the bail. Shekher has to appear again next month to get a copy of the chargesheet. Earlier, the Madras High Court turned down his bail plea. Shekher then approached the Supreme Court which also dismissed his bail petition and directed him to appear before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court here. A noted comedian and a former legislator who is now with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shekher had forwarded a message derogatory to women journalists on his Facebook originally written by his friend. Shekher later removed the post and said he had shared the message without reading it. "I do not endorse the views expressed in it. I come from a family that respects women and the women journalists," he said in a statement. However, he said he was surprised at how people were spreading the screenshot of the deleted message without finding that offensive. New Delhi, June 20 : BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Wednesday said the decision of pulling out of ruling coalition with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir was a "difficult thing to digest" for him but it was taken in the "larger interest" of people of the state and India. "I was one of the persons involved in bringing this alliance together. I worked for 40 days with (PDP leader) Haseeb Drabu on building this agenda agreement. It was very difficult thing for me to digest when I was communicated that I should take this step now," Madhav told CNN-News18 channel. The BJP on Tuesday suddenly exited the coalition it had formed with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015, prompting Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to resign and Governor's rule imposed with Governor N.N. Vohra putting the state assembly in animated suspension. Madhav also revealed that there was "enough progress" in bringing the Hurriyat leadership to the negotiating table. "I won't say beyond that but the developments in the last two weeks have pushed us back to square one," he said. About the strains in the BJP-PDP alliance, Madhav said that political activists in the Valley were not playing any role (towards normalisation) even after suspension of operations by the security forces. "And then the insistence (by PDP) that you talk to Pakistan, extend suspension of operations even after broad daylight killing of journalist Shujaat Bukhari, we felt there was a growing mismatch and for us the larger interest of the state and national integrity (are more important)," he said. Asked why Mehbooba Mufti -- who was taken by surprise -- was not intimated in advance of the BJP's decision to pull out as per the coalition dharma, he said he tried to contact her but "could not reach her". "I did try to reach out to her before we actually sent out the fax message to the Governor. We could not talk before we sent out the fax. But it is not breaking any coalition dharma. We came together, we decided to part ways and sent this message to the Governor," said Madhav, who is party in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir. Responding to Mehbooba Mufti's statement that a "muscular policy" cannot work in Jammu and Kashmir, he said that her political approach was different from that of the BJP's. "We disagree with her on the usage of this term (muscular policy). Innocent policemen being killed, a journalist like Shujaat Bukhari being killed and not controlling all this -- if this is the soft approach, I am sorry we don't want that kind of a soft approach," he said. Asked if the Ramadan ceasefire did not go down well with the people of Jammu, the core voter group of the BJP, Madhav said: "It's not about the people of Jammu. When innocents get killed, when policemen get killed, when regular attacks happen on army and CRPF convoys and security forces are seen as to be not doing anything in retaliation, naturally a bad impression is created in the rest of the country." He said that the "risk" of suspending the operations was taken as a "goodwill gesture" but there was no reciprocation from the other side. New Delhi, June 20 : A day after IAS officers ended their rift with the Delhi government, work began in full swing on a Happiness Curriculum for students of government-run schools in the national capital. The curriculum will be launched on July 2 by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The plan for the curriculum, for students from nursery to Class 8, was announced in February. "For the past four months a group of about 40 people was working hard to finalise the curriculum," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the Education portfolio, told the media. The benefit of including such a programme will be that the "students who will pass out of the school will be happier persons compared to others. They will be less likely to get involved in violence and corruption," Sisodia said. The curriculum will be introduced in government schools by mid or end of July. Around eight lakh students will benefit from the curriculum, Sisodia said. The curriculum will involve meditation and mental training. In signs that things were back to normal in the AAP-controlled Delhi administration, IAS officers also attended on Wednesday meetings called by Ministers in charge of the PWD, Health, Industries, Urban Development, Power and Electricity departments. Meetings were also held on air pollution in the capital. However, the officers continued their silent protest during their lunch hours against the alleged assault on the Chief Secretary. They have been doing this since the attack was alleged in February. The rift between the Delhi government and the officers started after this alleged assault. On Wednesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ended a nine-day-long sit-in protest at Raj Niwas demanding that the IAS officers resume cooperation with his government. New Delhi, June 20 : With a UN body elevating Bangladesh from being a least developed country (LDC) to that of a developing country earlier this year, Bangladeshi High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali on Wednesday said that cooperation between his country and India in the areas of connectivity, trade and commerce, and energy will mutually benefit both sides. Addressing a Track 1.5 dialogue on "Bangladesh's Graduation from LDC: New Frontiers and Horizons of India-Bangladesh Economic Engagement" organised by the Bangladesh High Commission and industry body Ficci here, Ali said that Bangladesh's "biggest neighbour and trusted friend" India emerging as a global power with strong economic growth coupled with scientific and technological advancement offers his country "enormous opportunity" to further its own economic development. On March 15, the UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP) announced that Bangladesh had met the three graduation criteria - Gross National Income (GNI), Human Asset Index (HAI) and Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) - required for the elevation for the first time . The country of 160 million people met the three criteria by the end of the financial year 2016-17. While Bangladesh's GNI per capita stood at $1,620 against the threshold of $1,230 or above, its HNI was 72.8 against the target of of 66 or above and EVI was 24.8 against the target of 32 or below. Ali said that cooperation between India and Bangladesh is expanding in a number of areas like security, energy, connectivity, trade and commerce, culture and people-to-people contact. "In view of Bangladesh's recent significant achievement, I believe there is enormous scope to combine our synergies particularly in the areas of connectivity, trade and commerce and energy, which will bring mutual benefit for both the countries as well as for the region," he said. "Connectivity offers a game-changing opportunity for India and Bangladesh which would bring about unprecedented benefit for us as well as for the region." The High Commissioner said that both India and Bangladesh are working to restore road, rail and coastal shipping links that existed in the pre-Partition period. "At the same time, new land ports and better infrastructure are built to facilitate better trade," he said. Stating that Bangladesh figures prominently in India's Act East Policy, Ali said that both countries are working to strengthen sub-regional cooperation within Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Northeast India under the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicle Agreement as well as strengthening inter-regional cooperation with Southeast Asia through the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Bimstec comprises seven countries lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The main objective of Bimstec is technical and economic cooperation among South Asian and Southeast Asian countries along the rim of the Bay of Bengal. The Asean regional bloc comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Ali said that the BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement would come into operation soon with Bangladesh, India and Nepal having ratified the agreement and Bhutan also to join soon. He also stressed on greater economic integration and said that his country is happy that its trade and commerce with India is increasing. "Bangladesh has offered three Special Economic Zones for Indian investors and we seek substantial investment from Indian investors in these three Indian Economic Zones in Bangladesh, namely Mongla, Bheramara and Mirsarai to broaden our exportable base," the High Commissioner said. "We hope that this would lead to expansion of Bangladesh's exports to India and thus create a balanced trade and commercial bilateral ties." According to figures provided by the External Affairs Ministry, bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has grown steadily over the last decade with India's exports to Bangladesh in the period July 2016-March 2017 standing at $ 4.489 billion and imports from Bangladesh during financial year 2016-17 at $672.40 million. The High Commissioner also urged Indian investors to take advantage of Bangladesh's competent labour costs and the country's closer proximity to the markets of Northeast India. Describing cooperation in the energy sector as "the hallmark of our renewed engagements", he said that there are rich opportunities for joint ventures between the two countries as well as in the region. "With our graduation from LDC to developing country, energy demand and consumption will rise," Ali said. "Unfortunately, there is no substantial amount of hydro-carbon resources in the region and to fulfill the increasing demand, we have to develop thermal, hydro-electric, gas and nuclear energy as our sources of energy in the region." Stating that the countries of the region need to devise how fruitfully they can help each other in these sectors to ensure their energy security, the High Commissioner said: "India can play a big role in expanding the energy cooperation in the region." New Delhi, June 20 : Actor Kamal Haasan, who has floated a new political party Makkal Needhi Maiam, on Wednesday met Congress President Rahul Gandhi and discussed the political situation in Tamil Nadu. "Enjoyed meeting Kamal Haasan in Delhi today. We discussed a wide range of issues concerning our two parties, including the political situation in Tamil Nadu," Gandhi said in a tweet later. Haasan responded through a tweet and thanked Gandhi for his inputs. "Thank you Rahul Gandhiji for the time and inputs. Hope our conversation was useful to you as well," he said. The meeting that lasted nearly an hour took place at Gandhi's residence. "We did discuss politics but not the way you think," Haasan told reporters after the meeting which he initially described as a courtesy call. To a question whether an alliance between his party and the Congress in Tamil Nadu was discussed, he said: "We did not discuss that." Earlier in the day, Haasan met Election Commission officials and expressed confidence that the process of registration of his political party will be done in around a week's time. New Delhi, June 20 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response from Tamil Nadu government on a plea by P.P. Chellathurai challenging the Madras High Court order quashing his appointment as Vice Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraja University. Seeking response from Tamil Nadu government on Chellathurai's plea for the stay of the High Court order quashing his appointment, the vacation bench of Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice Indu Malhotra refused to interfere, for now, with the setting up of a committee that would oversee the administration of the University. The court also issued notice to M. Lionel Antony Raj - one of the two PIL petitioners - on whose petitions High Court had passed the June 14 order quashing the appointment of Chellathurai. The High Court had set aside the appointment of Chellathurai on the ground that the proceedings of the Search Committee were flawed as there was no deliberations amongst its members. Directing the listing of the matter in the third week of July, the vacation bench said that pleading be completed in the meantime. Appearing for Chellathurai, senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, assisted by advocate Bina Madhavan, assailed the High Court order for not adhering to an earlier judgment of the top court on the issue while quashing the appointment of Chellathurai. He told the court that the top court had earlier held that the "suitability or otherwise of the candidate is the function of the appointing authority and not of the court unless the appointment is contrary to the statutory provisions/rules" and also that writ of Quo Warranto lies when appointment is contrary to a statutory provision. Citing the speed with the state had acted in the matter, Vaidyanathan told the court that the High Court order was passed on June 14 and next two days 15 and 16 June were holidays, yet on the day of Eid holiday, six people reached Madurai from Chennai to set-up the committee to oversee the affairs of the university. However, the contention was contested by the senior counsel R.Venkataramani appearing for Tamil Nadu government and Sanjay Hegde appearing for Antony Raj. New Delhi, June 20 : The BJP on Wednesday hit out at Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh for his "sanghi terror" remarks and demanded that party President Rahul Gandhi should sack him. "Digvijaya Singh called Hindus terrorists and pointed finger at millions of Hindus, denigrated them and called them terrorists. Why do you take Hindus for granted, Rahul Gandhi? We don't want apology, we want Digvijaya to be sacked," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters here. "Had Digvijaya Singh used this language against any other religion, would Rahul have spared him? Of course not. Sack him. You suspended Mani Shankar Aiyer during political campaign but now when polls are nearing, we demand suspension and sacking of Digvijaya Singh," he added. Digvijaya Singh had on Monday said that all Hindu terrorists caught in the past have had been associated somehow with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). "All Hindu terrorists who have ever been caught have association with RSS in some way or the other. Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, was also part of RSS. So, this ideology is spreading hatred, hatred breeds violence, and from violence is bred terrorism," he said. Taking his remarks seriously, Patra said it was not a small matter. "He is a senior leader of Congress. Madhya Pradesh elections are around the corner. Congress has started policy of appeasement and policy of attacking Hindus just before Madhya Pradesh polls. This should not be seen as a stand-alone statement but a core agenda of Congress," he said. Hitting out at Gandhi, he said that Gandhi is obsessed with the RSS and sees an RSS hand for everything that happens in the world. "You must stop this. Rahul Gandhi has been reprimanded by court as well but he is not improving from doing the politics of appeasement," he said claiming that Pakistan is getting benefited with such statements. "With these statements of Congress, Pakistan gets benefit. We object to Congress and Rahul Gandhi's obsession with Pakistan. Rahul Gandhi's party is giving a platform to Pakistan," he said. Gurugram, June 20 : The Gurugram Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday arrested a wanted criminal, who carried a bounty of Rs two lakh on his head, along with his accomplice. Rajiv alias Boby, 40, was arrested from Rajendra Park area of Gurugram. Boby was involved in several crimes in Jhajjar district of Haryana including kidnapping of businessman Aman Jain from Rohtak in 2002 and demanding Rs one crore ransom. "Boby came out of jail on parole for 43 days in 2010 but did not return. He was sentenced a life term in Jain's kidnapping," Satish Balan, Deputy Inspector General STF told IANS. The other arrested criminal Sumit, a resident of Delhi's Rasulpur village, was also arrested from Gurugram. Sumit abducted a girl in Jhajjar in 2004 and murdered her after raping her when he failed to get extortion money for her safe release. He was also awarded a life term for the crime. "Both were planning to form a new gang. Boby owns two flats in Ghaziabad and Noida and is married to two women," the officer said, adding the duo will be produced before the court on Thursday. Srinagar, June 20 : One policeman was killed and two others were injured in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Wednesday, police said. In the first attack after the state came under Governor's Rule, militants fired at a police vehicle in Kandizal area near Galander bypass in Pulwama, injuring three policemen. The injured policemen were shifted to the army's Base Hospital in Badamibagh area here where one of them succumbed to his injuries. Police in Pulwama said that the area around the site of the attack has been surrounded for searches. New Delhi, June 20 : The BJP on Wednesday attacked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over his planned 10-day trip to Bengaluru to undergo naturopathy treatment, accusing him of cheating the city's people. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijender Gupta also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief for not holding any meeting with the officials in the Delhi Secretariat. "The Delhi Chief Minister kept on hiding for nine days at the Lt. Governor's residence. Today he is resting at his home. And from tomorrow (Thursday) he is going on rest for 15 days to Bengaluru. "He didn't held a single meeting with the officials and nor he gave water to the thirsty Delhi. This is cheating by AAP to Delhi," Gupta, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said in a series of tweets. "The main reason for getting up from sit-in-protest is clear now. One has to complement Arvind Kejriwal for his timing to get up from his protest to go to Bengaluru. It was necessary for him to get up from the protest yesterday (Tuesday) as he has to go on leave." The BJP leader's remarks came after the news came of Kejriwal going to Bengaluru for treatment for 10 days naturopathy treatment for diabetes as he had been suffering from high sugar levels for the past few days. He has been to Bengaluru for the naturopathy treatment earlier also. Kejriwal had ended his nine-day long sit-in at Lt. Governor Anil Baijal's office on Tuesday and on Wednesday he cancelled all his scheduled meetings as he was not feeling well. The AAP leader along with three of his ministers started camping at the Raj Niwas on June 11 demanding a direction to the IAS officers working in the Delhi administration to end their undeclared strike. New Delhi, June 20 : Fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer AG, subject to conditions designed to remove anti-competitive effects from the deal, the government announced on Wednesday. A Corporate Affairs Ministry statement here said that the CCI acted on a notice received from German healthcare major Bayer in relation to its proposed acquisition of American agrochemicals giant Monsanto. The conditions include divestment of Bayer's glufosinate ammonium, crop traits of cotton and corn, and hybrid seeds of vegetables businesses to an independent entity, and divestment of shareholding of Monsanto in Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company to an independent entity. Besides, Bayer is also required to comply with non-exclusive licensing of GM as well as non-GM traits currently commercialized in India, or to be introduced in India in the future, on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms for seven years. The combined entity has to follow a policy of non-exclusive licensing of non-selective herbicides, or their active ingredients, in cases of launch of new GM or non-GM traits in India. The CCI also put conditions for the combined entity to allow Indian users to access existing Indian agro-climatic data on FRAND terms. Kolkata, June 20 : The 'Udaan' programme to provide skills training to the educated unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir, has received a "very good response" from the people there, said Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Anant Kumar Hegde on Wednesday. "A scheme named Udaan is going on in Kashmir. The state government, Home Ministry and our Ministry are jointly working towards implementing it. "So far it has received a very good response from the people there," Hegde told the reporters in the sidelines of a session on 'Human Resources Development for Socio-Economic Development' here. Asked about his Ministry's initiative to upskill the unemployed youth of Kashmir, who are getting involved in criminal activities like throwing stones at the Indian armed forces personnel, the minister said the Udaan scheme is uniquely designed for the youths of Kashmir to bring them back to the mainstream. "It is a unique scheme for Jammu and Kashmir. It is primarily for the youths and also the people who surrender to the administration there. They are given skills training for one or two years during their rehabilitation programme," Hedge added. However, the minister refused to comment on the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir after the Bharatiya Janata Party pulled out of ruling coalition with the Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday, stating it can be best answered by the Home Ministry. Udaan is a special industry initiative for Jammu and Kashmir in the nature of partnership between the corporates of India and Home Affairs Ministry and implemented by National Skill Development Corp. It aims to cover 40,000 youth over a period of five years and Rs 750 crore has been earmarked for its implementation. New Delhi, June 20 : The government on Wednesday said that a 76 per cent stake sale process of national carrier Air India has ended, as "no interest" was shown by bidders, but it remains committed to the strategic divestment for which other alternatives will be evaluated. "We ran a disinvestment process, where we made it very clear what type of bids we were interested in receiving... We asked certain type of bidders with certain bidding criteria to participate," said Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha. "Nobody expressed any interest during that process. So just by that set of circumstances it is clear that process right now is over... We have to move forward and we have to consider other alternatives, now as market conditions as industry circumstances change, we will evaluate all those alternatives but that particular specific process for the moment has come to an end, if need be, we can restart that or any other process depending upon the appropriate market circumstances." However, the government clearly stated that it is still committed to the idea of Air India's strategic divestment. Sinha added: "The government is committed to strategic disinvestment... what the modalities are and the circumstances are, we will have to monitor and evaluate as we go along." According to Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, a few days back the Empowered Group of Ministers set up to look at the Air India Specific Alternate Mechanism reviewed the situation. The minister, who also holds the charge of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said: "... Because there was no interest, we have decided to review the situation soon. In the meantime to ensure that Air India runs properly, a plan is being prepared by the Air India management to ensure that AI continues operate efficiently." Besides, the minister said that the airline's Board is looking at a plan to run the airline efficiently. Asked about the funds required by the airline to revive its operations, he said: "A plan is being worked out... Air India's Board will look at it." On May 31, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said that "no response" was received even during the extended submission deadline for the 'Expression of Interest' (EOI) bids under Air India's divestment process and the "further course of action will be decided appropriately". The government on May 1 had released a detailed document on clarifications sought by interested bidders regarding the divestment process. This had outlined that net current liabilities were Rs 88.16 billion (Rs 8,816 crore) and "these will remain with AI and AIXL (Air India Express) as these have been incurred in the course of business". "After deducting Rs 88,160 mn from Rs 333,920 mn, the remaining figure of INR 245,760 mn is the debt and liability quantum that will remain with AI and AIXL." As per the old timelines, the submission deadline for the EOI bids was earlier extended to May 31 and consequently, the date for the "intimation to the Qualified Interested Bidders", which was supposed to have been the next stage was slated for June 15. It was expected that by August-end, the government will be able to determine the highest bidder. On March 28, the government had issued a Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) inviting EOIs for the strategic divestment of AI, along with the airline's shares in AIXL and AISATS (Air India SATS Airport Services) from private entities including the airline's employees. The Central government owns 100 per cent equity of Air India. In turn, the airline holds full stake in Air India Express, while it holds 50 per cent stake in the joint venture AISATS. Accordingly, it has been planned to divest 76 per cent government stake in AI, 100 per cent in AIXL and 50 per cent in AISATS. Bengaluru, June 20 : German auto component maker Bosch would invest Rs 1,700 crore in India over the next three years, a top company official said on Wednesday. "To meet the rising demand in the Indian market and expand its strong role in our global network, we will invest Rs 1,700 crore over the next three years," Bosch Group Chairman and Chief Executive Volkmar Denner told reporters here. A major part of the fresh investment will be used to expand the company's smart campus here and modernize its manufacturing facilities in the Indian sub-continent. The 66-year-old Bosch has 18 manufacturing sites and 7 development and application centres across the country, with 31,000 employees, including 18,000 research and development (R&D) associates. Besides three plants in Bengaluru, the company's other production sites are at Chakan near Pune and Nashik in Maharashtra, Jaipur and Chennai and other states in the country. Of the group's consolidated revenue of Rs 19,204 crore, Rs 13,790 crore was generated by third parties, while its flagship company (Bosch Ltd) contributed Rs 10,842 crore in fiscal 2017-18. "We will integrate our mobility services and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India, as we are committed to address its transition to Bharat Stage (BS)-VI from April 2020 from BS-IV currently," said Denner. Main contributors for the company's growth are the automotive industry, which holds opportunities for diesel technology, electro-mobility and connected mobility and government initiatives for connected manufacturing and connected cities "With a projected 7.7 percent GDP-growth in fiscal 2018-19 and a similar level for the coming years, we expect the Indian economy to continue with momentum," said Denner. As India aims to achieve BS-VI from April 2020 and adopt electro-mobility solutions built for local conditions, the company offers technology to support both initiatives. "We believe the internal combustion engine will continue to be the mainstream solution for freight and commercial vehicles," noted Denner. The company views co-existence of fossil fuel engines and electrification with hybridization as an interim solution. "Hybrid technology will be a vital contributor towards the electrification goal in the country due to its stop-start driving patterns and road congestion. In light of that, fleet operators and smaller vehicles are poised to adopt electrification as soon as feasible options are available in the market," Denner said. As India is one of Bosch's locations for AI, with two other at Sunnyvale in the US and Renningen in Germany, its AI centre in Bengaluru will play a key role as most of the products in the near future will be linked to AI, he added. New Delhi, June 20 : The Indian Air Force (IAF) has started carrying pilgrims between Uttarakahnd's Pithoragarh and Gunji to enable them to complete their journey to Kailash Mansarovar Yatra with ease, an defence statement said. It said that after the External Affairs Ministry approached the Defence Ministry for air effort between the places enroute the yatra where the connectivity was envisaged to be poor, the IAF has deployed three medium lift helicopters at Pithoragarh which would be carrying approximately 60-80 passengers per day. "For three months, starting June 18, the Indian Air Force would create an airbridge between Pithoragarh and Gunji, in an effort to airlift 1,080 registered passengers to Gunji to enable them to continue their journey for the coveted annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra," the statement said. It said the helicopters from the Kirpan and Nubra Warrior units of the IAF would be deployed for about three months catering for the return journey as well and would fly about 300 hours. The release said the command had been chosen for this task due to the experience of its helicopter pilots in flying in mountainous terrain and landing at high altitudes. New Delhi, June 20 : Setting up farmer-producer organisations can be the biggest weapon against poverty, said experts at a panel discussion on 'Making markets work for the poor' hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) here. "Farmer-producer organisations can help farmers increase their income and provide them better access to services. Dairy like cooperatives are coming up in the country," said International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Director for South Asia Pramod K. Joshi. He said the current government has given a new lease of life to such organisations by promoting its formation and by offering the farmers incentives to become members. Poultry, 80 per cent in the organised sector, grew 12 per cent annually last decade, he said. Self-Employed Women's Association's (SEWA) Social Security Team Director Mirai Chatterjee said: "Basic building block is organisation. It increases the collective strength, bargaining power and helps gain access to resources which no individual can alone do." More than 270 million Indians still live on less than two dollars a day and millions more are in a state of near-poverty, one health emergency or crop failure away from destitution, BMGF said in a report, adding that systemic poverty presents the greatest barrier to equal opportunity. "The foundation believes in 'All lives have equal value' and there is a continuous reduction in child mortality, infant mortality, tuberculosis, polio and the likes. But all lives do not have equal opportunity," said BMGF Executive Director Rodger Voorhies. The BMGF's Global Growth and Opportunity division is a response to this, he said, adding that it is designed to redesign financial, technological, infrastructural and social systems so they provide equal opportunities to all. It works in four areas: agricultural development, financial services for the poor, water, sanitation and hygiene, and gender equality. "No country has been able to come out of poverty without addressing problems and working on advancements in the agricultural sector," said Voorhies. Better collection of data, access to services and new technologies can increase farmers' productivity, he added. KaliedoFin Co-Founder Sucharita Mukherjee said: "Procuring documents and letters from the poor to authenticate them was a cumbersome process. Aadhaar has made a big difference. Technology is making things possible but lot of businesses are still to adapt." Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign, Drinking Water and Sanitation Secretary Parameswaran Iyer said: "There is 90 per cent usage of toilets reflecting success in behavioural change. This is important for security and dignity of women, health impact and the huge savings each family does by way of reduction in doctor visits and medicines." He said that while they have 10 months to completely make India open defecation free (ODF), the government is coordinating with states and districts to keep it sustainable, i.e. ODFS (ODF-Sustainable), and plans to take it beyond that with ODF+ (ODF-Plus), which would also look into solid and liquid waste management. New Delhi, June 20 : Congress on Wednesday demanded apology from Union Minister Piyush Goyal for accusing Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) of using Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula's family for political motives. Terming it "utterly shameful", Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, in a tweet, said Goyal was "peddling fake news" about Vemula and his mother in order to tarnish the memory of the Dalit student who committed suicide. "Culture and mindset of hounding and insulting SC's everyday has become the DNA of Modi government. Let government and minister apologise!" he added. The BJP on Wednesday accused the IUML of using Vemula's family for political motives, with Goyal said he was "anxious" after the statement of the student's mother, claiming that the "IUML made false promises of providing a sum of Rs 20 lakh and asked her to address their rallies and misrepresent the unfortunate incident". Vicinity Centres have sold Gympie's Goldfields Plaza for $27.5 million. The move comes after Vicinity Centres announced it was to sell $1 billion worth of shopping centres to refurbish their higher assets. It's been bought by Lascorp Development Group, who have outlined plans for a major overhaul of the neighbourhood centre. The sale reflected a 1.1 percent premium to Book Value, in a transaction brokered by Savills agents Peter and Jon Tyson. Goldfields Plaza comprises an enclosed neighbourhood shopping mall anchored by a Coles supermarket and Target department store. Peter Tyson, Savills national retail director, said that the neighbourhood shopping centre asset class remains very popular with investors. The sale campaign for Goldfields Plaza attracted strong buyer interest, with multiple offers from investors as well as developers given the assets value-add profile. Goldfields Plaza features the only Coles and Target offerings in an expansive trade area with the nearest alternatives located at Noosa to the south and Maryborough to the north, he said. Run by veteran Melbourne retail developers Michael and Matt Lasky, Lascorp has over 40 years history developing and refurbishing shopping centres on Australias eastern seaboard. Michael Lasky said that they were attracted to the Centre due to it having the right fundamentals. We like Goldfields Plaza. It is centrally situated next to the towns centre, has great parking and is underpinned by a very strongly trading Coles supermarket. We feel we can apply our expertise and add value to the centre through repositioning the mall and specialties he said. Matt Lasky said that the Centre has great bones, and will benefit from our planned refurbishment as it hasnt had an upgrade in many years. Our plans include refreshing the facade, extensive upgrades to the mall areas and amenities and implementing a releasing program, he said. Savills Peter Capps has been appointed to lease the repositioned centre on behalf of Lascorp. Capps said that the refurbishment program will completely refresh the look and feel of the mall with improved traffic flow and opening of the sightlines between Coles and Target. We will be targeting key food and service lines, rather than discretionary spending. It is easy to see that following the refurbishment, Goldfields Plaza will be the most convenient food and service offer in the local market, he said. Lascorps purchase of the Gympie mall follows the groups sale of the refurbished MORNINGSIDE Plaza Shopping Centre in Brisbane earlier this year for $23.8 million through an off market transaction also brokered by Savills Peter Tyson. Investa has announced Woolworths as its newest tenant in The Sydney Arcade at 400 George Street. It represents Woolworths fifth Metro store in the Sydney CBD. Woolworths has committed to a seven-year term, over the 1,240 square metre basement space. The lease includes two, five-year options. The deal was negotiated by Alex Alamsyah from Knight Frank. Woolworths is a great addition to the retail tenancy mix at 400 George Street. "Supermarkets traditionally favour basement-style space and this prime location at Pitt Street Mall is expected to attract even more customers to The Sydney Arcade, said Michael Cook at Investa. It also reflects the emerging trend in CBD retail away from a complete reliance on fashion to incorporate more serviced-based offerings that appeal to city workers, he said. 400 George Street is a 51,034 square metre office tower and retail arcade located in the centre of the Sydney CBD, jointly owned by Investa Commercial Property Fund, the M&G Asia Property Fund and funds managed by Mirvac. The Sydney Arcade incorporates over 5,000 square metres of prime retail space accommodating a range of leading Australian and international brand including Adidas, Bally, Oroton and Ben Sherman. Located within the Pitt Street Mall precinct, the tower has Telstra occupying over 40,722 square metres of office space. Just next door 396 George Street, which sits at the intersection of King Street, has been listed for sale in Sydneys premium retail precinct. 396 George Street, which sits at the intersection of King Street, has been listed for sale in Sydneys premium retail precinct. The expression of interest campaign will be handled by Knight Frank together with JLL. More than $30 million is tipped. Knight Franks Dominic Ong, head of Asian Markets, suggests 396 George Street will attract interest from local and offshore investors. 396 George Street is currently tenanted by Telstra, providing a net passing income of approximately $1.21 million per annum until February 2020, with a five-year option. He says the prized corner offers buyers an opportunity to secure a strong commercial property investment with potential rental upside given the repositioning of George Street Pedestrian Mall. An extensive $15 million renovation was undertaken in 2014/2015 which saw the property integrated into the adjoining building. The Sydney Metro Light Rail will be directly in front of the building. 396 George Street is situated in what is considered Sydneys equivalent to New Yorks Fifth Avenue, Singapores Orchard Road, Hong Kongs Causeway Bay, Londons Regent Street, and Paris Champs Elysees, said Mr Ong. Offers for 396 George Street July 19. The two storey facade is in the Victorian Exotic style, the sole surviving example of the work of a significant outspoken dilettante and amateur architect and artist Harold Brees. The building was constructed in the 1860s. Brees himself described the style of the building as being "Domestic Antique - partaking of the Italian but without any Gothic." Just next door Investa has announced Woolworths as its newest tenant in The Sydney Arcade at 400 George Street. Comino recently acquired the Soul Pattinson Chemist at Pitt Street Mall for $100 million and also owns the flagship Apple store across the road and the Louis Vuitton store diagonally opposite. Thornlie, a large outer suburb of Perth, has been ranked as the suburb with the most distressed listings in Western Australia. Following Lalor Park, Thornlie has been ranked nation's second most distressed suburb across Australia, according to Investar. It suggests postcode 6108 has many discount listings. Its house listings are typically for sale for 217 days. The suburb's median house price sits at $348,000, which has dropped 15% over the past year. Its median rent sits at $320%, with no growth over the past year. The rental yield sits at 4.8%. Thornlie is the largest suburb within the City of Gosnells. Established during the post-war years, significant growth didn't occur until the late 1950s and lasted through to the 1980s. A slight population increase was experienced during the 1990s, but since has remained relatively stable. A recent mortgagee sale (pictured above) took 310 days before its $390,000 sale. It was initially listed with $500,000 hopes. Urbanest Darling House will welcome its first tenants next month. A twin bedroom with ensuite will start from $560 per person per week, while a single bedroom with ensuite starts from $646, with prices inclusive of all meals at The Eatery, water, electricity, contents insurance and 100GB of wireless internet per month. Urbanest is one of Australias largest PBSA providers. Its CEO David Munro stated Urbanest had been at the forefront of this industry since opening the doors on their first property in South Bank, Brisbane almost 10 years ago. It now has 12 properties throughout Australia. Urbanest Darling House is the final part of a three-year development of two buildings in the Darling Square precinct, with Urbanest partnering with Lendlease, Buildcorp and AJ+C architects on the projects. The 664 bed development on Darling Drive is connected via a bridge to the Urbanest Darling Square. "We are set to revolutionise traditional student living again with the opening of Urbanest Darling House, said Mr Munro. Urbanest will for the first time provide students with a fully inclusive product that incorporates in-house world-class catering, said Mr Munro. Branded The Eatery at Urbanest Darling House, the new dining space will see a team of top chefs recruited for the in-house operation. Our goal is to give students more than just a meal with a focus is on providing safe, secure facilities in a fun environment, supporting both the social and academic needs of students whilst away from home. said Mr Munro. Munro noted investment in the Australian Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) market has witnessed major growth over the past decade. Driving this investment is the value of the international education sector to the economy, which is expected to almost double to an excess of $33 billion by 2025. McGrath has secured a strategic equity investment from Aqualand Group, one of Australias premier residential property development and investment groups. The significant stake achieves "strategic commercial alignment" between McGrath and Aqualand, with Aqualand entitled to appoint a director to the board. Aqualand has also agreed to grant McGrath the first right to discuss being appointed as an agent for new Aqualand projects expected to come to the market in future years, or provide property management services for leased apartments within new projects. Aqualand was established in Australia in 2014 and has since generated a portfolio of 18 sites, with a collective gross development value of approximately $5 billion. Its project include Blue at Lavender Bay, the residential conversion of an 18 level commercial office building. Aqualand, along with Grocon and Scentre Group, were selected earlier this year to deliver the Central Barangaroo precinct. Aqualand Australia has former Mirvac head of residential, John Carfi, running its Sydney-focused operations. Aqualand is also a vested corporate citizen, sponsoring sporting and cultural initiatives such as The Australian Ballet, Sydney Film Festival, Sculpture by the Sea (Bondi), and the Western Sydney Wanderers. Aqualand has advised McGrath that CEO of AL Capital, Wayne Mo, is their nominee to the board of directors of McGrath. The placement of 25,189,880 shares at $0.425 per share will take place in two tranches, with the second tranche of 11,568,042 shares subject to ordinary shareholder approval. Following completion of both tranches, Aqualand will be the second largest shareholder of McGrath with a 15% relevant interest. Under the first tranche, which has now completed, Aqualand has acquired an initial stake of 8.7% in McGrath. The second tranche, which is conditional on McGrath shareholder approval, will give Aqualand a further interest of 6.3% in McGrath. The agreement has an initial term of five years and can be renewed for two further terms of three years each by agreement between the parties. The ASX update said the agreement would be terminated on a change of control of McGrath or if John McGrath ceases to have a substantial holding in McGrath and ceases to be actively involved in the management of McGrath. John McGrath who founded the company, remains the largest shareholder and executive director. He said the partnership showed confidence in McGrath. The addition of a new strategic shareholder in Aqualand, represents a great vote of confidence in the future of McGrath Limited. "Aqualand is one of Australias highest quality property developmentand investment groups and its addition as a major shareholder and board representation provides McGrath the opportunity to continue to grow our Project Marketing expertise and develop even stronger ties with the inbound investment. McGrath CEO Geoff Lucas said its is an opportunity to grow the business. Canada's Oxford Properties has won the rights to Grocon's development stake in the $2 billion Barangaroo Central project. Oxford, led by US-based Hines Real Estate, will make a payment of about $100 million to secure the development rights over which Grocon has control. The deal sees Grocon stay on as the project development manager. Grocon confirmed to The Australian and Fairfax Media that Oxford Properties had been selected as the preferred party. Grocon had been reportedly under pressure to secure investors for its portion of the project an office tower of up to 50,000 square metres before its line of credit runs out in September. Last November Grocon was awarded the conjunctional development rights to the $2 billion Barangaroo Central development. Grocon, led by property scion Daniel Grollo , joined with Scentre and Aqualand in the winning consortium. The project which sits adjacent to Crown Resorts casino. A buy-out of Grocon's stake by its own consortium partner is under consideration, sources said. The registration of Justin James Cadman as a registered liquidator was cancelled on 13 June 2018 following orders made in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, which resulted in Mr Cadman being declared bankrupt. On 19 June 2018, ASIC appointed replacement liquidators to the fifteen (15) vacant external administrations previously administered by Mr Cadman. ASIC Commissioner John Price said, ASIC has moved quickly to exercise the new powers under the insolvency regime to appoint a replacement liquidator and appreciates the assistance of the replacement liquidators Ms Moira Carter of BRI Ferrier NQ and Mr Todd Kelly of BDO (Nth QLD). Below is a list of the external administrations and replacement liquidators contact details should creditors have any concerns. Ms Moira Carter of BRI Ferrier NQ Phone (07) 4037 7000 Australian Vocational Learning Institute Pty Ltd ACN 097 453 828 Cairns Accident Repair Centre Pty Ltd ACN 077 729 367 Medisurg Pty Ltd ACN 113 077 982 MOJB Pty Ltd ACN 128 137 806 Phone Hospital Pty Limited ACN 112 320 386 Sinopoli Holdings Pty Limited ACN 107 341 499 Zanzoo Tiles Pty Ltd ACN 142 521 695 Mr Todd Kelly of BDO (Nth QLD) Phone (02) 4046 0000 Aborigines and Islanders Alcohol Relief Service Ltd ACN 010 064 374 Margach Builders Pty Ltd ACN 078 363 729 Barrier Leasing Pty Ltd ACN 104 014 002 Barrier Air Charter Pty Ltd ACN 108 788 147 Barrier Air Services Pty Ltd ACN 104 014 011 Barrier Aviation Pty Ltd ACN 056 643 531 Davryl Holdings Pty Ltd ACN 108 502 165 Lip-Air Pty Limited ACN 068 117 537 Background Cairns-based Mr Cadman operated an insolvency and accounting practice firstly through a company called Mclaren Knight Pty Ltd (in liquidation), then later through another company called Mclaren Knight International Pty Ltd. Mr Cadman had been a registered liquidator since August 2005. Under section 40-20(1) of Schedule 2 (Schedule 2) of the Corporations Act 2001, a liquidators registration as a registered liquidator is automatically cancelled if a person becomes an insolvent under administration. Under section 40-111 of Schedule 2, ASIC may appoint another liquidator if a liquidators registration is suspended or cancelled. These new laws came into effect on 1 March 2017. SQM Research reported its always-excellent vacancy rates index today for the month of May 2018, with vacancy rates nationally at 2.1 per cent, down marginally from 2.3 per cent a year earlier. And the figures showed a fifth consecutive decline for vacancies in Brisbane. Brisbane's city-wide vacancy rate was down to 2.9 per cent, from 3.5 per cent a year earlier. This accords well with what we've been seeing on the ground in Brisbane. Indeed, family-appropriate dwelling stock is now often renting at the first open home, with numerous instances of multiple offers and rentals achieving above the asking price. There are still some notable pockets of pain, of course, most evidently in the inner-city high rise 'investor stock', where rental guarantees mask what is often optimistically pitched product. There are also more high-rise units in the post for the CBD, with the SkyTower construction now well underway. Generally speaking and across the city, however, the rental market is rebalancing as construction slows, thanks to positive interstate migration and somewhat pacier net overseas migration, and is in better nick than a year earlier. Plotted below are the vacancy rate figures by capital city smoothed on a 6mMA basis (not seasonally adjusted). As you can see, while Brisbane has now turned a corner, Sydney is now experiencing a high rate of unit completions with considerably more new apartment stock choice for renters. Sydney's vacancy rate of 2.5 per cent was well up from 1.7 per cent in May 2017. Elsewhere, Perth is grinding its way back from its punishing rental market nadir (please don't email about terminology: if you don't like it substitute with an antonym; it's really not that difficult!), while Hobart remains a tight rental market despite a slight loosening year-on-year. It will be interesting to see at what point rising prices in Hobart spark a significant supply response, in what is a relatively small city, though some developers are reluctant to stray from the mainland due to the additional logistical challenges. Melbourne's vacancy rate was the same as it was a year earlier at just 1.4 per cent, despite hectic rates of dwelling construction. The Adelaide rental market has generally been tightening for some time now. And finally, Canberra's rental vacancies have plummeted since the experiment with housing taxation, and it remains to be seen when a new rental market equilibrium is reached. The Reserve Bank released its Board Meeting Minutes today for June 2018. I noted the other day that there was an addition in June relating to declining mortgage rates on outstanding loans. It was interesting to note that in today's release the wording was given a little tweak to add a bit more clarity, suggesting that mortgage rates on new housing are no longer falling. There was a bit of discussion about the positive impacts of immigration on the ageing population. Australia has experienced strong population growth over the past decade. Thanks to young migrants, notably the median age had declined in New South Wales and Victoria. There was a murmur of excitement due to there being no direct reference to the next move in rates being up. Not sure I'd read too much into that personally, although currency markets flickered a little! There was also a reference to wages being 'low and stable' which isn't wording that exactly screams imminent tightening, although there is reportedly some evidence of wage pressures in parts of the economy. In any event, reality is dawning on financial markets, with RBA meeting overnight indexed swaps looking increasingly skinny and now not pricing in a hike until 2020. Source: Martin Whetton, ANZ And a lot might change between now and 2020 - including the government. As you were. The ABS released its residential property price indexes for the March 2017 quarter. The total value of the dwelling stock was a nick lower at $6.9 billion - albeit well up from $4.4 trillion in 2011 - putting the mean price of residential dwellings at $687,700, and leaving housing market equity of around $5.1 trillion or so. At the national level there was a quarterly decline in prices of 0.7 per cent, now leaving prices just 2 per cent higher than a year earlier. The quarterly price decline was mainly accounted for by the most populous city, Sydney, with Melbourne also posting a moderate 0.6 per cent decline. Although these figures are retrospective, they are always instructive, and reflected tighter lending conditions this quarter.The total value of the dwelling stock was a nick lower at $6.9 billion - albeit well up from $4.4 trillion in 2011 - putting the mean price of residential dwellings at $687,700, and leaving housing market equity of around $5.1 trillion or so.At the national level there was a quarterly decline in prices of 0.7 per cent, now leaving prices just 2 per cent higher than a year earlier.The quarterly price decline was mainly accounted for by the most populous city, Sydney, with Melbourne also posting a moderate 0.6 per cent decline. Zooming in on the New South Wales capital, from a year earlier attached dwelling prices in Sydney were still 0.4 per cent higher, but house prices were 0.8 per cent lower (though all dwelling types were below their respective June 2017 cyclical peaks). Over the year to March 2018 the strongest price growth was seen in Hobart at 14.1 per cent, and the weakest was seen in Darwin at negative 6.5 per cent. There was moderate year-on-year price growth in Melbourne (6.2 per cent), Canberra (3.8 per cent), Adelaide (2.6 per cent), and two-speed Brisbane (1.6 per cent), while Perth looks (-1.5 per cent) looks to be bottoming out. Finally, there was all the usual explosive commentary about crashing transaction volumes at unprecedented lows (and imploding dwelling completions), as there is each and every quarter. But, of course, these numbers are preliminary, and as such they are always apparently crashing or at unprecedented lows - until they are revised up next quarter. Missouri Home If you find that you have a high radon level, its not that expensive (to mitigate the problem) and we can guarantee that well be able to get those levels down so that you have a safe living environment for your family. The Missouri Department for Health and Senior Services (MDHSS) has stated that 31% of homes in Missouri are testing above EPA recommended levels for radon. Still, Missouri has yet to enact any statutes addressing this dangerous, hidden threat. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers, right behind smoking. In fact, radon is the cause of over 20,000 lung cancer deaths annually; roughly 10% of these victims have never smoked. Smoking, and exposure to second hand smoke, significantly increases the risk of lung cancer when combined with exposure to radon. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains, When you breathe in radon, radioactive particles from radon gas can get trapped in your lungs. Over time, these radioactive particles increase the risk of lung cancer. It may take years before health problems appear. Most people are exposed to radon gas in their homes, which emanates from naturally occurring uranium, thorium or radium decay that is released from rocks, soil and groundwater. Children and the elderly, who are at a higher risk because of lung size or degeneration, are also exposed on a daily basis in community buildings, such as schools and care facilities. Radon gas is odorless and cannot be seen or tasted. The only way to know if the radon levels in your home or building are higher than is deemed safe by the EPA, is to have the building tested. The EPA and the Surgeon General both recommend that homes, schools, and commercial buildings be tested for radon on all floors below the third. If levels are determined to be above 4pqu, it is recommended that mitigation measures be taken. Radon testing and reduction are affordable and easy with a licensed radon inspector and mitigation specialist in your area. In fact, initial testing can be done with inexpensive, DIY testing kits, which are readily available online or at your local hardware store. Travis Atwell, owner and lead mitigation specialist at The Radon Company says, "If you find that you have a high radon level, its not that expensive (to mitigate the problem), and we can guarantee that well be able to get those levels down so that you have a safe living environment for your family. According to the Environmental Law Institute, 40 states have enacted statutes addressing radon since 2014. Many of these states require that radon mitigation specialists be certified by the National Radon Proficiency Program (NRPP) to ensure that homes with elevated radon can be fixed in accordance to the ANSI-AARST Soil Gas Mitigation Standards. A number of others require that homes pass inspection for radon when in the process of being sold, and still others require radon testing and mitigation in schools and care facilities. Unfortunately, Missouri has no such laws on the books. Missouri residents can, and should, reach out to their state representatives to ask that statutes be put into place to protect Missouri citizens from the dangers of radon exposure. It seems reasonable that people would want to maximize various aspects of life if they were given the opportunity to do so, whether its the pleasure they feel, how intelligent they are, or how much personal freedom they have. In actuality, people around the world seem to aspire for more moderate levels of these and other traits, according to findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Our research shows that peoples sense of perfection is surprisingly modest, says psychological scientist Matthew J. Hornsey of the University of Queensland, first author on the research. People wanted to have positive qualities, such as health and happiness, but not to the exclusion of other darker experiences they wanted about 75% of a good thing. Furthermore, people said, on average, that they ideally wanted to live until they were 90 years old, which is only slightly higher than the current average life expectancy. Even when participants imagined that they could take a magic pill guaranteeing eternal youth, their ideal life expectancy increased by only a few decades, to a median of 120 years old. And when people were invited to choose their ideal IQ, the median score was about 130 a score that would classify someone as smart, but not a genius. The data also revealed that participants from holistic cultures those that value notions of contradiction, change, and context chose ideal levels of traits that were consistently lower than those reported by participants from nonholistic cultures. Interestingly, the ratings of perfection were more modest in countries that had traditions of Buddhism and Confucianism, says Hornsey. This makes sense these Eastern philosophies and religions tend to place more emphasis on the notion that seemingly contradictory forces coexist in a complementary, interrelated state, such that one cannot exist without the other. In one study, Hornsey and colleagues analyzed data from a total of 2,392 participants in Australia, Chile, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Peru, Russia, and the United States. The researchers classified China, Hong Kong, India, and Japan as holistic cultures, predominantly influenced by religions or philosophies (such as Buddhism, Hinduism, or Taoism) that emphasize a more holistic worldview. They classified the other five regions Australia, Chile, Peru, Russia, and the United States as nonholistic cultures. Participants in each region received a questionnaire translated into their native language. In response to a series of questions, participants reported their ideal level of intelligence; they also reported how long they would choose to live under normal circumstance and how long they would choose to live if they could take a magic pill ensuring eternal youth. Using a scale that ranged from 0 (none) to 100 (maximum), participants indicated their ideal levels of health, individual freedom, happiness, pleasure, and self-esteem. They used the same scale to rate ideal levels of societal characteristics, such as morality, equality of opportunity, technological advancement, and national security. In general, participants tended to rate their ideal levels of individual characteristics to be about 70-80%, although there was some variation across the traits. For example, many more participants chose to maximize health than chose to maximize happiness. Participants ideals were also relatively modest for both intelligence and longevity, even when there were no limits on the levels they could choose. The researchers found that participants in holistic cultures reported lower ideal levels for each individual trait than did participants who lived in nonholistic cultures. A second study with 5,650 participants in 27 countries produced a similar pattern of results. Importantly, this study showed that participants from the Philippines and Indonesia regions that are collectivist but not holistic reported ideal levels of individual traits that were similar to those of participants from other nonholistic countries. This finding suggests that the difference between holistic and nonholistic cultures is unlikely to be explained by differences in collectivism. In both studies, the researchers found no crosscultural differences in ideal levels of societal characteristics. This principle of maximization is threaded through many prominent philosophical and economic theories, Hornsey notes. But our data suggest that people have much more complex, blended notions of perfection, ones that embrace both light and dark. Co-authors on the research include Paul G. Bain (University of Bath), Emily Ann Harris (University of Queensland), Nadezhda Lebedeva (National research University), Emiko S. Kashima (LaTrobe University), Yanjun Guan (Durham University Business School), Roberto Gonzalez (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile), Sylvia X. Chen (Hong Kong Polytechnic University), and Sheyla Blumen (Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru). Chilean data collection was supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (FONDAP15130009) and the Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (FONDAP15110006). Russian data collection was supported by a subsidy granted by the government of the Russian Federation for implementation of the Global Competitiveness Program. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Indianas top research universities have been awarded more than $33 million to improve the health of people in the state. The grant is their third five-year Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health. Indiana is often ranked among the least healthy states in the country, but researchers and staff of Purdue University, Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame have joined together through the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) to change that. Translational science is the process of turning observation in the laboratory, clinic and community into means that improve the health of individuals and populations. Its about going from the lab bench to the bedside in the most efficient way possible, said Tommy Sors, who manages Purdues partnership in the Indiana CTSI and is assistant director of the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease. Translation is really important for Purdue because we dont have a human clinic or a school of medicine to put our inventions to the test. The relationship with Indiana Universitys medical school allows us to translate many of our innovations, he said. Purdue is making significant investments in the life sciences and these are yielding phenomenal technological solutions for improving biomedicine and healthcare. But, if we make a new discovery that allows us to invent new diagnostics and therapies, we need to find places with doctors and patient populations to test those diagnostics and therapies. The Indiana CTSI acts as a conduit for this translation. This is the first major statewide partnership to transform the way institutions work together toward discovery and training in improving human health in the state and beyond, said Connie Weaver, the Purdue Principal Investigator of the Indiana CTSI and Deputy Director. The Indiana CTSI was formed in 2008. Since then, theyve discovered dangerous lead levels in South Bend and created testing kits to prevent consumption of unsafe water. Theyre working toward reducing risk factors for infant mortality in central Indiana by confronting mental health problems and improving nutrition intake for mothers. Community engagement is another big part of the groups mission, said Dennis Savaiano, associate director of CTSIs Community Health Partnerships program. The big picture here is to bring together all the partners and communities to collaboratively improve health in Indiana, he said. The number of people at the grassroots level thinking about the health of their communities has grown exponentially, whether its businesses wanting their employees to be drug and smoke-free or schools wanting children to get enough exercise and eat healthy foods. I think were starting to see a real awareness in the state that we can improve health substantially and in doing so, increase the quality of life for Hoosiers. One of the groups main focuses for the next five years is to improve the health inequity that occurs in Indianapolis. Through the Monon Trail project, they hope to help people that live near the bottom of the trail get the healthcare they need. People who live at the bottom of the Monon Trail have a life expectancy of 12 or more years less than people who live at the top of the trail, said Savaiano. People who live at the top live as long as people who live in Sweden or Norway, and people who live at the bottom live as long as people who live in very poor areas around the world. It has to do with health equity and the ability to get preventative care, be treated for chronic diseases, and get good prenatal care so that infant mortality can become more similar across different racial and ethnic groups. These are issues we hope to improve through the project. The CTSI recently launched another initiative called All IN for Health, which aims to sign up at least 100,000 Indiana residents to its health research volunteer registry over the next three years. So far, the initiative has recruited more than 6,000 people. The All IN for Health website provides valuable resources aligned with the major health issues affecting Indiana, such as information for expectant mothers interested in quitting smoking. The website also offers opportunities to become research volunteers and be matched to any of the 1,000 active Indiana-based research studies made possible through Indiana University, Purdue and Notre Dame. The Indiana CTSI is funded in part by Award Number UL1TR002529 from the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Clinical and Translational Sciences Award. Writer: Kayla Zacharias, 765-494-9318, kzachar@purdue.edu Sources: Tommy Sors, 765-494-1678, tsors@purdue.edu Dennis Savaiano, savaiano@purdue.edu Connie Weaver, 765-494-8237, weavercm@purdue.edu A ban on some fireworks for 30 days received final approval Thursday from the Tucumcari City Commission. District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya cast the lone no vote because, he said the ban came after many fireworks dealers had already received airborne fireworks for resale. The main reason for the ban, other commissioners said, was the continuation of severe drought conditions in the county, despite a few recent rainstorms. The ban is limited to missile-type rockets, helicopters, aerial spinners and stick-type rockets, and does not cover all aerial fireworks. Tucumcari Fire Chief Doug Hogan told the commission that low average humidity and high average wind speeds in the past 30 days had been in the range at which wildfires are most likely. In addition, he said much of Quay County is currently in extreme drought conditions. A map of the state presented by the University of Nebraska shows most of Quay County in extreme drought conditions, with only northeast portions in severe drought, which is less serious. Mayor Ruth Ann Litchfield said she did not want to see fires like recent ones near Cimarron and Eagle Nest in the area. Its a tough decision, she said, acknowledging that fireworks dealers would have fireworks on hand that they cannot sell. I feel bad for the people who have already purchased fireworks, Moya said. New City Manager Britt Lusk, attending his first commission meeting, emphasized the ban does not include all fireworks, but only those that go airborne. The commission delayed a vote on the ban at its May 31 meeting, because the 30-day ban would have run out before the July 4 holiday. Lodgers tax budget The commission also decided, on an item-by-item basis, to approve the recommendations of the Lodgers Tax Board for its fiscal year 2019 budget. The fiscal year begins July 1 and continues to June 30, 2019. The greatest single line item change in the budget was to move $75,000 in Tucumcari Convention Center salaries to the executive side of the Lodgers Tax budget from the promotional side. The executive side includes administrative functions, such as Convention Center investments and maintenance. The promotional side generally includes contributions for specific projects and events that promote the citys tourism industry. The commission kept the full $23,500 requested by Hot Pan Productions, which will plan and promote a Rockin on Route 66 event scheduled for late June 2019, despite questions about the size of the contribution. Moya abstained from voting on the measure, because he said he was not convinced that the the uncommonly large contribution was justified. The Lodgers Tax board recommended substantially less in contributions to many projects and events than had been requested. Proportionately, the largest reduction from requested was two-thirds, from $18,980 requested to $6,500 recommended, to KC Keefer, a company that has produced YouTube videos for the city that have received more than 1 million views, according to Lodgers Tax committee chair David Brenner. The Tucumcari Chamber of Commerce also received much less than it requested. It received $37,000, about $17,000 less than the $54,000 it had requested. The chamber uses Lodgers Tax money mostly to purchase advertising in Route 66-oriented publications nationwide and to print brochures for information racks for area motels and restaurants, and at welcome centers at New Mexico state borders. Other action In other action, the commission: Reduced the size of the citys Community Development Advisory Board to five members from its original size of 10. Community Development Project Manager Sharayah Sisneros told the commission in a public workshop before the regular meeting Thursday that the board is having trouble assembling a quorum, and that the board currently has only six members. The commission voted to reduce the size of the committee to five members, with one alternate, to keep all of its members on the panel. Approved funding totaling $126,630, of which only $6,574 comes from local tax funds, for design of two improvement projects at the Tucumcari Municipal Airport. Of the total, $105,587 is for design of reconstructed taxi-ways from the airports runways. The other $21,043 project is design of a new building to house the airports snow removal equipment, project manager Ralph Lopez told the commission. The funding for both projects is 90 percent from the Federal Aviation Administration, 15 percent from the New Mexico Department of Transportation, and 5 percent local. Both engineering contracts went to WH Pacific, an Albuquerque engineering firm. Approved $94,000 in funds from the New Mexico Department of Aging and Long Term Care to fund Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion volunteer programs in connection with the Tucumcari Senior Citizens Center Accepted a $10,173 grant from the New Mexico Tourism Department for beautification projects in the city. The grant is for programs that employ young people to help with litter control and other beautification projects, a grant document said. Appointed Gar Engman, co-owner of Teepee Curios, to the Lodgers Tax Advisory Board. Its a rare occurrence: A passage of Scripture was thrust into the national spotlight last week, as spokespersons for the Trump administration broke out Romans 13:1-7 as the moral authority for civil government to carry out the law. That word is in quotation marks, because the whole discussion has begged the question, What law are we talking about? What if the law in question is itself unjust? Does Romans 13 mean government should enforce injustice? This topic is near to my heart. I have mentioned here before, I wrote a book on this passage in 2012. Providentially, I also recorded a podcast on it, days before it became an issue. Search online for the title: Governments Blank Check? Romans 13:1-7. The issue with Romans 13 this week really is, or ought to be, how can the Christian know whether any particular law is just? We all deal with this constantly. How many times have you and your friends or family heard the news of some particular government action and you all reacted with something like, Man! Thats messed up. What in the world are they thinking? Weve all done it. But whats the right way to do it? Is it only about how a particular law happens to strike us at the time? I suggest we turn to the Bible for the answers. (I know youre shocked.) For instance, in Deuteronomy 17, there are several instructions meant to govern the actions of Israels future kings. When we get to verses 19-20 we find this, in reference to the kings personal copy of Gods law: And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. The king was not allowed to deviate from the law of God. He wasnt allowed to turn from it to the left or to the right. He couldnt be more lenient. He couldnt be cruel. He had to do what it says. There was no provision for making it up as you go. Yes, pastor, but thats Old Testament! True, but the New Testament then makes a startling endorsement. In Hebrews 2:2 we have apostolic confirmation that every penalty inflicted by the older law was just. Not harsh, or barbaric, but just. Im not advocating that we take the law of Moses and copy-and-paste it into our Federal Register. But I am saying that we have Gods standard for right and wrong, and for civil justice. You know full well that half, at least, of what comes out of Washington has nothing to do with justice. Youre correct; but, we need to go to God to find out why. Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at: [email protected] Area still below average in rainfall for this time. Recent rainfall across the county brought temperatures down and provided a short relief but the danger of wildfires is still very high, said Donald Adams, Quay County Fire Marshall. The moisture in the ground is going to dry up quickly as the temperatures rise, Adams said. The dry conditions along with the abundant fuel source creates a high danger for wildfires. On Friday, a storm system moved into the region as a high pressure system shifted to the east, said David Craft of the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. Craft said sub tropical moisture moved in from the Pacific Ocean across the south west carrying with it the remnants of Hurricane Bud. He said the heaviest rainfall recorded on Saturday, 1 and a half to 2 inches, fell in Quay County near San Jon. With Saturdays rainfall, the area has received 3.33 inches, but is still below the normal 5.99 inches for this time of year, Craft said. Adams said there is currently no fire ban in Quay County, but residents are urged to use extreme caution when working outdoors or conducting controlled burns. Just because there is not a fire ban in place does not mean we are out of danger, Adams said. Adams said residents need to be mindful of the weather conditions (wind) if they are going to conduct a controlled burn. He said the burn should be monitored at all times. It takes just one strong gust and a diverted attention for a fire to get out of hand, Adams said. Adams said people need to pay special attention when working outdoors with equipment that produces sparks including welders or grinders. These hazards are particularly dangerous in the rural regions of the county, Adam ssaid. Rural fire departments have the added issue of having to haul water to a remote area. We have great interagency assistant throughout the county, but there is always a danger of a fire getting out of control. One issue with rural fires is the response time needed for departments to get to the scene, said Rex Stall, Logan Fire Chief. Stall said residents should use extreme caution with any type of spark or heat generation from equipment in these dry conditions. He said the hot exhaust pipe of a vehicle could also be dangerous in high grass areas. Weve been very fortunate this year when it comes to wildfires, Stall said. One recent wildfire that got our of control began on May 31, near Ute Park between Eagle Nest Lake and Cimarron. The blaze took multiple fire agencies more than two weeks to get 97 percent contained. According to the New Mexico State Forestry, as of Sunday, more than 36,740 acres have burned in the fire. Stall was one of four regional EMTs that traveled to Cimarron to assist with EMS, ambulance calls during the Ute Park fire. It was devastating to see one of my favorite places in the whole state burning like that, Stall said. The terrain of that region added another obstacle in combating the fire. While we dont have the hills (or) trees like they do, its a grim reminder of what could come from an isolated, rural wildfire. More than 20 local artists and residents came out to welcome back muralist Doug Quarles during a reception Monday at The Gallery Etc. in Tucumcari. "It's very sweet for everyone to come out and welcome me back," Quarles said. "I only wish my wife Sharon could have made the trip." Quarles said he is back in Tucumcari to begin work on a mural that will be placed on the Tucumcari Knights of Columbus, Tucumcari Columbus Club. He said the design for the mural has been selected and he will be working on the newest mural throughout the week. There will be some discussion while Quarles is in town about finalizing another art project for the two alleyways on the 100 block of East Main Street, said Gail Houser, MainStreet executive director. Houser said the project is part of the Great Blocks on Main Street rehabilitation project for downtown. Quarles, who now lives in Benson, Arizona, said these projects have come along at the perfect time, giving him a chance to return to Tucumcari and visit old friends. "I'm excited to get to work and look forward to my time here in Tucumcari," Quarles said. John Groesbeck hails from North Ogden, Utah. The second finalist for Mesalands Community College's presidential search toured the campus on Thursday, ending his day answering questions from residents in a forum at the North American Wind Research and Training Center. "I want to return to the... Robert Roybal, 55, of Tucumcari, was killed in a deputy-involved shooting Tuesday morning. A Tucumcari man was fatally shot by a Quay County sheriff's deputy during a hostage situation early Tuesday morning in Tucumcari. Robert Roybal, 55, was killed by a single shot fired just after 4:50 a.m. A release from the New Mexico State Police... Good job, Jeff Sessions. It seems the attorney generals misguided attempts to revive the unpopular and unjust federal war on marijuana may be having the exact opposite effect prompting a new bipartisan effort in Congress to allow states to... Source Creative, an archival resource for video ads, has acquired shots, a specialist in ad-related news and content, adding thousands of resources to the existing database of TV commercials, music videos, branded content and viral videos. The deal with Media Business Insight, shots parent company, includes the integration of the platforms news agency, including staff writers and editors, creating a new portal to serve timely and original editorial to subscribers. The shots name will remain.The acquisition of shots follows that of collaboration and project management toolset Slate in 2016. The company has incorporated these services with parent company Extreme Reachs cloud platform for TV and video ad workflow and talent and rights management.Adding shots to Source Creative and Slate means that one platform now provides all the inspiration, information and tools for sharing and collaborating that brand and agency clients, and the global creative community can rely on, said James Straker, MD at Source Creative . We are delighted to welcome shots to our family and to have such a fine team of editors and sales professionals with deep industry contacts join our ranks. When President Trump shook hands with Kim Jong Un in Singapore earlier this week, many were stunned to see a hermit kingdom elevated and a superpower stooped. They were disturbed by the spectacle and symbolism of American and North Korean flags tightly interspersed even if they agree with what President Obama said during the Iran talks: You dont negotiate deals with your friends. You negotiate them with your enemies. To be sure, Americans strongly prefer diplomacy with North Korea to eventual military action. But without the threat of nuclear weapons, North Korea is nothing more than a regional nuisance, hardly a formidable foe or global menaceso how did we arrive at a moment when the American president must meet the North Korean dictator as a peer? One largely unacknowledged reason is our legacy of aggressive interventions in Iraq and Libya. To understand this, one must understand the interestsand hopes and fearsof the North Korean leader. Kim Jong Un inherited the country from his father and grandfather, consequently causing his entire personal and family identity to be wrapped up in this vocation. In this context, he has a big egobut in another, hes deeply insecure. His country is broke, and his people are starving. Kim can check the military might of neither his main adversary (the United States) nor his only ally (China). His main goal is to preserve his monopoly on political power, what he views as his birthright and heirloom. Ultimately, he does not want his motorcade to be stopped for his execution in an irrigation ditch like Libyas Qaddafi or to be hunted out of a hole and hanged in a viral video like Iraqs Hussein. In Kims eyes, those interventions in Libya and Iraq sent a clear message to totalitarian regimes opposed to the United States: without the ultimate deterrent, they can expect to be toppled. This is why Iranlong a target of American calls for regime changehas been seeking to develop a nuclear program. North Korea is following the same logic, believing that nuclear weapons are the great equalizer of international politics. Hes not wrong, and they allowed the likes of Kim to stand toe to toe with the President of the United States. Preventive warsand the interventionist foreign policy of which theyre a componenthave created more problems than theyve solved. North Koreas relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons is the most recent example of such a problem. Its true that Kim would have tried to develop nuclear weapons without seeing non-nuclear rogue regimes like Libya and Iraq so unceremoniously deposed; however, this pursuit would not have been a matter of life and death for the regime. After all, the costs of a nuclear program are prohibitively high for leaders of rogue states who simply want to shore up their regional power and security. Investing in a nuclear arsenal would be like employing a squadron of sharpshooters to sit on your roof to defend against would-be eggers. North Korea has thousands of artillery pieces pointed at Seoul, providing an effective conventional deterrent against South Korea. Japan is constitutionally prohibited from launching an offensive military invasion. China wants to keep North Korea as a buffer between its territory and U.S. allies, so this provides an implicit security guarantee. The only serious threat to the Kim regime is an American invasion, and nuclear missiles counter this threat by allowing North Korea to threaten U.S. military bases in the Pacific and potentially even North American cities. Its natural that freedom loving people should want to stand up to tyrannical regimes who oppress their citizens. Liberating people from dictatorships has become regarded as a legitimate goal of foreign policy, one which propelled military action in Iraq and Libya. I even wrote supportively of the intervention in Libya in the past. Yet, as weve learned from both those experiences, the human suffering which occurs under totalitarian regimes ought to be weighed against the human suffering which results from power vacuums and political instability and the accelerated nuclear proliferation -- which result from regime change strategies. In short, the consequences of well-intended action are often worse than consequences of well-considered inaction. Diplomacy is, therefore, the more effective, reasonable, resource-conserving, andimportantly for a democracypopular option for confronting Americas adversaries. We shouldnt wait until country presents a nuclear threat before exercising it. If the sight of the leader of the free world flattering the leader of a slave state makes your stomach churn, remember: we wouldnt be in this position if North Korea hadnt sprinted for a nuke. And North Korea wouldnt have sprinted so fast if it didnt see us toppling other tyrannies with reckless abandon. This is an unforeseen lesson of the Singapore summit: Americas past policy of premature war has contributed to our present position of overdue diplomacy. Mark Hannah is a fellow at the Eurasia Group Foundation and teaches at New York University. He is a Political Partner at Truman National Security Project and term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. The views expressed are his own. President Trumps foreign policy is shaped by one fundamental idea: America carries too great a burden in the international system. Hes criticized the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, NATO, and many other international agreements on the grounds that the U.S. pays too many of the international systems bills. Its ironic, then, that Trump chooses to go it alone in confronting Chinas intellectual property violations. There is widespread recognition in the international community that IP theft is a problem. Yet, the decision to introduce new tariffs on over $30 billion of Chinese imports leaves the United States uniquely vulnerable to trade retaliation. Why Raise Tariffs? The recent investigations into Chinas IP practices date back to August of 2017. Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 give U.S. authorities the ability to examine and respond to discriminatory trade policies abroad, including IP theft. U.S. firms and trade lawyers allege that China fails to prevent illegal transfer of intellectual property. Similar concerns are nothing new for industries traditionally vulnerable to piracy, such as software and media. However, the recent complaint goes further. Focusing on the theft of trade secrets broadens the scope of the complaint to a wider variety of industries for example, cars, consumer electronics, and steel. Its no coincidence that the price tag attached to IP theft is so high. Estimates place the losses from these violations between $225 and $600 billion a year. While these losses are hard to measure with precision, its a significant amount of money by any standard. Hence, the White Houses response: increasing tariffs on more than 500 products with many more looming in the future. Are Tariffs the Right Response? At home, there is bipartisan support for the idea that IP theft is a pressing problem. Its revealing that senior Democrats, who otherwise share very little common ground with Trump, praised the White Houses tough stance. There is widespread agreement that the U.S. should protect its firms interests. The disagreement is over whether unilateral action is the best approach. For one thing, theres already a system in place to address alleged IP violations. The World Trade Organization includes lengthy provisions on trade-related intellectual property. These provisions are designed to ensure that members respect the rights of foreign firms. And, if abuses do occur, members are permitted to use the WTOs dispute system to sue one another, as has happened 39 previous times. Yet, Trump has shown little interest in utilizing international trade law. The U.S. filed suit against China in March of this year but that hasnt stopped the president from moving forward with new tariffs. In fact, rather than leaning on international trade law, Trump has repeatedly undermined the WTOs legal authority. Dating back to early in his term, Trump accused the WTO of treating the United States unfairly, stating that the U.S. would ignore adverse legal rulings. Certainly, opinion is mixed regarding the WTOs effectiveness. In January, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a report on how agreeing to Chinas accession was, in a word, a mistake. However, by casting doubt on the WTO, Trump has closed off a mutually accepted, legal mechanism for protecting U.S. interests. Not least, operating outside of the system increases the threat of trade retaliation. Beijings response has been swift and definitive. In the immediate aftermath of Trumps announcement, China carried through on its promise to retaliate by raising duties on automotive and agricultural products. While Chinese officials still insist they wish to avoid a trade war, they have also shown a willingness to fight back. This is precisely why Trumps trade policies continue to splinter the Republican Party. Kevin Brady (R-TX) replied to the announcement by noting that the tariffs will miss their target and will instead hurt American manufacturers, farmers, workers, and consumers. Its an unnecessary risk to take. The White House seems to overlook the fact that the United State isnt alone in suffering from IP violations. European Union officials, for example, have stated that intellectual property theft is a particular problem in China. And Canadas Trade Commissioner Service provides advice on protecting rights when doing business in China, identifying it as one of the principal difficulties of doing business. Given widespread recognition of the problem, there is an opportunity to build a coalition of markets with shared interests in more robust IP protections. The more forceful response would be to harness other countries support. Instead, Trump alienated major powers at the recent G7 meeting with additional accusations of trade abuses. Moving Forward Recent developments show how much can change in just a few weeks. Last month, the Trump lauded a new deal with China to reduce Americas trade deficit and avoid a looming trade war. All that seems a long way off now. As tensions continue to escalate, the U.S. finds itself increasingly isolated. Its a curious strategy from a White House preoccupied by the idea that the U.S. is the worlds piggy bank. If Trump is ever going to choose a more cooperative approach, now is the time. Jeffrey Kucik is an Assistant Professor in the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona. "Antifa" is to violence what the Southern Poverty Law Center is to words. In short, it is a hate group on the left (https://www.prageru.com/courses/political-science/anti-hate-group-hate-group). The SPLC smears individuals and groups it differs with by labeling them as some form of "hater": "racist," "white supremacist," "extremist" and the like. That it is cited and even relied upon by The New York Times, Facebook, Amazon, Google, CNN and others, and that Apple gave the organization a million dollars, is testimony to the moral state of mainstream media and corporate culture in America today. Were the SPLC not quoted and used as a source, there would be no reason to pay it any attention. All the SPLC does is politicize, and thereby trivialize, the fight against racism and other evils. Any organization that labels Ayaan Hirsi Ali -- the extraordinary Somali-American woman who devotes her life to fighting for oppressed women, especially in the Islamic world -- an "extremist," as the SPLC has done, is not a moral organization. No wonder it just agreed to pay Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz $3.4 million and issued a retraction for smearing him as an "anti-Muslim extremist." This kind of behavior should surprise no one. Since Stalin labeled Trotsky, the ideological leader of Soviet communism, a "fascist," the left (not liberals, to whom the left is as opposed as it is conservatives) has libeled its opponents. Without lying about its opponents, there would be no left. Now the SPLC has placed an article about PragerU (https://www.splc.org/hatewatch/2018/06/07prageru's-influence) on its "Hatewatch" blog. It never actually accuses PragerU of "hate" because even it can't substantiate such a charge. In over 300 videos, it could not find a single sentence countenancing hate or bigotry, so it simply describes two articles by outsiders about PragerU, knowing the dirty work will be accomplished via implication. The article is about two PragerU critics, Kevin M. Kruse, a Princeton history professor who sought to rebut a PragerU video in a Twitter thread, and a self-described sociologist named Francesca Tripodi, who wrote an article (https://datasociety.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Data_Society_Searching-for-Alternative-Facts.pdf) examining PragerU's reach. Professor Kruse tweeted a series of disagreements with a PragerU video (https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/996386257109508096) by former Princeton University and Vanderbilt University professor Dr. Carol Swain, a black scholar, on the subject of the Republican Party and the "Southern Strategy." Now, professor Kruse may be right, and professor Swain may be wrong. But that has nothing to do with hate. Nor does Kruse imply that it does. So, the SPLC citation of Kruse is just deceitful. The SPLC article goes on to charge that "more than a few" PragerU videos "function as dog whistles to the extreme right." And how does PragerU blow these "dog whistles"? The article uses Tripodi to make its case. Here is the essence of her argument, as described by the SPLC: "Tripodi says she discovered several elements tied to PragerU's presenters and its online marketing that paint the brief videos watched more than a billion times in a troublesome light." And what are those "several elements?" "To start with," the article says, "when one visits the PragerU channel on YouTube, there is a column of 'Related Channels' with links to other outlets PragerU's audience may find interesting: Fox News seems to be a no-brainer, as does The Daily Wire, given its founder Ben Shapiro's relationship as a presenter for PragerU. But alongside those you also can find the channel of Stefan Molyneux, an extremist who espouses pseudo-scientific 'race realism' propaganda. "'(PragerU) ... is very blatantly algorithmically connected' to the extreme right content found on YouTube, Tripodi explains." Only a very careful reader will discern that PragerU has never had any connection whatsoever to Molyneux or any "extreme right content." All Tripodi and the SPLC could write is that Google has "algorithmically connected" PragerU to such content. Needless to say, PragerU has no power over how Google algorithmically connects anything. Then the SPLC writes, "More troubling, Tripodi discovered, are the connections some PragerU presenters have with white nationalist thinkers." Again, only a very careful reader will realize PragerU has no connections whatsoever to white nationalist thinkers. Rather, "some PragerU presenters" do. And who might they be? Tripodi and the SPLC give one example: Dave Rubin. Dave Rubin made a video for PragerU titled "Why I Left the Left." He is a very popular liberal video podcaster, and the fact that he is a gay Jewish liberal who left the left disturbs the SPLC. Now, do you know any gay Jewish liberals who support white nationalists? I doubt it. So, on what grounds is Rubin smeared in this way? Not because of any views he espouses but because he has interviewed the aforementioned Stefan Molyneux. As it happens, I differ with some of the admittedly little I have seen of Molyneux's views (for example, I believe the entire race and IQ issue is utterly pointless and, on occasion, racist). But how does the fact that one PragerU presenter interviewed someone he disagrees with in any way impugn him -- let alone PragerU? Of course, it doesn't. But that doesn't stop the SPLC hate site from drawing such tenuous "connections" to smear fine people. Would George Will, Bret Stephens, Charles Krauthammer -- all Pulitzer Prize winners -- Alan Dershowitz (a lifelong Democrat and Hillary Clinton supporter), Arthur Brooks, Jonah Goldberg, Bjorn Lomborg, UCLA psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Marmer, former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino and Rabbi Joseph Telushkin (one of the most prolific living writers on Judaism), to name just some of our presenters, participate in a white supremacist endeavor? The implication is absurd -- and libelous. In addition to videos on current political issues, history and economics, PragerU brings goodness and kindness into millions of people's lives. It produces videos on forgiveness, refraining from gossip, raising grateful and kind children, remaining attracted to one's spouse, God and suffering, happiness and the importance of gratitude, along with many other life-enhancing subjects. And these have been viewed by tens of millions of people -- most of them under age 35. On any given day, PragerU increases goodness and kindness on Earth while the Southern Poverty Law Center increases anger and resentment. That's why the SPLC hates PragerU. The bad hate the good. It's a rule of life. COPYRIGHT 2018 CREATORS.COM Bahrain is the Americas oldest ally in the Middle East. Our relationship has grown and deepened for more than a century. The global war on terrorism has only strengthened those ties. Bahrain stands shoulder to shoulder with President Trump and the U.S. government in this battle, especially against the Iran-backed subversive group Hezbollah. Hezbollah has long been Tehrans extremist proxy, meddling almost everywhere in Middle Eastern affairs. It was founded three decades ago by the Iranian Revolution Guards and has since recruited, trained, and armed militants in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and, now sadly, in my own country of Bahrain. Hezbollah-trained insurgents have sown unrest in Bahrain since 2013. Its influence there persists despite repeated efforts by the government to eradicate the menace. Last March, for example, Bahraini officials arrested 14 individuals suspected of receiving military training from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah. Hezbollah has also been connected to terrorist attacks in Bahraini villages that have injured 3,400 people and killed 22 security officers. Hezbollah has even tried to form a terrorist front organization in Bahrain. Fortunately, Bahraini law enforcement officials thwarted that effort and others like it so far. The spread of terrorism by Hezbollah and its allies has become a pandemic that has reached the U.S. In fact, Hezbollahs presence in the U.S. is cause for concern. Arrests of individuals associated with the group recently occurred in New York City and Dearborn, Mich. Other outbreaks of Hezbollah influence in the U.S. are sure to surface soon. Hezbollah is spreading not so much as a physical presence but as an ideology that is winning militant backers. As a result, its actions must be recognized as a global threat that warrant an international response. Bahrains relationship with the U.S. is solid and diverse. The U.S. Navys 5th Fleet is located on our coastline. Bahrain is also proudly an outpost for U.S. military operations, a logistical pipeline to ferry troops and provisions, and the place from which U.S. fighter jets deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq. We also have worked together against the terrorist threat, a partnership that needs to be expanded now that our common enemy, Hezbollah, has infiltrated the U.S. along with Bahrain. We are encouraged that Congress has approved measures to block the flow of illicit funds to extremist groups and to increase sanctions against them. It is vital for the U.S. to publicly assert how important it is for it to work with its allies like Bahrain to beat back terrorism. The situation demands that the U.S. and Bahrain bolster their bonds and cooperation along these lines. Bahrains problem with Hezbollah is Americas problem, too. The U.S. should complain loudly more loudly than it already is that Iran-backed extremists such as Hezbollah are a universal menace. It needs to work harder with its friends like Bahrain to defeat this scourge. Additional arms sales to Bahrain for this purpose should be seriously considered by the U.S. Congress and the Trump administration. Only when we work together in this way can we protect our mutual security. President Trump's defiance in the face of widespread criticism of his border policy has left members of his own party scrambling to find legislative fixes and increasingly fearful of midterm election backlash. Amid mounting pressure from constituents and activists, and against the backdrop of distressing footage of migrant children separated from their parents, lawmakers are anxious for some type of speedy solution. But consensus on strategy and policy prescriptions has been hard to come by, with some members concerned about Trump's propensity to throw a wrench into the works and others arguing that he should amend the policy unilaterally. And despite White House demands for significant legislative changes to broader immigration policy, GOP leaders have advocated for much narrower provisions. "In order to fix this problem, you can't fix all the problems," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. While Trump's "zero tolerance" approach to illegal immigration is a manifestation of the campaign rhetoric that mobilized his supporters in 2016, the humanitarian impact of its implementation could jeopardize Republicans' majorities in Congress. By the time Trump arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday night to meet with the House GOP conference, a dozen Republican senators had signed a letter urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to suspend the border policy to give Congress time to pass a solution. Notable among the signatories: Colorados Cory Gardner, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Nevadas Dean. Heller, who is among the most vulnerable party members up for re-election this year. Ohio Rep. Steve Stivers, who chairs the GOP House campaign arm, also wrote a letter imploring the administration to end family separations. "If the policy is not changed, I will support other means to stop unnecessary separation of children from their parents," Stivers wrote in a Facebook post. And even longtime allies of the president, such as North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, have offered proposals to keep families from being split up when caught crossing the border illegally. "The images of government officials ripping little children away from their parents is going to be another Katrina for Republicans," said Cesar Conda, former chief of staff to Sen. Marco Rubio and a close ally of Speaker Paul Ryan. "Trump should delay the separation policy for six months, and give Congress time to fix it. If they dont, then its on them." Asked whether the border issue would hurt the partys midterm chances, McConnell argued that "it's not going to tar anybody. We're going to fix the problem." Others did not see the need for a binary choice in addressing the crisis. "I don't think we should have to choose between enforcing the law and keeping families together. I think we can do both," said GOP Senate Whip John Cornyn. The Texas lawmaker has been working with colleagues on a legislative solution aimed at keeping families together pending their immigration hearings, and moving them ahead in the line to expedite the process. "They don't have a unified position in the White House, so what we're trying to do is demonstrate one possible solution and see if we can get the consensus we need," Cornyn added. But forging consensus in a timely manner has often proved difficult. "Congress doesn't have a great track record of acting quickly in situations like this," Sen. Tom Cotton acknowledged. The Arkansas Republican, who is a close ally of Trump's, is advocating that Congress overturn the Flores Settlement Agreement, a court order that requires the government to release children from federal custody without unnecessary delay and into the care of a relative, guardian, or the least restrictive setting. Cottons solution would "allow families to be held at the border, [and] provide a little bit of extra money to the military and DHS for family housing units while those claims are adjudicated," he told radio host Hugh Hewitt. The administration supports that idea, arguing that the current law is what is causing parents to be separated from their children while they await prosecution for entering the country illegally. But overturning the order could create further complications and lead to children being imprisoned with their families. Democrats have said such a proposal is a non-starter. Meadows, a Freedom Caucus member who is in frequent communication with the president, released legislation Tuesday that would reform asylum laws, in addition to amending the Flores Settlement. Additionally, House members are scheduled to consider two other bills later this week designed to end family separations and that also include other immigration fixes. The White House said the president backs those two measures. "He told the members, Im with you 100 percent, said Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is working on a plan that would double the amount of federal immigration judges in order to speed up the process of adjudicating illegal immigrants and processing asylum cases, of which there is a large backlog. The proposal signals the urgency among Republicans for a solution -- Cruz has long been considered an immigration hardliner, but he is also running for re-election in a border state. Yet Trump seemed to dismiss the proposal during a speech to the National Small Business Association in Washington on Tuesday. "We don't want judges; we want security on the border," the president said. "We don't want people coming in. We want them to come in through a legal process like everybody else that's waiting to come into our country." Trump also called for changes to legislation lawmakers have put forth. Let's do it right. We have a chance," he said. "I don't want children taken away from parents. And when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away. Now, we don't have to prosecute them. But then we're not prosecuting them for coming in illegally. That's not good." While administration officials have been working with House members on legislation, some lawmakers are concerned that the president himself could be a wild card and are looking for more clarity from him. First, they don't want to pass something he won't sign. And members depending on his base of support in their own re-election bids are hoping for him to provide them with political cover. "The White House is going to have to be engaged in this discussion, and the president and his team need to be involved in whatever we come up with ... whether it addresses all the other elements of immigration debate or not," said Sen. John Thune, the GOP conference chair. Other Republicans have questioned the need for any legislation. "The White House could change it in five minutes and they should. Its a mistake. It's a change in policy by this administration," Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander told reporters. Democrats, meanwhile, echoed this sentiment and declined to publicly endorse any GOP measures. "Mr. President, you alone can fix it," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, holding up a pen. "How many times has immigration legislation passed in this Congress? Zero. ... There should be rule of law for every person who crosses the border. It is not required to separate children to enact rule of law." Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, who is herself an immigrant, was more blunt in addressing Trump: "Take that goddamn pen of yours and do away with this horrendous, inhumane policy of yours that rips children from the arms of their parents." Democrats could pay a political price if Republicans come up with a narrow solution and they decline to come aboard. Some GOP candidates running against Democratic incumbents in the Senate have accused their opponents of supporting open borders. (All 49 Democratic senators have signed on to a measure put forth by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein that would prohibit children being separated from their families.)But for now, they are betting that public pressure will force the administration to act. "This has caused an outcry throughout the country and has gone way beyond party," said Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "The public isn't going to stand for it. We'll see how this plays out." What can Democrat Chuck Schumer, Republican Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump agree on? Almost nothing, but they agree China is robbing America blind and has to be stopped. When the president slapped a punishing 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods starting July 6, his least likely GOP ally, Senator Marco Rubio, applauded the tariffs as a "theft tax." Senator Schumer backed them, too, warning that allowing China's massive stealing to continue will cause "long-term real damage to America." Within hours of Trump's announcement, China retaliated with $50 billion in tariffs on U.S. imports. Trump shot back with tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese goods. China accuses Trump of "provoking the trade war." Provoking? China's been fighting dirty against American business for years. China steals something between $225 billion to $600 billion worth of fashion designs, pharmaceutical formulas and new technologies from U.S. companies every year, according to the Commission on Theft of American Intellectual Property. Previous U.S. presidents did nothing but negotiate. That's like watching a burglar strip your house and asking him, "Can we talk?" At last, an American president picked up a weapon -- tariffs -- to fight back. Not a minute too soon. The stealing is getting worse. Politicians naively said admitting China to the World Trade Organization in 2001 would push it toward a free market economy observing the rule of law. Magical thinking. From the start, China violated WTO rules, knocking off American products and selling them as the real deal. A staggering 88 percent of counterfeit goods seized are from China and Hong Kong, according to Homeland Security. It's like the Chinese thought "free market" meant steal what you want. Steal it or extort it. American companies doing business in China are pressured to transfer proprietary technology to a local partner. China promised to stop that arm-twisting but broke its word. Now China is abandoning any pretense of respecting intellectual property. President Xi Jinping's official economic policy, called Made in China 2025, elevates technology theft to official status. The government politely calls it "the assimilation and absorption of imported technology." China plans to steal its way to economic dominance and end dependence on foreign suppliers. American companies can't thrive under this threat. Our advantage in world markets isn't cheap labor or cheap materials. It's ideas. American Superconductor Corporation was almost put out of business, its stock value driven down 96 percent, when a Chinese wind turbine maker stole its technology and flooded the Chinese market with copies. Tariffs are the U.S. response to "forced technology transfer and intellectual property theft by the Chinese," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Monday. Industries profiting from the status quo are nervous. General Motors sells more vehicles in China than in the U.S. Multinational companies look at China's middle class -- now the world's largest -- and see huge sales ahead. But if Beijing's plan proceeds, these U.S. companies will be shut out of China in a decade, and will have to compete in the rest of the world against Chinese companies that stole their technology and enjoy low-cost financing from Chinese state banks. Are tariffs the best weapon against this plan? Trump is threatening a third tranche, bringing the total to $450 billion. China only imports $130 billion worth of American goods, and won't be able to keep up tit for tat. Advantage U.S. Critics claim tariffs raise consumer prices, clobbering American households. That's exaggerated. You might have to pay slightly more for a laptop or cellphone. But a whopping 88.5 percent of goods and services consumers buy are domestically produced, according to the Federal Reserve of San Francisco. The criticism also disregards the uncalculated price Americans are paying for Chinese intellectual property theft. The real question is whether anything can make China stop stealing its way to the top. Trump may win concessions only to see China shamelessly pursue other criminal ploys. COPYRIGHT 2018 CREATORS.COM After claiming to have no legal authority to unilaterally amend a recent Justice Department directive that resulted in the separation of migrant children from their parents along the U.S.-Mexico border, President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order aimed at keeping families together after being apprehended for crossing illegally. "We're going to have strong, very strong borders, but we're going to keep the families together," Trump said in the Oval Office, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. "I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated." The president's directive would allow DHS to "maintain custody of alien families during the pendency of any criminal improper entry or immigration proceedings involving their members." It also directs the attorney general to request a modification to the Flores settlement, the court order that puts limits on detaining children, which could invite court challenges. Lawmakers are continuing to work on legislative solutions as well. The president signed the order before leaving Washington Wednesday afternoon for a campaign-style rally in Minnesota. The move comes after he and various officials have been defending the administration's "zero tolerance" policy in which those crossing the border illegally are prosecuted. Until this abrupt change in course, the administration had insisted that the law and a court precedent known as the Flores Agreement prevented the government from keeping children with their parents in detention. Trump and Nielsen had argued that only a legislative fix from Congress would solve the issue, which exploded into a humanitarian crisis and a public relations disaster for Republicans -- at the southern border. We cannot detain children with their parents, so we must either release parents and their children or the adult and the minor will be separated as the result of prosecuting the adult," Nielsen said on Monday. "Those are the only two options. But after the president met briefly GOP lawmakers at the Capitol on Tuesday evening, there was still no clear path forward for legislation. Lawmakers lacked consensus on strategy and policy, with a variety of proposals that so far lacked requisite support. Some members of Congress argued that the president had the power to amend the provision. Others urged Trump to halt the policy while Congress, notorious for gridlock on complicated issues, worked out a legislative alternative. Republican members also grew increasingly concerned about midterm consequences, given widespread backlash and public disapproval of a policy that resulted in separated families. As the language for the executive order was being finalized, the president made clear the administration was not reversing its policy of prosecuting illegal immigrants at the border. The dilemma is that...if you're really, really pathetically weak, the country's going to be overrun with millions of people and, if you're strong, then you don't have any heart, Trump said on Wednesday during a televised meeting with Republican lawmakers at the White House. That's a tough dilemma. Perhaps I'd rather be strong but that's a tough dilemma." The president said he would be signing something that is somewhat preemptive but ultimately will be matched by legislation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday afternoon. Nielsen also briefed members. On Thursday, the House is slated to consider to immigration proposals, both of which would address family separations by amending the Flores Agreement, which requires the government to release children from federal custody without unnecessary delay and into the care of a relative, guardian, or the least restrictive setting. Another measure, considered to be a more conservative proposal and sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, would provide temporary protections for Dreamers and would include cuts to legal immigration. Both would provide funding for a border wall. It is not clear, however, whether either has enough votes to clear the House. WASHINGTON -- President Trump boasted last weekend that his "denuclearization deal" with Kim Jong Un could "save potentially millions & millions of lives!" He even proclaimed in the exhilaration of his return from Singapore: "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea." But as the Great Dealmaker should know, it's important to read the fine print. And after a week's reflection, the Singapore joint communique, for all the dramatic television coverage that surrounded it, looks like what real-estate mavens sometimes call a "conditional offer." The condition, in this case, is that North Korea deliver on its somewhat fuzzy pledge to "work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." The discussion of how and when this will happen has barely begun. In the meantime, to build confidence, Trump has agreed to halt U.S. military exercises with South Korea, and Kim has agreed to stop testing missiles and nuclear bombs. Trump clarified the conditional nature of the military-exercise pause in a tweet Sunday: "Can start up immediately if talks break down, which I hope will not happen!" (Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signaled this same caveat last week during a visit to South Korea, noting that if the denuclearization talks break down, the freeze on exercises "will no longer be in effect.") Being honest about what was achieved in Singapore is important, not to diminish Trump's accomplishment, which is real and substantial, but to make clear what must come next. Usually a summit is the conclusion of meticulous detail work; in this case, the order is reversed: Trump and Kim have had their handshake; now their aides start the grunt work. Robert Carlin, a veteran CIA and State Department analyst of North Korea, argues that worrying about having the big guys' get-together first "is a little silly." For decades, he explained in an email, the U.S. has known that it needed to engage the North Korean leader directly to make any progress. "OK, we got to the leader and, in effect, established a floor for working-level talks. ... That's not a bad thing," Carlin notes. The goal now "should be to nurture this rather than crush it through constant carping." Trump's consigliere in closing the deal will be Pompeo, who has emerged from the Korea diplomacy as Trump's paramount aide. The North Koreans haven't yet specified their emissary; experts say that if they choose someone who really knows about Pyongyang's nuclear program, as opposed to a less-informed diplomat, that will be a positive sign of seriousness. China and Russia are scrambling to dip their spoons in the post-Singapore pudding, with Kim in Beijing this week and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in heading for Moscow. That's fine; it's a sign they don't want to be left out of American-led diplomacy. If we think about what's ahead as a business negotiation, it illuminates the nature of the exchange. Trump wanted a North Korean commitment to "complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization." He didn't get it in Singapore. Instead, the communique speaks only of "complete denuclearization." Words matter here: The monitoring needed for a truly "verifiable" and "irreversible" pact would alter North Korean society. The North Koreans want what we might call a "complete, verifiable, irreversible guarantee" that Kim's regime will survive and prosper. As an Asian diplomat told me this week, this guarantee will become real only when thousands of Americans are living and working in Pyongyang. This, too, would mean a very different North Korea. One potential sticking point in future bargaining is the sequence in which the conditions are fulfilled. The communique listed them in this order: establishing mutual "relations"; building a "lasting and stable peace regime"; and "work toward complete denuclearization." Just as words matter, so does their order. Carlin notes that in Kim's public message on his way to Singapore, he listed these same three points, in the same order. What matters most now is rapid follow-up. If Trump thinks he has done the heavy lifting, he may lose patience and move on. One Asia diplomat explains his worry this way: "There's a danger Trump will lose interest, and the situation will become worse than before, if North Korea doesn't show some real steps." Carlin agrees that progress in the next three to four months "will be crucial." Real-estate experts say that's the inherent problem with a conditional offer. If the deal doesn't close quickly, it can blow up -- leaving the both parties frustrated and angry. (c) 2018, Washington Post Writers Group It is likely that I am reading too much into things, but over the past 10 days I have detected two small shifts in thinking about trade, which do not immediately amount to much but which could well be a sign of more significant change in the future. The first is increased pushback from our friends and allies, particularly against the steel and aluminum tariffs and, prospectively, against the likely automobile tariffs. The G7 meeting in Quebec suggests that an attitude adjustment is underway. The Europeans in particular, along with the Canadians, seem to be moving away from a strategy of flattery and appeasement and toward one of more direct confrontation and measured retaliation. They were stung not only by the tariffs themselves, and their expected impact on their companies and workers, but also by the national security rationale that the United States used to justify them. While they would not entirely reject the theory that both commodities are relevant to a nations security, the idea that countries that are formal allies and have a long history of standing together against common security threats have suddenly become threats is, as Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau put it, insulting. Despite the childrens chant about sticks and stones, words do make a difference; they do hurt; and they appear to have done so in this case. The fact that the president regularly undercuts his own argument by linking the action to other matters, like Canadas dairy program or EU auto tariffs, dramatizes the hypocrisy of the U.S. position and only makes matters worse. This situation will get worse before it gets better. While it appears the strategy of a soft response has not worked, there is little to suggest that more aggressive pushback will work better. The post-G7 spat between Trudeau and Trump was instructive. The prime minister did to the president exactly what the president has done to him multiple timeshave a happy meeting and then make critical statements in public (nothing, by the way, that the prime minister had not said previously). What we learned from this episode is that the president can dish it out but cant take it. Our allies may be pushing back harder for their own domestic political reasons or because other strategies have not worked, but they should not expect significantly different results, at least in the short run. The presidents normal response is simply to return the push even harder. The second small tectonic shift may be occurring in the Congress. It is well known that a significant number of representatives and senators are intensely uncomfortable with the presidents trade policies, and most of those are in his own party. There has been a good bit of moaning and whining and serious private attempts to persuade the president to change course, but there has been no visible attempt to do anything about it. That changed in the past week in the form of a Senate amendment that would reverse the decision to mitigate the penalty on Chinese telecommunications company ZTE and in an attempt by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) to claw back congressional authority over tariffs by making the steel and aluminum tariffs retroactively subject to congressional approval. The two measures have, so far, had different fates. The ZTE amendment is in the Senate defense authorization bill, which means it will be an issue in the House-Senate conference, since the House bill does not contain the provision. The odds are that it will be weakened there but not removed entirely. Sen. Corkers efforts were rebuffed on the Senate floor, which has led to several testy exchanges between senators about whether the Senate is afraid of the president and has failed to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities. The main difference between the two amendments is that one is about China and the other is about how we treat our friends. Members of Congress appear willing to break with the president when they regard him as soft on China but not when he insults our allies. The more important question is why so many of them who clearly oppose what the president is doing are unwilling to do anything about it. The answer is not a secret. Its politics. The president doesnt hesitate to strike at people who oppose him, and that strategy works often enough (as Rep. Mark Sanford [R-SC] discovered last Tuesday) to intimidate the others. It is not lost on the cowed masses on the Hill that the few who have stood up are the ones that are retiring and have nothing to lose, except for their integrity, if they remain silent. I usually try to resist falling into the geezer trap of arguing that things were a lot different way back when I worked there (19731993), but there is some truth to it. The country was blessed at that time to have representatives and senators in both parties who were not afraid to speak their minds and stand up to the president if their beliefs required it, and we were fortunate to have leaders at least as interested in doing the right thing as they were in gaining partisan advantage. Last weeks Senate actions represent a smallvery smallstep back in that direction, but I sense a tipping point may be coming when others too discover that they are indeed vertebrates. Whether that will be over a trade war with China, auto tariffs, or withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), or all of them, is impossible to predict, but the Senate has begun to lay the foundation for more organized resistance, and we should stay tuned. Meanwhile, Sen. Corker should be congratulated for remembering that his oath was to the Constitution and not to the president or the Republican Party. Reprinted with permission from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. William Reinsch holds the Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Fortis Inc. operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 433,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 98,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,233 megawatts (MW), including 59 MW of solar capacity. The company also sells wholesale electricity to other entities in the western United States; owns gas-fired and hydroelectric generating capacity totaling 65 MW; and distributes natural gas to approximately 1,048,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in British Columbia, Canada. In addition, it owns and operates the electricity distribution system that serves approximately 572,000 customers in southern and central Alberta; owns 4 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 225 MW; and provides operation, maintenance, and management services to five hydroelectric generating facilities. Further, the company distributes electricity in the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador with an installed generating capacity of 143 MW; and on Prince Edward Island with a generating capacity of 130 MW. Additionally, it provides integrated electric utility service to approximately 67,000 customers in Ontario; approximately 270,000 customers in Newfoundland and Labrador; approximately 31,000 customers on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and approximately 15,000 customers on certain islands in Turks and Caicos. The company also holds long-term contracted generation assets in Belize consisting of 3 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 51 MW; and the Aitken Creek natural gas storage facility. It also owns and operates approximately 91,000 circuit Kilometers (km) of distribution lines; and approximately 49,500 km of natural gas pipelines. Fortis Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in St. John's, Canada. Read More Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 06/20/2018 ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. Got some scoop for our reporters or editors? Click on the link below to send us your information. Send your news Few people are able to reinvent themselves as a resident in their own town, but Brian Hitselberger is doing just that. Hitselberger is packing up his art supplies and moving into the open studio at the Lyndon House Art Center to explore a side of printmaking he has been waiting to delve into. Stress and anxiety are considered the norm around midterms time, and it can be a challenge to find ways to deal with it in healthy ways. To address it, M3 Yoga is offering discounted drop in classes during midterms for $5 until Oct. 14. NEW FAIRFIELD The person who was injured in a Candlewood Lake accident Tuesday has died, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced. The victim was identified as Wanda Tirado, 38, of Waterbury. She was pronounced deceased at Danbury Hospital at 11:15 am. A 65-year-old man was charged with recklessly operating his boat in connection with an accident on Candlewood Lake. Gary Morrone, 65, of Oakville, was charged with first-degree reckless operation of a vessel, failure to help a collision victim and failure to immediately notify law enforcement of injury, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection spokesman Chris Collibee said. DEEP said in a statement Tirado was a swimmer from the involved vessel. Morrone was released on $10,000 bond and is due in court in Danbury on July 3. Around 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, New Fairfield police, Squantz Engine Company, State Police, DEEP and Environmental Conservation Police responded to Candlewood Lake near the Squantz Pond boat launch to help in the search of a missing person in the water, Collibee said. Upon arrival, one female victim was rescued from the water by a good Samaritan vessel, Collibee said. The female victim was transported to Danbury Hospital for serious physical injuries. As agencies investigated, EnCon police identified the evading vessel that left the scene. The operator, Morrone, was placed under arrest. DEEP did not clarify if Morrone hit the victim with his boat. DEEP said Wednesday afternoon, The accident is currently under investigation by the State EnCon Polices Boating Accident Investigation Unit (BARU). Tirados body will be transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy. No further information will be released at this time. Candlewood Lake is bordered by New Fairfield, Danbury, Brookfield, New Milford and Sherman. Over the years, several people have died on the lake, in boating and drowning incidents. Fifteen drowning deaths were recorded between 1998 and 2010. In 2007, the state reduced the Squantz Pond parking lot capacity by 50 percent from 500 cars to 250 in the hopes of making the area safer. On Candlewood Lake, no one has drowned in at least seven years. Before Tuesdays incident, the most recent boating accident was in the summer of 2016 when three people were injured when a pontoon boat collided with two other boats while trying to dock. aquinn@newstimes.com; TONeill@hearstmediact.com NEW MILFORD -- One of eight people serving time in prison for their role in killing teenager Maryann Measles was denied early release by the states pardon board. Maggie Mae Bennett, who is serving the tail-end of a 19-year prison term on a conspiracy charge, was denied early release by the board after hearing from prosecutors in the case and family members of the victim. For more than six month during the fall of 1997 residents searched for 13-year-old Maryann Measles who had gone missing while at a grocery store with her mother. The teenagers face was on flyers and posters that were plastered throughout the town. But it wasnt until her body was found months later wrapped with a blanket and chains in Lake Lillinonah that the harrowing and horrific details of her murder began to emerge. Measles, a seventh-grade student at the time, was getting ready to report to police before she died that she had sex with two older men and statutory rape charges were likely. Some of those involved in the attack said it was meant to scare her away from making the allegations. But rather than just scare Measles, the group gang-raped the teenager before beating her and drowning her in the lake. Measles fled at one point during the attack, only to be pulled back by one of her attackers. Three men and five women were convicted and sentenced to prison for their role in the murder. Several women who participated in the murder said they were upset because Measles had sex with their boyfriends. Bennett, who is expected to be released late next year, had petitioned the board for early release but was denied. Bennett, who cooperated with investigators, received the shortest prison sentence of all the defendants. Litchfield States Attorney David Shepack, who wrote a letter arguing against Bennetts release, said Friday she was given consideration during her sentencing for her cooperation in the case. The fact is the sentences reflect the seriousness of what was a particularly heinous crime, Shepack said Monday. The other seven defendants who are still serving time in prison include Keith Foster, who received a 110-year prison sentence, Deaneric Dupas who was sentenced to 47 years in prison and Ronald Rajcok, who is serving a 36 years in prison. dperrefort@newstimes.com The Coast Guard suspended their search Wednesday morning for a 10-year-old boy missing in the waters off Long Beach, New York. Initial reports from the USCG said the child was 8-year-old. But Wednesdays update said his age is 10. The children who have been separated from their immigrant parents at the border have been sent to facilities across the country to be cared for. Some have ended up in Connecticut, but even the governors office doesnt know how many. These children who, advocates say, are likely traumatized fall under the purview of the federal government Besides not knowing how many are here or what their needs might be, the lack of communication between the feds and the state could make it even harder for the children to ultimately be reunited with their families. To find out where the children might be placed, officials, like any curious citizen, would have to check the website of the the Health and Human Services Department, dig through a long list of agencies that contract with the government and then try to guess at the places where the children could, potentially, be held. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made no secret of his feelings about the situation in Wednesday afternoon news conference, slamming President Donald Trump by calling him a child abuser and a liar. This is made more difficult by the cruel and unusual punishment handed out by our president where parents will be sent to one state and children will be sent to another making visitation impossible, Malloy said. This is about as low as America could possibly have gone in this decade, and we have several years more to go. Its disgusting. Kelly Donnelly, a spokeswoman for Malloys office, said the state is aware of at least one child under the age of 10 who has been relocated to Connecticut. She said another child was turned away because the facility was at capacity. Donnelly said that child is no longer in Connecticut. Trump bowed to political pressure Wednesday and ended the separation of families by signing an executive order that states families should be detained together. But prolonged detention of a child, even with their family, isnt even close to a solution, said Alicia Kinsman, director and managing attorney of immigration legal services at the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants. Its targeting children and families who, by and large, are fleeing violence, persecution, torture and other atrocities and are coming here to try to seek refuge and seek asylum according to our legal process, Kinsman said. So even though the administration has stated this is a policy to deter border crossing, it wont work. Were talking about people running for their lives. Persecution for unlawful entry is better than death so it will continue to happen. The institute is a federally contracted provider of pre-release and post-release services for refugees and immigrants, and provides services specifically for unaccompanied children. Kinsman said her agency has not come in contact with any children who have been separated from their family as a result of the federal zero tolerance policy implemented in April, but would not be surprised if some were to come through its doors in the near future. For those that do arrive, advocates are most concerned about the degree of trauma to which the children have been exposed. Stacey Violante-Cote, director of the teen legal advocacy project at the Center for Childrens Advocacy in Hartford, said it may take some time before unaccompanied children are referred to the center, but once they are, connecting them with mental health services will be a priority. In addition to the trauma theyve experienced in their home countries, they are re-traumatized just by the immigration process, she said. Patricia Marealle, a staff attorney on the Immigrant Childrens Justice Project at the Center for Childrens Advocacy, said her priority is making sure these children and families are aware of their rights, including gaining legal status. We want to make sure that families and community members and providers are aware of this special immigrant juvenile status, because if it goes underutilized our concern is that young people wont get the protection theyre entitled to, Marealle said. After the president signed his executive order, Malloy was relieved, but unimpressed. Im happy that the president of the United States, who can only be described as a child abuser, has seen how dangerous this is, he said, adding, It was disgusting, it is disgusting, its un-American, and its not often that I have to say Im ashamed of being an American. kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt On the last full day of spring, the National Weather Service says theres a good chance of showers and thunderstorms later in the day into the evening. Some of those storms could produce heavy rain, the NWS says. Summer officially begins at 6:07 a.m. Thursday on whats forecast to be a mostly sunny day with a high near 82 degrees. Mark Twain once wrote, There is a sumptuous variety about the New England weather ... in the spring I have counted one hundred and twenty-six kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours. As spring comes to a close, our weather over the past three months has been one for the record books. Twain would agree. Heres a look back at the season. April Carol Kaliff/Hearst Connecticut Media After a long winter that had above average snowfall and record cold temperatures, Connecticut residents were hoping April would bring more spring-like and calmer weather. March had three noreasters that dropped rain and heavy, wet snow. The noreasters also packed near hurricane-force winds that toppled trees causing up to 168,000 people to lose power across the state. Many southwestern Connecticut residents were without power for days. But on the morning after Aprils Fools Day, Connecticut had a not-so-nice joke from Mother Nature. An April 2 snowfall brought more than 7 inches to New Canaan, New Fairfield and Wallingford; more than 6 inches in Milford, Norwalk, Weston, Newtown and Oxford. The last time this much snow fell in April was 15 years ago - on April 7, 2003 when 2 inches fell at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford and more than 5 inches at JFK airport. Average April snowfall is less than an inch at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, but it ended up getting 6 inches. The previous winter saw no snow in April. The timing of the Monday, April 2 snowfall couldnt be worse. It began around 3 a.m., reached its peak at the start of the morning commute with rates falling at nearly 2 inches an hour. By the time April was over 36.9 inches of snow had fallen at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford - 14.4 inches more than average. Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut Media The first half or April was far from springlike. The Northeast Regional Climate Center said it was the ninth coldest April on record for Bridgeport. The average temperature was 42.7 degrees - 4.2 colder than normal. It was even colder farther inland. Danburys average April temperature was 31.5 degrees, more than five degrees below normal. Hartford had an average temperature of 40.2 degrees -6.4 degrees colder than average. The majority of the Northeast received less precipitation than normal during the first half of April. Connecticut received about 75 percent of its average precipitation during the month. May Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media After cold and snowy early spring, Connecticut residents were hoping May would bring more warmer and calmer weather. The first half of May saw record warmth. In fact, all 35 major climate sites in the Northeast ranked May 1-15 in their top 20 warmest early May on record. During the month, Danbury had two days when temperatures peaked at 91 degrees on May 3 and May 29. Bridgeports average temperature for the first half of May was 61.3 degrees - the third highest on record - and more than 5 temperatures warmer than normal. Danburys average May temperature of 64.4 degrees was 4.2 degrees higher than normal. Most of May weekends were chilly with rain showers. May, however, wont be remembered for its warm temperatures and cloudy weekends. On May 15, parts of Connecticut saw some of its worst weather on record when four tornadoes and one macroburst swept through the state, Tornadoes are comparatively rare in Connecticut, but the line of violent thunderstorms that swept through the state spawned four of them in a matter of hours. Its definitely one of the top five storms in the last few centuries for the number of tornadoes it created, said Paul Slaski, a meteorologist at the Connecticut Weather Center. Its almost unprecedented. Until May 15, the state had counted just 40 confirmed tornadoes since 1950, when the National Weather Service began keeping records, with Fairfield and New Haven counties being the most frequently hit. On average, Connecticut sees a tornado once every two to three years, said Pat Maloit, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Upton, N.Y. The first, with winds exceeding 100 miles an hour, touched down in Southbury and traveled more than four miles into Oxford before dissipating. Another tornado touched down in Beacon Falls and traveled nearly 10 miles before breaking up over Hamden. Catherine Avalone/Hearst Connecticut Media Another tornado struck in Winsted, causing damage over about eight city blocks, while a tornado spotted over the Barkhamsted Reservoir apparently didnt make landfall. In greater Danbury, the storm toppled trees and downed power lines in a broad area from the New York state line to Lake Lillinonah. Two people died when trees fell on their cars, several others were injured and thousands of residents spent days without electricity. The most extensive destruction occurred in New Fairfield and Brookfield. Beth Hawley / Hearst Connecticut Media Many Brookfield residents originally thought a tornado had ripped through the town, but the Weather Service said the damage was caused by a sudden and intense downburst of cold air from the topmost layers of the thunderstorm. When the air mass hit the ground, the wind rushed out in all directions - much like the shock waves from a bomb. The downburst was more than three miles wide and nine miles long with winds in excess of 110 miles per hour, the NWS said. A downburst more than 2.5 miles across is called a macroburst, in contrast to smaller events called microbursts, but both can be highly dangerous. Eversouce said the four tornadoes and macroburst caused more damage to the electric system than Superstorm Sandy in 2012. More than 288 miles of power lines came down, thats twice the length of Connecticut. As May ended, many residents were still clearing their properties of storm debris. June After a stormy and warm May, many Connecticut residents were hoping June would bring sunny skies during the day, starry nights and much calmer weather. And thats what theyre getting. Unlike late March, April and May, June has turned out to be perfectly normal. No tornadoes, flooding and strong winds. The average temperature of 75.7 degrees is just, average. On Tuesday, a record high of 88 degrees was set at Sikorsky Memorial Airport. The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting temperatures in the Northeast to be slightly above average for the rest of the summer. The first taste of summer came on Fathers Day weekend with sunny skies, temperatures near 90 and humid conditions. A court in Cambodia has summoned former president of the now-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Sam Rainsy as a suspect in a lese-majeste case, after he called a letter from the countrys king endorsing upcoming elections legally worthless. On Tuesday, Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Sieng Sok issued a summons ordering Sam Rainsy to testify at the Prosecution Office on the morning of July 12 for insulting King Norodom Sihamoni in statements posted to his Facebook page beginning in June. The summons directs Sam Rainsywho is currently living in self-imposed exile to avoid conviction in several cases widely seen as politically motivatedto appear at the office in a timely manner and to bring any relevant documentation connected to the accusations against him. In a letter dated May 18 and released to public in early June, King Sihamoni said that Cambodias July 29 general election is in keeping with the principles of pluralism, despite expectations it will be neither free nor fair following the Supreme Courts dissolution of the CNRP in November over its alleged involvement in a plot to topple the government. The letter also called on voters to ignore warnings and threats from any individual or political party that might prevent them from casting their ballot next month, after several leaders of the CNRP called for a boycott in protest of their partys ban from participation in the election. Shortly after the letter went public, Sam Rainsy responded with a Facebook post, calling the missive a forgery or written under duress, and thus legally worthless. On May 23, the former CNRP president had written an open letter to King Sihamoni, urging him to refrain from endorsing the election and bending to the will of Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) in calling on the public to vote, given the countrys political situation. In more recent posts, he suggested the kings letter had been backdated to avoid the shame of writing it after his request. Sam Rainsy dismissed the summons from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in a Facebook post on Wednesday and reiterated his belief that the kings endorsement has no legal value. We must not believe these courtesans in the Royal Palace who have sold out [to the CPP] and are telling us lies, he wrote. I maintain that our present king is being held hostage by Hun Sen, who is forcing him to support an autocratic and traitorous regime. Mounting lawsuits Political analyst Hang Vitou told RFAs Khmer Service that Tuesdays summons would do little to address concerns that Cambodias judiciary is directed by the ruling party, and that Sam Rainsy would never honor the summons in any casemuch like he hadnt for previous charges leveled against him. Sam Rainsy views the Phnom Penh Municipal Court as a kangaroo court that has been indoctrinated and influenced by the ruling party, he said. Such summonses serves no purpose, other than to heap legal pressure on Sam Rainsy and threaten him with additional jail time. Sam Rainsy has lost 10 lawsuits filed against him through Cambodias courts and, with Tuesdays summons, becomes the fourth person in the country to face charges under the controversial lese-majeste law. The law, which was unanimously adopted by the CPP-dominated National Assembly in mid-February, allows prosecutors to bring a criminal lawsuit on behalf of the monarchy against anyone deemed to have insulted the royal familya charge that carries a punishment of between one and five years in prison and a fine of between U.S. $500 and $2,500. The monarchy has come under considerable pressure from the CPP during Hun Sens rule, and the prime minister once threatened to change the countrys form of government to a republic if the king refused to sign a supplemental treaty administering Cambodias border with Vietnam. Latest criticism The fresh charges against Sam Rainsy came amid a slew of new criticism by rights groups and governments aimed at Hun Sens rule in the lead up to next months elections. At the 38th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, New Zealands charge daffaires Jarrod Clyne delivered a statement relaying his countrys concerns over a deteriorating rights situation in Cambodia and that we do not consider the pre-election environment to be conducive to holding free, fair and genuine national elections. Clyne highlighted a months-long crackdown by Hun Sen on the political opposition, NGOs and independent media, which is widely seen as part of a bid to ensure that the CPP stays in power following the vote, and urged the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein to monitor the situation before, during and after the elections to determine whether action should be taken at the councils next session. New York-based Human Rights Watch welcomed the statement from New Zealand, encouraging the High Commissioner to keep the Human Rights Council informed through intersessional briefings and urging the council to put in place monitoring and reporting of the human rights situation in Cambodia during the ballots. Cambodia's ambassador to the U.N. Office at Geneva, Ney Sam Ol, responded to Clyne's statement by suggesting that New Zealand has a hidden agenda to discredit the outstanding achievements of [Cambodia's] Government and has no hesitation to undermine the Council using it as a political tool to meddle in Cambodia's July 29 Election. Australian operatives Also on Tuesday, Mark Butler, a member of Australia's parliament for Port Adelaide in South Australia, told legislators that Hun Sen and the CPP had acted to shut down democracy ahead of the vote and suggested that the prime minister had installed operatives in Australias Cambodian community to dissuade criticism of the ballot, specifically through a group called the Cambodia Cultural Association. It appears clear to me through community reports that the Cambodia Cultural Association is little more than a front for Hun Sen," he said, adding that the group seems largely focused on the intimidation of the local Cambodian community in Australia. He said members of the association had threatened local Cambodian community with reprisals if they return to Cambodia to visit their families, after many gathered in Sydney in March to protest Hun Sens human rights record as the Cambodian leader prepared for a special summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Cambodia Cultural Association could not immediately be reached for comment in response to the allegations, but it was among seven groups that had issued a joint statement welcoming Hun Sens visit to Australia in March. Monitor drops out Meanwhile, the local office of Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) announced Wednesday that it would not monitor Cambodias ballot, saying the political environment and conditions during the months leading up to the 29 July election make it impossible for TI Cambodia to mobilise enough resources to monitor the polls and contribute to the electoral process in a meaningful way. TI Cambodias executive director Preap Kol told RFA that his organization lacked sufficient basis to provide recommendations or issue any statement regarding the election because it did not have enough information about the integrity of the vote. Last month, the Committee on Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), a respected independent vote monitor, said it will not sign up observers for Julys elections in the face of government restrictions on NGO activities. Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. China is reportedly holding Chinese Americans hostage, preventing them from leaving the country, as a means to put pressure on overseas family members to return to China, according to a recent report. Law enforcement agencies under the ruling Chinese Communist Party have prevented several U.S. passport-holders from leaving China in recent years, including a pregnant woman, the U.S.-based Daily Beast reported this week. At least two dozen cases of exit bans, often in connection with a police investigation, have been reported during the past two years, with the authorities often using the U.S. citizen as leverage to persuade a relative to return to China, it said. Some of the cases are linked to the pursuit of Chinese citizens thought to have fled overseas after committing economic crimes, under President Xi Jinping's "Operation Fox Hunt" program, which tries to pursue them as part of an anti-corruption drive. Shanghai-based rights activist Feng Zhenghu said such practices are "inhumane," while also noting that Chinese nationals are subjected to exit bans. "Some people are not allowed to leave the country," Feng said. "I have also been under such restrictions since 2015." "The official reason was that it would be detrimental to national security for me leave the country," he said. "They are pretty powerful, and they use that power to do illegal things." "They can place you under restrictions, with no regard for the law," he said. U.S.-based political risk management consultant Fang Enge said there are also documented cases of Chinese agents following people to the U.S. to put pressure on them to return to China. Corrupt officials and dissidents targeted According to Fang, sometimes the targets of such efforts are corrupt officials suspected of siphoning off public funds, but sometimes they are dissidents and peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, or their close relatives. "China detains people like dissidents and corrupt officials and so on, to target their relatives in the U.S.," he said. "They have also sent people in person to persuade [U.S. citizens of Chinese descent] to return to China." "Naturally, the U.S. is angry about these actions by the Chinese government; these actions by the Chinese state are causing considerable concern in the U.S.," Fang said, calling on Beijing to end the practice. Contacted by RFA in Washington, a State Department spokesperson had no immediate comment on the report. The U.S. embassy in Beijing did not answer phone calls from RFA's Cantonese service. The Daily Beast article quoted veteran rights campaigner John Kamm, of the founder of the Dui Hua Foundation, as saying that U.S. citizens can be prevented from leaving China if they are being regarded as a material witness in an ongoing criminal case. "Or that individual might be in effect being held as a hostage in an effort to get the people back," he said. The State Department posted a travel advisory in January warning that U.S. citizens can be forced to remain in China against their will. "Exit bans have been imposed to compel U.S. citizens to resolve business disputes, force settlement of court orders, or facilitate government investigations," the department said in a statement on its official website. "Individuals not involved in legal proceedings or suspected of wrongdoing have also be subjected to lengthy exit bans in order to compel their family members or colleagues to cooperate with Chinese courts or investigators," it said. According to Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country." Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un left China on Wednesday after a two-day visit to his country's biggest allyhis third trip there since the start of the year, official media reported. Kim met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for an "in-depth conversation over tea," state news agency Xinhua reported. "We are pleased to see that ... the momentum for dialogue and easing of situation on the Korean peninsula has been effectively strengthened, and [North Korea's] new strategic route has pushed the [country]'s socialist cause into a new journey," it quoted Xi as saying after the talks. Kim said the two countries are as close and friendly as family, and help each other, the agency said. Kim concluded his China visit late on Wednesday and departed Beijing for North Korea, Xinhua said. Hong Kong-based North Korea expert Chung Lok-wai said the visit was likely a case of Kim reporting back to Xi in the wake of the Singapore summit with U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month. "Kim Jong Un also traveled to [the northeastern Chinese city of] Dalian prior to the summit with the U.S., to meet with Xi Jinping," Chung said. "I think that both of these meetings before and after the summit took place were pre-arranged." "I think Beijing played a role in the summit, even though it didn't take part," he said. "It's quite reasonable that Kim should want to debrief Kim in person after the summit, given the current state of relations with China." U.S.-based political commentator Wang Juntao said the most likely motive behind Kim's Beijing trip was to secure economic backing from his country's chief ally, possibly because he is planning to take North Korea down a similar road towards economic reform as China took four decades ago. "Generally speaking, when a small and fairly weak country holds a crucial bargaining chip in international relations, it stands to benefit from an antagonistic relationship between two superpowers," Wang said. "From North Korea's point of view, its top priority right now is the ending of economic sanctions, and also developing its economy." "Developing its economy will mean North Korea will need aid and other assistance from China, and yet it still wants to guard against Chinese economic and political infiltration," he said. Balance of power Jiangxi University professor Quan Jialin said agreed. "The balance of power is being held by a small, weaker country," Quan said, but added that the U.S. has every right to expect denuclearization in North Korea after its decision to call a temporary halt to U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises. He said Kim is also likely to have discussed with Xi the politics of maintaining his grip on power while implementing his promises of denuclearization. South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said he hopes to hear soon about the outcome of Kim's most recent meeting with Xi. "China is looking to play a crucial role here in matters relating to peace and security on the Korean peninsula," Kang said. "We also want to enter into dialogue with Beijing, because that will help us to achieve our common aim of long-term peace and denuclearization on the Korean peninsula." Security remained tight around the visit, which wasn't announced beforehand. A Beijing correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP) was stopped by the police as he was waiting for Kim's motorcade on the streets of Beijing on Tuesday. Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Liu Shui for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. A young Vietnamese man caught up in violent protests last week against government plans to grant long-term land concessions to foreign investors was severely beaten by police after answering a summons to report to their office, the young man said. Nguyen Minh Kha, 18, now faces charges for obstructing and injuring officers and damaging state assets during protests in Binh Thuan province on June 10 and 11, Kha told RFAs Vietnamese Service in a recent interview. The Binh Thuan protestone of several that rocked major cities including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Nha Trangsaw demonstrators throw rocks and Molotov cocktails at police and set fire to official vehicles and buildings, with scores of protesters detained across the country. The protests are driven by fears that the 99-year special economic zone leases Vietnam plans to offer foreign investors will be snapped up by buyers from neighboring China, with which Vietnam has had tense bilateral relations in recent yearsin part due to territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Summoned after the protest by police in Phan Thiet city in Binh Thuans Tuy Phong district, Kha said that he was put into a car and driven to a remote location, where officers cursed and beat him, demanding to know if he had been paid to take part in the disturbance. I was beaten till I could barely breathe, said Kha, who admitted having thrown stones at the police. I tried to tell them just to give me time, and that I would tell them whatever they wanted to know, but the officer beating me told me he had come from the city police and was there to work, and not to fool around with me. Released in the afternoon, Kha said, he was told he would be called in again in just a few days, and was left with pain all over my body and barely able to walk. I went to the hospital, but they said I was only bruised, he said. Doctors 'scared of police' Also speaking to RFA, Khas grandmother Huynh Thi Cut said that the police abuse of Kha began as soon as he entered their office. I went with him to the police station, she said, adding that officers asked Kha about the protest as soon as he sat down, cursing him and striking him in the stomach and head. The policeman carrying out the beating wore a mask, she said. Later, we went to the hospital near our home, but the doctors there are scared of the police and did not want to report that my grandson was injured, she said, adding, They said they would need to hear from the police before filing a report. The government is supposed to protect people. Why do they beat us? she asked. Police on Wednesday ordered Khas family to bring him in again, but he had left his family home for medical treatment in Ho Chi Minh City, his mother told RFA by phone on June 20. He is not well, and is coughing up blood, his mother said. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Richard Finney. A Vietnamese cargo ship has run aground off Sarangani Bay in the southern Philippines, damaging more than 200 artificial reefs that were built more than 10 years ago by environmental conservationists, authorities said Wednesday. The ship, the HTK Energy, was carrying a cargo of rice when it hit the artificial reefs just off the coast along the bay on Monday, said Omar Saikol, assistant superintendent of the Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape, a government body tasked with protecting the local marine environment. The damaged reefs served as a habitat for various fish species, Saikol said, adding that authorities had arranged for divers to check the extent of the destruction. There is an ongoing investigation. Were getting video footage of the damage to facilitate the proper assessment and imposition of possible penalties or fines, he told reporters in General Santos City on Wednesday. The artificial reefs, located just 20 meters (66 feet) near the shore, were constructed more than a decade ago by environmentalists as part of efforts to protect local biodiversity, said Katherine Lopez Bitco, a marine management specialist. The damage is quite extensive and the area could reach 100 to 200 square meters [1,076 to 2,153 square feet], Bitco said. In January 2013, a minesweeper owned by United States, the USS Guardian, ran aground on Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea, a protected marine sanctuary in southern Philippine waters considered a World Heritage Site by the U.N. The U.S. Navy hired a Singapore-based company to dismantle the minesweeper piece by piece so it would cause no further damage. The ships commanding officer and navigator were subsequently relieved and the U.S. government was fined at least U.S. $1.4 million for the damage. Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Afghan officials say at least 11 soldiers were killed in the first major Taliban attack since the militants ended a cease-fire coinciding with the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told RFE/RL on June 20 that nine Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the overnight attack in the western province of Badghiss Balamerghab district. Badghis Provincial Governor Abdul Qafoor Malikzai said the Taliban attacked two security posts in the early hours. Abdul Aziz Bek, head of the Badghis provincial council, and a spokesman for the Badghis police, Naqibullah Amini, said as many as 30 soldiers died in the attack. Bek said there were also casualties among the militants. The Taliban said heavy fighting was continuing. The Taliban ended its three-day cease-fire on the night of June 17, while the Kabul government extended its truce by 10 days. With reporting by Reuters and AP An alleged Russian crime boss suspected in a string of contract killings has been extradited by Austria to Moscow after losing a years-long legal battle, Russia's Interior Ministry says. Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said on June 20 said that 47-year-old Aslan Gagiyev, also known as Dzhako, had been flown to Russia, escorted by police and prison officers. Austria's highest court had rejected Gagiyevs appeal against extradition. Gagiyev fled abroad in 2013 after being accused of organizing a criminal gang, banditry, murder, weapons trafficking, and embezzlement, Volk said. Russia has accused Gagiyev's gang of murdering 60 people, including the mayor of the city of Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia, which borders Chechnya, as well as the region's former deputy prime minister. Volk said Gagiyev is "accused of involvement in dozens of contract killings including of law-enforcement chiefs, top officials and well-known businessmen." The Russian Investigative Committee said at least 22 of the gang members have been convicted of crimes, with some receiving life sentences. Gagiyev was arrested at a Vienna train station in January 2015 on an international arrest warrant. Austria initially delayed his extradition to Russia because of concerns about his rights there, and he was freed after posting a 100,000-euro bail in February 2016. He was taken back into custody in September 2017 after his appeal was rejected. Gagiyev has denied wrongdoing and said Russia's attempt to have him extradited was politically motivated. Based on reporting by AFP, TASS, and Crime Russia Iran has suggested it could be open to a compromise on a small rise in OPEC oil output after earlier rejecting a plan by Russia and Saudi Arabia to increase production in response to consumer concerns over rising prices. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh on June 20 said cartel members that had cut more than required in recent months could increase output back to higher agreed quotas. Experts said that would effectively mean a slight increase from top producers such as Saudi Arabia, which has been cutting more deeply than required under previous policies designed to raise once-slumping prices. A day earlier, Zanganeh had told reporters upon arrival at Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) headquarters in Vienna that "I don't believe at this meeting we can reach agreement." Moscow and Riyadh have proposed reversing most of a 1.8 million-barrels-a-day cut in production that OPEC and other major producers agreed to in 2016 amid recent calls by the United States, China, and other major oil-consuming countries for relief from rising pump prices. But Iran has signaled its opposition along with Iraq, Algeria, and Venezuela, three other influential OPEC members. Zanganeh cited recent demands for a production increase from U.S. President Donald Trump as a reason to oppose it. Trump has "created difficulty for the oil market" by imposing sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, Zanganeh asserted, leading to lower production and higher prices. "And now he expects OPEC to change something for better prices," he said. "That is not fair. OPEC is an independent organization, not an organization to receive instruction from President Trump.... OPEC is not part of the Department of Energy of the United States," he said. Premium crude prices have surged nearly 75 percent to almost $80 a barrel since OPEC and allies such as Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mexico agreed to a production cut in late 2016. OPEC is due to meet on June 22 to review the agreement and plans to meet the next day with Russia and other non-OPEC producers that joined the agreement in 2016. Zanganeh had said he would leave Vienna before talks with Russia and other non-OPEC countries were held, but participants said on June 20 that efforts were taking place to persuade Iran to participate in any deal. OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said on June 20 he was confident there would be a deal during the June 22 discussions. Iraq's oil chief, Jabar al-Luaibi, said he hoped there would be agreement when OPEC met, but added that the "oil market has not reached the level of stabilization." Iran's opposition to raising oil output puts it on a collision course with Russia, which has called for raising production by 1.5 million barrels a day, in a near-total rollback of the 2016 production cuts. Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said the need for increased output is urgent during the summer, when demand for gasoline and oil hits a high point for the year. "Oil demand usually grows at the steepest pace in the third quarter.... We could face a deficit if we don't take measures," Novak said on June 19. "In our view, this could lead to market overheating" -- meaning sharply higher prices. Novak said that if OPEC and its allies decide this week to raise output, they could review their decision and fine-tune it at another planned meeting in September. Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the United States, is particularly under pressure from Trump to offset any production decline caused by the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran in November. Russia and others have also warned that continuing to limit supply could encourage increased production from shale oil producers in the United States, who are not part of the OPEC agreement and pose outside competition. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and Bloomberg The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has rejected a plea from Iranian activists to broach talks with the United States to resolve longtime differences, saying they have "sided with the U.S., the enemy of the people." "Striking an understanding with the United States means the death of the Islamic republic," General Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency on June 19. Over the weekend, more than 100 activists in moderate and reformist camps in Iranian politics welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump's deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In a statement published by Iranian media, the activists, who were mostly foreign-based, urged Tehran to start direct negotiations with Washington "with no preconditions" to resolve decades of enmity between the two countries dating to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. A signatory of the letter, Gholamhossein Karbaschi, who heads a reformist party, told the Etemad pro-reform newspaper that Iran should say it is "ready to negotiate" if "the United States and Trump give assurances that they will never again renege on their commitments." Also among the signatories was Abdolali Bazargan, a son of Iran's first Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, the paper said. But Jafari dismissed the idea, saying that activists who favor fresh talks with Trump, who withdrew the United States from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers in May, are "traitors and antirevolutionaries." "While we are not saying that it amounts to treason, we must say that it opens the way to making concessions to the enemy," he said. Jafari said the 2015 negotiations with the United States and other world powers on the nuclear deal were "an exception." Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht echoed Jafari's remarks. "There are no grounds or logic to talk to such a person [as Trump]. Public opinion would not welcome that either," Nobakht was quoted as saying by ISNA. Jafari also said on June 19 that Iran has no plan to increase the range of its ballistic missiles, which currently are designed to travel as far as 2,000 kilometers. "We have the scientific ability to increase our missile ranges, but it is not our current policy," Jafari was quoted as saying by Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency. Jafari said most of Iran's enemies are already situated within a 2,000-kilometer radius. The range encompasses much of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, and American bases in the Persian Gulf region. Iran says its ballistic-missile program is only for defensive purposes against regional adversaries. In 2017, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered limits on the country's ballistic-missile program to 2,000 kilometers. With reporting by AP, Reuters, dpa, and AFP Iraqi police have clashed with pro-Iranian militia fighters near the headquarters of the powerful Hizbullah Brigades in Baghdad, Iraq's Interior Ministry says. The ministry on June 20 said security forces surrounded the headquarters in the capital after a shooting incident. A security official said at least two police officers and a brigade member were wounded. The Shi'ite Hizbullah Brigades are part of the Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), that battled the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Iraq. An Interior Ministry official told AFP news agency that a shoot-out erupted when a convoy of brigade members arrived after police stopped the driver of a stolen car who belonged to the PMF. "The men in five vehicles opened fire and the police responded. Two policemen were wounded and one of the members of Hizbullah Brigades," he said. Police then surrounded the militia headquarters "where the fighters had holed up." The "person behind the shooting" was eventually arrested and officers eased the siege of the headquarters, the official said. The Iran-backed Shi'ite militia in 2014 joined Hashid Shaabi -- which was under the command of Iraq's prime minister -- after Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric sought its help to stop the Sunni-led IS from rampaging across the country. Iraq declared victory over IS late last year after the insurgents were driven from nearly all of their strongholds and top leaders were killed by Iraqi government forces and its allies. Separate from its efforts in Iraq, the Hizbullah Brigades have been fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran but opposed by the United States and others in the West. Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and The National Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Ukraine to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, an intergovernmental political document aimed at better protecting childrens right to education in wartime. The New York-based watchdog made the call in a June 20 statement, saying that fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine has a devastating toll on children. Since the conflict began in April 2014, at least 740 education facilities in the region have been damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations. In May of this year alone, the UN said at least four education facilities sustained damage as a result of continuous hostilities. Both sides in the conflict have used schools and universities as bases and barracks, HRW said. Seventy-five countries have signed the Safe Schools Declaration, which contains concrete commitments to better protect students, teachers, schools, and universities from the effects of war. The UN Security Councils Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict is on July 9. What better platform for Ukraine to endorse the declaration than on one of the world's most influential stages? HRW said. Ukraines Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya said in October 2017 that his country attaches great importance to the Safe Schools Declaration and expressed Kyivs willingness to endorse the document. These words were encouraging, but more than seven months later, its time to put words into action, HRW said. Ukrainian children cannot wait any longer. Kosovar President Hashim Thaci has pledged to continue dialogue with Serbia and reach a comprehensive, legally binding agreement on normalizing relations between Pristina and Belgrade. Thaci made the comments at a news conference in Pristina on June 20 ahead of EU-facilitated talks with his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, later this week. "I am convinced that the time has come now, after 20 years of negotiations with Serbia, to sign a historic agreement between Kosovo and Serbia that will end a tragic era that lasted over a century", Thaci said. EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini is set to host a meeting with Thaci and Vucic in Brussels on June 24. The bloc has said Mogherini and the two presidents will "take stock of existing agreements, inform of achievements to date as well as discuss the next steps in view of an intensive period ahead." Thaci called for the involvement of institutional leaders, representatives of all parties, experts, civil society, and the media in what he called the final phase of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. He said the upcoming negotiations will be hard but necessary if Kosovo wants to become part of the United Nations, the European Union, and NATO. Kosovo's president also said the sides will have to discuss issues related to the 400-kilometer border between Kosovo and Serbia. "I am not interested in new borders with Serbia, I am interested in peace. In case there is a new conflict, then the extent of damage will be enormous for both countries," Thaci said. Serbia's former province of Kosovo declared independence in 2008 and is recognized as a sovereign state by more than 110 countries but not by Belgrade and Moscow. Both Serbia and Kosovo are pursuing membership in the EU, and the bloc wants an agreement to normalize ties completed by the end of 2019. Macedonias parliament has ratified an agreement with Greece to change the former Yugoslav republics name at a plenary session that was boycotted by the main opposition party. Lawmakers on June 20 voted 69-0 to ratify the agreement, which changes the countrys formal name to the Republic of North Macedonia. The opposition nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party boycotted the session. The draft legislation required a simple majority from the at least 61 deputies required for a quorum. Ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev defended the "historic" accord before the National Assembly, saying it represents a dignified and acceptable solution for both sides. We did not give up anything to anyone, Zaev insisted. Lawmakers on June 19 launched the process of ratifying the accord, as hundreds of protesters gathered in the center of Skopje for a third day to vent anger over the deal. They voted 69-40 for the adoption of a shortened procedure, and two parliamentary committees later approved the draft law on ratifying the deal. The agreement, signed by the two countries' foreign ministers on June 17, ends a 27-year dispute between Athens and Skopje and paves the way for Macedonia to begin membership talks with the European Union and NATO. But it will take months to complete and faces several hurdles along the way, with President Gjorge Ivanov pledging to veto the deal. That would force lawmakers to repeat the vote, and if the deal is ratified again this time with an absolute majority -- then Ivanov will be unable to block it. Ivanov on June 20 reiterated that his position on the "damaging agreement" remained the same "in spite of pressure." "I urge Zaev to muster the two-thirds majority necessary to impeach the president, the same he will need to change the constitution [to incorporate the name change]," he also said in a statement. Zaev has pledged to hold a referendum on the deal later this year. If Macedonians vote in favor, the next step will be for lawmakers to approve a constitutional amendment formally changing the country's name. The Greek parliament would then vote on the deal, which has split the governing coalition and is rejected by most opposition parties. The name dispute between Skopje and Athens dates back to 1991, when Macedonia peacefully broke away from Yugoslavia, declaring its independence under the name Republic of Macedonia. Greece has objected to the name Macedonia, fearing territorial claims on its eponymous northern region. Because of Greek objections, Macedonia was admitted to the UN under a provisional name, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Greece, an EU and NATO member, has also cited the dispute to veto Macedonia's bid to join the two organizations. With reporting by MIA and dpa CHISINAU -- A court in Moldova's capital has not validated the mandate of Andrei Nastase, whose election victory in the mayoral election earlier this month had been challenged by opponents. The Chisinau City Court on June 19 declared the results of the snap election null, after postponing the hearing into the matter twice. Nastase, of the pro-European Dignity and Truth Platform, said he will challenge the court ruling and called on protesters to continue rallying in his support. Nastase won more than 52 percent of the votes in a runoff on June 3, defeating the candidate of the Moscow-friendly Socialist Party, Ion Ceban, according to election authorities. The Socialist Party filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, alleging electoral violations. Nastase supporters have rallied in Chisinau, accusing the authorities of intentionally blocking him from taking office. The election was seen as a test for the countrys political parties ahead of the general polls. Early mayoral elections were also held in Moldova's second-largest city, Balti, where Nicolai Grigorisin, the candidate of the pro-Russia Our Party, won in the first round with 61 percent of the vote. Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, is divided between forces supporting pro-Russian President Igor Dodon and those backing the government, which is pushing for closer ties with the EU and the United States. CHISINAU -- Thousands of people have joined protests on the streets of the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, after a court invalidated the election victory of a pro-Western candidate to the mayor's post. Demonstrators gathered on June 20 near the city hall, yelling, "Nastase is mayor!" and holding banners declaring, "Our vote is not your whim." Andrei Nastase, the Dignity and Truth Platform candidate, defeated the candidate of the Moscow-friendly Socialist Party, Ion Ceban, in a runoff on June 3. Nastase, a prosecutor who opposes local oligarchs and pro-Russian policies in the former Soviet republic, received 52.5 percent of the vote. However, the Chisinau court ruled on June 19 that Nastase was not the winner of the vote, but did not give a reason, prompting the first street protests later that night. Nastase, 42, on June 20 submitted an appeal, claiming the ruling was politically motivated. Nastase was one of the organizers of large-scale anticorruption protests in 2015 after the disappearance of $1 billion from the Moldovan banking system. His Dignity and Truth Platform and the Party of Action and Solidarity have agreed to work together to select candidates for the parliamentary elections to defeat the Democratic Party, which is the main force in the pro-Western governing coalition, and the Socialist Party close to Moscow-friendly President Igor Dodon. The court ruling prompted expressions of concern by the U.S. Embassy in Moldova and some members of the European Parliament. The U.S. Embassy said that "the unexpected and nontransparent invalidation of the elections for Chisinau mayor, in which there was a clear winner, is a worrying development." European Parliament member Cristian Preda of Romania said the parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee would discuss the issue on June 21. The election was called when Dorin Chirtoaca, mayor for the past 10 years, stepped down after being probed for influence trafficking in a city parking contract. He says the case is politically motivated. With reporting by AP and Interfax Russia was emboldened by the lack of a decisive response by President Barack Obama's administration during the 2016 presidential election and will seek to interfere in future elections, a former top U.S. official says. Victoria Nuland, whose portfolio at the State Department made her a leading Russia official under Obama, made the comments on June 20 during a hearing at the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting a sweeping investigation of Russian actions in the United States. Nuland's remarks did not contain any bombshell revelations, but they added details to the response in 2016 and 2017 when U.S. intelligence agencies said they discovered an extensive hacking-and-propaganda campaign to interfere in the election. Nuland said that during a meeting in September 2016, Obama gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a "stern and personal warning" to stop its activities. She said Russian actions appeared to wane for roughly a month, but then picked up by late October, just weeks before the November 8 vote. "It's probably the case that the Russians expected deterrent measures and didn't see them, and so felt they could keep pushing," she told the committee. Nuland also echoed previous statements from Obama administration officials about the reluctance by the administration to speak out for fear of being accused by the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, of trying to sway the election. "I think there was a concern that if this wasn't handled properly, any move publicly would be seen as President Obama playing into those accusations," she said. Obama spoke publicly about the Russian effort in December 2016, and the U.S. intelligence community released more detailed conclusions in January 2017, just weeks before Donald Trump was inaugurated as president. Obama also announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats and the seizure of two Russian diplomatic properties. Amid consistent Russian denials of interference, the Senate committee, and two other congressional committee, have been conducting various investigations into this question, including interactions between Russian officials and members of Trump's election campaign. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is also conducting a widening criminal investigation, which to date has brought indictments against 20 people and three companies on various related charges. That includes Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. Five people have pleaded guilty to date, including Flynn and Manaforts former business associate, Rick Gates. Trump himself has repeatedly denied accusations of colluding with Russian officials, and he has stepped up his attacks against Mueller's probe, calling the investigation a "witch hunt." Russia has expressed alarm over President Donald Trump's pledge to maintain U.S. dominance in space and create a separate branch of the military called the space force. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova voiced Russias concerns on June 20, a day after Trump said that "America will always be the first in space." He also said, "We don't want China and Russia and other countries leading us." In his latest directive on space matters, Trump called for the Pentagon to create a new "space force" that would become the sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces -- a proposal that requires congressional approval. Zakharova said during a news briefing in Samara that Russia "noted the U.S. president's instructions...to separate space forces from the air force," saying, "The most alarming thing about this news is the aim of his instructions, namely to ensure [U.S.] domination in space." Zakharova accused the United States of "nurturing plans to bring out weapons into space with the aim of possibly staging military action there." She warned that if realized, such plans would have a destabilizing effect on strategic stability and international security." While Russia has a branch of the military called "space forces," their activities are "purely defensive," the spokeswoman insisted. Based on reporting by AFP, Interfax, and TASS KAZAN, Russia -- The elder sons of Timer Tyapkin, vice president of the Chuvash National Congress, do not speak Chuvash. "In the early 1990s, even our teacher told us, 'No one needs Chuvash outside the town of Kanash,'" Tyapkin told RFE/RL. "But nonetheless my wife and I gave our younger daughters Chuvash names. My wife spoke to them in Chuvash even before they were born." She sang them Chuvash lullabies, he says, and the youngsters addressed them as "Anne" and "Atte," Mama and Papa in Chuvash. "We have to raise Chuvash patriots through our history, philosophy, faith, and the teachings of our ancestors," he added. "Our people have never lived in greenhouse conditions. Today, the people are more worried about the price of gasoline and sausage. But we have to preserve our ancient language." Tyapkin is among the critics -- particularly within the country's so-called ethnic republics that comprise sizable populations of ethnic non-Russians in areas that were among those regions granted some self-rule after the Soviet collapse -- who complain that new legislation snaking its way through the State Duma represents a profound threat to the traditions and languages that make up the very fabric of the Russian Federation. Some suggest it is part of a misguided effort to simply "make everyone Russian." The draft law, which lays out a blueprint for the teaching of native languages in Russia, cleared its latest legislative hurdle with the Duma's passage in a first reading on June 19. As passed, the bill would prevent regions from requiring the study of and teaching in minority languages and making such study voluntary at the request of parents. At the same time, the study of Russian language and culture would be part of the required curriculum. Many in the ethnic republics fear the change would mean fewer opportunities for minority-language speakers and would represent a major intrusion by the federal government into an area previously delegated to the regions. Duma deputies have vowed in response to the latest criticism that the bill will be "fundamentally altered" before its second reading. And crucially, Vyacheslav Nikonov, chairman of the Duma's Education and Science Committee, said the final bill will list the national languages of Russia's so-called ethnic republics as "obligatory" school subjects. "There have been fears that the languages of various peoples will not be in the obligatory section of [the national educational] curriculum," Nikonov said during the debate over the bill. "They will be there. The necessary changes will be made to include them in the obligatory section." He added that Russian will be among those "native languages," and that students' parents will be allowed to choose "the language of study or native language as a subject of study." 'Bureaucratic Chicanery' Deputy Alyona Arshinova, who represents Chuvashia and is one of the co-authors of the controversial bill, agreed and told her fellow legislators that the decision to grant that choice to parents was made "on the basis of written requests." "Before the second reading," she said, "we understand that the wording can be improved. We will speak not only of the preservation of native languages but about their development." But many people in the ethnic republics -- where the titular ethnicity is significantly represented, including Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and Chuvashia -- argue that the bill aims at weakening non-Russian cultures and the country's nominal status as a federation. "They say that we need a national idea in this country," Vasily Pekteyev, director of the Mari National Theater in Ioshkar-Ola, told RFE/RL. "But the national idea can't be that we all were turned into Russians." "What we have here is a clear example of bureaucratic chicanery aimed at overshadowing the anticonstitutional nature of these initiatives," wrote historian Timur Aloyev of the Kabardino-Balkaria Humanitarian Institute in an open letter to President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials. "Attempts through legal acts to block the guarantees written into the federal and republican constitutions are literally undermining the federal structure of the Russian Federation." The proposed law is a result of a statement made by Putin in 2017 to the effect that no one should be forced to study non-native languages. His statement responded to complaints by ethnic Russians in Tatarstan about their children being compelled to learn Tatar in school. After Putin's comment, both Tatarstan and Bashkortostan changed their laws to make the study of their republican languages optional. After the draft bill was submitted to the State Duma, the State Council of Tatarstan passed a resolution asking lawmakers to reject it. The World Bashkir Assembly sent the Duma a letter opposing the bill and proposed that Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and Chuvashia unite in their efforts against it. Former Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiyev has said the measure violates the Russian Constitution. But the bill has also revealed divisions within these republics. It was co-authored by two deputies purportedly representing Chuvashia Arshinova, of the ruling United Russia party, and Oleg Nikolayev, of the pro-Putin A Just Russia party. Virtually all of the Duma deputies representing the ethnic republics voted in favor of the bill in its first reading, when it passed by a vote of 373 to three. 'Threat To Security' A group of activists from Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and Buryatia sent an open letter in support of the initiative, saying the practice of requiring students to learn the native languages of the regions they live in is "a threat to the security and integrity of Russia." The letter was co-authored by Mikhail Shcheglov, chairman of the Society of Russian Culture of Tatarstan; Viktor Afanasyev, an official of the Assembly of Russians of Bashkortostan; Eduard Nosov, chairman of the Committee to Protect the Rights of Russian-Speaking Parents and Students of Tatarstan; and Galina Luchkina, deputy head of the Parents Movement for the Voluntary Study of the Buryat Language. It called for deputies to resist "the pressure of nationalist-separatist forces." In May, many of the same figures signed a similar letter that essentially called for the elimination of the ethnic republics altogether. "We would like to see equal status for all territories of the Russian Federation," that May letter said. "The absolute majority of the 'non-titular' population is indifferent to the status of the republics. That status means nothing to us and gives us nothing but unnecessary complications in educating our children." On the other hand, native-culture activists from nearly all the ethnic republics gathered in Moscow in late May and agreed to form the Democratic Congress of Peoples of the Russian Federation. The new NGO aims to oppose the proposed language-instruction law and to resist "projects to alter the administrative structure of Russia," according to Tatar activist Ruslan Aisin. What many people in republics like Tatarstan and Bashkortostan fear is already happening in Mari El, a central Russian ethnic republic on the northern banks for the Volga River, argued Mari National Theater director Pekteyev. "In Mari villages now, all the instruction in kindergartens is in Russian," he told RFE/RL. "There might not be a single ethnic Russian in a village, but all the lessons in kindergartens and schools are in Russian." He claimed events in Mari El are the result of long-running policies under Leonid Markelov, who headed the republic from 2000 to 2017. "[Markelov] simply hated the Mari people, and all of this was done intentionally," Pekteyev said. He noted that road signs that previously were bilingual have been replaced by ones only in Russian. "You can walk into any school in a Mari village, even places where there is not one child whose native language is Russian, and all the information and signs will be in Russian, beginning with the 'welcome' sign on the door," Pekteyev said. "And this was happening with us long before Putin's statement [about the unacceptability of compelling students to study non-native languages]. Some schools stopped teaching Mari altogether as long as 15 years ago." According to the 2002 census, there were slightly more than 312,000 Maris in Mari El and 254,000 Mari speakers. In the 2010 census, there were just more than 290,000 Maris and only 204,000 Mari speakers. Pekteyev said the frustration experienced by many parents who are unable to raise their children as fluent Mari speakers inevitably contributes to social unrest in the region. This is particularly true, he said, because they get little sympathy from their Duma deputies and republican officials, most of whom are ethnic Russians. "They are afraid that they will be forced to study Mari themselves," he said. "In short, Mari El has already ceased to be an ethnic republic in anything but name. We are just another oblast." Written by RFE/RL senior correspondent Robert Coalson based on reporting by RFE/RL Tatar-Bashkir Service correspondents Dmitry Lyubimov and Ramazan Alpaut. RFE/RL correspondents Vadim Meshcheryakov and Timer Aktash also contributed to this report. The lower house of Russias parliament has approved in its first reading a controversial bill on the teaching of native languages in schools. In the draft law approved by the State Duma late on June 19, the lawmakers included the Russian language in the list of native languages that the pupils can learn at schools across the country. Over the past year, the issue of native languages at schools has been a subject of controversy in Russia's ethnic regions, where indigenous, non-Russian ethnic groups are well-represented. President Vladimir Putin said in July last year that children in these regions must not be forced to learn languages that are not their mother tongues, and ordered prosecutors to determine whether that was taking place. That led to abolishing mandatory indigenous language classes in the regions, which caused protests in the so-called ethnic republics and regions in Russia's North Caucasus, Volga region, Siberia, and Far East, where local languages have official status alongside Russian. Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax Counterproductive. Short-sighted. Cynical. Human rights groups and governments around the world were quick to use those and other adjectives in describing the decision by the United States to leave the United Nations' Human Rights Council. The move, announced by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on June 19, has boosted concerns that the United States is retreating from its role as a leading international advocate for human rights and deals a blow to multilateralism on the heels of White House decisions to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate agreement, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. "Forfeiting the U.S. seat on the UN Human Rights Council only serves to empower actors on the [Security] Council, like Russia and China, that do not share American values on the preeminence of universal human rights," a statement by 12 human rights groups including Freedom House, CARE, and Human Rights First said in reaction to the announcement. Washington has regularly chided Beijing over political freedoms, detainee torture, and religious persecution, and challenged Moscow over the imprisonment of dissidents, curbs on free speech and assembly, unsolved killings in politically charged cases, and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. But it has also called out a number of other perceived rights offenders in the former Soviet Union, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, and several of the Central Asian republics. "...[N]o other likeminded country seeking to occupy the United States' former seat can realistically match Washington's global diplomatic and political footprint. In short, without strategic U.S. engagement at the Council as a member, the U.S. loses a platform to influence the course of human rights globally for the better and the victims of human rights abuse globally will fall prey to the machinations of governments that will take advantage of this strategic vacuum," the joint statement added. In making the announcement, Haley said that the "hypocritical and self-serving" body "makes a mockery of human rights." She lambasted the Geneva-based council for "its chronic bias against Israel" and lamented that its members include "persistent human rights offenders" like China. Washington declined to join the council when it was first created in 2006 during the presidency of George W. Bush, though his successor, Barack Obama, opted for membership in 2009. U.S. officials have long complained that the council focuses too much on Israel while ignoring rights violations in other countries. 'Wrong Side Of History' Carl Bildt, a longtime diplomat who is currently co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, acknowledged that the council is "far from perfect" but chided the Trump administration saying that "to leave is to abandon even an ambition when it comes to promoting and protecting human rights." Other critics were less diplomatic. Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said the move showed U.S. President Donald Trump's "complete disregard for the fundamental rights and freedoms the U.S. claims to uphold." "The U.S. should urgently reverse this decision, which places it squarely on the wrong side of history. It is willfully choosing to undermine the human rights of all people everywhere, and their struggles for justice," he said. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that while it was true that the participation of some persistent rights violators such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela muddied the council's reputation, it still "plays a vital role in addressing serious rights abuses around the world." "President Trump has decided that 'America First' means ignoring the suffering of civilians in Syria and ethnic minorities in Myanmar [Burma] at the United Nations," said HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth. Some of the sharpest criticism came from Russia's UN mission, which said the United States had tried but failed to turn the council into an "obedient instrument for advancing their interests and punishing the countries it dislikes." Behind a wave of criticism over Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and its military support for the Syrian government in a civil war, Russia lost its seat on the council in 2016 but announced on June 20 that it was putting forward its candidacy for a seat on the 47-member body. That tack appears in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to boost Moscow's international relevance as relations with the United States have soured and combat international isolation set in after its invasion of Ukraine. "Russia will continue its constructive work, aimed at maintaining equal dialogue and cooperation on human rights. It is with this goal in mind that Russia nominated its candidacy for elections to the composition of the HRO for 2021-2023," the Russian statement said. Filling The Void The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe. OutRight Action International, an LGBT rights group, worried that the absence of the United States from the council sends a message to other countries that it's acceptable to walk away from the system when it doesn't suit them to be there. "For many people, the Human Rights Council and the United Nations as a whole are ports of last call when their own governments fail them.... Imagine what would happen if all countries walked away from the UN because of disagreements?" it said in a statement. Florian Irminger, head of advocacy at the Geneva-based Human Rights House, told RFE/RL that the forfeiture of its seat was not surprising given the United States voted against the council's creation. He says other countries will now have to fill the void left by Washington's departure, especially given the key behind the scenes work the United States did to push through initiatives such as the UN's special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus. "Work in countries like Belarus, or in Crimea, the attention of the Human Rights Council on those...was very much the work of U.S. engagement," he said. "The U.S. being out of the council means others will have to step up more. That means countries that believe in multilateralism, believe in raising human rights in a political body like the Human Rights Council, and believe that human rights are an actual issue, that you don't just raise human rights issues with your enemies, but it's actually about looking globally at how human rights are doing, including looking at yourself as a country," he added. The chief of Europe's top human rights body is urging Russia to release imprisoned Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, who is currently on hunger strike while serving a 20-year sentence. Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary-general of the Council of Europe, on June 20 told Russian Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova that Sentsov "should be released on humanitarian grounds," the Interfax news agency reported after their meeting in Moscow. "If there is a need for a request for pardoning him, I would gladly do it on the basis of the European Convention of Human Rights," Jagland added. On June 18, a dozen leading names in the Russian arts, including Andrei Zvyagintsev and fellow filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov, called for President Vladimir Putin to pardon Sentsov. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Sentsov would have to ask for the pardon himself before it could be considered. Sentsov, a vocal opponent of Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, was sentenced in 2015 to 20 years for conspiracy to commit terrorist acts. A native of Crimea, he and human rights groups say the charges were politically motivated. On May 14, he began a hunger strike, demanding the release of 64 Ukrainian citizens he considers political prisoners. The United States on June 18 called on Russia to release dozens of people it says have been identified by rights groups as political prisoners, including Sentsov. Russian state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted Moskalkova as saying that Sentsov was "receiving nutrition from a drip filled with all the vitamins twice a day" and that he had not lost weight. Separately, Sentsov's lawyers said the European Court of Human Rights had called on Sentsov to end his hunger strike and for Russia to provide details by June 27 about his condition and how his rights are being ensured. With reporting by AP, AFP, and Interfax Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko says she plans to run for president in 2019, setting up a possible showdown with incumbent Petro Poroshenko. In a video conference on her Facebook page on June 20, Tymoshenko said she will run for the presidency "not just to play an authoritarian gamebut to lift Ukraine back on its feet." "The presidential office for me is not a PlayStation, but a place to introduce real changes our country has been longing for," said Tymoshenko, who is leader of Ukraine's opposition Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party. Tymoshenko added that she would initiate a referendum on a new constitution if she was elected president. "I will propose a new constitution for Ukraine to make it a real public agreement between the government and the people in order to de-monopolize the powers of the authorities," she said. "On one hand, the authorities will be more able to implement strategic changes. On the other, they will become properly organized, balanced, and controlled by society," she added. She said that parliamentary elections, scheduled for the autumn of 2019, must be conducted under the rules of the new constitution. Meanwhile, Tymoshenko said she will never give up the fight to have Crimea and Ukraine's eastern regions brought back under Kyiv's control. Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014. Moscow has also supported separatists fighting a bloody war in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 10,300 people. Tymoshenko, 57, lost to pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych in 2010 and to Poroshenko in 2014 after Yanukovych was driven from power and fled to Russia. Tymoshenko, who was Ukraine's prime minister from 2007 to 2010, was jailed on embezzlement charges following her government's defeat by Yanukovych in 2010. Her sentence was viewed by much of the international community as political in nature. She was released in February 2014 and later reelected to parliament. According to recent polls, Tymoshenko and Poroshenko each have support of 14 to 16 percent of Ukrainian voters. The United States says it is withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council, calling it a cesspool of political bias. The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said at the State Department on June 19 that the "hypocritical and self-serving" body "makes a mockery of human rights." She lambasted the Geneva-based council for "its chronic bias against Israel" and lamented that its members include "persistent human rights offenders" like China. Washington refused to join the council when it was first created in 2006 during the presidency of George W. Bush. His successor, Barack Obama, opted to join in 2009. U.S. officials have long complained that the council focuses too much on Israel while ignoring rights violations in other countries. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded the U.S. move as "courageous," while UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein called it "disappointing, if not really surprising." Russia's UN mission said the U.S. criticism of the council for failing to make changes advocated by Washington appears "cynical." Based on reporting by AP and AFP The U.S. Army general nominated to head U.S. military operations in Afghanistan says Washington must be careful not to withdraw too quickly, otherwise terror groups will regroup and plunge the country into deeper conflict. In written remarks to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Lieutenant General Scott Miller declined to say what the size of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan should be. But he warned that an early pullout could result in Al-Qaeda and Islamic State extremists joining forces to destabilize the country. He said an abrupt U.S. withdrawal could result in a situation similar to Iraq in 2015, when the Iraqi military collapsed after a U.S. withdrawal and Islamic State fighters seized vast swaths of the country. Miller also said Pakistan, Russia, and Iran were continuing to support Taliban fighters. "NATO, U.S., and Afghan efforts continue to ensure the Taliban cannot win militarily. However, military pressure alone is not sufficient to achieve a political solution to the Afghan conflict. Diplomatic and social pressure are also necessary," he said in prepared remarks published on June 19. The Senate committee is expected to easily confirm Miller to the position. Miller's takes over at a time when the Taliban-led insurgency continues to control large parts of the countryside and has begun a new push into major cities. U.S. President Donald Trump last year ordered 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, adding to the already 10,000 U.S. military personnel already there. State of emergency declared for six municipalities Chetumal, Q.R. A state of emergency has been declared by federal officials for six municipalities in the state of Quintana Roo after two tropical waves passed over the region. The National Coordination of Civil Protection has issued an emergency declaration for six municipalities of Quintana Roo that will see emergency financial resources used to help restore the affected areas. During the five days of rain, more than 12 roadways were flooded and 700 people evacuated from their homes. While larger cities such as Cancun and Playa del Carmen were affected, a majority of the damaged occurred in the south. Civil Protection reports that the municipalities most affected by the flooding were Chetumal, Bacalar, Puerto Morelos, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Lazaro Cardenas and Tulum. They say that in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, the most affected community was Chumpon where more than 400 houses flooded and residents were left without electricity. They report even the Xpunha lagoon overflowed from the excessive rains that arrived from the two back-to-back tropical waves. The Mexican army relocated people to various emergency shelters, some of whom were moved by rafts. A make-shift community kitchen was set up where army personnel were able to truck in supplies to help those evacuated from their homes. Adrian Martinez, director of Civil Protection in Quintana Roo, says that they are in the process of delivering more equipment to the affected areas, explaining that two motorized pumps are on their way to the municipality of Lazaro Cardenas where, he explained, waters rose more than one meter. Along the Felipe Carrillo Puerto-Tulum federal highway, three flooded stretches still exist after the area was doused with approximately 225 mm of rain. All the municipalities have been affected. A lot of attention is being given to roadways. There are many water crossings over the roads that require a lot of care by motorists who have to travel, said Martinez. In Cancun, security protocols were activated in hotels with 12 avenues being affected. We have firefighters and public services throughout the city. Right now, Civil Protection are in the process of damage verification, said Luis Lomeli director of Civil Protection in Cancun. Brigades of the Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Response say they have already pumped more than 30 million liters of water in Kantunilkin, Holbox, Bacalar and Coba, caused by heavy rains last weekend. In Lazaro Cardenas, six colonies were flooded. On Holbox and Chiquila, there was housing damage. In Chetumal, Tulum, Isla Mujeres and Puerto Morelos, the water is receding on its own. Classes are still suspended in four communities, however, all ports were reopened to navigation around the state. Adrian Martinez says that the state government continues to attend to the most critical points affected by floods. Report: Army steps up missile, ground attacks against Saudi army, mercenaries several fronts [20/June/2018] SANAA, June 20 (Saba) The Yemeni army stepped up missile, ground attacks on positions of Saudi army and their mercenaries in various battle fronts over the past hours, a military official told Saba on Wednesday. In Asir province, the army and popular forces fired ballistic missile, Badr 1, towards oil giant Saudi Aramco in Abha city of Asir province. In also border province of Asir, dozens of the mercenaries were killed and others wounded in the army 's rocket shelling on their gatherings in Majaza area. Hodediah province, the army rocketry force launched a ballistic missile at gatherings of Saudi-led coalition forces and their mercenaries in the western coast. In Jizan province, the artillery of the army hit gatherings of coalition militiamen in sites of al-Khaqaqah, al-Farida and al-Marida and destroyed a military vehicle and killed its crew in al-Duda site. In Jizan, dozens of the mercenaries were killed and injured others when the army foiled their attempt to sneak up towards al-Dukhan mountain. In Najran province, the army waged an attack against sites of the mercenaries in Alib mountains and sites of al-Kadra crossing point, killing dozens of the mercenaries and wounding others. In Saada province, the artillery of the army targeted groups of Saudi soldiers and the mercenaries in sites if Nashaw and al-Buqa desert. In Hajjah province, the army fired an artillery towards gatherings of Saudi soldiers and the militiamen in Medi northern desert. Marib province, two mercenaries were killed by the army' sniper units in Eidah area of Nem district. Saba [NEW DELHI] Excessive withdrawal of groundwater across India is not only lowering the water table, it is also contaminating water with uranium. According to a study published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, uranium contamination is an emerging and widespread phenomenon. It analysed aquifers in 16 of Indias 29 states, focusing on western Rajasthan and Gujarat where uranium concentrations are higher than the WHOs safe limit of 30 micrograms per litre. Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke University in North Carolina, United States, who is the lead author of the study, tells SciDev.Net that the decline in groundwater levels accelerates uranium mobilisation to groundwater. Uranium build-up may also be linked to nitrate pollutants released from chemical fertilisers, which make uranium more soluble (as it is insoluble in its natural form). The urgent next step is to see if we can identify areas of high prevalence of kidney disease that could be associated with high uranium levels in drinking water Avner Vengosh, Duke University India is the worlds largest user of groundwater pumped up through borewells. The World Bank reports that more than 60 per cent of irrigated agriculture and 85 per cent of drinking water depend on the resource. Vengosh suggests that Indias water agencies make groundwater management a priority to protect people from the harmful effects of exposure to uranium, which include a higher risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The urgent next step is to see if we can identify areas of high prevalence of kidney disease that could be associated with high uranium levels in drinking water, he says. Sunderrajan Krishnan, executive director of the Inren Foundation, a non-profit water research body based in Gujarat state, says a key finding in the study was the link between water table fluctuations and the presence of uranium. He points out that this is especially noticeable when the water level depletes to the point where uranium-bearing rocks in the aquifers are exposed to oxidation. Half a century ago, water levels never reached that low, Krishnan tells SciDev.Net. The link between CKD and uranium in India was first made by the state-run Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai, says Krishnan. The disease is prevalent in coastal parts of Andhra Pradesh state. In light of the studys findings, authorities should urgently make testing for uranium a routine part of groundwater quality monitoring, says Vengosh. Current tests in India include those for arsenic and fluoride, which are among the more serious contaminants that pose risks to human health. This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Asia & Pacific desk. Ever found yourself crushed in a metro station at rush hour? The mathematician Carlo Bianca and physicist Caterina Mogno, both from the engineering research lab ECAM-EPMI in Cergy-Pontoise, France, have developed a new model to study the movement of crowds exiting a metro station. In a recent study published in EPJ Plus, they have for the first time employed models typically used to study gases consisting of a large number of molecules that collide at random (known as thermostatted kinetic theory) to study the consequences of the different interactions occurring among pedestrians in a crowd while exiting a metro station. The authors assume that what motivates pedestrians to leave a metro station can be modelled as an external force that explains the conditions under which they leave due to the crowd pressure. Their model combines aspects representing the interactions between pedestrians and governed by thermostatted kinetic theory with the cooperation between pedestrians as intelligent and self-organised decision-makers, which is governed by game theory. The model thus depicts what happens to a crowd of pedestrians trying to leave a metro station consisting of different exits at rush hour. Bianca and Mogno seek an approximate solution to the problem by starting from the exact solution of a simpler, related problem. The results show how, as pedestrians try to make their way out of the station, the interaction dynamics among them can in fact be negligible, as they do not influence the flow of pedestrians toward the exit as much as their motivation to leave (the external force) does. Numerical simulations on the magnitude of the external force explain how internal interactions between pedestrians can be affected by an external force driving them to leave the station. What matters most is that all of the pedestrians are individually in the same hurry to exit the station and get away from the crowd. The latter aspect is gauged by a thermostat modelling the temperature of the molecules in a gas, which represents the individuals in the crowd, who are under a steady level of crowd pressure pushing them toward the exit. A quarter of the seafood tested from Metro Vancouver grocery stores, restaurants and sushi bars is not what you think it is. A new UBC study used DNA barcoding to determine that 70 of 281 seafood samples collected in Metro Vancouver between September 2017 and February 2018 were mislabelled. Researchers from UBC's Lu Food Safety & Health Engineering Lab conducted the study in partnership with independent charity Oceana Canada and the Hanner Lab at the University of Guelph. "We aim to comprehensively understand the fraudulent labelling of fish products sold in Metro Vancouver, as the first step in studying the complicated seafood supply chain that serves the west coast of Canada," said Xiaonan Lu, who leads the Lu lab. "Our study demonstrates the importance of improving both the regulation of seafood labelling, and the transparency of the fish supply chain." The supply chain for seafood is complex and opaque. A fish can be caught in Canada, gutted in China, breaded in the U.S., and ultimately sold back to Canada as an American product. Misidentification can happen anywhere along the way. When it's intentional, it's food fraud -- a $52-billion worldwide problem defined as the misrepresentation of food for economic gain. "Seafood fraud cheats Canadian consumers and hurts local, honest fishers as well as chefs and seafood companies looking to buy sustainable seafood. It causes health concerns and masks global human rights abuses by creating a market for illegally caught fish," said Julia Levin, seafood fraud campaigner with Oceana Canada. "The key to fighting seafood fraud is boat-to-plate traceability. This means tracking the seafood product through the supply chain and requiring that key information travels with the product." The UBC team and Oceana Canada gathered samples from sellers in Vancouver, Richmond, Coquitlam, Burnaby, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Surrey and Langley. The Lu lab analyzed UBC's samples, while Oceana Canada's went to TRU-ID, a Guelph-based company that provides DNA certification of foods and natural health products. DNA barcoding involves comparing genetic information from test specimens with reference sequences that can help identify species. Data from the two sources was later collated. advertisement Restaurants had the highest rate of mislabelling, at 29 per cent, followed by grocery stores (24 per cent) and sushi bars (22 per cent). The most commonly mislabelled fish was snapper, with 31 of 34 samples mislabelled. The researchers found evidence of both intentional and unintentional mislabelling. For example, many fish sold as snapper or red snapper were actually far less valued species such as tilapia. Sutchi catfish took the place of halibut, snapper, sole and cod. Economic motivations were less likely in other cases, such as the substitution of sockeye for pink salmon. The situation doesn't appear to be improving. An Oceana study conducted in the U.S. from 2010 to 2012 found the mislabelling rate to be 33 per cent. A study in Metro Vancouver 10 years ago had similar findings to the new UBC study, with a much smaller sample size. Oceana Canada found nearly half of samples tested last fall in Ottawa to be mislabelled. They will release a national seafood fraud report this fall with findings from testing done in Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria. "Canada is one of the top seafood-producing countries in the world and our industry complies with much more stringent labelling when exporting products to the European Union, but Canadian consumers don't benefit from this same level of transparency at home," said Robert Hanner, chief technology officer at TRU-ID. "This situation compromises consumer choice and even facilitates laundering illegally harvested seafood into the domestic market, at the expense of legitimate suppliers. This situation must change." A 2018 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations called for a harmonized DNA-based system that provides universal access to a standard database using scientific names. Authors of the UBC study support several measures to help consumers understand what they're buying: harmonize common names of fish between major trading countries require scientific names on labels provide consumers with information about where fish was caught or farmed, its processing history, and the fishing/farming methods used UBC food science PhD candidate Yaxi Hu was lead author on the study, published today in Food Control. Hu and Lu are developing a portable device that consumers will be able to use to authenticate fish products bought from local grocery stores, restaurants and sushi outlets. The research is supported by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. This month marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Struck by bullets on June 5, 1968, following his victory speech at the California Democratic Party presidential primary, Kennedy died of severe brain injury on the following day, June 6. Although much has been written about RFK's assassination -- some documented and some speculative -- to date there has been no detailed medical discussion of Kennedy's injuries and treatment. A new article published today in the Journal of Neurosurgery addresses this subject: "The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: an analysis of the senator's injuries and neurosurgical care," by Jordan M. Komisarow, MD, Theodore Pappas, MD, Megan Llewellyn, MSMI, and Shivanand P. Lad, MD, PhD, from Duke University School of Medicine. In this article, the authors "review the eyewitness reports of the mechanism of injury, the care rendered for 3 hours prior to the emergency craniotomy, the clinical course, and, ultimately, the autopsy." The discussion of autopsy findings is supplemented by an artist's depiction of the extent of Senator Kennedy's head injury. Komisarow and colleagues provide a thorough review of clinical events from the time of the shooting until Kennedy's death. They also discuss differences and similarities between 1968 and 2018 in the care of patients with gunshot wounds to the head. Immediately following the shooting, multiple physicians converged at the scene to render assistance. There was a delay of about 45 minutes in transporting Senator Kennedy to the hospital best equipped to treat his severe wounds, due to a transport protocol in place at the time. Diagnostic tests that are commonplace today, such as computed tomography (CT) and CT angiography and venography, were not available. The surgical procedure performed in 1968, a craniotomy, however, was similar to what would be performed today. Some postoperative monitoring techniques and preferred medications have changed over the years. Based on their analysis of medical records and testimony, Komisarow and colleagues believe that the steps taken by physicians to care for Senator Kennedy in 1968 were in keeping with the standard medical practices of the day. An aggressive attempt was made to save him, but the outcome, given his serious head injury, was not unexpected. Kennedy suffered "extensive injury to the right cerebellum and right occipital cortex." There was damage to the brainstem and evidence of epidural, subdural, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Bone and bullet fragments were embedded in tissue throughout the brain. The authors point out that penetrating gunshot wounds to the head such as Kennedy's are associated with a high mortality rate -- one that has not changed much in the last 100 years, since the time of Harvey Cushing's observations on penetrating head trauma conducted in 1918. When asked whether Kennedy could have survived if he were to be treated using 2018 medical techniques, Dr. Komisarow responded, "By all accounts an aggressive and valiant effort was made to save the senator's life. Unfortunately, a similar injury would likely also be fatal, or severely debilitating, in 2018." Dr. Lad added, "Despite numerous advances in imaging, anesthesia, and surgical technique over the last 50 years, damage to the brainstem and its associated blood vessels continues to be a devastating and catastrophic injury." Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have helped to find the last reservoir of ordinary matter hiding in the universe. Ordinary matter, or "baryons," make up all physical objects in existence, from stars to the cores of black holes. But until now, astrophysicists had only been able to locate about two-thirds of the matter that theorists predict was created by the Big Bang. In the new research, an international team pinned down the missing third, finding it in the space between galaxies. That lost matter exists as filaments of oxygen gas at temperatures of around 1 million degrees Celsius, said CU Boulder's Michael Shull, a co-author of the study. The finding is a major step for astrophysics. "This is one of the key pillars of testing the Big Bang theory: figuring out the baryon census of hydrogen and helium and everything else in the periodic table," said Shull of the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences (APS). The new study, which will appear June 20 in Nature, was led by Fabrizio Nicastro of the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) -- Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Researchers have a good idea of where to find most of the ordinary matter in the universe -- not to be confused with dark matter, which scientists have yet to locate: About 10 percent sits in galaxies, and close to 60 percent is in the diffuse clouds of gas that lie between galaxies. In 2012, Shull and his colleagues predicted that the missing 30 percent of baryons were likely in a web-like pattern in space called the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). Charles Danforth, a research associate in APS, contributed to those findings and is a co-author of the new study. To search for missing atoms in that region between galaxies, the international team pointed a series of satellites at a quasar called 1ES 1553 -- a black hole at the center of a galaxy that is consuming and spitting out huge quantities of gas. "It's basically a really bright lighthouse out in space," Shull said. Scientists can glean a lot of information by recording how the radiation from a quasar passes through space, a bit like a sailor seeing a lighthouse through fog. First, the researchers used the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope to get an idea of where they might find the missing baryons. Next, they homed in on those baryons using the European Space Agency's X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) satellite. The team found the signatures of a type of highly-ionized oxygen gas lying between the quasar and our solar system -- and at a high enough density to, when extrapolated to the entire universe, account for the last 30 percent of ordinary matter. "We found the missing baryons," Shull said. He suspects that galaxies and quasars blew that gas out into deep space over billions of years. Shull added that the researchers will need to confirm their findings by pointing satellites at more bright quasars. On June 18, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Joseph A. Fiore, a penny stock financier based in Bronxville, New York, and two companies that he controlled for their respective roles in a fraudulent market manipulation and scalping scheme that generated over $11 million from unlawful stock sales. According to the SEC's complaint, filed in federal district court for the Southern District of New York, Fiore manipulated the market and illegally sold the stock of microcap issuer, Plandai Biotechnology, Inc. The complaint alleges that Fiore financed and directed a promotional campaign that included recommendations to buy Plandai stock without disclosing that Fiore beneficially owned Plandai stock, intended to sell and was selling millions of shares, comprising a substantial portion of his Plandai stock holdings, into the public market. The complaint further alleges that Fiore engaged in manipulative trading through two companies he controlled, Berkshire Capital Management Company, Inc. ("Berkshire") and Eat at Joe's, Ltd. ("EAJ"), made false and misleading statements to brokerage firms through which he traded Plandai stock, and failed to disclose his beneficial ownership of more than five percent of the outstanding shares of Plandai stock. Finally, the complaint alleges that EAJ failed to register as an investment company with the Commission. The SEC's complaint charges Fiore and Berkshire with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act") and Sections 9(a), 10(b), and 20(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The complaint also charges Fiore with violating Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and Rule 13d-1 thereunder and EAJ with violating Sections 17(a)(1) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act, Sections 9(a) and 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5(a) and 10b-5(c) thereunder, and Section 7(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains along with prejudgment interest, and financial penalties against all of the defendants; penny stock bars against Fiore and Berkshire; and an officer and director bar against Fiore. The SEC's investigation was conducted by Drew M. Dorman, Jason Litow, and Kevin Gershfeld. The case was supervised by Yuri B. Zelinsky and Antonia Chion. Chyhe Becker and Scott Walster in the SEC's Division of Economic and Risk Analysis assisted in the investigation. The SEC's litigation will be led by John Bowers and Paul Kisslinger and supervised by Cheryl Crumpton. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. This item is available in full to subscribers. Attention subscribers We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription. If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site. If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here. Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing. Phelan Avenue, a short stretch of roadway lining the west side of City College of San Franciscos Ocean Campus, will be rechristened as Frida Kahlo Way following a unanimous vote by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. The street extends for less than half a mile from Ocean Avenue north to Flood Avenue in the Ingleside neighborhood. It was named after James Phelan, a 19th century real estate and wheat mogul, around 1906. But over the years it has become more closely associated with Phelans son, James Duval Phelan, who served as San Franciscos mayor from 1897 to 1902 and later in the U.S. Senate. The younger Phelan promoted racist and anti-immigrant policies throughout his career, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1924, which limited immigration from China and Japan to the U.S. During an unsuccessful run for a second term in the Senate, Phelan ran on a slogan of keeping California white, proclaiming the need to save the state from Oriental aggression. To some, having the Phelan name on the street was a tacit endorsement of a racist stain on San Franciscos history. We must know our history in order to not repeat the mistakes of our past, said Supervisor Norman Yee, who represents the Ingleside and introduced the resolution to change the name. Yees office also organized an outreach campaign soliciting public input on what the street ought to be called. Stripping the Phelan name is the latest instance of San Francisco taking steps to remove reminders of the darker side of its history. Last year, the city scrubbed former redevelopment Director Justin Hermans name from the plaza across from the Ferry Building because of his role in bulldozing the Fillmores African American neighborhood in the name of urban renewal. City panels are also considering removing a 124-year-old statue from Civic Center, Early Days, that shows a vaquero and Spanish friar standing over a supine American Indian. Kahlo, a Mexican artist who died in 1954 at age 47, is seen by her supporters as a fitting contrast to Phelans racist legacy. In addition to being a woman of color, Kahlo is celebrated in the LGBTQ community and has become an inspirational figure for people living with disabilities because of her struggles stemming from childhood polio and injuries from a car crash. Kahlo was also married to the muralist Diego Rivera, whose Pan American Unity Mural hangs in City Colleges nearby campus. Rechristening the street after Kahlo, Yee said, was appropriate for a city that prides itself on values of inclusion and respect for diversity. 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. Now that the board has signed off on the name change, the Municipal Transportation Agency can begin installing new street signs. Under city law, the signs will contain both names for five years before Phelans name is shed entirely. Frida Kahlo Way will appear in large letters on the interim signs, with Phelan Avenue in smaller letters below it. The 22 residents who live on the street have five years to change their addresses. Some Phelan Avenue residents wrote to the board to oppose the name change. Our history is full of good and bad, and we don't tolerate racism and hatred, but abolishing the name Phelan from our street is only erasing history and perpetuating hate, said Bonnie White, a Phelan Avenue resident who opposed the name change. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa San Francisco Mayor-elect London Breed will step down from her role as president of the Board of Supervisors next week as she begins the process of moving to the mayors office. In a letter sent to the boards clerk Wednesday afternoon, Breed said she was resigning her duties as board president in order to focus on the forthcoming transition to the office of mayor. Inauguration day is set for July 11. Breed will stay on as president through the end of the boards June 26 meeting. That day, once the boards regular business is concluded, the supervisors will elect their next president. It is important that there is not a lapse in the role of board president and those duties continue to be performed, Breed said in a statement provided by an aide. As such, I expect the clerk will introduce and schedule the required items to take nominations and elect a new board president at next weeks meeting. As the leader of the citys lawmakers, the board president makes committee selections and can expedite the legislative process. Breed has been at the helm of the board since January 2015. The position is the second-highest ranking in the city. In stepping down next week, Breed will get to cast a vote for the next president. Currently, the 11-member boards moderate political faction which includes Breed retains a majority. However, in this months election, progressive Rafael Mandelman beat District Eight incumbent Jeff Sheehy, considered a moderate. Once Mandelman takes office in July, progressives will have six members on the board. 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. Because she was elected in June to fill out the rest of Ed Lees term following his death in December, Breeds transition to the mayors office will be a swift one. Had she been elected in November, she would have had months, not weeks, to complete the process. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa When President Trump responded Tuesday to criticism of his administrations separation of parents and children at the southern border by saying Democrats want undocumented immigrants to infest our country, he returned with vigor to a theme that propelled his political rise. While decrying the countrys immigration policies as weak and the border as porous, Trump has also repeatedly cast immigrants as different and uniquely dangerous, seeking to stir fear despite a lack of evidence that immigrants have brought higher crime to the United States. The separation of children from their parents and detention in makeshift shelters is proving unpopular even on the political right, and so the presidents language has become more extreme, said Richard Wilson, a professor of law and an expert on rhetoric at University of Connecticut School of Law. Referring to people as unwanted pests is dehumanizing, Wilson said, and can set the stage for acceptance of strict policies on immigrants favored by the administration and many of its supporters. Such rhetoric has animated Trumps rise since the early days of his presidential campaign, when he said Mexico was sending people that have a lot of problems ... theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. In January 2017, after the Trump administration instituted an immediate ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries entering the U.S., thousands of protesters converged at airports across the country. Democrats and some Republicans blasted the move as images spread of chaos and families being separated. The president, though, cited the potential perils of immigrants coming to the country without his ban. If the ban were announced with a one-week notice, he said, the bad would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad dudes out there! Ivan Pierre Aguirre / Ivan Pierre Aguirre for the San Antonio Express-News More than a year later, a similar wave of outrage has followed the administrations zero-tolerance policy in prosecuting parents who illegally cross the border, which has caused more than 2,000 children to be separated from their parents since early May. Once again, Trump is pushing rhetoric that invokes danger. Democrats are the problem. They dont care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They cant win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters! Trump tweeted early Tuesday. Trump compared the situation to Germany, saying falsely that crime is up in the European country due to an influx of refugees. Germany says crime last year was at its lowest level in decades. Critics say Trumps language on immigrants saying Mexico was sending its worst residents north, invoking the word animals when discussing immigrant gang members, and referring to an infestation has pushed fringe ideas into the mainstream. It has a big impact in two ways rhetorically to have the president say this and speak about immigrants in this way, legitimates this kind of language about those who are undocumented, said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian and public affairs professor at Princeton University. It will become part of the national conversation the president has power to inject rhetoric like this in a way no one else can. Wilson said Trumps approach is a classic technique of the populist demagogue to mobilize political support by identifying foreigners as a threat and has been used by leaders in the past against Irish, Italians, Chinese and others who had arrived recently. 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. However, Donald Trump has legitimized open xenophobia and hatemongering in a way that has not been seen in modern times in America, Wilson said. Administration officials believe the strict enforcement at the border is needed in the name of safety. In a speech Friday in Pennsylvania, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that unchecked illegal immigration has made the work of police officers all across America tougher and more dangerous than it ought to be. Trump, in a speech to the National Federation of Independent Businesses on Monday, said a secure border meant protecting Americans from threats. People that come in violate the law. They endanger their children in the process. And frankly, they endanger all of our children, he said. You see what happens with MS-13, where your sons and daughters are attacked violently. Kids that never even heard of such a thing are being attacked violently, not with guns, but with knives because its much more painful. Edward Schiappa, a professor of rhetoric at MIT, said in an email that Trump is encouraging citizens to think of ALL immigrants based on the very worst of the worst. ... He clearly is trying to whip up fear of the other, as we say, by painting all immigrants as a source of crime in Europe and in the U.S. Casting such a wide net, said John Sandweg, the former head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, can be counterproductive. What concerns me is that it dilutes focus on the true threats, he said. By lumping everyone and characterizing falsely all illegal immigrants as public safety threats, what you do is dilute the emphasis on the bad guys. Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz In a dramatic, tense state Assembly committee hearing Wednesday that took some unusual turns, a California net neutrality bill that backers hailed as the gold standard for internet protections was eviscerated, its author said. Congressional leaders had joined the fight over the bill by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, highlighting the vital importance of internet regulation in the nations largest economy and the center of its tech and entertainment industries. In a bipartisan 8-0 vote, the state Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee forced amendments into SB822, stripping the Wiener bill of provisions that would have given the state the strongest prohibitions against discriminatory treatment of internet traffic in the country. Wiener introduced his bill Jan. 3 in reaction to a Federal Communications Commission vote in December to overturn Obama-era regulations that required internet service companies to treat all web traffic equally. Supporters of Wieners bill who included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hoped California would lead the charge for net neutrality standards in the country. But opponents warned that state-by-state legislation could lead to conflicting regulations for internet service providers, and instead preferred federal legislation by Congress. Now Playing: 21 State Attorneys General File Suit Against the FCC's Net Neutrality Repeal The lawsuit claims that the FCC's repeal was "arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion." The suit was officially filed on Tuesday, with California, New York and Connecticut as a few of the states involved. "Internet access is a utility, just like water and electricity. And every consumer has a right to access online content without interference or manipulation by their internet service provider." A repeal is also in the works in the Senate, where Democrats announced they have 50 votes in favor of a repeal, leaving them one vote shy of the majority. The FCC has yet to comment on the lawsuit. Video: Wibbitz The committee, led by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, issued amendments to Wieners bill late Tuesday night, giving the public only a few hours to review the recommendations before the Wednesday morning hearing. Then, in a rare twist, the committee voted on the changes before Wiener was given a chance to speak against them. This chain of events riled the senator, who was visibly upset after the vote. What the committee just did was outrageous, Wiener said at the hearing. These amendments eviscerated the bill it is no longer a net neutrality bill. I will state for the record ... I think it was fundamentally unfair. Among the committees recommendations was to permit a controversial internet service provider practice called zero rating, where some websites and apps dont count against a consumers data allotment. Opponents view zero rating as a backdoor way of discriminating against online services that dont strike free-data deals with broadband and wireless companies. But proponents say the subsidies help lower-income communities access data services. After the changes were forced into the bill, Wiener asked to withdraw it a move that would have likely killed the proposal because of an upcoming June 29 deadline to pass all policy bills. In response, Santiago said he was disappointed in Wieners decision. Arms folded, Santiago addressed Wiener, sternly stating that he fully supports a net neutrality bill, and saying that the committees amendments were intended to set a foundation for future conversation. In a statement after the hearing, Santiago said he was concerned by the federal rollback of the Obama-era rules. Make no mistake, he added, the industry supports Trumps actions and will do everything they can to sue and block implementation of net neutrality in California. When that happens, we will fight back. The bills future is now uncertain. SB822 moves to the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee, but Wiener can still table the bill if it remains, as he called it, mutilated. Critics of the move immediately accused Santiago of gutting the bill to please his donors, which include AT&T and Charter Communication, a cable broadband provider which serves parts of California. Both contributed $4,400 apiece to his campaign fund in recent months, and both oppose the bill. In April, Charter gave $10,000 at Santiagos behest to a Los Angeles Police Department charitable initiative. AT&T is a major contributor to the California Democratic Party, giving $175,000 this year alone, while Charter Communications gave $137,000. The California Cable Telecommunications Association, whose members include Charter and Comcast, donated $245,000 in the past six months. Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who consulted with Wiener on the bill, said Wednesdays hearing was a setback in Californias fight to restore net neutrality protections. California is not as progressive as people assume, he said. I dont think Santiago reflects upon the rest of the Assembly, but it does show the reach of the money. Santiago could not be reached Wednesday for comment. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, had sent a letter to Santiago on Monday urging him to pass comprehensive protections in the state. Her intervention elevated Californias net neutrality fight to the national level. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, sent a similar letter to Santiago on Tuesday. After the vote, Pelosis spokeswoman, Taylor Griffin, said the congresswoman was disappointed with the committees actions. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes It is our hope that the state legislature will find a solution to safeguard Californians from the Trump FCCs misguided net neutrality decision and secure Californias rightful place as a national leader in the fight for an open internet for all, Griffin said. Wednesdays hearing came a few days after Wiener and Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, announced amendments that would make Wieners SB822 work in tandem with de Leons SB460. The senators aimed to prevent infighting over which version of net neutrality might pass. Instead, they hoped to advance a comprehensive net neutrality package. But the committee refused amendments to merge the bills and instead opted to hear them separately. De Leon pulled his bill from the hearing, and Santiago noted his absence. Im very disappointed in the outcome, de Leon said in a statement, adding that he remains committed to working on a net neutrality bill with Wiener. Mike Montgomery, executive director of CalInnovates, an advocacy group which counts AT&T as a backer, is among the critics of Wieners bill who dont support state-by-state legislation. While he said he was surprised at the dramatics in Wednesdays hearing, he said the bill was flawed and drafted in a way that we couldnt support. It wasnt good for the consumer, he said, saying that the zero-rating ban would negatively affect lower-income families and communities of color. Wiener last week called CalInnovates an AT&T-funded astroturf group. After the hearing, Wiener told The Chronicle that he will continue to have conversations with the legislature on this issue. California should be leading the way on protecting net neutrality, and instead we have a fake net neutrality bill, and that is a terrible state of affairs, he said. It is my hope that we can right this ship and turn it back into a strong net neutrality bill. Trisha Thadani and Melody Gutierrez are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com, mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani, @MelodyGutierrez Ahead of a committee hearing Wednesday morning on two state net neutrality bills, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to the committee chair urging him to pass comprehensive protections in the state a move that elevates Californias net neutrality fight to the national level. In the letter sent Monday to Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, chair of the Communications and Conveyance Committee, Pelosi said House Democrats share his desire to correct the Federal Communication Commissions (FCCs) misguided decision to officially eliminate net neutrality protections this month. We will not settle for the weak bills pushed by Republicans that eliminate crucial consumer protections and are net neutrality in name only, she wrote. Californians deserve the strong protections they had on the Internet until last week. The letter came as Sens. Scott Wiener and Kevin de Leon announced amendments to their respective net neutrality bills SB822 and SB460 in an attempt to make them work in tandem. By amending the bills, the senators sought to prevent jockeying over which version of net neutrality might pass and instead advancing a comprehensive package that would force internet companies to not play favorites when it comes to websites and apps. But as of Tuesday afternoon, the chairman had yet to accept the amendments. Santiago could not immediately be reached for comment. Pelosis letter championed Wieners bill, saying its provisions are critical to prohibit unfair discrimination online against all Californians. While she urged Santiago to maintain all of the comprehensive protections in Wieners bill, she did not mention any specific opinions of de Leons bill. Spokespeople for both de Leon and Pelosi could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, also sent a letter to the committee chairman supporting Wieners bill. She said she was concerned by reports that the Assembly Committee is considering altering the bill to reallow a controversial internet service provider practice called zero rating. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Opponents of the California bills have cited the possibility for conflicting regulations for internet service providers in multiple states, and they have urged Congress to pass federal legislation instead. Telecom and cable firms have lobbied against net neutrality, saying the rules would discourage investment in their networks. Wiener said it was rare for Pelosi to weigh in on state legislation so publicly. He said Pelosis staff expressed that it would be problematic at a federal level if California failed to pass a net neutrality bill. California is viewed nationally as a leading progressive state, and if progressive California cant pass net neutrality or a strong bill, that sends a loud message, Wiener said. If a legislature with a supermajority of Democrats with a history of passing progressive legislation doesnt pass a robust net neutrality bill, what does that mean for the rest of the country? Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani Taking over streets, sidewalks and Snapchat stories, electric scooters have become a symbol of San Francisco in 2018. When startups began dumping scooters on the streets, it triggered outrage from residents who saw them blocking sidewalks and doorways and praise from some commuters who welcomed another way to get through the citys clogged streets. Scooter companies valuations soared, as did the number of devices hauled away by city enforcers. The fight only came to a stop this month after the city demanded that companies remove scooters from the streets and apply for permits. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will grant up to five companies a permit to operate, and a dozen companies are vying for spots. The contestants in San Franciscos scooter race are going to creative lengths to convince the city that theyre more than a two-wheeled train wreck. The Chronicle identified 10 intriguing aspects of the companies proposals and talked to a few residents to see if these features upped scooters street cred or just induced vehicular dread. Snapshots: Half of the companies (Lime, Uscooters, Ofo, Bird, Ridecell, Jump) proposed requiring riders to take a photo of a properly parked scooter to complete a ride, addressing complaints about scooters left strewn on sidewalks. Companies say this accountability will make users comply with parking etiquette. I dont think that will be hard to convince people to do, since you already have to use an app to end the ride, said Michael Ducker, 31, of San Francisco. But, given how easy it is for scooters to be picked up and moved, I dont know how effective it will be. Selfies for safety: San Franciscos RideCell will offer scooter riders credits for more rides if they snap a selfie of themselves wearing a helmet before riding. Its also asking them to verify, on the honor system, that theyre not riding on sidewalks. I think its more of a feel-good thing that the company is doing. People could just say yes to things they werent doing, or they could keep a photo of them wearing a helmet on their phone and just reuse that, said Janet Lafleur, 54, of Mountain View. A better way to get scooters off the sidewalks is for the city to make it safer to ride scooters (and bikes) on the street, e.g., with protected bike lanes, said Max Ghenis, 31, of San Francisco. Crowdsourcing enforcement: Spin, a San Francisco scooter company, will offer a Parking Rating Tool in its app to rate the parking job of the previous rider. If the previous user is a bad parker, there is an option of restrictions and possible warnings. Well, what if someone just comes by after a scooter was appropriately parked and because theyre mad at scooters, just kicks it? said Lafleur. Then what? Phone charging: Hopr, a Miami Beach dockless bike sharing company, says that its scooter will have a port for users to charge phones and other devices. It would probably drive up the cost to have this extra feature, said Lafleur. I think the most important things scooters should be focusing on is being reliable, and not just try to differentiate themselves with little things like this. Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle Clipper Card support: A critique of the first wave of scooter startups was that they required a smartphone and credit cards. San Franciscos Skip says it is working toward being eligible for Clipper Card payments. Ford GoBikes, which operate out of stations, accept Clipper. Its really convenient to have just one payment method for transit. To be able to tap into multiple vehicles seems like a really great win, Ducker said. Scooter parking: San Franciscos Scoot is going against the leave-it-anywhere trend by proposing assigned parking spots, which it already uses for its moped fleet. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Ducker is skeptical: I can never imagine being in a position to not have room to park my scooter we dont have enough of these things to be this concerned about parking. Tip your scooter: Lime, Skip and Jump say their scooters will have sensors that can tell if a scooter is in an upright position. If a scooter is tipped over, maintenance teams will be notified. I wonder how costly this would be; those funds could go toward better service or subsidies for low-income riders, said Ghenis, who points out that civic-minded passersby could just pick up scooters themselves. Money where their motors are: A handful of the companies are promising payments to support infrastructure. Bird, a Santa Monica firm, will remit $1 per vehicle per day to city governments to promote more bike lanes and shared infrastructure, according to the companys proposal. Razor, the Los Angeles-area scooter manufacturer, also plans to give a portion of revenues from every ride to local nonprofits; however, the plan hasnt been finalized. Skip promises to invest $1 million over two years. Scoot all night: Most scooter companies say theyll make sure all scooters are off the streets at night. If Scoot gets a permit, it says riders will be able to leave scooters in designated parking spots. The company points out that this is more environmentally friendly, since it wont have to drive trucks around picking up scooters. I think there are risks of people being inebriated on scooters at night, and if were already worried about safety in the daylight, safety at night is so much harder, Zucker said. But if I work late, I need an option that has scooters available to me. Whats the 311? San Mateos Lime says that it has software that can work with San Franciscos Department of Emergency Management to receive 311 complaints about its scooters. Its using a similar system in Dallas. I think it would make sense. ... It makes a lot more direct response to scooter problems, said Lafleur. Natasha Mascarenhas is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: natasha.mascarenhas@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @nmasc_ San Mateo County sued McKesson Corp. on Wednesday, accusing the San Francisco drug distributor and two other major pharmaceutical distributors over their alleged role in exacerbating the nations opioid epidemic. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, is the latest in a slew of legal actions by California counties and cities against companies that manufacture and distribute prescription opioids. Three other Bay Area counties Contra Costa, Marin and Santa Clara and one city, Oakland, have already joined or filed similar lawsuits in federal and state court. San Mateo Countys lawsuit also names Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen. The three companies, which collectively distribute more than 80 percent of the nations drugs, falsely promoted the safety and efficacy of addictive prescription opioids and knowingly supplied dangerous quantities of opioids while pushing for limited oversight, the complaint says. As a result, the county has incurred millions of dollars in added costs from the opioid epidemic, including costs to the corrections, court and health care systems, according to the lawsuit. The suit seeks to recover damages on the countys behalf, though it does not specify a dollar amount. A spokeswoman for McKesson did not immediately return a request for comment. In a recent statement issued in response to a 60 Minutes segment critical of the companies and drug enforcement agents, McKesson said it is deeply concerned by the impact the opioid epidemic is having on families and communities across our nation, and outlined steps it is taking to reduce overprescribing and improve doctor and patient education. AmerisourceBergen on Wednesday said its distribution of opioid products constitutes less than 2 percent of its sales. The company said it reports and halts potentially suspicious orders and is committed to collaborating with all stakeholders, including in California, on ways to combat opioid abuse. Cardinal referred questions to the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, a trade group that represents pharmaceutical distributors including the three named in the lawsuit. A spokesman for the group said distributors are not responsible for the number of opioid prescriptions written and that those bringing lawsuits would be better served addressing the root causes rather than trying to redirect blame through litigation. Attorneys for San Mateo County disagree. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes These distributors serve as middlemen, sending billions of doses of opioid pain pills to pharmacists, hospitals, nursing homes and pain clinics, many in San Mateo County, the suit says. Responsibility for the crisis lies at the feet of the defendant distributors who are reaping billions of dollars in profits while knowingly fueling the epidemic. Filing the suit in state court in San Francisco, McKessons headquarters, could give the county home-court advantage because a local jury would be more sympathetic if the case goes to trial, said attorney Joe Cotchett of the law firm Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy, who is representing San Mateo County. The other lawsuits are unfolding either in state court in Orange County or are being included in the massive nationwide litigation brought by 500 public entities against drug companies that are being handled by a federal judge in Ohio. Thirty-seven San Mateo County residents died from heroin and other opioid overdoses in 2017, according to data compiled by state health officials. Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho In another sign of shifts in the gig economy, Ikea-owned TaskRabbit has trimmed prices as it seeks to find more clients for the household services offered by its network of independent contractors. Since Ikea bought us, weve positioned the company to scale, said CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot in an interview, pointing to a doubling of headcount since the October acquisition. Our goal is to grow TaskRabbit into a very large business. Handymen, furniture assemblers, movers and house cleaners set their own hourly rates on TaskRabbit, which then adds a service fee on top before showing the rate to potential clients. TaskRabbit is cutting that service fee, previously 30 percent, in half, to 15 percent. We want to make TaskRabbit an affordable service for everyone to use, Brown-Philpot said. Eric Calande of Newark does handyman work on TaskRabbit so he can pursue fine-art painting. He charges $65 an hour. But the effective rate clients would see previously, including the service fee, was $84.50. With the lower service fee, his rate will now appear as $74.75. TaskRabbit actually lowered the fee in April, but is only formally announcing the change now. Calande said he hasnt seen a spike in new jobs but he was already pretty busy: Hes built up lots of positive reviews after three years on the website. Someone who wasnt getting hired as often would notice (the change) for sure, he said. Its always great when TaskRabbit can lower a fee that gets passed along to clients. Obviously it will drum up more business. TaskRabbit also eliminated its premiums for jobs that are booked and completed the same day. These on-demand tasks are available in the Bay Area, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Boston. San Franciscos TaskRabbit was among the earliest gig economy companies and raised some $50 million in venture backing but didnt seem to enjoy the massive growth in users and valuation that later entrants like Uber and Lyft saw. Ikea, the worlds biggest furniture retailer, bought TaskRabbit last fall for an undisclosed amount and now offers TaskRabbit furniture assembly in all of its stores, including Emeryville. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Ikea kept TaskRabbit as an independent entity based in San Francisco, with its own governance structure, board and financial books. It had 65 employees when Ikea bought it and now has 137, with 90 in San Francisco and the others in offices in New York, London and one soon to open in Austin, Texas. Besides expanding TaskRabbit, Brown-Philpot said her other major goal is to help Ikea transform into a digital company by adding more mobile and Web services for customers. In addition to the lowered fees, TaskRabbit has launched an advertising campaign on radio, billboards, bus wraps and social media called Do away with to-do to highlight that it can help with nagging household chores. Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com A San Francisco police officer who shot a fleeing suspect on a busy North Beach sidewalk June 9 was found to be legally justified in fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy in 2012. Joshua Cabillo, a five-year San Francisco Police Department veteran assigned to the Field Operations Bureau, was identified Tuesday night by San Francisco police as the officer who shot Oliver Barcenas, 28, sending him to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The tense exchange between Cabillo and Barcenas prior to the shooting was caught on recently released body-worn camera video. Footage shows Cabillo and another uniformed officer approach a group of four men they believed were drinking alcohol at Grant Avenue and Vallejo Street, according to police. Cabillo is heard telling the group of men that no one is going anywhere before Barcenas darts away and runs down Grant. Now Playing: What are your chances of becoming a victim of violent crime or property crime in San Francisco compared to other major US cities. Video: Ted Andersen, SFGATE The officer runs after Barcenas, pushing past pedestrians on the sidewalk, and fires at least two shots into Barcenas back after police say he drew a .45-caliber Glock pistol with a laser sight and an extended clip with 26 rounds. A crowd of yelling pedestrians circled Cabillo as Barcenas lay motionless on the concrete. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where hospital officials said he was being treated as recently as Thursday. His condition was unknown. Barcenas was arrested on suspicion of delaying an officer, carrying a concealed firearm, exhibiting a firearm and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. It was the second time Barcenas was shot by San Francisco police. He was shot after being accused of pulling a Tec-9 assault pistol on current Assistant Chief Toney Chaplin in the Mission District in 2012. Cabillo remains on administrative leave, in accordance with department policy, police said. He was previously found to be justified in using lethal force when, as a member of the South San Francisco police force, he shot and killed a teenage boy who allegedly pulled a gun during a struggle in June 2012. After an investigation, the gun was revealed to be inoperable. Cabillo approached 15-year-old Derrick Gaines of San Bruno after a passerby reported that the boy and a companion were acting suspiciously, police said at the time. 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. When he told the pair to sit down, they fled, police said. Cabillo knocked Gaines to the ground. He told investigating officers that Gaines reached for a pistol that dropped to the ground during the struggle, prompting him to shoot the teenager in the neck. Gaines died at San Francisco General Hospital. The city of South San Francisco settled a civil suit filed by Gaines parents and agreed to pay the family $250,000, without admitting wrongdoing. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against Cabillo and other San Francisco police officers in 2015 on behalf of a 23-year-old man who said police assaulted him. The city settled that suit for $40,000 without admitting any wrongdoing. The North Beach shooting is being investigated by the San Francisco Police Department Homicide Detail and Internal Affairs Division, the S.F. district attorney and the Department of Police Accountability. Anyone with information regarding the shooting may contact the San Francisco Police Department 24-hour tip line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411, beginning the text message with SFPD. Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Five notable San Francisco restaurants will play host to a series of vibrant pop-up dinners this week, which will feature menus created by refugee chefs from the countries of Bhutan, Iraq, Myanmar, Senegal and Syria. The collaborations are part of San Franciscos inaugural Refugee Food Festival from June 19 to June 23. The event was founded by French citizens in 2016 and further developed by the French nonprofit group Food Sweet Food an organization pushing to connect people through food and the United Nations Refugee Agency. The festivals goal: use food to cultivate conversations about issues facing refugees. Equally as important, the festival has the capacity to boost a refugee chefs professional profile. . This festival, it doesnt end with the last day. Many of the chefs want to have permanent positions with restaurants, said Sara Shah, a 23-year-old Bay Area resident who coordinated the festivals San Francisco debut. Most want to start their own catering companies or restaurants so this is a perfect platform for them. The two-year-old event coincides with World Refugee Day (June 20) and spans 13 cities around the globe. In the U.S, San Francisco is joined by New York. The festival is setting roots in a contentious U.S. political landscape regarding immigration. For context, the events first dinner Tuesday will take place just a day after President Donald Trump said he didnt want the country to turn into a migrant camp. His comments came at a meeting on Monday with the National Space Council and were in reference to the Department of Homeland Securitys policy of separating asylum-seeking families at the border. The children are being placed in detention facilities. According to data complied by the United Nations, 65.6 million people worldwide have been forced from their homes because of conflict and persecution. Nearly 23 million are refugees. Meanwhile under the Trump administration, California, which was once a haven for refugees, has seen its immigration numbers dwindle. The Refugee Food Festival, with its goal of integration and eventual employment for refugees, is reminiscent of the mission of Berkeleys 1951 Coffee Company, which opened last year and trains and hires a staff of refugees, asylum seekers and special immigration visa holders. I just felt like San Francisco would be the perfect place for the festival, said Shah. Here, people want to connect with the humanness of the refugee experience. The Refugee Food Festival lineup is as follows: Tuesday June 19 Myanmarese Cuisine by Pa Wah, Hog Island Oyster Co (dinner); One Ferry Building, #1 Wednesday June 20 Iraqi by Muna Anaee, Tawla (dinner); 206 Valencia St. Thursday June 21 Bhutanese Cuisine by Anu Mapchan, DOSA on Fillmore (dinner); 1700 Fillmore St. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Friday June 22 Iraqi Cuisine by Muna Anaee, Sons Addition (dinner); 2990 24th St. Saturday June 23 Senegalese Cuisine by Vito, Jardiniere (dinner); 300 Grove St. WeWork Private Event Thursday June 21 at 6:00pm Syrian Cuisine by Rawaa Kasedah Pop-Up Dinner hosted by WeWork (not open to the public) Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips California health officials said Tuesday they will begin testing in July on the hilltop portion of the former Hunters Point Shipyard currently under development, a process state officials say should put to rest the fears that harmful levels of radioactive materials are buried among the burgeoning neighborhoods handsome townhomes and grassy dog runs. The California Department of Public Health told The Chronicle that the work, which is scheduled to be wrapped up in the fall, will address the radiological health and safety of the environment of the area known as Parcel A, where 450 homes are either completed or under construction. The Navy will pay for the work. But experts and shipyard residents are already questioning whether the proposed method of testing using sodium iodide detectors will adequately determine whether the soil at Parcel A is clean. Dan Hirsch, retired director of the Program on Environmental and Nuclear Policy at UC Santa Cruz, said that the gamma radiation scanners the state is proposing will not detect two of the most harmful isotopes found at the Hunters Point Superfund site, strontium-90 and plutonium-239. While the sort of Geiger counter the state is planning on using can be helpful in determining whether some radioactive materials are present in the ground, actual soil samples need to be gathered and analyzed in a lab to determine whether soil is truly clean, he said. Itll be like walking around with a blindfold and saying, I cant see anything, he said. Sodium iodide detectors are never used alone or instead of soil samples unless you are trying to do a PR stunt for the press and the political figures. The plan to retest the property site of the Bay Areas largest redevelopment project comes after a year in which both the Navy and the Environmental Protection Agency have called into question cleanup and soil testing work done by Tetra Tech, an environmental engineering firm that was paid more than $250 million to clean up the mothballed shipyard, which was home to the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory from 1946 to 1969. Two former Tetra Tech supervisors, Justin Hubbard and Stephen Rolfe, have pleaded guilty to falsifying records in connection with the cleanup, swapping suspect soil with clean dirt to make it appear that areas were free of harmful radiation. Both were sentenced to eight months in prison. Reports released last year by the Navy and the EPA said that up to 97 percent of the soil samples taken in two areas of the shipyard site could not be trusted. Tetra Tech has repeatedly said that the cleanup was done by the book and that any cheating was the work of two rogue employees. Tetra Tech had little to do with Parcel A, beyond overseeing some remediation work at one building. And the Navy and the EPA have insisted that Parcel A is clean because it was mostly home to military housing barracks. But historical records and some field technicians who worked on the shipyard have questioned whether the area is as clean as government officials have said. A lab building adjacent to the site at one point contained a room full of caged dogs given lethal doses of radiation, according to government reports, and at least one former Tetra Tech field worker said he detected high levels of radioactive materials on the edge of the parcel. While the Navy had long insisted that Parcel A didnt need to be tested, it relented after Supervisor Malia Cohen and neighborhood residents insisted that testing be done. A spokesman for shipyard property owner Lennar said the company also requested that Parcel A be retested to assure our homeowners that the land is safe and we are pleased that it will now happen. On Friday, the Navy said it would provide some financial support as well as guidance and expertise on Parcel A, but would not take a lead in the retesting of that area. Federal and state regulators have repeatedly verified the safety of Parcel A, which was investigated, cleared and removed from the Superfund program in 1999 and EPA surveyed Parcel A before transfer to the city of San Francisco in 2004, said Derek Robinson, a Navy environmental coordinator. We support CDPH in their efforts to gather additional data to provide Parcel A homeowners with peace of mind. The controversy over the testing of the hilltop parcel comes just days after the Navy released a proposed plan for retesting Parcel G, a rectangular piece of land just to the south of Parcel A. The evaluation, which will delay the planned redevelopment of the former shipyard by at least a year, will include testing of former sanitary sewer and storm drain trenches, as well as other portions of the property previously identified as having possible radiological contamination. It will also involve the scanning of six buildings identified as radiologically impacted according to historical use, the Navy said. While members of the public have 60 days to comment on the plan for Parcel G, no plan for the survey of Parcel A has been made public, and there is no formal public review process. 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. Shipyard resident Linda Parker-Pennington said that Parcel A should be a priority for checking for dangerous toxins. I understand why they have been focusing on some of the other parcels because that is where Tetra Tech worked more extensively, she said. But I think they should make Parcel A a priority people are living here. The homeowners have a bad taste in their mouths. She said that she is not very happy with the level of testing the state is proposing. It sounds like its more about expedience, she said. If the objective is to convince the people who live here that they are in a safe place, it doesnt sound like this will accomplish that. Theo Ellington, a shipyard resident who is running for the Board of Supervisors, said the testing process should be as public as possible. We dont want to streamline this for the sake of rubber-stamping, he said. We want to make sure the soil is clean and held to the same standard as the rest of the site. Bradley Angel, executive director of the environmental watchdog group Greenaction, said that the scanning at Parcel A should happen, but should be done in conjunction with extensive soil sampling. Without (soil testing) it will prove nothing, said Angel. A survey that includes zero core samples will tell us nothing about what is underneath the homes where people live or underneath the pavement where kids play, he said. It is a bad joke. Angel said the state should release a detailed plan for the Parcel A tests. The last thing we need right now is to add to the controversy, he said. Lets hope the place is clean but lets find out, and we cant find out solely by scanning. Ask President Trump and his allies why the administration is taking children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, and theyll point to a 1997 court settlement of a lawsuit by a teenager from El Salvador. Because of the Flores consent decree and a Ninth Circuit Court decision, (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) can only keep families detained together for a very short period of time, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a June 7 speech. A week later, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tweeted, I want 2 stop the separation of families at the border by repealing the Flores 1997 court decision requiring separation of families. In fact, the parent-child separations are the result of the zero-tolerance policy Sessions announced last month, requiring criminal prosecution in all cases of illegal entry. Because the court settlement requires children in immigration custody to be released promptly unless they pose a danger to the public or a flight risk, the administrations policy mandates separation from their parents. The suit was filed in 1985 by immigration and civil rights groups in the name of Jenny Flores, a 15-year-old girl who had fled El Salvador. They argued that children should not be held in U.S. custody for months, or sometimes years, while their immigration cases were pending. In 1997, a federal judge in Los Angeles approved a settlement requiring youngsters to be placed in the least restrictive setting available and released without unnecessary delay to a parent, adult relative or guardian. If none of those is available, the judge said they must be freed from confinement and placed with a licensed program that provides education and social services. Rod Aydelotte / Associated Press In 2016, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the settlement included minors who were brought to the country by their parents. While lawyers for the youths try to hold immigration officials to the terms of the agreement, they say the Trump administration is trying to turn it upside down. The family separation practice puts enormous pressure on a parent to plead guilty ... get out of jail, get deported and start trying to track down their children, said attorney Peter Schey, president of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and lead counsel in the case. Theyve been terrorized by the snatching of their children. The settlement doesnt address separation, just how minors should be treated, said Pratheepan Gulasekaram, an immigration law professor at Santa Clara University. Under a law signed by President George W. Bush in 2008, with bipartisan support, he said, the preference is to reunite the child with a family member as soon as possible. But commentators said Congress, as Sessions and Grassley suggested, could probably pass a law that modified or repealed the settlement. Although the original lawsuit claimed the government was violating childrens constitutional right to liberty by holding them in custody to await deportation proceedings, the Supreme Court took up the Flores case in 1993 and ruled 7-2 that detention was not constitutionally forbidden. The ruling left the details up to the lower courts. Four years later, a federal judge approved settlement terms that include housing in the least restrictive setting available and reasonably prompt release. I dont think theres anything in the Supreme Court case that would prevent Congress from (toughening) the conditions a little bit, said Bill Hing, a University of San Francisco law professor and director of the schools Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic. The courts might not accept jail-type detention for minors, he said, but probably would uphold a law that allowed them to be held for months while their parents cases proceeded. In 2014, after an increase in Central American families arriving at the U.S. border, President Barack Obamas administration began holding both parents and children indefinitely in newly built family detention centers. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee of Los Angeles ruled that the practice violated the 1997 settlement, and the Ninth Circuit agreed. In response to renewed complaints after President Trump took office, Gee ruled in June 2017 that the government was failing to release minors promptly under the terms of the settlement and was housing many of them in unlicensed, high-security facilities with poor sanitation. She ordered appointment of an administrator to improve conditions. Legal efforts have also begun to challenge family separation. On June 6, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw of San Diego refused to dismiss an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit that argues that the Trump policy violates constitutional protections for families. He said the suit alleged government conduct that arbitrarily tears at the sacred bond between parent and child. And Schey said his legal team plans to ask Gee to rule that the 1997 settlement applies to a minors rights as a member of a family. Although the terms of the settlement refer only to the children and not to their parents, he said, some protection of family unity is implied in a provision requiring the government to treat the youngsters with dignity, respect, and a special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors. Chronicle news services contributed to this report. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko The Trump administration is facing an increasing amount of political blowback from its reckless new immigration policy that has led to a dramatic increase in separations of migrant children from their parents at the southern border. So its trying to claim that the responsibility lies with anyone but the Trump administration. Department of Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has blamed Congress. Instead of criticizing those of us who uphold our oaths by enforcing the laws Congress drafted, work with us to change them, Nielsen said Monday on Twitter. Although Republicans have the majority in both houses of Congress, President Trump has blamed Democrats for his own policy. The Democrats have to change their law, Trump said on June 15, in remarks to reporters. Finally, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions who announced the new policy in California last month has blamed the parents themselves. Theres only one way to stop this and that is for people to stop smuggling children, Sessions told the National Sheriffs Association. Stop crossing the border illegally with your children. All of this rhetoric is false. The responsibility for this cruel and inhumane policy lies squarely with the Trump administration. President Trump could end it with a single phone call. So far, he has not. The question for Congress is whether or not it wants to enter the midterm-election season on this platform of racial division and gratuitous cruelty. Already, the furor over family separation has upended the House of Representatives plan to vote on two immigration bills this week. Now, House Republicans are scrambling to see if they can pass a narrower fix to forbid the practice of ripping children away from their parents. Meanwhile, California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has been steadily working to build support for her bill to outlaw family separations. She currently has 49 co-sponsors, solely Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he favors a narrow fix and expects one to pass late this week. Congress will need to contain President Trump, who wants an end to family separation only if he can also get funding for a border wall. But there can be no negotiating with childrens lives. This policy must end, and it must end now. This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters. President Trump continues to advance the absurd idea that he is beyond the reach of the law. His ubiquitous attack attorney, Rudy Giuliani, has in recent days all but promised presidential pardons to Trumps jailed former campaign manager and other associates facing criminal charges. If every Trump minion in a jam can count on clemency, then perhaps the president wont have to test his dubious claim that he can pardon himself. The investigation of a foreign plot to subvert a presidential election is, in Giulianis estimation, a mere mess to be tidied up with a sweeping abuse of power. As Americas former mayor put it to the New York Daily News, Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons. He went on to clarify that Trump would pardon anyone treated unfairly which happened to match Trumps critique of a judges very unfair decision to jail Paul Manafort, who ran his 2016 campaign. The former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard is an important part of the city of San Francisco, having played a vital national defense role during World War II and afterward. Today, the priority for the site reflects that space to live and work in the city is both scarce and expensive. That is where the Navy Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process comes in. Since 1990, it has transferred and repurposed dozens of closed U.S. military installations for commercial and public use. The Shipyard project will follow in these footsteps. Since entering the BRAC program in 1991, the vast majority of shipyard project cleanup work has been successfully completed. Over the past several years, however, there has been radiological assessment work at the site that does not measure up. Radiological cleanup at the shipyard project is challenging under any circumstances, due to low levels of radiation that are near the background levels naturally occurring in the environment. Adding to that challenge is that the radiological analysis and cleanup work performed by a Navy contractor is in question. The Navy originally discovered irregularities in the radiological data provided by Tetra Tech EC through its ongoing internal quality control procedures in 2012. The Navy worked with Tetra Tech EC and regulatory agencies to address those issues and others from 2012 to 2016. Subsequently, the Navy identified additional problems with Tetra Tech EC. Then-former Tetra Tech EC employees came forward with specific claims of deliberate falsification of tests, improper work and fraudulent record keeping. In 2016, the Navy paused the radiological program at the shipyard development for a comprehensive review. And while there have been multiple reports, articles and much speculation since, it is important that the community understands three things. 1) The shipyard project and nearby areas are safe. The levels of radiation there are low; exposure to these levels would not result in an immediate risk to human health or the environment. In addition, the radiological remedial work performed there has proper controls in place to ensure that workers and the public remain safe. Regulators have repeatedly verified the safety of Parcel A, which was investigated, cleared and removed from the Superfund program in 1999. The Environmental Protection Agency surveyed Parcel A before transfer to the city in 2004. The Navy also supports the California Department of Public Healths decision to scan areas of Parcel A to provide residents with additional peace of mind. 2) The Navy understands the concerns raised by local stakeholders. Credible, reliable data is crucial to establish the property readiness for transfer and use by the local community. That is why the Navy stopped all remaining transfers of property at the shipyard development. The city and developers have also agreed to pause work on parcels UC1, UC2 and D2, which were transferred to the city in 2015. 3) The Navy agrees with community leaders and its regulatory partners that all of Tetra Tech EC radiological work areas must be re-evaluated. Last week, the Navy released its proposed work plan for retesting Parcel G, identified by the city as its top-priority parcel for development. Once final, this work plan will serve as a model for other parcel work plans that follow. To ensure that retesting is performed properly, the Navy has hired independent contractors to oversee the work and verify testing results. The EPA and the California Department of Public Health also will conduct independent sampling to confirm results. The public has until Aug. 14 to offer suggestions on the approach the Navy will use to retest Parcel G. This doubles the typical 30-day comment period in order to give stakeholders additional time to review and provide feedback. The work plan, a fact sheet and an explanation of the comment process are all available to the public at bracpmo.navy.mil/hpnsrc. Community members are encouraged to participate. Its time to get the radiological cleanup work at Hunters Point back on track. Retesting at Parcel G is the start. The shipyard project has a long history of proud service to the country, and an important future ahead to the city of San Francisco and its residents. The Navy is determined that our legacy here will be positive and that we will be here until the work is done. Kimberly Ostrowski is director of the Navy Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), West. For months, Los Angeles state Sen. Kevin de Leon has been using the immigration issue to hammer on Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the fellow Democrat he will challenge in November. From saying in a Sacramento Bee interview that Feinsteins natural inclination is to be anti-immigrant to arguing at Februarys state Democratic convention that Californians need a leader who will fight each and every day to protect ... our immigrant families, de Leon author of Californias sanctuary state law has banked on a hope that his long record of vocal support for immigrants and immigration would translate to support at the polls. It didnt work well in the primary, as de Leon finished more than 30 points behind Feinstein. It could also be a tough sell in November, now that the four-term senator has become the face of Democratic congressional opposition to the Trump administration policy of separating undocumented children from their parents when the families are caught trying to enter the country. Feinsteins Keep Families Together Act has become Senate Democrats primary vehicle to confront both President Trump and the GOP on family separation, which a new CNN poll found is overwhelmingly opposed by everyone except registered Republicans. We have 48 Democratic senators in support of our straightforward bill to bar family separation, Feinstein said in a statement Tuesday, before the 49th, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, announced his support. Ive heard countless Republicans say that they oppose children being taken from their parents. If thats true, they should support our bill. Federal authorities are holding an estimated 2,000 migrant children after jailing their parents when they tried to cross the border. The federal government used to release migrants with children until their deportation cases were heard, but the Trump administration decreed a zero tolerance policy in April under which all undocumented adults apprehended trying to enter the U.S. are detained. Feinsteins measure would bar the government from separating families at the border in almost every case. The only exceptions would be when there was evidence that a child was being abused or trafficked by his or her parents. Even then, that decision would have to be made by a state court or a county welfare agency, not the federal government. Although the bill has the support of 49 Democrats, its backed by zero Republicans, with even GOP moderates like Maine Sen. Susan Collins complaining in an interview with CBS that the bill is far too broad. Thats almost beside the point for Feinstein and the Democrats, who now have something to point to when Trump and Republicans demand to know what alternative they have to the administrations policy. The measure, and the publicity it brings with it, is likely to be a political winner for Feinstein in California. It puts the former San Francisco mayor front and center in a nationally visible confrontation with Trump, something de Leon has charged she has been unwilling to do. Although she heads into the fall campaign as the prohibitive favorite over de Leon, no one gets as far up the political ladder as Feinstein without a strong competitive streak. While 50 percent plus one is enough to win re-election, thats certainly not the number Feinstein wants. De Leon also got involved in the child migrant issue this week, calling on Gov. Jerry Brown to pull 400 California National Guard troops from border duty. Expect to see Feinstein and her supporters pushing back hard against any charge that shes soft on Trump, in an effort to show de Leons progressive supporters that theres no reason to switch Democrats in November. Thats why its no accident Feinsteins campaign and not her Senate office paid for a new email message asking Democrats to add their names to a list supporting the senators opposition to Trumps family separation program. We cant allow this to happen. Not in our America, the message says. Dianne will continue to fight for these children every day. John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth Its the jewel of Oakland, a National Historic Landmark and the home to Childrens Fairyland, but Lake Merritt has always been for the birds. A recent dig through The Chronicles archive turned up long-hidden photos, some nearly a century old, of Lake Merritt, which holds the distinction of being the United States first government-sanctioned wildlife refuge, designated in 1870 to protect migratory birds from Bay Area hunters. About 150 years ago, about the time The Chronicle was founded, Oakland Mayor Samuel Merritt proposed the building of a dam to fill a tidal lagoon and create a lake near his sprawling home. He financed the dam over San Antonio Creek, which is now known as the Oakland Estuary, and named it Lake Peralta. According to a Sept. 9, 1984, Chronicle column by Margot Patterson Doss, a local paper pushed to rename the body of water for its patron, calling it a most Merrittorious project. In a 1869 Oakland Matters column, The Chronicle raved about the recently completed and renamed Lake Merritt. Since the completion of the dam, this beautiful sheet of water has become one of the chief glories of Oakland. The road which is now being laid out around the lake will be one of the most delightful drives in the world. Cars wouldnt be commonplace for decades, so the drives must have been truly horse-powered. The Lake Merritt area is situated below the Pacific Flyway, and birds of all kinds flock to its shores. In 1870, the Legislature passed a law creating the Lake Merritt Wildlife Refuge, the first legally established wildlife sanctuary in North America. In the 1920s, the first bird island was constructed. Three decades later, four additional islands were built. Hundreds of egrets, herons, geese, pelicans, ducks and other winged visitors stop off at the lake during migrations. With budgets often thin, the sanctuary has survived major financial threats. In 1986, the City Council was trying to trim $8 million, and the refuge was a top target. Chronicle reporter Pearl Stewart wrote that a formal petition to save the center began making the rounds, and it helped city officials see the light. There was a tremendous response, Karoline DeMartini, a member of the city managers staff, was quoted as saying. Ive got a shopping bag full of letters and drawings the most wonderful collection of childrens artwork. In a July 26, 1970, article celebrating the lakes 100th anniversary, The Chronicles Hal Gilliam summed up the appeal in a way that rings true nearly 50 years later: Urban oases like Lake Merritt are sanctuaries, not only for birds, but for humans as well. Ken McLaughlin / The Chronicle 1946 More from Chronicle Vault What a ride: Peter Hartlaub retells the story of when President Richard Nixon rode a futuristic BART train and stopped at a gleaming Lake Merritt Station. Oakland overload: Did you know an Oakland holiday balloon parade used to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city every year? The pictures are priceless. Lets get nuts : The Bay Bridge connects Oakland with San Francisco. These crazy cross-bay bridge ideas connect the absurd with the archive. More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond. A lost gem: How Hetch Hetchys natural beauty was sacrificed to quench San Franciscos thirst. Man versus nature: Hetch Hetchy water travels a long way to make it to San Franciscos faucets. This is how it first happened. From the Archive is a weekly column by Bill Van Niekerken, the library director of The Chronicle, exploring the depths of the newspapers archive. Its part of Chronicle Vault, a twice-weekly newsletter highlighting more than 150 years of San Francisco stories. It is edited by Tim ORourke, The Chronicles assistant managing editor and executive producer of SFChronicle.com. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Chronicle Vault on Instagram. Contact Bill at bvanniekerken@sfchronicle.com and Tim at torourke@sfchronicle.com. CalFire A vegetation fire broke out near Montbretia Way, a residential street in San Ramon, at about 3 p.m. Tuesday. Aerial footage taken of the fire shows a helicopter releasing fire retardant on charred hills above a suburban neighborhood. A San Ramon Fire Department spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. A Facebook fundraising campaign started by a Bay Area couple to reunite separated migrant families had brought in more than $10 million in five days. Former Facebook employees Charlotte and Dave Willner launched the effort Saturday morning at 8 a.m. in response to President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" approach to undocumented immigrants. By Tuesday, the so-called RAICES campaign was bringing in $4,000 a minute, and for two hours straight Wednesday morning, $10,000 poured in a minute. It's the largest single fundraiser to date using Facebook Fundraisers. The money will go to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), a nonprofit located in Texas that offers free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and refugees. ALSO: Rachel Maddow breaks down on air while reading about babies detained at US border The Willners' original goal was to bring in $1,500, the minimum amount to to cover bond fees for one person being held in detention. They've now hit that goal more than 6,o00 times over. The Willners were inspired to do something when they saw an image online of a girl crying at the feet of her mother and border patrol agents. In the photo, a two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. The pair were part of a group of asylum seekers who had rafted across the Rio Grande from Mexico and were detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents before being sent to a processing center for possible separation. "I am a parent -- specifically, a mom of a child the same age as the girl in the cover photo of this fundraiser," Charlotte wrote in a statement. "When I see her face, I see my own daughter's. I am a born-and-raised American. My ancestors founded Jamestown, fought in the Revolutionary War, held slaves and were slaves, fought and died for both the Union and the Confederacy, came through Ellis Island, scraped a living from the coal mines of the Rockies and the red clay of Texas, and ultimately produced me: just a mom with a daughter who looks exactly like this Honduran child when she cries." She added, "The only thing that separates these two toddlers is accident of birth -- and no child, no parent, should be punished for that." ALSO: Immigrant kids seen held in fenced cages at border facility The average donation to the campaign is $50. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg have both donated. Charlotte Willner works at Pinterest and Dave at Airbnb. RAICES responded to the generous donations on Facebook. "We do not have the words to thank Charlotte and Dave Willner. We've been occasionally crying around the office all day when we check the fundraising totals. There are terrible things happening in the world. And there are many people who are deciding not to look away but to do something." This story was updated at 9:30 a.m. on June 20, 2018. A woman filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department alleging probation officials unlawfully held her 15-year-old son in custody on a nonviolent property offense last June, according to court records. Tureko Straughters son was booked into the juvenile departments locked facility on June 29 where he remained for roughly four days despite a judges release order. After reviewing the teens file, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Braden Woods ordered his release at 2 p.m. the day he was detained after finding there was not sufficient probable cause to detain the boy, according to the complaint. Records indicated the teen should have been released to his parents within four hours, the complaint said. We have not been served with this lawsuit, so we cant comment on something we havent seen, said John Cote, communications director for the San Francisco City Attorneys Office. The 23-page complaint alleges probation department officials decided to ignore the judges release order and keep the teen in custody. Finding out my son was supposed to be released really hurt, Straughter said in a statement. He could have been home with me and his brothers. I was scared for him. Over the course of his detention, Straughter visited her son three times in tightly supervised 45 minute increments, according to the complaint. Straughter said her son had never been in legal trouble before. He slept in a locked cell for four days before he was granted release by Woods during a detention hearing on July 3. The complaint alleges probation detention officer Samuel Nwigwe learned of a record of a teenager later identified as the detained boys twin who was cited in Oakland in January 2017 who had a different first name but shared the same last name, address and birth date of the detained teen. The complaint alleges Nwigwe maliciously concluded that the detained teen was using an alias and changed records to reflect his twin brothers first name, so that his brothers Oakland incident would be reflected as his own. On the day of the detention hearing, the complaint alleges Woods acknowledged the Oakland incident did not involve the detained teen. Woods released the teen to his mother in the afternoon immediately following the hearing. The teen, who is not being identified, said in a statement that instead of juvenile hall, I think the city should invest in the community. Youth community centers provide important support to young people. The complaint alleges the teenager suffered physical discomfort and was mentally and emotionally injured during his juvenile detention which caused caused mental anguish, emotional distress, feelings of unjust treatment, reputational harm, fear, anxiety, humiliation, and trauma. Too often, incarceration is a default response to youthful behavior, even though we know that incarceration is harmful and disproportionately impacts young people of color, said Meredith Desautels, an attorney representing the teenager through Bay Area Legal Aid. This case is emblematic of a systemic problem we have here in San Francisco and around the state. The lawsuit is lodged against the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department, Chief Probation Office Allen Nance, three San Francisco Police Department officers, and the city and county of San Francisco. Straughter is requesting a jury trial and an unknown amount of monetary damages. Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor Ever feel like there's something sinister lurking behind the yoga-loving, avocado-eating facade of your fellow Californians? Now there's research to back you up. California is among the two U.S. states with the highest concentration of psychopaths, according to a working study from Southern Methodist University released on the Social Science Research network this week. The study looks at trends in personality traits across areas (the study hasn't yet gone through the full peer review process, so take the findings with a grain of salt). The only places with more psychopaths? Connecticut (thanks, hedge funds!) and, shocker, the District of Columbia. Other highly psychopathic states include New Jersey, New York and Wyoming, while West Virginia, Vermont and Tennessee are among the lease psychopathic states. 'The presence of psychopaths in District of Columbia is consistent with the conjecture found in Murphy (2016) that psychopaths are likely to be effective in the political sphere," the author writes. The author, Ryan Murphy, combined the findings of two past papers, one that mapped distribution of the "big five" personality traits (neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion and openness to experience) across states and one that tracked which of those five personality traits most closely corresponded with psychopathy, to get the results. The former paper found that there are three distinct clusters of personality traits in the United States people are "friendly and conventional" in the Midwest and the South, "temperamental and uninhibited" in the Northeast and Texas, and "relaxed and creative" in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. Murphy's paper operates with the assumption that psychopathy exists on a spectrum not as a binary category and that it correlates with a combination of low neuroticism, high extraversion, low agreeableness and low conscientiousness. Murphy found that the greater the share of a state's population that lives in dense urban areas, the higher the rate of psychopathy. Other findings were more intuitive. Two things that correlate with a state with lots of psychopaths? High concentrations of journalists and lawyers. Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter Barney Peterson/San Francisco Chronicle The separation of children from their parents at the border has once again put immigration at the forefront of our national discourse. Which makes this an ideal time to examine the legacy of Wayne Collins. As a trial lawyer, Collins (1899-1974) defended people of Japanese ancestry who were interred during World War II. A new book by Charles Wollenberg shows just how tireless Collins was in taking on the U.S. government in four cases. Wollenberg will discuss his book, Rebel Lawyer: Wayne Collins and the Defense of Japanese American Rights, at a launch party at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 21 at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission St., S.F. Hell be joined by Anthea Hartig, executive director of the society; Vasudha Talla, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California; and Steve Wasserman of Heyday Books, which is publishing the book. The developer of a school shooting video game condemned by parents of slain children has lost the ability to sell its products online after being dumped by PayPal. Acid Software said Tuesday that purchases of Active Shooter were temporarily disabled as its representatives tried to resolve the issues with San Joses PayPal, which said it closed the account because it violated its Acceptable Use Policy. A healthy drop in sales? Frappuccino sales are struggling, and concerns about how much sugar the slushy drinks contain may be among the reasons. Starbucks says sales from the drinks which tend to have about 400 calories are down 3 percent from a year ago, and it is blaming the health and wellness trend for the dip. Meanwhile, Starbucks also said it will close 150 underperforming stores in heavily penetrated markets, up from the usual rate of 50 closings a year. Thou shalt not MoviePass AMC Theatres, the worlds largest movie theater chain, on Wednesday unveiled a $20-a-month subscription service to rival the flagging MoviePass. Under its loyalty program, subscribers could see up to three movies a week for a monthly fee of $19.95. Thats more expensive than the $9.95 fee for MoviePass, but AMCs plan gives access to premium formats like Imax and 3-D. Compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Legislation to create a new, regional organization to manage the electricity grid across several Western states survived a vote in a key California Senate committee Tuesday, even as several senators expressed serious misgivings about the bill. Members of the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee voted 6-1 to advance the bill AB813 which would cede control over Californias power lines to a multistate organization operating a regional electricity market. Only Sen. Andy Vidak, R-Hanford (Kings County), voted against it, but several senators said they were not yet satisfied with the bill. Opponents fear that a regional grid operator, possibly including such coal-mining states as Wyoming and Utah, could undermine Californias clean-energy policies and open California to meddling from a hostile federal government intent on supporting fossil fuels. Supporters consider it a way to spread the use of renewable power throughout the West. And they note that the states current grid manager, the California Independent System Operator, already works under federal oversight. The bill now heads to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Earnings Oracle Oracle reported fourth-quarter profit of $3.41 billion (99 cents per share), topping Wall Street expectations. Analysts had expected 94 cents per share. The Redwood City software maker posted adjusted revenue of $11.26 billion, which also topped forecasts of analysts, who had expected $11.19 billion. For the year, the company reported profit of $3.83 billion (90 cents) on revenue of $39.88 billion. The company projects profit of 67 to 69 cents per share in the current quarter, and shares of Oracle fell on that outlook. After closing at $46.27, the price fell after hours by more than 3.5 percent to $44.63. Investing SEC fines Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch has agreed to pay a $42 million penalty to settle allegations that it routed millions of customer orders to outside brokers, while telling them it had executed the transactions internally. From 2008 to 2013, Merrill, which is owned by Bank of America, hid that the fact that client requests to buy and sell stock were being handled by proprietary trading firms and other outside entities, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a Tuesday order. Merrill did so after some customers specifically asked that their orders not be executed externally because they were concerned about information being leaked, the SEC said. By misleading customers about where their trades were executed, Merrill Lynch deprived them of the ability to make informed decisions regarding their orders and broker-dealer relationships, said Stephanie Avakian, co-director of the SECs enforcement division. Merrill Lynch, which admitted that it took steps to ensure that customers did not learn about this misconduct, fell far short of the standards expected of broker-dealers in our markets. Courts Surf Air sued by its operator Surf Air, which offers a monthly air travel membership service, owes $3.1 million for more than a year of unpaid flight services in California, according to a lawsuit by the company that operated the carriers flights. Encompass Aviation said it agreed in May 2017 to provide Surf Airs service, but hasnt been paid in a timely fashion since then. The complaint was filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, four days after Surf Air switched to charter operator Advanced Air, a move Encompass contends breached its agreement with Surf. Encompass accused Surf of trying to dodge its debt by moving to another operator. Surf Airs flights are operated by other carriers because it doesnt own or fly any aircraft. Chronicle News Services In scrambling to increase production of its Model 3 electric car, Tesla has run into trouble with robots and automated machinery, a need for more workers and a shortage of battery packs all fairly typical issues in starting up an auto plant. Now CEO Elon Musk suspects a more unusual problem may be at play: sabotage. In an email sent to employees late Sunday night, Musk said a disgruntled worker had broken into the companys computer systems in an attempt to disrupt manufacturing. I was dismayed to learn this weekend about a Tesla employee who had conducted quite extensive and damaging sabotage to our operations, he wrote. This included making direct code changes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System under false usernames and exporting large amounts of highly sensitive Tesla data to unknown third parties. The email was first reported by CNBC. A Tesla spokesman declined to discuss the content of Musks emails. It was not clear whether the operations in question were at its assembly plant in Fremont, its battery plant near Reno, or elsewhere. Tesla shares were down almost 5 percent Tuesday, closing at $352.55. Musk said the employee, who was not identified in the email, had admitted trying to damage the manufacturing system, and was unhappy with the company after being passed over for a promotion. In a separate email to employees Monday, also reported by CNBC, Musk said a minor fire had broken out on the assembly line at its Fremont plant, halting production for several hours. He said it could be just a random event but added that it was hard to explain and urged employees to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity inside the company. Musk has also been lashing out recently against short sellers betting against the companys stock, saying on Twitter over the weekend that they have about three weeks before their short position explodes. The recent disruption comes as Tesla is racing to streamline operations on the assembly line that produces the Model 3, a midsize mass-market model that Musk is counting on to drive revenue higher, stabilize Teslas finances and enable the company to begin generating profits. He has said Tesla will make money in the second half of the year if it is able to produce 5,000 or more Model 3s a week, a level he predicted Tesla would reach by the end of this month. At the companys shareholder meeting this month, Musk said the company had increased its output to about 3,500 Model 3s a week, up from around 2,000 a week in early May. Neal E. Boudette is a New York Times writer. Verizon, AT&T and Sprint have pledged to stop providing information on phone owners locations to data brokers, stepping back from a business practice that has drawn criticism for endangering privacy. The data has apparently allowed outside companies to pinpoint the location of wireless devices without their owners knowledge or consent. Verizon said that about 75 companies have been obtaining its customer data from two little-known brokers that Verizon supplies directly: Zumigo of San Jose and LocationSmart of Carlsbad (San Diego County). Verizon became the first major carrier to declare it would end sales of such data to brokers that then provide it to others. It did so in a Friday letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has been probing the phone location-tracking market. AT&T followed suit Tuesday after the Associated Press reported the Verizon move. Neither company said it was getting out of the business of selling location data. Verizon and AT&T are the two largest U.S. mobile carriers in terms of subscribers. Chief privacy officer Karen Zacharia said Verizon would be careful not to disrupt beneficial services such as fraud prevention and emergency roadside assistance. In an email to AP, AT&T spokesman Jim Greer cited similar reasons for cutting off the intermediaries as soon as practical. Last month, Wyden revealed abuses in the lucrative but loosely regulated field involving Securus Technologies of Texas and its Florida affiliate 3C Interactive. Verizon says their contract was approved only for the location tracking of outside mobile phones called by prison inmates. Verizon notified LocationSmart and Zumigo, both privately held, that it intends to terminate their ability to access and use our customers location data as soon as possible, Zacharia wrote. Location data from Verizon and other carriers makes it possible to identify the whereabouts of nearly any phone in the U.S. within seconds. Popular commercial uses for the information include keeping tabs on packages, vehicles and employees; bank fraud prevention; and marketing offers. The cutoff wont affect users ability to share locations directly with apps and other services. Rather, it deals with the practice of providing data to third parties with which users have no direct contact. Wyden wrote all four major U.S. wireless carriers on May 8 after learning about a web portal that let law officers track Americans locations without proper oversight. A former sheriff in Missouri has been accused of using Securus data for unauthorized surveillance of a judge, a sheriff and state highway patrol officers. Days later, a Carnegie Mellon University security researcher discovered a security flaw in LocationSmarts website that could have allowed any reasonably sophisticated hacker to secretly track almost any phone in the U.S. or Canada. Frank Bajak is an Associated Press writer. A San Francisco police officer who shot a fleeing suspect on a busy North Beach sidewalk June 9 was found to be legally justified in fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy in 2012. Joshua Cabillo, a five-year San Francisco Police Department veteran assigned to the Field Operations Bureau, was identified Tuesday night by San Francisco police as the officer who shot Oliver Barcenas, 28, sending him to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The tense exchange between Cabillo and Barcenas prior to the shooting was caught on recently released body-worn camera video. Footage shows Cabillo and another uniformed officer approach a group of four men they believed were drinking alcohol at Grant Avenue and Vallejo Street, according to police. Cabillo is heard telling the group of men that no one is going anywhere before Barcenas darts away and runs down Grant. The officer runs after Barcenas, pushing past pedestrians on the sidewalk, and fires at least two shots into Barcenas back after police say he drew a .45-caliber Glock pistol with a laser sight and an extended clip with 26 rounds. A crowd of yelling pedestrians circled Cabillo as Barcenas lay motionless on the concrete. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where hospital officials said he was being treated as recently as Thursday. His condition was unknown. Barcenas was arrested on suspicion of delaying an officer, carrying a concealed firearm, exhibiting a firearm and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. It was the second time Barcenas was shot by San Francisco police. He was shot after being accused of pulling a Tec-9 assault pistol on current Assistant Chief Toney Chaplin in the Mission District in 2012. Cabillo remains on administrative leave, in accordance with department policy, police said. He was previously found to be justified in using lethal force when, as a member of the South San Francisco police force, he shot and killed a teenage boy who allegedly pulled a gun during a struggle in June 2012. After an investigation, the gun was revealed to be inoperable. Cabillo approached 15-year-old Derrick Gaines of San Bruno after a passerby reported that the boy and a companion were acting suspiciously, police said at the time. When he told the pair to sit down, they fled, police said. Cabillo knocked Gaines to the ground. He told investigating officers that Gaines reached for a pistol that dropped to the ground during the struggle, prompting him to shoot the teenager in the neck. Gaines died at San Francisco General Hospital. The city of South San Francisco settled a civil suit filed by Gaines parents and agreed to pay the family $250,000, without admitting wrongdoing. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against Cabillo and other San Francisco police officers in 2015 on behalf of a 23-year-old man who said police assaulted him. The city settled that suit for $40,000 without admitting any wrongdoing. The North Beach shooting is being investigated by the San Francisco Police Department Homicide Detail and Internal Affairs Division, the S.F. district attorney and the Department of Police Accountability. Anyone with information regarding the shooting may contact the San Francisco Police Department 24-hour tip line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411, beginning the text message with SFPD. Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com The San Francisco Police officer who shot an armed suspect in the back as he was running through the busy North Beach neighborhood on June 9 has been identified, authorities said. Joshua Cabillo, a five-year veteran assigned to the Field Operations Bureau, was identified Tuesday night by San Francisco Police as the officer who shot a fleeing man, sending him to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The tense exchange between Cabillo and Oliver Barcenas, 28, prior to the shooting was caught on recently released body-worn camera and security footage. Footage shows Cabillo and another uniformed officer approach a group of four men they believed were drinking alcohol on the corner of Grant Avenue and Vallejo Street, according to police. Cabillo is heard telling the group of men that no one is going anywhere, prompting Barcenas to dart away from the officers and down the busy street. The officer runs after Barcenas, pushing past pedestrians on the sidewalk, and fired at least two shots into Barcenas back after he allegedly drew a .45 caliber Glock pistol with a laser sight and an extended clip with 26 rounds, police said. A crowd of yelling pedestrians circled Cabillo as Barcenas lay motionless on the concrete. Barceas black hat lay near his fingertips. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where hospital officials said he was being treated as recently as Thursday. His condition is unknown. Barcenas was arrested on suspicion of delaying an officer, carrying a concealed firearm, exhibiting a firearm and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. It was the second time Barcenas was shot by San Francisco police. He was shot after getting accused of pulling a Tec-9 assault pistol on current Assistant Chief Toney Chaplin in the Mission District in 2012. Cabillo, who was previously involved in a controversial shooting as a South San Francisco police officer, remains on administrative leave, following department policy, police said. The North Beach shooting is actively getting investigated by the San Francisco Police Department Homicide Detail, the San Francisco Police Department Internal Affairs Division, the San Francisco District Attorneys Independent Investigations Bureau and the Department of Police Accountability. Anyone with information regarding the shooting may contact the San Francisco Police Department 24-hour tip line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411, beginning the text message with SFPD. Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com A man was fatally stabbed and another was badly injured in a fight that broke out late Tuesday night in the parking lot of a downtown shopping center in San Leandro, authorities said. The incident occurred about 11 p.m. in the parking lot of the Washington Plaza at 1499 Washington Ave., said Lt. Isaac Benabou, a spokesman for the San Leandro Police Department. When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered two men with stab wounds lying on the ground, Benabou said. One of the men was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was transported to the hospital with critical injuries. The victims were not identified. RELATED VIDEO: 2017 San Francisco crime statistics Investigators determined that the two victims, who knew each other, got into a fight with two other men. Its unclear whether the suspects knew the victims, Benabou said. We dont know the reason for the altercation or what it stemmed from, he added. The two suspects fled the scene and no arrests were made. Authorities are reviewing parking lot surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses, Benabou said. Washington Plaza is a downtown shopping center thats home to a Safeway, a CVS Pharmacy, dry cleaners, fitness gym and other businesses, authorities said. The killing is the citys first homicide of 2018. Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani Courtesy Kine Sandtro With Swedish soprano Irene Theorin currently wowing San Francisco Opera audiences as Brunnhilde in the companys revival of Wagners Ring" Cycle, this seems like a suitable occasion to celebrate Swedish music in general. So the annual Jenny Lind Concert, named for the 19th century diva best known as the Swedish Nightingale," comes in the nick of time. This years performer, soprano Kine Sandtro, is lets be perfectly honest here Norwegian by birth. But she studies at the University College of Opera in Stockholm, so presumably thats good enough. Videos of a heated and physical altercation between a woman and Humboldt State University police officers have sparked an investigation by the school. The first video posted to Facebook shows a Humboldt State officer arguing with Samantha Alonso Luna through a car window. According to an account posted to Luna's Facebook page, she and her friends were pulled over Saturday in Arcata because one friend was "sticking her head out of the sun roof." The university said Luna's friend, a minor, was then arrested "on suspicion of providing false identification to a peace officer, public intoxication, and battery on a peace officer." "Why are you being so rude?" Luna asks as they argue over the details of retrieving the friend from jail. "Seriously? You're about two seconds from going to jail for public intoxication. Do you not understand that? So I would stop talking if I were you," the officer responds. WARNING: Videos contain graphic content. A second video shows things escalating further, as the two argue over Luna's full legal name. The officer then tells the woman, "You're going to jail," before pulling her out of the car. Another officer joins as the two try to handcuff the woman. An altercation ensues and it eventually takes four officers to subdue Luna. "She had no need to act so unprofessional. She was seeking a reaction out of me when she should have been deescalating the situation. I REFUSE to let MY future be destroyed over a traffic stop," Luna wrote on Facebook. Luna posted five short videos in a post that has been shared more than 48,000 times. She was booked into jail "on suspicion of resisting arrest, battery on a peace officer, public intoxication, and providing false identification to a police officer," Humboldt State said in a statement. "I have seen the video of this arrest, and I have confidence that Chief Peterson and our University Police will conduct a thorough review," said university president Lisa Rossbacher. RELATED VIDEO: Viral video shows woman being arrested over Canadian license According to the school, Luna was not a student. The university is not releasing the name of the minor arrested. Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com. Dublin Police Department Two 18-year-old men, Adam Uzelac and Khan Roadwall, were arrested and charged with "numerous" felony counts of grand theft and robbery related to a rash of stolen laptops in the area. The teens are accused of taking part in three separate incidents, all of which were at Starbucks locations in Dublin shopping centers on May 30, June 6 and June 8. A viral political cartoon by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette comic artist Rob Rogers was projected onto the San Francisco Federal Building on Tuesday night to draw attention to the Trump administration's controversial zero-tolerance border policy. The image depicts the silhouette of President Donald Trump snatching a child away from her parents, a criticism of the administration's separating of some families who try to enter the country illegally. RELATED: The facts about Trump's policy of separating families at the border Rogers was fired last week from the Post-Gazette after the newspaper's editorial page made a "rightward shift," according to the New York Times. Rogers told the Times he had been "uneasy" about his future after the paper appointed a new vice president and editorial director, saying "they clearly had a mission to change the editorial page and I wasn't getting in line so they decided it was time to change the cartoon as well." RELATED: Hundreds in SF protest Trump's 'fascist' child immigration policy But Rogers clearly has a fan in the Bay Area, as demonstrated by the image on the federal building on 7th Street in the SoMa neighborhood. Twitter user @AEMarling snapped a photo of the projection Tuesday night, which caught Rogers' attention. Quoting the photo in a tweet, the artist added, "This is how all political cartoons should be displayed!" The New York Times reported Wednesday Trump is planning to issue an executive order that ends the process of separating families at the border indefinitely. The Department of Homeland Security estimated 2,342 children have been separated from their parents since early May under the current interpretation of the policy. Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira. The Grand Hotel in Berlin in the waning days of the Weimar Republic was famously the place where people come, people go. Nothing ever happens. Except on this night in Irving Thalbergs mega-production for MGM, which brought together five of its top roster of stars Greta Garbo, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore and Joan Crawford in an ensemble piece directed by Edmund Goulding that was one of the biggest early sound hits and won the Oscar for best picture. To this day, it is the only best picture winner not to have been nominated in any other category, but that was only because the supporting actor and actress categories had yet too be created, and there are some wonderful performances here. Strangely, that does not include Garbo. She had the big line in the movie I want to be alone, with which she was forever associated; and the big romance, with down-on-his-luck thief John Barrymore. But it is one of her least effective performances, overly dramatic and broad (parodied by Marion Davies later that year in Blondie of the Follies, with Jimmy Durante as her Barrymore). Yes, Grand Hotel is playing this weekend at the Berkeley Art Museums Pacific Film Archive as part of its Garbo retrospective (7 p.m. Sunday, June 24, 2155 Center St., Berkeley; 510-642-0808; www.bampfa.org), but the real reasons to see it are Barrymore, Barrymore and Crawford, the beating hearts of the picture. They play lifes unlucky losers, victims of the arrogant and wealthy. Cruelty is the path to power, according to author Vicki Baum, an Austrian Jew who worked as a parlor maid in a Berlin hotel for six weeks as research for her novel Menschen im Hotel (People at a Hotel), which was adapted into a Broadway play and then the film. The villain of Grand Hotel is Preysing (Beery), an industrialist trying to save his company through a proposed merger. He hires Flaemmchen (Crawford), a beautiful young woman who is, this week at least, working as a stenographer, but his interest in her heads in an unprofessional direction. Preysing is also, indirectly, the cause of the many troubles of Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore), a decades-long employee at Preysings factory. He has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and lacking proper health care, he decides to spend his meager life savings living as a big shot for a few days at a swanky Grand Hotel suite. Baron Felix von Geigern (John Barrymore) is living under something of a death sentence himself. Once wealthy, he has fallen on hard times, and to erase a heavy debt that might get him killed, he books himself into the Grand Hotel to steal his way out of trouble. His target: the pearl necklace of Grusinskaya (Garbo), the high-maintenance famous Russian ballerina whose self-absorption and prima donna persona drive everyone around her this short of crazy. The problem with the baron is that he is too nice. He falls in love with Grusinskaya; forget the pearls. He could steal the life savings of Kringelein, but he likes him too much, and defends him against Preysing, whose type of overbearing sense of entitlement is something the baron has dealt with before. His defense of Kringelein and confrontations with Preysing win him the admiration of Flaemmchen. Together, the three of them the dying salaryman, the working-class girl and the disgraced baron form a common bond of kindness and humility out of step with the times. The scenes between the Barrymores truly do project a sense of brotherly love. Crawford was so good that Thalberg added two weeks of shooting to beef up Garbos part so Crawford couldnt steal the picture. But she did, anyway. Grand Hotel is still a pretty good film, but one wonders how it played before the Garbo additions. Gonna guess it was even better. Kikis Delivery Service: Hayao Miyazakis 1989 anime masterpiece is the midnight movie at the Clay. Miyazakis imagination could be deliriously surreal (Spirited Away), politically crusading (Princess Mononoke), charmingly bizarre (My Neighbor Totoro) and even unapologetically adult (The Wind Rises), but he never made a more sweet and simple film than the utterly delightful Kikis Delivery Service (1989), about a young witch who has to serve an apprenticeship (with her little cat as helper) at a small town that unfortunately has a no witches policy. When she uses her brooms flying powers to help a baker and his wife deliver their wares, however, she brings the town together. Midnight Friday-Saturday, June 22-23. Landmarks Clay Theatre. 2261 Fillmore St., S.F. 415-561-9921. www.landmarktheatres.com My Son Tenzin: A Tibetan monk arrives in the United States to search for his grown son, who was sent away years earlier to get an education, in this film by Tsultrim Dorjee and Tashi Wangchuck. Lead actor Tsering Dorjee Bawa will be there in person and give a live performance of Tibetan songs at this screening that is part of the International Buddhist Film Festival. 4:15 p.m. Sunday, June 24. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael. 415-454-1222. www.cafilm.org G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ajohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BRfilmsAllen GALVESTON For months, he was known only as Little Jacob, the young boy whose body washed ashore in Galveston. Naked, bruised and malnourished, he had no name and no family trying to find him. Few clues emerged of his life or death. But the mystery came to a close Wednesday with the announcement by law enforcement that Little Jacob was actually Jayden Alexander Lopez, an under-sized 4-year-old whose mother and her girlfriend have been charged in connection with his death. It was a long eight months for investigators, who combed through clues and tips to find the answers. "This was an appalling crime that made our hearts heavy," said Bryan Gaines, the supervisory senior resident agent at the FBI office in Texas City. "No one reported Jayden as missing. No one was looking for Jayden. Jayden had no advocate other than us. Somebody took a beautiful, innocent child and discarded him in the ocean like he was a piece of trash." EARLY HINTS: Boy whose body washed ashore on Galveston beach didn't drown, police say The boy's mother, Rebecca Rivera, 34, and Dania Amezquita Gomez, 31, described in court documents as Rivera's girlfriend, have been arrested on charges tampering with evidence with the intent to impair a human corpse. They remain in the Galveston County Jail, with Rivera being held on $250,000 bond. Gomez, who has an immigration hold, is being held under $100,000 bond. The Houston women traveled to Galveston the night before Jayden was found to dump his body in Galveston Bay, according to the FBI. He liked the beach, his mother later told investigators. EARLIER DEVELOPMENT: Police say boy whose body washed ashore on beach may have been abused A beach-goer spotted the boy's body on Oct. 20, 2017 along the water in the 700 block of Seawall Boulevard. But authorities couldn't match him to any missing children and there were no obvious signs of trauma on his body. In the weeks that followed, authorities offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information. Officials put up billboards from Texas to Kentucky and Louisiana and released a sketch of the boy's face. "There was no family, no friends, no outcry," said Galveston Police Chief Vernon Hale. "Nobody to claim this little boy." A small shrine that emerged atop the seawall near Seventh Street remained Wednesday, with an assortment of rain-soaked stuffed animals, toys, a deflated balloon, a jar of sand and a pumpkin with "Baby Doe" painted in green letters. A makeshift cross with stuffed animals draped on it was painted with a message, "You Mattered Little Guy." Autopsy results released earlier this year provided some clues. The boy didn't drown, investigators said. He'd been at sea for 12 to 48 hours before he was found, and he'd likely been dumped in the water near East Beach or the Houston Ship Channel. And he appeared to have been abused before his death. Though authorities did not provide details about the injuries, he had evidence of a broken thigh bone and other bruises. He was also extremely malnourished, weighing just 26 to 30 pounds about half the weight a normal boy his age should have been. Hundreds of tips poured in, but police struggled to solve the case. Investigators tried "all the old-school tricks," Hale said. But it wasn't until after authorities released a crime scene photo of the boy in January that they got a break in the case. In March, a caller to the FBI tipline said he believed Rivera was the boy's mother. He told authorities that the last time he'd seen Rivera in December, she had only one of her two children with her. That child looked "sickly" and "malnourished," and the couple said they'd been living in Chicago since October, returning to Houston only to attend a function. Around the same time, Rivera started telling friends her older child was with family, according to court filings. By April, investigators thought they'd identified an apartment where the couple might be staying in southwest Houston. They stopped by for a visit and knocked on the door but a woman inside refused to let them in, records show. Instead, someone fled out the back through a second-floor window. Rivera has a previous criminal record, a driving while intoxicated arrest in Fort Bend County from 2003 and another arrest in 2011, though no charges appear to have been filed. Admissions of abuse A few days later, man who held the lease on the apartment allowed investigators to go inside. When they entered, they found Rivera and Gomez in the front room with a 3-year-old boy. When asked about Jayden, Rivera said he had been kidnapped, according to court records. Gomez reiterated that claim under questioning, but later said she thought the boy was with Rivera's family. It wasn't until later that Gomez learned the boy was dead, when Rivera told her that her brother had notified her of the child's death, according to court records. In the weeks that followed, investigators used DNA testing to show Rivera was the boy's mother, and they used a toll booth photograph and video to show that Rivera's car with Rivera and Gomez believed to be inside had driven toward Galveston in the middle of the night within hours of the child's body being found on the beach. By May, investigators went back to talk to Gomez,, who by then was in federal immigration detention, and she admitted being in Rivera's car that night. She said she was too drunk to remember any details of what happened. Gomez was placed under arrest last week. On Tuesday, investigators returned to Rivera and she agreed to talk. She told investigators that Jayden had hit his head on the wall about two weeks before his death. She said she tried to clean the injury with alcohol. After the injury, she said the boy began acting differently and became a nuisance. She said his face swelled up, his health deteriorated and he complained of stomach aches. Rivera admitted striking the boy with "whatever I could find," including clothes hangers. Eventually, Rivera said that "she could tell it was the end" and that Jayden had died, according to court filings. Rivera and Gomez got up in the middle of the night and drove to Galveston, with the other boy in the car. They knew Jayden liked the beach, so they put his body in the water. Rivera said she didn't seek medical care for Jayden because she feared authorities would take away both kids, according to court records. Court records indicate abuse may have been a pattern in the boy's short life. A Department of Family and Protective Services investigator obtained records in July 2016 indicating that Jayden had been admitted to Texas Children's Hospital with a broken left thigh bone, which was later confirmed by the Galveston County Medical Examiner. Rivera was arrested and charged Tuesday, and her younger 3-year old boy has been placed in foster care, according to a spokeswoman with that agency. Authorities still haven't located the child's father. Justice at last At Wednesday's press conference, authorities praised the public's assistance in solving the case. "It was only with the public's assistance and prayers that we were able to make progress for Jayden," said Gaines, the FBI agent from Texas City. "We received hundreds of tips from citizens within Galveston County and across America. The surge in tips showed that the public wanted justice for this young boy as much as we did." Police Chief Hale said he was proud to be able to deliver news about the break in the "Little Jacob" case. Hale took over the police department in January and made the case a top priority. "When I arrived in January, my only goal quite honestly was not justice, but to give this baby a name," Hale said. Jeff Banks, with the FBI, said that the investigation is continuing and didn't rule out additional charges being filed. "We're still waiting on some evidence to come back," he said. "We're still waiting on some search warrants to come back, We'll take all that information, everything that we currently have, and try to determine the most appropriate charges and go from there." Banks, who was visibly exasperated at the lack of progress at a previous press conference about the case in January, said he is relieved that the boy has been identified. "This has been very tough on myself and every other person working on it," he said, "We've all worked very hard. A lot of time we've put into this and it's very rewarding to finally start getting some answers." Samantha Ketterer and Brooke A. Lewis contributed to this report. I dont know if Ljubodrag Andric, whose show at Robert Koch Gallery (49 Geary St., S.F. www.kochgallery.com) has been extended through July 28, digitally enhances his stylishly minimal, sweetly colorful pictures of walls. His website describes an accomplished commercial photographer with a bent toward image manipulation. Computer enhanced or not, however, the objects on view at Koch are clearly contrived to compete in the gallery-art arena. The 10 large pictures on view tend toward muted grays with hints of pink and violet, though one image of a brick wall might pass for stacks of gold bullion. They are invariably shot point-blank, filling the frame, inflected only by a chink of light, a signage leftover, a patched scar. They are seductive in the common sense of the word: satisfying, presumably, to the enticer, but about something other than shared satisfaction or soulful communion. A monograph published in 2016 and available at the gallery, Ljubodrag Andric: Works 2008-2016, contains fawning essays by credible writers. They reference, with illustrations, more than a dozen painters from della Francesca to Vermeer to Motherwell to Ruscha. Yet I could find not a single mention of such obvious Andric precedents as Aaron Siskind or Lewis Baltz, photographers who paid reverent tribute to painterly tradition, even as they wryly challenged the art-market primacy of the handmade over the astutely observed. One interviewer in the book, the respected photography curator William Ewing, goes on about the painterly qualities of Andrics work. But, of course, any painterly decisions were likely made by an uncredited laborer, whose work was enhanced over time by the chance contributions of wear, repair and oxidation. Andric is the skillful technician with a prodigious eye for the colors and textures of the masters, calculated to make us swoon. The Power of the Other: Though she has been successfully exhibiting in the Bay Area and internationally for more than 30 years, Mildred Howard is an artist whose work is not easy to pin down. She has designed permanent public art projects and large-scale installations as well as delicate assemblage sculptures made of glass and found materials. Some works make heavy use of text; others are intuitive object mashups. All the work, though, seems part of a larger search for latent truths in the hand-worried leftovers of daily life and is marked by a unifying confidence in her own poetic sense of what those certitudes might be. Her exhibition at Anglim Gilbert Gallery (1275 Minnesota St., S.F. http://anglimgilbertgallery.com), extended through July 7, is Casanovas Assignations: The Power of the Other. It includes two computer-rendered tapestries, but the heart of the show consists of 27 works on paper that are printmaking tours de force, with collaged antique engravings and chromolithographs enhanced by contemporary chine colle, digital and lithography techniques. Most of the works rely on old prints to establish themes of male/female, black/white relationships. Though palpably conscious of racial and sexual conflict, these are not political or polemical works. Some, in fact, are so open-ended as to resist interpretation entirely. Instead of statements, Howard relies upon the simple act of inserting old ideas of courtship into new contexts to pose questions. These are works clearly designed to hang in polite homes, as the kind of ancillary decor for which old prints have long been used. If, under cover of that function, they conceal a minefield of subversive social attitudes, I think they will have served the artists purpose. Last chance: Before it closes this Saturday, June 23, try to see the dozen colorful paintings by Shara Hughes on view at Berggruen Gallery (10 Hawthorne St., S.F. www.berggruen.com). Large canvases, all but one painted this year, purport to be landscapes. In the best tradition of Modernism, however, they provide the artist with opportunities to demonstrate her exceptional formal skills and her knowledge of past art. Overall, the works owe a debt to another female painter of the moment, Dana Schutz. Just five years separate the two, and both were included in last years important Whitney Biennial exhibition, yet Schutz has been in the spotlight for well more than a decade. But if the Hughes paintings currently on view in the exhibition Sticks and Stones display a Schutzian color sense and embrace of warped space, they also quote traditional Chinese painting (in a work also called Sticks and Stones), Gustav Klimt (Chaos Chasm), Salvador Dali (Getting Out From Under) and German Expressionism (throughout). The great pleasure of the show is to see her entering such hallowed ground and getting out with both authenticity and virtuosity intact. Shades of the Sixties: I am not so sure the Berlin artist Gwenael Rattke is much concerned about authenticity, in the sense of reinvention. His exhibition The Human Error, on view through July 21 at Romer Young Gallery (1240 22nd St., S.F. www.romeryounggallery.com), is an unabashed paean to a strain of American art of the 1960s. Crammed images and texts are the order here, printed in lurid color on unconventional substrates like Mylar and age-browned papers. Viewing the crowded exhibition feels like a walk back into a psychedelic media moment, though all the work shown was made in the past 10 years, and much of it is considerably more recent. Rattke has long had a deep fascination with San Francisco, I was told, and it is apparent throughout the show. A mesmerizing blue-and-pink-plastic portrait of the legendary Bay Area artist Jay deFeo demands our attention from across the room. One essential thread that runs through Rattkes work is its embrace of gay sexuality and its market trappings of an earlier era (think bath houses). It is a lively presentation, and yet one leaves the gallery with an overwhelming sense of melancholy. Charles Desmarais is The San Francisco Chronicles art critic. Email: cdesmarais@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Artguy1 Free weekly newsletter: http://bit.ly/ArtguyReviews Part One - QBL Acquires 100% of Medcan Australia Pty Ltd, Part Two - QBL Acquires 100% of Medical Cannabis Limited Company Transformation Announcement Sydney, June 20, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Board of Queensland Bauxite Limited ( ASX:QBL ) (the "Company") is excited to announce that the Company and its subsidiary, Medical Cannabis Limited ("MCL") have entered into a legally binding heads of agreement to acquire a 100% interest in Medcan Australia Pty Ltd ("Medcan") ("Medcan HOA"). Medcan is the holder of an Office of Drug Control ("ODC") Medical Cannabis Production License (Australian Cultivation & Production Licence) with an experienced management and production team with a contract to supply already in place, which enables the MCL group to legally grow and cultivate high THC and CBD medicinal cannabis products in Australia to supply the new Australian and the burgeoning global markets.PART ONE - THE ACQUISITION OF 100% OF MEDCAN AUSTRALIA PTY LTD BY QBLHIGHLIGHTS- QBL has entered into a legally binding heads of agreement to acquire a 100% stake in medical Cannabis company 'Medcan Australia Pty Ltd'- Medcan has an ODC Medical Cannabis Production License to legally cultivate and produce high THC / CBD chemovars and cultivars to make medicinal Cannabis products in Australia- MCL now has access to an ODC medicinal cannabis production license which will enable value maximisation of MCL's established seed bank, unique cannabis genetics and medical cannabis distribution divisions- MCL is now able to complete its second locally vertically integrated business from 'seed to consumer' in medicinal cannabis. MCL is the only Medicinal Cannabis company in Australia with two complete fully vertically integrated businesses: Nutritional Hemp and Medicinal Cannabis- Medcan's ODC license assists to realise MCL's vision to be able to be a supplier of the highest Australian quality, GMP standard, high THC/CBD medical cannabis and other formulations of medicinal cannabis- Medcan's ODC license assists MCL to realize and fulfil its aim to cultivate medical Cannabis in Australia and manufacture its own GMP pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and therapeutics for distribution and sale to the Australian market and international export market, with the potential to return significant revenues for MCL- Medcan has achieved a DA approval for a detailed planned 'state of the art' Cannabis cultivation and production facility. QBL will invest the funds required to complete to maximum capacity, the pharmaceutical grade centre, fully staffed for cultivation and production of high THC/CBD medicinal Cannabis products.Material MilestoneThe Directors of Queensland Bauxite Ltd view this acquisition as significant for the Company as it marks a material milestone for MCL and completes the journey of fully integrating MCL's medical division, confirming MCL firmly as a leader in the Australian and Global Cannabis industry.Medcan identified the prospect of securing an ODC licence pursuant to the Narcotics Drugs Act 1967 to enable it to legally cultivate and produce medicinal Cannabis products and in November 2017 was granted an Australian Cultivation & Production Licence. Medcan was one of the first medical Cannabis companies to receive an ODC MC license pursuant to the recent legislation changes.The Directors of MCL are very excited to have Medcan's directors join MCL's medical cannabis team, as they will add their extensive technical expertise to the MCL team.Medicinal Cannabis 'State of the Art' production facilityMedcan, after working extensively with local council, have secured a DA approved facility to allow the GMP production of medicinal cannabis products. This highly secure facility will have the ability to produce medicinal Cannabis dried flower, full extract oil, tinctures, capsules and the CannTab XR pill, amongst other products.The Medcan facility, will utilise the latest 'state of the art' automated cultivation techniques allowing complete control of the growing environment. Through climate control systems monitoring temperature, humidity, CO2 levels and ATP, and advanced nutrient delivery systems reducing the error rate of manual watering, the facility will provide controlled, reproducible conditions optimising the ability to provide the highest level of Medicinal Cannabis product for both the Australian and International market. The facility is intended to begin operations by year end.Medcan's professional management team retained by QBLMedcan was founded by its directors Craig Cochran and Gareth Ball. Craig and Gareth are well respected experts in the Medicinal Cannabis industry. They have worked in both Australia and Canada and have broad and extensive knowledge of the Cannabis plant and will be continuing as executive directors of Medcan to drive the company forward.Craig Cochran is an early mover in the Australian and International Medicinal Cannabis industry, Craig has an in-depth knowledge and understanding of current Australian and global legislation, licensing and regulation. With a focus on patient access, Craig has dedicated years to understanding the needs of individual patients. With a network of contacts through Australia, Canada, Europe and the USA, Craig has an ear to the ground understanding of both local and international Medicinal Cannabis market trends, business models and access pathways.Gareth Ball is an enthusiastic cannabis advocate and is passionate about bringing much-needed medicine to the people who need it so they can improve their quality of life. Gareth is highly skilled in contract negotiations, inventory management, yield maximization, business operations, business to business sales and commercial management. He will use his 20 years of sales and marketing experience to drive the business forward.Vertically integrated strategyMCL management believe this vertically integrated model is a major competitive advantage for MCL in the Australian market. It allows the best value to be obtained from our own lawful recognised seed bank of over 25 varieties of unique cultivars, chemovars and genetics legally developed over two decades. This acquisition also allows the ability to produce cannabinoids, refined concentrates and isolates for the scientific and research communities, both locally in Australia and overseas. MCL already has exclusivity to produce and distribute the GMP, pharmaceutical grade, CannTab extended release pain relief pill in Australia and Asia.Medcan is currently in negotiations to manufacture a number of other products for Licensed Producers (LP's) of Medical Cannabis.MCL has also been approached by overseas manufacturers to be their supplier of choice.This acquisition would enable the supply of Australian produced medicinal cannabis products in world markets.Material terms of Medcan acquisitionAs noted above, the Company and MCL have entered into a legally binding heads of agreement with all other shareholders of Medcan, being Craig Cochran and Gareth Ball ("Medcan Shareholders"), to acquire, subject to conditions, 100% of the shares in Medcan held by them, as well as 100% of the issued units in the Medcan Australia Unit Trust ("Trust"), currently held by Cochran Industries Pty Ltd as trustee for the Innacovenant Family Trust, an entity controlled by Craig Cochran, and Gareth Ball ("Unitholders") (together with the Shareholders, the "Vendors"). Medcan is currently the trustee of the Trust.The acquisition of Medcan is subject to the following material terms and conditions:- Conditions: The acquisition of Medcan is subject to obtaining all necessary shareholder, regulatory and third-party approvals pursuant to the ASX listing rules and the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to allow the Company to lawfully complete the acquisition, and ASX providing a letter of approval for QBL shares to be re-instated to trading on ASX, on conditions acceptable to QBL (Conditions). If the Conditions are not satisfied or waived by 31 August 2018, the parties may terminate the Medcan HOA by written notice to each other.- Consideration: The consideration payable to the Vendors for the acquisition of their Medcan shares and units in the Trust will be satisfied through the issue of 250 million QBL shares, in proportion to their share and unit holdings. Upon completion of the acquisition, and the Company's proposed acquisition of MCL, this will represent an approximate 8% shareholding in the final merged entity (see part two of this announcement for further detail).- Management contracts: The parties have agreed to negotiate arm's length management contracts for Craig Cochran and Gareth Ball for the first two years following settlement. The remuneration for the management contracts will, subject to QBL seeking the appropriate ASX waivers, include quarterly issues of QBL shares (1.25 million for Craig Cochran and 1 million for Gareth Ball) for the first two years following settlement, but with the inclusion of CPI in year 2. Medcan will also agree to pay a performance bonus to these parties (divided pro-rata) of 10% of Medcan's net profit, less the remuneration already received as salary. QBL has agreed to guarantee these obligations of Medcan for the first two years post settlement.- Settlement: Settlement of the acquisition is expected to occur within 5 business days following satisfaction of the Conditions. MCL has been nominated by the Company (as purchaser) to hold the shares and units acquired from the Vendors. On completion of the acquisition, Medcan will be 100% owned by MCL and become its wholly owned subsidiary.The board believes this deal represents significant material value for QBL shareholders, with the company able to implement cost and revenue synergies on multiple fronts. MCL was able to achieve favourable terms given the clear and executable revenue and cost synergies that both parties will benefit from.This acquisition of Medcan, and associated acquisition of MCL (see part two of this announcement), is subject to QBL shareholder approval due to, among other things, the proposed change to the nature of the Company's activities. Approval will be sought at a general meeting of QBL shareholders, expected to be called next month.The directors of QBL have spoken to the largest shareholders of QBL and are confident that these vital acquisitions have the support of QBL's largest shareholders. All the directors of QBL and MCL unanimously approve and recommend these acquisitions for the benefit of all QBL and MCL shareholders.A huge milestone achieved for MCLAndrew Kavasilas, Founding Director of MCL stated, "With Medcan integrated into the broader MCL group, we intend to produce high CBD and other THC rich variations of Medicinal Cannabis, as well as other cannabinoid variations to be used in research to manufacture patient specific products in accordance with the existing legislative framework. This is another step forward for patient access in Australia and globally, with patients to have direct access to legally produced Australian GMP Manufactured products of the highest standard and quality control."Pnina Feldman, Executive Chairperson of QBL concludes, "The value of MCL and Medcan combined is greater than the sum of the individual businesses. Both parties achieve value uplift with clear and deliverable synergies - MCL has access to an ODC license and a DA approval for a state of the art cannabis cultivation and production facility, and the Medcan staff having the ability to improve and fast track its market reach and its grow of Cannabis, given access to MCL's genetics and its unique lawful Australian seed bank, MCL's knowledge, contacts, expertise and international reach, and together with QBL, ready access to the capital markets. Medcan's experienced management, their expertise, motivation and dedication, will enhance the broader success of MCL. MCL, with this acquisition, is now able to fulfil its vision to become a fully vertically integrated Cannabis company with the ability to develop its own products and to produce for patients much needed product to the highest standard. This should ensure the generation of further significant short term revenues for the Company as we continue to implement our business plan."PART TWO - QBL ACQUIRES 100% OF MEDICAL CANNABIS LIMITEDTHE MERGER OF MCL AND QBLAcquisition of MCLWith due consideration given to the QBL (mining) and MCL (Cannabis/hemp) investors, and as a direct result of the MedCAN transaction, the Board of QBL has elected not to float MCL but to obtain approval from QBL's shareholders at a general meeting (pursuant to Listing Rule 11.1.2) to purchase the remaining 45% of MCL and completely incorporate MCL into QBL for the benefit of all QBL shareholders.The Directors of QBL are confident after discussion with major shareholders, that this significant merger will be approved by shareholders. By purchasing 100% of MCL and merging MCL into QBL, all QBL shareholders will have the value of not only existing QBL current projects, but will also have full value of MCL and all its burgeoning activities and potential profits, as the hemp and medicinal cannabis industries develop from infancy to fruition worldwide.It has been determined by the Directors of QBL that it is preferable for all current QBL shareholders to have the benefit of QBL owning 100% of MCL, rather than MCL floating separately and QBL potentially losing the bulk of the value of MCL.Material terms of MCL acquisitionThe Company has entered into a binding heads of agreement with MCL and MCL's major shareholders ("MCL Shareholders") to make offers to acquire, subject to conditions, the balance of 45% of MCL ("MCL Shares").The acquisition of MCL is subject to the following material terms and conditions:Conditions: The acquisition of MCL is subject to the following conditions:o QBL receiving acceptances under the Offer (which as above has already been agreed by the major shareholders of MCL to provide) that give it a relevant interest in at least 90% of all of the MCL shares on issue on a fully diluted basis to enable it to achieve 100% by compulsory acquisition;o QBL obtaining all necessary shareholder, regulatory and third-party approvals pursuant to the ASX listing rules and the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to allow the Company to lawfully complete the acquisition;o QBL entering into a binding agreement to acquire 100% of Medcan (which as above has already been entered into); ando ASX providing a letter of approval for QBL shares to be re-instated to trading on ASX, on conditions acceptable to QBL, (together the "MCL Conditions"). If the MCL Conditions are not satisfied or waived within 6 months of the MCL HOA being executed, the parties may terminate the MCL HOA by written notice to each other.- Consideration: The consideration payable to MCL Shareholders for their MCL shares is a total of 1,195,000,000 QBL shares. The value of the consideration payable has been determined by the parties to the MCL HOA with reference to the value attributed to MCL through QBL's trading price.- Acceptance of Offer: The Major Shareholders, who together hold 38% of the total MCL shares on issue, have covenanted in favour of QBL that they will accept the offer made by QBL to acquire their MCL shares and sign all documentation, including restriction agreements as required by ASX, to complete the acquisition of their MCL Shares.Pursuant to the ASX listing rules, nearly all of the new QBL shares issued to MCL Shareholders, will be subject to a 24-month escrow period.Change to nature of activities and QBL shareholder approvalAs a result of these significant transactions causing a change in scale and nature of QBL's activities, the Company pursuant to listing rule 11.1.3 will re-comply with Chapters 1 and 2 of the Listing Rules.The issue of QBL shares in consideration for the acquisition of MCL shares will also require QBL shareholder approval. As noted above, the Directors of QBL anticipate after discussion with the major QBL shareholders that this approval will be forthcoming.Capital raisingTo assist the Company to re-comply with Chapters 1 and 2 of the Listing Rules and support the Medcan and MCL acquisition costs, the Company plans, subject to the approval of the Company's shareholders, to conduct a capital raising under a prospectus to raise up to $5 million, at a price of 8 cents per share.The directors of QBL have determined that QBL shareholders will have the exclusive right to participate in this raising by way of a priority offer. The capital raising will further enable the merged entity to implement its growth objectives.Currently no fees have been agreed to be paid by QBL to any person for finding, arranging or facilitating the proposed acquisitions of MCL and Medcan. It is expected that fees may be payable to third parties as part of the capital raising on ordinary commercial terms.- THERE IS NO REQUIREMENT FOR A CONSOLIDATION OF THE COMPANIES SECURITIES.- The directors have no current intention to request a consolidation of QBL's securities.Company Overview and Business Model, including MCL and MedcanFollowing the integration of Medcan and MCL into QBL, QBL will be comprised of two separate operating divisions, Mining and Cannabis.CannabisMCL has a clearly defined focus in the industrial hemp and medical cannabis industries.The inclusion of Medcan into MCL will see the creation of local Australian Cannabis Production facilities. Further, the production facilities are expected to generate income near term, in 2H 2018. This completes the vertical integration for both the nutritional hemp and medical cannabis divisions.To view the full release with figures, please visit:About Queensland Bauxite Ltd Queensland Bauxite Limited (ASX:QBL) is an Australian listed company focused on the exploration and development of its bauxite tenements in Queensland and New South Wales. The Company's lead project is the South Johnstone Bauxite Deposit in northern Queensland which has rail running through the project area and is approximately 15-24 kilometres from the nearest deep water port. The Company intends to become a bauxite producer with a focus on commencing production at South Johnstone as early as possible. The Company also pursues additional investment opportunities, and has agreed to acquire a 100% shareholding in Medical Cannabis Limited, an Australian leader in the hemp and Cannabis industries, and a 100% shareholding in Medcan Australia Pty Ltd, a company with an ODC cultivation and production License and a DA approved Cannabis production and manufacturing facility. RED BLUFF, Calif. - The Red Bluff Police Department is looking to find out who or whom allegedly stole 200 gallons of gasoline from vehicles. According to Red Bluff police, the unknown number of vehicles were parked in the 600 block of Diamond Ave between Friday and Saturday evenings. So far, there are no suspects or leads at this time. Call Red Bluff police at (530) 527-3131 if you have any information. CORNING, Calif. - The Tehama County Sheriffs Office is investigating a deputy-involved shooting in Corning that left a Bull Mastiff injured when it allegedly attacked a smaller dog Monday evening. According to the Tehama County Sheriffs Office, deputies were dispatched just before 8 p.m. to 4271 East Ave., regarding an off-duty deputy firing his pistol at a large dog when it was aggressively attacking the deputys personal dog. Authorities say the deputy, whose name is not being released at this time, was walking with his wife and his smaller dog on North East Avenue when a Bull Mastiff suddenly jumped its fence and aggressively came forward at them. The Bull Mastiff was allegedly biting the dogs throat, and in moments, the sheriffs deputy fired 3 shots at the Mastiff, forcing the dog to release the small dog and fall to the ground. Anita Jacobson says her dog Moose an English Mastiff did jump out of her yard when she was letting her other dogs go out to use the bathroom. Jacobson says when Moose jumped into the street, where the smaller dog was, the deputy apparently screamed and yelled at her to get your dog! She then says the off-duty deputy pulled his gun and fired a warning shot telling her to enter the dogfight that was occurring at the time. Once the warning shot was fired she went to retrieve Moose, but the dog, unfortunately, got loose from her grasp. Jacobson says the gun was pointing at her direction when she was behind Moose and felt that there was a total disregard for her safety. She is now filing a citizens complaint about the ordeal and says Moose is a friendly dog and believes the deputy did not have the liberty to shoot her dog. Detective Watkins from the Tehama County Sheriff's Office says the off-duty deputy had the right by law to shoot the dog, according to California Penal Code Section 599c. Both dogs are in stable condition, according to the Tehama County Sheriff's Office. At this time the sheriffs office says the deputy is not facing any consequences from the shooting. A two-year-old Honduran girl crying as Border Patrol agents patted down her mother. Photographs of small children in cages at federal processing facilities. Heart-wrenching accounts of parents separated from their children at the southern border, including one father from Honduras who killed himself after his wife and son were taken from him. Its all been unsettling to many Americans, and also confusing. On such an emotive, politically-charged issue, theres sure to be a lot of misinformation. We break it down for you here: Is there a law requiring the separation of immigrant families at the border? No. Crossing the U.S. border without a visa or other authorization and between official ports of entry has been a misdemeanor crime for decades that was rarely enforced until the last decade. In 2005, President George W. Bushs administration launched Operation Streamline, as a pilot program in Texas to deter illegal border crossers by prosecuting and imprisoning them before deporting them. Over the next few years, similar prosecution initiatives were tried in six of the nine southwestern border sectors, except for California where U.S. attorneys declined to take part. Even under Operation Streamline, U.S. attorneys rarely prosecuted parents traveling with their children. One reason was that the White House, under both Bush and President Barack Obama, did not want to separate parents from their children, who by law cannot be held in federal prison. How is the Trump administrations policy different from what was done before? Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in April that the government would enact a zero tolerance approach to prosecute all illegal border crossers, including parents traveling with children and those seeking asylum. Having children does not give you immunity from arrest and prosecution, Sessions said in a speech last week in Fort Wayne, Ind. What happens to the children after the parents are separated? Once adults are taken to a federal holding area to be prosecuted for the crime, their children are considered unaccompanied. The government has 72 hours to transfer them to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a subset of the Department of Health and Human Services that is in charge of caring for immigrant children. ORR places the children in one of about 100 federal foster care facilities around the country that are licensed to care for minors. How long do they stay there? That depends. In the past, most unaccompanied children came to the United States alone. They tended to be older, since they could travel by themselves, with most of them between the ages of 10 and 17. The majority came to reunite with their parents or other relatives. Most of these children were quickly placed with their families after the federal government did a basic screening to ensure they werent being trafficked. What is different now? Children who have been separated from their parents at the border tend to be younger as many are logistically unable to come here alone. It also may be harder to find relatives to place them with as their direct family members their parents have been removed from them. They may not have other family here. What happens to the parents? Parents are usually charged with the misdemeanor crime of improper entry and plead guilty in speedy mass hearings that critics have called assembly-line justice. They usually receive a sentence of a few days in federal prison or time served and are taken back to Border Patrol processing facilities before being sent to immigration detention centers run by the Department of Homeland Security. From there, they can be quickly deported under a process known as expedited removal that applies to those arrested near the border and means they dont necessarily see an immigration judge. What about those seeking asylum? One of the biggest concerns advocates express about zero tolerance prosecution initiatives is that it not only wrongly punishes immigrants with valid asylum claims well-founded fears of persecution in their home countries but may prevent them from making such petitions at all. The federal government argues that immigrants can request asylum after serving their prison sentences. Are parents reunited with their children? Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has said the administrations policy of prosecuting parents is just like what we do every day in every part of the United States when an adult of a family commits a crime. If you as a parent break into a house, you will be incarcerated by police and thereby separated from your family. Were doing the same thing at the border. The difference is that Americans imprisoned for a crime generally know where their children are while they are being detained. And once they complete their criminal sentence, they are typically reunited with their children unless a judge finds they are unfit parents usually a very high bar. Lawyers, social workers for children, advocacy organizations, and media reports indicate immigrant parents and children are not always reunified after the adults serve their time. Why is it so difficult for parents to find information about their childrens whereabouts once they have been separated? Officials have pointed to a toll-free number that parents can call to find the whereabouts of their kids. But advocates say that parents in detention cannot receive call-backs, which is required by the agency. Mainly, however, there seem to be startlingly few systematic policies in place between the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, which detain the parents, and Health and Human Services, which is in charge of the children, to communicate on the issue. The Office of Refugee Resettlement has said it is not routinely informed about how or when the (unaccompanied child) became separated from their parent(s) or the whereabouts of the parents. Lomi Kriel is a Houston Chronicle staff writer. LOS ANGELES - Southern California police seized more than 500 guns in raids of a convicted felons home and another location last week. Authorities arrested 60-year-old Manuel Fernandez during the raid. Officials say the searchers found 432 rifles and handguns, then returned later and found 91 more hidden weapons. Finally, 30 guns were seized at another home believed to be connected to a friend of Fernandez who hasnt returned to the home. Fernandez is facing multiple gun charges including being a felon in possession of firearms. OROVILLE, Calif. - A ban on selling cannabis in the city of Oroville will be a discussion Tuesday night in the city council meeting as they consider placing a marijuana-related business tax on the ballot. There have been two public meetings with a hired consultant to help the city decide whether to pursue allowing the pot to be sold within city limits. The council is considering a business tax of up to 10 percent. A special election could cost up to $10,000, but anticipated revenue could come in at $300,000 to $600,000 a year. The council meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. San Leandro police have advised the public to avoid the Washington Plaza area this morning as police investigate an assault Tuesday night that has left one person dead and another with life-threatening injuries. According to Lt. Isaac Benabou, a suspect assaulted two men around 11 p.m. in the Washington Plaza area at 1499 Washington Ave. Benabou said a search for at least one suspect is ongoing. Neither of the victims' names have been released. RELATED VIDEO: 2017 San Francisco crime statistics Benabou said the plaza area might be cleared of police activity within the next two hours, but no official time was given. 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. CUPERTINO (BCN) The Cupertino City Council will this evening consider placing an increased business tax on the November ballot to fund city projects, including a new City Hall, library renovations and transit studies. The city has presented four versions of the tax for companies with 100 or more employees, ranging from $150 per employee to $1,500 per employee. The business, not employees, would be responsible for paying the tax, according to the city. A city report shows that a majority of its businesses, 3,468 of 3,800, have less than 100 employees. Though these small businesses would not incur the new tax, Cupertino Chamber of Commerce officials say it would target essential services like large grocery stores, restaurants and retailers. Rick Kitson, spokesman for the chamber, said the business association's main concern is the city's speedy, six-week process for rolling out the "premature" proposal. Kitson said a similar tax in Mountain View to improve transportation took six months of planning. Cupertino's tax plan currently includes eight different projects that could benefit from the funds. "It's something pretending to be a solution but actually provides no answers," Kitson said, adding that the chamber would support a tax plan that was paired with an "aggressive and meaningful" transit plan to ease the city's congestion. If the objective of the tax is unclear, Kitson said, "we're gonna get lost very quickly." The council will review the tax proposal during a meeting at 6:45 p.m. in Cupertino Community Hall at 10350 Torre Ave. 777-1312 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. The California Highway Patrol arrested a Petaluma man on suspicion of DUI and leaving two people with major injuries at a vehicle collision north of Santa Rosa late Saturday night. Francisco Mejia, 20, was driving a black Mercedes on northbound U.S. Highway 101 at Airport Boulevard when his Mercedes collided with a Toyota Corolla, CHP spokesman Officer Jon Sloat said. The CHP responded at 11:50 p.m. and found an unoccupied Mercedes in bushes off the right shoulder of the road. The driver of the Toyota suffered life-threatening injuries and he was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Sloat said. His passenger was not wearing a seatbelt and she was ejected from the Toyota. She also suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to Memorial Hospital, Sloat said. CHP officers allegedly found Mejia walking on Fulton Road near Airport Boulevard. He denied being in a collision but had injuries consistent with being a driver in a collision, Sloat said. Mejia's girlfriend arrived, parked on Fulton Road and told the CHP officers Mejia had called her for a ride, Sloat said. Mejia was taken to the collision scene where witnesses identified him as the driver who fled, Sloat said. Officers evaluated him for signs of intoxication and he was arrested and booked in the Sonoma County Jail for felony DUI, hit-and-run and violating his probation, Sloat said. 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 RAFAEL (BCN) San Rafael police have arrested three men on suspicion of a gang-related assault at a Canal neighborhood park in May, a police lieutenant said. The three men drove to Pickleweed Park on May 26, confronted a small group there and called out their gang affiliation, Lt. Raffaello Pata said. Officers responded, got a description of the suspects' vehicle and stopped it a short distance away. Police identified the suspects but the victims had left the scene of the assault and were not available to identify the suspects, Pata said. Detectives found and interviewed the victims and witnesses on June 11. They were told three men had knives in their hands when they got out of the car and one of the suspects tried to stab a victim with a knife, Pata said. Another victim said he ran but the suspects threw a beer bottle at him. All three suspects were positively identified, Pata said. Detectives and street crimes officers searched the Bay Area for the suspects and arrested Edward Carroll, 36, of San Rafael on June 13 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and participating in a street gang, Pata said. Erick Christofer Ajanel Ireta, 21, of Richmond and Ricardo Luis Alvarez, 23, of San Rafael, were arrested June 14 on suspicion of the same offenses, Pata said. All three men were booked into the Marin County jail. 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) Police have released the name of a San Francisco police officer who shot at a man twice during a pursuit earlier this month, initially leaving the man with life-threatening injuries. According to police, Officer Joshua Cabillo shot at the suspect, identified as 28-year-old Oliver Barcenas, on June 9 around 12:15 a.m. in the city's North Beach neighborhood. Cabillo, assigned to the Field Operations Bureau, has been with the department for five years. Immediately following the shooting, Cabillo was placed on administrative leave, according to police. The shooting occurred when Cabillo approached a group of four people around 12:15 a.m. near the corner of Grant Avenue and Vallejo Street. Cabillo was speaking to the group about having an open container of alcohol, police said. During the brief conversation, one of the four group members, later identified as Barcenas, began to run on Grant Avenue, heading toward Green Street, according to police. As Cabillo chased after Barcenas, Barcenas allegedly drew a gun from his waist. After seeing Barcenas allegedly arm himself with a gun, Cabillo shot at Barcenas, striking him twice. Barcenas then fell to the ground, according to police. After calling for medical assistance, Barcenas was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was suffering from life-threatening injuries. While the shooting remains under investigation, surveillance video appears to show that bullets struck Barcenas in his back. The shooting was caught on body-worn camera footage from Cabillo, as well as surveillance video from nearby buildings. After the shooting, officers recovered the gun that was allegedly in Barcenas' possession, a Glock 45-caliber pistol, which was equipped with a laser light and had 26 rounds, police said. Barcenas was taken into custody on suspicion of carrying a concealed firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon, exhibiting a firearm to a police officer and resisting arrest. He remains in custody on $325,000 bail and is set to appear in court on June 25, according to jail records. 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) Hundreds of people blocked the entrance to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's San Francisco office today to protest a new national immigration policy that has children being separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The zero-tolerance policy adopted by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions calls for U.S. attorneys to prosecute anyone caught trying to enter the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, including parents with children. The policy has seen more than 2,000 children separated from their parents and placed in federal custody since early May. Recently, media outlets began broadcasting images of crying children, mostly from Central America, being detained in metal cages in warehouses. At today's protest, happening at the ICE offices at 630 Sansome St., protesters held up signs accusing ICE of racism. The protest caused San Francisco Municipal Railway lines 10-Townsend and 12-Folsom/Pacific to be rerouted. As of 3:15 p.m., Muni officials said the bus routes were returning back to normal. Earlier this morning, Mayor Mark Farrell and Mayor-Elect London Breed issued statements, calling on Sessions to immediately stop the practice of separating families. "As a father of three young children I will never support the federal administration's decision to tear families apart and use children as pawns in a political game. The images we are seeing of children warehoused in metal cages are beyond the pale and sicken me to my core," Farrell said. "I am urging the federal government to immediately reconsider their immigration policy changes and provide clear, humane reunification plans. More than ever, we need Congress to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform measures for our country," he said. In a statement, Breed said, "The policy of forcibly removing children from their parents at our border is horrific and unacceptable. "Families who are seeking asylum and refuge in our city - our sanctuary city, deserve our support and our compassion. As mayor-elect, I will continue to support our immigrant communities and fight for comprehensive immigration reform so all of our families can live without fear of separation and deportation," she said. City Attorney Dennis Herrera also said on social media today, "This is not a partisan issue. This is a question of right and wrong. Tearing children from their parents is simply wrong. It is not who we are. Anyone who sees the images of these children being taken away or hears their cries knows this is un-American. It must end." Last week, during a speech in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sessions said the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the border has increased sharply in the last few years. According to Sessions, the detained children are provided food, education in their native language, health and dental care, as well as transportation back to their destination city. "In many cases, children are trafficked, abused or recruited by criminal gangs. No one should subject their child to this treacherous journey - and yet our open borders lobby encourage it every day," he said. "There's only one way to stop this and that is for people to stop smuggling children. Stop crossing the border illegally with your children. Apply to enter lawfully. Wait your turn." 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 JOSE (BCN) Six current and former employees of the FitBit Inc. fitness tracker company are due to appear before a U.S. magistrate in San Jose on July 9 on charges of possessing trade secrets stolen from a competitor. The present and former Fitbit workers previously worked for Jawbone, a San Francisco-based electronics and fitness tracking company run by AliphCom, and allegedly possessed the trade secrets after they took new jobs with San Francisco-based Fitbit in 2014 and 2015. AliphCom went out of business last year and some of its employees regrouped in a new startup called Jawbone Health, focusing on medical devices. The six defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury in San Jose on Friday. Their initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Virginia DeMarchi on July 9 will be for a reading of the charges and identification of their defense lawyers. They are each charged with between one and six counts of possession of stolen trade secrets. If they are convicted, each count carries a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. AliphCom previously named five of the six criminal defendants as defendants in a civil trade-secrets-theft lawsuit it filed against Fitbit in San Francisco Superior Court in 2015. AliphCom and Fitbit also filed several federal patent infringement lawsuits and counterclaims against one another in federal court. Both the Superior Court and federal lawsuits were settled in a confidential agreement in December 2017 and were dismissed by the judges presiding over the cases. The criminal investigation took two years, according to U.S. Homeland Security Department Special Agent Ryan Spradlin. The indictment charges Katherine Mogal, 52, of San Francisco, a former director of market and customer experience insights at Jawbone, with six counts of possessing stolen secrets after she began working at Fitbit. Mogal was offered and accepted a job at Fitbit on March 13, 2015, and resigned from Jawbone on March 17, the indictment said. Ana Rosario, 33, of Pacifica, who worked at Jawbone as a design and user researcher, is charged with five counts. Patricio Romano, 37, of Calabasas, a former product design engineer for Jawbone, faces four counts. Patrick Narron, 41, of Boulder Creek, a senior audio engineer, and Rong "Audrey" Zhang, 45, of El Cerrito, a senior supply chain manager, are each charged with two counts. Jing Qi Weiden, 39, of San Jose, an engineer product manager, is accused of one count. Rosario, Romano, Narron and Zhang accepted job offers from Fitbit in March and April 2015 and resigned from Jawbone a few days later. Weiden started working for Fitbit in 2014, according to the indictment. The indictment says that all signed confidentiality agreements when they started working at Jawbone and all except Zhang signed certifications they had returned all Jawbone property when they left. Zhang refused to do so, according to the indictment. The secrets allegedly stolen from Jawbone included a study of small-form speakers; several documents concerning the use of Heisenberg headphones; spreadsheets on product costs; a daily diary study of 18 participants who used both a Jawbone fitness tracker and a Fitbit wristband at the same time; and other studies of fitness tracker users. A Fitbit spokesman was not immediately available for comment. 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 San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Government Audit and Oversight Committee will hold a hearing next month to look into allegations of discriminatory practices within a handful of city departments, reportedly targeting African American employees. Today, members of the Service Employee's International Union Local 1021 held a rally outside City Hall to support the workers, who say they're disproportionately targeted with disciplinary actions, extensions of probationary periods and exclusions from promotions. "I've been with the city for 38 years and it's never been as worse as it is today," said Brenda Barros, the union's San Francisco General Hospital Chapter Chair. Barros said she's received several complaints from African-American employees, who claim unfair treatment. "People are being disciplined for being black and that has to stop," she said. "We need legislation to deal with accountability for everyone, in every department." Supervisor Jane Kim said, "It is so important that we stand together... because if anyone is hurt we are all of us. So if our black colleagues are being discriminated against in hiring and promotions, it affects all of us. "While some of the information presented here today seems anecdotal, it's important for the city to have a hearing and collect the data and hear the stories and make the systematic changes," she said. According to Barros, the discriminatory experiences for African American city employees are part of a bigger issue, with many black community members who feel like they're being pushed out of the city altogether. According to data from the 2010 U.S. Census, African Americans make up 5.4 percent of the city's population. "I want to live in San Francisco again. I can't right now. When I went to buy a house in the Bayview, I couldn't get a loan in the Bayview. But I could easily get a loan in Antioch, Concord, Walnut Creek and all those other places. For some reason, they don't want black folks in the Bayview and that needs to change," she said. Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer said, "If in this self-proclaimed 'most progressive city' in the U.S. you have a black population lower than 5 percent, what does that say about your progressive values? "When you have banks that won't give loans to black people to start their own businesses and be economically independent then we have an issue here and we have it here in San Francisco," she said. The Board's Government Audit and Oversight Committee is made up of Kim, Supervisor Aaron Peskin and Supervisor and Mayor-Elect London Breed. A date for the July hearing has not been set. 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. OROVILLE, Calif. - The Oroville City Council voted Tuesday night to put a cannabis tax measure on the November ballot. The council voted 5-1, Mayor Dahlmeier was the only council member to object the motion. Council member Scott Thomson was absent for the vote. The ballot will ask voters whether to implement a 10 percent business tax for cannabis businesses, which would only happen if pot were allowed to be sold within Oroville city limits. Its estimated the move could generate $300,000 to $600,00 a year in additional city revenue. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) Police arrested a 43-year-old woman Tuesday after she allegedly robbed a San Francisco bank at knifepoint. Around 2:15 p.m. officers responded to a report of a robbery at a bank in the 500 block of Van Ness Avenue, according to police. There, they learned that a woman entered the bank and handed the teller a note. The suspect then pulled out a knife. The teller complied with her demands and handed her an envelope filled with cash. The envelope, however, had been equipped with a tracking device, police said. Officers were able to track it to the area of Post and Larkin streets, where they apprehended the swindled suspect and recovered the cash, according to police. Police did not release the suspect's name. 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. A man was pronounced dead at the scene of a traffic collision that also left a woman and three children with serious injuries Tuesday evening in Concord, according to police. Officers responded to the scene of the crash on Concord Boulevard near Third Street around 6:38 p.m. A 32-year-old woman was transported to a hospital as well as two 8-year-old children and a 10-month-old baby. They are all expected to survive, however. Police are still investigating the cause of the collision, but drugs and alcohol are not thought to be factors. They're asking anyone who may have witnessed the incident to call Officer Ghaznawi at (925) 603-5931. A man was fatally stabbed in downtown San Leandro Tuesday night, according to police. The death is thought to have stemmed from a fight between four men in the vicinity of 1499 Washington Ave., just after 11 p.m. Detectives spoke to witnesses and obtained surveillance video from the area around the scene of the crime. Two men were observed fleeing, and they are now considered persons of interest, according to police. Lt. Isaac Benabou sent his condolences to the victim's family and said in a statement this morning that he's confident that the persons of interest will be located. "We have no information as to what led to this altercation," Benabou said. "Whatever the reason, nothing justifies taking another life." Investigators are asking anyone with additional information to call the San Leandro Police Department at (510) 577-2740. A driver suffered life-threatening injuries when the vehicle they were driving crashed into a building in San Francisco's Richmond District early this morning, police said. Around 3:35 a.m., officers responded to a report of a vehicle crash in the 400 block of Arguello Boulevard where they learned that a driver had crashed into a building. The building's utilities were shut off due to safety concerns. The driver was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to police. Police are continuing to investigate the crash and anyone with information is asked to contact police's anonymous tipline at (415) 575-4444 or to text a tip to TIP411 with "SFPD" at the beginning of the message. Police arrested a 43-year-old woman Tuesday after she allegedly robbed a San Francisco bank at knifepoint. Around 2:15 p.m. officers responded to a report of a robbery at a bank in the 500 block of Van Ness Avenue, according to police. There, they learned that a woman entered the bank and handed the teller a note. The suspect then pulled out a knife. The teller complied with her demands and handed her an envelope filled with cash. The envelope, however, had been equipped with a tracking device, police said. Officers were able to track it to the area of Post and Larkin streets, where they apprehended the swindled suspect and recovered the cash, according to police. Police did not release the suspect's name. Two men were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of killing a 21-year-old Suisun City man in November, Suisun City police said. Derrick Dogan Jr., 36, and Alfie Broussard, 36, of Elk Grove, were arrested for the homicide of Armani Harper-Reed. Reed was found dead from gunshot wounds in the parking lot of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen at 1210 Anderson Drive in Suisun City around 9:35 p.m. Nov. 7. Two suspects fled in a dark color, late model Dodge Challenger, police Sgt. Jose Martinez said. Task forces from the U.S. Marshals Service, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Solano County Sheriff's Office and Solano County District Attorney's Office helped apprehend the suspects, police said. A judge today ordered a father and son to stand trial on two counts of murder and one count of premeditated attempted murder for a gruesome shooting and fire in East Oakland two years ago that left two men dead and a third man badly injured. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson said the evidence in the preliminary hearing for Francisco Jesus Hernandez Sr., 39, and his son, Francisco Hernandez Jr., 19, indicates that they got upset when victims Juan Ramos, Alfonso Ibanez Jr., and Miguel Cruz were doing donuts in a pickup truck in the 9900 block of Empire Road at about 1:45 a.m. on Aug. 8, 2016. Jacobson said the father and son left the group of people they were hanging out with, retrieved guns from their car and set out to kill the three men. The judge said, "It's clear that Hernandez Sr. intended to murder" because he shot Ramos seven or eight times in the area of his head and shot Ibanez twice in the neck and head. Jacobson said Hernandez Jr. then shot Cruz in the face, arm, chest and hand and the father and son poured gasoline on the truck he was in and set it on fire. However, Cruz was able to get out of the truck, put out the fire and get help. He identified the father and son as his assailants when he testified against them last Friday. A man who lived across the street from the area where the shooting and fire occurred tearfully testified, "I felt sorry for him (Cruz) because he was burning and we wanted to help him." But the man said he didn't go outside to help Cruz "because I was afraid for myself and my kids." The man said Hernandez Sr. often hung out in the neighborhood and was "very intimidating" and he thought Hernandez Sr. was a gang member because he often offered to sell him tires and other items. Jacobson said that even though Hernandez Jr. didn't shoot Ramos and Cruz he should still stand trial on two murder counts for their deaths because he was an active participant in their shootings and knew of his father's intent to kill them. Jacobson said the fact that the father and son also intended to kill Cruz was made clear by evidence that they pulled him out of the pickup truck, pistol-whipped him and poured gasoline on him and set him on fire. The judge noted that Cruz testified that a third man who was with the father and son told them to leave Cruz alone because he didn't have anything to do with their beef against Ramos and Ibanez but Hernandez Sr. replied, "He (Cruz) came with the others, he's going to go with the others." Jacobson also ordered the father and son to stand trial on the special circumstance of committing multiple murders. About a dozen family members of Ramos and Ibanez attended the hearing for the father and son. San Jose police are asking for the public's help in identifying a suspect who stole a puppy from inside a business on Monday. Police said the suspect, only described as an adult male, walked into the unidentified business in the 2000 block of Bering Drive in San Jose at 3:17 p.m. Monday. According to police, the suspect petted the six-week-old Husky/Golden Retriever mix that approached him, grabbed the dog, walked back to his vehicle and drove away. Police said the suspect drove a black Mercedes-Benz SUV which had yellow windshield wipers. The dog is described as having gray fur with a white tail that was sporting a pink collar with the name "Nyla" engraved on it. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call police at (408) 277-8900. 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. WASHINGTON - President Trump met with House Republicans Tuesday to discuss immigration. "These are laws that have been broken for many years - decades - but we had a great meeting," Trump said. The president says as it stands now his only options are an open border or prosecuting those who cross it illegally. So what Im asking Congress to do is to give us a third option which we've been requesting since last year - the legal authority to detain and promptly remove families together as a unit, Trump said. The Trump Administration's new "zero tolerance" policy - separating children from parents who enter the country illegally - is drawing intense criticism even among Republicans. "I think he's wrong in this particular area today," said Senator Orrin Hatch. "All of us are horrified at the images we're seeing," said Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Texas Republican Ted Cruz is introducing a Senate bill that would reunite separated families, authorize new temporary shelters to house them and double the number of federal immigration judges to work through a backlog of asylum requests. Senator Cruzs plan has some Republican support, but President Trump has indicated he is not behind at least one part of it. I don't want judges, I want border security, Trump said. Religious leaders rallied outside U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters urging the Trump administration to halt its policy. And in Florida, Democratic Senator Bill Nelson accused the Trump Administration of a cover-up after he and other lawmakers were turned away from visiting a shelter for unaccompanied children. REDDING, Calif. - Students at Shasta College in Redding will soon have more choices when looking to get their caffeine fix, that's because a new Starbucks will be coming to campus next semester. Coffee and studying go hand in hand, so this new Starbucks should be a perfect fit, but there is a small price to pay. The Shasta College Board of Supervisors approved a 10-year licensing agreement to bring the coffee giant to campus. The Starbucks will occupy the space at the entrance of the library which is currently home to "The Lance," the student-run newspaper, and journalism club. Despite having to relocate, the newspaper's advisor says he thinks students will be pleased with the tradeoff. Obviously Starbucks is a well-known name. I think that students are very excited to have their choice of either Starbucks or going over to the student center and there, said Peter Griggs. Griggs says The Lance is slated to move over to the 2100 building on campus where there are currently some empty classrooms. He says they've only been at their current location for the last three years, and this isn't the first time they've had to move. Griggs says construction is expected to begin sometime in the fall and the store should be open shortly after. RED BLUFF, Calif. - A Tehama County judge has suspended criminal court proceedings in a Red Bluff murder case, over concerns the suspect is not mentally competent to stand trial. Jacob Oropeza is accused in the deadly stabbing of 55-year-old Michael Jones in April. Prosecutors say the two men were neighbors and that both were intoxicated after drinking together when they got into an argument. Oropeza stabbed Jones repeatedly with a pocketknife, prosecutors also say Jones told responding deputies he had been kidnapped and made no mention of the stabbing. The judge is expected to learn the results of a court psychiatric evaluation on July. KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) - The Trump administration wants a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a group of Oregon counties challenging the expansion of the Cascades-Siskiyou National Monument. The Herald and News reported Tuesday that the Association of O&C Counties sued last year because monument expansion included more than 40,000 acres that were previously available for timber harvest. The Trump administration says the president's authority supersedes timber laws that would allow harvesting to continue. The 17 Oregon counties depend on timber revenue provided by the O&C Lands Act of 1937, which established minimum harvesting and revenue sharing for 2.5 million acres of Oregon timberland. When President Barack Obama expanded the Cascades-Siskiyou National Monument in 2017, the expansion included the acreage considered part of the O&C Lands Act. (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) UNITED NATIONS - The United States will no longer be a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, thats according to a statement made Tuesday by U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley. Haley made the announcement from the State Department saying in doing so, I want to make it crystal clear, that this step is not a retreat from human rights commitments. On the contrary, we take this step because we remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights. Haley went on to say regimes known for abusing human rights continue to serve on the council. The U.S. decided to withdraw from the council after its call for reform were not taken, it also comes one day after the U.N. High Commissioner for human rights spoke out against the separation of children from their parents at the U.S. Mexico border. Several non-governmental groups already condemned the move, saying the withdrawal gives other members of the council like Russia and China too much power. After activists and journalist noticed only boys were featured in government handout photos of migrant children's internment centers, the public began to repeat one question: Where are the girls? As it turns out, some of the girls are very far from the border. CHICO, Calif. - If you like to travel but simply don't have time to head off to exotic destinations, don't worry, because Chico State University is bringing the world to us! A welcome reception hosted by 20 top students from five West African countries took center stage as participants in a cross-cultural learning program offered a glimpse into their worlds. Wearing traditional clothing for their respective countries, the students offered information about their home countries, languages, food and culture. One student, Sidibe Aboubacar is visiting the United States from Senegal. He says his first days in the Chico region have been positive. For the next three weeks students from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Mali and Senegal will call Chico home. The students consider themselves future leaders, based on projects all are focused on designed to enhance business, technology and social challenges in their home countries. They are all part of the Summer University Scholars Institute, known as S.U.S.I. It is a U.S. State Department program focused on cultural exchange and social entrepreneurship. Program director Professor Curtis L. DeBerg, says the program is just one way to enhance global partnerships for education and business. He says most of the S.U.S.I. participants are what he calls Social Entrepreneurs; that is, individuals who seek to solve a social issue, but doing so with a profitable business model. DeBerg says if the governments can't provide goods or services in an efficient way and if the private sector is only concerned with profits, then there needs to be some entity; some middle entity, and that is called the social sector. It is a highly competitive process to join this group of S.U.S.I. student leaders. But once selected, students from business, engineering, science and social entrepreneurship disciplines travel here to the U.S. in order to collaborate with their U.S. counterparts. When asked what his first impressions of the United States are, student leader Aboubacar said he sees that everybody is free, everybody has liberty of expression and says this liberty of doing what they want and diversity is positive. He says those are the aspects which have impressed him about the country. GPEs wealth protection, investment planning and employee benefits business will be combined with Utmosts existing international savings, protection and investment solutions offering. GPE has been renamed Utmost PanEurope and will adopt the Utmost Wealth Solutions branding. Paul Thompson, Group Chief Executive of LCCG, said: We are very pleased to have completed the acquisition of Generali PanEurope now known as Utmost PanEurope. It is a highly complementary business to our existing Utmost Wealth Solutions business and demonstrates our commitment to the International life market. The combined business will be a formidable force in the European market for specialist cross border wealth management solutions. It also broadens our product offering in Ireland and across Europe to include Employee Benefits. At the Currans season announcement party in January, playwright David Henry Hwang defined soft power in contrast to economic and military power. China, he said, already has the last two, but it doesnt have the first, which he described as a kind of cultural or intellectual capital. In his and Jeanine Tesoris new piece, Soft Power, he envisions what the world and what musical theater might look like once China achieves that additional influence over the world. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the latest politician to jump into the bipartisan debate around President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy to illegal border crossings that is separating families. The actor and former California governor criticized the Trump administration's approach to immigration on Tuesday and slammed lawmakers for using children as "pawns" while they engage in a game of political chess to establish a new policy. Schwarzenegger called for politicians who fail to reach a consensus on a new immigration system to be put in "cages." "As an immigrant, I know the magnetic power of America's greatness," he wrote in a tweet. "As a former border Governor, I know the importance of securing our border and fixing our absurdly broken immigration system. As an American, I know that kids shouldn't be pawns while the 'adults' figure it out." MORE: Gavin Newsom tweets using children as 'bargaining chips' is 'sick' In a followup tweet, he added, "The administration is right that we need to fix our immigration system. But if anybody is going to be in a cage while we wait for a comprehensive reform, let's make it the politicians who don't do their jobs in the cages, not innocent kids." Schwarzenegger is one of many Republicans to attack the Trump administration's immigration policy. It mandates all adults who cross the border illegally be referred to federal prosecution, leading children to be separated when their parents go to jail. Some 2,500 undocumented children are currently being held in detention facilities as a result of the policy. See more responses to the "zero tolerance policy" from California politicians in the gallery above. Science just can't thank Barack Obama enough. Despite Obama being out of office for well over a year, scientists are still throwing accolades his way. The latest? Naming a newly discovered sea creature after the former president. The disc-shaped animal was discovered by the UC Riverside and dubbed Obamus coronatus, given "Obama's passion for science," the university said in its announcement. The creature is described as having raised spiral grooves and growing to just over half an inch in length, existing in the ocean over 500 million years ago, but now extinct. Obama's namesake doesn't have as much range as other marine animals, with scientists saying Obamus "did not seem to move around, rather it was embedded to the ocean mat, a thick layer of organic matter that covered the early ocean floor," scientists said. British naturalist and documentarian Sir David Attenborough was also thanked for his contributions to science, with the university naming a second discovered creature Attenborites janeae. The animal is described as a tiny ovoid measuring less than a centimeter, with "internal grooves and ridges giving it a raisin-like appearance." Both animals were found as fossils preserved in sandstone in Southern Australia. While having an animal named after you is an honor in the science world, this also isn't the first time either Obama or Attenborough have received this distinction: As of the end of 2016, Obama had nine different species named after him, the most of any U.S. president, according to Science Magazine. Attenborough, by comparison, has at least 15 species named after him, as well as a British research vessel, the RRS Sir David Attenborough (the same boat of the "Boaty McBoatface" naming debacle). In fact, Attenborough has inspired so many generations of scientists to join their respective fields who have in turn name their discoveries after him The Guardian asked, "How long until all species are named after David Attenborough?" On June 12, a teenager crashed a LimeBike electric scooter on a South Lake Tahoe highway, sustaining minor injuries, the California Highway Patrol said in a statement. The 18-year-old was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, though the incident may mark the necessity for a new term in the judicial vocabulary: scooting under the influence. LimeBike e-scooters arrived on the shores of South Lake Tahoe in early June, and already they've created a headache for officials who are struggling to enforce civic scooting laws (wear a helmet, don't ride on sidewalks, be sober). South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler called the scooters "both a public safety concern and a compliance-with-the-law concern," in an interview with the Tahoe Daily Tribune. "At any given time there are probably 100 people riding around town without a helmet or two people on the scooter," he said. "I have limited police resources to address this. We will enforce violations that are egregious, but we can't cite them all." Uhler could not be reached for comment by SFGATE on Tuesday. In a statement to SFGATE, LimeBike said it "worked closely with the City of South Lake Tahoe on understanding what permits or licenses were required in order to operate, and subsequently obtaining those permits." The company added it worked "extensively" with Keep Tahoe Blue, an environmental organization, and partnered with local businesses to promote the eco-friendly transit service. E-scooters caused an uproar in the Bay Area after three companies, including LimeBike, deposited upwards of 2,000 of them on sidewalks, without first consulting the municipalities. All of a sudden, there were scooters on the sidewalks, scooters in the bike lanes, scooters in Lake Merritt and scooters strewn haphazardly across major pedestrian walkways. San Francisco officials cracked down on the scooter companies last month with the creation a one-year test program that allows a maximum of five rental scooter companies to operate in the city at any given time and caps the total number of scooters at 1,250 for the first six months and 2,500 over the next six months. It appears even a quiet mountain town can't escape the scooter "scourge," as San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera described the influx in the city. The scooters have come to Tahoe, and with them, controversy. LimeBike would not reveal how many scooters it had brought to South Lake Tahoe "for competitive reasons." An earlier Tahoe Daily Tribune article said the company planned to deposit an additional 200 bikes and scooters in May. The company had previously introduced its bright green rentable bicycles in 2017. Tahoe residents have had mixed reactions to the zippy green scooters thus far. Some see them as an excellent solution to the region's traffic problems, and a viable way for tourists without cars to cruise from place to place. Others fear the safety issues they pose and the difficulty in enforcing the rules of the road. And then there are those simply sick of seeing them all over the city. "I see lots of people enjoying them and it's getting people outside, but sidewalks are littered with them and they keep getting thrown in the Truckee River," said Facebook user Ellen Arnold, a Reno resident. Part-time Tahoe resident Liza Sinizer said she recently saw two scooters on the sidewalk; one carried two teenagers, the other carried three. Rick Rogers said he was nearly hit by two children riding a scooter "recklessly in a parking lot." "Someone is going to get killed on them," he said. Other Tahoe dwellers decried what they called a close-minded regional mentality. South Lake Tahoe resident Carla Corpus said she's seen "more people out and about" since the scooters rolled into town a positive counter to the gridlocked weekend roadways. Plus, she knows "many people" employed by the company and sees it as an economic boon for the region. "I get it, we're in a bubble in [South Lake Tahoe] and hate anything new," she said. "But for the love of God, can we stop complaining about the dang scooters already?" Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf. A 12-year-old Canadian boy's parents were confused when police arrived at their family home Tuesday evening. Why were the officers there? Turns out the boy was upset over his parents serving salad and called the emergency number twice to complain. RELATED VIDEO: How to Make 2 Easy Summer Recipes But police in Halifax, Nova Scotia, say they didn't respond to the call to scold the parents. Instead, they made a house visit to speak with the boy. RCMP Cpl. Dal Hutchinson says officers spoke with the boy about the correct use of 911 and told him adults who misuse the line are fined, according to CBC News, an online news site for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "Hopefully, this will be a learning lesson ... it created an opportunity for him to learn something from this," Hutchinson told CBC. TORONTO Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday marijuana will be legal nationwide on Oct. 17. Trudeau said in Parliament that the government is committed to better protecting Canadas youth and hopes to take money away from organized crime. The Senate gave final passage to Trudeaus bill to legalize cannabis on Tuesday. The country will become the second in the world to make pot legal nationwide. The legislation is transformative, said Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, adding it marks a wholesale shift in how our country approaches cannabis, leaving behind a failed model of prohibition. The federal government had said provincial and territorial governments will need eight to 12 weeks following Senate passage and royal assent to prepare for retail sales. Trudeau spokeswoman Eleanore Catenaro said officials listened to the provinces that asked for more time to be able to prepare and implement the law. The law still remains the law, Wilson-Raybould said. I urge all Canadians to continue to follow the existing law until the Cannabis Act comes into force. Canada is following the lead of Uruguay in allowing a nationwide, legal marijuana market, although each Canadian province is working up its own rules for pot sales. The federal government and the provinces also still need to publish regulations that will govern the cannabis trade. Many questions remain unanswered, including how police will test motorists suspected of driving under the influence, what to do about those with prior marijuana convictions and just how the rules governing home cultivation will work. The Canadian provinces of Quebec and Manitoba have already decided to ban home-grown pot, even though the federal bill specifies that individuals can grow up to four plants per dwelling. Provinces can set their own laws. If individuals are challenging that law, they can challenge it, Wilson-Raybould said. Former Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, who is the parliamentary secretary to the justice minister, said discussions for pardons of past convictions cant take place until legalization is in effect. In the neighboring U.S., nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana. California, home to one in eight Americans, started the United States biggest legal marijuana marketplace on Jan 1. Rob Gillies is an Associated Press writer. BRUSSELS The European Union will start taxing a range of U.S. imports Friday, including quintessentially American goods like Harley-Davidson motorcycles and cranberries, in response to President Trumps decision to slap tariffs on European steel and aluminum. The 28-nation EUs trade chief, Cecilia Malmstrom, said Wednesday that the bloc would introduce the tariffs on about $3.4 billion worth of U.S. products. The tariffs, which had been announced earlier this year, had previously been expected to come into force next month. The goods targeted include typical American exports like bourbon, peanut butter, cranberries and orange juice, in a way that seems designed to create the most political pressure on Trump and U.S. politicians. Harley-Davidson is from Wisconsin, the home state of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. And bourbon is a big product of Kentucky, where the Senate majority leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, is from. We are left with no other choice, Malmstrom said in a statement. Trump imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminum from the EU on June 1. Europeans claim that is simply protectionism and breaks global trade rules. The rules of international trade, which we have developed over the years hand in hand with our American partners, cannot be violated without a reaction from our side, she said. Needless to say, if the U.S. removes its tariffs, our measures will also be removed. Trump said the measures against the EU are meant to protect U.S. national security interests, but the Europeans claim it cannot be that close allies, many of them NATO partners, would endanger U.S. security. The EU exported some 5.5 million tons of steel to the U.S. last year. European steel producers are concerned about a loss of market access but also that steel from elsewhere will flood in. Economists note that on the whole, the U.S. and EU tariffs will not immediately cause great damage to either sides economy. The EU does not rely on the U.S. as a market for its steel exports as much as Canada or Mexico, which are also being hit by the U.S. tariffs and stand to lose more. However, experts say the risk that the sides could keep adding tariffs could hurt business confidence, weighing indirectly on the economy. Raf Casert is an Associated Press writer. Dita Alangkara / Associated Press BEIJING South Korea urged North Korea on Wednesday to present a plan with concrete steps toward denuclearization, raising the pressure on its leader Kim Jong Un as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a visit designed to convey the countries growing closeness. Kim and Xi held a second day of talks at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, whose grounds Chinas official Xinhua News Agency described in unusually lyrical terms as being full of verdant greenery and splendid flowers, adding to what the propaganda outlet said was the close and friendly atmosphere of the talks. GENEVA Syrian government forces and their allies committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the ferocious battle for rebel-held suburbs of Damascus, U.N. investigators said on Wednesday, citing the starvation of civilians and indiscriminate bombardment that may have included repeated use of chemical weapons. The U.N. commission of inquiry monitoring the Syria conflict spoke of pervasive war crimes during the siege of eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus, this year, while also condemning rebel forces for indiscriminate shelling of civilian residential areas. The government and its allies took control of eastern Ghouta in April after imposing what the commission described as the longest siege in modern history, displacing more than 140,000 people from their homes and unleashing bombardments that destroyed hospitals, markets and schools and forced residents to live in cellars and basements. Those bombardments mainly air strikes by Syrian and Russian planes killed 1,100 civilians and injured 4,000 others in a period of less than a month from Feb. 18, the commission says in a 23-page report that it is to deliver to the Human Rights Council next week. Tens of thousands of those who fled are still held unlawfully by the government, which pursued a policy of blanket internment the panel called reprehensible. Sieges are permitted under international humanitarian law. But, in a departure from established practice, the panel said it considered the way pro-government forces had conducted the siege of eastern Ghouta unlawful. Certain acts perpetrated by pro-government forces during the siege laid to eastern Ghouta, including the deliberate starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare, amount to the crime against humanity of inhumane acts, causing serious mental and physical suffering, the panel concluded. The group said it was still investigating the use of weaponized chlorine in three attacks carried out by government forces in March and April, including an air strike on the Damascus suburb of Douma that reportedly killed 49 people and injured up to 650 others, drawing retaliatory missile attacks and airstrikes by Britain, France and the United States. The panel appears to have been careful not to deliver its conclusions before the release of a report on the episode by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, expected this month. Nick Cumming-Bruce is a New York Times writer. SANAA, Yemen Yemeni fighters backed by the United Arab Emirates said they seized the southern runway of the international airport near Yemens port city of Hodeida, as fighting raged Wednesday between pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition and Iranian-backed rebels. The coalition opened an offensive a week ago to retake the port city, which handles 70 percent of impoverished Yemens food imports. Aid groups have expressed alarm about the operation, but so far coalition forces remain bogged down in battles south of the city, and the port has remained open. The Amaleqa brigades, a fighting force backed by the coalition that includes the UAE, said it seized areas on the west and east sides of the airport. The group has been advancing toward an area near Kilo 16 road, aiming to cut off the link between Hodeida and the rebel-held capital, Sanaa. Col. Turki al-Malki, a coalition spokesman, said its forces took over the airport and are clearing Houthi land mines. He added in a statement that there were no civilian casualties in the fighting, and said that after capturing the airport, the coalition will press the rebels to accept a political settlement. Yemeni officials said Saudi-led coalition warplanes have been hitting parts of the airport including the main compound, where the rebels are holed up. They confirmed that government forces have been clearing land mines the Houthis used to slow the forces advance. Fierce battles were also under way in the al-Durayhimi district outside Hodeida, about 12 miles south of the airport, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media. The top leader of the Houthi rebels, meanwhile, vowed to continue the fight against the Saudi-led coalition and accused the United States, Britain and France of playing a direct role in the Hodeida offensive. Whatever forces they deploy, even if they bring the worlds armies, we will not submit or collapse, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said in a speech aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV. The campaign to seize control of Hodeida threatens to worsen Yemens humanitarian situation. Aid groups fear a protracted fight could force a shutdown of the port and potentially tip millions into starvation. Ahmed Al-Haj is an Associated Press writer. Page Content CHICAGO, June 19, 2018 As a tight job market continues to help drive increases in employee benefits offered by organizations, health and wellness along with employee programs and services are the benefits most likely to be increased, according to the results of the 2018 Employee Benefits Survey released today by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The survey results indicated that more than one-third (34 percent) of organizations increased their overall benefits in the last 12 months. When employers added offerings, they were most likely to increase health-related benefits (51 percent) and wellness benefits (44 percent). Retention (cited by 72 percent of respondents) and recruiting (58 percent) were the top reasons for increasing benefits, the survey found. "With unemployment at an 18-year low, employers view benefits as a strategic tool for recruiting and retention," said Trent Burner, SHRM's vice president of research. "Strategic organizations adjust their benefits year-to-year, depending upon their use by employees, cost and effectiveness in helping an organization stand out in the competition for talent." Wellness benefits are popular offerings. Three-quarters (75 percent) of employers offer wellness resources and information and/or a general wellness program. Over the last year, substantial increases were seen in company-organized fitness competitions/challenges (from 28 percent in 2017 to 38 percent in 2018). The prevalence of CPR/first aid training increased 7 percentage points (47 percent to 54 percent) and standing desks increased from 44 percent to 53 percent. The availability of paid parental leave increased significantly between 2016 and 2018 for every type of parental leave surveyed. Paid maternity leave increased from 26 percent in 2016 to 35 percent in 2018. Paid paternity (21 percent to 29 percent), adoption (20 percent to 28 percent), foster child (13 percent to 21 percent) and surrogacy (6 percent to 12 percent) leave also increased from 2016. In top offerings not related to health, employee programs and service benefits increased by 39 percent at organizations that increased benefits offerings in the past 12 months. For instance, 50 percent of organizations allow casual dress every day, up 6 percentage points since last year. Several other benefits increased over the last five years, including free coffee, company-provided snacks and annual company outings. SHRM's annual survey of U.S. employers examines more than 300 benefits that organizations offer their employees. Other key findings include: Preventive programs specifically targeting employees with chronic health conditions fell by 8 percentage points (from 33 percent in 2017 to 25 percent in 2018). A substantial increase was seen for life insurance for dependents with over two-thirds of organizations (70 percent) offering this benefit in 2018, an increase of 13 percentage points since 2017. Sixty-three percent of organizations give service anniversary awards, an increase of 9 percentage points from 2017. More than two-thirds (70 percent) of organizations offer some type of telecommuting, up from 62 percent last year. The survey of 3,518 randomly selected HR professionals was conducted in February and March of this year. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. The full survey is available online at shrm.org/2018EmployeeBenefitsSurvey Trent Burner, SHRM's vice president of research, will moderate a panel discussion, Benefits in the Workplace: An Update and Competitive Practices for Impact in 2018 at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, June 19, as part of the 2018 SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition. For more surveys/poll findings, visit shrm.org/research. Follow SHRM Research on Twitter @SHRM_Research. Media: To request an interview, contact Sundra Hominik of SHRM Media Relations at Sundra.Hominik @shrm.org and 703-535-6273 or Kate Kennedy at Kate.Kennedy@shrm.org and 703-535-6260. About the Society for Human Resource Management The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world's largest HR professional society, representing 285,000 members in more than 165 countries. For nearly seven decades, the Society has been the leading provider of resources serving the needs of HR professionals and advancing the practice of human resource management. SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China, India and United Arab Emirates. Visit us at shrm.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @SHRMPress. Page Content CHICAGOThe National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under the Trump administration already has overturned much of what was accomplished by the Obama boardor is in the process of doing so. Take the "ambush" election rule, which the current board has signaled interest in rescinding. Even so, noted Timothy Davis, an attorney with Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete in Kansas City, Mo., the threat of unionization remains and employers need to be prepared. Speaking at a Tuesday concurrent session at the SHRM 2018 Annual Conference & Exposition, "Protests, Progress and the New NLRB: The Trump Effect on the NLRA and Employee Relations," he outlined seven steps employers should take to minimize the chances of being unionized. 'Ambush' Election Rule The Obama board issued the rule in April 2015 to modernize union representation election procedures. The rule significantly shortened the time between when a union files an election petition with the board and when the union election is held from 42 to 21 days. The Trump administration's NLRB issued a request for information on the rule on Dec. 14, 2017, asking whether the regulation should be withdrawn in full or in part. In April 18 comments to the NLRB, SHRM called on the board to rescind or modify the rule, which it said invades workers' privacy and unfairly burdens employers. [SHRM members-only HR Q&A: What is the function of the NLRA?] In the first two to three weeks after a union petition is filed during the union election period, employers typically are trying to calm employees and inform them about what unionization is really like, Davis said. He thinks any rule issued by the NLRB may raise the number of days to a minimum of 35 and possibly even 42 again. Davis said 35 days should be enough time for an employer to fully inform employees about unionization, unless the company has really big employee relations problems. He noted that since the ambush election rule has been in place, he's lost more elections (four) than he had in the preceding two decades (just three). Seven Steps Davis said employers can help avoid unionization by: Reviewing policies. Benchmarking wages and benefits. Conducting employee management surveys. Training management on positive employee labor relations. Analyzing an organization's weaknesses. Implementing a risk/response protocol. Preparing a first round of union avoidance materials. The most important point is to practice good employee relations, Davis said. Kara Fox-LaRose, president and general manager of ilani, a casino resort in Ridgefield, Wash., and a session attendee, noted that a positive environment is key at ilani, which at only a year old has 1,500 employees. Supervisors should be trained but not overtrained on legal requirements, Davis said. The message shouldn't just be why a union might be bad but why the company is good, he suggested. Unions often promise more money, so be ready with benchmarking data to explain how wages are paid fairly. Make the explanation short and simple enough "to fit on the back of a business card" or managers may not be able to communicate the message, he said. For example, "Our business pays top 20 percent in the industry" or "Our company pays top 10 percent in the county." If the company can't pay top dollar and is in a competitive market, be ready to explain that, Davis recommended. Davis said he has a love/hate relationship with surveys but likes the ones that allow written comments, as they help a company uncover and resolve employee relations problems. Page Content Unless an employer is a political organization or has an interest in a specific political party, South African employers generally have a duty to create and maintain a politically neutral work environment. This does not mean that employees are prohibited from joining political parties or participating in political activities in their private time as this goes to the heart of freedom of association. But a rule against political clothing in the workplace recently was upheld. In a recent arbitration award, the National Bargaining Council for the Chemical Industry (NBCCI), based in Johannesburg, has confirmed the view that employers have a duty to maintain a politically neutral work environment. The employee, who was also a shop steward, was disciplined and dismissed for taking a photograph at the workplace of him wearing a T-shirt of a certain political party, and thereafter posting this photograph on Facebook, thereby associating the employer with his political aspirations. Upon his dismissal, the employee referred an unfair dismissal dispute to the NBCCI and alleged, among other things, that the employer's policy against wearing political insignia infringed his freedom of association. The employer argued that it had a rule against the wearing of political clothing in the workplace because it was not affiliated to any political party and did not want to create the impression that it was tolerant of any particular political party. It was common cause that the employee was aware of the policy against wearing political clothing in the workplace as this was communicated to him directly and was also placed on notice boards and was available on the employer's intranet. In deciding whether the dismissal was substantively fair, the commissioner found that the policy prohibiting the taking of photographs in the workplace was reasonable as it was intended to protect the employer's trade secrets in the form of unique designs and equipment. The commissioner found that the employee did not remove the contentious pictures on Facebook despite him being aware of the workplace rule. The photograph was in the public domain and accessible to the employer's clients, which although indirectly, could have possible impact on the employer's business in a form of decreased orders. The commissioner found that because the employee had also posted another picture on Facebook of him attending a political rally for the same political party and displaying a banner that the ruling party should fall, it was clear that this constituted participation in political activity. Such conduct could objectively have a negative impact on the employer's reputation. The commissioner acknowledged that there is still a level of political intolerance in South Africa and stated that if such is not properly controlled in the workplace, it could lead to unnecessary tension. Further, the commissioner found that given the position of influence the employee enjoyed as a shop steward, he should have known better and acted with caution. On this basis, the commissioner found that the sanction of dismissal was appropriate also taking into account the seriousness of the misconduct. The arbitration award confirms that while employees have the right to freedom of association, that right is not absolute and may be limited provided that it is for the greater good. Wearing political clothing does not only have the potential to cause tension in the workplace but also impacts cohesion and constructive interaction that should take place between employees among themselves and the employer. An employer is therefore well within its rights to take reasonable steps to mitigate this. Should an employer decide to introduce a rule against political insignia in the workplace, such rule must be applied consistently through all levels of management. This would alleviate the argument that management supports a particular political party or organization. It will also assist to discourage claims of unfair treatment against the employer in future. Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is a law firm in Johannesburg. 2018 Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission of Lexology. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Miss New York Pageant, staged in year's past at the historic St. George Theatre, will now move to the Upstate city of Buffalo for 2018. FYI: Buffalo is the home of Gabrielle Walter, the current Miss New York. The new Miss New York 2018 will be crowned June 30 and will take home a $10,000 scholarship and a chance to compete for the legendary Miss America crown in Atlantic City come September. Three local women will be among the 24 contestants competing for the much coveted crown: Nicole Doz, Miss Staten Island, and the 23, year-old daughter of John and Carrie Doz of Eltingville. A Tottenville High School grad, Nicole earned a degree from Brooklyn College. She is currently employed by the NYC Department of Sanitation. Madison L'Insalata, 21, is the daughter of Camille and Richard L'Insalata of Grasmere. Her mom, the former Camille Di Maria, competed in the Miss Staten Island Pageant and was named Miss Congeniality in 1991. Madison is a graduate of Fiorella La Guardia High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts, Manhattan and is currently attending New York University. Last year's Miss Richmond County, Ashley Marie Davis, could not compete in our local pageant this year. So she traveled upstate to nab the title of Miss Excelsior. Ashley, of Huguenot, is the 21 year old daughter of Jessica Davis. She also is a graduate of La Guardia High School and this month graduated from Marymount Manhattan College, Manhattan. The link for voting for the People's Choice is now live on the Miss New York Website: http://missny.org/2018-1-pc/ Kindly share it on social media and with anyone who you want to vote. It will be live till midnight Friday June 29th, at which time it will come down. Folks can vote as many times as they wish and we they will post updates on who is leading in the vote count: $1 dollar per vote and every dollar counts as a vote for you. $20 dollars equals 20 votes -- and so on. Local contestants will depart Staten Island Monday, June 25. Pageant festivities will include a trip to Niagara Falls before settling down for rehearsals. For further information about the upcoming Miss Staten Island Pageant in November, kindly contact MissSIPageant@aol.com (Composite) The gun control debate STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Advance asked all eight congressional candidates, "How do you keep guns out of the hands of people with mental health issues or others who should not have them? " Here are their responses. Don't Edit Courtesy Michael DeVito for Congress Michael DeVito DeVito told the Advance that he supports H.R. 3464 Background Completion Act of 2017, which prevents sale of firearms until background checks are complete. He also supports H.R. 1478 The Gun Violence Research Act, H.R. 5087 The Assault Weapons Ban, and H.R. 4052 Keep America Safe Act, which bans high capacity magazines. "Enough of 'thoughts and prayers'; it is time for action," said DeVito. "We can be safe while maintaining our rights, and we can combat violence with opportunity." Don't Edit Staten Island Advance Rep. Dan Donovan "I support the Second Amendment and we can keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, felons and the mentally ill without infringing upon the rights of law-abiding citizens," said Donovan. Donovan told the Advance that he supports the Public Safety and 2nd Amendment Rights Protection Act, which he co-sponsored, "[It] strengthens the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) by incentivizing states to improve reporting of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill and by directing future grant funds toward better record-sharing systems," he said. "It closes background check loopholes but is pro 2A by providing reasonable exceptions for firearms transfers between family members and friends." Donovan said that he also supports the House's "no-fly, no-buy bill." "If you are too dangerous to get on a plane, you are too dangerous to own a firearm," Donovan said. "These are common sense fixes but more than new laws we need to pay attention to warning signs and increase communication." Don't Edit Courtesy Zach Emig for Congress Zach Emig Zach Emig, a Tompkinsville bond trader, said that all guns sold in the United States should be able to ID owners and lock if someone else attempts to use it. "Every gun in America should be sold with an electronic locking mechanism that prevents it from being used by anyone other than its lawful owner," said Emig. "It's 2018, that kind of technology has existed for 20 years, but NRA lobbying has prevented it from being required under law. Electronic locks like this would eliminate the use of family members or stolen guns for committing crime." Emig also told the Advance that he believes New York's gun laws are a good proxy for how firearms should be regulated on the national level. "New York strikes a very decent balance, with hunters and sportsmen able to obtain the rifles they want, homeowners able to protect their domiciles, but assault weapons and semiautomatic pistols much harder to obtain," said Emig. "Making such laws nationally would prevent criminals to use the state with the weakest laws as a source for their arsenals." Don't Edit Staten Island Advance Michael Grimm "Enforce the laws we already have on the books, and evaluate loopholes and oversights that have consistently undermined those existing protections," Grimm said. Don't Edit Don't Edit Courtesy Mohan for Congress Radhakrishna Mohan Radhakrishna Mohan, a union leader and community activist, said that he supported tightening background check laws and creating an e-verify system for individuals with mental illnesses. "A thorough background check of those seeking to obtain gun permit, will keep the guns out of the hands of people with mental health issues and those who have tendency for violent behavior," Mohan said. "National Instant Criminal Background Check System, a confidential database, must be checked before the sale of guns. There must be a similar system with those have mental illness so that it can be verified also during the sale of guns." Mohan added, "The seller of the guns should be authorized to require the purchasers of the gun to show ID and necessary permit to buy the guns." Mohan also backed banning assault weapons and mandating a gap between attempts to purchase a firearm to give time for background checks. "A law needs to be passed to restrict the gun purchase be limited to hand guns and sports rifles only rather than make assault weapons available for purchase," Mohan said. "A minimum number of days should be passed before the sale of guns during which time, the background checks will be completed." Don't Edit Courtesy Max Rose for Congress Max Rose Rose told the Advance that he supports banning assault weapons. "When it comes to weapons of war like the AR-15, no one should have them on our streets. Period," said Rose, a U.S. Army combat veteran. "I carried its military variant in Afghanistan. I know that it has only one purpose: kill as many people as possible, as quickly as possible." Rose also supported background checks, closing the "Boyfriend Loophole," and aiding law enforcement to help those with suicidal thoughts. "But we can't stop at banning assault weapons. We need to expand our background check laws to included all gun sales, including those occurring online or at gun shows," Rose said. "We have to go after illegal gun traffickers, close the Boyfriend Loophole that allows convicted domestic abusers to own a gun, and empower law enforcement to help those struggling with suicidal thoughts. This shouldn't be controversial, it's common sense, and it's time we stood up to the NRA and actually got it done." Rose also raised caution about pinning gun violence on individuals with mental illnesses. "It's critical that we support, not stigmatize, those with mental health issues," said Rose. "But we can't pin our entire gun violence problem on mental health." Don't Edit Courtesy of Paul Sperling Paul Sperling Paul Sperling, a Tottenville resident, said that he would advocate for a system that would allow a judge or police to flag an individual as dangerous if they attempt to by a gun. "The terrorist from Parkland, Florida, had 39 interactions with the police because of violent altercations with his host family and neighbors," said Sperling. "The system I am advocating for would allow law enforcement and a judge to flag a person like him as someone who is known to be violent. This red-flag would pop up when a potential terrorist like him attempts to buy a gun in a gun store. And would alert the store clerk not to sell the weapon. We could further strengthen this system by applying background checks to all gun sales, including sales between individuals outside of a gun store." Don't Edit Courtesy Omar Vaid for Congress Omar Vaid Omar Vaid, a Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, resident who worked in television production, said that he supports universal background checks. "I am an advocate for universal background checks," said Vaid. "The vast majority of guns used in crimes in NYC come from states with lax gun laws that permit unlicensed, private sellers to sell arms without a background check. This makes it far easier for straw purchasers to obtain weapons to traffic into our streets and schools. This is unacceptable." Don't Edit How would they improve our infrastructure? As part of the upcoming congressional primaries, the Advance asked the candidates to respond to several questions about key issues. See how they would improve our infrastructure here. Don't Edit CITY HALL -- Paid parental leave will soon be a reality for some 120,000 United Federation of Teachers-represented employees. Mayor Bill de Blasio, alongside UFT President Michael Mulgrew, and school and labor relations officials made the announcement at City Hall on Wednesday. The new deal will provide six weeks of leave at full salary for maternity, paternity, adoption and foster care parents. The agreement will cover leave for some all of the roughly 79,000 public school teachers, nurses, therapists, guidance counselors, and secretaries. "No teacher should have to come to school sick because they're saving their sick days to have a baby," de Blasio said. "That's not fair to our teachers and that's not fair to our students. Today, we right that wrong and make the city a little fairer. We were at the forefront of paid parental leave policies when we announced the benefit for managers in 2015 and now we build on that legacy, extending it to 120,000 more New Yorkers who can plan for their families knowing they'll have the support of their employer." The new benefit will begin on Sept. 4, 2018, and when combined with sick leave, new parents could have a total of 12 to 14 weeks of paid leave. UFT school employees can claim the benefit after they have been on payroll for at least one calendar year. NO NEW COST TO TAXPAYERS Under the agreement, the city will give about $51 million to the UFT Welfare Fund annually. This will be offset by extending the 2009-2018 UFT collective bargaining agreement by about two and one-half months, and fringe benefit and other savings. The city said the leave will come at no new cost New York City taxpayers. Officials anticipate that more than 4,000 new parents will use the leave annually. "Employees should not be forced to choose between paying their bills and recovering from childbirth. I applaud this agreement as a significant step forward for our city and a true reflection of our values. Offering paid parental leave to our UFT employees is win-win-win for all New Yorkers, giving teachers and other school personnel time to bond with their children, improving the health of young people and boosting morale in workplaces," Island Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore), said. The announcement of the new benefit follows a long battle fought by the UFT, the city and parents, mostly women, to be protected against discrimination for taking time off to be with their newborn child. In the early years of the city's Board of Education, the UFT said female teachers could be fired for getting married or getting pregnant. In 2016, the city mandated paid parental leave for 20,000 non-unionized city managers, and since then, the UFT has pressed the city to extend the benefit to unionized city workers too. "Our educators give so much to the children in their classrooms. Now, New York City has a way for educators to spend more time with their own children. I give credit to Mayor de Blasio. He knew this was important for our city. No mayor before him was willing to do it, but he got it done," Mulgrew said. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 30-year-old man is accused of having sexual contact with two young girls on Staten Island, according to the authorities. Bond has been set at $100,000 cash for the suspect, Sergio Paz-Guzman, 30, who allegedly molested the girls, who both are less than 11 years old, according to public records and the criminal complaint, based on an investigation by the Staten Island Special Victims Squad. The abuse of one victim went on for over a year, according to the criminal complaint. He allegedly performed oral sex on one child in April. He touched another child's private parts over her clothes about 20 times from March 2017 through this May, according to the criminal complaint. Charges against the suspect include criminal sexual act, sexual abuse, sexual conduct against a child, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the criminal complaint. Paz-Guzman, who was taken into custody on Friday shortly before 9 p.m. on Staten Island, is due back in Criminal Court on Thursday, according to public records. The suspect, who stands about 5'5" tall and weighs about 180 pounds, is being held in the Brooklyn Detention Complex, according to public records. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Q train conductor from Staten Island was assaulted while on the job Tuesday, according to his union. Frank Sbano, 60, had just pulled into the Prospect Park station in Brooklyn at about 12 p.m. when an unidentified male hit him in the head, causing bruising and lacerations, according to TWU Local 100 and NYPD spokesmen. A police spokesman described the suspect as a male in his 30s or 40s. No arrests had been made Tuesday night. Sbano was taken to Kings County Hospital. TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano called on the MTA to launch a voluntary pilot program that would have members of train crews wear body cameras. "This will help authorities identify, arrest and prosecute those who are responsible for these attacks," he said. "Cameras must only be used as a deterrent to criminal assaults and for evidence gathering when an assault occurs and never for worker surveillance." STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Borough President James Oddo, City Councilman Steven Matteo, and the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) will host a 'neighborhood pop-up court' on June 28 in Sea View. The event at the Bernikow JCC at 1466 Manor Road will offer local residents the opportunity to answer summonses from the Department of Sanitation and certain summonses issued by the Health Department. "This pop-up court will make it easier for Staten Islanders to fight summonses in a location that is convenient for them," Oddo said. Those eligible to make use of the court will be contacted through mail, according to a media release from Oddo's office. OATH estimates 300 letters will be sent out, according to the release. Respondents will be able to meet with OATH hearing officers, plead their cases, and both the respondent and the summons-issuing agency will be sent a decision in 10 days, according to the release. OATH Commissioner and Chief Administrative Law Judge Fidel F. Del Valle said the goal of the "pop-up court" is to make it as easy as possible for those issued summonses to get their chance in court. "'Pop-Up Courts' is just the latest innovative program OATH has employed and joins other established programs such as our Hearings Online, Video Hearings, Hearings by Phone, and Hearings by Mail, all of which aim to make fighting a summons from a City agency as convenient and time-efficient as possible for New York City residents and small businesses," he said. Matteo encouraged Staten Island residents and business owners to attend the event. "For Staten Islanders, trying to get to the OATH court room in Lower Manhattan to contest a summons, especially during work hours, is anywhere from extremely difficult to impossible," he said. " That is why we advocated for OATH to hold a neighborhood 'pop-up' this month, to make it easier and more convenient for Islanders to appear at a hearing and to give our constituents a better chance to get a fair shake." Get AfricaFocus Bulletin by e-mail! Format for print or mobile Congo (Kinshasa): Ebola Response Shows Lessons Learned AfricaFocus Bulletin June 20, 2018 (180620) (Reposted from sources cited below) Editor's Note The Democratic Republic of Congo has extensive experience in successfully containing Ebola outbreaks (the one which was reported in May is the ninth since the first in 1976). But this one, with cases in Mbandaka, a river-port city of over one million people on the country's western border, raised the nightmare scenario of spreading to other river-port cities such as the capital Kinshasa (over 11 million people), as well as Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo, and Bangui in the Central African Republic. But, although victory is not assured, so far the response by national and international health agencies has been a model of applying lessons learned. This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains three articles, one providing basic background, another by a Ugandan Ebola expert leading "ring vaccination" efforts making use of a new vaccine, and the other by a Kinshasa-based journalist with interviews highlighting the role of community involvement. For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on the Democratic Republic of Congo, visit http://www.africafocus.org/country/congokin.php For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Ebola, see particularly http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/eb1505.php and http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/who1501.php ReliefWeb Current Updates https://reliefweb.int/disaster/ep-2018-000049-cod ++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++ Ebola outbreak in Congo: What you need to know Kinshasa, IRIN News, 21 May 2018 by Issa Sikiti da Silva An award-winning Kinshasa-based journalist http://www.irinnews.org direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/ybksfydr The Democratic Republic of Congo has begun to administer an experimental vaccine to halt the spread of the Ebola virus in Mbandaka, a major transport hub that is home to more than one million people and connected by river to several other large cities. The illness, a particularly deadly form of haemorrhagic fever, killed more than 11,000 people in an epidemic that swept through West Africa in 2014-16. Heres our briefing: When did the new outbreak begin? This isnt entirely clear. Cases of haemorrhagic fever had been reported in the same region as early as December 2017, with some deaths reported in January. But this possible first wave of cases was never confirmed as Ebola. Local health authorities reportedly did not immediately share news of the cases, which they received on 1 March, with the national health ministry. Ebola cant be ruled out as no lab tests were ever done. What we do know for sure is that on 8 May, DRCs Ministry of Health notified the World Health Organization, or WHO, of 32 possible cases (which had led to 18 deaths) recorded since early April in northwestern Equateur Province. It said two of these had been confirmed by laboratory tests to be Ebola, 18 were categorised as probable, and the remaining 12 as suspected. Three of the 32 cases were detected in healthcare workers. On the same day, the government of DRC declared a public health emergency with international impact. A nurse prepares the Ebola vaccine in Bikoro in the DRC. MSF/Louise Annaud] How many people are now infected? As of 20 May, the Ministry of Health had recorded 46 cases of haemorrhagic fever, including 26 deaths. Of these, 21 are confirmed to be Ebola, 21 are probable, and four are suspected. Four of the 21 confirmed cases were recorded in Mbandaka, which has heightened concern about the spread of the disease. The Ebola virus spreads quickly in urban areas, and Mbandaka is a key transit link to three capitals: Kinshasa, Brazzaville, and Bangui. The city is 280 kilometres from the area where the first cases were confirmed. Has Congo had other recent outbreaks? This is DRCs ninth Ebola outbreak since 1976. The others were centred in rural areas and contained before they reached an urban environment like Mbandaka. The current outbreak is the fourth in Equateur Province following others in 1976, 1977, and 2014. Will the virus spread to other densely populated areas? No one knows for sure, but thats the fear. Four confirmed cases in Mbandaka lend some weight to it. On 21 May, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted: Its concerning that we now have cases of #Ebola in an urban centre in #DRC, but we are much better placed to deal with this outbreak than we were in 2014. Im pleased to say that vaccination is starting as we speak." Last week, Tedros refrained from declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Whats being done to monitor its spread? DRC Health Minister Oly Ilunga said last week that monitoring travellers for signs of the illness would be stepped up along all air, sea, and overland routes in and out of Mbandaka. In addition, wider Equateur Province (including villages up and downstream from Mbandaka on the Congo River) was to be put under close watch by healthcare workers and officials. River routes are popular in DRC because only two percent of the countrys 152,000- kilometre road network is paved. Mbandaka port on the Congo river bustles with vessels ranging from small pirogues to larger ships that travel with passengers to Kinshasa. DRCs capital is about 600 kilometres to the south and home to some 12 million people. Several other port towns with sizeable populations dot the route. Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, is across the river from Kinshasa. Mbandaka is also connected, via the Oubangui River, to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. Effectively monitoring all of DRCs waterways is impossible. Kinshasa alone has 20 different makeshift ports. Vessels plying the Congo River and its many tributaries are often overloaded or in poor repair, and their captains dont welcome enquiries from officials. Many, also, dock at night. Additionally, the government workers who carry out such monitoring often receive their salaries late and are poorly trained and/or part of understaffed teams. Morale is often low, which means the zeal with which they do their job may be, too. Whos doing what to tackle the outbreak? Both the Congolese government and international organisations are on it. The Ministry of Health launched a ring vaccination campaign the first time, outside of a clinical trial, that a vaccine has been deployed to stem an Ebola outbreak on 21 May. It has also sent rapid response teams to Equateur Province to investigate reports of cases and deaths. The WHO has released $1 million from its contingency fund for emergencies and provided technical and operations support, activating a multi-partner, multi-agency Emergency Operations Centre to coordinate the response. It has also shared risk communication materials in French and Lingala (the Bantu language spoken in the region) with local DRC offices. Medecins Sans Frontieres is setting up an Ebola treatment centre in Bikoro health zone where the first cases were discovered. UNICEF is working with government officials on strategies for communication and ensuring safe water and sanitation practices as well as health and psychosocial care. It has also distributed supplies to the affected areas, including 4,585 kg of soap, tarpaulins, buckets, and chlorine to support sanitation and hygiene. A total of 80 tonnes of UNICEF aid is also being transported from Sierra Leone to the DRC. A Red Cross team of experts in Equateur Province is providing training and support to local volunteers. It has brought supplies such as stretchers, chlorine disinfectant, burial kits, informational posters, and other items to support local communities and health centres. More than 110 Red Cross volunteers in Bikoro and Mbandaka are alerting residents of the outbreak and disinfecting houses where people with suspected cases reside. They also provide safe burials if needed. The effective management of victims bodies is crucial to an effective Ebola response. Local teams from the Ikoko-Impenge health centre and Bikoro General Reference Hospital are monitoring patients for signs of the illness. Wellcome Trust, a biomedical research charity based in London, is providing two million pounds (2.68 million dollars) for research to support the operational response. How does ring vaccination work? Ring vaccination differs from mass vaccination in that it targets concentric circles, or rings, of people vulnerable to infection. The process starts with health workers and those who may have had contact with infected people, as well as contacts of contacts. First in line are 600 people, including medical staff. Four thousand doses are already in Congo and more are coming. The vaccine being used in Congo, rVSV?G-ZEBOV-GP, is termed experimental because it hasnt been licensed for general distribution. It is being deployed on a voluntary basis under a protocol called the Expanded Access Framework. Informed consent is required from those receiving the vaccine, which means translators and discussions that last about 45 minutes. A network of social mobilisers has begun meeting with leaders of local communities to explain the vaccination process and other issues related to the outbreak. According to the WHO, the vaccine works by replacing a gene from a harmless virus known as vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) with a gene encoding an Ebola virus surface protein. The vaccine does not contain any live Ebola virus. The vaccine, which has been judged safe for human use, is delivered via an injection into the arm. People are checked three days after they receive it, and again after 14 days. The vaccine only provides protection before infection has occurred anyone infected with the Ebola virus before being vaccinated will not be protected. Possible side effects of the vaccine include mild fever or cold like symptoms and, in very rare cases, allergic reactions to the injection. Experts from Guinea, one of the West African countries badly affected by the 2014-16 epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people, are in Mbandaka helping with the vaccinations. Some 7,500 adults in Guinea received the vaccine in 2015, when it was shown to be highly protective, according to WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic. Logistical challenges in delivering the vaccine include DRCs poor infrastructure and the requirement that it be stored at between -60 and -80 degrees Celsius. How do humans become infected with the Ebola virus? Fruit bats are thought to be the natural host of the virus. Bats can infect other animals common in the forests of Congo, such as monkeys, antelopes, shrews, porcupines, and chimpanzees. Humans become infected when they come into contact with the organs or bodily fluids of these animals, which are widely eaten as bushmeat in northwest DRC. "Bat and monkey meats are delicious meals, as prescribed by our forefathers," Justin Efongo, a Kinshasa resident who was born in Bikoro, said. It will be difficult to convince these people to give up on what is their favourite meal. The forest is huge, and God gave us all the food that is in there. Ebola is a curse, not a real disease. http://theconversation.com direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/y9sqexu8 Challenges of administering an Ebola vaccine in remote areas of the DRC June 14, 2018 Yap Boum Professor in the faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda (http://must.ac.ug/) No one said tracking the movements of a patient, suspected to be a carrier of the deadly Ebola virus, through the dense forests of the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was going to be easy. With no discernible roads, only dense bush, we were forced to travel on three motorbikes to get to our destination, riding through areas where no car could reach. There were six of us: a research investigator, a medical doctor, an officer monitoring water, sanitation, safety and security and the three motorbike drivers. After almost three hours we finally found our destination: a village in the middle of the forest. This was Bokongo. It took our epidemiologist several days to find this remote village. He was tracing the travels and contacts of just one patient suspected of having Ebola. Just before the epidemiologist broke his leg, he identified some contacts and first line workers that needed to receive the Ebola vaccine. After arriving in Bokongo we managed to vaccinate 13 first line workers. But ours was not the only operation. As health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to try and contain the Ebola outbreak in the north eastern region of the country, there are several teams vaccinating targeted populations in Bikoro, Ikoko-Impenge, Itipo, Mbandaka and Iboko. The countrys health ministry has stepped in to coordinate the response to the outbreak. And the World Health Organization, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Epicentre and others organisations have sent teams of specialists to assist. As a result more than 1500 people have been vaccinated so far. But already 27 people have died since the outbreak was declared on May 8, 2018. Ours is a race against time making sure we get to everyone who could possibly be infected before the deadly virus does. Part of the team Its not the first time that I have been part of an Ebola response. As the African representative of Epicentre the research arm of Medecins Sans Frontieres I have been involved in Ebola response since 2012 during the Kibaale outbreak in Uganda. At the time I led Epicentres Mbarara Research Centre. Then I coordinated the field and laboratory part of the clinical trial assessing vaccines efficacy, safety and performance on first line workers in Guinea during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 to 2015. The vaccine was also considered during the 2017 outbreak in Likati in the DRC. But the Likati Ebola outbreak ended with a limited number of cases and the vaccine didnt have to be used. With the current outbreak in the DRC I came to the capital city, Kinshasa, two days after the outbreak was officially declared to assess the situation and see whether or not the vaccine could be part of the response. The increasing number of cases and the fact that the outbreak had reached an urban area (Mbandaka) meant it was clear that the vaccine would be an additional tool for the response. Testing a new vaccine The vaccination is administered using a ring approach. This involves identifying newly diagnosed and laboratory confirmed Ebola patients. Epidemiologists first need to locate the people they have been in contact with. And then the patients and their contacts - often family members, neighbours, colleagues and friends - constitute the ring who all get vaccinated. First line workers from the health area where an Ebola case has been detected also qualify to receive the vaccine. This method of investigating contacts is one of the biggest challenges when administering the vaccine. Tracing and following people to the middle of the forest presents a massive logistic challenge which means that it can take days to find people who need the vaccine most. The Ebola vaccine is known as a recombinant vaccine. This means that the glycoprotein of the Ebola virus has replaced the glycoprotein of another virus. The glycoprotein is important because it builds antibodies against a virus. Ebolas glycoprotein was added to the vesicular stomatitis virus, which is not harmful to humans. People are given the vaccination so that they can immediately build antibodies against the Ebola virus. The vaccine was discovered by a small Canadian company and later bought by the big pharmaceutical company Merck. The vaccine is still not licensed but its known as VP920. Several studies across the US, Switzerland, Gabon and Kenya have assessed the safety of the vaccine which targets the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus. Its safety, efficacy and immunogenicity was also assessed during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014; the results have shown great safety efficacy and effectiveness. The vaccine is still in the process of being registered but this is a really long procedure. The logistics One of my primary responsibilities has been ensuring that the teams that administer the vaccine have everything we need in this process. Ive also coordinated our activities with health officials, the WHO and the countrys extended programme for immunisation so that they understand how the vaccine is administered. To launch the vaccine in this outbreak weve had to train the locally recruited staff about Ebola, the study protocol as well as good clinical practices. This includes ensuring everyone who gets the vaccine consents to it, understands the study and possible side effects. This has been difficult because we only have a limited time to teach people about the dangers of the virus as well as the importance of the protocols when they are out in the field. While the WHO team started administering the vaccine in Mbandaka, the MSF/Epicentre team went in Bikoro where all the confirmed cases from Itipo the epicentre of the outbreak were referred. Since then vaccination drives have not stopped. Each time we enter a village were greeted by one of the most frightening moments knowing that were surrounded by people who have been in contact with the deadly virus but may not have been traced. But then we look into the eyes of the people full of hope and were reminded about why we do what we do: to make a difference by reaching the unreachable. Songs, radio shows, and door-to-door visits: how community awareness is helping defeat Ebola in Congo Containing the outbreak isnt simply down to the vaccine Mbandaka/The Democratic Republic of Congo, 7 June 2018 Issa Sikiti da Silva, An award-winning Kinshasa-based journalist http://irinnews.org direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/y9r9xdoy Relatives ride in on motorbikes, bust three patients out of an Ebola treatment centre, and take them to a church to be prayed over by 50 people. Later, one dies at home, another in hospital, while the third lives but could have infected an untold number of people. It sounds like a scene from a Hollywood disaster movie, but it took place less than three weeks ago in Mbandaka, a city of 1.2 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A huge effort is now underway here to raise awareness about the virus and prevent its spread. The government and international NGOs are leading the charge, but some of the most effective work is done by the local community and Church leaders. In the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Mbandaka-Bikoro, for instance, sacraments such as baptisms and anointing ceremonies have been suspended to avert the risk of transmitting Ebola. Ebola is real, stressed community leader Gabriel Selemani at an impromptu gathering near a marketplace. Dont play games with it, and dont listen to rumours and lies being spread around that it is a fairy-tale, an international conspiracy, or as a result of witchcraft. In local schools in Mbandaka, teachers hammer home the message too, leading children through a special Ebola, Go away! song and making hand-washing and temperaturetaking mandatory before class. Talking to people on the citys streets, it is evident that many take the dangers posed by the outbreak extremely seriously. But others disregard the risks, while some are in denial about the outbreak or say they believe news of it has been planted as some kind of Western plot. ... Contained? Perhaps, for now News of Congos latest Ebola outbreak (this is its ninth since the first-ever case was discovered near the countrys Ebola River in 1976) emerged in early May in the northwestern province of Equateur. As of Thursday (May 31), 37 Ebola cases had been confirmed, all in Equateur, including 25 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation. Infographic below shows the situation as of June 14 ... The greatest fear remains: that an infected person could carry the disease to a major urban centre, like the capital, Kinshasa, or Bangui, the capital of neighbouring Central African Republic both reachable via the largely unmonitored Congo River. This time around, a new weapon has been deployed in the fight against Ebola a vaccine, administered to anyone who comes into contact with a confirmed case. Tested towards the end of the West Africa epidemic that claimed more than 11,000 lives from 2013-16, this is the first time a vaccine has been part of a concerted effort to contain an Ebola outbreak. For the so-called ring vaccination campaign to work, every person who has come into physical contact with a suspected case must be identified, vaccinated, and then monitored for symptoms. While WHO experts say ring vaccination and contact-tracing are key to stemming outbreaks, they are time-consuming, invasive, and hard to do effectively in rural areas with patchy phone networks like Bikoro and Iboko, where the outbreak is thought to have originated. A journey of just 20 kilometres in this region can take several hours, and the vaccine needs to be kept at an extremely low temperature. But containing the outbreak also depends on the willingness of the local community to help by raising the alarm when a case is suspected and by informing health workers promptly and accurately of everyone an infected person has been in contact with. Winning over the sceptics While most people are cooperating and health workers say all the immediate contacts of known cases in Mbandaka have now been vaccinated, rumours and conspiracy theories have also taken root. Hordes of health officials (WHO alone has sent 170 experts), aid workers, and journalists have descended on Mbandaka, often making disconcerting demands or asking difficult questions. Some locals are benefiting from an economic boom, but others have been hit by unexpected price hikes and many are wary of the foreign invasion. The so-called Ebola is nothing but a curse. Ebola is a white mans invention to attempt to control Africas resources, pastor Jean-Pierre Elumba told his riveted congregation, meeting near one of Mbandakas many river ports. Brothers and sisters, whether this Ebola thing exists here in Equateur or not, the truth is that the solution of Ebola lies in repentance, not in washing hands..." Elumbas sermon is the exception rather than the rule. Raphael Mbuyi, provincial coordinator in Equateur for UK-based charity Oxfam, reckons four in five pastors are on-side with the response effort. It is the remaining 20 percent still resisting that pose a problem, he said. And, among them, there are at least 80 percent that say Ebola is a curse from God. Oxfam, which is taking part in a larger awareness-raising campaign involving the Congolese government, UNICEF, and other international NGO partners, has recruited 120 local people to go door-to-door to get the facts out to as many families as possible. We are well aware of the rumours going around about the disease, Mbuyi said. Thats why we are moving quickly to get the message across. In addition to buying radio air time to offer health professionals an opportunity to discuss Ebola, Oxfam is promoting phone-in programmes that allow listeners to ask questions about the disease. Vaccine fears and changing customs The traditional practice of touching and handling the bodies of the dead was a major factor in the fast spread of Ebola in the 2013-16 West Africa outbreak. One of the pillars of containing Ebola now is what the WHO calls safe and dignified burials, whereby professionals handle the corpses and follow a 12-stage guide, observing, as much as possible, local custom. But not everyone is happy with the way this is going down in Equateur. I was in Bikoro and I was angry the way people were holding Ebola funerals, said Elizabeth Mokia, a woman in her 70s. ... Bomboka said that before Medecins Sans Frontieres opened a separate Ebola clinic at Iyonda, 15 kilometres from Mbandaka, fear of the virus had been scaring people away from the hospital. (There is now a second MSF isolation unit in Bikoro, and the international medical NGO is setting up other treatment centres in Iboko and Itipo.) We ran out of patients, Bomboka said. And the maternity consultations became free of charge, perhaps to attract patients and pregnant women to come. It shows you that people want nothing to do with this so-called Ebola. WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic acknowledged possible side-effects from the vaccine but said these were typically mild, including headache, fatigue, muscle pain, and mild fever. He also sought to reassure people, saying the vaccinations are free and voluntary (on the basis of written informed consent only), and are approved by the Congolese governments ethics committee. Every person vaccinated receives two check-up visits, three and 14 days after vaccination, Jasarevic added. Making (some) progress ... For the moment, at least, the Equateur outbreak appears to have been stopped in its tracks. Oxfams Mbuyi, for one, attributes this to both the vaccine and the awareness-raising campaign. We have seen an amazing change of behaviour in many people, he said. As a result of what we have been doing, many people are going to hospital to be vaccinated, and the culture of hand-washing is also being fostered in many areas and in households. Yet the vaccine hasnt stopped some in Mbandaka from turning to alternative methods to ward off the virus, and others from purveying their cures. Francine Kibala, 49, claimed to have developed her own powerful vaccine from plants in the giant Mai-Ndombe forest that are famed in Congo for their supposedly magical powers. This solution, which was mixed with the mysterious water of Lake Mai-Ndombe, is better and stronger than the vaccine brought here by the white people, she said, brandishing a darkish liquid she referred to as her trophy. ... AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter. AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please write to this address to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about reposted material, please contact directly the original source mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see http://www.africafocus.org To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! With influenza, the one we hear about often is pneumonia. In 1918, that seems to have been the pattern , that bacteria, not flu, killed millions . Back to scarlet fever. When penicillin was discovered, the cases and death numbers fell and kept falling. Scarlet fever develops from the organism, S pyogenes, which is classified as a Group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal (GABHS) infection. "Thus, as in the cases of S. pneumoniae and S. aureus, S. pyogenes acts synergistically with influenza viruses and possibly other respiratory viruses in causing secondary bacterial infections. Enhanced adherence and internalization of S. pyogenes to host cells in the presence of influenza virus infection may explain the synergism. 94,95,96 Probably the first fact that needs to be illustrated is - Influenza infections increase host susceptibility to bacterial infections in a variety of ways Is it possible that the nasal flu vaccine could somehow result in scarlet fever? Lets take a look at research for any connections. In Part I , we took a look at news articles and data on the increase of scarlet fever in the UK, whilst adding in articles that showed that the LAIV (Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine) aka the nasal flu shot, has been steadily increased in the UK, in the same time period. To examine how viral infections and host antiviral immune responses alter the upper respiratory microbiota...following instillation of live attenuated influenza vaccine ... We found that live attenuated influenza vaccination led to significant changes in microbial community structure, diversity, and core taxonomic membership....The core membership expanded after LAIV administration to include Streptococcus and Bacillales, among others....LAIV administration was associated with clinically meaningful changes in nasal epithelial gene expression that mirrored those expected of natural influenza infection, including activation of interferon-stimulated pathways, which have recently been implicated in diminished antibacterial activity and enhanced bacterial colonization.......Interestingly, we also observed the emergence of Bacteroides, an obligate anaerobe, after intervention in the LAIV group. While the absolute change was statistically significant in that group, the relative abundances were low, and the clinical relevance of this finding in the respiratory tract is not clear. However, these gram-negative microorganisms are typically noted to be anaerobic and associated with the gut microbiota where they can influence the host immune system and play both commensal and pathologenic ecological roles in part due to their diverse metabolic capabilities, including complex carbohydrate metabolism and biofilm formation [47]. It is possible that they may take on similar roles in the upper respiratory tract; thus, further study may be warranted. The role of influenza in the severity and transmission of respiratory bacterial disease, April 2016 Although influenza vaccination is undoubtedly beneficial to reduce influenza and secondary bacterial infections, we recently reported 28 an unexpected effect of LAIV (but not inactivated influenza vaccine) on increased bacterial carriage for up to 28 days after vaccination. Importantly, however, LAIV had no detrimental effect on bacterial infections of the lower respiratory tract.28 Thus, although LAIV is beneficial to reduce influenza and influenza-mediated secondary disease, it might be important to consider the level of risk of bacterial acquisition during the weeks after vaccination when deciding between LAIV and inactivated vaccines. The Unexpected Impact of Vaccines on Secondary Bacterial Infections Following Influenza, March 2018 ...when influenza viruses infect a host, severe infections can develop when bacterial pathogens invade. Secondary bacterial infections (SBIs) contribute to a significant proportion of influenza-related mortality, with Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Haemophilus influenzae as major coinfecting pathogens. Vaccines against bacterial pathogens can reduce coinfection incidence and severity, but few vaccines are available and those that are, may have decreased efficacy in influenza virus-infected hosts. While some studies indicate a benefit of vaccine-induced immunity in providing protection against SBIs, a comprehensive understanding is lacking. Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine Enhances Colonization of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus in Mice, February 2014 Here we show, in mice, that vaccination with LAIV primes the upper respiratory tract for increased bacterial growth and persistence of bacterial carriage, in a manner nearly identical to that seen following wild-type influenza virus infections.LAIV, unlike wild-type virus, did not increase severe bacterial disease of the lower respiratory tract. These findings may have consequences for individual bacterial disease processes within the upper respiratory tract, as well as bacterial transmission dynamics within LAIV-vaccinated populations...we find that LAIV vaccination reverses normal bacterial clearance from the nasopharynx [NP] and significantly increases bacterial carriage densities of the clinically important bacterial pathogens Streptococcus pneumoniae (serotypes 19F and 7F) and Staphylococcus aureus (strains Newman and Wright) within the upper respiratory tract of mice. The Effects of Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine on Nasopharyngeal Bacteria in Healthy 2 to 4 Year Olds. A Randomized Controlled Trial, June 15,2016 In the absence of any safety signals despite widespread use of the vaccine, these findings suggest that bacterial density, and thus transmission rates among children and to people in other age groups, may rise following attenuated influenza infections without associated clinical disease.We show that infections with attenuated viruses can result in increases in carriage density of common bacteria or increases in acquisition...Children carrying more bacteria are probably more infectious than those with fewer, and it makes biological sense that such bacteria should evolve to sense viral rhinitis or the host response to it and exploit it as a transmission opportunity.......Again, there was evidence of an increase in S. pneumoniae density with increasing doses of vaccine. In particular, compared with prevaccine levels, a 2.5-fold increase in density was observed after two vaccine doses Epidemiology of Streptococcus pyogenes, April 3, 2017. Acute viral respiratory infections, and influenza in particular (Morens, Taubenberger, & Fauci, 2008), are recognized risk factors for invasive S. pyogenes infection, with secondary infections generally occurring within one week of influenza diagnosis (Zakikhany, et al, 2011). The relative importance of influenza as a risk factor for invasive S. pyogenes infection will therefore be highly dependent on the levels of circulating influenza and the populations affected. Infectious Disease - Scarlet Fever Scarlet fever is an infectious disease caused by invasion of the upper respiratory tract by the Gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes.1 Streptococcus pyogenes - Information for Lab Workers pyogenes is responsible for a wide array of infections, including streptococcal sore throat, strep throat, pharyngitis, scarlet fever, impetigo, erysipelas, puerperal fever, necrotizing fasciitis, toxic shock syndrome, septicemia, acute rheumatic fever, acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, and gas gangrene . The bacterium can survive on a dry surface for 3 days to 6.5 months. The illustration is available here and our thanks to them. Live Attenuated Influenza Virus Increases Pneumococcal Translocation and Persistence Within the Middle Ear December 11, 2014 LAIV may increase bacterial transmigration to the middle ear and could thus increase the risk of clinically relevant acute otitis media. These data warrant further investigations into interactions between live attenuated viruses and naturally colonizing bacterial pathogens. Pathogen evolution and the immunological niche 2014 An ideal vaccine provides complete protection from infection or disease against a pathogen population. To minimize the chance of vaccine escape, the vaccine would instill herd immunity in the host population, or the pathogen population would display no diversity with respect to the vaccine-induced immunity and would be unable to escape it. In practice, pathogens are diverse, and vaccines usually provide imperfect protection that differs from that induced by natural infection.117 By changing the pathogens immunological environment, vaccines can thus shape evolution. Models of competing strains predict that vaccination against a subset of strains will increase the abundance of untargeted strains.118,119natural infection induces nonspecific immune memory but the vaccine does not. ...In the United States, high vaccination rates in young children nearly eradicated the targeted serotypes and increased the abundances of the untargeted serotypes such that overall carriage rates have not declined.122 This phenomenon has been named serotype replacement.119...a successful vaccination campaign against one pathogen may affect competing pathogens in unexpected ways. Generalized herd effects and vaccine evaluation: impact of live influenza vaccine on off-target bacterial colonisation 23 June 2017 Interactions between pathogens and commensal microbes are major contributors to health and disease. Infectious diseases however are most often considered independent, viewed within a one-host one-pathogen paradigm and, by extension, the interventions used to treat and prevent them are measured and evaluated within this same paradigm. Vaccines, especially live vaccines, by stimulating immune responses or directly interacting with other microbes can alter the environment in which they act, with effects that span across pathogen species. Live attenuated influenza vaccines for example, while safe, increase upper respiratory tract bacterial carriage density of important human commensal pathogens like Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. Further, by altering the ecological niche and dynamics of phylogenetically distinct microbes within the host, vaccines may unintentionally affect transmission of non-vaccine targeted pathogens. Thus, vaccine effects may span across species and across scales, from the individual to the population level. In keeping with traditional vaccine herd-effects that indirectly protect even unvaccinated individuals by reducing population prevalence of vaccine-targeted pathogens, we call these cross-species cross-scale effects generalized herd-effects. As opposed to traditional herd-effects, generalized relaxes the assumption that the effect occurs at the level of the vaccine-target pathogen and herd effect implies, as usual, that the effects indirectly impact the population at large, including unvaccinated bystanders. Unlike traditional herd-effects that decrease population prevalence of the vaccine-target, generalized herd-effects may decrease or increase prevalence and disease by the off-target pathogen. LAIV, for example, by increasing pneumococcal density in the upper respiratory tract of vaccine recipients, especially children, may increase pneumococcal transmission and prevalence, leading to excess pneumococcal invasive disease in the population, especially among the elderly and others most susceptible to pneumococcal disease. Patterns are important in science. One must not be afraid to look even though doing so can shatter age-old beliefs. The pattern here is that LAIV, the nasal flu vaccine, like wild-type influenza, may cause S. Pyogenes to adhere to the upper respiratory tract. The bacteria can then spread from those vaccinated to the bystanders. The ability to transmit and to grow is possible. The ability to spread in the environment (schools) is possible. Nobody has studied this and it seems important. If we look at some of the words from these scientific papers, there seems to be warnings amongst the data, showing a need for further research: further study may be warranted. - it might be important to consider the level of risk. - a comprehensive understanding is lacking. - pathogens are diverse, and vaccines usually provide imperfect protection. - vaccines may unintentionally affect transmission of non-vaccine targeted Pathogens. it makes biological sense that such bacteria should evolve to sense viral rhinitis or the host response to it and exploit it as a transmission opportunity. vaccination with LAIV primes the upper respiratory tract for increased bacterial growth and persistence of bacterial carriage, in a manner nearly identical to that following wild-type influenza virus infections. In Part IIII, we will conclude with things to ponder and gratitude for those researchers who do seek the truth. -- Aren't you asking us to accept a pretty incredible coincidence? -- -- I'm just saying a coincidence is possible. -- 12 Angry Men -- 1957 Banking veteran David Murray has taken a swipe at the corporate watchdog for not always being "focused on its main job" as the financial sector's cop in recent years, as he re-affirmed his support for wealth management firms owning advice businesses. Following a speech warning against potential damage from over-regulation, Mr Murray also took aim at two arguments made by former Australian Securities and Investments Commission chair Greg Medcraft, on mortgages and bank cross-selling. David Murray is a longstanding critic of attempts to regulate for culture. Credit:Janie Barrett The criticism came as National Australia Bank chief Andrew Thorburn acknowledged banks were unlikely to face a more "settled" environment until after the royal commission and the next federal election. Even so, Mr Thorburn said this would not stop NAB from making investments, such by training more specialist business bankers, and through its digital offshoot UBank, which is competing with the wave of fintech investment also challenging the sector. I Tweeted Nancy Pelosi my thoughts on the current selective outrage regarding the very real plight of children in detention right now. What's the scale for the outrage meter settings? When are kids lives more valuable or important? All children matter. Kids belong with their loving parents who are making hard choices to give them the best possible life. Parents are allowed to make choices! Sometimes they even break the law to protect their kids. Unless you are a parent altering the vaccine schedule - because in California, thanks to Senator Richard Pan's SB277, kids who are not fully vaccinated in certain grades (yet healthy) can not attend school. Californians allowed this law that discriminates against healthy children who have a right to school. No outrage, only derision. I feel jaded. I dont want to see kids in detention centers. My heart hurts for the families. Hearts are hard when it comes to us and our kids. If there are immigrant kids in CA detention centers, their parent should scream Not fully vaxxed! (Translators needed!) Then maybe the kids will be released to Mom and Dad. Under SB 277, children will only be able to attend school or daycare, public or private, if they either receive the immunizations required by law or obtain a medical exemption from the requirement from a licensed physicianmeaning only MDs and DOs.[11] Children may also be conditionally accepted into a school or daycare program if they are in the process of completing a series of vaccinations. In other words, if parents wish to leave their children unvaccinated, absent an acknowledged medical reason to do so, they cannot send them to school or daycare. They will, however, have a variety of other options available. These options include homeschooling their children on their own or in collaboration with a few other families, or participating in certain independent study programs offered by public schools. UCLA Law Rewview Kim The Commonwealth Bank has 28 days to pay a $700 million fine imposed by the Federal Court over legal breaches that enabled criminals to launder money through its ATMs. CBA has admitted to breaking laws designed to stop money laundering and terrorism financing, including its failure to refer more than 53,000 reports of deposits of $10,000 or more to Australia's financial intelligence agency, Austrac. Crime syndicates used a system flaw in CBA's Intelligent Deposit Machines to deposit "the proceeds of drug and firearms importation", the Federal Court has found. Credit:Glenn Hunt In handing down his judgment in Sydney on Wednesday morning, Justice David Yates said crime syndicates had used a system flaw in the bank's Intelligent Deposit Machines to deposit "the proceeds of drug and firearms importation". "Cash could be deposited anonymously any time at hundreds of locations," Justice Yates said. Telstra's decision to slash 9500 workers is part of a much wider trend of companies hollowing out their middle management and transitioning towards more "nimble" corporate structures, workplace experts warn. The scale of the lay-offs announced on Wednesday a net reduction of 8000 positions at the struggling carrier triggered promises of financial support for retrenched workers and a union push for the Turnbull government to intervene. As part of a new strategy dubbed "Telstra 2022", Telstra said it would increase its cost-cutting target to $2.5 billion over the next four years and wipe out up to four layers of middle management. Telstra chief executive Andy Penn said the strategy would "break down silos" within the organisation and simplify the workforce. It comes just months after NAB unveiled 1000 job cuts as part of strategy to remove layers of middle management at the national bank. Andy Penn would have been well aware that his fate and the medium term future of Telstra hung on his strategy presentation today. Incremental change would save neither and so he has unveiled the most fundamental change program Telstra has embraced since the Sol Trujillo or Frank Blount eras. Loading He would have been disappointed, perhaps shocked, by the reflex response of the sharemarket to his presentation, although judgements might change once there has been time for its detail to be digested. In outline the strategy isnt radical. In detail, however, it will be challenging for an organisation that isnt renowned for its ability to execute. The company behind popular baby shampoos and body washes, Gaia Skin Naturals, has been fined for making misleading claims that its products are organic. Gaia has been fined for describing some baby products including a Natural Baby bath and body was as organic. Gaia described its Natural Baby bath and body wash, baby shampoo and baby moisturiser as pure, natural and organic, but the products contain two synthetic chemical preservatives. The company paid a $37,800 fine after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued the company three infringement notices over the alleged false or misleading claim. While companies do not legally need organic certification to label their products organic, ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said businesses must make sure they are not misleading or deceiving customers with that description. Chinas tariffs on imported US goods are wide-ranging as the trade stoush between the two nations heats up. But there's one thing the Middle Kingdom has specifically excluded from the standoff -- liquefied natural gas (LNG). The US will remain its major LNG supplier. The $US50 billion in import tariffs on US goods that China announced this month came in retaliation for US President Donald Trumps decision to place import tariffs on major Chinese goods. China's move came only weeks after the two nations signed an agreement, on 19 May, for China to buy more US goods, principally gas and oil, as its energy demand ramps up. Despite threats of a trade war, China has excluded key US imports such as LNG. China's demand for LNG is being driven by its changing environmental and air pollution policies, which have seen the country turn away from coal-fired power to more gas-fired generation, increasing its need for bigger LNG volumes during winter for heating. Nicholas Browne, head of Asia Pacific gas and LNG at energy research consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said the exclusion of LNG from the trade stoush wasn't surprising for two reasons: "Firstly, LNG demand is growing rapidly in China. Secondly, the US will be the key source of incremental supply growth in 2018 and 2019, he said. While Australian political leaders are growing more concerned about the security and military threat posed by China, new research show the Australian people are more worried about the amount of farmland and real estate that Chinese citizens are buying in the country. The 14th annual Lowy Institute poll into Australian attitudes found 72 per cent of Australians believe the government is allowing too much investment from China, up from 56 per cent in 2014. But the poll found that, as in other recent years, just 46 per cent say it is likely that China "will become a military threat to Australia in the next 20 years". New research shows Australians are more worried about the amount of farmland and real estate that Chinese citizens are buying than the security and military threat it poses under President Xi Jinping. Credit:Bloomberg Indeed the vast majority of Australians - 82 per cent - see China as "more of an economic partner" than a military threat, a number that has increased by 5 per cent since 2015. Sheila Hancock celebrates life at any age in Edie. Credit:Rialto Distribution Picture the scene. Youre camped with a film crew high on the crags of Suilven, a mountain in the Scottish highlands. Its dark and cold and there are cliffs all around. The young things are rugged up asleep, but youre Sheila Hancock: youre 83 years old and you want to pee. "It was agony," says Hancock. "I had layers and layers of clothing on, so I had to take all of it off and crawl out of the tent and try not to fall off a ledge in the dark it was bloody awful." A helicopter lifting supplies during filming. Credit:Rialto Distribution Most famous actors dont talk about things like this, but Hancock isnt like most. For one, her roots are working class in a country where most actors are posh. Her first home was a pub in Londons Kings Cross, where her father was landlord. She loved it, but then they moved to suburban Bexleyheath which was dull. "There's no more women's legs," Macklovitch says. "We're using our legs now. We just decided that we did not want to use women's body parts. We wanted to put our money where our mouth was and use our body parts, so it's all us. Our legs, wearing skirts, wearing heels. We're the subject and the object." David "Dave 1" Macklovitch doesn't attempt to explain or justify the disembodied ladies' legs that stalked the art direction of the Canadian duo's previous albums Fancy Footwork, Business Casual and White Women. But with their new album Head Over Heels, the joke is literally on him and his partner in funk, Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. These are trying times for sexy. The borderline between cheeky and blacklisted has never been more vigilantly patrolled. Yesterday's on-the-edge is today's beyond-the-pale and with hindsight, Chromeo's hot-legs gag looks that much closer to the dark side. The hairy synth enthusiasts suffer for their sins before our eyes in one of the album's first videos, for Juice. That really is them strutting in step in mini skirts, high heels and smoothly waxed pins. And bushy beard, five-o'clock shadow and all, theyre sexy as hell. That's the funk for you. "With the kind of music we make, there's always some degree of humour and self-awareness," says Macklovitch, who bonded with Gemayel over a shared love of hip-hop at college in Montreal in the mid '90s. Working backwards from Snoop and Dr Dre to Rick James, Hall & Oates, Kool & the Gang and Parliament Funkadelic, the pair slowly joined the dots on a vast musical map that wasn't exactly in fashion back in the early 2000s. With their first couple of albums, "a lot of people thought we weren't cool. They thought we were naff," Macklovitch says. "They thought we were cheesy or whatever. Which we are, kind of, but there's a difference between self-aware and just kind of a joke band. "We're self-aware in the same way Cardi B is self-aware. Cardi B is in on her own joke, and so are we. But we're still serious." He laughs to prove it. "I mean, I wonder if Prince was serious, you know? I know Daft Punk's not 100 per cent serious. Two grown men wearing masks? Come on. But that's the beauty of it. That's the genius." Janet Jackson has opened up about her "intense" battle with depression, calling the experience "tenacious and scary". In a letter published in Essence magazine, the 52-year-old discussed the joy her 1-year-old son Eissa Al Mana brings, but wrote of her darker times as well. Her 30s were far from perfect, plagued with mental health issues, Jackson said. "I struggled with depression. The struggle was intense," she wrote. "I could analyse the source of my depression forever. Low self-esteem might be rooted in childhood feelings of inferiority. It could relate to failing to meet impossibly high standards. Tracey Spicer. Credit:James Alcock I have spent the past five months working behind the scenes of Australias #MeToo movement. I got involved when Tracey Spicer sent me a message and asked if I could help a new organisation that would support survivors of sexual harassment. This is how I became a founding member of NOW Australia. I was the first point of contact for people who were approaching NOW via social media to ask for help, or to share their story. This movement has saturated my life. I have first-hand knowledge of the epidemic that is occurring, and it is horrifying. Over the past five months, I have learnt more than I ever wished to know about sexual harassment in Australia. I have heard countless stories, both historical, recent and ongoing, that detail the vile, insidious, predatory behaviour occurring in so many workplaces in this country. People all around Australia are suffering from abuses of power on a daily basis, and thats something that a hashtag cant fix. There is still a place for #MeToo: there always will be. But it is time to evolve, to a place where the world creates real, tangible change. A young driver who was drunk and speeding when his wayward car ploughed into a pole, instantly killing his best mate, will spend almost a year behind bars. But Brisbane Judge Kerry O'Brien said any punishment imposed on 19-year-old Jack Francis Hartigan in Brisbane District Court paled in comparison to living the rest of his life knowing his "so unnecessary" behaviour ended Jason Fainges' young life. Hartigan, 19, of Brisbane, was sentenced on Wednesday to four years' jail after pleading guilty to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance on December 18, 2005. Judge O'Brien suspended the sentence after 12 months, and deemed that the 27 days Hartigan had already spent in custody as time served. The court was told that in the early hours of December 18, Hartigan was behind the wheel of his 2000 Holden Commodore roaring along Albany Creek Road, in Brisbane's north, at possibly more than 100km/h in a 60km/h zone. Thousands of aspiring tradies will be able to sign up for free apprenticeships under a NSW government plan to make the state the "tradie and jobs capital" of Australia. The $285 million plan, detailed in Tuesday's state budget, will fund 100,000 apprenticeships over the next four years and will be on offer in any course at TAFE and non-TAFE providers. Apprenticeships: NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro. Credit:Jay Cronan NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro says the program will remove barriers for those considering an apprenticeship. "We want to get rid of the final obstacle we believe is an impediment," Mr Barilaro told reporters in Sydney on Monday. Bishop of Parramatta Vincent Long Van Nguyen has joined reform groups and politicians in calling for the public release of a church report responding to the child abuse royal commission. Keeping the four-volume, 1000-page, church-commissioned Truth Justice and Healing Council report in-house for any period longer than necessary is not in the interest of the kind of church the Pope speaks about, said Bishop Long in a statement this week. Parramatta Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen wants the report released to the public. Credit:Nic Walker Pope Francis recently urged all Catholics not to be afraid of being the central drivers of the transformation that is being demanded today in the wake of the child sexual abuse tragedy. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said it would take some time to consider the TJHC report it received in March, and would formally respond to the royal commission when it had completed our dialogue with the Holy See and received advice from an implementation advisory group appointed in May. Detectives investigating the abduction and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl at Adamstown Heights last week say the case against Brett David Hill has moved beyond circumstantial and they now have DNA evidence. Magistrate Robert Stone revoked a non-publication order on Mr Hills name in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, despite his solicitor, Rob Hussey, saying there were grave concerns for Mr Hills safety in jail and that identifying his client could prejudice his chance at a fair trial. Brett David Hill. Mr Hill, 47, who police said had no fixed address, appeared in court via audio visual link from a Sydney jail charged with kidnapping, six counts of aggravated sexual assault and four counts of aggravated indecent assault. Police say he is the man who abducted an 11-year-old girl as she was walking through Hudson Park about 9.15am on June 12. Helping the Hunter RAAF planes today will drop food and clothing to flood victims in the Hunter River district. A RAAF Dakota will leave Schofields this morning with a load of blankets and food for Singleton and Jerrys Plains. Later today a second Dakota will drop more blankets at Singleton. Yesterday, a truck left Sydney with childrens clothes for victims in Maitland and Singleton and the Red Cross sent a truck with food, clothing and medical supplies. Strike threat The Prime Minister, Mr Chifley and the Premier, Mr McGirr, in a joint statement last night said no strike, however prolonged, would influence government policy in the current coal dispute. The decision to strike next Monday, the statement added, was a wholly unjustifiable repudiation of arbitration when it was effectively functioning. Industrial production in New South Wales will almost cease today with no electricity or gas available to industry. New moon The advantages of attending preschool are many. Credit:Phil Carrick Voters can be wary of politicians bearing gifts around election time. All those offers, all that smiling generosity wheres the catch? One measure in the state budget, though, should attract no cynicism. In the governments decision to boost funding for preschool education there is no catch. This is genuine progress. The government has promised to spend $200 million on fee subsidies for two years of preschool for every child from the start of next year. Along with next months changes in the way Canberra helps families with childcare costs, these should improve significantly children's access to preschool education and care at a time in their lives when it can make the most difference. There is plenty of research to show the benefits of preschool education. By accustoming small children to interact with peers and adult carers from outside their family and familiarising them with simpler versions of the skills and experiences of school, preschool benefits children from all backgrounds but particularly those who are disadvantaged. Many children, for example by no means all of them from disadvantaged backgrounds will never have had a parent read a book to them. It is a sad fact of modern life that busy parents think a movie played on a smartphone or tablet is an adequate substitute for reading a book together one of lifes basic nurturing experiences. Without preschool, those children will find the early school years a shock, possibly one profound enough to disturb their subsequent development. Junior ride operator Courtney Williams did not know how to stop Dreamworld's Thunder River Rapids Ride that killed four people and felt under pressure not to talk to police, an inquest has heard. The day of the tragedy, October 25, 2016, was her first day working on the ride. She did not return to work at Dreamworld again. Ms Williams, who was the first person on the scene of the raft tragedy, told the inquest she was approached by a senior Dreamworld management figure after the tragedy occurred and told not to speak to police. However, a police officer wearing a body camera did approach her and she gave a statement while still at the ride. Parts of that interview transcript were read out to the court on Wednesday. A prison escapee on the run for weeks was arrested in Mackay on Monday, after a police officer's foot was run over and two other people were arrested. Police would allege that officers spotted two stolen vehicles, a Toyota LandCruiser and a Holden Commodore, on Riverside Drive about 11.30am. Kiran Hazard is described as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in appearance, about 174cm tall, with a dark birthmark on the left side of his neck. Credit:Queensland Police Media When a police car pulled up in front of the Commodore, the female driver of the vehicle allegedly reversed back before driving and crashing into the side of the police car. Two officers attempted to stop the vehicles driving away before one of the officers, a 49-year-old man, had his foot run over. Temperatures dropped below freezing several times during the past week as Queensland was transformed into a winter wonderland and a Gold Coast suburb shivered through its coldest June morning ever recorded. Thursday will be a dark day in the Sunshine State because we have reached the shortest day of the year, with only 10 hours and 24 minutes of daylight expected. Icicles and frozen fields created a stunning spectacle on a dairy farm near Warwick in southern Queensland on Monday. Credit:Chris McFerran The Bureau of Meteorology warned last Friday that temperatures in the Sunshine State were expected to nosedive and dip below freezing during the past weekend and earlier this week, with widespread frost also forecast. Brisbane recorded its coldest morning of the year by dropping below 7 degrees on Saturday and a town in the Scenic Rim region also dipped below freezing that day. A Queensland woman has won the right to use her dead boyfriend's sperm to have children. Brisbane Supreme Court justice Sue Brown handed down her landmark decision on Wednesday. She determined Ayla Cresswell should be able to use Joshua Davies' reproductive tissue but said it was up to the particular medical clinic to decide if it was satisfied to go ahead with the procedure. Joshua Davies and Ayla Cresswell Credit:Facebook The decision will set a legal precedent in Queensland for women seeking to use the sperm of their late partners to have children. The research and analytics we use to keep tabs on what stories youre interested in have consistently shown that the Heralds readers are global citizens, and always incredibly engaged with whats happening outside their own immediate communities. Thats part of the reason I had little hesitation in supporting an investigation undertaken by one of our young reporters, which focused on a town in the United States. On the face of it, a story about a town in Minnesota where kids are dying of cancer might seem an odd place to start an investigation. But Carrie Fellners investigative series, which we have published over the past week, actually began long before that. Melissa and Jim Crowley hold painted portrait of their son Alex Crowley, a Tartan student lost to brain cancer in 2012. Credit:David Bowman Fellner started with the Heralds investigations unit only three months ago, joining us from Fairfax Medias regional publication, the Newcastle Herald. When she was there, the suburb of Williamtown became one of the first communities in Australia to have their lives turned upside-down by PFAS chemical contamination, which seriously affected the welfare of its residents. My early work focused on the financial and psychological fallout of the crisis, but it soon became clear that authorities were steering the conversation away from the potential health effects, she told me. That's all from me this morning. Thanks for following along. I hope you've gotten to work on time! Things on the roads and public transport do look to be returning to normal now. Enjoy the sun today. The Andrews government has vowed to fix the law to ensure Russell Street bomber Craig Minogue is never eligible for parole after the High Court ruled that legislation introduced to keep police killers behind bars did not apply to him. Minogue was jailed for life in 1988, with a non-parole period of 28 years, for murdering Constable Angela Taylor in a car bomb blast in Russell Street in March 1986. Convicted Russell Street bomber Craig Minogue.. Credit:The Age He made a parole bid in 2016 when his non-parole period expired, but then tough laws came in, ensuring anyone who murdered a police officer had no chance for parole. On Wednesday, the High Court concluded the current laws did not apply to Minogue because the "offence committed was indiscriminate and no particular person or class of persons was targeted". The rape and killing of Eurydice Dixon is confronting on so many levels, not least that a young, talented woman has had her future stolen in a few minutes of senseless violence. But in our dismay and anger and frustration and holding of vigils over Ms Dixons brutal death, two other issues beg exploring. It is not Ms Dixons fault she didnt make it home safely. Credit:Karleen Minney Lets take the so-called gender issue first, and the call for us all to continue to walk unafraid down darkened lanes at night. It is not safe. Its not safe for women. Its not safe for our daughters and our mothers. A caller told 6PR Radio the Toyota Kluger had crashed on the Cedric Street off-ramp on the freeway. Credit:6PR/Jake Battrick The Kluger was stolen from the Kingsway Shopping Centre last week. The chase began about 11:25am when police sighted a stolen Toyota Kluger on Ferguson Street in Midvale. The Kluger had been stolen from the Kingsway Shopping Centre. Police have charged four people over a wild police chase which ended in a head on crash on the Mitchell Freeway on Tuesday. Police tried to stop the car but the driver sped off and a pursuit started. The Toyota Kluger travelled through various suburbs for approximately 30 minutes before police aborted the chase when it drove on the wrong side of the Mitchell Freeway. Just after midday, the Toyota Kluger crashed into a BMW sedan on the Mitchell Freeway in Stirling and was forced to stop. It is claimed the driver was armed with a gun and ran from the car. He was caught by police a short distance away. A 34-year-old man of no fixed address is due to appear in court on Wednesday on a string of charges including two counts of aggravated armed robbery, two counts of steal motor vehicle, criminal damage by fire and aggravated possession of a firearm. Brad Collins talked a big game. As second in charge at Royal Caribbean Cruises, the American lothario promised the world to his lovers. Overseas holidays, luxury hotel suites. It was all on offer when Mr Collins swept his girlfriends off their feet. One Perth woman was even going to marry him. But the $30,000 ring he proposed to Annabelle Morgan with turned out to be - like so many other things in Brad Collins life - fake. I met him in July last year on Oasis, which is a dating site, Ms Morgan said. The state government has fought off criticism for awarding a key WA toursim contract to an eastern states company. Management of the Western Australian Visitor Centre will be handed to Queensland company The Tourism Group next month, after a tender process conducted by Tourism WA found the organisation was most suited to the job. The Western Australian Visitor Centre. Credit:Hello Perth In advertising the tender, Tourism WA said it was seeking a "resourced entity" to provide visitor information services, retail sales and booking services through the WAVC. Applications were initially set to close on April 24 but were extended to May 3, but it is unclear why the date was extended. It takes about 16 hours to drive the 1500 kilometres from Perth to the Shire of Ashburton in Western Australia's North West. The local government of about 13,000 people is home to the Karijini National Park, the Hamersley Range and the picturesque but eerily named Mt Nameless. It is also where workers collect the biggest median income in the country. Wage earners in the Shire of Ashburton, which is home to Karijini National Park (pictured), have the highest median income in Australia. Credit:Elly Lukale Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics put the North West shire, which is about half the size of Victoria, on top of a list of high income earning local governments. A livestock exporter's voluntary suspension of trade to the Middle East during its summer months is a response to "over the top" new regulations that make it unprofitable, an industry leader says. Shocking footage emerged in April showing Australian sheep dying in horrific conditions on a ship. Livestock Shipping Services is focusing on South America for the moment while it reviews its Australian sheep export business in light of the new rules, which followed the Awassi Express scandal and slashed stocking densities by 28 per cent. Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia president Tony Seabrook said the rules were onerous enough to be considered a de facto ban of the northern hemisphere summer trade. "The regulations that have been put in place are so over the top and the diminution in the stocking rates on board have reached the point now where there's stacks of room in the pens but the shipping company can't run it at a profit," he told 6PR on Wednesday. Average workers are being cut out of the welfare pie, losing 17 per cent in government benefits on top of their incomes since 2010, according to new figures that are likely to bolster arguments for urgent income tax relief for middle-Australia. Bureau of Statistics data released on Wednesday show the majority of taxpayers with average incomes have had their government benefit boost reduced from $91 a week to $76 a week since 2010, while the proportion of government benefits flowing to the poorest and wealthiest 20 per cent has remained the same. The new figures come as the Turnbull government and Labor opposition sharpen their arguments ahead of a looming federal election by targeting middle-income voters with the competing taxation philosophies of "aspiration" and "fairness". Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten during Question Time Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The parties have been unable to reach a compromise over the government's $144 billion 10-year-income tax cut package, leaving the fate of the legislation with One Nation. Federal government payments to private schools would be determined by the income tax paid by parents at that school under a new funding model set to disadvantage some elite institutions but reward others. The National School Resourcing Board will recommend using powerful data-matching tools to link parents' tax returns with their children's school enrolment, according to sources familiar with briefings delivered to school sectors on Wednesday. The shake-up would have flow-on effects on the fees paid by parents at private schools of all stripes. Funding shake-up: Loreto Mandeville Hall, an independent Catholic girls' school in Melbourne's Toorak. Credit:Cathryn Tremain The overhaul would deliver a win for the Catholic sector, which believes the status quo is unfair, and potentially patch the fractious relationship it has had with Education Minister Simon Birmingham. When a child learns a musical instrument, a brand new world of possibilities opens up to them. Yes, they learn how to read and play music, but they also develop a special set of skills that enables them to not only play in their school band or orchestra - but to work in any group setting. They learn how to work with and listen to others, to co-operate to achieve a common goal, and to take responsibility for their contribution to that goal. Three-year-old violinists perform in a concert. Credit:AP Above all of this is the opportunity to learn how to enjoy and relish the sound of the music and to learn to love the making and playing of music for its own sake. To learn to love what we do is surely one of the greatest things a human being can experience. So the NSW government decision to contribute $100 towards lessons in music and other arts disciplines for every school-aged child in the state is welcome, in that it recognises music lessons cost money and that learning a musical instrument is a valuable activity for a child. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has not ruled out public service job cuts after the state government ordered its departments to find $1.6 billion in savings over the next four years. But she defended the decision to level further budget cuts on the public sector, arguing the government had bolstered frontline public service staff to record levels unmatched by other states. "Our strong budget position has meant we have literally employed thousands and thousands of extra frontline public servants where our communities need them, Ms Berejiklian said. No other governments have employed as many frontline workers as we have in [this] short amount of time." Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size The beachside restaurants and footpaths in front of neon-lit casinos heave with Chinese tourists . Credit:Kate Geraghty and construction workers in Sihanoukville. . Credit:Kate Geraghty But it was in the remote Botum Sakor National Park that I saw the emotional toll of Chinese investment in Cambodia. We drove deep into pristine jungle along a dirt road towards Prek Smach Poy Japon village, passing undetected through the roadblocks that normally stop anyone from entering this area. Advertisement It was here that I spent a day with four families who refused to leave their homes inside a small village that had been fenced in by the Chinese company UDG, which wants to build a resort. . Credit:Kate Geraghty The villagers still pray in their Buddhist temple, although there is no longer a monk there. . Credit:Kate Geraghty Among them was Ngin Mon, a widow (below), who I photographed in her village home beside a portrait of her late husband. . Credit:Kate Geraghty There was also Sengheang Seh (below) who is smiling while her husband, Phon Sophia, fixes a motorbike in their beach-front home. Advertisement . Credit:Kate Geraghty And there was Ouk Savorn and his daughter Chat Srey (below) . Credit:Kate Geraghty and their fellow villagers Phon Sok Leong (left) and Chean Kreap (right). . Credit:Kate Geraghty The stress was taking its toll as the families explained how they faced intimidation from authorities and lived in perpetual fear that their homes would be bulldozed at any moment. They are refusing to move to the resettlement site where the rest of the village has been relocated until fair and just compensation is paid. They have little means to afford legal representation let alone to pay for their daily needs but they take comfort in their support of one another. Advertisement For hours we sat in their homes and walked amongst the abandoned school, temple and fields as the villagers talked about their love for this land where the sounds of children playing and temple bells once filled the air. We filmed them so they could tell their stories. Meanwhile, near the Dara Sakor Resort hotel in the national park, I saw a man enjoying a sunset dip. The resort is owned by the Tianjin-based Union Development Group from northern China, which plans a city-sized gambling centre on 340-square kilometres. Loading The company has been granted a 99-year lease that includes a 99-kilometre stretch of coastline in the park. . Credit:Kate Geraghty Advertisement East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta ordered security forces to stop hunting for an army renegade accused of involvement in last year's wave of violence. Alfredo Reinado escaped last August along with 50 other inmates from a prison where he was being held on charges of involvement in last year's violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes earlier that year. "I have heard all parties, including the United Nations, and today I decide the police and military operation to capture Alfredo Reinado and his members should be stopped today," Ramos-Horta told reporters. He said the prosecutor-general should discuss with Reinado terms for his surrender and weapons handover under the mediation of the Catholic church. "I believe in justice for all," he said. London: Criminal charges could be brought following "truly shocking" revelations that more than 450 people had their lives shortened after being prescribed powerful painkillers at a British hospital. A damning report found an additional 200 patients were "probably" similarly administered with opioids between 1989 and 2000 at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital in England, without medical justification. Ann Reeves, daughter of Elsie Devine who died at Gosport War Memorial Hospital, stands with families of other victims outside Portsmouth Cathedral, south England. Credit:PA British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Gosport Independent Panel had identified a "catalogue of failings" by the authorities and apologised to the families who lost loved ones. Relatives of elderly patients who died at the hospital branded the findings "chilling" and called for criminal prosecutions to be brought. Toronto: The Canadian Senate has passed a government's bill to legalise cannabis, making the country soon to be the second in the world to make pot legal nationwide. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government had hoped to make marijuana legal to buy by July 1, but the government has said provincial and territorial governments will need eight to 12 weeks following Senate passage and royal assent to prepare for retail sales. Trudeau's government is expected to decide a date that would legalise sales in early or mid-September. Cannabis plants grow in a greenhouse at the 7Acres facility in Tiverton, Ontario, Canada. Credit:Bloomberg "It's been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate," Trudeau tweeted. Canada is following the lead of Uruguay in allowing a nationwide, legal marijuana market, although each Canadian province is working up its own rules for pot sales. The federal government and the provinces also still need to publish regulations that will govern the cannabis trade. Vatican City: Pope Francis has criticised the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant families at the Mexican border, saying populism is not the answer to the world's immigration problems. Speaking to Reuters, the Pope said he supported recent statements by US Catholic bishops who called the separation of children from their parents "contrary to our Catholic values" and "immoral". "It's not easy, but populism is not the solution," Francis said on Sunday night. In a rare, wide-ranging interview, the Pope said he was optimistic about talks that may lead to a historic agreement over the appointment of bishops in China, and said he may accept more bishops' resignations over a sexual abuse scandal in Chile. The initial passing rate for St.maarten Academy P.S.V.E is 49% which is the lowest it has ever been in the history of the school existence. During Mrs. Duncan tenure, the average passing rates were between 80 - 89%. Base on the chart in the attachment, 33 persons will be doing their resit this week and hopefully that will increase the initial passing rate. 77 persons completed the exams and 38 persons passed the exam out right. Which means 39 students has to do over the exam or failed out right. Thank God this ETE system allows multiple resits. My son passed his exam but his two other friends did not . Others has to do over the resit which can be a lot harder according to what I have heard. Teachers and students has been complaining about Lavern Nelson leadership style who seem to be tormenting certain teachers on staff if they openly disagree with her. Under her leadership, 3 persons will be losing their jobs after direct conflict with her. Teachers are given letters if they are 1 min late according to my friend who works their as a teacher. She has been treating some teachers as a child while manipulating others to get what she wants. She is known to be a compulsive liar and some teachers demands another persons to accompany them when meeting her in the office. Unfortunately, Mrs.Nelson spent more time trying to control and torment teachers who has already been producing great passing results for many years. As a concern parent, my child has been denied his basic rights to eat and to use the bathroom in the past. The security guard Chris goes around yelling and pushing the students around while he is never disciplined for his action according to my knowledge. He works very close with Mrs.Nelson spying on teachers. They are both from Guyana and guess his loyalty is to her. The school has been in the news recently due to the problem teachers has been facing with the Principal. Many teachers complained in the past that the new Principal was positioned there to harass and torment certain teachers by the school board . Mrs. Duncan refused to do the dirty work of the board now this New Principal is a direct extension of the board. The school board has dipped in certain teachers salary without proper communication which has cause some hardship for some. The question remains, where is that money going? Does it go back to the government account or does the school board uses it for their own personal uses? A couple of months ago, the principal allowed her Vice Principal to lock a student against her will with 2 male persons, while they aggressively interrogate the student who was telling the truth about a situation in efforts to force the child to change her story. Unfortunately, according to the female student, their were no legal representation for the student during that process. The students themselves are under duress and stressed by the principal as well. Students aren't allowed to eat and go to the bathroom when ever they request to. Teachers would send the students when ever they asked but the principal and security send them back to the class. There was a point in time when the principal actually locked the bathrooms. But it doesn't happen any more according to the school children but who knows. We have watch students cry or through a fit because they are being denied their basic rights for food or the use of the bathroom . Surprisingly, the teachers do not want her gone from the school however they do not want to work under her type of leadership. They do care about her well-being and did wish she had had shown the same compassion for others under her leadership. This same principal apologized last year for the manner in which she treated some teachers and asked for another chance to do better but this year she actually got worse according to some staff members. Some teachers has lost the zeal and commitment for teaching at the organization because of this principal and the board. They are tired and hurt and are not willing to go the extra miles as before. But as the chairman of the board Mr. Duncan clearly stated last week, they (school board) run the school and not the teachers. To date, the school board has NOT met with the teachers since the first letter. As a result, you now have a demotivated teaching staff and students on campus. The numbers do not lie! Concern PTA Parent. PHILIPSBURG:--- Fantasies Love-making poems by Fabian Adekunle Badejo is now a recommended summer reading book in the USA, said Jacqueline Sample of House of Nehesi Publishers (HNP), the books publisher. Small Press Distributors (SPD) picked the book of adult love poems in June for its newest SPD Recommends list of 20 titles at SPDbooks.org goo.gl/yECTKZ. SPD, based in California, is a major distributor for indie publishers in the USA. The newest book by Badejo, a well-known St. Martin writer, has been reviewed as, A grown-up literary confection that does what verse written by men seems to seldom do these days, by author/journalist Sharon Leach of the Jamaica Observer newspaper. At home, Fantasies has also been exciting the imagination. The book had to be re-stocked at Van Dorp bookstore in less than two weeks after its launch before an audience of over 300 people at St. Martin Book Fairs opening ceremony, June 1, said Sample. Sample said that, Some people are still surprised that Mr. Badejo, a mostly serious-topic author, would write erotic poems with names like Strip, The First Kiss, Beauty & the Priest, Lick Me, Mating Sounds, Girl Talk, and Bragging Rights. Guadeloupean novelist Doris Dumabin is probably more to the point when she said that in Fantasies our excitement climbs to its paroxysm. Perhaps with an inkling that the collection would travel soon after being published, Aruban poet Rosabelle Illes said, Fantasies is A sensual odyssey. Badejo communicates with the intensity only found in infatuation and a truth only discovered through relentless devotion. The poems in Fantasies also celebrate male strength by exploring in all its big-hearted glory, ... its vulnerability, honesty ... and, yes, avid beauty, said Leach. Fantasies is available at Van Dorp, Arnias bookstore, and SPD goo.gl/2KgGuj. GENEVA (ILO News:--- The International Labour Organization (ILO) is to launch its new report, Care work and care jobs for the future of work, on Thursday, 28 June at 20:00 GMT. It provides an estimates of the necessary investment needed to avoid a looming global care crisis as well as new figures on the number of people in need of care, including children and older persons. It also looks at the number of jobs that could be created. The report includes policy recommendations as well as a wide range of global and regional statistics and analysis, including on unpaid care work and the gender imbalance in care work. Embargoed electronic copies of the report and associated media material will be made available to journalists upon request, starting on the morning of Thursday, 28 June in the morning, by contacting This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . For UNOG accredited correspondents: A press briefing by Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILOs WORKQUALITY Department and Shauna Olney, Chief of the ILO Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch (GED), will be held, under embargo, on Thursday, 28 June at 10:00 a.m. in press room 1 at the Palais des Nations. Embargoed documents will be sent to them automatically as soon as they become available. The report and all associated material and information are under strict embargo until 20.00 GMT (22:00 Geneva time) on Thursday, 28 June. Interviews by print, web or broadcast media can be scheduled via the ILO Department of Communication: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , +4122/799-7912. Video coverage of the press conference is available, upon request immediately following the event. The ILO TV studio and ISDN line can be booked for broadcasters wishing to interview the authors by contacting the Department of Communication/Radio and TV Unit on +4122/799-7935 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. PHILIPSBURG:--- On Saturday the 9th of June, the Nature Foundation organized a very successful Shark Day for children at Buccaneer Beach Bar, which was attended by about 100 kids. The kids had great fun and learned everything about sharks through games, quizzes and activities. Kids could even be a real scientist by learning everything about shark research and tagging. We have over 400 different shark species in our oceans; you can find sharks in the size of 6 inch up to 40 feet. They are in our ocean for more than 400 million years, reasons enough to protect these species and learn about them! Kids attending the event learned all these facts about sharks, the media often likes to portray sharks as killing machines, however the facts shows us completely the opposite. Occasionally shark bites do happen, however no unprovoked attack has been ever recorded on St. Maarten. It is more likely that you get killed by a coconut falling on your head than by a shark. It is safe to swim and dive with sharks; it is time to change their image stated Nature Foundations Project Office Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern. During the event 23 kids attended the special Shark and Art Workshop from Carla Templeton and made beautiful art on specialized tiles, creating the opportunity for the kids to work on their art skills while considering sharks. Environmental Protection in the Caribbean was there as well to teach the kids about mangroves and their importance in protecting our coastlines and fish stocks. It looks like Shark Day is getting more popular every year, however this year is the last year of funding through the Save our Sharks project. We hope we are able to find a way to continue funding for this great event, as it is getting very famous on St Maarten says Nature Foundations Project Office Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern. Thanks to all the volunteers and Buccaneer Beach Bar for making this event happening! St Maarten Shark Week is part of the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance Save our Sharks project funded by the Dutch National Postcode Lottery. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Glorification of Murder, Martyrdom and Child Soldiers in Turkey Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz recently announced that the government was shutting down a Turkish nationalist mosque in Vienna and dissolving a group called the Arab Religious Community that runs six mosques, according to the Associated Press. "Parallel societies, political Islam and tendencies toward radicalization have no place in our country," Kurz told reporters. "The move comes after images appeared on Twitter in April of children in a Turkish-backed mosque playing dead and reenacting the World War I battle of Gallipoli (in which an allied invasion of Ottoman Turkey was defeated). Their "corpses" were then covered in Turkish flags. The mosques association called the event 'highly regrettable,'" according to the CBN News. These decisions by the Austrian government also follow its 2015 "Islam Law", which bans foreign funding of religious groups and introduces a duty for Muslim organizations to have "a positive fundamental view towards [Austrian] state and society". The 2015 "Islam Law" of Austria, which Erdogan was protesting, states that "The freedom of religion is secured in the Austrian Constitution -- individually, collectively and cooperatively". This freedom should not be allowed to be exploited by those who incite hate or violence for any group. European governments should be alert and take all measures available to monitor mosques -- their sermons and activities -- and bring to account the imams who attempt to indoctrinate Muslims in teachings that imperil the safety and liberty of others. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the Austrian government that "These measures taken by the Austrian chancellor are, I fear, leading the world towards a war between the cross and the crescent," he said, referring to Christianity and Islam. "You do this and we sit idle? It means we will take some steps too." He added that the "western world should get their act together." Austria is not the first European government taking precautions against Islamic radicalization. In 2016, the Washington Post reported: After three major terrorist attacks in the last year and a half, public outrage has forced the French government to respond... ...Prime Minister Manuel Valls called for an outright ban on the foreign funding of mosques in France "for a period to be determined." Days later, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced that, in fact, more concrete measures had already been taken: Since December 2015, he said, 20 Salafist mosques were shut down altogether. "There is no place in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques," Cazeneuve said. Children reenacting the WW1 and playing dead at a place of worship might be considered out of ordinary for the 21century Austria and other EU countries, yet the public use of "child soldiers" in military costumes and with "toy guns" is extremely widespread in Turkey. At a private kindergarten in the city of Kirikkale, for example, children between the ages of 3 and 6 were also made to put on military costumes and take up "toy arms" to commemorate the 97anniversary of the battle of Gallipoli in 2012. According to news reports, "the martyred students were covered with Turkish flags." Such commemorations that normalize and even glorify killing are officially organized in Turkey. Events celebrating "the liberation from enemy forces" of every city and town across Turkey are held annually. The "enemies" are Western powers such as Britain, France, Russia and Greece as well as the Christian peoples of Turkey, who are portrayed as "criminal traitors", including Armenians, Anatolian Greeks and others. In many of these events, stage plays are performed by locals including children who "wipe out the enemy from the homeland and sacrifice their own lives" during and after the WW1. In 2011, for instance, during the ceremony of the liberation of the city of Bayburt, children in military costumes and with guns were put on stage. The "martyred" ones were -- as usual - covered in Turkish flags. There are countless examples. [1] The celebrations are not just about the glorification of guns and killing for national or religious purposes. The events are also marked by historic revisionism in which the victims of the 1914-1923 Christian genocide are blamed for their own extermination. "The Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted a genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks," by contrast, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) announced in 2007. Turkish historiography asserts that Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks were "dealt with" by Turks for their "criminal and treacherous" activities such as their political cooperation with other countries and the desire of these groups to establish an independent state of their own. On January 5, 2018, for instance, celebrated as the day the city of Adana was "liberated from enemies", the city's mayor, H Panel of 15 NASA astronauts who are traveling with Viking Orion as Anna Fisher's guests. Lynn Sherr moderated the panel. MONTE CARLO, Monaco NASA astronaut Drew Feustel called the Viking Orion cruise ship Saturday (June 16) to speak with his wife, son and passengers on board, marking the first time that the International Space Station has contacted a nonmilitary vessel. A panel of 15 NASA astronauts gathered in the Star Theater on Viking Orion to share their favorite experiences in space and talk about what's next for space travel. Just as the panel got started, a surprise phone call came in from the orbiting lab. "I hope that you're having a good time I wish I could be there," Feustel said. "Had a great pass over Monaco and the French Riviera today about noon." [Expedition 56: Awesome Space Station Mission Photos] Feustel arrived at the space station on March 23, joining Expedition 55 for a five-month stay. He and astronaut Ricky Arnold just completed a spacewalk on June 14, during which they installed new brackets and high-definition cameras outside the station's Harmony module. Feustel is scheduled to return to Earth on Soyuz MS-08 in August. "We really miss you here," Anna Fisher, retired NASA astronaut, who was named "godmother" of Viking Orion, said to Feustel on the phone. "I know that you really want to be here, really badly you're in the only place that perhaps is better we really appreciate all the work that you're doing." Feustel's wife, Indira Feustel, and son, Aiden Feustel, who were also traveling with Viking, had the chance to say hello when the call came in to the ship. This was a particularly unique opportunity for the Feustel family. For many of the panelists, calling home was not an option when they were working on either the space shuttle or the space station. Fisher flew as a mission specialist on the second flight of the space shuttle Discovery, STS-51A, in November 1984, only a few months after she delivered her oldest daughter. "Back in those days, all you had was the air to ground, and of course you weren't going to have any kind of private conversations," Fisher said. "I'm really jealous of all the wonderful things that people on the space station now get to do." Following the phone call, the panel members shared their personal experiences in space and where they see the space program going next. "I feel like I was blessed to have [had] that experience. For me, it really [comes] down to three things when I reflect on my time in space," said Nicole Stott, a veteran NASA astronaut who participated in missions on both the space shuttle and International Space Station. "The three things that I think about every day are we live on a planet, we're all Earthlings and the only border that matters is that thin blue line that blankets us all." Dominic Antonelli, director of advanced programs for the commercial civil space line of business for Lockheed Martin Space, reflected similarly on his time as pilot of the space shuttle. He specifically noted the difference between "knowing" that we live on Earth and "feeling" like we are a part of the planet. "You really need to feel this, instead of just think about it," Antonelli said. "Until you transition to feeling like you're from Earth, we won't make this great transformation that I believe is right on the edge for humans I expect us to go accomplish great things." In many ways, space travel has benefited human life on Earth, including medical and educational advancements, retired NASA astronaut Charlie Walker said. "Extension of the human presence through human activity in space is absolutely critical," Walker added. This includes going back to the moon, the Orion spacecraft and traveling to Mars and beyond, the panelists said. As the panel session came to a close, a young girl in the audience asked, "What's beyond the space?" Recognizing all that still remains unknown in the universe, Walker simply answered, "Let's go find out." The panel, called "Explorations in Space: A Conversation," included astronauts Antonelli, Jean-Francois Clervoy, John Fabian, Fisher, Rick Hauck, Jay Honeycutt, Richard Linnehan, Jon McBride, Michael McCulley, Barbara Morgan, Paolo Nespoli, Brewster Shaw, Sherwood Spring, Scott, and Walker. Editor's note: Samantha Mathewson joined this space cruise on an invitation from Viking as part of an unpaid media preview event for Viking Orion. Read more about her journey here. Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. President Donald Trump's call this week that to create a sixth branch of the U.S. military which he called the "Space Force" has reopened a wider debate about whether such a move is necessary to better manage military space activities. While the idea of a separate, space-focused military branch is not new, Trump's surprise announcement caused a buzz on social media and news outlets. "When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space," Trump said in a speech before a meeting of the National Space Council at the White House Monday (June 18). "I'm hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. That's a big statement. "We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force separate but equal," he continued. "It is going to be something. So important." Trump then directed a comment at the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford. "Gen. Dunford, if you would carry that assignment out, I would be very greatly honored, also." [Military Space - Spacecraft, Weapons and Tech] Trump's remarks follow decades of discussion on a separate space branch, including a recent 2017 attempt to create a new U.S. Space Corps. At the time, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee drafted legislation for the new corps in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. While the U.S. secretary of the Air Force was supposed to oversee this new branch, the U.S. Space Corps would have had its own seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Senior military officials did not universally approve the proposal, and it was ultimately withdrawn. But some space experts say Trump's announcement may at least spur more discussion about how to best manage space activities. President Donald Trump wants a new Space Force branch of the U.S. military, but it reopens an old argument about military uses in space. Here, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds fly over NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida with retired NASA astronaut and Air Force Col. Buzz Aldrin. (Image credit: U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Christopher Boitz) The United States has worried for many years about the security of its satellites and how to best protect them, said Barry Strauss, a military and naval historian who is a humanistic studies professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He told Space.com that it would be good to have a public debate about what to do. "It's going to be very controversial," he said. "The logistical questions are controversial; the funding questions are controversial. Whenever you start a new department of anything, it's controversial. Our resources are limited, so they [new resources] have to come from somewhere else. But as you know, it's not as though the president can snap his fingers and make this happen. It's something that Congress will have to debate and discuss." But it's hard to say how a Space Force would change things, because the U.S. Air Force already oversees the military's space asset procurement budget with participation from the other military branches, pointed out Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Also, there are concerns about how to protect satellites without breaking international treaties and, more pressingly, generating more space debris by firing offensive weapons at satellites. "Why do we need a Space Force? What is a Space Force going to do which isn't currently being done by the Air Force?" she told Space.com. Trump's idea to "dominate" space also raises questions, she said, because in military terms ,"dominate" generally means to completely control a limited geography for a limited period of time. "How do you dominate space?" she asked. "How do you have control of everything indefinitely?" Decades of military work The United States' military activity in space dates back to the beginning of the Space Age, when the Corona reconnaissance satellite launched in 1959 under President Dwight Eisenhower's administration. In the 1960s, there were military astronauts who first participated in the Dyna-Soar program and then the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, or MOL (both of which were ultimately canceled, with the MOL never reaching orbit). The space shuttle flew military missions in the 1980s and early 1990s. And the past few decades have seen numerous space military programs: reconnaissance satellites, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agencyprograms and activities by the National Reconnaissance Office, to mention a few. The Air Force is the procurement lead on space activities, regardless of the military branch in which the program originates. [The Most Destructive Space Weapons Concepts] The idea of a separate Space Force goes all the way back to Eisenhower, said John Logsdon, a professor emeritus of political science and international affairs at The George Washington University specializing in space exploration. After the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957, the United States debated its response. There was concern at the time that Soviet rocket prowess in space could easily be redirected to intercontinental missiles targeting the United States. "President Eisenhower's first impulse was to put all space activity into the Department of Defense [DoD], and the scientific community would tell DoD what to do when space science was concerned," Logsdon said. "He was talked out of that by his brand-new science adviser, James Killian, and by his vice president, Richard Nixon, who made the argument that the United States would be better off having a separate civilian agency openly engaged in international cooperation that it could talk about on the one hand, while it went about classified military space activity on the other hand." President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defense to form a Space Force in remarks ahead of a National Space Council meeting at the White House on June 18, 2018. (Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA) Some in the national security committee were not happy with that decision, particularly the Air Force, Logsdon continued. When President John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960, some military observers thought that he would revisit the idea and approve a separate military space branch. Kennedy did consider the idea but ultimately rejected it.[Presidential Visions for Space: From Ike to Trump] "He and the people close to him were early arms controllers. They did not want to see the potential for armed conflict spread to this domain of activity," Logsdon said. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 which the Kennedy administration helped work on includes language advocating for a peaceful use of space and forbidding weapons in outer space or on celestial bodies, Logsdon said. But Kennedy's administration had a subtle take on that prohibition. It was of the opinion that weapons for defensive capabilities only (such as protecting a satellite from anti-satellite missiles) would meet the requirements of the treaty something that some other nations didn't agree with, Logsdon said. An artist's illustration of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, a clandestine U.S. military space station project in the 1960s that was declassified in 2015. (Image credit: National Reconnaissance Office) The idea of more military space control reoccurs in U.S. space policy, such as in the failed "Star Wars" program of the 1980s, which included some anti-satellite components. One theme of these various attempts, Logsdon said, is worry (whether founded or not) about Air Force procurement control the belief that space priorities come second in a military branch dominated by pilots who like buying airplanes. But he warned that a new Space Force would have its own problems, since jurisdictional battles over which military branch controls what would likely erupt. "What would be incorporated in a new Space Force is a question with both substantive and bureaucratic implications of the first order," he said. Johnson-Freese added that, in the decades of debate over a separate space branch, the discussion never got too far. That was because of bureaucratic objections and concerns about the time and money it would take to establish a new branch. Although Trump tasked the Joint Chiefs with making a report, it is difficult to foresee how his proposal will go much further, Johnson-Freese said. "We already spend more [in military space] than the other major spacefaring countries put together all of them," she said. "We already have more satellites in space than anybody else. Our technology is ahead. We certainly need to stay ahead, but do we need a new bureaucracy to stay ahead technologically? This [idea] is not new, and it's been resisted for many legitimate reasons." Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. NASA has updated its plans to deflect potentially hazardous Earth-bound asteroids and none of them involve Bruce Willis. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a new report today (June 20) titled the "National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan." The 18-page document outlines the steps that NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will take over the next 10 years to both prevent dangerous asteroids from striking Earth and prepare the country for the potential consequences of such an event. Officials with NASA, FEMA and the White House discussed the new asteroid-mitigation strategies in a teleconference with the media today. "An asteroid impact is one of the possible scenarios that we must be prepared for," Leviticus Lewis, chief of FEMA's National Response Coordination Branch, told reporters during the teleconference, adding that a catastrophic asteroid strike is "a low-probability but high-consequence event" for which "some degree of preparedness is necessary." [Related: How Trump's Space Force Would Help Protect Earth from Future Asteroid Threats] "This plan is an outline not only to enhance the hunt for hazardous asteroids, but also to better predict their chances of being an impact threat well into the future and the potential effects that it could have on Earth," NASA's planetary defense officer, Lindley Johnson, said during the teleconference. Johnson added that the plan will help NASA "step up our efforts to demonstrate possible asteroid deflection and other mitigation techniques, and to better formalize across the U.S. government the processes and protocols for dissemination of the best information available so that timely decisions can be made." Protecting Earth from incoming asteroids will be a huge job, but don't expect astronauts to do it, NASA said. "That's something relegated to the movies it makes a good movie, but we do not see in our studies any technique that would require the involvement of astronauts," Johnson said, adding that NASA's proposed asteroid-deflection techniques "would all be done by robotic spacecraft." [7 Awesome Sci-Fi Movies Where Asteroids Threaten Earth] Five ways to prepare for asteroids Five major objectives are detailed in the new plan. In the first, NASA is directed to lead a new effort to enhance the nation's capabilities for detecting, tracking and characterizing near-Earth asteroids to "reduce current levels of uncertainty and aid in more accurate modeling and more effective decision-making," the document states. NASA already supports several ground-based observatories that scan the skies for asteroids, like the Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson, Arizona; the Pan-STARRS1 telescope, in Maui; and the NEOWISE space telescope. While the new report doesn't ask NASA scientists to start planning for additional missions, it does request that the agency "identify opportunities in existing and planned telescope programs to improve detection and tracking by enhancing the volume and quality of current data streams." The second goal listed in the document discusses the improvement of "modeling, prediction and information integration" across U.S. agencies to help predict the probability that an asteroid will hit Earth and determine exactly when and where an incoming asteroid could strike. Emergency-management teams like FEMA would use this information to determine the best course of action when preparing for an asteroid strike and dealing with the consequences after an impact occurs. In the third objective, NASA is asked to come up with new ways to deflect an asteroid heading toward Earth. This involves developing new technologies for "rapid-response NEO [near-Earth object] reconnaissance missions," in which a spacecraft could launch toward an Earth-bound asteroid and somehow change the space rock's course so that it no longer posed a threat. NASA had plans to attempt this with the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) in 2021, but the Trump administration scrapped that mission in 2017. However, ARM was not the only asteroid-deflecting mission NASA had up its sleeve. The agency's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), expected to launch in 2021, will be "our first technology demonstration of the kinetic impact technique to deflect an asteroid," Johnson said, and it will encounter the asteroid system Didymos in 2022. [To Nuke an Asteroid, How Powerful a Bomb Do You Need?] The focus of the fourth goal outlined in the document is to increase international cooperation to better prepare the rest of the world for the possibility of an asteroid strike under the leadership of the United States. "This kind of cooperation is really important," said Aaron Miles, a senior policy adviser with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "It's a global hazard that we all face together, and the best way to approach and address that hazard is cooperatively." To help the rest of the world prepare for an asteroid strike, NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office is working with the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to "look at what should be the international response to the NEO hazard," Johnson said. This committee created the International Asteroid Warning Network a group of asteroid-tracking astronomers and observatories around the world to help facilitate the sharing of observations and other useful data about NEOs. This graphic depicts the spatial extent of the damage if an asteroid measuring roughly 100 feet (30 meters) wide were to hit New York City. An asteroid that size famously exploded over Siberia on June 30, 1908. Known as the Tunguska event, this was the largest asteroid impact in recorded history. (Image credit: National Science & Technology Council) In the fifth and last objective in the document, the U.S. government is asked to come up with a plan that would go into effect if a large asteroid were found to be hurtling toward Earth or if one were to crash into our planet with little to no warning. NASA and FEMA have been collaborating on emergency procedures for asteroid impacts since 2010, and the new report calls for the agencies to "strengthen and routinely exercise NEO impact emergency procedures and action protocols." FEMA's role during an asteroid emergency would involve notifying everyone who might be affected ideally before the impact occurs using the same emergency-alert system already in place for notifying the public about weather emergencies and Amber Alerts. As with any other natural disaster in the U.S., FEMA would provide emergency responders and help with the recovery process. Potentially hazardous asteroids Asteroid-hunting astronomers have already found more than 8,000 near-Earth objects measuring at least 460 feet (140 meters) across large enough to wipe out an entire state if one were to hit the U.S. But asteroids that size make up only one-third of the estimated population of near-Earth asteroids. Smaller asteroid impacts may be less catastrophic, but they can still cause significant damage. The space rock that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013 was only 62 feet (19 m) wide, and it injured more than 1,200 people while damaging thousands of buildings as far as 58 miles (93 kilometers) away from the site of impact. NASA is starting to look for more of those smaller asteroids, now that most of the larger ones have already been cataloged. This graph shows the total number of near-Earth asteroids discovered as of April 8, 2018. (Image credit: Alan Chamberlin/NASA/JPL/Caltech) "NASA and its partners have identified more than 95 percent of all asteroids that are large enough to cause a global catastrophe, and none of those found poses a threat within the century," Miles said during the teleconference. "Effective emergency-response procedures can save lives, and unlike most natural disasters, asteroid impacts are preventable," he added. "Implementing the National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan will greatly increase our nation's readiness to effectively respond, should a new, potential asteroid impact be detected," Johnson said. The National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan is available to download as a PDF here. Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft took these images of the asteroid Ryugu on June 17-18, 2018, during the probe's approach to the rocky body. The large, visible crater is about 650 feet (200 meters) across. The asteroid rotates perpendicular to its orbit and takes 7.5 hours to spin all the way around. (These images have been smoothed, and the light and dark regions are emphasized.) As Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft approaches the asteroid Ryugu, the probe has grabbed its best photos yet of the rocky body and they'll only get better. The spacecraft, which launched in 2014, is set to arrive at the 3,000-foot-wide (900 meters) asteroid on or around June 27. After arriving, the probe will drop three rovers and a lander onto the space rock's surface to explore and grab samples. The newest asteroid views reveal that Ryugu is a world of dramatic angles, covered with dents and craters, rotating in the opposite direction that Earth and the sun are as the object orbits. According to the newest data, the asteroid rotates fully around, perpendicular to its orbit, every 7.5 hours. [Photos: Japan's Hayabusa2 Asteroid Mission in Pictures] A rotating view of Ryugu captured by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft between June 14 and June 15, 2018. (Image credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University of Aizu and AIST) "When I saw these images, I was surprised that Ryugu is very similar in shape to both the destination of the US OSIRIS-REx mission, asteroid Bennu, and also the target of the previously proposed MarcoPolo-R mission by Europe, asteroid 2008 EV5," Makoto Yoshikawa, the mission's manager for the Japanese space agency JAXA, said in a statement on June 19. Bennu and 2008 EV5 are smaller and rotate faster than Ryugu, but they have simple composition, Yoshikawa added. "So, we have both differences and similarities that have combined to produce very similar shapes ... why is that? "So far, the asteroids we have explored have been different in shape [from each other], so Ryugu and Bennu could be the first time two similar-shaped asteroids have been examined," he added. "It will be interesting to clarify exactly what this similarity means scientifically." Raw images taken of the asteroid Ryugu on June 17-18, 2018, when the Hayabusa2 spacecraft traveled from 200 to 150 miles (330 to 240 km) away from the object. (Image credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University of Aizu and AIST) After its arrival, when Hayabusa2 will be just 12.5 miles (20 kilometers) above Ryugu, the probe will drop a small lander and three rovers between September and next July. The spacecraft will also hit the asteroid with an impactor, creating an artificial crater and then descending to collect material from below the surface that this crater reveals. Then, the probe will head back to Earth, arriving near the end of 2020 bearing samples for analysis. But all that work depends on correctly mapping the asteroid now, so scientists can choose the best places to land, the researchers said. "If the axis of rotation for Ryugu is close to the vertical direction in this image, there is a big advantage, as it will be possible to know almost the entire appearance of Ryugu at an early stage after arrival," Yoshikawa said. "This makes the project planning easier. "However, it is also possible that potential landing sites may be limited to the equator of Ryugu," he added. "I hope we can find a suitable place to set down the lander and rovers." Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. A Space Force like the one ordered by President Donald Trump could potentially help defend Earth against future asteroid impact threats. Here, Trump addresses troops at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego on March 13, 2018. If a military Space Force like the one proposed by President Donald Trump becomes a reality, odds are, it would play a role in defending Earth from an incoming asteroid. In a report released today (June 20), NASA and other federal officials unveiled what the United States should do over the next 10 years to safeguard Earth from potential asteroid impacts. That 18-page plan, called the "The National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan," would involve work from agencies across the federal government, White House officials said even, potentially, Trump's proposed Space Force. "One of the things that should be clear from the report is that the responsibility for responding, and preparing response, is spread and shared throughout the U.S. government," Aaron Miles, of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in response to a question about a Space Force's role. "So everybody brings capabilities to the table One of the objectives of this plan is coordinating and leveraging those capabilities where they are across the government." [How to Defend Earth Against Asteroids] While Miles did not mention the Space Force by name, it stands to reason that any national concerted effort to defend Earth from an incoming asteroid would involve at least some military assets in space for asteroid tracking or deflection. And if a Space Force is in service at that time, it's likely to play a role after all, the Air Force already works hard to maintain space situational awareness of objects orbiting Earth. The U.S. currently has three possible methods for deflecting any potentially hazardous asteroid from hitting Earth: A "gravity tractor" that would park a spacecraft near the asteroid and let the gravitational attraction of the two objects nudge the asteroid off course. A "kinetic impactor" that would slam a spacecraft into an asteroid to knock it off course. A nuclear strike aimed at vaporizing the surface of an asteroid, creating jet of material that would push the asteroid off course. All three of those options would require at least a 10-year lead time before a potential asteroid impact, NASA Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson told reporters at the teleconference. And all could be accomplished with robotic spacecraft rather than astronauts. This graphic depicts the spatial extent of the damage if an asteroid measuring roughly 100 feet (30 meters) wide were to hit New York City. An asteroid that size famously exploded over Siberia on June 30, 1908. Known as the Tunguska event, this was the largest asteroid impact in recorded history. (Image credit: National Science & Technology Council) This week, Trump ordered the Department of Defense to form a Space Force as the sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces. (The other branches are the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.) The Space Force, which would have to be approved Congress, would oversee U.S. military operations in space, much of which is currently managed by the Air Force. But while it's likely that a Space Force, if one ever exists, would play a role in the U.S. asteroid-response plan, NASA would also be heavily involved. The space agency's proposed 2019 budget calls for $150 million in funding to support asteroid defense, Johnson said. Those funds in 2019 would support NASA's planned Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a mission that would launch in December 2020 to visit the near-Earth asteroid Didymos (and its moon, nicknamed "Didymoon"). DART would crash into Didymos to test an asteroid-deflection technique called "kinetic impactor," which essentially slams a projectile into an incoming object. And then there are efforts from the international community, because a major asteroid impact would pose a threat to the entire Earth, not just one country. The European Space Agency, for example, has drawn up plans for a companion mission to NASA's DART that would send a probe to the asteroid Didymos to watch as DART hit the space rock. "It's a global hazard that we all face together," Miles said, adding that international collaboration is one of the five major goals of the new action plan. Johnson even suggested that civilians, like amateur astronomers or the B612 Foundation for asteroid awareness, could play a response role. "Planetary defense is a team sport," Johnson said. "We welcome capability wherever it comes." You can download the full National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan here from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Fairfield County is one of the 25 most polluted counties in the country, and the most polluted in the state, according to the American Lung Association's State of the Air 2012 report, released Wednesday. This year's report -- the 13th released by the ALA -- gave failing air quality grades to five of Connecticut's eight counties. Windham County wasn't measured, because there aren't any air quality monitors there. Last year, all of the counties where air quality is measured received failing grades. According to the report, roughly half the state's population, about 2.2 million people, live in a county with failing air quality. Fairfield County is particularly bad, ranking as the 24th most polluted county in the nation (up from 25th last year). "Fairfield County has been a problem for some time," said Michelle Marichal, interim director of health promotion and public policy for the American Lung Association in Connecticut. She attributes the county's poor air quality partly to its proximity to pollution-heavy New York City and to the plentiful traffic on Interstate 95, which runs through the county. The report also deemed the New York-Newark (N.J.)-Bridgeport metro area as the 15th most polluted in the country. State of the Air 2012 uses Environmental Protection Agency data collected from 2008 to 2010 from official monitors for ozone and particle pollution. Ozone, or smog, is a gas formed most often when sunlight reacts with vapors emitted when motor vehicles, factories, power plants and other sources burn fuel. Particle pollution is a cocktail of ash, soot, diesel, exhaust, chemicals, metals and aerosols that can spike dangerously for hours to weeks on end. Fairfield County received an "F" for ozone pollution and an a "C" in particle pollution. However, it did have fewer poor air quality days compared with last year's report (which reviewed EPA data from 2007 to 2009). Between 2008 and 2010, Fairfield County had 35 days when ozone levels were unsafe for sensitive groups, such as the elderly, and four days when ozone levels were unsafe for everyone. Between 2007 and 2009, the county had 43 days where ozone levels were unsafe for the sensitive and seven days where they were unhealthy for everyone. The number of days with high particle pollution also went down. In the period covering this year's report, there were five days when the conditions were unsafe for sensitive groups, compared with six such days in last year's report. Also, Litchfield and Hartford counties, which received failing grades in last year's report, received passing grades. Litchfield jumped two full letter grades for both ozone and particle pollution, earning a C and an A, respectively. New Haven County received an F in ozone pollution (same as in last year's report) and a D in particle pollution (up from an F last year). However, there were fewer poor air quality days in that county than in Fairfield, so it didn't rank as poorly. Nationwide, the report found that air quality was at its cleanest since the organization's annual report began 13 years ago. But there's still a lot of progress to be made, said Janice Nolen, ALA assistant vice president, national policy and advocacy and lead author of the report. "The truth is, cleaner still isn't clean enough," she said during a conference call on Tuesday. According to the report, more than 40 percent of people in the United States live in areas where air pollution continues to threaten their health. Both ozone and particle pollution can trigger serious health problems, Marichal said. "Short-term exposure to poor air quality can cause asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to flare up (in those with these conditions)," she said. "It's also detrimental to kids because their lungs are still developing." ALA recommends that state residents do their part to reduce air pollution by driving less, reducing electricity use and refraining from burning wood. Marichal said residents can protect themselves by not exercising or spending prolonged periods outdoors on poor air quality days, and not exercising near busy roads. acuda@ctpost.com; 203-330-6290; twitter.com/AmandaCuda; http://blog.ctnews.com/whatthehealth/ STAMFORD The owner of land rented by Trader Joes on High Ridge Road successfully petitioned the Planning Board this week to change the citys master-plan map so the grocery store could extend its parking lot into a residential parcel. In a unanimous vote, members approved the change, which calls for a sliver of a vacant homes backyard to become part of the extended parking lot. The proposal, which will net 25 additional spaces for the heavily trafficked grocery store, had been significantly scaled back since it was first put forth this spring. The plan still calls for the demolition of the home, which will be replaced and sold. Residents of Turn of River Road and Talmadge Lane again spoke against the change Tuesday night, saying it still brought commercial activity closer to their homes and sets a precedent that commercial landowners can buy up homes to extend their reach. The plan still calls for demolishing the small home to make room for the lot, although there is more land leftover in this iteration for a new single-family home to take its place. Originally, the proposal sought to cut an additional 5,000 square feet from the backyard of a small white clapboard home adjacent to the lot, and would have changed a portion of the back parking lot of a neighboring strip mall on High Ridge Road to commercial from residential. The first proposal called for 44 more spaces, and less buffering on the lots back edge. Were totally against it, my whole block, said Elena Sclafani, of Talmedge Lane. I moved from Queens, I moved to Connecticut for the country life, she said, adding that if she wanted to be surrounded by commercial bustle she would move back to that New York borough. Land-use consultant Rick Redniss, on behalf of Urstadt Biddle, the Greenwich-based real estate company that owns the land where Trader Joes rents and the strip mall next door, said the new configuration will be better for neighbors than it is now. All this is an enhancement of quality and quantity, Redniss said. Were backing it off from the residential neighborhood and improving the landscaping. The current configuration leads to a traffic nightmare with a bottleneck at the grocery stores entrance, forcing a line to form on busy High Ridge Road, Redniss has said. Planning Board members, echoing residents, said they worried approval could set precedent by telling developers that the board is willing to convert residential land into commercial space. Are we going to open a can of worms in every neighborhood? asked board Chair Theresa Dell. Redniss said the cost to get such a change would likely prevent future occurrences Biddle bought the Turn of River Road for $400,000 and then had to hire consultants, and spend on application fees. Moreover, deed restrictions which were amended to the change to keep the remaining lot as residential set a very high bar, Redniss said. barry.lytton@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2263; @bglytton WASHINGTON President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep immigrant families together at the border in the wake of rippling backlash among lawmakers, the business world, churches and celebrities but that might not be enough for Connecticut lawmakers to sign on to two major House immigration reform bills Thursday. The first bill, the "Border Security Immigration and Reform Act," would provide a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers who won legal status under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump announced cancellation of DACA last year. Under the measure, young immigrants who fit the criteria can apply for a green card after five years living in the United States. They would be considered for a visa based on factors such as education and employment status. It would also provide $25 billion in funding for a border wall between the United States and Mexico a provision that is likely to be a deal-breaker for many Democrats. Another provision would modify Trumps child-separation policy by detaining children and parents in the same place. The second legislation, called the "Goodlatte Bill" after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, fulfills most of Trump's campaign promises. The bill would provide more funding to build a wall and tighten employment measures for immigrants looking for work here. In the middle of the debate, Trump reversed course Wednesday amid mounting anger over border authorities separating children from families under Trumps new zero tolerance policy. Members of Trumps administration defended the policy earlier this week, exacerbating an already tense debate over immigration reform bills in the House that Connecticut lawmakers have repeatedly said they wouldnt help pass. More than 2,300 immigrant families were separated at the U.S.-Mexican border under zero-tolerance, spelled out by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in April. But the executive order signed Wednesday wouldnt substantially change the administrations immigration policy. The Department of Justice will still prosecute families that illegally enter the country. "So we're going to have strong, very strong borders, but we're going to keep the families together, Trump said after signing the executive order. I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated." Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., tweeted a response to the executive order, saying that ending family separation is a welcome and humane step but the administration can go further to address those held in detention centers. Indefinitely imprisoning children&families is still inhumane&ineffective law enforcement, he said in the tweet. High-profile figures, including the presidents daughter Ivanka Trump, former First Lady Laura Bush and Pope Francis have spoken out against immigrant-family separation, with others referring to the policy as child abuse or fostering a humanitarian crisis. Enforcement of the policy potentially violates a 1977 court settlement that limited the time children can spend in such facilities. A subsequent 2016 decision ruled that children cannot be detained for more than 20 days. During the hours leading up to debate about the House bills Thursday, Democratic lawmakers and some moderate Republicans argued that Trump alone can end the policy without Congressional action. But demands to address the policy within the bill dominated talk on Capitol Hill as soundbites and footage of detention centers made headlines and struck a chord on social media. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said the legislation will keep families together during a press conference Wednesday morning. As I said last week, we do not want children taken away from their parents, Ryan said. We can enforce our immigration laws without breaking families apart. The administration says it wants Congress to act, and we are. Trump said Wednesday he would sign either of the two bills now in debate, but Democratic lawmakers said theyre holding their ground in opposition to the legislation despite the presidents executive action. In addition to both bills allocating funds for a border wall, the two would also end the diversity lottery that provides about 50,000 visas to immigrants and lessen the number of immigrant asylum claims. But Democratic lawmakers are still turning away from the House bills, with some giving their support to the Keep Families Together Act in the Senate. The Senate bill, which was introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would outlaw child-family separations except in a case that a child could be trafficked or abused by their parents. In the House, Connecticut lawmakers repeatedly said its unlikely the bills will pass with Democrats standing by the notion that they werent included in negotiations to draft the legislation and that the bills wont effectively address border security. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn, said he still wont support either House bill regardless of what the president does to reverse course on the policy. He said the president knows he had the power to end the policy, but now the GOP can no longer use the children as political leverage in their negotiation strategies. After Trump signed the executive order, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn, said she still hasnt changed her mind about the legislation. The Trump administration still needs to reunite children with their parents a massive bureaucratic hurdle which I have little faith in this administration carrying out in a timely and orderly fashion, DeLauro said. Camila Bortolleto, a DACA recipient and the campaign manager for CT students with a dream, said Trumps order is an empty and clearly panicked response to images and videos of children within cages in detention centers. Our communities have been under the thumb of this administrations white supremacist tactics for too long, and even this is yet another move to flaunt his inflated perception of his own political prowess, she said. Lawmakers in California's State Assembly have weakened a landmark bill aimed at implementing a local version of the Federal Communications Commission's now-defunct net neutrality rules, in a blow to Internet activists who had hoped for stronger measures. Approved by the California Senate last month, the bill sought to impose strict regulations on how broadband providers, such as AT&T and Comcast, may handle Internet content. Key provisions not only banned ISPs from blocking or slowing down websites, but also prohibited the carriers from exempting specific apps and services from wireless data caps for an extra fee, a practice known as zero-rating. The bill as initially proposed, SB 822, could have become the toughest such legislation in the country, with additional provisions that banned providers from charging websites extra fees to reach Internet users. But in a vote Wednesday in a key State Assembly committee, lawmakers led by Chairman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, moved to strip the bill of the additional provisions that went beyond the FCC's old rules. The committee still sought to advance the bill, but the vote drew criticism from Internet activists who accused Santiago of being swayed by broadband industry lobbyists. "The level of corruption we just witnessed literally makes me sick to my stomach," said Evan Greer, a spokeswoman for Fight for the Future, an Internet advocacy group. "The actions of this committee today are an attack not just on net neutrality, but on our democracy." Santiago - who according to campaign finance disclosures has received $22,600 in contributions from AT&T since 2014, and $4,500 from Comcast - didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. AT&T and Comcast didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Internet providers have argued against tougher net neutrality rules, on the grounds that the regulations could discourage investments in network upgrades and prevent ISPs from developing new business models. AT&T has previously urged Congress to write a national net neutrality law that would apply equally to broadband providers and Internet companies alike. Many of its representatives in Washington have called for something similar. Sen. Scott Wiener, who introduced SB 822 in the California Senate earlier this year, said the amendments this week have effectively "eviscerated" his bill. Wiener downplayed the significance of the Internet providers' campaign contributions, saying the committee vote was the result of a simple disagreement among colleagues. "We had a strenuous disagreement here, but to me, it's not about campaign contributions," he said in an interview. "I will say, in general, AT&T and Comcast, they spent a lot of money in California targeting members with Twitter and Facebook ads, doing robocalls to seniors telling them their bills are going to go up, that this bill is going to make your monthly payment go up. They flooded the capitol with lobbyists." Despite the Assembly's changes to the bill, California could still wind up passing net neutrality legislation in some form in the coming months. The bill now heads to an Assembly committee dealing with privacy issues; further changes to the legislation could come at any point between now and the end of the legislative session in August. Should a net neutrality bill be finalized, analysts say, it could invite a court challenge from Internet providers and possibly the FCC, whose current approach to net neutrality tries to ban states from circumventing its policies. At that point, a lawsuit concerning the scope of the FCC's preemption powers would join the numerous other cases pending on net neutrality. More than 20 states have sued the FCC to overturn the agency's repeal of the national net neutrality rules. Meanwhile, opponents of the rules are waiting to hear whether the Supreme Court could take up a case challenging the regulations as they were approved in 2015. In this series, The Way We Work, Entrepreneur Associate Editor Lydia Belanger examines how people foster productivity, focus, collaboration, creativity and culture in the workplace. The entryway to the offices of Zola, a wedding planning and registry company, doubles as the Zola Townhouse. Its an abridged version of a trendy urban living space for newlyweds, complete with exposed brick and plenty of rose gold and copper accessories and appliances, down to the kitchen drawers, which open to reveal utensils Zola sells. The multi-purpose room is part event space, part meeting space and part showroom for an array of products the ecommerce site sells as part of its wedding-registry business. The company, founded in 2013, moved its headquarters to Manhattans Financial District from an office in SoHo as a team of 45 employees last spring. It took just a few months -- and a Series C financing round -- to realize that one floor in the building wouldnt be big enough for the growing company. Since then, the company has expanded to two floors and secured a $100 million Series D round, which it naturally celebrated with a champagne toast. Today, the company has about 110 employees, and by the end of the year, its aiming for 150. Related: Zola Founder Shan-Lyn Ma Shares How to Collaborate and Conquer Your Biggest Challenges Image Credit: Zola Zola carries more than 60,000 products from upwards of 600 brands, including KitchenAid, Cuisinart and Vitamix, though it operates with nearly zero inventory, selling those items to wedding guests (for up to half a million couples to date) as a third-party retailer. Thats why having some of those products on display in the office is crucial to keeping employees engaged (pun intended) with the company they work for day in and day out, given that their view of their work is often on a computer screen, says Emily Forrest Skurnik, senior communications manager at Zola. You might be building an iPhone app, but its so people can register for tangible towels and fine china, Forrest Skurnik says, gesturing around the Townhouse. Its kind of like Zola come to life. Before the Townhouse was in-house, Zola rented an actual townhouse storefront space in SoHo. The cozy furniture now accommodates meetings among employees and between Zolas merchandising team and product vendors. In the busy spring season, between most engagements and most weddings, the company hosts weekly events in the Townhouse. Couples registering with Zola can stop by the Townhouse for everything from wedding dress showcases to paint-your-own china events to bourbon tastings led by glassware experts. Couples can also book Townhouse appointments with Zolas customer service team to learn more about offerings and register for items. Image Credit: Zola Zolas customer service team waxes and wanes in size throughout the wedding season cycle, and seasonal, or flex employees come and go. In hiring customer service representatives, a.k.a. registry advisers, Zola looks for actresses, comedians, cabaret performers and other people with bright, shining personalities, Forrest Skurnik says. Theyre not miserable taking calls all day. They like the engagement; theyre friendly, says Kate Furst, vice president. Its this awesome team of people who can turn not a great experience into a funny phone call. The not-great experience being: registering. A lot of couples are unsure of what to register for, let alone which brands, sizes and colors of products they want. Advisers help talk them through what Furst calls fear-based registering, which involves conundrums like, My grandmother will be furious if I dont get a glass pitcher, and they ask, What do you actually want? Same goes for guests doing the buying: The advisers counsel them through the Zola experience, which may be different than any theyve gone through as a wedding guest in the past. Image Credit: Zola The advisers also dont have to duck into the Townhouse to see examples of products available on Zola, as plenty of the furniture and kitchen appliances are scattered throughout the open office floor plan. The conference room chairs are available on Zola, and each conference room is named after a wedding movie -- 27 Dresses, Father of the Bride and Wedding Crashers, to name a few. Its an opportunity for people to connect with the products that we sell, Furst says. If a bride-to-be on the phone asks a registry advisor about how many cupcakes a cake stand on Zola can hold, that rep might say, Actually, I think we have that in the kitchen, put her on hold and go hunt it down to find out. Related: How the Founder of Zola Grew Her Bottom Line by Giving Away Free Products Image Credit: Zola The cake stand is a prime example because, being a wedding company, the Zola team eats a lot of cake. Every month, the company celebrates all employees birthdays that fall within that month with two big wedding cakes. And because Zola takes all its product photos in-house (at a studio location in another New York neighborhood), whenever cake is involved in a photo shoot, it makes its way to headquarters for devouring. The kitchen is a gathering place not only when cake is available; its large enough to accommodate all-team meetings as well. Image Credit: Zola All in all, Zola puts Zola at its employees fingertips -- from within a Slack instant messenger channel called Wedding Gurus, where been there, done that married employees share recommendations for florists and other services and answer wedding FAQs, to Zolas open layout, where CEO and co-founder Shan-Lyn Ma herself sits to be accessible to her team. Zola is the type of company where anybody can walk up to anybody to ask a question, Forrest Skurnik says. Related: Here's How the Office Space for Wedding-Registry Company Zola Keeps Its Employees Engaged With the Brand Why Companies Are Taking It Upon Themselves to Help Workers Learn New Skills Why This Company That Relies on Automation Talks Openly About the Future of Work Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved S ir Martin Sorrell may have lost his crown as the most powerful man in global advertising but the former WPP chief executive is still the talk of the town at Cannes Lions, the industrys annual festival of creativity. The gossip over glasses of rose isnt just about the recent lurid claims over Sorrells personal conduct, with questions about whether he will turn up for his planned appearances to talk about his new start-up, S4 Capital. His spectacular fall illustrates how the agency business, in particular, is going through rapid and tumultuous change. The big agency groups, led by WPP, have been the lifeblood of Cannes Lions for the past decade or more, turning the festival into a 66 million-a-year business for its British owner, Ascential. But things have suddenly got very tough for agencies as advertisers have taken more control of their marketing and data, and gone directly to the likes of Google and Facebook hitting growth at WPP and its rivals. Agency groups have sent about 25% fewer delegates to the South of France this year. The festival was always likely to be quieter because Frances Publicis Groupe has pulled out for 12 months and spurned the awards on the grounds that Cannes Lions had become too bloated. The organisers have responded by reducing the number of awards and the length of the festival. Even so, Ascential has warned investors that spending by the other agency groups has been lower than expected. Cannes Lions maintains its reset is bringing the focus back to creativity and more marketers than ever are speaking at the festival. The companies that are most visible here reflect the way the market is changing. Ascential chief executive Duncan Painter says: We want brands taking the lead, talking about what they want from creativity and from agencies. Google, Facebook and Spotify have commandeered the best beaches to entertain on La Croisette. Chinese giants such as Alibaba and TenCent have sent more people. And the management consultants from Accenture, Deloitte, IBM and McKinsey have rented yachts and set up cabanas as they muscle in on the agencies turf. The prospects for the ad industry still look buoyant for those companies willing to change. A slew of forecasts shows that global ad expenditure is set to grow between 4% and 6%, including in the UK this year. But look closely and a picture emerges of a two-speed market. Small and medium-sized enterprises and e-commerce firms are driving most of the growth by investing in digital media such as search and social. Meanwhile, traditional, big advertisers such as consumer goods companies and carmakers are holding or cutting ad spend in the face of digital disruption. That spells bad news for the likes of WPP, which expects practically zero revenue growth this year, because newer, digital and e-commerce businesses are less reliant on agencies. Mark Read, the interim boss of WPP, says the groups agencies must become more collaborative and agile. I dont think WPP needs to be smaller, Read says. We need to be simpler to navigate [for clients]. The declining influence of the big agency groups has been a defining trend in the ad industry in recent years. They have become unwieldy and siloed through acquisitions and they have struggled to address questions about lack of transparency in media-buying. But the biggest challenge is the disruptive effect of technology. Now advertisers can easily create and buy digital advertising themselves, and they can do so much more than just advertise. Many brands see their marketing as part of a larger, end-to-end, data-driven, connected experience for customers from the inception of an idea and developing of a product to building awareness, generating a sale and managing customer relationships. This is where management consultants scent an opportunity to challenge, if not displace, the agencies and are acquiring capabilities in creative, content, design, data, analytics and media. They argue they can manage the marketing cloud as part of a broader effort to drive business transformation for clients in a way that an ad or media agency is not equipped to do. Accenture, the most acquisitive of the consulting firms, has described its fusion of management consultancy and creative agency as a cagency. McKinsey, which is sticking to a more advisory role, has unveiled research claiming that marketers who use data to inform their creative work can drive double the revenue growth of companies that do not integrate the two disciplines. In this brave, new, data-driven world, marketing becomes an investment, not a cost, because it delivers business outcomes, according to McKinsey. The caveat is creativity itself cannot easily be measured. It is not entirely rational, as William Eccleshare, chairman and chief executive of outdoor advertising company Clear Channel, puts it. But no one doubts that data, analytics and automation are going to transform communications, so long as consumers give their consent. The question hanging in the Cannes air is how far the balance of power is going to shift from the Mad Men to the Marketing and Maths Men and Women. ...but theres no end to the knees-ups yet Its still party time despite fewer attendees at this years festival. Jon Bon Jovi sang at consulting firm MediaLinks bash at the clifftop Hotel du Cap, where WPP executive chairman Roberto Quarta rubbed shoulders with New York Times boss Mark Thompson, Googles Emea president Matt Brittin and Unilever chief marketing officer Keith Weed. Down on the beach, a younger crowd watched the Killers play a private gig for Spotify before they headed to the Carlton Hotel terrace, the Gutter Bar or a yacht party. There are more events today. Lord Heseltine, the owner of Campaign, is here for the advertising magazines 50th anniversary, which includes an evening drinks party on the beach. Later, News UK and Google will go head to head with rival bashes. Rupert Murdochs company has got Kylie Minogue to sing, plus Fat Boy Slim and Idris Elba are DJing at its rented chateau while the internet giant has booked Duran Duran. When the ad folk are having this much fun, its no wonder that Sir Martin Sorrell wants to stay involved in the business. F ew investigations into British businesses make as sickening reading as the Lord Turnbull report into the HBOS Reading fraud this week. Leaked onto the internet, it alleges HBOS, and subsequently Lloyds, withheld from investors the extent of the fraud and potential money laundering resulting from the affair, both before Lloyds bought the collapsing HBOS in 2008 and in the follow-on fundraisings. Allegations about the brutal and cynical way HBOS treated victims of the Reading fraudsters should be required reading in business university libraries. But the alleged cover-up beggars belief too, and clearly gives rise to serious concerns about the culture at HBOS and, subsequently, Lloyds. Lloyds has maintained that it had no knowledge of criminal activity at Reading prior to the trial this year. The explosive allegations in the Turnbull report make that increasingly hard to believe, particularly when the couple who doggedly brought the case to the attention of the police warned the bank (including then-Lloyds chief executive Eric Daniels) in June 2009. Turnbull alludes to a repellent culture in HBOS at the time when the activities of the Reading ring were coming to light. It suggests that a particularly disturbing exchange took place with an HBOS legal adviser, who appears to suggest a customer should be evicted from his home, on which an HBOS loan was secured, to stop him pursuing a claim against the bank. As the adviser allegedly put it once [the customer] recognises the inevitability of his eviction, he will resign himself to his fate. The adviser then allegedly recommends the eviction notice not be sent until after a BBC documentary about the case was broadcast. If that did happen how despicable; how cynical. Lloyds says it has set up an inquiry into the events under Dame Linda Dobbs and that it gave the report to the police and the Financial Conduct Authority (which is still investigating). But, having now read Turnbull, victims are worried Dobbs will be working with source material tainted by the negative bias against Reading victims at the time. The Turnbull report is not gospel: it is one persons interpretation of a complex chain of events with, at times, inadequate supporting evidence. But if Dobbs fails to reach the same conclusions, victims will never be satisfied. This is why the best course of action from the very beginning would have been a full, public inquiry. That way, the former directors, the police, the victims and the regulators could be questioned about what happened. This was a shameful period for British banking. The victims, the public and the banking industry at large, deserve a full and open examination of what really went on, whether it spread beyond Reading, and why. B usiness people claiming to be victims of bad behaviour towards SME businesses by Lloyds and HBOS today welcomed the publishing of the Turnbull Report into the HBOS Reading fraud. The Turnbull papers allege HBOS and Lloyds failed to act on evidence of the Reading fraud and subsequent money laundering done through Lloyds TSB. Paul and Nikki Turner, victims who spent over a decade trying expose the Reading scandal, said they were left feeling shocked and violated by the bank in the light of the Turnbull allegations and the culture of blame the customers that presided. Harold Tillman, who claims Lloyds mistreated him when his Jaeger business was stripped from him, said: As a victim, I am relieved that there is evidence now that there was a systemic approach to retrieve Lloyds loan book for its own balance sheet. Y ou know a Tory Government is in trouble when it looks to Dennis Skinner to save it. News that Government whips are cajoling a handful of Labour Brexiteers, such as Mr Skinner, to support them in the Commons vote today merely confirms that they havent got the numbers to win alone. The issue at question is whether Parliament should be put in charge if the Government fails to strike a Brexit deal. It was a completely avoidable fight, one made worse by loose promises from the Prime Minister last week. Yes, there was a time when Downing Street threatened that no deal was better than a bad deal. Remember the Budget promise to spend billions preparing so we could walk away from the table? But it was only ever nonsense. We always needed an orderly transition out of the EU. Britain handed over control of that negotiation to the other member states, the European Parliament and the European Commission the moment it decided to fix its departure date for March 2019. The outburst from the GCHQ chief that our security will be imperilled if there is no agreement merely reinforces the growing sense of desperation across Whitehall. Because now its the Commission saying no deal is better than a bad deal, with Michel Barnier turning up the heat with a warning to businesses to prepare. But he knows Europe also needs a deal. The financial disruption is too dangerous, and the impact on the likes of Ireland and Belgium too great, for Brussels to risk it and bang, too, would go Mr Barniers hopes of becoming the next Commission President. But the EU can play a waiting game; Britain cannot. If no agreement is reached by the October European Council the contingency plans many firms have put in place to relocate will start to be activated something Paris and Frankfurt will hardly complain about. So the real issue is not whether there will be a deal but what it will consist of and when it will be struck. Brexiteers promised us wed have a comprehensive trade deal in place to sign by the time we leave. The Prime Minister said wed have detailed heads of agreement spelling out the future relationship. But with just nine months to go to our departure we havent even got agreement from the Cabinet. What is our customs policy with the EU? Are we going to sign up to the rules of the single market, even if we dont remain in it? What are the immigration rules for French and Polish citizens? Are we going to stay in the European Arrest Warrant and accept European Court of Justice jurisdiction? Two years after the referendum they havent a clue. The latest idea is to lock Cabinet ministers away in Chequers until they agree a house party from hell, if ever there was one. But even if they can agree there is now precious little chance they can get Parliament to sign up. The House of Lords will reject anything that falls short of a close ongoing relationship with the EU, with most of the elements of customs union and single market membership, a role for the ECJ and near-free movement of European citizens. Barely a year into this Parliament there are already enough Conservative MPs in the Commons who will not vote for anything else either. It is, after all, what a 52 to 48 per cent vote in the country to leave the EU should lead to. That is the real meaning of the arguments over a meaningful vote. No tracks for the Stones Mick Jagger probably got in a Black Limousine but there was trouble All Down the Line when local stations shut and no Silver Train showed up. Huge crowds might as well have been 2000 Light Years From Home. Staff said It Wont Take Long but there were No Expectations from passengers who told them I Am Waiting. Shattered fans were caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Walk and theyd be a Midnight Rambler. Stay and who would Gimme Shelter. For many it was a case of Lets Spend the Night Together (outside Richmond station). I rely on Thameslink to get to and from work. In the seven years I have lived in my area the service has steadily declined to what now can only be described as shambolic. What should be a 28-minute journey is now taking me from one hour to one hour 40 minutes for the same journey. Trains are cancelled every day. Updates and announcements are extremely poor. Peoples patience has worn thin. Ive witnessed tears, arguments and fights as people struggle to board overflowing trains to just go about their daily business. The service is an embarrassment, however it is more of an embarrassment for the Government, which seemingly has no ability to gain control of matters. We should not underestimate how people now feel about the appalling train system in this country. I have contacted Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, but I am sure, like every other passenger, I will just get an automated email from his office. Its exactly the kind of blank, computer-generated message I am faced with every day on the platform; one that tells me very little of what I need to know, nor makes me feel more optimistic about the situation. One thing that would help people feel better about this is the Government taking a firmer stand with Govia Thameslink. Sophie Bray EDITOR'S REPLY Dear Sophie YouRE right as I found out on a Thameslink train at Horsham the other day which I got on, only for it to be cancelled before it even left. The service is shocking: trips which used to be reliable are often disrupted, like yours. Its no consolation to hear now that in the end, when this mess is sorted out, there will be more trains to more places with more seats and running, hopefully, more reliably. So whos to blame? The dismaying answer is that there isnt a single cause and worse, experienced people at the top of the industry really did ask questions beforehand and convince themselves and ministers that it would all work. When you dont know why something has gone wrong, its a lot harder to put right. The rail industry should be and is ashamed of whats gone on. There are some big questions ahead about reform. Right now, we just need everyone to deliver the service that was promised. They will. But not soon enough. Julian Glover, Associate Editor (Comment) Trump's hardline treatment of border children is unacceptable Donald Trumps administration has reached a new low, even by his standards. It is now separating the children of immigrants at the Mexican border from their parents, numbering them and detaining them like animals in caged detention camps across the US. One in seven of these children are aged just four or under. Their parents dont know where theyve been taken to and cant contact them. Trump is using this barbaric treatment of children as a bargaining counter to free up funds for the construction of his wall at the Mexican border with the US. Footage of distressed and traumatised children weeping for their parents have been dismissed by Trumps political allies in the media as crisis acting. Given these developments, is Theresa May still planning to welcome Trump on his official visit to the UK on July 13? Sasha Simic Dont just throw money at the NHS There seems to be a major outcry about the funds that have recently been promised to the NHS by the Government [Working families will pay for NHS cash boost with 10bn worth of tax hikes, June 18] . The NHS is a bottomless pit and will drain the country, given the chance. The amount of money wasted should be looked into. Im not saying the problem lies with the doctors and nurses, because they do a good job and could do with a decent pay rise. It is the consultants, among others, who are taking cash which could be better used. Also, it would help if the Government finally got round to taking money from people who are not resident in the UK before they got any treatment. It is, after all, the National Health Service rather than the World Health Service. Steve Caldwell Stop dithering and get on with Brexit It has now been two years since this country took the momentous step and voted to get out of the clutches of the Brussels bureaucrats. In those two years, our Prime Minister has done nothing to achieve Brexit, while continuing to send more money and promising to hand over billions to Brussels. The Foreign Office has spent millions of pounds travelling back and forth and staying in nice hotels. A whole ministry has been set up. The only way to leave the European Union is to actually leave it now, with no more money given, no conditions, no debate and no votes in Parliament. Ours or theirs. Only after we are out of the EU should we even consider trying to negotiate with them. This should get Brexit done and dusted in about a week. Fred Nicholson Such hypocrisy over use of drugs like so many politicians, Lord Hague comes out now over cannabis [We wont review case for making cannabis legal, Javid tells Hague, June 19]. Politicians are shameless: they are the ones who made the laws that outlawed these drugs. I see the issue of assisted dying and suicide in the same light as cannabis. The Government is intransigent and ludicrous. The pharmaceutical and medical industries have the ear of governments. Until MPs stand up to them we will have to keep fighting to allow very sick people to use drugs such as cannabis or the right to die with dignity and less suffering. Donald and Melania Trump welcomed King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain to the White House on Tuesday afternoon. The Spanish royals arrived for a spot of tea with the first couple, as the final stop on their six-day tour of the United States. Unsurprisingly, both women, who are admired for their style worldwide, dressed flawlessly in luxe looks for the afternoon tea, standing side-by-side in two very different tonal outfits. Having kept a low profile over the last few weeks, Melania made a raving sartorial return in a gradient dress, which featured earthy hues in olive and khaki, as well as dramatic white floral applique. First Lady Melania Trump and Spain's Queen Letizia at the White House / AFP/Getty Images People. Fashion. Power. Delivered weekly. Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}} Sticking to her high-fashion roots, the frock was from Valentino's 2018 Resort collection and the First Lady finished off the look off with a pair of coordinating khaki heels, which gave a subtle nod to her visitors, as they were made by Spanish designer, Manolo Blahnik. Meanwhile, Queen Letizia repaid the tribute, donning a striking pink sheath dress by American designer Michael Kors. President Donald Trump, King Felipe VI of Spain, First Lady Melania Trump and Queen Letizia of Spain / Getty Images And, we are sure the First Lady approved of Letizia's ensemble as, coincidentally, Melania wore the same 1.366 dress, but in powder blue last year to greet Panamas President and First Lady. Melania Trump wearing Michael Kors in June 2017 / Getty Images Queen Letizia also joined Melania in pairing her ensemble with a flattering metallic waist belt and matching court shoes by the independent Spanish label Magrit. D orothea Lange put her lens up to the American dream and discovered a nightmare. When the stock market crashed in September 1929, the United States became a very different place. The effects were not just felt on Wall Street, but across the country, as the economic decline hit the poorest hardest. An exhibition of work by Lange, a groundbreaking photojournalist who captured poverty, injustice and disillusionment across the mid-century United States, will open at the Barbican Centre this week. This is what you need to know about the pioneering photographer who changed the way the world saw America. Dorothea Langes most famous photograph has become a symbol of the Great Depression During the 1930s, severe dust storms - known as the Dust Bowl - devastated agriculture and forced migrant workers to move across the US in search of work and food. Dorothea Lange captured this hardship with humanity and emotional urgency. Migrant Mother, her most famous photograph, is a portrait of 32 year old Florence Owens Thompson and two of her children in Nipomo, California, 1936. On the search for work, her brow furrowed and her clothes frayed, Langes image of Thompson epitomised the situation many American families found themselves in. When the government saw the photographs Lange took in the migrant camp where she met Thompson, the horrendous conditions prompted them to rush aid to the starving inhabitants. John Steinbeck was a big fan of hers John Steinbeck / Getty Images If it was Dorothea Lange who captured the Great Depression through a lens, it was John Steinbeck who did so through his words. Lange was commissioned by the Farm Security Administration to photograph the struggling farming community, the same subject Steinbecks would immortalise in Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. Their writing and photographs appeared alongside each other in publications, and her images were studied by director John Ford while working on the film of The Grapes of Wrath. In July 1960, Steinbeck wrote to Lange reflecting on their professional relationship, telling her There have been great ones in my time and I have been privileged to know some of them and surely you are among the giants... How I wish I may do it as gallantly as you. She had polio as a child Dorothea Lange in Texas on the Plains, ca. 1935 / The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California Lange was not without difficulties in her own life. Her father abandoned her family when she was just 12 years old, five years after Lange contracted polio at the age of seven. The disease weakened her right leg so severely that Lange would walk with a limp for the rest of her life. This, however, did not stop prevent Langes dedicated travels across Dust Bowl stricken states. "It formed me, guided me, instructed me, helped me and humiliated me," she once said of the affliction. "I've never gotten over it, and I am aware of the force and power of it." She was the first woman to be given a Guggenheim Fellowship for Photography but she gave it up Dorothea Lange Drought Refugees , ca. 1935 / The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California As a female photojournalist, Lange was in the minority. Her extraordinary work, however, made her a pioneer of the male-dominated industry, and earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship for Photography in 1941, the first woman to ever hold the accolade. Lange, however, left the position early in order to pursue a project with the War Relocation Authority. The role saw Lange chronicle the evacuation and internment of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast of the US following Pearl Harbour. Her photos of Japanese-American internment camps were hidden by the Army San Francisco, California. Flag of allegiance pledge at Raphael Weill Public School, Geary and Buchanan Streets. Children in families of Japanese ancestry were evacuated with their parents and will be housed for the duration in War Relocation Authority centers where facilities will be provided for t hem to continue their education, 1942 / Courtesy National Archives, photo no. 210-G-C122 Photographing the destitution and desolation of the Dust Bowl was not Langes only act against social injustice. In the war years, Lange turned her attention to the internment of more than 110,000 people including children of Japanese ancestry. More than half of those incarcerated by the government were American citizens. Lange travelled to Manzanar, the first permanent internment camp, to photograph the situation there. Her critical photographs were later impounded by the army, and were not released to be seen by the public until after the end of the war. M arking the centenary of Nelson Mandelas birth on July 18, human rights and freedom of expression charity English PEN is holding an evening of readings of Mandelas letters from prison. The event on July 17 at the Union Chapel brings together a number of special guests across literature, politics, activism, journalism and the arts, directed and produced by acclaimed actor and director Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE. Actor and artistic director of the Young Vic Kwame Kwei-Armah, journalist Gary Younge, poet and novelist Jackie Kay, author Zoe Wicomb, composer Errollyn Wallen and Ted Hughes Award winner Jay Bernard are performing the letters, many of which have remained unpublished until now. The evening is also celebrating the release of a new book, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela (published on July 10), collating his correspondence when he was incarcerated. The performers are joined by the books editor Sahm Venter and Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela, granddaughter of Nelson Mandela. Venter said: Madibas letters are each, on their own, so rich and each one adds to the existing body of knowledge about his life in prison and at times, before he went in. Every piece of writing by Madiba adds a new thread to the existing body of knowledge we have of him and his life and times. The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela chronicles his period of imprisonment from 1962 to 1990 through letters he sent to his family and loved ones, compatriots, prison authorities and government officials. Both the book and the performance, paint a picture of Mandela as a devoted father, loyal friend and hardworking student. Director of English PEN Antonia Byatt said: Today hundreds of writers languish in prison for speaking out, as Mandela did. At PEN we know communication with the outside world for prisoners is crucial. Through PEN thousands of people around the world have sent letters to writers in prison to bolster their spirit and to support freedom of expression. O ceans 8 is the latest film to emerge from a new trend that aims to redress Hollywoods gender balance with an all-female remake. Were it not for Hollywoods push for greater equality and diversity, we may never have had the chance to see Cate Blanchett carry off a mega heist of the Met Gala for that we must be grateful. Its not the first time women have, years later, had a chance to play parts men have played several times already and it wont be the last. Weve already had the controversial Ghostbusters reboot, which starred Kirsten Wiig and Leslie Jones, and still to come are planned remakes of Lord of the Flies , Splash and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The mildly problematic Mel Gibson vehicle What Women Want is also getting a contemporary update as What Men Want, starring Taraji P. Henson, and theres even (God help us) a planned release of The Expendabelles. Two minutes with Ocean's 8: Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock & Sarah Paulson While some argue that these well-intentioned remakes are political correctness gone mad (old school Doctor Who fans, stay out of it), others say new female-led films and fresh ideas are a better answer to rectifying a stale, mostly male canon. But representation matters and so too does Cyndi Laupers famous adage that girls just wanna have fun so in that spirit, weve chosen the cinema classics that wed love to see get a 21st century gender reboot. Stand By Me AP Stand By Me is a beautiful story about a group of pals on their wobbly travels through the last days of boyhood. But have you ever noticed that when the lads get a teen movie, its all card games in a tree house and camping with your mates? The girls, on the other hand, are either tricking each other into eating carb-loading nutrition bars, failing to get off with the school hunk until theyve had a character-annihilating makeover, or accidentally swapping bodies with their mums. Far less fun, and usually left up to Lindsay Lohan. Its time for a girl squad to have some heartwarming bants on a train track whilst searching for a dead body for monetary reward. And Millie Bobby Brown should be gramming the entire proceedings. Jessie Thompson Withnail & I PUBLICITY PICTURE Ah, Withnail & I; the sweary ode to aristocratic poverty, the highs and lows of drinking lighter fluid and whether or not its worth putting up with handsy uncles for a night in a country. It's an 80s masterpiece dedicated to a certain sort of lost Englishness but one that, over its 13 scotches, nine-and-a-half red wines and all, manages to all but forget women exist. Why not, say, long-suffering Rooney Mara crushed with embarrassment as a woozy Natalie Dormer asks for the finest wines available to humanity? Why not have them upset a bunch of lads on a stag, instead of old ladies in a tea room? Tortured men have had plenty of screen time already; doesn't Hollywood know woman have their demons too? There was plenty of bleakness in 1969 for the film to dwell on but the world in 2018 is hardly a beacon of light, either and wouldn't Frances McDormand as Uncle Monty be a gloriously terrifying prospect? David Ellis Reservoir Dogs Oceans 8 focuses on a group of women who pull off the perfect heist but what about when it all goes wrong? Quentin Tarantinos grizzly crime thriller Reservoir Dogs is ripe for a remake, imagining how a group of female criminals would react in the aftermath of a chaotic jewellery store robbery. After all, itd be worth it for the films iconic opening sequence alone: Hollywoods leading women walking in slow-motion as George Bakers Little Green Bag plays over the opening credits is something we definitely want to see. Ocean's 8 cast praise 'brave' studios for female-dominated film Casting the film would be a dream for producers Emily Blunt would be our choice for undercover cop Ms Orange and Meryl Streep would be great value in the role of master criminal Jo Cabot. Who knows, maybe a rebooted cast could finally settle the argument behind the meaning of Madonnas Like a Virgin? Harry Fletcher Ferris Buellers Day Off Its time to say goodbye to the narrative of female characters being killjoys. Kerris Buellers Day Off has Saoirse Ronan starring and Zendaya as her loyal friend Cameron Frye. Abandoning the original leads manipulative streak and dismissal of Cams feelings, Kerris, a confident and resourceful teen, decides that a break from school is exactly what Cam needs to cheer up. Outsmarting an increasingly harried and aggravated Ms Rooney (the legendary Pippa Haywood), Kerris cruises in Cams mothers convertible, crashes the main float at a Pride parade and delivers effortless speeches about intersectional feminism and the failings of capitalist society. Yes please. Zoe Paskett Fight Club 20th Century Fox Replace Fight Clubs predominantly male cast with some iconic female leads wanting to fight each other (perhaps Uma Thurman with her Kill Bill antics and Angelina Jolie channelling her Laura Croft days) and youve got an interesting film exploring modern femininity and mental health. Plus, it might just put to bed the perception that women cant or dont want to fight. Lizzie Thomson Ocean's 8 UK premiere - In pictures 1 /27 Ocean's 8 UK premiere - In pictures Helena Bonham Carter, Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson and Mindy Kaling attend the 'Ocean's 8' UK Premiere held at Cineworld Leicester Square Getty Images Rihanna Dave Benett Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter AFP/Getty Images Sandra Bullock Dave Benett Cate Blanchett Cate Blanchett Invision/AP Clara Paget Dave Benett Rihanna Dave Benett Rihanna Dave Benett Helena Bonham Carter Dave Benett Sandra Bullock Dave Benett Cate Blanchett Dave Benett Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter, Sandra Bullock and Mindy Kaling attend the "Ocean's 8" UK Premiere held at Cineworld Leicester Square Dave Benett Sandra Bullock and Sarah Paulson EPA Cast members Helena Bonham Carter, Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson and Mindy Kaling pose for pictures on the red carpet for the European premiere of Ocean's 8 Reuters Sarah Paulson PA Mindy Kaling Dave Benett Sandra Bullock and Sarah Paulson SplashNews.com Edith Bowman Dave Benett Vicky Lee Dave Benett Jessica Wright Dave Benett Neelam Gill Dave Benett Charlotte Wiggins and Sam Rollinson Dave Benett Josephine de La Baume Dave Benett Sam Faiers Dave Benett Vanessa Feltz Dave Benett Sarah Paulson Sarah Paulson PA Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter Invision/AP James Bond A quick Google of James Bond sexist quotes shows that our man in the tux isnt exactly a beacon of womens rights. Aside from the rampant misogyny, however, Bond does have his cool moments: speedboat chases, Aston Martins with ejector seats, endless martinis and the like. So lets take all the good stuff and replace the leading man with a leading woman (and the comedy value alone of then calling someone a Bond Boy should be enough to convince you). Our choice for the new 007? Tessa Thomspon. Her career is booming and shes shown in her roles in Thor: Ragnarok as well as Westworld that she can handle both the action and drama that Bond demands. Jochan Embley Lord of the Rings N ew Zealand is one of those bucket list destinations that everyone needs to visit once in their life. But travelling their can often be expensive and a new tax introduced by the New Zealand government is about to make it a little most costly. The New Zealand government has revealed its plans to implement a tourist tax that will go into effect from the second half of 2019 which they say will help to protect its infrastructure and natural environment. The tax will range from 13 to 18 (25-35NZD) and will be applicable to all international visitors staying 12 months or less. The only exemptions will be short-haul visitors from the Pacific Island Forum countries and Australia, plus children under the age of two and those visiting on specific visas. People. Fashion. Power. Delivered weekly. Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}} The new tax will be collected through an ESTA-style visa system and will raise around 30million a year to help fund conservation and infrastructure. Unsplash While the tax is not yet set in stone, the government is accepting public opinions on the tax until July 15 and a decision is expected in September. S ummer is in full swing by July and that means youre probably wanting to make sure youre sat at the beach, rather than your desk. Take advantage of Europe which is basking in golden sunlight or go further afield for a one-off adventure. Heres exactly where we suggest... Darwin Shutterstock You may assume the whole of Australia is cold during their winter season (which falls over our summer) but no, not Darwin. The capital city of the Northern Territory of Australia reaches highs of 31 degrees during July with lows of just 19 degrees. Head over there to explore the beaches (head to Mindil), the national park, go river sailing (watch out for crocodiles) and take a day trip out to the Tiwi Islands. Formentera Formentera, Spain / HundredRooms People. Fashion. Power. Delivered weekly. Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}} A longtime haunt of a-listers (its a firm favourite of Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss), Formentera, located beside Ibiza, is all the good parts of its Spanish neighbour. Youll find beaches that could rival St Barths, bohemian beach clubs and restaurants boasting straight-out-the-ocean seafood and locals sitting in them. All of this, without club queues, 24-hour KFCs and half of the UK. Stockholm Stockholm rarely looks more beautiful than it does washed in white light. The harsh Scandinavian winter is long behind, evenings last for what feels like an eternity and the bars are full of people enjoying the midday heat. Spend a couple of days exploring this capital and then head out to the Archipelago islands for a proper Scandi getaway. Queenstown Shutterstock / GlobalTravelPro Not a fan of hot holidays? Europes ski slopes may have melted but not New Zealands. Head out to Queenstown for the ultimate active adventure. With four ski areas and terrains, its the perfect destination whether youre advance or starting from the beginning. It also just happens to have scenery thats totally spectacular if you just want to sit and gaze out during a liquid lunch on the slopes. Tanzania Alamy In the middle of dry season, not only is the weather favourable during July in Tanzania, its one of the best months to see the wildlife. The wildebeest migration is in full swing in the Serengeti and animals are searching for water meaning they are likely to be more visible. Of course, this means its one of the most expensive months to go on a safari there but if youre going to do it, you might as well book when you have the best chance of ticking off your big beasts bucket list, right? Positano Ricardo Gomez Angel/Unsplash Situated on the Italian Amalfi Coast, this small fishing village is located just one and a half hours from Naples but feels like a different world with its pretty pastel houses that cascade down cliff rocks towards the sea. Here youre likely to mingle with the rich and famous, sip proper Aperols and enjoy endless days of sunshine. Costa Brava JoaquinAranoa/Pixabay Previously thought of as little more than the Brits Abroad destination of choice, in recent years the Costa Brava has begun to clean up its reputation. Go to the right parts and youll find incredible deserted beaches, white-washed villages that inspired the likes of Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, and restaurants that hold multiple Michelin stars. Madagascar Shutterstock / Dennis van de Water If remote islands, white sands, blue seas, extraordinary animals and adventure is your type of thing, book a trip to Madagascar this July. The dry season continues there with an average daytime temperature of 28C, and cooler nights levelling out at around 15C. Bordeaux Shutterstock / FreeProd33 See in Bastille Day, the French national day that falls on 14th July each year, in a city famous for its incredible wines. Head to one of the vineyards or (even better) take stock at a wine chateaux for a long weekend. The only thing you will be required to do is indulge, celebrate, and then soak up the alcohol with some of the regions finest foods. Hydra LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images G ina Martin. Remember the name. By now, youd hope Sir Christopher Chope does. If youre going to block a bill that Ive worked tirelessly to get into Parliament for a year, at least have the decency to learn my name and dont call me Gina Turner on the radio, says Martin, 26, wearily. Her year-long campaign to make upskirting a criminal offence began after the police declined to prosecute a man accused of taking pictures up her skirt at a music festival in London last summer. On Monday there was a breakthrough when the Government announced it would be introducing the legislation as a Government bill. But for the preceeding 48 hours, there had been outrage. Last Friday, Chope, a Tory backbencher, blocked her proposed bill, despite the fact that he later admitted he knew nothing substantial about the proposal. I was about to do a live interview on ITV News to celebrate when I found out he was going to kill it, she says. She cancelled the appearance and sprinted from the Millbank TV studios to Parliament to confront Chope. MP Christopher Chope who blocked the upskirting bill / PA I went manic, I wanted to cry, she says. Thats what I do when I get upset. But I couldnt because this isnt about me its about every woman and girl whos messaged me for the last year. The fallout has gone viral this week. I could name every MP who supported it because no one went against it, says Martin except Chope of course. To treat him with a modicum of fairness, the Tory grandee is a pedant on principle, known for unswervingly shouting object when he doesnt support the principle of legislation being passed without debate at second reading. The suggestion that I am some kind of pervert is a complete travesty of the truth, he has said. I feel sorry for him, says Martin. Hes a guy whos annoyed at the system. But he messed with the wrong bill. On Monday, protesters hung underwear from the door of Chopes Commons office in protest. Martin has been working tirelessly across parties, supported by a long list of allies including the Conservative justice minister Lucy Frazer, Lib-Dem MP Wera Hobhouse (who tabled the voyeurism bill) and Victoria Atkins, the minister for women. Other Conservatives threw their knickers into the office. Theyre all so upset, and I understand, says Martin. Im not a Conservative person but theyve all been so amazing. Theyve put all this work in behind the scenes, and then everyone went mental at the Conservatives, saying they dont give a s***, and they do. A string of ladies underwear that has been hung outside the office of MP Sir Christopher Chope in the Houses of Parliament in London / PA Theresa May made it happen. On Friday the Prime Minister called upskirting an invasion of privacy and repeated that she wants to see it outlawed, with Government support. I said to her its protecting everyone, says Martin, from 13-year-old girls to Theresa May. Martins sympathies for Chope only extend so far. Its been awful for me the last year on the internet. Ive got used to it, thats part of life if you stand up and fight. Chopes had a taste of it Im sure it was intense but its nothing compared with what I got. On July 8 last year Martin and her older sister Stevie had paid 80 each to watch The Killers at the British Summer Time festival. Two men stood next to her. One offered her some chips; she accepted. He made a pass at her; she rejected it. At some point he put his phone between my legs, positioned his camera up my skirt and took pictures of my crotch in broad daylight, she says. Im a brave person but theres something about the invasiveness of someone putting their hand between your legs and taking pictures of your genitals. You dont know where theyre going to go. "Its almost like you have absolutely no control of your body. The invasiveness of him having his hand there and I had no idea. You know when you have that dream when youre naked somewhere and you didnt know? I felt like that. Martin saw the taller man looking at a picture of a crotch her crotch on a phone and laughing. She grabbed his phone and ran to two police on duty at the festival, as The Killers opened with their song The Man. I love that song, she says. I cant listen to it now. The police made the man delete the picture and gave her an escort, but had no grounds to prosecute within the law. Things got worse. I had a picture of these two men behind me in a selfie I took. So I put that up on Facebook saying, Security couldnt help me, the police couldnt help me, the law cant help me. I didnt know what to do. I was trying to see what social media could do. The police told me to take the message down because it was harassment. Facebook deleted it; it broke community guidelines. But it had been up for long enough to go viral. The comments were unbelievable. I became a meme. People tagged their friends in it. They said I should have worn trousers, that I was a slut and a fame whore, and doing it on purpose. They said I was obviously lying, and how disgusting of me to take a picture of these guys and put it on the internet. A fair few guys messaged saying that if you dress like that you deserve to get raped. It shouldnt be overstated how wonderfully normal Martin is. Were in her flat, which she rents with her boyfriend Jordy, an Australian engineer who works on the Thames Clipper boat service (they met in a party hostel in Budapest when she was 20, and lived on a boat in Greece for a year-and-a-half). Her rescue tortoise Gary (a bumpy little bitch) plods around the flat. She works as a freelance copywriter and grew up in Liverpool. Her parents, Roy and Margie, have been supportive. He said, Youve always had to have the last word; now you have it with the Establishment. At 12, she had a birthmark surgically removed, having been bullied about her appearance as a child. Two boys once strangled me until I passed out on a bouncy castle. I went to the headteacher and they said, Kids, they always play. You grow up feeling so terrified of guys. Its inbred in you that youre the weaker one. Not any more though because Ive nailed this one. Theyre probably scared of me now. "This isnt about me this is about every woman and girl who has messaged me for the past year" Has upskirting become more widespread? One hundred per cent its happening more. In the past 10 years camera technology has come on so fast, so have sharing and social media. Its become an everyday assault rather than a fetishised porn corner of the internet. Has her moment of activism inspired her to take a more permanent political post? I couldnt do politics, says Martin. I cant remove myself from how people feel. I wouldnt be able to put those walls up and make difficult decisions. Martins USP is her civilian status. Others have helped give her a platform TV presenter Holly Willoughby has been an angel (Willoughby was upskirted on a red carpet while holding a #TimesUp rose). A n army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland has told how he stepped in to stop a vicious homophobic attack on a London bus. Former Grenadier Guardsman Lee Wardle, 40, who served for 14 years, was caught up in a violent clash on the N87 in Lambeth as he made his way home from work at a gay bar in central London. Mr Wardle, who works as a bartender at Halfway 2 Heaven in Trafalgar Square and is himself gay, said he heard a man shouting homophobic abuse down the phone as he travelled on the bus towards Clapham Junction shortly after 4am on Sunday, March 25. Mr Wardle, from Vauxhall, said he overheard the man "having a really loud, obnoxious conversation using a lot of homophobic language" and when he asked him to stop, he tried to hit him before attacking another man on the bus. Former Grenadier Guardsman Lee Wardle, who stepped in to thwart a homophobic attack on a London bus The other passenger was repeatedly punched and knocked unconscious, Mr Wardle said. Police have released CCTV images of the suspect, described as a black man with a shaved head and goatee beard who was wearing a smart blue suit, black shoes and grey scarf. Manhunt: Police have released a CCTV image of this man following the incident / Met Police Mr Wardle, who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and won a medal for his service in Northern Ireland in 1997 and 1999, told the Standard: "A guy was sat on the top deck just in front of me having a really loud, obnoxious conversation using a lot of homophobic language. "The man was talking about having been to a gay club or bar, but he seemed to have gone there with the view to pick up women, he said. Mr Wardle, pictured here during his time in the Army, now works as a bartender at Halfway 2 Heaven in Trafalgar Square "He had some sort of altercation with an individual about this." He added: "I think he said faggots should be killed. It was very distressing language." Mr Wardle was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and won a medal for his service in Northern Ireland in 1997 and 1999 Mr Wardle asked the man to stop, and the other passenger joined him. However, the man then turned on them both. Shocking footage recorded by a third passenger showed the moment the suspect punched a victim in the side of the head, knocking him to the floor. Mr Wardle is then seen shoving the suspect away along the aisle of the bus. He said: "He didn't hit me, but he went for me and I warned him that it wasn't a good idea. I'm quite a tall guy. The victim "was punched repeatedly and eventually knocked out," he added. Scotland Yard issued an appeal to find the suspect last Friday. Mr Wardle said he wanted police to catch their man before he hurts anyone else. He said: "I just want him caught before he seriously hurts somebody. "This guy needs educating. He can't think that he has got away with it. I refuse to let him think that he has got away with it." The veteran said he stepped in because "nine times out of 10, people don't stand up to this". He added: "I have heard it all before, but I was concerned that there were other people on the bus. "Usually in London no-one bats an eyelid. They would rather keep out it, which is really sad. "It's a discrimination in a different outfit." Scotland Yard said there have been no arrests. The Met said in a statement: "The assault happened at around 4.15am on Sunday, 25 March on board a N87 bus on Wandsworth Road, SW8. "Members of the public were seated on the top deck of the bus when they overheard the suspect sitting in front of them swearing and making homophobic remarks. "When asked to refrain from making such remarks, the suspect then proceeded to assault three passengers on the bus. "The suspect is described as a black man with a shaved head and goatee beard wearing a smart blue suit, black shoes and grey scarf." Detective Constable Sarah Bunting of the Met's Road and Transport Policing Command said: "This man is sought in connection with a homophobic assault on a bus. "If you know who this man is, or may be able to assist us in our investigation, please call 101 and quote CAD 1045/25Mar18. P olice today swooped on a gang suspected of smuggling hundreds of migrants hidden in refrigerated trucks into Britain. The suspected ringleader of the Albanian gang was arrested in a dawn raid at a council flat in Penge, south London, as part of a Europe-wide investigation. The 31-year-old was led from his home in handcuffs and joked I remember you very well to an undercover National Crime Agency officer who had kept him under surveillance before todays arrest. His wife and two young children were left stunned as officers grabbed him from the one-bedroom flat. As he was bundled into a car in handcuffs the man said to the Standard: Write me up good, did you get good shots [photographs]? Ten other gang members have already been arrested in connection with the investigation in Belgium, France and Spain. The gang allegedly used corrupt truck drivers to pick up migrants in Belgium and get them to the UK through ports and the Channel Tunnel. They are likely to have been involved with hundreds of migrants attempting to reach the UK, the NCA said. The suspect was held on a European Arrest Warrant at the request of Belgian Federal Police who are overseeing the inquiry. A Belgian officer, who saw todays raid, said: There is so much money in smuggling that others will be queuing up to take his place. They will take the risk knowing an arrest can happen. Its not that victims are beaten or treated badly but the danger of putting women and children in refrigerated trucks is enormous. The air supply can be cut off. The gang allegedly smuggled in Albanian nationals, who paid extortionate rates to stay in hotels in Belgium before coming into the UK. Martin Matthews, deputy senior investigations officer at the NCA, said: The people involved are still being put at huge risk. This is higher end than people being trafficked for sex or slavery, this is people paying money to get into the UK. Often those people being smuggled in are here to engage in criminal activity themselves. Organised migration crime has a massive impact on the UK. The Aviastar-SP Plant in Ulyanovsk in the Volga area has started preliminary work to resume the production of the Antonov An-124 Ruslan (NATO reporting name: Condor) plane in Russia, according to a document available on the state procurement website. A Russian An-124 Ruslan strategic airlifter in Moscow' sky (Credit: Russian MoD) In particular, the plant will decide on the equipment that will be necessary to manufacture the upgraded version of the plane, the document reads. "The state of the equipment required to produce the An-124 plane and its fitness for further use will be evaluated and the difficulty of work to remove equipment to vacate manufacturing sites will be assessed," the document reads.The state of the Aviastar-SP Plants assembly facilities will be analyzed and a list of existing equipment required to repair, service and upgrade operational An-124 planes will be made. Besides, a list of existing equipment required "to produce upgraded An-124-100M aircraft" will be drawn up. Upgraded An-124-100M planes are planned to be made "with the use of electronic simulation." After the work is completed, a report on the state of the equipment, the necessity to dismantle, displace, mothball it and dispose of it will be made. The maximum value of the contract will be 9.5 million rubles ($148,960).Earlier, Military Transport Aviation Commander Vladimir Benediktov said in an interview with Echo Moskvy radio station that Russia was studying an option to resume the production of the aircraft. According to Vice-President for Transport Aircraft at Russias United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and CEO of the Ilyushin Aviation Complex Alexei Rogozin, the production of a modified An-124 Ruslan heavy long-range transport plane can be resumed. The An-124 Ruslan heavy transport plane is designed to transport large cargo, military personnel and armament. It has a maximum cargo-carrying capacity of 120 tons, a maximum speed of 865 km/h (537 mph) and a maximum payload range of 4,800 kilometers (2,982 miles).According to the US Military Balance analytical book, the Russian Aerospace Force operates nine An-124 aircraft. Ten Ruslan planes are used by the Volga-Dnepr Company. Copyright 2018 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. N on-drinkers are more likely to die early than people who enjoy a tipple in moderation, a study has found. Despite alcohol's links to cancer, even in small quantities, research has suggested teetotallers could be worse off. Those who never drink alcohol were seven per cent more likely to die or get cancer than those who drank up to three bottles of beer or glasses of wine a week. Andrew Kunzmann, who undertook the research for Queen's University Belfast, said he backed government guidelines that men and women should not drink more than six pints of beer a week. "This study helps to provide robust evidence about the health impacts of various levels of alcohol consumption so that individuals can make informed, healthy decisions," he said. But he cautioned against people who are currently teetotal starting to drink to improve their health. The study combined data on death rates and cancers from 99,654 people over 55 in the US. During a nine-year period, 9559 patients died while 12,763 developed cancer. D octors at Guys Hospital are the first to operate on a prostate cancer patient with the lead surgeon nowhere to be seen. Patient Ian Titheridge, 50, is recovering well following the procedure which used augmented reality. The pioneering technology, called Proximie, allows surgeons to transport themselves into an operating theatre anywhere in the world. It has already helped doctors in war zones and is described by consultant Prokar Dasgupta as a game-changer. Patient Ian Titheridge is recovering from his operation well / Sophie Goodchild The hope is that experts can assist with operations, especially complex ones, at a moments notice without the need to change location. Professor Dasgupta used the technology to instruct colleague Warren Lo on how to remove Mr Titheridges prostate gland. The operation took place earlier this month and was done while Professor Dasgupta was in another part of the hospital in Southwark. Software was downloaded on to his laptop to enable him to see the operation site in detail. This included the layers of tissue which registrar Dr Lo had to cut through using a surgical robot. Professor Dasgupta used his voice to guide the procedure. His instructions were relayed via the software through speakers in the operating theatre. A video screen was set up in the room where the surgery was being carried out. This allowed Dr Lo and his team to watch Professor Dasgupta use his hands and fingers to indicate where to make incisions with the robot arm. Professor Dasgupta, who is professor of robotic surgery and urological innovation at Kings College London, said: The technology means that I felt I was in the room. I could see clearly what was going on and what the team was doing. It means that irrespective of the patients location, they get the best expertise available even in a place where thats not always possible. Ultimately this means that procedures are safer than ever and that patients will receive the best care possible. BT engineer Mr Titheridge, from Bromley, was discharged the day after the operation. He said: I thought it was amazing that it [the technology] allowed an expert to lead a surgical procedure taking place in a different location. B usiness leaders in London today joined calls for an overhaul of border checks at Heathrow as they warned that long queues send the wrong signal to people coming to this country. London First, which represents many of the capitals biggest employers, said delays at passport control and inefficient processes gave a terrible welcome and that major changes were needed to boost the economy. It said the measures should include more e-gates to speed up passport checks and the trialling of new technology to allow secure but barrier-free entry to the country to more people. It also called for visa processes to be streamlined and the modernisation of working practices at the border itself as part of a package of reforms to show that Britain was open to the world. British Airways warned yesterday that totally unacceptable queues at Heathrow are undermining Britains image. The airline, which has written to immigration minister Caroline Nokes seeking a meeting to address the problems, warned that some passengers were being forced to wait for more than two and a half hours on arrival. It also revealed that official waiting time targets for clearing immigration have already been missed on more than 3,500 occasions this year and the situation was getting worse with the peak summer holiday period still to come. Jasmine Whitbread, London First chief executive, said: Landing at our airports is like arriving at the UKs front door, and being greeted by long queues and inefficiency is a terrible welcome. The Home Office has insisted it is keen to ensure efficient border checks and to minimise queues, but that it will not compromise on security. Labours leadership today flatly rejected plans for a third runway at Heathrow but will give its MPs a free vote to avoid a major revolt. It said the plans had failed tests on air quality, climate change and whether the runway is deliverable. A fourth test, on regional benefits, was not yet met. T errified witnesses today told how a stampede broke out when a battery pack exploded at a packed north London Tube station. Screams rang out as Londoners dashed for the exit at Southgate station, in Enfield, after reports of a massive bang on Tuesday evening. James Ayton, 34, was on the "packed" escalator when he saw a "quick burst" of flames at the top and said everyone "legged it". 'Explosion' at Southgate Tube station 1 /12 'Explosion' at Southgate Tube station Police outside Southgate Tube station after being called to reports of an explosion. PA The station was surrounded by emergency services. PA Five people were injured and two were taken to hospital. PA The station remained cordoned off as officers investigated the cause of the bang. PA NIGEL HOWARD Nigel Howard Nigel Howard Police said they do not believe the incident was terror-related. @darrenyarlett A cordon was in place and the area remained closed off for several hours after the incident. REUTERS An explosives sniffer dog scours the scene as police work to establish the cause of the explosion. @darrenyarlett Residents were evacuated from nearby homes. REUTERS Bystanders were told to stay away. @darrenyarlett "A few people got trampled on on the escalator, he added. There was screaming. Police attend the scene after several people were injured in the explosion / REUTERS "An old woman got trampled on. I had to carry a woman up the stairs. I think she was in shock to be honest. She couldn't walk, shaking." One witness told The Sun how flames were leaping up the escalator as she left the station. She said: "I was on the top of the escalator and there was this massive bang. "Everyone was like: 'What was that?'. Then I heard people screaming. By that point I had stepped off the escalator and was going to tap out. "I turned around and the whole of the escalator was in flames. It was all so quick. "There were still a lot of people down there and I started hyperventilating." Five people were injured in the explosion / PA Haluk Ozkan was about to get on a bus outside the station when he smelt something burning and saw people charging out of the station. The finance worker, 26, told the BBC: "We could smell a burning smell, like burning rubber. We thought the bus engine had over-heated. "We then saw people rushing to get out of the station. Not necessarily running or panicking, but moving quickly. "Then my partner saw a station staff member pointing a fire extinguisher at something and heard it go off, but we didn't see what it was directed at." One man wrote on Twitter: "Fire in Southgate Tube Station escalator. I had to carry a woman over the middle onto the stairs and then up the stairs. Flare or electrics my guess. That was a bit terrifying. "Some poor old lady was nearly trampled over till we calmed those running down the escalator." Witnesses described fleeing up the escalator / PA London Ambulance Service said two people had been taken to hospital and three others were treated at the scene in north London for minor injuries. The Metropolitan Police said: "It appears at this stage that the cause of the explosion was a battery short circuit. "The Met Police and BTP (British Transport Police) are working together to establish the full facts." Mayor of London Sadiq Khan praised emergency services for "a swift and professional response" to the incident. A member of the Mets elite Specialist Firearms Command unit has spoken for the first time about how they battled to save the Westminster terrorist who murdered a fellow officer. Sergeant Will Hitch and his team were on Westminster Bridge less than a minute after Khalid Masood ploughed a car into pedestrians and stabbed to death Pc Keith Palmer. Five people died and more than 50 were injured in the attack in March last year. Sgt Hitch said he was proud of the discipline it took for CO19 officers to battle to save Masood after he was shot by a police protection officer. He said: On Westminster Bridge we fought to save Khalid Masood, despite the fact he had just killed our colleague who was lying just metres away. He had a right to life, in spite of his actions, and we had the slightly surreal obligation to try and save him. In this country our job is to put suspects in front of a judge and jury. Well endeavour to do that in spite of emotions, provocations, instincts. Im very proud of that discipline. Pc Keith Palmer was stabbed to death during the Westminster attack / Metropolitan Police Masood died of a gunshot wound to the chest. But Sgt Hitch, speaking at an SO19 firearms presentation at the Idea Store in Whitechapel, criticised media reports suggesting the Met has ever had a shoot to kill policy. There is no such thing, he said. Your police service does not execute people. We shoot to stop a threat, and the best way to do that is to aim for the big bit, the torso. This movie-style idea that you can shoot someone in the hand from 20 metres away, in a high pressure situation, is a fallacy. If we missed then we risk hitting another person. But as soon as someone has been shot, and the threat is removed, we will work hard to save their life. After terror attacks last year, a Police Federation of England and Wales survey found that more than a third of officers supported the idea of being armed, while 55 per cent said they would be prepared to carry a gun if asked. London Terror Attack Floral Tributes at Westminster - 27 March 2017 1 /12 London Terror Attack Floral Tributes at Westminster - 27 March 2017 Hero MP Tobias Ellwood looks over the flowers left in tribute to the victims of the attack in Westminster Jeremy Selwyn He paused at the solemn scene in Parliament Square this morning Jeremy Selwyn Flowers from Prime Minister Theresa May amongst tributes to the victims of the Westminster terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster Jeremy Selwyn Two school children look at the floral tributes Jeremy Selwyn A woman observes the flowers pinned to the Carriage Gates where the attack took place Jeremy Selwyn Outpouring of support: flowers at the scene of the attack in Westminster Jeremy Selwyn Three police officers stand in front of the floral tributes Jeremy Selwyn A female police officer pays her respects at the scene Jeremy Selwyn A woman in jogging attire stops to remember the victims of the attack Jeremy Selwyn A man looks at floral tributes to the victims of the Westminster terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster Lauren Hurley/PA Police officers stand in front of the floral tributes Jeremy Selwyn Labour MP Hilary Benn passes floral tributes to the victims of the Westminster terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster Lauren Hurley/PA But Sgt Hitch, who has been a police officer for 10 years, said having a gun does not solve everything. People have speculated that if Keith Palmer were armed he would still be alive. Would he have had time to use his gun? We will never know the answer to that question. In the past three years there has been a significant rise in gun crime in London, with gangs accounting for nearly half of offences where a gun is fired. Last year four people were shot dead by police in London three terrorists were killed by City of London officers and Masood was shot by a Met officer. In 2016 no one was shot dead by a police officer in London. Despite the rise in gun crime Sgt Hitch added that he would not want to see the UK have US-style police forces. We have enviable gun laws in this country, he said. The reason we shoot so few people is we dont recruit Rambo characters. We recruit people who are good at talking to people. I do wonder elsewhere in the world how much training they get at just defusing situations. We practise dealing with someone having a mental health episode, and learning to talk to those people effectively. Sgt Hitch, who is based at the Special Firearms Command in Tower Hamlets, acknowledged that the Met needs to do more to engage the public, particularly young people. T he Government has defeated an amendment tabled by Dominic Grieve over a "meaningful vote" for MPs on the final Brexit deal by 319 votes to 303. The vote marked the latest battle for Theresa May in the continued row over how much power Parliament should have in the Brexit outcome. Ahead of the vote, Tory rebels - including Grieve himself - backed down and appeared to concede after MPs were offered an amendment to the bill. And Mrs May was narrowly able to avoid an embarrassing defeat, by a majority of just 16. The government defeated an amendment tabled by leading rebel Dominic Grieve over a so-called meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal. The amendment was aimed at giving Parliament more power to block a no-deal Brexit when MPs vote on it before Britain leaves the EU. But a concession from Tory rebels saw the government defeat the amendment by 19 votes to 303, a majority of 16. The legislation must now go back to the Upper House in the latest stage of "parliamentary ping-pong", but the MPs vote essentially means Mrs May has won the battle over a bill which is vital to ensure a smooth withdrawal from the EU. Loading.... The vote came after Brexit Secretary David Davis promised MPs that Commons Speaker John Bercow would decide whether they can amend a motion on what to do next in the event there is no deal when Britain is due to leave the EU. Climbdown: Tory rebel Dominic Grieve / AFP/Getty Images It means sovereignty of Parliament has been acknowledged, leading pro-EU MP Mr Grieve said. In a sign of the government's nerves in the run-up to the vote, an agreement meaning unwell MPs can be "nodded through" by being on the Parliamentary estate was reportedly suspended. Bradford West's Labour MP Naz Shah, who has been ill, was pushed in to vote in a wheelchair with a sick bucket on her lap, while pregnant Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson voted despite being past her due date. During a debate in the Commons earlier, Mr Grieve and prominent Conservative backbencher Nicky Morgan declared they were ready to back the government on this basis. Ms Morgan tweeted: "On this basis Parliament's vote is meaningful - and I will support (the) Government amendment". Mr Grieve said that the Brexit Secretary's statement amounted to an "obvious acknowledgement of the sovereignty of this place over the executive in black and white language". He was greeted with jeers of "shame" from the opposition benches as he said: "I am prepared to accept the Government's difficulty and support it". T heresa May faces another knife-edge Commons vote on Parliaments role in Brexit today. Government whips were said to be using "dark arts" to try to win over Tory rebels before a vote on whether MPs get a "meaningful" say on the final deal with the EU. The Prime Minister staved off a Tory rebellion on the move last week but faces a bruising battle in the latest round of voting after the proposed amendment was backed in the House of Lords. Dominic Grieve, one of the leading figures in the stand-off, said he expected negotiations to "go right to the wire". The possibility of a rebellion "all depends on where we go on the negotiations and at the moment I don't know the answer", the former attorney general added. But Brexiteers are said to be increasingly confident of victory. Commons showdown: Theresa May / REUTERS Tory Remainer Anna Soubry posted a lengthy statement about why she will rebel and denied being a "traitor". "Getting Brexit right is vital and is the most important set of decisions our country has taken in decades," she wrote. Prime Minister sees off potential rebellion over Brexit bill Prime Minister sees off potential rebellion over Brexit "Whatever we were told during the Referendum, you can't simply unravel 43 years of membership of the EU in a year or two and getting a new trading deal is far from the 'simplest' of matters as we were assured." Peers backed an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, tabled by Viscount Hailsham, on Monday that would require the Government to allow MPs to vote on how it would proceed in the absence of a Brexit deal by January 21 next year. MPs will now vote on whether to adopt the motion, which was brought in after pro-EU rebels led by Mr Grieve accused the Government of reneging on measures they believed had been agreed to see off a rebellion last week. Prime Minister Theresa May has warned against any moves to "tie her hands" during negotiations with Brussels, saying that Parliament must not be able to "overturn the will of the British people". Under government plans, if MPs reject the agreement reached by Mrs May with Brussels, or if no deal has been obtained by January 21, Parliament will be offered the opportunity to vote on a "neutral motion" stating it has considered a minister's statement on the issue. Crucially, the motion will be unamendable, meaning MPs cannot insert a requirement for Mrs May to go back to the negotiating table, extend the Brexit transition or revoke the UK's withdrawal under Article 50. The Commons vote comes as Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit co-ordinator, appears before MPs at hearings of the Exiting the EU and Home Affairs select committees. Tory MP Phillip Lee said Brexit rebels could still potentially help defeat the government despite the "dark arts" of the whips to avert a revolt. Dr Lee, who resigned as a minister in order to be able to vote against the government, said talks were still ongoing to find a compromise ahead of the Commons showdown on the so-called "meaningful vote" amendment. Asked how united the rebels were, he told BBC Radio 4's Today: "We were always going to get the normal dark arts of Westminster taking place, fully expected, but my understanding is that the position taken by a number of colleagues is solid, which is why the government is still in negotiations." D onald Trump's immigration policy was today lambasted as indefensible by a government minister amid growing pressure on Theresa May to unequivocally condemn the caging of migrant children. Universities minister Sam Gyimah hit out at the US presidents hardline policy on illegal immigration which has seen distraught youngsters torn away from their families. According to US reports even toddlers have been taken from their parents. Separating children from their parents in this way is beyond dreadful, Mr Gyimah tweeted. This policy is indefensible, pure and simple! He told the Evening Standard: I understand governments have to make difficult decisions and the area of immigration policy and enforcement is a notoriously difficult area. But surely you should look to enforce and deter in a way in which the most vulnerable, in this case children, are not put at risk. Behind barriers: Tents for unaccompanied migrant children at the Tornillo-Marcelino port of entry on the US-Mexico border / Getty His strong words piled pressure on the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to take a tougher line on Mr Trump amid growing criticism of the White House, including from US tech giants, political leaders and human rights groups. Yesterday Downing Street stopped short of criticising the US policy, though it stressed that Britain had a different, humane system. The Trump administrations new policy means that illegal migrants caught crossing from Mexico face criminal prosecution and being jailed separately from their children, rather than being sent back home. Immigrant children are led by staff in single file between tents at a detention facility next to the Mexican border / REUTERS More than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the US-Mexico border since the policy went into effect in May. Harrowing recordings have emerged of children crying out for their parents and other relatives. Toddlers are being sent to tender age shelters set up along Americas border with Mexico, according to US reports. Eye witnesses have described rooms of crying children aged younger than five in at least three shelters in south Texas. Toddlers are being detained, said Kay Bellor, from the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it, she said. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright tweeted: To be clear, immigrants, legal or not, are people who want to improve their lives. "To refer to them as animals or insects is to foster hate. Whats happening in Washington and on our border is sad, wrong, and unamerican. Her comments prompted Mr Gyimah to speak out, and other MPs have voiced their disgust at the policy. The forced separation of young children from their parents at the US border is wicked, said former Tory minister Nick Boles. Another former Tory minister, George Freeman, added: Our Foreign Secretary should make clear to the Trump Administration that this lets down not just America in the eyes of the world, but all of us in the global #TestOfTheWest. Steven Wagner, an official with the US Department of Health and Human Services, denied the policy was inhumane. We have specialised facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs and tender age children as we define as under 13 would fall into that category, he said. Theyre not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and theyre staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs, particularly of the younger children. In a letter sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions yesterday, a dozen Republican senators said separating families wasnt consistent with American values and ordinary human decency. The public anger over the issue exploded in Washington last night when Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was forced to leave a Mexican restaurant after she was confronted by protesters. US tech giants also pitched themselves against Mr Trumps clampdown on illegal crossings which was described as abhorrent by Microsoft chief Satya Nadella, himself the son of immigrants. Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg said: We need to stop this policy right now and Apple boss Tim Cook said the situation was inhumane. A fundraiser on Facebook to help reunite families has so far raised more than $6 million, growing at a rate of thousands of dollars every minute. R ebel MPs were targeted with the dark arts of Westminster ahead of a crunch vote on whether Parliament gets a meaningful say on Brexit, a former minister claimed today. Just hours before the vote, ex-justice minister Dr Phillip Lee said there were potentially enough Tory MPs willing to defy Theresa May to inflict a Commons defeat. But talks were expected to go to the wire as the Government sought to avoid a blow that threatened to further undermine the Prime Ministers authority. MPs were voting on a Lords amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, tabled by Tory peer Viscount Hailsham, that would require the Government to allow MPs to vote on how it would proceed in the absence of a Brexit deal by January 21 next year. The amendment was passed in the Upper House by a majority of 119 after Tory backbenchers, led by former Attorney General Dominic Grieve accused the Government of reneging on measures they believed had been agreed to see off a rebellion last week. The Prime Minister has warned against moves to tie her hands during negotiations with Brussels, saying Parliament must not be able to overturn the will of the British people. Under Government plans, if MPs reject the agreement reached by Mrs May with Brussels, or if no deal has been obtained by January 21, Parliament will be offered the opportunity to vote on a neutral motion which it could not amend. This means MPs could not insert a requirement for Mrs May to go back to the negotiating table, extend the Brexit transition or revoke the UKs withdrawal under Article 50. The row has laid bare divisions in both the Conservative and Labour parties, with ministers privately appealing to Labour Brexiteers in a bid to cobble together enough backing to reject the Lords amendment. With Tory backbenchers coming under pressure not to revolt, Dr Lee told BBC radio early this morning: We were always going to get the normal dark arts of Westminster taking place, fully expected, but my understanding is that the position taken by a number of colleagues is solid, which is why the Government is still in negotiations. As a doctor, he believes the UK should give its informed consent for Brexit, knowing the facts of the deal on offer, so the people may need to be given another say. He denied that voting to ensure Parliament gets a meaningful vote would undermine Mrs Mays negotiating position. S ajid Javid has been praised by Tory backbenchers for showing political leadership after he announced a review of medicinal cannabis. MPs have rallied behind the Home Secretary for acting swiftly when it emerged the families of two children with acute epilepsy were being blocked from using cannabis-based therapies. Mr Javid has also launched a new panel, which will start operating within days, to consider applications from patients seeking to use cannabis oil. Former minister George Freeman, who wants to modernise the Tory party by engaging younger members, praised the Home Secretary for acting decisively. He tweeted: Clear, coherent & sensible intervention by @sajidjavid to sort our [sic] the #MedicalCannabis saga and clear the way for clinically led licensing of #cannabismedicines where there is a patient need. Sajid Javid announces review of cannabis for medicinal use Ex-minister Desmond Swayne MP told Mr Javid in the Commons: Clinical leadership may have its place, but for years the crying need has been for political leadership. He went on to thank Mr Javid and policing minister Mike Penning, who is the proposed chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Medical Cannabis Under Prescription, for trying to change Britains ban on cannabis-based medications. Mr Penning has previously said he found it bizarre that the UK allows the medical use of strong opiates, but bans the medical use of cannabis. Mr Javid yesterday announced a two-part review into medicinal cannabis. The first stage will be carried out by Professor Sally Davies, the Governments chief medical officer, into the therapeutic and medicinal benefits of cannabis-based medicines. P eers in the House of Lords have backed down over the EU Withdrawal Bill, paving the way for it to become law. Theresa May's flagship Brexit bill cleared its final parliamentary hurdle on Wednesday following a major Commons victory for the Government. The Prime Minister avoided a backbench rebellion with an eleventh hour concession to pro-EU Tories this afternoon over a so-called meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal. MPs voted by 319 to 303 to reject a House of Lords amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill that would have ensured the Commons would have the chance to block a "no deal" Brexit. Theresa May today won a major Commons victory over her flagship Brexit bill / PA The legislation subsequently returned to the Upper House in the final stage of "parliamentary ping-pong", where it passed without a vote. The Department for Exiting the EU said it marked a "crucial step" in the UK preparations for leaving the bloc. "It is a good moment for all those who want a smooth and orderly exit," a spokesman said. The Bill, which is vital to ensure a smooth withdrawal from the EU, will now go forward to receive Royal Assent and become law. Loading.... Earlier, there were dramatic scenes at Westminster as MPs were told shortly before the key vote that an official ministerial statement would be issued on Thursday making clear it is ultimately for Speaker John Bercow to decide whether they get a "meaningful vote" on a no-deal withdrawal from the EU. The concession was accepted by leading pro-EU Tory Dominic Grieve, who was greeted with jeers of "shame" from the opposition benches when he declared he would back the Government. But it was dismissed as a fudge by Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon and described as meaningless by Labour whips. Despite the concession six Tory rebels voted for the amendment, while on the Labour side four pro-Brexit MPs defied their whips to vote with the Government against it. Climbdown: Tory rebel Dominic Grieve / AFP/Getty Images Mr Grieve had tabled an amendment to the bill, requiring MPs to be given the opportunity to approve or reject the Government's plans for the next steps in the case that no agreement can be reached with Brussels by Brexit Day in March next year. With the Government instead offering only an unamendable "neutral motion" allowing MPs to take note of the situation, Mrs May was thought to be facing a knife-edge vote. Downing Street's determination to force their motion through was indicated when Tory whips made clear they would not abide by a parliamentary convention allowing votes to be "nodded through" from ambulances and cars in the courtyard outside if MPs are too ill to physically pass through the voting lobbies. Bradford West's Naz Shah, who has been ill, was pushed in to vote in a wheelchair with a sick bucket on her lap, in scenes which fellow Labour MP Catherine McKinnell said showed an "utter lack of humanity and compassion" from the Government. Meanwhile pregnant Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson and Labour MP Laura Pidcock turned out to oppose the PM's plans despite being close to their due dates. The statement to be issued on Thursday by Brexit Secretary David Davis states explicitly that the parliamentary rule-book gives the Speaker the power to determine whether a motion is amendable or not. It also notes the parliamentary convention that time is made available to debate motions tabled by MPs on matters of concern. But Downing Street left no doubt ministers are confident of drafting a motion which Mr Bercow will deem to be unamendable. Mrs May's official spokesman told reporters: "We will ensure that under standing orders the motion we bring forward is neutral." Mr Grieve said the statement amounted to an "obvious acknowledgement of the sovereignty of this place over the executive in black and white language". A former glamour model has revealed how she was groomed by Isis recruiters to become the next White Widow Sally Jones . Kimberley Miners, 29, said British born Islamic State militant Naweed Hussain contacted her on Facebook after she began sharing videos showing the plight of children affected by the Syrian war. He contacted the former page three model every day and shared propaganda including dozens of images and videos and even a bomb making manual, she told The Sun. She told newspaper she was being groomed to become "the next Sally Jones" - a notorious female Isis recruit from Kent who moved to Syria with her son JoJo and was killed in an airstrike in October last year. 'Vulnerable' Kimberley Miners was targeted after breaking up with her fiance / SWNS.com Ms Miners, who previously worked as a rubbish collector, said: I was totally taken in. I was groomed and I fell for it. I was a propaganda trophy to be won, the next Sally Jones. And they wanted me at all costs. I dread to think what would have happened. Sally Jones moved to Syria from Kent / Rex Ms Miners, who says she started using social media after suffering a miscarriage and splitting up with her fiance, was arrested after anti-terror police intercepted messages from Hussain encouraging her to visit Syria. Hussain convinced Ms Miners to change her name to Aisha Lauren al-Britaniya and she struck up friendships with women already living in Syria. Kimberley Miners, who used to be rubbish collector, was arrested over messages encouraging her to visit Syria / SWNS.com Jones and 15-year-old Amira Abase who travelled to Syria from London with two schoolfriends were among Ms Miners Facebook friends, according to the Sun. Hussain had also been grooming a number of other British women including 18-year-old Safaa Boular who last week became the youngest woman to be convicted of planning a UK terror attack as part of an all-female terror cell. Safaa Boular plotted a terror attack on the British Museum / REUTERS Ms Miners was arrested in October 2016 after dropping out of a course aimed at stopping her online behaviour. Despite facing 10 years in prison, she was released with no further action in March 2017 after 17 months on bail, North East Counter Terrorism Police confirmed. L ord Sugar was today facing calls to be sacked from his role on the BBC's Apprentice after likening the Senegal World Cup team to beach vendors in Marbella. Labour MP Dawn Butler led calls for the billionaire businessman to be disciplined by TV bosses after he posted the picture of the Senegalese World Cup squad which had been edited to include a picture of handbags and sunglasses laid out on sheets. In the now-deleted tweet, Lord Sugar wrote: "I recognise some of these guys from the beach in Marbella. Multi tasking resourceful chaps." In a subsequent tweet, he said he thought his post was 'funny'. He posted: "I cant see what I have to apologise for.... you are OTT... its a bloody joke", before later issuing a grovelling apology. Lord Sugar initially defended his 'racist' tweet as 'funny' / AFP/Getty Images Ms Butler, Labour MP for Brent Central, has said the BBC, which airs Lord Sugar's reality programme The Apprentice, should take "swift action" against him. She wrote, referring to The Apprentice star's common phrase: "Take a look at the BBC's Code of Conduct. It's time the @BBC pulled @Lord-Sugar into the boardroom and told him 'You're Fired'." Football fan hits back at Lord Sugar's Senegal slur Ms Butler had earlier tweeted that she was "very troubled after seeing @Lord-Sugar racist tweet". Dawn Butler called for BBC bosses to take 'swift action' against Lord Sugar / PA Wire/PA Images She added: "I will be writing to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards and the @BBC calling for an immediate investigation. Racism has no place in Parliament or society. "Swift action must be taken." Actress Kelechi Okafor tweeted: "Let me tell you why @Lord_Sugar is a wasteman. Hes one of those wilfully ignorant people who thinks he cant be racist because he grew up poor. "The tweet is overtly racist but he has said with his chest that he has nothing to apologise for." BBC World News anchor Babita Sharma said it was a "shocking, vile tweet that you take a screen grab of because you know it will soon be deleted." Lord Sugar eventually apologised for the tweet and deleted messages in which he had defended himself. He wrote: "I misjudged me earlier tweet. It was in no way intended to cause offence, and clearly my attempt at humour has backfired. I have deleted the tweet and am very sorry." The original tweet showed all 11 members of the team that beat Poland 2-1 in Russia last night, including Liverpool star Sadio Mane and Evertons Idrissa Gueye. Senegal are ranked 27th in the world in official FIFA rankings. Critics urged people to complain to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards about the tweet. Lord Sugar sits as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords after quitting the Labour Party in 2015, saying he was "disillusioned" at the direction of the party. The latest season of the BBC's hit show The Apprentice is due to air later this year. The US version of the show has previously been hosted by now-US President Donald Trump. P rime Minister Theresa May said a vote on a specific upskirting law will return to the Commons as soon as possible, and that offenders will be added to the sex offenders register. Mrs May said the bill will return to the commons this week with a second reading planned before July 28. Ms May described upskirting as a "hideous invasion of privacy." Officials said the bill would mean perpetrators were "properly punished". It comes after Sir Christopher Chope stopped the Voyerism (Offences) Private Members Bill from completing its second reading in the Commons on Friday by calling out "Object." MP Christopher Chope who blocked the upskirting bill / PA He faced backlash with his parliamentary office adorned with pairs of knickers in protest. Following the objection, Ms May told Cabinet that upskirting was "an invasion of privacy that leaves victims feeling degraded and distressed." Sir Christopher insisted that he supported the Bill's purpose of outlawing the practice of taking photographs up someone's clothing without consent, but was acting on a long-held principle that has seen him routinely oppose backbench bills. The Christchurch MP complained that he was being "scapegoated" over the issue and urged the Government to find the "fastest, fairest and surest passage" for a Bill banning the practice. Without a specific law, victims in England and Wales must seek prosecution of upskirting through other legal avenues, such as outraging public decency or harassment. B ritons planning summer holidays in Spain could face chaos after Spanish air traffic controllers threatened strike action. Workers at the Barcelona Control Centre, which controls the whole of Spains east coast and the Balearics, said walkouts could take place in July. It comes amid an on-going row over staffing levels, with air traffic controllers claiming they are overstretched and do not get enough rest posing a safety risk. The strikes will affect flights landing at airports in Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza. The first strike had initially been scheduled to begin today, but it was suspended for at least two weeks after positive talks with the government-owned air control firm Enaire. Workers at the Barcelona air traffic control centre claim they are overstretched / Getty Images Spains change of government after socialist Pedro Sanchez took over from Mariano Rajoy - who lost a vote of confidence due to a corruption scandal within his party - also contributed to the suspension of strikes. But a spokesperson for personnel at the control centre, Raul Tobaruela, has now said that he does not expect a deal to be reached with the new government and Enaire. Mr Tobaruela previously said that if no concrete offer is made which ensures controllers will have adequate time off, the strikes will go ahead. There is no fixed date yet but if strikes do take place, it is likely to be in July, the busiest month for tourists travelling to Spain. P resident Donald Trump has signed an executive order to keep families together at the southern US border, following global outrage at the practice of separating children from their parents. The President said at the White House that he doesn't like the sight of children being separated from their families. He said, "We are keeping families together." But the president added the "zero tolerance" policy will continue. The harsh rules were introduced in order to deter illegal immigrants, but pictures of children crying as their parents were detained were widely seen and condemned. Trump displays the executive order on immigration policy / REUTERS Upon the signing of the executive law, Vice President Mike Pence said the President will be calling upon Congress to change the laws. Mr Trump adds that the word "compassion" comes into it. The President has been trying to win over congressional support on immigration amid a crisis along the border involving the separation of immigrant children from their families. Watched by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Vice President Mike Pence, Donald Trump signs an executive order on immigration / AFP/Getty Images Watched by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Vice President Mike Pence, Donald Trump signs an executive order on immigration (AFP/Getty Images) Earlier, Mr Trump stressed that the country will "still have to maintain toughness or our country will be overrun by people, by crime". The drastic change in policy comes hours after Mr Trump blamed the "Fake News" media and Democrats in a series of tweets defending his "zero tolerance" stance on immigration. The 'zero tolerance' policy on immigration has sparked backlash across the globe / EPA Homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has reportedly been working on executive action that would end the separation process. The president told reporters: "We are also going to count on Congress, obviously, but we are signing an executive order in a little while." Children and workers are seen at a tent encampment recently built near the Tornillo Port of Entry on June 19 / Getty Images He added: "I'm going to be signing an executive order in a little while before I go to Minnesota but, at the same time, I think you have to understand, we're keeping families together but we have to keep our borders strong. "We will be overrun with crime and with people that should not be in our country." US Border Patrol agents take Central American asylum seekers into custody / Getty Images The effort marks a dramatic departure for a US administration that has been insisting that it has no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of the law and a court decision. Ms Nielsen, the president and other officials have repeatedly said the only way to end the practice is for Congress to pass new legislation, though both Democrats and some Republicans have said the president could reverse it with a simple phone call. Harrowing audio of migrant children in US detention centre But Mr Trump blamed Democrats for obstructing his efforts to change immigration laws in the US in two tweets on Wednesday. He tweeted: "The Fake News is not mentioning the safety and security of our Country when talking about illegal immigration. "Our immigration laws are the weakest and worst anywhere in the world, and the Dems will do anything not to change them & to obstruct-want open borders which means crime! "The news in recent days has been dominated by images of children held in cages at border facilities, as well as audio recordings of young children crying for their parents. He added: "It's the Democrats fault, they won't give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation. They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. "Republicans want security. But I am working on something - it never ends!" The administration recently put into place a "zero tolerance" policy in which all unlawful border crossings are referred for prosecution - a process that moves adults to the custody of the US Marshals Service and sends many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the Obama administration, such families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation. T he Trump administration is expecting North Korea to return up to 200 sets of remains of soldiers who died during the Korean War, officials say. US officials confirmed that plans to receive the remains were in motion but said that the exact date when they will be transferred is not yet decided. CNN reported that the Trump administration said it would be ready to receive the remains as early as next week. President Donald Trump said North Koreas agreement to return the remains was an example of one of the successes to come out of the historic summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore. During a press conference following the summit last week, Mr Trump said: I asked for it today. And we got itThe remains will be coming back. Theyre going to start that process immediately. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency an estimated 7,697 Americans were unaccounted for after the Korean War. It is believed up to 5,300 remains are located in North Korea. "On several occasions in the past, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) officials have indicated they possess as many as 200 sets of remains they had recovered over the years," a DPAA spokesman said. The commitment established within the Joint Statement between President Trump and Chairman Kim would repatriate these as was done in the early 1990s and would reinforce the humanitarian aspects of this mission." Trump-Kim historic nuclear summit - in pictures 1 /11 Trump-Kim historic nuclear summit - in pictures North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) shakes hands with Donald Trump during their historic summit Getty Images Kim Jong Un (L) walks with President Trump (R) at the start of the talks AFP/Getty Images A historic moment. President Donald Trump shakes hands as he meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un AP The pair made history as they shook hands for the first time in Singapore AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump smiles while seated with members of his delegation during the US-North Korea summit AFP/Getty Images The North Korea leader Trump stand together at the Capella resort AP North Korea's leader looks on while seated with members of his delegation during the talks AFP/Getty Images The summit got underway shortly after 9am local time on Tuesday AFP/Getty Images North Korea leader Kim Jong Un listens to Trump as they look out from a balcony at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island AP North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiles as he meets with President Donald Trump AP President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sentosa Island AP The DPAA said between 1990 and 1994, the US recovered 400 remains in North Korea. From 1996 to 2005, a further 229 caskets containing remains were recovered. Of the remains transferred to the US, those that can be identified will be returned to the deceased family members. U S right-wing commentator Ann Coulter became embroiled in a fierce clash with Piers Morgan over Donald Trumps new hard-line immigration policy. Speaking during an explosive interview on Good Morning Britain, Ms Coulter defended the new zero-tolerance policy and the separation of children from parents at the southern border. If somebody walks into my house Im going to pull a gun on them, and dont whine to me that thats so cruel to pull a gun on them. You dont want me to hold a gun on you, dont break into my house, dont come in, she said. The US commentator was slammed by Morgan for defending Trumps immigrant policy which has seen 2,300 children separated from their suspected illegal immigrant parents. Ann Coulter accused the seperated children of being "actors" / Getty Images Ms Coulter has previously claimed that traumatised children in detention camps are actors part of a political stunt to tarnish the United States and that they are "child actors". During the heated ITV interview, Mr Morgan said: They are not actors, they are not at a summer camp. They are being kept in wire cages under tinfoil. They have no toys and in some cases no nappies. They are not with their parents Why cant you find it in your heart, rather than label them a bunch of actors, to accept this part of this immigration policy is cruel, inhumane and barbaric? A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border / Getty Images Ms Coulter responded by saying: Theres a very easy way not to be put in these camps and thats not to come into the country; to stay in Mexico. Trumps zero-tolerance immigration policy has sparked fury across the globe in recent days after distressing images of children being separated from their parents after crossing the US border emerged. The policy began in April and means that illegal immigrants are being prosecuted as criminals even if they plan to seek asylum in the US. Donald Trump introduced his "zero-tolerance" immigration policy in April / RS/MPI/Capital Pictures The new policy has led to children being separated from their parents as they attempt to cross the border from Mexico into the US. The parents are being sent to federal prison in the US while children are being housed in detention centres. Trump defended his zero-tolerance policy on Monday claiming the US will not be a migrant camp. T he US has pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, with ambassador Nikki Haley branding the organisation bias and not worthy of its name. Ms Haley said she had travelled to the councils headquarters in Switzerland a year ago to call for reforms and gave it opportunity after opportunity to make changes. Speaking to reporters at the state department on Tuesday, the US ambassador to the UN added that it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded. She had previously accused the Geneva-based council, formed in 2006, of "chronic anti-Israel bias" and said the US was reviewing its membership. Responding to todays decision, the UN human rights commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein called the US withdrawal "disappointing, if not really surprising, news". Explaining the move, Ms Haley said: "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights. Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley arrive to announce the US's withdrawal / REUTERS Appearing alongside her at the state department, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there was no doubt that the council once had a "noble vision." But today we need to be honest," Mr Pompeo said. "The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights." The announcement came just a day after Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. Ms Haley did however suggest the decision need not be permanent, adding that if the council did adopt reforms, "we would be happy to rejoin it." She said the withdrawal notwithstanding, the US would continue to defend human rights at the United Nations. The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's "America First" policy. Although numerous officials have said repeatedly that "America First does not mean America Alone," the administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses since it took office. Since January 2017, it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the UN educational and cultural organisation and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminium against key trading partners, recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv. Opposition to the decision from human rights advocates was swift. A group of 12 organisations including Save the Children, Freedom House and the United Nations Association - USA said there were "legitimate concerns" about the council's shortcomings but that none of them warranted a US exit. E ven on summer holidays, the true Londoner suffers from FOMO. No one wants to be stuck on a sunlounger with a duff thriller, casting envious glances at their neighbours cracking literary find or impressively weighty analysis of the world. So here, we have digested the ideal beach reads for all tastes, moods and holiday situations. Plus, weve supplied a classic alternative for those who dont want to be slaves to modernity. For talking points The Power by Naomi Alderman Sure to galvanise debate among both sexes, Aldermans fourth novel imagines a world where girls develop the ability to generate and discharge electricity through their bodies. Suddenly the female of the species is deadlier than the male, with immediate consequences in America, Saudi Arabia, India, Moldova This brilliantly simple idea enables Alderman to examine gender issues in a snappy, smart story that carries a real charge (sorry). 6.99 | Waterstones | Buy it now Do say: Im so enjoying this deft dystopian satire that upends gender imbalances. Dont say: Is it a biography of darts player Phil Taylor? Classic alternative: The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. Best thing to read before its ruined on telly Swing Time by Zadie Smith Race, parenting, cultural appropriation and the sublime dance moves of forgotten black icons theyre all here in Smiths tale of two mixed-race Willesden girls who pursue radically different paths. It has been bought by Steve Coogans Baby Cow, but if past TV adaptations of Smiths work are anything to go by, youll be better off savouring her crisp descriptions in print. 6.47 | Amazon | Buy it now Do say: Smith goes global in her beady analysis of the cultural melting pot. Dont say: Who on earth were those musicians the Nicholas Brothers? Classic alternative: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (which is being adapted for TV by the Call the Midwife team). Completely unreadable novel to pose with Phone by Will Self The third part of Will Selfs trilogy is unashamedly demanding, a 617-page modernist riposte to the culture of listicles, tweets and soundbites, with radical punctuation and no paragraph breaks, that takes in altered mental states, drug dependency and war. Yeah, right: like youre really gonna read that when the pool and a second round of pina coladas are beckoning 14.44 | Amazon | Buy it now Do say: Im hanging up now. Dont say: Ill call you back when Ive finished it. Classic alternative: The Interrogative Mood: A Novel by Padgett Powell (which is written as a series of questions? With no full stops? Just lots of questions?). Most mind-blowing idea-gasm Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari Yes, it was first published in 2015, but it will probably take the average reader at lEast two years even to partly digest this exhilarating extrapolation of humankinds probable future by the Israeli historian. Robots wars, human algorithms, the way we treat animals, and how lawns became a signifier of wealth are just some of the concepts with which Harari blows your cranium open. 4.99 | Amazon | Buy it now Do say: One of the most exciting thinkers around. Dont say: Homodeus? Isnt that the play about Mozart and Salieri? Classic alternative: Hararis previous book, Sapiens . The best books to read this summer - in pictures 1 /9 The best books to read this summer - in pictures The hottest new releases to delve into this summer The Marsh Kings Daughter by Karen Dionne When the news that notorious abductor the Marsh King has escaped prison reaches his daughter, Helena realises its just a matter of time before he comes for her. Although she has never told her husband or daughters that she was born in captivity to a kidnapped 17 year old mother, she knows shell have to do everything in her power to stop her father repeating his past crimes. In this riveting story, we learn of Helenas love for her father and consider the complex issue of Stockholm Syndrome. Against the backdrop of her meticulously curated life, the brutality of Helenas past is jarring to read. Although there are shades of Emma Donahues Room here, Dionne explores more thoroughly the relationship between captor and captive, the heavy anchoring of a familial bond and the exploitation of childhood innocence. 12.99, Little, Brown, Buy it now Selfie by Will Storr Its the 21st century and the village mentality is long gone. We now live in the world of the prolific individual and theres more pressure than ever to have the perfect body, the perfect partner, the perfect job - essentially, the perfect life. In a searing commentary on modern society, Will Storr explores the history of how this came to be and why, despite our natural cynicism, we find ourselves desperately trying to achieve the impossible. Storrs work sheds a harsh light on our almost holographic strive for both realism and perfection and the self-absorption that has insidiously crept upon us. 13.77, Wordery, Buy it now How To Stop Time by Matt Haig Theres something about Matt Haigs new book that makes you feel like its a story youve been longing to read. Protagonist Tom Hazard has been alive for centuries. Due to a rare condition, his body ages 15 times slower than everyone elses meaning hes lived through Elizabethan England, New Yorks industrial revolution and everything in between. By not falling in love, Tom has so far managed to survive the tragedy of the world decaying around him. But, as in any good story, his best laid plans are always scuppered, forcing him to realise that by so cautiously existing, hes really not been living at all. Haigs proficiency in writing for children has lent a gentleness that cuts to the very heart of this work and its readers. 9.99, Waterstones, Buy it now An Almond for a Parrot by Wray Delaney Set in the mid 18th century, An Almond for a Parrot follows a young girl with magical powers who finds her way into high class prostitution. Although on first glance the plotline seems somewhat off kilter and there is a substantial amount of romping, the waters of this story actually run deeper. In a world where womens lives were tied to those of their often cruel or useless husbands, Tully sets about finding a way to govern her own fate. Delaney sheds a harsh light on that period of history, in which honourable men were often lost amongst the wolves. 7.99, Amazon, Buy it now Why Im No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo- Lodge For many, the notion of racism brings to mind extreme, white supremacists rather than the average white person walking down the street. The idea that its actually still very much a part of society today is an uncomfortable one, but Reni Eddo Lodge tells it how it is. Stemming from the original blog post she penned back in 2014 in response to the lifetime of frustrating conversations she has attempted to participate in, Eddo Lodge decided to highlight the structural racism that we dont like to talk about, and certainly dont like to think still exists in Britain today. The fact that we live in a society that undoubtedly benefits white people at the cost of people of colour (the authors preferred term) hits the reader immediately and is a point that is so obviously true and yet so routinely overlooked. 8.99, Amazon,Buy it now The Power by Naomi Alderman Winner of this years Baileys Womens Prize for Fiction, Aldermans novel dares us to imagine what the world would be like if women were able to administer electric shocks from their fingers. Set in a not-too-distant Dystopia, women start discovering that their powers give them the leverage they need to rule over men. If you replace the allegory of magic powers with the real issue- equality and control- you can see the parallels to the modern day also begin to ponder what the world would be like if men no longer ruled the world. Ricocheting between the readers conscience and mind,. Alderman is able to combine killer story telling with her technological and scientific knowledge to create a story that is both unique and lingering. 5.84, Amazon,Buy it now I Cant Believe You Just Said That by Danny Wallace From the blatant bargers on the tube to the passive aggressive vigilantes on Twitter, Danny Wallace wonders when we all got so rude. In this hilarious anthropological observation, he trawls the globe for critics, psychologists, cab drivers and politicians to discover why, for some reason, we cant just all get along. Bringing his usual shrewd wit and casual sarcasm, the bestselling author of Yes Man once again delivers a light-hearted commentary on a behaviour that, particularly in London, weve accepted as a social norm. 6.49, Amazon,Buy it now -A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay Gay found this book so harrowing to write, the release date was pushed back by several months. Having written extensively on feminism and womanhood in her bestselling previous works, Bad Feminist and Difficult Women, Gay now turns her discerning eye even more inwardly to examine her own relationship with food and her body- delving into her childhood and adolescence and the moments that have signposted her current relationship with herself. In doing so, she casts her gaze more widely to the human struggle between want and need in a candid and often ruthless way. 9.79, Amazon,Buy it now Best way to escape the liberal echo chamber The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray If you are a left-leaning globalist this personal account of what he calls Europes suicide by gay, atheist, Right-wing commentator Murray will serve as a counterblast to your certainties. Murray theorises that by embracing multiculturalism and immigration the continent has sacrificed its own culture and values. Remain voters: see also David Goodharts The Road to Somewhere. 13.29 | Amazon | Buy it now Do say: Murray does the groundwork, and probably meets more refugees than the average bleeding-heart liberal. Dont say: Fancy a shawarma, Dougie boy? Classic alternative: The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich von Hayek. Best for chin-stroking global-historical perspective Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydidess Trap? by Graham Allison Oh come on, you know about Thucydides Trap, dont you? Its a pattern of events whereby a rising power confronts a dominant one and war becomes likely if not inevitable. According to historian Allison, this pattern has recurred 16 times in the past 500 years and war was the result in 12 of them. Will Donald Trump and Xi Jinping make it an unlucky 13? 25.28 | Amazon | Buy it now Do say: Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are condemned to repeat them. Dont say: Hey, Mr President, dya wanna read this? Classic alternative: Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan. Most valiant attempt to stop us going to hell in a handcart Post-Truth: Why We Have Reached Peak Bullshit and What We Can Do About It by Evan Davis Among a raft of books analysing the current trend towards alternate facts lies in all fields, from politics to the press to social media, the Newsnight presenters is by far the most larky and engaging. It even suggests strategies for sifting through what Davis rightly calls the bullshit. 16.87 | Amazon | Buy it now Do say: Facts are stubborn things but statistics are pliable especially when written on the side of a bus. Dont say: Evan Davis? Fake news! SAD! Classic alternative: 1984 by George Orwell. Best vicarious escape from urban life The Seabirds Cry by Adam Nicolson You may be walking in the Scottish Highlands or camping in the Sahara, but at holidays end you know you will have to return to the hectic grind of London life. This lovely book by the scion of the Bloomsbury literary dynasty will root you in a world of spume and plumage, evoking ocean-going birds through limpid prose and delightful illustrations by Kate Boxer. 16.99 | Waterstones | Buy it now Do say: If we forget the natural world, we forget ourselves. Dont say: Bet you I can hit that albatross from here! Classic alternative: Nature Cure by Richard Mabey. Best medical memento mori Your Life in My Hands a Junior Doctors Story by Rachel Clarke A new and urgent entry into the burgeoning literary subgenre of the frontline medical memoir, this a heartfelt protest against the running-down of the NHS from a former documentarian who retrained in medicine at 29 and specialises in end-of-life care. Clarke also spearheaded opposition to Jeremy Hunts contract for junior doctors. 7.63 | Amazon | Buy it now Do say: The NHS is on a burning platform. Dont say: Take a spoonful of privatisation and call me in the morning. Classic alternative: Do No Harm by Henry Marsh (yes, it was published in 2014 but its already a classic). Best debut thriller from a country that hasnt had its crime fiction completely plundered yet The Dry by Jane Harper An award-winner in its native Australia, in this first book from journalist Harper a local cop investigates the murder of a family in a small town enduring the worst drought in 100 years. This could be the start of an Antipodean wave that will overtake Scandi noir. 6.47 | Amazon | Buy it now Do say: Its a brutal and uncompromising country, a perfect setting for thrillers. Dont say: Id like to option it but can we change the location to Sydney? Classic alternative: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by B Traven. Best cutting-edge non-thriller debut Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney Aged 26 and already saddled with the rather glib label of Salinger for the Snapchat generation, Dubliner Rooney made an undeniable impact with this debut novel about a millennial would-be writer, her ex-girlfriend and the older couple with whom she becomes embroiled. A zingily written literary page-turner. 3.99 | Amazon | Buy it now Do say: Its sort of a post-gender, post-monogamy take on Tender is the Night. Dont say: Gosh, does that sort of thing REALLY go on in Dublin? Classic alternative: Bonjour Tristesse , by Francoise Sagan. The Booker novel with the most all-round kudos The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy Yes, Mike McCormacks Solar Bones is written as a single sentence, and yes Colson Whiteheads The Underground Railroad has already won a Pulitzer... but Arundhati Roy has come back 20 years after her debut novel won the Booker, with a big, bold, post-colonial saga featuring a transgender protagonist, and she has spent the intervening years fighting for ecological causes and independence for Kashmir, and publishing non-fiction. Plus, constant exposure to the cover on holiday will act as a check and a caution to those annoying friends of yours who insist on saying upmost. 18.99 | Waterstones | Buy it now Do say: Its worth the wait. Dont say: Why did it take her so long? J ohn Cleese is not a fan of Belgians. The comic, 78, branded them fat and beer-sodden among other insults in a Twitter rant which saw him rank the cities on his recent The Last Time To See Me Before I Die tour. Cleese listed the best places he had visited before describing the Belgian city of Hasselt as one of the "worst" he had performed in. He tweeted: Just finished 35th show of 35. Best audiences: Helsinki, Reykjavik, Bergen, Copenhagen, Zwolle, Hamburg, Cologne, Breda, Haarlem, Zurich, Frankfurt, Vienna and Zagreb. Worst: Lazy, fat, beer-sodden, pseudo-French Belgian b******* in Hasselt. Like reading Moby Dick to nomads. Causing offence: John Cleese had a rant at Belgians / Twitter/ John Cleese He later followed it up with an apology, posting: An apology to the citizens of Hasselt. It was quite wrong of me to describe them as pseudo-French. They are, of course, pseudo-Dutch. The remark riled some Belgians with a spokeswoman for the Ethias Arena where he performed, saying they had been left shocked. Lazy, fat and beer-sodden? Those are really not our visitors, she told the Daily Mirror. And it is certainly not that people from Hasselt and surroundings cannot behave themselves as opposed to those in other European cities. But others saw the funny side with one Twitter user saying they were honoured and proud while another was thankful to Cleese for putting Hasselt on the map, tweeting: Hurray! You mentioned us! :D *best day ever*. One user posted: I take this as a compliment! Another wrote: As a true Belgian, I've always liked your legendary sense of humour ... I knew you are a fan of Belgian beer culture! B rooklyn Beckham made sure he was camera ready as he attended the star-studded V&A Summer Party in London. Beckham - a keen photographer - stepped out on the pink carpet at the glitzy bash, held on Wednesday in partnership with Harrods, with his black camera on his arm. The 19-year-old even turned photographer as he snapped the paps, flashing a playful smile. Beckham, the eldest child of A-list couple Victoria and David, wore all-black for the event at the famous museum in West London. V&A Summer Party 2018 Last year, the starlet released a book full of his photographs after relocating from London to New York to study photography at university. V&A Summer Party 2018: In pictures 1 /11 V&A Summer Party 2018: In pictures Brooklyn Beckham arrives at the V&A Summer Party in London Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images Brooklyn Beckham Dave Benett Lisa Snowdon Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images Claudia Winkleman Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images Grayson Perry Dave Benett Princess Beatrice Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images Caprice Bourret Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images Ellie Bamber Getty Images Brooklyn Beckham Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images Laura Bailey Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images Lady Victoria Hervey Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images "Ive been taking photographs for a few years now. I take them of everything I do and see. I have been posting a lot of them on social media, Beckham told Compelo at the time. Strictly stunning: Claudia Winkleman at the glitzy London bash / Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images Beckham joined a whole host of celebrities at the event including Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman, who dazzled in leopard print. Also among the guests were Lady Victoria Hervey, Lisa Snowdon and actress Ellie Bamber. R apper Soldier Kidd has slammed claims that hes been trying to gain publicity over the death of XXXTentacion. The musician released a video denying his involvement in the shooting, but quickly faced a backlash for trying to raise his own profile off the back of the tragic incident. The Miami-based rapper has now released a follow-up statement, in which he insists that he wasnt trying to drum up publicity for himself. Everyone thinks this is a publicity stunt but its the internet bringing all the attention to me. I've worked my a** off and I'm not gonna let the internet determine my fate, he wrote on Instagram. XXXTentacion: The US rapper was shot dead in Florida / AP XXXTentacion: The US rapper was shot dead in Florida (AP) That being said I peep who the real is and I peep you cappin a** squarez . Im still thuggin under God ... #triplex. In his original post, shared on Monday, he said: I've been seeing a lot of comments, a lot of things going on social media saying I had something to do with XXXTentacion's passing. Listen man, we all got to love for all the n*****. I don't even know who the man was, you feel me?" XXXTentacion, whose real name is Jahseh Onfroy, was attacked in what police suspect was a robbery in Miami, Florida, on Monday. He was leaving RIVA Motorsports in Deerfield Beach shortly before 4pm local time when he was approached by two men, with at least one of the suspects shooting him, Broward Sheriff's Office said. Rapper XXXtentacion spoke about his legacy on Instagram live prior to his death Rapper XXXtentacion spoke about his legacy on Instagram live prior to his death Broward Sheriff's Office confirmed XXXTentacion's death on Twitter, saying in a statement: "The adult male that was taken to the hospital has been pronounced dead. "The adult male victim has been confirmed as 20 year old Jahseh Onfroy aka rapper XXXTentacion." D anny Dyer may soon be bowling into the Love Island villa wearing a ruff and shouting off with his head if fans get their way. Viewers are begging the EastEnders star to make an appearance to sort Adam out after the Geordie personal trainer smirked his way through Rosies tears after he blanked her for newcomer Zara. Dyers daughter Dani was left fuming over his behaviour and vented her anger in the Beach Hut. How long can Adam get away with this for? It upsets me because hes not really admitting it, she said. Hes basically making Rosie feel like its all her fault and this is why Im doing this and my heads been turned because of this. No mate its just because you want your cake and you want to eat it. Its just not fair, I dont like it. Tense: Adam and Rosie argue over his wandering eye / ITV Viewers don't like it either, so they've called on producers to recruit Danis tough guy dad to give Adam a dressing down. Wish Danny Dyer was Rosies dad's mate Adam wouldnt be so smug then (sic), tweeted one. Love Island's Adam and Rosie showdown Another posted: Kinda wish Adam had done that to Dani instead of Rosie just so we could witness Danny Dyer storming into the villa and leaving Adam a shadow of his former self. A third called for a petition, writing: Lets start a petition to get #DannyDyer over to #loveisland and sort out Adam. There is the possibility of a Danny V. Adam showdown after the actor previously joked about heading into the villa to see "slice of a geezer" Jack who has coupled up with his daughter. Danny posted a picture of himself skydiving into the Spanish villa for some cheeky tequilas with the pen salesman. Jack has fallen head-over-heels for the actors 22-year-old daughter and voiced his intentions to date her as they enjoyed a night in the Hideaway last week. A fter years of waiting, Android smartphones now have their own dedicated podcast app: Google Podcasts. Now when youre searching podcast on Google Play, there is a dedicated app for all your Android podcasting needs. Announcing the new app this week, Google said: We couldnt be more excited to help people around the world discover podcasts theyll love, and this is just the beginning. Thats not to say Android users have been underserved when it comes to podcasts. There are apps such as Sticher and Acast that have been making up for the lack of a Google own app. But, there are elements that Google can bring to its own podcast app that will make the listening experience better. For instance, if youre a podcast fan already, youll surely have lots of favourite shows you listen to. Beyond these shows, Google Podcasts will use artificial intelligence (AI) to offer recommendations, so if you really like true crime shows like Serial, it will serve up more series like this. As well, the app will seamlessly sync with the Google Assistant. Google says that if youre listening to a podcast on your phone on the way home from work, then you pick up when you arrive on your Google Home. You can now listen to podcasts on the Google Home / Google As part of the launch, Google is launching a new initiative to promote inclusive storytelling in podcasting. In the past, podcasting has been criticised for promoting only white, male voices in the top charts whereas only a quarter of the most popular podcasts tend to be hosted by women, and even fewer by people of colour. The podcasting company Gimlet dedicated an episode of the StartUp series to addressing its own diversity issues. As a result, Google is developing a program with the podcast industry to increase the diversity of voices and remove barriers to the medium. Currently a work in progress, with more details to come this summer, Google says the program will be guided by a global advisory board, with the primary goal of enabling skills development and experimentation from underrepresented voices. Its not just about giving those voices a platform, but also supporting them as they grow. Emma Gannon, host of the popular Ctrl Alt Delete podcast, regularly speaks out on the abuse she receives as a female podcast host, particularly with men writing negative reviews online. All of the negative comments are from old men who think what youre saying is total drivel because its almost like you have the audacity to post a 40-minute conversation about womens stuff, Gannon told the Standard. If Google is serious about promoting underrepresented voices, it needs to ensure it can offer ways to help people deal with this kind of abuse, too. E dTech (education technology) start-up MyTutor has raised another 5 million to expand its 1:1 tutoring offering across the UK and beyond. This brings the total raised by the London-based company to 10 million. Founded by Bertie Hubbard, Robert Grabiner and James Grant in 2013, MyTutor is now the UKs leading platform for online tuition. The platform connects pupils and university students from some of the top universities and sees tutoring sessions delivered using live streaming. And, while the average starting price for tutoring can hit 50 an hour in London, MyTutors prices start from a much more affordable 18 an hour. Parents tell us all the time that their child has become disengaged, theyve lost confidence or theyre not challenged. There is a huge diversity of needs in childrens learning that can be met with 1:1 support, Hubbard tells the Standard. Heres how MyTutor works: Parents can book a free session with a tutor to check compatibility with their child. Then all the sessions are carried out online, facilitated by a live stream between the pupil and the tutor on MyTutors platform. Theres also an online whiteboard so you can share documents and upload past papers. All sessions are recorded, so you can play them back when they have finished. The platforms tutors come from top-tier universities, such as Oxford, Cambridge and Durham. Hubbard says that only one in seven applicants are successful, and now there are 7,000 tutors on the platform. All potential tutors are vetted through an interview stage and safety is paramount at MyTutor. You can just have this world entirely for learning, says Hubbard. You dont need to physically meet anyone [to use MyTutor] or share contact details and everything is recorded. It makes the online world safer. All of MyTutor's sessions take place online using live streaming / MyTutor As well as working directly with parents, MyTutor also collaborates with 240 schools and universities in the UK to reach children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Birmingham University is one such example. It is part of the National Collaborative Outreach Programme, a 60 million governmental budget that funds outreach educational programmes. Under this programme, Birmingham collaborates with schools in its catchment area and funds 1:1 tuition programmes with MyTutor for local pupils to get their grades up for university. The scale of MyTutors prospects has impressed investors such as Stephen Welton, the CEO of Business Growth Fund and Mobeus Equity Partners. As MyTutor takes place entirely online, its easy for the platform to expand its offering, whether thats the number of tutors on board or the number of countries it can reach. In addition, the edtech sector is one of the fastest growing in the UK, according to EdTech, a new strategic partnership with government support. The countrys education exports industry is worth 17.5 billion a year, and the government hopes to increase this to 30 billion by 2020. Start-ups like MyTutor are one way to achieve that. No matter how big MyTutor grows, Hubbard insists that computers wont overtake the human element of tutoring. MyTutor is very much about somebody learning from a human. Were always going to be a community, have 1:1 support, but be tech-enabled, he says. As this evolves, we can offer a richer learning experience, but our expertise will be in finding the right place to learn. It helps that the platform delivers results too. When testing a control group of pupils, Hubbard says that the pupils made 1.7 grades progress in the subjects theyd received tutoring for, compared to 0.5 grades progress in the non-tutored subjects. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe BLUE SPRING STATE PARK The largest spring on the St. Johns River, Blue Spring is a designated Manatee Refuge and the winter home (mid-November through March) to a growing population of West Indian Manatees. For centuries, the spring area was home for Native Americans. In 1766 it was visited by Colonial American botanist John Bartram, but it wasn?t until 1856 that it was settled by Louis Thursby and his family. The Thursby house, built in 1872, remains standing. The spring?s crystal clear, 73 degree water can be enjoyed by swimmers, snorkelers, and certified scuba divers with a partner. Swimming or diving with the manatees is not permitted; this rule is strictly enforced. The river is popular for fishing, canoeing, and boating. River boat tours are available; for reservations, call St. Johns River Cruises at (386) 917-0724. The park has plenty of picnic areas and a hiking trail. For overnight stays, air-conditioned cabins, a full-facility campground, and primitive campsites are available. Florida state parks are open from 8 a.m. until sundown 365 days a year. Nature of the Area Blue Spring is a designated manatee refuge. Temperatures in the spring run remain a constant 72 degrees; creating a safe haven for the West Indian Manatee. To provide a safe warm water refuge for manatees during the winter season, the spring and spring run is closed to all water related activities including swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving and boating from November 15 through March 1. Learn more about the Manatee Rehabilitation Partnership (MRP) which monitors & tracks the manatees. Passes Annual Entrance Passes can be purchased at all park ranger stations and museums. If you require immediate use of your pass, this is the best option. Passes can be purchased during regular business hours 365 days a year. Please call the park in advance to ensure availability. Those who are eligible for discounted or free passes may use this method to receive their pass. Annual Entrance Passes may be purchased online by visiting the FLORIDA STATE PARKS ANNUALENTRANCE PASSES web page. FACILITIES AND ACTIVITIES OVERVIEW Day-Use Fishing yes Hiking Trail yes Swimming Beach yes Bike Trails yes Boating Launch Ramps yes Camping Primitive yes Water/Electric Sites yes Winter Activities yes Camping Blue Spring State Park has 51 campsites, which are located in the sand pine scrub. Available to each site is a table, water, electricity, and a grill. There is no sewage facilities at these sites, but there is a dump station in the Park. Pets are permitted in camping area, with proof of rabies vaccination. Blue Spring State Park also offers the Bedtime Story Camper Lending Library of picture books for campers aged four to nine. From manatees to insects, the Lending Library is a fun way to enhance your child's experience in the Real Florida. For a quiet afternoon or bedtime, share a story with your child to help explain the sights and sounds of Blue Spring. Ask the Ranger Station about how to check out a book. Cabins Blue Spring State Park offers six (6), two (2) bedroom cabins. Each cabin is equipped with a gas fireplace (available for use November through March), central heating and air conditioning, bathroom, fully equipped kitchen (stove and refrigerator), screened in porch, outdoor grill and picnic table. Linen, pillows, blankets and towels, cooking and eating utensils are also provided. You will need to bring personal use items such as soap, salt, pepper, radio, paper towels, etc. (Linen is NOT furnished on a daily basis). In each cabin, one bedroom is furnished with a double bed, the second bedroom is furnished with two single beds. A sleeper sofa is available in the Living room for additional guests. A maximum of six (6) guests are permitted in a cabin. Sorry, no pets are allowed in the cabins. One vehicle per cabin is permitted. The Bucharest Gendarmerie announced that the person who committed physical assault at the protests taking place in front of the Palace of Parliament has been identified and taken to the police section for a hearing, with all the necessary legal procedures to be taken. Approximately 100 people protested against the governing coalition, in front of the Palace of Parliament, in the Izvor Park area. They carry tricolor flags and vuvuzelas and chant: "PSD, the Red Plague!" (PSD - Social Democratic Party - editor's note), "DNA, will come to get ya!" (National Anti-Corruption Directorate), "Resignation!", "Criminals, criminals!", "Parliament of thieves and mobsters!", "United we save Romania!"They also spread banners on the green space with messages such as: "Referendum,", "Resignation," "Court of Corrupts in Romania."An incident occurred earlier during the manifestation when several protesters booed Deputy (from the Social Democratic Party) Nicolae Bacalbasa, who was passing through the Izvor Park. The MP was escorted by the gendarmes to the Izvor subway station. A few hundred people were protesting Wednesday evening in Victoriei Square in Bucharest against the Social Democratic Party (PSD) - Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) ruling coalition. The protesters blocked off a lane in the Antipa Museum area after an altercation with officers of the Highway Police. They were chanting "Jandarmeria apara hotia!"(Gendarmerie defend the thieves); "Hotii, hotii!"(Thieves, thieves); "Demisia!" (Resign); " "Iesiti din casa daca va pasa!" (Get out of if you care); "DNA sa vina sa va ia! " (Let DNA come to get you); "Dragnea, nu uita, Romania nu e a ta, sa faci tu ce vrei cu ea" (Dragnea, remember Romania is not yours, to do what you want with it); "Nu vrem sa fim condusi de hoti" (We do not want to be ruled by thieves), "Sa va fie frica, poporul se ridica" (Be afraid, the nation is rising up).Also in the area, on the sidewalk before the Antipa Museum, there was a table where signatures were collected for an initiative to free the public service of legally embattled people.The participants, people of all ages, were carrying Romania's flags, playing the vuvuzelas and shouting messages through an amplifier located in the squarer. Some of them stepped on the pavement before the Antipa Museum.Gendarmerie and Police officers were stationed for the rally. Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu announced on Tuesday that he has agreed with his counterpart from Burkina Faso, Alpha Barry, that it is necessary to relaunch bilateral relations in the interest of the two countries. "I was honored by the visit to Bucharest of Burkina Faso's chief diplomat, with whom I have had substantial talks and who strengthened my conviction that the relaunch of Romania's relations with the sub-Saharan African space and, in general, with the extra-European space is a fair measure and an appropriate corollary of the European and Euro-Atlantic orientation of our country. It is not the first such visit this year and (...) this dimension of our foreign policy will be further promoted with perseverance. We have agreed that it is necessary to take measures to relaunch bilateral relations in the interest of both sides," Teodor Melescanu said in a joint press statement with Alpha Barry, at the Foreign Ministry's headquarters in Bucharest. At the same time, Melescanu said that he signed with his counterpart from Burkina Faso a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two countries "in various fields, from political dialogue to forms of bilateral cooperation at the sectoral level", especially cooperation in education, which is (...) an area of excellence of Romania's relationship with sub-Saharan African partners. In this field, we can benefit from the experience gained in the university environment in Romania and the cooperation will take into account the interests and needs specific to each side," Melescanu said.He also said that he had an exchange of views with Alpha Barry on regional and international issues of interest to both sides, starting with the efforts made by Burkina Faso within the structure called G5 Sahel that brings together four other states in the region - Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Chad - in order to coordinate their efforts to combat the terrorist threats present in a special area of interest for Romania and for the whole of the European Union. The link between the efforts made in this area and the need to combat illegal immigration (...) is obvious and for our country, as the country to hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the first half of next year, it is of special importance," said Melescanu.He also specified that he had with his counterpart from Burkina Faso an exchange of views on Romania's priorities within the UN system, while exploring the possibilities of coordinating the positions of the two countries on the main points on the UN agenda.In his turn, the Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso said he enjoyed the discussions he had with his Romanian counterpart in areas such as agriculture, medicine, education and economic exchanges."We will intensify these relations," said Alpha Barry, adding that the relations between the two countries are "old." "I say the relations are strong and old because many people in Burkina Faso have been educated in Romania," Foreign Minister Burkina Faso said.He also mentioned that he also discussed with Melescanu on security issues. "We are still looking forward to developing this multilateral relationship, very soon, between the European Union and the G5 Sahel," Alpha Barry said. National Liberal Party (PNL) leader Ludovic Orban states on Tuesday that in case the censure motion is adopted in parliament, the Liberals have established that he is the candidate for the position of prime minister. "In case a government could be built around the National Liberal Party, this will be ONL's official nomination," Orban told Romania TV private TV broadcaster on Tuesday evening. He reiterated that PNL is ready to assume the responsibility of governing, reminding that a governing programme draft is being currently worked upon in the party's special committees.Orban recalled that on Wednesday [20 June, ed.n.] PNL will lodge a censure motion."The main objective is to end this government. For Romanians, the premier [Viorica Dancila, ed.n.] is already the target of jokes and mockery. There is no public outing without her making a blunder," the PNL leader pointed out.He said the negotiations for the support of the censure motion will be carried out to the very day of the debate and vote on this document."The first partners are the political formation in the Opposition - USR [Save Romania Union, ed.n.] and PMP [People's Movement Party, ed.n.]. For the rest, we are negotiating with everyone. Tomorrow (Wednesday, ed. n.) we lodge the censure motion. Negotiations will continue to the date of the debate and vote with each parliamentarian and each group. I have talked to them too [those from Pro Romania, ed.n.]. We will see tomorrow. We are waiting for signatures from them, too," Orban further said.Ludovic Orban further specified that PNL's target is to win the local and parliamentary elections. Romania will seek to achieve concrete results for the citizens through the activity that it will carry out when holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila stated on Wednesday in the plenary sitting of Parliament. "Romania will seek, through the activity that it will carry out at the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, to achieve concrete results for the citizens and make the most of the benefits that a solid, powerful and cohesive Union can bring to each citizen," Dancila stated. According to the Executive head, Romania's Presidency of the Council of the EU will seek that the Union's policies permanently refer to the principle of cohesion among the member states and the various social-economic categories."We take into account cohesion both as a common European value and as an expression of unity among the European Union's states and regions," the PM added. The ambassadors of the EU member states accredited in Bucharest showed concern regarding the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code passed in Parliament, a release by the Presidential Administration reads, following a meeting of President Klaus Iohannis with the EU diplomats. 'The EU member states' ambassadors have voiced concern as to the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code passed by the Romanian Parliament. From where they stand, to the extent these amendments will be enforced, the cooperation in the judicial and police areas between Romania and the other EU member states will be harmed. Moreover, there will be serious red flags regarding the guarantees offered by the Romanian state in reference to the correct use of the European funds our country benefits from,' the release says. According to the source, president Klaus Iohannis referred to the need to strengthen democracy and the rule of law, as paramount elements for our country's future path, and stressed that he will further pursue the major goal assumed from the very beginning of his mandate, to guarantee the independence of justice and further fight against corruption.'The President of Romania voiced belief that the Romanian citizens deserve pragmatic laws capable to contribute to the enhancement of the independence of justice and guarantee the functioning of the rule of law, in accordance with the European values,' the release adds.During the meeting, the President congratulated Bulgaria for its activity at the helm of the Council of the European Union, appreciating the neighbor country's pro-European attitude and commitment to deepen the European project, goals Romania fully shares. He emphasised the idea according to which the existence of the European Union is a plus for the member states, and our country will contribute, through the posture of Presidency of the Council of the EU included, to achieving a stronger, united and inclusive Union.In this respect, Iohannis said that Romania will pursue the promotion of a pragmatic approach and feasible objectives so that the citizens can better perceive the added value of the European design and benefit from concrete outcomes. The President also mentioned that our country is determined to support the general endeavors to overcome the dividing lines among the member states by the involvement of the European citizens and the promotion of joint, inclusive initiatives to the benefit of all the EU member states.Iohannis also spoke about the preparation of the Sibiu Summit on 9 May 2019, when a 'realistic, feasible' agenda of the EU's strategic priorities for 2019-2024 is going to be drafted.President Iohannis stressed that the compromise solution to result from the negotiations as regards the EU Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027 must be balanced and answer to both the new EU priorities and the appropriate financing need of the traditional policies, namely the cohesion and the common agricultural policy.Klaus Iohannis said that the period Romania will hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU, our country will strive towards the substantial advancement of negotiations regarding the future EU budget, so that a suitable and in due time political agreement be met.Iohannis underlined that our country will further advocate the joint efforts at EU level to strengthen the Union's internal security, as well as to re-establish the full implementation of the Schengen system. He reiterated in this context that the Schengen membership remains a major political priority for our country, and that a positive decision with regard to Romania's accession to this space will bring clear added value to all the member states, alongside the general target of consolidating the internal security of the Union.President Iohannis emphasised the importance of boosting the EU-NATO cooperation, adding that it is a goal of major importance for Romania. He also talked about the importance of ensuring an enhanced protection to the EU external borders with a view to efficiently managing migration, pleading for an integrated and comprehensive approach of this phenomenon, with an emphasis on the combat against its root-causes. Romania's Minister-delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu presented in Brussels the approach lines of Romania's Presidency to the Council of the European Union, highlighting that our country intends to become a cohesion factor at the EU's level, informs the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) in a press release sent to AGERPRES. Negrescu met on Tuesday, during the second part of the working visit he paid in Brussels, with Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic and with the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager. During talks, the Minister-delegate reiterated the efforts made by the Romanian Government during the preparation process and evoked the lines of approach of Romania's Presidency of the Council of the EU, from the perspective of its goal to place the citizen at the core of the European decision-making process.Victor Negrescu and Maros Sefcovic had an exchange of opinions concerning the current files at the level of the European Union with regard to energy."Romania's Presidency of the Council of the EU will pursue the demarches made by previous presidencies and envisages priority topics in the energy sector and the future of the Energy Union implementation and the development of the European energy infrastructure. We will act, during the 6 months of mandate, as an impartial mediator and we intend to become a cohesion factor at the level of the EU," Victor Negrescu pointed out.Discussions with Margrethe Vestager focused on aspects concerning the strengthening of the dialogue with the European Commission in the field of competition, the Minister-delegate highlighting that the implementation of the strategy for a single market at European level represents an interest topic for Romania's Presidency of the Council of the EU."Enforcing rules in relation to competition must be carried out in an actual, unitary way, at the level of the EU, and national competition authorities, through specific actions and with adequate tools, can contribute in creating a genuine single market. With this in mind, our message will be focused, in all six months of the mandate, on the need for economic, social and territorial convergence, with the purpose of enhancing the EU's competitiveness," Negrescu explained.Romania will hold, 1 January to 30 June 2019, the Presidency of the Council of the European Union Save Romania Union (USR) leader Dan Barna considers that the invalidation of Andrei Nastase's mandate who won the elections for Chisinau's Mayor's Office shows "what can happen when corruption rules in a state." "The invalidation of the vote for Andrei Nastase's investiture to Chisinau's City Hall show what can happen when corruption rules in a state. The decision of Chisinau's Court demonstrates that the interests of oligarchs does not take into account the democratic process and can steal the citizens' vote. What is now happening in Chisinau shows how fierce the fight for democracy and fairs justice is, both in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. It is important, however, to wait for the court's full motivation and to have confidence in the decision of the Court of Appeal in Chisinau that will solve the appeal announced by the elected mayor of the Moldovan Capital. We stand by Andrei Nastase's side," Barna wrote on Tuesday evening in a Facebook post. The court had not confirmed on Tuesday evening the legality of the local snap elections in Chisinau for the position of Mayor, carried out in two ballots, on 20 May and 3 June and Andrei Nastase's mandate, the winner of the poll, was not validated, the press in Chisinau reports.Andrei Nastase, quoted by deschide.md (open.md), stated that Tuesday's decision is "arbitrary" and will contest it within the legal 24-hour time frame at the Court of Appeal.The second round of the snap elections for the position of Chisinau's Mayor took place on 3 June, pro-European Andrei Nastase obtaining 52.57 percent of the votes, outrunning his opponent, the socialist Ion Ceban, who received 47.43 percent of the votes. Paul STREET An early challenge to the United States self-declared right to manage post-World War II global affairs from the banks of the Potomac came in 1950, when Korean forces joined by Chinese troops pushed back against the United States invasion of North Korea. Washington responded with a merciless bombing campaign that flattened much of the country. U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay boasted that we burned down every town in North Korea. LeMay proudly guessed that the gruesome U.S. assault killed a fifth of North Koreas population. The attack included napalm and chemical weapons and the bombing of dams a war crime for which Nazis were hanged at Nuremberg. The scale of the devastation was soul-numbing, enough to disgust even many veteran U.S. military observers. As Korea expert John Feffer has written: The U.S. used massive bombardments to erase North Korea from the map, destroying 75 percent of all physical facilities and using napalm on a large scale for the first timeThree million civilians fled south to escape the saturation bombingsIn June 1953, the United States bombed irrigation dams and the retaining wall of the Toksan reservoir, flooding cities and undercutting the capacity of North Koreans to grow food, acts considered war crimes when the Nazis did much the same to the Dutch. These monstrous transgressions went down the United States memory hole even as they took place and even as the leading public U.S. military journals of the day exulted over how the bombing of Korean dams sent Asians scurrying to survive. As far as most U.S.-Americans know, they never occurred and therefore hold no relevance to current U.S.-North Korean tensions. Things are different in North Korea, where every schoolchild learns about the epic crimes committed by the U.S. imperialist aggressor in the early 1950s. With the southern portion of the Korean peninsula retained for development within the Western-ruled order, the shattered north ripened into a crypto-Stalinist family dictatorship and paranoid garrison state that became the closest thing on Earth to a living example of the nightmare totalitarian regime depicted in George Orwells dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty Four hardly a shining role model for Third World peoples revolution even as it achieved significant economic growth with Chinese and Soviet bloc assistance through the 1970s . Its the only Third World country where everyone has good food, good housing, and good education, a left Peruvian writer claimed in 1981, but it is the saddest, most miserable country Ive ever been in in my life. The madness of the North Korean regime (and no doubt the sadness of its people) deepened in coming decades with no small help from harsh economic decline, famines, lost Soviet backing, U.S.-led economic sanctions, and hundreds of U.S. nuclear weapons and U.S.-South Korean military exercises (including simulated bombing and missile attacks) menacing North Korea up close. The North Korean dictatorship has long used the sanctions and military encirclement to rally North Koreas subject populace around the flag. George W, Bushs bizarre post-9/11 identification of North Korea as part of an Axis of Evil linking Pyongyang to Iraq and Iran provided no small justification for Kim Jong Ils February 2005 announcementthat North Korea had successfully developed a nuclear weapon. Just two and half years before this announcement, the world had seen Bush use blatantly false pretexts to invade defenseless Iraq, a criminal regime change operation that would lead to the premature death of at least half a million Iraqis (by one conservative estimate) between 2003 and 2013. Here we are now more than two generations out from the all-out U.S. air attack on civilian targets in North Korea. North Koreas current young and dynastic communist dictator, Kim Jong-un, is using the nuclear arsenal his now desperately poor nation developed to (successfully) discourage U.S. re-invasion as a bargaining chip to gain some economic relief from the West. Along with his zany old friend Dennis Rodman (recently seen tearfully wearing a Make America Great Again cap on CNN), Kim now has another bizarre U.S. media personality on his side. His new best American friend is his fellow arch-authoritarian Donald J. Trump, a reality television star and real estate mogul who happens (courtesy of the elitist and neoliberal nothingness of the dismal, dollar-drenched Democratic Party) to be the President of the United States and who is fresh off another Kim meeting (with fellow reality television star and onetime amateur pornography celebrity Kim Kardashian). The Trump-Kim Singapore summit (last Monday) was an almost surreal publicity stunt replete with Trumps presentation to Kim of a sensationally moronic mock movie trailer depicting (among other things) the potential glories of high-end condominium developments on what Trump calls North Koreas beautiful beaches. The geopolitical extravaganza was staged for two epically narcissistic and undemocratic heads of state who now find it politically useful to stand down from the reckless World Wrestling Federation-like nuclear braggadocio they teamed up last year. Rocket Man (as Trump disparagingly called Kim while promising his nation fire and fury last year) wants legitimation as a world leader and economic respite for his communist regime. The mentally deranged dotard (as Kim called Trump, promising to tame the orange-tinted beast with flames last year) wants to enter the pages of history as a great deal-maker and to win a better Nobel Peace Prize (the best one ever) than the one that uppity Harvard Law Black guy Barack Obama (Trumps strange and highly racialized negative obsession) got. The Nobel committee may be reluctant given Trumps decision to rip up Obamas Iran nuclear deal, which had rolled back economic sanctions in return for Iran agreeing not to develop nuclear weapons. Trump is standing down from war in Asia while ramping up for war in the Middle East, perhaps. After berating fellow G-7 leaders of Western capitalist democracy (an oxymoron) at the G-7 meetings, Trump returned from Singapore with pretend-joking praise for Kims iron hand at home. Hes the head of a country, and I mean hes the strong head, Trump told his official state television network, FOX News. Dont let anyone think anything different. He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same. Hilarious. Still, anyone who would rather not see Korea turned into a giant ashen cemetery should be glad to see anything like new peaceful negotiations start up between Washington and Pyongyang. The weird Trump-Kim bromance beats the two Dear Leaders trading threats of annihilation. Trumps agreement to halt the provocative (Trumps own accurate term) U.S.-South Korean military exercises on North Koreas borders is a welcome advance concession. As U.S. professors Jeffrey Sommers and Peter Paik write, the summit may reduce the risk of armed conflict, a prospect that China and Russia are certain to welcome along with the two KoreaThere is much to cautiously herald in the current movestoward peace in Korea. You wouldnt know it by listening to the partisan sniping from the imperial Democrats. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and other top corporate and liberal-interventionists in the United States second major war party (the Democrats) argued that the summit could be seen as worthwhile only if North Korean agreed to dismantle all their nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, cease all production and enrichment of uranium, collapse its nuclear weapons infrastructure, and quit ballistic missile tests. Those were ridiculous and impossible demands. They would amount to an unconditional North Korean surrender. No such total capitulation is remotely forthcoming from Pyongyang, not with North Koreas living memory of the appalling limited war damage the U.S. inflicted on it during the 1950s and not with Pyongyangs awareness of the numerous defenseless nations that have experienced U.S. invasion and U.S.-imposed regime change in this and the previous century. Besides the criminal U.S. invasion of Iraq, the North Koreans know what happened to Muammar Gadaffi after he gave up his chemical and nuclear weapons programs to enhance his dealings with the U.S.-led West. Trumps current threatening treatment of Iran,a possible prelude to a new Middle Eastern war, is yet another object lesson on why its useful for Pyongyang to possess nuclear weapons. De-nuclearization? Its unthinkable that either of the United States two imperial major parties would call for the openly murderous and racist occupation, apartheid, and terror state of Israel to dismantle and remove its hundreds of nuclear weapons (whose existence is an open secret across the Middle East and the global military and intelligence communities). The same goes for nuclear Pakistan, a longtime leading sponsor and breeding ground of Islamist terrorism. The United States has repeatedly blocked common-sense efforts to make the volatile Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone a reflection of Washingtons overriding loyalty to Israel. It is even more unthinkable for anyone who counts in the U.S. to call for the de-nuclearization of, well, hmm, the United States. Orwell would appreciate the classic double-think hypocrisy beneath all the U.S. media-politics bluster about the necessity of little North Korea fully de-nuclearizing while the worlds only Superpower undertakes a Darth Vader-esque upgrade of the greatest and highly thermonuclear weapons-of-mass destruction-complex known to history. The United States, the only nation to ever directly assault civilian populations with nuclear weapons (the criminal and unnecessary atom-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945), is currently embarking on an absurdly expensive top-to-bottom overhaul of a U.S. nuclear arsenal that already possesses 7000 warheads, with enough power between them to blow the world up many times. This $1.7 trillion re-build a bonanza for the high-tech weapons-industrial complex includes the creation of provocative new first-strike weapons systems likely to escalate the risks of nuclear exchanges with Russia and/or China. (Tell your liberal MSNBC-addicted Baby Boomer aunt not to blame Trump. The nuclear renovation was initiated under her darling Barack Obama, leader of a party that is positioning itself as the real and anti-Russian and CIA-backed party of Empire in the 2018 and 2020 U.S. elections.) This costly retooling heightens prospects for human self-extermination in a world that is in dire need of giant public investments to end poverty (half the worlds population lives on less than $2.50 a day), to replace fossil fuels with clean energy (we are marching to the fatal, mark of 500 carbon parts per atmospheric million within 50 years if not sooner), and to clean up the titanic environmental mess weve made of our planet. Millions live die in poverty every year while devilish war pigs evil minds that plot destruction, sorcerers of deaths construction (Ozzy Osborne) divert scarce resources from meeting needs to the ever-more-sinister building and maintenance of weapons of mass destruction (increasingly overlaid with the ugly genie-power of Artificial Intelligence). The North Korean regime is culpable on this score. So are the governments of Russia and China. Still, no other nation on Earth comes close to Superpower Uncle Sam source of 37% of the worlds military spending but 5% of the worlds population when it comes to privileging war over humanity or when it comes to projecting force (and selling weapons) and thus forcing others to prepare to defend themselves and discourage invasion on the global stage As reported in the platform of the recently formed U.S. Movement for a Peoples Party (MPP), the estimated cost of ending world hunger is $30 billion per year, about 4 percent of the annual American defense budget. The estimated cost of ending extreme poverty is $175 billion per year, about 24 percent of the annual defense budget. The United States perverted budgetary priorities (epitomized by the heedless Obama-Trump nuclear weapons upgrade) reflect a moral collapse that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. warned the United States about in the famous antiwar speech he gave one year to the day before his assassination (or execution). A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift, King said, is approaching spiritual death. The spiritual death King spoke of has occurred. You can see it in the vapid eyes of the white nationalist Twitter clown Trump and his Republican enablers, but you can behold it also in the words and positions of top Democratic politicians, who are outflanking Trump on the right regarding Korea, Syria, and Russia. Material and physical death for the species is not far behind on the current U.S.-led eco- and nuclear-exterminist path. counterpunch.org A Trump-Putin summit to take place in July is obviously in the works. US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman is busy to prepare the third in-person meet-up between Trump and Putin. Austria has already offered to host the attention-grabbing event. Last year, the leaders had two brief face-to-face encounters on the sidelines of G20 and APEC top-level meetings. In March, Donald Trump made a phone call to congratulate Vladimir Putin on winning the presidential election. During the June 8-9 G7 summit in Canada, the US president said he supported the idea of Russia returning to the group, making it the G8 once again. Next month, President Trump will be in Europe for the July 11-12 NATO summit. He can use this trip to advance US foreign policy agenda after the annual event in Brussels is over. The House intelligence panel ended its probe in March to find nothing to support the suspicions of President Trumps collusion with Moscow. The Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation has so far failed to produce anything to tarnish the presidents image. Today, Donald Trump can rely on the Republican base as the party appears to be completely taken over by him. His ratings have gone up recently up to 45 percent, to the levels at the time of his inauguration in January. He enjoys a 90 percent Republican support. 42 percent of those who support neither party are behind him. Donald Trump is in a strong position. He can stand up to critics and do his own thing. A group of Republican senators, including Richard Shelby (Alabama), John Neely Kennedy (Louisiana) and John Hoeven (North Dakota) is expected to visit Russia in early July on what is largely believed to be a reconnaissance mission. These lawmakers are far from being friends of Russia but they are the right politicians to exchange views with and send signals to. The Russian and US military chiefs of staff held a phone conversation on June 14, a week after their meeting in Finland. They are applying efforts to ease tensions and prevent incidents in Europe as well as coordinate activities in Syria, among other things. This is good news. The arms control is on the brink of erosion and the West-Russia tensions have gone too far to leave the problem unaddressed. The two leaders have a huge pile of issues to tackle urgently. Take the draft National Defense Authorization Act for 2019 approved by Senate on June 18. It says Washington is legally entitled to suspend the operation of the INF Treaty in whole or in part for so long as Russia continues to be in material breach. The future of New START is on shaky ground. The Open Skies Treaty is in trouble and the controversy over ballistic missile defense (BMD) has become a stumbling block to obstruct any attempts to get ahead. There are problems with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which is to mark its 50th anniversary since its signing on July 1. These and a lot more issues should be addressed without delay to prevent arms control and non-proliferation regime erosion. The bilateral relations just cannot be allowed to worsen further. The Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act has codified punitive measures against Moscow. A trade war is being waged. On June 19, Russia announced the imposition of import tariffs on certain American goods in response to duties imposed by Washington on steel and aluminum imports. The sanctions-countersanctions fight continues. The two powers have conflicting views on the crises in Ukraine and Syria. The relationship is at the nadir but personal chemistry has always played an immensely important role if one takes a look at the development of bilateral ties after WWII. Some things could be done right now. The Incidents at Sea Agreement (INCSEA) and the Agreement on Preventing Dangerous Military Activities could be revitalized. Bilateral military contacts and informal meetings between experts on arms control and military matters could be launched in addition to the contacts between the chiefs of staff. Cyber security could be addressed. In view of the recent developments, the situation in Libya is the issue the two nations could cooperate on. The time is right for two presidents to exchange views on Syria to prevent any chance of incidents and confrontation. Even without breakthroughs to take breath away, maintaining dialogue at different levels is much better than the abnormal situation we have been witnessing recently with a gap dividing the two leading nuclear powers getting wider. Turning the tide could become a big feather in President Trumps cap before the November midterm election. Easing tensions with Moscow could boost his chances for the second term. Putin is very important, said Donald Trump explaining his decision to meet the Russian president at the last years APEC meeting. He is resolute to do it despite all the snags in the way. The tensions running high do not benefit Moscow in any way. Everyone will gain if the relations normalize. But there is a big group of influential people in Washington wholl do their best to prevent the right thing from happening. Those who raise their voices against Moscows participation in the G8 cannot be happy with the prospect of a Russia-US separate summit. They may try to prevent it. The easiest way to thwart the meeting is to exacerbate tensions in Syria. Last year, President Trump gave military commanders more freedom of action, especially in that country. The chemical provocations Russia has warned about are a possibility. The events in Daraa are worrisome. Escalation of combat activities is expected any time. There may be other ways to prevent the summit. It can happen but common sense has always prevailed to keep the two nations away from the worst. Lets take a look at history. The Cuban crisis was followed by the 1963 "Memorandum of Understanding Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Link," or a hotline agreement. The same year, the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT), the first real arms control agreement was signed. In 1969, the parties launched the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). In May, 1972, President Richard Nixon came to Moscow to sign the SALT I Treaty, the AMB Treaty and the Incidents at Sea Agreement. This result was achieved in the heat of the Cold War. The balancing on the brink of hot conflict was over to give place to detente. It was possible those days. It is possible now. The hope for better relations has never faded away. TICKERS: EFR; UUUU, UEC, URZ; URZZF Source: Maurice Jackson for Streetwise Reports (6/20/18) Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable explores the prospects for investment in uranium with Mickey Fulp, the Mercenary Geologist. Maurice Jackson: Joining us for a conversation is Mickey Fulp, the Mercenary Geologist, as we will discuss Is it time to get into Uranium. Mickey, we have some interesting developments going on in uranium. You're one of the most trusted names on the subject. I know a number of our speculators want to hear more about uranium. Beginning domestically, what do you see happening in the U.S. under the Trump administration that may impact uranium? Mickey Fulp: Well, there's a couple of things the Trump administration has done that are positive for uranium. First off would be the recent National Security Council resolution that would require utilities to buy their electricity from U.S. nuclear power plants and coal plants. This is an effort, once again, to put people back to work in the extractive industries, namely uranium, nuclear power plants, coal mining and coal fire power plants. In addition, not all of it has to do with Trump, but it's a movement that includes the Congress and some uranium companies, etc. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Secretary Rick Perry, who was the governor of Texas, a significant uranium producing state in the past, restricted the DOE sales and barters of U.S. stockpiles of U308. This year they've cut those back. During the Obama administration, five to seven million pounds a year were dumped on the market to support the cleanup of the Portsmouth enrichment facilities in Ohio, and that was basically a union operation, to keep 800 union jobs going. Now there is a House bill that is passed out of committeeit still has to be passed out of the Senate and the House and the 2019 budgetbut they are funding for this out of the budget this year versus the DOE untimely dumping uranium on the spot market. In addition, the DOE has recently killed the mixed oxide fuel project in South Carolina. Mixed oxide fuel is the waste leftover from nuclear power plants. Its processed and can be reburned, so that's certainly going to help uranium domestic miners. I'm not sure if it really helps the U.S. position with regards to our significant imports of foreign uranium. Finally, in January, two of the largest uranium producers in the U.S., Ur-Energy Inc. (URG:NYSE.MKT; URE:TSX) and Energy Fuels Inc. (EFR:TSX; UUUU:NYSE.American), filed a Section 232 petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce, and that has to do with national security and the fact that last year we imported 98% of our uranium needs. This proposal would require U.S. federal utilities and agencies to buy all their uranium from domestic uranium miners and also limit imports of foreign uranium to 75% of our needs, with the remaining to come from domestic uranium miners. There's a whole number of things in the U.S. that look positive for the uranium industry, and all those have happened in 2018. Maurice: All of these sound like they can be great catalysts for uranium, but to add on to that we have more information here coming from the international standpoint out of Kazakhstan. For someone not familiar with Kazakhstan, how important is the country in this discussion? Mickey: Well, it is quite important. They've become the world's largest uranium producer over the last 15 years, by far the world's largest. They now produce on the order of 40% of the world's uranium, and they have really supplied the increasing demands over the last 15 years. We're using more and more uranium every year because we have more and more reactors, so most countriesmost mineshave either maintained their status quo or have dropped in uranium production, and that's been made up by the Kazakhstan mines, the ISR [in situ recovery] mines in Kazakhstan, so they cut their production 5.5% in 2017, and they are going to cut it another 7.5% this year. I think the high was something on the order of 65 million pounds, and that will be down to about 56 million pounds for 2018. That basically has to do with the low price of uranium, which today is $23.50. No one can make money at those prices. Maurice: Which leads to my next question here. Not holding you to a price, but the aforementioned indicates that you would see uranium prices eventually move up. Is this the right time to get some issuers? Mickey: Well, I've been saying it's the right time for quite some time. If you're contrarian, we all know that uranium's going to come back at some point, and it's going to come roaring back. We see now that hedge fund speculators from Wall Street to the Silicon Valley are starting to position themselves. Kazakhstan has just sponsored a new physical uranium vehicle called Yellow Cake, and they're going to devote 25% of their annual production to this storehouse of physical uranium, so that's 14, 15 million pounds a year. It looks to me like the time is coming, and it could be eminent. This happened before, when the speculators came into the market and especially the hedge funds, from 2005 to 2007. That's when uranium went from $10 a pound in 2004 to its peak of $135 a pound in the summer of 2007. Maurice: It's like Rick Rule once shared with me. Everyone is a contrarian when the price moves up. I agree with you. This is the time to be there. Mickey: Well, it really is, and there's one thing: Rick and I, we do share a lot in common. Number one, we share a birthday, but number two, we share an investing philosophy that we stick to, and that's contrarianism. We talk about this on occasion, and if you're contrarian, you've got to have patience. You get in early, and you stick by your guns. Hopefully you've picked good companies from the beginning that have staying power. When this whole black swan eventFukushimacame down in 2011, I don't think any of us expected that seven years later we would be looking at a spot price of uranium that is less than one-third of what it was before Fukushima. It's $23.50 a pound right now, and a couple of weeks before Fukushima happenedor maybe a monthit hit a high of $72 on the spot price. It's been a long time coming, but it looks to me like it may be sooner than I would've said it was at the beginning of the year. Maurice: You referenced quality names. Can you give us some issuers that have your attention? Mickey: Well, I'll tell you who I own in uranium space. I own Energy Fuels. I've been a long-term shareholder of Energy Fuels. I owned the predecessor company that was taken out, Strathmore Minerals, and so I've owned that company I think since 2007. I own URZ Energy Corp. (URZ:TSX.V; URZZF:OTC), which is a relatively new uranium company, an explorer. I was a founding shareholder of that company in its private days in 2010, and we did a transaction on that company about a year agot was completed actually about a year and a half agoand acquired some of the old Strathmore/Energy Fuels assets in Wyoming. Then I own Uranium Energy Corp. (UEC:NYSE.MKT), and it is a past-producer uranium developer in the western U.S., specifically in west Texas and in the Powder River basin of Wyoming. I've owned that company probably since about 2010, something like that. Maurice: You didn't mention any names in the Athabasca. I would've thought I would've heard some, but thank you for sharing those names, Mickey. Mickey: Well, I have a little bit different philosophy than I do in my other speculations. In uranium, I'm very focused on production or near-term production. I'm very focused on domestic uranium producers because we have ISR, and I tend to shy away from speculative plays exploration plays in the uranium patch. Now, I have in the past owned and made significant money on Athabasca explorers, but let's face the facts here. Anybody that's got a uranium discovery in the Athabasca BasinI'm talking major discoveriesthey're 15 to 20 years away from seeing yellowcake come out of a mill. I'm looking at shorter term opportunities. Certainly, if I see things in the Athabasca or even in the U.S.speculative plays that I can get in on earlythat would be a strategy. But at this point I think you want to buy U.S. producers because they only need about $35, let's say $40 uranium for ISR producers, whereas with new developments in the Athabasca Basin, you're looking very long time frames and probably upwards of $65 to $80 a pound uranium to make them work. Maurice: Before we close today, last question: What did I forget to ask? Mickey: You forgot to ask me when we will see each other next, and I think you can answer that as easy as I can. Maurice: That should be the Sprott Natural Resource Symposium, July 17-20 in Vancouver. Mickey: That is quite correct. I will be speaking on exploration, and I am on a couple of panels that have nothing to do with uranium. But we should also say that I think we will both be attending Jaya Bhandari's Capitalism and Morality Symposiumthe day after the Sprott Conference. Maurice: Absolutely. I was just about to reference that it, so you took my thunder away there. Mickey, for someone who wants to get more information on your work, please share the contact details. Mickey: You can reach me at [email protected] If you send me an email, you will get a response unless you are a troll. My website is MercenaryGeologist.com. There's a lot of free content on that, and my twitter feed is @mercenarygeo, with nearly 62,000 followers. Maurice: And last but not least, please visit our website www.provenandprobable.com where we interview the most respected names in the natural resource space. You may reach us at [email protected]. Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified URZ Energy as one of the two companies that filed the Section 232 petition, rather than UR-Energy. Want to read more Streetwise Reports articles like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see a list of recent articles and interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviews page. Disclosure: 1) Mickey Fulp: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Energy Fuels, URZ Energy and Uranium Energy Corp. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. 2) Maurice Jackson: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: None. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: None. Proven and Probable disclosures are listed below. 3) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Energy Fuels and URZ Energy. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 4) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy. 5) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 6) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of URZ Energy, a company mentioned in this article. Proven and Probable LLC receives financial compensation from its sponsors. 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President Mamnoon Hussain has called for coordinated efforts at the international level to alleviate poverty and achieve sustainable development goals. He was addressing an international conference on Water Resources and Sustainable Development in Dushanbe, Tajikistan today (Wednesday). Mamnoon Hussain said lack of access to clean drinking water is a serious matter. He stressed the need for sustained efforts towards addressing water related issues. President said the world should stand united on water issues whilst rising above their differences. Mamnoon Hussain pointed out that Pakistan is faced with water and climate change related challenges but the country has made serious efforts to address them. President Mamnoon Hussain visited the National Museum of Tajikistan in Dushanbe on Wednesday. The museum building consists of twenty two small and large exhibition halls that exhibit nature, antiquity, the middle ages, modern and contemporary history and fine and applied arts. The president visited different sections of the museum and took keen interest in the antiques and artifacts. Mamnoon Hussain also recorded his comments in the visitors book. North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, who has traveled to the Chinese capital, was told by China's President Xi Jinping on Tuesday that Beijing is willing to play a positive role in the promotion of peace on the Korean Peninsula. The two leaders met and discussed prospects for the denuclearization of the peninsula. Xi said he was very happy to see the "positive" outcome of his recent meeting with US President Donald Trump in Singapore, and the important consensus reached on setting up a lasting peace mechanism. "No matter the changes in the international and regional situation, China's party and government's resolute position on being dedicated to consolidating and developing Sino-North Korea relations will not change," the Chinese president stated. "The Chinese people's friendship for the North Korean people will not change, and China's support for socialist North Korea will not change," Xi added. The meeting comes just a week after Kim met Trump in Singapore. China is North Korea's most important diplomatic and economic supporter and a visit by Kim to Beijing had been widely anticipated in diplomatic circles. The North Korean leader was expected to brief the Chinese president on his discussions with the US president. Beijing has also supported moves by the United States to denuclearize North Korea. Observers say China will be seeking to use North Korea as a bargaining chip amid heightened trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. "Trump has approved tariffs against China, so it is time for China to play the North Korea card to deal with America," the Telegraph cited Deng Yuwen, an international relations expert and senior researcher at the Charhar institute in Beijing. "If Kim does not want to abandon the nuclear arms completely, then China will be happy to act as a broker between Pyongyang and the US." On June 12, Kim and Trump met with plenty of photo ops and little time for talk at Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa in Singapore. Kim committed himself only to working "towards" the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a broad church that leaves open the possibility of mutual disarmament talks rather than unilateral scrapping of his nuclear program. Nicholas Kristoff, a New York Times columnist, earlier wrote that Trump was hoodwinked at the summit into suspending military exercises in South Korea and secured very little in return. Experts say denuclearization is the longstanding policy of the government in Pyongyang, but North Korea interprets this as being a gradual process in which other nuclear powers will also disarm. North Korea also wants the United States to stop supporting South Korea and Japan through its nuclear umbrella. Pyongyang is believed to have at least two dozen warheads, including a thermonuclear bomb, and is close to building an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a warhead to the US mainland. Kristin Dunne Tourism Bay of Plenty We all know what an exceptional place the Bay of Plenty is to live and explore. And now we can share our love of our place. Over the next year we will transition into an insight-lead organisation for the betterment of our community. We will have the ability to not just attract visitors to the Coastal Bay of Plenty (which stretches from Waihi Beach to the Whirinaki Forest) but to better manage their stays once they get here. By knowing who our visitors are, what they want and when they get here, we will be able to grow tourism on our terms. A thriving visitor economy that is well planned and managed will bring with it greater social amenities and higher living standards. In short, we all stand to benefit. Our vision is bold, but our progressive and passionate Board and Councils recognise the potential this region has and the significant role we play in assisting its development. Destination Management is undoubtedly the way forward and we take pleasure in being at the forefront of this movement in New Zealand. We hope you will join us on this journey to not only showcase the Bay of Plenty but preserve the regions unique identity. Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year - the day with the least amount of available sunlight. The precise moment is 10.07pm Thursday, which basically means both Thursday and Friday will be equally as short. New Zealand has some long nights ahead. In a 24 hour day the length of darkness at the moment is over 14.5 hours in Auckland and 15.5 hours at the end of the country in Dunedin, says WeatherWatch.co.nz's head forecaster Philip Duncan. "In the Deep South (Southland) the total amount of available sunlight at the moment (that means, if it's not a cloudy day and you have a clear sunrise and sunset) is around 8 and a half hours each day. "While in northern New Zealand it's over an hour longer at 9 and three quarter hours. In Central New Zealand it's around 9 hours." Being closer to the equator Northerners have longer daytime hours in winter, but they still have a big cut in sunlight hours compared to back at Christmas time and Summer. In terms of daylight Thursday and Friday will be 5 hours shorter than back at Christmas/New Year around the longest days of the year. Those around Southland and Otago have a day that's 7 hours shorter than the longest day. Wellington and Christchurch around 6 hours less sunlight (+/- 30 mins). "The Winter Solstice is an exact moment in time: 10:07pm on Thursday June 21st in New Zealand this year (it changes a bit each year). "Generally speaking the days and nights around the Solstice are all the same length - but after this precise moment the Southern Hemisphere begins the very slow tilt back towards the sun ...and yes... that means summer and longer days again. "While Thursday is the shortest day of the year, it won't be until later in July or even around the first week of August that most New Zealanders will start to notice it,"says Philip. "Oh and one last thing - the days generally get colder now. The next several weeks are usually the coldest. "Also, the Winter Solstice marks the official start of winter on the Astronomical Calendar, while marking the halfway point of the Solar Winter (the 12 weeks of the year with the least amount of available sunlight)." Wellington Environmentalist of the Year 2017, Kelvin Hastie, and Waikato Universitys Dr Carolyn King are the keynote drawcards at this years Regional Environment Network Hui. The hui, this Saturday at The Orchard in Te Puke, is jointly coordinated by Envirohub and New Zealand Landcare Trust with the aim of sharing knowledge and innovative ideas with people volunteering and working on conservation projects. Engaging communities of backyard rat trappers into predator control projects in reserve areas will be the focus of Kelvins presentation, while Dr King will be sharing her research on what history can teach us when it comes to working towards Predator Free 2050. As well as the focus on predator control the hui will feature workshops on Social Enterprise, Environmental Education Programmes, Weed control, Health and Safety and more. Staff from Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Department of Conservation, Western Bay of Plenty District Council and Bay Conservation Alliance will be contributing their expertise alongside businesses involved with supporting conservation groups. New Zealand Landcare Trust BOP Regional Coordinator Janie Stevenson says the Bay of Plenty already has over 60 environmental care groups, and that number is climbing fast. This Hui will be a great opportunity for these groups to gain new ideas and share their tried and true techniques with others. Demonstrations of exciting new technology will be an additional highlight of the hui, she says. The newly imported Hot Grass electric weed control machine and the Mink Police Wi-Fi connected trapping devices will be of particular interest to those looking at new innovations that are currently being used internationally. The Regional Environment Network Hui is this Saturday at The Orchard in Te Puke, 9.30am 3pm. Tickets are $10, including morning tea and lunch. To register for the event, email admin@envirohub.org.nz. First lady Melania Trump has contacted the U.S. Secret Service after actor Peter Fonda posted "sick" tweets about her 12-year-old son, Barron Trump. Stephanie Grisham, the FLOTUS' communications director, said in a statement to The Hill on Wednesday that the Secret Service has been notified of Fonda's "sick and irresponsible" tweets about President Donald Trump's youngest son. "We should rip Barron Trump from his mother's arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles and see if mother will stand up against giant a---hole she is married to," Fonda wrote on Twitter early Wednesday morning. The 78-year-old "Easy Rider" star was referencing President Donald Trump's new "zero tolerance" policy at the border, separating more than 2,000 immigrant children from their parents since Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the measure last month. Outrage has grown in recent weeks as photos show hundreds of kids kept in cages and the youngest detainees kept in "tender age" shelters. In a series of tweets, Fonda also advocated whipping a naked, caged Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, and called White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders a "lying gash." "Maybe we should take her children away and deport her to Arkansas, and giving her children to Stephen Goebbels Miller for safe keeping," the two-time Oscar nominee said of Sanders. A rep for Fonda told Fox News that the actor "wanted to make sure that Melania and Ivanka communicate with the president the dire circumstances of separating mothers and young children." "My response is the move was evil -- same as the Pope," Fonda said, via his rep. Pope Francis criticized Trump's immigration policy this week, saying "populism is not the solution." But backlash has grown among Trump supporters against Fonda. Donald Trump Jr. has called for Sony Pictures to drop the actor from Sony Pictures' "Boundaries," which opens in theaters Friday. "I wonder if they will apply the same rules to @iamfonda that they did to @therealroseanne. I have a strange suspicion that they wont do anything," Trump Jr. tweeted on Wednesday. President Trump, meanwhile, has shifted his stance on the immigration policy and signed an executive order Wednesday ending the process of separating children from families after they are detained crossing the U.S. border illegally. Trump previously claimed, inaccurately, that his administration had no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of federal law and a court decision. Fonda has since removed his tweets. It's unclear if he'll be questioned by the Secret Service, which protects the president and his family members. ROME, N.Y. -- A Rome teacher and a teacher's assistant have been accused of using "excessive discipline" at an elementary school in Oneida County, according to Oneida County Sheriff's deputies. Ashley Rasbach, 30, was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation. Maria Fountain, 47, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree harassment, deputies said. Rasbach and Fountain, both of Rome, were charged today. The Oneida County Sheriff's Office Juvenile Aid Unit investigated the report of excessive discipline at the John E. Joy Elementary School located on Bielby Road in Rome. Both Rome City School District employees were released and are due to appear in Rome City Court on a later date. Rome Superintendent Peter C. Blake said both employees are currently on leave. Blake issued the following statement: The District has been advised that, on June 20, 2018, the Oneida County Sheriff's Department arrested District staff members, Ashley Rasbach and Maria Fountain, as a result of an incident allegedly occurring at John E. Joy Elementary School. Ms. Rasbach was charged with two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Harassment in the Second Degree; while Ms. Fountain was charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Harassment in the Second Degree. Both are expected to appear in Rome City Court at a date and time that is unknown to the District at this time. The District has cooperated with and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement and any other agencies that may become involved in the case. As we understand it, the charges, while not condoned by the District and are serious in nature, are merely accusations at this point and both women, like all citizens, are presumed innocent of any criminal offense unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. We intend to take all steps necessary to respect Ms. Rasbach's and Ms. Fountain's rights while, at the same time, taking all prudent steps to ensure the welfare and safety of our students. We understand that the criminal investigation is still ongoing and that the Oneida County Sheriff's department has taken the lead on the investigation. Both employees are currently on leave from their respective positions. Because this is a confidential personnel matter, we cannot comment further on the case. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Someone has stolen Kyaw Myo's bike. Myo, 20, rides around Syracuse on his brother's bicycle, because his own two-wheeler was recently swiped from their Northside home. The theft is frustrating, but Myo shakes his head and shrugs: "Not everyone knows what's right." As a refugee from Burma, Myo has been through worse. A bike theft doesn't shake him. It's just one more problem to figure out. Myo hails from the Rakhine state of Burma, which is officially called Myanmar by its government. It's a military-run country about the size of Texas. His parents died when he was young, so he grew up with relatives in a state which experienced continual sectarian violence for years. Hundreds of villages in the Rakhine state have been destroyed. Much of the population has fled. Myo and his older brother also left, to pursue freedom and opportunities in a new nation. They entered Malaysia as refugees in 2012 and waited at least three years for placement in another country. Kyaw Myo, 20, is a refugee from Burma. He and his brother settled in Syracuse two years ago. Since then, he has learned English, graduated from Nottingham High School and earned a scholarship to Clarkson University. (Photo by Katrina Tulloch) Myo said living in Malaysia was hard. He spent lots of time preparing for his interviews with the United Nations. He had a refugee card, but still worried about being arrested and sent back to Burma. "The cops are always looking for foreigners," he said. "They arrest you, even if you have documents. Then they ask for money. Then they deport you. You always have to watch out for cops." In Malaysia, his brother sent him to a learning center developed by the Burma Refugee Organization. There, he learned the basics of English and math, and worked part-time to get cash. He and his brother arrived in the United States two and a half years ago. They were assigned to a mid-sized city called Syracuse. More refugees with Burmese heritage have come to Onondaga County in the past 10 years than any other group. "It was a very long process," Myo said. "I was not sad to leave [Burma]. I had nothing to lose. I didn't have a future there. So I was not sad, even if I was not happy." Today, he lives with his brother, Khaing Myo Hin, on the Northside of Syracuse. His brother works as a sushi chef. They share a bicycle. The Catholic Charities Northside CYO helped them resettle and file paperwork in English. Myo applied to the On Point For College program, which offers assistance to help him and his brother pay the rent and electric bills. "I had a lot of help." Myo attended Nottingham High School. His English needed improvement, so he was afraid of taking the bus and getting lost. He also worried about being looked at for being different. "People [would] come near me and I would run away because I wouldn't understand if they ask me questions," he said. "I wouldn't have anything to say back. It was very intimidating." As his language skills improved, Myo read a book called "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi, which recommended surrounding yourself with supportive people to achieve success. He held fast to this advice; he needed to make friends. "That's what pushed me to learn English," Myo said. "I wanted to interact with people. Social life is very important to me." Myo still encountered classmates who didn't understand him. Classmates asked why he was here. They asked why he didn't have a driver's license, even though he was older than other students. Some physically pushed around him or other refugees. "Obviously, you get bullied and discriminated here," Myo said. "Not everyone likes refugees and immigrants. It's sometimes very infuriating. You feel less human than they are. It's definitely not easy. You have to fight through it. All that pain pushed me to work harder." Myo did make friends. He signed up for clubs. He tried his hand at singing and even landed a small part in the school's 2017 spring play, "Mary Poppins." Still, he describes his guidance counselor as his best friend. She helped him pick classes, apply to colleges and waive application fees. This year, Myo earned a scholarship to study engineering at Clarkson University. He plans to pursue his interests in architecture and business. He wants to get a master's degree and "make good money." "It's kind of hard to get out of [the] lower class," he said. "Medication is very expensive, college is very expensive, and if you get minimum wage, you can't really get out of it unless you do...miracles." He said he likes America because of those opportunities: to get an education and establish a career. "I can be whatever I want to be," Myo said. "Whatever you pursue, you have a chance to become it. You just have to go get it." June 20 is World Refugee Day. In Syracuse, the New Americans Forum will celebrate the day on Saturday, June 23 at Schiller Park from noon to 5 p.m. This week, we share stories and videos from refugees who have settled in Syracuse in the last few years. Katrina Tulloch shoots videos and writes stories for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact her: Email | Twitter | Facebook Catholic Charities Northside CYO: A true center for new Americans For many Central New York students, sunny days are a sign of summer vacation just around the corner. But for a group of four eighth graders at Jordan-Elbridge Middle School, the sunshine is symbolic of a two year-long community service project coming to fruition. Members of Jordan-Elbridge Middle School's Young Entrepreneurship with a Social Conscience club (YES-C) have partnered with the Syracuse-based nonprofit A Tiny Home for Good and CNY Solar to add solar power systems to houses built for homeless veterans. The small but mighty club hopes to raise $10,000 to install the first solar system through a GoFundMe page. The students say the project is an opportunity to better the lives of those who fought in protection of theirs. "I'm sure there's a lot of people who don't really understand how many homeless veterans there really are, and that's just crazy," said eighth grader Alexis DelFavero. "They're out there protecting our country, and then they come back to nothing." While exact numbers fluctuate, the 2017 Annual Homeless Assessment Report conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated greater than 40,000 veterans are homeless in the United States alone. Meeting with Central New York veterans and putting a name and face to the statistics helped Jordan-Elbridge students realize the gravity of the situation, and the impact their work was having on the veteran community. "It's sad, but it's a need and we need to be helping them," club member Madison Weir said. "They deserve a good life." A worthy cause The inspiration for the solar panel fundraiser began when DelFavero's grandfather, a Vietnam War veteran, spoke with members of the club about his experiences in the war and current problems impacting the veteran community. The following Sunday, A Tiny Home for Good's executive director, Andrew Lunetta, spoke at Jordan-Elbridge teaching assistant Raymond Panek's church about his organization's work with the homeless community. "Thank God I went to church that weekend," said Panek, who serves as advisor for the YES-C group. Established by Lunetta in 2015, A Tiny Home for Good is an initiative that "supports those facing homelessness by providing affordable, safe, and dignified homes," per the organization's mission statement. The program has built nine miniature homes and two two-family homes to date. Lunetta praised the members of YES-C for their active participation throughout the entire construction process. "They're super, super bright kids," he said. "They wanted to be a part of it [A Tiny Home for Good] in whatever capacity. They've just run with it." Bradley Markowski, an employee at CNY Solar, said working with the Jordan-Elbridge students made his investment in their project more than just a business endeavor. Markowski recalled explaining to students how solar panels worked and how to calculate various electrical conversions. "For myself personally, one of my callings is to be able to teach members of our future generations what we should be doing," Markowski said. "Anything we can do to help the community and reach out -- not just because of our business, but because of the cause and to help the future and this world." The students began their fundraiser by collecting bottles and cans from neighbors and cafeteria waste bins. They started the GoFundMe page to broaden their scope. "There was one guy that donated, he graduated here in 1957," DelFavero said. "We had this GoFundMe up and people were commenting on it saying this was a great thing." Students sacrificed lunches and study hall periods, balancing homework, extracurriculars and weekend trips to volunteer at the construction sites -- sacrifices, they said, that were well worth making. Dale Spicer sits in his new tiny home on Bellevue Avenue in Syracuse provided by A Tiny Home for Good. Spicer became homeless after having a tumor removed and rehab drained him of all he had, with a year to relearn just how to walk again. Dale has worked ten hours a day to help A Tiny Home for Good build the four homes on the property. Club member Dawson Dumhon recalled attending the ribbon cutting ceremony for a newly constructed home in February, where he met with one of its recipients, Dale Spicer. "I watched him move into his house, and he was just amazed, looking around," he said. "It was almost like he was lost in his own home." A club with a social conscience The YES-C club at Jordan-Elbridge was founded to help students develop marketing and communication skills along with a social conscience to help create the next generation of global leaders. Dawson Dumhon, Madison Weir and Alexis DelFavero share their presentations about their partnership with A Tiny Home for Good and CNY Solar. "The big piece that I wanted these guys to learn was not so much entrepreneurship -- but really the social piece," Panek said. "What's social entrepreneurship, or having a social conscience? Who do we want to help?" Creating change, Panek said, doesn't come without struggle or discomfort. But it's looking discomfort face-on and not shying away from it that turns the reactive into the proactive. "Social conscience needs to be developed through exposure," Panek said. "It's not okay to walk by someone who's homeless and look the other way because it's uncomfortable. Talk about the issue. Be a part of it. Care about it." In recent years, the program has partnered with Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management on the entrepreneurial side along with youth outreach programs in both Syracuse and Jordan. "You get youth from all over the place who have cultural differences, growing up differences, traditional differences, and getting them in a room where they all have an entrepreneurial spirit -- all that disappears," Panek said. The goal of this program, Panek said, is so much more than producing dollar signs and developing marketing skills. Success, he said, is recognizing the world for what it is while simultaneously imagining it as what it could be. "I think it takes a special kid," Panek said. "At the end of the day, if we can't create compassionate young men and women, there's no hope." YES-C's fundraiser runs through June 30. To donate, visit https://www.gofundme.com/yescsaii. Save Save Save The cast of "Mean Girls" performs at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in New York. CNY native Myles McHale is in the back row, center, wearing a jacket and black shirt with a gold star. (Michael Zorn | The Associated Press) Karen Boland lives in North Syracuse. She is involved with Addicted to Hope, a local support group dedicated to inspiring families to overcome the devastating effects of addiction. This commentary originally appeared in USA Today and is reprinted with permission. By Karen Boland For the past five years, I have been plagued with thoughts of regret. "I should have done more" and "I wish I did that" are on a constant loop inside my head. I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that it will always be there, like a mass that encompasses part of my head, my heart and my home. This is my new normal since my son died, at the age of 30, of a heroin overdose. (Mother's Guilt #1) Cory Boland Cory died of his addiction, but he also died because the medical profession failed him. Please don't think that I feel my son had no responsibility for his death. He absolutely did, but so did all the doctors who overprescribed medications without getting to the root of his problem: depression. Cory was a happy-go-lucky guy with a need for thrills. When he was 19, he had an accident involving a trampoline and a snowboard. He landed face first on the ground, breaking his arm. The result was two plates and 24 screws in his right arm. What does this have to do with his overdose? Everything. No doctor did a CT scan on his head; everyone, including the family, was focused on his arm. (Mother's Guilt #2) Yet that accident changed my boy. He ended up going into bouts of depression, some days not even being able to get out of bed. Other days he was in great pain with the plates and screws. It was a vicious cycle: pain causing depression, depression causing pain. As any mother would, I sought help for my boy. It was time to get professionals involved. We found him a doctor for his pain, a psychologist to talk through his post-traumatic stress disorder from his accident, and a psychiatrist to help with his depression. The doctor instantly prescribed him opioids for the pain, the psychiatrist prescribed uppers and downers, and all the while no one was checking what the other one was prescribing. When Cory met with the psychiatrist, each appointment would last fewer than 10 minutes. After asking trite, inconclusive questions, such as "Do you feel like killing yourself today?", the doctor would write another prescription, and Cory would be sent on his way. To my family, this seemed strange, but the doctor was the one with the degree, so who were we to question? (Mother's Guilt #3) The depression would go away for a few days and then come back, debilitating him again. The doctors just kept filling the prescriptions. This continued until his medical doctor moved away, and there was no one to prescribe his opioid medication. Doctors were now starting to close their prescription pads as people began realizing the harm these pills were causing. His psychiatrist went on vacation for a couple of weeks, and there was no one to fill his depression meds. I know this sounds like it couldn't happen, in fact, it shouldn't happen, but it did. The pills were gone, but his addiction remained -- a connection this country doesn't like to admit. Cold turkey withdrawal from his addiction to these medicines was now how he would have to survive. So, he did what thousands of other people do when they arrive at this situation: They turn to heroin. No prescription needed, easily obtained, and instantly followed by the gratification of suppressing an addiction pain-free. We had no idea, but we would soon enough. (Mother's Guilt #4) Cory on Nov. 22, 2013 -- 50 years to the day after another American tragedy, the assassination of President Kennedy. My son's death occurred before the world fully recognized the dangerous correlation between prescription pills and heroin, as well as the correlation between mental health and drug abuse. Our children are dying, and we still don't understand (nor do we want to accept) that addiction is a chronic disease in the brain. Like cancer, it can be managed but not necessarily cured. Just as no one wants to have cancer, no one wants to have a mental defect. Yet society has decided that while compassion for someone with cancer is allowed, mental health and drug abuse will remain stigmatized. With in America dying every day from opioid overdoses, we need doctors treating the mind and the addiction, which doesn't always happen. We need a society to understand that addiction is a cycle of relapse and remission. We need society to understand that every addicted person is someone's child. My child. We need our government to provide extra funding for mental health facilities. We need our regulators to keep dangerous pills off the market. We need Big Pharma to start owning up to its mistakes and stop making money at the cost of our children's lives. Some strides are being made. On May 16, which would have been Cory's 35th birthday, New York state , which developed OxyContin and downplayed the risks of addiction, for the damage it inflicted on our communities. I stand with New York and hope other states follow suit. We owe our children the best possible care to break this dangerous cycle. Please, let's not have another woman carrying around mother's guilt for the rest of her life. Opioid makers lavished NY docs with $3.5M in cash, meals and gifts, study says While trying to jump start his vehicle, an Upstate New York car owner was surprised earlier this month to discover a venomous timber rattlesnake on top of the engine block. He called the state Department of Environmental Conservation for help. That incident and others handled by DEC Environmental Conservation Officers occurred between June 6-11. All specifics below were supplied by the DEC. Strange Rattle in the Engine - Delaware County "On June 11, Lt. Nate Ver Hague and ECO Mark Vencak responded to a complaint of a rattlesnake resting on an engine block in the town of Hancock. The complainant told them that he had opened the hood of his car to jump start the vehicle and heard the distinctive rattle of a snake. He backed away and saw a large rattlesnake resting in the center of the engine block. Disturbed, the snake slithered over to the battery and curled up there. The officers confirmed the snake was a timber rattlesnake seeking shelter. ECO Vencak carefully extracted the snake from the engine compartment as Lt. Ver Hague untangled the tail wrapped around part of the engine. The officers released the snake nearby, next to several large boulders - a much more snake-appropriate habitat." Measuring from 3-4.5 feet (91-137 cm) or more in length, the timber rattlesnake is the largest venomous snake in New York. The record length is 74 1/2 inches (189 cm). It's status is listed as "threatened." (SEND US YOUR RATTLESNAKE PHOTOS/VIDEOS: Send to outdoors writer David Figura at dfigura@NYup.com). Busy Day for Boat Patrol - Cayuga County "On June 6, ECOs Mark Colesante and Tim Brown conducted a boat patrol of the Seneca River. While ECO Colesante waited for ECO Brown at the boat launch, he checked several people fishing from the shore. One woman had 64 sunfish and bluegills in her bucket, 14 over the daily limit. Her husband was found with fish under the limit. However, when ECO Colesante checked the trunk of their vehicle, he discovered more sunfish and bluegills in a cooler mixed with carp and catfish. Overall, the two fishermen were in possession of 134 sunfish. By then, ECO Brown had arrived. He and ECO Colesante issued each angler tickets for taking over the daily limit of sunfish and bluegills. Later that same day, ECO Colesante watched two men using what he believed to be spear guns on the Owasco Outlet at Emerson Park. The ECO approached the two fishermen as they pulled their kayaks up on shore and both men admitted to using sling spears to take fish. The pair had not been successful, but it is unlawful to use sling spears in New York State for freshwater fishing. The two fishermen were issued tickets for fishing by means other than angling." Fawn First Aid - Onondaga County "On June 7, ECO Rick Head responded to a call on the east side of Syracuse regarding an injured fawn. When ECO Head arrived, he found a young fawn with a serious cut to the right front shoulder. The fawn was bedded down closely to second uninjured fawn. On the advice of a local wildlife rehabilitator, the officer captured the injured deer and brought it to the Marcellus Veterinary Clinic, where Dr. Steven Bruck sutured the wound. Following treatment, the ECO released the young deer back to the original location, close to its sibling and mother." Belligerent Fisherman Charged - Madison County "On June 8, ECO Harry Chase responded to a complaint by a landowner in the city of Oneida requesting that a fisherman be arrested for trespassing after he was found fishing in the creek behind the caller's house earlier in the day. The property is legally posted, and for the past 20 years fisherman have left the area when asked. This time, the fishermen became belligerent, used profanity, and refused to leave. Oneida City Police initially responded, identified the subject, and contacted ECO Chase. The fisherman was issued two tickets. In addition to the trespassing charge, ECO Chase discovered the subject had not renewed his fishing license since 2015." NEW YORK CITY -- When the federal government was investigating bid-rigging charges against former SUNY Polytechnic Institute President Alain Kaloyeros, officials asked Google to make a copy of his emails. That was in October 2015. Two months later, investigators obtained a search warrant to gain access to Kaloyeros' account. Google made another copy of his emails on Dec. 15, and sent both sets of files to prosecutors. The emails, prosecutors have said, are key pieces of evidence in the corruption case against Kaloyeros, Syracuse-based Cor Development executives Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi, and Buffalo developer Louis Ciminelli. "It's all in the emails," Assistant U.S. Attorney David Zhou said in his opening statement. The U.S. Attorney's Office has said the emails show the men intended to defraud a non-profit affiliated with SUNY Poly. But what prosecutors didn't discover about Kaloyeros' emails until just this past weekend was that a series of his messages went missing somehow between October and December 2015. Lawyers have said all of the disappeared messages were between Kaloyeros and disgraced lobbyist Todd Howe, who pleaded guilty to eight felonies in connection with the case. Through the same process, prosecutors also learned that Ciminelli deleted emails from Kaloyeros on his private gmail account, they said. A Google employee took the witness stand today to explain how the company responds to "preservation" requests such as the one it received in this case. She said the company does not notify users when it receives such a request. The lawyers all appear to agree that Kaloyeros must have deleted the Howe emails in late 2015. Due to the last-minute nature of the discovery, the judge has given the defense time to perform an analysis before the jury hears about the disappearance of the emails. Lawyers discussed the issue in open court outside the presence of the jury. Jurors have already heard how Kaloyeros asked an information technology employee at SUNY Poly to reconfigure his state email account to automatically delete emails permanently instead of storing them in a server. Today, the jury also heard about how Kaloyeros used his gmail account to conduct state business. In response to one email from Todd Howe on the state account, Kaloyeros directed the lobbyist: "please gmail, not email." The emails are certain to crop up throughout the trial, which is expected to last several weeks. An investigator with the U.S. Attorney's Office will return to the witness stand tomorrow morning to discuss the emails in this case. Syracuse.com is covering the trial from Manhattan. Check back regularly for updates. Read our continuing coverage of the corruption trials Public Affairs Reporter Julie McMahon covers courts, government and other issues affecting taxpayers. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992 Norwalk, Conn. -- A Connecticut seventh-grader is challenging her school's dress code after she was told to cover up her shoulders so she wouldn't distract her classmates. Gracie Blackwell recently wore an outfit to Roton Middle School in Norwalk, Connecticut that she and her mother felt was appropriate, according to The Hour in Norwalk. She had on a loose spaghetti strap tank top and shorts. A school administrator asked her to cover up. The building's dress code prohibits spaghetti strap tank tops and off-the-shoulder T-Shirts. Blackwell told the paper she feels the code is unfair. "I think we should be allowed to show our shoulders and if a guy makes a complaint about how it's affecting their education, they can just not look if it's really distracting them that much," she said, according to the Hour. Blackwell's mother Pam said it's insulting to suggest boys can't concentrate on their work because of what a girl is wearing. Blackwell started a petition in an attempt to change the dress code, according to the Hour. Over 200 people have signed it so far. Roton Principal Joe Vellucci said he was surprised by the petition and the fact that he wasn't approached about the topic first. The school always sends out reminders about the code when the weather warms up, Vellucci added, according to the Hour. The code is meant to promote a positive, more business-like atmosphere at the school. "We don't want kids to really dress like they're going to the beach," he said, according to the Hour. Vellucci plans to discuss the dress code at the next meeting of Roton's governance council, the Hour said. Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112 Any comedy with the Footlights brand attached to it inevitably draws high expectations from its audience, given the illustrious history behind the name and in the show blurb, the Footlights International Tour Show 2018: Pillow Talk did not shy away from this legacy, instead wholeheartedly embracing it by describing itself as the latest on offer from the group that launched many of the greatest names in comedy on CamDram. This, perhaps, is what made it rather disappointing when Pillow Talk turned out to be a number of fairly average and conventional sketches, with wide variations in comedic value. Undeniably, the show was faced with a number of constraints not least the unusual performance venue of the Cambridge Union, with its technical and spatial limitations but the production worked around much off these limitations in the staging of the show, and the comedians made good use of the unconventional layout to engage the audience. Indeed, the comedy was at its best when it actively and directly interacted with audience members, effectively capitalizing on the hilarity of thrusting unsuspecting viewers (including one poor Tom, who became one of the recurring joke of the night) into the spotlight. This was manifestly clear in, amongst others, the sketch right before intermission featuring Ashleigh Weir and James Coward as a married couple intending to flee with their children to Phoenix, Arizona. The simultaneous amusement and squirming discomfort of front-row viewers as they were casted into the roles of the children and were made to hold hands together and leave the room was a delightful moment that induced side-splitting laughter. However, other recurring jokes often worked less well indeed, perhaps the greatest weakness of Pillow Talk was in the writing and conceptualization of the sketches themselves. Many of the sketches, particularly the shorter ones, relied on a variety of tired and overused comedy tropes and cultural references not least of all Harry Potter and were often whimsy in a manner that often bordered on bizzare rather than amusing, such as the horse sketch. The at-times weak and formulaic sketches meant that much of the comedic potential which the team evidently possessed was squandered. Moreover, the self-referential nature of the production, which was grounded in running jokes of how Jim Broadbent was supposed to be part of the performance but didnt turn up, was often the weakest part of the comedy and the random video recordings interspersed between sketches did not provide the semblance of a narrative arc or add meaningful value to the show. While the intention to present a broad variety and a mish-mash of different styles that highlights the complexities of comedy is admirable, this had an overall effect of compromising the shows overall consistency, especially when the mix of sketches presented turned out to be decidedly uneven in quality and humour. That being said, the team of five comedians should nonetheless be credited for their impeccable comedic timings, and for their mastery of over-the-top dramatization without becoming excessively farcical Ashleigh Weir in particular deserves praise on this, delivering some of the most memorable moments of the night. On a whole, Pillow Talk evoked its fair share of laughter from the audience, and the comics, technicians and directors involved clearly brought out the best in the sketches but if youre looking for comedy that is innovative and unique, or capable of consistently inducing genuine fits of laughter (either or both of which many other Footlights or comedy shows on the Cambridge stage have done) then you might be better off looking elsewhere. What just happened? Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has responded to an open letter co-signed by more than 100 employees protesting the companys work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The CEO has downplayed the Windows makers involvement with the agency, saying its contract only covers email, calendar, and messaging services, while stressing that it plays no part in separating children from their families. First reported by the New York Times, workers wrote we believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits, in the open letter to Nadella, which called for the cancelation of the $19.4 million ICE contract. In a January blog post, Microsoft said it worked with ICE to process data on edge devices, utilize deep learning capabilities, and help with facial recognition and identification tech. But both Nadella and vice president of Microsofts Azure cloud platform, Jason Zander, claim the contract doesnt involve AI, Cognitive Services, or facial recognition. I want to be clear: Microsoft is not working with the U.S. government on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border. Our current cloud engagement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is supporting legacy mail, calendar, messaging and document management workloads, wrote Nadella, in a LinkedIn post. Like many of you, I am appalled at the abhorrent policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the southern border of the U.S. As both a parent and an immigrant, this issue touches me personally, he added. This new policy implemented on the border is simply cruel and abusive, and we are standing for change. The CEO never explained why Januarys post mentioned Microsoft facial recognition and deep learning services being used by ICE, and it appears that the contract isnt going to be canceled. Several top tech executives, including Tim Cook, Elon Musk, and Microsoft president Brad Smith have all condemned the immigration policy. The big picture: Cryptocurrency miners bought a massive stockpile of graphics cards between April 2017 and March 2018. As mining difficulty has gone up and block rewards have gone down, fewer people are operating mining rigs. The resulting shortages have raised prices across the board. As pricing is getting better on graphics cards that are up to two years old, the number of shipments is expected to fall during the second half of this year. According to Taiwan suppliers, the decline in cryptocurrency has allowed for the focus to be shifted back to gamers once again. Despite prices being slightly reduced, profit margins are still doing better than ever before. Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and TUL are all reportedly maintaining profit margins of around 20 percent. Before April 2017 when cryptocurrencies really started to take off, many add-in board partners were only turning an eight to ten percent margin. At their peaks, board partners were earning between 40 and 50 percent profit on cards sold to gamers and miners with inflated pricing. For gamers, there is good news for the future. Mining is becoming less rewarding to owners of high end GPUs. Government restrictions and the crackdown on excessive energy consumption are also making mining even less viable than before. Even though this is not good news for those that have an array of graphics cards lined up on racks, gamers should rest easy. Whenever the next generation of graphics cards are finally launched, there may not be a massive rush to buy every last card available, at least by miners. Considering that the GTX 1080 originally launched in May 2016 and AMD's RX Vega series has received little attention from gaming fans, there may still be enough gamers seeking upgrades that further shortages are not out of the question. Regardless, cryptocurrency miners are not going to be a problem for gamers for the foreseeable future. "When the special conditions that diplomatic officials have are not respected, we are then in a vulnerable situation for the sovereignty of Venezuela," an activist said. | Read More The former site of Dad's liquorice bags and now mobile phones, the Darrell Lea shop on King and George Streets, is being sold for about $30 million and at just 114 square metres, could set a record sale. It is owned by private developer Victor Comino who paid $26 million for the small property in 2015. If the price moves ahead another $4 million, it could equate to about $263,000 per square metre in land value, making it a very expensive corner store. The heritage building has been a part of the City landscape for the past 91 years. Credit:Dallas Kilponen Mr Comino moved Telstra in for its Discovery store after the famed chocolate and confectionary family had to get in the administrators in 2012, when sugar became a bad word and sales started slipping, all the while rents continued to rise for the sought-after location. Mr Comino recently paid $100 million for the Soul Pattinson chemist in Pitt Street Mall and also owns the building that houses Louis Vuitton and the Apple stores on the adjacent King and George Street corners. The share price dived and never really recovered after his Telstra2022 plans were announced, but it is hard to tell whether this was a toxic reaction to Andy's plan, or yet another downgrade. It looks like revenue declines are worse than expected and could hit Telstra's dividend - again. It is not the market response Any needed if he wants to last out the year, let alone remain CEO when 2022 rolls around. Viva la IPO Its living la vida loca for everyone involved in the biggest ASX float in years, Viva Energy, which is due to hit the boards in July with up to $3 billion worth of stock expected to change hands. You might not know the name Viva Energy - unless you remember the New Year's Eve oil spill on Sydney Harbour from its old storage depot - but it is the company behind the Shell/Coles Express-branded service stations. Viva boss Scott Wyatt helpfully explained that the company was being brought to market - like a fattened pig - to crystallise the return on investment that our shareholders have made over the years." Viva Energy CEO Scott Wyatt is leading the company in its $5 billion float. Credit:Patrick Scala And he isnt just talking about Vivas current owner, Vitol. Wyatt will be converting options into 5.19 million Viva shares valued at up to about $13.8 million when the company floats next month. Converting the options at 82c each will set him back around $4.5 million but that is still a return on investment that would please your columnist. He will also pocket another 5.7 million options over shares with an exercise price of 82c, which will be very lucrative if the share price stays above the $2.50-$2.65 offer range. He also gets a $US3.36 million cash bonus and an option cancellation fee. The latter refers to 3.46 million options that he has chosen to cancel for a cash payment rather than receiving as shares. The cryptic prospectus suggests the cash payment per option will be the difference between the exercise price of 82c and final IPO price of up to $2.65. It should add up to another $6 million cash payment. This means that Wyatt gets to crystallise more than $10 million on the many decades he has toiled at Viva and its former parent, Shell. So it is safe to say Wyatt won't be worrying about how to pay his next fuel bill - or splashing out on a new Tesla. "People talk about electric vehicles, and we have seen some impact, but they are less than one per cent of Australia's vehicle fleet," says Wyatt. Former environment minister Robert Hill. Credit:Kym Smith The Viva board, led by Howard era environment minister Robert Hill, also get a cut of the action. Hill will pay for $100,000 worth of shares in the float, but receives $186,687 for services provided in respect of the offer and another $150,000 for his contribution during the due diligence process. Other independent directors, like Healthscope director Jane McAloon and Woodside board member, Sarah Ryan, pick up $150,000 worth of fees for their pre IPO work which will help pay for the $50,000 worth of stock each is picking up in the float. Green Hill It isnt easy being green. Hill has known that since his days as John Howards environment minister. During the 1997 Kyoto talks, it was Hill who argued Australia should be made an exception because of the economy's high dependence on coal. In 2001 he did not attend the UN climate summit in Marrakesh as it fell during the campaigning period for that year's federal election. So lets not look too much into the fact that his chairmanship of carbon heavy Viva stands in such contrast to his chairmanship of the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living. It describes itself as an innovation hub for a globally competitive low carbon built environment sector and is supported by the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) programme. Ultimately the CRCLCL will help unlock barriers to cost-effective carbon reduction opportunities, empower communities and facilitate the widespread adoption of integrated renewable energy. Press releases have even mentioned heretical concepts like climate change. How does this compare to Vivas attitude to climate change. Fossil fuel-related emissions are a significant source of greenhouse gases which are argued to be contributing to climate change, says the very enlightened prospectus under the heading climate change risk. Andrew Denton doesn't look like he's changed much since his 1988 TV debut as a cheeky, razor-sharp livewire on Blah Blah Blah. His hair is a bit thinner and has patches of grey, but his eyes are bright behind his glasses: alert, inquisitive, alive with energy. Once again, he's hosting a thoughtful long-form interview program. Simply titled Interview, it allows his subjects room to roam and encourages them to reveal something of themselves, as he did for six seasons until 2008 on the ABC's Enough Rope. When Denton and his business partner, Peter Thompson, pitched the idea for the new show to Channel Seven, they received a draft contract six hours later. "It's the same mission statement," he says. "Either to find people we know well and rediscover them in a way that we hadn't understood, or to find people we don't know, but whose stories are so extraordinary that they make us rethink the world in a way that perhaps we hadn't. It's still a space where ideas can be put forward without there necessarily being an argument." In addition to the relocation to a commercial network, there have been other changes. The chairs, for example, are distinctive blue contour Featherstons that Denton calls a "visual signifier" for the production. And the 58-year-old host is also different. Eurydice Dixon will be farewelled at a funeral service on Thursday. Tributes have continued to flow for "loving, loyal and authentic" comedian Eurydice Dixon, who will be remembered at a funeral service on Thursday in Brunswick. The Dixon family have requested the funeral be a private event, and have asked media not to attend or be in the vicinity of the service while it's taking place. Those who knew the aspiring performer have continued to mourn and share stories about the smart, original 22-year-old who was killed in Carlton North last Wednesday. Police surveillance of David Harold Eastman when investigating the killing of Canberra's police chief crossed the line and became harassment, his lawyers told the jury in his murder trial on Wednesday. After more than a day hearing from prosecutors who allege Mr Eastman, 73, shot Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester in his car on January 10, 1989, it was the turn of his barristers to begin mounting a defence. David Eastman is charged with murder. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos They raised the spectre of Mafia involvement in the killing, in a move that again caused the trial to be briefly closed to the public. Barrister George Georgiou SC said the former public servant made a "full and vigorous denial of the charge of murder". In news likely to disappoint Jurassic Park fans heading to the latest film in the series, scientists are no closer to extracting DNA from fossils preserved in amber. But that hasn't stopped researchers at the CSIRO's Black Mountain headquarters from finding ways to piece together the evolutionary tree of Australian insects by working with insects fossilised in 100 million-year-old Burmese amber. CSIRO research scientist and beetle curator Dr Adam Slipinski holds a weevil fossilised in amber at the Australian National Insect Collection. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong Amber fossils form when insects get stuck on sticky sap, which forms on trees and eventually hardens. Dr Adam Slipinski, a research scientist and beetle curator at CSIRO's Australian National Insect Collection, said researchers were still trying to figure out exactly what insects were in Australia and where they came from. A magistrate has revoked the non-publication order on the name of a man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl at Adamstown Heights last week, saying the interest of open justice loomed large and the man could be kept adequately safe in protective custody. Brett David Hill, 47, appeared in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday charged with kidnapping, six counts of aggravated sexual assault and four counts of aggravated indecent assault. Brett David Hill. His solicitor, Rob Hussey, applied to extend the non-publication order made by a registrar in Newcastle Bail Court on Sunday, telling magistrate Robert Stone his client feared for his safety and was being housed in protective custody with another inmate who has access to a television, a kettle and razor blades. The police prosecutor and Child Abuse Squad detectives urged Mr Stone to lift the order, saying they believed identity was no longer an issue in the case. A Werribee man charged with plotting a New Year's Eve terrorist attack on Federation Square has been committed to stand trial. Ali Khalif Shire Ali. Credit:Joe Armao Ali Khalif Shire Ali, 21, is charged with preparing between March and April 2017 to commit a terror attack and collecting documents to facilitate it. In a committal hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday, Mr Ali pleaded not guilty and was sent for trial in the Supreme Court. The court earlier heard from witnesses including the owner of a computer repair shop where Mr Ali did work experience. They are brothers, but 18 months ago, Michael Waud and Peter Chapman didn't know each other existed. They only met last year thanks to the growing craze of family ancestry DNA testing. Both had known they'd been adopted at birth, in 1959 and 1960, and both had decided to send off samples to learn their genetic history. Mr Chapman feels strongly that they crossed paths before. I always knew I wasnt by myself. I always had that in my heart. Both like true crime books and hate beer: brothers Peter Chapman, left, and Michael Waud, are close friends, a year after meeting for the first time through DNA testing. Credit:Chris Hopkins Mr Waud marvels that as a young man he may have danced at city nightclub where his brother Peter Chapman worked as a bouncer. A Geraldton woman has been charged with dangerous driving after she allegedly hit a 32-year-old man with her car on Tuesday evening. Police claim the woman, 32, was driving her blue Holden Barina hatchback about 9.30pm on Phelps Street near Konnenen Street when the crash occurred. Geraldton police station. Credit:everythinggeraldton.com.au The man was hit by the car and was seriously injured. He was rushed to Geraldton Regional Hospital for treatment, but his injuries were deemed life-threatening and he was later flown to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Police investigated the incident and forensic officers closed Phelps Street for examination. The Barr government says a national approach is needed after the ACT's successful pill testing trial. However the ACT Opposition maintains the government-supported pilot has put the territory out of step with the rest of the nation. A pill testing pilot was held at Groovin The Moo 2018 in Canberra. Credit:Jamila Toderas In its final report from the Groovin the Moo trial in May, the STA-SAFE consortium recommended the federal government lead the way in introducing pill testing at music festivals across the country, as well as fixed sites like needle and syringe programs. The consortium also called on state and territory governments to work together to develop a national pill testing framework, as well as an ongoing public early warning system of all drug test results. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has signalled more support for the Turnbull governments $144 billion income tax package in a speech that blasted Labor for giving up on battlers who needed help with the cost of living. Senator Hanson attacked both major parties for failing to act against global companies that do not pay their fair share of tax, setting out a bargaining chip in negotiations on tax reform. While she did not offer a clear 'yes' or 'no' on the income tax cuts, Senator Hanson used a speech to the upper house to speak in support of tax relief for people on up to $200,000 in annual salary. Senator Pauline Hanson, with One Nation colleague Senator Peter Georgiou during the debate on tax in the Senate on Wednesday. Credit:Alex Elinghausen Senator Hanson cited The Wizard of Oz to accuse both major parties of leaving Australians worse off despite their rival plans to cut income tax. The government is said to be confident it can pass the entire tax package on Thursday, but observers cautioned that Senator Hanson had changed her mind on company tax cuts twice already this year. Those close to the Senate negotiations yesterday said the One Nation leader was showing the strain from the splintering of her party in the upper house and would come under even greater pressure if she voted against the tax cuts. Paulines going to go with the government, said one person familiar with the discussions, while a second source outside the government said private discussions had signalled the same outcome. They know it would not go down well for them to deny tax cuts to the people who voted for them the tradies out there, the middle Australians, said a third source. The tax plan consists of three phases, with a $22 billion package starting from July this year, another $80 billion component starting from July 2022 and a final $42 billion element starting from July 2024. The government calculates its plan delivers bigger benefits than Labor for workers earning more than $75,000 today when the gains are measured over seven years. Labor claims the gains are greater for all workers earning up to $120,000 under its plan when measured over four years. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has negotiated support in the Senate from David Leyonhjelm of the Liberal Democratic Party, Cory Bernardi of the Australian Conservatives, Brian Burston of the United Australia Party and Fraser Anning of Katters Australian Party. Loading Labor stepped up its attempts to amend or block the bill, urging two Centre Alliance senators, Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff, to reject the governments agenda. Senator Patrick has previously said he would not block the entire package but Senator Griff told Fairfax Media the final decision would be made at the final vote. If it bounces back and its all or nothing, we would not want to see lower to middle income earners miss out, he said. We will decide which way we go on the floor. Senator Hanson and her colleague Peter Georgiou are the crucial swing votes on the bill, with their numbers adding to the Coalition and other crossbenchers to give the government a notional 40 votes out of 76 in the upper house. Labor secured an amendment to the government bill on Wednesday to remove the third stage of the tax cuts, succeeding with a vote that was tied at 34-34, Senator Cormann made it clear the government would reject this change in the House of Representatives. The government intends to send the bill back to the Senate in its original form on Thursday for an all or nothing vote on the entire plan. Senator Hanson criticised Labor for opposing the second stage of the tax plan, which includes an increase in the $37,000 tax threshold to $41,000 and an increase in the $90,000 tax threshold $120,000. These are your voters, she told Labor in the Senate. Yet you are denying those people you are supposed to support the battlers. Senator Hanson cited the wages of tradies and others who earn salaries of more than $90,000 and will miss out under Labor, saying they deserved a tax cut when politicians were getting an increase in their salaries at the expense of taxpayers. The One Nation leader also spoke in support of the third stage of the tax reform, which sets a single rate of 32.5 per cent on all earnings between $41,000 and $200,000. An Australian woman and her young daughter have been killed and another two injured in a car crash in Sri Lanka. Local media reported a 37-year-old Australian woman and her four-year-old daughter died when their van crashed into a truck parked on the side of the road near Nagoda, about two hours south of the capital, Colombo. A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson confirmed two Australians had died while two other Australians who had been travelling with them were injured. Consular assistance was being provided to their families. "Due to privacy obligations we are unable to provide further information," the spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday. Chongqing: Standing on a wharf high above the swirling Yangtze River in Chongqing, central China, the water I needed was frustratingly out of reach. My hands were black with coal dust. Wiping them on paper made it worse, only pressing the fine particles into the whorls of my fingertips. Rubbing them together burnished the black shine of my palms. Loading I had acquired a coal layer clambering up and over a locomotive engine - a shortcut across the busy Guoyang Ports railway yard. Dressed in black, the only urgent problem was my hands. I was about to be introduced to Guoyang Ports wharf manager, to talk about the steady flow of river barges docking here to unload goods for transfer to the trains on the other side of the port. China wants to export not just its goods to continental Asia and beyond, but also its industrial expertise, manufacturing overcapacity, technological standards, and development philosophy. Pakistan, long politically close to China, is being showered with infrastructure projects. Fast trains are heading south through Thailand and Vietnam. More than 100 freight trains a week head west from China all the way to Europe. Much of this is trade and investment that might have been happening anyway, but it has been bundled under the Belt and Road Initiative umbrella in an exercise of geo-economic shock and awe. Beijing is already locked in a contest with the US for control of the East and South China Seas, an area through which most of the countrys trade now passes. With a string of allies, from South Korea and Japan in the north to Australia in the south, Imperial Washington still retains its title as the capital of "Maritime Asia" in the region, although it is hanging on by its fingertips in the face of a challenge from China. Beijing aims to hedge the instability it faces off its east coast, where it is locked in territorial disputes with numerous countries, by creating a secure, prosperous and politically friendly string of nations to the west. The Belt and Road Initiative is not without risks, something Chinas technocratic elite have been increasingly pointing out in public in recent months. Loading With Xis personal imprimatur on the program, Chinese banks and state and private companies, and every province and city, have a political duty to fund investments in target countries. But the countrys bureaucrats, mindful of the billion-dollar losses the Chinese have suffered overseas in recent years in such countries as Venezuela and Angola, have started to urge caution. Li Ruogu, the former head of the Ex-Im Bank, one of the countrys biggest overseas lenders, warned that countries slated for big projects might not have the financial capacity to handle them. There are few countries with credit ratings above the BB level and the investment risks are relatively large, he said. Raising enough funds for the development of these countries is arduous. In one recent case, a Chinese state company gained control of a port in Sri Lanka after the local company couldnt pay back the $US1.3 billion in loans used to build the facility. The port was built seven years ago, before the formal launch of the Belt and Road Initiative. But the episode was an embarrassment for Beijing nonetheless, because it played into the most potent criticism of the initiative, that it was creating debt traps that would leave countries at Chinas mercy. Furthermore, Chinas struggle to internationalise its currency, the renminbi, means that many of the projects will have to be funded in US dollars, something that runs counter to the initiative's aims. Like the Marshall Plan did for the US, China had wanted to use the billions of dollars of projects to elevate its currency, eventually giving it the global financial clout now wielded by the greenback. Hambantota port in Sri Lanka. A number of projects, such as the port in Sri Lanka, have been beset by allegations of graft, and a sense that Beijing is using the Belt and Road Initiative to capture elites, without much benefit to the broader population. In a range of countries, governments, and NGOs, are pushing back against projects that fall under the initiative's umbrella. In many places, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, the influence of the ethnic Chinese business class has long been a sensitive issue. Whether these are just the teething problems of a new imperium, or fatal design flaws, is too early to tell. In the meantime, about 70 countries have signed on to the project. Malka Leifer being forcefully led away after she left court early feeling unwell on May 2, 2018. Credit:Gabrielle Weiniger Accused child sex abuser and former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer will remain in jail in Israel after her bail hearing was postponed on Wednesday for a second time. Jerusalem District Court Judge Avigdor Dorot has set a third and final bail hearing for July 1 to consider the final arguments of the state prosecution and Ms Leifers defence team before determining whether to free her. Ms Leifer was in court, but requested to be taken downstairs after telling the guard she was feeling unwell. After requesting twice, the judge agreed that she may leave the courtroom, but ruled that she must be present at the next session. Victorian police want Ms Leifer to return to Australia to face 74 charges of child sex abuse. Washington: Of all the recent stories about the separation of immigrant children and parents at the US border with Mexico, the Mexican foreign minister said on Tuesday that one story was particularly heartbreaking: A 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome was taken away from her mother in South Texas. But Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, offered a different response when he heard about the girl while appearing on Fox News on Tuesday night. "Womp womp," he said. Corey Lewandowski, former campaign manager for Donald Trump. Credit:AP Lewandowski was appearing on The Story With Martha MacCallum opposite Zac Petkanas, a Democratic strategist. Petkanas was telling the story of the girl when Lewandowski interrupted him with what amounted to a "sad trombone" sound effect. "Did you say, 'womp womp,' to a 10-year-old with Down syndrome being taken from her mother?" Petkanas responded. "How dare you! How dare you!" New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is in labour and in hospital to give birth to her first child. The Prime Ministers Office confirmed that Ardern arrived at Auckland hospital, with her partner Clarke Gayford, to have her baby, early this morning. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is now Acting Prime Minister. The PM's office says there will be no further formal announcements from the Prime Ministers office till Ardern and Gayford announce the birth of their baby. Manhattan Theatre Club has released new footage from its world premiere of Sugar in Our Wounds, a new play by Donja R. Love running through July 8 at New York City Center Stage II. The production is directed by Saheem Ali. Check out scenes from the play below: Stephanie Berry, Sheldon Best, Fern Cozine, Tiffany Rachelle Stewart (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), and Chinaza Uche star in the production. The creative team includes Arnulfo Maldonado (scenic design), Dede Ayite (costume design), Jason Lyons (lighting design), Palmer Hefferan (sound design), Michael Thurber (original music), Darrell Grand Moultrie (movement), and Cookie Jordan (hair and makeup design). The show is described as follows: "On a plantation during the Civil War, a mystical tree stretches toward heaven. It protects James, a young slave, while he reads newspapers about the imminent possibility of freedom as the battle rages on. When a brooding stranger arrives, James and his makeshift family take the man in. Soon, an unexpected bond leads to a striking romance, and everyone is in uncharted territory. But is love powerful enough to set your true self free? This lyrical and lushly realized play is part of poet, filmmaker, and playwright Donja R. Love's exploration of queer love at pivotal moments in black history." Custom Genie Chopper Built by Paul Teutul, Jr. Designs Featured on American Chopper MT. HOPE, Ohio--The Genie Company, the leading manufacturer of garage door openers and accessories, was featured on last nights episode of American Chopper with the national debut of the custom-built Genie Chopper. The commissioned bike was expertly crafted by Paul Teutul, Jr., owner of Paul Jr. Designs and co-star of the revived fan-favorite series airing on the Discovery Channel. Teutul, a renowned designer and fabricator, designed the Genie chopper with iconic features exclusive to the Genie brand and incorporated those features as working components into the sleek, glossy look. There are lots of unique points of the bike, but I have to tell you, the wheels on this chopper are some of my favorite wheels weve ever made, said Teutul as he unveiled the custom-built chopper. Each spoke was made to replicate the exact pitch of Genies patented screw drive technology. It added a super cool, authentic element. Overall, I wanted the bike to feel fast, modern and high-tech, and I think we accomplished that. The Genie Company team approached Paul Jr. last fall about creating a one-of-a-kind chopper that would reflect the American heritage of the companys more than 60 years in business. Concurrently, they wanted it to convey the companys innovative leadership in smart-connected, Wi-Fi enabled garage door openers. The team gave Paul Jr. brand standards to follow but left the final design completely up to him. By Q1 2018, the vision became a reality at the Paul Jr. Designs shop. Paul Jr. personally unveiled the bike in the Genie booth at the International Door Associations annual IDAExpo in April. We are beyond thrilled how the chopper turned out, and the opportunity to be featured on the reboot season of the show was an added bonus, says Steve Janas, Vice President/General Manager Sales & Marketing for The Genie Company. Our whole team is truly revved up and excited that we had a chance to align our iconic brand with the notoriety of the Teutul legacy of work. The Genie team is proudly displaying the chopper at their headquarters in Mt. Hope, Ohio. Stay tuned for more details and behind the scenes activities on the companys Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. About The Genie Company The Genie Company is based in Mt. Hope, Ohio, and is a leading manufacturer of garage door openers and accessories for residential and commercial applications, including smart Wi-Fi connected openers. With its main manufacturing facility in Baltic, Ohio, its roots run deep as an American brand that has been synonymous with garage door openers since 1954. The Genie name itself is a well-recognized icon among homeowners, builders, and dealers alike. Genie distributes its openers and accessories through a broad distribution channel of professional dealers, wholesalers, and retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada. The Genie Company is a separate division of Overhead Door Corporation. Learn more at www.GenieCompany.com. Germany's Largest Automakers Back Abolition of EU-U.S. Car Import Tariffs (TACH; And Why Wouldn't They?) EDITOR's NOTE: Europe accounted for half (80.3%) of all exported vehicles during 2016. In second place, Asia shipped 26.6% worth of vehicles followed by 20.6% for North American exporters. Latin America excluding Mexico was responsible for 1.3% of the global total with Africa at 1%. Led by Australia, Oceania in the South Pacific generated just 0.2%. Washington DC June 20, 2018; When the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, returns to Washington for consultation with the administration Wednesday, he will be carrying a peace offering for President Donald Trump from Germany's leading automakers, reports The Wall Street Journal. Their proposal, people familiar with the situation say, is simple: Abandon all import tariffs for cars between the European Union and the U.S. That would mean scrapping the EU's 10 percent tax on auto imports from the U.S. and other countries and the 2.5 percent duty on autos' sent to the U.S. As a prerequisite, the Europeans want Mr. Trump's threat of imposing a 25 percent border tax on European auto imports off the table. Over the past few weeks, Mr. Grenell has held closed-door meetings with the chiefs of all major German automotive companies, including bilateral meetings with the CEOs of Daimler AG , BMW AG, and Volkswagen AG , which operate plants in the U.S. Overall, Germany's auto makers and suppliers provide 116,500 jobs in the U.S., according to the Association of German Automotive Manufacturers. Hyundai Named a Top Brand in J.D. Power's 2018 U.S. Initial Quality Study (IQS) Ranked Second-Highest Non-Premium Brand Improved to Third Overall with Hyundai Owners Reporting 14 Fewer Problems per 100 Vehicles Than in 2017 Hyundai Tucson Is the Highest-Ranked Small SUV in Initial Quality Hyundai Santa Fe Finishes Second in the Midsize SUV Segment Hyundais Ulsan Plant 52 Wins Bronze Plant Quality Award FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., June 20, 2018 Hyundais new-vehicle quality was among the best in the industry, as the company ranked as the second-highest non-premium brand in J.D. Powers 2018 U.S. Initial Quality Study (IQS). Hyundai was one of the most improved brands, moving from sixth to third overall and reducing problems per 100 vehicles by 14. In the model segments, the Hyundai Tucson was the highest-ranked small SUV and the fourth-best model overall, while the Santa Fe ranked second in the midsize SUV segment. Hyundais cutting-edge Ulsan Plant, which produces Tucson, was awarded the Bronze Plant Assembly Line Quality Award for the Asia Pacific region. Customers of the Hyundai brand can feel confident that they are selecting a new vehicle that has one of the best initial and long-term quality rankings in the entire automotive industry, said Omar Rivera, director, Quality and Service Engineering, Hyundai Motor America. J.D. Powers IQS is the industry benchmark for new-vehicle quality, and our 2018 ranking is a result of an enterprise-wide commitment to producing vehicles of the highest quality and educating customers on how to use their cars technologies and features. Hyundais strong showing in J.D. Power IQS follows its third place non-premium ranking in J.D. Powers 2018 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS). Hyundais results in both of these studies demonstrate its quality leadership over time. Tucson also ranked highest in its class in that study. J.D. Power measures initial quality by the number of problems owners experience per 100 vehicles (PP100) during the first 90 days of ownership, with a lower score reflecting higher quality. Hyundai had 74 PP100, outpacing the industry average of 93 PP100. The 2018 U.S. IQS is based on responses from 75,712 purchasers and lessees of new 2018 model-year vehicles who were surveyed after 90 days of ownership. The study is based on a 233-question battery organized into eight vehicle categories designed to provide manufacturers with information to facilitate the identification of problems and drive product improvement. The study was fielded from February through May 2018. For more information about the 2018 U.S. IQS, visit http://www.jdpower.com/resource/us-initial-quality-study-iqs Hyundai Motor America Hyundai Motor America is focused on delivering an outstanding customer experience grounded in design leadership, engineering excellence and exceptional value in every vehicle we sell. Hyundais technology-rich product lineup of cars, SUVs and alternative-powered electric and fuel cell vehicles is backed by Hyundai Assuranceour promise to deliver peace of mind to our customers. Hyundai vehicles are sold and serviced through more than 830 dealerships nationwide and the majority sold in the U.S. are built at U.S. manufacturing facilities, including Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. Hyundai Motor America is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, and is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Russia will respond shortly to the United States' aluminium and steel import tariffs, with plans to establish its own set of duties on US goods, the press office of Russian minister of economic development Maxim Oreshkin confirmed to American Metal Market. Due to the fact that the US continues to apply protective measures in the form of additional import duties on steel and aluminium and refuses to provide compensation for Russias losses, Russia uses its [World Trade Organization] rights and introduces balancing measures with respect to imports from the United States, according to Oreshkin. These measures, in the form of additional import duties on American goods, will begin to be applied in the near future. They will only bear on products that have analogues in the Russian market and will not have a negative impact on macroeconomic indicators, he added. Russia shipped nearly 2.9 million tonnes of steel mill products to the US in 2017, representing 8.3% of the total 34.5 million tonnes of the product brought ashore from global sources. American Metal Markets hot-rolled coil index climbed to a nearly 10-year high of $45.52 per hundredweight on Thursday June 14, up 39.5% from $32.63 per cwt at the start of this year, partially due to the tariffs. For Russias aluminium industry, the impact of the tariffs is minimal compared with the sanctions levied on major aluminium producer UC Rusal and the now former director of the company Oleg Deripaska in April, which effectively ceased aluminium shipments from the country. These actions together helped to boost the US aluminium premium to multiyear highs. American Metal Markets Midwest P1020 premium was assessed at 21.75-22.25 cents per lb on June 19, down from the more than three-year peak of 22-23 cents per lb in April but still more than double the 9.4-9.5 cents per lb recorded at the start of this year. But Russia might be playing a long game, considering that the tariffs could outlast the sanctions after the US indicated it might remove the sanctions versus Rusal if Deripaska divests his shares. Russia would not be the first country to retaliate against the US tariffs. Other countries - including Canada, the European Union and Mexico - have responded in kind to the US tariffs. Russias warning comes just weeks after the countrys director of trade negotiations, Maxim Medvedkov, floated the idea of WTO action against the US due to the Section 232 tariffs. What. Look at this freakin weirdo. Look at this profoundly weird, weird dude Donald Trump hugging the American flag on Tuesday after a speech at the National Federation of Independent Business, and pawing at it like its French President Emmanuel Macron. Look at him rub his face against oh, Im sorry, this is actually a different time Donald Trump grabbed an unsuspecting flag and pressed it against his body. Trump had a rally in Tampa and he gave the flag a big old hug https://t.co/XJvcx8Ssxh pic.twitter.com/beTBfSHsoP Kristin Salaky (@KristinSalaky) June 11, 2016 That was back in 2016, when he was still just a presidential nominee, and nobody had any idea what was in store for us. Before that, he also hugged a flag onstage at a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire. What. Photo: Keith Bedford/Boston Globe via Getty Images Yes, hes done this multiple times. Which means, presumably, he and his advisers took a look at him hugging the ol stars and stripes like it wasnt Melania, and said, Yes, thats good. Thats very good. Not creepy. Lets keep doing that. Before Trump smushed himself up against the flag in 2016, one of his supporters started a chant to build the wall. This time, Trumps public display of affection was preceded by him talking about his administrations zero tolerance immigration policy, which has resulted in nearly 2,000 immigrant children being ripped from their families. Immediately before embracing the ol stars and stripes amorously, he proclaimed, Were doing well as a country. What a weirdo. Posted on: June 20, 2018 11:54 AM A Partnership for Missional Church programme developed by the Church Mission Society for local churches, helps to empower lay people, a study has found. The finding came into a report commissioned into the three-year PMC programme which CMS introduced in the UK in 2011. The two key findings in the study are that churches taking part in the PMC programme engaged publicly with their local communities; and that lay people felt empowered to step into positions of leadership within the local church and beyond. The results were found across church traditions and in both urban and rural contexts. The study was conducted by Liz Clutterbuck and Andy Schofield of the Transformational Index group, who spoke to 82 participating churches from the dioceses of Southwell and Nottingham, Leicester, Oxford and Durham. The research included a survey of church members. Seventy-two per cent of respondents said that PMC had made a positive impact on their ability to establish partnerships outside the church, and seven out of 10 said PMC had also made a positive impact on their individual Christian lives, deepening both their personal faith and their corporate spiritual experience, CMS said in a statement. The majority of respondents said that their involvement in PMC had led to them being more confident in their Christian witness and evangelism. The research showed that churches obtained a clearer sense of vision and purpose, in and for their neighbourhood: 36 per cent of respondents said they were now confident about sharing their vision while 41 per cent reported that their plans for the local community had grown significantly. According to CMS, 76 per cent of survey respondents said they had taken on new roles since their church started working with PMC. Some positions were linked directly to the PMC process and church administration, while others got more involved in the local community, including becoming a school governor or working with a homeless project, CMS said. The leader for PMC in the UK, Dr Nigel Rooms, commented: The future of the church is the laity. The PMC process invests heavily into lay people and so its great to see how so many have been empowered and mobilised through it. One of the key aims of the KMC process is a long term cultural change in congregational life which sees Churches doing mission with the community rather than for the community. Congregations are encouraged to work with local community partners to dream dreams and turn them into a reality, CMS said. PMC is best understood as a deep change process that is as much cultural as theological, the report concludes. It contributes to a broadening and deepening of relationships within churches and communities and brings faith into the public sphere in ways that churches would otherwise have struggled to achieve. There is welcome evidence that local church, rather than being a subset for a thin slice of the community, is becoming integral in holding bonds across boundaries. A Border Patrol agent signals to the Customs and Border Protection helicopter crew that two aliens from a group of seven they tried to capture have escaped, near Salineno, Texas, on May 30. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times) 5 Charged in Immigrant Smuggling Scheme Following Fatal SUV Crash Authorities charged five people on Tuesday, June 20, for their roles in a scheme to smuggle illegal immigrants after an SUV crash in Texas killed at least five people. Federal prosecutors have charged 20-year-old Jorge Luis Monsivais Jr. of Eagle Pass, 21-year-old Rudy Gomez of Hockley, 19-year-old Johana Gomez of Houston, 55-year-old Marcial Gomez Santana of Mexico and 45-year-old Mariela Reyna of Mexico, according to a Department of Justice statement. All five suspects have been charged with transporting illegal aliens and conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and death. If found guilty, the suspects face life imprisonment or death, a $250,000 fine, and five years of supervised release. The incident happened on Sunday, June 17, after Border Patrol agents became suspicious of three vehiclesa 2013 Tahoe, a 2007 Suburban, and a 2008 Tahoetraveling in a convoy between El Indio and Carrizo Springs, Texas, the statement said. When the agents approached the vehicles to make immigration inspections, two of the three vehicles led authorities on a high-speed chase. The driver of the 2007 Suburban, Monsivais, then crashed the vehicle as he entered the town of Big Wells. Monsivais was traveling with 13 suspected illegal immigrantsincluding one juvenileat the time of the crash. Four of the passengers died at the scene, and another died on the way to the hospital. Eight other people were transported to a hospital for treatment. Of the eight people who were injured, one has been released to the custody of Border Patrol, while seven othersincluding the juvenileremain in hospital, according to the statement. Federal prosecutors allege that the driver of the 2008 Tahoea 17-year-old U.S. citizen who has not been identifiedevaded authorities before coming to a stop. He was detained by agents and is in the custody of Dimmit County authorities. He has not been charged by federal authorities who are continuing their investigation, according to the statement. The statement also revealed that 23 illegal immigrants were involved in the immigrant smuggling scheme21 Mexican nationals and two Honduran nationals. Six of the 23 are now being held on federal complaints as material witnesses. Daryl Fields, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office, told the Associated Press that four of those charged made initial court appearances on Tuesday in Del Rio. Monsivais is scheduled to have his initial court appearance on Wednesday morning. Watch Next: The National Guard Has Started Deploying Troops to the USMexico Border Weapons used by alleged MS-13 gang members named in an indictment that includes eight attempted murders in Nassau County, Long Island, N.Y., on June 15, 2017. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) A Plan to Crush MS-13 Only harsh punishment and the erosion of their economic base will deter gang members The first chairman of the Texas Society to Abolish Capital Punishment had an exception to his ardent advocacy: organized crime. Theyre businessmen, the late John Silber explained. Unlike other serious criminals, they respond to incentives and are not driven by passions. Silber, then-president of Boston University and my mentor, alluded to the fact that organized crime emerges predictably from a breakdown in the rule of law and perverse incentives that feed the black market. The prescription is to (1) ensure swift justice that fits the crime, and (2) align laws with the needs of constituents. The two go hand in hand; alone, neither is sufficient. The growing problem of MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, fits neatly into this pattern. The gang hails from the worlds most violent region, the Northern Triangle of Central America, predominantly El Salvador, as well as her diaspora in California. In such fragile statesincluding Guatemala and Hondurasthe rule of law is the law of the jungle, particularly outside the urban centers. Further, MS-13 thrives on economic desperation and market activity in the shadows of society: narcotics, prostitution, illegal immigration, and heavy weapons. They are so sophisticated in this space that they sell their supplies and training to aligned criminal organizations. Often, they do not act directly as service providers. Rather, they extort those who are with private taxes in their stronghold territories. InSight Crime, a foundation that studies organized crime in Latin America, asserts that extortion is the gangs primary revenue source. InSight Crimes 90-page MS-13 in the Americas report, published this year with the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, underlines the need for altered incentives. They highlight that MS-13 is a diffuse organization of sub-parts, with no single leader or leadership structure that directs the entire gang. There is no head to chop off. Even if there were, MS-13s chief rival, Barrio 18, or other gangs would simply expand into the vacuum. Complex Solution For all their gruesome activity and menacing appearances, though, MS-13 is vulnerableif U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies are willing to confront them. That does not mean there is one quick fix, but a deliberate, coordinated, and multifaceted strategy can pull the rug out from under them. The bad news is that this problem cannot be isolated to south of the border, and, if ignored, it will only worsen. It may also require leverage or international pressure on El Salvador, whose president, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, is an ally of Cuba and Venezuela, and a former Marxist guerrilla. The good news is that there are many organizations and solid U.S. allies, particularly in Guatemala and Honduras, with know-how and willingness. The solution also lies in the United States, since her own laws, foreign aid, and State Department have had a hand in destabilizing Central America. When addressing justice in Central America, consider first that many organized criminals have already infiltrated the police and established allies within the judicial systems. The Liga Propatria and other civil society organizations of Guatemala have shown how foreign aid, including from the United States, has ended up supporting violent gangs that enjoy protection from allies in the courts. All U.S. relations with the Northern Triangle must, therefore, demand transparent and uniform law enforcement as imperative. That means removing funding from the compromised U.N. Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). It also means Alliance for Prosperity aid for Central America, initiated under the Obama administration, be contingent on liberalized markets and decentralized policing. Harsh Punishment One tactic for justice that has worked against gangs in El Salvador is armed citizen defense committees. Locals near the border with Guatemala have responded by banding together and arming themselves against the occupiers, even driving Barrio 18 out of two towns entirely, and other towns are following their lead. Locals recognize that direct confrontation is necessary, since sending gang members to prison has little effect. Convicts network and lead operations with ease, and even use prison time as a recruitment opportunity. Capital punishment merits consideration for an organization whose tagline is rape, control, kill, particularly when culprits celebrate rather than hide their membership. The lack of capital punishment has provoked the regrettable but inevitable Black Shadow (sombra negra). This vigilante paramilitary has murdered dozens of MS-13 members, including some in Guatemala, and inspired like-minded copycats. The flip side of the MS-13 rule-of-law problem is the lucrative black markets that bankroll their operations. This is where the United States can, if willing to look in the mirror, knock the wind out of MS-13s sails. Take Away the Profit MS-13 taxes and controls many narcotics wholesalers and distributors, and the gang enjoys prohibitions inflated prices. Despite my personal opposition to drug use, as a matter of law enforcement the drug war cannot be won, not while so many Americans are eager consumers. A strong majority of Americans support marijuana legalization, and Trump has indicated his support for delegating marijuana policy to the states. That would at least be a start for broader liberalization and a rollback of the failed drug war. Its end would mean no more black market for MS-13 to extort and control, at least not within the United States. A final but important piece of the puzzle has been pending for decades: immigration reform. The enormous illegal-immigrant population in the United States, a permanent underclass, is easy prey for MS-13. Trump understands that the United States needs high walls but wide gatesstrict enforcement but streamlined legal paths so migrants from Central America can participate in the formal economy. The hubbub over whether to call MS-13 animals is a distraction, but the need for a response is not. If there is the will, there is the way: liberalize the black markets they prey on, and confront them with punishment that stings. Only then will they back down. Fergus Hodgson is the founder and executive editor of Latin American intelligence publication Antigua Report. He is also the roving editor of Gold Newsletter, and the managing editor of the American Institute for Economic Research. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. David Matas (R) speaks at a rally after receiving the Friends of Falun Gong Human Rights award jointly with David Kilgour (L) on June 20, 2018 in Washington. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) An Award to Honor Investigators Exposing an Unprecedented Evil David Kilgour and David Matas receive award recognizing their work exposing organ pillaging from Falun Gong WASHINGTONThe friendship between David Kilgour and David Matas goes back decades to their days in Winnipeg, where they were both born and raised. Kilgour, who went on to become a member of Parliament and Canadas secretary of state for Asia-Pacific, and Matas, an internationally recognized human rights lawyer, both went to the University of Manitoba, served on the university student council, and by chance, ended up studying or working in the same cities several times since then, including Paris, Ottawa, and then Winnipeg again. On June 20, the two Davids were reunited once more, this time in Washington, to be recognized for their work in exposing Chinas severe persecution of Falun Gong adherents and the issue of organ pillaging from the persecuted group. The Friends of Falun Gong Human Rights Award, presented by the awards New York-based namesake, recognizes the courage and persistence theyve shown in exposing the crimes of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party], and for their meticulous and impactful work, said Alan Adler, executive director of Friends of Falun Gong (FOFG). Organ harvesting is about as bad as you can get for humanity: Killing live people for their organs, thats just the depths of depravity. And theyve managed to bring it to light, which is remarkable, said Adler. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual meditation practice whose followers adhere to moral standards based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. In China, regime statistics showed 70 to 100 million people had taken up the meditation discipline by 1999, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), then led by Jiang Zemin, launched a brutal campaign on July 20, 1999 to eradicate the practice. Practitioners in China have been subjected to systematic arrests, unlawful imprisonment, brainwashing, and torture. More shocking is the forced organ harvesting. In March 2006, The Epoch Times broke the story that the CCP was pillaging organs from living Falun Dafa adherents for transplantation to paying customers, fueling a multi-billion-dollar industry. The donors are killed only after the organ is removed to keep it fresh. But such an unprecedented evil proved to be hard to believe. Human rights activists approached Kilgour who, before becoming an MP and later secretary of state, served as a prosecutor for around a decade. Could Kilgour investigate these allegations? On Kilgours recommendation, Matas, an established human rights lawyer, was asked to join the effort as well. I say to everybody, I have never met anybody in my life who works as hard as David [Matas] does, says Kilgour, recalling with humor one time back in the late 1970s when he went to Matas home for dinner and Matas confessed the last time he cooked was seven or eight years before, as he is so busy working. Despite knowing each other for many years, this was the first time the two worked on an issue together. What strikes me as remarkable is how much we agree on so many things, considering the fact that we each independently formed our own opinions on a wide variety of issues, said Matas. Investigation The result of their joint investigation was a report, later published as a book, titled Bloody Harvest, which concluded that the allegations were true. The report considered multiple types of evidence, including phone calls to transplant centers in China that promised organs from Falun Gong adherents to callers posing as patients. This report was not the end, but the beginning of a tireless quest by Kilgour and Matas that has now lasted for over a decade. Nobody should stop for one minute, we are going to stop this terrible thing thats happening in China, said Kilgour. Years ago, Kilgour and Matas estimated they had visited over 50 countriessome, such as the United States many timesto tell people about forced organ harvesting. They have participated in hundreds of events, including testimony before legislative bodies around the world, helping to inspire resolutions and laws aimed at curbing forced organ harvesting. In 2016, Kilgour and Matas teamed up with American author and investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann to publish an update to their report, which gives, the report says, a meticulous examination of the transplant programs of hundreds of hospitals in China. They discovered that the number of people being killed for their organs is much larger than originally assumed. Kilgour said, What has been happening to Falun Gong practitioners across China since mid-1999 is a genocide against innocent citizens. Pushing the First Dominos Kilgour said he accepts the FOFG award with great pleasure, but insists he is accepting it on behalf of all of those who have helped in exposing the persecution over the years. We are really just among the ones to push the first dominos or deck of cards; and we wish the deck of cards had fallen years ago, but I am convinced that theyre going to stop doing it, said Kilgour. I really want to pay tribute to the Falun Gong community who, of course, carried the major burden of trying to stop this, and have done excellent work across the world, he said. He also has gratitude for the Uyghur, Tibetan, and House Christian communities who have also been victimized and have helped in the investigation. Matas, who just days ago received an honorary degree from the University of Alberta for his human rights work, said the recognitions he and Kilgour are receiving help to effect change in the world. This award is to me a recognition of, I would say, not only what Ive done, but also what the community has done to come to grips with this problem, he said. Kilgour notices that several jurisdictions, such as Taiwan and Norway, have already passed legislation to curb organ tourism, including preventing citizens from going to China for organ transplants or sanctioning those involved in organ harvesting in China. I want to thank too, the senators in the Senate of Canada for having a hearing on the bill that would try to reduce organ tourism, he said, referring to the bill currently being studied in Canadas Senate Human Rights Standing Committee, introduced on May 23 by Sen. Salma Ataullahjan. Of course, I want to thank DAFOH [Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting], all the medical people around the world, the supporters of DAFOH, theyve probably been among the most effective against these practices, added Kilgour. Dreamworld Theme Park Ride That Killed 4 Could Have Been Prevented An inquest into the tragedy that killed 4 people at the Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast in 2016, began on Monday, June 18. On Oct. 25, 2016, a six-person raft in the theme parks Thunder River Rapids ride collided with an empty raft and flipped backwards. Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, and Roozi Araghi died instantly. Queens Counsel Ken Fleming who is assisting the inquiry told the court that the four tragic deaths were sadly both violent and unnatural, reported News.com.au. He said the tragedy had been felt Australia-wide, and the main goal of the inquest would be to prevent similar tragedies from happening again. The first day of the investigation found that a Dreamworld ride operator was unsure which emergency button to press when the raft collision occurred. According to Detective Sergeant Nicola Brown, who is the principal police investigator on the case, the operator and other staff at Dreamworld received a memo just days before the tragedy about the rides emergency immediate shutdown buttondont worry about that button, no one uses it. The memo told them not to press the emergency stop button unless there were certain specific circumstances. The tragic incident occurred near the end of the ride after one of two large pumps that were feeding water into the ride failed. As a result, an empty raft that was in front of the six-person groups raft was no longer buoyant and became stuck on the rails near the unloading point of the ride. The two rafts eventually collided. Ms Goodchild, Ms Low, Mr Dorsett, and Mr Araghi were caught in the mechanism of the ride and were either trapped in the raft or ejected into the water beneath the conveyor, Mr Fleming told the court at a pre-inquest hearing in Brisbane in April, the ABC reported. Each died almost instantly as a result of compressive and crushing injuries. Ms Goodchilds 12-year-old daughter and Ms Lows 10-year-old son had remained in the raft and survived. Detective Sgt Brown said there was a period of about 57 seconds between the empty raft getting stuck on the conveyor and the collision, the Guardian reported. She said had the emergency button at the unloading dock outside the main control area been pressed, the rafts would have stopped moving along the conveyor belt within two seconds and the tragedy would have been prevented. But both the main ride operator, Peter Nemeth, and his colleague Ms Courtney Williams, had not pressed the button. The main ride operator, Peter Nemeth, gave evidence in the second day of the inquest. He said he had pushed a button on the main control panel to stop the rides conveyor belt, but was surprised when it did not stop. It did not stop even though I pressed it two or three times, he said, according to News.com.au. Investigation by police found that the conveyor belt would take about nine seconds to completely stop after the button was pushed. Nemeth said he did not know about this. I am surprised to learn that, he said. I assumed the conveyor stop button would stop the ride instantly. Brown also said that just hours before the incident, the water pump had stopped working twice. The pump failed at 11:50 a.m. and then again at 1:09 p.m. before being reset. Theres no evidence any engineering staff attended the second incident [when the water pump stopped working], she said. Nothing else seems to have been done apart from resetting the pump. History of Malfunctions The ride had a long history of malfunctions, including in 2001, 2004, and 2005. In January 2001, several empty rafts collided and flipped during a dry run before the ride was open to the public. An internal staff email from 2001 was shown in court, where one staff member wrote, I shudder when I think if there had been guests on that ride, News.com.au reported. Two latter incidents in 2004 and 2005 involved raft collisions, after which it was recommended that CCTVs be installed to oversee the unloading areas for the ride operators to monitor. But few if any of the recommendations were implemented, according to Brown. And even though there were recommendations ever since 1999 that the shutdown procedure should have been made simpler, there was no single emergency button to shut down the ride. Operators at the control panel had to take a number of steps to shut down the ride, there was nothing that shut down everything, Brown said, according to News.com.au. The court also learnt that the ride had no device to monitor water levels to warn staff or shut down the ride if the levels became too low. Families of the four victims are expected to attend the two-week hearing. The Queensland Government has passed industrial manslaughter laws since the deaths, meaning that corporations can be held accountable for deaths on-site. However, as the laws are not retrospective, it will not be able to be allied to this incident. Coroner James McDougall will investigate multiple aspects of the incident, including the cause of the incident and the rides construction, maintenance and safety measures, and its staffing and history. Dreamworld closed the park for 45 days after the incident and has since permanently shut down the Thunder Rider Rapids ride. Eight months after the tragedy, Deborah Thomas, the CEO of Dreamworlds parent company Ardent Leisure, left the company. Lawyers for Ardent Leisure said they would cooperate with the inquest, which is ongoing. Watch Next: Aurora Australis Illuminates Southern Skies A Nigerian woman (2nd L) and other migrants disembark from the MV Aquarius upon its arrival at the Sicilian port of Messina, on May 14, 2018. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images) EU Floats Plan for Disembarkation Platforms to Break Migration Policy Deadlock Draft conclusions for a European Council Summit, which begins on June 28, propose the creation of migrant processing centers outside the bloc, in a bid to break the deadlock on migration policy threatening EU integration. In the draft document, European Council President Donald Tusk proposes that EU member states create regional disembarkation platforms outside the European Union, where asylum requests would be assessed before claimants get to Europe. Such platforms should provide for rapid processing to distinguish between economic migrants and those in need of international protection, the draft joint statement reads, and reduce the incentive to embark on perilous journeys. The proposal is widely seen as an attempt to bridge the rift over migration and asylum ahead of the two-day EU summit, where leaders will try to agree to a joint migration policy. France, Germany, Italy, Austria and other EU states will meet on Sunday to try and hammer out their differences and avert a possible clash during the summit. Greece and Bulgaria are also expected to attend Sundays gathering, which will explore the problem of secondary movementsi.e., how to stem the tide of migrants unlawfully moving around the European Union after claiming asylum. In addition to the proposed offshore asylum centers, the draft joint statement also calls for more work to prevent secondary movements. In theory, refugees cannot cherrypick which country grants asylum, and can be sent back to where they entered the EU, a process called the Dublin regulation. In practice, however, this system has been extremely problematic and difficult to implement, said Susan Fratzke, a policy analyst at Britains Migration Policy Institute. Fratze added that the current system does little to deter people from submitting asylum claims in the country they want to go to. In theory it puts more pressure on those member states at the borders [of the EU], she said. Some of Europes inland states complain that EU border countries such as Italy and Greece are failing to manage the border and are pushing claimants onto other countries by delaying their applications. Eastern EU states, led by Poland and Hungary, refuse to host some new arrivals to ease the burden on coastal Italy and Greece and rich countries like Germany where people mostly want to go. Hungarys Parliament on Wednesday approved a package of bills that criminalizes some help given to illegal immigrants, defying the EU and human rights groups who have called the measure arbitrary and vague. Denmark and Norway said they were working on creating a center in Kabul where unaccompanied Afghan minors who have been denied asylum can be sent back. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, an immigration hard-liner, said he would push on Sunday for rapid action on migration, and suggested Austria might go it alone on creating asylum centers outside the European Union if the deadlock continued for months. At a meeting in Vienna, Kurz and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani called for much stronger control of Europes external borders. If we cant protect our borders, this will mean the end of Europe, Kurz said, according to Politico. Europe needs to have the strength to make political decisions, Tajani said. The disembarkation platforms would require the cooperation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The draft joint statement also contains a call for a greater allocation of funds for border control in the next long-term EU budget. Tusk released the draft to EU leaders and is expected to follow up with a volley of meetings and calls to rally support ahead of next weeks summit. Simon Veazey and Reuters contributed to this report. Posted on: June 20, 2018 3:06 PM [ACNS, by Amelia Brown] Today 20 June is World Refugee Day, when the world is called to remember the millions of individuals fleeing their countries as refugees; and the millions more internally displaced people stranded within their country with no home to go to. In the middle of this crisis, across the Communion, Anglicans are responding. In a statement released today, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, called on the Church to lift up these millions of people in their prayers, and reflected on ministry to refugees that he had seen on his travels. My heart continues to break for over 68 million men, women and children who have risked their lives to escape conflict, violence and oppression, he said. In my prayers I also remember the extraordinary welcome and support for refugees that I have seen during visits to Sudan, Uganda, Jordan and other countries. In your prayers today, please take some time to remember what it means that God came to us in the vulnerability of a child whose life was in danger. He also gave a challenge: Are we ready to see the face of Jesus in the face of every displaced man, woman and child in the world today? The Presiding Bishop of the US-based Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, also released a statement in honour of World Refugee Day, where he called on fellow Episcopalians and Anglicans to take action. He reminded his audience that Christ himself was once a refugee, fleeing persecution and violence, much as the refugees of today. We as a Church, and as individual Christians and Episcopalians, must be passionately committed to helping the refugees and internally displaced persons of this world. The Archbishop of Burundi, Martin Nyaboho, and his people, regularly face the challenge of refugees flocking to Burundi from neighbouring countries. The history of Burundi has been characterised by internally displaced people and refugees, he said. Today we still have thousands of refugees outside the country mainly in Tanzania, Rwanda, DR Congo, Uganda, Zambia, Europe etc, he said, as he called on the Anglican Communion to pray into the situation. Pray for a quick and imminent organised repatriation and a consistent programme to accompany the returnees to resettle in their lands. On 22 May 2018, the southern region of Burundi recorded 9,504 returnees. More are still coming back. Bishop Grant LeMarquand, the former Area Bishop for the Horn of Africa in the Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, spent three years in Ethiopia with his wife Wendy. This is another area that is also faced with a constant influx of refugees from sub-Saharan Africa. Many of them are fleeing the civil war in South Sudan. My wife, Wendy, and I lived for some years in the middle of a refugee crisis, he said, Millions of South Sudanese, their country embroiled in a hideous civil war, fled to neighboring countries or were internally displaced beginning in December 2013. Hundreds of thousands ended up almost literally (well sometimes even literally) in our backyard in Gambella, Ethiopia. These people were hungry, naked, and traumatised. The church made up of people who are poor themselves responded in whatever ways we could to bring life into a situation of death. Anglicans everywhere are ministering to refugees, on both large and small scales. Churches are taking action, such as St Pauls Within the Walls in Rome. They manage the Joel Nafuma Refugee Centre, which ministers to roughly 20,000 refugees each year. All Saints Cathedral, Cairo, founded Refugee Egypt in 1987, where they continue to provide child care, employment, education, medical assistance and more to refugees from across sub-Saharan Africa. Groups like the Mothers Union minister to their communities. The Anglican Communion and the Anglican Alliance continue to be in dialogue with interfaith groups, working together to address the refugee crisis. To close his statement earlier today, Justin Welby also shared a prayer and a hope for the entire world. As we pray today for all those who have been forced to flee their homes, lets pray too for wisdom and courage to find sustainable solutions to this ongoing crisis so that those in greatest need find safety and hope, and those on the frontline of providing help are given the support they need. Inspector General Probes Strzoks Bias in Launching Russia Investigation Inspector General Michael Horowitz said his office is looking into any influence the political bias of FBI official Peter Strzok may have had on the launching of the investigation of Russian meddling into the 2016 election. The investigation led to a large spying operation against the campaign of then-candidate Donald Trump. It has turned up evidence that Russia tried to influence the election, but no evidence that this effort was coordinated with the Trump campaign. Some Republican lawmakers have suspected the investigation was launched for political reasons. Strzok, former deputy assistant director of the FBIs Counterintelligence Division, was one of the leading investigators and was chastised in the June 14 Office of the Inspector General (IG) report for texts with his mistress, Lisa Page, the special counsel to former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Strzoks messages were not only indicative of a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, [implied] a willingness to take official action to impact a presidential candidates electoral prospects, stated the report, which specifically examined the investigation into Hillary Clintons mishandling of classified information. The IG is working on another report on the Russia probe. Horowitz testified on June 19 at a hearing of the House oversight and judiciary committees, where the judiciary committee chair, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), asked whether Strzoks bias influenced the launching of the Russia investigation. Thats a matter weve got under review and are looking at right now, Horowitz said. Based on leaks to The New York Times, the FBI started probing the Trump campaigns alleged links with Russia on July 31, 2016, after Australians had passed intelligence to the FBI earlier that month about a drunken conversation between volunteer Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos and the top Australian diplomat in Britain, Alexander Downer. Downer said Papadopoulos told him that the Russians had dirt on Clinton. But that rationale fell apart with the revelation that an FBI informant, Stefan Halper, was already snooping on the Trump campaign before that date. Moreover, the man who was supposed to tell Papadopoulos about the dirt on Clinton had extensive ties to Western intelligence. Also, texts between Strzok and Page suggest that the FBI initiated an offensive counterintelligence operation against the Trump campaign as early as December 2015. A group of congressmen has already demanded a criminal investigation of McCabe, former FBI Director James Comey, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente over their roles in surveillance of Trump campaign volunteer adviser Carter Page. The officials intentionally withheld from the FISA Court that the warrant application to spy on Page heavily relied on the now infamous Steele dossier, according to a memo by the Republican majority of the House intelligence committee. The dossier was put together by Christopher Steele, a former MI6 British intelligence agent, using second- and third-hand sources close to the Kremlin. The dossier was characterized as salacious and unverified by Comey. Steele was paid for his work by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Watch Next: The Longest Running Contemporary Art Show in the World Shooting Reported at Alabama Walmart: 3 Dead A shooting in a Walmart parking lot in Tallassee, Alabama, left three dead, according to reports. Two women and a gunman died in the incident, and police are describing it as a murder-suicide, CBS News reported. Tallassee Mayor Johnny Hammock said the gunman rammed his vehicle into another car in the parking lot before getting out and shooting the two women. Then he turned the gun on himself, the station reported. [eet_social_embed] BREAKING: Tallassee Mayor tells me a man rammed his car at Walmart in Tallassee, then got out and shot 2 women in the car. Both victims have died. Mayor says shooter then shot and killed himself. @ALNewsNetwork Andrew James (@AndrewJamesNews) June 19, 2018 [/eet_social_embed] The Montgomery Advertiser newspaper reported that the suspect was later identified as 65-year-old Harold Miller. The victims were Tresea Miller, 58, and Barbara Buttles, 75. The Millers were married and had a divorce pending, according to courthouse records obtained by the paper. Tresea Miller and Buttles had a protection from abuse order against Harold Miller, which had been issued by the court this week, according to the Advertiser. Police Chief Matt Higgins said the shooting appears to be a domestic situation, with an investigation showing a history of domestic incidents between the family members. (Were) still trying to work out the details. Its still fresh, he told WHNT-TV. After the shooting unfolded, there was a heavy law enforcement presence at the Walmart parking lot. The store was shut down, and employees were the only ones allowed inside, the paper reported. You just dont expect anything like this happening, not here in Tallassee, said Dena Samuels, a resident of the city of 5,000. This is something that happens in a big city. Tallassee is located about 30 miles east of Montgomery. Meanwhile, this week, an armed carjacker was shot in a Walmart parking lot in Washington state after armed civilians took action. The suspect was shot and killed after he attempted to commit the carjacking. He was approached by two armed civilians and shot by one of them, according to a news release from the Tumwater Police Department. President Donald Trump, accompanied by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (L) and Vice President Mike Pence (R), signs an executive order that will end the practice of separating family members who are apprehended after illegally entering the United States, in Washington on June 20, 2018. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) Trump Signs Executive Order to Stop Family Separations at Border WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump signed an executive order on June 20 that he says will help stop the separation of families at the southwest border. The main action in the order is a demand that Attorney General Jeff Sessions promptly file a request to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to modify the Flores Settlement Agreement. The 1997 Clinton-era Flores agreement is a court ruling that says families who cross the border illegally must be detained for no longer than 20 dayswhich means they then have to be released into the interior of the United States with a court date set for possibly years down the road. This creates a get out of jail free card for illegal alien families and encourages groups of illegal aliens to pose as families hoping to take advantage of that loophole, said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a factsheet on June 18. DHS said it increased its capacity for detaining families in 2014 and held families pending the outcome of immigration proceedings. This coincided with a surge of migrants from Central America who crossed the southwest border illegally. In the majority of cases, however, the Obama administration did not prosecute illegal border crossing. But the past two administrations did separate families when they prosecuted an adult. The Bush administration implemented the zero tolerance policy of prosecuting all illegal border crossers in 2005. In 2016, the Flores agreement was amended to say that minors cannot be detained in an unlicensed facility for longer than 20 days and must be either released or transferred to a licensed facility. Because most jurisdictions do not offer licensure for family residential centers, DHS rarely holds family units for longer than 20 days, DHS said. This meant the custody of minors had to be transferred to Health and Human Services and the minor reclassified as an unaccompanied minor. The 2016 ruling made it much more difficult for the federal government to use the detention authorities Congress gave it, DHS said. Trump has asked Sessions to request a change to Flores that would permit DHS to detain families together throughout their criminal proceedings for improper entry, or for any removal or other immigration proceedingsunder present resource constraints. The exception would be if a childs welfare was at risk. The president has asked the Secretary of Defense to provide extra detention facilities that can house families, upon request by DHS. He also said to construct more facilities as needed. Speaking at the 75th anniversary celebration of the National Federation of Independent Business on June 19, Trump expressed his desire to solve the problem. I dont want children taken away from parents. And when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegallywhich should happenyou have to take the children away, Trump said. Parents will not be prosecuted, and therefore separated, if they enter through a port of entry to claim asylum, rather than cross illegally. Current Law Trump said under current law, only two policy options are available: Totally open borders, or criminal prosecution for law breaking. We can either release all illegal immigrant families and minors who show up at the border from Central America, or we can arrest the adults for the federal crime of illegal entry, he said. He wants Congress to legislate a third option, which two House bills provideboth of which may be up for vote this week. What Im asking Congress to do is to give us a third option, which we have been requesting since last yearthe legal authority to detain and promptly remove families together as a unit, Trump said. We have to be able to do this. This is the only solution to the border crisis. These loopholes have created a massive child smuggling trade, Trump said. Right now, a disturbing trend shows that children are being used to cross the border illegally with adults, who will then claim asylum as a family unit and hope to be released into the interior of the United States more quickly. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Tom Homan said on May 7, Weve got intelligence that alien smuggling organizations are making children available to single adults so that they can come and claim to be a family unit and not be detained. We have situations where the same child has crossed the border several times in a time period with people claiming to be the parent. So obviously, theres been trafficking. In fiscal year 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security saw 46 cases of children being used fraudulently by adults crossing illegally. In the first five months of fiscal 2018, 191 cases have been reported. In addition to the Flores agreement, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) helps create loopholes in immigration law. The TVPRA doesnt allow the United States to refuse entry to children who are not from Mexico and send them back into Mexicohence the high numbers of Central American migrants entering illegally as family units or unaccompanied minors and claiming asylum. Only about 20 percent of asylum cases are eventually granted approval by a federal judge. Trump accused Democrats of not wanting to solve the problem. because Democrats love open borders. Its destroying our country, he said. They view that as potential voters. Someday theyre going to vote for Democrats. Because they cant win on their policies, which are horrible. Legislation Trump visited House GOP members on the afternoon of June 19 to discuss the two immigration bills that may come up for vote this week. The Securing Americas Future (SAF) Act, introduced in January by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), has not yet secured the required 218 votes, so the second bill, the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018, was introduced on June 14 as a compromise. After the meeting, White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said the president endorsed both bills. They both build the wall, close legal loopholes, cancel the visa lottery, curb chain migration, and solve the border crisis and family separation issue by allowing for family detention and removal, Shah said. House homeland security committee chairman Michael McCaul said the president is a thousand percent behind the new bill, adding that families will not be separated if the bill passes. Mexico Trump took the time to lambast Mexico in his speech on June 19. Most of the children and families hail from Central America and travel north through Mexico before crossing the United States border illegally. The president has said that Mexico should control its southern border more tightly and that it should itself accept the Central Americans as asylees. Mexico does nothing for us, Trump said. They could stop it. They have very, very strong laws. Try staying in Mexico for a couple of days. See how long that lasts. Note: This article has been updated to include the contents of the executive order. Union and European Union flags are flown in unison during an anti-Brexit demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament in London on June 20, 2018. (Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images) 2 Years After Brexit: Divided, Frustrated, UK Heads Into the Endgame Britains referendum on European Union membership in 2016 split the UK into a nation of remainers and leavers. But after two years, neither camp is happy with how things are going. On Saturday, pro-EU remainders will head into the streets en masse to vent their frustrations on the two-year anniversary of the vote. But with the UK still wed to the EUand the process mired in party politicsthose who voted to leave are frustrated too as negotiations with the EU head into the endgame. There is disappointment on both sides with the negotiations, said Ian Montagu, an expert in social attitudes data who works at NatCen for Social Research alongside Ian Curtice, one of the few pollsters to correctly predict the latest UK election result. People have become a bit more pessimistic about anticipating the consequences of Brexit, but even more so theyve become critical of how the negotiations process is being handled. But the pessimism among those who voted to leave the EU doesnt mean that they are changing their minds, he said. Rather than feeling that their world view is wrong, rather than feeling that Britain cant be successful after Brexit, they just feel that politicians arent doing it right. Prime Minister Theresa May has struggled to patch together a Brexit plan with a party rife with division, a wafer-thin parliamentary majority, all the while fighting off attempts to wrest final control over the direction of Brexit from her administration to lawmakers. By October, she needs to complete negotiations with the EU on a deal that will determine what Brexit will really look like. Before the referendum, many experts had warned of the inherent complexities of leaving the EU, describing it as the biggest undertaking since World War ll. Two years on from the vote, and those complications are manifesting. I think most people who understand the European Union knew that Brexit would be very, very difficult, said Anand Menon, professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London and director of the UK in a Changing Europe Initiative. Whoever had been prime minister, whatever the majority had been, Brexit would have been very hard to do, he said. The EU and Britain are currently in negotiations that need to resolve three main issues: the bill for leaving the club; EU citizens rights in Britain and vice versa; and the question of the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. How to handle the land border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland ties together all kinds of politically charged threads, including customs arrangements, immigration, and the stability of the peace agreement that marked the end of decades of sectarian violence. With the majority of the governments own lawmakers voting to remain in the EU, Brexit is always pitting the will of the people against the will of the Parliament, said Menon. Brexit supporters have been keeping a wary eye on lawmakers, suspicious that they might try to block or water down Brexit, despite promises to respect the referendum resulta result that, in theory, Parliament is not bound to follow. We have a parliamentary dictatorship, said Menon. Parliament can do what it wants. So if Parliament says the referendum will decide, the referendum decides. If Parliament says weve decided to override the referendum, Parliament will override the referendum. Viviana Spaghetti is a senior consultant at PR consultancy Whitehouse Consultancy, who advises clients on the progress and implications of Brexit. She said that one of the problems has been a lack of preparedness before the referendum. This is the first time that a member of the EU has voted to leave. We think that those complexities werent really taken into account before the referendum, she said. I think the result of the vote was something that surprised a lot of people. But the complexity of the process to me was very clear from the beginning. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair recently said he thought that the chances of Brexit being reversed is around 40 percent. His analysis is not widely shared, however, especially with polls suggesting only a 4 percent lead for leaving the EU. The only way that Brexit can be stopped at this point is by having another referendum, said Menon. Given the mood in Parliament, and given how they talk about the will of the people, I dont see how Parliament overturns it. Montagu points out that there is no solid sign in the polling data of an increasing appetite for a second referendum. Spaghetti said that she does not think Brexit will be reversed. We think that Brexit will happen in some sort of way. The way in which the negotiations are happening, it really looks like we will head for what they call a soft brexit, or regulatory alignment. Whatever the precise outcome, she said that the key issue is that the UK will become a third country in March 2019 or in 2020. It is most likely that there will be a transition period, what the UK calls implementation period, until 2020, explained Spaghetti. However, legislation introduced by Mays administration means that the UK sever constitutional ties with the EU at an earlier dateon March 29, 2019. There is a very clear difference between what Britain will be on the 29th of March and what it will be on the 30th of March, said Menon. It will be a member on one day, and it wont be the next. This makes a transitional deal potentially undesirable, he explained, because during that period the UK will have no influence on EU policies and laws and yet still be bound by them. The negotiations with the EU are reaching the endgame Menon said. EU negotiators intend to wrap up the deal by the weekend of Oct. 18-19, in time to put it to a vote from other EU countries. By January 2019, the treaty should be verified by both the UK and the EU. But anyone looking for clarity ahead of time may be disappointed: EU negotiations always go to the wire, Menon noted. Spaghetti noted this is part of the negotiation arrangements: Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has launched the worlds first independent national inquiry into sexual harassment in the workplace. The 12-month inquiry will be conducted by the sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins. In a press conference with Minister for Women Kelly ODwyer on June 20, Jenkins said the national inquiry flowed from the #MeToo movement, which helped highlight the ongoing social ill of sexual harassment and assault. The timing was right, the appetite for change is there, and we have all the functions to make sure we can help Australia lead the globe on finding new solutions for sexual harassment, Jenkins told the ABC. The inquiry will seek submissions from employees, employers, and the public to review the legal framework on sexual harassment before making final recommendations. ODwyer said the inquiry will consider the drivers of sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as the role of social media. The inquiry will also focus on the economic consequences for individuals on the receiving end of workplace misconduct, some of which may be detrimental to a persons financial security, said ODwyer. For women, it may mean she doesnt have a job any longer, it may make it harder for her to get the next job, she may be denied a promotion or denied extra hours of work. Josh Bornstein, head of employment law at legal firm Maurice Blackburn, told Reuters that the inquiry would draw attention to laws that hinder improvement, such as the six-month limitation on making a complaint to the AHRC. It can often take victims considerable time to come forward with a complaint, said Bornstein. Jenkins says the results of a national survey to be released in August are expected to show an increase in workplace sexual harassment from 2012, where one in four women and one in six men reported to being sexually harassed in the previous five years. The Commission will use the findings of the national survey to identify the scale and nature of the problem across a range of industry sectors, said Jenkins in a statement. The inquiry, which will be part-funded by the federal government, was touted by ODwyer as a world first. Posted on: June 20, 2018 10:13 AM The Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, Suheil Dawani, has stressed the need for reconciliation amongst Anglicans. Speaking to delegates at the Gafcon event being held in the city, Archbishop Suheil spoke of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalems work of reconciliation in the Holy Land, and emphasised the importance of the Church being one. This message featured in a homily delivered at an evensong in St Georges Cathedral on Sunday attended by some 200 of the Gafcon participants, including more than 70 bishops; and repeated in a welcome message to the Gafcon event being held in Jerusalems International Convention Centre. Archbishop Suheil invited the Gafcon delegates to consider the three steps that are needed for unity and reconciliation. In a summary published by the Diocese in Jerusalem, he said: First, in order to face the enormous challenges of our time, and to work towards unity and reconciliation we need to be able to meet in dialogue and mutual respect. Second, the community needs to be able to celebrate the differences that it has, and accept each other through seeing Christ in each other, and not by imposing our own image of Christ on each other. The final step towards unity and reconciliation . . . is hospitality, since it is through hospitality that we can transform the exclusion of others to an embrace. The theme of the pre-Gafcon evensong was Friendship and Reconciliation which was, Archbishop Suheil said, at the heart of our Christian faith. He said that gatherings and meetings of Christians like Gafcon were part and parcel to our ministry. Not only are we to have good relationships; but we strive to have excellent companionship and fellowship with Christians from around the world. We look for opportunities for collaborative ministries. In this land, our existence as Christians depends on these relationships. These are relationships that spiritually nourish us. I am told by pilgrims who pass through here that when they meet a Christian in the Holy land, and ask their denomination, the first response is I am a Christian. Our primary identity is in Christ. And it is this identity that enables us to reconcile with one another, even with those who we perceive to be different to us. As Christians we are reminded this evening of what it is Jesus calls us to be. Our Scripture readings remind us that Christ is our sign of unity. Christ has called us to the ministry of unity in friendship and reconciliation. Jesus said: I ask . . . also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one (John 17: 20-21). In a message of welcome to the Gafcon delegates on Monday morning, Archbishop Suheil said: We have a duty to recognise that Christ is revealed afresh and anew in every encounter, everyday. That we have a duty not to try and impose our impressions of Christ or God on another, rather to see this afresh to contemplate what God is revealing to us. Only through being open to the other, that we can begin to understand how the Kingdom is revealed and for the Christians this must be the longing is for a home from which no one is excluded. Whatever we hear in the coming year, we must realise how precious our unity is and seek to keep our fellowship alive between each other, and remember that we are called to exclude no one from the love of God. He concluded his homily on Sunday evening by saying that friendship and reconciliation begins with the understanding that the person who has caused hurt is equally loved by God just as we are. In the Women Entrepreneur series My Worst Moment, female founders look back on the most difficult, gut-wrenching, almost-made-them-give-up experience theyve had while building their business -- and how they recovered. One Friday three years ago, Marie Chevrier was gearing up to seal the deal on an investment in her early-stage startup Sampler, a company that matches product samples with target customers. The deal was slated to close that following Monday, on the condition that her tiny, remote two-person development team would soon relocate from Berlin, Germany, to Toronto, Canada, where she and her only other employee at the time were based. That day, over a phone call, her developers broke the news: Theyd decided not to make the move, or, in other words, they resigned. Chevrier had a matter of hours to figure out how to break the news to her investors -- and a weekend to draft a plan B. I'm not at all a technical founder, so when I first started Sampler, I reached out to the only developers I knew in the entire world. We had previously worked together at Rocket Internet, a VC firm that's based out of Germany. Once Sampler started doing some fundraising, one of the things that kept coming up was that investors wanted the core team to be all together in Toronto. My two developers said they would likely be able to make the move from Berlin, but they had families. They weren't 100 percent sure they could do it. I remember it was a Friday, and our lawyers had just greenlit all the papers. I got a call from one of the [development] guys, and he said, 'Marie, I just want to be really honest. I don't think I'll be able to relocate.' It was really an admirable thing for him to do, because he could have certainly went on and not let me know his concerns. Related: 20 Crazy, Outrageous, Sad and Infamous Last Days at Work I remember at that moment just freaking out and thinking, Well, this is it. The investors are definitely going to back out now that there's no technology team behind the tech company. It was a very stressful moment, and I remember thinking, 'Do I tell my investors that this is happening, or do I just close this and deal with it after?' I reached out to one of my trusted advisors at the time and asked him, 'What would you do? How would you present it to the investors?' He was like, 'You have to be transparent.' It was helpful to get some advice from other people who had gone through fundraising before. I decided that I was going to be transparent and very honest -- that's just how I was going to run my business. At that time, I reached out to our lead investor and told her, and obviously she was just as shocked as I was and definitely worried. I told her, We have a transition plan, and we feel confident that, with the financing and the existing traction, we'll be able to attract great talent.' I reassured her that we would figure out a solution. She said, 'Take tonight and just have a glass of wine, and then deal with it tomorrow. But by Monday, you'll need to have a game plan.' That's exactly what I did, and it taught me a pretty big lesson about how I should attack challenges: It's completely OK to take a day. It's OK to say, 'I have enough on my plate' or 'I need a small mental break.' Related: After Crying 'in a Fetal Position' Upon the Sale of Her Last Company, This Entrepreneur Keeps Her New Venture Separate From Her Identity By Monday, I had written a job description with the help of the guys. I had already negotiated a bit of a transition plan with them, which involved them training people remotely. We also went over the product roadmap. All the big features wed been planning on releasing were to be taken care of by the guys. I owe that transition fully to them. It was, all in all, a very positive experience, even if it didn't seem like that in the moment. But I would rather have people locally who are able to be there every day than to have a remote team. I think that would have limited our growth, so it was actually really nice that the investors had put that condition in place. It forced us to have these hard conversations early." Related: How This Entrepreneur Dealt When Half of Her Team Quit 3 Days Before a Major Investment Deal Closed This Cosmetics Company CEO Turned a $1 Million Packaging Fail into Quadrupled Sales. Here's How. This Founder Found Out Her Investor Sexually Assaulted Women and Gave Back $500,000 in Funding Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved NORWALK The sun may beat down on Norwalk City Hall this summer, but the city wont tap that energy as planned with a rooftop solar system. Built as Norwalk High School in the late 1930s and serving as City Hall since 1988, the structure doesnt meet modern code requirements to support the weight of such as system, according to Norwalk Building and Facilities Manager Alan Lo. When you look at a building designed in the 1930s, the load requirements are less than what is required today, Lo said. So we learned that the building structure, in order to meet todays standards, its not sufficient its not falling down or anything, but its just that the requirements are different. Lo said the building is designed to hold 20 pounds per square foot whereas modern code requires 40 pounds per square foot. While the roof probably would support the weight of the solar system, the arrangement wouldnt be code compliant, he said. Last year, the Norwalk Common Council and Board of Education approved a 15-year power purchase agreement with Greenskies Renewable Energy, a Middletown solar energy company, to install solar panels atop City Hall, Norwalk High School and Naramake Elementary School. Officials projected the systems would save $1.5 million in energy costs over the course of the agreement with no out-of-pocket expense to the city or school board. Greenskies received rebates through Connecticuts latest Zero Emission Renewable Energy Credit program. Only afterward, after closer examination of the roof, did problems arise. On paper, it looked great. Were going to replace the roof and put solar panels on it, said Common Council President John Kydes, chairman of the Mayors Energy and Environmental Task Force. I guess the engineers didnt think it would work on the solar company side, so now were looking to take those rebates that were awarded and use them for a carport. But were still waiting for information. Officials have yet to determine whether a carport solar system is applicable for City Hall. There are solar panels that can be put on top of carport structures, said Mayor Harry Rilling. Its a little bit more expensive but I think there are benefits to it. Any time we can implement solar usage, we need to look and see what the return on investment is going to be versus the costs. So were looking at a lot of different possibilities. Carport solar systems are in place elsewhere in Norwalk. In 2014, Sound Solar Systems, LLC, a Greenwich clean energy company, partnered with property manager Elite Development Group and Hartt Realty Advisors to install solar panels on a canopy atop the parking structure at 542 Westport Ave. The property is home to Bow Tie Cinemas. The 100-kilowatt system generates enough power to operate 13 homes per year. In terms of carbon-dioxide emissions, thats equivalent to taking nine cars off the road each year, or planting 57 trees, according to Sound Solar Systems. While a carport solar system would be new territory for the city, rooftop arrangements are not. Spearheaded by the energy task force, the city flipped the power in July 2016 to 18 solar panels at Calf Pasture Beach. The 5-kilowatt system powers to both mens and womens bathhouses, the cafe and the lifeguard station. Meanwhile, the city and school board are moving forward with Greenskies to install solar panels atop Norwalk High and Naramake Elementary schools this summer. Installation of the solar systems is expected to start in July, according to Kydes. The two systems will include real-time educational displays that will teach the children about the benefits of clean energy, Kydes said. This solar pilot program is just the start of our initiative to incorporate clean energy into all our schools and City buildings. The initiatives are part of an ongoing effort by city and school board to make Norwalk greener by reducing reliance upon carbon-based fossil fuels. Norwalk recently received from Live Green, The Discovery Museum and Planetarium, and Greater New Haven Clean Cities Coalition the Climate Champion Award for having passed an ordinance aimed at keeping fracking waste derived from the underground natural gas and oil extraction outside city limits. Ten years ago, I participated in a conference on North Korean human rights in Washington. Speaking with brave North Korean men and women who had chosen to oppose and escape from that terrifying regime, I was struck by the similarities between their experiences and those of dissidents in the U.S.S.R. In light of President Donald Trump's recent summit with Kim Jong Un, it bears remembering that the character of totalitarian rule, and the struggle for freedom against it, follows the same basic pattern the world over. Citizens of fear societies such as North Korea - that is, societies in which individuals cannot enter into a public space and freely speak their minds without fear of physical harm - can be divided into three groups. On one side are true believers, those who genuinely support the regime and believe in its official ideology. On the other are dissidents, who are disaffected with their regime and willing to pay the often-terrible price of publicly opposing it. In between stands a silent majority of double-thinkers, who question the justice of their government but are too terrified by the repercussions of dissent to speak out. The stronger the regime's repressive reach, the fewer dissidents and the more double-thinkers there will be. On the other hand, the more the government appears vulnerable to pressure, the more emboldened individuals will feel to speak out and mobilize against it. In general the number of double-thinkers tends to grow with time, as citizens continue to experience the daily indignities and deep frustrations of life under repressive rule. In the case of the Soviet Union, it was a combination of external pressure from world powers and internal pressure from dissidents that ultimately brought down the Iron Curtain. By linking their negotiations with Moscow to the latter's respect for human rights, Western leaders put the regime on notice that they took the well-being of ordinary Soviet citizens seriously, and they gave us dissidents the confidence to challenge the regime knowing that they were on our side. Sadly, the long-suffering people of North Korea are not yet in such a position. Although Trump's meeting with Kim was a historic event with potentially dramatic consequences for nuclear disarmament, it is less clear - though no less important - what effect the meeting will have on the dismal human-rights situation inside the hermit kingdom. Dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington is commendable. Yet current and would-be dissidents also need reassurance that America and other world powers understand their struggle and will defend their basic rights. It is unfortunate that some of Trump's subsequent remarks have conveyed the opposite message. In the meeting's aftermath, Trump said that Kim had proved himself "very talented" in taking over totalitarian rule from his father and averred that the young dictator "loves his country very much." Even more troubling, he declared that North Koreans love Kim in return, supporting him with "great fervor." The president may have been attempting to solidify his newfound goodwill with Kim. Yet his comments are likely to have a deeply dispiriting effect on North Koreans. Given the death grip of Kim's regime on his people, relatively few North Koreans choose to cross the line between doublethink and open dissent. As the president himself pointed out in a moving speech last November, North Korea is a country where tens of thousands of citizens languish in gulags, subject to forced labor, torture, starvation and murder. It is a country where children can be beaten in school for forgetting a small detail about their ruler's life. It is thus only natural that North Koreans overwhelmingly keep their doubts to themselves and publicly demonstrate their allegiance to Kim. Trump may well understand this reality and know better than to believe in signs of loyalty and affection displayed under conditions of mortal fear. Yet he should also understand how demoralizing it is for dissidents, how discouraging it is for the silent majority of double-thinkers and how harmful it is to the strategic interests of the United States for him to commend a supposed love affair between Kim and his people. Such statements undermine America's moral standing and dampen North Korean dissent, which is in fact the most powerful unconventional weapon in the fight against dictatorship. There are many situations in which world powers must cooperate with dictators on security issues despite their human rights abuses. Even in the context of such tactical alliances, however, it is a mistake to praise relations between an unjust regime and those who suffer under it. Soviet dissidents were acutely sensitive to every statement coming from foreign leaders, relying heavily on the knowledge that they kept tabs on our fate and had not abandoned us to our tormentors. Just as standing firmly with dissidents back then furthered the long-term goals of the United States, so too standing with the North Korean people now will advance rather than hinder America's objectives. It is both a moral and a strategic imperative, then, for world leaders to bolster the men and women suffering under tyranny, not to betray them with false flattery or diplomatic courtesy toward their oppressors. --- Sharansky, a human-rights activist and former political prisoner in the Soviet Union, is head of the Jewish Agency for Israel. STAMFORD A judge has found a New York pizza delivery driver guilty of sexually assaulting his cousins girlfriend. Judge John Blawie found Dayvon Williams, 28, of New York, N.Y., guilty of felony second-degree sexual assault. Williams, who represented himself during the three-hour bench trial, faces up to 10 years in prison. I challenge your jurisdiction, Williams said Tuesday as the judge rendered his decision. Police said Williams sexually assaulted his cousins girlfriend who was passed out in a bedroom of a Norwalk home following a party in May 2017. Assistant States Attorney Michelle Manning questioned four witnesses, including the cousin and his girlfriend. Williams, who fired three veteran public defenders since his arrest last August, did not challenge their testimony when he cross-examined them. The courthouses lead public defender, Barry Butler, acted as a standby attorney but Williams only called on him a few times during the trial. Blawie said he found the 20-year-old womans testimony credible. He also determined the woman was physically helpless when Williams sexually assaulted her since she had just worked a double-shift and then did Tequila shots. Williams, dressed in a gray sweatshirt and light-colored pants, responded by asking the judge how he was persuaded by the womans testimony considering she had been drinking and smoking marijuana the night of the incident. The judge said the drinking contributed to the woman not being able to give consent. Blawie said he also found the testimony of Williams cousin and half-brother to be credible. This case is one example as to why the sexual objectification of women must stop in parts of society. Blawie said. Manning declined to say what the victim thought of the conviction. It is a tough thing to put victims through trials and having to force them to testify, particularly when they are being examined by the actual perpetrator of the crime, Manning said. Williams is scheduled to be sentenced in August. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety By Donald Hall Houghton Mifflin. 224 pp. $25 --- "In my lifetime as a writer I have cast off layer after layer of clothing in pursuit of nudity," Donald Hall writes in his freewheeling essay collection "Carnival of Losses." Hall, who will turn 90 in September, is not only stripping down to his unadorned essence, but also emptying his life savings of odds and ends. His previous book, "Essays After Eighty," created a stir with its frank, dryly humorous perspective on debility and death. This collection of more than 70 short ruminations on the indignities of old age, poets he has known and stray memories is looser and more anecdotal, and makes it clear that Hall, a former U.S. poet laureate, has aged more gracefully mentally than physically. Hall comments, "In a paragraph or two, my prose embodies a momentary victory over fatigue." He sets up "Notes Nearing Ninety" with a page of trenchant one-liners: "You are old when someone mentions an event two years in the future and looks embarrassed," he writes. "In your eighties you are invisible. Nearing ninety you hope nobody sees you." Among his reminiscences, Hall exposes a few shameful memories. He regrets having called his 3-year-old son a bad boy for interrupting his work, and he is appalled that he confirmed a former Harvard roommate's Communist Party affiliation during an FBI job background check in the height of McCarthyism. More risible gaffes: Repeatedly forgetting to open the garage door before backing out his car; constantly losing his dentures. Hall wrote poetry until 2010, and mingled with many of the best. He recalls arguments with an immodest William Faulkner over freeing Ezra Pound, whose poetry he loved despite his "madness and his fascism." He remembers James Dickey as "the best liar I ever knew," and Allen Tate looking perpetually grumpy. Repeatedly, he wonders whose work will survive. About Richard Wilbur, who died at 96 in 2017, he writes, "In his work he ought to survive, but probably, like most of us, he won't." Hall's whole-animal approach to writing - leaving no parts unused or wasted - recalls the poem he turned into his most popular children's book, "Ox-Cart Man," in which nothing is wasted in a farmer's repetitive cycle of manufacture and market. Much in this collection is familiar, including stories about his grandparents' 1803 New Hampshire house at Eagle Pond Farm, owned by his family since 1865. This is where he retired from teaching in 1975 with his second wife, Jane Kenyon, and where they lived in blissful "double solitude," devoted to each other and their poetry until her death from leukemia at age 47, in 1995. He is ecstatic to learn that his granddaughter Allison intends to move into the family homestead after he is gone. Hall, who has spent decades exploring the poetry of death, is sanguine about mortality. In "A Carnival of Losses," he considers life's roller coaster between desolation and joy. He writes, "As a grandfather approaches his ninetieth birthday, he remembers his mother's in 1993. Although he lacks great-grandchildren, he chugs on, he chugs on, he chugs on, understanding that eventually each locomotive reaches its roundhouse." May this engine that could keep on chugging - and writing. --- McAlpin reviews books regularly for NPR, the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. 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Read Article US withdraws from cesspool UN rights body UNITED STATES: The United States withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council yesterday (June 19), condemning the hypocrisy of its members and its alleged unrelenting bias against Israel. politics By AFP Wednesday 20 June 2018, 09:24AM Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (right) and US Ambassador to the United Nation Nikki Haley said the decision to quit the top UN rights council had come after a year of trying to force it to reform. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, went to Washington to announce the decision alongside President Donald Trumps top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Both insisted the United States would remain a leading champion of human rights but, for many, the decision will reflect Trumps general hostility to the world body and to multilateral diplomacy in general. The announcement came after the top UN human rights official criticised Washington for separating migrant children from their parents who are seeking asylum after crossing into the country from Mexico. But Haley and Pompeo stressed the decision had been made after a long year of efforts to shame the council into reform and to remove member states that themselves commit abuses. These reforms were needed in order to make the council a serious advocate for human rights, Haley said. For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded. The Geneva-based body was established in 2006 to promote and protect human rights worldwide, but its pronouncements and reports have often clashed with US priorities. In particular, the councils focus on Israeli behaviour towards Palestinians in the territory it occupies on the West Bank and in Gaza has infuriated Washington. But, as Haley stressed, Washington also believes it comes up short on criticising even flagrant abuses by US opponents like Venezuela and Cuba. Countries have colluded with each other to undermine the current method of selecting members, Pompeo said. And the councils continued and well-documented bias against Israel is unconscionable, he said. Since its creation, the council has adopted more resolutions condemning Israel than against the rest of the world combined. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US move, branding the council a biased, hostile, anti-Israel organisation that has betrayed its mission of protecting human rights. Haley, who issued a warning a year ago that Washington would make good on its threat to leave the council if reforms were not carried through, used even starker language. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights, she said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regretted the US decision, adding: The UNs human rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide. On Monday (June 18), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein a Jordanian had rebuked Trump over the US practice of splitting up migrant families detained on the Mexican border. The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable, he said. Independent watchdog Human Rights Watch criticised the move, warning Washingtons absence at the council would put the onus on other governments to address the worlds most serious rights problems. The Trump administrations withdrawal is a sad reflection of its one-dimensional human rights policy: defending Israeli abuses from criticism takes precedence above all else, executive director Kenneth Roth said. The UN Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel. US criticism stems from the fact that Israel is the only country that has a dedicated agenda item at council meetings, one defended in particular by the Arab bloc of countries. Known as Item 7, this items means that Israels treatment of the Palestinians comes under scrutiny at each of three annual sessions. The United States refused to join the body when it was created in 2006, when George W. Bush was in the White House and his ambassador to the UN was John Bolton now Trumps UN-skeptic national security advisor. After Barack Obama came to power, Washington joined the council in 2009. But when Trump took office, he adopted a hostile approach to world governance, leading Washington to quit the UN cultural agency UNESCO, cut UN funding and planning to leave the Paris climate agreement. Property owner taken to hospital following shed fire Friday A garden shed is destroyed after a fire Friday afternoon and the owner was taken to the hospital for treatment of burns. Anxious homeowners were checking with their window installers Wednesday, after incoming premier Doug Ford announced he was cancelling the Green Ontario Fund. Jimm Fox, marketing director for Nordik Windows and other brands sold in the Toronto and Ottawa areas, said installers such as his company had received phone calls from people checking to see if they still qualified for up to $5,000 under the now-cancelled rebate program. The new Progressive Conservative government has set an Aug. 31 deadline for the installation of windows in order to qualify for the rebates, but some consumers will be left in the lurch. The government will honour rebate applications that have already been submitted and those filed by Sept. 30 on work done no later than Aug. 31, according to the programs website. But the lead time for window installation tends to be 15 to 20 weeks, said Fox. If the government sticks to its Aug. 31 deadline, some customers who have planned for fall installation wont qualify. Were doing our best to encourage the government to extend the deadline, he said. Were also doing our best to manage installations within the stated time period. Its causing a huge challenge for us. Share your thoughts The $377-million Green ON rebate fund was introduced by the Liberal government last year as a climate change initiative to encourage environmental building upgrades such as windows, thermostats, heat pumps and insulation. Ford announced Tuesday that the fund was being cancelled as part of the elimination of the cap-and-trade policy that was financing the program. The fund has been a boon to Ontarios window and door business, which is worth about $1 billion annually, but it has caused an artificial bubble in that sector, said Fox. Consumers, who are prone to delay a costly renovation like replacement windows, saw the rebates as an incentive to get the work done. So window companies have been swamped with demand from building owners wanting to take advantage of Green ON. Rebate programs are always popular and Green ON was a particularly rich one. But rebates also disrupt the normal flow of sales, said Fox. They cause a bubble and then you get a corresponding trough after the program ends, he said. Fox did not rule out job losses when Green ON expires. But the fund was always going to end, he said. Likely, it would have been cancelled in the fall when the funds ran out. Windows were among the pricier items that qualified for rebates, but other upgrades such as thermostats, insulation and heat pumps were also boosting the Toronto regions $5.9 billion annual renovation business, said Samuel Lapidus. Lapidus is president of Keystone Ridge Developments, a renovator and customer builder, and chair of the Renovator and Custom Builders Council of the Building Industry and Land Development Association. The cancellation of Green ON really just takes away tools to achieve higher energy-efficient homes, he said. Consumers will make up the loss by turning to less efficient windows and other products. The homeowner will go with the cheap, seven-day programmable (thermostat), but not the one the one that monitors your activity and reprograms itself, he said. The fund has not created new projects, but it has extended some renovations, creating employment, said Lapidus. It kept me on the job site weeks longer. It meant I was putting food on the table of many people because there were more people involved in the work, he said. The province could put that money back in consumers pockets by enforcing the deadlines for building permits in renovations, said Lapidus. A residential renovation (permit) must be issued within 10 business days and the municipalities are not living up to that, he said. Steve Dyck, president of Guelph Solar, said he is thrilled that the Green ON program is being eliminated because in created instability in his sector. The Liberal government announced that it was going to include solar panels as part of the Green ON rebates. So consumers waited for that to happen, but it never did, he said. It was incredibly damaging to our industry to announce something and they didnt actually have anything figured out, said Dyck. The Star was unable to get confirmation from the government by deadline whether rebates have been issued for solar panel installations. People can now decide if theyre just going to continue paying their electric bill or they can say, Im going to stay connected to the grid but Im going to generate my own electricity and use the grid as my battery, said Dyck, who has installed panels in about 500 homes since he started the business in 2009. He said the government should price carbon and return the proceeds directly to consumers. Low-income residents could use the money to live; middle-income people could decide to make lower carbon choices, and affluent people and businesses would be incented to change their habits to avoid the expense of carbon pricing. One of the biggest data-privacy laws in history was supposed to kick off a new era of surging demand for cyber insurance in Europe. So far, it hasnt. Late last month, the General Data Policy Regulation, or GDPR, went into full effect in Europe. The law constituted the largest change to the data-protection regulations in the European Union during the last two decades and one of the largest ever globally. It mandated that all companies, including those that arent based in EU but have European customers, get clients consent before collecting and processing their personal data. The heavier hand had many insurance executives and analysts forecasting a sales spike for cyber insurance. Cyber policies vary in their coverage but often provide compensation for repair of a network, recovery of lost data, lost revenue, and damaged reputation caused by data breaches and ransomware. These products also can help companies manage their risks as they work to comply with new rules. The cost of the policies varies widely, depending on the needs of a company and the industry it is in. Aon PLC, one of the biggest brokerage firms, handles policies as small as $650 in total premium to upwards of over $9,000,000 for stand-alone cyber programs. But while the regulations have led to more companies examining cyber insurance, there hasnt been a significant uptick in sales. Were optimistic that well see more, said Paul Bantick, cyber-focus group leader at Lloyds Beazley Insurance Co. in London. But in the future, its not going to be necessarily a huge boomit would probably be more gradual. The expectations for growth largely were driven by an examination of sales in the U.S. during the last year. Amid large-scale data breaches and cyberattacks, cyber has become one of the fastest-growing markets in the U.S., where 48 states require companies to notify individuals if their data is compromised. In 2017, cyber premiums in the U.S. grew 54% to $2.1 billion, according to a special report from Fitch Ratings last month. The U.S. market currently represents 90% of the global premium in cyber. In comparison, Aon says its cybersales in Europe grew 25% in 2017, attributed mostly to an increase in new clients. The company says it hasnt seen a spike in sales in response to the GDPR, and the U.S. market still holds 65% of its book, according to Shannan Fort, who leads Aons cyber-product development in London. One reason sales haven't taken off is one detail of the GDPR. As part of the regulation, companies face the risk of hefty fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of global revenue. But whether the fines are insurable in each country is unclear, a decision that is up to local regulators. This lack of clarity in what is insurable and the level of enforcement in each country has made it difficult to standardize the policy, according to Emy Donavan, the global head for cyber, media and tech PI at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty in San Francisco. It varies from company to company, because there is no reliable actuarial info to help us set prices, Ms. Donavan said. The market is pretty all over the map and [varies] from country to country. Compared with the regulations in the U.S., which came in relatively quickly, the enactment of GDPR spanned eight years. The long runway seems to have given companies more time to enroll in cyber insurance and spread out the increase in demands, Mr. Bantick said. Some insurance analysts say the ramp up is just a matter of time. Companies have to identify where to finance the purchase in their budgets and line up cash to make the acquisition. For many companies, GDPR raises awareness but doesnt change the fact that many have been looking for more protection from insurance for years, according to James Auden, a cyber analyst at Fitch Ratings. GDPR would be just one of many factors why a company would explore a cyber-insurance policy, an Allianz Europe spokesperson said in an email. The biggest threats also are constantly changing. An analysis by American International Group Inc. in London shows that ransomware accounts for 26% of its 2017 cyber claims in Europe, compared with 12% of data breaches by hackers. Ransomware was on average 16% of claims for the period from 2013 to 2016. Even so, the hope for many in the industry is that it is just a matter of time. The fact that people are already buying means that they understand the conceptual risks, Ms. Donavan said. I do believe we will see a lot of more companies interested in getting risk-transfer options through cyber insurance. But it takes a little while. CALGARYCalgarys Muslim community is shocked by the weekend mosque fire in Edson, but says it shows there needs to be more knowledge of the religion. The fire, which officials are calling arson, broke out Saturday on the second day of Eid al-Fitr, a three-day holiday celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan. It caused damage to the entrance of the mosque, although no one was injured. Security footage from the incident shows a figure with a bag walking away from the scene moments after the fire broke out. Abdul Rahman, chair of the Islamic Association of North West Calgary, said there are concerns in the community over safety, but he believes the incident does not reflect the views of Albertans. They are concerned, but we also realize that most people dont share these thoughts. This does not represent most Canadians or Albertans, Rahman said. A few years ago, when we had vandalism in our northwest mosque, we had so much outpouring of support from our neighbours that it was kind of a beautiful thing to see. Rahman said security is a priority and appropriate precautions are being taken to ensure the safety of those who attend the mosque. Mohammad Bilal believes programs that aim to break down misconceptions about Islam can lower the chances of incidents like this happening again. Bilal organizes a monthly event at Baitun Nur Mosque, where non-Muslims can come to learn more about the faith and speak with local Muslims. On the second Saturday of every month, the mosque opens its doors for Meet Your Muslim Neighbours, an event Bilal helped start a year ago. Its hard to believe that its happening so close to home, he said. This incident is a result of a lack of education. So were hoping it creates the need for overall community members to kind of get to know the Islamic faith more and really understand the teachings and the faith. Bilal said hes seen people with various misconceptions about Islam come into his mosque and leave with a better understanding. They actually go on to, even on social media, defend the Islam faith and the Muslim community of Calgary. When they see people linking the local Muslims to events happening in the world, they will say, This is not being preached and This is not what they believe in. Bilal said programs that engage the Calgary community with the Muslim community are crucial now more than ever. Our message to the Edson community, once their repairs are done and they are open to visitors, is arrange weekly or monthly open houses so that local members can come and visit the mosque and get to know the people and see what happens inside the mosque. Rahman said that its not just the Muslim community that has to take initiative to prevent such attacks. More politicians need to speak up more openly and clearly say that these things are not acceptable as Canadians, he said. This needs to be said by not one or two parties, but all parties. Read more about: CALGARYSeveral of Albertas biggest oil and gas companies have been granted intervenor status in the constitutional reference question filed in British Columbia over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. The case, now before B.C.s Court of Appeal, will determine whether the province has the right to limit shipments of diluted bitumen within its boundaries. In a statement last May, the federal government said it will intervene in the case to defend our clear jurisdiction over interprovincial pipelines. Suncor, Husky Oil, Imperial Oil, Trans Mountain ULC, Enbridge Inc., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Cenovus Energy Inc. are among a list of more than 20 organizations allowed to intervene by the Court of Appeal. The companies told StarMetro theyre intervening because they transport large amounts of heavy crude and diluted bitumen. We believe the proposed legislation would disproportionately and directly affect our business, said Sneh Seetal, spokesperson for Suncor. Should the Court of Appeal rule against the oil and gas industry, she added, tens of thousands of people would find themselves out of a job. We employ more than 35,000 Canadians and on top of that provide work to tens of thousands of contractors, Seetal said, referring to all of the oil and gas companies involved in the case. About 12,000 of those people are Suncor employees. Read more: Alberta needs their leaders to lead: Premier Notley comes out swinging at UCP Kinder Morgan admits non-compliance with Fisheries Act, CEO dodges questions Opinion | Trudeaus pipeline gambit puts him on wrong side of history Trans Mountain ULC said it already jumped through rigorous environmental and regulatory hoops before the project was approved. Trans Mountain is pleased to have an opportunity to make our position clear to the court, it said in a prepared statement on Tuesday. Albertas premier announced the provinces entry into the legal battle on Monday. Were glad Alberta has been approved to stand up for our energy sector at the B.C. Court of Appeal, said Rachel Notley in a post on Twitter. Weve won 16 of 16 court cases on behalf of (the Trans Mountain extension) & well keep fighting for jobs & to get top dollar for our resources, on behalf of all Canadians. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Canadian Fuels Association and the Canadian Energy Pipelines Association lobby groups that advocate for the Canadian oil and gas industries are also on the list, as is the Attorney-General of Alberta. Other intervenors include the City of Vancouver, the Council of the Haida Nation and Ecojustice Canada. With files from The Canadian Press Brennan Doherty is a work and wealth reporter with StarMetro Calgary. Follow him on Twitter @Bren_Doherty Read more about: EDMONTONA new automated parking enforcement system that is supposed to free up Edmonton bylaw officers will cost drivers with disabilities. When the city starts using automated parking enforcement replacing beat officers issuing written tickets with a camera system mounted to the top of city cars that will automatically mail out tickets to offenders in EPark zones on city streets and parkades on July 15, courtesy parking for drivers who have an accessible parking placard on their car will come to an end. Previously, people with an accessible parking placard could park in paid city street parking spots for up to two hours for free. A letter sent to placard holders on June 13 from deputy city manager Gord Cebryk said the city was unable to offer courtesy parking for placard holders in EPark areas that will be monitored using automatic enforcement because the system which scans licence plates and compares the information with registered paid parkers cant read the placards. Zachary Weeks, chair of Edmontons Accessibility Advisory Committee, said members came out against eliminating courtesy parking twice in meetings with city officials. He said he was disappointed a solution hadnt been found in the two years they were in talks. Throughout the whole process, we remained open and available to meeting with them to collaborate and find a viable solution to hopefully not impact citizens with disabilities, Weeks said. One proposed solution, he said, was to have a special sticker or sign on the back of the vehicle or on the licence plate, just like a vehicle registration sticker, that could be picked up by the automated enforcement cameras. Weeks said city officials advised them it wouldnt be possible. The committee was concerned about how the added expense would affect low-income people with disabilities, he said. A lot of citizens with disabilities are unfortunately in a sensitive financial situation, he said. They may be on government supports, have limited income, and that will be an extra cost. City officials are offering a grace period to ease people who have accessible parking placards into the new system, and will cancel one ticket per placard holder during the transition. Parking will remain free in 98 designated on-street accessible stalls, but Weeks said there arent enough of those spots to go around. In terms of numbers and sheer availability, there is definitely room for improvement, he said. Read more about: EDMONTONAn Edmonton researcher did not realize he was in the same restaurant as U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday night until a protest erupted a few tables over. University of Alberta ombudsman Brent Epperson was at MXDC Cocina Mexicana for a work dinner during a research trip to Washington, D.C. At around 8 p.m., a group of protesters came in to heckle Nielsen over the U.S. governments separation of children from their parents at the border. How dare you spend your evening here eating dinner as youre complicit in the separation and deportation of over 10,000 children separated from their parents? one protester shouted in a video of the interaction posted by the Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America. How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as youre deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States? Epperson told StarMetro over the phone Wednesday that the restaurant was packed when 15 to 20 undergraduate-age students walked in quietly in single file. No one paid attention at first, he said, until they surrounded Nielsens table and started chanting. \ Read more: Editorial: Canada must get its own house in order to fight Trump on migrants Trudeau urges Canadians to travel and buy Canadian in the face of U.S. trade dispute Canadians overwhelmingly disapprove of Donald Trump, poll says It lasted quite long. It was about 15 minutes. And more than half the restaurant joined in clapping with the protesters, supporting their chant and their purpose, Epperson said. He said Nielsen and her dining companion seemed to try ignoring the protesters at first, until it became clear the demonstrators werent leaving. Her security team sat around the table and made sure no one was in touching distance, but they did not get aggressive, he added. Protesters continued on, shouting, Shame, Abolish ICE, and If kids dont eat in peace, you dont eat in peace. She and her dining companion just froze, sort of sat there like statues and waited for it to end, Epperson said. He was among the patrons who clapped in support of the protesters. Looking at much of what this administration has done, and looking at this policy in particular, I think as a Canadian or as an American at this time in history, you cant not be outraged by a lot of whats happening, he said. The protest ended peacefully after the demonstrators walked out on their own, and Nielsen and her crew left shortly after. Police showed up after the protest had ended. Epperson said no one shouted back in opposition to the protesters, though he heard later that two tables complained that the incident had disrupted their dinner. On Wednesday morning, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep families together at the border. Epperson said he would like to think protests and other negative public reactions to the policy made a difference. He said the issue seemed to be on everyones mind in Washington he had everyone from an Uber driver to a random restaurant patron ask his opinion on it. I think this should be seen as encouraging, Epperson said. Even though we cant know for sure whether the protests and negative reaction forced the administration to backtrack, I think it should encourage more active protests against this governments policies. Read more about: EDMONTONA new Maskwacis school authority has forged a reciprocal partnership with the Alberta government that will bring in more funding for students. The Maskwacis Education Schools Commission, which launched in May, signed a 10-year agreement framework with Alberta Education on Wednesday that commission superintendent Brian Wildcat said could mean an additional $2,000 per student annually. The agreement will also give Maskwacis schools more access to provincial services and supports, while the commission hopes to help the province develop curriculum around First Nations history, residential schools, treaty education and land-based education. It will open a door for us to sit as equals with the Alberta government to talk about curriculum, to talk about teacher certification, to talk about supports for our students in our schools, Wildcat said. Wildcat said he sees the agreement as an act of reconciliation on behalf of the government, adding First Nations schools have traditionally had a very minimal connection to the provincial education system. The schools fall under federal government authority, but the Indigenous Services department uses the provinces as a proxy for things such as school declarations and teacher certification. Last month, Ermineskin Cree Nation, Louis Bull Tribe, Montana First Nation and Samson Cree Nation joined under the banner of the Maskwacis Education Schools Commission to oversee 11 schools and more than 2,300 students from Head Start through Grade 12. Read more: Maskwacis First Nations celebrate historic education agreement that will bolster funding and Cree learning As part of the agreement, the federal government allowed full educational authority to be transferred to Maskwacis and announced more stable funding to the schools. Before the new commission was formed, only about 65 per cent of funds the schools received from the government were secured each year, while the other 35 per cent was contingent on proposal-driven grants. Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott said at the time that First Nations schools are heavily reliant on grants and already receive less funding than provincial schools. Wildcat said Wednesdays agreement with the province will be a nice top-up to the federal funding. He said the money will go into developing land-based learning, locally developed curriculum, Cree language curriculum development, numeracy and literacy improvements, and staff and student retention strategies. Were hoping that the work we do will inform the work thats done in the province as far as curriculum is concerned for other Alberta students in the areas of First Nations history, residential schools, treaty education, land-based education, Wildcat said. Its going to be a reciprocal-type arrangement. So we will be contributing back to the Alberta school system through the work we do. Alberta Education Minister David Eggen, who was in Maskwacis, south of Edmonton, for Wednesdays announcement, said in a statement that the government is committed to working with Indigenous communities to enhance educational outcomes. I look forward to building a strong relationship to support the development of this new Cree-based school system that will benefit thousands of Maskwacis students, Eggen said. The new commission will take over Maskwacis schools in September. Philpott said in May that First Nations in Nova Scotia and Manitoba saw significant increases in grades and graduation rates after implementing similar collaborative education authorities. She said the Maskwacis commission will be looked at as a model across the country. Read more about: EDMONTON Analysts are touting the entry of a new ultra low-cost airline company as a game changer for Alberta travellers. Swoop Airlines a wholly owned subsidiary of WestJet took to the skies Wednesday morning with its inaugural trip from Hamilton, Ont., to Abbotsford, B.C. The airline has announced an initial network that includes Abbotsford, Hamilton, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Halifax. Service from the Edmonton International Airport commences next Monday, with initial flights to and from Hamilton, which will serve as the airlines base of operations. I think Swoop can actually revolutionize Canada in terms of travel patterns, company president Steve Greenway said at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport on Tuesday morning. Where people are catching cars and buses today, theyll be able to fly. With the addition of Swoop, Flair Airlines and other European companies eyeing the Canadian market the summer travel season will be a lot more accessible for Albertans, said Steve Sintra, country manager of online fare aggregator Kayak, in a statement to StarMetro. Swoop, an offshoot of WestJet, takes to the skies this week with a trip from Hamilton, Ont. to Abbotsford, B.C. (The Canadian Press) Albertans will have more options for domestic travel, and those who were potentially restricted by higher airfare will have a chance to explore their country, he said. Were actually already seeing a decrease in flight prices for summer travel in and out of Edmonton prices down 40 per cent compared to last year, likely due to the increased travel options available. The airline commenced operations early morning on Wednesday with an average seat price tag of $100 for the five-hour flight from Ontario to British Columbia. I dont think youll be able to find that deal anywhere else, said Greenway. Lower prices, he hopes, will lure more Canadians currently flying American airlines, as Swoop plans to add international destinations by wintertime. On Tuesday, Flair Airlines announced it was moving its headquarters from Kelowna, B.C., to Edmonton, bringing with it new flights from Albertas capital to Victoria, B.C. Earlier this week, the company also announced new routes plying Calgary and Halifax, N.S. After threatening to go on strike, the union representing WestJet pilots agreed not to strike in May and agreed to binding arbitration. The association announced on June 11 that WestJet pilots will fly Swoop planes a decision they say will address one of the pilots top bargaining issues of job security. Read more about: HALIFAXDespite escalating CanadaU.S. tensions over tariffs, the mayor of Yarmouth, N.S., says she expects tourists to flow freely this summer between her port town and the States. I think well be seeing more American tourists, said Mayor Pam Mood in an interview. Yarmouth is the landing site of a privately-operated, publicly-subsidized ferry between Nova Scotia and Portland, Maine. The ferry connects southern Nova Scotia to the U.S. more directly than any land options. Mood said the ferry brings tens of thousands of tourists to Yarmouth each summer a significant influx for the town of about 7,000 residents. Read more: Opinion | There are more reasons than ever to not visit the U.S. Trump says hell punish the people of Canada because of Trudeaus news conference Special place in hell: Trump aides hurl insults at Trudeau in unprecedented U.S. attack on Canadian leader The U.S. recently imposed tariffs on Canadian steel, which sparked retaliatory tariffs on a number of American products being imported to Canada. Tensions were further stoked after Trudeau criticized Trumps actions at the G-7 summit, and Trump responded with a public threat, saying Thats going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada. Some Canadians are calling for a boycott on travel to the U.S. in response to Trumps tariffs and attacks. Mood said shes aware of those boycotts on the Canadian side, but she doesnt think it will negatively impact the flow of travellers through her town. Additionally, she said she doesnt think theres any ill will toward Canada amongst the Americans who would typically visit her shores. Were crossing into the northeastern seaboard with the CAT ferry, and weve always had great relations with them, she said. She added that there are lots of family ties between Maine and Nova Scotia, which she believes will keep people travelling in both directions, regardless of the political climate. Shane Ward, the owner of The Red Shed, a seafood and burger shack a block away from the ferry terminal, said tourism is important to Yarmouth, but he isnt concerned about the impact of the trade war; he focuses more on local customers anyway. (Tourism) does make a difference, but at the same time weve done seasons when there wasnt a (ferry), and we had a good season, he said in an interview. Of course wed like to see more tourism, but I dont think we should be basing everything on tourism, though. It should be like gravy in the pot, like extra icing on the cake, he said. Ward also said hed rather see Canada take the trade war as an opportunity to assert its independence from the U.S. Ive said this for a long time: we should sort of push away from the States and start standing on our own two feet, he said. StarMetro reached out to Bay Ferries Ltd., which operates the Yarmouth ferry, about this summers bookings, but they did not respond in time for publication. Read more about: In 2014, Paul Calandra became the poster boy for the perennial problem of parliamentary dodges. Faced with a tough grilling in question period from then-NDP leader Tom Mulcair about Canadas military operation in Iraq, the Conservative MP responded with a non-sequitur. He spoke not about the matter of life and death at hand, but about a social media post purportedly written by an NDP staffer on the issue of Israel. Asked again about Iraq, Calandra repeated his comments on this unrelated matter. Days later the Conservative MP offered a teary-eyed mea culpa. Clearly, I allowed the passion and anger at something I read to get in the way of appropriately answering the question to the leader of the Opposition, an emotional Calandra said as he unconditionally, unreservedly apologized to the House. At the time, Calandras dodge and its fallout caused yet another fleeting re-assessment of question period including an NDP motion, eventually defeated, to change House rules to allow the Speaker to crack down on irrelevant or repetitive answers. The Stars analysis of a weeks worth of question periods shows Calandras brazen dodge is typical of this daily exercise. While outright lies were relatively infrequent over the course of the week, stretches of the truth and off-topic canned talking points offered as responses to serious questions were the norm. In our system of Westminster democracy, question period is intended to be a venue for Parliament to hold government to account and glean information the executive may not want to reveal. In Canada, QP is supposed to be a key part of our parliamentary democracy. Theres the value. Any member in the House can get up on any day without prior notice and ask a question of the government to account for a decision, a policy, a piece of legislation, says Robert Marleau, who worked on Parliament Hill for 32 years, including 13 as Clerk of the House of Commons. Its a very, very powerful tool, he said. Ive seen the House rise to the highest level of accountability, where we are dealing with serious issues and its quite impressive to watch. And Ive seen it slide into the gutter, too, Marleau said. Any discussion of question period very quickly shifts to the theatre that dominates the 45-minute slice of democracy that is on display each day the House sits. Scripted exchanges are the norm, interrupted by heckling and raucous partisanship. Performance trumps substance, conflict conquers collaboration and controlled messaging subsumes organic debate. So how did question period evolve from its original intent as a spontaneous truth-seeking forum to a tightly orchestrated spectacle? The United Kingdoms version of question period, the model for our own, has many and very strict rules to promote serious exchange on policies and ideas. But in Canada, while rules do exist, they have never been nearly as robust. This deficit was made worse when cameras were introduced in the chamber in 1977, said Jane Hilderman, executive director at Samara Canada, a democracy advocacy non-profit. It became more about reaching a nightly newscast audience so it favoured pithy, short theatrical performances. You want to be seen with a united team behind you that stands and claps to show the force of the idea or opinion. Michael Chong, the Conservative MP for Wellington-Halton Hills, is a vocal critic of question period, which he says is broken. One necessary reform in his eyes is changing the rule, introduced in 1997, that capped questions and answers at 35 seconds. Try to give an answer in 35 seconds, you are literally punching for sound bites rather than giving substantive answers. Conversely, in asking the question, you are going for the punchy sound bite, Chong said. He places many of the problems partly at the feet of Speakers who have ceded unprecedented power to the parties. Opposition parties provide the Speaker with a list of MPs who will ask questions. And the government decides who responds. This undermines the role of politicians, whether in the governing or opposition parties, to hold government to account and represent their constituents, not only their parties. It also undermines the important role of the Speaker. The Speaker is effectively a figurehead but doesnt play any real role in question period. The real decisions are being made by the leadership of the respective parties, Chong said. Thats a problem because it allows a cabinet minister to sidestep questions, he said. For example, if a minister is in hot water over an issue, he or she often stays mum in question period and other ministers are allowed to answer in their place. Thats not accountability, Chong said. Government House Leader Bardish Chagger says that criticisms that cabinet ministers are ducking the questions are not always fair. Its not that you havent provided an answer. Its that the opposition doesnt like your answer. There come times when you are not able to provide more information, Chagger said. A standing order the playbook for parliamentary procedure and decorum states that a Speaker facing the conduct of a member who persists in irrelevance, or repetition, may direct the member to discontinue his or her speech. However, thats been interpreted to apply only to debates and not question period. That needs to change, Chong says, so the Speaker can compel cabinet ministers to respond and compel them to give real answers. Part of the Liberals 2015 election platform promised to make question period more relevant by empowering the Speaker to challenge and sanction MPs, and allowing more time for questions and answers. Chagger says the governments commitment to bring this place into the 21st century remains. Question period is a period of time for the government to be held to account, Chagger said in an interview. We committed to being more accountable and we really want to ensure that we are prepared to do that. Former Speaker Peter Milliken echoed Chong, saying the reliance on party lists, the roster of MPs scheduled to speak, dramatically changed the nature of debate. Milliken, who famously said its question period not answer period, said theres little room in the standing orders for Speakers to compel relevant answers, or what constitutes a response in the first place. In taking it away from the Speaker, the whips took control of everything, not just who was asking the questions but what the questions were going to be, he said. Weve lost out on questions about constituency matters almost completely. You hardly ever hear questions on subjects like that. Its important members get to ask those questions in the House, Milliken said. How those questions are asked is dictated by tradition, precedents and rules. In 1986, Speaker John Bosley laid out some principles: question period is short so use the time wisely; with Canadians watching, MPs should be on their best possible behaviour; while MPs may have other purposes and ambitions, the primary purpose must be seeking of information and calling the government to account. There are some rules. For starters a question must be posed, not a statement or expression of opinion. It must relate to the administration of government. It cannot seek secret information, such as the subject of cabinet discussions. It cannot reflect on the Governor General. It cannot create disorder. You cant mention that an MP is absent from the chamber. You cant call another MP a liar. And you most certainly cant refer to another MP as a piece of s-- as Justin Trudeau shouted across the aisle in 2011 to then-environment minister Peter Kent. (Trudeau apologized.) Investigative reporters Marco Chown Oved and Brendan Kennedy were on a team of six reporters that fact-checked question period over five days. See what they thought of their findings. Those rules dont seem to be enough. According to Samaras 2017 democracy audit, only about half of Canadians surveyed believed MPs did a good job of representing their constituents or of holding the government to account. Meanwhile, 63 per cent believed they represented the views of their party. A recent poll from Nanos Research found that 65 per cent of Canadians think question period is politically charged theatre that should be improved. Hilderman agrees with Chong that the solution lies in part in extending the 35 seconds allotted for questions and answers. She also advocates taking away politicians prepared notes to promote genuine debate. But whatever the technical changes required, most advocates agree that if question period is to become the powerful democratic tool intended, then control will have to be wrestled from the parties and put into the hands of the Speaker and all the MPs who comprise Parliament. Read more about: William Whatcott, a well-known anti-LGBTQ activist wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for wilful promotion of hatred, plans to turn himself in this week, according to his lawyer. Whatcott, who once lived in New Westminster, is accused of distributing 3,000 pamphlets to attendees at Pride Torontos 2016 parade. They contained what Toronto police call hateful content. A warrant was issued in spring 2018. Whatcotts lawyer, Charles Lugosi, said his client intends to turn himself in to police in Calgary on Friday. The allegations contained in the warrant have not been proven in court. In a post on Freenorthamerica.ca a website associated with what appears to be Whatcotts Twitter account a user called Bill Whatcott described the pamphlets distributed on July 3, 2016, when he and several others dressed in skin-tight full-length green bodysuits to hand out anti-LGBTQ materials. A copy of the material posted on the website contains Whatcotts name and warns parade goers of homosexual inspired oppression. Toronto police spokesperson Const. Caroline de Kloet said the force is aware Whatcott intends to turn himself in. She said part of the reason the warrant was issued two years after the incidents is because police had to to liaise with the prosecution to approve the charge. In an interview, Whatcott who described himself in previous court proceedings as a Christian activist who formerly engaged in same-sex sexual activity said he does not believe he did anything criminal. He said his distribution of pamphlets should be considered fair criticism of a public event. I have little enough confidence in the justice system. The judge might look at it, know its wrong and convict me anyways. I think that can happen in our courts, Whatcott said. I gave out medical information. I made theological arguments that I dont think homosexuality is a good idea ... I dont believe I committed a criminal offence. His current lawyer, Lugosi, said his client intends to co-operate with police but will challenge the allegation. Lugosi said Monday he has yet to read the warrant. Usually, a Canada-wide warrant is issued with somebody alleged to have committed a very serious crime, like murder, Lugosi said. Normally, with something like this, its never done. Its abnormal. Mr. Whatcott intends to be fully co-operative ... I am trying to facilitate his surrender on this warrant. Pride Toronto executive director Olivia Nuamah said its a positive step that an arrest has been made. LGBTQ hate crime has gone up significantly this year, Nuamah said. Just in general, the arrest and prosecution rates are incredibly low ... Its important that the rates of both arrest and prosecutions go up significantly. After the 2016 Toronto Pride Parade, Whatcott was the subject of a $103-million class-action lawsuit alleging hate speech directed at the LGBTQ community. In a March 2017 ruling from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the judge said the class-action suit would not stand but that the people who filed the suit could pursue individual civil lawsuits against Whatcott. Jeremy Dias, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, said police need to do more to discourage anti-LGBTQ activists from disrupting Pride festivities. Dias, who attended the 2016 parade, said the pamphlets were reprehensible. We really need police services to take these actions more seriously, Dias said. If youre breaking the law and conducting hate speech, then thats a problem ... It should be prosecuted, period. No questions asked. On Freenorthamerica.ca, the user Bill Whatcott said he received the notice of his arrest warrant on June 13, 2018. The post said Whatcott will turn himself in to Calgary police on June 22 at 10 a.m. and that his supporters are organizing a protest. It appears I am facing an indictable charge for Public Incitement of Hatred, the post reads. The crime? My ministry bringing the Gospel and the truth about homosexuality to Torontos ... pride parade in 2016. Police looked for Whatcott in multiple provinces. A department update provided by New Westminster Police in B.C. said they received a call for assistance from Toronto police in April. Whatcott was then believed to be living in New Westminster, in the eastern part of Metro Vancouver. At the time, police confirmed Whatcotts residence in New Westminster and were working on co-ordinating an arrest with Toronto police. However, it is unclear whether Whatcott was actually in New Westminster at that point. Reached by phone, Whatcotts wife Jadranka Whatcott said the pair used to live in New Westminster but moved to Alberta earlier this year. In a separate matter, Whatcott is also the subject of an ongoing human-rights discrimination complaint filed by a transgender woman in B.C. It was filed by transgender-rights advocate Morgane Oger. According to human-rights tribunal documents, Whatcott allegedly distributed flyers disparaging Oger during the spring 2017 B.C. election, when Oger was running as the NDP candidate for Vancouver-False Creek. The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal said Whatcott argued in his response that his conduct was protected by the guarantees of freedom of religion and speech granted by the Charter. Whatcott allegedly wrote that because Oger is a transgender woman, she is unfit to work as a politician, expressing concerns about the growth of homosexuality and transvestitism. Within days of the flyers being distributed, Ogers campaign team contacted the Vancouver Police Department. Oger said an officer came to her house and took a statement but that Vancouver police did not charge Whatcott. (They) would not actually even engage until it was discovered that I was a political candidate for a party, she said. I would assume that I can count on the police in B.C. here, but experience tells me maybe we have a ways to go, Oger said. Asked about Ogers case, Vancouver police said they cannot provide information on specific cases unless charges have been approved by the Crown. Since the flyers about Oger were first published, a Facebook account with the name of Bill Whatcott posted further material attacking Ogers transgender identity. One example occurred on Feb. 17, 2018, when the user posted a photo of Oger with the caption you are still a guy, referring to her by the first name she used before transitioning. Oger said shes looking forward to the conclusion of this case. As someone who faces constant harassment ... I welcome some precedent being set, explaining clearly where the law draws the line between acceptable behaviour and unacceptable behaviour, she said. Read more about: The population of people behind bars in Canada, overall on the decline, continues to include a massive overrepresentation of Indigenous inmates, according to newly released government data. Although comprising about 5 per cent of Canadas population, Indigenous people accounted for 27 per cent of the federal prison population in 201617, according to a Statistics Canada report released Tuesday. Thats a 1-point increase over the previous year, and an 8-point increase from 10 years ago. In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where the Indigenous populations are proportionally the largest, they formed as much as three-quarters of prison admissions in 201617. When youre looking at what those statistics theyre saying not enough is being done to address the social and economic disparities of the most impoverished people in this country, said vice-chief Heather Bear of Saskatchewans Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. A lot of these incarcerated First Nations people have been disconnected from their people, from their communities. The actual rate of incarcerated Indigenous people may be even higher than what Statistics Canada reported, as Metis people who can pass as white may not be included, said Robert Henry, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary who studies Indigenous issues in justice and education. Often, he added, disclosing an Indigenous background in prison can make it harder for inmates to access services. Its all these factors coming together, and theyve slowly started to create this surge in what were seeing, Henry said. This is a continuation of a trend thats been ongoing since the late 90s, Henry said. Though a number of complex factors are involved such as poor access to education, media portrayal of Indigenous people as criminals and the lingering effects of residential schools Henry said he believes a major one is the pipeline of Indigenous youth moving from the child welfare system into the prison system. Removing children from families, he said, introduces instability that has consequences down the line. We shouldnt be surprised that were seeing more Indigenous people being incarcerated, because theyre already being removed at such young ages and being institutionalized, Henry said. A spokesperson for Correctional Services Canada told the Star in an email that the overrepresentation of Indigenous people is a complex issue for them, because sentencing is outside of their jurisdiction. However, CSC can influence the time they spend in custody by providing culturally responsive programs and interventions to address an Indigenous offenders risk, leading to timely access to rehabilitation to foster their successful reintegration into their home and community, the email statement read. A Supreme Court of Canada decision last week found CSC had failed to meet its obligation to Indigenous inmates in this regard, by using risk assessment scales unproven to be effective for Indigenous people to make decisions about their incarceration. CSC said it was reviewing the Supreme Court decision. The service said its implementing several culturally responsive interventions to ensure the healing of Indigenous men and women offenders, including Aboriginal Intervention Centres for culturally appropriate case management. Civil rights activists argue that a major factor leading to the uneven represation of Indigeous people in prisons is over-policing. Josh Paterson, president of the BC Civil Liberties Association called the numbers appalling, and said they were related to police performing a disproportionate number of checks on Indigenous people in cities like Vancouver. If one community is routinely and over 100 years over-policed, over-surveilled, over-interfered with, its not a surprise they will wind up over incarcerated relative to others, he said. In Alberta, where Indigenous people made up 42 per cent of correctional admissions and only 6 per cent of the total population in 201617, more than half of the women in custody in the province were Indigenous. And for both genders, the numbers are higher than they were a decade ago. The numbers of Indigenous women that are now entering this system and being charged is horrible, said Muriel Stanley Venne, president and founder of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women in Edmonton. The attitude as I see it is that these people are gonna go to jail, they committed crimes and they belong in jail. Thats what I hear in response to the high numbers. I want that attitude changed. Bear, too, says its high time for action, especially in the era of Truth and Reconcilliation. You need a multi-faceted approach to deal with these issues, she said. That means investments from the provincial and federal governments in reforming both the justice system itself and social safety nets. But to get it right, the government needs to equip First Nations so that they can take the lead, Bear said. The system that were in, you may have someone working with a probation officer who has never stepped foot in a First Nation, she said. We know what works for us, we know what our problems are and try to fix them. Henry noted that a section of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRC) 94 calls to action dealt specifically with the justice system. Across the Prairies, he said, very few of the recommendations have been implemented. It has not been followed through yet, he said. The more difficult things, it doesnt seem to happen. Henry said reforming the child welfare system would also be a natural way to start fixing the issue. These numbers arent surprising, but with serious time and effort they need not be inevitable, Venne said. Many measures to improve the situation going forward have been identified by the TRC and others, Venne said, but she hasnt seen a change in attitude. This way, theyre just building more jails, she said. And we know whos going to be in those jails. Emma McIntosh is an environment, justice and investigative reporter with StarMetro Calgary. Follow her on Twitter at @EmmaMci Read more about: Four out of five Canadians disapprove of U.S. President Donald Trump in the wake of an escalating trade war with Canada, a new poll has found. The Campaign Research survey also found 72 per cent believe Trumps protectionist policies have harmed the Canadian economy, while only three per cent said they have helped. Seventeen per cent said they have neither harmed nor helped, and eight per cent didnt know. The prime minister is definitely on the right side of public opinion on this issue, thats for sure, Campaign Research CEO Eli Yufest said of Justin Trudeau. If hes able to rally the Canadian public behind him on this particular issue, that will no doubt bode particularly well for him, Yufest said Wednesday. Certainly, Justin Trudeau has an opportunity to leverage the issue because of the importance to Canadians. Some 81 per cent said they disapproved of the job Trump is doing, while 11 per cent approved and eight per cent didnt know. Read more: Editorial | Canada must get its own house in order to fight Trump on migrants I love Canada, Trump says after lashing back at Canada over Trudeaus tariff criticism Opinion | Five moves Canada should make to counter Donald Trump The good news for Trump, anyway, is that Canadians dont vote for him, the pollster said. Campaign Research surveyed an online panel of 1,579 adults from across the country between last Friday and Monday. A probability sample of that size has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Yufest said there is an overwhelming awareness of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in this country 87 per cent of those surveyed knew about Canadas negotiations with the U.S. and Mexico while 13 per cent did not. Asked about Trumps threat to punish the people of Canada economically, 61 per cent expressed concern, 34 per cent were not concerned and four per cent were unsure. In terms of Canadas retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., 74 per cent agree, 14 per cent disagree, and 12 per cent had no opinion. It really speaks to the heart of what people need in order to survive, which is jobs, Yufest said. So theres no doubt its more to do with that than some sort of knee-jerk anti-American reaction. Read more about: OTTAWACanadas spy agency halted a running investigation into right-wing extremism just months before 2017s mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) saw right-wing extremism not as a national security threat, but a public order threat to be dealt with by police, according to a new report from the agencys watchdog. (CSIS) found that the majority of right-wing extremism activities consisted of, or were near to, lawful protest, advocacy, and dissent, the report from the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), released Wednesday, reads. CSIS ended its investigation of right-wing extremism in March 2016. The agency reversed its decision and re-opened its investigation 10 months later, after Alexandre Bissonnette opened fire at the Grande Mosquee de Quebec in January 2017, killing six worshippers. Bissonnettes trial heard that the 28-year old was attracted to far right figures online, and the immigration policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, and his crimes were partially motivated by Canadas acceptance of refugees. Public Safety Canada, the department that oversees CSIS, listed right-wing extremism as a growing concern in Canada in its most recent annual report on terrorism threats. A 2016 study, posted to the departments website, estimated there are 100 white supremacist and Neo-Nazi groups operating in Canada, and more than 30,000 individuals involved in sovereigntist causes. VICE Canada has rigorously documented the growth of these groups, including the Soldiers of Odin, La Meute in Quebec, and the III% in Alberta. CSIS itself listed extreme right-wing ideology and white supremacy as the main ideological source of so-called lone wolf attacks worldwide, followed by Islamic extremism. If the agency believed that to be true in 2015, its unclear why they would have shut down their right-wing extremism investigation in 2016. CSIS spokesperson Tahera Mufti said that the agencys analysts, regardless of their area of focus, must assess any threats that have the potential to provoke serious acts of ideologically-motivated violence against Canada and Canadians. Any group or individual who sees violence as a legitimate form of political expression, including those who support right-wing extremism, is of concern to us, Mufti wrote in a statement. Stephanie Carvin, a former national security analyst who teaches international relations at Carleton University, said the agency is grappling with how to investigate far-right extremism which often mobilizes on the internet rather than in public. I think this is something theyre still wrestling with the challenges of dealing with that. Were still not comfortable with national security agencies monitoring the internet, Carvin told the Star. Do you want to send CSIS in to monitor (anonymous message board) 4Chan, or monitor some of these Incel forums? I think people in the wake of an attack might say yes, but when you broaden it out it becomes much more of a challenge. We havent quite figured it out yet. The SIRC examined CSISs investigation into right-wing extremism from 2012 to 2017, and found the agency complied with its legal restrictions and ministerial direction. Since 2017, CSIS has worked more closely with the RCMP and law enforcement groups around the country on right-wing extremism, according to the SIRC. Besides helping to maintain awareness (of the threat), these tools (and partnerships) were valuable in investigating right-wing extremism activities that may present a threat to he security of Canada, including, for example, hate crimes against Muslims, the watchdogs report reads. But it noted that recent events included a thwarted mass shooting in Halifax and the violence at protests in Charlottesville, Virginia show the potential threat of violent and non-violent right-wing extremism. The watchdog said it will continue to monitor CSISs investigations into these groups. Bernie Farber, the chair of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, a newly-formed organization that monitors hate groups in Canada, called CSISs decision to suspend their investigation into far right groups an error in judgment. Hate movements go through peaks and valleys, but they never fully disappear. These groups should always be monitored and countered, Farber wrote in an email to the Star. We hope they devote the appropriate resources to this threat, especially as we are becoming increasingly aware of dangerous far-right extremism in Canada. Its unfortunate that it took the tragic killings at the mosque to alert CSIS to the growing threat of right-wing extremism in this country, said Amira Elghawaby, a CAN board member. Canadian Muslims and their allies have been raising the alarm about this phenomenon for quite some time. OTTAWAThe Liberal government has unveiled a six-member advisory council that will consult Canadians and inform plans for a national pharmacare program but it offered few details on the process Wednesday, including when consultations officially get underway. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor announced the creation of the new group alongside the advisory councils chair, former Ontario health minister Eric Hoskins. Ive already had the opportunity to meet individually with most of the provincial and territorial ministers and Im pleased to say that the reaction to date has been quite positive, Hoskins told a news conference in the foyer of the House of Commons. I would describe their reaction as cautiously optimistic and welcoming the work of the council. The advisory council will spend the next few months consulting with provinces, territories, Indigenous leaders, health experts and Canadians. Its final report is due next spring and will provide the government with recommendations on how to implement a national pharmacare program. Petitpas Taylor wouldnt say exactly when consultations would begin or how much time the council would have before turning their attention to the report. Read more: CSIS stopped monitoring right-wing extremism months before mosque shooting, watchdog says Canadians will be able to legally puff pot starting Oct. 17 She said shes spoken with council members, who will be getting a work plan together and will be hitting the ground running. In the coming weeks, Canadians will be invited to share their views on pharmacare through an online questionnaire and through written submissions. After that, the council will meet with Canadians, health care experts, patients, stakeholders, and provincial, territorial and Indigenous leaders across Canada. Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said he hopes the council will set up town hall events and allow Canadians to share their stories in person. He said his organization, which has advocated for a national pharmacare program, is hoping to hear more details, and welcomed the timing of the final report, since it will coincide nicely with the 2019 election. Mark my words, like it or not, this will be an election issue, Yussuff said. Its not a bad thing that Canadians are debating this in the time of choosing their government. The government has tapped a physician, former provincial ministers and policy experts to make up its new advisory council on the implementation of a national pharmacare program. The members include Nadine Caron, Canadas first female Indigenous surgeon from the University of British Columbia, and Mia Homsy, the director general of the Institute du Quebec. Camille Orridge, a senior fellow at the Wellesley Institute, is also a member as well as Diana Whalen, Nova Scotias former deputy premier and finance minister. Other members include Vincent Dumez, the co-director of the Centre of Excellence on Partnership with Patients and the Public at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal, and John Wright, former deputy minister of health and deputy minister of finance for the Saskatchewan government. OTTAWANew documents suggest the bills for Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus troubled trip to India in February exceed $1.5 million. The latest figures released by the government include $323,000 for hotel stays, $485,070 to fly and staff the VIP Airbus for 43.7 hours over the nine-day trip, $5,235 for cell phone fees, $5,100 to buy Canadian wines for use at official events and $17,044.21 to fly Vancouver Chef Vikram Vij to India, where he cooked a dinner for a meeting and an official reception at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi. Conservative MPs say the lavish trip was a huge waste of money, produced virtually no return on the investment other than the embarrassment of the Prime Ministers Office accidentally inviting to a reception a man convicted of attempting to murder an Indian politician more than 30 years ago. Trudeau says the trip helped secure $1 billion in two-way business deals between Canadian and Indian companies that will help create 5,800 jobs in Canada. He also says he spent less to go to India for nine days than Prime Minister Stephen Harper did to travel there for six days in 2012 or three days in 2009. Trudeaus office says the 2009 India trip cost $1.4 million and the 2012 trip $2.5 million. The latter bill included $1.2 million to fly two armoured Cadillacs and a bullet-proof SUV when the RCMP deemed them necessary for security purposes. Trudeau used cars provided by the Indian government and Canada spent about $58,800 on cars and drivers for the trip. Conservative MP Alex Nuttall, however, says the trip cost a lot with nothing to show for it but an international embarrassment. Read more: Justin Trudeaus India trip focus of jabs at parliamentary press gallery dinner Opinion | Paradkar: Trudeau with his Indian culture overkill came across as patronizing At this point, the evidence is that it was a complete and utter failure, Nuttall said. Trudeaus Indian excursion was supposed to improve ties between Canada and India, a country of more than 1.3 billion people with one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. On Harpers 2012 trip, a goal was set to increase two-way trade between Canada and India to $15 billion by 2015. It has grown substantially, more than doubling to $8.4 billion in 2016, but is still far shy of the goal. Indian concerns about Sikh separatist sympathizers dogged Trudeau throughout the trip and it appeared Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi purposely gave Trudeau the cold shoulder for the first several days. Some argued Modis decision not to meet Trudeaus plane at the airport was not a snub, only a matter of protocol, but just a few weeks later, Modi did show up to shake hands on the tarmac with French President Emmanuel Macron when he arrived in Delhi. The wheels really came off the bus, however, with the invitation to two receptions with Trudeau issued to Jaspal Atwal, who was convicted of the 1986 attempted murder of an Indian cabinet minister on Vancouver Island in a plot organized by a Sikh separatist extremist group. Atwal attended a reception in Mumbai and posed for photos with Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, but his invitation to a second reception was rescinded when officials were told of his identity. Read more about: MONTREAL Ontario premier-designate Doug Ford is being courted by Quebec to form a common front to counter the economic uncertainty and protectionist measures that have emerged from U.S. President Donald Trumps White House. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said Wednesday he had spoken with Ford so that our respective administrations will begin collaborating as of right now right now to identify short-term joint initiatives to defend the economic interests of Canadas two largest provinces, which account for nearly 60 per cent of the countrys GDP. Both Ontario and Quebec have been affected by U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum that were imposed by the Trump administration, citing national security concerns. The Canadian government has argued it is absurd to consider Americas northern neighbour a security threat and invoking the particular clause to impose tariffs is illegal. Ontario faces the additional looming threat its automotive manufacturing industry will be subjected to American tariffs on Canadian-made cars. Trump said in a June 9 tweet that automobiles manufactured in this country were flooding the U.S. market. An aide to the Quebec premier said Ford was very receptive to Couillards overture. While the two provinces have opposing views on some policy matters, such as the fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they both recognized they have a responsibility to defend workers and businesses in their respective provinces directly affected by the protectionist U.S. trade measures. A spokesperson for Ford, who will be sworn in on June 29, said the incoming premier has to consult with labour, industry, and his ministers on a plan going forward. Melissa Lantsman confirmed he would continue to be in contact with Quebec officials on the file. At a news conference last week, Ford said he would work with Ottawa and other provincial governments to combat American protectionism. Were going to stand united. I know all provinces should be standing united with our federal counterparts and well deal with that, Ford said. While the incoming Ford administration is still occupied with forming a cabinet and getting a grip on the reins of power, the Quebec government plans to introduce measures to encourage businesses and government contracts to favour local suppliers for goods and services. The Quebec-Ontario outreach occurred on the same day Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland travelled to Montreal to discuss support for workers in the provinces ailing aluminum and steel sectors. Coordination between the provinces is very useful, she told reporters following a luncheon speech. She said the support from the provinces, business leaders and unions has been exemplary throughout the ongoing process of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement and in opposing the tariffs. Despite the tough talk from Washington and defensive countermeasures being prepared by the provinces, Freeland said she remained optimistic there will be a harmonious resolution to the currently strained Canada-U. S. trade relationship. Im kind of an economic determinist, she said. I like to think that if an economic relationship is a good one for both sides then at the end of the day both sides are going to maintain that economic relationship. In Washington Wednesday, Republican and Democratic senators on the U.S. Senate finance committee both expressed concerns American tariffs on steel and aluminum were having a detrimental effect on American businesses and driving up prices for consumers. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch led the charge before questioning Trumps Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. As you consider these tariffs, know that you are taxing American families, you are putting American jobs at risk, and you are destroying markets both foreign and domestic for American businesses of all types, sorts, and sizes, he said. The Washington Post also quoted Republican Sen. Patrick Toomey saying: I wish we would stop invoking national security, because thats not what this is about ... This is about economic nationalism. Ross said the tariffs against Canada and Mexico were imposed in the absence of a renegotiated NAFTA, according to The Canadian Press. Our objective is to have a revitalized NAFTA, a NAFTA that helps American and, as part of that, the (national security tariffs) would logically go away, both as it relates to Canada and as to Mexico, Ross said. Asked about Rosss committee appearance, Freeland said she was pleased to see (him) acknowledge that Canadian steel does not pose a security threat to the United States. We think that is self evident and that is what weve been saying from the beginning. With files from Robert Benzie Read more about: OTTAWANavdeep Bainss announcement that he will be marching in this weekends Toronto Pride parade for the first time comes with a confession the federal cabinet minister admits he should have done it sooner. Bains says it took a conversation with his young daughters about discrimination and bullying to jar him into the realization that as MP for Mississauga-Malton and the minister of innovation, science and economic development, he could be doing more to advocate for equality. I was talking to my girls and they were asking me questions about what did LBGTQ2 stand for. They were talking to me about bullying, all those challenges that still exist among young kids, said Bains, father of Nanki, 10, and Kirpa, 7. The conversation was around the fact that people can face discrimination for many reasons that include background and sexual orientation. I take enormous pride telling my daughters, Be proud of who you are. Be proud of your culture, your religious faith, your identity, Bains said in an interview in his Parliament Hill office. When they talk about what they hear and see at school, it dawned upon me that those challenges still exist today, that kids are still bullied and picked on for a variety of reasons, he said. They reminded me that I need to do more. I just cant be a silent observer and watch the Pride parade. I need to actively participate. Bains calls himself a Charter child, growing up in the era of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the resulting landmark court rulings that enshrined rights in this country. For someone who wears a kirpan, someone who wears a turban, someone who practises their faith outwards and be a proud Canadian, it meant a lot, he said. By his own admission, Bains is a latecomer to the Toronto Pride festival, which has grown into a major annual event in the city, with backing of high-profile corporate sponsorships and the participation of politicians from all levels. Those marching this year will include Toronto Mayor John Tory and federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. Conservative MPs Karen Vecchio, Lisa Raitt and Peter Kent are expected to attend. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marched in last years parade but this weekend he will be in Quebec for St-Jean-Baptiste Day events, according to his office. Bains, who was previously in Parliament between 2004 and 2011, supported same-sex marriage legislation in 2005, despite opposition from some quarters, including his own Sikh community. He saw it as a landmark move that highlighted how far Canadian attitudes had progressed. But looking back, Bains says he failed to recognize the discrimination that continued to exist. Theres a constant struggle for equality. You cant take it for granted, he said. I think thats maybe what happened to me in the past few years. I maybe took it for granted after the very robust, energetic, passionate debate around same-sex marriage. I felt we had moved on. It really hit home for me when I had the conversation with my girls. Thats when I looked back and thought, I should have participated more actively, he said. Thats why Bains will be marching in Sundays Pride parade. I see the world through my daughters eyes. I want to make sure that they grow up in an environment where people are treated equally, he said. Love is love. OTTAWA Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized the United States practice of separating migrant children from parents, calling the Trump policy wrong and unacceptable, just hours before the U.S. president reversed his stand. Speaking as he entered a Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday, Trudeau said Whats going on in the United States is wrong. I cant imagine what the families living through this are enduring. Obviously this is not the way we do things in Canada. Trudeau, who had declined to offer firm condemnation on Monday, said in French what is happening in the U.S. is unacceptable and later told the Commons the government would continue to monitor the situation south of the border. Trudeaus words echoed those of Pope Francis, and British Prime Minister Theresa May who told the British House of Commons Wednesday that separating families is deeply disturbing and wrong. The pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing, she said. This is wrong. This is not something we agree with. This is not the U.K.s approach. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, the Pope said he supported statements by U.S. Catholic bishops who called the family separations contrary to our Catholic values and immoral. Its not easy, but populism is not the solution, Francis said on Sunday night. The condemnations came before U.S. President Donald Trump met with congressional leaders early Wednesday afternoon and declared at a photo op that he would sign an executive order to ensure families were not separated at border crossings. Hours later he did just that, however the order does allow American authorities to detain families for an indefinite period of time until the end of their legal case. Trump said his order was pre-emptive but he expected it would be matched by legislation expected to be voted on by Congress Thursday. But even in reversing his own policy, Trump signalled his political dilemma was tied up with a concern that such a move would be perceived as weak. The dilemma is that if youre weak, if youre weak, which some people would like you to be, if youre really, really pathetically weak, the countrys going to be overrun with millions of people. And if youre strong, then you dont have any heart. Thats a tough dilemma. Perhaps I would rather be strong, but thats a tough dilemma, said Trump. Searing images of children as young as 2 being separated from parents who have unlawfully crossed the U.S.-Mexican border have triggered a global wave of public outrage, and brought new pressure on Trumps administration in Washington. It had instructed border guards to prosecute every single unlawful border-crosser and asylum-seeker and separate parents from their children. Babies, toddlers and teens have been split from their families, held in cages or put in institutional or foster care over the past several weeks, with estimates ranging from 2,300 up to 6,000 children potentially in U.S. custody. Read more: U.S. officials sending migrant children separated from parents to tender age Texas shelters Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen heckled by protesters at Mexican restaurant. Diners applauded them MSNBCs Rachel Maddow breaks down in tears on air while reporting on tender age shelters NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said outside the Commons that Trudeaus response to a heinous U.S. practice was too timid and came too late, noting Trudeau had accused the NDP on Monday of playing politics with the issue when it demanded the Liberal government suspend its immigration deal with the U.S. One of the basic things in humanity is the love between a parent and a child, said Singh. To separate kids from their parents is an act that is so deplorable and so inhumane it speaks to a complete corruption of morality of this administration. However, Trudeau has turned aside questions about whether he would suspend the agreement Canada has with the United States. That deal, known as the Safe Third Country Agreement, recognizes the U.S. as a safe third country to which Canada would turn back would-be refugee claimants if they tried to enter Canada from the U.S. It applies at official border points of entry, however due to a loophole, it does not apply to irregular border crossings, for example across fields or roads where there is no formal border inspection point. Thats why so many migrants have in the past couple of years chosen to cross at wooded points near Lacolle, Que., or Emerson, Man. Again pressed by the NDP in question period Wednesday, Trudeau said that the images which have emerged of distressed children in U.S. custody were concerning and his government would continue to monitor the situation. Read more about: OTTAWAThe Peace Tower clock is ringing 8 a.m. and Parliament Hill is just starting to stir as Conservative strategists gather in a Centre Block office. Question period is still hours away but the political aides are already plotting strategy what questions to ask and what Conservative MP will ask them. A white board hanging on the wall has 24 empty slots one for each question theyre allotted and each a chance for their MPs to land a punch on Justin Trudeaus Liberals. It really is to hold the government to account. More often than not, what gets put up on the board there is what people have heard in their ridings, said Alberta MP Chris Warkentin, the partys deputy house leader. Its the day after the Liberal government announced plans to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline project for $4.5 billion and the Conservatives plan to go hard on the topic. But how? I think we need a discussion about the questions on the pipeline, Warkentin says to the assembled group. Its not one inch of new pipeline. The protesters are still out there. The lawsuits are still there. Nothing has changed, he says, kicking off talk on the topic. Other topics come rapid fire the state of NAFTA negotiations, the threat of a CP Rail strike and Torontos demand for federal funding to assist with an influx of refugee claimants. One-by-one, the slots on the white board get filled in with topics and the names of the MPs who will ask the questions. The meeting is over by 8:30 a.m. and the topics farmed out to the respective MPs to craft their question. Thats our Wednesday, declares one aide. For politicians and their aides, question period is the 45-minute event that consumes much of a day. For each scripted question and rote answer, there are hours of preparation. And yes, there are even rehearsals as MPs and cabinet ministers practice with colleagues and aides who help hone their moment in the Commons spotlight. Preparations start early for all the parties. Anthony Salloum, an assistant to NDP House Leader Ruth Ellen Brosseau, and Sarah Andews, until recently the NDPs deputy director of communications, huddle with other members of the partys communications team. Throughout the previous day and into the evening, MPs and staff have emailed suggested questions. Now the work begins to whittle the list down to the 11 questions allotted to the New Democrats. Its really, really hard, Salloum says. Opposition parties look to craft questions that focus on the issues of the day, highlight a government controversy, drive home their own positions on a topic or put a constituency issue in the spotlight. Deciding who asks the question is another part of the puzzle as parties try to balance gender, language, geographic considerations and MP critic roles and even which politicians are in town that day. Some issues are well-worn and the governments answers predictable. Opposition parties will look at how cabinet ministers have responded in the past in hopes of finding a fresh angle to knock government politicians off their speaking notes. But it can be hard, says Brosseau, who helps oversee the NDPs question period planning. We can mouth the responses the economy and the environment go hand-in-hand, she said, rhyming off one of the Liberals oft-used speaking lines. Its really frustrating, she said. Adds Salloum, the issue isnt that they lie to us. Its that they dont answer the questions. On the Liberal side, officials in the offices of the whip and government house leader have also been meeting, gathering before 9 a.m. to talk about the day ahead, including the legislative schedule and question period. For the Liberals, its mostly about playing defence, crafting responses to questions they expect to get. They get a few lob balls too, questions from their own MPs which they use to highlight government initiatives. At 1:15 p.m., cabinet ministers convene in the cabinet room in Centre Block for a dress rehearsal. They have already spent 45 minutes with their own staff going over issues of the day and readying themselves for the expected questions. This session, lasting about 30 minutes and chaired by Government House Leader Bardish Chagger, is a final chance to polish responses and get up to speed on any last-minute issues. You get asked mock questions. When you offer an answer, people opine on how to improve the response, said one Liberal MP who has taken part. Conservative and NDP MPs also rehearse their questions, tweaking the wording to fit the allotted time. By 2 p.m., MPs are making their way to the Commons. Ministers lug a binder of cheat notes, known as QP cards, that hold scripted answers to a host of possible topics. The best performers are the MPs who can think on their feet like a good courtroom lawyer. The New Democrats have even gone into Commons chamber after hours when the business of the day is done to practise the art of asking a question. But its complicated by the fact that MPs have just 35 seconds for their questions and answers. Thats why so many literally read the question because they are so scared to get cut off, Salloum said. NDP MP Charlie Angus, of the NDP is one of those MPs who makes it look easy. Every day I have a question, I practise and practise and practise to get a fluidity, he said. I worked really long not to have a piece of paper in front of me. When you read, it doesnt sound real. I think you have to learn to speak in your own voice, Angus said. Investigative reporters Marco Chown Oved and Brendan Kennedy were on a team of six reporters that fact-checked question period over five days. See what they thought of their findings. As the leader of the Official Opposition, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer gets the first question. By convention the prime minister responds to the questions from opposition party leaders. The Liberals vowed in the 2015 election to introduce prime ministers question period to improve accountability. While it has not been formally introduced, Trudeau has taken to answering all questions on Wednesdays. By early June, there had been 23 so-called prime ministers question periods and Trudeau had responded to 891 questions in all. Opposition MPs complain that Trudeau too often sidesteps the questions but Liberals say the prime minister deserves credit for taking on whatever opposition MPs toss at him. When you look at the number of questions he has answered, its impressive, Chagger said. Presiding over it all is the Speaker of the House, Geoff Regan, a Liberal MP. He polices behaviour to make sure ever-simmering partisan tensions dont boil over. Of all the Speakers duties, this is among the most onerous and difficult, according to the Commons procedures guide. Like his predecessors, Regan relies on understated tut-tuts and repeated calls to order to keep behaviour in check. But hes not shy about calling out individual MPs who repeatedly interrupt proceedings. The week typically starts slow on Mondays and builds to a partisan climax on Wednesday, when MPs arrive in question period fired up by the morning caucus meetings. Fridays typically play out in a half-empty chamber as many MPs have already returned to their ridings for the weekend. Its different watching question period in person. First-time visitors are often surprised by the noise the cheering, heckling and applause that at times can drown out the MP who is speaking. Its very different on the floor than it is on TV. Its a lot louder, Chagger said. It takes effort not to get thrown off by the noise and heckling. And cabinet ministers try not to get knocked off script. If you stay focused on the Speaker, then you are able to kind of tune out anything. It can be hard though, Chagger said. The sometimes bored indifference of backbench MPs is also eye-opening. Many pass the time on their iPads and smartphones or tending to paperwork, such as signing stacks of greeting cards in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Chagger concedes theres work to be done to ensure that Canadians see the work in the Commons as relevant to them. I would hope Canadians watch question period. I would hope we give them more of a reason to watch question period. I do believe its a part of the history of this institution and it can really serve to benefit Canadians, she said. Read more about: David Tilson, the eldest member of the Conservative caucus, has been in politics for almost 30 years. The 77-year-old has witnessed or participated in eight different governments at both the provincial and federal level, and he is easily one of the most experienced MPs in Her Majestys Loyal Opposition. But since the current Parliament opened on Dec. 3, 2015, Tilson has not uttered a single word during question period. He says its not because hes disengaged or uninterested. He just doesnt see the point. Ive been a politician for many years and I must say, why play that silly game? The Star reviewed Hansard the official transcript of Parliament in search of the least loquacious MPs during question period. From the beginning of the Liberals term until May 11 of this year, three MPs have never spoken during question period. They are: Tilson and Liberal backbenchers Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and Robert Nault. Five others, all Liberal backbenchers, have asked just one question. Three of the five who have spoken once were elected in December byelections and have only been in the House since Jan. 29. The other two are first-term MP Robert Morrissey and five-term MP Francis Scarpaleggia. The Star reached out to all eight MPs, plus an additional MP who asked his second question the day we interviewed him. Nault, who asked his first question on June 20, after this story ran online, and Scarpaleggia did not respond to multiple interview requests. Tilson said he doesnt ask any questions because government ministers never answer them. They dodge and dissemble. I listen to the answers that are given by the ministers in the Liberal government and its just garbage, he said. If I stood up and asked a question I guarantee you 100-per-cent it will not be answered. Tilson said things were different under the Conservatives. He may be forgetting that those apparently halcyon days included Conservative MP Paul Calandras tearful apology to the House for a series of absurd non-answers. Its not just the opposition that feels frustrated by the performative ritual. Asked if he thought question period is a good use of his time, first time MP Robert Falcon-Ouellette laughed. Question period isnt a good use of anyones time, he said. The 41-year-old former university professor who asked his second question of the term on May 10 said he doesnt like how question period is orchestrated by the respective party whips, who assign friendly questions and decide who gets to ask them. He would like to see it opened up so that all members are free to ask questions of the government that are relevant to their constituents. Who am I here for? he asked. Am I here for the government or am I here for the people of Winnipeg Centre? Morrissey said question period is primarily for the opposition and serves little purpose for government backbenchers like him. Lets be candid, he said. In question period, the opposition spends most of its time trying to embarrass the government. Churence Rogers, one of the recently elected Liberal backbenchers, admits that part of question period is about scoring political points, but he disagreed with Tilsons assessment that its a waste of time. There are lots of questions on a regular basis and there are many answers provided, he said. Whether or not they feel like they got the answer theyre looking for, thats another matter. Erskine-Smith, a first-term Liberal MP who has occasionally voted against his own party, says the opposition sometimes uses question period effectively by highlighting issues in a coordinated way to push them onto the agenda. Sometimes that can push media to pick up the story, which can then pressure the government into action. Erskine-Smith said he would like to see less partisanship from all parties. The opposition would move away from misleading and cheap attacks, and the government would engage directly in answering questions with substance. He added question period always has the potential to be an effective way to hold the government accountable in a public forum. In practice, it is not always a good use of our time. Data analysis by Andrew Bailey Its a subway riders worst nightmare. Police say a man was killed in a completely unprovoked attack Monday morning at Bloor-Yonge station when he was pushed in front of a moving train. On Tuesday, police identified the victim as 73-year-old Yosuke Hayahara. John Reszetnik, 57, has been charged with first-degree murder. Such incidents are extremely rare on the TTC, and the agency says the last time someone died by being pushed on the tracks was more than 20 years ago. But the alleged murder, which occurred two days after a suicide at another station, has revived calls for the TTC to install barriers on subway platforms in order to protect riders. Absolutely, I think we should be looking at it, said Joe Mihevc, a TTC board member and councillor for Ward 21 St. Pauls. In 2010, the TTC board approved in principle the installation so-called platform edge doors on Line 1 (Yonge-University-Spadina), but the project has never been funded. Mihevc and other proponents of the barriers argue they would not only eliminate suicides on the subway, but also prevent lengthy service delays caused by trespassers entering tunnels or debris falling on the track. The barriers could also make service more efficient by allowing trains to enter crowded stations at full speed, instead of slowing down for safety reasons. Even at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, achieving all of those goals with a single project is actually pretty cheap, Mihevc argued. According to the TTC, 19 people died by suicide on the subway network in 2017, and there were 26 non-fatal suicide attempts. That represents the highest number of suicide deaths on the TTC since 2010, and a significant increase from 2015, when there were just 11 deaths and five attempts. Each incident not only results in the injury or death of the victim and inflicts trauma on witnesses and transit workers, but brings the subway system to a halt, stranding thousands of passengers. The transit agency says it typically takes between 70 and 90 minutes to get the subway running again after a suicide. Read more: Opinion | Rosie DiManno: Randomness of unprovoked fatal subway push is chilling Police charge suspect with first-degree murder after man pushed off subway platform Police seek help with ID of woman fatally struck by train at Pape subway station The TTC has previously estimated it would cost about $350 million to retrofit Line 1 with platform edge doors, but the TTC now says theyre likely to be even more expensive, and to outfit the all three subway lines could cost more than $1 billion. In addition to the expense, there are also technical challenges. The TTC says to ensure the subway doors line up properly with the doors on the platform barriers, the subways would have to be operating under the computerized signalling system called automatic train control (ATC). The TTC expects to complete installation of ATC on Line 1 by the end of 2019, but there is no firm timeline for installing the system on Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth) or Line 4 (Sheppard). The agency is conducting a feasibility study about the barriers and plans to release a final report in 2020. But TTC spokepserson Brad Ross said the agency is already supportive. Platform edge doors are something that the TTC as an organization has long requested and would like to have, he said. While it would be difficult to install them on existing stations, Ross said the TTC would want any future subway line, like the proposed relief line, to include platform doors. I dont think it would make much sense to build a new line like that without them, he said. Dr. Mark Sinyor, associate scientist at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, also supports platform edge doors. In a study released last year, Sinyor concluded suicide barriers erected on the Bloor St. viaduct in 2003 were successful in saving lives. Despite the common misconception that someone determined to take their own life would simply find other means to do so if prevented by a barrier, Sinyor said the vast majority of people who experience suicidal thoughts can overcome them and survive, especially if they seek help. The barriers make it somewhat easier to do that, in the sense that they might delay or interrupt someones suicidal plans and give them the opportunity to go and seek that help, Sinyor said. At a news conference Tuesday, Mayor John Tory said the city owes it to people who are troubled to seriously consider installing platform doors on the TTC. Always the issue that looms out there, and I dont mean to bring this back to money when youre dealing with trying to save lives, but in the end, this is a huge undertaking for us to do if we did it retroactively to all the existing subways, and the question would arise as to how you would pay for it, he said. If someone attacks you with a hammer and you dont know why, do the police have a duty to report it to the public? Its a question thats been nagging at Douglas Nery since March 14, when the resident of Torontos Gay Village says a man hit him in the head from behind as he walked home from the movies. Bleeding and confused, and with thoughts of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur flashing in his mind, Nery sought the help of a nearby witness. He was eventually treated for a gash so deep it exposed a portion of his skull. The back of his head bears the large scar where he took several internal and external stitches. But what especially pains Nery is the feeling his case has not been taken seriously and that police did not issue a warning to the public. They never found the guy ... They never released the images to the public like they do in any other case, Nery said. Its like I died and Im talking to people, and nobody listens to me, he said. Toronto Police spokesperson Meaghan Gray would not speak directly about Nerys case, but said its not unusual for investigators to decline to issue a press release. The question of when to send out a press release hinges on whether it will help further their investigation, she said. When a crime occurs, its up to the investigator to decide whether a press release is needed. Sometimes a media release isnt necessarily going to help further the case, she said. Cases where a release may help could include missing persons reports, public safety threats, suspects at large or information on those who have already been arrested, Gray said. There is nothing to suggest this case isnt being treated with professionalism and respect, she said. Read more: Extraordinary homicide cases push Toronto police budget into deficit Can Torontos police force reconcile its relationship with the citys queer communities? Toronto on pace for another Year of the Gun Nery caught a movie at Yonge-Dundas Square with a couple of work friends on that March evening, a Wednesday. He took the subway home. As he exited the station at Bloor-Yonge around 11:45 p.m., Nery said he saw another man leave with him, hanging to the side and keeping to the shadows. Nery said he crossed the street to take a pedestrian walkway through the parking garage on Charles St. He had taken no more than five steps into the garage, he said, when he felt the blow to the back of his head. Someone, Nery said he doesnt know why, had hit him with a hammer. Dazed, he said he caught a glimpse of his attacker when he bent to pick up his hat. At that moment I recognized him from the station, he said. Nery said he remembered the man well enough to give a detailed description to police from hospital. The issuing of a press release comes down to a single major factor: whether the information getting out to the public would be in any way helpful to police, or to the public, Gray said. The information released needs to be accurate and, ultimately, either help people protect themselves from a crime, or to further the police investigation, she said. Its up to the investigator to decide when evidence such as photos or video is made public, Gray said. If the images wouldnt spark someones memory, or if they dont capture the incident, then they wouldnt be shared with the public. We really do take consideration as to when we release photos and video, Gray said. Nery, 34, moved to Toronto from Brazil in 2012, relocating to the Village with his husband, from whom he is now separated. Nery works as a consultant for international students in Canada, and maintains a YouTube channel where he offers immigration advice and information to those looking to settle in Toronto. Nery talked about the attack in a video on his channel, for which he said he has received hateful comments and threats. Nery describes his life following his assault as hell. He said he struggles to leave the house or maintain his daily routine. The attack has left him with more questions with answers. I have no clue who this person is, he said. Domenico (Mimmo) Antonio Scopelliti tearfully apologized to his family for fatally shooting mobster Rocco Zito, his former father-in-law, in the family home. In a soft voice, Scopelliti, 54, said he said he deeply regretted shooting 87-year-old Zito dead shortly after suppertime on Jan. 29, 2016, in the North York bungalow at 160 Playfair Ave. that was shared by three generations of his family. Its a very, very sad thing, Scopelliti said in University Ave. court on Wednesday. Its a tragedy. He tapped on his chest and blew kisses to more than a dozen family members and friends in his sentencing hearing for manslaughter. Scopelliti was found not guilty earlier this month of the more serious offences of first- and second-degree murder. We went from celebrating my daughters birthday that day to mourning her grandfathers death, Scopelliti said before Madam Justice Faye McWatt. I cant say how much I regret it, Scopelliti said. I cant forgive myself but who I really feel sorry for is my family. The judge said she will announce Scopellitis sentence on Sept. 5. Defence lawyer Brian Ross called for a penitentiary term of seven years while Crown Attorney Anna Stanford said 11 years would be more appropriate. Stanford argued Scopelliti should be considered an organized criminal, even though he doesnt have a criminal record. Court heard that Zito was a criminal throughout his adult life and remained an active loan shark into his senior years. He was a founding member of the Camera di Controllo, or ruling body of the Calabrian Ndrangheta Mafia group in the Greater Toronto Area. This was a Mafia household, Stanford said. He [Scopelliti] had guns in his possession because he was involved in organized crime He accompanied his father-in-law everywhere because he was involved in organized crime. He knew what Mr. Zitos background was, Stanford said. Ross argued that Zitos Mafia background meant that Scopelliti was understandably alarmed when Zito threatened him immediately before the fatal shooting. It was a threat by a convicted killer, a Mafia leader who had access to guns, Ross said. Zitos threats came in an argument in which Scopelliti called Zito a sbirro, slang for snitch or cop lover, court heard. Rocco Zito was in the Mafia, Ross said. Rocco Zito, it is agreed, was a [Mafia] leader and he was so right up until he died He was a convicted killer and he was a tyrant within that house Domenico lived in his house, under his rules. Scopelliti turned himself in to police hours after the shooting, after destroying the pistol he used. He and his then-wife Laura lived in the bungalow with their four children at the time of the shooting. They have since divorced. Scopelliti addressed some of his remarks to his former wife, who sat in the back of the courtroom. I love you Laura, Scopelliti said. I love you. Everyone, thank you for coming. During the trial, Scopelliti argued that he was just defending himself when he shot Zito three times at close range with an illegal .25-calibre pistol with a silencer to after Zito threatened him and pulled a gun on him. Court heard Zito was a longtime loan shark with a 1986 conviction for manslaughter. Zitos daughter Angela Buda testified she was standing close to her father and that he did not have a gun when he was shot. Court heard things had been particularly tense in the home for a couple days before the shooting, after Zito announced he had changed his plans on how he wanted his estate divided. WELLINGTON, Ont. Ontario winemaker Norman Hardie is disputing parts of a report detailing accusations of sexual misconduct against him, while admitting that many of the allegations are true. The Globe and Mail reported numerous misconduct allegations against Hardie on Tuesday, including unwanted sexual contact and inappropriate remarks. The winemaker told the newspaper he does not physically grab people or touch them against their will, but later affirmed a former employees claim that he tried to kiss her on her first day of work. Hardie released a statement Wednesday apologizing to those who felt marginalized, demeaned or objectified while working alongside him. He said some of the allegations against him arent true, but many are. He did not specify which of the reported allegations he believed to be true or false. Hardie said hes been working for several years to change his behaviour. He said that after being contacted by reporters several months ago, he hired an independent adviser to conduct a review of the workplace culture at his winery in Wellington, Ont. Hardie said the assessment was completed in April and did not find any examples of sexual harassment in the workplace today. Hardie added that his team has begun implementing some of the recommendations from the review, including providing specific training on harassment. We have made good progress. But there is still work to be done, particularly as it applies to me personally, he said in a statement posted to his website, Normanhardie.com. All I can promise is that I will work hard every day to earn back your trust in the days, months and years ahead. The widow of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford has been given a suspended sentence, a two-year driving ban and fined $1,100 for an impaired driving conviction. Renata Ford was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service that must be completed within 18 months. She cant drive with any alcohol in her blood for three years, and she must have an interlocking device installed on any vehicles she owns. She has started to take more control of her life, Justice Ted Kelly said at Fords court hearing Wednesday afternoon. Im truly sorry for my actions, Ford, 47, told the judge. The Crown had earlier asked the judge to jail Ford for 45 days after she pleaded guilty in October to a 2016 charge. She has two previous convictions in 1997, when she refused to provide a breath sample, and in 2005 for impaired driving. But Fords lawyer argued she should avoid jail time because she was remorseful and didnt cause extensive damage. It was an excellent result, Dennis Morris said outside court, noting that his client has already done 100 hours of community service. Read more: Rob Ford estate file shows $1.1 million in assets and no indication of any payout to widow and children Opinion | Cohn: Is Doug Ford his brothers keeper? 5 things you didnt know about Rob Fords family: Revelations from the book Crazy Town The pressure that she had for many, many years are no longer there. She is a much better and stronger individual. Fords car rubbed up against another vehicle at the entrance of the Humbertown Plaza on the Kingsway near Royal York Rd., on Dec. 28, 2016, according to an agreed statement of facts filed in court. When Ford pulled over to a parking spot, people came by to help her out of her car and she sat down on the curb. Ford told witnesses that she needed a cigarette and asked them not to call the police before walking over to an LCBO parking lot. The LCBO manager refused to sell her a bottle of wine, according to the statement, and Ford returned to the passenger seat in her car. Police came by and she failed a breathalyzer test. Even though no one was injured in this case, there needs to be denunciation, reflected by a jail sentence, Crown attorney Brady Donohue told the court, asking for a 45-day jail sentence and a driving prohibition of one to three years. The fact that Ford has previous convictions is significant, Donohue said, adding, Light sentences have not worked. As a mitigating factor, Donohue noted that Ford has put a locking device in her car by her own volition. Morris argued that Ford shouldnt be sent to jail, citing high profile impaired driving cases involving former Maple Leafs captain Rob Ramage and Marco Muzzo, where the result was carnage and erratic driving. Fords circumstances are different since there wasnt a collision and there wasnt terrible driving, Morris argued. Morris told the judge that Ford accepts responsibility and is remorseful. She received counselling and is amenable to further assistance, Morris said. Shes a widow, and her sole source of income to support two children is the late mayors municipal pension, he added. That unhealthy behaviour is gone, Morris said, adding theres no need for her to be jailed given the adversity she has overcome. She has a very positive attitude in life, and is becoming more involved in the life of her children after being reclusive during her late husbands mayoralty, Morris said. Ford had extended periods of staying clean before she made a terrible error in judgment when she decided to drive after consuming alcohol, Morris said. It was a tough time because it was the first Christmas after the deaths of her husband and her father. She is not a danger to reoffend, Morris said, reading from a pre-sentence report. Morris suggested that a two-year driving ban was the appropriate sentence. She lived in a terrible chaotic world . . . being the spouse of an individual targeted by the media for many, many years, Morris told the judge. Renata Ford is suing her brother-in-law Doug Ford for $16.5 million, alleging he has deprived her of millions of dollars, including shares in the family business and a life insurance policy left behind to support his family. None of the allegations have been proven in court. Asked outside court what she thought about Doug Fords election victory, she smiled and said, No comment. First came the story. Then, the death threats. Helene Mathieu, a Quebec-trained offshore lawyer named in the launch of the Panama Papers in April, 2016, felt the impact of the worlds largest ever leak in a personal way. We received death threats and had to contact law enforcement authorities to ensure that no one was in danger, Mathieu wrote in response to questions from the Star this week. Among the hundreds of companies Mathieu registered offshore for Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm at the centre of the scandal, were three sanctioned by the U.S. government for aiding the Syrian government in the bombing of its own citizens, the Star and the CBC reported at the time. There was and there is still nothing illegal, she told the Star this week. Hundreds of law firms around the world used Mossack Fonseca as registered agents in several jurisdictions and our law firm was one of them. Several companies have been listed on the (U.S. sanction list) and we unfortunately assisted in the incorporation of three of those companies. Newly leaked documents from within Mossack Fonseca detail the internal panic and chaos in the days leading up to and after publication of the Panama Papers as it became clear journalists had 11.5 million records from inside one of the worlds largest offshore tax haven law firms. Mossack Fonseca couldnt identify tens of thousands of owners of companies it had registered in opaque, low-tax jurisdictions, the new records show. Two months after the firm became aware of the records breach, it still couldnt identify owners of more than 70 per cent of 28,500 active companies in the British Virgin Islands, the firms busiest offshore hub, and 75 per cent of 10,500 active shell companies in Panama. Meanwhile, Mathieu, a previously little-known lawyer incorporating anonymous companies in her Dubai office, was dealing with the fallout of having her face on the front page of the Toronto Star, associated with an unprecedented global investigation into the shadowy world of offshore corporations. As stories began appearing on front pages, televisions and smart phone screens from Tokyo to London, a frantic flow of emails within Mossack Fonseca show employees desperately contacting bankers, accountants and lawyers like Mathieu in an attempt to figure out who its clients really were. One Mossack Fonseca staffer wrote Mathieus office asking for documents on the three sanctioned companies detailed in Star/CBC reports, the new leak shows. Mathieus colleague responded saying he believed all documents had been supplied to Mossack Fonseca but that if anything else was needed, I dont think the client is willing if we contact him to supply anything else (especially) after the leak. Within a day, the Panama Papers entered the contemporary parlance, dominating news headlines for months and eventually triggering high-powered political resignations and 150 inquiries, audits or investigations into the law firm in nearly 80 countries. The roster of publicity-shy parties who used Mossack Fonsecas services included members of Vladimir Putins inner circle, the then-prime minister of Iceland, and a company suspected of holding proceeds from a famous 1983 London gold heist. Icelands prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, resigned after the investigation revealed a stake in an offshore company that he and his wife used secretly to hold nearly $4 million in bonds in Icelandic banks, even as his government was negotiating with the banks creditors. Pakistanis protested in the streets when it was revealed that children of then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif had set up shell companies to help discreetly hold multimillion dollar London real estate. Sharif resigned in July 2017 after Pakistans supreme court disqualified him from office. In February 2017, Panamas attorney general, Kenia Porcell, called Mossack Fonseca a criminal organization that is dedicated to hiding money assets from suspicious origins. She ordered Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca arrested on money laundering charges. The men, who deny wrongdoing, spent several months in jail before making bail. As the news was first breaking in 2016, Mossack Fonsecas urgent attempts to fill in record-keeping gaps and identify the people behind the companies it registered triggered disbelief from lawyers and accountants representing its wealthy, anonymous clients. THE CLIENT DISAPPEARED! I CAN NOT FIND HIM ANYMORE!!!!!!!, Nicole Didi, a Swiss wealth management adviser, wrote in March 2017. This French journalist wants to publish an article in the newspaper Le Monde which is not acceptable for me!!!, she wrote in an email that included yellow highlighted text. Mathieu was struggling herself with media questions at the time. After receiving inquiries and a formal interview request from the Star and the CBC, she reached out to a co-ordinator at Mossack Fonseca on March 29, 2016, stating: I do not intend to speak with the journalist. Mathieu has responded by email but never did consent to a sit-down interview. Other intermediaries raged at Mossack staff for breaching their clients privacy. The main purpose of this type of structures has been broken: confidentiality, wrote Uruguayan financial planner Ignacio Frechou. The ICIJ contacted intermediaries named in this story. None responded. This has been ridiculous, wrote Eliezer Panell, a Florida lawyer who grew exasperated at Mossack Fonsecas multiple requests sometimes only one day apart that he obtain and share documents from two offshore company owners to prove their identity. WE CANT GO BACK a day after asking for papers to ask for something else, he wrote. WE LOOK LIKE F--ING AMATEURS. A Mickey Mouse operation. In some cases, Mossack Fonseca clients simply moved their accounts to one of the hundreds of other offshore lawfirms operating in tax havens such as Guernsey in the Channel Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus. YOUR COMPANY IS NOT RELIABLE AND CREDIBLE-----BYE BYE, wrote Luxembourg-based intermediary, Jeffrey Davies. Mathieu, a McGill University graduate, was among Mossack Fonsecas biggest partners, providing nearly 900 companies with corporate registration in well-known tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, the Seychelles and Anguilla. The three companies she registered supplied fuel to the Syrian government, according to the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a watchdog of global businesses that targeted the firms with sanctions. That fuel was used in government attacks on Syrian citizens, OFAC alleged. The activities of the sanctioned companies have nothing to do with our law firm as we do not represent these companies, we do not support or endorse their actions or defended them in any way in the same way a parent cannot be held responsible if his/her child commits a crime, Mathieu told the Star in an email this week. Mathieu continues to run a legal practice in Dubai registering offshore incorporations and LLCs in traditional tax havens such as the Bahamas, British Anguilla, British Virgin Islands. Two years after the scandal, she says the Panama Papers scandal did raise important issues. We understand that cases like this raise fundamental questions about harmonisation of corporate due diligence worldwide and as well as the use of offshore structure for illegal purposes, she wrote this week. There is no doubt that regulations to these effects need to be tightened. Watch the dramatic journey of a nursing home dementia unit that tries to transform itself from a cold, clinical warehouse for seniors to a home of laughter, warmth and love. Peel Regions Redstone unit could serve as a blueprint for Ontario nursing homes at the same crucial time as baby boomers move into their vulnerable years. Full story: This Peel nursing home took a gamble on fun, life and love. It changed everything Ontario is getting ready to hit the brakes on rebates of up to $14,000 for motorists buying electric vehicles like the new Honda Clarity and Chrysler Pacifica hybrid. The purchase incentives, which were established years ago by the recently defeated Liberal government to kick-start a shift to low-emission cars, have been funded in part by the cap-and-trade program the incoming Progressive Conservatives are scrapping. Doug Ford has been clear that he is cancelling cap and trade and Kathleen Wynnes climate change action plan, Jeff Silverstein, spokesman for the premier-designate, said Wednesday when asked about the future of the incentives. Fords PC government, the first in 15 years, will be sworn in June 29. No date has been publicly set for a phase-out of the vehicle rebate program, which has come under criticism in some quarters for being one of the most generous in North America. Read more: Incoming Premier Doug Ford quietly axes Green Ontario Fund Opinion | Doug Ford will give us the carbon tax we never had Doug Ford says first job is to kill carbon cap-and-trade system It applies to about 20 electric and hydrogen-fuelled models from 14 automakers such as Tesla, General Motors, BMW and Ford, and was credited with increasing the sale of those vehicles by 120 per cent last year. Revamped in 2016 as part of Premier Wynnes five-year climate change action plan, the program included subsidies for home-based vehicle charging stations. Since 2010, motorists have shared more than $175 million in vehicle incentives alone, according to the Ministry of Transportation. I think its going to hurt significantly, Keith Brooks, programs manager at the lobby group Environmental Defence, said of the impending cancellation. Were not going to need incentives forever but we need them now, he added, until automakers can further narrow the price gap between electric-powered vehicles and traditional automobiles. You have to increase the attractiveness, Brooks said. Several automakers declined to comment but Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association president Mark Nantais said the end of the program will be a setback given that automobiles are a major source of greenhouse gases (GHGs). TOP STORIES. IN YOUR INBOX: For the days top news from the Stars award-winning journalists, sign up for our daily headlines newsletter. Electric vehicles are almost a necessity for the industry, he told the Star. Wed love to have some discussions about this. Nantais said there are very specific numbers we have to reach in terms of GHG reductions. We have to take vehicles and double the fuel economy or cut by half the GHG emissions by 2025. Incentives have nudged electric vehicle sales to the point where the buyers are no longer just early adopters of the fast-growing technology, Nantais said. Now were getting to the area where the more general population, who have to endure the long and congested commutes in the GTA and other areas, can drive a vehicle that is a very green vehicle. Under the Liberal government, Ontario pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 37 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2030. Ford has drawn criticism that he has no plan to fight climate change after he signalled last Friday that he will axe Wynnes cap-and-trade program, which put a ceiling and a price on greenhouse gas emissions and raised $1.9 billion a year, . The premier-designate has said he believes cap and trade is a cash grab that harms Ontarios competitiveness and has promised to cut gasoline taxes by 10 cents a litre. On Tuesday, he shuttered the Green Ontario Fund that provided homeowners, renters and businesses with smart thermostats, energy-efficient windows and other help to reduce hydro bills and fight climate change. It was funded by cap-and-trade revenues. Read more about: The terror of an armed gunman opening fire in public places has become an all-too-common occurrence, affecting American schools, churches, offices, holiday parties, government facilities and movie theatres. While the attacks differ in location, level of carnage and the community impacted, an FBI study released Wednesday found that a common element of the attacks lies with the shooters, who are frequently motivated by grievances in their lives, wielding guns they obtained legally and targeting specific victims when they open fire. The study, which examined dozens of active shooters between 2000 and 2013, found that contrary to the public perception of the episodes as being fuelled by mental health issues an assertion frequently given voice by politicians, including U.S. President Donald Trump law enforcement officials were only able to verify that about 25 per cent of the attackers had diagnosed mental health issues. The attackers, who almost always were men or boys, typically attacked places that were familiar to them. They had acted in ways that concerned the people around them ahead of the attacks, with many expressing a desire to carry out violent acts. And most used guns they acquired legally, oftentimes buying the weapons specifically for their attacks, the study concluded. Offenders dont snap, Andre Simons, supervisory special agent of the FBIs Behavioral Analysis Unit and a co-author of the study, said in a telephone interview. They dont wake up one morning and suddenly decide to attack. Read more: Russian developer defends Active Shooter video game as mass shooting victims seek its removal Lockdown, Lockdown, Lock the door: U.S. school uses nursery rhyme to prep students in case of shooting It was my job, and I didnt find him: Parkland resource officer remains haunted by massacre Rather, the decision is part of a long process, Simons said. The study found that 77 per cent of attackers spent a week or longer planning their violence, which does take some forethought and design on the part of the offender, he said. The new study, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Post before it was published, examined 63 cases, focusing on the shooters and the actions that led up to their attacks. It is a sequel of sorts to a 2014 report the FBI released examining active shootings during the same time frame. That report identified 160 incidents fitting the definition of an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area and it found that such attacks had become more frequent during that 13-year period. Since then, the bureau has continued studying shooting rampages, and its findings have been grim. In 2017, the massacres at a concert in Las Vegas and inside a church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., were among 30 active shootings the FBI found nationwide, the most it has tracked in a single year. After attacks like those or the rampages at high schools this year in Parkland, Florida, and Santa Fe, Texas, attention often turns to what could have prevented the bloodshed and what red flags might have been missed. Other research has found that most attacks came after people close to the shooters noticed worrisome behaviour. Some of these concerning behaviours do presage violence, said James Silver, a criminal justice professor at Worchester State University, one of the FBI studys three authors. The FBI study found that on average, each active shooter it examined displayed four to five concerning behaviours over time. About one in three shooters had made threats or confronted people they later targeted. More than half of them revealed their intentions to do something violent, a phenomenon called leakage. The studys authors write that there was no single warning sign, checklist, or algorithm for assessing behaviours that suggest a potential rampage shooter. But they say the study is meant in part to help members of the public keep an eye out for warning signs. One of the biggest findings for me is that there was one person in every active shooters life who noticed some sort of concerning behaviour, said Sarah Craun of the FBIs Behavioral Analysis Unit, the studys third author. Most of them had multiple concerning behaviours, between four and five. These were people who were already known to be struggling a little bit. There are actually some signs out there that people can see. The warning signs included threats and physical aggression, and the study found that most of the shooters had a history of acting in an abusive, harassing, or oppressive way. Others had abused their intimate partners or stalked people, highlighting again the recurrence of domestic violence in the lives of shooters before their violent attacks in public places. The studys authors say their work is unique among studies of rampage shooters because it relies almost exclusively on law enforcement files, rather than court records and media accounts. It examines a smaller pool of attacks than the 2014 study because it focused on the incidents where the FBI could obtain files with evidence including interviews with people who knew the shooters, personal writings or school and work records. The files counter the claims that rampage shooters must be mentally ill. Trump has been among those giving voice to this belief after shootings, calling the alleged Parkland shooter mentally disturbed and the Sutherland Springs attacker a mental health problem. The study found confirmed diagnoses of mental illnesses in 25 per cent of the attackers, with some others exhibiting depression, anxiety and paranoia. But the authors noted that many Americans experience such symptoms, and say more thought should be given before concluding that a shooting has its roots in mental illness. Mental health does not automatically equate to violence, so we need to be very careful when we approach the motivations or the causes behind any active shootings, Simons said. Simply saying that all [shooters] must be mentally ill because its such a horrific and incomprehensible act is probably not accurate or helpful. Other research has similarly found tenuous links connecting shooting rampages and mental illness. In a 2015 study, Michael Stone, a clinical psychiatry professor at Columbia University, examined 235 people who carried out or attempted to carry out mass killings, and he concluded that about 22 per cent could be considered mentally ill. An article published the same year in the academic journal Annals of Epidemiology found that the large majority of people with mental disorders do not engage in violence against others, and that most violent behaviour is due to factors other than mental illness. Experts have said that what mass killers often share is a sense of victimization and believe they are being persecuted or treated unfairly. The new FBI study reported similar findings. Most of the shooters examined were fuelled by a grievance that may not have been reasonable or even grounded in reality, but it appeared to serve as the rationale for the eventual attack, giving a sense of purpose to the shooter. In some cases, this grievance could stem from something like losing a job or being romantically rejected. Silver, the criminal justice professor, said most people would be upset in those situations, but their strongest feelings eventually dissipate. Its the people for whom it doesnt dissipate, and the people for whom that action, which may seem reasonable to everyone else in the world, becomes for the active shooter a cause, in that they have been unfairly, unjustly wronged, Silver said. Its not the action itself, its their reaction to it that turns it into a grievance. RIVERSIDE, CALIF.A 17-year-old girl who had just escaped her home of horrors called police dispatchers and revealed in a high-pitched voice the abuse that had gone on for years. My two little sisters right now are chained up, she said in a recording played Wednesday during a hearing to determine if her mother and father stand trial for a raft of abuse charges. They will wake up at night and they will start crying and they wanted me to call somebody, she said of her siblings. I wanted to call yall so yall can help my sisters. The girls mother, Louise Turpin, dabbed her eyes with a tissue as the 911 call was played in Riverside County Superior Court. David and Louise Turpin have pleaded not guilty to torture, child abuse and other charges. They are being held on $12-million (U.S.) bail each. The 911 call in January was the start of a new day for their 13 children, some of whom didnt even understand the role of police officers when they showed up at the house in response to the call. Officers freed two children who were shackled to beds and arrested the parents in a case that drew worldwide attention to severe neglect at the Perris, Calif., home that looked neatly kept from the outside. Inside, police discovered something completely different. Read more: Torture was severe, pervasive, prolonged in California house where children starved: prosecutor Childrens years-long silence not unusual, psychiatrist says of 13 siblings held captive California children held captive by parents slowly providing valuable info to investigators A young woman led deputies to a California home where her 12 brothers and sisters were locked up in filthy conditions, with some of them malnourished and chained to beds. Riverside County deputies arrested her parents on Jan. 14. (The Associated Press) California couple suspected of starving, shackling their kids plead not guilty to new charges The house reeked of human waste, and the evidence of starvation was obvious, with the oldest of 13 siblings weighing just 82 pounds. The children were locked up as punishment, denied food and toys and allowed to do little except write in journals, prosecutors said. Children were isolated from each other and locked in different rooms in small groups. They did not have access to televisions or radios but expressed themselves in the hundreds of journals that investigators seized from the home where they were schooled. After they were freed, the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29, were immediately hospitalized and eventually released. Their current whereabouts are unknown. A spokeswoman for the countys social services department declined to discuss the case. Jack Osborn, an attorney appointed to represent the seven adult children, said earlier this year they were doing well. They have participated in music therapy programs, made crafts and world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma held a special concert for them. They communicated with their younger siblings over Skype. Theyre happy, they are wanting to move forward, they do not want to dwell on the past, he told the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper in February. They want their identity to be now and going forward the things they hope to do, the dreams they have. They do not want people to think of them only as a possible victim, but as young adults setting off on their lives. Osborn did not respond to an email from The Associated Press this week. Prosecutors planned to have sheriffs deputies testify at Wednesdays hearing, but none of the children was expected to take the stand. David Turpins attorney, David Macher, said he was looking forward to the hearing, but declined to comment further. Louise Turpins lawyer did not immediately respond to request for comment. Protesters entered a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., Tuesday evening to heckle Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen. She appeared to sit quietly with her head down for more than 10 minutes listening to the protesters chanting Shame! and End family separation! Protesters, roughly 10 to 15 of them, entered MXDC Cocina Mexicana about 8 p.m. while Nielsen finished her meal with one other person. The restaurants general manager, Thomas Genovese, told The Washington Post that Nielsen had been dining for about an hour when the heckling began. She did not come with a reservation, he said. The eatery is about two blocks east of the White House. Secretary Nielsen! a male protester yelled as the group approached Nielsens table, according to live video footage posted on Facebook by Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America. How dare you spend your evening here eating dinner as youre complicit in the separation and deportation of over 10,000 children separated from their parents? How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as youre deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States? We call on you to end family separation and abolish ICE! The secretary did not look up and did not appear to acknowledge the protesters as they began their chants of shame. At one point, she made a phone call. If kids dont eat in peace, you dont eat in peace! the protesters yelled. In a Mexican restaurant, of all places! one said. Have you listened to it? Do you hear the babies crying? one said of audio leaked from an immigration facility to ProPublica in which children can be heard crying for their parents. Just a few hours earlier, Nielsen had retweeted U.S. President Donald Trumps praise for the fabulous job she did at a press conference explaining the administrations policy. Trump tweeted Homeland Security @SecNielsendid a fabulous job yesterday at the press conference explaining security at the border and for our country, while at the same time recommending changes to obsolete & nasty laws, which force family separation. We want heart and security in America! In a statement after the dinner, Department of Homeland Security Press Secretary Tyler Houlton described the protesters as people who share her concern about the current immigration system. While having a work dinner tonight, he said, the Secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protesters who share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border. The Secretary encourages all including this group who want to see an immigration system that works, that contributes to our economy, that protects our security, and that reflects our values to reach out to Members of Congress and seek their support to close the terrible immigration loopholes that have made our system a mess. The Secretary has been working with Members of Congress for months in search of a solution and she will continue to do so this week. On Tuesday night, Nielsens security detail stood calmly in front of her table, and the U.S. Secret Service told The Post in a statement that no arrests were made. Witnesses standing at the bar said that the protesters remained nonviolent and were not aggressive. Brent Epperson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Alberta visiting Washington for work, said that random customers in the restaurant, including him, even started clapping along with the protesters at their tables. A lot of people were very happy to see her shamed, Epperson told The Post, but Nielsen and her dining companion looked a little disturbed. Spokespeople for DHS did not identify Nielsens companion when asked by The Post. They tried to pretend like nothing was happening, but it lasted long enough that they couldnt, Epperson said. They were just sitting there like statues, waiting for the protest to end. Ana Navarro tweeted Are there no Norwegian restaurants in Washington, DC? Nielsen has become the public face of the Trump administrations zero tolerance strategy that has separated more than 2,000 immigrant children from families over six weeks, even while erroneously insisting that it was not the result of a new policy, as The Posts David Nakamura and Nick Miroff reported. Neither Nielsens security nor management at the restaurant attempted to intervene or stop the protesters. Genovese said Nielsen simply paid the check after listening to the chanting for 10 or 15 minutes, then was escorted out by Secret Service agents. The protesters left immediately afterwards. It was like mission accomplished, and then they just headed out, Genovese said. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have pointed to the Bible to defend the separation of children from their parents at the border but now more than 600 members of his own denomination, the United Methodist Church, have slapped him with a formal complaint because of it. In a letter dated June 18, hundreds of Methodists all over the United States charged Sessions with child abuse, immorality, racial discrimination and dissemination of doctrines contrary to the standards of the United Methodist Church. The charges each relate to Sessionss zero-tolerance border crackdown that has evoked bipartisan outrage, while the last is tied specifically to his use of the Bible to defend the policy. Sessions support and advocacy for holding thousands of young children in mass incarceration facilities with little to no structured educational or socio-emotional support and fordirecting employees and staff members to kidnap children from their parents falls in violation of the Methodists Book of Discipline, the Methodists contend in the letter. The letter is addressed to Sessionss clergymen at his home-state church, Rev. Sterling Boykin of Ashland Place United Methodist Church in Mobile, Ala., and at his current church, Rev. Tracy Wines of Clarendon United Methodist Church in Arlington, Va. While other individuals and areas of the federal government are implicated in each of these examples, Mr. Sessions a long-term United Methodist in a tremendously powerful, public position is particularly accountable to us, his church, the Methodists wrote. He is ours, and we are his. As his denomination, we have an ethical obligation to speak boldly when one of our members is engaged in causing significant harm in matters contrary to the Discipline on the global stage. Read more: U.S. officials sending migrant children separated from parents to tender age Texas shelters The U.S. State Department held a Facebook Q&A on overseas travel with children. The responses were brutal Opinion | Shree Paradkar: U.S. border policy of placing children in cages shows its thin veneer of civilization has torn beyond repair The formal complaint process within the Methodist Church is typically reserved for members of the clergy. But in their letter, the complaining Methodists say they are using it against Sessions, a layperson, because of his immense political and social power and the severity of his actions. According to the churchs Book of Discipline, when a formal complaint is filed, it launches a process called just resolution. Pastors or other church leaders may first try to talk through the problem with the person who is the subject of the complaint, a process that may involve mediation with the complaining party. But if no just resolution can be reached, the complaint may go through a church trial, with the most extreme outcome being the persons expulsion from the church, as the Rev. William Lawrence, professor emeritus at Perkins School of Theology, explained to the United Methodist News Service. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is citing the Bible in defending the Trump administration's policy of separating immigrant parents from their children after they enter the U.S. illegally. (The Associated Press) The Rev. David Wright, who spearheaded the complaint against Sessions, told USA Today that he hoped Sessionss pastors could convince Sessions to change his mind after realizing the harm he is doing to immigrant children. My ideal outcome is that his pastors in church leadership who know him will speak with him, he said, and that in those conversations he will be challenged to think through the level of harm he is causing and have a change of heart which is about as Methodist as you can get. The Methodists who signed onto the formal complaint Monday are among countless faith leaders who have widely condemned the Trump administrations zero-tolerance immigration agenda. As The Washington Posts Julie Zauzmer reported Tuesday, sermons from pulpits across America from Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish, Presbyterian, Mennonite preachers and others decried the Trump administrations immigration policies and urged congregants to speak out against xenophobia and injustice. Some faith leaders told The Post that they usually tried to avoid speaking of politics but couldnt help it this week. Sessions pastors could not immediately be reached for comment, but the bishop in the Alabama-West-Florida Conference, where Sessions home church is located, issued a statement Monday condemning family separation at the border. The bishop, David Graves, was copied on the letter. It deeply troubles me and burdens my heart that innocent immigrant children are being separated from their parents, he wrote. It was difficult to celebrate Fathers Day knowing these unjust acts were ongoing in this country. The AP toured a holding facility in South Texas that's holding hundreds of immigrant children. While reporters were not allowed to record the tour, video released by border patrol shows them waiting in a series of cages created by metal fencing. (The Associated Press) Graves also pointed to a statement from the United Methodist Board of Church and Society that found it unimaginable that faith leaders even have to say that these policies are antithetical to the teachings of Christ. The Christ we follow would have no part in ripping children from their mothers arms or shunning those fleeing violence, the statement, by Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe, said. Henry-Crowe said the Trump administrations attempts to justify the policy through the Bible verse Romans 13 was a shocking violation of the spirit of the Gospel. Addressing church friends in a speech last Thursday, Sessions said: I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes. Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent, fair application of the law is in itself a good and moral thing, and that protects the weak and protects the lawful. The same Bible verse had been used by slaveholders in 19th century America, by Nazis and by South Africans who supported apartheid. Read more about: WASHINGTONActing to silence a fierce domestic and international outcry over his separation of children and parents at the border, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an order Wednesday to detain families together but indefinitely. Trumps push for the extended detention of children generated a fresh round of denunciation. The vague language of the order made it unclear how he would actually proceed. And an administration official told the New York Times that they would not make any effort to immediately reunite the 2,000-plus families that have already been separated. Still, the decision was a significant reversal from a president who loathes to be seen backing down, especially on illegal immigration, and who had repeatedly lied that he was powerless to end the separations if Congress did not pass a new law. Were going to have strong, very strong borders, but were going to keep the families together. I didnt like the sight or the feeling of families being separated, Trump said upon signing the order. Trump relented under pressure from not only Democrats but from Republicans, who were being inundated with outraged phone calls and had grown worried about potential harm to their midterm campaigns. By Wednesday morning, the people criticizing the policy included the Pope, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called the policy wrong and unacceptable. Read more: Donald Trump accuses Canadians of smuggling shoes home from U.S. Canadians overwhelmingly disapprove of Donald Trump, poll says Opinion: Mochama: Donald Trump intends to fulfil his terrible promise The order was an implicit admission that the president and his top officials had been deceiving the public. Until he signed the order, Trump, his spokespeople, Vice-President Mike Pence and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen had falsely insisted that he could not end the separations with such an order. Trump, professing to hate his own policy, had claimed he was merely abiding by a nonexistent law he said Democrats gave us. His position became untenable as the furor ballooned, fuelled by disturbing photos of children caged in a warehouse-like facility in Texas and by audio of children wailing for their mothers and fathers. Trump said he had been moved by the images. I feel very strongly about it. I think anybody with a heart would feel very strongly about it, he said. His proposal for indefinite detention, however, prompted yet more accusations of heartlessness. This executive order would replace one crisis for another. Children dont belong in jail at all, even with their parents, under any set of circumstances. If the president thinks placing families in jail indefinitely is what people have been asking for, he is grossly mistaken, Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. Trudeau refused to directly condemn the separation policy on Monday, saying he would not play politics and that part of his job is to maintain good relations with the U.S. He delivered a condemnation on Wednesday, offering his first direct criticism of any of Trumps domestic policies. Whats going on in the United States is wrong. I cant imagine what the families living through this are enduring. Obviously this is not the way we do things in Canada, he said as he entered a Liberal caucus meeting. More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents since Trump changed U.S. policy last month. The order did not include specific language about reunifying those families. The families being detained are accused of entering the country illegally. Some of them are planning to request legal asylum but crossed the border at locations other than legal crossings. The controversy began when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in May that he would begin a zero-tolerance policy of criminally prosecuting anyone caught entering illegally, rather than charging them with civil offences as in the past. Sessions and other hardliners in the administration saw the separations as a deterrent to parents thinking about trying to come in illegally from Mexico. Trumps new order did not abandon the zero-tolerance policy. Instead, the order simply said the administrations new plan is to maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources. It directed the military to create space to house immigrant families if necessary. It was not immediately obvious how the U.S. government would interpret the consistent with law and available resources phrasing or what kind of shelter the military would provide. And to the dismay of immigration advocates, the order also sought to legalize the indefinite detention of children. The order told Sessions to ask the courts to change a 20-year-old legal agreement that requires children to be released without unnecessary delay, which has been interpreted to mean within 20 days. Instead, Trump wants the children kept in detention until their legal cases are resolved which can take months in the case of people seeking asylum. It was not clear what Trump planned to do if the courts refused. Immigration activist Alida Garcia said on Twitter: This is a trap. Prosecuting parenthood and throwing kids in indefinite jails cannot be our answer, Garcia said. The fact that Trump feels the need to respond is a sign of our strength. The fact that Trump feels the answer is kids in jails indefinitely is a sign of how far we have to go. Trumps hard line on immigration was central to his election victory in 2016, and he has made a determined effort to raise fears about crime by illegal immigrants in advance of this years congressional midterms. The dilemma is that if youre weak if youre weak, which people would like you to be if youre really, really pathetically weak, the country is going to be overrun with millions of people, he said Wednesday. And if youre strong, then you dont have any heart. Thats a tough dilemma. Perhaps Id rather be strong, but thats a tough dilemma. The administration had struggled to get its story straight in defending the separation policy. Sessions and Trump adviser Stephen Miller took proud ownership of it while Trump pretended it was not his own. The title of the order is Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation, and Trump continued Wednesday to call on Congress to pass a legislative fix. The Republicans, who control both chambers, were drafting bills but had not agreed on any of them. In a sign of the haste with which the order was issued, it was originally posted online with the word separated spelled seperated. The White House deleted it to correct the error. Read more about: The Vatican is showing unprecedented, if symbolic, outreach on issues of human sexuality, using whats believed to be for the first time the term LGBT in a planning document for a huge upcoming bishops meeting. Vatican officials also invited to speak at a second global meeting a prominent advocate for LGBT people, something some gay Catholic groups say has never been done. The two moves, announced in the last 10 days, are being seen by church-watchers as largely an effort to speak in a more respectful way with a younger generation of Catholics who are confronting the church on topics from female priests and abortion to sexuality but who are clearly not ready to totally walk away from the faith. The efforts related to the Synod of Bishops on Young People (in October) and the World Meeting of Families (in August) are part of an explicit push by Pope Francis church to say we have to pay attention to this whole LGBT reality, especially for those who have chosen to remain in the church, said Rev. Thomas Rosica, who has often served as an English assistant to the Vatican press office. On Tuesday, the Vatican released the details of the upcoming bishops synod, or meeting, the third in a series of major global gatherings about the family. The others were in 2014 and 2015. While the document was released only in Italian, the National Catholic Reporter noted it was the first time the acronym was used. The Catholic Church has in the past formally referred to gay people as persons with homosexual tendencies, the Reporter said. Rosica agreed it was a first but said, Theyre just using the lingo young people use. Theres nothing earth-shattering. Vatican spokesperson Paloma Garcia Ovejero declined to comment on the reason for the adoption of the acronym beyond saying, I guess theres no specific answer ... its just the result of so many proposals and will be used as a tool for discussion. Vatican spokesperson Greg Burke did not return a request for comment. Hundreds of bishops will attend the meeting in Rome to discuss how they can serve young people better. Their meeting will touch on topics from lack of job opportunities for young people in some places and migration to digital addiction and the struggle for reliable news. In a section of the synod outline called the body, affectivity and sexuality, reports the Catholic Reporter, It states: Sociological studies demonstrate that many young Catholics do not follow the indications of the Churchs sexual moral teachings ... No bishops conference offers solutions or recipes, but many are of the point of view that questions of sexuality must be discussed more openly and without prejudice, the Reporter quoted the document saying. There are young Catholics that find in the teachings of the Church a source of joy and desire not only that they continue to be taught despite their unpopularity, but that they be proclaimed with greater depth, the Catholic Reporter quotes the document as saying. Those that instead do not share the teachings express the desire to remain part of the Church and ask for a greater clarity about them. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways ministry, which aims to connect gay Catholics and their church, said the use of the term LGBT is very significant especially compared with past language, such as people with homosexual inclinations. That said, there is nothing in this new document that indicates a change in church teaching. It simply indicates a new openness to discuss these issues more respectfully. How they actually conduct the synod, and, more importantly, what the final synod document will say, is much more important than these developments, he wrote in an e-mail. The second development involves the World Meeting of Families, a massive, Vatican-run event the Catholic Church holds once every three years. The last time it was held, in 2015, Pope Francis was in Philadelphia. The church faced criticism from LGBT advocates when the only sign of gay families amid a days-long display of family issues was a gay man and his mother talking about celibacy. Eight days ago, the Vatican announced details of the next World Meeting, Aug. 21-26, in Dublin. Among many other speakers will be Rev. Jim Martin, a New York City Jesuit popularly known as Stephen Colberts pastor but within the church as a fierce advocate for positive images and engagement with gay Catholics. Martin will be the first speaker at a World Meeting on positive pastoral outreach to LGBT people, the Associated Press reported. Martin, author of Building a Bridge, about Catholic outreach to the LGBT community, has had several talks cancelled in the United States in recent months because of pressure from conservative groups who oppose his call for the church to better accompany gay Catholics, the AP reported. Like so many of my fellow Canadians, I have been horrified by how the United States Department of Homeland Security has separated at least 2,000 children from their families since April 19. We have seen the dehumanization of these children as they cower in cages facing wall-sized murals of the presidents face, bear arms with identification numbers written in lieu of personal names, and have heard their cries while border officials crack jokes about them. These migrants have risked their lives as they walked toward the U.S. border, seeking refuge from violence and extreme poverty only to have the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world deny them basic human dignity. It is easy to think we can relax on our summer patios, congratulate ourselves on being compassionate, enlightened Canadians rather than cruel Americans, but that would ignore both broader truths and opportunities where Canada could make a positive difference for these (and similar) refugees, but has not. According to a study by Hannah Gros, a senior fellow at the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, the Canadian Borders and Customs Patrol detained more than 200 children between 2011 and 2015, 85 per cent of whom were under the age of six, and many as young as two. As we look with horror at the detention and separation of families in the United States, we must shine a light on our own policies. In the last two years, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau inspired the world with compassionate words and carefully curated photos welcoming refugees while his government closes avenues through which they can seek help. He has also quietly shut down the private sponsorship program, warned refugees not to enter Canada irregularly, and he refuses to revisit the Safe Third Country Agreement. This pact between Canada and the U.S. requires that refugee claimants make asylum applications in the country in which they first set foot, effectively allowing Canada to turn away refugees who entered through the U.S. first. The agreement made sense when both the United States and Canada shared similar policies toward the treatment of refugees, but endangers lives as those who could be offered safe haven are turned away at border crossing points. All those who have been appalled by the images and sounds they heard of crying children on the U.S.-Mexican border should call for the prime minister to address the detention of young children and the separation of families in Canada. At the same time, Canada could hold itself up as a country whose ideals enable it to be a beacon of hope for those in distress. The government of Pierre Trudeau, Justins father, changed immigration policy so 40,000 men, mostly of white, educated backgrounds, could avoid the U.S. military draft by immigrating and settling in Canada. Were these young men any more at risk than the poor children who are fleeing one nightmare only to be put in detention and separated from their parents? On World Refugee Day, I ask Prime Minister Trudeau and my fellow Canadians whether the lives of black and brown bodies seeking refuge from war, dehumanization, and state-sponsored violence south of the border and in our own country are as important those of the young men who sought safe haven a generation ago? If the answer is yes, then we must end the detention of children at immigration holding centres in Canada, rescind the Safe Third Country Agreement, and revisit the governments resettlement policies, which often leave the most vulnerable refugees behind. This is a non-partisan issue, but if Trudeau refuses to do so, perhaps it is time for courageous members of Parliament from his own party to take a stand. The world is watching and history will judge how we act in response to this humanitarian crisis, not by our words alone. Nhung Tuyet Tran is associate professor of history and director of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. She arrived in the US as a child refugee from Vietnam forty years ago. Read more about: Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland flew to Washington last week to accept a global award from Foreign Policy magazine for being one of the worlds best diplomats. While there, Freeland made a speech as extraordinary as it is essential. The speech called for all those who believe in liberal democracy to fight a rising tide of authoritarian strongmen worldwide. Her weapons of choice? The journalists arsenal of facts and truth. Facts matter, the minister, herself a former journalist, argued passionately. Truth matters. Competency and honesty among elected leaders and in our public service matters. The core insight of this speech is so theoretically self-evident, it is a damning indicator of our times that these points need to be made at all. Yet they do. Facts matter. Truth matters. Public officials making decisions based on facts and truth leads to better governance outcomes, stronger transparency and clearer accountability. That builds integrity of leadership and trust in government. Public trust in institutions, in turn, strengthens democracy. And stronger oversight ensures those institutions governors are, in fact, governing in the interests of the governed rather than in their own self-interest. How does this relate to international assistance? It is fundamental. To quote development economist Amartya Sen, there has never been a famine in a country with a free press. Thats because a free press requires leaders to make decisions in light of credible information about how those decisions affect the lives of those who are governed. If a large number of people in a country are at risk of starvation, journalists sound the alarm. In a state with a free press, action is invariably taken before the situation, or, crucially, its leaderships perceived ability to manage the situation, lurches to crisis. Contrast this to an autocracy, where the press is muzzled or suppressed. Policy-makers make decisions in the dark, absorbing only facts they want to hear. The result: few reliable feedback loops between governors and governed, minimal public oversight and muted public outrage stymying relevant action. This leads to uninformed governance, irrelevant decisions and bad policy. Which, in turn, leads to social unrest and a cycle of ever-greater repression. In the absence of oversight, governance decisions are also considerably less efficient. A recent study from the University of Notre Dame tracking the impact on local governance of a recent decline in local news coverage noted a clear correlation between the decline of local coverage and rising government costs. These truths, these facts, are why media development matters. And in an era when truth itself is under fire, media developments capacity to supply truth and facts on a global scale matters more than ever. What is media development? It is work designed to strengthen journalists ability to do their jobs. Journalists are trained to strengthen their coverage, which helps build and enforce a public culture of accountability and transparency. It ensures leaders are held to account, while giving people access to a platform to speak, inform, influence and affect policy. The outcome is cohorts of skilled local journalists worldwide: people highly motivated to ensure investments in international assistance get where they are supposed to go. All told, media development, through the twin outcomes of improved governance and strengthened oversight, can publicly track progress toward policy targets and improved policy outcomes. That, properly leveraged, can help local and international authorities and other development practitioners achieve every one of the Sustainable Development Goals. This isnt just development-speak abstraction. It is harnessing the power of media for good. And crucially, when run through a gender lens of emphasizing womens rights, voices, stories and authority through engaging women as agents of development change across societies, it creates transformational change. Stories Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), the organization I run, has helped mentor have ensured soldiers in the South Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army were held accountable for their use of rape as a weapon of war in the most visible way possible. Putting a media spotlight on female genital mutilation in Liberia helped convince the president of that country to ban the practice. And JHR-trained journalists in Jordan used data journalism techniques to put the issue of honour killings on the public agenda, which led to the repeal of a law that allowed rapists to marry their victims, thus restoring family honour. Media development is usually practiced in places in conflict or crisis. But with Trumpism emboldening would-be autocrats and dictators worldwide, there is increasingly a need for media development wherever despots need to be reined in. Media development further benefits from what is known in development circles as the media multiplier effect. When you work with influential journalists, you also reach their audiences. A project can target 100 journalists but their audiences may collectively reach over 80 per cent of the population. Right now, for example, JHR is reaching over 6 million people in South Sudan on an ongoing basis, in a country of approximately 8 million. Thats efficiency. Based on the priorities Freeland outlined in her speech, Canada can and should show leadership through increased efforts to champion a rule-based international order by supporting whole-scale investment in low-cost, high-impact international media development. The current moment does not call for just any form of media development. It calls for Canadian leadership of media development. In South Sudan and the DR Congo, for example, JHR has achieved major breakthroughs precisely because we are Canadian, working in close partnership with local journalists. In such contexts, Canadians are not associated with international empires. That creates a unique moral authority and space for action, working with journalists worldwide to strengthen a rules-based international order in the face of its most challenging test yet an all-out assault on the truth. In her speech, Freeland channelled Lincolns Gettysburg Address, calling on all of us to ensure that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth. It is a powerful and urgent mission one that we fail to adopt at our extreme peril. And what more strategic and effective way for Canada to act than through the power of media development. Rachel Pulfer is the executive director of Journalists for Human Rights. Read more about: So it turns out there is a line that cant be crossed, even for Donald Trump and his enablers in the Republican party. Trump has carried out all manner of shameful acts in his 500-plus days as U.S. president, and they have gone along. Every time it seemed a new standard of decency had been violated, Trump bulldozed right through while his craven allies in Congress cheered him on or simply kept an embarrassed silence. The weeping children at the southern border, however, torn from their migrant families and housed in wire cages, were too much. The last straw may have been the revelation about so-called tender age shelters built to warehouse babies and toddlers, crying out for their missing mothers. Republicans did not want to have to defend this outrage, and now they wont have to. Trumps about-face on separating parents and children solves the immediate PR problem posed by images of caged children. But thats all it does: his administration apparently isnt changing the hardline zero tolerance policy on migrants that led to the separation of children in the first place. As is usual with Trump, the abrupt switch in policy came with a big dollop of untruth. The president had maintained for days that he couldnt do anything about family separation; until Congress changed the law, he said, his hands were tied. Until, suddenly, they werent, and at the stroke of a pen he ended the practice. In fact, he could have stopped it before some 2,300 children were taken from their parents and traumatized. Instead, he waited until the political price became higher than he cared to pay. Read more: Trump signs order to stop separation of families but detain children indefinitely Trudeau urges Canadians to travel and buy Canadian in the face of U.S. trade dispute Canadians overwhelmingly disapprove of Donald Trump, poll says Its far from clear what will happen now. But if the zero tolerance policy toward migrants instituted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions does stay in place, it may simply mean that migrant children will be held for longer periods in detention centres with their parents. Under current rules minors can be held in such centres for only 20 days, so they were carted off to other facilities after that time. If the new system means keeping them in detention with their parents indefinitely, that would just be another type of outrage. For Canada, all this poses a special set of problems. As international condemnation of the migrant childrens plight in the United States grew over the past week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was conspicuously quiet. Leaders like British Prime Minister Theresa May and Pope Francis spoke out against Trump, but Trudeau kept his head down. Clearly, and perhaps understandably, he didnt want to pick another fight with Trump so soon after their open clash following the G7 summit in Quebec. Finally, on Wednesday morning, even as news of Trumps policy reversal was leaking out, Trudeau found his voice. He called separating migrant children from their families wrong and unacceptable. The prime minister was right, but late off the mark. More importantly, the Trump administrations heartless exercise in using children as pawns in a political battle over immigration policy has thrown a harsh spotlight on the Safe Third Country Agreement that Canada and the United States signed in 2002. The assumption behind that agreement is that the U.S. is a safe country for refugee claimants, one that in the words of the Canadian government respect(s) human rights and offer(s) a high degree of protection to asylum seekers. Given that, anyone from a third country who turns up at a Canada-U.S. border crossing and asks for asylum can be sent back to the U.S. and told to make their claim there. The agreement has been under serious challenge ever since Trump got into the White House and started demonizing immigrants and asylum seekers. The political and legal atmosphere south of the border has become overtly hostile to them, and its no longer possible to justify turning migrants back at the border under the assumption that they can get a proper measure of justice in the American system. Trump has destroyed that trust, and Canada should suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement as long as that climate exists in the United States. Its possible, though not certain, that such a move may encourage more would-be refugees to turn up at our border. But given the open contempt for migrants and their rights shown by the Trump administration, its the only moral approach. Its important to note that Canada does not have entirely clean hands on this issue, either. This country has detained migrant children with their families as well. The numbers are far lower than on the southern U.S. border, amounting to 162 last year, according to a University of Toronto study. But its hard for Canada to claim the moral high ground here as long as it is doing the same thing. Canada also detains migrants indefinitely, in some cases for years, as the Star has reported over the past several years. This violates international standards and common decency, and should be ended as soon as possible. The Trudeau government has taken considerable strides to limit the practice, but hasnt managed to eliminate it entirely. Canadians take pride in treating newcomers decently. Right now that means distancing ourselves decisively from the shameful practices of the Trump administration. Just as important, it means putting our own house in order. Read more about: Unemployable or just entitled?, June 16 After reading the authors opinion piece on Lindsay Shepherd, it became clear that Shepherd needs to go ahead with her lawsuit to seek exoneration because people like columnist Shree Paradkar have already tried her in the court of public opinion and found her guilty. It is common knowledge that Shepherds only crime, if you can even call it that, was showing her class a YouTube clip of University of Toronto Prof. Jordan Peterson discussing gender pronouns. (Shepherd didnt even endorse the views expressed in the clip.) If Paradkar is so concerned about Shepherds motivations, perhaps she should actually speak to the subject of her piece and ask her, as any good journalist should. Josh Frohwein, Toronto Ah, yes, Lindsay Shepherd and her overweening sense of entitlement. Entitled is what we call women who stand up for for themselves and fight for their rights. Especially when we dont agree with them. Its disappointing to see Shree Paradkar fall back on this tired and sexist trope. Doug Ford is the anti-carbon Teflon man. Nothing sticks to him in these honeymoon, halcyon days. The premier-in-waiting has declared an end to carbon pricing in Ontario no cap and trade, no carbon tax, no fuss, no muss, no nothing. No matter. He is a man of action. Albeit a premier without a plan after hes sworn in June 29, with no hint of how hell combat climate change. Never mind Earths rising temperatures. Ontarios gas prices are coming down, and thats a Ford promise (forget rising world oil prices). Ford vowed in the campaign that he is for the people. His victory surely proves his grasp of the political environment if not the planetary one. Read more: Quebec premier reaches out to Doug Ford to team up against Trumps tariffs Incoming Premier Doug Ford quietly axes Green Ontario Fund Doug Ford would do Ontarians and himself a favour by granting Liberals official party status The problem with honeymoons, however, is that they are time-limited. Same with Teflon, for as the special coating wears off, stuff starts to stick, and heat up much like the earths temperature. Eventually, it all adds up. Especially the numbers, as Ford may soon see. Ford loves lampooning the overpaid CEO of Hydro One as the Six Million Dollar Man. But what shall we call Ford once taxpayers see the price tag for his fateful decision to pick fights with governments in Ottawa, Quebec and California (over our linked carbon market)? Quite apart from the environmental costs, his Tories pointedly set aside $30 million for a court battle to fend off Ottawas new law imposing a federal carbon tax on any province that doesnt do enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That looks like a long shot, losing money to save face. Will Ford be tagged the Thirty Million Dollar Man who enriched lawyers while impoverishing taxpayers? Will he be dubbed the Three Billion Dollar Man who had to reimburse private companies for the carbon allowances they bought at auction under cap and trade plus legal fees? Will he be deemed Doctor No for cancelling the Green Ontario Fund (financed by cap and trade revenues) which helped people get smart thermostats and energy-efficient windows to reduce energy bills, ultimately saving Ontarians big money? Thats a lot of liabilities. All of which could easily dwarf the Liberals billion-dollar-boondoggle over gas-fired power plants. Doubtless Ford believes its a price worth paying to keep all those promises. Even if taxpayers lose, its still a winning strategy because fighting a so-called carbon tax (as he wrongly described cap and trade) helped him win the Progressive Conservative leadership last March. The original PC election platform, under former leader Patrick Brown, committed to replace cap and trade with the federal carbon tax. But when Brown quit last January, Ford assumed the anti-tax mantle forcing his major leadership rivals and all of the partys MPPs to grudgingly and belatedly embrace his position. On June 7, Ford won a change election. Not a climate change election, mind you, but a campaign to change the government by ousting the famously unpopular Kathleen Wynne Liberals and jousting against the NDP. It was a winning wedge issue within his own party and across the province. Fords anti-tax stance not only cast him as a man of action but of distraction and disruption. Now, the fight against global warming is going from the provincial to national front, as Tories in Ottawa and Alberta dream of slaying a federal carbon tax with Ontario leading the way. But they may be reading too much into the voting results, for while Ford boasted of his anti-carbon animus, it was an incidental and accidental issue, not a vote-determining ballot question for most Ontarians. That wont stop Ford from claiming he won in the court of public opinion. But his next step is to convince the Supreme Court of his opinions. Win or lose, he triumphs either way. If the federal carbon tax is upheld and imposed in Ontario, Ford will earnestly claim that the devil (the Supreme Court) made him impose the carbon tax dreamed up by that other devil (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau). The Thirty Million Dollar Man will cast himself as the Thirty Million Dollar Martyr. Ontario will be no further ahead after a court defeat. But the anti-carbon Teflon Man will have profited handsomely, first winning the party leadership, and then enjoying the premiership for as long as the honeymoon endures. Read more about: VANCOUVERAfter a seven-year process to allow a 12-storey condo building at Commercial Dr. and Venables St. that would have included 30 units of supportive housing and a mental health drop-in centre, the Kettle Society and Boffo Properties announced Tuesday that the project will not go ahead. The problem, the non-profit society and private developer said in a letter posted online, is that Boffo learned in late 2017 that it would have to pay an additional community amenity contribution (CAC) between $6 and $16 million, on top of providing the 30 non-market apartments and drop-in centre. The Kettle Society and Boffo say the CAC came as a complete surprise. But the city manager and the chief planner say all developers must pay CACs, and they were still waiting for the Kettle and Boffo to submit a formal rezoning application, which would have started a formal CAC negotiation process. The additional cost rendered the project financially unviable, and for this reason, we are unable to proceed. We are disheartened by this new development and saddened that this is where the City has landed, Nancy Keough, executive director of the Kettle Society, wrote in her missive. Daniel Boffo, principal of Boffo Properties, said his company had always assumed that the supportive housing and drop-in centre, valued at $16 million, would be considered as the amenity contribution. Factoring in the transitional cost of keeping the Kettle operational as the societys existing drop-in space was redeveloped, purchasing a parcel of city land and other costs, Boffo values the social component at $39 million. They brought (the CAC) forward to us in late 2017, and it was a surprise to us, Boffo said. The drop-in space and 30 social housing units were supposed to be financed by 200 market condos and 18,000 square feet of retail space. The project, located near the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain Station, sparked controversy in the Grandview-Woodland community when it was first proposed, with some residents pushing back against the height of the building. The project was suspended for several years while the city developed the Grandview-Woodland Community Plan, which was completed in 2016. The original 15-storey proposal was lowered to 12 storeys, and the number of social housing units was increased from 15 to 30 units. Boffo said his company did a pro-forma (an analysis of the economic feasibility of a real estate project) based on eight, 10, 12 and 15 storeys and showed that the project was only viable at 12 storeys. He acknowledged that Vancouvers overheated real estate market has softened in the past few months, but noted the project had already gone through several real estate cycles as well as two terms of city government in the seven years it has taken to get to this point. We couldnt afford to have the goalposts moved, he said. Sadhu Johnston, Vancouvers city manager, said the city expects every developer to kick in their fair share. What we do in any negotiation is we look at whats the cost of sewer and water, on site and off site costs, and thats what you get through the (rezoning) application process, he said. Gil Kelley, the citys chief planner, said he and his staff have repeatedly asked the Kettle Society and Boffo to start the rezoning application so the project could move forward. But Boffo said his company was reluctant to start a rezoning application which is in itself a cost for developers without knowing for sure what all the project costs would be. Read more about: VANCOUVERLast year, B.C. erupted in what was, for the province, an unprecedented wildfire season. An area twice the size of Prince Edward Island burned, leaving at least one neighbourhood in ashes. But it wasnt a fluke, just like it wasnt when flames ripped through Slave Lake, Alta., seven years ago. Back then wildfire expert Mike Flannigan predicted it would happen again, and it did. In 2016, fire tore through Fort McMurray leaving destruction in its wake. A year later it was B.C. It will keep happening, said Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at the University of Alberta. On average, a total of 2.5 million hectares burns every year in Canada. Thats an area half the size of Nova Scotia. And, some models suggest that could double or even quadruple by the end of the century, he said. But who knows, they could be all wrong. Things could be much worse than what we think. This year, there was an early start to the B.C. wildfire season in May with two wildfires burning out of control at one point. Cooler, wetter weather in June brought a lull, but the fire risk started ticking upwards with the heat wave that took hold this weekend. It has had a significant impact on the fire danger rating, said Ryan Turcot, a fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service. As of Tuesday afternoon, the danger rating ranged from moderate to high across southern B.C. reaching extreme risk in some northern parts of the province. The warm weather is expected to continue over the next five days with unstable conditions that could bring rain in some areas, but also lightning, a classic fire starter. Whether this season plays out the way it did in 2017, though, is impossible to predict. Last year will be remembered as one of the worst wildfire seasons that British Columbia has ever seen, Turcot said. The fires forced more than 65,000 people to evacuate, he said. Fire suppression itself cost more than $568 million. John Ranta, the long-time mayor of Cache Creek, declared three states of emergency and one evacuation in the space of a year. By early summer 2017, he had already come through a spring flood that had nearly washed away the towns fire hall. And then there were fires. On July 7, Ranta had issued an evacuation order, after the Elephant Hill fire exploded from 50 hectares to more than 700. It struck with virtually no warning, obliterating the Boston Flats trailer park, two of the Cache Creek airports hangers, and multiple homes on the nearby Ashcroft Indian Band reserve within hours. Three factors converge to create a firestorm like that: fuel, ignition, and weather. Fuels can be anything from grass or needles on the forest floor to trees and shrubs the drier they are, the greater risk they pose. Fire weather typically hot, dry and windy, though Flannigan said dry and windy will do dries out those fuels and ultimately makes it easier for fires to start and spread. In those conditions, all it takes is a spark. Lightning and people are two common fire starters. The average area burned in Canada each year almost doubled since the 70s and human-caused climate change is a major factor. The jet stream, which drives the day-to-day weather, is changing with the climate. Its becoming more like a lazy river meaning extreme weather including extreme fire conditions is lasting longer, Flannigan said. The jet stream gets its energy from the temperature difference between the equator and the Arctic. With Arctic areas warming more quickly than the equator, the jet stream is losing energy. It matters for fires because the atmospheric air current determines high- and low-pressure zones. The lows cause air to rise, cool and condense into rain. In high pressure zones the air warms and dries as it sinks. For wildfires, its the highs, or ridges, that are a problem. During the 2017 fire season, one of those ridges parked over B.C., creating perfect wildfire conditions. Flannigan said the long-range forecast indicates a ridge could re-establish itself again, which means B.C. could be in for another bad fire year if that ridge moves a bit further east it could hit Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. Forecasting from earlier this month by the Canadian Forest Service indicated the area between eastern Saskatchewan and western Ontario was at greatest risk for wildfires this month. Journalists Ainslie Cruickshank and Jesse Winter talk about how climate change is affecting the wild fires in BC and Alberta. (The Toronto Star) Moving into July and August though, that risk will spread all the way through to the southern two-thirds of B.C. to north of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, said Richard Carr, a fire research analyst with the federal agency. B.C. is expected to follow a normal fire season pattern peaking by mid-August but conditions may be warmer and drier than normal increasing the risk for another busy season, Carr said. Flannigan warned though, that a forecast looking more than seven days out should be taken with a lot of salt because it could be very wrong. For some regions in B.C., wildfires are one part of a vicious cycle of disasters. High intensity wildfires kill all the vegetation that would otherwise absorb rain or snowmelt, Flannigan said. Those areas can be quite problematic during the first heavy rain after an intense fire, he said. You can see runoff five, six times what you would otherwise see if thered been regular forest there. This spring, almost a year after the 2017 wildfires, officials warned the fires could make the floods worse. The floods that preceded last years megafire hit Cache Creek hard, and exacted an especially cruel toll. The towns fire chief Clayton Cassidy was swept away late one night while keeping watch on the rising floodwaters, a devastating loss for the community. Over in Merritt, Leesa Mika said her familys back yard was flooded right up to the foundation. As they were elsewhere across the province last year, those floods were followed closely by fires. While Merritt itself was spared the flames, it didnt escape the choking smoke. Within weeks after (the floods) we had fires everywhere, Mika said. It may seem counterintuitive but wet winters and springs wont necessarily dampen the fire season. Fuels can dry out within a week under the right conditions and then you have potentially a raging inferno, Flannigan said. In some cases, spring rains can even increase the risk for wildfires, he said. After a wet winter and spring there will be more grass and sage growth. As the weather gets hotter and drier, the grass and sage dies creating more fuel that could burn more intensely. There will always be fire on the landscape, Flannigan said, and while we cant make communities fireproof, theres more we can do to make them fire resistant and better management approaches we can use to fight fires more effectively when they threaten towns. First, Canadian communities need to invest more in FireSmart, a system for living with fires thats based on seven principles, covering everything from fuel management, to education and emergency planning. Like Rumball, he said B.C. needs a better early warning system in place that will allow fire managers to predict where theyll need firefighters and other resources. Fires are easier to fight when theyre small. Finally, Flannigan wants to see more wildfires allowed to burn on the landscape. Forests in Canada burn semi-regularly and it can help restore ecosystems. Some species, such as Lodgepole pines, have adapted to the fire system their cones need fire to release their seeds. Wildfires that arent a threat to communities can also help form a protective patchwork of already burned areas around towns and cities. While grasslands can burn again the next year, in can take 15 to 20 years before forested areas destroyed by wildfire burn again. With files from Jeremy Nuttall Read more about: VANCOUVERMounties in northern B.C. say they may have found a family of four, including two toddlers, missing from the Dease Lake area and are currently trying to reach them. On Monday a car associated with Jeffery Phan, Michelle Lesaca and their two children, three-year-old Satana and two-year-old Satan was found 500 metres off a highway with a note indicating they had run out of gas. Police believe it has been there since Sunday. Around 3 p.m. local time on Wednesday, aircraft spotted a group of people matching the family. We have not 100 per cent confirmed that it is them, however we are very optimistic it is them, said Cpl. Madonna Saunderson of the RCMP North District. At this point they have not physically been face to face to talk to these individuals. She said searchers are trying to reach the group on foot and using a boat. Saunderson said she hadnt heard if the group communicated with searchers at all physically or otherwise. RCMP will be updating the situation as soon as searchers are face-to-face with the group. According to the RCMP the car possibly ran out of fuel and the family had gone to search for gas. Saunderson did not have information about how close the group is to where the car was found. The indication is it was just parked there at the power lines with a note saying, gone for fuel, Cpl. Madonna Saunderson from the RCMP North District said in an interview. The police said checks with gas stations in the area yielded no results. Mounties said the family had apparently checked into the airport in Portland, Ore., on May 25 with tickets to the Philippines, but cancelled the tickets. They crossed into Canada at the Roosville border crossing near Fernie, B.C., on June 9. Read more about: ALTON Mayor Brant Walker and several city officials have sent a letter to the Illinois Housing Development Authority confirming their opposition to a 40-unit housing development for people of low and moderate income. The letter was sent Friday after Walker distributed a formal statement last week expressing his opposition. Walker and majority owner Ed Hightower have been at odds over the construction in the 700 block of Washington Avenue. Hightower claims Walker flip flopped after, at first, expressing his strong support. Walker claims the project lacks some of the elements he was led to believe would be included, such as a path to eventual home ownership. The Friday letter was signed by the mayor; six members of the Alton City Council; Greg Caffey, director of development and housing; Police Chief Jason Jake Simmons; Public Works Director Robert Barnhart; and Fire Chief Bernie Sebold. The six council members are Brian Campbell, Carolyn MacAfee, Michael Velloff, Tammy Smith, Charles Brake and David Boulds. Alderwoman Stephanie Elliott did not sign; she could not be reached Tuesday for comment. As the current details of this project have come into focus, we believe that this project fails to adhere to the vision we have worked to implement for Altons long-term growth and revitalization, the letter states. Our policy has been to encourage the revitalization of our neighborhoods through the development of single-family home ownership, rather than multi-family rental units. Walker and his colleagues state the city has 10 multi-family residential rental developments, as well as 249 rental units under management of the Alton Housing Authority. He said the city also has many privately held rental units, some of which receive some form of subsidy. There is no shortage of affordable housing; there are approximately 2,600 rental units within the City of Alton, the letter states. That amounts to about 50 percent of the residential units, the officials said. They said additional developments would depress the value of existing single-family homes, and declining property values will reduce the citys revenue, forcing reductions to vital services including public safety. The letter asks the Illinois Housing Development Authority to rescind its decision to support the project. Andrew Carruthers, an attorney for the group that is backing the development, said the mayors words dont ring true. The Mayor signed a Memorandum of Understanding and at least two letters fully supporting the project, Carruthers said. The memorandum was signed June 15, 2017. In the Mayors own words This project is directly in line with Altons growth and revitalization efforts.As Mayor of Alton, I affirm that the City strongly supports this project and the efforts of the development team. Our community wants a quality, affordable option for families and looks forward to partnering with this development team to make this a reality, Walker reportedly said in a letter to the state authority. At present, the development is 100 percent compliant with the terms of the memorandum and what has been discussed with the city over the past year, Carruthers said. Reach reporter Sanford Schmidt at 618-208-6449. ALTON Police are urgently searching for suspects who robbed two Alton drug stores in the pre-dawn hours of June 17 and June 19. Police said CVS and Walgreens stores were robbed of large quantities of prescription pain pills. Both stores are at the intersection of Washington and College avenues. The stores could have been robbed by the same two suspects, but police are not certain they are seeking just two people. The robbers at the 1 a.m. June 17 CVS robbery are described as African-American, one wearing jeans and the other wearing shorts, wearing dark hooded sweatshirts, one with a tattoo of a webbing design, both clean shaven. They fled south in a vehicle which police were unable to describe. The Walgreen robbery was 3 a.m. Tuesday. The suspects were described as African-American males in their late 20s, average to slim build, both wearing dark jeans, one with a dark ball cap and another with a boonie style hat, both clean shaven. Lt. Gary Cranmer, Alton chief of detectives, said the robbers took a large amount of prescription opioids from each store. The street value of the drugs was estimated at, at least $30,000 in each store. He said the robbers probably intend to sell the pills. The drugs include such drugs as oxycontin and hydrocodone. A female employee was hospitalized as a result of the robbery at the Walgreens. No shots were fired. Cranmer said Alton police are asking for help from people from throughout the St. Louis area. We all know the opioid problem is a tremendous problem throughout the nation, he said. Reach reporter Sanford Schmidt at 618-208-6449. The sound is heartbreaking. Children crying for their parents parents who have been coldly taken from their children because the parents were crossing the border illegally. Families, torn asunder. Parents wondering if they will see their children again. Children scared and alone in makeshift detention centers surrounded by armed guards. There can be little defense of trying to enter the country illegally. Although some are seeking asylum from the hell of their own countries, those who are caught should face the consequences of their actions. The United States has a storied history of welcoming immigrants and those seeking asylum that relies on established procedures and rules. That should not change. Yet the callousness of ripping apart families should not be a part of this. It borders on immoral. Unfortunately, the entire issue has blended into a cacophony of lies, half-truths and dehumanization that is a low point for this nation. Between October and May, at least 2,700 children have been taken away from their parents almost 2,000 of them since mid-April. Although this is not an official policy, previous administrations have relied on more of a catch-and-release approach. It was far from perfect but allowed families to remain together until there was a hearing or until the family was returned home. The Trump administration has chosen a zero-tolerance approach that is Draconian and inhumane. It is condoning actions that Congress warned against in 2005, telling the Department of Homeland Security that children apprehended by DHS while in the company of their parents are not in fact unaccompanied, and if their welfare is not at issue, they should not be placed in the Office of Refugee Resettlement custody. Some have equated the taking of children as similar to what happens if a parent is charged with a crime. That is an exaggeration of the justice system process. Except in the most egregious situations, efforts are made to keep children with a family member whenever possible. This usually happens when a single parent or both parents are charged with felonies or if the child would be in danger if left in the home. Entering the country illegally is a misdemeanor crime. This non-policy policy is equivalent to having children taken away because their parents were speeding or charged with something as relatively minor as disorderly conduct. The attorneys general of 21 states, including Illinois, have reached out to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying there is no legal basis for such extreme enforcement. It is horrific and shameful that the federal government is tearing children away from their parents as they attempt to enter our country for a better and safer life. Turning away survivors of domestic violence is no less merciless, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said. Our countrys ideals are rooted in empathy, justice and compassion. The federal administrations complete disdain for women and children betrays American values. Maybe someone will listen, but probably not. So far, federal officials not only are refusing to back away, they appear to be doubling down on the actions. There is no amount of partisan blame, claims about enforcing the law, or citations of scripture that can paint this as anything but inhumane and cruel. This is not who we are as a nation. It is not making us great. This is not what we should aspire to be. Ever. Editors note: Alton School Board President Ed Gray distributed this letter prior to Tuesday nights school board meeting, where the board voted to lease a building at 550 Landmarks Blvd. to house the districts central offices. I will vote no on the recommendation to lease the Landmarks building for the district offices and I want to spend a few moments explaining why. This lease will cost the school district $103,000 in its first year and escalate at a rate of 4 percent annually. In year 10, the annual cost of the lease will be $145,885 and after 10 years, we will have paid approximately $1,239,000 to lease a building for our central office administration and have absolutely nothing to show for this expenditure when the lease is scheduled to expire in 2028. In other words, we will have the hole in the donut after 10 years. The board at that time will need to extend the lease at an unknown cost or look for another location for our central office services. While the building at our current location of 1854 E. Broadway is in very poor condition and needs very expensive repairs, I believe that we need to look at other options. We have had many vacant school buildings in this district since the year 2001 when we had to close some of our schools due to lack of enrollment and changes in educational needs. I believe that we are making a very serious mistake when we do not renovate a vacant school building for our central office services. Recently, the James Education Center located at Amelia at Washington was vacant and available. Based on my experience and background, I believe that this building could have been renovated and used for central office administration service at a cost of approximately $200,000. A couple of years ago, we replaced the roof and air-conditioning units at this building and it is asbestos free and sits in a very nice location. As late as December of 2017, the James Center was used for Special Education students and teachers. For some very interesting reasons, this building was deemed unacceptable for our central office staff. In my opinion, the decision to not use the James Center will cost the taxpayers in our school district close to an additional $1 million over the next 10 years and costs after 2028 are unknown. Another option available to us today is to renovate the Early Childhood Center located next door to LCCC for our central offices. We were presented with an estimate of $2 million to make these renovations. I strongly believe that this estimate is excessive and could be significantly reduced. We only spent 10 minutes discussing how to possibly reduce this estimate. Seems to me that the expenditure of taxpayer money deserves more than a 10-minute discussion. You immediately realize that the $2 million estimate is bogus when you discover that it include replacing a roof that does not leak and is in good condition and air-condition a gymnasium that will be used for storage of tables and chairs. It became obvious to me a long time ago that the decision had been made to lease and attempts to find a less expensive option was futile. I believe that the $2 million figure is being used to try to convince the public that a lease is a better deal. Long term, a lease is never a better deal when compared to investing in buildings that are in very good condition that we already own. The expenditure for this lease will come from the Operations and Maintenance Fund. This is the same fund that we use for a variety of needs for building repairs and new construction. I have begged for construction of a music storage building and restrooms behind Alton High School. I am told that money is not available. We need numerous repairs at Public School Stadium. We need air-conditioning in the gymnasium and auditorium at Alton Middle School. It is very sad that we do not have money available for student needs but have money available to put central office staff in an office building on Broadway. I am told that leasing an office-style building will improve our image. We are $4 million to $5 million in debt. Last year, we had to sell $10 million in Working Cash Bonds to meet payroll needs. Our teachers and educational support staff are among the lowest paid in this area. I believe that we need to re-evaluate our priorities. I will get off my soapbox by expressing my concerns for lack of transparency displayed by the board regarding this issue. We have been discussing this problem for close to 18 months, mostly in closed session and are just going public tonight with a motion to approve this lease. I am concerned that we are burdening future school boards with this decision and believe that we should get input from the community. Leasing instead of renovating an existing building is a major change in how we operate. We just recently received our property tax notices and 60 percent of every bill will go to the Alton School District. The fact that we are taking this vote on a very critical issue without sharing any information with the community until it is too late for them to have a voice, says to me that we have little respect for their opinion. It shows that we do not believe that transparency is important. We need to vote not or table this vote until we can honestly examine the cost of renovating the Early Childhood Center or one of our other vacant buildings where we will be able to show something tangible for our investment. We do not need to spend $1,239,000 for a hole in the donut. Edmond J. Gray, President Alton School Board Uganda Christian University was founded when the historicBishop Tucker Theological College was promoted as a university in 1997. BishopTucker Theological College trained clergy and educators during its 84-yearhistory from 1913-1997. The local chief, Hamu Mukasa, granted land for thecollege to operate in Mukono. International partnerships were part of theColleges missionary history. The Church Mission Society teamed with Ugandanleaders and others to assure the College had the necessary intellectual andother capital. By the late 1990s, the Church of Uganda sought to have a broaderimpact on society through the higher education not only of clergy but ofother professionals as well. Uganda Christian University was established in1997. On June 21, on International Yoga Day, people will take out their yoga mats and practice sun salutations or sit in meditation. Yoga may have originated in ancient India, but today is practiced all over the world. In the United States, it was philosophers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau who first engaged with the philosophy of yoga in the 1830s. Yoga gained a wider American audience only in the late 1800s. Today, part of yogas appeal is that it continues to be seen as a mystical, ancient tradition. However, as Ive discovered in my research, the practice of yoga has gone through some profound shifts. Here are four. 1. Yoga for health and happiness It was a Hindu reformer, Swami Vivekananda, who first introduced yoga to a larger audience. Vivekananda originally came to the United States to seek funds to relieve poverty in India. Several electrifying addresses he delivered at the Worlds Parliament of Religions, the worlds first global interfaith dialogue held in 1893 in Chicago, brought him instant fame. He then traveled around the U.S. for the next several years, giving lectures and teaching yoga. Vivekananda revived the tradition of an ancient Indian sage, Patanjali, that had been almost forgotten. Patanjali likely lived in India somewhere between the first century B.C. or the fourth century A.D. He claimed that the goal of yoga was isolation from existence and freedom from the bonds of mortal life. According to Patanjali, to overcome suffering, individuals needed to renounce the very comforts and attachments that seem to make life worth living for many today. As the journalist Michelle Goldberg, author of The Goddess Pose, puts it, Patanjalis yoga is a tool of self-obliteration rather than self-actualization. No one today is likely to see yoga as a way to renounce their existence. Most people are drawn to yoga to find happiness, health and compassion in everyday life. 2. Value of physical exercise Most people today associate yoga closely with physical exercise and postures, known as asanas, designed to strengthen and stretch the body. There is more to yoga, however, than the physical. Yoga also encompasses devotion, contemplation and meditation. In fact, the primary focus on the body would surprise both Patanjali and Vivekananda, who prioritized mental over physical exercise. Patanjali treated the body with disdain, believing it to be a prison. He was emphatic that we are not our bodies, and that any attachment to our bodies is an impediment to yoga. Vivekananda echoed these thoughts. He treated asanas with scorn. Vivekananda argued that an obsessive focus on the body distracts from the true practice of yoga: meditation. 3. Focusing on the self A central practice of yoga is self-study, known in Sanskrit as svadhyaya. In the tradition of Patanjali, this means the reading of sacred scriptures. Today, svadhyaya has come to mean the study of oneself. People often take up the practice of yoga to lead happier, less stressed and more compassionate lives. Yoga involves, as I argue in my book The Art of Gratitude, paying attention to ones habits. Only by first noticing ones habitual patterns does it become possible to change them. Sacred texts, broadly understood, can help this practice of self-study, as they encourage reflection on deep and difficult questions that do not have easy answers. For todays practitioners, these questions include: What is the purpose of life? How can I live an ethical life? And, what would truly make me happy? Ultimately, self-study resides at the heart of a healthy yoga practice. It allows yogis to recognize their deep connection to others and the world around them. This recognition of interdependence and interbeing is central to todays yoga. 4. Ethics of a yoga guru In ancient practice, the relationship between a guru and a student was crucial. Today, the guru-student model is going through a shift. Yogis no longer train for years in their gurus home, as was the practice in ancient India. Yogis instead practice in studios, in parks, at fitness centers, or at home on their own. Still, many contemporary yoga teachers claim the title of guru. However, some practitioners of yoga are calling for an end to the guru model, given that it comes with an inherent power, which opens the door to abuse. There are many examples of such abuse, with a more recent one being the case of Bikram Choudhury, the 73-year-old founder of Bikram yoga, who fled the country to avoid an arrest warrant in California in 2017 after being accused of sexual assault. In the wake of the #MeToo movement in the United States and India, many yoga practitioners have initiated important conversations about the ethics of being a yoga teacher. At the heart of these conversations is how yoga teachers must, above all else, treat their students, who are often deeply vulnerable, with dignity and respect. Ancient, but not timeless Indeed, there is great power, and great mystique, in just how old yoga is. But as a professor of communication, I observe that one of the most common errors people make in daily conversation is to appeal to antiquity what scholars call the argumentum ad antiquitatem fallacy which says that something is good simply because it is old, and because it has always been done this way. Yoga is ancient, but it is not timeless. By stopping for a moment to consider yogas past, we can recognize the crucial role that all of us can and must play in shaping its future. Jeremy David Engels, Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute, and Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, Pennsylvania State University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The tiny Dehradun airport was a melting pot in itself, an anathema. Brown men and women strutted in jackets and Levis' jeans and iPhones. White dudes, piously clad in saffron kurtas and some sporting the lone tuft of hair symbolic of caste 'pedigree', retired to the corner with self-help books and black coffees. A stately European woman walked to one of the gates, and rolled out a mat to the side. Oblivious to the sniggers all around, the woman started twisting and turning before switching to rapidfire sequences of Bhujangasana, Vakrasana and gymnastics that were plain inhuman. People stared; some looks were curious, some were amused, and others were lustful. And then it struck meas I looked at a group of disparagingly gleeful pahari youngsters, and the religious fervency that marked every movement of the woman in the heart of Dev Bhoomi (God's Land)we had lost yoga. More than a decade back, in an age where yoga was no longer the potent weapon of political polarisation that it has currently become, I was one of the four youngsters in a grade 7 class who opted for yoga classes, salivating at the prospect of an extra hour free every week. But what we got was a bearded six-foot tall monster, perpetually angry, who made us push wooden desks together and practise forming hemispherical shapes with our bodies while perched precariously on a creaking, termite-ridden surface. A slight mistake in the asanas would earn us a sharp rap on the bum with a wooden ruler. A more serious mistake would merit an hour of standing still in the sweltering sun, the right hand raised in a half-mast Nazi salute, till the shoulders became lead. My limited point being, I have a good reason to hate on yoga, but what about you? That yoga has almost achieved the status of an independent religion in the US is a given. A 2016 report in Yoga Journal says the number of yoga practitioners has increased 50 per cent to 36 million. The yearly expenditure of yoga practitionersclasses, equipment, accessoriesincreased from $10 billion to $16 billion. And there have been countless spin-offslike Hot Yoga trademarked by Bikram Choudhary (student of Yogananda's brother Bishnu Ghosh) and Holy Yoga, a Christian interpretation of yoga that can deepen the bond with Jesus. And there have been countless entertaining versionseverything from Goat Yoga to Laughter Yoga, and, I kid you not, Harry Potter Yoga. I mean, come on. To our credit, we, as a generation, stayed true to all the stereotypes of being entitled wusses who find it difficult to get off our asses long enough to buy basic sustenance from a restaurant half a kilometre away. And, we did what we lovedlying flat on our asses (shavasana), with a beer bottle balanced on our tummies, in an extremely taxing session of beer yoga, the alternate option being making mommie and papa proud by contorting ourselves into strange shapes while listening to PM Modi's Mann ki Baat? And, aiding and abetting Modi in the virtuous endeavour of taking back yoga is none other than, you guessed it, the NRIs. Organisations like the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) are already on the warpath in the United States, calling for the de-deracination of the practice. The practice has become so ubiquitous that its Hindu roots have been forgotten, says Suhag Shukla, executive director of HAF, leading the Take Back Yoga' campaign. "Yoga, Vedanta and Ayurveda have been, to an extent, delinked from Hinduism," she told me in a previous interview. "It is the caste-cow-karma problem all over again. We need to shed light on the beauty of our culture and show that there is a huge gap between philosophy and what people might see outwardly." True, my analyses of yoga losing popularity could be personal bias and mere conjecture. There are practically zero surveys of yoga habits among Indians available on the public domain. But, heed me on this, millennials. Look to your left and look to your right. When was the last time you saw your colleagues or neighbours touch their toes, let alone wrap their legs around their head. Now, if you will excuse me, I am late for my Zumba class. The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite... The government believes that the economy is witnessing an uptick in almost every sector. This growth of the economy has not prevented the Union finance ministry and top 21 public sector banks from deciding to unclog credit flow to the ailing medium and small industries sector. Addressing a media briefing after the two-day gala of bank chairmen and MDs of all public sector banks in New Delhi, Piyush Goyal, the acting finance minister, said the government is committed to viability and safety of operations of 'each and every one of these 21 banks'. Goyal met banks from North and East India primarily on Tuesday and is scheduled to meet banks from the south and western India in Mumbai on a later date. "Based on ideas and discussions that were held today (Tuesday), banks have decided to get into the act of working to get credit to MSMEs and genuine good companies once again," said Goyal. Banks were forced to halt credit flow to the MSME sector, after facing huge bad debt burden in the form of NPAs (non-performing assets). Some years back PSB banks were part of all big ticket lendings in the country, many of whom eventually turned into bad loan accounts. During the two-day discussion, P.S. Jayakumar, CEO and MD of Bank of Baroda, extensively led the discussion with other bankers at the meet, for forming credit consortiums to loan groups of MSMEs. While he stressed on the need to make advances to this growing sector to better banks balance sheet, he also promised to submit a report to the government on the credit needs and processes to be followed for MSME sector. He also held discussions with representatives of the small and medium industries sector. "There are more than 4,000 medium and small companies which are seeking credit from banks. All banks have collectively decided to take up these credit needs of genuine deserving and well-performing companies for borrowings between Rs 2 to Rs 2000 crore," said Goyal. The Union minister, himself a former banker, shared that these disbursals would be made in two stages. In the first stage, companies with loan needs of Rs 200 crore to Rs 2,000 crore would be taken up. And in the next stage, the government wants banks to take up credit needs of small companies with loan ticket size of under Rs 200 crore. "Banks believe that the uptick in the economy is a good opportunity to look at generating business from this demand," Goyal said. The banks in-principle agreed to form a banking consortium of all public sector banks, to address issues arising from risk and credit quality assessment. Also, the consortium would be tasked to do a complete overhaul of banking norms followed for credit disbursal and set standards. Banks have decided to enter into a creditors agreement before making advances to the medium and small industries sector hoping to iron out previous issues faced in consortium lending in big-ticket loan cases. Member banks in this consortium would have to go by the decisions made by 66 per cent of the member banks, and adopt the recommended credit disbursal practices. An oversight committee comprising of former bankers, judiciary officers and vigilance heads would also be formed as part of this consortium as per suggestions by SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar, which were approved by the government during the two-day meet. "All banks will show that they can work as a team and not only in silos," Goyal said at the briefing. "This entire process is to ensure that public sector credit institutions are rebuilt. Issues that arise are straightened out so that credit delivery goes up," Rajnish Kumar said on asked about what is on the horizon after this meeting of large public-sector banks. "Certain improvements in banking are required. So, we will formalise these needs and set the ground rules. Banks should act together and they should do everything to support each other," Kumar said, highlighting the initiatives to be taken to bring banks on track. The break-up of the PDP-BJP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir sparked celebrations in parts of the Valley, even as some people expressed apprehension that governor's rule might lead to lack of transparency and worsen the situation in the state. The BJP pulled out of the alliance with the PDP on Tuesday, following which Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti tendered her resignation. Governor's rule was imposed in the state this morning. In several areas of Kashmir, including Srinagar, Kupwara and Pahalgam, people burst firecrackers after the news broke out. "This alliance was unholy. The PDP should not have joined hands with the BJP in the first place. But better late than never. We are happy that this alliance has ended," Faizan Mir, a resident of Srinagar, said. Mudassir Nazir, a businessman, described the PDP-BJP alliance as a coalition of north and south poles as the their ideologies are in stark contrast. "Their ideologies are totally opposite. The BJP has its own interests and does not care about the people of Kashmir. They were totally opposite to what PDP stands for and hence, the people were suffering," he said. The businessman also accused the coalition government of being corrupt and hoped for a clean and transparent administration under Governor N.N. Vohra. "There would be no ministers now and no lust for power or money. I am sure the governor will be able to give a clean, transparent and corruption-free administration. We have seen this in the past," he said. The celebrations over the end of the alliance were reported from south Kashmirthe PDP's bastionas well. Speaking over phone from Pahalgam, Hameed-ullah Wani, a PDP supporter, said the people wanted to get rid of the alliance right from day one. "We never appreciated the PDP for joining hands with the BJP. This was their biggest blunder and they will pay for it. We are happy that it is over as this alliance caused agony and suffering to the people of the state, especially in the Valley. "However, it would have been better if the PDP would have ditched the BJP rather than what happened," he said. However, some people felt that an elected government was any day better than the governor's rule. "A democratically elected government is much better any day than the governor's rule which essentially means New Delhi's direct rule in the state where now they will have absolute control over the administration and the security apparatus. "They can do anything now in the absence of a government which otherwise could built pressure on them on certain issues," Feroz Ahmad Bhat, a resident of central Kashmir's Ganderbal said. Bhat's views were echoed by Sheikh Tanveer, a resident of uptown Srinagar. Tanveer said when a government is in place, people can take their grievances to their representatives and hold them accountable, which is not the case in governor's rule. "Whether you like it or not, you cannot do anything about it (governor's rule). That is the major difference. You can hold the government responsible, your representatives and ministers are reachable and they listen to you because they have a constituency which the governor does not have," he said. Tanveer said it would have been better if the regional parties the PDP and the National Conference would come together with the support of the Congress to cobble up a coalition government. "The regional party government acts as a buffer in states like Jammu and Kashmir. I wish the PDP and the NC would have come together rather than having this unholy coalition or the governor's rule," he said. He expressed apprehensions over the situation worsening in the days to come. "I think it (situation) will worsen. There was some calm because of the ceasefire and then the government had some control over how to deal with the situation. Now, the forces will have a free hand," he said. The governor's rule, which has been imposed in Jammu and Kashmir for the eighth time, was necessitated in the state after chief minister Mehbooba resigned on Tuesday following BJP pulling out from the over three-year-old coalition. The Congress on Tuesday highlighted controversies surrounding the academic qualifications of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an article on the party's official website. The article, written in a mostly satirical tone, started by saying Modi has adopted the modus operandi of former US president Harry Truman, who said, If you can't convince them, confuse them. The Congress's article stated it was intriguing that universities rushed to get injunctions to avoid providing information on Modi's qualifications, when sought by RTI applicants. Both Delhi University, where Modi did his bachelor's degree, and Gujarat University, where he obtained his master's degree, have consistently rejected RTI queries into Modi's academic details. The Congress claimed the much-publicised display of Modi's college degrees by BJP president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in May 2016 had not laid to rest doubts about Modi's qualifications. PM Modi's degree in 'Entire Political Science' is so unique, that no other human being on the planet has it. Maybe it is from an alternate dimension. https://t.co/Z3v6OKMvhc Congress (@INCIndia) June 19, 2018 The Congress's article even refers to Modi's time at MN Science College in Visnagar, where he completed his 'pre-science', equivalent to 12th standard, noting no records exist of how he fared. The Congress's article argued that clarity on Modi's academic qualifications was important as it was illegal for a PM to lie under oath. Moreover, the Congress argued the controversy highlighted efforts to curb the ambit of the Right to Information Act, given denial of requests. Not surprisingly, the Congress promoted the article on Modi's qualifications with a stinging tweet: PM Modi's degree in 'Entire Political Science' is so unique, that no other human being on the planet has it. Maybe it is from an alternate dimension. The JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka will be clearing it's first hurdle when Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy tables the state budget in the first week of July. A day after he met AICC chief Rahul Gandhi, the chief minister asserted that his government would table a full-fledged budget and not a "supplementary" budget as suggested by former chief minister Siddaramaiah. Last week, Siddaramaiah, who is also the chairman of the coordination committee, had claimed that the coalition government would continue all the populist programmes of the previous Congress government, in addition to the new schemes announced by him (as finance minister) during the last budget. "All popular programmes launched by us will continue and so will the new ones announced by me in last budget. So, Kumaraswamy can table a supplementary budget by including their new schemes," Siddaramaiah had said before going for a 12-day rejuvenation therapy at Dharmasthala. Interestingly, Siddaramaiah's statement comes following the constitution of a five-member committee to draft a Common Minimum Programme(CMP), after reviewing the poll manifestos of both the coalition partners. The draft CMP is to be approved by the coordination committee before it can be included in the new budget. While the draft panel, comprising M. Veerappa Moily, R.V. Deshpande, D.K. Shivakumar, H.D. Revanna and Bandeppa Kashempur, is finalising the schemes, Kumaraswamy has scheduled pre-budget meetings from Thursday. Siddaramaiah's take on budget had created friction in the coalition, though deputy chief minister G. Parameshwara and medical education minister D.K. Shivakumar were quick to back JDS on tabling a full-fledged budget. Kumaraswamy is aware that retaining all the old programmes would leave little scope for his government to introduce new schemes. A closer look at the last budget reveals that the popular programmes like Anna Bhagya (Rs 2,300 crore), Anila Bhagya (Rs 1,350 crore), Arogya Karnataka (Rs 1,500 crore), Indira canteens, Matru Poorna(nutritious food for pregnant and lactating women), pension schemes like Manaswini and Mythri, free uniform, textbook, shoes and milk to school children make up for almost 40 per cent of the total budget outlay (Rs 2.14 lakh crore). In addition, the farm loan waiver of Rs 53,000 crore, a poll promise made by Kumaraswamy would alone cost 30-35 per cent of the total budget. Kumaraswamy said, "Siddaramaiah is a senior leader with experience of having tabled 13 budgets. He has made a suggestion. However, the cabinet will take the final call. I have only shared my vision for the development of the state with Rahul Gandhi. I have not complained about anyone." Stating farm loan was still a top priority, the chief minister said, "I am committed to waiving off farm loans and hence working out a strategy to tap resources and plug leakages to fund the loan waiver that will benefit the farmer and not the middlemen or the banks. I also requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend assistance for the farm loan waiver across the country." The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday said the much-anticipated All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) facility announced for the state by the Centre will come up near Madurai at an estimated cost of Rs 1,500 crore. Chief Minister E. Palaniswami thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for selecting Thoppur for this purpose. "The 250-bed modern facility will be set up at Thoppur near Madurai at an estimated cost of Rs 1,500 crore," Palaniswami told reporters, adding it will also have 100 MBBS seats. The AIIMS facility was announced for Tamil Nadu in the 2015-16 Union budget but had faced some delays over the location of the facility, with demands being made by various sections for it to be set up in their respective districts. Palaniswami recalled that a Central team had earlier visited five locations, including those at Madurai, Erode and Pudukottai districts, before zeroing in on Thoppur. Assuring all support from the Tamil Nadu government in the establishment of the proposed AIIMS, he thanked Modi for allocating such a facility to the state. In a letter to Modi, Palaniswami said the late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa was very keen that an institution of the stature of AIIMS be established and made functional in Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa was keen on ensuring Tamil Nadu got such a facility "as it would substantially augment the facilities in the state for providing quality medical education and research and also ensure high-end tertiary-level healthcare in the public sector to benefit the poor and middle classes of the state," he said. Palaniswami said he has directed state Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar, Principal Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan and other senior officials to provide all necessary support to the Central government to facilitate early commencement of work on the AIIMS campus. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the Maharashtra government's decision to hold this year's monsoon session of the state legislature in Nagpur instead of Mumbai hints at a possibility of early polls. As per convention, the monsoon session is held in Mumbai and winter session in Nagpur. "The BJP is keen on holding the monsoon session in Nagpur because the party is planning early polls in December instead of May 2019 as per the timetable, so that they may announce some package and perks," a Sena leader said. In a departure from convention, the monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature will be held in Nagpur from July 4 to July 20. The schedule was finalised in the meetings of the business advisory committees of both houses of the legislature on Tuesday. Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra, hosts the winter session of the state legislature every year, while monsoon and budget sessions are held in Mumbai. The speculations about early polls have been doing the rounds since many weeks. The Last Assembly elections were held in October 2014 in Maharashtra. A sizeable group of farmers who cultivate Rabi crops would be busy in sowing, so there will be little unrest against the government, said a political observer on the possibility of early polls. As compared with summer, winter is bearable in Maharashtra where overall sentiment is not against the government, the observer added. Pope Francis has criticised the Trump administrations policy of separating migrant families at the Mexican border, saying populism is not the answer to the worlds immigration problems. The Pope said he supported recent statements by US Catholic bishops who called the separation of children from their parents contrary to our Catholic values and immoral. Its not easy, but populism is not the solution, Francis said on Sunday night. In a rare, wide-ranging interview, the pope said he was optimistic about talks that may lead to a historic agreement over the appointment of bishops in China, and said he may accept more bishops resignations over a sexual abuse scandal in Chile. Reflecting at his Vatican residence on his five years as pope, he defended his leadership of the Roman Catholic Church against criticism by conservatives inside and outside the Church who say his interpretation of its teachings is too liberal. He also said he wanted to appoint more women to top positions in the Vatican administration. One of his most pointed messages concerned President Donald Trumps zero-tolerance immigration policy, in which US authorities plan to criminally prosecute all immigrants caught crossing the Mexican border illegally, holding adults in jail while their children are sent to government shelters. The policy has caused an outcry in the United States and has been condemned abroad as videos emerged of youngsters held in concrete-floored enclosures and an audio of wailing children went viral. US Catholic bishops have joined other religious leaders in the United States in condemning the policy. I am on the side of the bishops conference, the pope said, referring to two statements from US bishops this month. Let it be clear that in these things, I respect (the position of) the bishops conference. Francis comments add to the pressure on Trump over immigration policy. The pope heads a church which has 1.3 billion members worldwide and is the largest Christian denomination in the United States. The president has strongly defended his administrations actions and cast blame for the family separations on Democrats. Democrats are the problem, Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday. They dont care about crime and want illegal immigrants. The US crackdown chimes with a new political mood sweeping western Europe over the large numbers of migrants and asylum-seekers, most of them escaping conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. The pope said populists were creating psychosis on the issue of immigration, even as ageing societies like Europe faced a great demographic winter and needed more immigrants. Without immigration, he added, Europe will become empty. Church's future on the street Since assuming the papacy in 2013, Francis has promoted a liberal interpretation of Catholic teachings at a time when politics in many parts of the West have shifted towards economic nationalism. He has faced internal opposition from conservative clergy who oppose his liberal interpretations, especially his approach to sexuality and showing mercy towards divorced Catholics. But the pope said he prayed for conservatives who sometimes said nasty things about him. Defending his leadership, the 81-year-old Argentine pontiff said the future of the Catholic Church was on the street. He said he wanted to appoint more women to head Vatican departments because they were better at resolving conflicts, though this should not lead to what he called masculinism in a skirt. The pope said his health was good apart from leg pain related to a back condition. He reiterated comments first made shortly after his election that he may someday resign for reasons of health as his predecessor, Pope Benedict, did in 2013, but said: Right now, I am not even thinking about it. He spoke at length about immigration, a controversial issue in Europe as well as the United States. The populist Italian government has refused port access to non-government ships that have been rescuing asylum-seekers trying to cross to Italy from Africa in flimsy boats. One ship was forced to disembark more than 600 migrants in Spain at the weekend. Italys interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who is also leader of the far-right-wing League party, has criticised the pope in the past, once saying the pontiff should take in migrants in the Vatican if he was so concerned about them. I believe that you cannot reject people who arrive. You have to receive them, help them, look after them, accompany them and then see where to put them, but throughout all of Europe, Francis said. Some governments are working on it, and people have to be settled in the best possible way, but creating psychosis is not the cure, he added. Populism does not resolve things. What resolves things is acceptance, study, prudence. Some struggles and tough decisions Francis said he was saddened by Trumps decision last year to implement new restrictions on American travel and trade with Cuba. The move rolled back his predecessor President Barack Obamas opening to the island nation. That deal, which the Vatican helped broker, was a good step forward, the pope said. He also said Trumps decision to pull out of the Paris agreement to curb climate change caused him a bit of pain because the future of humanity is at stake. The pope said he hoped Trump would re-think his position. Rejecting criticism that he is at risk of selling out Chinese Catholics loyal to the Vatican, Francis said talks to resolve a dispute over the appointment of bishops in China an obstacle to resuming diplomatic ties were at a good point. The pope has accepted the resignations of three bishops in Chile over the sexual abuse scandal there and allegations that it was covered up. He said he could accept more resignations but did not say which bishop or bishops he had in mind. The pope also commented on internal criticism of his papacy by conservatives, led by American Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke. In 2016, Burke and three other cardinals issued a rare public challenge to Francis over some of his teachings in a major document on the family, accusing him of sowing disorientation and confusion on important moral issues. Francis said he had heard about the cardinals letter criticising him from the newspapers ... a way of doing things that is, lets say, not ecclesial, but we all make mistakes. He borrowed the analogy of a late Italian cardinal who likened the Church to a flowing river, with room for different views. We have to be respectful and tolerant, and if someone is in the river, lets move forward, he said. He said reform of the Vatican administration, the Curia, was going well but we have to work more. The pope once criticised Curia careerists as having spiritual Alzheimers. Francis said he was mostly happy about reforms enacted to make once-scandalous Vatican finances more transparent. The Vatican bank, which closed hundreds of suspicious or dormant accounts, now works well, he said. There have been some struggles and I have had to make some strong decisions, he said. -Reuters US President Donald Trump defended his policy of separating children from their families who have been illegally crossing the southern US-Mexico border, saying, to prosecute parents for illicit entry, "you have to take the children away." "I don't want children taken away from parents. When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegallywhich should happenyou have to take the children away," CNN quoted Trump, as saying. He delivered his remarks at the National Federation of Independent Businesses 75th Anniversary Celebration. "They are fake. They are helping these smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe," he added. The Trump administration's immigration policy is facing a backlash from both Democrats and Republicans, who call it inhuman to separate the minors from their families during immigration. But, Trump has aggressively defended his policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexico border, accusing the migrants of "infesting" the country, media reports said. In a tweet on Tuesday, Trump used language evoking images of pests, not human beings, when describing migrants approaching the US border and blaming the Democrats for the problem, reports CNN. "Democrats are the problem," he wrote. "They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our country... They can't win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters! Later at a small business event here on Tuesday, Trump declared that he had no choice but to remove children from their parents at the border. "We want a great country. We want a country with heart. But when people come up, they have to know they can't get in," he said. "Otherwise it's never going to stop." He also declared that the US needed to be secured, whether or not that seems politically palatable. "You have to stand for something and you have to stand for safety and security of our country. We can't let people pour in," he said. "Maybe it's politically correct or maybe it's not. We've got to stop separation of the families, but politically correct or not, we have a country that needs security, that needs safety, that has to be protected." Nearly 2,000 children were taken away from their parents in a six-week period in April and May under the new Trump administration policy, according to several media reports. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new "zero-tolerance" policy on the border in April to prosecute immigrants for entering the country illegally. By virtue of this policy, families who crossed together illegally would in some cases be separated, prompting a sweeping outcry from Democrats and immigration advocates. Parents have since been arrested and placed in quick federal court proceedings near the border, while children are placed in shelters. Mexico's foreign minister has called the US policy "cruel and inhuman". Trump has repeatedly blamed the Democrats for the situation. "Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change! This is why we need more Republicans elected in November. Democrats are good at only three things, High, High Crime and Obstruction. Sad!" Trump tweeted on Saturday. Images of young children housed in metal cages have set off a nationwide outcry that has reached the White House. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also defended the administration's controversial policy along with Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, who gave a forceful explanation of the actions, arguing that it had no choice, reports The New York Times. "Parents who entered illegally are by definition criminals," Nielsen said on Tuesday. "By entering our country illegally, often in dangerous circumstances, illegal immigrants have put their children at risk." House Republicans are planning to vote on two immigration measures this week. The following companies are subsidiares of TE Connectivity: 999 Arques Corp., ABB ENTRELEC terminal block business, ACC Telecommunications, ADC Chile Limitada, ADC Communications (SEA) Pte. 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Raymond James Financial, Inc., a financial holding company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the underwriting, distribution, trading, and brokerage of equity and debt securities, and the sale of mutual funds and other investment products in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Private Client Group, Capital Markets, Asset Management, RJ Bank, and Other segments. The Private Client Group segment provides securities brokerage services, including the sale of equities, mutual funds, fixed income products, and insurance products to their individual clients; and borrowing and lending of securities to and from other broker-dealers, financial institutions, and other counterparties. The Capital Markets segment offers securities brokerage, trading, and research services to institutions with a focus on sale of the United States and Canadian equities and fixed income products; and manages and participates in underwritings, merger and acquisition services, and public finance activities. The Asset Management segment engages in the operations of Eagle, the Eagle Family of Funds, Cougar, the asset management operations of Raymond James & Associates, trust services of Raymond James Trust, and other fee-based asset management programs. The RJ Bank segment provides corporate loans, SBL, tax-exempt loans, and residential loans. The Other segment engages in private equity activities, including various direct and third party private equity investments; and private equity funds. Raymond James Financial, Inc. was founded in 1962 and is based in St. Petersburg, Florida. Read More Albany Five years ago, Walter "Jerry" Barber was a top assistant to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. But after a fateful phone call from Alain Kaloyeros in the spring of 2013, Barber ended up walking away from a three-decade career in the comptroller's office, only to end up at the center of a political and legal firestorm at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany. In testimony earlier this week in the federal bid-rigging trial of Kaloyeros and three upstate developers taking place in a Manhattan courthouse, Barber said that he never sought out the job at SUNY Poly in the first place. Barber, who left the school two years ago, said that Kaloyeros told him in that first phone call that he was in need of part-time accounting help at the school's real estate nonprofit, Fuller Road Management Corp. Coincidentally, Barber's unit within the comptroller's office, the Division for State Government Accountability, had recently completed an audit of Fuller Road Management. The audit found Fuller Road had been operating in compliance with the law and fostered an "ethical business climate." Kaloyeros asked Barber if he knew anyone who might be interested in the part-time job. Barber said he would put together a list of names and get back to him. But things didn't end up happening that way. "I started to think about it, and realized that maybe I would be interested in the job myself," Barber testified Tuesday as a prosecution witness. "I had 36 years in with the comptroller's office, and was contemplating retirement from there anyhow. So when I called him back, I said if he would be interested in having me, I would be interested in taking that part-time job." But what Barber expected to be a part-time gig ended up being a much bigger job. "Dr. Kaloyeros said that due to another departure of a key executive up there, he would need me... to come and be a full-time employee in an executive position," Barber said. That "key executive" was John Loonan, a vice president of finance at SUNY Poly who had also been president of Fuller Road Management since 2009. Loonan left for Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, where he is vice president of administration and finance. Kaloyeros named Barber president and chief administrative officer of Fuller Road Management. He was also put in charge of capital investment at SUNY Poly's Utica campus and was later named board chair of another SUNY Poly nonprofit, Fort Schuyler Management Corp., which was used for SUNY Poly projects in Utica and other parts of upstate. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. During his testimony in federal court on Tuesday, Barber said he was never pressured in his job to approve any particular developers for SUNY Poly project. Barber has never been accused of any wrongdoing. Prosecutors have alleged that Kaloyeros conspired with a Buffalo-based developer, LPCiminelli, to make sure it was awarded a contract for a project that eventually grew into a $750 million factory for Solar City in Buffalo. Barber was asked Tuesday specifically about his role on a committee for the board of Fort Schuyler Management that approved the LPCiminelli award. "Did anybody put pressure on you to vote in a particular way in connection with the evaluation committee work that you did?" Kaloyeros attorney Mike Miller asked Barber on the witness stand. "No," Barber answered. "Did anybody tell you to pick Ciminelli?" Miller asked. "No," Barber said. The following capsule reviews of recent releases, long runs and revivals come from various wire services, as noted: RATINGS: G - Suitable for all ages. PG - Parental guidance recommended. PG-13 - Parental guidance strongly suggested. R - Restricted; anyone under 18 must be accompanied by adult. NC-17 - No children under 17. Excellent Good Fair Poor Adrift Drama. Based on a true story of survival, a young couple's (Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin) chance encounter leads them to love and then on the adventure of a lifetime as they face one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in history. The movie lacks suspense and the main characters are people that we might wish well in the abstract but really don't want to be around. (PG-13 for injury images, peril, language, brief drug use, partial nudity and thematic elements) (Mick LaSalle, Hearst Newspapers) American Animals Drama. True story of four young men who mistake their lives for a movie and attempt one of the most audacious art heists in U.S. history. Written and directed by Bart Layton, "American Animals" dramatizes a true story, set in 2003 and 2004, but it sprinkles in a documentary element, in which the real-life participants in the story appear on screen as talking heads, commenting on the action. Throughout this entertaining movie, the prospective heist takes on an air of unreality. Even though, without the heist, there would be no reason for the movie, it hardly seems possible that the heist will happen, not with these guys. "American Animals" evokes the feeling of an anxiety dream, the one in which you know you've done something bad and irrevocable and now must live with the consequences. It's always a relief to wake up from a dream like that, but "American Animals" offers the spectacle of guys who can't wake up. (R for language throughout, some drug use and brief crude/sexual material) (M.L.) Book Club Comedy. Four lifelong friends (Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen) have their lives forever changed after reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" in their monthly book club. Also stars Don Johnson, Andy Garcia, Richard Dreyfus, Craig T. Nelson and Alicia Silverstone. There is a built-in pleasure in seeing Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, Jane Fonda and Mary Steenburgen in the same movie. We're used to them. We like them. We like being around them but not so much that we can't notice that "Book Club" is not especially funny and weirdly off key. "Book Club" isn't a serious movie and wasn't meant to be it's just a diversion, but it's only mildly diverting. (PG-13 for sex-related material throughout, and for language) (M.L.) Deadpool 2 Action. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) Action. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) forms a team of mutants called the X-Force to protect young mutant Russell from the time-traveling soldier Cable (Josh Brolin). "Deadpool 2" gets most of its ugliness out of the way in the first five minutes. The movie feels as though it were being made up on the spot, except that it moves quickly, like something that has been planned well and trimmed to the essentials. Despite the fast pace, there are stretches that drag in terms of interest. But "Deadpool 2" gets better as it goes along. (R) (M.L.) First Reformed Thriller. A pastor (Ethan Hawke) of a small congregation in upstate New York grapples with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns and a tormented past in the latest thriller from writer-director Paul Schrader. The best artists don't go soft as they get older. They become more intensely themselves, like there's nothing to lose and no gain in lying. Paul Schrader's "First Reformed" is a film with that quality a direct expression from the soul onto celluloid, unvarnished and uncompromised, and Schrader's best film in years. "First Reformed" has a confidence about it, the presence of filmmaking consciousness that can't do wrong, because this time he knows exactly what he wants to say, not only in a general sense, but second by second and shot by shot. (R for some disturbing violent images) (M.L.) The Gospel According to Andre Documentary. Documentary portrait of fashion editor Andre Leon Talley's life and career includes appearances by Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford and Valentino. Talley's ascension from humble beginnings in North Carolina to the global fashion stage is chronicled in Kate Novack's documentary. It could be a deeply provocative tale, but the director seems reluctant to probe behind his artful facade. The film's most stirring moments are about the personal, not the professional. We've learned about Talley's outer orbit, but of his inner universe, we long to know much, much more. (PG-13 for some thematic and suggestive content) (Carolyne Zinko, Hearst Newspapers) Hereditary Horror. When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter's (Toni Collette) family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. Hypnotic and intense throughout, the brilliantly executed "Hereditary" taps into the ghosts within all of us the insidious roots of family dysfunction and turn them upside down and all around. It's an audacious supernatural thriller where the psychological fallout is just as disturbing as the apparitions that come chillingly to life. Toni Collette gives one her best performances ever. In his impressive feature film debut, director Ari Aster lets the tension slowly build, but it's not that long before we know we are in for a roller-coaster ride, as Aster unleashes an unpredictable family occurrence that's guaranteed to shock. "Hereditary" excels for many reasons. It embraces the supernatural genre, but it's a film that goes beyond that, because the entire cast makes it so palpable and real. Technically, the film is a marvel, particularly its tense score, clever set design, brisk editing, and nifty (in an unsettling way) camerawork. (R for horror violence, disturbing images, language, drug use and brief graphic nudity) (David Lewis, Hearst Newspapers) Hotel Artemis Thriller. Set in riot-torn, near-future Los Angeles, ''Hotel Artemis'' follows the Nurse (Jodie Foster), who runs a secret, members-only emergency room for criminals. Also stars Sterling K. Brown, Jeff Goldblum, Sofia Boutella, Dave Bautista, Jenny Slate and Zachary Quinto. (R for violence and language throughout, some sexual references, and brief drug use) Incredibles 2 Animated. Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) is left to care for Jack-Jack while Helen (Elastigirl) is out saving the world. Again featuring the voices of Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson and Sarah Vowell. "Incredibles 2" was 14 years in the making, and it feels almost that long watching it. The sequel to the Pixar animation, about a family of superheroes, arrives at a time of superhero glut, so that what might have seemed fresh in 2004 feels more like a warmed-over "Spy Kids" movie, with obligatory superpowers thrown in. It is, nonetheless, a Pixar movie, so there's a level of production that can't be denied. It's long, clocking in at about two hours, and it contains the kind of barely comprehensible action sequences that you expect from a superhero movie. There are also, rather unexpectedly, extended scenes of dialogue, which are not particularly good, but do make you wonder why did this have to be animation? Why was animation considered the ideal form for this? (PG for action sequences and some brief mild language) 1/2 (M.L.) Let the Sunshine In Drama. Isabelle (Juliette Binoche) is a divorced Parisian painter searching for another shot at love, but refusing to settle for the parade of all-too-flawed men who drift in and out of her life in this romantic dramedy from Claire Denis. (NR) Ocean's 8 Comedy. Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) gathers an all-female crew Cate Blanchett, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway to attempt an impossible heist at New York City's yearly Met Gala. "Ocean's 8" is a big shiny cubic zirconia of a movie. It's designed to look and feel exactly like the best moments of the previous "Ocean's" installments, and indeed the new film can be lots of fun with its well-cast female leads, patriarchy-breaking vibe and creative central heist. But there is something slightly off, partly in the pacing and also in the concept. While individual scenes are enjoyable, the whole of the film feels like a diminished copy. The cast is excellent, often playing off their own stereotypes as actresses. Anne Hathaway dives into her role as an arrogant star. Rapper/comedian and UAlbany grad Awkwafina stands out as a streetwise thief. (PG-13 for language, drug use, and some suggestive content) (Peter Hartlaub, Hearst Newspapers) On Chesil Beach Drama. In 1962 England, a young couple (Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle) find their idyllic romance colliding with issues of sexual freedom and societal pressure, leading to an awkward and fateful wedding night, in this adaptation of Ian McEwan's 2007 novel. (R for some sexual content and nudity) The Seagull Drama. In this adaptation of the classic Anton Chekhov play, a love triangle unfolds between the diva Irina (Annette Bening), her lover Boris (Corey Stoll) and the ingenue Nina (Saoirse Ronan). Also stars Elisabeth Moss, Brian Dennehy and Billy Howle. "The Seagull" has all the big things going for it and yet so many little things going against it that it's just not the movie it might have been. Chief among its virtues is the source material. And then there's the cast, which seems like someone put together a dream wish list and then, by some miracle, every actor said yes. But the cinematography is occasionally odd, often hovering and moving for no apparent purpose. Then there's the musical score that at all times is simply too noticeable. It provides an unwelcome poignant commentary. All in all, this "Seagull" will do until the right one comes along. (PG-13 for some mature thematic elements, a scene of violence, drug use, and partial nudity) (M.L.) Solo: A Star Wars Story Action. In director Ron Howard's origin story, a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) meets his future copilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) years before joining the Rebellion during an adventure into a dark criminal underworld. Also stars Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Paul Bettany and Thandie Newton. (PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence) (M.L.) SuperFly Action. In this remake of the 1972 blaxploitation classic (known then as "Super Fly"), career criminal Youngblood Priest hatches a plan for a big score. This reboot of the 1972 blaxploitation classic "Super Fly" journeys beyond the ridiculous, and at times seems oblivious to the laughable things that are happening on screen. It's also about 20 minutes too long. And yet "SuperFly" is entertaining, period. The dialogue is fast and fun, and the sense of fashion is so pervasive that it occasionally distracts from the movie. (R for violence and language throughout, strong sexuality, nudity, and drug content) (P.H.) Tag Comedy. Based on a true story, a small group of former classmates organize an annual game of tag that requires some to travel all over the country. Stars Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Ed Helms, Isla Fisher, Leslie Bibb, Rashida Jones and Annabelle Wallis. "Tag" must have seemed like a smart idea for a movie, but it turned out not to be. Despite the talent on screen, there just wasn't a movie here. (R for language throughout, crude sexual content, drug use and brief nudity) 1/2 (M.L.) Druthers-Schenectady opens Friday at Mohawk Harbor The Schenectady location of Druthers Brewing Co. will open at 11:30 a.m. Friday. The brew pub, coming six years after the Saratoga Springs original and three years after the Albany offspring, is located at 221 Harborside Drive, in the River House, an apartment complex that is part of the massive Mohawk Harbor development that also includes Rivers Casino, hotels, office buildings and more. Under development for a year and a half, Druthers-Schenectady will be open 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Salty's Pub cuts sales price in search for a new owner Salty's Pub, a Halfmoon mainstay since the mid-1970s, is on the market at a reduced price. The business is for sale for $299,000, down from $399,000 four years ago, according to Susan M. Cerone, who has the listing. See it at crmls.paragonrels.com. The lease is fully assumable. Located in a commercial plaza at 215 Guideboard Road, Salty's will remain open until it is sold, Cerone said. The chef-owner, John Marzilli, bought it in 2004 from founder Ray Kelleher. Marzilli is "looking forward to retiring & moving to Florida," according to the listing. Ric Orlando hosting cookout at Clifton Park Hannaford Ric Orlando, of New World Bistro Bar in Albany and the recently closed New World Home Cooking in Saugerties, will host what is being billed as a Community BBQ from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday at the Hannaford supermarket at 19 Clifton Country Road, Clifton Park. The appearance is part of Orlando's new role as one of a quartet of Northeast chefs participating in Hannaford's Chef's Table, described as a "yearlong celebration of simple, everyday food inspired by local chefs to help home cooks make fresh, affordable meals." Sunday's cookout launches the Grill Like a Chef component of Chef's Table. Represented in all 181 Hannaford stores beginning Sunday, Grill Like a Chef will showcase recipes from the four chefs; shoppers who purchase participating recipe products will contribute toward a donation from Hannaford to child nutrition efforts. On Sunday, Orlando will share summer grilling tips and offer samples of his Chimichurri True North Salmon on the Grill, a featured recipe in Grill Like a Chef. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Also on Sunday, shoppers may sample traditional summer barbecue items with a suggested donation to CAPTAIN Community Human Services, a Clifton Park-based human services agency that offers a food pantry and free summer meal program, among other services for local youth and adults. Hannaford will donate $1,000 to CAPTAIN Community Human Services. In addition to Orlando, the Hannaford Chef's Table includes Kerry Altiero, owner of Cafe Miranda in Rockland, Maine; Kathy Gunst, food journalist and cookbook author based in New Hampshire; and David Turin, owner of David's and David's Opus 10 in Portland, Maine, as well as David's 388 in South Portland, Maine. The Community BBQ is one element of a $500,000 commitment by Hannaford to child nutrition throughout New York and New England. Half of those dollars are being raised through the Chef's Table program, with a financial match of $250,000 from Hannaford. Compiled by Steve Barnes. Items to be considered for publication must be submitted to sbarnes@timesunion.com. Visit his blog, blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping. Saratoga Springs During the span of a recording career that dates back nearly 70 years, Frank Wakefield has revolutionized the way the mandolin is used in popular American music and collaborated with a who's who of bluegrass and Americana artists. On Saturday, Wakefield will be celebrating his 84th birthday with a concert at Caffe Lena. If it were up to him, he'd play shows with his band all the time. It's not about receiving money or adulation; for Wakefield, it's about playing the mandolin better than anyone else around. "I think what I get out of it, I'll tell you the way it is," Wakefield said. "I'm the world's greatest man'lin player. That's a fact. I'm the greatest until somebody else comes along." The mandolin wasn't Wakefield's first musical instrument. As a boy growing up in Tennessee he learned to play harmonica and could play guitar. But after seeing him struggle with it, a family member made a suggestion that changed the course of Wakefield's life. "My uncle said, 'Learn to play man'lin,' that's how he said 'mandolin,' " he recalled. So the teenage Wakefield went out and "got a man'lin." He found himself drawn to the instrument's versatility and became hooked. "What I like about it is you can play it with anything: guitar, piano, a whole bunch of symphony musicians," Wakefield reflected. With the 1953 release of his original composition "New Camptown Races," the 19-year old Wakefield became a rising talent in the bluegrass scene. At the time, he modeled his playing style after that of his hero Bill Monroe, the man referred to as the "Father of Bluegrass." A chance to play for and meet with Monroe in the 1950s, however, set him on a new, innovative path. "Bill Monroe, I could play just like him," Wakefield said. "He said to me, 'You can play my style better than me. But you got to get your own style.' That blowed my mind." Taking Monroe's advice, Wakefield concocted a style that allowed him to play different parts on the mandolin at the same time. He's proud of the technique and makes it the centerpiece of his live show when he showcases it as a solo piece. It's more technically complex musically than the rest of his set, but he jokes that he tries to make those tunes look tricky, too. "I play it in the middle of the second set. I explain (the technique and its history) to the audience, but they just want to hear my style," Wakefield said. "I do it because I really love it. It's a pretty sound. "The other stuff (performed) is straight stuff, but I play it fancy," he continued, before joking, "I don't want people to think I'm too old." Regulars at Caffe Lena have become well acquainted with Wakefield and his music. He first played the venue in 1964 and loved it. Since making Saratoga his home 50 years ago, he has fond memories of playing locally, whether with his own band or the time he joined his friend and musical collaborator Jerry Garcia on stage during one of the Grateful Dead's SPAC performances. His reputation and history in the area makes shows like the birthday celebration special, and they come with an added bonus for Wakefield: he views Caffe Lena patrons as more capable of assessing high-quality musicianship than your typical concert audience. That assessment both pleases and inspires him. "It's such a good listening audience," Wakefield said. "It's so nice playing some place where the audience is knowledgeable. More Information If you go Frank Wakefield's 84th Birthday Show Where: Caffe Lena, 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs When: 8 p.m., Saturday, June 23 Tickets: $24 advance, $26 at door Info: 518-583-0022 or caffelena.org See More Collapse "I have to play extra good there because they know if I'm not," he joked. Jim Shahen Jr. is a frequent contributor to the Times Union. ALBANY City Hall was filled with members of the minority business community Tuesday evening for a panel discussion on minority- and women-owned businesses. "We are looking to ensure that we have growth opportunities here in Albany," said Mayor Kathy Sheehan. "My administration places top priority on creating opportunities for the people who live here to build their own foundations and build our neighborhoods from within." Eva Bass, the city's community outreach coordinator, and Jelissa Joseph, chief diversity officer, said Tuesday's event aimed to inform people of the resources to support MWBEs. However, panelists and audience members voiced concerns about the lack of knowledge of these resources. "There are a lot of resources available for people thanks to the work Albany and the state of New York do," said Paul Stewart, director of training at Community Loan Fund. "Which isn't to say that those processes are simple and easy to access sometimes it will be challenging, but there are lots of people like myself that can help negotiate those processes." While the city offers useful grants, such as one to improve storefront exteriors, some questioned whether funds are going to the appropriate, long-term needs of the MWBE community. "That grant is great, but we should be talking about what other money businesses need to incubate and grow into the space," said media specialist DeSean Moore. An audience member asked whether there's a way to keep big corporations from tapping certain funds, and funneling them instead to small MWBEs something that is done at the state level. "There are changes that we're looking at with the program to reflect more of the state requirements," Joseph responded. "We're looking at way to make that more uniform and simpler." One purpose of the event was to connect businesses with each other, and panelists said collaboration is crucial for the success of the MWBEs. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "That is a culture we've been trying to develop over the past three years," said Moore, who serves on the board of Albany Barn, an arts incubator and community center in Arbor Hill. "We're trying to create a space for small businesses to understand the importance of creating businesses, but also of cooperative economics and connecting those dots." Tony Gaddy, director of operations of the Capital District Black Chamber of Commerce, said building relationships has been imperative to his own success. "A lot of the time, we get so involved in the revenue aspect of our businesses that we forget the money comes from people," he said. "The relationship is where the value lies." Moore stressed the importance of recognizing the value of MWBEs, saying that they are "imperative to the lifeblood of the community." ALBANY The state attorney general's office on Tuesday filed a notice that it will appeal a judge's dismissal of a criminal indictment against Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel E. Abelove. The notice filed in Rensselaer County follows the June 11 dismissal of criminal charges accusing Abelove of lying to a grand jury and manipulating an investigation in which a Troy police sergeant was cleared of wrongdoing in the fatal 2016 shooting of an unarmed DWI suspect. Our indictment detailed a disturbing pattern of misconduct that violated the law and undermined a criminal investigation," said Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood. "We respectfully disagree with the courts decision and have filed a notice of appeal. State Supreme Court Justice Jonathan D. Nichols of Columbia County, in dismissing the indictment, had concluded the state attorney general's office exceeded its investigatory authority under state executive law and did not have the statutory jurisdiction to prosecute Abelove on charges of felony perjury. The attorney general's investigation led to the indictment of Abelove last December. Abelove was widely criticized for his controversial decision to rush the shooting case before a grand jury less than a week after Edson Thevenin was fatally shot in April 2016. The indictment had charged Abelove with holding back evidence from the grand jury that investigated the fatal shooting. Abelove also did not subpoena two civilian witnesses who were at the scene of the shooting and told investigators they did not believe the officer was in imminent danger when he opened fire on the motorist. The second misconduct count accused Abelove of unlawfully allowing the officer who fired the fatal shots to testify with immunity from prosecution when he appeared before the grand jury that cleared him. The perjury charge alleged that Abelove lied last fall when he appeared in front of a special grand jury investigating his conduct and testified that another Troy police officer was given immunity when he testified before a grand jury in an unrelated fatal shooting. In his 10-page decision, Nichols did not dispute that the attorney general's office had authority under an executive order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to investigate the circumstances of the fatal shooting, including whether Abelove had committed official misconduct in its aftermath. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. But the judge ruled the attorney general improperly pursued a perjury charge that was beyond its authority. Nichols wrote that the felony perjury charge was "so inextricably intertwined" with the misdemeanor counts of official misconduct -- and may have damaged Abelove's credibility with the grand jury he was accused of lying to -- that he dismissed those charges as well. Abelove declined comment on Tuesday evening. Thevenin's widow, Cinthia, filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Troy and Sgt. Randall French, who fatally shot her husband. French, who has returned to active duty, was allowed by Abelove to testify without an immunity waiver, which means he could not have faced criminal consequences no matter what the panel decided. The notice of appeal was filed as Abelove is campaigning for a second four-year term as district attorney. ALBANY An Albany trial court has ruled in favor of the state Education Department in its lawsuit against the State University of New York over teacher certification requirements for some charter schools. Acting Albany County State Supreme Court Justice Debra Young on Tuesday blocked the SUNY Charter School Institutes decision to let some charter schools certify their own teachers without masters degrees, instead relying on in-house training with as little as 40 hours as practice teachers. State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa hailed the decision. The court rightly upheld the Board of the Regents and the Commissioners authority to certify teachers in New York State, Rosa and Elia said in a joint statement. They, along with the New York State United Teachers union had sued SUNYs CSI over its recent decision to allow some charters to do their own teacher certification, contending that authority lies only with the Education Department. Todays decision is a victory, NYSUT President Andy Pallotta added in a prepared statement. NYSUT filed a separate suit, but the two were joined together in April. SUNY, however, isnt ruling out an appeal. We are reviewing yesterdays decision, SUNY spokeswoman Holly Liapis said in a statement, adding that we will evaluate our next steps. Both the Board of Regents and SUNYs Charter School Institute can license and regulate charter schools, which use public funds but are privately operated. But there have long been disagreements between the two authorizing bodies. The Regents, who have historically been close to the teachers unions, have tended to question charters. Unions as well as the public education lobby, has long complained that charter schools drain money from public schools while being able to avoid taking care of the most difficult or neediest of students. SUNY and charter school supporters, though, maintain that parents should have a choice of where to send their students. They also point to standardized test scores showing higher achievement among some charter students. This dispute stemmed from SUNY CSIs 2017 decision to let two charter operators in New York City -- Success Academies and the Bronx Charter School for Better Learning -- run their own certification programs. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Under that plan, prospective teachers could get classroom instruction and put in 40 hours of practice teaching. A masters degree, however, wouldnt have been required. At the time Eva Moskowitz, who runs Success Academy, said it would broaden the pool of potential teachers. Success Academy students have frequently out-performed other schools in New York City on statewide achievement exams. Young, in her ruling, concluded that authority for setting teacher certification rules remained with SED. That means SUNY cannot circumvent those rules. She also noted that SUNY failed to solicit public input on their proposed regulations, which is required under state law. The dispute had its roots in 2016 when lawmakers under a deal hammered out by the GOP-controlled Senate, gave more authority to SUNY CSI. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU A federal judge issued an order Wednesday formally rejecting NXIVM founder Keith Raniere's request to be released from custody as his criminal case is pending. The 16-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis characterized Raniere as a flight risk and danger to the community with access to enormous wealth from his supporters. The judge also noted the "indictment by a grand jury conclusively establishes that there is probable cause to believe that he committed the offenses charged in the indictment." Federal prosecutors had recently asked the judge to reject Raniere's request to be released on a $10 million bond, unveiling text messages they said show that Raniere was directly involved in recruiting women to be his sex slaves and having them branded with a "monogram" that included his initials. If convicted of the charges of sex trafficking and forced labor, Raniere faces a potential sentence of up to life in prison. The judge found "there is at least some risk that if Defendant is released, he may unlawfully exploit women or obstruct justice." Raniere's motion for bail had 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 offered to live in a New York residence secured by armed private guards. He said a trust fund set up by others on his behalf would have paid the estimated $40,000-a-month cost of that security. Prosecutors had 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. 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 demonstrated 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, confirmed 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 a 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." Raniere last year publicly disavowed any connection with the secret club. In his motion for bail, he said it was similar to a college fraternity. 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. It took authorities nearly two months to locate him before he was deported and arrested by U.S. federal agents. Raniere's attorneys said that he was keeping a low profile -- including staying in a private compound protected by armed security -- to avoid a group of NXIVM critics who had been stalking and photographing him. 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. The judge cast aside those arguments, noting that it's unclear how critics of Raniere's would be able to track him through his use of a mobile phone. The judge also cited a Google map link to show the Mexican resort where Raniere was staying was hundreds of miles away from his last known location. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The judge also flagged Raniere's lack of assets, noting his townhouse in Halfmoon is worth about $60,000 but that he has listed no source of income and claims to be self-employed. "Defendant has little to lose if he were to flee, and nothing with which to secure a meaningful personal bond," the judge wrote. A federal indictment that was unsealed April 20 charged Raniere and former television actress Allison Mack -- a longtime NXIVM member and close associate of Raniere's -- of organizing a secret group within NXIVM in which some of its female members said they felt coerced into joining a slave-master club, and were later branded with a design that included the initials of Raniere and Mack. 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 because of the threat of having the damaging information about them released if they tried to leave the group or failed to follow orders. Prosecutors have not described NXIVM as a cult or raised that issue in the indictment or other court filings. They have described NXIVM as a multi-level marketing or pyramid scheme. Raniere is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Mack was released on bond under conditions that include remaining at her parents' California residence and wearing an electronic-monitoring device on her ankle. Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services WASHINGTON Republican lawmakers want to make sweeping changes to immigration law this week, but their Democratic peers likely won't grant their wishes amid continuing controversy over President Donald Trump's "zero-tolerance" policy that is separating children from their families at the border. The Democrats have made "zero-tolerance" a spotlight of attention and condemnation, calling the policy "child abuse" because it has split apart more than 2,000 immigrant families and relegated small children to detention centers. With a national outcry from churches, former first lady Laura Bush and even some GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the Trump administration is standing its ground and refusing to budge. The president took a late-afternoon trip to the Capitol to rally Republican support in a closed-door meeting. But the family-separation crisis all but drowned out the normal back-and-forth over immigration, overshadowing what was to be House consideration of two immigration bills this week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell backed legislation that would keep immigrant families together at the border, putting distance between himself and the president. House Republicans are offering up two immigration bills, which include provisions to build a border wall and provide a pathway to citizenship for youthful "DREAMers." But it is unlikely that either measure will pass with Democrats sensing GOP political vulnerability over the heart-wrenching photos and soundbites from the border region. The first bill, coined the "Border Security Immigration and Reform Act," is a compromise between Democratic and Republican lawmakers. The middle-ground legislation would provide a pathway to citizenship for the immigrants called "DREAMers" in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, allowing them to apply for a green card after five years living in the United States. Immigrants would be considered for a visa based on factors such as education and employment status. But the "compromise" bill would modify, not stop, Trump's "zero-tolerance" policy that holds illegal immigrants in detention centers. It would also provide $25 million in funding for a border wall between the United States and Mexico a provision that is likely to be a deal-breaker for many Democrats. The new provision would detain children and parents in the same place - except in the case that a parent has an offense to address Democratic lawmakers' outcry about the policy separating immigrant families. The more right-wing legislation, called the "Goodlatte Bill" after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, takes a definite stance on Trump's campaign promises. The bill would provide more funding to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and tighten employment measures for immigrants looking for work here. In addition to both bills allocating funds for a border wall, the two would also end the diversity lottery that provides about 50,000 visas to immigrants and lessen the number of immigrant asylum claims. Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook, said he supports the compromise legislation because it helps to secure the borders are secure with funding for a wall and ensures that immigration policies are "humane." "This legislation would be the most significant reform to our broken immigration system in many decades and it represents a good-faith compromise that will forever put an end to this disruptive practice," Faso said. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, said he won't vote on either of the bills because the Republican party only negotiated with itself about the legislation. "They do not meaningfully reform our broken immigration system," Tonko said. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, a supporter of the discharge petition last week, is also on board with the compromise legislation that addresses DACA and border security. Tom Flanagin, a spokesperson for Stefanik, said she will also support separate legislation to curb family separation at the border. "Congress has kicked the can for too long on substantive immigration reform, and it is time to move forward on tackling the important challenges facing our nation," Flanagin said of Stefanik's stance. Following the House GOP meeting, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said he had no confidence in the ability of the GOP-controlled Congress to come up with a legislative solution. "Speaker Ryan wants to pass a massive bill that may not even pass the House and couldn't pass the Senate, the Senate Republicans are supposedly eyeing a bill that the president wouldn't sign even if it made it to his desk, and the president continues to try to use these separated families as hostages in the legislative process," Schumer said. "Anyone who believes this Republican Congress is capable of addressing this issue is kidding themselves. The president can end this crisis with the flick of his pen, and he needs to do so now." As the policy looms over Congress leading up to debate in the House, some experts are also concerned about the long-term effects of child-parent separation among immigrant families. Joanna Dreby, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Albany, said immigrant family splits take a toll on young children who fear they will be taken away from their parents. In the long run, the separation creates a stigma that immigrant children don't want to reveal where their families are from for fear of bullying or legal consequences. "They're not criminals when they cross the border, but the detention centers are treating them as such," she said. NISKAYUNA Town police arrested a teenage boy Tuesday in connection to a threat that plunged Van Antwerp Middle School into a nearly four-hour lockdown on Friday, June 8. The boy who attends the school but has not been otherwise identified, given his age is charged with felony making a terroristic threat and misdemeanor aggravated harassment. His case was referred to Schenectady County Family Court. KERHONKSON Until this week, Gareth Rhodes, a former communications director for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a NY-19 congressional candidate, was chugging along under the radar in his bid for the Democratic nomination. He was widely perceived as second-tier to corporate executive Brian Flynn, tech entrepreneur Pat Ryan, and attorney Antonio Delgado, whose significant fundraising has led some observers to categorize those three candidates as front-runners in Tuesday's crowded Democratic primary. Rhodes himself has raised a respectable amount, pulling in almost $800,000, according to his most recent filings, and remains firmly ahead of agricultural economist Erin Collier, former U.S. diplomat Jeff Beals and attorney Dave Clegg. Now it appears that Rhodes' unique campaign, designed to appeal to the average voter including independents and Republicans in small towns across the district has generated significant momentum in the final stretch before primary day. Fresh off his Winnebago "Rhodes trip" to the 163 towns in New York's 19th Congressional District, the former well driller and volunteer firefighter from rural Ulster County scooped up an endorsement from the New York Times that declared him the best of the seven Democratic candidates seeking to challenge Republican Rep. John Faso this fall. Rhodes's candidacy has also drawn the backing of a number of labor unions, including most recently, the New York State Nurses Association and the Hotel Trades Council. Along the road, he has picked up endorsements from a number of local county legislators and officials, like Broome County Executive Jason Garnar and Kingston Alderman Bill Carey. "You just have to talk to Gareth to know how genuine he is. He connects to people naturally and meaningfully in a way our current representative does not," Carey said. Rhodes is also widely seen as Cuomo's pick for the race. A number of high-ranking state officials and powerful Cuomo allies have contributed to Rhodes' campaign and voiced support for his candidacy. Cuomo has not formally endorsed a candidate in the race, but gave Rhodes a shout out at a recent rally in Kingston. When asked about Cuomo's record and his time in the governor's administration, his response is always the same, that he is very "proud of his government experience," touting the administration's accomplishments on LGBTQ rights and gun control, and noting that other Democrats in the race cannot say the same. Previously, he had worked as an intern for the Obama administration and he reportedly has the support of many ex-Obama staffers as well. Rhodes is expected to face criticism from Republicans in the general election over the ongoing corruption trials related to Cuomo's signature economic development programs. There was an awkward moment during a recent WAMC candidate forum in Albany, where Rhodes, along with the other candidates, were asked if they would support Cuomo or his left flank challenger Cynthia Nixon in this year's gubernatorial primary. His somewhat tentative endorsement of Cuomo was scrutinized by some. "I support the current governor, so far, in the primary. But I haven't had a chance to meet Cynthia Nixon yet," he said. (He clarified afterward that he unequivocally supports the governor.) Some hefty campaign contributions from individuals with significant interest before the state, such as Cuomo's upstate economic development czar Howard Zemsky and his wife Leslie, who runs the family's Buffalo real estate business, Larkin Development Group, have raised eyebrows. A spokesperson for the campaign said the contributions are from individuals who were in Rhodes' orbit during his time in state government, and signal their strong belief in him as an individual and a candidate for Congress. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. At 29, Rhodes is notably the youngest candidates in the race, and supporters often reference his youthful energy and sincerity, which they believe can mobilize younger voters in the district and bring a fresh perspective to Congress. Jerry Goldfeder, a veteran election attorney from New York City with ties to Cuomo, said he was so impressed by the up-and-comer that he wound up working for the Rhodes campaign. "I like to encourage young people to run for office, and number two, I was very impressed with him. He's visited every town in the entire congressional district which underscores the importance of his roots in the district," Goldfeder said. "I think he's doing really, really well." One the last leg of the trip, Rhodes visited the smallest town Hardenburgh (pop. 238, with 40 registered Democrats, 6 of whom voted in the last primary) and the largest city in NY-19, Kingston, where he was born. His trek across the district places him in contrast to Faso, who has been criticized for making few appearances in the district, he said. "I meet many voters who voted for Donald Trump, but are eager to vote against John Faso," Rhodes said. "He hasn't showed up at meetings, he voted against healthcare ... they have no desire to see Faso come back for a second term. While I am deeply troubled by the direction [Trump] is taking this country, my voice is focused on Faso his failure to serve this community." Historically, outsiders who move to the swing district to run for the congressional seat have been effectively maligned in the general election as "carpetbaggers." Rhodes left Harvard Law School and settled in Kerhonkson last year to run for the seat, but with deep, working-class-family roots in the area, there seems little that Republicans can pin on him. In a press-release email, the National Republican Congressional Committee dubbed him a "Winnebago pollution enthusiast," but Rhodes notes he has spent $4,000 to purchase carbon offsets through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and significantly offset his carbon footprint on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, Rhodes' former colleagues from Cuomo's office continue to cheer him on from the sidelines, with secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa proudly sharing the Times' endorsement on Twitter this week. "I'd like to claim credit for @garethtrhodes, but he has done this 1000% on his own--the Times chose right on this one," DeRosa wrote. On Tuesday, President Trump accused Canadians of buying American shoes and then smuggling them back across the border because of high tariffs. He also suggested they find clever ways of getting away with it. The tariffs to get common items back into Canada are so high that they have to smuggle them in. They buy shoes and they wear them, they scuff them up, they make them look oldno were cheated horribly, Trump said at the National Federation of Independent Business in D.C. Trump cited a major newspaper to back his claim, although he didnt specify which publication it came from. Canadians took to Twitter to post their angry reactions and added insult to injury by reaffirming their commitment to boycott American goods, a move that began earlier this month. The boycott was prompted after Trump called Trudeau very dishonest and weak, and so far it has extended to goods like Kentucky bourbon, California wine, Florida oranges, Starbucks, Walmart and McDonalds, CTV News reports. RELATED VIDEO: Poll: Americans Favor Trudeau Over Trump on Trade Policy Some Canadians have vowed to boycott trips to the US in order to spend their travel money within their country. The hashtags #BuyCanadian and #BoycottUSProducts have emerged since. In one tweet, the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America tried to smooth things over by supporting Canadians. They said Canadians can scuff up American shoes all they want, but Canadians were not into it. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The US Footwear Industry welcomes you and all Canadians to come buy shoes in America! As many as you want - and scuff them up if you want, we can sell you more! #freetrade, the tweet read. One person responded by saying, Ill buy your shoes if you give your President the boot. Trump's remarks come amid ongoing dispute over trade on steel and aluminum with Canada. Canada has pledged $16.6 billion in countermeasures as a response to US tariffs that are expected to go into effect on July 1. It will not include shoes. Click on the slideshow above to see Twitter reactions to Trump's remarks on Canadians smuggling shoes. Follow Susana Guerrero on Twitter and email her at sguerrero@sfchronicle.com A dangerous current began to flow when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced plans to prosecute 100 percent of refugees crossing into the United States at the Mexican border. At the same time that prosecutions began, immigration policy changed to separate parents and children as young as 18 months at entry. In the first 13 days of the program, 658 children were separated from their parents. The number is now well more than 2,000. By criminalizing the crossing of the border, the U.S. is stepping away from its responsibility under International Law to provide safe entry and due process to those seeking protection from harm through political asylum. Refugees declare their intent at the border and describe the violence they experienced, the conditions of danger that caused them to flee, and how they would be endangered were they to return. An initial review of their claim, if successful, requires thorough documentation of the violence and danger they faced, along with supporting evidence. Often a psychological interview is critical to understanding the impact of political violence and the nature of the harm. Saratoga Springs The horse Southern Phantom has never won a race. He's never even been in one. But he might very well be the most popular horse on the grounds at the Oklahoma Training Track. With the 40-day Saratoga race meet looming, the 2-year-old colt has people on the grounds doing double takes. That's because Southern Phantom has the look. It's one not seen very often, if at all, on backstretches and race tracks across the country. From the top of Southern Phantom's head to the end of his nose, he is nothing but white. It looks like someone took a bucket of paint and brushed the color on. He has one blue eye, the other brown. All of his legs look like he is wearing white tube socks. "I've never seen one like this," said Southern Phantom's trainer Eric Guillot, who is just as colorful as his horse. "I have seen horses with some white but never one with a blue eye and a brown eye and a whole white head." Southern's Phantom sire is Bodemeister, who was second in the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness. His best work in the breeding shed so far was being the sire of Always Dreaming, last year's Kentucky Derby winner. Bodemeister has a white blaze on his face, but nothing like his son. His dam is Out For Revenge, who was sired by 2006 champion 3-year-old Bernardini. Out For Revenge, also trained by Guillot, never did much on the track, finishing off the board in all three career starts. She has no white on her at all. A horse named Stronger is a full brother to Southern Phantom and he has one win in nine career starts. Guillot said there is a speck of white on one of his legs. More for you A conversation with trainer Eric Guillot Southern Phantom just turned 2 on June 5. Guillot said he expects to race the horse during the Saratoga meet, which starts four weeks from Friday. How he'll do, he has no idea. "I think he might be OK," Guillot said. "I don't think he is going to be a champion, but he has a chance to compete." Southern Phantom, right now, is just nice to look at. He is friendly, and seems to like being around people. If someone walks by his stall, he will stick his big, white head out and take a long look. Since arriving at the Spa at the end of April, he has had seven workouts, six of them at four furlongs. Guillot said he has improved mightily, saying Southern Phantom is 10 lengths better now than he was six weeks ago. Southern Phantom was born at Southern Equine Stable in Midway, Ky. The Stable is owned by Mike Moreno, who partners with Guillot. Southern Equine owns 50 percent of Southern Phantom, Calumet Farm owns the other 50. "We miss him, I miss that white face hanging over the fence," said Cindy Dubler, one of the managers at the farm. "There were so many people who came to see him when he was a foal and he was very inquisitive. With all the attention he was getting, he loved people from the get-go." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Because of his fair complexion, Dubler said Southern Phantom has to get sun screen when outside for long periods and he also wears a little fly mask to shield his eyes from the powerful rays of the sun. When he was a little horse, Southern Phantom already began to get some notoriety. The Blood Horse magazine came up with the idea of letting the public name the horse with the winner getting an all expenses paid trip to Saratoga during the 2016 meet. After four days, there were nearly 3,000 names submitted, "I told them they had to take it off their website," said Guillot, who said he went through every entry. "There were just too many names!" Names like White Head and White Face and Ghost Horse did not make the cut. Southern Phantom was the winner, submitted by two women from Louisiana, Guillot's home state. The little foal with the white face, funky eyes and rickety legs is still growing, but now he looks and acts like a race horse. Guillot knows that as the Saratoga race meet draws closer, more and more people will try to find their way to his barn and catch a glimpse of the unique look of Southern Phantom. "I'm going to charge $5 for selfies and $2 to feed him a peppermint," Guillot squeals through his thick Cajun accent. "He is like a pet, a real nice horse. Never seen a horse that popular. Hey, every $2 bettor will bet on him because of his prettiness." twilkin@timesunion.com 518-454-5415 @tjwilkin June 18, 2018 Cryptojacking is the use of someone elses CPU to mine cryptocurrency without their permission. This malicious practice has become increasingly rampant in Europe, Asia and the United States with the rise of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. According to an internet security threat report by Symantec (News - Alert) in March 2018, cryptojacking attempts increased by more than 8000% in the last year. In fact, 55% of businesses worldwide suffered from cryptomining attacks last December alone. The business of mining involves solving highly complex mathematical problems which require immense computational power. Usually, devices which produce the required power are available for sale and are widely used by cryptocurrency miners all over the world. However, hackers or cyber criminals subscribe to using malware to input cryptomining code on the computers of unsuspecting individuals. According to a report released by the UK National Cyber Security Centre and National Crime Agency, Cryptojacking will likely become a regular source of revenue for website owners. Hackers are not the only ones who have taken up cryptojacking. Website owners often collaborate with hackers to use the computers of their visitors to mine cryptocurrency. This allows a cryptomining script to be implanted on their sites while they take as much as 70% of the profits gotten from mining. In research, conducted by Troy Mursch, it was discovered that Coinhive, a cryptomining script was running on about 400 Amazon-hosted websites. Adguard also found up to 33,000 sites with a combined traffic of 1 billion monthly visitors, running these scripts Although their operations are mostly secretive, some websites inform their users of their mining intentions. One example is Salon, the publication which announced to its users that it would make up for lost ad revenue by mining cryptocurrency with their computers if they had ad-blockers installed on their browsers. It is a significant concern that hackers and website owners will continue to mine cryptocurrencies without permission, both intentionally and unintentionally. How does Cryptojacking Work? Cryptocurrency like Bitcoin is produced when blocks are added to the blockchain. This process involves solving increasingly complex mathematical problems in the form of hash values and receiving a monetary reward for doing so. Unfortunately, the process requires a significant amount of computational processing power which can be expensive to get in legitimate ways. Usually, hackers who want to claim these rewards infect various computing devices with malware that runs code to solve the complex problems. There are two main ways in which hackers gain access to victims computers. One way is by tricking unsuspecting individuals into clicking on a link, either on websites or via emails that load the cryptomining code onto their devices. The other way is by loading self-executing scripts in ads and websites so that when the ad pops up, the victims device becomes infected automatically. Hackers use both methods at the same time to maximize returns. The loaded script runs the code in the background and sends the results to the hackers server. The Threat of Cryptojacking The use of malware to perform cryptojacking is something that cybercriminals have done for a relatively long time. However, recently, they have begun to use new techniques to exploit website visitors. Some examples of these techniques are highlighted below: Thousands of websites used a screen-reading plug-in meant for users who were visually impaired, to mine cryptocurrency on their computers in February 2018. Implantation of mining script in a Github forked directory which is disguised as an application update for users to download. The use of Facexworm, a cryptomining malware that affects cryptocurrency exchanges and spreads malicious links through Facebook (News - Alert) messenger. Deployment of the Roaming Mantis malware which uses DNS hijacking to run a Coinhive script on Android (News - Alert) devices and redirects iOS devices to a phishing site. In December 2017 at Bitcoins peak, more than half of all businesses around the world were affected by cryptominers. According to a report by NCA, Popular websites are likely to continue to be targets for compromise, serving cryptomining malware to visitors, and software is available that, when run in a web page, uses the visiting computers spare processing power to mine the digital currency, Monero. Initially, hackers resorted to deploying ransomware to users computers and demanding a ransom to remove them. However, they quickly discovered that cryptojacking was a far more lucrative endeavor. In fact, the monthly profit can be placed at about $150,000. Coinhive also made $300,000 in its first month of deployment, and a mining bot known as the Smominru cryptomining botnet raised up to $3.6 million. A hacker would typically only receive ransom money from about 3-5 out of 100 ransomware targets, but with cryptojacking, all 100 machines can mine cryptocurrency, leading to huge payouts. Hackers use less popular cryptocurrencies like Monero because it is more difficult to trace the transactions back to them. Its mining algorithm can also run well on various consumer devices. Although victims do not typically lose money to cryptojacking, the slow processing speeds that their computers incur as a result can greatly hinder productivity, especially in corporations. There is also an existing threat of the malware author updating it at any point into a banking malware that steals online banking credentials. Signs and Preventative Steps Cryptojacking can be difficult to detect because miners try to be secretive and unobtrusive so that their operations can go undetected for as long as possible. Cryptomining malware is usually run in the background, invisible to the user. Sometimes, the script runs in the browser extensions without getting logged on the computer, making it hard to run successful system diagnostics. Signs of Cryptojacking The most prominent sign of cryptojacking is the slower performance experienced by a computers user. Websites also take longer to load than usual. Cryptojacking is often accompanied by a sudden jump in the CPU usage of the infected computer. Hackers usually carry out mining operations at night when performance spikes may go unnoticed. A sudden increase in help-desk calls, and repair costs about slower computer performance and system overheating within an organization. Preventative Action Use anti-virus software or ad-blockers that are specifically designed to detect cryptojacking. Implement Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) technology which uses a virtual browser. The virtual browser works by carrying out all operations in containers which are discarded after each session. This ensures that malware doesnt reach a users computer and is discarded along with the container instead. Train organizational staff to recognize phishing emails and sites with suspicious ads. Run regular checks on computers, specifically for mining scripts. Maintain browser extensions to prevent hackers from infecting them. Final Thoughts Cryptojacking continues to rise as a threat to consumers in the U.K. and the world in general as can be seen in activity from U.S, Japan, Germany and even Russia. Victims of these attacks usually have no inducement to take actions against the perpetrators because none of their information is currently being stolen. However, exposure to this type of malware leaves room for later modification of the malware to steal data like banking details. Its crucial that users look for the signs of these attacks and take relevant action to protect themselves. [June 19, 2018] ClickSoftware To Discuss the Benefits of Predictive Field Service for Utilities at Asian Utility Week BURLINGTON, Massachusetts, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ClickSoftware, the leading provider of field service management software, today announced it will be speaking at Asian Utility Week taking place June 27-28, 2018 at the Impact Arena, Exhibition and Conference Center in Bangkok, Thailand. On June 27, Andrew Vlachiotis, ClickSoftware's vice president and managing director for Asia Pacific, will deliver the keynote that outlines the benefits for utilities as they shift from reactive to predictive field service model. Later that afternoon, Vlachiotis will host a roundtable discussion, "Digital Transformation in Field Service Management," with a focus on the evolution of field service and how digital transformation improves operational efficiencies. Attendees can visit ClickSoftware's exhibitor booth (B09) for a live demonstration of Click Field Service Edge throughout the conference. WHO: Andrew Vlachiotis, Vice President and Managing Director, APAC, ClickSoftware WHERE: Impact Arena, Exhibition and Conference Center, Muang Thong Thani Popular 3 Rd, Pak Kret District, Nonthaburi 11120, Thailand WHEN: June 27, 2018 "How to more effectively utilize analytics,automation, and platforms for the workforce" keynote presentation 2:50 - 3:10 p.m. "Digital Transformation in Field Service Management" roundtable discussion 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. About ClickSoftware ClickSoftware is a global leader in field service management solutions, delivering value through improved efficiency, effectiveness, and enhanced customer experiences. ClickSoftware blends unparalleled industry expertise and state-of-the-art computer science to deliver meaningful, measurable business valueoptimizing critical business processes and delighting customers. Click Field Service Edge arms field service leaders with the smartest technologies and best practices from around the globe to deliver real-world results, real-time recommendations, and real operational intelligence. For more information, please visit https://www.clicksoftware.com/. Follow us on Twitter. Click. Actual intelligence. At work. Media Inquiries: Jill Rosenthal InkHouse for ClickSoftware clicksoftware@inkhouse.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/395427/ClickSoftware_1_Logo.jpg SOURCE ClickSoftware [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Hit Refresh With Corefactors Integrated Marketing and Sales Platform BENGALURU, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Companies want to maximize lead conversion, enhance campaign output, and streamline business communication. It's a fast paced world with many 'blink and miss it' moments. Knowing this, Bengaluru-based Corefactors, conceptualised by Adnaks Marketing Solutions, has introduced an integrated communication platform that seamlessly blends multiple channel marketing to generate, nurture, and convert leads. It's called Teleduce for Integrated Sales and Marketing Automation. With Teleduce, Corefactors offers an all-in-one integrated solution to manage marketing, sales, communication, and campaigns. Standard features are SMS, Email, and Voice campaigns. There is also missed call marketing, along with landing page design for marketing campaigns, and Google Analytics tracking. For enhanced inbound and outbound communication, Teleduce provides a toll-free virtual phone number, data verification, and telecalling. Add-ons include a lead management box, customer success box, or list manager. Teleduce can also integrate with products like Zoho, Hubspot, QuickBooks and more. The Corefactors tech team can also build simple or complex custom applications and ensure that greater value is derived from Teleduce. Sales and marketing are two sides of the company growth coin. Check this video from Corefactors called Why Teleduce? about how their product brigs out the best of both. "Corefactors is one of the best company, which delivers services along with good customer service and support. Whenever I face an issue related to any of the services, I have always got a response from Corefactors team instantly. Be it support team or tech team, all have always been quick in responding to my queries. Requests like customized SMS & OBD campaigns are executed very efficiently." - Mr. Harsh Khurana - Manager, Customer Relations, Pidilite Industries Limited. Revamp Business with Teleduce For companies looking for an integrated solution to their marketing, communication, and sales needs, Corefactors believes that Teleduce is the right answer. Teleduce users can create and manage campaigns on a variety of mediums. They can perform Bulk SMS, Inbound SMS, Voice SMS, and Email Marketing. Missed Call Marketing Services from Corefactors allow the capturing of leads which would have otherwise been lost. The robust List Manager enables Teleduce users to create targeted and customized lists for all marketing campaigns. Teleduce functions as an integrated multichannel marketing campaign, communication, and sales automation platform. It offers a smooth experience from marketing to lead conversion. Teleduce bridges the communication gap between a company and potential customers. Teleduce is currently being used by 300+ companies all over India, including startups, SMBs and Corporates. Corefactors has also teamed up with over 30 partners and affiliates to bring Teleduce closer to their Indian customers. SoftwareSuggest awarded Teleduce the "Expert's Choice Award for Best Marketing and Communication Platform" of Summer 2018. "One thing I admire about Corefactors is support and client relationship. No doubt that Teleduce is an excellent product for a startup like us." - Mr. Praveen Gowda - CEO, VMEDO About Corefactors Corefactors (Adnaks Marketing Solutions Pvt. Ltd.) is a leading campaign management, business communication, and analytics company. Corefactors was started in 2013 by the dynamic duo of Ms. Sharmila Sundaram and Mr. Vimal Murali. They are on the right growth trajectory with funding in February 2018 from 'ah! Ventures'. Ms. Sharmila also had an interview with SonderConnect in May 2018. Corefactors is not just another me-too services company. They focus on customer-centric solutions to marketing and sales problems. That's the difference! Media Contact: Sharmila Sundaram sharmila.s@corefactors.in +91-(0)8067335577 Founder, Adnaks Marketing Solutions [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Broadband Forum hits 5G milestone FREMONT, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Operators looking to quickly and cost-effectively deliver new 5G services are today a step closer to being able to do so, as the Broadband Forum and NTT successfully demonstrated the disaggregation of time-critical PON functions. Launched with NTT last year, the PON Abstraction Interface for Time Critical Applications (TCAs) project looks at how Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) can be applied to Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) to eliminate the need for operators to rebuild an OLT from the preliminary stage of development, for example, a remake of the PON chip, which requires a large amount of investment. Time-to-market for new offerings, including support for 5G fronthaul interfaces and services for business users, is also accelerated. The quick progress the project has made was showcased for the first time on the last day of the Broadband Forum's Q2 meeting, where NTT demonstrated two scenarios mobile and FTTH where a future OLT could be optimized with Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) software to significantly reduce latency to meet the stringent latency requirements of 5G fronthaul interfaces. This enables dense small cells to be accommodated cost-effectively by TDM-PON. A second DBA software could also be applied to OLTs in FTTH services that require high bandwidth efficiency. "Time Critical Applications are essential to meet changing user behavior," said Akihiro Otaka, Executive Manager at NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories at NTT. "The demonstration we have carried out at the Broadband Forum meeting is a significant step for the project as it shows how operators can cost-effectively upgrade OLTs via a software upgrade. Standardization in this area is essential as it will achieve a vendor-agnostic system andensure mass deployment which is key to realizing agile and flexible next-generation broadband networks and the delivery of 5G." Following the successful demonstration, the Forum and NTT will now look at whether a cooperative interface, which controls the TCAs shown in the demonstration, can be established between the Central Unit in mobile networks and an OLT. This will involve coordination with standards defining organizations such as 3GPP and CPRI and IEEE. The Forum's meeting, which took place in Osaka, Japan, last week also saw the Forum elect a new Technical Committee Chair. Lincoln Lavoie, of UNH-IOL, will take on the position and aims to further advance next-generation work within the Forum, including projects around 5G, CloudCO and User Services Platform (USP). A joint workshop between the Forum, FSAN and ITU-T was held immediately after the Q2 meeting on Friday, June 15. This saw discussion around future expectations, NG-PON deployment plans, ONU certification vOLT standardization, PON convergence and the Broadband Access Abstraction project. "Consumer demand, in regard to both quality of service and types of applications being used, is advancing at a rapid pace the speed of which is being matched by how quickly new technologies and concepts are being developed," said Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh. "As we hurtle towards this new era of broadband connectivity, the work we are doing within the Forum remains key, but as fixed and mobile networks converge, it is more important than ever that this work is not done in silos. Industry-wide collaboration will ensure the interoperability we are enabling does not end at a certain point in the network but encompasses the whole architecture to create an open broadband infrastructure." For more information about the PON Abstraction Interface for TCAs project, please visit: https://www.broadband-forum.org/tcpf About the Broadband Forum Broadband Forum, a non-profit industry organization, is focused on engineering smarter and faster broadband networks. The Forum's flagship TR-069 CPE WAN Management Protocol has now exceeded 800 million installations worldwide. Our work defines best practices for global networks, enables new revenue-generating service and content delivery, establishes technology migration strategies, engineers critical device, service & development management tools, in the home and business IP networking infrastructure. We develop multi-service broadband packet networking specifications addressing architecture, device and service management, software data models interoperability and certification in the Broadband market. Our free technical reports and white papers can be found at www.broadband-forum.org. Twitter @Broadband_Forum. For more information about the Broadband Forum, please go to http://www.broadband-forum.org or follow @Broadband_Forum on Twitter. For further information please contact Brian Dolby on +44 (0) 7899 914168 or brian.dolby@proactive-pr.com or Jayne Brooks on +44 (0) 1636 704 888 or jayne.brooks@proactive-pr.com. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/broadband-forum-hits-5g-milestone-300669267.html SOURCE Broadband Forum [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Glassdoor Reveals Employees' Choice Awards For The Top CEOs In Canada 2018 Technology, Insurance and Finance Chief Executives Dominate Top 25 MILL VALLEY, Calif., June 20, 2018 /CNW/ -- Glassdoor, one of the world's largest job and recruiting sites, today announced the winners of its annual Employees' Choice Awards, honoring the Top CEOs in 2018 across North America and parts of Europe. Unlike any other workplace award, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback by completing a company review about their CEO's leadership, along with insight into their job, work environment and employer over the past year. This year, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards for the Top CEOs feature six distinct company categories across the U.S., Canada, UK, France and Germany. In Canada, Glassdoor has revealed the 25 Top CEOs, honoring CEOs at employers with 1,000 or more employees. Winners are ranked based on their overall approval ratings from employees during the past year. The ten Top CEOs in 2018 in Canada are: Robert Hohman Glassdoor's 25 Top CEOs in Canada list features winning chief executives across diverse industries spanning technology, finance, insurance, gaming and more. Salesforce's Marc Benioff now ranks as the No. 1 CEO in Canada (99 percent approval), previously debuting on the list at No. 4 in 2017. Brookfield Renewable's Sachin Shah (No. 2, 99 percent approval) is among 14 CEOs debuting as one of Canada's 25 Top CEOs, along with CPP Investment Board's Mark Machin (No. 9, 98 percent approval), STEMCELL Technologies' Allen C. Eaves (No. 13, 97 percent approval) and Harris Computer's Jeff Bender (No. 15, 95 percent approval). One woman CEO appears on the list, KPMG's Lynne Doughtie (No. 6, 98 percent approval). This year, there are 15 CEOs who are recognized by employees in multiple countries, including only one CEO who has made five lists Microsoft's Satya Nadella (U.S. Large, Canada, UK, France, Germany) and one who has made four lists SAP's Bill McDermott (U.S. Large, UK, Canada, Germany). Three other CEOs on the Canadian list also appear on other country lists: Salesforce's Marc Benioff (U.S. Large, Canada and UK), KPMG's Lynne Doughtie (U.S. Large, Canada and France) and Apple's Tim Cook (U.S. Large, Canada and UK). When employees submit reviews about their employer on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experience, including sentiment around their CEO's leadership, in addition to rating workplace attributes like senior management, among others. Specifically, when rating their CEO on Glassdoor, employees are asked to report whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the performance of their CEO. Among the more than 770,000 employers reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. Employees' Choice Award winners for the 2018 Top CEOs in Canada are determined using Glassdoor's proprietary algorithm, taking into account the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews shared by Canada-based employees between May 2, 2017 and May 1, 2018. At a minimum, employers considered for the large list must have received at least 25 company reviews, including at least 25 CEO approval ratings and at least 25 senior management ratings, during the eligibility period. For reporting simplicity, CEO approval ratings are displayed as whole numbers, though calculations extend beyond the thousandth place to determine final rank order. Complete award methodology can be found and downloaded here:https://www.glassdoor.ca/List/about-employees-choice-awards.htm SEE THE 2018 WINNERS: All winning CEOs across this year's six categories can be found by visiting: 25 Top CEOs Canada 100 Top CEOs U.S. 50 Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies U.S. 50 Top CEOs UK 10 Top CEOs France 10 Top CEOs Germany WHAT MAKES A GREAT CEO?: According to a study from Glassdoor Economic Research, highly rated CEOs are statistically linked to companies with great cultures. Among measures of company culture, the biggest driver of high CEO approval ratings is employee satisfaction with senior leadership. The study also reveals a strong link between CEO approval rating and financial performance. About Glassdoor Glassdoor combines all the latest jobs with millions of reviews and insights to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for 770,000 companies located in more than 190 countries. For more information, visit glassdoor.ca. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc. SOURCE Glassdoor [June 20, 2018] Glassdoor Reveals Employees' Choice Awards For The Top CEOs In 2018 MILL VALLEY, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Glassdoor, one of the world's largest job and recruiting sites, today announced the winners of its annual Employees' Choice Awards, honoring the Top CEOs in 2018 across North America and parts of Europe. Unlike any other workplace award, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback by completing a company review about their CEO's leadership, along with insight into their job, work environment and employer over the past year. This year, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards for the Top CEOs feature six distinct company categories across the U.S., Canada, UK, France and Germany. In the U.S., Glassdoor has revealed the 100 Top CEOs (honoring CEOs at employers with 1,000 or more employees) and the 50 Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies (honoring CEOs at employers with fewer than 1,000 employees). The ten Top CEOs in 2018 in the U.S. are: 1. Zoom Video Communications' Eric S. Yuan (99 percent approval) 2. Boston Scientific's Michael F. Mahoney (99 percent approval) 3. DocuSign's Daniel Springer (99 percent approval) 4. In-N-Out Burger's Lynsi Snyder (99 percent approval) 5. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's James Downing (98 percent approval) 6. Power Home Remodeling's Corey Schiller and Asher Raphael (98 percent approval) 7. H E B's Charles C. Butt (98 percent approval) 8. LinkedIn's Jeff Weiner (97 percent approval) 9. Wegmans Food Markets' Colleen Wegman (97 percent approval) 10. Salesforce's Marc Benioff (97 percent approval) The five Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies in 2018 in the U.S. are: 1. Samsara's Sanjit Biswas (99 percent approval) 2. Acceleration Partners>' Robert Glazer (99 percent approval) Sprout Social's Justyn Howard (99 percent approval) 4. Logical Position's Michael Weinhouse and John Ganey (99 percent approval) 5. Strive Consulting's Ron Rother (99 percent approval) "Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day. I congratulate all of this year's winners on this significant achievement," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work." Glassdoor's 100 Top CEOs in 2018 list features winning chief executives across diverse industries spanning technology, health care, finance, manufacturing, retail and more. Zoom Video Communications' Eric S. Yuan (No. 1, 99 percent approval) is among 42 CEOs debuting as a Top CEO, along with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's James Downing (No. 5, 98 percent approval), E. & J. Gallo Winery's Joe Gallo (No. 18, 96 percent approval) and Six Flags' James Reid-Anderson (No. 40, 94 percent approval). Of the eight women CEOs who make the top 100, the three highest-rated women are In-N-Out Burger's Lynsi Snyder (No. 4, 99 percent approval), Wegmans Food Markets' Colleen Wegman (No. 9, 97 percent approval) and Taylor Morrison's Sheryl Palmer (No. 19, 96 percent approval). On the 2018 list of the 50 Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies, four of the top five CEOs are all newcomers to this list. This year, there are 15 CEOs who are recognized by employees in multiple countries, including only one CEO who has made five lists Microsoft's Satya Nadella (U.S. Large, Canada, UK, France, Germany) and one who has made four lists SAP's Bill McDermott (U.S. Large, UK, Canada, Germany). When employees submit reviews about their employer on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experience, including sentiment around their CEO's leadership, in addition to rating workplace attributes like senior management, among others. Specifically, when rating their CEO on Glassdoor, employees are asked to report whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the performance of their CEO. Among the more than 770,000 employers reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. Employees' Choice Award winners for the 2018 Top CEOs and Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies are determined using Glassdoor's proprietary algorithm, taking into account the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews shared by U.S.-based employees between May 2, 2017 and May 1, 2018. At a minimum, employers considered for the large list must have received at least 100 company reviews, including at least 100 CEO approval ratings and at least 100 senior management ratings, while employers eligible for the small & medium list must have received at least 35 company reviews, including at least 35 CEO approval ratings and at least 35 senior management ratings, respectively, during the eligibility period. For reporting simplicity, CEO approval ratings are displayed as whole numbers, though calculations extend beyond the thousandth decimal place to determine final rank order. Complete award methodology can be found and downloaded here: https://www.glassdoor.com/List/about-employees-choice-awards.htm SEE THE 2018 WINNERS: All winning CEOs across this year's six categories can be found by visiting: 100 Top CEOs U.S. 50 Top CEOs at Small & Medium Companies U.S. 25 Top CEOs Canada 50 Top CEOs UK 10 Top CEOs France 10 Top CEOs Germany WHAT MAKES A GREAT CEO?: According to a study from Glassdoor Economic Research, highly rated CEOs are statistically linked to companies with great cultures. Among measures of company culture, the biggest driver of high CEO approval ratings is employee satisfaction with senior leadership. The study also reveals a strong link between CEO approval rating and financial performance. CEO INTERVIEWS + EMPLOYEE COMMENTARY: Glassdoor is showcasing interviews with winning CEOs, revealing best practices into how they lead, fun facts about their journey to the top and insights into what makes them tick in and out of work. To access these interviews with winning CEOs at Zoom Video Communications and Samsara, please email pr@glassdoor.com. Employee commentary about winning CEOs, their senior management team and company culture are also available upon request. About Glassdoor Glassdoor combines all the latest jobs with millions of reviews and insights to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for 770,000 companies located in more than 190 countries. For more information, visit glassdoor.com. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/glassdoor-reveals-employees-choice-awards-for-the-top-ceos-in-2018-300669095.html SOURCE Glassdoor [June 20, 2018] Goldthread Launches to Explore Food, Travel and Culture of China via Social Media New Multimedia Platform Helps Millennials and Generation Z Discover How China Talks, Eats, and Lives NEW YORK and HONG KONG, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Goldthread, an English-language content platform with a focus on food, travel and culture in China, announced its launch today. Available across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram with a standalone website coming later this year, Goldthread will explore a different theme each month through videos and articles offering immersive experiences into life in China. To heat things up, the first month's theme will focus on spicy food in China. From exploring types of hot pot to the most popular chili plant in Sichuan, Goldthread will examine how spicy flavors have made a lasting impact on China's culture and cuisine. "Together with our audience, Goldthread will explore China through nuanced and thoughtful stories on food, travel and culture," said Victoria Ho, Executive Producer at Goldthread. "Goldthread is for young, globally-curious people who want to discover China's untold cultural stories. Ho, who launched Mashable Asia in 2015, is leading the Goldthread team. Dolly Li, leading content direction, is a former producer at AJ+ who recently won a regional Emmy for a docu-series on Chinese food in America. "This is such a fascinating time to be covering Chinese culture and identity as a video journalist. We have assembled a team of international reporters and artists at Goldthread who grew up speaking many dialects of Chinese, which gives us access to previously unheard stories," said Dolly Li. "Many of us moved to Hong Kong from other parts of the globe for this chance to tell these stories from the places that have shaped our lives, our families, and our heritage." The Goldthread team is a group of experienced creatives who are curious about China and are inviting their audience along for the journey. Goldthread is incubated in Hong Kong by the South China Morning Post, a leading global news company that has reported on China and Asia for more than a century. ABOUT GOLDTHREAD Goldthread is a social first, video-driven platform created for digital explorers, the globally curious, and wanderlusters. We weave the untold stories of Chinese people, places, food and culture from our journeys. We are relentless in our search for the next amazing bite and unforgettable experience. Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180620/2168106-1LOGO SOURCE Goldthread [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Silverline's Gireesh Sonnad named a Glassdoor Top CEO in 2018 New York, NY, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Silverline, a Salesforce Platinum Consulting Firm headquartered in New York City, announced today its CEO, Gireesh Sonnad, has won a Glassdoor Employees Choice Award honoring the Top CEOs in 2018 in the U.S. SMB category. Glassdoor, one of the worlds largest job and recruiting sites, released its annual report recognizing the Top CEOs, which highlights top leaders that employees love working for at Small & Medium Companies in the U.S. Among chief executives recognized by employees in the U.S., Sonnad received an impressive approval rating based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews Silverline employees shared on Glassdoor throughout the past year. I am honored to receive this award and am truly humbled by the Silverline team for their trust and recognition, said Sonnad. The teams talent and enthusiasm inspires me everyday to be a better leader. Together, we have built a company with an incredible employee experience and a place we all love working at each and every day. Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day. I congratulate all of this years winners on this significant achievement, said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work. When employees submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes like senior management. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing. Among the 770,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. You can check out the complete list of all Top CEOs in 2018 here. About Silverline Silverline creates unique digital experiences that transform the way our clients do business. As a Salesforce Platinum Cloud Alliance Partner, Silverline leverages best practices acquired by over 1,100 implementations, with significant expertise in the Financial Services and Healthcare industries. Our Industry solution focus combines Strategic Advisory, technical implementation, and ongoing Managed Services to enable organizations to achieve maximum value with the Salesforce platform. Additionally, Silverline offers popular AppExchange applications and industry-proven Fullforce Certified accelerators. About Glassdoor Glassdoor is one of the largest job and recruiting sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for more than 770,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms. Glassdoor Media Contact: Amelia Green-Vamos, pr@glassdoor.com Silverline Media Contact: Kathleen Ferrie, 646.589.0489, kathleen.ferrie@silverlinecrm.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] OncBioMune to Commence Phase 2 Trial of ProscaVax for Early Stage Prostate Cancer Patients BATON ROUGE, La., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB:OBMP) ("OncBioMune" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of a proprietary immunotherapy cancer vaccine technology and targeted cancer therapies, is pleased to inform shareholders that all requisite approvals have been granted to commence a Phase 2 clinical trial of ProscaVax for early-stage prostate cancer to be hosted at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center a teaching hospital of Harvard University Medical School in Boston, MA. ProscaVax is OncBioMunes lead immunotherapy platform candidate consisting of a combination of prostate cancer associated prostate specific antigen (PSA) with the biological adjuvants interleukin-2 (IL-2) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Per the study protocol, patients to be enrolled will be in what is termed active surveillance, a disease management option for patients with localized prostate cancer that elect to work with their doctor to monitor the disease for progression before taking more drastic intervention measures, such as surgery or radiotherapy. To the Companys knowledge, the trial of ProscaVax is the first ever worldwide for a prostate cancer vaccine technology addressing the active surveillance patient population. We are making the final preparations to initiate enrollment, including planned site visits, commented Dr. Jonathan Head, Chief Executive Officer at OncBioMune. Underscored by the compelling data derived from the successfully completed Phase 1a clinical trial and our other research, we are eager to proceed with this study. Our goal is simple: to provide a safe, nontoxic. front-line therapy for prostate cancer patients that are otherwise left with either no therapy or with much more invasive options that typically have very unpleasant side effects, such as impotence or urinary incontinence. Id like to express my gratitude for all the shareholders that have supported us throughout the process to advance our company to this next stage of ProscaVax development. I believe there is a bright future ahead of us. About Prostate Cancer According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men other than skin cancer, with about 1 in 9 men diagnosed during their lifetime. ACS estimates that about 164,690 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed during 2018 and approximately 29,430 men will die from the disease this year. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, trailing only lung cancer. Approximately 2.9 million men are living with prostate cancer today. The average age of diagnosis is 66, with the disease considered rare in men under the age of 40. Sign up for OncBioMune email alerts at: http://oncbiomune.com/email-alerts/ . About OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals, Inc. OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of novel cancer immunotherapy products, based on their proprietary vaccine technology designed to stimulate the immune system to attack tumor cells without damaging healthy tissue. Our lead pipeline product, ProscaVax, has successfully completed enrollment and vaccination of the prostate cancer patients and is collecting long-term follow-up results for the 1a portion of their Phase 1a/1b clinical trial. Due to the impressive results and proven safety profile of ProscaVax, OncBioMune is forgoing the 1b portion of the trial to advance ProscaVax into Phase 2 studies. A Phase 2 trial is scheduled to commence at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center a Harvard University teaching hospital evaluating ProscaVax as a front-line therapy in prostate cancer patients in the active surveillance category, representing the first mid-stage trial of an immunotherapeutic vaccine in this patient population. OncBioMune also has a portfolio of targeted therapies, some of which are biosimilars and generics to blockbuster drugs. OncBioMune is headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals' actual results and experience to differ materially from anticipated results and expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals has in some cases identified forward-looking statements by using words such as "anticipates," "believes," "hopes," "estimates," "looks," "expects," "plans," "intends," "goal," "potential," "may," "suggest," and similar expressions. Among other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements are OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals' need for, and the availability of, substantial capital in the future to fund its operations and research and development; the fact that OncBioMune Pharmaceutical's vaccines and therapeutics may not successfully complete pre-clinical or clinical testing, or be granted regulatory approval to be sold and marketed in the United States or elsewhere. A more complete description of these risk factors is included in OncBioMune Pharmaceutical's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals undertakes no obligation to release publicly the results of any revisions to any such forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by applicable law or regulation. Contact: OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Jonathan F. Head, PhD Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board Jhead@oncbiomune.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Duos Technologies Launches Proprietary dcVue Software Platform New Platform Enables Automation and Mobile Verification of Large Data Center IT Assets JACKSONVILLE, Fla., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duos Technologies Group, Inc. (Duos or the Company) (OTCQB:DUOT), a provider of intelligent security analytical technology solutions, has launched its new dcVue software platform for data collection and auditing of IT assets with a focus on large data centers. The system will be commercially available by June 30, 2018 and is expected to be generally available by early September 2018. dcVue is based on one of the Companys patents outlining a methodology for collecting asset data populating large data centers. Gianni Arcaini, the Companys Chief Executive Officer, stated: The release of this newest technology represents another building block in Duos growing inventory of intellectual property. We have earned a reputation for delivering innovative and proprietary solutions to our customers that improve their business operations across a variety of functions. This new platform further builds on that legacy and supports our potential for future growth into adjacent and new industries. Joseph Coschera, Senior VP of Duos Information Technology Asset Management (ITAM) division, added: We believe the dcVue platform represents a significant step forward for the entire ITAM industry. While in use, an Android-based mobile touch computer will provide a platform for the exchange of data between both dcVue and a best-in-class data center as well as other IT asset management solutions. In creating this software platform, one of our primary objectives was to provide advanced methods of auditing IT assets. For example, our system features a quick scan process that verifies the presence of rack mounted assets in as little as two seconds per device providing a significant iprovement in cost and efficiency over traditional methods. Duos ITAM division has a long history of delivering professional services to some of the largest data centers in the world. The Companys new dcVue platform allows customers to continue using the high-quality data that Duos teams deliver and to audit asset data within their existing IT infrastructure and asset management systems. dcVue quickly and seamlessly provides accurate, cataloged results for data center asset inventory and audits. With this initial release, users will be able to navigate through easy-to-use input forms and search capabilities. A powerful library template module insures the consistency of data collected and a significant reduction of process time. The audit feature ensures the consistency and accuracy of the data contained in the customers system of record. Moves, Adds and Changes (MAC) are recorded and reported in real time. The last step before submitting the data to the system of record is the finalization process. This provides the dcVue user with the ability to accept only those transactions that are deemed relevant. The new system, which is currently undergoing beta testing at a large data center, will continue to be used by Duos professional services team to identify value-added functionality in the future. About Duos Technologies Group, Inc. Duos Technologies Group, Inc. (OTCQB:DUOT), based in Jacksonville, Florida, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Duos Technologies, Inc., provides advanced intelligent security and analytical technology solutions with a strong portfolio of intellectual property. The Companys core competencies include intelligent technologies that combine machine learning, artificial intelligence and advanced video analytics that are delivered through its proprietary integrated enterprise command and control centraco platform. The Company provides its broad range of technology solutions with an emphasis on mission critical security, inspection and operations within the rail transportation, retail, petrochemical, government, and banking sectors. Duos Technologies also offers an asset management system in conjunction with professional and consulting services for large data centers. For more information, visit www.duostech.com. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking terminology such as believes, expects, may, will, should, anticipates, plans, or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause Duos Technologies Group, Inc.s actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in Item 1A in Duos Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference, and other factors as may periodically be described in Duos filings with the SEC. Contacts: Duos Technologies Corporate Tracie Hutchins Duos Technology Group, Inc. 904-652-1601 tlh@duostech.com Investor Relations Matt Glover or Tom Colton Liolios 949-574-3860 DUOT@liolios.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] HighQ, Gowling announce partnership for tech services LONDON, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HighQ is pleased to announce that international law firm Gowling WLG is adopting the companys intelligent work platform to centralise client collaboration services. Gowling WLG believes HighQ offers a robust and more secure platform that meets the firms technological needs. We trust HighQ because of the reputation the company has built in the legal industry. They are the leaders in their market, said Jody Jansen, Head of Architecture and Innovation for Gowling WLG. What were trying to do is collaborate more with our client and reduce the steps in the middle. Thats where HighQ comes in and automates the interface between our system and the clients system. Gowling WLG employs more than 1,400 legal professionals in 18 cities across nine countries and three continents with a reputation as a top employer committed to inclusion and innovation. With a diverse client base, the firm invested in HighQ knowing the platform allows third parties to easily interface with the system. In the adoption of new technology, Gowling WLG will migrate 500 client portals over t the HighQ platform HighQ is excited to work with a tech-savvy firm committed to progress in the legal industry, said James Connor, HighQs Sales Director for EMEA. Gowling WLGs commitment to client service is evident, and we believe HighQ will help the firm improve client relationships while delivering high-level services in an efficient manner. About Gowling WLG Gowling WLG is a sector focused, international law firm with more than 1,400 legal professionals in 18 cities worldwide. We provide our clients with in-depth expertise in key global sectors and a suite of legal services at home and abroad. We see the world through our clients eyes, and collaborate across countries, offices, service areas and sectors to help them succeed, no matter how challenging the circumstances. Learn more at gowlingwlg.com Structure Gowling WLG (UK) LLP is a member of Gowling WLG, an international law firm, which consists of independent and autonomous entities providing services around the world. Our structure is explained in more detail at www.gowlingwlg.com/legal Contact us For further information about this press release, contact: Corporate Communications Manager Laura O'Meara on +44 (0)121 393 0515 For other communications enquiries, please contact: Head of Corporate Communications Rebecca Scully on +44 (0)121 393 0645 About HighQ HighQ provides innovative enterprise collaboration and content publishing solutions to the worlds leading law firms, corporate legal teams and banks. Our secure file sharing, client extranet, matter collaboration and content marketing solutions uniquely combine enterprise-grade technology with the best ideas and user experience from consumer tools. For more information, visit www.highq.com. Beau Wysong HighQ 913.303.3100 beau.wysong@highq.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Co-Branded Credit and Debit Cards Instantly Become Top of Wallet on Thousands of Payment Sites with CardSavr API Lost revenue due to large-scale credit card reissuing events no longer needs to be a problem for merchants and issuers. Switch, Inc. a leading fintech company, announced today that their proprietary card-on-file technology, CardSavr, provides the only API to prevent customer attrition and increase revenue during major card reissuing events, by placing newly issued cards in use immediately upon activation. With the CardSavr API, co-branded cards can instantly be selected as the payment of choice on the issuing brand's website, as well as thousands of other merchant sites. Large-scale reissuing episodes include card network conversions (e.g. American Express (News - Alert) to Visa) or any sizable merchant data breach that can trigger a massive group of cards to be replaced at once. In most of these cases, consumer spending activity drops when the cards are in transition, leaving merchants and issuers vulnerable to lost business and diminished revenue. Cardholders bear the burden of updating their cards online. As purchasing friction increases for cardholders, customer satisfaction with the issuer brand decreases. It is estimated that attrition rates of new customers hover between 25% and 40% at most institutions, as reported by The Financial Brand. "With CardSavr, U.S. issuers and merchants hve a first-of-its-kind weapon to not only protect but also grow their card services revenue during a full card portfolio flip, or addressing wide-spread security breaches," said Chris Hopen, CEO and Co-Founder of Switch, Inc. "CardSavr is the only technology, available today, that can ensure newly issued cards are electronically provisioned to merchants and quickly put back into use by cardholders during major reissuance events." CardSavr's potential impact on co-branded card programs is garnering support from leaders and innovators in the payment industry. Carol Cosby, former Executive Vice President at MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, has seen the damage broad credit card reissuing events can inflict on the financial industry and the threats it poses to retailers. "CardSavr provides a truly breakthrough platform that will save issuers and merchants from the unavoidable challenges and pitfalls that reissuing brings," said Cosby. "Merchants no longer need to feel hopeless and blindsided by this unfortunate, yet inevitable turmoil during any large-scale card reissuance. CardSavr provides a sound and issuer-exclusive brand experience that is easily applied to a variety of issuer solutions today." CardSavr is multifaceted and positioned to resolve many financial and credit card industry issues, all in one platform. "Merchants and card issuers continue to face an increasing myriad of threats to their customer base and bottom line in an effort to keep payment cards active. CardSavr addresses these threats quickly and proactively, in one easily integrated API," added Hopen. CardSavr is the first and only API to automatically update cards across thousands of merchant sites instantly. The patent-pending technology enables financial institutions and processors a seamless solution for their cardholders to update new or existing cards and simultaneously assign their preferred payment method on-file, anywhere they pay online. Switch uses machine learning technology to build a crowdsourced database of automated robotic processes. Virtual browser technology performs the card updates on the end user's selected accounts and saves it on their behalf. The entire process of updating payment information online is carried out in seconds. To learn more about Switch's CardSavr API visit www.cardsavr.com. About Switch, Inc. Headquartered in Seattle, Switch creates one-of-a-kind cardholder experiences that inspire loyalty, leading to recaptured and increased card revenue. The company's secure, proprietary and patent-pending automation technology gives cardholders the ability to manage and update all of their online accounts in one place. You can learn more about Switch at switchme.com or follow the company on Facebook and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005449/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] 58% of Organizations Are at a Digital Deadlock - IDC and the CIO Executive Council's Guidant Supports Executives on the Digital Transformation Journey International Data Corporation (IDC), the premier global provider of market intelligence and advisory services, and sister organization the CIO Executive Council, serving the evolving, challenging, and demanding role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), today announced the launch of Guidant, from IDC (News - Alert) and CIO. This dynamic offering provides clients with unlimited access to world-class research and industry leading analysts, and membership in a community with some of the world's most influential and evolving organizations today for peer perspective and strategic leadership development. Guidant is delivered through a unique concierge service designed to guide today's CIOs and technology executives through every step of digital transformation. To learn more about Guidant, please visit: guidantleadership.com. According to research from IDG and IDC, 93% of organizations have plans to pursue digital business transformation, but 59% of organizations are in stage 2 or 3 (out of 5 stages) of their digital transformation. While they are running digital projects and making progress, they are not making the headway required to achieve the larger goal - to digitally transform the overall organization. In fact, 73% of CIOs say it's challenging to find the right balance between business innovation and operational excellence. To thrive in the digital economy, organizations must transform to treat technology and data as their lifeblood, embrace innovation, and digitally enhance the customer experience. The combination of fact-based research, peer community, and leadership development programs provide the tools for success. Key differentiators of this joint offering include: Educate and Validate Decisions - Research provides insights into the applications of emerging technologies while addressing foundational decisions around IT modernization, platforms, and digital security. - Research provides insights into the applications of emerging technologies while addressing foundational decisions around IT modernization, platforms, and digital security. Translate Insights into Action - A community of technology executives and networking events facilitate candid peer discussions about best practces. - A community of technology executives and networking events facilitate candid peer discussions about best practces. Develop Digital Leadership Skills - Leadership and coaching services help develop the business and innovation skills needed to lead in the new digital enterprise. - Leadership and coaching services help develop the business and innovation skills needed to lead in the new digital enterprise. Maximize Time and Resources - Guidant is delivered with a unique concierge service that provides industry and geography context. Kirk Campbell, President and CEO, IDC. "As a foremost authority on digital transformation initiatives, our unique combination of world class research and CIO peer community support is the silver bullet in tackling the toughest challenges facing today's executives and helping those stuck in a digital deadlock to thrive in the new economy," said Kumaran Ramanathan, President of IDG Communications. For more information on Guidant, please contact Sarah Murray at sarah@attunecommunications.com or 781-378-2674. About IDC International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading media, data and marketing services company that activates and engages the most influential technology buyers. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter (News - Alert) at @IDC and LinkedIn. About CIO Executive Council Believing in a members-first approach, the CIO Executive Council, a division of IDG Communications, Inc., provides strategic leadership development for the transforming C-suite at the world's most influential and evolving organizations. The CIO Executive Council provides each member with a custom engagement experience that draws upon a wealth of programs and services, including: peer-to-peer interactions, a deep industry knowledge base, a range of professional development programs, and media/public relations opportunities that are tailored to an individual's strengths and career goals. For more information on joining the CIO Executive Council, visit cioexecutivecouncil.com. Follow the CIO Executive Council at @CIOEC and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005202/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Seasoned Journalist Ricardo Baca Returns to Podcasting via Cannabis & Main, a New Weekly Civilized Show Exploring Modern Mainstream Marijuana Baca is Exploring Today's Most Critical Issues with Leading Voices in Cannabis Science, Industry and Governance in the New Podcast, Available on iTunes and Other Platforms LOS ANGELES, CA and SAINT JOHN, NB, June 20, 2018 /CNW/ - Veteran journalist and communications professional Ricardo Baca, an authority on legal cannabis markets, returns to the podcast medium this week with his new weekly show Cannabis & Main. The program, produced and distributed by premium media and lifestyle brand Civilized, represents Mr. Baca's first return to podcasting since resigning in 2016 from The Denver Post's award-winning marijuana news site The Cannabist, for which he hosted more than 99 episodes. "Ricardo is the ideal host for this showCivilized's very first podcastbecause of his in-depth knowledge, his familiarity with the subject matter and his unparalleled experience in the world's first regulated cannabis market," said Civilized CEO and Publisher Derek Riedle. "One of our primary goals at Civilized is to change the conversation on cannabis. Bringing Ricardo back to podcasting, to go deep with some of the brightest minds of our day and really engage our audience, is an ideal way to do that." Cannabis & Main will tackle a multitude of subjects, from PTSD and social justice to pesticides and impaired driving. How is cannabis changing the way we practise self-care and prescribe medication and steer drug policy? Mr. Baca will dig into these topics and more, beginning with the series premiere on cannabis and PTSD, featuring guest Marcel Bonn-Miller, an Ivy League professor and one of the most widely respected marijuana researchers in the world. After more than two decades f professional journalism at daily newspapers, including more than three years as The Denver Post's first-ever Cannabis Editor, Mr. Baca is one of the most trusted thought leaders in the legal cannabis space. Speaking regularly across the United States, Canada and Europe, Mr. Baca pens columns for The Daily Beast, Cannabis Now, mg and Sensi magazine and is now Founder and CEO of Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency, a communications firm managing public relations, content and thought leadership campaigns for businesses and executives in cannabis, hemp and other industries. "I can't wait to really dig in with these distinguished subject matter experts," said Mr. Baca, following his June 2018 appearances at the World Cannabis Congress in Saint John, New Brunswick and the O'Cannabiz Conference & Expo in Toronto, Ontario. "I've built a career on separating the still-rampant misinformation from decades of prohibition from the legit information backed by science, data and actual experience, and I look forward to continuing that tradition with Cannabis & Main." Cannabis & Main reunites Mr. Baca with his longtime producer Vince Chandler for the first time since they wrapped the original iteration of The Cannabist Show. Cannabis & Main is produced by Civilized, /4.20 Films and Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency. For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Shawna McGregor at 917-971-7852 or shawna@mygrasslands.com . About Civilized Worldwide Inc. Founded in 2015, with offices in New Brunswick and California, Civilized is a premium media and lifestyle brand that embraces and highlights modern cannabis culture, reflecting the millions of adults who choose to enjoy cannabis as part of a balanced lifestyle, but don't define themselves by it. Reaching more than 2.5 million unique visitors per month, North America-wide, Civilized produces engaging content for and about people who enjoy cannabis responsibly. Other verticals include Civilized Studios, a video network available to 100+ million viewers that fills the void of broadcast quality video and original series in the cannabis space, and Civilized Events, exclusive branded experiences for both the cannabis industry and consumers from intimate dinner parties to large-scale events. For more information, visit: civilized.life. About Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency Grasslands helps clients in a variety of industries with informed public relations, thoughtful content marketing, contextual social media, top-notch thought leadership work, impactful newsletter campaigns and compelling event execution. The content team, led by 20-year newspaper veteran Ricardo Baca, has nearly 45 years of top-level journalism experience at outlets including The Denver Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Rocky Mountain News, The Daily Beast and elsewhere. The public relations team, led by 20-year New York City agency veteran Shawna McGregor, has nearly 35 years of high-level communications experience in sectors including biotech, cannabis, sustainable technology, renewable energy, agriculture, consumer goods, media and associations. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/seasoned-journalist-ricardo-baca-returns-to-podcasting-via-cannabis--main-a-new-weekly-civilized-show-exploring-modern-mainstream-marijuana-300669421.html SOURCE Civilized Worldwide Inc. (Civilized) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Entering Latin America, one big step for Duubee BOGOTA, Colombia, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Duubee E1 launches in Colombia, this is the first of many in which Duubee plans to launch in the Latin America market. In order to enter the Latin America market, Duubee has taken all preparation to establish itself in the country of Colombia and working to be deeply rooted in Latin America. On June 18, Duubee signed a distribution agreement with CELISTICS, provider of intelligent logistics and distribution solutions for the consumer technology industry, which will help Duubee distribute products for Latin America. At the same time, in order to provide the best service to customers, Duubee has set up several after-sales network in Colombia earlier. Under the globalization strategy, Duubee is making inroads in U.S., where the competition is fierce, as its first step to enter the America market. "Duube focused on producing quality products with the consumer in mind. Together with our strong R&D, production quality, supply chain system, Duubee will enhance the user experience with high-quality products that will lead the industry trend in the future", said CEO of Duubee. In addition to the retail channels, Duubee's cooperation with mainstream U.S. carriers is also on the way. "Duubee is a company driven by its mission and vision. With strong end to end ability, Duubee will inevitably push the boundaries of the industry as a result", said the CEO of Duubee U.S. Duubee's R&D team have rich experience in the global market. They are familiar with industrial trends and customer needs as well as skillful in defining consumer products. "Duubee's full range of products will use Qualcomm processor - with low power consumption, fast speed and multi - task capability, giving customer a smooth user experience", said R&D Director of Duubee. Key features of Duubee E1 include: A powerful, faster and more personalized mobile experience. New interpolated front & rear cameras with fast shutter function. A slim body design with ultra-thin bezel in the front and elegant metal wire drawing finishing at the back. 5.0-inch HD Display offers an immersive digital experience. Quadcore snapdragon processor and enhanced computing architecture. All-new Duubee OS 1.0 based on Android 7.1 nougat. "This will be a perfect starter for us in the Latin America market". Duubee showing its ambition. For more information, please visit: http://www.duubee.com. SOURCE Duubee [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Nubox to Acquire Colppy: Latin American Leader in Small Business Financial Software Expands Its Regional Footprint Nubox, Latin America's leading provider of Small Business Accounting Software-as-a-Service (" SaaS (News - Alert) ) is taking the next step in the expansion of its regional footprint by acquiring Colppy, the leading cloud-first player in Argentina. The acquisition will provide Nubox with a foothold in a country with over 2 million small businesses operating in a highly connected economy. Lead investor Riverwood Capital committed a fresh round of funding to Nubox in order to accelerate integration and further expansion beyond its current operations in Chile and Colombia. With more than 60,000 small businesses already supported, Nubox has become Latin America's largest and fastest growing financial management automation platform. Developed for the unique administrative and regulatory requirements of entrepreneurs and small business owners, Nubox simplifies and automates key business tasks such as: accounting, payroll and electronic invoicing. Nubox allows customers to easily integrate their business information with a variety of counter-parties in the ecosystem: customers, suppliers, employees, banks, accountants, regulatory agencies, and sources of potential financing via a simple, easy to use, intuitive user-interface and world-class customer service. "Our goal has always been to help entrepreneurs and small businesses in Latin America become more efficient and profitable by providing solutions specifically designed for the unique needs of the market," stated Marcos Mahave Caceres, Nubox's CEO and co-Founder stated. He added that "we are excited to welcome Colppy's winning team to Nubox as we join forces to continue executing on our shared vision. For us, this transaction represents a big step forward in our regional xpansion plans and helps us consolidate our market leading position in Spanish-Speaking Latin America." Launched in 2012 with a cloud-first technology platform, Colppy has emerged as a leading online accounting and administrative solution for more than 1,500 small businesses in Argentina and Colombia. In Argentina, Colppy is integrated with Mercado (News - Alert) Libre and Mercado Pago, the largest e-Commerce and Payments platforms in Latin America, as well as with major banks and POS systems. "We are delighted to see the growth and expansion of our vision to offer solutions that enhance the lives and finances of small businesses throughout Latin America. We are confident that together, we can help promote the growth, expansion and digital inclusion of entrepreneurs throughout the region," stated Colppy co-Founder and CEO Juan Onetto who along with co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Mariano Rizzi, will join the Nubox management team. Santiago Capurro, who was an initial investor and served as Board Member of Colppy, stated: "We have accompanied Colppys successful development since its inception, and are proud that it will continue to expand regionally together with Nubox." About Nubox Founded in Chile in 2001, Nubox was a SaaS pioneer in Latin America, and has now grown into a market leading provider of cloud-based solutions to help small businesses and accountants organize their financial management functions in one seamless, easy-to-use platform. With the aim of digitalizing the accounting function of companies, Nubox delivers order and accessibility, both to accountants and companies seeking automation capabilities for their administrative functions. Nubox now serves more than 60,000 small businesses in Chile, Colombia, and Argentina with World-Class SaaS platform which simplifies and automates key business tasks such as accounting, payroll and e-Invoicing. Nubox is backed by Riverwood Capital, a private equity firm focused on high growth technology and technology-related companies in need of capital and expertise to scale on a global basis. About Colppy Colppy is a SaaS company that helps small businesses their administration and accounting functions. Launched in 2012, Colppy became a leading provider of cloud-based financial management solutions for entrepreneurs in Argentina and expanded its operations to Colombia in 2016. The original angel investors, Pablo and Santiago Capurro, have been joined by Latin American venture capital funds such as Troopa.la, Pentilan, MELI Fund of Mercado Libre, Wayra from Grupo Telefonica (News - Alert) , and Velum Ventures from Colombia. For Images, Please Visit Nubox + Colppy View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005954/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] KMS lighthouse Introduces Its Integration With Alexa at Contact Center Week, Las Vegas SEATTLE, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- KMS lighthouse, a leading provider of knowledge management software for contact centers, introduces its ability of easy integration with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. KMS lighthouse showcased this functionality during the TechXLR8 event in London, and will demonstrate also at Contact Center Week in Las Vegas between 21-22 June. The new capability allows contact centers to seamlessly connect the same knowledge base for call center agents, the distributed workforce and customers with integrations to products including chat bots and speech assistants, expanding omni-channel customer service capabilities. Lighthouse's AI driven knowledge base combined with voice search abilities, enable contact centers to reduce incoming calls and save on operational expnses. "We are delighted with the new integration capabilities of Lighthouse. Lately customer experience has been going through rapid digital transformation. However, keeping pace with the requirements is sometimes challenging. Lighthouse, with the new fast and easy integration options offers companies smart chatbots and voice search abilities that both retrieve information from a rich, accurate knowledge base, providing instant answers to questions," said Sagi Eliyahu, CEO of KMS lighthouse. About KMS lighthouse KMS Lighthouse is a leading provider of next-generation knowledge management solution. The Lighthouse knowledge cloud enhances every engagement by empowering customers and agents with real-time access to accurate and consistent knowledge to improve customer and employee experience alike. Lighthouse's powerful AI-enabled search functionality dramatically improves engagements across all service and sales channels, including easy integration to enhance existing and future self-service channels such as chat-bots, IVRs, and more. Lighthouse has earned a growing global customer base and positive industry and analyst reviews including Gartner's Cool Vendor List and KMWorld named Lighthouse 5.0 as a Trend Setting Product. For more information: https://www.kmslh.com, sales@kmslh.com PR Contact: Sharon Zalcberg sharonz@kmslh.com SOURCE KMS lighthouse [June 20, 2018] Open Compute Project Welcomes First European-Based OCP Solution Provider The Open Compute Project Foundation ( OCP (News - Alert) ) welcomes Circle B as an OCP Solution Provider. This makes Amsterdam-based Circle B the first European channel partner to have acquired this status. Solution providers form a special group of companies within the OCP ecosystem. They develop, test, deliver and support ready-made systems and environments based on OCP designs. According to recently published market research by IHS (News - Alert) Markit, revenue generated from OCP equipment from non-board member companies reached $1.2 billion in 2017. For the coming years the researchers predict an average growth for the European market of 70% per year. The Open Compute Project was founded in 2011 by Facebook (News - Alert) , Intel and Rackspace. The goal of the organization is to apply open source principles to hardware intended for use in data centres and telecommunication facilities. OCP members can publish their own hardware designs via OCP. Other participants are allowed to use these designs for building and marketing their own products. But they can also further develop these designs. In this way OCP hopes to achieve faster innovation in the field of IT hardware. Hyperscalers Many of the designs that are made available via OCP come from so-called hyperscale companies like Facebook and Microsoft (News - Alert) . They have built very large data centers that use many hundreds of thousands of servers. The in-house development of hardware offers these companies important technical and financial advantages, such as lower energy consumption per individual server, and a drastically simplified systems management, allowing one administrator to manage a factor of 100 or 1000 more servers than in a classically designed data center. 10 or 20 racks While we do not have data centers in Europe with a scale close to Facebook or Googl, many European companies and government agencies can also achieve significant benefits by using OCP-based equipment. Think of telecom providers, banks and others. "The size of the data center is not so important in this respect," says Menno Kortekaas, Chief Technology Officer of Circle B in Amsterdam. "In server rooms where 10 or 20 racks are installed, OCP already offers interesting financial advantages. Working with OCP hardware is very attractive for European companies and government organizations as well." Technical knowledge However, it requires a relatively large amount of technical knowledge to start working with OCP designs. Even if a hardware manufacturer has already made a product based on such a design. Kortekaas: "A design by Facebook, for example, for - say - an open source switch has of course been set up with their own network infrastructure in mind. In order to be able to apply such a design in the data center of a European bank or telco, more is needed than just a hardware product. Often some extra work is needed to change the firmware, for example. Or there is no web interface for the management software, simply because Facebook doesn't need such an interface. Business organizations often state in their purchasing terms that they only buy ready-made products. It is therefore important that an OCP Solution Provider helps to make the product fully suitable for use in the data centre of such a company." No R&D or DevOps "A Solution Provider ensures that data centers, telcos and IT departments that do not have their own R&D or DevOps department can still benefit from the advantages that OCP designs have to offer," says John Laban, European representative of Open Compute. "An OCP Solution Provider such as Circle B has the technical knowledge to make sure that an OCP design or a product based on an OCP design properly integrates into a company's IT infrastructure." European strategy The OCP Solution Provider program is part of a much broader strategy of the Open Compute Project Foundation in Europe. "Europe is a very important market for OCP in terms of data centers and telecom providers," says Steve Helvie, Vice President Channel Development of OCP. "That is why we invest a lot of time and energy in developing the OCP ecosystem here in Europe. We work closely with companies that are able to support large IT organizations in exploring the opportunities offered by OCP. We also strive for a broad and varied group of partners in Europe who can help with, for example, training employees or providing support." OCP will be hosting its first regional Summit in Amsterdam October 1 - 2, 2018 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, at the RAI Exhibition & Conference Center. More information can be found here, including registration and sponsorship information: http://opencompute.org/events/regional-summit/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620006013/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] The Potter Financial Group Joins Commonwealth Financial Network Commonwealth Financial Network, the nation's largest privately held Registered Investment Adviser-independent broker/dealer, announces the addition of The Potter Financial Group, of Durham, North Carolina, to its network of independent financial advisors. Formerly affiliated with Kestra Financial, partners Charlie Potter, CLU, ChFC, RFC, AEP, CLTC; Chip Roe, CFP, CRPC, CRPS; and Price French, RFC, CLU, along with wealth advisor associate Jason Harmon, CFP, bring with them more than $130 million in assets under management. The Potter Financial Group takes a consultative approach to providing independent financial advice tailored to each client's unique needs. Offering a high-touch service, the firm prides itself on serving as its clients' personal CFO and trusted advisor, helping clients make good financial decisions as they pursue their goals. A key component of this experienced team's value proposition is to fully understand each individual's goals and concerns-whether it is to retire with freedom and dignity or to protect a family legacy. For more information about the firm, visit www.potterfinancialgroup.com. "This was not an easy decision for us-we had been with our prior affiliate for 20 years," said Chip Roe. "Amid industry change and consolidaton, what became of utmost importance to us was private ownership, a sound business model and organizational structure, and a low advisor-to-staff ratio to ensure the prioritization of our practice. With Commonwealth's level of support and array of business models that we can operate within, we are confident that this is the best move for our business-current and future state-and our clients." "I am pleased to welcome The Potter Financial Group to the Commonwealth community," said Andrew Daniels, managing principal, business development. "This team is well positioned for the future. With an alignment in core values, we look forward to providing the hands-on support, powerful tools, and flexible infrastructure their firm desires, enabling them to maximize time spent with their clients." About Commonwealth Financial Network Founded in 1979, Commonwealth Financial Network, member FINRA/SIPC, is the nation's largest privately held Registered Investment Adviser-independent broker/dealer, with headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California. The firm supports approximately 1,800 independent financial advisors nationwide. For more information, please visit www.commonwealth.com. Join Our Community: https://twitter.com/CommonwealthFN https://www.facebook.com/CommonwealthFinancialNetwork https://www.linkedin.com/company/commonwealth-financial-network https://blog.commonwealth.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620006029/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Agricultural Lighting Leaders Announce Acquisition, Reshaping the Future of the Market MINNEAPOLIS, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- ONCE, the world's leading supplier of research-based agricultural lighting systems, announced today that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire Germany-based iLOX GmbH (iLOX) and its Polish subsidiary iLOX Sp.z.o.o., an innovative lighting developer for agricultural livestock facilities. This strategic alliance integrates two industry leaders into the world's largest animal-centric lighting company. "We are extremely excited to welcome iLOX to the ONCE family. With our dedication to the development of scientifically backed, animal-centric lighting technologies and iLOX's superior electronic design ability and vast market knowledge, we can accelerate our commitments to lead and shape the fast-growing agricultural lighting market with disruptive innovation in respect to animal welfare," commented Zdenko Grajcar, CEO and founder of ONCE . "Since the inception, our team has focused into the untapped potential of animal-centric lighting and how it can transform the world of animal agriculture. Never could I have imagined the impact our work would make in eight years. ONCE has effectively demonstrated that spectrum and modulation of light can significantly affect animal performance, dramatically reduce stress levels, impact animal behaviors and influence expression of genes in an organism. We have not only changed how the agriculture industry perceives and uses light but we have also become a global authority in animal photobiology and optogenetics. Today, we take it a step further by joining forces with the iLOX team to accelerate product development and intensify market adoption while improving our ability to support European-based customers and expanding our sales territories into the iddle East and North Africa." "Combining ONCE and iLOX aligns well with the future goals we have previously established," adds Stefan Warnking, CEO and founder of iLOX. "We share very similar philosophies and business strategies in focusing on innovative lighting solutions for farmers. The synergy of ONCE 's broad IP portfolio of technologies combined with the electronic design capabilities of iLOX will enable us to create new product offerings and offer science-based lighting solutions to farmers across Europe and the rest of the EMEA region. I am very proud of my team's achievements and look forward to combining forces with the ONCE team." Under the terms of this agreement, iLOX will operate as an independent entity within ONCE group. Mr. Stefan Warnking will remain iLOX CEO. Financial details of the transaction are not being disclosed. About ONCE ONCE is the world's only supplier of research-based animal-centric lighting systems. The company applies photo-biology and optogenetics scientific findings into the development of innovative technologies in agricultural lighting, biosecurity and hatchery markets with a goal to enhance performance and improve welfare. ONCE agricultural lighting systems are used by the world's largest makers of open community chicken, layer and swine housings. Founded in 2009, the Minnesota-based company is led by lighting industry veteran Zdenko Grajcar. For more information, please visit www.once.group. About iLOX iLOXGmbH is a leading designer and manufacturer specializing in the development, production and sale of intelligent lighting systems for the animal farming industry based in Vechta, Germany. iLOX was founded by electrical businessman Stefan Warnking in 2001 as a product brand of Warnking Electric, a company with 50 years of history in the production of the switchgear for animal housing equipment manufacturers. iLOX became an independent company in 2007 with main operations in Vechta, Germany, and a subsidiary in Torun, Poland, a division focusing on the electronic research and controller development. For more information, please visit www.ilox.eu. Media Contact: Andrew Flemming VP of Sales and Marketing +1 (763) 447-5247 aflemming@onceteam.com Related Files iLOX PR.pdf View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/agricultural-lighting-leaders-announce-acquisition-reshaping-the-future-of-the-market-300669475.html SOURCE Once Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Brandon Frere on the Illusion of Busyness and How to Measure Progress in a Business PETALUMA, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The success of a business depends on the achievements of those who work there. Employees must stay productive in order to complete tasks that keep the business running. However, business leaders should be cognizant of the difference between measurable progress and the appearance of busyness. Brandon Frere, CEO of Frere Enterprises and a successful entrepreneur, relies on data when examining production and progress in his companies. "I try to keep my employees busy with work that will benefit the company and push them to exceed their professional goals," said Frere. "But it's important to make sure that those goals are being met and the best way to do that is through data." Society today stresses the importance of staying busy, but business leaders should remember that busyness doesn't necessarily equate to success. For example, staying too busy can actually lower production and it may also cause mistakes and burnout, which can negatively affect production. Instead, Frere suggests that business leaders measure progress in a company based on concrete metrics. Employees who are up for a promotion should have a proven track record of completing tasks that are important for the business. Instead of merely noticing that they look busy all the time, a system to track projects they are working on can help inform the decision to promote them bsed on real data. Similarly, a busy office overall may suggest that a business is growing, but it could also simply show that the current workforce can barely keep up the minimum workload. "Businesses that use real data for marketing often see results and can make future marketing choices based on those results," said Brandon Frere. "The same is true for what goes on in the office. Knowing how many projects are finished each month can influence choices on next steps for the business and individuals in the workforce." About Frere Enterprises Brandon Frere is an entrepreneur and businessman who lives in Sonoma County, California. He has designed and created multiple companies to meet the ever-demanding needs of businesses and consumers alike. His company website, www.FrereEnterprises.com, is used as a means to communicate many of the lessons, fundamentals and information he has learned throughout his extensive business and personal endeavors, most recently in advocating on behalf of student loan borrowers nationwide. As experienced during his own student loan repayment, Mr. Frere found out how difficult it can be to work with federally contracted student loan servicers and the repayment programs designed to help borrowers. Through those efforts, he gained an insider's look into the repayment process and the motivations behind the inflating student loan debt bubble. His knowledge of the confusing landscape of student loan repayment became a vital theme in his future endeavors, and he now uses those experiences to help guide others through the daunting process of applying for available federal repayment and loan forgiveness programs. FrereEnterprises.com Related Images busy-chaotic-office.jpg Busy Chaotic Office Credit: TeraVector/Bigstock image2.png Related Links Frere Enterprises home page View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/brandon-frere-on-the-illusion-of-busyness-and-how-to-measure-progress-in-a-business-300669433.html SOURCE Frere Enterprises [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Emirati Businessman and Philanthropist Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Establishes an Education Fund for Arab Refugee Children & Youth From Countries Affected by Wars and Disasters On World Refugee Day, Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Emirati businessman and philanthropist, announced the Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund, a new 100M AED initiative to benefit 5,000 children and youth over 3 years. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620006060/en/ His Excellency Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Emirati businessman and philanthropist (Photo: AETOSWire) Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair said: "I established this fund because I believe that philanthropists have a role in helping to address one of the most acute challenges of our region: lack of education opportunities for young people who need it the most." The Fund will award grants to support secondary, vocational and tertiary education programs for refugee youth in Jordan and Lebanon. It will also support children of families who due to wars and disasters in their home countries, temporaril reside in the UAE but are unable to afford school fees. The first round of grants will be announced prior to the start of the new school year. Applauding this initiative, Filippo Grande, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said: "We welcome the generous commitment by Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair. The Fund highlights the importance of the Arab world's business community in creating a positive impact through supporting the region's displaced communities." Commenting on the initiative, Gordon Brown, United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education said: "There can be no better investment in the future of the Arab region than to support the education of the most vulnerable - refugee children and youth." Elaborating on the Fund's approach, Maysa Jalbout, Chief Executive Officer of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, said: "With this Fund, we will work in partnership with local education institutions and non-governmental organizations to reach thousands more children and youth." About the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education The AbdulAziz Refugee Education Fund will be administered by the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education. Founded in 2015 and based in Dubai, it is the largest privately funded foundation in the Arab world focused exclusively on education. It aims to improve access to quality education for high-achieving, underserved Emirati and Arab youth. Abdulla Al Ghurair pledged one third of his wealth to the Foundation and set out a target of reaching 15,000 youth over 10 years valued at over US$1 billion. www.alghurairfoundation.org. * Source (News - Alert) : AETOSWire View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620006060/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 20, 2018] Wells Fargo Program Supports Fair Housing Efforts Wells Fargo (News - Alert) and Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced more than 50 grants awarded to nonprofits across the U.S. to promote housing equality for low- to middle-income households in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620006228/en/ Wells Fargo announces more than 50 grants awarded across the U.S. with the 2018 Housing Equality 50th anniversary grant program. (Graphic: Business Wire) The 2018 Wells Fargo Housing Equality 50th Anniversary Grant Program honors fair housing community leaders, advocates, and nonprofits by contributing funding for projects, education and training programs and initiatives that highlight the work of those furthering housing equality in 2018, which marks 50 years since the Fair Housing Act was enacted. The Fair Housing Act provides for equal housing opportunities regardless of race, religion or national origin. "With this grant program, Wells Fargo recognizes the instrumental leadership role housing equality advocates have in creating pathways to achieve affordable and sustainable homeownership for low-to middle income households," said Mike Rizer, head of Community Relations with Wells Fargo. "We also realize there is more work to be done and are committed to doing our part to narrow the gap for households to achieve homeownership. We look forward to continuing to work together with community leaders to make a greater impact." With the 2018 Wells Fargo Housing Equality 50th Anniversary Grant program, the Wells Fargo Foundation awarded more than 50 grants coast-to-coast totaling over $250,000 including: Alaska Legal Services Corporation (Anchorage, Alaska) Asian and Pacific Islander Community Improvement Association Inc. (Clackamas, Ore.) Athens Land Trust (Athens, Ga.) Austin Travis County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center (Austin, Texas) Corporation For Community and Economic Development United, Inc. (Tallahassee, Fla.) Denver Metro Fair Housing Center (Denver) Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. (Denver) Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. (Los Angeles) Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California (San Rafael, Calif.) Fair Housing Rights Center In Southeastern Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) Family Housing Advisory Services Inc. (Omaha, Neb.) Greensboro Housing Coalition (Greensboro, N.C.) Greenville County of Human Relations Commission (Greenville, S.C.) Habitat for Humanity East Bay (Oakland, Calif.) Habitat for Humanity (Memphis, Tenn.) Hampton Roads Community Action Program (Newport News, Va.) Homestead Community Land Trust (Seattle) Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania (Jenkintown, Pa.) Housing Development Consortium of Seattle-King County (Seattle) Housing Opportunities of Northern Delaware, Inc. (Wilmington, Del.) Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia, Inc. (Richmond, Va.) Housing Options and Planning Enterprises Inc. (Oxon Hill, Md.) Inland Fair Housing and Mediation Board (Ontario, Calif.) Intermountain Fair Housing Council (Boise, Idaho) Law Access New Mexico (Albuqurque, N.M.) Law Foundation of Silicon Valley (San Jose, Calif.) Lower Cape Cod Community Development, Corp. (Cape Cod, Mass.) Massachusetts Fair Housing Center (Holyoke, Mass.) Metropolitan Housing Coalition Information Service Fund (Louisville, Ky.) Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, Inc. (Milwaukee) NAACP (Washington, D.C.) National Urban League (New York City) Neighborhood Design Center, Inc. (Baltimore) New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, Inc. (Newark, N.J.) North Texas Fair Housing Center (Dallas) Our Lady of the Lake University (San Antonio) Partnership for Housing Affordability (Richmond, Va.) Proud Ground (Portland, Ore.) Sacramento Housing Alliance (Sacramento) San Diego Housing Federation (San Diego) San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative (Fresno, Calif.) Shiloh Community Development, Inc. (Anchorage, Alaska) Silver State Fair Housing Council (Reno, Nev.) Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing (Los Angeles) Southwest Fair Housing Council (Tucson, Ariz.) Tennessee Housing Development Agency (Nashville, Tenn.) United South Broadway Corporation (Albuquerque, N.M.) Urban League (Norfolk, Va.) Utah Housing Coalition (Salt Lake City) Wealth Watchers, Inc. (Jacksonville, Fla.) Westchester Residential Opportunities (White Plains, N.Y.) Commitment to Advancing Homeownership? In addition to the Housing Equality 50 program, Wells Fargo has a history of investment in innovative programs and initiatives focused on Advancing Homeownership? to bring growth, stability and sustainability to households and communities. Wells Fargo's efforts include: Hispanic Wealth Building Initiative - Wells Fargo announced in September 2015 the Hispanic Wealth Building Initiative, which includes a projected $125 billion over 10 years in mortgage originations and a goal of $10 million to support initiatives that promote financial education and counseling for Hispanic homebuyers. In continued recognition of the importance of hiring and retaining a diverse workforce, Wells Fargo intends to increase the number of Hispanic home mortgage consultants on its sales team. - Wells Fargo announced in September 2015 the Hispanic Wealth Building Initiative, which includes a projected $125 billion over 10 years in mortgage originations and a goal of $10 million to support initiatives that promote financial education and counseling for Hispanic homebuyers. In continued recognition of the importance of hiring and retaining a diverse workforce, Wells Fargo intends to increase the number of Hispanic home mortgage consultants on its sales team. African American homeownership commitment - Wells Fargo announced in February 2017 a $60 billion lending commitment to create at least 250,000 African American homeowners by 2027 and a pledge to increase the diversity of the Wells Fargo Home Lending sales team. This effort is supported by $15 million in initiatives that promote financial education and counseling over the next decade. - Wells Fargo announced in February 2017 a $60 billion lending commitment to create at least 250,000 African American homeowners by 2027 and a pledge to increase the diversity of the Wells Fargo Home Lending sales team. This effort is supported by $15 million in initiatives that promote financial education and counseling over the next decade. American Indian/Alaska Native communities commitment - Last November, Wells Fargo announced a five-year, $50 million commitment to American Indian/Alaska Native communities to help address their unique economic, social and environmental needs including down payment assistance and other programs to advance homeownership as well as affordable housing development. - Last November, Wells Fargo announced a five-year, $50 million commitment to American Indian/Alaska Native communities to help address their unique economic, social and environmental needs including down payment assistance and other programs to advance homeownership as well as affordable housing development. NeighborhoodLIFT program - An innovative collaboration with NeighborWorks America and its network members, Wells Fargo has invested more than $400 million in NeighborhoodLIFT and other LIFT programs that offer homebuyer education plus down payment assistance grants to mortgage-ready homebuyers. The effort has created more than 17,600 homeowners through 60 city-specific initiatives since 2012. Already the single largest corporate philanthropic effort of its kind in the company's history, Wells Fargo intends to double its philanthropic investment in NeighborhoodLIFT in 2018 to $75 million to expand the program to more communities. - An innovative collaboration with NeighborWorks America and its network members, Wells Fargo has invested more than $400 million in NeighborhoodLIFT and other LIFT programs that offer homebuyer education plus down payment assistance grants to mortgage-ready homebuyers. The effort has created more than 17,600 homeowners through 60 city-specific initiatives since 2012. Already the single largest corporate philanthropic effort of its kind in the company's history, Wells Fargo intends to double its philanthropic investment in NeighborhoodLIFT in 2018 to $75 million to expand the program to more communities. your First Mortgage - A conventional loan program that has helped more than 47,000 customers secure $10 billion in home financing to achieve homeownership through lower down payments (three percent down for a fixed rate loan), expanded credit criteria, and incentives for homebuyer education. Recent trends show more than 75 percent of your First Mortgage customers choose to complete the homebuyer education course and earn a closing cost credit. - A conventional loan program that has helped more than 47,000 customers secure $10 billion in home financing to achieve homeownership through lower down payments (three percent down for a fixed rate loan), expanded credit criteria, and incentives for homebuyer education. Recent trends show more than 75 percent of First Mortgage customers choose to complete the homebuyer education course and earn a closing cost credit. In addition, Wells Fargo serves as a leading provider of volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, and other organizations. Since 1993, through the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation team member volunteer program, Wells Fargo team members have spent more than 4.75 million hours to build and improve more than 7,600 homes for low-income homeowners, seniors, veterans, and families. And in 2017, Wells Fargo surpassed its Corporate Social Responsibility economic empowerment goal of building and improving 1,000 homes by 2020 more than two years early. In 2017, Wells Fargo donated $286.5 million to 14,500 nonprofits and Wells Fargo team members volunteered a record 2 million hours. Wells Fargo's corporate social responsibility efforts are focused on three strategic priorities: diversity and social inclusion, economic empowerment, and environmental sustainability. About Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo's vision is to satisfy our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through 8,200 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortune's 2018 rankings of America's largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620006228/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] If you've been holding out on buying a Galaxy S9 since that phone debuted in March, Samsung hopes the glitter of gold will be enough for you to finally commit to the new phone. (Image credit: The Galaxy S9 in Sunrise Gold (Credit: Samsung)) A Sunrise Gold version of the Galaxy S9 and S9+ debuts this Sunday (June 24). The newest color will be available only at Samsung.com and Best Buy. The Sunrise Gold S9 brings the number of available colors to four. Previously, the S9 had been available in Midnight Black, Coral Blue and Lilac Purple. (Image credit: Galaxy S9 lineup (Credit: Samsung)) This is the second time since the S9's initial debut that Samsung has tinkered with the flagship phone's lineup. In April, Samsung announced 128GB and 256GB versions of the S9 and S9+ after the phones had launched with just 64GB of on-board capacity. The Sunrise Gold version will be available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. It also costs the same as the other S9 colors: $720 for the 64GB version, $770 for the 128GB model and $840 for the 256GB phone. The S9+ in Sunrise Gold starts at $840 for the 64GB version, with the 128GB and 256GB configurations available for $890 and $960, respectively. Samsung says that people who buy the unlocked Sunrise Gold S9 will be able to knock up to $400 off the price if they trade-in their current phone; the credit appears at time of trade-in. Details about which specific phones are eligible for trade-in aren't available, though Samsung says phones should be able to power up and hold a charge. Their screens also need to be free of cracks to fetch a higher trade-in value. Samsung also says that you'll be able to save up to $300 on select carrier models of the Sunrise Gold S9 at Best Buy, but was mum on specifics. The Galaxy S9 reportedly got off to a slow sales start, which could explain why Samsung keeps introducing new models to the lineup. We were impressed by the S9 when we reviewed it, though Galaxy S8 owners have very little reason to upgrade, outside of the camera improvements, higher capacity and, now, the added variety of colors. For owners of older Galaxy models or other Android phones, it's an easier call, especially if gold happens to be your color. Updated at 3:45 p.m. ET with additional info on Samsung's trade-in program. In January, we predicted that Trump's proposed tariffs on Chinese imports could drive up the price of your gadgets. Yesterday, however, a New York Times report claimed that the Trump administration will not place tariffs on iPhones assembled in China. But today, Peter Navarro, White-House trade advisor and director of the White House National Trade Council, told CNBC that he has no knowledge of an iPhone exemption in Chinese tariffs. This casts doubt on previous reports and means Apple could, once again, be in trouble. (Image credit: Getty) It's hard to know how exactly such a tariff would impact consumer prices. Navarro believes that the 10 percent tariff level (as of the White House's last statement) won't have a huge impact on the price for consumers. Still, Apple has a large Chinese consumer base and manufacturing infrastructure, and Tim Cook's past efforts to prevent such actions by the administrations suggest they could have notable consequences for the company. MORE: The Next iPhone - Rumors About the iPhone 9, X2 and SE2 Apple has 41 stores in China, and has sold hundreds of millions of iPhones there. That's a small amount compared to its presence in some countries (Apple has opened 272 retail stores in the U.S. since May 2001) but it's still solidified Apple as a major technology player. While Apple's sales saw a decline early this year, the company still remains the fifth-from-top smartphone manufacturer in the region, losing turf only to domestic players including Huawei, Vivo, Oppo, and Xiaomi. And Apple's business in China garners an annual revenue of around $50 billion per year, which is just under a quarter of what the company takes in worldwide. Last month, the Apple CEO visited the White House to warn the President that his trade war could threaten Apple's business in the region. And in March, he called for "calmer heads" between the two countries, according to the Times. And even if the tariff doesn't significantly harm Apple's bottom line, the company still fears that the trade war will. The Times also reported that anonymous sources close to Apple claim the company worries China will "retaliate in ways that hamstring its business." Increased scrutiny from the Chinese government, for example, could also increase the time and resources necessary to manufacture an iPhone. Google Home. (Image credit: Google) Google Home and Chromecast devices have a firmware design flaw that exposes users precise geolocation to potential attackers. Google Devices Design Flaw During a lab experiment Craig Young, a researcher working for the security firm Tripwire, was conducting for his Black Hat training, Young discovered that the Home app, which is what Google Home and Chromecast owners use to configure their devices, wasnt performing its tasks only through the Google Cloud infrastructure, but also through a local HTTP server. The main issue here is that these commands lack any form of authentication, a problem that is common with most Internet of Things (IoT) devices, but which Googles devices werent expected to have. Using this design flaw in Googles products, Young was able to not only hijack the screen attached to the Chromecast, but also pinpoint his physical location with a 10m precision, which is almost as precise as the GPS location. Apparently, Googles use of the HTML5 location API, which can gather location information from proximity to other Wi-Fi hotspots, is what allowed Young to extract this information. Starting from a generic URL, Young developed an exploit that scanned the local subnet looking for Google devices. Afterwards, he was able to look at his own house on Google Maps. Intended Behavior When Young first reached out to Google in May about this design flaw in the companys firmware, Google responded by closing his bug with the message: Status: Wont Fix (Intended Behavior). Young noted in his post that browser extensions and mobile apps are typically allowed to query location information without the user being notified about it. This type of technique has been used by advertisers to identify who the users are. If Google was taking advantage of the same flaw to better target ads at users, then that would explain why the company was at first reluctant to fix this bug. But after being contacted by cyber security journalist Brian Krebs, Google seems to have changed its mind and said that it had planned to release a patch for this flaw for mid-July 2018. Potential Impact and Mitigation Young believes that attackers could more effectively blackmail or extort people through this type of exploit, by sending them fake FBI or IRS warnings, or even threats of making compromising photos public. Short of completely disconnecting these devices from the internet, Young said there are a few other options to minimize the risk against attackers. The first one is to segment and isolate your Wi-Fi networks, so that, for instance, you have one Wi-Fi network for work or personal browsing and another for connecting IoT devices, such as smart TVs. Another option is to enable DNS Rebind Protection in your router, a feature that isnt typically enabled by default. Young also recommended that all devices that run on the local network be configured as if they were exposed to the internet, especially if the data they transmit over the network is not authenticated. The Google Home smart speaker was previously found to secretly record users' conversations when Google launched the product last fall. The company fixed that flaw soon after it was discovered. Each country has its own criteria on whether loot boxes in video games constitute a form of gambling. While New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States are okay with loot boxes in video games, others such as Belgium and the Netherlands disapprove of loot boxes as they feel it promotes gambling among minors. Earlier in the year, Dutch Gaming Authority Kansspelautoriteit carried out a study on the ten most popular games with loot boxes on Steam and discovered that four of them violated the Dutch Betting and Gambling Act. Therefore, the organization set a deadline for June 20, 2018, to give video game publishers sufficient time to make the necessary adjustments to their games to comply with the law. Although big names like EA and Activision Blizzard initially came to mind, Valve was the first to fall victim to the Kansspelautoriteits crackdown. In May, Valve received two alarming letters from the Kansspelautoriteit with accusations that the loot boxes present in the ever-so-popular CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) and Dota (Defense of the Ancients) 2 games represented an infringement to the Dutch Betting and Gaming Act. The Dutch Gaming Authority gave Valve an ultimatum to make the necessary modifications to both games by today or the Kirkland-based developer could face administrative fines that can scale up to 830,000 euros (approximately $962,000) or ten percent of the companys global revenue. After meeting with its Dutch legal team, Valve discovered a rather useful piece of information in the Dutch law. Apparently, loot boxes are only illegal if the in-game items are transferable. As a stop-gap solution, Valve ingeniously disabled Steam trading and Marketplace transfers for CS:GO and Dota 2 for Dutch Steam users. While Valve didnt understand or agree with the Kansspelautoriteits assessment of the loot boxes in the affected games, the company will continue to work with the Dutch authority to work out a more convenient solution for its Dutch customers. How would you feel if you learned that your company was helping ICE make a database of immigrant children or building an autonomous killer drone for the Department of Defense? Because of their controversial relationships with the U.S. government, big tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon are in hot water, not only with consumers but with their own employees. A blog post by Microsoft from January has become a hot topic of discussion this week. The post announces that Microsoft is "proud to support" work conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the government agency awarded Microsoft a contract for its Azure cloud computing services. Meanwhile, Amazon is facing criticism for selling its Rekognition face recognition technology to law enforcement in Orlando, Florida and Oregons Washington County. And in March, Google was outed for working with the Department of Defense (DoD) to create artificial intelligence (AI) that can analyze drone footage. While companies and their employees usually celebrate big deals, both political tensions and a lack of transparency has led many workers at these tech giants to demand these contracts be thrown in the trash. Outrage, Boycotts and Apologies ICE has been drawing a lot of negative attention, due to its policy of separating undocumented or asylum-seeking families. This week, numerous Microsoft workers took to social media to share their discomfort with Microsoft working with ICE. And some people who work outside the company have gone as far as to say they will no longer do business with Microsoft. As a result, the company was forced to release a statement on Monday stating that its not working with ICE or Border Patrol on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border and claimed it doesnt know of Azure being used for such acts. It added that its dismayed by the forcible separation of children from their families at the border. In Amazons case, the accuracy of facial recognition in general is creating concern. On Friday, 19 shareholders sent a letter to CEO Jeff Bezos. Backed by activist groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, the group claims such deals with the government will hurt Amazon stock and enable discrimination. The group cites MIT research finding that the darker the skin, the more errors arise up to nearly 35 percent for images of darker skinned women. "We are concerned the technology would be used to unfairly and disproportionately target and surveil people of color, immigrants and civil society organizations. We are concerned sales may be expanded to foreign governments, including authoritarian regimes, the letter says. Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, University of District Columbia law professor and author of The Rise of Big Data Policing, told CNNMoney this week that there are currently no best practices for determining facial recognitions accuracy. "Accuracy is a hard issue to benchmark. As a society, are we okay with a 50 percent false positive rate, or a 20 percent false positive rate, when it comes to stops, arrests, or police investigation? The answer to the accuracy question will determine who gets handcuffed and who does not, he said. Amazon has yet to respond publicly. On Googles end, news that the company had signed an AI deal with the DoDs Project Maven hit employees hard after going out on an internal mailing list. DoDs Project Maven, officially named the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional team, aims to accelerate the DoDs integration of big data and machine learning and turn the enormous volume of data available to DoD into actionable intelligence and insights at speed, the DoD says. Project Maven reports directly to the deputy secretary of defense. While Google at the time told Gizmodo that its technology was not being used for military combat, employees were still concerned and outraged, Gizmodo reported in April. Come May, about 12 employees resigned from Google, and almost 4,000 signed a petition calling for the end of Project Maven and for Google and its contractors to never build warfare technology. Whats the Point? But can employees really affect tech companies interest in obtaining lucrative government contracts that provide both big bucks and the opportunity to lock down a new market? Amazon has not commented on its situation and, though Microsoft has made a statement saying that it isn't helping to separate families, it has not terminated its deal with the feds. Google, on the other hand, announced that it would not renew its contract with the government when it expires in 2019. In an op-ed for Forbes, Enrique Dans, an innovation professor at Spains IE Business School, argues that employees should speak their minds if they feel their companys practices contradict basic ethics. He states that is particularly doable in the tech field since the industrys growing so rapidly and workers should be able to find employment elsewhere if needed. However, he also points out that in other industries, countries with higher unemployment rates, or countries where its more common for business and government to work together, challenging an employers ethics can be more difficult. Can we and should we put a price on our principles? Is having a conscience the unique preserve of the wealthy and highly skilled? Obviously not, and it is good news that some employees at U.S. companies are setting a precedent. If companies are not going to behave ethically of their own volition, at least we can count on their employees to embarrass them into doing so, Dans wrote. Indeed, employees can at least draw attention to practices they find unethical via social media and petitions, which are often picked up by the press and could put pressure on companies to reconsider. Its reasonable that some tech firms would reconsider a deal if the bad publicity is that damaging, although as weve seen this is not always the case, at least not immediately. At the end of the day, tech executives who are adamant about working for the government may just leave the tech industry and commit to the public sector wholeheartedly. For example, Eric Shmidt, former CEO and board of directors chairman for Google, and Matt Cutts, former head of Googles search spam department, both work for the Pentagon now (although they left Google before the Project Maven controversy). But, as information about how and with whom tech companies choose to work becomes more accessible and widespread, ethical discussions go nationwide thanks to the internet and the press and political landscapes continue to be controversial, it can become harder to wear that badge knowing what it represents. If employees cannot truly get their company to reasonably align practices with beliefs they hold dear, it may be time to consider if the issue is important enough to warrant a new job search. In a surprising move, Ford and the Volkswagen Group announced today that they are seeking a strategic alliance to increase competitiveness in the segment of commercial vehicles. Representatives of both companies addressed the public explaining that the potential alliance will enable them to better serve the evolving needs of customers globally. Talks will Commence in the Coming Days Ford and Volkswagen talks will include electric and autonomous vehicles Ford is committed to improving our fitness as a business and leveraging adaptive business models which include working with partners to improve our effectiveness and efficiency, said Jim Farley, Fords president of Global Markets. This potential alliance with the Volkswagen Group is another example of how we can become more fit as a business while creating a winning global product portfolio and extending our capabilities. While representatives of the companies did not detail the prospects of the possible agreement, they did announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. Additional details are sparse, but we can assume that the talks will lead to an understanding regarding tougher environmental regulations (especially in Europe). Sharing the burden of development of more advanced greener propulsion systems is an opportunity companies are likely to explore. Dr. Thomas Sedran, Head of Volkswagen Group Strategy, said, Markets and customer demand are changing at an incredible speed. Both companies have strong and complementary positions in different commercial vehicle segments already. To adapt to the challenging environment, it is of utmost importance to gain flexibility through alliances. This is a core element of our Volkswagen Group Strategy 2025. The potential industrial cooperation with Ford is seen as an opportunity to improve the competitiveness of both companies globally. An Alliance for the Development of Low-Emission, Electric, and Autonomous Commercial Vehicles Obviously, an alliance like this would have huge benefits for both companies. As the news arrived only days after Ford announced that its new Corktown campus aims to develop autonomous and electric vehicle business, we can deduce that Ford and Volkswagen talks will include electric and autonomous vehicles. After all, Volkswagen Group Strategy 2025 for commercial vehicles does promise low-emission and zero-emission light commercial vehicles and autonomous transport solutions - exactly what Ford plans to develop at the Corktown campus. Despite the friendly talks and a possible alliance, it was unequivocally disclosed that any potential alliance would not involve equity arrangements. In short, Ford will not buy any stake in Volkswagen, or vice versa. Volkswagen already has a successful commercial van partnership with Daimler. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and the Volkswagen Crafter had been produced on the same line until 2016 when the contract between the two ended. Now, the Volkswagen Group, owner of MAN and Scania trucks has formed a new partnership this year with Hino Motors Ltd from Japan. Linking with a Toyota affiliated producer is aimed at the development of the diesel-hybrid systems, advanced connectivity solutions, and self-driving technologies. Ford, on the other hand, cooperates with Deutsche Post AG developing electric vans. Obviously, an alliance like this would have huge benefits for both companies. Especially in the world of today, when some of the major cities all around the world (London, Paris, Beijing, Brussels) are looking for ways to purify their air. Commercial vehicles are among first required to be compliant with the new emission standards. Banning diesel may be the first step in the process. Hybrids and EVs will replace diesel. Further reading Read more Ford news. Read more Volkswagen news. Unveiled last week in Japan, the 2019 Mazda MX-5 is finally here to meet the rest of the world. Officially presented by Western Mazda PR teams in Canada, the U.S., and Europe, the refreshed Mazda MX-5 greets us with a 2.0-liter, naturally aspirated engine uprated to 181 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque. Those arent the only improvements, though. Considerable Changes for a Gain of 26 Horsepower and 3 Pound-feet of Torque The healthy 17 percent gain has been achieved through an engine overhaul which saw the introduction of lighter pistons and connecting rods The healthy 17 percent gain has been achieved through an engine overhaul which saw the introduction of lighter pistons and connecting rods. We already wrote a thing or two about this. Apart from new engine internals, Mazda engineers went the extra mile to reconfigure the intake ports and change fuel injectors. Crucially, improving vital parts of the engine brought healthy benefits for the torque curve. Torque has been increased throughout the rev range. With more torque at lower rpms and more power, Mazda moved the redline from 6,800 rpm to 7,500 rpm. Quite a change! A single plate flywheel has been exchanged for a dual-mass flywheel in order to improve responsiveness Other notable improvements include the addition of a less restrictive exhaust with an increased inner diameter for a richer aural experience. The better-sounding 2.0-liter also benefited from increased valve opening angle and valve lift height which, in conjunction with the new exhaust system, resulted in lowering exhaust losses by a staggering 30 percent. Reading about the 2019 MX-5, one can only assume that Mazdas end goal was to fine-tune the car for the remainder of its market adventure. A single plate flywheel has been exchanged for a dual-mass flywheel in order to improve responsiveness. In addition, engineers modified the final drive ratio as well. With so many modifications, the new Mazda MX-5 should be faster, more daily-driver friendly, and cooler as a whole because of its better sounding exhaust and some exterior tidbits the 2019 model brings with itself. Style, Comfort, and Safety Mazda introduced a brown canvas softtop and black metallic 17-inch wheels for the MX-5 Complementing the offer, Mazda introduced a brown canvas softtop and black metallic 17-inch wheels for the MX-5. This might not be a style overhaul, but a brown roof on the MX-5 is off the charts, isnt it? In addition to exterior personalization options, the Japanese decided to give the MX-5 a telescoping steering wheel (with 1.25 inches of travel). Finally, some would say. Also, the doors are somehow easier to open with restyled door stops. Moving to safety, the new MX-5 has a full complement of i-ActiveSense safety technologies in store. A reversing camera is a standard issue now, with Traffic Sign Recognition and Smart City Brake Support available on higher grade models. With all these changes, we might be tempted to think the MX-5 actually gained a few pounds. In addition to exterior personalization options, the Japanese decided to give the MX-5 a telescoping steering wheel Well, it did, but only 7. The fact Mazda implemented so many improvements without adding more weight is incredible, to say the least. There is no mystery to it, though. The Japanese followed the Gram Strategy Mazda engineers laid out 15 years ago. In short, the Gram Strategy is designed to remove a gram out of every nut and bolt used in the construction of a vehicle. Lighter engine, seats and many other elements are an additional weight saving measure. Take a look at the video below that was published by Mazda Australia for more information on the Gram Strategy and the ways it was implemented. In using the Gram Strategy, designers of the 2018 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Skyactiv-G managed to keep the weight at 2,315 lbs. The new model should tip the scales at 2,322 lbs (depending on the trim level and added equipment, of course). Europeans Get a 1.5-Liter Engine Too A smaller, 1.5-liter Skyactiv G is once more available for European buyers A smaller, 1.5-liter Skyactiv G is once more available for European buyers. It is not a powerhouse, but it will get the fun-job done. Aside from the 2.0-liter SkyActiv-G, which is much the same as the one in the U.S., European buyers will enjoy 132 horsepower and 112 pound-feet of torque from the smaller engine. Unfortunately, performance figures have not been disclosed yet, but let me just point out that the previous 155-horsepower Mazda MX-5 needed 8.3 seconds to hit 62 mph. Expect 2019 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Skyactive-G to roll into showrooms this fall. Further reading Read our full review on the 2016 Mazda MX-5. Read our full review on the 2017 Mazda MX-5 RF. Read more Mazda news. The Honda Civic Type R continues to set benchmarks after posting a front-wheel-drive production car lap record at Spa Francorchamps. The hot hatch monster recorded a scintillating lap time of 2:53.72 at one of the worlds most famous race tracks, doing so with the help of Super GT driver and LMP2 champion Bertrand Baguette. The hot hatch monster recorded a scintillating lap time of 2:53.72 at one of the worlds most famous race tracks The Honda Civic Type R isnt messing around. Its recent conquest of the Spa Francorchamps race track is the latest in a series of track attack blitzes the hot hatch has embarked on since it broke the same front-wheel-drive production car lap record at the famed Nurburgring. Remember that? Remember when the Civic Type R turned in a lap time of 7:43.08, the fastest lap time among FWD production cars? Well, it seems that the Civic Type R didnt just celebrate its Nurburgring triumph in a traditional way. Instead, it plotted a plan to go to other race tracks and set lap records there. It accomplished a similar feat last month when it went to the Magny-Cours circuit in France and posted a lap time of 2:01.51, which also happened to be a lap record. From there, it was Spa, where LMP2 champ Bertrand Baguette took care of business. "For me as a race car driver, its clear that Type R is born for the track," he said. "But it also feels just as right on the streets in everyday driving. When I sit in the car, it is very comfortable and the visibility all round is very good." According to Honda, there are still plans to tackle other tracks, including Silverstone, Estoril, and a bunch of others. The track-hopping, record-breaking exploits of the 316-horsepower Civic Type R isnt done yet. It already has three lap records under its belt, and, according to Honda, there are still plans to tackle other tracks, including Silverstone, Estoril, and a bunch of others. Baguette also isnt the only racer Honda has tapped to help the Civic Type R achieve world dominance. The Japanese automaker actually planned this through, even creating a team of racers that also includes former F1 world champion Jenson Button. So Spa is the latest race track to bow down to the Civic Type R. Judging by how the hot hatch has been taking down lap records one after the other, Spa probably wont be the last, either. Honda Civic Type R Performance Specifications Engine Type Turbocharged In-Line 4-Cylinder Turbocharger Single-Scroll MHI TD04 with Internal Wastegate Boost Pressure 22.8 psi Displacement (cc) 1,996 Horsepower (SAE net) 306 HP @ 6,500 RPM Torque (SAE net) 295 LB-FT @ 2,500-4,500 RPM Fuel economy (City/Highway/Combined) (mpg) 22 / 28 / 25 Curb Weight (lbs.) 3,117 0 to 60 mph 4.9 seconds Quarter-mile 13.5 seconds at 108 mph Top Speed 169 mph References Read our full review on the 2017 Honda Civic Type R. Read our full review on the 2018 Honda Civic. Read more Honda news. Looking Back at the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed Hill Climb Last year was great but this year will be even better STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF TRANSYLVANIA IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE SUPERIOR COURT DIVISION FILE NO. 18-E-197 EXECUTORS ADMINISTRATORS NOTICE Having qualified as Executor of the Estate of Judith L. Mashburn of Transylvania County, North Carolina, this is to notify all persons having claim against the Estate of Judith L. Mashburn to present them to the undersigned on or before September 11, 2018 or the claim will be forever barred thereafter. All persons indebted to said estate please make immediate payment. Dated: June 11, 2018. Julie Simpson PO Box 62 Penrose... After nine decades of planning, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is finally underway. The massive museum will have its home at the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire. According to its website, the museum will not only be entertaining but also immersive, educational, and experimental. The museum will offer its guests a great insight and experience on moviemaking and what is happening behind the scenes. The museum headed by the same Academy responsible for the Oscars is a celebration of the vibrant history of Hollywood. It will be the first grand institution in the world that is solely dedicated to the science and art of films. What To Expect The museum is set to have a displays that will be drawn from the unmatched collection of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The collection consists of more than 190,000 video and film assets, 80,000 screenplays, 20,000 production and costume design illustrations, 104,000 pieces of production art, and over 12 million photos. Some of the notable displays of the museum includes the shark from Jaws, the ruby slippers from the The Wizard of Oz, Rick's Cafe from Casablanca, and other pieces from the collection of director Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, and Katharine Hepburn. It will be housed in the six-story Saban Building, which will have over 50,000 square feet of galleries for exhibition, a restaurant and a cafe, dynamic spaces for special and public events, a modern education studio, and a 288-seat theater. Adding to the magnificent sights that it offers is a David Geffen Theater, which can accommodate up to 1,000 people. The theater will be a venue to a wide range of performances, including premiers, screening, performances, and other events participated by the best filmmakers in the world. The museum also boasts colossal glass spherical structure atop the Dolby Family Terrace, which also has an observatory with a breathtaking view of the famous Hollywood Hills. The museum's grand glass centerpiece will be located in the renovated May Company structure that was built on 1939 on Miracle Mile. Designed by Pritzker Prize winner architect Renzo Piano in partnership with architecture firm Gensler, the museum largely took inspiration from its mission, which was to give its visitors a chance to look behind the screen and into the multi-faceted and creative world of filmmaking. In an interview with Variety, Academy Museum director Kerry Brougher said that it is more than a museum. It is a great center for filmmakers to experience the industry in many ways. The extravagant museum has a budget of $400 million and is set to open on mid-2019. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Iceland is undeniably one of the most popular countries to visit. Although the magnificent views that it offers are free, other expenses in the country might break your bank. If you want to see its amazing northern lights, astonishing volcanoes, and breathtaking landscapes but don't want to deplete your savings, here are a few budget-friendly tips that will make your holiday in Iceland worthwhile. Use Digital Strategies to Maximize Savings A large part of any spending comes from the flight and hotel packages that many travelers find online. While hotels may not always be the best option as you will see after reading the rest of this article, it is still possible to maximize savings even if you are inclined towards booking a hotel. This is because many shopping sites online track you using cookies. When you revisit certain websites, prices may gradually increase since the website would notice that you are looking at similar packages. Furthermore, prices may vary depending on your location as seen through your IP address. To avoid this, you can use a private search mode such as Google Incognito Mode and further augment that with tools like a VPN to identify for locations where prices may be cheaper. Rent A Small Car Renting a 4x4 to drive through the country's most famous landscapes will set you back by over $600. To save on car rental, you can rent a sedan or any other compact car, which only cost around $300. Whether travelers choose to drive a grand car or settle for something less, they will surely enjoy the countryside that's packed with so many places to visit such as glaciers and waterfalls with names only a few people can pronounce. Don't Buy Bottled Water Bottled water sold in Iceland is a trap. Potable water in the country runs free of charge. That's right, people here drink and refill from the tap. This makes it possible for every traveler to access drinkable water anywhere. This tip will not only let you reduce plastic waste, but it will also leave more money for other beverages such as Einstok, or Icelandic beer. Just make sure to bring a tumbler. Don't Stay In Hotels Skipping hotels in exchange for cabins, guesthouses, or other homestays is definitely something that gives travelers a more immersive cultural experience. Reasonably priced places to spend your night in include Hunkubakkar, located between Jokulsarlon and Vik, and Vinland Guesthouse, located near Egilsstair. For the cheapest deals on places to stay, you can check out Airbnb. Who knows, a farm with a cozy vacant room may be open to welcome guests. Feeling adventurous? Be close to nature by setting up a tent or a sleeping bag and camp out under the northern lights for free in some public spaces. Designated campgrounds will cost around $14. Not too bad compared to hotel bills. Don't worry, Iceland is one of the safest places for travelers. Don't Drink Iceland is home to high taxes, and alcohol is not an exception to this. Unless you plan on tracking happy hour using Appy Hour app to get beer discounts, alcohol in Iceland is a nightmare for your wallet. The best way to save up on drinking money is to not drink at all. People who don't drink in the country are most likely to enjoy their tours. Let's face it, nobody likes to hike with a raging hangover. For those who can't resist beer, they can choose to get it at duty free in order to save. Save Up On Meals Experiencing Icelandic cuisine should not come at a high cost. However, eating out in the country can be really expensive, so it is recommended to eat out at lunchtime, when the dish of the day is reasonably priced. Although it is not the healthiest alternative, hotdog stalls that offer cheap food can also be found throughout the city of Reykjavik, one of the best summer destinations in Europe. People can also opt for grocery shopping for essentials, such as eggs, cereal, bread, and vegetables, and cook their own food. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Male chickens are unwanted by industrial farmers and backyard hen-keepers alike. When I got a small flock of backyard chickens last summer, two of the five birds turned out to be roosters. The first one started crowing within a few weeks. I had to return him to the farmer, since roosters are not allowed in town. The second one, whom my kids had named Princess, didn't reveal himself for another two months. Then all of a sudden he hit a growth spurt, sprouted shaggier feathers, and started uttering strange croaking sounds that differed from the hens' cheery clucking. As the sounds gained strength and persistence, I had to give Princess back to the farmer. She gave me two hens in exchange. I was sad to see the roosters go because I loved their crowing. Sure, there were some days when it sounded like a busy little farmyard in the back, and I could see people's heads turn in curiosity as they walked past the house, but it reminded me of my days living in northeastern Brazil, where chickens wander the streets and roosters are everyone's alarm clock. In a world where we're connected to the source of our food, we should be hearing chickens. I'd also argue that their cock-a-doodle-dooing was much less obnoxious than my neighbors' yappy dogs. Apparently, being unable to identify roosters is a real problem for many backyard chicken owners. Karin Brulliard, writing for the Washington Post (paywall), calls it "a clash between urban and suburban flock-keepers bucolic ideals a touch of rural charm, the promise of fresh eggs and the hard realities of local ordinances." She explains that most egg suppliers employ professional 'sexers' to examine chicks' downy feathers and nether regions in order to identify their gender, but that suppliers say they're right only 90 percent of the time. Male chicks are usually killed as soon as they're identified, often ground up alive, because they are not viewed as a particularly useful animal -- unable to lay eggs or not the right breed for eating. The farmer to whom I returned my two roosters had at least a dozen gorgeous roosters strutting around her farm. She raises a heritage breed called Chantecler, which is dual-purpose, meaning the birds are good for both laying and eating. The roosters, she told me, would hang out on the farm until eventually they went into a stewpot. Anna Acheson (used with permission) -- One of my pure white Chantecler chickens, who do not have combs on their head to make them more resistant to the cold, although this makes it harder to identify males. Had I known about it at the time, I might have tried a No-Crow Collar before contacting the farmer. It is an interesting invention made by a Michigan couple who found themselves with a rooster they didn't want to get rid of. Brulliard describes it: "Its made of nylon and mesh bow tie accessory optional and it restrains crowing by preventing a rooster from filling a sac in its throat with the air it expels to call out. [Inventor] Kusmierski said theyve sold more than 50,000 in about five years." Needless to say, it's a tough situation for everyone. Animal shelters are at full capacity when it comes to roosters because nobody wants them on their own; they're not really one's idea of an ideal rescue pet. Chicken owners, even if they are allowed to have roosters, usually don't want more than a few, since they don't serve any practical purpose beyond defending the hens and fertilizing eggs. I don't know what a solution would look like, but I do wish that the societal attitude toward roosters would shift. There's no need for them to be as vilified as they are, nor to have them banned from small urban flocks. They are magnificent, humorous, and energetic birds, worthy of our attention and respect. Treehugger and our third-party partners use cookies and process personal data like unique identifiers based on your consent to store and/or access information on a device, display personalized ads and for content measurement, audience insight, and product development. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Treehugger.com, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, click below. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. List of Partners (vendors) Often, when I open my Twitter or read the news, I want to pack up and move to New Zealand. Then, when I get my copy of Sanctuary Magazine, I REALLY want to move. It's an Australian shelter magazine published by the Alternative Technology Association, which promotes renewable energy and sustainable building. Their Renew Magazine is all hardcore how-to, while Sanctuary is aspirational; sustainable living never looked so sexy. Shawn Hanna for LIfeEdited The latest issue includes TreeHugger founder Graham Hill's not-so-big Off-Grid Transformer in Maui (on TreeHugger here) and others that are even smaller. Editor Kulja Coulston tells us that tiny houses are becoming a big thing there too. "What's interesting about the 'teeny tiny' houses we have profiled this time around is that they are all permanent residences rather than temporary dwellings, weekenders or secondary dwellings. They range from 24m2 to 57m2 and there are a range of reasons for people wanting to live at the smaller scale." Simon Larkin via Sanctuary Magazine The Appeal of 'Teeny Tiny' Living The owners of Kirimoko Tiny House in Wanaka, New Zealand, Will and Jennie Croxford, tell Kulja that they were "motivated by the freedom of living with less." I think there is a growing appetite to live at a smaller scale without it having to be a frugal statement, says Will of the decision to downshift into a 30-square-metre footprint. Hes swift to add their change in mindset didnt happen all at once, but after living out of pannier bags for months when cycle touring and when moving several times within Wanaka while they looked for an appropriate block. Every time we opened our storage boxes wed ask, why bother keeping all this stuff? says Will. Design Condon Scott Architects, Photography Simon Larkin They built their house in a development that surprisingly didn't have minimum area requirements that are so common in North America. The architect, Barry Condon of Condon Scott Architects in Wanaka, took some convincing; At first I thought it was a bit ambitious a 30-square-metre (322 SF) footprint [with mezzanine the total is 450 SF] isnt a massive amount of space to fit a kitchen, bathroom, sleeping and living space, says Barry. I actually tried a few times to make it a little bigger, but Will would always push back and try to make it smaller, which was interesting for me because normally with clients I am the one trying to reduce size! Ultimately we landed on a happy medium." Design Condon Scott Architects, Photography Simon Larkin Besides being tiny, it is built to a very high standard "in keeping with Passive House principles" with SIP (Structural Insulated Panel) walls (imported from Canada) and efficient windows. The wall with all the glass is carefully shaded so there is not too much heat gain, and the occupants are comfortable with just a fan and a portable heater. Design Condon Scott Architects, Photography Simon Larkin Adopting a Minimalist Mindset The nice thing about being a real home and not a North American style Tiny House is that one can get comfortable living areas and a proper stair to the loft bedroom. In fact, 450 square feet is not that tiny at all compared to many one-bedroom apartments, and this plan is not unlike some loft apartments I have seen. There are many millions of people living in apartments who could attest that this is more than enough room to live comfortably, particularly if you tell your guests to glamp in the backyard. Design Condon Scott Architects But as Kulja writes, it doesn't meet housing "norms". In a recent post, TreeHugger Katherine wrote that it's time to dump "normal" behaviour. Do you really need a big house? What's the smallest amount of house you need? Don't fall into the trap of thinking you should buy as much as house as you can get financing for; think about renovations, maintenance, heating, cleaning, furnishing, and more. Jennie and Will understand this, and note that A lot of houses people claim to be sustainable are just enormous. Were keen to show people that you dont need to completely change the way you live to live in a tiny house. Let's hope people listen and learn. More in Sanctuary Magazine. Design Condon Scott Architects, Photography Simon Larkin And moe on the house at Condon Scott Architects. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says that the climate crisis poses a severe threat to food security in the Caribbean, as vulnerable communitiesa vast majority of whom rely on agriculture, fishing and livestock, who contribute the least to the climate crisisbear the brunt of the impacts with limited means to cushion the blow. For a woman, the moment she detects a lump in her breasts, panic sets in. Whether the biopsy results come back showing the lump as cancerous or benign, that womans life as well as that of her loved ones changes forever. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Pure madness. This was how Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial yesterday described the Presidents disclosure that an Order of Merit List for Police Commissioner was submitted to her office and then withdrawn. IN my last article on Saturday, September 25 (Express, Page 13) With Covid Theres No Divide, I called out to the unions of our nation and in particular the leadership of TTUTA, but it seems as though they did not hear or they are not listening. My advice is to spend your time doing the things you want to do, based on doing a little bit of research yourself. You read over the stickies and some forum posts, but, I hate to break it to you, those ARE the advice. If your research effort stops with asking for random advice and just waiting for it to roll in, then I'd highly recommend spending several hours sitting on the terras drinking beer. There's hundreds of places, all over town to do this. It's very popular, and I'd say it's my absolutely favorite thing to do. But you have precious little time, maybe that's not what you'd prefer. What's the point of your question? You probably don't want to hear this, but it's just a plain lazy way to go about planning your trip. Re: Australia and New Zealand in two weeks in mid-November 1. Re: Australia and New Zealand in two weeks in mid-November Hi, >> but we are hoping to hit all the best spots<< No chance but if you stuck to one country and had a few years and a chopper maybe. >>I have heard that South Island in New Zealand is beautiful!<< It is ! My advice is to stick to just one country or if you choose NZ just one island and three destinations flying between them. Cheers, (ANSA) - Rome, June 20 - Premier Giuseppe Conte told European Council President Donald Tusk on Wednesday that it was "unthinkable" for Italy to also have to take migrants that have made secondary movements, given that it is widely recognised as being the country most exposed to migrant flows, government sources said. Conte and Tusk had talks for around two hours at the premier's office in Rome. Secondary movement regards moves from the country in which a migrant first arrived. According to the Dublin Regulation, if an asylum seeker whose request has not been completed leaves the first country they arrived in and go to another EU member State, the latter can relocate them back in the country where they landed. During the talks, Conte said Italy was unwilling to accept the "second reception" of asylum seekers in this way, the sources said. This will be the position Italy expounds at Sunday's informal meeting of the leaders of eight EU countries, including Germany and France, ahead of next week's European Council summit. Due to the time of your travel, I would go to S. Caribbean, not to the West coast in October. Look into Cahuita near Cahuita National Park, Punta Uva, near Puerto Viejo, possibly Manzanillo. Travelling options in CR from the Top Wns about CR on the right of the screen: . For the East coast of CR, you will need to fly into SJO, not Liberia airport. AC includes CR exit tax (US$29), West Jet or Air Transat do not, if you are buying tickets only, not a pkg. We visited S. Caribbean twice, without renting a car. We used prepaid shared shuttle vans like Interbus and PleasureRideCR, if their schedule matched our flight times . Depending on the flight times, you might need to spend the 1st and/or last noght(s) closer to the airport. Once at the destination, we used local buses, there are also bike rentals. In one week you might be able to visit 2 destinations. This will give you more info about that area, info. travelling options.https://www.puertoviejosatellite.com/transport-to-puerto-viejo.php . There are no AIs there. Some of your decision to do a package or to do your own will depend on you and the budget. A pkg might be cheaper. E.g.m see Budgeting for CR: . Driving in CR blog might help answer your Qns, too: . Search this forum for many prior threads re recommended rental companies, mandatory insurance issues, safety, etc. Have fun researching, I would also go to S. Caribbean in Sept. This site has great info, incl. on transportation options- . You can see schedule of buses, but it is from San Jose city, not from the airport. There are also prepaid shared shuttles, hotel to hotel. We used PleasureRideCR and Interbus on our trips there. Those are a/c vans, local professional drivers. Sometimes you can get lucky and there will be fewer passengers than seats, lots of space. Once we were the only ones for the entire 5 HR transfer (incl. a couple of stops - to take photos in the mountains and to have a snack at a roadside sda). We also used Interbus from S. Caribbean (we stayed near the national park in Cahuita) to Arenal. It was a long transfer, over 6 hrs, but it varies. We were going to a remote hotel outside of La Fortuna, and had 2 stops, one of them - almost an HR long, though the confirmation said "15 min.", so if you do that, it might be shorter. See , for ex., for rates and schedule. For description of some hotels closer to SJO airport, see . We stayed in the 2nd one on that list, there is a Promo code there. They include airport shuttle and breakfast. If you need to leave very early the next morning, let them know and see if they can prepare a packed breakfast instead. Edited: 3 years ago I believe you can go from Phan Thiet to Da Lat. From Da Lat you would probably go to Nha Trang and onto Hoi An from there. You could also go to Nha Trang and get a train to Hoi An, which would be my preferred mode of travel if I was on a budget but mainly for safety. Ask your hotel for advice. Ive also found if you can find a bus depot , all large towns and cities have one, its just a matter of looking at the signs for the service you need. Hi everyone, I am in a bit of flux and was hoping if you kind people can help with a few queries. I have my vacations from 30th June to 10th July and was hoping to travel somewhere for that duration. I am planning a month long trip in late August so don't want to spend a lot this time and have a budget of around 1050 USD for this trip including airfare. Now i usually like traveling solo or in small groups and love backpacking/couchsurfing to experience the local culture. But my back is a little fu**** right now and I was hoping to relax, read, meet a few new people, immerse in the city culture and have a little bit of beach/mountain time. Initial options were Vietnam, Taiwan, Georgia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Bali which are now down to Vietnam and Bali. The only doubt with Vietnam is the weather and with Bali it is the budget(as more than half of it is only going on airfare). I have this rough itinerary in mind for Vietnam and will be awesome if someone can help with it - I land in Hanoi - 1. 30th June and 1st July there 2. Overnight train on 1st from Hanoi to Hue 3. 2 and 3 in Hue 4. 4th - Mid day train to Da Nang 5. 4-5 days in Da Nang and visit Hoi An for a day 6. 9th flight back to Hanoi. 7. 10th back to India Now i made this because some are saying South will have a lot of rain right now. But apparently it is super hot in North as well. Shall i change Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh and change some of the places in the central part like add Nha trang or Phong Nha Cave, Da Lat etc? Sorry to come up with so many doubts but will really appreciate if you can take some time to help with this. Cheers hello all! My boyfriend and I are travelling to Vietnam in July and I'm looking for some advice on tours in Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park. I have been trying to find some into on the tours/caves and have had some advice to do the Hang En 2D1N tour with Oxalis. I have a fear of heights/slopes and he is not the strongest swimmer. In saying that I have a fear of heights, I would manage as long as I had something to hold onto - I just cant handle being atop any cliff edges without a barrier, or going up/down really steep inclines. I'm also a regular bush walker so the actual trekking shouldn't be an issue as long as there's no insanely steep edges. Has anyone had any experience with this tour and does it sound like it would be suited for us? TIA!! p.s are there any swimming spots throughout the trek - I am a keen swimmer! The beginning of June to mid July is rainy season, so it's up to you whether it's a good season for you or not. It can also be quite humid and yucky. I prefer mid to late May for sunnier days and more spring flowers. A JR Pass won't be cost effective unless you're going on a LOT of trains. It might be worthwhile price wise, if you're making a round trip to Hiroshima, but if its only down to Kyoto or Osaka, you won't be saving any money. The most efficient way to go to Hakone is to get the Hakone Free Pass on the Odakyu Line. If you are continuing down to Kyoto, you can take the Shinkansen from Odawara. Here are some sites to do some research. With only one week, you'll really need to plan your trip well. Perhaps coming into Narita, then going out of Osaka/Kansai airport. Or vice versa. Choose Tues., Wed., or Thurs. for Disney. Tokyo Kyoto Nara Japan Disney Disney crowd schedule Disney Planner I would guess the cost would be several hundred dollars. It would be smarter to rent a car. It would be even smarter to do something else. Driving 10 hours to spend 3 hours actually at the destination makes zero sense. Especially since the volcano is inactive and very frequently hidden by clouds. Day trips to Arenal from the Guanacaste coast are pretty much a waste of a vacation day. Rincon de la Vieja offers an active volcano where you can actually witness the activity. And it's about 3 hours closer than Arenal. Edited: 3 years ago I know there are tons of posts about hotels, but there are so many choices and I'm quickly becoming overwhelmed and would love advice! My family of 4 (two adults and two kids, 6 and 10) are traveling to NYC 10/19-10/23. Looking for: - A suite with king bed/pullout couch OR a decent size room two queens. Hoping to avoid the typical tiny NYC room with two double beds, - budget is $300-$400 - Would love a kitchenette or access to quick breakfast in lobby (coffee and pastries for example) - prefer modern style to victorian if possible - convenient location, but maybe not right in the middle of Times Square - kid friendly-ish Thanks! ***Very helpful, thank you so much. I am also looking at the Secaucus, Harmon Meadows, Jersey City, East Rutherford areas. They seem to all be located in the same general area? Does anyone know how accessible those area are to trains/buses to Manhattan and ideas of travel times? Also, whether any of these areas would not be recommended? Thanks*** Secaucus would be bus into the Port Authority or a hotel shuttle to Secaucus Junction for a train into Penn Station. Jersey City is the best option from the NJ locations you mention, but only if its within walking distance of the PATH. East Rutherford puts you further out and requires a bus into the Port Authority. Not all of the East Rutherford hotels are convenient to the bus. The hotels along Paterson Plank Road are on the 163/164 line. Few other things, where are you flying into? Or are you driving? The money you save by staying outside the city get washed away due to commuting costs and time. Its best to stay in NYC when visiting NYC. The bus option is subject to traffic and what should be a 15 minute commute, can easily turn into an hour. Return busses from the Port Authorty have lines and sometimes one fills up and youre still waiting for another. Far from optimum for a tourist as these are commuter lines. Edited: 3 years ago -:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:- Tripadvisor staff removed this post because it did not meet Tripadvisor's forum posting guidelines with regards to family-friendly language and/or subject matter. We will remove messages or topics that contain objectionable language and images (avatars or links to pornography), including but not limited to profanity, obscenity, vulgarity, pornographic literature, racial slurs, hate speech, personal insults, hostile comments and threatening language. To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. Farewell to Nadir Naldi, crowd at wake A life in fashion and music in Bologna, New York and Morocco (ANSAmed) - BOLOGNA, JUNE 20 - The wake in Bologna for photographer Nadir Naldi, who died last Saturday, brought a large crowd of friends, intellectuals, figures from the worlds of fashion and music, as well as politicians, including Bologna Mayor Virginio Merola, together at Tassinari Hall in the city's D'Accursio Palace. Naldi was born in Bologna in 1953 and lived between the Italian city and Morocco, following a life in New York as a fashion photographer who had worked with, among others, brands such as La Perla. During his career, which always had a very personal style, Naldi also photographed album covers for emerging Bologna artists. He is survived by his wife, Alessandra, and two children.(ANSAmed). Commercial rabbit farming in Kenya is one of the great sources of employment and income. This business has grown terrifically over the last few years. For rabbit farming business, you can also take help with your family members. This article will provide you a complete guide on establishment rabbit farming business in Kenya. Follow this article and start rabbit farming business with small amount of investment. Source: rottenraw.com Rabbit rearing is very easy and entertaining. Rabbit meat is among the best source of protein and it is healthier than other meats. This is the reason, rabbit farming in Kenya becoming popular gradually. As compare to turkey, beef, pork and chicken meat, the meat of rabbit contain less fat and more protein. Previously, in Kenya, commercial rabbit farming to produce meat has not taken very seriously. But now, the things are changed. Now rabbit farmers are raising the numbers of rabbit which producing high amount of meat for commercial production of rabbit meat. By doing this business, they are earning a good amount of money. READ ALSO: Commercial pig farming in Kenya Benefits of rabbit farming in Kenya Source: tuko.co.ke There are numerous benefits of commercial rabbit farming in Kenya. In Kenya, the major benefits of rabbit farming business are given below. The rate of converting food to meat is higher on the rabbit as compare to other livestock animals. Like broiler chicken, rabbits are also very fast growing animal. They grown-up very fast and become appropriate for slaughtering purpose within four to five months. You dont need to invest lots of money for starting rabbit farming business in Kenya. Even, you can establish commercial rabbit farming in a well ventilated little space. Development period of a rabbit is less (commonly between 28-31 days) and after every two months, a doe gives birth of kids. Every time one doe can give birth of two to eight kids. The costs of feeding for rabbit farming business in Kenya is also very less. If you want to reduce feeding cost for rabbits then you can simply feed your rabbits by giving kitchen waste materials; plant leaves, grasses, etc. with their usual commercial feed. Rabbit meat is nutritious and very tasty. All types of people including aged people can easily digest and consume rabbit meat. How to start commercial rabbit farming in Kenya? Source: morningchores.com Rabbits are one of the small sized animals. So, you can easily start a commercial rabbit farming business in Kenya. Before starting the business, you have to make a proper plan for the business. Here are the most important steps are given for starting rabbit farming Kenya business. A. Choose rabbit breeds There are different types of rabbit breeds available all over the world. The most popular and highly productive breeds include; New Zealand Black, New Zealand Red, Dark Gray (internal), New Zealand White, Belgium White, and Chinchilla etc. Depending on the availability of breeds, you can choose a breed for your production. B. Rabbit farming method There are two types of rabbit farming method which include; cage farming method and deep litter farming method. Here is a short description of each method. Cage farming method Cage method is the best method for rabbit farming business in Kenya. In this method, the rabbits are kept in a small or big cage, which is made by wire or iron plate. Cage method is very helpful for raising a maximum number of rabbits. Keep necessary facilities and sufficient space, within every cage. Keep the male rabbits and female rabbits in a different cage. During the breeding period, keep male and female rabbits together in a separate cage. Deep Litter Method If you want to raise less number of rabbits then deep litter method is best. For deep litter method, the concrete floor is more appropriate. Make four to five inches depth litter hay, husk, wood shavings or straw. In this method, the maximum number of rabbits you can raise in a rabbit house is thirty. Keep the male rabbits and female rabbits in a separate room. Risks of diseases are increased in deep litter method. To manage the rabbits in this method become difficult for sometimes. C. Feeding Source: riseandshinerabbitry.com The rate of feeding consumption and requirements of nutrient are depended on the type of rabbit breeds and age of rabbits. For adult rabbits, the appropriate amount of nutrition contains fourteen percent fiber, seven percent minerals, seventeen to eighteen percent crude protein and 2700 kilocalorie per kg of metabolic energy. The common foods of rabbits are green leafy vegetables, muller, green grass, cucumber, seasonal vegetable, carrots, vegetable wastes and spinach. You can also serve poultry fees to rabbits for commercial purpose. You need to give them sufficient amount of fresh and clean water according to their demand. D. Breeding At the age of five to six months, rabbits become suitable and mature for the purpose of breeding. But dont use the male rabbits for breeding purpose until they reach their first birthday. Doing this will make sure, quality young rabbits for commercial production. For breeding purpose, you should always go for healthy rabbits with appropriate body weight. Provide nutritious feed and take special care to the pregnant female and breeding male rabbits. The development period of rabbits is about twenty eight to thirty days. READ ALSO: Areas suitable for watermelon farming in Kenya Rabbit market in Kenya Source: dinocro.info The process of marketing plays the most important role in rabbit farming business. For selling chicken, fish or goats there is formal markets but there is no formal market. If you keep rabbits for sale purpose then also you can earn a good amount of money. Due to increasing demands of rabbit meat, slaughterhouses of rabbit meat are coming up. Now-a-days, many people are keeping rabbits and others want to join this business because they know very well that the animals fetch good income. Rabbit farming market is very huge. The main markets for rabbit meat and rabbits are listed below. Rabbit Breeders Association of Kenya (RABAK) Source: rabak.or.ke Rabbit Breeders Association of Kenya is a company which provides a market for rabbits. This organization was started to generate employment and wealth for farmers. Recently, the organization supplies rabbit meat to Uchumi Supermarket chain at an average of two Tonnes monthly. Peter Waiganjo of Rabak says the organization liaises with the Ministry of farm animals in Thika to slaughter and buy the animals. We slaughter every Wednesday morning. The exercise ends at 11 am. We buy the rabbits at Sh360 per kilogram. Payment is made in the afternoon. Said by Peter Waiganjo He also adds: Once the rabbit is slaughtered and skinned, it is inspected by a health official before it is packaged and sold to Uchumi supermarkets. To know any information regarding rabbit farming training in Kenya click here. Contacts Address: Rabbit Breeders Association of Kenya (RABAK) C/o DPLO THIKA (West) P. O. Box 630 01000 Thika Website: rabak.or.ke E-mail: info@rabak.or.ke/ sungurarabak@gmail.com Telephone: +254 722 661088 The Rabbit Republic Limited Source: YouTube, @klr4you Rabbit Keeping in Kenya is encouraged by the The Rabbit Republic Limited and many more companies. Florence Ndambi of Rabbit Republic says they deal in buying and selling of animals. The company buys the animal and sells to different hotels in Nairobi. This is one of the best sources of rabbit farming income in Kenya. We deal with over 500 farmers. We sell to them our hybrid rabbits and train them on the best feeds and hygiene procedures. We then buy their bunnies. said by Florence Ndambi. Contacts Address: Room No. 20, 6th Floor, Standard Building, Standard St, Nairobi, Kenya Website: rabbitrepublic.co.ke/ Email: info@rabbitrepublic.co.ke Telephone: +254 20 2247970 Alcare Group Source: alcaregroup.com Alcare Group is an organization that buys rabbits. The owner of this organization, George Kibanya says that the company works with the owner of rabbits in twenty-four countries, out of the forty-seven. These are Kajiado, Kiambu, Machakos, Nakuru, Migori, Vihiga, Uasin Gishu, Mombasa, Nyamira, Bugoma, Bomet, Malindi, Kitui, Isiolo, Taita Taveta, Nyandarua, Muranga Nyeri, Trans Nzoia, Kericho, Kilifi, and Kakamega. We are working with about 1,000 rabbit farmers. Currently, we have about 800 farmers. We are open to about 200 more. said by the owner of Alcare Group. Alcare deals mainly with Canadian Dorwan Giant Rabbits. The firm slaughters approximately 3,000 animals in 1 month and exports to Canada. George Kibanya said We insist on training the farmers, and then we sell them a stock of eight rabbits, of which six are female and they have been served (inseminated). In about four months, each of the female rabbits will produce about eight bunnies. We buy them at Sh500 per kilogram. He adds: This is contractual farming and we work with farmers who we know the type of feeds they are giving to the rabbits we buy. However, we still work with independent farmers who have rabbits not bought from us. However, we pay about Sh350 to Sh450 per kilogram for their stock, depending on the type. Contacts Address: Gitaru Near Gitaru Market, Next to Eagle Home Baglers Website: alcaregroup.com/ Email: info@alcaregroup.com Telephone: 0718784649 READ ALSO: Dairy Farming in Kenya: Success stories Kenya Com Rabbit Consortium Ltd Source: phnompenhpost.com Kenya Com Rabbit Consortium Ltd offers products, mainly urine which farmers can use to make fertilizer for rabbits. You need at least twenty rabbits to start selling urine to any organization. This company buys 1 liter of urine at Sh100. In a recent interview, the director of KCRC, Robinson Runyenje said We use it to make fertilizer, which is a mixture of the rabbit urine and compost manure made from cow dung, wood ash, and foliage from plants. The mixture is put in a special digester and what comes out is an organic fertilizer called Rabbit Urine Extra. Contacts Website: rabbitsurineextra.com Email: info@ rabbitsurineextra.com Telephone: +254 725 600 710 Is rabbit farming profitable in Kenya? Source: biznakenya.com Rabbit farming business is one of the profitable ventures in Kenya. The productive capacity of rabbits is very high. Since a healthy female rabbit is able to produce more than 25 young in a year. You can start Rabbit meat business in a small area without investing huge money. To start this business, education qualification is not needed. You can easily earn a good amount of money after six months of establishment. Along with wool and meat, you can get large income by selling pelt, kits, and manure. Rabbit farming profitability in Kenya depends on the farm management. Here is an example of Josephine Razugu, who started rabbit farming as a hobby after that she becomes a wealthy business enterprise. He also said that this business is profitable for her. She stated, It started as a hobby in 2014. I began with 10 does (females) and eight bucks (males) which I kept in a small cage behind my house. They multiplied and I decided to go for training in Ngong town to familiarise myself with rabbit keeping. She wanted to expand this rabbit keeping business. I built five wire mesh cages as I saw an opportunity to make it a profitable business venture. I was ready to handle the risks that came along with it, she said. After 2 years, the numbers of rabbit she had is increased. Currently, she has 100 or more rabbits of four breeds- Californian White, New Zealand White, Dutch Dwarf breed, and Chinchilla. She highlighted, I have sold hundreds of rabbits. I never thought it would be such a successful venture because of the problems I had when I started out. Her rabbits generally feed on pellets and hay. When the rabbits are mature, their weight becomes 3-4 kilograms. She said, I sell a mature buck at Sh6, 000 and a doe for Sh5, 000 to farmers. Mine is a business enterprise but I am planning to start a project where I will be donating one rabbit to active groups of farmers for free and help them grow their own businesses then later extend the same to other youths or groups,. Challenges facing rabbit farming in Kenya Source: tuko.co.ke In Kenya, most of the people prefer to keep rabbits as pets. Due to the less popularity of rabbit farming as compared to other livestock, there have been small efforts in promotion, extension, and research. The main challenges facing rabbit farming in Kenya include; There is no formal marketing system for rabbit farming business. Tough to get manufactured feeds for rabbits. There are no specific medicines for rabbits. Insufficient knowledge among extension agents on diseases, treatment, and diagnosis. Health benefits of rabbit meat are not widely known. Factors affecting rabbit farming in Kenya Source: tuko.co.ke Rabbits grow fast mainly if fed well-reaching development at five months and slaughter weight at three months. They can originate their feed requirement completely on greens only. They require less property (space) with diminishing land size; therefore can be kept in the backyard or garden. They are prolific each doe capable of reproducing 4 times a year an average of 8 kits per kindling. Rabbit meat is the white meat of high protein, low cholesterol, easily digestible with low fat, and high quality compared to most other meats. They have one of the highest feed alteration ratios at 4:1. The good fats (unsaturated fats) in rabbit meat make sixty-three percent of the total fatty acids. As compared to other sources of meat, rabbit meat provides the lowest calories per kilogram of meat consumed. Rabbit meat is lesser in percentage fat than turkey, chicken, pork, and beef. Other important products from rabbits include skins, manure, and fur. They can also be produced as lab animals. Rabbit meat is one of the cleanest meats as it is raised off the ground. Source: Tuko Newspaper - Education CS directed school heads to end visiting days in school to enhance student focus - She also said the 2018 National Examination calendar was out already - Amina noted only candidates will be allowed in school during the exam period Parents with children in boarding schools will only see their children when they come home from school following a directive by the government which takes effect from Monday, June 20. Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed said on Tuesday, June 19, the move was meant to ensure there was uninterrupted focus by students. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens According to Daily Nation, the CS made the announcement during the annual Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA) conference in Mombasa. READ ALSO: Wazir Chacha, mwanamume aliyedaiwa kushiriki ngono na wabunge, arejea kwa mpigo Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed asked school heads to ban visiting days in schools. Photo: Amina Mohammed/ Facebook. READ ALSO: Homosexuals at Kakuma refugee camp receive death threats Amina also said the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC ) had already released the 2018 National Examinations calendar and only candidates sitting for the papers would be allowed in school. She noted her ministry would ensure there was sufficient surveillance at all examination centres to work with teams from multi-agency government officials. Principals must efficiently and effectively administer the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Examination due in a few months. Continue preparing candidates adequately to improve the results of this years examinations, Mohamed said. READ ALSO: KSh 7 billion corruption scandal hits Ministry of Health She urged the principals to guard against practices that might lead to exam irregularities, leading to the cancellation of results or deregistration of schools. You are the centre managers, waking up at the crack of dawn to pick up examination papers from the containers and returning scripts every evening," she said. READ ALSO: City lawyer tears into Miguna, terms him worse than a prostitute While noting the conference was a platform to discuss and evaluate policy and reflect on providing holistic education to students, she urged the 8,000 principals to improve the delivery of quality education. "You are all charged with the responsibility of leading thousands of secondary schools in our country. Similarly, you bear the enviable stature of impacting and influencing the lives of millions of children at their most sensitive and most critical stage," the CS said. READ ALSO: 7 mourners die, 11 others rushed to hospital after grisly road accident in Nakuru Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram : Tuko news. Top 5 Facts About Uhuru Kenyatta - Raila Odinga Pact - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko Unvaccinated students in Forms Four, Five and Six will not have the benefit of online teaching and learning come Monday, as the TTUTA President says teachers cannot do both physical and virtual engagements simultaneously. Militants launched 26 attacks on Ukrainian positions in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area in eastern Ukraine over the past day. This is reported by the press center of the JFO Headquarters. Russian-occupation troops violated ceasefire regime 26 times, using heavy weaponry banned under the Minsk agreements three times, the report reads. In Horlivka direction, the enemy tried to weaken the defensive positions of Ukrainian troops near Artemove (42km north-east of Donetsk). In Donetsk direction, militants launched provocative attacks from small arms outside Avdiivka (18km north of Donetsk) and Pisky (12km north-west of Donetsk). The tense situation was also observed near Starohnativka (52km south of Donetsk), Chermalyk (31km north-east of Mariupol), Talakivka (20km north-west of Mariupol) and Vodiane (16km north-west of Donetsk) in Mariupol direction. The units of the joint forces repealed the attacks of militants, who used artillery, mortars, infantry fighting vehicles and small arms, and did not allow the enemy to improve their tactical position. "Three Ukrainian servicemen were wounded in fighting in last day," the Headquarters reports. According to the intelligence, three militants were wounded. On the night of June 20, the armed hostilities abated. The fighting continued only with the use of small arms. As of 7.00 a.m., no losses were reported. ol The U.S. Senate has approved $716 billion National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2019. The document provides, among other things, the provision of assistance to Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. Thus, the bills Section 1233 "Extension of Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative" stipulates allocation of $200 million for fiscal year 2019. In addition, the document contains a provision on the need to "support robust security assistance for Ukraine, including defensive lethal assistance, while promoting necessary defense institutional reforms." ol Gaza: 40 rockets against Israel, air strikes on Strip Population in shelters in western Negev (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, JUNE 20 - A reported 40 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards western Negev and the city of Ashqelon, forcing tens of thousands of Israelis to seek shelter. In parallel, the Israeli air force targeted over 25 Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip, including ''an underground tunnel'', an Israeli military spokesman said, adding no victims had been reported so far. Military radio reported that the Iron Dome air defense systems intercepted seven Palestinian rockets before they hit the ground. ''The terrorist organization Hamas - said a military spokesman - targeted Israeli civilians throughout the night with a rocket attack and is dragging down the Gaza Strip with all its residents. Hamas - he added - is responsible for what originates from Gaza'', the spokesman added, referring to the constant launch of explosive balloons and kites that have caused extensive fires in western Negev. Twenty fires were reported in the area on Tuesday alone. (ANSAmed) Since the beginning of combat actions in eastern Ukraine, sapper units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have disposed almost 203,000 explosive devices, the Defense Ministry reports. During last week, Defense Ministrys sapper units of the Joint Forces Operation examined over 11 ha of land and disposed almost 4,625 units of explosive devices, cleared 2.2 km or roads, reads the report. In general, since the start of combat actions, military sappers have disposed almost 203,000 mines and explosive devices in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Also, military sappers cleared almost 1,300 km or roads and routes and about 18 km of rail. iy Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has discussed the readiness of the free trade agreement with the leadership of Israel. This is reported by the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine. "One of the main results of the visit of Pavlo Klimkin was discussion of the readiness of the free trade agreement between Ukraine and Israel with the leadership of the State of Israel at the political level. The negotiations on conclusion of the free trade agreement have lasted almost six years," the statement reads. The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine reports that the 11th meeting of the Joint Ukrainian-Israeli Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation was held in Jerusalem on June 11 under the co-chairmanship of Pavlo Klimkin and Zeev Elkin, the Minister for Environmental Protection, Jerusalem Affairs and the Heritage of Israel. During the meeting, the parties discussed a package of issues of common interest, particularly in the areas of trade and investment, agriculture and water management, energy and communications, standardization and tourism. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The parties discussed bilateral cooperation and oncoming visit of the Israeli Prime Minister to Ukraine. ol In January-April 2018, Ukraine exported goods worth $15.5 billion, most of all - to the EU, Russia, Turkey, India and Egypt. Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska wrote this on Twitter. "Exports of goods in January-April of this year amounted to $15.5 billion and increased by $1.8 billion compared with the same period in 2017," the report reads. The Economic Development and Trade Ministry notes that most of all Ukraine exported goods to the EU, Russia, Turkey, India and Egypt. ish Small privatization in Ukraine will start in a few weeks. First Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Maksym Nefiodov said this during the briefing on signing of the road map between the Justice Ministry of Ukraine and state-owned enterprise System of Electronic Trading in Seized Property (SETAM), an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "We start small privatization in a few weeks," Nefiodov said. As reported, the State Property Fund of Ukraine determined and made public more than 600 facilities throughout the country, which are going to be sold within the small-scale privatization program in 2018. The approved facilities include recreation camps, premises and training plant in Odesa region, hospital, workshops and cafes in Lviv region, summer camp, parking lot and gas supply facility in Mykolayiv region and the like. ol Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has stated that the foreign debts accumulated for 2005-2013 impede raising social standards in Ukraine now. He said this at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Policy, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "In 2005-2013, Ukraine accumulated almost $50 billion in foreign debts. This year we have to spend UAH 130 billion to service these debts. In the next five years, we have to pay $33 billion dollars without servicing. These are serious resources, which put a strain on the Ukrainian economy, the Ukrainian budget and hinder us from raising social standards," Groysman said. ol Since the beginning of the decentralization reform, the local budgets of Ukraines united territorial communities have doubled. Vice Prime Minister - Minister for Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Hennadiy Zubko said this at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Policy, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. "In 2014, when the decentralization reform was launched, the local budgets made only 40-67 billion of the development budget, and this was practically with those subventions that came in. Now we have 150 billion. The support and budgeting have almost doubled since 2015. If we talk about the united communities, then they also doubled the local budgets," he said. The vice premier stressed that the financial decentralization had transferred 51% of the consolidated budget of Ukraine to the regions. "This is one of the important steps that was created in 2015. Today we have a concrete result," he said. ish The Federal Republic of Germany will continue to support Ukraine on its European path and assist in solving current issues related to domestic political transformation processes. Minister of State for Europe at the German Federal Foreign Office, Michael Roth, stated this during a meeting with Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister for European Integration, Olena Zerkal, in Kyiv on June 18th, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reports. Olena Zerkal informed her German counterpart about measures taken by Ukraine in securing human rights, including the right of minorities. She stressed that this work as a component of the implementation of European integration course is based on the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. According to ministrys press service, the interlocutors confirmed the common position on ensuring basic human rights, especially national, ethnic ones and the rights of other minorities, as one of the key areas in the context of commitment to European values. Olena Zerkal and Michael Roth also discussed issues of energy security in Europe. The Ukrainian side provided convincing arguments regarding the anti-Ukrainian orientation of the Nord Stream-2 project and called on Germany to cooperate in order to use the Ukrainian transmission system effectively. The Ukrainian deputy minister thanked the Government of Germany for practical assistance in implementing systemic reforms. For his part, Michael Roth assured that Berlin will continue to support Ukraine in solving the pressing challenges associated with domestic political transformational processes. iy In 2018, fifty-seven bills have been included in the roadmap for the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Vice Prime Minister for European Integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said this at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Policy, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "We have agreed on a joint roadmap for legislative support for implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement Last year, we adopted 23 European integration laws. The roadmap, which we have agreed for this year, includes 57 bills. I think it's possible to say that this roadmap works as we have already approved 12 bills from 57 bills, which were agreed on February 28 this year. Five of them were passed in the second reading, while seven were passed in the first reading," the official said. She also outlined the priority tasks for 2018 for further political integration of Ukraine into the EU: "This year, we will focus on four key areas: Ukraine's integration into the EU energy markets, single digital market of the EU, cooperation in the field of justice, freedom and security and interaction in the field of customs cooperation and technical regulation." ol World Refugee Day is marked on June 20. On December 4, 2000, the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 55/76 decided that, from June 20, 2001 would be celebrated as World Refugee Day, simultaneously with the African Refugee Day. This day is marked in order to draw the public's attention to the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict and persecution. According to the latest data of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, at least 65.6 million people worldwide, that is, every 113th, are forcibly displaced persons in their own country or abroad. Although most people, who become refugees, are of Syrian descent, the situation in South Sudan has deteriorated recently - 1.4 million people from this country are refugees, and 1.9 million people are forcibly displaced persons. Ukraine faced such problem after the beginning of Russia's aggression, namely the illegal annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas. Ukraine is among the countries with the largest number of internally displaced persons. As of June 18, 2018, according to the data of the structural subdivisions of the social protection departments at the regional and Kyiv city state administrations, 1.510,708 internally displaced persons or 1.235,400 families from Donbas and Crimea were registered. The experts underline the importance for the bill to be adopted ahead of the NATO Summit in Brussels. Ukraine's brand new Bill on National Security, which has been approved for second reading by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on national security and defense, sees support on the part of international partners and the International Advisory Group, Committee member, MP Iryna Friz (BPP) wrote on Facebook. In their letter, partners note that "the draft text resulting from our discussion on 15 June sufficiently addresses the concerns elaborated in our 15 March letter and makes the draft law on National Security consistent with key European and Euro-Atlantic principles, As a result we would welcome the adoption of the draft law by the Verkhovna Rada in second reading, Any possible further changes or amendments to the text would need to be further analyzed by IAG advisers in terms of their alignments with European and Euro-Atlantic standards and principles, which would require additional time," Friz wrote.. The deputy also noted that in their letter, the experts underline the importance for the bill to be adopted ahead of the NATO Summit in Brussels. "In the light of the upcoming NATO Summit in Brussels, we encourage you to continue to maintain the open dialogue needed for the Verkhovna Rada to adopt this draft law no later than on 22 June 2018. Doing so will send a strong message of Ukraine's continued commitment to security and defence sector reform and to European and Euro-Atlantic integration, as well as setting the conditions to maximize bilateral security assistance to Ukraine," Friz quoted the IAG as saying. Read alsoPoroshenko enacts NSDC decision on measures to test arms, military equipment "To put it short, the previous version of the working group has been declined. We returned to the redaction of the president's bill that had been adopted in first reading, taking into account eight amendments. This version was fully supported by our international partners. The last step has been taken to have the bill considered in the Verkhovna Rada," the deputy reported. As UNIAN reported earlier, on June 19, the Parliament's Committee on national security and defense advised that the Rada adopt the national security bill. At a Committee meeting, it was reported that some 427 amendments had been filed to the bill, of which 116 had been taken into account. At the same time, the Anticorruption Action Center said that the Committee had failed to consider the amendments that would deprive the SBU security service of non-typical functions in the area of economy and anti-corruption. On Wednesday, June 20, the Verkhovna Rada plans to start consideration of the national security bill to ensure that the new legislation is voted as early as June 21. Migrant arrivals by sea down 34% in 2017 - OECD Organization cites Italian agreements with Libya (ANSAmed) - ROME, JUNE 20 - The OECD said Wednesday that the number of migrants to arrive in Italy via sea fell by over a third last year. "In 2017, 119,000 migrants landed on the Italian coasts, 34% fewer than in 2016 and 22% fewer than in 2015," the Paris-based organisation said in its 2018 International Migration Outlook. "This reduction follows the Italian-Libyan agreements signed at the beginning of 2017 which imposed a barrier to migrant inflows from Africa. "Even so, the main sources remain Nigeria, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire". The number of Italians emigrants rose 11% in 2016, the OECD said. "A growing number of Italians left the country," the report said. "The number of Italians who declared their transfer of residence abroad increased by over 11% from 102,000 in 2015 to 114,000 in 2016. "Declared emigration is likely an underestimation; estimates of the actual Italian emigration in 2016 range between 125,000 and 300,000". (ANSAmed). According to Putin's spox, the Russian Ombudsperson "must have this information." Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says "no information" is available on whether a Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov is alive or not. The comment comes as a response to an UNIAN correspondent's question on why the Russian side denied a Ukrainian Ombudsperson contact with Sentsov even via videolink. "I can't answer why they refused to have a video call. That's because it is required to receive information in the relevant agencies, in the Federal Penitentiary Service, and [Ombudsperson Tatiana] Moskalkova must have such information. He's a prisoner after all, and it's impossible to establish video communication with every prisoner," Peskov said. Read alsoSentsov not to request pardon from Putin - Gerashchenko Responding to a direct question on whether Sentsov is still alive, Peskov replied: "I received no information that he had any health issues, so I cannot have such information at all and I cannot say anything about it." Commenting on the statement by the Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner, Liudmyla Denisova, that Russia is blocking access to Ukrainian prisoners, despite the agreement reached between the presidents of the two countries, and that Moskalkova has no authority to make such decisions, since she must coordinate all actions with someone in the Russian leadership, Peskov said that it is not about the presidential administration. "Verification of lists is underway. In addition, as far as we know, ombudspersons [are deciding], how they'll be visiting: simultaneously or not It's these discussions that are causing the delay," Peskov claimed. According to the official, "there were complications with the transfer and because of the weather, conditions, the Ukrainian colleague could not fly out." "This process is not an easy one, but this work is under way," Peskov assured. At the same time, the main committee on these bills is the Committee on Legal Policy and Justice. Director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Volodymyr Viatrovych has said the Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government backed the renaming of Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions. Read alsoSweeping out Soviet past: Kirovohrad renamed Kropyvnytsky "The Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has backed the proposal to rename Dnipropetrovsk region into Sicheslavsk, and Kirovohrad region into Kropyvnytskyi. Decommunization cannot be stopped," he wrote on Facebook. According to the agenda of today's meeting of the committee, the deputies considered the draft law on amendments to Article 133 of the Constitution of Ukraine (on renaming Dnipropetrovsk region) (No. 8329) and the draft law on amendments to Article 133 of the Constitution of Ukraine (on renaming Kirovohrad region) (No.8880). At the same time, the main committee on these bills is the Committee on Legal Policy and Justice. Moskalkova said Sentsov did not apply to her with a request for pardon. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland believes Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, convicted in Russia, must be pardoned for humanitarian reasons and is ready to make a petition for this. Read alsoKremlin claims doesn't know if Sentsov alive Speaking after the meeting with High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatiana Moskalkova, he said Sentsov should be released for humanitarian reasons. According to Jagland, Sentsov can be pardoned, and if there is a need for a petition for pardoning him, he would gladly do it on the basis of the European Convention of Human Rights, RFE/RL's Ukrainian service reports. In turn, Moskalkova said Sentsov did not apply to her with a request for pardon. "Personally to me, he [Sentsov] did not appeal with such a request, and I did not have the entire package of legal documents to fully assess this situation," she told journalists. Ukraine has shown itself to be worthy of taking the next step in its relations with NATO. NATO is gearing up for its next summit. The Alliance's Brussels summit in July will take place against the backdrop of growing Transatlantic strains. Europe's chagrin over U.S. policies on the Iran deal, climate, and trade is mirrored by U.S. President Donald Trump's dissatisfaction with European allies' share of NATO defense spending. Even in this difficult environment, the summit will beget progress on a number of areas, such as updating the NATO command structure; improving military readiness and mobility; and strengthening NATO training missions in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries aimed at fighting terrorism, Alexander Vershbow, a Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council, a former Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Assistant Secretary of Defense, and U.S. Ambassador to NATO and Russia, wrote in an article for RealClearWorld. However, there is one concrete initiative that can unite allies across the Atlantic and bolster our collective security: strengthening NATO's partnership with Ukraine, Vershbow said. Ukraine wants to join NATO. This is not immediately possible given the current security situation and the status of Ukraine's defense reforms, although it must remain on the table. For now, the Alliance can increase its cooperation with Ukraine independently of the membership question. While not a replacement for membership, inviting Ukraine to become an Enhanced Opportunities Partner is the natural next step in Kyiv's relationship with NATO. Read alsoStoltenberg hopes Ukraine, Hungary able to find solution in language row NATO launched the Enhanced Opportunities Partnership for Dialogue and Cooperation in 2014. Its goal was to strengthen the interoperability developed between allies and key partners in the aftermath of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. EOP status is awarded to those partners which have most significantly contributed to NATO missions. The list of designated countries remains small, comprising Australia, Finland, Georgia, Jordan, and Sweden. According to Vershbow, Ukraine does not count among them, but Kyiv has more than met the criteria needed to earn this designation. First of all, Ukraine pulls its weight in NATO missions. It has increased its contribution to the Resolute Support Mission, which provides training, advice and assistance for Afghan forces and institutions. Kyiv has been a significant contributor to allied operations in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, and it is one of just four non-members to contribute to the NATO Response Force, together with Georgia, Finland, and Sweden. Ukraine currently contributes 5 percent of its gross domestic product to defense, more than any NATO ally. Four years of war against Russian-backed forces in the Donbas have forged the most battle-hardened troops on the European continent and bolstered a significant military-industrial sector. Ukrainian capabilities, knowledge, and technical expertise would be of significant value to the Alliance. No one else has as much knowledge of Russia as Ukraine, nor as much practical expertise in combatting Russian use of cyber-attacks, disinformation, and other forms of "hybrid warfare" aimed at undermining our democracies. Ukraine will also play a major role in Alliance efforts to strengthen its security in the Black Sea in order to protect NATO's southeastern flank, the author said. Read alsoNATO PA declaration urges Allies to back Ukraine's membership hopes EOP status would recognize that special relationship and take the partnership to the next level. It would bring Kyiv into more political consultations with NATO at the ambassadorial and working level, would grant it more access to exercises, and would increase information sharing. Far from being a one-way relationship, it would also significantly enhance NATO's expertise and operational skills. Some allies may be reluctant to support this step, but strong U.S. leadership could make it happen. Debate within the Alliance on this issue has been deadlocked for several months by Hungary's refusal to agree to a meeting of NATO and Ukrainian heads of state during the Brussels Summit. Hungary has raised questions about the application of Ukraine's new Education Law to Hungarian-speaking minorities in Western Ukraine. In response, Kyiv has offered a series of measures to ensure that Hungarian speakers can continue to take courses in the Hungarian language at all levels while also mastering the state language, the expert stressed. There are indications that Budapest may now be ready to delink this issue from the security and sovereignty of Ukraine and allow a heads-of-state meeting to take place, perhaps pairing Ukraine and Georgia since the latter also faces Russian threats to its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Such a meeting would be a positive move and would open the way to a favorable decision on granting EOP status to Ukraine. It would also deprive Russian propagandists of an opportunity to sow divisions between Ukraine and NATO. The Trump administration has shown that it is willing to support Ukraine's security, not least through the recent decision to supply Javelin anti-tank missiles. Now Washington can show that it can unite NATO allies by further strengthening the Alliance's partnership with Ukraine, the main victim of Russian aggression. Ukraine has shown itself to be worthy of taking the next step in its relations with NATO. Granting Ukraine EOP status would not only be a symbolic reward for its hard work in support of the Alliance, but a boost for NATO's own security as well. The intensity of hostilities decreased overnight Wednesday. On Tuesday, Russian-occupation forces violated the ceasefire regime 26 times, including three times with the use of heavy weapons banned by the Minsk agreements, according to the press center of the Joint Forces Operation HQ. In the Horlivka direction, militants never ceased attempts to weaken the defensive lines of Ukraine's Armed Forces in the vicinity of the Artemove settlement, the JFO HQ wrote on Facebook. In the Donetsk direction, outside Avdiyivka and Pisky, the invaders opened provocative fire from small arms. Read alsoUkraine's Joint Forces show new evidence of Russian military presence in Donbas (Photo) The situation in the Mariupol direction remains tense in the areas of Starohnativka, Chermalyk, Talakivka, and Vodiane. "JFO units adequately responded to the enemy fire from artillery, mortars, infantry fighting vehicles and small arms, not allowing the enemy to improve their tactical position. Yesterday, three of our servicemen were wounded in action. According to an intelligence report, three invaders were wounded as well," the report said. Read alsoDonbas militants shell Ukraine positions, hit medevac vehicle Overnight Wednesday, the intensity of hostilities decreased. The fighting prevailed with the use of small arms. As of 7:00 on Wednesday, no casualties were reported. The State Department noted that Russia should support the efforts of the Special Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine instead of limiting them. The United States has called on Russia to stop harassing the OSCE SMM in Donbas, according to State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert. "Russias proxies again escalated recklessly by firing surface to air missiles at @OSCE civilian UAVs in eastern #Ukraine on June 9 & 15. Stop harassing the SMM. #Russia should support the SMM and its efforts to bring peace," Nauert tweeted. The OSCE spot report of June 15, 2018, said an SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that was flying over militant-controlled Betmanove recorded a condensation trail of a missile following a ballistic trajectory at a significantly lower altitude than the UAV from the north-east. Immediately after, the UAV recorded a surface-to-air missile system (9K33 Osa) (in violation of withdrawal lines) about 2km north-west of Panteleimonivka (non-government-controlled), and about 4km north-east of the area where the UAV was flying, firing a second missile in the direction of the UAV which also followed a ballistic trajectory at a significantly lower altitude than the UAV. Read alsoDonbas militants fire warning shots, harassing SMM patrol About three minutes later, the UAV recorded a probable anti-aircraft gun (ZU-23, 23mm) located near the surface-to-air missile system also firing several rounds in the direction of the UAV. The SMM assessed the fire as directed at the UAV which was returned to base safely. The UAV transponder had been tested prior to the flight and was functional at the time of the incident. The SMM had also, as per established procedure, given notice of the UAV flight in the general area. The Lithuanian leader believes that the Western powers are naive in their assessment of Russia. President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite says a threat of Russia's invasion of Lithuania remains but if the country shows that it can and is ready to defend itself, this will not happen. "The likelihood [of Russian invasion] is high if we don't constantly defend ourselves," Grybauskaite said in an interview with Der Spiegel. "If we demonstrate that we are able and willing to defend ourselves, no one will attack us," the Lithuanian leader is convinced. According to the president, the country should be prepared for a possible Russian attack both "politically and technologically." Read alsoLithuanian president on Russia's Iskander in Kaliningrad: A threat to half of Europe "Russian troops on the border with the Baltics and Poland are ten times stronger than those of NATO. But there's more than just numbers. It's about obligations and the will to defense. If our people and our partners support this, we have no grounds to be occupied," added Grybauskaite. The President of Lithuania believes that the Western states are naive in their assessment of Russia. "Only when they have been attacked and they notice that Russia interferes in their interests, spies on them or manipulates their elections do they wake up," added Grybauskaite. As UNIAN reported earlier, Estonia plans to spend almost EUR 190 million on strengthening its border with Russia. Nikki Haley calls organization "hypocritical and self-serving." The United States is set to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council, with the U.S. ambassador to the UN calling the organization a "protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias". Ambassador Nikki Haley said the withdrawal was not a retreat from the U.S.'s commitment to human rights, but called the 47-member, international council an organization that is not worthy of its name," according to The Independent. The U.S. has long called for the body to reform, saying it allows members that have been accused human rights violations. Ms Haley pointed to the involvement of countries like China, Cuba and Venezuela in her speech on Tuesday. Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights, Haley said. Ms Haley also accused the council of maintaining a disproportionate focus and unending hostility towards Israel" that shows it is "motivated by political bias, not by human rights". Read alsoPolitical differences between Trump, EU leaders threatening NATO Stoltenberg Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN human rights chief, called the announcement "disappointing, if not really surprising". "Given the state of human rights in today's world, the U.S. should be stepping up, not stepping back," he said in a statement. Washington's withdrawal is the latest U.S. rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was signed with a number of other world powers. It also comes as the U.S. faces intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Mr al-Hussein has called on Washington to halt the unconscionable policy. Diplomats have said the US's withdrawal from the council could bolster countries such as Cuba, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan, which resist what they see as UN interference in sovereign issues. Ms Haley, announcing the withdrawal at the State Department alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said that if the council does reform, the United States would be happy to rejoin. Read alsoPutin's "euphoria" threatening Ukraine expert The U.S. has also sought to withdraw from the UN Scientific, Educational, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), citing anti-Israel bias. The human rights body was formed in 2006, but was shunned by the administration of President George W Bush. In 2009, President Barack Obama reversed that decision after taking office. A sitting member of the Council has never dropped out in its 12-year history, though Libya was kicked out after a vote from the General Assembly in 2011. But it will take months to complete and faces several hurdles along the way, with President Gjorge Ivanov pledging to veto the deal. Macedonia's parliament has ratified an agreement with Greece to change the former Yugoslav republic's name at a plenary session that was boycotted by the main opposition party. Lawmakers on June 20 voted 69-0 to ratify the agreement, which changes the country's formal name to the Republic of North Macedonia, RFE/RL reported. The opposition nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party boycotted the session. The draft legislation required a simple majority from the at least 61 deputies required for a quorum. Read alsoGreece, Macedonia sign pact to change ex-Yugoslav republic's name Ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev defended the "historic" accord before the National Assembly, saying it represents a dignified and acceptable solution for both sides. "We did not give up anything to anyone," Zaev insisted. Lawmakers on June 19 launched the process of ratifying the accord, as hundreds of protesters gathered in the center of Skopje for a third day to vent anger over the deal. They voted 69-40 for the adoption of a shortened procedure, and two parliamentary committees later approved the draft law on ratifying the deal. The agreement, signed by the two countries' foreign ministers on June 17, ends a 27-year dispute between Athens and Skopje and paves the way for Macedonia to begin membership talks with the European Union and NATO. But it will take months to complete and faces several hurdles along the way, with President Gjorge Ivanov pledging to veto the deal. That would force lawmakers to repeat the vote, and if the deal is ratified again this time with an absolute majority then Ivanov will be unable to block it. Ivanov on June 20 reiterated that his position on the "damaging agreement" remained the same "in spite of pressure." "I urge Zaev to muster the two-thirds majority necessary to impeach the president, the same he will need to change the constitution [to incorporate the name change]," he also said in a statement. Zaev has pledged to hold a referendum on the deal later this year. If Macedonians vote in favor, the next step will be for lawmakers to approve a constitutional amendment formally changing the country's name. The Greek parliament would then vote on the deal, which has split the governing coalition and is rejected by most opposition parties. The name dispute between Skopje and Athens dates back to 1991, when Macedonia peacefully broke away from Yugoslavia, declaring its independence under the name Republic of Macedonia. Greece has objected to the name Macedonia, fearing territorial claims on its eponymous northern region. Because of Greek objections, Macedonia was admitted to the UN under a provisional name, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Greece, an EU and NATO member, has also cited the dispute to veto Macedonia's bid to join the two organizations. Over the past two decades, the number of forcibly displaced people has grown substantially. For the first time in modern history, nearly 1% of the global population is displaced. Among them are more than 22 million refugees, over half are under 18.2 The magnitude and urgency of the crisis requires support from all parts of society including business. Thats why we are committed to helping people navigate these challenging times and rebuild their lives, while working to make our business more resilient. As Rebecca Marmot, Global VP, Advocacy and Partnerships, explains: We mobilise our strongest assets our brands, employees, products and partnerships to help displaced individuals and their families access everyday essentials, develop their skills and settle into their new homes. We also use our voice as a global company to raise awareness, engage the private sector and champion policies that support refugee rights. To ensure we can make the greatest and most sustainable impact, we align these initiatives with our business objectives. This both unlocks growth and drives support to tackle the refugee crisis. Here are three of our initiatives, in the words of the refugees and Unilever employees involved. Macedonia: New nationalist protests, accord to be ratified President could be removed for 'halting European path' (ANSAmed) - SKOPJE, JUNE 20 - A protest by nationalist demonstrators was held in Skopje, Macedonia, in front of Parliament last night against an agreement on the name (Republic of North Macedonia) reached with Greece. Parliament on Wednesday is expected to ratify the agreement. Security was tight for the protest, which ended with no reported incident. Demonstrators asked the government to resign, accusing it of betrayal and of giving in to Greece's request. 'Macedonia to Macedonians', 'Don't touch our name' were some of the slogans chanted by protesters who support conservative president, Gjorgje Ivanov, who also opposes the agreement. Yesterday, the Social Democratic Premier Zoran Zaev, who signed last Sunday the agreement with his Greek counterpart alexis Tsipras at the border between the two countries, did not rule out the possibility of starting a procedure for the ouster of president Ivanov, who is accused of halting Macedonia's path to EU and Nato membership. The acceleration towards the agreement in fact was explained by the government with the need to approve it before a European summit next week, when Brussels is expected to set a date for the start of EU membership talks with Skopje, which was at a standstill due to Greece's opposition over the name of the former Yugoslav country. The conservative opposition is not expected to take part in the vote to ratify the agreement in Parliament Wednesday. (ANSAmed) (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 21st Jun, 2018) MANAMA, 20th June 2018 (WAM) - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain has denied allegations been circulating on social media about relations with Israel, stressing that there was no statement from Bahraini official in this regard and that these reports are merely false allegations. Bahrain news Agency (BNA) said the Ministry affirmed Bahrain's full commitment to the unified Arab stance and Arab peace initiative, which set out the foundations of a comprehensive and just peace in the region. ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 20th Jun, 2018) The Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi, DCT Abu Dhabi, and the British Museum signed today an agreement to rename a gallery in the British Museum after the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Founding Father of the UAE. Building upon the long history of cooperation and collaboration between the two organisations, and in a fitting tribute to the late Sheikh Zayeds legacy, The Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Gallery for Europe and the middle East explores the history of farming in the Middle East and the resulting social, cultural and economic progress that formed the modern world. The agreement was signed by Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, and Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, in a ceremony held at the British Museum in London with Saif Saeed Ghobash, Undersecretary of DCT Abu Dhabi, Sulaiman Hamid Al Mazroui, the UAE Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Sir Richard Lambert, Chairman of the Trustees of the British Museum, in attendance. Al Mubarak said, "In this year, the Year of Zayed, as we come together as a nation to celebrate the legacy of the Founding Father, we see no more of a fitting tribute to his cultural vision for the UAE and his mission to build bridges between nations across the world. The renaming of this gallery, one that explores the history and heritage of the Middle East, and the lasting impact that an industry can have on the world, highlights the significant role that Sheikh Zayed played in the preservation and protection of our unique cultural heritage, and his understanding of its vital importance in the development of a thriving society. We are delighted to build upon our long history of collaboration with the British Museum as part of DCT Abu Dhabis mission to establish lasting cultural partnerships with leading institutions worldwide." Fischer said, "We are honoured that DCT Abu Dhabi has chosen to name the gallery after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The British Museum is about the interconnectivity of cultures, and this gallery shows the impact of the introduction of farming in the Middle East and its spread to Europe, thereby shaping the modern world. This support is a reflection of the long-standing collaborative relationship we share with DCT Abu Dhabi and is all the more significant in this important year for the UAE". The renaming of The Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Gallery for Europe and the Middle East, located on the upper floor of the British Museum, acknowledges Sheikh Zayed's lifelong commitment to heritage and culture as it explores the development of farming between 10,000 800 BC. The agreement also includes the development of a loan framework that will see important objects from the British Museum be exhibited at the Abu Dhabi-based Zayed National Museum upon its opening. (@ChaudhryMAli88) (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 20th Jun, 2018) AMMAN, 19th June 2018 (WAM) - Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Razzaz on Tuesday thanked Saudi Arab, UAE and Kuwait for pledging an aid package of to stimulate economic growth in Jordan. Speaking at a press conference in Amman, Al Razzaz outlined his government's domestic policies for the next stage and said slower economic growth and budget deficit cannot be offset by "arbitrary" tax hikes. Jordan news Agency (Petra) quoted the Jordanian Prime Minister as saying that the aid pledged by the three countries involves direct investment in infrastructure and productive projects, support of the state treasury, a deposit in the central bank to protect and support the reserves, as well as guarantees to reduce borrowing costs. (@ChaudhryMAli88) ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 20th Jun, 2018) A UAE newspaper has said that refugees fled war and persecution, leaving everything behind to protect the lives and futures of their families. "Their resilience should be a source of inspiration to us all. And yet no single group has been so consistently failed by the world as refugees, whose plight will be remembered tomorrow on World Refugee Day," said The National in an editorial on Wednesday. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, a record 68.5 million people are currently displaced after fleeing war, violence and persecution. "That is why the resolution adopted on Monday by the UAE Cabinet to allow those fleeing wars and natural disasters to remain in this country for a year offers a message that is as powerful as it is rare," the paper added. It continued, "Part of the UAE's drive to promote global peace and security, it will lend support to those rendered homeless by forces far larger than themselves, whatever their country of origin. "The UAE is already home to about 200 nationalities but against a backdrop of anti-refugee sentiment sweeping the globe, the clear commitment to refugees is praiseworthy. "From South Sudan to Myanmar and Syria, 16.2 m people were newly displaced last year, equivalent to more than 44,000 per day. Inaction by the powerful in the face of their plight has seen refugee numbers rise consecutively for five years. It is a tragic indictment of our world; more prosperous than ever and yet totally incapable of or unwilling to care for the needy." On today of all days, the editorial said, the UAEs example should inspire other nations to act with compassion and humanity, "because the plight of refugees does not end at the point of departure. They are forced to settle in unfamiliar lands, where they are often met with suspicion or even outright hostility." The editorial went on to say that "The recent Aquarius affair when 629 migrants were turned away by both Italy and Malta before being welcomed by Spain is evidence of that. While a similar mindset has emerged in Hungary, Austria and even the UK, the problem is not a European one. US President Donald Trump on Monday stated that America 'will not be a refugee holding facility'. "In the case of Syrians, newly introduced law 10 is on track to dispossess thousands of displaced Syrians, who will now be required to prove ownership before they can return. "Those who abuse refugees in word or deed often overlook an essential truth: that most want only to return safely home." "The UAE cabinets resolution is rare in acknowledging that fact. It allows the vulnerable to begin their recovery in a peaceful and stable environment and to plan their ultimate return home," concluded the Abu Dhabi-based daily. BEIRUT, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 20th Jun, 2018) Hamad Saeed Sultan Al Shamsi, UAE Ambassador to Lebanon, has met with Philippe Lazzarini, Deputy UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon and the United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative. The meeting touched on the political situation in Lebanon and the region, especially the situation in Yemen and the assistance provided to ensure its stability. Ambassador Al Shamsi pointed out that the Arab Coalition forces have prepared a comprehensive plan to speedup the delivery of humanitarian aid to Hodeidah and other Yemeni cities that depend on the port. He also noted that the Emirates Red Crescent has established a relief bridge to meet the needs of the Yemeni people, and emphasised that ongoing operations have paved the way for the start of a successful political process that would lead to peace in Yemen. In turn, Lazzarini praised the UAE's role at the local and regional levels, which has contributed and facilitated international organisations in overcoming the increasing humanitarian crises around the world. DUSHANBE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jun, 2018 ) :President Mamnoon Hussain and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon Tuesday held bilateral talks to further strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation between Pakistan and Tajikistan in diverse areas for mutual benefit. The two presidents had a one-to-one meeting before going for delegation level talks held here at the state guest house. President Mamnoon is in Tajikistan for a bilateral visit on the invitation of President Emomali Rahmon and to participate in the international conference on water being held here on June 20. The second unit of Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project has also started generating power on Tuesday to its maximum capacity of 242.25 MW, which is now being transmitted to the National Grid. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jun, 2018 ) :The second unit of Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project has also started generating power on Tuesday to its maximum capacity of 242.25 MW, which is now being transmitted to the National Grid. As per contractual requirement, this unit will be initially on a 3-day and thereafter on a 30-day reliability period and will continuously generate power to its maximum capacity for the system, said a press release. Earlier, this unit (Unit No.4) was put into operation during April, injected more than 1.3 million units of electricity during test run. However, during the tests of this unit, some minor technical issues relating to this unit were emerged, which have now been rectified by the contractor. The first unit, which was put on a 30-day reliability period on May 18, has successfully completed the tests. During this period, the unit continuously provided electricity to its maximum capacity i. e. 242.25 MW to the National Grid, injecting more than 200 million units of electricity to the system in its reliability period. Subsequent to the completion of reliability test, the first unit will now be shut down for making minor adjustments before taking over this unit by WAPDA. The process, which is a contractual obligation, may take about 10 days to complete. Thereafter, the contribution of Neelum Jhelum Hydropower (i.e. from both the first and the second units) to the National Grid will be doubled from 242.25 MW to 484.50 MW. It is important to note that contrary to the media reports, the generating units of Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project are being completed according to the timelines and are passing through the required tests in accordance with the contractual obligations. Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project has a cumulative generation capacity of 969 MW through its four units, with each of them having 242.25 MW capacity. (@mahnoorsheikh03) Says this is complete and utter embarrassment Karachi (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News 20th June, 2018) Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rasheed recent comments where he compared Reham Khan to a prostitute and termed people working in film industry as kanjars have invited criticizm. Actress Armeena Khan also came out against Sh Rasheed for his obscene remarks, saying this is complete and utter embarrassment. The actress never ceases to speak up against social discrimination. Apart from speaking up against cyberbullying and racial discrimination, she recently extended support to Syrian refugees. This time, she expressed her outrage against Sh Rasheed for his derogratort comments as she tweeted, Who is this man? Why is he using such abuisve language against the film industry? And more important why is such obscene language allowed on mainstream television? Expressing her disappointment, she said: When people asked about her opinion of Reham Khan's book, she said: The actress finally called out to all those shifting their guns towards her: Sh Rasheed recently compared Reham Khan to a prostitute in a live show. Commenting over the book written by PTI chairman Imran Khans ex-wife Reham Khan, Sh Rasheed said that he has seen many women becoming all righteous after their marriage. The house I live in is Lal Haveli, which was the house of Budhu Bayi (a prostitute), even 1000 prostitutes like Budhu Bayi would be more respectful than Reham Kan. They have spent an hour in marriage but still respect it, he said. Sh Rasheed went on to say that when he was in Information Ministry, he had film industry under him. He said that even the Kanjars have principles. Responding to this, Reham Khan, This person has been granted Sadiq and Ameen status by the SC. This is distasteful to Muslims. This is a status only for our beloved Prophet PBUH. Not for a lowly man who is clearly familiar with prostitutes. Will the CJP take notice of this! Please uproot this filth from Pakistan. National Accountability Bureau (NAB-Karachi) has arrested accused Shahab Siddiqui, in NICL corruption case. KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jun, 2018 ) :National Accountability Bureau (NAB-Karachi) has arrested accused Shahab Siddiqui, in NICL corruption case. NAB press release said here on Tuesday that the accused was former Manager Investment Policy NICL and was also part of in-house investment board that processed and approved illegal investment of Rs 100 million in First Dawood Investment Bank Ltd (FDIBL) during 2008-09. The illegal investment which caused loss of Rs 64 million to the national exchequer, was made by the accused persons in violation of policy with mala fide intention. China has pledged around $100 million to help modernise Cambodia's military, the government said Tuesday, the latest largesse showered on the country amid a crackdown on dissent before national elections. Phnom Penh, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jun, 2018 ) :China has pledged around $100 million to help modernise Cambodia's military, the government said Tuesday, the latest largesse showered on the country amid a crackdown on dissent before national elections. The pledge came from visiting Defence Minister Wei Fenghe, who arrived on Saturday for talks with his Cambodian counterpart and Prime Minister Hun Sen, said defence ministry spokesman General Chhum Socheat. Wei, who leaves Wednesday, "promised to support, to train, and to help reform our military to be modernised like others", he said, adding that the two countries would next year hold their third series of joint military exercises known as "Golden Dragon". The aid pledge comes at a time of worsening relations between the United States and Cambodia, which scrapped joint military exercises last year. Hun Sen also accused the US of assisting in a plot by the opposition to topple his government, claims dismissed by the current ambassador as "absurd". Hun Sen is looking to extend his 33-year grip on power in the vote next month after the main opposition party was dissolved last year and one of its leaders arrested. Analysts say unwavering support from China in the form of loans and investment has allowed him to hammer away at threats to his rule without fear of consequences. The US has withdrawn financial support for Cambodia's elections and this month sanctioned the head of Hun Sen's bodyguard unit for his alleged role in human rights abuses. In a separate case, dozens of Cambodians who formerly worked at the US embassy in Phnom Penh protested outside it on Tuesday after being fired from their jobs in March, when allegations of sharing sexually explicit material and child pornography surfaced. Carrying posters of Hun Sen and US President Donald Trump, they called on the embassy to provide evidence and asked for compensation. "We were sacked from the jobs unjustly," said one former employee Chuon Im. An embassy spokesman said it takes incidents involving child pornography and child exploitation "very seriously" but would not comment on internal personnel issues. BRUSSELS - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is convening an informal working meeting on migration and asylum issues in Brussels on Sunday, "in order to work with a group of Heads of State or Government of Member States interested in finding European solutions ahead of the upcoming European Council," said a statement released by the European Commission. Leaders from eight countries will take part in the meeting: Italy, Greece, Spain, Malta, Germany, France, Bulgaria and Austria. "Sunday's meeting isn't a mini-summit but an informal working meeting," Juncker said in a press conference with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. "I don't like the idea of presiding over a reunion between some States, but if someone refuses to do it, someone needs to be there to cover this fundamental role," he said. According to European sources, Sunday's meeting was called for by Germany, with the support of France, and the idea took shape in Meseberg in the trilateral meeting Juncker had with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. The same sources said Merkel and Macron will bring to the meeting their willingness to show solidarity to Mediterranean countries, with resources and availability to accept migrant quotas, asking for a counterpart to close on reform of the Dublin Regulation and bilateral accords for quick transfers of migrants who have been moved from an EU country of first entrance to others (on this point, Merkel was put under pressure by her Interior Minister Horst Seehofer), while waiting for the new Dublin Regulation reform to go into effect. European Council President Donald Tusk will not take part in the meeting. (@rukhshanmir) Syria's foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned Turkish military patrols around the northern city of Manbij, launched the previous day under a deal with the United States. Damascus, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jun, 2018 ) :Syria's foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned Turkish military patrols around the northern city of Manbij, launched the previous day under a deal with the United States. Manbij is held by a US-backed alliance dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), but Ankara considers them "terrorists" and has threatened to attack the city. In a first step on Monday, Turkish armoured vehicles began patrolling around Manbij, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency. Ankara has said its forces would eventually move into the city itself. The Turkish patrols are part of a deal to reduce tensions around Manbij, where US troops are also present, but Syria's government sees them as an invasion. "Syria strongly condemns and absolutely rejects the incursion of Turkish and American forces into the area of Manbij city," said a foreign ministry source, quoted by state news agency SANA. The source condemned the move as part of "the continued Turkish and American aggression on the sovereignty, security and unity of the lands of the Syrian Arab Republic". Turkey has backed rebels against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but has also supported operations against the YPG in the north. After ousting the Kurdish force from the Afrin region west of Manbij, Ankara escalated its threats against Manbij, raising the spectre of a clash between it and its NATO ally, the United States. Diplomatic efforts between the United States and Turkey led to a "roadmap" earlier this month between both sides on the future of Manbij. Earlier this month, Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem criticised the roadmap, saying "neither the United States nor Turkey has the right to negotiate over a Syrian city". On Tuesday, Syria's foreign ministry demanded the international community condemn the United States and Turkey and pledged once more to retake the entirety of the country. Much of Syria's north is controlled by the YPG or the alliance that it heads, and the US-led coalition fighting jihadists operates several bases there. US support for the YPG has strained relations with Turkey, which fears the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region on its southern border. Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli with a 100-plus delegation began a six-day official visit to China here on Tuesday at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jun, 2018 ) :Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli with a 100-plus delegation began a six-day official visit to China here on Tuesday at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. During his visit, the Nepalese prime minister will call on the Chinese leaders such as President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. According to a Chinese foreign ministry's spokesperson, China and Nepal are all generations of friendly and cooperative partners and the relations between the two countries have always maintained a good momentum of development. "The two sides support each other on issues concerning their mutual interests and the mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields has developed rapidly," Geng Shuang commented. He said it is Nepal's prime minister first visit to China after the completion of political transformation, and added, this provides an important opportunity for the leaders of the two countries to further plan and lead the development of China-Nepal relations under the new situation. The Chinese side looks forward to receiving the Nepalese prime minister's visit to China as an opportunity to deepen China-Nepal cooperation in the "Belt and Road" framework, strengthen cooperation in politics, economy and trade, infrastructure, post-disaster reconstruction and humanities, and push bilateral relations to a new level. A senior leader of Nepal's ruling party, Communist Party of Nepal (NCP), said Oli's visit will see the two countries sign a number of agreements, adding that projects under the Belt and Road Initiative as well as China's plan for an India-Nepal-China economic corridor are also expected to be discussed. Ambassador of Nepal to China Leela Mani Paudyal told the China Global Television Network that the visit "would focus on building trust between the two countries on the highest level." China's willingness to share its experience on development with neighboring countries is an opportunity for Nepal, Paudyal added. The ambassador said the two sides have a wide range of cooperation areas, such as infrastructure and hydropower, as Nepal holds great energy potentials. Nepal's relations with China and India are independent, Paudyal said, adding that Nepal can cooperate with both China and India as a sovereign country. Paudyal said his country wants to be part of the "Economic Corridor" China has proposed and to benefit from it. During Oli's visit to China in 2016, the two sides signed a landmark transit tread deal and explored further opportunities for a free trade deal. Nepal has agreed to prepare a feasibility study and the negotiations are due to start after the study, Paudyal added. On the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, the ambassador said Nepal is expected to draw benefits from its participation in the framework, though the country has lagged behind due to elections. In response to the reports on West Seti hydropower project hitting a roadblock, which raised concerns about investment in Nepal, Paudyal said negotiations are currently underway and a license has been issued. Oli, who first visited China in March 2016 as a prime minister, agreed to cooperate more under the Belt and Road Initiative and signed some "historic agreements" including a trade and transit agreement that, at least in principle, ends India's monopoly over Nepal's supply system. Pope Francis has spoken about talks with China, migration policy, populism, Chiles clerical sex abuse crisis, reform of the Roman Curia, and other issues in a wide-ranging interview with the Reuters news agency. The interviewer was Philip Pullella, head of Reuters Rome bureau. By Susy Hodges In a new one-on-one interview Pope Francis has responded to a series of questions on various issues including the Holy Sees talks with China, the position of women within the Church, migration policy, populism, Chiles clerical sex abuse crisis and reform of the Roman Curia. Talks with China at a good point Asked in the interview about relations with China, Pope Francis said he was optimistic about the outcome of normalization talks with the Chinese authorities saying they were at a good point but couldnt say when they would conclude. He acknowledged that dialogue is a risk but said he preferred that to the certain defeat of not holding a dialogue with Beijing. The Pope talked at length about immigration during the interview and was asked about the U.S. administrations policy of separating migrant families at the U.S./Mexican border. In his reply, he said he supported recent statements issued by U.S. Catholic Bishops who called the separation of children from their parents contrary to Catholic values and immoral. Turning to the migration situation in Europe, the Holy Father said populists were creating a psychosis on the issue of immigration, even as ageing societies like Europe faced a great demographic winter and needed more immigrants. I believe that you cannot reject people who arrive. You have to receive them, help them, look after them, accompany them and then see where to put them, but throughout all of Europe, he said. He praised Italy and Greece for being courageous and generous by taking in these migrants. Populism is not the solution Pope Francis warned that populism does not resolve issues like migration problems. What resolves things is acceptance, study, prudence, he said. The Pope also said Europe should stop exploiting Africa and invest in ways that benefit the continent more and this could help solve the problem of migration at its roots. When asked about women calling for more top positions in the Roman Curia, Pope Francis said he agreed there were few women in positions of responsibility there. He said he wanted to appoint more women to head Vatican departments because women are better at resolving conflicts. At the same time, he reiterated that women cannot be ordained to the priesthood. (Pope) John Paul II was clear on this point and closed the door and I am not going back on that, he said. Chiles clerical sex abuse crisis was another topic discussed at length during the interview. Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of three bishops in Chile and said he could accept more resignations in the future. He spoke of how he returned a bit worried after his pastoral visit to Chile in January this year and explained why he decided to send Archbishop Charles Scicluna to the Latin American nation to carry out further investigations into the abuse crisis. Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada (CCSN) and nearly 30 community partners will host a Cultural Enrichment Fair to commemorate World Refugee Day Friday, June 22 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Our Lady of Las Vegas Bevan Hall (3050 Alta Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89107). World Refugee Day was established by the United Nations to honor those who were forced to leave their homes under threat of persecution, conflict or violence. The Cultural Enrichment Fair will celebrate the more than 1,000 refugees from around the globe who resettle in Southern Nevada each year. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the refugee experiences and get an authentic taste of Filipino, El Salvadorian, Ethiopian, and Mediterranean cuisine and culture. This fair was created to emphasize why refugee resettlement is such a vital humanitarian effort, said Deacon Tom Roberts, President and CEO of Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada. We look forward to celebrating the many countries and cultures that comprise our communitys refugee population. Milan Devetak, former refugee and Director of Resettlement at Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, will be the master of ceremonies for the event. We help new arrivals assimilate to the Las Vegas community with cultural orientation, securing housing and other basic needs such as food, clothing, English classes and job placement, says Devetak. The ultimate goal is to help each refugee attain self-sufficiency as soon as possible. The Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, Inc. (SWRG), a collection of iconic American steakhouses headquartered in Boston, is thrilled to announce its return to the Las Vegas Strip with an all-new Smith & Wollensky Las Vegas restaurant. Set to debut spring 2019, the highly-anticipated Americas Steakhouse branded restaurant will soon call the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian and The Palazzo Las Vegas home. We would like to thank all of our loyal guests who have been patient with us the past year while we searched for a new home in Las Vegas. We are excited to share that we found the perfect location inside the Grand Canal Shoppes, said Michael Feighery, CEO & President of Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group. It was important for us to join a likeminded brand to debut the next generation of Smith & Wollensky and with that we will be able to offer a memorable destination for conventioneers and tourists, and a go-to favorite for locals and industry professionals alike. We look forward to reliving old memories and creating new ones with you soon! An impressive space spanning over 14,000 square-feet and two-stories tall, Smith & Wollensky Las Vegas will showcase its eclectic interior and overlook the celebrated indoor Grand Canals at The Venetian, inside the popular shopping and dining destination, Grand Canal Shoppes. Located near the South Canal turnaround, guests will soon be able to indulge in Smith & Wollenskys dry-aged and hand-butchered USDA Prime steaks, premium seafood and award-winning wines on a regular basis, yet again. Celebrating 40 years as Americas classic steakhouse, the original Smith & Wollensky location opened in 1977 in New York City and has since become an institution known for its American hospitality and New-York style swagger. The time-honored steakhouse brand has expanded to 10 locations across the top cities in America, including Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Houston, London and Miami Beach, and most recently a suburban adaptation of the brand in Wellesley, MA just outside of Boston. It might be the first day of summer, but Las Vegas has Santa on the brain. Las Vegas Great Santa Run the most wonderful fun run of the year will kick off early registration during its highly anticipated official launch event on Thursday, June 21. Hosted by beloved Las Vegas nonprofit Opportunity Village in Downtown Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Great Santa Run Registration Launch will celebrate with a parade, special guests and more. Beginning at 10:30 a.m., the parade will stretch from Las Vegas Boulevard to the Main Street Stage on Fremont Street Experience. Zappos llamas decked in reindeer ears will lead the procession, followed by summertime Santa himself and Las Vegas well-known sporting mascots from the Las Vegas 51s, UNLV and Las Vegas Lights FC. Shortly after the parade, FIT4MOM the nations leading prenatal and postnatal fitness program for mothers will take over the Main Street Stage to engage attendees and passersby in an energetic exercise program. Also taking the stage with be Legends in Concerts young Michael Jackson (Nathaniel Cullors) to help get you in the holiday spirit. Joined by The Chippendales, Mayor Carolyn Goodman will make a special appearance to present the World Santa Alliance trophy to Opportunity Village. The award celebrates Las Vegas Great Santa Run as the worlds largest Santa fun run in 2017, beating its biggest rival in Liverpool. This year, Circle K has continued the tradition of serving as the presenting sponsor of Opportunity Villages Great Santa Run. Additionally, as the Official Host Hotel for this years event, packet pickup will take place at Plaza Hotel & Casino. The Plaza also will offer free parking to all registrants on race day this December. The Plaza is committed to supporting events and causes that make positive contributions to downtown and the greater Las Vegas community, said Jonathan Jossel, CEO of Plaza Hotel & Casino. The Great Santa Run is a longstanding, successful event that brings thousands of people to downtown while supporting the great work Opportunity Village does in the Las Vegas Valley. We are proud to be an event sponsor and look forward to welcoming all of the Santas to downtown and the Plaza. Members of the U.S. Congress have welcomed new sanctions against the head of Prime Minister Hun Sens Bodyguard Unit for alleged human rights abuses. The sanctions were imposed on Tuesday by the Treasury Department targeting General Hing Bun Hieng, a member of Hun Sens inner circle. The move came after the U.S. State Department and Senate repeatedly warned that punitive measures would be forthcoming if Cambodia did not reverse recent anti-democratic actions, such as the dissolution of the opposition and jailing of its leader, Kem Sokha. The Treasury Department did the right thing, said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in an e-mail to VOA Khmer. It is no secret that the Cambodian security forces, and high ranking government officials, are involved in corruption and political violence. A country that once had a chance at democracy has become a one-man police state. The Treasury Department said that among the human rights abuses committed by the bodyguard unit was an incident in 1997 where four hand-grenades were tossed into a peaceful protest led by former opposition leader Sam Rainsy, which wounded a US citizen. I wish Ron Abney, the American pro-democracy activist injured in a 1997 grenade attack in Phnom Penh, were alive today to hear this news, Leahy said. The sanctions are based on the new Global Magnitsky Act 2016, which authorized the US to freeze assets of human rights abusers and corrupt officials. The actions taken against General Bun Hieng should serve as a wake-up call to Hun Sen and others in his regime--continue to go against your word to your people and were going to take action against you, said Congressman Alan Lowenthal (D-CA). Lowenthal said more officials could be subjected to sanctions if the political and human rights situation does not improve. This action by the Treasury Department, while not taken under the Cambodia Democracy Act (CDA) that we are trying to get passed, mirrors the kind of actions that will be taken against Cambodian government and military officials under the CDA, he said. The Bodyguard Unit is accused of involvement in attacks on unarmed Cambodians, including an attack in 2015 on two opposition lawmakers in front of the National Assembly, according to the Treasury Department. Three of its members who confessed to the crime were briefly jailed but later promoted after their release. Human rights are important and beating the opposition, the kind of violence weve seen, it has no place in any society and we want to see democracy, real democracy, in Cambodia, said Ed Royce (R-CA). Congressman Ted Yoho (R-FL) said: What theyve done is wrong and you know as they get sanctioned people are going to have to decide are they going to do business with people who are sanctioned or allow people to do business in their country? Or are they going to do business with a country like ours that honors the rule of law? Opposition leader Kem Sokha was jailed in September 2017 on treason charges and 118 opposition senior officials were banned from politics for five years. Sen. Ted Cruz, a strong critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen, said he wanted Congress and the Trump administration to take further punitive action against Hun Sens regime, including trade sanctions, saying measures thus far have proven to be inadequate. Sen. Cruz warned last year that the United States would have to reevaluate its preferential trade policy with Cambodia if Hun Sen continued dismantling democracy, said Maria Jeffrey, a spokesperson for Cruz. The Treasury sanctions are a good first step, but until freedom is restored to Cambodia, theyre just a start. Turkey goes to the polls this Sunday, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could be facing his toughest test in his 16 years in power. Challenger Muharrem Inces platform of breaking down Turkeys deep political divides, especially between the religious and secular have seen him reaching out beyond his pro-secular CHP Partys base. An increasingly confident Ince has even taken his campaign to incumbent Erdogans backyard. Dorian Jones has the story. ISTANBUL - Muharren Ince, the challenger to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in early elections to be held in Turkey on Sunday, told journalists "our choice is the West". "Immediately after I am elected president, I will take a tour of the European capitals," said Ince, who is running with the country's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP). The latest polls show Ince at around 30%, which could force Erdogan into a runoff on July 8. Ince said the most urgent priority is the judicial system, and said he wants a return to respect for the rule of law and a parliamentary system, abandoned after last year's referendum on the presidential system. Meanwhile on Tuesday evening, voting by Turkish citizens living abroad closed with a record 47.78% turnout, according to the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) in Ankara. In the 123 polling stations set up in 60 countries, 1,486,532 voters casted a ballot, out of more than three million eligible voters. The highest turnout came from Belgium and Switzerland, where it was over 55%, while in Germany, which has nearly half of all the eligible voters, turnout was 49.7%. Foreign turnout is typically lower than that inside the country, where it regularly goes over 80%. The United States has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council, saying the organization has failed to achieve its stated goals. When making the announcement Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused the Council of political bias. VOA's Zlatica Hoke has more. Somalias most dangerous terror group is likely not getting any stronger despite a series of deadly attacks, including one that claimed the life of a U.S. special operations soldier earlier this month. The assessment, by U.S. military and counterintelligence officials, runs contrary to the conclusions of some analysts and comes as al-Shabab has been flexing its military might in recent weeks, highlighting attacks on both Somali and African Union forces. One of the most publicized of these was a brazen June 8 attack on an outpost under construction two kilometers north of the town of Sanguni, in the Lower Jubba region of Somalia. The al-Qaida-linked militants skirmished with a force of 800 Somali and Kenyan forces accompanied by U.S. special operations soldiers, one of whom was killed by mortar fire. US: June 8 attack was 'lucky shot' U.S. officials are still trying to determine the size of the al-Shabab force at the time of the attack but say there is no indication of any increased capability. It was a lucky shot, a U.S. military official told VOA on condition of anonymity. I wouldn't consider this a well-executed attack. Another military official said, in many ways, the deadly attack was typical of al-Shabab operations. Historically, al-Shabab has been willing to engage large forces, often using surprise and asymmetric tactics to improve their chances for success, said Lt. Cmdr. Desiree Frame, a spokesperson for U.S. Africa Command. We expect to see more conflict in southern Somalia as Somali Government Forces, AMISOM, and their partners make in-roads into al-Shabab-held territory. Still, accounts from Somalia indicate the al-Shabab forces were not deterred by the presence of U.S. special operations forces using armored vehicles and armed drones, as the June 8 deadly mortar strike was part of a three-day long assault on the outpost that included a failed attack using a vehicle-borne bomb. They know our movements, an official with the Somali forces in Sanguni told VOA Somali. Its an open secret. Another Somali commander said al-Shabab also took advantage of the terrain, striking after recent flooding forced the Somali, Kenyan and U.S. forces to build the outpost in the open. U.S. counterterrorism and military officials say there is no doubt the group remains the biggest threat to security in Somalia. But they have resisted attributing the increased pace of al-Shabab attacks to anything more than their annual Ramadan campaign. We do not assess that al-Shabab has recently increased their capabilities or their willingness to engage their enemies, according to Africa Commands Frame. A senior U.S. counterterrorism official described al-Shababs activity as routine, noting its public statement promote the virtue of waging jihad during Ramadan. Differing assessment of al-Shabab's strength Still, some analysts warn it is wrong to downplay the strides al-Shabab has made since being kicked out of its last urban stronghold, the port city of Kismayo, in 2012. Its clear that were not just seeing a spike in attacks related to the Ramadan campaign, said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Its clear that the organization has gotten stronger. And while Gartenstein-Ross thinks it is unlikely al-Shabab is strong enough to consistently challenge U.S. forces in the region, it has shown it can be potent against both Somalia and African Union forces in the area. Theyve been able to kill very high numbers and you didnt see that five years ago. Theyve been able to actually overrun bases at times, he said. The danger is as African Union forces draw down, they may retake major urban areas. I think theres a good chance of that. VOA Somali reporter Harun Maruf contributed to this report. In commemoration of Wednesday's World Refugee Day, human rights group Amnesty International called for the international community to provide aid for more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, amid fear of environmental disaster, gender-based violence, and potential human trafficking in their camps. According to the United Nations, 200,000 of the refugees are "at risk of landslides and floods during the current monsoon season," which already has damaged over 3,000 shelters. The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group who have lived in the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar for centuries. Yet the nation does not recognize the Rohingya as citizens, instead regarding them as illegal Bengali immigrants from the time of British colonial rule of the nation. A 1982 law codified that status within Myanmar rendering the country's thousands of Rohingya essentially stateless. In 2017 alone, more than 600,000 Rohingya fled the country due to violence against them by the Myanmar militia, prompting the United Nations and world leaders such as British Prime Minister Theresa May and then-U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to denounce the country as partaking in "ethnic cleansing." "Until they can return to Myanmar without the risk of serious human rights violations, the refugee response will have to shift from one that has been near-exclusively focused on a humanitarian crisis response to one that meets the refugees' needs for protection," according to a statement by Amnesty International. Many Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh. Nearly a million Rohingya have settled in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district a coastal region that is among the most susceptible to monsoons in the low-lying country. The sudden surge of refugees has proved difficult to handle for Bangladesh, already among the world's most densely-populated nations. According to Amnesty International, the government of Bangladesh has restricted the building of permanent, more stable refugee settlements; in January, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called for the quick repatriation of Rohingya. While the international community has provided aid to the refugees, advocacy groups are saying it's not enough. Omar Waraich, deputy South Asia Director for Amnesty International, told VOA's Burmese Service that only 20 percent of the U.N.'s international request for aid so far has reached the refugees and the organization already has received reports of possible human trafficking and gender-based violence in the Cox's Bazar camp. And while many of the refugees have expressed a desire to return to their home in Myanmar's Rakhine state, the fear of possible human rights violations is too great for them to go back, according to Amnesty International. "This is not a crisis that is going to disappear anytime soon," Amnesty International South Asia Director Biraj Patnaik said in a statement. "We need to confront the fact that the Rohingya may have to remain in Bangladesh for years to come. The international community has a duty to support these victims of the most horrific human rights violations accordingly, and not wait until further disasters visit them before taking action." Trapped inside "prison-like" tents in Bangladesh's refugee camps because of fears they will be trafficked or sexually harassed, teenage Rohingya girls dream of going to school and playing outside, aid agencies said on Wednesday. Adolescent girls are confined to one-room bamboo and tarpaulin tents so as to avoid men, only venturing out in the early hours to relieve themselves, the children's charity Plan International said on World Refugee Day. "They spend almost every hour of every day inside their sweltering tents, where the only activities they have to keep themselves occupied are cooking and cleaning," said Orla Murphy, Plan International's Bangladesh director. "There is a real hunger for social interaction, the feeling of normality," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The number of Rohingya in camps in Cox's Bazar has swelled to almost 1 million since last August, when an army operation in Myanmar following Rohingya insurgents' attacks on security forces prompted an exodus to Bangladesh. With the start of the monsoon season, the government is working to relocate tens of thousands of people amid fears of landslides and waterborne diseases. Plan International interviewed 300 girls aged between 10 and 19, many of whom said they have little or no freedom to go outside and they only spend time with their families, reminiscing about happier times back home in Myanmar. "In Myanmar if I wanted to play, I could, but I cannot play here," 11-year-old Noor told Plan International in a report that described adolescent girls' lives as 'prison-like.' "I had friends and went to school. I was really interested to learn English and tailoring. But there is no school here." Children's charities only run temporary "learning centers" for some refugee children up to the age of 14 because Bangladesh does not allow formal schooling in the camps. With a growing number of Rohingya refugees being sold to older men as child brides by human traffickers, and widespread domestic abuse, rights groups called for more services to protect girls, from education and security to toilets. "They become susceptible - sex tourism thrives here," said Nafeesa Shamsuddin, a spokeswoman for Bangladesh's BRAC charity. "Pimps target these vulnerable girls." While younger girls can be seen hauling bags of grains and firewood, fetching water or looking after babies, they are forced into isolation when they reach puberty, said Daphnee Cook, a spokeswoman for the British charity Save the Children. "Many childhoods end around this age," she said. "The perception is that these girls are now women and will face more risks." Laura was barely 18 when a palm reader told her she could make $180 a month working in beetroot farms in Russia an attractive sum for a girl struggling to make a living in the town of Drochia, in Moldova's impoverished north. That she had no passport, the fortune teller said, was not a problem. Her future employers would help her cross the border. "They gave me a [fake] birth certificate stating I was 14," Laura, who declined to give her real name, told Reuters in an interview. That was enough to get her through border controls as she traveled by bus with a smuggler posing as one of her parents. It was the beginning of a long tale of exploitation for Laura one of many such stories in Moldova in eastern Europe, which aims to become the first country in the world to pilot blockchain to tackle decades of widespread human trafficking. Trafficking generates illegal profits of $150 billion a year globally, with about 40 million people estimated to be trapped as modern-day slaves mostly women and girls in forced labor and forced marriages, according to leading anti-slavery groups. The digital tool behind the cryptocurrency bitcoin is increasingly being tested for social causes, from Coca-Cola creating a workers' registry to fight forced labor to tracking supply chains, such as cobalt which is often mined by children. Moldova has one of the highest rates of human trafficking in Europe as widespread poverty and unemployment drive many young people, mostly women, to look for work overseas, according to the United Nations migration agency (IOM). Due to the hidden nature of trafficking and the stigma attached, it is unknown how many people in the former Soviet country have been trafficked abroad but IOM has helped some 3,400 victims 10 percent of whom were children since 2001. In Russia, Laura was forced to toil long hours, beaten and never paid. After ending up in hospital, she was rescued by a doctor, only to be trafficked again a few years later when an abusive partner sold her into prostitution. She now lives with her daughter in a rehabilitation center in the northern village of Palaria with help from the charity CCF Moldova. "I had a lot of suffering," the 36-year-old said. "I am very afraid of being sold again, afraid about my child." Scans and bribes Moldova plans to launch a pilot of its digital identity project this year, working with the Brooklyn-based software company ConsenSys, which won a U.N. competition in March to design an identity system to combat child trafficking. Undocumented children are easy prey for traffickers using fake documents to transport them across borders to work in brothels or to sell their organs, experts say. More than 40,000 Moldovan children have been left behind by parents who have migrated abroad for work, often with little supervision, according to IOM. "A lot of children are staying just with their grandfathers or grandmas, spending [more] time in the streets," said Lilian Levandovschi, head of Moldova's anti-trafficking police unit. Moldova, with a population of 3.5 million, is among the poorest countries in Europe with an average monthly disposable income of 2,250 Moldovan Leu ($135), government data shows. ConsenSys aims to create a secure, digital identity on a blockchain or decentralized digital ledger shared by a network of computers for Moldovan children, linking their personal identities with other family members. Moldova has strengthened its anti-trafficking laws since Laura's ordeal and children now need to carry a passport and be accompanied by a parent, or an adult carrying a letter of permission signed by a guardian, to exit the country. With the blockchain system, children attempting to cross the border would be asked to scan their eyes or fingerprints. A phone alert would notify their legal guardians, requiring at least two to approve the crossing, said Robert Greenfield who is managing the ConsenSys project. Any attempt to take a child abroad without their guardians' permission would be permanently recorded on the database, which would detect patterns of behavior to help catch traffickers and could be used as evidence in court. "Nobody can bribe someone to delete that information," said Mariana Dahan, co-founder of World Identity Network (WIN), an initiative promoting digital identities and a partner in the blockchain competition. Corruption and official complicity in trafficking are significant problems in Moldova, according to the U.S. State Department, which last year downgraded it to Tier 2 in a watchlist of those not doing enough to fight modern day slavery. Moldova is eager to prove that it is taking action, as a further demotion could block access to U.S. aid and loans. Tricked Many details have yet to be agreed before the blockchain project starts, including funding, populations targeted, the type of biometrical data collected, and where it will be stored. But the scheme is facing resistance from some anti-trafficking groups who say it will not help the majority of victims children trafficked within Moldova's borders and adults who are tricked when they travel abroad seeking work. "As long as we don't have job opportunities ... trafficking will still remain a problem for Moldova," said IOM's Irina Arap. Minors made up less than 20 percent of 249 domestic and international trafficking victims identified in 2017, said Ecaterina Berejan, head of Moldova's anti-trafficking agency. "For Moldova, this is not a very big problem," she said, referring to cross-border child trafficking, adding that child victims may travel with valid documents as their families are in cahoots with traffickers in some cases. But supporters of the blockchain initiative say low official trafficking figures do not account for undetected cases, and they have a duty to attempt to stay ahead of the criminals. "Many times, authorities are late in using latest technologies," said Mihail Beregoi, state secretary for Moldova's internal affairs ministry. "Usually organized crime uses them first and more successfully. ... Any effort [to] secure at least one child is already worth trying." In 1986, Margaret Thatcher arrived in Israel for the first official visit to the Jewish state by a serving British prime minister. Asked at a news conference why Britains queen had never visited, she snapped back, I am here. The Iron Ladys response got a chuckle, but it did not satisfy the Israelis. For 70 years successive Israeli governments have tried to persuade Britain to send a Royal on an official visit something both Buckingham Palace and Downing Street have been reluctant to do. They have feared an official visit would drag Buckingham Palace into a diplomatic quagmire and end up infuriating Britains Gulf Arab allies. But next week Prince William, second in line to the British throne, will bring to an end the royal shunning of Israel, arriving Sunday in the Middle East for a visit to Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories. While members of the royal family have visited Israel before on private trips or to attend funerals of Israeli leaders, they have never made what are termed formally as official visits. 'Occupied city' controversy The trip has prompted controversy because of Buckingham Palace referring to Jerusalem in the published program for the Princes trip as an occupied city, outraging Israeli politicians. Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967 and annexed it in a move that is not internationally recognized. Israel's Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Zeev Elkin, has lambasted the description, posting on his Facebook page, Its regrettable that Britain chose to politicize the Royal visit. Unified Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for over 3,000 years and no twisted wording of the official press release will change the reality. Im expecting the princes staff to fix this distortion. There has been no response by Buckingham Palace to the complaint. Under international law East Jerusalem is considered "occupied" by the Israelis. But the spat over the wording of the princes itinerary illustrates the risks attached to the visit, say analysts. Visit to Palestinian territories Prince William will begin his trip to the Middle East in Jordan on June 24 and travel to Tel Aviv the following day, according to his office. He will spend three days in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ramallah in the West Bank. His visit will also mark the first time a senior member of Britains royal family will visit the Palestinian territories. Visiting Israel and the Palestinian Territories is testimony to the determination of the British government to show even-handedness. Prince William will also have courtesy meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his residence and later with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Royal spokesman Jason Knauf emphasized Buckingham Palaces neutrality in remarks earlier this month, saying, the non-political nature of his royal highnesss role in common with all royal visits overseas allows a spotlight to be brought to bear on the people of the region. He noted, The complex challenges in the region are of course well known. Landmark trip But Knauf added, Now is the appropriate time and the Duke of Cambridge is the right person to make this visit. But he did not explain why the British government, which requested the prince take the trip, thinks this is the right time for the landmark trip. Scores of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in recent protests at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip as the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel is being marked. Tensions are also high with clashes taking place between Israel and Iran, with Israeli forces striking at what they see as threatening Iranian military positions in neighboring war-torn Syria. The political temperature has remained high since U.S. President Donald Trumps decision, announced last December, to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, breaking with the United Nations and Western allies by recognizing the city as Israels legitimate capital. Some analysts in Israel and London have linked Trumps decision to the princes trip, saying Britain is dispatching the heir apparent as a way to curry favor with the U.S. president and to gain goodwill in the White House. Anshel Pfeffer, a commentator for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz argues British officials are hopeful that Netanyahu can help them in the upcoming negotiations in Washington on Britains crucial trade deal. He adds that Britain has diminished clout on the world stage because of Brexit and, it must utilize whatever assets it has. And the one unique thing Britain has is a young generation of royals who are instantly recognizable across the globe. Other analysts see the trip as part of a broader effort by London to raise Britains profile as it tries to scout out new trade opportunities to replace the likely loss of trade with European countries once exits the European Union. Two-way trade between Israel and Britain last year reached $7 billion, a 25 percent increase from 2016. British Prime Minister Theresa May told members of parliament Wednesday the United States' practice of housing children in cages is extremely troubling and inappropriate. "The pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing. This is wrong. This is not something that we agree with," May said. May also said she would raise the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump when she meets with him in Britain next month. The Trump administration has been the target of a growing chorus of criticism as images of migrant children in cages inside U.S. Border Patrol processing stations were distributed by the news media and on social media channels. More than 2,300 children have been taken away from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border since the White House announced its "zero-tolerance" policy early last month. U.S. law requires child migrants traveling alone to be sent to facilities run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within three days of being detained. The agency is then required to place the children in shelters or foster homes until they are reunited with a relative or a sponsor pending immigration court hearings. Last month, however, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the government would criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, a decision that has led to the breakup of migrant families, with hundreds of children being placed under the government's care. Trump told Republican lawmakers Tuesday he supported their attempts to draft immigration legislation that would end the practice of separating children from families. The House of Representatives is set to vote Thursday on competing Republican bills overhauling U.S. immigration laws and boosting border security. In just 30 years, cities around the world will face dramatically higher risks from extreme heat, coastal flooding, power blackouts and food and water shortages unless climate-changing emissions are curbed, urban researchers warned Tuesday. Today, for instance, over 200 million people in 350 cities face stifling heat where average daily peak temperatures hit 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) for three months of the year, according to a study released by C40 Cities, a network of major world cities pushing climate action. But by 2050, more than 1.6 billion people in 970 cities will face those conditions, researchers predicted. The number of people who are both in poverty and battling brutal heat usually without air conditioning will rise tenfold, they said. "This is a wake-up call," said Kevin Austin, deputy executive director of C40 Cities, at an international meeting in the South African city of Cape Town on adapting to climate change. "The magnitude of people affected by heat will be (much) greater than today if we continue to increase greenhouse gases at this rate." But cities can take action to directly curb the risks, besides working to cut emissions, he said. In Seoul, for example, a major elevated thoroughfare through the center of the city has been removed, opening up access to the river and lowering urban heat in the area by at least half a degree Celsius, he said. South Korea's capital also has planted more than 16 million trees and created shaded cooling centers for those without air conditioning. "We want to encourage cities to adopt more of these solutions and implement them as quickly as possible. In the worst case scenario, they will need to do them quickly," Austin said. More drought, less water The research, carried out by the New York-based Urban Climate Change Research Network, looked at data from more than 2,500 cities and predicted likely conditions if emissions continue to rise at their current rate. It found that Cape Town's ongoing battle with drought-driven water shortages could become far more common, with over 650 million people in 500 cities among them Sao Paulo and Tehran likely to see their access to water reduced by 2050. Many thirsty cities are already aiming to set caps on water use per person, with Los Angeles pushing for 200 liters a day, Melbourne for 155 litres and Cape Town a dramatically reduced 50, Austin said. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that an average American today uses at least 300 liters of water per day. Sharing advice on how to make cuts happen including insights gained in Cape Town, which has slashed its water use by half in the face of extreme drought can save cities time and help them make changes faster, Austin said. But more cities "need to transition in a planned way, not in response to disaster," he added. Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille said dealing with a crisis when it arrives leaves little room to maneuver. "In a crisis like this there is no time to go by trial and error. You unfortunately have to get it right the first time," she said at the Adaptation Futures conference in Cape Town. Power risk from floods The C40 Cities study also found that by mid-century over 800 million people will live in 570 coastal cities at risk of flooding from weather extremes and sea level rise. Flooding presents a particular risk to urban power supplies, with many power stations located in flood-prone areas - and everything from transportation to heating and hospitals at risk if power plants flood in cities from London to Rio de Janeiro, the study noted. Decentralizing power systems - including by getting clean energy from a larger number of smaller power plants - could help cut the risks, researchers said. But flooding risks may be coming faster than expected. Patrick Child, the European Commission's deputy director-general for research and innovation, said a predicted one-meter (3-foot) rise in global sea level, once anticipated by 2100, is now expected by 2070. Last year already saw the highest-ever documented economic losses from severe weather and climate change globally, he said. Experts at the adaptation meeting also predicted that extreme weather could bring cascading problems for cities, with flooding, for instance, triggering everything from disease outbreaks to road failures, food shortages and closed schools. Looking at just one type of problem such as a health threats from extreme heat, or sea level rise isn't enough to capture the risks, said Cynthia Rosenzweig, a climatologist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the authors of the report. "In cities, all of these impacts interact with each other, and are all happening at the same time," she said. Solutions also need combined approaches, with engineering efforts to cut flooding, for instance, working hand in hand with things like better protection of flood-absorbing wetlands, Rosenzweig said. She said she hoped the research would help city officials prioritize what changes need to happen first to better protect their citizens from climate threats. In cities "it's often overwhelming, with so many things to do," she said. Just after a morning rain, Gourma Mamadou was shopping in this capital city's crowded, open-air Kaloum market. The young man said he was well aware of the current Ebola outbreak simmering some 4,000 kilometers to the southeast in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the World Health Organization reports it has killed 28 people since April. The outbreak may be relatively far away, but fear of Ebola is not. Madamou said most of the Guineans he knows don't mention Ebola, as if just speaking the word would invoke its terrible wrath. The virus ravaged Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone from 2014 into 2016, leaving 11,000 people dead, including 2,500 in his country. People "are watching carefully," the young shopper said, suggesting that frequent hand-washing and other hygienic precautions grew more commonplace with the Ebola experience. "Sometimes, it's hard. That disease is so viral, but since it's been eradicated, we don't want it back in Guinea." Some good also grew out of Guinea's exposure to the virus: more information. Late in the West African outbreak, almost 6,000 people in Guinea were vaccinated with an experimental therapeutic, V920. A December 2016 report in The Lancet medical journal said the inoculations bolstered the interim finding that the vaccine "offers substantial protection." That same vaccine, not yet licensed in any country, is now being used in the DRC's northwestern region. Pharmaceutical company Merck sent roughly 8,600 doses to Equateur province. Dr. Sakoba Keita, who oversaw Guinea's Ebola response and directs the country's National Health Security Center, praised the vaccine. "For us, the vaccine is very effective," he said, saying it protected 95 percent of those inoculated and "greatly helped stop the chain of transmission of the Ebola virus in Guinea. That is the reason why the vaccine is at the forefront of our response mechanisms." Keita, more commonly known as "Dr. Ebola," leads Guinea's fight against a recurrence of the disease. He said the country of 13 million learned hard lessons from its Ebola experience. Like its neighbors Liberia and Sierra Leone, Guinea was unfamiliar with the deadly virus. The outbreak, traced to a young boy infected by a bat in a Guinean jungle in December 2013, wasn't identified until March 2014. Then, as now, the international community stepped in to help. The World Health Organization worked with local governments to coordinate a response. Aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) provided medical teams to support local health care workers and treat patients. The United States was among the foreign governments joining in the effort to halt the disease, sending health workers, researchers and aid to help with a public awareness campaign, disease tracking and patients' treatment. The DRC has the most experience in combating the disease, which originally surfaced in 1976 in an area near the Ebola River. When Ebola broke out in Guinea, the DRC sent experts there. So, when the DRC's ninth Ebola outbreak surfaced months ago, Guinea at the WHO's request sent medical personnel in a gesture of solidarity. Given the DRC's repeated outbreaks, Keita said it's important to be ready in case Ebola ever returns to his country. Keito said Guinea is more prepared now than it was before its Ebola outbreak. Health workers have learned to recognize the disease and its symptoms. The general public is more aware of it, too. And Conakry's Donka Hospital the country's biggest health facility, where MSF operated an Ebola treatment center is being expanded to meet needs. "As we learn new things about the disease," Keito said, "we prepare so that we are ready to contain it quickly if we were to face a new outbreak." Eritreas president says he will send a delegation to Ethiopia to discuss Prime Minister Abiy Ahmeds pledge to implement the terms of a peace deal negotiated in 2000. Agreeing to that deal means ceding occupied land back to Eritrea and honoring a 2002 international court ruling that awarded Eritrea the disputed town of Badme. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki announced the overture Wednesday in Asmara in his annual Martyrs Day address. He said the delegation would also chart out a plan for continuous future action between the countries. Ahmeds chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, later said on Twitter the prime minister is ready to welcome the Eritrean delegation. Eritrea and Ethiopia share a violent history. Eritrea fought a 30-year war for independence to break away from Ethiopia. It gained international recognition in 1993. However, conflict between the countries persisted, particularly on their border, which was disputed. Between 1998 and 2000, the countries fought a border war that resulted in at least 70,000 deaths. Since then, tensions have remained high. But in his speech Wednesday, Afwerki emphasized shared struggles and losses between the Eritrean and Ethiopian people. He blamed historic animosities on misguided global policies and the toxic and malignant legacy of the TPLF, the Ethiopian political party that, for decades, has controlled the countrys political and security spheres. But sweeping changes have occurred in Ethiopia. Ahmed, the new prime minister, represents a different party within Ethiopias ruling EPRDF coalition and belongs to a long-marginalized ethnic group, the Oromo. Earlier this month, he replaced the armys chief of staff. In his speech, Afwerki also said the United States had been "sending various signals" about its intentions to correct past wrongs, including its policies in the Horn, but he did not elaborate. In late April, Ambassador Donald Yamamoto, the acting assistant secretary for the U.S. Bureau of African Affairs, made a rare visit to Eritrea, although neither country disclosed details of the meeting. Some residents in Badme, which remains occupied by Ethiopia, told Reuters they are upset about Ahmeds decision. Reports of protests in the small town have also circulated in recent days. What will become of residents in Badme and other towns set to transfer to Eritrea is not yet clear. A timeline for sending the delegation has not been established, but some reports suggest Ethiopia will remove troops from occupied areas along the border in July. Ahmeds pledge on the border issue is one of many reforms that the new prime minister has announced, leading to a wave of changes in the country. Ethiopia recently released thousands of dissidents and political prisoners who were arrested under a controversial anti-terrorism law. Eight European Union countries will meet in Brussels Sunday to discuss Europe's largest migration crisis since World War II, a development that could affect the increasingly heated political disagreements among EU nations over the controversial issue. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called the meeting, which is expected to be attended by Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Malta and Spain. The leaders will explore how to stop migrants from relocating to different EU countries after claiming asylum in one of the Mediterranean countries they initially entered. The meeting will precede an EU summit later this month at which leaders will attempt to finalize a joint migration policy three years after more than 1 million people entered Europe, primarily those fleeing violence in the Middle East and Asia. The issue has threatened German Chancellor Angela Merkel's domestic coalition and triggered a firestorm over a boatload of migrants who were rescued from the Mediterranean Sea but were subsequently turned away by Italy's new right-wing government. On Monday, Germany's conservative Christian Social Union gave Merkel two weeks to secure a European agreement. CSU leader and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer wants Germany to turn away migrants who have already registered in other EU countries. Merkel, however, opposes any unilateral moves that would undermine her 2015 open-door policy and her authority. As the United States and China teeter on the brink of an all out trade war and tit-for-tat tariffs loom, a European businesses lobby is urging Beijing to stop dragging its feet on reforms and using unfair trade policies to pamper Chinese companies. Each year, foreign trade groups in China roll out a laundry list of concerns about market access, regulatory hurdles and other policies that tilt the playing field in the worlds second largest economy. This year, for the first time ever, the European Chamber of Commerces annual survey of the business climate found that 61 percent of its 532 company members saw their Chinese counterparts as equally or more innovative. Increased spending on research and development, targeted acquisitions of foreign high-tech firms and growing demand for innovative products from consumers were helping driving that shift, the chamber said. The high response is significant. Policies linked to innovation and competition are a key part of the intensifying US China trade debate and concerns of foreign companies operating here. European Chamber President Mats Harborn said that as Chinese companies become stronger and more competitive, it is time for Beijing to remove the training wheels. Its time for China to lift or reduce the pampering of its own enterprises and expose them to even more open and fair competition for them to develop into the champions that China wants them to be, Harborn said. Currently, Chinese companies account for 115 of the Fortune 500 list of global enterprises. The Chinese government claims that of the worlds 260 unicorns start up companies valued at more than a billion dollars more than 160 are from China. Since Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos early last year, China has repeatedly pledged to further open up the countrys economy. According to the groups survey of its members 52 % said that the governments promises of opening up had yet to be realized. And looking forward, 46 percent said they thought the number of regulatory obstacles would increase over the next five years. Harborn said that time is running out for China and 2018 has to be the year that it delivers on its promises. Dragging the feet on delivering on promises that have been made in China will cause reactions around the world, Harborn said. The United States response to that has led to reactions such as the $50 billion, and more recently $200 billion, in possible tariffs that Washington could levy on Chinese goods. We dont agree with that action but it is the result of what we have warned about earlier, he said. Washington and European companies alike have long voiced concern about trade policies in China that protect domestic companies and State Owned Enterprises through subsidies, regulatory barriers and unequal treatment. The Trump administration has alleged that Beijing is stealing American intellectual property and forcing technology transfers. Beijing denies that is the case. Still, the European chambers survey found that about one in five of its companies "felt compelled to hand over technology in exchange for market access," despite Chinese government assurances to the contrary. According to the survey, 19 percent said they felt compelled to transfer technology. Harborn said that while the percentage may seem small, the value it represents is much larger. Numbers were even higher among companies in the aerospace and aviation sector (36 percent), civil engineering and construction (33 percent) and automakers (27 percent). And no foreign company going to Europe has to even consider the issue of giving up technology for market access, Harborn said. Reciprocal treatment is a key concern from companies in China, regardless of whether they are from Europe and America. It is also a key aim of Washingtons trade dispute with Beijing and effort to make trade fairer. But as the rhetoric in the U.S.-China trade dispute has heated up, some analysts argue that the focus has shifted too heavily to reciprocal and damaging tariffs. Actions that risk hurting not only the United States and China, but the global economy as well. Harborn said confrontation through tariffs is not the most efficient way to get reforms and opening up that companies have been asking China to deliver. We are afraid that when you are exerting pressure this way [through threats of tariffs] that China keeps its aces up its sleeve and is presenting what is needed to defuse the tension at the time and is not addressing the fundamental and broader issues, Harborn said. Besides, he add, reforms are not only important for foreign companies but Chinas own economic development as well. Over 2,300 children were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9 under the Trump administrations zero tolerance policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday, and immigration advocates and legal experts say there is no clear system in place to reunite them. The policy directs border officials to refer for prosecution all immigrants apprehended while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Parents who are no longer detained are entitled to get their kids back through a documented process, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said. When are children and parents separated? Immigrants arrested near the southwestern border are taken to processing centers where officials refer some to federal court to be prosecuted under the U.S. criminal entry statute. Parents referred for prosecution are transferred into U.S. Marshals custody and separated from their children. Immigrants charged with the misdemeanor crime of illegal entry often plead guilty in group hearings and receive a sentence of a few days in prison or time served, at which point they are transferred back to a processing facility and quickly deported unless they claim a credible fear of returning to their home country. Meanwhile, their children are transferred into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, which manages facilities that care for minors. There are 100 sites scattered across 17 states and they can be on the other side of the country from their parents. Children get their own case in immigration court and are entitled to a full hearing by an immigration judge, a process that can take months. How can parents contact their children? U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it has posted information in all facilities at which parents are detained for over 72 hours, advising them to call a hotline for assistance in finding their child. The agency said it will work together with ORR to locate separated children, verify the relationship and set up regular communication and removal coordination if necessary. There are two hotlines, one run by ICE and one by ORR. Advocates say the wait times on these calls can be upwards of 30 minutes and parents are required to call back when a child cannot immediately be located. How can the parents be reunited with their children? ICE said it will make every effort to reunite the child with the parent once the parents case has been adjudicated. If the parent is being deported, ICE said it will work with ORR to reunite them with their child at the time of deportation and with the consulate representing their country to assist the parent with obtaining a travel document for the child. In some cases, the parent may decide they want their child to stay in the United States to pursue their own asylum claim, or the child may themselves choose to seek asylum. In other cases, children may ask to return to their home countries to be reunited with their parents. Advocates said the reunification process is ad hoc. Anthony Enriquez, director of the unaccompanied minors program for Catholic Charities Community Services in New York said there was no systematic effort in place to ensure the children and their parents are reunited. I go to court to tell the judges this under oath, Enriquez said. Theres no process. He said reunification relies on individual government officials who go above and beyond their duties to help the families reunite or a lawyer from a non-governmental legal organization doing that work. Robert Carey, who ran the Office for Refugee Resettlement under President Barack Obama said he would be surprised if systems were in place for reunifying families as the new zero tolerance policy was put in place quickly and it takes time to coordinate across multiple agencies. Have parents been deported without their children? Immigration attorneys say there have been many cases of parents deported without their children. The advocacy group Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) said of the 40 case referrals involving family separation they have received since July 2017 through their child migrant return and reintegration project, 32 involved parents deported before their children and 15 of those cases involved children who were five years old or younger. In some cases, parents are deported before finding their children in ORR custody, said Lisa Frydman, a KIND attorney. Weve had other cases where the child goes to ORR and they do not know where parent is, and the parent doesnt know where child is, Frydman said. Some children remain in the United States months after their parents are being deported, she said. Parents who have been deported back to countries such as Guatemala and Honduras without their children are reaching out to local organizations asking for help locating them. Peter Strzok, the senior FBI agent who led the Hillary Clinton investigation and exchanged a series of anti-Trump messages with another agent during the probe, has been escorted out of the bureaus Washington, D.C. headquarters, his lawyer confirmed on Tuesday. "Despite being put through a highly questionable process, Pete has complied with every FBI procedure, including being escorted from the building as a part of the ongoing internal proceedings," Aitan Goelman said in a statement emailed to VOA. CNN, citing an unnamed source, reported that Strzok was escorted out on Friday. The FBI declined to comment. Strzok, a veteran counter-intelligence agent, has become a target of President Donald Trump's criticism of the FBI and the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump and his allies have cited the text messages exchanged between Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page as evidence of the bureau's institutional bias against him. "Why was the FBIs sick loser, Peter Strzok, working on the totally discredited Mueller team of 13 Angry & Conflicted Democrats, when Strzok was giving Crooked Hillary a free pass yet telling his lover, lawyer Lisa Page, that well stop Trump from becoming President? Witch Hunt!" Trump tweeted on Sunday. Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed Strzok from his team last year after the Justice Department inspector general examining the FBI's handling of the Clinton probe brought the messages to his attention. Strzok has since been reassigned to the FBI's human resources department and being investigated for disciplinary action by the bureau's office of professional responsibility. In one particularly inflammatory message discovered by the inspector general, Strzok wrote "We'll stop it" in response to a text message by Page that Trump might become president. In his audit of the FBI's investigation of Clinton's use of a private email server, the inspector general, Michael Horowitz, singled out Strzok for his text and instant messages. The nearly 600-page report, released on Thursday, said that while the messages cast a cloud over the FBIs handling of the investigation and the investigations credibility, investigators found no evidence that their political bias directly affected the email probe. The inspector general also sharply criticized former FBI director James Comey for "deviating" from long-standing norms during the investigation, but said investigators found no evidence political biases influenced the probe. Trump and his allies have nevertheless seized on the text exchange to charge that Strzok's anti-Trump animus influenced the FBI's decision not to bring charges against Clinton for mishandling classified material in her emails while secretary of state. "If someone is prejudging the outcome of an investigation before it ends and someone is prejudging the outcome of an investigation before it even begins, what is more textbook bias," Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said during a hearing on the inspector general report on Tuesday. In his statement, Goelman said Strzok "continues to be the target of unfounded personal attacks, political games and inappropriate information leaks." "Instead of publicly calling for a long-serving FBI agent to be summarily fired, politicians should allow the disciplinary process to play out free from political pressure," he said. As Congress mulls over the future of two House immigration bills, migrant families who entered the United States illegally continue to be separated as a result of the Trump Administrations zero-tolerance policy. In South Texas, VOA spoke with activists seeking an end to the practice, along with migrants who were lucky enough to avoid separation. Ramon Taylor reports. Saudi-led coalition forces have seized Yemen's Hodeida airport from Iran-aligned Houthis, a big step toward recapturing the port city following a week of fighting that spilled into residential neighborhoods. The airport's seizure Wednesday was announced by coalition commander Abdul Salamm al-Shehi in a video posted by the United Arab Emirates' official WAM news agency. The effort by the Saudi alliance to take the city has fueled fears of a humanitarian crisis, as it is the Houthis primary entry point for imports and the lifeline for millions of Yemeni citizens. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni Civil War in 2015 to help the Yemeni government suppress Houthi control of the country's large population centers and to reinstall its internationally recognized government. The coalition has accused regional opponent Iran of using the city as a conduit for arms that are smuggled to rebel forces. Iran has denied the allegation. The United Nations has warned that any attack on the port in Hodeida could disrupt shipments of humanitarian aid to the nearly 8.5 million Yemenis facing imminent starvation. City residents are bracing for what they fear will be more widespread street fighting as tanks and busloads of troops navigate empty streets of the once-bustling city. Indonesia has been chosen as one of five non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council after a competitive bidding process, inaugurating what is likely to be a period of greater diplomatic and geopolitical activity for the worlds fourth largest country. This is Indonesias fourth time on the Security Council, the most powerful U.N. body, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security. Non-permanent members are elected every five years; the 2019 lineup also includes Germany, South Africa, the Dominican Republic, and Belgium. Despite its size and population, Indonesia has not always been a vocal geopolitical actor, focusing instead on economic growth and internal affairs. But in recent years, it has pivoted toward becoming a regional power, leading major efforts on maritime security and also expressing solidarity with Muslim communities in places like Myanmar and Palestine. Indonesia Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has already said that the Palestinian issue will be a concern for Indonesia during its Security Council tenure. Marsudi heavily lobbied member states in advance of the election last week. Indonesia competed against the Maldives for one of the non- permanent seats allocated to Asia and Africa. After the election, she told reporters that Indonesia would prioritize peace and stability [and] combating terrorism and radicalism. We will continue to advocate for greater transparency and accountability, said Marsudi. We will always make ourselves available and accessible to all members, to listen to their concern and expectations and bring those voices to the council. Potentially increased role A non-member state only has five years on the council so its powers are somewhat constrained from the start. But one area where Indonesia might make an impact is in peacekeeping, since it currently ranks 9th out of 121 contributing countries to U.N. peacekeeping operations, according to the Lowy Institute. The seat could also reinforce Indonesias vision of being a global maritime fulcrum, President Joko Jokowi Widodos ambitious plan to make Indonesia a regional maritime power both in the economic and security spheres. Indonesia could use its seat to advocate more for maritime security, said Pandu Utama Manggala, a researcher at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. The world is no longer only dealing with terrorism and extremism, and Indonesia has many more areas in which to contribute. Indonesia and the U.K. are the only two countries in the next Security Council with huge maritime borders, which will give them authority on the subject, he added. Maritime security includes things like piracy, smuggling, and human rights, so it is a broad issue. Beyond the U.N. effort, Indonesia also created a foreign aid agency for the first time earlier this year, another indicator of a more outward-looking foreign policy. Limits of action But not everyone is sure that the Security Council seat will translate to real power. Its all about the prestige, said Yohanes Sulaiman, a lecturer at General Achmad Yani University. Jokowi is not really that interested in foreign affairs and Retno is not that forceful either, she is more of a safe player. He contrasted the present, decentralized era of Indonesian politics under Jokowi to the last time Indonesia had a Security Council seat, under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Now its different from the SBY years, when power was centralized and Indonesia could make a point on the world stage, he said. Jokowi lets everybody talk there is no coordination. Political analyst Aaron Connelly also wrote on Twitter that he was not quite so optimistic about Indonesias human rights commitments, because Indonesian diplomacy on the Rohingya crisis has been superficial and feckless thus far, and Jakarta is likely to oppose sanctions or an [International Criminal Court] referral for Myanmar, which has been accused of perpetrating a genocide against the Muslim Rohingya minority. Indonesia may also be yet unprepared for scrutiny into its own human rights record; just yesterday, the country barred the U.N. high commissioner for human rights from entering its eastern provinces of Papua, where there has been a long-running separatist conflict and ongoing violence. In fact, some of the most promising diplomatic overtures from Indonesia are coming from non-state actors. A leader of the Indonesian Sunni Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama, considered the worlds largest Muslim organization, visited Israel last week for an interfaith dialogue, despite the deep current anti-Semitism in Indonesia. The same leader, Yahya Cholil Staquf, also met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in the White House last month. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will return to Pyongyang Wednesday after a two-day visit to China, the chief economic and diplomatic ally of his impoverished regime. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for supporting Kim's historic summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last week. Kim also said Pyongyang and Beijing had entered into a new era of bilateral cooperation and friendship. President Xi welcomed the young North Korean leader Tuesday during a reception at Beijing's Great Hall of the People. He was quoted as saying the summit marked an "important step toward the political solution of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue" and hoped North Korea and the United States can "implement well the outcomes achieved at the summit." Kim and President Donald Trump agreed to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in exchange for U.S. security agreements and a suspension of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises that have angered Pyongyang. Last week's summit was the first of its kind between a North Korean leader and a U.S. president. This is Kim Jong Un's third visit to China this year. No official agenda has been announced for his schedule prior to his departure Wednesday. "Indian Country remembers," Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today wrote in Monday's edition of the pan-Native news site. "This is not the first administration to order the forced separation of families." He later told VOA, "I basically wanted to show the recurring nature of history. It's a story so familiar." President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy has separated nearly 2,000 youths from their parents since April, triggering outcry from many Native Americans who find parallels in their own history with the U.S. government. Author, speaker and storyteller Gyasi Ross, who comes from the Blackfeet Nation and how lives on the Port Madison Indian Reservation near Seattle, Washington, suggested on Twitter that the policy is no surprise: Native Americans are no strangers to the break-up of families. "Most [non-Native] Americans do not know their own history, partly because any history that was embarrassing was not taught in school," said Oglala Lakota journalist Tim Giago, editor of Native Sun News Today. "Native Americans were taken from their parents starting in the late 1800s and shipped to places like Carlisle, PA and Genoa, Neb. to Indian boarding schoolos. We are still suffering from the trauma it caused." Fellow journalist Vi Waln, editor of the Lakota Times, expressed a sense of solidarity with those detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Many Indigenous people are praying for the [detained undocumented] children to be reunited with their families and for the United States to do the right thing," Waln said. "But we know from experience that this might not happen." O.J. Semans, a Rosebud Sioux tribe member and executive director of South Dakota-based voting-rights group Four Directions, echoed Waln's comment, remembering another government policy which encouraged placement of Native American children in non-Native foster families. "In the 1970s, we had 25 to 35 percent of tribal children ripped away from their families. It took until 1978 to get Congress to create a law, the Indian Child Welfare Act, to curtail the abductions," he said, predicting that the current policy of separating migrant and refugee children from their parents will leave lasting scars. "The trauma of children being ripped away from their parents -- the only true love they have -- will haunt their dreams and memories till the day they die," Semans said. One Native American mother offered heartfelt sympathy for the immigrant parents. "I just can't imagine my children being taken away and not knowing if I will ever see them again," said a member of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, who asked that her name not be used. She said she believes the policy is racist: "Do you think we'll see this happening to Canadians illegally crossing the border? No!" Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, released a statement Tuesday which said, in part, "Congress and the President should take heed of such abhorrent mistakes from the past and actually live the moral values this country proclaims to embody by immediately ending this policy and reuniting the affected children with their parents. Families belong together. But not all Native Americans oppose Trump's policy. "I think we as a government have the right to detain anyone who comes here illegally," said Rick Cuevas, a disenrolled member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians in California and author of the Original Pechanga blog. "And those who are going after the Trump administration now were the same ones protecting Barack Obama as he was separating children from parents. His policies allowed 50,000 unaccompanied minors into the country," he added. A surge in migration of unaccompanied minors in 2014 led the Obama Administration to place unaccompanied minors in closed housing units until they could be transferred to family in the United States while they awaited court proceedings. Trump has blamed Democrats for the current policy, announced in April, citing a horrible" laws that call for children of families attempting to illegally cross the U.S. border to be taken from their parents. However, there is no U.S. law or court decision that mandates that action. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it has no policy on separation, but that children and parents may be separated in situations in which DHS cannot ascertain the parental relationship, when DHS determines that a child may be at risk with the presumed parent or legal guardian, or if a parent or legal guardian is referred for criminal prosecution, including for illegal entry." In 2017, U.S. border agents apprehended more than 41,000 unaccompanied minors attempting to cross the southwest border of the U.S., and U.S. customs officials report that between October 2017 to March 31, 2018, nearly 40,000 families attempted the same crossing. A decent rating from Fitch this month has Vietnam riding high on the small victory, despite some of the less favorable economic trends connected to this first-of-its-kind rating. The state monopoly Vietnam Electricity, or EVN, clinched a "BB" score June 6 from Fitch Ratings, which until then had never officially assessed the credit of a non-financial company owned by the Hanoi government. That prompted a cross-section of officials in the southeast Asian country to gush about the promise in store for one of the world's fastest-growing economies. "This positive rating enables EVN to issue international bonds, diversify our financing sources, and reassure domestic and foreign institutional investors," said Dinh Quang Tri, the acting CEO of EVN. "We are now on a stronger footing to deliver more reliable electricity to Vietnam." The ebullience, however, is tempered by two questions: Will this be enough for investors to trust EVN? And how much should government become involved in business? Renewable energy EVN underscores the mixed sentiments that analysts express about Vietnam, a communist country transitioning to capitalism. The fact that the government runs EVN contributed to Fitch's confidence in its report card. "We believe the company can secure adequate funding in light of its position as an entity closely linked to the sovereign," it said in a media release. Yet businesses want even more promises from the government. Vietnam has spent years courting investment in renewable power, for example, but with limited success. That is in part because businesses that generate wind, solar, and other alternative energy sources can sell it only to EVN, and they are afraid of losing money if the company does not buy their electricity. For renewables, "there is no provision for any form of government guarantee, assurance, or support to enhance the creditworthiness of EVN as the sole off-taker/purchaser," corporate law firm Baker McKenzie said in a September report. State vs. free market Some would like to see more government involvement in general, especially to bail out companies in trouble. Others would like to see less involvement, as evidenced in the push for Vietnam to privatize further by selling stakes in its many state-owned enterprises. The country has not settled on a balance between the free market and the government. Hanoi used to give iron-clad pledges that it would pay up in case of default at one of its state firms or public works projects. The government is doing that less often now because it is moving away from a centrally-planned economy, as well as reducing its sovereign debt. Public anxiety mounted in recent years as Vietnam approached its debt ceiling of 65 percent of gross domestic product, though the country has made progress in reining in the debt. That means EVN must tread lightly. Now that the power company has a Fitch Rating, it is eyeing international bonds to borrow money from investors around the world. Going through this financing process is "helping EVN benefit from the discipline that comes with access to capital markets," said Jordan Schwartz, who is the director of the World Bank group overseeing infrastructure, guarantees, and public-private partnerships. The World Bank gave EVN funds and technical assistance to prepare for the Fitch assessment. Its credit rating shows how tightly EVN's fate correlates with that of the government. Electricity prices, for example, will have to increase for the utility to make profits and improve its rating. Big increases, however, require approval from Hanoi, which also wants to keep power affordable for citizens. The correlation is even blunter in Fitch's analysis. The overall credit rating for Vietnam's government itself also is BB. If that improves, so could the score for EVN, Fitch said, "provided EVN's linkages with the state do not deteriorate significantly." More than half of American voters say U.S. President Donald Trump's recent meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reduced the likelihood of nuclear war, according to a poll released Wednesday. The poll, administered by Quinnipiac University, found that 54 percent of voters thought the summit, which took place June 12 in Singapore, reduced the risk of war. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they felt it did not reduce the chance. "American voters say President Donald Trump deserves a pat on the back for his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the poll. Fifty percent of voters, however, said they did not think the summit would lead to peace between the two nations, and seven out of 10 disagreed with Trump's June 13 claim that North Korea was "no longer a nuclear threat," the poll found. During the summit, Trump and Kim signed a document pledging both countries would "work to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," and attempt to establish "new U.S.-DPRK relations." North Korea, however, has made several pledges to denuclearize in the past to no avail. In 2016, during the Obama administration, the North "signal[ed] a willingness to resume negotiations on denuclearization," according to arms control advocacy group the Arms Control Association. No to Nobel Prize According to the poll, 66 percent of voters disagreed with the notion that Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. In May, 18 Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote to the Norwegian Nobel Committee to formally nominate him. The committee is in charge of awarding the prize. "Since taking office, President Trump has worked tirelessly to apply maximum pressure on North Korea to end its illicit weapons program and bring peace to the region," the letter read. Overall, 52 percent of voters said they disapproved with Trump's performance as president, whereas 43 percent said they approved. The last Quinnipiac poll, released June 6, also found more voters disapproved than approved of the president's performance by a margin of 51 percent to 40 percent. Trust in media Fifty-three percent of those polled said they trusted the news media more than Trump, while 65 percent believed that the media is an important part of democracy. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and the press. Trump, however, has often attacked leading news outlets such as CNN and The New York Times, often claiming that they are biased against him. In February 2017, Trump called the media "the enemy of the American People" in a tweet. November elections Ahead of this November's midterm elections, in which all 435 seats of the U.S. House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 U.S. Senate seats are up for election, the poll found American voters wanted Democrats to take control of both Republican-held chambers of Congress. Voters favored Democrats over Republicans 49-43 in the House, and 49-44 in the Senate. Democrats need to gain two seats to take control of the Senate, and 24 to take control of the House. J. Miles Coleman, an electoral analyst for American election calling group Decision Desk HQ, told VOA while Trump's approval numbers appear to be stable, Democratic incumbents are doing better than he would expect at this time. On Wednesday, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire who was first elected to office as a Republican before becoming an Independent in 2007, announced he would be pledging $80 million toward helping Democratic candidates in the elections. In Malaysia, theres eagerness and a bit of skepticism about what appears to be the beginning of a new dawn for press freedom. Its a long time coming, Kevin Khor, a 50-year-old IT manager, said while skimming through the days top stories on his phone. WATCH: Changing Times for Malaysia's Long-Muzzled Media? The change is a direct result of the countrys May elections which marked the first win by the opposition since Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957. For decades, the countrys mainstream media were largely under the governments thumb. Political parties and businesses with ties to them, and the government, owned major press outlets. The government made it difficult for independent news outlets to get licenses to broadcast and print newspapers as well as magazines. So the previous regime indeed controlled the media through the issuances of licenses or permits which gave it the ability to pull back anything it didnt like, said Gayathry Venkiteswaran, an assistant professor of media and politics at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. It was a way for them to also make sure that media companies that were controlled by their sort of contacts, cronies basically, were able to sensor content and to make sure that pro-government content was actually put out. Looking to other sources The mainstream media often downplayed or dismissed concerns about rising living costs and allegations of massive corruption against Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was ousted in the elections. So the media provided that false narrative, Venkiteswaran said. That there was no problem with corruption, no problem with governance. The coverage by the mainstream press prompted many voters to turn to other sources, including online websites and social media. People generally do not trust the mainstream media, said Khor. People would go to the alternative media on the internet to look for better and fairer news reports. The most high profile alternative media outlet in the country is news site Malaysiakini, which is known for its aggressive political coverage, including stories about corruption. We report on a lot of stories that mainstream media is not reporting on, said Malaysiakini's editor-in-chief, Steven Gan. The consequences have included numerous police raids and several of its journalists, including Gan, have been arrested. In the first police raid, they took all of our computers, Gan said. It was an attempt to shut us down. Alleged scandals covered After the May elections, with a new government giving regular updates on the alleged corruption scandal, Malaysias mainstream media are covering it. Recent newspaper headlines include the words graft and stolen funds. Critics, however, say it only demonstrates a shifting of allegiances. So the sense of being loyal to the government has remained even though the actors have changed, which is not what we want from the media, said Venkiteswaran, the assistant professor at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, adding that professional training is desperately needed at mainstream news outlets. I think its an inability to really understand what your role is as a journalist. I think its the fact that youve been in a mindset of serving the powers rather than serving the public. Free speech? There are also concerns about whether the new ruling coalition will keep its campaign commitment to free speech. After the election, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad suggested a controversial fake news law that went into effect in April should be reviewed instead of revoked. Critics of the law say the former government passed it to muzzle criticism. When Mahathir, now 92, was in his first stint as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, he suspended several newspapers. Its pretty ironic, isn't it? You know the fact that you have a prime minister now, who during his first stint as prime minister was never known to be friendly to the media, definitely an enemy of the press, Gan said. He won it (this election) on the back of the free media, back of independent media. Gan said he is optimistic the new government will live up to its commitments for a free press. He also pledged that Malaysiakini will be just as tough on the new ruling coalition as it was on the old one. We will tell truth to power. We will hold power to account, Gan said. No sacred cows, definitely. South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar met Wednesday for their first face-to-face meeting in two years. The meeting in Ethiopias capital, Addis Ababa, comes amid efforts to end the worlds youngest countrys nearly five-year civil war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced about 4 million to flee their homes. The outcome of the much-anticipated meeting is unknown, but many observers are paying close attention. Casie Copeland, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said if the meeting does not go well, and Machar and Kiir walk away, it will call into question whether the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional trade bloc of eight African countries, can move forward with some kind of peace process. No one has a great idea of who could take over a process other than IGAD. And if IGAD didnt succeed, why would anyone else be able to? Copeland said on the VOA radio program South Sudan in Focus. Earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council delayed a decision until June 30 to impose travel bans and freeze assets on six South Sudanese leaders accused of impeding the peace deal. Those options are still on the table pending a review of the government and opposition parties commitment to adhere to a cease-fire agreement. Copeland said the June 30 deadline makes the Kiir-Machar meeting critically important. Brian Adeba, deputy director of policy for the Enough Project, agrees, but said the region should expand its focus beyond the two men. The danger of calling Riek Machar to Addis Ababa ... rests in the fact that there might be an elite deal, an elite pact, between Riek Machar and Salva Kiir. That would be counterproductive to the peace process entirely, because the conflict has evolved significantly. And it involves several other actors, Adeba told South Sudan in Focus. Most of the other groups have joined the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSO), an umbrella group of the opposition forces. They spoke out collectively in a press statement Monday. SSO spokesman Kwaje Lasu said IGADs latest proposal gives more positions to the Kiir administration than the opposition parties. He said the alliance will refuse to sign a deal that does not address the root cause of the conflict. It represents a turning point in many ways. It is a recognition that Riek Machar is still crucial, and it debunks the assertion by the region and the government of South Sudan that Riek Machar is no longer relevant in these talks, Adeba said. IGAD has yet to release a communique with information detailing what occurred on Wednesday. Kiir and Machar are expected to meet on Thursday in Addis. Meanwhile, Juba residents and internally displaced people sheltering in a U.N.-run camp said they hope the meeting will end the fighting. I would like Riek Machar and Salva Kiir to reconcile and change the situation for the better because people are suffering very badly. If they can hear our voice, that is to make peace, then later we can vote, Juba resident Abuor Mabien Nhial told South Sudan in Focus. Nhial was referring to national elections that were supposed to take place in South Sudan this year, according to a previous peace agreement signed by the warring parties. But since the cessation of hostilities, the agreement has not been upheld by either side, and the elections are still in doubt. Dut Dau, another Juba resident, urged the two men to be open while negotiating.I am glad to hear our president has left for Addis to meet Machar. And the only thing I could say is for our leaders to understand themselves. They should understand themselves before they [make] their demand, Dau told VOA. Internally displaced person Jeremiah Gai, who resides at the UNMISS Protection of Civilians Site in Juba, told South Sudan in Focus, They have to bring peace to the citizens of South Sudan. This is the hope of all IDPs. A pre-dawn Taliban attack in western Afghanistan killed 30 members of government forces, the deadliest insurgent raid since a nationwide temporary cease-fire during the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr. Local officials said Taliban Insurgents assaulted Afghan National Army (ANA) posts Wednesday in the Bala Murghab district in the Badghis province, triggering fierce clashes in the area, with both sides suffering casualties. Provincial governor Abdul Ghafoor Malikzai told VOA the ANA lost 30 troops when a convoy of soldiers heading to the fighting zone was ambushed by Taliban fighters. A spokesman for the ministry of defense in Kabul confirmed to VOA the clashes left 13 Afghan soldiers dead and eight others wounded. Security officials in Badghis said Afghan forces also inflicted heavy casualties on the opposition, killing 15 Taliban assailants. The Taliban ended its three-day ceasefire on Sunday while the government extended a unilateral week-long ceasefire, initially due to end on Wednesday, by 10 days.This was the first time in 17 years that Afghan warring sides temporarily suspended battlefield operations. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani hoped his initiative to suspend anti-Taliban security operations would encourage the insurgents to extend their ceasefire to pave the way for direct peace talks.The United States had also paused its operations against the Taliban to honor Ghani's ceasefire. But the Taliban refused to extend its ceasefire and resumed battlefield attacks early Monday. The deputy commander of NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan called the Taliban's decision to resume fighting disappointing, but held out hope the brief ceasefire could be something upon which both the Taliban and the Afghan government can build. "I truly believe we stand on the edge of opportunity here in Afghanistan," British Lt. Gen. Richard Cripwell told reporters Wednesday at the Pentagon. "I cannot understate the sense of optimism that is in the country," he said."The scenes here in Kabul would certainly give anybody hope that the ceasefire is possible in the future." U.S. and Afghan officials have spoken in the past about groups of Taliban commanders and fighters who have sought ways to speed up the reconciliation process and make peace, including in Badghis, where Wednesday's attacks took place. But they say many have been forced to return to the fight after higher ranking Taliban officials threatened their families. Resolute Support's Cripwell said similar sentiments may have spiked chances for a prolonged ceasefire this time, too. "Clearly between the events of Saturday that we saw all over the country and to the fact that was significantly reduced on Sunday, suggest that at least somebody wasn't keen to see Taliban fighters taking selfies and eating ice cream," he said. The insurgent group says no intra-Afghan negotiations are possible until all U.S.-led foreign troops leave Afghanistan. The Taliban dismisses the Afghan government as a U.S. puppet and has repeatedly called for direct talks with Washington.The insurgent group blames the presence of U.S.-led foreign forces for initiating and prolonging the Afghan war. The U.S.-led international military alliance ousted the Taliban from power in 2001 to punish it for harboring the al-Qaida terrorist network in Afghanistan. Objecting to President Donald Trumps policy of splitting up families who illegally entered the country, three U.S. airlines told the government not to use their planes to transport federal agents accompanying migrant children separated from their parents at the border with Mexico. Trump has since reversed the policy. American, United and Frontier airlines all balked at ferrying U.S. immigration workers as part of contracts they have with the government. American said in a statement that the separation of children from their parents is not at all aligned with the values the company believes in. One airline attendant, Hunt Palmquist, wrote this week in the Houston Chronicle that he was on two recent flights carrying immigration officials and migrant children to shelters. After realizing the children were being relocated away from their parents, Palmquist vowed to walk off future flights if more federal immigration agents were on board to transport migrant children, due to the nature of this unconscionable act by my government and my employers complicity. The Department of Homeland Security called it unfortunate that the airlines no longer wanted to transport the agents and the children. The agency said the airlines clearly do not understand our immigration laws and the long-standing devastating loopholes that have caused the crisis at our southern border. Buckling to a false media narrative only exacerbates the problems at our border and puts more children at risk from traffickers. After saying for days that only Congress could end the separation of children from their parents, and amid an intense public backlash, Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday reversing the practice. I didnt like the sight or feeling of families being separated, so were keeping families together, Trump said as he signed the order. In what is being viewed as the most significant policy reversal of his 17-month administration, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order ending the policy of separating migrant children from their parents who illegally crossed the southern border with Mexico into the U.S. "It's about keeping families together while at the same time making sure that we have a very powerful, very strong border," Trump said as he signed the document just prior to departing the White House for a political rally in the state of Minnesota. Later, at the political rally, the president defended his position saying the executive order he signed hours earlier would not weaken his border strategy: The border is going to be just as tough as its been despite the executive order, he said. WATCH: Trump signs executive order The president's policy retreat follows a withering attack by Republican and Democratic officials who alike termed the family separations as inhumane. The actions left parents with little or no information about where their children were being taken or when or how they would be reunited. Trump's executive order went into effect immediately when he signed it, according to Gene Hamilton, counselor to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. However, he added, there will be an "implementation phase that follows." "Right now, we have the lawful authority to detain a family unit together for up to 20 days," Hamilton told reporters on a conference call following the signing of the order. But for extended detentions to keep families together beyond that time frame it is "critically important" for Judge Dolly Gee of the U.S. District Court of Central California to make a ruling, according to Hamilton. WATCH: Trump Reverses Migrant Separation Policy Under the order, the Homeland Security secretary will, with some exceptions, maintain custody of alien families while any legal proceedings concerning illegal entry or immigration status involving their members are pending implementation. It also instructs the Defense Department to provide or construct facilities to house the families. The Justice Department is ordered, "to the extent practicable," to "prioritize the adjudication of cases involving detained families." The order also directs the Justice Department to seek a modification of a court order to permit families that enter the United States illegally to be detained together until their criminal proceedings are concluded. Pence, Nielsen join Trump The president took the action, sitting at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office with Vice President Mike Pence on his left side and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to his right. The president emphasized that his administration's overall "zero-tolerance" policy on illegal immigration is not ending. For days, Trump and key officials in his administration had contended that he could not act unilaterally to overturn the policy and that only Congress, through legislation, could ban the breakup of families. First ladies oppose policy The U.S. in the last six weeks has separated more than 2,300 young children from their parents and sent them to detention centers, while charging their parents with illegally entering the country. Business and religious leaders, four former U.S. first ladies and Trump's wife also voiced sharp criticism of the policy to split up migrant families, many of them escaping poverty and turmoil in Central America, as they illegally crossed the U.S. border. The executive order is likely to quell some, but not all, of the criticism. "An eleventh-hour executive order doesn't fix the harm done to thousands of children and their parents," said a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union. "Trump's order replaces one crisis for another: Children don't belong in jail at all, even with their parents, under any circumstances." President reacts to images Trump, earlier Wednesday, told a group of lawmakers at the White House that the images of sobbing and frightened young children being taken away from their parent by U.S. authorities "affect everybody." The president added he was torn by the issue. "We want the heart," he said, "but we also want strong borders and we want no crime." Trump also renewed his attacks on the media and opposition Democrats for the way they were portraying his administration's policy. The U.S. leader contended that the mainstream U.S. news outlets are "not mentioning the safety and security of our Country when talking about illegal immigration." He claimed that U.S. immigration laws "are the weakest and worst anywhere in the world" and that Democrats "will do anything not to change them." "It's the Democrats fault, they won't give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation," Trump said, ignoring that Republicans control both chambers of Congress. "They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something it never ends!" Trump's latest broadside against two of his favorite targets came hours after he met with fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives, voicing support for a pair of immigration measures the chamber plans to vote on Thursday to overhaul U.S. immigration policies and curb the separation of children from their parents at U.S.-Mexican border. Ryan questions breaking families apart' "We can enforce our immigration laws without breaking families apart," House Speaker Paul Ryan, the leader of the Republican majority in the chamber, said before Trump announced he would sign an executive order to end breaking up families. It is not clear, however, if either piece of House legislation has enough support to win passage. Despite signing the executive order, the Trump administration is maintaining its call for Congress to adopt more comprehensive immigration reforms and approve $25 billion in funding for construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. "We'll get the wall done," Trump said after signing the order, in response to a question about funding for the wall. 'Right away' Republican Congressman Mark Meadows said Trump told the lawmakers they need to get something done on immigration "right away." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday all 51 Republican senators in the 100-member Senate "support a plan that keeps families together," adding he intends to ask Democrats to support the measure. The Associated Press reported Tuesday the Trump administration has been sending babies and other young children separated from their parents at the border to at least three "tender age" shelters in South Texas, and that the government plans to open another shelter to house hundreds of young migrants in Houston. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the shelters described play rooms with crying preschool-age children in crisis, according to AP. Ken Bredemeier and Chris Hannas contributed to this report. Testifying before a Senate panel, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Wednesday withstood a bipartisan barrage of complaints and criticism over the Trump administrations escalating trade battles with China and key American allies. I dont think the Chinese want a trade war any more than we do, Ross told the Senate Finance Committee. The presidents general view is that the trade war was lost years ago. This is an attempt to fix outcomes that were unsatisfactory. Senators responded with incredulity and, at times, sarcasm to the commerce secretarys defense of new tariffs announced or contemplated on imports ranging from steel to automobiles. A car isnt a can of soup, Mr. Secretary, the committees chairman, Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah said. These tariffs do not support U.S. national security. Instead, they harm American manufacturers, damage our economy, hurt American consumers, and disrupt our relationship with our long-term allies. It sounds to me like we got a government-run mercantilist economy, as opposed to a free-market economy, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said. WATCH: Lawmakers Grill Commerce Secretary Over Escalating Trade Battles Ross announced that more than 20,000 U.S. entities have asked the administration for waivers, allowing them to import steel goods tariff-free, of which 42 had been approved so far. He admitted that steel prices have risen in the United States, harming some domestic industries. But he said tariffs are not primarily to blame. There has been a lot of speculative activity storing inventory, withholding product from the market, the commerce secretary said, adding that the administration is investigating whether there are people who illegitimately are profiteering from tariffs. Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet countered that tariffs must be to blame for rising costs, since the punitive measures enabled any profiteering taking place. Bennet also expressed consternation over U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel after Ross admitted that the United States does not, in fact, have a trade deficit with Canada on the product. What is the national security rationale for putting a tariff on the Canadian steel industry with whom we have a trade surplus? the Colorado senator asked. Ross replied that the United States has to respond to steel dumping on a global basis because China masks the true volume of steel exports to the United States by shipping products through other countries, including Canada. If you just believed the raw numbers, China is shipping less to us than they did five years ago. The reality is quite to the contrary, the commerce secretary said. Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said he applauds President Donald Trumps determination to vigorously enforce U.S. trade laws, crack down on Chinas trade practices, and update the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. But Wyden criticized the administrations performance in pursuit of those goals. The administrations trade moves seem more like knee-jerk impulses than any kind of carefully thought-out strategy. Its most obvious accomplishment on trade so far is sowing a lot of chaos that has united allies and China against us, the Oregon senator said. Ive heard from Pacific Northwest cherry growers whove gotten nearly 1.5 million boxes of cherries ready to ship to China. Theyre worried those cherries are going to end up stuck on the dock or rotting in a warehouse due to China's retaliation [on tariffs]. Ross told senators he backs Trumps decision to act boldly on trade. We tried negotiation. I, myself, have been four or five times in China negotiating over the last year or so, Ross said. There have been years of talk with China about intellectual property. The president feels, and I agree, that now is the time for action. And unless we make it more painful for them to continue those practices, its unlikely we will succeed. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania bemoaned a heavy-handed approach to trade. Were picking winners and losers and probably resulting, in my view, in the risk of far more jobs lost than jobs that are going to be gained, he said. I wish we would stop invoking national security, because thats not what this is about. This is about economic nationalism and an economic policy of managing trade. Toomey is backing a proposal by a fellow Republican, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, that would require congressional approval for tariffs levied for national security reasons. The Senate declined to vote on the bill last week, but Corker and other backers have vowed to continue fighting for the measure. Despite opposition in Congress, Turkey will receive its first F-35 Joint Strike fighter jet this week, Pentagon and aviation industry officials tell VOA. Lockheed Martin, maker of the F-35, will hold a ceremony Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas, for Turkeys new jets, according to a company spokesperson. Both House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) contain restrictions on Turkeys participation in the F-35 program. U.S. lawmakers are concerned about Ankaras imprisonment of an American pastor and its plans to buy the Russian S-400 air defense system, which they say would "degrade the general security" of the NATO alliance and be incompatible with systems used by Turkeys NATO allies. The NDAA, and any language therein, would not become law until the House and Senate pass a final, joint version of the bill. As always, Lockheed Martin will comply with any official guidance from the United States government, the company said. After the rollout ceremony on Thursday, Turkeys two jets will travel to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona at a later date so that Turkish pilots can learn how to use them, Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Andrews, a Pentagon spokesman, told VOA. Turkish F-35 pilots and maintainers have arrived at Luke Air Force Base, and will begin flight academics soon, Andrews added. A defense official noted the U.S. government could likely still be in custody of the aircraft when the newest NDAA is passed. After aircraft production of F-35 jets are complete, the U.S. government maintains custody of the aircraft until custody is transferred to the partner. This normally occurs after the lengthy process of foreign partner training is complete in about one to two years, the official told VOA. Turkey is a NATO ally and has been an international participant with the U.S.-made F-35 program since 2002. The governors of multiple East Coast states have announced that they will not deploy National Guard resources near the U.S.-Mexico border, a largely symbolic but politically significant rejection of the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy that has resulted in children being separated from their families. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, announced Tuesday morning on his Twitter account that he has ordered four crew members and a helicopter to immediately return from where they were stationed in New Mexico. "Until this policy of separating children from their families has been rescinded, Maryland will not deploy any National Guard resources to the border," Hogan tweeted. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, who like Hogan is a Republican governor in a blue state, on Monday reversed a decision to send a National Guard helicopter to the border, citing the Trump administration's "cruel and inhuman" policy. On the Democratic side, governors in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New York and Virginia have all indicated their refusal to send Guard resources to assist with immigration-related issues. The resources in question from each state are relatively small, so the governors' actions aren't likely to have a huge practical impact. But they are a strong symbolic political gesture, said Mileah Kromer, the director of the Sarah T. Hughes field Politics Center at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland. "I think at a time when you have a large percentage of the country questioning the leadership of the Trump administration, it certainly is a moment for the governors across the country to show leadership, particularly at a time when this is so divisive," Kromer said. The forced separation of migrant children from their parents has fueled criticism across the political spectrum and sparked nationwide protests of President Donald Trump's immigration policies. "Ever since our founding and even before our nation has been a beacon for families seeking freedom and yearning for a better life," Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Tuesday as he signed an executive order prohibiting the use of state resources. "President Trump has turned this promise on its head by doubling down on his inhumane and cruel policy of separating families." In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday reiterated a decision he first made earlier this year to not send Guard resources to the border to assist with immigration-related duties. He's also asked for a federal investigation of the policy relating to the separation of the children from their families. Delaware Governor John Carney, a Democrat, said he turned down a request he received Tuesday to send National Guard troops to the southwest border, while the Democratic governors of Virginia and North Carolina said they would recall Guard members and equipment they already had sent to the border. "If President Trump revokes the current inhumane policy of separating children from their parents, Delaware will be first in line to assist our sister states in securing the border," Carney said in a statement. Governors are not the only ones taking action: Mayors from across the U.S. announced plans to travel to the Texas border on Thursday to protest the "zero-tolerance" policy. The mayors will gather at a point of entry near where migrant minors began arriving at a tent-like shelter last week. The U.S. Conference of Mayors last week unanimously passed a resolution registering its opposition to separating children from their families at the border. The United States has announced its official withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council, saying the organization is no longer worthy of its name. At a joint press availability at the State Department Monday with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told reporters, For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias. She accused the council of chronic bias against Israel. She said the U.S.had tried for the past year to reform the council, but to no avail, adding. Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights, she said, citing human rights abuses by Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of Congo. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed, calling the council an exercise in shameless hypocrisy. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N.Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, released a statement in response. The Secretary-General would have much preferred for the United States to remain in the Human Rights Council. The U.N.s Human Rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide. A group of 12 prominent nongovernmental organizations, including Human Rights First, Freedom House and Save the Children, sent a letter to Pompeo, saying they are deeply disappointed with the decision. The letter recognized legitimate concerns about shortcomings in the councils structure and operations. WATCH: US, UN Human rights But none of these gaps warrants withdrawal from the council, and the U.S.s absence will only compound the councils weaknesses, the letter said. Salil Shetty, Amnesty Internationals secretary-general, called on the U.S. to reverse its decision, while admitting that the council has its flaws. Once again, President Trump is showing his complete disregard for the fundamental rights and freedoms the U.S. claims to uphold. While the Human Rights Council is by no means perfect and its membership is frequently under scrutiny, it remains an important force for accountability and justice. Phil Robertson, deputy director for Human Rights Watch in Asia, told VOA that if countries are blocking reforms, the solution is to work harder, not to leave. "The United States has allowed their myopia with Israel to blind itself to the fact that the human rights council works all around the world on North Korea, on Myanmar, on Cambodia, on Nepal, on other countries in other places, Syria, Yemen. I mean you name it, the human rights council is a critical piece of the international human rights architecture," Robertson said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the U.S. announcement, tweeting, The US decision to leave this prejudiced body is an unequivocal statement that enough is enough. University of South Carolina political science professor Josef Olmert told VOA, "This council has become an arena for anti-Semitic propaganda for years." Some analysts praised the decision, including Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation, who credited the U.S. with taking a measured approach. The Trump administration could have left the council any time in the past 18 months, but it did not, he said. The decision came as the U.S. is coming under increasing criticism from a number of international human rights organizations for the Trump administration's separation of more than 2,000 children from their parents at the U.S. southern border. The U.N. General Assembly created the 47-member Human Rights Council in 2006 to replace the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Based in Geneva, the HRC is tasked with promoting and protecting global human rights and addressing rights violations. Haley visited the HRC last June and said the U.S. was not seeking to leave the body, but to reestablish the council's legitimacy. She said Washington wanted the council to remove Item Seven from its agenda on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories which she called scandalous for singling out Israel for criticism. Haley also called for reforms to the body, including action to prevent some of the worlds worst rights abusers from having a seat on the council, in part by making the election process more competitive and transparent. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. has also announced its plans to withdraw at the end of this year from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, citing its continuing anti-Israel bias, and has cut its contributions this year by 80 percent to UNRWA, the agency that assists Palestinian refugees. Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. The American military command in South Korea is preparing for the North Koreans to turn over the remains of an unknown number of U.S. or allied service members who have been missing since the Korean War, U.S. officials said Tuesday. Officials say the timing of a ceremony is uncertain, but could be very soon. The officials weren't authorized to discuss the preparations before an official announcement so spoke on condition of anonymity. The remains are believed to be some or all of the more than 200 that the North Koreans have had for some time. But the precise number and the identities including whether they are U.S. or allied service members won't be known until the remains are tested. President Donald Trump raised the likelihood of the repatriation of remains last week after his summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. At the time, Trump said, ``We're getting the remains, and nobody thought that was possible.'' The Defense Department, State Department and White House declined to discuss the latest development. The Pentagon would only say that an interagency effort is under way and that Trump's agreement with Kim last week cleared the way for the planning for the return of remains. The transfer of remains is usually done in a somber, formal ceremony, and that is what officials said is being planned. It also wasn't clear where the ceremony would take place, but it may be at the demilitarized zone on the border between North and South Korea. It's been more than a decade since North Korea turned over the remains of American troops missing from the Korean War. Richard Downes, executive director of the Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs, said he has since been told the North may have the remains of more than 200 American service members that were likely recovered from land during farming or construction and could be easily returned. But he said the vast majority have yet to be located and retrieved from various cemeteries and battlefields across the countryside. Thousands missing More than 36,000 U.S. troops died in the conflict, including those listed as missing in action. Close to 7,700 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, and about 5,300 of those were lost in North Korea. Between 1996 and 2005, joint U.S.-North Korea military search teams conducted 33 recovery operations and recovered 229 sets of American remains. Washington officially broke off the program because it claimed the safety of its searchers was not guaranteed, though the North's first nuclear test, in 2006, was likely a bigger reason. The last time North Korea turned over remains was in 2007, when Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador and New Mexico governor, secured the return of six sets. According to Chuck Prichard, spokesman for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, once the remains are turned over, they would be sent to one of two Defense Department facilities Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska for tests to determine identification. U.S. officials are separating undocumented children who cross the southern border with their parents at a faster rate than the government had previously acknowledged, data provided to reporters by immigration officials on Tuesday shows. In the 35 days from May 5 to June 9, some 2,342 children -- an average of 67 a day -- were separated from their parents or custodians as the adults faced federal criminal charges for entering the country illegally, as well as deportation proceedings, as a result of a new policy the Trump administration refers to as "zero-tolerance." Numbers provided by the Department of Homeland Security late last week indicated that between April 19 and May 31, 1,995 children were removed from their parents and held in government-funded shelters, averaging roughly 48 separations a day. Those dates roughly coincide with when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy on April 6, and when DHS - which includes U.S. Customs and Border Protection - joined the initiative on May 7. VOA has requested additional data on separations from DHS that coincides with those key dates of the initiative. Sessions ordered that all migrants crossing the border illegally be swiftly placed into federal criminal court proceedings for illegal entry into the country. With parents or custodians detained on federal charges, according to DHS the children cannot accompany the adults to those facilities, and are rendered "unaccompanied minors." They are then placed in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, which contracts out to non-profits; those organizations are in turn are running shelters to hold the children, some of which are younger than 4. An audio recording made inside one such shelter by investigative news outlet ProPublica revealed wailing children pleading for their parents. A request for information on the number of reunifications or deportations that have taken place since the policy was announced in April was not immediately provided on Tuesday's call with DHS officials; a subsequent request by VOA for that data has not yet received a response. Sharp criticism followed the recent decisions by Trump and his Cabinet officials, who have at times referred to the policy as a deterrent to border crossers, but also denied that it could be considered a "policy," as DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said at the White House on Monday. In a strongly-worded statement Monday, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein denounced the US policy. The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable, al-Hussein said. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang, Kyung-wha said on Wednesday that the U.S. and South Korea jointly made the decision to suspend combined military exercises scheduled for August, but would not confirm if her government was given advanced notice before U.S. President Trump announced his intention to cancel the drills, after he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12. We have made it clear that this is a goodwill gesture to strengthen the dialogue momentum at this point, but they are not irreversible. They could quickly come back should we see the dialogue momentum losing speed or North Korea not living up to its denuclearization commitment, said Foreign Minister Kang. Diplomatic momentum During a press briefing in Seoul, the foreign minister said she was in in close communication with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the drills directly following the Singapore summit. And while the announcement canceling the exercises came suddenly, Kang said, South Korea was also considering this option to keep diplomatic momentum moving forward following the U.S.-North Korea summit where Kim reaffirmed his commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea. The now cancelled Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises normally held in August usually bring in 3,000 more American troops from abroad and involve 50,000 South Korean troops. No decision has yet been made whether the other large-scale joint exercise held in the spring would be suspended as well. At the Singapore summit Trump said he would cancel the war games that he said were both enormously expensive and provocative, as an act of good faith and in response to North Koreas commitment to denuclearization, its continued suspension of nuclear and missile teats, and the recent closing of its nuclear testing site. North Korea has long called for the end of these joint military exercises that it says are offensive rehearsals for war. In the past U.S. officials refused to suspend the joint drills, that they defended as defensive in nature and legal under international law, for a pledge from North Korea to freeze its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities that are prohibited by United Nations resolutions. Kang also reiterated South Koreas commitment to the U.S. alliance and said there has been no discussion about reducing the U.S. military presence in the country. President Trump raised concerns over the future of the alliance when he said in Singapore that he would like to withdraw all or some of the over 28,000 troops in South Korea at some point in the future, as both a cost saving measure, and to reduce a perceived overextended U.S. military presence overseas. No sanctions relief On the tough United Nations sanctions against North Korea, Kang echoed Washingtons position that they remain in place until there is concrete action on complete denuclearization, but she said other undefined measures could be offered in response to Pyongyangs continued progress. Now when we talk about action, there is a lot that can be done prior to lifting of the sanctions. There are good faith measures. There are confidence building measures and the suspension of the military exercises is one such good faith measure," said Kang. However South Korean economic engagement with the North, she said, would be confined to research and development efforts only. At the inter-Korean summit in April, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to explore ways to promote economic cooperation and work to modernize inter-Korean railways and roads that could provide the South with land routes to China and Russia that would reach Europe. Talks between the U.S. and North Korea are expected to be scheduled soon to expand Kims denuclearization pledge into a comprehensive plan that would detail the list of nuclear weapons, related facilities and ballistic missile systems to be eliminated, a dismantlement timeline, and verification process. It also needs to be clearly defined the security guarantee and economic assistance North Korea would be provided for ending its nuclear program. Kang expects this year to come up with an agreed upon peace declaration, but expects it will take a long time to develop a peace treaty to replace the armistice put in place at the end of the Korean War in 1953. Kim met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday during a two-day visit to Beijing, where they discussed the denuclearization agreement reached in Singapore. After the summit North Korea state media reported that Trump agreed to a step-by-step process linking concessions to incremental progress, while U.S. officials insist that complete denuclearization must come before any relief is offered. Inter-Korean talks are also continuing to ease tensions and increase cooperation. Military to military dialogue has been reestablished. The two Koreas also agreed this week to field unified teams at some events during the upcoming Asian Games scheduled for August in Indonesia. Lee Yoon-jee in Seoul contributed to this report. The spread of street protests in Vietnam this month shows a latent fear of China, worries about freedom of speech and distrust of the lawmaking process, analysts say. Demonstrations with occasional violence reached 10 cities, including Vietnams largest, and attracted about 30,000 people June 9 and 10, London-based rights group Amnesty International said. Protests June 17 brought out thousands more. At least 150 people were detained in the Communist country that frowns on dissent and police beat some demonstrators, according to Amnesty International. Eight people have been arrested, Vietnams Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. Protesters throughout the country were responding to a National Assembly bill that would let foreign investors lease land up to 99 years in three special economic zones. They figured that investors from China, a political rival of Vietnam, would lease the land. Urban protesters also decried a cybersecurity law passed in the assembly June 12. The bill could lead to rules that let police monitor more closely what people post online. I think the underlying current of the protests is they dont trust the government, and they dont trust the National Assembly or they dont trust the legislation, said Trung Nguyen, international relations dean at Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Cybersecurity law The assembly, Vietnams legislature, put off the 99-year lease bill until October for possible revisions. But protesters still fumed, as they do not know the October outcome. In the cities, protesters spoke out against the cybersecurity law as the specific rules on whats permitted online will emerge only after about six months. The law might let the government ask internet providers to share information about what common users say online, an Amnesty International official said. It might extend to peoples everyday gripes, said Adam McCarty, chief economist with Mekong Economics in the capital Hanoi. I think its purely political. Theyve always been monitoring blogs and some people have been arrested over the previous years, he said. But this one is a more obvious and blatant monitoring of everybody, even people not really actively trying to overthrow the government. In June 2017 the Ministry of Public Security proposed the Law on Cybersecurity to give it more power over prohibited content and anti-government activities. The assembly voted or 423-15, with 28 abstentions, in favor of it. Second wave of protests Protests surfaced June 17 in Ha Tinh province of central Vietnam, where thousands again opposed the cybersecurity law and the idea of leasing land to Chinese interests. China makes up 6.8 percent of Vietnams foreign direct investment now, media reports say. The two sides fought a border war in the 1970s and today they vie for sovereignty over parts of the South China Sea. About 200 were detained, beaten and interrogated in the financial center Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday, Catholic news website Ucanews.com reported. The news website said tens of thousands of Catholics, including priests from Ha Tinh province, had attended special masses Sunday "to pray for justice and peace in the nation and for government leaders to protect the country. People at the rallies dispute the overall process for passage of new laws, Nguyen said. They think that theres something wrong with the way the National Assembly is working, Nguyen said. They get instructions from the (ruling Communist Partys) politburo and they are now working like a rubber stamp. In one province, Binh Thuan, protesters came with bricks and Molotov cocktails. They burned vehicles, injured police officers and damaged official buildings June 10 and 11, VietnamNet Bridge news website reported. Vietnamese officials have accused extremists of inciting some of the protests. Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong appealed Sunday for calm. Next moves The sustained protests point to a momentum, said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty Internationals deputy regional director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The demonstrations were not planned, she said, and questions about the outcome of the cybersecurity law remain on peoples minds. I think that these protests are of a pretty unique nature and that the momentum is continuing 10 days later, (and) were in a different digital environment, so I think theres a lot of unknown factors that are definitely difficult to predict, Hah said. Vietnam does not block websites, allowing people to mobilize via social media. But as long as Vietnams economy keeps growing, raising peoples incomes through job creation, protests are unlikely to reach a tipping point, said Maxfield Brown, senior associate with the consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates in Ho Chi Minh City. The economy grew 6.8 percent last year. The location of the protests and the intensity of them suggest to me that its isolated groups of people who were already feeling disgruntled about something prior to (cybersecurity) becoming an issue, he said. Nicaraguan police and masked gunmen clashed with anti-government protesters on Tuesday, leaving at least six dead following the suspension of peace talks to quell two months of deadly demonstrations, a human rights group said. Youths armed with homemade mortars and slings fired off projectiles from behind brick barricades in the southern city of Masaya, video footage taken by Reuters showed. Protesters there have kept a police station under siege for over two weeks in defiance of President Daniel Ortega. Alvaro Leiva, a spokesman for Nicaraguan human rights group ANPDH, said at least 34 people had been injured in Masaya and six killed. Police declined to comment. In a video provided to Reuters by Leiva, a woman standing over the body of a man on the ground calls out for help to a line of police officers in riot gear who stand nearby, unmoving. "Help me," she screams. "He is not a dog." Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video. Nicaragua has been convulsed by unrest since Ortega in April proposed cutting pension benefits to cover a social security shortfall. The plan, later dropped, triggered demonstrations that turned fatal and led to demands for his resignation. Since then, at least 174 people have been killed in clashes between pro-Ortega forces and demonstrators, rights groups say. Representatives of civil society organizations have called for early elections to end the impasse, but they broke off talks with the government on Monday until Ortega sent an invitation for international observers to enter the Central American country. Juan Sebastian Chamorro, a leader of the main civic alliance seeking to broker agreement with the government, said there was no point in holding further talks about early elections "while people are being killed in the street." The U.S. government on Monday urged Nicaragua to stage early elections to end the violence, and Carlos Trujillo, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, (OAS) was due to arrive in Managua on Tuesday. Trujillo is scheduled to hold meetings to take stock of the situation ahead of an OAS permanent council special session on Nicaragua on Friday. The White House aide who led the planning for President Donald Trump's meeting last week with North Korea's Kim Jong Un has decided to leave the Trump administration to return to the private sector. Joe Hagin, the White House deputy chief of staff for operations, has served in every Republican White House since the Reagan administration. He held the same title in George W. Bush's White House. Hagin's departure comes as the Trump administration continues to set records for staff turnover. More than 60 percent of those who served in senior positions at the beginning of the administration have exited. No successor has yet been identified. A White House official said that after departing Singapore last week, Trump made a rare appearance in the staff cabin of Air Force One to praise Hagin for organizing the Kim summit and led White House staff in a round of applause for the aide. Hagin was recruited to the Trump White House by former chief of staff Reince Priebus to bring a seasoned hand to a West Wing that had few experienced veterans. He had planned on staying only six months to a year, and considered leaving in the spring, but delayed due to planning for the Singapore summit. Trump, in a statement, said Hagin has been a "huge asset to my administration," and credited him with planning his Asia trip last year the longest foreign trip by a U.S. president in a half-century. Chief of Staff John Kelly praised Hagin's work, saying his "selfless devotion to this nation and the institution of the Presidency is unsurpassed." Hagin was considered for the No. 2 posts at the Central Intelligence Agency or the Department of Homeland Security, but he decided to leave government service. Hagin's portfolio includes oversight of the scheduling and advance staffs, as well as the military office including the replacement projects for Air Force One and Marine One. His last day will be July 6. A leading white nationalist figure has been released from a Kentucky jail after serving a sentence for violating his probation for harassing a protester at a 2016 Donald Trump campaign rally. Louisville Metro Department of Corrections spokesman Steve Durham says Matthew Heimbach was released from the citys jail on Saturday. In May, a judge sentenced Heimbach to 38 days in jail for a probation violation stemming from a domestic abuse incident. Court records show Heimbach was arrested in Paoli, Indiana, in March on battery charges. Authorities say he assaulted his wifes stepfather, David Matthew Parrott, as they argued over Heimbachs alleged affair with Parrotts wife. Heimbach, head of the Traditionalist Worker Party, was one of the scheduled speakers at last summers Unite the Right white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The moment Lucias children asked her for food and she did not have anything to give them, and no way to get it, was the last straw. Lucia decided to take on the journey to the United States. That was the hardest moment for me, she told reporters on Tuesday after arriving at the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. Lucia is not her real name and though she wanted to tell her story, she still did not feel comfortable sharing her identity. Sitting next to the 21-year-old Guatemalan woman were her 3-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy. They had just been released from the McAllen Border Patrol Processing Center and were among of the group advocates are calling the lucky ones. Separation anxiety Lucia told VOA that people in Central America understand how difficult the journey to the U.S. border is, but they are not expecting children being separated. Ive had not heard about this and I believe it is unfair. Like I told [CBP officers] if youre going to separate me from my children, please deport me and dont take my children away from me, she told VOA. Separating families is part of the Trumps administration Zero Tolerance policy under which those detained entering the United States illegally are being criminally charged, a policy that leads to children being separated from their parents because under U.S. law children cannot stay with a parent facing criminal charges. Art Arthur with the hardline-on-immigration Center for Immigration Studies says the policy has a strategic aim: It is a deterrent. The only way that well really know whether it works is when we see the numbers for June, July and August. Yellow envelopes Lucia was not expecting that her children might be taken away from her. She was also not expecting to see some of the things she saw inside the detention center. There was a woman that she would wake us up to count us. Since it was so cold inside and some children were able to sleep, some mothers would get up and didnt want to wake up the children, Lucia said. So, the officer kept saying, Wake your children and when the mothers did not do it, the officer would come and grab the children and said Wake up and go with your mothers, the Guatemalan woman said. However, she landed at the humanitarian center where immigrants can rest, take a shower, check email, and receive instructions on what to do next. They can also get in touch with family members and arrange to buy bus tickets and travel to their final destination in the United States. People at the community center on Tuesday carried big yellow envelopes. Inside? Papers that indicate they have an appointment with immigration. The papers explain that once they attend this appointment, they will receive their court date and receive instructions on what to do until next time inside the immigration court. At the first appointment with the immigration judge, they will be asked why they came to the United States illegally and if they have a credible fear of going back. When people come to the U.S. seeking protection, they are permitted to file for asylum regardless of their immigration status. U.S. law offers asylum to those people facing persecution in their home countries on the basis of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular group. Others are hoping to ask for temporary protection. Lucky ones Fifty to 100 people arrive at the center almost every day. Lucia and the other families were released because of a discretionary decision among the Border Patrol, often because of the sheer volume of people being held at detention centers. The discretionary enforcement decision allows Customs and Border Protection field supervisors to decide who they will stop, question, and arrest and who they will release. The ones at the center were released, not separated from their children, and given a chance to prove their credible fear case in an immigration court. This is a childrens crisis, Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director at the Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley and one of the leaders inside the Humanitarian Respite Center, told VOA. Theyre not criminals. No criminals. Theyre children. Theyre human beings. Theyre families, Pimentel said. Legal basis There is no law requiring the separation of immigrant families at the border, however, if people are caught crossing the U.S. border without authorization and between official ports of entry is a misdemeanor crime. Charging someone under the federal criminal statute has been historically reserved for those who committed serious or heinous crimes or those with a vast criminal record. The previous administration was also very focused in deportation and also created a way to keep families from being released and put in family detention. This administration has focused more harshly in pushing back and send a deterrence message that really goes to the extreme, Pimentel said. And she doesnt think the message is going to be heard. A mother that has a kid that is suffering, nothing will stop her from saving her son, sister Pimentel said. Pimentels Humanitarian Respite Center is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. has assisted thousands of people and the Catholic sister has no plans in stopping the work. Every people that I am able to [I hope to help], she said. 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 The administrations tariffs against Mexico and Canada have been seen as an attempt to gain leverage as the administration renegotiates the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA is widely supported by congressional Republicans, most of whom do not want Trump to follow through on his campaign-trail threats to withdraw from the agreement. Negotiations have sputtered, but Ross expressed optimism that they would pick up again after the Mexican elections, and that the ultimate result would be an improved trade pact. Here is where the transaction listed as a short sale comes in, Ross said in the statement. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) requires that a transfer of shares occur within two days of a sale. As a result, to complete the divestiture as quickly as possible, I had to borrow shares in Navigator equal to the number of shares I sold to complete the transaction under the NYSE rules. He said he then replaced the borrowed shares with the shares held in my name when I received them a few weeks later. The administration recently put into place a zero-tolerance policy in which all illegal border crossings are considered crimes. Adults have been turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service and many children to the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the Obama administration, such families were usually ordered back to their home country but not charged as a criminal. That process does not require separation. The Trump administration policy had led to a spike in family separations in recent weeks. But as long as the architect understands the guidelines of the engineering that takes place in the factory, theres really no limit to what you can build with modular construction, says Mark Giarraputo, an architect with Studio Z Design Concepts in Bethesda. You can do any style you want from traditional to Craftsman to Colonial to Tudor or contemporary, says Giarraputo. Prefab lends itself a little more to contemporary homes because of the clean lines, but youre not limited to that style. When I started advocating for consumers more than 20 years ago, executive email addresses often were dead ends. Managers would order an assistant to comb through their messages and forward the important ones or theyd ignore them altogether. Now they are far more likely to read every message personally. Edward, who died in 1997, was a veteran TV director and producer who worked for WMAL-TV and ABC, including producing coverage of the Army-McCarthy hearings. On his own dime, he took a small crew to Mississippi in that grim summer of assassinations and unrest. They rode a bus back to Washington with participants, interviewing them and following them through Resurrection City, the plywood town that rose on the Mall. Then I had children. And in those moments when I would have done anything to protect them, but knew that I could only control so much, my grandmother always lit a candle for them. She did it for my aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings as well. My grandmother died two years ago, and while our family still feels much emptier without her, her candle remains in her home and is lit when anyone needs it. Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy The people voted; the people made a statement; you need to respect what the people had to say, said the Rev. Graylan Hagler, an organizer with the Poor Peoples Campaign. And whatever you do, you need to stand by and lift up democracy rather than tear it down through your own whims and your own campaign contributions and those folks that you think you are aligned to. Youve got to be aligned to the voters in the District of Columbia, because that is what democracy means. But, she said, the school system could do more to address what she views as other symbols of segregation, including decrepit school buildings; voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum in November to modernize the citys school facilities without imposing additional taxes. If we want to truly make good on the promise of equal education for all students, then we need to address these crumbling facilities, Gibson said. With its bloody brawls and scenes of far-right marchers chanting racist and homophobic slogans, the events of Charlottesville rocked the nation, which saw them play out on television and social media. The fallout was exacerbated that day and later in the week when President Trump blamed both sides for the violence rather than forcefully condemning the white supremacists and neo-Nazis for their views and actions. Trump insisted there were some very fine people among the white-supremacist marchers. After being held in leg irons for several days, with his son by his side, the boy was removed. Carlos had made his son memorize his grandmothers phone number back in Honduras. After he called her, she connected him to a family member in the United States. Three months passed before Carlos was able to speak to his son, Beyer said. ICE public affairs officials said in a statement Wednesday that it takes very seriously the health, safety and welfare of those in our care, including those who come into ICE custody with prior medical conditions or who have never before received appropriate medical care. Any death that happens in ICE custody is a cause for concern. In last years Virginia primary, then-Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam routed former congressman Tom Perriello, who waged a populist campaign and performed well in pre-primary polls but lacked Northams union endorsements and had less cash. In Iowa this month, Fred Hubbell, a retired insurance executive backed by party leaders, easily defeated Cathy Glasson, who described the race as a nurse and a union leader against the political establishment. In New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is far ahead of his left-leaning challenger, former Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon. In the past, records show, the temperature on June 19 had always managed to sink to 75 degrees. Of the four occasions on which the mercury got stuck at 75, and went no lower, the most recent was June 19 2011. If youre a victim of a crime on the ground, what do you do? said Hudson, who is an attorney and represented rape victims in New York. You call 911 and report it to a police officer. But if youre in an airplane, you cant do that. You have to report through a flight attendant, and they have to report it to the captain, and the captain has to report it to a ground supervisor for the airline. . . . In many cases, too much time has passed. These were among reports received by the Calvert County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call the Criminal Investigation Division at 410-535-2800 or 301-855-1194, the Crime Solvers line at 410-535-2880 or the state police Prince Frederick Barrack at 410-535-1400. We strongly urge Attorney General Mark Herring to defend the laws of the Commonwealth with the full force of his office, House Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) and other House GOP leaders said in the statement. Should he once again neglect his duty to do so, the Speaker will consider using his authority to hire counsel to defend the law on behalf of the House of Delegates. Its not like an auto body shop where you fix the dent and everything looks like new. Were talking about childrens minds, said Luis H. Zayas, professor of social work and psychiatry at the University of Texas at Austin. Our government should be paying for this. We did the harm; we should be responsible for fixing the damage. But the sad thing for most of these kids is this trauma is likely to go untreated. Economic change is always complicated, its costs unpredictable. It seems safe to say Washington will not turn into a land of shuttered storefronts, and most servers will still have jobs. But some jobs will probably go away, or become less attractive, just as some diners will have to consider reducing their tips, switching to cheaper restaurants or eating at home. And restaurant owners will have strong incentives to economize on labor, or cut back on amenities such as free meals for employees. Its impossible to say whether workers whose wages will be affected will be the majority. But however many there are, they probably wont be too grateful for the help District voters just gave them. No admissions policy will please everyone. The good news is that the stakes arent as high as parents think. As Gladwell pointed out, students who are good enough to get into elite schools will do well in life even if they go elsewhere. This isnt Korea or Japan where your life is pretty much over if you dont get into one of the top few universities. The United States is a big, sprawling country where as the careers of individuals as varied as Sen. Mitch McConnell (University of Louisville), Philip Roth (Bucknell University) and Steve Jobs (Reed College dropout) attest there are lots of ways to succeed even if you didnt go to an Ivy League college or an elite high school. When I urged Sabika to apply for the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program in the United States, I did not know what I would be sending her off to. Nor did Sabikas parents when they made the taxing decision to send her off on a journey as Pakistans student cultural ambassador. Nor did Sabikas mother, aunts, cousins and siblings when they sat with her during those farewell nights, making lists of Pakistani souvenirs she would take as gifts for the American people. Forget the factual errors in these claims, including Ms. Merkels continuing popularity among half of Germans, according to polls. It is extraordinary for an American president to egg on the internal adversaries of a fellow NATO member, and it can only convince Ms. Merkel and other Western leaders that the U.S. presidency has been captured by someone intent on dealing with them in bad faith. Equally troubling, Mr. Trump is simultaneously reaching out to the populist right in Europe. He held a phone call with Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, in which both agreed on the need for strong national borders, as an official White House summary put it; the past two U.S. presidents had shunned Mr. Orban due to his illiberal governance and coziness with Moscow. Mr. Trumps other new best friend in Europe is Italy, whose freshly installed right-left populist coalition voiced support for Mr. Trumps call to re-admit Russia to the Group of Seven and has begun turning away boats filled with desperate migrants from Africa. On Monday, President Trump signed Space Policy Directive 3, Americas first comprehensive space traffic management policy. As Vice President Pence previewed during the National Space Symposium in April, the directive states that the Commerce Department should be the new lead civil agency for interfacing with the private sector on space situational awareness sharing the available tracking data about all those objects in orbit and characterizing the state of the space environment and space traffic management, which entails planning and coordinating space operations. His voice rising, and at times breaking, Cummings continued: We should be able to agree that we will not keep kids in child internment camps indefinitely and hidden away from public view. What country is that? This is the United States of America! We now have reports of parents being deported, but the Trump administration is keeping their children here. First, Democrats should offer a strategy to push back against Russia and China, both of which are taking advantage of receding U.S. leadership to seize greater influence around the world. Trump has proved uniquely weak when it comes to Russia and reckless with China, so Democrats should fill the vacuum by explaining how they would defend democracy and protect American interests without stumbling into global conflict. One place to start would be to articulate clearer consequences for cyberattacks on our key infrastructure, including election systems. We have no effective deterrent against cyberwarfare like we do against nuclear or conventional attacks. Moscow needs to know that next time, there will be more than a slap on the wrist. On vacation, at the beach, beyond the twisted reach, maybe, of crazy sorrow, Edith Piaf singing La Vie en Rose, having fresh striper for dinner with a wonderful Virginia wine, until one look at the tube tells me children are being rounded up, separated from their families, terrorized, mistreated and left alone and my appetite, my joie de vivre are trashed, and all I feel is guilt and hate for the unbelievable fools who are making all of this nightmare happen to lovely people in our times. It is an embarrassment and a crime that we are all witnessing right now, and something must be done, not later but right now. The halt in exercises will have a limited effect on U.S. readiness in the event of an actual conflict with North Korea, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis stressed during an interview last week. He explained that about 90 percent of the U.S. forces that would be involved in any such conflict are not based in South Korea and, thus, would be able to train and prepare normally, even without joint exercises. He made the baseless claim that Democrats were responsible for his own brutal policy, and then insisted that only Congress could change it. He argued that traumatizing babies was necessary to prevent MS-13 gang members from entering the country. He contended that adding judges to handle the staggering immigration caseload would breed graft and corruption. He invented statistics about crime in Germany that he said was driven by migrants. The view that the present trade war wont become more destructive assumes that China and the United States will find a middle ground that would allow both to declare victory. But this is hardly guaranteed. Even though its an authoritarian country, public opinion [in China] matters, says economist David Dollar of the Brookings Institution. Chinas leaders cant be seen as capitulating to Trump. Trump probably feels the same way toward China. Schmidts anger and analysis will strike many Republicans as alarmist and misguided. Some will see it as a bid for more publicity and airtime. Some officials from previous Republican administrations who are no fans of the president nonetheless believe the institutions of democracy are working about the way the Founders envisioned providing resistance to the president, as many Republicans did this week about the border policy, or as the courts have done on other contentious issues, as leaders of Western democracies have done, and possibly as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III could do with his investigation, though the outcome of that is far from knowable. Melania Trumps office told CNN over the weekend that she hates to see children separated from their families but said it was up to both political parties to develop an immigration solution. In the past couple of days, she has increasingly made clear to the president that he should use his power to fix the problem. When liars repeat the same lie over and over again, they can get even more of an advantage, at least among those who want to believe them or are not all that motivated either way, DePaulo said in an email. So when people hear the same lies over and over again especially when they want to believe those lies a kind of new reality can be created. What theyve heard starts to seem like its just obvious, and not something that needs to be questioned. Marysville, CA (95901) Today Cloudy and damp with rain early...then becoming partly cloudy. Low 46F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Cloudy and damp with rain early...then becoming partly cloudy. Low 46F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. But that hasnt satisfied a handful of Republican senators. Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Susan Collins (Maine) pressed DHS and HHS in a letter this week on whether families who request asylum at legal ports of entry were being separated. The letter cited the case of a Honduran woman who said she was separated from her 18-month-old son in February, even though she had crossed at an international bridge in Brownsville to seek asylum. She has since been reunited with her son, and her lawsuit was detailed in a May 28 op-ed column in The Washington Post. On Tuesday, Trump repeated his false claim that Germanys crime rate has increased by 10 percent, even though official statistics released last month showed a drop of more than 5 percent in 2017 and the lowest rate since 1992. (A separate study found a 10 percent increase in violent crimes in one German state between 2015 and 2016. Researchers attributed the jump largely to the influx of young male refugees but noted a similar increase would have been expected had there been sudden growth in the population of young male Germans.) The long-awaited proposal to reorganize federal agencies would shrink some and augment the missions of others. It is the result of a directive that Mick Mulvaney, head of the Office of Management and Budget, issued to federal leaders 14 months ago. He urged them to find ways to merge overlapping, duplicative offices and programs and eliminate those the administration views as unnecessary. The Russians, and particularly this Kremlin, watch what we do more than what we say so active deterrence measures would have perhaps been more effective, former assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland told the Senate Intelligence Committee. We know that they may very well do this again, so now we need to be planning what the retaliation will be and we need to be signaling it. According to three GOP officials familiar with a survey of House Republicans conducted after Trumps speech, both bills remain well short of the necessary votes to pass. The compromise bill, in particular, is facing doubts from conservatives who are wary of voting for a more moderate bill that probably cannot pass the Senate intact, and that they fear Trump may ultimately abandon. We will send a delegation to Addis Ababa to gauge current developments directly and in depth as well as to chart out a plan for continuous future action, he said, according to an official translation of the speech. The Eritrean people, but also the Ethiopian people, have lost an opportunity of two generations for over half a century, Afwerki added. It grants the federal government the power to license and regulate a restricted group of cannabis growers but gives Canadas 10 provinces and three territories the discretion to decide how to sell and distribute the drug. Some, like Ontario, will sell it at a small number of state-run stores operated by the provincial alcohol monopoly. Others, like Newfoundland and Labrador, will sell it to consumers at certain grocery stores. Upset over the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem, which Israelis and Palestinians both claim as their capital, Mohammad told his mother he would be willing to give his life for the city. On April 20, he slipped away to a demonstration on the Israel-Gaza border, where an Israeli sniper shot him through the head. Although it is unlikely that a final death toll from the Ghouta offensive will ever be known, relief organizations said at the time that the relentless bombing by Syrian and allied forces had killed more than a thousand people and wounded almost five times as many. During the offensives final weeks, the few hospitals standing were treating patients with the dregs of their supply cupboards, bandaging wounds with rags and conducting operations without anesthetic. According to Airwars and New America, strikes have been repeatedly conducted in Libya not only by rival local factions and the United States, but also, with far less transparency, France, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. But fewer than 50 percent of reported strikes have been publicly declared, leading to questions about responsibility and accountability when civilian deaths do occur. Hall, who comes from a government intelligence and diplomatic background, was detailed to the NSC in June 2016. The vast majority of NSC staffers come from the State and Defense Departments and intelligence agencies, on loan for one or two years, after which they typically return to their original agencies. Hall is one of a number of staffers who have reached or are coming to the end of those details as the Trump administration nears the year-and-a-half mark. The memo warned that the United States would be vulnerable to another migrant crisis at the border because smugglers were taking advantage of laws limiting the governments ability to hold underage minors in detention. Under a 1997 agreement known as the Flores Settlement, the government is obligated to release migrant children in its custody, either to their parents, adult relatives or a foster care program. The ruling compels U.S. officials to place children in the least restrictive setting possible. In Britain, a Labour Party lawmaker, Gavin Shuker, noted that Trump is scheduled to visit next month and asked what it would take for May to rescind the invitation. President Trump has locked up 2,000 little children in cages and is refusing to release them unless hes allowed to build a wall. Hes quit the U.N. Human Rights Council, praised [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Uns treatment of his own people, turned away Muslims. What does this man have to do to have the invitation . . . revoked? Latin American countries such as Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador had come out strongly this week in opposition to President Trumps zero tolerance policy, which is aimed at prosecuting more migrants for crossing the border illegally and in the process had separated children from their parents. The bulk of the separated children came from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, official say. A stubborn three-way divide over Brexit persists nine months before it is supposed to go into effect, between supporters of a hard, clean divorce with the European Union and a soft, fuzzy separation followed by a third alternative, all those who want a do-over in a repeat referendum (these folks dont want any Brexit at all). Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan announced Tuesday that he will leave Fox's TV production studio, citing his personal disgust with Fox News as the reason. Fox News and Fox's TV studio are both owned by 21st Century Fox. Levitan said on Twitter that he will leave even if the studio changes ownership, as the parent company is considering acquisition offers from the Walt Disney Co. and Comcast. "I look forward to seeing #ModernFamily through to the end and then, sale or no sale, setting up shop elsewhere," wrote Levitan, whose four-year production deal with the studio is up in July. Modern Family has long been the highest-rated comedy on ABC - entering its 10th season this northern autumn - and its syndicated repeats are a staple of Fox-owned TV stations and cable's USA Network. An idea born of concern about the psychological and financial dangers of gambling is serendipitously benefiting a far broader cohort than those particularly prone to poker machines, and merits consideration for national adoption. Several months ago, four Melbourne public libraries launched a two-year pilot to extend their opening hours to 10pm every Thursday to provide a safe, late-night alternative to spending time and money punting in pubs and clubs. The initiative, Libraries After Dark, has inspired local communities to establish a growing range of arts and crafts groups. Michael Leunig illustration. Film screenings, board games, decluttering workshops and pasta-making classes are also happening. The welcoming environments have attracted students and people who are simply reading and enjoying a communal ambience. During the past decade, studies throughout the world have shown that loneliness and social isolation increase premature death rates by 50 per cent and are a similar threat to life as obesity or smoking tobacco. The program at libraries in Preston, Mill Park, Glenroy and Broadmeadows was the idea of Victorian Local Governance Association policy adviser, gambling reform advocate and Darebin councillor Susan Rennie and Moreland council social policy officer Judy Spokes. When Drago Gvozdanovic's beloved dog Izzy went missing from his home on June 10, the Kambah resident was distraught. "She's a little Maltese who's 17-years-old and blind who resides in my laundry most of the time," he said. "I took her outside and was watching her when I got distracted by a phone call, and when I finished the call she was gone." Drago Gvozdanovic is looking for answers following the death of his dog. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos Despite constantly searching the area during the day and checking with the Domestic Animal Services (DAS) and RSPCA lost pet sites, Mr Gvozdanovic was unable to find Izzy. Peter Nemeth, the senior ride operator at Dreamworlds Thunder River Rapids Ride on the day four people died in 2016 told an inquest it would have been better if he could push one button and stop the ride. He also classed himself as one of the 10 best ride operators at Dreamworld in 2016. Yes, it would have been easier, he said. He was asked by barrister Matthew Hickey, representing victim Cindy Lows family, if he knew of any reason why a single complete shutdown button was not installed on the ride. A 4.7 magnitude earthquake has hit a remote part of Western Australia and was felt in the nearest town, about 130 kilometres away. The quake struck on Wednesday morning in an isolated area east of Norseman, with Geoscience Australia saying it could have caused damage up to 10km away. Norseman Hardware employee Jammie-Lee Bennett said she felt the ground tremble. Norseman Hardware employee Jammie-Lee Bennett said she felt the ground tremble. "A paint tin at the front of the store rattled and that's when I realised it wasn't just a passing truck," Ms Bennett told AAP. A scammer who duped WA women out of their money while claiming to be a Royal Caribbean cruise line commander has had his identity revealed as a former Victorian forklift driver. Fairfax Media can reveal Brett Turton used the alias "Brad Collins" in order to scam women in Mandurah and Perth over the past year by getting them to fork out cash for travel down-payments, events and flights. Captain Crook: Brett Turton, under the alias Brad Collins, conned several vulnerable women out of thousands of dollars. Mr Turton is a convicted felon who was jailed in Melbourne more than a decade ago for pulling the same tricks. He was working as a forklift driver in Victoria when he pulled the same scam on at least 10 Victorian women between 2002 and 2005. A WA motorcyclist who was caught speeding 11 times in just three weeks was apparently running late for work at the time and then wanted to get home as soon as he could, court records have revealed. Glen James Michael Patton, who was caught on one occasion riding at 211km/h more than 100km/h over the posted limit on his powerful Honda motorbike, pleaded guilty to 48 charges in court earlier this month. Patton's bike is seized by police earlier this year. Credit:WA Police WAtoday has obtained audio from Patton's sentencing hearing in the Armadale Magistrates Court on June 5, during which his extraordinary speeding spree was revealed in greater detail. The hearing culminated with the 36-year-old Northam man being jailed for seven months. A new skirmish on energy policy is pitting Malcolm Turnbull against Tony Abbott in an argument about one of the most loaded terms in Australian politics: carbon tax. The Prime Minister had to tough out another challenge from his predecessor on Tuesday morning when Abbott urged a rethink of Coalition policy on energy and climate change. It is hard to see this as anything other than a grudge match. Abbott tried to reopen old decisions about cuts to greenhouse gas emissions that were made under his own government, pinning the blame on Turnbull instead. Carbon tax protesters outside Parliament House in 2011. Credit:Andrew Meares At one point the former prime minister even blamed bureaucrats for making expensive commitments at the Paris climate change talks, as if the policy had sneaked through his own office. Malcolm Turnbull's task of retaining government at the next federal election got tougher on Wednesday with electoral boundary changes in Victoria positioning Labor to pick up another three seats in Parliament. The Australian Electoral Commission has created a seat in Labor heartland, which looks set to be snapped-up by leader Bill Shorten, and boundary changes to two marginal Liberal electorates have made them even harder to defend. The creation of the Division of Fraser in Melbourne's north-west increases the likelihood that Mr Shorten will switch to the new seat, notionally safe ALP territory, from his current neighbouring seat of Maribyrnong, which is tipped to turn marginal in the coming years. More here. Former prime minister Tony Abbott has demanded big changes to the Turnbull governments energy policy in order to ensure his support for the plan, leaving open the idea he could cross the floor to vote against it in Federal Parliament. Mr Abbott accused Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of taking the backbench for granted in the growing dispute over the National Energy Guarantee, warning there was not enough time to debate changes. Former prime minister Tony Abbott during question time this week. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Asked if was willing to cross the floor, Mr Abbott told radio station 2GB he hoped it is not going to come to that but would not rule out the option as he slammed the policy. The executive government needs to understand that you cant keep the party room for granted, Mr Abbott said. Schmidt said he is throwing his support behind Democratic candidates in this year's midterm elections. "The first step to a season of renewal in our land is the absolute and utter repudiation of Trump and his vile enablers in the 2018 election by electing Democratic majorities," Schmidt tweeted. "I do not say this as an advocate of a progressive agenda. I say it as someone who retains belief in DEMOCRACY and decency." MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, pictured with co-host Mika Brzezinski, left the Republican party and now labels himself an independent. Credit:AP Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman and a co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, left the GOP last year but was not as eager as Schmidt to embrace Democrats. "I am a Republican, but I'm not going to be a Republican anymore," Scarborough told Stephen Colbert on CBS. "I've got to become an independent." "Listen," he added, "I want lower taxes. I want less regulations. I want a more competitive economy. I want the government taking less money from me, but not at this price." Loading Scarborough's approach to life after the GOP has been to drop the Republican label but hold on to what he described as the "core values" of the party he once knew. Conservative Washington Post columnist George F. Will has done the same. Will changed his voter registration from Republican to unaffiliated in June 2016, the day after House Speaker Paul D. Ryan endorsed Trump. "This is not my party," he said at the time. Will remains critical of Trump but also continues to write from a Republican point of view. Then there is the case of Mary Matalin, the former George H.W. Bush deputy campaign manager, who ditched the Republican Party and registered as a Libertarian when Trump became the GOP's presumptive nominee in the spring of 2016. At the time, Matalin expressed ambivalence about Trump and said her party had shifted under her feet. Loading "Everyone keeps saying that Trump hijacked the party," Matalin told Glenn Beck, another conservative Trump critic. "How about we left the keys in the car with the motor running? It's not a Jeffersonian, Madisonian representative republic - that's not what the party represents anymore. I didn't leave it; it left me. "When we had a standard-bearer with impeccable credentials, in Ted Cruz, and he's... loathed by the party leaders, and he's called a 'wacko bird' by the party leaders, where does that leave us? They left us." A Borisoglebsk-2 electronic warfare (EW) system has been delivered to Russias military base in Tajikistan, the Russian Central Military Districts press office said. "EW units of Russias 201st military base in Tajikistan have received advanced R-934BMV jamming stations of the Borisoglebsk-2 system," the press office said. Borisoglebsk jamming system (Picture source: Russian MoD) "After accepting the military hardware, the servicemen started theoretical and practical training to practice reconnoitering the electronic environment and jamming a simulated enemys radio systems," the Russian Central Military Districts press office said. "Besides, the servicemen will undergo special training and practice operations within crews," the press office added. The Borisoglebsk-2 EW system is designed to jam satellite communication and radio navigation systems and detect, locate and jam tactical-level command and control radio networks and communication lines. The 201st military base is Russias biggest military facility beyond its border. The base is stationed in the cities of Dushanbe and Qurghonteppa in Tajikistan. The large unit will be stationed in Tajikistan through 2042 under an agreement signed by Russia and Tajikistan in October 2012. The inauguration of Greg Cant will occur on Oct. 1 at the F.M. Kirby Center. Wilkes University will celebrate the inauguration of its seventh president, Greg Cant, with a week of events. Inauguration events are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Looking back 40, 30 and 20 years ago, the following are excerpts from the Artesia Daily Press from June 18-24. 40 years ago June 18-24, 1978 Sam, the Artesia Police Departments dope-sniffing dog, received a so-so welcome from the residents of the Roswell Correctional Center late last week, when he arrived at the facility to check the mens dorms for contraband. Sam, led by Artesia police detective Jerry Privetts, found several stashes around the center that were placed there by officials to keep the dog keyed on the recognizable odor of marijuana. The Rev. Steven J. Miller of the First Christian Church was presented with a handmade quilt by his parishioners recently as a going-away present. The quilt measures 10 feet by 10 feet and features the names of families belonging to the church. Miller left last week to accept a new position with a church in Greeley, Colo. As reported in the Pinon News: Mr. and Mrs. Ed Prather from Del City were in Pinon Tuesday and visited in the home of Ethel Smith. They reported hail had Killed the crops north of Del City. Some of the Pinon people have been going to Del City in the fall for canning tomatoes. Mrs. Prather reported there will not be any this year. Lightning struck one of 11 huge gasoline tanks at Navajo refinery Monday afternoon, causing an explosion which sent flames shooting 75 feet into the sky but no injuries to any workers in the area. The Artesia Police Department said they are in the process of checking complaints called into them concerning the recent visit of a group of solicitors, who reportedly misrepresented themselves as fundraisers for the Artesia Christian College. The group is actually associated with the Unification Church, a radical religious group led by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a self-proclaimed South Korean prophet. Chief of Police Bobby Bishop said Sgt. Dan Dolan will be doing the investigation of the complaints and added that he did not know what could be done about the problem at this time, as the group has already left town. 30 years ago June 18-24, 1988 As reported in the Pinon News: Frank Mitchel from Deming was in the area Saturday, hunting Vernon Fleming, hoping he could tell him of a place they could get in the pinon or surrounding area ash he and his wife wanted to live here. He reported the weather was so hot in Deming he wanted to get into the mountains. He reported he was 80 years of age. Rambo III and Crocodile Dundee 2 were the featured films of the week at Cinema Twin. And a 1986 Mustang was selling for $7,995 at Artesia Ford Sales. Four Artesia Public Schools students Brian Clark, Gena Simer, Clay Wilburn and Carol Carpenter will be among 1,800 student council leaders and faculty advisers attending the 52nd National Association of Student Councils Conference in June in Albuquerque. 20 years ago June 18-24, 1998 Concrete was being poured this morning at Hermosa Elementary School. Workers poured a slab that will be part of the schools new multi-purpose room. Other additions will include a media center and classrooms. The City of Artesia has recently experienced a large increase in the use and sales of crack cocaine. This is an illegal drug that is very addictive and has never been a problem in Artesia until within the last 10 to 12 months, said a release from Pecos Valley Drug Task Force. The PVDTF has recently implanted several undercover operatives into the community to assist in the detection of violators. They have identified several suppliers and sources of supply of crack cocaine to Artesia, some of which originated outside of New Mexico. The release said: May we forewarn you that if you are involved in any crack cocaine violations, we probably already know you and we will aggressively come after you!!! As reported in the Pinon News: Marla Merritt of La Luz called Mrs. Oza Holcomb to see if she would deliver a message to Mrs. Merritt at home. Mrs. Holcomb went and delivered the call. Marla wanted to tell Mrs. Merritt that the wind was blowing the apricots off the trees and if she wanted any apricots she had better go get them immediately. She wanted the apricots so she decided to go that da and asked Mr. Holcomb to go with her, so she want. They had a very enjoyable drive and visit with Mrs. Marla Merritt. The Artesia FFA Chapter attended the 70th Annual New Mexico State FFA Convention at New Mexico State University recently, with members bringing back many individual honors, leadership awards, and chapter awards during the week. The Artesia FFA chapter was honored first as the largest FFA chapter in New Mexico with 210 members. In addition, Artesia students were recognized as comprising the superior chapter in New Mexico and being the organization with the best public relations campaign. D. Robert Harvey was named the outstanding FFA reporter for the State FFA Association. (EDITORS NOTE: Looking Back was compiled by Daily Press Community Living Editor Teresa Lemon.) When a celebrity dies by suicide, it can open necessary conversations about suicide and mental health. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/6/2018 (1216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. When a celebrity dies by suicide, it can open necessary conversations about suicide and mental health. It also often puts into stark relief how misunderstood suicide and mental illness continues to be. "Theres still so much stigma around suicide, but I think thats changing," says Janet Smith, the manager of counselling services and a suicide prevention co-ordinator at Klinic Community Health in Brandon. "I think our society is talking about it more. Ive noticed that obituaries in the paper are mentioning death by suicide in addition to where people can go for help and support. Those two things need to come together. People need to know they can talk about it, and that there are resources to help themselves or someone they know who might be struggling." Raising awareness about the issue is important but, beyond the statistics and social media campaigns, people want to know what to do. Who do you call if you or someone you love is contemplating suicide? What are the risk factors for suicide? How do you best support a loved one who is struggling? What do you say? Here, we break that down. WHEN TO BE CONCERNED Kim Moffat is a counsellor on the Manitoba Suicide Prevention & Support Line, 1-877-435-7170, a toll-free, confidential 24-hour crisis line staffed by trained crisis counsellors from Klinic. Shes also a facilitator with the Suicide Bereavement Support Group in Brandon. (There are also such groups in Winnipeg and Dauphin, and well get to suicide bereavement later.) She says the risk factors to watch for, in oneself and others, will vary depending on the person. Kim Moffat is a counsellor on the Manitoba Suicide Prevention & Support Line. (Tim Smith / Brandon Sun files) "For some people, you notice their moods become flat," she says. "They might become weepy or crying often. They may say things like, I wish I wasnt here, or I cant see the point of living anymore, or it doesnt matter anyway. Or they might be more direct and say things like, I cant take this anymore, or, I want to die." You may notice an uptick in someones drug or alcohol use, or they might engage in risky behaviour. "Even showing a marked increase in feeling better could be a sign that something is going on," Moffat adds. "If theyve been presenting as lethargic and sad and the fog seems to have lifted and they are presenting more joyful, it could be an indicator that theyve come to a decision about taking their own life." "While suicide is so complicated and so unique for each individual who may be at risk, one of the common things we see in everybody across the board is a sense of hopelessness and helplessness that outweighs their sense of hope," Smith says. Suicide prevention resources Click to Expand Manitoba Suicide Prevention & Support Line (confidential, staffed 24/7): 1-877-435-7170 or visit reasontolive.ca. Suicide Postvention Education Awareness and Knowledge (SPEAK): 204-784-4064 or email speak@klinic.mb.ca. Brandon & Area Suicide Bereavement Support Group: Contact Kim Moffat, 204-571-4183 or visit spinbrandon.ca. Parkland Suicide Bereavement Support Group: Contact Shantelle at 204-622-6224 or email discoverlife4you@gmail.com. Its also important to note that depression and other mental illnesses are not the only risk factors for suicide, and not everyone in crisis will make that choice. "People can feel helpless and hopeless for a variety of reasons, but I think one of the things we try to do as human beings is look for a simple answer to a very complex question," Smith says. "A lot of times, its that person is depressed therefore they died by suicide. But we know very well that there are many people who live with depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses who have never contemplated suicide." The good news? Suicide can be prevented. And people can and do get better. "Some of the things that protect individuals from suicide are family support, being able to recognize that theyve gone through hard things in the past and can go through them again, a sense of belonging and purpose," Moffat says. "Knowing when to reach out and who in your support network you can trust. Thats the message we like to give out when people call the line, that youre not alone and there are lot of people dealing with similar challenges and the fact they are calling is a hopeful sign in itself, that theyre willing to get some help." WHEN TO CALL A SUPPORT LINE People can call the Manitoba Suicide Prevention & Support Line if they are struggling with suicidal thoughts, are concerned about someone else who might be at risk, or have been experienced a loss. They will be met by a trained member of the Crisis Counselling Team, who is there to listen and to provide non-judgmental support and guidance. They will not be shocked by what you have to say, largely because they have heard a variation of it before. Remember: you are not alone. While suicide is so complicated and so unique for each individual who may be at risk, one of the common things we see in everybody across the board is a sense of hopelessness and helplessness that outweighs their sense of hope. Many people have thoughts of suicide, Smith points out. Not as many people act on them. "We normalize that with folks who call us, and then try to assess how serious and prevalent those thoughts are," Moffat says. They will ask if someone has a plan, what their timeline is. If someone is at imminent risk, calling 911 or taking the person to an emergency room is recommended. The counsellors who work the line understand that different people have different barriers to further care. Some people dont have a personal support network, while others cannot afford to pay for psychological services, which are not covered by public health insurance. Klinic offers free, drop-in sessions, and can help connect people to other counsellors who are free or low cost. HOW TO SUPPORT SOMEONE ELSE Helping others who are being hounded by the black dogs of depression or are contemplating suicide can also be tricky to navigate, especially when it comes to finding the right words. "I think its important to let them know that you care and, that while you cant take away their pain, youre prepared to walk alongside them," Moffat says. "Letting them know they arent alone. If someone is disclosing thoughts of suicide or that theyre struggling, tell them that youre glad they shared that with you. Letting the person know youre open to hearing their pain can go a long way." Heres what to avoid: "There are a lot of cliches out there," Moffat says. "Probably not helpful are things like, Things cant be that bad, or, Dont worry, things have a way of working out. Superficial reassurances. Anytime someone is sharing a message of despair, we want to take it seriously." "If someone is disclosing thoughts of suicide or that theyre struggling, tell them that youre glad they shared that with you. Letting the person know youre open to hearing their pain can go a long way. Moffat says asking someone outright if they are feeling suicidal is helpful in determining next steps. "It might be scary to ask that question, but we need to be brave enough to be direct," she says. "Saying something like, Sometimes, when people are struggling, their thoughts might turn to suicide. Is this what youre experiencing?" Its not just what you say, but how you say it. Be kind and frank. Do not act incredulous. "Youre not thinking of suicide, are you? is a very different question than, Its not unusual when people are going through really hard times to have thoughts of suicide, is that something youre thinking of?" Smith says. Supporting someone is not just about talking, however. Its also about listening, deeply and compassionately. And remember: you are acting as someones loved one/friend/co-worker. You are not their therapist. Be mindful of your own boundaries and your own mental health. "As caregivers, we want to help our friends or loved ones, but its important to be aware of the impact that is having on you, the caregiver," Moffat says. "Caring and loving for people who are struggling does take a toll on us." She encourages caregivers to tap into their own support systems, and engage in healthy coping strategies. Smith adds that under certain circumstances, Crisis Counselling Team counsellors will do call-outs to a person who might be at risk of suicide. HOW TO SURVIVE A LOSS "We felt and do feel that survivors of suicide loss often are forgotten in the whole suicide-prevention picture and we know that people who have lost loved ones to suicide are more at risk themselves," Smith says. "Its really important they have a place to call." It might be scary to ask that question, but we need to be brave enough to be direct." Thats why the Manitoba Suicide Prevention and Support Line also offers support to those who have lost someone to suicide, and to help them tease apart the complex knot of grief. Moffat says there are feelings unique to suicide grief, specifically guilt and relief. "Relief is a feeling that people are often cautious to acknowledge. Sometimes there is a sense of relief, relief that their loved one is no longer struggling or in pain. Its a hard one to talk about." Those who are grieving can call once or more. They are also invited to attend suicide-bereavement support groups offered in Winnipeg, Brandon and Dauphin. HOW TO TALK ABOUT SUICIDE AS A SOCIETY "I feel like suicide is being talked about like never before, in lots of really positive ways," Smith says. But its not always positive. The coverage of high-profile suicide deaths, such as those of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, can inspire copycat suicides. This combination of 2004 and 2016 file photos shows fashion designer Kate Spade and chef Anthony Bourdain in New York. The coverage of high-profile suicide deaths can inspire copycat suicides. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, Andy Kropa/Invision) "Those of us who work in suicide prevention have been working for a long time with the media and I think theyre getting better at it, about not talking so much about the means by which they took their life, not to memorialize or romanticize that piece of it," Smith says. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Avoiding "they had everything going for them"-type statements is also critical. "How we talk about it is really important," Moffat agrees, adding that using appropriate language died by suicide versus committed suicide, for one example and being sensitive to families who have lost someone are ways to address suicide respectfully. But, she adds, its also important not to shy away from the issue. "Theres an opportunity whenever a high-profile person chooses to end their life to put information out there so that other people can call and get connected." For further resources, visit reasontolive.ca jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @JenZoratti A ruling on Tuesday by the chair of the National Energy Board panel will allow the details of the controversial agreement made between the Manitoba Metis Federation and Manitoba Hydro on the record of the licence application for the Manitoba-Minnesota Transmission Project (MMTP). Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/6/2018 (1216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A ruling on Tuesday by the chair of the National Energy Board panel will allow the details of the controversial agreement made between the Manitoba Metis Federation and Manitoba Hydro on the record of the licence application for the Manitoba-Minnesota Transmission Project (MMTP). Manitoba Hydro had filed a motion requesting that the NEB strike the submission from its record for various reasons, not least of which that the legality of the deal is about to go to a judicial review before the court. "We have considered the motion by Manitoba Hydro (to strike the MMF submission). We have decided to deny the motion and allow the evidence on the record," NEB panel chair Alison Scott said after lengthy presentations from Manitoba Hydro and MMF. The NEB is holding its last week of hearings on the proposed $453-million transmission line designed to handle a long-term export deal with Minnesota Power. Although it took action to get the NEB panel to strike the MMFs deal from the record, Manitoba Hydro has detailed mitigation and accommodation arrangements made with several First Nations as part of the thousands of pages of submissions in the NEB licence application. The MMFs submission came late in the proceedings in response to the NEBs request for input "in relation to the mitigation measures proposed by Manitoba Hydro to address concerns raised regarding potential project impacts." Among the documents the MMF submitted was the three page "MMF-Manitoba Hydro July 2017 Agreement," the controversial document negotiated between Manitoba Hydro and the MMF that proposed to pay the MMF a $37.5 million lump sum and then $1.5 million annually for the next 20 years. According to the agreement, the payment was to "fully and finally address and satisfy all concerns of the Metis with respect to Existing Transmission Projects; as well as Identified Projects, which include: Bipole III, MMTP, St. Vital, LWESI and Birtle Projects; and any Future Transmission Projects undertaken by Hydro during the initial 20 years of the agreement." In March, Premier Brian Pallister ordered Hydro to cancel the arrangement, which was then followed by the resignation of almost the entire Manitoba Hydro board of directors. The document is now the subject of a judicial review with the MMF seeking to have a court determine whether or not it is legally binding. But in the meantime, the MMFs lawyer Jason Madden argued why the NEB needed to be aware of the arrangement which the Metis call an "agreement" and Manitoba Hydro and the Manitoba government refer to as a "term sheet." "It needs to be upheld and we are going to court to sort that out," Madden said. "But we also want to say to the NEB that if you do issue a licence for Manitoba Hydro, there needs to be a licensing condition honouring the legally binding agreements Manitoba Hydro has with Indigenous people." "We submit this is a matter for Court of Queens Bench and Queens Bench alone," said Sacha Paul, the lawyer for Manitoba Hydro who was arguing to strike the MMFs submission from the NEBs record. He also argued that since the deal with the MMF concerned other Manitoba Hydro development and not just the MMTP, the subject of the current licence application, that it should not be admissible. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Its not clear whether or not getting the agreement on the NEBs record will have any impact on Manitoba Hydros licence application to the NEB. Manitoba Hydro spokesman Scott Powell said, "Its difficult to say (what impact it will have). Obviously were disappointed. As we have said in the past we do not believe this is the venue. We still dont feel it has material importance to the MMTP process. But the NEB made a decision and we will have to move forward with that." The transmission line is to be built to service a 15-year deal for Manitoba Hydro to sell power to Minnesota Power, starting in 2020. The new power line is to run to the U.S. border crossing near Piney from the Dorsey Converter Station near Rosser. Powell said in addition to servicing that export sale, the new transmission line is also needed to enhance the reliability of the system, including more than doubling the provinces capability to import power in case of transmission emergency or drought. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont is defending one of his MLAs, who some would argue has been making the news for all the wrong reasons. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/6/2018 (1216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont is defending one of his MLAs, who some would argue has been making the news for all the wrong reasons. In an interview on Tuesday, Lamont called Keewatinook MLA Judy Klassen "the strongest possible advocate" for her constituency, which encompasses the entire northeast corner of the province. He also laughed off a rumour Klassen may be considering a jump to the rival NDP, after standing with female New Democrat MLAs to slam Premier Brian Pallister recently for his intimidating stare in the legislature and calling out Tories for their personal attacks against NDP Leader Wab Kinew in the house. "Theres no truth to that whatsoever," Lamont said. "Judys a proud Liberal." Last week, Klassen was roundly criticized and later apologized for telling Independent MLA Steven Fletcher (Assiniboia) the highway crash that left him a quadriplegic was a gift. Also last week, joined by female NDP MLAs, she said she felt threatened by Pallister when he answers her questions in the legislature, saying he sometimes stares at her with "a complete hostile face." Her comments and the groups assertion there was a culture of intimidation in the legislature were criticized for undermining a grim report released the same day about workplace harassment in the civil service. Klassen also remarked recently that northern residents forced to evacuate their communities because of forest fires may be better off sleeping in tents in a park rather than staying in Winnipeg hotels where young people would be more vulnerable to drug dealers. As for Klassens alleged alliance with the NDP, Lamont said, the public needs to understand the lack of decorum in the legislature these days. Like Klassen, he said, he finds the personal attacks dished out "disconcerting." "Its really got to do with the fact that a huge amount of time is being eaten up with some pretty nasty personal attacks that arent really relevant to issues" such as health and education, the Liberal leader said. Klassen represents a vast constituency where residents face to a greater degree than in most parts of Manitoba high rates of poverty, a shortage of adequate housing, and other troubling issues, Lamont said. "Its hard to understate the challenges that she has to deal with on a daily basis because of what happens in those communities." Lamont said Klassen has apologized to Fletcher and his understanding is the Assiniboia MLA wants to let the matter rest. "I dont think she intended any malice. She apologized. She took responsibility for it and the apology was accepted. And thats the end of it," he said. Political scientist Paul Thomas said he doesnt think Klassens recent statements will cause her party much damage as its leader seeks a seat in the St. Boniface byelection on July 17. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Nothing that goes on in the legislature makes that big a ripple" outside of it, he said, noting the public is "kind of fed up" with the daily partisan attacks. "I dont think its going to cause any big trouble for her or her party," Thomas said. "There would have to be something more serious." Reached late Tuesday, Klassen said everyone assumes she was defending Kinew when she raised a matter of privilege over persistent Tory attacks in the legislature about the NDP leaders past brushes with the law. She said her goal was to get the Tories to stop suggesting people who had run-ins with the law cannot overcome their past. She said she plans to clarify her statements today in the legislature. Meanwhile, she laughed at the suggestion she might be considering a change in political parties. "Theres no truth to that whatsoever," she said. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca The number of incarcerated Manitoban youth is the second-highest in Canada, and the rate of incarcerated Indigenous youth is the second-highest of any province, according to Statistics Canada data released Tuesday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/6/2018 (1216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The number of incarcerated Manitoban youth is the second-highest in Canada, and the rate of incarcerated Indigenous youth is the second-highest of any province, according to Statistics Canada data released Tuesday. In 2016 and 2017, Manitoba had the second-highest number of youth in custody across Canada 2,536 in Manitoba, compared to 3,290 in Ontario, Canadas most populous province. Ontarios population is almost ten times that of Manitobas. Michael Weinrath, a criminal justice researcher and University of Winnipeg professor, wasnt surprised when he heard about the numbers released Tuesday. "We tend to lead each year we have an overrepresentation problem," he said, referring to both Manitobas correctional population as a whole compared to the provinces population and Indigenous overrepresentation in the same system. This year, the number of kids in correctional custody is down by four per cent compared to 2015 and 2016, which Weinrath noted as a marked improvement. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "A certain number of the youth have committed fairly serious offences," he said. "You have to do something with them." However, he pointed to diversion programs meant to steer youth who commit minor offences away from committing more serious crimes as being important. Weinrath pointed to the high number of children entangled in the child welfare system in Manitoba about 11,000 as part of the reason the provinces youth custody rate is so high. "Part of the answer for the youth corrections system is a better youth social services system," he said. Provincially, Manitoba was second only to Saskatchewan in incarcerating Indigenous youth. In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Indigenous people made up about 15 per cent of the total population. erik.pindera@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @erik_pindera Various Manitoba municipalities are considering whether to hold a plebiscite on retail cannabis sales after legalization, but some mayors are more worried about whether the province will help foot the bill for the potential costs of legalized cannabis. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/6/2018 (1216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Various Manitoba municipalities are considering whether to hold a plebiscite on retail cannabis sales after legalization, but some mayors are more worried about whether the province will help foot the bill for the potential costs of legalized cannabis. Gimli councillors were opposed late last year to cannabis stores, but mayor Randy Woroniuk said that was because they didn't have enough information from the province to decide. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Gimli Mayor Randy Woroniuk. "Whether we're going to hold a plebiscite? I have to talk to council about that," he said. "But people have got to understand, these plebiscites aren't free." Woroniuk said he's mainly concerned with how Gimli will afford the presumed expenses of the federal government's marijuana legalization law. Potential costs to communities inclulde policing and bylaw enforcement. "I believe that the taxpayers of the RM of Gimli should not be saddled with unknown costs for a retail cannabis shop," he said. "And if we are going to be saddled with those costs, the government needs to (give us) part of that 25 per cent (federal excise tax on cannabis sales)." MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Minister of Municipal Relations Jeff Wharton. Portage La Prairie mayor Irvine Ferris said the town would "absolutely not" hold a plebiscite on the issue, and that retail cannabis sales will be allowed. "We don't want businesses here in Portage to miss out on business opportunities when, of course, we would have the costs associated with (legalization) whether we have retail here or not," he said. The issue of local plebiscites, Ferris said, "has taken away from some things that most mayors I've talked to feel are a lot more important, and that is a cost-sharing agreement with the province of Manitoba." The Association of Manitoba Municipalities "continues to urge the provincial government to co-develop a revenue-sharing model that respects municipal authority and increased costs that will be incurred due to the legalization and regulation of recreational cannabis," said AMM president Chris Goertzen in an emailed statement. Since recreational cannabis is not yet legal, Municipal Affairs Minister Jeff Wharton said, "there is no provincial revenue from cannabis, just costs including setting up the regulatory framework for Manitobas hybrid retail and distribution model." "Following legalization, it will be important for municipalities to track their actual costs and any revenues they may generate from municipal business taxes and fees on cannabis retailers," said Wharton in a statement. Bill Redekop / Winnipeg Free Press Files Morden mayor Ken Wiebe. "This information will inform our approach to future discussions on the cannabis industry and its impact on our communities." The AMM is also concerned that municipalities choosing to ban cannabis sales altogether will be required to hold a plebiscite on the question by 2022. Requiring a referendum in those cases, said Goertzen in his statement, "goes against the spirit of the provincial government's commitment to give more say to local councils." In a statement, a provincial spokesperson confirmed that municipalities banning cannabis sales will indeed have to put the question to voters. Although the costs of holding cannabis plebiscites will fall on municipalities, the spokesperson said the province it is formalizing the plebiscite provisions in the Safe and Responsible Retailing of Cannabis Act now so that local governments can schedule the ballot questions along with municipal elections taking place on Oct. 24. "These provisions mirror the longstanding local option provisions for liquor retail sale and service and video lottery gaming, which have worked well for Manitobans and their communities," wrote the spokesperson. Morden mayor Ken Wiebe said city council planned to discuss the issue of a plebiscite on Monday night, while Thompson mayor Dennis Fenske said the city doesn't intend to hold a plebiscite. Speaking as the mayor of Steinbach, Chris Goertzen said Steinbach city council hasn't yet discussed the issue. The city of Winkler has already decided to put the question of retail cannabis sales to voters during the October elections, said mayor Martin Harder. "We never wanted to do that, however, we had people who are interested in going and getting the 20 per cent of signatures required to hold a plebiscite. And we said, 'Well, why in the world do we make somebody work for a couple of months to get signatures and then hold a plebiscite anyway?'" Future legal cannabis retailers have already expressed interest in potential Winkler locations, said Harder. "We are creating the bylaws required, and we're working on the zoning, we have a designated zone where that facility would be available." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Beausejour mayor Ed Dubray said the town doesn't plan to hold a plebiscite, since city council already decided that retail cannabis sales should be permitted subject to existing zoning bylaws. Even though Beausejour councillors were unofficially opposed to retail cannabis sales last December, Dubray said the town's leadership changed its mind in late January after gathering new information. "We went back and we held a special meeting with the local MLA and the RCMP detachment here in regards to allowing cannabis, and from that meeting we went back, at a later date at a regular council meeting, and we passed a resolution to allow," said Dubray. Lac du Bonnet mayor Gordon Peters said the town will "probably" end up holding a retail cannabis sales plebiscite along with its regular October elections, but that the decision has yet to be made by council. "We're getting mixed messages," said Peters. "There's people that want to see it purely from a business perspective, they want to see that opportunity. There's others that absolutely see the problem with the whole cannabis issue, and that legalizing it certainly isn't going to make it go away or improve in any way, because it doesn't change the use of cannabis." solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca @sol_israel Someone died from an opioid-related overdose every three days in Manitoba last year, according to new government data released Tuesday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/6/2018 (1216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Someone died from an opioid-related overdose every three days in Manitoba last year, according to new government data released Tuesday. Nearly 4,000 Canadians died from apparent opioid overdoses in 2017, an increase of 34 per cent from the previous year. Manitobas opioid-related overdose deaths rose in lockstep with the rest of the country, shooting up to 122. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck A man prepares heroin he bought on the street to be injected at the Insite safe injection clinic in Vancouver, B.C.. "We are seeing an unprecedented number of opioid-related overdoses in Canada. This national public health crisis continues to devastate Canadians from all walks of life, in both rural and urban areas," said a statement from the co-chairs of the federal government's special advisory committee that produced the report. Of the 122 deaths in Manitoba, 86 were characterized as accidental, up from 70 in 2016. Just under half (49 per cent) of the accidental overdose deaths involved fentanyl or a fentanyl analogue. The majority of Manitobas deaths (72 per cent) were men, with people aged 20 to 39 (59 per cent) the most likely to die. The numbers didnt come as a surprise to Marion Willis, founder and director of St. Boniface Street Links, a frontline service which helps men battling addiction get off the streets. Not only was she not surprised, but Willis said the situation and those numbers is likely to worsen in coming years. Manitoba stats for 2017 Click to Expand Total opioid-related overdose deaths: 122 Accidental opioid-related overdose deaths: 86 Accident opioid-related deaths involving fentanyl or a fentanyl analogue: 42 72 per cent of deaths were men 59 per cent of deaths were people aged 20 to 39 "We have a growing problem in this province, not unlike other provinces. The drug culture has really taken over (Winnipeg) and Brandon, and Im sure other locations in Manitoba. Its going to get a whole lot worse, I would suggest. If were rejecting the types of strategies that work well when we have one of the greatest drug crises weve ever faced, it can only get worse," Willis said. Willis is a part of a significant number of frontline workers who say the city needs a supervised injection site to help reduce opioid-related deaths. She says the data is clear: the facilities save lives. A supervised injection site would form a crucial point of access for people battling addiction, and ideally would be the first step in a comprehensive continuum of care, she added. "The situation is really dire and the help isnt there. Harm reduction is a critical first step. Every major city thats dealing with what were dealing with understands safe injection is the best practice. So why would that not be the best practice for Winnipeg?" Willis said. A spokesman for Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said he was unable to comment on the matter Tuesday, given the media blackout rules triggered by the pending St. Boniface by-election set for July 17. In the past, Goertzen has said he doesnt consider a supervised injection site to be the best use of the province's resources. When reached for comment, a provincial spokeswoman pointed to the governments recent announcement of the creation of Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine (RAAM) clinics, saying they will help reduce opioid overdose deaths. In May, Goertzen announced the creation of five provincially-funded RAAM clinics, two of which are slated to be built in Winnipeg. Modeled on existing facilities in Ontario, the clinics will aim to provide patients with initial addictions care while connecting them with specialists and other longer term support. Supervised injection sites, meanwhile, are controlled settings where people can inject illicit drugs. While the drugs themselves are not sold at the site, clean injection equipment, information about drugs and health care, access to medical staff and treatment referrals, among other things, are provided. Willis believes the RAAM clinics are an insufficient solution to the current crisis, making her question whether the provincial government really grasps how bad the situation is. "The RAAM clinics are this health ministers fix for the drug crisis were dealing with. Its not a fix at all. Are they ill-informed? Or are they just too old school? I think they believe safe injection is giving people permission to use," Willis said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "People are using either way, it's about creating a controlled environment and a point of access to further care. Its also a public safety matter. Would people rather see a drug user shooting up on an inner-city playground where your child goes to school and might pick up a dirty needle?" One of the lone bright spots of Tuesdays report is news that daily doses of opioids prescribed across the country fell 10 per cent from 2016 to 2017, down to 21.3 million doses prescribed per day. In response to the growing epidemic, Health Canada announced Tuesday it was creating new restrictions that will soon be in place against the marketing of opioids. In the meantime, the health authority has asked opioid manufacturers to stop all marketing of the drugs while the new regulations are created. ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @rk_thorpe Canadians are living longer than ever and we are also taking more medications than ever. And this can make us sicker, not healthier. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/6/2018 (1216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Canadians are living longer than ever and we are also taking more medications than ever. And this can make us sicker, not healthier. A report released recently by the Canadian Institute for Health Information found that one in four seniors in Canada take 10 or more medications. Thats a total of 1.6 million seniors in Canada who are at significant risk of being harmed by the very thing thats supposed to help them. For example, benzodiazepines are a medical term for sleeping pills commonly prescribed to seniors who experience anxiety or trouble sleeping. These powerful drugs were designed for short-term use. Unfortunately, many seniors end up feeling dependent on these drugs for sleep and stay on them for the long term, sometimes indefinitely. These medications can lead to increased drowsiness, falls and possible fractures, and even car accidents. Antipsychotics are another powerful medication intended for short-term use in seniors that Canadians over 65 are taking for longer durations than necessary. Antipsychotics are sometimes prescribed during a challenging life event like a hospitalization or a move to long-term care. But long-term use can change a seniors behaviour and personality and puts them at higher risk for drug interactions and side-effects. Individually, these drugs pose risks to seniors, especially when taken long term. The danger multiplies when multiple drugs are taken concurrently, increasing the potential for drug interactions and side effects. Unnecessary medications are not just harmful to seniors, but harmful to all Canadians. The opioid epidemic is a powerful illustration of the harms that potentially unnecessary medications can cause individuals and communities. A recently published article by Ontario researchers found that powerful opioids are being prescribed for longer than necessary and at higher doses for Ontarians. Opioids are addictive and harmful medications when used inappropriately and when not needed. The data on the amount of unnecessary prescription medications Canadians use and the many harms associated with this are staggering. But there are solutions to this complex problem. Many of the solutions lie within the medical profession itself. After all, its mainly physicians who prescribe medications and their clinical colleagues such as nurses and pharmacists who dispense and monitor medication use. Increasingly, Canadian clinicians are recognizing that they can do better. Canadian clinicians are starting the conversation with patients and clients that more medications dont lead to better health and that unnecessary medications can be harmful. The Choosing Wisely Canada campaign works with national clinician societies to develop evidence-based lists of medications and treatments clinicians should question. By thinking twice before prescribing and talking with patients about the harms and risks of medications clinicians are starting to tackle overuse of prescription medications. Choosing Wisely Canada is also working with regional health-care providers and clinician organizations to share evidence-based strategies to help clinicians think twice, offer alternatives and have conversations about when that medication may cause more harm than good. The campaign also offers tools to patients to ask questions and start the conversation with clinicians about when more is not always better. But more needs to be done. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Clinicians need to be able to work within health-care systems that offer them a fuller picture of what medications patients are taking. Fragmented and poorly designed information systems can make that difficult. Payment models that incentivize quick clinical interactions can make it challenging to get a detailed medication history and to have a conversation with seniors about how many drugs they take, how often and to properly explain the risks and benefits. Increasing clinicians, patients and the publics awareness about the problem of overuse of prescription medications is just a beginning. Karen Born is knowledge translation lead of Choosing Wisely Canada and an assistant professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Wendy Levinson is the chairwoman of Choosing Wisely Canada, an expert adviser with EvidenceNetwork.ca and a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. EvidenceNetwork.ca is located at the University of Winnipeg. Troy Media Given the frequently strained relationship between Ottawa and Manitobas Progressive Conservative government during the past two years, its refreshing to be able to applaud both for putting aside their differences in support of an urgent cause. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/6/2018 (1216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Given the frequently strained relationship between Ottawa and Manitobas Progressive Conservative government during the past two years, its refreshing to be able to applaud both for putting aside their differences in support of an urgent cause. The chronic flooding that has ravaged communities surrounding Lake St. Martin and Lake Manitoba has defied conventional solutions. Triggered in part by water sent north from the Portage Diversion necessary to protect Winnipeg and the communities along the Lower Assiniboine River annual spring flooding in this area has forced farmers and First Nations people surrounding the two lakes to endure decades of destruction and disruption. And now, finally, a solution. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS files Premier Brian Pallister (left at podium) and federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr. The expansion of an existing outlet at Lake St. Martin and construction of a second, new outlet on Lake Manitoba will drain surplus water from the two lakes and, it is hoped, protect previously flood-affected communities in the future. However, the project will cost $540 million. An undertaking of such magnitude needs to be cost-shared, and cost-shared it has become. If a province the size of Manitoba was forced to use its regular federal infrastructure funding to build these flood channels, it would mean a massive reduction in the number of roads, bridges and water treatment projects. After months of negotiation, Ottawa will contribute $247.5 million, with the province providing the remaining $292.5 million. The federal contribution will come from a $2-billion fund created to help provinces pay for infrastructure necessary to mitigate the impact of floods, fires and storms. That means it will not affect other federal infrastructure money coming to Manitoba. The significance of this funding agreement cannot be overstated. Manitoba asked for special consideration for its flood-channel project, and Ottawa agreed. That may seem like a simple achievement, but it is not. Provinces are constantly sparring with the federal government over cost-sharing of projects and programs, with the former trying to get as much additional money as it can and the latter trying to avoid setting a precedent in one province that may trigger a similar request in another. It involves political horse-trading at the highest levels of governments, with billions of dollars at stake. Want more great journalism? Get our best news and features delivered in your inbox every weekday evening. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. This tug of war is particularly difficult when large-scale infrastructure projects are involved. If a province the size of Manitoba was forced to use its regular federal infrastructure funding to build these flood channels, it would mean a massive reduction in the number of roads, bridges and water treatment projects. In this case, Manitoba was insistent that Ottawa participate in the Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin projects with money outside normal infrastructure funding. Although there were some tense moments when it looked like the deal would not come to fruition, Ottawa eventually agreed. Kudos to both. Manitoba and Ottawa have not always seen eye to eye. It might even be said that over the past two years, they have found precious few subjects on which they agree. However, on this file, reason seems to have ruled the day. This is not, however, a new phenomenon. A similar scenario was faced by former NDP premier Gary Doer, who wanted federal money for both the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and a huge expansion of the Red River Floodway, without draining money from core, cost-shared infrastructure projects that are essential for local government. The negotiations spanned three prime ministers and two governments, and several times looked as if they would fall apart. But in the end, an agreement was reached. Both the floodway expansion and museum came to fruition without having to take a decade-long pause on other core infrastructure needs. Manitoba and Ottawa have not always seen eye to eye. It might even be said that over the past two years, they have found precious few subjects on which they agree. However, on this file, reason seems to have ruled the day. The Lake Manitoba-Lake St. Martin project is proof that politicians can, occasionally, find a way to come together to do the right thing for the right reasons. FedEx Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of a portfolio of transportation, e-commerce, and business services. It operates through the following segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, FedEx Services, and Corporate, Other & Eliminations. The FedEx Express segment consists of domestic and international shipping services for delivery of packages and freight. The FedEx Ground segment focuses on small-package ground delivery services. The FedEx Freight segment offers less-than-truckload freight services across all lengths of haul. The FedEx Services segment provides sales, marketing, information technology, communications, customer service, technical support, billing and collection services, and certain back-office functions. The Corporate, Other & Eliminations segment includes corporate headquarters costs for executive officers and certain legal and finance functions, as well as certain other costs and credits not attributed to the firm's core business. The company was founded by Frederick Wallace Smith on June 18, 1971 and is headquartered in Memphis, TN. Read More 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. Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a marine fuel logistics company that markets and supplies refined marine fuel and lubricants to vessels in port, at sea, and on rivers worldwide. The company offers fueling services to ocean-going and a range of coastal vessels, including oil tankers, container ships, drybulk carriers, cruise ships, reefers, LNG/LPG carriers, car carriers, and ferries, as well as to marine fuel traders, brokers, and other end-users of marine fuel and lubricants. It also markets and distributes marine lubricants under the Alfa Marine Lubricants brand; and provides a range of shipping services, such as technical support and maintenance, insurance arrangement and handling, financial administration, and accounting services. As of December 31, 2016, the company owned and operated a fleet of 46 bunkering vessels, including 45 double hulls and 1 single hull special purpose vehicle; 15 double hull bunkering vessels with an aggregate carrying capacity of approximately 292,400 deadweight ton (dwt); operated 10 land-based storage facilities with an aggregate storage capacity of approximately 1,075,000 cubic meters; and operated 2 vessels as floating storage facility with a cargo carrying capacity of approximately 86,800 dwt. Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Athens, Greece. Read More Agilent Technologies, Inc. engages in the provision of application focused solutions for life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets; Diagnostics and Genomics; and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers application-focused solutions that include instruments and software that enable to identify, quantify, and analyze the physical and biological properties of substances and products, as well as the clinical and life sciences research areas to interrogate samples at the molecular and cellular level. The Diagnostics and Genomics segment consists of activity providing active pharmaceutical ingredients for oligo-based therapeutics, as well as solutions that include reagents, instruments, software and consumables. The Agilent CrossLab segment includes startup, operational, training and compliance support, software as a service, and asset management and consultative services. The company was founded in May 1999 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA. Read More Medtronic Plc is a medical technology company, which engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, and sale of device-based medical therapies and services. It operates through the following segments: Cardiac and Vascular Group; Minimally Invasive Technologies Group; Restorative Therapies Group; and Diabetes Group. The Cardiac and Vascular Group segment consists of products for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of cardiac rhythm disorders and cardiovascular disease. The Minimally Invasive Technologies Group segment focuses on respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, renal system, lungs, pelvic region, kidneys, and obesity diseases. The Restorative Therapies Group segment comprises of neurostimulation therapies and drug delivery systems for the treatment of chronic pain, as well as areas of the spine and brain, along with pelvic health and conditions of the ear, nose, and throat. The Diabetes Group segment offers insulin pumps, coninuous glucose monitoring systems, and insulin pump consumables. The company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Read More TCF Financial Corporation operates as the financial holding company for TCF National Bank that provides various financial products and services in the United States and Canada. It operates through Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, and Enterprise Services segments. The company offers checking, savings, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; individual retirement accounts; debit and credit cards; and check cashing and remittance services. It also provides investment management and custodial services, trust services, financial and estate planning, and retirement planning and employee benefit programs; residential, consumer, and small business lending products; and consumer real estate secured lending, consumer loans, loans secured by personal property, and unsecured personal loans. In addition, the company offers loans and lines of credit, deposits, cash management, capital market products, international trade finance, letters of credit, foreign exchange management services, and loan syndication services. Further, it provides commercial and industrial, commercial real estate banking, and lease financing; and treasury services comprising investment and borrowing portfolios, as well as manages capital, debt, and market risks. As of December 31, 2020, the company operated 478 branches, including 373 traditional branches, 102 supermarket branches, and three campus branches located in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, Ohio, Wisconsin, Arizona, and South Dakota; and 1,062 ATMs. TCF Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Read More Milacron Holdings Corp. manufactures, distributes, and services engineered and customized systems within the plastic technology and processing industry in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Advanced Plastic Processing Technologies (APPT), Melt Delivery and Control Systems (MDCS), and Fluid Technologies (Fluids). The APPT segment designs, manufactures, and sells plastic processing equipment and systems, which include injection molding, blow molding, and extrusion equipment; and auxiliary systems and related parts and services. This segment serves companies who serve in the consumer goods, packaging, electronics, medical, automotive, and construction end markets. The MDCS segment designs, manufactures, and sells hot runner systems, process control systems, mold bases and components, and aftermarket parts and related technologies and services for injection molding, as well as maintenance, repair, and operating supplies for plastic processing operations. This segment serves customers in the plastic processing value chain and manufacturing spectrum, including OEMs, molders, and mold makers in the consumer goods, electronics, automotive, packaging, and medical end markets. The Fluids segment manufactures and markets coolants, lubricants, process cleaners, and corrosion inhibitors that are used in metalworking processes, such as cutting, grinding, stamping, forming, and high speed machining. This segment's products are used in various markets, such as aerospace, medical, automotive, industrial components and machinery, bearings, munitions, packaging, job shops, and glass and mirror production. The company was formerly known as Milacron LLC and changed its name to Milacron Holdings Corp. in May 2012. The company was founded in 1860 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Read More Brookfield Business Partners LP engages in owning and operating business services and industrial operations. It operates though the following segments: Business Services, Infrastructure Services, Industrial Operations, and Corporate and Other. The Business Services segment includes services such as residential mortgage insurance, healthcare, road fuel distribution and marketing, real estate and construction, entertainment, financing, and other businesses. The Infrastructure Services segment consists of services to the nuclear power generation industry and offshore oil production industry: and access, forming, and shoring solutions and specialized services. The Industrial Operations segment deals with automotive batteries, graphite electrode, and other manufacturing; water and wastewater services: natural gas production and well servicing; and a variety of other industrial operations. The Corporate and Other segment comprises cash and liquidity management, and activities related to the management of the partnership's relationship with Brookfield. The company was founded on October 1, 2015 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Read More BT Group plc provides communications services worldwide. Its Consumer segment sells telephones, baby monitors, and Wi-Fi extenders through high street retailers, online BT Shop, and Website BT.com; and offers home phone, copper and fiber broadband, TV, and mobile services in various packages. The company's EE segment offers 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile network services; broadband, fixed-voice, and TV services; and postpaid and prepaid plans, and emergency services network. This segment also sells 4G mobile phones, tablets, connected devices, and mobile broadband devices from various manufacturers. Its Business and Public Sector segment provides fixed voice, mobility, fiber and connectivity, and networked IT services to retailers, utilities, public sector, healthcare, sports, construction, finance, and educational sectors. The company's Global Services segment offers business communications and ICT services comprising BT Connect, BT Security, BT One, BT Contact, BT Compute, BT Advise, and BT for financial markets. This segment serves approximately 5,500 customers in 180 countries. Its Wholesale and Ventures segment enables communications providers and other organizations to provide fixed or mobile phone services. Its ventures provide mass-market services, such as directory enquiries and payphones; and enterprise services comprising BT Fleet and BT Redcare. This segment also provides broadband and Ethernet, voice, hosted communication, mobile virtual network operator, managed solutions, machine-to-machine, roaming, and media services. The company's Openreach segment engages in the provision of services over the local access network; and installation and maintenance of fiber and copper communications networks that connect homes and businesses. The company was formerly known as Newgate Telecommunications Limited and changed its name to BT Group plc in September 2001. BT Group plc was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Dover: ALMATEC Maschinenbau GmbH, Accelerated Production Systems, Advansor A/S, Advansor Dover International (Poland) sp. z o.o, Alfred Fueling Systems Holdco Ltd., Alfred Fueling Systems Inc., Alfred Fueling Systems Intermediate Holdco Ltd., All-Flo Pump Company Limited business, Anman LLC, Anthony Equity Holdings Inc., Anthony Holdings Inc., Anthony Inc., Anthony International Foreign Sales Corp., Anthony International Holding Company, Anthony Mexico Holdings LLC, Anthony North Holdco Inc., Anthony Specialty Glass LLC, Anthony TemperBent GP LLC, Automatik Grundstucksverwaltung GmbH & Co. KG, Automatik Plastics Machinery (Taiwan) Ltd., Automatik Plastics Machinery Sdn. Bhd., BSC Filters Limited, Background2 Limited, Belanger Inc., Belvac Middle East FZE, Belvac Production Machinery Inc., BlitzRotary GmbH, Butler Engineering and Marketing S.P.A., CEP Liquidation LLC, CP Formation LLC, CPC, CPC Europe Inc., CPI Products Inc., Caldera, Caldera Inc., Canada Organization & Development LLC, Chief Automotive Technologies (Shanghai) Trading Company Ltd., Chippewa Square Captive Insurance Company, Colder Products Company GmbH, Colder Products Company LTD, Cook Compression BV, Cook Compression LLC, Cook Compression Limited, Cook-MFS Inc., DD1 Inc., DDI Properties Inc., DE-STA-CO Benelux B.V., DE-STA-CO FRANCE, DE-STA-CO Shanghai Co. Ltd., DFH Corporation, DSR BZ Holdings LLC, De Sta Co (Asia) Company Limited, De-Sta-Co Cylinders Inc., DeStaCo Europe GmbH, Delaware Capital Formation Inc., Delaware Capital Holdings Inc., Destaco Ema Industria e Comercio Ltda., Dover (China) Investment Co. Ltd. , Dover (Schweiz) Holding GmbH, Dover (Shanghai) Industrial Co. Ltd., Dover (Shenzhen) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover (Suzhou) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover Asia Trading Private Ltd., Dover Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Dover Business Services EMEA Limited, Dover Business Services LLC, Dover Business Services Philippines Corporation, Dover CLP Formation Limited Partnership, Dover CR spol s r.o., Dover Canada Finance LP, Dover Canada Holdings ULC, Dover Canada Operations ULC, Dover Corporation Regional Headquarters, Dover DEI Services Inc., Dover Denmark Holdings ApS, Dover EMEA FZCO, Dover Energy, Dover Energy UK Ltd, Dover Engineered Systems Inc., Dover Engineered Systems UK Ltd, Dover Europe Inc., Dover Europe Sarl, Dover Fluids Inc., Dover Fluids UK Ltd, Dover France Holdings S.A.S., Dover France Participations SAS, Dover France Technologies, Dover Fueling Solutions UK Limited, Dover Germany GmbH, Dover Global Holdings LLC, Dover Global Trading Pte. Ltd., Dover Holdings de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dover India Pvt. Ltd., Dover Intercompany Services UK Limited, Dover International B.V., Dover International Operations Inc., Dover International Ventures Inc., Dover International Ventures Tunisia S.a.r.l., Dover International ithalat ihracat ve Pazarlama Limited Sirketi, Dover Italy Holdings S.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Finance Sarl, Dover Luxembourg Participations Sarl, Dover Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Services Sarl, Dover Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Dover Overseas Ventures Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment UK Ltd, Dover Resources International de Mexico S. de R.L. C.V., Dover Solutions Colombia SAS, Dover Southeast Asia (Thailand) Ltd., Dover Spain Holdings S.L., Dover UK Pensions Limited, Dover WSCR Holding LLC, Dover WSCR LLC, Dover do Brasil Ltda., Dow-Key Microwave Corporation, Dressor Wayne Data Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Dressor Wayne Fuel Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, EOA Systems Inc., Ebs-Ray Holdings Pty Ltd, Ebs-Ray Industries Pty. Ltd., Ebs-Ray Pumps Pty. Ltd., Em-tec GmbH, Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH, Ettlinger Management Inc., Ettlinger North America LP, Ettlinger Vertrieb und Service GmbH & Co. KG, Ettlinger Verwaltungs-GmbH, Fairbanks Environmental Limited, Ferguson CO. S.A., Fibrelite Composites Limited, Fibresec Holdings Limited, Fibresec Limited, Finder, Finder Oriental (Beijing) Trading Co. Ltd, Finder Pompe S.R.L., Finder United Saudi Arabia Company, GAL LLC, GIIER LLC, Gala Industries Asia Limited, Gala Industries Incorporated, Gala Kunststoff-und Kautschukmaschinen GmbH, Guangdong Tokheim LIYUAN Oil Industry Technology Limited Company, Highland Park Insurance Company, Hill PHOENIX Inc., Hill PHOENIX WIC LLC, Hill Phoenix Costa Rica Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, Hill Phoenix El Salvador Limitada de Capital Variable, Hill Phoenix Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Honduras Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Hiltap Fittings Ltd., Hydro Systems, Hydro Systems Europe Ltd., Hydronova Australia-NZ Pty Ltd, Industrial Motion Control LLC, Inpro/Seal LLC, International Trade and Equipment B.V., JK Group SPA, JK Group USA Inc., K&L Microwave DR Inc., K&L Microwave Inc., K. S. Boca Inc., KPS (Beijing) Petroleum Equipment Trading Co Ltd., KPS Asia Sdn. Bhd., KPS Fueling Solutions Sdn. Bhd., KPS Hong Kong Holding Limited, KPS UK Limited, KS Formation Inc., KS Liquidation Inc., KSLP Liquidation L.P., Kiian Digital (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Knappco LLC, Lianyngang Jump Petroleum and Chemical Machinery Co. Ltd., Liquip, Liquip International Pty Limited, MARKEM FZ SA, MARKEM Holdings Inc., MARKEM International Inc., MARKEM S.A. de C.V., MARKEM Tag Inc., MARKEM UK Holdings 1 Unlimited, MARKEM UK Holdings 2 Limited, MIP Holdings Inc., MS Printing Solutions S.R.L., Maag Automatik GmbH, Maag Automatik Inc., Maag Automatik Plastics Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Maag Automatik Srl, Maag Pump Systems (US) Inc., Maag Pump Systems AG, Maag Pump Systems SAS, Marathon Equipment Company (Delaware), Markem Imaje Center of Competencies Spain S.L.U., Markem-Imaje, Markem-Imaje (China) Co. Limited, Markem-Imaje A/S, Markem-Imaje AB, Markem-Imaje AG, Markem-Imaje AS, Markem-Imaje Application Innovation Center Sarl, Markem-Imaje B.V., Markem-Imaje CSAT GmbH, Markem-Imaje Co. Ltd., Markem-Imaje GmbH, Markem-Imaje Holding, Markem-Imaje Identificacao de Produtos Ltda., Markem-Imaje Inc., Markem-Imaje India Private Limited, Markem-Imaje Industries, Markem-Imaje Industries Limited, Markem-Imaje KK, Markem-Imaje LLC, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Ltd., Markem-Imaje N.V., Markem-Imaje Oy, Markem-Imaje Pty Ltd, Markem-Imaje S.A., Markem-Imaje S.A. de C.V., Markem-Imaje S.r.l. a socio unico, Markem-Imaje SAS, Markem-Imaje Sdn Bhd, Markem-Imaje Software Development Centre Pvt. Ltd., Markem-Imaje Spain S.A.U, Markem-Imaje Unipessoal Lda (Portugal), Markpoint Holding AB, Midland Manufacturing LLC, Mouvex, Neptune Chemical Pump Company, Northern Lights (Nevada) Inc., Northern Lights Funding LP, Northern Lights Investments LLC, Nova Controls Inc., OK International (UK) Ltd., OK International Holdings Inc., OK International Inc., OPW Engineered Systems Inc., OPW Fluid Transfer Group Europe B.V., OPW Fluids Group Inc., OPW France, OPW Fuel Management Systems Inc., OPW Fueling Components (SuZhou) Co. Ltd., OPW Fueling Components LLC, OPW Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OPW Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., OPW Slovakia s.r.o., OPW Sweden AB, Officine Meccaniche Sirio S.R.L., PDQ Manufacturing Inc., PISCES by OPW Inc., PSG (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, PSG (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PSG Worldwide Inc., Petro Vend Sp. z o.o., Pike Machine Products Inc., Piston OPW Inc., Pole/Zero Acquisition Inc., Precision Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Para Postos De Combustiveis Ltda., Precision Service - Servicos De Manutencao E Instalacao De Postos De Abastecimento De Combustivel Ltda., Pump Management Services Co. LLC, RAV Equipment U.S.A. Inc., RAV Equipos Espana S.L., RAV France, Rav Equipment UK Limited, Ravaglioli Deutschland GmbH, Ravaglioli S.P.A., Reduction Engineering GmbH, Revod Corporation, Revod Finance Ireland Limited, Revod Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Revod SAS, Revod Sweden AB, Robohand Inc., Rosario Handel B.V., Rotary Lift Consolidated (Haimen) Co. Ltd, SE Liquidation LLC, SWEP A.G., SWEP Germany GmbH, SWEP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SWEP North America Inc., SWEP Slovakia s.r.o., SWEP Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Scheer Pelletizing Systems & Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Scheer Taiwan Machinery Co. Ltd., Seabiscuit Motorsports Inc., Simmons Sirvey Corporation, So. Cal. Soft-Pak Incorporated, Solaris Laser S.A., Space S.R.L., Start Italiana Petrol Cihazlari Sanayi Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Start Italiana S.R.L., Swep Energy Oy, Swep International A.B., Swep Japan K.K., Sys-Tech Solutions Inc., TQC Quantium Quality S.A. de C.V., TTSI III Inc., TWG Canada Consolidated Inc., TXHI LLC, Tartan Textile Services Inc., The Curotto-Can LLC, The Heil Co., Tokheim Belgium, Tokheim China Company Limited, Tokheim GmbH, Tokheim Group, Tokheim Guardian Venture Sdn. Bhd, Tokheim Hengshan Technologies (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Tokheim Holding, Tokheim Holding B.V., Tokheim India Private Limited, Tokheim Netherlands B.V., Tokheim Sofitam Applications, Trans - Logistic Group S.R.L., Tulsa Winch Inc., Unified Brands Inc., Val TemperBent Glass L.P., Vectron Frequency Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vehicle Service Group LLC, Vos Food Store Equipment Ltd., Warn Automotive LLC, Waukesha Bearings, Waukesha Bearings Limited, Waukesha Bearings Russia LLC, Wayne Fuel Management UK Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems (Rus) Limited Liability Company, Wayne Fueling Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Wayne Fueling Systems Canada ULC, Wayne Fueling Systems Deutschland GmbH, Wayne Fueling Systems Italia S.R.L., Wayne Fueling Systems LLC, Wayne Fueling Systems Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Pte. Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Sweden AB, Wayne Fueling Systems UK Holdco Ltd., Wayne Industria e Comercio Ltda., Wei Li Pump Shanghai Co. LTD., WellMark, and Wilden Pump and Engineering LLC. The following companies are subsidiares of Yum China: AIR BP-PBF DEL PERU SAC, BELFAST STORAGE LTD, CANADIAN ULTRAMAR COMPANY, COLONNADE TEXAS INSURANCE COMPANY LLC, COLONNADE VERMONT INSURANCE COMPANY, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY LLC, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY OF CANADA INC., DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL HOLDINGS LLC, DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL LLC, DIAMOND K RANCH LLC, DIAMOND OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFINING COMPANY L.P., DIAMOND UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., DSRM NATIONAL BANK, ENTERPRISE CLAIMS MANAGEMENT INC., GCP LOGISTICS COMPANY LLC, GOLDEN EAGLE ASSURANCE LIMITED, HAMMOND MAINLINE PIPELINE LLC, HUNTWAY REFINING COMPANY, MAINLINE PIPELINES LIMITED, MAPLE ETHANOL LTD., MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT GP LLC, MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT L.P., MRP PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, NECHES RIVER HOLDING CORP., NORCO METHANOL LLC, OCEANIC TANKERS AGENCY LIMITED, PARKWAY PIPELINE LLC, PENTA TANKS TERMINALS S.A., PI DOCK FACILITIES LLC, PICKARD PLACE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, PORT ARTHUR COKER COMPANY L.P., PREMCOR USA INC., PROPERTY RESTORATION L.P., PURE BIOFUELS DEL PERU S.A.C., PURE BIOFUELS HOLDINGS L.P., Parkway Pipeline, Premcor, Pure Biofuels Del Peru, SABINE RIVER HOLDING CORP., SABINE RIVER LLC, SAINT BERNARD PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, SUNBELT REFINING COMPANY L.P., THE PREMCOR PIPELINE CO., THE PREMCOR REFINING GROUP INC., THE SHAMROCK PIPE LINE CORPORATION, TRANSPORT MARITIME ST. LAURENT INC., ULTRAMAR ACCEPTANCE INC., ULTRAMAR ENERGY INC., ULTRAMAR INC., Ultramar Diamond Shamrock, V-TEX LOGISTICS LLC, VALERO (BARBADOS) SRL, VALERO (PERU) HOLDINGS GP LLC, VALERO (PERU) HOLDINGS LIMITED, VALERO ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO ARUBA ACQUISITION COMPANY I LTD., VALERO ARUBA FINANCE INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO ARUBA HOLDING COMPANY N.V., VALERO ARUBA HOLDINGS INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO ARUBA MAINTENANCE/OPERATIONS COMPANY N.V., VALERO BROWNSVILLE TERMINAL LLC, VALERO CANADA FINANCE INC., VALERO CANADA L.P., VALERO CAPITAL CORPORATION, VALERO CARIBBEAN SERVICES COMPANY, VALERO COKER CORPORATION ARUBA N.V., VALERO CUSTOMS & TRADE SERVICES INC., VALERO EAST BAY LLC, VALERO ENERGY (IRELAND) LIMITED, VALERO ENERGY ARUBA II COMPANY, VALERO ENERGY INC., VALERO ENERGY LTD, VALERO ENERGY PARTNERS GP LLC, VALERO ENERGY PARTNERS LP, VALERO ENERGY UK LTD, VALERO ENTERPRISES INC., VALERO EQUITY SERVICES LTD, VALERO FINANCE L.P. I, VALERO FINANCE L.P. II, VALERO FINANCE L.P. III, VALERO FOREST CONTRIBUTION LLC, VALERO GRAIN MARKETING LLC, VALERO H2 PIPELINE COMPANY LLC, VALERO HOLDCO UK LTD, VALERO HOLDINGS INC., VALERO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS INC., VALERO LIVE OAK LLC, VALERO LOGISTICS UK LTD, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY (PANAMA) LLC, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY COMPANY, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPY INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO MARKETING IRELAND LIMITED, VALERO MKS LOGISTICS L.L.C., VALERO NEDERLAND COOPERATIEF U.A., VALERO NEDERLAND COOPERATIEF U.A., VALERO NEW AMSTERDAM B.V., VALERO OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., VALERO OPERATIONAL SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO OPERATIONAL SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO OPERATIONS SUPPORT LTD, VALERO PARTNERS CCTS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS CORPUS EAST LLC, VALERO PARTNERS CORPUS WEST LLC, VALERO PARTNERS EP LLC, VALERO PARTNERS HOUSTON LLC, VALERO PARTNERS LOUISIANA LLC, VALERO PARTNERS LUCAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MCKEE LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MEMPHIS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MERAUX LLC, VALERO PARTNERS NORTH TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS OPERATING CO. LLC, VALERO PARTNERS PAPS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS PORT ARTHUR LLC, VALERO PARTNERS SOUTH TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS TEXAS CITY LLC, VALERO PARTNERS THREE RIVERS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WEST MEMPHIS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WEST TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WYNNEWOOD LLC, VALERO PAYMENT SERVICES COMPANY, VALERO PEMBROKESHIRE LLC, VALERO PEMBROKESHIRE OIL TERMINAL LTD, VALERO PLAINS COMPANY LLC, VALERO POWER MARKETING LLC, VALERO RAIL OPERATIONS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO RAIL OPERATIONS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO RAIL PARTNERS LLC, VALERO REFINING AND MARKETING COMPANY, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-ARUBA N.V., VALERO REFINING COMPANY-CALIFORNIA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-OKLAHOMA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-TENNESSEE L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-MERAUX LLC, VALERO REFINING-NEW ORLEANS L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-TEXAS L.P., VALERO RENEWABLE FUELS COMPANY LLC, VALERO SECURITY SYSTEMS INC., VALERO SERVICES INC., VALERO SKELLYTOWN PIPELINE LLC, VALERO TEJAS COMPANY LLC, VALERO TERMINAL HOLDCO LTD, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO TEXAS POWER MARKETING INC., VALERO ULTRAMAR HOLDINGS INC., VALERO UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., VALERO WEST WALES LLC, VRG PROPERTIES COMPANY, VTD PROPERTIES COMPANY, WARSHALL COMPANY LLC, and ZELIG COMMERCIAL INC.. Rolls-Royce Holdings plc operates as an industrial technology company in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Civil Aerospace, Power Systems, Defence, and ITP Aero. The Civil Aerospace segment develops, manufactures, and sells aero engines for large commercial aircraft, regional jet, and business aviation markets, as well as provides aftermarket services. The Power Systems segment provides high-speed and medium-speed reciprocating engines, and propulsion and power generation systems for the marine, defense, power generation, and industrial markets. The Defence segment offers aero engines for military transport and patrol aircraft applications; and naval engines and submarine nuclear power plants, as well as aftermarket services. The ITP Aero segment engages in the design, research and development, manufacture and casting, assembly, and testing of aeronautical engines and gas turbines. It also provides maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for regional airlines, as well as business aviation, industrial, and defense applications. Rolls-Royce Holdings plc was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 211 E. Russell Road LLC, Air-Relief, Belliss & Morcom Brasil, Belliss and Morcom, Boardwalk Enterprises, Charm Merger Sub Inc., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Canada, CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir Holman Ltd, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., CompAir UK Ltd, CompAir USA, Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Emco Wheaton, Emco Wheaton GmbH Branch, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton UK, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Propriety Limited (South Africa), GD Aria Holdings #2 Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First UK Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings, GD Global Holdings II, GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SA, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Services Ltd, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Hoffman, Gardner Denver Holdings, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica, Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd. Branch, Gardner Denver International, Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Intl Ltd Middle East Regional Rep Office, Gardner Denver Investments, Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan, Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd South Africa, Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd. Branch (Ireland), Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co, Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oberdorfer Pumps, Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Petroleum Pumps, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia, Gardner Denver SudAmerica S.r.l., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas, Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH, Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver UK, Gardner Denver Water Jetting Systems, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, Indonesia Foreign Trade Representative Office, LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MP Pumps Inc., Mako Compressors, Nash, Nash Elmo, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Robuschi, Rotary Compression Technologies, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Syltone, TCM Investments, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, TODO AB, Tamrotor Marine Compressors AS, Thomas Industries, Thomas Industries Inc., Tri-Continent Scientific, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, and Zinsser NA. KTM says the new model will be placed under the Adventure range of motorcycles and will be sold alongside its existing products. KTM says the new model will be placed under the Adventure range of motorcycles and will be sold alongside its existing products. Until the arrival of the Royal Enfield Himalayan, the adventure segment in India was pretty much occupied by machines meant solely for well-heeled enthusiasts. However, the ingenious lot that we Indians are, most found one way or the other to take their road-going bikes on off-road adventures. The Hero Impulse did enter the frame to provide some excitement to the off-road enthusiasts with a limited budget but couldnt make a mark owing to its underpowered engine. Adventure segment in India: Later, the Himalayan came into the picture and manufacturers realised the huge potential in the adventure segment, particularly in the mid-capacity space. This segment works exceptionally well in India as the bikes in this category are relatively lighter, less complex and easy to handle than full-fledged adventure motorcycles that come packed with all kinds of technology. Kawasaki wanted to grab a portion of the pie with the Versys-X 300, but didnt exactly succeed due to its stratospheric (but justified) pricing. Though BMW Motorrad also yearned to be in this segment, the German marque wanted to make sure it does things right, including setting up the infrastructure required to handle its upcoming entry-level twins - the G 310 R and G 310 GS. Last week, BMW Motorrad announced that it has started accepting bookings for both bikes. Unlike KTM, BMW Motorrad says it isnt focussing on outright sales numbers. Instead, it wants to provide customers with a premium riding experience. However, the real shot of adrenaline came when KTM confirmed the launch of the much-awaited 390 Adventure, which is slated for next year. Early sightings: KTM has been silently working on the 390 Adventure ever since the 390 Duke gained popularity. The powerplant of the 390 Duke was more than enough for Indian roads, and the chassis setup was brilliant for spirited riding. Thanks to its partnership with Bajaj, the Austrian bike maker was even able to manufacture it in a cost-efficient manner and price it at the affordable end of the 300cc segment. So, it was only logical for the Mattighofen-based motorcycle manufacturer to develop an adventure variant for riders with a certain sense of wanderlust. The 390 Adventure was spotted testing in Europe back in 2016. The Dakar-inspired motorcycle looked crude, hinting at the need for a lot more work to be done. The motorcycle was spotted again in October last year. This time, its featured a more toned down design and in line with the brands 790 Adventure concept (remember 2017 EICMA?). If KTM wants to launch the bike in 2019, it is safe to say that it will unveil the 390 Adventure concept at this years EICMA. KTMs word on the upcoming model: KTM says the new model will be placed under the Adventure range of motorcycles and will be sold alongside its existing products. According to the manufacturer, the upcoming model will provide the motorcycle-touring community a state-of-the-art package to ride long distances and conquer any terrain. The auto major has also confirmed that the bike will be inspired by the 1290 Super Adventure. It will also draw its lineage from KTMs rally racing history. This could hint at bulletproof build quality and impressive touring capability. What we think: Going by the Dukes feature-laden proposition, we expect the 390 Adventure to be loaded with ride-enhancing goodies. Expect the multifunction colour display to have navigation capability in the Adventure. We expect the Adventure to sport a larger 17-18-litre fuel tank for enhanced range too. The ergonomics should be upright, with the footpegs positioned for easy stand-up riding. The WP suspension setup will have more travel than the Dukes. While the bike is likely to share the engine with the Duke, we expect it to be tuned for more bottom-end torque. Also, since it already has ride-by-wire, it does open up the possibility of having multiple ride modes like Road and Rain. Amit Nandi - president of Probiking, Bajaj Auto Ltd., said, KTM is a niche brand for a select few. With the 390 Adventure we would be making our long awaited entry into the niche premium dual-sport segment which is a very apt segment for Indian roads. Going by his statement, its likely that the bike will be offered with the option of both spoke wheels (likely a 21-inch front and a 17-inch rear, shod with knobbies) for the off-road variant and alloy wheels (possibly 17-inch units on both ends with road-biased tyres) for the touring version. Click here for a more detailed take on the possibility of two variants. Considering the propensity of the target audience to add more touring friendly features on their bikes, we expect KTM to provide a range of official accessories, either at the time of launch or at a later stage. This could include parts like panniers, saddle stays, headlight guard, auxiliary lamps, crash guards, sturdier bash plate, centre stand and radiator guard. Click here to see how the 390 Adventure slots in among its rivals. We expect the bike to be priced at a premium of Rs 60,000-Rs 70,000 over the 390 Duke, which retails for Rs 2.4 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). With such value for money, the bike will surely garner the attention of a lot of riding enthusiasts. The Indian two-wheeler segment just got a whole lot more interesting! Source: ZigWheels.com Imperial Brands PLC, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, imports, markets, and sells tobacco and tobacco-related products. It offers a range of cigarettes, fine cut and smokeless tobacco, papers, and cigars; and next generation product (NGP) portfolio, such as e-vapour products, as well as oral nicotine and heated tobacco products. The company sells its products under various brands, including Davidoff, Gauloises, JPS, West, L&B, Bastos, Fine, Winston, News, Parker & Simpson, blu, Kool, Horizon, Jade, Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo Y Julieta, Backwoods, Skruf, Golden Virginia, Rizla, and Knox in approximately 160 countries worldwide. It also provides logistics services that include the distribution of tobacco and NGP products for tobacco and NGP product manufacturers; and various non-tobacco and NGP products and services. In addition, the company is involved in the management of a golf course; marketing of papers; restaurant business; distribution of pharmaceuticals, POS software, and published materials and other products; printing and publishing activities; and provision of long haul transportation, industrial parcel and express delivery, advertising, and support management services. Further, it owns the trademarks; and retails its products. The company was formerly known as Imperial Tobacco Group PLC and changed its name to Imperial Brands PLC in February 2016. Imperial Brands PLC was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Bristol, the United Kingdom. Read More Arvind Subramanian joined as Chief Economic Advisor on October 16,2014 for a period of three years, which was extended. New Delhi: After serving as Chief Economic Advisor for four years, Arvind Subramanian will return to the United States, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said today. He would like to go back to the United States on account of pressing family commitments. His reasons were personal but extremely important for him. He left me with no option but to agree with him, Jaitley said in a Facebook post. Arvind Subramanian joined as the Chief Economic Advisor on October 16, 2014 for a period of three years, which was extended after Jaitley requested him to continue for some more time. In his Facebook post, the Union Minister said he will personally miss Arvind Subramanian's dynamism, energy, intellectual ability and ideas. "He would walk into my room at times several times a day, addressing me as Minister to give either the good news or otherwise. Needless to say his departure will be missed by me. But I know that his heart is very much here. I am sure he will keep sending advice and analysis wherever he is," Jaitley added. Jaitley also credited Subramanian for conceptualising "JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile) as a data base for availing public benefits." He said that Subramanians interaction with the government, Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and with other Departments was both formal and informal and his instantaneous communications with interlocutors had increased his effectiveness. Responding to Jaitley's post, Subramanian took to Twitter and thanked him. "Profoundly grateful and humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister Arun Jaitley announcing my decision to return-for personal reasons-to researching and writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had," he tweeted. Profoundly grateful & humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister @arunjaitley announcing my decision to return-for personal reasons-to researching & writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had. Many many to thank:https://t.co/kwsRqDrMTB arvind subramanian (@arvindsubraman) June 20, 2018 Arvind Subramanian, 59, a senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, took over as the Chief Economic Advisor in 2014 when his predecessor Raghuram Rajan became the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) Governor. Subramanian did his graduation in Economics from Delhis St Stephens College and got an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Ahmedabad. He received his doctorate from the Oxford University, UK. The following companies are subsidiares of The Procter & Gamble: "Procter & Gamble Services" LLC, "Procter & Gamble" LLC, Agile Pursuits, Agile Pursuits Franchising, Arbora, Arbora & Ausonia, Arborinvest, Billie, Braun (Shanghai) Co., Braun GmbH, Braun-Gillette Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG, Celtic Insurance Company, Compania Procter & Gamble Mexico, Compania Quimica S.A., Corporativo Procter & Gamble, Cosmetic Products Pty. Ltd., Detergent Products B.V., Detergent Products SARL, Detergenti S.A., Eurocos Cosmetic GmbH, FPG Oleochemicals Sdn. Bhd., Fameccanica Data S.p.A., Fameccanica Industria e Comercio Do Brasil LTDA., Fameccanica Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Fater S.p.A., Fountain Square Music Publishing Co., Gillette (China) Ltd., Gillette (Shanghai) Ltd., Gillette Aesop Ltd., Gillette Australia Pty. Ltd., Gillette Canada Holdings, Gillette Commercial Operations North America, Gillette Diversified Operations Pvt. 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South32 Limited operates as a diversified metals and mining company primarily in Australia, Southern Africa, North America, and South America. The company has a portfolio of assets producing alumina, aluminum, bauxite, energy and metallurgical coal, manganese ore and alloy, ferronickel, silver, lead, and zinc. It also exports its products. South32 Limited has a strategic alliance agreement with AusQuest Limited for exploration opportunity under at its Morrisey nickel-copper project. The company was formerly known as BHP Coal Holdings Pty Limited and changed its name to South32 Limited in March 2015. South32 Limited was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Perth, Australia. Read More The declaration of results for Matriculation, which was scheduled for Thursday, has now been deferred to June 26, BSEB said. The Board claimed that disappearance of the answer scripts will have 'no effect on the overall results nor on preparation of the list of top-ranking students'. (Photo: File | Representational) Patna: Thousands of answer scripts of candidates who took Matric examinations, conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) this year, went missing from the strong room of a school where these were kept after evaluation, the BSEB said on Wednesday. The declaration of results for Matriculation, which was scheduled for Thursday, has now been deferred to June 26, the BSEB said in a statement released. The principal of the school - situated at Gopalganj district - was summoned by the BSEB and later detained by police for interrogation. The latest episode has further tarnished BSEB image which had drawn widespread condemnation in the wake of "toppers scam" when non-deserving students were declared top rankers in Arts as well science streams out of materialistic considerations in 2016. "Pramod Kumar Srivastava, the principal of SS Girls's Senior Secondary High School had registered an FIR on Sunday stating that over 200 bags, containing more than 40,000 answer scripts evaluated at the premises and kept thereafter in the strong room, were missing", SHO of Town police station in Gopalganj, Ravi Kumar, told over phone. The SHO said that in the FIR, Srivastava had named some non-teaching staff who had been entrusted with manning the school building. BSEB Chairman Anand Kishor said "Srivastava was called to the Board headquarters here for questioning. He was later detained by the police for further questioning". Deputy SP, Law and Order, Patna, Manoj Kumar Sudhanshu confirmed the detention of Srivastava. However, both Kishor and Sudhanshu declined to divulge details of the investigation. The BSEB later issued a press note stating "the DM and the SP of Gopalganj have been directed to ensure recovery of the barcoded, evaluated answer scripts, identify the culprits and take action against them as per law". The Board also announced that the results would now be declared on June 26 but claimed that disappearance of the answer scripts will have "no effect on the overall results nor on preparation of the list of top-ranking students". "All the evaluation centres have provided the BSEB headquarters with award sheets stating the marks awarded to each candidate. Hence, we are already in possession of the respective scores of even those candidates whose answer scripts have gone missing", the BSEB release said. The following companies are subsidiares of Valero Energy: AIR BP-PBF DEL PERU SAC, BELFAST STORAGE LTD, CANADIAN ULTRAMAR COMPANY, COLONNADE TEXAS INSURANCE COMPANY LLC, COLONNADE VERMONT INSURANCE COMPANY, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY LLC, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY OF CANADA INC., DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL HOLDINGS LLC, DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL LLC, DIAMOND K RANCH LLC, DIAMOND OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFINING COMPANY L.P., DIAMOND UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., DSRM NATIONAL BANK, ENTERPRISE CLAIMS MANAGEMENT INC., GCP LOGISTICS COMPANY LLC, GOLDEN EAGLE ASSURANCE LIMITED, HAMMOND MAINLINE PIPELINE LLC, HUNTWAY REFINING COMPANY, MAINLINE PIPELINES LIMITED, MAPLE ETHANOL LTD., MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT GP LLC, MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT L.P., MRP PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, NECHES RIVER HOLDING CORP., NORCO METHANOL LLC, OCEANIC TANKERS AGENCY LIMITED, PARKWAY PIPELINE LLC, PENTA TANKS TERMINALS S.A., PI DOCK FACILITIES LLC, PICKARD PLACE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, PORT ARTHUR COKER COMPANY L.P., PREMCOR USA INC., PROPERTY RESTORATION L.P., PURE BIOFUELS DEL PERU S.A.C., PURE BIOFUELS HOLDINGS L.P., Parkway Pipeline, Premcor, Pure Biofuels Del Peru, SABINE RIVER HOLDING CORP., SABINE RIVER LLC, SAINT BERNARD PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, SUNBELT REFINING COMPANY L.P., THE PREMCOR PIPELINE CO., THE PREMCOR REFINING GROUP INC., THE SHAMROCK PIPE LINE CORPORATION, TRANSPORT MARITIME ST. 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DE C.V., VALERO RAIL PARTNERS LLC, VALERO REFINING AND MARKETING COMPANY, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-ARUBA N.V., VALERO REFINING COMPANY-CALIFORNIA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-OKLAHOMA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-TENNESSEE L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-MERAUX LLC, VALERO REFINING-NEW ORLEANS L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-TEXAS L.P., VALERO RENEWABLE FUELS COMPANY LLC, VALERO SECURITY SYSTEMS INC., VALERO SERVICES INC., VALERO SKELLYTOWN PIPELINE LLC, VALERO TEJAS COMPANY LLC, VALERO TERMINAL HOLDCO LTD, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO TEXAS POWER MARKETING INC., VALERO ULTRAMAR HOLDINGS INC., VALERO UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., VALERO WEST WALES LLC, VRG PROPERTIES COMPANY, VTD PROPERTIES COMPANY, WARSHALL COMPANY LLC, and ZELIG COMMERCIAL INC.. Wall Street analysts have given Vanguard FTSE Europe 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 Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. Vigils in defence of Julian Assange were held yesterday in major Australian cities. They were part of an international series, marking six years since the WikiLeaks editor was forced to seek asylum in Ecuadors London embassy. The demonstrations occurred under conditions of a stepped-up campaign by the British and US authorities to force Assange into their custody and prosecute him for exposing the war crimes and diplomatic intrigues of the imperialist powers. They followed Sundays rally in Sydney, organised by the Socialist Equality Party, to demand that the Australian government of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull take immediate action to secure Assanges release and return to Australia, with a guarantee that he will not be extradited to the US. Hundreds of workers and youth attended the rally, which was addressed by SEP national secretary James Cogan, the world-renowned investigative journalist John Pilger, and other defenders of WikiLeaks. Yesterdays vigils, like Sundays demonstration, were subjected to a blackout by the Australian press. Despite the political and media establishments calculated silence, around 80 people attended a lively lunchtime vigil outside the British consulate in Melbourne, organised by activist Davey Heller. John Shipton, Assanges father and a prominent campaigner for his sons freedom, attended the event. SEP national secretary James Cogan addressing the Melbourne Vigil in defence of Julian Assange Cogan, who spoke at the event, referenced the statements of Jennifer Robinson, one of Assanges lawyers, to the UN Human Rights Council the day before. Cogan cited Robinsons warning that UK authorities were showing deliberate disregard for Assanges medical needs, and her demand that they end his deprivation of liberty, respect his physical integrity and freedom of movement, and afford him the right to compensation. James Cogan speaking in Melbourne The SEP national secretary indicted successive Australian governments for their central role in the persecution of Assange. He outlined the actions of the Labor government of Julia Gillard, which in 201011 branded WikiLeaks activities as illegal, and pledged full support for the US persecution of Assange. Cogan stated: Labor, no less than Obamas administration, was hostile to the existence of a media organisation that was fearlessly prepared to publish leaked information that exposed the military and diplomatic conspiracies and intrigues of the ruling elite, and the underlying criminal and predatory nature of the US-Australia military alliance. Cogan reviewed the ongoing attacks on Assange by Turnbulls Coalition government, and concluded by stressing that the defence of Assange and all democratic rights required the mobilisation of the working class independently of, and in opposition to, all factions of the establishment. Shirley Shackleton Shirley Shackleton, the 86-year-old widow of Greg Shackleton, a journalist among the Balibo Five who were killed by Indonesian authorities in East Timor in 1975, also spoke. Our politicians tell whopping great lies, Ive been the recipient of amazing lies, Shackleton said. As far as Julian Assange, the Australian government has shown they just dont care. She noted the erosion of civil liberties under successive governments, and warned: I dont think we have democracy. Greg Barnes, a well-known political advisor and media commentator, addressed the vigil. He stated that it was to the credit of the Australian government that it has not joined the attacks on Assange. This claim, however, is belied by the entire record of the Turnbull government, which has done nothing to assist Assange and has tacitly supported his persecution. A section of the lunchtime Melbourne vigil A second Melbourne vigil, organised by the protest group Disarm yesterday evening, was attended by around 30 people. It included the projection of the video Collateral Murder onto the face of the state library. The video, published by WikiLeaks in 2010, shows footage from a US Apache helicopter of the killing of unarmed Iraqis, including journalists, by American troops. Small demonstrations were also held in Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney. Reporters for the WSWS spoke to participants at the Melbourne vigils. Tessa Tessa, a University of Melbourne arts student who attended the lunchtime vigil, stated: Julian Assange represents our cultural right to criticism. That is not something that the ruling class wantsfreedom of speech and freedom of thought. Australia is just too close to the US to be able to challenge what they are doing. It is frustrating. Tessa had watched the Facebook livestream video of Sundays Sydney protest. It was was very powerful and very relevant to myself as a student, she said. In particular Sue Phillips spoke about the cuts to education. The thinning down of the selection of texts at universities is preparing us for future militarisation. They are not presenting us with an alternative. When you have arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and BAE systems associated with the University of Melbourne, what sort of research is going to be funded? Felix Felix, a 19-year-old TAFE student attended the evening vigil. He commented: Whats happened is an injustice. The government should actually stand up for a citizen of Australia from the threat of extradition to the United States of America. The impact of WikiLeaks has been awesome, so many things have changed, including the course of American politics. I was four years old when the Iraq War started. There never has been a time that I know of that has been without war and violenceeveryone has now grown up with that. Felix warned of the anti-democratic implications of the attack on Assange: Anyone could set up a website and then any government could say, Hey this isnt alright, we want to extradite you, take you to court. Adam Adam, an administrative worker, said: I came here tonight to show my solidarity with Julian Assange, who is an important promoter of freedom of information in the world, and to say that what the government has done to silence him is completely outrageous. I think that it is absolutely appalling that the government has done nothing. It is an indicator of how far the established state has moved and how we need to fight to get back the rights we have already lost. The silence of the media, in not highlighting Assanges situation, is another example of this shift. The media has completely sold out. There seems to be an unspoken gag order, for the media to be silent. Asia Asia, a 24-year-old journalism graduate, stated: Assange has always been a big part of the fight for social justice. When I watched the Australian film Underground: The Julian Assange Story, I saw how he was just a really intelligent kid, good at using the Internet, but that he wanted to use his abilities to expose nefarious government activities. Governments are fearful that he will publish more information that they dont want people to know about. Its so bad. Its the right to freedom of speech and journalism. It makes people like me scared to do hard reporting, because we could get locked up. Its really scary. Julian is such an important voice and thats obviously why theyre so afraid of himbut its just not fair. Walter, who works in insurance, said: Ive been following WikiLeaks since it started. Here is this knockabout bloke who is a bit left of centre who was caught up all of a sudden in a storm after he set up WikiLeaks. This was something meant to facilitate freedom of information and freedom of the press. Walter I cant believe that our government hasnt done anything to defend him. There has been a lot of innuendo and fake news. Some people I speak with think that Assange is a bad guy, that he is with Russia. For me this is just ridiculous. It doesnt make any sense, but that is the narrative thats been rammed down everybodys throat, day in and day out. Because of WikiLeaks I know a lot of the things that go on day-to-day behind closed doors with governments that we arent exposed to. I can understand why the powers-that-be dont like that. They have the autonomy and non-transparency to do pretty much what they want. If we dont have people like WikiLeaks and Julian Assange we have lost total control of whats happening out there. This is the second of a two-part series. Part one was posted on June 19. Irrefutable evidence Documents found in abandoned government offices in Tripoli after the 2011 NATO-led invasion of Libya included a letter from Sir Mark Allen, a senior officer in Britains spy agency MI6, to Libyas intelligence chief, Musa Kusa, who switched sides and fled to Britain, showing that the CIA, with help from British intelligence, used Diego Garcia as a stopover for rendering Belhaj and his pregnant wife. In the letter dated March 2004, Allen congratulated Kusa on the safe arrival of Belhaj and added, This was the least we could do for you and for Libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have built over recent years. He added that while the CIA had provided the aircraft for the rendition operation, the intelligence was British. The same documents revealed that Britains SAS was involved in training the Khamis Brigade, commanded by one of Gaddafis sons and thought to have been behind some of the worst atrocities during the war to overthrow Gaddafi. Ninety of these killers were brought to Britain for instruction, before going back to Libya with Blairs stamp of approval. The papers noted that officials observed that the UK is prepared to do anything to maintain its commercial and other ties with Libya. Blair helped Gaddafis son and heir, Saif al-Islam, obtain his PhD thesisreportedly plagiarisedwhile at the London School of Economics. The papers relating to Britain and MI6s collaboration with Gaddafi were so voluminous that they far exceed those relating to the CIA. None of this stopped Blair, and his successors Gordon Brown and David Cameron, posturing on the international arena as defenders of human rights. Initially, both Straw and Allen had denied any British involvement in extraordinary rendition, claiming they were conspiracy theories. When the Libyan documents revealing British complicity in detentions and torture came to light, Straw claimed he could not be expected to know everything the intelligence agencies were doing, while Blair said he did not have any recollection at all of the Belhaj rendition. The intelligence services were determined not to take the blame, and flatly contradicted this, saying that it was ministerially authorised government policy. Sir Richard Dearlove, head of MI6 at the time, said, It was a political decision, having very significantly disarmed Libya, for the government to cooperate with Libya on Islamist terrorism. Belhaj at one point offered to call off legal proceedings in exchange for just 3 in damages, an admission of liability for what was done to him and his wife, and an apology from the British government. The government rejected his offer and sought to get the courts to block a series of legal suits related to the case. Following the publication of the correspondence in 2011, the Metropolitan Police carried out a four-year investigation, gathering 28,000 pages of evidence about Britains role in extraordinary renditions and torture, demonstrating that the conduct of a British official amounted to Misconduct in Public Office. Despite the police recommendation, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) claimed that there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone. However, it was forced to acknowledge that the suspect, described as a public official, meaning Sir Mark Allen, knew about the rendition. Belhaj sought a judicial review of the CPSs decision not to prosecute Straw or Allen. In February this year, the court hearings revealed documents showing that the intelligence services viewed all 2 million of Britains Muslim community as a potential security threat. Memos stated, Elements connected to terrorist organisations, especially in countries in North Africa, are involved in criminal operations such as forgery and illegal migration and Leaders and key elements of organisations such as Al Qaeda. These elements have chemo-biological abilities. Britain agreed to Libyan officers operating on the streets of the UK, alongside MI5, its domestic intelligence service, to assist with the surveillance of British-based Libyan dissidents. MI5 preferred to insert moles into the dissident groups deemed a threat rather than use direct policing, which makes Britain appear as if is against the Islamic community. Other documents recorded that the British and Libyan security agencies agreed to work together and exchange information in specific areas including on Iran, Iraq, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria and Turkey, to increase cooperation in the field of Internet monitoring and to set up a direct line for reporting the sites that must be monitored due to the lack of Arabic speakers at the British foreign office. Determined to prevent any further disclosures, the government demanded secret hearings under the remit of the 2013 Justice and Security Act to protect national security. However, the court overruled the governments demand for secrecy because the legislation permitting secret hearings related only to civil cases, and this case involved the decision not to pursue a criminal prosecution. Crucially, the judge gave the government two weeks to release the police report as well as statements by 75 witnesses, mainly other government officials interviewed by the police, to Belhajs lawyers. Broader issues The case proves that not a single word the government says about its opposition to these Islamist groups should be believed. It uses them as and when the need arises at home and abroad. For the most part the media reported Mays apology without comment. No one wants to draw attention to the fact that Britains collusion with Islamist terrorists of Belhajs ilk is ongoing. Despite lying repeatedly to Parliament and breaking both government policies and international law, no one in Blairs Labour government is to be blamed or held to account. Neither is anyone in Britains spy agency or civil service. The issue will be buried by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), made up of MPs and peers vetted by the prime minister, which will now examine the Belhaj case. Whatever Straw and any officials tell the ISC, it will all be behind closed doors as the committee meets in private. The ISC has previously accepted uncritically the spy agencies false statements, including in relation to Britains role in the detention and torture of the British resident Binyam Mohamed at Guantanamo Bay. Despite the court ruling, the government is refusing to release the Belhaj file and is seeking to stop the release of other documents concerning the relationship between British and Libyan regime requested under Freedom of Information by Nigel Ashton, professor of international history at the London School of Economics. Ashton originally requested files covering the period from the Lockerbie bombing in December 1988 to the 2011 invasion, but later narrowed his request to the period 1990 to 2002, as part of his broader examination of Britains response to the Lockerbie bombing and Gaddafis support for the IRA during the troubles in Northern Ireland, the post-2003 period of rapprochement that included Britains complicity in rendition, and Britains role in the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime. Last year, a tribunal rejected the governments argument that his request was vexatious, saying that Ashtons request was for information which is of great public value and significance. The government is now appealing that ruling, claiming that it would take too long to redact the papers before release to protect national security and international relations, presumably with the US and the CIA. While former Prime Minister Cameron set up an inquiry led by Judge Peter Gibson to examine evidence that Britains spy agencies were colluding in the rendition of British citizens and residents to Guantanamo Bay, the US military jail on the island of Cuba, he brought it to an abrupt halt when the Allen-Kusa letters emerged in 2011, transferring Gibsons remit to the ISC that meets in private. Gibsons report of his initial work to Cameron and the intelligence committee in 2013 acknowledged that In some instances UK intelligence officers were aware of inappropriate interrogation techniques and mistreatment or allegations of mistreatment of some detainees by liaison partners from other countries. Many of these instances were reported to Agency Head Offices. Not surprisingly, nothing of substance has emerged from the ISC. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to rule out helping the Trump administration in any future rendition programs, despite Trump stating that he favoured a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. No government politician has criticised Trumps appointment of Gina Haspel to head the CIA, who was directly implicated in the crimes of torture and forced disappearance, as well as the destruction of evidence of these crimes. Reprieve, the human rights organisation that supported the Belhajs legal suits against the government, says that Britain is rewriting the countrys torture rules behind closed doors. It added, The most recent report on the Consolidated Guidancethe rules that apply to the security services where there is a risk of torture or inhumane treatmentrevealed that in 2016 alone there were: 921 cases of torture rules being considereddouble the previous annual figures; an unprecedented number of acknowledged failures; a failure to apply the rules in 35 cases, and 8 cases where intelligence was passed on in circumstances prohibited by the rules. Since 9/11, the government and state machinery have eviscerated the entire framework of legal and democratic rights fought for over centuries. While the ostensible target of these measures are Islamist networks, their ultimate target is the working class and any opposition to the governments policies of austerity, war and the assault on democratic rights. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has remained conspicuously silent about Mays tacit admission of collusion with Washington in rendition and torture. This is in line with his ongoing efforts to reassure the ruling elite that he can be trusted to lead a Labour government that will safeguard its interests. To this end, he has pledged to recruit 10,000 extra police and provide more money for the army and the intelligence services. Concluded Around 200 people, including workers, youth and retirees, attended a vigil outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London Tuesday evening to demand the freedom of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange. Susan Manning, the mother of US whistle-blower Chelsea Manning, was in attendance, as were people from various countries including Greece, Chile, Portugal and India. A vocal contingent of Ecuadorians led the chanting with shouts of Free Julian Assange! at regular intervals. Participants held WSWS and Socialist Equality Party placards declaring Free Julian Assange, Defend Free Speech and No to Internet Censorship. The event was met with a blackout by the British and Western mainstream media. The WSWS statement The Sydney rally to defend Julian Assange: An important step forward was distributed and read eagerly by many of the protestors. It reported the successful rally in Sydney on Sunday, organised by the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) (Australia), to demand that the Australian government intervene to protect Assange, an Australian citizen, and guarantee his right to return home and his freedom from being extradited to the US. The Sydney protest and the London vigil are part of a deepening international campaign to free Assange, who has now been forced to remain in the Embassy for six years. Other demonstrations have been held from New Zealand and Australia, to Sri Lanka and India, across Europe and in many US cities, including Washington, D.C. Among those speaking in defence of Assange were Craig Murray, the former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, and Lauri Love, the young British citizen who was accused by the US government of hacking FBI and NASA computers and who fought his extradition from the UK. Love explained how his family and supporters waged a successful campaign against his extradition, which he finally won this year. Lauri Love Julie Hyland, the assistant national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (UK) spoke, receiving rounds of applause and the loudest cheers of the evening from the audience. The text of Hylands speech is published below. On Thursday, there will be further reports including interviews with those attending the London vigil. On behalf of the World Socialist Web Site and the Socialist Equality Party, I want to extend our solidarity to Julian Assange and the demands for his freedom. The British government must be made to end its vindictive persecution of Julian and allow him to leave the Ecuadorian embassy and, if he chooses, leave the United Kingdom without fear of arrest or interference. Julian Assange is an innocent man. He is a political prisonerthe victim of a monstrous frame-up. It is more than one year since Sweden dropped its trumped-up allegations against him and more than three years since the United Nations condemned his detention as arbitrary, unreasonable, unnecessary, disproportionate. Yet, after six years, he still cannot leave the Ecuadorian Embassy. Only in February, a British judge stated that he faces arrest for breaching bail conditions if he tries to leave the building. These were bail conditions imposed as a result of his justified efforts to resist his extradition to the US to face charges of espionage, which carries the death penalty. The British judges threat was made just one day after the US Justice Department confirmed that it is still seeking his extradition. Assange has more than paid for any such breach. Despite never having been charged with any offence, he has less rights than a convicted murderer. Confined for six years without access to sunlight, fresh air or exercise, his health has significantly deteriorated. For almost three months now, he has been denied contact with the outside world, save his lawyers. He cannot speak to his family, and is unable to receive visitors, make phone calls or access the Internet. There is the real and imminent danger that this is the prelude to his expulsion from the embassy. The cruel and inhuman treatment meted out against Assange stands in stark contrast to the kid-glove handling of the fascist dictator and mass murderer General Augusto Pinochet back in 1998. Pinochets extradition to Spain from London under an international arrest warrant was resisted for more than a year while he lived in luxury until the then Labour government Home Secretary Jack Straw cited compassionate grounds allowing him to return to Chile. Julian Assange is being punished because he is someone all too rare these daysa journalist who tells the truth and courageously exposes the crimes of governments, giant corporations and other powerful organisations. Crimes that include the indiscriminate murder of hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq by the US and its allies following the illegal invasion of these countries. Conspiracies, such as CIA operations to hack into phones, PCs, servers, smart televisions and even vehicle computer systems, so that it can spy on the communications of tens of millions of people in the United States and around the world. It is for fearlessly reporting the realnews that he has been targeted by the US, subject to de facto detention by successive British governments and abandoned by the Australian authoritiesthe same three countries that have been in the forefront of regime change operations the world over in the last two decades. It is no accident that his communications were cut off just before the US-led bombing of Syria, Israels mass shootings of Palestinians in Gaza and now the Saudi-led assault on Yemen, using weapons supplied by Britain. The attack on Julian Assange is at the centre of the assault on free speech and media censorship waged by governments across the world, in concert with corporations such as Google, Facebook and others. The powers-that-be are not only trying to cover up their past crimes but are preparing new and even worse ones. They know there is massive opposition to their war-mongering, which threatens a confrontation between nuclear powers. They know there is massive opposition to the years of austerity that have destroyed vital social provision and produced record levels of social inequality. This is behind their turn to state repression and censorship. All the more disgraceful then are the actions of the so-called liberal media such as the Guardian and the New York Times that have played the lead role in smearing Assange. John Pilger has rightly described this as Vichy journalism, after the Vichy government that collaborated in the Nazi occupation of war-time France. Joining the Vichy journalists are the numerous progressive, left and socialist organisations and individuals who are silent in the face of the campaign against Assange. It is shameful that Jeremy Corbyn has not made a single public statement in Julians defence since he was elected party leader in 2015, almost three years ago. There is no question that if he used his considerable support to pledge Labours defence of Assange and WikiLeaks, there would be thousands here today and those plotting against him would have to think twice. The next weeks are critical. We call on workers and youth in Britain and across the world to break this wall of silence by renewing the fight for Assanges freedom as vital to the defence of free speech and a critical and independent media. The Left Forum is the annual New York City gathering of academics, left liberals, protesters and upper middle-class organizations that have emerged from the Stalinist and ex-Trotskyist milieus. It serves largely as a conduit between these elements and the Democratic Party. The orientation to the party of Wall Street and the CIA was more pronounced this year than ever before, with the conferences opening session featuring an appeal to work with the Democrats. The conference theme this year was Towards a New Strategy for the Left, and its preamble urged unity in the face of a right-wing onslaught by the Trump administration. What the organizers meant by this was on display in the opening plenary, titled A Broken System: How We Got Here and featuring Jane Sanders, director of the Sanders Institute and wife of the 2016 Democratic Party presidential aspirant; Jumaane Williams, a Democratic Party member of the New York City Council; and Gayle McLaughlin, candidate for lieutenant governor of California in the recent primary, who ran with Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) support. Like her husband, Ms. Sanders demands that workers and youth seeking an alternative to austerity and inequality get behind the party of austerity and inequality. She noted that the election of Trump has a lot to do with the failure of the Democratic Party to open its doors to progressive people and progressive ideas. It also has a lot to do with the power of money those Democrats feel they must appeal to Trump and the right-wingers. They dont seem to realize that the better option would be to reach out to the people who have dropped out of our democracy. If it doesnt, there will be a continued loss of faith in the electoral process and there will be a third party. Sanders then said that she would ask the audience to do something that seems a bit off. Clearly knowing that this would be unpopular, she said, Consider registering to vote in the Democratic primary. Boos broke out from about a third of the audience. Sanders preceded to claim that the Democratic Party could be transformed and later observed that two members of the DSA running as Democrats had won landslide victories against incumbents in Pittsburgh. Gayle McLaughlin is the two-time Green Party mayor of the Bay Area city of Richmond, California. Running as an independent for lieutenant governor in the recent statewide open primary election, she was endorsed by the DSA national leadership and local branches, the Green Party, and by Socialist Alternative. Her coalition included both Democrats and those outside the two-party system. New York City Council member Jumaane Williams was also a Sanders delegate in the 2016 election. He is running as Democrat for lieutenant governor against Kathy Hochul, the current lieutenant governor under Democrat Andrew Cuomo. He came to show, he said, that one can be a productive activist elected official. He told the audience, We on the left have always made things popular for established Democrats to talk about. Moderator Richard Wolff, an economics professor at the New School University and member of the Left Forums Board, felt obligated to try to explain why Jane Sanders had been invited: Our decision to invite Jane Sanders was not because we are taking sides for the Democratic Party, but because of the Sanders contribution to opening up space on the left in 2016, he claimed. We wanted to honor this. The orientation to the Democrats included full support for the unions, which play a key role within this big business party. Wolff asked the panelists about the West Virginia teachers strike, which he said showed that the mass of working people are not passive, would continue to take what was being dished out by the oligarchy that runs the country and wouldnt do anything, with or without unions. However, the speakers exhibited a revealing distance from the actual events in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona and Kentucky. They often could not seem to remember in which states teachers had struck or threatened to strike. Jumaane Williams compared the movement of teachers to the recent protest in which he and a handful of other Councilmembers were shutting down some streets to prevent the deportation of immigration activist Ravi Ragbar. Referring to this and to the West Virginia strike, he claimed they showed the benefits of protest within the framework of capitalism and its two-party system. When you interrupt the status quo, things do change, he declared. Jane Sanders later remarked, Well, Democrats are not so bad on immigration. The cover-up of the actual course of the teachers strikesa rank-and-file rebellion followed by the betrayal of the unionscontinued with the panel Lessons from the 2018 Teachers Revolt hosted by Jacobin magazine, which is associated with the DSA. Emily Connor, a West Virginia teacher, set the tone of the panel when she said that while the movement had emerged from the rank-and-file, it needed the teachers unions for negotiation. Eric Blanc, a writer for Socialist Worker and Jacobin, declared that it was to the unions credit that they went along with the rank-and-file. What he meant was that, after being taken by surprise, the union officials had rushed to isolate and betray the teachers. This years teachers strikes have demonstrated the anti-working class, corporatist character of the unions. In every case, struggles emerged due to the actions of rank-and-file teachers, with the unions seeking to shut them down and suppress them as quickly as possible. Among the dozens of panels over two and half days, some stood out for their cynicism and dishonesty. This was particularly the case with two panels commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx. One was Marx 200 Years Later: The Potential for the Analysis of the Problems of the 21st Century. Speakers included the well-known radical geographer David Harvey. Despite several references to the 20th century, panelists overall admitted that they didnt know what was going on with the current capitalist economy aside from the efforts of ruling elites to impose austerity in a number of counties. World war was not broached as a topic. Harvey admitted that he was frankly stumped about the question of the rise of China. The political consensus among the speakers was that some sort of social movement was necessary to frighten the ruling class into granting reforms. In Marx at 200: Everything Old Is Young Again, the New York office of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, associated with German Left Partya party currently in the German parliament with close ties to the German governmentsponsored a panel of mostly younger members of the DSA who exuded arrogance and self-satisfaction as they discussed the reading of Marxs Capital, focusing on the gender composition of study groups and their preferences in feminist scholarship. Conspicuously missing at the large panel (there were ten speakers) was any discussion of contemporary politics on this bicentennial. The panel marked an alliance between the Left Party and the DSA, whose members remained completely silent on the anti-immigrant polices of the German organization. Particularly glaring was the almost complete absence of any mention of the persecution of Julian Assange. Not one speaker on the official plenaries or a single line in the print and web media of the conference defended the journalist and founder of WikiLeaks, who has had his Internet cut off as he remains in virtual imprisonment in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, facing possible extradition to the US if he is forced out. The silence on Assange is an expression of the overall attitude of the pseudo-left, which is ignoring the campaign of persecution against the WikiLeaks journalist as part of its support for American imperialism. The forum as a whole featured almost nothing on the growing danger of world war, and when war was discussed it was from the standpoint of supporting the US-backed civil war in Syria. One of the few exceptions to this was to be found in a panel discussion called, Russiagate and WikiLeaks. A statement, read to the standing room-only audience from journalist John Pilger began, There is a silence among many who call themselves left. The silence is Julian Assange. As every false accusation has fallen away, every bogus smear Julian stands vindicated as one who exposed a system that threatens humanity. Author Max Blumenthal told the audience: Im here to say [Julian Assange is] a journalist who performs some extremely valuable tasks. He should be treated as a journalist. It is pretty abundantly clear that the US has a secret indictment to extradite Julian Assange, that there is a campaign of psychological torture being enacted against Julian Assange to force him out of the Ecuadoran embassy in London. He will be snatched and grabbed, as Adam Schiff, the grand Inquisitor of the House Intelligence Committee, said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday at Meseberg, as Berlin and Paris tried to settle on a common policy ahead of the upcoming European Union (EU) conference in Brussels at the end of the month. The Meseberg meeting had the air of a crisis summit. It took place barely a week after G7 talks with the United States broke down, and Washington moved to impose trade war tariffs on tens of billions of dollars in EU exports. Merkel is facing an unprecedented challenge in her own government, as Interior Minister Horst Seehofer threatened to defy her authority by unilaterally reinstating national border controls targeting immigrants, after meeting with officials of far-right governments in Italy and Austria. There were also growing signs of tensions between Berlin and Paris, after Merkel largely rejected Macrons demands earlier this month for the creation of hundreds of billions of euros in funds for bank bailouts and investment projects. Le Monde published a lengthy review of Merkels talks with Macron on this subject, including Merkels recent criticism of Macron on ARD that he keeps making proposals that he has long known are not the right ones, in my view. The paper concluded that between the two, the charm is well and truly lost. Before Macron and Merkel met, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire appeared on BFM TV to appeal for an EU great-power policy. We must propose, as our president has, a new European project on immigration to consolidate the European Union in a world where the United States is on one side, China on another, and we are trapped in between, he said. He warned that Europe is disintegrating and demanded joint policies against immigration and financial risks. Ultimately, Merkel and Macron cobbled together an agreement pledging a drastic expansion of EU militarism, austerity and attacks on immigrants, working with the Italian and Austrian governments. With Rome now pledging to expel hundreds of thousands of immigrants and carry out a census of Italys entire Roma population, paving the way for mass round-ups on a scale unseen in Western Europe since the Holocaust, the EU is preparing an explosive shift to the right. The Meseberg Declaration agreed by Merkel and Macron begins with an appeal to boost the EUs capability to wage overseas wars and censor the Internet. It calls for building a shared strategic culture through the European Intervention Initiative, which will be linked as closely as possible with PESCO, the Permanent Structured Co-operation initiative for an EU army. It also called for continuing the development of a joint EU tank and fighter plane system, talks with Russia and Ukraine, and EU legislative action against illicit contents promoting terrorism online. On immigration, it calls for stepped-up EU repression, by (1) setting up a genuine European border police building on the existing Frontex, and (2) creating a European Asylum Office harmonizing asylum practices in Member States. The Declaration makes no criticism of Seehofer or the Italian governments anti-Roma witch hunt. In a jab at Seehofer, however, it warns: Unilateral, uncoordinated action will split Europe, divide its peoples and put Schengen (the treaty on free movement inside the EU) at risk. If Member States started to act unilaterally, this would end up in an overall increase of migration into Europe. That is, the differences of Merkel and Macron with Seehofer and Rome are not over the persecution of immigrants. Rather, they are warning that in the current situation, with the disintegration of the trans-Atlantic alliance and growing strikes and protests at home, the EU is a better mechanism to assert the European powers military appetites abroad and to organize repression at home. Presenting the declaration at her joint press conference with Macron, Merkel began by hailing EU militarism: We are looking at the interests of Europe. We have given some answers in the Meseberg Declaration. We need to be closer in foreign relations, closer in defence That means we will have a common strategic culture but also a common arsenal. We will have to cooperate on the deployment of our soldiers. On immigration, Merkel appealed for a common EU policy and indicated her intentions to work with Seehofers allies in Austria and Italy. She said, We want to avoid the countries being split further. We support the Austrian initiative to strengthen the external borders of the EU. This means we will give more powers to Frontex. The standards for asylum must be harmonized, and it must be possible to do this in every country that is a Schengen treaty signatory. We want solidarity with the member countries. We are grateful to France for its support. I spoke to the Italian president; we will take into account the ideas of Italy. On the economy, which she called the most difficult topic, Merkel noted that the Declaration calls for using the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) bailout fund both for bank bailouts and for corporate investment. This is part of a series of other pro-business measures including harmonizing German and French corporate tax structures and coordinating EU capital markets. This underscores that the escalation of militarism and neo-fascistic attacks on immigrants is based on continuing hand-outs to big business and austerity against the workers. The use of the ESM for bank bailouts, as occurred in Greece after 2009, still requires approval of European heads of state and finance ministers, which in exchange demanded deep austerity in Greece. Macron supported Merkels remarks, calling the situation a moment of truth in Europe, each of our states and on our continent. He called for boosting the EUs Frontex border force to 10,000 men, adding: Our decisions are clear, they allow us to respond to the gravity of the situation. In fact, the German-French axis underlying the EU is bankrupt. The Meseberg Declaration shows that it will intensify the policies of austerity, anti-immigrant witch-hunting and imperialist war that have made it deeply unpopular with working people and shifted official politics far to the right. Moreover, even as far-right parties like Matteo Salvinis Lega in Italy consolidate their influence in government, the response in Berlin and Paris is to take over their anti-immigrant agenda while issuing a few criticisms of their most outrageous and unpopular policies, like Romes refusal to let the 629 refugees onboard the Aquarius come ashore in Italy. Merkel, and Macron, whose police is carrying out its own anti-immigrant raids in France, have thus made themselves complicit in Salvinis anti-immigrant crackdown and police build-up. The EU plays a central role in escalating the repression. After reports emerged last year in CNN and Amnesty International that refugees were tortured, sold into slavery and even murdered in EU-funded camps in Libya, EU Council President Donald Tusk has called for the construction of more such camps, which he euphemistically called regional disembarkation platforms. Beyond Libya, these camps could also be built in Tunisia and Albania. Draft guidelines for the building of these concentration camps, reportedly already approved by the French and Italian governments, say the camps goal would be to establish a more predictable framework for dealing with those who nevertheless set out to sea and are rescued in Search And Rescue Operations. In the final analysis, the European bourgeoisie cannot escape the militaristic and fascistic implications of the ongoing global drive to war and trade conflict. Their moves to divert hundreds of billions of euros into the army in an attempt to function as a credible rival of the United States or China will only intensify the social and political crisis. Amid growing popular opposition, with strikes against Macrons austerity policies and protests against Salvinis anti-immigrant measures, all of the governments in the European Union are moving rapidly towards the far-right. Saroj Kumari, 83, filed complaint under Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act in the court of judicial magistrate Gaurav Pragyan. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister late Arjun Singh has served the Congress his entire life and ensuring protection of women and assisting helpless persons was a matter of principles for him. (Photo: File) Bhopal: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister late Arjun Singh's wife Saroj Kumari on Wednesday moved a court here, alleging that her sons Abhimanyu Singh and Ajay Singh were harassing her and had forced her out of her house. A Congress leader, Ajay Singh is the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. Kumari, 83, filed the complaint under the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act in the court of judicial magistrate Gaurav Pragyan. To file the complaint, she personally visited the court along with her daughter Veena Singh and NRI industrialist Sam Varma. The magistrate ordered issuance of notices to the respondents, and listed the matter for hearing on July 19. "My sons Abhimanyu Singh and LoP Ajay Singh indulged in domestic violence against me and forced me out of my own house. They have also refused to take care of my maintenance which compelled me to approach the court," the complaint said. It also named Suniti Singh, Ajay Singh's wife. Kumari's lawyer Dipesh Joshi said his client had also requested the court to grant her ex-parte relief (relief before hearing the respondents) so that she can return to her house in Bhopal. In a media statement too, Saroj Kumari reiterated her allegations. Having been forced out of her own house, she has to live in an apartment in Greater Noida, she said. Her husband served the Congress his entire life and ensuring protection of women and assisting helpless persons was a matter of principles for him, she said. "But my son Ajay Singh has set aside these principles of the Congress and forced me out of my own house. At this age I have to leave my own home to live in different places. It is not only against the principles of Congress party but also defines the character of the man, who is all-powerful and the leader of opposition," she said. "I have urged the court to help me so that I can live in my own house and also requested it to issue orders for eviction of Ajay Singh from that house," the statement read. When contacted, Ajay Singh said that he would reply to any notice pertaining to the complaint when he receives it. A rally was held in New Zealands capital, Wellington, yesterday to demand that the Australian government intervene to secure freedom for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, an Australian citizen. About 25 supporters of Assange, including workers, students and retired people, gathered at the Australian High Commission and marched from there to the nearby US Embassy and the British High Commission. All three governments have colluded in the persecution of Assange following WikiLeaks release in 2010 of secret documents, which exposed the war crimes and anti-democratic machinations of American imperialism and its allies. Rallies and vigils in defence of Assange have been held in many countries, following the June 17 rally in Sydney organised by the Socialist Equality Party (Australia). Tom Peters addressing the New Zealand vigil in defence of Assange Tom Peters, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Group (New Zealand), which is in solidarity with the International Committee of the Fourth International, addressed the Wellington event outside the Australian High Commission. He explained that Assange was being held in conditions of isolation and confinement that a United Nations special rapporteur described as torture. He denounced the Ecuadorian government of Lenin Moreno for cutting off Assanges internet and communications, and for attempting to negotiate to hand him over to the US. Assange has committed no crime, the speaker declared. If he falls into American hands he will be thrown in jail and subjected to the same brutal treatment as Chelsea Manning, who spent almost seven years in prison for leaking the Iraq war documents including the Collateral Murder video showing the murder of civilians. Peters explained that the persecution of Assange was part of a broader campaign by the US and governments internationally to censor oppositional voices and independent journalism on the Internet, and to block workers and young people from accessing the truth. This is happening because governments and corporations are terrified of the re-emergence of class struggle internationally, the growth of strikes, of anti-war sentiment and the sympathy for socialism, especially among young people, he explained. He denounced New Zealands political establishment, including the National Party, the current Labour Party-led government and its ally the Greens, which back New Zealands alliance with the US and tacitly support the attacks on Assange and WikiLeaks. Rally outside the US Embassy in Wellington Peters noted that along with Edward Snowden, Julian Assange has played a major role in demonstrating how New Zealands ruling elite works hand-in-hand with Americas military and spy agencies. US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks in 2010 revealed that Helen Clarks Labour government sent troops to Iraq in 2003 in order to safeguard a lucrative supply contract for dairy company Fonterra, New Zealands largest exporter. This revealed to everyone the mercenary and profit-driven nature of New Zealands involvement in this brutal war, which is still continuing and which has cost more than a million lives. As we speak, New Zealand troops remain in Iraq and Afghanistan and the military is being strengthened for future conflicts, Peters said. He concluded by pointing to the widespread sympathy and support for Assange in the working class, as shown in the international rallies The working class must be mobilised to force the Australian, British, US and Ecuadorian governments to guarantee Assanges freedom and his safety. Paul Bruce, former regional councillor and Green Party member, spoke briefly to the rally, saying WikiLeaks had exposed illegal wars... and the deceit of Western governments, including their backing of the Saudi regime and its murderous war in Yemen. He praised Assange as a great Australian and called on the Turnbull government to bring Julian Assange home. The Green Party, however, is a vital prop for the Labour-led coalition government. The party has issued no official statement opposing Assanges persecution and, moreover, supports New Zealands alliance with the US, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. Members of the Socialist Equality Group spoke with some of those attending the rally. Lynn Lynn, who travelled from Masterton, a two-hour drive, to be at the rally, described herself as a socialist. Im a strong supporter of Julian Assange. I think that whats happening to him is a danger to his life, she said. Lynn denounced the mainstream media, saying: WikiLeaks exposed the corruption. As John Pilger said, investigative journalists have to now rely on the alternative media. Hes not allowed in the Guardian anymore. She praised journalist Seymour Hershs exposureof the lies used by the Obama and Trump administrations to justify war in Syria and noted that Hersh had been unable to publish his articles in the US. Its amazing that people with such integrity just arent allowed to publish. Theres a war on dissent, she said. Dan Dan, who has worked as a journalist and a musician, said he became interested in WikiLeaks after the release of the Collateral Murder video, which shows the murder of unarmed journalists. Commenting on the medias slander against Assange, he said: Thats how the American government, FBI, CIA, have always done it. They did it with Gary Webb, who exposed the CIA dealing cocaine with the Contras [in Nicaragua], and he ended up with two bullets in his head. Jonathan, a postgraduate student at Victoria University of Wellington, also denounced the corporate medias complicity in the assault on free speech, saying: Julian Assange is a journalist and has been exposing truth. Have any documents released by WikiLeaks been proved false? Theyre all true. I think its important to highlight that its not just the crimes of America and the Western world that WikiLeaks revealed. Hundreds of thousands of documents were published on Russian, Indian and Chinese crimes. For the powerful, free speech is only okay if its used against our enemies, he commented. When its used to expose our crimes then we will persecute the people who do that to make an example. Julian Assange is on the eve of spending six years locked in a room because were he to leave hed be arrested, almost certainly extradited to the US, and hes been threatened with execution. During Assanges confinement, thanks to the internet and thanks to the previous Ecuadorian government, he still had a voice. Now thats been shut down. I think its very important to show solidarity in this situation, that we wont allow him to continue to be silenced. The demand has to be for his full freedoms to be respected and that must be retained for all journalists because truth is integral to democracy. Attend the Socialist Equality Groups public meeting: Free Julian Assange! End Internet censorship! Sunday July 1 at 4:15pm Russell Keown House, corner of Laings Road and Queens Drive Lower Hutt The United States government has implemented a policy of separating thousands of immigrant children from their parents and locking them in cages in desert tent cities. The American Academy of Pediatrics calls this child abuse, Amnesty International says it is nothing short of torture, and the United Nations denounces it as despicable and an unconscionable violation of human rights. American history has no shortage of ugly episodesthe Trail of Tears, the jailing of fugitive slaves, the deportation of suspected radicals after World War I and the internment of the Japanese-Americans during World War II are only among the most notorious. But the present policy of inhuman persecution and victimization of children represents a level of political depravity and moral degradation that almost defies description. This is happening in the twenty-first century, in a country whose leaders boast endlessly and hypocritically of American democracy and respect for human rights. Across the United States, thousands of children are currently sitting on concrete slabs locked in cages like animals. Many do not know where their parents are and they are barred from speaking to them. Each day there are 250 more detained children than the day before. A constellation of camps and tent cities is cropping up across the country, some in desert areas where temperatures are over 100 degrees, to handle the growing detainee population. The crowded jails are filled with the sound of frightened children crying. Guards subject many children to verbal, physical and sexual abuse. In its level of extreme brutality and callousness, the family separation policy resembles the policies of the Nazi Gestapo. It is a point of departure in American history from which there is no turning back. The claim that the US represents a force for democracy and human rights worldwide is shattered. Such claims were used to invade or intervene in those regions of the world from which tens of millions are now trying to flee. Throughout Central America in the 1970s and 1980s, the US backed dictators whose death squads murdered and tortured hundreds of thousands. To this day entire societies remain in ruin. The US killed some 3 million people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the 1960s and 1970s. American imperialism continues to lay waste to much of North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, with the death toll in the millions. Now, the children of the victims of these wars are being thrown in cages by their former invaders. In the face of popular outrage, the Trump administration has responded by expanding the child tent city networks and intensifying his fascistic attacks on immigrants. Trump tweeted yesterday that illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, [are] pour[ing] into and infest[ing] our Country. In an interview Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the key distinction between the immigration crackdown and Nazi Germany was that in Nazi Germany they were keeping Jews from leaving the country. In a speech yesterday to a small business convention in Washington DC, Trump denounced immigrant parents as child smugglers. When I said theyre not sending their finest, he said, referencing his claim that immigrants are rapists and criminals, it turned out I was 100 percent right. Trump is building a constituency for this filth. The crowd of businessmen hooted and applauded enthusiastically when Trump proclaimed, We are taking em out by the thousands! This speech also marks the first time that Trump has effectively called for the abolition of due process for immigrants. We dont want judges, we want security on the border, he said. We dont want people coming in. He laughed at the right of immigrants to appear in court: I dont want to try people, I dont want people coming in, you never get them out. Immigration lawyers, he added, are bad people who cheat and tell these people exactly what to say. These remarks indicate that plans are well underway within the Trump White House, where fascist Stephen Miller is directing policy, for drastic new attacks on immigrants that will place not only their rights but also their lives in danger. There is a dangerous logic to the language the administration employs and the policies it implements. Millions of people want to know: How can this be stopped? It is first necessary to recognize the impotence and complicity of the Democratic Party, which cynically claims to oppose the family separation program. Trumps policies are an extension of deportation and detention policies enacted under Bill Clinton and, especially, Barack Obama, who deported 2.7 million people and built a network of jails and detention centers. When Trump came to power, the Democratic Party voted by a 37-11 margin to confirm John Kelly, a retired general, as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Within weeks, Kelly first proposed implementing a family separation policy. Later in 2017, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer publicly offered support for Trumps proposal to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. In January 2018, Senator Bernie Sanders, the former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination who voted to confirm Kelly, proclaimed his willingness to collaborate with Trumps anti-immigrant policy, saying, I dont think theres anybody who disagrees that we need strong border security. If the president wants to work with us to make sure we have strong border security, lets do that. The fight to defend immigrants requires the organized resistance of the working class based on a struggle against the underlying cause of the crisis, the capitalist system. The entire American political system is rotten to the core. The American ruling class has carried out a quarter-century of imperialist plunder and overseen unbridled corporate exploitation, killing millions, producing tens of millions of refugees and introducing an unprecedented degree of repression, surveillance, censorship and backwardness into domestic life. Trump, his fascist aides and their Democratic accomplices are the product of this process of political degeneration. The fight in defense of immigrants must seek to unite workers around the world against xenophobia and nationalism. The establishment of child camps in the US is part of a broadening international phenomenon. Everywhere the ruling class is whipping up racism and national chauvinism to (1) create the juridical framework and physical infrastructure for the repression of striking workers and protesting youth and (2) weaken the working class and dim anti-war sentiment by pitting workers against each other based on race and nationality. In Italy, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has called for a national registry of the entire Roma population. The right wings demand for the deportation of 500,000 immigrants has created an atmosphere in which violent attacks on immigrants are frequent. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel faces calls for mass deportations from within her own party and the neo-fascist Alternative for Germany. The French government severely restricted the right to asylum in April. All across the world, heightened attacks on immigrants parallel a wave of strikes and protests by the working class. As Leon Trotsky wrote in his 1934 essay Nationalism and Economic Life, under capitalism, the ruling class seeks to protect [itself] by a customs wall and a hedge of bayonets. The Socialist Equality Party calls for demonstrations and protests in defense of the rights of immigrants. We demand: * The immediate release of all children detained in the United States, as well as all immigrants detained in camps and detention centers across the world * The abolition of the American Gestapothe Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) * Active noncooperation with the deportation machine * Immediate amnesty for all immigrants without papers in the United States and guarantees of the right to travel and work * The provision of trillions of dollars in public services and job training programs to all workers, immigrant and non-immigrant alike. There is enough wealth and room for all. The working class must bring its social power to bear on the fight to defend immigrants. Committees in workplaces and neighborhoods must be formed to defend immigrant co-workers and neighbors, and to provide support and assistance against the American Gestapos terrorization of work locations and communities. The government does not have the right to tear workers from their jobs and loved ones from their families. This can take place only on the basis of a revolutionary fight against the capitalist system. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Sri Lanka held a successful picket in Colombo yesterday afternoon to demand Julian Assanges freedom. In India, supporters of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) organised a demonstration at Sriperumbudur, 40 kilometres from Chennai, in the state of Tamil Nadu. Both events were live streamed via Facebook. Nearly 60 SEP and IYSSE members and supporters participated in the protest held in front of Colombo Fort railway station. A substantial Tamil-speaking delegation from the war-ravaged Jaffna peninsula and also plantation workers from central Sri Lanka took part. A Facebook video of the Sri Lankan rally The SEP/IYSSE picket lasted about an hour and attracted considerable interest from workers and youth returning from work and studies. Before and during the picketing, SEP/IYSSE campaigners distributed copies of the ICFI and the WSWS International Editorial Board statement titled For international action to defend Julian Assange! in Sinhala and Tamil. Picketers displayed a banner reading Free Julian Assange in English, Sinhala and Tamil and also carried placards, which included: Build an International Coalition to fight internet censorship, Build an anti-war world movement based on international socialism, Build international unity of the working class and Fight for a Union of Socialist Republics in South Asia. SEP speakers demanding freedom for Assange An attempt by plainclothes policemen to video record the participants was prevented by SEP organisers, who insisted on the partys democratic rights and opposed the police spying operation. The Tamil daily Virakesari, UK-based Tamil channel Athavan TV and privately-owned Siyatha TV sent journalists to the picket and recorded comments from SEP assistant secretary Deepal Jayasekera and SEP political committee member M. Thevarajah, in Sinhala and Tamil respectively. At the conclusion, K. Ratnayake, a member of the SEP political committee, addressed the gathering in Sinhala and his remarks were translated into Tamil. He warmly welcomed all participants, explaining that the picket was part of an international ICFI campaign to defend Assange. Tamil participants in the rally Explaining the significance of the fight to free Assange, Ratnayake said that it is inseparably bound with the struggle for the defence of democratic rights and against the repression of basic rights of the working class and oppressed in every country by imperialist rulers and their pro-imperialist backers. Ratnayake pointed out that Assange had been subjected to a witch-hunt by the imperialist powers because his website, WikiLeaks, has exposed war crimes carried out by the US and its allies in the Middle East, Afghanistan and other countries. The speaker highlighted the importance of the exposure of imperialist war crimes, noting that the socialist government that came to power after the Russian Revolution in 1917 published the secret documents of the Czarist government, revealing the intrigues and conspiracies of imperialist powers. K. Ratnayake addressing the protest Ratnayake explained that the attack on WikiLeaks and Assange was part of a broader crackdown on democratic rights in the US and other countries, aimed at controlling what people read and listen to by censoring the Internet, including social media. This attack on democratic rights is underway to repress those who rise up against capitalism and imperialism. Not only in imperialist countries, but in countries like Sri Lanka and India, ordinary people face this situation. The rulers of these countries have not raised even a word against the witch-hunt against Assange. Instead, they are getting ready to act against the masses and are being encouraged by actions of their imperialist masters, he said. Ratanayake said journalists were subjected to brutal repression, including assassinations and abductions, during the 30-year civil conflict in Sri Lanka. He warned that the current Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government was going to intensify its attacks on basic democratic rights, pointing out that it had foreshadowed a ban on social media in line with other countries. Their [the governments] aim is to block the growing struggles of workers, youth and the oppressed from developing into a socialist movement that challenges their class rule and to establish a dictatorial regime, he said. A section of the picket Ratnayake explained that in contrast to the initiative taken by the ICFI and its sections in defence of Assange, the pseudo-lefts in Sri Lankathe Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) and United Socialist Party (USP)and the media had maintained a complete silence about the dangers faced by the WikiLeaks editor. The ICFI and its sections, including the SEP in Sri Lanka, are utterly different from these outfits, he said. We are an international organisation representing the interests of the international working class and fighting for international socialism. Therefore for us, the campaign to free Assange is a part of that fight We declare that this struggle will not stop here. It is an ongoing campaign. Ratnayake concluded by appealing to all participants to help the SEP to deepen and widen the campaign. In India, ICFI supporters picketed at the main bus terminal in Sriperumbudur, winning the attention of hundreds of workers leaving factories owned by major global auto and electronic industries. The ICFI campaigners had put up posters announcing the picket and campaigned among workers in the area, distributing leaflets explaining the necessity to defend Assange. The banner at the picket in English, Tamil and Hindi declared: Free Julian Assange. Slogans in English and Tamil demanded freedom for Assange, said WikiLeaks and Assange had exposed US war crimes and intrigues and said the only crime for which Assange is being witch-hunted is telling the truth to the worlds people. A section of the protest in India ICFI supporters Arun Kumar and Sathish Simon addressed the gathering in Tamil and English respectively. The corporate media and pseudo-left in India have not reported on the situation confronting the WikiLeaks editor in recent years, especially since Prime Minister Narendra Modis Hindu-supremacist Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) came to power in 2014 and strengthened New Delhis relationship with Washington, they stated. As a result, many people are unaware of the dangers facing Assange, and have learnt about it only from the Indian Trotskyists. The speakers said major powers, including the US, and pro-imperialist governments like Indias Modi regime, are moving to block the free and democratic flow of information through the Internet and social media. A Facebook video of the Indian picket In March last year, they emphasised, 13 militant workers from the Maruti Suzuki car assembly plant in Manesar in northern India were sentenced to life in prison on frame-up murder charges as part of a company-government joint witch-hunt. Recently police killed 13 villagers in Tuticorin in southern India who were protesting against environment pollution by a copper smelter. What is becoming more and more clear is that the struggle for freedom of speech, and a host of social rightsincluding the right to clean drinking water free of toxic chemicals, and a healthy environment, the right to a decent permanent job, the right to free education and medical carerequires the mobilisation of the vast social power of the international working class, the speakers said. The only viable alternative perspective for these struggles is an anti-imperialist, anti-war and socialist perspective. On the eve of the June 24 presidential and parliamentary snap elections, the Turkish government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is preparing further intrigues against his opponents, while intensifying the government crackdown on the Kurdish nationalists both at home and abroad. One of the latest examples of his insidious intrigues came to light through a leaked video on social media that shows Erdogan instructing his ruling Justice and Development Partys (AKP) local organizations to use what he called tight marking on voters lists in order to bring the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) below the 10 percent national threshold. If the HDP drops under the 10 percent necessary to gain parliamentary representation this would grant the AKP at least 50 to 60 extra seats in the Turkish parliament, as it is the second party in the predominantly Kurdish populated regions of Turkey. The videos were recorded by Ahmet Ozturk, AKPs neighbourhood head in Topselvi, Istanbul, during a June 9 closed meeting at the party headquarters and posted on his Facebook account. They have been shared on social media by a Facebook account Bizler Tekten Gucluyuz (We are stronger than the one [man]a reference to Erdogan), even though Ozturk deleted the original post afterwards. In one video, Erdogan is heard telling his partys neighbourhood heads, Friends, our party organization must conduct very different work on the HDP, adding, I cant speak these words outside [publicly]. I am speaking them with you here. Why? Because if the HDP falls below the electoral threshold it would mean that we would be in a much better place. Erdogan also instructed his party cadres to put tight marking on the voters in each district, saying, You know who is who ... If our neighbourhood representatives do not know who is who, then they should resign. You will take the voter lists for each ballot box and conduct special work. In another short video from the same meeting, Erdogan asks his cadres to secure AKP majorities on ballot box monitoring committees in order to finish the job in Istanbul before it has even started, adding, We shouldnt repeat the experience of June 7. This was a reference to the June 7, 2015 election, where the AKP lost its parliamentary majority necessary to form a one-party government. Through its official Twitter account on June 14, the HDP slammed Erdogan, saying, AKP chairman Erdogan openly incites people to commit crimes. He plans to steal our votes by cheating and pressure to bring us below the election threshold. The main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), on the other hand, is preoccupied with the issue of how it can make sure that the HDP overcomes the 10 percent threshold to prevent an AKP majority in the Turkish parliament. At the same time, the CHP is struggling to win over Kurdish voters in the expected second round of the presidential election. The HDPs imprisoned candidate Selahattin Demirtas has almost no chance to be qualified. There are growing signs that the CHP has reached an agreement with the Kurdish nationalists to support its presidential candidate Muharrem Ince in return for giving support to the HDP in the parliamentary elections. This, however, is by no means easy. Although the CHP is masquerading as a defender of the democratic rights of the Kurds, and its presidential candidate is harping about demands for mother tongue education, peace and economic development projects in the predominantly Kurdish populated regions of Turkey, large sections of Kurdish workers and youth do not trust it. And this for justifiable reasons. Besides its long historical record of brutal oppression, including massacres of Kurds, the CHP is one of the main supporters of the AKPs crackdown on the Kurdish people both at home and abroad. In the Turkish parliament, the CHP has enthusiastically supported all government resolutions for the use of military force abroad, providing a legal basis for the ongoing Turkish invasions and military operations in Iraq and Syria under the cover of fighting separatist terrorismi.e., Kurdish nationalism. In May 2016, the CHP voted for an AKP-backed constitutional amendment lifting parliamentary immunity that stripped one CHP and 11 HDP lawmakers of their deputy status, resulting in their imprisonment. It is due to this support that the HDPs former co-chairperson and current presidential candidate, Demirtas, has stayed behind bars since November 2016. Following the June 7, 2015 elections, the CHP turned a blind eye to the months-long brutal military crackdown on Kurdish towns that left 4,000 dead and more than 10,000 jailed, while forcing some 200,000 people to flee their homes. Instead, it held talks with the AKP to form a coalition government. The CHP, however, was not alone in its complicity with Erdogan and the AKP. Since Erdogan decided to end the so-called peace process with the PKK and launched a crackdown on the Kurdish nationalists in 2015, the HDP was a key supporter of the AKPs anti-working-class, pro-imperialist policies. In August 2015, during the bloody army operations in Kurdish towns, the HDP participated in an AKP-led electoral government. Both the CHP and the HDP, together with all other pro-NATO, pro-European Union (EU) opponents of Erdogan, stood by during the July 15 coup, making empty statements of condemnation only when the coups failure became evident. After the April 16, 2017 constitutional referendum, where they led a no campaign, the CHP and the HDP worked to calm popular anger over widespread allegations of voting fraud. Whenever the AKP government was on the hook before the working class and mass protests erupted, the CHP, the HDP and their trade unionist followers left their nationalist disagreements aside and joined forces to discourage workers and youth from participating. Behind this cooperation between the CHP and HDP are their pro-imperialist (pro-NATO/pro-EU) positions and their implacable hostility to the working class, which finds expression in their affiliation with the so-called Socialist International of the social democratic and labour parties. While the bourgeois opponents of Erdogan join forces to defend the interests of Turkeys ruling class in close cooperation with Ankaras traditional imperialist allies in NATO and the EU, in order to secure a share of the spoils in the imperialist carve-up of the Middle East, all pseudo-left parties and organizations are increasing their efforts to present them as champions of democracy and peace. In return for their efforts, these political representatives of the affluent middle class have secured places on the slate of the HDP for the Turkish parliament. Amid hypocritical promises, collusions and insidious intrigues over how to win the elections at home, the AKP government has further escalated its military operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), preparing a major invasion in the PKKs stronghold in the Qandil Mountains (an area close to the Iraqi and Iranian borders) in close cooperation with Baghdad and Tehran. Parallel to the Turkish armys growing military operations, both at home and in northern Iraq, Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has also intensified its own war against the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) in the western and north-western border regions of the country. The PJAK is a Kurdish nationalist party, associated with Turkeys PKK, waging an armed struggle since the early 2000s. Meanwhile, Ankara has reportedly reached an agreement with the Trump administration over a road map for the withdrawal of the Peoples Protection Units militia, the main US-proxy in Syria, from the northern Syrian town of Manbij located on the western side of the Euphrates River. According to media reports, Ankara and Washington have agreed on a process that would begin on July 4, and finish within 90 days, and would include the establishment of a local government in Manbij. On August 24, 2016, the Turkish army launched its first invasion of Syria, Operation Euphrates Shield, which was followed by Operation Olive Branch in January 2018, with the aim of preventing the pro-US Kurdish nationalist forces from creating a Kurdish state or self-government in Syria. At the same time, Erdogan was trying to convince Washington that Turkey, under his authoritarian rule, is still vital to US policy in Syria. The United States Tuesday formally withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council, the first nation in the world to voluntarily quit the organization. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced the decision at the State Department late Tuesday afternoon, delivering prepared remarks and turning on their heels and leaving as the assembled press shouted out questions, including about Washingtons own egregious trampling of human rights on the US southern border. The decision came one day after opening of the session of the council in Geneva in which its outgoing chief, Zeid Raad Al Hussein, delivered a farewell speech warning against the rise of chauvinistic nationalism and denouncing governments for implementing policies intended to make themselves as inhospitable as possible by increasing the suffering of many already vulnerable people. He specifically issued a sharp condemnation of the Trump administrations immigration policy and voiced concern over the US-backed war against Yemen. The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable, he said, demanding that Washington call an immediate halt to its zero tolerance immigration policy and the forcible separation of these children. He quoted the president of the American Association of Pediatrics, who declared that locking the children up separately from their parents constituted government-sanctioned child abuse.' Turning to Yemen, where the Pentagon has been providing arms, mid-air refueling for Saudi warplanes and intelligence and logistical support without which the near-genocidal war against the Yemeni people could not take place, al-Hussein stated: I emphasize my grave worry regarding the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition's ongoing attacks in Hodeidahwhich could result in enormous civilian casualties and have a disastrous impact on life-saving humanitarian aid to millions of people which comes through the port. Just days earlier, Washington and London had joined in killing a Swedish-proposed resolution calling for a ceasefire in Yemen and a halt to the Saudi-UAE offensive. The developments on the US-Mexican border and the effective torture of children for the purpose of deterring refugees from coming to the US, as well as Washingtons criminal role in Yemen, expose the rank hypocrisy of Washingtons pretense of quitting the Human Rights Council out of some moral outrage over the bodys failure to pursue abusers. It is clear, however, that the plan to quit the council had been made well in advance, announced nearly a year ago by Haley, and justified in the name of defending Israel and the failure of the body to bow to Washingtons demands that it serve as an instrument of US policy of aggression against Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. A year ago, Haley delivered a speech in Geneva that amounted to an ultimatum to the Human Rights Council to implement US-dictated reforms or face Washingtons withdrawal. Chief among the changes demanded by Haley was the abolishing of Agenda Item 7, which makes the Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied territories a permanent part of the UNHRCs agenda. The Trump administration and Haley have argued that the existence of the agenda item is evidence of anti-Israeli bias, rather than the recognition of the unique status of the Palestinian territories, which have been under permanent occupation for over half a century, with their population denied elemental human rights. Haley reportedly attempted to blackmail Palestinian representatives at the UN to support the repeal of the agenda item, threatening that unless they did so, Washington would not renew its funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which supports 5.9 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Haley has been a consistent voice in defense of Israeli impunity in the oppression of the Palestinians. Earlier this month she used the US veto on the UN Security Council to kill a resolution calling upon Tel Aviv to avoid excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force in its repression of the Great March of Return demonstrations in Gaza, where 128 unarmed protesters have been killed with live ammunition, and another 14,600 injured. In their remarks at the State Department Tuesday, both Pompeo and Haley made sanctimonious references to God-given human rights, that only the Trump administration, presumably, was prepared to uphold. Pompeo indicted the Human Rights Council for shameless hypocrisy in that it had some of the worlds most serious offenders sitting on the council itself. Haley called the council a cesspool of political bias, while claiming that Washingtons participation had provided the last shred of credibility that the council has. In reality the biggest human rights criminal on the face of the planet is US imperialism itself, which in the last quarter century of uninterrupted aggressive wars has killed and maimed millions and decimated entire societies. The departure of the US representatives from the council is only another step in the repudiation of international law in the pursuit of an America first agenda that points towards new and more catastrophic wars that the UN is incapable of opposing. The Trump administration will lose influence for the United States and the leverage to affect diplomatic outcomes if it goes ahead with its decision to leave the UN Human Rights Council, US Congressman Eliot Engel said in a statement on Tuesday. By withdrawing from the council, we lose our leverage and allow the councils bad actors to follow their worst impulses unchecked, including running roughshod over Israel, Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said. 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe In an audio clip of MLA Sanjay Gupta, he can be heard saying that only Hindus are being harassed Lucknow: A BJP MLA in Uttar Pradesh has been caught asking a electricity official as to why no action is taken against Muslims for power theft. In the audio clip of the MLA Sanjay Gupta, which has now gone viral on the social media, he is heard threatening the government engineer and demanding an account of how many Muslims he had taken action against. The call was recorded by the engineer, Avinash Singh, and has been widely shared and circulated. Sanjay Gupta is BJP MLA from Kaushambhi. Give me data from April 1 about how many Muslims you have acted against, he said. Getting yourself transferred will not save you - wherever you are in Uttar Pradesh, I will have an investigation done. Go to a Muslim locality, see how electricity theft happens, the legislator can be heard shouting at the power official. He further says, To hell with you and your department. I will speak to Lucknow. Only Hindus are being harassed. You are harassing businessmen and Hindus on purpose. The phone call was made on June 15 after a series of raids were made by the department on businessmen suspected of electricity theft. Javed Akhtar sought immediate arrest of Tanveer Peera Hashim for his controversial remark that cows would be slaughtered during Bakrid. Bengaluru: Noted Urdu poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar on Wednesday sought immediate arrest of Karnataka cleric Tanveer Peera Hashim for his controversial remark that cows would be slaughtered during Bakrid, saying the comment was "irresponsible and outrageous." "Secularism doesn't mean ignoring or tolerating minority communalism. This irresponsible and outrageous cleric Tanveer Hashim should immediately be arrested for trying to create communal tension in Bengaluru," Akhtar tweeted. Secularism doesnt mean ignoring or tolerating minority communalism . This irresponsible and outrageous cleric Tanveer Hashim should immediately be arrested for trying to create communal tension in Bengaluru . Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) June 19, 2018 The cleric kicked up a controversy with his remarks made in the presence of state minister Shivanand Patil during his sermons on the occasion of Ramzan prayer at Vijayapura in north Karnataka a few days ago. The remarks sparked a row as cow slaughter is banned in Karnataka. Tanveer Hashim is the head of Hashim Pir Dargah at Vijayapura, a popular Muslim shrine. The video of his purported remarks has gone viral. The minister chose to remain quiet after Hashim made the controversial remarks. "Let me bring to your notice, in two months time there will be Bakrid. In the name of cow, this satan (devil) will do a mischief. I am telling you (the minister) this beforehand so as to ensure that with the cow another sacrifice does not happen," Hashim said in his speech in Urdu. Condemning Hashim's remark, BJP Spokesperson S Prakash told news agency PTI that it is a "pragmatic counter remark" made by Akhtar and the coalition JD(S)-Congress government should wake up and book a case against the cleric immediately. The government has a very partisan attitude towards communal speeches made by minority clerics or people, he alleged. Prakash also questioned the "double standards" of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government, asking why it should have different yardsticks for party MLA and former union minister Basavaraj Patil Yatnal and Hashim. "Both JD(S) and Congress call themselves secularists. Why are they silent? When the government can book a case against Basavaraj Patil Yatnal, why not the cleric? Why these double standards? It is certainly questionable," he said. RSS ideologue Ratan Sharda said he does not expect any action from the Congress when in the past they haven't been able to stop Mani Shankar Aiyar from making controversial remarks. "When they could not stop Mani Shankar Aiyar from making useless comments, so how can we expect them to take action against the minister (Patil) and the cleric? They will never do it," he said. The cleric's remarks came days after a purported video of Yatnal asking corporators to work only for Hindus, who voted for him, and not for Muslims, went viral on social media. An anti-money laundering court issued non-bailable warrant for Mallya's arrest, taking cognisance of fresh chargesheet filed against by ED. The court also issued summons to Mallya's firms, Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries Holdings Limited, before adjourning the hearing in the case to July 30. (Photo: File) Mumbai: A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday ordered the arrest of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya for his alleged involvement in a case of money laundering and cheating a consortium of banks of over Rs 6,000 crore. Special Judge M S Azmi of anti-money laundering court issued a non-bailable warrant for Mallya's arrest, taking cognisance of a fresh chargesheet filed against him and others by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court also issued summons to Mallya's firms, Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) and United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL), before adjourning the hearing in the case to July 30. The agency has filed the chargesheet, also known as prosecution complaint, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, naming Mallya, his firms KFA and UBHL besides others. The ED had in 2017 filed its first chargesheet against Mallya, now in London, in the alleged Rs 900-crore IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case. The fresh chargesheet revolves around the complaint received from State Bank of India (SBI) on behalf of the consortium of banks for causing loss of Rs 6,027 crore to them by not keeping repayment commitments of the loans taken during 2005-10. At a time when the threat of an united Opposition looms large over the BJP, the party seems to be struggling to put its house in order. There are whispers in saffron corridors that BJP chief Amit Shahs mission to reach out to allies seems to have had little impact so far. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) New Delhi: Pulling the plug on the Peoples Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir might have given the BJP a chance to consolidate its core votebanks in Jammu and Ladakh but the NDAs house seems somewhat shaken with its allies either walking out or posturing to do so. At a time when the threat of an united Opposition looms large over the BJP, the party seems to be struggling to put its house in order. Saffron strategists feel that while it will be extremely tough to maintain the partys 2014 Lok Sabha tally, it needs to offer a healing touch to its existing allies to keep them within the NDA fold. While N. Chandrababu Naidus TDP walked out in a huff a few months ago, the PDP is the latest casualty. For quite some time, its crucial Bihar ally JD(U) has been making things quite uncomfortable for the BJP. That things are not going well between them became evident when the JD(U) announced it would put up candidates against the BJP in the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand. The state has 14 Lok Sabha and 81 Assembly seats. The argument, of course, is that the alliance is only limited to Bihar. While the BJP had been opposing AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwals dharna in Delhi, the JD(U) came out openly to extend support. JD(U) leader and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar recently told the media in Patna that there would be no compromise on crime, corruption and communalism. In the recent meeting of chief ministers at the Niti Aayog, Mr Kumar not just supported TDP leader N. Chandrababu Naidus demand for special status for Andhra Pradesh, but also sought the same for Bihar. A majority of JD(U) leaders feel it was a bad decision to go with the NDA. The unrest is not merely confined to the JD(U) and the Shiv Sena earlier. The leader of the RSLP in Bihar, Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, has been miffed at the non-inclusion of allies while taking crucial policy decisions. Another ally, the O.P. Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh, has been accusing the BJP of not following coalition dharma. Mr Rajbhar, who is a part of UP CM Yogi Adityanaths government, has on many occasions criticised the UP government on various issues. The BJPs ally in Kerala, the BDJS, has also been seething over state-specific issues. Sources in the BJP said while things with the Akali Dal seemed normal at this juncture, the alliance might remain intact only till Parkash Singh Badal is in control. There are whispers in saffron corridors that BJP chief Amit Shahs mission to reach out to allies seems to have had little impact so far. While Mr Shah is focusing on increasing the partys organisational strength, BJP poll managers are wary of discontentment growing among the allies, which they feel could create problems after the 2019 general election. Asia Argento is sending a morbid message to her fans following boyfriend Anthony Bourdains suicide. The Italian actress, 42, shared a black and white selfie on her Instagram story Monday captioned, Life is a bitch and then you die. The post comes shortly after she returned to work on Italys The X-Factor competition show, sharing a video of the audience cheering on set. The Parts Unknown host had been dating Argento, who is also prominent in the #MeToo movement, for more than a year. They met during the filming of Bourdains CNN show in 2016 and began dating a year later. Argento collaborated with Bourdain on his show, and recently directed an upcoming episode set in Hong Kong. One day after Bourdain was cremated in France, the actress posted a photo on social media describing her mental state. In the image, Argento who was spending time with friends in Berlin could be seen holding a piece of paper with the words Im a f mess inside crossed out and replaced with the following message: Im fine. Asia Argento Asia Argento Following the news of Bourdains death, Argento released a statement on social media. Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did, she wrote on Twitter. 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. Anthony Bourdain and Asia Argento A friend of the actor, who had spent time with Bourdain recently, recently told PEOPLE the chef was madly in love with Asia before his death by suicide earlier this month. Like a teenage boy just absolutely lovestruck, the insider said of Bourdains feelings for Argento. He would have done anything for her, and that was a little red flag for some of his friends. RELATED VIDEO: Remembering Anthony Bourdains Life and Career The source explained Bourdains love was all-encompassing, saying, Like, he was crazy in love with her, crazy being the keyword. Asia Argento and Anthony Bourdain That being said, none in our circle of friends knew he was struggling in any life-or-death way. Honestly, I dont think anyone knew. I dont think Eric [Ripert] knew the depths of his pain, continued the source. The shock of Tonys death is almost as profound as the pain. Story continues Even his closest friends are still waiting for some mystery to be uncovered, they added. We knew his nerves were shattered a little; his marriage had fallen apart, he was way, way overworked and overdriven, but unstable No one had a clue. Bourdain split from his estranged wife Ottavia Busia in 2016, but their divorce was not finalized before his sudden death. 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. UPDATED with Fox News statement: Fox News sent out a response to David Hoggs advertiser boycott campaign against Laura Ingrahams primetime show over her comments about detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Laura Ingrahams very personal, on-the-ground commitment to the plight of impoverished and abandoned childrenspecifically in Guatemala speaks for itself, the company said in a statement. So too does her strong belief in a commonsense, legal immigration system, which will continue to be a focus of her show. Fox News will never tolerate or give in to attempts to silence diverse viewpoints by agenda-driven intimidation efforts. Ingraham on Mondays nights show described centers to which President Donald Trumps administration is sending children taken from parents at the southern border as summer camps and boarding schools. PREVIOUSLY, Tuesday AM: Sowe meet again. Who are your biggest advertisers now? Parkland high school shooting survivor David Hogg tweeted at Fox News Channel star Laura Ingraham this morning. This after she described centers to which the Trump administration is sending children taken from parents at the southern border as summer camps and boarding schools. Wanna go to summer camp @IngrahamAngle? Hogg also asked Ingraham on Twitter. So @Ingraham Angle we meet again. Who are your biggest advertisers now? One I love capitalism! tweet later, Hogg told his followers If we get these advertisers pulled maybe @Ingraham will have to become a camp counselor and learn how wrong she is. He then listed seven of them, including Ace Hardware, Cabelas, Carfax, and John Deere. Hogg and Ingraham last tangled in April, when she took to Twitter to ding him for one of his tweets, in which he expressed disappointment at being rejected by some of the colleges to which he had applied. More than 20 advertisers yanked spots from the program. On the other hand, her ratings popped as a result of the fracas. Story continues David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it, Ingraham had tweeted, adding, (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA totally predictable given acceptance rates.) Hogg responded by asking who were her major advertisers, followed by a call-to-action to her sponsors to pull their ads. She apologized after some sponsors took Hoggs suggestion. Hogg rejected that apology, saying she was only trying to stem ad pullout. He said he would accept an apology from her when she denounced what he called the way in which her network has been mudslinging at him and his schoolmates as they call for more gun control measures. Its time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children, Hogg scolded. Hoggs tweets: So @IngrahamAngle we meet again. Who are you biggest advertisers now? David Hogg (@davidhogg111) June 19, 2018 I love capitalism David Hogg (@davidhogg111) June 19, 2018 Hogg also re-tweeted the following: Cabelas posted this on Fathers Day but supports @IngrahamAngle who claims that separating families and putting children in cages is just like summer camp. These kids are getting abused. You should be ashamed. Contact Cabelas here: 1-800-237-4444 https://t.co/qIrIgoSVZE Matt Deitsch (@MattxRed) June 19, 2018 If you thought advertisers should #BoycottIngraham for insulting mass murder survivor @davidhogg111, then there's NO question, it's time to bring back the boycott for this. Laura Ingraham should leave TV and send her kids to #TrumpConcentrationCamps if she loves them so much. https://t.co/Geeuks9LAa Grant Stern (@grantstern) June 19, 2018 Related stories Corey Lewandowski Back On Fox News Defending Mockery Of Down Syndrome Child Separated From Mom At Border Jimmy Fallon Talks Parkland Mass Shooting With Survivors David And Lauren Hogg Dems Pounce On Corey Lewandowski Mocking Down Syndrome Child In Fox News Channel Debate On Border Policy Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg called for another boycott against Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday. So @IngrahamAngle we meet again. Who are you biggest advertisers now? said the teenager in a tweet. In a followup, he also listed a series of new advertisers including Ace Hardware and John Deere. Both tweets swiftly took off. Also Read:Surprise! Laura Ingraham's Ratings Are Up 16 Percent Since David Hogg's Advertiser Boycott So @IngrahamAngle we meet again. Who are you biggest advertisers now? David Hogg (@davidhogg111) June 19, 2018 Fox News told TheWrap in a statement: Laura Ingrahams very personal, on-the-ground commitment to the plight of impoverished and abandoned childrenspecifically in Guatemala speaks for itself. So too does her strong belief in a commonsense, legal immigration system, which will continue to be a focus of her show. FOX News will never tolerate or give in to attempts to silence diverse viewpoints by agenda-driven intimidation efforts. Story continues The spark of the boycott appears to be Ingrahams comments on her program last night in which she compared immigration detention centers to summer camp and broadly brushed off the growing outrage in liberal media over the issue. Also Read:Daytime Emmys Boycott Called After 'Bulls--' Decision to Strip Actresses of Award (Exclusive) Well, consistent with American law, when a party is arrested, your children are either sent to relatives, or they become wards of the state, she said. So since more illegal immigrants are rushing the border, more kids are being separated from their parents and being temporarily housed in what are essentially summer camps. The boycott is Hoggs second stab at the conservative Fox News host. In March, the teenager launched his first boycott after Ingraham mocked him for failing to get into a number of universities he had applied to. The ensuing fallout sent dozens of advertisers fleeing. Ingraham was forced to apologize, directly after which she took vacation as the heat intensified. After Hoggs initial call for a boycott, Ingrahams ratings actually improved. A second boycott was launched by Hogg against financial firms BlackRock and Vanguard of their investments in gun manufacturers. Also Read:Return From Exile: Kevin Spacey's 'Billionaire Boys Club' to Hit Theaters in August (Exclusive) The new advocacy on behalf of undocumented immigrants is well outside Hoggs original purview of relevance and suggests the activist teenager will be sticking around in the public eye long after the Parkland shooting recedes into memory. Related Video: Hogg Siblings Talk About Activism and Healing Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View. Related stories from TheWrap: Laura Ingraham Just Said Child Immigrant Detention Centers Are 'Essentially Summer Camps' (Video) Fox News' Laura Ingraham Says Trump Should Fire EPA Chief Scott Pruitt: 'Gotta Go' Surprise! Laura Ingraham's Ratings Are Up 16 Percent Since David Hogg's Advertiser Boycott Laura Ingraham Accused of Pregnancy Discrimination in Lawsuit The lovebirds couldn't stop gazing into each others eyes during their latest royal appearance on Thursday. Its going to be a busy summer for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be visiting Dublin, Ireland, on July 11 and 12, Kensington Palace announced on Tuesday. The newlyweds visited Northern Ireland earlier this year, and will now be traveling to the capital city at the request of Her Majestys Government. They are looking forward to learning more about Irelands history and experiencing its rich culture, as well as meeting the people who are shaping the countrys future, the palace said in a statement. This visit comes before the couples fall royal tour of the Oceania region, which was announced earlier this month. "Their Royal Highnesses have been invited to visit the Realms of Australia and New Zealand by the countries' respective governments," Kensington Palace said in a statement at the time. "The Duke and Duchess will visit the Commonwealth countries of Fiji and Tonga at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office." The announcement of the Ireland visit was also announced a day after Meghans father, Thomas Markle, appeared on Good Morning Britain in his first TV interview. Kensington Palace declined to comment on the interview. Interviewer Piers Morgan exclusively revealed to ETs Nischelle Turner that Thomas was paid for his live appearance. "Well, it was a small amount of money, a few thousand pounds," Morgan said. "He was offered stratospherically lots more money by different media organizations. He could've made a lot more money doing what he wanted to do." "It wasn't about money for him, you can tell that," he added. "The real motivation was setting the record straight, having his say." For more, watch the clip below: RELATED CONTENT: Piers Morgan Says Meghan Markle's Dad Was Paid for First TV Interview (Exclusive) Meghan Markle's Latest Look Is Almost Identical to Princess Diana's Outfit in 1986 Story continues Meghan Markle's Dad Thomas Says He Expects His Daughter to Have a Child With Prince Harry 'Soon' Related Articles: On Americas Got Talent, 15-year-old Dominican immigrant Amanda Mena gave a performance of Aretha Franklins Natural Woman that the Queen of Soul herself could be proud of. Before her soulful performance, Amanda explained that her family immigrated to Boston from the Dominican Republic when she was 4 years old. At the time, Amanda didnt speak English, and she was made fun of and bullied for being different. But after she had wowed the audience and judges alike, there was nothing but praise for Amanda. I am just blown away with your beautiful voice, Heidi said. I mean, you have a beautiful voice and youre a beautiful girl. Howie followed that with, You sang Natural Woman; you are a supernatural talent. And Simon told her: This is an audition were gonna remember for a long time, Amanda. But the ultimate praise came from Mel B. I love you. I love your voice. And this is what Im gonna say to all those bullies, she said before hitting the Golden Buzzer, giving Amanda an open path to the live shows in Hollywood. Mels tribute didnt stop there. Before her performance, Amanda had said her family came to this country looking for more stability. If what Mel said backstage is right, that stability is right around the corner. Shes my Golden Buzzer, Mel said. Shes gonna win the whole thing. Sorry, everybody else. Americas Got Talent airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC. Watch clips and full episodes of AGT for free on Yahoo View. Watch this shy 13-year-old channel Janis Joplin and get the Golden Buzzer on AGT: Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. By Desire Thompson Secret audio recorded at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention facility revealed harrowing cries from children separated from their families. Shared on ProPublica Monday (June 18), the audio was taken at the facility last week where asylum seekers are either deported to their country or arrested. The children are often placed at the facility without any adults they know. Whats heard in the audio are presumed Central American children wailing and sobbing for their parents. An agent can be heard in Spanish joking, Well, we have an orchestra here, right? Whats missing is a conductor. Throughout the roughly 7-minute audio, a child identified as Alison is heard saying the phone number of her aunt and asking the agents if they can call her. The 6-year-olds mother, 29-year-old Cindy Madrid, was separated from her child after they arrived in the US from a gang-riddled area in Armenia, northwest of the Salvadorian capital. The outlet spoke to her aunt, who is also seeking asylum in America for the same reason as her sister and niece. It was the hardest moment in my life, she said. Imagine getting a call from your 6-year-old niece. Shes crying and begging me to go get her. She says, I promise Ill behave, but please get me out of here. Im all alone. She also explained how gang members have taken over their native land. Theyre on the buses. Theyre in the banks. Theyre in schools. Theyre in the police, she said. Theres nowhere for normal people to feel safe. Alison has since been moved to a shelter, but her mother still faces deportation. I know shes not an American citizen, the aunt said. But shes a human being. Shes a child. How can they treat her this way? Since the announcement of President Donald Trumps zero tolerance approach over immigration began earlier this year, nearly 2,000 children were separated from their parents at the border. Many are placed in foster care or in factory-style shelters where they wait to be reunited with family members who live in the United States. Story continues Photos and video have shown children in cages or without beds as they beg for their parents. Trump has placed the act of family separation on Democrats. The Daily Beast fact-checked his statements by highlighting there were no laws that required family separation and that criminal prosecutions of the undocumented were deemed criminal by the Trump administration. After the photos came to light, including one of a two-year-old crying at the border, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen defended the policy. We will not apologize for the job we do, or for the job law enforcement does for doing the job that the American people expect us to do, she said Monday. It is important to note that these minors are very well taken care of. Dont believe the press. They are very well taken care of. We operate according to some of the highest standards in the country. "Don't believe the press": Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen says minors separated from parents at the border are "well taken care of" according to "some of the highest standards in the country" https://t.co/METcjhQ4TR pic.twitter.com/SQnONeQHtS CBS News (@CBSNews) June 18, 2018 Former first lady Laura Bush called out the administrations practices, comparing the children to those who were placed in kennels at Japanese internment camps during World War II. Fellow former first lady Michelle Obama shared the same sentiments in a tweet Monday. Sometimes truth transcends party. https://t.co/TeFM7NmNzU Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) June 18, 2018 This post U.S. Border Control Agents Compare Crying Children Separated From Families To An Orchestra In Unearthed Audio first appeared on Vibe. Twenty four hours after rapper XXXTentacion was fatally shot Monday in Florida, a representative for the Broward County sheriffs department told Variety that there were no updates regarding suspects or a motive for the murder and the investigation is ongoing. According to police, the rapper was leaving a RIVA Motorsports in Deerfield Beach, Fla., shortly before 4 p.m. when he was approached by two armed suspects. At least one of the suspects shot XXX, and they both fled in an SUV. While police said the incident was a possible robbery the assailants were seen removing a bag from the rappers car after the shooting Onfroy had many allegations of violent crime in his past, including, most infamously, an alleged assault on his pregnant girlfriend, Geneva Ayala. Those allegations have resulted in many strong opinions posted online in the wake of the rappers death which she addressed in a Tweet early Tuesday. Rather than feeling happy or relieved by his death, as some speculated, instead says shes broken by it. Its disgusting that people are speaking for me, she wrote. I dont care if no one cared about me however many months ago, I didnt lose my life. He did. Its permanent. Im still here. Like how do you think that makes me feel? Everyone expecting me to be relieved or happy?! No, im broken. its disgusting that people are speaking for me. i dont care if no one cared about me however many months ago, i didnt lose my life. he did. its permanent. im still here. like how do you think that makes me feel? everyone expecting me to be relieved or happy?! no, im broken. bloodsucca (@hisl0nelystar) June 19, 2018 Story continues At the time of his death, Onfroy was awaiting trial for abuse against Ayala and for several counts of witness-tampering in the case. According to The Blast, a GoFundMe page shed set up to help pay for the injuries she allegedly sustained due to Onfroys abuse had met her goal of $25,000 at the time of his death; at press time it had exceeded $32,000. At 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, his rep issued a statement from his family confirming the death. On June 18, 2018, Jahseh Onfroy known worldwide as XXXTentacion tragically passed away from a gunshot wound in Deerfield, Florida, the statement reads. It is with great sadness that the news is confirmed in this official statement by his team manager Solomon Sobande, EMPIRE [Records, his label], Bob Celestin, Esq. and AKW PR. In deference to his family, friends, and loved ones and in light of further investigation, we ask that their privacy be respected at this time. XXXTentacion touched the lives of millions around the globe and will forever reside in the hearts of countless fans who listened to his music, attended his concerts, and felt the glow of his uncontainable, undeniable, and unique spirit. News about memorial services to be issued forthcoming. In those 24 hours, there has been no shortage of rumors, theories and opinions put forth regarding the 20-year-old rappers death yet little solid information. The Broward County Sheriffs Department tweeted at around 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday, A big thank you to our social media community for the many tips weve received regarding the death of local rapper XXXTentacion. Anyone with further information is asked to contact BSO homicide detectives Walt Foster or John Curcio at (954) 321-4210. If you wish to remain anonymous, contact Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TOPS (8477) or online at browardcrimestoppers.org. Anonymous tips that lead to an arrest are eligible for a reward of up to $3,000. XXXTentacion first began creating music after serving time at a youth correction center. In an interview with No Jumper, posted to YouTube in 2016, the rapper detailed parts of his childhood, during which he was removed from his school choir for physically assaulting another student. The Miami New Times piece also documented another instance in which the rapper was expelled from Margate Middle School after participating in more physical altercations. XXXTentacion officially left the education system for good when he dropped out of high school after his sophomore year, according to a report by The Beat. After serving time in prison for alleged false imprisonment and battery of Ayala, XXXTentacion returned to the music in 2017 with a re-released version of the song Look at Me. In a live video recently posted to his Instagram, the rapper expressed his hopes for those he influenced in the event he die a tragic death. Worst thing comes to worst, I fin die a tragic death or some s, and Im not able to see out my dreams, I at least want to know that the kids perceived my message and were able to make something of themselves and able to take my message and use it and turn it into something positive, and at least have a good life, XXXTentacion said in the video. If Im gonna die or ever be a sacrifice, I want to make sure that my life made at least 5 million kids happy. Related stories Spotify CEO Daniel Ek on New Content Policy: 'We Rolled This Out Wrong' Is Spotify Walking Back Its Anti-Hate Policy? Spotify's Ban on Hateful Content and Conduct Is 'Too Subjective' and 'Dangerous,' Experts Say Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts! Kavita congratulated SIT Karnataka for cracking the immaculately planned murder case. Bengaluru: The Gauri Lankesh murder conspiracy was ironically nicknamed Operation Amma by her assassins, said Kavita Lankesh, sister of the late journalist cum activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead outside her house on September 5 last year after SIT investigators homed in on Parshuram Waghmare as the man who shot at and killed her sister. "Its very sad that they allegedly brainwashed Parshuram (Waghmare) to pull the trigger on my sister and so ironic that Parshuram had to kill amma, Kavita said, adding that " Parshuram was the only character in the Vedas to have killed his mother and the parallel is rather grim here. Gauri was not anti Hindu. She was anti any form of extremist ideology. If she was alive and she knew about the hatred that the conspirators had instilled in Waghmares mind against her she would, in her quintessential style, have invited him to discuss his anger with her over a cup of coffee. She was a very forgiving person. Kavita congratulated SIT Karnataka for cracking the immaculately planned murder case. Gauris murder was planned seven to eight months before they got her. But for the tireless efforts of the SIT, Gauri wouldnt have got justice. She was against capital punishment and she fought against it, she added. Let the law of the land take its own course but in her spirit we would not want the State to take the life of her assassins. We are thankful that there was no political interference in the investigation and her murder was not made a mud-slinging issue during the Assembly elections," she said. "Not just us, the SIT has given hope to the families of the late rationalists Prof Narendra Dabholkar, Comrade Govind Pansare and Prof M.M. Kalburgi, who were shot dead in the same manner as Gauri, said Kavita. The Gauri murder case has drawn world attention and all eyes are on the SIT, which has cracked a rather dead end case. It hurts to read and watch Gauri being branded as anti-Hindu. The other day Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik, who takes pride in calling himself a guardian of Hinduism, spoke about her in a very demeaning manner. Is he a true Hindu, I ask? Yes, it hurts to see her name being dragged into controversies but we are happy that right thinking people have not forgotten her. Gauris presence is not just in India but also overseas. I am happy that the issue has been kept alive." " We have no anger against Waghmare. On the contrary, we pity him for being made a victim of hatred," she said. "The familys anger is against those, who have spewed venom against her in the garb of being the saviours of Hinduism and Hindutva. Such people should be stopped in their tracks before they trap more Waghmares in their net of hatred and violence. We want a closure for this and our hope lies with the SIT, added Kavita. Gauris brother and film maker Indrajit also thanked and congratulated the SIT for solving his sisters murder case and said that her assassins killed her because they felt threatened by her, and that they should know that Hinduism is what Gandhi preached. Theres no place for violence and intolerance in Hinduism. Let the perpetrators of hate stop spreading lies in the name of religion. I know Gauri will never return. I miss her dearly. Let my sister rest in peace, said Indrajit. Richmond school named after confederate general will be changed to Barack Obama Elementary A predominantly African-American elementary school in Richmond, Virginia, is dropping its confederate general name and will soon be known as Barack Obama Elementary. The Richmond Public School Board voted 6-1 Monday to change the name of J.E.B Stuart Elementary School, school district spokeswoman Kenita Bowers told ABC News. But the planning for ditching the school's name goes back nearly a year to last summer's rally over a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, she said. The rally turned deadly and sparked a renewed push to remove Confederate symbols across the nation, from New Orleans to Maryland to New York. (MORE:110 Confederate tributes removed since 2015 mass killing but more than 1,700 remain, report says) (MORE:Recent flashpoints in the controversy over Confederate symbols) J.E.B Stuart was a prominent cavalry commander and major general with the Confederate Army. In Richmond, J.E.B Stuart Elementary had opened its doors in 1922 with its confederate general name. But now, 91.7 percent of the elementary school's students are African-American. After Charlottesville, Bowers said, "the community called into question whether this needs to be changed" so the school is "named for someone positive who probably represents the community in a more all-inclusive way." PHOTO: J.E.B Stuart elementary school in Richmond, V.a., is pictured in a Google Street View image dated 2014. (Google, FILE) Richmond Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras agreed that a change should be made and the school board moved forward with the process, Bowers said. Many names were considered and eventually the list was narrowed to three: Wishtree (a name chosen by the young students), Northside and Barack Obama, she said. The superintendent selected Obama and took that name to the school board for a vote, Bowers said. "He just felt very strongly about utilizing this opportunity to rename the school for a very prominent African-American who has made history and also resonates with the students," she said. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney approved of the decision, tweeting, "Thank you Richmond City School Board for re-naming JEB Stuart Elementary, Barack Obama Elementary. A leader we can be proud of!" Thank you Richmond City School Board for re-naming JEB Stuart Elementary, Barack Obama Elementary. A leader we can be proud of! pic.twitter.com/HijEqoXuHq Levar M. Stoney (@LevarStoney) June 19, 2018 There is no set date for when the name change will go into effect but, Bowers said, it could be as early as the next school year. When the 9-year-old Guatemalan boy arrived at a Michigan foster care home, he was so afraid he couldn't eat. Over time, the boy confided to his foster parents, Karl and Jen, that he and his father had escaped violence and poverty in their homeland only to be greeted with more hardship when they arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, where he watched his dad being taken from him in handcuffs. "When he came to us, he was extraordinarily fearful," Jen, who asked ABC News not to use her and her husband's last name, said. "He came in all-black clothes, we learned, because he traveled at night with his dad and they didn't want to be seen." PHOTO: A Facebook campaign has raised nearly $4 million to help separated immigrant families. (ABC News) When she and her husband picked him up in October at the Grand Rapids, Michigan, airport where he arrived with a U.S. government escort, the child was terrified, Jen said. "He was afraid to eat, he was afraid to look, she added. "His clothes were soiled, he wouldn't use the bathroom. The child handed them a piece of paper from a packet his mother had sewn into his pants before he and his father left home. The paper contained phone numbers of people his family knew in the United States, as well his mother's phone number in Guatemala. While a caseworker was still with them collecting intake information, they called the mom's phone and she answered. "He was overcome," Jen said of the boy. "He couldn't talk. He was crying so hard he was almost to the point of being sick." But over the past eight months, the boy, now 10, opened up, telling them the story of his and his father's treacherous journey to what they thought would be the land of promise. It's a story the couple says is similar to that of other children they have taken in more recently, children separated from their parents under the Trump administrations "zero-tolerance" policy for dealing with undocumented immigrants illegally crossing the southern border. Story continues The couple -- who have three biological children, ages 9 through 14 -- are also caring for an 8-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy, both from Honduras. PHOTO: This US Customs and Border Protection photo obtained June 18, 2018 shows intake of illegal border crossers by US Border Patrol agents at the Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas, May 23, 2018. (AFP/Getty Images) "You know, there is the side that this is an illegal action," Karl told ABC News of the families caught sneaking across the border. "I don't think that we [can] look past that, but I think we also see there's a need. Why are people doing this? It's usually because of extreme poverty and lack of opportunity or gang violence. Violence where if you don't join the gang, then, 'We're going to kill somebody in your family.'" Karl and Jen said they've learned the Guatemalan boy's father has already been deported to Guatemala. Th child is finally headed back to Guatemala Wednesday to be reunited with his family, they added. (MORE: Uproar grows as administration digs in on child separation policy) (MORE: Advocacy groups mobilizing supporters to end the 'zero-tolerance' immigration policy) (MORE: Audio recording emerges of 'orchestra' of crying children in migrant detention center) "We kept telling him, 'You're safe. You can fall asleep,' and this is after he'd been with us for a while," Jen said. Initially, she said, they communicated with the boy by using matchbox cars to indicate how he and his father traveled. "We know he saw [his father] go away in handcuffs," Jen said. "We know he traveled in the back of a truck at night and he got sick and threw up. We know that he was in a bus and it appears that he may have been in a luggage compartment of a bus. We know he flew on a plane to Grand Rapids, and he has high hopes and dreams of being a pilot someday. He wants the opportunity of America, but he wants his family." Jen said the 8-year-old girl from Honduras living with them came into the country with her mother seeking asylum. But now she and Karl and the agency that placed the girl with them haven't been able to find out where the mother is being held. The 5-year-old boy also traveled from Honduras with his father, Jen said. All the children have shared stories of their time being held in detention facilities before being placed in foster care, she added. "I do get to hear a little bit about chain-link fences. They talk about mats on the floor, not a lot of food, and crying and fear," Jen said. PHOTO: Immigrant children are shown walking in single file between tents in their compound next to the Mexican border in Tornillo, Texas, June 18, 2018. (Mike Blake/Reuters) She and Karl said their preconceived perceptions of undocumented immigrants has evolved as they have cared for the children. They've come to believe the government should change its policy to keep families together. "In my eyes, they're seeking safety and opportunities. They're not committing a crime," Jen said. "If they're going to be detained, let them be detained together. Why not? I feel there is some form of punishment going on here and I can't make sense of it. As a foster parent, I can't make sense of why we have these kids for so long." Dona Abbott, director of refugee services for Bethany Christian Services in Michigan, said that since April, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced strict enforcement of the administration's "zero-tolerance" policy, the number of undocumented children her agency places in foster care has skyrocketed. "We underestimate the danger" of separating children from their parents, Abbott told ABC News. "Many kids are having nightmares, can't eat, can't sleep ... don't know where their parents are. The last image they have of their parents is shock and fear ... the memory never goes away. "We are being asked to care for more and more children ... I don't know how much worse it could be." On Americas Got Talent, 15-year-old Dominican immigrant Amanda Mena gave a performance of Aretha Franklins Natural Woman that even the Queen of Soul herself could be proud of. Before her soulful performance, Amanda explained that her family emigrated from the Dominican Republic to Boston, Massachusetts when she was just 4 years old. At the time, Amanda didnt speak English, and she was made fun of and bullied for being different. Well, after she wowed the audience and judges alike, there was nothing but words of praise for Amanda. I am just blown away with your beautiful voice. I mean, you have a beautiful voice and youre a beautiful girl, Heidi said. Howie followed that with, You sang 'Natural Woman', you are a supernatural talent. Simon said, This is an audition were gonna remember for a long time, Amanda. But the ultimate praise came from Mel B. I love you. I love your voice. And this is what Im gonna say to all those bullies, Mel said before hitting the Golden Buzzer, giving Amanda an open path to the live shows in Hollywood. Mels praise didnt stop there. Before her performance, Amanda said that her family came to this country looking for more stability. If what Mel said backstage is right, that stability is right around the corner. Shes my Golden Buzzer, Mel said. Shes gonna win the whole thing. Sorry, everybody else. Photo credit: Getty Images From Town & Country President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain to the White House on Tuesday afternoon. "It's a great honor to have the king and queen of Spain," President Trump told reporters as the two couples met in the Oval Office. "It's a beautiful country." He noted that the countries share an "excellent" trade and military relationship, which is "just about everything you can have. So we love Spain." Photo credit: Getty Images King Felipe VI, who ascended to the Spanish throne in 2014, said that he and Queen Letizia appreciate America and Spain's "common history" and "heritage." He was expected to discuss the European Union's concerns about the Trump Administration's tariffs on steel, aluminum, and Spanish black olives in a bilateral meeting. Melania was planning to host Queen Letizia for tea while that meeting occurred, according to the first lady's office. Photo credit: Getty Images It's the king's first meeting with President Trump but his sixth visit to the White House since 1989. He and Queen Letizia were expected to meet with congressional leaders including Senator Mitch McConnell, Congressman Paul Ryan, and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi later on Tuesday. The royal couple is finishing a five-day trip to the United States during which they previously visited San Antonio, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana. When a Spanish reporter asked the president if he would like to visit the royals' homeland, he replied, "I would go to Spain. We would go to Spain." You Might Also Like [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Meghan, 36, wore a long-sleeved blue-and-white flor print Oscar De Le Renta dress, which retails for $5,490. Adding a touch of color to his distinguished three-piece suit, Harry, 33, opted for a blue tie, adding which coordinated perfectly with his wife's dress. [MUSIC] Pour yourself a GuinnessMeghan Markle and Prince Harry are going to Ireland! For their first official royal engagement abroad as a married couple, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are heading to Dublin. While Ireland is just a hop and a skip away from homebase (aka Britain), the decision to kick off their marital run of International engagements with a visit to Ireland is actually quite revolutionary. The relationship between Ireland and the royal family has been fraught since Ireland ceded from the U.K. in 1922. In fact, Queen Elizabeth had reigned for more than half a century before making her first official visit to the region in 2011. Further dramatizing the familys history with Ireland, Prince Charless beloved Great-Uncle, Louis Mountbatten, was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army in the town of Mullaghmore in 1979. During the newlyweds two-day tour of Dublin, theyre expected to visit Trinity College and the Guinness Storehouse brewery (when in Dublin ). Markle is also reportedly interested in meeting with the citys youth, including those who helped make history with the repeal of Irelands anti-abortion laws last month. Though this will be their first visit to Ireland and husband and wife, its not the first time theyve ventured to the country. The pair traveled to Belfast in late March, where Meghan established herself as the Duchess of Flawless Messy Buns. President and Melania Trump have welcomed King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain to the White House for an old-fashioned tea party during the royals three-city trip. The royals, who are in the United States for six days to celebrate 300 years of friendship between the two countries, were greeted by the Trumps Tuesday on the last leg of their trip. Before sitting down for tea in the Red Room, the foursome posed for photos outside. While anger about family separations raged on, Melania Trump hosted Queen Letizia of Spain for tea at the White House on Tuesday. "Queen Letizia & I enjoyed tea & time together focusing on the ways we can positively impact children," said a tweet her office posted later in the evening. The visit was part of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia's five-day trip to the U.S. Unfortunately, we never found out what, specifically, they discussed when it comes to positively impacting children. (We reached out to the White House and haven't yet heard back.) The rest of the country was talking about the Trump administration's cruel and inhumane policy of tearing children away from their parents and throwing babies in jail. Hopefully the subject came up at least once. A great visit with the King & Queen of Spain at the @WhiteHouse today. Queen Letizia & I enjoyed tea & time together focusing on the ways we can positively impact children. pic.twitter.com/IiaMQOil3K Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) June 19, 2018 Unlike the U.S., Spain recently welcomed 600 migrants from Africa who were turned away by Italy and Malta, among them 123 unaccompanied minors and seven pregnant women. After a harrowing 800-mile journey, all of them are entitled to request asylum given the special circumstances of the case. "It was a ship adrift, unable to dock anywhere, with people at the end of their tether, almost out of fuel and food, with children and pregnant women on board," said a spokesperson at Spain's Interior Ministry. Melania's office released a statement on family separations a few days ago: "Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform," the statement reads. "She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart." Story continues Instead of making a strong statement, she waffled. Now, the GOP is waffling on how to fix the situation it created. And when you don't take a stance either way, you end up alone. Which is why this photo, taken during the Spanish royals' visit, is so emblematic of Melania. .@FLOTUS looks on as @realDonaldTrump meets with Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain in the Oval Office. pic.twitter.com/qqfOzQp32k Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) June 19, 2018 According to the Associated Press, President Trump said he'll be "signing something" that will end the family separation policy he himself instituted. Related Video: What Melania is Doing Instead of Traveling with Trump Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? Everything You Need To Know About Trump's Family Separation Policy Kirstjen Nielsen Heckled Out Of Mexican Restaurant After Defending Family Separation Laura Ingraham Is Facing A Boycott For Comparing Immigrant Detention Centers To Summer Camps Glassdoors new Top 100 CEOs list has some bad news for two industry giants. Bloomberg CEO Michael Bloomberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook saw huge drops in this years list as employee reviews suggested relative discontentment with the work cultures. Bloomberg fell 67 spots from #26 to #93 while Cook is down to #96 from #53. Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc., shakes hands with an employee as he visits the Apple Store in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., March 27, 2018. (REUTERS/John Gress) The top 100 list is part of Glassdoors annual Employees Choice Awards, where it honored CEOs across North America and parts of Europe. The list also cuts across industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and technology. Results were compiled from employee reviews on Glassdoor. Employees were asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experiences, including sentiment around the CEOs leadership and workplace attributes regarding senior management. Glassdoors top 100 CEOs For the CEO approval rating, employees were asked to report whether they approve or disapprove or are neutral about the CEOs performance. About 770,000 employers were reviewed on Glassdoor, and the average CEO rating was 69%. Though Bloomberg and Cook shared an approval rating at 91%, the number was considered low when compared to other elite CEOs the top 3 in the large companies category all had a 99% approval rating. Slow to take action once employee feedback is shared Apples Cook was the tech CEO with the biggest drop in rankings. The main grievance was also the work culture. Screenshot from an anonymous reviewer on Glassdoor.com When we read reviews on Glassdoor, employees criticize the culture of secrecy, high stress and necessity to keep to a chain of command, said Scott Dobroski, a community expert at Glassdoor. Apple employs 80,000 people, according to the companys website. Cook took over as CEO in 2011 after Steve Jobs resigned. Employees surveyed were also dissatisfied with the pace of change. Employees also speak to how the leadership team is slow to take action once employee feedback is shared and how teams are often strapped for resources and time, said Dobroski. Cook most recently gave 12,000 of its employees at its Apple Park headquarters standing desks because sitting is the new cancer. Story continues Bureaucratic culture and a chain of command Michael Bloomberg speaks at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum on September 20, 2017 in New York City. (GETTY IMAGES/John Moore) Bloomberg experienced the biggest decrease in rankings, Dobroski said. According to reviews within the past year, employees speak to a bureaucratic culture, outdated work processes and systems and minimal opportunities for career growth due to a flat organizational structure. Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has led the company from inception in 1981 to 2001, when he took a brief hiatus to run the city. He returned as CEO in late 2014. Bloomberg currently employs around 19,000 people in 176 different countries, according to its website. Dobroski added that the reviewers felt that the management team did not take the effort to create a workplace environment that encourages creativity or innovation. Related: As the Disney parks gear up for an inevitably busy summer, we wanted to take a peek at what all the fun attractions looked like years ago. We rounded up magical photos from Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and Disney World in Orlando, Florida, throughout the years. The images feature children on Disneylands opening day, celebrities enjoying their time at the parks, and rides and decor that definitely look a lot different now. Check out 25 old-school photos of Disney parks below. Workmen (in the foreground) help ready Sleeping Beauty Castle for Disneyland's opening in July 1955. Walt Disney smiles at Disneyland's grand opening on July 17, 1955. Parade participants prepare themselves for the televised grand opening. Kids cavort outside Sleeping Beauty Castle in 1955. Kids ride the teacups at Disneyland's Mad Tea Party ride in 1955. Actors Steve Rowland and Kathleen Case on a ride during Disneyland's opening day. Disney rides a spinning teacup with his wife, Lillian, and their daughter, Diane, shortly after Disneyland's opening. A man and two children move past a scary illustration on the Snow White ride at Disneyland in 1955. Disney with one of his grandsons on the lawn outside Sleeping Beauty Castle shortly after Disneyland's opening. Tourists stroll through Tomorrowland at Disneyland in 1955. Women dressed as mermaids sit on a rock in the water at Disneyland in the 1950s. A couple enjoys an "All-Night Prom" at Disneyland in 1961. A Disneyland guest ties Goofy's shoes during a visit in 1962. Disney employees handle the dolls for the "It's a Small World" exhibit. A man works on the animatronic figures featured in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland. Model Twiggy wears mouse ears during a visit to Disneyland in 1967. A crowd gathers to watch Snow White and Grumpy at Disneyland in 1969. Characters greet guests during a parade at Disneyland in 1970. Julie Andrews performs during the grand opening of Disney World in 1971. Mickey Mouse posing with Disney World's early cast members. The Disney World staff poses for a photo to celebrate the park's opening. James Sylvers of R&B group The Sylvers rides the carousel at Disneyland in 1973. Workers complete the final stages of construction for Epcot's Spaceship Earth at Disney World. Epcot opened in 1982. Two children pose with Mickey Mouse at Disneyland in 1982. Cast members parade past the crowd at Disney World. CORRECTION: A wire photo caption in a previous version of this story included the wrong date for one of the exhibits. Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. In the video, a man and a woman are seen beating a frail old woman who is lying on the ground in a hut. The man tries to tie the elderly woman with a rope which she resists. Upon this, the woman's daughter drags her and the victim's son-in-law hauls her and throws her out of the hut. (Representational Image/File) Ahmedabad: An elderly woman was allegedly thrashed and dragged out of her house by her daughter and son- in-law in Gujarat's Chhotaudepur district, police said on Tuesday. A purported video clip of the incident, which took place in Velpur village under Sankheda taluka, around 200km from Ahmedabad, surfaced on social media platforms, prompting the police to register an offence. In the video, a man and a woman are seen beating a frail old woman who is lying on the ground in a hut. The man tries to tie the elderly woman with a rope which she resists. Upon this, the woman's daughter drags her and the victim's son-in-law hauls her and throws her out of the hut. The video was recorded on Sunday, said the Superintendent of Police in-charge of Chhotaudepur, Dharmendra Sharma. "We sent a police team to Velpur village to probe the incident after the video surfaced. The persons seen beating up the woman in the video is her daughter and son-in-law," he said. "The accused claimed the woman is mentally unstable. They said they were trying to stop her after she attacked them with a sharp-edged weapon," Sharma said. An FIR was registered against the duo at the Sankheda police station under IPC section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and further investigation was on, he added. Good morning! Catch up on your pop culture news with our roundup of todays top stories so far. 1. The Nanny may get a reboot Look alive, Mr. Sheffield. Actress Fran Drescher revealed that she is in talks to reboot her 1990s sitcom, The Nanny. Read more > The Nanny could be making a comeback. (Photo: CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images) 2. Rachel Maddow tears up over family separation shelters for babies MSNBC host Rachel Maddow broke down during her show Tuesday night as she reported on tender age shelters being used to detain migrant babies and toddlers who have been separated from their parents under President Trumps immigration policy. Maddow later apologized for losing her composure on-air. Read more > Rachel Maddow chokes up and cries on air as she struggles to deliver news that migrant babies and toddlers have been sent to "tender age" shelters pic.twitter.com/O6crm8cvyR Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) June 20, 2018 3. Scott Baio will not face charges Despite former Charles in Charge co-star Nicole Eggerts allegations that Scott Baio sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, prosecutors said Monday they will not file charges against actor. The Los Angeles district attorneys office cited a statute of limitations in declining to prosecute the case. Read more > Wait for itdismissed on Statutes of LimitationNEVER bcz of LACK OF EVIDENCE!! Case closed molester @scottbaio Nicole Eggert (@NicoleEggert) June 19, 2018 4. Eva Longoria welcomes first child Actress Eva Longoria gave birth to a baby boy, Santiago Enrique Baston, on Tuesday. He is the former Desperate Housewives stars first child. Read more > 5. Prince Louiss christening announced Prince Louis will be christened on July 9, Kensington Palace has announced. Time for auntie Meghan Markle to relinquish the fancy white dresses. Read more > The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to announce that the christening of Prince Louis will take place on Monday 9th July at The Chapel Royal, St Jamess Palace, London. Prince Louis will be christened by The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby. pic.twitter.com/aBGNYTMRri Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) June 20, 2018 Thanks for reading! Come back this evening for your p.m. pop culture roundup. The Trump Administration has released photos of young boys being held at detention centers for undocumented immigrants, but so far it has not released any images of young girls. That discrepancy has led to Administration critics to start a Twitter hashtag #wherearethegirls. Pressed on the question at a White House briefing Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said that children are being cared for in the same way but that she would have to look into why no photos have been released. Migrant rights groups say they are concerned about the risks that girls and young women face in detention, noting issues such as pregnancy, sexual assault, menstruation and psychological trauma from assault and rape they faced in their home countries. Theyre fleeing pretty horrific circumstances, said Michelle Brane, the director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Womens Refugee Commission. Ive heard women and young girls tell me about being taken and locked in basements and gang-raped for two weeks at a time until they escape. The Office of Refugee Resettlement has historically provided temporary shelter and immediate medical attention for unaccompanied minors who cross the border. Children would then typically be released to the care of family members, or long-term foster care when necessary 90% of them would have made this move within a month of their arrival, according to Kids in Need of Defense, a group that protects unaccompanied children who enter the immigration system alone. But migrants rights groups worry that the office is being overwhelmed by the Trump Administrations new zero tolerance policy of referring everyone apprehended crossing the border for criminal prosecution, which has led to more than 2,000 children being separated from parents who are awaiting trial. The Office of Refugee Resettlements policy is to immediately screen girls for histories of sexual trafficking, pregnancy and mental health issues, among other things. Additionally, at-risk girls are supposed to be accommodated with private rooms to undress or use the restroom, when requested. But advocates say its not even clear that feminine hygiene products are readily available. Story continues Were told that if theyve asked for sanitary napkins, they would get them but they would have to ask for them, Brane said. They arent just sitting out there. Before Attorney General Jeff Sessions announcement of the policy change, unaccompanied minors who had particularly harrowing experiences in their home countries would be placed in specialized facilities where their unique needs could be met, but now, its unlikely border control personnel have time to adequately screen all the children for these warning signs, said Megan McKenna, Kids in Need of Defenses senior director of communications. Its not easy for these girls to open up to authority figures, according to McKenna. Sexual violence is used as a tool in many parts of Central America where the gangs control communities, she said. The conditions would certainly not be conducive to have a child talk about what their needs are, McKenna continued. Just the sure fact of being separated from a parent would also make the child less likely to be able to share any of these experiences with anybody, since they are already dealing with the trauma of being separated from a parent and not having the support of that parent. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services the government agency responsible for overseeing the child detention centers did not return requests for comment on how the needs of girls are being met, citing a backlog of hundreds of media requests. By Rupam Jain and Jonathan Landay KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prospects have risen for negotiations between the Taliban and the United States after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called a ceasefire and allowed militants to roam into cities in a gamble to encourage peace talks. The Taliban, ousted from power in 2001 by U.S.-led troops, insist that any negotiations with what it calls the "puppet" Afghan government on a peace plan can begin only after talks with the United States about withdrawing foreign forces. Analysts and Western diplomats said Ghani's offer to hold unconditional peace talks set the stage for U.S. officials to open back-channel negotiations with the Taliban. "Ghani has done his bit," said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent think tank. "It is now for the U.S. to cut through this blockade," he said, although that would be a departure from U.S. policy that talks to end the 17-year-old war must be wholly Afghan-led. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared ready to tweak the policy when he welcomed Ghani's 10-day extension of a ceasefire that is currently due to end on Wednesday. The Taliban said its ceasefire ended on Sunday. "As President Ghani emphasized in his statement to the Afghan people, peace talks by necessity would include a discussion of the role of international actors and forces," Pompeo said. "The United States is prepared to support, facilitate and participate in these discussions." Richard Olson, a former U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, described the statement as significant "in that it signals that the U.S. is prepared to ultimately discuss the issue that is paramount to the Taliban, which is the withdrawal of foreign forces." Nolen Johnson, a State Department spokesman, said Ghani had invited the United States to "participate in an Afghan-led peace process," and there was no substitute to the Taliban engaging with the "sovereign" Kabul government. A senior U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the start of the ceasefire, said, however, there were a number of issues that made direct talks between the Taliban and the United States unlikely in the short term. The official said there was a substantial gap in knowledge about the Taliban - for instance as to who had the authority to negotiate on their behalf. There is not enough intelligence or resources on this issue," the official said. A second official said there was still a question of what would happen with hardline elements of the Taliban. "There are Taliban that won't come to the table," the official said. TALIBAN CALL The Taliban, in a statement marking the end of their ceasefire on Sunday, said the organization was unified and called on "the invading American party" to "sit directly for dialogue with the Islamic Emirate to find a solution for the ongoing imbroglio." A senior diplomat with knowledge of the negotiations leading to the ceasefire estimated the chances of eventual talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government at "50-50." "The Taliban want to talk to the U.S. directly on withdrawal (of foreign forces) because they do not want to share the credit of withdrawal with the government," the official said. While Washington has long resisted direct talks with the Taliban, the official said recent developments indicate "the U.S. now seems less and less averse to it". In August, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a more hawkish military approach to Afghanistan, including a surge in air strikes. Afghan security forces say the impact has been significant, but the Taliban roam huge areas 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. Ghani, never widely popular, met his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, on Sunday to secure support for peace talks. He visited a restaurant in Kabul where he met diners and took selfies with children, trying to capitalize on the unprecedented party atmosphere created by the ceasefire to mark last weekend's Eid al-Fitr festival. But Amrullah Saleh, the former head of intelligence and head of a political party, said Ghani had committed a blunder by allowing insurgents to pour into government-controlled areas. "Thousands of Taliban fighters were allowed to enter with guns and some of them could be hiding in civilian areas, planning attacks," Saleh told Reuters. Ghani has also come in for praise. "Now we can say that our president is making an absolute honest attempt" for peace, said Anwar-ul-Haq Ahadi, chairman of the outspoken New National Front of Afghanistan. (Additional reporting by Qadir Sediqi in Kabul, Kay Johnson in Islamabad and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Leslie Adler) As the White House doubles down on a zero-tolerance immigration policy that has led to the forced separation of families, medical experts are sounding alarms about the potentially irreparable psychological damage that could plague the children affected. A number of prominent medical organizations, from the American Psychological Association (APA) to the American Academy of Pediatrics, have joined a chorus of regulatory bodies, lawmakers and activists who have condemned the policy. The APAs president and CEO also sent a letter to President Donald Trump on June 14, urging him to reverse the policy given multiple harmful effects of parent-child separation on childrens emotional and psychological development and well-being. Those harmful effects may run the gamut from future depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to violent tendencies, substance abuse and difficulty forming relationships down the line, according to Dr. Jeff Temple, a professor and psychologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch and a board member of the Texas Psychological Association. And though not every child who experiences trauma will develop these conditions, Temple says the kids in question, who have likely faced other stressors prior to being taken from their parents, may be particularly at risk. Its a three-fold stress: the reason they left their country, the journey [to the U.S.] and now being, at a vulnerable time, separated from their parents, Temple says. Really what that amounts to is child abuse. These kids will experience negative and irreparable harm. The effects of that harm may evolve over time, says Antonio Puente, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington who specializes in cultural neuropsychology. What may begin as acute emotional distress could reemerge later in life as PTSD, behavioral issues and other signs of lasting neuropsychological damage, he says. The longer a child is separated, the worse the situation becomes. This is often hidden initially and becomes more complicated as time evolves, only to emerge in other times of crisis or, for that matter, in adulthood, Puente says. These situations are emotional at the onset and neuropsychological in the long-term. Story continues Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, director of the Trauma Center in Boston and a childhood trauma expert, says thats because a child and parents biology are inextricably linked. Kids are hardwired to take cues about the world, and draw a sense of physical and emotional security, from their parents, he says, and when theyre taken from their caregivers prematurely, their development may stall and potentially suffer irrevocable harm. Van der Kolk likens the impact to a sort of psychological starvation. Its like food, he says. Depriving them of their caregivers has effects on their brain as profound as starving them. The result, van der Kolk says, could be clinically diagnosable conditions such as depression or anxiety, or more nuanced issues such as difficulty trusting others, forming relationships and regulating emotions. These early separations have a profound effect on the overall capacity for people to function and be useful members of society, van der Kolk says. Your brain is a predictive system. If people get ripped away from you, you get a brain that will say, People will mess with me. People will hurt me. People will take advantage of me. That becomes your basic orientation as you grow up. Parents may experience similar emotional trauma, and potentially PTSD later on, but van der Kolk says their brains will likely not be altered to the same extent. It probably doesnt change and sculpt their brains as much as it does kids, because adults have fairly stable brains, he says. The experts all agree, however, that ending familial separation as quickly as possible is the best way to minimize damage for both kids and parents. Temple adds that emotional, psychological and social support may also help children who have been traumatized. Its not going to completely attenuate the negative effects of being separated from their parents, but that will help, Temple says. Puente a past APA president who was himself an undocumented immigrant when his family fled Cuba for the U.S. in 1960 stresses the need to support vulnerable children, in hopes of giving them the same opportunities others are afforded in this country. Its never too late to attend to children, Puente says. Theres no question about it. Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, and Jamie Dimon have found their CEO. Dr. Atul Gawande has been named CEO of the health care company founded by Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B), Amazon (AMZN), and JPMorgan (JPM) in an effort to push down health care costs. Gawande will begin his role at the new company, which will be headquartered in Boston, on July 9. The companies said this new company will operate as an independent entity and will be free from profit-making incentives and constraints. Dr. Atul Gawande has been named CEO of the new healthcare company founded by Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, and JP Morgan. Gawande currently practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Womens Hospital and is Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. He is founding executive director of the health systems innovation center, Ariadne Labs. He also is a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, and he has written four New York Times bestsellers: Complications, Better, The Checklist Manifesto, and Being Mortal. Talent and dedication were manifest among the many professionals we interviewed, said Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO, Warren Buffett. All felt that better care can be delivered and that rising costs can be checked. Jamie, Jeff and I are confident that we have found in Atul the leader who will get this important job done. Buffett had previously told Yahoo Finance that Ted Combs, one of Berkshires two investment managers, had been spending most of his time searching for the CEO to run this new company. In recent years, Buffett has described rising health care costs as the tapeworm of American economic competitiveness. Since Buffett began his career as an investor, U.S. spending on health care has risen from around 4% of GDP to around 18%. We need an extraordinary CEO because it takes a lot of imagination, and it takes a whole lot of execution, Buffett told Yahoo Finance. And it takes somebody that has a fervor for doing this beyond just having a job. Im thrilled to be named CEO of this health care initiative, Gawande said. Story continues I have devoted my public health career to building scalable solutions for better health care delivery that are saving lives, reducing suffering, and eliminating wasteful spending both in the U.S. and across the world. Now I have the backing of these remarkable organizations to pursue this mission with even greater impact for more than a million people, and in doing so incubate better models of care for all. This work will take time but must be done. The system is broken, and better is possible. Gawande has been on the radar of Buffett and the leadership at Berkshire Hathaway for some time. In 2010, Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger wrote a $20,000 check to The New Yorker after Gawande published an article about health care in Texas. Munger told the magazine to give the money as a gift to Gawande; Gawande donated the money to Brigham and Womens Hospital, according to the HuffPost. Sydney (AFP) - Australia's dominant telecommunications company Telstra Wednesday announced plans to axe 8,000 jobs -- a quarter of its workforce -- as part of a drastic new strategy to cope with an increasingly competitive industry. The decision by the company, one of Australia's largest employers, is part of a shake-up targeting an extra Aus$1 billion (US$750 million) in cost-cutting by 2022, on top of Aus$1.5 billion previously announced. To create a leaner operation, it will also split its mobile and infrastructure divisions into separate businesses. "We are creating a new Telstra that is able to continue to lead the market," said chief executive Andrew Penn. "In the future our workforce will be a smaller, knowledge-based one with a structure and way of working that is agile enough to deal with rapid change. "This means that some roles will no longer be required, some will change and there will also be new ones created." The cuts come less than a month after Telstra said its 2017/18 earnings will likely be at the bottom of its guidance range of Aus$10.1 billion to Aus$10.6 billion, blaming increasing competition in mobile and fixed broadband. The warning sent its shares tumbling to a more-than six-year low of Aus$2.71. Telstra employs 32,000 people across 20 countries, according to its most recent annual report. Of the jobs to go, one in four will be executive and middle management roles. Penn said the company had to take action to stay on top in a highly competitive market. "The rate and pace of change in our industry is increasingly driven by technological innovation and competition," he said. "In this environment traditional companies that do not respond are most at risk. "We have worked hard preparing Telstra for this market dynamic while ensuring we did not act precipitously. However, we are now at a tipping point where we must act more boldly if we are to continue to be the nation's leading telecommunications company." Story continues - Infrastructure business - Telstra has a range of businesses including fixed broadband, mobile, data and IP, network application and services, digital media and international. Part of its new strategy will see it create a wholly-owned standalone infrastructure business unit from July 1. Called Telstra InfraCo, it will comprise the telecom's fixed-network infrastructure including data centres, non-mobiles related domestic fibre, international subsea cables, exchanges, poles, ducts and pipes. Its services will be sold to Telstra, wholesale customers and Australia's National Broadband Network, controlling assets with a book value of about Aus$11 billion. "As technology innovation is increasingly relying on connectivity, the role of telecommunications infrastructure is becoming more important," said Penn. "There is virtually no technological innovation happening today that does not rely on a high-quality, reliable, safe and secure telecommunications network. "In this world our infrastructure assets are becoming more valuable. By creating a new infrastructure-focused business unit we will better optimise and manage these assets." Telstra also intends to "monetise assets of up to Aus$2 billion over the next two years to strengthen the balance sheet", and has set aside Aus$600 million in restructuring costs. LINZ, Austria (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is likely to meet his German counterpart Angela Merkel and other European leaders this week to discuss migration, he said on Wednesday. "There will probably be a meeting this week between Angela Merkel, me and other heads of state and government on the issue of migration policy," Kurz told reporters ahead of a joint cabinet meeting with ministers from the German state of Bavaria. (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Catherine Evans) Indonesian search and rescue teams recovered three bodies on Wednesday, June 20, from the site on Lake Toba, in North Sumatra, where a ferry sank on Monday. The bodies, all of women, were found on Wednesday morning, CNN Indonesia reported. This video shows workers transferring one of the bodies into an ambulance. Hours after the ferry KM Sinar Bangun capsized on June 18, one body was found. Bad weather and strong currents have hindered the search. A total of 18 people were rescued during the sinking, but 178 people were reported missing, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency, told journalists via WhatsApp. Because there was no passenger list, the number of the missing people was based on reports from families, Sutopo said. BBC Indonesia later cited a source saying that figure could reach 192. The government initially estimated between 70 and 130 people were on board at the time of the incident. Credit: Binjai City Government PR Office via Storyful CM Mehbooba Muft was taken off-guard when she received a phone call from governor Vohra about the BJPs decision to pull out of the govt. Srinagar/New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir plunged into political uncertainty and faced the prospect of governors rule followed by early elections after the Bharatiya Janata Party suddenly snapped ties with its alliance partner, Peoples Democratic Party, on Tuesday afternoon, bringing the two-year-old government down. The BJP cited rise in radicalism and terrorism in the state and the PDP-led governments failure to contain it as the reason for its decision. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who was apparently not given a warning by the BJP before it ended the thre-year-old alliance, submitted her resignation from the post of chief minister to governor N.N. Vohra and said that her party was not interested in exploring the possibility of entering into an alliance with any other party to form a new government. Though Mr Vohra asked her to continue in office till alternative arrangements are made, with the fall of PDP-BJP government and no political party staking claim to form a new one, J&K will, in all probability, be brought under Governors rule Tuesday midnight onwards. On Tuesday evening, governor Vohra forwarded a report to President Ram Nath Kovind on the collapse of the government in the state and the developments that followed it. As ties between the two unlikeliest of allies in J&K worsened and apparently became untenable for the BJP, the saffron party on Tuesday announced its decision to withdraw support to the PDP-led government, saying continuation in the alliance would have gone against national interest. Making the announcement, BJP national general secretary and J&Ks in-charge Ram Madhav said, It has become untenable for the BJP to continue in the alliance government in the state. He was flanked by the partys ministers from the state who had submitted their resignations to the governor. The BJP accused the PDP-led government of failing to reign in radicalisation and held it responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation, attack on freedom of speech and citizens fundamental rights. Sources said that Ms Mufti, who as chief minister had been trying to hold on to the uneasy alliance, was taken off-guard. She was in her office at the civil secretariat in Srinagar when she received a phone call from the governor about the BJPs decision to pull the plug on her government. Soon after the alliance government collapsed, a blame-game ensued. While the BJP launched a direct assault on the PDP, the former chief minister, aware that her party now faces the possibility of a political backlash for joining hands with the BJP, preferred to play the victim and tried to keep the focus on her governments achievements. Ms Mufti claimed that she was not shocked by BJP decision to withdraw support, and, raising the bogey of Article 370 and unilateral ceasefire, she subtly hit out at the Centre saying the muscular security policy will not work in the state and reconciliation is the key. She reminded the Modi government that Jammu & Kashmir was not enemy territory. I am not shocked (by BJP exit). We didnt do this alliance for power We did it for some objective. This alliance had a bigger motive unilateral ceasefire, PMs visit to Pakistan, withdrawal of cases against 11,000 youth, she said. The fact that the chief minister was taken by surprise by the BJPs decision was corroborated by her predecessor and political bete noire Mr Abdullah. He told reporters in Srinagar that she was sitting in her office when they pulled the rug out of her chair. Later in a tweet, he wrote, She was cutting ribbons while the BJP was cutting her legs out from under her. How I wish she had left with her head held high & her dignity intact! She was J&Ks CM, not of the BJPDP. In the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, the PDP has 28 MLAs, the BJP 25, National Conference 15, the Congress 12, and seven seats are held by Independents and other parties including CPI(M). A Raj Bhavan release said that the governor received a formal letter signed jointly by BJP state unit president Ravinder Raina and its legislature party leader Kavinder Gupta during the day on Tuesday, informing him about the withdrawal of support to the coalition government. This was followed by chief minister Muftis resignation. The governor, the statement said, spoke with Ms Mufti and Mr Gupta, who was also the deputy chief minister in the coalition government, to ascertain whether their respective political parties intended to explore alternative alliances to form the government of the state. He was informed in the negative by both the leaders, it said, adding that the governor also spoke to J&K PCC chief G.A. Mir and later had a meeting with National Conference (NC) vice-president and former chief minister Omar Andullah at Raj Bhavan here. While Mr Mir informed the governor that his party did not have the numerical strength to form government on its own or in alliance, the NC leader stated that there was no alternative to governors rule and elections. After concluding his consultations with all the major political parties in J&K governor Vohra has forwarded his report to the President of India for imposition of governors rule under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, the statement said. After she learnt of the BJPs decision, Ms Mufti held a brief meeting with her close confidants. After submitting her resignation to the governor, she called another emergency meeting of the PDP to discuss the situation threadbare and chalk out future strategy. Speculation that the BJP was looking at the possibility of ending the alliance gained momentum when the party high command summoned its state leaders, including deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta on Monday evening. However, the move to withdraw support was kept under wraps till Tuesday afternoon, when the party finally decided to take the call. At around 11 am, party chief Amit Shah, Mr Ram Madhav, minister of state, PMO, Jitendra Singh met at the party headquarters in Delhi where it decided to seal the fate of the PDP government. Mr Madhav then called BJP ministers in the state and told them that the party was withdrawing support. The ministers were asked to resign. Moments after announcing the decision to snap ties with the PDP, the BJP summoned a press meet, where it launched a scathing attack on its former ally. Mr Madhav said that the BJP had joined hands with the PDP to respect the mandate and in the last three years it had tried its best to work towards the states objective of the coalition government peace, development and progress in all the three important regions of the state, Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir. In a bid to justify the decision to announce unilateral ceasefire, Mr Madhav said that the announcement of ceasefire during Ramzan was not Centres majboori (compulsion) but a goodwill gesture. The BJP leader then came out with a series of accusation against the PDP and its leader, Ms Mufti. In spite of all our efforts, we find that the state government has not been effective in addressing the core issues of the state, he said and added that the security scenario has deteriorated causing serious concern about the protection of basic fundamental rights of life, free speech among others. Mr Madhav spoke the murder of Rising Kashmirs editor Shujaat Bukhari and claimed that the assassinationw was an indicator to the deterioration of the situation and the extent of radicalisation. Saying that the security forces did a fabulous job in containing the worsening situation in the state, Mr Madhav pointed fingers at Mufti administration claiming that the primary responsibility of maintaining law and order, lies with the state which showed severe shortcomings. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrian government troops and affiliated forces committed war crimes and a crime against humanity in their long siege of eastern Ghouta through heavy bombardment and "deliberately starving" 265,000 people, U.N. investigators said on Wednesday. About 20,000 rebel fighters entrenched in the besieged area, some belonging to "terrorist groups", shelled the nearby capital of Damascus in attacks that killed and maimed, amounting to war crimes, they said. The latest report by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria, led by Paulo Pinheiro, is based on 140 interviews as well as photographs, videos, satellite imagery, and medical records. "Even if pro-Government forces are bombing and starving the civilian population of eastern Ghouta into submission, there can be no justification for the indiscriminate shelling of civilian inhabited areas in Damascus," panel member Hanny Megally said in a statement. Pro-government forces encircled Ghouta in April 2013 and "laid the longest running siege in modern history, steadily wearing down both fighters and civilians alike through a prolonged war of attrition", the report said, denouncing a "medieval form of warfare". From February to April 2018, their tactics to recapture the enclave were "largely unlawful in nature, aimed at punishing the inhabitants of eastern Ghouta and forcing the population, collectively, to surrender or starve". "Through the widespread and systematic bombardments of civilian inhabited areas and objects, and the continued denial of food and medicine to besieged civilians during the period under review, pro-Government forces perpetrated the crime against humanity of inhumane acts causing serious mental and physical suffering," the report said. Syrian and Russian air forces controlled the skies over Ghouta and carried out heavy air strikes on residential areas where families huddled in dark, overcrowded basements lacking toilets, it said. Warplanes hit hospitals, depriving wounded of health care, it said, adding: "This pattern of attack strongly suggests that pro-Government forces systematically targeted medical facilities, repeatedly committing the war crime of deliberately attacking protected objects, and intentionally attacking medical personnel." The U.N. experts cited evidence that chlorine had been used in Ghouta at least four times this year but said their investigations continued. Armed groups including Jaish al-Islam, the region's largest, Faylaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham exercised control over Ghouta. They operated tunnels and deep trenches, and regularly arrested and tortured members of religious minority groups, the report said. Government attacks were "regularly met with brutal acts of reprisal", it said, saying the rebels' use of improvised rockets that could reach parts of Damascus aimed to "spread terror". By mid-March, pro-government forces implemented negotiated local truces and "evacuation agreements", the report said. Tens of thousands left via humanitarian corridors amid chaos and many civilians remain "interned". (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May faces a showdown with her pro-EU MPs on Wednesday over parliament's role in the final Brexit deal, which could influence her entire negotiation strategy. MPs will vote on amendments to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill setting out how much power lawmakers will have if the government fails to agree a departure deal before Brexit in March 2019. May says she expects to get an agreement with Brussels, but warned that any attempt to tie her hands could undermine the ongoing negotiations. She averted a rebellion by pro-EU MPs in her Conservative Party on the issue of parliamentary powers last week with a promise of a compromise, but within days they had rejected her proposal as inadequate. Instead they worked with peers to introduce their own amendment to the unelected upper House of Lords, which agreed it by a landslide on Monday. The amendment now returns to MPs in the elected lower House of Commons, where Conservative rebels will ally with opposition parties in a bid to finally make it law. May's spokesman refused to say if he believes the government has the numbers to win the vote, but made clear that no more concessions would be forthcoming. "We cannot accept the amendment on a meaningful vote agreed in the Lords," he said, adding that it "would undermine our ability in the negotiations to get the best deal for the country". "We will be retabling our original amendment," he said, adding: "We hope that all MPs will be able to support the government's position." - Government collapse - The vote, due on Wednesday afternoon or early evening, could have implications for Britain's wider Brexit strategy, indicating where the power lies in parliament. May commands only a slim majority in the 650-seat Commons, made possible through an alliance with Northern Ireland's 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPs. A victory for the pro-EU rebels would embolden them ahead of debates next month on Britain's future trading relationship with the European Union, which they are seeking to keep as close as possible. Story continues It would likely anger eurosceptics, who accuse the rebels of seeking to thwart Brexit. They are also becoming increasingly frustrated with the withdrawal process under May's leadership. Leading Conservative rebel Dominic Grieve denied he was trying to undermine the government or stop Brexit, but warned that if parliament rejected the final Brexit deal, there would be a crisis. "That's what wakes me up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat," he told Sky News television. "The very reason I've prompted this amendment is to provide a mechanism to make sure that we don't come to government collapse immediately." But eurosceptic Conservative MP Graham Stringer said Grieve and his supporters were only interested in "sabotaging the whole process". "The purpose of the latest Grieve ruse is to give parliament the power to delay or stop Brexit," he said. - More realism - Despite agreement on Britain's financial settlement and EU citizens' rights, the Brexit talks are progressing slowly, and there are few hopes of a breakthrough at an EU summit later this month. Both sides are still publicly aiming for an agreement in October, but this is looking more and more difficult. Negotiations are currently stalled on how to avoid border checks between Northern Ireland, a part of the UK, and neighbouring EU member Ireland when Britain develops its own trade and customs policies. "Serious divergences" remain over Northern Ireland, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Tuesday after a final round of talks between London and Brussels ahead of the European summit. The British government has also yet to decide on what it wants from the future economic relationship. It has been clear about one area, security cooperation -- but many of its proposals were on Tuesday knocked back by Barnier. He said Britain could not stay in the European Arrest Warrant, take part in meetings of policing agency Europol or access EU-only police databases. "We need more realism about what is and what is not possible," he said. A Mission Police Dept. officer, left, and a U.S. Border Patrol agent watch over a group of Central American asylum seekers before taking them into custody on June 12, 2018, near McAllen, Texas. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images) Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served under George W. Bush, says he isnt surprised by the kind of tragedy happening at the southern U.S. border, where President Trumps administration has been separating children from their families when they illegally cross it. It is to be expected when were a country that has the right to control our own borders, Gonzales told Yahoo News Tuesday. But he argued that children should be kept with their families including cases when the adults are deported. The best policy would be for the child to be with the parents, he said. Parents should be with their children. Parents have responsibility to take care of their children, and so if someone is deported. the children should go with the parent. They need to be kept together. And then the parents can apply lawfully, and hopefully they will be able to return to this country with their children. The Trump administrations zero-tolerance immigration policy, enacted in April, criminally prosecutes all undocumented immigrants caught illegally crossing into the U.S. As a result, nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents. Today, Trump announced that this afternoon he will sign an executive order to keep families together. But it is not yet clear how the order will prevent families from being separated. Slideshow: Children held under Trump administrations zero tolerance illegal immigration policy >>> Gonzales, who led the Department of Justice from 2005 to 2007 under the previous Republican president, said hed have to implement the same policy if he had been asked. If I was the attorney general, and this was what the president wanted, Id have to follow what the president wanted, he said. So long as its lawful, then you carry out the objective of the White House. Theres nothing unlawful about that order. While there is no law that requires unauthorized immigrants to be separated from the children, Gonzales said: Whether we have the laws or not, typically even in the enforcement of laws that are on the books there is discretion in the hands of the federal government. Story continues This discretion has changed how immigrants who unlawfully cross the U.S. border are prosecuted. Before the zero-tolerance policy, they were referred for civil deportation proceedings that did not require families to be separated. The new policy now refers illegal border crossers for federal criminal prosecution and jail. And because minors cannot be kept in federal criminal detention facilities, they are separated from their parents. In an interview this week, Jeff Sessions, Trumps attorney general, said he hopes that immigrants crossing the border unlawfully get the message through the policy. Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales exits Trump Tower in New York City in December 2016. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images) A father of three, Gonzales has sympathy for the childrens situation. As Laura Bush said, its heartbreaking; its not fair to children, says Gonzales, referring to an op-ed penned by former first lady Laura Bush and published on Fathers Day. Its about punishing the parents without punishing the children. And while this [policy] does punish the parents because they dont want to be separated from the children, it also punishes the children. Lets find a way that punishes the parent without punishing the child. Gonzales went on to say that both parties are to blame for the lack of progress on immigration reform. I think its a failure of leadership in the Congress, but also I dont think were getting much support from the White House in terms of being able to sit down and compromise, he said. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly blamed Democrats for the crisis at the border, with nonspecific reference to policies of past administrations. For example, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, signed by Bush in 2008, required that unaccompanied minors from countries except Mexico and Canada be turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services for resettlement. Another example is the 1997 Flores Settlement, which allowed unaccompanied children caught at the border to be released to their parents, adult relatives or other caretakers after no longer than 20 days in immigrant detention. None of these policies required children be separated from their parents, as Trump has falsely claimed while citing a nonexistent horrible law. Gonzales said the best-case scenario for the separated families is reuniting them as quickly as possible, and then for them to make alternate arrangements if they arent granted permission to remain in the U.S. lawfully. Thats harsh, said Gonzales, but thats operating in a lawful way; protecting our borders in a way thats consistent with our values of being a country of a rule of law. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Canada just legalized marijuana nationwide. In a historic vote on Tuesday, the Senate approved Bill C-45. Also known as the Cannabis Act, Bill C-45 legalizes weed possession and sales for adults, and allows up to four marijuana plants per household. The bill previously passed in the House of Commons. SEE ALSO: We hitched a ride on Potlandia, a dispensary touring 'cannabus' Like statewide legalization in the United States, it'll be a while before people can just walk into a shop and order up a nice eighth. Each province is implementing different aspects of the bill in the next 8 to 12 weeks while the federal government has jurisdiction over parts like illegal sales to minors and assigning licenses to growers, it's up to the provinces to manage retail sales and distribution laws. Adults will be allowed to possess up to 30 grams of marijuana, and products will be sold in plain packaging with labels that are clearly marked. Provincial governments can also establish stricter rules like limiting home growth. Three provinces have already expressed plans to ban home growth altogether, according to CBC. Canada's federal government started the arduous journey to legalization in April 2017. In a press release, the government of Canada admitted that "the current approach to cannabis does not work." Its been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate. #PromiseKept Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 20, 2018 "It has allowed criminals and organized crime to profit, while failing to keep cannabis out of the hands of Canadian youth," the statement said. "In many cases, it is easier for our kids to buy cannabis than cigarettes." Story continues Justin Trudeau tweeted that because it's too easy for kids to buy weed, "criminals reap the profits." The Canadian government planned for retail sales to start in the beginning of July, but the start date was pushed because the Senate required more time to review the bill. Now that it's passed through both houses of Parliament, Trudeau has to decide the date when legalization is official. Senator Tony Dean, who sponsored the Cannabis Act, called the legislation's passing "transformative social policy." "A brave move on the part of the government," he told CBC. Canada is the second country behind Uruguay to legalize cannabis for adults at the national level. Currently, nine states and Washington D.C. have legalized cannabis for adults in some form in The United States, but marijuana remains illegal under federal law. President Donald Trump has previously hinted that he would support an effort to end the federal ban on marijuana. By David Ljunggren and Anna Mehler Paperny OTTAWA/TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday the U.S. practice of separating immigrant children from their parents on its southern border was "unacceptable", even as he resisted pressure to suspend a bilateral agreement designating the United States a "safe" country for refugees. Trudeau has been under increasing pressure to suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement, a 2004-era pact under which asylum seekers presenting at a land border crossing in either country are turned back and told to apply for refugee status in the first country they arrived in. The agreement has been under fire for years in Canada from lawyers and advocates who argue the United States is not "safe" for refugees, and that its system is not analogous to Canada's. "What is happening in the United States is unacceptable. I cannot imagine what these families are going through. Obviously this is not the way we do things in Canada," Trudeau told reporters at the parliament buildings on Wednesday. The comments were by far the harshest by a member of the Canadian government, which is trying to prevent a trade war with the United States and is also struggling to control cross-border migration of its own. More than 30,000 asylum seekers have illegally crossed the Canada-U.S. border since January 2017, many saying they were fleeing U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration policies. Trudeau has come under increasing political pressure to condemn Washington for the practice of splitting up families and putting children in enclosed detention centers. As recently as Monday, he said he would not play politics with the issue. This week, former federal Liberals as well as opposition politicians and rights groups called on the federal government to suspend the agreement. "The United States is no longer 'safe' for asylum seekers... We should make crystal clear that we will not be complicit in his mistreatment of refugees," former diplomats Lloyd Axworthy and Allan Rock wrote in an op-ed in the Globe and Mail this week. Story continues The Trump administration is facing intense criticism in the United States and abroad over its "zero tolerance" policy which can result in immigrant children being separated from their parents after they cross the U.S. border illegally. Trump said on Wednesday signed an executive order that he said will keep families together but retain the "zero tolerance" policy. A court challenge launched last year argues the Safe Third Country Agreement is discriminatory and violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Recent developments, including child separations and U.S. Attorney-General Jeff Sessions' decision to disregard domestic violence as grounds for a refugee claim, only reinforce existing arguments against the agreement, said Janet Dench, head of the Canadian Council for Refugees, which is intervening in the case. (Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto; editing by Bill Berkrot and Chizu Nomiyama) Ottawa (AFP) - The US practice of separating migrant children from parents caught crossing the US-Mexico border illegally is "wrong," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday. "What's going on in the United States is wrong," he told reporters. "I can't imagine what the families living through this are enduring. Obviously this is not the way we do things in Canada." Speaking in French, the prime minister added that the US actions were "unacceptable." President Donald Trump's administration is facing growing outcry at home and abroad over the separations, the product of a "zero-tolerance" policy on undocumented migrants. US officials say more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents or guardians since early May, when the policy was announced. Lawmakers who visited minors in detention described wailing children behind chain-link fences, with no idea when they will see their parents again. On Tuesday, Canada's Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen warned that the policy could threaten America's safe haven status. Earlier, he joined Canada's development and foreign ministers in expressing support for refugee resettlement, as needed. "No one becomes a refugee by choice. We are all capable of helping refugees rebuild their lives and protecting them from famine and warfare," said a statement. Canada was the world's ninth-largest recipient of asylum claims last year, at 47,800, according to the government. "Throughout Canada's history, we have seen refugees and their descendants become productive and contributing members of our economy, our society and our cultural life," it said. Archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (Getty Images) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Vatican has asked retired Washington, D.C., Archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, to cease public ministry after finding he was credibly accused of sexually abusing a teenager almost 50 years ago, the archdiocese and McCarrick said on Wednesday. McCarrick is among the highest-ranking of the more than 6,700 U.S. Roman Catholic clerics to be accused of sexually abusing children since the church's sex abuse scandal broke in 2002, according to BishopAccountability.org, a private group that tracks the allegations. McCarrick, 87, was accused of sexually abusing a teenager when he was a priest in New York, he said in a statement. He said he was innocent, but an investigation by the Church found the allegations to be credible and substantiated, the archdiocese said in a statement. "The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, at the direction of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has instructed Cardinal McCarrick that he is to refrain from any public ministry or activity until a definite decision is made," the archdiocese said. McCarrick said he would follow the Vatican's instruction. "While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through," McCarrick said in a statement. The clergy sex abuse scandal erupted in Boston and rippled around the globe as abuse was found in many countries, costing the church billions of dollars in settlements and undercutting its moral authority. Pope Francis has worked to address the scandal, meeting twice with victims of clergy sex abuse. He came under heavy criticism in January, when he vigorously defended Chilean Bishop Juan Barros, who was accused of witnessing a priest's abuse of boys and doing nothing to stop it. After returning to the Vatican, the Pope sent an investigator to speak to victims and witnesses, and accepted three Chilean bishops' resignations. In an interview with Reuters, he said he may accept additional bishops' resignations. Story continues In addition to the priests accused of sexually assaulting children, high-powered leaders including former Boston Archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law were accused of allowing accused priests to continue to minister to children. Law died in December. "This is an absolutely stunning revelation ... The fact that the Church itself is finding it is credible and substantiated suggests that it indeed is because the Church does not say that lightly," said Anne Barrett Doyle, a board member at BishopAccountability.org. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Scott Malone and Marguerita Choy) Chadwick Boseman gave his 2018 MTV Movie and TV Award to a real-life superhero. The Black Panther star, 40, honored James Shaw Jr., the man who stopped a mass shooter at a Tennessee Waffle House, while accepting the award for Best Hero. After getting hugs from his costars, including Michael B. Jordan, Boseman took the stage and received his golden popcorn statue from Olivia Munn and Zazie Beetz, who were presenting the award. Its even greater to acknowledge the heroes that we have in real life, Boseman told the audience. He fought off a gunman in Antioch, Tennessee, at a Waffle House. He saved lives a real life hero, he said of Shaw Jr., who joined the actor to accept the award on stage. This is going to live at your house. Shaw, 29, wrestled the gunmans weapon away when he stopped to reload that Sunday morning, after which the shooter fled, according to authorities and Shaws recounting of events as well as news reports. Four people were killed in the mass shooting: Akilah DaSilva, DeEbony Groves, Joe Perez and Taurean Sanderlin. Multiple others were injured, including Shaw, who was grazed by a bullet and burned while grabbing the hot rifle of the gun. In the aftermath of the Waffle House attack, Shaws quick actions were hailed by many around the country, though he has sounded a humbler note about what he did, initially saying he acted out of self-preservation. I dont want people to think that I was the Terminator or Superman or anybody like that, he told reporters. Shaw Jr. has since raised more than $200,000 to support the families of the victims, according to multiple reports. He created a GoFundMe on April 22, the same day as the Waffle House shooting. Please take the time to donate as all of the proceeds will be given to the families, Shaw wrote with the fundraiser. Thank you again for your generosity and blessings! In little more than a week, Shaw has raised about $209,000 as of this writing many times his original $15,000 goal. The 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards, hosted by Tiffany Haddish, are airing on MTV. This article originally appeared on people.com Tripoli (AFP) - Clashes between rival groups in Libya's key oil export ports have caused output to drop by nearly half, the head of the National Oil Company said on Wednesday. "Production has seen a reduction by 450,000 barrels per day, plus 70 million cubic feet of natural gas, equivalent to $33 million in sales based on market prices," Mustafa Sanalla told AFP via email. The Ras Lanuf and Al-Sidra terminals have been closed since last Thursday when armed groups attacked oil facilities held by forces loyal to military strongman's Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya. Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army has since launched an offensive to push the militias out of the area, with the violence causing "catastrophic damage", according to the NOC. Sanalla said the clashes "will ultimately result in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs, and billions in lost sales opportunities". The NOC chief, who was in Vienna for an OPEC meeting on Tuesday, was revising upwards an earlier NOC estimation that put production losses at 400,000 bpd. On Monday, the NOC said fires caused by the clashes destroyed two crude tanks -- reducing storage capacity at the Ras Lanuf terminal by 400,000 barrels. "Maintenance teams are still dealing with the aftermath of the blaze and are trying to ascertain the extent of the damage to the terminal," Sanalla said. The armed groups that launched Thursday's attacks are loyal to rebel leader Ibrahim Jadhran. Jadhran's Petroleum Facilities Guard controlled the terminals for years following the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi -- but they were eventually forced out by the LNA in September 2016. Aside from oil infrastructure damaged by conflict, Sanalla said Libyan authorities were also struggling to "conquer the shocking scale" of fuel theft. "The smugglers think they can operate with impunity -- to the extent that the country is losing more than $750 million a year through domestic fuel smuggling alone," he said. Story continues Libya's economy relies heavily on oil, with production at 1.6 million barrels per day under Kadhafi. His NATO-backed 2011 ouster saw production fall to about 20 percent of that level, before recovering to more than one million barrels per day by the end of 2017. "Those that seek to disrupt NOC operations and sequester facilities for their own gain should be seen for what they are -- criminals," Sanalla said. "Libyan natural resources and oil and gas revenues must be a catalyst for reconstruction and national prosperity, not conflict." It may be recalled that the Centre had categorically turned down Ms Muftis appeal to hold talks with the Hurriyat leaders. Moments after the BJP withdrew support, Union home minister Rajnath Singh held an hour-long meeting on Tuesday afternoon at his residence to take stock of the latest security situation in the troubled state. (Photo: File) New Delhi: With the BJP pulling from the Mehbooba-led government in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday just after the month-long Ramzan ceasefire hiatus, Operation All-Out is set to begin with a renewed thrust to eliminate Kashmiri militants and smash their networks. Moments after the BJP withdrew support, Union home minister Rajnath Singh held an hour-long meeting on Tuesday afternoon at his residence to take stock of the latest security situation in the troubled state. NSA Ajit Doval, Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba and Intelligence Bureau chief Rajiv Jain attended the meeting. Sources said a decision was taken to wait for the J&K governor N.N. Vohras report on the states security situation. Speculations are rife that the Centre could possibly appoint a new governor in J&K after the Amarnath yatra, which starts on June 28 and will continue for two months. Speaking to a news agency, a senior BJP leader said that Central government would like incumbent N.N. Vohra to be in charge of the annual pilgrimage given his vast experience. It may be recalled that Mr Vohra, who was appointed governor in June 2008 and given a fresh term in 2013, is among the few governors appointed by the UPA government to have continued in his position in the BJP-led NDA dispensation. On Wednesday, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman will visit the residence of Aurangzeb in Poonch, the soldier who was abducted in Pulwama while on his way home for Id celebrations and later brutally shot dead by terrorists last week. She will also meet top officials in the state handling security duties. That the crackdown has already begun became clear with a top security officer whose mandate includes Kashmir operations saying: As soon as the Ramzan ceasefire ended, we already undertook two operations in Bijbehara and in Pampore. Even today, there was an operation in Traal, so Operation All-Out is definitely on now. It may be recalled that the Centre had categorically turned down Ms Muftis appeal to hold talks with the Hurriyat leaders. The Army was also reportedly against the unilateral ceasefire, which was declared under pressure from the PDP, sources said. Asked if Cordon and Search Operations (CASO) will also be kick-started, the officer revealed: Operation All-Out was never called off completely. It was learnt that with the ideological and operational differences now gone, the security forces will now be given a free hand if the state comes under governors rule. BJP senior leader Ram Madhav said: In order to bring control over the situation prevailing in the state, we have decided that the reign of power in the state be handed over to the governor. Rome (AFP) - In a dusty Roma camp on the outskirts of Rome, life goes on despite threats of an ethnically-targeted census and deportation by Italy's new hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. Salvini, already under fire for refusing to take in a rescue ship carrying 630 migrants, sparked outrage Monday when he promised a head count of Italy's Roma community and to throw out those without legal status. His call was blasted as unconstitutional by rights groups and even criticised by members of his own coalition government, with some in Italy drawing parallels with measures targeting Jews under fascist wartime leader Benito Mussolini. "If he (Salvini) comes here, we will welcome him with kindness. He needs to see how we live," says Habibi Mehmedi, 18. The teenager is speaking to AFP in River Village, a camp located outside Rome's main ringroad and well away from the eyes of the office workers and tourists who crowd the historic centre. "There are some who do bad things, but most of us are Italian and have not committed any crimes." - It's just talk' - Marcello Zuinisi, founder and legal representative of Associazione Nazione Rom, an organisation that lobbies for the rights of Roma people in Italy, says he doesn't expect much action to follow Salvini's threats. "I know Matteo Salvini, we've had a number of conversations," Zuinisi says. "I don't think he is going to do anything. It's just talk." Zuinisi showed AFP a message he sent to Salvini saying that Italian statistics agency Istat had already prepared a dossier on where the various Roma communities live. "Later that day he changed tack and starting talking about how he wanted to see where funds from Europe have gone. He listened to me." Zuinisi says that last week his association went to Brussels seeking a European Commission investigation into the use of seven billion euros ($8.1 billion) of structural funds given to Italy to provide housing, jobs, schooling and health care to both Roma communities and homeless people. Story continues "But we didn't get anything in the camps, not even an aspirin," says Zuinisi. - Extreme hostility - Non-profit organisation Associazione 21 Luglio estimates there are between 120,000 and 180,000 Roma, Sinti and traveller people in Italy, of whom roughly 16,400 live in 148 formally recognised camps like River Village. It says around 9,600 live in smaller, informal camps, largely populated by Romanians. The formal camps are distributed in 87 different towns and cities across the country. Of their residents, 43 percent are Italian citizens, while the rest come from ex-Yugoslav countries -- around 3,000 of whom are stateless. In Rome there are 17 camps, of which just six, including River Village, are formally recognised. Despite Roma making up at most 0.3 percent of Italy's population, they are subject to extreme hostility from the general public. The taxi driver that took AFP to River Village advocated taking a flame thrower to the camp. The people living in Roma camps are often blamed for a variety of petty crimes like pick-pocketing, copper theft and break-ins. Two of Rome's major organised crime gangs are headed up by two long-settled Sinti families that control drug distribution in certain sections of the city. In April police arrested 10 people in River Village after they found an illegal rubbish dump and a vehicle stolen from Rome's waste management company. - 'You'd feel suicidal' - To gain access to the camp reporters had to pass a police checkpoint at the end of an isolated road that leads towards the Tiber river. Zuinisi says there are 127 households in the camp, living in camper vans and small prefabricated structures, with about 180 children. River Village is, says Zuinisi, probably the best Roma camp in the capital. He says that every child in the camp goes to school -- although with the summer holidays in full swing youngsters charged in between the camper vans. Others have had much more serious problems with poverty, criminality and sanitation. In September the Castel Romano camp to the south of the city saw cases of scabies among its residents. However River Village has no running water, and the water that the camp's inhabitants use is delivered in bottles by a private company. "And thank God they do! can you imagine what it would be like in here with this heat if we weren't sent water?" says Albert Hasimi, an 18-year-old Kosovan who has lived in Italy almost all his life. "I'll do you a deal. I come and live in your house and you come and live here. You'd feel suicidal." Hasimi says his family fled Kosovo following the 1989-199 war. Because he was born abroad to two foreign parents he has to apply for Italian citizenship now he is legally an adult, which he says he will do next month in the hope of better prospects. A bigger issue than the conditions in River Village is work. Mehmedi says there is little opportunity for anything other than irregular cash-in-hand labour. "We get by selling things at the local markets," he says. Hasimi says it is hard to find work for the simple reason that employers do not want to hire Roma people. "They ask you where you're from and when you tell them that you're Kosovan and Roma they tell you they won't hire you. It's racism." Mehmedi adds: "Everyone says that the gypsies rob and steal. But the Camorra (Neapolitan organised crime network)? They think their race is better than ours. It's that simple." Sarah Silverman was on The Jim Jefferies Show to discuss the challenge of creating edgy comedy in todays politically fraught environment. Silverman has long had a reputation for being both hilarious and offensive. Citing Samantha Bees comments about Ivanka Trump, Jefferies asked if comedians should apologize for their jokes. Silverman said, I believe you should only apologize if you feel remorse. Silverman has had her fair share of politically incorrect moments. In 2001, she told a joke on Late Night With Conan OBrien that contained a racist term used to describe Chinese people. Even though the joke used a racist term, the Silverman insisted, None of my jokes were from a racist place. While Silverman understands the joke was offensive, she was unapologetic about a joke she told almost 17 years ago. She told Jefferies, Were gonna look back at our s*** and cringe, if were doing it right, because time is always changing and progressing and things dont always hold up. Despite years of experience, Silverman admits there is no foolproof way to avoid offending people. So she just follows her gut, saying, I go with what I think is funny. The Jim Jefferies Show airs Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m. on Comedy Central. Dominican immigrant gets Golden Buzzer after breathtaking performance on AGT: Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook,or Instagram. Corey Lewandowski enraged a fellow panelist on Fox News on Tuesday when he derisively brushed off reports of a girl with Down syndrome being separated from her mother at the U.S.-Mexico border. Lewandowski, a former campaign manager for Donald Trump, was on the show to debate with Democratic strategist Zac Petkanas about the Trump administrations controversial family separation policy. Petkanas mentioned the report of a 10-year-old Mexican girl with Down syndrome who was separated from her mother when Lewandowski interrupted by saying, Womp, womp. Did you just say womp, womp to a 10-year-old with Down syndrome separated from her mother? Petkanas responded. How dare you. How dare you. .@Zac_Petkanas says on Fox News a 10-year-old girl with Down Syndrome was separated from her mother at the border. Corey Lewandowski responds: "Womp womp." pic.twitter.com/cZMXWmwbjw Jon Passantino (@passantino) June 19, 2018 Lewandowski attempted to defend his jeering remark but couldnt get a word in against a livid Petkanas. He further attempted to justify his reaction in a tweet on Wednesday by erroneously blaming former president Barack Obama for the policy. Lots of Fake News today. I mocked a liberal who attempted to politicize children as opposed to discussing the real issue which is fixing a broken immigration system. Its offenseive that the MSM doesnt want to talk about the fact these policies were started under Obama. Corey R. Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) June 20, 2018 Mexicos Foreign Affairs Secretary Luis Videgaray shared the girls story at a news conference Tuesday, igniting more concerns over President Trumps zero tolerance immigration policy. Videgaray told reporters that the girl and her brother are among more than 2,300 children separated from their parents in government detention centers. Story continues The girls father is a U.S. resident but was detained a week ago and has been in an immigration center in McAllen, Texas, with her brother, Videgaray said Tuesday. Trumps crackdown on illegal immigration has sparked an emotional debate about the division of families at the border. Previous administrations chose to handle deportation proceedings in civil court to avoid family divisions, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a change in policy in May to handle illegal border crossings as criminal prosecutions. Lewandowski was fired from the Trump campaign in 2016 after he grabbed a Breitbart reporter at a news conference in Florida. The pundits insensitive remarks were met with heated backlash on social media, including a rebuke from former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. There is no low to which this coward Corey Lewandowski wont sink, Kelly wrote on Twitter. This man should not be afforded a national platform to spew his hate. This article has been updated with information about the childs father and about Lewandowskis 2016 dismissal from the Trump campaign, as well as with Lewandowskis Wednesday tweet. Related... Trump Administration To Divide Immigrant Families To Prosecute Parents For Illegal Entry 2,000 Kids Separated From Parents Under Trump Border Crackdown Mexican Official Says Girl With Down Syndrome Among Detainees Kids Taken From Their Parents At The Border Get Their Toys Confiscated Too Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Geneva (AFP) - Forces loyal to Syria's government committed what amounted to crimes against humanity, including deliberately starving civilians, during the siege of Eastern Ghouta, UN investigators said Wednesday. The five-year siege, on the outskirts of the capital, ended in April when Damascus regained control of the rebel enclave. "Following the end of the longest running siege in modern history... the UN Commission of Inquiry (for human rights in Syria) has condemned this method of warfare in Syria as barbaric," the UN investigators said in a statement. The COI, tasked by the UN Human Rights Council in March to urgently investigate recent events in Eastern Ghouta, released a 23-page report filled with horrific details of civilian suffering. "It is completely abhorrent that besieged civilians were indiscriminately attacked, and systematically denied food and medicine," commission head Paulo Pinheiro said in the statement. As pro-government forces dramatically escalated their campaign to recapture the besieged enclave between February and April this year, they used tactics that were "largely unlawful in nature," the report said. The tactics, it said, "aimed at punishing the inhabitants of eastern Ghouta and forcing the population, collectively, to surrender or starve." It described thousands of desperate people holed up for months in squalid basements with dwindling food rations and few if any sanitation facilities, as bombs and missiles rained down. - 'Deliberate starvation' - The report concluded that "certain acts perpetrated by pro-Government forces during the siege laid to Eastern Ghouta, including the deliberate starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare, amount to the crime against humanity of inhumane acts causing serious mental and physical suffering." The investigators slammed the widespread use of sieges throughout Syria's seven-year conflict, which has killed more than 350,000 people. Story continues "Hundreds of thousands of Syrian women, men and children countrywide have suffered for too long the perverse and long-lasting effects of this medieval form of warfare," the report said. The UN's Syria commission, set up in 2011 shortly after the civil war began, has repeatedly accused the warring parties of crimes. In Wednesday's report, the commission also faulted armed opposition groups like Jaysh al-Islam, Ahrar al-Sham and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham for committing "war crimes" by launching "indiscriminate attacks" on Damascus, and killing and maiming hundreds of civilians. "Through the entire duration of the siege, armed groups also regularly arbitrarily arrested and tortured civilians in Douma, including members of religious minority groups, repeatedly committing the war crimes of cruel treatment and torture, and outrages upon personal dignity," the report said. The investigators, who have never been granted access to Syria, said they based their findings for their latest report on some 140 interviews conducted in person in the region and from Geneva. They also said they analysed photographs, video recordings, satellite imagery, and medical records, as well as reports from government and non-government sources. The report noted that by the time government forces declared Eastern Ghouta recaptured on April 14, around 140,000 people had been displaced from their homes. Tens of thousands of them are still being unlawfully interned by government forces in managed sites throughout the Damascus region, the report said. Following local "evacuation agreements", up to 50,000 civilians from Eastern Ghouta were displaced to Idlib and Aleppo governorates, it said. London (AFP) - As a crucial Brexit battle comes to a head in the British parliament on Wednesday, MPs are weighing not just their own views but also their personal safety amid increasingly toxic public debate. Pro-EU lawmakers challenging the government's Brexit strategy have received repeated death threats, and at least one MP recently decided not to rebel on a bill for fear of reprisals. One member of Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party is under such threat that they had to be accompanied by six armed undercover police officers at a public engagement, according to colleague Anna Soubry. A leader of the pro-EU Conservative faction, Soubry has faced numerous death threats and on Monday had to call in police to investigate a new one. However, she said the intimidation only strengthened her resolve to vote against the government on Wednesday, when MPs vote on plans in the EU (Withdrawal) Bill to give parliament a greater say in the final Brexit deal. "Death threats becoming routine & making many of us more resolute #StandingFirm #MeaningfulVote," Soubry tweeted on the eve of the vote. During a debate on the same bill last week, Soubry revealed that she knew of at least one MP who declined to vote as they wanted "because of threats to their personal safety".Three people have been convicted over the abuse against Soubry, one of whom was jailed for eight weeks. All three referenced Jo Cox, an opposition Labour MP who was shot dead by a neo-Nazi sympathiser just days before the June 2016 referendum on Britain's EU membership. One of them, a 72-year-old retired engineer, admitted sending racist and threatening emails to a total of six MPs, which included accusations of "treachery" over Brexit. - 'Can't do our job' - Online abuse is sadly a fact of life for MPs: Labour MP Jess Phillips, an outspoken feminist, recently reported how she received 600 rape threats in one night. Story continues Real-life threats are also too common. Last week, a 23-year-old neo-Nazi admitted in court to planning to assassinate Labour MP Rosie Cooper. But the 2016 EU referendum was particularly divisive and tensions continue to flare up around key events, notably votes in parliament. Victims of abuse have laid some of the blame at Britain's rightwing newspapers, which have dubbed anyone challenging the Brexit process "Enemies of the People" or "Mutineers". Last week, pro-EU Labour lawmaker Chuka Umunna highlighted a Daily Express headline warning MPs to "ignore the will of the people at your peril". "This is a threat, pure and simple," he said. The government has condemned the threats or intimidation, but many of its supporters in parliament use inflammatory language, accusing rebels of trying to "sabotage" Brexit. Conservative rebel Dominic Grieve, a former attorney general who has faced his own death threats, said the "hysteria" around Brexit legislation must end. "Parliament can't do its job if every time we have issues of detail over what goes in or out of a bill, it is turned into a constitutional crisis and accusations of treason are levelled at anyone who disagrees with the government's approach," he told Sky News television on Tuesday. Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Evan Vucci/AP, Getty Images (2), Jon Chol Jin/AP (2). If youve been wondering what makes Kim Jong Un such a successful dictator, heres one hint: When he speaks at a meeting, his officials sit up and pay attention. We know this because President Trump praised him for it after their meeting in Singapore last week, adding I want my people to do the same. Trump later described the remark as a joke. One way to command the attention of others is with force of personality, argument and rhetoric. The other way, evidently preferred by Kim, is to make an example of subordinates who fall asleep at meetings or official functions by shooting at them with antiaircraft guns. Unconfirmed but widely cited reports said that was how the career of North Koreas defense minister ended in 2015. Whether Trump was aware of this practice when he praised Kims command of the bureaucracy is not known, but he reportedly has been annoyed at his secretary of commerce, 80-year-old Wilbur Ross, for dozing off during his speeches. We take it for granted that this is how dictators behave. As a high-ranking official of the Communist Party, Nikita Khrushchev would nap during the day in order to stay awake during the all-night vodka-fueled dinners Soviet premier Josef Stalin hosted. Things went badly for those who dozed off at Stalins table, Khrushchev wrote in his memoirs. (Stalin also once commanded the portly, late-middle-aged Khrushchev to perform a hopak, the Cossack kicking dance. Khrushchev complied. When Stalin says dance, the wise man dances, he wrote.) But why? When Kim is accused of sending assassins to douse his exiled half-brother with nerve poison, we recognize it as depraved, but rational in the sense that he is cementing his own power by dispatching a potential rival, following the rule of what would Putin do? But why should falling asleep be a capital offense? If anything, a sleeping rival is less of a threat than a wide-awake one. If I were the ruler of North Korea and gave a 5,000-word New Years Day speech, (Today, recollecting with great pleasure and pride and deep emotion the proud achievements we performed last year through our diligent and worthwhile labor and sincere efforts..) Id pardon anyone who kept his eyes open through even the first half-hour. But thats why Id make a lousy dictator. Story continues To understand what motivates someone like Kim, we turned to an authority on dominance ethologist Marc Bekoff, author of Canine Confidential: Why Dogs Do What They Do. In an essay on the Psychology Today blog, Bekoff writes: Dominance is a fact. Nonhuman (and human) animals dominate one another in a number of ways. Individuals may dominate or control (1) access to various resources including food, potential and actual mates, (2) the movements of others; or (3) the attention of others Taking these one at a time, Kim, the dictator of a country where as many as a million people starved to death in the 1990s and which still uses starvation as a tool of political control, according to no less an authority than Donald Trump, doesnt appear to have missed many meals himself. His wife, Ri Sol Ju, is a comely, fashionable former cheerleader who just happened to have fallen for a fat guy in a Mao-style suit, with a weird haircut, who incidentally is the absolute ruler of a country of 25 million. Kim controls the movements of his subjects to the degree that those attempting to leave the country without permission are shot on sight. And, crucially, he commands the attention of his citizens. State-run media lavishes fawning coverage on Kim. If he used Twitter, the whole country would probably be required to follow him, if ordinary citizens had access to the internet, which they generally do not. Behavioral biologist Dario Maestripieri, author of Games Primates Play: An Undercover Investigation of the Evolution and Economics of Human Relationships, studies social hierarchies. A dominant can use any means at his disposal to keep the subordinate from acquiring more power, he writes. This is the strategy used by dictators in despotic political regimes, and also by some domineering people in their personal relationships. But dominance exists only in relation to its opposite, submission. In some ways the more interesting question is not about the Kims or Trumps of the world, but their subordinates: those who either occupy a place within a formal hierarchy, (i.e., staffers or Cabinet members) or stand outside it but willingly place themselves in a submissive position. Were looking at you, Ted Cruz. Do you remember, back when you were rivals, Trump tweeting a picture meant to show that his own wife was prettier than yours? You said you wouldnt be a servile puppy dog, didnt you? Well, roll over and show us your belly. At least in the animals Bekoff studies, mostly dogs and coyotes, the interplay of dominance and submission serves a purpose for both parties. The opposing behaviors appear to have evolved as a way to avoid actual fighting. Nature may be red in tooth and claw, but thats a bad motto among members of the same species. Wild animals do not want to fight, do not want to get into situations where they can get hurt, he said in an interview. He regards the continual need some leaders display for attention, submission and flattery as mostly a human trait. I cant think of any nonhuman animals who continually need to have their status ratified, he says. Sometimes youll see a lower ranking animal lick the muzzle of a higher-ranking animal in a show of appeasement or submission, but most of the time theyve got other things to do. Maestripieri thinks the continuous one-upmanship of a Kim or a Trump is a function of narcissism, a personality trait that puts ones self at the center of the world. Narcissists are fundamentally insecure, he says. They have an image of themselves that is dependent on what other people think, and so they need constant reinforcement. The worst thing you can do to a narcissist, therefore, is to ignore him or her, the lesson Kims defense minister learned, too late, and that Trump seems inclined to enforce in his own world, unless you take him at his word that he was joking. Are you paying attention, Wilbur Ross? _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Billionaire Elon Musk has a way of kicking up a storm on Twitter from time to time, and he did it again on Tuesday morning by weighing in on Trump's widely condemned policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. SEE ALSO: 7 activist groups supporting families at the border that need your help right now Musk tweeted a link to the song "Shelter" by the xx and then followed that up with a rather noncommittal, "I hope the kids are okay." I hope the kids are ok Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2018 The "kids" Musk is talking about became a bit more clear in subsequent tweets. I couldnt even keep the US in the Paris Accord, but if there is some way for me to help these kids I will do so Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2018 Where are they? Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2018 Suffice to say, no, the kids are not ok just as some of his followers pointed out. They're very much not alright. In another tweet in the exchange, Musk who was born in South Africa and came to the U.S. during college says he's "enquiring on many channels" about the detainment camps. What exactly he plans to do, if anything, though isn't detailed. He did take a moment to both mention he's a top donor to the ACLU and supports their work, while pointing out that he doesn't necessarily support them on every single issue. Story continues The ACLU confirmed that Musk is, indeed, a "top donor" but didn't offer any other details. I am one of the top donors to @ACLU Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2018 Just because I donate doesnt mean I support every last thing a person or organization does, but I like all the people Ive met from @ACLU. They really care about doing good. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2018 At least he's moved on from attacking the media and is using his platform to bring attention to a national crisis. But it remains to be seen if he'll take more meaningful action, like joining his followers at protest march. Related Video: US Lawmakers Grappling With Immigration Crisis Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View. By Ece Toksabay and Ali Kucukgocmen ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's main state-run TV station devoted 67 hours of airtime to President Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party last month in the run-up to elections, according to two opposition members of television watchdog RTUK. His main presidential rival, Muharrem Ince, had less than seven. "They make pro-government broadcasting with the taxes we pay," Umit Ozdag, deputy chairman of the opposition Iyi party, which got just 12 minutes airtime, said at a recent protest at TRT offices. Critics say Erdogan's near-monopoly on the media may be the biggest obstacle to the free and fair conduct of the June 24 elections, which are being held under emergency law after a failed military coup two years ago. Free speech advocacy group Reporters Without Borders in April ranked Turkey 157 out of 180 countries in its annual report on global press freedom, and estimates about 90 percent of Turkey's newspaper coverage is pro-government. RTUK, whose make-up is allocated by parliament on the basis of party seats, has been monitoring political coverage in the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary vote. Television is dominated by TRT and its affiliated channels but even private broadcasters give far more air time to Erdogan than his challengers, said Ismet Demirdogen, one of four opposition party appointees in the nine-member body. In March, Dogan Holding, long seen as a pillar of Turkey's secular establishment, sold the top-selling Hurriyet newspaper and several broadcasters, including CNN Turk, to Demiroren Holding, which owns two pro-government dailies. Only a handful of newspapers that are not pro-Erdogan remain. "Voters have very limited access to information, independent news coverage, and non-government-controlled commentary about all the candidates and parties contesting the elections," Human Rights Watch said in a report in early June. RTUK chief Ilhan Yerlikaya denies that Erdogan has dominated coverage and says only a fraction of the complaints it receives relate to perceived unbalanced coverage. "Terrorist organizations are carrying out an image campaign against Turkey using propaganda aimed at Europe to say that there is no press freedom in Turkey," he told state news agency Anadolu. Yerlikaya turned down an interview request, and TRT declined to comment on the issue. The Turkish government denies interfering in the media. "It's not the government or any political party who decides how much television coverage candidates or parties receive. Media institutions make their decisions based on news worthiness," a government official told Reuters, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. ONE VOICE, MANY CHANNELS Erdogan has frequently lashed out at independent media for their critical coverage of the crackdown that followed the abortive putsch in 2016 and Turkey's military operations into northern Syria. More than 120 journalists have been detained and more than 180 media outlets closed on suspicion of links to the network of a U.S.-based cleric blamed for organizing the failed coup. In April a court sentenced 14 staff of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper - one of the few remaining voices critical of the government - to prison terms on charges of terrorism and supporting the cleric, Fethullah Gulen. They all denied the charges and were released pending appeal. Ahmet Sik, a prominent journalist and author who was given the harshest sentence - seven and a half years - is running for parliament for the pro-Kurdish HDP party. "For a very long time, there has been very heavy oppression and domination on the media. The mainstream media is either siding with the ruling party, has surrendered to the ruling party, or has kneeled before it," he told Reuters. Turkish broadcasters, he said, are "one voice, with many channels". Recent polls indicate the vote may be closer than anticipated when Erdogan called the snap elections in April, suggesting he may be pushed to a second-round run-off for the presidency and his ruling AK Party could lose its parliamentary majority. The opposition says changes to election regulations passed by parliament three months ago open the door to fraud on the day of the vote, however. The legislation allows ballots that are not stamped by the local electoral board to be admissible - formally approving a practice that caused a widespread outcry from government critics and concern from election monitors at a referendum last year. Some ballot boxes in the mainly Kurdish southeast have been relocated which officials say is aimed at stopping voter intimidation. The pro-Kurdish HDP opposition party says it has moved ballots from areas where it has strong backing to nearby villages with more AK Party support, however. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will monitor the vote, but international rights groups and opposition politicians said the restrictions on press freedoms had already cast a shadow over the vote's legitimacy. U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein has repeatedly called for emergency rule to be lifted. "It is difficult to imagine how credible elections can be held in an environment where dissenting views and challenges to the ruling party are penalized so severely," he said. (Writing by Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun in Ankara; Editing by Dominic Evans and Sonya Hepinstall) By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki raised hopes of a breakthrough in one of Africa's most intractable military stand-offs on Wednesday by describing recent peace overtures from arch-enemy Ethiopia as "positive signals". Speaking at a Martyrs' Day event in the capital, Asmara, the 72-year-old Isaias said he was sending a delegation to Addis Ababa to understand the position of Ethiopia's new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, and "chart out a plan". It was the first response from Eritrea, one of Africa's most closed and authoritarian states, to Abiy's surprising pledge this month to honour all the terms of a peace deal that ended a 1998-2000 war between the Horn of Africa neighbours. Adding to the positive mood music, Abiy's chief of staff said the prime minister welcomed Isaias's statement and promised the Eritrean delegation would be welcomed "warmly and with considerable goodwill". The border war nearly two decades ago drew comparisons to the First World War, with waves of soldiers forced to march through minefields towards Eritrean trenches, where they were cut down by machinegun fire. As many as 80,000 are believed to have been killed in total. Disputes over the still-militarised frontier, in particular the town of Badme, have kept the two sides at loggerheads. Asmara had used the Ethiopian threat to justify hefty military spending and the long-term conscription that has caused hundreds of thousands of young men to flee, mostly to Europe. However, Abiy, a 41-year-old ex-soldier who has outlined a series of radical reforms since taking over in March, stunned Ethiopians this month by saying he was prepared to honour international rulings that put Badme, which Ethiopia has refused to cede, in Eritrea. Isaias said the concession, which is likely to meet opposition from hardliners in Ethiopia's ruling EPRDF coalition, stemmed from the desire of both countries to reach long-term "peace and harmony". "The positive signals issued in these past days can be seen as an expression of this popular choice. We can say that the positive messages which have been circulating of late are signs of the people's choice," he said, according to the official translation of his speech on state EriTV television. "Outside myopic considerations of public relations stunts and advantages, we will send a delegation to Addis Ababa to gauge current developments directly and in depth as well as to chart out a plan for continuous future action." "CONSTRUCTIVE" There were no further details of the mission, including its date or remit, although Eritrea's ambassador to Japan, Estifanos Afeworki, described it on Twitter as "constructive engagement". Analysts said the road to any settlement would be arduous and long but if both sides continued to see the benefits of peaceful co-existence - and the international community kept up the pressure - it was possible. "Sending a delegation to open talks with the Ethiopians is a major development," said Martin Plaut, a Horn of Africa expert at London's Institute of Commonwealth Studies. "It's the kind of breakthrough that could end the no-war, no-peace stalemate that has prevailed since the end of the disastrous border war in 2000." Eritrea has no diplomatic relations with Ethiopia, although it has an embassy in Addis as part of its representation to the African Union, whose headquarters are in the Ethiopian capital. In parliament this week, Abiy acknowledged that the tensions were inflicting a heavy economic cost on both countries and said Addis should no longer hide this price tag from the Ethiopian people, another stunning departure with the past. Although welcomed across East Africa, Abiy's concession met opposition from war veterans still living in Badme and ethnic Tigrayans living in Tigray province, which lies along the Eritrean border. Some Tigrayans, who have long been the leading ethnic group in the EPRDF coalition that has run the nation of 100 million for more than two decades, are concerned their interests will be hurt if Badme is surrendered. Residents told Reuters a protest had already taken place in the Irob district in Tigray over the decision by Abiy, a member of the Oromo ethnic group, Ethiopia's largest. After Abiy's Badme announcement, the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, a regional political party that had dominated the EPRDF until Abiy took office in April, came out swinging against any concessions to Asmara. "The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front will not take part in any process that harms the interests of the people of Tigray," it said in a statement, demanding that any withdrawal be linked to additional concessions from Eritrea. (Reporting by Larry King) BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union on Wednesday finalised new climate rules after months of talks, targeting a total energy saving of 32.5 percent and an uplift in the share of renewable energy to 32 percent by 2030. National governments must now draft their own plans for implementing the bloc's overall climate goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 in line with the Paris Agreement. Talks have dragged on for months to reach a compromise between the European Parliament and EU member states on the new energy efficiency and renewable energy targets after 2021 as well as the rules governing implementation. A push by lawmakers for more ambitious targets and tougher monitoring of efforts met with resistance from member states wary of the economic impact of efforts to reduce emissions. Environmental groups and Green group lawmakers warned the agreement still falls short of the Paris Agreement's pledge to keep global warming well below 2 degrees. "The measures are not enough for the EU to fulfill its commitments under the Paris Agreement," Green parliamentarian Benedek Javor said. "They will need to be strengthened in time if we are to meet our climate obligations." The final deal includes a clause allowing for the bloc to revise up climate goals in 2023. Analysts at Thomson Reuters said the change to the renewable target is likely to impact future carbon prices in Europe's Emissions Trading System (ETS). The ETS is the EU's flagship tool for reducing greenhouse gases by charging some 12,000 airlines, industrial and power installations for each tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) they emit. The analysts said they expect carbon emissions from the power sector to be 700 million tonnes, or 6.5 percent lower, than previously forecast by 2030, as more electricity comes from renewable generation such as wind and solar and less comes from polluting fossil fuels. Lower emissions mean there will be less demand for carbon permits in the ETS, leading the analysts to cut their carbon price forecast for 2030 by 6 euros to 29 euros a tonne. (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel in Brussels and Susanna Twidale in London; Editing by Jan Harvey) Primates live in tropical and subtropical areas and are mainly found in regions of Africa, South America, Madagascar and Asia. New Delhi: Turns out, chimps, orangutans, lemurs, and other cuddle primates are in a serious peril. According to a joint study conducted by the German Primate Center and Deutsches Primatenzentrum (DPZ), many of our closest relatives are under serious threat, as the human population spread to all corners of the earth. Primates are fascinating. They are intelligent, live in complex societies and are a vital part of the ecosystem. Lemurs, lorises, galagos, tarsiers, monkeys and apes are our closest biological relatives and just like them, humans are also primates. An international team of leading primate researchers, including Christian Roos, has analysed and evaluated the situation of many endangered non-human primate species in Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In their study, the researchers investigated the influence of human activities on wild primate populations. The destruction of natural forests and their conversion into agricultural land, threatens many species who thereby lose their habitat. However, hunting and the bush meat trade also lead to a massive and rapid decline of many populations. A simulation of agricultural land expansion by the end of the century showed a decline of up to 78 percent in the distribution areas of many primate species. In their study, the scientists asked for immediate measures to protect the endangered primate species and supply recommendations for the long-term conservation of primates and to avert primate extinction. Primates live in tropical and subtropical areas and are mainly found in regions of Africa, South America, Madagascar and Asia. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) currently lists 439 species. 65 percent (286) of these are located in the four countries Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Around 60 percent of them are threatened by extinction. Particularly dire is the situation in Indonesia and Madagascar, where 90 percent of primate population declined and more than three-quarters of species are endangered. In a comprehensive literature review, the authors of the study analyzed the major threat factors for primates in four countries. In Brazil, Madagascar and Indonesia the increasing destruction of their habitats is a stressor for the animals. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the bush meat trade is the biggest threat. In addition, primates are sold illegally as pets or used in traditional medicine. Poverty, the lack of education, food insecurity, political instability and corruption further encourage the depletion of natural resources in the countries concerned and make it more difficult to protect the animals. The destruction of the natural environment through deforestation, the expansion of agricultural land and infrastructure development to transport goods has become a major problem," said Christian Roos, the co-author of the study. "The main contributors of this development are the industrial nations. There is a high demand for raw materials such as soy, palm oil, rubber, hardwood or fossil fuel. The four primate-rich countries cover 50 percent of these export goods to China, India, the US and Europe." The scientists combined data from the United Nations and World Bank databases to simulate the estimated spread of agricultural land in the four countries until the turn of the century. Assuming a worst-case scenario, the researchers were able to predict a decline in the geographical range of the primate populations. Accordingly, by the year 2100, 78 percent of the primate habitats in Brazil, 72 percent in Indonesia, 62 percent in Madagascar and 32 percent in the Congo could have disappeared. At the same time, the authors investigated the size and distribution of protected areas. Their estimates show that Brazil and Madagascar have around 38 percent, Indonesia 17 percent, and The Democratic Republic of Congo 14 percent of primate habitats in protected areas. The majority of the distribution areas are without protection status and primates are therefore under threat. The authors called for the extension of protected areas, the reforestation of forests and the planting of corridors as important measures to preserve primate populations. In addition, the local population must be made aware of the precarious situation. Governments, scientists, conservation organizations and economists need to work together to promote sustainable, organic farming while preserving traditional lifestyles. In addition, the governments of the countries concerned should work harder to combat illegal hunting, forest destruction and primate trade. "Primates are like canaries in a coal mine", said Roos. "They are invaluable for tropical biodiversity as they are vital for the regeneration of forests and stable ecosystems. Their extinction will serve as an alarm bell for humans and an indication that these habitats will become unusable in the long run". The study appears in the journal Peer Journal 2018. Brussels (AFP) - The leaders of 10 EU countries will hold crisis talks on migration in Brussels Sunday aimed at countering movement of asylum seekers between member nations which is a source of tensions within the bloc. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker called the meeting at the last minute as the issue causes fresh divisions in Europe, three years after the bloc faced its biggest migration crisis since World War II. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government coalition is under threat from the issue and there has also been a row over a boatload of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean who were turned away by Italy's new right-wing government. Hungary meanwhile passed a law on Wednesday criminalising aid groups that help migrants. "I am convening an informal working meeting on migration and asylum issues in Brussels on Sunday, in order to work with a group of Heads of State or Government of Member States interested in finding European solutions ahead of the upcoming #EUCO (European Council)," Juncker said on Twitter Wednesday. Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Belgian premier Charles Michel have all confirmed their attendance, officials said. The leaders of frontline states Italy and Greece will also be involved, as well as Austria and Bulgaria, who are the incoming and outgoing holders of the EU's rotating six-month presidency, European sources told AFP. The meeting comes ahead of a full summit of all 28 European Union leaders next Thursday to discuss plans to overhaul the bloc's asylum system, which has been under severe pressure since the migration crisis exploded in 2015. But even as numbers crossing the Mediterranean have dropped since then, efforts to reach a consensus have been thrown into turmoil by fresh developments in Europe as countries disagree over who should host new arrivals. Story continues - Obligations on asylum seekers - According to a draft conclusion for Sunday's meeting seen by AFP, they would undertake to speed up the return of asylum seekers from one EU state to another when the latter country is regarded as responsible for processing their application. This is already provided for in the Dublin Regulation, which generally assigns responsibility for asylum seekers to the nation of first entry, but which is only partially applied and the principle of which is disputed by countries such as Italy. This situation spurred the threat by Germany's hardline Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to turn back asylum seekers registered in another country without the agreement of its neighbours, a measure rejected by Merkel who is against unilateral initiatives to deal with the crisis. "Unilateral, uncoordinated measures would not only be less effective, but severely damage the process of European integration and put the achievements of Schengen at risk," the draft says, indicating support for Merkel. Several proposed measures are aimed at countering "secondary movements" within the EU, "as there is no right to freely choose the member state where to apply for asylum," says the text, which could change before Sunday. "We will impose on asylum seekers (sanctionable) obligations to remain in the competent member state," which must deal with their request. They would also have access to "social assistance" only in that country. The text said checks to control outbound travel should also be made at bus and train stations and airports by police and private transport companies. It also proposes stepping up measures taken the last three years to strengthen cooperation with north African countries, to speed up the return of illegal migrants and asylum seekers to their countries of origin and to support the Libyan coastguard. The EU border agency Frontex would also be revolutionised into a "true EU border police" with the number of officers increasing to 10,000 by 2020, a move Italy has been pushing for. - 'Catastrophe' - The draft text also calls for "a very swift completion of the reform of the Common European Asylum System". The Dublin Regulation is a major source of division as it puts a disproportionate burden on frontline states such as Greece and Italy. The European Commission has for two years been proposing to modify it, notably by introducing an automatic distribution of asylum seekers in the EU at times of crisis such as in 2015. Last week's row over the fate of more than 600 migrants on the Aquarius rescue boat helped thrust the migrant issue back to the top of the EU agenda. Italy refused to let the vessel dock at its ports, sparking a war of words with Malta and prompting Macron to accuse Rome of "cynicism and irresponsibility". Meanwhile after allowing more than one million asylum seekers into Germany since 2015, sparking a strong domestic backlash against immigration, Merkel is now fighting for her political future. Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Wednesday raised the spectre of a "catastrophe" similar to the events of 2015 if Europe does not agree a common response. burs-dk/arp/mtp/amz Brussels (AFP) - EU leaders will be asked to accelerate contingency plans in the event of failed Brexit negotiations with Britain, according to draft conclusions of a key European summit to be held next week. The European Council, which groups the EU's 28 member states, "renews its call upon member states and all stakeholders to step up their work on preparedness at all levels and for all outcomes", said a harshly worded draft document seen by AFP on Wednesday. The spectre of no deal had subsided in December after Britain agreed in principle on several EU red lines, including the hot-button issue of Ireland, that London agreed to flesh out later. The June 28-29 summit in Brussels was long set as the deadline for Britain to provide its detailed offer on the fate of the Irish border. This was to include the controversial idea of a "backstop" that would keep a non-EU Northern Ireland inside the bloc's customs union, barring a better solution. But overwhelmed by political turmoil within her own Conservative Party, British Prime Minister Theresa May has so far failed to submit a compromise that satisfies the Europeans in time for the summit. The Council, which is headed by EU President Donald Tusk, "expresses its concern that no substantial progress has yet been achieved on agreeing a backstop solution for Ireland/Northern Ireland," the draft said. "Negotiations can only progress as long as all commitments undertaken so far are respected in full." After a round of talks in Brussels, the EU had already on Tuesday underlined problems, noting the "serious divergences" on Ireland despite progress on several technical components of the Brexit negotiations. "We are not there yet: serious divergences remain on the backstop for (Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic). More work clearly needed," EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Twitter. At the European summit, Barnier will present the state of play in Brexit negotiations to the assembled heads of state and government. The EU hopes a final version of the withdrawal agreement, together with a political declaration on the future relationship between London and the EU, can be approved by October so that it can be ratified by the Brexit deadline of the end of March 2019. A month after imposing tough regulations to defend online privacy, the European Union is now contemplating whether to put its weight behind a different cause: copyright regulation. You may have applauded the General Data Protection Regulation, which went into effect May 25 across the EU and gave the people often described merely as users significant new privacy rights online. But the proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Marketwhich passed a committee vote in the European Parliament Wednesdaytargets most of its benefits at traditional media companies. And just as the GDPR has yielded changes in the U.S.for example, its made data portability a reality across social networks, freeing you to take your data to a competing servicethe effects of these copyright changes will probably spill over across the Atlantic. And if you use a search engine like Google to find news stories or enjoy seeing the creative work people share online, you may not like those results. In fewer words, it could wreck the internet. Link taxes The single most absurd part of this bundle of copyright changesfirst released in outline form by the European Commission in September of 2016is a proposal to extend publishers copyrights online. Article 11, Protection of press publications concerning online uses, essentially invites publishers to stop search enginesprincipally Google (GOOG, GOOGL), but also Yahoo, owned by Yahoo Finances parent firm Verizonfrom showing excerpts of a story in search results unless they pay for the privilege. How much of an excerpt? Earlier drafts let publications deny any search-engine snippet use, but a May 25 text says individual EU states can decide whats insubstantial and unworthy of protection. How would this work in practice? We dont need to speculate, because Germany and Spain have already tried this play. In Germany, newspapers lost traffic and soon granted royalty-free licenses to search engines. In Spain, a law required payments, which led Google to close Google News in that countryafter which a study by a publishers group found a 13% drop in traffic at Spanish news sites. Story continues There is no positive example for how the ancillary copyright might help anyone but copyright lawyers, summed up Mathias Schindler, a spokesman for Julia Reda, a European Parliament representative of the Pirate Party of Germany who has long opposed the copyright-revision proposal. A round of mythbuster talking points posted by a large group of EU publishers ignores that history and instead proffers a description of search sites that appears to have been written by nobody who has ever actually used one: large search engines and other distributors make publishers content available for free to the user. No, thats not how this works. Dear EU publishers: Search sites show links that, when clicked, take readers to your sites. If you make no money off that visit, thats not Googles fault. Without that help, readers have to go to individual sites and use their own search tools, which routinely fail to work as well as Google. Thats a recipe to make readers less informed. This kind of enforced inefficiency also opens up a space for disinformation vendors to mislead readersa risk over which EU parliamentarians expressed grave concern when they questioned Facebook (FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg in April Meanwhile, if publishers really do resent Google, Microsoft (MSFT) or Duck Duck Go pointing readers to their work, they canright nowedit a standard text file on their sites to block search sites. Content filtering Article 13 of the proposed directive may not seem as objectively foolish but poses a lot more danger. It would demand that sites hosting things people sharewords, pictures, music, moviestake affirmative steps to prevent the unauthorized sharing of copyrighted material. Theyve become vast distributors of copyrighted content, said John Phelan, head of EU communications at the international recording-industry trade group IFPI, of sites hosting user-generated content. He called that value gap an ongoing and severe market failure. This change would reverse the current regime in Europe, also that of the U.S., in which a site has to take down copyrighted material once the rightsholder reports a violation. Without that more permissive system, the entire category of social media would have died a litigious death early on. Earlier drafts specified content-filtering systemslike YouTubes Content ID, which automatically looks for matches to content that copyright holders have provided upfront to Google for identification purposes, then lets rights holders decide whether to have Google delete the offending upload or send it a share of ad revenue generated from it. The latest proposals are much more vague about remediesIts not an obligation on services to bring in anything new, Phelan saidand allow exemptions for smaller sites that wouldnt have a YouTubes resources to deploy content-recognizing software that can fail miserably in practice. But the logic still points the same way: Either a social site gets a license from rights holders covering user uploads of their content, it actively prevents offending uploads, or it gets a hot date in court. And automated filters remain dumb about recognizing memes, parodies and remixesall reuses of copyrighted material that the law has traditionally safeguarded. Transatlantic policy traffic It would be tempting to dismiss the copyright directive as yet another wacky exercise by those European socialists. But it can happen here. The Recording Industry Association of America has campaigned for changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which holds social sites immune from their users uploads if they promptly take down offending content, using the same value gap talking points as IFPI has in the EU. And last week, a Boston Globe editorial last week advocating a breakup of Google specifically endorsed rewriting the DMCA to punish that firmnever mind the consequences to any company that might want to challenge Google, but which wont have anything close to a Google-sized budget for copyright litigation. So if the full European Parliament votes to move this monstrosity forward, dont be surprised when its waves wash up on the East Coast. More from Rob: Email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com; follow him on Twitter at @robpegoraro. On one level, the divisions between the groups who convened at a New Jersey detention center this past Fathers Day could not have been more stark; seven of them were lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives positions of both power and privilege while the other five were immigrants who, facing imminent deportation proceedings, find themselves at the very hands of the government their fellow attendees are serving in. The lawmakers all Democrats who represent districts in New York and New Jersey: Reps. Jerrold Nadler, Adriano Espaillat, Hakeem Jeffries, Carolyn Maloney, Bill Pascrell, Frank Pallone and Albio Sires could only imagine what these detainees, some of whom had recently had their children torn from them as a result of President Donald Trumps zero tolerance policy, were going through. But, the representatives said they found common ground in their parenthood and that drove the emotional conversation. At one point I wanted to cry when I was hearing some of this, said Nadler, who arranged the meeting. Its Fathers Day. You know that when this is over in an hour, youre gonna go home to your family. And theyre gonna go back to a cell. And they dont know where their kids are. And theyre being processed for deportation. Its evil, Nadler said. I have never said anything about the United States government being evil before. This is evil. No Congressional aides or attorneys were in the room; it was just the detainees, whose name have been withheld for security reasons, and the lawmakers who were prohibited from using cell phones or electronics during the meeting, and relied on notes and their own recollections taken to relay the stories of these detainees to relay the meeting to TIME. Sires and Espaillat translated for the men, most of which had voluntarily turned themselves in upon reaching the U.S.-Mexico border when they submitted their requests for asylum. Once everyone was situated, the men being held at the center began to tell the lawmakers their stories. Story continues One came from Central America with his daughter, who was almost 5. Border Patrol officials had questioned whether she was really his daughter (he told the representatives he had her birth certificate and offered to take a paternity test). They were both sent to a detention facility, but authorities took the daughter in the middle of the night, and he doesnt know where she is. He had heard she might be in Michigan, but is relying on rumors and word of mouth nothing has been confirmed. Another man in the facility, a fisherman, arrived with his 12-year-old daughter after his business partner was murdered by a gang. He thinks his daughter, who he told lawmakers clung to him as they were separated, causing authorities to literally tear them apart, could be in a New York detention center, but is not sure. One other told the group how he fled drug violence in Central America with his 7-year-old brother, who was taken from him once they reached the border and he turned himself in to authorities. In all three cases, according to the lawmakers, the men had been separated from their children or sibling because of the zero-tolerance policy implemented by the Trump administration in April. Under the policy, any person caught illegally crossing the border will be criminally prosecuted. As a result, adults who cross with children are separated from them once they are caught, and are placed under different government jurisdictions, which limits their communication and knowledge of each others whereabouts. (The U.S. Marshals Service handles the cases of the parents, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is run by the Department of Health and Human Services, deals with the children). Although these men were seeking asylum from drug and gang violence, new restrictions implemented by the Department of Justice meant that, since they were crossing illegally, once they turned themselves in, they were separated from the children while they navigated their prosecution. The lawmakers said the meeting, which lasted nearly an hour, mostly consisted of them listening to these stories. Jeffries recalled three separate occasions where they comforted the detainees, who became tearful and emotional recounting the separation. Its unclear however, how much the lawmakers can actually do. Pascrell said he sent a letter to Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, who chairs the House Appropriation Committee, requesting that nothing from the budget goes toward supporting Sessions policy, and asked ICE officials for reports on these individual cases. Nadler introduced legislation on Tuesday, the Keep Families Together Act, that would prohibit DHS from tearing these families apart, and delay the prosecution process for immigrants seeking asylum. Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a similar bill in the Senate, which has garnered universal support from Democrats. But Demcorats are the minority part in both chambers, and no Republicans have officially signed onto either bill. Even if they do, President Trump would still need to sign it into law, which seems unlikely given his current rhetoric on the subject; on Tuesday, he tweeted that illegal immigrants were infesting the country. Still, Pascrell said theyre not giving up. They wanted to know basically, if we could help or not, said Pascrell. And we said were certainly gonna try. Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trumps former campaign manager, has drawn condemnation for mocking a young girl with Down Syndrome who was separated from her mother at the US-Mexico border. Mr Lewandowski was described as a hateful coward by former Fox News host Megyn Kelly after he said, Wah, wah when the plight of the girl was brought up in a debate about the zero tolerance policy that has seen thousands of children, some just toddlers, separated from their parents at the border. The sound is commonly used as an effect to denote failure or comedic sadness. Mexicos foreign minister revealed the girl, aged 10, was being held in McAllen, Texas, while her mother was detained elsewhere. Luis Videgaray called the policy of housing children separately in detention centres a clear violation of human rights, and said he had raised it with the UN secretary-general. The Trump administration has instituted a policy of charging every undocumented migrant or asylum seeker with a criminal offence, detaining adults separately from children. The youngest are kept in so-called tender age shelters in southern Texas. During the debate on Fox News, Mr Lewandowski continued: When you cross the border illegally, when you commit a crime, you are taken away from your family because thats how this country works. Mr Lewandowski was fired in June 2016 after police charged him with battery in a case brought by a female news reporter who said he forcibly grabbed her arm at a press event. However, he appeared to have regained the presidents favour when, at a rally in Michigan earlier this year, Mr Trump called him up to the stage and praised him for not being a pushover or a patsy. His sarcastic interjection was swiftly condemned, with Ms Kelly tweeting: There is no low to which this coward Corey Lewandowski wont sink. This man should not be afforded a national platform to spew his hate. Meghan McCain, the daughter of Arizona senator John McCain, said: This is so horrible, even by Lewandowski standards. Story continues A dozen Republican senators have now written to Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, to says that separating families is not consistent with American values and ordinary human decency. It came as a Guatemalan mother who had not seen her 7-year-old son since he was taken from her a month ago sued the Trump administration. Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia has been released from custody while her asylum case is pending and believes her son, Darwin, may be in a shelter in Arizona. I only got to talk to him once and he sounded so sad. My son never used to sound like that, he was such a dynamic boy, Ms Mejia-Mejia said, weeping. I call and call and no one will tell me where he is. Additional reporting by agencies By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis has criticized the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant families at the Mexican border, saying populism is not the answer to the world's immigration problems. Speaking to Reuters, the Pope said he supported recent statements by U.S. Catholic bishops who called the separation of children from their parents "contrary to our Catholic values" and "immoral". "It's not easy, but populism is not the solution," Francis said on Sunday night. In a rare, wide-ranging interview, the pope said he was optimistic about talks that may lead to a historic agreement over the appointment of bishops in China, and said he may accept more bishops' resignations over a sexual abuse scandal in Chile. Reflecting at his Vatican residence on his five years as pope, he defended his leadership of the Roman Catholic Church against criticism by conservatives inside and outside the Church who say his interpretation of its teachings is too liberal. He also said he wanted to appoint more women to top positions in the Vatican administration. One of his most pointed messages concerned President Donald Trump's zero-tolerance immigration policy, in which U.S. authorities plan to criminally prosecute all immigrants caught crossing the Mexican border illegally, holding adults in jail while their children are sent to government shelters. The policy has caused an outcry in the United States and has been condemned abroad as videos emerged of youngsters held in concrete-floored enclosures and an audio of wailing children went viral. U.S. Catholic bishops have joined other religious leaders in the United States in condemning the policy. "I am on the side of the bishops' conference," the pope said, referring to two statements from U.S. bishops this month. "Let it be clear that in these things, I respect (the position of) the bishops conference." Francis' comments add to the pressure on Trump over immigration policy. The pope heads a church which has 1.3 billion members worldwide and is the largest Christian denomination in the United States. The president has strongly defended his administration's actions and cast blame for the family separations on Democrats. "Democrats are the problem," Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday. "They dont care about crime and want illegal immigrants." The U.S. crackdown chimes with a new political mood sweeping western Europe over the large numbers of migrants and asylum-seekers, most of them escaping conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. The pope said populists were "creating psychosis" on the issue of immigration, even as aging societies like Europe faced "a great demographic winter" and needed more immigrants. Without immigration, he added, Europe "will become empty." CHURCH'S FUTURE "ON THE STREET" Since assuming the papacy in 2013, Francis has promoted a liberal interpretation of Catholic teachings at a time when politics in many parts of the West have shifted toward economic nationalism. He has faced internal opposition from conservative clergy who oppose his liberal interpretations, especially his approach to sexuality and showing mercy toward divorced Catholics. But the pope said he prayed for conservatives who sometimes said "nasty things" about him. Defending his leadership, the 81-year-old Argentine pontiff said the future of the Catholic Church was "on the street". He said he wanted to appoint more women to head Vatican departments because they were better at resolving conflicts, though this should not lead to what he called "masculinism in a skirt". The pope said his health was good apart from leg pain related to a back condition. He reiterated comments first made shortly after his election that he may someday resign for reasons of health as his predecessor, Pope Benedict, did in 2013, but said: "Right now, I am not even thinking about it." He spoke at length about immigration, a controversial issue in Europe as well as the United States. The populist Italian government has refused port access to non-government ships that have been rescuing asylum-seekers trying to cross to Italy from Africa in flimsy boats. One ship was forced to disembark more than 600 migrants in Spain at the weekend. Italy's interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who is also leader of the far-right-wing League party, has criticized the pope in the past, once saying the pontiff should take in migrants in the Vatican if he was so concerned about them. "I believe that you cannot reject people who arrive. You have to receive them, help them, look after them, accompany them and then see where to put them, but throughout all of Europe," Francis said. "Some governments are working on it, and people have to be settled in the best possible way, but creating psychosis is not the cure," he added. "Populism does not resolve things. What resolves things is acceptance, study, prudence." SOME STRUGGLES AND TOUGH DECISIONS Francis said he was saddened by Trump's decision last year to implement new restrictions on American travel and trade with Cuba. The move rolled back his predecessor President Barack Obama's opening to the island nation. That deal, which the Vatican helped broker, "was a good step forward", the pope said. He also said Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris agreement to curb climate change caused him "a bit of pain because the future of humanity is at stake". The pope said he hoped Trump would re-think his position. Rejecting criticism that he is at risk of selling out Chinese Catholics loyal to the Vatican, Francis said talks to resolve a dispute over the appointment of bishops in China an obstacle to resuming diplomatic ties were "at a good point". The pope has accepted the resignations of three bishops in Chile over the sexual abuse scandal there and allegations that it was covered up. He said he could accept more resignations but did not say which bishop or bishops he had in mind. The pope also commented on internal criticism of his papacy by conservatives, led by American Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke. In 2016, Burke and three other cardinals issued a rare public challenge to Francis over some of his teachings in a major document on the family, accusing him of sowing disorientation and confusion on important moral issues. Francis said he had heard about the cardinals' letter criticizing him "from the newspapers ... a way of doing things that is, let's say, not ecclesial, but we all make mistakes". He borrowed the analogy of a late Italian cardinal who likened the Church to a flowing river, with room for different views. "We have to be respectful and tolerant, and if someone is in the river, let's move forward," he said. He said reform of the Vatican administration, the Curia, was going well "but we have to work more". The pope once criticized Curia careerists as having "spiritual Alzheimer's". Francis said he was mostly happy about reforms enacted to make once-scandalous Vatican finances more transparent. The Vatican bank, which closed hundreds of suspicious or dormant accounts, "now works well", he said. "There have been some struggles and I have had to make some strong decisions," he said. (Reuters will be releasing more on the pope's interview throughout the day.) (Editing by Mark Bendeich and Timothy Heritage) As immigration advocates struggle to help more than 1,600 children taken from their parents, Trump refuses to back down One month before Donald Trumps administration enacted a policy that allowed the government to take thousands of migrant children from their parents, the president twice told crowds at his rallies that immigrant gang members were not people. These are animals, he said in May. Over the weekend, video and photos emerged of the cage-like detention centers where children, separated from their parents, are housed. His comment was directed at violent MS-13 gang members, and he deplored the idea that he had been talking about all immigrants. Today, however, as criticism mounts about a draconian set of immigration polices, advocates and attorneys are left wondering just how far Trump and his team are willing to go to stop immigrants from entering the country. The most extreme example yet is the practice of family separation, which has seen more than 1,600 children taken from parents. Advocates say the practice had quietly been taking place for months before the government adopted it as policy in April. Why are children being separated from their families? In April 2018, the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, announced a zero tolerance policy under which anyone who crossed the border without legal status would be prosecuted by the justice department. This includes some, but not all, asylum seekers. Because children cant be held in adult detention facilities, they are being separated from their parents. Immigrant advocacy groups, however, say hundreds of families have been separated since at least July 2017. More than 200 child welfare groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the United Nations, said they opposed the practice. What happens to the children? They are supposed to enter the system for processing unaccompanied alien children, which exists primarily to serve children who voluntarily arrive at the border on their own. Unaccompanied alien children are placed in health department custody within 72 hours of being apprehended by border agents. They then wait in shelters for weeks or months at a time as the government searches for parents, relatives or family friends to place them with in the US. Story continues This already overstretched system has been thrown into chaos by the new influx of children. Can these children be reunited with their parents? Immigration advocacy groups and attorneys have warned that there is not a clear system in place to reunite families. In one case, attorneys in Texas said they had been given a phone number to help parents locate their children, but it ended up being the number for an immigration enforcement tip line. Advocates for children have said they do not know how to find parents, who are more likely to have important information about why the family is fleeing its home country. And if, for instance, a parent is deported, there is no clear way for them to ensure their child is deported with them. What happened to families before? When an influx of families and unaccompanied children fleeing Central America arrived at the border in 2014, Barack Obamas administration detained families. This was harshly criticized and a federal court in 2015 stopped the government from holding families for months without explanation. Instead, they were released while they waited for their immigration cases to be heard in court. Not everyone shows up for those court dates, leading the Trump administration to condemn what it calls a catch and release program. By Amanda Holpuch Read more It goes totally against what this country was founded on, Janet Gwilym, an attorney who has been representing children in Washington state, said. We have a moral responsibility to take them in. Its international law to take in refugees; thats who these people are and instead we are just adding to the trauma that they are going through. Gwilym, managing attorney for the Seattle branch of Kids in Need of Defense (Kind), an advocacy group for unaccompanied immigrant children, said children aged 12 to 17 had been comforting toddlers who, like them, had just been taken from their parents. She said children had said they were told by immigration officials that they would see their parents again in a few minutes but hadnt seen them for months. In the face of widespread, bipartisan condemnation, and warnings from medical bodies about the long-term consequences these separations have on children, Trump and his cabinet have stood firm. The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. It wont be, Trump said during remarks at the White House on Monday. This strident defense comes with Novembers midterm elections looming, and two years into Trumps failed attempt to fulfill a key campaign promise: expanding the border wall between Mexico and the United States. Congress has not given Trump funds for any new stretches of wall, but in the interim, his administration has created an invisible wall of policies that advocates and attorneys say are meant to stem all types of immigration. The separation of children from their parents is just the most dramatic of many measures the Trump administration has taken to tackle illegal immigration across the United States. Those affected include refugees, undocumented adults and children, who have also been targeted with a slate of actions such as the cancellation of a refugee program for children traveling from the dangerous Central American northern triangle countries. There are now daily stories of undocumented people, resident in the United States for decades and with children born in the country, being targeted at their places of work and being forcibly returned home. When it comes to the undocumented population living in the US, in the administrations eyes, there appears no longer to be any distinction between violent criminals and people who have been living quietly without legal status for decades. From October 2016 to September 2017, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) said, it had apprehended nearly 38,000 individuals who had no criminal convictions a 146% increase from the previous year. And in a similar style to the family separation policy, the administration abruptly canceled a program that provided temporary deportation relief for undocumented immigrants who had been raised in the US (known as Dreamers): Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca). After the revoking of Daca and termination of a special deportation relief measure called Temporary Protected Status for six countries, 1,038,600 people are no longer protected from deportation, according to government figures. The policy crackdown has advanced on many fronts, but the most extraordinary turn was in April, when the Trump administration made family separation possible, by saying there would be zero tolerance for people who cross the border illegally. At the border, those parents are deemed criminals and separated from their children, who cannot be held in adult detention facilities. The administrations position, which includes blaming Democratic opponents, and defending family separation on biblical grounds, ignores warnings from the countrys top child welfare and health organizations, including the American Association of Pediatrics. Central American asylum seekers wait as US Border Patrol agents take them into custody this month near McAllen, Texas. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images Parents were also suffering from the separation, said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Project. Gelernt filed a class-action lawsuit in March against the Trump administrations family separation practice after meeting with a Congolese woman who hadnt seen her seven-year-old daughter for four months. She and her child were reunited after Gelernt filed a lawsuit on their behalf. This is as shocking an immigration policy as weve seen from this Trump administration, but frankly, Ive been doing this work for approaching three decades, and this is the most horrific immigration policy I have ever seen, Gelernt said. Gelernt said the detained parents he had been speaking with were afraid to ask immigration agents too much about their children for fear their children would face retaliation. Gelernt said one family told him that since they were reunited, their four-year-old has repeatedly asked if the government is going to take him away again. The ACLUs lawsuit seeks to reunite families who have been separated and stop families from being separated in the future. As the case works through the court, the impacts of family separation have been compounded by the lack of infrastructure built to support the policy. The administration has left behind a system so chaotic that childrens advocates are making desperate gambits to locate parents. What were finding is that there is no mechanism, no policy, for communicating or even finding the parents once the child has been separated, said Megan McKenna, Kinds senior director of communications and community engagement. McKenna said when parents and children were separated, they each got individual case numbers that their mother, father, daughter or son did not have access to. On the chance that these numbers would be sequential, Kind advocates started putting educated guesses into the case tracking system in the hopes it would lead them to parents they were seeking. You just play around: maybe the childs number ends in five, so the adults number could end in six, McKenna said. So you put that in the system and see if you get a hit. Or it could be the other way around. That tactic has worked in some instances, but not often enough to be a solution. She said other problems included that children might not know why their family was fleeing in the first place, which could affect the outcome of their immigration case. Another challenge is that advocates dont know what separated parents want for their children. For instance, if a parent is deported, they might want their child returned with them. Or there may be so much danger in their home country, they would prefer the child stay with immigration authorities in the US. And even if the parents preferences were known, there is no clear procedure for reuniting parents, especially if a parent has already been deported. McKenna said Kind was advocating on behalf of a two-year-old who was separated from her father in March. The father was deported within a month, but as of 12 June, the girl was still in the custody of the US government. The consequences in terms of human suffering cant be overestimated, McKenna said. Toddlers are being taken from their parents. Istanbul (AFP) - The outcome is far from certain in Turkey's elections Sunday, seen as the biggest test for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the ballot box in his one-and-a-half decades in power. Parliamentary and presidential polls are being held on the same day for the first time in Turkey's history, under a new constitution that also grants the incoming president greater powers. The key focus will be on whether Erdogan can win the presidency in the first round and if his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) keeps its majority in parliament. With a run-off scheduled for July 8 if no candidate wins over 50 percent of the vote, several scenarios are possible -- each of which will have a profound impact on modern Turkey. - Erdogan clean sweep - SCENARIO: Erdogan wins the elections in the first round, keeps parliament majority. This is the only win-win outcome for the leader and what he had in mind when he in April called the snap elections more than a year ahead of their scheduled date, to catch the opposition off guard. But while Erdogan appeared confident of a knockout victory, that probability has receded with the economy spluttering and the opposition finding momentum. "Erdogan called snap elections expecting to solidify his rule under new constitutional powers, (yet) does not have majority support from Turkish voters," said analysts at the Center for American Progress. - Run-off battle - SCENARIO: The opposition forces a July 8 run-off. While Erdogan appears certain to reap the most votes on June 24, it is far from inevitable he will win the 50 percent plus one vote needed for a first-round victory. His main rival, Muharrem Ince of the Republican People's Party (CHP), has run a surprisingly strong campaign and with the help of other opposition candidates has a realistic chance of forcing the second round. Analysts say that Erdogan would still be the favourite in a run-off. But the outcome of the parliamentary elections could influence voting on July 8 and, even if he won, Erdogan could enter his new term weakened. Story continues If the AKP loses its parliamentary majority on June 24, Erdogan would face a presidential run-off "with his aura of invincibility and traditional mastery over Turkish politics severely weakened," said Kemal Kirisci of the Brookings Institution. - Pyrrhic victory - SCENARIO: Erdogan wins presidency, AKP loses control of parliament. This scenario could throw Turkish politics into a period of profound uncertainty, rattle confidence in the economy and possibly prompt new elections. "The most likely outcome, as of today, is an Erdogan victory and a contested parliament," said Aaron Stein, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. Ironically, changes spearheaded by the AKP have allowed the CHP to make a broad alliance for the election with three other parties that could boost opposition presence in parliament. Much will depend on the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) -- which is not in an alliance but staunchly opposes Erdogan -- making the 10-percent threshold needed to win seats. The AKP lost its overall majority once before, in June 2015 polls. Erdogan simply called repeat elections, making clear he had no time for coalitions. But in theory, he would have to stand for president again in order to re-run the legislative polls. - End of Erdogan era - SCENARIO: Ince wins the presidency in run-off, opposition controls parliament. Ince is the clear favourite to come second in the first round, allowing his parliamentary allies to rally round him in a run-off and possibly the HDP as well. The opposition alliance winning parliamentary control could create an unstoppable momentum that would help Ince in round two of the presidential elections. "If this comes to pass, a massive political change is likely to occur on several fronts," said Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. Turkey's new rulers would be set to implement substantial change both in economic policy and relations with the West, he added. - Uncharted territory - SCENARIO: Opposition wins presidency, AKP the parliament. This is probably the messiest of all scenarios, with the AKP unused to any kind of cohabitation and the new president likely wholly hostile to the party that has dominated Turkish politics for so long. "A secularist opposition president will be confronted with an Islamist-nationalist majority in parliament, leading to a confused situation," said Pierini. TEL ABBAS AL GHARBI, Lebanon -- Abdel Kareem Khalid Zaydan says he fled Homs six years ago and has since lived with his wife and two young children in a small informal settlement in northern Lebanon's Akkar district. Zaydan has a painful spine condition -- he pulls out a doctor's letter to prove it -- that he says was a result of being tortured while in government detention in Syria. Lately, his back pain has become more intense, preventing him from picking up occasional construction work as he used to, where he earned about $15 a day. The family received United Nations food aid of about $120 a month when they first arrived in Lebanon, and again after their younger child was born. But the payments stopped. Zaydan says they were told they were not hungry enough to qualify. Without cash assistance or work, Zaydan says, the family has been surviving on borrowed money. During Ramadan, they received extra help with meals brought three times a week by a nongovernmental organization. Another NGO paid to have a doctor take an X-ray of his back, but he has no way to pay for treatment. "The situation is bad -- what can I do?" Zaydan says. "I was sick from when I came to Lebanon, but this year the situation became critical. Bit by bit, the situation is getting more tense." As the Syrian conflict drags into its eighth year, refugees waiting out the war in neighboring countries are growing weary and increasingly desperate. At the same time, their host communities are becoming more resentful as international aid donations appear to be starting to wane. The question of how flagging international aid affects both displaced Syrians and host countries such as Lebanon takes on extra significance as World Refugee Day approaches on June 20. In April, U.N. and European Union officials convened an international conference in Brussels to round up pledges of support for relief efforts both inside Syria and in the neighboring countries that host a bulk of the approximately 5.6 million refugees who have fled the country. Story continues [SEE: The Tragic Numbers Behind Syria's Refugees] U.N. officials say $9 billion is needed for 2018, but only $4.4 billion in pledges have been forthcoming. Pledges often fall short of the goal for such appeals, but this year's number was also a marked drop-off from the $6 billion that was pledged at last year's conference. The gap was noticeably widened by the absence of any promise from the United States, which last year had initially pledged half a billion dollars and ended up contributing $1.5 billion. But pledges from other major donors were also lower than last year. Germany, which pledged $1.4 billion last year and eventually paid $1.7 billion, has pledged $1 billion for this year. U.N. officials say that the drop-off in funds could herald "ruin" for some of the neediest refugees in the region, including jeopardizing monthly cash assistance for some 87,000 Syrian families that are currently receiving it. In Lebanon, which is hosting more than 1 million Syrians, the percentage of refugees living below the poverty line has grown steadily, reaching 76 percent in 2017, according to a United Nations assessment. The situation is exacerbated because Syrians in Lebanon are forbidden from working except in low-wage fields like agriculture and construction. Most also lack legal status in the country, which restricts their movement and makes working more difficult. "When the crisis happened, people had some level of resources they brought with them. Those have been exhausted," says Mike Bruce, spokesman with the Norwegian Refugee Council in Beirut, who adds that his organization's funding is stable but not keeping up with the increasing needs. The flattened level of aid amid increasing need is worsening conditions, agrees Nasser Yassin, director of research at the American University of Beirut's Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs. "The real [funding] numbers haven't decreased, but the gap between the need and the funding has been widening." It remains to be seen how wide the gap will be for 2018. All or part of the missing contribution from the United States may still be forthcoming, but it's unclear when or how much as the Trump administration pushes to cut foreign aid budgets. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement that the U.S. does expect to contribute more to the Syrian refugee crisis response in 2018, but the amount has yet to be determined. "The United States is the largest single country donor for the Syria response, providing nearly $8.1 billion in humanitarian assistance for those displaced inside Syria and the region since the start of the crisis," she says. "We are maintaining our steadfast commitment to getting life-saving support to Syrians impacted by conflict, wherever they are." [READ: The False Assimilation of Syrian Refugees in Turkey] In some cases, NGOs running on private donations make up the shortfalls in the governmental aid. But some of those NGOs say they are also seeing a flagging of interest. "Previously, a crisis would happen [in Syria] and we would have donors just kind of flood in. Basically, donors would find us," says Yisser Bittar, director of development with the U.S.-based nonprofit Karam Foundation, which runs aid programs both in Syria and in neighboring countries. Lately, the flood has subsided, and the group spends more of its resources chasing funders, she says. In some cases, aid may also be shifting form. While the U.N.'s refugee response plan for Lebanon in 2018 is one of the most underfunded portions -- with only about 12 percent of the requested $2.2 billion committed as of May -- international institutions have lined up to extend development loans to the small Mediterranean country. At a separate April conference held in Paris, states, international organizations, and financial institutions pledged $11 billion in development aid to Lebanon, of which more than $10 billion would be loans. "It's an indication of the protracted nature of the crisis," says American university's Yassin. "We have to find other ways of financing." But the shift to development aid risks overlooking some of the humanitarian needs of the refugees, he adds. For now, Bruce says, the job of the international community and organizations like his is to make sure "conditions don't get so bad that refugees decide returning to Syria is better than staying here." But even as the situation in host countries deteriorates for many refugees, the situation in Syria still looks worse to most. While political leaders in Lebanon have called repeatedly and loudly for refugees to go home, the mass forced returns that some had feared have not so far materialized, nor have the voluntary returns that others hoped for. A trickle of returns has begun, including a recent exodus of several hundred refugees from Shebaa in southeastern Lebanon and plans for 3,000 more to return from Arsal in the northeast. In recent interviews in Arsal, municipal officials and returning refugees both say if the return is successful, they expect to see more to follow. But the vast majority of the approximately 50,000 refugees living in Arsal have chosen to stay put. And as harsh as their situation is, Zaydan and his wife say they have no intention of returning to Syria. "Our house was destroyed -- there's no security in Syria for us to return to," said Zaydan's wife, Hanan. "Where are we supposed to return to?" Abby Sewell is a journalist based in Lebanon. You can follow her on Twitter here. In actuality, people around the world seem to aspire for more moderate levels of these and other traits. In actuality, people around the world seem to aspire for more moderate levels of these and other traits. (Photo: Pixabay) According to a research, people's sense of perfection is 'surprisingly' modest. When researchers at the University of Queensland asked 8000 people how much they would like to maximise aspects of life such as pleasure intelligence or personal freedom lead researcher Matthew Hornsey said, "They wanted about 75 percent of a good thing." It seems reasonable that people would want to maximize various aspects of life if they were given the opportunity to do so, whether it's the pleasure they feel, how intelligent they are, or how much personal freedom they have. In actuality, people around the world seem to aspire for more moderate levels of these and other traits, according to Hornsey's study. "People wanted to have positive qualities, such as health and happiness, but not to the exclusion of other darker experiences - they wanted about 75 percent of a good thing," said Hornsey. Furthermore, people said, on average, that they ideally wanted to live until they were 90 years old, which is only slightly higher than the current average life expectancy. Even when participants imagined that they could take a magic pill guaranteeing eternal youth, their ideal life expectancy increased by only a few decades, to a median of 120 years old. And when people were invited to choose their ideal IQ, the median score was about 130 - a score that would classify someone as smart, but not a genius. The data also revealed that participants from holistic cultures - those that value notions of contradiction, change, and context - chose ideal levels of traits that were consistently lower than those reported by participants from nonholistic cultures. "Interestingly, the ratings of perfection were more modest in countries that had traditions of Buddhism and Confucianism," says Hornsey. "This makes sense -- these Eastern philosophies and religions tend to place more emphasis on the notion that seemingly contradictory forces coexist in a complementary, interrelated state, such that one cannot exist without the other." The study appears in the journal Psychological Science. Berlin (AFP) - German police said Wednesday they had foiled a biological attack with last week's arrest of a Tunisian suspected jihadist in possession of the deadly poison ricin and bomb-making material. "Very concrete preparations had been made for an act with a ... biological bomb, which is a first for Germany," said Holger Muench, head of the BKA Federal Criminal Police Office. German police commandos on June 12 stormed the Cologne apartment of the 29-year-old Tunisian identified only as Sief Allah H. and discovered "toxic substances" that turned out to be ricin. Produced by processing castor beans, ricin is lethal in minute doses if swallowed, inhaled or injected and 6,000 times more potent than cyanide, with no known antidote. Muench said, speaking to German public radio, that "we became aware of this person a few months ago, and then evidence emerged pointing to links to the so-called Islamic State". The Tunisian man, who has been charged with possession of weapons of war and planning a serious act of violence against the state, was thought to have followed instructions on making a ricin bomb disseminated online by the IS. "There are instructions on how to do this, including by Islamist organisations, on the internet, and this person was obviously guided by that," Muench said. Prosecutors have said he was "strongly suspected of intentionally manufacturing biological weapons" -- but they reiterated Wednesday they still lacked concrete indications or details of an attack plan. - Seeds, coffee grinder - The head of the BND foreign intelligence service, Hans-Georg Maassen, said that a "very likely" attack had been prevented thanks to "cooperation between security service at the national and international level," news agency DPA reported. Bild daily has reported Germany received a warning from the CIA based on the suspect's online purchases. The domestic intelligence service BfV said it also received a tip-off over a telephone hotline about the Tunisian, who is married to a German woman who recently converted to Islam, DPA reported. Story continues During the police raid, said Muench, "we found a large number of castor seeds from which to make (ricin), as well as the utensils you need to make an explosive device". "Which concrete target he had in mind we don't know yet ... and the question of possible accomplices also remains open." Prosecutors say Sief Allah H. started buying the equipment and ingredients to make ricin in mid-May -- including online purchases of thousands of "castor seeds and an electric coffee grinder". Police had found over 3,000 castor seeds and 84 milligrams of ricin, as well as 950 grams of pyrotechnic powder, two bottles of flammable liquid, wires soldered to light bulbs and 240 metal balls. He had been in contact with radical Islamists and had tried twice last year to travel via Turkey to Syria, "presumably to the 'Islamic State'" bases there, they said in a statement. The case comes after French authorities in mid-May said they had foiled an attack possibly involving ricin with the arrest of a 20-year-old Egyptian man. Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said it would have been committed "with explosives or ricin, this very powerful poison", and that the suspect "had tutorials that showed how to make ricin-based poisons". The Egyptian man was tracked down through a pro-jihadist social media account, a source close to the investigation said. - 'Radicalised persons' - Germany remains on high alert after several deadly attacks claimed by the IS group, including a 2016 truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market by Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri that claimed 12 lives. Other attacks by radicalised Islamists saw a 26-year-old Palestinian stab six people, killing one, in Hamburg last year, and a 17-year-old Afghan with an axe attack five train passengers in Munich before police shot him dead in 2016. Muench said security services are now more worried about the threat of radicalised individuals, including 770 persons considered by police as potentially violent, than an organised large-scale attack. After the defeat of major IS bastions in Syria, he said, "we now consider a major attack like we saw in Paris and Brussels not entirely unlikely, but less likely because the so-called Islamic State has been weakened quite substantially." "But we have a large number of radicalised persons and we need to keep an eye on them". The Daily Beast Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photos GettyThe mainstream medias credibility took another big hit this week. Katie Couric, the former co-host of NBCs Today show, revealed in a new memoir that she chose not to air some controversial comments made to her five years ago by the sainted Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, involving RBGs criticism of NFL players like Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem.Couric says she was conflicted because she was a big RBG fan, By Andrea Shalal BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is pressing Washington to clarify whether it would let the Eurofighter Typhoon carry nuclear bombs as part of shared Western defenses, an issue that could help decide whether Berlin orders more of the jets, sources familiar with the matter said. Although not a nuclear power, Germany hosts some U.S. nuclear warheads under NATO's nuclear-sharing policy and operates a number of Tornado warplanes that can deliver them. New jets will need to be certified by Washington to carry out nuclear missions, a process which can take years. Germany's defense ministry sent a letter to the U.S. Defense Department in April asking whether certification of the European jets was possible, how much it would cost, and how long it would take, the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Top U.S. Air Force and Pentagon officials are working to respond to the German query, the sources said. The multi-billion-euro tender to replace Germany's fleet of 89 Tornados, which are due to retire in the middle of the next decade, pits the Typhoon against several U.S. contenders at a time of strains in transatlantic ties. Executives with Airbus , Lockheed Martin and Boeing are making presentations to the defense ministry this week after submitting reams of information on their respective warplanes in April, with the formal launch of the competition expected later this year, industry sources said. The German defense ministry declined comment on the issue. No comment was immediately available from the Pentagon. Lockheed's radar-evading F-35 fighter is already slated to have the nuclear capability in the early 2020s, while the Eurofighter would still need certification. Airbus has said it is confident Eurofighter - a joint project with Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Leonardo - could be certified by 2025. Sources familiar with the Eurofighter said it was possible to reconfigure the European jet to carry nuclear bombs. But U.S. government sources say that schedule is ambitious given that the F-35 and other aircraft must be certified first. Washington has suggested it could take 7-10 years to certify the Eurofighter for nuclear missions, well beyond the Tornado's retirement date, according to one German military source. While urging Europe to boost defense spending, U.S. officials are worried about being shut out of European defense projects after 25 EU governments signed a pact in December to fund, develop and deploy armed forces together. [nL2N1QH1P6] U.S. officials will also weigh whether the Eurofighter could survive a mission into enemy territory to drop a nuclear bomb without stealth capability at a time when Russia and other potential future enemies have bolstered their sensors and air defenses, a second source said. The F-35 is the only aircraft in the running that has such radar-evading capabilities, but Boeing and Eurofighter argue that their aircraft can work in tandem with jamming equipment. Volker Paltzo, chief executive of Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH, told Reuters this week that he remained confident that Eurofighter could take over the roles of the Tornado, and the company had a strategy to deal with a length certification process. He said the Tornado had been successfully recertified several times after major upgrades. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) Who are the brainwashed masses who join ISIS because of Facebook? Kimberley Miners, 29, of London, claims she was indoctrinated online by ISIS recruiter Naweed Hussain. Hussain died in an airstrike in February. According to the model, she was being groomed to be the next White Widow, a reference to Sally Jones, a British mother who converted to radical Islam and pledged allegiance to ISIS. (Jones was believed to have been killed in June 2017.) Kimberley Miners, 27, of Bradford, England, claims she was recruited by ISIS. Photo: Supplied. Miners was arrested when she was discovered to be corresponding with Hussain, a correspondence that included a bomb-making manual. After she suffered a miscarriage and broke up with her fiance, Miners felt totally alone. It was when she became single that she turned to social media and met friends in Syria. She originally was drawn towards the plight of children in the area, but it wasnt long before she was receiving friend requests from Syrian citizens. Miners said Its embarrassing now but I liked the attention. Id been so lonely. Now I felt I finally belonged. I craved the attention, the respect, and the offers of friendship. Miners was expected to go to Turkey, and then to Syria. However, antiterror police arrested her.. She could have faced 10 years in prison but was released on bail in January. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. As if Hawaiian officials didnt have enough to worry about with the ongoing eruption of Kilauea and rebuilding Kauai after historic floods two months ago, now tourists are ignoring warnings as they scramble to take pictures. Visitors on the Big Island are now facing jail time and fines of up to $5,000 for entering lava zone areas that have been closed off to the general public. Despite barricades and warnings of dangerous gas emissions, people continue to sneak in to see and photograph the lava flow. Since the eruptions started, roughly 40 people have been arrested for loitering in lava zones, according to state officials. A dozen of those have come in the last 10 days. People who trespass in those areas face not only steep fines, but a possible jail sentence of up to one year. I find there is a need to strengthen the enforcement tools available to county and state emergency management officials in controlling public access to dangerous areas and associated evacuation efforts as a result of the failure of the public to comply with instructions and orders issued by officials, Gov. David Ige said in a statement. While the lure of taking a picture or video that goes viral on social media is strong, officials say the lava areas are still hazardous. New lava zones continue to emerge without warning and the flow has already devoured over 500 homes. The lava evaporated Hawaiis Hawaiis largest freshwater natural resource, called Great Lake, in just a few hours. And officials add the activity could bring about a financial crisis on the island, as volcano insurance isnt an option for most Hawaiians. The eruptions have been ongoing since May 3, and lava now covers just shy of 6,000 acres, or 9.25 square miles, of the island. Hundreds of members of the United Methodist Church have filed claims of child abuse and racism against Attorney General Jeff Sessions under the churchs Book of Discipline after he enacted a zero-tolerance immigration policy that has led to the separation of thousands of parents and children at the U.S. border. Some 640 clergy members and laypersons in the church have written an open letter to the leaders of the two congregations where Sessions, a longtime Methodist, attends church. They are calling on church leaders to reach out to Sessions and help him step back from his harmful actions and work to repair the damage he is currently causing to immigrants, particularly children and families. The letter condemns Sessions, alleging he has misused his tremendous social/political power in his enforcement of the nations laws especially the recent policy that has led U.S. Border Patrol agents to take more than 2,000 children from parents arrested at the border. The separations are the result of the Trump Administrations policy of prosecuting everyone who is caught crossing the border illegally. They have caused an uproar, which have been fueled by the release of photos and videos of children in detention. The letter also criticizes Sessions for citing Romans 13 to justify the policies and saying people are called by the Bible to obey the laws of the government. During a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders backed Sessions by saying, It is very biblical to enforce the law. The United Methodist Church members are accusing Sessions of: child abuse, immorality, racial discrimination, and dissemination of doctrines contrary to the standards of doctrine of the United Methodist Church for his citation of Romans 13. The letter claimed that while other federal government employees are also guilty of the charges against Sessions, the Attorney General is accountable to the church. As his denomination, we have an ethical obligation to speak boldly when one of our members is engaged in causing significant harm in matters contrary to the Discipline on the global stage, the letter read. Several Bishops and other denominational leaders have spoken out about this matter, urging Methodists to contact Mr. Sessions and for these policies to change, but we believe that the severity of his actions and the harm he is causing to immigrants, migrants, refugees, and asylees calls for his church to step into a process to directly engage with him as a part of our community. Story continues This is not the first time religious leaders have sought to publicly shame politicians whom they view as wayward. In 2004, there was intensive debate over whether Sen. John Kerry, then the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, should be denied communion by the Catholic Church because of his support for abortion rights. Read is the full text of the letter below: Dear Rev. Boykin and Rev. Wines, We, the undersigned laity and clergy of the United Methodist Church, issue a formal complaint against fellow United Methodist layperson Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, by our understanding a lay member of Ashland Place United Methodist Church, in Mobile, AL, and an active participant in Clarendon United Methodist Church, Arlington, VA. While we are reticent to bring a formal complaint against a layperson, Mr. Sessions unique combination of tremendous social/political power, his leading role as a Sunday School teacher and former delegate to General Conference, and the severe and ongoing impact of several of his public, professional actions demand that we, as his siblings in the United Methodist denomination, call for some degree of accountability. We write to you, Mr. Sessions pastors, copying his District Superintendents and Bishops, in the hopes that you will, as members of our connectional system, dig deeply into Mr. Sessions advocacy and actions that have led to harm against thousands of vulnerable humans. As members of the United Methodist Church, we deeply hope for a reconciling process that will help this long-time member of our connection step back from his harmful actions and work to repair the damage he is currently causing to immigrants, particularly children and families. Pursuant to Paragraph 2702.3 of the 2016 United Methodist Book of Discipline, we hereby charge Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, Attorney General of the United States, a professing member and/or active participant of Ashland Place United Methodist Church (Mobile, Alabama) and Clarendon United Methodist Church (Alexandria, Virginia), with the chargeable offenses of: Child Abuse (examples: advocacy for and implementation of documented practices that indefinitely separate thousands of young children from their parents; holding thousands of children in mass incarceration facilities with little to no structured educational or socio-emotional support) Immorality (examples: the use of violence against children to deter immigration; advocating and supporting the separation of children from their families; refusal of refugee/asylee status to those fleeing gang or sexual violence; oppression of those seeking asylum or attempting to enter the United States with refugee status; directing employees and staff members to kidnap children from their parents) Racial discrimination (examples: stopping investigations of police departments charged with racial discrimination; attempting to criminalize Black Lives Matter and other racial justice activist groups; targeting incarceration for those engaged in undocumented border crossings as well as those who present with requests for asylum, with a particular focus on those perceived as Muslim or LatinX) Dissemination of doctrines contrary to the standards of doctrine of the United Methodist Church (examples: the misuse of Romans 13 to indicate the necessity of obedience to secular law, which is in stark contrast to Disciplinary commitments to supporting freedom of conscience and resistance to unjust laws) While other individuals and areas of the federal government are implicated in each of these examples, Mr. Sessions as a long-term United Methodist in a tremendously powerful, public position is particularly accountable to us, his church. He is ours, and we are his. As his denomination, we have an ethical obligation to speak boldly when one of our members is engaged in causing significant harm in matters contrary to the Discipline on the global stage. Several Bishops and other denominational leaders have spoken out about this matter, urging Methodists to contact Mr. Sessions and for these policies to change, but we believe that the severity of his actions and the harm he is causing to immigrants, migrants, refugees, and asylees calls for his church to step into a process to directly engage with him as a part of our community. We look forward to entering into the just resolution process with Mr. Sessions as we seek to journey with him towards reconciliation and faithful living into the gospel. In the community of Jesus, the Liberator and Redeemer Budapest (AFP) - Hungary's parliament adopted Wednesday a controversial package of laws penalising NGOs that help migrants, a key proposal of the firebrand nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Dubbed the 'Stop Soros' laws after liberal US billionaire George Soros, accused by the government of orchestrating migration to Europe, the package of legislation was voted through by 160 votes to 18. The government says the laws are aimed at people helping undeserving migrants to acquire refugee status, for example if those persons were not in immediate danger before entering Hungary, or who entered the country illegally. The Hungarian chapter of rights pressure group Amnesty International, which could find itself targeted under the new laws, called them "a brazen attack on people seeking safe haven from persecution and those who carry out admirable work to help them". "It is a new low point in an intensifying crackdown on civil society and it is something we will resist every step of the way," Amnesty said in a statement. The 'Stop Soros' laws were promised by Orban in the lead-up to a parliamentary election in April, in which Orban's ruling Fidesz party won a third consecutive term by a landslide. The campaign was dominated by anti-migrant and anti-Soros messaging on pro-government media. Budapest (AFP) - Hungary's parliament adopted Wednesday a controversial package of laws penalising NGOs that help migrants, a key proposal of the firebrand nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Dubbed the "Stop Soros" laws after liberal US billionaire George Soros, accused by the government of orchestrating migration to Europe, the package of legislation was voted through by 160 votes to 18. The laws will bring in a punishment of up to a year in prison for anyone convicted of helping a person who entered Hungary illegally from outside the Schengen zone, and whose life wasn't in immediate danger. MPs also approved a change to the the constitution stipulating that no authority is allowed to affect "the make-up of the Hungarian population", a clause designed to prevent Hungary participating in any EU scheme for mandatory refugee resettlement. The measures passed Wednesday include a constitutional obligation for all state institutions to "defend Christian culture", as well as a ban on homeless people spending the night in public spaces. The latest changes come in addition to a measure passed with a finance bill on Tuesday slapping a 25-percent tax on NGOs suspected of helping migrants. - 'Will of the people' - The Hungarian chapter of rights pressure group Amnesty International, which could find itself targeted under the laws passed on Wednesday, called them "a brazen attack on people seeking safe haven from persecution and those who carry out admirable work to help them". "It is a new low point in an intensifying crackdown on civil society and it is something we will resist every step of the way," Amnesty said in a statement. The UN children's agency UNICEF pointed out the Hungary plays host to less than one percent of registered child asylum seekers in Europe and that hobbling NGOs that help them could lead to "further harm to children who have already been forced to leave their homes, often experiencing traumatic journeys, and will perpetuate dangerous misconceptions rooted in racism and discrimination". Story continues However, in an official statement the government said the changes "are implementing the will of the Hungarian people". "This reinforced protection is necessary as the pressure of migration on Europe is constant and the Soros network, as well as the pro-migration policies of Brussels, threaten our country with a migrant invasion," the statement added. The government's language is in keeping with the rhetoric it used in the lead-up to a parliamentary election in April, in which Orban's ruling Fidesz party won a third consecutive term by a landslide. The "Stop Soros" laws were promised by Orban prior to the vote, which was dominated by anti-migrant and anti-Soros messaging on pro-government media. Last month, the Open Society Foundations (OSF) run by Soros announced they were closing operations in Hungary and moving to Berlin, citing the government's "repressive" policies. The adoption of the new laws comes as migration once again moves up the European political agenda. On Thursday, Hungary will host a group of leaders of the Visegrad group of four central European countries, along with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The Visegrad bloc has traditionally taken hardline stances against migration and refugee quotas and Kurz has been cultivating allies in the EU for his own proposals to clampdown on migration. By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's parliament on Wednesday approved a package of bills that criminalizes some help given to illegal immigrants, defying the European Union and human rights groups. The legislation narrows the scope for action by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), making their workers liable for jail terms for helping migrants to seek asylum when they are not entitled to it. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has led eastern European opposition to EU quotas that aim to distribute asylum seekers around the bloc, criticizing the open-door policy that German Chancellor Angela Merkel proclaimed at the height of the European migrant crisis in 2015. Orban's right-wing Fidesz party tightened its grip on parliament in April elections after campaigning on an anti-immigration platform. Fidesz also demonized Hungarian-born U.S. billionaire George Soros and the liberal NGOs he backs, naming the new legislation the "STOP Soros" law. Orban accuses Soros of encouraging mass immigration to undermine Europe, a charge he denies. "The Hungarian people rightfully expect the government to use all means necessary to combat illegal immigration and the activities that aid it," Interior Minister Sandor Pinter wrote in a justification attached to the draft legislation. "The STOP Soros package of bills serves that goal, making the organization of illegal immigration a criminal offense. We want to use the bills to stop Hungary from becoming a country of immigrants," he said. Parliament, where Fidesz has a two-thirds majority, also passed on Wednesday a constitutional amendment stating that an "alien population" cannot be settled in Hungary - a swipe at Brussels over its quota plan. Germany's Europe minister Michael Roth expressed regret that Hungary had not waited for the Venice Commission, an expert body, to issue a report on the issue along with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "We share the concerns of the Venice Commission regarding the criminalization of the activities of non-governmental organizations in the area of refugee aid," he said. TOUGH STANCE IS VOTE-WINNER Immigration has become a major concern for voters across the EU, helping to propel anti-migrant parties into power in Italy and Austria and threatening to fracture Merkel's three-month-old coalition in Germany. Orban has played on Hungarians' memories of large numbers of mostly Muslim migrants fleeing war and poverty who surged into the country in the summer of 2015. Most moved on to wealthier western European countries, but Orban has branded the migrants a threat to Europe's Christian civilization and built a border fence along Hungary's southern borders to deter more from coming. Hungarian statistics show 3,555 refugees living in Hungary, a country of 10 million, as of April. Only 342 people were registered as asylum seekers in the first four months of this year, mostly from the Middle East, and 279 were approved. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a rights group, said on Wednesday the narrowing definition of who counts as a refugee essentially means nobody entering Hungary by land would be entitled to such treatment. "Instead of giving protection against persecution, the Hungarian government has decided to join the ranks of the persecutors," Helsinki Committee Co-Chair Marta Pardavi said. The Orban government expects possible legal action by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, over the new law. The Venice Commission had asked Hungary to refrain from approving the new law until its report is published. Orban has also tightened state control over the media, major business sectors and the courts since taking power in 2010. Parliament also agreed on Wednesday to set up a new judicial branch for administrative cases that critics say may increase political influence over judges. Another change narrowed the right to free expression and assembly. (Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Gareth Jones and David Stamp) While there is plenty of discussion around the Trump administrations choice to separate parents from their children at the border, it appears that the circumstances weigh heavy on even newscasters. Rachel Maddow was brought to tears and had to end her show, The Rachel Maddow Show, early while reporting about tender age shelters in Texas. Rachel Maddow chokes up and cries on air as she struggles to deliver news that migrant babies and toddlers have been sent to "tender age" shelters pic.twitter.com/O6crm8cvyR Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) June 20, 2018 The Associated Press reports that babies and young children are being sent to tender age shelters and being separated from their parents in South Texas. The White House originally announced its zero-tolerance policy in early May, and over 2,300 children have since been taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Maddow began to report on the issue, but it wasnt long before her emotions took hold. The reporter posted on Twitter, shortly after the show, to apologize and to tweet out the story she was unable to get through. Ugh, I'm sorry. If nothing else, it is my job to actually be able to speak while I'm on TV. What I was trying to do when I suddenly couldn't say/do anything was read this lede: 1/6 Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018 This is the statement she was trying to read on camera: Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three tender age shelters in South Texas Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described playrooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. Story continues The Associated Press spoke to both lawyers and medical providers who have visited the shelters. These professionals report rooms with crying children younger than 5 years old. Kay Bellor, the vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, a program that provides foster care and child welfare services to migrant children, said, The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it. Toddlers are being detained. In Houston, the fourth shelter for young immigrant children is planned to open. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Party chief will also review functioning of city unit since past 1 year. New Delhi: Launching the partys campaign for the next general elections in the national capital, BJP president Amit Shah will reach out to more than 300 party workers, active on social media and having more than 10,000 followers, on Thursday. After an interaction with social media warriors, Mr Shah will interact with the Delhi BJP core committee and leaders from the Scheduled Caste morcha. Sources said that Mr Shah would also review the functioning of the Delhi BJP and take stock of work done by the party in the last one year. In the core committee meeting chaired by the BJP president, Mr Shah will discuss the partys strategy and brief the plan for 2019 general elections. Mr Shah will also review the functioning of partys Delhi unit since his last visit in July 2017 and will follow up on the work implemented on his directions, they added. As per the plan, Mr Shah will interact with people and party workers active on social media at the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) Convention Centre. The party has selected around 350 social media activists that has a strong inclination towards BJP. These chosen people have 10,000 followers on Twitter, Facebook or combined. These people will be used to spread the partys achievements ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, said a senior party leader. Sources told this newspaper that Mr Shah will talk about partys social media strategy with these chosen activists and list the dos and donts. Like the last 2014 elections, social media is going to play a crucial role in 2019 and this interaction is crucial to keep the momentum in favour for the BJP in the national capital, the sources added. Mr Shahs meeting with the Scheduled Caste morcha will focus on the BJPs dalit outreach programme in the city, which the party has started concentrating upon after it learnt that the community was drifting away from the party. During his last visit to Delhi BJP in July last year, Mr Shah gave a list of dos to partys local unit and is likely to review the progress on his advice. For last two days, Delhi BJP leadership held several round of meeting to place house in order. One such meeting held on Tuesday, was attended by BJP national general secretary Arun Singh. A BJP insider claimed that state leadership is busy in maintaining all the records as asked by Mr Shah in his last visit. Paris (AFP) - The arrival of massive numbers of migrants in Europe over the past few years has stirred fierce debate in many EU member states, and a number of governments have started to take a much tougher line as public opinion becomes increasingly hostile to the new arrivals. Meanwhile, the number of migrants arriving via the Mediterranean has tailed off. After peaking at more than one million in 2015, the number fell to 362,000 in 2016, 172,000 in 2017 and just 37,000 so far this year, according to EU and UN figures. Another point of friction is how the burden can be shared across the EU -- especially when large swathes of the population are increasingly hostile to the idea of taking more migrants. - Germany - German Chancellor Angela Merkel allowed more than one million asylum seekers into the country in 2015, a decision that was welcomed at the time but has fuelled anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe's biggest economy. Merkel's CDU party suffered stinging losses in last year's general election, and she only just managed to hang on to power, while the far-right anti-immigrant, anti-Islam AfD party won seats in parliament for the first time. The CDU's Bavarian sister party, the CSU, has since threatened to shutter German borders if Merkel does not adopt a harder position on migration, an impasse that could topple her government. An opinion poll last week showed that nearly 90 percent of Germans favour a tougher stance on migration. - Italy - The main gateway into Europe for refugees arriving by sea, Italy is struggling under the burden placed on it by the so-called Dublin rules, which require migrants to apply for asylum in the first country they enter. An anti-migrant coalition between Italy's far-right and anti-establishment parties was sworn in to government earlier this month after March's election. One of its first decisions was to refuse to allow the Aquarius rescue ship carrying 630 migrants to dock in Italy. Story continues Italy has seen around 700,000 migrants arrive since 2013. Since January 1, the number of new arrivals has fallen by 78 percent to just over 15,600, according to data compiled by the interior ministry. - France - France, one of the countries where many migrants have said they would most like to settle, has also experienced tensions, particularly at its border with Italy which authorities have attempted to close. The majority of French people have said they are opposed to illegal immigration, with 56 percent saying they were against the Aquarius being allowed to dock in France. Nearly half of the 630 migrants on board, mostly of African origin, want to apply for asylum in France. Last year asylum applications in France rose to more than 100,000, a 17.5 percent increase. - Austria - Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who claims to have helped shut down the so-called Balkan route for migrants in 2016, said Tuesday the debate in Germany could help accelerate efforts to find a Europe-wide solution. Austria received 200,665 applications for asylum between 2013 and 2017, equivalent to 2.3 percent of its population of 8.7 million. After peaking at 88,160 in 2015, the annual figure fell to 24,715 in 2017. - Belgium - Belgium awarded refugee or equivalent status to around 40,000 people between 2015 and 2017, according to official data. The government has toughened its stance, particularly under the state secretary for asylum and migration, Theo Francken, who recently said he was opposed to all illegal immigration in the EU and that only refugees who have been sent from UN-administered camps in war zones should be allowed in. - Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia - The four so-called Visegrad countries are opposed to any refugee quota system that the EU has tried to impose on them in the two years since the migrant influx peaked at more than 1.26 million in the entire bloc in 2015. - Spain - Spain is the third main point of arrival after Italy and Greece, but seems to be one of the few countries within the bloc where public opinion is not deeply divided. And more than 9,300 migrants have arrived on the Spanish coast since the beginning of the year, double the number for the same period in 2017. The new Socialist government under Pedro Sanchez agreed to allow the Aquarius to dock and to handle the migrants' applications for asylum. He argued that the crisis over the boat should help "nudge" other countries within the bloc. - Sweden - Sweden, which previously had a very open refugee policy, has toughened its stance since the end of 2015. According to the official figures, it awarded asylum to more than 144,000 people, primarily from Syria, between 2015 and 2017, compared with an overall population of under 10 million. Immigration is one of the main issues in legislative elections being held in September. The populist anti-immigration hard right is currently polling at 18-20 percent in the opinion polls. La Paz (AFP) - Bolivia's new presidential palace is certainly an attention-getter, from its heliport to its 29-story tower and its presidential jacuzzi in South America's poorest nation. President Evo Morales, the Andean nation's leftist leader, is shrugging off naysayers. This is "wasteful," opposition leader Samuel Doria Medina claims. The $34-40 million price tag would be better spent on a cancer hospital, he said. Even a Bolivian cardinal, Toribio Ticona, took the time out of his day to denounce the princely luxury of the "Evo Palace." Almost 40 percent of Bolivia's population lives in poverty. The 120-meter (400-foot) skyscraper should not have been allowed under restrictions in La Paz's Spanish colonial old quarter. But Morales got an exception from the legislature, where his allies are in control. The building also boasts seven elevators, including one for the exclusive use of the commander in chief, local media reported. Two floors will be reserved for the head of state, including a presidential suite of 1,068 square meters (11,500 square feet), according to plans revealed by the newspaper Pagina Siete. It will also boast a sauna, a jacuzzi, a massage area and a gym. In power for 12 years, Morales, the country's first indigenous president and a key leader of Latin America's far left, has been authorized by the courts to seek a fourth term in 2019, despite a referendum saying otherwise. He has christened his new palace the "Great House of the People." "We will leave a solid infrastructure, a legacy for the children of our children... of a strong, solid country, as opposed to a colonial state" that existed before Morales, Franklin Flores of the president's ruling party said Monday. Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi police surrounded the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia and detained one of its members after an armed clash Wednesday left three people wounded in Baghdad, a security official said. The powerful Hezbollah Brigades militia is part of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary units that battled the Islamic State group (IS) in Iraq. A shootout erupted after a police patrol in the Iraqi capital stopped a car, only for a convoy of Hezbollah Brigades members to arrive, an interior ministry official said on condition of anonymity. "The men in five vehicles opened fire and the police responded. Two policemen were wounded and one of the members of Hezbollah Brigades," he said. The police then quickly surrounded the militia headquarters "where the fighters had holed up", the official said, closing down one of Baghdad's main thoroughfares. The siege was lifted after the "person behind the shooting" was arrested, the official said. The flareup in violence was rare for the Iraqi capital, which has seen clashes drop off dramatically since a sectarian conflict over a decade ago. The Hezbollah Brigades joined the Hashed alliance -- which came under the command of Iraq's prime minister -- after an appeal in 2014 by Iraq's top Shiite cleric to stop IS rampaging across the country. Iraq declared victory over IS in December last year after a punishing offensive that saw the Hashed on the front lines alongside government troops. Independent of the authorities in Baghdad, the Hezbollah Brigades are also fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The group was targeted Sunday in air raids laid at Israel's door that reportedly left some 50 people dead in eastern Syria, where forces on the ground are battling IS remnants. Israel has pledged to take all steps to stop key Assad backer Iran or its "proxies" building up a military presence in Syria. Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel could step up its "intensity" on Gaza, after a new flare-up that saw Israel carrying out air strikes and Palestinians launching rockets and mortar shells. The latest spike in tensions follows weeks of deadly protests and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border as well as the worst military escalation last month since a 2014 war. It comes as US President Donald Trump's special envoy Jason Greenblatt and adviser Jared Kushner visit the region to discuss issues including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Israeli planes initially targeted three Hamas military positions overnight in Gaza in response to kites and balloons carrying incendiary and explosive devices launched into Israel from the Palestinian territory, the army said. "Hamas and other terrorists, but mainly Hamas" hit back after the first air raids with more than 45 rockets and mortar rounds fired from Gaza towards Israel, seven of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system, Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said. Three more landed inside the Jewish state, he said, but did not account for the remainder. In response, Israeli planes carried out more raids against 25 "terror objectives" including an underground training compound, according to the army. Medical sources in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, said five people were lightly injured in the strikes. Speaking about Israel's plans regarding Gaza, Netanyahu said he would not go into detail, pledging however that "the intensity will be stepped up as necessary". "We are prepared for any scenario and our enemies would do well to understand this," he said at a military ceremony in southern Israel. - Sirens sound - In a joint statement, the military wings of Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad vowed to respond to Israeli attacks, saying they had "targeted seven Israeli military positions near Gaza... in response to continued Israeli aggression against resistance sites in Gaza." Story continues "The equation will be: bombardment in return for bombardment," they said. Kobi Ivri, a resident of an Israeli kibbutz neighbouring the southern Gaza Strip whose house was damaged by the Gaza fire, said he and his family ran into their bomb shelter after being woken at 5:20 am by a siren. "There was a boom. I heard glasses breaking, but I understood it (the mortar shell) fell outside, close," he said. Ivri described "a routine of tension, a routine of anticipation (of attacks), a routine of understanding that not too much is being done in order to help us," noting that an incendiary balloon from Gaza fell at the entrance to his kibbutz on Tuesday. A spokesman for the Israeli fire services told AFP that firefighters had put out 12 blazes in areas adjacent to Gaza caused by airborne incendiary devices. Early Wednesday afternoon, Israeli aircraft fired near Palestinians in southern Gaza who were launching incendiary kites, and later in the day, aircraft fired near Palestinians attempting to do the same in northern Gaza, a military spokesman told AFP. - Deteriorating path - Tensions have soared in Gaza since mass protests and clashes broke out along the border on March 30. At least 132 Palestinians have been killed. There have been no Israeli fatalities. Palestinians are demanding the right to return to the homes their families fled or were expelled from during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel. Israel has defied international condemnation over the Palestinian deaths, maintaining the use of live ammunition is necessary to defend its borders and stop infiltrations. It accuses Hamas of seeking to use the protests as cover for attacks. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that Gaza is close to the brink of war. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008 and observe a tense ceasefire that is regularly shaken by hostile acts. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since 2014. On Wednesday Greenblatt and Kushner were in Saudi Arabia where they met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discussed Gaza and "the Trump administration's efforts to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians," according to a White House statement. The duo's regional tour started in Jordan and will also take them to Israel, Egypt and Qatar. Trump's controversial December decision to recognise the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital prompted Palestinians to freeze all contacts with US officials. By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ori Lewis GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Several dozen rockets and mortar bombs launched at Israel by Palestinians in Gaza, and Israeli air strikes on the enclave's dominant Hamas militant group, raised the heat along the border on Wednesday. Despite the biggest flare-up in weeks in the area, no deaths were reported. But pledges by Israel and Palestinian militants to continue to respond to any attacks against them held the potential for broader conflict. "I don't intend to detail the actions we plan on Gaza," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech to graduating military officers that was aired on national radio. He added: "Force will be stepped up as much as required. We are prepared for every eventuality, and our enemies would do well to understand that - right now." The Israeli military said Hamas fired about 45 rockets and mortar bombs at southern Israel overnight, and that Israeli aircraft attacked 25 targets belonging to the group in response. A graphic distributed by the military showed 21 impact sites in Israeli territory and it released a photo of one crater just outside a school. It said seven projectiles were intercepted, at least three fell short inside Gaza and that it was not immediately able to account for the others. A Hamas spokesman said that, as part of a policy of "bombardment for bombardment", the barrages were retaliation for an earlier Israeli air strike. The Israeli military said that in that raid, it attacked three targets in a Hamas compound, calling it a response to the repeated launching of incendiary kites that have burned large tracts of parched farm fields and woodland in southern Israel. Two Hamas security men were lightly hurt in one of the air raids, residents said. Sirens sounded throughout the night in parts of Israel's south, sending residents into fortified rooms that are mandatory in homes. No Israeli casualties were reported. Israel has accused Hamas of stoking violence in an attempt to deflect domestic opinion from Gaza's energy shortages and faltering economy. Israel maintains a naval blockade of Gaza and tight restrictions on the movement of people and goods at its land borders. Egypt has also kept its own Gaza frontier largely closed. Both countries cite security concerns for the measures, which have deepened economic hardship. At least 127 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops during mass demonstrations along the Gaza border since March 30. Protesters are demanding a right of return to what is now Israel for those who fled or were forced to flee their homes in the war around its creation in 1948, and for millions of their descendants. Israel rules that out as demographic suicide. Israel's deadly tactics in confronting the weekly Friday protests have drawn international condemnation. But support has come from its main ally, the United States, which like Israel, has cast blame on Hamas. (Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Update: On Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end the process of separating children from their families. Its being described as a dramatic turnaround for Trump, who made it clear, however, that the order would not end the zero-tolerance policy that prosecutes all adults caught crossing the border illegally. According to the Associated Press, Trump was influenced in his decision by first lady Melania Trump, who had been making her opinion known. Plans werent revealed as to how quickly the detainees will be reunited with their families. With more than 2,300 children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border and placed in detainment centers or, as some have called them, concentration camps one voice has been absent in failing to condemn the policy: Ivanka Trumps. Donald Trumps trusted senior adviser and, of course, daughter whos a childrens advocate has been quiet on the matter, and that hasnt gone unnoticed. People are criticizing White House adviser and childrens advocate Ivanka Trump, pictured in March 2018, as kids are taken from their parents and placed in detainment centers. (Photo: Getty Images) Maria Shriver shared a post asking the first daughter, who is reportedly urging her father behind the scenes to end the separations, to show what it means to be an advisor on womens issues, a proponent of female empowerment and its gotten some traction. Now would be a good time for Ivanka Trump to show what it means to be an advisor on womens issues, a proponent of female empowerment. You cant be an advocate for women, mothers and not speak up about what is happening to women and children at this moment. #KeepFamiliesTogether Maria Shriver (@mariashriver) June 19, 2018 And in case Ivanka missed that, the journalist, who is of course part of the Kennedy clan and the former first lady of California, followed up on Wednesday with more, telling the accessories designer turned politico to step up or step down. Story continues I tweeted this yesterday. I haven't heard an answer @IvankaTrump. Step up or step down. https://t.co/TrV5qq4Avm Maria Shriver (@mariashriver) June 20, 2018 It hasnt been a lone cry. Celebrities from all walks of life actresses, comedians, Olympians have liked or shared Shrivers posts or have made similar comments themselves. On Tuesdays The View, Meghan McCain, daughter of Arizona Sen. John McCain, wanted to know: Where is Ivanka in all this? Because shes all for women and mothers, and she has a White House role and Im sort of interested that her platform has been women and mothers, and she doesnt seem to have anything to say about this. TRUMP DEFIANT ON FAMILY SEPARATIONS: Outrage continues to grow over the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy and the forced separation of immigrant parents from their children the co-hosts react to the latest. https://t.co/f8u2wc159S pic.twitter.com/q6o0t2muuE The View (@TheView) June 19, 2018 There are other voices as well, including Judd Apatow, who has been leading the charge in slamming Fox Newss border coverage. My dad kidnapped babies and I said come on dad, thats not cool. And he said to shut up. So I guess I tried. @IvankaTrump is a cult member. She is a coward. https://t.co/G9TH6nb7IV Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) June 20, 2018 And there are others. Many, many others. Good morning @IvankaTrump and @FLOTUS. Have you seen the papers? Have you turned on the news? They are separating thousands of children, including toddlers, infants, and the handicapped, from their parents and incarcerating them. HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU NOT OUTRAGED!?!?!? Ken Olin (@kenolin1) June 20, 2018 @IvankaTrump this is a moral emergency. you can do something real. https://t.co/QZCTAjuw8F Emmy Rossum (@emmyrossum) June 19, 2018 "There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children" @IvankaTrump The cries of these children are waiting to be answered. https://t.co/aiYHAt0YyU Jessica Chastain (@jes_chastain) June 18, 2018 @IvankaTrump told thePresident that this looked bad.. ???? No Ivanka, it is cruel and inhumane wrong and u should have spoken out. #shame Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) June 20, 2018 .@IvankaTrump, your womanhood and motherhood cards are about to be revoked. https://t.co/tB8DFxsEiU Justine Bateman (@JustineBateman) June 20, 2018 Hey @IvankaTrump Tell your dad to make it legal to let care workers pick up the babies and soothe them, okay? Jane Lynch (@janemarielynch) June 20, 2018 This is as evil as it gets. @IvankaTrump @realDonaldTrump @DonaldJTrumpJr @EricTrump you will always be remembered for this. It is not too late to change this path. https://t.co/NLyY5i7Nm2 Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) June 20, 2018 Please @IvankaTrump. You have influence with your dad. Do something. Its so scary for them. Theyre just babies, they need to be with their family. #FamiliesBelongTogether Valerie Bertinelli (@Wolfiesmom) June 20, 2018 Whatcha doin' @IvankaTrump ? Hanging out with your kids? Ever Carradine (@EverCarradine) June 19, 2018 We have to do something now! Its not about about the law, its about human decency. Put these babies and children back with their parents and families. @IvankaTrump and Melanie shame on you for doing and saying nothing. lisa rinna (@lisarinna) June 20, 2018 Its almost as if Ivanka was just posturing when she said she cared about women and children https://t.co/deWXVAwsVH Chelsea Peretti (@chelseaperetti) June 20, 2018 Step 1: Tear kids away from their parents, lock them up & abuse them. Step 2: Withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council. Great job @nikkihaley @IvankaTrump @VP @FLOTUS https://t.co/EPax7dRRnV Kal Penn (@kalpenn) June 20, 2018 .@IvankaTrump as ever, your vocal public condemnation of the separation of families is brave and shows what a true leader you are. these are the qualities that will serve you well when you are president yourself. Timothy Simons (@timothycsimons) June 20, 2018 A lot of outrage has been focused on Ivanka, who famously said theres a special place in hell for people who prey on children. A meme has been widely circulated over the past few days of Ivanka in the $5,000 metallic Carolina Herrera gown she wore in Jan. 2017 next to some of the children under their metallic blankets in a detainment center. Who wore it better: Children detained in McAllen, Texas or Ivanka Trump pic.twitter.com/atifVrteeY Orli Matlow (@HireMeImFunny) June 18, 2018 First lady Melania Trump has been on the receiving end of this too as the country looks for someone anyone to influence the president to fix the horrific situation. She too has reportedly been having conversations with POTUS to reunite the families. Yeah, give that a good, hard think. What could you do? https://t.co/u5LItLvkFA Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) June 20, 2018 As Shriver calls on Ivanka take action, her estranged husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California and an immigrant himself, ripped Donald Trump and his entire administration. The administration is right that we need to fix our immigration system. But if anybody is going to be in a cage while we wait for a comprehensive reform, lets make it the politicians who dont do their jobs in the cages, not innocent kids. Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) June 20, 2018 Meanwhile, the donations are pouring in to save the kids. The record-breaking Facebook fundraiser campaign created by Silicon Valley couple Charlotte and Dave Willner on Saturday to benefit RAICES (Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services) has raised an astounding $12 million to help reunite the immigrant families. Following the $288,000 donation to the ACLU by Chrissy Teigen and her family (which raised more than $1 million total), George and Amal Clooney announced on Thursday that theyll be donating $100,000 to the Young Center for Immigrant Childrens Rights in honor of the important cause. At some point in the future our children will ask us: Is it true, did our country really take babies from their parents and put them in detention centers? the Clooneys, who are parents to 1-year-old twins Ella and Alexander, said in a statement. And when we answer yes, theyll ask us what we did about it. What we said. Where we stood. We cant change this administrations policy but we can help defend the victims of it. Read more on Yahoo Entertainment: Jada Pinkett Smith claims she has the agina of a beautiful peach after undergoing aginal rejuvenation treatments to resolve her bladder problems. The 46-year-old actress, who is married to Will Smith, revealed the news on a recent episode of her Facebook series Red Table Talk, during which she and mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, 64, visit the Vitality Institute of Agoura in Los Angeles, where Pinkett Smith had previously undergone treatment (Pinkett Smiths 17-year-old daughter and co-host, Willow Smith, was not present). A lot of women focus on keeping [the agina] healthy for sex and pleasing men, Pinkett Smith says, to which her mom adds, But you gotta do it for yourself. The pair, who admit that aginal rejuvenation is a sensitive topic due to cultural shame surrounding age, met with owner Kelly Rainey, who explained that the five-year-old process is ideal for women who want to improve dryness, their cosmetic appearance, painful sex, and stress incontinence (a condition that causes a person to accidentally urinate with physical movement). VAGINAL REJUVENATION 101 Jada and Gammy embark on a very personal journey to a clinic that specializes in vaginal rejuvenation. Gammy is skeptical of the newfangled technology, but Jada has a different point of view. Posted by Red Table Talk on Friday, June 15, 2018 During the procedure, an instrument called the UltraFemme 360 is repeatedly inserted into the agina. It introduces heat, which stimulates cellular turnover, which makes you feel younger again, Rainey told the mother and daughter about the radio-frequency process. And it gets tighter and nicer and functions like it did when we were back in our 20s. Jada Pinkett Smith underwent aginal rejuvenation treatments for bladder problems. (Photo: Getty Images) An additional attachment is also worked around the labia and the urethra, which does make the appearance sometimes tighter and helps with stress incontinence and you become more supple, says Rainey. So its easier to have sex again. According to the Vitality Institutes website, the treatment works to stimulate your bodys healing response, cell regeneration, collagen synthesis, and blood supply. Story continues It apparently worked for Pinkett Smith, who proclaimed, My yoni is like a 16-year-old Im not kidding. It looks like a little beautiful peach. Rainey adds that the procure itself is pleasurable, saying, Two out of 10 women do have a happy time while theyre getting the treatment. Thats what the literature told us. Rainey did not return Yahoo Lifestyles request for comment. However, according to Alyssa Dweck, MD, a New York-based ob-gyn and author of The Complete A to Z for Your V, aginal rejuvenation is a growing field that may offer benefits to women struggling with the aforementioned issues. The most popular treatment is called the MonaLisa Touch the gold standard which increases collagen formation in the agina using a CO2 laser, she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. A less common technique uses radio frequency to achieve the same results. Dweck cautions that despite the emerging interest in aginal rejuvenation, some methods have only been cleared, but not approved, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (which means theyre not covered by health insurance), nor are they universally accepted by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the North American Menopause Society. Still, some urologists and even dermatologists are learning to perform the treatments. The treatment generally needs more research, adds Dweck, who does not perform the procedure. But it sounds promising. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Welcome to Yahoo Lifestyle, Pride Edition, commemorating Pride Month June with a collection of stories celebrating the resilience of LGBTQ people, from celebs, including Adam Rippon and Karamo Brown, to trans women and men discovering their inner power through a unique beauty clinic and queer youth receiving vital support from their gay elders after aging out of the foster system. And so, as they shout in the streets: Were here, were queer get used to it! When Jonathan Fernandez was just 10 years old, his family sent him from his Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City to their native Dominican Republic. But unlike most who head to the tropical paradise for a vacation or family visit, Fernandez was unknowingly being sent for so-called gay conversion therapy. Fernandez, now a 33-year-old makeup artist and cast member of VH1s Love & Hip Hop: New York, recalls the daily bullying he experienced, prompting his moms choice to send him away. Growing up, being gay was very taboo, he tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Every single day that I walked into school, I was a target. It was like I was a walking bullseye. Jonathan Fernandez today and as a child, before he was sent away for gay conversion therapy (Photo: Courtesy Jonathan Fernandez/@imsojonathan) Fernandez gets emotional when reflecting on the extreme guilt he harbored, not only at school but when hed come home every day to find his mother crying over his well-being. I didnt want being different [to be] the reason that my mom was upset, he tells Yahoo Lifestyle tearfully. I didnt choose to be gay, and I know my mom didnt choose to have a different son. Still, his mother believed the best chance she had at saving her son was to send him away. It was a choice encouraged by members of Fernandezs extended family, who lived in the Dominican Republic at the time; they told his mother about a local doctor theyd seen on TV, claiming he could fix the issues with nonheterosexual children. As soon as I got there, I got the worst vibe ever from this doctor, he recalls now. He had a mission: It was to kick the sissy out of me. Story continues Fernandez says he experienced verbal abuse that later progressed to hormone therapy and, ultimately, shock therapy treatment. My legs would lock up to the point I wouldnt be able to bend my knees. They would ask me questions and depending on the answer, I would feel a shock all through my body, he says. Youre locked in a room for hours, and youre basically convinced that every single thing that you believe, that you like, is wrong. And you are broken down to your core. Returning to New York months after his treatment, his family hid from him the fact that what hed experienced was gay conversion therapy. It wasnt until Fernandez was in his mid-20s that he discovered his familys secret, and his prolonged guilt transformed into resentment toward his mother. Fernandez was able to find solace and therapy in reality television, an outlet he claims was a blessing for him. He received a call from his friends, the producers of VH1s Love & Hip Hop, requesting that he join the cast and share his story with their viewers. Jonathan Fernandez poses with mother, who is now his best friend. (Courtesy: Jonathan Fernandez) Fernandez came out with his experience publicly on the show in hopes to save LGBTQ children from enduring the same fate. And in doing the show, he explains, he was able to come to terms with his traumatic experience and subsequently heal his relationship with his mother, who appeared on the show with him. My mom is my literally my best friend, he says. Had I never had that conversation with her, I would have never experienced that. What happened to me is unfortunate, and I can either let it break me or define me, or I can move on and be great in spite of it. And that is what I chose. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. At this point we are beyond the moral indignation. It is ethically wrong to put children in cages, it doesnt matter where they come from. But I wonder if the end result would have been the same if there were American kids in cages and chain link fences instead of children from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. It seems that Donald Trump does not believe all children are equal. There is no law that required the president of the United States to separate families, a fact he finally acknowledged as he prepared to change his own policy yet again. A simple phone call could have stopped this child abuse practice that has separated more than 2,300 minors from their parents weeks ago. The cruelty is unimaginable. The Mexican Foreign Minister, Luis Videgaray, reported that a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome was separated from her mother for days. But most children at detention centers in the United States are from Central America. I spoke with a mother from El Salvador, Elena Martinez, who hadnt seen her 11-year-old son for more than a month. She was with an ankle monitor in Houston while his son was kept at a detention center in California. She had no idea when they would see each other again. So lets be very clear, this is torture. Article 1 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture defines torture as any act by which pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for () punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed This is precisely what the Trump Administration has done with its zero-tolerance policy at the border. They are separating families as a deterrent and punishing kids for the actions taken by their parents. And thats precisely the definition of torture. (The U.S. signed the Convention against Torture in 1988 and ratified it in 1994.) The audio released by ProPublica of children crying and calling for their parents is the best evidence we have, so far, of the suffering inflicted by an elected government on minors from other countries. Diplomacy and patience are not an option when children are suffering from life-changing traumas. Pope Francis called it immoral. And Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leftist presidential candidate who is leading the polls in Mexico, described Trumps new policies as racists. (If he wins on July 1, dont expect another weak and spineless president like Enrique Pena Nieto.) Story continues The Trump Administration is also in violation of Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (signed by the U.S. in 1995). The treaty establishes that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will I do understand that families applying for political asylum have to go through a lengthy and complex judicial process. But there is no reason to separate them. They could be kept together, for brief periods, in shelters or be released until their day in court. The problem is that Donald Trump doesnt want to. Theres no easy solution to our immigration problems. Since the amnesty of 1986, we havent been able to find common ground on how to deal with millions of undocumented foreigners. But to put children in cages is not the answer. The first step should be to stop the torture of kids. Nations are judged, not by the way they treat the rich and powerful, but how they deal with the most vulnerable. Destroy the cages, reunite all the children with their parents and get ready for a very painful conversation. We need an intervention. Do we really want to be a country known around the world for torturing children? We require a much more realistic immigration policy. The refugees showing up at our Southern border would rather go through hell namely, the U.S. immigration system than risk the rape of their daughters or the possibility of their sons being recruited by gangs like MS-13. Think about it, what would you do? Of course, not all of them are fleeing violence and political persecution. For generations, poverty has been a pretty good incentive to go north. And that is not going to change when we have jobs for them in the U.S. and they can make in an hour what they used to earn in a day or two. To tell you the truth, I dont think we are going to be able to reach any kind of immigration consensus while Donald Trump is at the White House. The country is too polarized. So Plan B is already under way (and that is to resist until 2020). But we cannot remain silent when our government is torturing children. Silence, in this case, is complicity. And I want to be able to look my children in the eyes. After the probe, the crime branch had to file the chargesheet within 90 days of the date of their arrest. The judge informed the accused that they would be prosecuted under sections 302, 120-B, 201 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. Mumbai: Six women police officers, who were arrested in connection with the custodial death of Byculla prison inmate Manjula Shetye in June last year, will be prosecuted for murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence. The accused have denied the charges. A sessions court on Tuesday framed charges against the accused - constables Bindu Naikade, Waseema Shaikh, Shital Shegaonkar, Surekha Gulve and Aarti Shingne, and jailer Manisha Pokharkar - who were arrested on July 1. After the probe, the crime branch had to file the chargesheet within 90 days of the date of their arrest. Addressing the accused, additional sessions judge Shayana Patil said, "You accused had beaten her up with elbows and knees. In addition to that, you also did not provide medical treatment to her, due to which she died. The prosecution alleged that you also formed a conspiracy to kill." The judge informed the accused that they would be prosecuted under sections 302, 120-B, 201 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. One of the accused told the court that she was a trainee when the incident had occurred. The judge, however, said she would listen to her when the trial commences. The court then kept the hearing on July 3. The officials allegedly assaulted Shetye, a life convict, on June 23, 2017, after she raised complaints about police officers providing inmates fewer eggs and bread. The police recorded the complaint of an inmate, who was an eyewitness, on June 25. On September 26, the chargesheet was filed against the accused. It ran into around 990 pages and included the statements of around 187 witnesses and Shetye's medical reports. Most of the witnesses cited in the chargesheet are the jail inmates including Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, and other jail staff, who were in the prison on the day of the alleged murder. Apart from this, the agency also cited doctors and investigating officers along with Shetye's family members as witnesses in the case. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in China for a two-day visit on Tuesday, a week after his historic summit with Donald Trump. The visit is his third to China since March and comes as Pyongyang seeks China's help in easing hard-hitting sanctions which were rolled out last year in response to the regime's build-up of nuclear weapons. Kim is expected to brief Chinese president Xi Jinping on his discussions with Mr Trump, who announced last week that joint US-South Korea military would end - bolstering China's position in the region. China, meanwhile, will be seeking to use North Korea as a bargaining chip amid heightened trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, observers say. "Trump has approved tariffs against China, so it is time for China to play the North Korea card to deal with America," said Deng Yuwen, an international relations expert and senior researcher at the Charhar institute in Beijing. Kim Jong-un is visiting China for the third time since March Credit: AP "If Kim does not want to abandon the nuclear arms completely, then China will be happy to act as a broker between Pyongyang and the US," he told The Telegraph. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV announced the visit on Tuesday before several reports noted activity at Beijing International Airport which suggested a high-level visit was taking place. Rocket man: How Kim Jong-un emerged from his father's shadow to silence the doubters Kim's first visit to China - and his first foreign trip as leader - came in March, when he arrived in Beijing in an armoured train from Pyongyang. He also met Mr Xi in the northern port city of Dalian in May. Both previous visits were not announced by China's tightly-controlled media until Kim had left China. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a photo in Beijing in March Credit: AP CCTV's announcement ahead of his arrival on Tuesday morning suggested that Chinese and North Korean authorities were less nervous about the security of North Korea's young leader. China has broadly supported moves by the United States to denuclearise North Korea. Story continues However, Beijing has become less keen to confront Pyongyang with harsh measures as the threat of military action from Mr Trump recedes. News of Kims visit to Beijing came as South Korea and the Pentagon confirmed they would halt the annual Freedom Guardian military drill scheduled for August. A statement from the South Korean defence ministry said the two sides agreed to suspend all planning activities relating to the exercises. The move would please Chinese leaders and Kim, who has been on a global charm offensive in recent months, culminating in his ground-breaking meeting with Mr Trump in Singapore last week. Additional reporting by Christine Wei A tiny kitten has been rescued after the feline was trapped 44 feet underground in a cold well for five days in South Carolina. The animals meows of distress were heard by a local resident Kimberly Cockrell, who initially tried to save the kitten herself by encouraging him to climb up sticks shed thrown down the well. When that didnt work, she contacted local organizations before reaching out to California-based animal rescue group Hope for Paws. "I got a call in the middle of the night. A lady called Kimberly Cockrell called from South Carolina and told us that she had discovered that a kitten had fallen down a well 44 feet deep," said Eldad Hagar, a specialist with the organization. "She was throwing him down food, but we knew the kitten didnt have long." Hagar and Loreta Frankoye, another specialist, hopped on a red-eye flight, traveling 2,100 miles from Los Angeles to South Carolina to save the tiny kitten. The pair used specialist equipment, including a gentle snare, and managed to pull the 9-ounce kitten to the surface in an hourlong rescue on May 7. "The kittens meows had become super weak so we knew time was of the essence," Hagar said. "We knew he was running out of time. It was a very stressful rescue. We couldnt see the kitten because it was so dark. We began working on removing the branches, pulling the large ones up out of the way." When they were finally able to lift him out of the well, the kitten was suffering from hypothermia. They said he felt "as cold as ice." The animal-saving pair immediately put the kitten into their car and warmed him up against the heater as they rushed him to a veterinary hospital. There, the kitten, which they have named Jessie, was rehydrated and fed. Within an hour, he began to perk up. Hagar and Frankoye filmed the entire rescue. They admitted becoming emotional as they watched the footage later. Were just happy that Jessie is OK and thriving," Frankoye said. "Its very satisfying. People have been saying the video is our best one yet." Story continues Jessie was later adopted by a local woman in South Carolina. RELATED STORIES 12 Baby Ducks Rescued From Sewer Grate Thankful Dog Kisses Firefighter who Rescued Him From Roof Florida Woman Held Captive Rescued After Handing Note to Vet: 'Call the Cops' Related Articles: A year after its liberation, much of West Mosul still lies in ruins. (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) The largest and longest urban battle fought anywhere in the world since World War II was waged to retake Mosul from ISIS. Liberty came at a horrific price: Thousands of civilians were killed and large swathes of the Iraqi city were reduced to rubble. Much of East Mosul was spared, but the West still lies in ruins a year after the end of the fighting. As I stood there, it felt as if the guns fell silent only yesterday. If weve learned anything from the last decade in the Middle East and Afghanistan, it is that if a military win is not followed by effective help to ensure stability, then the cycle of violence only continues. Youd think, therefore, that nothing could be more important in this situation than trying to make sure that violent extremism can never return to Mosul. Youd expect that rebuilding a city that was an icon of diversity, peaceful coexistence and cultural heritage would be a top priority. Youd imagine that the streets of West Mosul would be crammed with reconstruction equipment, de-miners, architects, planners, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations and world heritage experts providing technical assistance to Iraq on a master plan for the reconstruction of the city. But a year later, West Mosul lies abandoned, ruined and apocalyptic. Walls that remain standing are riddled with holes from mortar fire and bullets. The streets are eerily quiet: hundreds of thousands of former residents of the city are living in camps or nearby communities because there is nothing for them to go back to. Reeking corpses still litter the ruins, awaiting collection. Are we guilty of performing a form of collective moral triage, selectively choosing when and where we will defend human rights, for how long and to what degree? In streets that look entirely uninhabitable, small numbers of shell-shocked families are clearing the rubble of their homes with their bare hands, braving the concealed explosives left behind. In the last week, there was an explosion in a house that killed and injured 27 people. Story continues Even worse than the physical ruin of the city is the invisible damage to the emotional landscape of its people. Returning residents have lost homes their families lived in for generations, their possessions, their savings, even the documents that prove their identity. Communities of different faiths who used to live side by side have been thrust apart and are now divided. A man who approached me described with tears in his eyes how he was lashed by militants. A child told me about seeing a man killed in front of her on the street. A mother and father described the morning when a mortar shell struck their teenage daughter, ripping away her legs, leaving shattered bones protruding. They carried her to a hospital and begged for medical treatment. They were turned away, and she bled to death in their arms. Injustice and suffering of this magnitude is impossible to quantify. For the people who survived these experiences to have been left on their own and largely forgotten feels utterly wrong and profoundly disquieting. The gap between what they deserve and how quickly the world has forgotten them is shocking. I found myself asking whether, at another time in history, we would have reacted differently to what happened in Mosul. Would we have reacted as we did after the liberation of Europe after World War II, flooding it with assistance to rebuild and recover? I thought also of the survivors of the chemical weapons attacks, the hospital bombings, the organized rape and the deliberate starvation of civilians that are all features of contemporary conflicts, and asked myself, have we become numb to human suffering? Are we so doubtful of our ability to act effectively overseas, in light of recent history, that we have begun tolerating the intolerable? Are we guilty of performing a form of collective moral triage, selectively choosing when and where we will defend human rights, for how long and to what degree? In Mosul, I felt I was standing at a ground zero of foreign policy failures over the last decade. But also in a place that represents the human capacity for survival and renewal, and the stubborn endurance of universal values in individual hearts. I think of a father I met, and his joy that his two young daughters are now able to go to school again. Penniless and without a roof over his familys heads, he spoke as if he had no more treasured possession than their report cards. There would be no more profound symbol of victory than every girl in Mosul being able to go back to school and excel. Not a single family I met in West Mosul asked me for anything. They are not counting on our assistance. Mosul can trace its history back 3,000 years I am sure its people will overcome those three years of terror. But how much better it would be if we saw their recovery as our joint endeavor, in the same way that we regarded the defeat of ISIS as a collective responsibility. Angelina Jolie is the special envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, co-founder of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative and a filmmaker. Arizona police have arrested a man for allegedly swindling more than 1,000 Walmart stores in an elaborate scheme. Thomas Frudaker, 23, was arrested by police in Yuma on June 13. He is accused of six felonies: two counts of theft, two counts of fraudulent schemes and two counts of criminal damage. According to police, they were contacted by a Yuma Walmart when Frudaker attempted to return a computer with missing parts. The store reported that he purchased the computer that day at another area Walmart. On further investigation, investigators said they uncovered evidence showing that Frudaker has committed fraudulent transactions at Walmarts across the country in the past 18 months, authorities said. Thomas Frudaker is accused of six felonies after allegedly making fraudulent returns at more than 1,000 Walmart stores nationwide. (Photo: Yuma County Sheriffs Office) These fraudulent returns have caused a monetary loss of approximately $1.3 million to Walmart, the Yuma Police Department said in a statement. Police have not provided additional details on how the alleged scheme worked. A Walmart representative told Business Insider that the company has been aware of the alleged crimes and has spent the last several months trying to identify the person responsible. We have strengthened internal processes to identify and help prevent this type of criminal conduct, the company said in a statement. We appreciate the quick actions of our associate and swift response from the Yuma Police Department, which provided the break to make an arrest. According to the Retail Equation, a California-based company that helps retailers optimize customer transactions, return fraud costs retailers up to $17 billion annually in the U.S. Frudaker, who was booked into the Yuma County Adult Detention Facility, is being held on a $100,000 bond. Jail records do not list an attorney for him. Send David Lohr an email or follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. LONDON (Reuters) - Meghan Markle made her debut on Tuesday at one of the English social season's blue riband events, Royal Ascot, joining her husband Prince Harry in a horse-drawn carriage for the traditional procession along the course at the start of the five-day race meeting. Wearing a white Givenchy dress and black and white Philip Treacy hat, the new Duchess of Sussex and her husband were accompanied in the carriage by Harry's uncle Edward, the Earl of Wessex, and his wife Sophie. Thousands of racegoers cheered the newly-weds, who married a month ago in a glittering ceremony at the nearby Windsor castle. They later presented a trophy to jockey Frankie Dettori who won the St James's Palace Stakes on Without Parole. The royal carriage procession was led by the Queen, 92, wearing a bright yellow coat and hat. Earlier on Tuesday, Buckingham Palace announced that Elizabeth's granddaughter Zara Tindall had given birth to her second daughter, the monarch's seventh great-grandchild. (Reporting by Anu Shukla; editing by Stephen Addison) Meghan Markle dazzled the crowds at her very first Royal Ascot with her husband, Prince Harry, by her side. The newlyweds arrived at the iconic British horse racing event in an open-air carriage, accompanied by Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, the Countess of Wessex. Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, wore a chic white-and-black ensemble by Givenchy that some called Audrey Hepburn-esque, while Harry donned a traditional top hat and tails. Givenchy is the same designer behind Markle's wedding dress. Markle has been busy since she wed Harry just one month ago. Last week, she joined Queen Elizabeth II on an outing in northwest England, traveling overnight on the queen's luxurious train. The trip attracted some attention for deviating from royal tradition, as only the top four members of the royal family Elizabeth, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles and Camilla have ridden on the train in the past. RELATED STORIES Meghan Markle's Father Apologizes for Staged Photos: 'It Was a Serious Mistake' Why Meghan Markle's Sultry Videos From Her Time as an Actress May Be Played in Court Meghan Markle Breaks Royal Rules With Off-The-Shoulder Dress at Queen's Celebration Related Articles: Melania Trump issued a statement Sunday saying that she hates to see children separated from their families, in reference to the migrant situation at the Texas border. But while the first lady may officially oppose President Trumps zero-tolerance immigration policy in which some 2,000 children have been separated from their parents and placed in a Texas detention center that wont stop her from getting heat for her husbands actions. Melania Trumps tweet about children has caused a stir. (Photo: Chris Kleponis Pool/Getty Images) On Tuesday, FLOTUS hosted Spains Queen Letizia for a tea at the White House. She later tweeted a photo of the occasion and noted that she and the royal spent time focusing on the ways we can positively impact children. A great visit with the King & Queen of Spain at the @WhiteHouse today. Queen Letizia & I enjoyed tea & time together focusing on the ways we can positively impact children. pic.twitter.com/IiaMQOil3K Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) June 19, 2018 The reference to children was all the fuel critics including some celebrities needed to chide the first lady for not pushing Trump to stop the family separations. Yeah, give that a good, hard think. What could you do? https://t.co/u5LItLvkFA Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) June 20, 2018 You're kidding, right? You can start helping children by talking to your husband about changing his policy of separating children from their parents at the border. Marsha Mood (@MarshaMood) June 19, 2018 Impact children??? How's the impact of putting a young child into a concentration camp? MarkSiegel (@marksiegelbooks) June 19, 2018 Like letting them out of cages? Erin Carr (@Erin_Carr) June 20, 2018 Hey Melania either help us liberate your husband's child concentration camps, or convince him to resign. Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) June 19, 2018 This has got to be one of the most tone deaf tweets Ive ever seen. Gareth Abreo (@GarethAbreo) June 20, 2018 You can save the children at the border for a start!!! LindaLou (@LindaLou0711) June 19, 2018 Uh. The camps.. but nice dress. Holly Marie Combs (@H_Combs) June 20, 2018 just white kids tho, right? Usman Ally (@UsmanAlly) June 20, 2018 FLOTUS isnt the only Trump family member to be confronted over the border crackdown. First daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump who has allegedly asked her father about the policy but has remained silent publicly has been slammed on social media. Meghan McCain also called her out during Tuesdays The View. Story continues TRUMP DEFIANT ON FAMILY SEPARATIONS: Outrage continues to grow over the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy and the forced separation of immigrant parents from their children the co-hosts react to the latest. https://t.co/f8u2wc159S pic.twitter.com/q6o0t2muuE The View (@TheView) June 19, 2018 Meanwhile, supermodel Karlie Kloss, who is in a long-term relationship with Jared Kushners brother Joshua, was encouraged to step in after she posted on Instagram about the heartless policy. Dont tell us to call our representatives, one follower wrote. TALK TO THE PRESIDENTS ADVISER. TALK TO JARED. TALK TO IVANKA. TAKE REAL-LIFE ACTION. Have your boyfriends brother speak to his father-in-law, suggested another commenter. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. More than 600 clergy and lay members of the United Methodist Church have signed a letter bringing church charges against fellow member Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the zero tolerance immigration policy that has resulted in the separation of undocumented children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The formal accusation, issued on Monday, charges Sessions with numerous violations of the denominations Book of Discipline, including child abuse, immorality, racial discrimination and, for his citation of Romans 13 to defend the policy, the dissemination of doctrines contrary to the standards of the UMC. Those who signed the complaint letter claim that Sessions tremendous social/political power, his role as a Sunday school teacher and the severe and ongoing effects of his actions compel them to call for accountability. As members of the United Methodist Church, we deeply hope for a reconciling process that will help this long-time member of our connection step back from his harmful actions and work to repair the damage he is currently causing to immigrants, particularly children and families, the letter states. Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores declined to comment directly on the church charges against Sessions. She said, The AGs comments on Scripture were not to justify the policy but in response to other criticism. Attorney General Jeff Sessions addresses cadets at the Lackawanna College Police Academy in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on June 15. Hundreds of his fellow United Methodist Church members are bringing church charges against him for separating immigrant families. (Photo: Pacific Press / Getty Images) In May, Sessions announced that the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security are aiming to prosecute 100 percent of cases of illegal border crossings, regardless of whether those involved are fleeing persecution or traveling with children. The U.S. government separated nearly 2,000 children from their parents in April and May as a result of this policy, placing the minors in shelters or with extended family members while their parents are prosecuted. Sessions has drawn widespread condemnation after using a chapter from the Bible to respond to religious critics of the policy. Story continues Concerns raised by our church friends about separating families are not fair or logical, he said in a speech in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order. I have given the idea of immigration much thought and have considered the arguments of our church leaders, Sessions continued. I do not believe Scripture or church history or reason condemns a secular nation-state for having reasonable immigration laws. If we have them, then they should be enforced. Tents used to detain immigrant children, many of whom have been separated from their parents, in Tornillo, Texas, June 18. The U.S. government separated nearly 2,000 children from their parents in April and May after they crossed the border without authorization. (Photo: Mike Blake / Reuters) The United Methodist Church is the third-largest religious denomination in the U.S., with over 7 million lay members. Sessions is a member of a Methodist church in Mobile, Alabama, and attends services at another Methodist church in Virginia. HuffPost has reached out to the pastors of both congregations for comment but has not heard back. According to United Methodist News, the denominations official news site, its rare for Methodists to bring formal charges against a layperson. Complaints that come up are typically resolved at the local level, after a members pastor and district superintendent offer counseling. If the complaint isnt resolved, its possible for charges to result in a church trial and even expulsion. This has reportedly never happened in the churchs history. The Rev. David Wright, a UMC pastor and chaplain at the University of Puget Sound in Washington state, was the primary organizer of the letter against Sessions. Wright told United Methodist News that he doesnt want Sessions to be expelled from the denomination but is hoping the charges result in Sessions being called in for pastoral counseling. I hope his pastor can have a good conversation with him and come to a good resolution that helps him reclaim his values that many of us feel hes violated as a Methodist, Wright said. Children at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Rio Grande City, Texas, on June 17. Defending the administrations harsh immigration enforcement policies, Sessions cited a verse from the Bible. (Photo: Customs and Border Protection / Reuters) Many Christian leaders have rejected Sessions interpretation of Romans 13 and spoke out against the zero tolerance policy, including the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church. Our congregations and agencies serve many migrant families that have recently arrived in the United States. Leaving their communities is often the only option they have to provide safety for their children and protect them from harm, the council said in a June 7 statement. Tearing children away from parents who have made a dangerous journey to provide a safe and sufficient life for them is unnecessarily cruel and detrimental to the well-being of parents and children. Sessions Mobile church, Ashland Place, is part of the UMCs AlabamaWest Florida Conference, which has also been critical of the policy. A spokeswoman for the conference declined to comment to HuffPost about the charges brought against Sessions, saying that details about any complaint are confidential. In a statement released Monday, the conferences Bishop David Graves decried separating children from their parents as unjust acts. I implore congress and the current administration to do all in their power to reunite these families, he said. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Also on HuffPost Undocumented immigrants who turned themselves in after crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. await processing near McAllen, Texas, on April 2, 2018. Families who crossed the border near McAllen, Texas, on May 9, 2018. A U.S. Border Patrol spotlight shines on a mother and son from Honduras on June 12, 2018, in McAllen, Texas. Central Americans seeking asylum wait as U.S. Border Patrol agents take them into custody on June 12, 2018, near McAllen, Texas. A Honduran mother stands with her family at the U.S.-Mexico border fence on Feb. 22, 2018, near Penitas, Texas. U.S. Border Patrol agents take a Central American family into custody on June 12, 2018 near McAllen, Texas. U.S. Border Patrol agents take a father and son from Honduras into custody near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018, near Mission, Texas. A Central American family waits to be taken into custody on June 12, 2018, near McAllen, Texas. Central American migrants wait as U.S. Border Patrol agents take people into custody on June 12, 2018, near McAllen, Texas. Two women and a child who crossed the border on Feb. 22, 2018, near McAllen, Texas. A Honduran child who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her family on Jan. 4, 2017, near McAllen, Texas. U.S. Border Patrol agents take Central American immigrants, including this young child, into custody on Jan. 4, 2017, near McAllen, Texas. A Honduran woman and child on Jan. 4, 2017, near McAllen, Texas. A U.S. Border Patrol agent checks birth certificates while taking Central American immigrants into detention on Jan. 4, 2017, near McAllen, Texas. Adults and children await processing near McAllen, Texas, on April 2, 2018. Guatemalan immigrant families turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol near McAllen, Texas, on May 8, 2018. U.S. Border Patrol agents take Central American immigrants into custody on Jan. 4, 2017, near McAllen, Texas. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. The PDP wanted a conciliatory posture though the party is fully aware that it has not fetched dividends of any kind. The BJPs headquarters strategists are declaring with unconcealed glee and brazenness that they struck first against ally Peoples Democratic Party before it could do so. They also confess that the party has been losing ground in its strongholds in Jammu and Ladakh, and that the decision to quit the alliance was to cut the losses. Clearly, the BJP is looking to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Mehbooba Mufti and other PDP leaders have also aired the differences that have dogged the coalition with regard to dealing with separatists, stone-pelting teenagers, militants and Pakistan. The PDP wanted a conciliatory posture though the party is fully aware that it has not fetched dividends of any kind. The Kashmir Valley remains a trouble-spot, and it is beyond the ordinary politics of any party to deal with it. While it can be argued that the politics of the PDP-BJP coalition has played itself out when it broke up on Tuesday, and each party is cutting it losses regarding its own credibility, the BJPs withdrawal, and the PDPs plans to do so, shows that political parties are not able to look beyond the next election. That is fair enough. More than the PDP, which is a regional party confined to the Valley, unlike the National Conference and the Congress, which have a presence in all the three parts of the state the Valley, Jammu and Ladakh it was the responsibility of a nationalist party like the BJP to have put aside political calculations and looked at the national interest. There was the need for a civilian government in J&K, and it was this compulsion that made Mufti Mohammed Sayeed enter an alliance with the BJP, and to be fair to the BJP, it too did so with the same sense of democratic obligation. It required courage and statesmanship on the part of the two parties to have run the government till the next Assembly elections in 2020, but the BJP has shown that it does not want to sacrifice its short-term interests for long-term goals. It is no great sin on the part of the BJP to have done what it did by bringing down the government, but it clearly shows that it is not the mature, visionary party that it claims to be. The electoral prospects of the BJP and the PDP are not likely to be salvaged in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, nor in the Assembly elections the following year. The sins of omission and commission committed in the three years in government will continue to haunt them. It would have added to the political credibility of the BJP if it had stuck to the coalition till the end of its term. The BJP and PDP are going to be clear losers in the next round of elections. The BJPs calculation that it would use the security forces to deal with the stone-pelting adolescents as it would with the militants, half of whom are homegrown and the other half are infiltrators, reveals the desperation of the BJP to give itself an image makeover as a party of tough nationalism in the 2019 elections. The strategy is misplaced because the voter in Uttar Pradesh, for example, is not really interested in the BJP-run Central government flexing its armed muscle against militants in the Valley. The Narendra Modi government will be judged in 2019 for its performance on the economic and administrative fronts, and there is a dawning realisation in the party that the performance of the government has been below par on both these counts. The BJPs act of bringing down an elected government in J&K adds fuel to the buzz that a desperate Modi government would want a brief military showdown with Pakistan to win the 2019 election. This kind of thinking may make sense to the blinkered hawks in the party and in the countrys security establishment, but it is unlikely to work. Pakistan has been playing the cunning game of directing a low-intensity proxy war in the Valley, and it would not serve as provocation enough to fight a micro-war with Islamabad. The international community would also not allow it, despite US President Donald Trumps belligerent anti-Pakistan stance. The US security establishment would not want to abandon Pakistan because it is well aware that China will easily step into the vacuum. So the grand plans of the blinkered hawks in New Delhi could be dangerously delusional. There are no quick-fixes to the trouble in the Valley. The governments in New Delhi and Srinagar will have to deal with it continuously, responding to the situation with intelligent responses which could alternate between hard and soft options, and could be repetitive. There is a need for patience, which is the only strategy. It would be a folly to abandon the military option or to use it excessively. And it is also wrong to exacerbate the differences between Jammu and Ladakh on the one hand, and the Valley on the other. It might be politically beneficial to the BJP in the short run, but it if aspires to be a responsible national party then it should treat the whole state as an integrated whole. This would of course require that the BJP give up its Hindutva way of thinking in dealing with Jammu and Kashmir. It must be said to the credit of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and to the BJP in 2015 that the two sides took a courageous decision to provide an elected government in the troubled state. The BJPs decision to pull out of the alliance three years later is an act of moral cowardice and political cunning. The PDPs insistence on being soft with militants and separatists is infuriating indeed, but it is the policy to pursue in the long term. The PDP and the National Conference are two regional parties and they should play their allotted roles in the democratic politics of the state. The BJP and the Congress should not overreach themselves in the political minefield that Jammu and Kashmir is. The Congress is slightly better placed than the BJP because it has a presence in all the three regions of the state. Unauthorized immigrants detained at a center in McAllen, Texas, in a photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. A top Mexican official said a girl with Down syndrome was being held there. (Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection via Getty Images) Mexicos Foreign Affairs Secretary Luis Videgaray said at a press conference live-streamed on Tuesday that one of the children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border is a 10-year-old Mexican girl with Down syndrome. He said the girls father is a U.S. resident and she was accompanied by her mother and 10-year-old brother when detained. U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed Wednesday that a girl with Down syndrome was being held separately from her mother, but noted that the decision did not stem from the Trump administrations new zero tolerance immigration policy. CBP said the girls mother is being held as a witness as the agency plans to prosecute the U.S. citizen who drove her and five children across the border. Three of those children were U.S. citizens who have been released to an aunt, according to the agency. Videgaray said the two 10-year-olds are being held at an immigration center in McAllen, Texas, and that their mother was sent to a shelter in Brownsville, Texas, where a former Walmart now houses thousands of would-be immigrants on the border with Mexico. The father is attempting to gain immediate custody of the two children who have been detained, Videgaray said. He did not name any member of the family at the press conference, which took place in Spanish, but said his team notified U.S. officials of the situation. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would not comment on the girls case, citing a privacy policy against commenting on specific detainees. Our focus at HHS is always on the safety and best interest of each child, he said in an email. These are vulnerable children in difficult circumstances, and HHS treats its responsibility for each child with the utmost care. When contacted on Tuesday for comment on policy regarding special needs children, CBP referred HuffPost to a 31-page standards manual dated October 2015. According to the document, officers assess groups of detainees to determine whether any may be considered at risk, including people with physical or mental disabilities. The document states that reasonable accommodations must be made for at-risk detainees, including regular and frequent supervision and extra efforts to ensure they comprehend instructions. Story continues Mexico has condemned the Trump administration policy. In his comments to reporters, Videgaray noted that few of the children who are being detained separately from their parents at the border are Mexican. Most are fleeing poverty and corruption in Central American nations such as Guatemala and Honduras. Donald Trumps administration has faced sharp bipartisan criticism for its new policy of separating children from parents who bring them into the country without authorization. As he deals with a hefty political fallout, he has falsely put the onus on Democrats. His fellow Republicans are working toward an immigration bill that would end the highly controversial practice. Carolina Moreno contributed to this report. This story has been updated with additional comment from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Related Content Tucker Carlson: Keeping Immigrant Families Together Threatens 'Your Country' George Takei: Trump Immigration Policy Worse Than Japanese Prison Camps Fox News' Parent Company Feeling Repercussions From Immigration Coverage Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Grossing $109 million during its initial 2015-16 theatrical run, and earning raves from critics (it currently boasts a 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes), Creed was an unqualified triumph that reinvigorated the Rocky series and helped push both director Ryan Coogler and leading man Michael B. Jordan to the height of Hollywood superstardom a trajectory they continued with Black Panther in February. Thus, in the grand tradition of Rocky Balboas own saga, the film will be receiving an action-packed sequel this November. And though Coogler wont be back to helm the follow-up, another familiar franchise face will be returning much to the chagrin of Sylvester Stallones Italian Stallion. In Creed II, revenge will be on the mind of Jordans Adonis Creed, thanks to the man he finds himself squaring off against in the ring Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu). Viktor is, of course, the son of Rockys own Russian nemesis, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), who killed Adoniss dad, Apollo (Carl Weathers), in 1985s Rocky IV. That plot, however, is only teased in the trailer above, which focuses on Adonis trying to recover from an in-ring beating, and learning that Rocky doesnt necessarily believe that the younger Creed can beat his opponent. What ensues is a montage of pugilistic sights set to Kendrick Lamars DNA, all of which builds to a crescendo until Adonis informs us that it may not seem like it now, but this is more than just a fight and we then finally see the robe of his opponent, which features on its back the name Drago. On Tuesday, the film also debuted its first teaser poster: Creed II poster. (Image: MGM/Warner Bros.) Directed by Steven Caple Jr., and written by Stallone, and co-starring Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Andre Ward, and Wood Harris, Creed II will enter the theatrical ring on Nov. 21. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Michael Cohen, who served as Donald Trumps personal attorney for more than a decade, is stepping down from his role as deputy finance chair for the Republican National Committees Finance Committee amid an ongoing federal investigation into his business dealings. Cohen is widely rumored to be facing imminent arrest by prosecutors, who are investigating possible bank fraud and campaign finance violations. According to ABC News, the attorney cited that investigation along with special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation in his resignation letter to RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel. This important role requires the full time attention and dedication of each member. Given the ongoing Mueller and SDNY investigations, that simply is impossible for me to do, he wrote, per ABC News. An RNC official told HuffPost the chair has accepted Cohens resignation, noting that he has been inactive on the committee for several months. Cohen served the RNC for more than a year after his appointment to the Finance Committee was announced in April 2017. The attorney also used the letter as an opportunity to critique a controversial Trump administration immigration policy allowing children to be separated from their parents at the border, ABC News reported. He told McDaniel: As the son of a Polish holocaust survivor, the images and sounds of this family separation policy is heart wrenching. While I strongly support measures that will secure our porous borders, children should never be used as bargaining chips. In the past, Cohen boasted of his loyalty to the Trump family and Trump himself. The attorneys life has been upended, however, since the FBI raided his home, office and hotel room April 9, seizing more than 1 million documents. He parted ways with his lawyers last week after they helped him review the seized documents. According to Vanity Fair, Cohen found a replacement in New Yorkbased Guy Petrillo, who comes with experience in dealing with prosecutors for the Southern District of New York. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Cohen has grown frustrated with Trump over the presidents apparent refusal to foot his former attorneys legal bills. Story continues Speculation continues to swirl over whether the attorney will cooperate with prosecutors, potentially handing them information that could prove harmful to the president. Related Coverage Trump Filing Shows He Paid Cohen, After Cohen Paid Stormy Michael Avenatti Calls For 'Absolute Pig' Rudy Giuliani To Be Fired After Comments Trump's Former Lawyer Michael Cohen Requests Restraining Order Against Michael Avenatti Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a statement on World Refugee Day Wednesday in which he said the U.S. would continue to help the worlds most vulnerable refugees as the Trump Administration faces growing backlash over its policy of separating immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border. Pompeo praised the strength, courage and resilience of millions of refugees worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to persecution and conflict in his World Refugee Day statement. The statement comes at a time when the Trump Administration is facing growing criticism for its zero tolerance immigration policy that has resulted in U.S. Border Patrol agents separating children from their parents when they are caught at the U.S. Mexico border. The children are then placed in shelters overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The policy has resulted in nearly 2,000 minors being separated from their families over six weeks, and is drawing strong criticism from both sides of the aisle. In the statement, Pompeo says that since 1975, the United States has accepted more than 3.3 million refugees for permanent resettlement more than any other country in the world. The United States will continue to prioritize the admission of the most vulnerable refugees while upholding the safety and security of the American people, the statement read. The United States provides more humanitarian assistance than any other single country worldwide, including to refugees. Read Pompeos Full Statement Below: On World Refugee Day, we join the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and our international partners in commemorating the strength, courage, and resilience of millions of refugees worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to persecution and conflict. As global displacement has reached record levels, it is vital that new actors including governments, international financial institutions, and the private sector come to the table to assist in the global response to address it. The United States will continue to be a world leader in providing humanitarian assistance and working to forge political solutions to the underlying conflicts that drive displacement. Story continues The United States provides more humanitarian assistance than any other single country worldwide, including to refugees. In FY 2017 alone, the United States provided more than $8 billion in life-saving humanitarian assistance, which included food, shelter, healthcare, education, and vocational training and livelihoods to tens of millions of crisis-affected people worldwide, including refugees. This assistance is provided as close to refugees homes as possible in order to facilitate their voluntary, safe, and dignified return if and when conditions allow. This commitment to the worlds most vulnerable individuals remains a critical component of Americas national security policy. The United States was one of the first international donors to the Rakhine State crisis, providing nearly $204 million in life-saving assistance to those displaced in Burma, Rohingya and other refugees in Bangladesh, and host communities since August 2017. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the U.S. government remains the largest single country donor, having provided nearly $277 million in response to increased insecurity and violence against civilians since October 2016. This funding helps the 4.5 million displaced people within the country as well as more than 700,000 Congolese refugees in the region. The United States also maintains a steadfast commitment to getting life-saving support to Syrians wherever they are. Since the start of the crisis, the United States has provided nearly $8.1 billion in humanitarian assistance for the millions of people displaced inside Syria and the region. Since 1975, the United States has accepted more than 3.3 million refugees for permanent resettlement more than any other country in the world. The United States will continue to prioritize the admission of the most vulnerable refugees while upholding the safety and security of the American people. Through active humanitarian diplomacy, humanitarian assistance, and tireless efforts to end conflicts and achieve durable solutions for persecuted people around the world, we will continue to help the worlds most vulnerable refugees, reflecting the deeply held values of the American people. US presenter Rachel Maddow broke down in tears live on air as she reported babies separated from their parents under the Trump administrations immigration laws were being placed in tender age shelters. The MSNBC anchor struggled with the news three centres in South Texas were holding infant children and toddlers taken from their parents as they attempted to cross the border from Mexico into the United States. Maddow was unable to read more than a sentence of the report, detailing how infants were being detained at the centres, before starting to cry. Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children, she began before attempting to force back the tears. Can we put up the graphic of this? she asks as she continues to well up, adding: I think I am going to have to hand this off, as she ends the show. The report disclosed information from lawyers and medical providers who had visited shelters where migrant children were being held in the Rio Grande Valley, describing play rooms full of crying, preschool age children. More than 2,300 children are thought to have been forcibly separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border since the White House announced its zero tolerance policy to illegal immigration in May this year. The government has come under fire for the approach after images of children in cages at US Border Patrol processing stations have emerged in recent weeks. Concerns have also been raised that the US is creating new institutions to hold Central American toddlers authorities have separated from their parents, decades after the nations welfare system ended the use of orphanages over fears children may suffer lasting trauma. The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it, said Kay Bellor, of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other services to migrant children. Story continues Toddlers are being detained. US government officials have denied the policy is inhumane or cruel, despite receiving widespread criticism from religious groups, the United Nations and both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. We have specialised facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs and tender age children as we define as under 13 would fall into that category, said Steven Wagner, of the Department of Health and Human Services. They're not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and they're staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs particularly of the younger children. Additional reporting by AP Washington, D.C. A girl wears a jacket that references that of the First Lady Melania Trump during a CASA in Action rally at Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington, D.C. The protest was organized to protest the Trump Administration zero tolerance policy that separates children from their families at the southern border Wednesday June 27, 2018. (Photo: Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images) Small groups of protesters in cities across the United States are camping outside offices used by federal immigration agents, seeking to disrupt deportations in response to U.S. President Donald Trumps tough stance on illegal immigration. The protests, which began last week in Portland, Oregon, were spurred by news and images of migrant children from Central America being separated from their parents after crossing the U.S. southern border under Trumps zero tolerance immigration policy, organizers said. The protests have since spread to New York City, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Diego and Chicago, among other cities, causing minor disruptions to immigration officials, and in some cases criticized as well meaning but misguided by immigrant rights groups. Led by local anarchist organizations and chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America, the protests are calling for the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE was created in 2003 by Republican President George W. Bush in response to the attacks by al Qaeda on Sept. 11, 2001. (Reuters) Heres a look at nationwide protests the Trump administrations policy sparked. See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Twitter and Tumblr. SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed measures to bolster "strategic and tactical" cooperation between the two countries in a second meeting on Wednesday, the North's state media said on Thursday. The meeting between Kim and Xi came on the North Korean leader's second and last day of his latest visit to Beijing where he briefed the Chinese president on his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last week. They exchanged "serious views" on the present and "new" situation, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. On Tuesday, Kim and Xi were reported by North Korean media to have reached an understanding on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula after discussing the outcome of the U.S.-North Korea summit. Before meeting with Xi Jinping on Wednesday, Kim visited an agricultural institute run by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, KCNA said, where he observed vegetables being grown inside. The North Korean leader also visited a traffic control center in Beijing before departing for Pyongyang on Wednesday afternoon, KCNA said. The visits to the two locations were also reported by Chinese media on Wednesday. Kim Jong Un has pledged to make the economy in North Korea a priority after he had announced the achievement of a long-held ambition to develop nuclear weapons. North Korean media has in recent months, frequently stressed advancements made in its agricultural and industrial sectors. In Singapore, Kim had lauded the "clean, beautiful and advanced" nation and said he had learned much from the prosperous country. (Reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by James Dalgleish) By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea could start the process of handing over the remains of troops, including Americans, missing from the Korean War within the next few days, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said North Korea would hand over the remains to United Nations Command in South Korea, and they would then be transferred to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. One official said "a sizable number" of remains were expected to be handed over, but declined to give a specific number given the unpredictability of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It could take months or even years before the remains are positively identified, the officials added. U.S. President Donald Trump met with Kim at a historic summit last week in Singapore. In a news conference following the summit, Trump said North Korea had agreed to return the remains of U.S. soldiers. "(The families) want the remains of their fathers, and mothers, and all of the people that got caught into that really brutal war," Trump said. "And (Kim) agreed to that so quickly and so nice - it was really a very nice thing, and he understands it," Trump added. About 7,700 U.S. military personnel remain unaccounted from the 1950-1953 Korean War, U.S. military data shows. According to the Pentagon, North Korean officials have indicated in the past that they have the remains of as many as 200 U.S. troops. More than 36,500 U.S. troops died in the conflict. The remains of some U.S. soldiers were last returned in 2007, when then-New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson visited Pyongyang. Trump has hailed the Singapore summit as a success, but sceptics have questioned whether he achieved anything new, given that Pyongyang, which has rejected unilateral nuclear disarmament, appeared to make no new concrete commitments. Transferring the remains would mark the first step Kim has taken since the summit that could indicate he may be serious about improving relations with Washington. Story continues On Monday, the United States and South Korea said they had agreed to suspend a joint military exercise scheduled for August. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would likely travel back to North Korea "before too terribly long" to try to flesh out commitments made at the summit. Pompeo, who has travelled twice to North Korea this year and met Kim for a third time at the June 12 Singapore summit, told an audience in Detroit that Kim had made "very clear his commitment to fully denuclearize his country," but there was a great deal of work to do. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Peter Cooney) Beijing (AFP) - Kim Jong Un concluded a two-day whirlwind visit to China Wednesday, where he declared North Korea's unstinting "friendship" with Beijing in a show of loyalty to his main ally following a landmark summit with US President Donald Trump. It was Kim's third official visit to China, designed to reassure Beijing that Pyongyang will not neglect its interests as Trump and the young autocrat move into uncharted diplomatic terrain. The performance is part of a delicate balancing act for Kim, who analysts say is seeking to play US and Chinese interests off each other while maintaining good relations with Beijing, his economic patron and diplomatic protector. China and the US both hope to see the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons. But Beijing is concerned Washington and Pyongyang might move closer at its expense, a possibility that China sees as threatening to its economic and security interests in the region. While China was not present at the June 12 summit in Singapore, it lent Kim a plane to travel to the city-state, a clear sign that it remains an influential force in the diplomatic shuffle. The Cold War-era allies, which fought side-by-side against US-led UN forces and South Korea in the 1950-1953 Korean War, have sought to repair ties strained by Pyongyang's nuclear tests and Beijing's support of subsequent UN sanctions. Kim chose Beijing for his first official foreign trip in March and met Xi again in May in the northeastern port city of Dalian. Over the course of this two-day visit, Kim and Xi exchanged vows of friendship and promises of economic cooperation, in a carefully choreographed display of amity that ignored the recent history of chilly relations between the neighbours. - 'Friendship, unity and cooperation' - The North Korean leader, who was greeted by a military honour guard and cheering children at the Great Hall of the People Tuesday, said he valued the "recently strengthened strategic cooperation" between the two countries, according to North Korea's official KCNA news agency. Story continues "He expressed the determination and will to further develop the closer relations of friendship, unity and cooperation between the two parties and the two peoples of the DPRK and China," KCNA said. Kim also invoked the "prospect for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula" following his meeting with Trump. At a Wednesday meeting over tea at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Xi said that "the two sides have jointly created a new history of China-DPRK high-level exchanges", according to the Xinhua state news agency. "The momentum for dialogue and easing of situation on the Korean Peninsula has been effectively strengthened," Xi said. "With joint efforts of China, the DPRK and related parties, the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asia will surely embrace the bright prospects of peace, stability, development and prosperity," Xinhua quoted Xi as saying. Following the meeting, Kim toured China's an agricultural technology park and rail traffic control centre in Beijing, Xinhua said, in a possible hint at some of the North's goals for future economic cooperation with China. - Trade card - The official media of both countries did not say whether Kim and Xi discussed the prospect of easing UN sanctions that have crippled North Korea's economy, though analysts said it could have been part of the agenda. China has backed United Nations sanctions against its ally but indicated last year that the UN Security Council could consider easing the punitive measures. Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said Kim and Xi were likely seeking "common ground" following the Singapore summit. For China, North Korea can serve as "an important card" as Beijing faces a potential trade war with the United States, Shin told AFP. "For the North, it can also show to the world, especially the US, that Beijing has Pyongyang's back if the North's ties with the US sour in the future," Shin said. Former President Barack Obama joined the national conversation about the Trump administrations policy of separating immigrant children from their parents, writing Wednesday that the cruelty of such actions is un-American. Pegging his Facebook post to World Refugee Day, Obama implored his former constituents to imagine themselves as immigrants so desperate to flee persecution, violence, and suffering that theyd attempt to bring their families into the U.S. [T]o watch those families broken apart in real time puts to us a very simple question: are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents arms, or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together? Obama wrote. Do we look away, or do we choose to see something of ourselves and our children? Humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders also marked World Refugee Day by condemning the Trump administrations zero tolerance policy, saying in a release that the U.S. government was effectively dismantling protections designed to protect refugees and asylum seekers. Seeking safety is not a crime, said Jason Cone, executive director of the groups U.S. team, which has been providing medical services to migrants traveling to the U.S. through Mexico for the past five years. No other government in the world is deliberately and systematically separating refugee children from their mothers and fathers as policy. President Donald Trumps administration separated almost 2,000 immigrant children from their parents at the border over the span of six weeks from mid-April through May. Held in caged detention centers where employees are not allowed to comfort them, the children many of whom are young babies and toddlers are experiencing something traumatic enough to trigger lifelong health consequences, doctors say. Obamas post comes the same day Trump reacted to national and international outrage over the border policy by saying hed be signing something in a little while that would resolve the concerns about the border policy. Story continues In his Wednesday statement, the former president suggested Americans should hold their lawmakers accountable to such promises. [We] have to do more than say this isnt who we are. he wrote. We have to prove it through our policies, our laws, our actions, and our votes. Sarah Ruiz-Grossman contributed reporting. Related Coverage Senator Denied Entry To Immigration Detention Center 2,000 Kids Separated From Parents Under Trump Border Crackdown Migrant Separations Blame Game Ingraham Calls Detention Centers 'Summer Camps' Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Global human rights bodies have spoken up, but only in the context of Rohingya Muslims, pressuring Bangladesh to permit their entry. The killing of secular writer-publisher Shahjahan Bachchu in Munshiganj district of Bangladesh on June 11 has revived bitter memories of the barbaric murders of secular bloggers and writers as well as members of minority communities in Bangladesh. Bachchu was known for his forthright views on religion and other issues. His killing has broken the lull that persisted for some time, specially after the gruesome killings of 20 people on July 1, 2016 at the Holey Artisan Restaurant in Dhakas elite Gulshan area at the hands of homegrown Islamic terrorists of the Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) under the macabre influence of Islamic State. Of those killed, 17 were foreigners, including Japanese, Italians and one Indian. They targeted non-Muslims and identified them by asking them to read the verses of the Quran. It is shocking that while the UN high commissioner for human rights has demanded the establishment of a commission of inquiry to conduct a comprehensive, independent international investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir, it is silent on the barbaric and cold-blooded murders of freethinkers, bloggers and writers and members of minorities elsewhere. The silence of the international community in this regard is appalling too. In 2012, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina published The Unfinished Memoir, the autobiography of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. In it, Mujib has recounted an incident of 1946 when Calcutta was engulfed in communal conflagrations and Hindus and Muslims were killing each other. Mujib, then 26, and his photographer friend Yakub met Mahatma Gandhi and collected some pictures. He writes: Among the photographs we had collected were some of Muslim women whose breasts had been cut off, little babies who had been beheaded, burning mosques, corpses lying in the streets and many such gruesome scenes from the riots. We wanted the Mahatma to see how his people had been guilty of such crimes, and how they had killed innocents... There can be little doubt that the photographs we presented to the Mahatma left a deep impression on his mind. Mujibs philosophy was firmly rooted in secularism as he had witnessed the bloody communal riots and seen how his co-religionists from West Pakistan tortured and killed Bengali Muslims in what was then East Pakistan. Nearly five lakh people were massacred between 1952 and 1971 in East Pakistan; according to the Awami League, this figure is 30 lakhs. Bangladesh came into existence in 1971 in the name of Bengali nationalism. Its citizens had not accepted the Islamic nationalism which had led to the creation of Pakistan. So there was a bloody protest when Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared Urdu as the national language of Pakistan, though only seven per cent of the population knew that language. East Pakistan rejected this, and demanded parity for Bengali. Students of Dhaka University led a massive protest. On February 21, 1952, many of them were killed when the police opened fire on them. When Bangladesh framed its Constitution in 1972, it embraced the basic tenets of democracy, socialism, secularism and Bengali nationalism. Later, the junta government, led by Gen. Zia-ur Rahman, usurped power by having Sheikh Mujib and several members of his family brutally murdered in 1975. In 1977, the country introduced sweeping constitutional changes through the Fifth Amendment, virtually destroying the soul of the Constitution. It substituted Bengali nationalism with Bangladeshi nationalism, striking at the very raison detre of the new nation erected on the plinth of the Bengali language and culture. The phrase Bangladeshi nationalism has the overt hint of Islamic nationalism, and this became evident as secularism was replaced with absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah. In 1988, Islam was declared the state religion. However, in 2010, the Bangladesh Supreme Court ordered the restoration of secularism as a basic tenet of the Constitution. The Sheikh Hasina government brought in the 15th Amendment in 2011 for this, but she did not change Islam as the state religion. In fact, the amendment reinforced it by inserting a new sentence above the preamble: Param karunamoy name shuru korilam (In the name of the all compassionate, we begin). It is atravesty that Sheikh Hasina, Mujibs daughter, is not following in the footsteps of her father as firmly as she is expected to. The world community is maintaining an eerie silence. Global human rights bodies have spoken up, but only in the context of Rohingya Muslims, pressuring Bangladesh to permit their entry. In 1990s, a sizeable number of Rohingyas, facing persecution in Myanmar, crossed over to Bangladesh and settled in Chittagong district and the Coxs Bazar region. The irony is that many Islamist militants are from those Rohingyas who fled to escape persecution. They were indoctrinated by the Jamat-e-Islami and it is this class of terrorists which is totally opposed to liberal values and politics. Its not that Sheikh Hasina has not done anything, but it is far from being adequate. She got Canadian-born mastermind Tamim Chaudhary and six of his trusted lieutenants eliminated. He was sent to Bangladesh by the islamic State with the aim of killing non-believers, as he himself articulated in a rare interview, It is not the methodology of the Khilafat soldiers to send mere threats to enemies of Allah. Rather, we let our actions do the talking. Our soldiers are sharpening their knives to slaughter the atheists and apostates of the region. For these obscurantists, anyone not believing in Allah is a heretic. Thus they target not only Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, etc, but also Muslims who are atheists. The government sulks after each incident and invariably blames the victim for hurting the religious sentiments of the people. It is not at all serious about protecting Hindus. Irrepressible blogger Arif Jebtik, who faces death threats for his fearless writings, had explained the Hasina governments stand on Hindus to an Indian newspaper thus: Thaakley vote paabo, gele jomi paabo.(If Hindus stay, we shall get their votes, and if they leave, we shall get their land.) When will the world community wake up? Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. The Universal Declaration had to be adopted as the United Nations Charter has utterly failed to protect human rights. WASHINGTON The Obama White Houses chief cyber official testified Wednesday that proposals he was developing to counter Russias attack on the U.S. presidential election were put on a back burner after he was ordered to stand down his efforts in the summer of 2016. The comments by Michael Daniel, who served as White House cyber security coordinator between 2012 and January of last year, provided his first public confirmation of a much-discussed passage in the book, Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putins War on America and the Election of Donald Trump, co-written by this reporter and David Corn, that detailed his thwarted efforts to respond to the Russian attack. Former White House cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel, right, looks on as former Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, left, is greeted by committee vice chairman Mark Warner, D-Va. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) They came during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing into how the Obama administration dealt with Russian cyber and information warfare attacks in 2016, an issue that has become one of the more politically sensitive subjects in the panels ongoing investigation into Russias interference in the U.S. election and any links to the Trump campaign. The view that the Obama administration failed to adequately piece together intelligence about the Russian campaign and develop a forceful response has clearly gained traction with the intelligence committee. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking Democrat on the panel, said in an opening statement that we were caught flat-footed at the outset and our collective response was inadequate to meet Russias escalation. That conclusion was reinforced Wednesday by another witness, Victoria Nuland, who served as assistant secretary of state for Europe during the Obama administration. She told the panel that she had been briefed as early as December 2015 about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee long before senior DNC officials were aware of it and that the intrusion had all the hallmarks of a Russian operation. Victoria Nuland appears before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) As she and other State Department officials became more alarmed about what the Russians were up to in the spring of 2016, they were authorized by then Secretary of State John Kerry to develop proposals for ways to deter the Russians. But most of those steps were never taken in part because officials assumed they would be taken up by the next administration. Story continues I believe there were deterrence measures we could have taken and should have taken, Nuland testified. As intelligence came in during the late spring and early summer of that year about the Russian attack, Daniel instructed his staff on the National Security Council to begin developing options for aggressive countermeasures to deter the Kremlins efforts, including mounting U.S. denial of service attacks on Russian news sites and other actions targeting Russian cyber actors. Daniel declined to discuss the details of those options during Wednesdays open hearing, saying he would share them with the panel during a classified session later in the day. But he described his proposals as the full range of potential actions that the U.S. government could use in the cyber arena to impose costs on the Russians both openly to demonstrate that we could do it as a deterrent and also clandestinely to disrupt their operations as well. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, asked about a Russian Roulette passage in which one of Daniels staff members, Daniel Prieto, recounted a staff meeting shortly after the cyber coordinator was ordered by Susan Rice, President Obamas national security adviser, to stop his efforts and stand down. This order was in part because Rice feared the options would leak and box the president in. I was incredulous and in disbelief, Prieto is quoted as saying in the book. It took me a moment to process. In my head, I was like, did I hear that correctly? Prieto told the authors he then spoke up, asking Daniel: Why the hell are we standing down? Michael, can you help us understand? Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, with then President Barack Obama in Hangzhou, China, summer 2016. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Daniel confirmed to the intelligence panel that the account was an accurate rendering of what happened in his staff meeting. He said his bosses at the NSC he did not specifically mention Rice in his testimony had concerns about how many people were working on the options so the decision from his superiors at the Obama White House was to neck down the number of people that were involved in developing our ongoing response options. Daniel added that its not accurate to say that all activity ceased at that point. He and his staff shifted our focus to assisting state governments to protect against Russian cyberattacks against state and local election systems. But as for his work on developing cyber deterrence measures, those actions were put on a back burner and that was not the focus of our activity during that time period. Instead, Obama officials chose another course of action after becoming frustrated that Republican leaders on Capitol Hill would not endorse a bipartisan statement condemning Russian interference and fearful that any unilateral action by them would feed then candidate Donald Trumps claims that the election was rigged. They chose a private stern warning by Obama to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in China in early September 2016 to stop his countrys campaign to disrupt the U.S. election. Obama officials were also worried that a vigorous cyber response along the lines Daniel had proposed could escalate into a full scale cyber war. And, they have since argued, they believed that the presidents warning had some impact, noting as Daniel did in his testimony that they saw some tamping down in Russian probing of state election data systems after Obamas private talk with Putin. But Nuland testified that while the Russians were a little less active in September after the Obama warning, Russian activity picked up again in October when the Russians accelerated their social media campaign using phony Facebook ads and Twitter bots. We saw an increase in what they were doing in social media, Daniel agreed. They shifted their focus. Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a conference last November. (Photo: Jorge Silva/Pool Photo via AP) Nuland also revealed, in response to questions by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, another previously unpublicized dimension to the Russian attack. That summer, Collins said, FBI officials advised the committee that Russian diplomats were traveling around the country in areas they were not under diplomatic protocols permitted to visit , apparently to collect intelligence. Asked by Collins if she believed this was part of the Russian so-called active measures attack on the election, Nuland responded, I do. After the November 2016 election, in which Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, Obama did impose new sanctions on Russias intelligence services and expelled diplomats. But Nuland testified that most in the administration saw that as only a beginning of what needed to be done. Its fair to say that all of us in the process assumed what was done in December and January would be a starting point for what the incoming administration would then build on. The Wednesday hearing by the intelligence panel did not touch steps the Trump administration has taken or in many cases, failed to take to respond to the Russian election attack. But both witnesses emphasized that there is new urgency to the issue to developing proposals to do so. Daniel noted that a malicious new Russian botnet known as a VPN filter has been discovered infecting home office routers and allowing hackers to intercept internet communications. He said this was a type of malware we havent seen before and shows the intent of the Russians to continue their cyber activities. Nuland also noted that other nation-state actors have learned from the Russian playbook, singling out the Chinese who, she said, are now conducting influence operations and disinformation campaigns in Australia, Taiwan and other countries in the region. All this, she said, calls for new U.S. government measures, including the creation of a multiagency fusion center modeled after the National Counterterrorism Center created after the Sept. 11 terror attacks to collect intelligence and expose state-sponsored efforts to undermine our democracy and the appointment of an international coordinator to develop coordinated responses with U.S. allies. Read more from Yahoo News: Former President Barack Obama weighed in Wednesday on the Trump administrations controversial zero-tolerance immigration policy that has resulted in thousands of children being separated from their families at the U.S. southern border. Today is World Refugee Day, Obama wrote in a Facebook post. If youve been fortunate enough to have been born in America, imagine for a moment if circumstance had placed you somewhere else. Imagine if youd been born in a country where you grew up fearing for your life, and eventually the lives of your children. A place where you finally found yourself so desperate to flee persecution, violence, and suffering that youd be willing to travel thousands of miles under cover of darkness, enduring dangerous conditions, propelled forward by that very human impulse to create for our kids a better life. Thats the reality for so many of the families whose plights we see and heart-rending cries we hear, he continued. And to watch those families broken apart in real time puts to us a very simple question: are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents arms, or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together? Do we look away, or do we choose to see something of ourselves and our children? Former President Barack Obama speaking in Richmond, Va., Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images) Obamas post was published early Wednesday afternoon, shortly before President Trump signed an executive order ending to end family separations at the border. The Trump administration has been facing a growing bipartisan backlash for its zero-tolerance policy on illegal immigration, which has resulted in more than 2,000 children being separated from their families since April, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The executive order did not rescind the zero-tolerance policy, but it specified that children would no longer be separated from their parents. Exactly what that means for the 2,000-plus kids currently removed from their parents remains unclear. Story continues Critics, including all five current and former first ladies, including Laura Bush and Melania Trump, publicly condemned the separations. Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform, Melania Trumps spokeswoman said in a statement on Sunday. She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart. Related: How to help separated families on the border In his Facebook post, Obama echoed their sentiment. Our ability to imagine ourselves in the shoes of others, to say there but for the grace of God go I, is part of what makes us human, he wrote. And to find a way to welcome the refugee and the immigrant to be big enough and wise enough to uphold our laws and honor our values at the same time is part of what makes us American. Obama added: Thats the legacy our parents and grandparents and generations before created for us, and its something we have to protect for the generations to come. But we have to do more than say this isnt who we are. We have to prove it through our policies, our laws, our actions, and our votes. President Trump during a meeting on immigration policy with Republican members of Congress at the White House on Wednesday. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) Trump falsely blamed Democrats for supporting immigration laws that he said had given his administration no choice but to separate children from their families. There is no U.S. law requiring that the children of immigrants entering the country illegally be separated from their parents. This administration unlike the previous two has treated the adults as criminals and jailing them, which requires them to be separated from their children. The Obama administration did try, unsuccessfully, to detain families who crossed the border illegally in special detention centers. But after a federal judge in California ruled that it violated a longstanding agreement barring kids from jail-like settings, the Obama administration subsequently began releasing families into the United States pending notification of their next court date. Trump has long criticized the so-called catch and release arrangement. We release the people, they never come back to the judge anyway, Trump said Tuesday. Theyre gone. Theyre in your system. Thats it. If theyre good, thats great. And if theyre bad, youll have killings, youll have murders. At the White House on Wednesday, Trump framed the border dilemma this way: If youre really, really pathetically weak, the countrys going to be overrun with millions of people and, if youre strong, then you dont have any heart. Thats a tough dilemma. Perhaps Id rather be strong. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Madrid (AFP) - Local authorities on Spain's holiday Island of Mallorca have put up 20 posters warning of heavy penalties for nudity, fighting and other alcohol-fuelled misbehaviour, it was announced on Wednesday. Revellers in the Balearic tourist town of Magaluf can be fined up to 500 euros (440; $580) for drinking in the street and 400 euros if they strip off or "shout, fight or bother" people, brightly coloured posters say with the hashtag #havefunwithrespect. A statement issued by the council said the banners, in English and Spanish, had been put up to "encourage citizenship" in spots known for loutish behaviour. "The campaign is aimed at young people who usually walk these streets," the statement said, adding it wanted to reduce "alcohol tourism". The popular resort of Magaluf is known for attracting young party-goers -- mainly from Britain and Ireland -- to its beaches, bars and nightclubs. However, the local authorities have begun to clamp down on anti-social behaviour in recent years, imposing fines running into hundreds of euros. In 2017, 785 complaints were filed for drinking alcohol in the street. Sanctions given to revellers walking around naked or half-naked in unauthorised spaces were issued 68 times. The penalties displayed on the posters were announced in March. Police in Oregon have arrested a college student in the death of former Ducks linebacker Fotu Leiato. (Getty) A 22-year-old University of Oregon student faces charges of first-degree manslaughter after the death of former Ducks linebacker Fotu Leiato. The Eugene Register-Guard reports that police arrested Pedro Chavarin Jr. Tuesday afternoon after he left a local hospital following a car crash. Student accused of lying to police about Leiatos dead body Chavarin stands accused of driving under the influence and crashing his car around 2:30 a.m. on Friday. When police found Chavarin, they took him to the hospital. Chavarin told authorities that he did not have a passenger in his car during the roll-over accident, the Register-Guard reports. A passerby walking near the scene of the crash after daylight saw a hand sticking out of nearby bushes, according to police. The hand belonged to the dead body of 21-year-old Leiato. Police say that Leiato had been a passenger in Chavarins car. Leiato had been dismissed from football team Leiato, a senior, had been dismissed from the team after being arrested twice in 2018 on charges of theft, criminal trespassing and criminal mischief. Charges from an April incident stem from Leiato allegedly removing a parking boot from his car. Leiato played in 38 games over three seasons with the Ducks as a backup and special teams player. He was expected to compete for a starting job at the teams hybrid linebacker/defensive back Duck position before he was dismissed over his criminal charges. More from Yahoo Sports: Reporter caught reacting to Caps coachs resignation on live TV Senegal scores most bizarre, controversial goal of World Cup so far Mexican star announces grandfather died after countrys historic upset NHL player traded twice in one morning amidst fiancees cyberbullying scandal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The organizer of a far-right rally last year in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned deadly is planning to hold a rally near the White House in Washington on the first anniversary of the event, federal officials said on Wednesday. Jason Kessler filed an application last month and it has been approved to hold what he described as a "white civil rights rally" on Aug. 11-12, although a permit has not yet been issued, Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said in an email. Kessler organized the Aug. 12, 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville that drew international attention when a suspected white nationalist crashed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman. U.S. President Donald Trump inflamed tensions when he said both sides were to blame for the violence. The rally in Charlottesville, home to the flagship campus of the University of Virginia, followed months of protests over the city's proposed removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Kessler previously has denied the Virginia event was intended to provoke violence, contending the counterprotesters sparked the fighting and blaming police for failing to protect his group. He did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. In a redacted copy of the application posted online, Kessler estimated 400 people would attend the Washington rally, and added he would work with law enforcement during the event. Kessler also has applied to hold an event in Charlottesville, but that was denied due to concerns over public safety, according to Virginia ABC TV affiliate WSET. Video: Couple Almost Killed in Charlottesville Protest Marries Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Ben Klayman and James Dalgleish) Twitter users reacted strongly to President Donald Trumps use of the word infest to describe illegal immigration. Responding to criticism of a policy that has led to more than 2,000 children being separated from their parents at the border, Trump tweeted that Democrats were to blame. They dont care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our country, like MS-13, he wrote, referencing a violent criminal gang based in Central America. Critics of Trumps language argued that it was dehumanizing to use a term traditionally used for pests. Infest, animals, changes their culture. A parade of dehumanizing and nativist language. https://t.co/rd7Khmue5R Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) June 19, 2018 "infest" like rats or cockroaches https://t.co/2diClsQTzG Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 19, 2018 Also - insects infest. This public language about immigrants from a US president after, say, 1970, is remarkable. https://t.co/xRhAUjqo5P Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 19, 2018 Infest. Trumps dehumanizing language continuesas it always doesby lumping nonviolent illegal immigrants in with violent gangs. https://t.co/qqfAS7pJAp Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) June 19, 2018 Using words like"pour into" and "infest' are dehumanizing tactics repeatedly used in history to smear immigrants & refugees, all in attempts to rob them of their humanity. Language matters. https://t.co/o7Llocw0PG Rowaida Abdelaziz (@Rowaida_Abdel) June 19, 2018 Other Twitter users went even further, comparing it to language used during genocides. Story continues The word "infest" has a dark past. pic.twitter.com/x8LOU8aQSU Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) June 19, 2018 Trumps statement that immigrants will infest our Country probably sounds better in the original German. https://t.co/k7FBgBkCHQ Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 19, 2018 Just a complete fabrication. And notice that he continues to use words for animals and rodents like infest to describe people. This word was often used in Rwanda during genocide, comparing people to roaches. https://t.co/4RT9BVXdm6 Shaun King (@ShaunKing) June 19, 2018 the use of the word "infest" reminds me of how Tutsis were called cockroaches in Rwanda https://t.co/eYmlnBSSoV Danny Gold (@DGisSERIOUS) June 19, 2018 illegal immigrants "infest our Country" if this isn't a direct quote from Mein Kampf, it's pretty close. https://t.co/intrGkbq1E Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) June 19, 2018 "Infest" is language used in Nazi propaganda to describe the "infestation" of Jews in Germany, who were compared to rats. Here's the President of the United States saying illegal immigrants "infest" our country. Keep telling me those Nazi comparisons are unfair. https://t.co/Xe5JghagcA Rob Sheridan (@rob_sheridan) June 19, 2018 The controversy happened about a month after Trump used the word animals while criticizing Californias immigration approach. After facing public scrutiny for his language, Trump tweeted that he was referring specifically to MS-13 gang members, a big difference. Infest Yeah, he was taken out of context when he called immigrants animals. Excellent take there. https://t.co/QsaeFGERMS Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) June 19, 2018 Video: Trump Defends Immigration Policy Police fatally shot a 17-year-old boy when he fled from a traffic stop in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, June 19. Police stopped the car the teenager had been riding in because it may have been involved in an earlier shooting in nearby North Braddock, a news report said. When police arrested the driver, two people fled from the car. Officers opened fire, hitting the unidentified 17 year old, the report said. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Police are still looking for the second person who fled. This video shows the scene following the shooting, including someone being loaded into an ambulance. Credit: Anonymous via Storyful Santiago (AFP) - The Vatican's top investigator called Tuesday for justice for child sex abuse victims of Chile's Catholic Church as fresh cases involving pedophile priests came to light. Malta Archbishop Charles Scicluna spoke as he wound up a weeklong mission to Chile, where a child sex abuse scandal has rocked the Church. "Investigating is a duty of justice, we need to do justice to the victims for the good of the country and the good of the Church," Scicluna told reporters. Shortly before leaving Santiago airport, Scicluna testified as a witness in one of the sexual abuse cases being investigated by Chilean state authorities. It was Scicluna's second visit in four months to Chile in a scandal that has directly embroiled Pope Francis and led to the resignation of some 34 bishops, only three of which have been accepted by the pope. Several members of the Chilean church hierarchy are accused by victims of ignoring and covering up child abuse by Chilean pedophile priest Fernando Karadima during the 1980s and 1990s. Dioceses in the southern cities of Temuco and Aysen said four more priests were being investigated for the sexual abuse of minors. In a statement, Church authorities in Temuco reported that Pablo Isler Venegas was punished in 2015 for the sexual abuse of minors, and prohibited from publicly practicing as a priest or working with adolescents and young people. Scicluna told reporters that "recognizing and admitting the full truth, with all its painful repercussions and consequences, is the starting point for authentic healing, both for the victims and the author of the abuses." - Victim outreach - Scicluna and another papal envoy, Spanish priest Jordi Bertomeo, said they had taken testimony from sexual abuse victims during their stay, and set up a victim outreach or "listening service" to help others come forward. Francis's defense of one of the bishops at the heart of the scandal, Juan Barros, tainted his visit to the country earlier this year. Story continues At the time, the pontiff said he was convinced that Barros was innocent and demanded "proof" before he would speak out against him. Francis later apologized to the victims, three of whom he recently received at the Vatican, and admitted he had made "grave mistakes" after reading a 2,300-page report by Scicluna on the abuse in Chile. He accepted Barros's resignation last week. Congress scrambled Tuesday to find a way to end a Trump Administration policy that splits young children from their parents along the U.S.-Mexican border and dodge a new demand from the president for a $25 billion border wall. With many Republican lawmakers up for election this fall, nerves were frayed ahead of a planned Tuesday evening visit by the President, with some regretting the invitation altogether in the midst of an already dicey situation. Even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell snapped when pressed by reporters for details about plans to end the family separation policy. Ive already addressed this issue, McConnell said in the grand hallway just off the Senate floor. We have a problem and we need to fix it. I dont know how many times yall want me to hear the same thing. The ongoing drama left Republicans fractured and frustrated. Senate Republicans left their standing luncheon Tuesday vowing to find some way around an immigration impasse created, defended and leveraged by Trump. The second-in-command in the Senate, John Cornyn, began collaborating with fellow Texan Sen. Ted Cruz on a plan that could dig the GOP out of a hole on the issue. At the same time across town, Trump was rejecting a central tenet of Cruzs plan, doubling the number of immigration judges to more quickly process cases. We have to have a real border not judges, he told a gathering of small-business owners. Thousands and thousands of judges they want to hire. Who are these people? They said, Sir, wed like to hire about five or six-thousand more judges. Five or six-thousand? Now, can you imagine the graft that must take place? We dont want judges; we want security at the border, he added. In the same speech, Trump also blasted the idea of addressing the family separation policy in a limited bill, arguing hed prefer to deal with it as part of a comprehensive immigration package of the type that has so far been tough to find. Story continues We have one chance to get it right, Trump said. At the Capitol, members of both parties felt as though Trump were holding these children hostage in pursuit of a deal that has eluded Presidents since Ronald Reagan. And in phone calls and meetings with Senators, Trump keeps coming back to funding for a border wall that he made the centerpiece of his campaign. Trump has told lawmakers that he wants a $25 billion down payment on the project as part of the broader immigration plan and, if he doesnt get it, he will force a government shutdown on Oct. 1. Senate Republicans were incensed at the demand, especially since it does little to help children whose photographs and tears have become a public relations disaster for the entire country. Lawmakers tried to strategize a way to talk Trump out of the idea, while those who spoke with him said he was digging in his heels. Reminding him that his own budget chief asked for a smaller sum, $1.6 billion, only made him more determined to get the full amount despite the fact the Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday shows 58% of Americans oppose a border wall, while two-thirds oppose the family separation policy. House Republicans, meanwhile, stood by while they waited to hear the latest from the White House about the fate of a compromise immigration bill. White House officials helped craft the measure, which straddled the partys far-right flank and its centrist membership. But the more the President considers it, the less he likes it because, to his mind, it doesnt go far enough. In the same appearance before the small-business crowd, Trump said that Congress needs to change that measure and perhaps expand that tentative deal, again throwing more chaos into an already tense situation on the Hill. Staffers texted the context-free quote, taken from Twitter, around rapidly: Im gonna make changes to it. For Republicans already facing a divided conference on immigration, Trumps approach seemed to put compromise even further out of reach. Members of the House and Senate thought they had a basic structure to end children being separated from their parents as they arrived in the United States, but they now say they are at the mercy of Trumps whims. The policy change that took place six weeks ago it could easily be reversed by the Administration if they choose, said Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who is retiring at the end of this term amid frustration with the Presidents haphazard approach to governing. We need to act, we need to deal with the entire issue, but this is something they can change. This is something the Administration needs to take leadership on. It was moderates versus conservatives in the House Republican caucus. House Leadership felt undercut by the President. The White House felt goodwill at the Capitol fading fast. The Senate effort, led by Cornyn, hoped to piece together something direct and narrow by the end of the week. The House worried the Senate might draft something far too narrow to win the support of its more raucous caucus. Policy, politics and personality all clashed in windowless rooms reeking of stale coffee. And those battles merely described what was happening inside the Republican Party. Add in the Democrats, who stood unified against the policy and largely unified against money for building Trumps wall and there could be serious roadblocks. Senate Democrats, at least through late Tuesday afternoon, insisted Trump could fix this with a phone call and should not be rewarded for creating the mess. McConnell, the typically cool and unflappable Senate tactician, showed pique leaving the weekly luncheon. Senators agreed to patch together something limited and without wall funding. This, of course, runs counter to Trumps new demands that he get his wall or else and could derail the shared goal in Congress to get back to talking about the booming economy. My assumption is in order to fix this problem, you cant fix all the problems, McConnell told reporters in an unusually testy weekly question-and-answer session. This requires a solution, and therefore obviously it needs to be a narrow solution to fix the problem at hand. The problem for Republicans on the Hill? They werent sure which hand the President wanted to use. With the inclusion of AI in the system, things have now come down to being as easy as a few clicks. Artificial Intelligence is briskly making its way in most of the software and gadgets in order to lower down the human efforts. Among various areas of its application, human resource is one of the sectors which is seeing induction of AI to make hiring easier and Google's Hire is the latest example of it. Google Hire's Senior Product Manager Berit Hoffmann mentioned in a recent blog post about Google having employed AI in their recruitment tool which assists the users in working faster and better. Google Hire was launched last year and, as claimed by the company, the engine reduces operations time of scheduling job interviews by 84 percent for the recruiting managers. With the inclusion of AI in the system, things have now come down to being as easy as a few clicks. Working concertedly with G Suite apps, Hire assists employers in scheduling candidate interviews by helping them finalize the suitable interviewer, time of the interview and available rooms within the premises. While all of this was needed to be selected manually earlier, now, the tool suggests all the necessary elements itself and the user has to just select the appropriate options. Hire also notifies in case an interviewer cannot conduct the interview on allocated time and provides suggestions for alternative people available. Yet another feature induced to lower down the hassle of recruiters is automatically highlighting the keywords related to required skills possessed by the candidate which had to be searched manually. This should help in saving time in reviewing resumes and filtering candidates. Hire now also minimizes the task of keeping the record of candidates who have been called up. The click-to-call feature now connects the recruiters to candidates via phone call and maintains the call log for helping the team members to be aware of candidates been called. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. By Rupam Jain and Jonathan Landay KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prospects have risen for negotiations between the Taliban and the United States after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called a ceasefire and allowed militants to roam into cities in a gamble to encourage peace talks. The Taliban, ousted from power in 2001 by U.S.-led troops, insist that any negotiations with what it calls the "puppet" Afghan government on a peace plan can begin only after talks with the United States about withdrawing foreign forces. Analysts and Western diplomats said Ghani's offer to hold unconditional peace talks set the stage for U.S. officials to open back-channel negotiations with the Taliban. "Ghani has done his bit," said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent think tank. "It is now for the U.S. to cut through this blockade," he said, although that would be a departure from U.S. policy that talks to end the 17-year-old war must be wholly Afghan-led. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared ready to tweak the policy when he welcomed Ghani's 10-day extension of a ceasefire that is currently due to end on Wednesday. The Taliban said its ceasefire ended on Sunday. "As President Ghani emphasized in his statement to the Afghan people, peace talks by necessity would include a discussion of the role of international actors and forces," Pompeo said. "The United States is prepared to support, facilitate and participate in these discussions." Richard Olson, a former U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, described the statement as significant "in that it signals that the U.S. is prepared to ultimately discuss the issue that is paramount to the Taliban, which is the withdrawal of foreign forces." Nolen Johnson, a State Department spokesman, said Ghani had invited the United States to "participate in an Afghan-led peace process," and there was no substitute to the Taliban engaging with the "sovereign" Kabul government. A senior U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the start of the ceasefire, said, however, there were a number of issues that made direct talks between the Taliban and the United States unlikely in the short term. The official said there was a substantial gap in knowledge about the Taliban - for instance as to who had the authority to negotiate on their behalf. There is not enough intelligence or resources on this issue," the official said. A second official said there was still a question of what would happen with hardline elements of the Taliban. "There are Taliban that won't come to the table," the official said. TALIBAN CALL The Taliban, in a statement marking the end of their ceasefire on Sunday, said the organization was unified and called on "the invading American party" to "sit directly for dialogue with the Islamic Emirate to find a solution for the ongoing imbroglio." A senior diplomat with knowledge of the negotiations leading to the ceasefire estimated the chances of eventual talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government at "50-50." "The Taliban want to talk to the U.S. directly on withdrawal (of foreign forces) because they do not want to share the credit of withdrawal with the government," the official said. While Washington has long resisted direct talks with the Taliban, the official said recent developments indicate "the U.S. now seems less and less averse to it." In August, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a more hawkish military approach to Afghanistan, including a surge in air strikes. Afghan security forces say the impact has been significant, but the Taliban roam huge areas 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 Pentagon's pick to be the next commander of U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan said on Tuesday that he backed using military pressure to create the conditions for political reconciliation. U.S. Army Lieutenant General Scott Miller told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing in Washington that any rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan could give Islamic State and al Qaeda the space to carry out external attacks. "I think a disorderly and precipitous withdrawal would have negative effects on U.S. national security," Miller said. Ghani, never widely popular, met his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, on Sunday to secure support for peace talks. He visited a restaurant in Kabul where he met diners and took selfies with children, trying to capitalize on the unprecedented party atmosphere created by the ceasefire to mark last weekend's Eid al-Fitr festival. But Amrullah Saleh, the former head of intelligence and head of a political party, said Ghani had committed a blunder by allowing insurgents to pour into government-controlled areas. "Thousands of Taliban fighters were allowed to enter with guns and some of them could be hiding in civilian areas, planning attacks," Saleh told Reuters. Ghani has also come in for praise. "Now we can say that our president is making an absolute honest attempt" for peace, said Anwar-ul-Haq Ahadi, chairman of the outspoken New National Front of Afghanistan. (Additional reporting by Qadir Sediqi in Kabul, Kay Johnson in Islamabad and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Leslie Adler) Beirut (AFP) - The external hard drive had been smuggled from Syrian regime territory through jihadist-held towns and into Turkey. When Ghazwan Koronful finally got his hands on it, he sighed in relief. Loaded onto the disk were pictures of thousands of title deeds from towns in central Syria recently recaptured by government troops and largely emptied of their residents. Fearing Syria's regime would expropriate abandoned properties or tamper with deeds, a network of activists and lawyers set their covert plan into motion. "It was our most complex operation yet," said Koronful, a 65-year-old Syrian lawyer who heads the network from Turkey, where he has lived in exile since 2012. For nearly five years, Koronful's Free Syrian Lawyers (FSL) have been working to preserve property deeds and other civil paperwork in Syria's opposition areas. They enter town registries, photograph the documents, carefully log and organise them, then smuggle the hard drives across Syria's sealed northern border into Turkey. "In total, we've got eight terabytes of documents, about 1.7 million documents -- court records, wills, birth, marriage, and death certificates," said Koronful. Among them are up to 450,000 land-related documents from northern and central Syria -- title deeds, contracts, and other papers that displaced Syrians could use to prove property ownership. These documents are crucial now, Koronful explained, as the government passes a series of laws that rights defenders fear may unfairly dispossess Syrians from their homes. "Our work simultaneously protects against hostilities that could damage the deeds, and against the regime's attempts through these new laws to tamper with people's properties," he told AFP. "Those files represent the hope of return." - Race against air strikes - FSL sprang into action after Homs city's registry was destroyed in a fire in 2013, which activists suspected was a regime bid to strip oppositionists of their land. Story continues Smuggling out original deeds from other towns was risky and could be considered tampering, so the FSL's 15 lawyers opted for the next best thing: digital copies. With help from civil society group The Day After, they travelled to Turkey to learn how to handle, photograph, and archive documents. Back in Syria, they began working through abandoned registries in northern rebel towns: Harem, Azaz, Saraqeb. "We set up a little studio in the room with the most light," said an FSL lawyer still in Syria who identified himself as Samer. With just four Canon digital cameras, two laptops, flashes, and tripods, they photographed thousands of deeds, making sure names and dates were clearly visible. "As soon as we'd finish one 200-page ledger, we'd upload the SD card onto the computer. Meanwhile, the camera didn't stop. We'd put a new card in and start photographing again," Samer, 43, told AFP. Each month, they emptied their computers onto external drives which they sent to Koronful in Turkey. They raced against air strikes that damaged cameras and wounded staff members, worrying registries would be bombed to pieces before they could finish. "When we reached the last page, we'd be so happy to be finished. Whatever happens now, if we get bombed, we have a drive with everything on it," said Samer. Sometimes they lost the race. In 2013, days before FSL was to begin photographing deeds in the northern town of Al-Bab, the Islamic State group swept in and destroyed the registry, Koronful said. They now struggle to get permission to enter registries from suspicious rebels, especially in jihadist-run Idlib, occasionally photographing in secret. - A chance to return - Since Syria's war erupted in 2011, more than six million people have been internally displaced and another five million have fled the country. More than 920,000 have been displaced this year alone, the UN said, the fastest rate yet in the seven-year war. A vast majority leave behind property-related papers, the Norwegian Refugee Council found in polls last year. That puts them at risk of losing access to their land through decrees like Law 10, which allows for property expropriation for urban development. Koronful fears the regime could also dispossess refugees through legislation on re-issuing damaged deeds. A set of laws allows for missing titles to be restituted using digital copies, but it remains unclear if the government would accept a version produced by opposition-affiliated lawyers. "We're expecting a lot of people to ask for copies," said The Day After's Amr Shannan, pointing to similar post-conflict property disputes in Lebanon and Bosnia as precedents. For now, the digital titles remain tucked away on a pair of hard drives, one in Turkey and another in an undisclosed European city. They aren't yet searchable, but are archived in the same order as the originals. "If there's going to be a return of refugees, one of the most important factors is that they have homes or land to return to," said Shannan. Rudy Giuliani says he told FBI agents who interviewed him in February 2018 that he had no inside knowledge of the status of the probe into Hillary Clinton, nor advance warning of James Comeys announcement that the investigation was being reopened. (Photo: Elsa via Getty Images) WASHINGTON Rudy Giuliani says FBI agents interviewed him in his room at the Trump International Hotel earlier this year regarding his 2016 remarks predicting a surprise in the closing days of the presidential race that would benefit then-Republican nominee Donald Trump. Thats all they asked about. What was I talking about in terms of surprise? Giuliani told HuffPost Tuesday. What was I talking about when I was talking about new information? Giuliani was a top campaign adviser in the summer and autumn of 2016 and is now leading the team of lawyers representing Trump in special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. His disclosure of the February interview confirms the existence of a Justice Department investigation into leaks from the bureaus New York field office that may have cost Democrat Hillary Clinton the election. A report issued last week by the Justice Departments Office of the Inspector General found that fears of a potential leak from the field office led FBI officials to advise then-Director James Comey to tell Congress on Oct. 28, just over a week before Election Day, that the bureau had reopened its investigation of Clinton. Comey closed the investigation again just days before the election, but the damage to Clintons campaign was done. Polling showed the episode had damaged her significantly. Trump wound up winning three Democratic-leaning states by a total of 78,000 votes, giving him an Electoral College victory. The Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, home to the FBI's New York field office. (Photo: Drew Angerer via Getty Images) The precise nature of the FBIs interest in Giuliani and the current status of its probe are unclear. FBI Director Chris Wray told lawmakers yesterday that the bureau was aggressively investigating a number of leaks, and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said his offices investigative work remains ongoing. Told of Giulianis disclosure of the FBI interview, the inspector generals office declined to comment; an FBI representative did not respond to a request for comment. Story continues But bureau officials have long worried about disclosures from the FBIs New York field office, which Giuliani knew well from his role as former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. There were a number of big Trumpers in the New York field office, as well as anti-Clinton forces who were upset that the Clinton Foundation investigation had been removed from their jurisdiction, a law enforcement official told HuffPost. Even Comey conceded that there was a cadre of senior people in New York who have a deep and visceral hatred of Secretary Clinton, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch told the inspector general. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a member of the Trump transition team, recently admitted that FBI officials gave him inside information about the Clinton investigation in September, 2016. And FBI and Justice Department officials have long suspected that disgruntled anti-Clinton forces in the FBIs New York field office were feeding Giuliani and James Kallstrom, the pro-Trump former head of that office, information that hurt the Clinton campaign. Giuliani told HuffPost that he spoke with Kallstrom as well as one other former FBI official he would not identify. But Giuliani said he told the FBI agents who interviewed him that he had neither inside knowledge of the Clinton probes status nor advance warning of Comeys Oct. 28 announcement. He was merely speculating that FBI agents were so upset by Comeys earlier decision not to charge the Democratic nominee with any crimes that they would revolt, either by leaking damaging information about her or by resigning en masse. Did I get any leaks from the FBI? I said no, Giuliani said, adding that the surprise that he promised in 2016 was a 20-minute national television ad he was urging Trump to buy to deliver a speech hitting very hard on the Comey decision. Giuliani said he was first contacted by the FBI agents in February, when he was in Bogota, Colombia, and about to enter a meeting with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. He said he received a phone call from his assistant telling him about a call from the FBI. He immediately called the agents back, spoke with them for a few minutes and agreed to an in-person interview coinciding with his next visit to Washington a week and a half later, he said. It was at the Trump hotel, believe it or not, Giuliani said. They said they would come to me, and I said that was the place to do it. Giuliani says two FBI agents interviewed him in his suite at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. (Photo: ablokhin via Getty Images) Giuliani said he was in D.C. for one of his private businesses he had not yet joined Trumps legal team and that he frequently stays at Trumps property on Pennsylvania Avenue. The mid-morning interview took place in his suite, he said, and was conducted by the two agents, one male and one female. They did not ask about Russia or any other issue, he said only about the basis of his statements that appeared to predict Comeys late October surprise. The agents did not record the interview and did not offer him the opportunity to review their report before they submitted it to their supervisor. One of Giulianis private security guards was also present, he said. They seemed like straight kids, he said of the agents. He added that he was unconcerned that his inquisitors were from the FBI, which conducts criminal investigations, rather than investigators from Horowitzs office. They definitely told me they were investigating for the IG, Giuliani said. I wasnt surprised at all. Giuliani said that, contrary to what people may have inferred from his public statements, he never received any information from active FBI employees. He said that during the campaign, he was only speaking with former FBI officials, who agreed with him that bureau employees were undoubtedly livid about Comeys summer decision not to prosecute Clinton. We speculated from our knowledge of FBI agents, he said. The thought was that the agents were going to leak that they were very upset with the Comey decision. Giuliani emphasized that he had no advance knowledge of the discovery of Clinton emails on a laptop belonging to former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) that had been used by his wife, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. I was totally shocked that Weiner got dragged into it, he said. I had no idea that Comey was going to reopen the investigation. The investigation into pro-Trump leaks is the third known federal probe related to Trump and his close associates. Apart from the Mueller investigation, federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Trumps longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, over his business dealings, including his $130,000 payment to a former porn actress to buy her silence about an affair she says she had with Trump. They said they were satisfied, Giuliani said of the two agents who interviewed him. If they want to interview me all over again? They can interview me all over again. ... Maybe theyll come raid my office like Michael Cohen. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Related Coverage FBI Texts Reveal Major Flaw In GOP Theory Of 'Deep State' Plot To Defeat Trump DOJ Watchdog Slams 'Insubordinate' James Comey Over Clinton Email News Conference 'Viva Le Resistance': FBI Anti-Trump Messages Give President More 'Deep State' Fodder This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Dubai (AFP) - Saudi Arabia has arrested two more women's rights activists, in an "unrelenting crackdown" just days before the kingdom ends a decades-long ban on female motorists, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. The New York-based watchdog said activists Nouf Abdelaziz and Mayaa al-Zahrani were arrested earlier this month following the detention of at least 14 other women's rights campaigners and supporters. "Saudi authorities have arrested two more women's rights activists... in what appears to be an unrelenting crackdown on the women's rights movement," HRW said. "Saudi activists have reported that the authorities have placed travel bans on numerous others since May 15." Saudi officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The government said earlier this month that it detained 17 people for "undermining" the kingdom's security, without disclosing their names. Rights groups have identified many of the detainees as campaigners for women's right to drive and an end to the conservative Islamic kingdom's male guardianship system. Activist and writer Abdelaziz was arrested after she publicly expressed solidarity with the detained activists, and her friend Zahrani was apprehended days later, HRW said, adding that both women are being held incommunicado. Zahrani's arrest came after she posted a letter Abdelaziz asked her to make public in case of her arrest, the watchdog said. "The Saudi government appears determined to leave its citizens without any space to show even rhetorical support for activists jailed in this unforgiving crackdown on dissent," said HRW's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson. "Nouf Abdelaziz and Mayaa al-Zahrani's only 'crime' seems to be expressing solidarity with their fellow imprisoned activists." Authorities have said that eight of the 17 detainees had been provisionally released until their investigation is completed. Story continues Nine suspects, including four women, remain in custody after they "confessed" to a slew of charges such as suspicious contact with "hostile" organisations and recruiting people in sensitive government positions, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. Previous reports in state-backed media branded some of the detainees traitors and "agents of embassies". Campaigners have dismissed the reports as a "smear" campaign and the crackdown has sparked a torrent of international criticism. Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world where women are not allowed drive, is set to lift its decades-long ban on female drivers on June 24. Vienna (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's energy minister on Wednesday said he was convinced OPEC members would "do the right thing" and agree to ease an oil production cap this week despite strong resistance from archfoe Iran. "I'm confident that at the end of the day reason will prevail and we'll be doing the right thing. So stay tuned," Khalid al-Falih told reporters at an OPEC seminar in Vienna. The comments came after Falih huddled for hours with his OPEC counterparts on the sidelines of the conference, two days ahead of a crucial meeting on the fate of an 18-month-old supply-cut pact between OPEC and non-OPEC allies that has lifted prices to around $70 a barrel. Saudi Arabia and non-member Russia are now pushing to open the spigots again but Iran, bracing for the impact of renewed US sanctions on its oil exports, wants the OPEC+ group to stick to the agreed cuts of 1.8 million barrels a day. Falih said every minister he had met with "agrees that it's time for us to change course", noting that global oil demand is expected to climb in the coming months. Riyadh is also under pressure from US President Donald Trump to boost output in order to lower oil prices before US voters head to the polls for November's midterm elections. Taking to the stage at the same Vienna seminar, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh reiterated his country's resistance to increasing output and accused Trump of trying to politicise OPEC. "The real responsibility for the current oil price hike lies with the US president himself," Zanganeh told the audience. - 'Stormy weather' - Trump has in recent months repeatedly blamed OPEC for a spike in oil prices, but Zanganeh said it was US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela that had fuelled fears of a supply crunch and put pressure on prices. Iran is facing a fresh round of penalties following Trump's decision to quit the international nuclear pact, and is wary of any attempt by regional rival Riyadh to offset the losses and appease Trump. Story continues Saudi's Falih acknowledged the tensions, saying: "Oil has always been influenced by politics." But he insisted that any decision made "will be based on fundamentals". Observers believe a possible face-saving compromise could be clinched if members agree to stop over-complying with the current pact, and simply stick to the agreed cuts -- which would bring several hundred thousand more barrels to the market each day. The 14 nations in the OPEC cartel are set to discuss changing output policy in the Austrian capital on Friday, with 10 non-member partner countries including Russia joining the talks Saturday. OPEC secretary general Mohammad Barkindo said he was confident an agreement would be found. "Despite the rising political tensions, as well as the tensions on the international trade side, we will be able to navigate this stormy weather," he told reporters. By Mohammed Ghobari ADEN (Reuters) - Fears of a humanitarian crisis in Yemen's main port city Hodeidah grew as fighting spilled into residential districts on Wednesday after Arab coalition forces seized the airport from the Iran-aligned Houthis. Residents said coalition aircraft were bombing Houthi positions on roads leading to the airport as the group dug in against an onslaught by the Arab alliance to take the city, the Houthis' main port and the lifeline for millions of Yemenis. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the war in 2015 to roll back Houthi control of Yemen's main population centers and reinstate its internationally recognized government. Coalition forces retook much of the south before the war, widely seen as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, bogged down. In a bid to break the stalemate, the coalition attacked heavily defended Hodeidah a week ago, pledging a swift operation to minimize civilian casualties and avoid disrupting vital aid to millions of Yemenis via the Red Sea port. Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki told Al Arabiya television that the alliance captured the airport on Wednesday and was now destroying nearby Houthi fortifications. He accused the group of placing tanks inside residential areas. "We have been stuck in our houses for five days because we are afraid of going out due to the fighting. Our food supplies will run out within a week and there is no water," Fatima, 56, said, adding that bottled water was very expensive. The escalation in fighting has wounded civilians, forced many to flee their homes and hampered humanitarian agencies, which are concerned about a potential cholera outbreak in the densely inhabited city as battles cut off water supplies. "People are saying water has been disrupted in parts of Hodeidah already. Some areas even prior to the war were not even connected to the main water supply," said Saleem Al Shamiri, livelihood coordinator at the Norwegian Refugee Council. "We've done some initiatives...to educate people about safe water use as temperatures are rising," he told Reuters. A Hodeidah resident told Reuters that a considerable number of residents were now leaving the city. "The streets are almost empty, deserted," he said, adding that most were heading for Sanaa, Raymah and Wusab, in Houthi-controlled areas inland. Kristine Beckerle, Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch, said Hodeidah residents were worried about the dangers of land mines placed on roads they might take to escape the war zone. "I wish we were seeing more from the international community," she told Reuters. "Too many states are acting like there's nothing they can do. Theres a lot they can do and now is the time to do it." U.N. officials estimate that in a worst-case scenario the fighting could cost up to 250,000 lives, especially if a cholera epidemic occurs in the widely impoverished region. PORT "OPERATING AS NORMAL" "Hodeidah port is operating as normal and the movement of ships is normal," Malki said. "We have humanitarian and development plans for when we liberate the city." The U.N. World Food Programme said on Tuesday it was hastening to unload three ships at the port that contain enough food for six million people for one month. Though the coalition pledged to try to avoid battles in crowded urban neighborhoods, the Houthis were well dug into Hodeidah to protect the key supply line to the core northern territory they control, including the capital, Sanaa. In a televised address, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said fighting would not cease even if the coalition regained the whole country. "The western coast will be a swamp that drowns and finishes the forces of the invaders and the aggressors." Houthi authorities set up loudspeakers on Hodeidah's main streets playing martial chants and excerpts of al-Houthi's speeches, another resident said. "The streets have been turned into a big audio stage to boost their fighters' morale. The United Nations fears heavy fighting will worsen what is already the world's most urgent humanitarian crisis, with 22 million Yemenis dependent on aid and an estimated 8.4 million believed to be on the verge of starvation. The Arab alliance says it aims to foil what Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates regard as Iranian expansionism throughout the Middle East. The Houthis deny being puppets of Iran and say their movement reflects a popular revolt against pervasive corruption and foreign meddling. The United States and other Western powers provide arms and intelligence to the Arab alliance and human rights groups have criticized them over coalition air strikes that have killed hundreds of civilians during the war. Saudi Arabia accuses the Houthis of using Hodeidah's port to smuggle in Iranian-made weapons, including missiles that have been fired at Saudi cities. The Houthis and Tehran deny this. (Additional reporting by Marwa Rashad, Stephen Kalin and Sarah Dadouch in Riyadh, Hadeel Al Sayegh in Dubai; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's crown prince on Wednesday hosted US President Donald Trump's special envoy Jason Greenblatt and adviser Jared Kushner to discuss the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, following a new flare-up of hostilities. The meeting with Prince Mohammed bin Salman came as Israeli warplanes pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in response to a barrage of rockets and mortar shells fired from the Palestinian enclave. "Building on previous conversations, they discussed... the need to bring humanitarian relief to Gaza, and the Trump administration's efforts to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians," the White House said in a brief statement. The visit came a day after Greenblatt and Kushner met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman to discuss the peace process during a regional tour that will also take them to Israel, Egypt and Qatar. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since 2014. Trump's controversial December decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital has made the resumption of peace efforts unlikely. The move sparked anger across the Arab world and prompted Palestinians to freeze all contacts with US officials. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, but Israel considers the entire city to be its eternal and indivisible capital. Israel's latest strikes targeting Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, were more intense than in previous sorties. Israeli warplanes initially targeted three Hamas military positions overnight in Gaza in response to kites and balloons carrying incendiary and explosive devices launched into Israel from the Palestinian territory, the Israeli army said. The latest spike in tensions follows weeks of deadly protests and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border as well as the worst military escalation last month since a 2014 war. Mississippi State players celebrated after their win over North Carolina in the College World Series on Tuesday. (AP) The College World Series has been impacted by storms, and it was no surprise there were weather delays for Tuesdays slate of games. So one Omaha television reporter went looking for fans to interview about the situation and came upon a colorful Mississippi State supporter. In a package aired on KMTV, reporter Megan Stewart talked to Terry Powell, who was wearing a burgundy State visor, about traveling to Omaha for the annual NCAA tournament. Yall. This Mississippi State fans description of the sacrifices his family made so he could be in Omaha. You just have to listen. pic.twitter.com/4qCweFDxPS Karen Howell (@karenehowell) June 20, 2018 The sacrifices that we personally made to be here are incredible, Powell says. My wifes boyfriend sold his prosthetic leg on Craigslist to afford me the opportunity to be here. But, they get alone time and I get a chance to be in Omaha. And he was able to say it all with a straight face. Stewart acknowledged on Twitter that Powell was full of jokes during their interview at another point he mentions a banana hammock and that she took a risk putting his humor into her report. (The Bulldogs and their fans have embraced bananas as a rally fruit during their postseason run.) When you cover the same event every year, ya gotta mix it up, Stewart wrote. More from Yahoo Sports: Female reporter sexually assaulted during live World Cup broadcast Sources: Charlotte ships Dwight Howard to Brooklyn for Timofey Mozgov Report: Top NBA prospects really dont want to get drafted by the Kings Shams Charania: Kawhi Leonard meets with Coach Pop in Calif. Migrant families en route to United States take pause to consider whether losing sight of their children is worse than violence back home. A rebound in the number of Central American migrants - most fleeing incessant gang violence in their impoverished homelands - being detained on the southern border prompted the Trump administration to implement the zero tolerance policy. (Photo: AP) Tijuana, Mexico: Epigmenio Centeno had hoped to cross the Mexican border into the United States in the coming months, but he and his wife have shelved their plans for fear of being separated from their two sons under US President Donald Trumps zero tolerance immigration policy. The familys quandary mirrors life-changing decisions being made all the way from Central America to the Mexico-US border, as migrant families en route to the United States take pause to consider whether losing sight of their children is worse than the violence back home. A postal courier from El Salvador, Centeno, 40, began his journey north with his family more than a year ago, when he found himself targeted in a brutal territorial battle between Central Americas two most violent gangs, MS-13 and Calle 18. The family spent months seeking Mexican refugee status, a step taken by more and more Central Americans heading north, to allow them to avoid extortion or deportation while they gather resources to make the next move into the United States. The four then slowly made their way up to Ciudad Juarez, where they eventually planned to cross into the United States, hand themselves into US border patrol and ask for asylum. But after seeing news reports of wailing children in cages, Centeno said he now planned to stay longer in Mexico, taking a low-paying job in the kitchen of a seafood restaurant rather than risk losing his children indefinitely. You leave with the intention of going to the United States, where you can improve your life and that of your sons, he said, flanked by his two boys, Axel, 9, and Steven, 3. But as things stand today, its difficult, because if you get caught, they take your kids away. I think Im going to stay here, in Mexico, and establish myself. Cruel and inhumane A rebound in the number of Central American migrants - most fleeing incessant gang violence in their impoverished homelands - being detained on the southern border prompted the Trump administration to implement the zero tolerance policy. That policy, announced in April, directed that all immigrants apprehended while crossing the US-Mexico border illegally should be criminally prosecuted. Parents referred by border agents for prosecution are held in federal jails, while their children are moved into border shelter facilities under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a Department of Health and Human Services agency. US Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday that 2,342 children had been separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9. The policy has sparked condemnation from Democrats, some of Trumps fellow Republicans, UN officials, medical professionals and rights activists. If more migrants like Centeno choose to stay in Mexico, it could present a new immigration challenge for a country already struggling with a dizzying 11-fold rise in asylum applications from 2013 to 2017. I cant risk that they take my girls away from me, said Reina Esmeralda, who left El Salvador with her two daughters, and was in the southern Mexican town of Ixtepec, not far from the Guatemalan border. Id rather find work here than risk going further and have them taken from me. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray on Tuesday called the separations cruel and inhumane and urged the US government to reconsider the practice. He also said Mexico would be working closely with the Central American governments to address the situation. The indirect effect of this Trump policy, which Im sure they were aware of, and dont even care, is handing the problem to Mexico, said Gustavo Mohar, a former Mexican immigration official. Can't stay back there But others within sight of their goal after grueling journeys from Central America said they were unwilling to give up and return to the horrors they had left behind. In the border town of Tijuana, a dozen migrant families interviewed by Reuters said they would try their luck, despite the risks. Josue Mendez and his girlfriend, Carmen Palma, said they left San Salvador with their three children after Palma was pressured by a gang member into becoming his sexual partner. Mendez, who has already been deported from the United States, said he was advised by other migrants in the Mexican city of Hermosillo that he should apply for asylum at the border gate to minimize chances his family would be split under the new policy. Our plan was to cross to the other side and wait for border patrol, he said, in a migrant shelter in Tijuana, as the family prepared to apply. They explained to us that it doesnt work like that anymore, and that it was better to sign up and wait here. So thats what weve done. Vanessa Bonilla also prepared to apply for US asylum, having traveled with her three young children from Honduras. Despite the risks, she was convinced it was better than returning to the gangs she said killed the father of her children and were now threatening her. I cant stay back there, she said. I cant stay in Honduras. By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - At least 72 South Asian asylum-seekers are being detained at a federal prison in Oregon after getting caught up in the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy for illegal border-crossers, a U.S. Senator's office said on Wednesday. The detainees, held at the Sheridan Federal Corrections Institution, include 52 from India, 18 from Nepal and two from Bangladesh. All of them are single men, who flew into Mexico and crossed the border into the United States, said Sara Hottman, a spokeswoman for U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat. A total of 123 are being held at the prison, representing 16 countries, speaking 13 languages and few speak any English, the senator's office said. Officials at the Sheridan prison did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Merkley and other members of Congress visited the Sheridan prison over the weekend to talk to the inmates and asked U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officials to get them legal services and interpreters. The ICE office in Portland was closed for security reasons on Wednesday, an ICE statement said, after protesters blocked the parking lot on Tuesday evening. The "zero tolerance" policy refers to the administration of President Donald Trump, a Republican, announcing in April that all immigrants apprehended while crossing the border illegally should be criminally prosecuted under the countrys criminal entry statute. A group of lawyers informally calling themselves the Sheridan Pro Bono group have volunteered to meet with the detainees to advise them on their rights and navigating the legal system, Hottman said. Indians are the fastest-growing illegal immigrant population in the United States, with about a half a million coming in 2014, according to the Pew Research Center. While some overstayed their student or business visas, many others have come in from Mexico and central American countries. Story continues U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici, a Democrat who represents Yamhill County, where the Sheridan prison is located, said the Indians, mainly Sikhs and Christians, say they are fleeing religious or political persecution. The detainees have been confined in small cells for up to 22 hours a day with no access to medical treatment, she said. "A Spanish-speaking man showed us where he had been shot, twice,' Bonamici said. "When asked if he was able to see a doctor, he said no. Another man lifted his pant leg and showed us what looked like an open wound on his leg. He hadnt seen a doctor, either." (Reporting by Courtney Sherwood; Writing by Bill Tarrant; editing by Grant McCool) U.S. Senate Chaplain Rev. Barry Black opened the Senate Monday with a prayer for children being separated from their parents along the border due to the Trump administrations "zero-tolerance" policy. "We pray for our lawmakers, for our nation and its leaders and for all the nations on this earth. Through the power of your spirit, use our senators to cause justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream," Black said during the prayer. "As children are being separated from their parents, remind us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to protect the most vulnerable in our world." Blacks prayer came amid widespread outrage at the policy, announced earlier this year, which says children can be separated from their parents if apprehended families enter the country illegally. Politicians on both sides condemned the practice, which has reportedly led to children being placed in cages en masse in makeshift ICE facilities. Nearly 2,000 children have been taken away from their parents in six-week period, The New York Times reported. A tent city has been set up in Tornillo, Texas, which houses migrant children whove been separated from their parents at the U.S. Mexico border. Democrat representatives and hundreds of others held protests outside the site on Fathers Day. "We decided there wouldn't be a more powerful way to spend Father's Day than with children who have just been taken from their fathers, children who have been taken from their mothers, children who won't be able to be with their family," Rep. Beto ORourke (D-Texas), who led the protest, told the Texas Tribune. President Trump has blamed Democrats for the policy although it was announced by his own administration. On Monday, officials said Congress can fix the issue by passing immigration reform. Parents who entered illegally are by definition criminals, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday during the daily White House press briefing. "By entering our country illegally, often in dangerous circumstances, illegal immigrants have put their children at risk." Story continues RELATED STORIES Heartbreaking Audio Leaked From Immigrant Child Separation: 'Papa! Papa!' A Look Inside Casa Padre, a Converted Walmart Now Home to Nearly 1,500 Immigrant Children 76 Immigrants Including Children Found Stuffed Inside Tractor-Trailer Related Articles: Brussels (AFP) - Brussels and London have made progress on several technical sections of Brexit negotiations but "serious divergences" remain over the issue of Northern Ireland after a final round of talks ahead of this month's European summit, the EU said Tuesday. "Today marks a step forward in these negotiations -- we have agreed a number of separation issues and the UK has engaged on others," the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Twitter. "But we are not there yet: serious divergences remain on the backstop for (Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic). More work clearly needed." Negotiators have struggled to find a solution acceptable to both sides which want to avoid a "hard border" after Britain's departure from the European Union. In London the ministry in charge of Brexit was more optimistic, with a spokesman saying in a statement that overall the two sides had reached agreement on a vast majority of topics. The future of the border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit is one of the most hotly contested issues in the negotiations, with many on both sides of the border wanting to keep the current free-flowing frontier open. The two sides met Tuesday in Brussels without their chief negotiators Barnier and his British counterpart David Davis. "We have advanced on some separation issues for which European businesses need certainty, such as customs, VAT, Euratom and certificates for goods," Barnier said in a statement accompanying a joint declaration from Brussels and London. The joint text reports on "further progress" since March 19 when Britain and the other 27 EU nations agreed on a large part of the withdrawal treaty. It comes just over a week before the June 28-29 European summit at which Barnier will present the state of play in Brexit negotiations to the assembled heads of state and government. The EU hopes a final version of the withdrawal agreement, together with a political declaration on the future relationship between London and the EU, can be approved by October so that it can be ratified by the Brexit deadline of the end of March 2019. Lawrence J. Korb, Matthew Feng Security, Asia North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping, in Dalian, China in this undated photo released on May 9, 2018 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD The United States and North Korea have been the focus of coverage, but China, despite sitting on the sidelines, has been, and will continue to be, the real winner. The Singapore Summit Surprise The highly anticipated summit in Singapore on June 12 fell woefully short on substance and undermined American national security. While an agreement to complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) between American and North Korean officials was nothing but a pipe dream, there was hope that President Donald Trump would be able to extract significant commitments from Kim Jong-un in return for simply agreeing to meet him. Instead, North Korea walked away with major unilateral concessions, including the freeze on joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises by the United Stateswhich played right into the hands of the Chinese-promoted freeze for freeze strategy and cast doubt over American security guarantees to our allies across the region. Exactly a week after the Singapore summit, Kim Jong-un made his third visit to China to meet with President Xi Jinping, highlighting an increasing trend of formal ties between the two countries. Official Chinese Foreign Ministry remarks praised Kim for his progress toward denuclearization and emphasized Chinese support for North Korean economic development. The United States cannot stand idly by as China establishes normal relations with North Korea or modernizes its economy before actual, concrete steps are taken toward denuclearization and peace on the peninsula. The United States and North Korea have been the focus of coverage, but China, despite sitting on the sidelines, has been, and will continue to be, the real winner. The summit not only relieved significant pressure on North Korea but also scaled back the American military threat in Chinas backyard. Crucially, the longer the North Korea saga lingers and the more diplomatic attention is fixed on their nuclear weapons program, the more China avoids harsher scrutiny from the international community. The international community must avoid complacency with what minimal objectives have been accomplished and must recognize that, until it has achieved its end goals on the Korean Peninsula, China will quietly bide time, build up its military and economic capacity, and eventually challenge the United States. Make no mistake: the danger that China poses to American economic and security interests around the world will not dissipate without a concerted effort from the United States free of distractions. Story continues The threat that North Korea poses to the world is also still as real as it was before the summit, yet it is troubling that many laud the summit as a monumental success. Indeed, statements from the Chinese Foreign Ministry immediately after the meeting in Singapore suggest that China will advocate for United Nations sanctions levied on North Korea, which contributed to Kim Jong-un coming to the negotiating table in the first place, to be relaxed as a result of their supposed compliance. In fact, the Chinese had already begun to soften the restrictions prior to the summit, an acknowledgement made by President Trump. However, it is, important to note that to this point North Korea has yet to complythe agreement that Kim signed does not constitute a reasonable commitment toward dismantling their nuclear weapons program. If China, North Koreas most significant economic trading partner, continues to loosen the sanctions imposed by the international community, the United States will have a difficult time convincing North Korea to even engage in good faith negotiations toward CVID. Furthermore, if China and North Korea maintain the current trajectory of diplomatic normalization and economic development, then it will be improbable that sanctions could even be reimposed. Recent threats by President Trump on trade that aggravate and harm U.S.-Chinese relations also serve to diminish the likelihood that China will continue to cooperate with the international-sanctions regime. Similarly, President Trumps Twitter remarks after returning from the summit are too glowing a reflection of its results. While the summit has proved useful in restarting long-absent channels of communication that have temporarily de-escalated tensions, the bulk of the work still lies ahead. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his North Korean counterparts must now try to hammer out technical language on an agreement that puts North Korea on a stable path toward real denuclearization. To champion the summit as rendering North Korea no longer a problem is to be content with what has been accomplished, and further jeopardizes American leverage and the ability to maintain sustained international pressure. North Korea also has a long history of using the charm offensive to buy its nuclear weapons program extra time, a suspicion that many voiced before the summit. The United States has already afforded North Korea international legitimacy as a nuclear power by meeting as equals on the international stage, and has increased Kims sense of security by freezing military exercises with South Korea. Kims most recent visit to Chinaa week after his meeting in Singapore with the United Statessimilarly portrays North Korea as a state engaging in official diplomacy, further normalizing the DPRK and making it harder to rally support for persistent sanctions conditional only on real progress. Public declarations that play up the success of the summit will thus slow efforts to bring North Korea back to the table, give the appearance that American demands have been satisfied, and ultimately play right into Kim Jong-uns hands by giving him more time to build his program. The United States must maintain diplomatic pressure for its negotiators to have credibility; without the requisite urgency, future talks are sure to fail. The security risk North Korea poses is far from eliminated, and we need to see sustained diplomacy that results in concrete progress to reduce the threat. Capitulating or growing complacent would signal to aspiring world powers that a viable path to prestige is an illicit nuclear weapons program. That is why keeping up the pressure on North Korea until international inspectors can unequivocally confirm the process of dismantlement has started is so crucial: it dissuades nonnuclear states from considering the nuclear option as either a path to military supremacy or an avenue for economic development and international recognition. It should be undeniable that preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons is one of our top national-security objectives. At the same time, managing the rise of China and protecting our interests at home and abroad will be the greatest challenge of this century. The longer it takes for the United States to meet again with North Korea, the more China stands to gain in the region by stalling for time and inconspicuously catching up. As long as North Korea appears to be getting away with developing a nuclear-weapons program without consequences, then American allies like South Korea and Japan will further doubt our interest in their security, especially if we continue to suspend military exercises or follow through on speculated troop rollbacks. Meeting with Kim and making concessions in and of themselves may not jeopardize our bargaining position, but they must lead to concrete outcomes later in the process. Otherwise, China will gleefully watch from afar as fractures emerge between the United States and its most important partners in Asia. The United States cannot rest on the laurels of the Singapore summit. If the United States speaks like it is mission accomplished, then the entire campaign that compelled North Korea to cooperate will unravel. If that happens, then Kim Jong-un will establish North Korea as a normal, nuclear-weapons state without proper retribution, and we will be unable to focus on the real challenge: China. Dr. Lawrence J. Korb is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and served as assistant secretary of defense (manpower, reserve affairs, installations, and logistics) from 1981 through 1985. Matthew Feng is an intern with the Center. Image: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping, in Dalian, China in this undated photo released on May 9, 2018 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS. SOUTH KOREA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN SOUTH KOREA. Read full article Bratislava (AFP) - Slovakia's president on Wednesday called on the government to address the demands of farmers who drove their tractors into the capital to protest against irregularities in EU farm subsidy payments first made public by murdered journalist Jan Kuciak. "The situation is serious," President Andrej Kiska told reporters after meeting with the farmers' representatives. "It is high time that the government started addressing the demands and problems of Slovak farmers." The farmers are demanding transparent rules for land usage rights and the distribution of EU subsidies among other issues, according to the Rural Platform group behind the protest. The irregularities were uncovered by Kuciak, who was gunned down in his home as he was about to publish the investigative report into corruption and alleged ties between politicians and the Italian mafia. The article included allegations that several million euros in EU farm subsidies had been lost to fraud. The murder and Kuciak's last explosive report plunged the eurozone country of 5.4 million people into crisis, sparking weekly mass protests that forced the government to resign in March. The demonstration began Tuesday evening, when up to 50 farmers from across the country rolled into public parking lots on the banks of the Danube river to spend the night. The farmers plastered their tractors with signs saying "Give back our land", "We need agricultural reform" and "Give young farmers a chance". On Wednesday, a dozen farmers parked five tractors in front of the agriculture ministry and asked to be invited in as a group for talks. A ministerial aide said that only a few of them could be admitted, so they decided not to go in at all. "I wanted to have a discussion with these farmers," Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matecna told reporters. "It is a pity that they did not come inside to talk to us." Other farmers parked their tractors in front of parliament as well as the presidential palace. Organisers said they intend to continue the protest on Thursday. Addis Ababa (AFP) - The two figures at the centre of the civil war that has ravaged South Sudan are scheduled to meet on Wednesday for the first time in nearly two years. Ethiopia, which has helped broker the meeting, says rebel leader Riek Machar, who fled South Sudan in July 2016, is expected to meet face-to-face with the country's president, Salva Kiir. The official scope of the talks is broad -- to build bridges between the two. But analysts say the outcome remains unclear given their notoriously volatile relationship, and there is doubt whether the meeting will even take place. Once comrades-in arms in the fight for independence, Kiir and Machar experienced a bitter falling out, a development that played a key part in the civil war that blights the future of the world's youngest state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly a third of its population of 12 million have been driven out of their homes, many of them to the brink of starvation. The two will meet at the invitation of Ethiopia's new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who also chairs the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional bloc that has taken the lead in thus-far fruitless peace negotiations. Abiy "will call upon the two leaders to narrow their gap and work for the pacification of South Sudan and relieve the burden of death and uprooting of South Sudanese people," Meles Alem, Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman, said. Kiir's attendance has been confirmed by South Sudan's ambassador to Ethiopia, James Pitia Morgan, while Machar's attendance has been confirmed by Manasseh Zindo, a senior official in his Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in Opposition rebel group. A landlocked state with a large ethnic mix, South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long and brutal war. The event was hailed around the world and by celebrity supporters such as George Clooney. But in 2013, Kiir accused Machar, his vice president, of plotting a coup against him, and violence erupted between the two factions, feeding on the country's brooding ethnic tensions. Story continues - New fighting - They have not met since July 2016, when heavy fighting in the capital Juba signalled the collapse of a 2015 peace deal and Machar fled to South Africa. The renewed violence spread across the country, spawning numerous new armed opposition groups and further complicating peace efforts. Despite the pressure, observers say Kiir has little incentive to make concessions to his rivals. His soldiers are winning militarily, while the opposition is more fractured than ever before. Efforts to revitalise the 2015 agreement resulted in a ceasefire in December which lasted just hours before warring parties accused each other of breaking it. The meeting in Addis Ababa comes against a background of growing international frustration. In May, the UN Security Council gave the two warring sides a month to reach a peace deal or face sanctions. Washington was a critical backer of South Sudan during its separation from Sudan, and remains Juba's biggest aid donor. But a top US official earlier this month threatened parties on both sides of the conflict with sanctions after a report from a US foundation, The Sentry, said South Sudanese elites were profiting from human rights abuses. Addis Ababa (AFP) - The two figures at the centre of the civil war that has ravaged South Sudan met for the first time in nearly two years on Wednesday evening in the Ethiopian capital. South Sudan's president Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, who fled South Sudan in July 2016, went into a closed door meeting at the Ethiopian prime minister's office. Machar, who was greeted ahead of the meeting by Ethiopia's foreign minister, Worken Gebeyehu, arrived in Addis Ababa Wednesday morning. Kiir followed in the afternoon and was met by prime minister Abiy Ahmed. The official scope of the talks is broad -- to build bridges between the two -- but analysts say the outcome remains unclear given their notoriously volatile relationship and entrenched positions. Once comrades-in arms in the fight for independence, Kiir and Machar experienced a bitter falling out, a development that played a key part in the civil war that blights the future of the world's youngest state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly a third of the 12 million population have been driven out of their homes, and many to the brink of starvation. The two warring leaders travelled to Addis at the invitation of Ethiopia's new prime minister, Abiy, who also chairs the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional bloc that has taken the lead in thus-far fruitless peace negotiations. Abiy "will call upon the two leaders to narrow their gap and work for the pacification of South Sudan and relieve the burden of death and uprooting of South Sudanese people," Meles Alem, Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman, said. IGAD heads of state are due to meet in Addis, on Thursday, hoping to get peace talks back on track. - New fighting - A landlocked state with a large ethnic mix, South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long and brutal war. The event was hailed around the world and by celebrity supporters such as George Clooney. Story continues But in 2013, Kiir accused Machar, his vice president, of plotting a coup against him, and violence erupted between the two factions, feeding on brooding ethnic tensions. They have not met since July 2016, when heavy fighting in the capital Juba signalled the collapse of a 2015 peace deal and Machar fled to South Africa. The renewed violence spread across the country, spawning numerous new armed opposition groups and further complicating peace efforts. Despite the pressure, observers say Kiir has little incentive to make concessions to his rivals. His soldiers are winning militarily, while the opposition is more fractured than ever before. Efforts to revitalise the 2015 agreement resulted in a ceasefire in December which lasted just hours before warring parties accused each other of breaking it. The meeting in Addis Ababa comes against a background of growing international frustration. In May, the UN Security Council gave the two warring sides a month to reach a peace deal or face sanctions. Washington was a critical backer of South Sudan during its separation from Sudan, and remains Juba's biggest aid donor. But a top US official earlier this month threatened parties on both sides of the conflict with sanctions after a report from a US foundation, The Sentry, said South Sudanese elites were profiting from human rights abuses. By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian army stepped up shelling of opposition-held parts of the southwest as it mobilizes for a campaign to regain the area bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, opposition sources said. Violence erupted at the frontline town of Kafr Shams, near the Syrian-held Golan Heights, and further east in the town of Busra al Harir, which was struck by dozens of mortars from nearby army positions, the sources said. Syrian state media said militants had escalated attacks on civilians in the area which is part of a "de-escalation" zone agreed by the United States and Russia last year with the aim of containing the conflict in the southwest. An offensive in the southwest would risk a major escalation of the seven-year-old war. The area is of strategic importance to Israel, which is deeply alarmed by Iranian influence in Syria. Washington has warned it will take "firm and appropriate measures" in response to violations of the "de-escalation" deal. U.S.-allied Jordan is increasingly worried about a spillover of violence and has been engaged in stepped up diplomatic efforts to preserve the de-escalation zone which it also helped to broker last year, a Jordanian source said. Rebels say Iranian-backed fighters allied to President Bashar al-Assad have boosted their numbers in the area, though a commander in the regional alliance fighting in support of Assad denied Tehran-aligned forces had a big presence there. Elite government troops known as the "Tiger" force, which have spearheaded a campaign that recaptured the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus, have also been mobilized for the attack. The pro-Damascus newspaper al-Watan said there were "growing indications about preparations for the start of a wide military operation to liberate" the south. HIT AND RUN ATTACKS Assad said earlier this month the government, at Russias suggestion, was seeking to strike a deal in the southwest similar to agreements that have restored its control of other areas through withdrawals of rebel forces. But he also said there had been no results yet and blamed "Israeli and American interference". He said the territory would be recovered by force if necessary. One major objective for the government is recapturing the border crossing with Jordan that served before the conflict as a vital trade gateway for goods moving across the region. Its closure has hit both the Syrian and Jordanian economies hard. Rebels say elite army troops backed by Iranian-backed local militias have been escalating hit and run attacks on their posts in a so-called "Triangle of Death", which connects southern Damascus countryside with Deraa and Quneitra provinces. A rebel commander said a bomb injured several fighters in Naba al Sakr town, saying it was one of a growing number of such attacks blamed on Iranian-backed militias in the area. "They are moving more reinforcements and there have been several infiltration attempts which we have so far repelled," said Abu Ayham, a rebel commander in the Salah al Din brigades operating in Quneitra. Residents and opposition sources say that in the few days they saw larger movements of troops with armored vehicles and tanks along two main highways that cut through rebel areas. The last two days have seen wider skirmishes, an air strike and rebel ambushes along two main highways being used by the army to reinforce the city of Deraa, which is split into areas controlled separately by the government and rebels. The army and rebels have also been exchanging gun fire and shelling in a frontline in Deraa city. Employees and hospital staff in two government hospitals in Sweida and Deraa provinces have also been put on high alert, according to a resident contacted by phone from Deraa city. (Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut; Writing by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Tom Perry, William Maclean) The odds are excellent that youre not a good flosser. Just 16% of Americans say they always floss once a day, according to an October 2017 survey of 1,005 adults from the American Dental Association. The odds are also excellent that you would floss if it were easier and faster if, for example, there were a toothbrush that could brush and floss simultaneously. Thats the idea behind the Waterpik Sonic-Fusion ($200), billed as the worlds first and only flossing toothbrush. There it is, in big red letters right on the box: Brush and floss at the same time. Yes, thats right: a complete clean in one step! The one step business seems pretty clear. It also says, Up to 2X As Effective For Removing Plaque Vs. Regular Brushing And Flossing. Whoa, baby! Twice the clean in half the time? This must truly be, as the company says, the biggest breakthrough in oral hygiene! Sign me up! Meet the Sonic-Fusion The Waterpik machine has been around since the 1960s. Its tip, at the end of a skinny hose, blasts water pulses at your teeth, to remove plaque and food gunk from between your teeth and below your gum line. The Waterpik Sonic-Fusion, though, adds a sonically vibrating electric toothbrush; the water jet is embedded in the center of the head. You fill up the 14-ounce water tank (it holds enough for a minute of jetting), press either the FLOSS or BRUSH button on the handle (or both), and go to town. Waterpik calls this the worlds only flossing toothbrush. In principle, the brush should clean your teeth surfaces, and the water jet should do the flossing part, between teeth. Unfortunately, theres some fine print. According to the manual, the words on the box are, in effect, lying. This unit is designed to allow you to brush and water floss at the same time. After completing a brush cycle, simply press the FLOSS button and follow the recommended technique from the Water Flossing section. Uhwhat happened to the one step business? So wait: If you have to do a complete brush cycle before you turn on the flosser, isnt that two steps, not one? When I asked the company about this discrepancy, this was the answer I got: Story continues The device will allow you to do it separately but the focus is to brush and floss at the same time. The instructions were written to explain that carefully. Wait, what? Well, never mind. If its really twice as effective as manual brush/flossing But wait a second. If the company was misleading about the one step thing, how can we trust it on the twice as effective thing? I decided to put the Sonic-Fusion to the ultimate test: My dentists. The Freeman Test Dr. Adam Freeman, of Westport Dental Associates in Connecticut, has been my dentist since 2004. Hes a great guy, and his office always boasts the latest dental technology. I knew hed be just the guy to ask. Dr. Freeman proposes a test. He proposed a test: Id brush and floss one side of my mouth normally, and use the Waterpik on the other. As directed: brush first, then water-floss. Then hed use a disclosing agent (that bright red stuff they put on your teeth to show the spots you missed) to see which side is cleaner. In practice, the Sonic-Fusion is a pleasure to use. The handle is comfortable, the controls are idiot-proof, and the water-jet part of it feels really good and tingly. You can detach the hose while youre brushing, if you prefer, so that the toothbrush is cordless; then you can snap the hose back on for the water-jetting part. As with most electric toothbrushes, theres a little pause after every 30 seconds your cue to move along to the next quadrant of your mouth, for two minutes total. The buttons arent hard to figure out. A knob on the side of the tank controls the power of the water jet from zero (light drizzle) to 10 (capable of cutting concrete). When you water floss, youre supposed to lean over a sink. Good idea, because the water from the jet continuously slobbers back out of your mouth. Its a somewhat messy business. When I was finished, Dr. Freeman put four drops of the disclosing liquid under my tongue and told me to swish it around and then rinse. I didnt tell him which side of my mouth Id used for which brushing protocol. As it turns out, I didnt need to. There was disgusting, hot-pink-stained plaque still on the Waterpik side. There was only a tiny bit still on the regular-floss side. When used as directed, regular floss does a better job. Sorry about the gross closeup. Dr. Freeman explains the result. Teeth contact each other. They butt up against each other, he says. A Waterpik shooting water may be effective at the gumline, but youre still going to have plaque between your teeth. But where the teeth actually contact each other when you floss, it drags through that contact point and scrapes off the gunk. The Waterpik test So wait if the Waterpik did such a lousy job, how can the company call it twice as effective as brushing+flossing? Most dentists, including mine, firmly recommend regular floss. [Waterpiks] DO NOT remove plaque (bacterial colonies) like floss does, because effective flossing literally wipes the sticky plaque off teeth, and Waterpiks can only rinse these areas, says one dentist after another. The Mayo Clinic puts it like this: It doesnt generally remove visible film and plaque on your teeth, but can aid in reduction of bacteria even below the gumline. So what about the clinical study that Waterpik says establishes its twice as effective credentials? Well, I did a little poking around there, too. The publication of that study is identified as Compend Contin Edu Dent 2018; 39(Suppl 1). Which turns out to be the Compendium of Continuing Education in Dentistry. Which is published by a company called Aegis. Whose managing editor got right back to me when I emailed. He told me that Supplement 1 was a paid supplement bought by Waterpik and that the study in question was also commissioned by Waterpik. The Compendium journal itself, he says, is industry supported, though independent. (Is it possible to be editorially independent while writing about the companies that pay you? You decide.) The two-step solution There is some value to the Sonic-Fusion. Studies and dentists agree that Waterpik: is better than no flossing at all is a fantastic addition to flossing is great for people with gum disease, because its gentler than string floss is useful for people who have physical difficulty with string floss may be a great solution for cleaning around braces So why cant the company just point out those advantages, rather than misleading consumers with that one-step solution and twice as effective stuff? $earch me. The an$wer to that que$tion will have to remain a my$tery. David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes comments below. On the Web, hes davidpogue.com. On Twitter, hes @pogue. On email, hes poguester@yahoo.com. You can sign up to get his stuff by email, here. Read more by David Pogue: Tiffany Haddish went to Wakanda and came back again to dominate the stage in the opener of this years MTV Movie and TV Awards. As the first black woman to host the show, Haddish pulled out all the stops during her explosive pre-show sketch, performance and monologue. In an elaborate sketch that interspersed snippets of the film Black Panther with footage of Haddish challenging Chadwick Bosemans character TChalla to a duel, the comedian brought out her Girls Trip co-stars Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah to rev up the laughs. Smith and Latifah joked with Haddish about how much they got paid for their film together. I still cant believe how much they paid me, says Queen Latifah. While in Wakanda, Haddish does it all flirts with TChalla, performs TLCs classic hit Waterfalls and announces, yet again, that she knows who bit Beyonce. To top it all off, she even brings out her alter-ego, the Black Unicorn. You can watch all the hilarity above. As the sketch came to a close, Haddish appeared onstage (in a replica of the form-fitting white dress that Cardi B wore during her pregnancy announcement on Saturday Night Live) to deliver the rap to end all raps. This is rented, these are not my size, my toes are turning blue, she rapped to the tune of Cardis Bodak Yellow. Theres even a moment where she gets pregnant by making eye contact with Michael B. Jordan. Its all very weird and delightful. Haddish then moved on to her monologue and poked fun at the Kardashians, Zendaya, Seth Rogan and more. NO ONE IS SAFE FROM @TiffanyHaddish | Tune in to #MTVAwards right now on @MTV pic.twitter.com/2ukzReW4OV Movie & TV Awards (@MTVAwards) June 19, 2018 On Zendaya, Haddish said: She taught me how to model, and I taught her how to grapefruit. Story continues Never change, Tiffany. Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Actor Emma Watson accepts Best Actor in a Movie for 'Beauty and the Beast' onstage during the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Host Adam DeVine and actor Hailee Steinfeld perform onstage during the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actor Miles Heizer attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Former NFL player Shawne Merriman attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Singer Josh Levi attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actor/singers Noah Cyrus (L) and Billy Ray Cyrus attend the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Host Adam DeVine (L) and actor Chloe Bridges attend the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actors Cody Johns (L) and Alexys Gabrielle Johns attend the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actor Issa Rae attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Host Andy Devine attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actors Kat Graham(L) and Demetrius Shipp onstage at the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Singers Jack Gilinsky (L) and Jack Johnson attend the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actor Debby Ryan attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actor Amandla Stenberg attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. TV personalities Michelle Visage (L) and RuPaul attend the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Anastasia Karanikolaou (L) and Sammy Wilk attend the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. TV personality Farrah Abraham attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actor Asia Kate Dillon speaks onstage during the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actress Gal Gadot poses in the press room at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. DJ Khaled speaks onstage during the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actor Trace Lysette attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actress Taraji P. Henson poses in the press room at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Host Adam DeVine (L) and actor Josh Gad perform onstage during the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.u Rapper Big Sean and singer Jhene Aiko attend the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. TV personality Trevor Noah (L) and singer Jordyn Taylor attend the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Zendaya poses in the press room at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actress Alexandra Daddario poses in the press room at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Camila Cabello poses in the press room at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actor Cara Delevingne attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (L-R) Recording artists J Balvin, Camila Cabello, and Pitbull perform onstage during the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Noah Cyrus performs onstage at the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Actor Shay Mitchell attends the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Trevor Noah poses in the press room at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Hugh Jackman and Dafne Keen poses in the press room at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (L-R) Actors Shannon Purser, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard, Joe Keery and Millie Bobby Brown of 'Stranger Things' pose in the press room at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. USs withdrawal is latest rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of Paris climate agreement and 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The United States is half-way through a three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if it was not overhauled. (Photo: AP| File) Washington: The United States withdrew from a hypocritical and self-serving United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform, a move activists warned would make advancing human rights globally even more difficult. Standing with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting US efforts to reform the council. She also criticised countries which shared US values and encouraged Washington to remain, but were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo. Read: Defective at its core: Donald Trump pulls US out of Iran nuke deal Washingtons withdrawal is the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Also Read: Trump's call to quit Paris accord takes 'America First' to 'America Alone' It also comes as the United States faces intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border. UN human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein on Monday called on Washington to halt its unconscionable policy. Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights, said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of Congo. She did not mention Saudi Arabia, which rights groups pushed to be suspended in 2016 over killings of civilians in the Yemen war. Among reforms the United States had pushed for was to make it easier to kick out member states with egregious rights records. Currently a two-thirds majority vote by the 193-member UN General Assembly is needed to suspend a member state. Haley also said the disproportionate focus and unending hostility towards Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US decision. The United States has long shielded its ally Israel at the United Nations. In citing what it says is bias against Israel, the administration of President Donald Trump could further fuel Palestinian arguments that Washington cannot be a neutral mediator as it prepares to roll out a Middle East peace plan. Washington also relocated its embassy to Jerusalem after recognising it as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of US policy. The United States is half-way through a three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if it was not overhauled. Misguided policy Rights groups have criticised the Trump administration for not making human rights a priority in its foreign policy. Critics say this sends a message that the administration turns a blind eye to human rights abuses in some parts of the world. Given the state of human rights in todays world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back, Zeid said after Haley announced the US withdrawal. Reuters reported last week that talks on reforming the council had failed to meet Washingtons demands, suggesting the Trump administration would quit. The Human Rights Council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those that committed no offence, Pompeo said. Diplomats have said the US withdrawal could bolster countries such as Cuba, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan, which resist what they see as UN interference in sovereign issues. Haley said the withdrawal is not a retreat from our human rights commitments. Twelve rights and aid groups, including Human Rights First, Save the Children and CARE, warned Pompeo the US withdrawal would make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world. Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Unions Human Rights Program, said Trumps misguided policy of isolationism only harms American interests. The EU said Washingtons decision risks undermining the role of the US as a champion and supporter of democracy on the world stage. British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said it was regrettable and that the council was the best tool the international community has to address impunity. First member to withdraw The Human Rights Council meets three times a year to examine human rights violations worldwide. It has mandated independent investigators to look at situations including Syria, North Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan. Its resolutions are not legally binding but carry moral authority. When the Council was created in 2006, US President George W Bushs administration shunned the body. Under President Barack Obama the United States was elected for a maximum two consecutive terms on the council by the UN General Assembly. After a year off, Washington was re-elected in 2016 for its current third term. UN officials said the United States would be the first member to withdraw from the council. Haley said a year ago that Washington was reviewing its membership. The body has a permanent standing agenda item on suspected violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories that Washington wanted removed. The council last month voted to probe killings in Gaza and accused Israel of using excessive force. The United States and Australia cast the only no votes. The UN Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel, said Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth. Employee survey site Glassdoor just revealed its top 100 CEOs list, and Zoom Video Communications Eric Yuan is this years favorite chief executive. Yuan, who helms the San Jose-based company, edged out Michael Mahoney of Boston Scientific and Daniel Springer of DocuSign. Glassdoors top 10 CEOs for 2018. (Screenshot from Glassdoor.com) Notable big-time CEOs like Michael Bloomberg and Tim Cook plunged in the rankings, with employees citing discontentment with the work culture and problems communicating with the management. The top 100 list was part of Glassdoors annual Employees Choice Awards, where it honored CEOs across North America and parts of Europe, featuring executives from many industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and technology. The results were compiled from employee reviews on Glassdoor. Employees were asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experiences, such as sentiment around the CEOs leadership, workplace attributes regarding senior management, and more. For the CEO rating, in particular, employees were asked to report whether they approve or disapprove or are neutral about the CEOs performance. About 770,000 employers were reviewed on Glassdoor, and the average CEO rating was 69%. Zoom Video Communications CEO Eric Yuan. (Courtesy of Zoom Video Communications) We deliver happiness Yuans focus on employees happiness won him the top spot. I need to make sure Im happy, and that my employees are happy, said Yuan. Asking myself that question, I realized if Im not happy, my kids, my family will be impacted. Our employees will also be impacted. So thats why our company culture is to deliver happiness. Being on the top of the list helps the company with recruiting top talent at a time when there are more job openings than there are people to fill them. It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees, Robert Hohman, Glassdoors co-founder and CEO, said in a press release. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work. Read more: The Philippines' top court heard arguments on Tuesday for the legalisation of gay marriage, a historic first in the overwhelmingly Catholic nation. Two same-sex couples denied licenses to wed urged the Supreme Court to strike down a 1987 law that states marriage must be between a man and a woman. "When the right to marry, a decision so personal, so intimate and so life-changing, is denied to LGBT people, the state is not valuing their dignity," lawyer Jesus Falcis, who is also a co-plaintiff, told justices in Manila. It took three years for the Supreme Court to schedule a hearing and the case will likely move at a glacial pace. Judges will next hear from the government's lawyers, but the court does not set itself deadlines to issue rulings and cases sometimes take years to resolve. Legal experts say the case is still highly significant. "The decision will be landmark because the court has never pronounced on this," University of the Philippines law professor Antonio La Vina told AFP. "Obviously, it would be even more landmark, more historic if they say marriage is not between a man and a woman." Outside the court on Tuesday, about 20 members of Manila's LGBT community waved rainbow flags and lit multi-coloured candles in support of the petition. Danton Remoto, founder of the LBGT political party Ang Ladlad (Out of the Closet) told AFP he welcomed the Supreme Court's hearing of the case. "A space has been opened up to discuss this case legally," Remoto added. - Church v state - The Philippines -- where 80 percent of a population of over 100 million is Catholic -- is the only place outside of the Vatican where divorce is outlawed. Abortion is also illegal, largely due to church influence. However the plaintiffs may have an ally in President Rodrigo Duterte, who has expressed support for gay marriage but since backed off from a campaign trail pledge to legalise it. "I am for same-sex marriage. The problem is, we'll have to change the law. But we can change the law," Duterte told a gathering of LGBT people in his southern home city of Davao in December last year. Story continues The case comes as Duterte pushes back against the country's clergy, who are at odds with some of his key policies including a deadly drug war that has killed thousands. In May, Duterte allies in the House of Representatives passed landmark divorce legislation, though it is unlikely to become law due to lack of support in the Senate. Church leaders have fought efforts to legalise divorce, same-sex marriage and abortion, while losing a long battle against a state-funded free contraceptives law. As the Trump administration continues to forcibly separate immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border, babies and other young children are being sent to tender age shelters in Texas, The Associated Press reported Tuesday night. At least three shelters, in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville in South Texas, are currently operating, the report said. Visitors to the centers described playrooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. Children at the shelters were found to be hysterical, crying and acting out. A fourth shelter, which could house up to 240 children, is reportedly being planned for Houston. Sylvester Turner, Houstons mayor, has said the shelter is not welcome in his city. The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it, Kay Bellor of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, a nonprofit that provides child welfare services to migrant children, told AP this week. Toddlers are being detained, she said. This toddler is about 12 months old. She was separated from relatives as part of the Trump administration's family separation policy. She is being held at a Brownsville shelter. I did not take the photo. It was supplied to me. pic.twitter.com/rq5zsfglbX Manny Fernandez (@mannyNYT) June 20, 2018 The administration has taken more than 2,300 children from their parents since early May, when the White House announced its zero tolerance policy for illegal border crossing. Officials on Tuesday said they didnt know how many of these children were younger than 5. CNN reported last week that a mother from Honduras said her breastfeeding baby was taken from her by federal agents while she was awaiting prosecution at an immigrant detention center. Michelle Brane, director of migrant rights at the Womens Refugee Commission, described seeing 5-year-olds in cages alone with no adult care and a 4-year-old whose diapers were being changed by other detained children as she visited a facility where migrants were being held. Story continues On Monday, ProPublica released an audio clip of 10 young Central American children held by Border Patrol many of them crying so hard that it sounded as if they could barely breathe. Inside a detention center last week. Children separated from their parents wail and ask for help. A Border Patrol agent booms above the crying. Well, we have an orchestra here, he jokes. Whats missing is a conductor. Listen to the full audio here: https://t.co/FrqfILMSUP pic.twitter.com/3Htj4t7alB ProPublica (@ProPublica) June 18, 2018 Trump officials this week defended the tender age shelters, saying they are well-equipped for providing care to young children. We have specialized facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs, and tender age children as we define as under 13 would fall into that category, Steven Wagner, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, told AP. Theyre not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and theyre staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs particularly of the younger children. Lawyers and medical professionals who visited the shelters said they found the facilities to be clean and safe but stressed it wasnt the centers themselves that were the issue. The shelters arent the problem, its taking kids from their parents thats the problem, Marsha Griffin, a South Texas pediatrician who has visited several shelters, told AP. Research has shown that institutionalizing children can cause lasting emotional scars, as well as physical and mental health issues. [Separating] children and parents at the border is a practice that has the potential to cause significant, lifelong harm to the children involved, wrote the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners in a statement last week denouncing the practice. Research clearly shows that traumatic life experiences in childhood, especially those that involve loss of a caregiver or parent, cause lifelong risk for cardiovascular and mental health disease. It remains unclear how long the Trump administration intends to hold the thousands of children in their care in shelter facilities. Its also unknown how long these children will be kept from their families. Related... Corey Lewandowski Dismisses Girl With Down Syndrome Separated From Mother: 'Womp, Womp' Kids Taken From Their Parents At The Border Get Their Toys Confiscated Too Lawmakers Barred From Talking To Kids At Border Detention Facilities Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. WASHINGTON The Trump administration is set to announce Tuesday its departure from the United Nations main human rights body in its latest withdrawal from an international institution. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will deliver the verdict on the U.N. Human Rights Council in a joint appearance at the State Department, according to four officials familiar with the matter. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly preview the decision, the specifics of which are to be laid out by Haley. Haley threatened the pull-out last year, citing longstanding U.S. complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. But the announcement will also come just a day after the U.N. human rights chief denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the presidents America First policy. Although numerous officials have said repeatedly that America First does not mean America Alone, the administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses since it took office. Since Jan. 2017, it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the U.N. educational and cultural organization and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum against key trading partners, recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital and moving the U.S. Embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv. Haley has been the driving force behind withdrawing from the human rights body, which would be unprecedented in the 12-year history of the council. No country has ever dropped out voluntarily. Libya was kicked out seven years ago. The move could reinforce the perception that the Trump administration is seeking to advance Israels agenda on the world stage, just as it prepares to unveil its long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan despite Palestinian outrage over the embassy relocation. Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting the Middle East this week as the White House works to lay the groundwork for unveiling the plan. Story continues Last year, Haley warned the Geneva-based council that the U.S. would withdraw if it did not end its systematic scrutiny of Israel and alleged Israeli rights abuses against Palestinians. She denounced the council as a forum for politics, hypocrisy and evasion and accused member countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, China, Burundi and Saudi Arabia of failing to fulfill their duties to uphold the highest standards of human rights, while emphasizing what she said was the councils anti-Israel bias. Since last year, Haleys office has also pushed the council and its chief not to publish a U.N. database of companies operating in West Bank settlements, a so-called blacklist that Israel is concerned could drive companies away and cast a further pall over its presence in the Palestinian-claimed West Bank. Israel is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up for discussion at every council session, under Item 7 on the agenda. Item 7 on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories has been part of the councils regular business almost as long as it has existed. The officials said the administration had concluded that its efforts to promote reform on the council had failed and that withdrawal was the only step it could take to demonstrate its seriousness. It was not immediately clear if the U.S. would remain a non-voting observer on the council. A full pullout by the U.S. would leave the council without one of its traditional defenders of human rights. In recent months, the United States has participated in attempts to pinpoint rights violations in places like South Sudan, Congo and Cambodia. Reaction to the anticipated move from human rights advocates was swift. The Trump administrations withdrawal is a sad reflection of its one-dimensional human rights policy: Defending Israeli abuses from criticism takes precedence above all else, said Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch. All Trump seems to care about is defending Israel, he said, adding that it would be up to the remaining members to ensure that the council addresses serious abuses. There are 47 countries in the Human Rights Council, elected by the U.N.s General Assembly with a specific number of seats allocated for each region of the globe. Members serve for three-year terms and can serve only two terms in a row. The United States has opted to stay out of the Human Rights Council before: The administration of President George W. Bush decided against seeking membership when the council was created in 2006. The U.S. joined the body only in 2009 under President Barack Obama. A pullout could be largely symbolic: The United States current term on the council ends next year, when it could revert to the observer status held by other countries that are not members. In that situation, the U.S. would be able to speak out on rights abuses, but not to vote. A key question will be where a U.S. pullout would leave Israel if its biggest and most powerful defender abandons its voting rights or drops out of the council altogether. The State Departments website says protection of fundamental human rights was a foundation stone for the United States creation over two centuries ago and that promoting respect for human rights since has been a central goal of U.S. foreign policy. Stephen Miller with the document denying citizenship to his great-grandfather Nison Miller. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: AP, background Getty Images) A photo of Nison (aka Max) Miller stares out from the screen, sullen and stern, in faded black and white. Order of Court Denying Petition is the title of the government form dated 14th November 1932, to which it is attached, the one in which Miller is applying for naturalization as an American citizen. And beneath the photo, the reason given for his denial: Ignorance. Nison Miller is the great-grandfather of White House adviser Stephen Miller, who has taken credit for being one of the chief architects of the administrations family separation policy. And this 85-year-old document is just one bit of ammunition in a campaign being waged by the unofficial band that goes by the hashtag #Resistance Genealogy. Believing that the past is prologue, they search online archives for nuggets about the ancestors of public figures and politicians who disparage todays immigrants. They use tools they developed as a personal hobby to make the point that people like Miller are holding newcomers to a standard that their own forebears could not meet. Unless your ancestors came on a slave ship or youre Native American, you came here as an immigrant, says Jennifer Mendelsohn, who created the #resistancegenealogy hashtag last summer after Republican congressman Steve King or Iowa was quoted as saying We cant restore our civilization with somebody elses babies. So she went on a genealogy website and quickly documented that Kings own grandmother was one such baby, arriving in 1894 from Germany as a 4-year-old, along with her infant siblings. Photo illustration: Yahoo News; background photo: Getty Images The point isnt to play gotcha, says Renee Stern Steinig, a former president of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island, who first found the Miller naturalization application last summer. Its to show that we are a nation of immigrants, and you are here because someone else picked up and came here for a better life. In fact, she is careful to point out that Millers great-grandfather being labeled Ignorant on that application was probably because he slipped up on a few questions on his citizenship test, not because he was in fact stupid or unworthy of being a citizen an example of the same harsh, presumptive judgment that she believes is being used against todays immigrants. Eventually he retook the test and became a citizen. Story continues Another part of Stephen Millers family tree seems to have been the first skirmish on this genealogical battlefield. During the summer of 2016, before Steinig found great-granddad Nison, Rob Eshman of the Jewish Journal became intrigued by the apparent hypocrisy of Millers description of himself as a grandchild of Jewish refugees while portraying todays immigrants as dangerous. He reached out to attorney E. Randol Schoenberg, who had famously won the case forcing the Austrian government to return a valuable painting by Gustav Klimt to the Jewish family from whom it had been stolen by the Nazis the story that was the basis of the 2015 film Woman in Gold. Schoenberg has developed an expertise in tracing family histories. Together he and Eshman followed Millers mothers side (great-grandpa Max was on his fathers side) back to Wolf Lieb Glotzer and his wife, Bessie. That couple arrived from Belarus in 1903 with $8 to their name, escaping anti-Semitic pogroms. In an instance of what today would be called chain migration, they were joined by their son Natan and Wolfs brother Moses, and eventually by another brother, Sam, who changed his name to Glosser. Sam Glosser was the maternal great-grandfather of Stephen Miller. Eshmans article laid out the story, concluding that Miller demonstrates that in America, truly anything is possible: The great-grandson of a desperate refugee can grow up to shill for the demagogue bent on keeping desperate refugees like his great-grandfather out. Eshman went on to pose, and then refute, what has become the most familiar objection to these stories, writing: But its different now, you say. Millers forebears came here legally It is an argument that Megan Smolenyak, a former chief family historian and spokesperson for Ancestry.com and a regular contributor to the TV series Who Do You Think You Are? hears regularly. Its a glib, easy response, she says, but it ignores history. With the glaring exception of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned all immigration from that country once its workers were no longer needed to build U.S. railroads, all immigration was legal in America for its first 300 years. So yes, almost everyone who came during those centuries came here legally. Until the early 1920s, all people needed to do to move here was walk off a ship and prove they were basically sane and free of obvious communicable diseases. Had todays existing and proposed rules been in effect back then, Smolenyak says, a high percentage of the ancestors of current citizens would never have been admitted. In addition, she says, many who think their ancestors entered completely legally are wrong. Fox contributor Tomi Lahren who tweeted last year, We are indeed a nation of immigrants. We are also a nation of laws. Respect our laws and we welcome you. If not, bye didnt know that her great-great-great grandfather had been indicted for forging his naturalization papers until Mendelsohn tweeted that information back to her. Photo illustration: Yahoo News; background photo: Getty Images And Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee, whose website states, I do not support a special pathway to citizenship that rewards those who have broken our immigration laws, seems not to have known that his grandfather had lied during his naturalization process but was permitted citizenship nonetheless, until Smolenyak found his naturalization papers. Most interesting to Smolenyak is that this research is so easy. You dont have to go very far back. Its startling, she says, how many of the people who are virulently anti-immigration are children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren of immigrants. We should have to work a lot harder for these stories, but there they are, on the lowest, easiest branches. She originally expected that such views would be held by people whose stories go further back on the American timeline, but former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and his daughter, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, whose roots begin in the 1600s, are the exception. Most of the rest of the time you think youre going to have to really dig in and go very far back, you dont, she says. Why are the children and grandchildren of immigrants so eager to keep immigrants out? Its the desire to make that point to point out to people who are being needlessly mean and spreading misinformation that they are conveniently forgetting their own family, which in turn means forgetting our national commonality that keeps Smolenyak and others in this fight. Its why, when Miller said earlier this year that we favor immigrants who speak English, Mendelsohn responded with evidence that four years after Millers great-grandmother arrived in the U.S. in 1894 she was still speaking Yiddish. Photo illustration: Yahoo News; background photo: Getty Images And when Fox host Tucker Carlson asked, Why does America benefit from having tons of people from failing countries come here?, Mendelsohn found a memoir from Carlsons great-grandfather talking about how he left the poverty of Italy for the promise of America. Photo illustration: Yahoo News; background photo: Getty Images Or when White House aide Dan Scavino vowed to end chain migration, Mendelsohn tweeted: So Dan. Lets say Victor Scavino arrives from Canelli, Italy in 1904, then brother Hector in 1905, brother Gildo in 1912, sister Esther in 1913, & sister Clotilde and their father Giuseppe in 1916, and they live together in NY. Do you think that would count as chain migration? Photo illustration: Yahoo News; background photo: Getty Images Or when Lahren recently said, You dont just come into this country with low skills, low education, not understanding the language and come into our country because someone says it makes them feel nice. Thats not what this country is based on, Mendelsohn parried on Twitter with: Except the 1930 census says Tomis 3x great-grandmother had been here for 41 years and still spoke German. Her 2nd great-grandmother had been here for 10 yrs. Spoke no English. Photo illustration: Yahoo News; background photo: Getty Images Ditto for when White House chief of staff John Kelly said on NPR that todays immigrants are not people that would easily assimilate into the United States, into our modern society, because they are uneducated, come from rural areas, and dont speak English. Mendelsohn posted screenshots of documents showing all those things were also true of Kellys maternal ancestors. Photo illustration: Yahoo News; background photo: Getty Images With every flurry of immigration policy uproar comes a spike in interest in the #resistancegenealogy hashtag. So much research has been done at this point, that often the most active participants merely resurface earlier findings. When Stephen Miller told the New York Times that the decision to begin separating children from their parents at the border was simple (in an interview he gave during what happens to be Immigrant Heritage Month in the U.S.), Steinigs post about his great-grandfathers naturalization problems found new life on Twitter. Or when Goodlatte proposed legislation that would stop the separation of families but still detain children, telling NPR, Its very important that people coming to this country not try to enter the country illegally, Smolenyak reposted her story about his grandfathers naturalization untruths. This might look like weaponizing genealogy, Smolenyak says, but in fact she believes it is just the opposite. The point is our commonality, she says, a reminder that this is everyones family. Donald Trumps grandfather, she noted, came here in part to avoid the draft in his native Bavaria while his mother came here as a servant. Imagine if they tried to come today. Correction: An earlier version of this story failed to include a reference to the Chinese Exclusion Act in the statement Essentially all immigration was legal in America for its first 300 years. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: As anger over policy grows, it emerges children are being sent to tender age shelters Donald Trump has told Republicans he is 1,000% behind their immigration reform effort, but did not offer a clear path forward as his administration faced bipartisan condemnation over separating children and their parents at the border. Meanwhile, it emerged that Trump administration officials have been sending babies and young children forcibly taken from their parents at the US-Mexico border to at least three tender age shelters in south Texas. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande valley shelters described playrooms full of crying preschool children. Kay Bellor, the vice-president for programs at the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said: The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean, it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it. Toddlers are being detained. Steven Wagner, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services, said: We have specialised facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs, and tender age children, as we define as under 13, would fall into that category. Theyre not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and theyre staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs particularly of the younger children. At a closed-door meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill, members said Trump expressed concern for the families being separated by the zero-tolerance policy, but he did not take responsibility for the practice. Instead, the president urged the Republicans in the room to pass legislation that keeps families together. After the meeting, the Florida Republican congressman Carlos Curbelo said: The president does want this to end. Story continues Curbelo, who has led the charge for immigration reform, said Trump told members that Ivanka Trump had appealed to him to stop separating families. However, the president gave no indication that he was willing to reverse the policy and did not acknowledge that he could stop the separations without legislation, he added. Instead, Trump insisted Congress deliver a legislative solution. Unbowed by mounting public anger, Trump and leading administration officials have fiercely defended the policy, which has led to the separation of more than 2,300 children from their parents in five weeks. Before the meeting on Tuesday evening, as the president walked through the Capitol, a protester yelled: Mr President, fuck you. As Trump left the session, he faced a rare demonstration by members of Congress. House Democrats shouted at the president to abandon his immigration policy while waving signs that read: Families belong together. Children who crossed the border at a processing centre in McAllen, Texas. Photograph: Handout/AFP/Getty Images The California congressman Juan Vargas shouted: Mr President, dont you have kids? Dont you have kids, Mr President? How would you like it if they separated your kids? Speaking to reporters, Trump said: We had a great meeting. These are laws that have been broken for many years, decades. But we had a great meeting. Why are children being separated from their families? In April 2018, the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, announced a zero tolerance policy under which anyone who crossed the border without legal status would be prosecuted by the justice department. This includes some, but not all, asylum seekers. Because children cant be held in adult detention facilities, they are being separated from their parents. Immigrant advocacy groups, however, say hundreds of families have been separated since at least July 2017. More than 200 child welfare groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the United Nations, said they opposed the practice. What happens to the children? They are supposed to enter the system for processing unaccompanied alien children, which exists primarily to serve children who voluntarily arrive at the border on their own. Unaccompanied alien children are placed in health department custody within 72 hours of being apprehended by border agents. They then wait in shelters for weeks or months at a time as the government searches for parents, relatives or family friends to place them with in the US. This already overstretched system has been thrown into chaos by the new influx of children. Can these children be reunited with their parents? Immigration advocacy groups and attorneys have warned that there is not a clear system in place to reunite families. In one case, attorneys in Texas said they had been given a phone number to help parents locate their children, but it ended up being the number for an immigration enforcement tip line. Advocates for children have said they do not know how to find parents, who are more likely to have important information about why the family is fleeing its home country. And if, for instance, a parent is deported, there is no clear way for them to ensure their child is deported with them. What happened to families before? When an influx of families and unaccompanied children fleeing Central America arrived at the border in 2014, Barack Obamas administration detained families. This was harshly criticized and a federal court in 2015 stopped the government from holding families for months without explanation. Instead, they were released while they waited for their immigration cases to be heard in court. Not everyone shows up for those court dates, leading the Trump administration to condemn what it calls a catch and release program. By Amanda Holpuch Read more House Republicans, barrelling towards a vote on a pair of immigration bills, were hoping the president would rally skeptical members of the caucus around a proposal that sought common ground between moderates and conservatives on an issue that has fiercely divided the party. Instead, Trump said he would sign either proposal that came to his desk, members said. The Kansas Republican congressman Kevin Yoder said: He said we need to pass one of the two bills. He added that the president was agnostic about which of the two measures they should pass. The Florida Republican congressman Mario Diaz-Balart said: Heres what Im absolutely 1,000% sure of. Without his [Trumps] support, without his approvals, theres no shot of it passing the House, theres no shot of it going anywhere. During his remarks, which were expected to focus on immigration, Trump spoke about his recent visit to North Korea and his trade policy, members said. He also openly mocked the Republican congressman Mark Sanford, a conservative critic of the president who lost a primary this month after Trump endorsed his opponent, they said. The meeting came at a delicate moment for Republicans, as several lawmakers in both chambers rushed to defuse the spiralling political crisis caused by the immigration crackdown. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, said all of the members of the Republican conference support a plan that keeps families together and endorsed a narrow plan that would allow law enforcement to detain parents and children together while their immigration case is adjudicated in court. McConnell said he hoped to pass a bill as early as this week. Any such legislation would require some support from Democrats, who immediately rebuffed the plan, arguing that Trump could unilaterally end the practice. The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said: There is no need for legislation. Theres no need for anything else. You [Trump] started it, you can stop it plain and simple. Under the policy, all adults are arrested for crossing the border illegally. As children cannot be kept in an adult prison, they are held separately. In the House, Republicans have included a provision to end family separations in their compromise immigration proposal, which would also provide $25bn (19bn) for Trumps border wall and his other hardline security demands. The bill would offer a pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants, known as Dreamers. A rival bill, supported by a conservative bloc of Republicans, would not guarantee them a path to citizenship. Trump did not discuss whether he would back a standalone measure should support for the immigration proposals flounder. The president has called on Democrats to negotiate an end to the separations, inviting criticism that he is leveraging the crisis at the border to win support for his hardline immigration framework. The House is expected to vote on the immigration measures this week and their fates are far from certain. Additional reporting by the Associated Press Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump reversed his stance Wednesday and ordered an end to the practice of separating migrant children from their families at the border, a widely-scorned feature of his "zero tolerance" policy. But while ending the separations, his executive order indicates conditions for detained illegal immigrants could toughen in other respects. Here are the key points: - Any adult caught crossing the border illegally, even if to request asylum, will be arrested and charged with criminal illegal entry. This is unchanged from the policy announced on May 7. - The children of migrant family groups crossing the border illegally will no longer be separated from them. The family units will now be detained together by the Department of Homeland Security, instead of the Justice and Housing and Human Services departments as in the past. - The family units will be held by DHS over the period required for their court trial on illegal entry charges, and for reviews of their immigration requests. As those together can take months or even years, the Trump administration will seek to change the 1997 Flores Settlement, which forbids the government from holding children in detention, even with their families, for more than 20 days. - However, Trump's order also says that, "to the extent practicable", cases involving families will be prioritized. - The Department of Defense was ordered to allow any available facilities to be used for housing illegal immigrants, and, if necessary, to build new facilities for them. Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers Tuesday he backed their efforts to craft an immigration solution that ends the politically toxic practice of separating families on the US-Mexico border. Just hours after doubling down on his administration's much-derided policy that triggers separations of migrant children from their parents, Trump braved frustrated and in some cases angry fellow Republicans to assure he wanted their swift resolution to the crisis. While top officials have stood by Trump's "zero tolerance" approach, insisting children are being held in humane conditions, criticism has swelled from international rights groups, Christian evangelicals, former US first ladies and the president's own Republican Party. Democrats who have visited minors in detention in Texas and California describe crying children held in cage-like conditions behind chain-link fencing, with no idea when they will see their parents again. An audio recording purported to feature Central American children separated from their parents sobbing and wailing has also struck a nerve. With emotions running high, a handful of House Democrats protested the Trump meeting, yelling out at Trump in a rare face-to-face demonstration against a president by sitting members of Congress. "Quit separating the kids!" Juan Vargas, a Democrat from southern California, shouted as Trump exited the meeting. "Mr President, don't you have kids?" Republican lawmakers emerged from the 45-minute huddle energized that Trump was giving his backing to legislation that House leaders expect to bring to a vote this week. It contains several of Trump's main priorities, including border wall funding, protecting young "Dreamer" immigrants who were brought to the country as children and curbs on legal immigration programs such as an end to the visa lottery. House Republican Mario Diaz-Balart said the priority of ending the separations has been slotted into a compromise bill currently under consideration and favored by GOP moderates. Story continues "Not only does he support the compromise bill, but he backs it all the way," Diaz-Balart said of Trump. But even after the meeting, it was unclear whether Trump favored that bill over a more hardline measure supported by conservatives. White House spokesman Raj Shah said Trump "endorsed both House immigration bills" during the meeting, adding that they "solve the border crisis and family separation issue by allowing for family detention and removal." "I'm with you 100 percent," Trump said, according to Shah. Several Republicans have said the more conservative plan is doomed, and that Trump's address was helpful in unifying the divided caucus. "We're going to have work to do" to get the compromise across the finish line, said number three House Republican Steve Scalise. On Tuesday evening, protesters heckled US homeland security chief Kirstjen Nielsen as she dined at a Mexican restaurant in Washington. They chanted "shame!" repeatedly at the woman who has become the frontline defender of the Trump administration's widely condemned practice of taking kids from their parents. "How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you're deporting, imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States?" one of the activists cried out. Earlier in the day, a defiant Trump sounded unfazed by the mounting pressure to alleviate the situation before it ruptures into a public relations disaster for his party. - 'Take the children away' - "I don't want children taken away from parents," he told a gathering of small business owners, before adding: "When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away." Trump has accused Democrats of provoking the current crisis by blocking legislation to combat illegal immigration. But Democratic leaders have pushed back. Senator Chuck Schumer said the president "continues to try to use these separated families as hostages in the legislative process." Calling for an immediate fix, Schumer added: "The president can end this crisis with the flick of his pen, and he needs to do so now." Senate Republicans are also moving to block Trump's policy. A group led by Senator Orrin Hatch wrote Attorney General Jeff Sessions demanding a pause in separations, while Senator John Cornyn was drafting "emergency" legislation to allow families to remain intact while their cases are adjudicated. The United Nations has slammed the separation practice as unconscionable, while Amnesty International blasted it as "nothing short of torture." Mexico's foreign minister condemned it as "cruel and inhuman." The issue risks becoming a political nightmare several House Republicans who face tough re-election fights in November. Some may worry that public outrage over the family separations could hurt their chances. - 'Outcry' - Democrats say the crisis is of Trump's own making, and accuse him of using children as pawns. "This has caused an outcry throughout the country," said Senator Chris Van Hollen, who visited a detention facility in McAllen, Texas over the weekend where some 1,500 children are being held. US officials say more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents or guardians since early May, when the administration announced its "zero tolerance" push to arrest and charge anyone illegally crossing the US-Mexico border, regardless of whether they were seeking asylum. Since children cannot be sent to the facilities where their parents are held, they are separated from them. Separated children make up a minority of immigrant minors in US custody. The Department of Health and Human Services said there are currently 11,700 children under its care in 100 shelters across 17 states. Most crossed the border without their parents. US public opinion appears divided along partisan lines on the family separations, with two thirds of all voters opposed, but 55 percent of Republicans supporting the policy, according to a Quinnipiac University National Poll. President Trump after addressing a House Republican conference about immigration policy. (Photo: Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images) President Trump arrived at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday night to meet with Republicans from the House of Representatives to assure them that a fix was in the works for the deeply unpopular family separation policy at the U.S. border with Mexico. But first he headed for the office of House Speaker Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin. It was then that a female voice rang out, echoing off the marbled walls of the Capitol rotunda: Mr. President, f*** you, the unseen interloper shouted, as evidenced by a video that was shared and viewed thousands of times on social media by Tuesday evening. Trump did not react to the remark, which would have been plainly audible to him. More than anything, the incident was a sign of how contentious the debate over immigration had become. It was unclear that Trumps meeting with House Republicans, which followed his visit with Ryan, resolved much. Leaving the conclave, which was closed to the press, Republicans were optimistic but vague. The situation was reminiscent of Trumps involvement in the effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, when he seemed to cheer Republican efforts without recognizing how fractured those efforts were. He wants to get it all done, said Rep. Brian Mast as he emerged from the meeting, without saying whether Trump would support the so-called compromise bill championed by moderate Republicans or the significantly more restrictive legislation proposed by Bob Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia, a leading member of the Freedom Caucus, which shuns centrist compromise on most issues. Mast also said that Trump wanted to take care of those kids thatve been separated, an apparent reference to the 2,300 or so children who have been separated from their parents after crossing the border illegally. The separation is part of a new zero tolerance policy mandated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Trump voiced support for the policy Tuesday afternoon. Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., was confident of Trumps support of the compromise bill, noting that it addressed Trumps four primary demands of any immigration measure: a path to citizenship for children, known as Dreamers, brought to the United States illegally by their parents; a border wall, which could cost some $25 billion; ending the diversity visa lottery program; and putting a stop what conservatives call chain-migration, the right of family members already in the United States to sponsor other immigrants based on kinship. Those issues, Collins said, were all tied together in a very neat package in the bill he believes Trump will promote in the coming days. Story continues Collins also said that Trump had been confronted by his daughter, influential adviser Ivanka Trump, with poignant images from the border. In the spring of 2017, Ivanka showed her father photographs of Syrian children whod been gassed by dictator Bashar Assad. The disconcerting pictures led Trump to order airstrikes against Syria. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer during a news conference on the Trump administrations highly controversial zero tolerance policy. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Democrats, however, do not regard the compromise bill as especially compassionate. Even if it does end the current policy of family separations, it otherwise restricts legal immigration and deals more harshly with immigration of the illegal variety. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California branded the legislation totally unworthy of America. The libertarian Cato Institute called it the worst immigration legislation in almost a century, underscoring its draconian features. Taking a somewhat different tack, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said that it was unfair for Trump to put the onus on Congress, since the debacle on the southern border was entirely the making of the executive branch. Legislation is not the way to go here when its so easy for the president to sign it, he said, presumably referring to the use of the executive order, a power Trump has frequently resorted to. Trump has said that he is bound by law to separate families. That is untrue. As has frequently been the case throughout his presidency, Trump is responsible for much of the confusion that has beset his agenda. Last Friday, he said he certainly wouldnt sign the compromise bill, though it had in fact been drafted with White House input. A White House spokesman later explained that Trump would effectively endorse any legislation passed by House Republicans even though there are significant differences between the Goodlatte proposal and compromise measures. As of Tuesday evening, Republicans seemed relatively sure that Trump would be a booster for the more moderate of the two Republican proposals. Any lingering confusion on their part could be excused, given that Trump spent some of the time behind closed doors with House members discussing North Korea and international trade. He also insulted Mark Sanford, the Republican of South Carolina who lost a congressional primary to a pro-Trump candidate last week. Trump poured salt into Sanfords wound, calling him a nasty guy. This reportedly led to what was described as a moment of near-palpable discomfort among the legislators. (Sanford later described the presidents broadside as demeaning.) But with throngs of reporters waiting in the narrow hallways of the Capitol, congressional Republicans did their best to portray the meeting with Trump as something that had turned out to be halfway productive. Mia Love of Utah called the more moderate proposal that appeared to have gained the requisite support a great compromise because it addressed border security concerns while providing a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. Particulars aside, Love said that the presidents message was plain: Im with you. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: The visit follows Singapore summit, where Kim, Trump reaffirmed commitment to work toward complete denuclearization of Korean peninsula. Xi told Kim the neighbors joint efforts could definitely ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, Chinas official Xinhua news agency said. (Photo: AP) Seoul/Beijing: North Koreas Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping came to an understanding on issues discussed at a summit of the two leaders, including denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the Norths state media said on Wednesday. Kim and Xi assessed the historic meeting Kim had with US President Donald Trump in Singapore last week and exchanged opinions on ways to resolve the issue of denuclearization, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Read: North Korean leader Kim meets Chinese Prez Xi Jinping following Trump summit The North Korean leader also promised during a meeting with Xi in Beijing to cooperate with Chinese officials to secure true peace in the process of opening a new future on the Korean peninsula, it said. Xi told Kim the neighbors joint efforts could definitely ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, Chinas official Xinhua news agency said. I have faith that, with the joint efforts of China and North Korea, our relationship can definitely benefit both countries and both peoples, he said, during a meeting at Beijings Diaoyutai state guest house. Kim told Xi that previously China and North Korea had helped each other out like family members. General Secretary comrade Xi Jinping has shown us touching and familial support and concern, he said, according to Xinhua. Kim wrapped up his two-day trip to Beijing on Wednesday with a visit to an agricultural sciences exhibition and the Beijing subway command center, Xinhua added. The visit follows his Singapore summit, where Kim and Trump reaffirmed a commitment to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Trump surprised officials in South Korea and the United States after that meeting by saying he would end provocative joint US-South Korean military exercises. The United States and South Korea said they had agreed to suspend a joint military exercise set for August, although decisions regarding subsequent drills have not yet been made. On Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa said the decision to suspend the exercise could be reconsidered, based on future developments with North Korea. I think weve made it clear this is a goodwill gesture to strengthen dialogue momentum, Kang said. Its not irreversible. They could come back if the dialogue loses speed, or if North Korea doesnt live up to its denuclearization commitment, she said. Kim is on his third visit to China this year. Xi offered high praise to the North Korean leader on Tuesday for the positive outcome of last weeks summit with Trump. KCNA also reported that Xi said relations between China and North Korea had reached a new level of development since Kims first visit in March and that the pacts by the two leaders were being carried out one-by-one. Kim also told Xi he was willing to bolster friendship and cooperation, it said. It was widely expected that Kim would visit Beijing to brief Xi on his summit with Trump, which included Pyongyang agreeing to hand over the remains of troops missing from the 1950-53 Korean War. Two US officials told Reuters on Tuesday North Korea could start that process within the next few days. Tunis (AFP) - A Tunisian presidential commission on Wednesday unveiled a raft of proposed liberal reforms, including equal inheritance rights for women and decriminalising homosexuality, set to face fierce opposition from conservative Muslims. The proposals from the commission -- set up by President Beji Caid Essebsi to bring the legal code in line with a 2014 constitution -- come as the North African country tries to make good on reforms promised by its revolution seven years ago. The constitution was praised as a key achievement following the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring uprisings. But the latest reforms put forward are set to face heated debate ahead of legislative and presidential elections next year, with one religious leader slamming them as "intellectual terrorism". Among the 230 pages of proposals are suggestions to rewrite the current legislation, inspired by Islamic law, that women should inherit only half of what men get. The commission's preference is to introduce equality between male and female relatives, but leave room for individuals to divide up what they leave behind as they see fit. The proposals also include decriminalising homosexuality and banning anal tests conducted on men suspected of being gay. The "total abolition" of the death penalty has been put forward, as have changes to a law forcing widows to wait before remarrying. The head of the commission Bochra Belhaj Hmida said the reforms are aimed at boosting the "well-being of every individual", insisting that "freedom is as important of bread". But imam Sabri Abdelghani, from an association of faith groups, railed to AFP that the changes would "eradicate Tunisian identity, by leaving the people without religion" in the majority-Muslim nation. A spokesman for the presidency welcomed the commission's report and called for a "calm, orderly debate without anger" on the proposals. Story continues Tunisia has long been seen as a pioneer for women's rights in the Arab world, but campaigners say much remains to be done to make good on the hopes of the revolution. Observers say there is a window of opportunity to change the law ahead of the 2019 elections, thanks to Essebsi's hold on power. But given the subject's sensitivity, the commission put off publishing its proposals until after municipal elections in May. Tunisia is seen as a rare democratic success story of the Arab Spring compared with other countries that went through the uprisings, which are either still mired in chaos or have slipped back into authoritarianism. (Reuters) - West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Allen Loughry was arrested on Wednesday and charged with 22 federal criminal counts including fraud, witness tampering and misuse of government property. Loughry, 47, who was elected in 2012, was charged with using a government vehicle and credit card on personal trips, submitting mileage claims for reimbursement for a government vehicle he used and making unlawful personal use of a historically significant desk, U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart said in a statement issued by his office in Charleston. "Public corruption is a top investigative priority," said FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nick Boshears in the statement. "It erodes public confidence and undermines the rule of law." Loughry's attorney, John Carr, said in an email, "We have no comment at this time." The indictment also accused him of trying to obstruct the grand jury investigation by seeking to influence the testimony of a Supreme Court employee. The court, which has five elected members, suspended Loughry without pay on June 8 after the state's Judicial Investigations Commission issued a 32-count complaint against him and moved to revoke his law license, local media reported. Loughry was arrested at his home by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Wednesday and taken to the federal courthouse in Charleston, where he will be arraigned, Stuart said. (Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Steve Orlofsky) (Reuters) - A federal judge has dismissed 16 lawsuits filed by survivors of a 2015 mass shooting at a South Carolina church who sued the government over the failure of an FBI-run background check system to prevent the purchase of the murder weapon. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel also criticized what he called "abysmally poor" Federal Bureau of Investigation policies for the system that allowed Dylann Roof buy the gun he used to kill nine people, all African-Americans, at a historic black church in Charleston. In his ruling released late Monday, Gergel said that the government had immunity from being sued for its policies, "even really bad policy choices." Wrongful death lawsuits filed by survivors and family members of victims of the shooting alleged that at least one of the background check databases maintained by the federal government had information that should have prevented the firearm sale. Gergel criticized the FBI's policy to deny background check examiners access to the database, known as N-DEx. If the examiner assigned to Roof's purchase request had been able to access N-DEx, he would have seen Roof's 2015 drug arrest and would have barred him from buying the gun, Gergel wrote in his decision. The government's argument in the case that it had to deny background check employees access to N-DEx, as it was restricted to law enforcement agencies, was "simple nonsense," Gergel wrote. The judge suggested the FBI take corrective steps to prevent a similar failure in the future. An FBI spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on litigation cases. Mullins Mcleod, a lawyer representing several of the plaintiffs in the case, was not immediately for comment. The FBI runs federal background checks for gun dealers in more than 30 states, including South Carolina. The examiner who conducted Roof's check did not see a police report in which Roof admitted to unlawful drug possession, which would have barred him from buying the weapon, former FBI director James Comey said following the shooting. (Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; editing by Bill Tarrant and G Crosse) By Idrees Ali and Mike Stone WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded BAE Systems PLC a contract for wheeled amphibious combat vehicles (ACV) that transport Marines from ship to shore under hostile conditions, the defense contractor said on Tuesday. The award is a blow to defense services company Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), which was competing to be lead contractor on the vehicle. The Department of Defense estimated that procurement and maintenance of all 208 vehicles in the program will be about $6.2 billion over their lifetime. The new vehicles will replace the aging fleet of expensive-to-maintain flat-bottomed amphibious assault vehicles in service since 1972. BAE confirmed the $198 million deal in a statement and said the company has already produced 16 prototypes. A U.S. official and a person familiar with the decision earlier told Reuters that BAE had been awarded the deal. SAIC said it was "disappointed" that its vehicle was not selected. The award for an initial batch of 30 vehicles shifts the program from the prototype and testing phase into low-rate production, which is scheduled to begin this year. A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office cautioned the Marine Corps from entering a second year of low-rate production until the contractor demonstrates the vehicles produced have consistently high quality manufacturing standards. The acquisition cost for the 208 vehicles is expected to total about $1.2 billion, sources said. Costs per vehicle would ease in the early 2020's if the Marines elect to continue production past 208. BAE Systems partnered with Italian company Iveco Defense Vehicles to build its ACV offering. In 2011, the Marines started a competition for the next generation of ACVs. In 2015, it awarded SAIC and BAE development and testing contracts for the wheeled amphibious combat project. The program will be a replacement for the tracked Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EVF) that was being developed for the Marines by General Dynamics Corp before its cancellation in 2011 following large cost increases and technical issues. The Marine Corps spent $3.7 billion on development before canceling the EVF program. (Reporting by Idrees Ali and Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Leslie Adler) U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley made the U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council official on Tuesday, calling the group hypocritical and self-serving and claiming it makes a mockery of human rights, according to the BBC. The move, which was widely expected, comes amid controversy over the Trump Administrations policy of separating immigrant families and children at the U.S. border, a policy that the United Nations has strongly condemned. For her part, Haley previously criticized the UNHRC for its supposed chronic anti-Israel bias and threatened to remove the United States from the council. This is not the first time the U.S. has tested its relationship with the council, which was formed in 2006. Under President George W. Bush, the United States refused a seat on the council for several years BECAUSE WHY??? while offering financial support. Under President Barack Obamas administration, the U.S. officially joined the UNHRC in 2009. Condemning the U.S. pull out now, influential NGO Human Rights Watch called President Trumps human rights policy one-dimensional. This is the first time since the Human Rights Council was founded that a serving member nation has voluntarily left the group. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday said images from the United States of migrant children kept in cages were "deeply disturbing" and that she would press President Donald Trump on the issue. "On what we have seen in the United States, pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing... this is wrong," she told MPs. May said she would raise the issue with Trump when the pair meet in Britain next month. "When we disagree with the United States we tell them so," she told MPs. "But we also have some key shared interests with the United States in the security and defence field and on other areas as well. "And it is right that we are able to sit down and discuss those with the president." Trump told Republican lawmakers Tuesday he backed their efforts to craft an immigration solution that ends the politically toxic practice of separating families on the US-Mexico border. May appeared to criticise the practice, saying that when she was interior minister: "I ended the routine detention of families with children." Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman said the US policy was "immoral, a fundamental abuse of human rights." "We're in favour of dialogue with international leaders... but the soft pedalling on these abuses of human rights -- and it's not restricted to this issue -- by the Trump administration has achieved nothing." The prime minister has been a frequent critic and the relationship between the two appears to have soured after May became the first world leader to visit Trump's White House last February. She spoke out against his travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, his decisions to leave the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal as well as his imposition of trade tariffs. Relations between the pair were further strained in November after Trump re-tweeted anti-Muslim videos posted by a British far-right group. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's upper house of parliament will consider any changes made to proposed Brexit laws on Wednesday evening, shortly after they have been voted upon by the lower house of parliament, the opposition Labour Party said. Prime Minister Theresa May faces a showdown with rebels in her Conservative Party on Wednesday after refusing to accept demands for parliament to have a "meaningful vote" on Brexit that could stop Britain crashing out of the European Union with no deal. The debate in the lower chamber will start some time after 1200 GMT. Labour said the upper chamber would then consider any changes at around 1830 GMT. (Reporting by William James, editing by Elizabeth Piper) By Oswaldo Rivas MASAYA, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Nicaraguan police and masked gunmen clashed with anti-government protesters on Tuesday, leaving at least six dead following the suspension of peace talks to quell two months of deadly demonstrations, a human rights group said. Youths armed with homemade mortars and slings fired off projectiles from behind brick barricades in the southern city of Masaya, video footage taken by Reuters showed. Protesters there have kept a police station under siege for over two weeks in defiance of President Daniel Ortega. Alvaro Leiva, a spokesman for Nicaraguan human rights group ANPDH, said at least 34 people had been injured in Masaya and six killed. Police declined to comment. In a video provided to Reuters by Leiva, a woman standing over the body of a man on the ground calls out for help to a line of police officers in riot gear who stand nearby, unmoving. "Help me," she screams. "He is not a dog." Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video. Nicaragua has been convulsed by unrest since Ortega in April proposed cutting pension benefits to cover a social security shortfall. The plan, later dropped, triggered demonstrations that turned fatal and led to demands for his resignation. Since then, at least 174 people have been killed in clashes between pro-Ortega forces and demonstrators, rights groups say. Representatives of civil society organizations have called for early elections to end the impasse, but they broke off talks with the government on Monday until Ortega sent an invitation for international observers to enter the Central American country. Juan Sebastian Chamorro, a leader of the main civic alliance seeking to broker agreement with the government, said there was no point in holding further talks about early elections "while people are being killed in the street." The U.S. government on Monday urged Nicaragua to stage early elections to end the violence, and Carlos Trujillo, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, (OAS) was due to arrive in Managua on Tuesday. Trujillo is scheduled to hold meetings to take stock of the situation ahead of an OAS permanent council special session on Nicaragua on Friday. (Additional reporting by Alonso Soto in Managua; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker) Returning Officer Muhammad Khan rejected Musharraf's nomination papers citing court's order, officials said. Musharraf, 74, had filed his nomination papers from the northern district of Chitral (NA-1) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. (Photo: File) Islamabad/Karachi: The nomination papers of Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for the July 25 general elections were rejected on Tuesday by the returning officer on the ground that he was barred for life from contesting elections by the Peshawar High Court in 2013. Musharraf, 74, had filed his nomination papers from the northern district of Chitral (NA-1) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The ex-dictator had filed a plea in the Supreme Court against the ban imposed on him to contest elections by the Peshawar High Court in 2013. The apex court had allowed him to file his nomination paper on the conditions that he appears in person on June 13. Last week, the Supreme Court withdrew the permission it conditionally granted to the ex-dictator after he failed to appear before it in person, and postponed the hearing in the case for the indefinite period. The apex court also left the matter of nomination papers to the returning officers. Returning Officer Muhammad Khan rejected Musharraf's nomination papers citing court's order, officials said. Meanwhile, Musharraf's lawyer moved an application to withdraw his nomination papers for the NA-247 constituency in Karachi, where he was summoned by an election officer to appear by the evening. The former military ruler can appeal against the rejection of his nomination by June 22. The last date for the decision on the appeals by tribunals is June 27. The list of valid candidates will be published on June 28, whereas the last date for withdrawal of candidature is June 29. The final list of contesting candidates is scheduled to be published on June 30. With condemnation streaming in from all sides, U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration continue to staunchly defended their new zero-tolerance border policy. Critics of the policy, from current and former first ladies to the U.N. to Canadian politicians, have decried the way it separates parents and small children at the border, with children being housed in shelters with strangers while their parents await sentencing in separate facilities. Amidst pressure to respond, PM Justin Trudeau released a statement on Wednesday condemning the Trump administration. What is happening in the United States is unacceptable. I cannot imagine what these families are going through. Obviously this is not the way we do things in Canada, Trudeau told reporters. The Prime Minister had previously said he didnt want to play politics in the U.S. scenario, but public outrage has reached a bubbling point. So far, the U.S. government has separated 1,995 undocumented children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border between April 19 and May 31, officials confirm. The practice has been labelled traumatizing, cruel and immoral. But Trump says its necessary for the security and stability of America, and that the separations are the result of a law enacted before he came into office. The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility it wont be, he said at the White House on June 18. Trump has argued existing law requires border security to separate minors from their guardians when they cross into America legally, but thats not true, the New York Times reports. While the zero-tolerance policy of detaining, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants has been around since the Bush administration, New York Magazine reports both George W. Bush and Barack Obama were opposed to separating children from their parents, and avoided doing so. Still, Trump denies that separating families was the objective of his administrations policy, saying instead that it is an unfortunate outcome of the zero-tolerance policy they believe is a necessary tool for protecting Americas borders. Story continues Response in Canada Speaking to CBC, immigration lawyer Arghavan Gerami said detention is always the last resort in Canada, and that decisions are made in the best interest of the child. Separation of parent and child is a policy, she said, that would never stand here. If the most vocal Canadian opponents of the practice reflect the sentiments of Canadians in general, she could be right. The Toronto Star published an editorial cartoon by Theo Moudakis on June 19 that satirizes the sequel to the popular musical Come From Away with a poster showing border patrol officers separating a mother and child. Opinion | Theo Moudakis: Come From Away 2 https://t.co/SRs3BP1T2Z via @torontostar Yvonne O'Reilly CRSP (@YvonneOHS) June 19, 2018 Vancouver-based journalist Travis Lupick shared an article highlighting the harm caused by separating children from their parents. 'What separation from parents does to children' https://t.co/4RA2Ebqfs2 "Their heart rate goes up. Their body releases a flood of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Those stress hormones can start killing off dendrites.wreaking dramatic and long-term damage" Travis Lupick (@tlupick) June 19, 2018 NDP MPs Don Davies and Jenny Kwan have both called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to publicly denounce the Trump administrations separation tactics and cancel the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement. Under the agreement, refugee claimants seeking entry to Canada from the U.S. must request refugee protection in the U.S. before making claims in Canada. Trumps US is separating children from their parents as punishment for seeking refugee status & refusing to acknowledge those fleeing domestic & gang violence as refugees. UN calls this cruel & unusual. NDP asks Trudeau to now admit the US is not a safe 3rd country he refuses. Don Davies MP (@DonDavies) June 18, 2018 Despite pressure to publicly condemn the practice, Justin Trudeau has said he wont get involved. What we will not do is play politics with this, Trudeau said during question period on June 18. Meanwhile, Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu has made the controversial prediction that if Canada legalizes cannabis, it will open the door to people coming in from Mexico to take over Canadas drug trade. What do you think? Should Canada consider adopting harsher border policies? Let us know by responding to the poll above or have your say in the comments below. Dubai (AFP) - Emirati-backed Yemeni government forces seized Hodeida airport from Huthi rebels on Wednesday, the coalition said, in a major step towards retaking the key Red Sea port city. "The airport was completely cleared, Thank God, and is under control," coalition commander for the Red Sea coast, Abdul Salaam al-Shehi, said in a video posted by the United Arab Emirates' official WAM news agency. Last Wednesday, government forces launched an offensive to clear Hodeida of rebel fighters who have held it since 2014, raising UN concerns for vital aid shipments and commercial food imports through the city's docks. The airport is disused but housed a major rebel base just inland from the coast road into the city from the south. It lies just eight kilometres (five miles) from the city's port, through which three-quarters of Yemen's imports pass, providing a lifeline for some 22 million people dependent on aid. UN envoy Martin Griffiths held four days of talks in the rebel-held capital Sanaa in a bid to avert an all-out battle for the city but flew out on Tuesday without announcing any breakthrough. The United Arab Emirates and other members of a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in support of the government in 2015 have accused regional arch foe Iran of using Hodeida as conduit for arms smuggling to the rebels. Tehran has denied the allegation. Khokha (Yemen) (AFP) - Yemen's Huthi rebels vowed to fight on after pro-government forces seized Hodeida airport from them on Wednesday, in a major step towards retaking the port city following a week-long battle. Rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi called for reinforcements to repel the advance of the UAE-backed government forces, after ongoing fighting left nearly 350 people dead. "We will face all of the incursions on the ground. Our determination will never be dented," he said via the rebels' Al-Masirah news outlet. Pro-government forces announced the capture of Hodeida airport on Wednesday morning, a day after breaking through the perimeter fence. The airport was disused but it housed a major rebel base just inland from the coastal road into the city from the south. Fresh clashes later erupted between UAE-backed government forces and the Iran-allied rebels on a road linking the airport to Hodeida port on the Red Sea coast, a Yemeni army source said. Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi said military "operations will continue on various fronts until (the capital) Sanaa and the whole territory" are retaken from the rebels. On June 13, Yemen's army and its allies launched their offensive to clear Hodeida of rebel fighters who have held it since 2014, raising UN concerns for vital aid shipments and food imports through the city's docks. At least 156 Huthis and 28 soldiers were killed in the fight for the airport, according to Hodeida hospital sources. That raised the death toll in the battle for the city to 348. No civilian casualties have yet been confirmed. The United Arab Emirates and other members of a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in support of the government in 2015 have accused regional arch foe Iran of using Hodeida as the major conduit for arms smuggling to the rebels. Tehran has denied the allegation. UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said the "liberation of Hodeida is the beginning to ending the war. Story continues "The choice in Yemen is between the state and militia, between order and violence, between peace and war," he wrote on Twitter, referring to Huthi militiamen. - Water supply disrupted - Three-quarters of Yemen's imports pass through the port, providing a lifeline for some 22 million people dependent on aid. UN envoy Martin Griffiths held four days of talks in rebel-held Sanaa in a bid to avert an all-out battle for Hodeida but flew out on Tuesday without announcing any breakthrough. The United Nations has described Yemen as the world's gravest humanitarian crisis and warned any attack on Hodeida port could cripple aid shipments. The Norwegian Refugee Council said the fighting had already hit water supplies, putting people at high risk of contamination. "As of 19 June, the water supply has been disrupted in several areas and people are reportedly relying on water from mosque wells," it said in a statement. "Access to adequate and safe water is now a major concern, particularly in light of the ongoing cholera emergency." Hodeida's residents are bracing for what they fear will be devastating street fighting, as tanks and buses carrying uniformed troops roll through the empty streets of the once-bustling city. Some 5,200 families fled their homes this month as pro-government forces advanced up the Red Sea coast, according to the UN. The Hodeida offensive, dubbed Operation Golden Victory, is the most intense battlefront in the already-brutal Yemen war which has left millions displaced. The 2015 Saudi-led intervention came after Hadi fled into exile as the rebels overran much of the country. The conflict has since killed nearly 10,000 people, most of them civilians, while more than 2,200 others have died from cholera. The coalition has helped pro-government forces regain control of the south and much of the Red Sea coast, but the rebels still control Sanaa and most of the north. Multiple rounds of UN-brokered peace talks have all failed to achieve any breakthrough. The Yemeni government and its allies have insisted that the Huthis must fully withdraw from Hodeida and turn over the port to UN supervision. The rebels have so far agreed only to share control of the port with the United Nations. By Dan Whitcomb (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a political opponent of U.S. President Donald Trump, said on Tuesday that the state would sue the Trump administration for separating children of immigrants from their parents when apprehended illegally crossing the U.S. border. The separations and detention of children at the southern U.S. border with Mexico have caused an uproar in the United States and condemnation abroad, fueled by videos of children in cages and audiotape of children wailing for their parents that has been broadcast on cable networks and posted on social media. "The Trump Administration's policy to tear apart families is a moral failing and a human tragedy," Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. Cuomo said that separating parents and children at the border violated their rights under the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court precedents and a 1997 legal settlement that set standards for the treatment of children detained for immigration reasons. A spokesman for the Trump administration could not immediately be reached for comment on the New York lawsuit. U.S. officials have defended the measures as a way to secure the border and deter illegal entry. Trump, a Republican, has made a hardline stance on immigration a centerpiece of his presidency. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a "zero tolerance" policy in April that all immigrants apprehended while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally should be criminally prosecuted under the country's criminal entry statute. The policy has led to family separations because when border agents refer apprehended migrants to court for prosecution, parents are held in federal jail to await trial by a judge while the children either remain in border patrol custody or are moved into facilities managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a Department of Health and Human Services agency. Cuomo said he would direct several state agencies to begin legal action against the Trump administration on behalf of some 70 children being held in at least 10 federal shelters in New York state. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; editing by Grant McCool) By Dan Whitcomb (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a political opponent of U.S. President Donald Trump, said on Tuesday that the state would sue the Trump administration for separating children of immigrants from their parents when apprehended illegally crossing the U.S. border. The separations and detention of children at the southern U.S. border with Mexico have caused an uproar in the United States and condemnation abroad, fuelled by videos of children in cages and audiotape of children wailing for their parents that has been broadcast on cable networks and posted on social media. "The Trump Administration's policy to tear apart families is a moral failing and a human tragedy," Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. Cuomo said that separating parents and children at the border violated their rights under the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court precedents and a 1997 legal settlement that set standards for the treatment of children detained for immigration reasons. A spokesman for the Trump administration could not immediately be reached for comment on the New York lawsuit. U.S. officials have defended the measures as a way to secure the border and deter illegal entry. Trump, a Republican, has made a hardline stance on immigration a centrepiece of his presidency. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a "zero tolerance" policy in April that all immigrants apprehended while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally should be criminally prosecuted under the country's criminal entry statute. The policy has led to family separations because when border agents refer apprehended migrants to court for prosecution, parents are held in federal jail to await trial by a judge while the children either remain in border patrol custody or are moved into facilities managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a Department of Health and Human Services agency. Cuomo said he would direct several state agencies to begin legal action against the Trump administration on behalf of some 70 children being held in at least 10 federal shelters in New York state. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; editing by Grant McCool) Wellington (AFP) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is in hospital to give birth, her office said Thursday, handing over duties to her deputy ahead of the delivery. The 37-year-old is set to become only the second world leader to have a child while in office, capping a meteoric year just months after she took over the country's top job in October. Ardern will follow in the footsteps of the late Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who in 1990 became the only women in recorded history to give birth while in power. Deputy Winston Peters is now acting prime minister while Ardern takes six weeks of maternity leave. Ardern was due on June 17 and has not publicly revealed the sex of her baby with partner Clarke Gayford. by Mathias Hariyadi 13,800 refugees arrived this year in the country, mostly Afghans, Pakistanis, Iranians, Iraqis, Ethiopians, Sri Lankans and citizens of Myanmar. "We are facing an urgent humanitarian issues". The Archdiocese of Jakarta responds to the emergency in the overcrowded Cengkareng asylum center. Jakarta (AsiaNews) - The increasing influx of economic migrants and refugees to the country is one of the "new pastoral challenges that require a rapid response" from the Indonesian Church. Says Msgr. Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, Archbishop of Jakarta, marking World Refugee Day, today. The international initiative was organized by the United Nations and is supported by Pope Francis. "In recent years, the archdiocese of Jakarta has launched the motto 'More faithful to Christianity, more involved socially in the spirit of brotherhood, more compassionate with others'. This sums up my commitment and the hope that mission and pastoral service will continue to be preserved and practiced", says Msgr. Suharyo. "One of the best exercises to put this spirit into practice is to face the new pastoral challenges that surround us - continues the bishop - Among the many social realities of which most of the Catholic community in Jakarta has become aware there is the presence of foreign citizens like political refugees. We are facing urgent humanitarian issues. These refugees sometimes do not have a 'clear hope' in their future life ". Msgr Suharyo has repeatedly shared these issues with the clergy of the archdiocese. "I outlined my concerns in various meetings and pastoral visits to the various parishes. I have always received a good response and a prompt reply to the question of how the Catholic Church should respond to this humanitarian crisis ", underlines the Archbishop. Last March, the archdiocese hosted a "Pastoral Forum" attended by hundreds of parish priests. At the end of the session, Msgr. Suharyo met two Oblate priests of Mary Immaculate: Fr. Rudi Rahkito and Fr. Andriatmoko. The prelate reaffirmed to them the call of the Catholics of Jakarta to take care of the "forgotten people". Fr. Rahkito is parish priest of the Trinity Church, while Fr. Andriatmoko of St. Mary the Immaculate Parish Church (Smi). Both parishes are located in Cengkareng, a city that houses the Detention Center established by the Immigration Agency, which operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Legal and Human Rights Affairs. The government manages the structure in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC). It welcomes foreigners awaiting the documentation necessary to obtain political asylum in other countries. The two priests immediately took up Msgr. Suharyos "moral call", putting into action in the pastoral and humanitarian mission they already carried out. "For years, every month we have provided assistance, however, because of the new arrivals the space to carry out our ministry has shrunk more and more, "says Fr Rahkito, who adds that there are currently about 400 asylum seekers in the overcrowded detention center. There are 13,800 refugees who have arrived in Indonesia since the beginning of 2018. They are mainly Afghans. , Pakistanis, Iranians, Iraqis, Ethiopians, Sri Lankans and citizens of Myanmar. The new wave also affects Cengkareng, where increasingly foreigners are camping in the streets surrounding the governmental structure for asylum seekers. The Indonesian authorities forbid them to work. The magnitude of the phenomenon has not escaped the attention of the Lembaga Daya Dharma Keuskupan Agung Jakarta (Ldd-Kaj), the humanitarian arm of the Archdiocese of Jakarta. According to its director, Fr. Yustinus Sigit Prasojo SJ, the increase in arrivals is "linked to the hopes that the refugees place in the IMO and UNHCR for the acceptance of their requests for political asylum in the destination countries". The humanitarian situation in Cengkareng has therefore become a concern for the entire archdiocese. The Ldd-Kaj coordinates the commitment of 10 parishes in the region of West Jakarta. They are the churches of Grogol, Kapuk, Tomang, Kedoya, Bojong, Kosambi, Meruya, Kalideres, Cengkareng and Serpong. Added to these is the support of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), the Selasih association and other groups. Closer to the detention center, the parishes of the Trinity and of St. Mary the Immaculate Parish Church take care of the refugees. In the churches' premises, weekly health services are offered, while every day the volunteers distribute food and basic necessities under the supervision of those responsible: Djoni Widjaja and Yustina Yani. Thanks to the collaboration with the Ldd-Kaj, the JRS was able to build a temporary shelter in Cisarua (Bogor regency). Thomas Aquinas Maswan Susinto, director of the Jesuit organization in Indonesia, said: "Here the refugees receive financial support, housing and health services. In addition, we offer them English and Indonesian language courses and we provide legal assistance to help them obtain political asylum. We are supported by some lay volunteers, by the nuns of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and by the nuns of Saint Anne". The Strategic Affairs Ministry has compiled a report revealing the internal connections between different anti-Israel boycott organizations, dubbed by Minister Gilad Erdan the "hate net." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Speaking at conference to combat the boycott movement, Erdan stressed that the offensive against Israel is in full swing "in local assemblies, in the trade unions, in the classrooms and at university campuses around the world. The perpetrators of the hate campaign, who derive their ideology from the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, are united in their goal of destroying the State of Israel." Under the guise of civil activities, a coordinated and well financed network operates, directed from Ramallah and Gaza, of which about a quarter (10 organizations) maintain ties to terror groups, including Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, with the goal of inciting the world against the State of Israel, he continued. Minister Gilad Erdan (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) The GC4I conference, which the Strategic Affairs Ministry holds every two years, brings together more than 150 heads of pro-Israel organizations, heads of Jewish communities and activists from around the world who are taking part in the campaign to combat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) and the delegitimization of the State of Israel. During his speech, Erdan discussed the study his ministry has been working on for the past two years at the request of the Political-Security Cabinet as part of the efforts to combat the boycott movements against Israel. BDS rally in Paris (Photo: AP) Erdan noted that there are about 300 organizations around the world that are calling for a boycott of Israel. The Ministry of Strategic Affairs compiled a list of 42 prominent groups that generate hatred of Israel. According to Erdan, not only do Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine support BDS, but members of these organizations also have ties with the other organizations advocating for the boycotting of Israel. "Senior officials in the Palestinian organizations Al-Haq, DCI-P (Defense for Children International Palestine), and al-Damir are past and present activists of the PFLP," he said. "The head of the Al-Haq organization is Shawan Jabarin, a resident of Ramallah, who served a 13-year sentence in an Israeli prison for his involvement in the PFLP military wing. Jabarin is a leader in the legal campaign against Israel and is active in Europe and at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Lila Khaled, a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, took part in the fundraising campaign for a BDS organization in South Africa, Erdan elaborated. 'PA promotes boycotts against Israel' "We've also identified ties to the PFLP among American boycott organization Samidoun; the PRC promotes Hamas interests in Europe; and members of the British PSC and the FOA held meetings with senior Hamas figures in Gazaincluding Ismail Haniyehparticipated in the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident, and held a demonstration at 10 Downing Street promoting Hamass March of Return, the minister continued. Erdan also blamed the Palestinian Authority, which he said has long promoted boycotts against Israel and officially adopted the boycott movement at the Palestinian National Council last May. "We have seen the attempts by senior PA officials to suspend Israel from FIFA and to promote the 'black lists' formulated by the UN Human Rights Council, all of which have been extensively promoted by BDS organizations," he said. "The campaign of delegitimization and the campaigns to boycott Israel are based on the lies and propaganda of Hamas, which disguises its terrorist activities under the guise of civilian activity, with the goal of besmirching Israel and depriving it of its right to defend itself," Erdan stressed. There is a national necessity to expose the lies of Hamas and demonstrate its murderous and anti-Semitic character, expressed by launching missiles and rockets into Israel from among the civilian population, disguising themselves among (unarmed) marchers and demonstrations and the launching of terror (incendiary) kites, which are presented as children's play." Erdan noted that the ministry recently identified an escalation with regards to the content and audiences to which the boycott organizations are directing their activities, and that they are increasingly calling for an end to trade agreements with Israel and halting business cooperation with Israel's defense industries. "This campaign is no longer taking place among civil society organizations alone. Recently the boycott organizations have started lobbying members of parliament in various parts of the world," Erdan said. "The terrorist organizations and the BDS organizations have never been so close ideologically and with regards to their operational tactics," Erdan said. "I will continue to lead the offensive against the perpetuators of this anti-Semitic hate campaign emanating from Gaza and Ramallah." Erdan also said that the Ministry of Strategic Affairs will lead campaigns and public relations activities in the coming year to expose "the murderousness and the truth about Hamas terrorism so that the BDS organizations will find it difficult to continue to incite and lie by using them and the lies that are coming out of Gaza." The president of the UN Human Rights Council is acknowledging the "prerogative" of the United States to leave the 47-member body, while the UN human rights chief called it "disappointing, if not really surprising," that the US was pulling out. Vojislav Suc of Slovenia, who holds the council annually rotating presidency, defended the council on Tuesday after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador Nikki Haley announced the United States is quitting the Geneva body. About 45 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night, some exploding in Gaza vicinity communities. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Seven rockets and mortars shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, and at least three landed within the strip. Police sapper handling a mortar shell near a nursery in the Eshkol Regional Council (Photo: Eshkol Security) There were no reports of injuries, but damage was sustained. One mortar shell exploded on a pathway near a nursery in the Eshkol Regional Council. Numerous sirens were sounded in the Gaza vicinity throughout the night. Rocket hits Eshkol Regional Council (Photo: Eshkol Security) All schools and kindergartens were expected to open as planned Wednesday in the Gaza vicinity communities. One rocket landed inside a community in the Eshkol Regional Council. A police sapper handled the rocket and the public was asked to stay away from the area until the police completed their work. A sapper handling a rocket that landed in the Eshkol Regional Council (Photo: Israel Police) On Wednesday afternoon, the IDF fired warning shots near a cell dispatching incendiary balloons in the southern Gaza Strip. There were no reports of injuries. The IDF defined Tuesday night's barrage as a serious rocket offensive against Israels home front, saying that Hamas is leading the Gaza Strip and its residents to deterioration and escalation. The escalation occurred on the backdrop of the kite terrorism and the incendiary and explosive balloons dispatched from the strip, which have sparked huge fires in the Gaza vicinity. In response, the IDF attacked three targets in the southern strip shortly after midnight Tuesday, and Hamas retaliatedand claimed responsibility. Damage in the Eshkol Regional Council (Photo: Eshkol Security) According to an IDF statement, the Air Force struck a total of 25 Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip in three waves. Eleven targets were attacked in the last wave in four military compounds of the Hamas terror organization, including an underground training facility. IDF strikes in Gaza X The IDF statement added, The Hamas terror organization led a serious rocket offensive against the Israeli home front tonight and is leading the Gaza Strip and its residents to deterioration and escalation. Hamas is responsible for everything going on in the Gaza Strip and will bear the consequences of the acts of terror against Israels citizens. The IDF is prepared and determined to fulfill its mission to defend Israels citizens and will increase its activity if necessary and following an assessment of the situation. (Photo: Eshkol Security) IDF Spokesman in Arabic Avichay Adraee published a Facebook post Wednesday morning, warning that Hamas was leading the Gaza Strip to escalation. These were Hamas achievements in the previous conflict: Destruction, destruction and destruction. The threats made by the organizations leaders wont conceal the bottom line: Hamas is causing the Gaza Strip to deteriorate to escalation against the strip residents best interest. Hamas doesnt care about Gazas residents. The IDF spokesman's post in Arabic The first Code Red siren sounded in the Eshkol Regional Council at 1:14 am, following the detection of a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. Twelve minutes later, sirens sounded in several communities in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council and in the Ashkelon industrial zone. Additional sirens sounded at 2:35 am in the same areas, followed by more sirens at 2:42 am in the Eshkol Regional Council. (Photo: Eshkol Security) Further sirens sounded in the Eshkol Regional Council at 2:50 am, 3:13 am and 3:18 am. After the IDF said it had attacked eight Hamas targets, sirens sounded in several communities in the Sdot Negev and Shaar Hanegev Regional Council at 4:05 am. Additional sirens sounded in several communities in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council at 4:46 am. Later, sirens sounded in several communities in the Eshkol Regional Council at 5:17 am, and then again at 5:29 am and at 5:51 am. IDF strikes a series of targets in Gaza (Photo: IDF Spokespersons Unit) Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum on Tuesday night praised the courageous resistance that responded to the Israeli bombardment of its posts in Gaza. Its its legitimate right. He added that the message of a bombardment met with a bombardment is proof that the rules of the conflict are being determined by the resistance and that it wont allow the enemy to isolate our people or impose new equations. Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shihab threatened, Gaza is not a fire practice area for Israels F-16 jets. The stage in which Israel used to operate in this space as if it were empty has come to an end. Its the resistances right and duty to respond the same way, according to the conditions on the ground and as it sees fit. Praise the resistance heroes. A target attacked in Gaza On Monday, IAF jets attacked nine Hamas targets in the northern Gaza Strip early Monday, in what were the most significant strikes in the fight against the incendiary kites and balloons terrorism. The strikes hit two military bases in Jabalia, Al-Shati and a weapons production facility in Gaza City. During the strike, three rockets were fired at the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, with one apparently falling inside the strip. They were accompanied by Code Red rocket-alarms at 4:40am and again at 5:13am, with the latter one heard in the city of Ashkelon's industrial area as well. No casualties were reported from the rockets or air strikes. The IDF Spokesman's Office said the strikes were in response to the incendiary and explosive balloons and kites being launched at Israel from the Gaza Strip. "These are terror attacks that endanger the residents of southern Israel," the IDF said in a statement. "In recent days, the IDF warned and carried out several attacks near the cells responsible for the arsons and destruction of lands in Israel as well as infrastructure used by these cells," the army added. "The IDF has intelligence information and the operational ability to further increase these strikes, and they will grow in strength as required. The IDF is determined to continue acting with increasing force against these terror activities for as long as it takes and with a variety of tools, until they stop," it went on to say. "The Hamas terror organization is responsible for everything that happens in and from the Gaza Strip, and it will suffer the consequences," the statement concluded. Following rockets and mortar shells launched at Israel from Gaza overnight Tuesday, a rocket was founds Wednesday morning in one of the Eshkol Regional Council's communities. The police closed the scene and a police sapper was called to extract the rocket. Israel's military says its warplanes have struck some 25 Hamas positions in Gaza after Palestinian militants fired dozens of rockets and mortars at southern communities. The Hamas terror organization rules Gaza. The military said about 45 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel early Wednesday. It said seven were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system and at least three fell prematurely, landing inside Gaza. Some rockets exploded inside Israel damaging property. However, No casualties were reported in Israel or Gaza. Israel said jets hit about 25 Hamas targets in response. Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, praised the attacks on Israel but did not take responsibility for them. The United States announced Tuesday it was leaving the United Nations' Human Rights Council , with Ambassador Nikki Haley calling it "an organization that is not worthy of its name." It was the latest withdrawal by the Trump administration from an international institution. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Haley, Trump's envoy to the UN, said the US had given the human rights body "opportunity after opportunity" to make changes. She lambasted the council for "its chronic bias against Israel" and lamented the fact that its membership includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights," Haley said. Ambassador Haley. A hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights (Photo: Reuters) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing alongside Haley at the State Department, said there was no doubt that the council once had a "noble vision." But today we need to be honest," Pompeo said. "The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights." Haley announces US withdrawal from Human Rights Council (Video: Reuters) (:) X The announcement came just a day after the UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. But Haley cited longstanding US complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. She had been threatening the pull-out since last year unless the council made changes advocated by the US. "Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded," Haley said. Haley with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights (Photo: Reuters) Still, she suggested the decision need not be permanent, adding that if the council did adopt reforms, "we would be happy to rejoin it." She said the withdrawal notwithstanding, the US would continue to defend human rights at the United Nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office called the US decision "courageous," calling it "an unequivocal statement that enough is enough." The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's "America First" policy. Although numerous officials have said repeatedly that "America First does not mean America Alone," the administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses since it took office. Since January 2017, it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the UN educational and cultural organization and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum against key trading partners, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv. Opposition to the decision from human rights advocates was swift. A group of 12 organizations including Save the Children, Freedom House and the United Nations Association-USA said there were "legitimate concerns" about the council's shortcomings but that none of them warranted a US exit. "This decision is counterproductive to American national security and foreign policy interests and will make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world," the organizations said in a joint statement. Added Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch: "All Trump seems to care about is defending Israel." On Twitter, al-Hussein, the UN human rights chief, said it was "Disappointing, if not really surprising, news. Given the state of #HumanRights in today's world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back." And the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank close to the Trump administration, defended the move, calling the council "notably incurious about the human rights situations in some of the world's most oppressive countries." Brett Schaefer, a senior fellow, pointed out that Trump could have withdrawn immediately after taking office but instead gave the council 18 months to make changes. UN Human Rights Council (Photo: AFP) Haley has been the driving force behind withdrawing from the human rights body, unprecedented in the 12-year history of the council. No country has ever dropped out voluntarily. Libya was kicked out seven years ago. The move could reinforce the perception that the Trump administration is seeking to advance Israel's agenda on the world stage, just as it prepares to unveil its long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan despite Palestinian outrage over the embassy relocation. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting the Middle East this week as the White House works to lay the groundwork for unveiling the plan. Israel is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up for discussion at every council session, under "Item 7" on the agenda. Item 7 on "Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories" has been part of the council's regular business almost as long as it has existed. The United States' current term on the council ends next year. Although the US could have remained a non-voting observer on the council, a US official said it was a "complete withdrawal" and that the United States was resigning its seat "effective immediately." The official wasn't authorized to comment publicly and insisted on anonymity. That means the council will be left without one of its traditional defenders of human rights. In recent months, the United States has participated in attempts to pinpoint rights violations in places like South Sudan, Congo and Cambodia. The US pullout was bound to have ripple effects for at least two countries at the council: China and Israel. The US, as at other UN organizations, is Israel's biggest defender. At the rights council, the United States has recently been the most unabashed critic of rights abuses in Chinawhose growing economic and diplomatic clout has chastened some other would-be critics, rights advocates say. There are 47 countries in the Human Rights Council, elected by the UN's General Assembly with a specific number of seats allocated for each region of the globe. Members serve for three-year terms and can serve only two terms in a row. The United States has opted to stay out of the Human Rights Council before: The George W. Bush administration opted against seeking membership when the council was created in 2006. The US joined the body only in 2009 under President Barack Obama. The Rafah Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt will remain open until further notice, Palestinian media reported Tuesday evening. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The announcement comes as good news for the Gaza Strips residents, who will now be able to leave and return to the strip without having to wait, as they have been forced to do in recent years. Rafah Crossing (Photo: AFP) During the month of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr holiday, the crossing remained open continuously, as part of the Egyptian effort to ease restrictions on the strips residents. Last month, at the beginning of the Ramadan holiday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that the crossing, connecting between Egypt and the Gaza Strip would remain open throughout the entire month of Ramadan. Archive photo of Palestinians waiting for the crossing to open (Photo: Reuters) Al-Sisi wrote on Twitter that opening the crossing would ease the burden on our brethren in Gaza. Several days earlier, Egypt announced that the Rafah Crossing would remain open for four days. the previous time the crossing had opened was two weeks earlier. Russia says that the US exit from the United Nations' Human Rights Council reflects Washington's unilateralist approach to global affairs. The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, announced the pullout Tuesday, criticizing the council for "its chronic bias against Israel" and pointing out that it includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Congo. Russia's UN mission responded in a statement that the US had tried but failed to turn the Council into an "obedient instrument for advancing their interests and punishing the countries it dislikes." It added that the U.S. criticism of the council for failing to make changes advocated by Washington appears "cynical." The Russian mission described the council as a "key international platform for cooperation in protecting human rights." Construction and Housing Minister Yoav Galant of the Kulanu party slammed fellow Security Cabinet member, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, on Wednesday after the Bayit Yehudi leader said incendiary kite launchers should be shot. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Inexperience in using force leads to a power trip, Galant told Ynet. It would be a serious mistake to fire at an eight-year-old child, especially intentionally. Bennett responded to the claim on Twitter: The shooting terrorists are not eight years old. Thats false propaganda being spread by our enemies. You should shoot anyone who fires at your family and your people and dispatched incendiary and explosive balloons. Its so clear that I cant believe I have to explain it. Restraint leads to escalation. Ministers Yoav Galant (R) and Naftali Bennett clash over how to handle kite launchers (Photos: Ohad Zwigenberg, Alex Kolomoisky, AP) Galant clarified that shooting at kite launchers wont lead to the desired outcome. The Palestinians will send 1,000 eight-year-old children. Only someone who doesnt understand the picture in Gaza fails to understand how it works. They take an eight-year-old child and give him candy. He cant think clearly, and you want us to fire a missile from a UAV at him? Thats not only ridiculous, its not only cruel, but its also foolish, Galant said. He was asked whether Israel should target those who send and encourage the kite flyers instead and perhaps resume its target assassinations policy. Thats something Ive suggested more than once, Galant replied. Ive made it clear and Im make it clear again here to the Hamas people, with whom I have been holding a dialogue of fighting for many years. We understand that there are no spontaneous phenomena in which dozens of hundreds of children and youth launch kites without being guided by someone. If necessary, we will reach that someone and those above that someone and target them, and Hamas wont escape this matter. Im not making any statements about what we havent done yet. All Im saying is that all options are on the table. Apart from winning the battle, the battlefield is important, and Hamas wont be the one to determine the battlefield. In other words, if it thinks it can send people to the fence and children to launch kites and thats all we will deal with, its wrong. We will hit Hamas assets, Hamas people, Hamas targets. And when we are required to do so, we will step up the pace. If needed, we will hit them into a reality they will regret. There is a long distance between that and targeting eight-year-old children. I am against that from an ethical and moral perspective too, and I see the actual suggestion and consideration of that a foolish act. A kite launcher in Gaza. They take an eight-year-old child and give him candy. He cant think clearly, and you want us to fire a missile from a UAV at him? As for the possibility of an IDF ground operation in Gaza, Galant said: They are relying on a process in which we will fight others (referring to the northern front and the Iranian entrenchment in Syria) and they will wear us out. Well, they are wrong. If necessary, definitely from a military perspective, we will get Hamas down on its knees to a very difficult situation. Having said that, we dont want to occupy the Gaza Strip, because we have no interest in being there, so we should try to reach a stable situation in a round that will be as short as possible and not after a long move that will bring us back to the same situation. We dont want to deteriorate for obvious reasons, the minister added. We have no interest in controlling Gaza. We want peace and quiet, we dont want any responsibility there and we also want a demilitarization. These are interests which somewhat contradict each other, but we will find the way to do it and we need long periods of calm, first of all for the citizens and, second, because we have other issues to deal with, in the security area too. Galants party leader, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, said Wednesday during an economic-industrial conference that Hamas has only one goal right now, and thats to get us into international trouble. They have no problem using children and civilian for that purpose. Hamas activities could drag us to places which are neither in their working plan nor in ours. As a sovereign state, we must not accept that drizzle. I trust the IDF and I am certain it will provide the proper response, just like it has provided a response to much more complicated problems. In the country a spirit of coexistence, accepting others and those who are different, is missing. African refugees are in a legal "limbo". Christian migrants are pained by the rejection of the "Country of Jesus, the Gospel and the Bible". Many in Israel help, but "these" many "must be multiplied, because they are a drop in the bucket. Tel Aviv (AsiaNews) "We are all refugees in this world, believes Sister Azezet Kidane, a Comboni nun active since 2010 together with other Israeli NGOs among the victims of human trafficking. Hers is a commitment that today runs counter to a climate of rejection by part of Israeli society and the current government. "Here in Israel, a spirit of coexistence, accepting other people who are different in colour, culture and language, is missing. Others are not considered as someone who can help you grow, but a problem, a challenge. Others are considered enemies." In January, Israeli authorities issued an ultimatum to some 45,000 Eritrean and Sudanese refugees living in the country, telling them they had to leave Israel by April or face prison indefinitely. At present, the situation is at an impasse. The agreement with the UN to relocate half of them has fallen through, whilst "voluntary deportation" has been suspended by the Supreme Court. Everyone is waiting for the final ruling and what the future has in store for the refugees who arrived between 2005 and 2012 through the dangerous Sinai routes. "Right now, we are in a sort of limbo, said Tal Steiner, member of the legal department of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants. On the one hand, applicants do not receive answers to their asylum request," which can take years, and is usually negative. Only about ten have been recognised as refugees so far. "On the other hand, people are stuck here. They cannot be deported to a third country, not forcibly, not voluntarily. The UN deal is not valid right now. So, people are in a limbo, waiting to see what their next step will be in Israel. Their situation is very difficult. The visa they have ensures nothing more than not being detained. They are barely allowed to work. They do not get any social benefit. The most basic medical insurance is not even granted to them. "They do not have the right to develop themselves here, get an education, form a family, bring their families with them. They dont even have the right to a driving license. They live in very difficult conditions where everything is up to them and NGOs. For Sister Azezet, "all of this is painful and frustrating. People feel threatened, unwanted, seen in a bad light." What is more, for the Comboni sister, Christian migrants are pained by the thought that it is the "Country of Jesus, of the Gospel and of the Bible" that rejects them. "They had so much hope and trust that by coming here they would be comforted, after suffering so much in the Sinai. Now they feel unwanted." Depression and anxiety are aggravated by difficulties in finding a job. Even when they find it - humble and low-wage - they are forced to pay 20 per cent of their salary into a fund that should be returned to them when they leave Israel. These people have no valid option to leave Israel. They cant go back to Eritrea or Sudan. No one else will accept them, Steiner said. Thus, the deduction means impoverishment that pushes "many families below the poverty line". "It is no coincidence that their life is so hard in Israel. We see it as a plan by the Israeli government to deter people and push them out of Israel. And this what we are working against and trying to fight. For Sister Azezet, "it is important to understand that others are not a 'challenge'. God created everyone in His image and we all have a piece of God and we complete each other. There are many people who have a different view [from the government], like Physicians for Human Rights, with whom we work to provide medical care. There are many people, but these many must be multiplied because they are a drop in the bucket." Gaza border community residents went through another night of terror Tuesday. When the morning arrived, the same disturbing questions regarding their constant reality of rockets and mortar shell barrages remained unsolved, giving them the impression they have reached a dead end. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Ahuva Ilani, who resides in the Eshkol Regional Council told Ynet, "We must resolves this, but not with means of endless warfare and power. I expect the matter to be solved by political means." Rocket hits Eshkol Regional Council (Photo: Eshkol Security) Ilani described how a mortar shell landed near a nursery. "It happened when nobody had arrived yet. The nursery is responsible for babies ranging between the tender ages of six or seven months old to 18 months old. It's frightening." She added that so far the government had not provided a solution to the security tensions on the Gaza border and that, in her opinion, warfare was not enough. "We can see it's not enough. I've been living here for 50 years." Gaza border communities after a night of mortar shell barrage (Photo: Reuters) About 45 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night, with at least five exploding in Gaza vicinity communities. There were no reports of injuries, but damage was sustained. One mortar shell exploded on a pathway near a nursery in the Eshkol Regional Council. Seven rockets and mortars shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, and at least three landed within the strip. Multiple sirens were sounded in the Gaza vicinity throughout the night, being the night with the biggest number of sirens since Operation Protective Edge four years ago. A similar escalation took place two weeks ago. Mortar shell launched from Gaza The IDF defined the barrage as a serious rocket offensive against Israels home front, saying that Hamas is leading the Gaza Strip and its residents to deterioration and escalation. The escalation occurred on the backdrop of the kite terrorism and the incendiary and explosive balloons dispatched from the strip, which have sparked huge fires in the Gaza vicinity. In response, the IDF attacked three targets in the southern strip shortly after midnight Tuesday, and Hamas retaliatedand claimed responsibility. Ori Hai, another Eshkol Regional Council resident, spoke about the hours she and her family had to spend in the bomb shelter during the rockets and mortar shell barrage launched from Gaza. "We have a lot of practice, and I'm not that anxious, but it feels bad. We went down and stayed inside the bomb shelter until it was all over,' she described. "There is a distinct sensation in the air that an escalation is on the rise," she went on to say. Rocket shrapnel hit Gaza border communities' homes (Photo: AP) Hai said she went to work with concerns. "The way was a little bit scary but everything went back to normal and so are we. This is the best way to act. "I'm not saying we have no concerns, but we must go on with a smile, even at 5 am. We just have to be alert," she opined. The kite terrorism has also reached Hai's community. "It's unpleasant to wake up and see the entire land is scorched. We also worry about incendiary kites landing in our backyard and exploding, it's stressful." "When I look right and left everything is scorched, and it's so sad," she lamented. Resident Benny Hason said that despite the fact that the daycares are sheltered, one of the community's main concern is protecting the children attending the informal education facilities. Mortar shell exploding on a pathway near a nursery in the Eshkol Regional Council "Tomorrow we commence our summer activity. Our children will spend all day long in unsheltered spaces since our informal education facilities don't include bomb shelters," he elaborated. "As long as we feel concern we won't have a normal schedule. Yesterday we went to the fields to detect (incendiary) kites that might instigate a fire and burn our fields and if needed to call the firefighting crews," he explained. "We spent the entire night under the threat of Qassam rockets and mortar shell barrage launched at us from Gaza. Luckily, we have the Iron Dome system that manages to intercepts them." North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping came to an understanding on issues discussed at a summit of the two leaders, including denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the North's state media said on Wednesday. Kim and Xi assessed the historic meeting Kim had with US President Donald Trump in Singapore last week and exchanged opinions on ways to resolve the issue of denuclearisation, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has publically opposed joining a global anti-money laundering convention. Referring to recent debates in country's parliament on joining the Financial Action Task Force, Khamenei told lawmakers Wednesday: "It is not necessary to join conventions whose depths we are unaware of." Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said the parliament should instead prepare its own bills against money laundering and terrorism, accusing the convention of merely "securing the interests" of big powers. Earlier last week the parliament suspended debate on joining FATF for two months out of fear that membership could thwart helping Iran's allies abroad, including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas. Both are considered terrorist organizations by the United States. The Syrian army stepped up shelling of opposition-held parts of the southwest as it mobilises for a campaign to regain the area bordering Jordan and the Israel's Golan Heights, opposition sources said. Violence erupted at the frontline town of Kafr Shams, near the Syrian-held Golan Heights, and further east in the town of Busra al Harir, which was struck by dozens of mortars from nearby army positions, the sources said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday addressed the 8th Annual International Cybersecurity Conference at Tel Aviv University, which is being attended by Israeli and foreign cyber experts, diplomats and security officials. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In his speech, the prime minister failed to address the tense night in the Gaza vicinity communities, in which some 45 rockets and mortar shells were fired from the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu. 'We have unbelievable opportunities' (Photo: Yariv Katz) Netanyahu's address included a simulated cyberattack. He said his goal eight years ago was to turn Israel into one of the five leading countries in the world in cybersecurity. We have achieved that and even more, he said. We have unbelievable opportunities and were realizing them, and at the same time we have unbelievable challenges and we must confront them, the prime minister told the audience. There will be no silver bullet. It doesnt exist. There will be no solution that stops hermetically any country or even the majority of attacks. Its not going to happen. Simulated cyberattack during Netanyahu's speech (Video: Meshi Ben Ami) (: ) X We monitor the attacks on Beer Sheva. You should go and see the CERT center. We can monitor quite a bit. We can stop quite a bit. But the only way we can address this enormous challenge to enormous opportunities is to keep running ahead, to be ahead faster and faster and faster. This is a supreme test for our civilization. It is going to be tested not only by criminal organizations, by terrorist, but by other states. We have to combine forces. This is why were holding this cyber conference here. It is to protect the present and ensure the future, no less than that. I welcome you to come to Israel. You couldnt have come to a better place for cybersecurity. We want your business." Hussein Dawabsheh, whose family was murdered in an arson attack in Duma, suffered verbal abuse from right-wing settler youth outside the Lod District Court Tuesday, after it had ruled that the majority of confessions given by two alleged Jewish terrorists are admissible Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter On July 31, 2015, Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Dawabsheh family's house in the village in the northern West Bank, killing an 18-month-old baby, Ali, and critically wounding his four-year-old brother and both parents. The parents, Saad and Riham Dawabsheh, later succumbed to their wounds. MK Ahmad Tibi (Joint list) posted a video of the incident outside the court on Twitter, which gained many shares and comments from across the political spectrum. Joint List MKs Ayman Odeh, left, and Ahmad Tibi, right with Hussein Dawabsheh, center (Photo: Yair Sagi) Youths are heard shouting in the video, "Where is Ali? Where is Riham? Where is Saad? It's too bad Ahmed didn't burn as well." Police officers and the ministers who were present at the court chose not to intervene, letting the demonstration of hatred and racism continue. ? . . . 18 . . .. pic.twitter.com/a2GrHJe3Z7 Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) June 19, 2018 In an interview with Ynet, Tibi described the difficult experienced. "As Hussein Dawabshehwho is Ali and Ahmed's grandfatherwas leaving the court, 20 young settlers, probably 'price tag' activists, gathered around him," Tibi recounted. "As soon as they saw usand several women demonstrating against the murderthe 'price tag' activists began shouting: 'Ali was burned, where is Ali? Ali is on the grill,' while dancing and rejoicing," he went on to say."Others began chanting those words. It's chilling. As I looked at the grandfather, my eyes teared up." "After Ali and Ahmed's uncle Saad a-Nasser told them, 'Ali was just a child, and he is in heaven now,' they continued dancing and chanting 'Ali was burned,'" the MK continued. Hussein Dawabsheh with his grandson Ahmed, the only one to survive the attack (Photo: Shaul Golan) According to Tibi, he asked the police officers outside the court to do something, but they responded with indifference. "What would have happen had the situation been reversed? If 20 Arab youths were shouting about a Jewish fatality 'he's on the grill, he's burning'? How many of them would have gone home with broken legs? How many would have been arrested?" Tibi wondered. "Part of the reason it was horrifying was the police's indifference, like nothing had happened," he explained. "They (the police) could have at least removed them from the court. (No need) to break legs. Legs are only broken to Arabs in Haifa, not to Jews. But they could have at least removed them," he added. Tibi said that after posting the video, many Israeli turned to him and said they felt awful about the display of hatred outside the court. "The coalition as well as the opposition expressed their disgust of what happened. But lo and beholdnot a single minister (said anything), not Miri Regev, not Yisrael Katz, not Ayelet Shaked, not Naftali Bennett and in particularly not the prime minister, who knows how to retweet awful things. He remained quiet instead of condemning this sickening phenomenon," Tibi lashed out. The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about US plans to create a separate space force, saying that taking weapons into space could trigger a new arms race. President Donald Trump said Monday he is directing the Pentagon to create a new "Space Force" as a separate branch of the military aimed at ensuring American supremacy in space. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the move appears to signal Washington's intention to deploy weapons in space. She warned that the militarization of space "could be fraught with consequences no less harmful than the nuclear arms race." Zakharova said that taking weapons to space would "upset strategic stability and international security." She noted that Russia and China have proposed an international treaty that would ban space-based weapons. Holon's Deputy Mayor who serves as the dean of the Ashkelon Academic College, Yoel Yeshurun apologized Wednesday for his Facebook post in which he called the Gay Pride Parade as a march of "two-legged vile and repulsive animals." "I failed and used inappropriate expressions that offended the LGBT community. That was not my intent." Hamas and Islamic Jihad's military wings claimed responsibility Wednesday afternoon for attacking seven Israeli posts overnight in response to "the ongoing Zionist aggression." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "We stress the equation of 'bombing in response to bombing,' and we will not allow the enemy to force aggressive equations against our people and the resistance," a joint press release from the two terror groups said. "The Israeli leadership bears full responsibility to any aggression and will pay the price for that. All attempts to break the popular Palestinian protest will not succeed," the statement continued. IDF soldiers examining part of a Gaza rocket that landed in Israel (Photo: AP) "Our preparedness and our quick and coordinated response are proof that we are doing what we say we would," Hamas and Islamic Jihad concluded. The IDF fired warning shots next to cells launching incendiary balloons in the southern Gaza Strip on two occasions Wednesday afternoon. There were no reports of injuries among the Palestinians. An explosive balloon landed on a trampoline in the back yard of a house in the Eshkol Regional Council. Police sappers were called to the scene to neutralize it. Incendiary balloons lands on trampoline outside Israeli home Meanwhile, firefighters have battled six fires on the Gaza border on Wednesday caused by incendiary balloons. About 45 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday, some landing inside Gaza border communities. Seven rockets and mortars shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, and at least three landed within the strip. There were no reports of injuries, but damage was sustained. One mortar shell landed on a pathway near a nursery in the Eshkol Regional Council. Numerous sirens were sounded in the Gaza border area throughout the night. The IDF defined Tuesday night's barrage as a serious rocket offensive against Israels home front, saying that Hamas is leading the Gaza Strip and its residents to deterioration and escalation. The escalation occurred on the backdrop of the kite terrorism and the incendiary and explosive balloons dispatched from the strip, which have sparked huge fires in the Gaza border area. In response, the IDF attacked three targets in the southern strip shortly after midnight Tuesday, and Hamas retaliated with the rocket fire. According to an IDF statement, the Air Force struck a total of 25 Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip in three waves. Eleven targets were attacked in the last wave in four military compounds of the Hamas terror organization, including an underground training facility. The United States is emphasizing that its pullout from the United Nations' main human rights body doesn't mean it's stopping its work with the UN's rights chief. A US official in Geneva says the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights -- currently Jordanian prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein -- "performs valuable work in promoting human rights." "We have a very strong relationship with the OHCHR and will continue to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms through that relationship," the press office of the US mission in Geneva said in an e-mail. The human rights office, or OHCHR, is a permanent UN organization that ultimately falls under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The United States is traditionally one of its largest donors. Israeli army says the Palestinian extremist movement launched at least 45 cross-border missiles overnight. Seven were intercepted by the Israeli defense system. Since the beginning of the violence there have been 132 victims among the Palestinians, none among the Israelis. The UN agency for Palestinians suspends payment of salaries and humanitarian operations due to lack of funds. Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In the early hours of the dawn, Israeli fighter jets hit 25 targets in the Gaza Strip, in response to rockets from across the Palestinian territories. According to army sources, at least 45 missiles were launched from Gaza overnight in the direction of Israel; seven of these were intercepted by the "iron dome" missile defense system. In response, Israeli jets carried out three different operations against military targets belonging to the Palestinian extremist Hamas movement. This week's conflict between Israel and Hamas comes in the context of deadly clashes following protests along the Gaza border in recent weeks. To date, 132 victims have been registered among the Palestinians; none among the Israelis. "The Hamas terrorist organization - explains the Israeli army in a statement - targeted Israeli citizens throughout the night, in the context of a heavy mortar attack and is dragging the Gaza Strip and its civilians down a deteriorating path". The government maintains that the leaders of the Islamic extremist movement are exploiting the protests to launch attacks. tHey believe this justifies their response using ammunition and weapons to defend their borders. Recently, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and other international leaders warned about the danger of a conflict in Gaza. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars in the last 10 years interspersed with periods of truce, frequently violated by hostile acts. Meanwhile, the UN agency for the relief and employment of Palestinian refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) could postpone payment of wages and suspend some operations in Gaza due to lack of funds. The UN agency is in serious financial crisis since the United States decided to cut $ 250 million from the budget. Washington has long represented the main sponsor (around 30% of the total); however, at the beginning of the year the administration of President Donald Trump decided to reduce the payments because of the anti-Israeli positions taken by the institution. IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot vowed Wednesday afternoon to return security to the residents of the south after the night before saw 45 rockets and mortar shells launched at Israel by terror organizations in the Gaza Strip. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "The IDF is working around the clock with the initiative and strength our enemies know well. We will continue targeting those who seek to harm us, and return the security to the residents of the south," Eisenkot said at an officers' course graduation ceremony. "I'm convinced we will achieve this with wisdom, determination and soon," he added. IDF Chief of Staff Eisenkot (Photo: Roee Idan) He described the volatile situation in the south. "We have a blessed peace with Egypt and Jordan that lasts despite the storms over time, but we're seeing on several fronts enemies who attack us or try to attack us," the prime minister noted. "I do not intend to go into detail about what we are planning vis-a-vis Gaza. The intensity will be stepped up as necessary. We are prepared for any scenario and our enemies would do well to understand thisnow," Netanyahu warned. Prime Minister Netanyahu (Photo: Roee Idan) Turning to the northern border, the prime minister said that "Regarding the Syrian front, we are constantly working to prevent Iranian forces and their proxies from establishing a military presence there. We will not allow those who call for our destruction to turn Syria into a base for aggression against Israel. The iron fist of the IDF is powerfully striking whoever strives to attack us, and will continue to do so." Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman had a message to Hamas: "For what happened yesterday, I have only (four) words for Hamas: It was a mistake." "We're still surrounded by hatred and cruel enemies. In the Gaza Strip we're facing Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in Sinai there's ISIS, Hezbollah is on the Lebanese border, and al-Qaeda is on the Syrian border. And behind all of them is Iran," Lieberman added. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri responded to Lieberman, writing: "Do not misunderstand our patience." President Rivlin (Photo: Roee Idan) President Reuven Rivlin lamented the fact that "the fight for our home is unfortunately still not over." "Recently, we've been facing different challenges on our northern and southern borders. Just last night, the residents of the Gaza border communities were under another criminal attack by Hamas. I want to strengthen the residents who are making the utmost effort to maintain their daily routine," Rivlin continued. "We do not rush to battle, but if we are called to war, if we find ourselves facing conflict on one arena or another, we will act with determination against any threat," the president concluded. The UN's Human Rights Council resumed work Wednesday after a US pullout that one Western diplomat called a "Big Bang" for the Geneva body, as Russia blasted the move by the Trump administration and key allies expressed disappointment. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Critics and friends alike read the latest Trump move to snub yet another international institution as a sign that US was jettisoning its reputation as a key defender of human rights and self-inflicting a blow to its international image. Niki Haley announcing US pullout from UNHRC (:) X They expressed support for the council, flaws and all, and vowed its work will go on. "We have lost a member who has been at the forefront of liberty for generations," Julian Braithwaite, Britain's ambassador in Geneva, told the council. "While we agree with the US on the need for reform, our support for this Human Rights Council remains steadfast." US UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (Photo: Reuters) Russia blasted the US decision, calling it "boorish" and saying Washington had "inflicted a powerful blow to its human rights reputation." Russia's UN mission said in a statement that the US exit from the Council reflected Washington's unilateralist approach to global affairs. The US withdrawal is unprecedented in the 12-year history of the 47-member councilno country has ever dropped out voluntarily. Libya was kicked out seven years ago. The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, announced the pullout Tuesday, calling the body "a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights ." Mike Pompeo announcing withdrawl (Photo: Reuters) Haley said the US had given the human rights body "opportunity after opportunity" to make changes. She criticized the council for "its chronic bias against Israel," pointing out that it includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Congo. Defending the move, US national security adviser John Bolton said Wednesday "we don't need advice by the UN or other international bodies on how to govern ourselves." Bolton told Fox News the decision was made by President Donald Trump weeks ago. On Wednesday, the US chairs sat empty as discussion turned to summary executions, freedom of expression, the rights of migrants and violence against women among other things. The US pullout leaves the council without one of its traditional defenders of human rights. Just two days ago, American representatives were still taking part by condemning issues like constraints on civil society in Egypt and curbs on a free press in Bahrain. UNHRC chamber (: AFP) One Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said the US was notably absent from an informal back room meeting in Belarus that it might normally have attended. He said the US walkout could be a "big bang" to help prod reform at the council Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office called the US decision "courageous," saying it was "an unequivocal statement that enough is enough." But envoys from Australia, the European Union and Chinaa frequent target of US criticism over Beijing's rights recordused a break in the council's regular work to express disappointment and regret. President Borut Pahor of Sloveniathe home country of US first lady Melania Trumpsaid the American withdrawal was "bad news" for "everybody" who cares about human rights. Prince Zeid bin Raad Zeid al-Hussein UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (Photo: AFP) In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized what she described as Washington's "boorish cynicism in stubbornly refusing to recognize its own human rights problems while trying to tailor the council to its political interests." The Chinese government also expressed regret over Washington's decision. In Beijing, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the council is "an important platform" for countries to discuss human rights and that Beijing has been committed to supporting the group's work. Israeli ambassador to UN forum (Photo: AFP) But the Chinese government is often accused by Western countries of human rights violations and by rights groups of seeking to undermine the mechanisms of the UN human rights council. In March, a Chinese diplomat repeatedly interrupted a speech by a prominent Chinese dissident to block him from addressing the UN Human Rights Council, a failed attempt that bared China's sensitivity on human rights. The foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, dismissed the US criticism that the council is problematic because it includes China and other authoritarian governments, saying that claim is "a total disregard of facts." The US pullout extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's "America First" policy. Although numerous officials have said repeatedly that "America First does not mean America Alone," the administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses since it took office. Since January 2017, it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the UN educational and cultural organization and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum against key trading partners, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv. Holon's Deputy Mayor Yoel Yeshurun apologized on Wednesday for insulting participants in last weeks Pride Parade in Tel Aviv. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In a Facebook post over a week ago Yeshurun, who also serves as the dean of the Ashkelon Academic College, called LGBT Pride Month events, which include SlutWalk March and Gay Pride Parade, a place where those two-legged animals walk proudly, deeply disturbed, those who lay with men as well as ugly female animals with 'I'm a slut tattoos!!! In an email titled apology, the deputy mayor wrote, I would like to express my apology for the post that I wrote on my private Facebook page. For its content and the way I expressed myself with regards to the LGBT community." Holon's Deputy Mayor Yoel Yeshurun (Photo: Kobi Koankes) I got carried away and failed by using inappropriate expressions which hurt the LGBT community. It wasnt my intention. Ive held the position of the dean of the Ashkelon Academic College for the past 18 years, and during that time, the principle of equality and respect has always been and will always remain a guiding light, regardless of color, religion, race, gender and sexual preferences. I will sign off with a plea for forgiveness from all of those who've been hurt my me, concluded Yeshurun in his letter. Earlier on Wednesday, dozens of professors from Yeshuruns college wrote a letter to the president of the Ashkelon Academic College, Shlomo Grossman, criticizing the feeble response by the school's administration to the current crisis. They also demanded to start disciplinary proceedings against Yeshurun and asked for an unreserved apology to both the LGBT community and to participants of both marches, at whom he lashed out without restraint. As a result, the Ashkelon Academic College issued a harsh condemnation for Yeshuruns outburst. (Yoel Yeshurun Facebook page) One of the letters consignees, Dr.Yael Ram, who is a senior lecturer at the Department of Tourism in the college and specializes in LGBT tourism in Tel Aviv, said, I know that LGBT tourism in Tel Aviv is an asset to the city. With regards to the Facebook posteverything has already been said." We need to promote an educational dialogue of understanding in order to accept people as they are. Those who have heard about the post are angered. We need to underline that its not in line with the values of our college, which is accepting of everyone, continued Dr. Ram. She concluded by saying I congratulate the college on issuing the condemnation and on initiating educational measures which will ensure this doesnt happen again in the future. Dr. Robert Albin, Chairman of the Coordinating Council of Public Academic College, said We condemn and denounce any statement of this nature. The job of the college is to create equal opportunities between the center and the periphery, both geographically and socially. This kind of statement shouldnt come, especially from a place like ours, which is at a disadvantage when it comes to higher education. The Council advocates pluralism and unequivocally rejects the harsh remarksthey dont have a place in academia, exclaimed Albin. The storm surrounding Yeshuruns comments isnt showing signs of abating. On Tuesday, a demonstration was held outside of the Ashkelon College campus with around 20 LGBT activists and schools students. Following the protest, the students claim they werent allowed re-enter the campus. Footage from the event shows one student was barred from entering after telling a security guard he wants to enter the campus in order to not stir a provocation. On Thursday, the LGBT Association is planning a protest in front of the Holon Municipality building, to demand the resignation of Yeshurun. The Ashkelon College said in response The college administration rejects Yeshuruns statement, its content and its style, theres no place for such remarks and especially not in college. Once the administration became aware of Yeshuruns statement, he was called to order by the administration, expressed his sincere apologies and was told to retract his comments and to publish an apology. The administrations position on all social groups is known and clearwe invest great effort and funds in order to integrate all communities. The college campus is open for anyone wanting an education, which is in line with our schools rules and regulations, concluded the administration. Achva, the LGBTI Student's Association in Israel, asserted that Yeshuruns apology came too late. The freedom of expression of the college students has been taken away. The true nature has been exposed. We will not sit idly by until the students in Ashkelon have a safe space to express themselves, without being sanctioned or being afraid. We are still getting questions How is a legitimate students demonstration not allowed within the walls of an academic institution?' Yaffa Tabage, Chairman of the Students Union at Ashkelon Academic College, said, The Students Union has condemned and taken a clear stance against the deans comments on the LGBT. Theres no place for his remarks, and he does not represent us, the students, the union and the college. UNITED NATIONS - US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed rights groups on Wednesday for thwarting Washington's attempts to reform the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council and said they had contributed to the Trump administration's decision to withdraw. In a letter to at least 17 rights and aid groups, seen by Reuters, Haley berated them for urging countries not to support a US-drafted General Assembly resolution titled "Improving the Effectiveness of the Human Rights Council." "It is unfortunate that your letter sought to undermine our attempts to improve the Human Rights Council. You put yourself on the side of Russia and China, and opposite the United States, on a key human rights issue," Haley wrote. "You should know that your efforts to block negotiations and thwart reform were a contributing factor in the US decision to withdraw from the council," she said in the letter that was received by groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Councilors at the city of Pamplona, the capital of the Navarre province in northern Spain, have called on the Spanish government to stop its arms trade with Israel and on their municipality to declare Israeli officials as "persona non grata" until Israel stops its "oppressive policy against the Palestinian people." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The resolution passed by the heads of the factions in the Pamplona municipality also expressed support of the Palestinian right of return and the Palestinians' right to hold a peaceful protest "which has been suppressed with force by the Israeli army." The Pamplona municipality condemned the IDF for killing at least 100 Palestinians and wounding thousands during the "non-violent" "March of Return" demonstrations and offered its support and condolences to the families of the victims. The resolution also called on the European Union's governments to increase the pressure and impose sanctions on Israel to force it to stop its "aggression" against the Palestinian people. They further slammed the US decision to move its embassy to "occupied Jerusalem," describing this move as extremely dangerous and in contravention of international law. The resolution passed despite receiving no support from the Socialist Party, which holds the majority in the municipality. It was backed by the Basque Nationalist Party, the radical left-wing Podemos Party, and the Communist Party. The resolution still needs to receive the approval of the municipality plenum. Israel's Embassy in Madrid condemned the resolution, reminding Pamplona that "The Kingdom of Navarre was the last of the peninsula to expel its Jews, and the Pamplona City Council the first to declare us persona non grata. Navarra 1498: Jews out - Pamplona 2018: We're forbidden from entering." The Pamplona resolution is the latest in a broader trend that the Israeli Embassy has been witnessing in Spain in different aspectsmunicipal, cultural and academicwhich is gaining momentum in light of recent events in Gaza and political changes in the country: the dismissal of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy by a vote of no confidence and the appointment of a new leader, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (SWP). The socialists, in order to survive, have to keep the support of their coalition partnersthe radical left-wing Podemos party, which has been at the forefront of all Israeli boycott initiatives in municipalities all across Spain and is demanding a tough line against Israel from the government. Recently, the city of Oviedo, the capital of Spain's Asturias region, decided to cancel a concert of Israel's NK Orchestra, citing political reasons. Oviedo also cancelled an Israeli ballet performance. The municipality of Valencia, also governed by a left-wing coalition made up of the Podemos party and the SWP, has approved at the beginning of the month a decision to declare itself as a place clean from the Israeli apartheid, which will boycott Israel both culturally and economically. During the vote, 17 out 33 municipality members supported the decision, while 16 opposed. The official proposal expressed solidarity and complete support for the Palestinians while vehemently criticized Israel. Pablo Iglesias Turrion, the leader of Podemosthe third largest Spanish partytold a TV station that Israel is a criminal state, Spain needs to act more decisively against an illegal state like Israel...Our party defines the existence of Israel as illegitimate, Turrion asserted. ACOM, a pro-Israeli group in Spain, said that Turrions sentiments are anti-Semitic since his party does not call any other state besides Israel as illegal. The organization announced they have filed a lawsuit against the municipality of Valencia. The Spanish courts, including the Supreme Court, have dismissed 16 anti-Israeli boycott decisions that were passed at a municipal level. Additional seven municipalities have reversed the decision voluntarily. The Eshkol Regional Council, which suffered the brunt of the rocket fire on Tuesday night, advised its residents to "keep your safe room windows closed" on Wednesday night, fearing another onslaught. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The IAF attacked 25 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday in response to incendiary balloons terrorism, leading Hamas and Islamic Jihad to retaliate with 45 rockets and mortar shells fired at Israeli communities. While there was no rocket fire during the day, Palestinians continued sending balloons affixed with incendiary or explosive devices toward Israel unabated. Damage caused to home from rocket shrapnel (Photo: EPA) During the day, the IDF fired warning shots twice towards incendiary balloon launchers. Putting out fire near Kibbutz Be'eri (Photo: EPA) Hamas and Islamic Jihad's military wings claimed responsibility on Wednesday afternoon for the overnight rocket barrage, vowing they would continue answering "bombing with bombing." "The Israeli leadership bears full responsibility to any aggression and will pay the price for that," the two terror groups said in a shared statement. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Gaza terror groups not to escalate the situation further. "I do not intend to go into detail about what we are planning vis-a-vis Gaza. The intensity will be stepped up as necessary. We are prepared for any scenario and our enemies would do well to understand thisnow," Netanyahu said. Rocket landing site in Shaar HaNegev HaNegev Regional Council Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman also issued a warning, noting, "For what happened yesterday (the 45 projectilesed.), I have only (four) words for Hamas: It was a mistake." Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri responded to Lieberman, writing on Twitter: "Do not misunderstand our patience." IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot vowed to return security to the residents of the south. "The IDF is working around the clock with the initiative and strength our enemies know well. We will continue targeting those who seek to harm us, and return the security to the residents of the south," Eisenkot said. BEIRUT - The Iranian people will not give in to US pressure, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, as the Islamic Republic faces the reimposition of economic sanctions by Washington. "The Iranian people will never surrender in the face of the plots and pressure of the American government," Rouhani said, according to state media. News Phoenix, Arizona - An Arizona man was sentenced yesterday in Phoenix, Arizona, for directing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks at the computer networks of the City of Madison, Wisconsin, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange for the District of Arizona. Randall Charles Tucker, aka Bitcoin Baron, 23, of Apache Junction, Arizona, was sentenced to serve 20 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Douglas L. Rayes of the District of Arizona. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $69,331.56 to the victims of his computer attacks. Tucker pleaded guilty on April 17, 2017 to one count of intentional damage to a protected computer. According to admissions made in connection with his plea, between March 9 and March 14, 2015, Tucker executed a series of DDoS attacks against various city websites, including Madison, Wisconsin. A DDoS attack is a malicious attack where illegitimate network traffic is used to slow down or altogether crash a computer server, thereby denying service to legitimate users of the server. In addition to disabling the City of Madisons website, the attack crippled the citys Internet-connected emergency communication system, causing delays and outages in the ability of emergency responders to connect to the 911 center and degrading the system used to automatically dispatch the closest unit to a medical, fire, or other emergency. Tucker, referring to himself as the Bitcoin Baron, boasted about his attacks via social media. This case was investigated by FBIs Milwaukee and Phoenix Field Offices and Arizonas Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney James R. Knapp of the District of Arizona and Trial Attorney Laura-Kate Bernstein of the Criminal Divisions Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section are prosecuting the case. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Wisconsin also provided substantial assistance in this manner. by J.B. An Dang The opening ceremonies took place in So Kien, The Ba Giong, and in the shrine of Our Lady of La Vang. About 20,00 Catholics took part in the solemn Mass of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ha Noi. The faithful remember the heroic history of the Vietnamese Church. Almost 500 years ago the first cross was planted. About 300,000 people died during the various waves of persecution. Hanoi (AsiaNews) The celebrations of the special Jubilee for the 30th anniversary of the canonisation of the 117 Vietnamese martyrs began yesterday with three different opening ceremonies in the ecclesiastical provinces of Ha Noi, Hue and Saigon and will end on 24 November, the day the Church remembers their sacrifice. Yesterday morning, Card Pierre Nguyen Van Nhon, archbishop of Ha Noi, led at a solemn Mass at the minor basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in So Kien, Ha Nam Province. The basilica was built 135 years ago. So Kien is the birthplace of two martyrs: Fr Peter Truong Van Thi and Br Peter Truong Van Duong. About 20,000 worshippers from the ten dioceses of the ecclesiastical province attended the service. In his homily, Mgr Cosma Hoang Van at, bishop of Bac Ninh, emphasised "the gratitude and joy of God's people in Vietnam and around the world". The prelate helped the assembly retrace the heroic history of the Vietnamese Church. Almost 500 years ago, the first cross was planted in Cham, a small island off the coast of Quang Nam. Since then, when the seed of faith was planted, it has prospered and brought abundant fruit. However, even today Catholics endure a lot of suffering and countless trials and brutal persecution. A few hours later, in the south of the country, Catholics in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and ten other dioceses attended the opening ceremony of the Jubilee at the pilgrimage site of The Ba Giong, Tien Giang Province. Thousands of the more than 130,000 martyrs of the 18th and 19th centuries were native to this land. People from the Archdiocese of Hue and five other dioceses in central Vietnam gathered in the evening at Our Lady of La Vang shrine, Quang Tri Province. Here, 220 years ago, Our Lady appeared to console some of the faithful who had fled to the jungle to shelter themselves from persecution. Fr Anthony Duong Quynh, vicar general of Hue, reminded those present at the beginning of the Mass that "among the 117 martyrs who were canonised, more than a hundred lived at the times of the reigns of Trinh, Nguyen, Tay Son, Minh Mang, Thieu Tri and Tu uc. About 300,000 people died during the various waves of persecution." The clergyman especially noted the hundreds of Catholics who were burnt at the church near Tri Buu. The 117 martyrs, who included 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spaniards and 10 Frenchmen, were beatified by Saint John Paul II in St Peter's Square on 19 June 1988. The Holy See announced the decision to raise them to the honours of the altars on 12 October 1987. In response, the Vietnamese government's Religious Affairs Committee sent a statement to all the provincial committees and departments of the country. "The Vatican's decision to declare martyrs 117 people is a deliberate and vicious political misrepresentation of Vietnamese revolutionary history, an incitement to fanaticism and martyrdom among the Catholics in Vietnam, designed to provoke division and damage the national unity of our people. This came "Above all, at a time when Party and State are working to implement a religion policy and strengthen people's solidarity, to successfully build socialism and firmly defend the socialist homeland of Vietnam." On the order of the Prime Minister, the government tried to force the Catholic Bishops Conference of Vietnam, led at the time by Card Trinh Van Can, to write a letter to the Vatican asking to cancel the event. Despite the threats, the bishops refused. Nguyen Quang Huy, a religious affairs officer in Hanoi, warned in March 1988 that the canonisation would create "an obstacle to Vietnam's desire to maintain friendly relations with the Vatican". In response, the pontiff demanded an end to religious repression in Vietnam. "Catholics, he said, are faithful to their country as to their Church. They feel authentic Vietnamese, and they want to continue to be true disciples of Christ." In the months preceding the canonisation, the authorities held seminars throughout the country to counter it. "Catholics and the nation", a state-funded and Communist Party-controlled journal, led a campaign to distort the history of the Church in Vietnam, making false accusations against Pope John Paul II. Its articles suggested that the martyrs had not been killed for their faith, but for their alleged collaboration with the French invaders and that the pontiff wanted to interfere in the political affairs of the country. Yuma News Yuma, Arizona - Arizona Western College Professor of Biology Joann Chang has been selected for a year-long Physiology Education Community of Practice (PECOP) Fellowship by the American Physiology Society (APS). The PECOP project is designed to build a growing and dynamic community of undergraduate physiology educators who interact, share resources, and collaborate on an ongoing basis. It is a wonderful experience that will benefit me and the students and faculty at AWC, she said. I will have the opportunity to interact with other fellows from across the country and we will be able to discuss critical issues in education, whether there are similarities or differences in student populations, and if there are steps that can be taken to improve student success. Chang will also get the chance to attend the 2018 APS Conference: Institute on Teaching and Learning in Madison, Wisconsin from June 18-22. She applied for the fellowship as a way to prepare for a new role she is taking on in the fall as AWCs new Director of the Center for Instructional Excellence (formerly the Center for Teaching Effectiveness). The opportunity will expand her network of educators within the science education field and allow her to bring back resources for AWC faculty. As an educator herself, she wanted to learn scientific teaching methods she can apply in the classroom to help improve her own teaching too. I wanted to challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone. I have been teaching for eight years and it's easy to lull yourself into a path of least resistance in your instruction. I didn't want that for myself and wanted this opportunity to expand my teaching skills. Chang will also be working with other fellows in the program to develop an idea for a blog entry that will be published on the PECOP Life Science blog. Islamabad: The World Bank is to assist Pakistan for the expansion of economic activity with Afghanistan through the construction of Khyber Pass, according to a news story. The World Bank Country Director for Pakistan Ilango Pathamuthu has said that this corridor will support trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan through regional connectivity and private sector development. He has labelled this as an important component of Pakistans growth policy and for infrastructural development. This will be constructed at a cost of USD 460.6 million and benefit consumers, producers, and traders in Pakistan and throughout Central Asia by reducing transport time and cost as well as increasing avenues for private-sector investment. Through this pass, the private sector in Khyber Agency will also be strengthened by increasing access to socio-economic and job opportunities. The route will also enable Afghan medical patients and students to easily enter Pakistan. - NDC executives have accused the MP for Effutu, Alex Afenyo Markins, of getting involved in cybercrime and money laundering - This was after he ordered an assault on the Constituency Communications Director of the party, Julius Naagmiwinnore. The Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu in the Central Region, Alex Afenyo Markins, has been accused of engaging in cybercrime and money laundering. According to abusuafmonline.com, the Effutu constituency executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) claim that the MP is either directly involved in the acts or is a conduit for the fraudsters who use the bank accounts of prominent people to facilitate their dubious acts. Their call for investigations is as a result of an assault on the Constituency Communications Director of the party, Julius Naagmiwinnore. Alex Afenyo Markins READ ALSO: Anas to claim GHC30,000 from the GFA YEN.com.gh understands that those who attacked Naagmiwinnore were allegedly hired by Afenyo Markins. This follows a comment passed by Naagmiwinnore on radio to the effect that a young woman who mysteriously lost her life in the area came from a home whose members are known to deal in cybercrime. He added that there was the need for the police to fish out the real culprits to face the law. This did not go down well with the MP, who allegedly instructed that the assault be carried out. The MP caused Naagmiwinnores phone to be seized, an action he explained was necessary because the victim was likely to have evidence about him on his phone. The NDC executives claimed that the actions of the MP implied that he had something to hide, hence the need for investigations to be carried out. READ ALSO: Bishop Obinim turns a stone into gold in a new video Ghana Trends: How Anas Aremeyaw Anas caused a Stir With Latest Investigation | Yen.com.gh: Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish on YEN.com.gh? Please contact us on Facebook or Instagram now! Source: Yen - Daniel Asiedu, a suspect in the case of the assassinated Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North, J.B Danquah, has named those behind the act - According to him, he was contracted by some NPP members to carry out the act - He went ahead to say that he is prepared to release the names of those involved One of the suspects in the case of Joseph Boakye Danquah, the assassinated Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North constituency, Daniel Asiedu, has named those who hired him. According to a report by 3news.com, Asiedu, also known as Sexy Don Don, claimed that some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) tasked him to carry out the act. He went on to say that those involved asked him to accuse the National Democratic Congress (NDC) when asked about the crime. The late J.B Danquah READ ALSO: Nayele Ametefe released from prison Speaking on Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at the Accra District Court, he stated that he now wishes to come clean and will therefore no longer hide the truth. This was after the judge Arit Nsemoh, wondered if his confession was as a result of a promise or a threat. He also stated that he has not seen or heard from his contractors after his arrest. Sexy Don Don disclosed that only one person from the NPP has visited him since his arrest and he is ready to reveal the names of the persons who contracted him if he is asked to. The judge however informed him that as he is at the committal stage of the trial, he will not be released even if he confessed. She explained that he can only provide evidence on what he is saying at the High Court, where proper trial will take place. Asiedu was therefore asked to rethink the situation and consider whether he is willing to reveal more or wishes to retract his statement. READ ALSO: Shatta Michy speaks about Shatta Wale's 'atopa' video Ghana Trends: How Anas Aremeyaw Anas caused a Stir With Latest Investigation | Yen.com.gh: Use the comments section below to share your views on this story. Do you have a story to share or you have information for us? Get featured on YEN.com.gh. Message us on Facebook or Instagram Source: Yen News Beirut (AsiaNews) - There are those who have suffered so much that they have ceased to hope for a better future and thinks only of their own children; those who have given a new meaning to their lives and are also ready to go to Mars to satisfy their desire for happiness. These are some of the stories of Syrian refugees assisted by the Jesuit Refugee Service in Lebanon and Iraq, on the occasion of the World Refugee Day that is being celebrated today. For so many refugees fleeing wars, hunger and destruction, Jesuit centers in the Middle East and Africa have become the second home. The reason explains Zozan Hassan Khalil (see photo 2), a lively 25 year old: "I have never been treated as different, as Syrian or refugee. It was as if I belonged here forever. Now I have many new friends of different religions, nationalities and ethnic groups ". She is one of hundreds of people assisted by the refugees in Ankawa, Erbil district (Iraq). Originally from Hassake, in the north-east of Syria, before the war she studied engineering. In February 2013 she abandoned everything and began a long journey with her family, which first brought her to Iraqi Kurdistan in Dohuk, then to Erbil. She is proud of her origins and remembers with nostalgia her childhood an youth in Syria, "when there was not so much death". It has not been easy for her family to integrate into a new country, reckoning with a new culture and environment. Now her older sister is married and lives in the town of Ozal. Zozan, on the other hand, as soon as she learned that the Jesuit Refugee Service was providing the refugees with language and IT courses, immediately applied for registration. Now she attends English, Kurdish and computer lessons. Her dream is to learn languages and travel all over the world. With the help of the Jesuits, she is preparing a CV for a job as an assistant in a company. But her deepest desire, she says smiling, "is to go back to Syria and teach other less fortunate people what I have learned from JRS. I am ready for new places, and I am sure that one day my hopes will come true!". Instead Mahmoud of Al-Raqqa is full of despair. The horrors of the war have aged him beyond his years, 67 years. He has difficulty breathing and lost sight in one eye and cannot see well from the other. When he remembers the incident that led him to blindness, his face fills with rage. "The mortar shells exploded everywhere - he says - and we ran from place to place. At one point I stumbled and had a disastrous fall. Something punctured my left eye. I was transported immediately to the nearest doctor, but since the militants of the Islamic State controlled the city and it was Friday (holy day for Islam), no doctor was willing to treat me". Now he lives in a tent in Lebanon, in the Bar Elias camp, along with his family. "I feel lost - he reports - without sight, without work. What can I do with my life? The only consolation is the welcome of the Jesuit Refugee Service. Volunteers often visit me and encourage me a lot". Roula Zahra is a 14-year-old teenager. She is originally from Homs and left Syria in 2011, shortly after the outbreak of the war, along with her widowed mother and five brothers and sisters. Today she lives in a small apartment in the Bourj Hammoud area, in the Lebanese capital. The girl loves to study and is enrolled in a public school; in the afternoon she attends classes at the JRS center "Frans Van Der Lugt". When she grows up she wants to be a scientist. She wants to "do everything in life". "Everything" seems to be her mission. But when you ask her if she wants to become an astronaut, and maybe go to Mars or the Moon, she stops and responds with a gleam in her eyes: "Maybe!" Antonio Guterres in Oslo: "If migration is a necessity, then it is better to organize and regulate it. It is important for countries to cooperate with each other ". Meanwhile, the migration crisis continues in the Mediterranean and on the border between the US and Mexico. Oslo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Migration phenomena are "inevitable" says the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, talking to journalists in Lorenskog, near Oslo. Each State can use the migration policies it deems appropriate "by respecting the human rights of migrants," explains the secretary. On December 10 and 11 2018 the international community will meet in Marrakech for a conference on migration issues. It is expected that the conference will end with a global pact for safe and regulated migration. At the Angelus on 17 June, Pope Francis recalled the importance of this point: International Refugee Day "s uch a day this year comes at a time of consultations between governments on the adoption of a global pact on refugees to be adopted within the year like the one on a safe, orderly and regular migration". Speaking of the case of his sick mother, cared for by foreign migrants, Guterres says: "For me migration is necessary", for those who leave their country and for those who welcome. And he continues: "It is better to organize and regulate it so that the countries cooperate with each other. It is advantageous for both parties, especially for the many migrants who are now in desperate conditions". The Secretary General's words come after weeks of tensions in the Mediterranean and on the border between the United States and Mexico. Here, starting May 7, US President Donald Trump has applied a "zero tolerance" policy against illegal immigration. Anyone who crosses the border with the US without permission is arrested. Furthermore, Trump decided to implement a deterrent policy. Minors arriving with families are separated from their parents while they are awaiting trial. Between October 2017 and April of this year, about 700 children were taken from their parents. Minors are held for weeks before being reunited with family members. But this has not stopped arrivals. This decision has divided public opinion, also following the dissemination on social media of photos and videos that bear witness to these dramatic moments. The picture by photographer John Moore's showing a two-year-old girl from Honduras in tears while the police arrest her mother has become emblematic. Children are taken into custody by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (see photo). The HR currently has 12,000 migrant children. 10 thousand of these have crossed the border without families. Two days ago, the UN Human Rights Council denounced the US for choosing to separate children from family members on the border. Following this decision, the United States left the Human Rights Council. This was announced yesterday by Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations. Among the official reasons, Haley only mentioned the fact that the Council is "pervaded by a prejudice against Israel" and "protects those who abuse human rights". One hundred families went back to the eastern sector of the northern metropolis. A Chaldean priest talks about reconstruction. In addition to houses, social and economic life must be rebuilt. For Muslim leaders, there is no rebirth without Christians. Mosul (AsiaNews) After four years "there is still a climate of uncertainty" among the refugees from Mosul and the Nineveh Plain, because the reconstruction work "continues but slowly". In addition to the houses "we must guarantee a future through work," said Fr Paul Thabit Mekko who spoke to AsiaNews about the slow rebirth of Mosul and the Nineveh Plain a year after the military victory against the Islamic State (IS) group that had turned Iraqs northern metropolis into one of its stronghold. "The general situation of uncertainty in the country has been made worse by the stalemate over the formation of Iraqs new government and the accusations of electoral fraud, said the clergyman, and this has further complicated the situation and generated fear." After years of violence and terror by the Islamic State, life is getting back to normal in East Mosul, and it is easier now to move inside the citys western neighbourhoods. The rebirth of the northern metropolis is taking place thanks to the reopening of schools, factories and small businesses, as well as the opening of new commercial spaces, unthinkable under the "caliphate". This renaissance includes a literary cafe as a place of reading and exchanges. In recent weeks, said Fr Paul, "at least 100 Christian families" have returned to the eastern sector of Mosul, on the left bank of the Tigris River, which suffered less from the Islamic State. "A first group arrived, but we cannot talk about stabilisation. The goal is the reopening of the Chaldean Church of St Paul in the next weeks. It will be a significant moment for the whole community." In the city, the situation of houses once inhabited by Christian families "is good". Few have been destroyed and the majority have been occupied by Muslims. Now we are trying to get them back. In the Nineveh Plain, the priest notes the reality is "different" because the "damages are much greater, many houses have been burnt," and it is essential "to accelerate the reconstruction work". Those who commute to the city include university students from Karamles who, every day, make the journey from the small town in the Nineveh Plain to their university. "The situation in the city is relatively stable, explained the priest. There is freedom of movement. This applies to both the eastern and western sectors, where the old city, the most affected, is located. "In the last few days I went to the area in person, to meet the families of some Muslim dignitaries and celebrate the end of Ramadan. With them we talked about Mosuls rebirth, which cannot happen without the presence of Christians as moderate Islamic leaders themselves indicated." Meanwhile, the Chaldean Church is renewing its mission to "protect, promote and integrate" those who lost everything, starting with their homes, to jihadist violence. Many of these families are still internally displaced or have emigrated abroad, in conditions of extreme precariousness and uncertainty. "Pope Franciss invitation in his Message for the 2018 World Day of Migrants and Refugees is comforting, whilst the World Refugee Day is celebrated today all over the world. At present, "Most refugees still live in Iraqi Kurdistan. One of the most serious problems is unemployment, the lack of a job, that casts a shadow over the future and the rebirth of the whole area. "Reconstruction, renewed activities are the key factors for the return of hundreds of thousands of exiles, especially those who fled abroad, Fr Paul explained. Four years after the Islamic State rose, and one year after their military defeat, the future is still uncertain for us. By Jagdeesh Mann (@JagdeeshMann) Special to The Post Over its 132-year history since incorporation as a city, Vancouver has had 39 mayors. All of them have been white men. Change seems to be coming, however, and suddenly. Two of the Vancouvers leading municipal parties will be running mayoral candidates from diverse backgrounds for the upcoming 2018 civic election now only 4 months away. Recently, Ken Sim, the 2nd generation Canadian-born son of Chinese immigrants, won the nomination for the citys right-of-center Non-Partisan Association (NPA). This party, which was founded in 1937, has traditionally been aligned with the interests of the citys business community. In a surprising result, the entrepreneur and founder of Nurse Next Door and Rosemary Rocksalt bagel shops, beat out the establishment candidate John Coupar, the two-time NPA Vancouver Park Board Commissioner who had the support of other establishment figures like former councillor Suzanne Anton, and former mayor Philip Owen. Meanwhile, the currently ruling Vision Vancouver party has confirmed its mayoral candidate will be Squamish Nation hereditary chief Ian Campbell, a Canadian of indigenous descent. Internet entrepreneur Taleeb Noormohamed who drew comparisons to Calgarys wonder-mayor Naheed Nenshi had been bidding for the Vision Vancouver leadership until recently, when a health matter forced him to drop out of the campaign. On the sidelines, former federal Conservative MP, Wai Young has indicated interest in running as an independent but hasnt confirmed her candidacy yet. Raymond Louie, the five-time Vision city councillor who would have made a strong candidate for mayor, has also not declared if he is running as an independent. There is some uncertainty about why he wasnt recruited by his own Vision party for the mayors nomination (or if he pre-emptively declined the possibility). It seems 2018 may be the year when Vancouver, one of the most left-of-centre cities in North America, Canadas commercial and cultural gateway to Asia, and the metropolis that was early to embrace Indian yoga and in gratitude paid the world back with Lululemon yoga pants, finally elects a nonwhite mayor. Leaders, activists, and entrepreneurs from smaller diverse communities have increasingly participated in Canadian politics over the past two decades. It has now become the norm to see the countrys diversity represented among its politicians, whether that be in cabinet in Ottawa or the legislative back benches in Victoria. But at the municipal level, and particularly in Vancouver, they have struggled to break-through, or perhaps a better term is break out from their ethnic silos and gain a voice on a broader citywide stage. So far, however, the run-up to the 2018 election is proving to be an inflection point in this narrative. Hollywood had its #OscarsSoWhite reckoning two years ago, so it seems apt for Hollywood North to also have its own #VancouverSoWhite moment, though own would think progressive Canadians would have beat their American counterparts to this milestone. While there is an immigrants-coming-of-age story here, there is also a perfect storm of political conditions that have triggered the backroom players and eminence grises behind the major parties to seek out diverse candidates. For the NPA, Ken Sims nomination effectively counters any potential candidacy of Stephen Harper-era conservative Wai Young who has significant support from within the Chinese community. Sims family roots go back to Hong Kong and he will pull votes from this segment of the Chinese community (he may have less of a connection among Mainland Chinese immigrants). His last-minute entry or recruitment into the mayoral race looks to be an efficacious use of inclusiveness by a party that has been out of power for a decade. For the progressive left-leaning Vision Vancouver, Campbells nomination provides a clean break from the past and a chance to rebrand a party that many believe has much to account, (or some would say atone) for after the past decade in power. For political watchers, this greater-than-usual interest in standing for public office from qualified diverse candidates makes this years election intriguing. But for the average citizen all of this may go unnoticed if it all turns out to be business-as-usual and the 40th mayor of Vancouver like the thirty-nine previously once again is another white person. There are still many twists, announcements, and deals to unfold before that forecast becomes clearer. But it is worth a look to see how various local and Canadian laws, policies, and practices of exclusion over the past century and a half have led to this much delayed point, where diverse candidates in a city where half the population is not-white finally have a real shot at becoming mayor. In four months time, this election may be remembered as the moment Vancouverites finally said Yes We Can instead of the usual Yes We Cant. Lack of Profile Among the jigsaw pieces that comprise the map of Lower Mainland municipalities, Surrey is the fastest growing city in the region. Ten thousand new people move into Surrey every year. Barinder Rasode, a former two-term Surrey city councillor, has come the closest among nonwhite candidates in the Lower Mainland to winning a coveted mayors seat. There have been a small number of nonwhite politicians who have won mayoral races in BC, but all have been outside the Lower Mainland: Jamese Atebe in Mission, Alan Lowe in Victoria, Akbal Mund in Vernon, and Colin Basran in Kelowna. Naranjan Grewal of Mission was the first nonwhite mayor in all of BC when he was elected in 1954. He died under suspicious circumstances three years later. Despite late entry to the race, Rasode garnered an impressive 21% of the votes in the 2014 Surrey municipal election. She has been one of the few individuals to crossover in appeal to the broader community, a feat not easily achieved given the tendency of potential candidates from diverse communities to remain in their comfort zones, or even self-segregate, when encountering barriers of entry to mainstream political organisations. When it comes to municipal elections, if a candidate hopes to compete or have any chance at winning, they must have a profile beyond their own community, explained Rasode, who served on Board of Directors for Fraser Health and served as a Surrey city councillor from 2008 to 2014. This is evident in electoral results. Even when minorities run for council seats as part of recognised slates, they tend to be the ones who fall short or to the bottom of the slate. Rasodes observation holds true whether in Surrey or in Vancouver. In the 2014 Vancouver election, only two Vision Vancouver council candidates out of eight on the slate failed to win seats: Niki Sharma and Tony Tang, candidates from South Asian and Chinese backgrounds. In 2008, the lone Vision councillor out of eight one the slate who failed to win a seat was Kashmir Dhaliwal, the former President of the Khalsa Diwan Society (Ross Street Sikh Temple). Despite being a power-broker within one of BCs biggest Sikh temples, and one with a very politically active congregation, Dhaliwal still fell short of being elected he just lacked a wider profile beyond his South Vancouver neighbourhood. Fast forward ten years and back to the upcoming election. This lack of profile is still an Achilles heel for both the NPA nominee Ken Sim and Ian Campbell. Both will be hampered by being relatively unknown to broader sections of Vancouvers voting public (Sim likely more than Campbell). Unlike previous diverse candidates, however, who have in the past ran as independents, both Sim and Campbell will have the party machines of the NPA and Vision to help remedy some of this lack of profile. But there is a caveat emptor here, particularly for Vision. Ian Campbell will first have much work to do in re-building a damaged Vision brand before he hopes to reap any of the rewards of membership. It is clear the 2018 version of Vision does not have the potency it once did circa 2011 or even in 2014. It looks to be sinking ship with neither Mayor Gregor Robertson seeking re-election, nor three of its councillors. One veteran city hall reporter has even suggested the party may want to consider disbanding for a dignified end to its political life. For these two newcomers, the mission will be to get their names out there into a congested daily news cycle. Bonus points if they edge out other candidates. This, however, is much more easily said than done. Kinder Morgans Trans-Mountain pipeline was meant to deliver oil to offshore tankers for lighting up cities abroad. In actuality, the pipeline has pumped media exposure to antagonistic local politicians and lit up their approval rating numbers. The fight against Kinder Morgan the news story of the year in Vancouver has been a gift to the other anti-pipeline mayoral candidates like NDP Member of Parliament Kennedy Stewart, SFU professor of public practice Shauna Sylvester, and popular Green party city councillor Adriane Carr who still hasnt decided if she is going to run for mayor if Vancouver doesnt elect its first nonwhite mayor, it may be due to voters electing their first woman mayor, no less a milestone-in-waiting. Depending on how the Kinder Morgan narrative unfolds, the pipelines and oil tankers debate could end up overshadowing other hot-button issues, possibly even housing affordability. This would be a boon particularly for Kennedy Stewart, who was recently arrested in March for contempt after he marched to British Columbias frontline and deliberately breached the five-meter exclusion zone buffering The Fence that safeguards the Kinder Morgans tanker farm on Burnaby Mountain. His act of civil disobedience against a heavy-handed Trudeau government bulldozing ahead with now their pipeline project has transformed the staid NDP politician into a sort of Gandhi-of-Burnaby. No doubt this act will add some swagger to Stewarts campaign. When it counted, he could be counted standing among those lined up against the carbon-spewing machinery of Big Oil. Stewarts chances of winning increase further if the muscle of the BCs local NDP machine get behind him. Given the vocal opposition to the pipeline by the Squamish Nation and Vision Vancouver, Ian Campbell also stands to gain on this issue. But he will need to find a way to out-activist Stewart who has gotten to the front of the line on this issue. Getting arrested and having a record, however, isnt always a viable strategy for most candidates to gain the profile necessary to win a municipal election or to stay if office, given they usually have day jobs and other real-life entanglements. Besides, historically speaking, getting arrested for most people, and notably for people of colour, has never been an ideal path to career advancement. Ultimately, diversifying Vancouver city politics is not the same thing as integrating an Alabama lunch-counter. But the real obstacle for diverse candidates seeking to gain name recognition runs deeper than being able to generate viral hashtags, or skillfully jockey for media airtime. It is a more permanent and seemingly intractable structural barrier at the heart of Vancouvers municipal electorate system. Wards and Exclusion A ward system divides a city into neighbourhoods with each electing one councillor. Virtually all major Canadian cities have implemented a wards system to ensure individual neighbourhoods are represented at the council level by an individual who has ties to or lives in that neighbourhood. These cities include Calgary, Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Toronto, Windsor, Ottawa, Hamilton, Halifax, and so forth. I think you get the point. Vancouver, however, is the largest Canadian city that uses an at-large system. It is based on a to-the-victors-the-spoils approach to city politics. Vancouver city council is comprised of the ten candidates who receive the most votes from across all the neighbourhoods of the city. It is a system that has some benefits as it requires candidates to see the bigger picture and know all of the issues in the city, but it is a system that has also been criticised as been exclusionary, even racist, for blocking out candidates of diverse backgrounds. There have been a number of cases in the United States where at-large systems were found by the courts to be discriminatory toward minority black and Hispanic populations. Unlike the at-large system, wards allow more localised neighbourhood candidates a channel to access the bigger citywide stage. Vancouver is a city that is simultaneously diverse but ethnically siloed it is a place where people from different backgrounds peacefully co-exist but dont necessarily coalesce. A ward system makes the difference between a candidate from a diverse background getting heard or getting crowded out. It ameliorates the lack of profile issue for diverse candidates. In 2004, the city held a referendum asking Vancouver voters about moving to a wards system. The No side rejected the proposition by a small majority of 54%. Given the momentum currently building for British Columbia to adopt a proportional representation electoral system, it seems likely that a referendum on ward system would receive more support today than it did fourteen years ago. RJ Aquino, who has previously run for council in 2011 for COPE and in 2014 for the then-nascent OneCity party, believes a wards system would have altered the outcomes of his previous campaigns. Aquino, who was born in the Philippines and has lived in Vancouver for the past twenty years, serves on the board of Collingwood Neighbourhood House. He is active in various initiatives in his part of Vancouver. In 2014, Aquino was among the top vote-getters in Collingwood-Renfrew, Vancouver-Kensington, and Vancouver-Fraser, all neighbourhoods with a significant population of Filipinos, the fastest growing ethnic group in BC. According to the recent Census, there are 94,000 Filipinos living in the Metro Vancouver region, yet there has never been anyone of Filipino descent on Vancouver council, or its parks board. For people from diverse communities, we really have to work that much harder to get our name out there, said Aquino, who is seeking a OneCity nomination for council this year. Every time I encounter new people, there is always that extra step of explaining my background, how I fit into Vancouver, and how my values connect with the citys values. But there has always been that extra distance to make up for diverse candidates. For this current generation this means a lack of profile problem. Two generations ago it was a matter of lacking the requisite language skills. But going back even further, it was a matter of being barred from participating in the political process altogether. Institutional Racism Amidst Vancouvers picturesque surroundings and its generally polite daily exchanges between its multicultural residents of all backgrounds, it is easy to forget the city was once the gateway to enforcing the countrys white Canada policy that deterred non-European immigration until the mid 20th century. This policy was best articulated by former Canadian Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, whose face has featured on Canadas five-dollar bill. In a parliamentary debate on Asian immigration in October 1914, he said: The people of Canada want to have a white country, and certain of our fellow subjects who are not of the white race want to come to Canada and be admitted to all the rights of Canadian citizenship . . . These men have been taught by a certain school of politics that they are equals of British subjects; unfortunately they are brought face to face with the hard facts when its too late. It was this racist vision for the country which led to the Canadian government refusing permission to the Komagata Maru to dock in 1914 when the infamous Japanese tramp steamer arrived in Burrard Inlet with 376 would-be immigrants from India. The Vancouver Sun reported on the incident with toxic headlines like Hindu invaders now in the city harbour on Komagata Maru. During that time other publications like the Vancouver World, routinely railed against Chinese and Japanese residents with their poison pen and openly bragged their enterprises was the the one daily paper in Vancouver which has consistently set its face against the Orientals. While this white Canada policy blocked non-European immigrants from entering Canada for much of the 20th century, those who were already living here were not granted the full rights of citizenship. It wasnt until 1947 that Asian Canadians from Indian, and Chinese backgrounds were permitted to vote and participate in the political process. Meanwhile, in terms of its treatment of the indigenous population, when the Canadian government wasnt tearing indigenous children away from their families and sending them to odious residential schools, it was also maintaining the ban on Status Indigenous people from voting in elections, finally repealed only in 1960. While that may seem like a long time ago for some too quick to dismiss the institutionalised racism of Canadas past, consider this: some of the community elders who may be advising Squamish Nation hereditary Chief Ian Campbell for his mayoral bid were in their own lifetime once prohibited from voting in civic elections. It doesnt take much digging to unearth the artefacts of Vancouvers racist history. According to local journalist Francis Bula, the covenant on NPA nominee Ken Sims house in the Arbutus neighbourhood on the west side of the city prohibits someone of Chinese descent from owning the property. Many houses in the citys elite neighbourhoods still have similar racist clauses in their covenants though they are no longer enforced. It is understandable for Vancouverites to want to move on, or to forget, Canadas own Jim Crow-like era. But it has not been as easy for those disenfranchised communities. Even after these race-based anti-voting acts were repealed, it would take decades before nonwhite Canadians began putting their names forward to participate in politics. It would take 25 years after the repeal of Canada racist voting legislation until the first resident of South Asian descent would win a seat on Vancouver council. Since V.S. Pendakurs lone two-year term ended in 1974, no other person of South Asian descent has been on Vancouver council. For the Chinese community, the wait was even longer. It would take 35 years before the first resident of Chinese descent, Bill Yee, won a council seat in 1982. Three decades on, seeing diverse candidates come forward for elections has become normalised. But that doesnt mean they still dont encounter the racial slurs and broadsides of yesterday. In 2016, when Niki Sharma, the former park board commissioner and Vision candidate for council, ran for the Vancity Board of Directors, someone trolling her Facebook page posted: We dont want packys (sic) in politics you people are taking over our country. Rather than deleting the comment, Sharma responded to it. Readers shared and commented on her post hundreds of times. I was going to delete your comment. As my hand went over to the delete button, something stopped me, she wrote in the middle of that sleepless night. As much as we both might want to, you and I cannot delete each other. Where diverse Canadians have been under-represented on municipal councils, it has been the reverse for white Canadians. Generation upon generation of white politicians have benefitted from an under-acknowledged privilege of being allowed to vote, stand for elections, and get ahead thanks to a wielding a disproportionate voice in the political sphere. This has created its own adverse consequences, such as encouraging ethnic pandering where white politician seem to show up at temples, and mosques every so often, often in ethnic garb, to hit up vote banks or follow the instructions of cooked up Multicultural Strategic Outreach Plans. It also led to cringing moments of white paternalism. This white-on-nonwhite crime was most recently witnessed in 2015 when the current Vancouver mayor thought he had a teachable moment and tried to educate a prominent local Chinese-Canadian professional about what is and isnt racist. Andy Yan, then an urban planner with Bing Thom Architects, produced a study that looked at the names of buyers for homes on Vancouvers tony west side. He found that buyers with non-Anglicised Chinese names were purchasing the majority of the homes in that neighbourhood. Gregor Robertson publicly dismissed Yans work as racist, failing to see the irony of his criticism of Yan given his great-grandfather was forced to pay the actually-racist Chinese Head Tax that was designed to keep Chinese immigrants out of BC. As a social scientist, Yan was just looking at the data and sharing his observations, which were in plain sight. The irony of the mayors response, however, was not lost on Brandon Yan, who is currently seeking to run for city council on the OneCity slate. He countered the mayors misguided comments in a line that should be quoted in a Dear White People racism primer, Lets leave it to the rich white dudes to decide whats racist, right? This kind of paternalism is a natural outcome of a long history of exclusion. Out a total of 1080 council and mayors seats across 102 administrations, 98% have been occupied by white politicians like Andy Yan, I ran my own name analysis, though of all the city councillors and mayors over Vancouvers history. And of the seats occupied by councillors from diverse backgrounds: half have been won only in the past two decades since 2000. When 98% of leaders in Vancouvers brief history have been white but the population has steadily diversified to point of being 50% nonwhite, there is bound to be a disconnect between City Halls perception and the reality on the ground. Diversity: an optical illusion? Because of their low turnout rates, municipal elections are notoriously difficult to poll. This is a point that Shachi Kurl, Executive Director of the Angus Reid Institute stressed repeatedly in our recent conversation. Compared to provincial and federal elections, turnout rates for municipal elections are around 30%. The X-factor is turnout, and its more exaggerated in city elections, explained Kurl, who heads the public opinion polling organisation. In the 2017 by-election when Hector Bremner from the NPA was elected to city council, only 11% of voters turned out to vote. Just look at the recent example in Calgary. The polling for that election was not close to the final results. The polls had (Naheed) Nenshi running neck-in-neck. In the end, Nenshi won extremely comfortably for his 3rd term. In the 2014 council election, Vision candidate Niki Sharma placed 17th out of 49 candidates receiving close to 50,000 votes. She fell short of winning by only 8,000 votes. From her perspective, every percentage increase in turnout has the potential to reverse a loss into a victory, In an election with low voter turnout, it doesnt take many people deciding not to vote for you to be the difference between getting elected and not getting elected. The NPA may be hoping Ken Sim can trigger this X-factor in his favour and lure more voters from the Chinese community to participate. It could be all the difference he needs to win the coveted mayors gavel. But as in the case of Calgarys Naheed Nenshi, the three-term Muslim mayor at the head of one of the more conservative cities in the country, the success of an ethnic candidate is not determined by the strength of his support from within his ethnic base, but rather from beyond it. Nenshi, the only nonwhite mayor of a major Canadian city, has become a celebrity politician in Calgary, and across Alberta, because of his competence and ability to engage with the electorate. But this does raise a question about diversity and politics is there a causal link between Naheed Nenshis skills as a politician and his ethnicity? Consider this hypothetical: if Nenshi had been a white Protestant instead of a brown Muslim, and still produced the same outcomes for Calgarians, then wouldnt celebrating diversity only be emphasising difference and fostering identity politics? Why would cultural background and ethnicity matter at all in that case? Shouldnt Canadians focus their celebration only on the actual achievements of their leaders instead of also their diversity? RJ Aquino, the aspiring city council candidate for OneCity, addressed this criticism often levelled from the right through a personal anecdote. In 2011, when I first ran for office, I started getting local university students from my community contacting me because they recognised my last name as Filipino. These were students who otherwise werent paying attention or engaged in civic politics, but when they learned I was from the same background, they looked me up and enquired about me. Because I looked like them and because I was in the public eye, it showed to younger generations that it was possible to do this, that we can be represented. Where there is under-representation whether in terms of race, gender, or sexual orientation it does not invite wider participation from all citizens, ultimately at the expense of our democratic institutions. This segues to the other potential benefit of diversity: that diverse candidates bring unique experiences and insights which may in turn lead to solutions and policies otherwise overlooked. This claim is also open to some scrutiny given second and third generation Canadians regardless of background end up sharing common experiences. Or in other words, eventually all Canadians, if you live here long enough, end up being different but in the same way. A diversity of faces may make for good optics as in the current Trudeaus cabinet but be little more than an optical illusion when it comes to actual diversity of ideas. To be fair, it is a reasonable conclusion that looking different does not necessarily translate into thinking different. But and this is the crucial point this flattening of Canadian diversity over time doesnt mean that people from different backgrounds dont empathise differently. Lets bring it back to the Vancouver context. Should either Ian Campbell or Ken Sim become mayor, it is reasonable to conclude neither may have novel new approaches to age-old issues facing the city. And as complete outsiders, particularly for Sim, they will likely struggle to learn the in-and-outs of city hall management and governance conventions. But that does not mean they wouldnt bring much-needed new empathy on age-old issues that, if nothing else, prevent these issues from being ignored. Some examples to illustrate. The past decade have been halcyon years for developers who have made more profits than ever while recasting Vancouver into an Eden of gleaming glass towers. Out of the billions flowing through Vancouvers real estate market, a tiny infinitesimal fraction could have been diverted to provide a lasting and sustainable solution to the citys chronic problem of homelessness. Yet ten years after Vision took power having promised to end homelessness, the issue remains as chronic as ever. It is a fitting metaphor for what Vancouver has become when one encounters its homeless residents trying to sleep in the cold-concrete nooks and doorways of its half-empty, but eco-friendly LEED skyscrapers. It seems unlikely Campbell, someone from an indigenous background, would only pay lip service to this homelessness issue given that 40% of homeless people in the city are from an indigenous background, a staggering twenty times greater than their actual percentage of the overall population. And perhaps it will require a Vancouver mayor from an indigenous background like Ian Campbell to advance the reconciliation agenda and create new community initiatives that go beyond declarations of recognising Vancouver as the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. In the case of Ken Sim, he is a 2nd generation Canadian who witnessed firsthand the struggles of his immigrant parents. He took menial jobs, worked as a janitor during high school and like other second-generation Canadians found a way to sacrifice and forge ahead. Would Sim not be more empathetic to Vancouvers affordability issues than the current mayor, even if he is representing the right-of-centre NPA? I worked as a janitor during high school and I had immigrant parents who struggled like others in a similar position. Back then it seemed inconceivable that those sweeping up the offices could one day be the ones sweeping into them. For me, the candidacies and civic participation of Ken Sim, Ian Campbell, RJ Aquino, Brandon Yan, and a growing number of other diverse candidates in this coming 2018 election has piqued my interest in civic politics more than ever. These candidates represent the other half of Vancouver that rarely gets to be heard in our city affairs, and the half that historically has been discouraged and once even banned from participating. It may turn out that 2018 is still not the year a nonwhite candidate becomes mayor of Vancouver, but it seems 2018 will be the year that finally reveals proof it is possible. And that is an inflection point when truly diversity becomes our strength, not just for half our city residents but for us all. This story first appeared in The Georgia Straight. Photo caption: (L to R) Gina Ogilvie, Bonnie Foley-Wong, Vanessa Timmer, Andrea Thomas Hill, Teri Nicholas, Christine Loock, Kirsten Sutton, The Right Honourable Kim Campbell, Zulie Sachedina, Dawn Demery, Miranda Andersen, Leila Rahemtulla, Mary-Jo Dionne./ Photo: Wendy D Photography YWCA recognized former Prime Minister Kim Campbells lifetime achievements by awarding her the Icon Award at the 35th annual awards hosted at the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver. Mary-Jo Dionne took home two prizes. She won the Arts, Culture & Design award as well as the Connecting the Community award. She is an award-winning writer, performer and podcaster. In the Business & the Professions category, Kirsten Sutton, Vice President and Managing Director, SAP Labs Canada, took home this prize. Sutton facilitated SAPs adoption of the Autism@Work initiative and advocates for girls in tech. In the Community Champion area, Andrea Thomas Hill won this honour. Hill founded Cause We Care Foundation to support single mothers and their children. Leila Rahemtulla won the Education, Training & Development award. She has championed accessible education through online learning at both schools and excellence in workplace and community training through her consulting and volunteering. As for the Entrepreneurship & Innovation category, Bonnie Foley-Wong took home the prize. Her organization challenges the status quo and creates an investment environment that promotes gender equality, diversity and inclusion. In the Environmental Sustainability category, Vanessa Timmer, Executive Director, One Earth, came out on top. She co-developed Disruptive Imaginings, a global learning community of futurists, designers and storytellers who create powerful images of life in sustainable futures. In Health & Wellness, Christine Loock won the honour. She is an internationally recognized clinician and researcher in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. In the Non-Profit area, Teri Nicholas won the honour for raising $200M campaign while establishing the first safe house for homeless youth. In public service, Zulie Sachedina was recognized for advancing a constitutional challenge for the right to prescribe medical-grade heroin to drug users, thus supporting patients. In the Research & Sciences category, Gina Ogilvie was recognized for her research which has focused on how to use HPV screening and the HPV vaccine to help eliminate cervical cancer. The WHO adopted her recommended protocol. In the Young Woman of Distinction category, Miranda Andersen, a filmmaker, won the award. Her educational website, Enufsaid.ca, features her own films and lesson plans to inspire youth to engage and connect with the natural world. In the Outstanding Workplace category, BCAA won the prize. Its Best Doctors program gives employees access to expert medical advice from 53,000 physicians worldwide. BCAA was recognized as a 2018 Aon Best Employer. Since 1984, YWCA Metro Vancouver has paid tribute to more than 300 award recipients and more than 1,800 nominees. Cage free ethics no yolk for corporate good egg IS there something ironic about prisoners eating cage-free eggs? Perhaps the inmates will see the sunny side to their caterer Sodexo Australia moving to annually use nine million of the googies. The company this week started serving cage-free eggs, moving from caged eggs, in meals at two prisons that are just part of a national client portfolio including remote mining sites, retirement villages, aged care facilities, and other large businesses. Boss Mark Chalmers said the company will source nine million cage-free eggs annually from Farm Pride Foods Limited Ltd and is also looking to source cage-free eggs for its liquid egg supply. Animal welfare and environment concerns For us its a move to a more responsible way of providing product and bringing it to market part of our corporate responsibility program, Mr Chalmers told Australian Food News this week. He said the company, inspired by animal welfare and environment concerns, believes cage-free eggs are a more ethically sound product, and its not a commercial response to the food trend away from caged eggs. Primarily we believe its just us operating in a more ethical fashion in the world in which we live, Mr Chalmers said. Its important to us to be ethical because we are striving to improve the quality of life of the people we serve, clients and employees, and being ethical is a necessary part of that. Mr Chalmers said the companys ethical focus was particularly also on diversity and inclusion and indigenous community development. We believe an ethical approach makes us a better company, a better employer, and better contributor to the community. Egg Standards Australia accreditation Farm Pride Foods chief operations officer Bruce De Lacy said to assure the welfare of hens, all of the company farms are third-party audited to the industrys Egg Standards Australia accreditation. Our cage-free fresh eggs are produced in climate-controlled sheds where the hens have access to food, water nest boxes, perches, and are free to move within the shed as they please, he said. This allows the hens more space, and they are protected from environmental threats and diseases, said Mr De Lacy. Bakersfield, CA (93308) Today Clear skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 54F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Clear skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 54F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%. 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. Find out "What A Dig Needs." Join us for our next season in Israel: www.DigShiloh.org We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. For Immediate Release, June 20, 2018 Contact: Perrin de Jong, (828) 252-4646, perrin@biologicaldiversity.org Lawsuit Filed to Speed Habitat Protections for Two Appalachian Crayfish Delay Has Increased Extinction Risk for Critically Imperiled Crawdads CHARLESTON, W.Va. The Center for Biological Diversity today sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect critical habitat in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky for the Big Sandy crayfish and the Guyandotte River crayfish. The two Appalachian crayfish were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 2016 because of habitat loss and water pollution, largely due to mountaintop removal and other forms of coal mining. But the Service is now late in designating required critical habitat areas for the imperiled crustaceans, which are found nowhere else on Earth. Every day that we delay these habitat protections is a day these two Appalachian crawdads move closer to extinction, said Perrin de Jong, staff attorney at the Center. Local communities will benefit, too. Protecting the habitat of these unique species will help prevent their extinction and protect water quality for local residents. The endangered Guyandotte River crayfish has lost more than 90 percent of its range and is now found only in Wyoming County, West Virginia. The threatened Big Sandy crayfishs range has been reduced by more than 60 percent. It is found in the upper Big Sandy drainage in southern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia and eastern Kentucky. Under the Endangered Species Act, the Fish and Wildlife Service was required to designate critical habitat for these species within one year of when they were listed, but the agency has yet to act to protect their habitats. Though it is already illegal to harm the crayfish, critical habitat designation adds an additional layer of protection. It requires any federally funded or permitted project to consult with the Service to make sure crayfish habitat is not harmed. Surface coal mines are bad for the health of every living being around them, de Jong said. These rare crayfish could be wiped out by the mines, which also threaten people living nearby by polluting their drinking water and air. Crayfish are also known as crawdads, crawfish, mudbugs and freshwater lobsters. Crayfish keep streams cleaner by eating decaying plants and animals. They are eaten, in turn, by fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals, making them an important link in the food web. For Immediate Release, June 20, 2018 Contact: Elise Bennett, (727) 755-6950, ebennett@biologicaldiversity.org Dozens of Scientists Urge Arkansas to Ban Commercial Turtle Trapping Wild Turtles Suffering From Unlimited Commercial Collection LITTLE ROCK, Ark. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission today received a letter signed by dozens of scientists supporting a ban on commercial trapping of wild freshwater turtles in the state. A group of leading international freshwater turtle experts convened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature supports ending this unsustainable practice. The state Game and Fish Commission is considering the trapping ban in response to a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Arkansas conservation groups in August 2017. Scientists and the worlds top turtle experts agree that Arkansas needs to ban commercial turtle trapping, said Elise Bennett, a Center attorney who focuses on protecting reptiles and amphibians. The commercial trapping ban will help ensure turtles are swimming through Arkansas waters for future generations to enjoy. Arkansas currently allows commercial trappers to take unlimited numbers of 14 varieties of turtle from waters across roughly half the state, including the entirety of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers. According to Arkansas Game and Fish Commission harvest report records, 126,381 freshwater turtles were harvested from 2014 to 2016. The majority of these turtles were medium or large in size, and likely of breeding age. Given the precarious state of our nations turtles, under threat from collecting, environmental pollution and habitat loss, now is the time to finally end commercial turtle trapping in Arkansas, said Dr. Craig Stanford, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commissions Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Todays letter is endorsed by dozens of scientific experts in population dynamics, wildlife management and other areas relevant to turtle conservation. Research from these scientists and others have repeatedly documented that freshwater turtles cannot sustain any significant level of wild collection without suffering population declines. For example, a landmark 1994 study found that turtles life-history characteristics, including low hatching survival rate and delayed sexual maturity, predispose them to rapid declines from exploitation. If Arkansas bans commercial trapping, it would join a growing number of states preserving important wildlife and natural resources. In March Missouri banned commercial trapping of wild turtles and Texas proposed a ban. In 2017 Iowa reined in commercial turtle trapping. In the past decade, Florida and Alabama have completely banned commercial turtle trapping, and Georgia approved stronger regulations on the industry. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will accept public comments on the proposal to ban commercial turtle trapping until it makes a final decision at an Aug. 16 commission meeting. Comment letters may be addressed to: Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, Attn: Fisheries Division, 2 Natural Resources Drive, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205. The public can also express support for a ban using the Centers action alert. For Immediate Release, June 20, 2018 Contact: Paulo Lopes, (202) 849-8398, plopes@biologicaldiversity.org House to Consider Two Hardline Immigration Bills That Fully Fund Trump's Wall 'Compromise' Legislation Would Be Equally Disastrous for Environment, Wildlife WASHINGTON The U.S. House of Representatives will consider two immigration bills tomorrow that would fully fund Trumps wall and increase border militarization. Both bills come amid withering criticism of the Trump administrations policy of separating refugee and immigrant children from their families. These cynical bills demonstrate how heartless House Republicans really are, said Paulo Lopes with the Center for Biological Diversity. Instead of a clean bill to immediately end Trumps horrifying policy of ripping families apart, theyre holding immigrant children hostage. Terrified little kids are being used as bargaining chips for Trumps ridiculous wall, which will destroy border wildlands, tear apart communities and forever tarnish our countrys reputation. The first bill, H.R. 4760, sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), would allocate $25 billion for border enforcement, including $9 billion to construct Trumps wall, ignoring threats to endangered species, public lands and border communities. The bill would provide no path to citizenship for Dreamers eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and would eliminate the Diversity Immigrant Visa and Family-Based Immigrant Visa programs. The second bill, H.R. 6136, pushed by Speaker Paul Ryan (R- Wis.), would allocate nearly $24 billion for border enforcement, including $16.6 billion for border-wall construction. The bill would end the Diversity Immigrant Visa program and curb family-based migration. Last fall President Trump rescinded the DACA program, which provided protection for 1.8 million Dreamers young, undocumented people brought to the United States as children from deportation. Trumps ploy to exploit the Dreamers plight to advance his extreme anti-immigrant agenda was shameful enough, Lopes said. If he had an ounce of compassion for these brave young people, hed tell Speaker Ryan to allow a vote on the Dream Act, without demanding the border wall as a ransom payment. Environmental and immigrant rights groups have opposed using DACA recipients as bargaining chips for the destructive border wall and other hardline immigration policies. While 86 percent of the public supports reinstating protections for DACA recipients, Republicans have never allowed a vote on H.R. 3440, the Dream Act, to come to the floor. A recent study by the Center identified more than 90 endangered or threatened species that would be threatened by wall construction along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. Beyond jeopardizing wildlife, endangered species and public lands, the U.S.-Mexico border wall is part of a larger strategy of ongoing border militarization that damages human rights, civil liberties, native lands, local businesses and international relations. The border wall impedes the natural migrations of people and wildlife that are essential to healthy diversity. For Immediate Release, June 20, 2018 Contact: Brett Hartl, (202) 817-8121, bhartl@biologicaldiversity.org Trump Administration Moves to Gut National Environmental Policy Act Environmental Review Rollbacks Would Slash Protections for Air, Water, Wildlife WASHINGTON The Trump administration today launched the largest rollback in history to the protections for air, water and wildlife provided by the National Environmental Policy Act. In a request for public comment on potential revisions, the presidents Council on Environmental Quality initiated the assault on regulations outlining the 48-year-old laws longstanding requirements for robust environmental assessments before approval of federal projects. The Trump administration is taking a sledgehammer to the review process that allows scientists and the public to have a say on federal projects that harm clean air, water and wildlife, said Paulo Lopes, public lands policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. This is the beginning of the largest rollback in the history of the National Environmental Policy Act, and it will yield polluted air, dirty water and devastation for our beautiful public lands. Much like when Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt allowed industry leaders to rewrite regulations protecting air, water and wildlife from pesticides and other pollutants, todays request is essentially an invitation for corporate lobbyists to craft new, less-protective guidelines for environmental reviews. To lay the groundwork for the planned regulatory cuts, Trumps Council on Environmental Quality is preparing to roll out by years end a long list of proposed changes that will essentially end consequential environmental assessments of projects and eliminate meaningful input by scientists and the public. Although the National Environmental Policy Act is not as well-known to many Americans as the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act, it underpins the requirement for thorough assessments of every federal projects harms to air, water and protected species. It was the detailed input from researchers and citizens required by this landmark law that prompted the Obama administration to wisely deny approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, said Lopes. If NEPA is gutted, the power plants and factories that corporations target for poor and under-represented communities will routinely be rubberstamped. After more than a decade of working in the public relations industry, I am baffled by how many people still don't see the vital link between public relations and internal communications. While the value of both is widely recognised, there is often a missing link which companies should not underestimate. South African companies have done well in exploring and investing in telling their brands stories to their external target audiences. Many have also improved their internal communication; possibly due to a growing buzz about the importance of employee engagement and employer branding, but there is certainly room for improvement in terms of aligning internal and external communications in many places.I read an alarming statistic a while ago. According to the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey of 33,000 people in 28 countries showed that almost a third of employees didnt trust their employers. According to the study, the situation was worse the lower you go in the organisation. That poses a big problem for any business. If your staff, particularly at the lowest levels are feeling completely disconnected and dont trust their leaders, why would they be loyal and make any extra effort to promote your brand?Words like quality, excellence and safety become meaningless if the people inside your organisation are not committed to the same values, feeling valued and taking responsibility to live these values, following the example set by the leaders of that particular company.The question is then, what is your business doing to ensure that employees feel a real connection - both as a team and with the values the company promises to offer?At some point (and I would recommend it to be regularly) the HR, marketing, PR and internal communications departments need to be at the same table to discuss concerted plans of action to ensure that they communicate clearly and consistently with both their internal and external stakeholders. The internal audience has to be considered with every piece of communication your PR team is planning or working with. It is well worth taking the time to ask how employees can help to gather useful information or support messages you plan to send out.Effective communication is a two-way process. It is not just about what the top executives and marketing team say about the company and its products or services in their advertising, newsletters or at the AGM. It is also about staying in touch to hear how your staff and customers are feeling, how they are experiencing your brand and if they still have trust in your product or service and the business. You have to make time to listen and create ways for people to speak up and feel heard.Listening is vital to keep in touch with what your staff are hearing first-hand from customers, to address issues and adapt the way the business operates or the products or services you provide. It is also important to keep in touch with what employees want or need to be happy and fulfilled at work, for better staff retention and to grow your next generation of leaders.We live in a time of rapid technological advancement, but that doesnt mean that we should lose our human touch. Internal public relations help to build a company culture where your people are inspired to pull together to move your organisation forward. Companies can spend a lot of money on advertising, social media management and marketing activities, but if you dont have a positive internal culture, your external efforts can be wasted, because your employees arent brand ambassadors and word of mouth can destroy the image you have been trying hard to build.At the end of the day, it is about speaking the same language, both internally and externally, to connect people in all areas of your business. So why not test a couple key messages among a random selection of people within your company to determine if they are informed about your current external marketing drive or PR focus for the year. The feedback you receive will give your HR and PR experts valuable insights to help ensure that their future endeavours are aligned to build trust and enhance relationships, both inside and outside the business. Disrupt Africa is a one-stop-shop for all news, information and commentary pertaining to the continents tech startup and investment ecosystem. With journalists roaming the continent to find, meet, and interview the most innovative and disruptive tech startups, Disrupt Africa is a true showcase of Africas most promising businesses and business ideas.Our readers can keep up-to-date with the quirky world of tech hubs and accelerator programmes; and our reporters provide live coverage of the all-important tech and entrepreneurship events across Africa.For our startup, entrepreneur, and investor friends alike, our mission is to provide practical information and advice from across Africas varied vibrant markets, and to promote engaged and thought-provoking discussion about the exciting ecosystem we belong to.Go to: http://disrupt-africa.com/ Eskom has warned South Africans that load shedding will continue as the strike affecting coal supply to key power stations is ongoing. "Customers are advised to keep checking their load shedding schedules on the Eskom and their municipal websites, and plan on the assumption that load shedding will take place," said the power utility. This is bad news, especially in the middle of winter.When the lights go out, youll need something to pass the long, dark nights, and with the Showmax app you can download up to 25 series episodes and movies to watch offline on your phone or tablet.This means you can still watch your favourite shows even if the Wi-Fi has been taken out, and it wont use any of your mobile data.Showmax gets new shows every week and has recently added amazing titles like Marvels Cloak & Dagger The Crossing and loads more. And you wont find those shows on any other streaming service in South Africa.How to download with the Showmax app1. Install the Showmax app from the Google Play or Apple App Store 2. Launch the Showmax app and sign in to your Showmax account.3. Select the show you want to watch and tap the download button. Its that easy.For more on how to download with Showmax, read this complete guide: In the wake of the recent Facebook scandal that revealed how Cambridge Analytical (a political data company which played an instrumental role in the US 2016 election) had gained improper access to the sensitive, personal information of up to 87 million Facebook users, consumers around the world are waking up to the value of personal privacy. Digital privacy divide Pay privacy tax Build an invisible lair Go off-grid (and Google Maps) Hire a digital detective Switch to secret social media Havas latest Prosumer Report, iLife, reported 85% South Africans worry that they do not know what companies do with data and information.However, in the digital era, privacy comes at a price. A price that, increasingly, only the rich can afford to pay.Poor and middle-class consumers, in particular, have traded away their privacy rights in exchange for connections and connectivity.Everyone has their price. A survey by Intel Security found that 77% of consumers would be happy to trade data in exchange for discounts or coupons from cellular service providers.For example, while wealthy individuals can afford private fibre internet lines and premium software programmes, poorer people sell their personal information in exchange for logging in to insecure public Wi-Fi services and accessing free Facebook apps.While cash-strapped drivers succumb to installing vehicle tracking systems that monitor their driving performance, and wearable tracking devices that monitor their physical activity in exchange for good-behaviour-discounts from insurers; those who can afford to opt out can continue living their lives in un-tracked and un-traced.In a similar way digitised social welfare programmes, including Chinas new Social Credit Score system and Australias cashless welfare card programme, trace and trace state beneficiaries spending habits and whereabouts in ways that people who do not rely on state benefits can avoid.This digital privacy divide is nothing new: After all, we all know how middle-class workers get their salaries paid into heavily regulated, Ficad bank accounts, while the elite access their trust funds via anonymous offshore Swiss bank accounts (Panama Papers type leaks, of course, withstanding).These days though, there are a host of new ways to pay for privacy - if you can afford it. Here are some of the ways the 1% are paying to stay out of the view of prying eyes.You can simply pay big brother to leave you alone. In London, a group of over 200 wealthy landowners have opted to pay a 218,200 a year penalty tax in exchange for not disclosing which of Londons 20m-plus mega-mansions they own.Privacy taxes are not limited to exclusive real estate either. Thanks to new internet legislation, you can soon expect to pay a privacy premium to your Internet services provider in order to prevent your data from being accessed and sold to third parties.If you are rich enough, you can hire an architect to build you an invisible home. JaK Studio, an architecture firm is developing construction methods that make their wealthy clients homes appear to disappear. One method involves cladding the houses in specially designed mirrors that reflect surroundings and disguise the buildings true scale and form. Other architects will simply build you your very own underground, subterranean James-bond-villain-style lair.You can move to a hidden community. Hidden communities, including Hidden Hills in Los Angeles where Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian reside, and Three Rivers Recreation Area in Oregon forbid Googles Street View photography vehicles from accessing the streets or photographing the estates from the air. Property prices start in the $5m-plus price range.If someone accesses your personal information or published something you dont like about you online, you can pay a digital sleuthing company to make the leak go away. These companies promise to control your digital identity by eliminating scandals and bad press. Expect to pay $50,000 and $300,000 per project, plus a monthly maintenance cost for the service.If Facebook, Tinder and Instagram are too public for you, you can pay to join the private social media platforms of the uber-rich. Rich Kids, for example, is an alternative to Instagram that keeps common prying eyes away from your selfies by charging $1,000 a month to access the service.So, the question is, are you prepared to pay the price for your privacy? Social media is an excellent marketing tool, but in the wrong hands, it can also be severely damaging. Especially in the highly-regulated financial services industry. Fortunately, most financial planners worth their weight know better than to post pics of wild bachelor parties to Instagram or to weigh in with controversial political views on Facebook. But in financial services, it's not only the obvious errors that can land you in hot water. Line in the sand Copyright, logos, trademarks Breach of contract The big takeout As citizens of the western world, we cling to our freedom of speech, but the law has other ideas. Because comments employees make on social media (in or out of normal working hours) can besmirch an employers reputation, companies arent only allowed to regulate social media use theyd be crazy not to.A comprehensive social media policy is a line in the sand that covers all aspects of social media use so that both employers and employees know exactly whats on and whats not. Like any important document, it must be drawn up by experts from various departments of the business (IT, marketing, HR) not to mention a lawyer whos well versed in social media.Because social media is constantly changing it makes sense to keep the policy as general as possible and to update the policy regularly. Done right, a social media policy can assist in fostering a company ethos that espouses gratitude, care and inclusivity.Regardless of the industry youre working in, all social media policies should cover defamation (a published [were all publishers now] false statement that harms a persons reputation) as the employer can be held responsible and be forced to cough up if the statement is made on company time and/or equipment.The same goes for hate speech, which is soon to be criminalised and is classed as an utterance that insults a person by race, gender, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, religion, belief, culture, language, HIV status, nationality or gender identity. You couldnt make it broader if you triedCopyright is another seriously important issue. Grabbing a few photos off the internet to illustrate a blog post or copying and pasting an excerpt from a published article into the company newsletter isnt just lazy, its considered theft.The policy should also include a list of people who are authorised to speak on behalf of the company on social media platforms and an outline of how customers details will be protected. It should regulate how the companys logos and trademarks can be used while also defining appropriate channels of communication.When it comes to the financial services industry, the regulations regarding fit and proper ways in which to behave have the biggest impact on the use of social media. Advisers must always behave in a manner that shows they take managing clients money seriously. So, no pics of that toga party even if they are hilarious.Even more importantly, social media is never the place to give advice. There is simply zero chance that you can get insight into someones full set of financial circumstances from a few tweets or Facebook comments.Whats more, any advice could be shared, shared and shared again and be on half a million smartphones before you can say breach of contract. Even scarier is the fact that simply sharing a link advocating an investment strategy can be seen as giving advice and could quite conceivably result in a lawsuit.I know this may make for scary reading but wherever you fit in on the pecking order dont let any of it frighten you. A good social media policy allows all parties to mitigate the potential risks of social media while also making the most of its incredible marketing pull and leaving space for folks to have some fun.And remember. Brands that arent on social media run the risk of being out of touch. And ending up out of business.Social media is here to stay, and modern-day employment contracts should govern its use so that both employers and employees know where they stand. Nowhere is this truer than in the strictly regulated financial services industry, where one wayward tweet could result in a very expensive lawsuit. 10th Most Awards gets four more sponsors Four media brands have come on board as sponsors for the 10th Most Awards, which will be held at The Wanderers Club in Illovo, Johannesburg on 13 September 2018. TransAfrica Radio will sponsor the Media Agency Africa Award and provide 100% African sounds in the Chill Zone; Hitch Digital is the sponsor of the Media Owner Digital Award; and a new sponsor Taxi Times has snapped up the Media Agency Full Service Award. In its third year of sponsorship, KayaFM will be sponsoring the Media Agency Specialist Award as well as the registration, foyer areas, and welcome drinks. IRU's media award that recognises significant contributions from the media to the transport sector is currently open for entries.Journalists from across the globe are eligible for the award and the winner will be offered free registration to the IRU World Congress in Muscat, Oman.Articles or broadcasts are to be submitted in English or Arabic, with eligible works published between 19 June and 10 September 2018.Stories are judged on content, writing, analysis, creativity, human interest and clear reporting. Written articles should be up to 1,000 words and broadcasts between one to seven minutes.The entry deadline is 10 Septemeber 2018. Click here to enter. PR Newswire ONTARIO, Calif., June 20, 2018 ONTARIO, Calif., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CU Direct, the nation's leading developer of lending software technology to the credit union industry, has announced a new partnership with CU Direct Connect (CUDC), an industry provider of vehicle lending and origination funding platforms. The collaborative agreement leverages the strengths of the two largest indirect lending credit union service organizations to better meet the growing indirect lending needs of credit unions, and strengthen the position of the credit union industry nationally with auto dealers. As a result of the partnership, CUDC will be able to provide CU Direct's industry-leading CUDL auto lending network/platform to its credit union partners. The CUDL platform, with 14,000 dealers nationwide, will provide CUDC access to new expansion markets, as well as an opportunity to offer their full service indirect auto loan origination model to prospective new credit unions in those expansion markets via the CUDL platform. By providing the platform to its current credit unions and dealers, CUDC will help further expand the CUDL network nationally in both breadth and depth. The agreement gives credit unions a greater unified focus on a credit union specific indirect channel that distinguishes them from banks and finance companies. The partnership exemplifies the cooperative model of credit unions, enhancing each participating credit union's ability to compete in an expanded indirect lending landscape regardless of asset size. Further, dealers gain a simplified access to new lending partners through this collaborative effort, magnifying the value of services offered by both organizations. "Our CUSO has always valued and promoted collaboration between our member credit unions. Therefore, it only makes sense that CU Direct and CU Direct Connect should collaborate for the mutual benefit of all our credit unions," noted Blair Korschun, President/CEO, CU Direct Connect. "This collaborative agreement will make new, competitive credit union lending options available to our dealer partners with the highest service levels, fast decisions and fast funding. The true winners from our agreement are our mutual credit union consumers who will now have a greater opportunity to get their auto loan or lease from their credit union of choice." "We're excited about the new partnership between the two companies, and what it brings to our credit union partners," noted CU Direct's president and CEO, Tony Boutelle. "We look forward to working with CU Direct Connect to provide the CUDL platform to their credit unions and to advancing the overall success of our respective credit union partners in the auto lending marketplace." About CU Direct ConnectFormed in 2002, CU Direct Connect (CUDC) is a credit union service organization (CUSO) providing state-of-the-art vehicle lending and origination funding platforms utilized by credit union members and auto dealer partners. CUDC enables any size credit union to generate auto loans and acts as a risk consultant to all partners. The organization is based in Colorado and currently serves more than 40 credit unions for vehicle lending, which supports the large number of auto dealer partners currently enrolled in the CUDC program. CUDC, through its member credit unions, is collectively one of the largest auto lenders in Colorado and is a top 10 auto lender in Arizona. CUDC also operates in Washington, Wyoming, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Nevada and Illinois. For additional information visit CUDirectConnect.com | GetACreditUnionLoan.com. About CU Direct For more than twenty years, CU Direct has been a lending technology leader, helping credit unions fund $211 billion in loans. More than 1,100 credit unions rely on CU Direct's solutions to generate loans, create efficiencies, and grow membership. From CUDL, the industry's number one auto lending platform, to the industry's revolutionary Lending 360 Loan Origination System, and Lending Insights dynamic analytic tools, CU Direct develops the technology that helps credit unions advance their lending programs and overall portfolio success. 14,000 auto dealers nationwide use CU Direct's automotive solutions to connect with credit unions and their members to drive sales and increase their bottom lines. For more information, visit cudirect.com. Connect with CU Direct on Twitter and LinkedIn. Media Contact: Bill [email protected] View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cu-direct-partners-with-colorados-cu-direct-connect-to-provide-credit-unions-an-increased-market-presence-in-the-auto-dealer-community-300669827.html SOURCE CU Direct Heron TP unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Photo: Airbus Defence BERLIN (BNS): World leading defence company Airbus Defence has signed a contract for Heron TP unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for the German Armed Forces. Airbus and the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) signed an operator agreement for Heron TP unmanned aerial systems (UAS) after parliamentary approval was granted on 13 June 2018. The contract includes both the provision of Heron TP UAS as well as all operational services required for the system. In accordance with German budget law, the contract will become effective upon publication of the federal budget, Airbus said in a statement. Heron 1 drones currently deployed by the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) in Afghanistan and Mali will be replaced by the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) made Heron. The project will have a two-year set-up phase, followed by an operational phase lasting a further seven years, thereby bridging the gap until a sovereign European drone will be developed, it said. The Bundeswehr will receive five aircraft equipped for reconnaissance missions and capable of carrying weapons, four sets of ground segments, training environments and all system operational services. The systems are equipped with electro-optic and infrared sensors and imaging radar systems to perform far-reaching reconnaissance tasks. Satellite communication systems and German data and voice encryption systems are also part of the configuration. The UAVs are kitted out with a weather radar system so that they can operate in bad weather conditions. The MALE HERON TP system will get military certification from the German Armed Forces aviation authority in accordance with STANAG 4671 allowing the system to be used around the world. New Delhi (BNS): Naval solutions companies, Saab and Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding, have come together to compete for the project that will supply four Tamandare Class Corvettes (CCT) for the Brazilian Navy. Saab will provide the complete combat system including the world leading Saab 9LV Combat Management System (CMS) if the proposal is chosen by the Brazilian Navy. The Saab 9LV is known for its flexibility and easy integration of third-party modules as well as high performance mission equipment. Damen will be responsible for supplying the ship Sigma 10514, an off-the-shelf product that will be adapted according to the requirements of the client, a Saab statement said. The companies are proposing a large technology transfer programme, in addition to partnerships with local companies, benefiting the Brazilian defence industry. Saab is looking forward to the cooperation with Damen and the local partners for the CCT programme. We believe our proposal meets the requirements of the Brazilian Navy and offers the added value of industrial cooperation and transfer of technology that are intrinsic to Saabs way of doing business, said Marianna Silva, Head of Saab do Brasil. We at Damen appreciate the increasingly important task of the Brazilian Navy to safeguard the maritime domain against its existent and future threats and challenges. We are looking forward to participate in a constructive way in this process, says Mr. Richard Keulen, Director Naval Sales of Damen. LISA Pathfinder operating in space. Photo: ESA/ATG medialab CANNES (BNS): Thales Alenia Space has won a contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) for the Phase A study of Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), the third large-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-25 Programme. LISA will be the first space-based gravitational wave observatory. Its major aim is the detection of gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space-time created by large and dense celestial bodies with very strong gravity - such as black holes. The mission hopes to give scientists a completely new view of the cosmos compared with traditional observation techniques and help unveil some of its many mysteries. LISA will consist of three spacecrafts in a triangular formation, separated by 2.5 million kilometers, following the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. Each satellite will carry two reference masses. Laser beams will be transmitted between satellites to measure the displacement of these masses with a resolution ten times smaller than an atom. Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales and Leonardo, will lead the feasibility study phase ending in January 2020, ESA said in a statement. WASHINGTON (PTI): President Donald Trump has ordered the US military to establish a "space force" as the sixth branch of its armed forces to ensure "American dominance" in space amidst competition from Russia and China. Details of what a new space force would look like and what it would do were not immediately clear. But Trump said it would be "separate but equal" to the Air Force. The other US military branches are the Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps. Addressing the members of the National Space Council at the White House, Trump, also the commander-in-chief of the military, said the whole world is "looking up" to the US and the country is being respected again. The president said he has directed the Pentagon to start a process for creating a "Space Force". "I'm hereby directing the Department of Defence and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. That's a big statement," Trump said. He also said it would be unacceptable to let either China or Russia lead in space, and he would be directing federal agencies to "implement a state-of-the-art framework for space traffic management". However, the US Congress would need to pass a law authorising the Trump administration to create any new branch of the military, media reports said. "When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space, he said in his address to the advisory body led by Vice President Mike Pence. Trump said that the US will have the Air Force and the Space Force, separate but equal. "It is going to be something so important...But that's the importance that we give it. We're going to have the Space Force," he said. Trump said the American economy has become a "strong economy" under his leadership and the foreign policy that he has adopted after coming to power. "The whole world is looking up to the US, and the US is respected again. It was a period of time, we were not so respected, not so long ago. The US is respected again," he said. "This is an incredible time for our country. I would say that our economy, and many of you know that very well, is doing better than it ever has done," he said, adding that the employment numbers are the best recorded history. He also promised that the US would "return Americans to the Moon" and would eventually send people to Mars. "We will establish a long-term presence, expand our economy, and build the foundation for the eventual mission to Mars, which is actually going to happen very quickly," he said. "Today we're taking one more step to unleash the power of American ingenuity," he said as he signed a new directive to federal departments and agencies. They will work together with American industry to implement a state-of-the-art framework for space traffic management, he said. WASHINGTON (PTI): The US Senate on Tuesday passed with an overwhelming majority a USD 716 billion defence bill which among other things seeks to strengthen ties with America's 'Major Defence Partner' India. The US recognised India as a "Major Defence Partner" in 2016, a designation that allows India to buy more advanced and sensitive technologies from America at par with that of its closest allies and partners, and ensures enduring cooperation into the future. The National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2019, passed by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote of 85-10, is named in the honour of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, who is battling cancer for the past several months. "This legislation continues our reform agenda and helps better position the Department of Defence and the joint force to implement the National Defence Strategy by continuing to restore readiness, rebuild capacity and modernise capabilities," McCain said. The House has already passed the bill. The two different versions of the bill now heads for a conference between the Senate and the House. Once the joint committee agrees on an identical version, they would have to be voted by the House and the Senate again before being sent to the White House for US President Donald Trump's assent. The Senate version of the bill authorises USD 5.2 billion for the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund, USD 350 million in Coalition Support Funds to reimburse certain nations for support provided to or in connection with US military operations and authorises USD 300 million to train and equip the vetted Syrian opposition to counter the ISIS terror group. The bill "expresses the sense of the Senate that the US should strengthen and enhance its major defence partnership with India". It also expresses the sense of the Senate that if Turkey purchases the S-400 air defence system from Russia, the President should impose sanctions against Turkey under the Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act. The Senate bill authorises USD 500 million for US-Israel missile defence cooperation and up to USD 50 million for US-Israel counter-tunnel cooperation. In what is being described could be a major clash between the Congress and the White House, the Senate as part of NDAA-2019, reinstated trade restrictions on ZTE. "Importantly, this legislation would also ensure that neither ZTE nor Huawei will be eligible for government contracts in the future. "To further prioritise our national security, I also supported the inclusion of a bipartisan CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) bill similar to what we passed in the Banking Committee to ensure that foreign investments in the US do not pose a national security risk," Senator Mark Warner said. The bill also allows a pilot programme for testing machine-based inspections in place of humans to determine the authenticity and security of microelectronic parts in weapons systems a necessary ability in an era of Chinese-made knockoffs and counterfeits. "No country has been more aggressive than China in going after American technology in sectors like aviation, robotics, new energy vehicles, and others where the US has established ourselves as a global leader. "Our bipartisan bill will give CFIUS and our export control agencies the tools they need to ensure that these types of investments don't slip through the cracks," said Senator Sherrod Brown. The NDAA also calls out China for illegally creating and fortifying islands in the South China Sea for military purposes and modernises the Committee on Foreign Investment to address national security concerns and stop China from trying to steal sensitive technology from US companies. "The NDAA counters Russia's growing aggression and influence across Eastern Europe by directing a study on permanently stationing US forces in Poland and conducting a study on Russia's malign influence around the world," said Senator Jim Inhofe. The annual Doctoral Conference was held at the School of Education between 7 and 9 June 2018. This student-led event attracted over 100 students and staff in total, from Bristol and beyond. Entitled Imagine, Challenge, Transform, it provided an opportunity for students to reflect on their personal doctoral experience and explore questions about education and educational research. Over twenty student presentations reflected the international character of the School of Education, with subjects ranging from innovative research methodologies to the teaching of English academic writing in Oman and non-school learning in Portugal. In his opening keynote, the head of school, Prof. Bruce Macfarlane invited the audience to consider an alternative view of research ethics, as a matter of integrity rather than a fixed set of principles derived from medical ethics. Dr Arathi Sriprakash from the University of Cambridge, in her talk on the politics of knowledge in educational research, encouraged students to move beyond positionality to epistemic reflexivity and consider not only the shine but also the shadow of their research. In the third keynote, Prof. Jerry Wellington from the University of Sheffield drew on his experience of supervising and examining doctoral students to discuss what doctorateness looks like in the thesis and viva voce. Following his session Prof Wellington said, it was very enjoyable to meet such a lively and able group. Prof. Bill Browne from the School of Education gave the final keynote, in which he outlined his recent work in developing e-books that address the gap between the ever-increasing requirement for statistical expertise and the availability of trained statisticians and statistics teachers. Delegates also enjoyed discussions, a poster session, which included a number of posters from SoE students in Hong Kong, and a chance to take part in Intervision, a peer support activity. The conference ended with a lively panel discussion on the role of philosophy in educational research, in which Dr Angeline Barratt and Dr Matt Kedzierski discussed questions from the audience. The organisers received a good deal of positive feedback about the conference, with one delegate describing the event as professional and cosy at the same time. View photos from the conference on the SOE Flickr page. The W Howard Group has joined the Builders Merchants Federation. Signalling its continued commitment to the industry and its valued customers, the MDF profiles supplier has joined the BMF to be active in progressing the needs and agenda of the industry. W Howards Group Commercial Director, Simon Fleet said: The BMF provides great opportunities for networking, training and, importantly, lobbying, ensuring that the markets best interests are upheld and communicated at national policy level. Our new membership further demonstrates the businesss commitment to supporting the industry. We look forward to meeting many new BMF members and playing an active role in the Federations activities. BMF Chief Executive John Newcomb said: We welcome W Howard Group into membership. They clearly appreciate the value of being part of a strong trade body and we are delighted they are already planning to take a very active role with the BMF. We look forward to working with them. Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth Claire Perry visited Grant UKs headquarters in Devizes, Wiltshire, to officially open the new showroom and meeting suite. Grant Engineering, which manufactures oil boilers and renewable heating solutions, welcomed customers, suppliers and staff to its HQ for the official opening. Perry, also MP for Devizes, was the lead guest and formally opened the new premises. As the local MP and a local resident, I am proud to be on the Hopton Industrial Estate to open Grant UKs new premises. Thanks to companies like Grant UK and their innovative products which bring down emissions and improve the way that people heat their homes, the UK is leading the way in cutting carbon emissions, she said. Paul Wakefield, Grant UKs Managing Director, said: Grant UK moved to Devizes in 2002. Today, we employ 76 employees and the site has continued to develop to accommodate our expanding product portfolio, including Grants growing renewable offerings from air source heat pumps through to innovative hybrid technologies. "We were very pleased to welcome Claire Perry to open the new facilities which marks the beginning of the next chapter in Grant UKs history. There are several exciting projects and developments waiting in the wings here at Grant and we look forward to unveiling these later in the year. The new development has increased the size of the storage facilities and offices by 40%, which will enable Grant UK to enhance the level of service it delivers to customers. Grant UKs HQ has occupied its central location on the Hopton Industrial Estate in Devizes for nearly two decades. The latest development commenced in the summer of 2017 and involved the demolition of a derelict building adjacent to the existing offices and warehouse. The site now welcomes an extensive new warehouse with an adjoining showroom and meeting suites. To complement the new facility, Grant UK has installed a state of the art racking system in both the new and existing warehouses, which has doubled the site's storage capacity. More than 4,000 oil boilers are now stocked on-site with additional warehouse space being allocated for the storage of renewable products and a growing range of spares. Adjacent to the new warehouse is a new showroom, which is home to a selection of Grants heating products. On display are several of its Vortex oil boiler models, which were awarded 2017 Which? Best Buys, alongside the Aerona air source heat pump and VortexAir Hybrid. There is also a working 16kW Aerona heat pump, which is supplying the building with heating and hot water. Above the showroom is a new meeting suite, which can accommodate up to 14 people and incorporates a smart screen and conference call facilities. Grant UK hopes that its merchant customers will use the new premises to host their own regional events. Wednesday: At 7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index. At 9:30 AM: Panel Discussion, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Monetary Policy at a Time of Uncertainty and Tight Labor Markets, At the ECB Forum on Central Banking, Linho Sintra, Portugal At 10:00 AM: Existing Home Sales for May from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The consensus is for 5.56 million SAAR, up from 5.46 million in April. Housing economist Tom Lawler estimates the NAR will reports sales of 5.47 million SAAR for May and that inventory will be down 5.1% year-over-year. At During the day: The AIA's Architecture Billings Index for May (a leading indicator for commercial real estate). Des refugiees camerounaises a Bashu, dans l'Etat de Cross Rivers, dans le sud-est du Nigeria le 31 janvier 2018 AFP/Archives/PIUS UTOMI EKPEI The Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Sadiya Umar Farouq has revealed that there are over 21,000 Cameroonian refugees fleeing crisis in the country, currently in Nigeria. Nigerian Daily Trust reports that she made the disclosure while addressing a joint Press Conference with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) in Abuja on Tuesday as part of activities to mark this year's World Refugees Day. "The 2018 Refugees Day is commemorated as wars and civil strife multiply and many families are forced to flee their homes," she said. "In Nigeria, the year has been characterised by an influx of Cameroonian refugees fleeing clashes between the Cameroonian government and separatist forces. "With a staggering figure of over 21,000 registered so far, the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, the UNHCR and other partners are still registering more arrivals." The NCFRMI Federal Commissioner also disclosed that no fewer than 1.7 million Nigerians were still internally displaced by the insurgency in the Northeast while 200,000 others were living as refugees in neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon. She lamented that the refugees had outweighed the available resources thus far, calling for the government to design a different approach in tackling the challenges emanating from the refugees in Nigeria. Halima Ahmed, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Finance said the body have been working on preventing unrest that will lead to citizens fleeing their country. She said: "We have our early warning mechanism with centres in all our member states." While adding that elections remain a major cause of crisis in the subregion, she added that "election in Nigeria takes place next year but ECOWAS is already working to ensure peace." On his part, the UNHCR representative to ECOWAS and Nigeria Antonio Jose Canhandula said the UNHCR will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced persons in Nigeria. He however, called on the Nigerian and Cameroonian authorities to find solutions to problems leading to people leaving their communities. Recently, the UN expressed readiness to come to the rescue of thousands of Refugees from Anglophone Cameroon and those who have been internally displaced. The Cameroon government panicked by this announcement, made a sweeping counter announcement, that she will be providing the sum of FCFA 12 billion to support the refugeees return home as well as the IDPs. Cavaye Y. Djibril P R CI National Assembly President, PAN, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril has humiliated his lawyers after a 3-year-long court case, denies ever accusing his former body guard of trying to kidnap him. It was a surprising decision from the President of the lower House of Assembly, Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Djibril that was read in court on the June 19, 2018 by the Chief Judge, hearing the case between the House Speaker and Captain Bouba Simala, his former body guard. The decision from the House Speaker took the lawyers of the prosecution by surprise; they immediately shared different and opposing views on the content of the document signed by Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Djibril. The document indicated that the house speaker had never accused his former body guard of trying to kidnap him and to have committed acts of terrorism as contained in a complaint filed in by his lawyers some three years back. One of them, Barrister Fotso who is equally CPDM Member of Parliament in the countrys National assembly, shocked with the declarations and in trying to confirm the veracity of the document identified the signature of his client but could not vividly confirm it came from him judging from the content which is in contradiction to their position in court. The Barrister added that his client could have been manipulated to take such a decision with reasons that nothing strange or extraordinary was noticed during their last discussions. On his part, another lawyer of Mr. Cavaye, Barrister Koumai, did not hesitate to rubbish the document saying it is Fake both in form and content. Though the document contradicts the initial position of the prosecuting faction, it did not in any way announce an end to the case or a withdrawal of the file from the tribunal because according to Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, the court had opened the case files and the legal procedures have to go through for justice to be rendered. On the other hand, the Defense Counsel represented by Barrister Emmanuel Simh was calm watching the divide and confusion on the prosecution. Barrister Emmanuel Simh said it is a clear proof that the prosecution had no case and just wanted to destabilize his client for a reason best known to them. The initial position of the prosecution was that the former body guard of Hon. Caavye Yeguie Djbril had attempted to kidnap their client including other acts of terrorism perpetrated in complicity with some top security officials in the country. That was three years ago. Allegations denied in court by the captain who last year February was liberated on bail from the Yaounde Central Prison in Kondengui to appear in court freely. Worth noting is the fact that the hearing of June 19, 2018 at the military tribunal was the first in the second round since it had first been judged and a verdict passed by the tribunal. A verdict which was appealed right up to the level of the Supreme Court and the other verdicts did not favor the prosecution before they opted for the restart of the case. The case has been adjourned until the 7th of July, time enough for the lawyers to confirm the veracity of the document presented in court as coming from the President of the National assembly. Mark Bareta (left) and Tapang Ivo Archives The government has made public names of some front-line Anglophone Separatist leaders who have been marked wanted for their role in inciting youths to pick up arms against the State. Most of those cited in the list are from Europe, but the government has remained confident that they will be either arrested by their home countries or repatriated to Cameroon. Their names were made public on the sidelines of unveiling of plans to help Internally Displaced Anglophones and Refugees in Nigeria who have ran away from home following military clampdown on villages. Names declared Wanted by Cameroon Mark Bara, alias Bareta (Belgium), Ayaba Cho Lucas (Norway), Tapang Ivo Tanku, Akwanga Ebenezer, Dereck Mbongo, Nsoh Nkem Foncha, Chris Anu and Yinkfu Nsangong (United States of America), Shey Kaavi Wo Melim (Austria), Akoson Pauline Diale , Akoson Raymond and Brado Etchu Tabenyang (Nigeria), John Mbah Akuro and Larry Eyong (South Africa). The list further states that they organize fundraising to buy arms and fund terrorist activities. In response, one of the activists, Mark Bareta said, From the names mentioned above by the government, we now understand why we must collaborate once and for all and push them out of Ambazonia. Those whose names are not there are still on the waiting list and all of us are affected. Southern Cameroonians must not give up. Its now a matter of live free or die. The report by the government further revealed that since last June 11, 2018, 84 men in uniform have lost their lives including; 32 soldiers, 42 gendarmes, 7 Police Officers, 2 prison warders and 1 eco guard. However, the report by the government failed to take into accounts dozens of villages burnt by the military, houses looted and hundreths killed by Soldiers. The report also failed to note that it was becaus eof military excesses that thousand fled their homes to neighboring Nigeria while others are IDPs. Des gendarmes camerounais Archives The Gendarmerie boss has promised severe sanctions for soldiers who will not respect instructions prescribed by hierarchy and ethics of the profession. Videos of military officers brutalizing civilians in the fight against secessionists in Cameroon are circulating on the social media, top confidential security messages and communications are being leaked on the social media. Soldiers have turn to expose their status on the social media through their personal accounts, specialized group chats and interactions, and the list is long. The activities of some soldiers and security officers on the social media have turned out to tarnish the image of the Cameroon military. Most international Non Governmental Organizations and international institutions that have condemned and criticized the actions of the military especially in the ongoing Anglophone Crisis base their facts on social media publications (Facebook and WhatsApp), with a clear example being the video of security forces torturing a civilian in the South West region that went viral on WhatsApp provoking international condemnation. The Minister Delegate at the Presidency of the Republic in charge of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo had ordered an investigation to bring to book authors of the acts and those who took it to the social media. Results of the investigations are still to be released. This picture of the actions and activities of the military on the social media is what has provoked the Secretary of State at the ministry of defense in charge of the National Gendarmerie; Galax Yves Landry Etoga to give firm instructions on how security forces especially elements of the National Gendarmerie should behave on the social media. Henceforth the use of social media for soldiers shall respect specific conditions laid down by the Gendarmerie boss. First, all social media accounts (Facebook , WhatsApp, Instagram) of gendarme officers exposing their status through their profile pictures and/or professional information have to be blocked with immediate effect. The creation of special discussion groups and forums on the social media by gendarme officers has been prohibited except after obtaining prior authorization from hierarchy to do so. The Secretary of State, Galax Etoga argues that such groups are similar to associations and should respect dispositions in force both at the level of the State and within the ranks of the military. Existing groups administrators have been given a very short period of time to close down their entire groups because it is through such groups that basic confidential and secret in-service documents are leaked out. Gendarme officers on special assignments have also been forbidden to use android phones when on duties for fear that they could be tempted to put up strategic information on the social media. The communique from the Secretary of State warns with strong terms all those who will fail to respect the new dispositions and instructions from hierarchy. All attempts to talk to some gendarme officers to comment the decision from their boss were to no avail. Most made us to understand that the new dispositions though may not favor everyone is considered as instructions or better still orders. Bernard Okalia Bilai, Gouverneur du Sud-Ouest CIN Screen Capture South West Governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai has told the Press that the region which his commands is under control despite recent upsurge of insecurity in some Divisions. He mad the reassurance at the weekend in his office in Buea amidst tense security situation in the region. Governor Okalia said, We have exchanged with SDOs and regional Defense Forces; the region is under control. There are some disturbances but with the collaboration of everybody, entire population, people of goodwill, traditional rulers, political leaders, elites and the media, I think we will overcome all those challenges. During the meeting, participants raised security concerns on some major events upcoming such as back to school, AFCON 2019, elections among others. The Governor said, We are preparing for future events, back to school will soon be knocking, all those activities begin now, that is why we invited all stakeholders. We want to continue to sensitize the population to know that the truth is that they should come back to their homes. Bernard Okalia Bilai also appealed on those who have fled their homes because of Anglophone crisis to go back to their respective homes, They should not be afraid of Security forces, instead they should be reassured when the forces of law and order are there. The elites will invite them to come back and traditional rulers should sensitize them to come back. We cannot dialogue with people who are in bushes, he said. The south west regional Governor said what those in bushes cannot help the situation, he assured that when they will come back to the village, discussions will continue. We need to stop violence and come back to normal before any other initiative, he bemoaned. Instead of going to bushes, they should come back to their villages, we have many things to offer to them, we are preparing for the AFCON 2019, there is much in stock for them. | BY Ricki Green | Top industry talent, Georgia Arnott (right) and Bryce Coombe (left), have joined the senior ranks of AJF Partnership a GrowthOps Business fuelling the companys momentum. Arnott, a founding partner of Banjo Advertising, joins AJF in the role of creative director and will work across AJFs account with Target. Coombe joins AJF in the role of client partner on the Bupa account after a little over two years with CHE Proximity and nearly a decade with Clemenger BBDO. AJF founding partner and business director, Andrew Fabbro welcomed the appointments recognising the significant experience both individuals bring to the business. Says Fabbro: Georgia brings a huge amount of experience and talent to AJF Partnership and GrowthOps. Shes a proven creative leader on iconic Australian brands and has the business acumen to match. Shes a big thinker, hugely determined to make a real difference, and were excited about the drive and passion shell bring to the business and our clients. Bryce brings a passion for the power of creative problem solving and new ideas to business transformation and growth. His experience with data, tech, customer experience and disruptive content is a perfect fit with AJF and GrowthOps plans for the future. Were excited to have attracted such a senior industry figure to our business. Ms Arnott founded Banjo Advertising alongside Andrew Varasdi and Ben Lyttle in 2009. She is one of Australias most awarded female creatives. Some of the local brands Ms Arnott has helped shape include AMP, Surf Life Saving, Nandos, Best&Less, Bonds, Crown, Sheridan, MLA, Hutchinson 3, Purina, RSPCA, Dominos and Marie Claire. Globally, she has worked on Lexus, United Airlines, Nestle, Levis, Sony, Miller Lite, Coca-Cola and Guinness. Says Arnott: I could not be joining AJF at a better time. The momentum behind both AJF, GrowthOps and their clients is incredible at the moment and Im excited to work on some of the most iconic brands in the country with some of the nicest people in the country. Coombe joined Clemenger BBDO Adelaide in early 2007 and quickly rose through the ranks to become head of account management and board member. In 2013 he was appointed Clemenger BBDO Adelaides fourth managing director in 46 years. In 2015, he moved to Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and subsequently to CHE Proximity as client partner working across clients in FMCG, retail, professional services, government and more. Coombe was client lead on Snickers Hungerithm, recognised by the Gunn Report as the second most awarded campaign in the world in 2017. Says Coombe: The opportunity to be part of one of Australias most effective agencies during a time of growth and expansion with the other GrowthOps businesses was simply too good an opportunity to pass up. AJF Partnership has developed a solid reputation for delivering effective creative work over many years and has cultivated an outstanding group of people working across some of Australias most iconic brands. Im looking forward to the opportunity to help continue this growth and continue the success of the company. AJF Partnership is the only Australian agency to ever win the grand Effie twice. | BY Ricki Green | APN Outdoor congratulates the Grand Prix winners in the Outdoor Lions category at the 2018 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival of Creativity: McDonalds Restaurants of Canada and Comedy Central. McDonalds minimalist campaign, Follow The Arches, was created by the Canadian agency Cossette and was described by Outdoor Jury president Chris Garbutt (global chief creative officer at TBWA), as pure and iconic. The campaign was based on the restaurant chains logo and directed drivers to follow the curves of the M in the arches in whichever direction they need to go, with messages such as Next Exit, On Your Left and Just Missed Us. Comedy Centrals winning entry was less traditional. Its Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library was a satirical museum experience showcasing Trumps relationship with Twitter. The free pop-up was created via Pop2Life and situated near Trump Tower in New York. Says Charlotte Valente, general manager, marketing, APN Outdoor: While its disappointing our Australian entrants didnt take home Gold, Outdoor still enjoyed the highest number of entries, with twice as many entries as any other category. The campaign from McDonalds is a fantastic example of less is more. The brand leveraged its iconic logo to create something that is instantly recognisable yet never revealed the brand in its entirety to provide an informative message. Sometimes breaking the rules to cut through makes sense. Mr Garbutt told www.canneslens.com.au: McDonalds [campaign] transcends languages, its so simple, confident and iconic. Comedy Centrals Donald J Trump Presidential Twitter Library was a little bit less traditional. It was fantastic because it invited the audience in, utilising humour as an incredibly effective medium to combat the huge tension surrounding the current political landscape in America. The bigger narrative around outdoor occurs when human beings want to change something for the better they take to the streets. Outdoor media has the ability to engage in a face-to-face conversation on the streets, so in a way its the most revolutionary medium we have. | BY Ricki Green | Two executiuons in Aboriginal Victorias campaign in support of Australias first-ever treaty legislation, Deadly Questions, has been deemed too controversial to run by one of Australias leading outdoor media providers, APN Media. The online platform Deadly Questions, created by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, provides a safe space for people to ask questions and have them answered by Aboriginal Victorians, to learn more about their cultures, and the purpose, value and process of Treaty. Acting on advice from the Outdoor Media Association (OMA), APN Media has refused to run two of seven executions in the campaign, which features a series of questions drawn directly from Victorians via the Deadly Questions website. Guidance from the OMA was that the creative could be deemed to be discriminatory according to the AANAs code of ethics. Says APN Outdoor Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, James Warburton: When the ads in question were submitted to us, we referred them to the Outdoor Media Association which in turn referred them to the Advertising Standards Bureau, which is usual practice. The ASB advised that two of the ads might be in breach of the industrys code of ethics. This information was conveyed to the agency that created the ads. A source familiar with what happened says that when APN told Clemenger BBDO that two of the seven ads it had created could be in breach, it cancelled all of the ad bookings with APN. So really, the fact the ads are not running comes down to Clemenger, not APN, says this source. Oddly, when JCDecaux also raised concerns about the two ads that the ASB said could be in breach, Clemenger did not pull the other ads from JCDecaux. A spokesperson for Aboriginal Victoria commented that the irony of the decision wasnt lost on Aboriginal Victoria and its members. Deadly Questions is a pivotal moment for Aboriginal Victorians. Weve invited members of the community to participate in an open forum to help break down the barriers between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal members of the community as we continue on our journey to Treaty. We understand that some of the questions asked by the public and that we are repeating in the campaign are provocative, but thats the point. To have an open discussion we need to acknowledge that some ugly viewpoints exist. We need our media partners to stand up and support Aboriginal Victorians throughout this process. Its incredibly disappointing to have APN and the OMA dictate what they think is appropriate with regards to discrimination, when these questions are ones that we invited, are providing responses to, and represent the real conversation that Victorians want to have. The outdoor media campaign will continue via oOH! Media and, CB understands, JCDecaux. Says Simon Lamplough, managing director, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne: The campaign was developed in partnership with Aboriginal Victorians and the Treaty Working Group to provide a platform that encourages discussion amongst all Victorians about the issue of Treaty. Our brief was to change perceptions and create work with cultural impact. Were very grateful that oOh! Media has come to the rescue and agreed to help facilitate this important conversation. Victorians can continue to ask their Deadly Questions at Deadly Questions. | BY Ricki Green | J. Walter Thompson Perth has appointed award-winning creative Joe Hawkins as Creative Director. The move will see Hawkins (pictured near left with JWT Perth MD Doni Savvides) depart his role as Creative Group Head at Marketforce to join J. Walter Thompson, following continued growth at the agency. Its a swap of sorts between the two agencies, with former JWT Perth CD Paul Coghlan having moved to Marketforce as Creative Director at the beginning of this month. Hawkins departure comes hard on the heels of rising team Matt Wilson & Hayden Griffiths move to The Brand Agency. Simon Langley, Executive Creative Director J. Walter Thompson said: We are absolutely thrilled Joe has decided to join the team here in Perth. This isnt the first time weve tried to hire him over the years, so its exciting that the time is now right. He has a proven track record of world class creative and I look forward to our team and our clients benefiting from his talent. On top of this hes also a lovely bloke. With more than 16 years in the industry, Hawkins has worked at some of the regions best creative agencies, including DDB New Zealand, R/GA Singapore, Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, and 303MullenLowe Perth. Hes also a seasoned advertising tutor and creative mentor, having headed the national AWARD School program, and tutored across Sydney, Singapore and Perth. Hes currently teaching AdSchools Copywriting course, and sits on the panel for the national Siren commercial radio awards. Its fair to say that a lot of planets aligned to make this happen, and I couldnt be happier, said Hawkins. Great agencies not only nurture and encourage a culture that creates effective, and often award-winning work, they also have a habit of being full of some really nice, endearingly humble, talented people. The combination of those two things becomes a powerful magnet for attracting the best staff, as well as attracting the best clients. Because at the end of the day, we all want to do great work, with great people, and have some fun doing it. J. Walter Thompson is that agency here in Perth. Doni has helped to shape a work environment thats seen the agency consistently punch above its weight; and their ability to work so closely with and share the resources of the broader J. Walter Thompson network is a very real strength of the office. And the fact that my first day is also my birthday kind of tells me that the universe is a big fan of the place, too. I cant wait to start. General Manager, Doni Savvides, said: Im delighted to be working with Joe again. Hes a fantastic creative leader whose ambition matches our own. Hes the perfect person to help continue our positive momentum here in WA. Hawkins has been awarded at every major local and international award show, including Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Clio, LIA, Spikes and AWARD, and has worked with some of the worlds leading brands, including Mastercard, VW, McDonalds, Cadbury, SKY TV and IKEA. Locally, he created effective and award-winning work for many of the states top clients, from the Office of Road Safety, Road Safety Commission, Lotterywest, HBF, ECU and Curtin University, to TAB, Transperth, Art Gallery of WA and Alinta Energy. | BY Ricki Green | Kim Bartowski, creative director and associate partner at IBM iX is representing Australia on the Cannes Creative Data Lions jury. Bartowski, along with most of the other Australian and NZ jurors writes exclusively for CB. A POV bigger than the product you sell Today we got to a shortlist. It was a collaborative conversation about what is data in todays world and how we manipulate that data to form creative intent and experiences. More importantly, we all knew the work we reviewed would set a benchmark of whats expected for years to come. The Creative Data Lions includes marketing campaigns, and it also includes charity work, product design and journalism. With the past years conversation around fake news and the newsfeed bubble, what people understand as real content versus advertising created the grounds for a heavy debate. A.I. was also prevalent in much of the work submitted. It was almost as important as Photoshop to create many of the case studies. Both established and developing countries are all huge adopters of technologies that could solve problems for the people. Agencies and independent brands highlighted a range of political and societal problems that tried to bring transparency and democracy to issues around crime, government and social acceptance. They werent selling products they were using their media opportunities to give a voice to the people. | BY Ricki Green | Rosie Stone, a copywriter at LOUD and Tristan Viney, creative director at Eardrum are competing in the Digital category of the Cannes Young Lions competition. Here, the pair report exclusively for Campaign Brief. Long flight, we were tired, weather wonderful, Cannes very pretty, yada yada yada. Lets get to the good stuff. First talk of the day was David Drogas Im not sure Im right but who is. What a start. David spent about 45 mins talking about his career and the importance of choosing jobs that inspire you rather than taking the ones that offer you the most security. It was a wonderful mix of honest advice, interesting anecdotes and commentary on the industry. Memorable quotes include Good intentions, talent and ethics can power through anything and I left the agency with a Persian rug and my freedom. Tres Aladin. Next up was Goodby Silverstein and Michael Wolff discussing Fire and Fury: the new normal? It was an interesting conversation touching on Michaels experience within the White House as well as trumps affect on the media. He talked about Trumps sales technique of extreme flattery, the way his presidency has turned us all into news junkies and the difficulty of trying to apply rational political analysis to a man who has no concept of cause and effect After that was The Rise of Hackvertising with Burger King and DAVID The Agency. Honestly, this was the most joyful client relationship I have ever seen. They seemed like honest to god bros. If your still reading this, please stop and go find the talk video. | BY Ricki Green | The Wilderness Society has today launched Save Ugly a radical new conservation campaign via Curious Film to raise awareness of all the ugly creatures that help make life possible, warts and all. Save Ugly is part of a major brand repositioning by The Wilderness Society, which aims to engage Australians of all ages and backgrounds. Rather than focusing on protecting the charismatic species pandas, whales and tigers The Wilderness Society is championing all the other vital parts of ecosystems. The bits that arent so beautiful. To mark the launch, The Wilderness Society has enlisted Hollywood actress and activist, Rosario Dawson, as well as a local cast of Aussie talent including Cate Blanchett and Joel Edgerton to feature in a three-minute musical comedy film, alongside a range of social media content and engagement activity. Dressed as an Ethmia Clytodoxa Moth, the film features Rosario singing her way around Australias lesser known, uglier animals that help keep the worlds ecosystems functioning such as the green, mohawk-wearing Mary River Turtle which breathes through its genitals, and the Southern Right Whale whose faeces provides much-needed nutrients to the oceans phytoplankton. The campaign raises awareness that despite their ugliness, these quirky qualities are crucial for soil improvement, pollination, aquatic food webs and water purification. The Save Ugly Cast Rosario Dawson as Ethmia Clytodoxa Moth Cate Blanchett as Mary River Turtle Joel Edgerton as Ghost Shark Teresa Palmer as Southern Right Whale Claudia ODoherty as Phytoplankton Erik Thomson as South-Eastern Long-Eared Bat Samara Weaving as Ghost Bat Sara Wiseman as Ghost Bat Dan Wyllie as Giant Gippsland Earthworm Says Rob Beamish, national creative and communications director, The Wilderness Society Australia: Our research shows people do care about the environment. But their concern is latent. They dont see the immediate threat or consider other concerns more significant. Plus, theres an emotional bias about green groups in peoples minds that hinders our ability to engage the mainstream. These challenges have called for a fresh approach that grabs peoples attention and makes the message super sticky. Starting with Save Ugly, we have a deep campaign strategy to overhaul the environmental protection regime in Australia, with new laws and a new body to monitor and enforce change. This campaign is the humorous tip of a very serious spear. Save Ugly is our excuse to start conversations about humankinds need to preserve intact ecosystems, for our own survival. Then drive the change needed to reflect this in legislation. Along with a talented cast, the film has been produced by Curious Film and directed by none other than New Zealand-born Zoe Bell famously known for her role as Uma Thurmans stunt double in Kill Bill. Says Bell: Everything about this project just felt good, start to finish. The guys at The Wilderness Society are amazing taking a deeply worthy cause, and coming up with an entirely fresh concept. I feel so honoured to be a part of it. We had a stellar crew, and everyone from construction, camera and costume, to producers, actors and puppeteers were so excited to get involved and lend their support. Its a true testament to the bold concept that is Save Ugly, and the desire of everyone to get behind such an incredible cause. Supporting the full visual rebrand which includes a new website and logo design the film will go live on the campaign landing page from today, supported by a series of short content pieces shared on The Wilderness Societys social channels encouraging people to show their support and donate to the cause. Says Beamish: Were incredibly grateful to have received such generous support on this project. Curious Film and Electric Dreams in particular have donated so much of their time to help bring this idea to fruition. Its been a huge investment from all parties involved, but it just goes to show what can be achieved when groups come together for something they truly believe in. The Wilderness Society works to support life because life supports all of us. People can get involved by making a one-off donation, supporting a campaign action,becoming a member, purchasing a Save Ugly t-shirt, or adopting an ugly animal. Find out how you can help Save Ugly at ugly.wilderness.org.au. Twitter: @Wilderness_Aus Instagram: Wilderness_AUS Hashtag: #SaveUgly The Wilderness Society National Comms & Creative Director: Rob Beamish Creative Group Heads: Jono Aidney & Gabe Woodmansey Strategy: Rob Beamish Cast: Rosario Dawson Cate Blanchett Joel Edgerton Teresa Palma Claudia ODoherty Erik Thomson Samara Weaving Sara Wiseman Dan Wyllie Film Production: Curious Film Director: Zoe Bell Executive Producer: Matt Noonan Producer: Stephen Fitzgibbon DOP: Christopher Blauvelt Editor: Niles Howard VFX / Grade: Alt.vfx Music Production: Electric Dreams Writer & Producer: Tommy Spender Music Supervisor & Producer: Leyla Varela Music Consultant: Karl RIchter, Level 2 Music PR, Content and Social: B.B.E Strategy Director: Adam Beaupeurt PR & Content Director: Georgia Ness PR & Content Manager: Kate Donnelly Social Strategy: Edan OGrady Content Producer: Anne Verhoeven | BY Ricki Green | Paul Coghlan (pictured), currently executive creative director at J. Walter Thompson Perth, will move to Marketforce as ECD following the departure of Pat Lennox and Ben Green, who are leaving in June to start their own consultancy. The pair shared their intentions with Marketforce management in early January, to provide advance notice for the agency to find a new creative leader. Creative chairman of Clemenger BBDO, James McGrath reflected on their eight years by saying: In both we have been the beneficiary of wonderful creative integrity through deep intelligence. Coghlan has had a long association with Clemenger, having started in the despatch department as the top graduate for Copy School in Sydney. Prior to joining JWT Perth, Coghlan was Creative Director at Meerkats, where he spent more than eight years, winning a raft of local and international awards for his work across a range of major brands. Robert Morgan, Clemenger Group Executive Chairman described Coghlan as a new age creative leader totally comfortable with the opportunities and challenges presented to creativity and the digital/data age. He is also a highly engaging educator, investing time lecturing and tutoring. Last year was appointed Head of Award School in Perth, the pre-eminent training program for aspiring Creatives. Paul joins our wonderful generation of brilliant leaders, uniquely having worked with four of them at different times, Evan Roberts and Stephen de Wolf at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, Ant White at CHEP and Levi Slavin at Colenso BBDO said McGrath. During Coghlans career he has worked on brands such as RAC, iiNet, Mercedes Benz, Telecom NZ, Lotterywest, HBF, Murdoch University, Brownes Dairy, and launched P&N Bank in WA. Newly appointed Marketforce Chairman and acting CEO Jim Gall said Coghlan would be a key architect of the Agencys new era in Perth. Paul will bring great creative leadership to the Clemenger BBDO Network, as well as further enhancing our reputation as the most powerful creative network in Australasia. SEX FILES: How to successfully express yourself this coming spook season The Halloween season is upon us and frankly, I am all for it. I have seasonal depression (along with just regular ole depression) so as the air chills and everything begins to taste like pumpkin spice even things that really shouldnt this typically is when I transform into whatever the autumnal equivalent of Ebenezer Scrooge is. I hole up at home, hide under an afghan and pray for warmer days while throwing cinnamon-heavy Starbucks seasonal drinks at children from my balcony (Im kidding about the last one). The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museums Mollusks on the Move van has been making waves recently throughout Southwest Florida. The Mollusks on the Move program was developed last year with the mission of connecting local children with the natural world through their love of seashells. To date, it has reached more than 3,000 students in Lee, Collier, Hendry, and Sarasota counties at schools, festivals, camps and county parks. Thanks to partners like the Golisano Childrens Hospital of Southwest Florida, Mollusks on the Move will bring its touch tanks to young hospital patients each month. On May 7, June 12 and June 19, the program provided several children with the unique opportunity to experience the animals one-on-one. Mollusks on the Move focuses on mollusk ecology, behavior and reproduction to foster lifelong learning and respect for the sciences. The program includes an introduction to Southwest Florida shells and touch tank demonstrations with live mollusks, and provides students with a keepsake shell and their own laminated Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum Shell Guide. Mollusks are a great way to distract patients from whatever ails them, museum educator Leigh Gay said. The kids are immediately mesmerized by these slimy, odd, and shelled creatures. I am looking forward to each of our upcoming visits at Golisano. After meeting the mollusks, many patients described their favorites: The shark eye is so slimy! one child said. My favorite part was when the fighting conch flipped over with its foot, another said. It was really fast. One patient was so enthusiastic about mollusks that she vowed to find them at the beach and show her parents as soon as she gets out of the hospital. I didnt even know they were out there, she said. Mollusks on the Move benefits children and parents alike. Many of the families never get a chance to explore the beach, so meeting the live mollusks who create the shells can be a life-changing experience. For more information, contact Leigh Gay at lgay@shellmuseum.org or 239-395-2233. The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum is at 3075 Sanibel Captiva Road, Sanibel. Photo: File photo Two have become one to form a new school at UBC. The Okanagan and Vancouver Faculties of Education have merged to create the Okanagan School of Education University officials say the merger optimizes resources and improves professional development opportunities The merger will come into effect on July 1. It combines the Faculties of Education on both campuses into a single, unified faculty to allow for better alignment of infrastructure, while preserving autonomy in the Okanagan through the creation of the Okanagan School of Education. After extensive consultation with our many partners, faculty, staff and students, there was overwhelming support for this merger in the Okanagan and in Vancouver, said Blye Frank, Dean of the UBC Faculty of Education. Frank says that the new structure will offer educators a wider range of professional development opportunities to increase their knowledge and skill sets with no negative impacts on student experience. The unique degree programs and requirements for each campus will remain unchanged and the Okanagan School of Education will maintain its autonomy to manage its own budget, programs and curricula. Susan Crichton, associate dean of the UBC Okanagan Faculty of Education, says the changes will help strengthen the ability of both campuses to serve the educational and professional development needs of students and alumni UBCs combined Faculty of Education will boast more than 800 teacher education candidates and many graduate-level students in numerous programs across the Okanagan and Vancouver campuses. UBC is responsible for preparing 45 per cent of British Columbias elementary teachers, the majority of secondary teachers, and a significant proportion of the provinces special needs and First Nations teachers, counsellors, school administrators, school psychologists and vocational rehabilitation counsellors. Photo: CTV A longtime tent encampment for the homeless in Surrey could begin shutting down as supportive housing and shelter beds are opened up in the Vancouver suburb. Officials in Surrey and Victoria say, based on assessed need, homeless residents living in tents along a street in the Whalley neighbourhood will be offered access to 160 units of new, modular housing in the same area. A news release from the Housing Ministry says those not offered one of the secure, individual rooms will be eligible for a shelter bed at one of several local shelters. Rooms in the modular housing units include private bathrooms, access to meal programs, counselling and medical facilities, support that Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner says will help restore dignity to the campers. The moving process is expected to take up to three days and the release says staff will be available to help pack and transport belongings and guide residents to the new units. The site, dubbed the Surrey Strip, is home to about 140 campers in at least 80 tents, pitched along the side of the street. Critics have said the camp site brought crime, vandalism and garbage to the area, while Surrey's Fire Chief Len Garis said in January that 28 per cent of the city's overdoses and nine per cent of illicit drug deaths occurred in the two block stretch. An case-management team will be available for residents of the temporary housing says Dr. Victoria Lee, the Fraser Health chief medical health officer. "A person should be able to access effective and responsive services and supports, regardless of where he or she is in the process of recovery from addiction, mental illness, or both," she says in the release. Starting next year, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing says the temporary units will be replaced with 250 units of permanent modular housing as part of the New Democrat government's response to the homeless crisis in the province. Photo: RCMP Simon Rypiak The trial for an alleged Kelowna pimp has been pushed back more than five months after he found a new lawyer. Simon Rypiak was arrested in August 2016, the culmination of an 11-month police investigation across B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec. The 34-year-old, who went by the name of Simon Ross, is facing 14 charges, including sexual assault, procuring sexual services of a person under 18, assault causing bodily harm and benefiting from sexual services. He's accused of recruiting girls between the ages of 15 and 20 across Canada to work in his Kelowna-based escort business using social media. Upon his arrest, police said they believed Rypiak used physical violence to maintain control of his victims, and nine alleged victims had been identified by police. At the time, police reached out to the public to find additional victims, but it's unclear if more were found. In January, Rypiak's three-week trial was scheduled to begin Oct. 22, 2018, but on Monday the date was pushed back to April 8, 2019. The trial was adjourned at the request of the accused to accommodate new counsel, explained Dan McLoughlin, communications counsel with the BC Prosecution Service. Alanna Kelly Drones, ATVs and hikers gathered around Mabel Lake to help search for a couple and their missing plane. The search for Dominic Neron and Ashley Bourgeault continues almost seven months since they were last seen. The couple took off in their white-and-burgundy, single-engine Mooney aircraft on Nov. 25, 2017 from Penticton. They were never heard from again. Tammy Neron, Dominics sister, said about a dozen people came out and spent last weekend searching. This is something that when it first happened it was so tragic and so sudden and we were all immediately throw in this, she said. There is no amount of time, even if its a missing person case that doesnt make this feel just as urgent as the very first day It happened. Tammy said the terrain they are searching is vast, mountainous and densely treed that it is not a job for 10 people. No amount of help we get seems like enough, she said. Images captured by a drone are being processed and then the family will cover over each one scanning for any sign of a downed plane. Dominics plane had a wing span of 36 feet and would have caused a significant number of trees to be knocked over or leave behind broken tree tops. Broken tree tops is the main thing they are asking people to look for, said Tammy. Anyone who wants to help in the search is being asked to contact Tammy directly at 780-405-7649. I hope that Ashley and Dominic are found, and I hope that everyone that is grieving right now finds the time to heal, said Tammy. Colton Davies In the wake of a recent overdose death on the Penticton Indian Band, the First Nation says it plans to approach the federal government for financial support to provide addiction relief. The PIB shared the news on Tuesday to media members, four days after it announced a ban on drugs and a desire to be alcohol free. Chief Chad Eneas says it's premature to talk about specifics on the plan, but he says the band is working to "do things differently" with the community in terms of engagement and with helping families deal with addiction. The PIB will be working through "traditional models" of its family systems, Eneas says. He adds the band will soon be adding a second community constable soon who has "extensive drug investigation experience," through a tripartite agreement with the Penticton RCMP. But he says the band is limited with the formal supports it can offer. "I'm just going to say it, the federal government doesn't provide enough resources for us to adequately address the needs of our community. There's a lot I could say about that but I won't, because we need to maintain a respectful dialogue," Eneas says. "We'll be knocking on their doors real soon with what the community needs, but the first part is just to get over this initial shock and grief in our community and come together." Eneas says the Okanagan is a "hot spot" for overdoses in B.C., and says young people are especially vulnerable. Coun. Suzanne Johnson says the band is working with the First Nations Health Authority to increase access to services. "We need to access every partner and every possible opportunity because the resources are often really limited and you just have to try and pull everything together to come up with services and supports that are helpful." Photo: Carianne Anderson A pet dragon broke free from its home and went for a stroll in Westbank, Tuesday. Carianne Anderson spotted the creature crawling around at Jubilee Park just after 1 p.m. Anderson and her son were in their pool when they saw something move. The blue leash is what caught my eye, she said. They brought the lizard inside and posted a picture of the critter on the Mamas for Mamas Facebook group. She said her son was excited to see the lizard and checked on it in the bathtub every half hour. By 4:30 p.m. the owners, who live on the next street over, had contacted Anderson and ended the little guys adventure. Photo: CTV The mayor of Victoria is hailing a court victory allowing the city to enact a bylaw that will prohibit grocery stores from offering or selling plastic bags to shoppers. Lisa Helps says in a news release that the B.C. Supreme Court decision represents an important step in moving away from unsustainable business practices that create high volumes of waste from single-use plastic bags. The Canadian Plastic Bag Association challenged the bylaw, saying it amounts to an environmental regulation that the city does not have the power to enact without provincial approval. Justice Nathan Smith says the bylaw is characterized as a business regulation and even though some councillors may have been motivated by broad concerns for the environment, they were considering ways in which discarded plastic bags impact municipal facilities and services. The bylaw that goes into effect in July calls on businesses to charge customers 15 cents for a paper bag and $1 for a reusable bag, but small paper bags used for items such as bulk foods, meat, bakery goods and plants would still be free. Fees would increase next January to 25 cents for a paper bag and $2 for a reusable bag. Chantelle Deacon Jeremy Poettcker thought someone chucked a needle and syringe at him and a friend, but he was wrong it dropped from the sky. They were standing in the parking lot at the 7-Eleven on 39th Avenue in Vernon when the needle almost hit them. To their surprise, they looked up and a crow was flying over them. "We're looking, thinking 'what happened?'" said Poettcker, a resident of Vernon. "All of a sudden, we see this crow fly by, and we were like, 'a bird dropped it!'" The needle was stopped by an awning before falling on the ground between them. He posted his experience to the Vernon Rant and Rave Facebook page, where it received an abundance of feedback. The unfortunate incident comes at a time when many community members have found used needles that haven't been properly disposed of. Photo: Colton Davies The emergency response to floods and fires cost the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen more than $1.25 million in 2017. In its annual statement of financial information, the RDOS said it paid close to $1.1 million for contractors and more than $180,000 in overtime wages, attributed to the Emergency Operations Centre, for a price tag just under $1.26 million. All of those funds are recoverable from the provincial government. The EOC was open for five months last year, beginning in May. It opened much earlier this year, on March 23, but was closed on June 15 for the time being. Including the contract costs for emergencies, the regional district spent just under $23.7 million on good or services. The spike in emergency costs also contributed to just over $6.5 million in staff wages paid last year, a jump from just under $5.8 million in 2016. The regional district's "sunshine list" of 27 staffers who are making more than $75,000 earned just over $2.4 million collectively. The sunshine list has risen steadily from seven staff members in 2009 to 27 this year, and is up from 23 a year ago. The $75,000 threshold for disclosure has been the same since 2001. The highest-paid RDOS staff members in 2017 were chief administrative officer Bill Newell ($157,625), community services manager Mark Woods ($140,593), human resources manager Marnie Manders ($103,140), information services manager Tim Bouwmeester ($100,940), and legislative services manager Christy Malden ($99,994). Regional district chair Karla Kozakevich earned $62,607 last year, and 29 directors and alternate directors were paid a total of $419,438 in wages. Their collective wages have remained nearly the same for three straight years, dropping from $420,125 in 2015. Photo: The Canadian Press In this May 4, 2018, file photo, defendant Louise Anna Turpin, second left, talks with an investigator as her husband David Allen Turpin, right, looks on during a court appearance in Riverside, Calif. Prosecutors were expected to begin making their case Wednesday against a Southern California couple suspected of starving and shackling their children in a case that drew worldwide headlines when the parents were arrested last winter. David and Louise Turpin are scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing in Superior Court in Riverside, where a judge will weigh whether authorities have amassed enough evidence for a trial. The couple has pleaded not guilty to torture, child abuse and other charges. They were arrested after their 17-year-old daughter jumped out of a window to escape the family's Perris, California, home in January and called 911. They are being held on $12 million bail each. Authorities said their home reeked of human waste and the evidence of starvation was obvious, with the oldest of 13 siblings weighing just 82 pounds. The children were shackled as punishment, denied food and toys and allowed to do little except write in journals, prosecutors have said. They said the children were isolated from each other and locked in different rooms in small groups; they did not have access to televisions or radios but expressed themselves in the hundreds of journals that investigators seized from the home. Most of the Turpin children were homeschooled but one of the older boys was allowed to attend classes at a local college. His mother would drive him there, stay outside in the hallway during the class and then take him back home as soon as the class ended, prosecutors said. After they were freed from the home, the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29, were immediately hospitalized and eventually released. The current whereabouts of the children is unknown. A spokeswoman for the county's social services department declined to discuss the case. Jack Osborn, an attorney appointed to represent the couple's seven adult children, said earlier this year they were "doing well." They have participated in music therapy programs, made crafts and world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma held a special concert for them. They communicated with their younger siblings over Skype. "They're happy, they are wanting to move forward, they do not want to dwell on the past and . they want their identity to be now and going forward the things they hope to do, the dreams they have. They do not want people to think of them only as a possible victim, but as young adults setting off on their lives," he told the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper in February. Osborn did not respond to an email from The Associated Press this week. Photo: The Canadian Press The Clark County Fire Department responds to a water main break in the loading dock area of the convention center at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, in Las Vegas. A water main broke Tuesday flooding a convention centre in the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that the break dumped water onto the first floor of the convention area, and about a thousand people on the second floor had to be relocated. Clark County fire officials say there was no structural damage to the building, although there was some damage to part of the first-floor ceiling. No injuries were reported. An MGM Resorts International spokesman said the leak did not disrupt operations and that crews were working to clean up the water as quickly as possible. In October, a gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay into a crowd below at an outdoor concert, killing 58 people. Madison Erhardt UPDATE: 11:30 a.m. Three people were ejected from a vehicle and rushed to hospital after a high-speed crash at 3 a.m. this morning in Rutland. A police officer was conducting routine patrol along Highway 33 when he observed a vehicle travelling at a high rate of speed drive by him in the opposite direction. RCMP report that the vehicle crossed into oncoming lanes and struck a wall. Three people and the driver were rushed to the hospital with what are believed to be serious injuries. The area around Highway 33 and Highway 97 remains closed, and traffic is being re-routed. At this time it's not known how long the roads will be closed for. The Independent Investigation Office of BC is investigating and will determine if there is any link between police actions and the motor vehicle collision. A witness at the scene saw the crash as it unfolded. "They lost it right at Gerstmar. The back end of the car took out the fence and they kept spinning down the highway. The RCMP estimated it was going 180 to 200 kilometers an hour," said witness Jordy Reeve. Anyone who witnessed this incident is asked to contact the IIO BC at 1-855-446-8477. UPDATE: 7:25 a.m. Castanet's Rob Gibson is at the scene of a serious crash in Rutland and describes it as "a war zone." Highway 33 remains closed for several blocks, from Highway 97, and RCMP have three areas behind police tape. "It's like a war zone, debris is everywhere, and the car's battery flew almost a block away from where the car came to a rest," says Gibson. Neighbours are starting to mill around the area to get a look at the heavily damaged sport coupe. Six police cruisers are at the scene, which has yet to be cleared. UPDATE 6:45 a.m. RCMP still have Highway 33 closed after a single-vehicle collision on Nickel Road between Highway 33 and Leathead Road. Traffic reconstruction investigators and officers are collecting evidence and documenting it as they try to piece together what led to the crash. Reports indicate the vehicle was travelling at a high rate of speed when it struck a concrete wall or barrier. ORIGINAL 5:51 a.m. Kelowna RCMP are on the scene of a serious incident near the intersection of Highway 33 and Nickel Road. Several photos show the street strewn with debris and a silver, two-door vehicle with serious damage. The battery of the car landed in front of Taylor Road. One person who saw the wreckage tells us: "stuff all over the road, police are rerouting traffic all through the back streets, and there is police caution tape at every side street off of the eastbound lanes from Highway 97 to Gertsmar Road. Castanet reader Steve Wraith says: "at approximately 3 a.m. (I) woke up to a helicopter flying low over Nickel Road in Rutland. There was a single-vehicle accident. The silver car hit a concrete fence." Wraith heard second hand the car was travelling at excessive speed and that people were ejected from the vehicle. "Two were not moving, one was in handcuffs." Wraith says a fourth person was found later, and that his wife found a puppy with a broken paw in a nearby parking lot, which had taken shelter with an unknown man. Wraith indicates a police officer took the puppy to the vet. Photo: CTV A whale-watching tour boat came to the rescue of a flipped kayaker in the ocean off suburban Victoria Monday evening. Colwood resident Frank Hanaka, 76, was a kilometre from shore in Esquimalt Lagoon, tending to his crab traps when his kayak overturned. Outriggers fell off the kayak, and he went into the water. Hanaka was wearing a lifejacket, and his yells for help were heard on shore. But a passing tour boat reached him first and plucked him from the water before authorities arrived and retrieved the kayak. "People had heard him begging for help, crying out," Rod King of Eagle Wing Tours told CTV. Hanaka was cold but unhurt in the incident and thanked his rescuers for saving him. with files from CTV Vancouver Island Photo: Google Maps UPDATE 8:40 a.m. Andy just called Gord Vizzutti at OK Oldies 103.9 to let us know that traffic on the bridge appears to be moving as per usual after a collision at Highway 97 and Hudson/Westlake Road. Andy says he is heading towards Penticton and indicated traffic southbound is moving well and bridge traffic is back to normal. ORIGINAL 7:41 a.m. An accident at a notorious West Kelowna intersection is backing up the morning commute into Kelowna. Castanet readers report a collision at Highway 97 and Hudson/Westlake Road. There's no word yet on its severity, but commuters stuck in traffic say it is backing up heavily and they have been waiting for 30 minutes in the long line of vehicles. We'll have more details as they become available. Send your news tips, photos and video to [email protected] Photo: The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says recreational marijuana will be legal in Canada as of Oct. 17. Trudeau made the announcement during question period in the House of Commons, which is expected to rise for the summer break after today. He says the government has delayed the legalization schedule in order to give the provinces and territories more time to implement their regimes. On Tuesday, the Senate voted to end its opposition to certain aspects of the federal bill, most notably the plan to permit Canadians to cultivate marijuana plants at home. A proposed Senate amendment would have prevented legal challenges to their constitutional right to do so. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould called the legislation which still requires royal assent to become law "transformative" and predicted it would protect young people and keep organized crime out of the pot market. But she's reminding Canadians that until it goes into effect, recreational marijuana remains illegal, as is driving while impaired. Bill C-46, a companion bill that Wilson-Raybould predicts will give Canada the strongest impaired-driving rules in the world, will also become law "in the near future," she said. Until then, "I would like to also remind the public that driving while impaired by drugs is, and will remain, illegal." Photo: CTV Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is welcoming the newest member of his caucus into the fold with a new team jersey. Richard Martel, who won Monday's byelection in the Quebec riding of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, was on hand for today's caucus meeting, where he was presented with a blue jersey with a large white "C" and his name printed on the back. Martel won 52.7 per cent of the vote, more than 5,000 votes clear of Liberal rival Lina Boivin, who took 29. 5 per cent. Scheer says the Conservatives have shown that they can win anywhere, with Martel's decisive victory sending a "clear" message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Martel told caucus he's "proud" to be with them in the House of Commons and thanked Scheer for his support during the campaign. The byelection was triggered by the resignation of rookie Liberal MP Denis Lemieux. Chicoutimi-Le Fjord marks the governing party's first byelection defeat in a Liberal-held riding since Trudeau became leader in 2013. Photo: The Canadian Press A streaking fan who was hit by a B.C. Lions player has retained the services of a Toronto law firm. In a statement released Wednesday, Preszler Law Firm said the fan "suffered serious injuries, including a mild traumatic brain injury, as a result of being violently struck by BC Lions player Marcell Young." The fan, who hasn't been identified, was levelled by Young, a Lions defensive back, when he ran onto the BC Place field during a CFL game between the Lions and Montreal Alouettes on Saturday. Wearing an orange Lions jersey and a pair of boxer briefs, the fan made his way onto the field during a stoppage in play in the first quarter. Two other Lions players congratulated Young following the hit with a chest bump and a high five as a security guard apprehended the fan on the ground. The fan has since been banned from BC Place for a year. "Contrary to some news reports, our client was never arrested or taken to jail, but was released from the stadium shortly after the incident before being taken to the hospital by his family," Preszler said. The Lions said they have no comment on the development. Photo: Contributed A couple of would-be thieves were stopped mid-theft early Monday morning by a keen-eyed police officer. RCMP say at about 2:30 a.m. a patrolling RCMP officer spotted what he thought was two males attempting to steal wheels and tires from a parked vehicle on 10th Street. When the officer stopped and turned around, the two men fled. RCMP gave chase catching one man. While arresting the man, a scuffle broke out, which allowed the second man to get away. The man who was arrested is known to police. "The owner confirmed that he did not give the male in custody permission to take the wheels from his vehicle," stated Salmon Arm RCMP in a press release. The 53-year-old man that was arrested has been released to appear in court in mid-August to answer to theft charges stemming from this incident. Chelsea Powrie UPDATE: 11:00 a.m. The ducklings were scooped out of the storm drain successfully by a city worker. All three babies were saved, and now the hunt is on for their mother, who is believed to still be in the area. Even if she can't be found, though, the ducklings will be delivered to a shelter for care. ORIGINAL: 10:00 a.m. A rescue operation is being mounted in Penticton after several baby ducks fell down a storm drain. Castanet has a reporter on scene where at least three ducklings are trapped in the storm drain at the busy intersection. At least three babies can be seen in the drain, all of whom are calling out constantly, said reporter Chelsea Powrie. The ducks are trapped at the corner of Power Street and Highway 97. A witness told Castanet what appeared to be the mother duck and two ducklings were at the scene earlier, but appear to have left the area. The city has been notified and workers are on the way to rescue the babies, said Powrie. Castanet will have more information as soon as it becomes available. -with files from Darren Handschuh Photo: Contributed Someone is stealing produce from a veggie stand in Armstrong. It would seem not everyone has honour. For the past five years Jennifer Bellmann has been selling fresh produce from her Armstrong farm on the honour system. A small vegetable stand at the end of her driveway currently has fresh asparagus that people can simply pick up what they want, leave their money and be on their way. Bellmann said the system works for 99 per cent of the people. However, the remaining one per cent are causing problems. We've always done a self-serve honour system; make your own change. Most people are really good, but this month in particular we've had problems, said Bellmann. This guy is stealing a lot of product. Someone took bolt cutters the other week to the lock. Bellmann said they have an eye witness to the thefts and a good description of the suspect. She also wants other people and businesses in the area to be leery of someone with a bag full of fresh asparagus. We found out he is actually going around selling it, she said. He is going from business to business. He's selling it for $10 a pound, $8 a pound I wish I could get that. Bellmann said every once in a while, a bag of produce will go missing and a couple years ago they had several items stolen, but the culprit was caught and the thefts stopped. But the current veggie thief recently cleared out the entire stand. This is a substantial amount he is taking, said Bellmann, adding they are thinking of installing security cameras, but she admits that is not a step they wanted to take. Bellmann said they have a vehicle description and a description of the thief from an eye witness. The suspect is also trying to sell other items to local businesses such as carrots and cheese and a few other items. Despite the unscrupulous actions of one person, Bellmann said they have no plans of closing the vegetable stand any time soon. Photo: Contributed Brock Elliott, the president of Kelowna boat manufacturer Campion Boats, has had to put entire parts of his business on pause. Things in his industry became complicated last month when the United States extended tariffs on aluminum and steel to Canada and other countries. The 25 per cent tax on Canadian steel and 10 per cent tax on Canadian aluminum meant things got more expensive for American producers that use Canadian metalexpenses they passed along to manufacturers like Campion. However, when Canada retaliated with proposed tariffs of its own, things got really messy. We were doing all the spreadsheets, doing everything for 2019 pricing when this came down and we just stopped, Elliott says. We just have to wait until we know more. For more on why Elliott says the Canadian government's counter-tariff plans are "shocking," as well as what it means for the local industry, check out the full story on Castanet's sister business news website, Okanagan Edge. Photo: similkameenvalley.com The Crowsnest Highway will be closed at 7th Street in Keremeos for two days, beginning Monday, to allow crews to do soil remediation work. The village said soil suspected to be contaminated was found under the intersection recently, where upgrades to infrastructure are currently taking place. An engineering company was contracted to assess the soil. While drinking water in the underground pipes was deemed safe, the village said there is "a degree of soil contamination." A detour during the two days is available through Keremeos Bypass Road and 2nd Avenue and 9th Street. Costs for remediation will be covered by the Ministry of Transportation, the village noted. The months-long infrastructure improvement project, worth about $1.65 million, is nearing completion, and the affected section of the highway is planned to be repaved on July 3. The paving work will be followed by "a couple of weeks of sidewalk brick laying and landscaping efforts," the village said, also thanking residents and commuters for their patience during the work. Photo: Oliver Daily News A Vernon man was sentenced Wednesday to another two years in prison for a brutal unprovoked attack on a guard at the Okanagan Corrections Centre earlier this year. Jeffery Polanski, 37, pleaded guilty earlier this month to assault causing bodily harm in relation to the February 13 incident that the BCGEU publicized at the time as a violent and vicious assault. Completely unprovoked, Polanski sucker-punched a corrections officer that had his back turned to him striking him another six times with a closed fist once he was on the ground. The guard suffered 10 stitches, severe swelling, bruising and has recently been diagnosed with PTSD. He has not returned to work since the assault. 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 during the sentencing hearing June 8. The entirety of the attack was captured on surveillance camera. Judge Meg Shaw, however, dismissed an application by Castanet News Wednesday to publish the video, citing privacy concerns and the re-victimization of the guard. The Crown sought a three year jail term, while the defence asked for two years. After the assault Polanski was transferred to the Kamloops Correctional Centre, where he has been under 23 hour lockdown ever since. Having heard Mr. Polanski with his apology, I do not put significant weight on it, Shaw said, noting the facts that he attacked the guard while his back was turned and on the job were stacked against him. She noted he has two previous, albeit dated convictions for assault, one involving a police officer. Polanski was in prison serving a 18 month sentence imposed just weeks before the attack for property crime. The two year jail term handed down by Shaw will be served after his existing time is up, and he will be transferred to a federal institution. Photo: The Canadian Press The main civil works contractor on the Site C Dam has been fined just over $310,000 by WorkSafeBC for safety violations related to the tunnelling of a drainage tunnel. According to a penalty summary online, Peace River Hydro Partners Construction Ltd. was fined on May 8 following an inspection at the mega-project outside Fort St. John. The inspection found that workers were exposed to crystalline silica a lung cancer risk due to ineffective dust suppression systems and respirators. Work at the site involved bulk excavation, blasting, and crushing of materials, all activities that generate large amounts of silica dust, the WorkSafe summary reads. Tunnelling operations had begun before samples of the tunnelled materials had been taken and analyzed. Subsequent sampling identified high levels of crystalline silica in the tunnelled material. WorkSafeBC says respirators supplied to workers provided insufficient protection for the type of work being done, "a high-risk violation." At of May 31 the company, which is a partnership between Acciona and Samsung C&T Canada, has not filed an appeal of the penalty. Photo: CTV Searchers continue to look for a kayaker who hasn't been since Monday on Vancouver Island. The 56-year-old man set off from Becher Bay in East Sooke Monday afternoon, witnesses say. He was on a red, sit-on-top style kayak, which was found at Hoskyn Point Tuesday afternoon. RCMP and Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue crews are searching an area of about 1,000 square kilometres. with files from CTV Vancouver Island Photo: Facebook A former Vancouver massage therapist is accused of sexually assaulting clients. And, police believe there may be more women who haven't come forward. Bodhi Jones voluntarily resigned his registration with the B.C. College of Massage Therapists in February 2017, after several women lodged complaints. Qi Integrated Health told CTV Jones was immediately removed from his position at the West End clinic once the allegations were known. Vancouver Police investigated for more than a year before four charges of sexual assault were laid in May. The VPD is looking for any other victims who have yet to come forward. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: CTV Heavy flooding is seen in Canmore, Alta., Thursday, June 20, 2013. (Wade Graham / Twitter) An Alberta mountain town has declared a state of local emergency due to flooding from heavy rain. Some residents in Canmore have been forced to leave their homes and others have been told to prepare for possible evacuation. The town says on its website that power is also out across the community. It says flood waters have made the banks of Cougar Creek unstable and dangerous. Some highways and roads around Canmore, as well as Banff and Kananaskis, have been closed because of the water or mud slides. Environment Canada has issued a rainfall warning for the area, estimating as much as 100 millimetres of more rain could fall in the next two days. On Aug. 29 of last year, Jim Coppinger convened a press conference on the courthouse steps to announce that he was raising property taxes. The mayor and commission gave no notice; the deal was already done. Seven days later County Commission passed the tax hike on its first reading. Citizens were never invited to comment on the matter. Is this any way to run Hamilton County government? For far too long, good ol boy, backdoor politics have been standard practice in Hamilton County, and for seven years County Mayor Coppinger has been the champion of these maneuvers. Its time for change. As Hamilton Countys next mayor, I will invite every citizen to participate in their government. In my first week on the job, Ill call on County Commission to pass a comprehensive measure designed to guarantee transparency and citizen access in all aspects of county government. It will include the following reforms: Hold County Commission meetings later in the day, at a time when more citizens may attend Require County Commission to consider all ordinances after a second reading Tax ordinances shall be considered after a third reading Commission agendas shall be posted online one week prior to meetings The mayor and full County Commission shall conduct quarterly town hall meetings in different venues around the community On a local radio program on May 3 of this year, Jim Coppinger stated that, "The mayor is not subject to the Sunshine Law." Using the technicalities of our states Sunshine Law as cover for raising taxes without accountability is a breach of the public faith. County Mayor Coppinger needs to tell us why he feels it necessary to conduct the peoples business in the dark. The answer, of course, is that its not necessary at all. Doing county business outside of public view is simply a choice that the mayor makes. I will serve as mayor within the full light of public scrutiny, holding myself and the County Commission accountable in every step of the legislative process. In the Brown administration, because weve always done it that way, will no longer be acceptable in Hamilton County government. Aloyse Brown Hamilton County Mayoral Candidate CCPS, nonprofit launch winter coat fundraiser Audio Article If you see pictures of a pink flamingo wearing a scarf and a winter hat popping up around Chesterfield County, its for a good cause. The Chesterfield Education Foundation, in... Dr. James Madara, the AMAs CEO and executive vice president, wrote a letter to administration officials Tuesday saying the AMA's delegates discussed the issue at their recent annual meeting in Chicago and feel the policy, "will do great harm to children and their parents and caregivers, who felt compelled to make a dangerous and uncertain journey because of safety concerns in their own countries." The company owns and operates a 75,000-square-foot rooftop greenhouse in the Pullman area, which employs about 50 people. It announced plans in February for another $12.5 million, 105,000-square-foot free-standing greenhouse on South Doty Avenue at the former Ryerson industrial site in Pullman. The new facility, which is still under construction, is expected to employ another 60 workers. Lettuce Entertain You isnt the first to take this step. More than 100 Chicago-area restaurants and bars have made similar commitments as part of the Shedd Aquariums Shedd the Straw campaign. But Lettuces sheer size and influence within the Chicago restaurant scene could accelerate the growing movement to eliminate plastic straws, which are difficult to recycle and often end up in the ocean. According to Skift, a travel and restaurant industry publication, Restaurant Magazine is still around, but (parent company) William Reed (Business Media) has since spun off the World's 50 Best as its own event not tied to any of the company's publications According to filings, in recent years, William Reed has made a concerted effort to move away from relying on its traditional print magazines as the business's main source of revenue and instead invest heavily in the more profitable events category. The awards have been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism in the past few years for its Euro-centric list (Eaters 2016 report shows that 50 percent of the list features European restaurants, and the 2017 program failed to include Africa, India and the Middle East entirely hardly representative of the world) plus a glaring lack of gender diversity among its ranking restaurants. 3) Few things are better than a puppy party. This weekend, adoption group One Tail at a Time is hosting a Puppy Party and Supplies Drive at Logan Squares The Native and will be bringing a few adoptable puppies. Your own four-legged friend is also invited, and there will be doggy pools set up for them to play in if its warm out. Items on the wish list include Martingale collars, 4- and 6-foot nylon leashes, durable chew toys such as Kong toys, Frontline flea and tick preventative and collapsible wire crates. Buy something for a pup, and your good deed will be rewarded with a free beer. Noon to 4 p.m., Sunday. 2417 N. Milwaukee Ave., 872-206-5526, thenativechicago.com The Great Believers, the new novel by Rebecca Makkai, describes the AIDS epidemic in Chicago in the 1980s and its impact on the gay community. Whereas the story of the disease in the United States tends to be a New York or San Francisco tragedy, here it is a slow-motion tsunami from both coasts, a pool of water collecting at Midwestern ankles that climbs so quietly many are surprised to find themselves drowning. The book begins in 1985 at a Lincoln Park memorial for a gay man whose family disowned him, only to reclaim him at the last moment, insisting he die in the suburbs in an ill-equipped hospital with nice wallpaper; it finds a city where initial survivors, not yet seeing the reach of AIDS, dont know whether to host rowdy house parties in honor of the dead or somber, hands-folded funeral services. It visits Door County, Wis., and the Art Institute of Chicago; it finds a place for World War I Europe circa 1918 and the secluded nooks of Belmont Harbor circa 1982 (a gay space hidden from the city but wide open to the vast expanse of Lake Michigan). It ends in Paris, several decades and many victims later. I am grateful that this book is here because it can hopefully be a tool for people who need language for talking about sexual violence and harassment, Gay said to an audience of mostly women who also exemplified the diversity and intersectionality of her messages in previous books Bad Feminist and Hunger. The same eclecticism was reflected in Onfroy's musical tastes. When hip-hop magazine XXL splashed him on the cover of its 2017 "Freshman Class" issue, a rundown of rising talent, he was asked to name the artists who influenced him. His tastes ran toward rock and punk - Kurt Cobain, Papa Roach, Cage The Elephant, and even Coldplay. "I'm really into multi-genre things that aren't just based around rapping itself," he told the magazine. "I'm more inspired by artists in other genres besides rap." It never gets easier, Valentin adds. You may get better at what you do, but you always run into walls that you pound your head against. Its not that everything is a happy vacation, but weve learned to ride the wave. There were times where Id think, Why dont I just try to stop doing music? Id do it for a couple weeks, but it didnt stick. At some point you dont have a choice. Its more of an acceptance: I love to do this. Its a long-term relationship and it is complex thing. It doesnt always give me joy 24 hours a day, but it has to be part of my life. "The mission of the festival is to present diverse music from Latin America, focusing on bands that don't always get a chance to perform live in the United States," said Calvillo, one of four promoters behind Ruido, including Metronome (North Coast Music Festival), Riot Fest Presents (organizers of the annual rock event, with editions in Chicago, Denver and Toronto) and Star Events (Taste of Randolph Street and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival). Im really excited to have Caifanes, he said of the seminal Latin rock group (which will feature original founder Saul Hernandez). Weve been trying to get them since the first year. Im also glad to have Plastilina Mosh, which is back after a long hiatus. And Playa Gotica (which Rolling Stone magazine named as one of the top Latin acts of 2017) is great. On May 29, D. Nicholas Rudall, actor, director, translator, founding director of the Court Theatre and professor emeritus of classics at the University of Chicago, sent a message to 100 people on Facebook. Dear friends, he wrote, The colon and liver cancer has become noticeably stronger in the last few weeks and as a consequence I have become noticeably weaker. I have decided, therefore, after many consultations with my daughter and professional palliative care experts, that it is time for me to enter hospice care. At St. Sabina Church, they go out and do a peace march, and its amazing to experience, said David Hogg, 18. Its on the South Side, but what Ive realized is in these communities, even though they have to deal with so many things, kind of like what our community dealt with, but for them its a daily basis, there are places of such strength and beauty and love. I never even thought that there could be that much of that in this completely just, sadly, broken world, but through them I know we can fix it, and I know we will. Lemonis influence can already be seen at the River North location of Coreys NYC Bagel Deli, which underwent a makeover on the show. Owner Corey Kaplan said Lemonis encouraged him to add Coreys to the name of his long-running business which used to be called NYC Bagel Deli to honor his children, Corey and CorriAngel, who both died of polycystic kidney disease at a young age. But it wasn't until Springer retooled the concept for the younger eyes that his audience ballooned. The program started featuring topics like "He Wants Her to Quit Bikini Contests" and "My Boyfriend Turned Out to Be a Girl." An edgier element was being invited to the studio from the far side of America's margins: cheating spouses, angry children, fetishists, and many quick to throw a punch while the cameras rolled and the crowd hooted. Cups of the free frozen treat will be available at the former John Hancock Center, 875 N. Michigan Ave., starting at 11 a.m., according to Pure Michigan officials. Tourism reps will keep dishing out the scoops until 6 p.m. or until supplies run out, whichever comes first. Car2Go permits members to pick up a car parked within a designated zone, use it for anything from a quick trip to the store to a weekend camping trip, and then park it somewhere else in the zone. This model differs from other rental car or car-share businesses like Zipcar, which require that a car be picked up and then returned to the same spot. The Rauner administration pulled the nomination May 25. Aides to the governor made a minor change shortening the length of Walkers appointment by one day and resubmitted it on May 28, Memorial Day. That meant the process started over, giving the Senate another 60 session days. There are only six session days scheduled for the rest of the year, putting the new deadline well into 2019. At that point, Rauner either will be re-elected or there will be a new governor who gets to select his own DCFS director. Since publishing my feelings about the NRAs unauthorized use of my work Cloud Gate in their publicity video, I have been overwhelmed and moved by the support of so many people who, like me, are appalled by the NRAs divisive and hate-filled campaign against the democratic and humane values of the people of America, Kapoor said in the news release. In light of this solidarity and support I am encouraged to confront this organisation and hold it to account for its blatant copyright infringement. "This stuff has been going on for 32 years," Reick said. "You're sitting here telling us all these wonderful things you're going to do. I cannot believe that Janice Jackson is not sitting there right here, right now taking responsibility for her part in this because she's been in CPS for a long time. I cannot believe that the people who have been in CPS all these years haven't known what's going on." Nino Penaloza, 24, was walking in the 5000 block of South Wood Street, where he lived, when he was shot around 9:40 p.m. Tuesday by someone who came from behind with his face covered, police said. A 38-year-old man was hit in the back and hand, and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where his condition was stabilized. The other man, 26, was shot in the chest and taken to St. Bernard Hospital, where his condition was also stabilized, police said. In the Cook suburbs, where property tax rates are almost universally higher than they are in the city, homeowners could see bigger increases than their Chicago counterparts. Those rates, however, can vary significantly from one city or village to another. While Chicago residents frequently complain about their property tax bills, the tab tends to be higher in most towns in collar counties such as DuPage and Will. Last year, she earned her high school diploma, graduating as valedictorian, said her attorney Elizabeth Tarzia. She was also the facilitys only female detainee to graduate barber school and is awaiting results to learn if she passed the test for a state license. Over the last year, she struck up a relationship with Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, who was the commencement speaker at her graduation and testified Wednesday in her defense. Rialmo gave differing statements as to his location as he fired, but in certain accounts he placed himself on the porch steps. A forensics expert hired by the LeGrier estate on Monday echoed COPA investigators when he said that the evidence including shell casings indicated the officer stood between the porch steps and the sidewalk when he fired, no fewer than 10 feet from LeGrier. The LeGrier familys attorneys have produced evidence indicating that LeGrier and Jones collapsed well inside the building rather than near the doorway to the porch. Rialmos questioning by lawyers defending the shooting followed testimony Tuesday from a pathologist hired by the LeGrier family who said that his wounds showed that most of the five bullets that hit the teen went in through his back. She also testified that Rialmos account of LeGrier raising the bat before his shooting did not match the medical and physical evidence. A forensics expert, meanwhile, testified that LeGrier was at least 10 feet from Rialmo when the officer fired. Her first priority is to remember the good times with her youngest brother, like when he bought one of his first designer belts: a Louis Vuitton. He had it adjusted for her and gave it to her as a present. Or how her brother always picked up the phone when she called, even if he was surrounded by friends. Jennifer L. Duncan, 51, of McHenry is charged with theft from the U.S. mail, according a news release from the U.S. Department of Justices Northern District of Illinois in Rockford. Authorities said that on Feb. 20, while working at a post office branch in McHenry, Duncan removed about $3,500 from mail addressed to an individual in Tennessee. After the meeting, King said her proposal should have at least gotten a public vetting. This was the next step in the process, to have a hearing so everybody could publicly hear, so you guys could hear from them publicly, she said. There were people who were upset, as you know, that they werent heard, on both sides of the issue. And let me tell you, I am extremely disappointed with the mayor, frustrated with the mayor, since he hid that video with the Laquan McDonald shooter, he said. Since he hid that video, it came out, it came out and he politically collapsed. He has just fallen into Mike Madigans arms. He is doing Madigans bidding and that has been devastating for everybody. Pritzker noted that Rauner, appearing on the same radio station in January, refused to directly answer whether he believed former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke to be a racist. Rauners campaign was forced to later issue a clarification that the governor indeed believed Duke to be a racist. The order does not end the "zero-tolerance" policy that criminally prosecutes all adults caught crossing the border illegally. But, at least for the next few weeks, it would keep families together while they are in custody, expedite their cases and ask the Defense Department to help house them. It also doesn't change anything yet for the some 2,300 children taken from their families since the policy was put into place. What does it mean to be free on this Independence Day? What does it mean to be free on this anniversary in a city where almost 8,000 human beings are locked in cages of the Cook County Jail? What does it mean to be free on this anniversary in a nation where families are being torn apart at the border? Lee asked the audience. We come together on this day, like on all days, to do what Chicagoans have always done when faced with great injustice. We organize. Because none of us are free until all of us are free. While on the high school board, Miller served as vice president of the IASB from 1990 until 1992. After her husband died, Miller sold the bakery and resigned from District 120s board to join the IASB in a full-time job as a director of field services. That role entailed offering complete superintendent search programs tailored to the needs of each district. It would also make sense for the state to have more options for permit holders who misuse their guns. Right now, a license can be revoked only if the licensee is convicted of a violent offense or multiple DUIs, subjected to a protective order or substance abuse treatment, and the like. Lawmakers might consider adding a disqualification for licensees who use their guns in a dangerous manner, even if it doesnt lead to prosecution. Alternatively, the state could require them to get additional training to overcome the shortcomings they have demonstrated. Hickey has the right background to dig in, though her appointment comes with questions. Will she have the time and resources to complete the job? Shes already been tapped by Chicago Public Schools to conduct a review of sexual abuse allegations raised by the Tribunes Betrayed series. But Schiff Hardin has plenty of lawyers to participate in both investigations alongside Hickey. Another issue: When Hickey investigates, shell have to navigate the blurred lines between government operations and private political organizations. She is being asked to investigate the public side, and will be paid with public funds. Does that mean shell hit roadblocks if her investigation leads to the political side? The solution to this problem must be found in the courts. In 2004, Justice Anthony Kennedy challenged the plaintiffs to find a way to prove the harm committed against democracy by gerrymandering. The efficiency gap does just that. In 2018, Justice Elena Kagan has asked the plaintiffs to use that proof in a specific way. Despite what Daley and Vaughan stated in their piece, there is still time to accomplish that with another court case. One sound I hope never to hear again is that of a grocery store employee asking me if I'd like my milk in a bag. What? As if that cold, little handle on the milk jug is meant for carrying and not pouring? As if it's not obvious that it's more efficient to lug groceries into the house when all the items are bagged? And they were taken before it became clear to so many of us that the president, employing a border-enforcement tactic Bannon heartily endorsed in his interview, is in effect taking young hostages as leverage against Democrats and cover for Republicans so he can force the passage of an immigration overhaul that includes funding for the wall along the Mexican border that he once promised would be paid for by Mexico. I worked with them for a while. That's a way to use art as activism. They do plays about consent. They do plays about teenage pregnancy, a lot of sex education stuff. Most of it is pay what you can or free. They do workshops all over the city. I think that's really important because sex education in Chicago Public Schools is very cis, hetero. It's aimed for the pleasure of males. It's not aimed at the pleasure of women or queer youth at all. So I think the work that the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health is doing turning that art into some kind of education is super important. With more than 200 games between them, the rivalry between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers is among the most exciting in the NFL. Here's a look back at some of the highs and lows of the teams' meetings. A: It actually is. But we do offer a full docket of programs every month throughout the year. Right now, were enjoying seeing all of the children arriving for our History Summer Camp, which started this week and goes through August. Its for children ages 7 to 11, and offered during full-day and half-day sessions. The kids are here for one week and are enjoying activities like Soda Pop Science and learning pioneering skills. We have exceptional grounds here, with the F.W. Muller pop factory and the houses, and the kids are keeping us hopping. We have to be careful, she said. We are running a school district to educate children. Thats our intent and thats our purpose, and I think that our policies provide what we need to make sure that children and the parents feel safe that their children come here. So lets not bring politics into the district, because the focus here is on educating children. In the statement, the employee said she had sex with Wendt because she didnt feel like I could tell him no, and then outlined behavior from Wendt she described as controlling, and intimidation. He would remind her he was the boss, according to the statement. It is my understanding that they have a very high threshold to overcome in court, Kim Hauber said. Kevin and I have young children, and we counted on Kevins income to help support our family. Unfortunately, his life was cut short. We pray and hope that the court will agree with the pension boards decision, based on the facts of this case and applicable laws. Listen up. Size does not matter. Whether you are a size 2 or a size 16, you can look and feel beautiful in your clothing. The key to feeling great is wearing the right size. If you try to squeeze yourself into a size 10 pair of jeans and they feel tight and uncomfortable, you wont feel half as good as if you get the size 12 and enjoy the fit. At his trial, Russell testified that he was not among the men involved in the robbery and shooting. But Bardlett, who received a 22-year prison term, and Davis, who was sentenced to eight years, both implicated Russell as the shooter. Caleb Bell, of the 8600 block of South Keating Avenue in Chicago, was crossing the street westbound with his mother, 29, and 6-year-old sister at 86th Street and Cicero Avenue in Burbank late Saturday night when they were struck by the vehicle, authorities said. The driver of the vehicle continued south on Cicero without stopping. We are nurse practitioners, we are trained medical professionals, we feel that we have the right and the need for safety in numbers, so to speak, she said. If something happens in a clinic and youre by yourself, who are you going to call? You cant go to someone in the store. Excuse me, I know youre picking up a greeting card, but can you come help me with this person thats on the floor? That doesnt (work). We set up one or two telescopes and anyone walking by can take a look. We dont have to encourage people to stay. It naturally happens, she said. They sense a safe place where they can geek out and ask questions and not feel judged. Deerfield village attorney Steven Elrod, who first took his current position at the May 7 board meeting, said when he reviewed the ordinance he found errors that needed to be addressed. He said the amended ordinance does that and ensures that it comports with the one in Highland Park. Brault was placed on administrative leave following the incident, and a formal investigation was started. In an interview with Melanie Meidel, U46 assistant superintendent for human resources also attended by Elgin Teachers Association President Richard Johnson and district staff attorney/labor relations specialist Scott Hadala Brault said he did not drink alcohol during school hours but had been drinking the night before, records said. He said he also took a cold medicine gel cap prior to leaving for work that morning and again in the late morning, when he went home to get one, accidentally consuming one that causes drowsiness and is meant for night use, records said. It is a desirable location in a great community. The advantage is that it is close to the freeway and the airport. This location allows us to ship our orders to our customers in the Midwest in one to two days from when the order is placed, Kewley said. "While I believe we have a responsibility to secure our borders, I also believe that how we treat strangers reflects the moral values this country was founded on, Roskam said in last weeks statement. Dragging children away from their parents ought not be a part of the solution. Rather than say Thank you for your service, the best thing you can say is, Welcome home. Its kind of a replacement for the welcome home that we received when we came back, which was not the best time for the country, Mukoyama said. Dispatchers then received a call at around 8:38 p.m. about a disturbance in the same area and, when officers arrived they said they found Wolf, who was uncooperative. But she told police there was a man inside the residence who had held a gun to her head, according to Cognac. My father's folks came from Luxembourg and my mother was Boston Irish. They met in World War I after the Armistice was signed, she said. I grew up in the classic parochial school, but was very conscious of the ethnic neighborhoods and ethnic parishes. I always think of myself as a Waukeganite. The fire chief citizen awards are awards that I give out from time to time for citizens of the community that assisted with, and contributed to, the actual saving of a life, Puknaitis said. We always try to promote citizens in the community doing something when they see emergencies happening. Of course if its a dangerous situation, we dont expect citizens to put themselves in danger, but there are so many times when a citizen can actually do something with their own hands that can contribute to the saving of a life. All three of the alleged incidents took place in Santiagos home, documents state. Two of them occurred when the victim was there with her friend, and another when the uncle told the victim her friend would be at the residence but she was not. Mr. Jeromes lengthy prison sentence is a harsh reminder that law enforcement and the courts will not tolerate those who steal the innocence of the children and of our communities, James Gibbons, special agent in charge of HSI Chicago, said in the release. The board hopes Brown, 55, who sat in the audience Tuesday, will continue to stabilize the district. He announced last month he plans to stay in Merrillville until his retirement. He will take over July 1. He comes to Merrillville from Hawthorn Community School District 73 in Vernon Hills, Ill. Brown headed Porter Township from 2005 to 2012. He still lives in Indiana. Gary police interviewed Martin on Feb. 16 in reference to the homicide of Jamie Garnett," and Martin "admitted that he participated in the removal of the victim's vehicle and helping to dispose of several items that were used during the murder of Ms. Garnett including the clothes the suspect was wearing as well as the knife used to commit the crime, according to a probable cause affidavit in Lake County court records. The project will consist of a 44,000-square-foot building, possibly two stories, for the city hall and police department functions. City Hall will occupy about 20,000 square feet and the public safety facility about 24,000 square feet, according to city documents. After the new complex is built, the city will look at the best use for the current City Hall and Community Center across the street. They could be sold for private use, or they could be razed for more parking off the square, Falkowski added. Attorney Justin Roebel, who represented the state at oral arguments before the appeals court, said a crucial piece of information didn't come until 2009 from a man who said he saw Hill with one of his original co-defendants, Larry Mayes, before the 1980 attempted robbery. Before then, there "had been a strong denial from both Mayes and Hill that they even knew each other," records state. It makes me sick to my stomach. I was just overcome with sadness that we have devolved to a state that we would allow political motivation to trump human rights. I just think we have really lost our moral compass as a country, she said. Now, just a few months away from the midterm elections, Trump wants that wall more than he once wanted Stormy Daniels' phone number. He wants it so much, babies can cry and little boys can curl into fetal balls, for all he cares. He wants it so bad that traumatizing children is acceptable to him. This isn't supposition. It's data. To the rich boy from Queens, you gotta be tough to make it in this world. To the King of the Swamp, you can't let those people run over you. Give them back their 3-year-old son, why next they'll want a Harvard education. If President Trump and his supporters are such terrible people, then why are illegal immigrants trying so hard to come to America? They know that there kids will be put in a bad situation before they cross the border illegally, but that doesn't stop them, does it? Using your children to break the law doesn't reek of being a great parent in my book. Youre telling your kids, it's OK to break the law; just watch mommy and daddy do it! A: I have. This was actually my third year competing. Im curious about all the ideas around science like what makes up everything and why is something the way it is. Science just makes me curious and interested. A handful of cities and states are already completely eliminating or implementing serious reforms to their databases. Portland, Oregon became the first city to abolish its gang list and, last year, California passed a bill to stiffen the criteria for adding someone to the CalGang database and to regularly audit the list. A person can remove their name after five years if there is no evidence to prove they are still active in a gang. Emergency preparedness drill prepares D60 students for a tornado A mock tornado warning was sent out to Pueblo South High School and Roncalli STEM Academy students as part of an emergency preparedness drill Friday. Tax, Accounting and Audit in China 2018, the latest publication from China Briefing and Dezan Shira & Associates, is out now and available for download through the Asia Briefing Publication Store. Tax, Accounting, and Audit in China 2018 offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes that foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in China, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who must navigate the complex tax and accounting landscape in China in order to effectively manage and strategically plan their China-based operations. Taxation affects almost all aspects of doing business in China. With an idiosyncratic legal system widely different to that of Western countries, having a strong understanding of Chinas tax liabilities enables foreign investors to simultaneously maximize the tax efficiency of their overseas investments while ensuring full compliance with the countrys tax laws and regulations. In this guide, we discuss Chinas tax laws and administration, corporate income tax, value-added tax, and individual income tax calculation methods and applicability. We also cover annual compliance requirements, profits/dividends repatriation and financial due diligence. In the international taxation context, we address such topics as transfer pricing and double taxation treaties. This practical and easy-to-understand guidebook will be of invaluable use to all executives involved in handling company finances concerning China, including: Chief Executive Officers Chief Financial Officers Accounting Managers Tax Specialists The Guanghua School of Management, Peking University a top university in China has used the Guide as course reference material. Violinist Ray Chen has just released a new album where he interprets celebrated pieces with his signature flair and ingenuity, Chen Nan reports. The alarm rings. Violinist Ray Chen opens his eyes and gets up from his bed. After getting dressed, he says: "Today is a special day!" This is how a video which Chen directed unfolds. The video was made in Barcelona a week before his new album, The Golden Age, came out on June 8. For the 29-year-old from Taiwan, interacting with his fans through videos is fun. So far, he has released over 100 self-produced videos, combining comedy with music via social media. Speaking about the videos, he says: "I want to show fans, especially the young generation, that classical music can be fun." It's been four years since Chen released a new album. Before this new album, he released three albums through Sony. In The Golden Age, his first recording with Decca Classics since signing with the label last year, Chen features a selection of works, which celebrate the "golden age" of the violin-not only in terms of repertoire, but also in terms of performance style and ingenuity. Instead of making a recording, which is "simply sticking a microphone in a room or hall and trying to produce the best version of the piece", Chen seeks to create something new in the studio. "What else can I add to these celebrated pieces, which have been performed by many other great violinists? I won't go into the techniques, but I think you'll find that the sound you hear in the recording is slightly different from what I did before." The centerpiece of the new album is German composer Max Bruch's violin concerto, performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Robert Trevino and recorded last August. The album also features compositions and arrangements by Austrian violinist Fritz Kreisler and US violinist Jascha Heifetz, which Chen performs with French pianist Julien Quentin. "The pieces go along with the title The Golden Age-a reference to my love for the great violinists of the past, and also as a reference to my own coming of age, and entering what I believe is the next chapter of my life as a musician," says Chen. The new album opens with a piece called A New Satiesfaction for a string quartet, which has already garnered over 50,000 hits on Chen's YouTube channel. It features Gymnopedie No 1 by French composer Erik Satie, with an allusion to Italian composer Gioachino Rossini's William Tell Overture. The piece, performed by Chen and his Made in Berlin quartet, is arranged by the group's cellist Stephan Koncz. The other violinist in the quartet is Noah Bendix-Balgley, while Amihai Grosz plays the viola. All of Chen's collaborators in the group are members of the Berlin Philharmonic and they recorded together in Berlin last November. The Dragon Boat Festival was celebrated among overseas Chinese communities worldwide over the weekend with the specialty food Zongzi, but not necessarily a dragon boat race, both widely seen as its logos. Dragon boat racing is officially a competitive sport played under rules set by the International Dragon Boat Federation. This is something beyond what the Chinese people could imagine some 2,500 years ago when they took boats to distribute feed in a river trying to keep fish from disturbing the permanent rest of patriotic and beloved poet Qu Yuan, who chose to die along with his doomed country. The move inspired a water sport and a rice food, and accidentally,changed the face and the name to be known abroad of an old Chinese festival focusing on health and epidemic prevention -- the 5th day of the 5th month of a Chinese lunar year which coincidentally marks the death anniversary of Qu. A sport that has gone global The Dragon Boat Festival this year fell on June 18. However, a dragon boat race nowadays takes place any time in a year in several countries. It is one of Britain's fastest growing water sport as well as a highlight in London's cultural calendar. On June 3, the 23rd edition of the annual London Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival entertained 10,000 visitors. Hundreds of players, among them teenagers, elders, amateurs and corporate employees, of 33 teams from across Britain paddled vigorously to the beat of each team's own drum and amid stormy cheers from the bank, competing for six cups at London's Regatta Center. "I have never, ever experienced anything like it. I think it is amazing. I found it is really interesting, but honestly, I do not know much about it," Stephanie Ann, a local visitor coming with her family, told Xinhua. On the sidelines, live music, traditional Chinese lion dances, and an Asian food market are among the diverse cultural activities contributing to the biggest dragon boat races in Europe. In the United States, dragon boat racing is popular in cities including San Francisco, Kansas City and Boston. In New York City, it has become the largest local summer event. The 28th annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York is scheduled for Aug. 11-12, and more than 200 well-trained teams will participate. "I'm captain and drummer, we have a new steerer this year and we are moving into using the fiber glass boats instead of the timbre boats for the race," Julia Chesler told Xinhua after a three-hour team training recently on the Meadow Lake, the race venue. A festival goes further with dragon boats Still, somewhere, the old-fashioned dragon-headed boats strongly suggest a cultural background, indicating a close link of the sport with China. "It was quite a good experience...I will remember it because it is something we associate with Chinese culture," said Din Musovic, a high school student of the champion team from the June 9 race held in Croatia's capital Zagreb to mark the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival. At least, the dragon boat's unique shape is eye-catching. On Saturday, a dragon boat sailed in a canal running through downtown Aveiro in northern Portugal, interesting many people. The sailing proved to be the most dramatic part of the local Dragon Boat Festival celebrations. City official Catarina Barreto praised the celebrations co-hosted by the Confucius Institute at the University of Aveiro, saying they brought together the traditional cultures of Portugal and China and called for more. Uganda saw the 2nd edition of its Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday on the shore of Lake Victoria. It turned out to be a big event with barbecues, kite flying, live music, Chinese and Ugandan food, performances of Chinese waist drums and Ugandan folk dance. Its opening ceremony was attended by Uganda's Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi and a visiting Chinese official. "I'm sure this Dragon Boat Festival will be an avenue to make Ugandans and Chinese (migrants) live more happily together and cooperate better," Ssekandi said, adding that the dragon boat race integrated elements of the two countries' traditional cultures. Addressing the opening ceremony, Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said dragon boat racing embodies traditional Chinese values such as mutual benefit, seeking harmony in diversity, and working in unity and cooperation. Family-made zongzi Traditional Chinese festivals can always be tasted, and the Dragon Boat Festival is no exception. Zongzi, a glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves in cone- or pyramid-like shapes, is the special treat and delicacy on the festival table. It was purely good luck that led Frank, a German visitor who only gave his first name, into Lao Sze Chuan in downtown Chicago on Sunday, who ordered for friends a debuted special offer by the Chinese restaurant. It was a Zongzi stuffed with pork and duck egg yolk amid rice. "It's really a good combination of flavors, I really enjoyed it... It's worth a shot," he commented. "I was actually quite surprised." The restaurant said guests consumed more than 280 pieces of Zongzi in less than three hours. But for Richard Hennessy, it was more than a pleasing dining experience -- he took the invitation to make Zongzi with the help of cooks. Hennessy believed the Zongzi he made was the star of the night. "It's a great fun. Now we can go home and practice some more," he said. Although modern life facilitations enable the Zongzi made in China to be only a few clicks away, restaurant owner Tony Hu plans to make Zongzi-making a Dragon Boat Festival routine. "Chinese food is the easiest way for them to know China, and cut short their distance with Chinese people," said Hu. Zongzi has been a food mostly family-made in China, and many Chinese learn the knacks of making it from their parents. It is a good example to show traditional Chinese values -- the cooking activity calls for collaboration among family members, with its results shared by all. For many Chinese, making Zongzi never fails to evoke a feeling of being at home. "On a festival like this, we want to help with the homesickness of Chinese living abroad, and introduce traditional Chinese culture to people here," said Zuqi Su, co-owner of Chinese restaurant Jasmine in downtown Manhattan, New York, which offered a Zongzi making workshop on Saturday and Sunday. Anirudh Singh did his homework on Chinese culture before participating in the restaurant's Dragon Boat Festival celebration. "The fishermen threw rice in the river to make sure the fish didn't eat Qu Yuan's body, right?" he said."I learnt all about it before I came here." Do It Yourself was partly why the workshop charmed Thomas Hasler, an Austrian among the more than 100 participants. "I enjoy this so much," he said. "I eat out a lot at Chinese restaurants, but being able to make something has been so much more fun." You are here: Arts A Silk Road international alliance of art museums was established in Beijing Tuesday. The opening ceremony took place on the same day at the Beijing-based National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), attended by guests from national art museums and major art institutions of 18 countries and regions along the Silk Road, including Greece, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine and Vietnam. "Different countries can improve their mutual understanding, friendship and win-win cooperation through the donation, collection and exhibition of unique art works," said Wu Weishan, curator of the NAMOC. The museum also held both a forum and a conference of the multi-cultural alliance on Tuesday. The alliance has also opened an art exhibition featuring 17 art works from 14 countries along the Silk Road. You are here: Arts Six awards were unveiled at the first Shanghai Cooperation Organization Film Festival, which concluded on Sunday night in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province. Chinese film Enter the Forbidden City and Afghani film Mina Walking were recognized as Best Films. Best Director was given to Yosef Baraki, the director of Mina Walking. The four other awards included Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Actress as well as a Special Jury Award. As part of the SCO Qingdao summit, the festival opened on June 13 with participation from more than 700 representatives including officials, filmmakers, businessmen and media figures from eight SCO member states and four observer nations. During the five-day event, a total of 55 films from SCO countries were screened in 10 cinemas in Qingdao a cumulative 265 times, attracting some 50,000 audience members. The festival also included a cooperation forum, several film promotional events for different countries and other exchange programs. Beijing Film Academy announced an offer for young filmmakers from SCO countries to join a one-year overseas study program and China Film Co Ltd invited film insiders to come to China for further research and learning. A total of 12 agreements on film introduction and cooperation among related countries were signed during the festival. The SCO Film Festival was organized by the State Film Administration and Shandong provincial government, and was hosted by the Qingdao municipal government. Organizers said in a statement the festival opened a new chapter for film exchange and cooperation among SCO countries, and is bound to make a great contribution to enhancing cultural and interpersonal communication and building a SCO community with a shared future. The closing ceremony of the 2018 Sino-foreign Audiovisual Translation & Dubbing Cooperation Workshop (SFATD) was held on June 17. Nearly 40 foreign film professionals from 31 countries took part in it. By participating in the workshop activities, foreign film professionals held robust conversations with each other. The discussions between them not only helped them know more about each other, but also promoted the coverage of Chinese films. As a result, the deputy manager of Wings Media Tang Ping signed a contract with Al Greeny Savitri Dewayanti, chief business officer of Indonesia's Orange TV during the workshop. The documentary "Shanghai Memory" will be played on Indonesia's Orange TV, Channel Festivai 604. In his speech during the closing ceremony, Counselor of the Communications Department of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China Li Zhi, expressed that by communicating with each other in the workshop, foreign film professionals can better discover the potential for Chinese and foreign film corporations in film and television translation, as well as the opportunities and challenges. Alexander Alexiev, a professor of Chinese philosophy of the University of Sofia, Bulgaria, mentioned that the Chinese film market has developed rapidly, with a huge amount of representative Chinese films and high-quality documentaries produced in recent years. They serve as platforms for people around the world to know China and see the charm of Chinese culture. The workshop was hosted by the Bureau for External Cultural Relations, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China and the International Cooperation Department of the State Administration of Radio and Television from June 13 to June 17. It is the second workshop this year. The first was held in late April in Beijing. Held annually since 2015, the SFATD workshop aims to strengthen communication and cooperation, encourage mutual appreciation of outstanding film and television products and enhance understanding and friendship between China and other countries. China will "fight back firmly" with comprehensive "qualitative" and "quantitative" measures if the United States publishes an additional list of tariffs on more Chinese goods, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday. The US practice of "using maximum pressure and blackmail" goes against the consensus reached by the two nations on multiple occasions and has utterly disappointed the international community, the ministry said in a statement. The Trump administration threatened to slap a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion worth Chinese imports on Monday, after announcing hefty tariffs on $50 billion in made-in-China products, escalating a trade dispute that has put markets and businesses on edge. The ministry's description of a combination of "quantitative and quality measures" under consideration indicates that the trade war will enter a new stage, experts said. While countermeasures are less likely to hit products worth billions of dollars, what is more important is the quality and effectiveness of the measures, said Xue Rongjiu, deputy director of the Beijing-based China Society for WTO Studies. The needs of China and the US are not contradictory, given that the US wishes China to further open its market access while China focuses on upgrading its industrial structure and improving its position in the global value chain, said Sang Baichuan, director of the Institute of International Business at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. "The US has totally ignored the fact that China already agreed to purchase more US products and pledged to further expand market access for global enterprises," Sang said. Ma Yu, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing, said, "If the trade war continues, it will make goods produced by both countries less competitive and cause large-scale job losses." "Each side wishes the other side to back away first. But if nobody does, their losses will continue." Li Daokui, an economist at Tsinghua University and former Chinese central bank monetary policy committee member, said US economic problems go far beyond its trade deficit. The Trump administration needs to be farsighted and address some of its fundamental issues over the long run, Li said. Bruce Blakeman, vice-president for the Asia Pacific region of Cargill Inc, the US agricultural conglomerate, said the corporation is deeply concerned by Washington's actions in issuing tariffs on Chinese products based on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The impact of the trade conflicts "will lead to serious consequences for economic growth and job creation and hurt those that are most vulnerable across the globe", Blakeman said. US automakers, for whom China is a key growth market, are also likely to be hit by bruising tariffs. Wei Jianguo, former vice-minister of commerce, said once such a move took effect, it would further push US automobile manufacturers out of the Chinese market, after the biggest share of the Chinese medium and high-end market already has been taken by vehicles from Germany, Sweden, France and Japan. US automakers may miss a golden chance to expand their footprint in China if the Trump administration sticks to trade protectionism and keeps destroying free trade, Wei said. Beijing started accrediting cultural creative industrial parks, according to a press conference held by the Publicity Department of Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Information Office of Beijing Municipal People's Government on June 20. Two documents, namely "Beijing Cultural Creative Industrial Park Accreditation and Management Measures (Draft)" and "Opinion on Accelerating the Construction and Development of Municipal-Level Cultural Creative Industrial Demonstration Park" were released at the press conference. Yu Junsheng, vice secretary-general of Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC and deputy director of the Publicity Department of Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, introduced the two documents and their backgrounds and contents. Mei Song, deputy inspector of the Publicity Department of Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC and director of the Beijing Cultural and Creative Industry Promotion Center, briefed media on the accreditation work. Xu Hejian, head of the Information Office of Beijing Municipal People's Government, chaired the meeting. The "Beijing Cultural Creative Industrial Park Accreditation and Management Measures (Draft)" specifies the standards, procedures, management and assessment mechanisms, as well as supporting service systems for the parks. The "Opinion on Accelerating the Construction and Development of Municipal-Level Cultural Creative Industrial Demonstration Park" issues 19 supporting policies to provide financial support for demonstration parks, which are higher-end than regular parks. The support will revolve around infrastructure, public services, financial services and old factory utilization, and back up company incubation, talent services, brand promotion and so on. The document also sets the requirements for the demonstration parks in achieving social benefits, establishing liaison and data collection mechanisms, and giving play to the role of Party organizations. The two documents has "created new standards for building cultural creative parks in Beijing, built a new mechanism for the high-quality development of cultural creative industries as well as injected new impetus into the construction of the high-end, sophisticated economic structure in Beijing," according to the press conference. The press conference inaugurated the accreditation of the first batch of cultural creative parks. There are five steps: application, preliminary assessment, expert review, on-the-spot investigation, and verification. The accredited list of parks will be announced for public review, and the accredited parks will be granted licenses in October this year. The accreditation of demonstration parks will be launched after the accreditation of the regular parks and the demonstration parks will be selected from the accredited regular parks. In recent years, cultural creative industrial parks have been springing up in Beijing, supporting the growth of the cultural creative industry. In 2017, with more than 254,000 cultural companies in Beijing, the added value of the industry in the city reached 390.88 billion yuan (US$61.04 billion), accounting for 14 percent of the city's GDP. In the first quarter of this year, the industry continued to grow rapidly, with the added value increasing by 15.4 percent year on year. With new standards and mechanisms contributing to its economic growth, Beijing aims to construct a number of model cultural creative industrial parks to improve the overall quality of these parks in the city, and lay a solid foundation for the city to lead the cultural creative industry as a national cultural center. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO for short, called for democracy in international relations at a historic time in world history. In complete contrast with a fractured G7, the SCO seemed to chart a path of cooperation, as the Chinese led bloc welcomed Indian and Pakistani PMs, alongside Russia and other central Asian powers. The bloc, founded in 2001 to solve border issues, has evolved over time as a plank of regional stability and economic development. Adding more member states means more stability, as well as greater international heft. While the G7, bizarrely excludes two of the largest economies in the world, the combined economic might of China and India in SCO means it could lead in the growing battle against trade protectionism, which will transform and shift global policy in the coming years, as well as spread regional prosperity. In recent years of course, that is even more visible, with the trillion-dollar infrastructure drive across central Asia, in the form of Belt and Road initiative. President Xi also met with PM Modi, for the second time in two months, which is of great significance and a symbol of the growing detente between two economic giants after a border row. According to Ministry of External Affairs of India, the two countries signed deals which include Basmati rice exports from India. India needs Chinese investment, and while the details of the bilateral meetings are not available, it is in India's interest to look for alternate source of investment, as America moves towards further protectionism. The most striking difference was perhaps in the fact that this meeting went smoother, compared to the G7. Consider this, India and China, had previously had actual border disputes, while G7 consists of allies who share a similar military alliance system. While the meeting in Asia was peaceful, the G7 ended with President Trump calling PM Trudeau weak and dishonest. It provided a perspective on a complete contrast of a crumbling Western order, despite similarities, and a rising Eastern order, despite the differences. The statement from President Xi was predictably pro-trade and regional integration, as he pointed out the importance of globalization as an unalterable truth of the modern economy. Belt and Road cooperation was the central plank, as Xi called for cooperation in business investment, connectivity, finance and agriculture as well as advancements in trade. "While unilateralism, trade protectionism and a backlash against globalization are taking new forms, in this global village of ours where countries' interests and futures are so interconnected, the pursuit of cooperation for mutual benefit represents a surging trend," Xi was quoted by Xinhua. While geopolitics wasn't the dominant concern, the joint statement hinted at the changing political dynamic of in the world. That "risks associated with the aggravation of conflicts in a number of regions, terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime, epidemics of infectious diseases and climate change are also on the rise" was noted as alternate sources of threats. The Iranian nuclear deal was also endorsed as a clear hint of maintaining peace. Finally, the Korean peninsula situation was also addressed. The joint declaration stated that a political and diplomatic approach based on dialogue and consultation was important for the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula and securing long term peace in Northeast Asia. China taking on a greater security burden in stabilizing Afghanistan was also noted. The SCO-Afghanistan contact group, to facilitate peace and reconstruction as well as Chinese training of 2000 Afghan police men, was recorded in the speech of President Xi. The three forces of "terrorism, separatism, and extremism" was identified. It comes at a valuable time when the a part of Asia is under the threat of Islamic extremists. All in all, this year's Qingdao Declaration stated what has been considered a fact in international relations for quite a while now; that the geopolitical center of gravity is shifting slowly eastward. That said, there will still be differences of interests, especially geopolitical interests in the South Asian Sea. If the SCO can utilize its weight in geopolitics, it will be a phenomenal change in providing stability in Asia, at a time when the Western economies are retracing back to protectionism and isolationism. Asian powers need to step up to take the security burden of Asia. Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. The Beizhai Red Apricot Picking Festival kicked off in the village of Beizhai, northeast Beijing's Pinggu district, on June 19. Nestled in mountains, Beizhai, with more than 100 years of apricot planting history, is known for its succulent reddish-colored apricots, considered one of the best varieties in China. A favorable climate with enduring sunshine and day-and-night temperature fluctuations contributes to the optimal growth of the apricots. This year Beizhai will see a bumper harvest of 250,000 jin (125,000 kg) of apricots, and the best time for picking the fruit will last until mid-July, according to local farmers. Aside from the apricots themselves, visitors to the festival will take in the picturesque mountain scenery, primitive folk villages, rural food specialties and hiking. Flash The Iraqi Foreign Ministry Tuesday condemned the airstrikes that targeted the Iraqi paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces fighting the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants near the border with Syria. "The Iraqi Foreign Ministry condemns the airstrikes on the forces that are fighting Daesh (IS group), whether in Iraq, Syria or anywhere else as this enemy (IS) threatens humanity," the ministry spokesman Ahmed Mahjoub said in a statement. Mahjoub said that targeting the Hashd Shaabi fighters, or any force fighting IS militants "only benefits the extremist IS militants to reorganize and to extend their presence in the area after it (IS group) has been defeated by the Iraqi forces." The Iraqi Foreign Ministry urges all the world states "to unite and stand together in the face of such extremist groups," as the ministry believes it is necessary for the anti-IS international coalition to coordinate with the forces fighting the terrorist IS group and support them, according to the statement. On Monday, the Iraqi Hashd Shaabi forces said that 22 of its members were killed and 12 others wounded in suspected U.S.-led airstrikes on its base inside Syria near its eastern city of al-Bukamal. The forces said the U.S.-led coalition aircraft fired two guided missiles at 10 p.m. local time Sunday night (2000 GMT) targeting a headquarters of the Hashd Shaabi's 45 and 46 brigades, which are tasked with protecting the Iraqi border with Syria from infiltration of IS militants. However, a U.S. military spokesman denied that the U.S.-led coalition aircraft conducted any strike in the area, saying "we're looking into who that could possibly be but it wasn't the U.S. or the coalition." On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting Bolivian President Juan Evo Morales Ayma agreed on Tuesday that the two countries would establish a strategic partnership to promote greater development of bilateral relations. Xi pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Bolivia 33 years ago, their relations have continued to steadily develop and are currently the best they've ever been. China appreciates that Bolivia firmly adheres to the one-China policy, actively responds to the Belt and Road Initiative, and vigorously promotes the deepening of China-Latin America relations, said Xi. "We are willing to work with Bolivia to take establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries as an important opportunity to continuously deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, push bilateral relations to a new level and open up new prospects," Xi said. Xi stressed that China and Bolivia should be friendly partners of political mutual trust, firmly support each other on issues involving core interests and major concerns of both countries, and strengthen exchanges at all levels and in all fields. He said that the two countries should become development partners focusing on pragmatic cooperation, synergize development strategies within the Belt and Road framework, and jointly create a new model for cooperation in investment, trade and services. The Chinese side is open to importing more Bolivian farm and ranch products, he added. Both China and Bolivia are countries with ancient civilizations, said Xi, calling for mutual learning between the two countries and exploring the use of ancestral wisdom to better deal with today's problems. Xi suggested the two countries become strategic partners of multilateral coordination and continue to coordinate positions on United Nations affairs as well as major international issues such as sustainable development and climate change. He called on the two sides to jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, build a new type of international relationship featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation and join hands in building a community of shared future for mankind. For his part, Morales said the Bolivian people are deeply impressed by China, admire China's development concept and achievements, and highly commend China's contribution to world peace and development and the building of a harmonious human society. "China's support and aid to Bolivia's economic and social development never attaches any political conditions," said Morales, adding that Bolivia trusts China and expects a closer strategic partnership in the future. He said Bolivia hopes to jointly build the Belt and Road and to strengthen practical cooperation in various fields with China, so as to promote China-Latin America cooperation and make greater contributions to world peace, development, fairness and justice. Xi said that the essence of China-Latin America cooperation is South-South cooperation, featuring mutual aid and support, complementary advantages, and cooperation with win-win results. He said China has always worked with the Latin American countries in line with the principle of equality, mutual benefit and common development, and the Belt and Road Initiative has provided a new platform for China-Latin America cooperation. "China stands ready to work with Bolivia to push for sustainable and steady development of the China-Latin America comprehensive partnership of cooperation," Xi said. After the talks, the two heads of state signed a joint statement on establishing the strategic partnership between the two countries and witnessed signing of documents on jointly building the Belt and Road, and cooperation in other fields. Prior to the talks, Xi held a welcome ceremony for Morales at the North Hall of the Great Hall of the People. Flash The drums of war could be heard banging again in southern Syria as the Syrian army continued to send reinforcements to launch a wide-scale military offensive amid reports of failing Israeli-Russian talks to reach an agreement about the situation there, a pro-government newspaper said Tuesday. The pro-government al-Watan daily said the battle between the Syrian army and the foreign-backed rebels are inching closer, particularly in the western parts of the southern provinces of Daraa and Quneitra. It said the eastern part, in the countryside of Sweida province, is already witnessing battles amid the advance of the Syrian army in that part of the country. The situation in Daraa, near Jordan, and Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, has been subject to negotiation by Russia, Israel and the United States. The deal was said to have focused on the withdrawal of Iranian-backed forces from areas in southern Syria, the evacuation of rebels from areas they control in Daraa and Quneitra, and the return of the army to border areas with Jordan and Golan Heights. While the talks have been ongoing since last month, the Syrian army has also been sending reinforcements to launch the offensive should the talks fail. The al-Watan newspaper said the Israeli-Russian talks had failed. The Israelis have recently demanded the withdrawal of Iranian forces from all of Syria, not only the southern part, while the Syrian government side said that the presence of the Iranian military experts and forces are not for negotiation. In a recent interview, Assad said the Iranian-Syrian relations are strategic and not subject to any settlement in the south, adding that the Israelis are trying to provoke and embarrass Iran through their demands. Assad charged that Israel was hindering the reach of a settlement for the situation in southern Syria as it supports the rebels in that area and prevents them from accepting to leave. On June 17, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel will take further actions against Iran and its allies in Syria to prevent them from establishing a military foothold near the border of the Israeli-occupied territories of Golan Heights. Netanyahu told the ministers that he had talked about that with Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the weekend. "I reiterated our guiding principles regarding Syria. First, Iran needs to withdraw from all of Syria. Second, we will take action -- and are already taking action -- against efforts to establish a military presence by Iran and its proxies," he said. "We will act against these efforts anywhere in Syria," he said, stressing that Israel could act both close to the border and deep inside Syria. So it seems that Israel's demand of the Iranian forces' withdrawal from Syria is one hurdle, and the second one is the Syrian demand for the U.S. forces to withdraw from the al-Tanf area in southern Syria as a prelude to any deal in southern Syria. The U.S. forces have been positioned in al-Tanf, near the Iraqi border, since 2014 and the Syrian government demands the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from that area. "The battle of the south has become closer than any time before and the Zionist occupation (Israel) will not be able this time to protect its mercenaries inside Syria as the army is determined to win the battle quickly," a Syrian military source was cited by al-Watan newspaper as saying. Meanwhile, Muhammad Majid al-Khatib, a commander in one of the rebel groups in Daraa, was cited by al-Watan as saying that a recent U.S.-British-Russian meeting about southern Syria has resulted in big differences, noting that the government forces will launch the offensive in southern Syria soon. It's worth mentioning that some of the aforementioned areas in southern Syria are included in a cease-fire agreement supported by Russia and the United States, but the decision to begin an offensive comes after the Syrian army wrested back control over the entire capital Damascus. The Syrian forces also offered a reconciliation deal for the rebels in southern Syrian areas, but the rebels turned them down. Also, some militant groups in southern Syria had pledged alliance with the Islamic State (IS), which explains the desire of the Syrian army to recapture those areas and end the cross-border threats on Syria. The situation in that part of the country is expected to be inflammatory, particularly as the United States warned last month that it would take "firm and appropriate" measures "to protect the cease-fire in southern Syria if President Bashar al-Assad forces moved against the rebels there. In its report Tuesday, al-Watan said the Syrian army started artillery fire against the rebels in the city of al-Hara in the northern countryside of Daraa and the surrounding areas coupled with similar shelling on the rebels' positions in Quneitra. Earlier this week, Syria's Defense Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub visited Syrian military positions in southern Syria, which was read by observers as a message that the war will start soon in that region. A day earlier, state news agency SANA said the Syrian army foiled an attack by the militant groups on its military posts in Quneitra. On Tuesday, SANA said the rebels in the eastern countryside of Daraa fired several mortar shells on the residential neighborhoods in the adjacent Sweida city, which has remained relatively safe during the war in Syria. However, the countryside of Sweida has witnessed the war between the Syrian army and the IS militants. The local media said the Syrian army brought in more reinforcements to the countryside of Sweida as part of the military operations against IS. Flash Germany and France have agreed on major EU reform plans after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron met Tuesday to prepare the June 28-29 EU summit. According to the statement released after the two leaders' talks in Meseberg outside Berlin, Germany and France are to "open a new chapter" as Merkel told reporters. The two biggest countries in EU agreed on a series of issues which will serve as basis on EU summit for further negotiations and major achievements. Merkel and Macron agreed that that EU member states should integrate their data systems and work more closely with refugees' home countries. Both said efforts should be made to provide young people with better prospects for the future, especially in Africa. The two leaders agreed that that EU should adopt a united approach to asylum-seekers. Common criteria are needed to determine who is and who is not granted asylum, they said. Germany's ruling coalition was stuck in a crisis as Merkel's Bavarian ally threatened to introduce tougher immigration policy and border controls and later they made compromise allowing Merkel two more weeks to find a European solution in the summit. "Unilateral, uncoordinated measures will split Europe, divide its populations and jeopardize the Schengen system," said the statement. The two countries agreed to build a genuine European border police force and establish a European Asylum Office that harmonizes asylum practice. The two countries also reached an agreement to create a multi-billion eurozone investment budget for balanced economic development of the bloc, which will be operational from 2021. Both Germany and France want to reduce the power of EU commissioners, and they ensure that there will be fewer commissioners in the future, according to the statement. In terms of the foreign and defense policy, the two countries called for a European debate on new formats, such as an EU Security Council, and opportunities for closer coordination within the EU and in external fora. They agreed to make progress towards a more integrated European defense, including all civilian and military aspects and resources of EU crisis management. The current European Stability Mechanism (ESM), introduced in 2012 to deal with the eurozone crisis, will be turned into a European monetary fund, which can offer loans to struggling EU countries, and better insulate the single currency from future crises. Flash Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Tuesday met with Bolivian President Juan Evo Morales Ayma in Beijing, saying he hoped for deepened pragmatic cooperation between China and Bolivia. China is willing to consolidate political mutual trust and deepen pragmatic cooperation with Bolivia in accordance with the principle of equality and mutual benefit, in a bid to promote greater development of bilateral relations, Li said. China hopes to work with Bolivia to seize the new opportunities for the development of bilateral relations to push forward cooperation in such areas as economic and trade, tourism and culture, and increase imports of Bolivia's products with competitiveness and high quality, he said. He called on the two sides to strengthen cooperation in production capacity and enhance the development and utilization of resource to advance industrialization in Bolivia. China-Bolivia cooperation is an integral part of South-South cooperation, he said, noting that China is willing to work with Latin American countries, including Bolivia, to safeguard the common interests of developing countries and boost world peace, stability and development. Morales said the establishment of strategic partnership between the two countries has brought bilateral relations to a new level. During this visit, the two countries signed a number of cooperation agreements in the fields of investment, economic and trade, which will vigorously promote the development of bilateral relations, Morales said. As the rotating chair of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in 2019, Bolivia is willing to actively push forward the CELAC-China cooperation, he said. China's top legislator Li Zhanshu also met with Morales Tuesday. Li called on the two countries' legislative bodies to enhance friendly exchanges and provide institutional and legal guarantee as well as social foundation for the two countries' development and cooperation, so as to make China-Bolivia ties a model for China-Latin America relations and South-South cooperation. Flash Leading up to this year's Dragon Boat Festival, the people of West Bengal got a taste of Chinese dancing, music and acrobatics at the China-India Cultural Exchange Performance on June 11, held at GD Birla Sabhaghar, Kolkata. The event was organized to reinvigorate India-China friendship by the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China, in association with the Rakshak Foundation, Kolkata Police and the Cultural Affairs Department of Yunnan province, China. The Dragon Boat Festival Gala audience of more than 1,000 included local art and culture lovers, students and teachers from local schools and universities, members of the overseas Chinese community and local Chinese enterprises, plus Chinese consulate staff. The event featured a variety of dance, acrobatics, and musical performances. In his opening speech, Consul General Ma Zhanwu said that the Dragon Boat Festival, celebrated in China and many of its neighboring countries, is a traditional Chinese holiday on which people express their love for their home country and their hopes for a good future. Ma went on to stress the importance of cultural exchange between China and India. He said the people of the two nations share many common interests, one of which is a love for music, literature and film. "Cultural exchanges between China and India have huge potential and this cultural potential should be tapped to further develop the shared understanding, friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between these two great nations," he said. Ma noted that the joint artistic performances were being held against a backdrop of improving favorable relations between China and India. The evening was filled with distinctive performances by artists from China and India who showcased folk dance, folk music and other cultural shows from both countries. The show kicked off with a Han ethnic group dance called "Blooming Camellia," which enthralled the audience. A team of 18 artists from Yunnan Culture and Art Troupe of China further entertained the people of Bengal with performances including the Jujitsu acrobatic routine "Swallow Chick Opens its Mouth," the hulusi (cucurbit reed flute) musical number "Fern Leaf Hedge Bamboo in the Moonlight and Wedding Vows," the Dai ethnic dance duet "Painted Umbrella & Elegant Orchid," the Yi ethnicity solo dance "Her Blushing Face," the kongzhu (Chinese yo-yo) routine "At the Dragon Gate," the dance number "Beautiful Huayao Dai Girls," and the Yi ethnic group dance "Ringing Horse Bells and Singing Jade Birds." On the Indian side, the headlining numbers were performed by Sujay Chanda and the Indian living legend vocalist Usha Uthup. The former is also joint commissioner of the Kolkata Police. Usha Uthup conquered the hearts of the audience with her rendition of "Kolkata Kolkata," a song celebrating the City of Joy. Sujay Chanda also sang Bengali folk songs, Rabindra Sangeet (Rabindranath Tagore's songs) and other popular songs in Hindi and Bengali. During the show, Ma Zhanwu presented a traditional Chinese painting to Usha Uthup. Following the cultural performances, Consul General Ma and staff members of the consulate presented bouquets to the artists and thanked them for their excellent performance. Many audience members also flocked to the stage to express their admiration for the Chinese artists and to thank the Chinese Consulate for bringing the Chinese artistic performances to West Bengal. These cultural expressions will surely serve as an excellent foundation for further expanding exchange and enhancing understanding between India and China. China Aviation Daily | Jun. 20, 2018 Finavia, the operator of 21 airports in Finland, has opened a public procurement procedure and is calling for new commercial operators at Finland's largest international airport, Helsinki Airport. The tender will be executed according to the EU Concession Directive and includes a total of 13 new commercial spaces for retail and food & beverage. "Helsinki Airport ranks as the best airport in Northern Europe. We are known for our continuously developing airport and we work hard with our partners to offer our air passengers as smooth and memorable a customer experience as possible. Our 20 million annual passengers in 2018 and anticipated strong passenger growth will offer an interesting and international customer base for any commercial operator", says Elena Stenholm, Commercial Director and Vice President of Finavia at Helsinki Airport. Finavia has a billion-euro development programme in progress in Helsinki Airport. The terminal space will increase by 45 per cent, expanding by a total of 103,000 square metres. With the programme, Finavia is preparing to serve 30 million passengers per year by 2030. Under the current public procurement procedure, there are 13 commercial spaces available, totalling 1,081 square meters. Twelve of them are new and located in the up-coming Helsinki Airport T2-terminal Non-Schengen area and one of them already exists in the Schengen area. The spaces will be tendered in three categories: - 5 spaces for premium retail, total of 507m - 4 spaces for high-end luxury retail, total of 243m - 4 spaces for F&B, total of 331m Premium and luxury retail include jewellery, watches, sunglasses, leather goods and fashion apparel. The premium shops and boutiques are due to open in summer/autumn 2019 and spring 2020 and the luxury retail units in spring 2020 and spring 2021, depending on the exact location. Spaces reserved for Food & Beverage include a smoothie bar, a luxury tea-house, a champagne bar and a cafe. Depending on the location, they will open in autumn 2019, spring 2020 and summer 2021. "The driving forces behind all commercial services at Helsinki Airport are high quality, diversity of offering and personal service excellence. As an international airport, we pay a lot of attention to the needs and preferences of many different nationalities, which is of particular relevance to the extending Non-Schengen terminal, with its fast-growing Asian and European clientele. We also aim to create a true Sense of Place and this will be clearly seen in the upcoming commercial offering as well as in visual, conceptual and digital solutions", says Stenholm. The tender is the biggest-ever for Helsinki Airport for the commercial spaces in the new Non-Schengen terminal area currently under construction. It was issued on 18 June 2018 in the Finnish national public procurement announcement system, HILMA , and in the TED (Tenders Electronic Daily), the online version of the 'Supplement to the Official Journal' of the EU, dedicated to European public procurement. Contributed by Finavia By Benjamin D Katz, Bloomberg News | Jun. 19, 2018 Pratt & Whitney is close to finalizing the redesign of a faulty engine part that forced Airbus SE to halt deliveries of its A320neo narrow-body jet at the start of the year. Once approved by regulators, the revamped knife-edge seal would be fitted to turbines during regular maintenance and without any further disruption, Airbus executive Klaus Roewe, who heads the A320 program, said in an interview. Pratt first redesigned the seal last year after the original version was found to be prone to excessive wear. The new variant proved even more problematic, introducing a glitch that safety regulators warned could lead to mid-flight shutdowns. The United Technologies Corp. unit reverted to the initial design in order to maintain production while working on a permanent replacement. A spokeswoman for Pratt & Whitney declined to comment on work on the company's geared turbofan engine, which is used on the A320neo. General Electric Co. -led CFM International, which competes to power the plane, has also suffered issues with its Leap design. All told, Airbus has been forced to store up about 100 of the narrow-body aircraft while they await engines, about two-thirds of them because of the issues at Pratt. Roewe said that with fixes at hand deliveries this year should still be completed as planned. 'Good Transparency' "We're reasonably confident that the engine makers are going to meet their commitments," he said. "We have good transparency." Roewe, who spoke after the opening of a fourth A320 production line at Airbus's Hamburg plant that will help the company increase output to 60 narrow-bodies a month next year, said charges have been incurred from preparing parking space for the delayed jets, and from extra maintenace. Airlines may also claim compensation for late deliveries and any disruption to operations, though the burden is likely to fall on Pratt & Whitney. Commenting on the single-aisle market, Roewe said customers are increasingly looking to switch existing A320 orders to the bigger A321 variant. That model accounts for about 40 percent of output and could soon present half, he said. The Guardian | Jun. 19, 2018 Japan's two largest airlines have changed "Taiwan" to "China Taiwan" on their Chinese-language websites, officials said Tuesday, a move likely to please Beijing but anger the self-ruled island. The change, which was made last week, is meant to accommodate customers, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways said. The description remains "Taiwan" on their websites in Japanese and other languages. Both carriers said they had not received any protest from Taiwan so far, though Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported Taiwan's foreign ministry would lodge a complaint with the airlines through Japan's de-facto diplomatic mission in Taipei. "We made the judgement [to change the name] while consulting and reporting to the transport ministry and foreign ministry," a spokesman at Japan Airlines said. "We chose a description that is easy to understand and acceptable for users of our websites," added the Japan Airlines official, who declined to be named. The change was made on 12 June, the date of the historic summit between North Korea and the United States, but the officials said the events were unconnected. "The change came on June 12 as our preparations were done by then," he said. A spokesman at All Nippon Airways said the change was intended to make the description "easy to understand and acceptable for customers when they use our websites." "We do not mean any particular group of customers here but mean all customers," he said without elaborating further. The airlines are not the only international carriers who have made the change recently, with Australia's Qantas earlier this month defending its decision to list Taiwan as part of China. The Chinese civil aviation administration sent a notice to 36 foreign airlines in April, asking them to comply with Beijing's standard of referring to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as Chinese territories. Japan's ties with China are improving after years of acrimony over historical and territorial issues. Japan has close business ties with Taiwan but has acknowledged the "One China" policy, which describes Taiwan as an integral part of China. Asked about the change, Yoshihide Suga, a top Japanese government spokesman, said Tokyo was "not in favour of government authorities demanding certain measures from private companies based on a specific political stance." "The government has expressed Japan's interest in this issue on the Chinese side," he added. SPLC Pays Millions for False Propaganda MONTGOMERY, Ala., Calif., June 20, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has agreed to pay a $3.375 million settlement as the result of a demand from Islamic reformer Maajid Nawaz and his organization, the Quilliam Foundation, for the inclusion on SPLC's now-defunct list, "Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists." The SPLC published the list of "anti-Muslim extremists" in December 2016 with the intent "to serve as a resource for journalists to identify promoters of hateful propaganda." The list was deleted in April 2018 after Nawaz obtained legal representation. The list accused Nawaz, a liberal Muslim and former Islamic extremist, of "savaging Islam." Nawaz is informed by his experience as a former member of a global terror organization and as a political prisoner in Egypt and routinely criticizes the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that gives rise to terrorism. As a result of that work, the SPLC and a coalition of partner organizations that helped create the list accused him of "savaging Islam." SPLC president Richard Cohen said in a statement on its website, "The Southern Poverty Law Center was wrong to include Maajid Nawaz and the Quilliam Foundation in our Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists. Since we published the Field Guide, we have taken the time to do more research and have consulted with human rights advocates we respect. We've found that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have made valuable and important contributions to public discourse, including by promoting pluralism and condemning both anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamist extremism. Although we may have our differences with some of the positions that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have taken, they are most certainly not anti-Muslim extremists. We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Mr. Nawaz, Quilliam, and our readers for the error, and we wish Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam all the best." "This settlement is another example that the Southern Poverty Law Center is incapable at monitoring the very thing it claims to track," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "No credible journalist should ever rely on the SPLC. The SPLC reeks with hateful, false, and defamatory rhetoric," said Staver. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. Ronald Blue Trust Offers Financial Guidance to Faith Leaders Through Partnership with ChurchSalary Tool New Church Compensation Resource Features Personal Finance Tips and Guidelines Based on Biblical Wisdom Contact: Ty Mays, 770-256-8710 ATLANTA, June 20, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- Wealth management and trust company, Ronald Blue Trust, has partnered with Church Law & Tax, a publication of Christianity Today, to provide content for ChurchSalary. Released this month, the tool features compensation best practices and guidance on personal financial topics, including budgeting, debt management and retirement planning. Photo: Ronald Blue Trust has partnered with Church Law & Tax to provide financial guidance for faith leaders in the latest release of the ChurchSalary tool. ChurchSalary was born out of the National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders. Funded by $28 million in grants announced in December of 2015 by the Lilly Endowment, the initiative resulted from extensive nationwide research. It showed that pastors from multiple denominational groups and geographic locations were facing serious financial stresses and obstacles. ChurchSalary is designed to help alleviate some of those pressures. "We are pleased to contribute to an initiative that helps faith leaders live with clarity and confidence about money," says Nick Stonestreet, chief executive officer for Ronald Blue Trust. "Our hope is that when faith leaders are equipped with the tools and knowledge to become better stewards of their finances, they will live enriched lives and be an even greater blessing to others." A division of Thrivent Trust Company, Ronald Blue Trust provides wealth management strategies and trust services based on biblical principles. The division (and its predecessor) has been serving individuals and families with complex financial needs across generations since 1979, helping them enjoy a healthier relationship with money and be inspired to live more generously. This is the first year the Church Law & Tax editorial team sought assistance from a wealth management expert to provide personal finance resources within the ChurchSalary tool. Ronald Blue Trust has contributed a series of articles that address a variety of topics, including strategic giving, four financial decisions that may affect contentment, five methods of budgeting, and five principles of stewardship. "We are delighted to have Ronald Blue Trust's participation in our enhanced efforts to provide church staffs with information to navigate tough financial issues and create an atmosphere of healthy stewardship," says Sam Ogles, project leader for ChurchSalary. "When those employed to serve in the church are paid adequately and fairly through a culture of generosity and blessing, they're free to focus on the good work of ministry." For more information about ChurchSalary and to access the tool, visit www.ChurchSalary.com. Information about Ronald Blue Trust and additional resources are available at www.ronblue.com. About Ronald Blue Trust Ronald Blue Trust (www.ronblue.com) is a division of Thrivent Trust Company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Thrivent Financial (www.thrivent.com). Ronald Blue Trust serves individuals and families across generations with complex financial needs and helps them to enjoy a healthier relationship with money and be inspired to live more generously. Trust and investment management accounts and services offered by Ronald Blue Trust, a division of Thrivent Trust Company, are not insured by the FDIC or any other federal government agency, are not deposits or other obligations of, nor guaranteed by Thrivent Trust Company or its affiliates, and are subject to investment risk, including possible loss of the principal amount invested. Trust and investment management accounts and services are offered by Thrivent Trust Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thrivent Financial, the marketing name for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, based in Appleton, Wis., and an affiliate of Thrivent Investment Management, Inc. Neither Thrivent Investment Management, a FINRA member, nor its associated person(s) is offering any product hereby. Certain Thrivent Investment Management associated persons refer prospective clients to Thrivent Trust Company. About Christianity Today Christianity Today is a nonprofit, global media ministry centered on Beautiful Orthodoxystrengthening the church by richly communicating the breadth of the true, good, and beautiful gospel. Reaching over five million people monthly with various digital and print resources, the ministry equips Christians to renew their minds, serve the church, and create culture to the glory of God. Share Tweet We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form ECO-FRIENDLY MEETS HIGH-TECH Product Launch at Nepcon Thailand Published: 20 June 2018 by Chelsey Drysdale by Chelsey Drysdale Hamburg, 20th June, 2018: At this years Nepcon Thailand, taking place June 20 23, Yxlon invites all interested parties to the great launch of their Cheetah and Cougar ECO X-ray inspection systems for use in the electronics industry. These microfocus systems, which have been developed by Yxlon in Germany, are characterized by an excellent price-performance ratio. Being entry-level systems in two sizes, each of them provides best inspection results in quality control in the SMT and semiconductor industries. Advanced German engineering and European Manufacture with a low carbon footprint result in a total solution that sets a new benchmark for X-ray systems of this class. And like all Yxlon systems, the safety standards exceed all global requirements. As well as the sophisticated, segment-specific X-ray inspection systems of the EVO family and even the universal YXLON FF20/35/85 CT systems, Cougar and Cheetah ECO systems too benefit from the high-resolution FeinFocus tubes, the advanced target technology, a finely calibrated flat-panel detector and a state-of-the-art manipulation system. Easy 1-click operation and the intuitive FGUI user interface deliver quick and clear results. An upgrade with the unique FF-CT or Micro3DSlice software expands Cheetah and Cougar ECO easily with high-quality computed tomography capabilities. Register now for PCB WEST, the largest trade show for the printed circuit and electronics industry in the Silicon Valley! Coming Sept. 11-13 to the Santa Clara Convention Center. Space News space history and artifacts articles Messages space history discussion forums Sightings worldwide astronaut appearances Resources selected space history documents advertisements Apollo moon rock rediscovered in Cambodia debuts on display June 20, 2018 A small moon rock gifted to Cambodia by the United States amid the Vietnam War has resurfaced after being all but lost to time and strife. Officials representing the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh and the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia unveiled the museum's display of the "goodwill" moon rock on Monday (June 18), following an extensive effort to determine its origin. "Last fall, the National Museum approached the U.S. Embassy to investigate the background of this unique artifact," said Michael Newbill, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy. "The history and background remained a mystery until after six months of research with NASA, the U.S. National Archives, the U.S. Library of Congress, the Cambodian National Library and Archives and the Center for Khmer Studies library." "We can now reveal today, for the first time, the history of this unique gift from the United States to Cambodia," said Newbill at the exhibit's opening. From Taurus Littrow to Phnom Penh Before they became the final two humans to depart the moon in December 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt paused their exploration of the Taurus-Littrow lunar valley to dedicate one particular moon rock as a symbol of "peace and harmony" among countries "throughout the world." Radioing back to Earth, they announced that a portion of the rock would be shared with many nations and offered their wishes for goodwill among "all mankind in the future." Three months later, then-U.S. President Richard Nixon directed that fragments of that goodwill moon rock be distributed to 135 nations and the 50 U.S. states. On July 19, 1973, a month before the U.S. ceased bombing Cambodia as part of "Operation Freedom Deal," an expansion of the Vietnam War and Cambodian Civil War, U.S. Ambassador Emory Swank presented Cambodia's piece of the moon to the country's education minister, Keo Sangkim, in an official ceremony. The 1.142-gram rock, embedded in a clear lucite sphere, was gifted on a wooden plaque with the flag of the nation that was flown to the moon on Apollo 17. "The program and gift that your excellency has just given to the Khmer people is a symbol of the sincere desire of the United States of America to promote peaceful cooperation among the nations of Earth in order to achieve eternal peace on our planet in general, and a stable peace in Southeast Asia, in particular, a peace to which the Khmer people aspire," wrote Lon Nol, the then self-proclaimed president of the coup-founded Khmer Republic, in a letter to Nixon in July 1973 (translated from French). "Also, you can rest assured that we will keep the present gift of the great people of United States of America as the most precious gift we have ever received," wrote Nol. But with the overthrow of the Khmer Republic two years later and the rise of other conflicts in the four decades since, that "most precious" moon rock was separated from its plaque, remounted to a nondescript stand and at some point, hidden away in storage at the National Museum in Phnom Penh. Rediscovering the moon (rock) Cambodia's Apollo 17 moon rock may have remained lost were it not for a French researcher working in the National Museum. "He realized that there was no background information at the museum about the history of the lunar sample not even information confirming that indeed it was a moon rock," said Monica Davis, the Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia. The researcher alerted the French Cultural Attache in Cambodia and was referred to Davis, who at the request of the museum began searching for the origin of the sample. "It was not immediately clear this was a moon rock, although its appearance was quite similar to pictures from Apollo 17 lunar samples," Davis told collectSPACE in an interview. "Usually moon rocks from the Apollo 17 mission came with a plaque with a flag and quote from the president. This one had a different wooden podium and therefore we were not sure if this was an original moon rock or not." In order to confirm its authenticity, Davis contacted the Apollo lunar sample curator at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Referring to photographs of the lucite-encased rock, the curator said that he was "99% certain" that it was the Apollo 17 goodwill sample. (He would need to run tests to be 100 percent certain.) "He stated that the size and shape of the plastic are correct, and the coloring and morphology of the sample and grains in the sample match other examples," Davis explained. At the same time, the U.S. Embassy conducted extensive research in the National Archives and Library of Cambodia, the U.S. Library of Congress and U.S. National Archives, the U.S. State Department, the Nixon Library, and the Center for Khmer Studies. After six months of searching, they were finally able to find old U.S. State Department cables about the gift as well as an article from an August 1973 edition of the "Khmer Republic" magazine about the presentation of the moon rock to the Cambodian government and the circumstances of that ceremony. Centennial celebration The rediscovered moon rock's exhibit is part of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the National Museum of Cambodia to be celebrated in 2020. It is also a symbol of the United States' longstanding goodwill to Cambodia and its people. "We hope that this exhibit inspires young Cambodians to dream big," said Newbill. "Don't let the boundaries of what you think is possible stand in your way." In researching the moon rock's arrival, Davis came across recommendations from the U.S. State Department as to what to say at its original presentation. "This small moon rock is a symbol representing the knowledge shared by men of science and technology over the centuries, and their search for knowledge," read a 1973 cable from the U.S. State Department. "Perhaps the spirit of Apollo, which surmounted the barriers of deep space for man, can eventually help eliminate the barriers between nations." Though it has been 45 years, the moon rock's message remains the same. "The Embassy has prioritized Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) outreach and programs in order to further Cambodia's development. We hope that visitors will be inspired to pursue a STEM career by observing a successful STEM project like the mission to the moon," said Davis. "Visitors to the National Museum's exhibit will also gain a better understanding of the amazing challenges the astronauts on the moon mission had to overcome and how they broke the limits of what humanity once thought was possible," she said. Encased in lucite, this 1.142-gram moon rock was returned to Earth by Apollo 17 in 1972 and presented to Cambodia. (US Embassy in Cambodia) Michael Newbill, Deputy Chief of Mission with the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia, cuts the ribbon opening the goodwill moon rock exhibit at the National Museum of Cambodia. (US Embassy in Cambodia) Michael Newbill, Deputy Chief of Mission with the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia (at right) and Cambodia's Secretary of State for the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Chuch Phoeun tour the moon rock exhibit at the National Museum. (US Embassy in Cambodia) Students view the Apollo 17 goodwill moon rock on display at the National Museum in Phnom Penh. (US Embassy in Cambodia) (US Embassy in Camodia) 2021 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved. Assyrian Iconographer Honors His Roots An icon of Our Lady of Aradin is seen June 12 in a shrine established for persecuted Christians in the Middle East at St. Michael the Archangel Church in New York City. Iraqi Christian artist Mouthana Butres created the image. He and his family were driven from their home in Iraq by the Islamic State and now live in Lebanon as refugees. ( CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz) BEIRUT (CNS) -- When Islamic State fighters overran Qaraqosh, Iraq, in the summer of 2014, Mothana Butres was able to grab only a single volume from his father's collection of thousands of Syriac books and manuscripts. The handwritten, 600-year-old book of Syriac hymns now inspires much of Butres' work as an iconographer. From a modest walk-up apartment in Zahle, Lebanon, a city not far from the Syrian border, the Syriac Catholic iconographer and refugee creates his sacred art in a sparsely furnished living room. As he works, he sings the hymns he has committed to memory from the sole book he managed to save. Butres is the creator of the Our Lady of Aradin icon, a centerpiece of the first Catholic shrine dedicated to persecuted Christians. The shrine is housed in St. Michael's Church in New York City and was dedicated June 12. "The inspiration when I was working on Our Lady of Aradin was that it was the Virgin Mary who was protecting the Christians," Butres told Catholic News Service. He chose to present Mary in the traditional wedding dress of the Aradin area of Iraq "to represent that the Virgin Mary will always be a part of the Christians in Iraq and that she is the protector of Christians in Iraq and all the Middle East," Butres said. He said that when faced with an ultimatum by Islamic State fighters, Iraq's Christians gave up their land but refused to give up their faith. Iraqi refugee Mothana Butres poses for a photo in Zahle, Lebanon, with a scroll around his neck in this undated photo. He intends to write out the entire Bible in Syriac on a long scroll of leather. ( CNS/courtesy of Mothana Butres) "The people who were persecuted, their blood is a stronger message than anything I could ever convey," he said. But the recent persecution and the oppression suffered by his ancestors led him "to the way I think and the way I do my work." Butres said he believes his icons can be an instrument for intercessory prayer. The prayers of the people who visit the shrine in New York and pray before the icon of Our Lady of Aradin are joined with those of the persecuted Christians. "Based on what Jesus told us, that 'if two people are gathered in my name, I will be among them,'" he said. The Syriac book Butres treasures from his father's library collection also awakened him to the lost practice of writing books by hand, especially in the Syriac language, which is spoken by Christians in certain areas of Syria and Iraq, including Qaraqosh. Syriac also is used in the liturgy of some Eastern churches, including the Syriac Catholic, Syriac Orthodox and Maronite Catholic churches. The language is related to Aramaic, the language of Jesus. "I'm trying to revive the value of the handwritten texts. Books used to be handwritten," Butres said. As part of an ongoing personal project, Butres intends to write out the entire Bible in Syriac on a long scroll of leather just over a foot wide. In three months of work, the tiny, intricate text he has etched extends 16 feet in length and comprises the first five chapters of the Old Testament. "I believe that in writing out the Bible, we can discover it in a new, deeper perspective, more than just reading it," he said. In his icons, Butres often incorporates streams of handwritten text related to the image, which contributes to preserving the Syriac language, heritage and spirituality. The icon of Our Lady of Aradin, for example, includes the Hail Mary in Syriac. Butres' introduction to iconography began at age 12; a deacon at his church in Qaraqosh taught him the ancient art as well as formulas for producing colors and varnishes from natural products, for example, using eggs and wine for shades of red, using beeswax for varnish and using deer musk to give the icon a scent. Prayer and religious formation were part of Butres' daily life growing up in a Syriac Catholic family as one of 16 children. "We were very close to the church," said. "Every day at dusk, we went to the church to pray," he recalled, adding that for "anyone who didn't participate, there was no dinner." The same went for missing Sunday Mass: no lunch and dinner. That pious upbringing fostered vocations, he said. One of Butres' sisters became a Dominican nun. His brother, Nimatullah, is a priest serving the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Our Lady of Deliverance, which is based in Bayonne, New Jersey. Father Butres attended the dedication ceremony for the Our Lady of Aradin shrine in New York. The artistic Butres became a deacon at age 20 and studied theology at Holy Spirit University in Lebanon, earning a bachelor's degree. Butres intended to complete his master's degree in theology, carrying out his research in Qaraqosh, but had to abandon all he had accomplished there when Islamic State attacked his childhood home. That home, overtaken, gutted and ruined by Islamic State, is under repair now. From Lebanon, Butres created the Our Lady of Qaraqosh icon as a gift for his family, intending it as "a protector of the house where she was always present." Deep in the Louisiana wetlands, where the nights ooze darkness and dry earth is but a distant dream, nestled in the heart of Sumter National Forest, dwelt the mythical swamp booger. For millennia, no human had ever laid eyes on this fantastic creature, noble and shy, moving like a shadow through the night. But then we found them, and now they no longer grace Sumter National Forest. Now they only grace the walls of callous trophy hunters, seemingly hunted to extinction. "Seemingly" because they never really existed in the first place. Unlike the unicorn or the griffon, you won't find these monsters in old fairy tales. That's because the swamp booger, also known as an "assquatch," is just another Island Of Dr. Moreau reject birthed by "gaff taxidermy" -- the disturbingly inventive branch of taxidermy. Creatures like the swamp boogers are simply "an outlet for a taxidermist's weird creativity," noted taxidermist Ryan Biracree told Vice. After all, if you don't get into stuffing animal carcasses to look like eldritch abominations come back to pseudo-life for the art of it, then what are you doing with your life? Continue Reading Below Advertisement So if the swamp booger / assquatch isn't made from the hide of some mythical creature, then what is it made from? As it turns out, the most common taxidermist treasure of all: surplus deer ass. Trophy hunters only tend to be interested in hanging up the front end of a deer, with their glorious antlers and dead, judging eyes. This leaves taxidermists with a lot of deer rears to fool around with. So sometimes they stretch the backside out, cut eye holes out of it, and pucker the anus up to serve as a mouth. And if you like things that look like if the Grinch got bitten by a were-skunk, the results are stunning. The Bangkok Post reports A 26-year-old convicted killer was executed by lethal injection Monday, the seventh person to be put to death since the method was introduced and the first since 2009, Corrections Department chief Pol Col Naras Savestanan said. Theerasak Longji, 26, was convicted for the brutal killing of a 17-year-old boy in Trang, He was 19 at the time of the murder. He stabbed his victim 24 times in a frenzied attack on July 17, 2012, before making off with his mobile phone and money. The perpetrator reportedly knew the victim, and was motivated by jealousy over a girl. And of course the usual objectors said the usual things, reported in this follow-up story in the Post: Amnesty International issued a statement condemning the move. * * * "There is no evidence that the death penalty has any unique deterrent effect, so the Thai authorities' hope that this move will reduce crime is deeply misguided. The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and provides no quick-fixes to problems the authorities want to confront." It's not clear what they mean with the qualifier "unique," but if they mean there is no evidence the death penalty has a deterrent effect, that is false. Informed people can and do disagree over the strength of the evidence, but there is no doubt of the existence of the evidence. Whether execution is more degrading than life without parole is also a matter reasonable people can and do differ on. Saying it is not a quick fix is the infamous Straw Man Fallacy. Nobody said it was. Capital punishment must remain to deal with severe crime and ensure national peace and most people agree with it, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said Tuesday. Obviously, that means it is an element of the effort to deal with crime, not a complete solution by itself. As Kim Kardashian's go-to when it comes to glam and one of the most in-demand make-up artists in the business, Mario Dedivanovic has no shortage of high-end beauty products at his disposal. However the celebrity beauty guru recently revealed that one of the most-loved products in his skincare arsenal is a budget-friendly $24 cleanser that he used to get his most famous client's skin in perfect condition ahead of the MTV Movie & TV Awards red carpet last week. Before perfecting the 37-year-old's 'bronzed skin' look, Mario, 34, turned to the Philosophy Purity 3-in-1 cleanser to cleanse her face, a product he has been using for 18 years. Budget brilliance: Kim Kardashian's long-time make-up artist Mario Dedivanovic has revealed his favorite $24 cleanser that he used to prep the star's skin for the MTV Movie & TV Awards Red carpet star: The 37-year-old's skin was prepped with a cleanser from Philosophy's Purity range, before Mario created a bronzed beauty look with her own make-up products In order to ensure that her complexion looked its absolute best in the bright lights of the red carpet cameras, he also added some other products from Philsophy's Purity range to the mix, including a mask, and a moisturizer. 'I started prepping Kims skin by first applying the Purity Made Simple Purity Pore Extractor Mask for 10 minutes,' he explained. 'This mask really helps to exfoliate the skin and clear any blemishes. Once the mask was dry and removed from the skin, I washed the face using the Purity Made Simple Purity 3-in-1 cleanser (I always keep an extra bottle in my kit because it doubles as a brush cleanser). Standing the test of time: Mario has been using the Purity 3-in-1 cleanser since he was just 17 and working at Sephora 'To remove any excess product I used the Purity Made Simple Cleansing ClothsThese are also perfect to help remove makeup. Next, I poured a generous amount of the Purity Made Simple Micellar Water on a cotton pad and gently swiped the skin to help clean, hydrate and tone. 'Finally, I applied the Purity Made Simple Ultra-Light Moisturizer to hydrate and act as a primer for the foundation.' After getting Kim's complexion ready, Mario then created a stunning bronzed make-up look using products from the reality star's own KKW Beauty range. First, he perfected her complexion with the KKW Beauty Conceal, Bake and Brighten Kit in Shade 7, before adding some definition and shape to the face with the Creme Contour Sticks in Medium I and II. In order to give the star her 'classic Kim K nude lip', Mario used the KKW Beauty Lip Liner in Nude 1 and Nude 2 and then the Creme Lipstick in Nude 2. But while Kim clearly gets only the best treatment, it's not just celebrity faces that Mario uses the Philosophy Purity cleanser. In fact, the New Yorker took to Instagram in March to share how he keeps his collection of brushes clean, revealing he washes them with the same Philosophy cleanser. A fan of the brand since he was 17 and working at beauty mecca Sephora, he explained that he has been using it for all manner of beauty-related jobs ever since. Pure and simple: Mario first revealed the cleanser as one of his all-time favorite beauty products in March when he posted a video about it on his Instagram account Fan club: He started using it aged 17 while working at Sephora and still uses it in the shower to wash his face and also to remove eye make-up, pictured with Kim Kardashian Multipurpose: As well as using to clean brushes, Mario detailed that he loves how it doesn't dry out his skin like other cleansers can Speaking to the camera, Mario also detailed that he loves to use the cleanser in the shower to wash his face, and credits it as one of the best products for removing eye make-up. 'So I want to get philosophical with you guys about something,' he joked at the start of the video posted to his 4.3 million Instagram followers. Detailing that when he worked at Sephora when he was 17-years-old, customers used to constantly come into the store requesting Purity Made Simple, inspiring him to try it out for himself. He then explained that the reason why he still 'loves this so much' is because it doesn't dry out his skin. 'When I get out of the shower after using this my face doesn't feel dry which is typically does with a lot of other cleansers,' he added. 'This really does a great job at removing all traces of eye make-up as well,' Mario told the camera before adding that it's 'super gentle on the skin and works on a lot of different skin types'. He then concluded the short video by revealing how he also used the gentle formula to delicately but effectively cleanse his make-up brushes. 'I do use this to clean my make-up brushes every now and then,' he shared. Famed for his contouring skills, Mario recently collaborated with Kim on her KKW Beauty concealers, creating the looks seen in the campaign images. He also recently created looks for her recent Vogue India shoot and traveled with Kim, Kourtney and Khloe to Japan as part of their glam squad. The Kardashian-Jenners are worth millions and wouldn't have to work another day in their lives if they chose to retire from the limelight. However, if their money disappeared and they were forced to get jobs in the real world based on their education, skills and experience, it would be a very different matter, experts have revealed. According to research by a marketing agency, Kourtney, 39, would be the highest-earning sister thanks to her bachelors degree, seeking a salary of 45,000 as a brand manager or interior designer. However, Kim, 37, arguably the most famous sister, would be left languishing on a predicted annual income of 31,000 as a social media specialist or as a personal shopper, thanks to her experience. The mother-of-three, who is married to Kanye West, would have to work 4,200 years to earn the equivalent of her current 132m ($175m) net worth. Social media experts at Reboot Digital Marketing released the findings after crafting a CV for each of the sisters, factoring in each woman's individual skill set. Kourtney was the highest earner perhaps due to her bachelor's degree in Theatre and minor in Spanish Experts have calculated how the Kardashians would survive without their fame and fortune and had to send off their CVs to find themselves a job The women's details were then entered into a resume value tool on Adzuna which calculated just how much each superstar sister would be worth if they submitted their CVs into the current job market. The Adzuna tool has the UK's largest collection of live salary data and uses the details in a CV to find out what kind of salary people can expect to earn in their next career move. The findings showed that Kourtney would bag herself a 45,066 ($60,519) salary, Kim would be on 31,030 ($41,670) and Kylie would be looking at a a snip of her 50m fortune at 29,125 ($39,110) per annum as a business development executive. Khloe might earn 27,925 ($37,499) as a writer, and super model Kendall's salary would be 25,903 ($34,784) as an actress or photographer, they said. WHAT ARE THE KARDASHIAN- JENNERS WORTH? Kourtney Current net worth: 26.5m ($35m) Estimated salary: 45,066 ($60,519) Kim Current net worth: 132m ($175m) Estmated salary: 31,030 ($41,670) Kylie Current net worth: 37.9m ($50m) Estimated salary: 29,125 ($39,110) Khloe Current net worth: 30.3m ($40m) Estimated salary: 27,925 ($37,499) Kendall Current net worth: 13.6 ($18m) Estimated salary: 25,903 ($34,784) Source: Time.com Money, Forbes Advertisement Shai Aharony, Managing Director at rebootonline.com, explained: 'With the lives of the Kardashian sisters being so readily available online, it was easy to find out about their educational and professional backgrounds (either through interviews, Wikipedia pages, or their own business ventures) - as well as the skills that are specific to each sister. 'Using this information, we then created a mock CV for each of them which could be fed through Adzuna's online CV value tool. 'This was able to pick up the key "buzzwords" that employers look for, and identify which careers these keywords best match in terms of the skills needed to do the job. 'We were also able to glean information on the average salary of someone who has a similar type of experience. 'Compiling this data for each sister means we get a great idea of what sorts of careers they could pursue in the 'real world'- and how much their skills would actually be worth.' Using information released on the Kardashian-Jenner sisters, the CVs included their educational background, work experience and any skills they have demonstrated. As the oldest Kardashian sister mother-of-three Kourtney, who has an estimated net worth of 26.5m ($35m), was expected to be the highest earner in the real world - perhaps due to her bachelor's degree in theatre and minor in Spanish. Kim Kardashian would have to work 4,200 years to earn the same as her 132m (175m) net worth if she was on a salary of 31k Khloe Kardashian has said in the past that she's always expressed an interest in writing which could be the perfect career match. Research has shown those who speak more than one language can earn anything from eight to twenty per cent more in their jobs. Some of her Kourtney's identified skills included an eye for interior design, public relations, marketing and nutrition. The research showed Kim's selfie skills would come in handy for a career match as a social media specialist, but she's even more compatible as a clothing store manager - something she already has experience in managing the family's DASH stores alongside her other business interests. Without her fame and the fortune, Kylie, who at just 20, would be the family's second-highest earning if she had a real-life job, thanks to her CEO experience of her Kylie Cosmetics line. The research showed she would be most suited to brand management. And all her hours on Snapchat would also pay off, just like Kim, mother-of-one Kylie would be able to seek a career as a social media specialist. Supermodel Kendall Jenner would be able to continue in her chosen career or perhaps turn to photography. Kylie Jenner has a fortune of 50m at just 20 years of age, but according to her skills she'd only be able to achieve a salary of around 29k New mother Khloe, 33, who is reported to be worth around 30.3m ($40m), could see herself on a different path altogether. Her top professional skills were identified as communication, assertiveness, content creation and marketing - so the tables could be turned if she chose her most compatible profession, as a writer. Indeed, Khloe has already stated her passion for writing in interviews, saying: 'I really loved to write, so English class was my favourite [at school].' As the family's only supermodel, 22-year-old Kendall's skills send her in the same direction, modelling and working with luxury brands as well as photography. EXCLUSIVE by Tracey Kandohla for MailOnline Birmingham-born mum-of-three Clare Waight Keller, 48, became the first female artistic director of Givenchy in 2017. The 48-year-old daughter of a legal secretary and an engineer is known for her low-key and charming demeanour, in stark contrast to previous prima donna male predecessors, such as the controversial John Galliano. Waight Keller joined Calvin Klein on the strength of her graduate collection at St Martin's, then was snapped up by Ralph Lauren to design menswear, before becoming creative director at Pringle and then Chloe. Having designed handbag after bestselling handbag, she's rumoured to have left because Chloe wouldn't agree to 'salary increases proportionate to sales'. She is married to U.S. architect Philip Keller and lives a Eurostar chic lifestyle with a farmhouse in Cornwall and a cavernous apartment on Paris's Bois de Boulogne. Her brother Will Waight told of the family's 'immense pride' in Clare as they revealed they been sworn to secrecy about the stunning gown which made Prince Harry weep. He and his parents had only been told his younger sister had been tasked with 'her best job yet' a few days before her creation was unveiled to the world. Telecoms expert Will told MailOnline: 'We had no idea Clare was the designer until she told us just two days before the wedding. There were only a few people in the know and we were all sworn to secrecy.' The dad-of-two, who watched the American actress tie the knot with her Prince on TV at his home in Birmingham, West Midlands, said: 'Meghan looked fantastic. My sister said the dress had to look just perfect and it did, they couldn't leave anything to chance.' An emotional Harry told his bride 'you look amazing' after she glide down the aisle in the timeless classic silk gown. Excited Will, 42, said: 'We couldn't wait to see the dress and we were very impressed with it. I am so immensely proud of Clare as are our parents. It's the best job she's had and she didn't let the bride down. Meghan looked beautiful and it's not surprising Harry was overwhelmed with emotion.' He said of the pure white gown with a 16ft veil embroidered with flowers of the Commonwealth: 'It makes a statement and the whole fashion world will be talking about it. I could tell it was my sister's design, ti had a spiral and she likes elegant and understated.' The acclaimed British designer - who designed a dress for pop superstar Adele for Glastonbury - was at Windsor Castle with her architect husband Philip Keller to see the bride step out in her dress. Will said: 'Clare and her husband were invited. I watched the wedding at home and our parents saw it too while looking after Clare's twin girls, who are 15, and her son of seven.' Clare is the first female Artistic Director at the historic French fashion house Givenchy and was chosen to design the dress for the wedding of the year after meeting Meghan earlier this year. There had been months of speculation linking the bride-to-be to other designers. Will told how his sister had worked extremely hard and had a natural artistic and creative flair to get to the top, saying: 'It is an onward progression for her, she keeps rising and rising and she's doing really well. She was delighted to have got the job. 'She has designed for some top names and even done stuff for Adele for Glastonbury. She is hight profile but this beats them all. We are very impressed with her. I'm very close to my sister but understand she couldn't tell me what she was working on until a few days before. 'She works in France at Givenchy and commutes between Paris and London.' Will said he had no idea how many fittings Meghan had needed but understands the already slim-line bride needed an extra one or two checks because she had lost extra weight. He said: 'They wanted perfection and it was. I'm not sure what she will be designing next but no doubt she will be in demand.' Arby's has officially created the largest advertisement in the world in honor of its new brand partnership. The sandwich chain announced that it will be exclusively serving Coca-Cola products in stores back in May and to spread the word, they decided to go big. Really, really big. This week, the eatery unveiled an enormous ad for Arby's and Coke, which measures 212,000 square feet, or nearly five acres. It's so big, in fact, that Guinness World Records officially recognized it as the largest ad ever created. Huge: Arby's has officially created the largest advertisement in the world in honor of its new brand partnership (see car in bottom left corner for scale) Wow! It measures 212,000 square feet, or nearly five acres Tiny: They put it in Monowi, Nebraska, a town with just a single resident Just for her! An 85-year-old woman named Elsie Eiler, who is also the town's mayor, bartender, and librarian, stood on the ad for the unveiling Kind of a big deal: It was certified by Guinness World Records Even more eyebrow-raising, though, is that they decided to put it in a place where not a whole lot of people will see it. The ad which says 'Arby's now has Coke' written in red font across a white tarp was put down on a field in the town of Monowi, Nebraska. Monowi is currently the smallest town in the US, and only has a single resident: an 85-year-old woman named Elsie Eiler, who is also the town's mayor, bartender, and librarian. Since the Arby's ad is the biggest thing to ever happen in her town literally Elsie even posed for some pictures standing on top of it, situated right in the middle of the enormous 'o' in the world 'now'. And now, the opposite! Last week, they created the world's smallest ad Soooo little! It was printed on a single sesame seed Little seed, meet big city! It could be viewed via a microscope in New York City The enormous ad comes a week after Arby debuted another promotion of eye-catching proportions though last time, it was the world's smallest advertisement. The chain etched an Arby's promo onto a tiny sesame seed, which measured only 40 microns. They then put it on display in the largest city in the US, New York. Visitors to the Arby's at 32 E 23rd St. could look at it through a Scanning Electron Microscope provided by Hitachi-HTA. 'We wanted to bring the bigness and specialness of Coca-Cola while of course letting Arby's be Arby's, explained Sasha Davis, vice president of national sales, Coca-Cola North America in a press release. 'Arbys has a very distinct voice their playful, authentic approach to their marketing cuts through the clutter and challenges the status quo. We wanted to do something clever that would represent both brands and set the stage for a breakthrough impact. Being able to hit the ground running with such a fun collaboration is really special.' If there is anything new mothers quarrel over the most it's whether breastfeeding or bottle feeding is more suitable for their family - and how long for. But Adelaide mother-of-five Lisa Bridger, who has been breastfeeding her children for a collective 20 years, has a very special reason for keeping up the practice - even though her son Chase is seven years old. 'I started to notice he would behave a little differently from my other kids at six months. He wouldn't want to stay strapped into the pram, didn't like full-on cuddles... but would nurse happily,' she told FEMAIL. Scroll down for video But Adelaide mother-of-five Lisa Bridger (left), who has been breastfeeding her children for a collective 20 years, has a very special reason for keeping up the practice 'I would often baby wear but he'd be hysterical unless I was feeding him.' Chase, and his younger brother Phoenix, four, have both been diagnosed with autism and are still being breastfed - mainly because it helps to soothe them. 'As children it was obviously the normal every couple of hours but it's mostly just before bed now. It's so sweet, [Chase] just needs that security,' Lisa explained. Chase, and his younger brother Phoenix, four, have both been diagnosed with autism and are still being breastfed - mainly because it helps to soothe them 'As children it was obviously the normal every couple of hours but it's mostly just before bed now. It's so sweet, [Chase] just needs that security,' Lisa explained 'He often doesn't ask in public but if he's having a meltdown I prioritise it.' Lisa admitted that during a holiday to the UK a few members of the public stopped to say 'well done' when they saw her feeding Chase. But one social worker came up and said it was 'child abuse.' 'It has been pretty good out here, really. People don't come up to us and say anything. But online it can get really bad,' she said. Lisa is an administrator for the online support group Occupy Breastfeeding and sometimes uploads photos of her sons nursing. 'People will comment all kinds of things. That they should have a bottle, or a cup, that it's abuse, that it's bad for them, once you get past six months you should be covering,' she said. Lisa (pictured) is an administrator for the online support group Occupy Breastfeeding and sometimes uploads photos of her sons nursing 'We have other strategies in place to deal with Chase's autism. Sometimes a cuddle is enough, breathing exercises or distractions.' The family have even bought animals as a means of comfort for the boys - a dog and two cats. 'They'll use the trampoline as a mechanism for calming down as well,' she said. After breastfeeding for so many years Lisa's wardrobe is perfectly equip for nursing - but she will eventually enjoy getting her 'body back' once the boys wean themselves. 'Sometimes I just want them off but it's like saying no to a hug. When they come over to me and ask so nicely, how can I say no?' She explained. After breastfeeding for so many years Lisa's wardrobe is perfectly equip for nursing - but she will eventually enjoy getting her 'body back' once the boys wean themselves Chase's 'quirks' don't match up to mainstream schooling, Lisa said, so he is officially home schooled and 'thriving' from it Chase's 'quirks' don't match up to mainstream schooling, Lisa said, so he is officially home schooled and 'thriving' from it. 'He'd be in year one at this age but he's doing third and fourth year mathematics,' she admitted. 'So while he struggles with empathy and has sensory issues (if it gets really loud he'd uncomfortable), in the education department he's doing so well.' The Australian Breastfeeding Association claims all children stop breastfeeding when they are ready and won't want to feed for ever. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding (i.e. no other fluids or solids) for six months and then continued breastfeeding combined with solid foods for two years or as long as the mother and baby desire. A same-sex couple who turned to Facebook to find a surrogate mother have welcomed their baby boy after spending nearly $60,000 to fulfil their dream of being a family. Christian Newman 34, and his husband Mark Edwards, 35, are embracing the joys of parenthood after their son Francis Newman-Edwards was born via IVF on June 6. The doting fathers, from Auckland, began trying for their first child in 2016 - but it would take them more than three emotional years and tens of thousands of dollars to finally become the ultimate modern family. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the proud parents - dubbed Baby Daddies - who have been together for 10 years spoke candidly about the arrival of their son following a whirlwind journey. Christian Newman 34, (right) and his husband Mark Edwards, 35, (left) are embracing the joys of parenthood after their son Francis Newman-Edwards was born via IVF on June 6 The ultimate modern family: Alisa Herrera Hayman (far left) made the gracious decision to donate her eggs after Aleisha Hart (far right) offered to be the surrogate mother 'We are so totally in love and smitten with our wee man,' Christian said. 'We couldn't believe it was actually happening. Mark wondered to himself "Is this real?" The reality when he was introduced to us was crazy. 'I was speechless, which doesn't happen often. I just kept giggling a super nervous laugh. Then I got a bit teary and choked up. It was a feeling I have never had before. 'Our wee guy is so chilled and content, but we are just besotted by this tiny human. It is so cool. Something we have yearned for, for a very long time.' More than five years ago, the idea to have a baby sprung into mind. 'Over five years ago we committed to having a baby. After years of thinking it's not a possibility, and being told we couldn't adopt or have our own child, we made it our life's mission to make it happen,' Christian said. After countless hours of research and consultations, the pair realised that adoption was not an option. 'No countries will allow same-sex adoption,' he said. And so they embarked on their search for a surrogate mother and an egg donor. In 2016, the couple launched 'Baby Daddies Looking for Kiwi Surrogate' on social media to broaden their search for a surrogate who was willing to carry their baby. 'After exhausting our friends and family with numerous requests, we decided to start the search via social media,' Christian explained. Aleisha (right) is the birth mother while Alisa (left) is the biological mother to baby Francis The fathers have welcomed their son after spending over $50,000 to fulfil their dream family But the pair faced multiple challenges despite getting more than 30 potential candidates. 'A lot of people got excited and a bit carried away with the hype, including us,' Christian said. 'However when push came to shove and things got real, everyone we had "interviewed" pulled out one by one. 'It was devastating, as we were so excited and surprised we had so many people willing to carry our child. 'We honestly thought we would not get one person, but we ended up getting more than 30 women contact us to offer their womb. 'We went through a few rounds of applicants to find a suitable surrogate and eventually, we found "the one".' The couple found selfless paramedic Aleisha Hart, 32, from Nelson in New Zealand, who was willing to carry their child for the next nine months. 'We first started chatting with Aleisha on July 15 2016 via Messenger. We were super excited about her message as she ticked every box,' Christian said. 'She already had kids, she was under 30, she lived in Auckland, she was a paramedic, super caring, generous and actively involved in groups and charity work. 'She just seemed so perfect.' Baby boy Francis was born via IVF on June 6 - completing his fathers' ultimate dream family To find the egg donor, the couple wanted someone who was close to their family. They approached their sister-in-law Alisa Herrera Hayman, 26, who eventually made the gracious decision to help the pair by donating her eggs. Before they could start the process, they had to understand the adoption process by meeting with doctors, counsellors and lawyers to get all their paperwork signed off. Under surrogacy arrangements in New Zealand, surrogates cannot receive financial compensation for carrying someone else's child. But the couple are allowed to pay for surrogacy-related expenses. The pair estimated they have spent between $50,000 to $60,000 over the past three years on medical costs, IVF treatment, counselling, Ethics Committee approval, obstetrician and associated costs. After one successful round of IVF, Aleisha fell pregnant. 'We were very fortunate,' Christian said. Following a three year journey, they couple are now part of the happy family of three after their baby boy Francis was born earlier this month. The proud parents who celebrated the arrival of Francis are hoping to find him a sibling So what's next for the family? 'For now we will focus on bringing up Frankie the best we can,' Christian said. 'We are also focusing on Mark's business Edwards & Co. Baby and looking to expand internationally, and renovating our house. 'In the next few months we will look to start the whole process again, but we need to save some money to afford a wee brother or sister for Frankie.' For any same-sex couples who are keen to become parents, Christian said: 'If you are truly ready to give everything you have to someone else, and you are prepared to sacrifice a lot to make it happen, then go for it. 'After 10 days in, we know this is everything we had ever hoped for. It is truly an amazing feeling. 'And for those people who have been told 'you can't have kids or you shouldn't have kids', or fear of being ostracised for being gay, or worry their kids will be bullied for having gay parents - forget about it. 'Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but you are entitled to have a family and you are entitled to be happy.' To follow the family of three, please visit their Instagram on Love From Your Dads. The intimate family portraits were taken by Renaye Mclaughlan Photography. A mother with six children under the age of seven has revealed some of the stranger questions she gets asked about her family by people on the street. Popular Australian blogger Krechelle Carter, who hails from Adelaide, recently shared some of the comments along with her witty replies from her many fans on social media. Ms Carter, 28, who writes under Eight At Home, is renown for her honest and humorous approach to parenting her large and hectic brood. Here, she gives a candid account of how she copes when people 'rustle up to her at the shops' and question her about her life. Mother-of-six Krechelle Carter (pictured centre) has shared some of the questions she is asked by strangers about her family Topping the list of queries she says have left her feeling 'disgruntled' was one asking about her age. 'You look like a baby. These cant be your children?!,' Ms Carter recalled one woman asking her. Keeping her reply simple, the blogger stated: 'Im 28. I started having babies at 21.' The South Australian mum isn't one to lose her composure even after being asked some quite intrusive questions about her life Ms Carter said breastfeeding was also a hot topic among those who approached her. 'If you take a look at the state of my "hoo has" youll notice that yes all six were [sic],' the smart mum said she offered in response. 'But they were also formula fed and spoon fed and fed themselves.' The mum-of-six remains tight-lipped about whether or not she is planning on having more kids However, the big question on the lips of many who stopped to speak with her, Ms Carter revealed, was whether or not she was planning more kids. Naturally, her reply gives nothing away. But to those asking, you have been warned: 'You are a complete stranger to me but if you write down your contact details here, here and here, Ill SMS you when weve decided,' she joked. 'You planned that so well; youve got boys and girls?!' - just one of the many comments Ms Carter said she fields from complete strangers Then, she said, there are questions that fall into the ridiculous category, such as 'You planned that so well; youve got boys and girls?!'. 'Im not sure when your last family planning session was,' came her response, but its not entirely up to me whether I have boys or girls'. 'Its a natural occurring selection thats made almost completely at random.' Ms Carter said she is also questioned about how she manages her family's finances - something she said involves her and her husband holding down three jobs Then she said came the inevitable questions about her family's finances along with comments such as 'I bet they cost a fortune?'. Ms Carter, known for her savvy budgeting skills, revealed between her and her husband they have three jobs in order to make their situation work. She also added the pair can't smoke or drink 'even though we desperately need to do both' and that weekly grocery shops were made less expensive buying home-brand goods. Keeping it simple: Ms Carter said the family home didn't have to be huge because their 'hearts were' Ms Carter said her child-rearing skills were also something people felt at liberty to question as was whether or not she ever got any 'peace and quiet'. 'Our children sleep 12 hours a night,' she replied, before jokingly adding, 'sometimes we wake them up just for s**** and giggles.' And lastly, she said people are endlessly fascinated with the size of her house with many assuming it must be 'huge'. 'It's not and it doesn't have to be because our hearts are huge.' Times have most definitely changed in the modern world of dating. But it seems chivalry isn't dead. Research by dating website eHarmony found Australian women still want to be romanced by their dates the old-fashioned way. Up to 82 per cent of women prefer traditional acts of courtesy such as having the door opened for them while 90 per cent want to be picked up in a car for a date. Speaking to the Today show, Sydney psychologist Jacqui Manning explained why women still prefer old-school dating and how chivalry is making a comeback. Scroll down for video Research has found 82 per cent of women prefer traditional acts of courtesy such as having the door open for them while 90 per cent want to be picked up in a car for a date (stock image) Sydney psychologist Jacqui Manning (pictured) explained why women still prefer old-school dating and how chivalry could be making a comeback 'Everyone wants to feel important and special. These are little acts of demonstrating that, saying: "I see you. I want to get to know you. I think you're important",' she said. 'So the small acts, depending on what they are for the individual, can mean a lot. Maintenance is very important too, keep the romance alive.' Despite the rise of popular dating apps, around 40 per cent prefer to flirt face-to-face rather than behind a screen. 'Especially for those key moments such as saying "I love you" and flirting and asking someone out, a majority of people prefer to be in front of the person,' she said. 'That's because we communicate so much without words. So tone of voice, facial gestures, we take in so much with our five senses that being with that person when you're working out where you stand is really important.' Australian women still want their date to behave like a gentleman the old-fashioned way Times have definitely changed in the modern world of dating but it seems chivalry isn't dead And modern dating has seen new terms of breakups emerge in recent years. 'Ghosting' is when they suddenly cut off all communication with no warning. 'Breadcrumbing' is when someone contacts you only intermittently in order to keep you interested without expending much effort. 'Negging' means making someone feel bad about themselves in order to try and connect with them while 'cushioning' is when keeping your zones comfortable so you have lots of options to go out with. '[Now] there's more ways to hurt somebody's feelings,' the relationship expert said. 'Like unfollow, ghosting, negging and cushioning.' Griefstricken Queen Maxima of the Netherlands has broken her silence following the apparent suicide of her younger sister - and paid tribute to her 'sweet and talented' sibling. The Dutch royal visited a proton therapy centre in Groningen on Tuesday after a brief hiatus from public duties following the news her sister Ines Zorreguieta had been found hanged in her home in Argentina earlier this month. The Queen, who was back on duty just a fortnight after attending her 33-year-old sister's funeral in their native Argentina, said she was pleased to visit a centre that works to help cancer patients who are 'ill, but who haven't lost hope to recover'. 'My sweet and talented younger sister Ines was also ill. She was unable to find happiness and sadly couldn't get better,' said Maxima. She added: 'Our only consolation is to think that she has finally found peace,' Hello! reported. Queen Maxima, whose sister Ines Zorreguieta died in an apparent suicide a fortnight ago, said her sibling was 'unable to find happiness' Ines Zorreguieta, pictured with her late father Jorge Zorreguieta last year, worked for the government in Argentina The Queen also thanked well-wishers who had sent cards and messages of support in the wake of the tragedy. 'It's been a great help,' she said. 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.' Maxima, 47, appeared to be in a reflective mood yesterday as she spoke to scientists and learned about the pioneering cancer treatment they offer there. Ines Zorreguieta, 33, was found dead at her apartment in Buenos Aires, according to the Dutch Embassy in Argentina, who told La Nacion that authorities 'assume it was a case of suicide.' She is understood to have suffered from depression and mental health issues. Back to business: Queen Maxima of the Netherlands returns to work on Tuesday, two weeks after her younger sister died of an apparent suicide Queen Maxima of Holland's sister Ines Zorreguieta (pictured in a red hat at Princess Ariane's christening in 2007) was found dead in her Buenos Aires home on Wednesday night Ines' body was removed from her home in the early of hours ofJune 7 with a post-mortem examination set to take place, authorities said. Maxima's beloved sister was a psychologist who worked for an office on social policies at the president's office. Ines was also godmother to Queen Maxima's 11-year-old daughter Princess Ariane. Queen Maxima had previously cancelled all upcoming engagements and flown to Argentina to be with her family. She had been due to attend Holland Festival that week, but her appearance was subsequently cancelled, according to Hello! magazine. Public duties: The Dutch royal visited a proton therapy centre in Groningen on Tuesday after a brief hiatus from public duties following the news her sister had been hanged in her home Neutral: The Dutch royal wore muted colours, pairing a pistachio dress and skirt with a simple taupe scarf Mourning period: Maxima, 47, appeared to be in a reflective mood as she spoke to scientists and learned about the pioneering cancer treatment they offer there Sad: The news came after Queen Maxima, her husband and their three children flew to Argentina last year to attend the funeral of her father after his death from cancer She had also been set to accompany her husband, King Willem-Alexander, on their tour of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia next week. The Dutch Prime Minister said the news was 'intensely sad and heartbreaking.' 'The sudden passing away of Queen Maxima's sister comes as a great shock. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Queen and her family,' he said. 'I wish them all the strength they need to cope with this horrible loss. I trust that they will be afforded the space and privacy they need.' The sad news came just months after after Queen Maxima, her husband and their three children flew to Argentina last year to attend the funeral of her father after his death from cancer at the age of 89. Queen Maxima and her sister Ines are seen greeting each other in Buenos Aires in 2016 Ines was also godmother to Queen Maxima's 11-year-old daughter Princess Ariane. She is pictured on the day of Princess Ariane's baptism in October 2007 Ines was the youngest daughter of government minister Jorge Zorreguieta and his second wife Maria del Carmen Cerruti Carricart's children. The Zorreguieta family have been landed gentry, professionals, politicians, and statesmen for generations. Ines and Queen Maxima have two brothers as well as three half-sisters; Maria, Dolores and Angeles. Ines travelled to Holland for her sister's wedding without her parents in 2002. Their father was not permitted to attend due to his role as Argentina's Minister of Agriculture during the National Reorganization Process, the brutal military dictatorship led by General Jorge Rafael Videla that ruled the country from 1976 to 1983. Queen Maxima and Ines are pictured as the Dutch royal made a trip to Argentina after their father was hospitalised last year Queen Maxima (pictured in Amsterdam earlier this month) pulled out of all upcoming engagements, but this week appears to spell the end of her hiatus 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 as her father's tenure as a minister was during the early stages of the Dirty War in Argentina - a period of state terrorism that saw up to 30,000 people killed or go missing during a seven-year military regime. An 'introverted' dancer has spent more than $150,000 (85,700) on plastic surgery to transform her 'basic' girl-next-door image. Mary Magdalene, 24 from Toronto, Canada, has had three boob jobs, more than 15 lip procedures, butt implants and a Brazilian butt lift. Previously a size 32B, the surgeries have given her voluptuous 38J breasts as well as full, Angelina Jolie-like lips. Mary Magdalene, 24 from Toronto, Canada, has had several plastic surgeries, including three boob jobs, over 15 lip procedures, butt implants and a Brazilian butt lift Mary, pictured before her surgeries, said that she transformed her look because she used to be too 'basic' Mary has been sharing her incredible images revealing her dramatic transformation and she says she plans on getting more surgery. One photo shows Mary, who is of British descent through her father, at 20 before she underwent any operations. She says that her old look was 'basic' and her pouty pose reveals how she says she went from 'Kylie Jenner paper clip lips' to 'Angelina Jolie'. This pouty pose reveals Mary's new lips and she says that she has gone from 'Kylie Jenner paper clip lips' to 'Angelina Jolie' The dancer said that she has a British father who is a missionary and does not approve of her lifestyle Her plastic surgery, which she started from the age of 20, has cost her around $150,000 (85,700). She said that her British father, who was a missionary, does not approve of her decision. She said: 'I knew I wanted plastic surgery since I was about fourteen. 'Never did I imagine I would get as much as I did but it has just become a hobby of mine; like an extreme sport.' Her various procedures, which she started from the age of 20, has cost her around $150,000 (85,700) Mary says that her new look helps her in her career and if she worked in a different job, she probably wouldn't have changed her looks so much. Pictured before having surgery 'Before surgery there were days I would feel insecure about some things and some days I would wake up feeling like myself - now looking back at old photos, I think I was a plain Jane. 'I didn't think I was ugly at that time but looking back I just looked very basic. I much prefer my look now and it's very good for my business - I'm sure if I had a different career I would still look basic. 'I had my first procedure when I was 20. I had breast implants put in while I was in Mexico and luckily, I survived because he ended up actually being a dentist. Very sketchy. Mary, pictured now, has gotten various different surgeries and said: 'I knew I wanted plastic surgery since I was about fourteen' 'I'm not trying to look like anyone, I just like tattoos and plastic surgery. The bigger, the better. I'm not even the same person. I went from Kylie Jenner paper clip lips to bigger than Angelina Jolie. 'My dad doesn't like it he was a missionary same with my grandparents and they are very conservative.' As well as three boob jobs, Mary has also had three nose jobs, a brow lift, cheek and lip fillers, Botox and arm and flank liposuction. Mary was previously a size 32B but the surgeries have given her voluptuous 38J boobs - and she says she isn't finished She revealed one incident where a little child saw her and asked her mother why Mary had 'fish lips' She even plans on getting another boob job in August despite the fact that she has experienced some breathing problems. Strangers haven't always agreed with her extreme surgeries. 'I was leaving the grocery store and an old lady shook her head and said violently, "now why would you do that",' Mary said. 'I was shopping with my brother who was sitting on the bench waiting for me and this little girl runs out and says to the lady sitting beside him "mum, come look at this girl's lips! She looks like a fish".' 'I have some breathing problems other than that I'm fine. I think you have to live your life for yourself. 'Do what makes you happy but also do not make impulsive decisions and really think about how it will affect your future.' Although she admits that her breasts give her breathing problems, she plans to have another boob job in August The much-changed dancer said that she used to be an introvert and that her decisions make her happy Lady Amelia Windsor commanded attention with her daring tattoo at the Serpentine Summer Party last night - but she's not the first royal to display their inkings. Several European royals - including Princess Sofia of Sweden and Princess Stephanie of Monaco - have long been proudly displaying their tattoos across the channel. Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, who is heir to the throne, has also shown off the shark tattoo on his calf and a second tattoo on his arm. However, Amelia, 22, is the first member of the British royal family to show off her inkings in public. Princess Sofia of Sweden has a sunburst tattoo on her back, which she displayed in her wedding dress when she married Prince Carl Philip Sofia, 33, is reported to have had a tattoo on her arm removed following her engagement to Carl Philip However, the Swedish royal still has a discreet inking on her ankle, which was spotted last year Princess Sofia, 33, has had a sunburst tattoo on her back since before she began dating Prince Carl Philip, keeping the tattoo on display on her wedding day in a low-back gown. The Swedish royal also has a discreet tattoo on her ankle, but is reported to have had a tattoo on her arm removed following her engagement to Carl Philip, 39. Meanwhile, Princess Stephanie, 53, has also frequently put her tattoos on display over the years - including a dragon inking on her back. The Monaco royal also has a floral tattoo on her wrist, as well as two jumping dolphins on her ankle. Princess Stephanie of Monaco has several tattoos, including a dragon tattoo on her back Stephanie's daughter Pauline Ducruet (right) appears to have followed in the footsteps of her mother (left) when it comes to tattoos Pauline, 24, who is Stephanie's second eldest child, has a flower tattoo on her arm Stephanie herself meanwhile also has a flower bracelet inked onto her wrist (pictured above) Her daughter Pauline Ducruet, 24, has followed mother Stephanie's lead, and has a flower inked onto her arm. Prince Frederick of Denmark, 50, also has a couple of tattoos, regularly showing off the shark tattoo on his leg. He also showed off a second tattoo on his arm, while on the beach with wife Crown Princess Mary and their children in 2015. It comes as Lady Amelia Windsor proudly displayed her delicate tattoo on the side of her rib while at the Serpentine Summer Party in London last night. The model also showed off the outline of three animals on her arm as she arrived at the glitzy bash in a pink mini dress by Chanel. Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark has a tattoo on his arm, which he showed off while on the beach with his wife Frederick, 50, also has a shark tattoo on his calf, which he regularly puts on display Crown Prince Frederick (pictured with wife Crown Princess Mary) is clearly not afraid to show off his tattoo collection The granddaughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent has previously shown off a tiger tattoo on her back, displaying a glimpse of the inking last night. Lady Amelia is believed to be the only member of the current British royal family to have a tattoo. Grant Harrold, who is known as The Royal Butler, told FEMAIL: 'Senior members of the Royal Family have never shown tattoos off and it is most unlikely that they even have them. 'These are choices that the likes of the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex will not even consider due to their ever increasing public profiles, which mirror the Royal Family on a daily basis.' It comes as Lady Amelia Windsor showed off a daring inking while at the Serpentine Summer Party last night She has the outlines of three animals on her arm, which could be a tribute to her bond between herself and her two siblings, Lady Marina and Edward Windsor Amelia, 22, has previously shown off a tiger tattoo on her back. She's the only current member of the royal family who's put her her inkings on display He added: 'Lady Amelia Windsor is not a senior royal or a princess. 'As we know she is not even in the top 30 in line to the throne, so she will be aware that she can get away with personal choices such as tattoos or modelling for international fashion houses.' While no other members of the current royal family are thought to have permanent tattoos, the Duchess of Cambridge got a Henna tattoo during a visit to Sunderland earlier this year. Meanwhile, previous British royals have had tattoos in the past, including King Edward VII and King George V, who both had a Jerusalem cross tattoo. The Countess of Wessex suffered a bout of extraordinarily bad luck today when just one of her horses was placed at Ascot. Sophie, accompanied by husband Prince Edward, put down 2 on a four-fold accumulator, but failed to win a penny. One of her horses, Cracksman, suffered a shock defeat to Poet's Word in the Prince of Wales Stakes, while another came second-to-last out of 28 horses. Ladbrokes spokesperson Nicola McGeady told MailOnline: 'It wasn't a great day for punters at Royal Ascot today and judging by her betting slip it wasn't a great day for Sophie Wessex either.' It is not known whether her mother-in-law the Queen, who was also in attendance, fared better on a bumper year at Royal Ascot with some 7million up for grabs. True blue: The Countess dazzled in aquamarine as she teamed her pleated jumpsuit with a large hat The Countess of Wessex put down 2 on a four-fold accumulator, but failed to win a penny Sophie suffered a bout of bad luck when just one of her horses was placed on Wednesday The monarch looked to be in excellent spirits as she took in the action at Royal Ascot, one of her favourite days of the year. The 92-year-old was resplendent in powder blue Guest of honour! The Queen was all smiles today as she stepped into the parade ring at Royal Ascot, known to be one of her favourite events of the year The Queen teamed her outfit with one of her favourite diamond brooches and a blue hat adorned with pink peonies Fashion-watchers noted that Sophie had made history as the first royal to wear a jumpsuit at Ascot, after they were introduced to the Royal Enclosure for the first time in 2017. The mother-of-two stunned in a 1,992 powder blue number by Emilia Wickstead, teamed with an aquamarine hat. Her Majesty, 92, was picture perfect in a pale blue outfit, teamed with a matching hat adorned with pretty pink flowers. The monarch rode in the traditional carriage procession to the parade ground with her cousin Princess Alexandra, who was elegant in cream. The Queen arrived at the course in her traditional carriage procession and among her guests in the royal box are the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. Prince Charles was joined by his wife Camilla who paired her green coat with a striking white hat trimmed with floral cut outs Camilla recycled an eye-catching green coat she wore just a month earlier to a Buckingham Palace Garden party in honour of Prince Charles 70th birthday The Queen arriving at Royal Ascot in the traditional carriage procession with Princess Alexandra Prince Charles was accompanied by his wife Camilla, 70, who looked elegant in a green coat dress The Queen looked delighted to be attending Royal Ascot for the second time this week, as it's known to be one of her favourite events of the year One has got her hat on! The Queen looked resplendent in a powder blue coat and matching hat, festooned with pink flowers that matched the geraniums in the Royal Enclosure The monarch, who recently underwent cataract surgery, protected her eyes with dark shades Camilla, who looked smart in a green coat dress, rode in a carriage with her husband joined by his nephew Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn. And she proved she's not afraid to recycle her old outfits, sporting the same coat she wore to a garden party at Buckingham Palace just a month ago. Sophie, Countess of Wessex, also joined the royal party this afternoon - following the Queen's lead in a blue with a matching hat. However, she opted for an edgier style and took advantage of the rule that now allows jumpsuits in the royal enclosure, opting for a design by Emilia Wickstead. Sophie Wessex was joined by her husband Edward who is due to present the trophy for the Duke of Cambridge stakes in the absence of Prince William The royal paired her Emilia Wickstead jumpsuit with a broad-rimmed powder blue hat The Princess Royal, who has just become a grandmother again following the birth of Zara and Mike Tindall's second child, was at the Queen's side on day two of Royal Ascot Prince Charles looked dapper in a top hat and three piece suit as he arrived at Royal Ascot Charles, 69, looked to be in good spirits as he shook hands and chatted with fellow guests Charles looked to be in good spirits as he met winners after watching the day's action Charles and Camilla joined the Queen this afternoon for one of the events she cherishes the most Her Majesty waved to the crowds as she pulled up in the parade ring with her cousin Princess Alexandra The Queen enjoyed a chat with her racing manager John Warren (right) in the parade ring Prince Charles and Camilla were joined in their carriage by Autumn Phillips Charles later presented the winning prizes in the aptly named Prince of Wales's Stakes. The Duke of Cambridge stakes takes place this afternoon, but the Earl of Wesex rather that Prince William will be presenting the trophy. And his wife Kate, who has attended in previous years, is likely to remain at home with her newborn, Prince Louis. Checking out the goods: The Duchess of Cornwall before the trophy presentation for the Prince Of Wales's Stakes during day two of Royal Ascot on Wednesday Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall prepare to present the trophy for the Prince of Wales's Stake to Poet's Word owner Saeed Suhail Camilla, 70, wore a pistachio green dress teamed with a show-stopping white hat, while her husband was smart in a grey suit James Doyle is presented his award for winning the Prince Of Wales's Stakes on Poet's Word alongside the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall Trainer Sir Michael Stoute celebrates his horse Poet's Word winning the Prince Of Wales's Stakes as he meets Charles and Camilla on Wednesday afternoon By royal appointment: Charles and Camilla present the trophy for the Prince of Wales's Stake No pressure! The Queen's horse, Bless Him, ridden by Oisin Murphy before the 5pm Royal Hunt Cup Watching the action: Billy Lee riding Settle for the Bay wins The Royal Hunt Cup Also absent from this year's Royal Ascot is Zara Tindal who is recuperating after giving birth to her second child, a baby girl, on Monday. Royal Ascot racegoers who took a punt on blue as the colour of the Queen's hat were set to cash in this afternoon. Bookies traditionally take bets on the colour of the head of state's hat, and they hope to have better luck than Tuesday when the favourite yellow was heavily backed. The royal appeared to be in good spirits as she chatted to a male companion in the royal box The monarch looked typically animated as she took in the action from the comfort of the royal box Sophie, Countess of Wessex, followed the Queen's lead by donning a blue dress with a matching hat The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles were joined by Autumn Phillips who opted for a blue ensemble by Beulah London The Queen, who has a lifelong love or horse racing, looked in her element as she began her afternoon at Ascot The monarch paused to chat with a fellow racing fan in the parade ring after arriving at Royal Ascot Her Majesty attended today's events with members of her family, but was not joined by the Duke of Edinburgh Her Majesty is a keen racing fan and is expected to attend Royal Ascot every day this week William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said they had shortened the odds on blue from 7-2 to 2-1 favourite earlier today, adding: 'We will be feeling blue if another hat horror occurs today.' Nicola McGeady of Ladbrokes said: 'Punters kicked off day two in high spirits after correctly predicting that the Queen would wear a blue hat. 'Tomorrow is Ladies Day, and the early money suggests that Her Majesty will opt for green rather than pink.' Charles is due to present the winning prizes in the aptly named Prince of Wales's Stakes Her Majesty was on top form as she chatted to fellow racegoers in the parade ring The Queen's grandson Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn made up the royal party Family outing: The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall were joined in their carriage by Peter and Autumn Phillips At one point, the Queen could be seen enjoying a private chat with her daughter Princess Anne The two women appeared to be enjoying a chinwag as they took in the action from the royal box The Queen is also expected to attend tomorrow for the busiest race day with the feature Gold Cup race set to be one of the most prestigious events of the whole festival. The Queen has had 22 winners over 60 years and in 2013, she became the first reigning monarch to win the Gold Cup with one of her horses when her filly, Estimate, stormed to victory. She has described her visits to Ascot with her family as among her 'most cherished' memories and has been going to the festival since she was 19-years-old. Her Majesty arrived by horse drawn carriage as is customary for Royal Ascot Her Majesty was greeted by fellow racegoers as she arrived in the parade ring by carriage The Queen was perfectly co-ordinated as ever in a pastel coat over a blue and pink floral dress Her Majesty was handed a racing booklet so that she could keep up with the action on track A YouTuber looking to raise awareness about child marriage staged an unsettling experiment involving a 50-year-old 'bride' and her 12-year-old 'groom'. Coby Persin brought together a fake married couple to Times Square in New York City, posing as their wedding photographer in a new video and pretending the two had just tied the knot. His goal was to see whether people would intervene when spotting the visibly distressed groom out in public with his much older bride. Video: A YouTuber had a 50-year-old faux bride and her 12-year-old 'groom' pretend they were taking photos in Times Square in an experiment to raise awareness against child marriage Experiment: The faux couple made their way in Times Square, with the bride wearing a white gown and the visibly distressed groom donning a tuxedo The YouTuber, who previously staged a similar experiment with a 12-year-old bride and a 65-year-old groom, explained that upon researching child marriage, he found out that boys do get married off too. He thus decided to raise awareness by recreating his experiment, this time by inverting the faux newlyweds' genders. In Coby's video, the young groom, dressed in a tuxedo, looks clearly distressed, never speaks, and and never cracks a smile. The white-gown-clad bride, on the contrary, looks happy and cheerful, and seemingly has no problem disclosing the age of her very young 'husband'. When questioned, she tells people she has secured permission from the boy's parents and claims the marriage is thus legal. A union such as the one depicted in the video would in fact be illegal in the state of New York, where the video was filmed. In June last year, new legislation made it illegal for minors under the age of 17 to marry, as reported by Human Rights Watch at the time. Shocked: Onlookers witnessed the scene with a look of disbelief on their faces Crowd: The experiment took place in Times Square, which is usually packed with people, meaning there was no shortage of witnesses Questions: A woman stepped, asking the bride: 'Excuse me. How old is he?' Upon being told that the boy is 12, the woman asked where his mother was Outraged: 'OK, this is disgusting on so many levels,' the woman told the bride, adding: 'What do you expect with a corrupt government?' Seventeen-year-olds, meanwhile, can marry only after securing the permission of a judge. Before the new law was passed, children aged 16 and 17 could get married with parental approval in New York State, and minors aged 14 and 15 could do so with permission from their parents as well as a judge. A large majority of children affected by child marriage are girls. About 82 per cent of people who were married as minors across the world are girls, with 18 per cent of boys, according to estimates by UNICEF. In Coby's video, several onlookers witness the scene between the faux bride and groom with shocked looks on their faces but don't say anything. One man stops briefly to ask the boy: 'How did you get that lady? Is she rich?' The faux couple keeps posing next to each other, holding hands, with Coby prompting the young boy to smile because it's a 'big day' for him. Another man even steps into the photo to pose with his arm around the bride's shoulders, telling the pair: 'Congrats, guys!' Finally, a woman steps in to tell the bride: 'I have a question. How old is he?' The bride then tells her that the boy is 12, to which the woman responds: 'Is that legal? only for the bride to assure her it is. 'Oh, OK,' the woman replies. 'I was just wondering, that's all.' Photobomb: One man stepped into the photo to pose with his arm around the bride's shoulders, telling the pair: 'Congrats, guys!' Body language: The bride beamed throughout the experiment while the boy kept looking down, looking clearly distressed Another woman later steps in, asking the bride: 'Excuse me. How old is he?' Upon being told that the boy is 12, the woman asks where his mother is, to which the bride states once again that she has permission from his parents. 'OK, this is disgusting on so many levels,' the woman replies, clearly outraged, and adds: 'What do you expect with a corrupt government?' before walking away. Eventually, the bride and groom go pose on Times Square's red staircase, with Coby once again asking the boy to smile. Test: Coby (pictured) wanted to see whether people would intervene when spotting the visibly distressed groom out in public with his much older bride Two men stop to look at the pair, with one of them asking whether the two are married. After the bride says they are and tells him the boy is 12, the two men start laughing and high-fiving, apparently pleased with the news. The same man then asks the bride how old she is, and after being told she's 50, responds: 'Fifty and he's 12? And y'all just got married?' As the conversation continues, the man asks whether the boy's parents are 'OK' with the situation, with the bride assuring him that they are. The man then deems the union to be 'good s**t before asking the boy whether he's happy. When the child groom fails to answer, the man leans down to ask him for a high-five, but the boy keeps looking down at the ground instead. The two men then laugh and high-five again before walking away, with one of them adding: 'I respect that though.' 'You're the man, bro!' the other man adds in direction of the boy. Location: Eventually, the bride and groom went to pose on Times Square's red staircase, with Coby once again asking the boy to smile Onlookers: Two men stopped to look at the pair, with one of them asking if the two are married Reaction: After the bride disclosed that the boy is 12, the two men started laughing and high-fiving, apparently pleased with the news As the two get away, Coby runs after them to ask: 'Why were you guys so happy to see that child marriage going on? The kid is losing his whole childhood over this.' 'What? Nah, that's not losing his childhood. That's dope,' one of the men replies. 'You think that's cool?' Coby asks, to which the man responds: 'Hell yeah that's cool.' Coby then asks the man whether he has a sister and, after the man tells him he does in fact has a 12-year-old sister, the YouTuber asks him whether he'd be happy if she were to marry an older manwith the man making it clear that he wouldn't. While 18 is typically the minimum age for marriage in the United States, every state except Delaware has legal loopholes or exceptions allowing children to wed at a younger age. Last month, Delaware became the first of the 50 states in the United States to outlaw child marriage after years of legislative battles. A measure banning marriage under age 18 without exception was approved by both legislative houses, and Democratic Governor John Carney later signed it into law. Children in Delaware could previously marry at any age with a judge's approval. Between 2000 and 2010, about 170,000 children under 18 were wed in 38 U.S. states where data was available, according to Unchained at Last, a non-profit group opposed to child marriage. Globally, 12 million girls are married before 18 every year, according to Girls Not Brides, a partnership of organizations working to end child marriage. During the final weeks of his wifes pregnancy and the first days of his baby sons life, John Clayton couldnt have been a more attentive husband and father. The university academic was at Vickys side when her labour was induced. At home in Exeter with their newborn son, John was seemingly overjoyed and eager to play a full role in baby Hugos life, bathing him, changing his nappies and taking turns with his wife to feed him at night. But three years after becoming a father, 41-year-old John took his own life. The note he left behind gave a sense of the despair that took hold of him as he adapted to parenthood. He spoke of his love for Hugo and his concern for him, recalls Vicky, but you could also feel the darkness he had been living in. He felt such a tangible weight on his shoulders, as if he was looking in on our world and seeing joy but couldnt be part of it. John Clayton, 41 (pictured with his infant son Hugo) took his own life three years after becoming a father. His wife Vicky, 38, shared how he battled depression before his death During the 19 months since her husbands suicide in November 2016, Vicky, 38, has endured the heartbreak of talking to their four-year-old son about what happened to his father in terms that he can understand. Daddy was very poorly, is what she says when Hugo asks: How did my daddy die? She is speaking out publicly now, however, because she believes that John was a victim of a serious, but rarely discussed, condition male postnatal depression. Traditionally, of course, postnatal depression (PND) has been regarded as a maternal problem exacerbated by hormonal changes following birth. And there will be those who are sceptical about claims that new fathers can also suffer. But there is a growing body of evidence to suggest otherwise. Research backed by the NHS shows that up to one in 25 new fathers becomes depressed after having a baby, a fact that is rarely revealed to expectant parents even though the NHS describes PND as a type of depression that many parents experience after having a baby. The National Childbirth Trust (NCT), meanwhile, says that more than one in three new fathers are concerned about their mental health, while the Mental Health Foundation puts the rate of paternal PND at around 10 per cent not far off that of mothers at 14 per cent. But while in the UK the well-being of all new mothers is gauged by health visitors and other medical professionals, no such checks are in place for new fathers. It needs to be talked about, says Vicky, who works part-time as a holistic therapist. The fact is that men can suffer the same kind of emotional upheaval as women following the birth of a child. John changed after he became a father. He didnt get the help he needed because the problem isnt recognised enough. Male postnatal depression needs to be highlighted so that other lives can be saved. Vicky (pictured) revealed she wasn't immediately concerned by John's change in behaviour after the birth of their son, Hugo Fathers who have PND tend to experience it in a different way to mothers, say experts, suffering from anxiety, aggression, distress and doubts about their parenting skills as well as withdrawing from the family. They are much more likely than women to turn to alcohol or drugs to cope, and they also tend to experience a delayed onset of PND. While most women are affected in the months after birth, for men it is usually at its most intense once the child is at least a year old. Abi Wood, head of campaigns at the NCT, explains: Postnatal depression and other perinatal mental health issues can be experienced by men as well as women, and this is increasingly being recognised. Many men face huge upheaval when they become a father. More financial responsibility, changes in relationships and lifestyle, combined with a lack of sleep and an increased workload at home, can all affect a new dads emotional and mental well-being. Are men's hormones affected by having a baby? When his partner has a baby, a mans levels of testosterone drop, while those of the female hormone oestrogen rise Advertisement A fathers personality, social factors, family history and past mental health history can also affect his chance of developing depression. Early signs that something was wrong with John were not easy to detect, says his wife, Vicky. In the first few weeks after Hugos birth, John was tired and fractious, but no more than she would have expected given the sleepless nights, endless feeds and bouts of their baby crying that all new parents have to cope with. Vicky was dealing with her own exhaustion and her priority, she admits, was their son. All new parents go through rough patches, she says. Id expected it to be difficult, so I wasnt too concerned. By the time Hugo arrived in July 2013 just two days after the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to Prince George John and Vicky had been together for five years after meeting in 2008 at Cornwall College in Camborne, Cornwall. John was so interesting to be with, says Vicky. He was intelligent and had a great sense of humour. He loved being around people and was keen to help others. Vicky (pictured with Hugo) was given emotional support after giving birth to Hugo who didn't cry for several minutes after being delivered but John was sent home to care for himself Within months they had moved in together, and two years later, in July 2010, John proposed during a holiday to the Scilly Isles, presenting Vicky with a ruby and diamond engagement ring which belonged to his great-grandmother. As their wedding day approached, the couple moved to Exeter, where Vicky started a job as a PA at a large IT company. John, who was applying to study for his PhD, took a temporary job at the John Lewis call centre in the city. At weekends, they went for long walks or supported the Exeter Chiefs rugby club at home games. John indulged his passion for fishing on the River Exe. Throughout this time, they had frank conversations about what they expected from marriage.We both wanted to start a family and we were already in our 30s by then, so we knew we didnt want to delay things, says Vicky. She discovered she was pregnant just two-and-a-half months after their wedding at the Hartnoll Hotel, near Tiverton in Devon, in June 2012. He was tired all the time. He got very agitated when Hugo cried We were stunned it had happened so quickly, says Vicky. But we were both over the moon. The couples joy was short-lived, however, when Vicky suffered a miscarriage at six weeks. Happily, she became pregnant again just over a month later in October 2012. But John was understandably nervous. He waited until she had undergone her 12-week scan on New Years Eve to announce the pregnancy, posting the scan photo on Facebook and writing: Look what we made! When John discovered the baby was a boy at the 20-week scan, he burst into tears of joy. Hugos birth the following summer was, however, far from straightforward. After a lengthy labour, during which the babys head became trapped, Vicky underwent an emergency Caesarean section. Their son didnt cry for several minutes after being delivered. John, says Vicky, was an emotional wreck. And while there was lots of support on hand for her afterwards, John was sent home and left to fend for himself. John (pictured) became agitated when Hugo cried and struggled to concentrate on his work By the time Vicky and Hugo came home from hospital, John had used up half of his two-week state paternity leave. While he was a hands-on father during the week he had left, soon after he returned to work Vicky sensed a change in him. He was tired all the time. He got very agitated when Hugo cried, she says. He wanted things to be idyllic, but the reality with a newborn baby is that its stressful and you have to get through it. Within weeks, John had moved into the spare room at home so that he could sleep at night. I wasnt overly concerned, says Vicky. He needed to sleep because he was working. I needed to be with Hugo. I thought it was just a normal stage that we would go through. I underestimated the toll it took on John. I took up the slack rather than voicing my worries about what was going on Eight weeks after Hugos birth, the family moved from Exeter to Cardiff, where John was about to begin a paid PhD research post at the university. As they embarked on their new life, though, he became increasingly withdrawn. He was away at the university every day, she says. In the evenings, after he came home, I was the one who did the bedtime routine. John would watch TV or look at social media. He couldnt concentrate on his work, so that wasnt getting done either. While John became lost in himself, Vicky admits she felt as if I was walking on eggshells. I wanted to make everything all right, so at first I took up the slack rather than voicing my worries about what was going on. As the months passed, it was clear that John wasnt coping. Vicky took a part-time job at a Cardiff hotel in April 2014 and hired a childminder to care for Hugo. However, on the days he was meant to work from home, John often went back to bed or watched TV all day. When she challenged him about it, he broke down and cried. Vicky (pictured) says John was given antidepressants and placed on a six-month waiting list to see an NHS counsellor He said he loved Hugo immensely, but that he wasnt coping with being a father, she recalls. He said he didnt feel connected to us and that he had no real enjoyment of life. According to the NCT, these are some of the most common symptoms of paternal postnatal depression. New fathers can feel they are not coping, experience lethargy, an inability to concentrate as well as a lack of interest in the outside world. Such symptoms are similar to those suffered by new mothers but they are less likely to be spotted. At Vickys insistence, John went to see his GP but, with a six-month waiting list to see an NHS counsellor, he was prescribed antidepressants. They initially appeared to improve his mood. I was trying to balance the expectations of my husband with the needs of my child He returned to his studies and began seeing a counsellor at Cardiff University, who thought he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing Hugos difficult birth. By now Vicky, who was utterly exhausted from propping up the family on her own, was struggling to cope. Her GP said she was suffering from low mood and prescribed the same antidepressant John had been given Citalopram. I felt under immense pressure, she says. I was trying to balance the expectations of my husband with the needs of my child. I was tired and tearful. Wed become separate entities. It was me and Hugo, and then John. I couldnt go on. Vicky felt both guilty and relieved after she decided to move back to Exeter in September 2014 with their son. She asked John to move with them and work remotely, but he refused to go. Instead, they spoke on the phone every day and he visited every three or four weeks. John (pictured) hid the severity of his depression and even threw a Halloween party days before taking his life They were together when they bought Hugos first walking shoes in October, and at Christmas when John gave his son a musical nursery rhyme book. By the start of 2015, the pair accepted that their marriage was probably over, although Vicky continued to live in hope that they might manage to find their way back to each other. We got on well, she says. We both loved Hugo. It was always in my mind that a reconciliation might happen. But, by the summer of 2016, John hadnt done enough work to complete his PhD, which meant embarking on a fourth year without any financial support and without many of his friends, who had completed theirs. He was suffering from insomnia, and his GP changed the medication he was taking. John didnt know how to get himself out of his depression Vicky checked on him over the phone, but says: Theres a limit to what you can do. If Id known for a second how bad it was I would have been there in a heartbeat. Id have tried to keep him safe. Right to the end, John hid the severity of his depression. Only two days before he took his life in November 2016, he threw a Halloween party at his rented house in Cardiff. Vicky believes he was still trying to put a brave face on things. Johns body was found at his home two days later after concerned university friends called the police. Poignantly, Vicky had just texted John to invite him to Hugos first nursery Nativity play and was fretting about why he hadnt replied. When a police officer arrived on her doorstep, she knew straightaway that the news would be heartbreaking. I said: I need to take my son next door to my neighbours before you tell me anything, she recalls. Experts are calling for male-only antenatal classes as a place where men can confidently express their anxieties (file image) Since John died, Vicky has devoted much of her time to talking about male PND and suicide in the hope that other lives may be saved. She is a volunteer at Devon suicide bereavement charity Petes Dragons, and has been trained to recognise those at risk of harming themselves. Above all, she believes that there is not enough information for fathers about how to get help, despite the fact that in the UK the male suicide rate is consistently far higher than it is for women. Men are more reluctant to express how they feel or admit they are struggling, says Abi Wood of the NCT, particularly when many feel its their role to be strong and support their partner after the birth of a child. Dads peri-natal mental health problems need to be more widely recognised, she says. Its important men are encouraged and supported to share how theyre feeling and ask for help. Other experts are calling for male-only antenatal classes, where men feel they can express their fears and anxieties about impending fatherhood. John didnt know how to get himself out of his depression, says Vicky. The pain of losing him will never go away. Hugo has to grow up without a father. As he gets older, her sons questions about his father become increasingly painful to answer. Recently, they went together to scatter Johns ashes at a beauty spot overlooking the Exe Estuary where he loved to fish. While Hugo is still too young to understand the shattering truth about his fathers suicide, Vicky wants to keep Johns memory alive, both for the sake of their son and to raise awareness about how postnatal depression can be as devastating for men as it is for women. Several helplines can advise about suicide prevention: Samaritans, 116 123; Childline, 0800 11 11; and MindInfoline, 0300 123 3393. Petesdragons.org offers comfort after suicide loss in Devon and Cornwall. Overflowing inbox, unattended voicemails, a growing to-do list and the sense that the day is slipping through your fingers. The mid-afternoon slump kicks in just when you have the most to do. So how do successful types such as company director Fran Elkinson deal with it? The answer may surprise you. No matter how busy her schedule, Fran turns off her phone, reclines in her office chair . . . and falls asleep. It may sound counterintuitive, but Fran says not only does napping help her soar through the rest of the day, it has even restored her sight, after she developed stress-related vision problems. Fran Elkinson, 49, (pictured) believes her 20 to 40 minutes nap during work is vital for continued success. She claims the pattern was able to cure her sight problems In fact, she goes so far as to say that her afternoon snooze for 20 to 40 minutes a day is of critical importance and the secret to her continued success. I have a stressful job, which involves managing more than 100 people, says the 49-year-old from Manchester. But naptime is non-negotiable. I recline in my office chair and shut out the world. I cant manage without it. It also means I enjoy my social life more, as I feel refreshed. And Fran is far from the only successful career woman reliant on a daily nap. Perhaps the most famous power-napper was Margaret Thatcher, who ordered her aides not to disturb her between 2.30pm and 3.30pm so she could snooze. Now, science is catching up. A study by Professor Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, has found taking naps of less than 30 minutes improves our wellbeing and boosts performance. Theres even a new phrase for it nappiness! Last year, a study of 3,000 adults, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, found that those who took an hour-long nap after lunch did better on cognitive tests. Taking 40 winks has also been linked to lower blood pressure. A six-year study found people who took a 30-minute siesta three times a week appeared to have a 37 per cent lower risk of heart-related death, thanks to lower blood pressure. As a result of the growing medical consensus, forward-thinking companies such as Nike, Google and Facebook are embracing the daytime nap, in a bid to boost productivity, and have installed sleep pods in their offices. Not that Fran can claim her daily nap was her own idea. It was prescribed by her doctor and she was initially dubious. Fran (pictured) who works as a managing director revealed her father, 82, who runs two businesses also uses power naps for a boost of energy Three years ago, I had been through a stressful divorce and was feeling very tired all the time, she says. Then I started to have problems with my eyes my vision started to blur. Id look at my computer and the details on the screen would look opaque, as if everything was underwater. The mother-of-two was referred to a specialist, who diagnosed central serous retinopathy, a condition that causes fluid to collect in the retina. The problem can be resolved with laser treatment. However, Frans doctor said reducing stress might clear it naturally. So, as well as cutting out caffeine and alcohol, he advised her to take a daily power nap of 20 minutes at some point between 2pm and 4pm. Naptime is non-negotiable. I recline in my office chair and shut out the world. - Fran Elkinson I was a bit sceptical, says Fran. I just wanted my vision fixed. Whats more, I had a business to run and a home and family to look after. Napping seemed such a waste of time. But, worried about my sight, I took my doctors advice. Almost immediately, I began to feel the benefits. Id wake up refreshed, rebooted and calm. Within weeks, my vision returned to normal. Certainly, Fran has an incredibly busy working day as managing director of a marketing firm. Tally Bookbinder, 45, (pictured) from Manchester claims a 20 to 40 minute nap in her car gives her a kick of energy to get through the rest of the day She has also discovered that her father who, at 82, runs two businesses and still works six days a week has been power-napping since he was 50. But there are plenty who frown upon napping, regarding it as a failure to cope. Women may well feel guilty about napping, seeing it as a sign of weakness, says Michael Oko, an ear, nose and throat surgeon at the Sleeping Disorders Centre in Harley Street. But I liken it to having a snack when you are hungry. Too much and it will spoil your sleep. But 20 minutes might be all you need to invigorate you. Ive been known to pull into a quiet road or motorway service station and nap - Tally Bookbinder Sleeping for any longer than 45 minutes to an hour, however, can cause the napper to drift into deep wave sleep, a profound slumber that could affect their ability to sleep at night. And if you are woken up during this phase, then you may feel disorientated. Dr Tara Swart is neuroscientist in residence at the Corinthia Hotel London, where she suggests how to improve guests sleep. She says: Napping is a great way of giving the brain a boost, a bit like plugging in your phone for a short while to boost its charge. Business owner Tally Bookbinder, 45, is another who swears by her daily nap. The mother-of-one lives in Manchester with her family and is a busy make-up artist, as well as owner of Pro Makeup Academy in Oldham. She is used to 5.30am starts working on film sets and for magazine shoots. However, by lunchtime, her need to sleep is overwhelming. Which is why she retreats to her car in order to snatch 20 minutes rest. Tally who works as a make-up artists revealed she uses quiet roads or motorway service stations to have a nap whilst on the go In my car, I feel cocooned from the world. I put the heater on for a few minutes to make sure Im nice and warm. Then I recline the seat and just drift off. I set the alarm on my phone for about 20 to 40 minutes later, depending on how much time I can spare. And, though I wake up feeling a bit groggy for a few minutes, it gives me the punch I need for the rest of the day. Ive been known to pull into a quiet road or motorway service station and nap. I dont know what people think if they see me, but it doesnt bother me. If you dont work for a company like Google or have sympathetic deskmates or even a car handy during your working day there are other places to go. Some spas now offer luxury napping treatments intended to help you drift off. That said, sleep therapist Dr Nerina Ramlakhan, author of the book Fast Asleep, Wide Awake, points out that it isnt vital actually to fall asleep during naptime. The irony is that I now sleep better at night, too - Abby Crammer She explains: The power nap isnt only about sleeping. Its about closing your eyes and relaxing, which is why you can do it sitting at a desk. Its about blocking everything out. To maximise the benefits of a power nap, it can help to drink coffee just before, known as a coffee nap. Because caffeine takes 20 to 30 minutes to take effect, it will kick in just as youre waking. In a study by Loughborough University, researchers found that when tired participants took a 15-minute coffee nap, they then went on to make fewer errors in a driving simulator. For Abby Crammer, a 45-year-old mother-of-two, napping has been the perfect answer to her sleep issues. She says: My life is full-on. I run my own online business and have two children. I was a good sleeper until about seven years ago, when I was getting divorced. I resorted to the occasional sleeping pill, but that made me groggy. So Ive started napping in my office chair for about 20 minutes a day and its fantastic. I feel so much better. The irony is that I now sleep better at night, too. Its not about being lazy its listening to your body. Women shouldnt feel embarrassed to nap, its not a sign of weakness. Ivanka Trump looked somber as she attended a White House meeting regarding immigration on Wednesday, amid escalating uproar regarding her father's administration's policy of separating families on the US-Mexico border. The first daughter, 36, listened as Donald Trump , 72, discussed immigration with Republican members of Congress. She kept a stern look on her face during the meeting, which came on the day the president signed an executive order to keep migrant families together, after several weeks of growing outrage. Listening: Ivanka Trump looked somber as she attended a White House meeting regarding immigration on Wednesday Witness: The first daughter, 36, listened as Donald Trump , 72, discussed immigration with Republican members of Congress Taking notes? Ivanka was pictured looking down at her notebook and pen during the meeting Ivanka, dressed in a clinging white sweater and an $80 Zara skirt, rested her head on her right hand, was photographed during the meeting between her father and lawmakers, looking on with a solemn expression. At one point she was also seen biting on a black and gold pen, while holding a black hardback notebook in her arms; the notebook appeared to be embossed with the President's signature in gold. As the firestorm over forced separations of migrant families consumes the White House, Ivanka, the presidential adviser who has billed herself as a 'force for good' in the administration, remained out of sight. She didn't make any public comment about the issue until after her father signed the executive order ending family separations on Wednesday, at which point she wrote in a tweet: 'Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. 'Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values; the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families.' More than 2,300 children have been taken from parents since May 5 under the current policy. In a closed-door meeting with Republicans late Tuesday, President Donald Trump confided that his daughter urged him to find a solution. But she stayed publicly silent after days of heart-wrenching images of children being pulled from their immigrant parents. Trump told lawmakers during a meeting Tuesday evening that she had broached the issue with him, CNN and the Washington Post reported. No statement: As the firestorm over forced separations of migrant families consumes the White House, Ivanka has remained out of sight Adviser: Ivanka, dressed in a white sweater and a $80 Zara skirt, looked on with a solemn expression as her father spoke to the media on Wednesday Documents: She took a closer look at her notebook - which has the President's signature on the back in gold lettering - while her father spoke about immigration First daughter: Ivanka watched as the president answered questions after signing an executive order that will end the practice of separating families at the border Mum: She did not comment publicly on the issue until her father signed the executive order Somber: The first daughter kept a solemn expression as the president signed the order Talks: Donald Trump has said that Ivanka urged him to end family separations at the border Backlash: The first daughter previously received criticism after sharing photos of herself with her own children as public outrage mounted over families being separated Message: She didn't make any public comment about the issue until after her father signed the executive order ending family separations on Wednesday. Ivanka then praised him in a tweet Congressman Chris Collins said Trump mentioned his daughter had 'seen the images' and said they should deal with the crisis 'for a lot of reasons', according to CNN. 'He mentioned that his daughter Ivanka had encouraged him to end this and he said he does recognize that it needs to end and the images are painful and he's looking for a legislative solution,' CNN reported Florida congressman Carlos Curbelo as saying. 'He discussed the optics and the policy itself, and I think he's not comfortable with either.' Meanwhile, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times reported on Twitter that Trump quoted Ivanka as saying: 'Daddy, what are we doing about this?' It's far from the first time that Ivanka, as well as her husband and fellow influential presidential adviser Jared Kushner, have tried to fly under the radar during crisis and tumult for her father's administration. Jared has been in the Middle East working on the administration's peace plan as the story exploded along the Mexico border, filling cable news with emotional photos of children in cages and audio of kids crying for their parents. And Ivanka was in California this week, getting heckled at a fundraiser for Representative Kevin McCarthy. After Trump's Capitol Hill meeting, Representative Carlos Curbelo, Republican from Florida, said the president 'mentioned that his daughter Ivanka encouraged him to end this. And he said that he does recognize that it needs to end, that the images are painful'. A White House official said Ivanka had spoken to the president and has offered her assistance in talking to lawmakers. She's spoken to McCarthy, as well as some others. It's the latest example of the challenges and calculations faced by the first daughter as she seeks to promote a family-friendly agenda in an administration focused on hardline immigration tactics and protectionist trade policies under a president whose comments on race, gender and inclusivity have drawn bipartisan rebukes. The mounting criticism mirrors the harsh spotlight on Ivanka last summer for her silence after the deadly clash involving counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the time, the president pointedly refused to single out neo-Nazis and white supremacists, suggesting there was blame to be shared 'on both sides'. 'Tone-deaf': Last week, the first daughter came under fire after sharing this photo of herself enjoying a 'date night' with her six-year-old daughter Arabella Greetings: The morning after Ivanka shared the Instagram photo, Arabella joined her on her morning commute and waved excitedly from her Secret Service SUV Last year, Ivanka did offer strong words against Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama, who was accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls during the late 1970s, when he was in his 30s. She told the AP at the time: 'There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children. I've yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts.' After her father took office, Ivanka said she aimed to 'be a force for good and to make a positive impact' in her White House role. Throughout her time in the administration, she has sought to position herself above the fray, arguing in interviews that her focus is on policy and that she is more effective working behind the scenes if she disagrees with her father. While liberal critics have expressed frustration that she has not done more to temper her father's conservative agenda, Ivanka has made clear that she sees limitations to her role. 'I came here with specific areas I could add value,' she said last year in an interview with AP. 'In the areas I don't agree, I state my opinion.' She and her husband also got criticized by some in the West Wing for being absent during difficult moments; they were off on a ski vacation when the GOP's healthcare plan collapsed last year. The crisis at the border has upended the White House, even as the president has told confidants he thinks being tough on immigration will be a winning issue for Republicans in this fall's midterm elections. Ivanka was slammed twice in recent weeks for sharing social media posts showing her enjoying some quality time with her own children, even as news began to spread of children being torn away from their parents at the border. Many urged Ivanka to use her position to help put an end to family separations instead, deeming her 'complicit' of the administration's policy. Last week, Ivanka came under fire after sharing a photo of herself enjoying a 'date night' with the eldest of her three children, her six-year-old daughter Arabella, which many deemed 'tone-deaf' in light of Trump's administration's border policy. Ivanka can be seen in the snap standing on a log with her arms extended, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, visibly thrilled to be spending some quality time with her six-year-old. Sharing: Ivanka was also slammed for posting a picture with her two-year-old son Theodore as news first began to spread of children being torn away from their parents at the border Saying goodbye! Ivanka's two-year-old son Theodore watched her leave for work last week Outing: Earlier this month, Jared and Ivanka were pictured heading out for a bit of family time with their three children, Arabella, six, Joseph, four, and Theodore, two She specified in the caption that Arabella was the one who took the photo. The following morning, Ivanka was joined by Arabella during her morning commute. The six-year-old looked excited to be beginning the day at her mother's side, waving enthusiastically at the back of a Secret Service SUV. Mika Brzezinski was among those who took Ivanka to task after she shared the Instagram image, citing a recent report about parents waiting for months to be reunited with their babies. 'Not only is this a story about who we are and redefining who we are in the worst way, this is a story about women and their vital roles as mothers,' the Morning Joe co-host said. 'When you have babies being taken away from their mothers, you have to ask why the counselor to the presidentwho was brought in to help the president create good policies surrounding women, parental leave, domestic policies that are important to women in this countryyou have to ask why Ivanka Trump is so tone-deaf to post a picture about her special day yesterday with her daughter.' Brzezinski took further aim at Ivanka on Instagram, first commenting on the aforementioned picture before posting a screen grab of the comment on her own social media page. 'I wish you would speak for all mothers and take a stand for all mothers and children,' she wrote to Ivanka. 'With respect, your posts make me so sad. I remember we spoke about them and all the hopeful goals you had for all women. There is still time.' Brzezinski's words came almost three weeks after Ivanka was slammed on social media for posting a picture with her two-year-old son Theodore as reports of families being separated began to emerge. Ivanka's picture showed her affectionately hugging her youngest son Theodore, with the mother-of-three captioning the post: 'My [love]'. She shared the image with her followers just weeks after the Trump administration authorized border agents to take away children from any immigrants unlawfully crossing the border as part of its new 'zero tolerance policy'. Men's testicles have their own bacteria and they are different depending on fertility, scientists have discovered for the first time. Testes were thought for a long time to have been sterile environments, but researchers in Italy have found otherwise. Experts say there are microorganisms living naturally in the testes, and the diversity of this environment within the body could give clues about a man's fertility. Men with more types of bacteria in their testes could be expected to be more fertile, while a smaller range of organisms could mean a man has a lower sperm count. Those who have so few sperm they cannot even be extracted using surgery tend to just have one type of bacteria, the researchers say. The discovery could lead towards new treatments for men who are infertile because there are no sperm in their semen, for whom there are currently few options. Scientists in Milan say they have observed naturally-occurring bacteria in men's testes for the first time, and the diversity and quantity of them may be linked to fertility A small study at the Institute for Research and Health Care Hospital San Raffaele in Milan discovered fertile men have four types of bacteria in their testes. They compared those with a healthy sperm count to men with a condition called azoospermia, in which there are no sperm in a man's semen. The condition affects about one per cent of men in total, but 10 to 15 per cent of infertile men. It prevents couples from becoming pregnant naturally. The testes of men without azoospermia have small amounts of bacteria belonging to four main groups, the scientists found. Among those with the infertility, there is more bacteria overall in the testes but they belong to just one or two types. 'These findings are actually surprising, because almost all medical textbooks mention that [the] human testes is a microbiologically sterile microenvironment,' study author Massimo Alfano told Live Science. Bacteria observed in testes for the first time ever 'For the first time ever, we [have] been able to quantify the bacterial DNA in the testes. 'If confirmed and expanded, these results could support future therapies for male factor infertility.' WHAT IS AZOOSPERMIA? Azoospermia is a condition in which there are no sperm in a man's semen, which causes infertility. There are two types: one in which there is a problem with sperm production and there are not enough in the testicles non-obstructive azoospermia. In the other form the infertility is caused by a blockage which stops the sperm being mixed into the semen. The first type is more serious because it is less likely to work with surgery if sperm are being produced but are just blocked, it may be possible to surgically remove them from the body in order to fertilise an egg via IVF. However, around 50 per cent of men with non-obstructive azoospermia do not successfully conceive through surgery because sperm cannot be successfully extracted. There are various causes of the condition. It may be a genetic fault which someone is born with, or it may be caused by illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, kidney failure, or sickle cell anaemia. It may also be caused by physical obstructions such as a vasectomy, injury or surgical damage. Source: The Turek Clinics Advertisement During fertility treatment men with azoospermia may have sperm removed from their testes by surgery, but this is not always successful. It is less likely to work for men with the more severe form of the condition; non-obstructive azoospermia, in which little or no sperm is produced. Infertile men have less diverse bacteria, but more of it Scientists found these men also have the least diverse bacteria in their testicles in the study just one form of organisms dominated the environment. The researchers say finding a way to test men's bacteria beforehand could lead to better ways to identify who might benefit from the surgical extraction of sperm, saving some from unnecessary operations. The study was only conducted on 15 men so scientists say their findings are only preliminary, but if they are confirmed they could lead to more pioneering research. 'Some men have no options to have a biological child' Dr Sarah Vij, a urologist at the Cleveland Clinic who was not involved with the study told Live Science: 'Some of those men [with azoospermia] have no options to have a biological child. Those are the men that we really want to be able to help the most.' Dr Vij added it will be important to find a way to study the bacteria in a man's testes without doing an invasive biopsy. The team's study was published May 30 in the journal Human Reproduction. Claims of sperm being grown in a lab Past research has explored ways of helping men with no sperm count to conceive, and a French company in 2015 said it could grow sperm in a lab. The company, Kallistem, claimed it had turned scraps of genetic material into complete fully-functioning sperm in a world-first. Kallistem said it had managed to transform basic male fertility cells, called spermatogonia, into mature sperm in test tubes. Health officials today recalled 200,000 bottles of blackcurrant cough syrups for children sold in supermarkets amid fears they may contain mould. Parents were urged to return any affected own-brand bottles by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Cheap syrups sold at Tesco, Asda Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Superdrug and Wilko are among those affected. The MHRA, which polices the safety of medical products, warned that a colouring agent used in the syrups may allow mould to grow. Parents were urged to return any affected own-brand bottles by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Asda had four different batches of its Childrens Dry Cough Syrup Glycerol Blackcurrant affected Sainsbury's had one batch of its own-brand Childrens Dry Cough 0.75g/5ml Syrup affected In a precautionary move, it recalled the syrups because of the risk that mould could cause a child to become unwell, or even trigger a reaction. Dr Sam Atkinson, director of the Inspection, Enforcement and Standards Division at the MHRA, urged parents to check their medicine cabinets. She said: 'Check if you have any of the listed cough syrups and if you do, please dont use them. Take them back to where you bought them from. 'The mould is not always visible, so return any of the affected cough syrup bottles, even if it looks okay to use.' Parents were urged to take their children to the GP if they have endured a reaction or become unwell after taking one of the affected syrups. Fifteen batches of syrups sold at eight different stores are affected. They all contain anthocyanine. Three batches of Tesco's Childrens Dry Cough Syrup are affected by the MHRA recall Superdrug had two batches of its own-brand Childrens Dry Tickly Cough Glycerin 0.75 g/5 ml Oral Solution affected by the recall One batch of Childrens Dry Tickly Cough Glycerin has been recalled from Morrisons It comes after MHRA officials warned parents in March that head lice lotion used on thousands of children could catch light and cause serious burns. Adults were urged not to smoke around treated youngsters or let them near naked flames. Even being close to a cigarette the morning after having lotion applied could be dangerous, health officials warned. And the MHRA also issued an alert in February to advise patients taking a Chinese medicine to combat their eczema or psoriasis they should stop taking it. Yiganerjing cream was branded 'dangerous' as an analysis found the natural remedy contains a 'potent' steroid called clobetasol propionate. UK law states it is illegal to sell products containing this ingredient to the public, and it can only be dished out on prescription. In a precautionary move, the MHRA recalled the syrups because of the risk that mould could cause a child to become unwell, or even trigger a reaction. Numark had two batches of its Childrens Dry Cough 0.75 g/5 ml Oral Solution affected Fifteen batches of syrups sold at eight different stores are affected, including one batch of the Tickly Cough 0.75g/5ml Oral Solution at Wilko Bell's Healthcare had one batch of its Children's Dry Cough Glycerin 0.75g/5ml Syrup affected Hope has been raised for Alzheimer's patients as scientists today claimed a complex nutritional formula could hold the key to the devastating illness. Early trials have found a combination of nutrients stop patients with an advanced form of the disease from gradually being robbed of their memory. Irish researchers tested the combination of lutein, meso-zeaxanthin, zeaxanthin and two separate fish oils for the 18-month-long trial of just 12 patients. The formula, known by scientists as =[L+MZ+Z+DHA+EPA], already exists in the form of a supplement called Memory Health, which can be bought online. Critics dismissed the small trial by University Hospital Waterford and the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland and warned the results are 'highly unlikely to be true'. The formula, known by scientists as =[L+MZ+Z+DHA+EPA], already exists in the form of a supplement called Memory Health, which can be bought online An estimated 850,000 people in the UK and five million in the US have dementia, of which Alzheimer's is the most common form. Critics wary Professor Naveed Sattar, an expert in metabolic medicine at Glasgow University, said that any research into Alzheimer's is welcomed. WHAT IS THE FORMULA? =[L+MZ+Z+DHA+EPA] L = lutein MZ = meso-zeaxanthin Z = zeaxanthin DHA = docosahexaenoic acid EPA = eicosapentaenoic acid Advertisement But added: 'This is too small a trial and lacks a placebo control so that its findings are highly unlikely to true. In fact I would place no reliance on these results.' Robert Howard, a professor of old age psychiatry at University College London, also dismissed the research. He said: 'Sadly, people with dementia and their carers will grasp at any straw and I would worry about naive or deeply cynical attempts to exploit this. 'This report is sadly not much more than low-grade anecdotal evidence. Certainly, it falls seriously short of the standards of a high-quality trial.' The Alzheimer's Society today called for more convincing evidence before claims are made that the supplements could help Alzheimer's patients. An estimated 850,000 people in the UK and five million in the US have dementia, of which Alzheimer's is the most common form (stock) ALZHEIMER'S PATIENT HAS SEEN HER MEMORY IMPROVE 18 MONTHS AFTER TAKING THE SUPPLEMENT Jacinta Malone with her husband Michael An Alzheimer's patient has seen her memory improve 18 months after taking the xanthophyll carotenoid-fish oil supplement her family affectionately call 'the bullet'. Jacinta Malone, a former nurse, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at just 64 years old and started taking the supplement from the outset. Her husband and carer Michael, from County Kilkenny, Ireland, said: 'We were happy to be given the opportunity to participate in the trial of this new supplement. 'Whilst it is difficult to identify which elements of Jacintas medication plan are having the greatest impact, we definitely feel the supplement is a positive thing. It is encouraging for sure. 'We would happily advise families in a similar situation to consider this option.' Mrs Malone, now 68, is set to continue taking the supplement as part of her medication regimen. Lead author Professor John Nolan, from the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland, said: 'This is a major breakthrough in the management of Alzheimers Disease. 'Not only do we have testament that the supplement is working for the Malone family, but our research findings are statistically significant.' Advertisement How was the study carried out? Researchers gave 12 patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's a daily supplement containing xanthophyll carotenoid, a pigment found in peaches and papayas. WHAT IS ALZHEIMER'S? Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain, in which build-up of abnormal proteins causes nerve cells to die. This disrupts the transmitters that carry messages, and causes the brain to shrink. More than 5 million people suffer from the disease in the US, where it is the 6th leading cause of death, and more than 1 million Britons have it. WHAT HAPPENS? As brain cells die, the functions they provide are lost. That includes memory, orientation and the ability to think and reason. The progress of the disease is slow and gradual. On average, patients live five to seven years after diagnosis, but some may live for ten to 15 years. EARLY SYMPTOMS: Loss of short-term memory Disorientation Behavioral changes Mood swings Difficulties dealing with money or making a phone call LATER SYMPTOMS: Severe memory loss, forgetting close family members, familiar objects or places Becoming anxious and frustrated over inability to make sense of the world, leading to aggressive behavior Eventually lose ability to walk May have problems eating The majority will eventually need 24-hour care Source: Alzheimer's Association Advertisement Xanthophyll carotenoid is made up of lutein, meso-zeaxanthin and zeaxanthin, which make up the L, MZ and Z part of the researchers' formula. Thirteen patients with moderate-to-severe dementia were given the same nutrients in a different supplement, which also contained fish oils DHA and EPA. All of the patients were followed for 18 months for the study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. A further 15 people without Alzheimer's were given just xanthophyll carotenoid and were monitored for six months. What did the study find? Results suggested that combining xanthophyll carotenoid with fish oils significantly reduces the progression of Alzheimer's. Carers of those taking the =[L+MZ+Z+DHA+EPA] supplement reported their patients' memories, sight and moods improved. Since the study ended, families and carers of patients on the supplement have asked for continued access to the nutritional supplement. The researchers, led by Professor John Nolan, claimed the patients are 'adamant it has had a very positive impact'. Exciting breakthrough Dr Alan Howard, a respected Cambridge University academic and founder of The Howard Trust, which funded the study, welcomed the results. He said: 'This represents one of the most important medical advancements of the century. 'Alzheimers is the largest public health crisis the UK has ever faced, and drug companies have so far fallen at every hurdle in finding a solution. 'This study gives us that breakthrough, in a unique natural compound of nutrients.' Professor Riona Mulcahy, from University Hospital Waterford, hailed the findings as a 'very exciting development'. A terminally ill three year-old has been given 250,000 from a mystery benefactor to pay for experimental treatment. Edie Molyneux, from Tranmere, is battling a rare inoperable tumour on her brain that kills , called a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). Her devastated parents, Ashleigh Stadling and Stephen, began desperately trying to raise 700,000 earlier this year for pioneering treatment in Mexico. They hoped it would boost her chances of survival - but even researchers question whether the experimental therapy is even effective against the disease. Already Spiderman-obsessed Edie has seen her tumour start to 'die' because of the breakthrough therapy, but doctors warn she needs more. And now her appeal fund has rocketed to 428,000 after an unnamed benefactor donated a quarter of a million pounds to her treatment fund. Edie Molyneux, from Tranmere, Wirral, is expected to die young because of the rare mass on her brain, known as a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) Already Spiderman-obsessed Edie has seen her tumour start to 'die' because of the breakthrough therapy, her family claims, but doctors warn she needs more The money was donated after crowds heard about Edie's plight when she was an honorary 41st place at the Randox Health Grand National in April. The place first introduced by Jockey Club Racecourses for five-year-old Bradley Lowery, who passed away after battling a rare cancer in July 2017. Gemma Lowery, chief executive of The Bradley Lowery Foundation, said: 'We are very grateful to Aintree Racecourse and the Jockey Club for allowing Edie to be part of the Grand National. 'We were thrilled to get her name out there and thanks to them, there has been an anonymous donation. 'This has taken a lot of stress away from the family and allowed us to breathe a little bit more. 'However, crucial funding is still needed and we will continue to work towards our fundraising goal.' Grant Rowley, of Jockey Club Racecourses, said: 'We were thrilled to offer Edie Molyneux this year's 41st place to raise awareness of DIPG. 'The donation that has been received for Edie and her family is overwhelming and extremely generous. Her devastated parents, Ashleigh Stadling and Stephen, began desperately trying to raise 700,000 earlier this year for pioneering treatment in Mexico The money was donated after crowds heard about Edie's plight when she was an honorary 41st place at the Randox Health Grand National in April WHAT IS DIFFUSE INTRINSIC PONTINE GLIOMA (DIPG)? Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a rare type of brain tumour Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a rare type of brain tumour that can't be operated on because of its location within a crucial part of the brain, called the pons. This area is responsible for a number of critical bodily functions, such as breathing, sleeping and blood pressure. The high-grade brain tumour, which mostly affects children, tends to grow quickly and often spreads to other parts of the brain or spinal cord. Most diagnoses occur in youngsters between the ages of five and 10. The cause of the tumour remains unknown. More than 90 per cent of its victims will die within 18 months of diagnosis, according to figures. Each year, there are around 100 to 150 new diagnoses in the US. In the UK, it strikes between 20 and 30 each year. Symptoms include lack of facial control, double vision, headaches, vomiting, weakness, seizures and balance problems. One of the early indicators of the cancer is a child falling, tripping or losing balance. Advertisement 'It has and will continue to make such a huge difference to Edie and the family and we're pleased to have been a small part of that.' Last November, Edie began to suffer from painful headaches and was referred to a consultant paediatrician at Arrowe Park Hospital in Birkenhead. An MRI scan confirmed she had a lump, which was located in the brain stem, which turned out to be DIPG - a rare brain tumour that occurs in children. The location of the tumour, in the centre of the brain, meant that surgeons can not operate to remove it. And chemotherapy is not a viable option in the UK as the levels needed to treat the tumour would poison the rest of Edie's body. Her parents then found out about a treatment offered at The Instituto de Oncologia Intervencionista clinic in Monterrey, Mexico. The 300,000 treatment, a combination of intra-arterial immunotherapy and chemotherapy, targets Edie's tumour through her arteries. Last November, Edie began to suffer from painful headaches and was referred to a consultant paediatrician at Arrowe Park Hospital in Birkenhead. This is different to conventional chemotherapy because it delivers cancer-killing drugs directly to the tumour through an artery in the neck. Traditional chemotherapy, which is delivered to the whole body, can leave patients ill because they are exposed to high doses of medications. Before Edie's family began fundraising for the treatment, they heard the 'multi-pronged attack' helped two children with DIPGs. In January, she was flown to the Mexican clinic for her first round of treatment, which is when her parents first publicly appealed for funding. They released heartbreaking footage that showed Edie struggling to feed herself - a brutal side effect of her DIPG - and being spoonfed yoghurt by Ms Stadling. Edie's family are currently waiting to hear back from doctors to discuss her latest scan results - but she is reportedly doing well and is even sitting up by herself. Explaining Edie's tumour, Ms Stadling, a nursery nurse, said: 'Last November our world was crushed - Edie was diagnosed with DIPG. 'We were told by our doctors to go home and make memories with the family but then we found hope. 'The most recent MRI scan shows a small amount of shrinkage, a massive step as we were previously told the tumour was stable. 'Please support us in any way you can, even if it's just telling people all about the disease.' Edie's father, Mr Molyneux, added: 'Each treatment costs approximately 30,000. 'At the moment, we don't know how many treatments Edie is going to need so we're hoping to raise at least 700,000 to cover the cost.' Scientists say the damage is reversible if people's stress levels are lowered It can bring on or worsen glaucoma, diabetic vision loss and other eye diseases Stress can increase pressure in the eye and cause damaging inflammation Too much stress can make you lose your eyesight, a study has found. Although it is well known that losing their vision can stress people out, scientists now say the reverse is true and stress can cause vision loss, too. Psychological stress may bring on or worsen common eye diseases like glaucoma, diabetic vision loss and age-related macular degeneration, the research shows. The nerves and blood vessels in the eyes and the brain can be affected by high levels of cortisol the stress hormone which can lead to worsening eyesight. The study also found, however, that reducing stress can even reverse the damage and restore some of the vision which has been lost. Stress can be caused by being under pressure at work or at home, worrying about something specific, or having responsibilities that you find overwhelming. Experts say understanding the link between stress and vision could improve doctors' treatment of eye disorders by allowing them to include stress management. Stress can worsen eye problems by increasing pressure in the eye or causing damaging inflammation, the researchers found Research by Magdeburg University in Germany looked at hundreds of past scientific studies and clinical reports exploring the relationship between stress and eye disease. They found stress may cause damage by increasing pressure in the fluid inside the eye, damaging blood vessels, or causing inflammation. The scientists say there is 'clear evidence' that stress worsens eye problems, but doctors do not take the link seriously when treating patients, even when the patients believe their stress plays a role. Now, they say a holistic approach to treating eye patients should be used more widely. A report by the Health and Safety Executive in November last year revealed the jobs in which the most people suffer from work-related stress are nursing and midwifery, teaching, welfare professionals, legal professionals, and business research or admin. Mental health charity Mind suggests people can reduce stress by organising their time better so they are not rushed, asking others for help, setting small and achievable targets, or making to-do lists and focusing on important tasks first. The study was led by Professor Bernhard Sabel, director of the Institute of Medical Psychology at the university. 'Continuous stress negatively impacts the eye and brain' STRESS CAN ALSO MAKE MEN LESS FERTILE Just two months of stress may damage a man's sperm and slash his chances of having children, a study published this month suggests. Israeli scientists found men are 47 per cent more likely to have swimmers with weak motility if they are under intense pressure. Weak motility makes it less likely that sperm will successfully fertilise an egg. Some 11,000 sperm samples were compared between men average age 32 during peacetime and after periods of intense fighting between Israel and Gaza. Even though the findings related to just those living in conflict zones, the researchers argued they could apply to any mental stress. Dr Eliahu Levitas, study author, said: This study shows that prolonged stress can have an effect on sperm quality. Mental stress is known to have an adverse effect on fertility, but there is little research on the impact of stress on sperm quality. Advertisement Professor Sabel said: 'There is clear evidence of a [psychological] component to vision loss, as stress is an important cause not just a consequence of progressive vision loss resulting from diseases such as glaucoma, optic neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration. 'Continuous stress and elevated cortisol levels negatively impact the eye and brain.' Mr Sabel notes it is surprising the relationship between stress and vision loss is overlooked when it something patients themselves suggest. Patients are further stressed by being told their conditions may lead to blindness Research showed patients are often told their condition may be irreversible, which adds to their stress, which then worsens their vision in a vicious cycle. Professor Sabel added: 'The behavior and words of the treating physician can have far-reaching consequences for the prognosis of vision loss. 'Many patients are told that the prognosis is poor and that they should be prepared to become blind one day. 'Even when this is far from certainty and full blindness almost never occurs, the ensuing fear and anxiety are a neurological and psychological double-burden with physiological consequences that often worsen the disease condition.' Researchers recommend mixing stress-reduction with traditional treatment The scientists say a combination of improving blood flow to the eyes and holistic therapies which reduce stress could reverse the loss of vision. They suggest therapies like brain stimulation, relaxation response, vision restoration, anxiety management, and social support. These could calm the nervous system to reduce stress and pressure on the eye and may improve results for patients in conjunction with traditional treatments. Researchers add that doctors, family and carers should also be more optimistic when treating patients, to try to minimise their levels of stress and thus improve their chance of recovery. Professor Sabel added: 'Clinical studies are under way to confirm the role of stress in different low vision diseases to evaluate the [effectiveness] of different anti-stress therapies for preventing progression and improving vision restoration.' The separation of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border has sparked global uproar. Trump administration border control agents have been detaining kids as young as one in 'child protection centers', often thousands of miles away from their parents, and often with no documentation to identify whose child they are. The policy, gradually imposed over the last year, provoked a political firestorm this week as the true scale of detentions emerged, with Trump insisting he had no hand in the matter and his critics saying he had the power to sign an executive order to overturn it. On Wednesday, the president signed an executive order to end family separation, and start the process of trying to identify which child belongs to which adult. But as the debate has raged on, the medical community is calling on the government to recognize the decades-long legacy of apolitical studies showing the adverse health affects - both physical and mental - that children suffer after separation from their parents, even short-term. Health officials have slammed the policy of separating children from their parents at the border. Pictured: Children and workers are seen at a tent encampment recently built near the Tornillo Port of Entry on June 19 in Tornillo, Texas Dr Ana Maria Lopez, president of the American College of Physicians, told DailyMail.com: 'A lot has been written about childhood trauma and adverse events. 'It's in childhood that a sense of person is formed, and part of what's important in that is to have a sense of safety. 'Clearly this situation wasn't that.' As humans, we are hard-wired to survive in moments of uncertainty. Just as was the case millennia ago, our bodies jump into action when faced with a threat, such as being separated from our protectors without certainty that they will come back. While useful in an evolutionary sense, this fierce bodily reaction deals a heavy blow to our arteries, which can affect our hearts and brains for life. 'In the presence of trauma, the body goes into fight or flight mode, cortisol levels rise, creating inflammation,' Dr Lopez explained. 'That sets up long-term and short-term effects. It can impact development and emotional development - they may have anxiety, or not be able to sleep, or acting-up behavior. 'Long-term, it increases the risk for diseases, including cardiovascular events, cancer and respiratory illnesses.' Speaking to DailyMail.com minutes after Trump announced his plans to reverse the policy, Dr Lopez said the ACP welcomed the move, but warned there will be hefty ramifications. 'We are supportive of reuniting families as quickly as possible so people can begin the healing process, but they may need a lot more support than other refugees families,' Dr Lopez said. 'Resettled refugees are always offered support because they likely already experienced trauma where they came from. These groups have now suffered more trauma, so they will need support for the consequences of the trauma that they experienced.' Her words echoed those of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who said in a statement: 'Separating children from their parents contradicts everything we stand for as pediatricians protecting and promoting children's health. 'We know that family separation causes irreparable harm to children. This type of highly stressful experience can disrupt the building of children's brain architecture. Prolonged exposure to serious stress known as toxic stress can lead to lifelong health consequences.' Dr Altha Stewart, president of the American Psychiatric Association, concurred, telling NBC: 'Any forced separation is highly stressful for children and can cause lifelong trauma, as well as an increased risk of other mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.' The literature on this subject is extensive. Decades of studies on humans have documented the way separation tortures those separated, in subtler ways than seems immediately apparent. While many studies have been done on animals, these ones listed below are all based on psychiatric interviews or longitudinal studies on humans. A study by British researchers in 2009 assessed 24 children who had been detained at an immigrant detention center. On their release, they were referred for psychiatric assessment by a charity. The researchers concluded that the 'detained children were found to be experiencing mental and physical health difficulties of recent onset, which appeared to be related to the detention experience.' Another British study from 2009 identified 10 studies on child asylum seekers who were detained in Western countries, which found '[a]nxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder were commonly reported, as were self-harm and suicidal ideation.' Children who've been taken into custody related to cases of illegal entry into the United States, rest in one of the cages at a facility in McAllen, Texas on Sunday In 2004, the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health published a study on asylum seeker families who were held for an extended period of time in a jail in a remote part of Australia. The researchers, psychiatrists at University of New South Wales, interviewed 14 adults and 20 children. They found that 'all adults and children met diagnostic criteria for at least one current psychiatric disorder with ... 52 disorders among 20 children'. They added: 'In their attempt to manage the international asylum crisis, it is important that Western countries do not inadvertently implement policies that cause further harm.' There is no record of studies that have found child detention, and/or separation from their parents, to be harmless. Dr David Rosenberg, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University, warns one of the most common side effects of uncertain separation is a widely-documented mental health condition called separation anxiety disorder. The disorder, has been discussed in medical studies for years, with Freud largely credited for bringing the condition to the forefront of psychiatry. 'It's routine for younger children when their mother or father leaves to cry and reach out and need to be reassured that it's going to be ok, that they're not gone forever,' Dr Rosenberg told DailyMail.com. 'That gets better with time and ultimately goes away as children become more and more comfortable with separation. 'But the issue comes in when there is a lack of certainty and control. The more anxious you get, the less feeling of control. And without anyone to assure them, it becomes a vicious cycle that perpetuates itself.' This experience, Dr Rosenberg explains, sews the seeds for long-lasting trauma that can deprive a child of their sense of reasoning and rationale later in life. 'Traumatic separations, and unanticipated separations that could be permanent where there's a lot of uncertainty, increase the risk significantly for what we call a "traumatic event". 'They can't leave the house or their parents because they have a fear of being kidnapped; it's hard for them to go to school because there's this fear something tragic will happen to them.' Dr Rosenberg says he is 'not making a political point': 'I just want to get people to think about it.' 'What's more precious than a developing child? If you talk about a society and what we say we're about, that comes to mind. But also, economically: who are the children we want in this society? Abused? Neglected? Resentful? Or is there a better way? 'My sense is that we can do better.' Well-heeled owners of 'Chelsea tractors' often fill them with children and dogs. But letting a dog jump out of the back of the boot could risk harm for the family pet, a study has found. Veterinary experts have found an animal jumping down from a large 4x4 puts four times the force on their legs of taking a normal step. This could put family pets at risk of painful osteoarthritis, which affects around one in five dogs, by adding to wear and tear on their joints. It comes after vets warned in 2013 that throwing sticks for pets can cause 'horrific injuries' and even kill them by causing them to choke or bleed. The study in the Vet Record journal measured the impact on 15 dogs of jumping from boot height to conclude that it may be 'inadvisable'. Instead owners should perhaps set up a ramp from the boot to allow their dog to walk safely down. Well-heeled owners of 'Chelsea tractors' often fill them with children and dogs. But letting a dog jump out of the back of the boot could risk harm for the family pet, a study has found Dr Alison Wills, a co-author of the study from Hartpury University Centre in Gloucester, said: 'Some people have very large vehicles and you often see them letting their dogs jump out of the boot. 'Dogs develop degenerative joint disease for a multitude of reasons over a lifetime, but there is a concern that dogs jumping repeatedly from car boots may be at increased risk of developing this type of condition. 'We would suggest that people consider using ramps stretching from their car to the ground for all dogs, instead of just for those with existing joint problems.' In towns and cities, it is common for families to put dogs in cars before taking them to the park for a walk or on holiday. While some owners lift their pets out of the back of cars, this risks causing themselves back pain. The first study to look at the risk of injury from dogs jumping from cars recruited animals including collies, retrievers and Belgian shepherds. WHY SHOULDN'T YOU THROW STICKS FOR YOUR DOG? It is a game played by dogs and their owners in parks across the country. But throwing sticks for pets can cause horrific injuries and even kill them, vets warned in 2013. Sticks can splinter in the mouth causing dogs to choke, bleed to death or develop a lethal infection. Instead, owners should use fake bones, rubber balls or Frisbees. Robin Hargreaves, president elect of the British Veterinary Association, said he operates on about one dog a month seriously injured by a stick. 'Never throw sticks for dogs. Even if you do it now, never do it again, he warned. 'It is a violent incident that causes real damage.' Advertisement Researchers set up a platform set to heights of 0.55 metres (1.8 feet), 0.65 metres (2.1 feet) and 0.75 metres (2.5 feet), although some luxury cars have boots which are even higher. A force plate, which the dogs landed on, recorded the impact on their fore-legs, which rose by just under 13 per cent between the 0.55 and 0.65 metre heights, and by just under 11 per cent with a further 10 cm rise in height. The force for the largest jump was four times the impact of normal walking for a dog. The study suggests this could lead to musculoskeletal problems in dogs such as elbow or hip dysplasia. These are abnormalities in joints which, through wear and tear, can lead to arthritis causing swelling, stiffness and pain in dogs. Dr Wills, from the Animal Welfare Research and Knowledge Arena at Hartpury University Centre, said: 'Whilst the forces observed in this study were similar to those recorded for agility dogs jumping a hurdle fence, dogs that are transported by car have to complete a static start jump with no warm-up like those in agility competitions. 'They may have been in the car for long period of time without moving prior to exiting the boot.' While UK legislation requires that dogs must be restrained while travelling in any vehicle, no such regulations exist for safe entry and exit from a back seat or car boot. Gudrun Ravetz, senior vice president of the British Veterinary Association, said: 'When our pets look fit and healthy on the outside it can be easy to miss underlying issues that can then be exacerbated by the additional strains and stresses of jumping out of a car boot or other high place. 'Owners need to be aware of anything that might inadvertently cause injury and should take their animals for regular veterinary health checks.' A detained immigrant has contracted chickenpox in one of the facilities at the center of Trump's latest crackdown on asylum seekers. The person is one of 1,000 immigrants who was recently moved to Victorville, a federal prison complex in California - all of whom were medically screened on entry. On June 18, officials sent out a warning to 800 staff saying the person had contracted varicella (chickenpox) while behind bars, and was now in isolation, according to a letter obtained by LAist. The diagnosis came just days after prison workers held a protest calling for more staff at the medical unit. This was the letter sent to 800 prison staff about the person who has contracted chickenpox Prison officials have not disclosed how many other immigrants were exposed to the virus, which can spread through touch or breath. 'The affected housing unit was secured and medical exams are being conducted for all inmates housed in the unit,' the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement. 'Additionally, a specialized cleaning of the housing unit and visiting room were also performed. Visitors are being advised of the situation at the front entrance to the facility.' For most, it's a mild illness leading to itching, blisters and sometimes a high temperature. It is caused by the varicella-zoster virus and is highly contagious, usually lasting a week to 10 days. However, in an estimated one percent of cases, serious complications can develop such as pneumonia, meningitis, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), inflammation of the heart and toxic shock, a type of blood poisoning - all usually down to impaired immunity. Chickenpox symptoms appear 10-21 days after exposure of a person who hasn't encountered the disease before to someone who has it. Sufferers are infectious from one day, even before the onset of the rash. After contracting chickenpox, the varicella virus stays with the sufferer for the rest of their life, kept under control by their immune system, but hiding in their nerves. Over time, immunity wanes, and the virus can reactivate causing shingles. Shingles usually appears as a painful rash in a line on one side of the body with spots that look like chickenpox spots. It becomes increasingly common with age - particularly past the age of 55. Older sufferers are also more likely to suffer lingering pain, even after the spots have healed. Cheap to run, almost impossible to break and capable of taking you just about anywhere a set of wheels can go, the Suzuki Jimny long ago became the utilitarian 4x4 for cash-strapped off-road enthusiasts. Now the Japanese carmaker has revealed its latest Jimny 4x4 for 2019 - the first new version for two decades - and it might just be the cutest new car of the year. With its stretched grille, cheery oval headlamps and squared-off wheel arches, the new Suzuki Jimny looks like it could be the love child of a Hummer and the equally battle-ready Mercedes G-Wagen. Cutest car of the year? This is the new Suzuki Jimny SUV that will be arriving in the UK in 2019 To say the old Jimny is a little long in the tooth is an understatement. It's remained pretty much unchanged since it went on sale in 1998 and would probably flunk the existing crash tests worse than a GCSE student with a severe case of gaming disorder. Fortunately, fans of the budget-priced off-roader - which include hire car firms across mainland Europe who stock them in huge numbers for holidaymakers - will be glad to see this updated version. And they might be surprised by the no-frills 4x4s shrunken resemblance to a Hummer. The Jimny, which originally went into production in its earliest form in the 1970s, has garnered a decent-size fan club. In 2019 Suzuki will usher in this fourth generation car, which has already been confirmed for sale in the UK. These are the first images of the updated SUV, and we're already impressed by the boxy - and quite frankly adorable - looks. The 2019 Suzuki Jimny does have a striking resemblance to the hilariously huge American Hummer vehicles Slide me The two-door off-road Suzuki Jimny will be updated for the first time in 21 years when the 4th generation car goes on sale next year There's no question that it could pass as the offspring of the comically enormous Hummer range of military vehicles. The American army favourite also became immensely popular with celebrities in the nineties and naughties, with David Beckham, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chris Eubank all owning an H1, H2 or H3 at some point. You know the ones - they're often converted into stretch limos, painted pink and crammed with alcohol-fuelled hen parties. The previous generation Suzuki Jimny has been on sale in the UK since 1998 and has barely had an update in two decades The Suzuki Jimny has garnered itself a decent-size fan base, thanks to its go-anywhere capability, low running costs and indestructible build quality. Suzuki has yet to confirm if it will sell a convertible model like the previous generation car pictured The Hummer is based on the military vehicles used by the US army, but in modern UK is often seen as a bright pink stretch limo used for hen parties and school proms We think the 2019 Suzuki Jimny looks like the love child of a Hummer (left) and a Mercedes G-Wagen (right) The new Jimny comes in a squared-off body with about as many curves as a door frame. This, combined with the jacked-up body and round headlights, also strikes a likeness to the Mercedes G-Class (aka G-Wagen), which has a similar military-bred background to the Hummer. Suzuki says the new-for-2019 car will continue to use a basic ladder-frame chassis, uncomplicated three-link rigid axle suspension and part-time four wheel drive to keep production - and purchase - costs as low as possible. It will also retain the raised cab, barely-there wheelbase and minimal overhangs at each corner. That means it should be able to cope with any hilly incline or mountain decent you throw at it and bounce over even the most boulder-riddled terrain. Like the long-in-the-tooth Suzuki Jimny being replaced, the new one will be as straight edged as a door frame and have just three doors and two rear passenger seats Like this older version, the new 2019 Suzuki Jimny will have a spare wheel on the boot door and rear lights sitting low against the bumper But while it looks like it will be able to tackle every off-road obstacle imaginable, the long-travel suspension hints at the small SUV having all the cornering prowess of a bouncy castle on wheels. Inside, very little has been done to overhaul the shape of the dashboard found in the two-decade old version it replaces. However, it will be updated with a touchscreen infotainment system, chunkier switches and fresh-faced instrument cluster maintained in a superbly retro boxy housing. Suzuki says the new-for-2019 car will continue to use a basic ladder-frame chassis, uncomplicated three-link rigid axle suspension to keep costs as low as possible Inside there's new switch gear, a touchscreen system and a fresh steering wheel. The retro boxy dashboard is retained for the 2019 Suzuki Jimny Slide me There will be plenty of personalisation options to make your Suzuki Jimny different from the rest. Basic models will be sold with steel wheels while higher-spec versions - like these pictured - will have alloy wheels With Suzuki unwilling to expand on the previous-generation's miniature dimensions, the boot is likely to be as dinky as the one we know now and just two rear seats will be offered instead of a bench to sit three passengers. There's no word yet on the engines it will use, but we expect to see it come with one of two petrol engines: either the long-developed 1.2-litre Dualjet motor or the latest 1.0-litre Boosterjet powerplant that's crammed under the bonnet of the latest Swift supermini. Thanks to the modest revolutionary touches, the robust Jimny will stay true to its cheap and cheerful values. Therefore you shouldn't expect to see official prices rise much further above the 12,999 fee you have to pay for Suzuki's compact SUV today. That's a refreshing thought in a world where other car makers are competing to offer the fastest, most luxurious, and most expensive 4x4s ever. The Government has acted swiftly to head off the purchase of County Durham-based precision engineer Northern Aerospace by a Chinese-owned rival Gardner Aerospace. Both companies are minnows compared to GKN, now owned by avaricious Melrose Industries. But anyone taking a look at the Gardner website could not but see the scale of Chinese ambition in aerospace. The goal of Gardners ultimate owners in China is to gain access to aero-engine technology where Britain, through Rolls-Royce and its network of parts suppliers across the UK, is a world leader. The last thing the UK needs is for vital aerospace technology, an area of manufacturing where Britain is a global leader, to escape to Beijing It is to the credit of hyperactive defence secretary Gavin Williamson that he advised his colleague Greg Clark at Business to send the transaction to the Competition & Markets Authority. The last thing the UK needs is for vital aerospace technology, an area of manufacturing where Britain is a global leader, to escape to Beijing. What is far more disturbing was Whitehall and governance connivance in the sale of Britains world class chipmaker ARM to Japans Softbank. Japan has been among the best inward investors in the UK, pioneering the return of car making at Nissan in Sunderland and Honda in Swindon. Fujitsu is an important player in computing. But Softbank boss Masayoshi Son is a dealmaker not a builder of enterprises. The way in which he has ceded control of ARMs smart-chip technology to a joint venture with China is disgraceful and turns it into a pawn in the bigger fight between Washington and Beijing over semi-conductors. The value of the Chinese networks firm ZTE plummeted by over 1bn in latest trading in Hong Kong. This followed a vote by the US Senate to overturn a deal under which the Trump administration allowed American suppliers to sell equipment to the Shenzhen-based enterprise. The tug of war over ZTE illustrates how toxic technology transfer is now regarded by US politicians. Britain is finally waking up to the threat. But it is seemingly helpless or unwilling to do anything to keep ARM safe from marauders. Lloyds legacy The leaked Lloyds staff report into an alleged cover-up by HBOS of the criminality at the banks Reading branch is horrendous. If the claims are substantiated by official probes being conducted by Dame Linda Dobbs and the National Crime Agency one would have to question whether former chief executive Andy Hornby, now holding a senior job at GVC-owned Ladbrokes Coral, should be anywhere near a public company. The central claim is that HBOS was well aware of the fraud at Reading and the 800million black hole in the accounts when it sold itself to Lloyds at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, but failed to disclose the risk. If it had, there is severe doubt as to whether Lloyds would have proceeded with the offer, even though it was brokered by then prime minister Gordon Brown. What is just as shocking in many ways is that the new owners, when made aware of the systematic fraud and the immense harm done to clients, never felt any responsibility to reveal details to shareholders. As is sometimes the case, the cover-up is almost as shocking as the criminality which took place under the eyes of the HBOS executives. Everyone suffered as a result of the deceit, including Lloyds investors who saw their shares diluted and dividends axed. As frustrating is that it has taken a decade for all this to emerge and it has only gone public because the campaigner for banking justice, Neil Mitchell, had the courage to go public. There were many shameful episodes in the banking crisis but this trumps the rest. Debs despair Even by the recent standards of department stores, Debenhams looks to be a car crash. Decades of under-investment (including a period in private equity ownership), slow migration online, rising business rates and sinking consumer confidence all contributed to bringing the brand down. It is trying to stay alive by jettisoning assets such as the Danish chain Magasin du Nord. Debs has the right person in charge in the shape of former Amazon and Inditex executive Sergio Bucher, and the blessing of Mike Ashley as a cornerstone investor with a near 30 per cent stake. The goal is to focus on beauty products, a staple of department stores, and something mystically called better curated fashion. The fat lady is not singing just yet. Having my consumer rights denied sends me into a blind rage. Every company makes mistakes and that's OK. But when you've been wronged, there is nothing more frustrating than knowing you are entitled to a refund or compensation and then being told you can't have it. It is particularly irritating when the reason for the rejection is that staff are unable to override a tick-box computer system. Fight back: When you've been wronged, there is nothing more frustrating than knowing you are entitled to a refund or compensation and then being told you can't have it It's no less amusing when it's because they just don't know the rules or, worse yet, because they assume you don't know the rules and think they can fob you off. What's so infuriating is that if you persevere by quoting the correct piece of legislation or just demanding that your complaint is escalated to the right team you often win. But that can involve weeks of calling the same number every day, furiously typing out narky emails and generally annoying everyone, including yourself. Sometimes, it seems as though firms look for loopholes to avoid paying out on genuine claims. My washing machine started leaking last week, just 18 months after I'd bought it. I assumed I'd be entitled to a repair or replacement. But no. The machine had been bought by my builder from Howdens Joinery when I'd had my whole kitchen refitted. When I called Howdens, I was told that, unless I had proof of purchase, I have no consumer rights, because it's a trade- only business. Foolishly, I hadn't thought to request an invoice from my builder at the time, so now I'm stuck. I can only imagine how the Currys PC World customers feel, after first being flogged insurance they didn't want and then refused a refund because they can't prove they tried to cancel their cover or there is no record of what the salesperson told them. It's customer service at its worst. The High Street giant has now promised to investigate, but the trust has already gone. Death notice On a more positive note, last week we revealed the launch of a Death Notification Service that allows bereaved families to notify all major banks of a loved one's death by completing just one form. It is a brilliant step forward, but the key now is making sure that people hear about it. One reader suggested putting up posters in GP surgeries and pharmacies. Even better, banks could also work with councils, so that when people register a death which everyone has to do after a bereavement they are given details on it. These could also be distributed to hospitals, Macmillan cancer centres and even funeral homes. Meter stitch-up Energy giants have been totally stitched up by the Government. Ministers are demanding that every home in Britain be offered a smart meter by 2020. Following a series of delays to vital technology, it is a completely unrealistic target. And yet they refuse to shift the time frame. Firms that fail to meet targets are fined hundreds of thousands of pounds as EDF Energy was last week. No wonder our postbag is full of letters from readers complaining about feeling pressured into having a smart meter fitted. Suppliers are getting desperate. It's no excuse for bully-boy tactics, but I almost feel sorry for them. Well, I might, if they stopped hiking our bills to line their coffers. Phone moan After months of nagging my partner, he finally headed to our local High Street to upgrade his mobile phone. Two hours later, he returned all in a fluster. Along with a new iPhone, he'd been flogged insurance, a new case and God knows what else. Friends say they, too, have felt pressured into taking out pricey contracts they didn't need. If you've been into a mobile phone store recently, tell us of your experience. Write to us at moneymail.co.uk or Money Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT. I tried to deposit 100 into my Santander account via a cash machine outside the bank. After I had inserted the final note, a message appeared on the screen, telling me it couldn't process the transaction. A member of staff had to open the machine to retrieve my card. I completed a form and was told that someone would phone me by 1pm the next day and the money would be credited to my account. No one called me, so I contacted customer services, who told me that all they could do was ring or email the branch to ask them to phone me. Money grabber: One reader lost 100 she was trying to pay in to her account through a Santander cash machine I then visited the branch, where I was told my money had not been found. An employee said that it might be jammed somewhere in the machine, but admitted they hadn't actually looked. She was very unhelpful, but said the complaint had been escalated to the manager. I was told the only way I could speak to them was by phoning the customer services number. Yet, on the two previous occasions I had phoned customer services, they tried to connect me to my local branch only to tell me they were not answering the telephone! R. J., London. There's only one way to describe your situation: you were given the runaround by sloppy staff who couldn't be bothered to help. Fancy branch staff telling you to call a central customer services number so they could contact that same branch. What a waste of everyone's time! The clear impression is they just don't care about the reputation of the business or for you as a customer. If an organisation promises to call a customer back, they should do so, rather than expect the customer to call them. Checks were finally made two days after you reported the incident and the branch manager did then contact you to confirm the 100 had been credited to your account. So, if you had been the victim of fraud, you would have lost two days, thanks to this branch's lackadaisical attitude. Santander has now offered a rather measly 30 to apologise for the inconvenience. You have YOUR say Every week, Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails about our stories. Here are some on how bereaved families can now inform all major banks of a loved one's death in a single step, thanks to a pioneering Money Mail campaign... I'd like to thank deputy editor Victoria Bischoff and Money Mail for the success of the Looking After Your Legacy campaign. Reading her story painfully reminded me of the experience I had when my mother died. As Victoria put it, no one seemed to realise how painful it was. This will hopefully make it easier for my daughters one day. S. P., by email. One of my parents passed away 25 years ago, but their utility company just won't accept it, no matter how many times you tell it or how much paperwork you send in as proof. It's a nightmare when they ring up, asking to speak to the deceased relative. W. K., Slough, Berks. My mum died many years ago and my brother (then the only one of us old enough) tried to close her savings account. After getting several letters addressed to 'Mrs Deceased', asking her to sign to give permission for my brother to close the account, we decided not to bother with it. As far as I know, 32 years later, it is still open, with 3 in it. L. V., Sheffield. I had one bank employee demand to speak to my mother or provide her forwarding address, even though we had already notified them of her death and were still getting bombarded with letters addressed to her, rather than the estate. I. C., Galloway. Despite having a 'bereavement' department, the service we got from the bank after my father's death was appalling. One blunder after another, reducing my already grieving mother to tears. T. S., London. I own a rental property, which was vacant for 11 days in June last year, with no gas used. I provided Scottish Power with the departure date and meter reading for the outgoing tenant on June 5. I also provided the name, date of arrival and meter reading for the incoming tenant on June 16. Despite this, Scottish Power issued me with an invoice, based on estimated readings, for 97.73, covering the period June 5 to July 23. I told the energy company about the error, but it referred the matter to a debt collector which eventually referred it back to Scottish Power. I then received a demand letter from another debt collector dated March 21, for payment of the bill plus an administrative fee of 20.03. Mrs C. T., Rugby, Warks. Scottish Power apologises for not correctly closing your account and billing your tenants. It says it has now calculated the new bill based on your readings. This shows a small balance of 3.01, presumably for the standing charge. It has written this off and issued a 50 goodwill payment. Straight To The Point My wife and I share a joint bank account, which we can each use independently. If one of us were to pass away, would the other still be able to access the account? T. P., Tattershall, Lincs. Yes. If you are both named account holders, then the surviving partner should be able to access the money as normal and regular payments, such as direct debits, should continue to go out. After the surviving spouse reported the death to the bank, the account would be transferred into their sole name and remain open. *** I am an expat living in France, but have held an account with Barclays since the late Eighties. I was recently sent a form to fill in by the bank's 'Team 57', based on the Isle of Man. It requested personal details, such as my employer's information. I sent it back but, two weeks later, got a nasty reminder, threatening to close my account. I sent it again by recorded delivery, but I'm confused. What is 'Team 57'? C. S., Esbly, France. Barclays says that it contacted you as part of its routine anti-money laundering checks to verify the source of funds in your accounts, which it does with all customers. Team 57 is just the department tasked with processing these forms. The bank apologises if the letter caused you any upset and has agreed to refund your postage costs. A spokesman adds that it takes the security of its clients' data very seriously and it is important to keep its records up-to-date when identity fraud is on the rise. *** I received a suspicious letter from Orange about it updating its privacy policy. It referred to me as 'Miss' (I'm a man) and said it had already contacted me by SMS or email, which I never received. I'm worried this could be a scam. I. A., Worcester, West Mids. EE confirms both communications were genuine and were being sent to customers to explain how their personal information would be used in light of the new data protection laws introduced on May 25. The mistake with your title was as a result of an admin error when you registered your account and this has now been corrected. I was forcibly removed from a Ryanair flight after being cleared to travel by two-stage airport security checks. My innocent mistake not known to me until after the incident was to print my outward boarding pass twice, rather than one inward and one outward. The airport security's mistake was to accept my outward pass as valid for the return flight and clear me for boarding. Ryanair's mistake was to treat me, elderly and infirm, as a criminal in front of my fellow passengers, insist that I leave the plane at a speed and manner inappropriate to my dignity and disability and have the police waiting for me at the bottom of the steps, leaving me stranded, confused and angry late in the evening at Memmingen Airport, in Germany. I managed to get an alternative flight home. I have since received an empty, no-responsibility apology from the airport authorities and, from Ryanair, a deafening silence. Mrs C. M., Malaga, Spain. Most of us accept Ryanair is a no-frills airline: you pays your money and you takes your chance. But, if this incident took place as you describe, then the conduct of Ryanair staff is shameful. I took your complaint to the airline and, as expected, received the verbal equivalent of a shrug of the shoulders. Its statement was as follows: 'It is each customer's individual responsibility to ensure that he/she is travelling with the correct boarding pass. There was no 'deafening silence' from Ryanair we responded to this customer's complaint on November 24 and again on May 12. 'Since this matter relates to a security breach at Memmingen Airport, it's a matter for Memmingen Airport Security.' It is a reminder to all readers that when a Ryanair flight works well, it is perfectly acceptable but if things go wrong, you might as well complain to the Tooth Fairy for all the help you'll get. On a general note, as holiday season gets under way, check and double-check all your documents before heading to the airport. Room service: A version of Amazons Alexa voice assistant aimed at hotels has been unveiled HOTEL VOICE A version of Amazons Alexa voice assistant aimed at hotels has been unveiled. Alexa for Hospitality can provide guests with information, such as check-out time, and will be used at a number of hotel groups including Marriott Hotels and St Regis Hotels & Resorts from this summer. TECH REPRIEVE Donald Trump has told Apple it will not be hit by trade sanctions set to be levelled on China, according to reports. China is a big market for Apple and the company assembles iPhones in the country. SCANDAL HITS The chairman of JP Morgans Australian arm has stood down from two high-profile jobs amid a market-fixing scandal. Robert Priestley quit the boards of the Australian Security Exchange and the nations sovereign wealth fund, although he will stay on at JP Morgan. It comes two weeks before a cartel case involving Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and ANZ Bank goes before a criminal court. Neither JP Morgan nor Priestley have been charged but he said his presence on the two boards could become a distraction. TOWER DEAL A City skyscraper has been bought by Singaporean buyers for 650million. Ropemaker Place, a 21-storey building which houses investment banks, was bought by a subsidiary of Ho Bee Land. SHELVES SLASHED The UKs biggest supermarkets are slashing the number of product ranges they stock by 10 per cent in a fight back against discounter rivals Aldi and Lidl, according to supply chain and logistics consultancy Scala. BOSS NETTED Luxury fashion brand Victoria Beckham, owned by the former Spice Girl, has named Paolo Riva, the ex-boss of Diane Von Furstenberg, as chief executive. DADS DELIVER Sales at Waitrose slowed by 0.1 per cent last week despite shoppers snapping up presents for Fathers Day. In contrast, purchases at John Lewis jumped 5.7 per cent, boosted by menswear sales which grew 19.7 per cent. Socks were the most popular gift for Fathers Day up 34 per cent. HIVED OFF Hedge fund Winton is splitting off its data analysis division as demand surges for high-tech number crunching. T he Hivemind unit will be 25 per cent owned by staff, with Winton holding the rest of the stock initially. The sale of a British aeroplane-parts maker to China has been delayed by the Government on national security grounds. Business secretary Greg Clark has asked the markets watchdog to conduct a probe into Northern Aerospace's sale to Gardner Aerospace over fears crucial UK products could fall into Chinese hands. Gardner is based in Derby but is owned by Chinese miner and aerospace company Shaanxi Ligeance Mineral Resources (SLMR). Critics said the decision to refer the 44million takeover of Northern Aerospace to the Competition & Markets Authority risked deterring investment from China at a time when the Government is keen to boost trading ties between the two countries. Business secretary Greg Clark has asked the markets watchdog to conduct a probe into Northern Aerospace's sale to Gardner Aerospace But former defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth, who has long raised concerns about communist China's takeovers in the UK, said: 'I am delighted. I think we need to be crystal clear that one thing we really do have in this country is a flair for innovation and manufacturing. The Chinese are desperate to conquer our technology and we just need to be very conscious of that. It does not mean to say we don't trade with China. We need to protect our British national interest so I warmly welcome this.' Exactly why the Government has chosen to intervene is not clear. One source said it had almost stepped in when private equity group Better Capital, led by venture capitalist Jon Moulton, sold Gardner to Shaanxi last year. Officials made a last minute request for information after another manufacturer raised concerns over a part made by a Gardner subsidiary. But the inquiries did not lead to formal intervention. Deals that raised eyebrows 2005 Italy's Finmeccanica bought BAE's comms and avionics business for 364million 2005 America's Lockheed Martin bought UK military comms firm Insys 2007 US firm General Electric's purchase of UK's Smiths Aerospace for 2.5billion 2009 Atlas Electronic UK bought UK defence firm Qinetiq's underwater systems division for 23.5million 2017 Chinese firm Hytera bought Sepura, the UK firm that makes walkie talkies for the emergency services, for 74million Gardner employs more than 1,500 staff around the world and customers include Rolls-Royce and GKN. It makes parts for Airbus's A400M military plane. Northern Aerospace, also owned by Better Capital, employs about 600 in the UK and Poland, and uses high-tech software to make parts for plane makers including Airbus and Boeing. It made sales of 71million last year. Shaanxi is worth around 1.1billion on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in China. Bosses are thought to have ties with the Chinese government. Shaanxi's main activity is mining, with a grip on rhenium, used for airplane engine parts, through its rhenium mine in China's Shaanxi province. Its aerospace vice-president Lizhi Wang said last year of its plans to 'consolidate the global aerospace supply chain'. After the Gardner deal, he said he had plans to buy more foreign companies to cash in on the booming aviation sector. Jason Steen, partner at M&A advisory firm Steen Associates, who advised SLMR in its purchase of Gardner, said: 'Shaanxi are extremely good investors in British business. So for us to suddenly turn around as a nation and suggest Chinese investment in aerospace is not welcome I think would be bad deal and may call into question further investment in the sector.' Better Capital said it was only made aware of the Government's intervention late on Monday night and was surprised. Moulton did not respond to requests for comment. A British maker of iPhone chips has launched an audacious 1.2billion takeover for an American rival in a bid to survive a bruising bust-up with Apple. Reading-based Dialog Semiconductor is in talks to buy US rival Synaptics a bigger company in a move that is seen as an attempt to protect itself from Apple. The Silicon Valley is Dialogs biggest customer, but it has recently gone to war with previously loyal suppliers by threatening to make its own chips. Reading-based Dialog Semiconductor is in talks to buy US rival Synaptics a bigger company in a move that is seen as an attempt to protect itself from Apple It has put Apple at loggerheads with tech firms across the globe who claim it will not be able to do this without copying its technology. In some cases, the decision has threatened to sink entire firms dependent on Apple revenues. Already Apple has slashed orders of Dialog chips by almost a third. Snapping up Synaptics would reduce Dialogs dependence on the iPhone maker taking revenues from about three-quarters to less than half. The board said: No assurance can be given that any transaction will be agreed. Dialog makes power-management chips used in iPhone and iPad devices. It thrived as Apple grew. But since March 2017, Dialogs shares have plummeted by 70 per cent after Apple signalled chip making would be taken in-house. Other companies have already been pushed to the verge of collapse. Last year, Imagination Technologies, which makes iPhone graphics chips, saw its share price go into freefall wiping 500million off its value in a single day after Apple said it was dropping it as a supplier. Imagination argued the tech firms engineers could not have developed their own chips without using its technology. Its brutal fall from grace pushed bosses into seeking out potential buyers to save the company from ruin. It was later bought by Chinese state-funded Canyon Bridge. Cardiff-based chip maker IQE, which makes components for the iPhone, has also seen its shares tumble. Investor jitters have also been fuelled by fears smartphone sales may have hit a peak, after the first ever drop in the final quarter of 2017. Yesterday shares in Synaptics soared more than 10 per cent in early trading after Dialog revealed it was in talks with the American firm. It was valued at about 1.4billion ($1.9billion) yesterday, compared to Dialogs valuation of about 1billion (1.1billion). Dialog said the aim of the deal was to boost its growth in the so-called internet of things and the mobile market. It said Apples decision to order fewer of its power management chips was likely to cause revenues to fall by 5 per cent this year. Synaptics would help Dialog sell different products like sensors, touch screens and touch pads to Apple, Samsung and other leading smartphone makers. The deal would be Dialogs second foray into the US in the last year after it bought privately-held Silego Technology, a chip maker, for about 210million in October. Harald Schnitzer, an analyst at Germanys DZ Bank AG, told Bloomberg: Dialog is seeking to lower its dependency on Apple. Therefore an acquisition could make sense, depending on the purchase price. Two of Britain's biggest building societies are cutting rates for loyal savers in order to keep costs down for borrowers. Nationwide, the largest society, with assets of more than 200 billion, will pare the rates of its Instant Isa Saver, Instant Access Saver and Smart Saver for children from June 28. And Coventry, which ranks at No 2 in the UK, with assets of 42.5 billion, is lowering rates on 20 accounts at the start of next month. Nationwide will pare the rates of its Instant Isa Saver, Instant Access Saver and Smart Saver for children from June 28 Experts warn other building societies could follow suit. The cuts are set to penalise loyal savers in older accounts that are closed to new business. Both societies blame booming competition in the mortgage market. They say they have to offer lower rates to borrowers to attract them, so savers must earn less. Nationwide which came under fire last week for paying its four top bosses a huge 6.5 million in wages last year says its income from borrowers has fallen in the past 12 months as a result of fierce competition. Now, it will cut savings rates on old accounts, snatching back the increase it gave following the rise in the Bank of England base rate from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent last November. Nationwide Instant Isa Saver will fall from 0.75 per cent to 0.5 per cent; its Instant Access Saver from either 0.35 per cent or 0.5 per cent to 0.1 per cent; and its Smart Saver from 1.6 per cent to 1 per cent. A spokesman says: 'Most savings rates are unchanged and our rates remain competitive.' Coventry whose chief executive Mark Parsons earned 877,000 last year, compared with the 2.3 million Joe Garner got for doing the same job at Nationwide also blames competition in the mortgage market. A spokesman for the Coventry says: 'The income we receive from mortgages is what we use to pay savers. 'Since the beginning of the year, the mortgage market has remained very competitive. Rates are very low and this affects the income we have available to pay savers.' The good news is that Coventry BS rates remain competitive even though savers in old accounts will see their rates fall by as much as 0.35 percentage points. Its easy-access Privilege Isa and Privilege Saver rates will both fall from 1.65 per cent to 1.30 per cent, while its Poppy Isa and Easy Access Isa rates will drop 0.25 points to 1.15 per cent. Last week, Coventry launched a Limited Access account paying a top 1.3 per cent, available online or by phone. You can make only three withdrawals a year or face a charge equal to 50 days' interest. The rate includes a 0.3 percentage point bonus for the first year. Big banks continue to pay a pittance. HSBC offers just 0.05 per cent on its easy-access Flexible Saver, Lloyds Standard Saver and Halifax Instant Saver pay 0.2 per cent, NatWest pays 0.1 per cent on its Instant Saver on anything up to 25,000 and Barclays 0.2 per cent on its Everyday Saver. sy.morris@dailymail.co.uk Grenfell Tower had the wrong pipes for firefighters to use, meaning they couldn't put out the flames on the building's top floor, an inquiry has heard today The Government will ban combustible tower block cladding in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, it said today. In a statement issued today, housing minister James Brokenshire said he would move to make it illegal to cover the outside of high-rises with flammable materials like the ones used on the west London block. 'I have listened carefully to concerns and I intend to ban the use of combustible materials on the external walls of high-rise residential buildings, subject to consultation,' he said. Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey London social housing block, was engulfed in flames after fire broke out in the middle of the night in June last year. Officials have said aluminium cladding with a plastic core contributed to the rapid spread of the blaze. 'The cladding believed to have been used on Grenfell Tower was unlawful under existing building regulations. It should not have been used. 'But I believe that the changes on which we are consulting will offer even greater certainty to concerned residents and to the construction industry.' James Brokenshire (pictured) announced that the possible ban on combustible cladding today 'The cladding believed to have been used on Grenfell Tower was unlawful under existing building regulations. It should not have been used. 'But I believe that the changes on which we are consulting will offer even greater certainty to concerned residents and to the construction industry.' The Grenfell Tower fire, Britain's deadliest on domestic premises since World War Two, is the subject of both an inquiry and a separate police investigation which could result in criminal charges. Huma Abedin seems to be embracing the single life a year after filing for divorce from sex pest husband Anthony Weiner. In exclusive photos obtained by DailyMail.com, the doting mom is seen taking her six-year-old son Jordan to summer camp. The 41-year-old was photographed on Monday morning wearing a striped polo shirt with a red circle skirt and dark sunglasses while talking on the phone. She headed back home after getting a coffee with a mystery man and dropping him off in Manhattan's Meatpacking District in her Honda CR-V. Abedin, who recently moved into a brand new apartment, returned to her home for an outfit change before stepping out into the city again. Out and about: Huma Abedin was seen taking her six-year-old son Jordan to summer camp on Monday morning Miss Movin' On: The 41-year-old former Clinton aide appeared happy and in good spirits while leaving the camp with a mystery male friend Huma was spotted later that day wearing a pretty pink frock while walking around the East Village in NYC Dressed for the summer: She donned a calf-length floral dress that she paired with a beige leather Prada bag that retails for $2,980 This time, she opted for a pink floral frock which she matched with a leather Prada bag retailing around $2,980. She was later spotted visiting Hillary Clinton's offices in midtown Manhattan. The former Clinton aide appeared to be in good spirits after enduring a humiliating year following her estranged husband's sexting scandal and Hillary Clinton's election loss. On Sunday, she was photographed at Federal Medical Center, Devens, in Ayer, Massachusetts while taking her son and Weiner's mother Frances Finklestein, 80, to visit Weiner for Father's Day. Abedin - who filed for divorce from the 53-year-old last May - did not enter the facility and only returned after visiting hours ended to pick up her son and mother-in-law. Weiner is currently serving a 21-month sentence after he was convicted for sending lewd messages to an underage girl. He began serving time in November 2017. Last month, Abedin revealed that she had been moving past the ordeal with the help of close friend Georgina Chapman - the estranged wife of disgrace film producer Harvey Weinstein. 'We just... bonded,' Abedin told Vogue. 'In all kinds of ways.' Mommy duties: The doting mom took her son Jordan, who is now on summer vacation, to a day camp in NYC Huma had taken Jordan to visit his dad at a federal prison on Father's Day the day before The two pals were seen getting a cup of coffee before leaving the camp Huma was seen driving her red Honda CR-V while dropping off her friend at the Meatpacking District Summer style: The 41-year-old was seen talking on the phone while wearing a striped polo tee with a red circle skirt and carrying a bag of snap pea crisps Abedin was not shy to address the most well-known similarity between the women - their predatory husbands. 'This particular club, ironically, its not such a small one: women who have had to endure it in such a public way, women like Georgina and me,' explained Abedin of their husbands' misconduct. 'People don't feel sorry for us; you don't get that empathy. People think you're beautiful, you're thin, you're rich, you're photographed on the red carpet, and you get stuck in this category.' Abedin filed for divorce on May 19, 2017, but withdrew the petition months later opting to settle the case privately to protect her son from humiliation. Weiner's release date has been scheduled for May 14, 2019. He will then spend three years on supervised release and is also required to register as a sex offender and attend an outpatient sexual offender treatment program. Weiner's teenage victim exclusively told DailyMail.com that in January 2016, when she was a 15-year-old high school sophomore, she and the former politician began messaging each other on Twitter and Facebook. Weiner was 52 years old at the time. Switching it up: Huma returned to her new apartment where she changed into a pink floral frock before stepping out in the city again She also let her hair down after having it pulled back into a ponytail earlier that morning Huma stepped out in white open-toed heels Abedin filed for divorce in May last year after the disgraced congressman pleaded guilty to sending lewd messages to a minor The former Clinton aide appeared to be in good spirits after enduring a humiliating year following her estranged husband's sexting scandal and Hillary Clinton's election loss Abedin revealed that she had been moving past the ordeal with the help of close friend Georgina Chapman Like a real New Yorker: Huma was later seen getting the subway in NYC Their sexting relationship lasted for several months, during which Weiner asked the underage girl to get undressed over video chats and put on school girl costumes. Text messages obtained by DailyMail.com show Weiner was aware of the girl's age, as she discussed being in high school and getting her learner's permit. Weiner also sent the girl suggestive photos of himself, complimented her body, told her he woke up 'hard' after thinking about her, and called her 'baby'. In one message, he told her: 'I would bust that tight p***y so hard and so often that you would leak and limp for a week.' After the scandal broke, the FBI seized Weiner's electronic devices which led to the uncovering of emails between Hillary Clinton and Abedin that were not previously turned over during the investigation into Clinton's private server. The discovery led FBI director James Comey to reopen the investigation into Clinton's emails less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election. FMC Devens, located on a former military base, is a male-only prison with 1,180 inmates, according the Bureau of Prisons. 1,051 prisoners are held in the high-security main prison, where Weiner is located, and another 129 at the minimum-security satellite camp where prisoners deemed low-risk are housed. Huma's estranged husband Anthony Weiner was sentenced to 21 months behind bars after he pleaded guilty to sending obscene material to the minor Troubled: Heather Locklear was hospitalized on Sunday afternoon after flying into a violent rage and threatening to shoot herself Heather Locklear's multi-million dollar mansion has been designated a 'hazard' by the Ventura County Fire Department because of previous altercations at the property, DailyMail.com can reveal. The troubled actress, 56, was hospitalized on Sunday afternoon after flying into a violent rage and threatening to shoot herself. Her mother Diane, 85, called 911 telling the operator that the former Melrose Place actress was acting 'erratically', was being violent, and was threatening to kill herself. In February, Locklear was arrested at the same six-bedroom home following an altercation with boyfriend Chris Heisser and booked on charges of domestic battery and battery on a police officer. As a result, the luxury Thousand Oaks property is now considered a hazardous location, according to a Ventura County Fire Department incident report exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com. The report, which documents Sunday's altercation, also reveals that Locklear was taken to Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center and is believed to have been transferred to a psychiatric ward in Ventura County. According to the document, the panicked call was placed at 3.56pm with accompanying note reading: 'Suicidal who is violent'. In February, Locklear was arrested at her six-bedroom home in Thousand Oaks, California following an altercation with boyfriend Chris Heisser. An incident report shows the fire department has listed her address as a 'hazard' Locklear was charged with a single count of felony domestic battery and four counts of misdemeanor battery on a peace officer - but the domestic violence charge was later dropped It continues: 'Hazard on file for this address. Resident has threatened to shoot deputies and has one handgun registered to her.' Paramedics were dispatched a minute later at 3.57pm but had to wait outside the home for five minutes on arriving at 4.04pm to get clearance to enter. At 4.49pm, Los Robles Hospital was alerted to Locklear's imminent arrival, with medics leaving the home with the 56-year-old actress a minute later at 4.50pm. Locklear was eventually checked into the medical center at 5.13pm with the Fire Department ending their portion of the response at 6.01pm. Sunday's incident follows months of drama for Locklear, beginning with her arrest for domestic battery at her Thousand Oaks mansion on February 25. A source at the Ventura Police Department told DailyMail.com at the time, a 'wasted' Locklear had flown into a rage and 'practically bit the tip' off Heisser's nose. When police arrived at the address, an enraged Locklear became angrier still and punched a female deputy, while calling her a 'c***'. The source added: 'She punched the lady cop and called her a 'c**t', kicked one of the male cops in the balls and punched the third male cop and called them all "f****** assholes," ranting at them.' The actress's mother Diane, 85, called 911 telling the operator that the former Melrose Place actress was acting 'erratically', was being violent, and was threatening to kill herself She was taken to Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center (pictured) and was believed to be transferred to a psychiatric ward in Ventura County A search warrant prepared by Deputy Keith Hall adds that Locklear claimed the fight began when Heisser 'lied to her, and she threw a can of Red Bull at him'. Hall went on: 'She then told an officer that [Chris Heisser] had strangled her and that she was afraid he would kill her. 'Locklear stated she did not lose consciousness but was strangled for a long time and thought she might pass out.' Locklear was taken to hospital before being booked into the Ventura County Jail at 1am on a single count of felony domestic battery and four counts of misdemeanor battery on a peace officer. Heisser, 56, was also booked in less than an hour later, for DUI after being picked up driving erratically by the California Highway Patrol. The domestic violence charge was later dropped but Locklear still faces trial on police battery charges and is scheduled to appear in court in Ventura, California, on September 8 for a pre-trial hearing. In March, she was temporarily banned from possessing weapons, with Ventura County Sheriff spokesman Sergeant Eric Buschow saying outside court that deputies were searching for her handgun. Locklear has spent two months in rehab in a bid to clean up her act and spent Mother's Day in May with her adult daughter Ava Sambora, 20 He added: 'She said that if they (the officers) ever come back to the house that she would shoot them.' Since then, Locklear has spent two months in rehab in a bid to clean up her act and spent Mother's Day in May with her adult daughter Ava Sambora, 20, who was present during the February 25 incident. Sambora is the daughter of Locklear's second husband, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, 58. She was previously married to troubled Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, 55. Later the same month, Locklear was spotted in public for the first time since her arrest leaving an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with Heisser in Thousand Oaks. The couple then went on to enjoy a dinner with Locklear's mom Diane and father William, 88, in nearby Westlake Village. Prosecutors say Lois Riess (pictured) may have been planning a third murder after allegedly killing her husband and another woman Prosecutors say the woman accused of murdering both her husband and another woman whose identity she stole, may have been planning to kill again before her arrest. Lois Riess, known as 'Losing Streak Lois' because of her gambling habit, allegedly killed her husband in Minnesota on March 23, before befriending 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson at Fort Meyers Beach in Florida. Police allege she killed Hutchinson in early April in a similar manner to how she allegedly murdered her husband, intending to steal her identity because the women looked alike. New documents released by the State Attorney's office in Lee County, Florida, also say police believe Riess may have been planning a third murder - a woman named Bernadette she had befriended at a bar in South Padre Island, KIMT reported. The pair had gone to dinner on April 15 before the woman invited Riess to come to the community hot tub and allowed the accused killer to sleep in her guest bedroom. Bernadette said she was told by the bartender she 'seemed out of it' after only a few drinks, and 'does not remember' why she let Riess come home with her. Riess' husband David Riess (right), 54, was found shot dead at their Minnesota home on March 23. Her second alleged victim, Pamela Hutchinson (left), 59, was found dead at her condo in Fort Meyers Beach, Florida, on April 9, though investigators believe she died days before Riess and Bernadette had gone to breakfast in the morning, and made plans for dinner on April 20. Riess was arrested on the night of the 19th, and the court documents say Bernadette was told by someone at the bar while waiting for Riess to show up. Bernadette told Wink News she thought Riess was 'a new best friend', and that the woman had seemed overly kind and paid for her dinner. She said it wasn't until she tried to call Riess to confirm she was coming to dinner and received the voicemail of someone called 'Stormy Liberty' she knew something was wrong. 'I had called and texted her to see if we were going to meet and I never got a response,' she told Wink. 'I called her phone and there was somebody on the other end of the phone that I think her name was like Stormy Liberty or something like that.' Thousands of pages of new documents and photographs released by the State Attorney's Office in Lee County, Florida, show the disturbing items in the car Riess' was driving (pictured) following her arrest in April Investigators say they discovered two knives in the vehicle, allegedly stolen from Pamela Hutchinson following her alleged murder A mannequin head and a bottle of what appears to be glitter were also found When she went back inside moments later, she was told of Riess' arrest, leaving her feeling 'gullible and stupid'. 'It's just scaryvery scary to meet a stranger and think that they're going to be your friend and they turn out to be a killer,' she said. In their interactions, Bernadette told investigators Riess came across 'completely normal, calm and friendly'. This is not the first instance Riess had used the alias Stormy Liberty. In March, a woman in Blooming Prairie received a call from a woman named 'Stormy Liberty,' who asked for the address of Theresa Koster, a 'mutual friend' who had a winter home in Fort Myers. Police also found a bottle of prescription medication in a cup holder The woman gave Stormy the address. Detectives discovered that Riess had used the name 'Stormy Liberty' to open a cellphone account. In early April, Koster went outside her house in Ft. Myers to find a woman staring at her car. Koster addressed the woman, and their eyes met - Koster later told police the woman was Riess. 'Wrong house,' the woman said, and left quickly. Riess has pleaded not guilty to Hutchinson's murder, and is expected to stand trial for her husband's in Minnesota after trial in Florida isKoster, who knew Riess from Minnesota - months ago, she'd invited the Riess couple to her Florida home - knew she was wanted by Minnesota authorities in connection with the death of her husband, and called police. Following the 56-year-old's arrest, police searched the car she had been driving - a vehicle allegedly stolen from Hutchinson. Officers discovered a prescription pill bottle, stained blankets and sheets, and a new cell phone box. Inside her Texas hotel room, they found two handguns and 'a black bag with multiple other firearm paraphernalia that include bullets, a holster, duct tape, rubber gloves, checkbook of the victim's with four credit cards, and what appeared to be a trophy,' News Press reported. Riess has pleaded 'not guilty' to Hutchinson's murder last month, and is expected to stand trial for her husband's murder in Minnesota following her trial for Hutchinson's killing in Florida, CBS reported. Riess was in a Texas court in April signing a waiver of extradition, allowing authorities to transport her to Florida and Minnesota to face her multiple charges A young woman who has fought to use sperm she harvested from her dead boyfriend's body, will learn her fate in court on Wednesday. Ayla Cresswell was granted permission to harvest sperm from her boyfriend Joshua Davies immediately after he died suddenly in August 2016. Almost two years on, Ms Cresswell, 25, will learn whether she has the right to use that sperm to become a mother. Ayla Cresswell was granted permission to harvest sperm from her boyfriend Joshua Davies immediately after he died suddenly in August 2016 (together) The decision will be handed down in a Brisbane court on Wednesday. Ms Cresswell, a bank worker, discovered her boyfriend dead in their Toowoomba home, 130km west of Brisbane in August 2016. Within hours, Ms Creswell was granted permission to have Mr Davies' testes and spermatozoa harvested and stored at an IVF facility. Ms Cresswell said it was the young couple's dream to start a family and have three children together. 'It is my honest belief that this is what Joshua would have wanted,' Ms Cresswell said (with Mr Davies) After two years of relentless campaigning, a judge will decide whether Ms Cresswell (pictured right, with friends) can move forward with the process 'Joshua told me that he was very excited at the prospect of being a father and we often talked about having children and the effect it would have on our lives,' Ms Creswell told a court. 'It is my honest belief that this is what Joshua would have wanted.' After two years of relentless campaigning, a judge will decide whether Ms Cresswell can move forward with the process. Justice Brown's decision will consider Ms Cresswell's ability to become a single parent based on her physical, emotional and financial status. Ms Cresswell (left with supporters outside court) will learn her fate in Brisbane on Wednesday After two years of relentless campaigning, a judge will decide whether Ms Cresswell (pictured second from left) can move forward with the process Ms Cresswell (second from right) previously told the court she was financially able to become a single mother Ms Cresswell previously told the court she was financially able to become a single mother. 'I believe that I am sufficiently affluent to be able to raise a child by myself,' she told the court. The 25-year-old woman also has the support of her family and her late boyfriend's family, who told the court they were very willing to help raise the children. The decision will set a legal precedent in Australia for women seeking to use the sperm of their late partners to have children. The trial of a Perth pensioner who admitted stabbing his son to death is drawing to a close. Prosecutors urged jurors to reject the father's self-defence argument, describing the killing as 'effectively an execution'. Ernest Albert Fisher, 67, confessed in late October 2016 to fatally stabbing Matthew Kyle Fisher-Turner, 23, four weeks earlier at their home in Parmelia, south Perth. He initially told detectives he believed his son was 'over east' but came clean after about one-and-a-half hours of questioning, saying he did it because Matthew was a violent and threatening 'a******e' towards his family. The trial of a Perth pensioner who admitted stabbing his son (pictured) to death is drawing to a close Matthew's siblings Joshua Fisher-Turner (pictured, left), 28, and Hannah Fisher-Turner (pictured, right), 21, are accused of being accessories Fisher lifted his shirt to show bruises and also claimed his son 'went ballistic' when he mentioned getting a violence restraining order against him. Prosecutor Laura Christian told the Supreme Court of WA jury during closing addresses on Tuesday that there were no reasonable grounds for Fisher's belief he had to kill Matthew. 'He wasn't even prepared to talk to the police, ask them about other options,' she said. 'Killing someone in self defence should be a last resort. In Ernest's case, it was a first resort.' Prosecutors urged jurors to reject the father's self-defence argument, describing the killing as 'effectively an execution' (pictured is Matthew Fisher-Turner) Fisher told police shortly after he confessed he'd done the right thing because Matthew was 'like a terrorist'. But towards the end of the interview, he said he wasn't sure if he needed a solicitor or not because 'I've done the wrong thing, I know it'. 'He knew he was guilty of murder and it was his desire to avoid being caught for it,' Ms Christian said. Matthew's siblings Joshua Fisher-Turner, 28, and Hannah Fisher-Turner, 21, are accused of being accessories. Joshua admitted burying Matthew while Hannah confessed to helping him carry the body to the backyard on a ladder, and both said they cleaned up other evidence. Fisher told police shortly after he confessed he'd done the right thing because Matthew (pictured) was 'like a terrorist' 'We all said we should just tell the cops', Hannah told detectives, but Fisher refused. He had started digging the hole, but left to watch the AFL grand final at a friend's house, telling detectives that was his 'priority'. Asked why she didn't call police after her father left, Hannah replied: 'It seemed wrong to turn on him.' Hannah and Joshua also both told police Matthew was abusive and threatening. Ms Christian urged jurors to put aside any sympathy they might feel for the siblings, saying 'they did what they did willingly'. Accompanied by a SWAT team, armoured Humvee vehicles and equipped with stun grenades, the Colorado police were taking no chances when they raided the mansion home of Michael Stonehouse in March last year. To his neighbours, the ex-U.S. marine seemed like a successful businessman and solid family figure. But, according to U.S. prosecutors, he operated a multi-million-dollar black market cannabis business to rival a Mexican cartel. Allegedly dealing 300lb of cannabis every month, distributed in duffel bags around the state and beyond, Stonehouse and his 15 cronies had so much money that they'd run out of ways of stashing it. Court papers claimed the gang bought homes in respectable neighbourhoods (where they grew more plants) and sank millions into accounts at seven banks. But they'd still left hundreds of thousands of dollars lying around when investigators arrived. Police say such an operation isn't unusual in Colorado. That criminals could be making so much money from drugs wouldn't be so surprising if this wasn't Colorado and the drug wasn't cannabis. According to the logic of legalisation campaigners, Colorado's legalisation of cannabis would eliminate a black market for the illicit substance - but it hasn't worked out like that In 2014, the state became the first in the U.S. to legalise the production of, and sale of, non-medicinal cannabis to customers over 21. In doing so, according to the logic of legalisation campaigners, the state would eliminate a black market for the world's most widely used illicit substance. But, as shown by the allegations laid against Stonehouse and an army of other cannabis criminals pouring in to states that have so far legalised the drug Massachusetts is due to become the ninth it hasn't worked out like that. For as Stonehouse allegedly told an undercover agent over breakfast, he'd considered starting a legal cannabis business until he'd realised an illegal one 'was just too easy' after legalisation and the introduction of punitive taxes sent the price of legal sources rocketing. This case (which has yet to come to court), and scores of others like it, must serve as a cautionary tale to anyone especially ex-Tory leader William Hague who yesterday triggered a political storm with his claim that the 'war against cannabis has been lost' in favour of legalising the drug. As for the argument advanced by Hague and other British politicians, including former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg, and some police chiefs that legalising cannabis will cut crime lessons from Colorado and elsewhere suggest the opposite is the case. Take California. In January this year, it became the sixth state to legalise cannabis sales for recreational use. As with other states, the principal lure was money in the form of taxes on legal sales of the drug. William Hague (pictured) has argued that legalising cannabis will cut crime California its economy recently overtook that of Britain hoped to create a $10 billion pot industry which would boost state coffers by $1 billion a year. Doctors, scientists and law enforcement authorities who oppose legalisation say such greed has blinded those who should know better to the risks of encouraging cannabis use while ignoring its damaging side-effects and impact on crime levels. The state was already one of the world's biggest cannabis growing areas and now, six months on, ruthless Mexican drug cartels have moved in and set up large-scale plantations of 25,000 plants as they exploit a major flaw in the legalisation argument. To provide the promised boost in revenue, the authorities have to impose cripplingly high taxes and fees on legal cannabis businesses, which must be licensed. But when the price of legal cannabis pretty much doubles as a result, both growers and users turn back to the expanding black market where they can get a much better deal. And that black market, of course, is now far harder to control because police have little way of discerning what cannabis is legal and what is illegal where it is grown by an unlicensed grower or sold by an unlicensed retailer. That's before we consider a surge in other cannabis-related crimes in states where it has been legalised, including individuals driving under the influence and violent crime. As one U.S. drug expert told me recently: 'In five to ten years from now, we're going to look back and say, 'My God, what did we do?' ' A sharp fall in crime isn't the only grand claim made for cannabis legalisation that is proving to be woefully deluded. The concept of it being a largely harmless substance far less damaging, say its supporters, than alcohol is falling apart. There is a wealth of evidence linking cannabis to increased risk of heart attacks, infertility, psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, and memory and attention problems. Other studies have shown cannabis use stunts brain development in youngsters. Colorado governor John Hickenlooper (pictured) has said its status as America's 'cannabis capital' has helped produce 'chronic homelessness' in the state In particular, new and stronger strains of the drug (often known as skunk) contain a much higher amount of the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which can induce psychotic behaviour and serious memory loss. Two studies one by King's College London have concluded that continued use of cannabis causes violent behaviour as a direct result of changes in brain function. It is estimated that up to 10 per cent of people who use cannabis become addicted. Other developments in Colorado are also cause for alarm, including dramatic increases in cannabis-related traffic deaths, adult cannabis use, and hospital admissions from cannabis-related emergencies over the past four years. And legalisation hasn't even begun to address what was its most laudable aim to reverse the huge numbers of young blacks and Hispanics being imprisoned for cannabis offences. In fact, arrest rates among black and Latino under-21s (who are not allowed to buy the drug legally) have risen dramatically in Colorado as police say they still feel obliged to arrest anyone obviously breaking the law. Meanwhile, Colorado governor John Hickenlooper has said its status as America's 'cannabis capital' has helped produce 'chronic homelessness' in the state as people flock there to take advantage of easy cannabis availability, while adult Coloradans (who are legally allowed to possess an ounce of cannabis and keep up to six plants) are now America's No 1 cannabis users, up from seventh before the drug was legalised. The state is awash in the sickly-smelling drug. There are now more cannabis shops 491 in Colorado than either branches of Starbucks (392) or McDonald's (208). In April, Hickenlooper warned he might even try to recriminalise recreational cannabis. Although it's hotly contested whether the drug is to blame, with the data now coming in, it's clear crime in Colorado particularly violent crime is rising while the national trend is downwards. Adult Coloradans (who are legally allowed to possess an ounce of cannabis and keep up to six plants) are now America's No 1 cannabis users, up from seventh before the drug was legalised Overall crime went up by 11 per cent between 2013 and 2016, and by 17 per cent in Denver, the state capital and its cannabis hub. The state governor isn't the only one to have second thoughts. The Denver Post newspaper supported legalisation and continues to do but has conceded after its own investigation that the number of drivers killed in road accidents with cannabis in their systems has risen sharply. Ed Wood, a Colorado businessman, has started to campaign against drug-driving after his 33-year-old son was killed in a road crash with a heavily stoned driver. 'People have referenced this as the grand experiment,' he said of Colorado's legalisation. 'And the only outcome they measure is the tax revenue, and that's shameful and a disgrace.' Justin Smith is the sheriff of middle-class Larimer County, north of Denver, who says his jail is full of criminals drawn to the state by the availability of cheap, black-market cannabis. He adds that cannabis-related murders once a rarity have become 'not unusual'. In the city of Colorado Springs, district attorney Dan May has called cannabis a 'gateway drug to homicide'. Of the 22 murders in the city in 2016, eight were related to the drug, he says. 'Those of us in law enforcement kept saying, 'Legalisation will not stop crime,' ' says Colorado's Attorney General, Cynthia Coffman. 'You're just making it easier for people who want to make money. What we've done [by legalising cannabis] is give them cover.' The final word goes to Tom Gorman, a U.S. drug watchdog and director of Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program (which covers Colorado). When I ask him what he would say to those lobbying for the legalisation of cannabis in the UK: 'Look at the facts and ignore the rhetoric,' he cautions. 'But once you make that decision and open the door, it's going to be hard to close it.' Hundreds of thousands more families could be forced to pay the higher 40p rate of income tax under plans to give the NHS a 20.5billion-a-year cash boost. Ministers have been told that freezing the tax-free allowance at 12,500 and the point at which the higher rate kicks in at 50,000 would raise billions of pounds from 2020. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies said this would raises taxes on everyone earning over 12,500 and drag an extra 400,000 people into the 40p income tax band in just two years. Prime Minister Theresa May and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt visit the Royal Free Hospital in London on Monday That could take the total number paying higher rates of income tax above five million for the first time undermining Tory claims to be a low-tax party. The tax burden facing families is already at its highest level for half a century but looks set to become even more punishing as ministers pump extra funds into the NHS. Theresa May has warned that taxes will rise to fund an increase in spending on the NHS worth nearly 400million a week by 2023. The IFS said freezing tax thresholds could raise 3.5billion in two years. 'This would mean higher income tax bills for everyone with an income of more than 12,500 a year,' it said. Theresa May has warned that taxes will rise to fund an increase in spending on the NHS worth nearly 400million a week by 2023 Stuart Adam, a senior research analyst at the IFS, said: 'There has been a long-run upward trend in the number of higher-rate taxpayers, and a much bigger share of the population now pays higher rate tax than before.' The total has risen to 4.7million from 3.2million when the Tories took power in 2010. A glamour model has revealed how an ISIS recruiter brainwashed her on Facebook before grooming her to move to Syria to become the next White Widow. Kimberley Miners, 29, from London, claims she embarked on an online affair with British ISIS recruiter Naweed Hussain and almost ended up in Syria as his wife. Hussains fiancee was Britain's youngest female ISIS terrorist Safaa Boular, 18, who was the head of the UK's first all-female terror cell and planned a grenade and gun attack on the British Museum with the help of her mother and sister. Miss Miners, a former topless model, said she was groomed to become the next 'White Widow' and follow in the footsteps of Sally Jones, a British mother of one who was killed in a US airstrike on the convoy she was travelling with in June 2017. In stark contrast to the glamour shots of her past Miss Miners posted a picture of herself in a full face veil at the height of her self-confessed obsession with Hussain and Islam in 2016 and 2017. But she was arrested by anti-terror police last year after they discovered correspondence between her and Hussain which included a bomb-making manual. She said: It's embarrassing now but I liked the attention. I'd been so lonely. Now I felt I finally belonged. Miss Miners was released after security chiefs realised she had been duped by ISIS Troubled: Miss Miners posted a picture of herself in a full face veil at the height of her self-confessed obsession She told The Sun she believed ISIS wanted to use her as a new version of Jones. Miss Miners, who was released after security chiefs realised she had been duped, said she had 'totally fallen for it'. Hussain, a British Pakistani who joined ISIS in Syria in June 2015, also urged Boular, 18, to attack the Palace of Westminster before he died in an air strike. Boular, her older sister and her mother - who together formed Britain's first all-female ISIS terror cell were jailed for a total of at least 22 years last week for a terror plot dubbed 'The Mad Hatter's Tea Party'. She described how Hussain flattered her and boosted her confidence, even convincing her to change her name to Aisha Lauren al-Britaniya. Miss Miners told the newspaper she was lonely after suffering a miscarriage and breaking up with her fiance. She said she didn't use social media properly until she became single and through loneliness, began making friends with people in Syria after sympathising with the plight of refugees. Miss Miners said: 'I was upset by what was happening in Syria to the children. I wanted to do something to help. 'I started sharing videos of bomb attacks in the hope of showing people what was going on. 'I soon started receiving lots of friend requests from people in Syria. They'd message me on Facebook. ISIS recruiter: Naweed Hussain contacted Miss Miners on Facebook after she shared a video sympathising with the plight of Syrian refugees Miss Miners, a former traffic warden (left) and street cleaner (right) was arrested on suspicion of being in possession of terrorist material in October 2016 ISIS recruiters wanted Ms Miners to become the new 'White Widow' - the name given to jihadi convert Sally Jones (pictured), who is believed to have been killed last year 'It's embarrassing now but I liked the attention. I'd been so lonely. Now I felt I finally belonged. 'I craved the attention, the respect and the offers of friendship.' Hussain first got in touch after IS spotted that Kimberley had been using social media to highlight the plight of children caught up in the Syrian civil war. Hussain, who used the name Abu Usamah Al-Britani with IS, got in touch Miss Miners and the pair began discussing the Syrian civil war. No laughing matter: Miss Miners claims she was 'brainwashed' when she posted an online photograph of a kitten wearing a suicide vest (pictured) Safaa Boular (pictured left) plotted a terror attack in London which she referred to as 'The Mad Hatter's Tea Party'. She was urged to attack the Palace of Westminster by Naweed Hussain. She is pictured right with her mother Mina Dich and sister Rizlaine Boular Among Kimberley's new social media friends was East Londoner Amira Abase, 15, who travelled to Syria with two school friends and the now notorious Sally Jones. Jones, a former punk from Kent, had moved to Syria with nine-year-old son Jojo to join IS after meeting a British jihadist online. By the end of 2015 police were aware of her online activity and visited her at home. Kimberley Miners, who claims she was brainwashed by ISIS recruiters She attended a terrorism prevention course and was monitored weekly. She also attended therapy sessions to identify possible triggers for her behaviour. But she dropped out of the course. And Hussain, who had initially been in contact on Facebook, told her to open an account with Telegram, the encrypted messaging service. The single mother of one, said Hussain invited her to Turkey where he said he would meet her and take her to Syria. Shortly after anti-terror police pounced and arrested her. They discovered all the correspondence between the pair and a bomb manual she had been sent. Miss Miners was told she faced ten years in prison but was later released from bail without any further action in January. A few weeks later Hussain was killed in a drone strike. A married man has been accused of raping a woman during a job interview - after asking her 'what can you do to convince me to hire you?' Ruel Lizardo Baradas, 34, is on trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to two counts of sexual intercourse without consent. The court heard a woman, 29, was interviewed for a housekeeping job at the Mantra Pandanas hotel in Darwin in October, the NT News reported. The woman, originally from Taiwan, had been in Australia for four days before the interview. A man has been accused of raping a woman during a job interview - after asking her 'what can you do to convince me to hire you? Mr Baradas allegedly repeatedly asked the woman 'what can you do to convince me to hire you?' The woman was then allegedly raped twice in the hotel suite's bedroom. Prosecutor Stephen Geary said Mr Baradas told the woman she was 'pretty and I like you'. She was using a phone to communicate with Mr Badaras, translating from Mandarin to English. Mr Geary said Mr Badaras pointed at three Xs on the woman's CV and said they 'meant porn'. After seeing she had experience as a masseuse, Mr Badaras suggested that he needed a massage from the woman, Mr Geary said. Mr Badaras then said it was 'her turn to be massaged' and the woman 'reluctantly agreed', according to Mr Geary. Mr Badaras then allegedly told her to roll over before taking off her pants and penetrating her twice. The court heard a woman, 29, was interviewed for a housekeeping job at the Mantra Pandanas hotel in Darwin in October Mr Geary said the woman will give evidence that she did not consent to the act. Mr Badaras' lawyer Peter Maley said the Crown needed to prove his client knew the woman did not consent. 'You mightn't like him, you might think he's sleazy, you might think he's having an affair behind his poor wife's back, all those things may be true, but that's not the issue,' he said. The trial continues. President Donald Trump told a meeting of House Republicans that his daughter Ivanka talked to him about children being separated from their families at the border as members of his own party criticize him on his 'zero tolerance' separation policy. He also left a solution to the political firestorm that has engulfed his administration to the lawmakers. He told his fellow Republicans at a meeting Tuesday evening that Ivanka told him the images from the border are not good, according to a report from a source in the meeting, astweeted by a reporter from Politico. Pictures and audio from the U.S.-Mexico border show crying children being separated from their families. According to another report, Trump told the House Republican Conference that Ivanka came to him and said 'Daddy, what are we doing about this?' Trump said it's a 'tough issue' and then pivoted to something else, tweeted New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. President Trump said his daughter Ivanka spoke to him about his separation policy President Trump endorsed both immigration bills being considered on Capitol Hill Trump's 'zero tolerance' immigration policy is under fire from Republicans and Democrats Meghan McCain called out Ivanka on Tuesday for her silence on the issue. 'Where is Ivanka in all of this?' McCain asked on ABC's 'The View.' 'She's all for women and mothers and she has a White House role and a job, and I'm sort of interested that her whole platform has been women and mothers and she doesn't seem to have anything to say about this.' Ivanka Trump, who serves as a counselor to the president, is said to be an influential influence on her father. Comedian Samantha Bee called her a 'feckless c***' earlier this year for tweeting a photo of her and her child but not doing anything about the Trump administration policy that separates children from the adults they accompany on illegal border crossings. Bee later apologized. First lady Melania Trump has weighed in, appearing to break with her husband's administration. The first lady's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement to DailyMail.com, CNN and other outlets that 'Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform.' 'She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.' Many Republicans have joined Democrats in decrying Trump's separation policy. As to a solution to the problem, Trump, who has sought to blame Democrats for the policy, left it in the hands of Republicans The president supports both immigration bills being considered before the House of Representatives, the White House said in a statement. 'The President spoke to the House Republican conference on a range of issues. In his remarks, he endorsed both House immigration bills that build the wall, close legal loopholes, cancel the visa lottery, curb chain migration, and solve the border crisis and family separation issue by allowing for family detention and removal. He told the members, 'I'm with you 100%,' White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said in a statement. President Trump in his meeting with House Republicans President Trump arrives on Capitol Hill for meeting with lawmakers Speaker Ryan escorted Trump into meeting There is a compromise bill and a more hardline bill from conservative Republican lawmaker Bob Goodlatte. House Republicans are changing their compromise immigration bill to prevent the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from separating migrant children from their families. The new bill - which is a compromise GOP bill - would require DHS to keep families together while parents are going through legal proceedings related to their detention for illegally crossing the border, The Hill reported. The compromise bill would meet most of Trump's immigration demands. It would create a path to legal residency and then citizenship for young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. It would also fund the president's proposed border wall and end the diversity visa 'lottery' system. The second bill is more conservative and does not offer a path to citizenship for the immigrants, known as 'Dreamers.' It would more dramatically limit legal immigration. Votes are planned on the measures on Thursday. The Senate has also gotten in on the action. Twelve Republican senators sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking him 'to halt family separations while Congress works on legislative fix.' Additionally, two Senate Republicans are working on legislation that would halt the separations. Democratic Senators also have legislation in the works. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, left, and White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short, right, arrive for a meeting with President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill Before he went into his meeting, President Trump said the immigration system was broken and needed to be fixed Trump started his meeting with his party members by praising their work. We are hot and we are 'winning,' he told them, according to a source in the room astweeted by a reporter from The Hill. The president also spoke briefly to reporters after he entered the Capitol and said they are working to fix the broken immigration system. 'The system's been broken for many years. The immigration system, it's been a really bad, bad system, probably the worst anywhere in the world. And we're gonna try and see if we can fix it,' he said. Trump said earlier in the day he wants to cut off aid to Central American countries that he claimed Tuesday are 'sending' migrants to the U.S. Trump said he'd be asking for authorization to end assistance to the region that includes Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. 'We're not going to give any more aid to those countries,' he asserted during a Washington, D.C. speech to the National Federation of Independent Business. 'Why the hell should we?' The president was addressing the problem of family separation when he threatened foreign aid to the financially struggling countries that are home to most non-Mexican migrants begging for asylum at the southern border. President Trump says he wants to cut off aid to Central American countries that he claimed Tuesday are sending migrants to the U.S. The president said he doesn't like that children are being separated from their legal guardians- even though it's a policy that was implemented by his administration. 'We can't let people pour in. They've gotta go through the process,' he stated. 'And maybe it's politically correct or maybe it's not - we've gotta stop separation of the families.' In back-to-back tweets Tuesday morning, the president ripped into the minority party and demanded that Congress pass legislation strengthening border security. 'Now is the best opportunity ever for Congress to change the ridiculous and obsolete laws on immigration. Get it done, always keeping in mind that we must have strong border security.' Trump also commented on the family separation controversy plaguing his administration. 'We must always arrest people coming into our Country illegally. Of the 12,000 children, 10,000 are being sent by their parents on a very dangerous trip, and only 2000 are with their parents, many of whom have tried to enter our Country illegally on numerous occasions,' the president tweeted. The White House spent Monday and Tuesday sparring with Democrats who have been accusing the Trump administration of exploiting migrant families. Each side condemned the other for using children as 'pawns' in a raging illegal immigration debate. Michelle Obama traded workout clothes for a chic suit as she went out to lunch in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The former first lady looked perfectly chic for her business lunch as she dined at the Gjelina restaurant in Venice. Michelle swapped out her usual jewel tones with a softer palate of pastels for the meeting. Michelle Obama traded workout clothes for a chic suit as she went out to lunch in Los Angeles on Tuesday The former first lady looked perfectly chic for her business lunch as she dined at the Gjelina Restaurant in Venice She opted for light green wide-leg trousers and a suit jacket done in matching green and black stripes, topping the look off with a simple white shirt and sandals. The former first lady also shielded her face with an oversized pair of pastel pink sunglasses and accessorized with a large pair of hoop earrings. Michelle's Secret Service motorcade was on hand during the meeting, holding the door open for her as she left the restaurant. It remains unknown what exactly the meeting was about, although Michelle and Barack did recently enter a multi-year producing partnership with Netflix, which has an office in Los Angeles. Michelle swapped out her usual jewel tones with a softer palate of pastels for the meeting She opted for light green wide-leg trousers and a suit jacket that was done in matching green and black stripes Michelle is also gearing up for the release of her memoir Becoming, which will hit bookshelves in November. Just a day before her Venice meeting, Michelle bumped into Robert F Kennedy Jr while on a hike in the Santa Monica mountains. 'I stumbled across this amazing lady hiking the Santa Monica mountains this morning,' Kennedy wrote in the caption of their photo on Instagram. The former first lady also shielded her face with an over-sized pair of pastel pink sunglasses It remains unknown what the meeting was about, although Michelle and Barack did recently enter a multi-year producing partnership with Netflix, which has offices in Los Angeles Michelle's Secret Service motorcade was on hand during the meeting, holding the door open for her as she left the restaurant The former first lady was sporting a black hat, a blue sweatshirt and black workout pants. She flashed a huge smile as Kennedy posed beside her for the photo. Kennedy, 64, an environmental lawyer who is the third-eldest child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's 11 children, was sporting a black T-shirt and blue jeans. Both Michelle and Kennedy have been busy in the past few days. Kennedy recently called for a new probe into his father's assassination. On Monday Michelle and Robert F Kennedy Jr surprisingly bumped into each other on a hike in the Santa Monica Mountains And Michelle has been speaking out against the separation of immigrant families at the US-Mexico border. All four living former first ladies joined Melania Trump in an unusual united political front to express their horror at children being separated from their parents at the border. And Michelle shared an op-ed written by Laura Bush that criticized the Trump administration policy, writing: 'Sometimes truth transcends party'. Bush had tweeted earlier that day: 'I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.' Barack retweeted his wife's sentiment on Monday, shedding light on the thousands of children ripped from their undocumented parents and detained in isolated centers. Michelle recently shared an op-ed written by Laura Bush that criticized the Trump administration border policy, writing: 'Sometimes truth transcends party'. A mother campaigning for the legalisation of marijuana for medical use sells bottles of cannabis oil for more than 500 on her companys website. Charlotte Caldwell is the sole director of Billys Bud Ltd named after her 12-year-old son, who was given the first ever NHS prescription to treat his epilepsy. Her products include oils, capsules and powder. A spokesman told The Daily Telegraph profits were used to fund Billys healthcare. The oil she sells is CBD, a type of cannabis chemical which is legal in Britain because it does not make users high. Her website says growers are committed to creating and producing the highest quality cannabis products. The THC variety of cannabis oil, which has psychoactive effects, is currently banned. There is no suggestion Mrs Caldwell is acting illegally. Asia Argento has posted a blunt message on social media following her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain's suicide. The Italian actress posted a photo of herself on her Instagram story on Monday with the words 'Life is a b***h and then you die' scrawled across it. It came 10 days after her 61-year-old boyfriend was found dead in his hotel room in France after hanging himself. Following Bourdain's suicide, Argento has paid tribute to the Parts Unkown chef in a series of posts on social media. Asia Argento posted a selfie on her Instagram story on Monday with the words 'Life is a b***h and then you die' scrawled across it following her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain's suicide In one post on Sunday, Argento remembered Bourdain by wearing a shirt that read 'Legends Never Die' and also shared a quote long attributed to Plato that read: 'Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind.' She added: 'For nothing is concealed that won't be revealed, and nothing hidden that won't be made known and brought to light #TruthWillPrevail'. Immediately following his death, Argento shared her grief on social media, calling him an inspiration and herself 'beyond devastated'. '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 wrote. Following Bourdain's suicide, Argento has paid tribute to the Parts Unkown chef in a series of posts on social media Asia Argento (above) returned to social media for the first time since her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain took his own life Bourdain was cremated in France last week after he was found dead in his room at the Le Chambard hotel. His friend Eric Ripert, who had been helping the chef make an upcoming episode of his show Parts Unknown, was the one to make the grim discovery. He went to Bourdain's hotel room after he did not attend a planned dinner and breakfast. In addition to the celebrity chef's feats in the culinary world, he was also hailed for being one of the loudest male voices in the #MeToo movement. Argento has accused Harvey Weinstein of rape. In an essay written after fellow chef Mario Batali was accused of sexual assault, Bourdain wrote that 'one must pick a side ... I stand unhesitatingly and unwaveringly with the women.' Immediately following his death, Argento shared her grief on social media, calling him an inspiration and herself 'beyond devastated' Bourdain and Argento first met in 2016 when she appeared on the Rome episode of his Emmy-winning show Parts Unknown. It was around the time it was revealed that he and his wife Ottavia were separating after nine years of marriage. Bourdain and Argento's relationship then became public after the two were seen in Rome together early last year. 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. Anti-Brexit Tories are facing a grassroots revolt after threatening to side with Labour in a crunch Commons vote today. A band of diehard Tory Remainers were refusing to back down last night over a Commons vote designed to give Parliament the final say over Brexit. But the group of around a dozen MPs were facing calls from senior figures in their own constituencies to back the Prime Minister over her pledge to deliver on the referendum result. Some have been warned they could even face deselection if they rebel today. Downing Street described the rebels demands as unacceptable, and warned they would undermine the chances of Theresa May securing a good Brexit deal. Sarah Wollaston (left) and Antoinette Sandbach have been damned by their own councillors. 'We voted for Brexit - and who is [Ms Wollaston] to go against them? She's helping to hand it on a plate to Europe' - Cllr Richard Haddock, Totnes. 'It could bring the PM down and that would be a disaster, because she has done an extremely difficult balancing act' - Cllr Eveleigh Dutton, Eddisbury Dominic Grieve (left) was condemned by Cllr Barry Harding, Beaconsfield, George Freeman (centre) by Cllr Adrian Stasiak, Mid Norfolk, and Jonathan Djanogly by ex-council leader Ian Bates Mrs May was holding private talks with rebels in No 10 last night. But insiders insisted there was no compromise on the table and said this afternoons vote remained on a knife-edge. Rebel ringleader Dominic Grieve yesterday admitted his plans could be used to delay Brexit but said this would be a price worth paying to prevent a messy departure. Mr Grieve warned Mrs May she risked defeat unless she compromises with the rebels today. But last night the rebels themselves were facing a grassroots revolt. Ringleader Anna Soubry admitted her behaviour was angering senior Tories in her Broxtowe constituency, which voted Leave by 52.5 per cent. In a rambling 3,200-word statement on her constituency Facebook page last night, Miss Soubry acknowledged she was facing deselection calls. She insisted most of the calls came from outside her constituency, but acknowledged that many senior figures in her own association would prefer an MP that didnt trouble the whips and kept their head down on this most divisive of subjects. Asked about Miss Soubrys actions, Councillor Derek Burnett, the mayor of the Borough of Broxtowe, said: Im a Brexit supporter, put it that way. Senior Tories in the constituencies of other potential rebels also told the Daily Mail that they wanted their MPs to knuckle under and support Mrs May. Ringleader Anna Soubry remains unrepentant, saying: 'A co-ordinated campaign has seen emails to Broxtowe Conservatives urging them to deselect me... They are a threat to our democracy. It makes me even more determined' Eveleigh Moore Dutton, a councillor in the Eddisbury constituency of Antoinette Sandbach which voted 52.2 per cent to Leave, warned that the rebellion could bring the Prime Minister down. Why MPs' vote today is critical The much-amended section of the EU Withdrawal Bill returns to the Commons today for a crucial vote. It effectively seeks to give Parliament the power to direct what the Government does next if MPs vote down a Brexit deal, or if there is no deal reached with the EU by January 21, 2019. MPs could, for example, vote to tell the Prime Minister to return to Brussels to try again. Theresa May says this could tie her hands by effectively removing the option to walk away from talks. She believes it should be up to the Government to decide what happens if there is no deal. If the Government loses the vote it would undermine the UKs negotiators and give the EU every incentive not to make concessions. It would also increase the likelihood of Brexit being delayed. In January, if there is no deal, Remain campaigners could use it as a vehicle for forcing a second referendum and ultimately killing off Brexit. Advertisement She added: If she [Miss Sandbach] does vote against the Government I think it would be courageous to the point of foolishness. Richard Haddock, a Tory councillor in Sarah Wollastons Totnes constituency, which voted Leave by 54.1 per cent, said: She hasnt talked to her constituents, and some of them are totally disgusted with her. Barry Harding, a Tory councillor in Mr Grieves Beaconsfield constituency, said the former attorney generals plans risked damaging the UKs interests. Im not convinced that his amendment is purely for a check and balance more for his aspiration for a second referendum, Mr Harding said. On Monday, the Mails Andrew Pierce told how a senior party member in Mr Grieves constituency had said: Grieve has even upset Remainers in the association who think hes gone too far. If he doesnt go, I suspect we will tell him to. Todays showdown follows the collapse of talks last week over the wording of an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill designed to give MPs a meaningful vote on the Brexit deals. Rebel MPs are demanding the right for Parliament to decide what happens next if talks with Brussels fail to produce a deal. The PMs official spokesman said the demands passed by the House of Lords on Monday were unacceptable. Instead, ministers will re-table an amendment that would allow MPs a vote in the event of there being no deal, but would not give Parliament the power to direct the Government. Advertisement The heartbroken mother of a five-year-old boy who was allegedly murdered by his father broke down in tears as she arrived at his funeral service. The child, who was found with horrific stab wounds at the family home in Carlingford in Sydney's north-west two weeks ago, was farewelled by hundreds of mourners at Macquarie Park Crematorium on Wednesday. The mother shared a long and tearful embrace with a family member outside the Magnolia Chapel, before saying a silent prayer with a Buddhist monk and making the traditional Thai 'wai' gesture of respect. The mother (pictured) of a five-year-old boy who was allegedly murdered by his father has broken down in tears as she arrived at his funeral service The casket was decorated with car logos and flowers at the funeral for the five-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in June The boy's grandmother (pictured) recited a song she and the boy would often sing together in front of hundreds of mourners After a brief Buddhist service, mourners said their goodbyes and the casket was closed, with a bouquet of flowers placed on the boy's chest and on top of the coffin. The Christian service which followed was packed to capacity, with mourners filling every spot in the 196-seat hall. On the five-year-old's pearl white casket were logos of European motor brands, including Audi, Mercedes and BMW. The funeral handout read: 'Words cannot express our gratitude. Your kindness and comfort are deeply appreciated. Thank you for attending and sharing in our love for [the boy].' Mourners said goodbyes before the casket was closed, and a bouquet of flowers placed on the boy's chest and on top of coffin (pictured is the order of service with an image of the boy) Pictured is the order of service, listing the songs played and tributes made during the emotional Wednesday morning service Pictured are lyrics from a song printed on the order of service for the Wednesday morning funeral service in Magnolia Chapel Mourners at the Buddhist part of the service were joined in prayer by monks in orange robes who said prayers at lit candles Several Buddhist monks gathered around the casket during the service, laying flowers on top and lighting candles during the ceremony The child was farewelled by hundreds of mourners at Macquarie Park Crematorium on Wednesday, including the boy's grandmother (centre) Mourners who took part in the Buddhist service removed their shoes and prayed in front of the casket with monks in robes Floral tributes were laid as Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Wonderful World echoed through the chapel. Charlie Puth's 'See You Again' and John Legend's 'One Call Away' were played during a visual tribute, which lasted more than ten minutes. The boy was shown as a newborn child and throughout his infancy. His father, mother and grandparents featured heavily in the images. Tears flowed throughout the chapel when a series of videos were displayed. On the five-year-old's pearl white casket were logos of European motor brands, including Audi, Mercedes and BMW (pictured is the order of service) The boy was shown as a newborn child and throughout his infancy in photos displayed at the service on Wednesday The heartbroken mother shared a long and tearful embrace with a family member outside the Magnolia Chapel, before sharing a silent prayer with a Buddhist monk The child's father, mother and grandparents featured heavily in the images shown to mourners on Wednesday morning Buddhist monks said a prayer for the five-year-old boy at a ceremony in front of an open casket at the beginning of the service He was seen being dropped off by his parents on his first day of school, and the smiling child was heard saying 'love you'. Another video showed him dancing and singing Christmas carols on stage with his peers. Reverend Ken Fischer told mourners the ceremony was a 'celebration of [the boy's] life'. He also spoke of the father's mental health battles in the lead up to the tragedy, before the boy's grandmother recited a song the pair would sing together. The child's mother broke down during her tribute to her son, saying 'sorry, excuse me' before taking a moment to compose herself. At one point the entire room erupted in laughter as she recalled a fond memory of the child. Pictured are mourners gathered around the casket during the funeral service in which Reverend Ken Fischer spoke of the father's mental health battles In his closing remarks, Reverend Fischer commended the family for their bravery amid the tragedy. He said the family had rallied behind the accused father (pictured are mourners in front of the casket) The boy's heartbroken mother (pictured) clasped her hands together in prayer with a Buddhist monk during the religious service During a photo tribute that lasted more than ten minutes, the boy was shown as a newborn child and throughout his infancy (pictured is the boy's mother in prayer with a monk) In a photo tribute shown during the service the boy was seen being dropped off by his parents on his first day of school (pictured is the funeral service) In his closing remarks, Reverend Fischer commended the family for their bravery amid the tragedy. He said they had rallied behind the accused father. 'You are not only seeking justice for [the boy], but also justice for [the father],' he said. '[The boy's] life was short, but it was rich - today we honour his love, his uniqueness, his personality, his joy, interest in cars and obsession with electronic games.' As the service came to an end and mourners began leaving the chapel, the rain began to fall. So too did the tears. The smiling child was heard saying 'Love you' to his mother and father in a moving video tribute (pictured is the boy's mother, centre) As the funeral service came to an end and mourners began leaving the chapel, rain began to fall outside. So did the tears The boy's mother (pictured) was seen kneeling in prayer during the service, which featured both Buddhist and Christian services A photo of the 36-year-old father, who can't be named for legal reasons, was displayed on the back of the funeral handout. He was charged with the murder of his son following the tragic incident on June 8. Moments after the alleged attack, the child's grandmother found him lying in his bed, his body covered in stab wounds. The grieving mother is seen shortly after arriving to her son's funeral service in Macquarie Park on Wednesday morning The five-year-old's mother is pictured looking into her son's open casket, before it was closed for the Christian service The heartbroken mother shared a long and tearful embrace with a family member outside the Magnolia Chapel The 60-year-old rushed the boy 400 metres away from the home before calling Triple Zero, but despite her heroic efforts, he died in hospital. Neighbours previously 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'. Reverend Ken Fischer told mourners the ceremony was a 'celebration of [the boy's] life' (pictured is the boy's grandmother, left) The Christian service held afterwards was packed to capacity, with mourners filling every seat in the hall (pictured is the boy's grandmother, centre) Charlie Puth's 'See You Again' and John Legend's 'One Call Away' were played during a visual tribute to the five-year-old boy The mother of the boy said her husband of many years 'was a sick man' and was 'not himself', revealing she still loved him despite the allegations against him. She said her son's father had tried to get medical help up to four times in the week leading up to the alleged stabbing, but was turned away or given more medicine. The 36-year-old father was denied bail and is expected to appear next in court on July 30. The reverend spoke of the father's mental health battles in the lead up to the tragedy, before the boy's grandmother recited a song the pair would sing together (pictured are mourners during the funeral) Mourners gathered behind the chapel following the funeral service, releasing blue balloons into the air and blowing bubbles The five-year-old's mother is pictured embracing another mourner following the services on Wednesday morning Matt Hancock (pictured) said he admired head teachers who took a firm approach by banning mobile phones Mobile phones should be banned at the school gates, the Culture Secretary declared last night. Matt Hancock said he admired head teachers who took a firm approach by banning them. He urged other schools to follow suit. The Tory minister said over-exposure to the internet was making children's lives more difficult and affecting concentration in class. 'The evidence is that banning phones in schools works,' he said, writing in the Daily Telegraph,. 'Studies have shown that mobile phones can have a real impact on working memory and fluid intelligence, even if the phone is on a table or in a bag. He said growing up with social media was complicating children's relationships with their contemporaries while encouraging bullying to go beyond the school gates. 'Why do young children need phones in schools?' he asked. 'There are a number of schools across the country that simply don't allow them. I believe very young children don't need to have access to social media. 'They are children after all. They need to be able to develop their social skills in the real world first.' Mr Hancock said the Government would introduce tough and world-leading online safety laws to make Britain the 'safest place in the world to be online'. The Culture Secretary said mobile phones should be banned at the school gates His call came as seven Tory MPs wrote a letter to the Department for Education calling for schools to ban phones because they can be a 'disaster' in the classroom. The letter says: 'Where schools banned smartphones from the premises, or required them to be handed in at the start of the day, pupils' chance of getting five good GCSEs increased by an average of 2 per cent. 'The improvement was even more marked for lower-achieving pupils. Results among pupils in the bottom quarter of achievement improved twice as much as the average.' The MPs called for clear guidance for schools over mobile phone use. Mr Hancock has admitted to taking phones from his three children at night and not allowing them to use social media. The EU faces a heightened terror threat if it chooses to limit security co-operation with the UK after Brexit, a British spy chief suggested last night. In an unprecedented intervention, GCHQ boss Jeremy Fleming warned that the bloc would suffer at the hands of hostile foreign powers or terrorist groups if it decided to cut ties. He said the eavesdropping agency had helped foil four terrorist attacks in Europe in the past year alone. The warning is likely to be seen as a direct riposte to the EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, who has threatened to exclude Britain from a series of pan-European security deals. In an unprecedented intervention, GCHQ boss Jeremy Fleming (pictured) warned that the EU would suffer at the hands of hostile foreign powers or terrorist groups if it decided to cut ties And yesterday Mr Barnier suggested that Britain would have to regain the EUs trust after Brexit, telling Theresa May that trust does not fall from the sky. He also ruled out some of the UKs key demands for crime and security co-operation, including on the European arrest warrant, which are seen as vital for public protection by British ministers. The row over security has been raging ever since the European Commission said Britain should be locked out of the secure aspects of the EUS Galileo satellite navigation system, despite huge UK investment. In a rare public address yesterday, Mr Fleming attacked Mr Barniers position and warned that security would be harmed if the relationship between Britain and the EU is downgraded. Speaking at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, the director of GCHQ said: This visit comes at a pivotal time, of course as the UK leaves the EU. Mr Fleming said enhanced cooperation was needed to deal with the evolving threat faced by countries rather than a break in the security partnership. He said the Brexit security deal being discussed by negotiators should ensure that the UK and EU member states continue to work together to keep us all secure in the future. He added: Ive spoken [today] about the changing threat that we all face, the role that GCHQ plays in countering that threat, and how important our partnerships are both in Europe and across NATO. These threats are more complex and more global and none of us can defend against them alone. They require a pooling of resource, expertise and, critically, data so that we can investigate and disrupt our adversaries. Breaking with the tradition of not discussing specific British spying activities, he said that classified GCHQ material had helped European countries thwart cyberattacks. Mr Fleming, who was deputy director general of MI5 until March last year, addressed the growing threat posed by Russia and referred to GCHQ measures that have halted Islamic State. The warning is likely to be seen as a direct riposte to the EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier (pictured), who has threatened to exclude Britain from a series of pan-European security deals In the last year weve played a critical role in the disruption of terrorist operations in at least four European countries, he added. GCHQ, one of the worlds biggest surveillance organisations, is relied on by individual EU member states for its expertise and relations with powers such as the US, Canada and Australia. In a speech in Vienna yesterday, Mr Barnier ruled out the UK retaining access to the blocs criminal extradition scheme and intelligence databases. He insisted that Britain must leave the European arrest warrant scheme and create a streamlined replacement that is likely to be more limited. In a barbed message to the Government, he added: We need more realism on what is and what is not possible. Mr Barnier said that the hard-line approach was necessary because of the UKs red line demands to leave the oversight of the European Court of Justice and end free movement of people. This cooperation is both unique and unprecedented, he said. And it is made possible by the trust between member states. This trust does not fall from the sky. There is no magic wand. Mr Barnier insisted that the UK will have a weakened relationship with EU agencies, such as the EUs Europol police body. He said that the bloc wanted to cooperate strongly and is seeking the most proximate possible relationship under the EUs legal order but that restrictions were obvious. British ministers, including Brexit Secretary David Davis, have insisted that failure to secure a unique deal on security will harm the bloc by losing the UKs expertise in the field. A spokesman for the Brexit department said: Keeping citizens in the UK and EU safe is an absolute priority. Britain spends nearly twice as much on state-subsidised housing, housing benefits and helping the homeless as other wealthy EU countries, an official report said. UK taxpayers paid 100 in housing support for every 66 that went on state housing in the next most generous EU country, France. German taxpayers pay only 52 to help low-paid, unemployed or homeless people put a roof over their heads, according to Office for National Statistics estimates. Britain spends nearly twice as much on state-subsidised housing, housing benefits and helping the homeless as other wealthy EU countries, an official report said The ONS used 2015 figures, the most recent available. Last week, the charity Crisis claimed there were 236,000 homeless people in the country and called for a 10 billion ten-year plan to eliminate homelessness on top of the construction of 100,000 state-subsidised homes each year. Britain paid the lowest amount on unemployment benefit of major EU countries just 1.4 per cent of the social protection budget. The figure is low chiefly because of low unemployment levels in 2015, the rate in the UK was 5.3 per cent, compared with 10.4 per cent in France and 22.1 per cent in Spain. Authorities in Magaluf have vowed a crackdown after prostitutes in the party resort were accused of mugging drunken tourists. A 50-strong gang of prostitutes are accused of targeting inebriated holidaymakers in the party resort to rob them of their valuables as they make their way back to their hotels after nights out. The primarily African sex workers working with gangs in the region have reportedly ambushed tourists in packs to mug them. It prompted residents of the town, including British expats and taxi drivers, to stage a protest because the crimes are ruining the tourist hotspot's reputation, the Sun Online reports. A 50-strong gang of prostitutes are accused of targeting inebriated holidaymakers in the party resort to rob them of their valuables. File photo A Facebook group called Cleaning Up Magaluf was also launched to tackle the problem. It updates its 5,000 members on where the muggers are lying in wait so tourists can avoid them and some members have started patrolling the area to ensure tourists get home safely. Now, the group has said that Calvia mayor Alfonso Rodgriguez has vowed to ramp up police patrols after a meeting with concerned locals. One resident said their main goal was to tackle the muggings and the street peddlers. 'It doesn't matter if you are a security guard or if you are physically massive, they aren't afraid to go for you,' the resident told Sun Online. The primarily African sex workers working with gangs in the region have reportedly ambushed tourists in packs to mug them 'We want to get everything under control, even if we have to give these women a certain time of day or a certain zone to operate in rather than having them roaming the streets freely attacking people.' Residents claim authorities are afraid to go after the women, mostly from Nigeria or Senegal, over fears they will be branded racist. They are reportedly controlled by mafia members and people traffickers who order them to rob tourists. But the campaign group says the mayor was forced to listen after members protested outside the town hall after a night of violent muggings. 'We have been there just waiting for someone to give attention to the problem,' a British expat said, according to the Sun. 'I can see an improvement and they are talking to us now and listening.' Police are probing links to drugs and organised crime after the rotting body of a Starbucks worker was found 'bound and gagged' on the side of a main road. The decomposed body of 33-year-old Thai national, Wachira 'Mario' Phetmang, was discovered wrapped in a plastic material and covered with a mattress near Sydney's Olympic Park on June 6. New South Wales Police told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday they were investigating whether organised crime and or drugs were linked to the murder. Other motives have not been ruled out. Scroll down for video A badly decomposed body which was wrapped up and dumped on the side of a major road has been identified as Wachira 'Mario' Phetmang (pictured) The 33-year-old Thai national had been living in Australia for the last 10 years, most recently at Hurstville in Sydney's south (pictured is the murder victim at a service station - the last time he was seen) Mr Phetmang's body was discovered on Homebush Bay Drive at Sydney's Olympic Park by a passing truck driver at about 10.30pm on June 6. The driver reportedly pulled over in bad weather and saw the wrapped-up body, which was taken to a morgue for an autopsy and forensic tests. 'A post mortem examination revealed Mario had been seriously assaulted, and his cause of death was blunt-force trauma,' New South Wales Police said. The Thai national had been living in Australia for the past 10 years, most recently at Hurstville in Sydney's south. Police are making a fresh appeal for information about the murder victim's last movements (pictured is Mr Phetmang) Detectives have revealed Mr Phetmang was last seen at a service station at South Hurstville about 7.30pm on May 25 (pictured) Detectives have revealed Mr Phetmang was last seen at a service station at South Hurstville about 7.30pm on May 25. He had been in the Sydney CBD and the Guildford area during the day, and Homicide Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Scott Cook said police hope the release of CCTV footage from that evening will lead to a breakthrough. 'At this stage, we do not know where Mario went after leaving the service station, and we are appealing for information about his movements from then until his body was located almost two weeks later,' Det Supt Cook said. 'We are particularly appealing to motorists who have dash cameras to review their footage to see if they may have filmed the vehicle during that time. He was travelling in a silver 2004 Hyundai Terracan, with Victorian registration URK109 (pictured) 'He [Mr Phetmang] has no criminal history, he was a well-liked individual,' Dept Supt Cook said. Mr Phetmang was travelling in a silver 2004 Hyundai Terracan, with Victorian registration URK109 when he was last seen. Strike Force Sinder was established to investigate Mr Phetmang's murder. Police are appealing for fresh information from the public. An operator of Dreamworld's River Rapids ride has claimed they pushed the emergency stop button several times before the fatal accident. Four people were killed in October 2016 after the popular Gold Coast theme park water attraction malfunctioned during the ride. An inquest into the tragedy, which killed Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi, began this week in Queensland. Two children also on the ride miraculously survived. An operator of Dreamworld River Rapids ride (pictured) claimed they pushed the emergency stop button several times before the fatal accident Four people, Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi, were killed in October 2016 after the Gold Coast theme park ride malfunctioned An inquest heard two children, Ms Low's son Kieran (left) and Ms Goodchild's daughter Ebony (right), were strapped in the raft through entire ordeal before climbing out when it stopped Forensic crash investigator Senior Constable Steven Cornish, who has watched the footage about 1000 times, told Southport Coroners Court the children were not thrown from the raft, Gold Coast Bulletin reported. The investigator confirmed the two young children, Ms Low's son Kieran and Ms Goodchild's daughter Ebony, were strapped into the raft through the entire ordeal where they climbed out once the ride stopped. The people in the ride were strapped in by velcro belts, so they can be easily removed in case of emergency, but it is unknown how the children remained safe while the adults fell out. Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd said one day after the deaths the children's survival was 'by the providence of God', the publication reported. 'Seems from what I've seen, it's almost a miracle anyone came out of that,' he said. Main ride operator Peter Nemeth will continue giving evidence to the inquest into the deaths of when the inquest resumes at Southport. Mr Nemeth told the inquest on Tuesday he'd noticed the raft carrying the guests on a collision course to a stricken raft following a water pump malfunction. Despite pushing a button to stop the ride's conveyor 'two or three times', the attraction did not immediately shut down and the two rafts collided. Main ride operator Peter Nemeth (pictured) will continue giving evidence to the inquest into the deaths where he revealed he pressed the emergency stop but 'two or three times' at time Mr Nemeth told the inquest on Tuesday he'd noticed the Dreamworld (pictured) raft carrying the guests on a collision course to a stricken raft following a water pump malfunction The four victims were killed instantly after being thrown from a raft into conveyor mechanism (Ms Goodchild's husband David Turner left and Ms Low's husband Mathew Low right) Forensic crash investigator Senior Constable Steven Cornish (pictured) told Southport Coroners Court the children were not thrown from the raft which saved their lives Instead a police investigation revealed it took up to nine seconds for the ride (pictured) to stop after the emergency stop was activated The four victims were killed instantly after being thrown from the raft into the conveyor mechanism. Mr Nemeth, who said he was among the 'top 10' operators in the theme park, was unaware the button he pressed did not bring the conveyor to an immediate halt. Instead a police investigation revealed it took up to nine seconds for the ride to stop. 'I am surprised to learn that,' Mr Nemeth said. 'I assumed the conveyor stop button would stop the ride instantly.' The ride's water pump had failed twice already on the day of the tragedy and Mr Nemeth had been informed to shut down the ride if it happened again. The ride's water pump had failed twice already on the day of the tragedy (pictured) and Mr Nemeth had been informed to shut down the ride if it happened again He said he did not know that was a park policy until that day and had been operating other rides in the past where up to six malfunctions had happened and the ride continued to take guests. 'It was a regular occurrence,' he said, adding he had been working on the Thunder River Rapids ride a week before the tragedy when the pump had failed. The other ride operator at the time of the tragedy, Courtney Williams, is also expected to give evidence on Wednesday. The inquest heard on Tuesday Ms Williams had only been trained on her role for the attraction on the morning of the tragedy. Self-service checkouts have become the new domain for opportunistic thieves with almost one-in-five shoppers admitting to ripping off the big supermarket giants. And with Coles catching out 'hundreds of thieves every week', shoppers are continually getting savvy to avoid detection. They are using techniques such as scanning avocados as potatoes to save cash, swapping barcodes on expensive groceries for cheaper items and deliberately not scanning products. Some shoppers are scanning avocados as other fresh produce items to lower their grocery bills (stock image) Self-service checkouts have emerged as the new domain for opportunistic thieves (stock image) Canstar Blue Editor Simon Downes said self-service checkouts are seen as 'easy targets' by some shoppers. 'Self-service checkouts appear to have opened the door to shoplifting for many Australians who would previously not have even considered it,' Mr Downes said. 'They're still seen as an easy target and some people will seize the opportunity to take advantage of the situation, with the risks seemingly deemed minimal, especially when you can plead ignorance in the event of being caught.' In February last year a mother from Ipswich, Queensland, was caught red-handed after she stole $4,500 worth of groceries from Coles and Woolworths by scanning every single item as a packet of 72 cent noodles. The woman glued the barcode of cut price fried noodles onto expensive slabs of meat, $200 coffee machines and other household products over a three-month period. Earlier this year, a 'poor' German backpacker was fined $100 after he failed to scan through expensive meat, bacon and cheese while at a self-serve register. Fresh fruit and vegetables are the most common items stolen by shoppers using self-service checkouts, a new survey has revealed (stock image) Sixteen per cent of surveyed Australians have admitted to either deliberately not scanning items at self-service checkouts or scanning products at a lower price (stock image) Other techniques used by shoplifters include using re-usable bags which aren't weighed by the machine, scanning through a bunch of expensive avocados as only one and failing to let the machine properly weigh a bag of pricey nuts. Canstar Blue recently surveyed more than 2,200 shoppers, with seven per cent admitting to deliberately not scanning items. Another nine per cent said they had scanned a product at a lower price when using a self-service checkout. Fresh fruit and vegetables were the most common items stolen (24 per cent), followed by packaged foods at 16 per cent and snacks and drinks (12 per cent). And shoppers are using a 'get out of jail free card' to steal, costing Coles and Woolworths an estimated $1 billion a year. 'In most cases, those people caught out trying to steal simply try to blame the machine, or claim it was a mistake,' Mr Downes said. 'These excuses seem to be seen as a 'get out of jail free card' because mistakes can genuinely happen. 'The challenge facing the supermarket staff on the front line is working out who the real offenders are and who simply made a mistake. This is where the eyes in the sky and any other tactics the supermarkets have to catch offenders come into play.' Packaged foods were the second most common item shoppers took without scanning the product at a self-service checkout (stock image) NSW and Victorian shoppers are the main culprits when it comes to thieving at self-service checkouts, while those in South Australia are the least likely to steal. Of those who admitted to theft, only five per cent said they were caught in the act. 'It's also worth keeping in mind that this survey reveals the number of people who to stealing. The true figure may be higher,' Mr Downes said. A Coles spokeswoman told news.com.au they have trained covert security officers in their stores across the nation and 'they're catching hundreds of thieves every week and reporting them to police'. Woolworths said while the majority of customers do the right thing at self-service checkouts, they had security measures in place for those who don't. An Ohio man who attempted to lure an underage boy into sex with food received a seven-day jail sentence. Youngstown State University student Albert Maruna, IV, now 23, believed he was speaking to a boy, 15, online back in early December when he received a response to the posting he shared on a dating app. However, the teen boy was actually an undercover cop with the Austintown Police Department. Albert Maruna, IV, now 23, (seen left in a mugshot) received a week in jail for trying to seduce a 15-year-old boy in December The conversations quickly turned sexual and romantic as Maruna told the 'boy' he would bring lubricant, chicken alfredo and Sprite to their meeting in Austintown. Maruna also requested the victim wear a jock strap for the sex meeting, according to a police report. He further told the victim that he didn't believe in age. Maruna was enrolled in classes at Youngstown State University (seen above) at the time Maruna even went so far as to tell the undercover cop he hoped to marry him one day, by saying: 'You are my one and only,' according to WKNB. Aside from spending a week behind bars, Maruna received 120 days on house arrest. He will now be registered as a Tier One sex offender. A taxi driver has claimed what should have been a $35 fare has left him $450 in the red. Srijan Polasani said he drove a couple from the Melbourne suburb of Richmond to nearby St Kilda on Monday - a roughly 20 minute trip, according to 3AW. But upon arriving at the destination, the man - who allegedly had a British accent told Mr Polasani he didnt have any cash or cards on him and asked to transfer him $50 using the ANZ banking app on his phone. Melbourne taxi driver Srijan Polasani claims he took a couple from the suburb of Richmond to nearby St Kilda on Monday - a trip costing $35 Upon arriving at the destination, the passenger claimed he didn't have any cash or cards on him. He asked to transfer $50 to Mr Polasani using the ANZ app on his phone 'He said sorry, I was meant to transfer you $50 but I've transferred $500,' Mr Polasani told 3AW. 'I logged into my account and I could see $500 in there, so I thought it was right.' Mr Polasani stopped at an ATM, withdrew $450 cash and gave it to the man. Minutes later the $500 disappeared from his account. It is, according to Chief Information Security Officer at Swinburne University Steven Cvetkovic, one of the oldest banking scams in the book - the equivalent of someone paying for a service with a cheque, only for it to bounce. The man then claimed to have 'accidentally' transferred $500 to Mr Polasani, and asked if the driver could withdraw $450 to pay him back - only for the $500 to disappear from Mr Polasani's account 'They [the payer] dispute the charges and the money goes back to the person who originally sent it,' said Mr Cvetkovic. Mr Polasani's friend, another taxi driver, claims to have had the same thing happen to him - also at the hands of a man with a British accent. ANZ reportedly neglected to refund Mr Polasani, instead telling him to go to the police to lodge a statutory declaration, according to 3AW. The missing wife of an international Bitcoin entrepreneur sent a text message to her husband telling him to 'feed the dog' and left her wedding ring in the car, moments before she disappeared. Madeline Bigatton, 48, was captured on CCTV getting into her car in the driveway of her family home at Carss Park, in Sydney's south, on the morning of March 25. The mother-of-two then dropped her daughter at a friend's house nearby, and is believed to have driven up to Kurnell, where her black Kia Sorento was found parked later that night. Mrs Bigatton has not been seen since. Madeline Bigatton (second from right), 48, was last seen getting into her car in the driveway of her family home on March 25. (She is pictured with her husband John and their two daughters) Mrs Bigatton is pictured with her husband John (left), an international Bitcoin entrepreneur Now three months since her disappearance, relatives revealed to Daily Mail Australia Mrs Biggaton's final message to her husband in which she asked him to care for their family pets. 'At about 3.30pm, she sends John some weird messages and says: 'Don't forget to feed the dog',' a relative said. Mrs Bigatton held a senior position with a pharmaceutical company, and was an adoring mother to her daughters. The relative said Mrs Bigatton had hinted to family she was in a 'dark place' in the days before she vanished, but insisted it was totally out of character for her to do anything to harm herself. Ms Bigatton (pictured with her daughter) held a senior position with a pharmaceutical company and was an adoring mother, according to relatives Mrs Bigatton reportedly dropped her daughter at a friends' house before driving up the cliffs at Kurnell. She left her wedding rings in the car, messaged her husband to 'feed the dogs' and has not been seen since 'The day before she disappeared she said to her sister: "I'm not in a good place, I'm in a dark place",' the relative said. 'Then on Sunday she jumped in the car and takes her youngest daughter to a friends' house. She had packed her beach towel and then drives up to Kurnell. Police searched the area where Mrs Bigatton's car was found, but failed to find any trace of the missing mum. 'When they got up there they found the car empty, with her wedding rings inside. We assume she jumped off, but they searched for her body and never found it,' he said. Mrs Bigatton's husband John was Australian director of now defunct cryptocurrency exchange platform 'Bitconnect'. Publicly available files show he joined the company in September last year. Just months after having risen rapidly to be worth more than AUD$620 per coin, the company suddenly shut down in January. On its website it cited having received two cease and desist letters from different U.S states and ongoing 'bad press' as the reasons for ending operations. Following Bitconnect's closure, the price of Bitconnect Coin has dropped to just over AUD60cents. The mother-of-two was last seen on CCTV getting into her black Kia Sorento in the driveway of her home (pictured) It has been close to three months since Ms Bigatton was seen in the driveway of her family's home (pictured) at Carss Park, in Sydney's south Ms Bigatton's relative said family and friends held a memorial for her in early May, in a bid to remember her and pay tribute, despite not knowing what happened to her. 'She was just so loved, the church was completely packed out,' he said. 'It's just so not like Madeline (to go missing). She was brought up in cotton wool, she was one of those real sort of good girls who never put a foot wrong her whole life. 'We hope she's out there somewhere, but we are all just trying to connect all the dots together to work out what happened.' An extensive search of the Kurnell area was conducted after her disappearance, with rescue helicopters, Marine Area Command and the Dog Unit involved. Family and friends of the much loved mother held a memorial for Ms Bigatton in early May Anyone in the vicinity of Cape Solander at Kurnell who may have sighted her or her vehicle, to contact St George Police or Crime Stoppers. Mrs Bigatton is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 160cm to 170cm tall, of a slim build, and with shoulder length brown hair. She was last seen in the CCTV footage wearing a khaki green singlet, three-quarter pants, and was carrying a black and white bag. Police are hoping to speak to two men of Indian appearance who reportedly picked up Mrs Bigatton's car keys the day after she went missing. Embattled Liberal senator Lucy Gichuhi was taken to court seven times for failing to pay $8,359 worth of council rates and $1,372 in water bills. Court documents obtained exclusively by Daily Mail Australia show the Kenyan-born federal MP faced legal action from City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, Whyalla City Council and the South Australian Water Corporation in 2013, 2014 and 2017. The Turnbull Government senator, who is on a $203,000 salary, was ordered by local court magistrates to pay $9,731 in seven unpaid bills, related to two investment properties in Adelaide and three in regional Whyalla. One unpaid council bill went to court just three weeks before she was sworn in last year as a senator, and another bill was taken to a magistrate four months after she became a member of Parliament. Scroll down for video Embattled Liberal senator Lucy Gichuhi was taken to court seven times for failing to pay $8,359 worth of council rates and $1,372 in water bills The backbencher, who owns six houses in South Australia with her husband William, had failed to pay $8,359 worth council rates and $1,372 in water bills. On her pecuniary interest register, Senator Gichuhi declares she is the owner of investment properties in the Adelaide suburbs of Dernancourt and Gilles Plains, along with another three homes in the steelworks city of Whyalla. The senator and mother-of-three, who moved to Australia from Kenya in 1999, received five arrears from the Port of Adelaide Enfield Council and one from Whyalla City Council, in areas where she owns five investment properties. One outstanding bill of $2,895 from the Adelaide council went to court on April 10, 2017, just three weeks before she was sworn in as a senator. The most recent bill of $1,818 from Whyalla council went before a magistrate last September, four months after she became an MP. Senator Gichuhi's chief-of-staff Mark Mudri told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday afternoon she was still paying off those debts. 'These are personal financial matters. The Senator pays all of her debts, did not contest any of these matters and is honouring any associated payment plans,' he said in a statement. Court documents obtained exclusively by Daily Mail Australia show the Kenyan-born federal MP faced legal action from City of Port Adelaide Enfield council and the SA Water Corporation The Kenyan-born backbencher, who owns four houses in South Australia with her husband William, had failed to pay $8,359 worth council rates and $1,372 in water bills The 55-year-old senator, who joined the Liberal Party in February, lists a house in Mawson Lakes, in Adelaide's north, as her main residential address. She also owns a house in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, which houses her relatives, and two plots of land in the country of her birth, which were declared on her pecuniary interest register. 'Whilst I am not aware of any other interest in real estate, I have arranged for searches to be done in Kenya to ensure that is the case,' she said on her pecuniary interest register when she became a senator in May 2017. In her maiden speech to the Senate last year, she admitted she struggled to resist the lure of mortgages. 'We were not able to resist the offers of multiple loans - a home loan, personal loans, car loans and credit cards,' she said. The senator's eye for detail is already under scrutiny after she charged taxpayers $2,000 to fly family members to her '50th birthday plus GST' party. Senator Gichuhi's Adelaide office, after two days, has still declined to explain why she claimed $7,675 in 'electorate business' to visit Sydney in August, September and November Senator Gichuhi in October last year claimed $2,139 on the public purse for two return airfares from Darwin to Adelaide to celebrate a milestone that occurred in September 2012. She has, however, agreed to repay taxpayers with a 25 per cent penalty added. Australia's first black African federal MP is already under fire for telling Kenyan television her $200,000 salary 'in a whole year' was 'not a lot of money'. On Wednesday, Sydney breakfast radio king Kyle Sandilands ridiculed this suggestion during a weekly segment with former Labor senator Sam Dastyari. 'On Kenyan radio where they're lucky to have three stones,' the millionaire breakfast show star said. Senator Gichuhi's office, after two days, has still declined to explain to Daily Mail Australia why she claimed $7,675 in 'electorate business' to visit Sydney in August, September and November 2017 despite her being based in Adelaide. Senator Lucy Gichuhi (pictured right) billed taxpayers to fly two family members to Adelaide for her '50th birthday plus GST' The revelations came to light as she faced a Liberal pre-selection challenge for her coveted and winnable No. 3 spot on the party's Senate ticket at next year's federal election. Taxpayer-funded entitlement claims, published by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority, show Senator Gichuhi claimed $2,000 in travel allowance from taxpayers between August 17 and 22, 2017 to visit Sydney. She claimed $400 a day from taxpayers during that period and another $405 in travel allowance for visiting Sydney for 'electorate business' on September 11. In another set of controversial expenses claims, she billed taxpayers $2,769 to travel to Sydney on November 2. This 'electorate business' involved addressing an event with Christian radio station, Hope 103.2, emceed by former state Liberal MP Stephen ODoherty. She joined the Liberal Party in February this year, six months after meeting former Liberal prime minister John Howard during her taxpayer-funded trip to Sydney Three weeks later, on November 25, she travelled to Sydney on 'electorate business' to be a 'VIP Guest Speaker' at the African Professionals Australia Gala at Parramatta in the city's west. The Christian conservative politician billed taxpayers $2,501 for travel allowance, car hire and travel for her husband. Senator Guchihi, who received just 152 primary votes at the 2016 election on the Family First ticket, in May last year replaced Bob Day in parliament after his bankruptcy made him ineligible to be an MP. The former independent senator joined the Liberal Party in February this year, six months after meeting former Liberal prime minister John Howard during her taxpayer-funded trip to Sydney in August. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow broke down in tears on-air while reporting breaking news that the Trump administration has been operating 'tender age' shelters for immigrant babies and toddlers forcibly separated from their parents. Maddow teared up on Tuesday night near the end of her program as she read a report from the Associated Press that revealed young children were being held in three facilities in Texas. She repeatedly tried to read a description of the shelters but was forced to abruptly end her show minutes earlier then planned. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow broke down in tears while reporting news that the Trump administration has been operating 'tender 'age' shelters for immigrant babies and toddlers Rachel Maddow chokes up and cries on air as she struggles to deliver news that migrant babies and toddlers have been sent to "tender age" shelters pic.twitter.com/O6crm8cvyR Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) June 20, 2018 The AP reported that Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border to at least three "tender age" shelters in South Texas Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis Maddow was attempting to give an update on child separations at the US-Mexico border when she broke down. Since April, more than 2,000 children have been taken away from their parents and placed in detention centers after their families were caught trying to cross the border illegally. The Trump administration says it is necessary to separate the families so the adults can be prosecuted as part of a 'zero tolerance' policy on migration. But opponents of the policy, from both sides of the aisle, say the separations are unnecessary and cruel, and that Trump is using the children as political pawns to negotiate a deal for his border wall. 'This is incredible... I think I'm going to have to hand this off, sorry,' an emotional Maddow said as she passed the news to the next host Lawrence O'Donnell. Maddow took to Twitter after the show to apologize and share the script she was meant to have read. Maddow took to Twitter after the show to apologize and share the script she was meant to have read Maddow repeatedly tried to read a description of the shelters but was forced to abruptly end her show minutes earlier then planned 'Ugh, I'm sorry. If nothing else, it is my job to actually be able to speak while I'm on TV. What I was trying to do - when I suddenly couldn't say/do anything - was read this lede...,' she said. If nothing else, it is my job to actually be able to speak while Im on TV. I apologize for losing it there for a moment. Not the way I intended that to go, not by a mile. The AP reported that Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border to at least three "tender age" shelters in South Texas. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston. Protesters gathered outside a fundraiser being held by Vice President Mike Pence in Philadelphia on Tuesday to protest family separation at the US border Demonstrators blocked secret service vehicles trying to get to the fundraiser at Rittenhouse Square where Pence was speaking Activists also gathered in New York to denounce Trump's 'zero tolerance' migration policy In San Francisco, people demanded that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency be disbanded because of the scandal DHS spokesman Kirstjen Nielsen was also chanted out of a Mexican restaurant in Washington DC as she ate dinner on Tuesday night Democrats (left to right) Lucille Roybal-Allard, Adriano Espaillat, Michelle Lujan Grisham, and Juan Vargas also staged a protest in Washington DC The three centers - in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville - have been rapidly repurposed to serve needs of children including some under 5. The fourth center would house up to 240 children in a warehouse previously used for people displaced by Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. Turner said he met with officials from Austin-based Southwest Key Programs, the contractor that operates some of the child shelters, to ask them to reconsider their plans. On a practical level, the zero tolerance policy has overwhelmed the federal agency charged with caring for the new influx of children who tend to be much younger than teens who typically have been traveling to the U.S. alone. Indeed some recent detainees are infants, taken from their mothers. Doctors and lawyers who have visited the shelters said the facilities were fine, clean and safe, but the kids - who have no idea where their parents are - were hysterical, crying and acting out. Since the White House announced its zero tolerance policy in early May, more than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the US-Mexico border, resulting in a new influx of young children requiring government care. The government has faced withering critiques over images of some of the children in cages inside US Border Patrol processing stations. A primary school teacher, 57, hid her face with dark sunglasses and a purple scarf as she faced court accused of pinching, slapping, scratching and spitting on four children aged as young as eight. The female teacher allegedly assaulted four children aged between eight and 10 at a school in south-west Sydney between April 30 and May 18 this year. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty to six counts of common assault when she appeared at Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday. The New South Wales Education Department said the teacher was suspended from her job while the allegations were before court (stock) Detectives from Bankstown Police Area Command were called to the school in May and the woman was later arrested at her Yagoona home in south-west Sydney on May 28. The New South Wales Education Department said the teacher was suspended from her job while the allegations were before court, News.com.au reported. The Department also said there was a possibility she would lose her job if found guilty. The school community was shocked to learn of the allegations against the 57-year-old, but one student claimed they saw the teacher get physical with children. 'Sometimes she grabs the people who are bad behaved,' the child alleged to Nine News. The woman was granted conditional bail on Wednesday to reappear in court in August. A female driver has recalled the moment a furious male cyclist opened her car door and 'tried to grab at her' during a frightening road rage attack. Tarrah Burns was walking to her parked car on Melbourne's St Kilda Road when the incident unfolded on Tuesday afternoon. The 27-year-old said she saw a cyclist approaching from a distance and assumed she had time to safely enter her vehicle, which she did. 'The cyclist stopped his bike, opened my door and lunged across to take a swing at me... He was spitting, shouting at me, trying to grab at me,' Ms Burns told 3AW. Tarrah Burns (pictured) has recalled the moment a furious male cyclist opened her car door and 'tried to grab at her' during a frightening road rage attack in the heart of Melbourne The 27-year-old said she saw a cyclist approaching from a distance and assumed she had time to safely enter her vehicle, which she did 'He basically was verbally abusing me, trying to get at me, I was basically on the passenger side seat at this point trying to get away from his blows,' she said. Ms Burns said she was at the time on a Facetime call to her mother, who witnessed the entire incident. 'My body froze, I couldn't even comprehend what was happening,' she wrote on social media. Ms Burns said the cyclist took issue with her 'failing to give way'. Ms Burns said she was at the time on a Facetime call to her mother, who witnessed the entire incident 'The cyclist stopped his bike, opened my door and lunged across to take a swing at me... He was spitting, shouting at me, trying to grab at me,' Ms Burns said 'He continued to shout and spit at me and aggressively opened and slammed the car door numerous times,' she wrote. Ms Burns said a TOLL employee who witnessed the attack came to her rescue, before the cyclist began abusing him. She didn't report the incident to police as she felt she 'didn't have enough evidence' and failed to capture an image of the man. 'It's just a shame with what's just happened recently on the news about the abuse against women,' she said. 'Even after all that people still think it's OK to hurt women.' Ms Burns (pictured) said a TOLL employee who witnessed the attack came to her rescue Arnold Schwarzenegger has spoken out against President Trump's immigration policies saying that innocent children shouldn't be used as pawns after photos emerged of them being held in detention cages. Since the Trump administration announced its 'zero tolerance' policy in early May, more than 2,000 children have been forcibly removed taken from their parents at the US-Mexico border. The government has faced withering critiques over images of some of the children in cages inside US Border Patrol processing stations. Arnold Schwarzenegger has spoken out against President Trump's immigration policies saying that innocent children shouldn't be used as pawns after photos emerged of them being held in detention cages 'As an immigrant, I know the magnetic power of America's greatness. As a former border Governor, I know the importance of securing our border and fixing our absurdly broken immigration system. As an American, I know that kids shouldn't be pawns while the 'adults' figure it out,' Schwarzenegger tweeted on Tuesday. 'The administration is right that we need to fix our immigration system. But if anybody is going to be in a cage while we wait for a comprehensive reform, let's make it the politicians who don't do their jobs in the cages, not innocent kids.' It comes after the Associated Press reported that Trump administration officials have been sending immigrant babies and other young children to at least three 'tender age' shelters in South Texas. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston. The three centers - in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville - have been rapidly repurposed to serve needs of children including some under 5. The fourth center would house up to 240 children in a warehouse previously used for people displaced by Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. By law, child migrants traveling alone must be sent to facilities run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within three days of being detained. The agency then is responsible for placing the children in shelters or foster homes until they are united with a relative or sponsor in the community as they await immigration court hearings. U.S. Border Patrol agents take into custody a father and son from Honduras near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 near Mission, Texas A vagrant who allegedly kidnapped and raped an 11-year-old girl in a five hour ordeal posted bizarre cartoons to Facebook - one about finding a sex toy and another about private parts. The posts surfaced after a court suppression order was today lifted allowing the publication of the name of father-of-two Brett David Hill, 47, recently from New Lambton Heights, near Newcastle, New South Wales. Hill, a former mine worker turned unemployed 'nomad', appeared in front of a magistrate by audio-visual link on Wednesday, four days after he was charged with kidnapping, indecent and aggravated sexual assault offences. He is yet to enter a plea. Must go: Hill tried to sell off this double engagement-wedding ring for $260 on a buy/swap/sell group last November Hill often shared bizarre memes and graphic content to his Facebook page, including a Where's Wally? style cartoon that read 'where's dildo?' and a picture of children looking down their diapers. He was a member of dating websites, including Plenty of Fish and a local Facebook group for singles, and last November attempted to sell of a double engagement-wedding ring for $260 on a buy/swap/sell group. Daily Mail Australia revealed today that Hill was recently in an online relationship with a Malaysian woman and sought to bring her to Australia for a three-month stay. 'My love I cant wait till you come here,' he wrote in a message to the woman in April. 'I wont (sic) sell my car until I take u for a good fast drive.' Bizarre posts: Hill shared a number of provocative memes on his social media pages Another post that featured on Hill's Facebook pages only recently NAMED TODAY: Brett David Hill's identity was exposed after a suppression order on his name was lifted On another occasion, Hill described the woman as 'beautiful' and said he was jealous of the attention she got from other men online. 'I love you but don't hold me to my jealousy,' he said. 'You are so beautiful and I know by the attention of the guys on your account. 'We will work this out my love so don't stop thinking of us being together'. The relationship failed - with Hill telling the woman it was 'over' in May. The woman told Daily Mail Australia she was stunned to this week learn of the allegations from a friend of Hill's. 'His friends tell me about the story, I'm shocked,' she said. 'It's very hard to hear, I never (met) him, we just know in Facebook and we promise to meet (in) June... but we broke up before that.' The Malaysian woman said 'I'm shock(ed)' after her ex-online lover was revealed to be the man accused of the horrific rape and kidnapping of a schoolgirl This is the scene where the young girl was allegedly abducted about 9.15am on Tuesday Officers arrested the man at a traffic stop after midday on Saturday, four days after the alleged assault on the schoolgirl. Police claimed the man had become a 'nomad' who was living in his car. Detectives were 'overwhelmed' with information from the community, including dashcam footage and tip offs to CrimeStoppers. Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec said: 'Our investigators scoured through all of that information to identify that person and make the arrest. How police allege it all unfolded: The girl was walking through a park when she was abducted - and was later released after a five hour ordeal 'This brave little girl is certainly a hero, and the courage that she has displayed is heroism. 'It is remarkable, the strength of this girl, supported by her friends and family, supported by counsellors, but she has stood up. 'She's worked with us, her family and friends have worked with us and she'll get on with her life.' Newcastle Police Superintendent Brent Greentree said the crime had 'sent shivers down the spine of every Novacastrian'. The man did not apply for bail on Wednesday and the matter returns to court in August. A fact-checker with the New Yorker is under fire after she commented on a Twitter photo accusing an ICE worker of having a tattoo of a Nazi symbol - when in fact the ink represents the platoon he served in while fighting in Afghanistan. In a tweet earlier this week, Talia Lavin implied that wounded soldier Justin Gaertner had the Nazi's Iron Cross tattooed on his elbow. Lavin, a 29-year-old Harvard grad, was replying to a photo tweeted by ICE and featuring Gaertner. It was about the program 'for wounded, injured & ill Special Ops Forces'. A fact-checker for the New Yorker accused wounded veteran and current ICE worker Justin Gaertner of having a Nazi symbol tattooed on his elbow Talia Lavin was responded to a photo ICE tweeted featuring Gaertner. Lavin later deleted the tweet but not before it caught the attention of ICE, who is demanding an apology from Lavin and the New Yorker The fact-checker later deleted the tweet saying that 'military veterans responded that the tattoo looked more liked a Maltese cross, a symbol associated with firefighters'. Lavin said she took her original tweet down 'so as not to spread misinformation'. However, the damage was already done. ICE tweeted that Lavin made 'erroneous attacks' on Gaertner and demanded she and the New Yorker apologize. ICE also said Gaertner's tattoo is a 'Titan 2', the symbol for his platoon when he fought in Afghanistan. Gaertner, who was a fire team leader and lead sweeper for improvised explosive devices, lost both legs and suffered other permanent injuries when an IED exploded during his deployment to Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Since returning home from war, Gaertner is a para-Olympic athlete and an ICE computer forensics analyst, helping to solve criminal cases and rescue children who have been sexually exploited. Gaertner (pictured on the left) lost his both legs and suffered other permanent injuries when an IED exploded during his deployment to Helmand Province, Afghanistan 'Anyone attempting to advance their personal political opinions by baselessly slandering an American hero should be issuing public apologies to Mr Gaertner and retractions,' an ICE statement read. 'This includes Lavin and the New Yorker'. The New Yorker released a statement on Monday distancing itself fro the fact-checker. 'The New Yorker has just learned that a staff member erroneously made a derogatory assumption about ICE agent Justin Gaertner's tattoo. The personal social-media accounts of staff members do not represent the magazine, and we in no way share the viewpoint expressed in this tweet,' a spokesperson said. 'The tweet has been deleted, and we deeply regret any harm that this may have caused Mr. Gaertner.' Juan Carlos Hernandez Caceres (pictured) is charged with first degree murder in the death of 41-year-old Ann Farran and 39-year-old Neidy Roche An illegal immigrant who was taken into custody Saturday for the murder of a prostitute in Miami also confessed to killing another prostitute whose body was found three months ago, police said. Carlos Hernandez Caceres is charged with first degree murder in the death of 41-year-old Ann Farran and 39-year-old Neidy Roche. Miami police announced his arrest in a Twitter statement Saturday. Miami police say surveillance video shows the 37-year-old stopping his car and dumping a woman's body on a sidewalk, then returning an hour later to look at it. Detectives say surveillance shows Caceres remove the body, later identified as Farran's, from his Honda Civic and leave it on a sidewalk early Wednesday. Video then shows him returning and parking about 100 feet away. Someone called police after the body had been lying on the sidewalk for two hours. Farran's body was left at Northwest 25th Avenue and 37th Street in the Allapattah neighborhood. Police say Farran had been strangled and Caceres admitted to beating her during an argument after he made an agreement to pay for sex. Video courtesy of Local 10 The Honduran national also confessed to the strangling murder of Neidy Roche (seen above) another prostitute who was killed in March On March 2, Roche's body was recovered on the side of the road near Northwest 30th Avenue and Northwest 26th Street, in a murder Caceres also admitted to. She had also been strangled to death. Investigators noticed similarities in the murders following his Saturday arrest. Investigators were also able to retrieve surveillance footage near the scene which showed a suspect get out of a vehicle in front of the crime scene, where Roche's body was seen minutes later. Furthermore, police matched a DNA sample from a Coca-Cola can Caceres drank from to the DNA found on Roche's body. Spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Nestor Yglesias, confirmed the criminal was an 'illegally present Honduran national,' according to a statement seen on the Miami Herald. 'ICE is focused on identifying, arresting and removing public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and gang members, as well as individuals who have violated our nation's immigration laws,' the statement said. Police said Caceres was arrested back in November for filing a false armed-carjacking report. Detectives say surveillance video shows Caceres removing Farran's body from his Honda Civic and leaving it on a sidewalk early Wednesday morning Olympian Bode Miller and his wife have shared photographs of themselves with the toddler daughter they lost in a drowning accident earlier this month, as they thank supporters for their kindness. Nineteen-month-old Emeline Miller was rushed to nearby Mission Hospital before passing away on June 10, with paramedics unable to revive the infant after she drowned in a neighbor's pool. Miller's wife Morgan Beck had taken Emeline with her to the neighbor's home for a party, when the child wandered off at one point according to Captain Tony Bommarito of the Orange County Fire Authority. When Beck and another woman went to go look for her, they discovered the child's body in the pool. Olympic skiier Bode Miller shared his deep thanks to Instagram on Tuesday night to everyone who donated to the family after the death of their toddler daughter and pledged to use the money to improve water safety Morgane Beck shared the same message to her Instagram page, along with a sweet photo of her and her daughter Beck immediately jumped in to get the girl, and once she was back on dry land multiple people tried to resuscitate her with no luck. Since their devastating loss, a GoFundMe set up by the midwives who delivered Emeline has raised more than $26,000 towards setting up a water safety foundation. Miller and Beck posted the same message on Tuesday night, thanking the nurses for their support. 'We want to thank our friends, family and every one of you who sent a message, said a prayer or donated for the overwhelming expression of support - we are truly touched and blessed, they wrote. 'Our midwives started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds and we intend to donate these funds raised to worthwhile causes connected to water safety education. 'We are inspired to make our baby girls memory go forth and help prevent as many drownings as possible. We will post more soon on our plans and efforts.' Both the GoFundMe and a Meal Train were set up by Morgan's midwife, Lindsey Meehleis. Miller earlier thanked his friends, family and fans for their support, and their midwives for setting up a GoFundMe Miller took to Instagram to share a sweet snap of his daughter following her death and wrote: 'We are beyond devastated. Our baby girl, Emmy, passed away yesterday' Meehleis also set up a 'Meal Train', asking for community members to send donations that the Millers can use on 'local restaurants and deliveries to provide extra privacy' 'As the family navigates through the path of grief and sorrow that no parents should ever have to experience, I would like to call on the community and ask to help take the burden off of the mountainous medical bills that will soon pile in and the memorial service costs,' Meehleis wrote on the GoFundMe page. Meehleis also set up a 'Meal Train', asking for community members to send donations that the Millers can use on 'local restaurants and deliveries to provide extra privacy'. 'Thank you for your compassion and warm meals as this family grieves in a way that no parents should ever have to,' she wrote. 'As their community, we can make sure they know they are loved and taken care of.' Miller first revealed the tragic news about his daughter on social media, writing: 'We are beyond devastated. Our baby girl, Emmy, passed away yesterday.' 'Never in a million years did we think we would experience a pain like this. Her love, her light, her spirit will never be forgotten.' 'Our little girl loved life and lived it to it's fullest everyday. Our family respectfully requests privacy during this painful time.' Miller took to Instagram after his daughter's death to share a sweet snap (seen above) of his daughter and wrote: 'We are beyond devastated. Our baby girl, Emmy, passed away yesterday' A 911 call obtained by TMZ revealed that Emeline was underwater for several minutes before she was pulled out of the neighbor's pool on Sunday. The Millers were right by their home in Coto de Caza, a gated community in California's upscale Orange County where their home is valued at $1.9million. A woman can be heard telling the person on the phone with the emergency dispatcher that the child was in the water 'a couple of minutes'. One bystander noted during the call that water kept coming out of Emeline as CPR was being performed, while the woman on the phone can be heard saying 'C'mon baby girl' multiple times. Although the woman who was performing CPR claims at one point during the call that she feels a faint pulse on the child, emergency workers said that they had no luck getting a pulse. A woman who allegedly defrauded $400,000 by falsely claiming to have cancer has since been accused of telling doctors she's suffering from Bell's Palsy. Kelly Val Smith is scheduled to stand trial later this year on a total of 36 fraud and deception charges relating to alleged incidents that occurred between September 2007 and February 2015. Ms Smiths friends and family have alleged that they provided the 39-year-old with almost $400,000 after she claimed she was suffering from cancer. Now, a judge has revoked the Port Adelaide woman's bail and ordered that she be arrested after she attended Royal Adelaide Hospital on Tuesday night and subsequently failed to make her court date on Wednesday, The Advertiser reports. Kelly Val Smith (pictured) is scheduled to stand trial later this year on a total of 36 fraud and deception charges after she allegedly defrauded $400,000 by falsely claiming to have cancer A court heard that the 39-year-old attended Royal Adelaide Hospital on Tuesday night claiming she'd developed Bell's Palsy, a type of facial paralysis that prevents the victim from being able to control their facial muscles Prosecutor Michelle Roberts-Thomson said Ms Smith told doctors she'd developed Bell's Palsy, a type of facial paralysis that prevents the victim from being able to control the facial muscles on one or both sides of their face. Other symptoms include facial tingling, memory problems and a sense of clumsiness. 'She went to the RAH at 2.30pm and was discharged at 6.30pm, with the recommendation she go home, take a Panadol for a headache and see her doctor,' Ms Roberts-Thomson said. 'Certainly no hospital admission occurred, and there's no information provided by medical practitioners to suggest anything other than psychosomatic (symptoms) or stress. She was reportedly discharged from the emergency room and told to 'go home, take a Panadol for a headache and see her doctor' Judge Steven Milsteed declared he was 'satisfied that the defendant is feigning illness' and issued a warrant for Ms Smith's arrest 'She did not present with Bell's Palsy.' Judge Steven Milsteed declared he was 'satisfied that the defendant is feigning illness' and issued a warrant for her arrest. 'A key consideration in my decision to revoke bail is that I'm satisfied she has continued to offend,' he said. The damning figures come after the Parole Board controversially ordered the release of sex attacker John Worboys (pictured) Rapists let back out onto the streets carried out five sex assaults every month, it has been revealed. Crime figures show that 61 convicted sex attackers struck again in 2016 having been released from prison for similar offences, meaning that re-offending soared to its highest rate in a decade. Of those, 30 had been previously jailed for two or more sex assaults, while the other 30 had committed a single attack in the past. The Sun reported that a further 179 attackers had one or more minor sex offences on their criminal record. The damning figures come after the Parole Board controversially ordered the release of sex attacker John Worboys, before the decision was reversed amid public outcry. Worboys, who now goes under the name John Radford, was jailed indefinitely in 2009 for at least eight years after being found guilty of 19 offences, including rape, sexual assault and drugging, committed against 12 victims. He became known as the black cab rapist after attacking victims in his hackney carriage. Police believe he committed crimes against 105 women between 2002 and 2008, when he was finally caught. EU statistics published in Decemeber revealed that England and Wales has the highest number of recorded rapes in Europe. Almost three times more rapes were recorded than in France, the country with the second highest number. Worboys (pictured arriving for his HIgh Court hearing into his potential release earlier this year) was jailed in 2009 for at least eight years after being found guilty of 19 offences Figures from Eurostat, the official statistics organisation of the EU, showed there were 35,700 rapes in England and Wales in 2015, compared with 12,900 in France. Meanwhile, there was just over 7,000 in Germany and 5,500 in Sweden. Overall about 215,000 violent sex crimes were recorded in the EU. Research this week showed that one in five British festival goers have experienced sexual assault or harassment at an event. Campaigners said the figures, believed to be the first of their kind, should be a wake-up call for the industry to start treating sexual violence as seriously as other crimes at festivals. The poll showed 22 per cent of all Britons who have been to a festival faced some kind of unwanted sexual behaviour, rising to almost one in three of women and almost half of women under 40. The most common forms of unwanted sexual behaviour experienced by respondents were unwelcome and forceful dancing and sexualised verbal harassment. The Ministry of Justice told MailOnline: 'Under this Government, more sex offenders are being convicted and spending longer behind bars. 'All sex offenders face tough restrictions on release, and anyone who commits a further offence can be brought straight back to prison.' Inmates at Yemeni prisons controlled by the United Arab Emirates are being subjected to horrific torture, rape and sexual abuse, according to detainees. Guards routinely rape detainees while filming the assaults, sexually violate them with steel poles, hang rocks from their testicles or subject them to electric shocks to the genitals, prisoners reveal. One detainee, who has been held at the Beir Ahmed prison in Aden, southern Yemen for two years without charge, has chronicled the shocking human rights abuse in drawings. One shows a naked man suspended from the ceiling while being tortured with electric shocks, another sees an inmate on the floor in a foetal position surrounded by dogs as guards kick him. There are also several graphic depictions of anal rape and sexual abuse in the drawings - made on plastic plates and smuggled out of the prison. Abuse: A drawing smuggled out of the Beir Ahmed prison in Yemen shows a detainee being abused by Emirati officers. The Arabic reads: 'This is how prisoners were forced to be naked' 'The worst thing about it is that I wish for death every day and I can't find it,' the artist said, summing up nearly two years in detention that started last year after he spoke against the Emiratis in public. Sexual violence is a primary tool aimed at brutalizing the detainees and extracting 'confessions,' the artist and six other detainees told the Associated Press. Witnesses said Yemeni guards working under the direction of officers from the UAE - a top U.S. ally - use various methods of sexual torture and humiliation on a regular rotation. Beatings on Saturdays, torture on Sundays, and a break on Mondays. Then the same routine again the following three days, before solitary confinement on Fridays. 'They strip you naked, then tie your hands to a steel pole from the right and the left so you are spread open in front of them. Then sodomizing starts,' said one 46-year-old man who has been in detention for more than two years and who, like other detainees, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Torture: This photo depicts an inmate at an Emirati prison receiving electric shock to his genital, the caption reading: 'hanging in the air, electrocuted' Shocking: This drawing depicts prisoners being sodomised, sexually harassed and the abuse being filmed by the guards on mobile phones. The Arabic sentence reads: 'A rough drawing for sexual harassment or torture by the coalition, with the excuse of searching (detainees) while filming and posting' Potential evidence: The drawing on the left reads 'forcing against the wall,' and on the right, the Arabic reads: 'with water after beating', depicting an inmate being forced into what appears to be a barrel A former security chief who was involved in torturing to extract confessions told the AP that rape is used as a way to force detainees to cooperate with the Emiratis in spying. 'In some cases, they rape the detainee, film him while raping, use it as a way to force him to work for them,' he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of concerns for his safety. The official has since defected from the Emirates and fled the country. The UAE's secret prisons and widespread torture were exposed by an AP investigation last June. The AP has since identified at least five prisons where security forces use sexual torture to brutalize and break inmates. During Yemen's three-year civil war, UAE forces purportedly fighting on behalf of the Yemen government have overtaken wide swaths of territory in southern Yemen and have swept up hundreds of men into a network of at least 18 hidden prisons on suspicion of being al-Qaida militants. The prisoners are held without charges or trials. Alleged abuse: Another drawing shows a man being held down at gunpoint on the right while a 'terrorist' is seen on the left, and 'Anti-terrorism,' 'Innocent citizen,' and 'Real terrorism behind their back, they don't look at' written on it in Arabic American officials confirmed last year that the U.S. has interrogated some detainees at the secret prisons run by the UAE. The Pentagon has insisted that it had no knowledge of human rights abuses, though obtaining intelligence extracted by torture would violate international law. The AP first asked the Pentagon about grave rights abuses committed by the UAE, its partner, one year ago. But despite well-documented reports of UAE involvement in torture by the AP, human rights groups and even the United Nations, Marine Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the U.S. has seen no evidence of detainee abuse in Yemen. 'U.S. forces are required to report credible allegations of detainee abuse,' he said. 'We have received no credible allegations that would substantiate the allegations put forth in your line of question/story.' Taken: This drawing shows prisoners being transported in a pickup truck to an Emirati-run prison in Yemen. The Arabic reads: 'This is how they transport the prisoners from and to the coalition. Blindfolded and handcuffed in the back of a Land Cruiser pickup in large numbers as if they are animals and under gunpoint' Documentation: The Arabic on this drawing reads: 'naked after beating' On May 24, the House of Representatives voted to require Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to investigate the scope of U.S. involvement in UAE black sites. The Defense Department has to submit a report within 120 days to Congress. Of five prisons where the AP found sexual torture, four are in Aden, according to three Yemeni security and military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared revealing such details could endanger their lives. One is at the Buriqa base in Aden - the headquarters for the Emirati forces and where American officers were seen along with Colombian mercenaries, according to two prisoners and two security officials. Inside, prisoners said that American personnel in uniform weren't directly involved but were aware of the torture - either by hearing the screams or seeing the marks. 'Americans use Emiratis as gloves to do their dirty work,' said one senior security official at the Riyan prison in Mukalla who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. The war began in 2015, after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels took over much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, before descending southward, prompting the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition to wage an all-out assault against the Houthis in support of the legitimate Yemeni government. But after forcing the Houthis out of southern Yemen, the UAE has taken the lead. 'In the prisons, they are committing the most brutal crimes,' said a top Yemeni commander currently in Riyadh, referring to the Emiratis. 'Joining ISIS and al-Qaida became a way to take revenge for all the sexual abuses and sodomy,' he said, using an alternate acronym for IS and speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. 'The prisons, they are manufacturing ISIS.' Dr Jane Barton oversaw a regime of prescribing dangerous levels of opioid drugs which shortened up to 650 lives at a hospital in Hampshire between 1989 and 2000 The grieving families of up to 650 people whose lives were cut short in a hospital where patients were given huge doses of painkilling opioids have demanded criminal prosecutions over the scandal. A damning report published today revealed 'a disregard for human life' at Gosport War Memorial hospital in Hampshire and 'a culture of shortening the lives of a large number of patients'. At least 450 people were found to have died prematurely between 1989 and 2000, the inquiry found, with an extra 200 probably affected before medical records went missing. The inquiry focused at the actions of Dr Jane Barton, dubbed 'Dr Opiate', who oversaw the dishing out of the powerful painkillers. She has since retired. The report, which follows a four-year investigation, also slammed hospital management, police, prosecutors and medical watchdogs over their failure to protect patients. Speaking after the report was published, Anne Cunningham, whose husband Arthur died at the hospital, said: 'These people did not deserve to be put down like a dog. These people lived their lives only for someone at the end to decide to play God and put an end to them.' Bridget Reeves, whose grandmother Elsie Devine died in the hospital, stood before a group of grieving families and said: 'Our vulnerable relatives were stripped of their final words to their loved ones, silenced by overdoses. 'These horrifying, shameful, unforgivable actions need to be disclosed in a criminal court for a jury to decide.' Families of the elderly patients who died at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital have said they will not stop fighting until those responsible have been brought to justice in a court of law A damning report revealed the lives of more than 450 people had been shortened by the prescribing and administering of opioids without medical justification at the hospital Families of those who died in the hospital hug today after their 20-year fight for justice Cindy Grant, whose father Stan Carby died at the hospital, added: 'We are hoping criminal charges should be brought against not just those in charge but those who administered the drugs as well.' The inquiry panel found there was 'an institutionalised regime of prescribing and administering dangerous doses' which were not needed and relatives who complained were 'consistently let down by those in authority - both individuals and institutions'. There have been calls for a fresh police investigation into retired GP Dr Barton, who families accuse of being responsible for the deaths of their elderly relatives, but it remains unclear whether there is enough evidence to bring a case. The inquiry did not assess criminal liability, but concluded: 'The relevant public authorities will want to consider the action that now needs to be taken to further investigate what happened at the hospital.' Police said they will assess any new information, adding: 'It is already apparent from our early reading of the 370 pages that in its deliberations, the Panel has had sight of information that has not previously been seen by Hampshire Constabulary.' A CPS said it will 'take any appropriate steps as required'. The 700,000 house Dr Barton shares with former Royal Navy Commodore husband Tim stood empty today. Neighbours suggested the couple have gone to Spain. Cindy Grant, whose father Stan Carby died at the hospital, said of her: 'I heard she was abroad but I didn't expect she would have been here to face the music. We had a feeling she would be out of the country.' A relative of one of those who died wept as families told how they were let down by the NHS, medical watchdogs and coroners Speaking on behalf of patients' families, Bridget Reeves, whose grandmother died in the hospital said they had been let down by every government body and quango involved Delivering his report, Bishop James Jones, who led the inquiry, said Dr Barton was responsible for the practice of prescribing drugs which prevailed on the wards Police to review new evidence after families' call for charges Hampshire police chief Olivia Pinkney A police chief has vowed to consider 'next steps' following today's damning report. Families of those who died in Gosport have called for those responsible to face criminal charges over their actions. Olivia Pinkney, chief constable of Hampshire Police, said: 'Hampshire Constabulary carried out three police investigations between 1998 and 2006. 'This involved detailed professional assessment by a number of independent medical experts and the evidence was presented to the Crown Prosecution Service and Treasury counsel, which concluded that the evidential test for prosecution as set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors was not met. 'Now that the report has been published and shared with us, we will take the time to read its findings carefully. 'We will assess any new information contained within the report in conjunction with our partners in health and the Crown Prosecution Service in order to decide the next steps.' Advertisement Giving a statement outside Portsmouth Cathedral today, Bishop James Jones, who headed the inquiry, said: 'The documents seen by the panel show that for a 12 year period a clinical assistant, Dr Barton, was responsible for the practice of prescribing which prevailed on the wards. 'Although the consultants were not involved directly in treating patients on the wards, the medical records show that they were aware of how drugs were prescribed and administered but did not intervene to stop the practice. 'Nurses had a responsibility to challenge prescribing where it was not in the interests of the patient. 'The records show that the nurses did not discharge that responsibility and continued to administer the drugs prescribed.' The Rt Rev Jones said there had been 'lots of tears' and 'grieving' when families were presented with the findings of the report on Wednesday morning. He told a press conference the report did not explore why the practice of prescribing may have taken place at the hospital. 'Questions about motive are beyond the terms of reference for the panel, but those are questions that will need to be prosecuted,' he said. Kate Blackwell QC, who served on the panel, said: 'One family member... said that in fact for her, this was the beginning. 'Twenty years or so too late but eventually, they were being recognised and the fault of the hospital was being recognised. 'And they were confident that today's report is the start of the process that should have taken place a long time ago.' Edna Purnell, 91, died at the hospital in 1998. Her son was threatened with arrest when he tried to feed her Bridget Reeves accuses Barton of being responsible for the death of her grandmother Elsie Devine (pictured) who died at Gosport in 1999 aged 88, weighing just seven stone What did the Gosport inquiry find? Here are the key findings of the Gosport Independent Panel: - A pattern of opioid prescribing appears to have started in 1989 and ended in 2000. Nurses first raised concerns in 1991 but the warnings were 'unheeded'. - Evidence was found of opioid use 'without appropriate clinical indication' in 456 patients. - Taking into account missing records, at least another 200 patients were 'probably' also affected. - There was a 'disregard for human life and a culture of shortening the lives of a large number of patients'. - There was an 'institutionalised regime' of prescribing and administering 'dangerous doses' of drugs without medical justification. - Over a 12-year period, clinical assistant Dr Jane Barton, was responsible for prescribing. - Nurses had the responsibility to challenge prescribing, but continued to administer the drugs. - Consultants were not involved in treating patients, but were aware of how drugs were being prescribed and 'did not intervene to stop the practice'. - Patients and relatives were 'powerless' in their relationship with professional staff. - When relatives complained about the safety of patients and appropriateness of their care they were 'consistently let down' by individuals and authorities. - The senior management of the hospital, healthcare organisations, Hampshire Police, local politicians, the coronial system, the Crown Prosecution Service, the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council 'all failed to act in ways that would have better protected patients and relatives'. Advertisement Theresa May apologised over the length of time it had taken families to get answers. The deaths have already led to four police and Crown Prosecution Service probes, a General Medical Council hearing, various Health Service inquires and a special 'death audit' to find out why so many elderly patients died. But all have failed to result in any criminal prosecution of anyone involved. It means families have been battling for two decades for answers. When asked about the forthcoming report at her Georgian townhouse in Alverstoke, Gosport, this week, Dr Barton said: 'I don't know what will be in the report, but I don't think it will be very pleasant. I've never spoken to the Press about what happened and I don't plan to now.' Caroline Dinenage, Conservative MP for Gosport, today said the report was 'so much worse' than anticipated and called for action. She told the BBC: 'Everybody needs to look at this document and go through it with a fine toothcomb as there are so many unanswered questions,' she said. 'The Crown Prosecution Service needs to look at it, Hampshire Police needs to look at it and the Government needs to look at it, not just the Department of Health, but the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice. 'There are so many unanswered questions here and the families have waited so many years, and their questions deserve to be answered. ' Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the deaths at Gosport hospital represented 'a shameful episode in our nation's recent history'. Mr Ashworth told MPs that it was 'unforgivable' that patients expecting rehabilitation were 'put on a terminal care pathway'. He added: 'Why did families who had lost loved ones have to take on such a burden, have to take on such a toll, to demand answers? 'It's clear that the concerns of families were too often, too readily dismissed, treated as irritants. It's shameful, no family should be put through that.' Mr Ashworth asked Mr Hunt to spell out how change could be implemented to ensure incidents such as this could never happen again. Stephanie Prior, head of medical negligence at law firm Osbornes, said the Government must answer the questions posed by family members. She said: 'The utter disregard shown for human life is what is truly shocking, and the inquiry findings are scant comfort to the families of those who died. 'Concerns were first raised by nursing staff back as early as 1988, yet no investigation was initiated for nearly 10 years. The scandal is that everyone may walk away from this without anyone being held responsible. Worse for the families is that the time limit for bringing medical negligence cases to seek compensation has long passed.' The death of Arthur 'Brian' Cunningham (pictured), was a 'monstrous cover-up', his stepson has said Gladys Richards (left) was admitted to recover from a hip operation and was prescribed morphine before her abrupt death. The MP for her area, Stephen Lloyd, has said says he will lobby in Parliament for charges to be brought in the case Prime Minister apologises to families as Health Secretary calls for action Prime Minister Theresa May has described events at Gosport War Memorial Hospital as 'deeply troubling' and apologised to families over the time it took to get answers. Mrs May told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions: 'The events at Gosport Memorial Hospital were tragic, they are deeply troubling and they brought unimaginable heartache to the families concerned. 'But they are a matter of which we should be concerned across this house.' She said that politicians needed to address the issue of public sector bodies 'closing ranks', adding: 'I'm sorry that it took so long for the families to get the answers from the NHS.' Jeremy Hunt told MPs that 'any further action by the relevant criminal justice and health authorities must be thorough, transparent and independent', and suggested that Hampshire Constabulary should consider whether another force should be brought in. Mr Hunt told MPs: 'The police, working with the CPS and clinicians as necessary, will now carefully examine the new material in the report before determining their next steps and in particular whether criminal charges should now be brought. 'In my own mind I am clear that any further action by the relevant criminal justice and health authorities must be thorough, transparent and independent of any organisation that may have an institutional vested interest in the outcome. 'For that reason, Hampshire Constabulary will want to consider carefully whether further police investigations should be undertaken by another police force.' Advertisement Health secretary Mr Hunt said that the 'culture is changing in the NHS', but added: 'I don't by any means think that we are there and I think that we will uncover from this a number of things that we're still not getting right.' Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd, whose constituent Gladys Richards died in 1998 after she was transferred to the Gosport War Memorial Hospital, has previously vowed to lobby for charges. The family of Stan Carby, a former naval officer - who was just 65 when he died within 24 hours of being admitted for rehabilitation following a series of mini-strokes - called for a full probe into Dr Barton's actions. Speaking earlier this week, his daughter Cindy Grant, said: 'The police never conducted a proper investigation into our allegations and it is time they looked at bringing criminal proceedings against those responsible. I think they ought to immediately look again at the case of Dr Jane Barton under whose care so many died.' Enid Spurgeon, then 92, was admitted to Gosport hospital after falling and fracturing her hip in March 1999. She was admitted to Haslar Hospital where the doctors operated on her before being sent to Gosport for rehabilitation. But her family immediately had concerns for her welfare and she died after apparently being given powerful painkillers. Nephew, Carl Jewell, said before the report: 'Obviously something should happen and people should be held accountable.' The inquiry published today is the latest probe into treatment at the hospital. A 'death audit' report published in 2013 concluded that 'a practice of almost routine use of opiates before death' was in place during Dr Barton's tenure. The GMC investigation, completed in 2009, eight years after she was referred for a fitness to practise panel, found Dr Barton guilty of 'serious professional misconduct'. It heard she had a 'brusque, unfriendly and indifferent' manner and found her use of painkillers on the elderly ward was 'excessive, inappropriate and potentially hazardous'. She also displayed 'intransigence and a worrying lack of insight' and a 'failure to recognise the limits of her professional competence'. She was banned from prescribing injectable opiates or providing palliative care but was not struck off. What could 'Dr Opiate' potentially be charged with? Medical manslaughter/ gross negligence manslaughter A GP who gives a fatal dose of drugs to a patient can be charged with manslaughter. It is distinguished from murder by finding the absence of 'malice aforethought', roughly translated as an intention to kill. There are three levels to cross the threshold for criminal manslaughter, according to Mr Robert Wheeler, director, department of clinical law at University Hospital Southampton. They are: (i) the defendant must have breached their duty of care by virtue of their negligence (ii) that the negligence must have caused death (iii) that the negligence complained of must amount to 'gross negligence'. The latter threshold would only be made out if the jury decides as follows: 'Having regard to the risk of death involved, [was] the conduct of the defendant so bad in the circumstances as to amount [in the jury's mind] to a criminal act or omission?' Sentencing: From absolute discharge to life in prison No charge Alternatively, the doctor could face no charge if no wrongdoing is found and there is no case to answer. Advertisement Ex-naval officer Robert Wilson (left), was admitted with a broken shoulder. He allegedly told his son 'Help me son, they are killing me'. Geoffrey Packman (right) died, aged 66, nine days after being put in the care of Dr Barton. His family have challenged why he was given 'end of the line' treatment In 2010, after reviewing the GMC findings and evidence heard at inquests into the deaths of ten patients, the CPS concluded 'the evidence is insufficient to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for an offence of gross negligence manslaughter... in respect of each of the ten deaths reviewed'. Dr Barton has twice been interviewed by police under caution over the 'potential homicide' of ten patients, but never charged. She refused to answer some questions put to her, according to a Hampshire police report. Oxford-educated GP, 69, with influential friends and a Navy husband was able to retire on a healthy NHS By Guy Adams for The Daily Mail Dr Jane Barton is the focus of a report published today which found up to 650 patients had their lives cut short after they were given large doses of painkillers on wards she ran From the moment of her birth, Jane Ann Barton was earmarked for special treatment by the medical establishment that would one day close ranks to protect her. When the future 'Dr Opiate' came into the world, in October 1948, the year the NHS was founded, her proud parents chose to place a birth announcement not in The Times, but instead in the hallowed pages of the British Medical Journal. The daughter of a Sussex GP called John Bulstrode and his wife, Jacqueline, she grew up in an extended family peppered with eminent physicians and scientists, before fulfilling her preordained role by completing a medical degree at Oxford. Among contemporaries at the university's medical school was her younger brother Christopher Bulstrode, a dashing individual who would variously become an Emeritus Professor at Oxford, a trauma surgeon for British troops and a doctor on Antarctic expeditions, earning a CBE in the process. Christopher, it later emerged, was by co-incidence serving on the council of the GMC during the early 2000s when his sister was being investigated, though he took no part in the probes. But we digress. Barton's career may not have been quite as glamorous as her exotic sibling's, but it was nonetheless a model of middle-class respectability. After qualifying as a doctor she married Timothy Barton, a Royal Navy Commodore, and followed her father into general practice, becoming a partner at the busy Forton Medical Centre in Gosport, Hampshire. The couple had two children (at least one is believed to work in medicine), and lived in an imposing 700,000 Georgian townhouse, with a large garden, a conservatory, and, in recent years, three smart cars parked on its gravel driveway. During their free time they indulged passions for running the local club awards a 'Jane Barton Plate' for most improved female runner and bird-watching, and moved in a smart social circle which included Peter Viggers the longstanding local MP. 'He was in there for rehab - not to DIE': How father, 65, who had a mini stroke was dead less than 30 hours after arriving at hospital after Dr Opiate 'told his family to 'let nature take its course'' Stan Carby's family said he wasn't in pain Former naval officer Stan Carby was just 65 when he was sent to the hospital for rehabilitation following a series of mini-strokes. A large man, his weight ruled out being looked after at home and he was admitted to Daedalus ward at lunchtime on 26 April 1999. His daughter Debbie Mackay, 54, a secretary from Gosport, said: 'Generally his health was okay and he wasn't in any pain and he was on nothing stronger than aspirin. 'He was there for rehab so we hoped they'd be able to get him back on his feet but the following day they told us he had taken a turn for the worse.' She said the family was devastated when they found him lying clammy and unresponsive on the ward. They lifted him up to help him breathe and found a tube in his back - later identified as a morphine syringe driver. The doctors told the family they were letting 'nature take its course' and he died 24 hours after he was admitted for rehab. Mrs Mackay said: 'It can't be right for a man who was admitted to a hospital for rehab to die the following day. We knew something wasn't right from the start. It has been a constant battle to have our concerns taken seriously.' Mr Carby's daughters Cindy Grant and Debbie McKay His widow, Rita Carby, fought tirelessly along with her daughter Cindy Grant, 44, and Debbie Mckay, 54, for justice but sadly she died in 2007 and will never see the results of the inquiry. His daughter Cindy Grant, 44 , a cook, said: 'It's really upsetting my mum hasn't been here to see this day but we are convinced the people who were responsible for this will be held to account. 'I heard she was abroad but I didn't expect she would have been here to face the music. We had a feeling she would be out of the country. Let's hope she gets to hear what has happened today. She said: 'We are hoping criminal charges should be brought against not just those in charge but those who administered the drugs as well.' Debbie McKay said: 'It has been a long, long road to get to this point and it was a mixture of relief and emotion to hear what the Bishop said.' Arthur 'Brian' Cunningham only went in to hospital over his bedsores Arthur 'Brian' Cunningham, 79, who suffered from Parkinson's Disease was admitted to Gosport War Memorial Hospital on 21 September 1998 suffering from bed sores. A combination of medical problems meant he could be cantankerous. On his first night Mr Cunningham, who was also known as Arthur, became agitated so staff at the hospital gave him diamorphine to help quieten him down. The next day his step-son, Charles Farthing, was told by nurses the drugs had been prescribed so he would remain calm. However diamorphine was then increased four-fold over the following days and he died five days after being admitted, Mr Farthing said that when he heard his step-father had been admitted her travelled to Gosport to visit him. He said: 'At that point a man, maybe a porter or cleaner, said to me: 'That's the death ward,' which seemed stupid because Brian was nowhere near death, but I didn't think too much of it.' He said his step-father was attached to a syringe driver for regular morphine and midazolam a strong sedative and was unconscious. He said: 'He out of this world and I thought straight away they must be killing him, because my mum had been given a syringe driver just before she died of cancer in 1989.' He said he demanded the driver be removed by Dr Barton refused and he died just five days after being admitted. Mr Farthing said: 'I'd like to see some action. Barton was utterly reckless in her prescribing, utterly reckless. She gave the nurses free licence to deal with these patients as they wished.' His wife Anne said: 'These people did not deserve to be put down like a dog, because that is what happened. These people lived their lives only for someone at the end to decide to play God and put an end to them.' Elsie Devine Elsie Devine, 88, been admitted to the small community hospital when her daughter Ann, with whom Elsie lived, had to go to London. She initially kept busy and wrote to family and friends but died a month later after suffering what her family say was a kidney infection. Relatives say she was 'given enough drugs to lay out a six-foot violent man'. In a formal complaint to doctors' watchdog the General Medical Council, her daughter Ann said: 'On November 18 1999, my mother was administered with a 25mcg fentanyl patch that was only licensed that year to be used for 'chronic intractable pain due to cancer'.' Fentanyl is a powerful painkiller which is up to 100 times more potent than morphine. The following morning, the complaint continues, 'she was then injected with 50mg of chlorpromazine [a sedative used to treat paranoia and agitation], double the dose for a normal adult and far higher than what should be used on the frail elderly. 'Fifty-five minutes later, our mum was started on a syringe driver with 40mg of midazolam, another strong sedative, pumping directly into her body. A further 40mg of diamorphine [a painkiller] was added, which is four times the recommended dose.' Gladys Richards died in hospital in 1998 Gladys Richards was admitted to Gosport War Memorial Hospital in August 1998 for rehabilitation after a hip operation. But her family became extremely concerned that very strong painkiller and sedative doses were being given to their mother even though she wasn't in pain. Mrs Richards died in the hospital days later, aged 91. Daughter Gillian Mackenzie then became one of the first to raise concerns about the 'care' patients were receiving at the hospital. Mrs Mackenzie, now 85, said: 'She wasn't in any pain at all but they tried to give her diamorphine while we were there. 'I think they wanted to keep her heavily sedated so they didn't have to look after her. It was less work for the nurses.' She said she was told by nurse manager Philip Beed: 'I am going to make her life easier by giving her a shot of diamorphine.' But she added: 'I said 'No you will not. You are not going to give my mother diamorphine'.' However Mrs Richards was later sedated and given pain killers on a continuous basis and died five days later. Jean Stevens and her husband Ernest Jean Stevens had entered Gosport War Memorial Hospital for rehab after a stroke at the age of 73. She was 'bright as a button' when she entered the now notorious Daedalus Ward in 1999. Yet she was quickly put on a cocktail of painkillers and sedatives and within two days was dead. Her husband Ernest has been waiting for the truth about her death for nearly twenty years. The Second World War veteran, now 92, said: 'We had been planning a party for when she came home. 'But the next day I went in and she was just laid out. I asked a nurse what the matter with her was and she just said: 'I can't really tell you'. 'They had put her on a [drugs] pump straight away and she only opened her eyes once after that, just before she died. I truly believe my wife had quite a lot of time to go before she was put on those drugs.' Robert Wilson begged his son to help him Robert Wilson, 74, went into hospital for rehabilitation after a fractured shoulder. But he soon became concerned over the amount of drugs he was being given. He begged his son Iain for help a day after being admitted with a broken arm, saying doctors were killing him. His son told an inquest in 2009: 'I said, 'no they are not dad, they are trying to do their best for you'. The following day he was in a coma.' His son said he nearly got ejected from the hospital when he questioned his father's treatment, but now wishes he had done more to get him out. Advertisement Viggers, who stepped down in 2010 after being caught spending 1,645 of parliamentary expenses on a 'floating duck island' for his pond was, by further happy coincidence, of great help to Barton during the period when the appalling opioid scandal slowly escalated. Indeed, over the course of almost a decade, the MP repeatedly used his position to question the need for further inquiries into the mysterious deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital. Perhaps understandably, he was heavily criticised in yesterday's damning report. But, again, we digress. These days, Barton is, at 69, enjoying the eighth year of a genteel retirement, financed by a fat NHS pension which presumably helps fund regular holidays with her husband to Australia, where one of her children is thought to live, and Majorca, where she is believed to own a holiday home. As the media descended on their home yesterday, neighbours claimed that the couple had hot-footed it to the latter destination. When they are in Gosport, the Bartons are often to be seen pottering to the nearby shorefront, from where you can look across the Solent to the Isle of Wight, equipped with binoculars and expensive camera equipment to photograph the local wildlife. Thanks to Timothy's former career, both are also members of the Royal Naval Birdwatching Society. In 2015 they even contributed an article to the society's newsletter after joining a costly expedition to the remote Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, east of Australia, to study the local flora and fauna. In a short essay the duo were critical of a 'frightening eradication programme' being used by local conservationists to control invasive species which are thought to be harming the small island's indigenous wildlife. But what of the 'frightening eradication scheme' closer to home? The one which Dr Opiate oversaw at the War Memorial Hospital over the course of 12 deadly years? By all accounts an inveterate workaholic, with a somewhat cold bedside manner, she decided from 1988 until 2000 to add to her extensive workload as a GP by taking on the now-notorious role there as clinical assistant in the 'Department of Medicine for Elderly People'. Under Barton, her wards, Dryad and Daedalus, became informally known to staff as 'the end of the line.' A GMC tribunal was told how her daily schedule involved ward rounds starting at 7.30am, followed by a full shift at her GP's practice, before an evening round back at the hospital. She was also on call every other weekend and on regular week nights. Evidently unable, or unwilling, to properly fulfil her arduous responsibilities, Barton presided over a deadly system of 'pre-emptive prescribing,' allowing nurses on the wards to increase the amount of painkillers being used without the need for her consent. As we now know, she would communicate to staff in a sort of grim code, scribbling 'please make comfortable' on to the medical notes of incoming patients who would then be given huge doses of opioids, often via a device called a 'syringe driver,' which would pump drugs constantly into their system. Under this regime, hundreds perished, including many elderly men and women who had been admitted with relatively minor conditions. Barton signed off 833 of their death certificates, keeping sparse and in many cases incomplete notes detailing their care. There is no suggestion this conduct amounted to murder (critics argue she was instead criminally negligent, though the Crown Prosecution Service has on multiple occasions declined to press charges). However her treatment of the relatives of patients was at times insufferably cruel. Alan Lavender, whose mother Elsie was admitted to Daedalus at 83 with a broken neck, told an inquest how he'd asked Barton when she was likely to be discharged, since arrangements had to be made to take care of her cat. 'You can get rid of the cat,' came the reply. 'Don't you know your mother has come here to die?' Lavender declared himself 'shocked' by the 'cold way the news had been broken to me'. Another grieving relative, Bridget Devine, whose 88-year-old grandmother Elsie died under Barton's care, has branded her a 'monster'. Since the scandal began to unravel in the late 1990s, Barton responded to growing anger over her conduct with a cold dismissiveness that borders on arrogance. While grieving relatives have spent 20 years seeking answers about deaths of loved ones, they say she has largely refused to respond to their inquiries. Her only extensive public statement, issued through the Medical Defence Union, claimed she was 'faced with an excessive and increasing burden in trying to care for patients' at the hospital, and added: 'Throughout my career I have tried to do my very best for all my patients and have had only their interests and wellbeing at heart.' When she's been interviewed by police under caution over 'potential homicide' she has responded in similarly cynical fashion 'through provision of prepared statements' and refusing to answer questions. When the Mail knocked on her door last week, she reacted with the same brand of inscrutability, saying: 'I don't know what will be in the report, but I don't think it will be very pleasant. I've never spoken to the Press about what happened and I don't plan to now.' Husband Timothy, for his part, has lambasted the media for seeking to 'find a new Harold Shipman'. She is no Harold Shipman. But the more we find out about this ghastly scandal, and the manner in which it was covered up, the more appropriate those Shipman comparisons become. Police, prosecutors and health bosses slammed for failing to protect patients as worried families were dismissed as 'troublemakers' The families of patients were dismissed as 'troublemakers' and their concerns were brushed over, a report has found. Nurses first warned about the practice of prescribing and administering opioids on the ward in 1991 but were not listened to, the Gosport Independent Panel said. When families began voicing their own concerns in 1998, organisations were more concerned with protecting their reputation than dealing with the allegations, it added. But documents reviewed by the panel show no evidence of 'collusion or conspiracy' to cover-up the failures. It should have been clear to authorities that something was awry Gosport War Memorial Hospital, today's report found Hospital management, healthcare watchdogs, Hampshire Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service were among the organisations highlighted in the report for failing 'to act in ways that would have better protected patients and relatives'. One document examined by the panel showed that within a week of meeting two relatives, a detective wrote: 'I have no idea why these two sisters are so out to stir trouble.' 'Instead of listening to the families objectively, the documents speak of a tendency to dismiss them as troublemakers,' the report said. The panel found multiple organisations had 'failed to identify the nature of the underlying problem' or deal with it. 'The documents show that following a complaint to the Trust in 1998 and the police investigation, it should have become clear to local NHS organisations that there was a serious problem with services at the hospital,' it said. 'Although the successive police investigations undoubtedly complicated the NHS response, it is nevertheless remarkable that at no stage was there a public admission of failure or any public apology. 'Nor was there proportionate clinical investigation into what had happened. 'On the contrary, the documents show numerous instances of defensiveness and denial - to families, to the public and the media, and to health service and other organisations.' The Gosport Independent Panel deliver their report on the scandal in Portsmouth today In the years following, many NHS organisations and the Department of Health 'had knowledge of at least part of the picture', the report said. It added: 'Despite this, the documents make clear that no external organisation was able to intervene effectively to find out what had happened, to ensure that corrective action was taken, and to give answers that the families and the public should have had many years ago.' The panel concluded that the documents 'do not contain evidence' of 'a conspiracy between organisations to ensure that the views of the families were consistently frustrated'. Instead it said: 'The underlying explanation is the tendency of individuals in organisations, when faced with serious allegations, to handle them in a way that limits the impact on the organisation and its perceived reputation.' Alarm bells: How a series of reports exposed patients' dire treatment There have been a series of investigations into Dr Jane Barton's work at the hospital 2009 Inquest In 2009, an inquest ruled that high doses of powerful painkillers and sedatives contributed to the deaths of five patients at Gosport War Memorial Hospital between 1996 and 1999. It found three patients, Robert Wilson, 74, Elsie Devine, 88, and Geoffrey Packman, 67, died after being prescribed 'inappropriate' medication. A further two, Elsie Lavender, 83, and Arthur Cunningham, 79, were given drugs that contributed to their deaths, although the pills were appropriate for their condition, Portsmouth Coroner's Court ruled. General Medical Council A GMC investigation, completed in 2009, eight years after Dr Barton was referred for a fitness to practice panel, found her guilty of 'serious professional misconduct'. It heard she had a 'brusque, unfriendly and indifferent' manner and found her use of painkillers on the elderly ward was 'excessive, inappropriate and potentially hazardous'. She also displayed 'intransigence and a worrying lack of insight' and a 'failure to recognise the limits of her professional competence'. Dr Barton was banned from prescribing injectable opiates or providing palliative care but was not struck off. She later retired. Baker 'death audit' A review into deaths at the hospital, led by Professor Richard Baker, was commissioned in 2003 but could not be published in full until 2013, while inquests were held and due to a police investigation. The professor concluded that at Gosport Memorial there was an 'almost routine' use of opiates and a 'remarkably high' proportion of dead patients had received them. Prof Baker said that Dr Barton may not have originated this practice but she, and other medical staff, continued it after she started working at the hospital as a part time clinical assistant in 1988. Worryingly, his death audit said the frequent use of such drugs and sedatives may 'almost certainly' have shortened the lives' of some patients who might otherwise have been discharged. The phrase, 'Please make comfortable' found in many medical notes, became a euphemism for starting the patient on strong painkillers. Advertisement A Southern California mother suspected of shackling and starving her 13 children broke down in tears in court on Wednesday while listening to a 911 call made by her 17-year-old daughter reporting abuse. Louise Turpin and her husband, David, appeared for a preliminary hearing in Superior Court in Riverside, where a judge weighed whether prosecutors have gathered enough evidence to take the notorious case to trial. The couple, who were arrested last winter, have pleaded not guilty to torture, child abuse and other charges. They are being held on $12million bail each. House of horrors parents: Louise and David Turpin attended a preliminary hearing Wednesday to determine whether prosecutors have gathered enough evidence to take their case to trial Louise was seen wiping her eyes (not pictured) while listening to a 911 call her 17-year-old daughter made after escaping their Perris, California, home in January Claws: Both the husband and wife appeared in court on Wednesday with exceedingly long fingernails (left and right) What's so funny? David Turpin had a smile on his face during the hearing in Riverside. He has gotten a shorter haircut behind bars The Turpins are accused of torturing, starving and chaining up their 13 children (pictured) Despite wiping tears during part of the hearing, she seemed to smile talking to her attorney at other times Louise wiped away tears as prosecutors played a recording of the 911 call from their 17-year-old daughter, who escaped the family's Perris, California, home on January 14. The girl said on the 20-minute call that she managed to get away and asks that authorities help her young sisters. 'They will wake up at night and they will start crying and they wanted me to call somebody,' she said of her chained siblings. 'I wanted to call yall so yall can help my sisters.' She also told the operator her parents are abusive. 'I havent finished first grade and Im 17,' the teen said. 'Sometimes I wake up and I can't breathe because of how dirty the house is. We never take baths.' Authorities said the Turpin home reeked of human waste, and the evidence of starvation was obvious, with the oldest of 13 siblings weighing just 82lbs. The children were chained to their beds as punishment, beaten for minor transgressions, denied food and toys and allowed to do little except write in journals, prosecutors have said. They said the children were isolated from each other and locked in different rooms in small groups. They did not have access to televisions or radios but expressed themselves in the hundreds of journals that investigators seized from the home. Authorities said the Turpin home in Perris (pictured) reeked of human waste, and the evidence of their children's starvation was obvious Most of the Turpin children were homeschooled, but one of the older boys was allowed to attend classes at Mt San Jacinto Community College. His mother would drive him there, stay outside in the hallway during the class and then take him back home as soon as the class ended, prosecutors said. After they were freed from the home, the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29, were immediately hospitalized and eventually released. Prosecutors said the abuse was so prolonged the children's growth was stunted. The current whereabouts of the children is unknown. A spokeswoman for the county's social services department declined to discuss the case. Jack Osborn, an attorney appointed to represent the couple's seven adult children, said earlier this year they were 'doing well.' After they were freed from the home, the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29 (pictured at their parents' vow renewal ceremony), were immediately hospitalized They have participated in music therapy programs, made crafts and world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma held a special concert for them. They communicated with their younger siblings over Skype. 'They're happy, they are wanting to move forward, they do not want to dwell on the past and they want their identity to be now and going forward the things they hope to do, the dreams they have. They do not want people to think of them only as a possible victim, but as young adults setting off on their lives,' he told the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper in February. Prosecutors were expected to call law enforcement officers to testify at Wednesday's hearing, but the children are not expected to take the stand. David Turpin's attorney, David Macher, said he was 'looking forward to the hearing," but declined to comment further. A couple allegedly filmed themselves having sex with their four-year-old daughter before selling the child porn for $70 in Australia. The man, 29, and woman, 30, who are believed to be cousins, allegedly made the footage in their native Ukraine. They repeatedly abused the child in this way from the age of two, it is claimed. A couple allegedly filmed themselves having sex with their four-year-old daughter before selling the child porn for $70 in Australia. Pictured: The mother and daughter The father (left), 29, and mother, 30, filmed themselves having sex with their child, say law enforcement in Ukraine Police footage showed the couple being detained, as well as the seizure of videos, pictures and sex toys. A tip from Australian police led to a major police operation in Ukraine and the arrest of the unnamed couple. According to TSN channel in Ukraine, eagle-eyed Australian investigators spotted a bar code in one of the videos where the four-year-old girl was filmed in explicit sex scenes with her parents. This bar code related to a chain of shops in the Poltova region of Ukraine. 'The Australians kept pushing their Ukrainian colleagues (urging them to) search more because new videos with some unknown little child were repeatedly being uploaded from the same source,' reported Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. The Ukrainians initially had problems in locating the couple. One police source in Ukraine branded the couple 'pure evil', while a senior officer described them as 'beasts'. It is not known if any Australian clients were nabbed downloading the footage. This image shows the victim being taken to the hospital by ambulance, accompanied by an investigator The couple were selling the videos 'to Australia and Asia for cryptocurrency,' said one report. The cost was the equivalent of between $70 and $140, said Ukrainian police. The couple were eventually found to have moved from Poltovo to Kryvyi Rih, a city in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, and they routinely moved every three months. In police footage, the man was quizzed by police moments after they were raided last week. The woman hugged her daughter on the bed in their flat in Kryvyi Rih. The girl was later shown being led away by a paramedic to an ambulance to undergo hospital checks. The couple were selling the videos 'to Australia and Asia for cryptocurrency,' said one report She has been taken into care and has been sent to a rehabilitation centre in Poltova. The parents are being held in detention for two months pending further investigations. A trial is expected. Lawyer Ekaterina Malykhina said the girl was distressed. 'She was in a bad way, she was lost, she did not talk to anybody,' she said. 'Now she is talking to children, she made some friends and trusts them.' Reports say the girl will never be returned to her parents. She may be placed into a foster family. The couple face up to 12 years in jail if convicted. In police footage, the man was quizzed by police moments after they were raided last week Vyacheslav Abroskin, deputy head of Ukraine's national police force, said: 'Having seen what this woman did to her daughter, it is impossible to call her a mother. 'I cannot give you all the details of what this creature did to the child. 'In my opinion, this woman cannot be cured.' Abroskin said: 'When we heard for the first time about the four-year-old girl being exploited by her parents, I ordered the head of the local police department to stop all other work and investigate this as soon as possible... 'Those beasts have been arrested by police in Kryvyi Rih. There is very little that surprises me, but this is the ugliest possible crime, against a child. 'How could they do it to a dependent child?' There are suspicions that the couple were not acting alone and a search is on for an accomplice. The hunt is underway for a man who allegedly masturbated in front of a female commuter on a train. Detectives have released an image of a man who they wish to talk with, following the incident on a Melbourne train. The horrifying sexual offence took place on Friday May 25 around 6.40am while travelling between Montmorency and Eltham. Police have released the image of a man (pictured) who they wish to speak with, following the incident where a man masturbated in front of a female commuter Following the disturbing incident, the female commuter fled the train and reported it to the police. The man boarded the Hurstbridge bound train, which departed from Flinders Street, at about 5.55am. Police urge anyone with information to come forward as their investigation continues. A Florida father and his girlfriend have been charged in the death of the man's six-year-old daughter. Larry Golden Jr., 26, and 21-year-old Breonna Wren were charged last week with first-degree murder and other counts, according to a Lakeland police news release. Golden called 911 the night of June 12, saying he went to check on his daughter Honesty in her bed and found her unresponsive. Paramedics rushed to the house where they found the girl passed out, lying on her back on the living room floor. Her body was covered in bruises and lacerations She was taken to a local hospital and subsequently airlifted to Tampa Hospital where she died two days later. Hospital staff determined Curry had severe skull damage, adult bite marks on her inner thigh, cuts on her throat and bruising all over her body. Larry Golden Jr., 26 (left), and his girlfriend Breonna Wren, 21 (right), are facing first-degree murder charges in the death of Golden's six-year-old daughter Honesty Curry Honesty (pictured) died last Thursday at Tampa Hospital - two days after she was found unresponsive at the couple's Lakeland apartment Her skull was 'crushed' so bad that one crack went from one ear, over her head, to the ear on the other side. One fracture penetrated the thickest area of her skull and nearly reached her brain stem. Golden and Wren initially said the injuries were accidents or self-inflicted. The first, they said, took place in a hallway. Wren said she believed Honesty hit her head on a closet door. Wren said the next injury took place an hour later, when she hit her forehead against a wall after being made to stand in a corner as punishment. Doctors later determined that she had bruises all over body, lacerations on her neck and serious cracks to her skull. Above, Golden's apartment building Honesty's father and his girlfriend initially denied abusing the girl. But Wren later said she spanked Honesty with a belt, and that she saw Golden hit the girl in the kitchen. The couple's apartment pictured above But Wren later admitted to striking the girl twice on the buttocks with a leather belt as punishment, and said her boyfriend also struck the girl with an unknown object in the kitchen, causing the girl to fall to the floor. Honestly's little sister told cops another story. She said that she was afraid of Wren and her father, and had seen Wren punch honesty in the face, stomach and eye. She went on to say that Wren was mean to Honesty but not her own two children. 'It should be noted that the two children sired by Wren and Golden had no injuries,' the arrest affidavit states. The four-year-old girl stated that her father had also told her to lie to cops, saying that Honesty caused the injuries herself. Cops got a search warrant and looked through the couple's apartment, finding traces of blood on a mop. Honesty's mother, Shatoya Curry, said her daughter complained about spending time with her dad, but said she never thought her children were at risk living with their father 'The search revealed significant evidence that the interior of the residence had been cleaned prior to first responders entering the apartment,' the affidavit states. 'This included wet floors, cleaning products including Clorox beach, damp childrens clothes balled up and hidden under blankets.' Honesty and her four-year-old sister had been living with her father and his girlfriend since May 25, when her mother dropped her and her younger sister off for the summer. After Honesty's death, her mother Shatoya Curry took back custody of her other daughter. Golden and Wren, who is about seven months pregnant, had two children of their own, a one-year-old and a three-year-old, who are now in the custody of the Department of Children and Families. Curry told ABC Action News that Honesty complained about spending time with her dad, but that she never thought her children were at risk living with their father. A neighbor told the Ledger that Wren told friends that she didn't care for Honesty. The neighbor said that Wren showed little emotion as paramedics arrived on the scene on Tuesday. 'She was sitting there like nothing was wrong with her,' the anonymous neighbor said, 'like nothing was bothering her.' The neighbor also said that Honestly rarely left the house. The couple are being held without bond at the Polk County Jail on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse. A baby is in a serious condition in hospital after a man allegedly picked up the stroller it was in and tossed it into the air during a heated argument with a woman. A 21-year-old man was arrested following the incident in Hebersham, Western Sydney, shortly after 2.30pm Wednesday. Police were called to a home on Jersey Road after receiving reports of a domestic violence altercation between a man and a woman outside a home. A baby is in a serious condition in Westmead Children's Hospital after a man allegedly picked up the stroller it was in and tossed it into the air during an argument with a woman Officers were told during the argument a 21-year-old man picked up a stroller, which had a five-month-old baby inside, and threw it before leaving the scene. NSW Ambulance paramedics treated the baby at the scene before being taken to Westmead Children's Hospital with head injuries. Officers attached to Mount Druitt Police Area Command established a crimes scene and commenced an investigation. The 21-year-old man was arrested near Stevenage Road, and was taken to Mount Druitt Police Station. Theresa May won the crucial Brexit Bill vote in the Commons tonight after Tory rebels dramatically backed down. The Government won 319 to 303 to defeat a potentially explosive amendment that would have allowed the Commons to overrule the PM on a no deal Brexit. The victory came after rebel ringleader Dominic Grieve effectively caved in following hours of frantic negotiations with ministers. Mr Grieve was ridiculed as the new 'Grand Old Duke of York' after he gave up his rebellion with no major new concession - even admitting to shouts of 'shame' Mrs May had conceded nothing new today. The Government won 319 to 303 to defeat a potentially explosive amendment that would have allowed the Commons to overrule the PM on a no deal Brexit Theresa May (pictured at PMQs today) won the crucial Brexit Bill vote in the Commons tonight after Tory rebels dramatically backed down He said: 'Having finally obtained, with a little bit more difficulty than I would have wished, the obvious acknowledgment of the sovereignty of this place over the executive in black and white language, I am prepared to accept the government's difficulty and in the circumstances to accept the form of amendment it wants.' Mr Grieve - who has admitted in recent days he had lost sleep over the risk of collapsing the Government - called off his rebellion after accepting promises Parliament would get a proper say, whether there is a deal or not. The final offer was a fudge of Commons procedure and led to bewilderment on both sides - but crucially allowed the Government to win without a major new concession. To cries of 'shame' from the Labour benches, Mr Grieve even admitted that ministers had not given significant ground. He said he was settling for a broad assurance that the House will be able to make its view on a Brexit deal 'clear' - suggesting he had been worried about collapsing the government. Fellow rebel Stephen Hammond insisted there were enough concessions from ministers for both sides of the row to share the honours. The victory came after rebel ringleader Dominic Grieve (pictured in the Commons today) effectively caved in following hours of frantic negotiations with ministers Opening the Commons debate this afternoon, Brexit Secretary David Davis insisted the commitment gave MPs a say without risking 'a situation in which parliament can instruct the Government how to proceed' Labour MP Wes Streeting was scathing about Mr Grieve, suggesting he had marched the rebels to the top of the hill and then retreated The result will be a huge relief to the Prime Minister, who had warned that her whole Brexit strategy could be derailed if Mr Grieve's 'meaningful vote' amendment had been passed. What happens now the meaningful vote row is over? What happens now? The Brexit Bill will briefly return to the House of Lords tonight for what is expected to be the final time. Peers must agree to the changes made by MPs this afternoon. This will end 'ping pong' on the legislation - where it is passed back and forth between the House of Commons and House of Lords - after weeks of acrimony and allow it to be sent to the Queen and formally made law. What did the Government promise? Theresa May has agreed to demands that MPs and peers are given a vote if no deal is reached by 21 January next year. There will also be a vote if the Prime Minister wants to abandon talks because there is not a good deal on offer. Each vote will be held on a motion - the question put to MPs - stating only that MPs have considered the issue. Why did Dominic Grieve back down? The final fight was over whether MPs should be allowed to re-write the meaningful vote motion - a demand most of the Tory rebels, including ringleader Dominic Grieve gave up on today. They were reassured by the Government saying Commons Speaker John Bercow has the final say on whether a motion can be changed or not. Ministers also said they are powerless to stop MPs bringing their own motions that are critical of Brexit being put to MPs - even though these are not legally binding. What has John Bercow got to do with it? Rebels were furious last week when the Government compromise appeared to end their hopes of re-writing the meaningful vote motion. To reassure them today, ministers issued a statement reiterating the rules of the House of Commons that say ultimately only the Speaker makes that decision. In reality this is only a technical point as the Speaker is obliged to ban amendments on certain amendments. The meaningful vote motion has to be 'neutral', which falls into this category. Why did MPs and peers demand a meaningful vote? Tory rebels have fought for weeks to insist Parliament is sovereign and should be given a say if the negotiations fail. Dominic Grieve tabled his own amendment to the Brexit Bill enshrining this in law last week. But he was convinced to pull it at the eleventh hour after assurances by ministers that they would address his concerns. After claiming the Government reneged on its promises, he had another amendment today - but climbed down after new promises, insisting sovereignty of Parliament was now being recognised. Advertisement But Mr Grieve was lambasted by Europhile Labour MPs, with Wes Streeting jibing: 'Someone ring Prince Andrew: we've got a new Grand Old Duke of York.' His capitulation also tore the unity of Tory Remainer rebels to shreds. Just six chose to press ahead and vote for the amendment. They were Antoinette Sandbach, Phillip Lee, Sarah Wollaston, Anna Soubry, Ken Clarke and Heidi Allen. Ms Soubry made plain her frustration by tweeting the hashtag '#worldgonemad'. As wrangling intensified in the run-up to the bitterly contested vote, Whips were accused of deploying 'dark arts' to secure the win. Labour claimed the usual parliamentary etiquette of 'nodding through' ill MPs - rather than forcing them physically to pass through the division lobbies - had been suspended. Bradford MP Naz Shah was seen being wheeled through the Commons chamber as the vote was held, apparently with a paper sick bag on her lap. A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said: 'As I understand it there has been a refusal to pass through people who are not in a state to vote in the normal way. 'And that's obviously unacceptable.' Labour sources said a 'handful' of the party's MPs were affected by the Government crackdown. However, Government sources said 'genuine sickness' would always be accommodated. Mrs May's wafer thin working majority of just 13 meant she faced disaster if even a small number of her MPs switched sides on the amendment calling for a 'meaningful vote' before the UK crashes out of the bloc without a deal. At one point some 10 Tories were expected to rebel. In the event six supported the amendment - offset by four Labour MPs who defied Jeremy Corbyn to back the government. Several other Labour MPs abstained. Government sources had been increasingly confident they would squeak home, and the last minute assurances - albeit limited - seem to push them over the line. Mr Grieve did not formally withdraw his amendment, but said he would not support it. Remainer MPs still called a vote but from that moment they had little chance of success. In the end the victory margin of 16 was larger than the government's theoretical majority. Desperate negotiations have been underway all day as ministers and Remainers attempt to thrash out a compromise. In a statement circulated this afternoon, Brexit Secretary David Davis pointed to Commons Standing Orders that say it 'will be for the Speaker to determine whether a motion when it is introduced by the Government under the EU (Withdrawal) Bill is or is not in fact cast in neutral terms and hence whether the motion is or is not amendable'. 'The Government recognises that it is open for Ministers and members of the House of Commons to table motions on and debate matters of concern and that, as is the convention, parliamentary time will be provided for this,' it says. Brexit Secretary David Davis has circulated a letter (pictured) which was designed to buy off Conservative rebels Mr Davis urged MPs to accept that the Brexit Bill now had to complete its passage through the Houses of Parliament Home Affairs Committee chair Yvette Cooper expressed bewilderment at what had been agreed between the government and Mr Grieve The assurance immediately won over one prospective rebel, with Nicky Morgan saying: 'I welcome acknowledgment from the Government that House of Commons standing orders mean that it is the Speaker who determines whether a motion is expressed in neutral terms - on this basis Parliament's vote is meaningful - and I will support Govt Amendment in lieu.' Opening the Commons debate, Brexit Secretary David Davis insisted the commitment gave MPs a say without risking 'a situation in which parliament can instruct the government how to proceed'. The compromise fell short of the initial demands from rebels for MPs to get control of negotiations with Brussels. And it drew a bewildered response from even long-standing Parliamentarians. What is John Bercow's role in the deal with Tory rebels? Commons Speaker John Bercow today Tory rebels backed down after the Government insisted the Speaker John Bercow was ultimately in charge of whether the 'meaningful vote' can be amended. The potential rebellion today was over a Government amendment which said the 'meaningful vote' had to be a 'neutral motion'. Ministers relied on the rulebook of the House of Commons, called Standing Orders, to make their case. The rules say that 'neutral motions' cannot be amended, because they are a general statement - typically MPs have debated a topic. Crucially, the rules state the Speaker is who technically makes the final decision on what is and is not neutral. All sides accept this is a formality. Advertisement Home Affairs Committee chair Yvette Cooper said: 'Does anyone have a translation of this? What's the significance of 'in neutral terms'? If Govt puts down a 'take note' motion down does that mean it's officially 'neutral' and therefore cant be amended, even if it's taking note of something completely appalling?' Mr Grieve said after the vote that he had been motivated by saving the government. 'We've managed to reach a compromise without breaking the government and I think some people don't realise we were getting quite close to that,' he said. 'I completely respect the view of my colleagues who disagree, but if we can compromise we can achieve more.' Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg was clearly delighted by the outcome. 'It sends the prime minister to the negotiating table, and the Secretary of State, with a united House of Commons behind them,' he said. Earlier, Tory MP Phillip Lee, who resigned as a minister last week in order to vote against the Government, tried to shore up the rebellion. Asked how united the rebels were, he told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'We were always going to get the normal dark arts of Westminster taking place, fully expected, but my understanding is that the position taken by a number of colleagues is solid, which is why the Government is still in negotiations.' He added: 'I continue to be hopeful that the Government will accept our position but fundamentally this is not about the Government, this is about Parliament and - I would argue - this is about my country, this is about securing a Brexit deal which is good for my country in the longer term.' Mr Grieve also insisted overnight that Remainers were determined to hold the line. 'I don't think there's any peeling away happening at all. I have seen no evidence of that,' he told the Telegraph. Bradford MP Naz Shah (circled) was seen being wheeled through the Commons chamber as the vote was held, apparently with a paper sick bag on her lap But senior Labourbackbencher John Mann said he would be supporting the government and urged colleagues to follow suit. 'This amendment is dangerous and unacceptable,' he told The Times. 'It makes a no deal more likely and I would encourage Labour MPs in Leave areas not to be seduced by internal Tory battles. The Tory and Labour MPs who defied their own leaders Six Tories rebelled to back the 'meaningful vote' amendment: Antoinette Sandbach Phillip Lee Sarah Wollaston Anna Soubry Ken Clarke Heidi Allen Four Labour MPs rebelled to support the government against the motion: John Mann Graham Stringer Frank Field Kate Hoey Advertisement The latest phase of the fiery battle began last week when Mr Grieve brought forward an amendment to the Bill stating that MPs must be given a 'meaningful vote' on the final Brexit deal. Faced with a potentially devastating rebellion which would have dealt a major blow to her authority, Mrs May promised to make some of the changes rebels were demanding to the Bill. But Mr Grieve said he was left shocked when, at the eleventh hour, ministers reneged on the deal and said Parliament could only have a vote in 'neutral terms' on the deal - meaning MPs could not express any opinion on it. His rebel allies accused the government of 'sneaky' tactic and warned that the PM had shattered their trust in her. On Monday the Lords passed an amendment setting out the compromise deal Mr Grieve thought he had struck with Mrs May, forcing the Commons to consider it. The government is now expected to push the legislation straight back to the Upper House tonight and try to get it finalised. Defeat would have been extremely damaging for the PM but it is unclear whether it will have a real effect on Brexit. Rebels were adamant they did not want to bring down the government. Mrs May had insisted she could not sign up to anything that would 'bind the hands' of the UK in negotiations and strengthen the EU's position. Constitutional experts also said Mr Grieve's amendment undermined the separation between the role of the executive and that of Parliament. The House of Lords (pictured on Monday night) voted by a huge margin to back an amendment handing Parliament a say over negotiations if no deal is signed by late January next year Theresa May (pictured leaving Downing Street today) is facing a nail-biting vote on the government's flagship Brexit Bill later Sick MPs are wheeled into the Commons from HOSPITAL alongside a heavily pregnant woman for crunch Brexit vote as 'Tory whips refuse to allow them to be nodded through"' Two sick Labour MPs were made to turn up to the Commons in wheelchairs today for a crunch Commons vote after Tory whips allegedly stopped them being 'nodded through'. Naz Shah, the MP for Bradford West, was released from hospital and wheeled through the division lobbies clutching a sick bucket for the vote. While another Labour MP was also wheeled through to cast their ballot in a vote on whether Parliament should be given a 'meaningful vote' if no Brexit deal is done. Labour blamed Tory whips for making ill MPs physically turn up to vote rather than allowing them to be 'nodded through' in a more comfortable part of the estate. The Tories deny the claims. John Prescott, the ex deputy PM and Labour peer, accused Tory whips of an 'absolutely bloody shameful' display. Naz Shah, the MP for Bradford West (pictured in the wheelchair today) was released from hospital and wheeled through the division lobbies clutching a sick bucket for the vote. The former Labour deputy leader said party chefs should never force sick people to physically vote in the division lobbies Lord Prescott, the former deputy PM - tore into Tory whips for making the MPs physically troop through the division lobbies despite their ill health He said on Twitter: 'In all my years in Parliament - even in the 1970s - I have NEVER seen this. This is absolutely bloody shameful. 'I trust Labour MPs will be disgusted by these desperate and heartless Tory tactics, vote against the Government and back the meaningful vote.' He added: 'The Tory whips are forcing sick people to do this. Lower than vermin.' Ms Pidcock, the heavily pregnant Labour MP, also had to march through the division lobbies with her hundreds of colleagues. A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn confirmed the Government was obstructing sick MPs. He said: As I understand it there has been a refusal to pass through people who are not in a state to vote in the normal way. And thats obviously unacceptable. Meanwhile, heavily pregnant shadow minister Cat Smith, who is just days from her due date, had to miss the vote after she was taken to hospital after a 'scare' and has been advised not to travel. Ms Smith is one of three MPs on the Opposition benches who are in the latter stages of pregnancy. Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson also turned up to vote. Donald Trump has swapped White House photos of French President Emmanuel Macron for images of his groundbreaking summit with Kim Jong-un, it has emerged. Until recently, framed pictures of Macron's visit to Washington DC in April were hanging on the walls of the West Wing. But the images have since been exchanged to show the US President during his historic meeting with North Korean dictator Kim. Tweets by political journalists this week showed six pictures hanging on the wall at the top of a staircase in the West Wing. They show Trump shaking hands and signing an agreement with the Pyongyang tyrant. Donald Trump has swapped White House photos of French President Emmanuel Macron with images of his groundbreaking summit with Kim Jong-un (pictured), it has emerged Another shows US citizens returning home to America having been released from a North Korean jail. But in early May, another journalist's photo shows eight images of Macron's visit hanging in the same spot. Trump has described the meeting with Kim Jong-un in Singapore as a 'tremendous success' after the despot pledged to work toward denuclearization in exchange for U.S. security guarantees. The U.S. and South Korea suspended a major joint military exercise that was planned in August in what was seen as a major victory for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia. But while relations between the US and North Korea have thawed, America's ties with European allies have soured amid a row over tariffs. There was also an acrimonious end to the G7 summit in Canada earlier this month when Trump refused to sign a joint statement, leaving European leaders aghast at another diplomatic snub. The French love is still evident in the White House. Pictures of Trump and Macron still up in the West Wing, a week after the big visit. @EmmanuelMacron pic.twitter.com/emENEEUvuL Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) May 2, 2018 Until recently, framed pictures of Macron's visit to Washington DC in April were hanging on the walls of the West Wing. But the images have since been exchanged to show the US President during his historic meeting with North Korean dictator Kim No European leader has done more to worm their way into favour with Trump than French President Emmanuel Macron who flattered him as a guest of honour on the country's national day last July. During that trip and a reciprocal stay by Macron in Washington, there was endless back-slapping, as well as expressions of mutual admiration and a series of lengthy handshakes between the 'friends' that have become famous. But despite hard lobbying, the French leader failed to persuade Trump to stay in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and scrap proposed tariffs on European steel and aluminium. Macron has since faced criticism at home for getting too close to the ultra-nationalist American - and relations between them have publicly cooled in recent weeks. 'You can't help but state that Macron has invested endlessly with Trump, but it doesn't pay out,' French foreign affairs expert Dominique Moisi told Le Parisien newspaper. Donald Trump was filmed hugging a US flag as he soaked up applause following a speech in which he railed against illegal immigration. The President blasted Mexico for failing to stop migrants from reaching the border, said America has 'no border security', and repeated his claims that violent gangsters and drug dealers are being allowed into the country. He also attacked the Democrats for family separations at the US border, said legal loopholes are encouraging families to being children with them, and claimed smugglers are providing children to people who do not already have them. Donald Trump embraced a US flag after speaking a the Federation of Independent Businesses 75th anniversary gala in Washington on Thursday Trump bear-hugged the flag as the audience applauded a speech in which he railed against border security and blamed Democrats for family separations During his speech to the National Federation of Independent Business, Trump also attacked trade deals with Canada and the North American Free Trade Agreement Attendees at the National Federation of Independent Business applauded throughout his speech, before a lengthy final round of applause at the end. While being clapped off the stage, Trump walked over to an American flag sitting nearby before embracing it, to further applause. The move harks back to the 2016 campaign trail, when Trump hugged flags during a town hall event in New Hampshire and a rally in Florida. During his speech, Trump said: 'As a result of Democrat-supported loopholes in our federal laws, most illegal immigrant families and minors from Central America who arrive unlawfully at the border cannot be detained together or removed together, only released. 'Child smugglers exploit the loopholes, and they gain illegal entry into the United States, putting countless children in danger on the perilous trek to the United States. 'They come up through Mexico. Mexico does nothing for us. You hear it here: They do nothing for us. They could stop it. They have very, very strong laws. 'Try staying in Mexico for a couple of days. See how long that lasts. Okay?' Thousands of children arriving illegally at the US border have been separated from their parents under a 'zero tolerance' policy announced by the Trump administration in April The children are housed in shelters while their parents are prosecuted because the law forbids putting children in immigration detention for long period Democrats staged a protest against the policy on Capitol Hill on Tuesday night, as politicians from both sides of the aisle criticized Trump He added: 'We have no wall and we have no protection. The drugs that are coming in from Mexico and through the southern border is disgraceful.' Trump said that he'd be championing legislation to make sure that families that are flooding the border from Central America are not being separated as he lit into lawyers for migrants and judges he claimed are abusing the system. 'We want a great country. We want a country with heart,' Trump said. 'But when people come up, they have to know they're not going to get in. Otherwise it will never stop.' The president said he doesn't like that children are being separated from their legal guardians- even though it's a policy that was implemented by his administration. Demonstrations against family separation also took place across America on Tuesday, including in San Francisco (pictured) Activists also gathered in New York to attack Trump over his immigration policies Mike Pence also drew crowds of protesters as he attended a town hall event in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening 'We can't let people pour in. They've gotta go through the process,' he stated. 'And maybe it's politically correct or maybe it's not - we've gotta stop separation of the families.' Standing his ground, Trump said, 'But politically correct or not, we have to be a country that needs security, that needs safety, that has to be protected.' 'And remember, these countries that we give tremendous foreign aid to in many cases, they send these people up, and they're not sending their finest,' he claimed. 'Does that sound familiar? Remember, I made that speech and I was badly criticized....Turned out I was 100 percent right. That's why I got elected.' In April Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a 'zero tolerance' policy on illegal migration, pledging to prosecute everyone who tries to cross the border illegally without exception. That has resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents because minors can only be held in immigration detention for a short time. Trump has repeatedly argued that Democrats are ultimately to blame and encouraged them to sit down and hammer out a deal on border security. But that has led to allegations from both sides of the aisle that Trump is using traumatized children as political pawns. Bipartisan political groups, religious figures, and thousands of American demonstrators have demanded an immediate end to the policy. Belgians have hit back at John Cleese after he slammed an audience following a disappointing European show, saying they were 'lazy, fat, beer-sodden, pseudo-French b******s'. The actor made the stunning remarks on Twitter after wrapping up the last leg of his 35 city European tour on Sunday. The 78-year-old listed the best audiences then followed it up by saying: 'Worst: Lazy, fat, beer-sodden, pseudo-French Belgian b******s in Hasselt. 'Like reading Moby Dick to nomads.' But after an online backlash he added on Wednesday: 'An apology to the citizens of Hasselt. It was quite wrong of me to describe them as pseudo-French. They are, of course, pseudo-Dutch.' John Cleese has slammed Belgians as 'lazy, fat, beer-sodden, pseudo-French b******s', declaring that Hasselt's audience was the worst of his latest tour The commentary has drawn fire from some Belgians and citizens took to Twitter to call out Mr Cleese for his scathing insult. One wrote: 'You take that back. Lazy, fat beer-soden I don't care but pseudo-French is too far, even for a ''funny'' guy.' Luk said: 'A Cleese show in Hasslet is Dutch for Booking a hotel in Torquay.' Stijn chimed in: 'Good to hear we made an impression.' Another said: 'I'm from Belgium. So proud to be loathed by you.' And Thierry added: 'Well, Hasselt being in Flemish-speaking part of the country, I think they'll be quite upset at being called pseudo-French, considering how much effort they deployed in getting away from French language.' Mr Cleese made the comments after closing out his tour, The Last Time To See Me Before I Die. Among the best cities Mr Cleese said he performed at were 'Helsinki, Reykjavik, Bergen, Copenhagen, Zwolle, Hamburg, Cologne, Breda, Haarlem, Zurich, Frankfurt, Vienna and Zagreb.' Hasslet is near the border of the Netherlands and Germany, and about 60 miles east of Brussels. The spokeswoman of the arena where Mr Cleese performed at told the Mirror the venue was 'shocked by the tweet' and they 'absolutely don't recognise the characterisation at all'. The Ethias Arena spokeswoman added: 'Lazy, fat and beer-sodden? Those are really not our visitors. 'And it is certainly not that people from Hasselt and surroundings cannot behave themselves as opposed to those in other European cities.' Tom Bertels, whose company Live Comedy organised the show, said the venue was 'indeed sweaty and scorching hot in the auditorium which was more akin to a sauna'. Bertels added: 'But Cleese got two standing ovations. One time it was forced, but the other time spontaneous. It was certainly not a bad performance. 'Not that we are bothered too much by Cleese's tweet, we know very well from where it comes.' The actor made the remarks on Twitter after wrapping up the last leg of his 35 city European tour on Sunday Hasslet (pictured) is near the border of the Netherlands and Germany, and about 60 miles east of Brussels The Monty Python comic would often make fun of the Belgians with his comedy sketch group, with insults going as far back as 1973, where one comic called the people 'miserable fat Belgian b*******s.' But some Belgians found the jab amusing. One Twitter user wrote: 'As a true Belgian, I've always liked your legendary sense of humour ... I knew you are a fan of Belgian beer culture!' Mark said: 'I take this as a Compliment!' Kenny added: 'As a Belgian I can confirm that we love some Moby Dick. Oh and we are lazy, fat b*****s Definitely in Hasselt.' Three out of four Germans think Angela Merkel will fail to meet a deadline to find a Europe-wide solution over the migrant crisis, a survey has found. The German Chancellor is facing a race against the clock to save her political career after her coalition partners threatened to start turning away migrants who have already been registered in other EU states. Christian Social Union (CSU) party members gave Merkel two weeks to convince European powers to come up with a way of tackling the issue. But a survey has found that 74.7 per cent of Germans do not believe she will be able to reach a solution that will be acceptable to her CSU allies within a fortnight. It comes as Merkel took a swipe at tweets written by US President Donald Trump, who asserted that migrants were behind a surge in crime in Germany. Three out of four Germans think Angela Merkel (pictured) will fail to appease her coalition partners with a Europe-wide solution over the migrant crisis Merkel has taken a swipe at tweets written by US President Donald Trump (pictured), who asserted that migrants were behind a surge in crime in Germany Merkel has been given an ultimatum by her coalition partners to come up with a solution to the migrant crisis. Pictured: Rescuers cover the dead bodies of migrants found on the coast of Libya The Chancellor coolly rebuffed Trump by pointing to statistics that showed crime was in fact down. 'My answer is that the interior minister presented the crime statistics a short while ago and they speak for themselves,' Merkel told a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron when asked about a recent flurry of tweets from Trump. 'We are seeing a slight positive development. We must always do more to fight criminiality. But they were very encouraging numbers,' she added. Statistics published last month showed that overall crime fell 9.6 percent in Germany in 2017. A government-sponsored study published in January showed that violent crime had risen about 10 percent in 2015 and 2016, attributing more than 90 percent of the rise to young male asylum seekers. Merkel has faced opposition at home for a decision in 2015 to open Germany's borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants, mostly Middle Eastern asylum seekers who crossed by sea from Turkey to Greece and overland through the Balkans. That route has since been closed under a 2016 deal Turkey-EU deal. In a tweet on Monday, Trump said that the people of Germany were turning against their leadership because of loose migration policies. 'Crime is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture,' Trump said. Donald Trump has blamed migrants in Europe for what he described as a rise in crime in Germany The question of how many migrants the bloc can absorb came back to the fore strongly when last week Italy and Malta both turned back a rescue vessel carrying 630 refugees, which was eventually accepted by Spain. Pictured: A rescue ship arrives in Sicily on Tuesday Europe facing migrant 'catastrophe' to rival 2015 crisis, Austria warns Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has warned of a migrant 'catastrophe' similar to the 2015 crisis if Europe does not agree a common response. The 31-year-old leader also blamed Angela Merkel for forcing countries to reinstate border controls when she welcomed hundreds of thousands of migrants into the Germany three years ago. Refugees made their way across the continent in huge numbers in 2015 with many having already fled their homelands and made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching northern Europe. Kurz, warning of a repeat of those scenes, spoke out as he and his ministers held talks with counterparts from the German CSU party, which is currently locked in a battle over migration policy within the German Chancellor's coalition government. Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (pictured) has warned of a migrant 'catastrophe' similar to the 2015 crisis if Europe does not agree a common response 'We can't wait until we have a catastrophe like the one in 2015,' Kurz said, referring to the migrant crisis of 2015-16, which saw more than 150,000 people seek asylum in Austria, a country of 8.7 million. A row over migration policy in Germany between Merkel and her CSU interior minister Horst Seehofer has shaken the stability of the government in Berlin. Kurz insisted he didn't want to take sides in an 'internal German debate' but welcomed the fact that immigration was once again being discussed by EU leaders ahead of a summit later this month. 'If the discussion in Germany has an upside, it's that there's now a new dynamic on the European level, and that there's now a bigger chance that we finally see action in the EU,' Kurz said. Without naming Merkel he also aimed a shot across her bows by making clear what he thought were the results of her decision to welcome refugees to Germany in 2015. Refugees made their way across the continent in huge numbers in 2015 with many having already fled their homelands and made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching northern Europe Those who opened the borders in 2015 'are responsible for the fact that we have border controls between Austria and Bavaria, between Austria and Hungary, between Austria and Italy, and that the situation could get even worse', he said. Kurz, who hails from the centre-right People's Party (OeVP) went into coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) after an election last year in which both parties made a clampdown on immigration a central theme. Kurz was foreign minister under the previous government and often boasts of his actions to close the 'Balkan route' for migrants in 2016. The head of Bavaria's state government, Markus Soeder, emphasised that Munich and Vienna 'have a common conviction and position' on the issue. Kurz has said he intends to make migration a key theme when Austria takes up the EU's rotating presidency at the beginning of July and has been busy seeking allies for his stance. Last week he announced that Seehofer, Austria's interior minister Herbert Kickl and Italy's new interior minister Matteo Salvini - from the xenophobic Northern League - had formed an 'axis of the willing' to combat illegal immigration. On Thursday Kurz will go to Budapest to attend a meeting of leaders from the four central European Visegrad states - Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - who have traditionally supported hardline policies on migration. This afternoon, he said he hoped a weekend mini-summit would address an 'overdue' solution to the continent's issues with migration. Officials say Germany, France, Italy and Greece, among others, will attend Sunday's gathering in Brussels to look into finding European solutions to political clashes over migration. Kurz, whose country takes over the EU presidency July 1, said Wednesday that the gathering 'is not about German domestic politics, it's about a solution of the migration question that is long overdue.' Kurz said it will address questions such as 'how we protect the (EU) external borders, how do we prevent waving (migrants) through to central Europe.' Advertisement He followed that up with a tweet on Tuesday that said: 'Crime in Germany is up 10% plus (officials do not want to report these crimes) since migrants were accepted. Others countries are even worse. Be smart America!' European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said it was 'not the American president's role to speculate - as he did yesterday - that the German people would march towards the chancellery to remove Mrs Merkel.' 'Mr Trump may govern the USA, he doesn't govern Europe,' Juncker added. This weekend, a mini-summit is set to take place to address a solution to the continent's issues with migration. Officials say Germany, France, Italy and Greece, among others, will attend Sunday's gathering in Brussels to look into finding European solutions to political clashes over migration. Meanwhile, France and Germany yesterday pushed to return asylum seekers to the EU country where they arrived - as Merkel continued to face a coalition revolt over the migrant crisis. Macron said France and Germany are seeking deals with frontline states in Europe's migration crisis to return asylum seekers to the EU country where they were first registered, usually their point of arrival. 'France and Germany will ensure that those who are registered in a Schengen zone country can be taken back as quickly as possible to the country where they have been registered,' he said, vowing to achieve this through bilateral and multinational agreements. Greece and Italy will be the hardest hit by the plans - as Greece has seen a massive influx of migrants fleeing the Syrian war while Italy has become the main gateway for African migrants through Libya. Merkel faces a dangerous mutiny from her hardline Bavarian Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who has vowed to defy her and order police to shut German borders to most asylum seekers by early July if there is no EU accord Despite yesterday's developments, a majority of Germans still remain unconvinced that Merkel will be able to appease her coalition partners with a Europe-wide solution within two weeks, a survey of 5,038 found. The survey by pollster Civey for newspaper Die Welt, found just 18.1 percent said they trusted Merkel to deliver an agreement that was acceptable to her CSU partners within a fortnight. Horst Seehofer, CSU leader and Germany's interior minister, wants to turn away migrants who have already registered in other EU states but Merkel opposes any unilateral move to reverse her 2015 open-door policy and undermine her authority. Bavaria's CSU Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk he was optimistic that Merkel would secure bilateral agreements with other EU countries about returning migrants. Hardline ally in new attack against Merkel over eurozone budget Chancellor Angela Merkel's hardline allies have taken aim at her backing for a new eurozone budget, German media reported, opening up another front in their attack against her. Merkel's Bavarian sister party CSU had on Monday already given her an ultimatum to curb migrant arrivals or risk pitching Germany into a political crisis that could rattle Europe. But the CSU now also take issue with an agreement announced Tuesday by Germany's and France's leaders to set up a common budget for the eurozone which will fund investments in poorer member states. 'We were always very sceptical about a eurozone budget. Simply because it's a form of additional budget,' Bavaria's state premier leader Markus Soeder told Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Bavaria's state premier leader Markus Soeder said his party was 'always very sceptical about a eurozone budget' 'Is it separate from the German legislature? Does it mean that the fundamental stability of the euro will be challenged? All that must be clarified,' he said. Ahead of a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Linz on Wednesday, Soeder confirmed that his party will call a coalition panel to examine the issue. Germans are deeply opposed to any 'transfer union' that sees their taxes flowing to eurozone laggards. And Merkel herself had initially appeared lukewarm to the idea of a budget for the bloc. But she has since offered a key concession in backing French President Emmanuel Macron's call for such a fund. However, she said in a recent interview that the total sum should be at the low tens of billions range - far less than what Paris had hoped for. The CSU's attack on the eurozone reform proposal came in a week already marked by a deep rift between the Bavarian party and Merkel over her liberal refugee policy that allowed more than a million asylum seekers to enter Germany since 2015. Merkel's decision had proven divisive, and voters in September's elections handed her her poorest score ever and gave seats for the first time to the far-right anti-Islam AfD. Advertisement But he pointed to comments from Seehofer that preparations would be made in case Merkel was unsuccessful so the federal police could reject migrants who have registered elsewhere from the first week of July. 'This is necessary. We can no longer look on as this refugee tourism across Europe happens,' Herrmann said. He added that rejecting from July 1 migrants who have already registered in other EU countries would be legal: 'It's the existing law.' Volker Kauder, head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, warned Germany against taking unilateral action on refugee policy, telling broadcaster ZDF: 'I believe that in the end we can only solve the problem with our European neighbours and not by going it alone.' He expressed optimism that Merkel would manage to seal deals with European partner countries to take back refugees. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is likely to meet Merkel and other European leaders this week to discuss migration, he said on Wednesday. The question of how many migrants the bloc can absorb came back to the fore strongly when last week Italy and Malta both turned back a rescue vessel carrying 630 refugees, which was eventually accepted by Spain. The move sparked a clash between France and Italy as immigration also triggered a domestic crisis for Merkel, a leader already weakened by her decision in 2015 to keep open German borders to a mass influx of more than one million refugees. Today, a boat carrying nine migrants, including a minor, overturned while attempting to cross the Drina river from Serbia into Bosnia. Police said no one was injured in the accident early Wednesday near the eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik. Migrants trying to reach Western Europe have recently started passing through Bosnia to avoid other, more heavily guarded routes through the Balkans. Authorities in the war-ravaged country have struggled with the influx of more than 5,000 people this year from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Migrants come into Bosnia from Serbia or Montenegro. In Serbia, the government's refugee agency says that nearly 3,000 migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria are currently staying in the country's asylum centers. The report says one quarter of them are children. A heartbroken dog owner has learned that his beloved pooch, who had been missing for less than 24 hours, was euthanised without his permission or knowledge. Izzy the Maltese Terrier and her owner had been together for 17 years before she went missing on June 10 in Canberra. When he was unable to locate her, her owner, Drago Gvozdanovic took the necessary steps to register her as lost on the ACT Government's website and with the RSPCA, he told the ABC. Heartbroken dog owner's 17-year-old blind Maltese named Izzy is put down by a ranger just 24 hours after going missing despite being microchipped After a frantic 24 hour search, Gvozdanovic's sister got in contact with him to tell him that his precious pooch had been located. Unfortunately, in the time it took for him to call the vet who was entrusted with her care, Izzy had been euthanised. A ranger from Canberra's Domestic Animal Services had earlier ordered the dog to be put down immediately. This order was granted, despite DAS policy stating an impounded dog is legally required to be held for seven days, with dogs either re-homed, sold or euthanised after said period. 'I was clearly, at that moment, a bit shocked and quite angry and started asking 'who killed my dog and why?', Gvozdanovic said. He went on to say that it was unmistakable that she was a pet. She was micro-chipped and wearing a coat. Izzy was in poor health, she was blind, missing teeth and partially deaf due to old age. Izzy was in poor health, she was blind, missing teeth and partially deaf due to old age 'I'm not deluded in thinking she wasn't approaching that moment when I would have to make those decisions, but it wasn't on Sunday. She was still happy in my opinion,' he said. In defence of their decision, a spokesperson from ACT Government's city services directorate told news.com.au they did what they could for Izzy in the situation. 'The dog appeared to be in poor health, its coat was highly matted and it was found to be deaf and blind, with both eyes ruptured and needing significant treatment,' the spokesman said. Regardless, Mr Gvozdanovic believes by taking the correct and necessary steps, he at least had the right to be notified, and to have his opinion heard. 'Something has gone majorly wrong here. I hope this is a one off I hope animals aren't being killed at the convenience of the Government,' he said. The issue has since been raised with officials, who assured Gvozdanovic Izzy's death was being investigated. 'Sorry about what's happened... we're investigating this matter very seriously,' a spokesperson said. A Michigan college student has been jailed for falsely claiming that she was attacked and raped on campus. Mary Zolkowski, 21, admitted that she lied to police when she told them she had been raped by a stranger in the parking lot of Delta College in February last year. Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran sentenced Zolkowski to 45 days in jail, MLive reported. Mary Zolkowski has been jailed for 45 days with an additional 220 days deferred after making a false allegation of rape Zolkowski pleads guilty to making a false report of a felony in front of Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran on March 27 Zolkowski was also given additional deferred 220 days in jail, meaning she will only have to serve them if she violates probation. She avoided a possible four year jail term and $2000 fine after she pleaded guilty to making a false report of a felony, at a hearing in March. Her prison sentence came despite the judge indicating he would not impose jail time. At the time, Zolkowski told the court: 'I called Delta College and falsely reported the rape on their campus 'My mother made the initial call and I took the phone and continued to report.' Zolkowski said she had told her mother she had been raped while walking to her car. Zolkowski, 21, told a court in March that she lied to police when she told them she had been raped by a stranger in the parking lot of Delta College back in February last year When asked by the judge why she made the false claim, Zolkowski said she had been assaulted previously but not on Delta's campus and was ashamed of the circumstances. Zolkowski told the court that she was wrong to have brought Delta into it. She told authorities at the time that she only saw her attacker's hands and had 'kind of blacked out' during the incident. When police started investigating, Zolkowski refused a medical examination and her injuries didn't match up with her account. Authorities then started noticing discrepancies in her story during a lengthy investigation. Zolkowski had told authorities she had gone to the campus the following day to tell college staff she was dropping her studies because of the rape, but it was later found she had in fact dropped the courses before reporting the incident. Zolkowski had told police that she was attacked and raped in the parking lot at Delta College (above) in Michigan in February 2017 When confronted, Zolkowski then changed her story again saying she had been raped by an acquaintance. Police interviewed the man and records show that he said Zolkowski had previously told him she was trying to get her fees refunded by Delta. He also showed them text messages from Zolkowski in which she claimed she had been raped outside a Walmart store on February 22, the same night she claimed she was raped in Delta parking lot. Heathrow's runway plans were boosted today as Jeremy Corbyn condemned expansion - but said his MPs were free to back it. The Labour leadership declared that the proposals - finally signed off by Cabinet earlier this month - would damage the environment without benefiting the wider UK economy. However, rather than face a major rebellion by backbenchers who support the project Mr Corbyn has granted a free vote. The concession should guarantee that the third runway scheme is passed by the House of Commons on Monday, as the government and the SNP are both in favour. The Prime Minister has said the huge project at Heathrow (artisit's impression pictured) is part of the overhaul needed to ensure the UK can 'thrive' outside the EU Labour has declared that the Heathrow proposals would damage the environment without benefiting the wider UK economy. But Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at the Labour Live festival on Saturday) has given MPs a free vote to avoid a rebellion It will also ease the pressure on Boris Johnson and other senior Tories who have campaigned against expansion for many years. Conveniently, the Foreign Secretary is expected to be away on business when the vote takes place. Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said Labour's backing for expansion was conditional on four tests being met. The were increased aviation capacity, C02 reduction, minimised noise and shared benefits across the UK, and said none had been met. What are the alternatives to the expansion of Heathrow Airport? Here are some of the alternatives to expanding Heathrow Airport which have been put forward: Don't do anything: Some say Britain should stop fuelling endless airport growth. But critics warn that not increasing UK airport capacity will harm trade. Boris Island: One of the more eye-catching suggestions, Boris Johnson has suggested a floating airport built in the Thames Estuary should be built. This would mitigate issues of noise, air pollution and space would all be mitigated. It would also provide the chance to close Heathrow entirely - solving the problem of noisy flight paths that have plagued West London and allowing new development of the area. Expansion of Gatwick or Stansted: Fewer people live near Gatwick and Stansted airports meaning that airport development will be far less controversial. Combine Gatwick and Stansted into a super hub airport High speed rail links could join the two airports - providing a super hub that would eliminate the need for Heathrow to be London's main hub airport. Increase capacity at local airports: Regional airports elsewhere in the UK have more spare to build on. These could be expanded eliminating the need for a large hub airport. Advertisement The party said the plans do not guarantee that a third runway is deliverable, are not consistent climate change obligations and ministers have failed to set out clear targets for noise mitigation. It also warned that claims up to 15 per cent of all new routes be reserved for the domestic market could mean as little as 1 per cent in practice. Mr McDonald said: 'Labour has always argued that airport expansion must meet our four tests. 'After careful and rigorous consideration, we are clear that they have not been met. 'Heathrow expansion is incompatible with our environmental and climate change obligations and cannot be achieved without unacceptable impacts on local residents. 'The improved connectivity to the regions of the UK cannot be guaranteed and there are unanswered questions on the costs to the public purse and the deliverability of the project. 'We support vital investment in our country's transport infrastructure, but every investment must be tested on whether it provides real value for money and sustainability. 'A third runway at Heathrow fails this test.' Labour urged all parties to offer a free vote when the divisive plans go before MPs. But Theresa May is ordering her MPs to vote in favour, and has been told she has the backing of the SNP. The nationalists have been won over by promises of extra links to Scotland. John Stewart, chairman of anti-expansion group Hacan, welcomed Labour's stance, and said it created 'more uncertainty about how the vote will go'. He added: 'The fact that the main opposition party is not backing a third runway means greater risks for Heathrow's financial backers who are ploughing billions into a scheme that might be pulled by a future government.' A Heathrow spokesman said: 'We are disappointed that Labour have disregarded much of the evidence on how their four tests will be met by Heathrow expansion. 'The independent Airports Commission - after its 2.5 year, 20 million study - found Heathrow's plans for a north-west runway deliver on all fronts including carbon, noise, air quality and nationwide benefits. 'Despite the decision, we retain the support of trade unions and many backbench Labour MPs and will continue to engage constructively with the Labour Transport Team as we deliver a lasting legacy for future generations, fulfilling our commitments to the economy and the environment.' Boris Johnson (pictured at a UN conference in Switzerland this week) has campaigned against Heathrow expansion for many years. Conveniently, the Foreign Secretary is expected to be away on business when the vote takes place A businessman accused of sexually assaulting two women he met on a fetish website has had all rape charges against him dismissed. Liam Gordon Murphy, 42, known as 'The Wolf', arranged to have a sexual encounter with a 22-year-old woman he met on FetLife.com, at the Mecure Hotel in Kings Cross, Sydney. 'I want you to scare me,' the woman told Murphy, referring to a Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism (BDSM) act the pair had agreed to carry out, Daily Telegraph reported. Liam Gordon Murphy, 42, had all rape charges dismissed against him on Wednesday Dubbed as 'The Wolf', Murphy (pictured) arranged to meet a woman at a Sydney hotel to perform a BDSM act The pair met in August 2015 where Murphy wrapped a car jumper lead around the woman's neck and then shoved her head under water in a bath. A few moments later he whipped her back and bottom with the jumper leads as she lay face down on the bed, the publication reported. After the sexual encounter, the woman reported the incident to police. He was charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault inflicting actual bodily harm and one of assault occasioning actual bodily. He was later charged with the rape of a second woman he had met on the same website. On Wednesday, Murphy let out a huge sigh and hugged his lawyer after magistrate Christopher Hallburd dismissed him of all charges. The magistrate issued a non-publication order on his reasons for judgement following a committal hearing earlier this year. Outside court he compared his case to that of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet saying, 'I just think it's a real tragedy for everyone involved Romeo and Juliet right? All are punished,' Daily Telegraph reported. 'The Wolf' had published a book about what he claimed to be his sexual exploits. A description online for his book read: 'Sexual dominance is not a work of fiction, a paperback novel, or 50 shades of anything for me; it's my life. From a very young age, I felt an overwhelming, sometimes crippling urge to dominate girls and women. To take, to own, to push them until they show me who they really are. But that urge was countered by an equally powerful desire to protect and cherish them. Clothing giant Benetton has come under fire for using photographs of migrants being rescued in the Mediterranean in an advertising campaign. French charity SOS Mediterranee, who carried out the rescue of the migrants off the coast of Libya last week, expressed their shock at discovering that Benetton had been using their images. One of the images show SOS Mediterranee staff handing out life-vests to migrants in a dinghy, with the 'United Colors of Benetton'-logo added at the bottom. Shocking: This image depicts SOS Mediterranee's rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea last week, and has been used by Benetton as an advert, with their logo added at the bottom 'SOS Mediterranee fully dissociates itself from this campaign which displays a picture taken while our teams were rescuing people in distress at sea on June 9,' it said on Twitter Tuesday. The 'dignity of survivors must be respected at all times,' said SOS Mediterannee. 'The human tragedy at stake in the Mediterranean must never be used for any commercial purposes. SOS Mediterranee does not give its consent for any commercial use of its pictures.' Benetton published two publicity photographs on its Twitter account featuring migrants, one credited to SOS Mediterannee and another to the Italian news agency ANSA. A Benetton spokesperson declined to discuss the brand's reason for using the photos, and told MailOnline that they had bought the image from Kenny Karpov, the photographer of SOS Mediterranee. Critical: SOS Mediterranee expressed their shock at discovering that Benetton had been using the photos of the rescue mission, which saw some 630 people saved from the sea last week A ship operated by SOS Mediterannee, the Aquarius, rescued 630 migrants in the Mediterranean last week. The vessel was left stranded at sea for a week after Italy's populist government refused to allow the migrants to disembark. The migrants, among them scores of children, were eventually taken to Spain. Benetton - and Italian fashion brand - has been criticised in the past for its shock publicity campaigns. Campaigns showing an AIDS patient, a black woman breastfeeding a white child and even former pope Benedict kissing a senior Egyptian imam have all sparked controversy. It posted the largest loss in its history of 180million euros (158million) for 2017. Shadi Badawood is pictured arriving at Hull Crown Court to face sex offence charges A man with three wives beat and raped a woman who was 'looked down on' because she was not Saudi Arabian, a court has heard. Shadi Badawood, 36, is accused of verbally, physically and sexually abusing the woman in Hull while he was studying for a PhD in marketing at the city's university. Mr Badawood is on trial at Hull Crown Court and denies rape, controlling or coercive behaviour, and two allegations of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Prosecutor Charlotte Baines said the allegations came to light after a friend of the complainant saw Mr Badawood chasing her through a park while she was 'hysterical'. Police were called and Mr Badawood, from east Hull, was arrested, telling officers that the woman 'had a problem with Muslims'. The complainant was interviewed and said that because of her country of origin she was 'looked down on in terms of status compared to a Saudi Arabian national'. She claimed to have been raped by Mr Badawood when he tied her legs with a jacket belt so she could not move them. She also claimed that on another occasion, Mr Badawood hit her with a large water bottle because she would not give him her mobile phone. Miss Baines said: 'He grabbed her by her clothes and started shaking her and then started to strangle her with both hands while she was on her stomach. 'He was strangling her so hard she could not breathe.' Mr Badawood is then said to have told the woman he would 'not leave her alone unless he killed her or made her crazy'. That incident allegedly caused bruising and swelling to the complainant's throat and face, which another friend saw when her scarf slipped, the court heard. The complainant also told police Mr Badawood would 'call her dirty names, including calling her a daughter of a dog, a huge cultural insult to her', the court heard. Miss Baines said the woman once went to a doctor with bruising after twice being elbowed by Mr Badawood. 'She was crying and he showed no remorse as if it was normal behaviour and he had done nothing wrong,' the prosecutor said. The complainant said she had 'hurt herself on a door'. The doctor listened to her heart and found she had palpitations, the court heard. When Mr Badawood was interviewed by police, he denied any wrongdoing and suggested a friend of the complainant was behind the allegations. The trial continues and is expected to last between two and three weeks. General Mark Carleton-Smith will say the modern battlefield had expanded rapidly, and is 'no longer bound by the laws of physics.' (file pic) Britain must place 'big bets' on hi-tech warfare to protect the country from cyber attacks from states like Russia the new head of the Army will today warn. General Mark Carleton-Smith will say the modern battlefield has expanded rapidly, and is 'no longer bound by the laws of physics.' He will warn that there is a 'darkening geopolitical picture' enveloping the world. And he will call for military forces to be employed as part of a national response to a crisis far earlier than they have been in the past. The army chief will tell a war conference: 'War and victory are no longer helpful as a lens through which to consider the employment of military force. 'Success will depend on operating across multiple domains, jointly, cross-government and multi-nationally. 'Our ability to manoeuvre in the Information and Cyber domains is already being tested, and will increasingly influence how we will modernise, train and fight our armies into the future.' The new Chief of the General Staff will make the stark warning in his inaugural speech at the Land Warfare Conference at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). And he will warn that Britain can face 'existential threats' which 'occur at the speed of the internet'. He will add: 'We need a more proactive, threat-based approach to our capability planning, including placing some big bets on those technologies that we judge may offer exponential advantage because given the pace of the race, to fall behind today is to cede an almost unquantifiable advantage from which it might be impossible to recover.' The commander's words come as Britain and other Western countries are being targeted by potentially devastating cyber attacks by countries like Russia and criminal gangs either working with hostile states or flying solo. And there is growing alarm at the resurgent threat posed by Vladimir Putin's Russia. His stark warning comes amid growing alarm at the resurgent threat posed by Vladimir Putin's Russia (file pic) The Kremlin is believed to have been behind the attempted murder of ex spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury earlier this year. Relations between Moscow and Britain are at their worst since the Cold War after the Kremlin. Last year hospitals across Britain were paralysed after cyber hackers held the NHS to ransom in the Wannacry hacking attack. Operations were cancelled and patients were turned away as 45 NHS organisations and trusts and hundreds of GP surgeries were locked out of their computer systems. Toys R US is set to shut down all of its 44 Australian stores after racking up billions in debt. Some 700 employees will lose their jobs after administrators failed to find a buyer. All stock will be sold with the proceeds going towards paying workers' entitlements, along with the sale of assets. Customers can use gift cards in July 5 - but must spend double the price of the gift card, the chain said. Online orders will still be delivered if the item is in stock. Toys R US is set to shut down all of its 44 Australian stores after racking up billions in debt In March, Toys 'R' Us Australia went into voluntary administration months after the US and UK retail giant's collapse. Directors of the company resolved to appoint voluntary administrators McGrath Nicol after the withdrawal of the final bidder for the sale of the Australian business, a McGrathNicol spokesman said in a statement. It followed the announcement in March that Toys 'R' Us in the US was preparing to sell or close all its 885 stores after it was weighed down by billions of dollars in debt accumulated since it was bought by a real estate investor and two private equity firms in 2005. Administrators closed a quarter of the company's 100 UK stores by mid-March with plans to close the remaining stores by the end of April. Partners Jason Preston, Keith Crawford and Barry Kogan were appointed as the Australian retail giant's voluntary administrators. Online orders and lay-bys will be delivered or honoured where goods had been paid for in full and the stock was available. Toys 'R' Us announced in March it would sell or close all of its U.S and UK stores 'The administrators will continue to pay employees and expect that employee entitlements will be met either through a sale of the business, recoveries from the sale of stock, or through the Commonwealth Government's Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) Scheme,' the statement said. The retail chain filed for bankruptcy in the US in September and plunged into liquidation in the UK after failing to pay a AUD$26 million tax bill. Toys 'R' Us Australia posted a $7.7 million loss in the financial year to January 2017 and a $9 million loss the previous year. A financial report filed in 2016 warned that the future of the Australian arm of the business relied on the support of the U.S. company. 'Should the support be withdrawn or not continue, there is significant uncertainty whether the company or consolidated entity will be able to continue as going concerns,' the report read. In March, Toys 'R' Us announced that it was putting its famous mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe and Babies R Us trademark on the auction block to raise money to repay its creditors. Advertisement Urban explorers reveal hidden depths of an abandoned 1950s Soviet submarine left to rot in a dock for over a decade. Bob Thissen paddled out to the vessel earlier this year to take a peek inside the vessel built by the Russians during the cold war that now lies unwanted in Amsterdam waters. Inside the Foxtrot B80 submarine serves as a time-capsule, with its quarters and narrow crammed corridors preserved but rust ridden and dusty, from its long spate of inactivity. The 1950s built Foxtrot B80 submarine from the outside, where it was left to rot in a dock in Amsterdam, the Netherlands for over a decade With rusted pipes, the deteriorating insides of the submarine is far from the war vessel it once was in its prime The Foxtrot B80 submarine serves as a time-capsule, with its quarters and narrow crammed corridors preserved but rust ridden and dusty, from its long spate of inactivity One of the rooms inside the vessel still bears the infamous stars of Soviet Russia alongside gauges and more features Soviet stars are emblazoned in the missile rooms, instructions for control decks remain on the walls and even images of topless women tacked to one wall. Bob, from Heerlen, The Netherlands, said: 'I just took out my dinghy and paddled to the ship. It was wide open. Probably left this way so it would be closed again. 'It's a Russian submarine so it's cool to see the Russian language on the gauges. 'I think the two missile loading rooms were the best. I loved the stars painted on the tubes. 'It's cool overall because there is so much to see. Every inch is filled with gauges, pipes and other equipment which makes it also interesting to photograph. 'It's a submarine, so everything is crammed together. It's narrow, tight and the floor is very low. 'In such a submarine you have no privacy at all and there's no sunlight. I would get depressed if I had to be on board. 'It's also not a nice idea to think that you are constantly a target.' The Foxtrot was built as part of the Russian fleet in 1956, after being discarded it was temporarily used as a presentation space in 2002 and last accessible to the public three years after. Since then the unwanted submarine has remained in Amsterdam waters reportedly due to towing tariffs multiple owners have not paid. The unwanted submarine has remained in Amsterdam waters reportedly due to towing tariffs multiple owners have not paid Due to the Foxtrot's deteriorating state, the city has taken action to force the submarine out of its waters Bob says he has wanted to visit the location for eight years and recently filmed his exploration for his YouTube series Exploring the Unbeaten Path Soviet stars are emblazoned in the missile rooms, instructions for control decks remain on the walls and even images of topless women tacked to one wall The Foxtrot was built as part of the Russian fleet in 1956, after being discarded it was temporarily used as a presentation space in 2002 and last accessible to the public three years after Due to the Foxtrot's deteriorating state, the city has taken action to force the submarine out of its waters. Bob says he has wanted to visit the location for eight years and recently filmed his exploration for his YouTube series Exploring the Unbeaten Path. He said: 'The name is Foxtrot B80, it's a famous type of submarine, Dutch investors went to Russia to buy this submarine, thinking it was a B80, but in the end it turned out to be an older Zulu V class. 'It should have been towed away many years ago by a Turkish owner, but that didn't happen. Later it was bought by a Belgian company Marintec. 'The city Amsterdam wants it to be towed away from its waters. But nothing has happened yet.' The message from Exeter University's career advice service included a quote from Erwin Rommel (pictured) who led Hitler's war machine in North Africa A university has apologised after it sent out an email using a quote from a Nazi general to motivate staff and students. The message from Exeter University's career advice service featured a comment from Erwin Rommel, who led Hitler's war machine in North Africa. The quote from the German commander, known as the Desert Fox during the Second World War, read: 'One cannot permit unique opportunities to slip by for the sake of trifles.' A spokesman for the university, based in Devon, said it was a 'genuine error'. It said the staff member who selected the quote did not know who Rommel was. They said the information had been taken from a free to use website. 'This was a genuine error and in no way intentional, however we apologise unreservedly for any offence it may have caused, and have put additional processes in place to ensure this doesn't happen again.' It is not the first time the institution has been at the centre of controversy in recent months. In October last year students on a night out sparked outrage for wearing high visibility tabards plastered with controversial graffiti including 'I love rape' and 'F*** the Syrians.' And last month a number of students were expelled from the university over comments on a WhatsApp group branding people 'P***s', 'n*****s' and calling for a 'race war'. A spokesman for the university (pictured) said it was a 'genuine error and in no way intentional' ad said the staff member involved did not know who Rommel was Rommel, left, known as the Desert Fox, with other members of the German military in North Africa in 1942. After his death in 1944, Hitler ordered a state funeral and national day of mourning Messages sent by members of the Bracton law society also made positive references to slavery and gang rape while also calling for the society to become 'whites-only'. On one message they posted a picture of London Mayor Sadiq Khan posing at Spurs' White Hart Lane stadium in January this year with the messages 'I'm disgusted' and 'browns don't get it'. The WhatsApp exchanges in the 'dodgy blokes society' group were also packed with references to 'sending black people home', 'dirty Arabs' and claimed a stabbing on a fellow student 'should have gone further'. In a letter to students, university vice-chancellor Professor Sir Steve Smith condemned the 'unacceptable and bigoted' behaviour of some students. Last month a number of students were expelled from the university over comments on a WhatsApp group, including one of London Mayor Sadiq Khan with the messages 'I'm disgusted' and 'browns don't get it' He said: 'These are very severe consequences, which have not been reached lightly, but there is no place at our university for any type of racist, bigoted, abusive or harrassing behaviour. 'I would like to thank those staff and students that have spoken out and come forward to share their experiences.' A university spokesman did not reveal how many students have been expelled or suspended following the incidents in March. The decisions are subject to appeal. The law society said it had decided to remove those involved from the committee - and 'indefinitely ban all those involved from the society'. The Student's Guild said it has a 'zero tolerance' policy to racism. Actress Emma Thompson, whilst giving a speech at the University, said the leader of the BNP would 'love it here' after her adopted Rwandan son's experience on campus there. Rommel fought on the Western Front in the First World War and in 1939 was commander of Hitler's bodyguard battalion. After his death, Hitler ordered a state funeral and national day of mourning. A Dreamworld ride operator has revealed she was ordered by the amusement park's management not to talk to the police after the tragic accident. Four people were killed in October 2016 after the popular Gold Coast theme park water attraction malfunctioned during the ride. Junior ride operator Courtney Williams told an inquest on Wednesday that she 'felt pressure' from her senior park manager not to speak the authorities after four people were killed in the Thunder River Rapids Ride, ABC reported. A Dreamworld ride operator Courtney Williams was ordered by the amusement park's management not to talk to the police after the tragic accident Against their advice Ms Williams later gave her statement to the police. An inquest into the tragedy, which killed Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi, began this week in Queensland. Ms Williams told the inquest she only had about 'an hour and a half' of training prior to the starting the shift on the day of the tragedy. When she arrived for her shift, the junior operator was informed she was rostered as a level two operator. 'It was my first day, I wasn't confident operating the control panel,' Ms Williams said. Ms Williams, she did not have the 'sufficient raining on the part I now know I should have', the inquest heard. Four people, Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi, were killed in October 2016 after the Gold Coast theme park ride malfunctioned She was also one of two employees who was operating the ride when it malfunctioned and crashed. MS Williams was told by her trainer not to worry about how to use to the emergency stop button. She also said she never had any, first aid, CPR, rescue or emergency training at Dreamworld. An inquest heard two children, Ms Low's son Kieran (left) and Ms Goodchild's daughter Ebony (right), were strapped in the raft through entire ordeal before climbing out when it stopped Forensic crash investigator Senior Constable Steven Cornish, who has watched the footage about 1000 times, told Southport Coroners Court the children were not thrown from the raft, Gold Coast Bulletin reported. The investigator confirmed the two young children, Ms Low's son Kieran and Ms Goodchild's daughter Ebony, were strapped into the raft through the entire ordeal where they climbed out once the ride stopped. The people in the ride were strapped in by velcro belts, so they can be easily removed in case of emergency, but it is unknown how the children remained safe while the adults fell out. Mr Nemeth told the inquest on Tuesday he'd noticed the Dreamworld (pictured) raft carrying the guests on a collision course to a stricken raft following a water pump malfunction Main ride operator Peter Nemeth (pictured) will continue giving evidence to the inquest into the deaths where he revealed he pressed the emergency stop but 'two or three times' at time Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd said one day after the deaths the children's survival was 'by the providence of God', the publication reported. 'Seems from what I've seen, it's almost a miracle anyone came out of that,' he said. Main ride operator Peter Nemeth will continue giving evidence to the inquest into the deaths of when the inquest resumes at Southport. Mr Nemeth told the inquest on Tuesday he'd noticed the raft carrying the guests on a collision course to a stricken raft following a water pump malfunction. Despite pushing a button to stop the ride's conveyor 'two or three times', the attraction did not immediately shut down and the two rafts collided. The four victims were killed instantly after being thrown from a raft into conveyor mechanism (Ms Goodchild's husband David Turner left and Ms Low's husband Mathew Low right) Forensic crash investigator Senior Constable Steven Cornish (pictured) told Southport Coroners Court the children were not thrown from the raft which saved their lives Instead a police investigation revealed it took up to nine seconds for the ride (pictured) to stop after the emergency stop was activated The four victims were killed instantly after being thrown from the raft into the conveyor mechanism. Mr Nemeth, who said he was among the 'top 10' operators in the theme park, was unaware the button he pressed did not bring the conveyor to an immediate halt. Instead a police investigation revealed it took up to nine seconds for the ride to stop. 'I am surprised to learn that,' Mr Nemeth said. 'I assumed the conveyor stop button would stop the ride instantly.' The ride's water pump had failed twice already on the day of the tragedy and Mr Nemeth had been informed to shut down the ride if it happened again. The ride's water pump had failed twice already on the day of the tragedy (pictured) and Mr Nemeth had been informed to shut down the ride if it happened again He said he did not know that was a park policy until that day and had been operating other rides in the past where up to six malfunctions had happened and the ride continued to take guests. 'It was a regular occurrence,' he said, adding he had been working on the Thunder River Rapids ride a week before the tragedy when the pump had failed. Pope Francis has condemned Donald Trump for separating migrant families at the Mexican border and says 'populism' and 'creating psychosis' is not the answer to the world's immigration problems. The 81-year-old said he supported recent statements by U.S. Catholic bishops who called the separation of children from their parents 'contrary to our Catholic values' and 'immoral'. 'It's not easy, but populism is not the solution,' Francis said on Sunday night. The comments come amid an outcry over President Donald Trump's zero-tolerance immigration policy, in which U.S. authorities plan to criminally prosecute all immigrants caught crossing the Mexican border illegally, holding adults in jail while their children are sent to government shelters. The policy has been condemned abroad as videos emerged of youngsters held in concrete-floored enclosures and an audio of wailing children was widely shared online. Pope Francis (left) has condemned Donald Trump (right) for separating migrant families at the Mexican border and says 'populism' and 'creating psychosis' is not the answer to the world's immigration problems British Prime Minster Theresa May said images of migrant children being held in cages were 'deeply disturbing' and that she would press President Donald Trump on the issue. 'On what we have seen in the United States, pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing... this is wrong,' she told MPs. May said she would raise the issue with Trump when the pair meet in Britain next month. 'When we disagree with the United States we tell them so,' she told MPs. U.S. Catholic bishops have joined other religious leaders in the U.S. in condemning the policy. 'I am on the side of the bishops' conference,' the pope said, referring to two statements from U.S. bishops this month. 'Let it be clear that in these things, I respect (the position of) the bishops conference.' Francis' comments add to the pressure on Trump over immigration policy. The pope heads a church which has 1.3 billion members worldwide and is the largest Christian denomination in the United States. The president has strongly defended his administration's actions and cast blame for the family separations on Democrats. 'Democrats are the problem,' Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday. 'They dont care about crime and want illegal immigrants.' The U.S. crackdown chimes with a new political mood sweeping western Europe over the large numbers of migrants and asylum-seekers, most of them escaping conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. The comments come amid an outcry over Trump's immigration policy, in which U.S. authorities plan to prosecute all immigrants caught crossing the Mexican border illegally, holding adults in jail while their children are sent to government shelters. PIctured: A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border The pope said populists were 'creating psychosis' on the issue of immigration, even as ageing societies like Europe faced 'a great demographic winter' and needed more immigrants. Without immigration, he added, Europe 'will become empty.' In a rare, wide-ranging interview with Reuters, he spoke at length about immigration, a controversial issue in Europe as well as the United States. The populist Italian government has refused port access to non-government ships that have been rescuing asylum-seekers trying to cross to Italy from Africa in flimsy boats. One ship was forced to disembark more than 600 migrants in Spain at the weekend. Italy's interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who is also leader of the far-right-wing League party, has criticised the pope in the past, once saying the pontiff should take in migrants in the Vatican if he was so concerned about them. 'I believe that you cannot reject people who arrive. You have to receive them, help them, look after them, accompany them and then see where to put them, but throughout all of Europe,' Francis said. 'Some governments are working on it, and people have to be settled in the best possible way, but creating psychosis is not the cure,' he added. 'Populism does not resolve things. What resolves things is acceptance, study, prudence.' The 81-year-old said he supported recent statements by U.S. Catholic bishops who called the separation of children from their parents 'contrary to our Catholic values' and 'immoral' Francis also said he was saddened by Trump's decision last year to implement new restrictions on American travel and trade with Cuba. The move rolled back his predecessor President Barack Obama's opening to the island nation. That deal, which the Vatican helped broker, 'was a good step forward', the pope said. He also said Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris agreement to curb climate change caused him 'a bit of pain because the future of humanity is at stake'. The pope said he hoped Trump would re-think his position. The pope also said he was optimistic about talks that may lead to a historic agreement over the appointment of bishops in China, and said he may accept more bishops' resignations over a sexual abuse scandal in Chile. Reflecting at his Vatican residence on his five years as pope, he defended his leadership of the Roman Catholic Church against criticism by conservatives inside and outside the Church who say his interpretation of its teachings is too liberal. He also said he wanted to appoint more women to top positions in the Vatican administration. Since assuming the papacy in 2013, Francis has promoted a liberal interpretation of Catholic teachings at a time when politics in many parts of the West have shifted towards economic nationalism. He has faced internal opposition from conservative clergy who oppose his liberal interpretations, especially his approach to sexuality and showing mercy towards divorced Catholics. But the pope said he prayed for conservatives who sometimes said 'nasty things' about him. Defending his leadership, the 81-year-old Argentine pontiff said the future of the Catholic Church was 'on the street'. He said he wanted to appoint more women to head Vatican departments because they were better at resolving conflicts, though this should not lead to what he called 'masculinism in a skirt'. The pope said his health was good apart from leg pain related to a back condition. He reiterated comments first made shortly after his election that he may someday resign for reasons of health as his predecessor, Pope Benedict, did in 2013, but said: 'Right now, I am not even thinking about it.' Italy's interior minister, Matteo Salvini (pictured), who is also leader of the far-right-wing League party, has criticised the pope in the past, once saying the pontiff should take in migrants in the Vatican if he was so concerned about them Rejecting criticism that he is at risk of selling out Chinese Catholics loyal to the Vatican, Francis said talks to resolve a dispute over the appointment of bishops in China - an obstacle to resuming diplomatic ties - were 'at a good point'. The pope has accepted the resignations of three bishops in Chile over the sexual abuse scandal there and allegations that it was covered up. He said he could accept more resignations but did not say which bishop or bishops he had in mind. The pope also commented on internal criticism of his papacy by conservatives, led by American Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke. In 2016, Burke and three other cardinals issued a rare public challenge to Francis over some of his teachings in a major document on the family, accusing him of sowing disorientation and confusion on important moral issues. Francis said he had heard about the cardinals' letter criticising him 'from the newspapers ... a way of doing things that is, let's say, not ecclesial, but we all make mistakes'. He borrowed the analogy of a late Italian cardinal who likened the Church to a flowing river, with room for different views. 'We have to be respectful and tolerant, and if someone is in the river, let's move forward,' he said. He said reform of the Vatican administration, the Curia, was going well 'but we have to work more'. The pope once criticised Curia careerists as having 'spiritual Alzheimer's'. Francis said he was mostly happy about reforms enacted to make once-scandalous Vatican finances more transparent. The Vatican bank, which closed hundreds of suspicious or dormant accounts, 'now works well', he said. 'There have been some struggles and I have had to make some strong decisions,' he said. (Reuters will be releasing more on the pope's interview throughout the day.) (Editing by Mark Bendeich and Timothy Heritage) They look like something out of a James Bond film, but these are the real spy cameras used by Soviet spooks in the Cold War. The fascinating collection, which includes cameras built into buttons, umbrellas, cigarette cases and various bags, will go under the hammer on July 12. There's even a camera disguised as a camera, designed to shoot photos through the side of the case when it appears to be safely stowed away. A collection of spy cameras used by Soviet spooks during the Cold War are set to go to auction. They include this Umbrella Spy Camera. The F-21 AJAX-12 camera has an f2.8 28mm lens, and is hidden inside a man's umbrella. Raising the outer cover reveals the camera, ready for use This Russian 'button' camera would have been stitched into a coat and then all the KGB agent had to do was squeeze the 'release cable' trigger. Many of the concealed miniature 'button cameras' had a wind-up mechanism - no batteries. One of the most widely used surveillance cameras of this type was the F-21 (seen here), which was manufactured between 1951 and 1995 A Replacement Button Kit, as supplied to the KGB. It is very rare and comes with the original list of parts. Although only one button has the camera mounted behind it, all the buttons could be replaced to present them as a matched set A JPS spy camera disguised in a cigarette tin. The metal 'tin' is fitted with a Kiev-Vega sub-miniature camera with an Industar-M f3.5 23mm lens. The camera fires but cannot be removed from the outer casing for further inspection The stainless steel Riga was the original mini spy camera sold commercially by Minox, and is extremely rare. It was designed in 1938 by Walter Zapp and could easily be concealed in the palm of the hand. The camera used 8mm x 11mm film and could take 50 pictures without reloading. This one is marked 'Made in Latvia'. But when the Russians invaded in 1940, they changed subsequent models to read 'Made in USSR' The Minox brand was known for its use in the James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (pictured, starring George Lazenby). Roughly the size of a cigarette lighter, they take surprisingly crisp photos and are reputed to have been favoured by agents from both East and West The cameras will go up for auction at Aston's Auctioneers in Dudley, West Midlands on July 12. Pictured is an F-21 Ajax-12 Spy Camera, c. 1955. It is fitted with an uncommon f2 28mm lens and cassette. It was produced at the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Works just outside Moscow The F-21 Ajax-12 is seen here with various accessories. The model was not only popular with the Soviets but also with its sister organisations who had signed up to the Warsaw Pact - including Poland This unusual piece of kit is a camera... disguised as a camera. On casual glance, it appears to be a normal Zenith E camera in its case. But opening it reveals a hidden miniature F-21 Ajax-12 camera. It is mounted so the f2.8 28mm lens is pointing out of the side edge of the case. On pressing a small button on the bottom of the case, the internal mechanism cleverly raises a hidden internal flap, the camera shutters fires and the flap immediately closes shut The 'camera disguised as a camera' user simply carries it over their shoulder in the normal way. However, it can take pictures at 90 degrees without raising any suspicion as it looks like the camera is in its case and not being used. The kit uses 21mm film and has a clockwork drive for multiple shots without detection Photographic consultant Tim Goldsmith, from Aston's Auctioneers in Dudley, West Midlands, which will handle the sale, said the collection was unlike any other. 'I don't know of another like this,' he said. 'You can find some as individual items if you look, but to find the whole collection like this is rare. 'If you want the real old proper spy stuff, this is probably going to be your last opportunity.' Among the lots are several Minox cameras, a brand known for its use in the James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Roughly the size of a cigarette lighter, they take surprisingly crisp photos and are reputed to have been favoured by agents from both East and West. A handbag with built-in Cine Camera for the female spy. This IMBIR 16mm silent cine camera with an f2 28mm lens is disguised in a ladies' shoulder bag - and would be used in 'honey trap' situations. The camera mount in the bottom of the bag aligns the lens of the camera with a small hole in the outside of the bag Ladies' clutch bag with spy camera fittings. This one is designed to accommodate an F-21 Ajax-12 camera (not included in this particular lot). A simple but elegant mechanical micro switch in the base of the bag allows a camera (when fitted) to be operated without detection A rare film splitter for the F-21 Ajax-12 spy cameras. It cuts standard 35mm film down to 21mm for use in reloadable cassettes A man's attache case with mount for a Zola 35mm spy camera. The Zola was a covert observation camera developed circa 1970 - and was in production until at least 1989 'We've also got a lady's handbag which takes a cine-camera,' said Mr Goldsmith. 'That was used in honeytrap situations. 'Say a beautiful blonde was sitting at the bar and in comes a man from the American embassy. One thing leads to another, they end up in her room, she puts her bag down and it starts filming. 'We've got a smaller version of that too which is built into a lady's purse or clutch bag.' Now play... Spot the spyware! Here, a respectable-looking gentleman model is cunningly fitted with five of the spy cameras. (Namely, his case, his umbrella, his button, his camera and the cigarettes in his top pocket) Among the other lots is a camera built into a man's jacket, another built into a briefcase, and of course the one disguised as just another camera. 'It looks like an old Zenit camera, of which there are literally a million around,' said Mr Goldsmith. 'But the clever thing is, this spy camera inside is pointed sideways. 'So if you're going somewhere where you weren't supposed to take photographs, you've got the camera over your shoulder in its case and nobody says anything. 'But you just stand at 90 degrees to what you want to photograph and press the little button on the bottom of the camera, the mechanism inside opens a flap in the side of the camera case. 'The camera fires and the little flap on the side of the case shuts again.' The cameras will go up for auction at Aston's Auctioneers on July 12. A 12-year-old boy called 911 twice to complain after his parents served him salad. Emergency dispatchers in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia received a call just before 10 p.m. from the child to vent his anger at the food. 'The child was upset and did not care for what the parent put in the salad,' said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Dal Hutchinson, who explained officers are obliged to respond to every 911 call. A salad served by his parents prompted the 12-year-old to call 911 to complain (file picture) The officer said that before police could speak to the boy he 'called back again wondering where the police officer was' and that he was 'very unhappy with what ingredients were in their salad'. Hutchinson said the boy's parents 'were not impressed' with what their son had done when police arrived at their door, CTV reported. Given his age and the discussion officers had with him over the correct use of 911, Hutchinson said police will not fine the boy. The exact nature of the offending salad has, however, not been revealed. 'Hopefully, this will be a learning lesson - it created an opportunity for him to learn something from this,' the officer said. 'While many can relate to the dislike of a salad at times, this raises a more important issue that warrants discussion at all ages.' In 2015, a woman in the United States was arrested after calling 911 to complain about her Chinese food order. The incident occurred in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The boy has been spoken to by police about the appropriate use of 911 Tracey McCloud, 44, picked up her order from Main Moon Chinese Restaurant in Alliance, Ohio, but quickly determined that the food was 'not up to par', authorities said. After being refused a refund, she decided to call the emergency services from inside the venue. 'I asked to get my money back and they acting like they don't understand me and they took my food,' she said. The dispatcher said in disbelief: 'This is why you called 911?' Two sick Labour MPs were made to turn up to the Commons in wheelchairs today for a crunch Commons vote after Tory whips allegedly stopped them being 'nodded through'. Naz Shah, the MP for Bradford West, was released from hospital and wheeled through the division lobbies clutching a sick bucket for the vote. While another Labour MP was also wheeled through to cast their ballot in a vote on whether Parliament should be given a 'meaningful vote' if no Brexit deal is done. Labour blamed Tory whips for making ill MPs physically turn up to vote rather than allowing them to be 'nodded through' in a more comfortable part of the estate. The Tories deny the claims. John Prescott, the ex deputy PM and Labour peer, accused Tory whips of an 'absolutely bloody shameful' display. Naz Shah, the MP for Bradford West (pictured in the wheelchair today) was released from hospital and wheeled through the division lobbies clutching a sick bucket for the vote. Lord Prescott, the former deputy PM - tore into Tory whips for making the MPs physically troop through the division lobbies despite their ill health The former Labour deputy leader said party chefs should never force sick people to physically vote in the division lobbies Twitter users slammed the arcane parliamentary process which means MPs cannot be excused from physically voting He said on Twitter: 'In all my years in Parliament - even in the 1970s - I have NEVER seen this. This is absolutely bloody shameful. 'I trust Labour MPs will be disgusted by these desperate and heartless Tory tactics, vote against the Government and back the meaningful vote.' He added: 'The Tory whips are forcing sick people to do this. Lower than vermin.' Ms Pidcock, the heavily pregnant Labour MP, also had to march through the division lobbies with her hundreds of colleagues. A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn confirmed the Government was obstructing sick MPs. He said: As I understand it there has been a refusal to pass through people who are not in a state to vote in the normal way. And thats obviously unacceptable. Meanwhile, heavily pregnant shadow minister Cat Smith, who is just days from her due date, had to miss the vote after she was taken to hospital after a 'scare' and has been advised not to travel. Ms Smith is one of three MPs on the Opposition benches who are in the latter stages of pregnancy. Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson did turn up to vote. Shadow minister Cat Smith, who is just days from her due date, said she was taken to hospital after a 'scare' and has been advised not to travel. She is pictured in the Commons last month The Lancaster and Fleetwood MP announced her pregnancy with husband Ben Soffa in January. She has said she expects to be back at work shortly afterwards Under that arrangement, one politician supporting the government will not go through the division lobbies - so they effectively cancel each other out. And in a further blow to the ill Labour MPs, the amendment they had been forced to turn up to vote for - Tory Mp Dominic Grieve's amendment on a meaningful vote -failed after a string of Tory rebels ducked out of the clash at the last minute. It was voted down by 319 to 303 after rebels, including Mr Grieve and Nicky Morgan, were peeled off after a last ditch compromise by ministers. Posting on Twitter today, Ms Smith, 33, said: 'Thank you NHS for being there when we need it. For me that was an unexpected hospital trip yesterday. 'Ive been advised not to travel so wont be able to reach Westminster to vote today. I appreciate the Government pairing me with a Tory MP so it wont change the result of votes.' Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson (pictured right)and . Labour's Laura Pidcock (pictured left in the Commons last month) also voted despite being heavily pregnant She added that the 'baby gave me quite a scare yesterday but my due date is just days away so we will just be glad when they have safety arrived now'. The Lancaster and Fleetwood MP announced her pregnancy with husband Ben Soffa in January. She has said she expects to be back at work shortly afterwards. There is no formal parental leave system at the House of Commons, with neighbouring MPs covering casework for those who need to take time off. Despite ministers voicing support, proposals for 'proxy' voting arrangements for MPs unable to attend are yet to be implemented. Theresa May today condemned a US policy of caging children trying to cross the border but insisted Donald Trump should still be welcome to Britain next month. The Prime Minister said images of vast detention camps housing young children who had been separated from their parents after illegal border crossings were 'deeply disturbing' and 'wrong'. But Mrs May insisted it was still right for the US President to be welcomed to Britain for talks, insisting the 'long and enduring relationship' with America meant disputes could be raised. The Prime Minister was challenged by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford to halt plans for Mr Trump's visit if there was no change of policy . Pressure had been mounting on Mrs May to condemn Mr Trump after Downing Street yesterday said only that similar policies would not be implemented in the UK's 'humane' system. Business Minister Sam Gyimah led demands among Tories while Labour insists Mrs May must condemn her ally. Theresa May (pictured today at PMQs) is under mounting pressure to condemn Donald Trump over claims the US government is caging the children of refugees trying to reach America The President has faced international criticism after images of children locked up on the southern border emerged But Downing Street has gone no further than insisting similar policies would not be implemented in the UK's 'humane' system (pictured is a detention facility in Texas) At Prime Minister's Questions, Mrs May said: 'The pictures of children being held in cages are deeply disturbing. 'This is wrong, not something we agree with and not the UK approach. 'It is right that there will be a range of issues I will discuss with President Trump.' Asked by Labour's Gavin Shuker whether she will revoke Mr Trump's invitation to visit, Mrs May said she was frequently challenged about raising issues with the US. 'We do that. When we disagree with the US we tell them so. 'But we also have key shared interests with the US.' Mrs May said the countries would 'continue to have a Special Relationship'. Mrs May had been under growing pressure to stand up to Mr Trump following claims that some 2,000 children have been separated from their families in six weeks on the southern US border. He is being urged by opponents - including his own wife and leading Republicans - to end a 'zero-tolerance' approach to illegal border crossings Mr Trump is due in Britain in three weeks time for his first visit as President and the Prime Minister will be desperate for the visit to go well. Mr Gyimah last night quoted former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright attacking the policy. The minister said: 'Separating children from their parents in this way is beyond dreadful. 'This policy is indefensible, pure and simple.' Business Minister Sam Gyimah led demands among Tories while Labour insists Mrs May must condemn her ally Mr Gyimah said the US policy was 'beyond dreadful' and was 'indefensible, pure and simple' Senior Tory MP Tom Tughendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said 'The US is one of the great champions of liberty in the world' Senior Tory MP Tom Tughendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said: 'The US is one of the great champions of liberty in the world. These scenes are deeply saddening and remind me more of Iraq and Afghanistan. 'It is traumatic and cruel to separate children from their parents. The US is better than this.' Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said: 'It is repugnant to think that, in just three weeks' time, Theresa May's Government will roll out the red carpet for a man like that. 'What will it take before she starts standing up to this president on behalf of the British people, rather than meekly holding his hand and hoping he will eventually start to behave?' Protests have been mounting in the US over the controversial policy, including on Capitol Hill last night (pictured) Asked yesterday if Mrs May thought it was acceptable to cage children, her spokesman said: 'I would point you to the UK's own immigration policy.' He added: 'It does not apply these measures and does not intend to do so. The welfare and safeguarding of children is at the heart of our immigration policy. 'We do not separate child refugee or asylum seekers from their families.' The spokesman was asked if Mrs May would raise the issue with Mr Trump but would only say that the UK's own policy was 'humane' and 'we believe that we have a humane system'. 'Our own position is guided by the refugee convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. That is what we adhere to, but obviously I can't speak for other countries,' he added. Laura Bush, the wife of Republican former president George W Bush, has branded the policy 'cruel and immoral', and Mr Trump's own wife Melania issued a statement to say that she 'hates to see children separated from their families'. This policy requires adult migrants to be held in custody for prosecution, separated from their children who are allegedly kept in cages. However, not all members of the Government have ducked criticism of Mr Trump's policies towards refugee children. A state-wide warning has been issued after seven people contracted salmonella from eating alfalfa sprouts. South Australians have been warned to not eat products sold by Adelaide business SA Sprouts, which has since been shut down. The Government of South Australia issued the warning on Wednesday, confirming 21 people have contracted the deadly disease, and seven people hospitalised. Scroll down for video South Australians have been warned to not eat alfalfa sprout products (pictured) produced by Adelaide business SA Sprouts The Government of South Australia issued the warning on Wednesday, confirming 21 people have contracted the deadly disease, and seven people hospitalised SA Health's Chief Medical Officer and Chief Public Health Officer, Professor Paddy Phillips, is advising those who've purchased the SA Sprouts alfalfa sprouts product 'to get a refund or throw away the product.' 'We also want to alert cafes and restaurants to check their suppliers and not serve any SA Sprouts alfalfa sprout products until further notice,' Mr Phillips continued. 'In cases of salmonella a common food source is not often identified, however a joint investigation between SA Health, local government and Primary Industries and Resources SA (PIRSA) has linked these cases to SA Sprouts alfalfa sprouts. 'We are working closely with the producer and suppliers while we continue to investigate.' Symptoms of salmonella havana can last for three to seven days and may include fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, headaches, stomach cramps and loss of appetite Products included in the recall are alfalfa (125g and 200g tubs, 1kg bags), green alfalfa (125g tubs), alfalfa and radish (125g tubs), alfalfa and onion (125g tubs), alfalfa and mustard (125g tubs), alfalfa and Chinese cabbage (125g tubs), alfalfa and garlic (125g tubs), salad mix (175g tubs) and gourmet sprouts (100g trio pack with alfalfa, snow pea, small sprouted bean). Anyone infected with salmonella can experience symptoms between six and 72 hours after exposure. Symptoms can last for three to seven days and may include fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, headaches, stomach cramps and loss of appetite. An Australian mother and her four-year-old daughter have been killed in a horror car crash in Sri Lanka. Two other Australians were injured when a van crashed into a lorry on a busy motorway this morning. The lorry was broken down on the side of the road when the van smashed into it and flipped over. An Australian mother and her four-year-old daughter have been killed in a horror car crash in Sri Lanka. Pictured: The mangled van The Australians in the van and the lorry driver were rushed to Nagoda Hospital. Local media reported the mother was Monica Colin, 37, and her daughter was Poppy Colin. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it is providing consular assistance in relation to the death of two Australians and injury of two further Australians in a motor vehicle accident in Sri Lanka, in accordance with the Consular Services Charter. Advertisement Shocking photos reveal the overcrowding and harsh daily life inside Manila City Jail created by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war. Inmates are crammed together like the sardines they eat every day in their meager meals, taking turns to sleep on a damp, open floor side-by-side in the boiling hot cell blocks. The jail was built to house 1,000 prisoners but is bursting at the seams with more than 5,000 - 80 per cent of new arrivals being drug users swept up in Duterte's zero-tolerance policy. A raid on Manila City Jail reveals the shocking overcrowding and harsh daily life created by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war Those with some but not much money can buy an 'apartment' shared by two to four people, creating areas that resemble shanty towns or slums, right next to the floor the poor prisoners take turns to sleep on The jail was built to house 1,000 prisoners but is bursting at the seams with more than 5,000 - 80 per cent of new arrivals being drug users swept up in Duterte's zero-tolerance policy An officer checks inside a prisoner's bucket for contraband and hundreds of others wait to be searched in Wednesday's raid Dormitory blocks are cramped, poorly lit and with hardly any ventilation that makes them stink even if they are cleaned and scrubbed with the strongest disinfectants. The tropical climate makes it blistering hot year-round, and outbreaks of skin diseases such as boils, infections, and tuberculosis are rampant. During the day there is not even room to crouch or sit down, forcing inmates to stand for hours on end. Jails don't have enough money to properly feed prisoners so they get by on tiny rations of rice and fish, often containing rusty nails and cockroaches, forcing them to go hungry or steal other inmates food. The tropical climate makes it blistering hot year-round, and outbreaks of skin diseases such as boils, infections, and tuberculosis are rampant During the day there is not even room to crouch or sit down, forcing inmates to stand for hours on end Dormitory blocks are cramped, poorly lit and with hardly any ventilation that makes them stink even if they are cleaned and scrubbed with the strongest disinfectants Thousands of inmates were seen crammed into exercise yards while cells were searched, most shirtless to relieve the stifling heat The food has very little nutritional value and is served as slop from a communal pot and prepared the very poor hygiene standards. Drinkable water is also hard to come by due to faulty pipelines and disease is further spread by sick inmates not being separated from healthy ones. Life is a little better for richer prisoners who can buy a 'condominium' that separates them from other inmates by wooden walls, and for US$90 dollars a spartan cot. Those with some but not much money can buy an 'apartment' shared by two to four people, creating areas that resemble shanty towns or slums. Jails don't have enough money to properly feed prisoners so they get by on tiny rations of rice and fish Contraband found in the raid included improvised tooters, bladed weapons, weapons created from utensils, power tools, extension cords, mobile phones, and drug paraphernalia Food often contains rusty nails and cockroaches, forcing them to go hungry or steal other inmates food The food has very little nutritional value and is served as slop from a communal pot and prepared the very poor hygiene standards Everyone else fights for space on the floor using rice or flour sacks, or even newspapers, as bedding. The photos that revealed the appalling conditions were taken during a raid at 4am on Wednesday searching for contraband and confiscated 10 bags of banned items. They included improvised tooters, bladed weapons, weapons created from utensils, power tools, extension cords, mobile phones, and drug paraphernalia. Thousands of inmates were seen crammed into exercise yards, most shirtless to relieve the stifling heat, waiting while officers wearing face masks and leading sniffer dogs scoured the cells. Drinkable water is also hard to come by due to faulty pipelines and disease is further spread by sick inmates not being separated from healthy ones An officer finds cash that has been snuck into the jail to pay for contraband like mobile phones or even drugs smuggled in A heavily-armed guard watches over the prisoners as they wait outside for their cells to be searched Frightened, alone and locked in 'cages' - at first these images of migrant children appear to be straight from Donald Trump's America. But in fact they show thousands of youngsters detained at the US border under the Obama administration in 2014. The youngsters were locked up at shelters in Texas and Arizona after arriving unaccompanied at the border in their tens of thousands that year. Dozens of children sit inside a wire cage at a detention center in Arizona in 2014 after being locked up by the Obama administration Under Obama, thousands of young migrants who arrived unaccompanied at the border were detained while their immigration cases could be resolved Obama faced protests from politicians and the American public over the detentions, and was accused of encouraging children to chance the crossing alone with soft-touch policies Slide me Left are children locked in immigrant detention centers under Obama in 2014, while right are migrant children locked up under Trump this year The problem faced by both presidents is what to do with children who arrive at the border with no adult or legal guardian alongside them. While unaccompanied youngsters from Mexico can be immediately turned back, those arriving from further afield - such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador - have to be granted a legal hearing. That leads to the children being locked up in shelters while the cases work themselves out, and caused a barrage of criticism for both leaders. Under Trump, 32,372 unaccompanied minors have arrived at the border in the 2018 fiscal year, which is more than triple the number which arrived last year. By comparison, an estimated 60,000 unaccompanied minors arrived under the Obama administration in 2014, almost four times the number that arrived in 2012. At the time Obama faced protests from both sides of the aisle and was accused of encouraging minors to chance the crossing with soft-touch immigration policies. Meanwhile Trump has been accused of using the children as political pawns to force Democrats to sign tougher immigration laws. Trump has been blasted by politicians, religious figures and the American public for his immigration policies. Obama was also heavily criticized for his policy in 2014 Children sleep inside a migrant detention center in Texas after being detained under Obama However, Obama officials insist that they had no policy of separating families who turned up at the border together and that they were detained as a unit Obama was criticized for detaining whole families, often indefinitely, after they attempted an illegal crossing into the United States However, the issue is not the same as family separation - for which Trump has received additional criticism - where children are taken away from their parents despite arriving at the border together. Since Trump announced a 'zero tolerance' policy on migration, where everyone who turns up at the border illegally is prosecuted, more than 2,000 children have been taken away from their parents and placed in shelters. The removals take place so that the parents can be prosecuted because the law forbids holding children in migrant detention for long period. Obama officials have repeatedly denied separating parents from their children. Cecilia Munoz, Obama's top domestic policy adviser, said his administration did consider a similar policy, but decided not to go through with it. 'The morality of it was clear - that's not who we are,' she said. However, Obama was criticized for detaining families together, some of which were held indefinitely while their cases were resolved. Children sleep inside a migrant detention center in Arizona having arrived unaccompanied at the US border in 2014 This image shows children who have been forcibly separated from their parents after arriving together at the border Ford has unveiled plans to renovate Michigan Central Station in Detroit, which has stood abandoned and decaying for three decades. The company - one of America's 'Big Three' automakers - bought the building, a Beaux Arts gem opened in 1913, to make it the centerpiece of a new urban high-tech campus. Bill Ford Jr., the great-grandson of the American carmaker's founder, stood in front of thousands Tuesday in Detroit, with the abandoned station in the background, and entwined the company's future with that of the dilapidated building behind him. 'This station is a symbol,' Ford declared. 'We're making a big bet on our future.' The company - one of America's 'Big Three' automakers - bought the building, a Beaux Arts gem opened in 1913, to make it the centerpiece of a new urban high-tech campus. Pictured: A crowd gathers outside the historic, 105-year old Michigan Central train station awaiting the start of the Ford event in Detroit, Michigan, USA, 19 June At an event, the Ford Motor Company unveiled its lofty plans: a space of 1.2 million square feet (111,500 square meters) spanning several city blocks, where the company's employees, and those of partner firms and startups, will work on innovations such as autonomous driving and electrification Plans from a video released by Ford showing their idea of the future of Michigan Central Station Ford hopes to open the redeveloped train station in three to four years and make it a 'magnet for high-tech talent,' according to a company statement. Pictured: What it could look like A drawing from a postcard showing Michigan Central Station just after it was completed in 1913 The once proud building has faded, but is poised for much the same renewal that Detroit residents and businesses hope will mark the Motor City's post-recession, post-bankruptcy renaissance. At an event, the Ford Motor Company unveiled its lofty plans: a space of 1.2 million square feet spanning several city blocks, where the company's employees, and those of partner firms and startups, will work on innovations such as autonomous driving and electrification. 'Just as Detroit has had to reimagine what it's going to be, we have to do the same, because everything is changing,' Ford said. Ford hopes to open the redeveloped train station in three to four years and make it a 'magnet for high-tech talent,' according to a company statement. 'Even now, in its decayed state, walking around, the grandeur is unmistakable,' Ford said of the area he plans to make public The dilapidated conditions of Michigan Central Station are shown here, at present day. with walls defaced and deteriorated In this artist rendering released by Ford Motor Company on Thursday, the main hall of the Michigan Central Station is shown Part of the company's gamble is that, by moving its innovations divisions into Detroit's urban core, Ford can attract the technology-savvy millennials it needs. The company's main headquarters will remain in nearby suburban Dearborn. 'We want the best startups, the smartest talent, the kind of thinkers, engineers and problem-solvers who see things differently, to come and partner with us here in Detroit,' Ford said. The venerable American brand is facing the same challenge as other carmakers, which is basically an image problem, said Michigan State University marketing and communications professor Robert Kolt. 'I've never heard a student say, 'Well, I want to work for a car company.' They just don't say it,' Kolt told AFP. This undated photo shows travelers waiting in line at gates to the tracks inside of Michigan Central Station in Corktown A uniformed employee is pictured in this undated photo taking tickets from passengers entering the gate for Track No. 3 at the Michigan Central Railroad Station Michigan Central Station is seen here in its prime in 1915, less than two years after it first opened around Christmas in 1913 'If you want to attract young people, you build a Silicon Valley-type of headquarters.' The station, which looms over Detroit's Corktown neighborhood, has stood empty since the last train left in 1988. Stripped by vandals and time of its past beauty and value, the building came to symbolize Detroit's long decline from manufacturing powerhouse to bankruptcy. Michigan Central Railroad started purchasing land around 1908 for the new train station, according to HistoricDetroit.org. The depot opened in late 1913 and was designed by the same architects who created New York's Grand Central Terminal. With towering pillars, marble floors, chandeliers and high-arching windows, the terminal's passenger waiting room was a sight to behold. Detroit architectural historian W. Hawkins Ferry wrote that in its heyday, the train station 'symbolized the gateway to the city of Detroit and reminded people of the Roman Baths of Caracalla.' The emergence of interstates and increased travel by car and plane led to fewer people taking trains. In 1985, the station handled only 82,408 passengers. That number tumbled to 64,097 a year later. Great Lakes World Trade Center bought the station and office tower in 1985 and developers planned to turn it and some adjacent real estate into offices, shopping plazas and parks that would attract development. The federal government withdrew a $3.25 million grant in 1987 because insufficient renovation progress was being made, and the station shut down the following year. After it closed, anything valuable was stolen or destroyed and the building became a popular spot for squatters, vagrants and urban explorers. Interior view of the Michigan Central train depot, Tuesday, June 19, 2018, in Detroit as Ford announces its renovation plans The federal government withdrew a $3.25 million grant in 1987 because insufficient renovation progress was being made, and the station shut down the following year. Pictured: The interior photographed yesterday Detroit architectural historian W. Hawkins Ferry wrote that in its heyday, the train station 'symbolized the gateway to the city of Detroit and reminded people of the Roman Baths of Caracalla.' Pictured: The station today Businessman Manuel 'Matty' Moroun bought the building in the mid-1990s after a previous owner defaulted on a loan. Moroun's interest in rail and trucking transport led to the purchase, a spokesman said at the time. But an anchor tenant could not be found and renovations would be delayed. Many looked at the former grand structure as part of the blight spreading across parts of Detroit. Plans by the city to buy the station and turn it into a police headquarters fell through. In 2009, the City Council passed a resolution seeking emergency demolition of the structure, but it didn't happen. Some renovation work was done shortly thereafter, including the replacement of broken windows and the roof, to make it less of an eyesore. The station, which looms over Detroit's Corktown neighborhood, has stood empty since the last train left in 1988 The venerable American brand is facing the same challenge as other carmakers, which is basically an image problem, said Michigan State University marketing and communications professor Robert Kolt. Pictured: The interior today Ford announced last year that it was going to move its autonomous and electric vehicle business and strategy teams to Corktown. In addition to the train station, Ford owns several other neighborhood properties that will be renovated and rehabbed. The company already has started moving about 200 workers into a refurbished former factory a few blocks from the station. The automaker estimates the size of its campus at about 1.2 million square feet. The station and office tower is expected to anchor the automaker's research and development of self-driving vehicles. It also gives Ford a presence in Detroit which continues to rebound after exiting bankruptcy in 2014. The train station project is a matter of survival for Ford, which has fallen behind its Detroit rivals GM and Fiat Chrysler (FCA) in developing self-driving cars. GM plans to mass-produce autonomous cars by 2019, and FCA has an expanding partnership with Google parent Alphabet's Waymo autonomous car division. But Ford won't have an autonomous car for consumers until 2021 - a full two years after GM. Bill Ford Jr. (pictured), the great-grandson of the American carmaker's founder, stood in front of thousands Tuesday in Detroit Building a high-tech nerve center can help the company down the road, said industry analyst David Whiston of Morningstar. He sees promise in initiatives such as Ford's Silicon Valley research facility. 'In the past couple of years, they've done all sorts of things showing that they're making the right investments,' Whiston told AFP. 'They just need the time.' In some ways, Ford is actually ahead of many other car companies that realize they must evolve, but have not figured out how, said London-based analyst Philippe Houchois of Jefferies. 'To develop new mobility services and a new relationship with customers, they feel their traditional staff is not the right structure,' Houchois told AFP. Carmakers need more coders, scientists and researchers. They also need young, urban dwellers, who understand the needs of an increasingly-urbanized customer base that will require more car-sharing and delivery via autonomous fleets. 'The industry needs to balance being a manufacturer and service provider,' Houchois said. 'Autos as product and as an industry will probably change more in the next 10, 15 years, than they have in the previous 50 or 60.' Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has warned of a migrant 'catastrophe' similar to the 2015 crisis if Europe does not agree a common response. The 31-year-old leader also blamed Angela Merkel for forcing countries to reinstate border controls when she welcomed hundreds of thousands of migrants into the Germany three years ago. Refugees made their way across the continent in huge numbers in 2015 with many having already fled their homelands and made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching northern Europe. Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (pictured) has warned of a migrant 'catastrophe' similar to the 2015 crisis if Europe does not agree a common response The 31-year-old leader said Europe also blamed Angela Merkel (pictured) for forcing countries to reinstate border controls when she welcomed hundreds of thousands of migrants into the Germany three years ago Kurz, warning of a repeat of those scenes, spoke out as he and his ministers held talks with counterparts from the German CSU party, which is currently locked in a battle over migration policy within the German Chancellor's coalition government. 'We can't wait until we have a catastrophe like the one in 2015,' Kurz said, referring to the migrant crisis of 2015-16, which saw more than 150,000 people seek asylum in Austria, a country of 8.7 million. A row over migration policy in Germany between Merkel and her CSU interior minister Horst Seehofer has shaken the stability of the government in Berlin. Kurz insisted he didn't want to take sides in an 'internal German debate' but welcomed the fact that immigration was once again being discussed by EU leaders ahead of a summit later this month. 'If the discussion in Germany has an upside, it's that there's now a new dynamic on the European level, and that there's now a bigger chance that we finally see action in the EU,' Kurz said. Without naming Merkel he also aimed a shot across her bows by making clear what he thought were the results of her decision to welcome refugees to Germany in 2015. Refugees made their way across the continent in huge numbers in 2015 with many having already fled their homelands and made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching northern Europe Those who opened the borders in 2015 'are responsible for the fact that we have border controls between Austria and Bavaria, between Austria and Hungary, between Austria and Italy, and that the situation could get even worse', he said. Kurz, who hails from the centre-right People's Party (OeVP) went into coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) after an election last year in which both parties made a clampdown on immigration a central theme. Kurz was foreign minister under the previous government and often boasts of his actions to close the 'Balkan route' for migrants in 2016. The head of Bavaria's state government, Markus Soeder, emphasised that Munich and Vienna 'have a common conviction and position' on the issue. Kurz has said he intends to make migration a key theme when Austria takes up the EU's rotating presidency at the beginning of July and has been busy seeking allies for his stance. Last week he announced that Seehofer, Austria's interior minister Herbert Kickl and Italy's new interior minister Matteo Salvini - from the xenophobic Northern League - had formed an 'axis of the willing' to combat illegal immigration. On Thursday Kurz will go to Budapest to attend a meeting of leaders from the four central European Visegrad states - Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - who have traditionally supported hardline policies on migration. Controversial Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied has spoken out about her views on Manus Island again, this time saying it is just as bad as the treatment of immigrants trying to enter the US. Sudanese-born Abdel-Magied said Australia could not take the moral high ground as migrant children are split from their families at the US-Mexico border. 'The worst thing about seeing this stuff go down in the US is knowing Aus is in no position to be morally superior given our record on Manus, Nauru and... I guess since invasion,' she wrote on Twitter. Yassmin Abdel-Magied's comments are in reference to the children of illegal immigrants caught at the border being separated from their adult parents as they await trial Abdel-Magied previously sparked controversy on Anzac Day 2017 by calling for people to remember migrants held on Manus Island and Nauru, while others were paying their respects to fallen soldiers. The action by the US government had led to children being separated from their families, including kids with Down syndrome. In a six week period nearly 2,000 minors were separated from their parents or guardians. Because children are unable to be taken to the same facilities as their parents after being detained, they are forced to be separated. On Thursday morning (AEST), President Donald Trump revealed he would sign an executive order changing the policy, which has sparked outrage even among senior Republicans. 'I'm going to be signing an executive order in a little while before I go to Minnesota but, at the same time,' Trump said. 'I think you have to understand, we're keeping families together, but we have to keep our borders strong. We will be overrun with crime and with people that should not be in our country.' His Department of Homeland Security secretary was said to be drafting an order to end the child separation policy. It was not clear if the president would sign that directive or 'something' else entirely following his impromptu remarks during a meeting with lawmakers that the White House unexpectedly allowed to be broadcast. Sudanese-born Yassmin Abdel-Magied took to Twitter to voice her thoughts that Australia can't take any moral high ground with regards to illegal immigrants being separated from their families at the US and Mexico border Children are unable to be taken to the same facilities as their parents after being detained, they are forced to be separated which has caused outrage On Monday the United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the actions of the Trump administration were 'unconscionable'. 'The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable,' he said. 'I call on the United States to immediately end the practice of forcible separation of these children.' Murderer who killed a police officer in a car bomb explosion could be one step closer to freedom. Melbourne's Russell Street bomber, Craig Minogue could be free due to a technicality in the law. He was 24-years-old when he let off a car explosion that killed 21-year-old police officer Angela Taylor, and injured 22 other people in 1986. Killer who murdered a police officer could be out of prison in just months after stunning High Court decision to allow him to apply for parole He was 24-years-old when he let off a car explosion that killed 21-year-old police officer Angela Taylor, and injured 22 other people in 1986 Minogue was sentenced to life in prison with a non parole period of 28 years, and waited 30 years to apply for parole. A parole bid was first made in 2016, which was rejected. However, it prompted the state government to bring in tougher laws in a bid to ensure anybody who murdered a police officer had no chance of parole. On Wednesday, the High Court concluded Minogue's exemption to the law. It decided the 'offence committed was indiscriminate and no particular person or class of persons was targeted.' Minogue was sentenced to life in prison with a non parole period of 28 years, and waited 30 years to apply for parole The High Court concluded the 'offence committed was indiscriminate and no particular person or class of persons was targeted.' Corrections Minister Gayle Tierney said the High court decision was disappointing 'I hope that the government and the opposition will now respect the decision of the umpire and not seek to move the goalposts again,' he said in response to the decision, 9news reported. Corrections Minister Gayle Tierney said the High court decision was disappointing. She went on to say the state government will continue to make the necessary amendments to the law in order to prevent Minogue's release. 'The fact is that Mr Minogue got off on a technicality, and we will ensure that that technicality is dealt with,' she said. 'The intent of the parliament is very clear and we will ensure that this man stays behind bars.' Angela's mother remained decidedly unfazed in the update of her daughter's murderer. 'We don't give him a thought. We think about what Angela gave us. We think about the joy of her being not the sadness of her going,' she told 7news. Angela Taylor (pictured) was only 21 when she was killed in an explosion whilst returning from her lunch break New Zealand's Mount Taranaki is 'almost certain' to erupt in coming years and cause mass devastation to its nearby townships, experts have warned. The chances of the volcano, on the west coast of the North Island, erupting within the next 50 years and 'producing volcanic hazards' is extremely likely, authorities said. 'An eruption of Mount Taranaki is not a matter of 'if', it is a matter of 'when',' a report on the region's latest five-year Civil Defence plan stated. New Zealand's Mount Taranaki (pictured) is 'almost certain' to erupt in coming years and cause mass devastation to its nearby townships, experts have warned 'An eruption of Mount Taranaki could produce volcanic hazards such as tephra falls, pyroclastic density currents, lava flows, lahars, flooding, debris avalanches, sector collapses, lightning and volcanic gases.' More than 450,000 people visit the Egmont National Park each year to hike its trails to the mountain's 2500 metre summit. The report noted it wouldn't just be visitors to the park in the firing line, but also nearby townships and infrastructure which were likely to be 'severely affected'. With it currently showing no signs it may erupt, authorities are confident monitoring systems will set the alarm when soon enough in advance when it does. The predicted likelihood of another eruption to occur in any given year has nearly doubled, from 1.6 per cent to 3.1, the report also revealed. The report noted it wouldn't just be visitors to the park in the firing line, but also nearby townships and infrastructure which were likely to be 'severely affected' A moderate to large eruption has occurred routinely every 500 years - the last one was in 1655. Given recent large-scale eruptions overseas, Civil Defence group manager Craig Campbell-Smart, said it was a good reminder to be vigilant about being prepared, Radio NZ reported. Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is still spewing lava, while Volcan De Feugo in Guatemala is still erupting up to five times a day. Mount Ruapehu in the central North Island and New Zealand's largest active volcano, erupted in 2007 and nearly killed a climber. A new ban on upskirting will also protect men wearing kilts it was confirmed - as Theresa May said the most serious culprits will be put on the sex offenders register. The PM said the Government Bill to criminalise the 'hideous' practice will go to the Commons tomorrow. It comes after Tory MP Sir Christopher Chope, 71, sparked nation-wide fury by objecting to a new law in a move branded 'shameful' by his party colleagues. Speaking in PMQ's today, Mrs May said: Upskirting is a hideous invasion of privacy. It leaves victims feeling degraded and distressed. We will adopt this as a Government Bill, we will introduce the Bill this Thursday with a second reading before the summer recess. But we are not stopping there. We will also ensure that the most serious offenders are added to the sex offenders register, and victims will be in no doubt their complaints will be taken very seriously and perpetrators will be punished. Scroll down for video Theresa May (pictured in PMQs today) said the Government Bill to criminalise the 'hideous' practice will go to the Commons tomorrow Sir Christopher Chope (pictured in the Commons last Friday) shouted 'object' when the draft law was raised in the Commons yesterday, slamming the brakes on the attempt The move means that offenders found guilty of the lewd crime will be blocked from taking on some caring jobs. It comes after it was confirmed that men wearing kilts will also be protected under the new law. Theresa May unable to say why she gave Sir Christopher Chope a knighthood The PM was challenged about why she gave the Tory MP the honour on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show today. Theresa May was unable to say why she handed Sir Christopher Chope a knighthood - despite his opposition to a string of Bills with popular support. The PM was challenged about why she gave the Tory MP the honour on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show today. But asked three times why he was bestowed with the title she was unable to say why. She said: 'Christopher Chope has been a long-standing Member of Parliament. 'What is important is how we respond to the legislation that was going to be there. 'Because the concern is not the issue of an individual, the concern is about are we going to ensure that something that is offensive to people, that is invasive of people's privacy, are we going to ensure that action is taken about that? 'Yes we are.' Sir Christopher sparked a storm of criticism for objecting to a Bill which makes taking photographs up someone's skirt a specific criminal offence. Tory MPs joined campaigners in queing up to condemn him. And the Government has now vowed to take up the Bill and bring in the offence itself. Advertisement Baroness Vere of Norbiton, speaking for the Government in the Lords, said it would protect the 'bodily dignity' of both men and women. Sir Christopher faced a barrage of criticism from campaigners, MPs and members of the public up and down the country after he single-handedy derailed an MP's Bill to criminalise upskirting. His critics showed their anger by covering his offices in his constituency in Dorset and the House of Commons Commons in women's knickers as a protest. His office door was blocked by 'knicker bunting' while a pair of suspenders had been torn down onto the floor. Sir Christopher has desperately sought to defend himself and insisted he fully supports the ban. He insisted that he is not a 'pervert' or a 'dinosaur' but objected to the Bill progressing because he feels it is important for MPs to debate issues fully. He broke his silence on the issue after days of fierce criticism as campaigners and MPs - including the Prime Minister - slammed him for blocking the Bill. In an interview with his local newspaper, he said he agrees that upskirting is 'vulgar, humiliating and unacceptable'. He told the Bournemouth Echo: 'I feel a bit sore about being scapegoated over this. 'The suggestion that I am some kind of pervert is a complete travesty of the truth. 'It's defamatory of my character and it's very depressing some of my colleagues have been perpetuating that in the past 48 hours.' The MP for Christchurch in Dorset, added: 'I am not a dinosaur. I am very much alive and kicking.' And he hit out at his fellow Tory MPs for publicly cirticising him. He said: 'None of them phoned me up to ask me to explain my actions. 'Why would they want to humiliate one of their own colleagues? 'Hopefully when this does get into the statute book, they will accept I was right but maybe that's asking for the moon.' German security officials say left-wing extremists have become more willing to use violence over the past five years. Almost 2,000 more left-wing extremists were considered by authorities to be potentially violent than in 2012. Their ranks swelled 27 per cent from 7,100 to about 9,000 between 2012 and 2017, domestic intelligence agency BfV said. German security officials say left-wing extremists have become more willing to use violence over the past five years A left-wing protester being arrested at a G20 demonstration that devolved into a riot Police arrest several protesters opposing the G20 summit last July The number of violent crimes committed by left-wing extremists rose 88 percent during that period, to 1,648 from 876. Last year saw a spike in left-wing violence partly due to the G20 summit in Hamburg, which led to a series of riots and arson attacks around Germany. German railways were attacked 13 times by arson in the leadup to the summit, parked cars were burned, and shops looted. Police arrested 186 people overall and temporarily detained another 225 in the weeks before and days during the G20. A man is dragged away by riot police at a protest ahead of the G20 summit attended by many left-wing extremists A shop looted by left wing mobs during riots ahead of the G20 summit in Hamburg A parked car burns as protesters wreak havoc in riots ahead of the G20 summit Almost 2,000 more left-wing extremists were considered by authorities to be potentially violent than in 2012 Last year saw a spike in left-wing violence partly due to the G20 summit in Hamburg, which led to a series of riots and arson attacks around Germany German police estimated far-left protesters committed more than 2,000 crimes in that time, including vandalism, bodily harm, disturbing the peace, arson, and resisting arrest. The rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany also gave left-wing extremists a new target in recent years. BfV chief Hans-Georg Maassen called for more public debate about the need to reject violence as a means of achieving political ends. A looted supermarket during widespread anarchy led by left-wing protesters angry at the G20 An injured protester is taken away by paramedics during violent clashes between police and left-wing extremists last year Two more bodies have been found under the cliffs at Beachy Head bringing the total to seven in the last week. The remains of two men in their 20s were recovered from the bottom of the cliffs on Tuesday evening. Their deaths are not thought to be linked. The latest person to die may have been a suicide tourist who travelled to the UK to end their life at the world famous cliffs. Dog walkers found a passport, Facebook post and a one way plane ticket as police searched for two men who were later found at the bottom of the 500 foot drop near Eastbourne. Coast guards were pictured at Beachy Head last night as another two bodies were found, bringing this week's total up to seven The dog walkers discovered a bag containing the travel documents and a mobile phone as emergency services searched the clifftops. The passport and plane ticket from Norway were in the bag near the edge on Tuesday night where Kienan Connolly and his friend Jake Taylor were walking their dogs. Mr Taylor found the bag and his friend Kienan posted on Facebook: 'We thought a tourist might've lost their belongings as we found a passport and a one way flight ticket from Norway to England. 'We then see if his phone was unlocked to see if anyone was trying to ring or message the phone and the first thing that was open on his phone, was his Facebook page with a picture of Beachy Head saying "This Spot marks our grave, but you may rest here".' Sussex police said no formal identification of either body found at the foot of the cliffs on Tuesday has taken place. It comes after Cheryl Tompsett, 42, and her five-year-old son Leo, both from Maidstone, Kent, were found on Monday morning, after a suspected murder-suicide. Cheryl Tompsett (pictured, left), 42, and her five-year-old son Leo (pictured, right), both from Maidstone, Kent, were found on Monday morning in a suspected murder-suicide Seven bodies have been found at Beachy Head (pictured) within the space of a week, including a mother and her son Leo's body was found on a ledge half way down the cliff near Eastbourne, East Sussex while his mother, who worked as a wellbeing and bereavement counsellor, was found on the beach. In a statement yesterday, Leo's father said: 'With more sadness and hurt than anyone can imagine, our precious Leo who was our shining light, our brightest star has had his life cut short. 'We all miss him an amount beyond what anyone else can imagine and would request that our privacy is respected at this very difficult time.' The coast guard was photographed at the cliffs last night as another two bodies were discovered at the site The emergency services are pictured at the scene as a mother and her five-year-old son were found dead at Beachy Head Three other bodies were recovered by emergency services overnight on June 14. Emergency services were alerted last Wednesday, and with assistance from the Eastbourne RNLI inshore lifeboat recovered the body of a 58-year-old man from London. Shortly after 5pm, while this was in progress, a second, badly decomposed body, believed to be that of a woman, was found nearby. Then some 40 minutes later a third body, believed to be that of another man from London, was discovered some distance away. Sussex police said they are also not linked. More than 350,000 people visit the cliffs at Birling Gap and Seven Sisters each year. For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or see www.samaritans.org The Easy Rider star also advocated surrounding the schools of ICE agents' kids The actor Peter Fonda has told his Twitter followers that President Trump's 12-year-old son Barron should be ripped from his mother's arms and put 'in a cage with pedophiles' in an expletive-laden rant about the border crisis. He also called for 90 million people to take to the streets in protest at the government's decision to criminally prosecute migrants who cross the US border illegally and separate them from their children. The Easy Rider star, who has more than 46,000 followers, also said 'we should hack the system' and 'get the addresses of ICE agents' to 'surround their homes' and 'find out what schools their children go to and surround the schools'. Branding President Trump a 'f****** monster', he added: 'We need to scare the f*** out of [border agents]! Need to make their children worry now'. He earlier referred to presidential adviser Stephen Miller as a 'pedophile'. Fonda also called Miller, who is Jewish, 'Goebbels' in an apparent reference to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, an extreme anti-Semite who strongly supported the Holocaust and who arranged the murder of his own children in 1945. The actor Peter Fonda has told his Twitter followers that President Trump's 12-year-old son Barron should be ripped from his mother's arms and put 'in a cage with pedophiles' in an expletive-laden rant about the border crisis Fonda also called Miller, who is Jewish, 'Goebbels' in an apparent reference to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, an extreme anti-Semite who strongly supported the Holocaust and who arranged the murder of his own children in 1945 He also called for 90 million people to take to the streets in protest at the government's decision to criminally prosecute migrants who cross the US border illegally and separate them from their children The Easy Rider star, who has more than 46,000 followers, also said 'we should hack the system' and 'get the addresses of ICE agents' to 'surround their homes' and 'find out what schools their children go to and surround the schools' In previous tweets on Tuesday, he said that White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders should be deported 'to Arkansas'. He also said her children should be given to Stephen Miller. Fonda said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristjen Nielsen, meanwhile, should be 'put in a cage and poked at by passersby' as well as 'pilloried in Lafayette Square naked and whipped by passersby while being filmed for posterity'. It comes after it was revealed that Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border to at least three 'tender age' shelters in South Texas. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. A two-year-old Honduran cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border on June 12. She had illegally crossed the Rio Grande on a raft to reach Texas A Mission Police Deptartment officer, and a US Border Patrol agent watch over a group of Central American asylum seekers before taking them into custody in McAllen, Texas The inside of a dormitory at the Tornillo facility, a shelter for children of detained migrants, is seen in this photo provided by the US Department of Health and Human Services, in Texas The Trump administration has been accused of using children as political pawns in its attempts to negotiate on border security The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday. Since the White House announced its zero tolerance policy in early May, more than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the US-Mexico border, resulting in a new influx of young children requiring government care. The government has faced withering critiques over images of some of the children in cages inside US Border Patrol processing stations. Safia Akhtar Noor posted a number of controversial Facebook messages after a terror attack on British soil and was forced to resign as governor A Labour councillor suspended as a school governor after claiming there was 'no proof' that ISIS exists has won a key council role - helping protect the city's children from radicalisation. Safia Akhtar Noor had also previously posted on Facebook that people should 'grow up and stop pointing fingers' after the Westminster terror attack which left five dead. She was suspended as a governor by Yew Tree Community School in Witton, Birmingham, which said her statements had breached its code of conduct - and later resigned her role of governor. Yet despite the controversy sparked by her comments, the law student was allowed by Labour to stand in May's local elections, where she won a seat for Small Heath. She is known as Councillor Akhtar in municipal circles, and in Birmingham City Council papers. Now, it has been revealed Cllr Akhtar has been appointed to the Children's Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Alex Yip, Conservative councillor for Sutton Wylde Green, questioned her selection to the committee, which will include ensuring that children are protected from radicalisation. Cllr Yip said: 'It is shocking to think that the Labour administration would appoint Councillor Akhtar, of all the ones available, to this scrutiny committee. 'Although she has apologised for saying they [her social media postings] should have been worded more carefully, they still represent her views. 'Considering that the school at which she was a governor suspended her, saying her comments breached its code of conduct, it beggars belief that Labour think it appropriate for her to oversee safeguarding of children, including protecting them from the threat of radicalisation.' She suspended as a school governor after this message claiming there was 'no proof' that ISIS exists has won a key council role helping protect the city's children from radicalisation. How Labour councillor sparked controversy with 'no proof ISIS exists' Facebook posts Safia Akhtar Noor sparked controversy when she posted on Facebook that people should 'grow up and stop pointing fingers' after the Westminster terror attack which left five dead. In another message posted in March last year, Ms Noor said: 'So someone got stabbed after the attack last week as a result of media and government claiming that SO CALLED ISIS HAD CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY. 'There is no ISIS and there is no proof.' She later apologised for her comments but was suspended as a school governor and later forced to resign. Despite the controversy, the law student was allowed by Labour to stand in Mays local elections, where she won a seat. Now she has been given the role of working to protect children from radicalisation by the council. Advertisement On March 22 last year, Birmingham terrorist Khalid Masood mowed down innocent victims on Westminster Bridge, killing four, before stabbing police officer Keith Palmer to death. On the same day Cllr Akhtar - who was not a councillor at the time - posted on Facebook: 'Can people relax and stop fighting on Facebook? 'Sadly people died in Westminster today but people die everyday in Syria, Palestine, Africa, Rohingya, Kashmir.. Need I carry on?!! 'Grow up and stop pointing fingers!' In another message posted the same day only to her followers, Ms Noor said: 'Terrorist attack... and even the terrorist died?! Let me guess, he was a Muslim!' On March 27 last year, she commented on a newspaper article which carried the headline 'Westminster attacker Khalid Masood had interest in Jihad - police'. Cllr Akhtar posted to her followers: 'So someone got stabbed after the attack last week as a result of media and government claiming that SO CALLED ISIS HAD CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY. Safia Akhtar Noor has been pictured with senior MPs including Shabana Mahmood and Liam Byrne (top image) and Yvette Cooper, who she backed above Jeremy Corbyn to be Labour leader 'There is no ISIS and there is no proof.' Cllr Akhtar, who has posed for photographs with Labour MPs including Yvette Cooper, Jess Philips and Shabana Mahmood, previously issued a statement apologising for her postings. Cllr Akhtar said previously: 'Having read these comments back, I accept I should have chosen my words more carefully,' she said. 'I didn't intend to cause any offence and I apologise to anyone who found those comments offensive or upsetting. 'I completely condemn all terrorist acts.' Cllr Akhtar was unavailable for comment. But Birmingham Labour Group Party secretary, Councillor Martin Straker-Welds, said: 'The Labour Party undertook a preliminary investigation that revealed not only that the posts had been removed very shortly after being posted but that Ms. Akhtar had also issued a statement where she offered an unreserved apology and condemned all terrorist acts. 'Councillor Akhtar has our full support.' Surveillance footage shows a 'violent deportee' wandering around JFK airport after giving federal agents the slip. Mohamadou Lamine Mbacke escaped Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who were escorting him to a plane to be sent back to Senegal. The 31-year-old managed to flee the terminal in a taxi on March 27 and managed to make it to Chicago before he was rearrested. Mbacke can been seen looking over his shoulder at JFK airport after telling ICE agents he had spotted a cousin at the next gate He then makes a run for it, heading through the concourse of the airport without the ICE agents noticing Mbacke is on trial charged with escaping ICE custody and faces up to a year behind bars if convicted, the New York Post reported. In the surveillance footage shown to jurors, he is seen looking over his right shoulder as he stands unguarded near B20 hub before running off at around 8.30pm. The 6ft 3ins, 190lbs Mbacke is then picked up on various cameras running past the retail hall on the third floor of Terminal 4 and out of sight. Prosecutor Jonathan Algor told the court Mbacke said to the three ICE officers taking him to Senegal that he recognized a cousin at the next gate and asked to say goodbye. The 'violent' 6-foot-3, 190 pounds Mbacke then makes his way though the airport He can be seen wandering past the retail area in the airport before be exited and into a taxi to take him to a friend's house in Harlem Earlier footage showed the four men , with Mbacke lagging in back, casually sauntering through the airport before stopping at Buffalo Wild Wings and Dunkin Donuts. Mbcke's lawyer, Jan Rostal, told jurors ICE agents were sending 'mixed messages' to Mbacke. He said the surveillance footage looked more like the quartet were 'going on some trip like Hangover 4 to Africa' adding: 'This was a back-door deportation.' When he was arrested in Chicago, he told Deportation Officer Jeffrey Vanna took a 'Chinese bus' to the city after the cab dropped him at a friend's place in Harlem. He produced an Ohio ID bearing the name 'Antonio Lamont' and claimed to be from Ecuador 'in a thick African accent', Deportation Officer Benjamin Reynoso told the court. Michigan court records show Mbacke, who arrived in the United States legally in 2005 was given probation for concealed-weapons and open-container charges. He was still on probation when was convicted in 2013 on charges of carrying concealed weapons and possessing firearms as felon, and was sentenced to two years in prison on another plea deal. A judge ordered Mbacke to leave the country in 2015. Model Karlie Kloss has been berated by Instagram followers after urging them to call their senators to end Trump' zero tolerance immigration policy when she has a direct in with his son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner. On Wednesday morning, Kloss, who has been dating Kushner's Democrat brother Joshua for six years, took to social media to condemn the ongoing separation of migrant families at the border and implored her fans to take a stand against it. Sharing a photograph of the number for the US Senate, Kloss said 'no matter what side of the aisle' her fans were on, it was time for them to 'speak up'. 'Its heartbreaking to watch from halfway across the world what is happening in our own country. 'Its not the time to say "there are no words", there are many. Politicizing the lives of these defenseless children and ripping them from their parents is heartless. We have to be the voices for these kids, and I support anyone standing up to do right by them. Karlie Kloss posted this call to action on Instagram on Wednesday morning urging her 7.4million followers to complain about the zero tolerance immigration policy She then posted a video of herself calling the number herself to prove she stood with fans 'What can you do? Many things but FIRST, call your congressperson RIGHT NOW and support the bill, US - S 3036. 'No matter what side of the aisle you are on - speak up,' she said. She then shared video proof of her calling the number she had posted while sitting in a car. Many applauded her call to action but others were outraged by it given the close connection she has to the administration. 'What a joke. "Call your congressperson". How about "call your brother in law and buddy Ivanka?' said one critic. 'Tell your boyfriend's brother, genius,' said another. 'Dear Karlie, you can make a difference, just not on social media. 'Talk to the people in power, talk to the people at the WH, that's actually your family in law!' quipped another. The model's followers slammed her for asking them to call the Senate and instead asked her to take her gripes to her boyfriend's boyfriend, Jared Kushner Kloss has been dating Jared Kushner's brother Joshua (third from left) since 2012. They are shown above with Jared and Ivanka along with Wendy Deng, Rupert Murdoch's ex-wife (top left), Dasha Zhukova (second right), Roman Abramovich's ex-wife, at the 2016 US Open Karlie, Ivanka and Dasha share a joke at the 2016 US Open which was two months before Trump was elected Kloss and Kushner have spent the last week in Japan on a couple's trip where they celebrated his birthday. She uploaded this image to commemorate the occasion and called him her 'love and best friend' in the caption 'Can you have a word with Joshua Kushner or Jared? Maybe since you're good friends with Ivanka you can knock some sense into these barbaric acts,' was another comment. Kloss, 25, a former Victoria's Secret angel, has never made any attempt to present herself as a Republican or even a Trump supporter despite her boyfriend's connection to the First Family. She has posed for photographs with Jared and Ivanka in the past but is rigid in her self-portrayal as a Democrat. In the November 2016 election, she posted a photograph of herself in the polling booth with the hashtag 'I'm with her', the unanimous marker of support for Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton. She and Joshua both attended the Women's March in January 2017 which was a unified show of protest against Trump and his treatment of women, and they were both present at the March for Our Lives event in a show of defiance against his gun laws. The model has never been shy about her politics despite her close ties to the First Family. She is pictured at the March for Our Lives in March this year Kloss is shown voting for Hillary Clinton in November 2016. She uploaded the picture with the hashtag 'I'm with her' Joshua was also pictured at the Women's March in January 2017 as his brother celebrated his father-in-law's inauguration Joshua, who is a successful New York entrepreneur, admitted before the election that he would not be voting for Trump, his brother's boss. He has said little else of his stance but revealed in April that he and Jared speak 'every day' despite their political differences. 'Jared and I still speak every day,' he said simply when interviewed by Forbes. Kloss is the latest in a chorus of celebrities, public figures and politicians who have expressed disgust and outrage over the ongoing situation on the border. The issue has dominated headlines and conversations since heartbreaking images of toddlers being confronted by border agents after sneaking in to the country with their parents emerged last week. As a result of the zero tolerance policy, adults who are caught trying to sneak into the country are taken to detention centers to be processed. Kushner joined his older brother at the White House in January 2017, the day after the inauguration, to pose for this portrait beneath JFK's portrait Depending on which country they come from (Mexicans are ordinarily turned back directly to their home country), many have to wait weeks or months before they are sent home or prosecuted. Meanwhile, their children are taken to other camps to be held away from them. Arrangements are then made for them in their home country. Trump has defended the act by saying it is not his doing but that of Democrats whose laws he deemed 'cruel'. His representatives have since tried to argue that not everyone who comes to the border as an apparent family is in fact related and Conservative pundits have even gone as far as to label the screaming toddlers 'child actors'. Lloyds Banking Group today confirmed plans to cut 450 jobs, mainly affecting back-office roles. The lender added that it was also creating 255 new roles as part of its planned changes and, as a result, it would mean net job losses of 195 roles. Lloyds said it would try to redeploy affected staff where possible, and that the changes will help it 'adapt and evolve to support changes in customer behaviour'. Lloyds Banking Group has confirmed plans to cut 450 jobs, mainly affecting back-office roles A spokesman said branch closures were not on the cards and the decision was in line with its current strategy. They said: 'The group's policy is always to use natural turnover and to redeploy people wherever possible to retain their expertise and knowledge within the group. 'Since 2011, over 90 per cent of role reductions have been achieved through a combination of natural attrition, redeployment and voluntary redundancy. 'Where it is necessary for employees to leave the company, we will look to achieve this by offering voluntary redundancy. Compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort. 'Today's announcement involves making difficult decisions and we are committed to working through these changes in a careful and sensitive way.' Lloyds has said in recent months that is is overhauling its workforce and branch network The bank said it was all part of a 3billion investment aimed at 'new technology and people, equipping teams with the specific skills required to advise and support our customers.' It is the latest in a string of announcements from Lloyds that have seen the overhaul its workforce and branch network in recent months. Compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort Lloyds Banking Group spokesman In April, Lloyds announced it was slashing 1,230 jobs across its branch network and some central functions. The decision was part of plans to shut a further 49 branches across its Lloyds and Halifax brands between July and October this year. Lloyds said in April that it was creating 925 roles elsewhere in the business and was adding another seven mobile branches to its network to offset the closures. The lender last year confirmed would shut 100 branches with hundreds of jobs being impacted, while in February, it announced another 465 roles were being cut. Recent figures from consumer group Which? suggest around 60 bank branches are being closed every week, with RBS closing the doors to the highest number. The research by Which? revealed that 2,868 branches will have closed between 2015 and the end of this year. The consumer group called the trend 'alarming' and said many people were left without proper access to services, particularly those unable to access online services. Having been bailed out by the government during the financial crisis, the government sold its final stake in Lloyds in May last year. In April, the group announced it had enjoyed a 'strong start' to 2018, with profits for the first three months of the year jumping by nearly a quarter. Lloyds made pre-tax profits of 1.6billion in the first quarter, marking a 23 per cent increase on the same point a year earlier. The group said it had set aside 90million in costs for payment protection insurance mis-selling claims, taking its total bill for the saga to 18.8billion. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is considering a new policy that would require asylum seekers and other illegal immigrants and children traveling with them to take DNA tests to prove they're related. Sessions and other Trump administration officials have said one factor leading to the separation of 'family units' is an epidemic of adults crossing the border with children who aren't theirs, hoping to get preferential treatment in the asylum process. The pending idea of swabbing Central Americans' cheeks was revealed Monday night by Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, after interviewing the attorney general on his radio show. 'Sessions is talking to congressional members and is hoping for a legislative fix,' Perkins said in a statement to The Daily Caller. 'The AG wants an immigration policy that is just, fair and enforceable.' 'They,' he said, referring to Sessions and members of Congress, have 'talked about making sure that these really are the parents of these kids. They are looking at how to use DNA tests in the field to verify they are parents and not traffickers.' SAY WAAAAAAAH! Attorney General Jeff Sessions could soon be telling adults and childres crossing the U.S.-Mexico border together to take DNA tests to prove they're related Sessions has enforced a 'zero tolerance' policy on illegal immigration since April, insisting that every border-jumper must be criminally prosecuted even if it means taking their children to shelters The sight of mass-housing for children as young as infants, with no parents to be found, has driven national outrage from both sides of the political aisle; Sessions says some of the grown-ups are smugglers or other scammers who are using the children as props to gain preferential treatment One mother, a Guatemalan national named Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia, sued the Trump administration Tuesday for the return of her son Darwin; she was allowed to post bond and leave immigration detention pending an asylum hearing but the government won't tell her where the 7-year-old boy is 'The reality is if American parents put their kids through what these immigrant parents have done to their kids they would be charged with child abuse,' Perkins added. Sessions did not address the use of border-zone DNA tests during the radio interview. But he did say that 'we know for a fact that many adults taking children along are not related to them. [They] could be smugglers. They could be human traffickers.' Evangalical Christian leader Tony Perkins interviewed Sessions on the radio on Tuesday and later said the AG is talking with members of Congress about the DNA tests He complained that U.S. immigration policy has 'so many holes in it that it's like swiss cheese, really. People are taking advantage of the system.' Sessions said the number of family units crossing the border together has grown from 14,000 in 2013 to 75,000 last year. 'It became well-known that if you came with a child, an adult with a child, you weren't going to be deported or prosecuted. This has created a massive loophole for us,' he explained. 'They were getting into the country ... [and] released and asked to come back to court. And some come back to court, and some don't come back to court.' Sessions implemented a 'zero tolerance' policy in April, demanding arrests and prosecutions of the adults. Past federal court decisions force the administration Purported parents are split apart from the minors at the border and housed separately while their prosecutions wend their way through the courts. 'The children have to be held in a different place than a detention center the adults will be in, pending adjudication,' he said. One of those adults, a Guatemalan woman who claimed asylum after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, insisting ona reunion with the 7-year-old don who was taken from her and whose location the government won't disclose to her. The Trump administration is taking illegal immigrant children away from the adults who are apprehended sneaking them across the border, and putting them in shelters, as part of a 'zero tolerance' interpretation of federal law President Donald Trump said Tuesday during a free-wheeling speech in Washington that he's not happy with the status quo but also is unwilling to bend unless Congress changes the law. That's an outcome that White House officials say would have to come along with funding for his long-promised border wall. 'I don't want children taken away from parents. And when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away,' Trump said. 'Now, we don't have to prosecute them. But then we're not prosecuting them for coming in illegally. That's not good.' 'We want a country with heart,' Trump said. 'But when people come up, they have to know they're not going to get in. Otherwise it will never stop.' Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen told reporters Monday at the White House that about 2,000 of the 12,000 children in the care of Health and Human Services Department caseworkers entered the United States with one or more grown-ups. Sessions has become the administration's designated whipping boy on family separations as the practice generates dramatic outrage on both sides of the political aisle. He tried Monday night to explain the Trump administration's policy, reacting to Democratic lawmakers and former government officials who invoked Nazi Germany to condemn it. 'It's a real exaggeration. In Nazi Germany they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country, but this is a serious matter,' Sessions told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein had told an MSNBC audience that 'this is the United States of Germ I mean, United States of America. It isn't Nazi Germany, and there's a difference. And we don't take children from their parents. Until now.' And former CIA director Michael Hayden defended his choice of a photo of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp on Twitter to describe what's happening at the U.S. border. 'I walked down that railroad siding where the families were separated, and that's why used that picture,' he said on CNN's 'New Day' program. 'Look, I know were not Nazi Germany. All right? But there is a commonality there.' The Justice Department hasn't confirmed the report that DNA tests are under consideration and there is no estimate of what it would cost taxpayers Ingraham drew fire Monday night for downplaying images of the stark conditions inside shelters that the Department of Health and Human Services has set up for children. 'As more illegal immigrants are rushing the border, more kids are being separated from their parents,' she said, 'and temporarily housed at what are, essentially, summer camps.' Sessions insisted Monday night that 'fundamentally, we are enforcing the law.' A legal settlement dating to 1993, known as the 'Flores consent decree,' prohibits the federal government from housing children in immigration jails along with their parents and limits the length of time authorities can hold those who are underage. A defiant Nielsen claimed Monday that former presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama engaged in the same practices that have led to media and public outrage. 'They absolutely did. They did. Their rate was less than ours, but they absolutely did do this. This is not new,' she said. They separated families.' She, like Sessions, said that the border crisis is fueled in part by men and women making fake asylum claims with children who aren't theirs. 'From October 2017 to this February, we have seen a staggering 315 per cent increase in illegal aliens fraudulently using children to pose as family units to gain entry into the country,' she told the annual National Association of Sheriffs meeting in New Orleans. 'This must stop. All this does is put the children at risk.' White House spokeswoman Mercedes Schlapp added in a Fox News Channel interview that one example of a fraudster was 'an MS-13 gang member walking in with a one-year-old.' Ollie Hall volunteered to fight Islamic State in Syria but was killed sweeping for explosives A British hero who volunteered to fight Islamic State in Syria after being incensed by terror attacks in Britain was today praised at an inquest into his death for his 'courage and self-sacrifice'. Ollie Hall, 24, who was killed sweeping for explosives, had been angered by the Manchester terrorist attack, inspiring him to join Kurdish fighters in Syria. The telecoms engineer left for Iraq via Germany on August 18 last year and met up with the Kurdistan People's Protection Units, the inquest in Portsmouth heard. Mr Hall attended its training academy in Rojava, Syria, for five weeks before working to clear mines and explosives in Raqqa, where he died on November 25. His mother Jane Lyndon said her son had not told her of his plans until he had arrived in the Middle East. She said that on the day he left, he gave her 20 to pay for a taxi to get home from work. Mr Hall volunteered to fight ISIS in Syria after being incensed by terror attacks in Britain Mr Hall (pictured far left) joined Kurdish fighters in Syria following terror attacks in Britain 'He said "I love you Mum" and I said "I love you", and that was the last time I saw him,' she said. Describing him as having a strong personality, she said he was angered by terrorist attacks in the UK and Europe and his belief the Government was not taking action. She said: 'I knew he was mad about them but we had no idea he felt so strongly.' Mrs Lyndon, a nurse, said she had been told he went into a house in Raqqa to check after an elderly man and his daughter had been concerned about booby trap bombs. Mr Hall (front left, with a hat) was described by his mother as having a strong personality Mr Hall (right in right photo) died of trauma injuries likely to have been caused by two bombs Mrs Lyndon said another volunteer told her 'he and Ollie were going through the house, they kept saying to each other 'Look out, look out' and two minutes later there was an explosion, he shouted out 'Oliver, Oliver' but there was no sound'. An outstanding example of courage and self-sacrifice to whoever hears his story Coroner David Horsley Friend Jonathon Duncan said Mr Hall had been planning to go to Syria for about six months and had given up smoking and drinking and got fit before leaving. He said recent terrorist attacks in the UK had inspired him to volunteer and added: 'The one in Manchester was a bit too close to home. Europe is close but as soon as as the attacks came over here, if anyone isn't going to do anything we have to do it ourselves.' Pathologist Brett Lockyer said Mr Hall, who was from Portsmouth, died of multiple trauma injuries likely to have been caused by two bombs. Mr Hall joined up with the Kurdistan People's Protection Units, who issued this pictured after his death. He had only been in Syria for about four months when he died Destroyed buildings in February in Raqqa, the Syrian city where Mr Hall died on November 25 Coroner David Horsley recorded a narrative verdict saying Mr Hall died 'on active service with Kurdish forces. He gave his life to protect the safety of others'. He added: 'He was someone who felt deeply about the world and its problems and resolved to do something about it himself to bring an end to terrorism and repression. 'So deep was his commitment that he gave up the secure and comfortable life in his family home. 'His actions have made him a hero in the Kurdish community. He also should be an outstanding example of courage and self-sacrifice to whoever hears his story.' Sean Spicer is being trolled on Instagram for posting decadent photos of a giant bottle of champagne - while protesters nearby played distressing recordings of young immigrant children crying for their parents. The former White House press secretary was attending a fundraiser, by pro-Trump America First PAC, at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, on Tuesday. Spicer posted photos of himself mingling with celebrities at the glamorous event - which cost at least $100,000 a ticket - before sharing a photo of two staff members holding a huge bottle of Veuve Clicquot - worth an estimated $1,500. 'If you are having champagne @trumphotels make sure you have enough for everyone,' he captioned the photo on Instagram. Sean Spicer is being trolled on Instagram for posting decadent photos of himself with a giant bottle of champagne and the caption: 'If you are having champagne @trumphotels make sure you have enough for everyone' The post has been slammed by critics as 'out of touch' and 'tone deaf' But the post has been slammed by critics as 'out of touch', 'tone deaf' and even led to comparisons of Spicer to Marie Antoinette who famously announced to the starving French poor who ran out of bread, 'let them eat cake!' Because as Spicer schmoozed with wealthy Republicans and sporting stars inside the luxury venue, outside protesters had gathered to demonstrate against the administration's zero tolerance policy on immigration - criminally prosecuting migrants who cross the US-Mexico border and separating them from their children. The policy has seen more than 2,000 children ripped from their parents since it was introduced in April. American Bridge, a liberal super PAC, played audio, first obtained by ProPublica, of migrant children being ripped apart from their families. Spicer posted photos of himself mingling with celebrities at the glamorous event (pictured with former boxer Evander Holyfield) Spicer also shared a photo of himself during a discussion on media at the event The distressing recording captures children, who can be as young as 18 months when taken from their parents, crying and calling out for their 'mama' and 'pappa'. 'Tonight, we make sure that @realDonaldTrump and his rich cronies hear the impact of his cruel, heartless policies,' the group tweeted before the event. They later posted video of guests walking past the speakers as they entered the fundraiser. The stark contrast between the protesters fighting for poor migrant families, and Spicer's luxury bottle of champagne, enraged many on Instragram who accused Spicer of being 'either the most tone deaf individual in the world or the most heartless.' American Bridge, a liberal super PAC, played audio, first obtained by ProPublica, of migrant children being ripped apart from their families 'Did you walk past the speaker blaring the sounds of the children in cages crying for their parents on your way in? What a horrifying, hateful person you are. The shame of this will haunt you all for the rest of your lives,' one Instagram user wrote. 'A classy juxtaposition to babies crying because they were torn from the arms of their mothers. This administration has no decency,' Gene Keenan added. 'CHILDREN are in TRUMP CONCENTRATION CAMPS. but cheers, you heartless excuse for a human,' another commenter wrote. Jake Walker demanded to know: 'Are you celebrating the opening of Trumps fourth baby prison? Monsters.' 'Wow. Uncaring. Tone deaf. I thought Catholics cared about social justice??' Jane Gibbs added. 'ARE YOU SERIOUS??!!?!??? asked another, 'Spicer, You put Marie Antoinette to shame.' Spicer has since responded to the criticism, tweeting that he was actually taking a photo of a bottle of champagne that another table had ordered. He did not address his glib caption Spicer has since responded to the criticism, tweeting that he was actually taking a photo of a bottle of champagne that another table had ordered. He did not address his glib caption. Trump was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the America First Action fundraiser where donors paid $100,000 for general admission tickets and $250,000 for VIP tickets. Other guests included Donald Trump Jr., Sens. Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Spicer, who stepped down from his role as press secretary after multiple missteps last July, is not the only politician to face heat over Trump's immigration policy. Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was also heckled by protesters after she dined at a Mexican restaurant in DC on Tuesday. A Republican congressman made the bombshell charge that there is 'growing evidence' the FBI secretly altered witness reports in their investigations into Hillary Clinton's email server and Russia's role in the 2016 election. Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus and leading voice for the right in the House of Representatives, asked Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to investigate the witness forms, known as 302s, that are used by the FBI to record activity in their investigations. During Tuesday's joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, Meadows alleged the FBI may have changed the forms used to record witness interviews. Rep. Mark Meadows charged there is 'growing evidence' the FBI secretly altered witness reports in their investigations into Clinton's email server and Russia's role in the 2016 election Inspector General Michael Horowitz said his team is following-up on the reports 'There is growing evidence that 302s were edited and changed and it gets back to those particular interview sessions and those 302s. It is suggested that they were either changed to prosecute or not prosecute individuals. And that is very troubling,' Meadows told Horowitz. Horowitz suggested the inspector general's office were already looking into the matter, saying his team is following up on that. 'We have been getting those kinds of referrals and as often happens when we issue reports like this, we get other information coming to us. We are intending to follow-up on that,' he said. Meadows also went back to one of his Republican colleague's questions and asked why the FBI didn't record their interviews with key witnesses which Horowitz said was standard procedure. Republicans spent most of Tuesday's hearing, which lasted about seven hours, digging into the reports details to question Horowitz on whether or not actions taken by the FBI were political in nature. On Thursday, Horowitz's office released a scathing report that documented FBI officials' mishandling of the Clinton investigation. It also contained transcripts of several text messages that FBI officials and attorneys sent criticizing President Donald Trump. But while the report criticized the FBI's handling of the investigation it noted the actions were not politically motivated. Meadows told reporters after the hearing that he has seen evidence that the 302s filled out during the Clinton and Russia investigations have been changed. He also said he has 'more information' about the alleged alterations but, thus far, has not provided any details. His office did not respond to the DailyMail.com's request for more information on the allegations. Tuesday marked the second day Horowitz went before lawmakers on Capitol Hill to address his report. Reporter Sara Carter, a Fox News contributor, had first brought up altered 302s during her appearance with host Sean Hannity in January, The Hill newspaper noted. 'There are indicators right now that [FBI Deputy Director Andrew] McCabe may have asked FBI agents to actually change their 302s. Those are interviews with witnesses. So basically, every time an FBI agent interviews a witness they have to go back and file that report,' Carter told Hannity. Four British tourists have been arrested after getting into a vicious punch-up in the middle of the road in Ibiza. The brawl started inside a taxi just outside the party resort of San Antonio around 7am on Wednesday before spilling out on to a roundabout. A passing driver filmed two of the men hitting each other in the face as a friends tried to separate them. Four British tourists have been arrested after the group was filmed getting into a vicious fist-fight in the middle of the road near the party resort of San Antonio One of the men involved - wearing beige shorts and a grey top - can be seen jumping out of the taxi and hitting a second man in black shorts and a black T-shirt. The pair continue their fight as they move towards the roundabout and cars toot their horns as they swerve to avoid them. The man in black ends up getting the better of his opponent and pushing him back onto the taxi bonnet as he tries to throttle him. The last of the four men to leave the taxi can be seen weighing in and putting his left hand around the throat of the tourist sprawled out on the car. He then appears to try to separate the brawling pair as the motorist filming the fight eases past them towards the roundabout. The brawl started inside a cab around 7am on Wednesday before spilling outside, where two of the men can be seen throwing punches at each-other A spokesman for Ibiza Council confirmed the four men were British and two had been arrested at the scene by local police. Two others fled the scene and were also arrested after tracked to the apartment where they were staying. The spokesman said: 'Local police in Ibiza have arrested four British tourists involved in a fight that began inside the taxi near the Sa Blanca Dona roundabout. 'The taxi driver phoned the emergency services when the fight began. 'Local police arrested two of the Brits on arrival and two fled the scene. One of them was subsequently arrested in the Ses Figueretes beach area and the other at the apartments where they were staying. Police said two of the men were arrested at the scene while another two fled and were arrested later at the apartment where they were staying 'The taxi driver informed the police about damage to the inside of his vehicle which will now have to be assessed. 'Five local police officers participated in the incident. 'The four detainees have been taken to a National Police station in Ibiza town.' The council spokesman was not able to offer any information on why the fight started or whether the men were under the influence of drink and drugs. The unnamed Brits are expected to be hauled before an investigating judge shortly so they can be quizzed in a closed court hearing. Fugitive caught: Julio Anaya, 47, is being held on 15 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child and an additional count of failure to appear while on bail after spending 18 years on the run A fugitive charged with molesting five girls in California, some as young as six years old, has been captured in Maryland after 19 years on the lam. Julio Alberto Anaya, 47, was located in Maryland earlier this month and arrested by the Anna Arundel County Police on a warrant from Ventura County, California. On Monday, Anaya was extradited back to California and booked into the county jail on 15 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child and an additional count of failure to appear while on bail. In December 1999, Anaya, then aged 29, was arrested for allegedly molesting five girls ranging in age from six to 11 years old following a five-month investigation conducted by detectives with the Thousand Oaks Investigations Bureau Major Crimes. In April 2000, Anaya was released from jail after posting $250,000 bail. He was due back in Ventura Superior Court a month later, but failed to appear, prompting a judge to issue an arrest warrant for him in the amount of $500,000. The trail for Anaya had gone cold until last month, when police in Thousand Oaks learned that the fugitive had fled the country after skipping bail and returned to his native El Salvador, but had returned to the US several years ago and was now living in Maryland under an alias and a different date of birth. From coast to coast: Anaya, then aged 29, was initially arrested in 1999 for allegedly molesting five girls between ages 6 and 11 in Thousand Oaks, California. He was arrested on June 8 in Severn, Maryland, where he had been living under an alias On June 8, Thousand Oaks detectives reached out to their counterparts at the Anne Arundel County Police Department in Maryland and provided them with information about Anaya. The local police staked out a residence in Severn, Maryland, positively identified the suspect as the California fugitive and arrested him, before handing him over to the Ventura County Sheriffs Office. Anaya is currently being held without bail pending his next court appearance scheduled for July 3. President Trump ratcheted up his attacks Wednesday on Democrats opposing his immigration agenda as the opposing party pummeled his administration as cruel and inhumane for splitting families up at the border. Trump said in a tweet that Democrats 'want open borders which means crime' as he saddled them with the burden of changing America's immigration laws, which he said are the 'weakest and worst anywhere in the world.' He said in another that he is 'working on something' pertaining to immigration without saying what it is. The president signaled this morning that he would not back down from his administration's position on family separation, putting lawmakers in the hot seat to make changes to the legal system in order to address the crisis. President Trump ratcheted up his attacks Wednesday on Democrats opposing his immigration agenda as they continued to pummel him as cruel and inhumane for splitting families up at the border. Immigration reform legislation was no closer on Wednesday to gaining majority support in the House, however, even after a closed-door session between Republicans and the president. GOP leaders were looking at two pieces of legislation that would fund the president's border wall, one of which also takes steps to end family separation for Central American migrants. Conservative lawmakers were also crafting a 'back-up' bill that they hoped to sub in if the other two fail. Their bill sets aside most of Trump's other immigration priorities and deals solely with the detention of children coming across the border in family units. Trump said in a speech Tuesday that he supports a 'third option' and even claimed credit for it. In morning tweets in which Trump insisted that Democrats are to blame for family separation because they will not bend to his will, he alluded to the measure again as he said he was 'working on something' that he suggested would change the conversation. 'Its the Democrats fault, they wont give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation,' he said. 'They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something - it never ends!' Coming out of the meeting with GOP lawmakers, the White House said that Trump was '100 percent' behind the two bills House leadership plans to bring up for a vote. Trump reportedly did not talk to lawmakers at all about family separation. Immigration reform legislation was no closer on Wednesday to gaining majority support in the House, however, even after a closed-door session between Republicans and the president At a news conference on Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan refused to entertain questions about stand-alone bills that narrowly deal with the issue of young children being detained in cages and tents while their parents await prosecution for the crime of unlawfully entering the country. 'We're trying to pass this legislation right now. This is very good compromise legislation,' Ryan told reporters. It solves the border crisis, he claimed, and stabilizes the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA. 'And then when other situations arise, whatever the circumstances are, we'll cross this bridge when it comes to it,' he asserted. Ryan rejected Democrats' allegations that the GOP is using the immigrant children as bargaining chips to get more of the president's immigration priorities passed. 'That's a ridiculous assertion,' Ryan said as he stormed out, having already deemed it the last question. Democrats have pummeled the GOP for coupling family separation - a policy introduced in April by the Trump administration - with comprehensive immigration reform. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a Tuesday email to members, 'There is no universe in which forcibly separating now thousands of young children from their parents is acceptable. The practice is an abomination. Its not part of any solution to fix our immigration system.' Van Hollen said he spent his Fathers Day visiting immigrant detention centers on the border and 'there is no doubt that the Trump administrations family separation policy is cruel and inhumane.' 'In McAllen, Texas, I saw a facility people called the dog kennel which housed children separated from their mothers and fathers lumped into holding pens made of chain-link fence. It was a disturbing and shameful scene that should have no place in America,' the Maryland Democrat wrote. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi similarly wrote in an email on behalf of the lower chamber's campaign arm: 'I have never been more horrified by this President. His choice to separate immigrant children from their mothers at our border is heartless. Its cruel. Its immoral. And -- its all for political leverage.' House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul, a Texas Republican, admitted to Fox News on Tuesday after the meeting with the president that family separation was a policy of this president. 'The parents are now being prosecuted but we would like to see the family stay together and not separated,'he said. 'But I think most importantly from my position as the chairman of homeland security is to have a border security bill passed.' Unless Congress acts, he said, smugglers and traffickers will continue to sell entry to the United States for for $6,000 a person. 'We will never stop this problem until we dry up the deterrent issue and the legal loopholes that existed currently,' he stated. President Trump suggested Tuesday that he could cut down on unlawful migration by ending aid to the Central American countries that he claimed are 'sending'migrants to the U.S. Trump said he'd be asking for authorization to end assistance to the region that includes Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. 'We're not going to give any more aid to those countries,' he asserted during a Washington, D.C. speech to the National Federation of Independent Business. 'Why the hell should we?' The president told attendees of the conference, 'I don't want children taken away from parents. And when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away.' 'Now, we don't have to prosecute them. But then we're not prosecuting them for coming in illegally. That's not good,' he added. The president said then that he'd be championing legislation to make sure that families that are flooding the border from Central America are not being separated as he lit into lawyers for migrants and judges he claimed are abusing the system. 'We want a great country. We want a country with heart,' Trump said. 'But when people come up, they have to know they're not going to get in. Otherwise it will never stop.' The president said he doesn't like that children are being separated from their legal guardians- even though it's a policy that was implemented by his administration. 'We can't let people pour in. They've gotta go through the process,' he stated. 'And maybe it's politically correct or maybe it's not - we've gotta stop separation of the families.' Standing his ground, Trump said, 'But politically correct or not, we have to be a country that needs security, that needs safety, that has to be protected.' 'And remember, these countries that we give tremendous foreign aid to in many cases, they send these people up, and they're not sending their finest,' he claimed. 'Does that sound familiar? Remember, I made that speech and I was badly criticized....Turned out I was 100 percent right. That's why I got elected.' Trump was referring to his 2015 announcement that he would be seeking the Oval Office. In the speech he referred to illegal immigrants as rapists and criminals. Revisiting the charge on Tuesday, Trump said that many immigrants who come to the U.S. illegally will never appear at their court dates. 'If they're good, that's great. And if they're bad, you'll have killings, you'll have murders, you'll have this, you'll have that, you'll have crime.' The president rejected Democratic demands that the country hire more judges to adjudicate the cases of legitimate asylum seekers faster as part of the solution. 'I don't want to try people. I don't want people coming in,' he asserted. Trump said the ease of entry has led to a 1,700 percent increase in asylum claims. 'They game the system. They game it. It's so easy for them. They're smart. They didn't go to the Wharton School of Finance,' he said, name-checking his alma mater, 'but you know what. They're really smart.' Trump pounded Democrats for refusing to back his immigration agenda, which he said earlier in the day was allowing violent criminals 'to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13,' a violent illegal immigrant gang. 'They don't want to give it, because Democrats love open borders. Let the whole world come in. Let the whole world. MS-13 gang members from all over the place, come on in -- we have open borders,' he said. 'And they view that possibly intelligently, except that it's destroying our country. They view that as potential voters. Someday they're going to vote for Democrats. Because they can't win on their policies, which are horrible. They found that out in the last presidential election.' Immigrant children are led by staff in single file between tents at a detention facility next to the Mexican border in Tornillo, Texas A view from Mexico of the US Customs and Boarder Protection is housing underage people caught illegally entering the United States at the Tornillo Port of Entry in Guadalupe Bravos US Border Patrol agents patrol the bed of the Rio Grand in front of where the US Customs and Boarder Protection is housing underage people Locals walk along the Mexico side of the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana A remark on Tuesday about crime-committing illegals that 'infest' the U.S. immediately stoked controversy, with the president's detractors saying the blanket description was not only wrong but inhumane. Another incident earlier this year caused outrage when the president called gangster immigrants 'animals' in another statement his critics cast as incendiary. Monday in unscripted remarks Trump said that he's implementing strict immigration policies because he doesn't want the United States to end up like Europe. 'The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. Won't be,' he charged in fiery remarks at a White House event. 'You look at what's happening in Europe. You look at what's happening in other places. We can't allow that to happen to the United States. Not on my watch.' The White House has spent the past week fighting with Democrats accusing theTrump administration of exploiting migrant families instead of taking an expected post-Singapore Kim summit victory lap. Each side has condemned the other for using children as 'pawns' in a raging illegal immigration debate. Trump suggested the United States' could bolster its credentials as leader of the free world by passing merit-based immigration laws that put a premium on high-skilled workers and lock down America's porous borders 'The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. Won't be,' he charged later in fiery remarks at a White House event. A rotating cast of Trump administration officials appeared on national news networks to buttress the president's arguments and assail Democrats using family separation as a cudgel against the Republicans' in their war over illegal immigration. Hogan Gidley, a deputy spokesman for the president, appeared on Fox News and asserted that Democrats are 'playing politics with people's lives. They're doing it on the backs of children. It's absolutely grotesque.' 'All they want to do is go down and grandstand and try to use this to political gain to try and get reelected in a few years, and it's grotesque,' he told reporters as he walked back inside the White House to his office. 'We can fix it right now, we can protect our citizens, but more important protect all the children around the world who are trying to come here.' The Trump spokesman claimed that migrant families 'separate themselves a lot of times,' sending their children with coyotes promising to bring them across the border for a hefty price. 'It's a deplorable situation, we've gotta fix it. And Congress could do it tomorrow, if you close the loopholes, the situation's solved,' Gidley stated. The president's pitch: ''This could really be something very special. It could be something. Maybe even for the world to watch. Just like they're watching our great economy, how it's soaring, they could watch this' A view of inside U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention facility shows detainees inside fenced areas at Rio Grande Valley Centralized Processing Center in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., June 17, 2018. Picture taken on June 17, 2018 Immigrants wait to head to a Catholic Charities relief center after being dropped off at a bus station shortly after release from detention through "catch and release" immigration policy on June 17, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. The man said he was separated from his son while in detention. "Catch and release" is a protocol under which people detained by US authorities as unlawful immigrants can be released while they wait for a hearing White House Director of Strategic of Communications Mercede Schlapp said on Fox that Democrats are 'using children as political pawns' and are essentially 'advocating for the smugglers who are bringing these children over' the border. 'We have our hands tied and the smugglers have the advantage,' she said, insisting that MS-13 gang members are bringing over small children as leverage. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says Democrats bludgeoning the administration for its 'zero tolerance' policy at the border are acting 'cowardly' and could change federal immigration law if they wanted to. Nielsen stood at the White House podium on Monday and argued that DHS was just doing its job in enforcing a Trump administration policy that has led more than 2,000 children to be separated from their parents or guardians in the last six weeks. 'If an American were to commit a crime anywhere in the United States,' she told a room full of reporters, 'they would go to jail and they would be separated from their family.' Nielsen said, 'This is not a controversial idea.' When asked by reporters if the policy amounts to 'child abuse', Nielsen denied the accusation. 'We have high standards. We give them meals and we give them education and we give them medical care. There are videos, there are TVs. I visited the detention centers myself.' Immigrants are dropped off at a bus station shortly after being released from detention through "catch and release" immigration policy on June 17, 2018 in McAllen, Texas A water main broke on Tuesday creating massive flooding in the convention center at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas leaving the venue's floor completely covered in water. The Clark County Fire Department said the flooding was reported around 4.30pm after the broken water main dumped thousands of gallons of water onto the first floor of the convention center. About 1,000 people, who were attending a conference on fraud, had to be moved from the second floor of the center to a different area of the resort. Some people were also moved outside onto the Vegas strip. Scroll for more video Evacuation of 2nd floor of Mandalay Bay Convention Center after flooding. This video courtesy @scottzamost pic.twitter.com/dCUS8zAsMv Nathan O'Neal (@nateoneal) June 20, 2018 First floor of the Mandalay Bay convention center is seen completely doused in thousands of gallons of water after a water main burst between the first and second floors Water was completely covering the first floor off the escalator at the Mandalay Bay Tuesday A maintenance person surveys the damage after the water main burst caused massive flooding The water rushing onto the floor was originally thought to have come from inside the Shark Reef Aquarium attraction (pictured) but it was debunked as a water main The leak was stopped and secured, before electrical power was returned to the area. No one was injured in the incident, and fire officials said there was no structural damage to the building, however the first floor ceiling did sustain damage. The break occurred between the first and second floor in the area of the center's loading dock. The leak was thought to have originated at the Shark Reef Aquarium attraction after officials found water pouring from near the shark's aquarium tank, but thankfully that was not the case and the marine life was unaffected. Brian Ahern, an MGM Resorts International spokesman told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the leak did not disrupt operations. The Clark County Fire Department responded to the water main break in the loading dock area of the convention center The water main burst comes just eight months after a gunman killed 58 people by firing from inside the hotel onto a crowd at a concert below Mandalay Bay Resort tweeted a statement about the incident Tuesday night: 'A water leak at Mandalay Bay has affected a portion of the South Convention Center. 'Crews are working to clean up the leak as soon as possible.' The burst comes eight months after gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire from the Mandalay Bay hotel into a crowd below at an outdoor concert, killing 58 people. Police in Tennessee have arrested Nashville Predators forward Austin Watson on a charge of domestic assault. Franklin Police Lt. Charles Warner says the 26-year-old Watson was arrested Saturday evening. Warner says Watson has been released from jail on $4,500 bond and is due in court June 28. No further information was immediately available. Scroll down for video Austin Watson took part in the Predators' 'Unsilence the Violence' campaign (left) before being arrested for domestic assault in Franklin, Tennessee on Saturday evening The 26-year-old Watson is a former first-round draft pick who scored a career-high 14 goals and had five assists in 76 games during the 2017-18 regular season According to the affidavit, a Franklin police officer was flagged down by a witness who described a possible domestic violence situation at a nearby Shell Station. The responding officer noticed a vehicle some shoving between the driver and passenger in the front seat. "The passenger said 'stop' and was trying to cover her face, the affidavit read, according to the Tennessean. The driver, later identified as Watson, said he was arguing with his girlfriend, the passenger, over her drinking. The two were unable to attend a wedding, according to the affidavit, and that factored into the argument somehow. Watson did tell the officer he pushed his girlfriend and the officer did notice a red mark on her chest, prompting Watsons arrest. The Predators issued a statement saying they 'are still gathering facts and it's not appropriate for us to comment further at this time.' Team officials also noted that 'this is a matter that we are taking very seriously and we will cooperate fully with the investigation by law enforcement.' Watson is a former first-round draft pick who scored a career-high 14 goals and had five assists in 76 games during the 2017-18 regular season. He had five goals and three assists in 13 playoff games. Watson has 23 goals and 24 assists in 216 career regular-season games, all with the Predators. Watson had previously teamed with Predators players like P.K. Subban and Mike Fisher on a public-awareness campaign titled 'Unsilence the Violence.' The effort was in conjunction with the Nashville Predators Foundation's $500,000 pledge to help fight domestic violence. Reverend Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy - aka 'Woodbine Willie' (above) - braved the frontline in the First World War to provide spiritual succour, and cigarettes - to sick and dying soldiers Many a tale has been told of 'Woodbine Willie' - the legendary First World War British Army chaplain who risked his life tending to sick and dying soldiers on the frontline, while giving them cigarettes and spiritual guidance. But now, research claims he returned home penniless after spending his entire wartime wages on such cigarettes. 'Woodbine Willie', the nickname of Reverend Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, spent the equivalent of more than 43,000 on nearly one million Woodbines for the Allied forces, according to a new book. Woodbines, which were strong and unfiltered, were not widely available on the Western Front and were considered as gold dust in the trenches. Historians have long known that Studdert Kennedy 'administered' his own cigarettes to men on the frontline to boost morale. Records also show that he regularly ventured - unarmed - into No Man's Land, often under heavy machine gun and artillery fire, to give dying troops one final 'gasper'. Scroll down for video New research claims that Studdert Kennedy (left) returned home penniless after spending his entire wartime wages on such cigarettes, known as 'one last gasper', for troops who were injured or near death. Woodbines, which were strong and unfiltered, were not widely available on the Western Front and were considered as gold dust in the trenches His selfless bravery, particularly at the Battle of Messines (file photo above, in 1917), earned him a Military Cross from King George V and the affectionate, lasting nickname, 'Woodbine Willie' Biographer Dr Linda Parker spent five years researching Studdert Kennedy's life and estimates he gave away a staggering 865,000 cigarettes at his own expense. Over the course of nearly three years, between December 1915 and September 1918, Studdert Kennedy spent 43,249 - every spare penny of his Ministry of Defence salary, she believes Clutching his Bible for protection, the 'Battlefield Saint' would whisper the Lord's Prayer and hold their hands until the end. His selfless bravery, particularly at the Battle of Messines, earned him a Military Cross from King George V and the affectionate, lasting nickname, 'Woodbine Willie'. But nobody has ever attempted to calculate the full extent of his generosity until now. Biographer Dr Linda Parker spent five years researching Studdert Kennedy's life and estimates he gave away a staggering 865,000 cigarettes at his own expense. Over the course of nearly three years, between December 1915 and September 1918, Studdert Kennedy spent 43,249 - every spare penny of his Ministry of Defence salary, she believes. Dr Parker, the author of A Seeker After Truths: The Life and Times of G. A. Studdert Kennedy ('Woodbine Willie') 1883-1929, said he sacrificed his own family's financial future to safeguard the emotional wellbeing of the men in his care. 'Woodbine Willie', the battlefield saint Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy was born in 1883 and died in 1929 aged just 45 His surname, Studdert Kennedy, was unusual in that it was double-barrelled but contained no hyphen He spent a total of just over three years in the Army - 13 months on the frontlines at the Somme, Messines, Ypres and the Battle of the Canal du Nord on the Hindenburg Line, where he was gassed and subsequently sent home, being in Worcester on the day of the Armistice He was stationed with the 7th Division, 46th Division, 24th Division and 42nd Division, serving as their chaplain and counsellor His annual Ministry of Defence salary equated to approximately 16,000 in today's money. In total, he earned a fraction over 44,000 whilst overseas. After giving his wife, Emily Catlow, her annual living expenses, he would have been left with a disposable income of 43,249 whilst on the Western Front He is likely to have met well in excess of 830,000 Allied soldiers in France. The smoking rate among troops was sky high - 96 per cent - which means he is likely to have given at least one Woodbine to 799,000 men. Given his total disposal income, however, Studdert Kenendy could have bought 864,980 Woodbines at a cost of 1d per pack of five. Dr Parker believes that he could have given away more by using his own personal supply After the Great War, Studdert Kennedy became a committed pacifist, social reformist, bestselling author, and poet. He was also given the role of personal Chaplain to King George V Studdert Kennedy's funeral took place at St Paul's Church, Worcester. King George V sent a telegram of condolence; ex-servicemen sent a wreath with a packet of Woodbines at the centre; 100 unemployed men marched from the Labour Exchange to Worcester Cathedral to pay their respects; and 1,700 people filed past his coffin. In a 1962 BBC interview, uncovered by historian Dr Linda Parker this week, Studdert Kennedy's late brother Gerald says: 'My father's parish was one of the dirtiest and worst slums in east Leeds. And it was there that Geoff's intense sympathy was touched. He knew poor people and entered into their sorrows with great vividness and it was this which made him so powerful in his influence upon the poorest and the most despised people. They followed him and loved him.' Advertisement 'Studdert Kennedy was one of the First World War's true heroes - a courageous and selfless Christian who gave away everything he had for the benefit of others,' Dr Parker said. 'With the exception of his family's annual living expenses, he spent the rest of his salary - his family's entire income, really - on the men he took under his spiritual wing.' Studdert Kenendy's grandson, The Reverend Canon Andrew Studdert-Kennedy, Team Rector in Marlborough, Wiltshire, and an Honorary Chaplain to the Queen (QHC), agrees with Parker's findings. He said: 'Anecdotes about my grandfather's generosity are part of the annals of history. 'My grandmother allegedly came home one day to find him dragging their mattress downstairs to give to someone in need, and another time he gave his coat away.' Andrew added: 'With this in mind, I've no doubt whatsoever that he did everything within his financial means to help those men on the frontline.' Studdert Kennedy was born in Leeds in 1883 and served as a vicar in a poor parish in Worcester. When Britain declared war on Germany, he encouraged his parishioners to join the Army and himself enlisted as a Temporary Chaplain to the Forces (TCF). In December 1915, he was stationed at a railway station in Rouen, France, where he held communion with the troops, penned letters for the illiterate, and prayed with and for young soldiers. When they left for the frontline, he gave them copies of the New Testament and, to the 96 per cent of soldiers who smoked, one or more Woodbine cigarettes. Troops were issued with two ounces of cheap rolling tobacco with their rations, but supply was irregular. While ready-rolled cigarettes like Woodbines were sometimes available from The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI), they were expensive and highly prized among the working classes. News of Studdert Kennedy's kindness and generosity spread, and by early 1916 he was widely known as 'Woodbine Willie'. He was later posted to infantry schools and to military camps where he would give morale-boosting sermons to up to 100,000 men. But his fame spread - in the Army and at home - when he was sent to the blood-soaked trenches of the Somme, Ypres and Messines. The Killed in Action (KIA) rate is believed to have been as high as 17.5 per cent - an average of 1,575 Allied deaths per day. Thousands more were seriously injured. He routinely prayed with dying soldiers on the frontline and was awarded the Military Cross after running through 'murderous machine gun-fire' at Messines Ridge to deliver morphine to men screaming in agony in No Man's Land - a role he was not expected to do or paid for. Studdert Kennedy spent a total of just over three years in the Army - 13 months on the frontlines at the Somme (file photo, above), Messines, Ypres and the Battle of the Canal du Nord on the Hindenburg Line, where he was gassed and subsequently sent home, being in Worcester on the day of the Armistice When one asked him who he was, Studdert Kennedy apparently replied, 'The church.' And when the soldier asked what the church was doing there, he replied 'Its job'. Speaking in a BBC interview after the war, Colonel John Horace Thursfield, Commander of the 6th Battalion, The South Staffordshire Regiment, with whom Studdert Kennedy was once embedded, said: 'Nothing pleased him more than to meet his fellow men and to demonstrate he was one of them. Eventually he became a friend to us all. 'His chief relaxations were tea drinking and cigarette smoking and it was his practice to offer the traditional smoke to any soldier he met.' By calculating the total number of men he is likely to have met between 1915 and 1918, the average smoking rate among troops at the time, and his propensity to offer one or more cigarettes to 'every man he met', Dr Parker (left) estimates that Studdert Kennedy gave at least 864,980 Woodbines. (Right, her biography of 'Woodbine Willie') Studdert Kennedy's instinctive generosity was already in evidence long before the war. He was not independently wealthy and was 'always impoverished' because he gave everything he owned - including his only mattress - to those in need. But historian Dr Parker, whose biography A Seeker After Truths calls upon Woodbine Willie's writings, sermons and speeches to shed new light on his life and significance as a theologian and public figure, believes his charity knew no bounds. Studdert Kenendy's grandson, The Reverend Canon Andrew Studdert-Kennedy (above), Team Rector in Marlborough, Wiltshire, and an Honorary Chaplain to the Queen (QHC), agrees with Parker's findings. He said: 'Anecdotes about my grandfather's generosity are part of the annals of history' By calculating the total number of men he is likely to have met between 1915 and 1918, the average smoking rate among troops at the time, and his propensity to offer one or more cigarettes to 'every man he met', she estimates that Studdert Kennedy gave at least 864,980 Woodbines. Based on the cost of a packet of five Woodbines from the NAAFI - 1d, which equals 25p in today's money - doing so would have cost him the 2018 equivalent of 43,249. With a yearly wage of 16,147.60, this would have cost him most of the 44,379 salary he earned between 1915 and September 1918, when he was sent home on sick leave. The remainder was used to cover his family's food, clothing and general living expenses back in England at their vicarage in Worcester. His own expenses during the war were minimal as the Army supplied him with food, toiletries and accommodation. Dr Parker, one of the UK's leading historians of religion and the First World War, said: 'People have long known that Studdert Kennedy gave out cigarettes, but no one had previously thought to put a monetary figure on his generosity. 'Through the course of my research, it became clear that he did, in almost complete certainty, spend virtually everything he owned. 'He filled his backpack with Woodbines, Bibles and a great deal of love.' Police fear for the safety of a missing boy who was last seen on a busy highway in Queensland. The 12-year-old was last seen around 4.30pm on Wednesday exiting a car at the intersection of Browns Plains Road and the Mount Lindsay Highway. Police have said they hold concerns for his welfare due to his young age.' The 12-year-old (pictured) was last seen around 4.30pm exiting a car at the intersection of Browns Plains Road and the Mount Lindsay Highway Police have said they hold concerns for his welfare due to his young age' The young boy is approximately 120cm tall with a slim build, with brown eyes and brown hair dyed in blonde section in a comb-over style. The 12-year-old is of Pacific Islander in appearance and was also last seen wearing a yellow jumper. Police urge anyone with information concerning the young boys whereabouts to call the authorities immediately. If you have information for police, contact Policelink on 131 444 or provide information using the online form 24hrs per day. You can report information about crime anonymously to Crime Stoppers, a registered charity and community volunteer organisation, by calling 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppersqld.com.au 24hrs per day. Quote this reference number: QP1801130323 when you call the police. Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban, above, has drummed up support for his tough measures on immigration Lawyers and activists risk being thrown in jail for a year if they help asylum seekers settle in Hungary after a tough new law was passed. A raft of bills was approved by Hungary's parliament today (Wednesday), which criminalises some help given to illegal immigrants. Under the new law, officially called 'STOP Soros', people or groups who help migrants submit requests for asylum, or who help illegal migrants gain status to stay in Hungary, when they are not entitled to protection, will be liable to a prison term. The controversial legislation was named after George Soros, as it targets several organisations funded by the billionaire philanthropist, and the parliament has accused him of supporting Muslim migrants. But the move defies the European Union and human rights groups, and narrows the scope for action by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been a vocal critic of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door migrant policy and has led eastern European opposition to EU quotas that aimed to distribute asylum seekers around the bloc. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused George Soros, above, of encouraging mass immigration to undermine Europe a charge Soros denies His right-wing Fidesz party tightened its grip on parliament in an April election fought on a fiercely anti-immigration platform that demonised US billionaire Soros and liberal NGOs he backs. Orban accuses Soros of encouraging mass immigration to undermine Europe a charge Soros denies. Interior Minister Sandor Pinter wrote in an attempt to justify the toughened stance: 'The Hungarian people rightfully expects the government to use all means necessary to combat illegal immigration and the activities that aid it. Prime Minister Viktor Orban, above, has been a vocal critic of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door migrant policy 'The STOP Soros package of bills serves that goal, making the organisation of illegal immigration a criminal offence. We want to use the bills to stop Hungary from becoming a country of immigrants.' The Parliament, where Fidesz has a two-thirds majority, also passed a constitutional amendment stating that an 'alien population' cannot be settled in Hungary a swipe at Brussels over its quota plan. Immigration has become a major concern for voters across the European Union, helping to propel anti-migrant populists to power in Italy and Austria and threatening to fracture Merkel's three-month-old coalition in Germany. Orban has drummed up support for his tough measures by exploiting Hungarians' memories of the large numbers of mostly Muslim migrants fleeing conflicts in the Middle East who surged into the country in the summer of 2015. The vast majority of them moved on to wealthier western European countries, but Orban has branded the migrants a threat to Europe's Christian civilisation and built a border fence along Hungary's southern borders to deter more from coming. STATISTICS Hungarian statistics show 3,555 refugees living in Hungary, a country of 10 million, as of April. Only 342 people were registered as asylum seekers in the first four months of this year, mostly from the Middle East, and 279 were approved. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a rights group that often represents migrants, said on Wednesday the narrowing definition of who counts as a refugee essentially means nobody entering Hungary by land would be entitled to such treatment. Orban has also tightened state control over the media, major business sectors and the courts since taking power in 2010 'Instead of giving protection against persecution, the Hungarian government has decided to join the ranks of the persecutors,' Helsinki Committee Co-Chair Marta Pardavi said. The Orban government expects possible legal action by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, over the new law. Two leading European rights bodies, the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), have criticised Hungary's new law as 'arbitrary' and vague and said it contravenes European law. Budapest: Hungary's parliament has defied the European Union and human rights groups The Venice Commission, an expert body at the Council of Europe, had asked Hungary to refrain from approving the new law until a report it co-authored with the OSCE is published. Orban has also tightened state control over the media, major business sectors and the courts since taking power in 2010. In other constitutional changes approved on Wednesday, parliament agreed to set up a new judicial branch for administrative cases that critics say may increase political influence over judges. Another change narrowed the right to free expression and assembly. Jihadist attacks on European targets more than doubled last year, Europe's police agency said Wednesday, warning the risk of more unsophisticated attacks by the so-called Islamic State group 'remains acute.' Last year, a total 33 terror attacks were reported on the continent and Britain - 10 of which were successful, killing 62 people, while the rest were foiled or failed, Europol said in a annual report issued in The Hague. That figure compared with 13 reported attacks in 2016, of which 10 were successful leading to 135 deaths. However, the 'increase in the number of jihadist terrorist attacks in 2017 ran parallel to a decrease in sophistication in their preparation and execution,' Europol's 2018 Terrorism Situation and Trend report said. Scroll down for video A policeman points a gun at stricken terrorist Khalid Masood after his deadly rampage during the Westminster attack in March last year The spectre of Big Ben looms in the background as police cordon off Westminster Bridge following last year's attack This included the attack on London's Westminster Bridge on March 22 last year and a similar attack on London Bridge two months later when attackers drove vehicles into pedestrians and stabbed bystanders with knives, killing 13 people in total and wounding some 98 others. Islamic jihadists who carried out such attacks in the EU in 2017 were mainly home-grown, 'meaning that they were radicalised in their country of residence without having travelled to join a terrorist group abroad.' In many cases 'it becomes a form of personal retaliation against the country that they failed to integrate with,' Europol's counter-terrorism chief Manuel Navarette told journalists ahead of the report's launch. However, the May 22 2017 attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, in which 22 people were killed, and an August van attack on tourists at Barcelona's La Rambla promenade in Spain in which 15 died, were linked to organised terror cells. The IS group in all these cases claimed responsibility for the attacks. IS fighters swept across large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a so-called 'caliphate' in areas they controlled. But the jihadists have since lost much of that territory to various offensives - in Syria to Russia-backed regime forces and to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Police comfort concert-goers after Salman Abedi carried out a deadly attack on an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester 'As IS gets weaker, it has been urging its followers to carry out lone actor type attacks in their home countries, rather than guiding them to travel to the so-called caliphate,' Europol said. But it warned: 'The threat of jihadist attacks in the EU remains acute, as demonstrated by the attacks which took place in 2017.' 'It should be underlined that IS, Al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups continue to pose a major threat. They have the ongoing intent and capability to conduct terrorist attacks in the West,' Europol said. 'It therefore goes without saying that supporting member states to combat terrorism will remain a top priority,' Europol's new director Catherine De Bolle told journalists. 'To fight terrorism, it is essential to have optimal information exchange and data,' she added. Europol's report comes as German police Wednesday announced the arrest of a Tunisian man caught in possession of deadly ricin poison and bomb-making material to be used in a suspected terror attack. The American CEO who employees say makes their lives great everyday is actually a Chinese immigrant, according to a new survey. Glassdoor's 'Top CEOs 2018: Employee's Choice' list revealed that workers had given Zoom Video CEO Eric Yuan a 99 per cent overall approval rating, landing him the top spot on the career website's newly released survey. Yuan, a Chinese immigrant who heads up the privately-owned video communications company, reigns over a CEO list that includes the chiefs of companies such as Boston Scientific, DocuSign, In-N-Out Burger, Wegmans Food Market and LinkedIn. Chinese immigrant and Zoom Video founder/CEO Eric Yuan was ranked No. 1 in Glassdoor's 'Top CEOs 2018: Employee's Choice.' He applied for a US visa nine times over two years Glassdoor's annual list is based on the approval ratings employees give CEOs while posting their anonymous company reviews. Yuan is now the first person of color to hold the list's No. 1 CEO spot, a notable achievement, especially during a time when immigration policies and general racial tension are dogging the Trump Administration and becoming an increasingly divisive issue for Americans. Before establishing himself in America in the 1990s, Yuan said that he had to apply for a US visa nine times over the course of two years before finally being granted his visa. 'When I came to America, I did not even speak English, but I knew I could write software code,' Yuan said in an interview with Glassdoor, CBS News reported. 'I knew I had to work hard, so I did. Also, I'm very paranoid. I say to myself, "I have to work harder." Working hard, that's the only thing I know better than my competitor.' Yuan also explained, according to Biz Journals: 'If my competitors say, "I work eight hours a day," then I can work 10 hours. If you dont need sleep, I also do not need sleep. Hard work is in my DNA.' After moving to the states from China, Yuan landed at Webex, where he worked from 1997 to 2011, growing the Webex team from 10 engineers to more than 800 worldwide. He rose to the Corporate Vice President of Engineering position at Cisco, Webex's parent company, before leaving to found Zoom, which now employs about 1,200 people in six offices across the US and one each in the UK and Australia. Zoom Video was based on an idea that Yuan had while he was a college freshman and still living in China. Employees at Zoom Video, headquartered in California, gave Yuan a 99 per cent approval rating. The company, founded in 2012, now employs about 700 people Tired of regular, crowded, 10-hour train rides to visit his girlfriend - now wife - who lived in another part of the country, Yuan told Medium that he used to daydream about a way he could see his girlfriend without needing to travel so far and so long. Zoom Video, headquartered in San Jose, California, now makes remote, video conference solutions for companies, using cloud computing. 'We saw employees not only rating him highly, but we looked at the quality of the reviews,' Glassdoor spokesperson Scott Dobroski told CBS News. 'They say he's an inspiring leader who wants to make the world a better place. He leads by trusting and empowering employees.' 'The number one thing I want to say, and I want our employees to say, is that they are happy,' Yuan said, adding, 'We're going to care about each other, really focus on delivering happiness to each other. Ultimately, as a company, we deliver happiness to our customers.' This year's Top 100 CEOs also includes eight women. Two of the women, In-N-Out Burger's Lynsi Snyder and Wegmans Food Markets' Colleen Wegman, made it into the Top 10, coming in at No. 4 and No. 9, respectively. The core of Grenfell cladding panels burned as hot as flaming petrol and turned into fiery droplets, raining down from the tower blaze, an expert told an inquiry today. Professor Luke Bisby, a fire expert who analysed the spread of the inferno, told a hearing on Wednesday that the panels' core was capable of burning as hot as petrol. When exposed to fire, the material would melt and turn into 'flaming droplets', he said. Footage from the night of the disaster showed fire raining down as the west London block was enveloped in the deadly blaze. The core of Grenfell cladding panels burned as hot as flaming petrol and turned into fiery droplets, raining down from the tower blaze, an expert told an inquiry today The inquiry was told that a range of flammable materials had been strapped around Grenfell Tower during a refurbishment in 2016. Professor Bisby spoke at the hearing at Holborn Bars in central London about the flammable cladding panels, also referred to as cassettes. The cladding panels were described in expert analyses as the main source of the fire's spread last summer. The professor explained that the cladding panel core was made from polyethylene, which is 'a highly flammable, synthetic thermoplastic polymer.' He added: 'Upon exposure to heat, polyethylene will melt and drip, possibly flowing while burning or generating flaming droplets.' In addition to the flammable cladding, voids ran vertically from the fourth floor to the tower's crown at certain points in the cladding system. The Reynobond 55PE panels, which shrouded the cladding core in aluminium, formed the outer shell of the cladding system, with a cavity sitting between it and the insulation. The inquiry was told that a range of flammable materials had been strapped around Grenfell Tower during a refurbishment in 2016 The professor said: 'To form the product into rainscreen cassettes, flat sheets of the material are cut and folded.' Displaying a picture of a 'typical' cladding panel taken from Grenfell Tower after the fire, he continued: 'This image is showing the back of a typical rainscreen cassette, by which I mean it is showing the face of the cassette that would have been looking into the ventilated rainscreen cladding. 'The black areas in this image therefore present surfaces of polyethylene that would be directly exposed to any flame or heat within the cladding cavity, should a fire penetrate by essentially any means into the cladding system.' Professor Bisby continued: 'You will no doubt have noted the commentary in the media comparing the polyethylene within the rainscreen cassette at Grenfell Tower with petrol or diesel; this is likely to be on the basis that the heats of combustion of petrol or diesel are similar to the PE used in Reynobond PE (aluminium composite material) products. 'It's perhaps worth reiterating here, however, that the heat of combustion is only one of the important parameters dictating how a material will burn.' The probe previously heard that the fire last June escaped into the external face of the building after eating through the flammable material which lined the windows of Flat 16, on the fourth floor. The window boards surrounding the frames were made of uPVC, the expert said - a material which promotes the spread of fire less than other polymers, but which will soften at a lower heat. Prof Bisby continued: 'This is significant, highly significant in my view, in the context of Grenfell Tower because, as I've already explained, uPVC window boards form the initial barrier for flames to prevent fire spread from the kitchen of Flat 16 into the cladding cavity beside the kitchen window.' The probe previously heard the fire last June escaped into the external face of the building after eating through the flammable material which lined the windows of a flat on the fourth floor The insulation used in the cladding system - largely produced by Celotex - was made from a foam called Polyisocyanurate (PIR) which could 'support rapid flame spread' without a protective layer on top. 'The very low thermal inertia means that PIR may also accelerate flame spread of adjacent materials, by preventing the loss of energy from the system,' he said. 'By this I mean by insulating the rainscreen cavity and reducing losses thus positively accelerating fire spread.' Summarising the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, he said: 'With regard to material and geometry, the refurbishment external cladding system at Grenfell Tower has an extremely complex geometry and incorporates a number of different materials and products. 'Many of the material and products installed within the cladding system are combustible - predominantly synthetic polymer materials. 'Particular features of the cladding geometry which I have described during my presentation resulted in the presence of a number of vertical cavities and channels within the cladding and running the full height of the building from at least level four up to the architectural crown at roof level. 'As already noted, the architectural crown itself was formed largely from vertical channels of highly combustible Reynobond PE ACM panels.' Professor Bisby is the third and final expert due to give evidence to the inquiry this week. Longtime Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has hired a new defense lawyer who once ran criminal prosecutions in the New York district where he is being investigated. Cohen has hired Guy Petrillo of Petrillo, Klein, and Boxer, Vanity Fair reported amid new speculation that the move could signal his decision to flip and cooperate with prosecutors in the Russia probe. Cohen, who served as a fixer for Donald Trump before he was president, has been under criminal investigation for bank and wire fraud as well as tax issues relating to his taxi business. He was previously represented by lawyer Stephen Ryan, a Washington, D.C. attorney with the firm of McDermott, Will & Emery. The firm helped Cohen comb through millions of documents seized in an FBI raid on his home and office. Longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has hired Guy Petrillo, a New York criminal and civil defense attorney, to counter the criminal investigation of him in the Southern District of New York Guy Petrillo Now, as a criminal investigation of Cohen moves ahead in the Southern District of New York, he has a local counsel who is deeply familiar with the SDNY, and who has represented criminal and white collar defendants. This has fueled speculation that Cohen may be preparing to cooperate with prosecutors. According to his web site, Petrillo 'represents clients in civil and criminal litigation and investigations, regulatory enforcement matters, antitrust proceedings and independent investigations.' He was the chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's office in the Southern District. He lists previous clients as having faced charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud, matters dealing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and representing lawyers and law firms. Michael Cohen is being investigated for bank and wire fraud as well as tax issues relating to his taxi business The move comes as CNN reported Cohen is willing to cooperate with prosecutors. Cohen's decision to part ways with his previous lawyers on Friday led to similar speculation. 'He knows a lot of things about the president and he's not averse to talking in the right situation,' a New York friend of Cohen's told CNN. 'If they want information on Trump, he's willing to give it.' Petrillo did not immediately return a call seeking confirmation or comment. People close to Cohen told Vanity Fair that President Trump's statement last week that 'I always liked Michael' did not go over well. The president's use of the past-tense put distance between Trump and his longtime fixer. David Kreinberg, former chief financial officer at Comverse Technology Inc., center, leaves Brooklyn Federal Court with his attorney Guy Petrillo, right, Tuesday, October 24, 2006, in New York. Comverse Technology Inc. ex-chief financial officer David Kreinberg pleaded guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud as part of the U.S. investigation of illegal backdating and manipulation of employee stock option grants. Petrillo is reportedly representing Michael Cohen 'I always liked Michael,' Trump told reporters at the White House Friday. 'I haven't spoken to Michael in a long time. No, he's not my lawyer anymore. But I always liked Michael. And he's a good person.' Trump said he wasn't worried about Cohen cooperating. 'No I'm not worried because I did nothing wrong,' Trump said. Cohen negotiated the 'hush' agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels that got her a $130,000 payment and prohibits her from talking about the affair she claims she had with Trump. He also contacted Russians about a potential Trump building in Moscow. Wilbur Ross short sold between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of shares in Navigator Holdings in October. He is seen at a senate hearing about the Trump administration's trade war on Wednesday Trump's Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has been accused of exploiting his position to make a profit by selling stock in a Kremlin-linked firm in anticipation of negative press coverage. Ross short sold between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of shares in Navigator Holdings in October, as he reported on a government ethics form released on Monday. That transaction came just three business days after a New York Times reporter asked Ross about Navigator's links to offshore finances, leading to claims he hoped to benefit when negative coverage of his investment caused the share price to fall. Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democratic on the Senate Finance Committee, criticized Ross for the stock trade during a hearing Wednesday examining tariffs on imported aluminum and steel. 'When it comes to trade, Americans have a right to know it's their best interests Trump administration officials are looking out for at the negotiating table,' Wyden said. 'The stories that we have seen in the last few days call that into question.' 'One doesn't need a thick government rules book to recognized flagrant conflicts of interest when they come into public view,' the Oregon Democrat added. Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democratic on the Senate Finance Committee, (left) criticized Ross for the stock trade and accused him of acting for his own financial interests Ross rebuffed any suggestions that he shorted the Navigator stock based on non-public information to make a profit - an illegal practice known as insider trading. He said the transaction - originally reported by Forbes - was part of his effort to divest from Navigator and that he did not stand to gain if the stock fell, or lose if it rose, at the time. In short selling, a person borrows shares of a stock and sells them. The aim is to then replace the borrowed shares with others bought later at a lower price, reaping a profit from the difference. Navigator counts a Russian gas producer with ties to the Kremlin among its major customers. It was being looked at by the Times as part of its investigation into the Panama Papers, a raft of leaked confidential data about companies and individuals with offshore investments. President Donald Trump tapped Ross, a billionaire investor in distressed companies, to be his administration's point man on trade and manufacturing as Commerce chief. His spokesman said in November that Ross planned to completely divest from Navigator, although he wasn't required to do so under his ethics agreement as an incoming Cabinet member, because he wanted to avoid any possible perception of a conflict of interest. The owners of Sibur, the Russian gas producer that is a major customer of Navigator, have included two Russian oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin and a businessman believed to be Putin's son-in-law. File photo of the Kremlin Ross says now that he has completely divested his Navigator holdings. In a statement Tuesday, Ross said it would be 'completely false' to imply that the transactions involved insider trading using non-public information. The Times reporter 'contacted me to write about my personal financial holdings and not about Navigator Holdings or its prospects,' he said. 'I did not receive any non-public information due to my government position, nor did I receive any non-public information from a government employee. Securities laws presume that information known to or provided by a news organization is by definition public information,' Ross' statement said. Ross said he had been in the process of selling off his holdings in the company when he learned in late October that there were additional shares belonging to him in an account opened by the company. As the shares were 'in electronic form' and he didn't have physical access to them to deliver them to the broker on time, he said he 'technically sold them short.' Navigator is one of a few companies in the world that can transport liquefied petroleum gas in cold and icy conditions When he received the physical shares on November 16, Ross said he delivered them to the broker to close the transaction. 'Therefore, it made no economic difference to me whether the shares went up or down between the sale date and the date I delivered them,' he said. Wednesday's senate hearing also saw Ross question on his ownership of shares in companies linked to China, Russia and other countries that stood to be affected by trade decisions in which he is involved. The owners of Sibur, the Russian gas producer that is a major customer of Navigator, have included two Russian oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin and a businessman believed to be Putin's son-in-law. Navigator ships products from Sibur. Navigator is one of a few companies in the world that can transport liquefied petroleum gas in cold and icy conditions. Russia is known for its brutal winters as well as its giant, state-controlled oil and gas producers. Asia Argento has hit back at an Instagram troll who cruelly criticized her for posting a happy photograph 10 days after her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain's suicide. The actress, who described Bourdain as her 'rock' in a statement of grief after his shocking death, has been posting morosely on social media since he died in a hotel room in France. Argento, who, according to her friend Rose McGowan has struggled herself with depression in the past, has now returned to work by filming scenes for The X Factor Italy. In May, it was announced that she would be joining the talent show as one of its judges. The photograph she posted was from its set in Turin. She posed with fellow judge, the Italian rapper Fedez, and also shared Instagram stories from backstage. Scroll down for video This is the photograph Asia Argento posted on Wednesday as she went back to work by filming auditions for The X Factor Italy in Turin with Italian rapper Fedez A troll commented afterwards criticizing the actress for not looking grief-stricken enough Argento fired straight back at her and told her she is trying to 'stay alive' for her children In the image she shared, she raised her arm above her head and lifted her t-shirt up to reveal her tattooed torso. Her caption translated roughly to: 'Last day of auditions in Turin. 'Thanks to my beloved colleagues: Manuel, Mara and Fedez. Thanks to all the staff of X Factor Italia. 'I already want a good world.' She added the hashtags 'Staying alive' and 'werk'. Most of her fans, including fellow Harvey Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan, lauded her for getting back to work so soon and sharing the image. One, however, who went under the screen name 'neveranythingtowear', said coldly: 'Doesn't look like a woman in mourning for her 'love her rock her protector' to me!' Among fans who lauded the actress for going back to work was her friend, fellow actress and Harvey Weinstein accuser, Rose McGowan Argento and Anthony Bourdain dated for two years before he killed himself on June 8 in France. They are pictured together earlier this year Argento, who has made fiery speeches about being allegedly raped by Harvey Weinstein in the past, hit back immediately. Argento has been morbid in her social media post since Bourdain's death until she returned to work on Wednesday 'You want me to cover my head with ashes and whip my back? 'There is no right or wrong way to mourn: I have to keep going and stay alive for my children. Ok? OK,' she said. She was backed-up by disgusted supporters who attacked the troll until they deleted their comment. Bourdain took his own life by hanging himself at a hotel in Kaysersberg, France, on June 8. He and Argento had been together since 2016 after they met while working on his enormously popular food travel show, Parts Unknown. In her statement on his death, Argento said: '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 has posted frequent Instagram stories since Bourdain's death detailing her grief. She traveled to Berlin in the days after he died where she took comfort in a 'sisterhood' The actress has also shared cryptic quotes about the truth and is commonly writing 'Stayin' Alive' on her posts In the days since, she has posted quotes from songs and images of her children in her temporary Instagram stories along with messages of her grief and teary-eyed selfies. Days before Bourdain's death, Argento was pictured walking around Rome with her friend, journalist Hugo Clement. Another of Argento's posts referenced the secret battle 'everyone' is fighting The pair were photographed hugging and smiling as they took in the sights. After Bourdain's death, McGowan issued a weeping video where she said told of the 'monster' of suicide and depression. She compelled followers to blame depression and mental illness for his death and not, as some had done, cast blame towards Argento for any pain he may have caused. McGowan then told in an open letter how Argento and the TV chef 'loved without borders'. She later shared a message from Argento confirming that she had asked McGowan, the 'strongest woman' she knew, to 'be her voice' in her time of grief. A farmer shared footage depicting his property drowned by floods and then devastated by drought only two years apart. The bleak reality of the toll of wild, unpredictable weather in rural New South Wales was captured by farmer Brett Shephard. The 47-year-old doubles as a photographer and runs a Facebook page 'Farmer Down Under Photography', where he shared the post. In early footage, the farmer's property was completely submerged, an inland sea with the occasional tree looking odd and out of place. Slide me In early footage, the farmer's property was completely submerged, an inland sea with the occasional tree looking odd and out of place, it almost immediately transforms into a barren, red desert of dust and tracks It almost immediately transforms into a barren, red desert of dust and tracks. The video continues to switch back and forth between the two, drawing a stark contrast to the two examples of nature's extremities. The single spot that only two years ago was ravaged by floods and torrential rain looked like a desert in footage taken this year. The area hasn't seen a significant rainfall since Christmas, which is a different tragedy to the natural disaster zone that was declared amongst the flooding in 2016. Its a dramatic difference from two years ago, when it was declared a natural disaster zone after extensive flooding. The Lachlan River burst its banks and hundreds had to be evacuated. Mr Shephard lost a lot during the floods, including livestock and his entire crop, and is worried he may face the same fate this season. Mr Shephard lost a lot during the floods, including livestock and his entire crop, and is worried he may face the same fate this season Weve known droughts before, its not uncommon, but we havent really recovered from the floods and now weve gone into drought, he said. He is unsure whether he will be able to harvest the wheat he has sown come November. Its not looking good, he said. In addition to the blow, the father-of-two had to sell off some of his 5,500 acres in order to stay afloat; property that had been in his family since the 1920's. Fundraisers have been organised to help Australia's struggling farmers, including the sponsorship of a cow, buying a bale of hay for a farmer, or traditional donations. Radio host Steve Price has slammed the ban on plastic bags, saying he needs them to pick up dog poo. In a bizarre rant in an interview on Wednesday's episode of The Project, the 3AW presenter declared: 'This is a bloody con job!' He criticised campaigners who have been advocating the ban to save the environment, saying: 'I want to see these greenies from the inner suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney, slothing around with their netted bags, to nick off and leave me alone so I can go shopping properly.' Bizarre: Radio host Steve Price has slammed the ban on plastic bags, saying he needs them to pick up dog poo. He is pictured mid-rant on the Sunday Project He added: 'I can't put my dog poo in a see-through bag. What people do is, take [plastic bags] home and put their garbage in them and put them in their bins or use them to pick up dog droppings. I used four today.' The 63-year-old then held up a plastic knife and fork and plastic wrapping for bananas to claim that supermarkets were being inconsistent by only banning plastic bags. He also pulled out a graph showing which countries produce the most plastic and said: 'China, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Brazil and the United States, we're not even on the list.' Many social media users slammed Price as 'selfish' and 'disgraceful' but some supported him, tweeting' bring back the plastic bag.' His rant comes as retailers big and small are facing fresh calls to ban single-use plastic bags as the major supermarkets prepare to make a permanent switch to re-usable bags. Many social media users slammed Price as 'selfish' and 'disgraceful' but some supported him, tweeting' bring back the plastic bag.' Woolworths no longer supplies free disposable bags to shoppers, with Coles following suit on July 1 in an attempt to dramatically reduce the number of plastic bags in their stores. German discount supermarket chain Aldi has never had free plastic bags in its Australian stores since launching in 2001. Jon Dee, who co-founded the National Plastic Bag Campaign in 2002 and heads the DoSomething Foundation, hopes the move by the supermarket giants will inspire other retailers to switch to re-usable bags. While many states have banned single-use plastic bags, Mr Dee says the federal government should legislate to ensure a nation-wide ban. 'Now you have the big three national supermarkets in sync on plastic bags, from the DoSomething Foundation's point of view it's time for all of Australia's other retailers to follow that example,' he said. Retailers big and small are facing fresh calls to ban single-use plastic bags as the major supermarkets prepare to make a permanent switch to re-usable bags 'So we are calling on Environment Minister Josh Frydenburg to step up to the plate and finally do something on a national basis about plastic bags and expand this ban that Woolies and Coles and Aldi have. 'There's no reason now why we can't have that fully across the country.' South Australia was the first state to ban single-use plastic bags in 2009, with the Northern Territory and ACT following two years later and Tasmania in 2013. Queensland and Western Australia are introducing similar bans on July 1, while Victoria has said it plans to introduce one but is yet to set a date. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said her state doesn't need to introduce a ban because supermarkets are managing the issue. Father-of-two Alket Dauti was arrested today at his home in Penge, South East London An Albanian suspected people smuggler was arrested by police today following a sting operation at his home. Father-of-two Alket Dauti, 31, is suspected of being behind hundreds of attempts to smuggle men, women and children into Britain in freezing refrigerated lorries with the help of corrupt truck drivers. As Dauti was put in a car in handcuffs outside his home in Penge, South East London, he asked a photographer: 'Write me up good, did you get good shots?' Dauti was arrested by the National Crime Agency as part of a joint UK-Belgium people smuggling investigation. Prosecutors in Belgium believe that the network was highly organised. Some of those attempts were thwarted when the NCA passed intelligence to Border Force, who then intercepted the migrants on arrival in the UK. As Dauti was put in a car in handcuffs outside his home in Penge, South East London, he asked a photographer: 'Write me up good, did you get good shots?' If convicted by a Belgian court, Dauti could face up to 20 years behind bars If convicted by a Belgian court, Dauti could face up to 20 years behind bars. Dauti did not consent to his extradition and will return to court on August 15. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser refused to grant bail to Dauti. NCA branch commander Aaron Chappel said: 'Organised criminals involved in people smuggling treat humans as just another commodity they can make money out of, with little or no regard for their safety.' Frank Demeester, Belgian federal prosecutor for West Flanders, added: 'We have worked together with the NCA and this case proves that international co-operation is the only way to handle organised crime groups involved in people smuggling'. Ten more people have been arrested in connection with the investigation in Belgium, France and Spain. Penge, the area where Dauti lives, is also home to Britain First leaders Paul Golding and his deputy Jayda Fransen, who were both jailed for hate crimes in Kent in March. President Donald Trump this afternoon signed an executive order ending family separation at the border. The president, in an abrupt U-turn on the divisive policy put into place by his own administration, directed the Department of Homeland Security to detain families together so long as children are not put into danger. 'I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated,' the president on Wednesday stated. President Trump indicated that lobbying from his daughter Ivanka, who showed him pictures of the caged and kenneled children, and wife Melania had caused him to have a change in position. 'Ivanka feels very strongly about it. My wife feels very strongly about it. I feel very strongly about it. I think anybody with a heart would feel very strongly about it,' he said. President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending family separation today Both the first lady and the first daughter (pictured) were in the Oval Office on Wednesday when Trump signed the directive President Trump indicated that lobbying from his daughter Ivanka, who showed him pictures of the caged and kenneled children, and wife Melania (Pictured in the Oval Office Tuesday) had caused him to have a change in position Immediately after her father signed the order, Ivanka made her first public comments on the matter. 'Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border,' she said. 'Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values; the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families.' The president said Congress would have to take action - and that he still wants his border wall funded. 'And also, there may be some litigation. Were also wanting to go through Congress. We will be going through Congress. Were working on a much more comprehensive bill,' he said. 'And ultimately, we want to see it done right, and it will be done right.' Of the order he'd just signed, he said, 'You're gonna have a lot of happy people.' 'People haven't dealt with it, and we are dealing with it...This is one that has gone on for many decades. So we're keeping families together, and this will solve that problem,' he stated. 'At the same time, we are keeping a very powerful border and it continues to be a zero-tolerance,' he added. 'We have zero tolerance for people that enter our country illegally.' As Trump acknowledged, he did not end the 'zero tolerance' provision of his policy that requires the prosecution of all unlawful immigrants as criminals. His order merely authorizes DHS to hold families together while prosecution is pending. DHS will bear the costs of constructing facilities to house migrant parents and their children while their cases are being adjudicated. The order directs the attorney general to prioritize the cases as quickly as possible. Trump also told Attorney General Jeff Sessions to put in a request with a U.S. District Court in California to modify a settlement agreement that would permit DHS under present resource constraints to detain illegal immigrant families together 'throughout the pendency of criminal proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration proceedings.' The president tipped his hand earlier on Wednesday when he said that he would be signing something dealing with the issue as he spoke to reporters in the Cabinet room. 'I'm going to be signing an executive order in a little while before I go to Minnesota but, at the same time,' Trump said. 'I think you have to understand, we're keeping families together, but we have to keep our borders strong. We will be overrun with crime and with people that should not be in our country.' His Department of Homeland Security secretary was said to be drafting an order to end the child separation policy that's become a political albatross for the Trump administration. President Donald Trump first revealed his plans to sign an executive order addressing family separation during a meeting earlier today with lawmakers The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirsjen Nielsen was earlier said to be drafting an order to end the child separation policy that's become a political albatross for the Trump administration DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was at the White House on Wednesday morning and was by the president's side in the afternoon, standing opposite to the vice president, when he took the executive action. 'I just thank you for your leadership, sir. We look forward and expect the House to act this week. We ask them to do their job,' she said minutes before making a trip of her own to Capitol Hill. 'The laws need to be changed. This is a problem that President after President has dealt with for decades. This one is willing to stand up and fix it. We ask Congress to do their part.' Ivanka and Melania Trump were also present at the afternoon signing just before he left the White House for Minnesota. The about-face came hours after the president publicly racheted his attacks on Democrats opposing his immigration agenda via Twitter. It also followed a press conference on Capitol Hill where House Speaker Paul Ryan at which the GOP leader refused to entertain the prospect of a stand-alone bill to handle family separation. Ryan did not know about the executive order at the time, a person familiar with the situation told DailyMail.com, and was at the White House on Wednesday at the president's invitation to discuss immigration legislation he is about to bring up for a vote in the House. The GOP leader was at the White House with a group of roughly 25 lawmakers who DailyMail.com's source described as on the fence. Even with Trump's forthcoming executive order, Congress will still have to take the lead in making the policy shift permanent. 'It doesn't take away the fact that this needs to be changed into law at some point,' the person said. 'The courts could challenge what the president does in terms of executive action.' The president's U-turn came at an immediate cost to Members of Congress, who had been looking forward to a summer picnic at the White House on Thursday. President Trump said during a surprise media avail on Wednesday morning that he was cancelling the event. 'I do want to say that, because we're also busy....that we are going to cancel and postpone tomorrow's congressional picnic,' he stated. Trump met yesterday on Capitol Hill with GOP lawmakers to talk about a broad range of issues. He hosted two sets of legislators at the White House on Wednesday. Tomorrow's picnic would have offered him a chance to speak to the very same Democrats he's been clobbering for not supporting his immigration agenda. The president who is holding a political rally tonight in Minnesota said he did not think the optics of a festive picnic with legislators and their families would be appropriate. He insinuated that he did not want to reward the opposing party that he's repeatedly called obstructionist. 'I was just walking over to the Oval Office and I said, you know, it doesn't feel right to have a picnic for Congress when we're working on doing something very important,' he stated. 'It didn't feel exactly right to me. We'll make it another time when things are going extremely well.' Trump indicated in his Cabinet Room remarks that the images of children at the border in cages and kennels had affected him outlook. 'Those images affect everybody,' he said of the photos that have been dominating the national news since Father's Day. The president told lawmakers, 'The dilemma is that if you're weak, if you're weak which some people would like you to be if you're really, really pathetically weak, the country's going to be overrun with millions of people. And if you're strong, then you "don't have any heart." That's a tough dilemma. Perhaps I'd rather be strong, but that's a tough dilemma.' Democrats have been pummeling the Trump administration as cruel and inhumane for splitting families up at the border in order to prosecute parents for unlawfully crossing the border. 'President Trump and his enablers in Congress have taken these children hostage to try to enact their anti-immigrant agenda into law. Dont be fooled: this crisis does not need a bill to fix itit requires the GOP to stand up and call for an end to this monstrous Trump policy,' Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democratic leader, tweeted. They continued their assault even after Trump signed his order, saying the administration also needed to say how it plans to reunite already-separated children from their families. 'Today the American people, through their forceful and justified outrage, proved they can drive change even during the Trump administration. But we must not be fooled: We need to ensure that the 2,500 children already separated are promptly reunited with their families,' Sen. Patrick Leahy tweeted. Rep. Robin Kelly similarly said, 'We cant let @realDonaldTrump off the hook just for ending his cruel and immoral program. There are still NO plans to reunite 2,300+ children with their families.' Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison said the directive that Trump did sign 'doesn't fix this mess. ' 'We shouldn't be putting kids in cages, with or without their families. And Nielsen must go,' the former DNC official said, calling for the ousting of the DHS secretary. The order had Rep. Ed Perlmutter and others claiming that it proved Trump 'had the authority to stop these inhumane practices all along' despite what his administration said. 'For weeks @realDonaldTrump claimed only Congress could end this merciless policy. Todays executive order is an admission both that he lied to America & his attempt to hold children hostage has failed because of Americans outrage,' said House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer. Leahy noted that Trump's order explicitly does not end the zero tolerance policy for illegal border crossings. 'Pres. Trumps zero tolerance policy needs to go. It makes zero sense to delay civil proceedings to criminally prosecute migrants with no records, who pose no threat, and who are only seeking refuge from unimaginable violence and terror in their home countries,' Leahy said. At his executive order signing, President Trump said he is not backing down and rejected suggestions to the contrary. 'No, no, the border is just as tough, but we do want to keep families together. This is a problem. If you look at some of those horrible scenes from a few years ago to me, they were horrible scenes. They were just terrible. And that was during the Obama administration,' he said. 'Other administrations have had the same thing. Were keeping the family together. And so this is it.' DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen went to Capitol Hill to talk to lawmakers after President Trump signed the executive order that needs to be back up by congressional action President Trump said Wednesday that he wants 'security for our country, and we will have that.' 'At the same time we have compassion, we want to keep families together. It's very important,' he stated. 'I'll be signing something in a little while that's going to do that.' He noted that Republicans are also working on legislation that meet the same end. 'But I'll be doing something that's somewhat preemptive but ultimately will be matched by legislation I'm sure.' His exercise of executive power also flew in the face of Republican complaints about immigration directives put in place by the previous administration - and his own claims last week that he couldn't end family separation. 'You cant do it through an executive order,' he told reporters a week ago on Friday. Trump made reference to Obama's alleged abuse of power today when he brought up Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, claiming that Obama acknowledged he shouldn't be signing the order and did anyway. 'He actually said, Im not allowed to sign this, never going to hold up,' Trump said of the program and ongoing litigation. 'And they got a judge who held it up, and they got another one who held it up. Then we had a couple that turned it down, and its going to be a Supreme Court issue.' The Republican president found himself in a similar bind this week as the opposing party stymied his immigration reform agenda. 'We're having a lot of problems with Democrats that don't want to vote for anything,' he said. 'They don't care about lack of security. They really would like to have open borders where anybody in the world can just flow in, including from the Middle East, from anybody anywhere they can just flow into our country. 'Tremendous problems with that, tremendous crime caused by that. We're just not going to do it.' Trump said in a tweet this morning that Democrats 'want open borders which means crime' as he saddled them with the burden of changing America's immigration laws, which he said are the 'weakest and worst anywhere in the world.' He said in another vague message, whoever, that he is 'working on something' pertaining to immigration without saying what it is. Immigration reform legislation in Congress was no closer on Wednesday to gaining majority support in the House, even after a closed-door session between Republicans and the president, meetings at the White House and a visit to Capitol Hill by Nielsen. GOP leaders were looking at two pieces of legislation that would fund the president's border wall, one of which also takes steps to end family separation for Central American migrants. Conservative lawmakers were also crafting a 'back-up' bill that they hoped to sub in if the other two fail. Their bill sets aside most of Trump's other immigration priorities and deals solely with the detention of children coming across the border in family units. Trump said in a speech Tuesday that he supports a 'third option' and even claimed credit for it. Ryan said at a morning news conference that he was moving forward with the leadership-approved immigration reform bills that were scheduled for a vote tomorrow. The GOP leader refused to entertain questions about stand-alone bills that narrowly deal with the issue of young children being detained in cages and tents while their parents await prosecution for the crime of unlawfully entering the country. 'We're trying to pass this legislation right now. This is very good compromise legislation,' Ryan told reporters. It solves the border crisis, he claimed, and stabilizes the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA. 'And then when other situations arise, whatever the circumstances are, we'll cross this bridge when it comes to it,' he asserted. Ryan rejected Democrats' allegations that the GOP is using the immigrant children as bargaining chips to get more of the president's immigration priorities passed. 'That's a ridiculous assertion,' Ryan said as he stormed out, having already deemed it the last question. Immigration reform legislation was no closer on Wednesday to gaining majority support in the House, however, even after a closed-door session between Republicans and the president In morning tweets in which Trump insisted that Democrats are to blame for family separation because they will not bend to his will, he alluded to the measure again as he said he was 'working on something' that he suggested would change the conversation. 'Its the Democrats fault, they wont give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation,' he said. 'They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something - it never ends!' Coming out of the meeting with GOP lawmakers, the White House said that Trump was '100 percent' behind the two bills House leadership plans to bring up for a vote. Trump reportedly did not talk to lawmakers at all about family separation. Democrats have pummeled the GOP for coupling family separation - a policy introduced in April by the Trump administration - with comprehensive immigration reform. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a Tuesday email to members, 'There is no universe in which forcibly separating now thousands of young children from their parents is acceptable. The practice is an abomination. Its not part of any solution to fix our immigration system.' Van Hollen said he spent his Fathers Day visiting immigrant detention centers on the border and 'there is no doubt that the Trump administrations family separation policy is cruel and inhumane.' 'In McAllen, Texas, I saw a facility people called the dog kennel which housed children separated from their mothers and fathers lumped into holding pens made of chain-link fence. It was a disturbing and shameful scene that should have no place in America,' the Maryland Democrat wrote. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi similarly wrote in an email on behalf of the lower chamber's campaign arm: 'I have never been more horrified by this President. His choice to separate immigrant children from their mothers at our border is heartless. Its cruel. Its immoral. And -- its all for political leverage.' House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul, a Texas Republican, admitted to Fox News on Tuesday after the meeting with the president that family separation was a policy of this president. 'The parents are now being prosecuted but we would like to see the family stay together and not separated,'he said. 'But I think most importantly from my position as the chairman of homeland security is to have a border security bill passed.' Unless Congress acts, he said, smugglers and traffickers will continue to sell entry to the United States for for $6,000 a person. 'We will never stop this problem until we dry up the deterrent issue and the legal loopholes that existed currently,' he stated. Even some staunch allies of the president said they couldn't get behind him when it comes to the detention of families, though. His former lawyer on Wednesday quit the national party as deputy finance chair, citing the president's border policy and the special counsel investigation. 'As the son of a Polish holocaust survivor, the images and sounds of this family separation policy is heart wrenching,' Cohen said in a resignation letter according to ABC News. 'While I strongly support measures that will secure our porous borders, children should never be used as bargaining chips.' First Lady Melania Trump was also said to be lobbying her husband to take action. She has pressed him privately, CNN reported, as well as publicly to address family separation. 'Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,' her communications director, Stephanie Grisham, said. 'She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart. President Trump suggested Tuesday that he could cut down on unlawful migration by ending aid to the Central American countries that he claimed are 'sending'migrants to the U.S. as part of his plot to secure the border. Trump said he'd be asking for authorization to end assistance to the region that includes Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. 'We're not going to give any more aid to those countries,' he asserted during a Washington, D.C. speech to the National Federation of Independent Business. 'Why the hell should we?' The president told attendees of the conference, 'I don't want children taken away from parents. And when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away.' 'Now, we don't have to prosecute them. But then we're not prosecuting them for coming in illegally. That's not good,' he added. The president said then that he'd be championing legislation to make sure that families that are flooding the border from Central America are not being separated as he lit into lawyers for migrants and judges he claimed are abusing the system. 'We want a great country. We want a country with heart,' Trump said. 'But when people come up, they have to know they're not going to get in. Otherwise it will never stop.' Vice President Mike Pence was coincidentally meeting at the White House on Wednesday afternoon with the Honduran president. A White House official suggested to DailyMail.com just before the meeting that Trump was just saber-rattling and had not actually requested that the aid be cut off. The official said, 'No decisions have been made on that at this time.' The president has repeatedly said that doesn't like that children are being separated from their legal guardians- even though it's a policy that was implemented by his administration. 'We can't let people pour in. They've gotta go through the process,' he stated Tuesday. 'And maybe it's politically correct or maybe it's not - we've gotta stop separation of the families.' Standing his ground then, Trump said, 'But politically correct or not, we have to be a country that needs security, that needs safety, that has to be protected.' 'And remember, these countries that we give tremendous foreign aid to in many cases, they send these people up, and they're not sending their finest.' The president rejected Democratic demands that the country hire more judges to adjudicate the cases of legitimate asylum seekers faster as part of the solution. 'I don't want to try people. I don't want people coming in,' he asserted. Trump said the ease of entry has led to a 1,700 percent increase in asylum claims. 'They game the system. They game it. It's so easy for them. They're smart. They didn't go to the Wharton School of Finance,' he said, name-checking his alma mater, 'but you know what. They're really smart.' Trump pounded Democrats for refusing to back his immigration agenda, which he said earlier in the day was allowing violent criminals 'to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13,' a violent illegal immigrant gang. 'They don't want to give it, because Democrats love open borders. Let the whole world come in. Let the whole world. MS-13 gang members from all over the place, come on in -- we have open borders,' he said. 'And they view that possibly intelligently, except that it's destroying our country. They view that as potential voters. Someday they're going to vote for Democrats. Because they can't win on their policies, which are horrible. They found that out in the last presidential election.' Immigrant children are led by staff in single file between tents at a detention facility next to the Mexican border in Tornillo, Texas A view from Mexico of the US Customs and Boarder Protection is housing underage people caught illegally entering the United States at the Tornillo Port of Entry in Guadalupe Bravos US Border Patrol agents patrol the bed of the Rio Grand in front of where the US Customs and Boarder Protection is housing underage people Locals walk along the Mexico side of the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana A remark on Tuesday about crime-committing illegals that 'infest' the U.S. immediately stoked controversy, with the president's detractors saying the blanket description was not only wrong but inhumane. Another incident earlier this year caused outrage when the president called gangster immigrants 'animals' in another statement his critics cast as incendiary. The White House has spent the past week fighting with Democrats accusing theTrump administration of exploiting migrant families instead of taking an expected post-Singapore Kim summit victory lap. Each side has condemned the other for using children as 'pawns' in a raging illegal immigration debate. A view of inside U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention facility shows detainees inside fenced areas at Rio Grande Valley Centralized Processing Center in Rio Grande City, Texas, U.S., June 17, 2018. Picture taken on June 17, 2018 Nielsen said Monday in remarks that were criticized as tone deaf that Democrats bludgeoning the administration for its 'zero tolerance' policy at the border are acting 'cowardly' and could change federal immigration law if they wanted to. She stood at the White House podium and argued that DHS was just doing its job in enforcing a Trump administration policy that has led more than 2,000 children to be separated from their parents or guardians in the last six weeks. 'If an American were to commit a crime anywhere in the United States,' she told a room full of reporters, 'they would go to jail and they would be separated from their family.' Nielsen said, 'This is not a controversial idea.' When asked by reporters if the policy amounts to 'child abuse', Nielsen, who is now under pressure to resign, denied the accusation. 'We have high standards. We give them meals and we give them education and we give them medical care. There are videos, there are TVs. I visited the detention centers myself.' Some critics of the forced separation of Latino children from their migrant parents say the practice is unprecedented. But it's not the first time the U.S. government has split up families, detained children or allowed others to do so. Throughout American history, during times of war and unrest, authorities have cited various reasons and laws to take children away from their parents. Here are some examples: Japanese internment camps Starting in 1942, when the U.S. was at war with Japan, around 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were ordered by the U.S. government into prison camps around the country. An estimated 30,000 were children. The 1999 documentary 'Children of the Camps' highlighted the trauma children faced while being detained with their grief-stricken parents. Some older children waited to turn 18 so they could volunteer to fight for the U.S. to prove their families' loyalty despite not wanting to be separated from their parents. Children at the Weill public school in San Francisco recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Some of them are evacuees of Japanese ancestry who will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration of World War II Cpl. George Bushy, left, a member of the military guard which supervised the departure of 237 Japanese people for California, holds the youngest child of Shigeho Kitamoto, center, as she and her children are evacuated from Bainbridge Island, Washington Diaries and later interviews show many of those who went into the military did so reluctantly. Kiyoshi K. Muranaga, whose family was interned at Granada Relocation Center in Colorado, joined the U.S. Army but was killed in Italy. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton. Slavery Before abolition, children of black slaves were born into slavery and could be sold by owners at will. Black women could do little to stop the sale of children and often never saw them again after they were sent away. Visitors file past the sculpture of a slave girl, one out of 40 statues spread about the grounds, titled, 'Children of Whitney,' by Woodrow Nash, inside the Antioch Baptist Church, at the Whitney Plantation in Edgard, LA Black women could do little to stop the sale of children and often never saw them again after they were sent away. Pictured: Slaves on a plantation on Edisto Island in South Carolina, 1862 Owners also split apart parents who had no legal rights to prevent their sale. To resist, slave families regularly ran away together but faced harsh physical punishment, even death, if caught by slave hunters. Last week, both White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney Jeff Sessions cited the Bible in defending the policy of forced separation of Latino migrant children. Sessions referenced Romans 13, which urges readers 'to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order.' The same passage was cited before the Civil War to justify slavery, to allow slave hunters to return runaway slaves to their owners and to pull slave children away from mothers. Native American boarding schools After the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, when the Army slaughtered 150 Lakota men, women and children in the last chapter of America's long Indian wars, authorities forced Native American families to send their children to government- or church-run boarding schools. The objective, as Carlisle Indian Industrial School founder Capt. Richard H. Pratt put it, was to 'kill the Indian in him and save the man.' Millie Friday, a descendent of Little Plume, a Native American student who was taken from his family and forced to go to boarding school, is comforted by Barbara Andrews-Christy of Circle Legacy Center, as Ailice Hall looks during a gathering on the grounds of the Carlisle Barracks, in Carlisle, PA A gravesite of Herbert Littlehawk at the cemetery at the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, PA. Littlehawk, an American Indian student who was taken from his family, is buried at the site At 150 or so Indian schools around the country, officials made Native American children cut their hair and outlawed all Native American languages. They forced children to adopt Christianity and attempted to 'Americanize' children by introducing them to white customs and white history. Native American children returned home almost unrecognizable to their parents. Still, some children resisted the boarding school experience by setting fires to buildings, running away or taking their own lives. Others continued to speak their native language in secret. Some Navajo 'code talkers,' who used a code based on their native language to transmit messages in World War II, were products of military-style boarding schools as children. Poverty During the early 1900s, states sometimes pulled children from poor families and placed them in orphanages. Malcolm X in his autobiography recalled welfare workers coming to take him and his siblings away as children from his struggling single mother But reformers in the 1920s and 1930s began promoting the idea that children should not be separated from their families, according to 'In the Shadow Of the Poorhouse: A Social History Of Welfare In America' by Michael B. Katz. However, local and state authorities still used poverty as a reason to take children away from Native American and black families, National Association of Social Workers CEO Angelo McClain said. Sometimes the ordered separation came over concerns about a parent's mental health. Malcolm X in his autobiography recalled welfare workers coming to take him and his siblings away as children from his struggling single mother after their father, an outspoken black preacher, was mysteriously murdered. The future civil rights leader lived in various foster homes and boarding houses. His mother, without her children, had a breakdown and was sent to a mental institution. Immigration During the Great Depression, local authorities in California and Texas participated in a mass deportation of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans whom they blamed for the economic downturn. Between 500,000 and 1 million Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans were pushed out of the country during the 1930s repatriation, as the removal is sometimes called. During the Great Depression (pictured are men outside the New York Stock Exchange in 1929 after the market crash), local authorities in California and Texas participated in a mass deportation of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans whom they blamed for the economic downturn Some families hid children away from relatives in the U.S. to prevent them from being sent to a foreign country they had never visited, according to Francisco Balderrama, a Chicano studies professor at California State University-Los Angeles and co-author of 'Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s.' Many families felt they were being forced to separate from their children, who were U.S. citizens. 'And many children,' Balderrama said, 'never saw their parents again.' Police say an angry crowd taunted their officers while they tried to help their friend who was having a seizure in a Pennsylvania parking lot. Cops responded to reports of a medical emergency outside a Pleasantville grocery store, just before 4pm on Sunday. With no ambulances immediately available, cruisers pulled up outside King's Food Market to find a man on the ground suffering from a seizure, surrounded by a group of men. Cops responded to reports of a medical emergency outside a Pleasantville grocery store, just before 4pm on Sunday Ccruisers pulled up outside King's Food Market to find a man on the ground suffering from a seizure, surrounded by a group of men. Police surrounded the man suffering a seizure after ordering his friends to step away Dashcam footage, which was released without audio, showed one man passing his friend a bottle of water, while another one checked on him, as others milled around waiting for the ambulance to arrive. But police say the group began to get rowdy and refused to comply with officers' orders to back away and instead began yelling abuse at the cops. Pleasantville police say they had to call for assistance from Egg Harbor Township and Absecon police. Police say the group began to get rowdy and refused to comply with officers' orders to back away and instead began yelling abuse at the cops Cops carried the man to the ambulance who was taken to hospital and is now said to be recovering Another officer, with an aggressive K-9, arrived who used the dog to scare back the crowd, while cops used pepper spray to keep the crowd at bay. No arrests were made. Eventually, after 13 minutes, an ambulance arrived, authorities said. But police said that even after EMS turned up at the scene, the group continued to shout at police. Cops carried the man to the ambulance who was taken to hospital and is now said to be recovering. Chief Sean Riggin said he was proud at how his officers responded. 'They kept an angry group at bay, without arresting or fighting an unnecessarily hostile crowd, and then disregarded their own safety to carry the patient to the ambulance while a hostile stood by and berated police without cause,' Riggin said. 'I stand proudly behind my officers who were confronted by a crowd who seemed eager to engage in a confrontation with police over an issue the officers cannot control, ambulance response time. 'I'm disappointed that all the hard work of these officers to engage in our community is thrown aside by a few reckless individuals who seemed determined to fight police or start a riot. The officers did a professional job in spite of the actions of several who sought to create a dangerous and chaotic environment and I am proud of them' The terror suspect accused of stabbing Sir David Amess to death has been pictured for the first time. Ali Harbi Ali, 25, is being held by police on suspicion of murdering the veteran Conservative MP as he met with his Southend West constituents on Friday afternoon. Police and intelligence officials are said to be mystified about why the 69-year-old Tory politician was singled out for attack by a suspected Islamist extremist. Reports had initially suggested that Sir David, a devout Roman Catholic and prominent Brexiteer who was MP for Southend West, had been selected because of his political views or religion. Investigators now believe that there may have been no specific motive for the targeting of Sir David, and that the 69-year-old was stabbed to death because his alleged killer had succeeded in booking a face-to-face meeting with him at a church in Leigh-on-Sea on Friday. Last night former friends of Ali, a British national of Somali heritage who grew up in a three-bed 1980s terrace house in Croydon with his mother, two sisters and brother, claimed he was radicalised after watching YouTube videos of hate preacher Anjem Choudary. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said separating migrant children from parents was 'unacceptable' Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hit back at President Donald Trump by targeting his controversial child-separation policy amid a growing uproar. Trudeau waded into domestic U.S. politics amid polls showing strong majorities of Americans opposed to the policy a day after Trump resumed his attacks on Canadian trading practices. The U.S. policy of separating migrant children from parents caught crossing the US-Mexico border illegally is 'wrong,' Trudeau said Wednesday. 'What's going on in the United States is wrong,' he told reporters. 'I can't imagine what the families living through this are enduring. Obviously this is not the way we do things in Canada.' Trump and Justin Trudeau have been in a war of words since Trump raised tariffs President Trump went after Canadian trading practices again on Tuesday The sight of mass-housing for children as young as infants, with no parents to be found, has driven national outrage from both sides of the political aisle; Sessions says some of the grown-ups are smugglers or other scammers who are using the children as props to gain preferential treatment Political firestorm: The Trump administration is caught in a growing crisis over separated children. Tent encampments are being used to hold children at the Mexican border President Donald Trump discusses immigration policy during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 20, 2018 Speaking in French, the prime minister added that the US actions were 'unacceptable.' He spoke just a day after Trump re-upped his attack on Canadian tariffs and trade. Trump claimed in a speech to the National Federation of Independent Business on Tuesday that Canadians are smuggling scuffed upped shoes made to look old out of the United States to avoid high tariffs and stated America can long longer be 'the stupid country' on trade issues. 'Canada is not going to take advantage of the United States any longer, and Mexico is not going to take advantage of the United States any longer,' Trump told an audience the NFIB's 75th Anniversary Celebration on Tuesday afternoon. The president has waged a war of words against Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ever since the Canadian leader criticized Trump's decision to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum, saying it would hurt the economy of both countries. Trump indicated Wednesday he was ready to do a reversal on the child separation policy after intense public pressure, opposition from some GOP senators, and a growing international uproar. 'We want security for our country. The Republicans want security and insist on security for our country, and we will have that. At the same time, we have compassion. We want to keep families together. It's very important. I'll be signing something in a little while that's going to do that,' Trump said. President Donald Trump's administration is facing growing outcry at home and abroad over the separations, the product of a 'zero-tolerance' policy on undocumented migrants. U.S. officials say more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents or guardians since early May, when the policy was announced. The Associated Press reported late Tuesday that there are separate 'tender age' facilities for babies and kids under 10. Lawmakers who visited minors in detention described wailing children behind chain-link fences, with no idea when they will see their parents again. On Tuesday, Canada's Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen warned that the policy could threaten America's safe haven status. A builder was left 'shocked and privileged' at spotting a rare white squirrel scampering among the leaves of a suburban oak tree. With about 50 albino squirrels estimated to be living in the UK, Matthew Throup, of Banstead, Surrey, enjoyed seeing the one-in-100,000 animal searching for food. The white rodent, with distinctive reddish eyes, was seen running across the road in front of the stunned 48-year-old before it disappeared up a tree and out of sight. The white rodent, with distinctive red eyes, was seen running across the road The odds of seeing an albino squirrel are just one-in-100,000 There are an estimated 50 albino squirrels estimated to be living in the UK He said: 'I was quite shocked when I did see it. It ran across the road in front of me and then ran up a tree. 'It stopped about halfway up for about four minutes, and then disappeared. I felt quite privileged to have seen it really.' The builder added: 'I was actually just on my way to do a quote for a client, and when I mentioned it to him he said he thought he had seen a white squirrel early that morning. The squirrel could be seen with its distinctive reddish eyes and white fur It was scampering around ivy in the suburban tree in Surrey at the weekend One problem albino squirrels face is that they struggle with depth perception and focussing on objects 'But he said he wasn't sure whether it was just his eyes playing tricks on him.' The odds of seeing an albino squirrel are just one-in-100,000. It was seen on Eaton Road in Sutton, Surrey, at around 6pm on Sunday. Why are albino squirrels so rare? Everything you need to know about the beautiful creatures spotted from time to time in Britain Albinism, a genetic condition which reduces the amount of melanin a creature has, can dramatically reduce an animal's chance of survival in the wild for a number of reasons. The condition leaves animals with white skin or fur because of a lack of pigment. This is particularly problematic for creatures such as squirrels who need to blend in with tree trunks and leaves to avoid predators. Another problem faced by creatures with albinism is poor eyesight. The signature pink or reddish eyes albinos have have usually developed abnormally, and so they often struggle with depth perception and focussing on objects. The increased difficulty in surviving on top of the fact that albinism occurs in just 1 in 10,000 mammal births means that albino squirrels are incredibly rare. However, it is important to draw a distinction between albino squirrels and the far rarer white squirrel. White squirrels suffer from leucism, a mutated gene which turns their skin white but leaves their eyes black, meaning they do not suffer with any of the eye problems albinos have. There are around five million grey squirrels in Britain, but experts believe there are fewer than one in a million that have leucism. Advertisement What type of squirrels do we have in the UK, and what colour are they? Britain has two types of squirrels, but only one of them the red squirrel is native to this country. Since the grey squirrel was introduced here about 130 years ago, their numbers have increased to reach an estimated 2.5million in the UK compared to 160,000 native red squirrels. Pictured left, a native red squirrel, and a grey squirrel, eating a banana skin Most red squirrels are now found in Scotland, Wales and north east England, with smaller populations in places like the Isle of Wight and Norfolk, according to woodlands.co.uk. Red squirrels are at home among Hazel, Beech, Scot and Corsican Pine, Sweet Chestnut and Wild Cherry, where their main food is the nuts and seeds. The number of red squirrels has fallen dramatically as it has been displaced by the grey squirrel, which are bigger and stronger, able to find more food and store more fat in its body for winter. A sleepy fisherman off the coast of the Philippines didn't realize that he was mere feet from a massive whale shark. A photo captured by Dimitar Karanikolov shows the majestic beast making its way underneath the man and his small outrigger. He used a drone attached to a camera to take the shots of the impressive visual that occurred about 300 yards away from where the photographer was standing. The Bulgarian photograher told Fox News that he took 200 shots from different angles over the span of 15 minutes. The Bulgarian photograher shared that he took 200 shots from different angles over the span of 15 minutes He added that the best time to take photos was around 7am, at the time that the water is most temperate. 'Whale sharks are attracted every morning in the area,' Karanikolov, said. 'The whale sharks swim in the area between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m.' Karaikolov shared that the whale shark was actually a baby an that 'the adults are much bigger and grow up to 12 meters [39 feet].' He added: 'They are a type of slow-moving shark that feeds on plankton and shrimp. This is the largest type of fish in the world and they are not dangerous for people.' Katanikolov operated a drone 100 feet above the water from Oslob on the Cebu Island. 'I was probably standing around 200-300 yards away from the whale sharks on land. I had a permission to fly for 15 minutes only above the whale shark area,' he said. The photographer has been capturing photos for 10 years but mostly focuses on travel and aerial shots. 'Photography is more of a hobby for me and this is not my main profession,' said Karanikolov. 'I started taking pictures as part of my job but then I found my passion and started taking more photographs. I travel across the world taking pictures including Mongolia and Botswana. I love photography.' A former Royal Navy serviceman, 59, has lost an 800,000 legal battle with his millionaire ex-wife over 25 years after they divorced. File image used A former Royal Navy serviceman has lost an 800,000 divorce battle with his millionaire ex-wife over 25 years after their marriage ended. The 59-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had asked a judge to get his ex-wife, 61, to give him 800,000. She worked as a retail director of a 'well-known' store, which left her with 4.7million assets when she retired. He took custody of their two children and ended up with debts of 40,000 and 'no assets at all in his own name' despite working for a soft furnishing business with his second wife. The ex-serviceman claimed he had 'financial needs' that should have been compensated by his former partner. But a judge today ruled their 1992 divorcement settlement was sufficient. Details of the case have emerged in rulings by Mr Justice Baker following private family court hearings in London. The man told the judge he had been the 'primary carer' for their two children following the breakdown of the marriage. He said he had arranged his working life around his responsibilities for the children, and said he now had 'financial needs' and should be compensated. His ex-wife disagreed. Mr Justice Baker dismissed the man's application. The judge concluded the pair had reached a 'comprehensive resolution' of their financial arrangements shortly after their divorce in 1992. He said the pair, whose children were both born in the 1980s, could not be identified. The judge said they had met in 1980 when the man was serving in the Royal Navy in Scotland. The ex-serviceman claimed he had 'financial needs' that should have been compensated by his former partner. But a judge today ruled their 1992 divorcement settlement was sufficient They had married in 1983 and lived in Glasgow, where the woman worked for a 'well-known retailer', then near Stirling before moving to Essex. The man had left the Royal Navy in the mid-1980s and set up a car valeting business. Their marriage broke down in 1991 after the woman began a relationship with another man and they divorced in 1992. Mr Justice Baker said when the marriage ended the woman had moved out and the children had stayed with their father. Both had remarried. The judge said the man was working with his new wife in a soft furnishings business and had 'liabilities' of 40,000 and 'no assets at all in his own name'. Pictured: Mr Justice Baker rejected the man's claims at a London court ruling today The woman had gone on to become retail director of a 'well-known store' before retiring and had assets valued at about 4.7 million. 'I find that the parties did reach an informal agreement concerning financial matters in the period 1992 to 1994 with which each was satisfied and which was fair in all the circumstances,' said Mr Justice Baker in his latest ruling. '[The man] contended that he had felt pressurised into accepting the arrangements. 'I do not accept his evidence that he felt under pressure.' He said the woman had paid the man a lump sum and agreed to pay 'periodical payments' for the children. 'In my judgement, this amounted to a comprehensive resolution of the financial arrangements arising from the marriage and divorce,' said the judge. 'I am confident that, if the parties had been asked at the end of 1994 whether there was anything outstanding to be resolved between them, they would have said no.' The judge added: 'Although I accept that [the man] has arranged his working life around his responsibilities towards the children, I do not accept that he has suffered a disadvantage in his career so as to found a claim based in compensation.' He went on: 'It is in my judgement plain that [the woman] has assumed financial obligations towards [the man] and arranged her financial affairs on the assumption that [the man] could not and would not make any claim against her.' The US Ambassador has confirmed Donald Trump will meet the Queen during his visit next month. The president is due to visit the country for the first time since being elected in 2016 on Friday, July 13. His trip was downgraded from a state visit to a working visit by Theresa May last year amid fears of mass protests. But this afternoon ambassador Robert Wood Johnson told Sky News while plans have not yet been finalised, they will involve the president meeting Her Majesty. The US Ambassador as confirmed President Trump will meet the Queen on a state visit to the UK next month There has been widespread speculation about whether or not he would meet the Queen however it has been confirmed today he will visit Windsor. If the monarch was to snub Trump it would break tradition as the Queen has met every US president since 1945 bar Lyndon Johnson. Earlier this week it was reported plans were underway to close Windsor Castle on July 13 for a possible meeting between the two. Insiders said holding a summit in Windsor would add weight to reports Theresa May plans to keep Trump's visit outside of London in a bid to avoid protests. The Queen, pictured today at Royal Ascot, will meet the President at Windsor Castle Windsor Castle have not listed the closure on their website however when approached a member of staff confirmed it will be completely shut to the public on July 13. If Windsor Castle is the meeting place it might go some way to appease the US President who was snubbed for an invite to the royal wedding at the venue last month. The cost of holding migrant children who are separated from adults in tent cities is $775 a night, a rate that tops some of the per night costs at the nation's top hotels. The cost also is far higher than what it costs to house a child in a detention center or a permanent building. The reason for the high cost, Department of Health and Human Services officials told NBC News, is the urgent need for security, air conditioning, medical workers and other government contractors far surpasses the cost for structures that are routinely staffed. The inside of a dormitory at the Tornillo facility, a shelter for children of detained migrants Children and workers are seen at a tent encampment recently built near the Tornillo Port of Entry in Tornillo, Texas That means the cost to operate a 400-bed temporary structure for one month at capacity would be more than $5 million. The average stay for migrant children is nearly two months. It costs $256 per night per kid to hold children in permanent HHS facilities. Housing children with their parents in detention centers run by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement costs $298 per resident per night. Meanwhile, a deluxe room at the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. would set a person back $371 per night. A room at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica runs around $631 per night while a room at the Beverly Hills Hotel runs about $595 per night. It costs more to house a migrant child one night in a 'tent city' than to stay at Trump's D.C. hotel But compare that to one night at the five star Plaza Hotel in New York City, which would set a person back $1,275 per night for the cheapest option. The Trump administration announced its "zero tolerance" policy in April. Prior to zero tolerance, children and parents were kept together in ICE detention facilities for a maximum of 20 days before they were released with ankle monitors. HHS is exploring places to build temporary facilities at an Air Force Base in Little Rock, Arkansas and land formerly run by the USDA in Arizona. Two people blamed for the deaths of three children in a 2016 Flint, Michigan house fire have each been sentenced to 18 to 36 years in prison. The mother of two of the children, Erica Starkey, and her acquaintance, Rodney King Jr., were sentenced Wednesday. Police say King set Starkey's house on fire June 10, 2016, after he gave her money to buy crack cocaine but she never returned home. He was unaware that there were three kids sleeping upstairs. Erica Starkey (right) and her acquaintance, Rodney King Jr. (left), were sentenced to 18 to 36 years in prison in Michigan court on Wednesday. The two pictured above in court on Wednesday King lit Starkey's home on fire in June 2016 when she failed to come home with drugs he had given her money to buy. Two of the children were Starkey's - four-year-old Kayden Hull and 13-year-old Onyah Starkey. Onyah's friend Brianna Breushaw, 14, was spending the night and also died. Starkey's children were pronounced dead at the scene while Brianna died at the hospital two days later. During the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Brianna's mother, Schuyler Kelley, condemned Starkey and King for what they had done. He didn't know that Starkey's two children and a friend were sleeping upstairs. Above, Starkey's son Kayden, who was four years old when he died in the blaze Onyah Starkey, 13 (left), and her friend Brianna Breushaw, 14 (right), were also killed 'I named her Brianna, meaning strong,' Kelley said, according to MLive.com. 'As a parent, you love, you teach, you protect your child. You did none of that. I loved your daughter like she was my own. Even the death penalty wouldn't be enough.' When it came time for Starkey and King to speak, both offered their apologies. But as Starkey started to speak, Kelley left the room. 'I'm so sorry that I left that night,' Starkey said. 'If justice is me going to prison, then so be it.' Brianna's mother, Schuyler Kelley, condemned Starkey and King for what they did in court on Wednesday At one point, Starkey wiped away a tear from under her glasses King also accepted responsibility for his actions, though he says he didn't know the kids were in the home. 'I pray every day for all of the victims. God knows that I did not mean for this to happen,' he said. Kelley had a few choice words for King as well. 'You couldn't even remember whether it was $20 or $40 that you gave her,' Kelley said. 'I'm sorry you wasted your life. I want you to think about what you took in your moment - your flight of stupidity.' Starkey pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and other charges related to the fire while King pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and arson. William Earl Talbott II, 55 (on May 19), has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of a Canadian couple in 1987 A Washington state man has been charged with the 1987 murder of a Canadian couple after police said he was outed by the same genealogy technology that led to the capture of alleged 'Golden State Killer' Joseph James DeAngelo. Two counts of aggravated first-degree murder were filed against William Talbott II, 55, in Washington's Snohomish County Superior Court on June 15. Talbott is accused of murdering Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18, and Jay Cook, 20, a couple who disappeared and were found dead during a trip to Seattle area in November 1987. Talbott was arrested on May 18. He appeared in court Tuesday to plead not guilty to the charges. Authorities said that they discovered Talbott's suspected connection to Van Cuylenborg and Cook's murders after working with a genealogist who used information from GEDMatch, which gathers DNA profiles from public genealogy websites, and matched it to crime scene DNA, according to CBS News. At the time of the Canadian couple's death, Talbott was said to be working as a delivery driver in Seattle. His route took him through an area of the city that the couple had intended to visit, according to court documents, the Daily Herald reported. Talbott, a Seattle-based truck driver, was charged with the first-degree murders of Canadian couple Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18 (left), and Jay Cook, 20, who died during a trip to Seattle The blanket that had been wrapped around Cook's body when it was discovered in 1987 A former friend of Talbott's said he saw a bronze Ford Club wagon, like the one driven by Cook (pictured here with sister Laura Baanstra), at Talbott's parents' home in 1987 Police said that on the night of November 18, 1987, Cook and Van Cuylenborg drove their van to the Seattle area from their Saanich, British Columbia, home on a short overnight trip. Van Cuylenborg's body was found a week later, on November 24, in a ditch in rural Skagit County, Washington, with a subsequent investigation finding evidence she had been raped and then shot to death, 'execution style,' from less than two inches away. An autopsy determined she had been killed on November 19. Cook's body was found on November 26, 50 miles away from Van Cuylenborg's body. He was covered in a blue blanket and detectives said he was strangled and beaten to death with rocks. Cook and Van Cuylenborg was said to have been random targets. All potential leads in the double homicide case had long been extinguished until DNA evidence from the 31-year-old crime scene was placed in a public genealogy database called GEDmatch. All potential leads in the double homicide case has long been extinguished until early May 2018, when DNA evidence was examined by Parabon NanoLabs (Pictured: Genealogy map) The database, controlled by a company called Parabon NanoLabs, consisted of DNA samples from 100 crime scenes and was capable of finding matches with people determined to have familial ties with potential suspects. 'The significant matches were at about the second cousin level,' Parabon genealogist CeCe Moore told reporters at a press conference following Talbott's arrest, according to BuzzFeed News. Moore had to establish family tress of the great-grandparents of the people whose DNA profiles matched with evidence found at the crime scene. She then looked into the descendants of these people, finding that the family trees converged on a couple who had only one son: William Earl Talbott II. A genealogist at Parabon NanoLabs (pictured) matched publicly available DNA with Cook and Van Cuylenborg's crime scene DNA to find a link back to Talbott Armed with this knowledge, police then put Talbott under surveillance. When a paper cup fell off his truck in early May, they swabbed it and sent it off for DNA testing. The same genealogy technology was used to the capture alleged 'Golden State Killer' Joseph James DeAngelo in April 2018 Talbott's coffee cup DNA was said to have been a match to the DNA collected three decades ago at the Canadians' murder scenes. Prior to his arrest, Talbott had not been a suspect in the murders. Cook's sister, Laura Baanstra, later told Buzzfeed News that she's hopeful her family will finally get closure after waiting 31 years. 'Detective work has sure come a long way in 30 years,' Baanstra added. Since Talbott's arrest, former friends have emerged, telling authorities that they remembered about Talbott that year, including one former roommate who said he saw a van, like Cook and Van Cuylenborg's bronze-colored Ford Club Wagon which the killer had taken at Talbott's parents' home in 1987. The van was later found in Bellingham, Washington. If convicted of the murders, Talbott will face life in prison. So-called Golden State Killer Joseph James DeAngelo, suspected of committing more than 50 rapes and a dozen murders in the '70s and '80s, was arrested in April 2018 after authorities using GEDMatch were able to match some crime scene DNA with publicly available DNA. A familial link eventually led to DeAngelo. An Indiana children's therapist has been accused of walking out of a nail salon without paying for her manicure because she was unhappy with the quality of the work, and then dragging an employee with her car. Police were called to Diamond & Nails Spa in Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon following a dispute involving 28-year-old Charley Fowler, of Munster. Workers at the salon said the customer complained about her $30 manicure, refused to let employees redo her nails and then stormed out without paying the fee. She's got her claws out: Charley Fowler, 28, is accused of leaving an Indiana nail salon without paying for her manicure because she was unhappy with the work and then dragging a staffer with her car Police were called to Diamond & Nails Spa in Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon following a dispute involving Fowler While salon employees were calling police, Fowler allegedly got into her white BMW parked outside and tried to leave. Surveillance video reportedly showed a male employee running after Fowler's car and getting dragged across the parking lot, according to The Times of Northwest Indiana. The alleged victim, Phihung Nguyen, said he hung onto the BMWs hood while Fowler dragged him 40 feet, reported WISH-TV. Fowler (pictured left and right) told police she went to wait for their arrival in her car parked outside the salon. When the workers started banging on her windows, she slowly drove away He complained of pain to his leg and hand, but responding officers observed no visible injuries on him. Fowler later told police that she planned to wait for their arrival in her car, but employees from the salon began banging on her windows. Fowler then slowly drove to a nearby restaurant, according to her interview with the police. The woman was ultimately arrested on suspicion of criminal recklessness and theft. Young professional: Fowler works as a mental health therapist specializing in children and teens Her lawyer argued that his client should have never been arrested or criminally charged, claiming that the dispute between Fowler and the nail salon staff was a civil matter. Bob Harper, the attorney, also insisted that salon workers had no right to try to detain Fowler. After reviewing the surveillance video from the salon parking lot, the Porter County prosecutors office decided to drop the criminal recklessness count against Folwer and pursue only the misdemeanor theft charge stemming from her refusal to pay for the manicure. According to her biography posted on a professional website, Fowler has a Master's degree in child development and clinical social work from the University of Denver, and has advanced training treating children, teenagers and families for mental health disorders, depression, anxiety and behavioral problems. 'Charley practices cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy, parent management training, play therapy, exposure-response therapy, and mindfulness,' the page reads. Actor Peter Fonda apologized Wednesday afternoon for a threatening tweet in which he said Americans upset with the White House's separation of illegal-immigrant families 'should rip Barron Trump from his mother's arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles.' The first lady's office conferred with U.S. Secret Service about the incident. The agency wouldn't say on Wednesday whether it had contacted the aging Oscar-winner directly. Fonda issued a statement hours later, shortly after President Donald Trump signed an executive order forbidding the government from detaining children separately from the adults who brought them across the U.S.-Mexico border. 'I tweeted something highly inappropriate and vulgar about the president and his family in response to the devastating images I was seeing on television,' Fonda said. 'Like many Americans, I am very impassioned and distraught over the situation with children separated from their families at the border, but I went way too far. It was wrong and I should not have done it. I immediately regretted it and sincerely apologize to the family for what I said and any hurt my words have caused.' 'HE'S NOT HERE': Peter Fonda's assistant told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that the aging actor wasn't home until he appeared outside his Pacific Palisades, California home after the Oscar-winner draw international scrutiny by sending what he acknowledged was a 'highly inappropriate and vulgar' tweet about Melania Trump and her son Barron The Secret Service was spurred to action on Wednesday, Melania's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham confirmed, after Fonda wrote that Americans upset with the White House's separation of illegal-immigrant families 'should rip Barron Trump from his mother's arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles' Barron is the only son of Melania and Donald Trump Fonda has told his Twitter followers that President Trump's 12-year-old son Barron should be ripped from his mother's arms and put 'in a cage with pedophiles' in an expletive-laden rant about the border crisis Mrs. Trump's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told DailyMail.com earlier in the day that Fonda's tweet was 'sick and irresponsible and USSS [U.S. Secret Service] has been notified.' Secret Service is charged with a variety of specialized jobs including the security of the White House, the president, the first lady, their children, and all former first families. Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway had a two-word reaction to Fonda's tweets: 'Beyond. Chilling.' Donald Trump Jr. 'liked' her tweet. Don Jr. tweeted: 'As an FYI @SonyPictures has a movie with him dropping in a few days. I wonder if they will apply the same rules to @iamfonda that they did to @therealroseanne. I have a strange suspicion that they wont do anything. Please RT, we deserve an answer!' A spokesman for Sony Pictures Classics, referring to the indie feature Boundaries which is set to open Friday, said: 'Peter Fondas comments are abhorrent, reckless and dangerous, and we condemn them completely. It is important to note that Mr. Fonda plays a very minor role in the film. 'To pull or alter this film at this point would unfairly penalize the filmmaker Shana Festes accomplishment, the many actors, crew members and other creative talent that worked hard on the project. We plan to open the film as scheduled this weekend, in a limited release of five theaters.' Fonda ducked inside his Pacific Palisades, California, home and stayed silent when DailyMail.com approached him on Wednesday. Instead the job of commenting was left to an assistant who had claimed at first that the actor wasnt at home and insisted: 'Hes not here and were not going to answer the door.' The red-headed woman added then: 'No you cant [ask about Barron Trump]. No, we have no comment.' Fonda, who splits his time between Los Angeles and a second home in Paradise, Montana, lives in a large cream-painted gated home in the upmarket Pacific Palisades enclave. Fonda lives in the Pacific Palisades, California enclave in a gated home; he declined comment when DailyMail.com approached him Wednesday By tweeting what amounted to a threat against a member of the first family, Fonda attracted the attention of U.S. Secret Service, which is charged with protecting the president and his household Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway said Fonda's tweets were 'Beyond. Chilling.' Donald Trump Jr. 'liked' the post The 'Easy Rider' star did not appear to issue an apology to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. In his tweetstorm, he had said 'we should hack the system' and 'get the addresses of ICE agents' to 'surround their homes' and 'find out what schools their children go to and surround the schools.' Branding President Trump a 'f****** monster', he added: 'We need to scare the f*** out of [border agents]! Need to make their children worry now.' And in addition for urging people to kidnap and abuse Barron Trump, he 78-year-old had called for 90 million people to take to the streets in protest at the government's decision to criminally prosecute illegal immigrants who jump the border. He also referred earlier to presidential adviser Stephen Miller as a 'pedophile.' Fonda also called Miller, who is Jewish, 'Goebbels' in an apparent reference to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, an extreme anti-Semite who strongly supported the Holocaust and arranged the murder of his own children in 1945. Melania and Barron are more often together than apart at the White House as she tries to give him as normal an upbringing as possible within the Secret Service 'bubble' where they're required to live Fonda also called Miller, who is Jewish, 'Goebbels' in an apparent reference to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, an extreme anti-Semite who strongly supported the Holocaust and who arranged the murder of his own children in 1945 He also called for 90 million people to take to the streets in protest at the government's decision to criminally prosecute migrants who cross the US border illegally and separate them from their children The Easy Rider star, who has more than 46,000 followers, also said 'we should hack the system' and 'get the addresses of ICE agents' to 'surround their homes' and 'find out what schools their children go to and surround the schools' In previous tweets on Tuesday, he said that White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders should be deported 'to Arkansas.' He also said her children should be given to Stephen Miller. Fonda said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristjen Nielsen, meanwhile, should be 'put in a cage and poked at by passersby' as well as 'pilloried in Lafayette Square naked and whipped by passersby while being filmed for posterity.' It comes after it was revealed that Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border to at least three 'tender age' shelters in South Texas. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. A two-year-old Honduran cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border on June 12. She had illegally crossed the Rio Grande on a raft to reach Texas A Mission Police Department officer, and a US Border Patrol agent watch over a group of Central American asylum seekers before taking them into custody in McAllen, Texas The inside of a dormitory at the Tornillo facility, a shelter for children of detained migrants, is seen in this photo provided by the US Department of Health and Human Services, in Texas The Trump administration has been accused of using children as political pawns in its attempts to negotiate on border security The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday. Since the White House announced its zero tolerance policy in early May, more than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the US-Mexico border, resulting in a new influx of young children requiring government care. The government has faced withering critiques over images of some of the children in cages inside US Border Patrol processing stations. Genu Armeanu, 45, of East Ham, east London, was today jailed for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Elisabeta Lacatusu, 44 in Ilford on January 3 this year A jealous killer who waited outside his ex-girlfriend's home before stabbing her to death in the street has been jailed for life. Genu Armeanu, 45, was caught knifing Elisabeta Lacatusu, 44, in a 30-second frenzied attack outside her home in Ilford, east London on January 3 this year. CCTV footage showed him waiting behind a van parked on the street where she lived before she arrived home. He got out as soon as he saw her and engaged her in conversation before drawing a knife and stabbing her. He then left her to die in the street before calmly walking away. A few hours later he text a mutual friend of theirs confessing his crime. Armeanu later told police he 'did it for love' and 'could only see black' as he was carrying out the brutal killing. He was today ordered to serve a minimum of 28 years behind bars after a jury at the Old Bailey took just 15 minutes to convict him. His three-day trial heard the pair had known each other since they were children in Romania and their relationship began late last summer. Her family was unhappy about it and the mother-of-three tried to end things but Armeanu was persistent, the court was told. He bombarded her with increasingly desperate Facebook messages towards the end of the year trying to salvage their relationship. She showed relatives some of the messages he sent 'at first threatening to kill himself, and then threatening to kill her', said Jocelyn Ledward, prosecuting. 'He wasn't getting from her what he wanted. If he could not have her, nobody else would. He would kill her if he could not have her back.' After leaving mother-of-three Elisabeta Lacatusu (pictured) to die in the street Armeanu told police he 'did it for love' and he 'could only see black' as he was carrying out the brutal murder Ms Ledward continued: 'Sometime in December 2017, and certainly by Christmas 2017 at the latest, the relationship had ended, that Mr Armeanu was unhappy about it, but also that he was jealous, possessive and ultimately somewhat obsessive about Ms Lacatusu in the final days of her life. 'On 3 January 2018, at about 7pm the defendant, Genu Armeanu, lay in wait for his former girlfriend as she returned to her home and her family in Ilford. 'After engaging her in conversation, he drew a knife that he had brought to the scene from his pocket and launched a frenzied attack upon her, stabbing her repeatedly to her neck and torso, causing serious injuries which caused her death within a few minutes. He left her for dead in the street and walked away.' The harrowing 30-second attack was caught on a CCTV camera attached to the home of one of Ms Lacatusu's neighbours in Ilford. Armeanu later told police he 'did it out of love' and said in interview: 'She said that she's not going to marry... and that I shouldn't be minding her personal life and then I took out the knife and I killed her.' Pictured: The weapon recovered from the murder scene in Ilford, east London, after Ms Lacatusu was stabbed to death He added: 'I only seen black in front of my eyes and I stabbed her with the knife.' The court heard Ms Lacatusu moved to London from Romania around two years before her death. She had three daughters and two grandchildren. Armeanu was from the same city as her and had known her since childhood. Their paths crossed again in 2015 when Ms Lacatusu's daughter lived in a shared house where Armeanu collected the rent, the jury was told. By the late summer of 2017, her family became aware she had begun a relationship with him. They were not happy and she agreed to end the relationship. But when the victim repeatedly tried to end it Armeanu sent a host of text messages, at first threatening to kill himself and then threatening to kill her. Although frightened, the mother-of-three opted to keep Armeanu calm, and the family together decided not to report matters to the police because they did not think him capable of violence. Eventually four weeks before her murder, her daughter told Armeanu she wanted nothing to do with him and wanted to be left alone. Shortly after the break-up, Ms Lacatusu told her family that Armeanu had started waiting for her outside the restaurant in Upton Park where she worked. A colleague had begun giving her a lift home when she worked the shift ending at midnight because of this. Forensic work on Armeanu's phone carried out by officers following his arrest revealed that he was making calls and sending text messages, sometimes dozens of times a day, to the victim expressing his love for her. He had also sent a message to a family member saying that he was going to kill 'Alina' and himself. On the day of Elisabeta's murder, Armeanu sent a number of text messages and made several phone calls to her. Ms Lacatusu's eldest daughter Madalina said in an emotional victim-impact statement read aloud in court: 'She was our guardian angel. She made us who we are. 'She was an exceptional mother and raised us all with so much attention and care. 'She supported the three of us all the time and spent every last penny she had on us. 'Her death shattered our daily peace and now we just try to survive.' Jailing Armeanu, of East Ham, east London, for life, Judge Sarah Munro QC said: 'Nothing I say or do today, with the pain you have caused, no term of yours can possibly recompense the family for their loss. 'Their mother met her death in the most brutal way on the street of their home at the hands of a man they trusted. When asked by Judge Sarah Munro why he did not plead guilty, defence barrister, Stephen Moses QC said: 'He wanted a jury to find him guilty rather than utter the words himself. 'Her family will suffer her loss forever and the impact on them of your action is inevitable. ' Detective Sergeant Perry Benton, from the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command, said after today's hearing: 'Armeanu knew on that day that he was going to take Elisabeta's life, in a planned and premeditated attack. 'He went armed with a knife which showed that he knew exactly what he wanted to do. 'He was jealous and he had an inability to accept that the relationship between them was over. 'This was a violent, wicked and cold-hearted attack on a much-loved mother and grandmother. 'Despite the overwhelming evidence against Armeanu, he has refused to admit his guilt and has put the victim's family through a trial, where some family members have been forced to re-live that horrific day by giving evidence. 'He has shown absolutely no remorse for his despicable actions. Elisabeta's family are completely devastated. 'I hope today's conviction and sentencing gives Elisabeta's family a small amount of comfort and closure.' President Donald Trump canceled the annual Congressional Picnic scheduled for Thursday - the same day House Republicans are bringing immigration legislation to the floor that would fund his border wall. 'We are going to cancel and postpone tomorrow's Congressional picnic. We have a Congressional picnic tomorrow,' Trump said after a meeting with Congressional Republicans. 'And I was just walking over to the Oval Office and I said 'you know it doesn't feel right to have a picnic for Congress when we're working on do something so important.' He added that 'it didn't feel exactly right to me. We will be officially postponing the Congressional picnic for tomorrow. We'll make it for another time when things are going extremely well.' Popcorn machines, tables and other items for the annual congressional picnic sit on the South Lawn after President Donald Trump announced he was canceling the picnic President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen welcome guests to last year's Congressional picnic President Trump announced Thursday's annual event would be canceled Ivanka Trump swings her daughter Arabella Rose Kushner in the Rose Garden during last year's Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House Then-Rep. Jason Chaffetz and his wife Julie attend last year's Congressional Picnic Then-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner walk together during last year's Congressional Picnic The president said 'we want to solve this immigration problem.' The picnic is one of the events first lady Melania Trump was working on while she was out of sight after her medical procedure, according to her office. Melania Trump was planning to attend tomorrow night's event, her spokesperson told the DailyMail.com earlier this week. 'We're determining next steps now,' her communications director Stephanie Grisham told the DailyMail.com. The annual picnic is time for members of Congress and administration officials to bond over carnival games, festive food, and drinks on the South Lawn of the White House. Preparations were already under way with White House staff grilling meat on Wednesday for the event. The White House press office did not respond to the DailyMail.com's request for comment on what happens to the meat. Additionally the South Lawn was occupied by preparations. There were a handful of folded tables stacked on the lawn and a couple of large green boxes labeled 'popcorn machine.' Many members of Congress bring their families to the event. On Capitol Hill on Wednesday, several lawmakers had their spouses and their children with them, presumably all were in town to attend Thursday's picnic. And it's common for the members of Congress to post photos on social media of them and their families at the White House festivities, images that could be a stark contrast to pictures coming from the Mexican border of children being separated from their families. The event would have happened after votes in the House of Representatives on Thursday were Republicans are expected to bring up two pieces of legislation on the immigration crisis. A compromise bill would meet most of Trump's demands. It would create a path to legal residency and then citizenship for young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, the so-called 'Dreamers. 'It would also fund the president's proposed border wall and end the diversity visa 'lottery' system. Guests get food from a buffet table during at last year's Congressional Picnic Attorney General Jeff Sessions attended last year's Congressional Picnic First Lady Melania Trump plans the annual Congressional Picnic White House senior adviser Jared Kushner holds their son Theodore James Kushner as Ivanka Trump kisses him during last year's Congressional Picnic Guests attend last year;s Congressional Picnic, called Picnic in the Park and was modeled after a summer evening in Central Park in New York Guests attend last year's Congressional Picnic at the White House The second bill is more conservative and does not offer a path to citizenship for the 'Dreamers.' It would more dramatically limit legal immigration. But it does fund Trump's border wall. Additionally, all lawmakers are traditionally invited, meaning Democrats would be in attendance and able to protest the president's 'zero tolerance' policy on immigration. Democrats protest Trump's visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Five members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus held signs that read 'Families Belong Together' and waved them at the president when he left a meeting with House Republicans. They also shouted at him to stop separating families. 'We're having a lot of problems with Democrats. They don't want to vote for anything,' Trump said on Wednesday. The president has been holding other events as the debate has raged over his policy of 'zero tolerance,' which separates children from the adults they travel with in crossing the boarder. Trump held a fundraiser Tuesday night at his Trump International Hotel Washington D.C. after his meeting on Capitol Hill with Republicans. He's holding a campaign rally Wednesday night in Duluth, Minnesota. Italy has reignited its investigation into the theft of a valuable Caravaggio painting that was stolen almost 50 years ago after a Mafia turncoat revealed new information. Prosecutors have launched a fresh investigation aimed at recovering the Italian painter's Nativity with San Lorenzo and San Francesco, The Telegraph reports. The oil painting depicting Mary gazing adoringly at the newborn baby Jesus hung in the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo, Sicily, until October 1969. One night that month, it was skilfully cut from its frame by two unidentified thieves and has been missing ever since. Prosecutors in Italy have launched a fresh investigation aimed at recovering Caravaggio's Nativity with San Lorenzo and San Francesco (pictured) that was stolen almost 50 years ago These days, a high-quality reproduction of the painting hangs above the altar in the Oratory. But the theft of the original which experts value at 15million remains at number two on the FBI's list of the world's top art crimes. Theories about what happened to the painting included that it may have been stashed in a barn where it was destroyed after being gnawed by rats and pigs, according to the BBC. Others say it was locked underground with with US dollars and refined heroin or sold for diamonds in South Africa. Another theory was it was used as a bedside mat by the head of the Sicilian mafia (Cosa Nostra) Salvatore 'Toto' Riina, who died last year. But now, mafia turncoat Gaetano Grado has revealed new details about the theft that could lead to its recovery. The National Anti-Mafia Commission said the turncoat (or 'pentito') claims the painting ended up in the possession of two Cosa Nostra bosses Stefano Bontade and Gaetano Badalamenti, according to the Telegraph. The pair smuggled it to Switzerland after it was stolen possibly with the help of art experts. The painting was stolen in October 1969 from the Oratory in San Lorenzo and San Francesco in Palermo, Sicily. Today, a reproduction hangs above the altar in the Oratory (pictured) There, an art dealer who has since died was tasked with cutting the painting into pieces to make it easier to sell on the black market. Badalamenti was arrested in 1984 for trafficking heroin into the United States and spent 17 years behind bars before his death in 2004. Bontade was murdered in 1981 by a rival faction within the Cosa Nostra, which sparked a brutal mafia war that left hundreds of members dead. The Commission passed the information onto prosecutors in Sicily, who have opened a new investigation into the theft. Rosy Bindi, the commission's head, said their investigation had found sufficient leads to justify the reopening of a judicial investigation. 'We don't believe the painting was destroyed, as was thought in the past,' she said. 'The mafia made a lot of money out of it. We hope to be able to find at least a fragment.' Caravaggio whose full name is Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - arrived in Sicily in the autumn of 1608 having fled Rome after he killed a man in a fight over a gambling debt. During his year on the island, he painted a number of masterpieces including the Nativity. He died at the age of 39 in 1610. A doctor was left with a suspected broken jaw after the son of a former patient ran into a Suffolk surgery in a rage and attacked her in her office. Dr Victoria Hunter was seeing anther patient when Steven Cook burst in and attacked her because he was angry about his late father's treatment, a court heard on Wednesday. Cook, 41, was said to have blamed her for an alleged failure to diagnose that his father had motor neurone disease before he died earlier this month. Ipswich magistrates heard how the doctor was hit up to five times in the face as she reached for a panic button in her room. Prosecutor Richard Murrison said: 'She curled into a ball on the floor and screamed for help. Dr Victoria Hunter was attacked while she worked at a surgery in Suffolk. The GP reached for a panic button while she was being hit by the son of a former patient Victoria Surgery in Bury St Edmunds (pictured) where Dr Victoria Hunter 'curled in a ball' as she was being hit, a court heard 'She said the assault felt like it lasted two or three minutes before the defendant left the room.' Colleagues came to the injured GP's aid while an ambulance was called to the Victoria Surgery in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Dr Hunter's injuries included a displaced front tooth, cuts to her lips, swelling to her face and a suspected broken jaw. She also suffered grazing to an elbow and bruises on an arm in the attack at around 10.10am on June 18. Cook admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and was remanded in custody to be sentence at Ipswich Crown Court on a date to be fixed. Mr Murrison added: 'She will require several days off work and has been left feeling scared. 'The incident arose from some kind of grudge about treatment received by his father.' 'This was someone in the workplace, going about their job.' Steven Cook appeared at Ipswich Magistrates Court (pictured) on Wednesday and admitted acutal bodily harm or ABH Jo Shaw, the Victoria Surgery's assistant practice manager, said: The NHS has a zero-tolerance policy towards patients who assault staff ... it is a totally unacceptable act on a highly regarded and much loved colleague." Cook of Bury St Edmunds told police that his attack was 'an act of retribution' after the death of his father who was treated by Dr Hunter. Mark Thompson, defending, said Cook had noticed an 'immediate deterioration' in his father's health after being prescribed statins for high cholesterol two-years-ago. 'He was of the belief his father was developing motor neurone disease and tried to persuade the doctor to take his father off statins,' said Mr Thompson. 'It turns out Mr Cook was admitted to hospital two or three weeks ago and died on June 9. 'Mr Cook said he was told his father did have motor neurone disease.. To him, it seemed all the concerns about statins were supported by the diagnosis. 'He went to the surgery to speak to staff, but admits he just lost it.' A woman who married her long-lost brother after meeting him for the first time as an adult has spoken out about their relationship and why she feels it is 'nobody's business' that they share a father. Debby Zutant, 50, married Joe Burns, 36, in Cuba in October 2015. The pair met 13 years earlier in 2002 after she tracked down her adoptive father Danny who, after putting her up for adoption when she was a baby, went on to have Joe with another woman. They fell in love 'at first sight', had sex on the couch of her Syracuse, New York, home the second time they spent time together and lived in secret as a couple before finally telling her family about their 'special bond' in 2012. Now, they live in Key West, Florida, where she says they are free to go about their lives like any other married couple. Speaking to DailyMail.com on Wednesday, Debby said she wanted to speak out to prove that her attraction to her half-brother is not freakish or sick but the symptom of Genetic Sexual Attraction, (GSA) a well-documented condition which is common in newly-reunited estranged relatives. Debby Zutant, 50, married her half-brother Joe Burns, 36, in 2015. The pair met for the first time in 2002 after she tracked down their father who put her up for adoption when she was a baby. They are shown above at their wedding in Cuba 'I know it sounds weird. We have struggles like everybody else but we just dont even think about anymore,' she said. She recalled the first time they were intimate and how it left them both 'mortified' until she began researching sibling intimacy and discovered a 'community' of others who were experiencing the same thing. 'We were on the couch on opposite ends and within the next hour we inched closer and closer and it happened 'I was mortified. I know that people will think I am some sort of hillbilly but Im not, Im a normal person,' she said. Debby's father Danny died before she and Joe revealed their relationship to their families. He was older and in a 'bad place' in his life when he impregnated her birth mother, a Roman Catholic, when she was 15. They decided to put Debby up for adoption and she was taken in by a loving, middle-class family, the Zutants. She grew up in Syracuse, New York, less than a mile from where Danny lived for most of his life. Fourteen years ago, when she was 36, she hired a private investigator to track down her birth parents. Danny, her father, was still alive but had been in a car accident and was mentally disabled. He nonetheless remembered her when they met and produced a tattered photograph of her as a baby that he had been carrying around in his wallet for 36 years. He also revealed that after putting her up for adoption, he stayed with her mother for 16 years but finally left her to be with a different woman - Joe's mother. Joe was born and lived in Wyoming where he and his mother lived off the land. Five or six years after he was born, Danny and his mother parted ways. He stayed in touch with his father, however, and was part of his life by the time Debby tracked him down. They met for the first time in 2002 when she was working in a bar in Syracuse. Debby is a bartender and boat motor repair student. Joe is an artist and a landscaper. They live together in Key West, Florida, as any other couple would In Cuba, the pair enlisted a local prostitute, Cathy, to act as Debby's Maid of Honor. Their captain performed the ceremony. It took place on the boat which, because it is US property, Debby says, means their marriage would stand in the US. Because they are related, it is illegal 'There was a big huge party. It was a busy day at the bar and one of my uncles comes in and he says, Debbie, I want you to meet your half-brother Joe,"' Debby said. It was, she said, 'love at first sight'. 'We just looked at each other and it was like instantaneous, the attraction. Its not even about the sex. Its a bond unlike anything. 'We just looked at each other and it was like instantaneous, the attraction. Its not even about the sex. Its a bond unlike anything. Nobody can understand this bond its so strong. The newly-introduced half-siblings decided to go to dinner to get to know one another. As she got ready for their outing, Debby had to squash the feeling that she was going on a date. 'I was having to remind myself that it wasnt a date, I was just doing out with my half-brother.' During the meal, Joe, an artist, revealed that he was living with their father in his small apartment. Debby, who owned her own home, immediately offered him a room at her house. There was no sexual interaction on their first date but when he did visit her soon afterwards, the sparks flew. 'We were on the couch on opposite ends and within the next hour we inched closer and closer and it happened. Debby and Joe show off their wedding bands after getting married in Cuba in 2015 'I freaked out. I was like, What is wrong with you?! We were both like, What have we just done.' Despite their shame, Joe moved in and they immediately started sharing a room. They had regular sex and lived as a couple behind close doors but kept their relationship hidden from the world and did not discuss the 'elephant in the room.' Racked by thoughts that their relationship was wrong, Debby began researching what she now knows to be GSA. She was comforted to learn there was a condition for what she was experiencing and took solace in the other people who were online and said they were afflicted by it. Nonetheless, they kept their romance hidden. 'Joe wasn't comfortable with people knowing about it,' she said, adding that he did not have a 'support system' in place to help him through any form of admission. Over the course of the next 10 years, Debby started confiding in friends about their illicit living arrangement. They accepted her, '100 per cent', and vowed to keep her secret. In 2012, the pair moved to Key West, Florida, where they introduced themselves to their new neighbors as any other couple would. 'It's nobody's business as long as nobodys harmed. 'We literally lived a double life. People knew us as a couple. At this point, we just didnt care. Soon afterwards, having settled in to their new life, Debby, without consulting Joe and acting on a wave of impulse, called her adoptive mother and told her about their relationship. 'I said I need to talk to you about something. She said: I've known you for 46 years, I knew this all along and I was just waiting for confirmation. I hadnt had a boyfriend for 10 years so she figured it out. She was totally fine which encouraged me to call some of my other relatives. Her adoptive father was equally supportive. He hesitated for a minute, he's very conservative, then he said: Im happy for you. Im glad and I support you. Debby, who is studying to get a qualification in boat repairs, says she does not care what others think of her unorthodox relationship In 2015, they went to Cuba on vacation and decided to get married. They rented a sailboat and a captain who performed the ceremony for them with a Cuban prostitute they found in the marina serving as Debbys maid of honor. Once they were back in the US, they had another ceremony which her adopted parents and some friends attended. The celebrant was unaware of their background and because they both have different names, they aroused no suspicion when obtaining their marriage license. Ever since, they have been living as a married couple in Key West. Debby is a bartender and is studying boat motor repair. Joe is a landscaper and the pair are active advocates for the LGBTQ community. While their marriage is illegal, neither cares that they could face prosecution. They believe that their marriage is no different to any other between two consenting adults and that it is nobody elses business. Until the day that I could no longer technically go to jail for my marriage, there is no marriage equality in my eyes, she said. It's nobody's business as long as it's consenting adults. If two men want to be together, two women or three women or 2 men and 3 women. 'It's nobody's business as long as nobodys harmed. The pair do not have any plans to have children. President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who is facing a white-collar federal criminal investigation, has stepped down from his position as a finance official at the Republican National Committee. Cohen cited his legal troubles, which include suspicion of bank fraud and campaign finance violations. He had been an RNC deputy finance co-chairman. 'What he was still there?' a Democratic strategist marveled on Wednesday. 'The FBI raided his office and his house. What do you have to do to get fired from their fundraising team?' In his resignation letter to RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniel, Cohen also parted with the president on the hot-button issue of separating illegal immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border. Michael Cohen, the president's former personal lawyer who is the target of a complex FBI investigation, has resigned his position as a deputy finance chairman at the Republican National Committee Cohen also split with Trump on family separations, saying children shouldn't be used as political 'bargaining chips' in the immigration debate; the president signed an executive order on Wednesday in an attempt to roll back the practice 'As the son of a Polish holocaust survivor, the images and sounds of this family separation policy is heart wrenching,' Cohen wrote. Cohen's legal woes came about because of the hush-money he paid just before the 2016 election to porn actress Stormy Daniels (right), who claimed to have bedded Trump 'While I strongly support measures that will secure our porous borders, children should never be used as bargaining chips.' A party official said Wednesday that Cohen hadn't been actively raising money since right after the FBI exercised its search warrants. Another finance co-chair, Elliott Broidy, quit the RNC in April following news reports that he had paid a former Playboy model $1.6 million to remain silent about what he admitted was a 'consensual affair' that resulted in a pregnancy. Broidy, a Trump ally, had retained Cohen as his attorney to broker the deal with a lawyer representing his former lover Shera Bechard. On Wednesday afternoon a search of the RNC's website turned up no recent mention of either Cohen or Broidy, despite their recent status as two of the party's top rainmakers who are closely allied with Trump. Both men were appointed to their positions in April 2017. In addition to matters related to the Stormy Daniels payoff, Cohen is reportedly facing scrutiny over his ownership of New York City taxi medallions Ronna Romney McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, punted in April on the question of whether the party would back Cohen McDaniel told CNN in April, a week after the FBI retrieved a trove of material from Cohen's home, office and hotel room, that the party planned to stand by him. 'Michael Cohen has not been charged with anything. He's under investigation,' she said then. 'I believe in due process. I'm sure you do too. So we'll see what happens.' The party's most recent statement on the embattled lawyer came May 25 when RNC spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told the business website Cheddar that 'there's ongoing litigation, and we'll take it step by step, but yes, he is still' on board. An interviewer asked McEnany if the party was concerned about having as one of its chief fundraisers under a cloud of suspicion related to possible campaign finance violations. Former RNC deputy finance chair Elliott Broidy (left) preceded Cohen out the door following news reports that he paid $1.6 million to Playboy model Shera Bechard (right) after she became pregnant during a lengthy extramarital affair 'I have concerns about the violation of attorney-client privilege when the Southern District of New York invaded his office, swept up material, violating the president's privacy, his client's privacy, Michael Cohen's privacy,' she replied. Cohen's legal troubles reportedly center on a hush-money payment he made in late 2016 to a pornographic actress who goes by the stage name Stormy Daniels. He has said that he withdrew $130,000 from a home equity line of credit to pay Daniels for keeping a lid on her claim that she bedded the future president a decade earlier. Investigators want to know if the money constituted an illegally large campaign donation that was intended to help Trump avoid an Election Day defeat. They are also examining bank records to determine if he committed a felony by hiding the purpose of his cash advance. Misrepresenting one's finances or intentions to a bank covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a felony. The Republican Natoional Committee is the umbrella organization that runs the party that nominated Donald Trump for the presidency in 2016 Police have ruled out foul play, and possible electrocution- beer cans were found at the scene but they have not commented on if alcohol played a factor Medics arrived and were unable to revive the group of young people He says he jumped into action as well, pulling another body out and tried CPR When he looked out he saw an officer and a man pulling a body out of the pool Around 3am, a resident at the complex said someone was knocking on doors Abril Ojeda, 15, Brian Benites, 16, and Luis Delgado-Romero, 21, were found immersed in a pool at an apartment complex near Duke University Two teens and a 21-year-old drowned in an apartment complex's pool in North Carolina near Duke University in the early morning hours of Tuesday- and it is yet unclear how this happened. Abril Yuliana Flores-Ojeda, 15, Brian Manuel Benites, 16, and Luis Enrique Delgado-Romero, 21, all died in the bizarre and tragic incident, after they were found immersed in a pool at the Chapel Tower Apartments. The horrific scene unfolded around 3am, when a resident said someone had been knocking on doors, and he got up to call 911. When he looked outside his window he saw a police officer and a man pulling a body out of the water. That resident, who did not want to be identified, said he ran out of his apartment, jumped over the fence, pulling a second person from the water and started CPR. EMS workers were on scene soon after and frantically tried to revive them, but were unsuccessful, according to ABC 11. A man pictured walking away from the scene with police hysterically crying after three people drowned in an apartment complex pool around 3am in North Carolina Tuesday morning Officers surround the pool looking for clues, the blurred section is believed to be where the three people were after they had been pulled from the water The victims, Abril Yuliana Flores-Ojeda, 15, Brian Manuel Benites, 16, and Luis Enrique Delgado-Romero, 21, all live in Durham but are not residents of the Chapel Tower Apartments where the pool is located The three victims were transported to Duke University Hospital where they were all pronounced dead. Another person was seen walking away from the pool with police, crying hysterically. Police spoke with a fourth person who was at the pool with the group, but it is unclear if that person is the same male that was seen crying. Durham Police spokesperson Kammie Michael said as of now they do not suspect foul play. While all three of the victims are residents of Durham, none of them were residents at the apartment complex. The pool is also closed overnights, and the fence is locked. The pool was inspected as recently as June 8, and no issues were found. Khali Gallman, a spokesperson with the Durham County Health Department told the News & Observer 'When it was inspected 10 days ago, everything was okay. The pool is closed overnights, and is behind a locked fence with warning signs 'We are awaiting an investigation by the police department to be completed. There has been lots of speculation, but no one knows for sure.' The counties inspection report stated the water was clear enough to see to the bottom, the main drain cover was secure and working, there was no debris in the water, and there were appropriate markings for the deeper 8-foot area of the pool that were visible and clearly located. Police at the scene collected clothing and empty beer cans. While police have ruled out the possibility that the swimmers were electrocuted, they have not indicated if alcohol consumption was a factor in the trios drowning. Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, who's advised Sen. John McCain and former President George W. Bush, made a dramatic exit from the Republican Party on Wednesday in a series of tweets where he called the GOP 'fully the party of Trump' and 'a danger to our democracy and values.' Schmidt, a vocal Trump critic, urged voters to elect Democrats in upcoming November election and harshly criticized the administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border, saying it resulted in 'internment camps for babies.' He ranted against President Donald Trump and any member of the party who supported the administration while he offered praise for Republicans like Gov. John Kasich, who has hinted he's considering a challenge to Trump in 2020. Republican strategist Steve Schmidt made a dramatic exit from the GOP on Wednesday Republican strategist Steve Schmidt wrote a twitter tirade against the GOP Republican strategist Steve Schmidt wrote a twitter tirade against the GOP Republican strategist Steve Schmidt wrote a twitter tirade against the GOP '29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life,' he wrote. 'Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump.' He slammed the Republican Party as 'corrupt, indecent and immoral.' He noted that other than a few exceptions, the party is 'filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party's greatest leaders.' He urged his 337,000 Twitter followers to repudiate 'Trump and his vile enablers in the 2018 election by electing Democratic majorities.' 'I say it as someone who retains belief in DEMOCRACY and decency,' he wrote. He also invoked the name of one of the party's most beloved leaders - Ronald Reagan - in his twitter rant, writing the former president would be 'ashamed' of current party leaders like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan. 'He would be ashamed of McConnell and Ryan and all the rest while this corrupt government establishes internment camps for babies,' Schmidt wrote in reference to the government centers hold migrant children. He was especially critical of Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy that has resulted in migrant children being separated from their families. 'This child separation policy is connected to the worst abuses of humanity in our history,' he wrote. Schmidt was the senior campaign strategist and advisor McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. The longtime strategist worked in the Bush White House with adviser Karl Rove. In 2006, he ran Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign. He was portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the HBO film 'Game Change.' Schmidt challenged Bush, his old boss, to publicly challenge Trump's grip on both the country and the Republican Party. 'Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama are good men,' he said. 'The question the former presidents have to ask: Is there a moment in time that they are compelled to speak, and compelled to speak together? These men are addressed by that title 'Mr. President,' which is the highest that can be bestowed in American life. And I do think an hour is approaching where we have a crisis of leadership. With the fragility and the importance of our democratic institutions at stake, it would be nice to hear from them,' he told the Daily Beast. 'Trump didn't destroy the Republican Partyit's the cowardice of the Republican leaders, their complicity in all of it, the lack of courage to stand up for what's right,' he said. Some Republicans have questioned Trump's level of control of the GOP. Sen. Bob Corker said Republicans were becoming 'cult-like' in their support of the president. McCain, along with Sen. Jeff Flake - another vocal Trump critic - sponsored a resolution praising Operation Streamline in March 2015. The program included a zero-tolerance approach, including criminally prosecuting illegal border crossers, on immigration. Schmidt worked for Sen. John McCain Republican strategist Steve Schmidt wrote a twitter tirade against the GOP Republican strategist Steve Schmidt wrote a twitter tirade against the GOP He praised the policies of the program for cutting down illegal border crossings in Yuma, Arizona, and encouraged then-President Barack Obama to continue the prosecutions. McCain, however, has been a vocal critic of Trump's policy of separating children and adults. 'The administration's current family separation policy is an affront to the decency of the American people, and contrary to principles and values upon which our nation was founded. The administration has the power to rescind this policy. It should do so now,' he wrote on Twitter on Monday. The Trump administration argues it must separate children from adults because when adults are prosecuted for a crime, children cannot be kept with them. The president on Wednesday said he will be signing an executive order addressing family separation. Republican strategist Steve Schmidt wrote a twitter tirade against the GOP Republican strategist Steve Schmidt wrote a twitter tirade against the GOP Republican strategist Steve Schmidt wrote a twitter tirade against the GOP Republican strategist Steve Schmidt complained the GOP has been taken over by Trump 'I'm going to be signing an executive order in a little while before I go to Minnesota but, at the same time,' Trump said, 'I think you have to understand, we're keeping families together, but we have to keep our borders strong.' His Department of Homeland Security secretary was said to be drafting an order to end the child separation policy that's become a political albatross for the Trump administration. But Trump's move came after Schmidt's series of tweets. Schmidt ended his exit with a plea for Democrats. 'I have spent much of my life working in GOP politics,' he wrote. 'Today the GOP has become a danger to our democracy and values.' He concluded his Twitter tirade with: 'This Independent voter will be aligned with the only party left in America that stands for what is right and decent and remains fidelitous to our Republic, objective truth, the rule of law and our Allies. That party is the Democratic Party.' A 12-year-old boy died from injuries sustained when the basement of his home collapsed on him following damage from a flash flood. Thatcher Markham of Houghton, Michigan, was sleeping in the basement of his family's waterfront home when the basement collapsed on Sunday. His father, Rodney Markham, managed to dig him out of the debris and give him CPR before first responders arrived on scene early Monday morning. Thatcher Markham, 12, of Houghton, Michigan, died Monday night from injuries sustained when his family home's basement collapsed around him after Sunday's flash flooding Thatcher's father was able to dig him out of the basement and he was taken to the hospital, where he was put on life support, but he died later that day from his injuries Because the flooding had washed out roads, a neighbor's boat had to be borrowed so that Thatcher could be taken to the Hancock boat launch, before being transported to a hospital, The Daily Mining Gazette reported. Hospital workers were able to get Thatcher's pulse, after which he was airlifted to Motts Childrens' Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, about 550miles away. Thatcher was in serious condition and on life support Monday afternoon, but passed away at 11.40pm. Heavy rain battered the Upper Michigan area over the weekend, with Houghton County bearing the brunt of the water fall, receiving nearly seven inches of rain in some areas, ABC News reported. The basement collapse was caused by debris which was carried by water from the flash flood. The Markhams' waterfront home is shown circled About seven inches of rain were said to have battered the Houghton County area Sunday, leading to washed out roads (like this one) and other, extensive damage An example of flood waters which overflowed a river in Houghton on Sunday It was reported that debris, carried by water from Sunday's flash flooding, had been what caused the Markhams' basement to collapse. One of Thatcher's relatives started a GoFundMe page in response to members of the family's community asking how they could support the family. More than $80,700 has been donated from 1,038 people in the two days that the page has been active. The family had set a goal of $15,000. Jayne Railton was beaten to death in a brutal attack by her common-law husband The killer of an expat British woman who was battered to death in her home in Gran Canaria has been jailed. Jayne Railton, 58, was so severely beaten she suffered a split pancreas and virtually all her ribs were broken in July 2016. She died just over a month after the assault at Doctor Negrin Hospital after failing to recover from her injuries. Angel Perez Reyes, 64, Jayne's common law husband was jailed for 22 years, six months and one day in prison after a jury found him guilty of her murder at a court in the Gran Canaria capital Las Palmas. The pair had been together for 11 years and shared a home in the village of La Angostura near the town of Santa Brigida in the northeastern part of Gran Canaria. But on July 21, 2016, Reyes punched and kicked his partner so hard one rib was fractured four times. Angel Perez Reynes, 64, tried to claim that he never wanted to kill his partner, Jayne, when he attacked her at home in Gran Canaria Sick Perez Reyes tried to cover up his assault by telling one of his victim's daughters she had fallen on the floor after drinking too much and insisted on putting her to bed himself. Judge Nicolas Acosta Gonzalez, in a 15-page written sentencing document released on Wednesday, said jurors had agreed Jayne's common-law husband had 'dealt her a series of direct and very violent blows with kicks to her chest and abdomen with which he intended not only to cause her death but also to increase her suffering.' Jayne had spent most of her life in Spain after emigrating from the UK. A minute's silence was held for murdered mother Jayne Railton outside a church in Gran Canaria The expat, who worked as a private English teacher and part-time waitress, moved to Gran Canaria after meeting a police officer she married and had her four children with. She labelled her ex-husband a 'dictator' and spoke of the psychological violence she had suffered at his hands in an autobiographical account of her life. She told her life story in an interview she gave in May 2015 for a photographic exhibition in Gran Canaria organised by a local police officer. She admitted: 'My ex-husband was very dictatorial. 'He didn't hit me and although we had violent rows, it rarely became physical, thank God.' She recommended during her interview that women with violent husbands should end their relationships. Asked then how she was doing following her separation from her ex and link-up with her new partner, she insisted: 'I like the place where I live, I have a beautiful view, I have a partner and we hope to get old together because I was very afraid of ending up alone.' A doctor who gave evidence at her killer's murder trial described her injuries as some of the most severe she had ever seen in her life. Perez Reyes has also been ordered to pay his victim's children 150,000 (130,000). He has been told he can appeal. Dave Roberts, ESPN's vp content, was reportedly heard by four different ESPN employees, saying that an ESPN show was 'too black An ESPN executive reportedly called a show hosted by two African Americans anchors, 'too black'. Jemele Hill and Michael Smith took over as hosts of the long-running SportsCenter in February 2017, in a much-hyped makeover of the 40-year-old show. They became the first black regular co-anchors of 'SportsCenter' since it debuted in 1979. But the pair, known for their opinionated commentary on ESPN2, 'His & Hers', quickly came under fire from the right for their political views and anti-Trump stance, with some dismissively branding it the 'WokeCenter'. The conservative criticism didn't go unnoticed at ESPN. Dave Roberts, ESPN's vp content, was reportedly heard by four different ESPN employees, saying that the show was 'too black', according to the Hollywood Reporter. Roberts, who is African-American, vehemently denies the claims. When Hill decided to step down in February this year, Norby Williamson, ESPN's executive vp and executive editor of studio production, reportedly joked: 'One down, one to go', according to the Hollywood Reporter. After Smith left his role a coupe of months later, ESPN immediately began moving back toward its traditional format - with more focus on highlights and game previews, and less on opinion. A senior executive told the Reporter that they believed the issues was that both anchors were not well known enough. Jemele Hill and Michael Smith took over as hosts of the long-running SportsCenter in February 2017 The pair quickly came under fire from the right for their political views and anti-Trump stance 'It's not that they were too woke, or too black, the problem was they were too new,' they said. 'They were too unfamiliar to the 6 p.m. audience. From the second they started they were up against internal cr*p, the traditionalists shitting on them, and they faced harsh criticism externally. It was panic from moment one. And the network didn't do a good job of defending and supporting them.' Hill and Smith have since been Sage Steele, who is is African-American, and Kevin Negandhi, who is Indian-American. The more traditional SportsCenter is already starting to bring in more viewers with a small but steady increase in viewership. Executives say the oft-banded round claim that ESPN is 'too liberal' is unfair. Some of its biggest stars are conservative leaning, such as First Take's Stephen A. Smith, who has professed support for Donald Trump, and commentator Will Cain, awho has had stints at The Blaze. The executive said ESPN 'is not a bastion of liberalism. And it's laughable that that's the perception.' Peter Fonda faced backlash on Wednesday when he called for Barron Trump to be ripped from Melanias arms and put in a cage. The tweet in question was a direct response to Donald Trumps zero-tolerance immigration policy, which has led to the separation and subsequent imprisonment of thousands of migrant children at the Texas-Mexico border. The since-deleted tweet read: WE SHOULD RIP BARRON TRUMP FROM HIS MOTHERS ARMS AND PUT HIM IN A CAGE WITH PEDOPHILES AND SEE IF MOTHER WILL WILL [SIC] STAND UP AGAINST THE GIANT A*****E SHE IS MARRIED TO. 90 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE STREETS ON THE SAME WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY. F**K. Peter Fonda was reported to the Secret Service following a tweet stating that Barron Trump should be 'ripped' from his mother's arms Melania Trump's spokesperson called Peter Fonda's tweet about Barron Trump 'sick' Fonda, 78, also reportedly called on citizens to surround Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who arrive at schools to pick up undocumented children. Stephanie Grisham, Melanias communications director, told The Hill the secret service was contacted on Wednesday in regards to Fondas tweet. The tweet is sick and irresponsible, Grisham said. Its more than a protest! 90 million people in the streets on the same weekend works. I cant be the organizer for theyll arrest me for conspiracy to commit sedition. This must be like a spontaneous event without seeming to be organized by me and we have to make this happen NOW https://t.co/be9IDUN15c Peter Henry Fonda (@iamfonda) June 20, 2018 Heres the 4-1-1 on Peter Fonda. Who is Peter Fonda? Peter Fonda is an American actor. He was born on February 23, 1940 in New York City. Peter is the son of Henry Fonda, Jane Fondas younger brother, and the father of Bridget and Justin Fonda. He got his start on Broadway before jumping to the silver screen. Hes known best for appearing in Easy Rider, which came out in 1969. He won an Academy Award for the role. Peter won his second Academy Award in 1997 for his contributions to Ulees Gold. In addition to his acting work, Peter wrote an autobiography called 'Dont Tell Dad'. The book was released in 1998. In his personal life, Peters been married three times. His first wifes name was Susan Jane Brewer. They married in 1961 and split in 1974. In 1975 he married Portia Rebecca Crockett. They divorced in 2011. That same year he married Margaret DeVogelaere. Wanted to share: the girls are kept safe in Stephen Goebbels Millers basement #WHEREARETHEGIRLS Peter Henry Fonda (@iamfonda) June 19, 2018 Peter Fonda net worth According to Celebrity Net Worth, Peter Fondas net worth is about $40 million (30.3m). Peter Fonda Twitter Peter Fondas Twitter has not been shut down, though some think it should be following a questionable tweet about Barron Trump sent on Wednesday. In response to the Trump administrations controversial zero-tolerance policy with undocumented immigrants, which has led to families being separated and children to be held in facilities and tent cities, Peter suggested that Barron should be ripped from Melanias arms and placed into similar conditions. The tweet was reported to the Secret Service and has been deleted. Dozens of other tweets about Trumps policy and other political topics remain. Dont let the pedophile Stephen Goebbels Miller near those girls separated from their parents. Trump, Sessions, Nielsen, WHERE ARE THE GIRLS? Their health and safety are in your hands and WE ARE ALL WATCHING Peter Henry Fonda (@iamfonda) June 19, 2018 Peter Fonda backlash In response to a tweet posted by Peter Fonda about Barron Trump being taken away from Melania, Trump supporters flocked to Twitter to call for his removal from the website. 'How can Peter Fonda threaten children on Twitter, and get away with it! What up Twitter? Where is your law?,' one person tweeted. Another tweeted: 'An actor killed President Abraham Lincoln. The Secret Service should take threats of violence by actors like Peter Fonda, Robert DeNiro, Jim Carrey and other Hollywood idiots very seriously.' One even said Peter 'should be arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated for such a threat. And at the very least, should be on the NO FLY LIST for the rest of his life'. Former President Barack Obama used World Refugee Day to criticize President Donald Trump's policy of separating migrant children and families. While he did not mention Trump by name, Obama did ask in a Facebook post if the United States was a country that 'accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents' arms, or are we a nation that values families.' He posted his soliloquy before Trump signed an executive order reversing his policy of separating migrant children from their families. 'To watch those families broken apart in real time puts to us a very simple question: are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents' arms, or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together? Do we look away, or do we choose to see something of ourselves and our children?,' Obama wrote in his Facebook post. He also noted that as a nation 'we have to do more than say 'this isn't who we are.' We have to prove it through our policies, our laws, our actions, and our votes.' Former President Barack Obama used World Refugee Day to criticize President Donald Trump's policy of separating migrant children and families President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday reversing the separation policy But Obama's administration also detained children, albeit with their families. Under Obama's administration, families were detained together in detention centers while awaiting trial, earning protests and public outrage at the time. A court ruled those detention centers violated the law and that families should be released together. The Obama administration also had a policy of releasing families through a program called Alternatives to Detention that allowed them to be closely supervised by devices such as ankle monitors. Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy has resulted in thousands of children being held in centers separated from their families. The administration separated 1,995 children from 1,940 adults from April 19 to May 31 after zero tolerance was announced, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 'To find a way to welcome the refugee and the immigrant to be big enough and wise enough to uphold our laws and honor our values at the same time is part of what makes us American,' Obama wrote. Trump has come under bipartisan fire for the policy, which he reversed on Wednesday when he signed an executive order ending family separation at the border. The president directed the Department of Homeland Security to detain families together so long as children are not put into danger. 'I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated,' the president stated. Trump did not end the 'zero tolerance' provision of his policy that requires the prosecution of all unlawful immigrants as criminals. His order merely authorizes DHS to hold families together while prosecution is pending. The Vatican removed a former archbishop of Washington from ministry on Wednesday after he was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy, the Archdiocese of New York said. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was removed from public ministry after a review board found allegations he sexually abused a teenager almost 50 years ago were 'credible and substantiated'. The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, 'at the direction of Pope Francis' instructed McCarrick, 87, that he is to no longer exercise his priestly ministry in public, CNN reports. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington, was removed from public ministry following allegations he sexually assaulted a teenage boy almost 50 years ago The alleged victim said McCarrick (center) was measuring him for a cassock when the then-priest allegedly 'unzipped his pants and put his hands in the boy's pants'. McCarrick was accused of assaulting the teen again a year later 'As clergy in God's church, we have made a solemn promise to protect children and young people from all harm,' Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement. 'This sacred charge applies to all who minister in the church, no matter the person's high standing or long service. This morning was a painful reminder of how only through continued vigilance can we keep that promise.' According to the Washington Post, the alleged victim said he was a student at Cathedral Preparatory and Seminary school in Queens, New York in 1971 when he was picked to be the altar boy for a Christmas service at St. Patrick's Cathedral, where McCarrick was a monsignor. Patrick Noaker, the victim's attorney, said McCarrick was measuring the then-16-year-old for a cassock when he 'unzipped his pants and put his hands in the boy's pants'. McCarrick allegedly told the teen not to tell anyone what happened. McCarrick, 87, denied the allegations saying in a statement that he has 'no recollection of this reported abuse' A year later, McCarrick allegedly assaulted the teen again. Noaker said that McCarrick followed the boy into a restroom and 'assaulted him, tried to get his hands into his underwear. The boy had to push him away'. The man, who is now in his 60s, never told the church about what happened until recently when it created the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, which reviews cases of alleged abuse by clergy and compensates victims. McCarrick denied the allegations saying in a statement on Wednesday that he has 'no recollection of this reported abuse'. 'I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, a well as for the scandal such charges cause our people,' he said. The cardinal and retired bishop said he first learned of the allegations several months ago when the Archdiocese of New York, where he was ordained as a priest in 1958, said it was investigating the alleged abuse. McCarrick said he was 'shocked' by the claims but cooperated with the investigation. He reportedly plans to appeal his case through the church' canonical process. McCarrick is one of the highest-ranking American Catholic leaders to be removed from the church over sex abuse allegations, CNN reports. The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, 'at the direction of Pope Francis' instructed McCarrick that he is to no longer exercise his priestly ministry in public. Pope Francis is pictured above in a January 2015 photo He was ordained a priest in 1958. He served in New York from 1969 to 1981, then became the bishop of Metuchen before becoming the bishop of Newark, both in New Jersey. He left Newark and led the Archdiocese of Washington from 2001 to 2006. As the leading Catholic in Washington, McCarrick became close with many presidents and other powerful figures. The retired bishop previously faced three allegations of sexual misconduct with minors two decades ago. Two of those allegations led to settlements, the Post reports. Jennifer Mohler (pictured), 22, has been charged with murdering one of her five-month-old twin boys in January A 22-year-old woman has been charged with murdering one of her five-month-old twins as her former stepfather admits to fathering the children. Jennifer Mohler repeatedly beat her twins, causing the death of Logan Mohler in February, according to a statement released by the Portage Department of Public Safety. In January, authorities responded to a residence in the 10000 block of Woodlawn Drive over a report an infant was having a seizure. Logan was then rushed to the Bronson Methodist Hospital, where physicians noted suspicious injuries and trauma to the child's head and neck. He had bleeding on the brain and bruising on his face. Logan also had a subdural hematoma and significant whiplash trauma. Following the incident, police conducted an investigation that led them to determine Logan's twin brother had similar injuries. Logan's brother was immediately removed from the home and placed into protective recovery. Two weeks later, Logan passed away from his injuries. Mohler repeatedly beat her twins, causing the death of Logan Mohler (it's unclear which baby pictured is Logan) in February, according to the Portage Department of Public Safety. Logan died from injuries to the head and neck Police responded to this residence on Woodlawn Drive over a report an infant was having a seizure. Logan was rushed to a local hospital where physicians found that he had bleeding on the brain and bruising on his face. He also had significant whiplash trauma An autopsy from the Kalamazoo County Medical Examiners Office revealed that the child's injuries of the head and neck caused his death and his death was ruled a homicide. On Tuesday, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutors Office charged Mohler with two counts of child abuse and one count of murder. If convicted, Mohler faces up to life in prison. On Wednesday, Delwin Winters, the father of the twins and Mohler's former stepfather, spoke out about the baby's death. 'I just hope that Logan gets justice,' Winters told MLive.com at the courthouse after Mohler's arraignment. 'Not even six months old... I hope that she gets what she gets what she deserves,' Winters added. On Wednesday, Delwin Winters (right), the father of the twins and Mohler's former stepfather, spoke out about the baby's death. 'I just hope that Logan gets justice,' Winters said Court records showed that Mohler admitted to hitting her children to stop them from crying. At the time, Mohler told police that she hit the children with an open hand and dropped both children into their bassinets, according to MLive. Winters, who was Mohler's stepfather until 13 years ago, claims he hadn't seen the boys since they were first born and said he had no idea she was allegedly abusing them. He told MLive that Mohler moved in with him last year because she needed a place to stay and 'one thing led to another'. 'I wanted another child and she had voluntarily said, "I will do it,"' Winters said. Eventually, he kicked her out of his house without realizing she was pregnant. He said Mohler disappeared, but called him later to tell him that she was pregnant. Winters said he wanted to raise the twins with Mohler, but she refused. Mohler was denied bond and will return to court in July for a preliminary examination. A father-of-two accused of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl for five hours fears for his life in jail and has received death threats. Brett David Hill, 47, an unemployed 'nomad' was revealed as the accused child rapist after a suppression order was lifted on Wednesday in Newcastle Local Court. Hill's solicitor Rob Hussey argued against identifying his client, saying Mr Hill was in danger in prison and had been threatened. Scroll down for video A father-of-two (pictured) accused of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl for five hours fears for his life in jail and has received death threats Hill's solicitor Rob Hussey argued against identifying his client, saying Mr Hill was in danger in prison and had been threatened (pictured is the scene of the alleged kidnapping and rape) Mr Hussey said his client is locked up with one other inmate - and that prisoner has access to razor blades and a kettle, The Newcastle Herald reported. 'He has received a threat,' Mr Hussey told the court. 'Words to the effect of: "This is the bloke from Newcastle. You should watch yourself or you'll die".' An earlier application to suppress Hill's name was granted due to safety concerns, but revoked after police produced DNA evidence. Senior police prosecutor Sergeant Rebecca Witherspoon said the case was no longer circumstantial, and the public should be aware of the alleged perpetrator. 'Publication of his name could lead to more people coming forward who have been offended against or groomed,' she said. Sergeant Witherspoon also revealed a 'further complainant' has already come forward. Hill, a vagrant recently from Lambton Heights, near Newcastle, New South Wales, will face court again in August. The former mine worker has been charged with kidnapping, six counts of aggravated sexual assault and four counts of aggravated indecent assault. He is yet to enter a plea. Must go: Hill tried to sell off this double engagement-wedding ring for $260 on a buy/swap/sell group last November Bizarre posts: Hill shared a number of provocative memes on his social media pages Hill allegedly kidnapped the girl at knifepoint on June 12, and allegedly sexually assaulted her and forced her into his red Holden Commodore. He then allegedly drove the girl to bushland where he allegedly raped the girl repeatedly for five hours before releasing her at Kotara train station. Hill often shared bizarre memes and graphic content to his Facebook page, including a Where's Wally? style cartoon that read 'where's dildo?' and a picture of children looking down their diapers. He was a member of dating websites, including Plenty of Fish and a local Facebook group for singles, and last November attempted to sell of a double engagement-wedding ring for $260 on a buy/swap/sell group. Another post that featured on Hill's Facebook pages only recently is this 'Where's Dildo' cartoon Daily Mail Australia revealed on Wednesday Hill was recently in an online relationship with a Malaysian woman and sought to bring her to Australia for a three-month stay Daily Mail Australia revealed on Wednesday Hill was recently in an online relationship with a Malaysian woman and sought to bring her to Australia for a three-month stay. 'My love I cant wait till you come here,' he wrote in a message to the woman in April. 'I wont (sic) sell my car until I take u for a good fast drive.' On another occasion, Hill described the woman as 'beautiful' and said he was jealous of the attention she got from other men online. 'I love you but don't hold me to my jealousy,' he said. 'You are so beautiful and I know by the attention of the guys on your account. The Malaysian woman said 'I'm shock(ed)' after her ex-online lover was revealed to be the man accused of the horrific rape and kidnapping of a schoolgirl Relationship over: Messages show the end of the couple's relationship 'We will work this out my love so don't stop thinking of us being together'. The relationship failed - with Hill telling the woman it was 'over' in May. The woman told Daily Mail Australia she was stunned to this week learn of the allegations from a friend of Hill's. 'His friends tell me about the story, I'm shocked,' she said. 'It's very hard to hear, I never (met) him, we just know in Facebook and we promise to meet (in) June... but we broke up before that.' This is the scene where the young girl was allegedly abducted about 9.15am on Tuesday How police allege it all unfolded: The girl was walking through a park when she was abducted - and was later released after a five hour ordeal Officers arrested Hill at a traffic stop four days after the alleged assault on the schoolgirl. Police claimed he was a 'nomad' who was living in his car. Detectives were 'overwhelmed' with information from the community, including dashcam footage and tip offs to CrimeStoppers. Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec said: 'Our investigators scoured through all of that information to identify that person and make the arrest. 'This brave little girl is certainly a hero, and the courage that she has displayed is heroism. 'It is remarkable, the strength of this girl, supported by her friends and family, supported by counsellors, but she has stood up. 'She's worked with us, her family and friends have worked with us and she'll get on with her life.' Newcastle Police Superintendent Brent Greentree said the crime had 'sent shivers down the spine of every Novacastrian'. Hill did not apply for bail on Wednesday and the matter was adjourned until August 15. The son of a California real estate tycoon has been found guilty of the gruesome and brutal murder of his Ukrainian fiancee, who had given birth to his daughter just weeks before. Blake Leibel, a millionaire property heir, tortured and mutilated Iana Kasian inside his West Hollywood apartment before she died. He drained all the blood from her body and removed her scalp, ABC reported. Kasian's autopsy report says parts of the right side of the 30-year-old's face - including her ear - were torn off in the brutal slaying, before she died. Leibel, who is the son of prominent Toronto developer Lorne Leibel, has been found guilty of murdering his fiancee Iana Kasian (pictured) Leibel (pictured with ex-wife Amanda Braun) murdered the woman in his West Hollywood apartment. Flesh, an ear and her scalp were found scattered around his bedroom and in the bin at the bottom of a garbage chute at his home Confronting images from the crime scene show blood stains on Leibel's mattress and on a rug beneath his bed When officers finally broke into Leibel's apartment in May 2016, looking for Kasian, her naked body was found - mutilated, drained of blood, and covered with a red Mickey Mouse blanket, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Investigators found bits of flesh inside the bedroom, and part of Kasian's scalp and her ear were found in a trash bin at the bottom of the garbage chute outside the home, NBC reported. The Los Angeles Department of the Medical Examiner ruled that the woman's cause of death was exsanguination, the act of draining a person of blood. Leibel, 37, had tried to keep police out of the apartment by barricading the door. During Leibel's trial, pathologists testified the horrific murder set a precedent in terms of the brutality and grisliness of Kasian's injuries. When Kasian's body was found, she was naked, washed clean and covered by a red Mickey Mouse blanket Kasian (pictured) was tortured and mutilated before she was killed and her blood was drained from her body, prosecutors said Blood stains are seen on the carpet of Leibel's bedroom in some of the less graphic images taken at the crime scene Police found the woman's body inside her West Hollywood apartment (above) after forcing their way in. Leibel had barricaded the front door with furniture and was inside at the time. Kasian was found naked and covered with a red Mickey Mouse blanket Graphic images of the scene and of Kasian were shown to the jury, as were images from a graphic novel called Syndrome, which Leibel helped to create in 2010. In the novel, a scientist tries to find a way to cure people of evil. One page displays a woman, lying naked on a bed with no head. The novel begins with the foreword: 'If you loved hurting things, what would you do?' and ends with an image of a hand dripping blood and the caption: 'In the end, we all become monsters'. Prosecutors District Attorney Tannaz Mokayef and her co-counsel, Deputy DA Beth Silverman argued the 37-year-old had mirrored elements of the novel in Kasian's murder, and that the book was the man's 'blueprint'. Prosecutors showed the jury pictures of Kasian's body as it was found in the bedroom (bedroom pictured) and compared it to images from a graphic novel Leibel helped create in 2010 Inside Leibel's novel is a hand dripping with blood, alongside the caption: 'In the end we ALL become monsters' Silverman told the court there were no words to describe the depravity of Leibel's actions and the extremity of the violence. 'This was depravity. Ms. Kasian died a slow and painful death,' she said. 'He threw away pieces of his fiancee like she was trash. The mother of his newborn baby. 'Her daughter will never know her, and that's because of the unconscionable acts you heard about during this trial.' Leibel had pleaded not guilty to murder, mayhem, aggravated mayhem and torture. When the jury read out their sentence on Wednesday, Kasian's mother, a Ukrainian health care worker named Olga, broke down in tears. Leibel's reaction was one of an unmoved man. He stared straight ahead and did not move. He will be sentenced on June 26, and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Though he was earlier facing the death penalty, the LA County District Attorney's Office had earlier opted not to seek it against him. Leibels father, Lorne, made a fortune in the home building boom of the 1980s and 90s as the president of Canada Homes, once described as the nations largest home builder. Lorne Leibel also sailed for Team Canada in the 1976 Olympics and has since raced both boats and vintage cars, according to the Toronto Star. The Beijing subway system is looking to install facial recognition technology at its stations this year as part of a measure to strengthen security checks. Once implemented, the facial recognition cameras could speed up the stations' security inspection procedures and streamline passenger flow, according to state media. Currently, all Beijing metro stations are equipped with metal detectors and X-ray scanners for luggage. People travelling with beverages would be asked to take a sip in front of security staff. The Beijing subway system is looking to install bio-recognition technology at its stations this year to speed up passenger flow as well as to strengthen security measures (file photo) A guard scans a passenger during a security check as other passengers queue to have their belongings scanned in an X-ray machine at a Beijing subway station (file photo) In addition, the train operator also plans to introduce palm scanners that could allow commuters to bypass traditional ticketing systems. A camera or sensor would identify a person's face or palm print which would then be matched in the operator's database and allow them through the gates. Passenger movements would also be tracked on cameras connected to an online network, according to China Daily. Those who try to enter the station without paying would also be identified on camera. Zhuang Huabing, head of enterprise development for the train network's main operator Beijing Subway, demonstrated the new technology at a transit exhibition in the capital city on Thursday. Once a person swipes his/her hand at the gate, the camera would scan and capture the person's palm print and match it to the personal information registered in the operator's database. Once the match is successful, the gate would open for the passenger to go through, according to Beijing Daily. Policeman with police dog on duty in a subway station in Beijing. The Beijing subway system is looking to install bio-recognition technology at its stations this year (file photo) All Beijing metro stations are equipped with metal detectors and X-ray scanners. People travelling with beverages would be asked to take a sip in front of security staff (file photo) The palm-vein scanning system is already in place at several stations of the Shanghai subway system for certain groups of people who are allowed to ride the subway for free. These people include retired soldiers, retired cadres, the blind and disabled soldiers and police officers. In the past, station workers are required to inspect the identification cards of these passengers one by one before letting them through the metro gates. The palm scan technology would be able to speed up the identification process while reducing cost, according to the Beijing Daily report. Beijing Subway operates 16 out of the 22 urban lines in the city, with an average of 10 million passengers taking the trains every weekday. The operator currently employs about 30,000 staff, according to its website. China has been increasingly deploying surveillance technology across the country since 2015 - from reinforcing domestic security to monitoring students' behaviour in classrooms. Iris, facial and fingerprint recognition technology on display at an exhibit in Hanover, Germany. Beijing hopes to implement such technology at its station this year (file photo) Beijing Subway operates 16 lines in the city, with an average of 10 million passengers taking the trains every weekday. The operator currently employs about 30,000 staff (file photo) This picture taken on July 11, 2017 shows a worker at a command centre of the Shanghai metro system. Last September, China installed over 20 million security cameras (file photo) The cutting-edge network, aims to identify any one of its 1.4 billion citizens within three seconds. Last September, the Chinese government installed over 20 million security cameras across the nation. This has led to civil rights groups and residents stoking concerns on privacy intrusion as well as the country's push to consolidate state surveillance powers. Song Chuanyou, a 31-year-old Beijing resident, has reservations on the implementation of the new technologies on the city's train lines. 'I don't think having facial recognition cameras or palm scanners would speed up the process a lot,' he said. 'I am worried about my privacy as all of my personal information would be on file.' 'I would feel more comfortable if the personal information recorded is deleted after each trip,' he added. 'I don't mind my information being used to streamline passenger flow and gather data for foot traffic - as long as the process is transparent.' Advertisement A tourist hot spot in central China offered free admissions to female visitors who could prove they are 'overweight'. Female visitors were asked to hop on a scale at the entrance of Tang Paradise in Xi'an city and could win a free ticket if they weighed more than 61.8 kilogrammes (136 pounds). The event, dubbed by Chinese media as a 'fatties only deal', ran from June 15 to 18. It was part of a marketing campaign at the theme park that aimed to promote a 'healthy body image'. Female visitors are asked to hop on a scale at the entrance of Tang Paradise in Xi'an city and are given a free admission ticket if they weighed more than 61.8 kilograms (136 pounds). The park said the campaign hopes to promote healthy body image The bizarre campaign aimed to promote 'healthy body image' and to bring visitors back to ancient Tang dynasty Video footage of the bizarre promotion shows female visitors climbing onto a massive scale next to a red sign that reads 'free benefit for the ladies of Tang dynasty'. A block weighing exactly 61.8 kg was attached to the beam of the giant balance scale at the park's entrance. Female visitors would then sit on a large board on the other end of the scale to see if they were heavy enough to lift up the block. Once they passed the challenge, they would win an admission ticket on the spot. The free tickets were awarded to the first 618 females visitors at the park each day. The park picked the weight 61.8 kg to coincide with the Dragon Boat Festival on June 18 on Monday. Once they pass the challenge, the female visitors would win an admission ticket on the spot A female visitor climb onto a massive scale next to the theme park's entrance to see if she can win a free ticket to the park A sign that reads 'free benefit for the ladies of Tang dynasty' is set up at the entrance of the Tang Paradise theme park in Xi'an 'We hope the experience could remind visitors that they are beautiful and to take them back to the Tang dynasty,' said Wei Bei, a worker at the Tang Paradise theme park. The people in Tang dynasty, approximately between 618-907AD, were known for adoring women that are larger and more voluptuous. More fat on a person's body was often associated with luxury, wealth and higher social status. One of the Four Beauties of ancient China, Yang Guifei, was described to have a plump and well-rounded body. 'We just wanted to let our female visitors know that they are as beautiful as Yang Guifei,' a spokesperson for the park told Beijing Times. A female visitor smiles as she passes the challenge - meaning that she weighs more than 61.8 kg (136 pounds) Visitors were amused by the gimmick, with many hoping that they are heavier - just for a day A happy visitor collects her free admission ticket after passing the challenge at the Tang Paradise theme park Visitors were amused by the gimmick, with many hoping that they are heavier - just for a day. 'Normally I hope I weigh less than 61.8kg. But today, I hope I am heavier than that!' a woman told Shanxi Broadcasting Network. 'I didn't realise being fat would be an advantage,' another visitor said while smiling and waving her free entry ticket. 'I'll take this as a compliment to my girlfriend, plus I saved 100 yuan (11.8) on the ticket - so why not?' her boyfriend said. It may not feel like it before a morning coffee, but people are most go-getting before 9am. Rush hour is the time when we think most about work, power, money and achievement, a study has found. After dinner, we are more likely to be preoccupied with sex and relationships, and the early hours are when we think about life's problems. That's according to a study of 800 million tweets by people shows how our priorities shift during the day. The study suggests that despite the working day being done, people are more angry at night, which may explain the number of Twitter outbursts after a few glasses of wine and close to bedtime. Researchers also spotted a difference in tweeting styles over the course of the week, with users of the site in the best mood on a Sunday morning. Scroll down for video Our way of thinking changes at different times of the day and follows a predictable 24-hour pattern, say experts who analysed seven billion words used in 800 million tweets. Our use of language changes dramatically between night and day, as demonstrated on this graph Scientists at the University of Bristol studied our thinking using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyse anonymised content posted to Twitter in the UK. They sampled messages every hour over the course of four years, across 54 of the UK's largest cities, to see if they could spot trends in the collective thinking of users. By studying the type of language used, experts found evidence of different emotional and cognitive modes powering Twitter users' thoughts. Tracking the use of specific words, which are associated with 73 indicators used to help interpret information about a person's thinking style, revealed the shift in the mood of users. Writing in the paper, the authors of the study said: 'The population wake up in the best mood on Sunday with high positive emotions and low negative emotions, anger, and sadness, expressed after 6am. 'In the couple of hours that follows, the working days are instead associated with relatively low mood characterized by low positive emotions and increased sadness.' Researchers also spotted a difference in Tweeting styles over the course of the week, with Sunday mornings found to be the time users of the site were in the best mood. This graph shows the variations in the two major styles of tweeting identified (marked F1 and F2) Although 73 different psychometric quantities were tracked, the team found there were just two major factors that explained most of the variations across the data. The first factor, most notable between 6am and 10am, is linked with analytical thinking and is notable by frequent use of nouns, articles and prepositions. These linguistic elements have been linked to intelligence, improved class performance and education in previous studies. This early-morning period between 6am and 10am was also related to increased concern with achievement and the attainment of power, as well as personal concerns surrounding work, home and money. At the opposite end of the spectrum, researchers found a more impulsive, social, and emotional mode of engagement peaked between 3am and 5am. Main subjects of concern during this period included death and religion, with the emotional language observed by researchers largely negative. Professor Nello Cristianini, professor of artificial intelligence and the project lead, said: 'The analysis of media content, when done correctly, can reveal useful information for both social and biological sciences. 'We are still trying to learn how to make the most of it.' Analytical thinking and positive emotions were shown to peak by around 10am, while in the evenings and at night a more negative tone was observed on Twitter. These differences occurred at times associated with major changes in brain and hormonal activity (stock) These changes occurred at times associated with major changes in brain activity and hormonal levels. These are related to our internal body clock, which is responsible for waking our bodies up in the morning and ensuring we get a good night's rest. Stafford Lightman, professor of medicine and a neuroendocrinology expert at Bristol Medical School, and one of the study's authors, added: 'Circadian rhythms are a major feature of most systems in the human body, and when these are disrupted they can result in psychiatric, cardiovascular and metabolic disease. 'The use of media data allows us to analyse neuropsychological parameters in a large unbiased population and gain insights into how mood-related use of language changes as a function of time of day. 'This will help us understand the basis of disorders in which this process is disrupted.' The full findings of the study were published in the journal PLOS ONE. Urgent action is needed to defend against man-made viruses that are 'easy to develop' and could wipe out tens of millions of people. That's the terrifying warning made by scientists to the Pentagon in a major report created for the US Department of Defence. In it, scientists claim that rapid advances in biology are making it easier for terrorists to develop biological weapons by engineering microbes. They say that there are three main scenarios that governments must prepare for to safeguard their citizens. These include the prospect of recreating viruses from scratch, tweaking bacteria so that they are more dangerous, and tweaking microbes so they manufacture toxins. Although malicious applications of this synthetic biology might not seem plausible now, they will become achievable in the future, the Pentagon was told. Scroll down for video Urgent action is needed to prepare for manmade virus attacks which could lead to a new generation of deadly bioweapons, a major US report has revealed (stock image) Synthetic biology, a field that creates technologies for engineering and creating organisms, is being used for a variety of purposes. The report looked at the ways in which biotechnology could be abused. Viruses could be created from scratch to infect millions of people. Fairly simple procedures can be used to modify the genes of bacteria that would make them resistant to antibiotics, the report found. This would potentially make people who got infected incurable. A more advanced bioweapon might come in the shape of a genetically-altered microbe that lives in the gut produces poisons. 'In and of itself, synthetic biology is not harmful', said Michael Imperiale, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan and chair of the committee that conducted the study. 'The level of concern depends on the specific applications or capabilities that it may enable,' he said. Applications include treating diseases, improving agricultural yields and dealing with the negative effects of pollution. However, the technology also poses many harmful uses that could obliterate billions of people. 'The US government should pay close attention to this rapidly progressing field, just as it did to advances in chemistry and physics during the Cold War era', said Dr Imperiale. Researchers looked at the availability and ease of use of the technologies as well as the challenges of producing an effective weapon. They also looked at the expertise and resources required to carry out an attack and the measures that might be taken to help mitigate the effects of an attack. 'It's impossible to predict when specific enabling developments will occur; the timelines would depend on commercial developments as well as academic research, and even converging technologies that may come from outside this field,' said Dr Imperiale. 'So it is important to continue monitoring advances in synthetic biology and other technologies that may affect current bottlenecks and barriers, opening up more possibilities.' Researchers looked at the availability and ease of use of the technologies as well as the challenges of producing an effective weapon. They also looked at the expertise and resources required to carry out an attack and the measures that might be taken to help mitigate the effects of an attack WHAT IS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY AND WHAT ARE THE DANGERS? Synthetic biology, a field that creates technologies for engineering and creating organisms, is being used for a variety of purposes that benefit society. Applications include treating diseases, improving agricultural yields and dealing with the negative effects of pollution. However, the technology also poses many harmful uses that could threaten people, according to to a review of the field. Advances in the area of synthetic biology mean existing bacteria and viruses can be engineered to be much more harmful in a short space of time. Recreating viruses from scratch, making bacteria more deadly and modifying microbes so they do more damage to the body are deemed the three most pressing threats. Although malicious application of this synthetic biology might not seem plausible now it will become achievable in the future and could lead to the creation of biological weapons, or bioweapons. Ex-Nato commander James Stavridis has previously described the prospect of advanced biological technology being used by terrorists or 'rogue nations' as 'most alarming'. He said that it could lead to an epidemic 'not dissimilar to the Spanish influenza' a century ago. He claims biological weapons of mass destruction with the ability to spread deadly diseases like Ebola and Zika could wipe out up to a fifth of the world's population. In 2015, an EU report suggested that ISIS has recruited experts to wage war on the West using chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Advertisement Ex-Nato commander James Stavridis has previously described the prospect of advanced biological technology being used by terrorists or 'rogue nations' as 'most alarming'. He said that it could lead to an epidemic 'not dissimilar to the Spanish influenza' a century ago. He claims biological weapons of mass destruction with the ability to spread deadly diseases like Ebola and Zika could wipe out up to a fifth of the world's population. In 2015, an EU report suggested that ISIS has recruited experts to wage war on the West using chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Last year researchers created an infectious horsepox virus. Scientists from the University of Alberta hope that the virus could be used to create more effective vaccines for smallpox one of the most deadly viruses that caused millions of deaths around the world. But other experts have warned that the relatively easy technique could be replicated by terrorists to create biological weapons. Recreating viruses from scratch, making bacteria more deadly and modifying microbes so they do more damage to the body were deemed the three most pressing threats Professor David Evans, who led the study, said: 'Our goal is to improve on current methods that protect the public from possible viral outbreaks.' While horsepox itself is not harmful to humans, the technique to piece it together could be used to synthesise other dangerous viruses, including smallpox. Introducing the genome into cells infected with a different type of poxvirus led these cells to start producing infectious horsepox virus particles. The virus was then 'grown, sequenced and characterised,' according to the report. Professor Evans has accepted that the technique comes with its risks. Speaking to Science, he said: 'Have I increased the risk by showing how to do this? I don't know. 'Maybe yes. But the reality is that the risk was always there.' While WHO guidelines prevent scientists from attempting to build the full smallpox genome, this new research shows that it is possible to buy the DNA building blocks without being flagged. And experts say the technique is fairly easy to replicate. Speaking to The Washington Post, Peter Jahrling, a virologist at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: 'Maybe not some guy in a cave, but a reasonably equipped undergraduate microbiology lab could repeat this trick.' In the wrong hands, the technique to synthesise viruses could be diasterous. Speaking to Science, Paul Keim, an expert in bioweapons at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, said: 'Bringing back an extinct virus that is related to smallpox, that's a pretty inflammatory situation. 'There is always an experiment or event that triggers closer scrutiny, and this sounds like it should be one of those events where the authorities start thinking about what should be regulated.' Retired Nasa Astronaut Mark Kelly says Donald Trump's order to create a Space Force is a 'dumb idea'. The US president revealed plans for a service branch aimed at ensuring American dominance in space this week, but Kelly said that role was already covered by the US Air Force. Writing on Twitter, the former Navy pilot voiced his distaste for the idea, while some members of Congress also expressed concerns. Scroll down for video Retired Nasa Astronaut Mark Kelly says US President Donald Trump's order to create a Space Force is a 'dumb idea' 'This is a dumb idea,' Kelly, who has travelled to space four times and is the identical twin brother of fellow former astronaut Scott Kelly, tweeted. 'The Air Force does this already. That is their job. What's next, we move submarines to the 7th branch and call it the 'under-the-sea force?' In his post, Kelly was referring to the Air Force Space Command, a space-focused group that has come under a number of names over the years. Headquartered in Colorado, the agency supports military use of rocket launches, satellites and cyberwarfare operations. It also tracks decommissioned satellites and other space debris in orbit around Earth, a growing problem that could block rocket launches in future. Members of Congress and US military officials joined Kelly in his criticism of Trump's plans to create a new space agency. Trump revealed plans for a service branch aimed at ensuring American dominance in space this week, but Kelly said that role was already covered by the US Air Force. In this image Trump shows off a 'Space Policy Directive' signed at the White House on Monday Writing on Twitter, former Navy pilot and astronaut Mark Kelly voiced his distaste for Trump's Space Force plans 'The president told a US general to create a new Space Force as 6th branch of military today, which generals tell me they don't want,' Senator Bill Nelson tweeted. 'Thankfully the president can't do it without Congress because now is NOT the time to rip the Air Force apart. Too many important missions at stake.' President Trump announced on Monday that he is directing the Pentagon to a new 'Space Force' as an independent service branch based on US space dominance. Trump envisioned a bright future for the US space program, pledging to revive the country's flagging efforts, return to the moon and eventually send a manned mission that would reach Mars. The president framed space as a national security issue, saying he does not want 'China and Russia and other countries leading us'. President Donald Trump pledged to revive the US space program on Monday, ledging to revive the country's flagging efforts, return to the moon and eventually send a manned mission that would reach Mars Trump had previously suggested the possibility of creating a space unit that would include portions equivalent to parts of the Air Force, Army and Navy. But his directive will task the Defense Department to begin the process of establishing the Space Force as the sixth branch of the US armed forces. He said the new branch's creation will be overseen by Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 'When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space,' Trump said. SPACE FORCE WAS ANNOUNCED BY DONALD TRUMP IN JUNE 2018 US President Donald Trump announced plans for a service branch aimed at ensuring American dominance in space in June 2018. Trump pleaded to revive the country's flagging efforts in space, return to the moon and eventually send a manned mission that would reach Mars. The president framed space as a national security issue, saying he does not want 'China and Russia and other countries leading us'. His directive will task the Defense Department to begin the process of establishing the Space Force as the sixth branch of the US armed forces. 'When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space,' Trump said. He added: 'We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal. It is going to be something. So important' In December 2019, US president Donald Trump signed the massive $738billion Defense bill which officially set the ball rolling to establish the Space Force. Its official badge and uniform was revealed in January 2020. Advertisement He added: 'We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal. It is going to be something. So important' The United States is a member of the Outer Space Treaty, which bars the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in space and only allows for the use of the moon and other celestial bodies for peaceful purposes. 'My administration is reclaiming America's heritage as the world's greatest spacefaring nation,' Trump said in the East Room, joined by members of his space council. 'The essence of the American character is to explore new horizons and to tame new frontiers.' Former US astronaut Buzz Aldrin winks at a fellow attendee as he arrives for U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks before a meeting of the National Space Council at the White House An aide assembles a model of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket as the stage is set for Trump to deliver remarks at a meeting of the National Space Council at the White House Trump also used the White House event to establish a new policy for reducing satellite clutter in space. The policy calls for providing a safe and secure environment up in orbit, as satellite traffic increases. It also sets up new guidelines for satellite design and operation, to avoid collisions and spacecraft breakups. Trump was joined by Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the recently revived space council, as well as several Cabinet members, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, retired astronauts and scientists. The council's executive secretary, Scott Pace, told reporters before the meeting that space is becoming increasingly congested and current guidelines are inadequate to address the challenge. The announcements were his administration's latest moves to scale up US space exploration. The United States wants to send robotic explorers to the moon as soon as next year as a preparatory step towards sending astronauts back there for the first time since 1972, a NASA official said on Monday. Trump shakes hands with Vice President Mike Pence during a meeting of the National Space Council in the East Room of the White House The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is planning a series of lunar missions beginning next year aimed at developing the capacity for a return to the moon, said Cheryl Warner, a spokeswoman for NASA's Human Exploration Directorate. NASA will work with private companies, which have not yet been chosen, on the missions, Warner said in a phone interview. In December, Trump signed a directive that he said would enable astronauts to return to the moon and eventually lead a mission to Mars. He ordered the government last month to review regulations on commercial space flights. Americans first landed on the moon in 1969, reaching a goal set by former President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and capping a decade-long space race between Washington and Moscow. Since then, U.S. efforts to explore beyond the Earth's orbit have largely focused on remote spacecraft that do not have human crew members, though American presidents have repeatedly raised the idea of sending human explorers back to the moon or further. President George W. Bush in 2004 said humans would return to the moon by 2020. His successor, President Barack Obama, said in 2016 the United States would send humans to Mars by the 2030s. Memes could be a thing of the past, following the European Union's approval of two adjustments to copyright law today. Article 13 and Article 11 of the Copyright Directive have been approved by officials in Brussels in an attempt to change online copyright law. However, the new regulations could have dire implications for meme-lovers, with websites now obligated to screen user-generated content, including text, audio, photos and video to protect copyrighted works. Campaigners and industry leaders have condemned the changes, saying it 'could destroy the internet as we know it'. Scroll down for video Article 13 and Article 11 of the Copyright Directive have been approved by officials in Brussels in an attempt to redesign copyright for the internet. The implications of this change could have dire results for meme-lovers, with website now being obligated to screen user-generated content Memes often use still images from popular television shows or films combined with quips, puns and topical humour. The popular format is inescapable on the web, but the changes brought about by Article 13 could force internet companies to ban their use. Critics and campaigners say the legislation, which the European Parliament approved earlier today, will prove to be an excessive restriction on free speech. The MEPs approved its position in a tight vote by 14 votes to 9, with 2 abstentions. According to the EU, the principle of fair pay for artistic work should apply to everyone, everywhere, whether in the physical or online world something it says the changes to regulations will enable. German MEP Axel Voss said: 'This vote marks the first step of the parliamentary procedure to adopt copyright laws fit to meet the challenges of the internet. 'The last laws to address copyright in the information society date back 17 years and the internet of today is fundamentally different to what it was in 2001.' But the new laws could spell an end to music remixes, memes, and other user-generated content that borrows from copyrighted works. With companies now required to screen content for copyright infringement, it's possible that smaller sites will be unable to pay enough staff to police the images, text, and video being routinely shared by its users. Some companies and sites have already had to shutdown as a result of the EU's new GDPR data rules. Memes often use images from popular TV shows or films and are combined with quips, puns and topical humour. The popular format is inescapable on the web, and Article 11 could force internet companies to 'ban memes'. Pictured: A Lebron James meme HAS THE EU KILLED MEMES? HOW DO ARTICLE 13 AND ARTICLE 11 CHANGE COPYRIGHT LAW? MEPs have approved a number of changes to the EU Copyright Directive the first major overhaul to European copyright law since 2001. Although most of the changes present a welcome update to ageing legislation, Article 11 and Article 13 in the document have provoked outrage in some corners of the internet. A letter penned in June by 70 leading internet figures including Sir Tim Berners-Lee said the risks outweigh the benefits when it comes to the new EU law. 'We support the consideration of measures that would improve the ability for creators to receive fair remuneration for the use of their works online,' the open letter reads. 'But we cannot support Article 13, which would mandate Internet platforms to embed an automated infrastructure for monitoring and censorship deep into their networks.' EU lawmakers will now take the legislation to talks with the European Commission and the 28 EU countries. The next step is negotiations will reconcile their different positions before updating the existing copyright laws. Article 13 and Article 11 of the Copyright Directive have been approved by officials in Brussels in an attempt to change online copyright law What is in Article 13? Article 13 in the revised EU Copyright Directive could affect memes and music remixes shared online. This portion of the legislation puts the onus of policing for copyright infringement on the websites themselves. Until now, online companies have not been subject to copyright penalties when a user on their platform uploaded something that infringes copyright. However, that will change with Article 13. As a result, Facebook could be held responsible when one of its 2.19 billion monthly active users shares a copyrighted image without the correct permission from the rightsholders. But while Facebook has the funds to build a system to automatically scan content before it is shared to check for infringement, many smaller sites do not. Memes often use still images from popular television shows or films, which are protected by copyright and would be flagged by these systems. Cory Doctorow, special Advisor for online watchdog Electronic Freedom Foundation, says Article 13 will trigger 'problems so big that they threaten to wreck the Internet itself.' It's unclear exactly what precautions websites will have to provide to protect against copyright infringement from its users. Article 13 is quite vague, suggesting that sites use 'appropriate' measures, and employ 'effective content recognition technologies' to check content. According to critics, the most important problem with Article 13 is the fact that it makes no exceptions for fair use which previously allowed people to remix and mash-up copyrighted songs, or use short video clips from movies in commentary or parody. What is in Article 11? Article 11 in the Copyright Directive has been nicknamed the 'snippet tax'. It aims to limit the power that technology giants like Google and Facebook hold over publishers, whose work is protected under copyright law. Online platforms will have to pay for a license to link to news publishers when quoting portions of text from these outlets. This will support publishers and drive some traffic away to the publishers. But while Silicon Valley companies like Google and Facebook will undoubtedly be able to afford a licence, smaller firms may not. The changes could outlaw small news aggregators, which pull-in articles from a variety of sources online. Axel Voss, Rapporteur of the European Parliament for the Copyright Directive, who spearheaded the changes, defended Article 11, saying: 'If the press is dependent on search engines, of powerful companies, then we simply dont have an independent press any longer.' Advertisement Last week, more than 70 leading internet figures, including the creator of the world wide web Tim Berners-Lee and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wale, signed an open letter against the law change. It read: 'By requiring Internet platforms to perform automatic filtering all of the content that their users upload, Article 13 takes an unprecedented step towards the transformation of the Internet, from an open platform for sharing and innovation, into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users.' Those behind the letter say they believe in the need for copyright, but having an automated screening process in place is not the correct way to enforce the law. Last week, more than 70 leading internet figures, including the creator of the world wide web Tim Berners-Lee and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wale, signed an open letter against the law change. Pictured: A popular Spongebob meme Pictured: a Meghan Markle meme. Last week, more than 70 leading internet figures, including the creator of the world wide web Tim Berners-Lee and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wale, signed an open letter against the law change 'We support the consideration of measures that would improve the ability for creators to receive fair remuneration for the use of their works online,' the letter reads. 'We cannot support Article 13, which would mandate Internet platforms to embed an automated infrastructure for monitoring and censorship deep into their networks.' Several other groups have lobbied the EU to scrap the reform, with Copyright 4 Creativity one of the leading firms campaigning against the new changes. 'Should Article 13 of the Copyright Directive be adopted, it will impose widespread censorship of all the content you share online,' it said before today's vote. Article 11 has been branded 'the link tax', or 'the snippet tax'. The legislative change is designed to mitigate the power that Google and Facebook have amassed in recent years. It codifies a new copyright rule that prevents technology companies lifting portions of copyrighted material from news organisations. Under the new rule, technology companies like Google will have get permission to use excerpts, and even may have to pay for a license in order to do so. Google has launched a dedicated podcast app for Android smartphones to rival a similar application bundled with Apples iOS operating system since 2012. The Google Podcast app is now available to download free for users worldwide and supports 47 different languages. The new app syncs playback across devices, allowing Android users to pause on their smartphone, and immediately pick-up the episode from the same point on their Google Home smart speaker. Google has pledged to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the app over time, promising the version of Podcasts available today is just the beginning. Scroll down for video Google Podcasts is available as a free download on Android smartphones and tablets. The app is a rival to Apple's dedicated Podcasts app, which has been built into iOS since 2012 Product Manager for Google Podcasts, Zack Reneau-Wedeen said: Whether were listening to history lessons on the commute, news stories at the gym, or gripping mysteries while preparing dinner, podcasts have become an essential part of life. But, it can still be difficult to get started and find new shows youll love and work still remains in making podcasts accessible and discoverable for all. More than 2 million podcasts are available inside the app on launch day, Google has confirmed. The company has designed its new Podcasts app to help listeners discover new shows. The software uses AI to recommend new podcasts based on past listening habits within the app surfacing shows created by the same network, or those on a similar topic, like sport or true crime. Google Podcasts has a dedicated For You tab which houses these show suggestions. Google separates episodes into three categories new episodes, in progress, and downloads designed to help users quickly find their next listen. Downloads allow Podcast users to listen when there is no internet connection, like on a flight, or commute It also contains the latest episodes from podcasts users have subscribed to, as well as any unfinished shows. With the launch of Podcasts, Google has added the ability for users to play podcast episodes directly from within its Search app on Android. So, users who are searching the web for a podcast theyve heard good things about can sample the show or listen to an entire episode without leaving the search results page. Individual podcast episodes can be downloaded within the Google Podcasts app for offline playback, like on an international flight, or a commute on the Underground. Inside the app, Google separates episodes into three categories new episodes, in progress, and downloads designed to help users quickly find their next listen. Episodes can be paused and resumed using Google Assistant voice commands on Android smartphones, as well as Google Home, Google Home Mini, and Google Home Max smart speakers. Over time, well integrate Google Podcasts into more places you use Google, Product Manager Reneau-Wedeen has pledged. Podcasts can be played with voice commands to the Google Assistant on Android smartphones, tablets, and on Google Home, Home Mini, and Home Max smart speakers Google has also previewed a number of features planned for its Podcasts app in future updates. The Mountain View-based company hopes to use AI to add real-time closed captions to shows. AI will transcribe the dialogue in the show to help those who are hard of hearing, or who find themselves in a noisy environment while listening to an episode. Closed captions will also help users quickly skim-through an episode, scanning the subtitled text for a particular topic of discussion, or phrase to continue playback. Google wants to combine this feature with its Google Translate technology at a future date to help Podcast app users listen to shows in foreign languages. We couldnt be more excited to help people around the world discover podcasts theyll love, and this is just the beginning, Product Manager Reneau-Wedeen said. Google also wants to help increase diversity in podcasts. According to research conducted by the company, only a quarter of all podcast hosts are women, and even fewer are people of colour. Alongside its new dedicated podcast app, Google has announced plans to form an independent advisory board of experts to promote the diversity of voices and remove barriers to podcasting. Google will not pay underrepresented voices to create shows, however, it has promised to afford extra promotion within its app to boast diversity. The Californian firm has promised more details later this summer. However, in the meantime, podcast hosts who want more details on the scheme can leave their details in a sign-up form with the company. Apple has included support for podcasts in its iTunes store since 2005, however, the Cupertino-based company spun-out the feature into a dedicated app, also branded 'Podcasts', for its iOS operating system with the launch of iOS 6 in September 2012. Google had previously launched an app, dubbed 'Google Listen', which was capable of subscribing to podcasts, via its experimental Google Labs arm. If you've ever dreamed of decorating your home like a Viking would, researchers now know what colors you should use. Archaeologists and chemists in Denmark have analyzed color pigments from Viking objects found. However, they are quick to point out it is not certain that they've gotten the colors exactly right, but that it is the closest science has come. Archaeologists and chemists analyzed color pigments from Viking times. Pictured: A potential reconstruction of a Viking house using the color palette developed 'When we've previously excavated finds from the Viking Age among others, we weren't so interested in colors,' said conservator Line Bregnhi, from the National Museum of Denmark, to Science Nordic. 'Partly because we didn't have the techniques to study pigments, but also because we assumed that the colors appeared more or less as they were found.' Bregnhi and her colleague Lars Holten have used the advanced techniques to create the color palette for the largest Viking building discovered in Denmark. The Royal Hall was reconstructed at the Centre for Historical-Archaeological Research and Communication in Denmark. 'It's an important study because it presents the chemical analyses that form the basis for the very subjective ideas that archaeologists have on Viking Age colour,' Archaeologist Henriette Syrach Lyngstrm from the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen said. 'On the rare occasion that we excavate a piece of painted wood, the colour looks nothing like the original. Here, chemists and conservators analyse the pigments and help us to further our interpretations,' said Lyngstrm. They created a palette with twelve colors thought to be common in the Viking Age. The researchers created a color palette based largest Viking building in Denmark. Twelve colors are now thought to be common during the Viking age WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COLORS IN THE VIKING AGE? In Viking times, colors carried important meanings, mainly power and wealth. Red symbolizes strength or danger, probably because blood can be associated with both the bringing of life and injury. One of the more expensive colors is the red cinnabar and it was likely used by chieftains or princes as a status symbol to demonstrate power over their surroundings. White is often associated with life, connected with milk or semen, as opposed to black, which is associated with death. Green is the color of hope. Advertisement Though researchers are still investigating exactly how Vikings used color, they do know the ancient people preferred bold colors. They also know that Vikings used color pigments from numerous sources, such as ochre and charcoal, which they blended together along with a binding agent. Common ones were milk products, egg, or linseed oil, which was used in the reconstruction of the Royal Hall. The colors also had large amounts of symbolism for the ancient civilization. 'We know that the symbolism of color is enormously important in all cultures. Red, white, and black are some of the most common and have similar symbolism among numerous cultures,' said Holten. One of the more expensive colors is the red cinnabar and it was likely used by chieftains or princes as a status symbol to demonstrate power over their surroundings, said Holten. Facebook advertisements are coming to yet another corner of the app. The social media giant announced that it plans to start showing video ads in private conversations on Messenger, according to Quartz. Starting on Monday, a subset of users might see auto-play video ads alongside chats from friends and family, Facebook said. Scroll down for video Facebook advertisements are coming to yet another corner of the app. The social media giant announced that it plans to start showing video ads in private conversations on Messenger To prevent the ads from becoming too intrusive, Facebook says it's rolling them out 'gradually and thoughtfully,' Quartz noted. 'People that use Messenger each month are our top priority and they will remain in control of their experience,' the firm added. On Messenger, users won't be able to opt out of seeing ads, but they can hide certain advertisements, report them or personalize their ad targeting settings. Users can click 'Why am I seeing this ad' to manage their ad preferences. Facebook already shows ads in its main app, as well as on Instagram. It's also been suggested that ads could soon arrive on Facebook-owned WhatsApp. Facebook already shows ads in its main app, as well as on Instagram. It's also been suggested that ads could soon arrive on Facebook-owned WhatsApp Ads first started appearing inside Messenger last July, however ads that autoplay are likely to draw the ire of some users who feel they're intrusive, especially if they appear alongside a serious conversation. Facebook has released little data on how users are perceiving ads in Messenger. 'Top priority for us is user experience,' Stefanos Loukakos, head of Messenger Business, told Recode. 'So we dont know yet [if these will work]. However, signs until now, when we tested basic ads, didnt show any changes with how people used the platform or how many messages they send' 'Video might be a bit different, but we dont believe so,' he added. Ads started appearing inside Messenger last July, however autoplay ads are likely to draw the ire of users who feel they're intrusive, especially if they appear next to private conversations HOW DO WEBSITES COLLECT OUR DATA TO TARGET ADVERTS? Our activity on websites and apps and demographic information is gathered using increasingly sophisticated technology to bring us personalised adverts. People's electronic markers - known as 'cookies' - from websites they visit are gathered and passed to advertisers so they can target us with products relevant to our tastes and interests. This is why you can search John Lewis for a mattress only to spot relevant bedding adverts cropping up in your Facebook feed. The practice is not illegal, though under the 1998 Data Protection Act a person has to actively consent to their data being collected and the purpose for which it's used. A number of people report seeing adverts for niche products or holiday destinations on their phone shortly after discussing them with a friend. This has led some to conclude that their phone is listening to them and targeting ads based on their conversations. Advertisement More and more users have deleted their social media accounts in the past year due to privacy concerns. A new study conducted by Edelman found that 40% of those surveyed had left at least one platform in the past year due to concerns around privacy. Many are 'outraged about the violation of their privacy, and uncertain about the truth because of the plague of fake news,' Edelman CEO Richard Edelman said. In total, some 9,000 people from the United States, UK, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, and the United Arab Emirates were surveyed for the study. Advertisement A woman suddenly dropped her body to the floor to do what looked like a press-up but - as our guide pointed out - the energetic move was actually a Buddhist act of worship. We had landed in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa - one of the highest cities in the world at 11,995ft - on our way to Everest Base Camp to break a world record for the world's highest dinner party, as previously covered here. Wandering through the narrow streets, it was instantly clear that religion ruled in the ancient metropolis. MailOnline Travel's Sadie Whitelocks ventured to Lhasa in Tibet, one of the highest cities at 11,995ft. Above, a woman performs a prostration as a sign of worship Dozens of people were 'press-upping' their way around the place in pilgrimage despite the thin air, while others swung prayer wheels in their hands or rubbed strings of rosary beads, muttering hypnotic chants as they went. Monks dressed in blood-red robes casually mixed in with the street traffic, doing a spot of shopping or running errands. Our guide was taking us to see Jokhang Temple in the central Barkhor Square. The low-rise monastery, which dates to the 7th century, is considered the spiritual centre of Tibet and the holiest destination for pilgrims. In 2000, it was listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site and people flock from far and wide to visit the historic spot. On the day we visited, we learned that the queue time was more than two hours, so we decided to get a cup of coffee instead. With our stay being short, time was precious and no-one fancied standing in line. We checked into the Summit Cafe - which has top ratings on TripAdivor for its coffee and cakes - and settled in for a hot beverage. We were thrilled to find the Wi-Fi was running, although as we'd been warned, Facebook was down. As an autonomous region of China, Facebook censorship is applied across Tibet. The Potala Palace in Lhasa was once the residence of the Dalai Lama, until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. It now serves as a museum and World Heritage Site and is also home to many monks On the fashion front, Sadie said there was a mix of traditional dress around Lhasa blended in with the new The Tibetan capital - one of the highest cities in the world at 11,995ft - boasts magnificent mountain views Other signs of Chinese rule included a strong military presence. There were patrol officers dotted around Lhasa and we had to go through body scanners as we were herded in and out of police checkpoints. Our guide told us to not take any photos around these areas, as we would be told to delete the images or have our cameras confiscated. All of our cars - which we used for transportation throughout Tibet - were also decked out with cameras to ensure we weren't doing anything out of line and we had to employ a local driver. However, a few policemen we met in Lhasa seemed more laid back and they actually asked for photos with us, bemused by our western appearance. On the fashion front, there was a mix of traditional dress around Lhasa blended in with the new. Some women wore woven long skirts, while others opted for trousers. Puffer jackets were popular as temperatures often get down to -10C in the winter and in the summer there's normally a chill in the air. Men and women appeared to wear cowboy-style hats for a spot more insulation. Motorbikes and bicycles weave in and out of the traffic on one of Lhasa's main roads A woman wears pads on her legs to prevent injury when she prays (left), while another local spins a prayer wheel in her hand (right) Hand-held prayer wheels are common across Tibet, with people carrying them around for hours (left). On the right is a street view of Lhasa as dark clouds loom above Mobile phones were also rife and I even spotted monks glued to their devices. Learning from our mistake with the Jokhang Temple, the next day we turned up at the Potala Palace nice and early, before the hordes of visitors arrived. The enormous monastery was once the winter residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. It now serves as a museum and World Heritage Site and is also home to many monks. The sprawling complex makes for a fascinating visit, with shrines encased in tonnes of gold and adorned with thousands of precious gems. There is an area with thousands of rock carvings and paintings showing images of the Buddha. It is a very popular spot for worship, with prostration taking place in front of a central shrine Tokens of worship are jammed into a rock wall (left), while traffic streams down a road in Lhasa with snow-topped mountains in the background (right) We'd built up quite an appetite so that night we hit a popular restaurant in town - The Tibetan Family kitchen. At the cosy first-floor eatery we feasted on an array of local delicacies including yak momos (dumplings stuffed with yak meat), noodles and sweet rice. We washed everything down with some big bottles of Lhasa beer from the world's highest brewery - the Tibet Lhasa Brewery Co. The next day we bid a fond farewell to Lhasa and continued on our way. A stop in Lhasa had been a great introduction to Tibetan culture. From the gold-encrusted shrines to the constant chanting and delicious yak momos, this city is certainly a feast for the senses. Sadie says the sprawling Potala Palace complex makes for a fascinating visit, with shrines encased in tonnes of gold and adorned with thousands of precious gems Culture shock: U.S. tourist Christian DeBaun encounters a traditional telephone box It is many a tourist's desire to find the road less travelled, a willingness to jump off the beaten track that often can pay unexpected dividends. And for US photographer Christian DeBaun, this included an unexpected free return trip, courtesy of Scotland's tourist chiefs. He was simply indulging his natural curiosity when he began compiling an online humorous list of cultural and social differences he had spotted while on a road trip around Scotland to celebrate his wife Rochelle's 50th birthday. And his eye for unexpected Scottish customs and habits, such as the tradition of buying a round in the pub, caught the eye of bosses at VisitScotland. They felt his blog was the perfect way to encourage his fellow Americans to cross the Atlantic to holiday here so they invited the couple to make another trip, on them. When Mr DeBaun began his blog, it was his first time in Scotland and he was keen to document some of our more endearing quirks, and poke gentle fun at our occasional faults, by shunning the popular selfie hotspots. After covering more than 1,300 miles by hire car from the Central Belt to the Orkneys, he produced a blog highlighting the 'ridiculously rainy and windy' climate and the unwillingness of hotels to provide hairdryer sockets in bathrooms or a waste basket any larger than a 'coffee can' in their rooms. His observations from that September 2016 trip went viral after he posted them on Facebook, revealing to a worldwide audience his preference for Glasgow over Edinburgh, his readiness to plunge wholeheartedly into the mayhem of an Old Firm day and his delight at discovering virtual strangers standing each other drinks in the pub. 'I never imagined the response I would get to the list,' he says. 'My wife is a travel agent and has travelled extensively so that when she recommends places to her clients she has a better idea of the climate, the food, the culture, the music, the religion, everything. Folk tradition: The pub - and the all important round - was a huge hit 'It just makes you a more wellrounded travel agent. Sometimes it makes it easier to notice different customs. We were immediately struck by the friendliness of Scottish people and we are honoured to be asked to work as 'travel influencers' for VisitScotland in the hope of introducing more Americans to the wonders of your great country.' Last time, the couple headed from Edinburgh, taking in Pitlochry, Inverness, John O'Groats, Orkney, Skye, Glencoe and Glasgow. This time, they have revisited many of those places, but the focus has been on talking to locals rather than seeing the sights. 'I have been chatting to people about their lives and jobs and so forth,' Mr DeBaun says. 'I have avoided politics, but Brexit and Indyref 2 did come up once or twice, as did Trump. When people ask about him, I just say, 'I'm terribly sorry', and change the subject. People seem quite forgiving. 'We've been fly-fishing near Perth, then up to Kirriemuir so I could kiss the Bon Scott statue on the cheek because I'm a huge AC/ DC fan, then we did chocolate making with Cocoa Ooze's founder Jimmy Hutcheon in Aberdeen.' Mr DeBaun's observations from his September 2016 trip to Scotland went viral after he posted them on Facebook Mr DeBaun was overjoyed when he found a tiny pub in Edinburgh on his first trip to Scotland which was devoid of tourists Getting into the Scottish swing of things, Mr DeBaun started his day off with a whisky tasting Mr DeBaun, 56, was especially excited to return to Glasgow, sharing a fondness for Scotland's largest city with his countryman, the late lamented celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who once memorably described it as 'notorious for its hard drinking, hard living, hard ass citizenry and its uniquely merciless sense of humour'. In 2016, the DeBauns found themselves touring Glasgow on an open-topped bus during the buildup to an Old Firm match. He recalls: 'Every time we stopped outside a pub, the guys would start cheering and they would see me with a camera and they'd wave and hoot and holler. It wasn't until later that somebody said you have to be very careful what colours you wear to what pubs.' Later that night, the couple braved an Irish bar close to the city's Central Station. 'It's kind of a dive and there was a whole bunch of yelling and shouting going on outside the place as Rochelle and I walked back to our hotel after dinner and In 2016, the DeBauns found themselves touring Glasgow on an open-topped bus during the build-up to an Old Firm match The DeBauns have visited dozens of stunning spots across Scotland, including the Isle of Skye on northwest coast I said, 'Wow, that sounds like trouble let's go in and have a drink!' 'There was a loud rock band playing and the floor was so sticky it would pull the tread right off the soles of your shoes. 'And if you've seen the movie Trainspotting, you can imagine what the toilets were like! We still had a wonderful time.' His most cherished memory of Scotland apart from the stunning vistas was the warmth of welcome the couple encountered at the Clachaig Inn at Glencoe, a well-known haunt of the mountain climbing community. On his blog, he posted: 'I wish America had the 'buy the next round of drinks rule'. I did it for some lads about to climb Ben Nevis the next day for charity, and it was one of the best memories from my trip. We are now friends!' If you are ever in central Virginia, look me up. Dinner and a pint will be on me He adds: 'Buying a round really doesn't happen in America. It might happen between two or three old friends, but in Scotland it seems to happen among groups, some of whom hardly know each other. Last time, when we were in the Clachaig Inn, there were a bunch of guys playing pool and I decided I wanted to get in on the action. 'I bought the next game of pool and pretty soon people were buying rounds of drinks. It was just a great example of the friendliness and camaraderie in the country. We'd love to see more of this in the States.' Other observations would have his growing band of social media followers nodding enthusiastically, including his assertions that the Scots 'invented almost everything that is cool' and that 'driving in Scotland (especially down the side of Loch Lomond) is a terrifying death sport', while his exasperation with British electrical safety standards may leave them scratching their heads. 'In America, you just plug your device in and away you go. Why would I need a switch on the socket? It's like the shavers-only rule in the bathroom. When was the last time you saw anyone use a corded shaver? Rochelle's been driven mad because she cannot use a hairdryer in the bathroom. Mr DeBaun's most cherished memory of Scotland - apart from the stunning vistas was the warmth of welcome the couple encountered at the Clachaig Inn at Glencoe (pictured), a well-known haunt of the mountain climbing community 'Meanwhile, at the canal locks at Fort Augustus, the sides are totally unprotected. I mean, a little child could just fall into the water. In the States, there would be security cameras, railings, chain link fences, all these things, danger and warning signs all over the place, so the Scots live dangerously compared to Americans. But I just don't understand this shavers-only rule in the bathroom.' Mr DeBaun is still collating a new list of observations from his latest trip, but says: 'I'm keeping them to myself right now, although one thing I will say is that Scots don't really go in for bumper stickers on their cars. 'I got a bunch of my own printed out with the words 'Haste Ye Back' and I've been passing them out to people. I think a couple of restaurant owners said they were going to put them on their front doors. I'm still not sure any will end up on cars, even though they're free.' It seems that some things will never quite translate across the Atlantic, although Mr DeBaun is still hopeful the concept of the 'round' will catch on. He reflects: 'We were always received with warmth and graciousness across this beautiful country. If you are ever in central Virginia, look me up. Dinner and a pint will be on me.' On behalf of Scotland, we'll hold you to that! The world's best-value public airport lounges have been revealed, based on the number of amenities they offer for the price. The Al Ghazal Lounge in Abu Dhabi International's Terminal 2 has been revealed as the top place to check into before a flight, with 21.45 ($28.76) bagging customers free drinks, food, Wi-Fi and newspapers to peruse. Coming in second place is the slick Strata Lounge in Auckland Airport, which comes with an open bar, buffet and children's play area all for 28.15 ($37.72). The Al Ghazal Lounge in Abu Dhabi International's Terminal 2 has been revealed as the top place to check into before a flight, with 21.45 ($28.76) bagging customers free drinks, food, Wi-Fi and newspapers to peruse Lounge @ B in Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport has been rated as the third best-value spot. For 28.86 ($38.67) guests can help themselves to complimentary wines, beers and spirits and there are electrical charging stations dotted around the place. In fourth place is the 1903 Lounge in Manchester Airport's Terminal 3. The chic area, which costs 40 to access, features fresh-cooked food, premium alcoholic drinks and sweeping views of the runway. Coming in second place is the slick Strata Lounge in Auckland Airport, which comes with an open bar, buffet and children's play area all for 28.15 ($37.72) Lounge @ B in Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport has been rated as the third best-value spot. For 28.86 ($38.67) guests are free to indulge in complimentary wines, beers and spirits and there are electrical charging stations dotted around the place The ranking has been produced by travel company Netflights.com, which analysed data from 149 airport lounges around the world. Researchers said the Al Ghazal Lounge in Abu Dhabi was deemed the winner because of its 'low-cost, exuberant interior and efficient amenities'. In the UK, the next best-ranked lounge after Manchester is London Gatwick's Clubrooms, which is ranked ninth and costs 50, followed by London Heathrow's SkyTeam Lounge, which is placed 10th and costs 40. In America, only one lounge made it into the top 20, the Club at LAS in Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, which comes in at number 15. The lounge, which is open daily from 5am to midnight, costs 28.86 ($38.67) to get into with free Wi-Fi and refreshments on offer. In fourth place is the 1903 Lounge in Manchester Airport's Terminal 3. The chic area, which costs 40 to access, features fresh-cooked food, premium alcoholic drinks and sweeping views of the runway The Plaza Premium Lounge inside Terminal 2 at Rio de Janeiro Galeao International Airport comes fifth. A 24.42 ($32.72) entrance fee provides guests with beverages, food and shower facilities In an accompanying survey of 2,000 travellers, 66 per cent of respondents said that they find airports stressful. To ease the stress, it was found the average person will spend 58.77 in the run up to boarding their flight. Most of this cash goes on food (53 per cent), hot drinks (44 per cent) and alcohol (28 per cent). Almost half of respondents (46 per cent) also admitted to purchasing items they didnt even need as they aimlessly wandered around before jetting off. Despite the low cost of lounge access, 87 per cent of travellers said they had never used the facilities on offer as they thought it was too expensive (40 per cent), only for members (23 per cent), or they just didnt know how to do so (20 per cent). Advertisement If you thought that every other pub in Britain seems to be called The Red Lion, you wouldn't be far wrong. A new infographic that lists the most popular names for pubs in each UK county and Ireland reveals that The Red Lion is, overall, the most common one. You'll see it on 517 pub signs and it's the most popular pub name in several counties including Buckinghamshire, County Durham and South Yorkshire. Researchers compiled a list of over 58,000 pubs from across the two countries, pulling out the most popular names. A new infographic has revealed the most popular names for pubs for each county in the UK and Ireland after researchers looked at the names of 58,000 pubs They discovered that the second most common pub name is The Royal Oak, with 403 appearances. Breaking the results down geographically, it emerges that the most popular pub name in Greater London is The Prince of Wales. The research, by hotel group Jury's Inn, found 29 bars with the royal name across the capital. The most popular name in Greater Manchester is The Railway, which could be due to the city being home to the worlds first scheduled passenger railway service. In Wales, the people of the Vale of Glamorgan often hope for good luck, with The Three Horseshoes being the most popular pub name in this county. In the Scottish Borders, there are more pubs called The Cross Keys than anything else, while in the area around Aberdeenshire, close to the Queen's Balmoral estate, The Crown is the most popular name. A list showing the most popular pub names in each county of the UK. Coming out on top is The Red Lion, with 517 establishments with that name, followed by The Royal Oak with 403 appearances In the Republic of Ireland, the most popular pub name appears to be The Village Inn, which is most commonly found in the counties of Mayo, Meath and Tipperary Over in Northern Irelands County Down people are most likely to come across bars called The Bridge. In the Republic of Ireland, the most popular pub name appears to be The Village Inn, which is most commonly found in the counties of Mayo, Meath and Tipperary. And in the Irish capital of Dublin, you are most likely to stop off for a drink in a pub called Madigan's. Advertisement The world's most popular beaches have been revealed, according to how many times they've been snapped on Instagram. Whitehaven Beach in Australia is the most papped beach on the social media app according to new research with 129,585 photos featuring the hashtag #whitehavenbeach. And Hawaii's Lanikai Beach is the world's second-most Instagrammed beach with over 115,000 posts. Meanwhile, Bournemouth Beach has been ranked as the most popular beach in the UK and seventh globally, with 72,503 snaps carrying the tag #bournemouthbeach. Scroll down to see the strips of sand that are most likely to get shutters clicking - and feel the ocean breeze. 1. Whitehaven Beach, Australia Boasting white sands and crystalline waters, Whitehaven Beach in Australia was ranked as the world's most popular beach with 129,585 photos posted to Instagram Boasting white sands and crystalline waters, Whitehaven Beach in Australia is ranked as the world's most popular beach according to Instagram, with 129,585 photos posted to the site, according to research by TravelSupermarket. In 2017, the spot was rated the number one beach in the South Pacific as part of the TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards. The shallows of Whitehaven Beach are often visited by various species of turtles and other marine life, including dolphins. 2. Lanikai Beach, Hawaii Home to palm tree-line shores and clear waters, Lanikai in Oahu, Hawaii, has been ranked as the world's second most popular beach with 117,525 photos posted to Instagram Home to palm tree-lined shores and clear waters, Lanikai in Oahu, Hawaii, has been ranked as the world's second most popular beach with 117,525 photos posted to Instagram. The 0.5 mile strip of beach is consistently ranked among the best beaches in the world and the name Lanikai aptly translates to 'heavenly sea'. What makes Lanikai particularly popular with photographers are the two small Islands close to shore called the Na Mokulua or 'mokes'. 3. Horseshoe Bay, Bermuda Horseshoe Bay Beach in Bermuda has been named as the world's third most popular beach with 90,404 photos posted to Instagram Horseshoe Bay Beach in Bermuda has been named as the world's third most popular beach with 90,404 photos posted to Instagram. Getting its name from its curved shape, the sandy cove is known for its translucent, strikingly blue waters and pink-hued sands. Dramatic rock formations also surround Horseshoe Bay, with hidden caves and tucked-away coves making for ideal photo backdrops. 4. Cayo Coco Beach, Cuba The golden shores of Cayo Coco in Cuba have been rated the world's fourth most popular beach spot with 84,494 photos posted to Instagram bearing the hashtag #cayococo The golden shores of Cayo Coco in Cuba have been rated the world's fourth most popular beach spot with 84,494 photos posted to Instagram bearing the hashtag #cayococo. Natural features in the area include lagoons and marshes that are home to birds such as the white ibis. There is also a native colony of pink flamingos that's ranked among the largest in the Americas. 5. Bavaro Beach, Dominican Republic Bavaro Beach in the Dominican Republic has been hailed as the world's fifth most popular beach with 83,183 photos posted to Instagram Bavaro Beach in the Dominican Republic has been hailed as the world's fifth most popular beach with 83,183 photos posted to Instagram. The area is known for its endless white-sand beaches and crystal-clear blue waters. Some parts of the shoreline boast Blue Flag status and the offshore reef lures divers with its colourful corals and abundant marine life. 6. Boulders Beach, South Africa Boulders Beach in South Africa has been hailed as the world's sixth most popular beach with 77,748 photos posted to Instagram Boulders Beach in South Africa has been hailed as the world's sixth most popular beach with 77,748 photos posted to Instagram. A collection of ancient granite boulders protect the sandy cove from the wind and large waves, making it an ideal place to swim. The beach, which falls under the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area, is usually crowded by African penguins rather than tourists. 7. Bournemouth Beach, United Kingdom Bournemouth in the UK has been hailed as the world's seventh most popular beach desination with 72,503 photos posted to Instagram Bournemouth in the UK has been tipped as the world's seventh most popular beach destination with 72,503 photos posted to Instagram. The seaside town has four Blue Flag beaches in total including Alum Chine, Durley Chine, Fisherman's Walk and Southbourne. Its historic pier jutting out from the mainland makes for a popular photo subject. 8. Pink Sands Beach, Bahamas Pink Sands Beach in the Bahamas has been named as the world's eighth most popular beach with 71,087 photos posted to Instagram Pink Sands Beach in the Bahamas has been named as the world's eighth most popular beach with 71,087 photos posted to Instagram. Its pale pink sands stretch for some three plus miles and its unique colour comes from microscopic coral insects, known as Foraminifera, which have a bright red shells. Outlying reefs are popular with snorkelers and many visitors opt to watch the sun go down while riding along the water's edge on horseback. 9. Ao Nang Beach, Thailand Ao Nang in Thailand has been ranked as the world's ninth popular beach with 60,812 photos posted to Instagram Ao Nang in Thailand has been ranked as the world's ninth popular beach with 60,812 photos posted to Instagram. During the day, most parts of the beach are fairly quiet as there aren't many shady spots. However, visitors flock to the shoreline at sunset with their cameras in a bid to get that golden holiday shot. The beach is known for being framed by dramatic limestone headlands. 10. Playa Paraiso Beach, Mexico Rounding out the top ten is Playa Paraiso in Mexico, with 60,381 photos posted to Instagram How well do you know Britain's famous landmarks and buildings? This new interactive quiz challenges Brits to identify some of the UK's most famous sights - but think carefully as some of the questions are tricky. It was devised in conjunction with research to find out which parts of the UK population had the best landmark knowledge. Scroll down for quiz It saw 2,000 people given a similar quiz - and the overall average score was 44.5 per cent. Some may regard this as fairly low given that the landmarks included very famous building such as the Angel of the North, Westminster Abbey, Stonehenge, Blackpool Tower and The Royal Liver Building. People from the East of England performed the best, but their average score was only 51.7 per cent. Londoners came in second to last place, only scoring 39.8 per cent despite the capital being packed full of popular landmarks. Overall Brits scored just 44.5 per cent on the test to identify historical monuments and landmarks, which included Stonehenge, pictured The Scots performed worst of all in the research, by antique dealers Westland London, scoring just 35.3 per cent. The test revealed that 30.8 per cent of Scots could not even identify Edinburgh Castle correctly. One of the monuments highlighted in the test was Cambridge University, one of the oldest universities in the world. However, only 45.1 per cent of Brits could identify a picture of the world famous university, while 33.3 per cent thought they were looking at a building belonging to Oxford University, their great rowing rival. In addition 3.9 per cent thought it was Balmoral Castle, two per cent thought it was Kensington Palace, and 15.7 per cent thought it was none of the above. The test revealed that 30.8 per cent of Scots could not even identify Edinburgh Castle, pictured, correctly Anthony Bridgman from Westland London said: 'It looks like us Brits have a lot of studying to do when it comes to knowing our national landmarks. 'Despite being taught about most of them at school, perhaps we just forget about them as we get older.' As many of these structures and buildings are historic, Westland London also wanted to find out how much Brits knew about antiques. It found that just over a third (36.8 per cent) knew that if something is described as antique, it's over 100 years old. Women appeared to know more about this than men, with 42.6 per cent of them knowing an antique item would be over 100 years old compared to just 31 per cent of men. Meanwhile over a fifth of Brits (21.8 per cent) admitted that they wouldn't be able to tell if something was a replica or an antique. British Airways has been accused of leaving customers high and dry after cancelling thousands of flights before hiking up their prices. Passengers snapped up bargain fares earlier this year after tickets to Dubai and Tel Aviv were being sold for as low as 167. But the airline claims the cheap offers were a mistake and sensationally cancelled all tickets on Friday - prompting fury among customers. British Airways has come under fire after it cancelled the tickets of passengers who managed to book cheap flights to Dubai and Tel Aviv after an online glitch MailOnline has been inundated with devastated passengers who have been left out of pocket after booking accommodation and car rentals overseas. BA said it has offered customers a full refund and 100 vouchers but many say the gesture isn't good enough. Online manager Joshua Freudiger, 24, from Gateshead, booked return flights to Tel Aviv in July for 268. He said he believed the price was reasonable and other tour operators were offering flights for around about the same figure when he booked, three months ago. Suddenly out of the blue on Friday he noticed BA had deleted his booking from the App and he was told his ticket was cancelled. Within hours he says flights to Tel Aviv suddenly shot up to 600 and now a return for the dates he was booked to travel are costed at 834 - almost four times the price. He told MailOnline: 'I have spent hours and hours on the phone trying to sort this out meanwhile the price of tickets is going up and up. It's a nightmare.' Meanwhile Mr Sadler, a property manager from north west London, said he is furious at the disgusting way he has been treated by the airline. He was due to travel to Tel Aviv with his wife and their two children in July for a family wedding. I am a Club World Executive member but it is pretty shocking the way we have been treated. Its been an absolute disaster,' he told MailOnline. We have booked accommodation, car rentals and suddenly flights for our family of four are cancelled and now the prices are astronomical. They have us backed in a corner. It will cost 2,000 for us all to fly out.' Furious: One unhappy customer had booked a hotel and cars to go alongside his flights, which were subsequently cancelled by British Airways He blasted the 100 voucher offered by BA which he said is 'impossible' to use due to very specific terms and conditions. The father of twos said his message to BA is simple: You are supposed to be an honourable company, do the honourable thing and give us all back our tickets. Wizz Air announces special deal for BA customers affected by cancellations Wizz Air has announced special fares for BA customers whose flights to Tel Aviv were cancelled by the airline due to a pricing error. Passengers who were due to fly on BA can take advantage of a special return fare with Wizz Air for 80 one way or 160 return. The fares are for travel up to Wednesday 18 July 2018 and are subject to availability. Booking can be made on https://wizzair.com/#/rescue until Sunday 25 June. Customers need to provide evidence of cancelled BA booking. Wizz Air Chief Corporate Officer, Owain Jones, said: 'Wizz Air is delighted to give new customers whove been left in the lurch following the cancellation of their BA flights to Tel Aviv the opportunity to break with tradition.' Advertisement Youve ruined many families holidays and its just not fair. I had booked my seats, my meals, its just not on. Another customer Anthony Vale, 48, of Cheshire, booked four return tickets from Manchester to Dubai over Christmas and New Year. He spotted them on Skyscanner for 289 per person and clicked through to Netflights.com to book the tickets. He received his e-tickets on 11 June - but was told on Monday his flights had been cancelled. He told MoneySavingExpert.com : 'At the moment I don't know what I am going to do. My family still want to travel, but all they have offered is 100 per person, and it now costs over 800 per ticket... I booked the BA tickets in good faith and I've been left high and dry.' Mr Vale, who has worked in the travel industry for 20 years, said he knew 289 was a very good price for the flight, but as the next cheapest return flight listed was 325 with a longer stopover, he just assumed he had found a good deal. He believes BA should honour his tickets. Another was a passenger only known as Joseph, of London, who booked four return tickets to Tel Aviv on 11 June. He noticed on Friday they had disappeared from his BA app, but it wasn't until Monday that he was notified his flights had been cancelled. He had even reserved seats and made his meal choices with BA. He said: 'I had booked accommodation and car hire - at what stage are you safe to book anything if they have always got the option of cancelling?' The airline realised that the cheap online offers had been a mistake and decided not to honour the tickets Guy Anker, deputy editor of MoneySavingExpert.com, added: 'BA's slogan is "To Fly, To Serve", but in this case it's refusing to fly these passengers and is refusing to serve their best interests. 'They've bought these tickets in good faith at a believable price - it's not as though the tickets cost 5, which would clearly have been a glitch. Many have budgeted accordingly and booked accommodation and now face big fees to go ahead with their holiday. 'While this may have been a "rare" error, it's not the passengers' error. So come on BA - do the right thing and let them fly at the price they booked.' A spokesman for British Airways said: 'We've contacted the small number of travel agents who were able to access the incorrect fare for the short period it was available to advise them and apologise. 'We are fully refunding the tickets that were booked. 'Errors like this are exceptionally rare, and if they do occur, under contract law, there is no binding contract between the parties.' He famously starred as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. And 24 years later, Sir Patrick Stewart may boldly go where no one has gone before again. There have been increased rumblings that the 77-year-old actor is set to reprise his signature role according to The Hollywood Reporter. Boldly going? There have been increased rumblings that Sir Patrick Stewart is set to reprise his signature role according to The Hollywood Reporter Signature role: The talented actor - now 77-years-old - starred as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation 24 years ago Sources for the publication claim that new Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman (who left the show after season one) are attached to a reboot led by Stewart. However CBS TV Studios declined to confirm the project to THR as their insiders also say that a deal is far from completed and may not even happen. Earlier this month the British actor had Trekkies buzzing as he hinted that there was potential for him to return to the franchise. Set phasers to stun! Sources for the publication claim that new Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman (who left the show after season one) are attached to a reboot led by Stewart In an interview by Red Carpet News TV, Stewart admitted that he had not seen Star Trek: Discovery yet but 'may have good cause to look at it very soon.' Stewart played Captain Picard throughout all seven seasons of the highly-popular science fiction show from 1987 to 1994. The exciting news comes just as CBS announced they will expand the science-fiction franchise with new series, mini-series and animation under a production deal announced on Tuesday. CBS said in a statement that it had signed a five-year deal with producer Kurtzman to supervise a range of new programming related to Star Trek. The exciting news comes just as CBS announced they will expand the science-fiction franchise with new series, mini-series and animation under a production deal announced on Tuesday as they will be joining CBS All Access streaming service show Star Trek: Discovery (pictured) Kurtzman is a writer and producer of Star Trek: Discovery, which premiered in September 2017 on the CBS All Access streaming service. A second season is currently in production. He also co-wrote and produced the 2009 Star Trek feature film and 2013 sequel Star Trek: Into Darkness. The original Star Trek debuted in 1966 as a U.S. television series depicting the adventures of the Starship Enterprise. It was created by the late Gene Roddenberry and featured characters including Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, and Vulcan officer Mr. Spock, played by the late Leonard Nimoy. Shark Tank's Steve Baxter has hit back at critics after he was slammed online for not 'showing respect' to a female hopeful selling yoga pants with sensors, during Tuesday's episode of the Channel Ten show. The tech start up 'pioneer' was also accused of being a 'bully' and told to 'stop mansplaining' to female entrepreneurs. After viewers took aim at the multimillionaire on Twitter, the businessman bit back, saying it was 'bulls**t' that he 'mansplained' on the show. Scroll down for video 'I call bulls**t!' Shark Tank's Steve Baxter has hit back at critics after he was slammed online for not 'showing respect' to a female hopeful selling yoga pants with sensors, during Tuesday's episode of the Channel Ten show 'Mansplaining? When? What did I say? I call BS (sic) btw (sic), not a defensive question,' he wrote. When another viewer called him a 'bully' and said he should show 'respect' to both the contestants and his fellow sharks, he tweeted back: 'Bully? We see far more entrepreneurs who produce, sell at markets, get into independent stores etc... no reason for no progress when you pitch an investor.' Defending himself: 'Steve needs to stop mansplaining to women entrepreneurs,' one fan wrote, with Steve replying: 'Mansplaining? When? What did I say? I call BS (sic) btw (sic), not a defensive question' Having a go: When another viewer called him a 'bully' and said he should show 'respect' to both the contestants and his fellow sharks, he tweeted back: 'Bully? We see far more entrepreneurs who produce, sell at markets, get into independent stores etc... no reason for no progress when you pitch an investor' But the bespectacled businessman got most offended when one fan wrote 'all the men on Shark Tank are disgusting sexist pigs.' The Tweet prompted Steve to engage in a fiery Twitter spat with the fan. 'Yeah well tell me which bit where I (and the rest of the men) are disgusting sexist pigs or else go away. Your comments so far make you look like an anonymous man hater,' he wrote in one tweet. 'Don't confuse argument with sexism,' he fumed in another. Oh dear: Steve's attitude to Fundawear co-creator Billie Whitehouse was not received well by fans on Tuesday night Steve's attitude to Fundawear co-creator Billie Whitehouse was not received well by fans on Tuesday night. Billie makes 'vibrating underpants for couples in long-distance relationships' and went onto the show to pitch Nadi X Yoga Pants - containing sensors, voice instructions and vibrations to 'guide user's flow for easier Yoga'. When she attempted to explain how the limb-sensing technology worked, Steve interrupted. 'I call rubbish. I just know how this tech works... I know intimately how the tech works,' he said. As Billie attempted to answer his rapid-fire questions, Steve gave up: 'OK, Is there someone else who you've got who actually understands the tech?' 'Cause you don't at this point in time,' he added. 'If you do understand the tech, you've described it exceptionally poorly today. You really have.' Even his fellow investors criticised the comment as 'a bit harsh!' Fans didn't hold back on Shark Tank's Facebook page: 'Steve Baxter is so arrogant,' said one. A second viewer agreed, adding: 'Absolutely. Ch 10 need to take action.' Multiple viewers did however come to Steve's defence, with one insisting: 'If you're asking for 1.8mil you need to be able to answer whats being asked.' Said another: 'I'm with Steve... Cant believe I said that!' She's usually seen glammed up to the nines on the red carpet. But Rosario Dawson has dressed up as a moth for a new environmental campaign. The 39-year-old Hollywood star signed up for the #SaveUgly project, which aims to highlight 'ugly' endangered creatures that need to be saved. Scroll down for video Rosario Dawson as you've never seen her! Actress dresses up as a moth in new environmental campaign... as she raves about working with Teresa Palmer and Cate Blanchett on project Rosario appears in a short musical comedy film for The Wilderness Society's project, which also stars the likes of Australian stars Teresa Palmer and Cate Blanchett In the film, a singing and dancing Rosario is dressed as an Ethmia Clytodoxa Moth, while Cate voices the Mary River Turtle and Teresa the Southern Right Whale. 'These are the creatures that need to have their stories told,' Rosario told Daily Mail Australia of the short film. 'It's about facing the ugly truth that if we don't focus on some of these other creatures, that we are endangering ourselves as well.' A good cause! The 39-year-old Hollywood star signed up for the #SaveUgly project, which aims to highlight 'ugly' endangered creatures that need to be saved Pals: The actress is a longtime friend of Aussie star and environmentalist Teresa Palmer, who was very keen to get on board the project Familiar face: Cate Blanchett also stars in the campaign The actress is a longtime friend of Aussie star and environmentalist Teresa Palmer, who was very keen to get on board the project. 'She's a good friend of mine,' Rosario explained. 'My last trip back to Australia I was supposed to go visit them and the day I was meant to get there she had their last baby. 'I just think they're amazing and she's such an amazing environmentalist...the whole family is. 'It was really cool, we were all coming together to make this go viral and make this go as widespread as possible.' She added: 'So it was great it could work out with everyone.' In her element: Rosario - who is known for films including Josie and the Pussycats and for her role as Claire Temple in Daredevil - said the project was fun to film Samara Weaving and Joel Edgerton also voice characters in the film, which was directed by Zoe Bell. Bell was Uma Thurman's stunt double in Kill Bill. Rosario - who is known for films including Josie and the Pussycats and for her role as Claire Temple in Daredevil - said the project was fun to film. 'Oh my gosh, just getting fitted for it, I saw a picture of it and I was so excited,' she said of her costume. The competition is fierce on House Rules, but viewers think one contestant may have pushed it a bit too far. Two teams, Leigh and Kristie, and Kim and Michelle, were placed at the bottom of the House Rules standings table on Monday's episode after receiving low scores for their handiwork. When Michelle reached out to Leigh after the verdict and said 'let's just hope if we're together this week we can work together', he responded with a long hard stare at his fellow contestant. If looks could kill: House Rules viewers SLAM 'disgraceful' Leigh after his 'intimidating' staredown with fellow contestant Michelle 'Let's just hope if we're together this week we can work together': Michelle attempted to reach out to Leigh after being regulated to the bottom of the standings table After the awkward moment, Kristie responded with a simple: 'Yeah, definitely.' Michelle then slammed Kristie's response by calling her 'fake'. Leigh added to the tension by saying in a voiceover: 'You don't want me to be honest and say what I really want to say because I'm not going to say it.' Viewers quickly took to Twitter to slam Leigh's stare down, accusing him of being 'intimidating' and 'aggressive'. Cut the air with a knife: All of Leigh and Michelle's fellow House Rules contestants felt the tension in the air during the stare down Awkward: Leigh added to the tension by saying in a voiceover: 'You don't want me to be honest and say what I really want to say because I'm not going to say it' 'What was that stare from Leigh??!!! That was the most uncomfortable moment on TV Ive had the displeasure of sitting through in a long time. what a disgrace,' one wrote. 'Uncomfortable with Leighs intimidation tactics, even more so that they chose to not only air it but highlight it,' another wrote. 'That look he gave [to Michelle] was absolutely revolting,' one added. This is not the first time drama has erupted on House Rules this season. Judge Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen came under fire from viewers a few weeks ago for his 'bullying' behaviour towards his colleague, Drew Heath. In response, Drew reassured fans that there's nothing to worry about, saying that Laurence's remarks don't faze him. Meanwhile contestant David shocked viewers last month when he threw his hands up in the air and declared to his wife Chiara that he was quitting the show due to the pressure. Her boyfriend Isaac Carew recently denied rumors he was unfaithful to her. And Dua Lipa kept him close when they were glimpsed taking a sunlit walk together this Tuesday in the SoHo area of Manhattan. Baring her midriff in a pine green sleeveless crop top, the 22-year-old English pop act held her boyfriend's hand as they hit a crosswalk. Side by side: Dua Lipa kept her beau Isaac Carew close when they were glimpsed taking a sunlit walk together this Tuesday in the SoHo area of Manhattan Dua tucked her cropped dark hair behind her ears, pulling on a high-waisted pair of wide-set dark jeans and slipped into some sneakers. Accessorizing with a pair of pink sunglasses, she added a splash of glitz to the ensemble with hoop earrings and a tangle of necklaces. Meanwhile, her boyfriend wore an oversize Hawaiian shirt with a yellow, brown and burnt orange motif, leaving a couple of buttons undone over his chest. On the go: Baring her midriff in a pine green sleeveless crop top, the 22-year-old English pop act held her boyfriend's hand as they hit a crosswalk Sleek and chic: Dua tucked her cropped dark hair behind her ears, pulling on a high-waisted pair of wide-set dark jeans and slipped into some sneakers He folded up the hems of his light blue faded jeans, allowing for a fuller view of the white high-tops he wore on his outing with his girlfriend. A day before, the couple had been pap-snapped passionately kissing and walking with their arms flung around each other in New York. They have been presenting a united face to the world since Isaac fired up his Instagram page to swat away a swirl of infidelity speculation. Dazzle: Accessorizing with a pair of pink sunglasses, she added a splash of glitz to the ensemble with hoop earrings and a tangle of necklaces Meanwhile: Her boyfriend wore an oversize Hawaiian shirt with a yellow, brown and burnt orange motif, leaving a couple of buttons undone over his chest The rumors started after Isaac was filmed in the London nightclub G-A-Y Late dancing with a mystery woman to One Kiss, Dua's collaboration with Calvin Harris. Isaac, who has in his time been both a model and a chef, posted an Instagram selfie with Dua last week and strenuously denied stepping out on her. 'I wouldnt want you to think that Dua is in a relationship with someone who doesnt love and respect her. She wouldnt stand for it,' he insisted. Time together: He folded up the hems of his light blue faded jeans, allowing for a fuller view of the white high-tops he wore on his outing with his girlfriend 'Im in a gay bar dancing with a friend and its been shown in a bad light. There was no kissing and im disappointed at myself for even dancing for a brief moment given the way it was portrayed. It was a loud club and i was talking to her in her ear.' Isaac, whom Dua split from last year before an eventual reconciliation, maintained that 'We are very happy being back together.' He dished: 'We spent 3 and half years happily together with loyalty and love and we never broke up in the first place because we had problems like that. We broke up because of scheduling conflicts and not being able to be together. Luckily our skin is tougher and love is stronger than this.' She's been going from strength to strength with her main squeeze Younes Bendjima. And Kourtney Kardashian proved on trend as she was spotted holding hands with her 25-year-old model boyfriend in Rome on Tuesday. The 39-year-old stunner showcased her fabulous figure in a skimpy black bralette as they enjoyed a romantic stroll in the gorgeous Italian city. Loved up: Kourtney Kardashian proved on trend as she was spotted holding hands with her 25-year-old model boyfriend Younes Bendjima in Rome on Tuesday Daring to impress, the natural beauty revealed her bountiful bosom in the barely there outfit. Her toned tummy was thrust on center stage as the high waist pants cut just above the navel. She swathed her gorgeous gams in a pair of billowing olive green sham pants that featured a draw string tie. Her trademark raven tresses were left long and loose as they cascaded over her petite shoulders. Stunner: The 39-year-old stunner showcased her fabulous figure in a skimpy black bralette as they enjoyed a romantic stroll in the gorgeous Italian city Younes sported a plain grey tee and patchwork denim jeans. He cut a cool figure by adding a camouflage hat and a set of white sneakers. The couple enjoyed a romantic dinner as they enjoyed the meal al fresco. Leggy lady: She swathed her gorgeous gams in a pair of billowing olive green sham pants that featured a draw string tie Hair story: Her trademark raven tresses were left long and loose as they cascaded over her petite shoulders Dapper: Younes sported a plain grey tee and patchwork denim jeans In May, Kourtney celebrated her one-year anniversary with Younes. The gorgeous brunette posted a snap of a bouquet of red roses, adding: '365 days of love,' tagging her beau - who is a boxer-turned-model from Algeria. Kourtney and her ex Scott Disick broke up in late 2016 after nine years together. Cool guy: He cut a cool figure by adding a camouflage hat and a set of white sneakers Viva Italia: The couple enjoyed a romantic dinner as they enjoyed the meal al fresco Kourtney and Scott are parents to three children together: Mason, age eight; Penelope, age five; and Reign, age three. Businessman Scott is currently in a relationship with 19-year-old Sofia Richie, who were first linked in May 2017. Gushing over her partner's birthday, the model posted a picture with her boyfriend on her social media platform, which showed the pair sharing a cuddle in the sea. Sofia captioned it: 'Happy birthday babe! Thank you for being you. Love you He was left lovelorn after losing Megan Barton Hanson to Eyal Booker last week. But on Tuesday night's Love Island, fans were left jumping for joy when unlucky-in-love Dr Alex George finally got some attention from newbie Ellie Brown, which led to not one but TWO steamy smooches inside the villa. Viewers at home were ecstatic that the lovelorn NHS worker finally saw some action after two weeks of rejection from original match up Samira Mighty and busty blonde Megan, but others fear Ellie might still stray if given a chance to couple up with Wes Nelson. Elated: Love Island fans went crazy after Dr Alex George FINALLY got a kiss from newbie Ellie Brown...but fear she may still leave him heartbroken After the two new girls, including Zara McDermott, were allowed to pick boys to take on dates, when Ellie chose Alex things went to a new level when the couple got up close and personal - before locking lips again the next morning after he makes her breakfast. The fresh smooch stunned many at home who took to Twitter to share their excitement, with one drawing a parallel between the potential new couple and Alex's day job. 'Alex and Ellie = A&E' one fan tweeted, while another remarked: 'Alex finally had a kiss!! Yes mate!!!' New pairing? After the two new girls were allowed to pick boys to take on dates, when Ellie chose Alex things went to a new level when the couple got up close and personal Divisive: The fresh smooch stunned many at home who took to Twitter to share their excitement, but others were hesitant after Ellie was seen flirting with Wes Nelson 'More excited than I should be that Alex finally got a smooch' commented a third. One jubilant fan wrote: 'SCREAMING AT ALEX GETTIN A KISS ON LOVE ISLAND' Not all fans were convinced that the new pairing had any chemistry despite the impromptu kiss, with another fan commenting: 'Zero chemistry in that kiss Alex. His chat is so dry! How many times did he say connection?' Other suspicious viewers voiced their concerns after Ellie was seemingly flirty with Wes, who has been coupled up with Scottish beauty Laura Anderson since day one. The morning after: Alex happily cooked breakfast for the blonde beauty, which briefly won her over as they shared their second smooch During the episode, Wes and Ellie played would you rather in the kitchen and were bonding over being the same age when Laura walked in. Seeing their new spark, Laura later told Samira and Georgia she wouldn't be surprised if he will go for her. Samira agreed, adding: I dont think Ellie is interested in Alex, shes interested in Wes. Checking her out? Other suspicious viewers voiced their concerns after Ellie was seemingly flirty with Wes, who has been coupled up with Scottish beauty Laura Anderson since day one Despite getting cosy with Alex, fans were skeptical about Ellie's intentions with the lovable A&E doc. 'Ellie if you know you like Wes please don't lead Alex on...' 'Ellie does get on with Wes but Alex was so nice making her breakfast, and after kissing him I think he'd be super disappointed! Not ready for him to be brought down just yet'. 'Genuinely want to see Alex and Ellie get together but part of me thinks her and Wes are going to happen' The first steamy moment came after a date with Ellie, after which a delighted Alex told the blonde beauty: 'Im chuffed. I think to be honest, I think its no secret from what I said to the boys and everyone really, when you came down the stairs I instantly felt an attraction towards you, and a connection and things... 'I think from talking to you, youre very engaging, youve got beautiful eyes, youre obviously very attractive. I think youre a really nice girl. I get the impression that you are just a really open and honest, really nice girl.' Alex also revealed his plan of attack with the stunner as he delightedly discussed how he went about going in for the kill. The enamored star said: 'We were chatting, I was like: "Come here". She was like: "What are you going to do?", I was like: Im going to kiss you. Just planted it. Loved-up: Alex revealed his plan of attack with the stunner as he delightedly discussed with the boys how he went about going in for the kill 'It was a held kiss. It was like a held, proper kiss. Im very close to bombing in the pool but Im not going to do it.' After opening up to his pals, he then went to the beach hut, where he said: 'Im feeling really great about Ellie right now. 'I think after the kiss, I wanted to flip the table, off course I just took a sip of the wine instead. It was a great feeling. I just kind of felt that it was right and just seized the moment really.' While other relationships - including Wes and Laura and Adam and Rosie - have been hitting the rocks, Alex seemed determined to make things work. Happy days: While other relationships - including Wes and Laura and Adam and Rosie - have been hitting the rocks, Alex seemed determined to make things work He said: 'Im feeling really optimistic about things with Ellie, I think its early days but I think shes got a lot of the things that I would want. Id be lying if I said that I didnt think she could be someone that Id feel that way with... 'Only a few days ago I was nearly going home and I was staring into the lovely eyes of Caroline Flack but for the wrong reasons... 'Im glad just to still be here, and now a few days later Ive got the opportunity and Im getting to know someone that we both like each other and theres a lot of features I like in Ellie, so its a good position to be in.' Georgie Gardner has revealed that one of her children was bullied at school during a segment on the Today show on Wednesday., The 48-year-old, who is mother to Bronte, 12, and Angus, 10, with husband Tim Blake, said she sought help for the issue. Speaking to Dr Anthea Rhodes, a paediatrician from The Royal Childrens Hospital Melbourne, Georgie revealed, 'I've been in a situation where I was advised never, ever to approach the parent of the child bullying my child.' Rhodes told the breakfast TV host that approaching the parents of the bully - or the bully himself - was not productive and could make life more difficult for the bullied child. She advised parents to 'talk to their kids regularly and often about whats happening, and get the school involved early. Tell your kids bullying is never OK. Rhodes also added that if parents were not getting enough help from their school, they may need help from 'your GP, a counsellor or the education department'. Family first: On Channel Nine's Today show on Wednesday, co-host Georgie Gardner (middle) said that one of her children had been bullied and that she had sought help for the issue Tough issue: Speaking to paediatrician Dr Anthea Rhodes (R), Georgie said, 'I've been in a situation where I was advised never, ever to approach the parent of the child bullying my child' Georgie has been dealing with other strife of late, namely the fallout from the infamous 'Ubergate' scandal involving Today show co-host Karl Stefanovic. Karl recently admitted to speaking negatively about Georgie earlier this year following Ubergate with brother Peter. But Karl, 43, offered a glowing endorsement of Georgie during a candid interview on The Kyle and Jackie O show last Thursday morning. Help: Rhodes advised parents to 'talk to their kids regularly and often about whats happening, and get the school involved early. Tell your kids bullying is never OK' 'Georgie is outstanding, she is a country mile better than Lisa!' he joked. Karl's remarks were said in jest, and he later clarified that he remains on good terms with former co-host Lisa Wilkinson, 58, who now fronts Network Ten's The Project. The subject was broached after Kyle Sandilands, 47, quizzed the TV presenter about who was 'better' out of Georgie and Lisa. On-set tension: Karl Stefanovic (R) recently admitted to speaking negatively about Georgie earlier this year following 'Ubergate' with brother Peter Karl also addressed swirling rumours of tension with the Channel Nine journalist. 'Georgie and I... we love working together,' Karl said. Anthony Field, known to millions of children across the world as the 'Blue Wiggle', made headlines on Monday when he was hospitalised in Boston due to a nose injury. And speaking to Fitzy and Wippa on Wednesday, the popular children's performer revealed the embarrassing reason behind his recent hospital dash. 'I walked into a revolving door,' Anthony told the radio hosts, laughing. Scroll down for video 'There was blood everywhere!' The Blue Wiggle Anthony Field reveals the embarrassing reason behind his emergency hospital dash in Boston Explaining that he entered the revolving door in the wrong direction, he said that a lady coming in the other direction 'kept pushing' the door and it 'smacked' bang into his nose. 'I was on the ground, there was blood everywhere,' he revealed. After 'two doctors' said Anthony had broke his nose, he called an ambulance and was taken to hospital. Ouch! The Blue Wiggle revealed that he received his nose injury after smacking it on a revolving door Describing the cut on his nose as 'massive,' Anthony received 12 stitches for his injury. Despite his broken nose, he went to perform two sold-out Wiggles shows afterwards, to much amusement from his fellow Wiggle, Simon Pryce. 'Simon was looking at me really strangely. The blood was coming out of my nose,' Anthony laughed. 'It doesn't look good!' Anthony's injury required 12 stitches Forced to cancel: The Wiggles have had to cancel a planned filming day due to Anthony's nose injury Despite pushing through the live Wiggles shows, Anthony had to cancel a filming day as his face 'looks really bad.' 'You can't get around it, it doesn't look good,' he said. While he'll be sporting the injury for a few weeks, the performer said he'll push through and perform all live Wiggles shows as scheduled. Toughing it out: Despite his broken nose, Anthony says he will still perform all of the planned Wiggles live shows as planned Anthony wasn't the only Wiggle with health issues in recent weeks. Emma Watkins, known to children as the 'Yellow Wiggle', recently returned to performing with The Wiggles after an operation in April to treat endometriosis, which causes painful and irregular periods. Emma had several weeks of rest and is now back on The deck, gushing that it's 'lovely' to be dancing again. Teen Mom 2 star Leah Messer revealed on Monday evening's episode that she had a one-off fling with her ex-husband, Jeremy Calvert. The 26-year-old reality star was chatting with her confidante Kayla, who probed if Leah was 'for sure done with the whole Jeremy situation,' or if she'd consider another giving another shot at it with Calvert, 29, who she was married to from 2012-2015. 'I mean, he has tried to get me to have sex with him a couple of times,' the Elkview, West Virginia native told her pal. 'And it happened once; it happened a few months ago.' Scroll below for video Confessions: Teen Mom 2 star Leah Messer, 26, revealed on Monday evening's episode that she had a one-off fling with her ex-husband Jeremy Calvert, 29 Messer opened up on the creative lengths she went to conceal the one-off hook-up, with their five-year-old daughter Adalynn Faith staying with Calvert's family at the time. 'We went to his house and I had to hide walking out to the car the next morning so his mother couldn't see,' Messer said. 'And our kid was over at his mother's house.' Messer, who's also mom to eight-year-old twins Aliannah and Aleeah (with her first ex-husband Corey Simms), told Kayla she's changed too much as a person to give serious consideration to rekindling the romance with Calvert. 'It's a road I don't want to go back down,' said Messer, whose problems with Calvert were documented on the show's sixth season. 'I know I don't feel anything. I don't want to upset him. I'm not the same person I was, I'm not the same person he proposed to.' Reunited: Leah said she and Jeremy made love 'a few months ago,' but nothing else came of it Beaming: The reality star looked sexy in a casual ensemble in this recent shot on her Instagram Despite the lack of a romance, it seems as if the two are on cordial terms as parents, as Messer said it was 'good to hear' Calvert apologize to her over past remarks he made about his remorse over having a child with her. 'Jeremy also called me during the twins' birthday party,' she said. 'He was just letting me know that he regretted saying some things on TV that he didn't mean to say. One thing that he did say [previously] was that he wished he'd never had a child with me. 'And then he was thanking me for being such a good mom to Addy.' Leah can be seen on Teen Mom 2, which airs at 9/8c Mondays on MTV. Conviction: Murder in Suburbia (BBC2) Rating: Ackley Bridge (C4) Rating: The British, as George Orwell observed, enjoy nothing better than a juicy domestic murder. From the first spoonful of arsenic in the teapot to the discovery of bones in the cellar, we're agog for every detail. In Orwell's day, we relied on court reports and the Police Gazette. Today, true crime documentaries cater to our insatiable urge to learn about blood spatter patterns or indications of strangulation. If you have a taste for such visceral minutiae, an outstanding 13-part investigation was released this month on Netflix, called Staircase following the tortuous trial of a middle-aged husband in North Carolina whose wife was found dead in a pool of blood at the foot of the stairs. Conviction: Murder in Suburbia still offers plenty to intrigue and tantalise the little grey cells. Pictured from left, Sam Robins, Tracy Alexander, Louise Shorter, Jill Bately and Jo Millington If that doesn't sound very weird, everything that happens next definitely is. Meanwhile, on ordinary telly, we were treated to the first of a two-part documentary that concludes tonight. Inevitably, it's less engrossing than the longer series, but Conviction: Murder in Suburbia (BBC2) still offers plenty to intrigue and tantalise the little grey cells. This is the second time we've met ex-journalist Louise Shorter. She runs a charity called Inside Justice to campaign for retrials in cases where new evidence has emerged. Last year, in the first Conviction, she tackled the mysteries around the killing of Paula Poolton, whose lover Roger Kearney was found guilty of stabbing her to death. Ex-journalist Louise Shorter (pictured) runs a charity called Inside Justice to campaign for retrials in cases where new evidence has emerged This time she's fighting to free Glyn Razzell, of Swindon, who was going through an acrimonious divorce 15 years ago when his wife Linda vanished. Forensics experts discovered the boot of a car driven by Razzell that day was liberally spattered in blood. Though the father-of-four insisted he was being framed in a vindictive ploy by his wife, and no body was ever found, he was jailed for life. HARDY PERENNIAL OF THE NIGHT Pointless (BBC1) returned for a 20th series. Thats more than 1,000 episodes not counting the Saturday celebrity specials. Like those radio immortals Just A Minute and The Archers, this show might run for ever. Advertisement Conviction features too many shots of Louise having debates around an office conference table with assorted researchers. We don't expect her to be swigging whisky from the bottle or blowing smoke rings, but it's disappointing to think a private investigator's daily schedule differs little from that of a town council planner. The show is redeemed by the phone interviews Louise conducts with her clients in prison. She is an expert questioner: the convicted men trust her so they are less guarded than they might be with police detectives. Razzell seemed sincere at first, as he pleaded his innocence. But the mask slipped when Louise asked him about allegations of domestic violence, and he claimed he had 'gently brushed' against Linda when she fell through a glass door panel. The second part will be well worth seeing, if only for Razzell's long-haired, gravel-voiced solicitor, who looks like a guitarist from a Stones tribute band. Science teacher Rashid wooed dinner lady Kaneez (pictured) in schooldays soap Ackley Bridge As with all school dramas, only the teenage lovers are taken seriously. And no teaching ever happens. Pictured, Naveed and Cory on Ackley Bridge Less musically convincing was science teacher Rashid (Tony Jayawardena) in schooldays soap Ackley Bridge (C4), who revealed a secret passion for jazz crooning in nightclubs. His sub-Sinatra attempt to swing along with Mac The Knife was the worst bit of lip-synching I've seen since Top Of The Pops. He wooed dinner lady Kaneez with Forties big band standards, before luring her back to his bachelor pad with its mood lighting, walls of art and top-of-the-range vinyl deck. Either science teachers are paid very handsomely in Yorkshire, or Rashid's karaoke act has landed him a 1 million recording deal. Kaneez (Sunetra Sarker) is in a permanent sulk, and the romance is mainly played for laughs. As with all school dramas, only the teenage lovers are taken seriously. And no teaching ever happens. She is said to be throwing herself into work following her heartbreaking split from husband, Dan Single. But it appears Aussie model Bambi Northwood-Blyth is now enjoying a well-deserved break. The brunette beauty has travelled to Europe, and posted a picture perfect postcard snap on Instagram, on Tuesday. Into the blue! Model Bambi Northwood-Blyth shows off her very slender figure in a white bikini as she enjoys a break in Europe following her split from husband Dan Single Standing in front of a crystal clear pool, the 28-year-old showed off her very slender figure in a white bikini. It was confirmed Bambi split from her husband Dan in January. Earlier this year, The Sunday Telegraph reported that an 'insider' close to the model said she was back to the work grind, despite the heartache. 'Dan and Bambi met 10 years ago when Bambi's career was really taking off and while she worked hard during that time, Dan was her priority,' the source claimed. 'Now they have split, Bambi has taken a step back, stopped partying and is absolutely more focused on her career.' Bambi has posed for a number of high-profile clients including Mango, Voodoo Hosiery, Nike, Roxy and Bonds. In the past, Bambi and Dan described themselves as 'co-dependent.' Dan, who the founder of brand Ksubi, suffered a horrific fall from a balcony at the Hotel Grand D'Amour in Paris in 2017. The fashion star fell four storeys (and 35 metres) and suffered a broken pelvis and hips, shattered legs, internal trauma and a blow to the head. Beauty: Bambi has posed for a number of high-profile clients including Mango, Voodoo Hosiery, Nike, Roxy and Bonds Bambi and Dan have not been seen together since April 2017 when Dan launched a controversial crowdfunding campaign. The Go Fund Me page he set up asked for $250,000 to be raised to cover his two-month recovery and 'incidentals' following the accident. In January, the wife of Bambi and Dan's marriage celebrant, Jane Magnus, told Daily Mail Australia that the couple had split. Jane, who is a Byron Bay-based event planner, confirmed months of speculation with a few simple words: 'They have [split],' she said. Jane's husband Adam performed Bambi and Dan's marriage ceremony in Byron Bay at Coorabella 2014. It seems Universal Pictures missed out on an opportunity to promote inclusivity through one of its biggest tent pole properties. Actress Daniella Pineda, who stars in the upcoming Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom with Chris Pratt, has revealed that a line of dialogue that would have revealed her character to be a lesbian was cut in the editing room. 'I understood why they cut it for sake of time,' she said in an interview at Build on Friday. Reveal: Daniella Pineda, who stars in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, has said a line of dialogue that would have revealed her character to be a lesbian was cut in the editing room She described the scene, telling Build: 'It's me and Chris Pratt and we are in a military vehicle with all of these mercenaries. I look at Chris and am like, 'Yeah. Square jaw. Good bone structure. Tall. Muscles. I don't date men, but if I did, it would be you. It would gross me out, but I would do it.'' The actress admitted she regretted the edit, commenting: 'It was cool because it was a little insight into my character.' In Fallen Kingdom, Pineda plays paleoveterinarian Zia Rodriguez who joins with Pratt's Owen Grady to rescue dinosaurs from their island following a volcanic eruption. Big role: The actress, who plays paleoveterinarian Zia Rodriguez, says she regrets the edit, that was done for time, commenting: 'It was cool because it was a little insight into my character' In Fallen Kingdom, Pineda joins with star Chris Pratt to rescue dinosaurs from their island following a volcanic eruption. The pair are pictured at the movie's LA premiere June 12 According to The Hollywood Reporter, big-budget blockbusters such as Star Trek Beyond, Power Rangers and Beauty and the Beast have had brief LBGTQ character moments. But a May GLAAD report stated that just 12.8 percent of studio films from last year included LGBTQ characters, the lowest percentage since the organization began keeping tabs in 2012. However, THR.com reports, it does note that the recently released gay teen romance Love, Simon and comic book sequel Deadpool 2 (which features a lesbian X-Men couple) have raised the bar for representation. But other projects that have drawn upon source material featuring LGBTQ characters opted not to depict them onscreen that way. Tessa Thompson has noted that her Thor: Ragnarok character Valkyrie is bisexual in the comics, and though that isn't addressed in the film, the actress "was faithful to that in her depiction." Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens Friday and also stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Jeff Goldblum, James Cromwell and Toby Jones. Hailed as one of the hottest names in fashion, Jordan Barrett is known just as much for his high-flying lifestyle, his impressive jawline and blonde locks. But on Tuesday, the 22-year-old 'male supermodel' opted for a low-key look while leaving his New York hotel. Sporting damp hair, the Byron Bay-raised talent looked casual and carefree as he hit the pavement in a pair of black brogues. Model off-duty! Fashion's 'bad boy' Jordan Barrett cuts a casual figure in a grey T-shirt and loose white trousers as he runs errands in New York on Tuesday The hunk has come a long way in the past decade, previously being discovered by a model scout at age 13 while attempting to shoplift matches. Jordan, who reportedly earned $100,000 for one minute of work at Fashion Week last year, rocked a minimal ensemble with muted tones. Wearing loose-fitted white trousers, he placed his grey T-shirt into the waistline with the use of a French tuck. Keeping it casual: The model wore loose-fitted white trousers, and placed his grey T-shirt into the waistline with a French tuck Appearing in high spirits, the model smiled to passersby as he ran errands. Sporting a blemish-free complexion, Jordan's ruffled blonde locks worked as his best asset, framing his striking facial features. He accessorised his look with a small black pouch and a single silver chain around his neck. Simply chic: Jordan accessorised his look minimally with a small black pouch and a single silver chain around his neck Kirk Blake, the modelling scout who first spotted the now-21-year-old catwalk star, shared some harsh words for fashion's resident 'bad boy' in March. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Kirk said Jordan - who is the son of convicted drug dealer Adrian Barrett - needs to dial his behaviour down a notch. 'He needs to rein it in. I just know that he can be so much better,' Kirk said of Jordan's behaviour, which has included swearing and making rude gestures to the media. As well as his bad boy reputation, Jordan is also known as something of a ladies' man. They've been enjoying a relaxing European vacation since late last week. And Anna Faris looked like she was more in love with beau Michael Barrett than ever while the couple went out for a cup of coffee during their vacation to Portofino, Italy Monday. The Overboard actress, 41, was classically chic in a grey jersey dress and oatmeal sweater as she enjoyed the city with her cinematographer love, 48. Dressed up: Anna Faris looked cute in a grey jersey dress while vacationing with beau Michael Barrett, her son Jack, and his kids in Portofino, Italy on Monday Anna covered her eyes with aviators and slung a fringed leather Gucci purse over her shoulder. Keeping comfort as a priority, she strolled around in rubber flip-flop sandals. Besides her, Michael was comfy in a pair of cargo shorts with a navy V-neck and light blue Oxford for a light outer layer. They were joined by Anna's son Jack, who looked sweet in grey shorts and a dark tee shirt with his signature glasses. Loved up: During lunch, the couple couldn't keep their eyes off each other Abroad: Anna's son Jack, who she shared with ex Chris Pratt, enjoyed the vacation Playing footsie: Keeping comfort as a priority, she strolled around in rubber flip-flop sandals Layers: The Overboard actress looked cute in an oatmeal-hued sweater over her dress Story time: The Mom star enthusiastically told her new love a story while they walked along Earlier during the weekend the couple were seen enjoying a boat trip with their kids in the Mediterranean city. While Anna, who split from actor Chris Pratt in almost one year ago, is mom to son Jack, five Michael is also the father of a teenage son and daughter, who were also along for the vacation. Meanwhile, new rumors are swirling around about Anna's ex husband's romantic life. Chris is said to be dating Katherine Schwarzenegger after the pair were spotted picnicking together in Santa Barbara, California on Father's Day. There's a spark! Sitting down for a meal together, the chemistry was clear Dad: Michael is also the father of a teenage son and daughter, who were also along for the vacation Guy style: Besides her, Michael was comfy in a pair of cargo shorts with a navy V-neck and light blue Oxford for a light outer layer Shade time: Anna covered her eyes with aviator sunglasses during the bright Summer day The couple enjoyed a simple picnic, sitting facing one another on wooden chairs, a simple meal of apples, sandwiches and potato chips on a small stool between them. Children's author Katherine is the daughter of Maria Shriver of the famed Kennedy family and actor turned politician Arnold Schwarzenegger. Chris attracted attention recently when he admitted that going through a divorce 'sucks'. New flame? Meanwhile, Anna's ex husband Chris (above) is said to be dating Katherine Schwarzenegger, children's book author and daughter of Maria Shriver and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger Sleepy: After a long day, Anna rested her head on her love Michael's shoulder Speaking in April, he said that he and Anna are doing their best to 'navigate' this tough time in their lives. He explained: 'Divorce sucks. But at the end of the day, we've got a great kid who's got two parents who love him very much. And we're finding a way to navigate this while still remaining friends and still being kind to one another.' As for Anna, in May she told Marie Claire magazine: 'It feels like it's more dramatic than it is. Chris and I have a great friendship and Jack is so happy and so loved.' Still friends: As for Anna, in May she told Marie Claire magazine: 'It feels like it's more dramatic than it is. Chris and I have a great friendship and Jack is so happy and so loved' He recently sparked concern due to his 'gaunt' appearance in a fan picture. And Johnny Depp looked back to his best when he took to the stage at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on Tuesday with his Hollywood Vampires bandmates. The actor, 55, delivered an energetic performance alongside Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, delighting the crowds at the gig. On top form: Johnny Depp looked back to his best when he took to the stage at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on Tuesday with his Hollywood Vampires bandmates Depp was clad in his typical rocker uniform, layering a striped shirt with a contrasting breton top and a corduroy blazer. He accessorised with multiple stacked necklaces featuring pendants and feather detailing. Johnny appeared highly animated during the show, beaming at the crowd and jumping about the stage. The Hollywood Vampires are currently on the UK leg of their tour, wowing crowds at the Genting Arena in Birmingham on Saturday night, and Manchester Arena on Sunday night. Rocking out: Depp was clad in his typical rocker uniform, layering a striped shirt with a contrasting breton top and a corduroy blazer Going wild: The actor, 55, delivered an energetic performance alongside Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, delighting the crowds at the gig The shows come shortly after Johnny was asked about his health by a German journalist, prompting 'panic among the large Depp camp' and a subsequent publicity crisis, The Times Magazine reported. The status of Depp's health made for a hot topic on social media after the Edward Scissorhands actor was snapped with fans at the Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. Depp, who is the object of many fans' affections, sported a noticeably thinner face in the shots. Animated: Johnny appeared highly animated during the show, beaming at the crowd and jumping about the stage On the road: The Hollywood Vampires are currently on the UK leg of their tour, wowing crowds at the Genting Arena in Birmingham and Manchester Arena so far The actor was enjoying 'good health' and did not have any ailments, a source revealed to DailyMail.com earlier this month after the public buzz over his well-being. Depp, who remains in demand in Tinseltown, has five films currently in different states of production, including Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Richard Says Goodbye, City of Lies, London Fields and The Invisible Man. It was not immediately clear if he was shedding pounds for one of the parts. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - which production ended on late last year - required a shaved head and bleached eyebrows for the role of Gellert Grindelwald. She stripped down to her birthday suit to celebrate turning 39. And Jessica Jones star Rosario Dawson has revealed exactly why she shed all her clothing and shared the images with fans on Instagram. Rosario told Daily Mail Australia she feels 'better, more empowered and comfortable in my own skin' after baring all. Scroll down for video EXCLUSIVE: 'I feel better, more empowered and comfortable in my skin!' Rosario Dawson reveals why she stripped down to her birthday suit as she turned 39 The actress said she hopes the candid images can help empower her fans. 'I think it's one of those things especially tuning 39 in Hollywood,' she explained. 'I feel really good, I feel better, I feel more empowered and more in my body and more comfortable in my skin.' Body confident:The actress said she hopes the candid images can help empower her fans She added with a laugh: 'I'm happy to be in my birthday suit all day.' The Hollywood star said it is important not to 'take yourself too seriously'. 'I just really wanted to show that it's about having confidence in yourself and having fun and being playful and not taking things that are not serious, so seriously,' she said. 'To just have fun and enjoy yourself and be along the journey and ride with yourself and that's real self-care.' She also joked that (unsurprisingly) she gained more followers after posting the naked snaps online. Rosario added that the female body should be celebrated in all its shapes and forms. The Sin City star is currently promoting the new #SaveUgly campaign of The Wilderness Society. The environmental campaign highlights 'ugly' creatures that need to be saved. 'I don't always have good days,' she said. 'I feel like a lot of Save Ugly that's really important is recognising that the ugly parts of my personality and character, my sad moments, down moments the angry moments, that's worthy of love to.' 'I don't always have good days': Rosario added that the body should be celebrated in all its shapes and forms Health woes: Rosario She also revealed to Daily Mail Australia that she is set to have an operation for an hernia after emergency surgery in 2016, to 'stop internal bleeding from a ruptured cyst on my ovary' She also revealed to Daily Mail Australia that she is set to have an operation for an hernia after emergency surgery in 2016, to 'stop internal bleeding from a ruptured cyst on my ovary.' 'I'm going to have to go and get another surgery which is really daunting and scary but actually not unusual,' she said. After being so open about her surgery with fans, the actress said she hopes to encourage others to get on top of their health and make it a priority. She has faced down Sharknadoes in six movies now. But in her upcoming film The Fifth Boro, Tara Reid will face a more traditional set of baddies as she plays an NYPD captain in Staten Island. She will star with and be directed by one Steve Stanulis, a scrumptious real life ex-cop who once worked as a bodyguard for Kanye West and has spoken to the New York Daily News about the upcoming film. Far cry from Sharknadoes: In her upcoming film The Fifth Boro, Tara Reid will face a more traditional set of baddies as she plays an NYPD captain in Staten Island 'Its inspired by the drug epidemic in Staten Island. The main characters daughter has cancer so he has to go back to a world hed left behind to raise money,' said he. Tara 'was someone I envisioned for the role' of the police captain,' explained Steve, who himself is a resident of Staten Island. Raging Bull Oscar-nominee Cathy Moriarty is also in the film, as is A Bronx Tale actor Lillo Brancato, who was paroled from prison after eight years in 2013. Top brass: She will star with and be directed by one Steve Stanulis, a scrumptious real life ex-cop who spoke to the New York Daily News about the film Lillo was involved in an attempted 2005 drug robbery, in the process of which his accomplice shot an off-duty cop dead. Though Lillo was charged with second-degree murder, he was acquitted of that and convicted of first-degree attempted burglary. The accomplice was jailed for life. Steve made a documentary called Wasted Talent about Lillo that won this year's New York City International Film Festival's best documentary gong. 'Inspired by the drug epidemic in Staten Island': 'The main characters daughter has cancer so he has to go back to a world hed left behind to raise money,' said he 'I lost a lot of friends while making this. I think if they watch it, they'll owe me an apology,' Steve told the New York Daily News, noting Lillo 'didn't pull the trigger.' The filmmaker, who went by 'Savage Steve' during his youthful stint as a Chippendale dancer, used to be Kanye's bodyguard. The bodyguard was fired in May 2016 after Kanye reportedly flew into a jealous rage after he chatted up his wife while on duty for them in New York. Steve strenuously denied any such behavior toward Kim, exclusively telling Daily Mail Online: 'Kanye needs to chill the f*** out.' The rapper, per Steve, was ''the most self-absorbed person' he had ever met. Storied history: The filmmaker, who went by 'Savage Steve' during his youthful stint as a Chippendale dancer, used to be Kanye's bodyguard Tara, whose previous film work includes American Pie, has been the leading lady of all of Syfy's Sharknado movies, the sixth of which first is due out this August. The American Pie actress, who was booted from Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars in 2016 after she and Dean May confessed they had feigned their romance, co-stars in the Sharknado franchise with the hunky Ian Ziering. This Tuesday, Tara was pap-snapped bundled up in a North Face jacket as she and a male pal enjoyed a stroll together in Calabasas. He hit the headlines after enjoying a 'boozy' lunch with Married At First Sight star Nasser Sultan in April before 'stumbling' back to his home. But it seems fashion student Eyob Geist has been down on his luck since that fateful encounter, as he has complained about being 'broke' and 'unemployed'. The 20-year-old moaned about his dire finances on his Instagram Stories, and even shared a link to a GoFundMe account he set up so he could buy 'bags, Uber Eats and alcohol'. Scroll down for video Oh dear: Nasser Sultan's friend Eyob Geist (pictured), 20, claimed he was 'broke and unemployed' as he set up a GoFundMe account so he could buy 'bags, Uber Eats and alcohol' Eyob shared several selfies on the social media site on Tuesday, writing 'actually a thing' as he posted a link to his GoFundMe page. His page is called 'Eyob's Broke' and features the description 'I need ya cash' as well as a photo of him. His goal is to reach $1,000 and 'all proceeds will go to to the purchasing of bags, Uber eats and alcohol'. Fourteen people have shared the page on Facebook. Taste for the limelight: He hit the headlines after enjoying a 'boozy' lunch with Married At First Sight star Nasser (pictured), 51, in April before 'stumbling' back to his home Eyob got a taste for the limelight back in May, when he was pictured looking cosy with Nasser, who is 31 years his senior. 'They definitely looked like more than friends. They tried to keep a low profile at first, but after a couple of drinks they didn't seem to mind who noticed them,' a source told NW at the time. Speaking with the publication at the time, Nasser offered a vague definition of his sexuality. Rock bottom? Eyob's GoFundMe page is called 'Eyob's Broke' and features the description 'I need ya cash' as well as a photo of him 'Who cares if I'm gay or not? What difference does it make. I went onto MAFS to find love with someone and I'm still looking now,' he stated. 'I shouldn't have to come out and label myself or anything like that - no-one should. What's that saying...sexuality is fluid.' Meanwhile, in May Nasser proved he was desperately to cling onto his reality TV fame when he began charging fans $1 for a photo with him. Nasser was seen at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach, holding a cardboard sign that read: '$1 selfie with Nasser.' She's was born into the high life. But Nicky Hilton looked like any other mom on Tuesday in NYC, stepping out into the summer sun in bright shirtdress while out with son Teddy. The hotel heiress, 34, radiated subtle glamour as she pushed a pram through the West Village wearing a blue, orange and purple patterned Tolani Collection frock. Mommy duty! Nicky Hilton looked like a model mom while strolling with son Teddy on Tuesday in the New York neighborhood of the West Village Nicky's lightweight sundress frock made a fine display of her thin legs and statuesque figure. The younger sister of Paris wore crystal framed sunglasses and pulled her hair back into a messy bun. She slung a crocheted hobo bag over her shoulder while keeping low gladiator sandals on foot. Chic: The hotel heiress, 34, radiated subtle glamour as she pushed a pram through the West Village wearing a blue, orange and purple patterned frock Ring, ring: Multitasking, the wife of banking heir James Rothschild pushed the stroller along while balancing her phone with the other hand Hello! Taking a second to check in with her little one, the mother-of-two leaned in and peered into the carriage with a big smile Simple: Nicky's lightweight summer frock made a fine display of her thin legs and statuesque figure Multitasking, the wife of banking heir James Rothschild pushed the stroller along while balancing her phone with the other hand. Taking a second to check in with her little one, the mother-of-two leaned in and peered into the carriage with a big smile. Finally arriving back at home, a helpful doorman welcomed the pair inside. Welcome! Finally arriving back at home, a helpful doorman lead the pair inside Hands full! Nicky is also mom to one-year-old daughter Lily Grace Victoria Rothschild Nicky is also mom to one-year-old daughter Lily Grace Victoria Rothschild. The blonde beauty began dating hubby James Rothschild in 2011. The duo were wed in a brilliant Kensington Palace affair in London in 2015. Nicky previously wed to childhood friend Todd Meister during a quick Las Vegas ceremony but the marriage was annulled less than three months later. He was embroiled in scandal during the 'Ubergate' controversy earlier this year, and Karl Stefanovic found himself in the doghouse once again on Wednesday. The Channel Nine presenter was pictured at Sydney's Long Bay Correctional Centre while filming a segment for the Today show. The 43-year-old was checked over by security guards, witnessed cell searches and interviewed prison officers during the eye-opening visit. Karl Stefanovic goes to JAIL: The Channel Nine presenter was pictured being checked over by prison guards before entering a correctional facility in Sydney on Wednesday Karl went behind the scenes at the facility as part of a segment this week which involves the Today show presenters doing 'work experience'. The TV larrikin joked that he had no intention of ever coming back, telling one of the prison officers: 'I hope you don't see me in her ever again!' He got to see a regular day at Long Bay, which starts at 7am with a 'parade' of the officers in each area. The officers then head-check all of the inmates in their cells and confirm that everyone is there and in good health. Eye-opening visit: The 43-year-old was pictured at Sydney's Long Bay Correctional Centre, where he was filming a segment for the Today show After the check, prisoners are released into the yard for the day. Their free time depends on their conviction and whether they are classed as minimum or maximum security. Officers carry out cell searches every day - which can be random or based on 'intel' -and regularly conduct unannounced raids with a sniffer dog and full body searches. During Karl's visit, the officers found three unidentified pills and a razor blade forced into a wall screen in one cell and tobacco products in another cell. Long Bay houses 1,000 inmates who are watched over by several hundred prison guards. Contraband: During Karl's visit, the officers found three unidentified pills and a razor blade forced into a wall screen in one cell and tobacco products in another It has been home to some of Australia's most notorious prisoners, including murderer Neddy Smith and gang rapist Bilal Skaf. Karl chatted to Acting Governor Dave Cahill about what it's like to work alongside hundreds of criminals every day. 'You're at risk on a daily basis, you're at risk of being assaulted, that could be verbally... you could be spat on. You could be hit,' Dave explained. Karl also spoke to Ash Hewson, a former captain of the Wallaroos, who is a senior correctional officer of 10 years and now looks after disability services. What a difference a day makes! The prison visit was certainly different to Karl's usual office setting at the Today show studios (pictured with his co-host Georgie Gardner) 'I wouldn't say it's difficult [being female]. It actually makes it a bit easier,' she said. 'I find the inmates respect the females a lot more. Just that softness and empathy of a woman and calmness definitely helps in such a negative environment.' Thirty-five per cent of the prison officers at the correctional facility are women. Scandal: Meanwhile, Karl made headlines in March when New Idea reported on comments he made about his colleagues in a phone call to his brother Peter (pictured) during an Uber ride Meanwhile, Karl hit the headlines in March when New Idea reported details of comments he reportedly made about his Channel Nine colleagues in a phone call to his brother Peter during an Uber ride. The magazine suggested the discussion went on for more than 30 minutes and involved Karl taking potshots at his Today colleagues Georgie Gardner and Richard Wilkins. During the conversation, Karl was also said to have accused Channel Nine executives of being 'out of touch'. Dave 'Hughesy' Hughes is set to open the Logie Awards for his fourth year running. And in a surprising turn of events, the 47-year-old comedian has announced his date for the ceremony will be none other than Married At First Sight's Nasser Sultan. During an interview with hit 105's Stav, Abby & Matt on Wednesday, both Hughesy and Nasser explained their decision to partner up for the night. Scroll down for video 'We have to get him in there!' Dave Hughes has revealed he is taking Nasser Sultan as his DATE to the Logies... after Channel Nine blocked the Married At First Sight star from attending Hughesy revealed: 'I was speaking to the producer of the Logies the other day and saw that Nasser wasn't invited and thought, "We have to get him in there".' Nasser added: 'Honestly... honest to god. How do you invite 70 per cent of the [Married At First Sight] cast and not the rest?' He explained that most of the MAFS cast were invited to the Logies - which takes place on Sunday night on the Gold Coast - but he was left off the guest list. That's not fair! Nasser revealed that most of the MAFS cast were invited to the Logies - which takes place on Sunday night on the Gold Coast - but he was left off the guest list 'This is what [Hughesy] is doing, he's fighting for the little man and believes we should all go,' Nasser added. 'We should all celebrate! We all put the effort in and we all put our lives on the line and put it all out there. 'I love you for doing this, Hughesy, and I want to be your date. But let me tell you, I am not cheap. I need flowers and I need a suit!' It all worked out! During an interview with hit 105's Stav, Abby & Matt on Wednesday, Hughesy offered to take Nasser as his date, which the 51-year-old personal trainer happily accepted Hughesy replied: 'I would love to take you Nasser. At this point, I don't have a date. So, If I can get a date to the Logies, Nasser, I will take you!' 'You have no idea how much this would mean to me,' Nasser said. 'I've never worn a suit in my whole life, other than my "wedding".' There was just one condition, however: Nasser had to promise he'll laugh when Hughesy makes fun of him onstage. Fortunately, the 51-year-old personal trainer was more than happy to oblige. She's never shy to flaunt her fabulous figure. And Madison Beer proved right on track as she was spotted in a revealing outfit in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The 19-year-old pop sensation flashed her lovely legs in a skimpy black leather mini skirt while enjoying the sunny day out. Leggy lady: Madison Beer was spotted in a revealing outfit in Los Angeles on Tuesday Daring to impress, the darling diva showed off her enviable figure as the tiny skirt cut just above her knees. She swathed her enviable figure in a matching black leather jacket and tucked a white oxford into her skirt. Allowing her fashion forward ensemble to speak for itself, Madison opted for minimal accessories with only a purse, watch, and retro shades. She kept her trademark brunette tresses long and loose as they cascaded down past her shoulders. Daring: Daring to impress, the darling diva showed off her enviable figure as the tiny skirt cut just above her knees Stunner: Her Daisy Dukes showcased her pretty pins Madison, who owes the lion's share of her fame to mentor Justin Bieber, has been dating Zack since at least November. She was previously romantically linked to Brooklyn Beckham and musician Jack Gilinksy. Madison just wrapped her As She Pleases Tour; the last stop - in Washington DC - was on May 20. She kicked off the global tour in Milan, Italy on March 11 before traveling around the rest of Europe and then all over the United States. The starlet has an EP called As She Pleases with several hit singles to her name, including Say It To My Face, Home With You and Dead. Olympia Valance has revealed she's getting the large floral tattoo on her torso removed. And the 25-year-old former Neighbours star took to herInstagram story on Wednesday to share the painful removal process with her fans. The brunette beauty was relieved after her session was over, saying: 'Note to self, don't ever get a f***ing tattoo again!' Scroll down for video 'Note to self, don't ever get a f***ing tattoo again!' Olympia Valance writhes in agony as she gets the ink on her torso removed In the clip, Olympia was seen pulling up her black singlet as two technicians at a Victorian clinic got to work on her ink. Before the session, Olympia admitted she was 'not looking forward' to the removal while having numbing cream applied to her ink. After the long session she appeared flushed as she declared: 'Oh my God, we're done!' Tatt's got to hurt! In the clip, Olympia was seen pulling up her black singlet as two technicians at a Victorian clinic got to work on her ink It's a process: Before the session, Olympia admitted she was 'not looking forward' to the removal while having numbing cream applied to her ink Olympia - who has recently been in Los Angeles - is the younger sister of former Neighbours star Holly Valance, who is now known as Holly Candy. Earlier this year, Olympia spoke to Stellar about heading to Hollywood to chase her dreams. She said she has turned down a number of offers to record an album, something which a lot of former soap stars have done. Familiar face: Olympia - who has recently been in Los Angeles - is the younger sister of former Neighbours star Holly Valance, who is now known as Holly Candy Chasing the bright lights: Earlier this year, Olympia spoke to Stellar about heading to Hollywood to chase her dreams Her sister Holly found a career in singing following her own stint on Neighbours. 'I don't want to go down that road,' Olympia said. 'I do like singing... to myself. But I love acting, being on set, meeting new people, learning new things and being around the crew.' She's known for commanding attention across television and movie screens. But Lucy Hale was keen on keeping things casual as she stopped by a local coffee joint for a cup of her favorite brew in Studio City, California on Tuesday afternoon. The 28-year-old actress rocked a sweet pink coat paired with jeans as she crossed the street with her iced coffee and water bottle. Scroll down for video Cutie: Lucy Hale was keen on keeping things casual as she stopped by a local coffee joint for a cup of her favorite brew in Studio City, California on Tuesday afternoon Her light pink bomber jacket hit just below her waist, with a beige leather collar and matching trim. She highlighted her trim waistline wearing a tight pink tank top tucked into her high-waisted denim pants. Hale added just a touch of sparkle to her otherwise casual ensemble with a pair of glittering gold Vince Camuto mules. Fashion: The 28-year-old actress rocked a sweet pink coat paired with jeans as she crossed the street with her iced coffee and water bottle Stylish: Her light pink bomber jacket hit just below her waist, with a beige leather collar and matching trim She kept her auburn tresses parted down the middle and tied back into a low ponytail, with dark RayBan sunglasses worn over her eyes. Earlier in the week, the Pretty Little Liars star revealed she was taken advantage of by a man after having a few drinks. 'I think there are a lot of people who have been intoxicated and taken advantage of,' she said in the latest issue of Haute Living Los Angeles. 'It's happened to me and people I know. It's very common. Out and about: She kept her auburn tresses parted down the middle and tied back into a low ponytail, with dark RayBan sunglasses worn over her eyes Lovely: Hale added just a touch of sparkle to her otherwise casual ensemble with a pair of glittering gold sandals 'Luckily, I've been unscathed; nothing's hurt me too badly.' Earlier this year, the Truth Or Dare actress penned a cryptic message to her fans on social media regarding a sexual assault incident. 'I never understood sexual assault until tonight. I always sympathized, but never felt the pain of it until right now,' she said. 'My dignity and pride was broken. I am completely at a loss of words.' The Life Sentence actress ended on a lighter note promising to help create change: 'I feel for anyone that has felt this pain that I feel right now. But I promise. I will not let a moment go by that I don't try to make a difference.' While her career seems to be her main focus lately, Hale has been linked to former costar Riley Smith since February. She is currently enjoying a romantic reunion with her prison boyfriend Ben Panangian in Vietnam. And on Wednesday, convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby hinted that she was feeling clucky as she fawned over the local children. The former beauty student, 40, beamed as she filmed an Instagram video with a group of giggling youngsters on the beach. She's ready to be a mum! Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby (L), 40, fawned over some local children during her holiday in Vietnam In the clip, Schapelle donned a Snapchat filter and smiled as she told the camera: 'Snapchat in Vietnam.' It comes after the convict posted a video of herself and Ben walking up the stone steps of an ancient temple in Da Nang, Vietnam. In the clip, Schapelle films herself holding hands with Ben as they navigate their way up the steps. Loving life! The former beauty student filmed an Instagram video with a group of giggling youngsters on the beach She captioned the video: 'Love me, love all of me #wartsandall'. In the comments section, some of Schapelle's followers wondered how she was able to travel overseas despite having a drug conviction. 'How do you go being a convicted drug trafficker getting into another country?' wrote one follower. 'How are you let in to another country?' Schapelle left fans baffled earlier this week after sharing holiday footage from Vietnam History: She was arrested at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport in October 2004 after customs officers discovered 4.1kg of marijuana wrapped in plastic inside her boogie board bag Schapelle returned to Australia in May 2017 after serving almost a decade behind bars and three years on parole for smuggling drugs into Indonesia. She was arrested at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport in October 2004 after customs officers discovered 4.1kg of marijuana wrapped in plastic inside her boogie board bag. After being sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment at Denpasar District Court in 2005, she ended up serving only nine years after receiving sentence cuts. Ordeal: She returned to Australia in May 2017 after serving almost a decade behind bars and three years on parole for smuggling drugs into Indonesia (pictured with her boyfriend Ben) Schapelle first met Ben in 2006 during a church service in Bali's Kerobokan Prison, where they were both serving time for drug offences. It was previously speculated that the couple would never be reunited, as Ben would not be allowed into Australia because of his criminal history. But they recently hooked up in Singapore before heading to a beach resort in Vietnam for a two-week holiday, Woman's Day reported last month. Sunrise's executive producer Michael Pell has publicly blasted Karl Stefanovic after he criticised Channel Seven during a furious editorial on Wednesday's Today show. Karl, who is one of Nine's most high-profile broadcasters, had accused the rival network of 'not supporting the local industry' after it emerged Seven's top talent - including Samantha Armytage and David Koch - would not be attending the Logies. But Michael tweeted hours later that the outburst was a 'bit rich' coming from Karl, who had previously vowed to boycott the Logies if it moved location from Melbourne to the Gold Coast, only to change his mind afterwards. Scroll down for video It's WAR! Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell (left) branded Karl Stefanovic (right) a hypocrite on Wednesday for backflipping on his Logies boycott 'Bit rich, Karl. First you said you'd boycott the Logies if they moved from Melbourne. Now you're slamming Sunrise for not attending?' tweeted Michael, 35. 'The exercise is simply too costly for us in 2018. Responsible budget management [equals] supporting local industry.' He added: 'Let's talk about supporting the local industry. How many producers, camera operators, sound recordists, editors, researchers, directors, DAs, lighting technicians, TDs, floor managers... actually get invited to the Logies? 'What's the number? That's what we should be looking at.' Ouch! Karl accused Seven of 'not supporting the local industry' after it emerged the network's top talent, including Sam Armytage and David Koch, would not be attending the 2018 Logies Michael's comments were in response to Karl's on-air tirade on Wednesday, which saw him call out Channel Seven for boycotting the Logies. It was reported this week that Seven's top stars - including Sunrise hosts Samantha and Kochie as well as The Morning Show's Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur - would be skipping next Sunday's ceremony because the Logies had 'lost relevance'. Karl, 43, said in a blistering monologue: 'I hear our opposition isn't coming this year. What, they're too good to support the local industry? Tweets: 'Bit rich, Karl. First you said you'd boycott the Logies if they moved from Melbourne. Now you're slamming Sunrise for not attending?' wrote Michael. Pictured with Sam Armytage Boycott: It was reported this week that Seven's top stars - including Sunrise hosts Sam and Kochie - would be skipping next Sunday's ceremony because the Logies had 'lost relevance' '[Are they too good] to support their own network colleagues who have been lucky enough to be nominated for their hard work? 'Well, we don't want you there anyway. You're all boring!' Karl quickly added a dose of humour, mentioning that he nonetheless 'quite liked' Sunrise's former weather presenter Grant Denyer. Too expensive? 'The exercise is simply too costly for us in 2018,' tweeted Michael. 'Responsible budget management [equals] supporting local industry'. Pictured with David Koch 'So, to hard-working men and women in the Australian TV industry, I want to say this this morning. The Today show supports you, the Today show loves you,' he declared. 'We look forward to celebrating with you. And celebrating... and celebrating, and celebrating all the way until our show starts!' (Karl's emphasis on 'celebrations' was likely a reference to his notorious drunken TV performance the morning after the 2009 Logie Awards.) Daily Mail Australia has contacted Seven and Nine representatives for comment. Backflip: Karl himself had previously vowed to boycott the Logies when the location change was first proposed last year. Pictured: Karl and his Today co-host Georgie Gardner Earlier this week, a source told The Daily Telegraph that Channel Seven plans to keep its prominent on-air talent away from this year's Logies. The insider described the annual awards ceremony as a 'Nine-biased event' that has 'lost relevance' in recent years. A network spokesperson also told the publication that the Logies' change of location - from Melbourne to the Gold Coast - 'had made life difficult'. Karl himself had previously vowed to boycott the Logies when the location change was first proposed last year. However he later backpedalled on his remarks, telling TV Week that he actually supported the move and wanted to be the host. He found love on Bachelor In Paradise this year, meeting his now-fiancee Tara Pavlovic. And Sam Cochrane reflected on his whirlwind journey to finding everlasting love in an heartfelt Instagram post on Wednesday. Noting that it's been exactly a year since he 'stepped out of a limo and into a mansion' on The Bachelorette, the 31-year-old acknowledged that his journey has been an 'adventure.' 'Sometimes you have to risk it all': Sam Cochrane reflects on his long and eventful journey in 'The Bachelor' franchise as he's set to marry fiancee Tara Pavlovic The blonde hunk thoughtfully wrote that 'everything happens for a reason' before sending his 'deepest regards' to all his fellow bachelors. Sam also gave a thoughtful mention to former Bachelorette and current Love Island Australia host Sophie Monk, who he wished will find 'all the happiness' she deserves. He then directly addressed all of his fans who have been with him throughout his journey to find love. 'Everything happens for a reason': Sam gave his best wishes to Sophie Monk and his fellow bachelors for being involved in his journey to find love He continued: 'It will always lead to love and nothing amazing comes easily.' He then concluded his message with: 'Sometimes you have to risk it all. Im thankful and humble and Im sending love out to everyone tonight.' Sam's thoughtful and reflective message about love and his Bachie journey comes a week after rumours he and Tara had broken up. 'Sometimes you have to risk it all': Sam addressed his fans directly in the post and shared some of the wisdom he gained on The Bachelorette and Bachelor In Paradise Last Thursday, Tara took to Instagram to deny rumours of trouble in paradise. She captioned a photo of the couple in bed together: 'Woke up this morning to reports Sam and I are over.' 'But I woke up next to him... weird. Don't worry peeps, stop stressing. We're all good.' 'We're all G!': Following break up rumours that surfaced last week, Sam and Tara reassured fans that all is well in paradise Sam and Tara are reportedly set to tie the knot in Fiji, the place where they initially met and fell in love. Tara and Sam became engaged during the Bachelor in Paradise finale, which was filmed in Fiji last year and aired in late April. Women's Day reports that Channel 10 are keen to film a 'three-part TV series' with the couple, which will document their wedding preparations and the ceremony itself. She's currently soaking up the sun in Fiji with her husband and two young children. And on Wednesday, Rachael Finch, 30, posted an adorable video of herself racing husband Michael Miziner while donning a skimpy bikini. But instead of asking an adult to assist with filming, the couple left their four-year-old daughter Violet in charge - a move that resulted in a hilarious video. 'Mama wins!' On Wednesday, Rachael Finch, 30, posted an adorable video of herself racing husband Michael Miziner while donning a skimpy bikini Failing to hold the camera steadily, Rachael says: 'Can you see us in the screen?' Responding 'yes', the camera is seen focusing on her one-year-old brother Dominic as he crawls away while wearing nappies. Shaking the camera and barely capturing her parents from across the grassy patch, Violet sweetly yells: 'Ready, set, Go!' Trusting a four year old! Failing to hold the camera steadily, Rachael is heard saying: 'Can you see us in the screen?' Ready! Shaking the camera and barely capturing her parents from across a grassy patch, Violet sweetly yells: 'Ready, set, Go!' Attempting to capture the race, Violet sways the camera back and forth. With fans uncertain as to who won, Violet is heard excited yelling: 'Mama wins!' Captioning the video on Instagram, Rachael wrote: 'Papa VS Mama. I couldn't stop laughing the whole way.' Mama wins! With fans uncertain as to who won, Violet is heard excited yelling:'Mama wins!' Family fun in the sun! Captioning the video, Rachael wrote: 'Papa VS Mama. I couldn't stop laughing the whole way' She added: I don't know what was funnier... listening to @Mikemiziner's expressions during the race or watching back Violet's filming abilities after.' Sharing her location, she wrote: 'Race grounds: @westinfiji.' Adding the hashtag #mamawins, the brunette beauty completed her post with: 'Check out my stories today, Dom has made some progress with his walking!' On Tuesday, the star was a picture of holiday bliss as she kicked back at the The Westin Denarau Island Resort & Spa. The beauty flaunted her figure in an olive green bikini and pink bottoms to match, captioning the post: 'Middle of winter in Fiji. #sameoutfitdifferentday.' Hell hath no fury like a woman whose twerking is scorned. Nicki Minaj viciously clapped back at fans on social media who dared to call her moves a bit rigid on Tuesday, according to screen grabs posted by The Shade Room. The rapper uploaded a clip of herself in a pool, in what started of as something of a twerk but in fairness converted to more of a slow grind half way through. 'When you hear #BED is the #1 ADDED SONG ON URBAN [radio] THIS WEEK!!!!! Thanks yall!!!!! OMGGGGGG,' she joyously wrote. Curiously, the Chun Li star appeared to predict the video would attract some vitriol. '*waits for the internet police & dance experts to voice their misplaced anger thru|their KEYBOARDS*' she added. And lo and behold, the criticisms came. Called it: Curiously, the Chun Li star appeared to predict the video would attract some vitriol 'You too stiff,' one follower wrote. But Nicki had some choice words for her, as captured in screengrabs by The Shade Room. 'and you too pressed, too, mad, too ugly & forehead too big,' she wrote back. 'Gtfo my page. 'I'm living my best life on vacation & BED IS THE #1 added song on urban radio this week. Now suck my d**k. ITS TOO GOOD 'u look like a raccoon with a receding hair line': Nicki did not hold back When another follower, a wig designer, wrote 'Nicki with the numb booty lol,' she didn't let that sit unchallenged either. 'N u look like a raccoon with a receding hair line - hit up Doctor Wu for them dark circles. I'm living my best life in Turks. Would u like me to purchase a few of them wigs so u can go on one too? However Nicki did add: 'nah its love sis.' Advertisement Red Hot Chili Peppers star Flea (real name Michael Balzary), 55, and his fashion model wife Frankie Rayder, 43, have put their Los Angeles home up for sale for $2.97 million. The stunning 1930s home in the Los Feliz area was purchased by the couple four years ago for $2.47 million. The modest pad includes five bedrooms spread over 3,561 square feet while there's added luxuries including a vast lap-lane pool and spa. For sale! Red Hot Chili Peppers star Flea (real name Michael Balzary) and his fashion model wife Frankie Rayder have put their Los Angeles home up for sale for $2.97 million The beautiful home greets visitors with an unusual purple front door set under a stately porch. The door opens into a central entrance hall with exquisite magnesite flooring. The foyer leads onto an ample formal living and dining room, complete with fireplaces, shining hardwood floors and original mouldings and bay windows. In the kitchen there's every mod con with sleek black granite countertops set on antique white cabinets and high-tech appliances. Moving on: The couple, who are parents to 13-year-old Sunny Bebop Balzary, purchased the family home four years ago for $2.47 million Stunning: The modest pad includes five bedrooms spread over 3,561 square feet while there's added luxuries including a vast lap-lane pool and spa in the grounds Quirky touches: The beautiful home greets visitors with an unusual purple front door set under a stately porch Plenty of space: The front door opens onto a huge central entrance hall with exquisite magnesite flooring and open doorways to the downstairs living space The kitchen opens out into a breakfast room that spills out through French doors to a sheltered dining terrace which features a built-in barbecue, perfect for entertaining. Upstairs in the two storey house, the master suite includes an adjoining study as well as a private terrace, walk-in closet and luxurious bathroom with a marble double sink and classic tub, as well as a huge shower. Outside the luxuries continue with a two-car garage and a vast lap-lane swimming pool and spa set among a grassy yard and mature landscaping. Individual touches: The vast living room has enough space for a piano and some large artwork, set among furniture to match the house's 1930s details Perfect for entertaining: As well as the living room, there's an elegant dining room leading off the hall, with a chic navy wall colour and bay windows letting in the light Elegant: The main living room is decorated with the couple's eclectic art collection while Flea's vast collection of instruments are scattered around Modern meets period: In the kitchen there's every mod con with sleek black granite countertops set on antique white cabinets and high-tech appliances More space to lounge: As well as he main living room, the house features a less formal family room on the ground floor Flea and his wife are pros when it comes to buying and selling real estate, with the couple still owners of a vast compound in Malibu, bought in 2006 for $9.98 million. In 2008 they paid just shy of $4 million for another Los Feliz estate which they sold just two years later to comedian Jack Black for under $6 million. Flea hit the headlines in February this year when he said doctors bear much of the responsibility for America's opioid crisis as he revealed that he was prescribed an excessive amount of OxyContin for a snowboarding injury in 2015. Bringing the indoors out: The kitchen opens out into a breakfast room that spills out through French doors to a sheltered dining terrace which features a built-in barbecue, perfect for entertaining Rocker vibe: A huge stone skull artwork hangs over the staircase which leads to the upper floor of the two storey family home The bassist opened up about his decade-long history with drug abuse in an opinion piece for Time magazine called The Temptation of Drugs is a B***h. The 55-year-old music-industry veteran claims that America's opioid epidemic has an alarming source: the doctors that we've been conditioned to trust more than most other people in our lives. Today opioids are the leading cause of death for adults under 50 in the US, claiming the lives of more than 115 Americans every day. Master suite: The main bedroom is large enough to host a cello at the foot of the bed, while multiple windows let the light in Time for a soak: The master bedroom is adorned by a chic bathroom, with elegant double sinks and a claw-foot tub Calming space: An office also leads off the master bedroom, with artwork again drawing the eye in the chic room Room for all: Another bedroom with en suite is beautifully decorated with a furry rug over the polished hard wood floors One for the kids: Flea's daughter's room is decorated with a child's tastes in mind with lilac walls and fun cat cushions Family bathroom: Period details have been kept in the main bathroom, with blue tiles and a built-in shower In the opinion piece he reveals that he started smoking weed at the age of 11 and went on to 'snort, shoot, pop, smoke, drop and dragon chase my way through my teens and 20s'. He got clean in 1993 at age 30. After a snowboarding accident in February 2015, the father-of-two was shown a drug source that was very different from what he had experienced in his younger years. 'Back when I was a petty thievin' Hollywood street urchin running feral, and doing every drug in the book, the dangers were clear. Time for a lap: A vast lap pool is the main focal point of the back yard, with the water shaded by mature landscaping Oasis: The beautiful garden has been tended beautifully with a natural vibe and hidden terraces 'Cops busted me, drug dealers burned me, accidental overdoses happened and scary gun-toting criminals lurked in the shadows. To step into this seedy world of narcotics was obviously dangerous,' he wrote. But in recent years amid the opioid epidemic, Balzary has a new question: 'What if your dealer was someone you'd trusted to keep you healthy since you were a kid?' 'Many who are suffering today were introduced to drugs through their healthcare providers,' he wrote. Sunny spot: A dining area in the kitchen is perfect for breakfast with the family, with French doors leading outside Secluded: High hedges and a gate mean the property and its garden is well secluded from the rest of the neighbourhood Green space: A stone path dots across the lawn, with a pop of colour coming from the red dining table and chairs Her year got off to quite the exciting start, when she announced her engagement to TV writer Brad Falchuk in January, following four years of dating. And it has now been reported that Gwyneth Paltrow, 45, is set to tie the knot with the 47-year-old TV writer at her home in the Hamptons, New York, at the end of summer. A source told New York Post's Page Six column that their nuptials will take place 'at the end of the summer, after Labor Day'. I thee wed: Gwyneth Paltrow is reportedly set to tie the knot with her fiance Brad Falchuk at her home in the Hamptons, New York, at the end of summer But fans of Gwyneth - who has daughter Apple, 14, and son Moses, 12, with her former husband Chris Martin - shouldn't expect her to be involved in much of the wedding planning, because she recently admitted she is too busy to get 'involved'. In an interview with E! News, she said: 'I'm very busy so I'm actually not that involved in it. I have so much going on and I'm sort of outsourcing that. 'I'm probably the least bridezilla person probably to a fault that has ever come across my wedding planner's office doors.' So in love: The movie star and the TV producer have been together since 2014, since meeting on the set of his show Glee, in which she had a recurring role What's more, the Avengers: Infinity War star is yet to decide whether she will share details of her big day on her lifestyle website Goop. She explained: 'I don't know if I'll share it or not. I think it's always a fine line of having something that is just yours but also being celebratory so we'll see.' But one thing Gwyneth is sure about is that she and Brad - who has two children, daughter Isabella and son Brody with ex-wife Suzanne Falchuk - don't want to expand their blended family by having more offspring. She said: 'Neither of us want more kids. We're on the same team. It's always tricky with kids and trying to gently blend families, and it's hard.' Blended family: The couple have two children each from their previous relationships - and Gwyneth recently revealed that they don't want to add any more offspring to their brood Gwyneth and Brad started dating in 2014 after meeting on the set of Glee, in which she played Holly Holliday. In an interview on The Howard Stern show last month, Gwyneth revealed that doesn't plan to have a big wedding ceremony, telling the host: 'I think we'll do something very small.' She added, 'We had a big engagement party that was the big thing. Jennifer Aniston was there, Kate Hudson was there. There were like 300 normal people and like four famous people. Cameron Diaz was there, she's the best!' Howard began the conversation about Brad by asking her why she decided to get married again after she was wed to Chris Martin for 13 years. 'I think that I would like to give it a proper shot,' said the Iron Man actress. 'For myself there is something really beautiful about marriage.' Consciously uncoupled: The Oscar-winning actress took to Instagram to wish her ex-husband Chris Martin a happy birthday as she shared an adorable shot of him with their children The mother-of-two then added: 'I think Brad is somebody who is extremely, you know, he's really intelligent and he's really emotionally intelligent and I think he's a really good person to try this with; he's very self aware he has emotional security,' explained the cover girl. When Howard asked if they have a prenup and told her she needs to get one because she is worth so much more money than Brad she said, 'You think so?' She then rattled off all the shows Brad has worked on. In addition to Glee there is American Horror Story and the Crime Story shows. His new show is Fox's 9-1-1 and Pose on FX, both of which she plugged nicely for her partner. And Stern, leaving almost no stone unturned during this interview, asked if they live together, to which responded: 'No.' As well as her grand abode in the Hamptons, Gwyneth owns a home in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Brad owns a home in Malibu. Waiting to share a home: In an interview with Howard Stern last month, Gwyneth revealed that she and Brad had yet to move in together Howard then became intrigued by how they will be once they move in together, wanting to know who will make the toast. 'I think we're just going to try to do it in our own way,' said Gwyneth. And there is no tension with her children Apple and Moses as he's 'fantastic' with her little ones. Brad also has kids from a previous marriage. 'Isn't that tricky?' prodded Howard Stern, known for probing guests on his show. 'Of course it's always tricky with kids and trying to gently blend families it's hard,' replied Gwyneth. 'The question becomes how much of your ego are you willing to check at the door? And can you let go of spite? 'Because if you can do those things then you can absolutely have a friendly divorce. How much control do you have over your behaviour at the end of the day?' Eva Longoria, 43, has given birth to her first child, a son she has named Santiago Enrique. The actress and her husband Jose 'Pepe' Baston shared the happy news exclusively with HOLA! USA, after confirming the pregnancy in December. Announcing the arrival, Eva told fans that Santiago Enrique Baston arrived on Tuesday and is a 'beautiful blessing.' 'Blessing': Eva Longoria, 43, and husband Jose 'Pepe' Baston, 50, have welcomed their first child together - a son named Santiago Enrique Sharing a photo of Eva cuddling her newborn son, the couple gushed to HOLA! 'We are so grateful for this beautiful blessing.' Santiago was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and weighed in at 6 lbs and 13 oz. Eva first met 50-year-old Televisa president Jose through a mutual friend back in 2013, and they wed two years ago, with the actress gushing soon after that having a child together would be 'the icing on the cake'. Welcome to the world! The actress and her husband, pictured on June 7, shared the happy news with HOLA! USA, after confirming the pregnancy in December New mother: Announcing the arrival, Eva told fans that Santiago Enrique Baston arrived on Tuesday and is a 'beautiful blessing.' Eva is also stepmother to Jose's three children - Natalia, 22; and twins Mariana & Jose, 14 - from his first marriage to Natalia Esperon. The star was previously married to soap actor Tyler Christopher from 2002 to 2004 and then to pro basketball player Tony Parker from 2007 to 2011. After her very public split from her second husband, Eva revealed that she did think about parenthood but later admitted she didn't know if children were in her future. Before tying the knot with Baston in May 2016, the actress added that she was aware her age could be a factor in getting pregnant. Any day now: The Desperate Housewives star was looking relaxed and happy as she showed off her bump just three days before the birth on Saturday 'I just turned 40, so I have thought, 'Is time running out?' ' she said. 'I should be thinking about [children], but I feel like my life is full.' She added that Baston's three children from a previous marriage were a 'gift,' saying, 'We are fulfilled. If there is anything else to come, it would be icing on the cake.' The actress recently revealed though that she was finding pregnancy 'hard', pointing out: 'Everything's uncomfortable. It's not just your belly - everything gets bigger. I've never seen my thighs so big, and my boobs, they're in the way of everything. It's hard.' Despite feeling uncomfortable, the Over Her Dead Body actress also claimed being pregnant makes her feel empowered while she's at work. Happy couple: Eva, pictured on June 14, met Televisa president Jose through a mutual friend back in 2013, and they wed two years ago, before announcing the pregnancy in December She said: 'Having my life now with my son and living it with him is great. When I'm directing he is with me, at the Golden Globes he is with me. [It] makes me very happy.' And Eva also shared her hope that her son will learn to 'applaud and honour' feminism when he grows up, because she believes the world needs 'more good men'. She said: 'We have this wonderful wave of future feminists coming into this world with a different view of what this global community we live in should look like.' 'I'm so excited that I'm having a boy because I think the world needs more good men. This boy, my son, will be surrounded by very strong, educated, powerful women and I think it's important that he sees those types of role models in his life so he knows how to support it, how to applaud it and how to honour it.' Finally here! The actress recently revealed that she was finding pregnancy 'hard'. She said: 'Everything's uncomfortable Her son's birth comes just days after the film and television star revealed that her beloved pet dog and her 'baby before this baby' died in her arms on Thursday after suffering a stroke at the age of 15. 'So the day I've been dreading happened last night. Jinxy passed away in my arms at the vet. He had a stroke that he just couldn't come back from.' she wrote next to an Instagram image of her tearfully gazing down at the maltese. 'He was 15 years old (96 in dog years) and he filled those years with lots of love and laughter. He was my baby before this baby in my belly came along. I'm so sad but know that he's out of his suffering'. They are two of Australia's best loved and bankable character actresses. And Rachel Griffiths and Leah Purcell looked chuffed to be in each other's company when they attended the launch of the SheDirects initiative in Sydney on Wednesday. Rachel, 49, looked elegant in a flowing navy blue coat which protected her from the elements and a pair of matching pants. Mates: Rachel Griffiths and Leah Purcell looked chuffed to be in each other's company when they attended the launch of the She Directs initiative in Sydney on Wednesday The Muriel's Wedding star finished her look with a subtle application of blush to accentuate her cheekbones. Leah, too was similarly monochromed with the 47-year-old wearing a black blouse and matching pants. The Redfern Now actress added a pop of colour to her ensemble with a bright floral brooch. Chic: Rachel, 49, looked elegant in a flowing navy blue coat which protected her from the elements and a pair of matching pants. Both Leah and Rachel appeared to be having a blast in each other's company, sharing a hearty laugh as they posed for photographers. SheDirects is a state government initiative that will fund the development of television drama that is helmed by female directors. The $100,000 initiative, will fund up to four projects and Rachel said she was buoyed by the fact that Australian television was catching up to cinema when it came to addressing gender imbalances. Women on top! 'It is inarguable that our film industry has had a better record than our TV culture in promoting diverse perspectives on female experience,' Rachel (pictured) told AAP 'It is inarguable that our film industry has had a better record than our TV culture in promoting diverse perspectives on female experience,' Rachel told AAP. She continued: 'It's so exciting to finally see Australian TV characters recently move beyond the typical tropes of likeable, f***able, adorable, to embrace more complex depictions of female experience with Mystery Road, Wentworth, Hanging Rock, Dead Lucky, Top of the Lake and Redfern Now.' Rachel, who is currently working on her directorial debut Ride Like A Girl, added that offering more opportunities for female directors would only benefit the stories. 'We defend them against statements like: 'Will we like her?' 'Is she too angry?' 'Is she hot enough? Skinny enough?' Rather, we'll say: 'we'll make you care because I can put you, the audience, in her shoes. Karl Stefanovic has reignited a breakfast TV feud that's been the subject of rumours for more than a decade. On Wednesday, the 43-year-old Today co-host publicly criticised rival Sunrise on-air for the first time since 2015, calling the panel of David Koch, Samantha Armytage, Mark Beretta, Edwina Bartholomew and Natalie Barr 'boring.' It appears viewers disagree with Karl, who - along with his breakfast cohorts - hasn't won a ratings week since Lisa Wilkinson was his co-host. The fight is on! Karl Stefanovic reignites historic feud with Sunrise by calling the whole panel 'boring' - but viewers disagree as Seven continues to thrash Nine in breakfast ratings Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, a Channel Seven representative pointed out: 'Sunrise has extended their lead further in 2018.' 'Today has not won a single ratings week in either measure (five-city metro or nationally) this year.' Over the last fortnight, Nine's breakfast show has enjoyed one win in the all-important Metro 5 capital city figures - Sunrise has claimed the other 9. Disagree? It appears viewers disagree with Karl, who - along with his breakfast cohorts - hasn't won a ratings week since Lisa Wilkinson was his co-host Today's only victory was on Monday June 4, with the program mysteriously pipping Sunrise by just 2,000 viewers (236,000 to 234,000). Over the past two weeks of episodes, Sunrise has averaged a daily figure of 262,600 metro viewers, well ahead of Today with an average of 231,600. Despite the huge deficit, Karl has voiced his belief that Sunrise's panellists are 'boring' and unwilling to support local content and the hardworking staff behind the scenes. Grinners! Over the last fortnight, Nine's breakfast show has enjoyed one win in the all-important Metro 5 capital city figures - Sunrise has claimed the other 9 The embattled groom-to-be hadn't publicly criticised his ratings-dominant rivals since 2015, when he criticised Sunrise for broadcasting in Hawaii for a week. 'I dont know why theyve gone there when they could be holidaying and doing their thing in Australia, and promoting Australia,' he told News Corp in March that year. Sunrise's executive producer Michael Pell hit back at the accusation, saying broadcasting from the US holiday island is like 'bringing our viewers with us on a holiday'. 'Boring': On Wednesday, the 43-year-old Today co-host publicly criticised rival Sunrise on-air for the first time since 2015, calling the panel of David Koch, Samantha Armytage, Mark Beretta, Edwina Bartholomew and Natalie Barr 'boring' Fight is on! For the first time in three-years, Sunrise producer Michael Pell, 35 (Left), found himself labelling Karl a hypocrite, lashing out on Twitter shortly after Today finished airing on Tuesday Karl's comments were perceived as somewhat of a contradiction since the Today Show team went to the US themselves six-months earlier. They broadcast the show from several location including Times Square in New York and Universal Studios in California. Sunrise v Today: The ratings war For years, the Nine Network's Today show and Channel Seven's Sunrise have been locked in a bitter ratings war. Sunrise, hosted by Samantha Armytage and David Koch, is currently on top nationally and in metro figures. Today, presented by Karl Stefanovic and Georgie Gardner, is suffering from comparatively lacklustre ratings. Journalist Peter Ford claimed last year that Karl's personal life may be a reason for the low numbers, his high-profile divorce having turned off female viewers. Today did enjoy a metropolitan ratings boost earlier this year thanks to the 'golden touch' of Married At First Sight, according to News.com.au. However, these viewers returned to Sunrise after MAFS concluded and Today stopped airing regular interviews with the cast members. According to a Seven representative: 'Sunrise has extended their lead further in 2018.' 'Today has not won a single ratings week in either measure (five-city metro or nationally) this year.' Advertisement Just like back in 2015 it was Michael, 35, who was the only member of the Sunrise team to publicly condemn Karl's latest comments. 'I hear our opposition isn't coming this year. What, they're too good to support the local industry?' Karl said of Sunrise's decision to boycott the Logies on the Gold Coast this year. '[Are they too good] to support their own network colleagues who have been lucky enough to be nominated for their hard work? 'Well, we don't want you there anyway. You're all boring!' For the first time in three-years, Michael found himself labelling Karl a hypocrite, the Sunrise producer lashing out on Twitter shortly after Today finished airing on Wednesday. 'Bit rich, Karl. First you said you'd boycott the Logies if they moved from Melbourne. Now you're slamming Sunrise for not attending?'he wrote on Twitter. 'The exercise is simply too costly for us in 2018. Responsible budget management [equals] supporting local industry.' He added: 'Let's talk about supporting the local industry. How many producers, camera operators, sound recordists, editors, researchers, directors, DAs, lighting technicians, TDs, floor managers... actually get invited to the Logies? 'What's the number? That's what we should be looking at.' This time he was backed up by Samantha, who tweeted: 'I agree @karlstefanovic we are boring. So boring you cant stop talking about us on your show...' She gave birth to her first child with fiance Adam Ellis in December. And Lindy Klim shared an adorable photo with six-month-old daughter Goldie to Instagram on Wednesday. The proud mother was seen sporting winter apparel with the little one strapped to her chest, in the image captioned: 'Five layers plus a baby!' 'Five layers plus a baby!' Lindy Klim, 39, shared an Instagram photo on Wednesday of herself in winter apparel, with daughter Goldie, six months, kept close to her chest Lindy, 39, stood in a trendy Melbourne alleyway with Goldie kept close to her chest in a baby carrier. The model sported layers of winter apparel, including a white sweater, cropped grey slim-fit trousers, a beige woollen overcoat and white sneakers. Lindy slicked her brunette locks back off her face, and concealed her gaze behind tinted sunglasses. Bundle of joy: Lindy gave birth to Goldie, her first child with fiance Adam Ellis, in December Little Goldie looked cute as a button in a pink and grey onesie, a beanie, and a dummy in her mouth. She captioned the photo: 'Melbourne fashion...5 layers plus a baby!' alongside several hash-tags including a reference to comedy film #thehangover.' Lindy is also a proud mother to Stella, 11, Rocco, 9 and Frankie, 6, who Lindy shares with ex-husband Michael Klim, 40. New flame: The model became engaged to British property developer Adam in October 2016, after a whirlwind romance The brand ambassador called time on her marriage to Michael in February 2016, and then became engaged to British property developer Adam in October of that year, after a whirlwind romance. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia back in 2016, Lindy said she didn't predict falling back in love so soon after her split from Michael. '[It's] completely not what I expected, to fall back into another relationship, but he's so lovely. It's about time I got on with my life,' she said cheerfully. Lindy also said it was 'difficult' juggling single parenthood, and wished Michael and his new flame Desiree Deravi 'all the best.' She recently hinted she'll soon be ready to hang up her heels as a supermodel after a stellar 32-year runway career. But Naomi Campbell looked every inch the catwalk queen as she brought some glamour to the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity in the South of France on Wednesday. The cover girl, 48, turned heads as she strutted her stuff in an elegant white plunging pinstripe jumpsuit while heading to a panel discussion with broadcaster Tania Bryer, 55. Elegant: Naomi Campbell looked every inch the catwalk queen as she brought some glamour to the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity in the South of France on Wednesday Taking the plunge: The cover girl, 48, turned heads as she strutted her stuff in an elegant white plunging pinstripe jumpsuit while heading to a panel discussion The supermodel teamed her striking one-piece with a statement gold choker and vertiginous monochrome polka-dot stilettos. Naomi sheltered her eyes from the Riviera sunshine with a pair of circular shades, while wearing her raven locks poker straight. The runway goddess accentuated her stunning features with natural make-up as she commanded attention on stage alongside the acclaimed CNBC broadcaster. Work it: The supermodel teamed her striking one-piece with a statement gold choker and vertiginous monochrome polka-dot stilettos Jet-setting in style: The model arrived in Cannes on Tuesday ahead of her discussion following a whistle-stop trip to Milan, Italy Travelling in style: Naomi sheltered her eyes from the Riviera sunshine with a pair of circular shades, while wearing her raven locks poker straight The talented twosome took part in a panel discussion on 'fashion as cultural influence' at the annual advertising festival. The model arrived in Cannes on Tuesday ahead of her discussion following a whistle-stop trip to Milan, Italy, where she walked in the Dolce & Gabbana men's spring-summer 2019 fashion show on Sunday. Naomi's return to the catwalk comes after she hinted at retirement in an interview while promoting her Fashion For Relief show in Cannes last month. She said: 'I dont know if I can walk much longer, its been 32 years.' A-list guest: Naomi was attending an event hosted by broadcaster Tania Bryer, 55 Chic: The runway goddess accentuated her stunning features with natural make-up as she commanded attention on stage alongside the acclaimed CNBC broadcaster Fashion darling: Naomi was discovered at the tender age of 15 and went on to become one of the 'original' 80s supermodels Talented twosome: The pair posed for photographers after their panel discussion on 'fashion as cultural influence' at the annual advertising festival Rocking the runway: Naomi walked in the Dolce & Gabbana men's spring-summer 2019 fashion show in Milan, Italy, on Sunday The fashion darling went on to discuss passing on the baton to her younger counterparts. She explained: 'It's an honour to walk. 'I'd love for it to be carried on by the younger generation and for me to sit in the audience and watch.' Naomi was discovered at the tender age of 15 and went on to become one of the 'original' 80s supermodels alongside catwalk queens Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer and later, fellow Brit Kate Moss. Quick turnaround: Later that day, Naomi made an appearance in Paris, attended a Bruce Weber book signing Joining forces: The star posed with the esteemed photographer at the launch of his new book Azzedine, Bruce and Joe She's the Married At First Sight star who recently announced she had a new man in her life - artist Fred Whitson. And Michelle Walsh has taken to Instagram to share a series of smitten shots of the pair enjoying a loved-up vacation in France. The 53-year-old grinned from ear to ear in one photo, share to the social media platform on Tuesday, that showed her clinking champagne glasses with her new beau as they relaxed in the Parisian district of Montmartre. The city of love! Married At first Sight's Michelle Walsh, 53, has taken to Instagram to share a series of smitten shots showing her enjoying a loved-up vacation in France with new beau Fred Whitson 'Montmartre at last and our first champagne,' Melissa captioned the image, adding the hashtags #love and #luckyme. Melissa also shared a series of images that showed the pair excitedly awaiting their flight in Melbourne. The pair also took the time to enjoy some pre-flight cocktails. Beaming: The enamoured duo grinned from ear to ear in one photo Again, Melissa looked similarly chuffed, grinning like the Cheshire cat as she huddled close to Fred. 'Viva la France,' Melissa succinctly captioned the photos. Speaking to Woman's Day this week about her new romance, Melissa revealed that she 'couldn't wait' to share her life with Fred after announcing the union in May. Melissa and John took to their respective Instagram accounts in March to announce they were going their separate ways. Bon voyage: Melissa also shared a series of images that showed the pair excitedly await their flight in Melbourne. The pair also took the time to enjoy some pre-flight cocktails to aclimatise themselves. Excited: Speaking to Woman's Day this week about her new romance, Melissa revealed that she 'couldn't wait' to share her life with Fred after announcing the union in May 'It has been a very difficult decision and it makes us both very sad to say we have decided to no longer continue as a couple,' they said in a statement. It appears that John, too has moved on after he debuted new girlfriend Kenicha Hatten on a double date with co-star Telv Williams and Maddie Carolan to the premiere of Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom last week. A source told Daily Mail Australia: 'The guys met after Kenicha introduced herself on social media as a bit of a MAFS super fan. They instantly clicked and things seem to be going really well.' The insider added; 'They're taking things slowly right now but they can both see a future.' The judges were presented with a dish of marinated quail, charred capsicum and crispy sage on Wednesday night's episode. But MasterChef Australia viewers were left amused by George Calombaris' eating style. 'Can someone please teach George how to use cutlery?,' one shared to Twitter. Scroll down for video Vocal: MasterChef Australia viewers poked lighthearted fun at Calombaris' clumsy eating on Wednesday's episode One shared to Twitter: 'Can someone please teach George how to use cutlery?' Wednesday night's episode saw the MasterChef cast split into two teams and required to cook a three-course meal for 60 people, using only fire. And as the first team plated up a dish of marinated quail, charred capsicum and crispy sage, viewers found themselves critiquing the way judge George Calombaris ate. 'Can someone please teach George how to use cutlery?' one in particular wrote to Twitter, followed by: 'Why doesn't George know how to use a fork [?]. He's scooping like a spoon.' 'George can't even hold a fork': As the first team plated up a dish of marinated quail, charred capsicum and crispy sage, viewers found themselves critiquing the way George ate Not holding back: Another viewer said of George: 'He's scooping like a spoon' Finding it hilarious: 'George eating,' one shared alongside several laughing face emojis Another simply stated: 'George can't even hold a fork.' Meanwhile a day prior, viewers were particularly disturbed by fellow judge Gary Mehigan's double dipping of sauce. Contestant Sashi Cheliah's dish of lamb and minted peas had Gary slurping numerous spoonfuls of sauce into his mouth. 'Wow. Mate, I might not hand the sauce back. That's sensational,' he said to fellow judge Matt Preston. 'Try that,' Gary urged George handing the spoon to his peer. Viewers were left unimpressed with one writing on Twitter: 'How many times did Gary double dip with that sauce [?!].' She has won an army of fans thanks to her outrageous behaviour and meme-worthy one-liners. And Gemma Collins couldn't stop smiling on Tuesday as she tucked into a mint ice cream to match her green striped dress, going makeup free as she enjoyed the warm weather in Essex. The 37-year-old reality TV heavyweight showed off her flawless complexion as she lapped up the unusually warm English weather, tucking into the delicious dessert as she flaunted her famous curves. Beaming: Gemma Collins couldn't stop smiling on Tuesday as she tucked into a mint ice cream to match her green striped dress while out and about in Essex Gemma was in her famous high spirits as she flashed a beaming smile was strolling down the street, showcasing her Essex tan in the pretty green striped dress with a wraparound style. The frock sported some girly frills to add another feminine twist to her look, and it was even the same colour as her ice cream. Gemma finished her outfit with comfy pink sliders as she headed out and about, with her blonde hair hanging loose down her back. And despite being famous for her glamorous makeup looks, Gemma went au naturelle for the outing as she showed off her flawless complexion, keeping her hair out of the way with sunglasses perched on top of her head. Delicious: Gemma went makeup-free for the low-key outing as she enjoyed her ice cream, showing off her famous curves in the green striped wrap dress Lovely: The TOWIE veteran finished her simple look with pink plastic sliders, and appeared to be very much enjoying her yummy dessert Smiles for days: Despite sporting her legendary Essex tan, Gemma showed off her flawless complexion by sported barely a scrap of makeup Gemma's stylish display comes after she revealed earlier this month that she would not be covering up her body any time soon, following the release of some topless snaps taken on holiday in Marbella. 'I'm not ashamed of my body, I'm really proud of it,' she told The Sun. 'Kate Middleton got papped topless and now the GC, it just shows you!' Indeed, the Duchess of Cambridge was photographed on holiday with Prince William in Provence, southern France, in 2012 - which ended in the royal family suing Closer magazine's French incarnation and winning a payout of close to 100,000 [92,000]. Good time: Gemma kept her blonde tresses out of the way by perching her sunglasses on top of her head, and seemed to keen to share her summer spirit with fans Busy girl: Gemma was spotted back in Essex after recently returning from filming scenes for The Only Way Is Essex abroad, ahead of its annual summer season Loved-up: The Queen Of Memes has recently reunited with her boyfriend James 'Arg' Argent, and the couple have been happier than ever Gemma went on: 'I'm not going to hide away. I'm really proud. I'm 37 and I've never had one bit of cosmetic surgery done. That's why I'm popular with girls, I'm real and I'm totally natural.' In the same chat, she also said: 'I wasn't devastated when I saw those snaps because that's my body. It's all natural, but I have been thinking recently about maybe getting an uplift.' Gemma was snapped topless as she enjoyed a poolside massage earlier this week, while she, boyfriend James Argent and the rest of the TOWIE cast are shooting their annual summer season abroad. Strong views: Gemma's stylish display comes after she revealed that she would not be covering up her body any time soon, following the release of some topless snaps Angelina Jolie has been in London shooting Maleficent 2 with Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer. And it turns out the 42-year-old beauty wanted to make it a family affair by casting daughter Shiloh and son Knox in the big Disney sequel that sees her playing the complex villain again. Her daughter Vivienne appeared in the first film, which came out in 2014. But the beauty's estranged husband Brad Pitt refused to allow the two children to participate in what has been an ugly and ongoing custody spat stemming from her September 2016 divorce filing, according to UsWeekly. On set: Angelina Jolie has been in London shooting Maleficent 2 with Elle Fanning. And it turns out the 42-year-old beauty wanted to make it a family affair by casting daughter Shiloh and son Knox in the big Disney sequel, but Brad Pitt said no, according to UsWeekly The family: Together they have six kids, Maddox, 16, Pax, 14, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 12, and 9-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox; seen in 2017 'He refuses to sign off her plan to include Shiloh and Knox in Maleficent 2,' said the source. The insider added, 'The kids are being used as pawns.' Pitt has been in London; seen in March Together they have Maddox, 16, Pax, 14, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 12, and 9-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox. But Maddox is the one child that does not have to see Pitt if he does not want to. The source also said that the children were supposed to be in London with Angie for two weeks then go back to LA with Brad, but she then changed the plans. The magazine did not explain why she changed the plans but did have a Pitt source argue it was not fair. Pitt has been seen in London near her filming location. And then the publication added some very specific custody agreement details. The Ocean's 11 star has been allowed to 'host' one or two of the kids at a time in four hour intervals with a therapist present, the magazine claimed, from June 8 to June 17. And from June 27 until July 1, he may see the kids for 10 hours a day also with a therapist, it was claimed. It was OK four years ago: Her daughter Vivienne appeared in the first film, which came out in 2014. Brad approved of that Then from July 8 to July 14, Brad will spend 'four consecutive days' with the kids with a therapist present, it was alleged. From July 12 to July 29, he will return to California and he will have custody of the kids, it was reported. The source also said that Brad and Angelina do not talk to each other at all. 'They are not on good terms and are less than civil,' it was added. Their custody agreement is temporary and they will head back to court on August 13 to iron out firmer plans. A big film to make: The Oscar-winning Jolie is the lead in the Disney sequel; here is a look at the director's chairs Angelina, Elle and Michelle Pfeiffer have A monster hit: The star with Sam Riley in the first Maleficent It was also added that the two are not close to finalizing their divorce because the custody issues are far from worked out. It is highly unusual that such specific details of the custody agreement have leaked and Jolie's spokesperson seemed to agree strongly with that. 'This misleading leak is not in the best interests of the children. From the start, Angelina has been focused only on their health and needs, which is why it was so important that this last court hearing be conducted privately,' read the statement to DailyMail.com last week. 'It's deplorable that someone, for their own selfish reasons, leaked selective portions of the confidential and sealed court record to create an inaccurate and unfair picture of what is really happening.' Doing good: Jolie was in Iraq on Sunday with the United Nations Refugee Agency, where she took a tour of a refugee camp impacted by the seven-year conflict in Syria, calling it 'the worst devastation' she's seen in her 17 years working with the United Nations As reported earlier, the actor was allowed to spent Father's Day with his children in London. And according to a source with People magazine, the actor was 'thrilled to see them' as he 'misses them like crazy.' Brad and Angelina, seen with Maddox in 2013, started dating in 2005 but she filed for divorce in 2016 That same day, the Oscar-winning actress was in Iraq to talk about Syrian refugees. The source began, 'Its been obvious that he has been missing his kids like crazy. To live so close to them, but not seeing them often, has definitely been painful for him.' Angelina has a house in the Los Feliz area and Brad is just about a mile away. A source told the magazine that the Oklahoma-born actor 'doesnt talk badly about Angie but he feels its her fault that the kids dont want to spend more time with him.' An insider told the publication that Pitt has a 'very busy schedule' later this summer working in Los Angeles on the Quentin Tarantino movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with frequent visits to London. 'He often attends dinner parties, socializes with friends and attends events,' an insider told People. Jolie was in Iraq on Sunday with the United Nations Refugee Agency, where she took a tour of a refugee camp impacted by the seven-year conflict in Syria, calling it 'the worst devastation' she's seen in her 17 years working with the United Nations. Last month, she beckoned controversy when she criticised Meghan Markle's Givenchy gown after her and Prince Harry's highly anticipated wedding. And Lauren Goodger, 31, appears to be on the verge of showing off her own taste in the nuptials arena, as she was spotted checking out a wedding venue in picturesque Marlow-on-Thames, Buckinghamshire, on Tuesday. Wearing black tracksuit bottoms with a matching leather jacket, the reality star who is currently in a relationship with jailbird Joey Morrison was seen making her way into the luxury Danesfield House hotel and spa solo. Spotted: Lauren Goodger was spotted in Marlow-on-Thames, Buckinghamshire, on Tuesday The hotel, whose current structure was completed as a grand family home in 1901, offers an array of wedding packages on its sprawling, manicured grounds. And, should Lauren choose to opt for the venue, guests will be able to enjoy the sweeping views of the River Thames, as well as the breathtaking Chiltern Hills. When contacted for further information on Lauren's visit, a representative for the hotel said: 'Client confidentiality is paramount to us and we are unable to disclose any details regarding hotel guests.' Wedding venue? The former TOWIE star visited Danesfield House hotel and spa, which she reportedly viewed as a potential wedding venue Stepping out solo: Wearing black tracksuit bottoms with a matching leather jacket, the reality star was seen making her way into the luxury venue solo It was recently reported that the erstwhile TOWIE star plans to make her convict beau Joey the next 'Hot Felon' - the moniker assigned to former gang member Jeremy Meeks, after his mugshot went viral in 2014. Insiders told Heat magazine that Lauren deems herself a business brain and is plotting to make her beau the next big thing following his release from jail after serving nine years of his 16-year sentence for violent offences. In 2010, Joey was jailed for 16 years for possession of a firearm, kidnap, blackmail, actual bodily harm and aggravated burglary atop drug related offences following an eight-week trial in Wood Green. He was released and united with Lauren last month. Jeremy found fame in 2014 during a gang sweep called Operation Ceasefire in California, after which police posted his mug shot on Facebook, after his conviction for federal charges of grand theft and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Popular: The popular venue was completed in 1901 among 64 acres of manicured gardens Grand venue: The venue has plenty of space to accommodate guests in opulent surroundings Following his release, he signed a modelling contract with White Cross Management and also nabbed a contract with Hollywood talent agent Gina Rodriguez, before he found love with Topshop heiress Chloe Green, who he shares a baby with. It has now been reported that Lauren is determined to make Joey a 'Hot Felon', as insiders said: 'Lauren's been really inspired by Chloe and the way she got together with Jeremy. He's now a successful model... 'She thinks she can do the same for Joey by getting him an agent and making him a pin-up... She loves being a businesswoman and thinks Joey's got potential... Ultimately she wants to be seen as a power couple like her and Mark Wright'. MailOnline has contacted Lauren's representatives for comment. Great outdoors: The venue overlooks the River Thames and the breathtaking Chiltern Hills Views: Selfie-loving Lauren should appreciate the many photo opportunities at the hotel Lauren - who was famously engaged to ex-beau of 10 years Mark Wright, after he popped the question in a pub car park in 2011 - weight in on the newly minted Duchess of Sussex's wedding dress in her column for Now magazine last month. She gushed about the 'beautiful' former actress, however she insisted the gown was 'too plain' before suggesting she could have removed one arm to help give the dress 'an edgy spin'. Meghan's gown was divisive for many as some branded the gown stunning while others insisted the dress was too big and too plain. Lauren offered her opinion, as she penned: 'I was flying back from holiday when the wedding was on so I missed it, but I was excited to see the pictures. Meghan looked beautiful. I really liked her dress. I'm a big fan of simple, believe it or not! Who's who? Lauren is reportedly planning an unconventional career for her jailbird boyfriend Joey Morrison, following his release from prison last month That was then...: Mark Wright and Lauren were arguably TOWIE's original golden couple, with the first two seasons of the show charting their romance (pictured at their engagement bash) 'It was very elegant but maybe a bit too plain. It just needed something else... I can't think what. Maybe an arm taken off to put an edgy spin on it?' Mark and Lauren were arguably TOWIE's original golden couple, with the first two seasons of the structured reality show charting their turbulent on/off relationship peppered with his flings with Sam Faiers and Lucy Mecklenburgh. After the reality star-turned-TV host popped the question to Lauren in a pub, the duo were seen attending a wedding fair in which Sam was modelling. During the show, Mark cruelly criticised Lauren's weight, warning her to stop eating before their wedding, as he said: 'If you don't stop eating, your laces won't even do up at the back', as they watched one model show off her svelte frame. All white? Lauren's fleeting dabble in the world of weddings has left her in a position to judge gowns, as she weighed in on Meghan Markle's Givenchy wedding dress in her column for Now Stunner: The former TOWIE star gushed about the 'beautiful' former actress, however she insisted it was 'too plain' before suggesting she could have removed one arm of the gown As Sam emerged from the runway, Lauren went on to mock her fiance's former flame, stating: 'She's modelling the dress, we're booking one'. Mark then unkindly jibed: 'That's the closest she's going to get to wearing a white dress', before they both mirthlessly laughed at the catwalk star. Ultimately it ended in tears, with their engagement being called off for good in 2012, following a host of devastating twists and turns - with Sam professing her love for the hunk after the engagement and an eventual infidelity with Lucy in Marbella. Mark has since married actress Michelle Keegan while Lauren found love with convict Joey Morrison, who was recently released from prison. Glam: As Sam emerged from the runway, Lauren went on to mock her fiance's former flame, stating: 'She's modelling the dress, we're booking one' Unkind: Mark then unkindly jibed: 'That's the closest she's going to get to wearing a white dress', before they both mirthlessly laughed at the catwalk star It was recently claimed she plans to marry Joey, with a source telling Closer magazine: 'She's started to talk again about getting married and says she think it will happen at the end of the year, which ties in to when Joey leaves prison for good'. Meghan's dress has been a hot topic in recent days after designer Emilia Wickstead, a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge, last week commented that the new Duchess of Sussex's gown was similar to a 7,000 gown in her own collection. She sparked backlash on social media when she commented on Meghan's dress, which was actually created by Givenchy's Clare Wright Keller, costing 200,000, and kept firmly under wraps until the big day. Wickstead triggered the storm after she reportedly said: 'Her dress is identical to one of our dresses. Apparently a lot of commentators were saying, 'It's an Emilia Wickstead dress.' Weighing in: Lauren offered her opinion, as she penned, 'I was flying back from holiday when the wedding was on so I missed it, but I was excited to see the pictures' Oh dear: Their romance often veered off course due to his romances with Sam Faiers and Lucy Mecklenburgh (left-right) She continued: 'Her dress is identical to one of our dresses. Apparently a lot of commentators were saying, "It's an Emilia Wickstead dress.'" The designer then went on to have a bit of a dig at Meghan's look. She said: 'If you choose a simple design the fit should be perfect. Her wedding dress was quite loose.' And she didn't approve of the bride's relaxed hair style: 'I was like, 'Hold the wisps [of her hair] back it's a Royal Wedding for God's sake.' She later denied her claims as she said: 'I do not think that her wedding dress was a copy of any of our designs. I have the greatest respect for Clare Waight Keller and the House of Givenchy, a huge source of inspiration to me.' Harsh times: Ultimately it ended in tears, with their engagement being called off for good in 2012, following a host of devastating twists and turns On Tuesday's episode of Love Island, it was Rosie who was left in tears when Adam admitted he was falling for new girl Zara. But on Wednesday's installment of the ITV2 hit, it's Zara who's seen getting emotional as the two girls finally come face to face to thrash it out over Adam. After Rosie insists she'll 'never' be friends with her love rival, her villa pal Georgia persuades her to talk things out with Zara. Tears: Wednesday's episode of Love Island sees Zara getting emotional as she comes face to face with love rival Rosie Choosing to address the issues head on, Zara and Rosie join together to have a chat - before which, the former acknowledges their woes in the Beach Hut. She said: 'I mean, its going to be awkward between me and Rosie because Im trying to get to know Adam but at the end of the day, youve come into this villa to get to know people and if you connect with someone then whats the point in not pursuing it, because youre scared of upsetting someone else.' It was Georgia who suggested that glum Rosie speaks to Zara, saying: 'I know you said you havent wanted to speak to her but Im going to be honest with you right now, I think the best thing to do is to speak to her. Drama: After Rosie insists she'll 'never' be friends with the villa newbie, her pal Georgia persuades her to talk things out with Zara, who is on the verge of recoupling with Adam 'I think its going to clear your head, its going to be good for you.' Despite the wise words, Rosie continued to rage, as she said: 'Im never, ever going to be her friend. Ever.' Zara, sitting with some of the other girls, appears to over hear the comment, and quickly gets emotional. Ellie then intervenes as she urges Rosie to approach her nemesis. Rosie says: 'Ellie did explain that Adam hasnt really told Zara about me and him and has probably sort of brushed it under the carpet as if it was nothing... Object of their affection: On Tuesday's episode of Love Island, it was Rosie who was left in tears when Adam admitted he was falling for new girl Zara Face to face: Choosing to address the issues head on, Zara and Rosie join together Her side: As they finally confront one another, the Welsh beauty said: 'I dont think you know half, about me and Adam' 'I just thought maybe I should explain to Zara why its probably come across the way it has, why Ive been so upset today and havent been myself.' As they finally confront one another, the Welsh beauty said: 'I dont think you know half, about me and Adam. Obviously weve spent 10 days together, weve spoken about us as a couple in this villa. 'We have done stuff in bed together because thats how close weve got. When you came in, obviously, I was alright about you taking him on a date, but today I think youve both handled it really wrong, Ill be honest. Girl talk: Before their talk, Zara gets tearful as an angry Rosie insists they'll never be friends Always there: Dr Alex comforts the gorgeous brunette as she lets out her emotions More tears: Zara's tears start to fall again as she sits down with Rosie, who tells how just how much Adam meant to her 'You havent spoken to me at all, and I just thought if shes just come in here to take Adam, I wish shed just said. I dont think you realise, Ive got feelings for this boy. You could have approached me completely differently. 'Im not a nasty person, especially when it comes to girls. I think if youve ever got an issue, just come and talk to me. I wouldnt bite your head off.' Rosie then takes the chance to remind Zara of Adam's wandering eye: Confrontation: 'You havent spoken to me at all, and I just thought if shes just come in here to take Adam, I wish shed just said,' Rosie explains to Zara Third time's a charm: Rosie then takes the chance to remind Zara of Adam's wandering eye 'You've just got to give me a chance babe and I've got to give you a chance. But you're the fourth girl in two weeks that he's tried to crack on with, this isn't a coincidence it's a pattern. It's not your fault, this is what I mean, it's not your fault. All I wanted was a chat with you, I was waiting for you to come and speak to me.' Warning Zara that she may well fall foul of Adam's promiscuity, Rosie states: 'I'm done with him. But I will say to you be careful. Because I'm not the first girl, I'm the second girl. Megan was the third, you're the fourth and it's been two weeks. Be careful.' Dumped: Rosie insists to the Beach Hut that she is completely done with Adam after his behaviour over the past few days With Zara relaying the details of the conversation back to Adam, she raises her concerns that Adam could repeat his pattern of behaviour: 'She said this is the fourth girl in two weeks, so it's just a question of if another girl came in who was more your type, would you go for her over me?' Adam casually retorts: 'You're my type. I want to see what happens.' Love Island continues on ITV2 at 9pm. They bill themselves as New Zealand's fourth most popular folk duo. And Flight Of The Conchords - aka Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie have revealed that they said no to a third season of their hit sitcom as it 'just wasn't fun.' Speaking with The Guardian in the midst of their current UK tour, the pair admitted that the grueling schedule that ensued after the show was picked up by HBO in the US became too much of a grind. Lacklustre: Flight Of The Conchords - aka Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie have revealed that they said no to a third season of their hit sitcom as it 'just wasn't fun' 'We were tired of working together,' Jemaine told the publication. Going further, Bret added that it wasn't a question of the duo having a creative falling out but rather the process losing some of its lustre. 'Yeah, it's not like we were tired of each other's company. It just wasn't fun,' Bret said. 'Grind: We were tired of working together,' Jemaine revealed to The Guardian The pair revealed to the publication that such was their desire not to return for a third season, that they instructed their agents not to inform them of what HBO were offering for a season three.. Remaining philosophical, Jemaine added that he found it easy to walk away from the show as the Conchords was just a part-time thing. 'I mean, this was all just a side project to learn guitar,' he said while Bret added that his 'entire career' was a side project. Still pals: Going further, Bret added that it wasn't a question of the duo having a creative falling out but rather the process losing some of its lustre with: 'Yeah, it's not like we were tired of each other's company. It just wasn't fun' Fans of the hit show needn't despair as Jemaine revealed to ET Online in January that he and Bret were working on a one hour reboot of the series. 'We'd do something,' he revealed. 'We're going to film a little something this year.' He also said the pair will shoot an hour 'thing' and wouldn't confirm if HBO was part of the new work. Reboot: Fans of the hit show needn't despair as Jemaine revealed to ET Online in January that he and Bret were working on a one hour reboot of the series Jemaine and Bret formed the Flight of the Conchords in 1998 after meeting at university in New Zealand. They have parlayed their unique musical comedy stylings into quite the formidable career with Bret winning a Best Original Song Oscar in 2012 for the Muppets track Man Or Muppet. Jemaine, meanwhile has starred in the likes of Rio, The Lego Batman Movie and Muppets Most Wanted. They are regularly seen butting heads during their co-hosting duties on Good Morning Britain. But Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid put their light-hearted disagreements to one side, as they enjoyed a day out at the second day of the Royal Ascot on Wednesday. After posing for some photographs together, the 53-year-old broadcaster went on to immerse in lively chatter with GMB's Charlotte Hawkins. Elegant: Good Morning Britain's Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid put their disagreements to one side, as they enjoyed a day out at the second day of the Royal Ascot on Wednesday Suited and booted to perfection, Piers put on a quite the handsome display during his day at the races. Clad in a slick suit, Piers tamed his mane in place with a top hat and jazzed up his ensemble further with a corsage. Susanna looked typically stunning in a figure-flattering floral blush pink dress which boasted a deep plunge. In good spirits: After posing for some photographs together, the 53-year-old broadcaster went on to immerse in lively chatter with GMB's Charlotte Hawkins Looking good: Suited and booted to perfection, Piers put on a quite the handsome display during his day at the races Suave: Clad in a slick suit, Piers tamed his mane in place with a top hat and jazzed up his ensemble further with a corsage A deep red fascinator complemented her brunette tresses, as did her drop gold earrings. Charlotte also rivalled Susanna on the fashion front as she stunned in a bright purple dress with a matching fascinator. The blonde beauty enhanced her striking features with a simple slick of blush-infused make-up and accessorised with silver earrings. Getting comfortable in the GMTV box for day two of the Royal Ascot, Piers proved in a very celebratory mood as he was joined by the likes of Jeremy Kyle and Declan Donnelly. Striking: Susanna looked typically stunning in a figure-flattering floral blush pink dress which boasted a deep plunge Stunning: Charlotte also rivalled Susanna on the fashion front as she stunned in a bright purple dress with a matching fascinator Gorgeous: The blonde beauty enhanced her striking features with a simple slick of blush-infused make-up and accessorised with silver earrings In for the win: Getting comfortable in the GMTV box for day two of the Royal Ascot, Piers proved in a very celebratory mood as he was joined by the likes of Jeremy Kyle Finny: Declan Donnelly was also in a jokey mood as he joined in the giggles His free-spirited sighing comes after he was left slightly red-faced after probing Love Island's Hayley Hughes on Pythagoras' theorem After spending weeks mocking the contestants ion the show, he got the answer wrong himself. In hilarious scenes, he said to the Liverpool-born beauty: 'Do you know Pythagoras' theorem to the nearest decimal place?' He said: 'I do actually... 3.147' after he was grilled by his co-star Susanna Reid about whether he knew the answer. Off-camera, a crew member bellowed: 'That's pi', shortly before he appeared mortified and a clearly overjoyed Susanna said: 'Pythagoras is a triangle!... Claire Danes announced she was expecting a baby with husband Hugh Dancy in April. And the expecting actress looked glowing on Wednesday in New York, where she draped her ever-growing bump in a simple maxi-dress. The Homeland star, 39, kept comfortable in a lightweight, grey jersey as she enjoyed a walk through the Big Apple on a sunny summer day. To the maxi! Expecting actress Claire Danes appeared aglow while taking a sunny walk through NYC wearing a breezy, grey maxi dress Claire's frock featured a string halter and small keyhole for a flash of skin atop her chest. Maintaining her easy appearance, the star wore comfy patent leather Birkenstock sandals in the single strap style. She also carried a handsome crossbody bag with her things and accessorized with simple earrings and a classic leather wristwatch. Lock and key! Claire's frock featured a string halter and small keyhole for a flash of skin atop her chest Simple: The My So-Called Life actress wore her shoulder-blade length hair down in a sleek style and shaded her eyes with aviators The My So-Called Life actress wore her shoulder-blade length hair down in a sleek style and shaded her eyes with aviator sunglasses. Making the most out of her walk, Claire popped in her earbuds to listen to something as she strolled. Maintaining her easy appearance, the star wore comfy patent leather Birkenstock sandals in the single strap style. Hippie feet: Maintaining her easy appearance, the star wore comfy patent leather Birkenstock sandals in the single strap style Her hit show Homeland is taking an extended post-season break to accommodate Claire's pregnancy, set to start filming its eighth and final season in January 2019 instead of their typical late summer or early fall start. The star revealed that she's weeks away from giving birth while appearing on The Today Show Tuesday, telling hosts 'I'm in the third trimester,' and 'I'm really excited.' This will be her second baby, following son Cyrus, five. Bachelor Nation will be back in paradise before you know it. ABC announced an official premiere date for Bachelor in Paradise Season five on Wednesday. The show will premiere Tuesday, August 7, 2018. The network hasnt confirmed which Bachelor and Bachelorette cast offs will be looking for love in the Bachelor in Paradise mansion this summer. Speculation is rife, however. Bachelor in Paradise couple Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon found love on the show and got engaged Stealthy fans obtained photos of Bachelor in Paradise cast members basking in the sun and romance South of the Border. Heres what you need to know about Bachelor in Paradise Season five. Bachelor in Paradise filming According to Reality Steve, the Bachelor in Paradise cast left for Mexico the first weekend in June. They began filming the following week. Fans spotted cast members and producers lounging poolside. Its unclear whether they were filming at the time or preparing to begin. Bachelor in Paradise cast The Bachelor in Paradise cast will consist mostly of Bachelor competitors from Arie Luyendyk Jrs season and men sent home from The Bachelorette Season 14. There will also be cast members from earlier seasons and international versions of the show. Tia Booth; Kendall Long; Bekah Martinez; Caroline Lunny; Krystal Nielson; Chelsea Roy; Bibiana Julian; Jenna Cooper; Jacqueline Trumbull and Olivia Goethals were among the first people rumored to be appeared on Bachelor in Paradise. As for the men, Connor Orbochta; Jordan Kimball; Clay Harbor; Colton Underwood; David Ravitz; Chris Randone; Leo Dottavio; and Joe Amabile were cast from season 14 of The Bachelorette. (SPOILER): Colton hanging in Puerto Vallarta ready for Tia...errr...filming of Bachelor in Paradise. Or both. pic.twitter.com/stkTAuwXOo RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) June 7, 2018 Kenny King and Eric Bigger, both of whom competed for Rachel Lindsays heart on an earlier season of The Bachelorette, were also confirmed to be on Bachelor in Paradise. Fans have already started speculating about which couples will form in paradise. Theyre particularly interested in seeing what plays out with Tia, Colton, Krystal, Jordan and Joe. Tia and Colton have history. Colton copped to spending a weekend with Tia during The Bachelorette, but maintained that he was on the show for Becca. Krystal and Jordans on-screen behavior has drawn comparisons from viewers, so it should be interesting to see what happens when they meet in Mexico. As for Joe, dubbed Grocery Store Joe by Bachelor Nation, fans just cant wait to see him back on their screens. (MINI-SPOILER): As I reported last week, Krystal was definitely gonna be on Paradise this season. Here she was yesterday boarding her flight to Puerto Vallarta pic.twitter.com/sKRm2x0yhD RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) June 4, 2018 Theres been some speculation that Leo and Kendall will wind up together over the course of the show. So far Reality Steve has confirmed one Bachelor in Paradise date. According to the spoiler blogger Jacqueline and Kenny were spotted out together. People confirmed nearly all of the aforementioned casting rumors, revealing that Nick Spetsas and John Graham from Becca's season of The Bachelorette will appear, too. Chelsea Roy, Kendall Long, Angela Amezcua, Nysha Norris and Annaliese Puccini from Arie's season of The Bachelor are confirmed along with Astrid Loch. Kevin Wendt from The Bachelor Winter Games and The Bachelorette Canada will make the trip to paradise, too. Wells Adams, who appeared on JoJo Fletcher's season of The Bachelorette, will serve as bartender along with Yuki Kimura from The Bachelor Winter Games and The Bachelor Japan. Colton, Leo, Chris, Connor, Jenna, Jacqueline and Olivia are still unconfirmed. No further details are available. Bachelor in Paradise trailer A sneak preview for the upcoming season of Bachelor in Paradise has been released. The trailer, shared by Entertainment Weekly, teases sparks flying and drama reaching its boiling point the villa. Tia, Bibiana, Jordan, Eric, Kendall, Annaliese, Chelsea, Wills, John, Grocery Joe, Kenny, Kevin and Nysha are shown in the brief clip. Colton and Tia Bachelor in Paradise Colton Underwood and Tia Booth are reportedly heading to Mexico where theyll rekindle their romance on Bachelor in Paradise. According to Reality Steve, the fire was sparked before the former love birds got to Puerto Vallarta, though. Tia will reportedly make a second appearance on The Bachelorette to reclaim her man from Becca Kufrin. Shell show up before the final four rose ceremony to inform her Bachelor mansion BFF that she still has feelings for Colton. After hearing Tias confession, Becca will set Colton free. (SPOILER): Youll never guess in a million years who was on a date today in Paradise. Times up. It was Colton & Tia. And Raven & Adam were there w/ them. It was a game musical chairs and then the girls split off from the guys to talk. Told you this was coming. pic.twitter.com/i63QlAxR1W RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) June 14, 2018 Its unclear what happened between The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise filming, but its clear that things worked out between Tia and Colton. The pair have been spotted filming Bachelor in Paradise in Mexico and they appear to be smitten. They were photographed lounging by a pool and cuddling up to one another during a public date with Raven Gates and Adam Gottschalk, who met and fell in love on Bachelor in Paradise Season four. The network has teased: 'It doesn't take long for things to get interesting when the first bachelorette makes her arrival on the beach literal and emotional baggage in tow. 'This lovelorn lady makes it clear t hat she is there for one former flame, even though she has no idea where his feelings stand or if he'll even be joining her in Paradise. Ultimately, when the cast assembles itself, her bachelor of choice is nowhere to be found.' Tia will try to distract herself by going out on a date with someone else from Becca Kufrin's season of The Bachelorette, but a surprise will rock her world. It appears, however, that the bachelor Colton will show up late to the party. The show's description continues: 'Having finally taken his day's mind off her long-lost love, this heartsick young woman is excited, once again, about what the future holds. 'However, just when she thought she had moved on, the man she was originally hoping to see in Paradise finally arrives the next morning, date card in hand. Much to the chagrin of her date from night one, she is quick to accept another chance with her past love and hops aboard his jet ski.' When does Bachelor in Paradise start? Bachelor in Paradise Season five premieres on Tuesday, August 7, 2018. (SPOILERS): You know about the Tia/Colton stuff from ep 3. What I havent reported yet was Tia comes back on the show right before the final 4 rose ceremony to tell Becca she still has feelings for Colton. Colton is then eliminated. Both will be in Paradise. To be continued... RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) May 28, 2018 Ashley Iaconetti Jared Haibon engaged Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon got engaged on June 17, 2018 while the pair were in Mexico filming Bachelor in Paradise Season five. A source told People: 'Ashley and Jared are both so excited about the engagement. 'Ashley had her suspicions that an engagement would happen in Mexico but she didn't want to get herself too psyched out and then have nothing happen. They're both thrilled though!' Ashley and Jared met on Bachelor in Paradise three years ago. While filming the series, Ashley fell for Jared, but he didn't feel the same about her. Instead they formed a friendship. He told People he fell in love with Ashley when he and a few friends went to Virginia for a charity event she put together. 'That was such a different experience being with someone in the show and in real life. [Ashely was] just so down to earth and east-going, ambitious....sexy,' he said. Between the Bachelor in Paradise rejection and Jared's change of heart, Ashley appeared on Bachelor Winter Games. During the show she bonded with Kevin Wendt, but their relationship fizzled out. After they split, Jared got in touch with Ashley via love letter and the rest was history. 'I was scream-crying basically alone in my apartment reading that just sobbing and sobbing,' she recalled. Ashley and Jared confirmed that they were dating in May. Their engagement will likely be featured in season five of Bachelor in Paradise. She's enjoying some much-needed time off ahead of the birth of her third child. And Kate Hudson seemed to be making the most of her sea-side vacation with her family as she searched for the perfect lounger in Greece on Tuesday afternoon. The 39-year-old actress showed off her growing baby bump wearing a tiny triangle bikini top and sarong as she sought out some sunshine while on holiday on the island of Skiathos. Scroll down for video Beauty: Kate Hudson seemed to be making the most of her sea-side vacation with her family as she searched for the perfect lounger in Greece on Tuesday afternoon Kate seemed to be in great spirits as she walked across the sand wearing a dark brown bikini top. Her pregnant belly was on display with a dark brown and beige patterned sarong wrapped across her hips. The Almost Famous stunner kept her arms covered with a long white kimono which featured blue-and-white stripes along the sleeves and hem. Love: The 39-year-old actress showed off her growing baby bump wearing a tiny triangle bikini top and sarong as she sought out some sunshine while on holiday on the island of Skiathos Sun seeker: Kate seemed to be in great spirits as she walked across the sand wearing a dark brown bikini top Beach babe: Her pregnant belly was on display with a dark brown and beige patterned sarong wrapped across her hips She added even more protection from the sun wearing a large woven bucket hat and dark sunglasses. Opting to beat the heat, Kate jumped into the ocean covering her hips with a shorter blue and red wrap. Hudson relaxed in the water with her beau Danny Fujikawa, with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell wading nearby. The dad-to-be sported a beige tank top and vibrant palm-print board shorts as he stayed by his leading lady's side. Smart move: She added even more protection from the sun wearing a large woven bucket hat and dark sunglasses Comfortable: The Almost Famous stunner kept her arms covered with a long white kimono which featured blue-and-white stripes along the sleeves and hem Relax: Opting to beat the heat, Kate jumped into the ocean covering her hips with a shorter blue and red wrap Family time: Hudson relaxed in the water with her beau Danny Fujikawa, with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell wading nearby Darling: Kate cooled off in the ocean before relaxing in a lounger Goldie, 72, flaunted her age-defying figure wearing a strappy black swimsuit as she soaked up the sun. Her long, caramel-colored hair was worn in natural waves and she kept a pair of dark sunglasses over her eyes. Kurt Russell, her boyfriend of more than 30 years, appeared to be completely relaxed in and out of the water. The Bride Wars star is on hiatus from work as she prepares for her third child's arrival, according to US Weekly. All aboard! Kurt even managed to get behind the wheel of a boat and picked up Goldie from a nearby dock Stunner: Goldie, 72, flaunted her age-defying figure wearing a strappy black swimsuit as she soaked up the sun Gorgeous: Her long, caramel-colored hair was worn in natural waves and she kept a pair of dark sunglasses over her eyes True love: Goldie and Kurt have reportedly been an item for more than three decades Bonding: Kurt Russell appeared to be completely relaxed in and out of the water 'They are on vacation now, and she has taken off the rest of the summer,' a source revealed. 'She doesn't have any work commitments on her schedule as of now.' The source also told the publication of the parents-to-be: 'Kate and Danny are madly in love. Everyone loves him, and they couldn't be happier that she found him.' Kate and Danny, who have been dating since 2017, announced that they were expecting a baby together back in April, when Kate shared video of a gender reveal party on her Instagram. Confirming it was a girl, pink confetti rained down after the actress, her beau, and sons all popped giant balloons. Kate shares son Bingham, six, with former fiance Matthew Bellamy of Muse, and she raises Ryder with her rocker ex-husband Chris Robinson. Tough: The Bride Wars star is on hiatus from work as she prepares for her third child's arrival, according to US Weekly Happiness: The source also told the publication of the parents-to-be: 'Kate and Danny are madly in love. Everyone loves him, and they couldn't be happier that she found him' 'They are on vacation now, and she has taken off the rest of the summer,' a source revealed. 'She doesn't have any work commitments on her schedule as of now' Travis Barker has been re-admitted to hospital after being struck down with cellulitis as well as blood clots and a staph infection. The 42-year-old drummer was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital last week with blood clots in both arms and a staph infection, but he was released on Monday evening only to return on Tuesday morning suffering from the skin infection. Sources told website TMZ that despite heading back to the medical facility to battle cellulitis, the Blink-182 stickman has a 'positive attitude' and is looking forward to returning to the stage. Still not OK: Travis Barker has been re-admitted to hospital after being struck down with cellulitis as well as blood clots and a staph infection; seen in 2017 Travis took to his Twitter last week to reveal he was suffering from blood clots and a staph infection. He tweeted: 'Blood clots in both arms and a staff infection wasn't the news I was hoping for. I'll be back soon, thanks for all the love & prayers.' As a result, Blink-182 had to postpone their Las Vegas residency at the Palms Hotel and Casino on Friday and Saturday on doctor's orders. A statement posted on the band's Twitter reads: 'Friends, Travis Barker is suffering from blood clots in both arms and unfortunately cannot perform until cleared to do so by his medical team. Medical emergency: The 42-year-old drummer was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital last week with blood clots in both arms and a staph infection, but he was released on Monday evening only to return on Tuesday morning suffering from the skin infection WHAT IS CELLULITIS? Cellulitis is a potentially serious bacterial skin infection, according to the Mayo Clinic. 'The affected skin appears swollen and red and is typically painful and warm to the touch. 'Cellulitis usually affects the skin on the lower legs, but it can occur in the face, arms and other areas. 'It occurs when a crack or break in your skin allows bacteria to enter. 'Left untreated, the infection can spread to your lymph nodes and bloodstream and rapidly become life-threatening. It isn't usually spread from person to person,' the Clinic claims. Some of the symptoms include swelling, fever, tenderness and red spots. Advertisement 'The situation is currently being closely monitored. 'Due to this situation it is with great regret that Blink-182 'Kings of the Weekend' Las Vegas residency dates this weekend must be rescheduled. 'New dates will be posted on the band's website shortly. 'If you are not able to attend the rescheduled dates, refunds will be available at point of purchase. (sic)' Travis added: 'Drumming is my life and it kills me that I can't perform for you guys this weekend. 'I hope to be back as soon as I can - Travis Barker.' It's not known if Travis will be fit enough to perform on June 23 or June 24. Barker joined Blink 182 back in 1998. The band disbanded in 2005 only to reunite four years later. Members now include Travis, Matt Skiba, and Mark Hoppus. Memorial Day weekend marked the start of Blink's 16-week Las Vegas residency. Pain: Sources told website TMZ that despite heading back to the medical facility to battle cellulitis, the Blink-182 stickman has a 'positive attitude' and is looking forward to returning to the stage Travis, who was born and raised in California, has two childrenLandon, 14, and Alabama, age 12. He shares both kids with ex-wife and model Shanna Moakler. In an interview with KTLA 5, Barker talked about his kids' blossoming music careers. 'I do think it's in the blood. But I also think hard work always pays off,' he said. His boy: Travis, who was born and raised in California, has two childrenLandon, 14, and Alabama, age 12. He shares both kids with ex-wife and model Shanna Moakler. Here they are seen earlier this month Legendary comedians Steve Martin and Martin Short detailed the biennial colonoscopy sleepover parties they have with buddies Tom Hanks and Walter Parks on Tuesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! 'It's fun. It's a great way to do something that you should do,' the silver-haired 72-year-old explained. 'We played poker, and we watched some funny movie, and you drink all this [barium] stuff.' Scroll down for video 'It's a great way to do something that you should do': Steve Martin (2-L) and Martin Short (2-R) detailed the biennial colonoscopy sleepover parties they have with buddies Tom Hanks (R) and Walter Parks (L) on Tuesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! The silver-haired 72-year-old (R) explained: 'It's fun! We played poker, and we watched some funny movie, and you drink all this [barium] stuff' The 68-year-old SCTV and SNL veteran noted that the bizarre festivities (called 'Colonoscopy Eve' in Canada) take place at Steve's Los Angeles home. 'And it's catered. There's Jell-O, you know, there's not much you can [eat], you have to purge all day and then we toast,' the Tony winner described. 'What's shocking is with Steve, you know, he's a wealthy man. Who would think he would have one bathroom? I mean, by 10PM, the bathroom looks like day 14 of a Carnival Cruise!' At that, the banjo-strumming honorary Oscar winner cracked: 'I thought the bathroom ended up looking like a Jackson Pollock.' 'It's catered!' The 68-year-old SCTV and SNL veteran (L) noted that the bizarre festivities (called 'Colonoscopy Eve' in Canada) take place at Steve's Los Angeles home The Tony winner joked: 'What's shocking is with Steve, you know, he's a wealthy man. Who would think he would have one bathroom? I mean, by 10PM, the bathroom looks like day 14 of a Carnival Cruise!' Regular colon cancer screenings are recommended by physicians beginning at age 45. Martin and Martin - whose friendship spans 30 years - have co-starred in movies like Three Amigos!, The Prince of Egypt, Father of the Bride I & II, and Jiminy Glick in Lalawood. Texas-born, Cali-raised Steve and Ontario-born Short were promoting their Netflix comedy special An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life, which started streaming May 25. At that, the banjo-strumming honorary Oscar winner (M) cracked: 'I thought the bathroom ended up looking like a Jackson Pollock' 30 years of friendship: Martin and Martin have co-starred in movies like Three Amigos!, The Prince of Egypt, Father of the Bride I & II, and Jiminy Glick in Lalawood The talented twosome will next take their live stage tour to the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on June 29. On the personal front, Steve will celebrate his 11th wedding anniversary with second wife Anne Stringfield on July 28, and they share a five-year-old daughter whose name hasn't been published. Meanwhile, Martin has three children - Katherine, 34; Oliver, 32; and Henry, 28 - with his late wife Nancy Dolman, who passed away in 2010 from ovarian cancer. Started streaming May 25! Texas-born, Cali-raised Steve and Ontario-born Short were promoting their Netflix comedy special An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life He's been studying photography at the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York City. And Brooklyn Beckham was showing off his skills when he attended the V&A Summer Party at London's Victoria & Albert Museum on Wednesday, armed with his camera. The 19-year-old student grappled with the expensive instrument as he joked about on the red carpet, stepping in as a paparazzo. Snap happy: Brooklyn Beckham was showing off his skills when he attended the V&A Summer Party at London 's Victoria & Albert Museum on Wednesday, armed with his camera Brooklyn was flexing his artistic muscles, laughing as he took snaps of the paps. The eldest son of Victoria and David Beckham was clad in an all-black, casual ensemble. The youngster, who has already released his own photography book called What I See, was in his element as he snapped away. In action: Brooklyn was flexing his artistic muscles, laughing as he took snaps of the paps Working his magic: The 19-year-old student grappled with the expensive instrument as he joked about on the red carpet, stepping in as a paparazzo Cool: The eldest son of Victoria and David Beckham was clad in an all-black, casual ensemble Located in Greenwich Village, Parsons Private Art and Design School is one of the most prestigious art schools in the world. The star has already made waves in the art world - by releasing a photography tome, What I See, in 2017. Despite his creative efforts, his photography book reportedly struggled to make an impact with readers and languished in the lower reaches of the Amazon best-seller list. According to The Sun last year, What I See a glossy hardback filled with snapshots taken by the 18-year old - limped to number 28,812 after being slammed as a pointless vanity project.' Aspiring photographer: The star has been studying photography at the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York City Published: The star has already made waves in the art world - by releasing a photography tome, What I See, in 2017 First opus: Despite his creative efforts, his photography book reportedly struggled to make an impact with readers and languished in the lower reaches of the Amazon best-seller list Neilsen book data report the 304 page tome has sold just 3,890 copies since its release, heralded with a star-studded central London launch party attended by parents David and Victoria Beckham, in June 2017. It has however fared better in Amazon category General Art Books for Young Adults, where it reached the top spot despite achieving little more than a third of sales boasted by the UKs leading photography books. The book had also made the Sunday Times bestseller list, while being named eighth bestselling UK photography book in 2017. It is understood to have made 46,573.74 in sales in the first four months following its release. Popular: The book made the Sunday Times bestseller list, while being named eighth bestselling UK photography book in 2017 Top education: Located in Greenwich Village, Parsons Private Art and Design School is one of the most prestigious art schools in the world Cardi B wants to have a 'lit' baby shower that starts at 9pm. But unfortunately the 25-year-old star, who originally planned to have two baby showers in two different cities, has just been told by her doctor she has stay home in Atlanta. The rapper, who is expecting her first child with fiance Offset, tweeted on Wednesday: 'I was planning to have 2 babyshowers ...One in NY and one in Atl but my doctor told me i cant fly nomore [sad emoji] Disappointed: Cardi B has been told she can't fly by her doctors so is going to have to combine the two baby showers she planned on having The Bodak Yellow hitmaker added, 'now i have to fly 60 people to Atlanta I always bragged about having 2 big families until now' The tweet came after Cardi revealed in a new interview that she wants a proper party for her baby shower. 'I want a lit baby shower. My baby showers not starting at no 5:00. My s*** is going to start at 9 p.m. because thats how I celebrate, that's how Caribbean people celebrate' she told Rolling Stone. 'I don't like baby showers that be at 5 p.m. in the backyard, eating, cooking hors doeuvres. Nah,' she added. Change of plan: Cardi B tweeted that she will have to have one big baby shower in Atlanta 'My s*** is going to start at 9 p.m. because thats how I celebrate, that's how Caribbean people celebrate' Cardi b said of her baby shower which is going to be 'lit' 'S***, I might even drink some red wine. Red wine's healthy, right?' Offset's family, who were sat nearby and laughing during the interview stopped as one of them said 'Don't let Mama see you drinking that red wine,' referring to Offset's mom, 'She's going to have a fit.' Reflecting on her relationship with the Migos star Cardi B said: 'People want to make fun of me, saying Im the fourth baby mom,' '[But] I know Im not having a baby with a s****y-a** man.' Offset, born Kiari Kendrell Cephus, has three children from previous relationships; two sons, Jordan and Kody, and a daughter Kalea Marie. Offset explained: 'We really love each other. She's real. I wanted real. I also wanted successful.' 'People want to make fun of me, saying Im the fourth baby mom,' Cardi said of her relationship with Offset who has three children from previous relationships The couple performed together in Atlanta on Saturday at the hot 107.9 Birthday Bash The hip-hop star said he isn't threatened by his fiancee's success, as some men might be. 'My mama was the man of my household,' he said, adding, 'Guys, fellas! You'll lose your wife trying to stop them from being the best they can.' Offset said he's trying to learn from Cardi in how to be more open with the public instead of putting on a tough exterior. 'That's what I need to work on my charisma in front of people,' he said. The baby wasn't planned and Bronx born Cardi said she realized she was pregnant late last year when she started being 'grossed out' by food and not feeling quite right. But Offset was delighted at the news as Cardi recalled, 'He was like, "What? Are you sure?" I said, "Yeah." And then he just started smiling really hard.' She's a Los Angeles native with a bright future who recently garnered praise for her role in Netflix's Set It Up. And the sun seems to have followed Zoey Deutch to New York City as the ascending star shined while on her way to lunch. The 23-year-old actress was all smiles in an embroidered red summer dress as she basked in the Big Apple's summer glow. Going her way: The sun continued to shine on Zoey Deutch on Wednesday as she headed to lunch in New York City Retro: Featuring leaf-like white designs, the textured garment fell to just below Zoey's knees and white kiltie loafers added to the ensemble's vintage feel The sleeveless look was an ideal choice as temperatures climbed into the mid 80s. Featuring leaf-like white designs, the textured garment fell to just below Zoey's knees and white kiltie loafers added to the ensemble's vintage feel. She carried a matching Miu Miu woven faux leather bucket bag and at first was seen with her copper red locks tied into a bun. Later she let her hair down and stopped to pose for a few cameras. The daughter of 80s beauty Lea Thompson couldn't stop smiling as she enjoyed a beautiful New York day. Ear to ear: The 23-year-old actress was all smiles in an embroidered red summer dress as she basked in the Big Apple's summer glow Zoey must be on cloud nine as her two most recent projects have received rave reviews. Her most recent film, Set It Up, follows two overworked assistants who try to get their horrible bosses out of their hair by setting them up together. The movie was released on Netflix on June 15, and currently holds a 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. Guns out: The sleeveless look was an ideal choice as temperatures climbed into the mid 80s She also recently starred in The Year of Spectacular Men, which was directed by her mother and also stars her sister, Madelyn, 27, who wrote the screenplay. Zoey has previously spoken about her mother and how she has inspired her to also pursue a career in the Hollywood movie industry. 'She works harder than anyone I know. I remember when I was a kid, she never said, 'Im so sorry I have to go to work.' She would just say, 'I love you, and Im going to work,'' she explained. 'We knew that she was proud of it, and she was also an excellent mother. There were no apologies necessary,' she added. She might be looking for romance on Love Island. But Cassidy McGill has revealed she's always aspired to be an actress. The 23-year-old blonde beauty revealed to OK! magazine that she wants to move to the US to chase her Hollywood dream, and even thinks she looks like Australian star Margot Robbie. Scroll down for video 'We could play sisters!' Love Island's Cassidy McGill (L) reveals she wants to move to the US to be an actress... and claims she looks just like Margot Robbie (R) 'The end goal would be to move to America because that's where the main film industry is,' Cassidy explained. She added that she is desperate to work on a project with Robbie because she's been told they look alike. 'We could play sisters,' Cassidy gushed. Lookout Hollywood! 'The end goal would be to move to America because that's where the main film industry is,' Cassidy explained 'I love my privacy - I like keeping to myself': Despite her acting dreams, Cassidy claims she doesn't want to be famous Despite her acting dreams, Cassidy claims she doesn't want to be famous. 'If I want to be a successful actress, then fame will come with that, but I love my privacy - I like keeping to myself,' she explained. Cassidy has dabbled in acting in the past, and has been an extra on Neighbours, the same soap Margot used to star in. Ouch: Meanwhile on Love Island last week, Cassidy caused a stir when she brutally dumped Josh Moss (pictured) in favour of intruder Dom Thomas, because he's taller Last week Cassidy caused a stir on Love Island when she brutally dumped Josh Moss in favour of intruder Dom Thomas... because he's taller. Josh told NW this week that he was serious in looking for love, and had bought a ring to propose on the show. 'I'll definitely propose', Josh said, adding that he had bought the engagement sparkler at the airport on his way to the Spanish villa on Mallorca. 'Josh had every intention of going all the way with Cass and was even planning to get down on one knee and ask the Victorian model/ bartender to spend the rest of his life with him!' NW claimed. She's the self-described 'stubborn' Melbourne nurse, who has fallen head over heels for Eden Dally on Love Island Australia. But before finding love on the show, Erin Barnett, 23, was admittedly obsessed with a Hollywood actor. Speaking to OK! magazine on Thursday, the feisty blonde admitted to bombarding the star with 'dirty' Instagram messages and comments, however he never replied. 'Wish you'd lick me like that ice cream!' Love Island Australia star Erin Barnett's 'dirty' messages to a Hollywood actor revealed as she admits to sexting him before the show 'I inbox him on Instagram, I comment on his photos. I say sexual stuff, like 'I'd let you do real bad sexual things to me, I'd lick you everywhere,'' she said, revealing the celebrity is The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus, 49. 'Dirty things. I'm sad because I've seen he's replied to people so like, what the f***? I'm offering you my body! She added: 'I'd go there with Norman Reedus. I should be put away, that's how sick my obsession is.' Norman is in a relationship with Diane Kruger and the couple are reportedly expecting a child together, according to People magazine. Forward: 'I inbox him on Instagram, I comment on his photos. I say sexual stuff, like 'I'd let you do real bad sexual things to me, I'd lick you everywhere,'' she said Erin's forward messages include her commenting on a photo of the actor licking an ice cream. 'Wish you'd lick me like that ice cream... please come to Australia.' 'I was so upset you didn't come to Australia for the walker stalker. PLEASE come to Australia so I can have my dying wish to meet you.' Revealed: The star in question is The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus, 49. Pictured here at the 'Isle of Dogs' New York Screening at Metropolitan Museum of Art on March 20, 2018 in New York City Suggestive: Erin is believed to have commented on an Instagram photo of Norman eating ice cream It comes after Erin's beau Eden, 25, admitted to sleeping with a bride-to-be before her wedding. The Prison Officer revealed he slept with a betrothed woman during her hen's party on Jonathon Moran's JMO Confidential podcast (recorded prior to Eden's arrival into the Mallorca villa). 'The bride-to-be on one boat, I did sleep with her. She said she wanted one last hurrah- and I gave it to her,' he said. Taken: Norman is in a relationship with Diane Kruger and the couple are reportedly expecting a child together, according to People magazine. The couple are pictured here at the 23rd Annual Critics' Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 11, 2018 in Santa Monica, California 'I wouldn't say it was a quickie...I went back to her hotel. He added: 'I was there for quite a while. And then I was on my way!' Eden revealed the bachelorette wasn't the only woman he hooked-up with during his topless waiting stint. He has a cheeky side too! It comes after Erin's beau Eden Dally, 25, admitted to sleeping with a bride-to-be before her wedding day 'I did topless waiting and hooked up with a few girls there,' Eden said. The Sydneysider also confirmed he has previously slept with other clients. 'Yep, I definitely did!' he said. He's been a busy boy! Eden made headlines last month when he told NW that he can't recall the number of women he's had sex with, proudly saying 'I stopped keeping a tally at 100' Eden made headlines last month when he told NW that he can't recall the number of women he's had sex with. 'I stopped keeping a tally [of girls I've slept with] at 100, but let's just say it's high up there. I'll never go back to their place though - I hate that.' Erin and Eden reportedly had sex in the villa just days after meeting on Love Island Australia, according to booted co-star Natasha Webster. She enjoyed a casual outing to an art studio on Tuesday with boyfriend Levi Meaden. And Ariel Winter then took to Instagram to post a short video selfie showing off her cleavage and her pouty lips. The actress, 20, wore a skimpy white top and her hair tied back from her face for the clip which she posted to brag about her newly coiffed eye brows, although they weren't what caught the viewer's attention. Close up: Ariel Winter then took to Instagram to post a short video selfie showing off her cleavage and her pouty lips as well as her newly tamed eyebrows The Modern Family castmember wrote: 'My brows have literally never looked better.' And then she added: 'Also ft my dry as f*** lips - thank u LA dryness :)))).' Ariel appeared to be bra-less under her cropped tank top and sported a gold pendant necklace as she sat in her car. Make-up free: The Modern Family castmember wrote: 'My brows have literally never looked better.' And then she added: 'Also ft my dry as f*** lips - thank u LA dryness :))))' Instagram selfie: Ariel appeared to be bra-less under her cropped tank top and sported a gold pendant necklace as she sat in her car On Tuesday, Ariel and Levi stopped by Color Me Mine in LA's Studio City neighborhood to paint some pottery. She had paired her white top with high-waisted black and white speckle-patterned trousers and black sandals. The fresh-faced young star sported a pair of large black-framed spectacles. Her beau, 30, whom she's been dating for a year, recently spoke about the celebrity that has come as a result of the relationship. 'I try to keep relatively the same,' the Canadian actor who stars in the crime drama Breaking In with Gabrielle Union, released last month, told People. 'Ive always kind of been a homebody so thats still the same. I just go out and come back home with my girlfriend and three dogs and chill out. ' 'This is what I do for a job, but the home and family is where the actual life is, so I try to keep that in mind,' he added. Casual: On Tuesday, she'd worn the same top along with high-waisted black and white speckle-patterned trousers and black sandals for an outing with boyfriend Levi Meaden Joint interests: The couple, who have been dating for more than a year, visited an art studio where they spent time painting pottery Lava/Republic Records Following comments made by bassist Ashley Purdy, Black Veil Brides frontman Andy Biersack has shared a statement regarding rumors that the band is breaking up after Warped Tour "This is the first I've heard of any 'break up,'" Biersack tells Alternative Press. "As far as I know, there are no plans to end the band after Warped. Or, at least if there were, I was not made aware of them." Speaking to the Another FN Podcast Tuesday, Purdy said, "We start Thursday at Warped Tour in Pomona, [California], and we are going to do, like, eight dates through the southern California area. And that's where you're going to see Black Veil Brides for the last time ever in your entire lives. So, you better f***ing go, 'cause that's gonna be it." Black Veil Brides do indeed have eight dates lineup up on Warped Tour, running from June 21 in Pomona to July 1 in Denver. However, they're also scheduled to play the Aftershock festival in Sacramento in October. It's unclear whether Purdy is counting the Aftershock date in his comments. Also on the podcast, Purdy mentioned that the members of BVB are pursuing other ventures, such as Biersack's Andy Black solo project. Seemingly in response to those comments, Biersack tells Alt Press, "I would also like to add that any additional musical projects from any of the members of BVB will always be encouraged." "While I was aware that there was interest in starting something new from some of the members, similar to my Andy Black side project or [guitarist Jake Pitts'] band Aelonia, I was unaware that there was a plan to end the band entirely and therefore I can't comment on it," Biersack says. Black Veil Brides' most recent album is this year's Vale. ABC Radio has reached out to BVB's rep for comment. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. They were joined by their pals during the first leg of their honeymoon in Turkey. But Anna Heinrich and Tim Robards are finally spending some time alone after tying the knot in Italy earlier this month... and things are getting steamy. Currently in Hungary, the Bachelor couple took a cooking class and visited the famous Hungarian thermal baths, on Wednesday. Cooking up some romance! Newlyweds Anna Heinrich and Tim Robards ditch their mates and start getting steamy on their honeymoon with a trip to the thermal baths and a spicy Paprika chicken dish Anna, who is of half-Hungarian descent, was ecstatic to be in popular European capital Budapest, saying her grandmother 'Nagyi' would have been proud her new husband was getting into the culture. The couple created a spicy paprika chicken dish together and looked cute in their matching aprons in one of her sweet Instagram snaps. 'Teaching him a thing or two about Hungarian food. my Nagyi would be proud..... now get cooking!' Anna wrote alongside it. Now we're cooking! The couple created a spicy paprika chicken dish together and looked cute in their matching aprons in one of her sweet Instagram snaps Following their cooking class, the genetically-blessed duo stripped down and showed off their perfect bodies while visiting one the city's famous thermal bath houses. Anna reportedly took Tim's breath away when she walked down the aisle during their lavish nuptials in Italy earlier this month. A guest at the wedding told NW magazine that the Bachelor star's reaction to seeing his bride-to-be walk down the aisle with her father Les, was absolutely priceless. Hot, hot, hot: Following their cooking class, the genetically-blessed duo stripped down and showed off their perfect bodies while visiting one the city's famous thermal bath houses According to the insider, the sunset ceremony took place at 6:30pm and 'Anna looked beautiful and totally at ease' as she walked towards her husband-to-be. 'She took Tim's breath away - he froze the moment he laid eyes on her!' the insider told the publication. Tim managed to regain his composure before the 'couple exchanged vows they'd written themselves'. Proud: Anna, who is of half-Hungarian descent, was ecstatic to be in popular European capital Budapest, saying her grandmother 'Nagyi' would have been proud her new husband was getting into the culture The reality TV hunk recently revealed he mapped out what he was looking for in a partner before he made his debut on The Bachelor in 2013. '(I wrote) 50 things I wanted out of the ideal woman. And pretty much all of those things came true (with Anna). Except I wrote brunette,' he explained. The newlyweds met in 2013 during the first season of The Bachelor Australia. Romance:The pair were joined by their pals during the first leg of their honeymoon in Turkey and are now spending time alone Labor is fuming over comments the prime minister made about aged-care workers, calling on him to apologise. The opposition has taken umbrage with remarks made by Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday, suggesting aged-care workers could always aspire to "a better job". "I hope he's had time to reflect on his comments and realises just how out of touch and arrogant his comments were," Labor frontbencher Julie Collins told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. "To say or imply aged-care workers in Australia do not make as valuable a contribution to society as an investment banker is outrageous." Labor tackled Mr Turnbull on his personal income tax plans during parliament's question time on Tuesday. They asked him whether an aged-care worker in Burnie, Tasmania should aspire to be an investment worker in order to better benefit from the tax cuts. Mr Turnbull replied, "the honourable member should remember that the 60-year-old aged-care worker in Burnie is entitled to aspire to get a better job". Labor latched on to the comments, with opposition frontbencher Jim Chalmers describing the remarks as a "sickening spectacle". Labor leader Bill Shorten will address reporters later on Wednesday from an aged-care centre in Canberra. Taking unexplained wealth from criminals across Australia is part of the government's plan to target illegal operations costing the nation upwards of $36 billion a year. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says serious and organised crime syndicates are operating in an increasingly fluid way across state and territory borders. "Depriving criminals of their wealth is a key measure in combating these insidious individuals," he said on Wednesday. The government has introduced legislation allowing law enforcement agencies to confiscate the assets of criminals where they can't demonstrate the wealth has been lawfully obtained. The powers will apply regardless of which state or territory the criminal behaviour occurred in. Mr Dutton said the scale and threat of crime syndicates required a national approach. A crime spree which started with a violent carjacking in Perth and led to a police chase has ended after a head-on crash on the freeway. Police say officers attempted to pull over a stolen Toyota Kluger in a car park at about 11.30am on Tuesday but the driver sped off, leading police on a 30-minute pursuit through the city's northern suburbs. The chase was aborted when the car drove on the wrong side of Mitchell Freeway just before it collided with another vehicle. Police say the 34-year man, who was armed with a gun and driving the Kluger, ran from the car but was arrested nearby. The man will face court Wednesday on a string of offences including two counts of aggravated armed robbery while two women, 26 and 25, will face court on a later date on other charges. Farmers in hardship will get an extra year of support under federal government plans to help rural and regional property owners. The farm household allowance currently provides three years of income support, planning advice and re-training assistance for farmers facing hardship, including in times of drought. But Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has introduced legislation to parliament to give those people an extra year of support. "It's an industry that all Australians should be proud of - it's a pillar of the Australian economy and it's the lifeblood of many rural and regional communities," he said. Mr Littleproud says the support is a safety net which also allows farmers to improve their position, including undertaking training for everything from a bus or truck licence, welding qualification, drone operation, web design or teaching. The legislation follows Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's tour of drought-affected communities in rural NSW and Queensland, during which farmers flagged the three-year maximum support period as a problem. It will apply to those currently receiving the allowance, those who apply in future and give an extra year of support to those who have already used their three years. A 24-year-old South Australian man has been extradited to Western Australia to face a charge of careless driving causing death over a crash on a remote highway 18 months ago. Police allege the man rolled his ute on Eyre Highway in Balladonia in the early hours of December 23, 2016, killing his 21-year-old female passenger. The man was originally due to appear in the Norseman Magistrates Court in November last year but failed to show, and has now been extradited to Perth, where he will face court on Wednesday. A livestock exporter's voluntary suspension of trade to the Middle East during its summer months is a response to "over the top" new regulations that make it unprofitable, an industry leader says. Livestock Shipping Services is focusing on South America for the moment while it reviews its Australian sheep export business in light of the new rules, which followed the Awassi Express scandal and slashed stocking densities by 28 per cent. "The regulations that have been put in place are so over the top ... now where there's stacks of room in the pens but the shipping company can't run it at a profit," Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia president Tony Seabrook told 6PR radio. NASTY NUMBERS THAT SHOW AUSSIES' TRENT BRIDGE TROUBLE *6-481: The highest ODI total ever. The previous mark was 3-444, also set by England at Trent Bridge, against Pakistan two years ago. *242-run loss: Australia's heaviest ODI defeat. The previous low point was a 206-run loss to New Zealand at Adelaide Oval in 1986. *242-run win: England's biggest ODI win. Their previous high was a 210-run victory over NZ at Edgbaston in 2015. *First time: Australia have lost four bilateral ODI series (min 2 matches) in a row. They were thumped 4-1 by England at home earlier this year, 4-1 in India last year and 2-0 in New Zealand last year. *0-100: Andrew Tye's figures from nine overs. It's the second most expensive ODI figures by an Australian. Mick Lewis' 0-113 (recorded in 2006 in Johannesburg) remains the record. *62 boundaries: A record for any team in an ODI innings. The previous mark was 59. *21 sixes: England's previous best effort in an ODI was 16. It was also an unwanted record for Australia, who have never conceded more sixes in an ODI. *21 balls: Eoin Morgan brought up his half-century with record-breaking ease. The previous best by an English batsman in an ODI was Jos Buttler's 22-ball 50. *150-plus partnerships: England had two of them. That's only happened once before in the nation's ODI history, at the same venue in 2016. Melbourne's Russell Street bomber Craig Minogue could be a step closer towards jail release after the High Court ruled a tough parole clause does not apply to him. Minogue was jailed for life in 1988, with a non-parole period of 28 years, for murdering policewoman Angela Taylor in a car bomb blast at Russell Street. He made a parole bid in 2016, but then tough laws came in, ensuring anyone who murdered a police officer had no chance for parole. On Wednesday, the High Court concluded it did not apply to Minogue because the "offence committed was indiscriminate and no particular person or class of persons was targeted." Foreign Minister Julie Bishop believes North Korea may hold the key to finding out what happened to 43 Australian soldiers still missing in action in the Korean War. According to top secret US military files, up to nine air force pilots and soldiers presumed dead may have undergone a lifelong captivity in North Korea, The Australian reported last week. Asked about the report in question time, Ms Bishop acknowledged the grief and frustration of families but maintained successive Australian governments had repeatedly sought to ascertain the status of those missing in action. "The tragic truth is the only authority that would have more information... is the North Korean regime," she said, pointing out there is very limited diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang. Australia's embassy in Seoul asked the North Korean government about the missing soldiers as recently as March. Ms Bishop said last week's historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un gives some cause for hope for the families. The meeting included a pledge to recover the remains of prisoners of war and those missing in action from the 1950-53 conflict. AAP understands Australia and the US military at the end of the month are expected to sign a deal to exchange relevant information and records relating to the lost Australian servicemen. Ian Saunders, whose father Private John Phillip Saunders was one of the missing Australians, has uncovered evidence from the Australian and US military records from 1950-1955 revealing the locations of 1700 unidentified remains. While some of the remains could be in North Korea, others are likely to be located above and below ground on Hawaiian soil and at the United Nations Military Cemetery Busan, South Korea. Mr Saunders blamed maladministration and a lack of communication between Australia and US military post-1953 to 2009, and said documented evidence had been ignored. Several cases of Salmonella have been linked to South Australian alfalfa sprout products, prompting state health authorities to issue a warning. SA Health's chief medical officer Professor Paddy Phillips said there have been 21 recent confirmed cases of Salmonella in people who have eaten SA Sprouts alfalfa sprouts. "We are advising anyone who has purchased the recalled SA Sprouts alfalfa sprouts products to return them to the place of purchase for a refund, or throw them away," Professor Phillips said on Wednesday. Treasurer Scott Morrison has warned Telstra's decision to shed 8000 jobs is a reminder of the real risks facing the Australian economy and the need to make businesses competitive. He says Australian businesses large and small are dealing with a tough and challenging global environment and need to undertake structural changes. "Unless we can ensure that our businesses can have competitive tax arrangements and more broadly are able to go out there and compete with strong economic policies ... then other countries will cut our lunch," Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. The remainder of the government's 10-year business tax cut plan is due to be voted on in the Senate next week. Mr Morrison also said, like all Australians, he was very disappointed to learn about the Telstra jobs cuts. "There is only one thing that I can say in response; that is the government has been working hard to ensure the economy they will go back into now to find another job, there are more jobs in that economy today than there were before," he said. However after record 2017 jobs growth, figures show further signs that demand for workers is cooling. Growth in job advertisements posted on the internet have fallen for a second straight month. The Department of Jobs and Small Business internet vacancy index fell 0.9 per cent in May following a drop of 0.8 per cent the previous month, although it was still 5.8 per cent higher over the year. Job ads fell in all eight occupational groups monitored by the department with the largest falls for sales workers and labourers, which both fell 1.5 per cent in the month. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index for May, which indicates the likely pace of economic activity in three to nine months, also suggests slowing growth. "The May update is the weakest since September last year and while the index growth rate still indicates momentum is running slightly above trend, there has been a clear shift lower in the first half of 2018," Westpac senior economist Matthew Hassan said. He said the latest national accounts which showed a rate of 3.1 per cent over the year to March was broadly consistent with the stronger growth pulse seen in the leading index over much of 2017. "While that pulse carried into the first few months of 2018 it has faded noticeably since February," he said. Parliamentarians just want to "assassinate the reputation" of each other and one government minister says he's sick of it. Small Business Minister Craig Laundy had a crack at the behaviour of colleagues during a speech in parliament, only an hour after Speaker Tony Smith issued a warning during Question Time. Mr Laundy said Australians should be proud of its politicians but instead people were put off by MPs tearing each other apart. "We stand here and we assassinate the reputation of everyone. And I'm not surprised people are over it, I'm over it too," he said. "We just want to throw barbs at either side of the chamber." He said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had turned his back on his career to serve the public and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten should also be proud of serving his community. Earlier the speaker warned MPs against making character assessments, following a description of Mr Turnbull as "snobbish" by Labor MP Julie Collins and others similar issues when parliament last sat. "My personal view is this demeans the house," Mr Smith said. "If it continues down this path the parliament will be demeaned and the public rightly will be quite dissatisfied." The Northern Territory government has removed 15 children from their families around the Tennant Creek region since the rape of a two-year-old girl in the town attracted national condemnation in February. Territory Families chief executive Ken Davies concedes his department should have done more for child's family earlier, with a history emerging of multiple children exposed to violence, abuse and neglect. "We have taken additional children into care since that incident as a consequence of the lessons learned, 15 in fact in that region," he told a parliamentary estimates hearing on Wednesday. A man has been charged with multiple historical sexual assault offences involving two teenagers more than 20 years ago in and around Sydney. Police allege the man, arrested on Tuesday morning in Kellyville Ridge, sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy during a youth camp at a caravan park in Narrabeen in April 1992 and indecently assaulted a 17-year-old boy he worked with in Wisemans Ferry in late-1998. The 47-year-old man faced Blacktown Local Court charged with seven historical offences including two counts of homosexual intercourse with a male under 18. He was granted conditional bail to appear at Manly Local Court in mid-August, NSW Police said in a statement on Wednesday. A NSW senior constable is to face court accused of assaulting a 20-year-old woman during her arrest near Orange in late 2017. The 20-year-old victim suffered facial injuries and a piece of her jewellery was damaged during the incident in the Orange area on December 30. NSW Police on Wednesday revealed the 33-year-old officer, who is now attached to the Northern Region, was issued with a court attendance notice for assault and malicious damage. His employment is "under review" and he is expected to appear in Orange Local Court on July 30. Former prime minister Tony Abbott says Liberal backbenchers could cross the floor to vote against the government's national energy guarantee. Mr Abbott says Malcolm Turnbull should pay more attention to the backbench on the energy plan, adding that no one would consider lightly crossing the floor. "But I don't think we can be expected to support a policy that will continue to drive prices up and which will deny our industries the affordable 24/7 power they need for jobs to continue," Mr Abbott told 2GB radio on Wednesday. A Victorian government campaign promoting its Deadly Questions website, which encourages probing and controversial questions of Aboriginals, has been deemed too risque for one advertising agency. The government decided to pull out from using APN billboards after the company did not want to use two of seven posters because of concerns they might breach the advertising code of ethics. The ads feature questions including "Is being Aboriginal just the colour of your skin?" and "Why can't Aboriginal people just get over the past?". One Nation's West Australian president quit the role and announced he'd run as an independent in the Darling Range by-election because the party rejected his nomination, state leader Colin Tincknell says. When Doug Shaw was appointed to the interim role, he said he wouldn't seek to be a candidate but changed his mind and didn't pass the vetting stage "so he was pissed off", Mr Tincknell said. "He didn't measure up to the One Nation candidate who did get through. Its a shame that Doug didn't accept the decision," Mr Tincknell told AAP on Wednesday. Police and SES crews are continuing to scour bushland north of Sydney for the body of a Chinese woman who was allegedly murdered by a male housemate. Detectives believe Campsie woman Qi Yu, 28, was transported in her car to the area near Hornsby, Berowra, Cowan and Mount Kuring-gai on the night she went missing nearly two weeks ago. Her housemate, 19-year-old Shuo Dong, was last week arrested and charged with murder after being released from hospital. Dozens of police and SES officers search bushland at Berowra on Wednesday for any sign of Ms Yu's body. The operation has so far drawn involved local police, the rescue squad, mounted officers and the riot squad. Ms Yu's white Toyota Corolla was dumped in Burwood in the city's west following her disappearance. Police previously urged bushwalkers in the area to keep an eye out for evidence. Ms Yu's family travelled to Sydney but are hesitant to make any public comment. Dong will next appear in Burwood Local Court on July 9. A Canadian ship ablaze on the NSW south coast is proving "difficult to access" as firefighters battle it for a third day. Flames broke out in the cargo hold of the Iron Chieftain on Monday morning as crews were unloading dolomite at Port Kembla Harbour, with all escaping unharmed. The blaze on the outer deck was put out later that day but a "deep-seated fire" continues to burn in the cargo hold which is "proving difficult to access", NSW Fire and Rescue says. "While the fire has been contained, firefighters are working to extinguish the blaze completely." Crews are battling the fire from the wharf and ship's deck, while tug boats are applying water to keep its fuel tanks cool. NSW Fire and Rescue expects the operation, which has also involved police and ambulance officers, the state's Port Authority and NSW Environment Protection Authority, to continue "over the next few days". Laws creating a new criminal offence for those who incite violence based on a person's race, religion, gender or sexuality in NSW have passed parliament. Attorney-General Mark Speakman announced the changes on Tuesday, saying existing measures in the Anti-Discrimination Act were so ineffective not one person had been prosecuted since their introduction three decades ago. The changes, which passed the upper house on Wednesday evening, mean those who incite violence - including online - could now face a maximum penalty of three years behind bars and a fine of $11,000. "No one should ever feel unsafe because of who they are or what they believe," Mr Speakman posted on Twitter. Today's Birthday, June 21: Australian television presenter Shelley Craft (1976 - ). Renovation show guru Shelley Craft is returning for her 10th straight season as co-host and challenge master of Nine's long-running television ratings bonanza The Block. The television presenter was recently on set as contestants and tradies transformed Melbourne's notorious Gatwick Hotel - previously derelict housing for the drug addicts, homeless and the mentally ill - into eight luxury apartments. Filming at the St Kilda site started in February and wrapped up in late April or May, but producers remain tight-lipped about an air-date for the franchise's 14th season. Born Shelley Lorraine Iliff in Brisbane in 1976, the Queenslander grew up as one of four siblings and attended a local private school. A work experience stint at the Seven Network led to a production assistant role and then her television debut, presenting Saturday Disney while still a teenager. Craft hosted the children's television program, which aired a range of Disney cartoons, for five years before joining the network's travel show The Great Outdoors in 2002. She also covered the 2000 Sydney Olympics, 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Australian Open and Melbourne Cup for six consecutive years. She advanced her hosting skills on Perfect Match Australia in 2002, Guinness Book of World Records in 2005 and Carols in the Domain in 2006. Craft's 2001 marriage to teenage sweetheart Brett De Billinghurst broke down in 2007, the same year she severed ties with Seven. She was snapped up by the rival Nine Network in 2008 to co-host lifestyle show Domestic Blitz with celebrity chippy Scott Cam. She later replaced Toni Pearen as host of Australia's Funniest Home Videos. In 2011, she joined Cam for The Block's fourth season and has remained a permanent fixture, putting contestants through their home-improvement paces. Craft got married again in 2009 to real estate agent Christian Sergiacomi, who she worked alongside on The Great Outdoors. They have two daughters, Eadie and Milla. Sydney homicide detectives are searching for a car driven by a Thai national 12 days before his body was found bound and gagged on the side of a road. Wachria "Mario" Phetmang, 33, was last seen alive on May 25 at a South Hurstville service station driving the silver 2004 Hyundai Terracan with Victorian registration URK109. Police on Wednesday confirmed the car was not his and they've not been able to find it since Mr Phetmang's body was found bound, gagged, wrapped in plastic and covered in a mattress protector. He was on the side of the busy Homebush Bay Drive, about 16km away. Detective Superintendent Scott Cook concedes the case is "unusual". "It does indicate to us certain activities of certain people but we don't want to be blind to all the motives," he said on Wednesday. The Mr Phetmang had no criminal history, was well-liked by friends and had been in Australia for about a decade, living in Hurstville. Police have urged anyone with dashcam footage of the Sydney Olympic Park area in the days leading up to June 6 to come forward. Tony Abbott once ran the country but now says he could vote against his own government to sink the national energy guarantee. The former prime minister has been campaigning to build a new coal-fired power station and is ramping up his efforts to change the coalition's energy plans. "I hope it doesn't come to questions of crossing the floor, I really do. It's not something that any Liberal would lightly do," Mr Abbott told 2GB radio on Wednesday. "But I don't think we can be expected to support a policy that will continue to drive prices up and which will deny our industries the affordable 24/7 power they need for jobs to continue." Mr Abbott and several other pro-coal MPs spoke up in the coalition party room on Tuesday, pushing for the national energy guarantee to focus less on emissions. "I think there's been a little bit too much taking the back bench for granted on energy policy," Mr Abbott told 2GB. "The government has got to sit down and take its own backbench as seriously as it takes the Senate crossbench." The government has been under pressure to come up with a solution to rising power prices due to retailers price-gouging, generators gold-plating their network and the sudden shutdown of the Hazelwood coal-fired power station. Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg is taking the national energy guarantee to the states for their agreement but Mr Abbott wants MPs to have a say on the final deal in the party room before it goes to parliament. The coalition policy is "technology neutral", meaning it does not subsidise any particular form of generation, while requiring generators to deliver affordable and reliable power that meets emissions targets. The government is inching closer to passing its $144 billion income tax cuts package, despite hitting a speed-bump in the Senate. Under the first of three stages in the plan, low- and middle-income earners would get tax relief of up to $530 a year from July 1. But that part of the package isn't behind the tense political battle. Despite opposition from Labor, the Greens, independent Tim Storer and Centre Alliance, the government is on the verge of clinching support for the full suite of cuts. After the Senate on Wednesday dumped the contentious third stage, which will benefit people earning up to $200,000 from 2024, the government is using parliamentary procedure to restore the package. Debate was gagged in the upper house on Wednesday, clearing the way for the bill to pass the Senate. It will return to the House on Thursday where the government has the numbers to torpedo the amendment which split the package. The government looks increasingly likely to have the support to pass all the tax cuts when it returns to the Senate. Pauline Hanson has hinted she could support the full package, with the two One Nation votes shaping as crucial for the government. Labor's Senate leader Penny Wong said the government's tactics were pathetic, targeting her opposite number in the upper house, Mathias Cormann. "This is a complete dummy spit by Senator Cormann," Senator Wong told parliament. "You lose on one amendment and now you want to guillotine the debate. I mean, really?" Senator Cormann said the move was the only way to achieve the government's aim of passing tax cuts by the end of the week. "We are committed to delivering income tax relief to hard-working families and we want the government's plan to be legislated in full and unamended," he said. Senator Storer issued a scathing attack on Centre Alliance, the former Nick Xenophon Team he was once a member of. He said the minor party's two senators had sided with the government to guillotine debate, soon after voting to scrap the package's final stage. "Today Centre Alliance turned its back on the principles central to Nick Xenophon and the party he started," Senator Storer said. Days after thousands of people paid tribute to Eurydice Dixon on the Melbourne field where she was found raped and murdered, her friends and family will remember her at a private funeral. The service for the aspiring comedian in Brunswick on Thursday comes amid a week of political debate, inspired by her death, about what can be done to improve safety for women. Victoria's Women's Affairs Minister Natalie Hutchins says Australia is enduring a "gendered violence crisis", with 30 women already murdered in the nation in 2018. "(Eurydice) was denied her right to get home safely, she was denied her right to life," she told parliament on Tuesday. Opposition spokeswoman Emma Kealy says more needs to be done than installing CCTV cameras. She's calling for proactive mental health services to try to identify and prevent serious sex offenders. "Our community must not just feel safe, it must be safe," she said. Thousands of people on Monday evening gathered for a solemn vigil at the Carlton park where Ms Dixon was discovered. She was killed on her way home from performing a gig at Melbourne's Highlander Bar on June 12. Jaymes Todd, 19 of Broadmeadows, is charged with her rape and murder. Former US Open winner Samantha Stosur has won back-to-back matches on grass for the first time since 2015 after beating Lara Arruabarrena in straight sets to advance to the quarter-finals of the Mallorca Open. The world No.98 won 6-3 6-4 against the Spaniard to qualify for her first grass-court last-eight match since Eastbourne in 2011, the year of her Flushing Meadows triumph. She will face either Polona Hercog or Alison Riske - who play on Thursday - for a place in the semi-finals. Top seed Caroline Garcia also moved through the draw with a straight-sets win over Sweden's Johanna Larsson. Garcia's 6-4 6-3 win set up a last-eight clash with American qualifier Sofia Kenin. Western Force hooker Heath Tessmann felt like Ron Burgundy last year when he experienced the ultimate highs and lows of life within the space of 24 hours. Tessmann was left devastated when Rugby Australia axed the Force from Super Rugby on August 11. But the very next day, he was celebrating the biggest joy of his life when he welcomed daughter Grace into the world. "As Ron Burgundy would say, I was in a small glass case of emotion basically," Tessmann said, in reference to a famous quote from the American film Anchorman. "I was all over the place, going from such lows to such incomparable highs. "It was a pretty horrible time (when the Force was axed), but Grace gave me a lot of perspective throughout the whole process." Tessmann had the opportunity of continuing his career in either France or Japan following the Force's axing. But when billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest launched World Series Rugby, Tessmann felt compelled to stick around and help it grow. The 34-year-old has enjoyed the experience, and he'll get another taste on Friday night when the Force take on the Crusaders at nib Stadium. Tessmann feels the introduction of WSR and its attacking brand of rugby is exactly what the sport needs. "I think it's exciting," Tessmann said. "I was a rugby fan first and foremost. I'm lucky enough to do a job that's my dream job. "But I felt myself growing tired of Super Rugby and how rugby was run down here in the southern hemisphere. "WSR has been invigorating for me." The Force suffered a 28-12 loss to the Rebels a fortnight ago. But if the two foes face off again in the future, Tessmann is confident the outcome will be different. "I think it came down to them having spent more time in the saddle with each other," Tessmann said. "I feel really confident that if we were to play that game in a month or so, we'd probably win that game." The Crusaders sit on top of the Super Rugby table with a 12-2 record. And although the defending champions will be missing their current All Blacks stars on Friday night, they still boast a squad laden with talent, including Israel Dagg at fullback. An 37-year-old Australian woman and her four-year-old daughter have been killed in a car crash in Sri Lanka. The pair were travelling with two other Australians when their van crashed into a truck parked on the side of the road near Nagoda, about two hours south of the capital, Colombo, local media reports on Thursday. The four Australians and the driver of the container truck were injured and admitted to the Kalutara Nagoda Hospital, but the woman and her daughter died, Colombo Page said. Melbourne Zoo has welcomed a baby spider monkey into its tree-swinging ranks, the only member of the gangly species to be born at the facility in seven years. First-time mum Isobella gave birth to the healthy youngster on Saturday, watched on by keepers in a complication-free delivery. "It's always exciting to have baby spider monkeys at the zoo, but an endangered primate is extra special," primate manager Harna Burton said. Keepers are still none the wiser on the baby's gender. "We're not sure yet if it's a boy or a girl," she said as the media caught its first glimpses of the tiny creature. "Mum's holding it very closely, so we can't quite see. Once we do, we'll pick out a name." Staff hailed the swift and natural birth a "hard-won achievement". It comes after the French-born Isobella, who arrived via Dubbo Zoo three years ago, experienced problems throughout her pregnancy. She is already warming to parenthood, Ms Burton said, along with 20-year-old dad Oren who has turned protector. "We do see mum holding (the baby) here and there and grooming (it) - doing all the right things," she said. Isobella will provide round-the-clock care to the baby for the next 10 weeks and is unlikely to leave its side for at least a year. It's the Victorian zoo's first spider monkey birth since now seven-year-old Estela swung into the hearts of visitors in January 2011. Wild spider monkeys are found in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, with females only giving birth once every two to five years. The long-limbed and tailed species are 'threatened', according to an international conservation list, due to deforestation and indigenous peoples often hunting them for food. "It's really exciting to have a baby that's contributing to a breeding program," Ms Burton said. Smart phones could be banned across NSW schools as part of a state review on the use of the devices following parent concerns and the rise of cyberbullying. Education Minister Rob Stokes ordered the review on Thursday into the use of technological devices in schools, which will be led by prominent child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg. "While smartphones connect us to the world in ways never imagined just a decade ago, they raise issues that previous generations have not had to deal with," Mr Stokes said in a statement. "In the classroom and in the playground, smartphones provide opportunities for students and parents to stay connected, but can also create other problems. "From screen time, to cyberbullying and social media, smartphones have generated concerns for parents, teachers and students. Schools need to have better rules in place around phones." The city of Melbourne is considering restricting vehicles in the CBD, lowering the speed limit and increasing parking fees for on-street parking in a bid to force cars out of the city centre. Two discussion papers are expected to be released on Thursday outlining the radical plan to encourage a pedestrian thoroughfare, The Herald Sun reports. A 30km/h speed limit would be imposed, streets in the CBD would be reduced to a single lane each way and several left and right turns would be blocked, to stop motorists crossing the Hoddle Grid, bounded by Flinders, La Trobe, Spencer and Spring streets. The federal government is being tight-lipped on a proposal to link funding for private schools to the amount of income tax paid by parents. The National School Resources Board is expected to recommend the government use data-matching tools to examine tax returns and child enrolments, Fairfax Media reported on Thursday. "The board is consulting widely and those stakeholders may or may not be talking to individuals. What appeals to me is school funding is distributed fairly," Education Minister Simon Birmingham told the ABC. A 27-year-old mother has been charged with child neglect after her baby boy was taken to hospital in April suffering brain, eye and spinal injuries that have left him permanently disabled. Nurses at The Children's Hospital at Westmead notified police after the seven-week-old boy was admitted in April suffering ongoing seizures. Detectives from State Crime Command's Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad arrested a 27-year-old woman at a Dundas home on Wednesday morning. It's alleged the boy, who is now in the care of relatives, had been suffering seizures for at least 24 hours before the mother took him to hospital. She was granted bail and is due to appear at Parramatta Local Court on July 17 House Democrat Juan Vargas participated in a loud and rare protest against a sitting president by US lawmakers inside the US Capitol. Vargas and other Democrats were protesting the immigration policies of President Donald Trump, who was meeting with Republicans President Donald Trump on Tuesday came face to face with furious Democratic lawmakers who launched a loud and very rare US Capitol protest of the American leader over his controversial immigration policies. After huddling for 45 minutes with fellow Republicans to discuss immigration, Trump exited a meeting room only to be shouted at by a handful of House Democrats angry over the thousands of children who have been separated from their parents as they cross into the country. "Quit separating the kids, they're separating the children!" congressman Juan Vargas, a Democrat from southern California, yelled to Trump, as he help up a sign that read "Families belong together." "Mr. President, don't you have kids? Don't you have kids Mr. President?" Vargas continued, as Trump waved and made his exit along with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. "How would you like it if they separated your kids?" Another lawmaker shouted: "We won't go away!" US lawmakers are known to occasionally express disapproval or frustration to a commander in chief -- especially behind closed doors -- when he comes to Capitol Hill. But it is highly unusual that opposition lawmakers will stage such a dramatic, loud and public protest just feet from the president in the halls of the historic US Capitol. Passions have been running high in recent days, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers, faith leaders, former first ladies and others up in arms over the family separations at the US-Mexico border. The Trump administration has defended the policy of mandatory arrests of all people crossing the border illegally, which prompts separation of children from their parents as their case awaits adjudication. Even with fellow Republicans demanding the separations be stopped, Trump doubled down on the policy early Tuesday, saying: "When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away." US President Donald Trump (R) meets with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) at the start of their historic US-North Korea summit, where agreement on returning US remains was reached North Korea may soon return a first out of 200 sets of remains of American soldiers who died during the Korean War, after an agreement reached last week by Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, a US official said Tuesday. "Preparations continue" to receive the remains, the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "It could happen in the next few days." The US and North Korean leaders agreed to the repatriations during their historic June 12 summit in Singapore. "On several occasions in the past, DPRK officials have indicated they possess as many as 200 sets of remains they had recovered over the years," the Pentagon said in factsheet updated Monday about those reported missing in action during the Korean War of 1950-1953. "The commitment established within the Joint Statement between President Trump and Chairman Kim would repatriate these as was done in the early 1990s and would reinforce the humanitarian aspects of this mission." The document used the acronym for North Korea's formal name. More than 35,000 Americans were killed on the Korean Peninsula during the war, which ended in an armistice with no peace treaty. Among them, 7,700 are still considered missing, including 5,300 in North Korea alone, according to the Pentagon. Between 1990 and 2005, the United States was granted the repatriation of 229 sets of remains from the North under an earlier agreement that was subsequently suspended when ties between the two countries deteriorated. Rapper Big Sean performs at a Ford Motor Company event where Ford announced plans to renovate the historic, 105-year-old Michigan Central train station in Detroit, Michigan on June 19, 2018 Bill Ford Jr., the great-grandson of the American carmaker's founder, stood in front of thousands Tuesday in Detroit, with an abandoned train station in the background, and entwined the company's future with that of the dilapidated building behind him. "This station is a symbol," Ford declared. "We're making a big bet on our future." The company -- one of America's "Big Three" automakers -- bought the Michigan Central Station building, a Beaux Arts gem opened in 1913 that has stood abandoned and decaying for three decades, to make it the centerpiece of a new urban high-tech campus. The once proud building has faded, but is poised for much the same renewal that Detroit residents and businesses hope will mark the Motor City's post-recession, post-bankruptcy renaissance. At an event, the Ford Motor Company unveiled its lofty plans: a space of 1.2 million square feet (111,500 square meters) spanning several city blocks, where the company's employees, and those of partner firms and startups, will work on innovations such as autonomous driving and electrification. "Just as Detroit has had to reimagine what it's going to be, we have to do the same, because everything is changing," Ford said. - Courting millennials - Ford Motor Company executive chairman Bill Ford speaks at a press conference at Michigan Central Ford hopes to open the redeveloped train station in three to four years and make it a "magnet for high-tech talent," according to a company statement. Part of the company's gamble is that, by moving its innovations divisions into Detroit's urban core, Ford can attract the technology-savvy millennials it needs. The company's main headquarters will remain in nearby suburban Dearborn. "We want the best startups, the smartest talent, the kind of thinkers, engineers and problem-solvers who see things differently, to come and partner with us here in Detroit," Ford said. The venerable American brand is facing the same challenge as other carmakers, which is basically an image problem, said Michigan State University marketing and communications professor Robert Kolt. "I've never heard a student say, 'Well, I want to work for a car company.' They just don't say it," Kolt told AFP. "If you want to attract young people, you build a Silicon Valley-type of headquarters." The train station project is a matter of survival for Ford, which has fallen behind its Detroit rivals GM and Fiat Chrysler (FCA) in developing self-driving cars. GM plans to mass-produce autonomous cars by 2019, and FCA has an expanding partnership with Google parent Alphabet's Waymo autonomous car division. But Ford won't have an autonomous car for consumers until 2021 -- a full two years after GM. Building a high-tech nerve center can help the company down the road, said industry analyst David Whiston of Morningstar. He sees promise in initiatives such as Ford's Silicon Valley research facility. "In the past couple of years, they've done all sorts of things showing that they're making the right investments," Whiston told AFP. "They just need the time." - Automakers evolving - Ford is gambling that by moving its innovations divisions into Detroit's urban core, the company can attract the technology-savvy millennials it needs In some ways, Ford is actually ahead of many other car companies that realize they must evolve, but have not figured out how, said London-based analyst Philippe Houchois of Jefferies. "To develop new mobility services and a new relationship with customers, they feel their traditional staff is not the right structure," Houchois told AFP. Carmakers need more coders, scientists and researchers. They also need young, urban dwellers, who understand the needs of an increasingly-urbanized customer base that will require more car-sharing and delivery via autonomous fleets. "The industry needs to balance being a manufacturer and service provider," Houchois said. "Autos as product and as an industry will probably change more in the next 10, 15 years, than they have in the previous 50 or 60." North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping make a toast at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Kim Jong Un declared North Korea's unstinting "friendship, unity and cooperation" with Beijing during his third visit to China this year, in a show of loyalty to his main ally following a landmark summit with US President Donald Trump. The two-day visit which ends Wednesday is designed to reassure Beijing that Pyongyang will not neglect its interests as Trump and the young autocrat move into uncharted diplomatic terrain. The performance is part of a delicate balancing act for Kim, who analysts say is seeking to play US and Chinese interests off each other while maintaining good relations with Beijing, his economic patron and diplomatic protector. China and the US both hope to see the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons, but Beijing is concerned Washington and Pyongyang might move closer at its expense, a possibility that China sees as threatening to its economic and security interests in the region. While China was not present at the June 12 summit in Singapore, it lent Kim a plane to travel to the city-state, a clear sign that it remains an influential force in the diplomatic shuffle. No caption The Cold War-era allies, which fought side-by-side against US-led UN forces and South Korea in the 1950-1953 Korean War, have sought to repair ties strained by Pyongyang's nuclear tests and Beijing's support of subsequent UN sanctions. Kim chose Beijing for his first official foreign trip in March and met Xi again in May in the northeastern port city of Dalian. Kim's agenda for Wednesday was not made public. An AFP journalist saw a motorcade leaving the Diaoyutai guest house for foreign dignitaries in Beijing, but it was unclear where it was headed. During his meeting with Xi Tuesday, Kim thanked China for "positive and sincere support and good help for the successful" summit with Trump, according to North Korea's official KCNA news agency. The North Korean leader, who was greeted by a military honour guard and cheering children at the Great Hall of the People Tuesday, said he valued the "recently strengthened strategic cooperation" between the two countries. The first ladies of North Korea and China joined their husbands Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping at the gathering in Beijing "He expressed the determination and will to further develop the closer relations of friendship, unity and cooperation between the two parties and the two peoples of the DPRK and China," KCNA said. Kim also invoked the "prospect for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula" following his meeting with Trump. For his part, Xi told Kim that China "speaks highly" of his summit with Trump and he urged Washington and Pyongyang to implement their agreement struck in Singapore. The Chinese leader vowed that Beijing would continue to play a "constructive role" in the nuclear diplomacy. - Trade card - The official media of both countries did not say whether Kim and Xi discussed the prospect of easing UN sanctions that have crippled North Korea's economy, though analysts said it could have been part of the agenda. Shin Bum-cheol, a senior fellow at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said Kim and Xi were likely seeking "common ground" following the Singapore summit. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects an honour guard accompanied by Chinese President Xi Jinping For China, North Korea can serve as "an important card" as Beijing faces a potential trade war with the United States," Shin told AFP. "For the North, it can also show to the world, especially the US, that Beijing has Pyongyang's back if the North's ties with the US sour in the future," Shin said. North Korean officials have also visited China recently to learn about its economic reforms -- yet another sign of Pyongyang's reliance on Beijing for its economic wellbeing. "We are happy to see that the DPRK made a major decision to shift the focus to economic construction, and the development of the DPRK's socialist cause has entered a new stage in history," Xi told Kim, according to China's official Xinhua news agency. China has backed United Nations sanctions against its ally but indicated last year that the UN Security Council could consider easing the punitive measures. Voters in the US capital Washington have approved a policy to gradually raise the minimum wage that tipped workers receive Voters in the US capital Washington approved a measure Tuesday to require businesses to pay tipped workers at least $15 per hour as a base hourly wage by 2025. The Minimum Wage Amendment Act, or "Initiative 77" as the ballot measure is known, has divided restaurant employees and owners and sparking a heated debate in Washington. It passed with 55.14 percent support, according to the District of Columbia Board of Elections. Opponents of the measure argued that it would cause menu prices to rise and tips to decline, hurting both restaurant owners and the servers the move is designed to protect. Employers of tipped workers are currently exempt from paying the standard minimum wage, and some waiters and waitresses are paid as little as $3.33 an hour. But many tipped workers are against the legislation because they currently earn most of their money through tips, and they argue that a decrease in tipping -- due to increased prices -- could severely affect their income. Employers are currently legally required to make up the difference between an employee's earnings and the full minimum wage, which is currently $12.50, if their tips fall short. But Christopher Maggiano, a Washington small business owner who supported Initiative 77, as the measure is known, said "this is difficult to enforce" with a high rate of noncompliance. Israeli planes carried out strikes against targets in the Gaza Strip following rocket fire from the Palestinian territory Israeli fighter jets hit 25 targets in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian territory, the army said. Around 45 rockets were fired overnight from Gaza towards Israel, the army said in a statement. Seven were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system. In retaliation, Israeli planes carried out three raids against military compounds belonging to the Islamist movement Hamas, it said. The fresh hostilities come with tensions high in Gaza after mass protests and clashes broke out along the border on March 30. At least 132 Palestinians have been killed. There have been no Israeli fatalities. Palestinians are demanding the right to return to the homes their families fled or were expelled from during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel. The Gaza Strip is controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas which Israel considers its bitter enemy. "The Hamas terror organisation targeted Israeli civilians throughout the night with a severe rocket attack and is dragging the Gaza Strip and its civilians down a deteriorating path," the Israeli army said. Israel maintains the use of live ammunition is necessary to defend its borders and stop infiltrations. It accuses Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas of seeking to use the protests as cover for attacks. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and other international stakeholders have warned that Gaza is close to the brink of war. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008 and observe a tense ceasefire that is regularly shaken by hostile acts. The Free Syrian Lawyers have worked their way through deeds held in abandoned registries in Azaz and other towns The external hard drive had been smuggled from Syrian regime territory through jihadist-held towns and into Turkey. When Ghazwan Koronful finally got his hands on it, he sighed in relief. Loaded onto the disk were pictures of thousands of title deeds from towns in central Syria recently recaptured by government troops and largely emptied of their residents. Fearing Syria's regime would expropriate abandoned properties or tamper with deeds, a network of activists and lawyers set their covert plan into motion. "It was our most complex operation yet," said Koronful, a 65-year-old Syrian lawyer who heads the network from Turkey, where he has lived in exile since 2012. For nearly five years, Koronful's Free Syrian Lawyers (FSL) have been working to preserve property deeds and other civil paperwork in Syria's opposition areas. They enter town registries, photograph the documents, carefully log and organise them, then smuggle the hard drives across Syria's sealed northern border into Turkey. Syrian deeds "In total, we've got eight terabytes of documents, about 1.7 million documents -- court records, wills, birth, marriage, and death certificates," said Koronful. Among them are up to 450,000 land-related documents from northern and central Syria -- title deeds, contracts, and other papers that displaced Syrians could use to prove property ownership. These documents are crucial now, Koronful explained, as the government passes a series of laws that rights defenders fear may unfairly dispossess Syrians from their homes. "Our work simultaneously protects against hostilities that could damage the deeds, and against the regime's attempts through these new laws to tamper with people's properties," he told AFP. "Those files represent the hope of return." - Race against air strikes - FSL sprang into action after Homs city's registry was destroyed in a fire in 2013, which activists suspected was a regime bid to strip oppositionists of their land. Smuggling out original deeds from other towns was risky and could be considered tampering, so the FSL's 15 lawyers opted for the next best thing: digital copies. With help from civil society group The Day After, they travelled to Turkey to learn how to handle, photograph, and archive documents. Back in Syria, they began working through abandoned registries in northern rebel towns: Harem, Azaz, Saraqeb. "We set up a little studio in the room with the most light," said an FSL lawyer still in Syria who identified himself as Samer. With just four Canon digital cameras, two laptops, flashes, and tripods, they photographed thousands of deeds, making sure names and dates were clearly visible. "As soon as we'd finish one 200-page ledger, we'd upload the SD card onto the computer. Meanwhile, the camera didn't stop. We'd put a new card in and start photographing again," Samer, 43, told AFP. Each month, they emptied their computers onto external drives which they sent to Koronful in Turkey. The registry in the town of Al-Bab was destroyed by the Islamic State group They raced against air strikes that damaged cameras and wounded staff members, worrying registries would be bombed to pieces before they could finish. "When we reached the last page, we'd be so happy to be finished. Whatever happens now, if we get bombed, we have a drive with everything on it," said Samer. Sometimes they lost the race. In 2013, days before FSL was to begin photographing deeds in the northern town of Al-Bab, the Islamic State group swept in and destroyed the registry, Koronful said. They now struggle to get permission to enter registries from suspicious rebels, especially in jihadist-run Idlib, occasionally photographing in secret. - A chance to return - Since Syria's war erupted in 2011, more than six million people have been internally displaced and another five million have fled the country. More than 920,000 have been displaced this year alone, the UN said, the fastest rate yet in the seven-year war. A vast majority leave behind property-related papers, the Norwegian Refugee Council found in polls last year. That puts them at risk of losing access to their land through decrees like Law 10, which allows for property expropriation for urban development. Koronful fears the regime could also dispossess refugees through legislation on re-issuing damaged deeds. More than six million Syrians have been internally displaced by the war A set of laws allows for missing titles to be restituted using digital copies, but it remains unclear if the government would accept a version produced by opposition-affiliated lawyers. "We're expecting a lot of people to ask for copies," said The Day After's Amr Shannan, pointing to similar post-conflict property disputes in Lebanon and Bosnia as precedents. For now, the digital titles remain tucked away on a pair of hard drives, one in Turkey and another in an undisclosed European city. They aren't yet searchable, but are archived in the same order as the originals. "If there's going to be a return of refugees, one of the most important factors is that they have homes or land to return to," said Shannan. Ready to meet: South Sudan President Salva Kiir, left, and rebel leader Riek Machar The two figures at the centre of the civil war that has ravaged South Sudan are scheduled to meet on Wednesday for the first time in nearly two years. Ethiopia, which has helped broker the meeting, says rebel leader Riek Machar, who fled South Sudan in July 2016, is expected to meet face-to-face with the country's president, Salva Kiir. The official scope of the talks is broad -- to build bridges between the two. But analysts say the outcome remains unclear given their notoriously volatile relationship, and there is doubt whether the meeting will even take place. Once comrades-in arms in the fight for independence, Kiir and Machar experienced a bitter falling out, a development that played a key part in the civil war that blights the future of the world's youngest state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly a third of its population of 12 million have been driven out of their homes, many of them to the brink of starvation. The two will meet at the invitation of Ethiopia's new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who also chairs the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional bloc that has taken the lead in thus-far fruitless peace negotiations. No caption Abiy "will call upon the two leaders to narrow their gap and work for the pacification of South Sudan and relieve the burden of death and uprooting of South Sudanese people," Meles Alem, Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman, said. Kiir's attendance has been confirmed by South Sudan's ambassador to Ethiopia, James Pitia Morgan, while Machar's attendance has been confirmed by Manasseh Zindo, a senior official in his Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in Opposition rebel group. A landlocked state with a large ethnic mix, South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long and brutal war. The event was hailed around the world and by celebrity supporters such as George Clooney. But in 2013, Kiir accused Machar, his vice president, of plotting a coup against him, and violence erupted between the two factions, feeding on the country's brooding ethnic tensions. - New fighting - They have not met since July 2016, when heavy fighting in the capital Juba signalled the collapse of a 2015 peace deal and Machar fled to South Africa. The renewed violence spread across the country, spawning numerous new armed opposition groups and further complicating peace efforts. Millions of people in South Sudan have fled their homes because of the violence Despite the pressure, observers say Kiir has little incentive to make concessions to his rivals. His soldiers are winning militarily, while the opposition is more fractured than ever before. Efforts to revitalise the 2015 agreement resulted in a ceasefire in December which lasted just hours before warring parties accused each other of breaking it. The meeting in Addis Ababa comes against a background of growing international frustration. In May, the UN Security Council gave the two warring sides a month to reach a peace deal or face sanctions. Washington was a critical backer of South Sudan during its separation from Sudan, and remains Juba's biggest aid donor. But a top US official earlier this month threatened parties on both sides of the conflict with sanctions after a report from a US foundation, The Sentry, said South Sudanese elites were profiting from human rights abuses. As many as 192 passengers could be missing after a ferry sank into the depths of a volcanic lake in Indonesia, the search-and-rescue agency said Wednesday, tripling initial government estimates. But the agency's head cautioned that it was still unclear how many people were aboard the vessel when it capsized Monday in Lake Toba, a popular tourist destination on Sumatra island. The traditional wooden boat may have been operating illegally with no manifest or passenger tickets, sparking confusion and a string of changing official passenger estimates. 192 passengers are feared to have been on board wooden vessel on Lake Toba the joint team conduct a search for passenger Motor Vessel Sinar Bangun who sank in Lake Toba waters, North Sumatera A woman cries after knowing her family died in the tragedy Relatives of victims of a sunken ferry weep as they wait for news at the Tigaras port in Toba lake, North Sumatra The wooden boat was believed to be operating illegally, with no manifest or passenger tickets -- hampering efforts to estimate how many passengers may have been on board Indonesia's disaster agency originally said some 80 people along with dozens of motorcycles were on the overloaded, 43-passenger capacity vessel when it overturned and sank. So far, four bodies have been found and another 18 people rescued, according to the agency. By Wednesday, the official number of missing had jumped several times to 192 passengers. Authorities based the figures on reports from families whose missing relatives may have been on the doomed vessel, but their accounts are difficult to verify. If confirmed, it would be one of Indonesia's deadliest maritime disasters. "Many people got on the boat without a ticket so it's unclear how many were on board," Muhammad Syaugi, the head of the search and rescue agency, told AFP. Later at a press conference, Syaugi added: "There are many people who have reported their relatives missing, but whether they were on the boat or not we don't know." Rescue team members prepare to search for missing passengers at the Lake Toba ferry port An officer holds the goods from the Sinar Bangun Motor Vessel Relatives of victims of a sunken ferry wait for news Family members mourn for their missing relatives who were passengers The search has now turned to recovering bodies -- including those that may still be trapped inside the sunken boat. "We'll be here until they find my brother's body," said Nurhayati, among hundreds of grief-stricken people waiting by the shore for updates. "We just want to see his body and take him with us." Sobbing mother Suwarni pleaded for news of her son and his fiance, both believed to have been on board. "Why are the rescue teams so slow?" said the 55-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. "I'm so disappointed -- there's no progress here. Please bring back my son." Authorities have deployed divers and underwater vehicles, along with about 400 personnel, to search the enormous lake in an operation expected to last at least a week. Lake Toba, popular with international and domestic tourists, fills the crater of a supervolcano that erupted tens of thousands of years ago. It is one of the world's deepest lakes and extends some 1,145 square kilometres (440 square miles). The rescue agency has said it plans to search as deep as 400 metres for the sunken vessel. Images from the scene Wednesday showed rescuers covering up the bloated body of a woman who had washed ashore. It was not clear if any foreigners were on board the ferry or what caused the disaster. Survivor accounts said the boat began shaking as it struggled to navigate strong winds and high waves about halfway into the 40-minute trip from an island in the middle of the lake to shore. Muslim-majority Indonesia has been celebrating the Islamic festival of Eid since Friday and millions go on holiday during the festivities, with Lake Toba among the top destinations. The deadly disaster came just days after more than a dozen people were killed in an unrelated ferry accident in the Southeast Asian archipelago nation, where many people depend on boats to get around. Traditional vessels -- like the one in the Lake Toba disaster -- are rarely equipped with enough life preservers and their condition can be dire. Enforcement of safety standards also tends to be weak, underscoring Indonesia's woeful boat safety record. In 2015 a ferry sank off the coast of the island of Sulawesi, leaving 78 dead or missing. More than 300 people are estimated to have drowned in 2009 when a ferry sank between Sulawesi and Borneo. Cambodia's exiled former opposition leader Sam Rainsy faces a new charge Cambodia's former opposition leader faces royal insult charges punishable by a jail term, according to a court summons, the first prominent figure to be accused under the new law. The adoption of the law in February triggered alarm from rights groups who warned it would become another tool for Prime Minister Hun Sen to stifle dissent. The strongman premier is seeking to prolong his 33-year grip on power in a general election next month and has used the courts to cripple his opponents. Since the lese majeste law was approved three people have been charged for Facebook comments deemed insulting to King Norodom Sihamoni, a symbolic head of state who has steered clear of politics since taking the throne in 2004. Now Sam Rainsy, the former leader of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), is under investigation after calling into question the authenticity of a public letter from Sihamoni urging people to vote. A prosecutor on Wednesday issued a warrant summoning Rainsy to appear in court next month to answer questions over a "case related to insulting the king of Cambodia on a Facebook page", according to a copy of the document seen by AFP. On June 6 Rainsy wrote a post on his widely followed page calling Sihamoni's letter a "forgery" and "worthless" and speculating that it could even have been produced under duress. The palace denied the accusation. Rainsy faces up to five years in prison if found guilty. But he is not expected to appear in court as he lives in self-exile in France to avoid the mounting charges and convictions against him, which he says are politically motivated. His opposition party was dissolved under a court order last year as part of a sweeping crackdown. In recent weeks former opposition lawmakers -- mostly those who fled the country in the wake of the crackdown -- have urged voters to boycott July's poll in protest. Western democracies have withdrawn support for the July vote and the US sanctioned the head of Hun Sen's bodyguard unit last week for his alleged role in human rights abuses. Emitari-backed Yemeni government forces advance into Hodeida airport on June 19, 2018 in a major step towards recapturing the strategic Red Sea port city from Shiite rebels. .UAE-backed Yemeni government forces fought their way into Hodeida airport today, pressing an offensive that has seen some of the most intense fighting of a three-year war against Shiite Huthi rebels. Emirati-backed Yemeni government forces seized Hodeida airport from Huthi rebels on Wednesday, the coalition said, in a major step towards retaking the key Red Sea port city. "The airport was completely cleared, Thank God, and is under control," coalition commander for the Red Sea coast, Abdul Salaam al-Shehi, said in a video posted by the United Arab Emirates' official WAM news agency. Last Wednesday, government forces launched an offensive to clear Hodeida of rebel fighters who have held it since 2014, raising UN concerns for vital aid shipments and commercial food imports through the city's docks. The airport is disused but housed a major rebel base just inland from the coast road into the city from the south. It lies just eight kilometres (five miles) from the city's port, through which three-quarters of Yemen's imports pass, providing a lifeline for some 22 million people dependent on aid. UN envoy Martin Griffiths held four days of talks in the rebel-held capital Sanaa in a bid to avert an all-out battle for the city but flew out on Tuesday without announcing any breakthrough. The United Arab Emirates and other members of a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in support of the government in 2015 have accused regional arch foe Iran of using Hodeida as conduit for arms smuggling to the rebels. Tehran has denied the allegation. Saudi Arabia has arrested two more women's rights activists, in an 'unrelenting crackdown' just days before the kingdom ends a decades-long ban on female motorists, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. The New York-based watchdog said activists Nouf Abdelaziz and Mayaa al-Zahrani were arrested earlier this month following the detention of at least 14 other women's rights campaigners and supporters. 'Saudi authorities have arrested two more women's rights activists... in what appears to be an unrelenting crackdown on the women's rights movement,' HRW said. 'Saudi activists have reported that the authorities have placed travel bans on numerous others since May 15.' Scroll down for video Saudi Arabia recently issued driving licenses to women for the first time in its history after a decades-long ban [file photo] In this photo from 2014, activist Aziza al-Yousef drives a car on a highway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of a campaign to defy Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving Saudi officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The government said earlier this month that it detained 17 people for 'undermining' the kingdom's security, without disclosing their names. Rights groups have identified many of the detainees as campaigners for women's right to drive and an end to the conservative Islamic kingdom's male guardianship system. Activist and writer Abdelaziz was arrested after she publicly expressed solidarity with the detained activists, and her friend Zahrani was apprehended days later, HRW said, adding that both women are being held incommunicado. Zahrani's arrest came after she posted a letter Abdelaziz asked her to make public in case of her arrest, the watchdog said. 'The Saudi government appears determined to leave its citizens without any space to show even rhetorical support for activists jailed in this unforgiving crackdown on dissent,' said HRW's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson. Walaa al-Shubbar, said to be in her 20s, is the latest activist to be freed after at least 11 were arrested last month 'Nouf Abdelaziz and Mayaa al-Zahrani's only 'crime' seems to be expressing solidarity with their fellow imprisoned activists.' Authorities have said that eight of the 17 detainees had been provisionally released until their investigation is completed. Nine suspects, including four women, remain in custody after they 'confessed' to a slew of charges such as suspicious contact with 'hostile' organisations and recruiting people in sensitive government positions, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. Previous reports in state-backed media branded some of the detainees traitors and 'agents of embassies'. Campaigners have dismissed the reports as a 'smear' campaign and the crackdown has sparked a torrent of international criticism. Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world where women are not allowed drive, is set to lift its decades-long ban on female drivers on June 24. This image grab taken from an AFPTV video shows Yemeni pro-government forces firing a heavy machinegun at the south of Hodeida airport, in Yemen's Hodeida province on June 15, 2018 Yemen's Huthi rebels vowed to fight on after pro-government forces seized Hodeida airport from them on Wednesday, in a major step towards retaking the port city following a week-long battle. Rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi called for reinforcements to repel the advance of the UAE-backed government forces, after ongoing fighting left nearly 350 people dead. "We will face all of the incursions on the ground. Our determination will never be dented," he said via the rebels' Al-Masirah news outlet. Pro-government forces announced the capture of Hodeida airport on Wednesday morning, a day after breaking through the perimeter fence. The airport was disused but it housed a major rebel base just inland from the coastal road into the city from the south. Fresh clashes later erupted between UAE-backed government forces and the Iran-allied rebels on a road linking the airport to Hodeida port on the Red Sea coast, a Yemeni army source said. Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi said military "operations will continue on various fronts until (the capital) Sanaa and the whole territory" are retaken from the rebels. On June 13, Yemen's army and its allies launched their offensive to clear Hodeida of rebel fighters who have held it since 2014, raising UN concerns for vital aid shipments and food imports through the city's docks. At least 156 Huthis and 28 soldiers were killed in the fight for the airport, according to Hodeida hospital sources. That raised the death toll in the battle for the city to 348. No civilian casualties have yet been confirmed. Hodeida, the key port of Yemen The United Arab Emirates and other members of a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in support of the government in 2015 have accused regional arch foe Iran of using Hodeida as the major conduit for arms smuggling to the rebels. Tehran has denied the allegation. UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said the "liberation of Hodeida is the beginning to ending the war. "The choice in Yemen is between the state and militia, between order and violence, between peace and war," he wrote on Twitter, referring to Huthi militiamen. - Water supply disrupted - Three-quarters of Yemen's imports pass through the port, providing a lifeline for some 22 million people dependent on aid. UN envoy Martin Griffiths held four days of talks in rebel-held Sanaa in a bid to avert an all-out battle for Hodeida but flew out on Tuesday without announcing any breakthrough. The United Nations has described Yemen as the world's gravest humanitarian crisis and warned any attack on Hodeida port could cripple aid shipments. The Norwegian Refugee Council said the fighting had already hit water supplies, putting people at high risk of contamination. "As of 19 June, the water supply has been disrupted in several areas and people are reportedly relying on water from mosque wells," it said in a statement. "Access to adequate and safe water is now a major concern, particularly in light of the ongoing cholera emergency." Hodeida's residents are bracing for what they fear will be devastating street fighting, as tanks and buses carrying uniformed troops roll through the empty streets of the once-bustling city. The UN says fierce fighting in the Hodeida area of Yemen has already driven 5,200 families from their homes as pro-government forces advanced up the Red Sea coast Some 5,200 families fled their homes this month as pro-government forces advanced up the Red Sea coast, according to the UN. The Hodeida offensive, dubbed Operation Golden Victory, is the most intense battlefront in the already-brutal Yemen war which has left millions displaced. The 2015 Saudi-led intervention came after Hadi fled into exile as the rebels overran much of the country. The conflict has since killed nearly 10,000 people, most of them civilians, while more than 2,200 others have died from cholera. The coalition has helped pro-government forces regain control of the south and much of the Red Sea coast, but the rebels still control Sanaa and most of the north. Multiple rounds of UN-brokered peace talks have all failed to achieve any breakthrough. The Yemeni government and its allies have insisted that the Huthis must fully withdraw from Hodeida and turn over the port to UN supervision. The rebels have so far agreed only to share control of the port with the United Nations. South Korea's President Moon Jae-in has proposed new pipelines through North Korea to bring Russian gas to his country New pipelines could be laid to bring Russian gas through North Korea to the South and even on to Japan following the diplomatic thaw with Pyongyang, Seoul's leader suggested Wednesday. President Moon Jae-in was speaking to Russian news media before a three-day visit to Moscow starting Thursday, with the presidential Blue House releasing the transcript. Russia and South Korea agreed in 2008 to lay gas pipelines through the North to bring Russian natural gas to the South. But the project failed to take off due to tensions over the North's nuclear weapons programme. Restoring inter-Korean railroads and linking them to trans-Siberian railways would also enable overland transport from trade-dependent South Korea to Europe, Moon added. "This will bring huge economic benefits to the South and the North as well as Russia," he said. At the unprecedented summit between the North and the US in Singapore last week, US President Donald Trump showed Pyongyang's Kim Jong Un a video showing the North transformed by economic growth. The summit, Moon said, had "succeeded beyond all expectations", although some analysts said little of substance was agreed. In a joint statement afterwards the North committed to "work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula", without making an explicit commitment to give up its weapons. The two rivals also agreed to establish new ties and work to build a "lasting and stable peace regime" on the Korean peninsula. But Moon said that "Chairman Kim has expressed his willingness to give up his nuclear arsenal and focus on economic build-up should the North be guaranteed safety". At earlier summits of his own with Kim, Moon added, the North Korean "turned out to be frank and straightforward and despite his age, maintained his composure" throughout their long talks. South Korea must import the vast bulk of its oil and gas. But despite their geographical proximity Russia is only its sixth-biggest supplier, providing just 5.5 percent of total needs. The attacks came just days after the Taliban ended a brief ceasefire Taliban fighters killed around 30 Afghan security forces in multiple attacks in western Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, in the deadliest clashes since the militant group ended its ceasefire. Militants stormed at least two bases belonging to government forces in Badghis province overnight and ambushed a convoy of reinforcements. Officials said the group may have used the three-day truce, that ended Sunday, to plan the attacks. "More than half of the fatalities came from the ambush and roadside bomb blasts that hit a reinforcement convoy," provincial governor Abdul Qhafoor Malikzai told AFP. The other soldiers and police were killed when militants raided their bases, Qhafoor added. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a WhatsApp message to journalists. Provincial council chief Abdul Aziz Bek confirmed the death toll and accused the Taliban of taking advantage of the suspension in fighting to do reconnaissance in the area. "During the ceasefire the Taliban had sent informants to collect information about the bases and plan the attack," he told AFP. Badghis governor spokesman Jamshid Shahabi told AFP that 15 Taliban fighters were also killed and 21 wounded in the attacks on two bases in Bala Murghab district. The defence ministry issued a statement saying fighting in the area continued as the Taliban faced "stiff resistance" from Afghan security forces. Further reinforcements had been deployed, the statement said. It appeared to be the deadliest fighting since the Taliban returned to the battlefield on Monday after refusing a government request to extend their unprecedented three-day ceasefire. - Year-long truce offer - President Ashraf Ghani announced over the weekend that the government's eight-day ceasefire, which had been scheduled to expire on Tuesday, would be prolonged for another 10 days. The first formal nationwide ceasefire since the 2001 US-led invasion had sparked extraordinary scenes of Taliban fighters, security forces and civilians happily celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday together. But the jubilation appeared to alarm Taliban leaders, who on Sunday ordered their fighters to stay at their posts or in areas under their control. The Taliban hailed the truce as a success and a demonstration of their "full control" over their fighters. The government's move to extend its ceasefire with the Taliban may buy Ghani more time to work out how to keep the momentum going. His February offer of peace talks with the Taliban, considered to be one of the most comprehensive plans ever offered by an Afghan government, was ignored by the militants, who went on to launch their annual spring offensive. The insurgents have repeatedly demanded direct dialogue with the United States, which Washington has refused, and the withdrawal of foreign troops. Ghani said Tuesday he was prepared to extend the ceasefire to a year "if the Taliban accepts it", according to a video of a meeting between the president and a group of peace marchers who arrived in the capital on Monday. The government's ceasefire does not extend to the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks in the eastern province of Nangarhar over the weekend that marred an otherwise peaceful Eid holiday. str-emh-us-amj/ds/kaf Israeli planes carried out strikes against targets in the Gaza Strip following rocket fire from the Palestinian territory Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel could step up its "intensity" on Gaza, after a new flare-up that saw Israel carrying out air strikes and Palestinians launching rockets and mortar shells. The latest spike in tensions follows weeks of deadly protests and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border as well as the worst military escalation last month since a 2014 war. It comes as US President Donald Trump's special envoy Jason Greenblatt and adviser Jared Kushner visit the region to discuss issues including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Israeli planes initially targeted three Hamas military positions overnight in Gaza in response to kites and balloons carrying incendiary and explosive devices launched into Israel from the Palestinian territory, the army said. "Hamas and other terrorists, but mainly Hamas" hit back after the first air raids with more than 45 rockets and mortar rounds fired from Gaza towards Israel, seven of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system, Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said. Three more landed inside the Jewish state, he said, but did not account for the remainder. In response, Israeli planes carried out more raids against 25 "terror objectives" including an underground training compound, according to the army. Medical sources in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, said five people were lightly injured in the strikes. Speaking about Israel's plans regarding Gaza, Netanyahu said he would not go into detail, pledging however that "the intensity will be stepped up as necessary". "We are prepared for any scenario and our enemies would do well to understand this," he said at a military ceremony in southern Israel. - Sirens sound - Israeli firefighters extinguish a blaze near the border with the Gaza Strip on June 20, 2018, after it was set off by incendiary kites flown from the Palestinian enclave In a joint statement, the military wings of Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad vowed to respond to Israeli attacks, saying they had "targeted seven Israeli military positions near Gaza... in response to continued Israeli aggression against resistance sites in Gaza." "The equation will be: bombardment in return for bombardment," they said. Kobi Ivri, a resident of an Israeli kibbutz neighbouring the southern Gaza Strip whose house was damaged by the Gaza fire, said he and his family ran into their bomb shelter after being woken at 5:20 am by a siren. "There was a boom. I heard glasses breaking, but I understood it (the mortar shell) fell outside, close," he said. Ivri described "a routine of tension, a routine of anticipation (of attacks), a routine of understanding that not too much is being done in order to help us," noting that an incendiary balloon from Gaza fell at the entrance to his kibbutz on Tuesday. A spokesman for the Israeli fire services told AFP that firefighters had put out 12 blazes in areas adjacent to Gaza caused by airborne incendiary devices. Early Wednesday afternoon, Israeli aircraft fired near Palestinians in southern Gaza who were launching incendiary kites, and later in the day, aircraft fired near Palestinians attempting to do the same in northern Gaza, a military spokesman told AFP. - Deteriorating path - Palestinian protestors take cover from tear gas during a demonstration along Gaza's border with Israel on June 8, 2018 Tensions have soared in Gaza since mass protests and clashes broke out along the border on March 30. At least 132 Palestinians have been killed. There have been no Israeli fatalities. Palestinians are demanding the right to return to the homes their families fled or were expelled from during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel. Israel has defied international condemnation over the Palestinian deaths, maintaining the use of live ammunition is necessary to defend its borders and stop infiltrations. It accuses Hamas of seeking to use the protests as cover for attacks. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that Gaza is close to the brink of war. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008 and observe a tense ceasefire that is regularly shaken by hostile acts. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since 2014. On Wednesday Greenblatt and Kushner were in Saudi Arabia where they met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discussed Gaza and "the Trump administration's efforts to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians," according to a White House statement. The duo's regional tour started in Jordan and will also take them to Israel, Egypt and Qatar. Trump's controversial December decision to recognise the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital prompted Palestinians to freeze all contacts with US officials. No caption The two houses of the Democratic Republic of Congo's legislature on Wednesday were called to an extraordinary session to examine a law "on the status and protection of former presidents", a move that comes in the run up to a key presidential election. The lower house, the National Assembly, said the session, beginning Wednesday, would run until July 19, state TV reported. Senators also received messages requesting their attendance. Six issues on "the status of elected former presidents of the republic" are to be debated in the proposed law, a project first aired three years ago. The move comes amid fierce speculation about whether President Joseph Kabila will seek another mandate in the December 23 elections. The speaker of the National Assembly, Aubin Minaku, told legislators on Wednesday that Kabila would "address the nation during the course of this (parliamentary) session, thus before July 20." Candidates for the election must file their applications between July 25 and August 8. Kabila is facing a wave of contention over his record as president and refusal to step down when his two terms in office reached their constitutional limit on December 20, 2016. Elections that should have been held that year were rescheduled for 2017, and postponed again to 2018. Kabila has stayed on thanks to a constitutional clause that enables a sitting president to remain in office until his or her successor is elected. - Peaceful transition? - The 47-year-old has been in office since 2001, succeeding his assassinated father. His tenure has been stained by a reputation for corruption, poor governance and abuse of human rights. Despite its mineral wealth, the sprawling country is mired in poverty and beset by regional conflicts. The country has never had a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. It has had just four leaders, and Kabila is the only one still alive. Tensions have been mounting in recent months, sparking fears that the conflict-prone nation could spiral into war if Kabila runs again or the elections are postponed. Kabila so far has said that he will respect the constitution, but has not said publicly whether he will leave office or whether he has an intended successor. Suspicions among his critics have been fuelled by claims from Kabila supporters who argue the DRC constitution was revised in 2011 to include changes in election laws. This, they maintain, the incumbent has served only one five-year term. The National Assembly will also discuss a report on the national electoral commission and the replacement of some members -- another sensitive issue in the elections. The United States received more asylum requests than any other developed nation in 2017, overtaking Germany, new figures show. Asylum requests went up 26 percent in the US to 330,000 last year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its annual International Migration Outlook. Germany, which had topped the ranking since 2013, meanwhile saw a 73 percent drop in applications to 198,000 as the massive influx to Europe across the Mediterranean has slowed, the report said. Central Americans from the so-called migrant caravan seeking asylum in the United States at the border with Mexico The report was released as President Donald Trump faces a criticism over his administration's practice of separating migrant children from their parents on the US-Mexico border. 'The refugee crisis has heightened concerns in the public opinion about the potential benefits of migration,' the OECD's labour director Stefano Scarpetta wrote in the report. If countries want to work together better on migration and protect refugees, 'these concerns must be addressed.' Trump has promised a 'zero tolerance' approach to immigration, vowing that America will not become a 'migrant camp'. But the policy of separating families has sparked a huge uproar, with Democrats who have visited detention facilities describing crying Central American children held in cage-like conditions. The United Nations has slammed the separation practice as unconscionable, while Amnesty International blasted it as 'nothing short of torture.' In Europe, which has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants arrive on flimsy boats since 2015, the OECD warned governments needed to find jobs for young refugees or risk fuelling anti-immigrant sentiment over their failure to integrate. Young men with little education make up a disproportionate number of the roughly four million people who have claimed asylum in Europe since 2014, the Paris-based rich nations' club said. Europe has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants arrive on flimsy boats since 2015 but has been seeking to reduce the numbers While it stressed the influx has so far had relatively little impact on locals' chances of getting a job, it said countries like Germany and Sweden, which have taken in particularly large numbers, could see a rise in unemployment. In Germany, it predicted migrants could swell the number of unemployed by about six percent by the end of 2020, which would bring the unemployment rate up around half a percentage point. The warning comes as tensions over migration have returned to the fore in European politics, not least in Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel's interior minister is calling for a tougher approach. The OECD said the swelling numbers of young men looking for manual work could create pressure in countries like Germany as they compete for jobs with unemployed locals. In both Austria and Germany their arrival could grow this segment of the labour market by up to 15 percent by the end of 2020. 'Young, low-educated men are overrepresented among refugees,' the report said. 'Since this population group is already vulnerable in most host countries, well-targeted measures are needed to provide them with adequate support,' it added. 'Further deterioration of employment outcomes in this group could negatively affect the public perception of the impact of refugees on the economy.' It called for 'policy support for low-educated men in general' to help them win jobs as well as 'effective integration measures specifically for recently arrived refugees'. Unemployment has been falling for years in Germany, with fewer out of work in May than at any time since reunification in 1990, though many who recently arrived as refugees are yet to join the labour market, undergoing job training or language classes. The report noted governments are increasingly turning their attention to how to integrate those who stay as arrivals drop, with asylum claims falling 46 percent last year to 650,000 from 1.2 million in 2016. Yet European states are still feuding over how to handle arrivals themselves, as shown by Italy and Malta's recent refusal to take in the 630 migrants onboard the Aquarius rescue ship. German police say they foiled a biological attack with a deadly ricin bomb when they arrested a Tunisian suspect last week in Cologne A Tunisian man arrested in Germany in possession of the deadly poison ricin and bomb-making material was planning a biological attack, the national police chief said Wednesday. "Very concrete preparations had been made for an act with a ... biological bomb, which is a first for Germany," Holger Muench, head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, told public broadcaster ARD. German police commandos on June 12 stormed the Cologne apartment of the 29-year-old Tunisian migrant identified only as Sief Allah H. and discovered "toxic substances" that turned out to be ricin. Produced by processing castor beans, ricin is 6,000 times more lethal than cyanide and has no known antidote. German news weekly Der Spiegel has reported the man was thought to have been following instructions disseminated by the Islamic State group on how to build a bomb containing ricin. Prosecutors have charged that he was "strongly suspected of intentionally manufacturing biological weapons" but it remained unclear whether he was actively plotting an attack. Muench said "we became aware of this person a few months ago, and then evidence emerged pointing to links to the so-called Islamic State". The case was an example of "good cooperation between security authorities, nationally and internationally", he said. Bild daily has reported Germany received a tip-off from the CIA based on the suspect's online purchases. During the raid, said Muench, "we found a large number of castor seeds from which to make it (ricin), as well as the utensils you need to make an explosive device". "Which concrete target he had in mind we don't know yet ... and the question of possible accomplices also remains open," said Muench. Prosecutors say Sief Allah H. started buying the equipment and ingredients to make ricin in mid-May -- including an online purchase of "a thousand castor seeds and an electric coffee grinder". He succeeded in manufacturing the toxin earlier this month. The case comes less than a month after French authorities said they had foiled a terror attack possibly involving the use of ricin. Two brothers of Egyptian origin were arrested. Germany remains on high alert after several deadly attacks claimed by the IS group, including a 2016 truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market by Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri that claimed 12 lives. An oil refinery in Libya's northern town of Ras Lanuf on January 11, 2017 Clashes between rival groups in Libya's key oil export ports have caused output to drop by nearly half, the head of the National Oil Company said on Wednesday. "Production has seen a reduction by 450,000 barrels per day, plus 70 million cubic feet of natural gas, equivalent to $33 million in sales based on market prices," Mustafa Sanalla told AFP via email. The Ras Lanuf and Al-Sidra terminals have been closed since last Thursday when armed groups attacked oil facilities held by forces loyal to military strongman's Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya. Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army has since launched an offensive to push the militias out of the area, with the violence causing "catastrophic damage", according to the NOC. Sanalla said the clashes "will ultimately result in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs, and billions in lost sales opportunities". The NOC chief, who was in Vienna for an OPEC meeting on Tuesday, was revising upwards an earlier NOC estimation that put production losses at 400,000 bpd. On Monday, the NOC said fires caused by the clashes destroyed two crude tanks -- reducing storage capacity at the Ras Lanuf terminal by 400,000 barrels. "Maintenance teams are still dealing with the aftermath of the blaze and are trying to ascertain the extent of the damage to the terminal," Sanalla said. The armed groups that launched Thursday's attacks are loyal to rebel leader Ibrahim Jadhran. Jadhran's Petroleum Facilities Guard controlled the terminals for years following the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi -- but they were eventually forced out by the LNA in September 2016. Aside from oil infrastructure damaged by conflict, Sanalla said Libyan authorities were also struggling to "conquer the shocking scale" of fuel theft. "The smugglers think they can operate with impunity -- to the extent that the country is losing more than $750 million a year through domestic fuel smuggling alone," he said. Libya's economy relies heavily on oil, with production at 1.6 million barrels per day under Kadhafi. His NATO-backed 2011 ouster saw production fall to about 20 percent of that level, before recovering to more than one million barrels per day by the end of 2017. "Those that seek to disrupt NOC operations and sequester facilities for their own gain should be seen for what they are -- criminals," Sanalla said. "Libyan natural resources and oil and gas revenues must be a catalyst for reconstruction and national prosperity, not conflict." Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State group in December but the jihadists have continued to carry out attacks in remote desert areas Iraq's biggest tribe has appealed for weapons to defend itself against the Islamic State jihadist group after several of its members were abducted and killed in a central desert region. The Shammar are a particular target for IS because they sided with the government in the battle with the jihadists, who were expelled from their last urban strongholds last year. "We hold the security forces responsible for protecting civilians... failure to do so is a failure of duty," Shammar leader Sheikh Abdallah Hmeidi Ajeel al-Yawar said in a statement late Tuesday. "If the security forces are unable to control these areas inhabited by the Shammar and other tribes... the commander-in-chief (of the armed forces Prime Minister Haider Abadi) should open the door for volunteers to join the ranks of the army and form a brigade of sons of the region to protect themselves." A minibus driver was the latest member of the Shammar tribe to go missing on Tuesday in Wadi al-Safa in Salaheddin province, according to the police. On Sunday, IS attacked several Shammar villages in Jazira, the vast desert stretching from the west of Baghdad right up to the Syrian border, and abducted 30 people. The bodies of seven of them were later found. Despite the government's declaration in December of victory over IS, the jihadists have continued to carry out attacks in remote desert areas. The graves of the Ethiopian soldiers who died during the battle against Eritrea are painted in the colors of the Ethiopian flag in Badme, a disputed town on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea Eritrea's president broke weeks of silence on Wednesday to respond positively to conciliatory overtures from bitter foe Ethiopia, raising hopes of a fresh start in the Horn of Africa. A brutal, fruitless border conflict between the two countries ended nearly two decades ago. Since then, both have maintained a war footing with shots occasionally fired, and backed each other's rebels. Their long cold war has stymied economic development, frozen political relations and helped justify domestic repression -- but it may now be thawing, thanks to an unprecedented concession from Ethiopia, long demanded by Eritrea. On June 5, new prime minister Abiy Ahmed announced that his country would at last abide by a 2002 international ruling that gave the disputed town of Badme, and other territory, to Eritrea. On Wednesday, Eritrea's 72-year-old president, Isaias Afwerki, a military leader who has ruled since 1993, responded cautiously but positively to Ethiopia's olive branch. "We will send a delegation to Addis Ababa to gauge current developments directly and in depth as well as to chart out a plan for continuous future action," Isaias said in a Martyrs' Day speech commemorating those killed in the drawn-out struggle for separation from Ethiopia. It is unclear when the delegation will travel to Ethiopia, but Rashid Abdi, Horn of Africa director at the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank in Nairobi, said a glittering opportunity was within reach. "Both countries should seize this historic chance to engage in serious dialogue to find a lasting peace settlement to the border conflict," he said. Abiy's chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, said the Ethiopia leader welcomed the "positive response" and "expressed his readiness to welcome warmly and with considerable goodwill the Eritrean delegation". Isaias stopped short of calling it a peace delegation and had bitter words for the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) -- a faction of Ethiopia's ruling ethnic coalition that wields influence in both politics and security. "Ethiopia is now at a turning point," he said. "(...) Although it will require time and efforts to remove the TPLF's toxic and malignant legacy and to bring about a congenial climate, the positive direction that has been set in motion is crystal clear." Isaias warned some hardliners in Ethiopia would seek "the perpetuation of tension with Eritrea" and to frustrate efforts towards "a durable solution to the senseless border conflict that they unleashed". - Rapid change - The Red Sea nation of Eritrea was once part of Ethiopia and comprised its entire coastline until 1993 when it voted for independence from its southern neighbour, rendering Ethiopia landlocked. After more than two weeks, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki gave a cautious welcome to Ethiopia's olive branch (file picture) In 1998 a disagreement over the demarcation of their shared border sparked war, leaving about 80,000 people dead. A UN-backed boundary commission in 2002 divided up contested territory between the two countries, but Ethiopia rejected the ruling. Isaias has long justified restrictive rule, punishing military conscription and the jailing of dissidents as necessities to defend itself against its much larger neighbour. His authoritarian leadership has left his country diplomatically isolated and burdened by sanctions, and triggered an exodus of Eritreans, many of them making the dangerous migration to Europe. A potential thaw in relations with the United States too was signalled in April when Donald Yamamoto, President Donald Trump's top Africa diplomat, paid a surprise visit to Asmara. Abiy, 41, has moved fast since his April swearing-in to end years of anti-government protests and maintain fast but faltering economic growth. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a brutal border war from 1998 to 2000 -- tens of thousands of people died He has released jailed politicians and journalists, admitted that security forces tortured dissidents, moved to liberalise the state-controlled economy, backed down in the long-running dispute with Eritrea and embarked on an energetic diplomatic tour of the region. A tarpaulin covers the damaged facade of a police station in Ho Chi Minh City A small explosion outside a police station in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City injured an officer on Wednesday, state media reported. The cause of the explosion, near the scene of major protests earlier this month, was not immediately clear. Images on state media showed the station's charred walls with debris from a destroyed motorbike strewn across the pavement. State-run VNExpress news site reported that a policewoman was injured in the incident. A witness told AFP he heard two explosions in quick succession. "I ran to the scene, I saw smoke, it looked very chaotic... even now I'm still very panicked," said the resident, declining to be named. Cong An Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh news site, the official mouthpiece of city police, said other witnesses speculated the explosion "could have been be caused by a motorbike malfunction". Bomb blasts, even small ones, are very rare in communist Vietnam where dissent is strictly controlled and activists are routinely jailed. The incident comes just 10 days after large-scale protests in the city against a government proposal to set up special economic zones that would grant investors lengthy leases. The rare demonstrations, sparked by fears that land would be handed over to China, lit up several cities across Vietnam. At least 30 people are still in custody after the protests, including an American being held in Ho Chi Minh City for "causing public disorder". Security was tight in the city over the weekend, with uniformed and plainclothes police stationed along busy roads and in public parks. Though political activists very rarely plot violent attacks in Vietnam, police in December convicted 15 people for terrorism over a failed bomb plot at the country's largest airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Three police officers were killed in an explosion at a police post in central Dak Lak province in 2016, in what authorities later said was an accident. Donald Trump wants the United States to dominate space exploration and plans to send astronauts back to the Moon, nearly 50 years after the first manned lunar mission in 1969 Russia on Wednesday expressed alarm over US President Donald Trump's call for the United States to dominate space exploration and his plan to create a separate branch of the military called a Space Force. Russian foreign ministry Maria Zakharova said at a briefing that Russia "noted the US president's instructions... to separate space forces from the air force," saying "the most alarming thing about this news is the aim of his instructions, namely to ensure (US) domination in space." Trump on Monday said at a speech in the White House that "America will always be the first in space" and "we don't want China and Russia and other countries leading us." He also called for the Pentagon to create a new "Space Force" that would become the sixth branch of the American military, although this requires Congressional approval to take effect. Zakharova warned that the US is "nurturing plans to bring out weapons into space with the aim of possibly staging military action there." "This is not based on guesswork, this is understanding the realities," she insisted. US military build-up in space "especially after the appearance of weapons there, would have a destabilising effect on strategic stability and international security," Zakharova warned. Russia takes a "diametrically opposite position" that space must be used for "peaceful aims," she said. While Russia has a branch of the military called "space forces," their activities are "purely defensive," she stressed. Space research is one of the few areas where Russia and the US continue international cooperation. Both NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are crew members on the International Space Station and the orbiting laboratory is reliant on space launches from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome. The head of a Tunisian presidential committee on individual freedoms, Bochra Belhaj Hmida (R), during a press conference to deliver the final report on proposed social reforms on June 20, 2018 A Tunisian presidential commission on Wednesday unveiled a raft of proposed liberal reforms, including equal inheritance rights for women and decriminalising homosexuality, set to face fierce opposition from conservative Muslims. The proposals from the commission -- set up by President Beji Caid Essebsi to bring the legal code in line with a 2014 constitution -- come as the North African country tries to make good on reforms promised by its revolution seven years ago. The constitution was praised as a key achievement following the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring uprisings. But the latest reforms put forward are set to face heated debate ahead of legislative and presidential elections next year, with one religious leader slamming them as "intellectual terrorism". Among the 230 pages of proposals are suggestions to rewrite the current legislation, inspired by Islamic law, that women should inherit only half of what men get. The commission's preference is to introduce equality between male and female relatives, but leave room for individuals to divide up what they leave behind as they see fit. The proposals also include decriminalising homosexuality and banning anal tests conducted on men suspected of being gay. The "total abolition" of the death penalty has been put forward, as have changes to a law forcing widows to wait before remarrying. The head of the commission Bochra Belhaj Hmida said the reforms are aimed at boosting the "well-being of every individual", insisting that "freedom is as important of bread". But imam Sabri Abdelghani, from an association of faith groups, railed to AFP that the changes would "eradicate Tunisian identity, by leaving the people without religion" in the majority-Muslim nation. A spokesman for the presidency welcomed the commission's report and called for a "calm, orderly debate without anger" on the proposals. Tunisia has long been seen as a pioneer for women's rights in the Arab world, but campaigners say much remains to be done to make good on the hopes of the revolution. Observers say there is a window of opportunity to change the law ahead of the 2019 elections, thanks to Essebsi's hold on power. But given the subject's sensitivity, the commission put off publishing its proposals until after municipal elections in May. Tunisia is seen as a rare democratic success story of the Arab Spring compared with other countries that went through the uprisings, which are either still mired in chaos or have slipped back into authoritarianism. At least 60 migrants died in the Mediterranean sea when their rubber dinghy sank last week, according to survivor testimonies gathered by a rights group in Sicily. The Diciotti, an Italian coastguard ship carrying more than 500 migrants, docked Tuesday night at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo. Among those on board were around 40 survivors of an accident last Tuesday which saw a US Navy boat come to the aid of drowning migrants after their dinghy sank off the coast of Libya. At the time the US Navy reported seeing around 12 bodies in the water but were unable to locate them after the rescue. The survivors interviewed by volunteers from the human rights association Medu in Sicily said that their dinghy had been carrying 117 people, which would put the death toll at over 70. The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) put the toll slightly lower at 60 dead also on the basis of accounts from survivors, who reported 100 people aboard the vessel. "I have never seen such frightened and traumatised eyes after a landing," said Teo di Piazza, coordinator of MSF psychologists. "The people had no strength left." The most recent migrant arrival in Sicily comes as key EU leaders prepare to hold crisis talks on migration in Brussels on Sunday. The talks follow last week's row over the fate of more than 600 migrants on the Aquarius rescue ship, who Italy turned away, thrusting the migrant question back to the top of the EU agenda. Human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, says US President Donald Trump is no longer the moral leader of the free world US President Donald Trump is "no longer the moral leader of his country or the world", the human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, said Wednesday amid global outrage over the White House's policy of separating migrant children from their parents. "What is happening at the (US-Mexico) border where he (Trump) is separating children from their parents is a sign that he is no longer the moral leader of his country or the world," the Council of Europe's secretary general, Thorbjorn Jagland, told Norwegian broadcaster TV2. "Everything he does excludes him from the role American presidents have always had," Jagland said during a trip to Moscow. "He can not speak on behalf of the so-called free world." The Council of Europe is a Strasbourg-based international human rights organisation with 47 signatory states. Jagland is also one of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee which annually awards the Nobel Peace Prize. Some have suggested Trump ought to be awarded the prestigious prize for his denuclearisation efforts on the Korean peninsula. The Trump administration's controversial policy of separating children from their undocumented parents, many of whom are fleeing violence in Central America, has triggered outrage and criticism from human rights groups across the globe. British Prime Minister Theresa May also said on Wednesday that images of migrant children kept in cages in the US were "deeply disturbing". Jagland said the US withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council "was not unexpected". "This is just one more example which shows that he does not want to be part of international treaties or international cooperation-based organisations," he said. The US announced on Tuesday that it was withdrawing from the Geneva-based body, accusing it of "hypocrisy" and bias against Israel. The Hezbollah Brigades, whose members are pictured here in Najaf in 2015, supported the Iraqi government in the fight against the Islamic State group Iraqi police surrounded the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia and detained one of its members after an armed clash Wednesday left three people wounded in Baghdad, a security official said. The powerful Hezbollah Brigades militia is part of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary units that battled the Islamic State group (IS) in Iraq. A shootout erupted after a police patrol in the Iraqi capital stopped a car, only for a convoy of Hezbollah Brigades members to arrive, an interior ministry official said on condition of anonymity. "The men in five vehicles opened fire and the police responded. Two policemen were wounded and one of the members of Hezbollah Brigades," he said. The police then quickly surrounded the militia headquarters "where the fighters had holed up", the official said, closing down one of Baghdad's main thoroughfares. The siege was lifted after the "person behind the shooting" was arrested, the official said. The flareup in violence was rare for the Iraqi capital, which has seen clashes drop off dramatically since a sectarian conflict over a decade ago. The Hezbollah Brigades joined the Hashed alliance -- which came under the command of Iraq's prime minister -- after an appeal in 2014 by Iraq's top Shiite cleric to stop IS rampaging across the country. Iraq declared victory over IS in December last year after a punishing offensive that saw the Hashed on the front lines alongside government troops. Independent of the authorities in Baghdad, the Hezbollah Brigades are also fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The group was targeted Sunday in air raids laid at Israel's door that reportedly left some 50 people dead in eastern Syria, where forces on the ground are battling IS remnants. Israel has pledged to take all steps to stop key Assad backer Iran or its "proxies" building up a military presence in Syria. US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Quebec June 8, 2018 US President Donald Trump's trade threats and bellicose diplomacy is being met on America's northern frontier with boycotts of US goods and travel, and even a call for nuclearization. The grassroots backlash reflects the angry mood that has set in since Trump slapped punishing US tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and publicly assailed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. As the Canada-US relationship slides to new lows -- with trade fights spilling into the aerospace and lumber sectors, and threatening the auto industry as well -- Canadians are rallying behind Trudeau. Canadian patriotism has bristled under hashtags like #BoycottUSA, #BuyCanadian and #VacationCanada that urge people not to buy American ketchup, coffee and cars. "I think I'd be physically sick just seeing the US flag at the border. My tourist dollars are staying the hell out the US," Vancouver resident Tracey Hirsch said on Twitter. Others posted images of "Trump-free grocery carts" and said they happily paid double for Canadian strawberries over imported US varieties, or took twice as long to shop in order to avoid American labels. Canadian retailers also are being pressured to dump Trump ties and his daughter Ivanka's dress brand. The National Post, meanwhile, mused about Canada building an atomic bomb to gain leverage with the US like North Korea did. "We've got the uranium, the know-how and a sudden desire to be respected by our nearest neighbor," said the article. The viral protest -- which some said could backfire -- has even swept up a few Americans. "I'm an American but will be vacationing in #Canada this year to show support for our good friends and neighbors up north. #BuyCanadian," said Pittsburgh cartoonist Joe Wos in a social media post. - 'Playing into Trump's hands' - Ken Wong, a professor at the Smith School of Business at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, cautioned against "emotional responses," however. A trade war "hurts everybody" while "playing into Trump's hands," he said. "Is a boycott feasible? Yes. Is it advisable? Probably not," he said. Canada and the United States traded an estimated $673.9 billion worth of goods and services in 2017, with the US scoring a small surplus ($8.4 billion), according to the Office of the US Trade Representative. The United States is also the top destination for Canadian vacationers, who made 42 million trips to the US in 2017. A report by conservative Canadian think tank C.D. Howe Institute concluded that the Trump administration is trying to keep others off-kilter on purpose. "The Trump administration is deploying uncertainty as a new weapon in trade protection," it said. Study authors Meredith Crowley and Dan Ciuriak argue that Trump's aim is to force US companies to repatriate manufacturing and reduce investment abroad to avoid getting locked out of the US market. They pointed to "implausible claims, demands, and threats, which are then retracted, then re-asserted, and so on," including the US withdrawal or threatened withdrawal from major trade pacts, tariffs and undermining the WTO. Despite the current tensions, officials in Ottawa have publicly vowed to press ahead in talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and the United States. But privately they lament the failure of facts and friendliness to sway Trump, after the G7 summit which Trudeau hosted in Quebec ended in bitter recriminations earlier this month. Trudeau infuriated Trump by saying it was "insulting" to Canadian veterans who had stood by their US allies in conflicts dating back to World War I that Washington was invoking national security as justification for tariffs. "Canadians are polite and reasonable but we will also not be pushed around," he said. And he confirmed that Canada would press ahead with dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs on July 1 as previously announced. Trump slammed Trudeau as dishonest and weak, and said the prime minister's comments would cost Canada "a lot of money." A Trump aide said there was a "special place in hell" for Trudeau, though he later apologized for the remark. "So, if this president insists on punching you in the nose and eating your lunch, why would you continue to pretend he's still a great neighbor and go over to his place to spend your time and money?" commented Mark Bulgutch, a Ryerson University journalism professor, in a Toronto Star opinion piece. People attend a rally in New York protesting the separation of undocumented children from their families at the US border At least 70 immigrant children separated from their parents on the southern US border were transferred to shelters in New York as the state prepares to sue the government over the practice, Governor Andrew Cuomo said. "We know of at least 70 children who are being held in federal facilities across New York State. That number is expected to increase," Cuomo said Tuesday on Twitter. NY1 local television crews filmed a small group of Spanish-speaking young girls being escorted into East Harlem's Cayuga Centers shelter around 1:00 am (0500 GMT) Wednesday. The images further stoked fury against family separation in the Democratic majority state, with critics asking why New York agreed to take in the children instead of fighting for reunification. New York's population of unaccompanied children is more than 1,300 -- 311 of whom were separated from their parents at the border -- the New York Daily News reported, citing a federal source. Without confirming the NY1 report, the head of the Cayuga Centers shelter asked the media to "respect" the children. "These are tender, vulnerable kids who don't deserve to be frightened. They're incredibly heroic kids and we're trying to take care of them," Edward Hayes told the Gothamist website. "I think children are suffering more because reporters are chasing them with cameras, which look a lot like gangs with guns in El Salvador" Hayes insisted that his group, which has a contract with the federal government to temporarily place unaccompanied immigrant children with host families, "is going to do right by these children." - 'Moral failing' - Cuomo announced that New York state will in less than two weeks file a multi-agency lawsuit against President Donald Trump's administration "for violating the constitutional rights of immigrant children and their families who have been separated at the border." He branded the separation of families as "a moral failing and a human tragedy." New York Mayor Bill de Blasio also spoke out against children being transferred to New York. "I want to see anything we can do to stop NYC from being used as a place to send children separated from their parents," he told local media on Tuesday. Children separated at the border are transferred by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to the northeastern state, where they have so far been placed in at least 10 shelters. Other children have been transferred to different shelters across the country, Cuomo added. The ORR is responsible for placing unaccompanied children in accommodation until relatives or family friends can be found to act as guardians. In cases where that is not possible, the children enter foster homes. Generally, unaccompanied children are placed in shelters in states where they have relatives who later take them into their homes. "But these are not unaccompanied alien children. These are children who were separated from their parents," Cuomo told local media. The New York Immigration Coalition, which was at the forefront of opposition to Trump's 2017 travel targeting mostly Muslim countries, has planned a protest later Wednesday in front of United Nations headquarters in Manhattan. The demonstration marks the International Day of the Refugee. More than 2,432 undocumented children were separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9. US doctors have warned that the trauma caused by these separations can be long-lasting, triggering mental illness, behavioral problems and developmental setbacks. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has called the separations "a form of child abuse." The International Monetary Fund urged Sri Lanka Wednesday to let its rupee keep sliding and not intervene further to bolster the ailing currency as it fell to historic lows. The currency bottomed out at roughly 160 rupees to the US dollar on Wednesday -- its weakest ever point -- despite efforts by the central bank to stop its steady decline in recent weeks. The bank spent $190 million in May alone to ease pressure on the exchange rate, sounding alarm bells at the IMF. The Washington-based fund urged Colombo -- which is emerging from a balance of payments crisis -- to conserve its foreign exchange reserves instead of propping up the rupee. "We think the central bank has allowed for greater flexibility (in the exchange rate) than in the past," said IMF mission chief Manuela Goretti. "The rupee should be allowed to depreciate. When you look at emerging markets, the rupee has depreciated less." The IMF extended Sri Lanka a staggered $1.5 billion loan in June 2016, the latest tranche of which was released earlier this month. The international lender said Sri Lanka's economy had rebounded since growth fell to a 16-year low of 3.1 percent in 2017. But it warned Sri Lanka was still vulnerable to shocks from at home and abroad and stressed that restructuring the island's loss-making national airline and reforming its energy sector was vital to maintain the recovery. One of the biggest drags on the country's balance sheet is national carrier Sri Lankan, which has accumulated losses and debts of over $2 billion and is a huge burden on taxpayers. The government has failed to privatise the airline. Investor interest has been lukewarm at home while international partners have also been elusive. View of a temporary detention center for illegal underage immigrants in Tornillo, Texas, near the Mexico-US border US lawmakers will vote Thursday on a bill that would end the controversial practice of separating migrant children from parents caught entering the country without papers, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday. Heart-rending scenes and sounds of crying children taken from their families has aroused a firestorm of opposition to President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. "We do not want children taken away from their parents. We can enforce our immigration laws without breaking families apart. The administration says it wants Congress to act and we are," Ryan said. "Tomorrow the House will vote on legislation to keep families together," said Ryan, the top Republican in the US Congress. Ryan said the proposed legislation also resolves "in a very elegant way" the status of the so-called "Dreamers," undocumented immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. No details were immediately provided on that aspect of the bill. In a session with Republican lawmakers on Tuesday, Trump promised to support whatever legislation they passed. Ryan said that under the bill to be voted on Thursday, parents prosecuted for entering the country illegally would no longer be separated from their children, and instead families would remain together in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the length of the legal proceedings against them. "Additional funding is also going to be made available so that DHS has sufficient resources to house and care for families during this entire process," he said. "The bottom line is this -- we are going to take action to keep families together while we enforce our immigration laws." German banking giant Deutsche bank has been fined $205 million by New York regulators for foreign exchange market manipulation US officials fined embattled German banking giant Deutsche Bank $205 million in a settlement to resolve foreign exchange market manipulation violations, New York's top banking regulator announced Wednesday. Deutsche Bank's violations included improperly coordinating trading activity with other financial institutions in order to boost the bank's own profits, the New York State Department of Financial Services said. Deutsche Bank traders participated in multi-party online chat rooms where confidential information was shared and currency prices were manipulated, DFS said. The violations were uncovered following an investigation from 2007 to 2013. Deutsche Bank signed a consent order with the New York agency and agreed to an enhanced compliance and audit program, DFS said. "Due to Deutsche Bank's lax oversight in its foreign exchange business, including in some instances, supervisors engaging in improper activity, certain traders and salespeople repeatedly abused the trust of their customers and violated New York State law over the course of many years," said DFS superintendent Maria Vullo. "DFS appreciates the banks full cooperation with our investigation, including its own extensive internal investigation, and for taking several proactive steps to address prior to the Department's enforcement action." The settlement comes amid a turbulent period at Deutsche Bank that has seen it replace its chief executive and announce more than 7,000 job cuts in an effort to turn the page on years of losses. On June 1, Standard and Poor's downgraded Deutsche Bank's credit rating, warning that it "appears set for a period of sustained underperformance compared with peers, many of whom have now finished restructuring." The fine also comes on the heels of earlier large bank fines over foreign exchange market manipulation. In May 2015, four major banks, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion for conspiring to manipulate the price of dollars and euros. US and British authorities have netted some $10 billion in fines overall in cases on fixing the foreign exchange market. US President Donald Trump -- flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (L) and Vice President Mike Pence -- signs an executive order to end family separations at the border President Donald Trump ordered an end to the separation of migrant children from their parents on the US border Wednesday, reversing a tough policy under heavy pressure from his fellow Republicans, Democrats and the international community. The spectacular about-face comes after more than 2,300 children were stripped from their parents and adult relatives after illegally crossing the border since May 5 and placed in tent camps and other facilities, with no way to contact their relatives. Despite the order, there was no plan in place to reunite the thousands of children already separated from their families, according to multiple US media reports citing officials from the Health and Human Services Department (HHS). Those youngsters would remain separated while their parents were under federal custody during immigration proceedings, according to The New York Times, before officials backed off those comments late Wednesday. "It is still very early and we are awaiting further guidance on the matter," said Brian Marriott, senior director of communications at HHS's Administration of Children and Families. "Reunification is always the ultimate goal," he said. Pictures and accounts of the separations sparked outrage and a rebellion among Republicans in Trump's own party, as well as international accusation that the US was committing human rights violations. "What we have done today is we are keeping families together," Trump said as he signed the executive order. "I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated." At a later campaign-style rally of supporters in the northern state of Minnesota, he reiterated that the change does not mean a softening at the border. "We will keep families together, but the border is going to be just as tough," he said. Trump then accused rival Democrats of putting "illegal immigrants before they put American citizens." For weeks, Trump had insisted he was bound by law to split the children from their parents and that only Congress could resolve the problem -- before he radically shifted gears. His daughter and advisor Ivanka had reportedly urged her father to end the separations, while First Lady Melania Trump made a rare political plea, saying the country needs to govern "with heart." "We want security for our country," the president said Wednesday. "And we will have that -- at the same time, we have compassion." The order says the Department of Homeland Security -- and not the Justice and Health and Human Services Departments, as under previous policy -- would have continuing responsibility for the families. It also suggests the government intends to hold the families indefinitely by challenging an existing statute, the 1997 Flores Settlement, that places a 20-day limit on how long children, alone or with their parents, can be detained. That move could lead to new legal battles for the administration. Trump said there was a need to sustain his "zero tolerance" policy to prevent crime, which he blames illegal immigrants for. "We still have to maintain toughness, or our country will be overrun by people, by crime, by all of the things that we don't stand for and we don't want," he said. - 'Deeply disturbing' images - Children and workers are seen at a tent encampment for illegal immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas, near El Paso Earlier, as countries marked World Refugee Day Wednesday, global leaders assailed Trump for the separations. British Prime Minister Theresa May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Council of Europe and Pope Francis all took issue with the "zero tolerance" policy. May said images of migrant children kept in cage-like units were "deeply disturbing," and the Council of Europe, a global human rights watchdog, said Trump had abdicated any claim to moral leadership in the world. After a downturn last year, since October, the number of migrants seeking to cross the southwest US border from impoverished Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, as well as from Mexico, has surged. From March to May this year, more than 50,000 people a month were apprehended for illegally crossing the border from Mexico. With the legal system swamped, the Department of Defense on Wednesday said 21 military lawyers would be seconded to the Department of Justice for about six months to help prosecute "misdemeanor improper entry and felony illegal reentry cases." Nearly all of the arriving families, and many others, have officially requested asylum, citing the incessant violence in their home countries. Map locating arrests of families at the border between the United States and Mexico, with an indication of increase in arrests since October 2017 The policy, with mandatory separation of children from adults, was announced May 7 as a deterrent. The issue struck an emotional chord, with accounts of children screaming and crying in facilities prepared for them. Gene Hamilton, a senior Justice Department official, said the executive order was a "stopgap" move and that Congress needs to pass new legislation to give the president more powers to fight illegal immigration. Current laws including the Flores Settlement, he argued, simply encouraged people to enter the country with their children, expecting to be caught and then released into US society. Democrats and Republicans had at least two bills crafted Wednesday to address broader immigration issues, but it was not clear if any had adequate support to pass. But Democrats and rights groups were immediately critical of the plan to change the Flores Settlement. "The Flores Settlement prohibits the indefinite detention of children -- even with their families -- and any order to undermine this critical protection will be immediately challenged in court," said senior Democratic Senator Dick Durbin. "The Trump Administration must reverse its policy of prosecuting vulnerable people fleeing three of the most dangerous countries on earth, who are attempting to seek safe haven in America." US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the US will continue to help "the world's most vulnerable," but the US is on course this year to accept the lowest number of refugees since 1977 The United States is on course this year to welcome the lowest number of refugees since its resettlement program began in 1980, as President Donald Trump escalates his anti-immigration rhetoric. America has historically been by far the most generous destination for those fleeing war and persecution, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended its record Wednesday on World Refugee Day. "We will continue to help the world's most vulnerable refugees, reflecting the deeply held values of the American people," he said. But, even as many Americans recoil at images of child asylum seekers separated from their families at the US border, official figures show a dramatic drop in refugees accepted for resettlement. And this when the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has pointed to a global crisis fed by wars in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia -- and when the United States remains the top preferred destination. Already last year, Trump had slashed the number for refugees that Washington is prepared to accept to a historic low of 45,000 -- down from 110,000 in the last fiscal year under Barack Obama. But between October 1 and June 15, two thirds of the way through the 2018 fiscal year, only 15,383 of the most vulnerable, chosen mainly from camps in Africa and the Middle East, had been admitted. Refugee advocates and resettlement agencies said this puts the United States on course to accept fewer than 25,000 refugees -- fewer than in any year since 1977 and down from 84,994 in 2016. The program formally began in 1980 with the passage of the US Refugee Act, but State Department admissions figures go back to 1975. "Refugee resettlement to the US has been ground to a halt," the major non-profit International Rescue Committee declared in a highly critical report timed to coincide with World Refugee Day. Independent advocacy group Refugees International gave Washington a failing "F" grade in its Refugee Day report card and accused Trump of misleading the public about the danger of accepting Muslims. Despite America having accepted around a million refugees since the September 11, 2001 attacks, not one has been convicted of an act of violence resulting in an American death, the group said. Nevertheless, the group alleged, the admissions program has been "crippled" and the separation of families seeking asylum is "inhumane." On Tuesday, Trump made clear his position on asylum seekers on the southern US border, declaring "I don't want people coming in" and alleging they have rehearsed exaggerated claims of persecution. But refugees arriving under the resettlement program are vetted abroad by US security and intelligence agencies and chosen mainly from at-risk groups in UN-registered camps -- the elderly, widows and disabled. - Record crisis - Nevertheless, with ever more stringent checks pushing the vetting process to greater length, the numbers are down, de facto inching Trump closer to his 2016 campaign pledge to ban all Muslim immigration. Pompeo defended the system in his World Refugee Day message, noting that the United States remains a humanitarian leader which has provided $8 billion in aid this year to help war and disaster victims. "This assistance is provided as close to refugees' homes as possible in order to facilitate their voluntary, safe, and dignified return if and when conditions allow," he said. While not addressing the numbers coming through the system today, Pompeo noted correctly that the United States has resettled 3.3 million people -- more than any other country -- since the program began. He said "global displacement has reached record levels" and urged governments, financial institutions and the private sector to do more while the US will "prioritize the admission of the most vulnerable." And he vowed that the United States would continue to work to end the conflicts that have led to what the UNHCR says are 65.6 million displaced people around the world -- a new record. US President Donald Trump says he will sign an executive order to end migrant family separations US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would sign an executive order to keep migrant families together at the border with Mexico, amid an escalating uproar over the separation of children from their parents. Heart-rending scenes and sounds of crying children taken from their families have aroused a firestorm of opposition to Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. After long insisting that Congress alone could solve the problem, the Republican president seemed ready to take the matter into his own hands. "We are signing an executive order in a little while," Trump said at the White House, noting that he hoped it would happen in parallel with legislation passed by Congress. "We are going to keep families together. But we have to maintain toughness, or our country will be overrun by people, by all of the things that we don't stand for," Trump said at a meeting with cabinet members and Republican lawmakers. The US House of Representatives is due to consider a bill on the issue Thursday. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday the legislation will resolve multiple issues in dealing with the high flow of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, including the practice of separating families. More than 2,300 children have been taken from parents since May 5 under the current policy. Trump blamed the past administrations of George W Bush and Barack Obama for not doing more to resolve the problem on their watch. "This has been going on for many, many years. We'll see if we can solve it. This is not something that happened just now," he said. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross faces tough questions on trade from worried US senators Indignant US lawmakers on Wednesday grilled Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on President Donald Trump's multi-front trade offensive, saying it risked spiraling out of control and damaging the American economy. Pleading for an assortment of interests -- from nail manufacturers in Missouri to cherry growers in Washington state -- senators told Ross US trade policies are alienating allies and jeopardizing US livelihoods. "Mister secretary, as you consider these tariffs, know that you are taxing American families," said Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "You are putting American jobs at risk, and you are destroying markets, both foreign and domestic, for American businesses of all types, sorts and sizes." Hatch said Trump's threatened tariffs of 25 percent on the auto sector would amount to a $73 billion tax increase on American consumers and endanger 200,000 jobs and $65 billion in annual auto exports. Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa whose home state soybean growers are heavily dependent on exports to China, blasted the administration for pursuing "a government-run mercantilist economy as opposed to a free-market economy." The chorus of criticism amounted to a rare rebuke of a sitting president by the members of his own party. Global markets have shuddered at the brinksmanship over trade between Beijing and Washington. US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to put tariffs on the vast majority of China's exports to the United States -- leaving the door open to further retaliation by China. Ross countered that in Trump's view, the United States was already the loser in a long-standing trade war and was only now beginning to fight back. - Suddenly taking action? - He said that, despite the hue and cry, Trump's aggressive moves had pushed US trading partners to combat harmful supply gluts in the metals trade. "Suddenly Europe is enacting safeguards against steel dumping into Europe. They didn't do much before," he said. "Canada is taking action. Japan for the first time has created an enforcement body ... to deal with the problem." "While they're complaining bitterly about the tariffs, the fact is they're starting to take the kind of action which if they had taken sooner would have prevented this crisis," Ross said. Grassley said Iowa soybean farmers had seen prices plummet just because of market uncertainty. "Even if farmers don't have to sell their physical crop right now, the sudden volatility in the market can increase the cost of hedging and in some cases require margin calls for those who are long in the market," he said, calling on the White House to tone down threats that could provoke Chinese retaliation. When asked what the administration would do to help cushion the blow for farmers, he said that was up to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. "I am not familiar with all the tools the secretary --," he said, before being swiftly interrupted by Colorado Democrat Michael Bennet. "How can you not be familiar with them? You have come here and testified that's how you are going to solve the issue." LIBYA-CONFLICT Fresh clashes in Libya's oil crescent -- the country's economic heart -- undermine an international political push and could complicate efforts to bridge deep-set divisions, analysts say. Armed groups led by militia leader Ibrahim Jadhran on Thursday attacked two northeastern oil facilities controlled by strongman Khalifa Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army. The violence at the Ras Lanuf and Al-Sidra terminals has caused "catastrophic damage", according to the National Oil Company. The flare up comes just weeks after rival Libyan leaders sparked hope of progress for their conflict-wracked nation by agreeing during a French-led summit in Paris to hold nationwide elections in December. The deal struck by four key powerbrokers -- including Haftar and the head of an internationally backed government in Tripoli -- was in line with a United Nations plan to stabilise the country. But scepticism was high from the start and experts say the latest clashes underscore how little the political push has impacted the situation on the ground. Federica Saini Fasanotti, of the Washington-based Brookings Institute, said there are "two different realities" when it comes to Libya. "One is made by international agreement, conferences...and many, too many, words in the sky," she said. "The other one is made by simple facts on the ground." Libya has been gripped by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations and multiple militias vying for control of the oil-rich country. Haftar supports an administration based in the east, which opposes the internationally recognised government in Tripoli. Jadhran's Petroleum Facilities Guard controlled the oil terminals for years following the 2011 ouster of Kadhafi -- but they were eventually forced out by the LNA in September 2016. In a video posted last week on social media, 35-year-old Jadhran -- a member of the Al-Magharba tribe, largely based in the oil crescent -- said he had formed a new alliance to take the control of the crude corridor. - 'High stakes' - Despite his absence from the battlefield since 2016, Jadhran "never gave up", said analyst Fasanotti. "The stakes are too high because they mean the control of Cyrenaica and its oil," she said, referring to Libya's eastern half. Sources close to the LNA have said an alliance could be in the works between Jadhran and the Benghazi Defence Brigades, made up of Islamist fighters driven from the city east of the oil crescent by Haftar's forces last summer. A container at the Al-Sidra oil port is seen on January 11, 2017 The LNA has accused its rivals of launching attacks on the oil sites "to ease pressure on terrorists in Derna", where Haftar's forces have been battling hardline militias for control of the city since last month. Despite the Tripoli-based government quickly denouncing the assault, pro-Haftar forces even accused it of plotting the offensive. For some, suspicions over the latest violence have gone even further. "The attack... was planned by the intelligence services of states that do not want the return of stability in Libya," said Tarek el-Jerouchi, a member of the country's eastern parliament, pointing to Italy, Turkey and Qatar. "Some states have not welcomed the conclusions of the Paris meeting... especially the decision to set a timetable for presidential and parliamentary elections that could lift Libya out of its current crisis," he said. - 'Two different realities' - Libya strongman Khalifa Haftar (C) salutes during a military parade in the eastern city of Benghazi on May 7, 2018 The resumption of fighting near the terminals -- already damaged by violence in 2016 and 2017 -- is also yet another blow to Libya's tattered economy, as Libyans struggle with low wages and price hikes. Oil expert Saad al-Fessi called it a "dangerous setback for the oil sector, which has recently managed to recover with a significant increase in production". The NOC halted exports on Thursday from the two damaged terminals. The firm's chief, Mustafa Sanalla, said Wednesday the clashes had cause oil output to drop by 450,000 barrels -- nearly half the national production. Libya's economy relies heavily on oil, with production at 1.6 million barrels per day under Kadhafi. His ouster saw production fall to about 20 percent of that level, before recovering to more than one million barrels per day by the end of 2017. The UN's 15,000-strong MINUSMA force in Mali -- some Senagalese members are shown in Sevare in May -- has lost 104 peacekeepers since it began in 2013, including nine killed so far this year The Security Council is considering a French-drafted resolution that would extend the peacekeeping mission in Mali, considered the UN's deadliest, for a year but demand progress in peace efforts, according to the draft seen Wednesday by AFP. The 15,000-strong MINUSMA force has lost 104 peacekeepers since it began in 2013, including nine killed so far this year, despite a peace deal signed by the government and armed groups three years ago. The council is scheduled to vote next week on the measure that "expresses a sense of impatience over the persistent delays" in implementing the peace deal and threatens to impose sanctions on parties who block peace efforts. The draft resolution directs Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to "keep the mission concept under review," suggesting that the council could consider a major overhaul of MINUSMA if violence continues. Mali's government signed a peace agreement with coalitions of armed groups in June 2015 to end the fighting, but insurgents remain active, including in the central part of the African country. Islamist extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the desert in northern Mali in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013. A UN panel of experts warned in a report to the council in March that insecurity "continues to rage" in the country, with widespread trafficking of migrants, drugs and weapons. The draft resolution circulated to the council late Tuesday would keep MINUSMA's troop level at 13,289 and police at 1,920 until June 2019. It requests that Guterres step up deployment of military assets such as helicopters and other logistical support that the mission badly needs to cover the large territory. With presidential elections to be held in Mali next month, the measure calls for an "inclusive, free, fair, transparent, credible" vote. Guterres will report to the council every three months on the crisis and present a "transition plan" with a view to a possible long-term exit strategy for the mission, according to the draft. Backed by France, Mali and four other countries have set up a regional force to fight jihadists in the Sahel but the so-called G5 force has been deploying slowly and struggling with funding. The council is expected to vote on the draft resolution on June 28. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accuses human rights groups of "unrelenting bias" against Israel US Ambassador Nikki Haley on Wednesday accused human rights groups of thwarting a US push for changes to the UN Human Rights Council and contributing to Washington's decision to quit the body. In a letter sent to non-governmental organizations, Haley complained that they had played a "deconstructive" role by refusing to support US efforts to take Israel off the council's agenda. Haley on Tuesday announced that the United States was quitting the rights council, condemning the "hypocrisy" of its members and its alleged "unrelenting bias" against Israel. "You should know that your efforts to block negotiations and thwart reform were a contributing factor in the US decision to withdraw from the council," said Haley in the letter seen by AFP. "You put yourself on the side of Russia and China, and opposite the United States, on a key human rights issue." Haley was referring to a letter by 18 rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to United Nations member-states in May expressing concern that a US draft resolution at the General Assembly could weaken the rights council. The rights groups had warned that the proposed changes could trigger "hostile amendments," possibly from China and Russia, to undermine the work of the council which monitors human rights crises worldwide. "Such hostile proposals could enjoy broad support and the US might not be able to stop them," said Human Rights Watch's UN director Louis Charbonneau. - Blaming NGOs - In the end the United States did not push ahead with its proposals at the General Assembly because of lack of support from allies who warned that changes could have unwanted consequences or might fail to win adoption. HRW executive director Kenneth Roth argued that reforms were underway to improve the workings of the 47-nation Geneva-based council but that the United States "walked away from" that effort and chose instead to "theatrically" quit the council. "By attacking and blaming NGOs for its own failure, the Trump administration is taking a page out of the book of some of the worst governments around the world," said Charbonneau. Haley had repeatedly threatened over the past year to quit the rights council unless there were reforms to its agenda and to the election of its members, which often run unopposed as a region's candidate, regardless of their rights record. Last year, the United States urged African nations to back away from supporting the candidacy of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the rights council, but the appeal fell on deaf ears. Human rights groups had also raised concerns about giving the DRC a seat at the council, citing the violence in Kasai, the murder of two UN experts who were investigating mass graves there, and the arrests of scores of opposition demonstrators. Ready to meet: South Sudan President Salva Kiir, left, and rebel leader Riek Machar The two figures at the centre of the civil war that has ravaged South Sudan met for the first time in nearly two years on Wednesday evening in the Ethiopian capital. South Sudan's president Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, who fled South Sudan in July 2016, went into a closed door meeting at the Ethiopian prime minister's office. Machar, who was greeted ahead of the meeting by Ethiopia's foreign minister, Worken Gebeyehu, arrived in Addis Ababa Wednesday morning. Kiir followed in the afternoon and was met by prime minister Abiy Ahmed. The official scope of the talks is broad -- to build bridges between the two -- but analysts say the outcome remains unclear given their notoriously volatile relationship and entrenched positions. Once comrades-in arms in the fight for independence, Kiir and Machar experienced a bitter falling out, a development that played a key part in the civil war that blights the future of the world's youngest state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly a third of the 12 million population have been driven out of their homes, and many to the brink of starvation. South Sudan's President Salva Kiir flew to Addis Ababa from Juba Internaional Airport in South Sudan The two warring leaders travelled to Addis at the invitation of Ethiopia's new prime minister, Abiy, who also chairs the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional bloc that has taken the lead in thus-far fruitless peace negotiations. Abiy "will call upon the two leaders to narrow their gap and work for the pacification of South Sudan and relieve the burden of death and uprooting of South Sudanese people," Meles Alem, Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman, said. IGAD heads of state are due to meet in Addis, on Thursday, hoping to get peace talks back on track. - New fighting - A landlocked state with a large ethnic mix, South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long and brutal war. The event was hailed around the world and by celebrity supporters such as George Clooney. But in 2013, Kiir accused Machar, his vice president, of plotting a coup against him, and violence erupted between the two factions, feeding on brooding ethnic tensions. They have not met since July 2016, when heavy fighting in the capital Juba signalled the collapse of a 2015 peace deal and Machar fled to South Africa. No caption The renewed violence spread across the country, spawning numerous new armed opposition groups and further complicating peace efforts. Despite the pressure, observers say Kiir has little incentive to make concessions to his rivals. His soldiers are winning militarily, while the opposition is more fractured than ever before. Efforts to revitalise the 2015 agreement resulted in a ceasefire in December which lasted just hours before warring parties accused each other of breaking it. Millions of people in South Sudan have fled their homes because of the violence The meeting in Addis Ababa comes against a background of growing international frustration. In May, the UN Security Council gave the two warring sides a month to reach a peace deal or face sanctions. Washington was a critical backer of South Sudan during its separation from Sudan, and remains Juba's biggest aid donor. But a top US official earlier this month threatened parties on both sides of the conflict with sanctions after a report from a US foundation, The Sentry, said South Sudanese elites were profiting from human rights abuses. Detained immigrants are separated by chain-linked fencing according to age and gender -- with young siblings split up -- for up to 72 hours Children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border "cry and scream" for their mothers, reaching out for them through the chain-link pens where they are being held, a pediatrician who has visited several Texas processing centers said in an interview. Marsha Griffin, who has monitored conditions on the Texas border with Mexico for a decade, described her horror at what she found. Approaching one facility, she said she heard what sounded like children playing or laughing. "But when they opened the door, we saw around 20 to 30 10-year-old boys in one of these chain-link enclosures, and they were crying and screaming and asking for their mothers," she told AFP. Their mothers, held in another enclosure just 15 meters (yards) away, were close but not close enough to console their children. "Some of the mothers could see their children but couldn't get near to them, some of them couldn't see them. And the children were reaching their hands through the chain-link fences, crying and trying to reach out to their mothers," Griffin said. "It was horrifying," she said. - Desert camp - Family separation is not new, but in the past it has been left to the discretion of border patrol agents. Then President Donald Trump's administration embarked on a new "zero tolerance" policy in April, and since then the numbers of separations have soared. Children and workers are seen June 19, 2018 at a tent encampment recently built for migrant children near the border in Tornillo, Texas Since April 19, more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents, according to official figures. Immigrants who enter the United States illegally across the Mexico border, as well as those seeking asylum, are sent to a border patrol "processing center." There, they are separated by age and gender -- with young siblings split up -- and put in cage-like enclosures for up to 72 hours, until their case is resolved or the children are sent to shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services. But as these centers begin to overflow with new arrivals of children separated from their parents, new government solutions are emerging. Most recently, authorities have built a camp for "unaccompanied" children in the austere Chihuahua desert near Tornillo, Texas. According to immigration lawyers, separated children are routinely reclassified as unaccompanied minors. In this new camp, enclosed by numerous fences, there are at least 18 white tents. For now, it houses 16- and 17-year-old boys, with its 360 beds expected to reach 4,000. A delegation of US mayors will visit the facility on Thursday. - Toxic stress - The outcry has been so great that Trump, until now an unyielding defender of the anti-immigrant crackdown, signed an executive order to put a stop to the practice. The US House of Representatives also is planning to vote Thursday on a bill that would keep families together while they are being processed by the courts. Meanwhile, doctors warn that separation can cause "toxic stress" in detained children, among them minors who travelled alone, and others separated from their parents. Griffin confirmed to AFP that even toddlers and babies are being held. "Separating children from their parents contradicts everything we stand for as pediatricians," said the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Colleen Kraft. The AAP said in a statement that "toxic stress, which is caused by prolonged exposure to heightened stress, has detrimental short- and long-term health effects ... that can contribute to chronic conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and heart disease." "These children go through a process of toxic stress and trauma, because they don't know what's going to happen to them and they are not with their primary caregiver," Griffin said. Origin of US asylum seekers As a result, pediatricians are calling for these centers to employ specialists trained in childcare, to comfort children and explain what is happening -- but it's a struggle to get the message across. "When we tell that to the agents, they get upset," Griffin explained. "They say this is not their work, they are law enforcement, they don't have time for this." As pediatricians, "we know the severe damage this is causing right this minute on hundreds and hundreds of children," she added. "I think we are better than that. As a country, certainly we hold all children are valuable." Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, has been suspended over sexual abuse allegations The former archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, has been removed from ministry following allegations that he sexually abused a teenager nearly 50 years ago when he was a priest in New York. McCarrick, 87, is one of the most prominent American cardinals active on the international stage, and the charges make him one of the most high-profile Catholic leaders to face allegations of abuse. Although he has officially retired, McCarrick has continued to travel abroad regularly, including to defend human rights issues. "This was the first such report of a violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People ever made against him of which the archdiocese was aware," Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York said in a statement making the claims public for the first time Wednesday. Dolan said an independent forensic agency "thoroughly investigated" the allegation, which was also turned to law enforcement officials. The Holy See was alerted and "encouraged us to continue this process," Dolan added. A review board that includes jurists, law enforcement experts, parents, psychologists, a priest and a religious sister then "found the allegations credible and substantiated" and the Vatican ordered McCarrick to stop exercising his priestly ministry, Dolan said. In a statement, McCarrick said he learned of the claims several months ago. He maintained his innocence but added that "I considered it essential that the charges be reported to the police, thoroughly investigated by an independent agency and given to the Review Board of the Archdiocese of New York." "I fully cooperated in the process," he added, saying he would obey the Holy See's decision that he halt his ministry. "While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people." - 'Shame' - McCarrick was ordained a priest in 1958 and served as auxiliary bishop of New York from 1977 until 1981, when he was appointed bishop of Metuchen in New Jersey. In 1986, he became archbishop of Newark, serving there until he was installed as archbishop of Washington in 2001. He held that post until 2006. The Archdiocese of Washington said the Vatican had only ordered McCarrick to refrain from any public ministry or activity "until a definite decision is made." Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the current archbishop of Newark, and Metuchen's bishop, James Checchio, said they had received three allegations of McCarrick's sexual misconduct with adults decades ago, two of which resulted in settlements. "Shame on New Jersey Catholic officials who knew about but kept secret allegations that Cardinal McCarrick sexually assaulted adults and that settlements were paid out as a result," said the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "The hierarchy needs to take action, not just wring their hands and accept resignations," the statement said. "They need to open the books, name all the clergy who have been convicted, admitted guilt or been credibly accused of sex crimes against children, minors and vulnerable adults." Jacinda Ardern is set to become only the second world leader to have a child while in office after the late Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 1990 New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is in hospital to give birth, her office said Thursday, handing over duties to her deputy ahead of the delivery. The 37-year-old is set to become only the second world leader to have a child while in office, capping a meteoric year just months after she took over the country's top job in October. Ardern will follow in the footsteps of the late Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who in 1990 became the only women in recorded history to give birth while in power. Deputy Winston Peters is now acting prime minister while Ardern takes six weeks of maternity leave. Ardern was due on June 17 and has not publicly revealed the sex of her baby with partner Clarke Gayford. With a mounting political crisis within his own Republican Party, US President Donald Trump made an abrupt about-face on migrant family separations Faced with the disturbing images of migrant children separated from their parents at the US border with Mexico that have shocked America and the world, President Donald Trump did not flinch for a long time. But finally, with a mounting political crisis within his own Republican Party, Trump made an abrupt about-face. At a meeting on Wednesday with Republican lawmakers at the White House, he surprised everyone by announcing he would sign an executive order to "keep families together." Hours later, he put his signature on the page. Since May, when his administration adopted a "zero-tolerance" border security policy helmed by ultra-conservative Attorney General Jeff Sessions, more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents. Recent images of crying and screaming children, trying to cling to their parents, have left many Americans shocked -- and asking why such a practice is needed. The real estate mogul-turned-president is certainly used to controversy -- and in fact seems to fuel it on purpose. And it certainly seems ill-advised to declare another major turning point in his unconventional presidency. But nevertheless, recent events are certainly a bit different, at the very least. Rarely has Trump faced such an widespread outcry, such an avalanche of condemnations Day after day, tensions were palpably mounting within the Republican camp. And while the controversy has certainly emboldened part of Trump's base, the president also has cut himself off from other core supporters, especially evangelical Christians, who helped him win in 2016 but are since disgruntled. The Grand Old Party is aware of the chinks in the armor: a few months before crucial November mid-term elections, in which it fears losing control of the House of Representatives, the party is in a high-risk face-off on a deeply emotional issue. Steve Schmidt, a former advisor to Senator John McCain and a longtime Trump critic, on Wednesday renounced his party membership, disgusted by what he called "internment camps for babies." "29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life," Schmidt tweeted. "Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump." - Trump's 'Katrina moment'? - While the executive order could serve to calm public outrage, the controversy could leave lasting black marks on Trump's presidency. For Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of The New York Times who is now a columnist for The Guardian, this could be Trump's "Katrina moment" -- referring to George W Bush's botched handling of the 2005 hurricane disaster. The photo of Bush surveying the damage in New Orleans from far above, in Air Force One, remains an indelible symbol of a president who was totally disconnected from the tragic reality on the ground. US President George W. Bush looks out the window of Air Force One in 2005 as he flies over hurricane-ravaged New Orleans -- one commentator has suggested Trump is having his "Katrina moment" "Trump is making Bushs same fatal mistake," Abramson wrote. "Its the exact same heartlessness and cluelessness." "This is not the America that even staunch conservatives want the world to see," she added. Beyond the political arguments, the words used by the leader of the world's superpower are also stoking the firestorm. "Democrats are the problem. They dont care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country," Trump tweeted Tuesday. According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday, less than a third of Americans (27 percent) approve of the separation of migrant families at the border. Among Republicans, the number is far higher, with a majority backing the president, but only just -- 55 percent. Trump, whose mantra is "border security" at all costs, is to address supporters at a campaign-style "Make America Great Again" rally Wednesday night in Minnesota. In that setting, he is most likely to abandon his prepared remarks -- and consequently usually offers the most provocative statements. Maria and her boys Steven (L) and Brian (R) wait at an intersection near MacArthur Park in the predominantly Hispanic/Latino neighborhood of Westlake in Los Angeles From housekeepers and construction workers to waiters and activists, members of LA's huge Latino immigrant community say they are horrified by the zero tolerance policy that has led to children being separated from their parents at the US border. "I would rather die than be separated from my child," said housekeeper Luisa, 35, who slipped into the United States from Guatemala 18 years ago. "The day someone tries to take my children away from me is the day they will have to kill me," added the mother-of-three, who did not want her real name used. Her comments were echoed by nearly a dozen other people interviewed by AFP in Los Angeles's Westlake neighborhood, which has a heavy Latino population. Many of those interviewed said they feel sickened by the images and stories of children being separated from their parents at the border. Andrea, also from Guatemala, said she left her native country 13 years ago, fleeing poverty and unrest -- and now feels like a hounded animal. "We ran away from the fire and now they want to throw us back into the flames," the 32-year-old said, referring to President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. "I don't want to go back to Guatemala," added Andrea, who has three kids and is pregnant with her fourth. "I come from a village located near the volcano that recently erupted." "That's the last place I want to go back to." - Living in fear - Many residents of Los Angeles's predominantly Latino Westlake neighborhood have said they feel sickened by the images of stories of children being separated from their parents at the border Tommy Trinidad, who works at a law firm that represents immigrants, said the administration's harsh policies have sown panic in immigrant communities now hunkering down. "They are afraid to even speak with us," Trinidad said. "They are living in fear." He said his law firm has faced mounting resistance from authorities as it deals with an influx of inquiries from members of the Latino community seeking information about loved ones detained at the US-Mexico border. "In the last three to six month, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has been lying to us all the time," Trinidad said. "They don't respect the rights of detainees, they claim we haven't filed the proper forms, they hold deportation hearings at 5:00 am when we cannot be there." "We are now afraid of taking on new cases because we know there is no respect for the law." For some like Jose, who hails from Mexico and has worked in construction for 20 years, the unfolding family separation crisis has reinforced his decision to voluntarily return home. "None of us are ready or want to go back but we have no other choice," he said. Asked if he would consider coming back to the United States down the line, he shook his head. "That's it for us," he said with a sigh. "We will stay in Mexico, whatever awaits us there." "My wife and I are from Mexico City, we have family there and this is no longer home," he said. "This will not change until Trump leaves." PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Pennsylvania judge said Monday she'll rule in "due time" after an evidence hearing to determine whether rapper Meek Mill should get a new trial in his decade-old gun and drug convictions. Mill's attorneys have asked for a new trial based on credibility issues with former Philadelphia police officer Reginald Graham, who was pivotal in his arrest in 2007 and who testified at his trial. The Philadelphia district attorney's office supported the request for a new trial, agreeing before Monday's hearing that the "Commonwealth does not have confidence in the credibility of Reginald Graham's testimony in this case." The attorneys also agreed that another officer who was part of Mill's original arrest had given credible sworn testimony that contradicted Graham's. The district attorney's office also said it had information as early as 2014 related to Graham's misconduct that was not shared with Mill's attorneys until this year. Rapper Meek Mill speaks outside the Philadelphia Criminal Justice in Center City, Pa., on Monday, June 18, 2018, as he attends a hearing to determine whether he should get a new trial in his decade-old gun and drug convictions. (Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP) Despite the agreement, Judge Genece Brinkley scheduled an evidence hearing and said Monday she needed more time to review evidence that Graham had credibility issues in this case before ruling whether to allow a new trial. A different Philadelphia judge has agreed to overturn convictions in at least three other cases in which Graham gave testimony, all without evidentiary hearings. The district attorney's office decided not to retry those cases. Mill's attorneys said after the two-hour hearing Monday that the interactions with Brinkley were confrontational. One said Brinkley laughed at testimony from an expert witness, and another said her language during the hearing suggested that she had already decided to rule against Mill's request. The state Supreme Court recently split on a request by Mill's attorneys to remove Brinkley from his case earlier this month. Three justices said they would grant the request to remove his case from Brinkley, while three others said they would deny it or they had not heard enough to grant the request. Brinkley sentenced Mill in November to two to four years in prison for violating probation related to two charges that were dismissed. She found him in technical violation of probation. Mill served almost five months of the sentence before the state Supreme Court ordered his release on bond. PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) - The father of a Mongolian model whose murder touched off a scandal in the highest levels of Malaysia's recently ousted ruling party said Tuesday he will ask new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to reopen the investigation into his daughter's death. Altantuya Shaariibuu was shot dead and her body blown up with plastic explosives outside Kuala Lumpur in October 2006. Two members of an elite police unit that provided bodyguards for Malaysia's top leaders were convicted of killing her. Abdul Razak Baginda, a close aide to then-defense minister Najib Razak, was reportedly her lover, and was tried but acquitted of abetting the crime, whose planner was never determined. Altantuya was 28 and pregnant at the time of her death. Setev Shaarriibuu, father of a Mongolian woman who was murdered in 2006 arrives in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Tuesday, June 19, 2018. Setev Shaarriibuu, the father of Setev Shaarriibuu, the Mongolian model whose murder touched off a scandal in the highest levels of Malaysia's recently ousted ruling party, says he will ask the new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to reopen the investigation into his daughter's death. (AP Photo) Najib later became prime minister, serving until his party lost power in May this year. The victim's father, Setev Shaariibuu, said after talking with Attorney General Tommy Thomas that he will ask Mahathir at a meeting scheduled for Wednesday to reopen the case. "Nobody is above the law," he said at a news conference with his Malaysian lawyer, Ramkarpal Singh. "I will ask him to solve my problem and bring justice for me." "We are quite optimistic that in light of this discussion with the attorney general, that the chances for the matter being investigated further will happen," Ramkarpal said. Najib was ousted from power in an election that saw the Barisan Nasional coalition that had held power for decades lose to a reformist coalition spearheaded by Mahathir, a former prime minister who had been a stalwart of the Barisan Nasional until turning against his former comrades. Allegations of massive corruption on Najib's part undermined support for him and are now being closely investigated by Mahathir's new government. Altantuya's death has drawn new interest largely because of the possibility that it can be fairly investigated following the change in government. There has been speculation that Najib might be linked to the case because the two men convicted of the killing served as his bodyguards. Further interest stems from reports that Altantuya, who worked as a translator for Razak Baginda, had knowledge of an allegedly corrupt deal concerning the purchase of submarines from France and had threatened to expose the deal, which occurred while Najib was defense minister. One of the policemen convicted of the murder escaped to Australia while his conviction was on appeal. Sirul Azhar Umar has been detained there since 2015 for overstaying his visa, and has recently offered to return to Malaysia to provide evidence in the case if he is promised a pardon. His colleague is on death row. CONTRADA PETRARO, Sicily (AP) - Spring is ending and summer approaches. The grass is now long, finished growing. For us, it's time to scythe. This is a beautiful, and slightly sad, time of year for my wife and me, when the fields of grass and flowers on our 3 acres of farmland in the mountains of northern Sicily must be cut. We would prefer to let them live on: There are deep pink French honeysuckles, purple thistles, yellow dandelions, pale pink and white acanthus, and wispy and lazy grasses. But that's not prudent in the dry Mediterranean summer, when fires are an annual threat and long grasses fuel flames. The idea of our olive, almond, ash and fruit trees - not to mention a hundred grape vines I planted this spring - catching fire is a ghastly one. This May 24, 2018 photo shows the writer Cain Burdeau's father, Bob Burdeau, cutting grass on his property near Martina Franca in Puglia, Italy. He has cut the grass on his property for many years with a scythe. (Caleb Burdeau via AP) So, off into the fields we go to scythe - an ancient method of cutting grasses that few people do anymore here in Sicily or elsewhere. Landowners here have many ways to prevent fires from raging across the countryside. Some use a tractor to "pulire il terreno" ("clean the land"). Many take out weed whackers, masks and gasoline cans to tackle the grasses. Old-timers used to simply pull plants out by the roots and cut grasses by sickle and scythe. This is our second year of "cleaning up" our land - and we do it the old-fashioned way. I chose to scythe because that's how my father, Bob Burdeau, has been cutting his grass in Puglia for years. He swears by it, both because he dislikes using machines but also because there is something therapeutic in scything. On cool spring evenings, we talked by telephone about the differences between scything and using a weed whacker. "With a weed whacker, the aim is to get the work done," my father told me. "And you get it done as efficiently as possible ... Because you're trying to earn money, you're trying to do something, and you've got other things to do." "But it's not as efficient really because you have to get your machine fixed all the time; you've got to buy gas and additives for the gas," he said. "But the sensation is that you're getting it done. And when you're doing the scything, you're not really in that same state of mind. You're in another state of mind." Surprisingly, I found many local farmers of the same mind - even though they use weed whackers and tractors. I helped a friend cut grass in a beautiful olive orchard inside a valley that runs into the Tyrrhenian Sea. "This is the part of the work I hate the most. I despise weed whackers," my friend said. And sure enough it was stressful: Both machines we used broke down, starting and stopping, needing a mechanic's hand. Clothes got ruined. We smelled of gasoline. I had to wear a mask, safety goggles and ear muffs. After using a weed whacker for a while, your arms are numb from the vibrations. I have a weed whacker, and I might buy gasoline and raze the edges of the property to make solid firebreaks. But other than that, our grass is being cut by an Austrian scythe I bought last year from a hardware store in nearby Castelbuono. I am also using a pair of long clippers for cutting around trees and rocks. When I told Giovanni Spallina, who runs an agriculture shop in Castelbuono, that I used a scythe, he approved. "The work is better with a scythe," he said. "It comes out better." Sure enough, as we spoke, a farmer showed up at his busy shop, Spallina Natura, with a weed whacker in need of fixing. This year, I've taken a different approach to cutting grass: I decided not to panic about the encroaching sea of grasses and let them grow. Last year, urged by locals and overwhelmed by fast-growing grass, I went out scything in May, in the very heart of flowering - and the experience was excruciating. I suffer from allergies, and after scything for a few hours I'd return to our little farmhouse drenched in sweat and with stinging rashes and welts on my calves and arms. My nose ran without pause, my throat felt like a sandpaper rattle and my eyes were blurry from tears. The same happened this May when I attempted to cut. But then I realized that the grass didn't need to be cut in May. In fact, it is better, local agronomist and naturalist Giuseppe Piro told me, to wait until grasses have reached their maximum growth. Piro showed me an old scythe among the rusty tools on a property where he makes olive oil with his son. He took the scythe in his hands and demonstrated how old-timers used them, in particular in the higher mountains where vast fields of wheat, barley and other cereals are grown. Sicily was the breadbasket of the Roman Empire. "Look at the blade," he said. He ran his finger along it. "Fifty centimeters. With every stroke, 2 meters by 50 centimeters (of grass) go down." He talked of the ancient culture of cereal cultivation in the mountains, where he worked as a boy. He remembered seeing men, women and children cutting grass by hand and with the help of mules, working through "waves of grass which sway like the ocean." The grasses are used for animal feed and human consumption. Piro said cutters sheathed their fingers with pieces of bamboo to prevent them from getting cut as they used sickles. He remembered how bales of hay were made, how he piloted an ox-pulled sled piled high with hay. As for the machines, he scornfully pointed out patches along the road where one had been used. "When you go with a weed whacker, you destroy the grass. You can't use it for forage," he said. "It's all in pieces." By the end of May, I was ready to start. I'd had a grip put on our scythe by a blacksmith friend. I'd purchased a big straw hat at the market, and sunglasses. My father had visited and given us some tips on how to dampen the whetstones and sharpen the blade. I had loose-fitting clothing and rubber boots. And thus, as the deep quiet of June descended, I waded off into the fields. One stroke at a time, I cut. Sweat beaded on my brow. The slash of the scythe was soothing. Every 10 minutes, I paused to sharpen the blade and listen to summer's sounds. This June 8, 2018 photo shows writer Cain Burdeau using a scythe to cut the grass on a property in Contrada Petraro near Castelbuono, Sicily where he lives with his wife and two boys. He has chosen to cut the grass on his property with a scythe in part because he is following the example of his father, a long-time scythe user, but also because he prefers hand tools over mechanized ones. In Sicily it is important to cut grass as prevention against summertime fires. (Audrey Rodeman via AP) This June 8, 2018 photo shows writer Cain Burdeau sharpening a scythe he uses to cut the grass on a property in Contrada Petraro near Castelbuono, Sicily where he lives with his wife and two boys. He has chosen to cut the grass on his property with a scythe in part because he is following the example of his father, a long-time scythe user, but also because he prefers hand tools over mechanized ones. In Sicily it is important to cut grass as prevention against summertime fires. (Audrey Rodeman via AP) This May 17, 2018 photo shows Giuseppe Piro, an agronomist and naturalist, standing with an old scythe in Contrada Marcatagliastro near Castelbuono, Sicily. He demonstrated how old-timers used to use scythes, in particular in the higher mountains where a variety of cereals are grown on extensive tracts. Today the scythe is rarely used in Sicily to cut grass. (Cain Burdeau via AP) This May 31, 2018 photo shows a man on a tractor tilling a piece of countryside in Contrada Petraro near Castelbuono, Sicily. Landowners in Sicily rid their properties of grass to prevent summertime fires. One method to clear the land is to use a tractor. (Cain Burdeau via AP) This May 24, 2018 photo shows the writer Cain Burdeau's father, Bob Burdeau, cutting grass on his property near Martina Franca in Puglia, Italy. He has cut the grass on his property for many years with a scythe. (Caleb Burdeau via AP) This May 17, 2018 photo shows Giuseppe Piro, an agronomist and naturalist, demonstrating with his hands and arms how farmers once used scythes to cut grasses. He is standing near a field near Castelbuono, Sicily where grasses for animal feed were recently harvested by tractor. (Cain Burdeau via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump took a sarcastic dig at Rep. Mark Sanford, a South Carolina Republican who has been critical of the president, during a meeting on immigration with House Republicans Tuesday night. Sanford fired back later, telling The Associated Press that he found it "startling" that Trump would attack him during a meeting about "a crisis." Trump told the lawmakers in a closed-door Capitol Hill meeting that he wanted to "congratulate Mark on a great race," according to two attendees. Several participants said Trump's remarks elicited some boos, with one saying they came from members of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative group to which Sanford belongs. "The president has his own style. You gotta give him credit. He's an equal opportunity insulter. He gets just about everybody," said Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas. President Donald Trump, left, gestures as he walks with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., right, while leaving the U.S. Capitol in Washington after meeting with GOP leadership, Tuesday, June 19, 2018. Walking behind them is Stephen Miller, center, White House senior adviser. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Sanford lost his primary bid last week to state Rep. Katie Arrington and blamed his defeat on Trump, who urged Republicans to dump the former South Carolina governor. Tuesday's meeting was focused on GOP efforts to address the administration's separation of migrant children from their families and other immigration law changes. Sanford said he "finds solace" in the boos Trump received, saying the events were described to him by friends in the room. Sanford said he was unable to attend because his flight was delayed at the Charleston, South Carolina, airport. "These comments, like many things the president has said of late, I find perplexing," he said. "It's not often in politics that someone will shoot a candidate and once dead come by and shoot him again." He also said it was "startling that the president goes to Capitol Hill to talk to lawmakers about a crisis" and uses the session to raise "some perceived personal slight." Trump tweeted on the day of the primary that the congressman had been unhelpful to him, adding, "He is better off in Argentina." That was a reference to Sanford's surprise disappearance from the state when he was governor, which he later revealed was to continue his affair with an Argentine woman. Sanford had called Trump untrustworthy and culturally intolerant, prompting Arrington's primary challenge. The congressman later said support for Trump had become a litmus test in GOP primaries. The attendees spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private session. __ Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Matthew Daly contributed to this report. CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - In Charleston, South Carolina, once a key slave trading port, the City Council has voted to apologize for slavery. By voice vote, the Charleston City Council on Tuesday approved a resolution denouncing slavery, promising tolerance in the future and proposing an office of racial reconciliation. The vote coincided with "Juneteenth," a celebration of the end of slavery, and came just two days after the third anniversary of a racist attack by a white man killed nine black members of a Charleston church. In expressing support, Councilman William Dudley Gregorie compared slavery with the federal immigration policy that has resulted in children being separated from their families. Councilmen Harry Joseph Griffin and Perry Waring expressed opposition to the resolution. Both said the city needs to focus on economic development. BEIJING (AP) - One in five foreign companies in China feels compelled to hand over technology for market access, a business group said Wednesday, highlighting a key irritant in an escalating U.S.-Chinese trade dispute. The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China's report follows President Donald Trump's order for tariffs on additional Chinese goods in response to complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. Out of 532 European companies that responded to a survey, 19 percent "felt compelled to transfer technology in exchange for market access" despite Chinese assurances that it isn't required, the chamber said. FILE - In this July 11, 2016, file photo, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom speaks at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. One in five foreign companies in China feels compelled to hand over technology for market access, a business group said Wednesday, June 20, 2018, highlighting a key irritant in an escalating U.S.-Chinese trade dispute. The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China's report follows President Donald Trump's order for tariffs on additional Chinese goods in response to complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) "China has pursued an implicit strategy of trading domestic market share for new foreign technology," the report said. Trump is pressing Beijing to scrap or roll back technology development strategies its trading partners say include stealing or pressuring companies to give up know-how in violation of its market-opening commitments. European companies have been bystanders to the U.S.-Chinese dispute but share the complaints of their American counterparts about market barriers and unfair regulation. Some industries had higher rates of companies reporting they felt compelled to hand over technology, according to the European chamber. That included 36 percent in aerospace and 27 percent in autos - both industries cited in Chinese plans to develop global competitors. The survey was conducted in February and March, before the latest escalation in U.S.-Chinese trade tensions. DOVER, Del. (AP) - Authorities say a Florida man has been charged with stealing 27 cellphones during a Delaware music festival after an iPhone app led police to him. The News Journal of Wilmington reported Monday that 34-year-old William Rodriguez, of Miami, has been charged with multiple counts of theft. The Dover Police Department had received reports of cellphones being snatched from hands, pockets and purses over the weekend at the Firefly Music Festival. A department release says one victim at the festival was able to track her phone using the "Find My iPhone" app. The app led state and Dover police to Rodriguez, who had all 27 cellphones with him at the time. The newspaper doesn't say if Rodriguez has a lawyer. ___ Information from: The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., http://www.delawareonline.com FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - A Florida man has been found guilty of kicking a sheriff's deputy and a police dog. The News-Press reports 52-year-old Dennis Lamar Flint was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison for the assault. A State Attorney's Office release says Lee County Sheriff deputies responded to a call about a crash last November and found an abandoned, damaged car. A K-9 unit found Flint in a nearby backyard. The release says deputies attempted to arrest Flint, who then kicked a deputy in the chest four times. It says Flint was then shocked with a stun gun that "appeared to have virtually no effect" and bit by a K-9. It says he kicked the dog twice and punched another deputy in the arm. ___ Information from: The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press, http://www.news-press.com WASHINGTON (AP) - A former campaign manager for Donald Trump has created a stir by dismissing a story about a girl with Down syndrome with a sarcastic "Wah wah." Corey Lewandowski appeared Tuesday on Fox News Channel to discuss President Trump's hard-line immigration policy, which has led to the practice of taking migrant children from parents charged with entering the country illegally. Earlier Tuesday, a Mexican official said one of those children was a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome. FILE - In this April 28, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump, left, watches as Corey Lewandowski, right, his former campaign manager for Trump's presidential campaign, speaks during a campaign rally in Washington Township, Mich. Lewandowski has created a stir by dismissing a story about a girl with Down syndrome with a sarcastic "Wah wah." Lewandowski appeared Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Fox News Channel to discuss the president's hard-line immigration policy, which has led to the practice of taking migrant children from parents charged with entering the country illegally. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) When another Fox panelist mentioned that story, Lewandowski responded with "Wah wah." Despite being fired from the Trump campaign in 2016, Lewandowski appears to have regained the president's approval. During an April rally in Michigan, Trump called Lewandowski on stage and praised him for not being a "pushover" or a "patsy." COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio company whose Republican owner spent more than a year in prison following a campaign finance probe has organized employees and suppliers in a retaliatory effort to bring down two prominent Democrats, The Associated Press has learned. An explosive memo posted online lays out The Justice Association LLC's strategy for an investigation, lawsuit and ad campaign targeting U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and former U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach, the Democratic nominee for attorney general. It calls them "chief culprits" in a vast effort by Democrats to unjustly prosecute Republican-owned companies under former President Barack Obama. The month-old association is offering "rewards" of up to $100,000 for any supporting evidence it could use to request a grand jury investigation by Republican U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, the Republican gubernatorial nominee. FILE - In this June 2, 2014, file photo, CEO of Suarez Corporation Industries, Benjamin Suarez leaves federal court in Cleveland after the first day of his trial on charges of violating campaign laws. An Ohio telemarketing company whose Republican owner, Suarez, spent more than a year in prison following a campaign finance probe has organized employees and suppliers in a retaliatory effort to bring down two prominent Democrats, The Associated Press has learned. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File) The evidence also would be folded into a class-action racketeering lawsuit against the Obama-era Justice Department, alleging it politicized prosecutions. Suarez Corp. Industries is behind the effort. Its CEO, Benjamin Suarez, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for witness tampering in a 2014 investigation by Dettelbach's office and the FBI. He was acquitted of seven additional charges. The company's chief financial officer, Michael Giorgio, was sentenced to 27 months for campaign finance fraud. The Suarez probe centered on campaign contributions made by employees, relatives and others to the 2012 campaigns of Republican Josh Mandel, Brown's then-Senate challenger, and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, Brown's current rival. Suarez had sought the politicians' help in fighting a California consumer practices complaint. Neither candidate was implicated. The Justice Association effort was formed to seek restitution for financial impacts the company ties in part to the prosecution, including 800 Suarez job losses and 2,000 job losses at Suarez suppliers, the memo says. Suarez Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection in August. The memo also describes a massive political advertising campaign on "all media channels across Ohio, on TV, radio, the internet, newspapers and other media." It wasn't immediately clear how The Justice Association could mount such a campaign without a political action committee. Suarez's company launched the association's website in February, records show, about a month after Renacci entered the Senate race. The association was incorporated in May. It shares an address with Suarez Corporation Industries and its executive director, Jennifer Werner, has a Suarez phone number. She didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. Suarez, who describes his company as a multi-channel marketing and manufacturing business, said in an email Wednesday that "our association is not associated with any candidate running for office." The memo is laced with personal attacks on people who Suarez alleges acted illegally or unethically during his prosecution. It calls Dettelbach's then-first assistant, Carole Rendon, "Crazy Carole" and says she has "major mental problems, in part due to a complex because she is very short in stature." It says Judge Patricia Gaughan is "incompetent, cruel" and "enjoys human suffering." Rendon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Gaughan's office said ethics restrictions prevented her from commenting. Dettelbach, who faces Republican Auditor Dave Yost this fall, said he was not surprised that Suarez would go after him. "I have heard it all before. It comes with the job," he said in a statement. "When you hold powerful people accountable, sometimes they come after you." Mike Tobin, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cleveland, declined to comment - but Dettelbach defended the operation, calling the memo's comments against a federal judge and career prosecutors "misplaced, untrue and unfair." Besides alleging "a politically motivated, false and malicious prosecution" of Suarez, the memo shed new light on Suarez's political activities during the 2000s election. It says two political action committees Suarez formed in the early 2000s - the US Citizens Association and Empowered Citizens Network - began running hundreds of thousands of dollars of advertising against Democrats in 2003. "Their ads used the advanced and effective advertising methods of Suarez Corporation Industries, which are considered to be the best in the nation," the memo says. US Citizens Association ran full-page ads in the Canton Repository and other area newspapers in 2009 opposing then-U.S. Rep. John Boccieri, a Democrat, and favoring Renacci. Boccieri lost his seat and the memo says Renacci credited the ads for his election. According to the memo, "Benjamin Suarez was informed by several high ranking members of the Ohio Republican Party that the Democrats were livid and Suarez and his company were marked for punishment." Boccieri said the memo seemed to validate "serious concerns" he had at the time that Renacci and Suarez were coordinating attack ads against him. "In the fog of war of these political battles, we just didn't know where it was coming from," he said. Brown campaign spokesman Preston Maddock said, "Congressman Renacci owes Ohioans answers about his long association with Suarez and if he continues to benefit from their relationship as this letter suggests." A spokeswoman for Renacci's campaign flatly rejected that claim, saying it's another example of Ohio Democrats "recycling the same false attacks" since Renacci first ran for office. "We had no idea this group existed until we read about it in your story," Leslie Shedd, senior communications adviser for Renacci's campaign, told The Associated Press. "For Brown's campaign to claim there is a 'long association' is not just misleading - it's an outright lie." ___ Follow Julie Carr Smyth at http://www.twitter.com/jsmyth BOSTON (AP) - Jurors are set to resume deliberations in the case of a New England Mafia boss accused of killing a nightclub owner in 1993. Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme is charged with murder in the slaying of Steven DiSarro. Jurors failed to reach a verdict on their first day of deliberations Tuesday and will return to federal court in Boston Wednesday. FILE - This 1995 file photo taken in West Palm Beach, Fla., and released by the FBI shows Francis P. "Cadillac Frank" Salemme. The former New England Mafia boss accused of killing a nightclub owner in 1993. Closing arguments are expected on Monday, June 18, 2018, in Salemme's trial in federal court in Boston. (Federal Bureau of Investigation via AP, File) Prosecutors say Salemme and his co-defendant, Paul Weadick, killed DiSarro to prevent him from cooperating with authorities investigating the mobster. DiSarro's remains weren't found until 2016. Lawyers for Salemme and Weadick say their clients are innocent and the government's star witness is lying. Salemme was head of the New England family of La Costa Nostra in the early 1990s. He and Weadick face up to life in prison if convicted. ATLANTA (AP) - Former Vice President Joe Biden endorsed Stacey Abrams Wednesday in her bid to become Georgia's first Democratic governor in 15 years and the nation's first-ever black female state executive. The former vice president hailed Abrams in a statement to The Associated Press for her "track record of building consensus across party lines" while still advancing Democratic priorities like Medicaid expansion and public education. In an interview with the AP, Abrams said Biden's backing "continues to reflect the broad and diverse coalition that I'm attempting to build" in a GOP-dominated state. Biden joined other potential 2020 presidential candidates including Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California in backing Abrams. FILE- In this May 22, 2018 file photo Democratic candidate for Georgia Gov. Stacey Abrams waves in Atlanta. Former Vice President Joe Biden is endorsing Abrams Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Though Abrams, a former state House floor leader, has been buoyed by high-profile supporters and campaign contributions from liberals across the country, she's still expected to be a decided underdog this fall. She's awaiting the results of a July 24 runoff between Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp to learn who she'll face in the general election. No Democratic candidate for governor, U.S. Senate or president has prevailed in Georgia since 1998. Abrams and Biden might seem like unlikely political partners. But the 44-year-old Atlanta attorney and the 75-year-old former vice president are forming a campaign alliance that could make perfect sense for both politicians and a Democratic Party that's still looking for the right counter arguments in era of President Donald Trump. She's styled herself as an unapologetic progressive - a nod to a Georgia electorate that is becoming younger, more urban and less-white, but still includes large swaths of white voters beyond metro Atlanta who've abandoned Democrats in recent decades. Biden, who prides himself on being a middle-class advocate who connects even with many Trump voters, can boost that argument, Abrams says. She adds that she has no qualms about accepting support from national Democrats with styles and policy preferences as different as Biden and Sanders, an icon of the activist left. For Biden, the alliance puts him on record alongside one of the party's high-profile up-and-comers who has an opportunity to make history. It also signals to any reticent Georgia Democrats that Abrams deserves full party support. Abrams won a May 22 primary over Stacey Evans, another former state legislator, by almost a 3-to-1 margin. But Evans had enjoyed backing of many old-guard Democratic Party figures, most of whom were white. Evans quickly endorsed Abrams after the primary ballots were counted. Beyond Georgia, many of Biden's endorsements in the 2018 midterms have come in GOP-leaning territory, though his aides stress that he is not trying to take an absolute side on specific ideological battles within the party. That means he's backed House candidates like Pennsylvania's Conor Lamb, who pointedly opposes sweeping new gun restrictions, but also Texan Gina Ortiz Jones, who supports a single-payer, government-run health insurance system. ---- Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Eritrea's president announced Wednesday he is sending a rare delegation to neighboring Ethiopia for peace talks, days after Ethiopia's new prime minister took a major step toward calming deadly tensions with its decades-long rival. This is the first such delegation since 1998, when a border war erupted between the countries and they cut off diplomatic relations. Eritrea's longtime President Isaias Afwerki noted "positive signals" in recent days from Ethiopia and said the delegation will "gauge current developments directly and in depth" to plan future steps. He spoke during a Martyrs Day celebration in the capital, Asmara. Ethiopia early this month made the surprise announcement that it will fully accept the terms of a peace agreement with Eritrea signed in 2000 to end the two-year border war that killed tens of thousands. The countries have skirmished a number of times since then. Ethiopia had refused to accept the deal's handing to Eritrea of key locations, including the town of Badme, which it still holds. The decision to fully accept the peace deal was the biggest reform yet announced by Ethiopia's young new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who once fought in Badme. "The suffering on both sides is unspeakable because the peace process is deadlocked. This must change for the sake of our common good," Abiy's chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, said at the time. Eritrea shortly after the announcement replied that it had always accepted the peace deal. On Wednesday, Fitsum on Twitter said Abiy had "thanked and congratulated" Eritrea's president for the positive response and "expressed his readiness to welcome warmly and with considerable goodwill" the Eritrean delegation. Eritrea's ambassador to Japan, Estifanos Afeworki, on Twitter said the delegation will pursue "constructive engagement." Eritrea's ambassador to Kenya, Byene Russom, called it a "new chapter of peace and reconciliation between the Eritrean and Ethiopian people." While Ethiopia is one of Africa's fastest-growing economies, tiny Eritrea is one of the world's most closed-off nations, ruled by Afwerki since gaining independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after years of rebel warfare. Eritrea has become a major source of migrants fleeing toward Europe, Israel and African nations in recent years as human rights groups criticize its harsh military conscription laws. The spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters that "obviously we'll see what happens but we clearly welcome this development." He said the world body stood ready to play a role in assisting the two parties. Ethiopia's announcement on the peace deal set off a number of protests by residents in the northern Tigray region bordering Eritrea. The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, a party in Ethiopia's ruling coalition that has been the dominant force in government for most of the past 27 years, said the announcement had been made before the ruling coalition's congress met to discuss it: "We see this as a flaw." ___ Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa GENEVA (AP) - The U.N.'s Human Rights Council resumed work Wednesday after a U.S. pullout that one Western diplomat called a "Big Bang" for the Geneva body, as Russia blasted the move by the Trump administration and key allies expressed disappointment. Critics and friends alike read the latest Trump move to snub yet another international institution as a sign that U.S. was jettisoning its reputation as a key defender of human rights and self-inflicting a blow to its international image. They expressed support for the council, flaws and all, and vowed its work will go on. The US name sign is photographed one day after the United States announced its withdrawal at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday. June 20, 2018. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) "We have lost a member who has been at the forefront of liberty for generations," Julian Braithwaite, Britain's ambassador in Geneva, told the council. "While we agree with the U.S. on the need for reform, our support for this Human Rights Council remains steadfast." Russia blasted the U.S. decision, calling it "boorish" and saying Washington had "inflicted a powerful blow to its human rights reputation." Russia's U.N. mission said in a statement that the U.S. exit from the Council reflected Washington's unilateralist approach to global affairs. The U.S. withdrawal is unprecedented in the 12-year history of the 47-member council - no country has ever dropped out voluntarily. Libya was kicked out seven years ago. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, announced the pullout Tuesday, calling the body "a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights." Haley said the U.S. had given the human rights body "opportunity after opportunity" to make changes. She criticized the council for "its chronic bias against Israel," pointing out that it includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Congo. Defending the move, U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said Wednesday "we don't need advice by the U.N. or other international bodies on how to govern ourselves." Bolton told Fox News the decision was made by President Donald Trump weeks ago. On Wednesday, the U.S. chairs sat empty as discussion turned to summary executions, freedom of expression, the rights of migrants and violence against women among other things. The U.S. pullout leaves the council without one of its traditional defenders of human rights. Just two days ago, American representatives were still taking part by condemning issues like constraints on civil society in Egypt and curbs on a free press in Bahrain. One Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said the U.S. was notably absent from an informal back room meeting in Belarus that it might normally have attended. He said the U.S. walkout could be a "big bang" to help prod reform at the council. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office called the U.S. decision "courageous," saying it was "an unequivocal statement that enough is enough." But envoys from Australia, the European Union and China - a frequent target of U.S. criticism over Beijing's rights record - used a break in the council's regular work to express disappointment and regret. President Borut Pahor of Slovenia - the home country of U.S. first lady Melania Trump - said the American withdrawal was "bad news" for "everybody" who cares about human rights. In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized what she described as Washington's "boorish cynicism in stubbornly refusing to recognize its own human rights problems while trying to tailor the council to its political interests." The Chinese government also expressed regret over Washington's decision. In Beijing, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the council is "an important platform" for countries to discuss human rights and that Beijing has been committed to supporting the group's work. But the Chinese government is often accused by Western countries of human rights violations and by rights groups of seeking to undermine the mechanisms of the U.N. human rights council. In March, a Chinese diplomat repeatedly interrupted a speech by a prominent Chinese dissident to block him from addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council, a failed attempt that bared China's sensitivity on human rights. The foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, dismissed the U.S. criticism that the council is problematic because it includes China and other authoritarian governments, saying that claim is "a total disregard of facts." The U.S. pullout extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's "America First" policy. Although numerous officials have said repeatedly that "America First does not mean America Alone," the administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses since it took office. Since January 2017, it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the U.N. educational and cultural organization and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum against key trading partners, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv. FILE - In this Jan. 2, 2018, file photo, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to reporters at United Nations headquarters. Haley says the U.S. is withdrawing from UN Human Rights Council, calling it 'not worthy of its name.' (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) The US name sign is photographed one day after the United States announced its withdrawal at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday. June 20, 2018. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) The US name sign is photographed one day after the United States announced its withdrawal at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday. June 20, 2018. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - South Sudan's warring leaders met face-to-face for the first time in almost two years Wednesday amid efforts to end a five-year civil war, shaking hands but making no public comments. South Sudan President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar continued meeting into the night and were expected to continue discussions on Thursday in neighboring Ethiopia, which invited them for talks as pressure grows to end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and created Africa's largest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwanda genocide. A Kiir spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, has said "anything that brings peace in South Sudan is wanted." South Sudan's opposition leader Riek Machar arrives at the office of Ethiopia's Prime Minister for a meeting with South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Wednesday, June 20, 2018. South Sudan's warring leaders met face-to-face for the first time in almost two years on Wednesday amid efforts to end a five-year civil war. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene) Machar fled South Sudan after new fighting erupted in the capital in July 2016, ending a brief attempt at peace in which he returned to his role as Kiir's deputy. He later was put under house arrest in South Africa, whose presidency on Wednesday welcomed Machar's participation in the talks. The meeting, attended by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, was mediated by the East African regional bloc that has led several rounds of failed peace talks. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development last month called for a meeting of Kiir and Machar ahead of an African Union summit on July 1 in Mauritania, saying it would inform a "final decision" on Machar's participation in the peace process. Both sides in South Sudan's civil war have been accused of widespread abuses such as gang rapes against civilians, including along ethnic lines. A number of South Sudan officials have been accused by human rights groups of profiting from the conflict and blocking the path to peace. Early this month the U.N. Security Council adopted a United States-sponsored resolution that threatens an arms embargo on South Sudan and sanctions against six people, including the country's defense chief, if fighting doesn't stop and a political agreement reached. The resolution asks Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to report to the council on that by June 30. Regional bloc IGAD also has threatened to submit "punitive measures" against violators of December's failed cease-fire in South Sudan, though sanctions would need approval by the bloc's heads of state and government. ___ Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Juba, South Sudan contributed. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, right, is greeted by Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, left, as he arrives at the office of Ethiopia's Prime Minister for a meeting with South Sudan's opposition leader Riek Machar, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Wednesday, June 20, 2018. South Sudan's warring leaders met face-to-face for the first time in almost two years on Wednesday amid efforts to end a five-year civil war. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene) TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has publically opposed joining a global anti-money laundering convention. Referring to recent debates in country's parliament on joining the Financial Action Task Force, Khamenei told lawmakers Wednesday: "It is not necessary to join conventions whose depths we are unaware of." Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said the parliament should instead prepare its own bills against money laundering and terrorism, accusing the convention of merely "securing the interests" of big powers. In this picture released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with lawmakers in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Khamenei said that he opposed joining a global anti-money laundering convention, the Financial Action Task Force, that was established by a G-7 Summit in Paris in 1989. Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said the parliament should instead prepare its own bills against money laundering and terrorism. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP) Earlier last week the parliament suspended debate on joining FATF for two months out of fear that membership could thwart helping Iran's allies abroad, including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas. Both are considered terrorist organizations by the United States. FATF was established by a G-7 Summit in Paris in 1989. LONDON (AP) - British Transport Police have arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with a small explosion at a London Underground station that injured five people. The police say in a statement Wednesday that the man "was arrested on suspicion of doing an act likely to cause an explosion to injure or damage property endangering safety on the railway." They said the explosion on Tuesday night at the Southgate station in north London was believed to be caused by a faulty drill battery and did not seem to be related to terrorism. Emergency services attend the scene of a small explosion at Southgate Underground station, in London, Tuesday June 19, 2018. London police are investigating a small explosion at the Southgate Underground station that officials say does not seem to be related to terrorism. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP) The man was released pending further inquiry. BEIRUT (AP) - The United Nations said Wednesday that the Syrian government and rebel forces both committed war crimes during the five-year government siege of the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus and the two-month offensive to retake the area from insurgents earlier this year. In a report released in Geneva, the U.N. Commission of Inquiry condemned what it called the "longest running siege in modern history," which affected some 265,000 people. The government siege ended in April, two months after pro-government forces launched a crushing offensive to capture the area, leaving hundreds dead. The U.N. commission said siege as a method of warfare in Syria is "barbaric and medieval." It said civilians in eastern Ghouta experienced immense physical and psychological harm while enduring near daily bombardment and extreme deprivations - in some cases leading to preventable deaths. The 23-page report urged all parties to desist from resorting to sieges in the future. "It is completely abhorrent that besieged civilians were indiscriminately attacked, and systematically denied food and medicine," said Commission Chair Paulo Pinheiro. "What is clear from the terminal phase of this siege is that no warring party acted to protect the civilian population." The report said that through the "widespread and systematic" bombardment of the area, and the continued denial of food and medicine, pro-government forces perpetrated a "crime against humanity." The report also faulted the rebels, saying that between February and April insurgents relentlessly fired mortar rounds into Damascus and nearby areas, killing and maiming hundreds of Syrian civilians. "Even if pro-Government forces are bombing and starving the civilian population of eastern Ghouta into submission, there can be no justification for the indiscriminate shelling of civilian inhabited areas in Damascus", said Commissioner Hanny Megally. "Such actions by armed groups and members of terrorist organisations also amount to war crimes." The report said that by the time eastern Ghouta was fully captured on April 14, some 140,000 individuals were displaced from their homes, including tens of thousands who are being "unlawfully interned by government forces." Since retaking eastern Ghouta, government forces have trained their eyes on the south, sending reinforcements ahead of an expected offensive against a rebel-held area close to the Jordan border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Opposition activists say some civilians in rebel-held areas are fleeing their villages for fear of the imminent offensive. Syrian state TV said one person was killed and several others wounded when rebels shelled the village of Jaba in the Quneitra region, on the edge of the Golan Heights. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported shelling on villages in eastern parts of Daraa province, adding that some civilians are fleeing the area. The United States warned last month it would take "firm and appropriate measures" to protect a cease-fire in southern Syria if government forces move against rebels there. The region has also been a source of regional tensions between Iran and Israel in recent months. SRINAGAR, India (AP) - India's federal government took direct control of Kashmir state Wednesday after the ruling Hindu nationalist party ended its long-troubled alliance there with a Kashmiri political party. The shift to direct rule in the disputed region was approved after the Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew its support Tuesday for the People's Democratic Party, following years of feuding and a deteriorating security situation. The BJP also heads the central government, and officials say Prime Minister Narendra Modi was involved in the decision to withdraw from the coalition. Political decisions will now be made by the government in New Delhi, though day-to-day life is unlikely to change significantly for the people of Kashmir. An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard as a Kashmiri woman walks past in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. India's federal government has taken direct control of Kashmir state after the ruling Hindu nationalist party ended its long-troubled alliance there with a Kashmiri political party. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin) State elections are scheduled for 2020, but a vote could be called before then. The coalition government was formed in 2015 after extended and difficult negotiations, since the two parties hold diametrically opposed views on many major issues, including the law that exempts Indian military personnel from criminal prosecution in the violence-wracked Himalayan region. The People's Democratic Party wants the draconian law scrapped. The BJP supports it. The BJP has consistently advocated a tough government approach in Kashmir while the People's Democratic Party favors reconciliation and dialogue. The coalition marked the first time that the Hindu nationalist BJP held a leadership position in the Muslim-majority region. Mehbooba Mufti, the president of the People's Democratic Party and the state's top official, resigned after the BJP withdrew its support, paving the way for direct rule. She told reporters that the alliance had been cobbled together "although this was against the sentiments of the people." "Our aim was reconciliation and dialogue," she said, adding that politicians had hoped the alliance with Modi's party would "help in bringing out the state from its situation of turmoil." Other pro-India political parties said the alliance was bound to collapse, given the two parties' different political ideologies. "And so it has come to pass," former chief minister and opposition leader Omar Abdullah said in a tweet, blaming both parties for the security situation. Separatists who challenge India's sovereignty over Kashmir did not immediately comment on the political developments, though in the past their leaders have consistently ridiculed pro-India politicians as collaborators. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, which is divided between the neighbors but claimed by both in its entirety. Rebel groups have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989 and about 70,000 people have been killed in the armed uprising and subsequent Indian military crackdown. The rebels want Kashmir to be united under Pakistani rule or become an independent country. Public opposition to Indian rule remains deep in Kashmir, mainly expressed through street protests. The region has seen renewed rebel attacks in recent years. SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - A deal to end a decades-long dispute over whether Greece can lay sole claim to Macedonia as a place name easily passed a ratification vote Wednesday in the parliament of neighboring nation Macedonia. Lawmakers approved a bill to rename their country North Macedonia, with 69 votes in favor in the 120-member parliament. The main opposition VMRO-DPMNE party boycotted the session. The deal - which requires several more steps in the coming months to be implemented - has angered opposition parties and hardliners in both Greece and Macedonia, who claim their respective prime ministers conceded too much in reaching the agreement. Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov, left shakes hands with the Prime Minister Zoran Zeav during a session for the ratification of the deal with Greece, in the parliament in Skopje, Macedonia, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Macedonian parliament is debating at a plenary session on a law on ratifying a deal with Greece, signed with an aim to end a decades-long spat over the Macedonia's name. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told lawmakers that Skopje and Athens have reached a "dignified and acceptable" agreement for both countries. "We have not made a gift to anyone," Zaev said during Wednesday's debate. "Our language and identity is Macedonian." The dispute dates from shortly after Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece argued the name "Macedonia" implied territorial aspirations on its own northern province of the same name, birthplace of the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great, and on ancient Greek heritage. Zaev told lawmakers the agreement gains Macedonia "one more strategic partner" in its southern neighbor, and boosts his country's security and stability. It will also allow Macedonia to pursue its dream of joining NATO and the European Union. Until now, Greece, which is a member of both organizations, had been blocking that prospect pending a deal on the name-change. But the deal has also caused a major rift between Zaev's left-led government and the country's conservative president, Gjorge Ivanov, who has said he will not sign off on the parliamentary ratification which he strongly opposes. That would force parliament to repeat the ratification vote, after which Ivanov would no longer be able to block the process. Zaev indicated in a TV interview late Tuesday that he will go one step further and try to use parliament's power to remove the president from office. That would force presidential elections within months. According to Macedonia's constitution, a two-thirds majority of 81 votes in parliament are needed for that, which Zaev would have trouble raising. Ivanov on Wednesday dared Zaev to go ahead with his removal. "I call on Zaev ... to immediately initiate (the) procedure" he said in a written statement to the media. Macedonians will be asked to cast ballots on the deal through a fall referendum. If voters back the agreement, lawmakers would have to amend the constitution to formalize the name change. Once that is done, the deal would go to Greece's parliament for ratification. The last task poses a challenge for Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose nationalist junior partner in governing, the Independent Greeks, is against the deal, as are most opposition parties. Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, the leader of the Independent Greeks, said Wednesday he plans to ask Tsipras for ratification to require an enhanced majority of 180 of parliament's 300 lawmakers. That threshold would render ratification well-nigh impossible, as the Independent Greeks have already said they would vote against it. Without his junior partner, Tsipras can count on 145 lawmakers and is unlikely to raise another 35 votes from opposition lawmakers. ___ Nicholas Paphitis in Athens, Greece, contributed. Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zeav, left, talks with leftist SDSM party lawmaker Tomislav Tuntev during a session for the ratification of the deal with Greece, in the parliament in Skopje, Macedonia, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Macedonian parliament is debating at a plenary session on a law on ratifying a deal with Greece, signed with an aim to end a decades-long spat over the Macedonia's name. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) RICHMOND, R.I. (AP) - A boy who lost a stuffed animal on a highway has a new one thanks to the Rhode Island State Police. Four-year-old Will Ketcher was riding in a car when his stuffed cheetah, Roger, fell out the window onto Interstate 95. Heartbroken, his dad suggested they write to the state police after the family returned home to Brooklyn. The letter began: "Dear Rhode Island State Highway Patrol, I lost my Roger ... can you please find him?" Cpl. Lawens Fevrier tells WPRI-TV "we were all 4 years old at one time in our lives." Patrols found no sign of Roger. The state police sent the boy a package explaining they did find another cheetah who wanted to live in New York, who they also made a trooper. ___ Information from: WPRI-TV, http://www.wpri.com MOSCOW (AP) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about U.S. plans to create a separate space force, saying that taking weapons into space could trigger a new arms race. President Donald Trump said Monday he is directing the Pentagon to create a new "Space Force" as a separate branch of the military aimed at ensuring American supremacy in space. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the move appears to signal Washington's intention to deploy weapons in space. She warned that the militarization of space "could be fraught with consequences no less harmful than the nuclear arms race." Zakharova said that taking weapons to space would "upset strategic stability and international security." She noted that Russia and China have proposed an international treaty that would ban space-based weapons. MOSCOW (AP) - The latest on the U.S. decision to pull out of the United Nations' Human Rights Council (all times local): 1:40 a.m. The U.N. General Assembly says it's waiting for notification from the United States that it is withdrawing from the Human Rights Council, which is the first step toward the election of a replacement. The US name sign is photographed one day after the United States announced its withdrawal at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday. June 20, 2018. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) Assembly spokesman Brenden Varma told reporters Wednesday that the 2006 resolution creating the Geneva-based council doesn't mention possible withdrawal but it does specify the way its 47 seats are to be distributed among the U.N.'s five regional groups. Since the United States is a member of the mainly Western group, a candidate or candidates will have to come from that group, known as the West European and Others Group. Once the country name or names are submitted, a date will be selected by the U.N. and Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak for election by the 193-member General Assembly. ___ 9:30 p.m. The United Nations is stressing that human rights are "a pillar" of the organization's work and its secretary-general wants all member states to "engage actively" in the Human Rights Council and other parts of the U.N.'s "human rights architecture." U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric responded to questions on Wednesday about Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' response to the U.S. withdrawal from the Geneva-based council. Dujarric said the council, which reviews the human rights records of U.N., and special investigators who work on rights issues "play a critical role in protecting and promoting human rights across the world." He says Guterres made these points when U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called him Tuesday to give him "a heads up" about the U.S. action. Dujarric said: "The secretary-general would want to see a United States that is involved and engaged throughout the U.N. system." ___ 7 p.m. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is accusing human rights groups of undermining the United States and putting themselves "on the side of Russia and China" by seeking to prevent the U.S. from leaving the U.N. Human Rights Council. Haley criticized the non-governmental organizations in a letter the day after she announced the U.S. was exiting the council. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press Wednesday. Haley says the organizations wrote a joint letter to members of the Human Rights Council urging them to oppose a U.S.-sponsored resolution to reform it. She says they tried to "block negotiations" and "thwart reform." Haley says that was "a contributing factor" in the U.S. decision to leave the council. Haley urged the groups to play a constructive, not destructive, role in human rights in the future. She added the U.S. will work with non-governmental groups that share U.S. goals, "but not with ones who undermine them." ___ 4:50 p.m. The U.S. national security adviser has defended the Trump administration's decision to pull out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, saying "we don't need advice by the U.N. or other international bodies on how to govern ourselves." John Bolton told Fox News on Wednesday the decision was made by President Donald Trump weeks ago and had nothing to do with high commissioner's criticism of the U.S. immigration policies. He said the exit is about U.S. self-government, saying it's "an assertion of American determination to stick by its Constitution and not to recognize that there's some higher authority at the U.N. - whether it's the council or the high commissioner for human rights - to judge our performance or give us advice on how to implement the Constitution." ___ 4:10 p.m. U.S. allies, including Australia and the European Union, have joined voices expressing disappointment and regret that the United States is quitting the U.N.'s main human rights body. Diplomats from several countries made the comments in a brief break in the Human Rights Council's regular schedule on Wednesday to allow for comments about the Trump administration's decision Tuesday to pull out from the 47-member council. The U.S. is the first country to exit voluntarily in the council's 12-year history. Elizabeth Wilde, deputy head of mission in Geneva for Australia, said her country "shares many of the U.S.'s concerns about the HRC," but will continue to support the council "despite its flaws." President Borut Pahor of Slovenia - the home country of U.S. first lady Melania Trump - said the American withdrawal was "bad news" for the council, the United Nations, the U.S. and "everybody" who cares about human rights. Earlier, deputy permanent representative Yu Jianhua of China - which has sporadically faced U.S. criticism over its human rights record - said his delegation was "disappointed" about the U.S. pullout. He said: "All delegations attach great importance to this body." ___ 4 p.m. The United States is emphasizing that its pullout from the United Nations' main human rights body doesn't mean it's stopping its work with the U.N.'s rights chief. A U.S. official in Geneva says the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - currently Jordanian prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein - "performs valuable work in promoting human rights." "We have a very strong relationship with the OHCHR and will continue to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms through that relationship," the press office of the U.S. mission in Geneva said in an email. The human rights office, or OHCHR, is a permanent U.N. organization that ultimately falls under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The United States is traditionally one of its largest donors. The Human Rights Council is a 47-country body that draws its mandate from the U.N. General Assembly, and meets three times a year in Geneva. The U.S. announced its withdrawal from the council on Wednesday, citing among other things its alleged anti-Israel bias. ___ 12:30 p.m. The United Nations' Human Rights Council returned to business as usual Wednesday despite the U.S. pulling out a day earlier. Russia blasted the American move, calling it "boorish" and saying the U.S. "inflicted a powerful blow to its human rights reputation." The U.N.'s top rights body, based in Geneva, took up a discussion on summary executions and freedom of expression with the U.S. seats unoccupied Wednesday. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, announced the pullout Tuesday, criticizing the council for "its chronic bias against Israel" and pointing out that it includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Congo. In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized what she described as Washington's "boorish cynicism in stubbornly refusing to recognize its own human rights problems while trying to tailor the council to its political interests." ___ 11 a.m. Russia says that the U.S. exit from the United Nations' Human Rights Council reflects Washington's unilateralist approach to global affairs. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, announced the pullout Tuesday, criticizing the council for "its chronic bias against Israel" and pointing out that it includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Congo. Russia's U.N. mission responded in a statement that the U.S. had tried but failed to turn the Council into an "obedient instrument for advancing their interests and punishing the countries it dislikes." It added that the U.S. criticism of the council for failing to make changes advocated by Washington appears "cynical." The Russian mission described the council as a "key international platform for cooperation in protecting human rights." The US name sign is photographed one day after the United States announced its withdrawal at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday. June 20, 2018. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) FILE - In this Jan. 2, 2018, file photo, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to reporters at United Nations headquarters. Haley says the U.S. is withdrawing from UN Human Rights Council, calling it 'not worthy of its name.' (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) The US name sign is photographed one day after the United States announced its withdrawal at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday. June 20, 2018. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) The US name sign is photographed one day after the United States announced its withdrawal at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday. June 20, 2018. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) MOSCOW (AP) - Amid tensions between Russia and the West, the Russian defense minister has warned that weapons deployed to Crimea are capable of fending off any attack. Speaking at a meeting with top military officers in Crimea, Sergei Shoigu said "the high-tech weapons systems don't leave a single chance to a potential adversary who might dare to encroach on the Russian territory." Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, causing serious strains in relations with the West. To reassure its eastern members, NATO has moved its forces and infrastructure closer to the border with Russia. Shoigu on Wednesday pointed at NATO's buildup in the east as a security threat. He also cited the modernization of U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe and U.S.-led missile defense developments as other challenges to Russia's security. LONDON (AP) - Recently crowned French Open champion Simona Halep has withdrawn from next week's Nature Valley International grass-court tournament in Eastbourne. The top-ranked Halep says in a statement that she felt Achilles tendon pain and inflammation during her title run in Paris "and it has yet to fully recover." Halep adds that doctors have advised her to rest more "while continuing treatment." FILE - In this Saturday, June 9, 2018 file photo, Romania's Simona Halep holds the trophy and celebrates winning the final match of the French Open tennis tournament against Sloane Stephens of the U.S. in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. Simona Halep has withdrawn from the International grass-court tournament in Eastbourne, considered a a warmup for Wimbledon, which starts July 2, 2018. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File) Eastbourne is a warmup for Wimbledon, which starts July 2. Halep has not played since beating Sloane Stephens for the Roland Garros title earlier this month. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - An Alabama musician who said on social media that he'd like to shoot immigrants attempting to enter the United States says he's losing work because of the post. Birmingham guitarist Phillip McCain said on Facebook that he doesn't have any sympathy for immigrants trying to enter the country, even those seeking asylum. In the same post, he called liberalism a "mental disorder." The post went viral. McCain tells al.com he has since lost his job with a band, plus $3,000 in future performance fees and three solo shows. McCain says he was only expressing his opinion that he wants to protect the United States' borders at any cost. A Mexican restaurant was one of the venues that canceled a McCain show. The manager says he's an immigrant and has a diverse clientele, and he feared McCain's presence would hurt business. GRIFFIN, Ga. (AP) - A white man charged with murder in what Georgia prosecutors describe as the racist slaying of a black man in 1983 went on trial Wednesday with both sides lambasting the original investigation. Prosecutor Marie Broder told jurors during opening statements that authorities botched their investigation after Timothy Coggins was stabbed, cut and dragged behind a pickup truck, but that didn't mean Frank Gebhardt, 60, was innocent of murder. Gebhardt's attorney, Scott Johnston, said multiple pieces of evidence were missing. "Where did it go?" Johnston said. "The state does not get a pass because the case was old." Gebhardt and another man are charged with malice murder and other crimes in the killing of Coggins near Griffin, Georgia, in 1983. The killing remained unsolved until last fall, when authorities announced the arrests of Gebhardt and brother-in-law Bill Moore, who awaits trial. A prosecutor has said the 23-year-old Coggins was killed because he had been "socializing" with a white woman. Court documents accuse the men of stabbing and cutting Coggins to death. A prosecutor has said Coggins also was attached to a chain and dragged through the woods behind a pickup truck. A jury of 10 whites and two blacks is hearing the trial, which opened with testimony about Coggins' horrific injuries. Broder told jurors they would hear from multiple witnesses who will testify that Gebhardt bragged about killing Coggins. "You'll hear that he's not ashamed of it," she said. "You'll hear he's proud of it." Broder told jurors the original investigation into the killing was "shameful" and that authorities didn't care about Coggins. Johnston agreed, saying Coggins was "just another dead black man in 1983." Johnston said missing evidence included tire impressions, a bloody sweater, hair samples, a wooden club and an empty Jack Daniels bottle. TORONTO (AP) - Marijuana will be legal nationwide in Canada starting Oct. 17 in a move that should take market share away from organized crime and protect the country's youth, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday. The Senate gave final passage to the bill to legalize cannabis on Tuesday, legislation that will make Canada only the second country in the world to make pot legal across the country. Trudeau said provincial and territorial governments need the time to prepare for retail sales. Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould speaks during a press conference as Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor, right, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and to the Minister of Health Bill Blair, left, look on during a press conference on Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. The Canadian government said it will soon announce the date of when cannabis will become legal - but warns it will remain illegal until then. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP) "It is our hope as of October 17 there will be a smooth operation of retail cannabis outlets operated by the provinces with an online mail delivery system operated by the provinces that will ensure that this happens in an orderly fashion," Trudeau said. The prime minister said at a news conference that the goal is to take a significant part of the market share away from organized crime. "Over the following months and indeed years we will completely replace or almost completely replace the organized crime market on that," he said. Canada is following the lead of Uruguay in allowing a nationwide, legal marijuana market, although each Canadian province is working up its own rules for pot sales. The federal government and the provinces also still need to publish regulations that will govern the cannabis trade. "The legislation is transformative," said Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, adding it "marks a wholesale shift in how our country approaches cannabis, leaving behind a failed model of prohibition." She urged Canadians to follow the existing law until the Cannabis Act comes into force. "The law still remains the law," Wilson-Raybould said. Many questions remain unanswered, including how police will test motorists suspected of driving under the influence, what to do about those with prior marijuana convictions and just how the rules governing home cultivation will work. The Canadian provinces of Quebec and Manitoba have already decided to ban home-grown pot, even though the federal bill specifies that individuals can grow up to four plants per dwelling. "Provinces can set their own laws. If individuals are challenging that law, they can challenge it," Wilson-Raybould said. Trudeau said the government won't discuss pardons of past convictions until legalization is in effect. "There's no point looking at pardons while the old law is in the books," Trudeau said. Trudeau said they are going to treat it like wine and tobacco, noting that few people will cultivate it at home, but it's necessary to fight organized crime. Trudeau promised to legalize it during the 2015 election and had set a goal of July 1 for it. The provinces pleaded for more time. Canadian marijuana stocks have rallied in anticipation of legalization and jumped again on Wednesday. In the neighboring U.S., nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana. California, home to one in eight Americans, launched the United States' biggest legal marijuana marketplace on Jan. 1. The news was greeted with enthusiasm by marijuana advocates in the U.S. Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the National Cannabis Industry Alliance in the U.S., said Canada's legalization should also serve as a wake-up call south of the border. "The most important takeaway is that it's time for advocates in the industry to double down, so as to not be surpassed by the Canadian cannabis industry," he said. Don Hartleben, who manages Dank of America, a retail cannabis store just south of the border in Blaine, Washington, said Canada's legalization was not only politically exciting, but a potential business boon for him. Many of his customers are Canadian tourists who are terrified of trying to bring pot across the border, he said. If more use marijuana when they're in Canada, more will use when they're on vacation in the states. "People ask me all the time, 'Isn't legalization in Canada going to hurt your business?'" he said. "I tell them, 'No! The more it's legal, the more people are going to feel safe to buy my product.'" ___ Associated Press writer Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report. ___ Find complete AP marijuana coverage here: http://apnews.com/tag/LegalMarijuana Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould, right, Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor, center, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and to the Minister of Health Bill Blair, left, listen to questions during a press conference on Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. The Canadian government said it will soon announce the date of when cannabis will become legal, but warns it will remain illegal until then. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP) ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greek authorities have released from police custody an extreme far-right lawmaker pending his trial on treason-related charges. A council of judges on Wednesday ordered Constantinos Barbaroussis to pay bail of 30,000 euros ($35,000), and banned him from leaving Greece pending his trial. He was arrested in Athens Monday, three days after he called on the military to arrest the country's leadership during a parliament debate on a Greek-Macedonia deal to resolve a decades-long name dispute. Barbaroussis, who strongly opposes the government's handling of the deal, later retracted his remarks. If convicted on charges of committing preparatory acts for high treason, he faces up to 20 years in prison. Barbaroussis was elected with the Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party, which ejected him after his comments in parliament. WASHINGTON (AP) - The teenager in the video sits slouched on a loveseat wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, cargo pants and white sneakers, his hands folded but fidgeting in his lap. Eyes downcast, he answers questions from investigators interrogating him. Slowly, with a lot of prodding, he admits he joined his uncle in raping and murdering a young woman before burning her body in a bonfire. But 16-year-old Brendan Dassey's confession - seen by viewers nationwide as part of the Netflix series "Making a Murderer" - should never have been used to convict him, his lawyers say, and they're hoping the Supreme Court agrees to take his case. They say the Wisconsin teen, who has been called a "slow learner" and "borderline intellectually disabled," was pressured into a false confession. "This case is emblematic of this larger problem of false confessions and coerced confessions," said Laura Nirider, a Northwestern University law professor who has been one of Dassey's lawyers for a decade. "I think there's widespread interest in the problem and widespread recognition that something needs to be done." FILE - In this March 3, 2006, file photo, Brendan Dassey, is escorted out of a Manitowoc County Circuit courtroom in Manitowoc, Wis. Lawyers for Dassey are hoping the Supreme Court will agree to take his case. AP Photo/Morry Gash, File) The Supreme Court's justices will have their first opportunity to discuss taking Dassey's case in a closed-door meeting Thursday. If they won't hear it, that news could come as early as Monday. If the court does agree to hear the case, arguments would be in the fall. Though the Supreme Court rejects the vast majority of the thousands of cases it gets asked to hear every year, Dassey's lawyers hope his case has a chance. They want his confession thrown out and for him to get a new trial. Dassey's attorneys argue that his case is important not just for him but other juveniles and people with intellectual disabilities. They say those groups are more likely to confess falsely under police pressure. And they say courts need to be reminded that a juvenile's age and intelligence must be seriously weighed as part of a decision on whether a confession can be used against them. Dassey is getting some high-profile help in making his case to the court. His lawyers include Seth Waxman, who in 2005 won a Supreme Court case that barred the use of the death penalty in cases involving juveniles. And six different groups have filed briefs asking the court to take the case. One brief for a group of more than 50 current and former prosecutors makes the argument that when the public saw video of Dassey's interrogation it prompted an outcry and that the Supreme Court should step in to "restore the public's confidence in the justice system." Americans are more familiar with the case than most that come before the Supreme Court. "Making a Murderer" premiered on Netflix in December 2015 and devoted watchers saw more than 10 hours of television on the case. Now, a second season is planned. The series centers on Dassey's uncle, Steven Avery, who spent 18 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit and before DNA testing exonerated him. After his release, he filed a multi-million dollar civil suit over his conviction, but was arrested in 2005 for the murder of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach. Halbach's last assignment before she disappeared was photographing a minivan for sale at an Avery family salvage yard in Wisconsin's Manitowoc County. Her car, with her blood and Avery's inside, was ultimately found there. And remnants of a bonfire on the property contained fragments of Halbach's bones and teeth. Avery insists he was framed. As part of the investigation, officers questioned Dassey, Avery's nephew. Later, after being told Dassey had lost weight and had been acting up, staring into space and crying uncontrollably, investigators interviewed him several more times, leading to his confession. Dassey testified at trial that what he told investigators was "made up" and that he'd only joined his uncle for a bonfire and helped clean up a pool of liquid, possibly blood, in Avery's garage. Though no physical evidence tied Dassey to Halbach's death, the video of Dassey's confession played a central role in his trial, and a jury convicted him. He's eligible for parole in 2048. Avery was convicted in a separate trial. Prosecutors stand behind Dassey's confession in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court. They say investigators made no threats or promises in getting Dassey to confess and used only common techniques such as taking a sympathetic tone and encouraging honesty. But Dassey's lawyers say interrogators took advantage of his youth and mental limitations, fed him facts and extracted a confession through psychologically coercive tactics. They say the teen, who was getting Cs, Ds and Fs in school and was in some special education classes, repeatedly gave wrong answers to questions about the crimes, suggesting he wasn't involved. And as the interrogation finished, he asked if he could get back to school because he had a project due. Video of Dassey's talk with investigators goes beyond their interrogation. At the end it captures Dassey's mom coming into the room, sitting next to him on the couch and putting her arm around him as Dassey sits with his head in his hands. "Where am I going?" he asks. "You're going to juvie, that's where you're going, to a juvie jail," she responds. What happens if his uncle's story is different and he says Dassey didn't do anything, Dassey asks. "Did you, huh?" his mom asks. "Not really," he says. "What do you mean 'not really?'" she asks. "They got to my head," he responds. ___ Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko SAO PAULO (AP) - Justices on Brazil's highest court acquitted the Workers' Party president of corruption and money-laundering charges in a case stemming from the country's mammoth graft investigation. Supreme Court justices ruled late Tuesday that prosecutors provided no evidence corroborating the plea-bargain testimony used against Sen. Gleisi Hoffmann. Prosecutors can appeal. Prosecutors had alleged Hoffmann accepted more than $260,000 in illegal campaign contributions siphoned from contracts of Petrobras, the state-run oil company that is at the center of the "Car Wash" probe that has uncovered billions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. FILE- In this July 5, 2017 file photo, Brazil's Workers' Party President Gleisi Hoffmann attends the inauguration ceremony of the new Workers' Party directory in Brasilia, Brazil. Justices on Brazil's highest court have acquitted, on Wednesday, June 20, 2018, the Workers' Party president of corruption and money-laundering charges in a case stemming from the country's massive graft investigation. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File) Hoffmann said the charges were invented to discredit her party, an allegation she has also made in defending former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the party founder who was convicted of corruption. She said accusations against her came solely from unreliable cooperating witnesses. CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A New Hampshire hospital is closer to holding others financially accountable for a traveling medical technician who infected dozens of patients in multiple states with hepatitis C. David Kwiatkowski is serving 39 years in prison for stealing painkillers and replacing them with saline-filled syringes tainted with his blood. Despite being fired numerous times over drug allegations, he had worked as a cardiac technologist in 18 hospitals in seven states before being hired in New Hampshire in 2011. After his arrest in 2012, 46 people in four states were diagnosed with the same strain of the hepatitis C virus he carries, including one who died in Kansas. His last employer, Exeter Hospital, sued the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists and several staffing agencies in hopes of recouping some of the settlement money it has paid to dozens of infected patients and nearly 200 who were not infected but claimed some harm. In the most recent development, attorneys said the hospital has reached a settlement with Triage Staffing. The complaints against two other agencies were dismissed in 2014, so if a judge approves the Triage settlement, the registry organization would be the only remaining defendant. Attorneys for the hospital and the registry organization did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. In court documents filed in February, all parties said they hoped mediation would resolve the issues. If not, the case is set to go to trial early next year. Hepatitis C is a viral infection that attacks the liver. For most people, it turns into a chronic disease. Kwiatkowski, who learned he had the disease in 2010, apologized to his victims at his sentencing in 2013, saying his crime was caused by an addiction to painkillers and alcohol. In all, 32 patients were infected in New Hampshire, seven in Maryland, six in Kansas and one in Pennsylvania. Kwiatkowski also worked in Michigan, New York, Arizona and Georgia. BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - Authorities say a 4-year-old boy is in stable condition after being wounded in a shooting that left three men dead at an apartment complex in central Illinois. Police in Bloomington haven't yet offered a potential motive for the Monday afternoon attack and no arrests have been made. The wounded boy was airlifted to a hospital in Peoria, where he was initially reported in critical condition. Bloomington police spokesman Eilais Mendiola says the boy's family told police he was in stable condition Tuesday. The McLean County coroner identified those killed as 22-year-olds Corey Jackson and Nathaniel Pena and 33-year-old Juan Perez-Macedo. All are from Bloomington. Mendiola says they all died from gunshot wounds. CAIRO (AP) - The torturers followed a schedule. Beatings on Saturdays, torture on Sundays, and Monday was a break. The next three days were the same routine. On Fridays, it was time for solitary confinement. From inside a Yemeni prison controlled by the United Arab Emirates - a top U.S. ally - a Yemeni detainee held without charges chronicled torture and sexual abuses through drawings. Smuggled to The Associated Press from the Beir Ahmed prison in the southern city of Aden, the drawings offer a grim glimpse into a hidden world of flagrant human rights abuses by UAE officers acting with impunity. This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press shows a drawing of a detainee being abused at a prison in Yemen run by the United Arab Emirates. The Arabic reads: "This is how prisoners were forced to be naked." Emirati officers are sexually torturing and abusing hundreds of Yemeni men held without trial in secret prisons run by the key U.S. ally. Detainees smuggled letters and drawings to the AP, detailing their latest horrors of mass sexual abuses and humiliations at the hands of Emirati officers. (AP Photo) Sexual violence is a primary tool aimed at brutalizing the detainees and extracting "confessions," the artist and six other detainees told the AP. The drawings - made on plastic plates - show a man hanging naked from chains while he is being subjected to electric shocks, another inmate on the floor surrounded by snarling dogs as several people kick him, and graphic depictions of anal rape. "The worst thing about it is that I wish for death every day and I can't find it," the artist said, summing up nearly two years in detention that started last year after he spoke against the Emiratis in public. The UAE's secret prisons and widespread torture were exposed by an AP investigation last June. The AP has since identified at least five prisons where security forces use sexual torture to brutalize and break inmates. Yemen's war began in 2015, after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels took over much of the country's north. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading a coalition to fight the rebels, but UAE forces have overtaken wide swaths of territory, towns and cities in the south. The U.S. is backing the coalition with billions of dollars in arms, and partners with the Emiratis in anti-terrorism campaigns. Emiratis have swept up hundreds of Yemeni men on suspicion of being al-Qaida or Islamic State militants. The prisoners are held in at least 18 hidden prisons without charges or trials. Witnesses said Yemeni guards working under the direction of Emirati officers use various methods of sexual torture and humiliation. They rape detainees while filming the assaults. They subject prisoners' genitals to electric shocks or hang rocks from their testicles. They sexually violate others with wooden and steel poles. "They strip you naked, then tie your hands to a steel pole from the right and the left so you are spread open in front of them. Then sodomizing starts," said one father of four who has been in detention for more than two years and who, like other detainees, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. A former security chief who was involved in torturing to extract confessions told the AP that rape is used as a way to force detainees to cooperate with the Emiratis in spying. "In some cases, they rape the detainee, film him while raping, use it as a way to force him to work for them," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of concerns for his safety. The official has since defected from the Emirates and fled the country. American officials confirmed last year that the U.S. has interrogated some detainees at the secret prisons run by the UAE. The Pentagon has insisted that it had no knowledge of human rights abuses. Obtaining intelligence extracted by torture would violate international law. The AP first asked the Pentagon about grave rights abuses committed by the UAE, its partner, one year ago. But despite well-documented reports of UAE involvement in torture by the AP, human rights groups and even the United Nations, Marine Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the U.S. has seen no evidence of detainee abuse in Yemen. Still, he called the allegations "disturbing" and said, "The United States take all allegations of abuse seriously, although we have no substantiating information at this time." On May 24, the House of Representatives voted to require Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to investigate the scope of U.S. involvement in UAE black sites. The language, which would still need to pass the Senate, would require the Defense Department to submit a report within 120 days to Congress. Reacting to the AP's report, the State Department called the allegations "disturbing" and called on the UAE to investigate. UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment, but the country's permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva released a statement after publication. "The UAE has never managed or run prisons or secret detention centers in Yemen," the mission said. But Yemen's interior minister has said he does not have authority over prisons and must ask for UAE permission to enter Aden. Of five prisons where the AP found sexual torture, four are in Aden, according to three Yemeni security and military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retalitation. One is at Aden's Buriqa base - the headquarters for the Emirati forces and where American officers were seen along with Colombian mercenaries, according to two prisoners and two security officials. Inside, prisoners said that American personnel in uniform weren't directly involved but were aware of the torture - either by hearing the screams or seeing the marks. "Americans use Emiratis as gloves to do their dirty work," said one senior security official at the Riyan prison in Mukalla, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. "Joining ISIS and al-Qaida became a way to take revenge for all the sexual abuses and sodomy," said a top Yemeni commander currently in Riyadh, referring to the Emiratis. He used an alternate acronym for IS and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. ___ The Associated Press reported this story with help from a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. ___ Associated Press reporters Lolita C. Baldor and Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report. This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press shows a drawing of a prisoner being abused at a prison in Yemen run by the United Arab Emirates. Arabic from right to left reads: "Anti-terrorism," "Innocent citizen," and "Real terrorism behind their back, they don't look at." The AP has identified at least five secret prisons run by the UAE, a key U.S. ally, where security forces use sexual torture to brutalize and break inmates. (AP Photo) EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT - This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press shows a drawing of abuse at an Emirati-run prison in Yemen. The Arabic reads: "hanging in the air, electrocuted." Emirati officers are sexually torturing and abusing hundreds of Yemeni men held without trial in secret prisons run by the United Arab Emirates, a key U.S. ally. (AP Photo) This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press shows a drawing of prisoners being transported in a pickup truck to an Emirati-run prison in Yemen. The Arabic reads: "This is how they transport the prisoners from and to the coalition. Blindfolded and handcuffed in the back of a Land Cruiser pickup in large numbers as if they are animals and under gunpoint." (AP Photo) This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press shows a drawing of a prisoner being tortured at an Emirati-run prison in Yemen. The Arabic reads: "with water after beating." Emirati officers are sexually torturing and abusing hundreds of Yemeni men held without trial in secret prisons run by the United Arab Emirates, a key U.S. ally. (AP Photo) This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press shows a drawing of a prisoner being abused at an Emirati-run prison in Yemen. Arabic reads: "forcing against the wall." Emirati officers are sexually torturing and abusing hundreds of Yemeni men held without trial in secret prisons run by the United Arab Emirates, a key US ally. (AP Photo) EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT - This undated photo obtained by The Associated Press shows a drawing prisoners being abused at an Emirati-run prison in Yemen. The Arabic reads: "A rough drawing for sexual harassment or torture by the coalition, with the excuse of searching (detainees) while filming and posting." The drawing, made on a plastic plate with ink pen, is one of several drawings and letters smuggled out of the prison that describe torture practices witnessed or endured by the artist. (AP Photo) LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A leading white nationalist figure has been released from a Kentucky jail after serving a sentence for violating his probation for harassing a protester at a 2016 Donald Trump campaign rally. Louisville Metro Department of Corrections spokesman Steve Durham says Matthew Heimbach was released from the city's jail on Saturday. In May, a judge sentenced Heimbach to 38 days in jail for a probation violation stemming from a domestic abuse incident. FILE - In this May 15, 2018, file photo, white nationalist Matthew Heimbach is led away in handcuffs in Louisville, Ky., after a judge ruled that he violated the probation he was serving for physically harassing a protester at a 2016 Donald Trump campaign rally. In May, a judge sentenced Heimbach to 38 days in jail for a probation violation stemming from a domestic abuse incident and was released Saturday, June 16. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan, File) Court records show Heimbach was arrested in Paoli, Indiana, in March on battery charges. Authorities say he assaulted his wife's stepfather, David Matthew Parrott, as they argued over Heimbach's alleged affair with Parrott's wife. Heimbach, head of the Traditionalist Worker Party, was one of the scheduled speakers at last summer's "Unite the Right" white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) - Authorities in central Minnesota said Wednesday that they've charged a teenager with setting fire to a 118-year-old Roman Catholic church in central Minnesota in 2016, racking up millions of dollars in damage and destroying a 19th-century altar that was built in Germany. Stearns County prosecutors charged the teenager with felony first-degree arson after allegedly torching the interior of the Church of St. Mary in the city of Melrose. Further details about the case are not public because of the teenager's age. Police said the suspect was 13-years-old at the time. The Romanesque Revival-style church is a landmark in Melrose with its 130-foot (40-meter) tall towers that peek out over the town. Authorities said the fire badly damaged the sacristy area and destroyed the wooden altar, which was installed before the church's dedication in 1899. FILE - In this March 11, 2016, file photo, crews from Sauk Centre, Melrose and Freeport battle a fire at the Church of St. Mary in Melrose, Minn. Authorities allege a teenager set fire to the Catholic church in central Minnesota in March 2016, causing several millions of dollars in damage. Stearns County prosecutors charged the teen with first-degree arson for allegedly setting fire to the church. (Mitch Leclair/St. Cloud Times via AP, File) Stearns County Sheriff Don Gudmundson said he hopes solving the 22-month-old case will put the community at ease. "Any unsolved crime produces a sense of unease in communities," he said. "I know the arson of the church has left an indelible mark on the entire area." Parishioners have been at odds with each other and the Diocese of St. Cloud over whether they should restore the church, which has been closed since the March 2016 fire. Supporters of fixing the church point to its historical importance. But opponents have said it would mean fixing problems around the church before the fire started, including accessibility for people with disabilities, lack of insulation and troubles integrating technology. The Diocese of St. Cloud announced plans to build a new church last year. A group of parishioners who started a nonprofit called Friends to Restore St. Mary's are suing the diocese, hoping to spare their church from demolition. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The United States' largest black denomination has convened its annual meeting in Oklahoma City, and its leaders are denouncing the separation of immigrant children from families at the border. The Rev. Jerry Young, who is president of the National Baptist Convention USA, criticized U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' use of scripture to justify the policy, saying Wednesday that it was out of context. The Mississippi minister says up to 16,000 delegates are attending the 113th annual meeting, which runs through Friday. The denomination has about 7.5 million members. National social issues also dominated the recent national meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas. A series of sexual misconduct cases prompted the all-male leadership of the nation's largest Protestant denomination to seek forgiveness for the mistreatment of women and vow to combat it. MOSCOW (AP) - The head of Europe's human rights body is calling on Russia to release an imprisoned Ukrainian filmmaker who has been on hunger strike for a month. Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary of the Council of Europe, met Wednesday with Russian human rights commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova and said Oleg Sentsov "should be released on humanitarian grounds," the Interfax news agency reported. Sentsov, a vocal opponent of Russia's annexation of Crimea, was sentenced in 2015 to 20 years for conspiracy to commit terror acts. He went on hunger strike in mid-May. Separately Wednesday, Sentsov's lawyers said the European Court of Human Rights had called on Sentsov to end his hunger strike and for Russia to provide details by June 27 about his condition and how his rights are being ensured. MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - The Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union asked Republic Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday to stop deleting critical posts and blocking constituents on Facebook. Scott's office said it is simply trying to maintain a civil dialogue on social media. In a letter addressed to Scott, the ACLU said that blocking a constituent is unlawful prior restraint of future speech and deleting posts amounts to "viewpoint-based censorship" in violation of the First Amendment. "The governor's censorship of constituents' political views violates their free speech rights, undermines public trust of government and offends our democratic values of robust and open debate," said Jay Diaz, staff attorney with the ACLU of Vermont. Scott spokeswoman Rebecca Kelley defended the practice. "This is a (Facebook) page for all Vermonters, and it is necessary and constitutionally permissible to have a social media policy that encourages a civil dialogue and protects commenters from being abused, harassed or exposed to hate speech," she said. The social media policy posted on Scott's Facebook page states it may delete comments and block users who "use profane, vulgar or violent language" or are "disrespectful, hostile or abusive to other users or groups." Kelley added that they would accept specific recommendations from the ACLU of Vermont to see how they can narrow these provisions. But Diaz challenged Kelley's assertion that users were blocked for the reasons listed in the social media policy. "Each of the people who complained to us said that they did not use obscene or vulgar language and were expressing strictly political opinions about gun control," Diaz said. Scott signed gun restrictions into law this year in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting and an alleged school shooting plot in Fair Haven, a move that angered many in Vermont's hunting community. The ACLU has sued governors in Maine, Maryland and Kentucky for similarly blocking constituents on Facebook. A federal court in New York ruled last month that President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked critics on Twitter. LOS ANGELES (AP) - Apple is getting into business with the prestigious Sesame Workshop. Apple said Wednesday it has given a multiple-series order to the nonprofit organization. The shows will be part of a slate of children's programming for Apple's upcoming streaming service. Apple said the long-running "Sesame Street" program, which airs on PBS and HBO, isn't part of the agreement. Apple has been making content deals with other big names, including Oprah Winfrey, as it prepares to compete with Netflix, Amazon and other streaming services. YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) - Cameroon's prime minister says 84 soldiers and police have been killed during months of fighting with separatists who seek an English-language state. Prime Minister Philemon Yang on Wednesday announced a new $220 million emergency humanitarian assistance plan for hundreds of thousands of civilians that the government says live in precarious conditions because of separatist attacks. Yang says civilians, mostly in rural areas, have paid the highest price of the "ugly war imposed by the terrorists." He appeals for national solidarity. English speakers have called for reforms and greater autonomy, alleging their marginalization by French speakers. The English-speaking community accounts for about one-fifth of Cameroon's 25 million people. Amnesty International this month called for an end to "unnecessary and excessive force" on both sides. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Nashville Predators forward Austin Watson was arrested on a charge of domestic assault involving his girlfriend over the weekend. Franklin Police Lt. Charles Warner said Wednesday that Watson was arrested Saturday evening. Watson was released from jail on $4,500 bond and is due in court June 28. According to a Williamson County court affidavit, a Franklin police officer was flagged down by a witness to a possible domestic situation at a gas station. The officer noticed the passenger of a car "trying to back away from being shoved away." The report said the passenger said "stop" and was trying to cover her face. FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2018, file photo, Nashville Predators left wing Austin Watson warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers, in Nashville, Tenn. Police in Tennessee have arrested Nashville Predators forward Austin Watson on a charge of domestic assault. Franklin Police Lt. Charles Warner said Watson was arrested Saturday evening, June 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File) Watson told police he and his girlfriend were having an argument and he admitted to pushing her. Officers said they found red marks on the woman's chest, and she said Watson had caused them. Police said the witness provided confirmation. The affidavit says domestic assault is considered a Class A misdemeanor. The Predators said in a statement they "are still gathering facts and it's not appropriate for us to comment further at this time." Team officials noted "this is a matter that we are taking very seriously and we will cooperate fully with the investigation by law enforcement." NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement that the league is aware of the situation and "it will be dealt with in due course and prior to next season." Daly added "our focus currently is on the well-being and safety of Austin's girlfriend, their child and Austin himself. " Last year, Watson appeared alongside other Predators players in a video calling for an end to domestic violence. The 26-year-old Watson is a former first-round draft pick who scored a career-high 14 goals and had five assists in 76 games during the 2017-18 regular season. He had five goals and three assists in 13 playoff games. Watson has 23 goals and 24 assists in 216 career regular-season games, all with the Predators. TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - An Iranian lawyer has been arrested for "spreading lies" after saying on social media that a Sufi executed this week was wrongfully convicted. Mohammed Salas was hanged on Monday after ramming police with a bus as they dispersed a Sufi rally in February, killing three police. The semi-official Fars news agency says Zeinab Taheri, a lawyer, was arrested Wednesday after criticizing the trial and saying Salas was not guilty. The head of the Tehran justice department, Gholamhossein Esmaili, said Tuesday that Taheri was never a lawyer for Salas and did not have reliable information on the case. Iran's clerically overseen government frowns on Sufism, the mystical strain of Islam. Many hardliners view it as a deviation from the faith. LONDON (AP) - Top-seeded Marin Cilic set up a quarterfinal with Sam Querrey after coming from a set down to beat Gilles Muller 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 at Queen's Club on Wednesday. Cilic was the losing finalist in the grass-court tournament and at Wimbledon in 2017. "It was not easy, he (Muller) broke me in the beginning of the match and served out the first set," said Cilic, who is a genuine threat on grass. Marin Cilic of Croatia celebrates winning his singles tennis match against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg at the Queen's Club tennis tournament in London, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) "I managed to keep my composure and managed to serve well ... It's last year's form, it continued this year, grass suits me greatly for my game, my shots hitting flat and deep through the court and serving well." Cilic was champion in 2012 at Queen's Club and runner-up also in 2013. He came close at Wimbledon last year, losing to Roger Federer after suffering from bad blisters in the final. Fifth-seeded Querrey, the winner here in 2010, beat Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-1. The big-serving American won in just under two hours against Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion. The first two sets were even, but Querrey ran away with the decider to set up a meeting with Cilic at the Wimbledon warmup tournament. Wawrinka is yet to find his top form after a double knee operation but said he must be patient. "For sure, I'm sad and frustrated because I need to win matches, I want to win matches and I want more. That's for sure," the Swiss said. "But there is a lot to take in the right way, and I'm sure if I can, as I say, keep doing the right things day by day, building on this and keep trying to improve, the results will come. I need to be patient with that." Also, Frances Tiafoe beat Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to set up a last-eight clash with Jeremy Chardy. The Frenchman beat Russian Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (6), 6-3. Marin Cilic of Croatia plays a return to Gilles Muller of Luxembourg during their singles tennis match at the Queen's Club tennis tournament in London, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Gilles Muller of Luxembourg plays a return to Marin Cilic of Croatia during their singles tennis match at the Queen's Club tennis tournament in London, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Sam Querrey of the USA plays a return to Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland during their singles tennis match at the Queen's Club tennis tournament in London, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Sam Querrey of the USA celebrates winning his singles tennis match against Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland at the Queen's Club tennis tournament in London, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland plays a return to Sam Querrey of the USA during their singles tennis match at the Queen's Club tennis tournament in London, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland plays a return to Sam Querrey of the USA during their singles tennis match at the Queen's Club tennis tournament in London, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland plays a return to Sam Querrey of the USA during their singles tennis match at the Queen's Club tennis tournament in London, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth to a daughter Thursday and posted a message welcoming the healthy newborn "to our village." She is the second elected world leader to give birth while holding office after late Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who gave birth to daughter Bakhtawar in 1990. Ardern distributed a photo showing her and partner Clarke Gayford with the baby at Auckland City Hospital. The girl arrived at 4:45 p.m. weighing 3.3 kilograms (7.3 pounds). In this photo released by the Office of the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford pose with their newborn daughter at the Auckland City Hospital, Thursday, June 21, 2018, in Auckland, New Zealand. (Office of the Prime Minister of New Zealand via AP) "Welcome to our village wee one," Ardern wrote in the caption on Instagram. "Feeling very lucky to have a healthy baby girl." She thanked everyone for their kindness and wishes. "We're all doing really well," she wrote. Ardern's pregnancy has been followed around the world, with many hoping the 37-year-old will become a role model for combining motherhood with political leadership. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said in an email to The Associated Press that it was a very happy day for Ardern and Gayford and that New Zealanders had taken the news of the pregnancy in their stride. "This is a sign of our maturity as a country and its acceptance that combining career and family is a choice which women are free to make," she wrote. "Let's also celebrate Clarke as a modern man who is happy to be the full time parent of a young child." The former prime minister said attitudes had changed since she'd entered politics and that was a good thing. "For New Zealand, these events and the way our country has greeted them will be seen as inspirational by all who advocate for gender equality and women's empowerment," Clark wrote. Jennifer Curtin, a professor of politics at the University of Auckland, said there was symbolic importance in Ardern giving birth, in that it showed political parties around the world that it was fine to have younger women as candidates. She said women often tended to be older when they entered politics. She said in other fields, women have been combining motherhood and paid work for decades, but it has only recently become more manageable thanks to paid parental leave. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has taken over as acting prime minister. Ardern plans to take six weeks of leave before returning to work. Under the arrangement, Ardern will still be consulted on major decisions, including issues of national security. She has said she's confident the government will continue to run smoothly in her absence. She said that after the birth, she hoped to have some quiet time to enjoy as a family. Asked earlier this month how the couple had been faring in their quest to choose a baby name, Ardern responded: "Terribly. Do you have any suggestions?" In this photo released by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Instagram, Thursday, June 21, 2018, Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford pose with their newborn daughter at the Auckland City Hospital, Thursday, June 21, 2018, in Auckland, New Zealand. (Jacinda Ardern via AP) ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Authorities in Alaska's largest city said they believe the same brown bear killed a hiker who had gone missing and attacked a volunteer who was looking for him Wednesday. The hiker, Michael Soltis, had been missing for two days before being found dead close to where the unidentified searcher was mauled. The volunteer had serious leg injuries but was expected to survive, police said. The animal was not immediately found, and authorities asked people to stay away from a wooded area outside Anchorage. A bear sign and police tape mark a site near a bear attack near Eagle River, Alaska, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. A missing hiker was found dead Wednesday near the site where a member of his search party was mauled by a bear outside of Alaska's largest city. Anchorage police said the same brown bear appears to be responsible for attacks on the missing man, Michael Soltis, and the volunteer searcher, whose name was not released. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen) "We believe the bear that attacked the volunteer was the one that attacked and killed the missing man," police spokesman MJ Thim said. Officers searching for the bear after Wednesday's attack found Soltis' body near the end of a rural, paved mountainous road dotted with well-appointed homes. The site was a couple hundred yards (meters) off the road, located in mountainous terrain networked with hiking trails, Thim said. It appeared the bear had been protecting Soltis' body when it attacked the male searcher, who was taken to a hospital, according to police. Authorities removed the body of Soltis, who was last seen Monday afternoon, and posted bear warning signs on a small footpath leading from the road to the woods. Alaska Fish and Game spokesman Ken Marsh said the agency was investigating to determine whether the bear attack was predatory or a defensive action, such as to guard bear cubs or a food source like a dead moose. Asked about the belief that the same bear was responsible for both attacks, Marsh said that seemed like a logical conclusion but suggested there were other possibilities. "A person could have tripped and fell or had a medical condition," he said. "Until a full investigation and medical examination is done, I don't know that we can say necessarily, for sure, 100 percent, the cause of death." Anchorage police keeps bystanders away from a bear mauling site near Eagle River, Alaska on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. A missing hiker was found dead Wednesday near the site where a member of his search party was mauled by a bear outside of Alaska's largest city. Anchorage police said the same brown bear appears to be responsible for attacks on the missing man, Michael Soltis, and the volunteer searcher, whose name was not released. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen) A bear sign and police tape mark a site near a bear attack near Eagle River, Alaska, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. A missing hiker was found dead Wednesday near the site where a member of his search party was mauled by a bear outside of Alaska's largest city. Anchorage police said the same brown bear appears to be responsible for attacks on the missing man, Michael Soltis, and the volunteer searcher, whose name was not released. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen) Veteran Republican campaign strategist Steve Schmidt said Wednesday he is renouncing the GOP - in part because of what he calls President Donald Trump's unethical and corrupt behavior, but more because the party's leadership in Congress has failed to hold Trump to account. "What we've seen is the complete and total corruption of the Republican Party among its elected officials," Schmidt, senior strategist for 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain, told The Associated Press. "There's been no oversight, no outrage." Schmidt, 47, has been a reliable critic of Trump. He recently said the president had "beclowned himself" by publicly calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "dishonest" and "weak" after attending the G-7 summit of allies in Canada this month. Schmidt rattled off a list of his beefs with Trump Wednesday, capped by the Trump administration's policy of separating children from adults illegally entering the United States. He called the government-run facilities for such children the equivalent of "internment centers for babies." He also mentioned Trump's kind words this month for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and his claim earlier in June he had the "absolute right" to pardon himself. "The founding fathers always envisioned a president like Trump," Schmidt said. Yet, despite his grievances with the president, it is Congress that has allowed him to go largely unchecked, out of fear of damaging their own political careers, Schmidt said. "The party of Lincoln, of Eisenhower, of Reagan, it's dead. And the people who killed it are Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and dozens of other complicit cowards," Schmidt said, referring to the speaker of the House and Senate majority leader. Schmidt predicted heavy Republican losses in November's midterm congressional elections, when Republicans will seek to hold majorities in the House and Senate. After stints in Republican congressional campaigns, Schmidt was a top adviser to then-President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign. Schmidt became McCain's senior adviser after a shake-up of the 2008 frontrunner's campaign, and remains loyal to the Arizona senator, who is now battling brain cancer. The GOP "is dying without a whimper of protest, with the exception of John McCain," he said. McCain, a regular critic of Trump, criticized the president in his new memoir, released last month. Schmidt announced his disassociation with the Republican Party via Twitter Wednesday morning. AURORA, Neb. (AP) - The son of actors Sean Penn and Robin Wright has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in his Nebraska drug case. Twenty-four-year-old Hopper Penn and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Uma Von Wittkamp, were arrested during a traffic stop on April 4 on Interstate 80 in southeastern Nebraska. The Nebraska State Patrol says a search of their vehicle turned up 14 grams of marijuana, four amphetamine pills and 3 grams of psychedelic mushrooms. FILE - This booking file photo released by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Dept. shows Hopper Penn, the son of Sean Penn and Robin Wright, after he was arrested in Nebraska. Court records show that Penn pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in a Nebraska drug possession case and paid a fine. Penn, and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Uma Von Wittkamp, were arrested April 4 after a state trooper stopped their vehicle on Interstate 80 in southeastern Nebraska. Court records show that on April 24, each pleaded no contest to attempt of a felony and ordered to pay $1,000 each. (Hamilton County Sheriff's Dept via AP, File) Both were initially charged with felony drug possession. Court records show they later pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of attempt of a felony. Each was ordered to pay $1,000. A no-contest plea allows a defendant to not admit guilt but acknowledge that there's enough evidence for a conviction. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The Latest on Alaska bear attack (all times local): 1:20 p.m. Alaska authorities say a missing man has been found dead near the site where a member of his search party was mauled by a brown bear near a suburb of Alaska's largest city. They believe the missing man, Michael Soltis, was killed by the same bear. Anchorage police say Soltis' body was found near the end of a road in the Eagle River area by officers searching for the bear after the Wednesday morning attack. Police say it appeared the bear had been protecting Soltis' body when the attack occurred. The name of the injured searcher was not released, but authorities say his leg injuries are not believed to be life threatening. The bear has not been located, and police are asking people to stay away from the area. ___ 11:55 a.m. Authorities in Alaska say one person was mauled by a bear while searching for a missing hiker near Alaska's largest city. Anchorage police say the male victim had serious injuries to the leg in the Wednesday incident near Eagle River, an Anchorage suburb. The victim, whose identity was not released, was hospitalized. The brown bear was not immediately found. The attack occurred during a search for 44-year-old Michael Soltis, who was last seen near Eagle River on Monday afternoon and presumed to be going on a hike. Alaska Fish and Game spokesman Ken Marsh says agency representatives were heading to the site. They will try to determine whether the bear attack was predatory or a defensive action, such as guarding bear cubs or a food cache like a dead moose. SANTA FE, Texas (AP) - Police records show a Houston-area high school received nine threats in the months leading up to a mass shooting that killed 10 people. The police chief for the Santa Fe Independent School District wouldn't detail the threats but says none was related to the May 18 shooting that killed eight students and two substitute teachers at Santa Fe High School. Records obtained by the Houston Chronicle show that 114 incidents were handled by district police in 2018 before the shooting. Nine were under columns that described the received calls as "threats." One came nine days before the shootings. Other incidents carried such labels as thefts, medical issues, disturbances and traffic accidents. A 17-year-old student with no record of previous trouble is jailed and charged with capital murder in the shooting. ___ Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - In a plea to a police dispatcher to "help my sisters," a 17-year-old girl in a childlike, quivering voice detailed years of abuse she and 12 siblings suffered in a squalid house where she said they were shackled to beds, choked and the stench was suffocating. The 911 call was played in a California court Wednesday during a hearing to determine if her mother and father should face trial on child abuse charges in a case that attracted worldwide attention following their arrests last winter. The girl is heard on the recording saying two younger sisters and a brother were chained to their beds and she couldn't take it any longer. Louise Turpin, left, and her husband, David Turpin, right, appear for a preliminary hearing in Superior Court, Wednesday, June 20, 2018, in Riverside, Calif. The couple have pleaded not guilty to child abuse, torture and other charges. (Watchara Phomicinda/The Press-Enterprise via AP) "They will wake up at night and they will start crying and they wanted me to call somebody," she said in a high-pitched voice. "I wanted to call y'all so y'all can help my sisters." David and Louise Turpin have pleaded not guilty to torture, child abuse and other charges. They are being held on $12 million bail each. Louise Turpin dabbed her eyes with a tissue as the recording of her daughter was played. The 911 call in January marked a new start for the 13 Turpin offspring - ages 2 to 29 - who lived in such isolation that some didn't even understand the role of the police when they arrived at the house in Perris, 70 miles (113 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles. Two girls, 11 and 14, had been hastily released from their chains when police showed up, but a 22-year-old son remained shackled. The young man said he and his siblings had been suspected of stealing food and being disrespectful, Det. Thomas Salisbury said. The man said he had been tied up with ropes at first and then, after learning to wriggle free, restrained with increasingly larger chains on and off over six years. Children were deprived food and things other kids take for granted, such as toys and games, authorities said. They were allowed to do little except write in journals that may corroborate the horrific stories they told investigators. Some suffered from severe malnutrition and muscle wasting, said investigator Patrick Morris. An 11-year-old girl who was shackled to a bed had arms the size of an infant, he said. The 17-year-old, who said she hadn't finished first grade, had difficulty pronouncing some words and spoke like a much younger child. The girl planned her escape for two years and was terrified as she climbed out a window to freedom, Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Manuel Campos testified. "She couldn't even dial 911 because she was so scared that she was shaking," he said. She didn't know the neighborhood and had to read her address to the dispatcher off a piece of paper. The kids were rarely allowed outside, though they went out on Halloween and traveled as a family to Disneyland and Las Vegas, they said. "Sometimes I wake up and I can't breathe because of how dirty the house is," the girl told the woman dispatcher. She said she hadn't bathed in a year and Campos observed dirt caked on her skin and a stink from being unbathed. The girl referred to her parents as "mother" and "father" because she said it was "more like the Bible days," he said. She reported that her father pulled down her pants and put her on his clothed lap in a recliner chair in the TV room when she was 12. She said she didn't like it and pulled up her pants, and that he told her not tell anyone, Campos said. The children spent most of their time locked in their rooms except for limited meals or using the bathroom. If they didn't obey strict rules, they were slapped in the face or had their hair pulled, the girl told Campos. The eldest son in the family told authorities discipline in the home included beatings with the leather or buckle end of a belt, said Wade Walsvick, senior investigator for the Riverside County district attorney's office. Years earlier, when the family lived in Texas, he said the beatings involved "a switch, the paddle and the oar" and the siblings were sometimes placed in cages. About two years ago, the mother found out the girl had been watching a Justin Bieber video, and started choking her and asked, "do you want to die?" Campos said. The girl said she didn't want to die, but she feared she was about to as the choking continued. "Yes you do, yes you do, you do, you want to die," the mother said, according to Campos. "You want to die and go to hell." The hearing is scheduled to resume Thursday. ___ Melley reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press Writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report from Los Angeles. FILE - In this May 4, 2018, file photo, defendant Louise Anna Turpin, second left, talks with an investigator as her husband David Allen Turpin, right, looks on during a court appearance in Riverside, Calif. David and Louise Turpin are scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, June 20, 2018, in Riverside County Superior Court. A judge is set to hear testimony from law enforcement officers and consider whether authorities have amassed sufficient evidence for the Turpins to stand trial. They've pleaded not guilty to torture, child abuse and other charges. (Watchara Phomicinda/The Press-Enterprise via AP, Pool) David Turpin, center, appears for a preliminary hearing in Superior Court, Wednesday, June 20, 2018, in Riverside, Calif. Turpin and his spouse Louise Turpin have pleaded not guilty to child abuse, torture and other charges. (Watchara Phomicinda/The Press-Enterprise via AP) Louise Turpin, left, talks to her attorney Jeff Moore during a preliminary hearing in Superior Court, Wednesday, June 20, 2018, in Riverside, Calif. Turpin and her husband David Tuprin have pleaded not guilty to child abuse, torture and other charges. (Watchara Phomicinda/The Press-Enterprise via AP) LUKEVILLE, Ariz. (AP) - U.S. Border Patrol agents in Arizona say they've rescued a 6-year-old Costa Rican boy who was abandoned by a smuggler in the desert. Ajo Station agents say they found the boy Tuesday just north of the Mexico border. He told agents he was on his way to see his parents in the United States and the smuggler told him the Border Patrol would pick him up. Border Patrol officials say the boy was left without provisions but was in good condition and transported to a Tucson center for further processing. The name of the boy wasn't immediately released. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A Honduran woman who says she's facing deportation has taken sanctuary in a Virginia church. Abbie Arevalo-Herrera came to the U.S. in 2014 and has sought asylum based on what she says are death threats against her by the father of her oldest child. Her case has been advancing through the courts, but this week she reported receiving a call telling her she would be deported to Honduras. Immigrant advocates said at a news conference Wednesday that they believe her deportation order stems from a recent ruling from Attorney General Jeff Sessions that asylum seekers can no longer cite domestic abuse and gang violence as reasons to gain entry into the U.S. Arevalo-Herrera is staying at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Richmond while she appeals. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The Rev. Jeanne Pupke, senior minister of the church, told a crowd of more than 100 people who turned out to support Arevalo-Herrera that the church will stand by her and her children to fight what she called "immoral" and "inhumane" immigration laws. "We will not allow them to destroy families," she said. "We are going to kick up a fuss that Mr. Sessions cannot ignore." Arevalo-Herrera, who is married to a legal permanent resident and has a 2-year-old son who is a U.S. citizen, said she is grateful for the support. "I don't want to be taken away from my family," she said through a translator. "I feel this is an injustice and this is ... stepping on my human rights." Lana Heath de Martinez, Welcoming All Coordinator for the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, said Arevalo-Herrera continues to receive death threats from the father of her older child. She said she could not provide any details, and other specifics of her immigration case were not immediately disclosed. Britain is the global power most trusted by Australians despite the Brexit vote, research Down Under suggests. A poll by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute for International Policy placed the UK considerably ahead of the US, India and China, while Australians said they trust Theresa May more than their own prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, when it comes to world affairs. The survey of 1,200 Australians found nine in 10 trusted the UK, while more than a third found Mrs May to be a trustworthy leader. On the other hand, trust in the US among Australians appears to have crashed by 28% since 2011 including 6% in the past year to the lowest level ever recorded by the Lowys polling. Australians have high levels of trust in the UK, Japan & France, but lowest level of trust in US since 2005 #LowyPoll2018 https://t.co/k3TTTYdkD1 pic.twitter.com/HBnJLZx3BV The Lowy Institute (@LowyInstitute) June 19, 2018 The report says: Australians highest level of trust among the eight nations polled is placed in the United Kingdom (trusted by 90%). Japan is trusted by 87% of Australians, and France by 84%. Trust in India (59%) is ahead of the United States (55%), followed closely by China (52%). Just 28% trust Russia, and 8% trust North Korea. According to the think-tank, Britain also ranks high on how warmly Australians feel about a range of nations and the EU. The Lowy polls feelings thermometer ranked the UK at third on 82 degrees, closely behind Canada at 84 and Antipodean neighbours New Zealand on 86. By comparison, Aussies felt comparatively lukewarm about Japan, Germany and France, on 74, 71 and 70 respectively, while the US and the EU were on 67. The western powers were decidedly warmer than Russia at a chilly 47, while Saudi Arabia and North Korea were given the cold shoulder at 40 and 25 respectively. Despite warm feelings between Australia and the UK, the Brexit vote is still listed by the Lowy as a possible reason for Australians to feel troubled about the direction of the world, along with the election of Mr Trump, escalation of conflict in the Middle East and an increase of terrorist incidents in the west. Malcolm Turnbull visit to UK Executive director Dr Michael Fullilove wrote that remarkable developments over the past two years have raised questions about the global order that has seen Australia boom for many years. In Europe, the British public voted to leave the European Union. In the United States, Americans elected a president who is an unbeliever in alliances and hostile to free trade, he said. In Asia, China continues its inexorable rise, pursuing muscular policies in the South China Sea and recasting power relations throughout the region. However Dr Fullilove said the feelings thermometer had shown the Anglosphere maintains its grip on the Australian psyche. UK PM @theresa_may tops #LowyPoll2018 on question about Australians' confidence in world leaders to "do the right thing" https://t.co/EF3IDarWGO The Lowy Institute (@LowyInstitute) June 20, 2018 Some of that appears to have an effect on how Australians view Mrs May. Only 30% of Australians have either a lot or some confidence in Donald Trump to do the right thing regarding world affairs, the report says. This places Trump ahead of only Russias Vladimir Putin (19%) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (5%) among the nine leaders ranked. The leaders Australians regard with the most confidence are the UKs Theresa May (68%) and Japans Shinzo Abe (66%). Next is Malcolm Turnbull (63%), and Frances Emmanuel Macron has the confidence of 61%. Eighteen points behind is Chinas Xi Jinping (43%), followed by Indias Narendra Modi (37%). Theresa May is facing a knife-edge Commons vote over Brexit as MPs decide on Parliaments role in Britains exit from the European Union. Tory rebels believe they can inflict defeat on the Government as the flagship legislation returns to the Commons after the Lords again backed giving MPs a meaningful say on the final deal. The Prime Minister staved off a Tory rebellion on the move last week but faces a bruising battle in the latest round of voting amid claims she failed to implement a compromise that opponents believed they were promised. But Brexiteers are said to be increasingly confident of victory. Tory MP Phillip Lee said he believed the rebels could still defeat the Government despite the Phillip Lee, who resigned as a government minister in order to back a strengthened role for Parliament, acknowledged there had been a concerted effort to win over would-be rebels, including the dark arts of persuasion in the corridors of power. But he claimed the rebels may have the strength to defeat the Prime Minister who he said he still counts as a friend unless an eleventh-hour concession is agreed. Dr Lee told BBC Radio 4s Today: We were always going to get the normal dark arts of Westminster taking place, fully expected, but my understanding is that the position taken by a number of colleagues is solid, which is why the Government is still in negotiations. Asked if there were enough rebels to defeat the Government, he said: Potentially, yes. But this for me personally is a position of integrity, that I think Parliament deserves to have a proper role in this process, a truly meaningful vote. He rejected some of the claims made about the consequences of a Government defeat which would give Parliament a greater role in the event of a failure to agree a Brexit deal. I cannot follow the argument, in fact I think its nonsense, that somehow this makes it harder for the Prime Minister to do a deal in Brussels. He added: I continue to be hopeful that the Government will accept our position but fundamentally this is not about the Government, this is about Parliament and I would argue this is about my country, this is about securing a Brexit deal which is good for my country in the longer term. I think, in the unlikely event that Government fails to get a deal, Parliament should play a part in trying to find a solution. Brexit Dominic Grieve, one of the leading figures in the stand-off, said he expected negotiations to go right to the wire. The possibility of a rebellion all depends on where we go on the negotiations and at the moment I dont know the answer, the former attorney general added. Bloomin' Brexit - why it's so important to get it right: https://t.co/fifbAdbX5f #MeaningfulVote Anna Soubry (@Anna_Soubry) June 19, 2018 Tory Remainer Anna Soubry posted a lengthy statement about why she will rebel and denied being a traitor. Getting Brexit right is vital and is the most important set of decisions our country has taken in decades, she wrote. Whatever we were told during the Referendum, you cant simply unravel 43 years of membership of the EU in a year or two and getting a new trading deal is far from the simplest of matters as we were assured. By a majority of 119 the House of Lords will now give the elected Commons the chance to vote on the amendment that Govt had agreed with Dominic Grieve. #MeaningfulVote Sarah Wollaston (@sarahwollaston) June 18, 2018 Peers on Monday backed an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, tabled by Viscount Hailsham, that would require the Government to allow MPs to vote on how it would proceed in the absence of a Brexit deal by January 21 next year. MPs will now vote on whether to adopt the motion, which was brought in after pro-EU rebels led by Mr Grieve accused the Government of reneging on measures they believed had been agreed to see off a rebellion last week. The Prime Minister has warned against any moves to tie her hands during negotiations with Brussels, saying that Parliament must not be able to overturn the will of the British people. You can watch my #Brexit evidence sessions to @CommonsEUexit & @CommonsHomeAffs live from 09:15 GMT & 14:30 GMT tomorrow. MEP's, who after all will have a meaningful vote on any Art.50 deal, have a duty to be transparent. https://t.co/natneGrf0b Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) June 19, 2018 Under Government plans, if MPs reject the agreement reached by Mrs May with Brussels, or if no deal has been obtained by January 21, Parliament will be offered the opportunity to vote on a neutral motion stating it has considered a ministers statement on the issue. Crucially, the motion will be unamendable, meaning MPs cannot insert a requirement for Mrs May to go back to the negotiating table, extend the Brexit transition or revoke the UKs withdrawal under Article 50. The Commons vote comes as Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliaments Brexit co-ordinator, appears before MPs at hearings of the Exiting the EU and Home Affairs select committees. South Koreas president has urged the North to show a plan for concrete steps towards denuclearisation, raising the pressure on Kim Jong Un during his visit to Beijing. The North Korean leader is on his third visit to China this year, to discuss the outcome of his summit with Donald Trump, underscoring the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbours. A report by the Korean Central News Agency said Mr Kim expressed his gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping when they met on Tuesday. KCNA said that during a banquet hosted by Mr Xi, the North Korean also said Pyongyang and Beijing are seeing their ties develop into unprecedentedly special relations. Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping At the summit with the US president in Singapore, Mr Kim pledged to work towards denuclearisation in exchange for US security guarantees. The US and South Korea suspended a major joint military exercise planned for August in what was seen as a major victory for Pyongyang and its chief allies, China and Russia. In Seoul, President Moon Jae-in urged North Korea to present far more concrete plans on how to scrap its nuclear programme and the US to take unspecified corresponding measures swiftly. Its necessary for North Korea to present far more concrete denuclearisation plans, and I think its necessary for the United States to swiftly reciprocate by coming up with comprehensive measures, he said. Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in Mr Moon, who has met Mr Kim twice in recent months, said the North Korean leader is willing to give up his nuclear programme and focus on economic development if he is provided with a reliable security guarantee. He described Mr Kim as forthright, careful and polite. South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said Seoul was monitoring Mr Kims newfound diplomatic activism and the outcome of his meetings in China. China has an important role to play on issues of peace and security on the Korean peninsula, Mr Kang said, adding that South Korea expects discussions in Beijing to help the process of denuclearisation. China backs the Norths call for a phased and synchronous approach to denuclearisation, as opposed to Washingtons demand for an instant, total and irreversible end to the Norths nuclear programme. Prince Louis of Cambridges christening will take place on July 9, Kensington Palace has announced. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridges youngest child, born on April 23, will be baptised in the Chapel Royal at St Jamess Palace in London. The palace said: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to announce that the christening of Prince Louis will take place on Monday 9th July at The Chapel Royal, St Jamess Palace, London. Prince Louis will be christened by The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby. Eight-week-old Louis, a younger brother to Prince George and Princess Charlotte, is fifth in line to the throne and a great-grandchild of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. George was also christened in the Chapel Royal, but Charlotte was baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Sandringham. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to announce that the christening of Prince Louis will take place on Monday 9th July at The Chapel Royal, St Jamess Palace, London. Prince Louis will be christened by The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby. pic.twitter.com/aBGNYTMRri The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) June 20, 2018 Louis was born in the private Lindo Wing of St Marys Hospital in Paddington, London, on St Georges Day, weighing 8lb 7oz. The baby prince, who will be 11 weeks old at the time of the christening, will be welcomed into the Christian faith dressed in the same frilly, cream gown used for George and Charlotte. The robe is a replica of the intricate lace and satin dress made for Queen Victorias eldest daughter in 1841. Royal baby Christenings are a must for royal babies. The Queen is head of the Church of England and Louis father William will one day take on this role when he becomes king. The baptism will be a private affair, lasting around 30 minutes. Georges christening at the same venue in October 2013 was an intimate occasion, with only 23 guests attending. Christening of Prince George of Cambridge He was on his best behaviour, blowing bubbles beforehand and being quiet and peaceful afterwards. Charlottes baptism in 2015 involved the Cambridge family walking to church past well-wishers. George held Williams hand, while baby Charlotte was pushed by Kate in a vintage pram, previously used for two of the Queens children. Prince Louiss godparents will be expected to be announced on the morning of the christening, with William and Kate again likely to choose mostly close friends for the role. Princess Charlotte christening Newlyweds the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are likely to attend the family celebration. Ahead of her wedding, Meghan was herself christened and confirmed in the Chapel Royal by the Archbishop, who also married the couple last month. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Middletons will also be expected to attend Louis big day. Steven Gerrard will kick-off his Rangers reign with an opening Europa League qualifier against FK Shkupi. The former Liverpool and England skipper will take his first steps in senior management when Gers host the Macedonian minnows at Ibrox on July 12. Shkupi, based in the capital Skopje, finished fourth in last seasons Macedonian First League as they qualified for Europe for the first time. Steven Gerrard #RangersFC will face Shkupi from Macedonia in the first qualifying round of the @EuropaLeague. Reaction to follow on https://t.co/gOwDjobecr pic.twitter.com/FYOYP71MI9 Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) June 20, 2018 The Light Blues will make the return trip to their 6,000-capcity Cair Stadium on July 19 as they begin what they hope are four qualifying rounds on the way to the group stages. The Light Blues suffered a humiliating defeat to Luxembourg minnows Progres Niederkorn under former boss Pedro Caixinha last year but avoided a repeat clash as they were kept apart as the draw for the first qualifying round was made in Nyon. Ladbrokes Premiership rivals Hibernian face a trip to the Faroe Islands after they landed NSI Runavik in their Europa League opener, with the first leg set for Easter Road. EUROPA LEAGUE | We have been drawn against Norwegian opposition Molde in the @EuropaLeague Dates and Home and away to be confirmed pic.twitter.com/83EPIADyQZ Glenavon FC (@Glenavon_FC) June 20, 2018 Northern Irish outfit Glenavon kick-off their qualifiers against Molde of Norway, Coleraine take on Serbian side Spartak Subotica, while Cliftonville face Danes Nordsjaelland. Welsh side Connahs Quay Nomads are to play Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus while Cefn Druids should they progress past Lithuanians Trakai in their preliminary qualifier will meet FC Irtysh of Kazakhstan. Bala Town, who also face a preliminary qualifier against Tre Fiori of San Marino, will be rewarded with a tie against NK Rudar Velenje of Slovenia if they can overcome their first hurdle. Dundalk who became the first team from the Republic of Ireland to win a group stage game back in 2016 will look to take their first step back to that stage when they take on Levadia Tallinn of Estonia, while Derry City face Belarusians Dinamo Minsk and Shamrock Rovers prepare to battle Swedes AIK. Internet experts, including World Wide Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee, have warned that new EU proposals on copyright law could cause substantial damage to the platform. Article 13 of the proposed legislation, under which internet platforms would be required to monitor uploads by their users for copyright infringement, was approved by the European Parliament committee on legal affairs on Wednesday. The bill, which will now move to the European Parliament, says its aim is to make it easier for rights holders to license and be remunerated for the online distribution of their work. A laptop user However open internet advocates claim it amounts to the filtering or censorship of content and called the move a step towards turning the internet into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users. #Article13 could mean restrictions on freedom of expression and prior censorship, warns @davidakaye, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression. Ask your MEP to #SaveYourInternet from these consequences by end of business today: https://t.co/vxvrLq5Z4Z pic.twitter.com/ejoh0wQvES Julia Reda (@Senficon) June 19, 2018 In a letter to European Parliament president Antonio Tajani ahead of the vote, and signed by more than 50 internet experts including Sir Tim and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, the group warns of the imminent threat brought by the proposals. The European Commissions proposal for Article 13 of the proposed Directive for Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive was well-intended, it says. As creators ourselves, we share the concern that there should be a fair distribution of revenues from the online use of copyright works, that benefits creators, publishers, and platforms alike. But Article 13 is not the right way to achieve this. The experts warn that rather than affecting the large internet companies initially targeted, competition from smaller platforms will be gravely affected as many will not be able to afford the technology needed to monitor content uploads. Axel Voss, the MEP leading the push for the bill has said the proposals never mention the use of filters in any of its language, instead only referring to effective technologies being used to prevent copyright infringement. The proposal says that the evolution of technology and rise of the internet means there is a need to adapt existing EU copyright laws. But Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group said the impact of the proposed law was far-reaching. Article 13 must go. The EU Parliament will have another chance to remove this dreadful law, he said. The EU Parliaments duty is to defend citizens from unfair and unjust laws. MEPs must reject this law, which would create a Robo-copyright regime intended to zap any image, text, meme or video that appears to include copyright material, even when it is entirely legal material. Irelands premier has accused the UK of stalling progress in Brexit negotiations and warned of the consequences of not striking a deal on the border. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggested other countries will baulk at signing trade deals with the UK post-Brexit if Prime Minister Theresa May fails to honour commitments made to the EU on the Irish issue. Mr Varadkars comments came amid a stand-off over how to avoid a hard border on the island when the UK leaves the EU. Traffic crossing the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland Both sides have agreed to include a so-called backstop option in the withdrawal treaty, which would commit the UK to align with an EU regulatory framework in the absence of a wider trade deal. But the shape of that fallback remains a sticking point, with the EU rejecting a UK contention that it should only be temporary, even if a broader agreement fails to materialise. Mr Varadkar urged the EU to continue to stand behind Ireland on the border issue. He made the remarks in Dublin ahead of a visit to the city by European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Thursday. It is our view that we havent seen sufficient progress from the UK in the last couple of months, said the Taoiseach. We had a good political agreement in December. We had further progress in March where they accepted there had to be a backstop as part of the withdrawal agreement. But since then, quite frankly, progress has stalled, and what I want all of Europe to do is to continue to stand behind Ireland and say to the UK they have to honour the commitments they made. And you know the UK is a country thats talking about going global, talking about making trade deals all over the world. How could anyone make a deal with a country that doesnt stand by its commitments? The Government must make sure a severely epileptic boy is not an unwitting victim of Northern Irelands constitutional crisis, the shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland has warned. Labours Tony Lloyd told MPs that many urgent decisions were now piling up in Northern Ireland as the voice of Stormont is silent. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley said she would bring forward legislation before the summer recess to put the Budget on a statutory footing for 2018-19 as she acknowledged that there were a number of matters that are pressing. Billy Caldwell Ms Bradley added that across Government we pressed to make sure that the case of Billy Caldwell was dealt with, with suitable respect and dignity for the little boy. Speaking in the @HouseofCommons, Home Secretary @sajidjavid has announced a review into the scheduling of cannabis for medicinal purposes. pic.twitter.com/iKNDUHdrK5 Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) June 19, 2018 Speaking during Northern Ireland questions in the Commons, Mr Lloyd said: Its not just Brexit, there are many urgent decisions that are now piling up in Northern Ireland, decisions that cant be made by civil servants, the High Court has decreed, cant be made by devolved minsters because there are none. The case of Billy Caldwell its urgent stuff for the Home Secretary to act here in England for her constituents and mine. What will she now do to make sure that Billy is not an unwitting victim of this constitutional crisis? Ms Bradley replied: The matter of the use of medicinal cannabis is of course a matter for the Home Office for the whole UK and thats why I welcome (Home Secretary Sajid Javids) decision to have a review into the use of medicinal cannabis and I want to assure him that during the whole of last week, officials from my department were in close contact with the health officials in Northern Ireland, and that across Government we pressed to make sure that the case of Billy Caldwell was dealt with, with suitable respect and dignity for the little boy. The announcement of the review on Tuesday came days after Mr Javid intervened to permit the use of cannabis oil to treat severely epileptic 12-year-old Billy, who had been admitted to hospital with seizures after supplies his mother had brought from Canada were confiscated at Heathrow. Billys mother Charlotte, of Castlederg in Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, described it as amazing news which she applauded. Theresa Mays figures on extra NHS spending are so dodgy they belong on the side of a bus, Jeremy Corbyn has claimed as he urged the Prime Minister to be straight with voters on tax rises to fund the plans. The Labour leader asked why Mrs May was pushing her own Mickey Mouse figures, following the Governments announcement of a 20.5 billion-a-year boost to the NHS budget. During Prime Ministers Questions, Mr Corbyn claimed Mrs May had said there would be 600 million a week more being spent on the NHS through a Brexit dividend. He said: Our net contribution to the European Union is about 8.5 billion a year 600 million a week is over 30 billion a year. Referencing the Vote Leave bus which was emblazoned with the slogan We send the EU 350 million a week lets fund our NHS instead, Mr Corbyn drew laughter from MPs as he said: Her figures are so dodgy they belong on the side of a bus. Prime Ministers Questions We do expect that from the Foreign Secretary but why is the Prime Minister pushing her own Mickey Mouse figures? Mrs May suggested Mr Corbyn spend more time listening to what she says. There will indeed be around 600 million more being spent on the NHS every week in cash terms as a result of a decision taken by this Conservative Government to secure the future of the NHS. That will partly be funded by the money we no longer spend on the European Union and as a country we will be contributing a bit more, we will listen to views on that, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer will bring forward that package before the spending review. The Labour leader said the funding was less than is needed just to stand still and asked why anyone would trust the Government with the NHS. Prime Ministers Questions He said: The Prime Minister is writing IOUs just to stand still. Until this Government can be straight with people where the money is coming from, why should anyone, anyone anywhere, trust them on the NHS? Mrs May hit back, saying Labours plan does not add up. Conservatives putting more money into the National Health Service, Labour losing control of the public finances and bankrupting Britain, she told the Commons. Earlier in the exchanges, Mr Corbyn asked Mrs May which taxes would be rising. J Corbyn starts with question on which taxes will go up to pay for increased NHS funding #PMQs David Wilcock (@DavidTWilcock) June 20, 2018 He said: There can be no Brexit dividend before 2022, economic growth is the slowest since 2009 so which taxes are going up? Mrs May said a long-term plan for the NHS had been set out, with money no longer sent to the EU available for the health service. In response to heckles from Opposition MPs, Mrs May quoted Mr Corbyn saying he would use the funds returned after Brexit to invest in public services. Mr Corbyn replied by telling the PM he said the money should be ring-fenced to replace structural funds to regions, agriculture, the fishing industry and research for universities. South Korea has urged North Korea to present a plan with concrete steps towards denuclearisation, raising the pressure on its leader Kim Jong Un as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Mr Kim and Mr Xi held a second day of talks at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, whose grounds Chinas official Xinhua News Agency described in unusually lyrical terms as being full of verdant greenery and splendid flowers, adding to what the propaganda outlet said was the close and friendly atmosphere of the talks. The pomp and circumstance looked geared towards showing off the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbours, along with Chinas important role in keeping North Korea on track. Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un But it cast no new light on the main question that hangs over the previously reclusive North Korean leaders surge in diplomatic activity in recent months: What next steps, if any, will Mr Kim take to dismantle his countrys nuclear programme? At his summit with US President Donald Trump last week in Singapore, Mr Kim pledged to work towards denuclearisation in exchange for US security guarantees. The US and South Korea also suspended a major joint military exercise that was planned for August in what was seen as a major victory for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia. Chinese state media quoted Mr Xi as hailing the warming friendship with Mr Kim but included no mention of any specific discussions on making progress on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. Kim Jong Un with Xi Jinping Mr Xi said China is pleased that the momentum for dialogue and easing of the situation on the Korean Peninsula has been effectively strengthened, according to Xinhua. In Seoul, South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged North Korea to present actionable plans on how it will scrap its nuclear programme, and for the United States to swiftly take unspecified corresponding measures. Its necessary for North Korea to present far more concrete denuclearisation plans, and I think its necessary for the United States to swiftly reciprocate by coming up with comprehensive measures, Mr Moon said. Mr Moons office said he made the remarks to Russian media ahead of his trip to Moscow later this week. Mr Moon, who has met with Mr Kim twice in recent months, said the North Korean leader is willing to give up his nuclear programme and focus on economic development if he is provided with a reliable security guarantee. Mr Moon described Mr Kim as forthright, careful and polite. China backs the Norths call for a phased and synchronous approach to denuclearisation, as opposed to Washingtons demand for an instant, total and irreversible end to the Norths nuclear programmes. Accompanied by an elaborate escort of motorcycles and black vehicles, Mr Kim left for Pyongyang later in the day, ending his third visit to China this year. Police motorcycle escorts wait for Kim Jong Un's motorcad State television showed Mr Kim visiting an agricultural technology park and rail traffic control centre in Beijing, accompanied by Beijings top official Cai Qi. Mr Kims motorcade had earlier been seen leaving the North Korean embassy as police closed off major roads and intersections in central Beijing. Pedestrians watched the passing motorcade that included Mr Kims limousine a black Mercedes-Benz Maybach with gold emblems on the rear doors. A report by North Koreas official Korean Central News Agency said Mr Kim told Mr Xi at a welcoming banquet on Tuesday that North Korea-China ties are developing into unprecedentedly special relations. China has touted the prospects of more trade and investment if North Korea makes progress in talks on abandoning its nuclear weapons and long-range missile programmes. That could allow the lifting of UN Security Council economic sanctions that have hamstrung North Koreas foreign trade, although the US insists those measures can only be eased after the North shows it has ended its nuclear programmes. The US says China is in agreement on that point, although Chinese officials say sanctions should not be an end in themselves. Mr Kim was expected to have sought Chinas help with getting relief from the sanctions during his visit. Xinhuas report did not mention sanctions, but quoted Mr Kim as saying that the two countries are as close and friendly as family, and help each other. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expected to turn once again to close friends and confidantes when selecting godparents for their youngest child Prince Louis. Those chosen for the spiritual role will be announced on the morning of Louis baptism, which is taking place at the Chapel Royal on July 9. Prince Louis William and Kate have previously opted for trusted members of their inner circle and younger family members such as Zara Tindall, rather than older royal relatives and foreign kings and queens as was the Windsor tradition. It is likely that Louis will have five godparents, as does Charlotte, whereas George, a future king, has seven. Georges seven godparents include Julia Samuel a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales, the couples former private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton and Williams cousin Zara, while Charlottes five included Kates school friend Sophie Carter and Laura Fellowes the daughter of one of Dianas sisters. Heres a look at some of the possible contenders for Louis: According to bookmakers Ladbrokes, the dukes soon-to-be former private secretary, Miguel Head, is a front runner with odds of 2/1. Williams top aide and ex-press secretary Mr Head has been a trusted member of the KP team. Duke of Cambridge visits Cambridge He is leaving his post as private secretary in July, but a warm tribute was issued when his departure was announced. William was described as feeling incredibly lucky to have benefited from Mr Heads advice and support over the last decade. Mr Head was described as a valued adviser during an important period in His Royal Highnesss life. Williams childhood nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, now Tiggy Pettifer, is at 2/1, while Kates former private secretary Rebecca Priestley is 3/1. The Duchess of Cornwalls daughter Laura Lopes Williams stepsister who has twin boys and a daughter Eliza who was one of William and Kates bridesmaids, has odds of 4/1. William and Kate may ask another of the van Cutsem brothers who are old family friends of the duke. They selected William van Cutsem for George and may pick one of his siblings Hugh, Edward or Nicholas or perhaps Hughs wife Rose van Cutsem this time. Hugh van Cutsem is set at odds of 5/1. Hugh and Rose Van Cutsem (Chris Ison/PA) William is godfather to Hugh and Roses daughter Grace, who was a bridesmaid at the royal wedding and almost stole the show on the balcony after covering her ears during the flypast while the newlyweds kissed. Kates Marlborough College friends include Catriona Trini Foyle, Alice Avenel (nee St John Webster), Alicia Stoddart (nee Fox-Pitt) and Hannah Carter (nee Gillingham). Others in the couples social circle include jockey Sam Waley-Cohen and his wife Bella; Williams school friend Tom Sutton and his wife Harriet; heir to Viscount Allendale, Wentworth Wenty Beaumont and his wife Vanessa; Lady Iona Hewitt; and Lady Natasha Rufus Isaacs, an old friend of Kates who runs the fashion label Beulah London. Jockey Sam Waley-Cohen is a friend of the couple (Ben Birchall/PA) William and Kates former uni flatmates are Fergus Boyd and Olivia Bleasdale who also attended their 2011 wedding. From the royal side, Williams cousin Peter Phillips could be a safe bet, with odds of 8/1, while Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are both at 7/1. Peter Phillips Other suggestions include Sir David Manning the former ambassador to Washington who now acts as the couples foreign affairs adviser. There is likely to be some link to Williams late mother Diana perhaps even one of the princesss sisters Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, or one of Williams cousins via the Spencer family line. Diana's siblings If William and Kate wanted to fully welcome the Duchess of Sussex into the fold, what better gesture than to make her their new babys godmother? The Duchess of Sussex at Royal Ascot The move would delight the Duke of Sussex and secure Meghans long-term standing within the royal family. Meghan whose odds of being selected according to the bookmakers are 14/1 would be on hand at William and Kates home Kensington Palace for godmotherly duties, living at a cottage with Harry at the royal residence. But have the couple known the American former actress for long enough to assign her with the responsibility? The dukes cousin Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, daughter of the Earl and Countess of Wessex, is only 14 years old, but selecting Louise as a godparent would delight the Queen. Lady Louise Windsor The youngster was also one of William and Kates bridesmaids and William himself was just 16 when he became godfather to Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece and Denmark in 1998. Macedonias parliament has comfortably ratified a deal with neighbouring Greece signed last weekend to end a decades-long dispute over Macedonias name. Politicians approved the bill that renames the country North Macedonia, with 69 votes in favour in the 120-member parliament. The main opposition VMRO-DPMNE party boycotted the session. The preliminary deal which will require several more steps lasting months before it can be fully implemented has angered opposition parties and hardliners in both Greece and Macedonia, who claim their respective countries have conceded too much to the other. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told politicians that Skopje and Athens have reached a dignified and acceptable agreement for both countries. We have not made a gift to anyone, Mr Zaev said during Wednesdays debate. Our language and identity is Macedonian. The dispute dates from shortly after Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece argued the name Macedonia implied territorial aspirations on its own northern province of the same name, birthplace of the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great, and on ancient Greek heritage. Mr Zaev told politicians the agreement gains Macedonia one more strategic partner in its southern neighbour, and boosts his countrys security and stability. It will also allow Macedonia to pursue its dream of joining Nato and the European Union. Until now, Greece, which is a member of both organisations, had been blocking that prospect pending a deal on the name change. But the deal has also caused a major rift between Mr Zaevs left-led government and the countrys conservative president Gjorge Ivanov, who has said he will not sign off on the parliamentary ratification, which he strongly opposes. Macedonian PM Zoran Zeav speaks during a session for the ratification of the deal with Greece in the parliament in Skopje That would force parliament to repeat the ratification vote, after which Mr Ivanov would no longer be able to block the process. Mr Zaev indicated in a TV interview late on Tuesday that he will go one step further and try to use parliaments power to remove the president from office. That would force presidential elections within months. According to Macedonias constitution, a two-thirds majority of 81 votes in parliament are needed for that, which Mr Zaev would have trouble raising. Mr Ivanov on Wednesday dared Mr Zaev to go ahead with his removal. I call on Zaev to immediately initiate (the) procedure, he said in a written statement to the media. Macedonians will be called on in the autumn to vote on the deal through a referendum. If that backs the agreement, politicians will have to amend the constitution to formalise the name change. Once that is done, the deal will have to be ratified by Greeces parliament. Pupils across Scotland have received awards from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon recognising their reading achievements over the last year. Almost 1,000 primary schools took part in the First Ministers Reading Challenge which aims to encourage children to develop a love of reading. Around 300 children attended a celebration event in Edinburgh on Wednesday, with awards handed out in 17 categories. Annette Street Primary School in Glasgow, where many pupils do not speak English as their first language, won the national prize for school reading journey. St James Primary School in Renfrewshire won the prize for the most books read 19,529 in total. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon attended a celebration event for the First Ministers Reading Challenge at The Hub in Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA) Following an evaluation of the first year of the challenge, reading charity Scottish Book Trust will expand it to secondary schools, libraries and community groups in the next school year. Ms Sturgeon said: Id like to congratulate all the schools who have taken part in this years challenge. Theyve all worked really hard over the past year and demonstrated great enthusiasm for reading. Raising attainment is at the heart of the Scottish Governments work. That is why I launched the First Ministers Reading Challenge to encourage reading for pleasure from an early age, which in turn helps improve childrens literacy. I look forward to the next year of the challenge which will see even more people able to take part from secondary schools, libraries and community groups. The awards recognise inspirational work to promote reading and develop a reading culture in schools across the country. Had a brilliant morning at the @FMReadChallenge award ceremony, surrounded by enthusiastic children telling me all about their love of reading and their favourite books. It doesnt get much better than that! Thanks and well done to all. https://t.co/Vfmi4djNuY Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 20, 2018 Sam Howarth, acting principal teacher at Annette Street Primary, said: It is wonderful to see public recognition for the hard work of our children, many of whom do not speak English as their first language. We have come a long way already this year in improving our reading culture by running book clubs, refreshing our library stock and using real life experiential learning to promote reading in context. Our reading journey at the school is just beginning and we have many more reading adventures planned for the future. The EU will start taxing a range of imports from the US on Friday, including quintessentially American goods such as Harley-Davidson bikes, in response to President Donald Trumps decision to slap tariffs on European steel and aluminium. The 28-nation EU was first expected to do so only next month but EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said they would introduce rebalancing tariffs on about 2.8 billion euros (2.4 billion) worth of US products this week. The targets include steel, agricultural and other products, including bourbon, peanut butter, cranberries and orange juice. A worker inspecting rolls of steel Ms Malmstrom said that we are left with no other choice. Mr Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on imported aluminium from the EU on June 1. In response to the US tariffs on steel & aluminium EU announces rebalancing measures targeting a list of products worth 2.8 billion & will come into effect on Friday. https://t.co/m9wPEuWhnI pic.twitter.com/msxEd4vSbG EU in the U.S. (@EUintheUS) June 20, 2018 Europeans claim it is simply protectionism and breaks global trade rules. Ms Malmstrom said: The rules of international trade, which we have developed over the years hand in hand with our American partners, cannot be violated without a reaction from our side. Needless to say, if the US removes its tariffs, our measures will also be removed. Mr Trump said the measures against the EU are meant to protect US national security interests, but the Europeans claim it cannot be that close allies, many of them Nato partners, would endanger US security. The EU exported some 5.5 million tons of steel to the US last year. European steel producers are concerned about a loss of market access but also that steel from elsewhere will flood in. The EU, which is the worlds biggest trading bloc, has also taken its case to the World Trade Organisation. If the WTO rules in its favour, or after three years if the case is still going on, the EU plans to impose further tariffs of 3.6 billion euros (3.1 billion) on US products. A former banker who led a bust institution which contributed to the collapse of the Irish economy has been sentenced to six years in prison. David Drumm, 51, was convicted earlier this month at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting after arranging dishonest and fraudulent multibillion-euro transfers to boost the books of the failed bank Anglo-Irish in the months before it imploded in 2008. Judge Karen OConnor said Drumm will be given credit for the five and a half months he served in custody in the United States during his extradition to Ireland in 2015. Anglo was taken into state control in January 2009 following a run on its deposits and plummeting share prices. Bailing out Anglo was to cost taxpayers billions of euro. The judge said Drumm was being sentenced for the two offences he had been convicted of, and not for Irelands financial collapse. This court is not sentencing Mr Drumm for causing the financial crisis. Nor is this court sentencing Mr Drumm for the recession which occurred, she told the court. This offending did not cause Anglo-Irish Bank to collapse. Former Anglo-Irish Bank boss David Drumm arriving for his sentence hearing at Dublins Central Criminal Court (PA This court will sentence Mr Drumm only for the two specific offences for which he has been convicted. She went on to tell the court she was of the view that eight years imprisonment was the appropriate headline figure. But the judge said: Taking into consideration the mitigating factors, this court is going to impose a sentence of six years imprisonment in relation to counts one and two. Drumm was convicted in connection with the 7.2 billion euro (6.3 billion) fraud following a trial that lasted more than 80 days. He had denied conspiring to dishonestly create the false and misleading impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2 billion euro larger than they were as well as knowingly presenting the false figures to the market in December 2008. But he was found guilty of two offences, conspiracy to defraud contrary to common law and false accounting contrary to section 10 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. The judge said the second offence flowed from the first, and that the jury rejected submissions made on behalf of Drumm and convicted him unanimously. He was the chief executive officer at the time, a member of the board of and therefore in a position of trust in relation to the bank, its depositors, investors and lenders and also potential depositors, investors and lenders. In addition, the public are entitled to trust the information published by a public limited company and to make decisions based on that information. She added: Mr Drumm along with others put together a dishonest scheme and engaged in transactions, designed to inflate deposits from a non-banking entity to Anglo-Irish Bank on September 30 2008 which was the reporting year end date for that bank. The intention was to create the false and misleading impression that Anglo Irish Bank was stronger or in a healthier position than it actually was as a result of 7.2 billion euro in corporate deposits i.e. deposits from a non-bank entity. The Anglo-Irish bank HQ on St Stephens Green in Dublin (PA) And she told the court: The fact that the scheme ultimately did not succeed is irrelevant. Mr Drumm was part of a conspiracy which potentially could have caused significant loss. It appears that no actual money was lost. From the evidence it is clear he was the driving force in Anglo-Irish Bank and the person behind the funding initiatives being considered by the bank. He authorised the transactions, was at the helm of the bank, and clearly extremely hands-on in his position in the bank. Dressed in a dark suit and blue open-collar shirt, Drumm, of Shenick Avenue in Skerries, Co Dublin, listened intently as the judge delivered his sentence, but gave no reaction. Three of his former colleagues John Bowe from Anglos treasury department, Willie McAteer, the banks former director of finance and the former chief executive officer of Irish Life and Permanent, Denis Casey, were all convicted of the same conspiracy and jailed in 2016 for terms ranging from two to three and a half years. The judge pointed out during sentencing that McAteer and Bowe were subordinates to Mr Drumm within the company structure in Anglo Irish Bank. Mr Drumm held a more senior position and was a more influential figure. He had a leadership role, she said. Leaders from a group of European Union countries, led by Germany and France, will meet on Sunday to thrash out possible solutions to a divisive row over migrants. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose own government is in crisis over the management of migrant arrivals, is expected to join the leaders of Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Spain for informal talks at European Commission headquarters in Brussels, commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said. The UN refugee agency estimates that around 40,000 people have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year, around half the number who had entered at this time in 2017. Migrants from Pakistan in front of a railway station in Sarajevo, Bosnia But even though arrivals are declining, the unity of the 28-nation bloc is being torn apart by a crisis of confidence. Most migrants land in Italy and Greece and those countries feel they have been abandoned by EU partners. Member states such as Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are unwilling to share the burden and refuse to accept refugee quotas. I am convening an informal working meeting on migration and asylum issues in Brussels on Sunday, in order to work with a group of Heads of State or Government of Member States interested in finding European solutions ahead of the upcoming #EUCO. #MigrationEU pic.twitter.com/qXJaghR20v Jean-Claude Juncker (@JunckerEU) June 20, 2018 The commission said Sundays meeting, just days before a full EU summit on June 28-29, is aimed at finding European solutions to the migrant challenge. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose country takes over the EUs rotating presidency on July 1, said the gathering is not about German domestic politics, its about a solution of the migration question that is long overdue. Mr Kurz said it will address issues such as how we protect the (EU) external borders, how do we prevent waving (migrants) through to central Europe. Efforts to reform the EUs asylum laws have run for two years without success, blocked mostly over the issue of which country should take responsibility for migrants and refugees and for how long. Mr Juncker said if those laws had been overhauled earlier we wouldnt find ourselves confronted with the problem that we face today. While some EU countries might be angered at being left out of Sundays talks Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called Mr Juncker to ask to take part Mr Juncker said there is no question that after Sunday we would dictate to other member states the line that should be taken on managing migration. More than one million migrants entered Europe in 2015, most fleeing war in Syria and Iraq, overwhelming Greece and Italy and exposing glaring weaknesses in asylum laws and reception capacities. But Turkey has taken in more refugees than the worlds biggest trading bloc, while Lebanon and Jordan together house some two million people. We do not have a crisis of numbers. We continue to have a crisis of political will, UNHCR Europe chief Sophie Magennis said. Sinn Fein leaders have accused the UK government of playing a game of chicken over the question of the Irish border. Party president Mary Lou McDonald and vice-president Michelle ONeill were in London on Wednesday for a meeting with Theresa May on the key Brexit sticking point. Mrs McDonald told the Press Association: We are here because Brexit poses a real and imminent danger to Irish interests both north and south. Michelle O'Neill and Mary Lou McDonald We are here because the British system so far has failed to come up with a credible proposal that would protect the Good Friday Agreement, that would prevent a hardening of the border and would protect citizens rights. Despite all of the rhetoric Theresa May has drawn a blank by way of response to those issues, so we believe that theres game playing, theres brinksmanship and that the story government are playing a game of chicken with Brexit and with Ireland. We find that unacceptable. Her comments come amid an ongoing impasse between the EU and UK on how to avoid a hard border post-Brexit. Both sides have agreed to include a so-called backstop option in the withdrawal treaty. The measure would commit the UK to align with an EU regulatory framework in the absence of a wider trade deal. But the shape of that fall-back remains a sticking point, with the EU dismissing the UK suggestion it should be a temporary arrangement, even if a broader agreement fails to materialise. Mrs McDonald reiterated Sinn Feins call for the Prime Minister to grant Northern Ireland special status, allowing it to remain in the customs union and the single market. Mrs McDonald added: The British government know what the answer is. They know precisely what the answer is but theyre playing games and I think certainly patience has run out with that approach. Its dangerous, its reckless. During their visit to London the powersharing impasse was also on the agenda. The devolved executive led by Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists collapsed 18 months ago, leaving Northern Ireland effectively governed by the civil service. Both Mrs McDonald and Mrs ONeill blamed the stalemate between the Sinn Fein and the DUP on the Unionists coalition with the Tories since last summers general election. The DUP have gone in to hiding they have a very toxic relationship under Theresa Mays wing, said Mrs McDonald. Mrs ONeill added: This political vacuum has been allowed because of this relationship and is all about trying to keep the Tories in power at the expense of government in the north of Ireland. Its not acceptable. The British government need to step up and play their role as co-guarantors of our peace process. They need to step up and deliver rights that are available elsewhere to other citizens here whether that be marriage equality or language rights all things that are freely available across these islands but not to people in the north. We are being treated as this little backwater area where we cant get our rights and were being denied economic prosperity because of Brexit. Its just not a tolerable situation so thats the message we would bring loud and clear to Theresa May today. In a statement ahead of Wednesdays meeting, the DUP branded Sinn Fein glorified lobbyists because of their boycott of the executive, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the House of Commons. While others boycott their responsibilities, the DUP will continue to stand strong for Northern Ireland. Delivering more for everyone in Northern Ireland. pic.twitter.com/irrFXFbZPH Nigel Dodds (@NigelDoddsDUP) June 20, 2018 The DUPs deputy leader Nigel Dodds MP said: They sit on the outside as spectators dependent on others to get decisions made. Meanwhile the DUP MPs will be in the House of Commons using our votes to deliver more money for hospitals and schools and ensure we get the best deal for Northern Ireland as we exit the EU. Sinn Feins blame game may seem attractive inside their organisation but to people who need ministers to make decisions in Northern Ireland their tactics are becoming exposed. US President Donald Trump will meet the Queen during his visit to the UK next month, American ambassador Woody Johnson has said. Mr Johnson said various scenarios were being drawn up for Mr Trumps itinerary on his working visit on July 13, but they all involved seeing the monarch. His comments came as Mr Trump said he would sign an executive order to prevent US authorities from separating migrant families at the USAs southern border. The controversial policy, which has seen around 2,000 children taken away from their parents over a six-week period, was condemned by Theresa May as wrong and not something we agree with. Next months trip Mr Trumps first to the UK as president is not a state visit, so he would not necessarily be expected to see the Queen. But asked whether US plans involved a meeting with Her Majesty, Mr Johnson told Sky News: Yes. Yes, I mean he has to see the head of state. Putting his foot on the ground of British soil is Job One very, very important, very symbolic. Meeting Her Majesty is the most important thing, because she is head of state. Trump to meet Queen during working visit to UK https://t.co/3pnRNcdDh5 Sky News (@SkyNews) June 20, 2018 At Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons, Mrs May was urged to stand up to Mr Trump over the zero tolerance approach to migrants which has seen thousands of children separated from their families on the southern border over recent weeks. Mrs May said the nature of the special relationship with the United States meant when we disagree with what they are doing, we say so. She told MPs: The pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing. This is wrong, this is not something that we agree with. This is not the United Kingdoms approach. Indeed, when I was home secretary, I ended the routine detention of families with children. Theresa May was challenged over Donald Trump's immigration policy by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford at PMQs (PA Wire/PA Images) She was responding to questions from SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who said her answer was disappointing and we should all be unreservedly condemning the actions of Donald Trump. The Prime Minister told him: I clearly and wholly, unequivocally said that that was wrong. Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has previously denounced the policy which has seen more than 2,000 children divided from their families in six weeks on the southern US border as abhorrent and repulsive. It's tragic and shocking to see innocent children caged like animals at US migrant camps and to hear their cries of anguish after being forcibly separated from their parents. It's immoral and goes against fundamental human rights we must always respect, no matter the situation. Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 19, 2018 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was tragic and shocking to see the children held in cages at migrant camps as their parents were taken off for prosecution. Mr Trump is facing pressure from both sides of the political divide in Washington to end a zero-tolerance approach to illegal border crossings which requires adult migrants to be held in custody for prosecution, separated from their children. An Irish mother of an eight-year-old girl with drug resistance epilepsy has thrown her weight behind the fight for medical cannabis to be legalised in the UK. Vera Twomeys daughter Ava Barry is one of only seven people in the Irish Republic to be granted a licence to be prescribed cannabis oil, but she now wants all those suffering chronic conditions to have access to it. Ms Twomey, from the village of Aghabullogue in Co Cork, says the issue is bigger than borders after she was invited to address MPs in Westminster as the campaign to change the law in Britain gathers momentum. Medical cannabis campaigner Vera Twomey travelled to Parliament in London to call for a change in the UK law (PA) Earlier this week, Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced the UK Government would conduct a review of medical cannabis. It followed public outcry when a severely epileptic boy was admitted to hospital in a critical condition on Friday when his cannabis oil was confiscated at Heathrow. Billy Caldwell, 12, was rushed to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital having been free from seizures for almost a year when his mother Charlotte from Caslederg in County Tyrone began treating him with cannabis oil infused with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). While cannabis oil stripped of THC is widely available, THC-infused cannabis oil remains controversial because it is a psychoactive substance. Ms Twomey and her family lived in Holland for six months to gather clinical evidence on cannabis oil before the Irish Government would grant Ava a licence to use the medication, and she now wants people from Britain to have the same access to it that she has. Ms Twomey told the Press Association: Our daughter is now in a position where her seizures are completely under control, she is walking, shes speaking, shes going to school and the most important thing is shes free of pain and its huge a privilege to see her improve daily on medical cannabis. She added: This is not a national issue in any sense whether its Great Britain or Ireland. This is a global issue. Medicinal cannabis review There are thousands of people across the board in Ireland in chronic pain with things like cancer, epilepsy or multiple sclerosis that need this. So if there are thousands in Ireland there must be millions in Britain that should possibly have an option for this. She said she hoped the Irish Government could follow the example of the British Government as it plans a review of medical cannabis. Nobody is suggesting that medical cannabis will work for everybody but for certain people like my daughter who ran out of options, medical cannabis has saved her life, said Ms Twomey. She said she wanted medical cannabis to be one of the first options available to critically ill patients or those in chronic pain, not a last resort. Medical cannabis is one of the gentlest forms of medication my daughter is coherent, she has better appetite, better sleep, better balance and shes free of pain. Shes got a life and shes got a chance now, she said. When asked why there was such resistance to reform of the law, she said it was probably as much to do with pharmaceutical companies as politicians. Theres a lot of monetary value for people producing the pharmaceutical medications, she said. The problem with medical cannabis is that it works and thats probably a serious issue for pharmaceutical companies I think, because if medical cannabis can cure or ease your condition, well youre not going to need as many pharmaceutical medications. Ms Twomey said that before switching to medical cannabis, Ava had been on 15 different tablets a day including six anti-epileptic medications but was still suffering over 29 seizures a day. She said: The medication wasnt working, she was still having seizures, her brain was still being damaged but the pharmaceutical companies were obtaining the revenue from the tablets my daughter was taking. Now my medicine cupboard is almost empty and my daughter seizures are under control. Anybody in Great Britain that has a condition like Avas, they deserve that empty cupboard as well. They deserve the opportunity to have that life given back to them. Ms Twomey has been an active campaigner on the issue in Ireland for many years, and once set out to walk from Cork to Dublin to raise awareness of her daughters case. Sinn Fein leaders have accused the UK Government of playing a game of chicken over the question of the Irish border. Party president Mary Lou McDonald and vice-president Michelle ONeill were in London on Wednesday for a meeting with Theresa May on the key Brexit sticking point. Mrs McDonald said it is very clear that the Government is playing for time, running down the clock, and playing what we believe is a very, very dangerous game of brinkmanship. She said they heard nothing new from Mrs May in what she described as a frank meeting. Asked if there was anything positive to come out of the meeting, Mrs McDonald told reporters: No. We heard rhetoric which at this stage is well worn. Sinn Feins Michelle ONeil and Mary Lou McDonald Weve heard again the contradictory message of protecting Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement, no hardening of the border, but yet a determination to leave the single market and the customs union and to take the north with them. Mrs McDonald said everything they heard in the meeting adds to their worries, rather than relieving their concerns. The British now wish to leapfrog, set aside, disregard, the Irish question, to pursue their own interests in respect of a new relationship that they may wish to craft. That is very dangerous for Ireland. That is unacceptable, she said. Mrs McDonald said she expects Irish leaders and their EU partners will make that absolutely clear to Mrs May and the UK Government. Speaking earlier, Mrs McDonald said: We are here because Brexit poses a real and imminent danger to Irish interests both north and south. We are here because the British system so far has failed to come up with a credible proposal that would protect the Good Friday Agreement, that would prevent a hardening of the border and would protect citizens rights. Despite all of the rhetoric Theresa May has drawn a blank by way of response to those issues, so we believe that theres game playing, theres brinksmanship and that the Tory Government are playing a game of chicken with Brexit and with Ireland. We find that unacceptable, she said. Her comments come amid an ongoing impasse between the EU and UK on how to avoid a hard border post-Brexit. Both sides have agreed to include a so-called backstop option in the withdrawal treaty. The measure would commit the UK to align with an EU regulatory framework in the absence of a wider trade deal. But the shape of that fall-back remains a sticking point, with the EU dismissing the UK suggestion it should be a temporary arrangement, even if a broader agreement fails to materialise. Mrs McDonald reiterated Sinn Feins call for the Prime Minister to grant Northern Ireland special status, allowing it to remain in the customs union and the single market. Mrs McDonald added: The British Government know what the answer is. They know precisely what the answer is but theyre playing games and I think certainly patience has run out with that approach. Its dangerous, its reckless. During their visit to London the powersharing impasse was also on the agenda. The devolved executive led by Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists collapsed 18 months ago, leaving Northern Ireland effectively governed by the civil service. Both Mrs McDonald and Mrs ONeill blamed the stalemate between the Sinn Fein and the DUP on the Unionists coalition with the Tories since last summers general election. The DUP have gone into hiding they have a very toxic relationship under Theresa Mays wing, said Mrs McDonald. Mrs ONeill added: This political vacuum has been allowed because of this relationship and is all about trying to keep the Tories in power at the expense of government in the north of Ireland. Its not acceptable. The British Government need to step up and play their role as co-guarantors of our peace process. They need to step up and deliver rights that are available elsewhere to other citizens here whether that be marriage equality or language rights all things that are freely available across these islands but not to people in the north. We are being treated as this little backwater area where we cant get our rights and were being denied economic prosperity because of Brexit. Its just not a tolerable situation so thats the message we would bring loud and clear to Theresa May today. In a statement ahead of Wednesdays meeting, the DUP branded Sinn Fein glorified lobbyists because of their boycott of the executive, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the House of Commons. The DUPs deputy leader Nigel Dodds MP said: They sit on the outside as spectators dependent on others to get decisions made. Meanwhile, the DUP MPs will be in the House of Commons using our votes to deliver more money for hospitals and schools and ensure we get the best deal for Northern Ireland as we exit the EU. Sinn Feins blame game may seem attractive inside their organisation but to people who need ministers to make decisions in Northern Ireland their tactics are becoming exposed. Chancellor Philip Hammond is to set out the Governments blueprint for maintaining Londons position as a global capital of finance after Brexit through opening up access to markets beyond the EU. In his annual Mansion House speech to the City, Mr Hammond is expected to spell out how the Government will seek a series of new global financial partnerships to open up cross-border financial services. At the same time he will reiterate his appeal to Brussels to come to the table to discuss a future relationship on financial services, something the EU side has so far refused. City of London 2026 skyline The Chancellor will emphasise that financial services will remain a foundation of the UKs economic success outside the EU, which will in turn require continued openness to the global economy. Global Britain is not just a strategy for Britains economic future, its a statement about what kind of people we are and about the economy and the society we want to be, he is expected to say. Connectivity was always at the heart of Londons success. And to succeed in the future, we must remain connected to the world, including the important emerging markets. So while some question the benefits of openness, being open to the world, and being a global capital of finance, will continue to be the foundation of the UKs economic success. He will say the new strategy will bring together governments, regulators, and industry to build a system to support firms access to international financial markets, while reducing business costs. Our vision is for a set of new partnerships combining new tools, like free trade agreements, and existing ones, like our financial dialogues, looking across sectors of the industry and positioning the UK as the most global financial services market in the world, he is expected to say. Mr Hammond will also reaffirm the his commitment to the Governments fiscal targets, clearing the deficit by the mid-2020s, despite Theresa Mays 20 billion funding package for the NHS announced at the weekend. We are getting debt down, while investing in Britains infrastructure, supporting our vital public services, and helping hard working families, across the United Kingdom, he will say. So, as the Prime Minister said, across the nation taxpayers will have to contribute a bit more in a fair and balanced way to support the NHS we all use. The head of Nato is appealing to Western allies to continue to work together in the interests of shared security, despite a series of public rifts between the US and other member states. In a speech in London on Thursday, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will say that while there are real differences among alliance members, they should not be allowed to undermine the transatlantic bond. His warning comes amid reports Donald Trump is preparing to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin during his forthcoming visit to Europe. If it goes ahead it would be another blow to Western unity after a bruising G7 which laid bare divisions between the US administration and European and Canadian allies across a range of issues including trade and the Iran nuclear deal. It would also be a further setback for Theresa May in her efforts to isolate Russia diplomatically over the Salisbury nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, which Britain blames on the Kremlin. The US president caused consternation at the G7 summit in Quebec earlier this month when he suggested Russia, which was expelled from the grouping in over the annexation of Crimea in 2014, should be readmitted. Nato The Times quoted senior UK Government sources as saying US officials were now looking to fix a meeting with Mr Putin either before the Nato summit in Brussels on July 11 or after Mr Trumps visit to the UK on July 13. The report comes as Downing Street was forced to deny claims that the Prime Minister had cast doubt on Britains continuing status as a tier one military power. The Financial Times reported she had sent shock waves through the Ministry of Defence after telling Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson he needed to rethink which capabilities the UK needed for a modern military force. A No 10 spokesman said: The Prime Minister is strongly committed to the United Kingdoms armed forces and to maintaining their strength and their ability to deter and where necessary defeat the threats we face. It is categorically untrue to suggest otherwise or that the UKs position as a tier-one defence nation is somehow in question. With many of the participants at the G7 due at the Nato meeting, there are fears in European capitals that it will become the stage for another transatlantic diplomatic bust-up. Since the G7, Mr Trump has since publicly taunted German Chancellor Angela Merkel over migration while demanding the Europeans contribute more to the costs of their common defence. The US president has in turn faced criticism over the separation of children from parents detained as illegal immigrants on the US border with Mexico, a practice Theresa May described as wrong and deeply disturbing. On Wednesday he signed an executive order allowing families to stay together. In his speech, Mr Stoltenberg, who is due to meet Mrs May in Downing Street, will argue that maintaining the transatlantic partnership is in the strategic interest of all the allies. He is expected to say: The lesson of history is that we have been able to overcome our differences. Again and again, we unite around our common goal. We stand together. We protect each other. In the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Williamson warned that the US could not be expected to pick up the bill for the defence of Europe indefinitely. While Britain met the Nato target of spending a minimum of 2% of GDP on defence, he said that other allies needed to do more. We cant continue to expect US taxpayers to keep picking up the tab for European defence indefinitely, nor can we expect US patience to last forever. We as a continent have to step up to responsibility of playing a pivotal role in defending ourselves and not to expect others to do it for us. The head of Ofsted has thrown her weight behind headteachers who ban mobile phones from their schools in a bid to crackdown on naughty behaviour. In a speech today, Amanda Spielman is expected to say that the place of smartphones in the classroom is dubious at best. The Ofsted chief inspector will also signal her support for schools that take a tough stance on unruly pupils, saying it is entirely appropriate for youngsters who misbehave to face punishments such as school community service, writing lines or detention. Amanda Spielman is due to signal her support for schools that take a tough stance on unruly pupils (Ofsted/PA) She will tell delegates at the Festival of Education at Wellington College, Berkshire: I fundamentally disagree with those who say that taking a tough stance on behaviour is unfair to children. Quite the opposite, there is nothing kind about letting a few pupils spoil school for everyone else. That is why we expect heads to put in place strong policies that support their staff in tackling poor behaviour. And I think its entirely appropriate to use sanctions, such as writing lines, community service in the school grounds such as picking up litter, and school detentions. And where they are part of a schools behaviour policy theyll have our full support. Theres no doubt that technology has made the challenge of low-level disruption even worse, which is why I also support recent calls to back heads who have decided that the way to improve behaviour is to ban mobile phones in their schools. Im not the target audience, but nevertheless I am yet to be convinced of the educational benefits of all-day access to Snapchat and the like; and the place of mobile phones in the classroom seems to me dubious at best. Ms Spielmans comments come after Culture Secretary Matt Hancock called on heads to ban mobile phones, saying he admired those who do not allow the device to be used during the school day. In her speech, Ms Spielman will say that pupil behaviour is a key concern of parents, and the first question that they want answered in an Ofsted report. I want to see behaviour get the attention it deserves in our inspections, probably through a separate behaviour and attitudes judgement, she will say. And when I talk about behaviour, Im not just talking about serious disruption or bullying, important as these are. I want us to look just as hard at low-level disruption, which stops pupils learning and which can make the job of classroom management miserable. The Ofsted boss will also say that the watchdog is looking at whether schools are attempting to hide naughty students from inspectors during inspections. I want to address once and for all, the constant rumours we hear about badly behaved children being hidden from inspectors, perhaps on conveniently timed school trips. My research and analysis teams are currently designing a study to assess the extent of the problem, and what we might do about it. Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: We can assure the chief inspector that schools do not shy away from putting in place strong behaviour policies and that they are well aware of the importance of a well-ordered and disciplined environment as a cornerstone for effective learning. They decide on the nature of sanctions based on their knowledge and experience of what is most effective in their school, and it is important that this remains a matter of professional judgement rather than an expectation that certain sanctions will be used. He added: Schools do not allow pupils to use mobile phones during lessons, other than sometimes for specific educational activities. Some headteachers make the decision to allow their use at break time, and some dont. Again, this is a matter of professional judgement on what works best in their context. Writing in the Daily Telegraph yesterday, Mr Hancock hailed school leaders who do not allow students to have mobile phones during the school day. While it is up to individual schools to decide rather than government, I admire head teachers who do not allow mobiles to be used during the school day, he wrote. A group of Tory MPs has also urged a ban on mobiles during the school day, saying there is evidence it can have a beneficial effect on pupils ability to learn. A Snapchat spokesman said: Snapchat allows you to express yourself and communicate freely with close friends and family. We think thats a good thing. We dont recommend that young people use it all day while at school and, as with any technology, parents and teachers should have regular conversations with young people about the appropriate use of technology. Snapchat is not intended for children under the age of 13, the spokesman said. A Department for Education spokeswoman said the Government supported the right of headteachers to use their powers to ban mobile phones. By Idrees Ali and Christine Kim WASHINGTON/SEOUL, June 18 (Reuters) - The United States and South Korea have agreed to suspend a joint military exercise scheduled for August, South Korean and U.S. officials said on Monday, following President Donald Trump's pledge to end "war games" after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week. "South Korea and the United States have agreed to suspend all planning activities regarding the Freedom Guardian military drill scheduled for August," according to a South Korean defense ministry statement. A Pentagon statement confirmed the suspension and added that there would be a meeting between the secretaries of defense and state as well as Trump's national security adviser on the issue this week. "Consistent with President Trump's commitment and in concert with our Republic of Korea ally, the United States military has suspended all planning for this August's defensive 'war game' (Freedom Guardian)," the statement said. "We are still coordinating additional actions. No decisions on subsequent wargames have been made," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said. The Pentagon rarely uses the words 'war game' for joint military drills and it is a phrase more often seen in North Korean state media. Last year, 17,500 American and more than 50,000 South Korean troops participated in the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills, although the exercise is mostly focused on computerized simulations rather than live field exercises that use weapons, tanks or aircraft. The U.S.-South Korean exercise calendar hits a high point every spring with the Foal Eagle and Max Thunder drills, which both wrapped up last month. The decision to halt military exercises in South Korea has bewildered many current and former U.S. defense officials, who only learned about it when Trump made his remarks. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Tuesday there would be no changes to joint drill plans between the United States and Japan, both of which also engage in regular deterrence exercises against North Korea. "The United States is in a position to keep its commitment to its allied nations' defense and our understanding is there is no change to the U.S. commitment to the Japan-U.S. alliance and the structure of American troops stationed in Japan," Suga said in a regular briefing. COST OF DRILLS? The Pentagon has yet to publicly release the cost of previous and future joint military exercises with South Korea, a week after Trump cited their "tremendously expensive" cost as a reason for halting them. Spending data for previous military exercises in Korea and elsewhere, however, suggest that the cost of a single exercise would be in the low or perhaps tens of millions of dollars in a U.S. military budget this year of nearly $700 billion. In response to repeated requests for cost data, Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, said: "We are currently evaluating the costs of the exercises." Calculating the cost of military exercises is a complicated process, often requiring data from different branches of the military and spread over several budgets over different years. Troops who would have been involved in the exercises would still require training and certification, which would still cost money, said Abraham Denmark, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia under President Barack Obama. "To me, the idea of this as a cost saving measure doesn't really make much sense," Denmark said. (Reporting by Idrees Ali in WASHINGTON and Christine Kim in SEOUL Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko in TOKYO Editing by James Dalgleish and Darren Schuettler) By Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS, June 19 (Reuters) - European Union leaders will express concern on Friday over a lack of progress in talks with London on how to avoid reimposing controls at the border between British-ruled Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit. Leaders of the 27 countries that will remain in the EU after Britain leaves next year will take stock of negotiations on a withdrawal agreement and on a political declaration on what future relations with London should look like. A draft document outlining conclusions of their European Council meeting in Brussels singles out the lack of an operational arrangement for the Irish border, called by EU leaders a backstop solution. The backstop solution has been agreed in very general terms in December, but there has been no consensus since on how to put it in place in practice by Brexit day in March 2019. "The European Council expresses its concern that no substantial progress has yet been achieved on agreeing a backstop solution for Ireland/Northern Ireland," the draft conclusions, seen by Reuters, said. Britain and the EU want to keep a free flow of people and goods over the border without returning to checkpoints, symbols of the three decades of violence in Northern Ireland that was largely ended by a 1998 peace deal. But finding a practical solution for customs checks needed for what will become an external border of the EU after Brexit has so far proven elusive. EU leaders will insist on Friday on "the need for intensified efforts" to find a solution, without which the whole withdrawal agreement, or a deal on a transition period until the end of 2020, cannot take shape. Time is running out because unless a final agreement on the withdrawal treaty, the transition period and a political declaration on future relations are agreed at an EU summit in October, there won't be enough time for parliaments to ratify the treaty in Britain and the remaining EU countries before March 2019. "Work must also be accelerated with a view to preparing a political declaration on the framework for the future relationship," the draft conclusions of the Friday meeting said. "This requires further clarity from the UK as regards its position on the future relationship." EU officials have complained that Britain is not telling them what it wants from a future relationship, makings talks very difficult. British Prime Minister Theresa May is struggling to overcome differences on Brexit within her Conservative Party and has clashed with parliament over what powers it should have over the final deal. Wary that a withdrawal treaty might not be agreed in time, time, the EU leaders said governments should brace for the worst. "The European Council renews its call upon Member States and all stakeholders to step up their work on preparedness at all levels and for all outcomes," the draft said. (Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; editing by David Stamp) PARIS, June 19 (Reuters) - France will take the lead in the development of a next generation combat jet with Germany under an agreement the two governments signed on Tuesday, the French defence ministry said. The new combat jet is intended to replace from 2040 France's Dassault Aviation Rafales and Germany's Eurofighters, made by a European consortium. The Franco-German agreement calls for work on the project to begin before the end of the year, starting with a study phase, the ministry said. In addition to being capable of acting on its own, the new aircraft is expected to be at the centre of a broader weapons system, capable of commanding a squadron of drones. Dassault and Airbus, a Eurofighter consortium member, signed an agreement in April to work together on the new project, but avoided saying which of the two groups would be in charge. The fact that France is now in the driving seat of the project favours Dassault to take charge since most of Airbus' defence activities are in Germany. "Developing a future multi-role combat aircraft for France and Germany integrated in a weapons system network is a major issue for Europe's strategic autonomy," Dassault Chief Executive Eric Trappier said in a statement to Reuters. The other members of the Eurofighter consortium are British defence group BAE Systems and Italy's Leonardo . German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron first agreed to jointly develop the new aircraft shortly after his election in May 2017, burying past rivalries in favour of tighter defence cooperation. France and Germany also agreed on Tuesday that Germany would take the lead in a joint project to develop a new battle tank with a first phase of the programme to be launched by mid-2019. The aim is for the tank to be operational in 2035. The two countries also signed agreements for a joint future artillery system and plans to launch a Franco-German military satellite. (Reporting by Cyril Altmeyer; writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Adrian Croft) By Ernest Scheyder and Collin Eaton HOUSTON, June 20 (Reuters) - China's proposed tariffs on U.S. petroleum imports, part of a mounting trade war between the two countries, would crimp sales to the shale industry's largest customer, adding new pressure on U.S. crude prices, energy executives and analysts said in interviews this week. China has said it would slap a 25 percent tariff on imports of U.S. crude, natural gas and coal on July 6 if Washington went ahead, as planned, with its own tariffs on Chinese goods that day. Energy would be added for the first time to a burgeoning trade dispute that has hit imports of Chinese metals and solar panels, and exports of U.S. medical equipment and soybeans. Targeting petroleum puts the Trump administration's "energy dominance" agenda in Beijing's cross-hairs as U.S. shale has grabbed share from Middle East suppliers in Asia. China is the largest customer for U.S. crude, importing about 363,000 barrels a day in the six months ended in March. Thomson Reuters shipping data shows those exports have increased since, rising to an expected 450,000 bpd in July. "It is going to hurt everyone for the short term," said Ron Gasser, vice president at Mammoth Exploration, a west Texas shale producer. While U.S. crude will continue flowing to market even with tariffs, "it'll force you to put your oil somewhere else, and it'll cost you more" to line up other buyers. U.S. oil exports have steadily grown since the four-decade-old ban on crude exports was lifted at the end of 2015. China's tariff threat caught U.S. producers off guard because it had been discussing buying more U.S. energy and agricultural products to reduce its $375 billion trade surplus with the United States. The levies could boost suppliers of West African crude at the expense of U.S. exports. The tariffs are "creating a whole new set of uncertainties on top of what's already there," Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of consultancy IHS Markit, said on Tuesday as he arrived in Vienna to attend this week's OPEC's International Seminar. On Friday, OPEC oil ministers will gather to consider sharply increasing the group's production this year, a move advanced forth by Saudi Arabia and Russia. The change is opposed by members Algeria, Iran, Iraq and Venezuela. The United States also recently set new sanctions on Iran's petroleum industry, which is expected to disrupt oil flows. "The global oil industry didn't really worry or think about trade issues. Now, trade issues are moving really pretty fast up the agenda," said Yergin. The impact likely would be temporary as U.S. oil becomes less attractive to Chinese buyers. But the tit-for-tat expansion of tariffs has U.S. oil industry officials and politicians calling on the Trump administration to move cautiously. The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association on Tuesday called on the president "to work with China - and all nations - to reduce barriers to competition rather than promote them." U.S. Senator Michael Enzi, Republican of Wyoming, a coal and oil producing state, wants the administration to be "wary of how these retaliatory measures from China could seriously impact the industry," spokesman Max D'Onofrio said on Monday. In coal country, there are worries the trade war could harm exports, said Steve Roberts, president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. "China is an enormously important trading partner," he said. Some U.S. producers said growing demand for U.S. energy would overcome the impact of China's tariffs just as higher oil prices this year have not slowed the global thirst for oil and natural gas. Gary C. Evans, chief executive of shale producer Energy Hunter Resources, called the tariffs "a lot of saber rattling" that will not hurt exports of U.S. crude oil or liquefied natural gas, the latter a fuel that China has not included on its list of products facing a tariff. "Crude oil is a fungible global commodity," Evans said. "Without growing U.S. crude supply and exports, global prices could today be multiples higher than they currently are." (Reporting by Collin Eaton and Liz Hampton in Houston and Ernest Scheyder in Vienna; additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington and Devika Krishna Kumar; Writing by Gary McWilliams; Editing by Richard Chang) ADDIS ABABA, June 20 (Reuters) - Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki is dispatching a delegation to Addis Ababa for "constructive engagement" with Ethiopia after peace overtures from its new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a senior Eritrean diplomat said on Wednesday. Eritrean ambassador to Japan Estifanos Afeworki said on Twitter that Isais had made the announcement on Wednesday of the potentially significant break-through in one of Africa's most protracted conflicts. He gave no further details. (Reporting by Ed Cropley and Aaron Maasho Editing by) Front liner of the 16 SLFP rebel group, former State Resources Development Minister Lakshmana Yapa Abeywardana discussed the future of the SLFP, forthcoming PC, Presidential and Parliamentary polls and current politics etc with the Daily Mirror. He shared the following views: We dont agree with US Envoys comments SLFPers with Govt. digging their own political grave Electing office bearers is not to hoodwink anyone Q Cracks have already begun to appear among the members of the SLFP rebel group of 16 on many issues such as the next Presidential candidate they would support in 2019, their leader and with whom they stand in contemporary political scene. How do you see this situation? This is natural in politics in any country. It is understandable when politicians get pressure from voters at constituent, district and national level. However, no one must get over enthusiastic or desperate on how the SLFP gets its act together for the forthcoming PC, Presidential and Parliamentary polls as we are determined to arrive at the most prudent and timely political decision including the choosing of our Presidential candidate. What ever our decisions are, they must ensure the victory at all three major elections. What is important is that we must do the right thing at the right time. We all are in the same political wavelength and working together to form a UPFA government and contesting most probably under the betel leaf symbol. We are still the members of the UPFA. I must tell you that we have an immediate target to make Mahinda Prime Minister before the Presidential and Parliamentary polls to ensure our victory at the two big elections after toppling the UNP-led unity government. Q Dont you think that you have to take a firm decision on your political future sooner than later and decide to whom you would support? We have already taken a decision to unite with all like-minded political parties and politicians to form a formidable front against the UNP led government. Joint opposition leader, Dinesh Gunawardana, National Freedom Front leader Wimal Weerawansa, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila and Democratic Left Front leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara. Q The best bet for the joint opposition group which includes SLPP and SLFPs MR faction in the late 2019 Presidential poll is Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. But the US is determined to prevent it. Dont you think this is a major setback for your front? I presume, if US Ambassador Atul Keshap actually made these observations, they are his personal views. I dont think the foreign policy of the US government is based on personnel matters or individuals. But I must categorically say that we dont agree with his comments reported in the media. However, you may be aware that not only Gotabhayas but of many other senior politicians names have been quoted by the media as potential presidential candidates. Whatever said and done, the winner would be the person named and supported by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. No one will be able to win the Presidential poll without his blessings and approval. Therefore, our group will support and campaign for the victory of the Presidential candidate chosen by MR. I must tell you that we have an immediate target to make MR Prime Minister before the Presidential and Parliamentary polls to ensure our victory at the two big elections after toppling the UNP led unity government. We have taken an inspiration from what Dr. Mahathir Mohamed has done in Malaysia at the age of 92 at the May General election. Q If not Gota, who would be the other potential candidates? We have so many contenders for this position. It could be Dinesh, Chamal or even Basil but the final choice is in the hands of MR. Some argue that Gota will not get the support of minority parties in the country which is a misconception. MR has been able to build a close rapport with Muslims and Tamils. Our recent discussions with TNA leader, R. Sampanthan have been very fruitful and constructive. We have already taken a decision to unite with all like-minded political parties and politicians to form a formidable front against the UNP led government. Q It is quite obvious that you would not emerge victorious against UNP in any of these elections unless you unite the entire opposition which includes SLFP, SLPP and all other southern minority parties such as JVP, MEP, CPSL and NFF. How are you going to surmount this difficult task? True, but this is exactly what we are doing right now. We have made much headway in uniting all anti UNP and anti government forces under one roof. At the local government election, the SLPP was able draw 46% of votes. The anti-UNP camp is stronger now than it was in February this year. Therefore, obtaining over 50% of votes at any future election will not be a big task for us. Q Basil has made it clear that he was not in favour of welcoming the SLFP rebel group to the SLPP. How do you see this? I dont think he made such comments on the entire group but only on a few members. But we are chums with having same political agenda and views. I dont think we must take his comments seriously and I have no hesitation whatsoever that we cannot work together to achieve our ultimate victory. Q President Maithripala Sirisena will be the SLFP Presidential candidate according to the party sources. The SLPPs candidate would most likely be Gotabhaya. Whom would you support? The SLPP leader Prof. G. L. Peiris is on records saying that the SLPP would not campaign for President Sirisena in 2019 Presidential polls. Politics and electing the Executive President are two different entities. If MR becomes Premier before 2020, making him the next President is not a difficult task. You can get a clue from Russian President Vladimir Putin and Malaysias leader Dr. Mahathir Mohamed. President Sirisena has never said that he would contest the Presidential poll scheduled to be held in late 2019. I repeat that the absolute winner will be the one who gets the support and blessings from MR. We all are in the same political wavelength and working together to form a UPFA government and contesting most probably under the betel leaf symbol. We are still the members of UPFA. Q There are differences between the SLFP rebel group of 16 and those who support the SLPP. Dont you think this is setback for you all? As long as we remain divided, yes, it is a set back to meet our goal. I assure you that we all, the SLFP, the UPFA, the SLPP and all other minority parties grouped in the JO will form a formidable common front to challenge the UNP at forthcoming polls. Dont forget the widely accepted saying that there are no permanent enemies or friends in politics. The best indicator to this adage is the recent peace agreement signed between the US and North Korea. In penning it, the sworn enemies for decades, the US and North Korean Presidents became friends. Q The main reason for you to leave the Yahapalana Govt was the Central Bank bond scam. But you quit after remaining in the govt for more than three years, despite the fact that the fraud took place in February 2015. What do you have to say about this dereliction on your part? We joined the UNP-SLFP Yahapalana Government on the approval of the SLFP Central Committee and on the request of President Sirisena on a set policy. Unfortunately, we felt that the government was not taking the correct path that we expected. Therefore we became distressed, disappointed and dejected. We felt that if we were to remain in the government, we must attempt to direct the government in the right path by exposing its wrongdoings. Uncovering the Central Bank bond scam is one of them. We were also instrumental to introduce amendments to a range of budget proposals in 2015, 16 and 17 that we felt would further burden the masses. So we, the 16 members, quit when we realized that our task in the government was nearing its end. No one will be able to win the Presidential poll without his blessings and approval. Therefore, our group will support and campaign for the victory of the Presidential candidate chosen by Mahinda Rajapaksa Q I assume that your main concern right now is to take out the remaining 23 SLFPers from the Yahapalana Government to isolate the UNP. How is the progress in this endeavour? What I can only say is that if they are not ready to leave the government sooner than later, they would dig their own political grave. Their hesitation to leave the Yahapalana Government would affect them more, not the JO. Q The UNP has introduced new faces to the party. You all are going to face the forthcoming polls with same old faces and the voters dont see any reorganization or restructuring in the JO, SLPP or opposition group led by MR. Are you confident in your success with all these seasoned personnel? In early September, the SLFP will hold its annual convention and elect new office bearers to all key posts. We would do it in an extremely free and scientific way. Electing office bearers to the SLFP is not to hoodwink anyone. Q The opposition front led either by MR, Gota or even Maithripala will face the UNP with those who have been accused of financial crimes, frauds, money laundering, embezzling nepotism and murder. Some of them have been charged in courts of law and certain others have fled the country and evading arrest. Are you sure the people will vote for them blindly in the forthcoming polls? Not a single SLFP member has been found guilty for any of these politically-motivated charges. Besides, if found guilty, no member will be given nomination from the party at elections and people will not vote for them either. Finally, the countrys hospitality sector stakeholders have got it right! Better late than never. This week saw the gathering of about 200 State school principals at the Shangri-La Hotel Colombo to listen to the countrys leading hoteliers about the job prospects the industry offers to Sri Lankas youth. The idea was to inspire the principals and make them envoys to convince the students who may not opt for tertiary education, that a job in Sri Lankas booming tourism and hospitality sector would offer wider and better prospects when compared to driving a three-wheeler. We praise the Tourist Hotel Association of Sri Lanka (THASL), Ministry of Education and the Shangri-La Hotel Colombo for taking the much-needed initiative. Instead of complaining that the hospitality industry lacks the required human capital, a genuine effort like this, which could realistically address the issue at least to a certain extent, needs to be commended. The principals and teachers of state schools, specially, out of Colombo and a few other key cities such as Kandy and Galle, could really play a major role in providing the required human capital for the countrys hospitality sector by making the students aware of the opportunities available in the industry. Also, they can help break the stigma that exists, specially within the Sri Lankan rural society, towards young females joining the hospitality trade. According to the countrys tourism minister, about 100,000 new workers will be required to staff the projected doubling of the star-class rooms in the tourism sector within the next three years. Although Sri Lanka is called a highly hospitable nation, most of the time, the services even at star-class hotels are not on par with some of the countries in the Asian regions such as Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, etc. But we believe that ingraining a service-oriented mindset to those who work in the hospitality sector can change this. Its a widely accepted phenomenon that it is easy to infuse an idea in someones head when he or she is young. That is why this initiative by tourism sector stakeholders makes even more sense. As they have recommended the authorities should look at introducing tourism into the local school curriculum as early as possible because several years down the line, tourism is set to be the highest foreign exchange earner for Sri Lanka. While acknowledging that paying attractive salaries to lure people to the hospitality sector is important, the industry stakeholders should also be mindful that money is not the only deciding factor for the millennials to join the trade. At the forum, THASL President Sanath Ukwatte mentioned that it was only the hospitality industry that distributed 10 per cent of its revenue (service charge) among the employees, which amounted to nearly Rs.25,000 to Rs.30,000 a month per person. But unlike the earlier generations, millennials tend not to work for one employer or in the same field for a longer period of time. Keeping millennials engaged requires flexibility and creativity from the part of the employers. They are keen to find out how their work impacts their workplace and are eager to contribute. They dont want to be treated as workers, who render their services for a salary, but as partners of a team that creates change and makes an impact. Hence the industry also needs to step up its game plan and find ways to retain the talent they attract. THASL and other tourism sector stakeholders should only consider this a first step in the right direction. They cannot wait for the government to do things for them. Tourism is a matured industry and they should find ways to address the issues that concern the industry. Hence we salute THASL and other tourism sector stakeholders for this initiative and expect more programmes of this nature in the future too. Abans yesterday announced the appointment of Sriyan de Silva Wijeyratne as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The company said he would assume duties effective mid-August 2018. From the companys inception, Abans goal has been to elevate the living standards of Sri Lankan citizens by distributing world-renowned brands, which espouse innovation, ingenuity and tenacity as their primary values and providing excellent customer-centric after-sales services. Now, as Abans approaches its 50th anniversary, we hope to reinforce this vision by undergoing a progressive evolution in the companys management structure and operations with Sriyans seasoned guidance and leadership, Abans Group Chairman Aban Pestonjee said. Commenting on Sriyans appointment, Abans Managing Director Behman (Tito) Pestonjee said, Abans has reported remarkable growth in its past years of operation and with the appointment of Sriyan, I am confident that Abans now has the leadership, vision and staff to build on its strengths and focus on an exciting new direction, which will ensure sustainability, growth and profit. The appointment reflects our intent to place Abans on a growth trajectory that will uplift the company to the next level. Sriyan brings new diverse experience into the company and I am excited and look forward to working closely with him. Possessing diversified industry experience across local and multinational corporations, Sriyan brings with him a substantial track record of achievement. He most recently served as Managing Director/CEO of Teejay Lanka PLC, where he oversaw its rapid transformation into a regional powerhouse that commands critical acclaim from international business bodies such as Forbes and many others. Before joining Teejay Lanka, he acted as Microsofts Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He was primarily responsible for developing Microsofts market position in Sri Lanka. Further, Sriyan has held prior roles at Suntel Ltd and Nestle Lanka PLC in telecommunications and consumer and retail marketing, respectively. Having acquired a First Class degree, a Masters degree and other academic and professional qualifications, Sriyan is regarded to be a thought leader in Sri Lankas business community. Previously adjudged as CIMA Business Manager of the Year, he has also been a frequent speaker at leading regional and Sri Lankan forums. Sriyan currently divides his time between several professional organisations and reputed local and global charities. In addition, he is a wildlife enthusiast whose primary interests lie in travelling, photography, music and sports. Discussing his future role, Sriyan remarked, Ive had the pleasure of working closely with Abans for a while. I am deeply honoured to take on this wonderful new assignment and help facilitate the companys transformation and evolution into the next phase of growth and expansion. These are challenging yet exciting times and I look forward to joining this great team and leveraging my prior exposures to help add value to the journey we will chart for the company, which already has a rich family heritage and entrepreneurial spirit. Canberra (dpa),Jun 19 2018 - An Australian archbishop, the most senior Catholic official in the world to be convicted of concealing child sexual abuse will be sentenced in July, after a magistrate reserved his decision at a hearing on Tuesday. Philip Wilson, 67, the Archbishop of Adelaide, South Australia, was found guilty last month of concealing the crimes of a paedophile priest in the 1970s in regional New South Wales. Wilson has been diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimers. His legal team argued that he would not be able to survive prison given his frail health condition, including suffering from diabetes, hypertension, and depression, and it may even threaten his survival. The final tranche of investment value for Hambantota Port concession was released by China Merchant Port Holdings Limited (CM Port) today, the Ministry of Ports and Shipping said in a statement. It said the cheque to the effect was handed over to SLPA Chairman Dr.Parakrama Dissanayake by the Chief Representative of China Merchant Group in Sri Lanka - Mr.Ray Ren in the presence of senior port officials and representatives of CM Port. This makes the single highest ever Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) received by Sri Lanka to date, the Ports Authority said. This third final tranche in the amount of US $ 584,194,800 follows the 1st, a 2nd tranches released in December last year and January 2018, in amounts US $ 292 million and US $ 97 million. With this payment, CM Port fulfils the US $ 976 million investment value 1 of the port concession and in terms of the Concession Agreement, CM Port has agreed to deposit a further sum of US $ 146 million being investment value 2 to be utilized for port and marine related activities. In view of urgent need for viable and efficient operation of the Port of Hambantota, on the direction and leadership of the Hon. Minister of Ports and Shipping Mahinda Samarasinghe under the guidance of His Excellency the President and Prime Minister, Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and the Government of Sri Lanka entered into the Concession Agreement with China Merchant Port Holdings Limited of Hong Kong in July last year for management, operation and development of Hambantota Port on Public Private Partnership model. On December 9 last year two Sri Lankan companies established under the concession agreement namely, Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) and Hambantota International Port Services Co. (Pvt) Ltd. (HIPS) officially took over the Hambantota Port thereby making the concluded concession agreement effective. CM Port is one of the most successful global companies in the ports sector, and their investment in the Port of Hambantota can be described as a credible vote of confidence in its potential as well as in the economy of Sri Lanka, said Parakrama Dissanayake Chairman SLPA. The two companies established in Hambantota plans further to invest an additional US$ 400 million to US$ 600 million on phase I and II of the Hambantota Port. These investments will attract many other foreign investors to the country, making Sri Lanka a pivotal maritime and Logistics Centre. During the year 2017, Port of Colombo was ranked as the 23rd largest Container Port and 13th best-connected Port in the world. SLPA also recorded a Net Profit of Rs 13.2 Billion in 2017, as against a Net Profit of Rs 1 Billion achieved in 2016. With transhipment volumes in the Port of Colombo during the first 05 months of 2018 as against 2017 increasing by 19.2% and Jaya Container Terminal managed by SLPA recording a transhipment growth of 21% during the aforesaid period, the conclusion of the Concession Agreement of Hambantota Port would further enhance the profitability of SLPA. The apartment units in Colombo are poised to grow from 1.7 percent of the current total housing units in Colombo to 4.5 percent units by next year, with several new large-scale apartment projects coming into the market next year, a leading real estate developer in the country said. Addressing the third annual Sri Lanka Investment and Business Conclave, organised by the Ceylon Chamber Of Commerce this week, Condominium Developers Association of Sri Lanka Chairman and Altair Project Sales and Marketing President Pradeep Moraes expressed optimistic views on Sri Lankas high-end luxury condominium segment. He noted that out of 562,500 housing units in the Colombo area, only 1.7 percent are apartment units and this ratio would increase to 4.5 percent next year, leaving much room for further developments. He pointed out that as compared to other major Asian cities such as Bangkok, Dubai, Mumbai, etc. Colombos housing units to apartment units ratio is very much lower. While dismissing the speculations that there is a bubble forming in the high-end luxury condominium sector in Colombo, optimistic Moraes claimed that the high-end luxury condominium sector is the healthiest sub-sector in Sri Lankas real estate sector. He noted that 90 percent of high-end condominium purchases are on equity. The Central Bank is said to be closely monitoring the credit growth in the real estate sector. Moraes further noted that 65 percent of high-end condominiums were purchased by Sri Lankans while 27 percent condominiums were purchased by Sri Lankan expatriates. Foreign purchases only account for mere 8 percent despite many of the large condominium projects were developed by foreign developers. Speaking of the demand for condominium units, Moraes emphasised that 98-99 percent of the current available apartment units were sold out, while the projects under construction have been able to maintain a 49 percent pre-sale rate on average. Buyers are spoilt by choice, he added. He mentioned that 404-unit Altair, which is under construction and scheduled to be completed this year, has already pre-sold 69 percent of its apartment units. Moraes also expressed his confidence on the government in implementing the budget proposals of five-year residency visa for apartment purchases above US $ 300,000 and 10-year residency visa for apartment purchases above US $ 500,000, which will further ensure the growth of the industry. (NF) Eight women and a male manager had been arrested by the Walana Anti-Vice Unit for allegedly operating a brothel in the guise of a spa on the Negombo Road in Kandana early this morning. The Police said the spa centre was raided following a court order obtained from the Wattala Magistrate's Court. The 26-year old manager, a resident of Ja-Ela was arrested on charges of operating and managing the brothel, while the women aged between 32 and 36 were arrested on charges of engaging and assisting. The women were identified as residents of Kotugoda, Seeduwa, Nuwara Eliya, Kolambagedara and Kimbulapitiya. The suspects would be produced in the Wattala Magistrate's Court, the Police said. The raid was carried out under the direction of the Acting Director of the Walana Anti-Vice Unit ASP B.G.H. Prashantha.(Darshana Sanjeewa) The Foreign Affairs Ministry today urged and encouraged any one in Sri Lanka or overseas to share the information of the missing, including whose names have been listed by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), with the Office on Missing Persons (OMP). The Ministry said its attention had been drawn to the list of names published online by the ITJP. According to the ITJP, the list, which presently consists of 351 names, is of persons who are alleged to have disappeared while in the custody of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in May 2009, the ministry said in a statement. It said any detailed information pertaining to persons whose names have been listed by the ITJP and the circumstances under which they went missing could be directed to the OMP. Any other lists/information that may be available with anyone/ entity pertaining to any individuals including lists of security forces and police personnel, who may be considered to be missing, as defined by Section 27 of the Act could also be directed to the OMP, the ministry said. People could send details of the missing to the OMP at No:34, Narahenpita Road, Nawala, Sri Lanka or via the e-mail address ompsrilanka@gmail.com. The global number of refugees and internally displaced people climbed to 68.5 million last year, setting a new high for the fifth year in a row, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. The political crisis and fighting in Congo, the war in South Sudan and the mass exodus of the Rohingya minority from Myanmar were major drivers for displacement, according to UNHCRs annual Global Trends Report. During 2017, 16.2 million people - or one person every two seconds - were uprooted. The notion that is so prevailing in many countries is that the refugee crisis is a crisis of the rich world. It is not, said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees. An estimated 85 per cent of the 68.5 million refugees around the world have sought refuge in poor or middle-income countries, he told a press conference in Geneva ahead of the launch of the report. The biggest host country in 2017 was Turkey, with 3.5 million mostly Syrian refugees. Pakistan, Uganda, Lebanon, Iran and Germany followed in the list of major hosts. The data showed that nearly 70 per cent of the worlds refugees have fled from just five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia. The flow of refugees could be slowed down greatly if some of the wars and crises in these countries were solved, Grandi said. But we havent seen any significant progress in peace-making or peace-building in any of these countries, he added. DPA, 19th JUNE, 2018 Transparency International organises a competition during which those who have shown integrity and honesty at their work place will be picked so that the public can pick a winner via an SMS voting system Former Chairperson of TISL Mr. M.D.A. Harold officially launches the website for Integrity Idol 2018 The TISL is calling for nominations for Integrity Idol 2018 through a nationwide campaign This is about recognizing those who work with our community at different levels, assisting citizens Public nominations which were officially launched on June 12 will continue to remain open until July 31 this year Integrity and honesty are key elements that work hand in hand in delivering a quality service in any respective, working atmosphere. In an endeavour to recognize and appreciate the integrity and honesty in the public sector, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) officially launched the Integrity Idol 2018 on June 12 (Tuesday) at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. The event aims at naming and faming public officers who are committed to their work with a keen sense of integrity and honesty. Accordingly, the TISL is calling for nominations for Integrity Idol 2018 through a nationwide campaign spearheaded with the assistance of the media where citizens are invited to nominate public officials who maintain the features of integrity and honesty both in their personal and professional conduct. In its press statement, the TISL said that a concept initiated by Accountability Lab, an organisation which aims at producing a society of active citizens and responsible leaders around the world by empowering change-makers, the Integrity Idol campaign has already been successfully carried out in Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa and Nigeria amongst other countries. Hence, Integrity Idol aims to champion integrity by naming and faming bureaucrats as positive role models. In doing so it hopes to inspire the next generation of responsible leaders. Expressing his views at the event TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeysekere said that Integrity Idol 2018 is a unique award for Sri Lanka to recognize the integrity of public service. The key concept here is to name and fame public officers. We want to recognize those public officers who have shown integrity and honesty in sometimes very challenging and difficult conditions. This isnt about recognizing those who are just doing their normal jobs, but about recognizing those who have gone beyond their call of duty in displaying integrity and honesty in their work. This is about recognizing those who work with our community at different levels, assisting citizens in their day-to-day needs. Integrity in that sense can mean many different things to many different people and that is an excellent feature of this award. People may see the integrity of a teacher in a school, amongst a customs officer and so on Obeyesekere added. Expressing his views TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeysekere said that Integrity Idol 2018 is a unique award for Sri Lanka to recognize the integrity of public service How to send nominations Nominations are encouraged by those who have shown features and characteristics of integrity in their day-to-day lives. Public nominations which were officially launched on June 12 will continue to remain open until July 31 this year. Nominations can be applied for by calling the Integrity Idol Team on 0711295295 / 0761173344 and requesting for a nomination pack to be sent by post. Also, a request could be made to send the nomination pack in ones preferred choice of language in either Sinhala, Tamil or English. Alternatively, individuals can also log on to www.integrityidol.lk and download the nomination form from the website, which also contains all details regarding the addresses to whom the complete nominations should be sent to. Nomination forms can also be collected from the TISL Head Office at 5/1 Elibank Road, Colombo 05 and the TISL Advocacy & Legal Aid Centres located in Matara and Vavuniya. An eminent panel of five comprising retired Justice of the Supreme Court and former Chairman of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, Justice Amir Ismail, retired Deputy Auditor General and winner and first recipient of TISLs National Integrity Award Lalith Ambanwala, retired Deputy Auditor General and former Chairperson of TISL M.D.A. Harold, award winning investigative journalist Thusitha Pitigala and social activist, Attorney at Law and Executive Director of Viluthu Maithreyi Rajasingam will be responsible for shortlisting five finalists for Integrity Idol 2018 once the nomination procedure closes on July 31. The panel will be supported by a group of volunteers who would verify and shortlist five final Integrity Idols for Sri Lanka. Former Chairperson of TISL Mr. M.D.A. Harold TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeysekere Bibliographical videos After the five finalists are selected, bibliographical videos will be made about the lives and careers of those five individuals, the challenges they have had to face in their work environments and how they overcame those challenges. These details will be broadcast by our media partner News First and also across social media channels amongst other platforms. The key element of Integrity Idol 2018 is that there will be a winner among the final five who will be selected through a public vote through a sms voting system. This is a measure taken to ensure that there is public engagement and public participation in the selection of the final winner. In that sense, there is a public mandate involved as well Obeyesekere said. While the final award ceremony is scheduled to be held in October this year, Obeyesekere went onto highlight that very often people hear negative news about the public service, which is sometimes warranted and at times unwarranted. The one fact that we all can agree upon is that there are also many positive examples of people working in the public service that is often unrecognised. The Integrity Idol 2018 gives an opportunity to say that we need to give credit where it is due and we need to make examples of those who do their jobs with integrity and honesty; so that they will also be an example for not only the current generation, but also to the future generations. So once again, I will encourage you to nominate individuals for the Integrity Idol 2018. We look forward to working closely with members of the media and members of the public in the coming few months he added. While the final award ceremony is scheduled to be held in October this year, Obeyesekere went onto highlight that very often people hear negative news about the public service, which is sometimes warranted and at times unwarranted Addressing the media, retired Deputy Auditor General and former Chairperson of TISL M.D. A. Harold appreciated the efforts of the TISL in its venture to appreciate the integrity displayed in the public sector. The Public sector must have a high level of integrity. This is what is expected of by the people of the country. Also, the public should understand and appreciate public service while public servants should in return maintain a high level of integrity in serving the public. Public officials are entrusted with a major responsibility and are accountable to the public in its use of public resources in an efficient, economical and effective manner to serve the people of the country. In this context, I view this as a good arrangement and good effort to appreciate the integrity of the public sector. Appreciation is very important since appreciation is what is lacking today. We must learn to appreciate the good work and efforts undertaken by anyone he concluded. Pics by Damith Wickramasinghe The Cabinet yesterday withheld the contract to build an LNG power plant in Kerawalapitiya to a bidder following heavy criticism. The Power and Energy Ministry had finalized the proposal to award this contract to a foreign company, bypassing a lower tariff bidder in Sri Lanka. This proposal which was criticised on the basis that it would cause a loss of Rs.50 billion to the State was taken up for discussion yesterday. Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka proposed that it be scrutinized by the National Procurement Commission.(Kelum Bandara) Mangala Samaraweera and S.R. Attygalle Pic by Pradeep Pathirana By Lahiru Pothmulla Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Tuesday said the outcome of the new Inland Revenue (IR) Act is positive though it has been only two months since it was implemented. It has been only two months since the act was implemented on April 1 and we already have 69,000 new tax files. In the history of Sri Lanka, where the population is 22 million, only 400,000 tax files had been maintained. Within two months, we saw an increase of files by 15 percent, he told a news conference held at the ministry. He said the new IR Act hopes to increase direct taxes to 40 percent from 18 and reduce indirect taxes to 60 percent from 82 by the year 2020. The minister said there was a trend in the country that only a certain group of people continued to pay taxes while the rest didnt. If everyone, including the lawyers, tuition teachers, architects and doctors pay their taxes based on their income, we can give more concessions, he said. Addressing the news briefing, Deputy Secretary S.R. Attygalle said there was an increase of income taxes in May this year, after the new act was implemented, in comparison with the previous year. If we compare in terms of income tax, there is an increase of Rs.5 billion roughly from last May to this May. This year the income tax target is Rs.30 billion and we are within that target. It is too early to tell but we have good results, he said. It was revealed at the briefing that the income tax revenue for the year 2018, up to June 13, was Rs.276.7 million, which is an increase of 8 percent of the income tax revenue collected last year within the same period. Beijing (dpa),Jun 19 2018 - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is visiting China on Tuesday and Wednesday, Chinas state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Japans Kyodo news agency reported that a North Korean plane thought to be carrying a high-ranking official arrived at Beijing International Airport on Tuesday. Kim is expected to brief Chinese President Xi Jinping on the historic summit held between the North Korean leader and US President Donald Trump last week in Singapore. This is Kims third visit to China, after meeting with Xi in March in Beijing and again in May in the north-eastern Chinese city of Dalian. Meanwhile, the US and South Korea suspended planning for joint military exercises scheduled for August, the Pentagon said late Monday, following a promise made by Trump at the summit. Consistent with President Trumps commitment and in concert with our Republic of Korea ally, the United States military has suspended all planning for this Augusts defensive wargame Freedom Guardian, spokeswoman Dana W White said. The Annual Poson Illuminations of the historic Situlpauwwa Raja Maha Viharaya, situated inside the Yala National Park will be held from June 22 to 28. Situlpauwwa is one of the most ancient shrines in the South and dates back to the reign of King Kavantissa, who ruled over Ruhuna in the Second Century BC. Though little is known, Situlpauwwa holds monuments of immense historical, archaeological, religious and scientific value. Legend has it that when king Kavantissa married Queen Viharamahadevi, their wedding was held here - an event that led to the construction of the Magul Maha Viharaya or the Great Wedding Monastery at this site. History records that in ancient times Situlpauwwa was patronized by several Sri Lankan kings, including Gajaba, Vasabha, Dappula and Parakramabahu I. The shrine and its surroundings cover an area of over 100 acres. The place owes its name to the huge 400 feet tall rock on which two Buddhist Stupas (One large and the other small), a cave monastery and many other ancient structures are found. Looking after the area today with great dedication is Venerable Pandit Mataramba Hemarathana Thera, who is the Chief Incumbent of the Situlpauwwa Raja Maha Viharaya. These include the ruins of a 100-foot long Pohoya Ge (The monks meeting hall) and two statues of two Bodhisattvas (Buddha hood aspirants) and nearly 1,700 stone inscriptions, though only a few of the inscriptions are clearly seen today. It is said that in ancient times, 12,000 Arahant Bhikkhus (Buddhist monks who attain the highest mental stage) lived in the many caves located in this area. One of the man-made marvels here is the stone umbrella, built during the reign of King Vasabha. Around 200 persons can easily find shelter from rain under this umbrella, which is about four square feet in extent. Found on the way to Kuda (small) Situlpauwwa - the site of the smaller stupa - this stone structure is believed to have given shelter to Arahants. Another wonder found here is the pond that does not go dry even during a severe drought. It is located on a hillock, east of Magul Maha Viharaya. The archaeological authorities have undertaken a full research of Situlpauwwa that serves greater attention of scholars and historians. History records that in ancient times Situlpauwwa was patronized by several Sri Lankan kings, including Gajaba, Vasabha, Dappula and Parakramabahu I. The credit of rediscovering this shrine in 1918 - thousands of years after the jungle claimed it - goes to the Venerable Ratanajothi Gunaratana, the Chief Incumbent of the Yatagala Viharaya, Galle. He braved mosquitoes and wild elephants to reach this site through the thick jungle at a time, when not only motor vehicles, tractors and other equipment but even humans were hardly available in that part of Sri Lanka. Only a few people, including two of the monks, assisted him in this arduous task in a remote corner on the island. Looking after the area today with great dedication is Venerable Pandit Mataramba Hemarathana Thera, who is the Chief Incumbent of the Situlpauwwa Raja Maha Viharaya. The Incumbent at these Poson Pinkama, pride of place will be given to Seela, Bhavana, Bana Sermons, Dhamma discussion, Buddha Poojas, Bodhi Phoojas and other religious rituals. The archaeological authorities have undertaken a full research of Situlpauwwa that serves greater attention of scholars and historians On the Poson Full Moon Day there will be an all-night Pirith chanting to bring blessings to the country. As in the past, the Upali Group of Companies will do the illumination of Situlpauwwa from 22 to 28 June 2018. Mr Nimal Welgama, Managing Director Upali Group and Mr Dhammika Attygalle, the Vice President of the Situlpauwwa Dayaka Sabha will switch the lights on the Poson Poya day. It is expected that as usual, over 10,000 devotees will observe Sil and an equal number will visit the Viharaya for the observance of religious rites. Special plans for devotees Necessary steps have been taken to provide special bus services from Tissa town to Situlpauwwa Raja Maha Viharaya for the duration of the Poson Pinkamas. The Southern Road Development Authority for convenience of the devotees has constructed the Kataragama to Situlpauwwa Road. Necessary steps have been taken to provide health, water and sanitary facilities to the pilgrims. Various NGOs and voluntary Organizations have organized Dansalas and will provide alms to the devotees who will observe Sil. On the Poson Full Moon Day there will be an all-night Pirith chanting to bring blessings to the country. As in the past, the Upali Group of Companies will do the illumination of Situlpauwwa from 22 to 28 June 2018 My two children suffering from Diarrhea are warded at the hospital. I have no money. My wife is blaming me and inquiring whether I am coming home? I am now fed up with this job sir. This was what we overheard when we visited the Miscellaneous Complaints Section of a police station recently. The complainant was being made by a police Constable who was about 45 years. At the receiving end was the OIC of the Miscellaneous Complaints Section. Despite both his children warded in hospital he is unable to obtain leave. Added to that he hasnt money to obtain the required medicine for his children. There is another group of Sub Inspectors numbering 2190 who have not received promotions A person who joins Sri Lanka Police as a constable at the age of 20 would reach the age of 40 years by the time he gets promoted to the post of Sergeant The former Minister of Law and Order Sagala Rathnayake submitted a Cabinet Paper to grant promotions to 3029 Sub Inspectors On many occasions, doing our investigations, we brought to light the many injustices caused to the public by the Sri Lanka Police. Similar to the injustices caused by the police to the public, the law enforcement officers are subject to injustice and inconveniences during their tenure in office. But these injustices arent revealed to the society. Therefore this is an attempt to reveal the injustices caused to the police through this truthful investigation. Within the Sri Lanka Police posts from the position of the Police Security Assistant to the post of Inspector General of Police (IGP) are Police Security Assistant, Police Constable Driver, Police Constable, Police Sergeant, Senior Sergeant, Sub Inspector, Inspector, Chief Police Inspector, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Superintendent of Police, Senior Superintendent of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police and the Inspector General of Police. Excluding the post of IGP, the authority which handles the appointments and disciplinary issues related to all other posts in accordance with the the 19th Amendment to the Constitution is the Police Commission. In terms of Special Gazette notification number 2016/6 dated 24th April 2017 the powers of the commission relating to certain subject matters of all police officers from Chief Inspector of Police downwards, excluding all OICs, have been vested with the IGP and Senior DIGs. This has been done by the National Police Commission itself for convenience sake. Though this promotion procedure is documented its application is confined to a piece of writing and not implemented in a practical manner In general the Sri Lanka Police recruits persons as Police Constables and Sub Inspectors and a limited number as Assistant Superintendents of Police, but these intakes exclude the recruiting of Police Constable Drivers. The recruitment and promotion criteria of the Sri Lanka police department are mentioned in the official Web Site of Sri Lanka Police. According to the website the promotion from the position of Police Constable to that of Sergeant is done by considering whether the individual has completed eight years of active and satisfactory service. Though this promotion procedure is documented its application is confined to a piece of writing and not implemented in a practical manner. The Police Constable referred to in the introduction of this article had served the police in that capacity for well over twenty years, but has been denied of a promotion to the next grade. There is much frustration among the rank and file of those below the grade of ASP due to the delay in the granting of promotions. For example most of those who join as Constables are promoted as Sergeants only close to retirement. They have no opportunities to go beyond this grade owing to delays regarding promotions in the constable grade. A person who joins Sri Lanka Police as a constable at the age of 20 would reach the age of 40 years by the time he gets promoted to the post of Sergeant. Most of them retire as sergeants. It is very seldom that they are able to get to the position of Sub Inspector. If an opportunity is afforded to the Police Constables to reach the grade of ASP through merit, the efficiency of Police officers would be more, a senior police officer pointed out. He also said that the salaries of these police officers had now been increased. The issues bothering the Sub Inspectors are more severe than those serving in above grades. During the former Government the Sub Inspectors had been promoted to the grade of Inspector only after completing eight years of service. The last batch of promotions was in 2010. Cabinet Paper The former Minister of Law and Order Sagala Rathnayake submitted a Cabinet Paper to grant promotions to 3029 Sub Inspectors who have completed more than eight years of service. This Cabinet Paper received the necessary approval. However two weeks ago steps were taken by the IGP to promote only 539 Sub Inspectors, among whom close to100 have already retired. There is another considerable number of Sub Inspectors expected to retire by the end of 2018. Despite these individuals holding the post of Sub Inspector over a long period this position had not been considered at the time promotions were made in the Department of Police. Everyone has been promoted with effect from 31st May 2016. There is another group of Sub Inspectors numbering 2190 who have not received promotions. A Sub Inspector speaking to this newspaper expressed these views. I have been an SI for the past 13 years. In the STF promotions are granted duly. Those who joined Sri Lanka Police with me and later joined the STF are now IPs. We are still SIs. When they return to serve the Police after obtaining promotions they will be occupying senior positions. There are others who joined the Police much later, but they became members of the STF and obtained promotions. Were not saying that those in the STF shouldnt get promotions, but what we ask is to be treated the same and given early promotions like the others the Sub Inspector said. In the past the promotion procedure had been followed properly and many who joined as Sub Inspectors ended as Senior Superintendents of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police or Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police. They said, We passed the Advanced Level Examination and obtained very good results. We ignored the opportunities available outside and joined as Sub Inspectors and even after serving for 11 years we continue to remain in the same post without being promoted. We are stagnating in the same post for a over long period and feel that we are being looked down upon. There are many graduates among the Sub Inspectors. They too receive the same treatment and have become frustrated. This situation demoralizes those aspiring to join the Sri Lanka Police. If the IGP isnt granting these promotions the Government should intervene and resolve this issue. Its the minor Police officer who is called to bear the brunt of all this. Even taking a rupee as a bribe is a crime. It is often highlighted when a minor police officers arm is extended in acceptance when Rs100 or 200 is offered as a bribe. But this type of naming and shaming hardly happens when higher ranked Police officers accept bribes amounting to several hundred thousand rupees. There have been occasions when the Law has not been enforced in instances involving the latter. It isnt only the mini Police officers who are faced with issues regarding promotions. Senior Superintendent of Police Palitha Siriwardene who is in charge of Kilinochchi Division being denied a promotion was an issue and a subject matter that drew the attention of the entire police department. Due to this news gaining momentum and the responses that were received, the predicament of the police officers and the level of the stress they are under became clear. The issue relating to Siriwardene has not seen an end. With several DIG posts in the Sri Lanka Police falling vacant and the absence of Senior Superintendents of Police, who had completed five years of service, a decision was taken to appoint acting DIGs. Accordingly a request was made by the Law and Order Ministry to the Police Commission to appoint acting DIGs. This request was made as the National Police Commission had been entrusted with the functions relating to appointments above the grade of ASP and also because it is the disciplinary authority. Following this the Ministry of Law and Order submitted the names of six Senior Superintendents of Police based on a seniority list to the National Police Commission in March this year. By this time one of these Senior Superintendents of police had retired. From among the other Senior Superintendents, appointing Siriwardene and Gamini Perera was opposed by the IGP. SSP Gamini Perera had functioned in the North as a Divisional Officer in charge. On receiving a similar assignment he had appealed to the Police Commission and got the transfer cancelled. IGP goes on a witch-hunt SSP Siriwardene had been in charge of Kilinochchi Division. During a function held at the Kilinochchi District Secretariat, under the patronage of the IGP, the IGP had made a statement saying that Siriwardene would be transferred from Kilinochchi and not be assigned any duties. Siriwardene had then filed a case in the Supreme Court against the IGP stating that by making a public statement as above his fundamental rights have been infringed upon. The Supreme Court observed that decisions relating to police officials above the ASP grade are taken by the National Police Commission. Thereafter the IGP directed the CID to hold an inquiry concerning Siriwardene. Siriwardene was later freed of the charges against him. Siriwardene again complained to the Police Commission that the IGP was attempting to take revenge on him by instructing the Police Special Investigation Unit to conduct another investigation. Siriwardene was later freed of the charges against him. Siriwardene again complained to the Police Commission that the IGP was attempting to take revenge on him However ignoring the IGPs objections the National Police Commission directed on 05th April 2018, that five Senior Superintendents of Police including Siriwardene and Perera be appointed as acting DIGs. The IGP refrained from issuing the notification of these appointments and he again requested that the appointments of Siriwardene and Perera be reconsidered. This was repeated on three occasions and finally the Police Commission appointed four others as DIGs excluding Siriwardene. The Police Commission, whose attention was directed towards the charges made against Siriwardene, found that there was insufficient material to prove the charges made against Siriwardene. The Police Commission then took steps to appoint Siriwardene also as an Acting DIG. Even at the time of writing the IGP hadnt issued the notice of this appointment. It is a serious matter if the IGP fails to act as per orders of an independent commission. The most recent episode is the issue regarding SP Priyadharshana Herath, who was interdicted well over an year ago on a direction by the IGP. Herath has not been served with a charge sheet. If Herath has done something wrong he should be subjected to the legal procedure. Herath, who has remained under interdiction for over an year and not received even half his pay, was reinstated immediately following an order issued by the Police Commission in February this year. This order was given effect only in May this year. But he could perform duties only for about 20 days. Reviewing an incident that had taken place eight years ago and despite an admonition being served on him, the IGP took steps last week to interdict him once again. These acts of discouragement have frustrated not only the ordinary police officers, but also those holding high ranks in the police. When these type of harassment and ill treatments continue those serving the Sri Lanka Police will suffer stress and other sorts of setbacks. This would in turn affect severely the maintenance of law and order in the island. Despite the shortcomings observed within the Sri Lanka Police the law enforcement officers have been able to live up to the standards required of them, except for a few individuals. Given that those having authority at the top in the Police having failed to live up to the expected standards and act diligently, no one knows the plight of the law enforcement officers in this country. A senior officer of the Police Commission said,According to the constitution we have the power to decide on all matters relating to all Police officers, excluding the IGP. If the IGP is disregarding our orders that amounts to an act of violating the constitution. SSP Palitha Siriwardene had been appointed as an Acting DIG by the National Police Commission. The IGP hasnt issued the relevant notice in this regard. With regard to the issue relating to Superintendent of Police Priyadharshana Herath, we have not approved his interdiction. If the IGP has interdicted him that means he has usurped a power by which act he has gone against the constitution. Power and Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya drew a setback on Tuesday [19] as he failed to get the Cabinet nod to award the contract to a Chinese company for the execution of the proposed LNG power project in Kerawalapitiya. His office had decided to award the contract for GCL China for the execution of the project. However, the tender procedure was shrouded in controversy as it has been offered to a higher traffic bidder which quoted 15.75 per unit regardless of local bidder Lakdanawi Ltd quoting only 14. 98. Following the ministerial decision to proceed with the move earlier, objections were raised ostensibly to create public opinion against the tender being offered to this company. In one instance, the Movement for the Consumer Rights Protection moved court against the tender. In the wake of such build-up of protest against the Ministrys decision, it came up before the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Minister Siyambalapitiya submitted the proposal seeking approval to award the tender to this company to implement the project. He briefed the Cabinet that Lakdhanawi Ltd was disregarded because even engineers disputed how Lakdhanawi could implement the project of this magnitude at such a low cost. He said he decided to offer the tender to the foreign company after broad consultation with all concerned. Champika opposed to tender Then, Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka responded to the Minister. He said it would cause to loss of at least US $ 42 million to the state in 20 years if the tender were offered to the higher bidder. He argued that the entire tender procedure was flawed. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Nimal Siripala comes to Siyambalapitiyas rescue Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, who joined the discussion on the tender, added a different dimension to the whole diatribe. He viewed that controversial issues should be debated, but not be capitalized to sling mud at any minister in the media for different ends. If there are issues, they have to be sorted out. But, the media should not be used to sling mud at the ministers in one-sided manner, he said. After him, Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva locked horns with Minister Ranawaka. In this instance, he disputed Minister Ranawakas estimate of losses to the state over the selection of the higher bidder. The price quoted by one bidder is inclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT). Lakdhanawi made a bid excluding VAT involved. That is the reason for the price difference between the two, he noted. Minister Siyambalapitiya responded to Minister Siripala de Silva gleefully on this occasion. What Minister de Silva said is correct. Also, the price quoted by Lakdhanawi is 58% lower than the engineers estimate. Is it possible to execute the project at such a low cost? he asked. On a previous occasion, he said, Lakdhanawi undertook a project for execution at US $ 225 million, but the amount shot up to US $ 296 million by the end. Initially, they are used to make a lower bid. Towards the end of the project, they claim more for expenses. Finally the cost becomes higher and higher. Then, we are compelled to pay it because we cannot stop any project halfway, he said. President Maithripala Sirisena, who hitherto remained a mute observer, intervened finally and proposed the matter to be referred to a committee for scrutinizing with the inclusion of the relevant Ministers. Transactions in the power and energy sector are shrouded in mystery and controversy most of the time. Govt exempts private hospitals from VAT after doctors moved to transfer burden on patients Next came up the proposal to exempt private hospitals from VAT. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera thanked Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne for taking initiatives in this regard. The government was compelled to remove VAT from hospital bills because medical practitioners transferred the burden on patients when charging from them for services offered. Rumblings within JO over 16-member group Rumblings have been created within the Joint Opposition, particularly after the 16-member SLFP group made overtures to it for future politics. There is stiff resistance from some members of the Joint Opposition, particularly those close to Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) against placements being given to these SLFPers. They believe that these SLFPers who joined the government and enjoyed perks defected from it only because of the build-up of public opinion against the ruling side. Therefore, SLPP believes it is unfair for by its members to give way for these SLFPers. All in all, the Joint Opposition contemplates as to how it should accommodate these 16 MPs rather than creating fissures within it. Some of these SLFP MPs have expressed their readiness to team up with the Joint Opposition. In fact, they have vowed not to participate in the reform drive launched by SLFP under the leadership of President Maithripala Sirisena. Let alone, there are others who wish to remain with the SLFP while doing politics with the Joint Opposition. MR, Basil decisive figures in deciding next Candidate There are certain differences of opinion on the presidential candidate to be nominated by the Joint Opposition. Members such as Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila are adamant that it should be none other than former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. There is a school of thought that it should be former Minister Basil Rajapaksa. Alongside, MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara promotes MP Chamal Rajapaksa, the eldest of the Rajapaksa family as the candidate. However, it has become a lone voice. Finally, there are two main personalities who can decide on their candidate. First, it is former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who acts as the leader of all in that camp. Along with him, Basil Rajapaksa who formed the SLPP has a great say in determining the next candidate. He holds power over a bulk of local authorities in the country. It means he has grassroots level political representatives across the length and breadth of this country. Also, he spearheads the SLPP. The next candidate will contest the polls under the SLPPs lotus bud symbol. Therefore, Basil Rajapaksa is also a decisive factor in this regard. Nine years into the post-war era Sri Lanka is making slow and steady progress as a developing country. However, much needs to be done to uplift the lives of the people and bring in more hope and prosperity to poverty-stricken areas of the country. Among the many countries that have allied with Sri Lanka, France stands in a significant position. During a recent visit, French Senator and Vice Chair of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces Committee of the French Senate Helene Conway-Mouret held several discussions with the Chief of Staff, State Secretary of Defence and several other important people to secure ties and strengthen the relationship between the two countries. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror, Ms Conway-Mouret expressed her views about the security situation in the country, the operations of French military and the relationship between Sri Lanka and France. Sri Lanka has a very central and strategic position in the world.-With the rise of China and India, the Indian Ocean has become a very important shipping route In future, officers will be able to come to Paris for learning. The Navy controls and protects the coast and it is also where human and drug trafficking are done. Sri Lanka fought a thirty-year ethnic conflict. How do you see its progress nine years into the post-war era? Sri Lanka has a very central and strategic position in the world. Therefore, with the rise of countries such as China and India, we see that the Indian Ocean has become a very important shipping route. Of course with this kind of business and commerce comes other issues such as trafficking and therefore it is important to keep peace within the region. There is also a need for diverse education. Europe sends a lot of tourists and tourism too could be developed in the country. It is good to work together because we see the rise of populist and nationalist movements. Today all democratic countries should come together to be able to protect the peace. If you look at Europe there is a long period of peace, which has given prosperity to all European countries and at the end of the day it is attracting a lot of migrants What role does the military play in strengthening national security? It is both internal and external security, which we need to focus on. The Navy controls and protects the coast and it is also where human and drug trafficking is done. Therefore the Navy needs to be strong to be able to stop and control these activities. Unfortunately for us we now have the Army involved in preventing terrorism. But we didnt have this situation five years ago. We have a strong Army, who is involved in peace-keeping missions abroad, which shows their level of competence because what they do in Mali is very important. They have a lot of expertise and are sharing the expertise in Africa to bring up the level of the Army so that they themselves can protect their own people in future without having to seek support from other countries. Recently the military academy has launched the Smart Class to teach French to Army personnel in Sri Lanka. What are your comments? I think it is essential because Army personnel are called for their competencies. When they move to another country it is a different environment and they are under pressure. So it is good to communicate with others especially if you are under tension and threat because you dont want to miss on the messages that you are getting. Therefore I think preparations done in advance are vital to enhancing their competencies with the language skills that allow them to communicate for their own security as well as sharing what they know with others. It is a good way to motivate the Army personnel as well. France is pushing for what we call G5 where five countries in Western Africa including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger are pulling their resources together to move forward. We need people such as those in Sri Lanka to bring in their expertise in securing the convoys. Other than in the Africa Continent, where else has the French military been deployed? We have a strong operation in Mali because we were afraid that it would turn into a terrorist State as terrorist groups have taken over the capital city. They are still in the North and the French troops are doing their best to get rid of them. There is a threat to other countries such as Cameroon and Niger as well. What lessons could Sri Lanka learn from French military operations and strategies? There are more ships patrolling the Indian Ocean. We have discussed that in future, some officers would be able to come to Paris for three or six months so that they could learn and also bring in their expertise and share what they have learned. I believe in education because it is the most important thing in life; it keeps their financial autonomy and freedom in the future. Cybercrime is becoming a threat to national security. How has France countered this threat? The French Parliament is looking into this and we have passed legislation to, first of all, make the operators liable because earlier we had said that anybody could do anything using these platforms. Then we saw that it was being used for criminal purposes. We have therefore changed our legislation and now they have to control what is being published and if they dont do that they are punished by law, either by having to pay a heavy fine or through imprisonment. We also need to train our people to be able to protect ourselves. There is awareness now especially in terms of Facebook. Indeed it can destabilize a country and could have an impact on an election. We had a lot of attacks during the French elections and the same in Britain with Brexit. What lies ahead between Sri Lanka and France? I requested to meet with the Chief of Staff and State Secretary of Defence and I want to see how the relationship could be strengthened. We have the Alliance Francaise involved in very important projects. If peoples lives are secured with clean water, good health and education services they will keep them content. When people are happy, democracy is stable and then you could fight poverty and all kinds of crimes that come with it. We have therefore changed our legislation and now they have to control what is being published If you look at Europe there is a long period of peace, which has given prosperity to all European countries and at the end of the day it is attracting a lot of migrants. Cabinet spokesman and Health Minister, Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday it was still premature to comment on the US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), but it could have a positive outcome. He told the weekly Cabinet news briefing that the US withdrawal from the UNHRC took place a few days ago and Sri Lanka must wait and see what the fallout would be. He told Daily Mirror the situation would be different, as it was the US that took the initiative to bring a resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. We can hope for a better international standing for Sri Lanka. But dont forget that the first resolution on alleged violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by Sri Lanka was supported by the US. The Mahinda Rajapaksa government pledged to probe the alleged violation of the IHL in the resolution at the UNHRC in Geneva. Two other resolutions against Sri Lanka were passed after the MR government failed to fulfil the pledges given to the international community. Therefore, Sri Lanka is committed to abide by three UNHRC resolutions as we have signed all UN conventions on safeguarding human rights. (Sandun A. Jayaskera) Joining for a discussion with Mirror Business recently, Uber General Manager Sri Lanka and South India Christian Freese and Uber Chief Business Officer India and Emerging Markets Madhu Kannan assured that Uber is committed to reshaping Sri Lankas urban mobility landscape while revealing several expansion plans are underway for the Sri Lankan market. Following are the excerpts. How has Ubers business model evolved over time, keeping up with the new trends? Freese: The business model has changed pretty much. In the beginning, Uber was all about premium services. For an example, a luxury car, lets say, a Mercedes, driving you for a day out, etc. However, we evolved very quickly once we grasped the much larger need to revolutionise the urban mobility. Thats what we are after right now. We have seen a lot of innovations, which have been picked up and adopted across the board. We are in over 600 cities globally, in 65 countries and in Sri Lanka; it has especially been very good for us. We think about our business and urban mobility as a whole. There are different stakeholders being part of it. The whole transparency we brought to the market wasnt there before. We are also very excited about the convenience we bring to the market. Whats Ubers vision for the Sri Lankan market moving forward? Freese: The large vision we have globally as well as for Sri Lanka specifically, is taking up on the private car ownership because the car has become the second most valuable asset you buy in your life. However, 96 percent of the time what its doing is standing underutilised or unutilized while occupying limited space in our cities. Moreover, car ownership is also relatively expensive in Sri Lanka, due to tariffs and taxes imposed. I think thats the larger vision. We have leapfrogged to no car ownership because its all about shared mobility in the future. How has Uber fared in the Sri Lankan market over the last three years, since its inception? Freese: We are now three years in Sri Lanka and we will celebrate our third anniversary in October. The growth has been phenomenal. We have 60,000 riders using Uber on a monthly basis. So, its a pretty good beginning but we are just getting started here. If you really want to take on the private car ownership, it has to grow even further. The last three years have been very exciting; they have given us confidence. More to come, especially proud of the chapter we started with UberZip. Last December, we started a new product, where we use very small cars Nano, Alto, which provide even cheaper options to get from A to B. Thats actually triggering a lot of use cases. Before, maybe I wouldnt go to the gym or take my kids to school with Uber. However, now with UberZip, it has become totally possible. We have seen really good growth since then and came to these 60,000 riders per month. What is the key for success for Uber in Sri Lanka so far and how are you planning to get more involvement of the stakeholders to enhance the future growth prospects? Freese: The key to success of Uber is being extremely local. Our driver base is very local and we have also invested in building a local team here. We are celebrating the local festivals with them and we have a programme where we try to build a community with our driver base. The initiative will allow the drivers to network and provide their feedback to us. It will be an opportunity for us to engage with them and understand what their pinpoints are. I havent come across any idea or business where you press a button and make money. In many cases, its making a large impact for them, as the incremental money they are earning is empowering many of them to do much more than they were doing before. The incremental income is creating economic opportunities for them that are actually revolutionising even more than you feel on the riders side. Do you consider its a good time for further expansion in Sri Lanka? Freese: Yes, its a good time for us to reflect and push the pedal again forward. We are betting really big on Sri Lanka and that means renewed investments on the product, partnerships and people in Sri Lanka. We see immense potential to grow our business in Colombo and expand our presence in Sri Lanka. As I mentioned, there are lots of issues around traffic congestion in the country. However, the big question is how we can connect the labour force to economic opportunities. We see a huge potential for us to double up and start a new chapter. What are the major expansion plans that you have on the pipeline for Uber in Sri Lanka? Freese: We want to get broader and deeper into the market. What I mean by broader is thinking about other product lines. You must have heard of UberEats the food delivery programme is something that we are evaluating at the moment. We are the largest food delivery provider globally, doing millions of deliveries per day and we hope to bring that soon to Colombo. UberZip is our low-cost product, which is meant to serve you on a daily basis for your short trips. We will increase the services of UberGo and UberZip on the line. We are also trying to form local partnerships and simultaneously we are also committed to building local teams, attracting local talent. Hopefully, we get more inbounds and we can hire stronger, going forward. The majority are bringing in that local favour. We have already partnered with Dialog. The partnership is helping us a lot in getting new riders on board and we are offering exclusive fairs to the users of Dialog. We really want to be there for every Sri Lankan. Right now we are limited to Colombo but our goal is to be there for everyone in the country, on a daily basis. We hope that we can commence that chapter soon. We will also focus on tourist hotspots. Im confident, over the next couple of weeks, most of the island will be accessible through the recently launched Uber Intercity easily and affordably. Are you also planning to launch car pooling products such as Uber Pool in the Sri Lankan market? Freese: We want eventually get there in every market. However, it requires a certain density. Theres some time out. I believe it will work very nicely for Colombo because its a city that has stretched suitable for Uber Pool. Urban mobility is an important issue for many of the cities in emerging markets and therefore, we have a really important role to play in partnering with various entities We have 60,000 riders using Uber on a monthly basis. So, its a pretty good beginning but we are just getting started here. If you really want to take on the private car ownership, it has to grow even further. The last three years have been very exciting; they have given us confidence. More to come, especially proud of the chapter we started with UberZip We are betting really big on Sri Lanka and that means renewed investments on the product, partnerships and people in Sri Lanka. We see immense potential to grow our business in Colombo and expand our presence in Sri Lanka Id like to note that car pooling is already happening with buses. Hence, the habit is already there. I am confident we can get there, not in the next couple of weeks or months but something we have planned to execute later on. How are you maintaining the quality of the driver base while recruiting more to meet the increasing demand? Freese: We have an on boarding process where the driver comes into our support centre; we provide all instructions, check all mandatory documentation, train them and we thoroughly monitor the driver on the first couple of trips. We also have the option for the riders to rate the driver. Thats a very important feedback mechanism to monitor the driver. Usually, when a driver receives poor feedback, we call the driver to our support centre, provide additional training and also check up on the issues that the driver has. We see a good improvement once the driver understands why he received a bad review. We have many drivers who are working on an office environment from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and work for Uber on their way back home for two to three hours. When they leave the office, they switch on the app, drive for two to three hours and make that extra. Actually, they can type in their house. The app might not take them home straightaway but more or less will end up home while making two to three trips on the way. Thats actually strong use case for many of our drivers. They are happy about the feature, which is built into the app; it has a certain deviation but takes ultimately back home. I am taking Sri Lanka as an example for other markets as well to point out how well its working and adopted. How do you view competition in Sri Lankas ride-sharing market and whats your current market share in Sri Lanka? Freese: I think competition is something that we welcome as our larger goal is taking on private car ownership and thats a big shift. Because the car remains an aspiration for many people, they feel like buying a car is actually taking them to a new level in society. However, we believe that you better not buy that asset, which stands ideal most of the time and we need to do it through culture change. More competition coming and more people talking about that idea will be beneficial. I dont look at our competition as a battle for a greater market share but more as somebody who is following the same mission. Ultimately, my goal is more around, do I offer a ride at an affordable price thats always there for you, so you can rely on it and keep your car at home and probably dont even buy a car? Our main metric is to get into two to three minutes of arrival time from the current six to seven minutes. That doesnt sound like a high number but it changes your behaviour knowing that a car will be there for you in just two minutes. Then, you dont have to plan, can just open up the app and press a button and your ride will be there when you just walk downstairs. These are areas I want to look at, such as reliability and affordability, not so much on the competition and market share, which is liquid and fluid conversation. How is Uber faring with the home-grown competition in emerging markets such as India? Kannan: The opportunity is so large; we are all trying to solve the same issue. We are trying to solve the big ocean of urban mobility. Competition is not four cornered. The bigger thing is how we effectively, efficiently and sustainably move people and goods from point A to B in a city. We were in Delhi recently launching an initiative called Uber Movement; we were looking at traffic patterns in cities. We are starting playing a role as a top partner for companies based on our movement of our vehicles, how to come out for joint solutions. Urban mobility is an important issue for many of the cities in emerging markets and therefore, we have a really important role to play in partnering with various entities. What is Ubers strategy to promote shared mobility in price-sensitive markets such as India and Sri Lanka? Kannan: We are trying to build long-term and sustainable engagements with multiple stakeholders with both external and internal. We will build partnerships with credible local entities on the demand, on the supply side and policy wise. The goal is to look at how we can work closely and constructively with our local partners and stakeholders to actually help solve the challenges in sustainable mobility, most importantly, how we can help to create mobility entrepreneurs. The broader goal is to how to partner with various similar-minded partners to create thousands of mobility micro entrepreneurs in the country. I think in terms of Ubers perspective of South Asian markets, our leadership was very clear, we are not only committed but we are doubling our commitments in these countries. We are trying to be local as much as possible in trying to co-create solutions, which are for Sri Lanka. We would be discussing with the authorities and key external stakeholders on how to engage more, how we invest and how to commit and grow more. We ultimately want to become a thought partner for cities. How committed is Uber to provide unique solutions to issues in emerging markets? Freese: We commenced cash payment in emerging markets first and only. We realised that we need to offer more payment options in emerging markets. Uber Intercity is also an emerging market first product, which proved that we listen to the market and stakeholders. These are a few examples but there are lots of innovations happening in emerging markets first and then expanding to the US, EU and other markets later on. What is the main challenge you face in the Sri Lankan market? Freese: Challenges are very much on changing the perception of urban mobility. Ideally, we want the riders to open the Uber app as much as Facebook or WhatsApp. Take a deep breath. Let it go. Suppress all urges to laugh your guts out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Have a cup of chamomile tea. Think of the best joke youve heard so far. Think of Charlie Chaplin and other great comedians. Now read. The US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley announced that her country would withdraw from the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC). Calling the UNHRC a cesspool of political bias, Haley explained the decision thus: We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who appeared alongside Haley at a media conference held at the State Department said the noble vision of the body notwithstanding, the US needed to be honest. The honesty he encapsulated in the following observation: The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights. It is reported that Haley and Pompeo explained that the decision came after, a long year of efforts to shame the council into reform and to remove member states that themselves commit abuses. Take the key words/terms used or implied here: hypocritical, self-serving, poor defender of human rights, dishonesty, shamelessness. Which country do these words/terms describe best if not the United States of America? Cesspool indeed! They were spot on with that descriptive, only they used it on the UNHRC which, the world knows, was the USAs baby all along. Just like the UN, one might add, which is for all intents and purposes a creature of the USA. The UNHRC, ever since it was formed in 2006, and the UN in general have always treated with leniency the USA and the various war-mongering, rights-abusing blocs of countries it has led. Leniency by the way is a generous term. When the USA wanted to censure any particular country or regime, the UNHRC turned itself into a cheering squad. One thing is clear. Yahapalanaya is not the perfume it was thought to be. It stinks. All doubts about the source of the stench can now be laid to rest. Haley and Pompeo have give us the names and the addresses The USA might not think of itself as the cesspit that it is, and indeed it might be so used to the stench that it has become oblivious to the bad odour. Well, it is more likely that they knew, but didnt believe that the world knew the stinking truth as well. Nevertheless it cant be that Washington suddenly discovered a foul-smelling cousin. It cant be that the likes of Haley and Pompeo woke up one fine morning and discovered that the UNHRC was bad. They must have known, especially since the resemblance between the USA and UNHRC was too close for anyone to see the two as anything but blood brothers, so to speak. What happened was that self-interest was not served one fine day. Stuff didnt go down the tube as smoothly as it had before. Put simply, the USA was rudely awakened and decided that the best way to counter punch was to throw at the newfound enemy the terminology that was core to Washington-speak. In fairness, though, theyve done their part in removing member states that commit abuses, simply by adhering to the dictum charity begins at home. It wont make the UNHRC fragrant, not by any stretch of the imagination, but its certainly a step in the right direction. We need not go into all that. We can laugh our guts out. Whats more important about this veritable cesspit calling the UN agency concerned a cesspool is where it leaves those who were practically swearing by both on things such as human rights, truth, peace, justice and reconciliation. Theres little that a cesspool can deliver except, well, a lot of gooey stuff that stinks. And yet, for purposes of political expediency there were many who ran to Washington as though the Messiah lived there. They ran to the UNHRC as though it was made of squeaky clean saints. Many worthies in this Yahapalana Government took policy and political cues from the US Embassy in Colombo, which actually facilitated the funding of the Yahapalana election campaign. So, will the Yahapalanists stand with the cesspit (USA) or the cesspool (UNHRC) now? Will they take the cue from the US Embassy in Colombo and echo the words of Haley and Pompeo? Will they take a deep breath, pite their lips play ostrich, and wait for the UN system to recover its sense of purpose (read Washington/Tel Aviv agenda)? Let us not forget that the then Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera went as far as co-sponsoring on behalf of Sri Lanka a resolution on (read, against) Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. What does he have to say about a resolution spawned in a cesspool now, one must ask. The Yahapalanists can navel-gaze and lapse into mumblement as it often does. They can play ostrich. They can get the US Embassy to write a position paper. Thats if they have any shame. Shameless as they are, theres one thing they really cant wash their hands off from: the fact that they were dipped head-to-toe in the UNHRC by the USA. Thats a cesspool, according to Haley and Pompeo. The US Ambassador Atul Keshap is mandated to go with that description. One thing is clear. Yahapalanaya is not the perfume it was thought to be. It stinks. All doubts about the source of the stench can now be laid to rest. Haley and Pompeo have given us the names and the addresses. More importantly, we need to recognize that the US leaving the UNHRC cesspool doesnt exactly clear the air thats polluted by those who were born and bred in cesspools (or cesspits if you prefer the word). Perhaps theyll pack their bags and take the next flight to the USA. Perhaps not. If not, then theres a choice before us: do we hold our noses for ever or do we take these people to the cleaners? Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer. malindasenevi@gmail.com. Twitter: malindasene. www.malindawords.blogspot.com Oops....! We couldn't find that... 404 error Unfortunately the page you were looking for could not be found. It may be temporarily unavailable, moved or no longer exist. Check the URL you entered for any mistakes and try again. Alternatively, search for whatever is missing or take a look around the rest of our site. Salt & Straw will open its second scoop shop in San Diego at Carmel Valleys One Paseo development in 2019. The family-run ice cream company out of Portland is known for its taste-provoking flavors like sea salt with caramel ribbons; roasted strawberry and toasted white chocolate; and avocado and Oaxacan chocolate fudgeserved up in cones, cups, milkshakes, sundaes and pints to-go. Salt & Straw will serve up gourmet taste-provoking flavors by the scoop in cones, sundaes, milkshakes and pints to-go. Salt & Straw The arrival of Salt & Straw has been rumored since they served up indulgent gourmet scoops at One Paseos groundbreaking in January 2017. The new shop joins Salt & Straws existing San Diego location in Little Italy. Founded in 2011 by cousins Kim and Tyler Malek in Portland, Ore., Salt & Straw has become a West Coast favorite with shops in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Each of head ice cream maker Tyler Maleks flavors is handmade in small batches using the best local, organic and sustainable ingredients, including artisanal products from local partners and cream from Scott Brothers Dairy, a family-owned Southern California farm. In addition to the core line-up of signature flavors, special offerings rotate monthly, showcasing Tylers passion for working with local produce and ingredients that tell a story about the areas distinct cultural landscape. In San Diego they have created custom favorites favorites such as James Coffee and bourbon and peanut butter stout with chocolate chicharron featuring Belching Beaver Brewerys Peanut Butter Milk Stout beer. At Salt & Straw, we find so much inspiration from our communities, so were thrilled to be opening at One Paseo, a vibrant new destination and gathering place for Carmel Valley residents that offers a distinct mix of culinary experiences, said Kim Malek. It really captures the spirit behind Salt & Straw to bring people together. Shanghai-based startup introduces heart and lung auscultation platform When a doctor puts a stethoscope on a patient's chest, he or she usually asks the patient to breathe in deeply and breathe out slowly. This is quite common when a patient has a cold or serious cough: the doctor listens to the patient's heart and lungs to check for respiratory infection. Going to the doctor for a cold does not seem much of a hassle in Taiwan where the size and density of population is enough to support widespread neighborhood clinics and medical institutions. Healthcare is generally readily available to people in Taiwan. However, it is not the same for people living in countries with vast territories or people having difficulty making trips to see a doctor. In view of this, Shanghai Tuoxiao Intelligent Technology has developed an intelligent heart and lung auscultation system and service that combines a digital stethoscope, AI-based algorithm and big data analytics platform for heart and lung sounds. According to Tuoxiao CFO Hsueh Yang, the system automatically analyzes whether there is anything abnormal with the user's heart or lung sounds using the AI-based algorithm to help a doctor make diagnosis. Its cloud-based platform not only analyzes and stores biophysical data but also sends the data to hospitals. Furthermore, its digital stethoscope also records the user's heart and lung sounds, which can be played back to healthcare professionals when the user later makes a hospital visit. Yang points out that the system makes remote auscultation and remote diagnosis a reality. It provides a home care tool to warn patients of potential heart or lung problems and to monitor health conditions during recuperation. In other words, Tuoxiao's intelligent heart and lung auscultation system can integrate with hierarchical medical services and remote health centers to accelerate the availability of remote healthcare. According to the company, its intelligent heart and lung auscultation system has accumulated more than 20,000 heart and lung sound recordings. Tuoxiao is also working with Shanghai Children's Hospital and Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and has begun trial operation at Wuhu City Community Hospital of Anhui Province. Hsueh Yang, CFO, Shanghai Tuoxiao Intelligent Technology Photo: Vega Chiu, Digitimes, June 2018 Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Subscriber content preview SEATTLE Two apartment buildings in Magnolia have sold for $15.75 million, according to King County records. The sellers were five private investors who had owned the neighboring properties for five decades. The seller was represented by Marty Leith, Dylan Roeter and Jerry Sankey of ARA Newmark. The deal was worth about $276,315 per unit. The portfolio has been on the market for about five months, listed at $17.25 million. . . . 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I mean, almost all of us have been running in this... "A specific case concerns Laraos and Huancayo, whose landscapes are great to spend time with the family," he told Canal N local channel. "The best native potato in the country is cultivated up in Laraos. However, we have a poor quality road, the access is not good, and there are long delays and abyssal paths along the way," he added. "Madre de Dios has a great mining and agricultural potential but due to the lack of connectivity, investment, and State presence has a lot of problems such as tax evasion trafficking in women and children , among others," Reyes emphasized. By CA Political Review , June 18, 2018 A few weeks ago this column addressed the issue of polling and how it can be manipulated and, even when it is not manipulated, how wrong it can be. Still, candidates, consultants and the media do a lot of polling to test the viability of whatever it is they support or oppose. Read More: Join us - become an Elderado today at: LarryElder.com Follow Larry Elder on Follow Larry Elder on Twitter "Like" Larry Elder on Facebook Turkish flag flies in northern Iraq Turkish Army that provides security against PKK terrorists in Iraq, has planted Turkish flag in Hakurk. Turkish military continues its counterterrorism operations in northern Iraq by targeting PKK camps in the region since March 10. In recent days, Turkish officials had suggested that the Qandil region in northern Iraq near the Iranian border -- where the terrorist group has its headquarters -- may be the target of a future operation. "QANDIL IS NOT A FAR AWAY TARGET FOR TURKEY" Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had made remarks about the counterterror operations in Hakurk region. "Qandil is not a far away target for us anymore. Our forces have secured crucial areas along Qandil-Hakurk line. The operation against PKK terror group in Qandil is a matter of time. I assure our nation that Qandil will be a secure place for Turkey soon" he had stated. TROOPS PLANTED TURKISH FLAG Turkish troops carry out an operation in Hakurk region, has cleared the area from terror forces and gained control over Hakurk. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as well as the US and EU. In its terror campaign against Turkey, which has lasted for more than three decades, over 40,000 people have been killed, including women and children. Looking to Glasgow: A scene-setter ahead of COP26 Adopted in 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has gathered the nations of the world with the common goal to limit dangerous global warming. In December 2021, after having been postponed for a year due to the coronavirus crisis, world leaders will meet in Glasgow for the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP26) to continue negotiations on the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The latest assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ... Adopted in 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has gathered the nations of the world with the common goal to limit dangerous global warming. In December 2021, after having been postponed for a year due to the coronavirus crisis, world leaders will meet in Glasgow for the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP26) to continue negotiations on the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The latest assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) underscores the of role human activities in causing global warming. The UNFCCC-commissioned IPCC special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5C (SR1.5) also outlines the risks of current trajectories. There is therefore strong pressure on world leaders to deliver progress in Glasgow. Parties to the Paris Agreement were required to update their nationally determined contributions to fight climate change and its impacts before COP26. Some Parties are yet to do so, while analysis of submitted contributions as of July 2021, shows action to reach the agreed targets remains insufficient. Most key emitting nations continue to rate poorly on their climate action performance. While COP24 and COP25 both failed to finalise the Paris Agreement rulebook, and developed nations so far fall short of fulfilling their climate finance promises, expectations are mounting for Glasgow to finish the job. At the same time, Covid 19 restrictions and impacts continue to create challenges to participate in person, especially for developing countries' delegations. Recent Eurobarometer surveys show citizens have a clear expectation that their governments should handle the climate change challenge, with research also pointing to a growing acceptance of the need to change personal habits in view of transitioning to more sustainable economies. The European Parliament will vote on a motion for a resolution on COP26 at the October II plenary session in Strasbourg. The draft highlights the urgency of action and calls upon leaders to ensure a just transition and adequate support for areas and states vulnerable to climate change impacts. ezhejiang.gov.cn Zhejiang province in East China and the country of Zimbabwe in southern Africa are set to deepen business relations and seize the opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative, according to speeches made at a business forum held in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, on June 11. The China (Zhejiang)-Zimbabwe Business Forum, with the participation of more than 50 Zhejiang companies and some Zimbabwean businessmen, highlighted a series of achievements that have been made between Zhejiang and Zimbabwe in areas of foreign trade, tourism, manufacturing, finance and resource development. As well both sides highlighting the progress already made, a total of 10 business deals worth over 1.18 billion yuan ($184 million) were inked at the forum. Che Jun, Party secretary of Zhejiang province, and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa attended the forum and made keynote speeches. A pioneer in China's reform and opening-up, Zhejiang will take the initiative to participate in the BRI and further cooperation with Zimbabwe, according to Che Jun. Mnangagwa said that Zimbabwe welcomes Zhejiang companies to make investment and hoped that Zimbabwean companies can seize the opportunity of the forum to promote exchanges with Zhejiang counterparts. Che Jun (second from right), Party secretary of Zhejiang province, and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa (second from left) attend the China (Zhejiang)-Zimbabwe Business Forum in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, on June 11. [Photo/xsnet.cn] Che Jun, Party secretary of Zhejiang province, makes a keynote speech at China (Zhejiang)-Zimbabwe Business Forum in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, on June 11. [Photo/xsnet.cn] Haas' Guenther Steiner is confident the US outfit will return to its early season form in France next weekend after racing outside of the points in Monaco and Montreal. Both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean put Haas in contention for the title of 'best of rest' in Formula 1's mid-field before missed opportunities, set-up issues and mishaps sent the team down the order in the last two races. But Steiner is hopeful Haas will be a force to be reckoned with in the mid-field at Paul Ricard, thanks to a few tweaks and upgrades associated with its VF-18, and to a venue that should suit the latter. "Everybody points to that direction that our car is best on these kinds of tracks, like Barcelona, Austria and France. Lets see what we can do," said Steiner. "We are all very confident to getting back to a good form. In Canada, Romain was very fast but, unfortunately, he had to start last, and thats never good. "We are all very confident we can have good results in the next three races." Before the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, Steiner warned his drivers that there would be no margin for error as the team lacked spare parts. F1's busy schedule - marked by three consecutive races - has kept inventory relatively tight, and Grosjean and Magnussen will once again do their bets to stay out of trouble. "Were actually not in a bad place [with regards spares]," said Steiner. "Were still tight, because with three races in three weeks, you just cannot catch up with producing parts should we have some damages. "Luckily, we didnt have any big damage in Canada, except the nose which was damaged by the groundhog. Otherwise, we got away pretty good," he added. "We should have more spares for France and, hopefully, we dont have any accidents there or in Austria. That will bring us up to a normal quantity of spare parts after the stretch of three races." Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter Michel SapinFormer French Finance Minister Michel Sapin and four other panelists convened last week at the Pantheon-Assas Universitys historical Place du Pantheon campus in Paris to discuss the application of the Sapin II law that came into effect in December 2016. Antoine Gaudemet, professor at Pantheon-Assas University, and Emmanuel Breen, professor at the International Anti-Corruption Academy, moderated the June 13 event, which was organized by Assass Compliance Officer University Diploma. Mr. Sapin kicked off the round table discussion by describing the laws major sources of inspiration. First, he said Sapin II was designed to enhance the capacity of the French Parquet National Financier (PNF) and the newly established French Anticorruption Agency (Agence Francaise Anticorruption AFA) to prosecute wrongdoers and prevent corruption. Second, the law was enacted to preserve the competitiveness of the French economy. Mr. Sapin explained that the French governments inability to address issues of transparency and corruption had damaged Frances international reputation and had become a handicap to its economy. Finally, the law was passed in order to retake Frances sovereignty. Mr. Sapin said he found it shocking that other countries, such as the United States, were prosecuting and imposing fines on French companies without the French government knowing these violations had occurred in the first place. The head of the PNF, Eliane Houlette, and the Director of AFA, Charles Duchaine, were also speakers on the panel. According to Mr. Duchaine, the AFAs ability to monitor subject companies and impose sanctions is compelling them to implement veritable compliance programs as opposed to the artificial compliance they practiced in the past. Ms. Houlette confirmed that Sapin II is an undeniable improvement to its predecessors. She explained that it modernized the methods through which white-collar criminals can be prosecuted in France. For instance, Sapin II grants the PNF the ability to offer legal persons suspected of having committed an act of corruption a Convention judiciaire dinteret public (CJIP) or what is commonly known as a deferred prosecution agreement. Ms. Houlette, described in detail the PNFs first coordinated resolution with the U.S. Department of Justice, in which the French and U.S. authorities had announced a CJIP agreement with Paris-based Societe Generale. She said that despite the considerable difference in size and resources between the two authorities, the PNF and the DOJ cooperated effectively on a number of key issues throughout the prosecution, including the parameters of the investigation, the allocation of the fines between the two countries and the exchange of evidence. Eric Thomas, General Counsel of the Lagardere Group, said most companies recognize the importance of compliance but urged the AFA not to underestimate the effort and time required to implement effective compliance programs. Finally, Stefano Manacorda, professor of Criminal Law at the University of Naples, explained that while Sapin II provided a fascinating alternative approach to anti-corruption, viewed from abroad the law also seemed mysterious and somewhat menacing because it is not entirely clear as to which companies are covered by its extraterritorial effect. ____ Justin P. Campbell holds a JD from University of California Hastings College of the Law and an LLM in European Law from Pantheon-Assas University in Paris. He will soon be starting an internship at Skadden Arps Paris office. This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? As'ad's Bio As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants. Blinkist, a Berlin, Germany-based platform for lifelong learning, raises $18.8M in Series C funding. The round was led by Insight Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Greycroft, IBB Bet and e.ventures. The company intends to use the funds to grow its Berlin-based team, establish Country Managers for individual markets, scale its international customer base, and continue to improve the product. In conjunction with the funding, Insight Venture Partners Harley Miller and Nicolas Wittenborn are joining the board, while Markus Witte, CEO and co-founder of language learning app Babbel, is joining as an independent board member. Led by CEO and co-founder Holger Seim, Blinkist provides a micro-learning app and platform for personal and professional development, which condenses non-fiction titles into 15-minute audio and text digests. These 15-minute digests, or books-in-blinks, feature the key ideas extracted from over 2,500 non-fiction books, in multiple genres including entrepreneurship, politics, science, psychology, investment, and parenting. Each title is selected by a dedicated editorial team, providing authors with discoverability and access to a targeted audience. Used by over 6 million people globally, the platform is currently available in English and German. The company but is planning to use the investment to strengthen its footprint across the globe and increase localized efforts in core markets, with plans to offer the service in additional languages. FinSMEs 20/06/2018 Pulse Q&A, a San Francisco, CA-based platform for C-Suite executives to make better decisions on strategy, innovation and enterprise technologies, raised a $4m seed funding. The round was led by True Ventures with participation from Y-Combinator and angel investors Steve Norall, former CPO at Survey Monkey. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach. Co-Founded by Mayank Mehta and Anand Thaker, Pulse Q&A provides real-time, bite-sized data gathered from thousands of CIOs in their community discussing innovation and spend on their platform. By giving users access to relevant conversations and crowdsourced data, Pulse Q&A aims to allow executives to make decisions based on current data and real world experiences. FinSMEs 20/06/2018 SharesPost, Inc., a San Francisco, CA-based liquidity provider to the private technology growth asset class, closed a $15m Series C funding. The round was led by Lun Partners and Kenetic Capital. In conjunction with the funding, Jehan Chu, Founder and Managing Partner of Kenetic Capital, and Peilung Li, Founder and Chairman of LUN Partners Group, joined the SharesPost Board of Directors. The company intends to use the funds to build out its Alternative Trading System (ATS) for private company shares and security tokens and to further expand its global reach into Asia. Led by Greg Brogger, Founder and CEO, SharesPost is a FINRA-registered broker-dealer, SEC-registered Alternative Trading System and Registered Investment Advisor. The company provides the private tech asset class with a suite of trading and lending solutions to facilitate shareholder and option holder liquidity. With trading in the shares of more than 200 private growth companies, SharesPosts trading volume recently surpassed US$4 billion. In May, the company announced that it had amended its Form ATS to include blockchain securities and tokens among those to be traded on its platform. As a result, it is now positioned to conduct ICOs and facilitate secondary transactions in digital securities in compliance with U.S. securities laws. FinSMEs 20/06/2018 Council Triage Some April politicking improved the chances of council critics in the August's Fourth Ward primary. by James Leonard From the June, 2018 issue Until he went to Jack Eaton's mayoral kickoff party in late April, Joe Hood was running in the August council primary as a Democrat. Instead, Hood's now gathering signatures to run in the November general election as an independent. Hood says he first met Eaton at the councilmember's coffee hour. He was incensed about potholes, and found a sympathetic ear in the three-term Ward Four rep. He came away encouraged to run against the ward's other rep, Graydon Krapohl. Krapohl, who's seeking a third council term, is an ally of Eaton's opponent, mayor Christopher Taylor. Hood filed petitions and appeared alongside Eaton at an April candidates' debate. But at Eaton's kickoff party, there was another Fourth Ward candidate, Elizabeth Nelson. Hood says that First Ward councilmember Sumi Kailasapathy told him "that in a three-way race Graydon would win, so it should only be a two-way race--one of us should jump out." Hood did--but afterwards felt "a little manipulated. Everything makes logical sense except I don't get to run." First elected in 2012, Kailasapathy has been a stalwart of the faction the Observer calls the "Back to Basics Caucus." She beat back challenges from the "Activist Coalition"--Taylor and his allies--in 2014 and 2016. When independent Sabra Briere retired that year, the Activists briefly claimed the other First Ward seat by appointing Kailasapathy's most recent opponent. The victory was short-lived: "Basics" candidate Anne Bannister reclaimed it last August. That apparently left little appetite among the Activists for further challenges because they have no candidate in Ward 1 this year. People might have been more willing to run had they known Kailasapathy was retiring. But the incumbent was cagey about her plans till the last minute. Asked in March if she was running, she emailed "I am not sure yet." Asked again a week before the April filing deadline, she replied "yes." Yet the deadline passed, and Kailasapathy didn't file. "I was under a lot of pressure to run," she explained in ...continued below... From my understanding, Taylor also favors Ginyard. That means that both factions in council prefer him. I heard from Hayner he never knew that Kailasapathy wasn't running. So I have received conflicting stories on this angle. another email. "So I was quite undecided. I wanted to keep my options open."The First Ward has swung back and forth between the council factions for a decade, but with Kailasapathy's late withdrawal, neither has a candidate in the race this year. Instead, voters will choose between Jeff Hayner, a frequent council critic who ran against Briere as an independent in 2013, and Ron Ginyard, an Ann Arbor native who moved back to town four years ago to care for his mother.Hayner says he decided to pull petitions at the last minute, after hearing that Kailasapathy hadn't turned hers in. But when he showed up Eaton's party, he says, he felt "a lot of hostility." And when he met Ginyard there, Hayner says, the other candidate "said essentially 'Are you really running? Why are you running? I'm running!'"I said, 'The more the merrier. It's a democracy.' So I went home, did a few more [nominating petition signatures] that night before dark, got a handful Monday morning, and that was it. And then I heard that Sumi didn't [file]. Now it's me and Ron."Ginyard says he decided to run in February after "a reliable source" told him that Kailasapathy wouldn't: "I was one of the first to pull petitions." He says he discussed running with "70 percent of council," including Eaton, and "didn't get a lot of pushback." Asked about his conversation with Hayner at Eaton's party, Ginyard remembers it slightly differently: "I asked him 'what are you in the race for?' He couldn't answer it."---[Originally published in June, 2018.]On June 25, 2018, Kai Petainen wrote: . , . (). . . ... War is kill or be killed. And war is politics and politics is war. And, in both, the rules are the same. And the objective is to win at all costs, by hook ... Update: Image of the phone is out on TENAA in Gold and Rose gold colors that reveals a unibody metal design, dual rear cameras, fingerprint sensor on the back and flash for the front camera. Xiaomi smartphone with model numbers M1804E4A, M1804E4T and M1804E4C have been certified by TENAA in China. This should be the Mi Max 3, successor of last years Mi Max 2. According to the listing, the phone is said to pack a 6.99-inch Full HD+ 18:9 aspect ratio screen, will be powered by a 1.8GHz Octa-Core SoC (Should be Snapdragon 636) with up to 6GB of RAM, run Android 8.1 (Oreo) and pack a 12-megapixel rear camera with Sony IMX363 sensor, along with a secondary rear camera with AI portraits. The phone is said to feature a metal body, fingerprint sensor on the back and a 5400mAh battery with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 using bundled 18W charger. Xiaomi Mi Max 3 rumored specifications 6.99-inch (2160 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ IPS 2.5D curved glass display 1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 636 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 509 GPU 3GB RAM with 32GB, 4GB RAM with 64GB storage, 6GB RAM with 128GB storage MIUI 9 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo), upgradable to MIUI 10 Dual SIM 12MP rear camera with Sony IMX363 sensor, 1.4m pixel size, dual-tone LED flash, secondary rear camera 8MP front-facing camera Fingerprint sensor Dimensions: 176.1587.47.99mm; Weight: 221g 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4 / 5GHz) MIMO, Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C 5400mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 The Xiaomi Mi Max 3 is expected to come Black, Gray, Gold, Rose Gold and more colors. We should get the image of the phone, and the official announcement date soon. Source 1, 2, 3 HMD Global announced the Nokia 5.1, successor of last years Nokia 5 last month. After Bluetooth certification, Nokia smartphone with the model number TA-1109 has been certified by TENAA. This could be released as Nokia X5 in China and Nokia 5.1 Plus in other markets. This reveals a 5.86-inch HD+ 2.5D curved glass display with 19:9 aspect ratio and a notch, and it will be powered by a 2GHz Octa-Core SoC with up to 6GB of RAM. This could be a MediaTek SoC, same as the Nokia 5.1. It also has dual rear cameras, fingerprint sensor on the back and a glass back, similar to the Nokia X6. Nokia 5.1 Plus / X5 (TA-1109) rumored specifications 5.86-inch ( 7201520 pixels) HD+ 2.5D curved glass 19:9 aspect ratio display 2GHz Octa-Core processor 3GB RAM with 32GB internal memory, 4GB / 6GB RAM with 64GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) OS, upgradable to Android P Dual SIM 13MP rear camera with LED Flash, PDAF, secondary rear camera 8MP front-facing camera 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio Fingerprint sensor Dimensions: 149.5171.988mm; Weight: 160g 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS 3000mAh battery The Nokia 5.1 Plus / X5 is expected to come in Black, Blue and White colors. We should know the launch date of the smartphone soon. Source Xiaomi has achieved a new milestone by opening its 1000th authorized service center in India in Hyderabad. This includes 500 service centers for Mi TV. It opened its 500th service center in Bengaluru back in June last year. Xiaomis service centers are now in over 600 cities in 4 years since the company entered India. The company said that it has over 6000 workforce contributing to the service network. Xiaomi says that it has emerged as the industry leader in after sales service against other players, based on an independent study by Red Quanta. It also said that it has earned a Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score of 86% with an industry Field Failure rate (FFR) at less than half of the industry average and the companys after sales team recorded an Turn Around Time (TAT) with 95% cases resolved within 4 hour repair time and an average of 84% cases been resolved in just 2 hour repair time. To improve the customer satisfaction, Xiaomi has have taken new initiatives such as E-token system which offers customers the privilege to save time and pre-book a visit to their nearest service center on Mi.com or Mi Store app, thereby experiencing a 72% reduction in the customer waiting time at the service centers within a year of its implementation Online tracking which is found on Mi.com wherein customers with an ongoing request are able to track the status of their submitted device. TV installation e-services which prioritize customer preference by allowing them to pre-book their TV installation timings At @XiaomiIndia, we not only want to be the #1 smartphone brand, but also #1 loved brand. Thats why extremely proud to announce our 1000th service center! 1000 service centers (600+ cities) for mobiles & 500 service centers for TVs: one of the largest networks in India!(1/3) pic.twitter.com/cXrpvrwhZP Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) June 20, 2018 As per Red Quantas independent study, @XiaomiIndia has the BEST after sales service in India! After sales is one of the most important functions in #Xiaomi & well continue to provide the best in class experience to our India Mi Fans!#Xiaomi #BestQuality #BestService (3/3) pic.twitter.com/FJJpNQVTbS Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) June 20, 2018 Manu Jain, Vice President, Xiaomi and Managing Director, said: At Xiaomi, our focus is on making innovation accessible to everyone. We make this happen by delivering best specs with high quality at an honest pricing. Therefore, we extend quality across all our pillars including customer service. As an internet company at heart, we continue to innovate across customer experience by offering efficient after sales solutions that promote greater convenience and additional joy to our customers. After sales is one of the most important functions in Xiaomi and it is the second biggest workforce in our India team. With over 6000 workforce contributing to the service network, we are building a strong network of dedicated employees who are focused on providing the best quality to our customers. Back in April this year LG Electronics signed South Koreas most popular K-Pop boy band, BTS as its brand ambassador for smartphones globally. Today the company has introduced exclusive BTS-themed content for 2017 and 2018 LG smartphone models. The BTS Value Pack includes seven themes, one for each member of BTS. This completely transforms the UI including home screens, menus, dialing screens, among others. The company has also introduced exclusive BTS Smart Case for the LG G7 ThinQ that incorporates NFC technology to allow owners to implement customized themes based BTS. There are eight unique themes, which transforms the phones UI with unique backgrounds, color schemes, even icon designs based on the individual personalities of each BTS member. The BTS Value Pack can be downloaded from the LG SmartWorld app on the LG smartphone. Quite a few of them trained alongside kiaps going to Papua New Guinea at the Australian School of Pacific Administration in Sydney and some of them switched between the Australian and Papua New Guinean services. The patrol officers in Australia were mostly employed by the Commonwealth Government in the Northern Territory but a few states also had their own patrol officers. And patrol officers also worked in remote parts of Australia amongst our indigenous people. There was also a patrol officer system in Dutch New Guinea before the Indonesians took over. TUMBY BAY Its often thought that the patrol officer system was unique to Papua New Guinea but similar systems existed in different parts of the world, especially in African colonies administered by the British. In Australia they were mainly active in the remote areas of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia, particularly where there were large Aboriginal reserves. One of their most significant roles occurred in South Australia and Western Australia during the British atomic bomb tests of the 1950s and later at Woomera and Maralinga during the rocket testing programs of the 1960s. Two men stand out during this period, Patrol Officers Walter MacDougall and Bob Macaulay. Walter MacDougall was appointed in 1947. He was an impressive figure, standing 1.9 metres tall with red hair, craggy face and eyes of bright transparent blue that would blaze when he was upset. One hand had been disfigured when he blew off a thumb and forefinger in an accident with a Winchester rifle. Macaulay, who was appointed in 1956, was dark haired and shorter with a studied manner and a seemingly inexhaustible patience. He had come to the job upon the recommendation of Professor AP Elkin of Sydney University, under whom he had completed an honours degree in anthropology. Their patrol area was more than a million square kilometres and patrols often covered 1,500 kilometres a week. Both were natural loners. As MacDougall once observed, he felt restricted encountering the first gate on his way back to civilisation. In typical patrol officer fashion, both men went would stand up strongly for the people theyd been sent to administer. In doing so they ran afoul of their superiors, who viewed the nomadic Aborigines who roamed over the vast Central Australian reserves more of a nuisance than anything else. The duties of the Patrol Officers were similar to their Papua New Guinean counterparts but the big difference was that the PNG kiaps were guiding their charges towards eventual independence while the former had the more difficult task of smoothing the way for Aboriginal people as they ran headlong into modern civilisation. Here are some thoughts from one of Macaulays patrol reports: Having waited several hours in camp I climbed a low hill to see if there was any sign of the people approaching the camp An elderly man appeared and told me he had nothing that I would want and that he had only a woomera and one spear which he showed me and then placed to one side: then he advanced slowly lifting his feet high so that I could see that he was not dragging a spear held between his toes. I advanced to meet him and invited him to enter my camp some considerable time later a young man and a group of women and children entered the camp. They then told me how they had hidden and watched our every movement earlier in the day and how they had to continue their days hunt without the aid of spinifex fires through fear of betraying their exact position. Patrol Officers were still working in South Australia when I returned from Papua New Guinea. When I undertook fieldwork in what was then the North West Aboriginal Reserve, I sometimes accompanied Patrol Officer Don Busbridge, who had been trained at the Australian School of Pacific Administration. Dot Forbes - skelim pikinini ia ASOPA-trained Don Busbridge There was another Patrol Officer, Dorothy Forbes. Dot patrolled the vast deserts of the west. So if anyone ever tells you there were never any female patrol officers you can tell them they are wrong. The Patrol Officers were gradually absorbed into the larger government welfare agencies and departments of Aboriginal affairs. There were quite a few of them around in the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs in the 1980s bumping over the sand hills in their LandRovers but after that they just quietly faded away. Image: Adnan Abidi / Reuters Did Airtel really bow down to a discriminatory request? Maybe you should read this. pic.twitter.com/Mr7b8Pgrci - airtel India (@airtelindia) June 20, 2018 After reports in the media and being slammed on Twitter for giving in to the 'discriminatory request' by a subscriber, Airtel has issued a clarification stating that what was reported was 'mostly untrue and factually incorrect'.The letter leaves it to the reader to decide if the telecom company gave in to the 'discriminatory request'. Airtel also refrained from putting out the name of its official spokesperson so that the letter it issued could be read 'free of religous and caste overtones'.The incident that the telecom company is referring to that landed it in a Twitter controversy on Monday (18 June) evening was after a woman posted that she did not want to interact with a customer resolution officer as he was a Muslim. In response to this tweet, a man named Gaganjot took the conversation forward, leading many to accuse the company of not standing up to 'bigotry.'Following the conversation, many people expressed outrage, saying that they wanted to quit their Airtel connection.Speaking to Firstpost, an Airtel spokesperson then said, "The first tweet (posted by Shoaib) was a standard response. As per procedure, if a customer is not happy with a resolution officer, another person takes over. We are not pandering to anyone's religious biases."Original Source: Image: B Mathur / Reuters The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case filed against the government's proposal of a Social Media Communications Hub- a proposal which, all at once, is reminiscent ofand Snowden revelations of NSA surveillance. In other words, this is the latest privacy nightmare to hit India, before even the first draft of the Data Protection Bill is out, or the Aadhaar issue is resolved. The allegations include, on the one hand, violation of the right to privacy, and, on the other, violation of the right to freedom of speech.The present case, as per reports, was filed by Trinamool Congress MP Mohua Moitra for an emergency hearing before the Vacation Bench of the Supreme Court, but the Bench directed that the case be heard once the Court reopens. Alternatively, the petitioners are to file the case before a High Court. Previously, theto the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, asking for the tender put up for the Social Media Communications Hub be withdrawn.For those unfamiliar with the Social Media Communication Hub (the Hub), this is an initiative of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, aiming to monitor, collect and analyse data across all major social media platforms, and combine this with data from e-mails, news sites, blogs and complaint websites. The list of websites, which includes sites like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIN, Google+, etc., along with further details can be found in the tender issued a few months ago (See Page 28 onwards), inviting proposals for the software behind the Hub.As per this tender, data from all these sources are to be collected and combined to create a 360 degree profile of a person. This includes identifying 'influencers' based on follower counts, recording and archiving conversations and messages, and tracking 'customer' loyalty and past behavior.The platform is to have a New Media Command Room, which enables real time monitoring of such platforms and persons, in particular the influencers, customers, competitors and the like (there is no clarity as to who 'customers' or 'competitors' refers to). The tender specifies that the platform must be able to crawl every major website and the world wide web, for data mining. All this data, further, must be backed by location data and comprehensive metadata.The profiling in question, is to be automated as well as manual.This NSA like surveillance has been proposed, not to tackle terrorism (as is commonly used), nor for the public good (as is argued for Aadhaar), but to enable the I&B Ministry to understand the impact of various social media campaigns conducted on various government schemes. The tool, further, is required to provide inputs on how to improve this campaigning and on how to make a topic trending. While this appears to be the primary aim of the Hub, some points mentioned in the tender indicate that the Hub is also to be used for crisis identification and management and reactive communication strategy. There is no clarity on what is considered to be a crisis here.For these purposes, the tool is further required to have features, including the analysis of the people's sentiment towards a particular scheme; tracking of trends, topics and hashtags; monitoring of individual social media accounts as well as messages and tweets; among others. Further, this sentiment as well as context must be identifiable for a range of languages, including local languages like Telugu and Punjabi, and also foreign languages like French, Arabic, Chinese and German. It is clear that the scope of the surveillance to be carried out is not restricted to India. Further features, which are unclear, include the use of 'customers' identified through the Hub for targeted advertising.Next, the Hub is intended to enable 'predictive analysis', the details of which make it a concern, especially in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The analysis, as per the tender, is to include predictions of headlines and breaking news across various channels across the globe based on the channel's leaning, business dealings, investors and so on; what would be public perception to such news; and how public perception can be moulded in a 'positive manner for the country'.It goes on to require predictions on how nationalistic feelings can be inculcated in the masses, how the perception management of India can be improved and how social media and internet news/ discussion can be given a positive slant for India. The Hub, further, is required to have publishing capabilities, allowing it to disseminate information, indicating the possible use of this dissemination for such purposes of moulding as well. The tender also mentions activities like requiring influencer activation, enabling communication and crisis management, and identifying sentiments based on location.A new CIDR?- The Private Data Centre and the KMSFurther, the issue of the CIDR and the large scale storage of biometric data is yet to be resolved, yet this tender proposes a new database- a Private Data Centre, to be set up for backing up and archiving all the Hub's related data and content. A Knowledge Management System is also to be set up, and while it is unclear exactly what this is to store, it is to be used for the creation, capture, management, delivery and archiving of large volumes of document and content, which includes scanned document images, electronic documents and e-mails. The tender also mentions that the Hub must function like a search engine, enabling the search and discovery of information related to, for example, a particular trend.What is most surprising is that the launch of a project which, on such a large scale, invades the privacy and freedoms of the people, comes so close on the heels of the right to privacy verdict last year. The Puttaswamy judgment affirming the right to privacy laid down the following three tests to be met before the right to privacy could be invaded- first, there must be a law, second, there must be legitimate purpose to be met, and third, the infringement of privacy must be proportional to the purpose sought to be met.Yet, none of these conditions are met. The proposed Hub, based on information publicly available, has no basis on any law. Further, while no purpose justifies mass surveillance (as has also been pointed out by the Supreme Court itself in the Puttaswamy judgment, as well in the PUCL case on telephone tapping), the purpose suggested for the set up of the Hub, alongwith the scale of privacy invasion, simply cannot justify this project.To give a simple example, the analysis proposed by the Hub will easily include political opinion, an issue considered to be highly sensitive personal data, including in privacy legislations such as the GDPR. Such data will not only be collected and analysed by the government, 'loyalty' and 'behaviour' of the person will be analysed and recorded, and all of which will be archived and searchable. Moreover, efforts will be directed to modify this person's opinion, to give it a 'positive' or nationalistic slant. A person's basic right to hold an opinion, express it, change his mind, or to even delete a post is also lost.The tender, further, far from discussing anonymizing this data, requires identification of people. Consent makes no mention anywhere. To make matters worse, as per the Internet Freedom Foundation, the government has earmarked a budget of 42 crores for this.A project of this scale has major implications, for privacy, and for the freedom of speech. A legal battle against this can easily be expected to go along the same lines as Aadhaar, but hopefully not for as many years as the Aadhaar case. This use brings out several questions, on what uses the government intends to put people's data to, on whether the data protection law will be able to protect people from such uses, and whether, in the forthcoming age, people will have any control, at all, over their own data. A lot, thus, depends on the decision of the Supreme Court's decision in the Aadhaar case, and on the Justice Sri Krishna Committee report on Data Protection.Original Source: Its been years in the making, but Monday the Florida Department of Transportation showed the Fort Myers Beach Town Council what its spent millions on to produce. Its a new traffic pattern for the San Carlos Island, Matanzas Pass Bridge seasonal vehicle woes. This alternative is supposed to help traffic flow better. FDOT held a public meeting in February to get feedback on a number of options it was considering for both Estero Island and San Carlos Island. At Mondays council meeting, FDOT engineer Jennifer Marshall showed council the states picks to move forward with: one option for the beach and one for San Carlos Island. On the Fort Myers Beach side, FDOT plans to place a traffic signal at Crescent Street and Estero Boulevard and Fifth Street and Old San Carlos Boulevard. At the base of the bridge, where Fifth Street crosses San Carlos Boulevard, a pedestrian signal will be installed, replacing the one just a hundred feet down the road by the trolley stop and Crescent Beach Park. The right turn from Estero/ San Carlos on to Fifth Street will be eliminated. The trolley lane on the bridge will be re-designated for all traffic turning right, so that there will be two lanes of operational traffic headed over the bridge to the beach. Council Member Anita Cereceda objected to the pedestrian light at the base of the bridge. The worst thing you can do is let pedestrians cross there at all, she said. Add pedestrian activity to an increased traffic flow? No light will safeguard pedestrians. Council Member Bruce Butcher agreed, saying with the added sidewalk on Matanzas Pass Bridge, there may not be as many pedestrians crossing that space. Now, with only the sidewalk on the south side, pedestrians have to cross to get to Times Square, and vice versa. That should have some reduction in activity, he said. Cereceda suggested putting anything else there to deter pedestrians like cactus or barbed wire, to which Marshall jokingly responded, may not contribute to your beach ambiance. On the San Carlos side, FDOT has opted for a light at the beginning of the bridge at Main Street, and changing the alternating light at Buttonwood and San Carlos back to a regular light, but leaving the ability to flip to alternating again should the need arise. Hurricane Pass Bridge will also be widened to add a sidewalk and bike lanes, and the pedestrian light just north of this bridge would be taken out. Council Member Dennis Boback didnt support changing the alternating light it was installed to prevent road rage when people in the right hand lane tried to get back over in the left lane to get on the bridge. He didnt think opening it back up would work. Theyre going to go to the lane thats moving fastest, he said. The alternating lights were there to keep people from beating each other. The San Carlos Island selections configuration at the base of the bridge may have the opportunity potentially for the arches, Marshall added in her presentation. She said FDOT will be reaching out to the Resort the Fort Myers Beach Arches group in the future. All of these changes go hand in hand with the widening of Matanzas Pass Bridge to add a sidewalk to the other side of the bridge, Marshall said. FDOT wants to move into the designing phase during which Marshall assured the council any options they think absolutely wouldnt work could be addressed. When we get into design, we can get out of conceptual discussions into what can and cant be done, she said. Were trying to finish this study by the end of July. I hesitate to say were going to go back and analyze We want to get you something on the ground. The design timeline would be complete in 2019, Marshall said. Construction is not yet funded, and anticipated to be around 2023. Mayor Tracey Gore asked if FDOT had met yet with the Beach Area Civic Association; Marshall said they, and TPI Hospitality, were next on the list. Cars are getting better according to the latest 2018 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, but Korean ones are the best. The Hyundai Motor Group took the top three spots on this years list, with luxury brand Genesis ahead of Kia and Hyundai, with Porsche and Ford rounding out the top five. The survey ranks models on the number of problems reported per 100 vehicles out of a possible 233 during the first 90 days of ownership. It reflects both defects and general disappointment in the features. The overall industry average saw a four point improvement from 97 to 93 issues, with the biggest reduction in complaints coming in exterior design, infotainment systems and seats. Voice recognition and Bluetooth technology continue to be bugaboos for automakers, ranking highest on the annoyance list, while issues with driver aids -- including cruise control and lane-keeping assist continue to increase. The highest ranked car was the Porsche 911 with a score of 48, which set record for the latest version of the survey that debuted in 2013. The three participating domestic automakers, Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler, all received better scores than last year and improved more than the average, while Tesla did not take part in the survey. The Ford Motor Company, including Lincoln, had the most individual segment wins with five, followed by Hyundai Motor Group with four, and GM with three. One notable winner was the Buick Envision, which beat the Ford Escape and Honda CR-V in the Compact SUV segment to become the first Chinese-made vehicle to win an Initial Quality Study award. Here is the full list of class winners: Midsize car: Nissan Altima Midsize Sporty Car: Ford Mustang Minivan: Dodge Grand Caravan Midsize premium Car: Lincoln Continental Large Car: Nissan Maxima Large Premium Car: Genesis G90 Small SUV: Hyundai Tucson Small Premium SUV: (tie) BMW X1 and Mercedes-Benz GLA Compact SUV: Buick Envision Compact Premium SUV: Lincoln MKC Midsize SUV: Kia Sorento Midsize Premium SUV: BMW X6 Midsize Pickup: Nissan Frontier Large SUV: Ford Expedition Large Light Duty Pickup: Chevrolet Silverado Large Heavy Duty Pickup: (tie) Chevrolet Silverado HD and Ford Super Duty Tesla is suing an alleged saboteur who it says stole intellectual property and leaked phony information to the media in an effort to harm the company. CEO Elon Musk sent a letter to staff on Sunday to report that a disgruntled employee had "conducted quite extensive and damoging sabotage" to the company and ask everyone to be vigilant and to report anything suspicious. A federal lawsuit filed in Nevada accuses Martin Tripp, who was an employee at the companys Gigafactory near Reno, of hacking the automakers Manufacturing Operating System. It says he transferred data and photographs to outside parties and installed software onto the computers of three other employees that would continue exporting information if he left the company while implicating his co-workers. The lawsuit says Tripp also falsely told media outlets that the company was installing damaged battery packs into some of its Model 3 sedans and generating an unusually large amount of scrap material during production. The latter item was first reported by Business Insider, which was not named in the lawsuit. Tesla says Tripp started working for the company in October 2017 as a process technician and later complained that the role wasnt senior enough for him. He was assigned to a different position on May 17, 2018, after his managers said he was having issues with his co-workers, according to the lawsuit. The company claims it then discovered the alleged security breaches and interviewed Trapp on June 14 and again on June 15, when it says that he admitted to the hack. Tesla is asking the court for compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages. Tripp has not yet commented on the lawsuit. Speaking of the sabatoge, Musk tweeted on Wednesday: "There is more, but the actions of a few bad apples will not stop Tesla from reaching its goals. With 40,000 people, the worst 1 in 1000 will have issues. Thats still ~40 people." With opilio crab season in full swing, it was a mad dash to find the best hunting grounds on Deadliest Catch Season 14, Episode 11. The episode opened with a shocker as captain Keith Colburn returned to the Wizard after his brother, Monte, led it through a successful bairdi season. The veteran skipper had to sit out the previous fishing trip because of a spinal infection. He arrived before opilio to tell his brother that hes cured, but that theres been damage to his spine that will prevent him from coming on this trip as well. Unlike bairdi, which Monte was able to wrap up in a matter of days, hell need help running the boat through the longer season. Monte initially disagrees, feeling as though hes not being given fair credit for his role in the last trip, but Keith calmly explains that its a matter of running a 24 hour boat as one man. Reluctantly, the duo headed over to the Cornelia Marie to proposition Josh Harris to leave his family boat and join them for this season. Joshs co-captain says hes fine with it, but questions what Josh is getting out of it. The captain takes a day to think on it while Keith sweats it out. In the event Josh declines, hes got no real backup plan. Meanwhile, aboard the Saga, captain Jake Anderson is gambling by dropping his pots close to shore about 300 miles away from the rest of the fleet. The hope is that, if fruitful, the skipper will be able to save money on fuel and other logistical costs. However, if hes wrong, hes out thousands of dollars in lost time. While he leaves his pots to soak overnight, the boat experiences a problem. While trying to replace a fuel filter, the ships engineer caused a total blackout. While it was fixed quickly, it gave the crew a big scare as its never fun to have no control over a ship in the often deadly Bering Sea. The following day, back on the Cornelia Marie, Keith returns for a solid answer from Harris, but doesnt get what hes hoping for. Harris says that he respects the Wizard and owes his previous bairdi season to Montes help. However, he tells Keith that he needs to think about his own future and taking on a side project rather than continue to helm his family ship just doesnt make sense for him. Meanwhile, Anderson stars pulling the Saga's pots back up only to find that the grounds were fruitful, but with the wrong spieces of crab. Just like that, he's back to the drawing board. Keith, who now finds himself without a co-captain for his brother, couldnt help but respect Harris decision. With a handshake and a hug, the two parted ways. Luckily, Keith was able to call a friend out of retirement at the last minute. It looks like the Wizard will be a little late getting to the opilio grounds, but it will get there. "If I give him my earnings, he leaves me alone," says Mala, 20, who sells betel nut and other goods in Goroka. She's talking about the man she married when she was 12. Betel nut sellers in Goroka, the main city in the Eastern Highlands, say physical violence is particularly common in their marriages. But the extra income sometimes comes at a heavy price: violent beatings by their spouses. Two out of three women in Papua New Guinea experience abuse at the hands of an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization and aid groups. GOROKA - The women are mostly in their early 20s. They have children at home. Selling betel nut an addictive, natural chew to passers-by in mountain towns of Papua New Guinea is a good way to earn a living. "But if I refuse and argue that I am sitting in the sun and working hard to earn an income, he gets angry and hits me," she adds. Like other women interviewed, she asked to be identified only by her first name for privacy and out of fear of her husband. A dirt road near the Goroka airport leads to a squatter settlement down the hill. Dozens of women preside over stacks of vegetables on blankets or sell fried eggs out of big plastic containers. About 80 percent of Papua New Guineans participate in the informal economy, but betel nut sellers say they're often singled out by authorities and fined for making sales in the street. They are also harassed by criminal raskol gangs, who demand free cigarettes. Betel nut is the pit of the walnut-sized fruit of an areca palm tree. In Tok Pisin, one of the major national languages, it is called buai. The nut is chewed throughout the Pacific islands for a high similar to nicotine, and about as addictive. It is also carcinogenic and is believed to contribute to Papua New Guinea's high rate of mouth cancer, the most common type of cancer in the country. In the highlands, one betel nut costs 1 kina, the equivalent of 30 cents. People take it with a mustard stick and slacked lime powder, which turns the mixture bright red and compels the chewer to spit often onto the ground or into a small plastic bag. People chew it to relax and to get to know one another. "It's the fruit of love!" one Goroka resident exclaims. When men react violently because their wives are earning money on their own, it's because they see power as a zero-sum game, says Richard Eves, an Australian National University anthropologist who has published several studies on masculinity based on fieldwork in Papua New Guinea's highlands. "So any powerful woman is seen as a loss for men," Eves says. "Basically, they want to keep the status quo of them being the powerful person in the household. So that entails bullying their wives, and beating them up." While aid groups trying to stop violence against women may default toward focusing on female survivors, he says they should spend time with both sexes. "There's strong social pressures on the masculine role model there, to be assertive, to be in control, to be dominating," Eves says. "One of the things we need to do is challenge those rather toxic notions of masculinity that are at work." Patty - her husband is unemployed and sometimes steals the income she earns from selling buai Patty, a 27-year-old betel nut seller in Goroka, dropped out of school in second grade. At the time, her family struggled to pay for school fees and decided to educate her brothers instead. When she got older, she started selling betel nut at night, when there's less competition and plenty of customers people heading out to bars and nightclubs. But it is also a time when most Goroka residents stay home, fearing the high crime rate and armed raskol gangs that patrol the streets. "For other women, it's risky for them, they feel frightened. But for those of us who grew up in the settlement, it's safe for us," Patty says. Her sister-in-law Joyce runs a small market, selling cookies and canned tuna. Both she and Patty asked that only their first names be used so they could speak openly about private, sensitive issues involving work and home life. Their husbands, who are brothers, began to demand a share of their profits. A few months ago, the women saw that their earnings were missing again. "Both our husbands are unemployed and don't work. We do sales, earn enough money and save some aside," Patty says. "Then they come and take our money to go and drink," Joyce interjects. "So we fight. We become upset and we fight." They confronted their husbands in a public market, brandishing a knife. The confrontation ended without major injuries, but the abuse didn't stop. Domestic violence is illegal in Papua New Guinea, but it is rarely prosecuted. Instead of turning to police, survivors are much more likely to turn to family members or their community for retribution. "I am not happy, but this is life" The settlement where the betel nut sellers live is a maze of homes built with brush material, over streams and gullies. Extended families often live together in a collection of homes they built themselves, the houses facing each other across a courtyard of hard-packed soil. Increasingly, Papua New Guineans are leaving ancestral lands in search of jobs and education in cities and towns. But the cost of living in urban areas is far higher than in the countryside, and many people make their homes in informal squatter settlements like this one. About 62 percent of adults can read and write in Papua New Guinea, according to UNICEF. Jobs are scarce for those without a formal education, pushing many people into an informal economy of selling goods on the street. One of Patty's childhood friends, who asked not to be named out of concern for her family's privacy, is quieter than the others. She's 21, with bright blue braids woven into her hair. At night, she sells betel nut and loose cigarettes. "When we sell properly, we make 4 kina [$1.20] profit from a pack of cigarettes. But if the drunks come and destroy our market, we have a loss," she says through an interpreter. Her parents forced her to marry when she got pregnant at 15. But her husband was controlling, and would accuse her of having affairs when she sold betel nut. "I asked him why," she recalls. "'I loved you and I married you. Why are you mistreating me like this, belting me up?' And my husband said, 'I don't want you go out and seeing other men.' That's why he was hitting me." "Belting" is a term used to describe repeated strikes with an open hand or closed fist generally not a belt, despite the name and is often seen as a form of discipline. She left her husband, returned to her parents' village and married again. But she came back when she got word that her first husband had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. "He has mistreated me badly. But now that he's sick, you know, I have compassion for him. I'm taking care of him because there are no other people that can support him," she says. Many of the women who sell betel nut left school early and married young out of family pressure, financial necessity or both. When faced with abuse, they adapt in different ways. Some file for divorce. Others, for various reasons, fear leaving their husbands. Patty decided to remain in her marriage. Her husband once beat her until she lost consciousness. When she came to, she decided to fight back. "I got a knife and chased him. He slept outside for two nights and didn't come home," Patty says. "If he hits me in public, I beat him up as well. So he can feel the pain I'm feeling." Joyce, Patty's sister-in-law, says she got a court order to stop her husband from hitting her. "If he does it again, I can report him to be locked up for 10 years. Or he'll have to pay 10,000 kina [about $3,000] in compensation," she says. "So he's finally reforming himself." She says she'll stay in her marriage because she has two children, and because her husband paid a customary bride price to her family equal to $1,000. "He has fulfilled the custom and my people accepted the bride price payment, so I can't go back," Joyce says. "I am not happy, but this is life. So I just endure it and stay." As for Mala, she went to court and got a divorce from her husband. But when she sat down on a friend's porch a couple of months later to talk about it, she was ashen. "My mind is troubled when I'm alone," she says. "I don't have healthy thoughts." Her ex-husband remarried, but that wasn't the end of it. In the early spring, Mala walked to the market to sell fried eggs. Her ex-husband saw her, and beat her in the middle of the street. "I brought my eggs back to the house, and I told him that he ruins and stops every hope of running my business," Mala says. "So I stay at home." That day, she says, she decided to move to a bigger city. Now, she's going to try and make it on her own. Home births can be messy and actor James Van Der Beek and his wife, Kimberly, know that better than anyone. The couple just welcomed their fifth child, a baby girl named Gwendolyn, on Friday. Gwendolyn was delivered at the couple's home with assistance from a doctor and midwife, similar to the birth of their past three children, People reports. Every child awakens a different energy in you and this one has been bringing up the truth ever since we found out she was on her way, Van Der Beek told the publication. The 41-year-old "Dawsons Creek" alum got real about the birth on Instagram Monday, sharing a photo of his wife's placenta. JAMES VAN DER BEEK GIVES SUPER AWKWARD INTERVIEW ABOUT 'DAWSON'S CREEK' "Word of caution, if youre squeamish," he warned. In the photo, Van Der Beek is sitting on the ground with his baby in his arms and a placenta placed in a mixing bowl in front of him. "Messy bed Plastic sheeting underneath old sheets Old towel crumpled on the floor Vomit bag (unused) Inflatable birthing tub (also unused ) Shirtless Dad Boy in Spider-Man pajamas Happy, healthy baby Happy, healthy Mom in her own shower right after giving birth Water bottle And... placenta in a mixing bowl (I warned you)," he wrote. The photo received more than 60,000 likes and hundreds of responses. "Didnt think I could love you more, but now I do," one fan wrote. "Congratulations! What an amazing cool post! Honest and messy, and lovely! Lots of well wishes for the future!" another echoed. Van Der Beek first posted photos of his newborn on Sunday in celebration of Father's Day. "[Kimberly] youre a f---ing earth goddess rock star and Im as in awe of you as I am in love with you," he captioned the post. JAMES VAN DER BEEK REVEALS HIS RUN-IN WITH TRUMP, TALKS UPCOMING ROLE IN 'POSE' Van Der Beek also used the platform to voice his disapproval of children being separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, calling on President Trump and Congress to do something. "As I write this, kids are being ripped from the arms of their parents. By our government. For the kids benefit? No - the opposite - as a purposeful display of cruelty to deter would-be illegal border crossers AND legal asylum seekers (its happening to both). And it wouldnt be honest to wax poetic about my new-baby bliss without speaking up against this atrocity," he wrote. Although Sandra Bullock had never worked with Harvey Weinstein, the Oscar winner still heard stories about the now-disgraced producer. I heard about Harvey and I was afraid of him, Bullock told The Sunday Times in a new interview published on Sunday, according to People Magazine. Recalled Bullock, 53: I wasnt asked to be in that world. I learnt early on to shut things off so those things didnt come my way. I only heard what Harvey wanted people to hear, and that made me so f--king angry. People would say, Well, you know how she got that role? She f--ked Harvey. I would say, Shut the f--k up. You dont know that. Then, later, to find out that woman was brutally attacked They didnt sleep with Harvey. Harvey wanted you to think that." Weinstein has been accused by dozens of women of harassment, sexual assault and rape since late 2017. However, he has repeatedly denied all allegations of non-consensual sex. According to People Magazine, Bullock said she was really, really scared about the consequences the brave people, who are coming forward, might suffer. I was like, Oh my God, this is amazing, but f--k, f--k, f--k, what if it doesnt work? Please God, let it not swing the other way. Were in such uncharted territory right now. Ive seen a lot of fear and a lot of men of a certain generation not understanding, said the star. I saw a tremendous amount of fear from men on set, continued Bullock, who did not name a specific film. In the end, I said, I know youre scared, but I feel safe, so you can make some jokes now. But if you cross the line, I will f--k you up. Bullock reportedly went on to share that her humor was how she's "always navigated tricky situations." Thats how Ive survived," explained Bullock, adding that "very early on" in her career she "had a situation on a film, which was hard." "It came from a person of authority," shared Bullock, who did not name the individual or movie. "I kept deflecting it with humor and it didnt work. Finally, I said, Please just fire me." Earlier this month, Weinstein, 66, pleaded not guilty to rape and criminal sex acts at a New York courthouse. He turned himself into the New York City Police Department in May -- nearly eight months after an explosive expose sparked a cataclysm of women who have publicly accused the disgraced movie mogul of sexual assault, harassment and rape. He was charged with rape, criminal sex acts, sex abuse and sexual misconduct on two women by the NYPD on May 25. When George Takei was 5 years old, he was sent to a Japanese internment camp, but the "Star Trek" star says that the United States' current family separation policy is "in one core, horrifying way" worse. "At least during the internment of Japanese-Americans, I and other children were not stripped from our parents," Takei said in an op-ed piece for Foreign Policy published on Tuesday. "We were not pulled screaming from our mothers arms. We were not left to change the diapers of younger children by ourselves." Takei, 81, went on to explain that remaining with his family is what got him through his "unjust imprisonment." "At least during the internment, we remained a family, and I credit that alone for keeping the scars of our unjust imprisonment from deepening on my soul." He continued: "I cannot for a moment imagine what my childhood would have been like had I been thrown into a camp without my parents. That this is happening today fills me with both rage and grief: rage toward a failed political leadership who appear to have lost even their most basic humanity, and a profound grief for the families affected." Takei is not the first star to slam Trump's immigration policy, which reportedly has led to the separation of nearly 2,000 children from their families during a six-week period in April and May after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a zero-tolerance approach to immigrants who cross into the U.S. illegally. On Monday, Chelsea Handler took to Twitter claiming the United States is at risk of turning into Nazi Germany. "Can someone please DM who knows of an organized movement to revolt against this latest trump abomination at the border? We need to stop everything and march until this Trump policy ends," the comedian, 43, wrote. "We are going to end up like Germany in WWII. We have to all stand up and do something." Last week, Chrissy Teigen, posted a note to Twitter explaining that she and each member of her family are donating $72,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to mark the occasion of Trumps 72nd birthday. John and I are outraged to see and hear the horror stories of immigrant families seeking asylum and refuge in America being ripped apart due to the inhumane policies of the Trump administration. These actions are cruel, anti-family and go against everything we believe this country should represent," wrote Teigen. "The ACLU is committed to defending the rights of humanity and these vulnerable families." "In addition to fighting for immigrants rights, theyre advocating for reproductive rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, LGBT rights, 1st amendment rights and holding the Trump administration accountable whenever possible," the 32-year-model added before pledging her and husband, John Legend's donation, and asking fans to also donate however much they could. ABC News apologized Wednesday after airing a graphic that falsely stated former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to five counts of manslaughter -- but the network would not reveal how the embarrassing mistake happened. During a live ABC News special report on President Trump discussing plans to sign an executive order regarding the ongoing immigration issue of separating families, ABC's on-screen graphic said, Manafort pleads guilty to 5 charges of manslaughter. The inaccurate graphic was on air for roughly 5 seconds. The network said it was investigating how the mistake happened, but got into no more detail. Trump himself fired back Wednesday afternoon in a tweet: Look what Fake ABC News put out. I guess they had it prepared from the 13 Angry Democrats leading the Witch Hunt! #StopTheBias Manafort, 69, was sent to jail on Friday after U.S District Judge Amy Berman Jackson revoked his $10 million bail, citing new witness tampering charges brought by the special counsel probing Russia election meddling, Robert Mueller. Manafort is not accused of manslaughter. We regret and apologize for the false lower third graphic that aired during our special report. We are investigating how incorrect information was in our system and how and why it was allowed to air, ABC News tweeted. We apologize to our viewers and to Mr. Manafort. There simply is no excuse for this sort of mistake. Manafort's trial before Jackson in Washington, D.C., is expected to begin in September. He has an additional federal case pending in Virginia, and analysts say the bail revocation may complicate his ability to coordinate with his attorneys on both cases. The blunder is the latest setback for ABCs troubled news division, which has struggled for identity in recent years as the TV news spotlight has shifted to cable and the Internet. Disney is selling the New York City buildings that currently house ABC News HQ to a developer whos expected to demolish them and build luxury condos. ABC has been under fire for paying the stars of its news division big bucks in a phenomenon one ABC insider called excess amid rot and decay." Falsely claiming that Manafort pleaded guilty to manslaughter is not the first high-profile mistake directed at former or current Trump surrogates. ABC correspondent Brian Ross famously crashed the financial markets with an inaccurate report about the special counsel looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Earlier this year, The View co-host Joy Behar was slammed for making offensive comments about Vice President Pences Christian faith. Further, President-elect Trump accused ABCs chief foreign affairs correspondent, Martha Raddatz, of crying on the air on election night (she denies this). In addition to the various liberal bias controversies swirling around ABC News, Disney also has faced criticism over anti-Trump comments by ESPN stars, as well as by ABC's late-night comedy star Jimmy Kimmel, who has at times used his program as a vehicle for attacks on the president and White House policies. Fox News Gregg Re contributed to this report. Late-night host Jimmy Fallon is famous for his celebrities interviews, but it was his 2016 with the then-presidential nominee Donald Trump that landed the TV host in hot water with viewers. I did not do it to normalize him or to say I believe in his political beliefs or any of that stuff, Fallon told the Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview. The host had the real estate mogul on his show prior to his 2016 New Hampshire rally, and during the interview he asked Trump if there was something he could do before he would potentially become president of the United States. "I'm not liking the sound of this, but go ahead," Trump said. Fallon replied, "Can I mess your hair up?" Trump agreed and let Fallon reach out and ruffle his iconic hair a jester that made waves on the Internet. The host later explained in a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair that he was just "trying to have fun" with Trump, but revealed that he was "devasted" to learn that people had a negative reaction to the interview. Fans thought that Fallon was too easy on the presidential nominee and failed to address any pressing topics. It just got bigger and out of control, the comedian explained, admitting that even "Saturday Nigth Live" made fun of his presidential interview. I saw other comedians from other shows making fun of me on Twitter and I go, OK, now Im just gonna get off. They know the show. Im just doing five hours a week. I get in at 10 in the morning, I work till seven at night, and Im just trying to make a funny show. But Fallon assured fans that he was not approving of Trump or his beliefs just because he joked around with the president on the show. You know the grind, and you know me. Of all the people in the world, Im one of the good people," Fallon said. "I mean, really. You dont even know what youre talking about if you say that Im evil or whatever, he said. And even though the host was disappointed with the fact that he upset fans, he defended his style of work and dismissed those who choose not to see the full picture. But people just jump on the train, and some people dont even want to hear anything else," he said. "Theyre like, No, you did that! You go, Well, just calm down and just look at the whole thing and actually see my body of work.'" Actor Kevin Costner criticized the Trump administrations border policy saying he does not "recognize America right now." Costner, 63, appeared on The View Tuesday to promote his Western drama, Yellowstone, when he was asked how he felt about the immigration policy which has reportedly separated nearly 2,000 immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. EVA LONGORIA GIVES BIRTH TO FIRST CHILD, WELCOMES A BABY BOY You know, this is a hard thing to say, but I dont Im not recognizing America right now, Costner told the hosts. I dont recognize its voice. I dont recognize any individual statements. I feel people going with the flow, and theres people right in the middle. And were in a really weird spot, and it takes a high level of compassion, empathy and intelligence to work our way out of this. The Academy Award winner continued, Separating people with no plan, when those children cant even speak English. Can you imagine the terror? Besides just being separated? So we have to do better. Weve been about more, we can be about more and right now we are acting really small. Costner joins a group of celebrities including Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres and Willie Nelson in publicly denouncing the border policy. JOHN CENA TELLS NIKKI BELLA HE WILL REVERSE VASECTOMY TO GET BACK TOGETHER Costner told Fox News last week that he jumped at the opportunity to star in the show Yellowstone, a Western which follows a ranching family on the verge of losing their land to a Native American reservation. The appeal of this was the outdoors, Costner told Fox News. [But] it was really the story that Taylor [Sheridan, the shows creator] crafted in the script, and that was what I gravitated towards. I think a good story is always relevant, and that becomes the time to tell it, you know. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Actor Peter Fonda has issued an apology for his inappropriate and vulgar tweet about the presidents son, Barron Trump, in which he called for him to be ripped from his mother and put in a cage with pedophiles. After some since-deleted tweets the 78-year-old actor made about the Trump Administrations policy of separating children from their families at the southern border gained negative attention and were flagged by the Secret Service, hes issued an apology and brief explanation for his rhetoric. "I tweeted something highly inappropriate and vulgar about the president and his family in response to the devastating images I was seeing on television. Like many Americans, I am very impassioned and distraught over the situation with children separated from their families at the border, but I went way too far," he wrote in a statement provided to Fox News. "It was wrong and I should not have done it. I immediately regretted it and sincerely apologize to the family for what I said and any hurt my words have caused." As previously reported, the star caught flak online for tweeting that someone should rip the 12-year-old son of Donald Trump from his mothers arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles. Twitter users, including Donald Trump Jr., immediately jumped on Fonda for his comments noting that calling for the rape of a child goes far beyond political debate. Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's spokesperson, called the tweet "sick and irresponsible" in a statement to Fox News and said the United States Secret Service has been notified of Fonda's threats. The stars tweets did not stop at the comments about the first lady and her son. In other since-deleted tweets, he used vulgar language to comment on Sarah Sanders, Stephen Miller and Kirstjen Nielsen. Since then, many fans, led by a charge from Trump Jr. have been calling for a boycott of Fonda's upcoming movie "Boundaries." Although Fonda has both deleted and apologized for the threatening tweets and vulgar comments made about the Trump family and administration, hes far from gone back on his crusade to tweet about the Trump administrations immigration policy. A cursory scroll through his Twitter of late will see a number of passionate responses and retweets to stories and pundits cricial of the border practice. In the midst of the controversy surrounding Fonda, president Trump signed an executive order that would end the practice of separating children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. A man in his 70s was rescued by a bystander after he was stabbed repeatedly during a reportedly unprovoked knife attack at a Burger King Tuesday morning. BURGER KING FANS TRADE BOARDING PASSES FOR WHOPPER AT AIRPORT According to police, the suspect, in his 30s, approached three men eating at a table inside of the Burbank, Calif., restaurant. The attacker started stabbing one of the men in the face. All of the sudden, a man starts stabbing my friend, witness Paul Liotopoulis told NBC Los Angeles. He was yelling, screamingI was just minding my own business. I cant believe it. Liotopoulis held up a chair to protect himself, while another customer brought the attacker the ground and held him until police arrived, FOX28 reported. Thank God for him. Otherwise, he was going to kill everybody, James Kezios, another friend of the victim, said, FOX28 reported. The suspect was stabbed multiple times during the altercation. The suspect was transported to a hospital in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, ABC7 reported. The victim was also transported to a hospital, but with non-life-threatening injuries. The man who stepped in and stopped the attack was not transported to the hospital, authorities said. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS The attack is currently being investigated. The suspect did not appear to know any of the men at the restaurant, which ABC7 reported was crowded during the time of the incident. Officers from the Brooklyn Park Police Department saved the day after 9-year-old Minnesota boy Gracen had his lemonade stand funds stolen. Last Thursday, Gracen was taking advantage of the hot weather by setting up a lemonade stand in his Brooklyn Park, Minn., neighborhood. Lemonade on the right. Mostly in the morning, Gracen hand wrote on a sign with an arrow directing potential customers to his table on the sidewalk. MILLENNIALS ARE THE WORST TIPPERS, NEW SURVEY SHOWS That day the stand had been particularly popular, earning the young boy $20. However, his fortune was short-lived. According to KTIS, Mark, Gracens dad, said two junior high kids took $20 from Gracens cup. Two junior high kids on bikes drove by his stand and stole $20 out of his cup. Gracen called me up and asked me if he should call the police, and I said that he probably shouldnt bother them, but I did pray for him over the phone using the verse from Proverbs 6:31 that says whatever the thief steals, he has to pay back sevenfold. Mark told KTIS he kept thinking about his sons plight and called Gracen back to tell him to call the police. Later I called him back and told him to go ahead and call the police that if they werent busy maybe they would help him out. When I got home there were two Brooklyn Park police cars on the street in front of his lemonade stand and the nice lady officer told him she was going to replace his $20, and she said, but I want Dad to hold on to it, so she gave it to me to hold for him. After that, a third police car showed up, and that officer asked for 4 cups of lemonade and gave him $5. By the end of the day, he had $50 because of the officers, Mark said. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS The next day, Mark said another officer stopped by his sons stand. My wife and I were really blessed. In fact the next day another officer stopped by for lemonade, and she was out there with tears in her eyes thanking him. She couldnt believe that people would do this for a child. I had tears in my eyes too, that it was so precious that something so little could mean so much, Mark said to KTIS. Gracen plans to thank the officers by bringing cookies and a thank you note to the department. A federal jury has awarded $18.4 million in damages to a man who said in a lawsuit that two doctors failed to test him for HIV, which allowed the virus to progress to AIDS. The Boston Globe reports the jury ruled Monday in favor of 48-year-old Sean Stentiford in his medical malpractice lawsuit against internist Stephen Southard and neurologist Kinan Hreib. UNJUSTIFIED MEDICATION SHORTENED 456 LIVES IN A UK HOSPITAL, REPORT SAYS Stentiford said he consented to an HIV test in 2007 because he was experiencing facial paralysis. The suit says Hreib canceled the test because he felt Stentiford had no risk of HIV. Stentiford's lawyer says his client should have been tested because he is gay and was exposed to bodily fluids while working as a paramedic. Lawyers for the doctors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China's largest battery provider Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) signed a contract on a large energy storage project of lithium battery with Fujian Investment & Development Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Fujian Investment) on June 18. The project will roll into Jinjiang, Fujian Province. It is known that CATL, Fujian Investment and Fujian Electric Power Survey & Design Institute (hereinafter referred to as "FEDI") will form partnership to finish the construction of the project. The project involving RMB 2.4 billion is planned to be built into three phases. The first phase will build a 100MWh lithium battery storage facility. The scales of lithium battery storage facility for the second and third phase will be expanded to 500MWh and 1,000MWh respectively. At the same time, the supporting mobile storage facility and mobile charging facility will be also provided. The first phase of the project will occupy an area of 20 mu (about 13,333 square meters) with a planned investment of RMB 300 million. After put into operation, the phase's annual production value will reach RMB 100 million. Established in 2011, CATL sells batteries for cars, buses, and logistics vehicles. It experienced remarkable sales growth during the past three years. From 2015 to 2017, the company's revenue reached RMB 5.703 billion, RMB 14.879 billion and RMB 19.997 billion with an average compound annual growth of 87.26%. Its net profits totaled RMB 951 million, RMB 2.918 billion and RMB 4.194 billion with an average compound annual growth of 110.05%. On June 11, the largest battery provider in China made its debut on the ChiNext board in Shenzhen with market shares soaring 44%, which is the maximum allowed for newly listed stocks on their first day of trade. More than 450 patients died prematurely in a British hospital after they were given powerful painkillers with no medical justification, in what a damning report on Wednesday found was a disregard for human life. Britains prosecution service said it would examine whether criminal charges could be brought following the deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in southern England. An independent panel found that between 1989 and 2000, there was an institutionalized regime of prescribing and administering dangerous doses of opioids at the hospital which were not clinically necessary. There was a disregard for human life and a culture of shortening the lives of a large number of patients, the report said, adding that warnings from nurses had been ignored and there had been a failure by police and medical regulators to protect patients. WOMAN CLAIMS BOTCHED IMPLANT SURGERY LEFT HER WITH BACTERIAL INFECTION, SEVERE SCARRING The families, and indeed the nation as a whole, are entitled to ask how these events could have happened, it added. The 387-page report concluded that 456 patients were given opioids without justification and probably at least another 200 patients similarly affected but whose clinical notes were not found. The events at Gosport Memorial Hospital were tragic, they are deeply troubling, and they brought unimaginable heartache to the families concerned, Prime Minister Theresa May said in parliament. The findings are obviously distressing. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt apologized in parliament to the families, and said police would work with the prosecutors on possible charges. Had the establishment listened when ordinary families raised concerns... many of those deaths would not have happened, he said. MOM WARNS ON VENOMOUS CATERPILLARS AFTER SON'S HARROWING MEDICAL SCARE The report noted the Gosport deaths and the concerns raised about them occurred at the same time as it was revealed that British family physician Harold Shipman, dubbed Dr Death had been responsible for killing patients in his care with lethal heroin injections. Shipman, convicted in 2000 for murdering 15 patients, killed as many as 250 people in his care according to a later inquiry. But the panel examining the Gosport scandal said the circumstances were different. We draw a distinction because Harold Shipman acted alone, apparently, whereas what we are describing ... in this report is an institutionalized practice, and that is a significant difference, Reverend James Jones, the chairman of the independent panel, told reporters. A Brick, New Jersey teen made a patriotic prom tuxedo entirely out of duct tape and it could win him $10,000. Nicholas Matawa used 29 rolls of duct tape and spent 34 hours creating the tuxedo, which he entered in Duck Brand's Stuck at Prom scholarship competition. Hes now one of five finalists for the tuxedo portion of the contest. If he wins, Matawa told Fox News he wants to put the prize money toward tuition at Marshall University in West Virginia, where he hopes to study radio and television production. Renee Nitti, Matawas mom, told NJ.com the money could be the deciding factor of whether or not she can afford to send her son to college. A single mother, Nitti said the financial aid theyve received isnt quite enough. Thats partly why Matawa began researching scholarship opportunities, like the Duck competition. "I just stumbled across it," he said of the contest, adding that it was the first time he's ever done "anything with duct tape to this scale before." Matawa said the theme of this year's prom at Brick Memorial High School, where he will graduate from later Wednesday, was Around the World." This inspired him to represent the U.S. because I love my country, he wrote in his entry. I think that, from head to toe, I hit that feeling of patriotism that I was aiming for, he added. The teen, who told NJ.com he based the tuxedo off a sketch his mom drew, said the hardest part of the project wasnt the material, but rather locating the specific color or design of tape needed to complete the project. Not every store stocks up with all the shades and prints that are available. "It weighs close to five pounds and doesn't handle sweat well," he said. But that didnt stop him from wearing the tuxedo to prom in May, he said, adding that his outfit was the main reason he was elected to the prom court. "The teachers went wild," Matawa said. The soon-to-be high school graduate said people are flabbergasted an amazed that such a feat can be achieved with duct tape and duct tape alone. While the teen said he would be "disappointed" if his creation doesn't win, he plans to congratulate whoever does "to be a good sport." "It takes a whole lot of guts to do this competition," he said. "I've been grateful to be a part of this." The winner of the competition will be announced on July 9. An Ohio man may reconsider healthy eating after discovering a lively black widow spider inside a bag of fresh produce he had just purchased at a Maumee Kroger. Jacob Vaughn, of South Toledo, told WTOL he was rinsing off a head of broccoli in the sink when he spotted a large black widow spider crawling out of the bag. Quickly, Vaughn used a pair of tongs to grab a piece of broccoli the spider was on top of, carefully placing the critter inside a Ziploc bag. CUSTOMER REVOLTED BY GROSS INSTRUCTIONS ON BURGER RECEIPT "The spider came out and started waving his hands. It was pretty obvious he was alive since he was throwing his hands in every direction. He did not seem pleased," Vaughn told the news station. "The spider came out and started waving his hands. It was pretty obvious he was alive since he was throwing his hands in every direction. He did not seem pleased." Jacob Vaughn Vaughn sent his mother, Chandra, a terrifying video of the black and red-spotted spider, which she then shared on Facebook as a warning to friends. INDIANA MAN WARNS LOCALS TO 'BEWARE' OF GIANT SPIDERS AFTER SPOTTING 6-INCH CRAWLER AT WORK Black widow spiders are considered the deadliest arachnids in the U.S., with a venomous bite about 15 times more potent than a rattlesnake's, according to National Geographic. "In humans, bites produce muscle aches, nausea, and a paralysis of the diaphragm that can make breathing difficult," National Geographic explained in a post online. Black widow spider bites can be fatal, especially for young children or the elderly, but they're pretty rare. The critters typically only use venom as a defense mechanism. Kroger confirmed the incident in an email to Fox News on Tuesday. "Kroger works with growers to ensure we are always providing safe, quality food to our customers. We encourage customers to inspect fresh produce prior to consuming," the company said in a statement. "If customers are not satisfied with their purchase they are welcome to return it for a refund or exchange." TARANTULA BURGER SPECIAL SOLD AT NORTH CAROLINA RESTAURANT HAS LEGS Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. A video of the spider made its way to Cheryl Garcia, who works with Another Chance Sanctuary in Clyde. Garcia reached out to the family in order to save the black widow spider. The organization has since been giving updates on the spider through their Facebook page, Life with Elliott and Friends. On Thursday, the group announced that the black widow, who they named "Broccoli," had been adopted. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS "Congratulations to Broccoli on her new home. She will be going to live with a young lady who recently lost her female black widow," the rescue group wrote in a Facebook post. "Little Broccoli has become a little super spider star." NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! News Tuesday that FBI agent Peter Strzok was escorted from the FBI building and effectively suspended from his duties was long overdue and a welcome development. Strzok improperly sent numerous harsh anti-Trump texts during the 2016 presidential campaign in exchanges with an FBI colleague he was romantically involved with. Strzok was removed last summer by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as the lead FBI agent in Muellers probe of Russian interference in the presidential election and possible Trump campaign collusion with the Russians, after Strzoks texts blasting candidate Donald Trump were discovered. Strzok was reassigned to the FBIs Human Resources Division until he was escorted out of the agency, reportedly on Friday. Strzok removal from the FBI building put Strzok on notice that the bureau intends to fire him, The Washington Post reported. The removal came after Strzoks texts expressing strong opposition to Trump and his presidential candidacy were revealed. Strzok was at the heart of the partisan, inappropriate political messages against Trump and in support of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that were exchanged among FBI agents through the FBIs internal communications system, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a report issued last week. The Horowitz report investigated how the FBI conducted an investigation of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clintons mishandling of State Department emails, including some that were classified, using her own private email server and personal email account. According to Horowitz, Strzoks texts attacking candidate Trump sowed doubt about the FBIs handling of the (Clinton) investigation, and impacted the reputation of the FBI. The damage caused by Strzoks actions, and that of other FBI employees went to the heart of the FBIs reputation for neutral fact-finding and political independence, Horowitz said in his report. In fact, Inspector General Horowitz found that Strzoks texts with his FBI lover Lisa Page (who has since left the FBI) potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper considerations. Strzoks texts telling Page that well stop candidate Trump from being elected and other extensive text messages between the two disparaging candidate Trump indicate a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, implies a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidates electoral prospects, Horowitz wrote. Strzoks actions were, according to the inspector general, antithetical to the core values of the FBI and the Department of Justice. In fact, the text messages led the inspector general to conclude that he did not have confidence that Strzoks decision to prioritize the Russian investigation over the Clinton email probe was free from bias. The actions of Strzok and the other FBI agents involved in the Clinton investigation demonstrated extremely poor judgment and a gross lack of professionalism, Horowitz wrote. Fired FBI Director James Comey also was harshly criticized in the Horowitz report for his conduct in the Clinton email probe. Of course, while the inspector generals report was only released last week, many of the text messages that demonstrated Strzoks bias, partisanship, poor judgment, and gross lack of professionalism have been in the public eye for months which means that the leadership of the FBI has known about them for even longer. For over a year, the public and more importantly FBI leadership has known about Peter Strzoks unprofessional behavior and abuse of his authority as an FBI agent. Action to remove Strzok from the FBI should have been taken months ago. The FBI is the most powerful law enforcement agency in the country, with a power that can destroy an individual who is the target of an unethical, unprofessional, partisan investigation. The mission statement of the FBI recognizes its duty to combat public corruption at all levels and to carry out its responsibilities in a manner that is responsive to the needs of the public and is faithful to the Constitution of the United States. Fighting corruption at all levels includes, most importantly, fighting corruption inside the FBI to avoid such corruption tainting its investigations, hurting innocent individuals, and making the American people doubt that they can trust the objectivity and ethics of the FBI. This requires the FBI to act quickly and decisively when it discovers corruption, which includes unethical and unprofessional behavior not wait months or even years. So it is a good thing that the FBI leadership has finally acted to begin a process that will hopefully result in the firing of Strzok. But if the FBI wants to restore its reputation and repair the enormous damage it has suffered to its credibility, then it has to act faster and more comprehensively with regard to all of the wrongdoing it has discovered by its personnel, including that revealed by the inspector generals report. Otherwise, the bureaucracy will simply shrug its shoulders and continue on a downward path that destroys the effectiveness of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And no one except for criminals, terrorists, and other wrongdoers wants that to happen. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! By an Anonymous Feline (as told to Cal Thomas) The other day while using my litter box I noticed a story at the bottom about a study conducted by the University of Salford in Manchester, England. It said dogs are smarter than cats. I laughed so hard that I nearly coughed-up a hair ball. This kind of thinking proves how successful we felines have been in fooling humans. You humans are so ignorant of history you are repeating it. What dog holds such a high place in history as cats? Think of ancient Egypt. While on my laptop a few days ago (my human was asleep) and while simultaneously watching my favorite TV channel, Animal Planet, I found this on the Wikipedia website: Diodorus Siculus describes an interesting example of swift justice imposed upon the killer of a cat. About 60 BC, he witnessed a Roman accidentally kill an Egyptian cat. An outraged mob gathered and, despite pleas from pharaoh Ptolemy XII, killed the Roman. Has anyone valued a dog this highly? And whats all of that in the study about how dogs talk to humans by rolling over to have their bellies scratched? How undignified. Cats prefer to have their heads scratched and when we allow humans to do it we sometimes bite them just so they remember who is really, shall I say it, top dog. The study also says dogs communicate with humans by barking. Are they kidding? A barking dog is one of the most irritating sounds one can hear, especially if it is in the middle of the night. Cats purr, a delightful sound to humans and other cats. Purring communicates contentment. When a dog barks you never know what he means. Something else. Do you know why dogs identify more closely with the Democratic Party and cats with the Republicans? Let me inform you. We cats are independent. We dont need a lot of things from others. Keep our food and water bowls full and the litter box clean and we are happy. Dogs, on the other paw (pardon the pun) are in constant need of attention and must be taken outside and walked where they do their business on other peoples lawns, infuriating neighbors if that business is not properly picked up. Ugh! A study wasnt needed to learn the superior qualities of cats over dogs. What do you think the comic strip character Garfield was trying to teach you? Remember his dog-mate Odie, perhaps the dumbest dog on the planet? Odie couldnt stop drooling (cats never drool) and always misunderstood what Garfield said to him. Heres all you need to know about Odie: His name came from a car dealership commercial written by cartoonist Jim Davis, which featured Odie the Village Idiot. Enough said. The next study might focus on why cat lovers are smarter and superior to scientists. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! This week has shown how serious and determined the Trump-Pence team is about launching America into a new era of leadership in space and ensuring our dominance there for generations to come. Consider President Trumps announcement at the National Space Policy Council meeting on Monday that the Department of Defense will create a U.S. Space Force as the sixth branch of our military. Couple this with the announcement of Space Policy Directive-3, which will create the worlds first official system for extraterrestrial traffic management, along with the continued effort by the Department of Commerce to streamline commercial access to space. Each of these actions represents a tremendous step forward in the development of our economy and civilization beyond Earth. Taken together, they are game-changing and truly historic. First, establishing the U.S. Space Force is the clearest possible way for President Trump to tell our international allies (and opponents) that America is serious about national security in space. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine noted at the National Space Council Users Advisory Group meeting on Tuesday that the principle purpose of the Navy is to protect our seaborne commerce. Similarly, Bridenstine asserted that the principle purpose of the Space Force will be to protect and defend our space economy. This announcement was a powerful signal to young Americans that they can expect to have careers in space during their lifetimes. Just as young patriots have traveled the globe on land, air, and sea while serving our country, soon American Space Force members will be able to protect our nation in space between the Earth and moon, on the moon, or beyond. Finally, calling for the establishment of the Space Force was an excellent way to bypass the bureaucratic resistance President Trump would have faced had he tried to push our terrestrial service branches into focusing resources outside the atmosphere. Military operations in space will require new, specialized thinking, training and equipping different from those of current military branches. A dedicated service will be able to accomplish significantly more for our space-based national defense. President Trumps signing of Space Policy Directive-3 on Monday was also very significant. Not only does it set the pace of his administrations expectations (it is the third actionable space policy directive in three meetings of the National Space Council), but it could also help solidify Americas central role in space travel globally. The directive calls for the development of a U.S. space traffic management policy. This may sound like a bureaucratic step, but maritime law was largely written by the British because England had the most sea commerce and wrote the rules. Similarly, the Federal Aviation Administration wrote the standard rules for air travel because the U.S. had the largest commercial aviation sector. President Trump and Vice President Pence are determined to repeat this pattern of leadership in space. In addition to following President Trumps administration-wide instruction to cut expensive regulations, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has been diligently working to consolidate and streamline space regulations into the Office of Space Commerce. The ultimate goal is to turn the Office of Space Commerce into a one-stop shop for all federal regulations required for activities outside the atmosphere. While this is still in process, I heard from several commercial space business leaders at the Users Advisory Group meeting Tuesday who said Rosss actions have already been a tremendous help. All of these initiatives add up to truly remarkable progress in bringing America back into the leadership position in the new space race. Aside from sheer power of vision and force of will, President Trump has been able to achieve this early success because he has built an exemplary team. Vice President Pences background and passion for space policy (combined with the power of his position) make him the perfect person to chair the renewed National Space Council. This is bolstered and optimized by the experience and professionalism of Scott Pace, the National Space Councils executive secretary. Similarly, I could not think of a better person to lead NASA than Administrator Bridenstine. Like the vice president, Bridenstine has been a thoughtful, aggressive advocate for American space leadership since serving in Congress. Im confident that Administrator Bridenstine will be able to take his enthusiasm and his knowledge of the U.S. space program to implement changes at NASA necessary to make it a pioneering 21st century space agency. Finally, I was thoroughly impressed by retired Navy Adm. James Ellis, chairman of the National Space Council Users Advisory Group (UAG) a group that, as he pointed out, had never actually met until Tuesday (even during past incarnations of the National Space Council). Elliss ability to lead, coordinate, and mediate a group of more than two dozen top commercial and intellectual space leaders will be critical to making the UAG as effective and important as it can and should be. The Trump-Pence administration has already demonstrated an impressive willingness to break our country out of old habits and steer us toward a better future here on Earth. If it can keep up this momentum (and I think it will) we will soon be the nation that leads our world into a new pioneering age of commerce, science and exploration beyond Earth. It has been a truly amazing two days especially for those of us who believe in the importance of space for the future of all mankind. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! A recent United Nations report blasting President Trump and America in general for harboring contempt and hatred for the poor is based on highly inaccurate data that cant easily be used to compare the U.S. to other nations. The U.N. reports main contentions read like an attack on the Trump administration by the Democratic Party: America has 40 million poor people, including 18.5 million who live in extreme poverty; U.S. policies regarding the poor are cruel and inhuman; the Trump tax cuts arent working and will worsen inequality; and the U.S. needs to spend less on defense of our nation and more on social programs. But, wait a minute: the U.N. reports main contentions are based on the U.S. Census Bureaus official poverty measure data for 2016 the last full year of President Obamas second term. So it would be absurd to say that private citizen Donald Trump had any responsibility for the many shortcomings of the Obama administration or any other administration in power before he became president. The U.N. might as well blame Trump for causing the Great Depression before he was born. An even bigger problem with the report, especially given that the organization attacking American policy is the U.N., is that the Census Bureau data for 2016 isnt accurate and cant be used to compare U.S. anti-poverty programs with programs in other developed nations. The Census Bureau makes its annual estimates of Americans well-being by sending out thousands of surveys. Many households dont respond to these random surveys. Of the people who do respond, those who receive federal, state or local government welfare assistance significantly underreport what they receive. This isnt necessarily fraud, because the random surveys dont determine eligibility for government assistance. Rather, it simply shows that when struggling families receive the survey asking what they earned in the prior year and what welfare payments they received, they often simply dont know. The problem of inaccurate census survey responses has been known for years and has been studied by both government officials and academics. A recent study by Bruce D. Meyer and Nikolas Mittag found a huge mismatch between census data and government money spent on behalf of poor people involving four programs in New York: food stamps (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), general assistance and housing assistance. The study found that census surveys missed over one-third of housing assistance that recipients received, 40 percent of food-stamp assistance, and 60 percent of TANF and General Assistance aid to recipients. Thats an enormous level of errors making the survey results practically worthless. Extrapolated only to the $63.7 billion received by 42.2 million Americans in 2017 for food assistance, the huge inaccuracy rate of the surveys means more than $25 billion in federal food assistance was missed by the U.N. in its critical report. Separately, census researchers found that a full 50 percent of households receiving SNAP food assistance didnt report it on their surveys. The Census Bureau also found that there may still be significant underreporting of overall housing assistance benefits. The amount of housing aid missed by census surveys was estimated at almost $3,000 per year per household. The bottom line is that the wildly inaccurate census statistics that are the basis for the U.N.s condemnatory report on U.S. poverty programs completely discredit the report. Instead of some 18.5 million Americans living in extreme poverty as the U.N. report inaccurately claims the real number is less than half of that. Turning to another accusation leveled by the U.N., the report claims that the tax cuts signed into law by President Trump after they were approved by Republicans in Congress will deepen inequality and worsen the plight of the poor. But we have already seen that massive underreporting of government assistance by the poor leads to an overstating of poverty numbers. The same problem also results in heightening apparent inequality. Further, contrary to economists such as Frances Thomas Piketty, the main driver of growing inequality of wealth isnt the wealthy getting paid more at the expense of the poor. Rather, its the massive increase in home equity, mostly owned by the middle class, artificially driven up by government restrictions that slow new home construction. This is a big reason why California has the nations highest supplemental poverty rate. In addition, there is an honest disagreement in America over the best approach to reducing poverty. Democrats contend we need higher marginal tax rates on individuals and businesses to fund a larger welfare state. Taking more from the wealthy to distribute to the poor will ease income inequality, they argue. In contrast, President Trump and Republicans stress the importance of strengthening our economy and creating good jobs for American workers. They understand a paycheck is always better than a welfare check to help Americans work their way out of poverty, reinforce dignity and strengthen families. Fortunately for all of us, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans are succeeding in creating more jobs to bring prosperity to millions more Americans. As The New York Times hardly a cheerleader for President Trump reported at the beginning of this month regarding May unemployment statistics: The American economy roared into overdrive last month, the Labor Department reported Friday, extending the longest streak of job growth on record and echoing other recent signs of strength. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent, its lowest level since the heady days of the dot-com boom in early 2000. African-American and Hispanic unemployment is now at record lows. Hundreds of thousands of Americans, many of whom lost hope and were dependent on government assistance, are now working and seeing that it might be possible to live a life of independence. Dont hold your breath for the U.N. follow-up report containing this good news. But if even The New York Times says the economy is doing well under President Trump, you know he must be doing something right. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! The long-awaited showdown between the Justice Department and Congress is finally here. It started late Friday afternoon. While the rest of the country was parsing the just-released report on the FBI from the Justice Departments inspector general, senior congressional leaders and selected committee chairmen quietly met with FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein at a secure location in the basement of the Capitol. At issue was Justice and FBIs continuing defiance of congressional subpoenas. At the top of this list is the demand from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for documents about why and whether the FBI had an informant insinuating himself with Trump campaign officials before the Russia investigation officially started. On Sunday on Fox News, Devin Nunes, the House Intel chairman, made clear his patience has run out. The good news is that he and the other House chairmen at the Friday meetingJudiciarys Bob Goodlatte and Oversight and Government Reforms Trey Gowdy were fully backed up in their demands by Speaker Paul Ryan. Mr. Ryan sent Messrs. Rosenstein and Wray an unambiguous message: Comply with Congresss orders this week. Keep reading William McGurn's column in the Wall Street Journal. The Democratic-backed candidate running for Kansas State Attorney General has been called on by her own party to drop out because of a poster hung in her law office that depicts Wonder Woman lassoing a police officer around the neck. Attorney Sarah Swain apologized after she was criticized heavily by law enforcement groups, who argued that the image promoted violence against police officers. The state Democratic Party agreed, adding that the poster is grounds for disqualification for the attorney generals office. We strongly condemn and reject any depiction of violence against law enforcement, including the image from Swains law firm, the party said in a statement. We did not recruit or encourage Swain to run for attorney general, nor have we had any contact with her since she filed. OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY IN 2018 Despite apologizing, Swain disagreed, arguing that the poster shows Wonder Woman using her lasso of truth to keep law enforcement honest, which she said is a metaphor for cross-examination and a zealous defense. As a criminal defense attorney for nearly 17 years, I have seen firsthand the injustice that can be doled out at the hands of less-than-honest police officers, Swain said. I have been involved in many cases where the truth was ignored and peoples lives were destroyed. These are just some of the experiences that eventually led me to run for attorney general. The criticism comes at a time when law enforcement has been heavily targeted. Since the start of this year, at least 45 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty in the U.S. In 2017, there were 129 recorded deaths; and in 2016 there were 135, making it the deadliest year for police officers in only five years. The most recent deaths come from Swains own state, where two Kansas deputy sheriffs were killed on June 15 while transporting an inmate. The Kansas State Troopers Association said that at a time when funeral arrangements are being made for two heroes that gave their lives in service to our community ... this cannot be tolerated. If Swain succumbs to pressure and drops out, the incumbent Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt will run unopposed in November. Fox News Madeline Farber, Kaitlyn Schallhorn and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Rudy Giuliani told Fox News on Tuesday that he was interviewed earlier this year by FBI agents working with Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Those agents were reportedly seeking information about a comment the former NYC mayor made prior to the end of the 2016 presidential campaign, hinting that a surprise was coming. The interview took place in Giulianis law office on Feb. 28 and Giuliani said he told the officials that his comments were about a draft speech he had written for then-candidate Donald Trump described as a "Reagan-esque" style document that he proposed Trump make the Friday before Election Day. The speech was never delivered, however, and was instead made into four commercials that aired in some battleground states, he said. Giuliani said he shared a copy of the drafted speech, as well as an email exchange hed had with Jared Kushner regarding it, with the FBI agents. Kushner is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka and currently serves as an adviser to the president. The interview took place prior to Giuliani joining President Trumps legal team in April 2018. IG CONFIRMS HE IS REVIEWING WHETHER STRZOKS ANTI-TRUMP BIAS IMPACTED LAUNCH OF RUSSIA PROBE Word of Giulianis interview came after Horowitz, who appeared on Capitol Hill on Monday, was questioned by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who recalled Giulianis comment about an impending surprise and noted that former FBI Director James Comey announced the reopening of the Hillary Clinton investigation days later. Feinstein said that in early November 2016, when asked, Giuliani said hed heard the news and expected it weeks earlier. She asked Horowitz whether his team found out how Giuliani received this information." Horowitz said he could not comment but later added that he didnt think disclosures of this sort are appropriate at any point in time in a criminal investigation. Giuliani appeared on Fox Business Mornings with Maria on Tuesday and confirmed he was interviewed by the FBI, on behalf of Mr. Horowitz. He added that he never got leaked information from any FBI agent. I havent talked to an on-duty FBI agent, except for background checks, in a couple of years. That information hes talking about came from retired FBI agents who were speculating about what was going to go on. We knew it would blow up, Giuliani said. What I was talking about in terms of surprise was a speech we were preparing for the president to give on the Friday before the election like Ronald Reagan did, we were going to probably buy it the day before, go on national television and we were going to hit Hillary on all of that stuff. I was as surprised as anyone. The FBI investigated it, closed it and I showed them documentary evidence of what Im saying. REPUBLICANS DEMAND NAMES OF ANTI-TRUMP FBI EMPLOYEES FROM BOMBSHELL IG REPORT Giuliani made the surprise comments while appearing on Fox & Friends on Oct. 25, 2016, roughly two weeks prior to Election Day, when asked whether Trump was planning anything other than rallies before voters headed to the polls. He replied yes before adding that they had a couple of surprises left. He said they were surprises in the way that were going to campaign to get our message out there. Maybe in a little bit of a different way. And youll see and I think itll be enormously effective. He followed up the comments on Fox News Americas Newsroom, saying that there was a surprise or two that youre going to hear about in the next few days, adding that it was a pretty big surprise. Fox Business' Thomas Holmes contributed to this report. A group of governors banded together to protest President Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy as the uproar over the separation of migrant children from their parents at the border continues. Some are withdrawing National Guard troops from the south, while others are pledging to withhold resources. In April, Trump requested National Guard troops around 2,000 to 4,000 be deployed to the southern border. His order invoked a federal law called Title 32, under which governors retain command and control of Guard members from their states. Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas and Missouri were among the first states to agree to the president's request. At the time, governors from those surrounding states praised Trump for his commitment toward protecting the border. WHAT TRUMP'S 'ZERO-TOLERANCE' IMMIGRATION POLICY MEANS FOR CHILDREN SEPARATED FROM FAMILIES AT BORDER "Missourians are grateful to the President for recognizing the need to secure our borders," former Gov. Eric Greitens, R-Mo., said at the time. "We are proud that Missouri troops will play a support role in guarding against terrorism, protecting Americans from cartel violence, and enforcing our immigration laws." Anything we can do to further bolster these efforts is good news for Arizona and for our national security, Gov. Doug Ducey, R-Ariz., agreed. But some governors, both Republican and Democrat, have since changed their positions after Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a "zero-tolerance" policy in April, which has resulted in the separation of nearly 2,000 children from their families within a 6-week period. TRUMP'S NATIONAL GUARD REQUEST FOR US-MEXICO BORDER DRAWS RESPONSE FROM SURROUNDING STATES Here's a list of states that are refusing to send National Guard troops and other resources to the U.S.-Mexico border as of June 19. Colorado In a June 18 executive order, Gov. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., forbid state agencies from providing any resources "for the purpose of separating children from their parents or legal guardians on the sole ground that their families are in violation of federal immigration laws." Hickenlooper called the separation of children from their parents at the border "cruel" and "un-American," adding that it threatens kids' mental and physical health. The order says state agencies must adhere to federal law, providing services to anyone who is legally entitled despite their immigration status. We urge the administration to stop this cruel practice. If the White House wont act, Congress should. No political end is worth destroying families and traumatizing children," Hickenlooper said, urging lawmakers to support the Keep Families Together Act. Maryland Immigration enforcement efforts should focus on criminals, not separating innocent children from their families, Gov. Larry Hogan, R-Md., said in a June 18 tweet. The next day, Hogan ordered four crew members and a helicopter to return to its station in New Mexico. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, R-Mass., canceled plans to send a helicopter and military analysts to back up border patrol due to the inhumane treatment of children," his spokeswoman told The Washington Post on June 19. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., said Trump's immigration policies are resulting in "human tragedy" and New York will have no part in it. "In the face of the federal governments inhumane treatment of immigrant families, New York will not deploy National Guard to the border," Cuomo said in a June 18 statement. The next day, Cuomo announced he was filing a multi-agency lawsuit against the Trump administration for "violating the Constitutional rights of immigrant children and their families" who have been detained and separated at the border. The governor said there are at least 70 children currently being held in federal facilities in his state alone. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., ordered four National Guard soldiers and one helicopter to return from the southwest on June 19. "Virginia benefits from the important work of securing our border and we have a responsibility to contribute to that mission. However, we also have a responsibility to stand up to policies or actions that run afoul of the values that define us as Americans," he said in an online statement. Northam said the state would be willing to return resources to the border once the Trump administration puts an end to its current "inhumane" immigration policy. Fox News' Kaitlyn Schallhorn and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Tensions over illegal immigration and family separations at the border boiled over on Capitol Hill Tuesday night, as President Trump was met with profanity and heckling, blue-faced Democrats on his way to a meeting with House Republicans. First, as President Trump's entourage made its way to House Speaker Paul Ryan's office, a congressional intern yelled, "Mr. President, F--k you!" across the Capitol Rotunda. It was unclear whether Trump heard the remark. The incident occured after visiting hours. Then, several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) gathered outside Trump's meeting with senior Republican officials. When Trump emerged, the representatives heckled him until some were blue in the face, holding signs and screaming. TRUMP HUDDLES WITH HOUSE GOP AS OUTRAGE OVER BORDER SEPARATIONS ESCALATES Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., the chair of the CHC, called the separation of children from their families at the border the "worst thing" she has ever seen in her career. "This is an unusual commander-in-chief ... it appears to me he doesnt care about the consequences," Grisham said. "He uses incredibly offensive language to defend his policies." Grisham defended her colleagues' decision to shout at the president and stage a dramatic protest as he left the meeting with Republican officials. "This is a very unique set of circumstances, and it requires a unique set of extraordinary efforts," she said. The outward hostility by members of Congress to a sitting president was highly unusual, and drew comparisons to Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who made international headlines by interrupting former President Barack Obama in 2009 and shouting, "You lie." WATCH: WOMAN IN CAPITOL YELLS 'F*** YOU' AT TRUMP, ENTOURAGE But Grisham told Fox News the treatment of Trump was different, because the policies at the border are particularly "inhumane." "This is a very unique set of circumstances, and it requires a unique set of extraordinary efforts." Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M. Two congressmen -- Juan Vargas, D-Calif., and Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla. -- also engaged in a verbal altercation in the hallway outside Trump's meeting. Then, during his discussions with House GOP members, Trump made a dismissive remark concerning Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., who recently lost a key primary in a race that became a referendum on his repeated, harsh criticisms of the president. Two sources in the meeting room told The Associated Press that Trump joked: "I want to congratulate Mark on a great race." A senior House Republican who is a Trump supporter told Fox News that the president's comment was "unnecessary" and "poor form." Another senior GOP lawmaker called it a "low blow." Another GOP member told Fox News the room got "pretty quiet" after the remark and some attendees booed in a low tone of voice. Despite the brouhaha, top Republicans said there had been progress on a legislative solution to the separation of illegal immigrant children from their parents at the border. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Fox News that a solution could be coming in a "matter of days." Fox News' Chad Pergram, Samuel Chamberlain and Anne Ball contributed to this eport. President Trump's meeting with House Republicans to discuss immigration legislation briefly went awry Tuesday after the president mocked Rep. Mark Sanford over a primary election loss. Two sources in the meeting room told The Associated Press that Trump joked: "I want to congratulate Mark on a great race." A senior House Republican who is a Trump supporter told Fox News that the president's comment was "unnecessary" and "poor form." Another senior GOP lawmaker called it a "low blow." Another GOP member told Fox News the room got "pretty quiet" after the remark and some attendees booed in a low tone of voice. Sanford, a former South Carolina governor and frequent Trump critic, was defeated by state Rep. Katie Arrington in the June 12 primary. Hours before the polls closed, Trump endorsed Arrington on Twitter and joked that Sanford was "better off in Argentina" -- a reference to a sex scandal that overshadowed Sanford's tenure as governor. Sanford blamed his defeat on Trump, saying support for the president is becoming a litmus test in GOP primaries. "It's a very tribal environment right now," he said at the time. Politico reported that Sanford was not at the meeting because he was unable to fly to Washington from South Carolina due to poor weather. Fox News' Chad Pergram, Anne Ball and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A lawsuit seeking to remove Arizona Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick's name from the ballot this November could stymie the former congresswoman's attempt to run for the House again. Kirkpatrick represented Arizona's first congressional district beginning in 2009, but was voted out of office in the 2010 Republican wave election. She won back her seat in 2012 and 2014, but then decided to forgo reelection to challenge John McCain unsuccessfully in the 2016 Senate race. Now Kirkpatrick aims to return to Congress, this time in Arizona's neighboring second district. But a lawsuit from three voters bankrolled by her primary opponent, Matt Heinz, claims she gave false information to election officials about her place of residency. The litigants claim that while Kirkpatrick wrote that she lived in a Tucson home in her election petitions, she actually lives in a condo in Phoenix. There is nothing legally disqualifying her from running in a district in which she does not livethe Constitution requires only that candidates live in the same statebut the voters argue an incorrect filing with false information should see her taken off the ballot. Kirkpatrick admitted in court Monday that she does not pay rent at one of two Tucson addresses where she says she has lived, according to the Arizona Daily Star. The opposing attorney also got Kirkpatrick to admit that she insures her property at her Flagstaff and Phoenix addresses, but not the Tucson ones. Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon. In the blink of an eye, the uproar over immigration has become a major midterm election issue. And that's precisely the way President Trump wants it. With some prominent Republicans and conservative media outlets slamming the president's policy of separating migrant families at the border, you might have thought the White House would be looking to quickly defuse the controversy. That's not happening. In fact, Politico reports that Stephen Miller and other top administration officials are planning a further crackdown on legal and legal immigration, with the goal, according to a Republican close to the White House, being "to arm Trump with enough data and statistics by early September to show voters that he fulfilled his immigration promises even without a border wall or any other congressional measure." The GOP plan had been to run on tax cuts and a booming economy. But the president has apparently decided that he needs to motivate his base voters to show up in what is shaping up as a tough election. As Corey Lewandowski, who works for Mike Pence's PAC, told The New York Times: "People don't turn out to say thank you. If you want to get people motivated, you've got to give them a reason to vote. Saying 'build the wall and stop illegals from coming in and killing American citizens' gives them an important issue." And the president stuck to his guns yesterday, saying that the problem is migrants who bring their kids to the border but that Congress can resolve the issue. Obviously, pounding away at illegal immigrationfrom the day he came down the Trump Tower escalatorworked well for the president in the last campaign. But just as obviously, the child separation issue makes the overall issue risky this time around, beyond the impact on the Hispanic vote. You can just imagine the 30-second ads, complete with audio now that ProPublica has put out the sounds of crying children being taken from their parents. That's not likely to play well with suburban moms. And that's why some Republican lawmakers, including Ted Cruz, are speaking out against the practice. (Trump yesterday rejected Cruzs bill to hire more immigration judges as a way of keeping detained families together.) GOP congressman Fred Upton said that "it's time for this ugly and inhumane practice to end," according to the Washington Post. The press is aflame over this issue, which is drawing almost wall-to-wall coverage on cable news. White House reporters hammered Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen on Monday as she insisted the administration had no choice in the matter and was merely following the law. (A bunch of Democrats are urging her to resign.) And many on the right are offering harsh criticism. Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, a Trump loyalist, said that family separation could become "the Republicans' new Katrina." A Wall Street Journal editorial decried "The GOP's Immigration Meltdown," saying "restrictionists may cost Republicans their majorities in Congress." But other conservatives, including Foxs Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, are backing the presidents zero tolerance approach and saying the media arent devoting enough attention to crime and other problems created by some illegal immigrants. Trump says he hates migrant kids being separated from parents but has no choice. (The media point out that's not true, but it's also true that conditions in the much-criticized warehousing facilities date to the Obama administration.) The president's wife says the administration must govern with "heart." But while 66 percent in a Quinnipiac poll say they oppose the family separation policy, 55 percent of Republicans are backing Trump's stance. That's why an approach that is poison to a good chunk of the political and media world could be a bracing tonic for the president's supporters in the midterms. James Comey fired back this week at Hillary Clinton after the former secretary of state cited the Justice Department inspector general report on her email case to challenge the premise of the investigation itself. Clinton did so in a terse, snarky tweet following the release of the nearly 600-page report, which accused the former FBI director of defying the chain of command during the email probe. It also said he, too, used a personal email account for some government business. But my emails, Clinton tweeted, in response to a reporter tweet about Comeys use of a gmail account -- a slap at the outrage over her private email server and the FBI probe itself. But during an interview in Berlin this week, Comey was asked whether he would apologize to Clinton -- and refused. He stressed the difference between his personal email use, which involved unclassified information, and hers and said she still doesn't understand why she was investigated. COMEY USED PERSONAL EMAIL TO CONDUCT FBI BUSINESS, WATCHDOG REPORT FINDS No. And heres why. I dont want to criticize her, but it shows me that even at this late date, she doesnt understand what the investigation in her case was about, Comey said during an interview with German newspaper Die Zeit. It was not about her use of a personal email system, and she didnt get that during the investigation, because she used to say Colin Powell when he was secretary of state used AOL, that was not what it was about, Comey explained. It was about communicating about classified topics on that system when those topics have to be done on a classified system. He added: Which she never did. It would have been a problem if she was using AOL, or gmail, or Clinton.comor the State Departments [unclassified] system. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that Comey used a personal email account to conduct unclassified FBI business, which he found was inconsistent with Department policy. Horowitz cited what he called the absence of exigent circumstances the frequency with which the use of personal email occurred. Comey defended his use of a personal email accountbut said he understood why Horowitz put it in the report. What I would do, is when I had to write speechesI would write my own speechesI would type them at home and then gmail them into my government account, Comey explained. Or, if I still had to work on the draft, I would send it home so I could work on it on my laptop. I was not talking about anything remotely classified and the inspector general didnt say that as well, Comey said. But I get why the tweet, and I get why people are focused on it, but its a totally different thing. Comey first broke his silence on the inspector general report last week in an op-ed for the New York Times. The former FBI boss, separately, is facing IG scrutiny over his handling of classified information in memos memorializing conversations with President Trump. The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday blasted major U.S. airlines for hastily restricting cooperation with immigration authorities amid the uproar over family separations at the border. American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and Frontier Airlines all condemned DHS earlier Wednesday and demanded that the government stop using their flights to transport children separated from their families -- even though they admitted they were not sure the government was, in fact, using their flights for that purpose. But a DHS spokesman fired back, noting the flights can actually be used to reunite families. "Its unfortunate that American, United, and Frontier Airlines no longer want to partner with the brave men and women of DHS to protect the traveling public, combat human trafficking, and to swiftly reunite unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with their families," DHS Press Secretary Tyler Q. Houlton said in a statement. The airlines were reacting in part to outrage that spread rapidly on social media after a recent Facebook post described 16 "sweet innocent" children who were "dressed as criminals" being loaded onto a domestic flight. The post fueled the already intense outcry over the practice of separating children from illegal immigrant parents -- a practice President Trump moved to reverse Wednesday afternoon via executive order. The post, though, did not specify the airline and was a second-hand account. According to the post, purportedly from a flight attendant's coworker, the children were accompanied by an "adult escort" and had been "ripped from their families." The post also claimed the kids did not speak English and were "dressed in black and gray cheap Walmart sweat suits." TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER AT THE BORDER The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents 50,000 flight attendants, reportedly claimed that the post was genuine but did not explain how it came to that conclusion. According to the Arizona Republic, which analyzed the flight times described in the post, the alleged incident likely occured on an American Airlines flight. "Buckling to a false media narrative only exacerbates the problems at our border." DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton But DHS officials, without specifically addressing the Facebook claim, reiterated that airlines are crucial partners in conducting important immigration-related services that protect children. "Buckling to a false media narrative only exacerbates the problems at our border and puts more children at risk from traffickers. We wish the airlines would instead choose to be part of the solution. "For 15 years, the Department of Homeland Security has worked diligently with Americas airlines to secure aviation and facilitate the travel by air of millions of Americans and visitors and we will continue to do so," Houlton added. In rapid-fire statements, major U.S. airlines quickly and publicly had distanced themselves from DHS. "Based on our serious concerns about this policy and how it's in deep conflict with our company's values, we have contacted federal officials to inform them that they should not transport immigrant children on United aircraft who have been separated from their parents," United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz said. "Based on some research we have done internally and public reports, we have not seen evidence these children have been flown on United aircraft," he added. In a tweet, Frontier Airlines made a similar statement, while saying that it is unaware if its flights have been used to transport separated children. "Frontier prides itself on being a family airline and we will not knowingly allow our flights to be used to transport migrant children away from their families. At this time, we are not aware if Frontier has been used for this purpose." "The family separation process that has been widely publicized is not at all aligned with the values of American Airlines - we bring families together, not apart," American Airlines said, adding that "the government does not disclose information about the nature of the flights it takes or the passengers who are traveling." Southwest Airlines echoed that message: "While we do not have evidence that tickets purchased for Southwest flights have been utilized to transport detained children, we do not wish to have involvement in the process of separating children from their parents. Therefore, we appeal to anyone making those types of travel decisions not to utilize Southwest Airlines." Alaska Airlines also made a similar statement. The Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy has referred far more adult border crossers for prosecution, in turn leading to family separations due to longstanding rules barring children from being detained with adults in those circumstances. Trump, though, signed an executive order Wednesday afternoon to allow children to stay with parents caught crossing the border illegally. In a statement, Delta Airlines applauded Trump's move Wednesday. "Deltas mission is to connect people and we are against anything that runs contrary to that mission," the airline said. "Recent reports of families being separated are disheartening and do not align with Deltas core values. We applaud the Administrations Executive Order resolving the issue of separating children from their families at the U.S. border. Fox News' Ray Bogan and John Roberts contributed to this report. The FBI may have "edited and changed" key witness reports in the Hillary Clinton and Russia investigations, a top House Republican charged in a hearing into FBI and Justice Department misconduct Tuesday. Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C, also raised the possibility that the FBI misled the DOJ watchdog in an attempt to hide the identities of FBI employees who were caught sending anti-Trump messages. The House Judiciary and Oversight committees were questioning Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz over his bombshell report into FBI and DOJ misconduct during the Hillary Clinton email probe. "The other thing that I would ask you to look into, there is growing evidence that 302s were edited and changed, Meadows told Horowitz. Those 302s, it is suggested that they were changed to either prosecute or not prosecute individuals. And that is very troubling. OTHER HEARING DRAMA: DEM REP WARNS OF GOP PLOT TO OUST DEPUTY AG ROSENSTEIN 'ON FRIDAY' So-called "302s" are reports on witness interviews compiled by federal investigators. Horowitz said later he has additional information suggesting that the witness reports were changed after-the-fact in both the Clinton and Russia probes -- a particularly alarming possibility given the IG report's findings of bias in those investigations. Horowitz suggested that the IG is reviewing information concerning modified 302s, saying his office intended to "follow up" on the matter. In a dramatic moment, Meadows then directly asked Horowitz whether two anonymous FBI employees identified as making anti-Trump statements in the IG's report were named Kevin Clinesmith and Sally Moyer. Horowitz refused to confirm the employees' identities, which the FBI has declined to publicly reveal, citing the supposed sensitivity of their counterintelligence matters. But Meadows suggested that justification may have been a sham. "If thats the reason the FBI is giving, theyre giving you false information." GOP Rep. Mark Meadows They dont work in counterintelligence," Meadows said. "If thats the reason the FBI is giving, theyre giving you false information, because they work for the [FBI] general counsel." SEVEN KEY TAKEWAYS FROM DOJ IG REPORT ON CLINTON PROBE MISCONDUCT In the IG report released last Thursday, the two unnamed anti-Trump FBI employees reacted with shock and dismay at Trump's election. I am numb," one wrote on Election Day. Viva le resistance, the lawyer wrote later, in response to what he would do now that Trump had won. Hungarys populist government is brimming with confidence after a comfortable election win in April, and is pushing ahead with tough policies on immigration and combating the influence of left-wing Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros. President Trump spoke with Prime Minister Viktor Orban last week, congratulating him on the formation of the new government. According to a readout from the White House, the two agreed on the need for strong national borders and pledged to keep relations between the two countries strong. While Orbans Fidesz Party had been expected to win the election, analysts had cautioned that the partys decision to campaign almost exclusively on the issue of mass migration could hurt its standing as voters focus was elsewhere. Allegations of corruption and authoritarianism from human rights groups also risked damaging Fideszs standing in the polls. But Fidesz focus paid off, and the party emerged with a strong majority in the Hungarian parliament. Now, the populist government is cracking down not only on immigration but also the influence of Soros, whom Orban has accused of leading a mercenary army via his non-governmental groups. George Soros had a clear target, to beat this government, to fire this government but that was not very successful, lets put it this way, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Fox News in a recent interview in New York. On Wednesday, the Hungarian Parliament passed the Stop Soros bill, including a measure making it illegal for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to organize illegal immigration into the country. Such organization can range from financial support to the distribution and preparation of information and pamphlets. SOROS GROUP PULLS OUT OF HUNGARY AS ORBAN GOVERNMENT FLOATS 'STOP SOROS' PACKAGE The law would punish individuals engaging in such activities with up to 12 months in jail. The government has also floated a 25 percent tax for any foreign funding for NGOs helping migrants. This strengthened protection is needed because the mass immigration afflicting Europe is continuous, while the Soros network and the pro-immigration policy of Brussels are creating the threat of attempts to also swamp our country with migrants, Orbans office said in a statement. While the legislation targets any non-governmental organization, Szijjarto made it clear who the government was targeting: Soros is the number one organizer of such activities. The governments anti-Soros activities and rhetoric have not gone unnoticed. Soros Open Society Foundation has moved its Budapest offices to Berlin after what it described as a repressive political and legal environment. The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union, Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations and a former Obama White House political affairs director, said in a statement last month. The so-called Stop Soros package of laws is only the latest in a series of such attempts. It has become impossible to protect the security of our operations and our staff in Hungary from arbitrary government interference. Amnesty Internationals Europe Director told The New York Times that the new law marked a new low point in an intensifying crackdown on civil society and it is something we will resist every step of the way. Hungary has long been a pariah in the eyes of the European Union and United Nations, and was one of the few governments to initially push back against the opening of Europes borders during the 2015 migration crisis. But it has also drawn close to the Trump administration and has welcomed some comparisons to the Trump movement -- noting that it has built a fence on the border and deployed troops to secure it. Szijjarto recently met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington, the first such meeting in six years, where the State Department said they discussed increased U.S. investment in Hungary, as well as a defense cooperation agreement. The Hungarian government is likely to be buoyed also by Trumps criticism of more liberal immigration policies in Europe, particularly in Germany. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture! Trump tweeted on Monday. Speaking to Fox News, Szijjarto echoed a similar sentiment and said that shutting down mass migration was not just about economics, but also about security and culture. "We don't want a post-national and post-Christian European Union. We want a Christian European Union based on strong member states," he said. Orbans dominance in Hungary comes as populist and nationalist parties have picked up significant wins throughout the continent. Italy recently installed a populist government which has taken a tough line on immigration, while in Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel is scrambling to keep her fragile coalition together amid feuds over migration policy. Ivanka Trump and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy made a joint appearance at a Republican fundraising event in California on Monday to corral support for the party in the upcoming midterms. The invitation-only event at Harris Construction in Fresno was part of McCarthy's "Protect the House," tour to ensure the GOP retains control of Congress. California's Central Valley is seen as one of the last GOP strongholds in a state largely relegated to Democratic representation. The money raised from Mondays event will go to Valley congressional candidates David Valadao, Jeff Denham and Elizabeth Heng. McCarthy told attendees that President Trump planned meet with congressional leadership Tuesday to discuss one of two versions of an immigration bill to face a vote by July, the Fresno Bee reported. One bill, authored by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, is favored by conservatives and immigration hardliners. The other is a moderate version likely to be favored by Trump, McCarthy said, according to one attendee. The luncheon raised approximately $100,000. Protesters assembled ahead of the event with some holding signs reading, Trump is Nixon, and Trump-Nunes: Its Mueller Time. When something this ugly comes to Fresno, youve got to stand up, one protester told the Bee. Despite a brief exchange between a Trump supporter and a protester, the event was largely without incident. The Associated Press contributed to this report. U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn pointed the finger Tuesday at liberals and liberal judges, blaming them for the family separations underway at the U.S.-Mexico border. As a mother, the Tennessee Republican said in a statement released by her office, my heart breaks for the families who are separated at the border, but we are in this position because liberals would not pay to enforce our immigration laws or build appropriate facilities for asylum-seekers. As a mother, my heart breaks for the families who are separated at the border, but we are in this position because liberals would not pay to enforce our immigration laws or build appropriate facilities for asylum-seekers. U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Blackburn, who's running for a U.S. Senate seat this year, implied that the separations could be avoided altogether with legislation to "secure our borders and keep people from coming across our border illegally and choosing to put their families in danger." The longtime supporter of President Donald Trump hopes to succeed U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, who is retiring, the Tennessean reported. Blackburn is the favorite to win Tennesse's GOP Senate primary Aug. 2, and in November would likely face former Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat who has been outspoken against family separations. At our border with Mexico, our country is taking terrified little children from their parents and incarcerating them in camps behind chain link fences, Bredesen said in a statement. He said the controversial policy has been criticized by leaders from both parties, as well as by faith leaders. An estimated 2,000 children have been separated from their parents since the policy's enactment six weeks ago. At least three tender age facilities in South Texas are holding babies and young children that have been separated from parents under the federal governments zero-tolerance policy at the southern border, a report said. The Associated Press reported that hundreds of preschool-age children in crisis are being housed at the sites in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville, Texas, with the government planning a fourth shelter in Houston. "The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it," Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, told the AP. "Toddlers are being detained." While doctors and lawyers who have visited the shelters described them as clean and safe, they said the kids were acting out from the stress of not knowing where their parents were. "The shelters aren't the problem, it's taking kids from their parents that's the problem," said South Texas pediatrician Marsha Griffin, who has visited some facilities. The zero-tolerance policy has overwhelmed the federal government with caring for the new influx of children, who are often much younger than the teen immigrants who have typically been traveling alone to the U.S. "The shelters aren't the problem, it's taking kids from their parents that's the problem." Marsha Griffin, South Texas pediatrician After Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy, nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families during a six-week period in April and May, many of them of a tender age. A Department of Health and Human Services official told the AP that tender age children are defined as being under 13-years-old. The Office of Refugee Resettlement said it was seeking applicants who can provide services for a diverse population "of all ages and genders, as well as pregnant and parenting teens" as they search for more caregivers for the influx of children from Central America. But providing the children with qualified caretakers wont be the solution to immigration many are looking for, with top Republicans having said there had been progress on a legislative solution to the separation of illegal immigrant children from their parents at the border. A dozen Republican senators said in a letter addressed to Sessions that separating families isn't consistent with American values and ordinary human decency. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is expected to introduce the Protect Kids and Parents Act which will mandate that immigrant families remain together unless theres a criminal record or a threat to the children, the Austin American Statesman reported. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, also told Fox News that a solution could be coming in a "matter of days." Fox News' Gregg Re and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Janet Napolitano, who served as Homeland Security secretary under President Barack Obama, said in an interview Tuesday that she once considered the option of separating families at the border but decided pretty quickly that it would be a bad idea. Napolitano, now president of the University of California system, told the Los Angeles Times that the idea was considered while the Obama administration worked to create a safe area at the border. As you work through and you realize the difference between handling these as civil deportation matters as opposed to criminal prosecution matters, it was pretty clear off the bat that this would not be a good idea, she said. She also said the plan was inconsistent with American values. As you work through and you realize the difference between handling these as civil deportation matters as opposed to criminal prosecution matters, it was pretty clear off the bat that this would not be a good idea. Janet Napolitano Nearly 2,300 children have been separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new zero-tolerance policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. U.S. protocol prohibits detaining children with their parents because the children are not charged with a crime and the parents are. The Trump administration has been sending babies and other young children to at least three "tender age" shelters in South Texas, the Associated Press reported late Tuesday. By law, child migrants traveling alone must be sent to facilities run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within three days of being detained. The agency then is responsible for placing the children in shelters or foster homes until they are united with a relative or sponsor in the community as they await immigration court hearings. But ]Sessions' announcement last month that the government would criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the U.S.-Mexico border illegally has led to the breakup of migrant families and sent a new group of hundreds of young children into the government's care. Napolitano said the Obama administration prioritized the prosecution and deportation of those who committed serious crimes, such as known gang members. She said the Trump administration rewrote the priorities and now everyone caught at the border is criminally prosecuted not just deported. She also told the Times that it was a poor use of funding to tap U.S. attorneys offices to prosecute what amounts to a misdemeanor for first offenders. The Obama administration detained families, but Napolitano said the process was stopped after a short time. Trump is no stranger to political backlash, but the policy of separating children from their parents is starting to divide Republicans. The signs of splintering of GOP support come after longtime Trump ally, the Rev. Franklin Graham, called the policy disgraceful. Several religious groups, including some conservative ones, have pushed to stop the practice of separating immigrant children from their parents. Nobody likes breaking up families and seeing babies ripped from their mothers arms, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway said. Doctors and lawyers who have visited the shelters said the facilities were fine, clean and safe, but the kids -- who have no idea where their parents are -- were hysterical, crying and acting out. "The shelters aren't the problem, it's taking kids from their parents that's the problem," said South Texas pediatrician Marsha Griffin who has visited many. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Sen. Lindsey Graham is calling on the Justice Department to set the record straight about an alleged meeting involving then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, agent Peter Strzok and attorney Lisa Page, in which an insurance policy against a possible Trump victory in the 2016 election purportedly was discussed. In a letter obtained by Fox News, Graham, R-S.C., formally asked Inspector General Michael Horowitz to resolve conflicting statements about a meeting discussed in text messages between Strzok and Page, his colleague and lover. In a text from Strzok to Page dated Aug. 15, 2016, the pair discussed an insurance policy in the event that Donald Trump went on to win the presidential election. I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andys office that theres no way he gets elected but Im afraid we cant take the risk. Its like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before youre 40, the text read. FBI AGENT PETER STRZOK ESCORTED FROM FBI BUILDING, LAWYER CONFIRMS Horowitz confirmed in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday that Andy referred to McCabe. Based on your answers, I have the impression Strzok told your office that McCabe, in fact, attended the meeting referenced in the text message, Graham wrote in his letter. It is further my understanding that McCabe told your office he denied attending, or did not recall," the meeting that was referenced in the text. If it is true that McCabe was present for such a discussion, it would show bias and inappropriate behavior at the highest levels of the FBI, Graham said. MCCABE ASKS FOR IMMUNITY AHEAD OF CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON HANDLING OF CLINTON CASE I believe it would be of grave consequence if the deputy director of the FBI met with the lead investigator of the Clinton email and Russia investigations to talk about an insurance policy against Donald Trumps victory in the 2016 election. It was unclear whether Horowitz would respond, but the Republican senator asked for all documents, statements and transcripts that related to the text message in order to determine who was at the meeting in question. President Trump on Wednesday disputed reports that a joke he made Tuesday night on Capitol Hill in which he mocked Rep. Mark Sanford for his recent primary election loss was poorly received. "Had a great meeting with the House GOP last night at the Capitol," Trump tweeted. "They applauded and laughed loudly when I mentioned my experience with Mark Sanford. I have never been a fan of his!" "I want to congratulate Mark on a great race," Trump reportedly said in the meeting, two sources present told The Associated Press. Several House members expressed to Fox News on Wednesday their disgust with Trump's remark. One member of the Freedom Caucus, who referred to the quip as "ridiculous," said it cost the president votes on the immigration bill. TRUMP'S MARK SANFORD DISS DRAWS BOOS AT CLOSED-DOOR GOP MEETING Another House member said the incident underscored that lawmakers never know if or when they'll be "thrown under the bus" by Trump. "Here he is asking for votes and which one of us is next?" one member said. Rep. Justin Amash, of Michigan, fired back at Trump's tweet, calling Trump's wisecrack a "dazzling display of pettiness and insecurity." "Nobody applauded or laughed," Amash said. "People were disgusted." Pennsylvania Rep. Ryan Costello tweeted that Trump's assertion that House GOP members approved of his comment about Sanford is "Categorically false." A senior House Republican and Trump supporter told Fox News on Tuesday that the president's comment was "unnecessary" and in "poor form." Another senior GOP lawmaker called it a "low blow." Another GOP member told Fox News the room got "pretty quiet" after the remark and some attendees booed in a low tone of voice. Sanford, R-S.C., lost in the primary election on June 12 to state Rep. Katie Arrington. A frequent critic of the president, Sanford was a target of a tweet ahead of election night, in which Trump said the incumbent representative is "nothing but trouble" and endorsed his opponent. Sanford, a former South Carolina governor, blamed his loss on Trump, saying that support for the president is becoming a litmus test in GOP primaries. Sanford, according to Politico, couldn't make the meeting because he was unable to fly to Washington from South Carolina due to poor weather. Fox News' Samuel Chamberlain, Chad Pergram and Gregg Re contributed to this report. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to allow children to stay with parents caught crossing the border illegally -- moving to stop the family separations that have triggered a national outcry and political crisis for Republicans. The measure would allow children to stay in detention with parents for an extended period of time. This comes as congressional Republicans scramble to draft legislation to address the same issue, but face challenges mustering the votes. In signing the measure, Trump said he wants to keep families together while also enforcing border security. He vowed his administration's "zero tolerance" policy for illegal immigration would continue. Trump, previewing the measure earlier in the day during a meeting with lawmakers, said the move would "be matched by legislation." He also said he's canceling the upcoming congressional picnic, adding: "It didn't feel exactly right to me." The separations stem from the administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which aims to prosecute all illegal border crossers. But because of a 1997 order and related decisions, children cannot be detained for longer than 20 days with the adults. Sources told Fox News that the executive action by Trump could be seen to run afoul of the 1997 order and would likely draw a lawsuit. But the White House wants to try to take steps to uphold the enforcement of the law, while at the same time lessening the trauma of children being separated from their parents. In another possible approach, Fox News is told Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will recommend to Trump that he throw his support behind developing House legislation or, if that doesn't pass, a standalone bill to close the loopholes regarding family detention. During the order-signing, Nielsen again called on Congress to act. These measures are being pursued following days of escalating calls from both sides of the political divide for Trump, or Congress, to end the controversial family separation policy. Rep. Peter King of New York became the latest Republican to join the chorus on Wednesday when he called on Trump to suspend the family separation policy if House immigration legislation does not pass. Speaking on Fox News Americas Newsroom, King said that while he agrees with the presidents goals in regards to immigration, the current policy of separating migrant children from parents charged with entering the country illegally is really terrible for families. Republicans in both the House and Senate are struggling to shield the party's lawmakers from the public outcry over images of children taken from migrant parents and held in cages at the border. But they are running up against Trump's shifting views on specifics and his determination, according to advisers, not to look soft on his signature immigration issue, the border wall. The Democrats do not have a strong policy, King said on Fox News. But at the same time we are playing into their hands by allowing this to happen. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said that the House will vote Thursday on legislation to allow families to remain together in Homeland Security custody throughout their legal proceedings. We do not want children taken away from their parents, Ryan said. We can enforce our immigration laws without breaking families apart. That followed a closed-door meeting in Washington on Tuesday evening, where Trump told House Republicans he is "1,000 percent" behind their rival immigration bills. But it's unclear whether any bill has enough support to pass. Under the administration's current policy, all unlawful crossings are referred for prosecution a process that moves adults to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and sends many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the Obama administration, such families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation. More than 2,300 minors were separated from their families at the border from May 5 through June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In the House, GOP leaders scrambled Tuesday to produce a revised version of the broader immigration bill that would keep children in detention longer than now permitted but with their parents. The major change unveiled Tuesday would loosen rules that now limit the amount of time minors can be held to 20 days, according to a GOP source familiar with the measure. Instead, the children could be detained indefinitely with their parents. The revision would also give the Department of Homeland Security the authority to use $7 billion in border technology funding to pay for family detention centers, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and commented only on condition of anonymity. In a statement late Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it has taken "immediate steps" to implement the president's executive order. "As specified in the order, families will not be detained together when doing so would pose a risk to the childs welfare," the statement read in part. "Additionally, as was the case prior to implementation of the zero tolerance policy on May 5, family units may be separated due to humanitarian, health and safety, or criminal history in addition to illegally crossing the border. Even if Republicans manage to pass an immigration bill through the House, which is a tall order, the fight is all but certain to fizzle in the Senate. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader from New York, is adamant that Trump can end the family separations on his own and that legislation is not needed. Without Democratic support, Republicans cannot muster the 60 votes needed to move forward on legislation. Democratic reticence and their opposition to a border wall have come under intense scrutiny from Trump, who has blamed the party for the failure of Congress to pass immigration reform. Its the Democrats fault, they wont give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation, Trump tweeted on Wednesday. They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something - it never ends! On the Senate side, Republicans are rallying behind a different approach. Theirs is narrow legislation proposed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would allow detained families to stay together in custody while expediting their hearings and possible deportation proceedings. Cruz's bill would double the number of federal immigration judges, authorize new temporary shelters to house migrant families and limit the processing of asylum cases to no more than 14 days a goal immigrant advocates say would be difficult to meet. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters he's reaching out to Democrats for bipartisan backing. The discord over the family separation spilled into the streets as protesters clashed with law enforcement in Philadelphia and other cities on Tuesday -- and Democratic lawmakers accosted senior administration officials and even the president himself over the policy. As Trump walked out of the session in the Capitol basement, he was confronted by about a half-dozen House Democrats, who yelled, "Stop separating our families!" Later in the day, protesters heckled Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen as she ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington, chanting "Shame!" and "End family separation!" A department spokesman tweeted that during a work dinner, the secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protesters who "share her concern with our current immigration laws." The Associated Press contributed to this report. President Trumps order for the Pentagon to establish a space force was met with everything from confusion and doubt to amazement and excitement -- not to mention more than a few Star Wars-themed memes and tweets. But as the uproar from Monday's announcement dies down, the hard part for leaders inside the Pentagon begins: How to create a new and unprecedented branch of the armed services. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered, John Crassidis, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Buffalo, told Fox News. Theyll need to sort of out who is going to handle what, how agencies will cooperate, what NASAs role will be. There are a lot of things we still dont know. Top Pentagon spokeswoman Dana W. White said in a brief statement that a policy board will begin working on the creation of what would be the sixth military branch. "We understand the President's guidance, she said. Our Policy Board will begin working on this issue, which has implications for intelligence operations for the Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy. Working with Congress, this will be a deliberate process with a great deal of input from multiple stakeholders." But long before the Pentagon can get down to the business of actually figuring out what the space force would do and who would command it, Trumps proposal has a few hurdles to clear in Congress. Despite his role as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, the president will need to get Congress to pass legislation on a number of issues. For instance, legislation would be required to move authorities currently serving in other branches of the armed services to the space force. Legislation would also be needed to form new positions within the space force, determine its size and allocate funding. Establishing a service branch requires congressional action, Republican Rep. Michael Turner of Ohio, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, said in a statement. We still dont know what a Space Force would do, who is going to be in it, or how much is it going to cost. A provision for the Pentagon to establish a space corps was floated last year by the House in the fiscal 2018 defense authorization plan but was eventually stripped from the text during negotiations in the Senate and replaced with a provision ordering the Pentagon to look into the usefulness of such a force. The congressionally mandated report evaluating a Space Force to answer those questions is due in August, Turner said. After we get the report that we required as a legislative body and the President signed off on, then this issue can be appropriately evaluated for whats best for national security. Even if the space force idea makes it through Congress which faces challenges including an amendment from Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., to the defense authorization bill prohibiting a space corps from being funded there are numerous other issues that will need to be hashed out before a military branch is created dedicated to defending U.S. interests in outer space. The first thing theyll need to do is sort out what agency will take on what role and how will they cooperate, Crassidis said. Other than the Coast Guard, all branches already have commands dedicated to space, with the Air Force currently functioning as the primary "space force" for the military. And according to numerous reports, the Air Force is not too keen on the idea of handing over their operations. The president told a U.S. general to create a new Space Force as 6th branch of military today, which generals tell me they dont want, Nelson, himself a former Army captain and astronaut, tweeted on Monday. NASA so far has not weighed in on Trumps order and instead issued a general statement Monday following Trump's National Space Council speech. NASA strongly supports the White Houses continued bold direction in forging a sustainable and focused space policy that strengthens American leadership, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. There is also the question of how large of a force the service would need and how a new officer corp would be trained. Experts told Military.com that the space force would need anywhere between 15,000 and 20,000 active personnel augmented by a small army of civilian contractors and that a service academy like the U.S. Military Academy at West Point or the Air Force Academy in Colorado would need to be established to train its future leaders. "The most compelling justification for an independent service for space is on the personnel side," said Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "A grooming of a space cadre of space professionals ... that's where the Air Force has not offered much in the way of reform. But maybe the biggest question is: What would the space force actually do? While some online commentators envision something akin to Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica, the reality would at least in the foreseeable future be more down to earth. Inside the Pentagon, there is a small but vocal minority pushing programs such as anti-satellite weapons, missile detection capability and space-based solar power to counter mounting space threats from Russia and China, but others like Buffalos Crassidis argue that the biggest danger to future space exploration is the debris floating around earths orbit now. Whatever the mission, experts tend to agree that a space force wont be something that will be patrolling the final frontier anytime during Trumps current presidential term. This is something that is going to take a long time to get running, three to five years if things run smoothly and this actually gets through Congress, Crassidis said. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May came under pressure from opposition lawmakers Wednesday to cancel President Trumps upcoming visit over his administration's controversial treatment of families caught illegally crossing the border. Trump is due to arrive in the U.K. for a working visit on July 13, where he plans to meet with May. But opposition MPs who have long tried to head off a Trump visit seized on the immigration debate to suggest May rescind her invitation. The Scottish National Partys Ian Blackford, citing the practice, asked May in Parliament: Is the Prime Minister still intending to roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump? On the very important issue that hes raised, of what we have seen in the United States, the pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing, May responded. "This is wrong. This is not something we agree with. This is not the United Kingdoms approach. But she also defended the U.S.-U.K. visit while being heckled by opposition MPs who yelled shame. We have a special and longstanding relationship with the United States and I think it is right there will be a range of issues I will be discussing with President Trump ... and I think its important that we make sure that when we see the president of the United States here in the United Kingdom were able to have those discussions, she said. The discord in London marks the latest political and diplomatic fallout from a policy that Trump and congressional Republicans are scrambling to address. At issue is the practice of separating children from parents caught crossing the border illegally. It stems from the implementation of a zero tolerance policy calling for prosecutions across the board. Families are in turn being separated, because of a policy that predates this administration barring children from being held in those facilities for an extended period. Trump on Wednesday signed an executive action keeping families together, while congressional Republicans work on legislation. In London, the raucous scene was similar to the protests in Washington and other U.S. cities. Blackford called May's answer disappointing, sparking groans from Tory MPs, and then went on to criticize the U.K.s policy of indefinite detention of some illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. The topic of child separation in the U.S. and Trump's visit came up again later in the session. President Trump has locked up 2,000 little children in cages and is refusing to release them unless he is allowed to build a wall. He has quit the U.N. Human Rights Council, praised Kim Jong Uns treatment of his own people, turned away Muslims, Labour Party MP Gavin Shuker said. What does this man have to do to have the invitation she has extended revoked? May reiterated that she considers the U.S. stance wrong but reminded the chamber on the importance of the special relationship. When we disagree with the United States, we tell them so, she said. But we also have some key shared interests with the United States, in the security and defense field and in other areas as well, and it is right that we are able to sit down and discuss those with the president of a country with which we have had a longstanding ... special relationship. Left-wing Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn did not call for May to cancel the visit, but on Tuesday called the situation "immoral." Not all voices in the U.K. were critical. Former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage urged Trump to stick to a tough line on the issue. "Trump has got to stay tough on this and ignore all the screams coming from the liberal media," Farage said on "Fox & Friends." Sky News reported on Wednesday that Trump is expected to meet with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle while on the visit. Yes, yes, I mean he has to see the head of state. Putting his foot on British soil, it's job one, it's very important, very symbolic, U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Robert Wood Johnson told Sky. Retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly has lambasted President Trump's proposal to create a Space Force, saying the Air Force already does the tasks Trump is talking about. "This is a dumb idea," Kelly wrote on Twitter. "The Air Force does this already. That is their job. Whats next, we move submarines to the 7th branch and call it the under-the-sea force? Kelly, who has been mentioned as a possible Democratic congressional candidate in the past (he is married to former Rep. Gabby Giffords) was referring to the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC), a unit of the Air Force focused on space. MASSIVE MARS DISCOVERY: ORGANIC MOLECULES 'FUNDAMENTAL TO OUR SEARCH FOR LIFE' FOUND BY NASA ROVER According to the AFSPC's website, its mission is to "to provide resilient and affordable space and cyberspace capabilities for the Joint Force and the Nation." It has more than 36,000 people working at 134 locations around the world to support this mission. Headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado, the AFSPC's capabilities include facilities and range safety control for the conduct of Deparment of Defense, NASA and commercial launches, command and control of all Deparment of Defense satellites. Its capabilities also include "continuous global coverage," space surveillance on satellites and space debris. "Maintaining space superiority is an emerging capability required to protect U.S. space assets," AFSPC states in its website. On Monday, Trump announced he is directing the Pentagon to create a new "Space Force" as an independent military service branch aimed at ensuring American supremacy in space, a directive that seemed to take Defense officials by surprise. Creating a new joint military command is largely the purview of Congress, which would have to provide the authority and any funding or shifting of money to a new unit. The Department of Defense is already in the middle of a congressionally mandated review of the space force issue. The study began in March, with an interim review due in August and a final report due December 31. It's not clear if the president's comments Monday were meant to override or influence that study. In a March document outlining the review, the Pentagon said it has already made organizational changes to beef up the stature of the Space Force, but is reviewing others. The document sent to Congress said the review will look at research, capabilities, acquisition and joint warfighting needs, and will assess "whether the Space Corps concept should be implemented." JEFF BEZOS SAYS WE NEED TO LEAVE EARTH Others weigh in Other experts have weighed in on the creation of a Space Force, with some saying it could be a good idea if done properly. "This could be politically very difficult to do," Dr. John L. Crassidis, Samuel P. Capen Chair professor at the University of Buffalo, told Fox News. "I don't necessarily think having one agency look at space is a bad idea if it's done right." Dr. Crassidis added that space debris is a huge issue, saying "there's a good possibility that a collision [with space debris] in the next 20 to 30 years could occur." As of 2013, NASA pointed out there were more than 500,000 pieces and they have the potential to do some serious damage to space equipment, including satellites or even spacecraft. Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, said the conversation about the proposed Space Force is leading to "interesting times," though Aldrin, who was caught on camera looking baffled when Trump spoke about space last year, did not expand on what he meant by that. In October 2017, Secy. of Defense James Mattis wrote letters to several congressmen, including Sen. John McCain (R.-Az.), the Chairman of the Committee on Armed Services, and said he opposed "the creation of a new military service and additional organizational layers at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint warfighting functions." Fox News has reached out to the White House with a request for comment on this article. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia Birthday wishes Call 281-422-8302 or email david.bloom@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun. Happy Birthday Wishes A 62-foot blue whale carcass that washed ashore north of San Francisco on Monday died from a ship strike, the Marine Mammal Center said Tuesday. The juvenile female blue whale died of blunt force trauma consistent with vessel collision, the nonprofit organization said in a statement. Blue whales are the largest animal on Earth and an endangered species, so to learn that this individuals death is a result of a ship strike is particularly unfortunate, said Barbie Halaska, a Marine Mammal Center researcher, told the Bay Area's KTVU2 FOX. Human-caused ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements are primary threats to blue whales -- an endangered species -- and the leading cause of non-natural whale mortality, according to the center. Blue whales are the largest animal on Earth and an endangered species, so to learn that this individuals death is a result of a ship strike is particularly unfortunate. Barbie Halaska, researcher, Marine Mammal Center A team of 19 scientists performed a necropsy on the blue whale and discovered multiple broken vertebrae and severe tissue hemorrhaging along the whales back, the Marin Independent Journal reported. Upon closer inspection, scientists also found a severed spine and bruising to the ribs and lower jaw, the report said. This is the 10th blue whale that the center has responded to in its 43-year history, according to the mammal center. It was also the eighth whale of all kinds for the center this year, the Journal reported. The blue whale was found decaying with its stomach extremely bloated as seagulls foraged through its remains, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Its carcass was discovered at the south of Limantour Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore, around 50 miles northwest of San Francisco. Scientists from the Marine Mammal Center, California Academy of Sciences, Point Reyes National Seashore and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration participated in the necropsy. Understanding and documenting the extent of the injuries through a necropsy allows us to share this information with decision-makers to help find solutions to prevent these incidents in the future, Halaska said. Blue whales, the largest animals on earth, usually grow between 80 and 100 feet long and are often found in groups, LiveScience reported. But this whale was isolated, which could explain the ship strike. On Saturday, a whale watching group near the Farallon Islands, about 27 miles off San Francisco, saw a dead and decaying blue whale floating on the water, the Chronicle reported. "It could have drifted for miles, so it's a matter of re-sighting it," Bill Keener with Golden Gate Cetacean Research, told the paper. About 2,800 blue whales, an endangered species, live off the coast of California, according to the mammal center. Earlier this month, a blue whale turned up in the Red Sea, LiveScience reported. In February, a 66-foot-long blue whale carcass was found along the coast of Chile desecrated with graffiti and stomped on by tourists, Fox News had reported. A Canadian fisherman made a one-in-a-100 million catch when he pulled a cotton candy-colored lobster out of the water around Grand Manan Island, located a few miles off the coast of Maine. It's the "rarest of the rare," fisherman Robin Russell, 38, said of the colorful find. Russell discovered the shimmering creature back in November but the impressive catch started making headlines this week when a popular Maine Instagram account with 27,000 followers posted a picture of it. "Cotton candy lobsters are the rarest of rare! Congrats on this once in a lifetime catch," the account wrote, tagging Russell. The post received more than 4,500 likes and dozens of comments. "Is its shell opaline?" one Instagram user asked. "Wow! This one is beautiful! Before reading the caption, I thought it was an incredible painting. This cotton candy lobster is like the unicorn of the sea," another observed. "So wish they would release him so that he could get married and build a big cotton candy family," a woman added. Russell decided to donate the 2-pound sea critter to Huntsman Marine Science Centre, an aquarium in New Brunswick, Canada. I really didnt know what to do with it at first, so I decided to give it to the aquarium," Russell told the Press Herald last week, adding that the lobster, nicknamed "Lucky," will be on display this summer. As captain of a lobster boat, Russell said he's made some pretty incredible catches over the years, but this is by far one of his best. Lobsters are typically brown, turning a red-orange color when boiled. But there is a possibility a lobster can be blue, yellow, split-colored or even albino. "The odds of finding an albino lobster are one in 100 million lobsters. Yet, people do find them. One in 100 milllion," University of Maine's Lobster Institute explained in a post online. "That's a long way from the one in two million blue lobsters that appear in nature." A new study suggests that rapid cooling within the Earth's mantle through plate tectonics played a major role in the development of the first life forms, which in turn led to the oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere. The study was published in the March 2018 issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Scientists at the University of Adelaide and Curtin University in Australia, and the University of California at Riverside, California, USA, gathered and analyzed data on igneous rocks from geological and geochemical data repositories in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States. They found that over the 4.5 billion years of the Earth's development, rocks rich in phosphorus accumulated in the Earth's crust. They then looked at the relationship of this accumulation with that of oxygen in the atmosphere. Phosphorus is essential for life as we know it. Phosphates, which are compounds containing phosphorus and oxygen, are part of the backbones of DNA and RNA as well as the membranes of cells, and help control cell growth and function. To find out how the level of phosphorus in the Earth's crust has increased over time, the scientists studied how rock formed as the Earth's mantle cooled. They performed modeling to find out how mantle-derived rocks changed composition as a consequence of the long-term cooling of the mantle. Their results suggest that during an early, hotter period in Earth's history the Archaean period between four and 2.5 billion years ago there was a larger amount of molten mantle. Phosphorus would have been too dilute in these rocks. However, over time, the Earth cooled sufficiently, aided by the onset of plate tectonics, in which the colder outer crust of the planet is subducted back into the hot mantle. With this cooling, partial mantle melts became smaller. As Dr. Grant Cox, an earth scientist at the University of Adelaide and a co-author of the study, explains, the result is that "phosphorus will be concentrated in small percentage melts, so as the mantle cools, the amount of melt you extract is smaller but that melt will have higher concentrations of phosphorus in it." Phosphorus' role in the oxidation of Earth The phosphorus was concentrated and crystallized into a mineral called apatite, which became part of the igneous rocks that were created from the cooled mantle. Eventually, these rocks reached the Earth's surface and formed a large proportion of the crust. When phosphorus minerals derived from the crust mixed with the water in lakes, rivers and oceans, apatite broke down into phosphates, which became available for development and nourishment of primitive life. The scientists estimated the mixing of elements from the Earth's crust with seawater over time. They found that higher levels of bio-essential elements parallel major increases in the oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere: the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) 2.4 billion years ago, and the Neoproterozoic Oxygen Event, 800 million years ago, after which oxygen levels were presumed to be high enough to support multicellular life. Even before the GOE, from approximately 3.5 to 2.5 billion years ago, some of the earliest life forms possibly generated oxygen through photosynthesis. However, during that time, most of this oxygen reacted with iron and sulfur in igneous rocks. To understand how these reactions affected oxygen levels in the atmosphere over a period of four billion years, the scientists measured the amounts of sulfur and iron in igneous rocks, and figured out how much oxygen had reacted. They compared all of these events with changes in levels of atmospheric oxygen. The scientists found that decreases in sulfur and iron along with increases in phosphorus paralleled the Great Oxidation Event and the Neoproterozoic Oxygen Event. An explosion of life All of these events support a scenario in which the cooling of the Earth's mantle led to the increase of phosphorus-rich rocks in the Earth's crust. These rocks then mixed with the oceans, where phosphorus-containing minerals broke down and leached into the water. Once phosphorus levels in seawater were high enough, primitive life forms thrived and their numbers increased, so they could generate enough oxygen that most of it reached the atmosphere. Oxygen reached levels sufficient to support multicellular life. Dr. Peter Cawood, a geologist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, comments to Astrobiology Magazine that, "it's intriguing to think that the [oxygen] on which we depend for life owes its ultimate origin to secular decreases in mantle temperature, which are thought to have decreased from some 1,550 degrees Celsius some three billion years ago to around 1,350 degrees Celsius today." Could a similar scenario be playing out on a possible exo-Earth? With the Kepler discoveries of a growing number of possibly Earth-like planets, could any of these support life? Cawood suggests that the finding is potentially significant for the development of aerobic life (i.e. life that evolves in an oxygen-rich environment) on exoplanets. "This is provided that [phosphorus] within the igneous rocks on the surface of the planet is undergoing weathering to ensure its bio-availability," says Cawood. "Significantly, the phosphorus content of igneous rocks is highest in those rocks low in silica [rocks formed by rapid cooling] and rocks of this composition dominate the crusts of Venus and Mars and likely also on exoplanets." Cox concludes by saying that, "This relationship [between rising oxygen levels and mantle cooling] has implications for any terrestrial planet. All planets will cool, and those with efficient plate tectonic convection will cool more rapidly. We are left concluding that the speed of such cooling may affect the rate and pattern of biological evolution on any potentially habitable planet." The research was supported by the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) element of the NASA Astrobiology Program, as well as the National Science Foundation Frontiers in Earth System Dynamics Program and the Australian Research Council. This story was provided by Astrobiology Magazine, a web-based publication sponsored by the NASA astrobiology program. This version of the story published on Space.com. The Air Force is now adding new information about enemy aircraft to the F-35's "threat library" database designed to precisely identify enemy aircraft operating in different high-risk areas around the globe - such as a Chinese J-20 stealth fighter or Russian T-50 PAK FA 5th Gen fighter, service leaders said. Described as the brains of the airplane, the "mission data files" are extensive on-board data systems compiling information on geography, air space and potential threats in areas where the F-35 might be expected to perform combat operations, Air Force officials explained. "New threat changes are monitored and incorporated into updated mission data files based on the established priorities. Mission Data Files have been fielded to the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force, in support of operations, test, training and exercises," Maj. Emily Grabowski, Air Force spokeswoman, told Warrior Maven. Consisting of hardware and software, the mission data files are essentially a database of known threats and friendly aircraft in specific parts of the world. The files continue to be worked on at a reprogramming laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Air Force officials said. The mission data files are designed to work with the aircraft's Radar Warning Receiver engineered to find and identify approaching enemy threats and incoming hostile fire. The concept is to use the F-35s long range sensors to detect threats - and then compare the information against the existing library of enemy threats in real time while in flight. If this can happen at a favorable standoff range for the F-35, it will be able to identify and destroy enemy air-to-air targets before being vulnerable itself to enemy fire. The mission data packages are loaded with a wide range of information to include commercial airliner information and specifics on Russian and Chinese fighter jets. For example, the mission data system would enable a pilot to quickly identify a Russian MiG-29 if it were detected by the F-35s sensors. "The Mission Data Files are based on the requirement," Grabowski said While progress at the Eglin laboratory has been steady, the integration of the mission data files for the F-35 have experienced some delays, prompting the current effort to quicken the pace so that the operational aircraft has the most extensive threat library possible. Overall, the Air Force is developing 12 different mission data files for 12 different geographic areas, Air Force officials have told Warrior Maven in previous interviews. While Grabowski said that Mission Data File information on particular enemy platforms and specific global threat areas was naturally not available for security reasons, she did say the technology is now supporting the latest F-35 software configuration - called 3f. As the most recently implemented software upgrade, Block 3f increases the weapons delivery capacity of the JSF, giving it the ability to drop a Small Diameter Bomb, 500-pound JDAM and AIM 9X short-range air-to-air missile, service officials explained. "Mission data has been fielded in support of version 2B, 3i, and 3f," Grabowski added. The Air Force is already working on a 4th drop to be ready by 2020 or 2021. Following this initial drop, the aircraft will incorporate new software drops in two year increments in order to stay ahead of the threat. The service is also working to massively quicken the pace of software upgrades as a way to respond quickly to new threats. To Read Warrior Maven's Report on How Senior Air Force Leaders Believe Software Updates Will Win Future Wars CLICK HERE Block IV will include some unique partner weapons including British weapons, Turkish weapons and some of the other European country weapons that they want to get on their own plane, service officials explained. Block IV will also increase the weapons envelope for the U.S. variant of the fighter jet. A big part of the developmental calculus for Block 4 is to work on the kinds of enemy air defense systems and weaponry the aircraft may face from the 2020s through the 2040s and beyond. In terms of weapons, Block IV will eventually enable the F-35 to fire cutting edge weapons systems such as the Small Diameter Bomb II and GBU-54 both air dropped bombs able to destroy targets on the move. The Small Diameter Bomb II uses a technology called a tri-mode seeker, drawing from infrared, millimeter wave and laser-guidance. The combination of these sensors allows the weapon to track and eliminate moving targets in all kinds of weather conditions. The emerging 4th software drop will build upon prior iterations of the software for the aircraft. Block 2B builds upon the enhanced simulated weapons, data link capabilities and early fused sensor integration of the earlier Block 2A software drop. Block 2B will enable the JSF to provide basic close air support and fire an AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile), JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) or GBU-12 (laser-guided aerial bomb) JSF program officials said. Following Block 2B, Block 3i increases the combat capability even further and the now operational 3F brings a vastly increased ability to suppress enemy air defenses. More Weapons and Technology - WARRIOR MAVEN (CLICK HERE)-- Twitter and other online platforms are shutting down efforts to reveal the names of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees following the backlash against the Trump administrations zero-tolerance policy at the U.S.-Mexico border. Developer Sam Lavigne, who claims to be an adjunct professor at New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts, created a database on GitHub that revealed the names of more than 1,500 ICE agents -- with the data scraped from the LinkedIn business networking site. In a now-deleted Medium post, Lavigne justified the database, saying, As ICE continues to ramp up its inhumane surveillance and detention efforts, I believe its important to document whats happening, and by whom, in any way we can. "As ICE continues to ramp up its inhumane surveillance and detention efforts, I believe its important to document whats happening, and by whom, in any way we can. Sam Lavigne But the blogging platform suspended the post detailing the information on the grounds of "doxxing" the intentional publication of personal information -- Lavigne told the Verge. GitHub explained in a statement why it removed the information about ICE agents. We removed the project because it violates our community guidelines, a GitHub spokesperson said. In general, we have policies against use of GitHub for doxxing and harassment, and violating a third partys privacy. We removed the project because it violates our community guidelines ... we have policies against use of GitHub for doxxing and harassment, and violating a third partys privacy. A GitHub spokesperson Twitter also began cracking down on accounts that tweeted information about ICE employees. Russel Neiss, a coder, created an account that automatically revealed information from the database, BuzzFeed reported. The database is reportedly now being circulated in a form of publicly accessible Google document. Lavigne told the Verge that though he thinks the "doxxing" concerns raised by the database he created are valid, he believes the information is already out there, and if people want to embark on individual campaigns of harassment, then theyre going to be doing that no matter what. Fox News reached out to New York University asking for a comment. The effort to identify ICE employees coincided with Tuesday's harassment of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who was forced to leave a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., after socialist activists surrounded her and yelled Shame! and other comments. VIDEO SHOWS DHS BOSS KIRSTJEN NIELSEN BEING HECKLED, HARASSED AT DC RESTAURANT President Donald Trump was also subject to protests on Tuesday. On his way to House Speaker Paul Ryan's office, a congressional intern yelled, "Mr. President, F--k you!" across the Capitol Rotunda. He then faced several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), who gathered outside Trumps meeting with Republican lawmakers who tried to come up with a legislative solution to the controversial family separation policy at the border. After Trump left the meeting, the Democratic officials heckled him and held signs. Wanna save money on your next Uber? Sorry, you have to work for the ride-hailing company to get word of the less pricey lift. Uber is experimenting with a new feature that offers customers a less expensive trip if they put off booking the ride for a bit but only employees are getting to use the feature, the company said Tuesday. The less pricey rides are usually a few minutes later than the requested pickup. In a now-deleted screenshot posted to Twitter, an Uber employee showed how the app provided the choice of a ride for $10.18 or waiting five minutes and getting the same trip for $8.15 a 20 percent savings. An Uber spokesperson confirmed the existence of the feature to The Post. Affordability is a top reason riders choose shared rides, and were internally experimenting with a way to save money in exchange for a later pickup, the spokesperson said. The feature is still being tested internally, and public rollout would hinge on its proving viability as a concept, the spokesperson said. Its the latest novel idea to come out of Uber in recent days. Last week, the San Francisco company applied for a patent for a system that would allow drivers to know if customers ordering a ride are drunk or otherwise impaired even before picking them up. The system imagines a world in which you might stumble out of a bar at 2 a.m. and the app will be able to know if you are drunk based on the angle youre holding your phone, how you are walking, how you are interacting with the app and where you are located compared with other times youve used it. This story originally appeared in the New York Post. Verizon is scaling back a program that can expose cell phone location data of millions of customers without their consent; AT&T has pledged to do the same. The move comes after prison IT firm Securus Technologies was found to be using the data to let police look up cell phone locations without a warrant. Last month, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon sent letters to all four major US wireless carriers, demanding answers about why the sensitive data was in the hands of a third party. In response, Verizon is cracking down on partners that enabled the abuse by ending its data-sharing agreements with two companies, LocationSmart and Zumigo, which specialize in processing location data from US wireless carriers and letting corporate customers access it. "Our review of our location aggregator program has led to a number of internal questions about how best to protect our customers' location data," Verizon told Wyden in a June 15 letter. According to the letter, Securus was among 75 corporate customers with access to Verizon's customer data from either LocationSmart or Zumigo. The partnerships can power services like bank fraud prevention, emergency roadside assistance and marketing deals, which depend on knowing a customer's whereabouts. However, the location sharing was supposed to only take place with a customer's consent. This wasn't happening in the case of Securus, which obtained the data from LocationSmart. After an investigation, Verizon pulled the plug on the prison technology company's access to its sensitive information. Last Friday, AT&T and T-Mobile also told Wyden's office that they cut off location data access to Securus, but refrained from ending their data-sharing agreements with LocationSmart and Zumigo. Sprint's letter to Wyden doesn't explicitly mention any action against Securus or third-party companies. "Verizon deserves credit for taking quick action to protect its customers' privacy and security," Wyden said in a statement on Tuesday. "In contrast, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint seem content to continue to sell their customers' private information to these shady middle men, Americans' privacy be damned." The harsh statement appears to have gotten AT&T's attention. On Tuesday, the carrier told PCMag it was winding down its partnerships with third-party data aggregator companies. However, AT&T and Verizon say the process will take time. Both carriers still want to power "beneficial" location-based services such as bank fraud prevention and call routing. "Our top priority is to protect our customers' information, and, to that end, we will be ending our work with aggregators for these services as soon as practical in a way that preserves important, potential lifesaving services like emergency roadside assistance," AT&T told PCMag in a statement. T-Mobile, on the other hand, told Wyden that it has proper safeguards in place to prevent abuse. "To the extent that a company deviates from protocol, T-Mobile will take action, as it did with Securus," the carrier said in its letter to Wyden. Sprint told PCMag the company is still investigating the matter, but suspended all services with LocationSmart on May 25. On Tuesday, a LocationSmart spokesman responded to the scrutiny of its business, saying: "There has been a lot of wildly misleading information published about this situation," and provided a link to an FAQ about the company. However, so far LocationSmart hasn't responded to questions about why it was allowing Securus Technologies to use its data for warrant-less police searches. Last month, LocationSmart was also found accidentally exposing the location data online. A company-made demo contained a software bug that let anyone search for real-time cell phone locations from millions of devices. This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. This is a rush transcript from "Your World," June 20, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: All right, you would think now, with the president signing this executive order to end this program where they're separating kids from their parents along the border, that this would all go away. The ACLU, as I told you at the top of the show, is intervening. A number of Democratic congressmen, representatives saying, we have got to go one step further to make sure there's no incarceration of anyone for 100 miles from the point of the border. Well, that -- that would be interesting. Let's get the read on all of this from Republican South Dakota Senator John Thune. Senator, it wasn't and deemed so far not good enough for the president's critics, Republican critics, or those that say the Republicans didn't go far enough. What do you say? SEN. JOHN THUNE, R-SOUTH DAKOTA: Well, I think this is another example, Neil, of a lot of Democrats who would like to use this issue to score political points, rather than to come up with a solution. I think what the president did today was the right thing to do. It was to say to the American people and to all those who might to want to come to this country illegally that we're going to enforce our laws, but we are going to do it in a humane way when it comes to the treatment of families. We're going to keep families together. And that was the executive order that he signed today. And it's, I think, in response to what we saw as an unintended consequence of the zero tolerance policy that the administration had implemented. But smart move, right move on his part, but one that will probably never satisfy the Democrats, because, frankly, like I said before, I think they see this as an issue and are more interested in using it as a political opportunity, rather than to come up with a real solution to the problem. CAVUTO: President Obama had been weighing in on this on Facebook, Senator, saying: "Imagine if you'd been born in a country where you grew up fearing for your life, and eventually the lives of your children. A place where you finally found yourself so desperate to flee persecution, violence, and suffering that you'd be willing to travel thousands of miles under cover of darkness." And then he adds: "Now we imagine ourselves in the shoes of others, to say there but for the grace of God go I." But we didn't do that. What do you make of that? THUNE: Well, I mean, I think that he, like many others in the -- on the Democrats and those who have a very liberal view on this issue and support the catch and release policy that was largely the policy of the previous administration, but if you're somebody who is coming into this country that is seeking asylum, Neil, you can do that by coming to a port of entry. It's the people who come here illegally that are being detained and going through an adjudication process. And if it's -- there are grounds for them to seek asylum here, they're granted that. If there aren't, they are returned. And the thing that the recent change by the administration does is it allows those families, while that process is going on, to be kept together. And I think that -- as I said, that is the right thing for the administration to do. I'm glad they did it. And I would hope the Democrats would at least acknowledge that they have addressed -- the administration has addressed in the near term this issue. It doesn't address the broader immigration problem. And this, frankly, is a byproduct of a broken immigration system which needs to be fixed. And that is going to require bipartisan cooperation, something that we have not seen from the... (CROSSTALK) CAVUTO: Yes, I'm wondering how likely that is, because I know the Senate is going to be in session in the August recess, mostly just Republicans. Is it your sense that that's when you will try to do something? Because getting bipartisan cooperation right now -- and that could change -- doesn't look good. THUNE: Well, I think it will be hard, because we're in an even-numbered year and we're getting closer and closer to an election. And, as I said, I think that, for the Democrats, they always view this as a political issue, a wedge issue that they can use in an election season, which is unfortunate, because this is an issue that cries out for a solution. The House may very well take action. If they send a bill to the Senate, our leader has indicated that if it's something that there is bipartisan -- if there are Democrats in the Senate who will support it, that will give us the 60 votes necessary to pass it, and something that the president will sign into law, he will bring it up. If it doesn't meet those conditions, it's unlikely that we will have that debate. We spent a week on immigration already earlier this year, as you know, and didn't get to a final resolution. But it needs one, and it's going to require bipartisan cooperation in order to get one. CAVUTO: All right, Senator, it's a crazy town you live in. THUNE: It is a crazy town, yes, indeed. CAVUTO: All right, Senator, thank you very much for taking the time. END Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. Guests were treated to a surprise at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Tuesday, after a water main break led to major flooding on the Convention Center floor, ultimately displacing 1,000 people. According to Fox 5, water was observed leaking around 4:30 p.m. from the area between the first and second floors of the convention center, onto the first floor. The cause was soon attributed to a water main broken in a loading dock area. After arriving at the scene, Clark County firefighter proceeded to relocate roughly 1,000 people from the second floor to other areas of the hotel as a precautionary measure. No injuries were reported. SWAN INFAMOUS FOR ATTACKING TOURISTS AT ENGLISH RIVER MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARS "A water leak at Mandalay Bay has affected a portion of the South Convention Center. Crews are working to clean up the leak as soon as possible. There are no injuries or major disruptions to operations, Mandalay Bay Resort tweeted. The Clark County Fire Department later confirmed that there was no report of structural damage to the building as water and electrical power was secured in the area, Fox 5 reported. By Wednesday morning, the resort confirmed that the Convention Center was ready to proceed with its normal events and operations schedule. WHY YOU SHOULD THINK TWICE ABOUT THE HOTEL POOL ON YOUR SUMMER VACATION Meanwhile, footage of the flooding continues to make waves across the Internet. This isnt something you see every day, one witness wrote on Twitter. Another shared a now-viral video to the social network of water rushing down the escalator in a vacant area of the hotel, as the fire alarm goes off, in a clip that has since been viewed nearly 4,000 times. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Mandalay Bay's latest troubles come several months after gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire from the 32nd floor of the resort into a crowd below at an outdoor concert, killing 58 people. The AP contributed to this report. An aggressive swan dubbed "Asboy" after he attacked rowers at a popular tourist spot has mysteriously vanished from his normal riverside haunt. The cob a male swan was often seen pecking at people, attacking tourists, eating sandwiches, and even trying to steal handbags at a river in Cambridge, England. But the youngster, named for the Anti-Social Behavior Order (ASBO) issued in the U.K. to disruptive persons, is believed to have been secretly removed from the River Cam due to his aggressiveness. MICHAEL JACKSON'S OLD PET ELEPHANT ESCAPED ENCOLSURE AT FLORIDA ZOO Natural England has been contacted about the celebrity swan's welfare, but the government body remains tight-lipped as to his fate. Another swan known as Mr. Asbo believed to be Asboy's "grandfather" was moved to a secret location by the river authorities six years ago for similar behavior. Officials reportedly moved him 60 miles away after he repeatedly targeted Cambridge rowers, and had his wings clipped to prevent him from returning. "Asboy swan or Trevor as hes known locally has got a serious reputation in Cambridge for being overly aggressive if hes loaded up on bread from tourists," said Sam Matthews, 37, from the Traditional Punting Company. "He also has seemed to develop a trust-fund radar, as his favorite targets are the Cambridge University rowers. "Hes a menace but hes part of the city, so we embrace his quirkiness." FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS A spokeswoman from the Wild Life Trust explained the reasons for why Asboy may be aggressive with the public. Swans, like any other birds, are wild animals, and if on occasion they behave territoriality, its simply because they are following their instincts," she said. Natural England, a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, often helps to deal with issues regarding swans, and previously helped with the removal of Mr. Asbo six years ago. "The River Conservancy helped to removed Mr. Asbo to a location; Natural England only supplied the license to remove him," said a spokeswoman from Natural England. An American Legion post in New York City that recently made headlines after the city's Department of Transportation ordered them to remove a patriotic-themed bench is taking their U.S. pride one step further. The American Legion Sixth Memorial Post 1833 is raising $25,000 to have an American flag mural painted on the outside of its brick building in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The hall started their fundraising campaign after famed artist Scott LoBaido known for his patriotic artwork offered to paint the wall. "Scott reached out to us," a contractor and a commander of the Sons of the American Legion at the post named Joe, told Fox News on Tuesday. Joe built the American flag bench that was constructed around the base of a tree in front of the building. VETERANS ORGANIZATION CAN KEEP AMERICAN FLAG BENCH FOLLOWING NYC REMOVAL ORDER LoBaido, according to Joe, asked that the building be prepped before he paints it, but volunteered to do so free of charge. The artist is known for his patriotic tributes to America and its veterans, often painting the nation's stars and stripes on buildings throughout the U.S. LoBaido embarked on a 50-state tour in 2015 in which he painted the same flag mural that he plans to paint at Post 1833 on American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and other buildings across the country. When the Staten Island-based artist appeared on "Fox & Friends" in July 2015 and painted his signature artwork in three minutes, he said his purpose for painting American flag murals stems from "[the heart], passion." "This is the greatest place on the face of the earth, and who do we owe this great gratitude for this great freedom? The men and women of the armed forces," LoBaido said. "Our veterans." The American Legion in Park Slope is looking to raise $25,000 that will cover the cost of prepping the building, replacing air conditioning units, repairing a section of the exterior that Joe says was burned in a neighboring fire and ultimately painting the flag mural. The GoFundMe page, created Monday, had raised $750 of its goal by Tuesday evening. Police in New Orleans are searching for a man who stole an SUV while wearing a hospital gown. The suspect was caught on surveillance footage around 4:50 p.m. on Friday in the parking lot of a Discount Zone gas station, officials said in a news release. Only identified as male, the man was spotted wearing a hospital gown and bright yellow socks approaching a Honda CR-V parked at a gas pump and entering the driver's side. A woman was also spotted, seemingly banging on the car door and trying to get inside the vehicle, to no avail. She then ran around to the passenger's side but the man in the hospital gown drove away. Investigators ask that anyone with information call detectives at 504-658-6010 or CrimeStoppers at 504-822-1111. A man who opened fire at a Walmart Supercenter in Washington state on Sunday was reportedly a convicted felon and wasn't allowed to have a gun. Tim Day, 44, was killed in the Tumwater store's parking lot by a pastor after he shot a man after trying to steal his car. ARMED MAN WHO SHOT, KILLED WALMART GUNMAN IS A PASTOR, REPORT SAYS Day, according to KOMO, was a convicted felon who served multiple prison sentences. He reportedly stole his fiancee's gun before he embarked on a carjacking rampage, roughly 30 miles southwest of Tacoma. Police told the news station it's unclear whether Day's fiancee would be held liable as there's no law mandating she needs to lock up her guns. "At this point we're not sure what his motive was," Laura Wohl, of the Tumwater Police Department, said. "There are some indications that he may have been experiencing a little bit of paranoia and wasn't sure whether his car and his situation were safe." Authorities said Day's rampage began after he seemingly was unsuccessful at carjacking a family at a gas station in Olympia. He fled the scene and was later seen driving erratically before crashing into another vehicle in Tumwater. After crashing his car, Day "attempted to carjack at least two other vehicles, fired shots at the vehicles, and demanded owners abandon their cars." CARJACKING SUSPECT DEAD OUTSIDE WALMART STORE AFTER ARMED CITIZENS TAKE ACTION, POLICE SAY Day eventually carjacked a vehicle, which he drove to Walmart, where he went inside and "fired at a locked ammunition display case, removed some ammunition and exited the store." The man then tried to carjack another person, identified by KOMO as Rickey Fievez, and shot the driver twice when he didn't comply with his demands. Two Walmart shoppers who were legally carrying firearms ran into the parking lot after hearing the gun shots, and the 47-year-old pastor shot Day, police said. Fievez was undergoing spinal surgery at a hospital on Tuesday and is reportedly paralyzed from the neck down. His son, Tyler, told the news station the bystander who shot Day "is a hero. That guy could have killed both my parents plus plenty more people." The influx of child immigrants in response to the Trump administration's zero-tolerance enforcement policy has prompted authorities to open at least three "tender-age" shelters in South Texas. There are plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday. The Associated Press has learned the locations of three child shelters in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville. They have been rapidly repurposed to serve needs of children including some under 5. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner says the location in his city would house up to 240 children in a warehouse previously used for people displaced by Hurricane Harvey. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. A 17-year-old was shot three times and killed by a police officer in Pennsylvania while running away from a car that was pulled over in connection to a reported shooting in the area on Tuesday, officials said. Officers from Allegheny County Police Department responded to multiple 911 calls around 8.20 p.m. reporting that a man had been shot in North Braddock, located just outside of Pittsburgh. Police found a 22-year-old gunshot victim, who later was rushed to a hospital and subsequently released. Witnesses reported that a vehicle was seen fleeing the scene and an East Pittsburgh officer saw a vehicle matching the description nearby, which had ballistic damage to the rear window. BLACK MAN FATALLY SHOT IN BACKYARD AFTER OFFICERS MISTAKE CELL PHONE FOR 'TOOL BAR', POLICE SAY When the officer took the driver out of the car and handcuffed him, two passengers ran from the vehicle, at which point one of them, 17-year-old Antwon Rose, was shot dead by police. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, ACPD Superintendent Coleman McDonough said: "An investigation revealed that the shooter fired nine .40 caliber rounds at the victim from a passing vehicle. The victim also returned fire at the vehicle." He also revealed two firearms were recovered from the suspect's vehicle. When McDonough was asked if Rose had been shot in the back, he responded that the teen was shot in "various places on his body," adding that the medical examiner would release further information. "I understand in today's atmosphere anytime a young man is killed there's cause for outrage in some areas," he said. "However, I would urge people to give us time to conduct an objective investigation, to gather facts." Dramatic video captured by an eyewitness shows the two passengers suddenly bolting from the vehicle and police shooting after them. One of the two can be seen falling to the ground. The person recording the video can be heard saying: Why are they shooting at him? Why are they shooting? All they did was run and theyre shooting at them? The footage has sparked outrage in the community of East Pittsburgh, located around 15 miles from Pittsburgh. Selena Brooklin asked the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Why did they have to shoot him when he is running away? What is the justification for that? There is no justification. There is no answer. You shot a man in the back while he was running away. OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY IN 2018 Rose was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are still seeking the second passenger. McDonough has asked for the passenger who remains at large to turn himself in so he can provide further information. The East Pittsburgh officer has been place on administrative leave, McDonough said. Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto said that loss of the teenager was "tragic." "Any loss of life is tragic, and especially the loss of life of a child," he said in a statement. "This is a devastating situation and I am saddened for Antwon Rose and his family." "While Tuesday's shooting was not within the city's official borders it impacts all of us in the Pittsburgh region, and particularly those in the African American community," Peduto said. An Alabama musician said he has lost work after writing on social media that he would volunteer to shoot migrants illegally attempting to enter the U.S. Phillip McCain of Birmingham wrote on Facebook: Ill tell ya what Ill volunteer to shoot their a--es when they approach the border. Problem solved. No more illegal f---s coming in here. Period. I dont give a s--- about them, their kids, their s----y life or asylum. I care about American kid and American families. Youve got to be a complete idiot to not get it, but then again we are talking about the libtard agenda. Liberalism is a mental disorder and Im d--- sure glad that Im not dumb s---. Screenshots of the post, which has since been taken down, has made the rounds on social media. Following the backlash, McCain has been booted from his band Buck Wild and three venues where he was slated to perform canceled the shows. ALABAMA TOWN TERRORIZED BY POOP TRAIN GETS FREE FEBREZE SAMPLES It was not immediately clear when McCain wrote the post since his Facebook has been deactivated due to complaints. He has a new account as of Tuesday, AL.com reported. Rachel Kay, a woman whos helped spread the post over social media, told AL.com she was "flabbergasted" by its content. "When Phillip first stated that he would shoot innocent children/families I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe my eyes," Kay said. "I am glad this is getting out - we need to put an end to this hate and any death threats. I am surprised so many people are supporting him." ILLEGAL MOONSHINE OPERATION DISCOVERED IN ALABAMA WOODS Putu Primanta, the manager of Pablos Restaurante & Cantina, told AL.com he canceled one of McCains shows due to the post and said he is an immigrant and has a diverse clientele. "I'm an immigrant myself, I'm from Indonesia and I work in the Mexican restaurant here, and I'm doing the booking for the restaurant," Primanta said. "Our clientele is from many different backgrounds and I was afraid it was going to hurt our business. I'm just here trying to make a living and be friends with everybody, he continued. McCain told AL.com he was only expressing his opinion and that he wanted to protect the United States borders at any cost. He also said he has lost out on money because of the canceled gigs. "I lost my job in my band Buck Wild, roughly $3,000 [in expected future performance fees], and I've lost three solo gigs already. And that's all for voicing my opinion, and yes, it was harsh, but it was just an opinion. He insists hes not the person hes being made out to be. I'm just an American and I believe in America first, and that's something that people don't want to hear these days. When people speak the truth, they don't want to hear it these days, he said. And now I've found myself in a s---storm, so to speak. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Police officers attempting to notify a woman of her husbands suicide earlier this month instead found her dead body stuffed in a freezer at their Arkansas home. The medical examiners office reported Lori Bruicks cause of death to be from blunt force trauma, while the motive behind the altercation with her husband, Lawrence, is still be investigated by authorities, according to 5News. Her obituary says she died on June 7. West Force police officers were notified about Lawrence Larry Bruicks suicide on June 10, when they went to notify Lori but were met with no answer. The following day, police officers entered the home to find mens clothing that appeared to have blood on it with several letters around the house that indicated Larrys mental state and showed he had suicidal thoughts, according to a press release. Officers said they found Loris body in a chest freezer inside the garage. Larrys obituary said that he died on June 9, the day before police were notified, and officials said he is the sole suspect in the death of Lori. A joint funeral was held Monday morning for the grandparents. The family asked for privacy in a Facebook message on the Arkansas High School Class of 81. The Bruick family has suffered a tragedy and that resulted in loss of life for Larry and Lori Bruick. Many details remain unclear and likely will for some time, the statement read. We thank you for and covet your prayers, messages of support, and actions of kindness. As we move forward, we ask that you respect the family's privacy concerning the details of this tragedy as we move through the grieving process. A video of a California woman's arrest went viral over the weekend, prompting police to investigate the incident. Humboldt State University police officers were patrolling campus as part of a new initiative to crack down on alcohol-related violations when they allegedly spotted someone hanging out of a car's sunroof. Officer Janelle Jackson pulled the vehicle over and arrested the person, who has not been identified. The person was accused of providing false identification to a peace officer, committing battery on an officer and being publicly intoxicated. Officers then asked passenger Samantha Alonso Luna, 20, to provide her license. As they were examining it, Alonso Luna asked Jackson to provide more information about her friend's arrest and the feisty exchange was caught on camera. MASSACHUSETTS JOGGER FIGHTS OFF WOULD-BE KIDNAPPER IN SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE "What other information can we have?" Alonso Luna asked. "That's it that's all you need," Jackson said. "What other information do you think you need?" "Why are you being so rude? I'm sorry," Alonso Luna said. "You're the one that's being rude," the officer replied. "How am I being rude?" the young woman asked. "Seriously? You're about two seconds from going to jail for public intoxication. Do you not understand that? So I would stop talking if I were you," Jackson instructed. The pair are seen on video arguing over Alonso Luna's last name before Jackson instructed the 20-year-old to get out of the car. "No, I'm not getting out of the car," Alonso Luna replied. NASHVILLE PREDATORS STAR AUSTIN WATSON ARRESTED ON DOMESTIC ASSAULT CHARGE "You're going to jail," Jackson said as she appeared to pull Alonso Luna from the vehicle. Alonso Luna briefly broke free, telling her friend to capture the altercation on video. "What the f--k is your problem?" Alonso Luna yelled as another officer stepped in to detain her. Alonso Luna appears to be pushed against the vehicle as she allegedly pulled Jackson's long hair. With help from another officer, the pair eventually got Alonso Luna onto the ground. "Let go of her hair! Let go of her hair!" the officers yelled as a fifth cop arrived. When Alonso Luna refused to loosen her grip, Jackson told fellow officers, "Cut my hair. Seriously, cut my hair. I don't care." A police officer then freed the female officer from the suspect's clutch. Alonso Luna was arrested on suspicion of providing false ID to a peace officer, public intoxication and battery on an officer charges she says she plans to fight. In a Facebook post that has garnered millions of views, Alonso Luna called Jackson "unprofessional" and claimed she was looking for a reaction. "How is it they need 4 grown male cops on ONE female who weighs less than 120 pounds. Its time for a new system," Alonso Luna wrote. HSU President Lisa Rossbacher and HSU Police Chief Donn Peterson confirmed in an online statement Monday that they are reviewing videos of the arrest and plan to conduct a full internal review. We take underage drinking very seriously, Peterson said. The stop and what occurred afterwards will be thoroughly reviewed by the district attorney. I have seen the video of this arrest, and I have confidence that Chief Peterson and our university police will conduct a thorough review, Rossbacher added. The external review will give our university community the opportunity to understand this incident in a full and fair light. Was it time to face the music? Deputies in Colorado say 113 pounds of methamphetamine valued at more than $1 million were discovered inside a subwoofer box over the weekend. The drugs were found after a deputy pulled a vehicle over on Saturday, according to a Facebook post from the Adams County Sheriffs Office. On Saturday, June 16, Deputy Bonder stopped a vehicle for speeding, deputies wrote. When Deputy Bonder made contact with the driver, he observed that both the driver and passenger were very nervous. They added, While writing a summons for the speeding violation, K-9 Deputy Lopez arrived and his K-9 alerted to the trunk of the vehicle. The sheriffs office said the vehicle was then searched and the drugs were discovered. Good job Deputy Bonder, Deputy Lopez and K-9 Nacho for taking over $1 Million worth of methamphetamine off the streets!! #acsoproud, the post read. Senior Deputy Michael D. Kaiser told Fox News Wednesday that both the driver and passenger will face charges related to distribution of controlled substances in addition to the driver's speeding ticket. Law enforcement agencies on the hunt Wednesday for a man dubbed the "D.C.-area Hotel Rapist," who is believed to have violently raped at least six women in the nations capital over a seven-year span, are now offering a combined $45,000 reward for information leading to his capture. The identity of the suspect in unknown but it is the first time the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia has indicted a John Doe profile based on DNA evidence, according to Fox 5 DC. "The survivors in this case are going to live with this for the rest of their lives, and this person needs to be held accountable," Peter Newsham, the Metropolitan Police Department's chief of police, said Tuesday during a news conference announcing the indictment, which was made because the 15-year statute of limitations deadline on the case was fast approaching. Investigators say the attacks happened between Aug. 22, 1998, and Feb. 6, 2006 in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia, involving six to nine women, most of whom were hotel housekeepers. DNA evidence recovered from six of the incidents has been tracked back to one person. During the attacks, the suspect would inconspicuously enter hotel rooms and target housekeepers as they were doing their work, officials said. A box cutter, necktie and a cord were used in several of the incidents to threaten or harm victims, they added. One case took place on Dec. 1, 2002, in a hotel room at the Hilton on Colesville Road in Silver Spring, Md., where officials say they found a box cutter with the name "Debbie" written on it that was used by the suspect in his attack. Then, in an investigation of a sexual assault on May 11, 2003 at the Renaissance Hotel in Northwest D.C., police say they obtained a ring that belonged to the suspect. Police say they also were able to obtain DNA linked to the suspect from sexual assaults on May 23, 2003 at the Jefferson Hotel in Northwest D.C.; June 6, 2003 at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Arlington, Va.; and June 9, 2003, at the Courtyard by Marriot Hotel in Greenbelt, Md. The suspect was described by authorities as an African-American male, between 5 feet-7 inches and 5-feet-10-inches tall with a medium to stocky build, brown eyes, black hair, and a medium to dark complexion. At the time of the assaults, he was believed to be in his 20s to 30s, but now officials said they believe he would be in his late 30s to late 40s. In a new indictment from the U.S. Attorneys Office in Washington, officials were able to obtain the DNA profile of the unknown suspect on charges stemming from the two attacks that took place in the District. Investigators say they also identified several instances of suspicious activity or assaults at area hotels. Three of the possibly related instances occurred in hotel rooms, including one in Arlington in 1998, one in Takoma Park in 2005 and one in Alexandria in 2006, according to police. The FBI and the police departments of D.C., Montgomery County (Md.), Prince Georges County (Md.), Greenbelt (Md.) and Arlington County (Va.) are offering a combined reward of up to $45,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the suspect. Fox 5 DC contributed to this report. For an entire school year, a 12-year-old girl endured merciless bullying online and in the hallways by cruel classmates whose taunts included, "When are you going to kill yourself?" Mallory Grossman's mother made "numerous" complaints to administrators at the New Jersey middle school, but they did nothing to help her daughter, she claimed to The Post. On June 14, 2017, Mallory killed herself in the familys Rockaway home. Her parents on Tuesday filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the principal, Rockaway Township, its board of education and several other school officials in Morris County Superior Court. "The story isn't about Mallory. It's about everybody's Mallory. It's about everybody's niece and their nephew and their grandchildren," Dianne Grossman said. FLASHBACK: FRIENDS, FAMILY WEAR LIGHT BLUE TO HONOR MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRL She said principal Alfonso Gonnella, specifically, has "blood on his hands." On the last day of her daughter's life, Dianne went with Mallory to talk to Gonnella in a last-ditch attempt to get help for her child, the suit says. During the three-hour meeting, the principal handed a poker chip to the preteen cheerleader and gymnast. He then directed the girl to inscribe her initials on the token and asked her: "Are you all in?" Mallory was "humiliated," the suit says. Gonnella "lacked any suggestions to punish the offenders, but instead, placed the bulk of the responsibility on Mallory to rectify the situation," the papers say. "His bright solution to nine months of bullying is a poker chip? And to have her write her initials and date it and to ask her if shes all in? And hours later she goes home and dies?" the mom said. Mallory's father, Seth Grossman, was the one who "discovered his daughter Mallory minutes after she attempted suicide and was present during her last moments of life," the shattered parents lawsuit says. The mom said that meeting followed a full school year of cruel texts and Snapchat messages from other students. Click for more from the New York Post. A Florida motorcyclist is searching for two courageous good Samaritans he said saved his life after a near-death accident that left his leg mangled. Richard Malas, 48, recalled the frightening event after a car slammed into him while he was riding his motorcycle at an intersection in New Port Richey, Florida in early May. I remember coming over the bike. I remember landing on my head and flipping on my side and my leg flipped up, hit me in the face and didnt go back down on its own, Malas told Fox 13. I remember screaming, My leg its broke! Its broke! Malas said he remembered blacking out and then suddenly hearing two voices. They were screaming, Give me a belt! Give me a belt! Two days later, Malas woke up in a hospital with most of his leg removed but doctors said had the two unidentified good Samaritans not fashioned a tourniquet with a belt, he would have likely bled out and died. Theyre courageous, great people, he told Fox 13. Most of them would have just been onlookers and left me laying there on the ground. Malas added, he would like to meet his heroes to say thanks in person. Without them I wouldnt be here today. A 17-year-old girl who escaped from a Southern California home dubbed a "house of horrors" by authorities told 911 operators that two of her sisters were "chained up." "They will wake up at night and they will start crying and they wanted me to call somebody," the girl, one of 13 children, said in the January phone call. "I wanted to call y'all so y'all can help my sisters." A recording of the call was played at a hearing in Riverside County Superior Court that would determine whether the children's parents, David and Louise Turpin, would be tried on multiple child abuse charges. The couple have pleaded not guilty to torture, child abuse and other charges. They are being held on $12 million bail each. The teen's phone call led officers to the Turpin home in Riverside, where they freed two children and arrested the parents. Investigators described a home smelling of human waste, while the children showed obvious evidence of starvation -- the oldest sibling weighed just 82 pounds. Prosecutors have claimed the children were locked up as punishment, denied food and toys and allowed to do little except write in journals, which served as an outlet for expression and were seized from the home by authorities. After their parents' arrest, the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29, were hospitalized and eventually were released. Their current whereabouts are unknown. A spokeswoman for the county's social services department declined to discuss the case. Jack Osborn, an attorney appointed to represent the seven adult children, said earlier this year they were "doing well." They have participated in music therapy programs, made crafts and world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma held a special concert for them. They communicated with their younger siblings over Skype. "They're happy, they are wanting to move forward, they do not want to dwell on the past," he told the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper in February. "They want their identity to be now and going forward the things they hope to do, the dreams they have. They do not want people to think of them only as a possible victim, but as young adults setting off on their lives." Prosecutors planned to have sheriff's deputies testify at Wednesday's hearing, but none of the children was expected to take the stand. David Turpin's attorney, David Macher, said he was "looking forward to the hearing," but declined to comment further. Louise Turpin's lawyer did not immediately respond to request for comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report. One of two armed civilians who confronted and ultimately killed a carjacking suspect outside a Walmart store in Washington state on Sunday has come forward to tell his story. Jesse Zamora, 37, says he was shopping with his wife at the big box store in Tumwater, southwest of Tacoma, when the sound of gunfire and scrambling shoppers led the Kennewick resident to draw his handgun and run toward the suspect, who was later identified as 44-year-old Tim Day, KOMO-TV reported. "The first thing I did was reach for my gun and I told [my wife] to run," Zamora told the station. "The first thing I did was reach for my gun." Jesse Zamora, one of two gun owners credited with pursuing a carjacking suspect In addition to Zamora, a 47-year-old local pastor, also carrying a gun -- whom police identified only as a resident of Oakville -- followed Day to the parking lot, where they saw him shoot a driver twice while attempting to carjack a vehicle, the Olympian reported. The driver was able to hit the gas and spin the car away from Day before he could shoot again, the paper reported. As Day went deeper into the parking lot to find another car, Zamora and the Oakville pastor went after him before he could shoot someone else. The Oakville pastor told Day to put your gun down and then fired the shots that ultimately killed Day, Zamora told the Olympian. Zamora said Day gasped for air and stared at him after being shot. Day, whom investigators said had a criminal history, was later pronounced dead at the scene. "I think we both had a mutual understanding that, 'Let's just do what we have to do to protect all these people here.'" Jesse Zamora, Good Samaritan who confronted Walmart shooter Zamora said he and the pastor both seemed to be thinking alike about how to handle the situation. "I think we both had a mutual understanding that, 'Let's just do what we have to do to protect all these people here,'" Zamora told KOMO-TV. Before Days rampage at the Walmart, he had tried to carjack a vehicle in Olympia, crashed his own car in Tumwater and fired shots while trying to steal another vehicle in the area, the paper said. A bullet grazed a 16-year-old boys thumb during that incident. (The teen had been misidentified as a girl in early reports.) The man Day shot twice in the Walmart parking lot was identified as 48-year-old Rickey Fievez, according to reports. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in critical condition. A GoFundMe page, set up by Fievezs son Tyler, said the elder Fievez remained paralyzed from the neck down with bullet fragments in his spine. The post said the second bullet went through his kidney. The family expected the grandfather to undergo spinal surgery to remove the fragments. As of early Wednesday, the page had collected about $14,000 toward a $50,000 goal. Tyler Fievez hailed the armed Good Samaritans as heroes, telling Q13 Fox that if they didnt have [a gun], then it would have been a lot more chaos than what happened. A person lit themselves on fire at a park in Portland Tuesday afternoon after reading from a paper on mental health and homelessness, The Oregonian reported. Scot Baughman, a witness who intervened, likened the scene to the Buddhist monks who set themselves on fire to protest the Vietnam War. The scene unfolded across the street from the Multnomah County Courthouse in Downtown Portland at Lownsdale Square. Witness accounts differ on the gender of the person, but several people told KATU the person was transgender. Donna Maxey, another witness, said she saw a woman enter the park, with dreads, and with crutches. She said the person sat down on a park bench and began reading from some papers about "homelessness and mental health issues." The person then screamed before getting out a gallon bottle and poured what looked like dirty water over their head, Maxey said. All of a sudden I saw a blue lighter. Baughman said he saw a person engulfed in flames and took his shirt off to try to put the fire out. Several other people in the park tried to help by using their shirts and emptying their water bottles on the flames, KATU reported. When fire officials arrived, Baughman said the persons head was entirely on fire. A court security officer put the flames out with a fire extinguisher, KOIN reported. The majority of the persons body was reportedly burned. The person was transferred to a hospital by ambulance. Yeah it was pretty bad. Another couple of seconds it wouldnt have gone too well, said John Anderson, another witness who intervened. Yeah it was pretty bad. Another couple of seconds it wouldnt have gone too well. John Anderson The person is recovering at the Oregon Burn Center at Emmanuel Hospital, KOIN reported. The exact motivations are unknown. The body of a boy dubbed Little Jacob was identified on Wednesday, nearly a year after his body was found on a Texas beach which prompted a nationwide search for his relatives and those possibly involved in the childs death. Galveston police announced the child investigators have been calling Little Jacob was a 4-year-old boy named Jayden Alexander Lopez, from Houston. His mother, Rebecca Rivera, 34, and her girlfriend, Dania Sarai Amezquita Gomez, 31, were arrested this week and charged with tampering with/fabricating physical evidence, one of them a felony charge. It is believed that both of them were present when he [Lopez] was dead, and that both of them came to Galveston [from Houston] and dumped his body. They are both being held in Galveston County jail, police said at a news conference. Authorities did not reveal the exact cause of Lopez's death, or whether Rivera was involved in the child's death. Lopezs body was found naked on a beach in Galveston on Oct. 20 by a passerby. For months, authorities searched for clues and tips to identify Lopez after DNA testing came up short. $10,000 REWARD IN CASE OF MYSTERY BOY, 'LITTLE JACOB,' FOUND DEAD ON TEXAS BEACH Authorities initially believed the childs body belonged to a boy who was 3 or 4 years old. The body showed signs of neglect and abuse, leading police to believe the boy did not drown. An autopsy also revealed the child died sometime between Oct. 17 and Oct. 18 and had been in the water 12 to 48 hours. "No one reported Jayden as missing. No one was looking for Jayden. We had to become his advocate," FBI Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Bryan Gaines said on Wednesday. In search of more tips, police released an a crime scene photo of Lopezs face and another sketch that removed signs of decomposition in hopes that someone would come forward with information. FBI and Galveston police offered a $10,000 reward last November. Police out of hundreds of tips that investigators recieved in January, two eventually led to Rivera and Gomezs arrest. Lopez was under the care of Rivera and Gomez at the time of his death. Police were able to positively identify Lopez after matching a DNA samples. Lopez was never reported missing before his death, the FBI said. Police said in October that the case was extremely unusual for Galveston Island. A judge has sentenced an Alabama man to 15 years in federal prison for plotting to carry out Islamic State-inspired attacks in the United States. Prosecutors say 23-year-old Aziz Ihab Sayyed of Huntsville must spend the rest of his life on probation following his release. Sayyed pleaded guilty in March to attempting to provide material support for the Islamic State terrorist group. He admitted buying bomb components last year with plans to attack police stations and Redstone Arsenal. Authorities say he also tried to form a group to carry out domestic attacks. Prosecutors say Sayeed made the plans after watching videos by the Islamic State. U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon sentenced the North Carolina native during a hearing Wednesday. Sayeed was attending college in Alabama at the time of his arrest. A female jogger in Massachusetts managed to fight off an attempted kidnapper who allegedly sexually assaulted her as he tried to drag the woman into his car early Sunday morning. The frightening confrontation caught on a surveillance camera shows a man identified as Gordon J. Lyons, 57, slowly pulling up his car to the 37-year-old woman while she jogged down the street. In the footage, the man can be seen getting out of his car, approaching the woman and then attempting to grab her. The two then scuffled behind a tree where he allegedly assaulted the jogger before jumping back into his car and speeding away. FEMALE WORLD CUP REPORTER SEXUALLY ASSAULTED DURING LIVE BROADCAST "I just knew that I needed to do whatever I needed to do in order to be OK," the unidentified victim told Enterprise News of Brockton. "I knew I needed to defend myself and be smart. I knew I needed to do something." She added, "I kept thinking 'what would Dad want me to do?'" Bridgewater police say the jogger took a photo of his car after the terrifying altercation. Investigators matched the photo to the suspects license plate after he crashed his car about seven miles away from the scene. On Wednesday, Bridgewater police revealed Lyons was convicted of rape in 1978. The details of the crime were not released. Lyons pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail. A boy who lost a stuffed animal on a highway has a new one thanks to the Rhode Island State Police. Four-year-old Will Ketcher was riding in a car when his stuffed cheetah, Roger, fell out the window onto Interstate 95. Heartbroken, his dad suggested they write to the state police after the family returned home to Brooklyn. The letter began: "Dear Rhode Island State Highway Patrol, I lost my Roger ... can you please find him?" Cpl. Lawens Fevrier tells WPRI-TV "we were all 4 years old at one time in our lives." Patrols found no sign of Roger. The state police sent the boy a package explaining they did find another cheetah who wanted to live in New York, who they also made a trooper. ___ Information from: WPRI-TV, http://www.wpri.com More than 500 sailors saluted Pearl Harbor survivor Ray Emory as he visited the storied naval base for what may be the last time. The 97-year-old lived through the early morning Japanese aerial bombing but never forgot those who didn't. He spent the past few decades doggedly pushing for the remains of those buried as unknowns to be dug up, identified and returned to their families. Emory had expected to spend a quiet few minutes at the same pier where his ship was moored during the attack nearly 80 years ago. But instead sailors lined their ship decks and shouted a cheer of "Hip, Hip, Hooray!" Emory made the visit as he prepared to leave his Hawaii home and move to Boise, Idaho, to live with his son. In short, if Trump takes it to $200bn, this has the potential to get much, much messier. Strictly speaking, it's true that China and US aren't in a trade war yet: neither has implemented their big threatened tariffs. But the path to escalation is now frighteningly clear. Washington state authorities shared a photo Wednesday of a mans unexpected crash wound, taking the moment to stress the need for people to wear seatbelts. Dubbed the Not A Tattoo mark, Washington State Patrol Trooper Brian Moore shared a photo of the red outline that resembles a seatbelt buckle on a persons body. INDIANA STATE TROOPER LAUDED AS HERO FOR PULLING OVER SLOWPOKE DRIVER Following the June 1 crash, the involved individual allegedly claimed that hed had his seatbelt on, KDKA reported. But Moore said the photo showed something different. Driver was lucky to receive only minor injuries after being involved in a collision w/o wearing a seat belt, Moore tweeted. Here's proof it was hanging by his side! #BuckleUp It could save your life! The man was ultimately levied a fine for violations related to the incident, Moore told the outlet. Authorities were investigating the deaths of three swimmers who were found unresponsive early Tuesday in a swimming pool at a North Carolina apartment complex near Duke University. Police discovered the two males and one female fully submerged at the Chapel Tower apartment complex in Durham shortly after 3 a.m., the News & Observer reported. Though their ages and identities have yet to be released, a resident told the paper that all three appeared to be teenagers. The three victims were pulled from the water and later pronounced dead at Duke University Hospital, Durham Police spokesman Wil Glenn told the paper. Investigators said they spoke with a fourth person who was at the pool, but have yet to give a cause of death. Emergency workers attempted life-saving measures to revive the victims at the scene, but were unsuccessful, WTVD-TV reported. Police had also gathered evidence from around the pool, including articles of clothing and beer cans. The pool, which is closed Mondays with a locked gate, passed a health inspection earlier this month, the News & Observer reported, citing Durham County Health Department records. The pools chemical levels were normal and the water appeared clear and free of floating debris, the June 8 report said. The only problem cited in the report was that a ladder was missing a bumper and was not flush with the pools wall. "When it was inspected 10 days ago, everything was OK," health department spokeswoman Khali Gallman told the paper. "We are awaiting an investigation by the Police Department to be completed. There has been lots of speculation, but no one knows for sure." Last year, a mechanical issue spurred a chemical leak at a Durham YMCA swimming pool affecting 40 children ages 6 to 12 years old and two adults, according to ABC News August 2017 report of the incident. The leaks fumes induced symptoms of vomiting, respiratory illness, and skin and eye irritation. Those affected were treated at a hospital, where their conditions improved. Here's some advice if you're going to be in Florida this week: Stay away from Ocala National Forest. The reason: The U.S. Navy is dropping live bombs there as part of a series of training exercises that will last through Thursday. F-18 jets leave from a nearby Naval Air Station in Jacksonville and conduct operations in the Pinecastle Range Complex of Ocala National Forest, which is approximately 70 miles north of Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Pinecastle Range Complex encompasses an unfenced 5,760-acre area in the middle of Ocala. According to NAS Jacksonville, the bombs will be dropped in the middle 450 acres of the range from 9 to 11 a.m. each day. The naval station says jets are also expected to be in the area in the afternoon and evenings conducting bombings. The range complex is about 2 miles west of the Camp Ocala campgrounds and near several hiking trails. Residents in the surrounding areas have complained of hearing loud booms from the bombings. Some have expressed concern the Navys activity will disrupt wildlife, pushing the animals out of their habitats and into residential areas. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Vatican has barred an 87-year-old cardinal from exercising his priestly ministry after an investigation found a sexual abuse claim leveled against him to be credible, it announced Wednesday. The claim against Theodore McCarrick, who now is retired and living in Washington, D.C., alleged that he sexually abused a minor almost 50 years ago when he was a priest in the Archdiocese of New York. In obedience I accept the decision of The Holy See, that I no longer exercise any public ministry, McCarrick said Wednesday in a statement. I realize this painful development will shock my many friends, family members, and people I have been honored to serve in my sixty-years as a priest. Patrick Noaker, the attorney for another accuser, told Fox News that his client was abused twice, once in 1971 and another in 1972. Noaker said his client was a New York teen who was an altar boy. He said his client was being measured for a robe for Christmas Mass in 1971 when McCarrick allegedly unzipped his pants and sexually assaulted him. The second assault happened a year later in a bathroom in a similar fashion. McCarrick who went on to become the Archbishop of Washington says he was notified by Cardinal Timothy Dolan months ago that claims were being investigated. Carefully following the process detailed by the Charter of the American bishops, this allegation was turned over to law enforcement officials, and was then thoroughly investigated by an independent forensic agency, Dolan said Wednesday. Cardinal McCarrick was advised of the charge, and, while maintaining his innocence, fully cooperated in the investigation. The Holy See was alerted as well, and encouraged us to continue the process. Dolan said that the results of the investigation were then given to the Archdiocesan Review Board, a seasoned group of professionals including jurists, law enforcement experts, parents, psychologists, a priest, and a religious sister, which found the allegations credible and substantiated. This archdiocese, while saddened and shocked, asks prayers for all involved, and renews its apology to all victims abused by priests, Dolan said in the statement. We also thank the victim for courage in coming forward and participating in our Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, as we hope this can bring a sense of resolution and fairness. McCarrick said his sadness was deepened when he heard the results of the investigation. While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people, he added. Dolan said the claim alleging McCarrick committed sexual abuse around 50 years ago was the "first such report of a violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People ever made against him of which the archdiocese was aware". Fox News' Frank Miles contributed to this report. An Indiana woman is accused of dragging a nail salon employee with her car because she was unhappy with the job they did, but her lawyer said the incident was simply a civil dispute. Charley Fowler, who reportedly is a mental health therapist, faced criminal recklessness and theft charges after the alleged nail salon incident. The scene that began over a $30 nail appointment unfolded Saturday when the 28-year-old said she was unhappy with the nails done at Diamond Nails & Spa in Valparaiso, the Times of Northwest Indiana reported. Despite being unhappy, Fowler also refused the salons offer to redo the nails. The employees called police as Fowler left the salon without paying the $30 fee. She then allegedly got in her BMW and began backing out of the parking lot. Fowler told police she was planning to wait in her car while police were heading to the nail salon when the employees began beating on her window. She added that she slowly drove to the nearby restaurant, according to the Times of Northwest Indiana. Fowler's lawyer, Robert Harper, told Fox News his client "should've never been arrested and charged." "The people in the business had no right to try to keep her there physically and the police had no right. To arrest her over a civil matter," Harper said. Police initially said surveillance video showed Fowler backing out of the parking lot before the employees reached her car. One male employee was then dragged across the lot by Fowler. Fowler told Times of Northwest Indiana she hopes to get the case dismissed. Prosecutors are reviewing surveillance video. A black woman proclaimed I hate white people before attacking two fellow passengers on a bus on Monday in Maryland, police said. Kimberly Jordan, 24, of Silver Spring, Md., was charged with racial harassment, obstructing and second-degree assault due to her alleged offensive and physically painful antics, WJLA reported. Jordan was on the Ride On bus, Montgomery Countys public transportation system, when she allegedly stared at two passengers and said, I hate white people. She then reportedly struck a white female passenger in her face before smacking a white male passenger in his face, police said. TEACHERS IN FEAR AFTER MS-13 INFILTRATES MARYLAND SCHOOL The female passenger suffered scratches on her palms while the male had a long cut to his nose. Jordan fled the scene but officers were able to catch up with her about a quarter of a mile away. She told authorities the female passenger hit first but the bus surveillance video showed a different story. Jordan said she had not taken her medication before the incident but police told her that was not an excuse for her behavior. I know, Jordan responded. MARYLAND COUNTY SETTLES LAWSUIT WITH TRANSGENDER TEEN The driver of the bus told officers he saw the incident and heard Jordan say, I hate white people. Jordan has a lengthy arrest record which included theft, destruction of property, domestic violence, assault and burglary charges, according to court documents. She was slated to appear in court on July 12 for a preliminary hearing. French President Emmanuel Macron reprimanded a teenager who called him Manu on Monday and told him to call me Mr. President. Macron tweeted the exchange in a video that has gone viral, with 1.26 million views on Tuesday night. "Respect, that's the minimum in the [French] Republic especially on June 18, especially in the presence of companions of the Liberation. But that doesn't prevent us from having a civil conversation watch till the end, Macron tweeted in French. Manu is a common nickname for Emmanuel in French. During the event at a World War II memorial in France, an unnamed junior high school student casually addressed his countys president, Hows it going, Manu? Call me Mr. President of the republic or monsieur (sir), Macron responded in French, after saying no, you cant do that, no, no, no. Sorry, Mr. President, the boy said, appearing contrite. The Monday ceremony commemorated the 78th anniversary of Charles de Gaulles historic appeal for resistance against Nazi tyranny. Hundreds of members of the French Resistance were executed at the site near Paris in World War II, USA Today reported. "Youre here, at an official ceremony and you should behave. You can play the fool but today its the Marseillaise (National anthem), the Chant des Partisans (French Resistance song), Macron said The day you want to start a revolution, get a degree and learn to feed yourself, OK? You can start lecturing others then. Macrons tweet and admonishment of the teenager yielded mixed responses on social media, with @JordiPetrovi tweeting #Manu is NOT an insult. "Humiliating a 15-year-old kid in front of millions of people just to drum up support from voters from the right, that's also Macron-ism,"@beestoufly tweeted in French. Other supported Macron, with @cal_dsrb tweeting, It's not humiliating! It's about teaching the norms of society that his parent's didn't teach him! The Associated Press contributed to this report. Canada has decided to legalize marijuana for recreational use after a bill was passed by its senate on Tuesday. Americas northern neighbor will become the first G-7 industrialized nation and only the second in the world to have a legal nationwide cannabis market after the 52 to 29 vote. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hopes that legalizing the drug will have a positive effect overall. Its been too easy for our kids to get marijuanaand for criminals to reap the profits, Trudeau said on Twitter. The only other country to legalize the cultivation, distribution and consumption of cannabis is Uruguay, where the government has aimed to take that business model away from criminals. In Canada, medical marijuana was already legal. "We have seen in the Senate tonight a historic vote that ends 90 years of prohibition of cannabis in this country, 90 years of needless criminalization, 90 years of a just-say-no approach to drugs that hasn't worked," independent Sen. Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the upper house, told the Associated Press. A final date will be decided by mid-September, so that retail sales could begin before the end of this year. In the U.S., recreational marijuana is legal in 9 states and for medicinal purposes in 29 states. International drug treaties, which explicitly ban legalizing marijuana, technically prohibit Canadaand the U.S.from taking these steps, reports Vox. NYPD WILL START ISSUING SUMMONSES, NOT ARRESTS, FOR MARIJUANA CBC reports that several amendments were stripped from the final bill, including one that would have banned the sale of branded "swag" by pot companies and another that would have created a public registry of investors in cannabis companies to dissuade criminal gangs from trying to gain a foothold in the market with offshore tax havens. Canadas vote came on the same day that former Conservative leader Lord Hague suggested the United Kingdom should also legalize cannabis. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the U.K.s drug policy is inappropriate, ineffective and utterly out of date and that the battle is effectively over. Downing Street doesnt seem receptive to the idea. In terms of decriminalizing cannabis there are no plans in that respect, Theresa Mays spokesman told the Guardian in response to Hagues article. The evidence is very clear that cannabis can cause serious harm when it is misused. The Associated Press contributed to this report. An abandoned dog's fur in England was so badly matted it caused one of the animals' paws to rot off, officials in the United Kingdom said Wednesday. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said in a news release the poodle breed dog named Benji was found abandoned in the eastern city of Peterborough. "I was truly horrified when I saw Benji, he didnt even resemble a dog," RSPCA inspector Carrie O'Riordan said. "Apart from the matting he smelt extremely bad and his fur was coated in feces, urine and fleas. In all my years as an inspector, I have never seen a matted dog as bad as this." The RSPCA said Benji was severely dehydrated and could barely move when he was found. The pooch had to be sedated while a team of four people spent two hours shaving over 2.5 pounds of fur off his body, according to the animal charity. "This dog rescued by @RSPCA official was dumped in an appalling condition. @RSPCA_official investigating," RSPA Inspector Dermot Murphy posted to Twitter. "No excuse for this level of neglect." An RSPCA spokesman told Sky News it's likely the dog's foot was missing for months, "if not longer." DOGS VERSUS CATS: SCIENTISTS REVEAL WHICH ONE IS SMARTER Officials thanked the group of teenagers who came across Benji, and said they wrapped the dog in their shirts to keep him warm and played music to keep the pup calm. "I fear he may not have been found had it not been for them and he could have died a slow and painful death," O'Riordan said. Benji, who officials believe is 7 years old, is now at an RSPCA animal center where staff said he has been "extremely nervous and scared" on his arrival. The dog now is "starting to come out of himself and is very friendly and sweet." Eritrea's president announced Wednesday he is sending a rare delegation to neighboring Ethiopia for peace talks, days after Ethiopia's new prime minister took a major step toward calming deadly tensions with its decades-long rival. This is the first such delegation since 1998, when a border war erupted between the countries and they cut off diplomatic relations. Eritrea's longtime President Isaias Afwerki noted "positive signals" in recent days from Ethiopia and said the delegation will "gauge current developments directly and in depth" to plan future steps. He spoke during a Martyrs Day celebration in the capital, Asmara. Ethiopia early this month made the surprise announcement that it will fully accept the terms of a peace agreement with Eritrea signed in 2000 to end the two-year border war that killed tens of thousands. The countries have skirmished a number of times since then. Ethiopia had refused to accept the deal's handing to Eritrea of key locations, including the town of Badme, which it still holds. The decision to fully accept the peace deal was the biggest reform yet announced by Ethiopia's young new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who once fought in Badme. "The suffering on both sides is unspeakable because the peace process is deadlocked. This must change for the sake of our common good," Abiy's chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, said at the time. Eritrea shortly after the announcement replied that it had always accepted the peace deal. On Wednesday, Fitsum on Twitter said Abiy had "thanked and congratulated" Eritrea's president for the positive response and "expressed his readiness to welcome warmly and with considerable goodwill" the Eritrean delegation. Eritrea's ambassador to Japan, Estifanos Afeworki, on Twitter said the delegation will pursue "constructive engagement." Eritrea's ambassador to Kenya, Byene Russom, called it a "new chapter of peace and reconciliation between the Eritrean and Ethiopian people." While Ethiopia is one of Africa's fastest-growing economies, tiny Eritrea is one of the world's most closed-off nations, ruled by Afwerki since gaining independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after years of rebel warfare. Eritrea has become a major source of migrants fleeing toward Europe, Israel and African nations in recent years as human rights groups criticize its harsh military conscription laws. Ethiopia's announcement on the peace deal set off a number of protests by residents in the northern Tigray region bordering Eritrea. The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, a party in Ethiopia's ruling coalition that has been the dominant force in government for most of the past 27 years, said the announcement had been made before the ruling coalition's congress met to discuss it: "We see this as a flaw." ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa MOSS POINT, Miss. -- Police in Moss Point are searching for a female suspect who allegedly robbed a Family Dollar Store located at 3544 Main Street on Tuesday, according to Chief Brandon Ashley. Police received a 911 call from a store employee stating someone robbed him while brandishing a firearm. The suspect described as light skinned black female, between 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8 inches, 220-250 lbs, wearing long sleeves, light grey hooded sweatshirt and blue jogging pants, with white striping down the pants legs. The female suspect was carrying a black, red and white colored "Deadpool" backpack, fled the store with an undetermined amount of money and got into a silver or grey vehicle with an unknown driver. Anyone with any information about this crime is asked to contact Detective Kimberlee Snowden or the Moss Point Police Department at 228-475-1711. You may also contact Crime Stoppers at 800-787-5898 or visit the Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers website at mscoastcrimestoppers.com next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 A deal to end a decades-long dispute over whether Greece can lay sole claim to Macedonia as a place name easily passed a ratification vote Wednesday in the parliament of neighboring nation Macedonia. Lawmakers approved a bill to rename their country North Macedonia, with 69 votes in favor in the 120-member parliament. The main opposition VMRO-DPMNE party boycotted the session. The deal which requires several more steps in the coming months to be implemented has angered opposition parties and hardliners in both Greece and Macedonia, who claim their respective prime ministers conceded too much in reaching the agreement. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told lawmakers that Skopje and Athens have reached a "dignified and acceptable" agreement for both countries. "We have not made a gift to anyone," Zaev said during Wednesday's debate. "Our language and identity is Macedonian." The dispute dates from shortly after Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece argued the name "Macedonia" implied territorial aspirations on its own northern province of the same name, birthplace of the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great, and on ancient Greek heritage. Zaev told lawmakers the agreement gains Macedonia "one more strategic partner" in its southern neighbor, and boosts his country's security and stability. It will also allow Macedonia to pursue its dream of joining NATO and the European Union. Until now, Greece, which is a member of both organizations, had been blocking that prospect pending a deal on the name-change. But the deal has also caused a major rift between Zaev's left-led government and the country's conservative president, Gjorge Ivanov, who has said he will not sign off on the parliamentary ratification which he strongly opposes. That would force parliament to repeat the ratification vote, after which Ivanov would no longer be able to block the process. Zaev indicated in a TV interview late Tuesday that he will go one step further and try to use parliament's power to remove the president from office. That would force presidential elections within months. According to Macedonia's constitution, a two-thirds majority of 81 votes in parliament are needed for that, which Zaev would have trouble raising. Ivanov on Wednesday dared Zaev to go ahead with his removal. "I call on Zaev ... to immediately initiate (the) procedure" he said in a written statement to the media. Macedonians will be asked to cast ballots on the deal through a fall referendum. If voters back the agreement, lawmakers would have to amend the constitution to formalize the name change. Once that is done, the deal would go to Greece's parliament for ratification. The last task poses a challenge for Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose nationalist junior partner in governing, the Independent Greeks, is against the deal, as are most opposition parties. Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, the leader of the Independent Greeks, said Wednesday he plans to ask Tsipras for ratification to require an enhanced majority of 180 of parliament's 300 lawmakers. That threshold would render ratification well-nigh impossible, as the Independent Greeks have already said they would vote against it. Without his junior partner, Tsipras can count on 145 lawmakers and is unlikely to raise another 35 votes from opposition lawmakers. ___ Nicholas Paphitis in Athens, Greece, contributed. Pope Francis has called the separation of migrant children from their parents contrary to our Catholic values and immoral. He was referring to the situation in the United States, where 2,342 children who crossed the border illegally between May and June were taken from parents who were detained. Those children have been placed in care centers, for now. Images of them reduced to tears have gone viral. Shortly before World Refugee Day, the Pope spoke quite a lot about immigration and not only in the context of America. Populism is not the solution, he said referring to the anti-establishment governments and sentiment cropping up in Europe. Populists, the pontiff said, are creating psychosis on the issue of immigration. This comes right after Italys far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini blocked a ship carrying 630 migrants in Italian waters from docking here last week. He has said that many of the foreigners arriving in Italy are not true refugees but economic migrants. A standoff ensued over the ship and, a week later, Spain took the boat full of fragile people. Italy, protruding like a finger into the Mediterranean Sea, is where the majority of sea arrivals from Africa land. Salvini gained his popularity at the polls this spring in large part due to his hard line on immigration. And in the past his response to the popes pleas to accommodate migrants has been to ask how many refugees the Vatican has taken in. Despite the concerns about migration in Europe, the numbers of arrivals here are drastically down from 2015, but the images of people lined up at borders and flooding train stations remains etched in peoples minds. Furthermore, the problem remains because many of the arrivals of the past few years have yet to be integrated and in some cases processed. We are living like insects, we are living like animals, said one Pakistani asylum seeker who claims he has been waiting for days to just get into the immigration office in Rome. Even though the number of new people reaching Europe and the developed world has declined, the United Nations said in its latest report that the number of refugees was at a new high in 2017, for the fifth year in a row. The worldwide refugee count stands at 68.5 million people, more than half of them under the age of 18. The UN said a person is displaced every two seconds. One in 100 people globally are being pushed out of their countries due to war and political instability. The greatest number of refugees come from Syria. Somalia, South Sudan, Burma and Afghanistan are also hot spots that large numbers are fleeing. Turkey has taken the greatest number of refugees, followed by Lebanon. European Union leaders will meet this weekend to come up with a unified position on refugees and migration. The EU must know how to intervene without delegating to the countries of first arrival the responsibility to confront the emergency, said Italys President Sergio Mattarella. There is talk about setting up processing centers in Africa so that asylum seekers do not pay smugglers to make the often fatal trip across the sea on largely unseaworthy craft. The crisis continues to threaten to bring down German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She opened up Germanys borders in 2015, letting over a million people in. Having said, No one makes the decision to leave their home lightly, she has suggested nations ask themselves questions about the root cause of this crisis. Are we powerful enough to create development in the places people are coming from on the African continent? Merkel asked. Are we better able now than we have been to end the civil war in Syria? Meanwhile, Pope Francis points to what he considers a more immediate solution, or step in the right direction. Each of us is required to be close to the refugees, to find opportunities to meet with them, to value their contribution so that they can better fit into the communities that receive them, the pope said. In such encounter and mutual respect lies the solution to many issues. Yemeni fighters backed by the United Arab Emirates said they seized the southern runway of the international airport near the key Yemeni city of Hodeida, as fighting raged Wednesday between pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition and Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels. The Amaleqa brigades, a fighting force backed by the coalition that includes the UAE, also said in a statement they seized areas on the west and east sides of the airport. They have been advancing toward an area near Kilo 16 road, aiming to cut off the link between Hodeida and the capital Sanaa, a statement said. Col. Turki al-Malki, coalition spokesman, claimed the forces took over the airport and that Yemeni forces are currently clearing the airport of Houthi land-mines. He added in a statement that there were no civilian casualties in the fighting and that after liberation of the airport, the coalition will press the Houthis to accept a political settlement. YEMENI PRISONERS SAY EMIRATI OFFICERS SEXUALLY TORTURE THEM Yemeni officials said Saudi-led coalition warplanes have been hitting parts of the airport including the main compound, where the rebels are holed up. They confirmed that government forces have been clearing land mines the Houthis used to slow the forces' advance. Meanwhile, fierce battles ensued in the ad-Durayhimi district outside Hodeida, about 12.5 miles south of the airport, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media. Hodeida is some 90 miles southwest of Sanaa, Yemen's capital. The Saudi-led coalition launched the campaign to retake Hodeida last Wednesday, with Emirati troops leading the force of government soldiers and irregular militia fighters backing Yemen's exiled government. Saudi Arabia has provided air support, with targeting guidance and refueling from the U.S. The campaign to seize control of Hodeida threatens to worsen Yemen's humanitarian situation. The offensive has faced criticism from international aid groups, who fear a protracted fight could force a shutdown of the port and potentially tip millions into starvation. Some 70 percent of Yemen's food enters via the port, as well as the bulk of humanitarian aid and fuel supplies. Around two-thirds of the country's population of 27 million relies on aid and 8.4 million are at risk of starving. The Houthis seized control of Sanaa in September 2014, later pushing south toward the port city of Aden. The Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict in March 2015 and has faced criticism for a campaign of airstrikes that has killed civilians and destroyed hospitals and markets. The Houthis, meanwhile, have laid land mines, killing and wounding civilians, targeted religious minorities and imprisoned opponents. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 The 15 officers who arrived at the prison in southern Yemen hid their faces behind headdresses, but their accents were clearly foreign from the United Arab Emirates. They lined up the detainees and ordered them to undress and lie down. The officers then searched the anal cavity of each prisoner, claiming that they were looking for contraband cellphones. The men screamed and wept. Those who resisted were threatened by barking dogs and beaten until they bled. Hundreds of detainees suffered similar sexual abuse during the event on March 10 at Beir Ahmed prison in the southern city of Aden, according to seven witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press. Descriptions of the mass abuse offer a window into a world of rampant sexual torture and impunity in UAE-controlled prisons in Yemen. The UAE is a key U.S. ally whose secret prisons and widespread torture were exposed by an AP investigation last June. The AP has since identified at least five prisons where security forces use sexual torture to brutalize and break inmates. Yemen's war began in 2015, after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels took over much of the country's north. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading a coalition to fight the rebels, but UAE forces have overtaken wide swaths of territory, towns and cities in the south. The U.S. is backing the coalition with billions of dollars in arms, and partners with the Emiratis in anti-terrorism campaigns. Emiratis have swept up hundreds of Yemeni men into a network of at least 18 hidden prisons on suspicion of being al-Qaida or Islamic State militants. The prisoners are held without charges or trials. The AP first asked the Pentagon about grave rights abuses committed by the UAE one year ago. But despite well-documented reports of torture reported by the AP, human rights groups and even the United Nations, Marine Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. has seen no evidence of detainee abuse in Yemen. Still, he called the allegations "disturbing" and said, "The United States take all allegations of abuse seriously, although we have no substantiating information at this time." U.S. officials have acknowledged that American forces receive intelligence from UAE partners and have participated in interrogations in Yemen. But Rankine-Galloway said he could not comment on intelligence sharing with partners. Reacting to the AP's report, the State Department called the allegations "disturbing" and called on the UAE to investigate. "We call on all parties to the conflict, including the UAE, to treat prisoners and detainees humanely and to ensure that allegations of abuse are investigated quickly and thoroughly," the department said in a statement. UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment, but the country's permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva released a statement after publication claiming that the Yemeni government is in complete control of its prisons. "The UAE has never managed or run prisons or secret detention centers in Yemen," the mission said. But Yemen's interior minister has said he does not have authority over prisons and must ask for UAE permission to enter Aden, where witnesses documented much of the sexual torture. Witnesses said Yemeni guards working under the direction of Emirati officers have used various methods of sexual torture and humiliation. They raped detainees while other guards filmed the assaults. They electrocuted prisoners' genitals or hung rocks from their testicles. They sexually violated others with wooden and steel poles. "They strip you naked, then tie your hands to a steel pole from the right and the left so you are spread open in front of them. Then the sodomizing starts," said one father of four. From inside the prison in Aden, detainees smuggled letters and drawings to the AP about the sexual abuse. The drawings were made on plastic plates with blue ink pen. The artist told the AP that he was detained last year and has been in three different prisons. "They tortured me without even accusing me of anything. Sometimes I wish they would give me a charge so I can confess and end this pain," he said. "The worst thing about it is that I wish for death every day and I can't find it." He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of further abuse. The drawings show a man hanging naked from chains while he is being electrocuted, another inmate on the floor surrounded by snarling dogs as several people kick him, and graphic depictions of anal rape. "Naked after beating," one Arabic caption says. Another drawing shows a man's rectum being forced open. "This is how they search the prisoners," the caption reads. Of the five prisons where the AP found sexual torture, four are in Aden, according to three Yemeni security and military officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. One is at the Buriqa base the headquarters for the Emirati forces. A second is at the house of Shallal Shaye, the Aden security chief closely allied with the UAE, and a third is at a nightclub-turned-prison called Wadah. The fourth is at Beir Ahmed, where the March atrocities occurred. U.S. personnel have been seen at the Buriqa base, along with Colombian mercenaries, according to two prisoners and two security officials. The detainees could not say whether the Americans, some of whom wear military uniforms, are members of the U.S. government or mercenaries. But it is the UAE that has taken the lead in southern Yemen. The humiliation of the entire prison population in March may have been triggered by a series of hunger strikes among prisoners, who are held for months or years. At least 70 detainees were ordered released earlier this year by state prosecutors but most remain in detention. The Yemeni government has said that it has no control over the UAE-run prisons and Hadi has ordered an investigation into reports of torture. The incident in March began when soldiers opened cells at 8 a.m., ordered all detainees out to the prison yard, then lined them up and forced them to stand under the sun until noon. When the Emirati force arrived, the detainees were blind-folded, handcuffed and led in groups or individually into a room. The Emiratis told the victims to undress and lie down and then spread their legs open, touched their genitals and probed their rectums. "You are killing my dignity," one prisoner was heard crying. A second screamed to the Emiratis, "Did you come to liberate us or strip our clothes off?" The Emiratis shouted back: "This is our job!" One prisoner said that when the Emiratis forced them to stand naked, "All I could think of was Abu Ghraib" referring to the prison outside Baghdad where U.S. soldiers committed abuses against detainees during the Iraq war. "They were searching for mobile phones inside our bodies," another witness told the AP. "Do you believe this! How could anyone hide a phone in there?" In the same city, at the UAE-run prison inside the Buriqa military base, two prisoners told the AP they think American personnel in uniform must be aware of the torture - either because they have heard screams or seen marks of torture. Prisoners said that they have no knowledge of Americans being directly involved in the abuse. "Americans use Emiratis as gloves to do their dirty work," said one senior security official at the Riyan Prison in the city of Mukalla. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. Two other security officials, who were once close to the Emiratis, said that mercenaries including Americans are present at all the Emirati military camps and sites, including the prisons. Their mission is mainly to guard. The father of four said that sometimes the screaming from the beatings is so intense that he can feel his cell shake. "It's beyond imagination," he said. A former security chief who himself was involved in torturing detainees to extract confessions told the AP that rape is used as a way to force detainees to cooperate with the Emiratis in spying. "In some cases, they rape the detainee, film him while raping, use it as a way to force him to work for them," he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, because of security concerns. Based on the AP investigation last year, the House of Representatives voted on May 24 to require Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to determine whether U.S. military or intelligence personnel violated the law in interrogations of detainees in Yemen. The House adopted the measure as part of the 2019 defense authorization bill, which is still under consideration by the Senate. The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California. The Defense Department would have to submit a report within 120 days to Congress. Khanna called the AP's report Wednesday "a shocking revelation of the ongoing human rights abuses happening in Yemen." "Now, with greater urgency than ever before, we need the Pentagon to launch an investigation and determine whether our nation has been involved in torturing prisoners in Yemen," he said. Amnesty International said it had also documented "systematic grave violations" in UAE-run prisons in Yemen. Responding to the AP report, the group said it was "shocking" that U.S. officials "continue to dismiss these credible allegations." Kristine Beckerle, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Yemen, said her group had also documented abuses. "U.S. claims that they found no evidence of detainee abuse shows they weren't looking very hard," she said. Yemen's war has left over 10,000 people dead, displaced millions, and pushed the already poor country to the edge of famine . After Houthi rebels forced out the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, he fled to Riyadh, where the Saudi government kept him for more than a year. He was only allowed to return to Yemen Thursday at the beginning of an offensive led by the UAE to take control of the major port city of Hodeida, the key entry point for humanitarian aid. The UAE's control over southern Yemen, and the prisons, has left many Yemenis worried that innocent civilians are being pushed into the arms of the very extremists that Emirati forces claim they are fighting. "In the prisons, they are committing the most brutal crimes," said a Yemeni commander currently in Riyadh. "Joining ISIS and al-Qaida became a way to take revenge for all the sexual abuses and sodomization. From here, the prisons, they are manufacturing ISIS." He spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation from the Emiratis. One middle-aged man said he has been in prison since 2016, and has been moved across the network of secret prisons multiple times. He said he was interrogated 21 times, during which he was tortured with electricity, beatings, and attack dogs while he was blindfolded and chained. "They beat me up with electric wires, with steel, an electric shock, or they take off the clothes except for the underwear and stomp on my body and face with their boots. The soldiers would carry you up in the air and dump you on the ground." The AP previously confirmed 18 detention sites, but he named 21, including 13 prisons and 8 military camps. Another prisoner gave the AP what he said were the real names of five Emirati torturers. UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment about the men. One of the most brutal torturers is Yemeni, a former prisoner called Awad al-Wahsh, who was detained and tortured before agreeing to work with the Emiratis, four witnesses told the AP. His supervisor, Yosran al-Maqtari, could not be reached for comment. Al-Maqtari is Aden's chief of anti-terrorism. Other torturers named by detainees are Emirati officers known to prisoners by their noms de guerre: Abu Udai, Abu Ismail, and Hitler. The prisoners who were sexually abused in March had tried to fight back. They had organized three hunger strikes to protest their treatment. They had launched a campaign with their families to get human rights groups to secure their release. That's when the 15 Emirati officers showed up with their dogs. ___ The Associated Press reported this story with help from a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. ___ Associated Press reporters Lolita C. Baldor and Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report. PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- A 28-year-old Vancleave mother with an extensive criminal record has been charged with murder in the hot-car death of her 10-month-old son. Elizabeth Marie Barhonovich was charged with 2nd degree murder after investigators determined that her son, 10-month-old Kash Barhonovich, died June 14 after being left in his mother's vehicle for an undetermined amount of time at their Arthur Avenue home in Vancleave, according to Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell. A preliminary autopsy indicated the cause of the child's death was consistent with hyperthermia. Elizabeth Barhonovich made her initial appearance in county court Wednesday morning. With Judge T. Larry Wilson unavailable, Jackson County Youth Court Judge Sharon Sigalas presided over the hearing in the youth court facility in Moss Point. Sigalas set bond for the murder charge at $50,000, but placed a hold on Barhonovich for the Mississippi Department of Corrections for a parole violation, meaning Barhonovich will remain in custody until a hearing can be held on the MDOC violation. Initial reports indicated the child was found dead inside the vehicle in the Latimer community. JCSO spokesperson Marcia Hill explained that while the home is considered within the Latimer community, it carries a Vancleave address. The sheriff's department received two 911 calls regarding the child -- one from a man, the other from a woman. The identity of either caller is unknown, according to JCSO dispatchers. Acadian Ambulance personnel and Jackson County Coroner Vicki Broadus responded to the call and the child was pronounced dead at the scene. Barhonovich has had several run-ins with the law over the past several years, according to Harrison County jail records and local police logs. In February 2012, she was arrested in Pascagoula for possession of paraphernalia, trespassing and petit larceny. In June 2013, she was arrested on DUI-1st offense, improper equipment and driving with a suspended license in D'Iberville. Roughly three months later, Barhonovich was arrested again for DUI in D'Iberville. She was convicted on both DUI charges. In March 2015, she was indicted on a burglary charge in Biloxi. She would ultimately be convicted and given a seven-year sentence. It's that conviction for which Bahonovich was on parole at the time of the murder arrest, according to the JCSO. In June 2016, she was arrested and charged with auto burglary in Harrison County. The disposition of that charge is unknown. What two towns in Pennsylvania top the list for wineries? North East, sitting amid the grape-laden area of the state along Lake Erie, is first. But you might be surprised at the second: Gettysburg. Six wineries now have tasting rooms at one of the state's top destination towns, including Hauser Estate, Adams County, Buddy Boy, Reid's Orchard & Winery and Halbrendt Vineyard & Winery from Pennsylvania and Knob Hall from western Maryland. Meanwhile, Tattered Flag Brewery out of Middletown recently moved in, giving Gettysburg several craft beer and spirits makers. READ MORE: Growth of PA Cider Fest, set for Saturday, reflects industry's expansion That collection of producers, along with the overall increase in the number of wineries and cideries in Adams County, has led to the creation of the Adams County Pour Tour. That was unveiled in May by Destination Gettysburg. Here's a list of the wineries, cideries, breweries and distilleries that make up the trail. Adams County Winery, Orrtanna Adams County Winery's Wine Shop at 25C, Gettysburg Battlefield Brew Works/Spirits of Gettysburg Boyer Cellars Brookmere Wine & Tasting Room Buddy Boy Winery & Vineyards - Tasting Room, Gettysburg Center Square Brewing Halbrendt Vineyard & Winery, Orrtanna Hauser Estate Winery, Biglerville Knob Hall Winery Mason Dixon Distillery, Reid's Winery: The Cider House, Gettysburg Reid's Winery: The Home Winery, Orrtanna Thirsty Farmer Brew Works Pour Tour participants will receive a passport to start their journey along the trail. Stamps are issued at each location for purchasing a drink or tasting. Prizes are awarded for collecting five, 12 and 20 stamps. "We love to share the passion that we have for the wine we make and can't wait to be a part of this new tour which creates a wonderful way to experience the local craft beverage community," Melissa Roth, of Adams County Winery, said in a press release. Events such as the Gettysburg Brew Fest, Gettysburg Wine & Music Festival and PA Cider Fest, as well as smaller-scale events held at various locations such as tastings and food pairings, will also be highlighted through the Adams County Pour Tour. Carl Whitehill, director of communications for Destination Gettysburg, said there are no plans at the present for any Pour Tour-specific events. "Maybe down the road," he said. For more information on the Adams County Pour Tour, click on this link. Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. Hey Long Beach, in case you missed it, the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden is now open after being closed for over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Opened in 1981, the garden has been a unique part of... The Senate has voted down a push by President Donald Trump to take away reserve funds from the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP), as part of a broader effort to limit government spending. On Wednesday, 50 senators voted against a motion to discharge the Trump administrations rescissions package that would have revoked about $7 billion in money set aside for CHIP, which provides health care to children from low-income backgrounds; 48 senators voted in favor of it. The House approved the package earlier this month by a narrow margin . The rescissions push from the Trump team would not have impacted CHIPs current payments to states. Officially, the vote was whether to move the bill to the Senate floor for consideration. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined Democrats in voting no . The presidents team argued that the plan to take away these unobligated funds would have helped shrink the governments fiscal footprint while not impacting states directly. Although Trump signed a spending bill in March significantly increasing Washingtons budget for fiscal 2018, he expressed unhappiness about it, and still wants to find areas where he can cut spending. However, some advocacy groups warned that removing the unobligated funds could put states in a bind in the event of an economic downturn forcing more kids onto the CHIP rolls. Under the package voted down, $5.1 billion of the rescission would have come out of a part of CHIP that reimburses states for certain expenses. Roughly $2 billion would have been cut from CHIP reserves, which help states deal with higher-than-expected enrollment in the program. The rescissions package totaled $15 billion. Congress had 45 days of continuous session to either adopt or reject the rescissions plan. Image by Getty Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . And follow Andrew Ujifusa on Twitter at @AndrewUjifusa . A controversial neurofeedback company that has received significant financial investment from the family of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy Devos has agreed to stop making questionable claims about its treatments for conditions such as autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and depression. Last August, Education Week reported that an investigation by an advertising industry self-regulatory group had concluded with recommendations that the company, called Neurocore, stop making a wide range of unsupported and misleading advertising claims. Neurocore appealed the decision. On Wednesday, that appeal was denied . A panel of the National Advertising Review Board affirmed an earlier decision that found Neurocore LLC, operator of Neurocore Brain Performance Centers, could not support quantified outcome claims, according to a statement released by the group, which is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. Among the panels recommendations was that Neurocore discontinue many of its ads touting quantified positive outcomes for patients, and that the company discontinue advertising testimonials featuring clients saying that Neurocore treatments reduced or eliminated their need for medication. According to a company statement included in the groups final decision, Neurocore said it will comply with the NARB panels recommendations. Company CEO Mark Murrison did not immediately respond to a request for comment. DeVos a Significant Investor Officially launched in 2006, Neurocore operates a half-dozen brain-performance centers in Michigan and Florida. It claims to treat both adults and children by analyzing their brainwaves and other biological signs, then providing neurofeedback sessions through which they can train their brains to function better. A 30-session cycle can cost as much as $2,200. Betsy DeVos sat on Neurocores board from 2009 until December 2016, when she was tapped by President Donald Trump to become the nations education secretary. At the time, DeVos reported a family financial stake in the company worth between $5 million and $25 million. Since becoming secretary, DeVos has increased her familys investment in the company by as much as $5.5 million. Federal ethics officials signed off on DeVoss decision to maintain, and then increase, her stake in Neurocore after becoming secretary. But that hasnt stopped a rising tide of concerns about the companys methods and claims. In July 2017, the National Advertising Division, which is the investigative unit of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council, concluded that evidence presented by Neurocore was insufficiently reliable to substantiate [the companys] strong health-related claims. Among Neurocores questionable claims: 81% of children who come to us on ADHD meds and complete our program are able to reduce or eliminate their use of medications upon program completion. Control your anxiety without medication. 25% reduction in reported symptoms on the autism evaluation checklists. Strengthen your brain to fight depression without medication. Youll experience improved memory, as well as better sleep, focus, mood, mental clarity, and overall cognitive performance. At the time, Neurocore stood by those claims. From the beginning, we have fully and voluntarily cooperated with the NAD to provide extensive support for the statements we make, Murrison, the companys CEO, told Education Week. We have great respect for the NAD, but we disagree with their decision. Disseminating Truthful and Accurate Information After an extensive appeals process, however, the panel that reviewed Neurocores case affirmed the original decision. Scientific studies on these treatments have shown inconsistent results, and questions have been raised as to the sufficiency of studies that have been conducted, according to the groups press release. The panel noted concern with Neurocores practice of advertising the results of internal client assessments as evidence of a clinically important reduction of symptoms. The panel also recommended that Neurocore stop using testimonials, including on YouTube, claiming that its clients have reduced or eliminated the need for mediciation for ADHD, anxiety, depression, memory problems, migraines, or sleep disorders. It recommended that Neurocore clearly disclose in all advertising that clients should consult with their doctors before discontinuing any prescription medication. And the panel noted that Neurocore had already ceased making some unsupported assertions, including the claim of a 25 percent reduction in reported symptoms on the autism evaluation checklists and that the Neurocore program enabled consumers to control anxiety and fight depression without medication. In the advertisers statement included in the NARB decision, Neurocore said it respects and values the self-regulatory process and appreciates the NARBs evaluation of Neurocores advertising. Neurocore takes pride in being able to offer a viable, non-chemical treatment program for mental and behavioral conditions that impact millions of consumers, the statement reads. But Neurocore also takes pride in disseminating truthful and accurate information to consumers. Photo: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is interviewed in her office at the Education Department in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2017. -- Jacquelyn Martin/AP See also: for the latest news on ed-tech policies, practices, and trends. Bad Honnef emergency services : Hidden camera in shower of rescue personnel Siebengebirge A complaint was filed with police about a hidden camera found in the shower of the Konigswinter ambulance station in Bad Honnef. Its possible that the perpetrator is an employee of the rescue services. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken There is great unease at a Konigswinter emergency rescue station following the discovery of a camera in the womens shower room. The wifi-enabled camera was camouflaged with a sock, and discovered on Saturday by a female employee - who was still clothed at the time. It had apparently been deposited there a few hours earlier. With a staff of 55, the emergency rescue services of the city of Konigswinter is responsible for life-saving measures on location, and transportation to hospital. It services Konigswinter, Bad Honnef and Ittenbach. Officials there confirmed that a complaint had been filed with police and that they had turned over the camera to police as well. Law enforcement officials said an investigation was being conducted. The city wanted to quickly curb any unrest that might result at the emergency services station. At a staff meeting with Mayor Peter Wirtz about one and a half weeks after the incident, all employees were informed. Heike Jungling, the department head responsible, said that at the meeting she told staff that the matter would not be tolerated under any circumstances. One must assume that the offender who hid the camera is an employee of the emergency services, and the incident would be pursued vigorously, so the offender would be advised to come forward. Incident causes unrest at the rescue station No one stepped forward to claim responsibility. As a result, the administration narrowed down the the circle of potential suspects to five persons, with whom very serious discussions had been conducted. Still, no one admitted guilt. But one employee did submit his resignation on the same day. "We are now waiting for the official result of the police investigation," said Jungling. Unrest has only partially subsided, according to information from employee circles. Some were not satisfied with how the process was conducted. Since the camera was brought to police, forensics could no longer be carried out on site, and the sock was gone too. One employee said, There is still a lot of unease at the station, because officially they havent established who was responsible and there is still much room for speculation. The employee also said that because the public have to place their trust in the rescue services, this incident was particularly problematic. Ricin production : Man in Cologne accused of preparing for an attack with biological weapon Koln According to the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the Tunisian man detained in Cologne wanted to carry out an attack with a biological weapon. He had been preparing for such an attack. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken The Tunisian man accused of manufacturing a deadly toxin in his Cologne apartment, had planned an attack using a biological weapon on an explosive device - a new dimension. These are the findings of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). "It was already very concrete preparation for such an act, with a biobomb, if you want. And that is an unprecedented event in Germany," said BKA President Holger Munch to RBB Inforadio. He said there were instructions from Islamist organizations on the Internet about how to do this and that the man was evidently using this as guidance. The Federal Court of Justice had issued an arrest warrant for the man a week ago. According to Munch, he had already begun producing the highly toxic ricin. It can be obtained from castor seeds. Munch reported that they also found utensils for the production of an explosive device. According to RBB, a foreign affiliate service reported to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution that the Tunisian had ordered components for building an explosive device via the Internet. In the opinion of Constitutional Protection President Hans-Georg Maaen, the man "very likely" planned a terrorist attack. He apparently ordered significantly more than the 1000 castor bean seeds that were initially known. A spokesperson for the Federal Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday that there was evidence of an even larger amount. We do not know yet of a concrete target, said the BKA president. The question of other persons involved or accomplices also remains open. The BKA is concerned about the high number of radicalized individuals who they need to keep an eye on. The big planned attack, as we have seen in Paris and Brussels, we now think it is not completely unlikely, but less likely, because the so-called Islamic State is already very weakened, said Munch. At this time, 770 people are classified as a threat. All clear in Bad Neuenahr : White powder was flour Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler It was a potential hazard and treated by authorities accordingly, but the white substance found on Monday in Bad Neuenahr turned out to be nothing dangerous. An all clear was given. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Better to play it safe. But the substance found in a mailbox on Monday at a bathroom supply company in Bad Neuenahr was completely harmless. The Rheinland Palatinate State Criminal Office examined the material and found no evidence that it was dangerous or poisonous. Criminal police made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon. There were no indications that the powder contained poison. It was a starchy powder like flour, potato flour or another food starch, said head police commissioner Lars Brummer. Fire department chief Marcus Mandt said that everyone had acted appropriately in relation to the incident. There is always a potential danger. He was happy about the all clear but said that white powder could always be anything. Small group math instruction outside of regular class time helped kindergartners in high-poverty schools perform better in math in a study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan. More than 650 kindergarten students in low-income New York City schools participated in the High 5s program, an initiative designed to make math instruction fun in a club-like environment. All of the activities were presented to children in the format of a game, said Robin Jacob, a research associate professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, who helped to design the program, which was intended to give children an opportunity for hands-on learning and individualized instruction. Jacob and her research partner, Brian Jacob, recently wrote about their work in the Brookings Institutions Evidence Speaks blog , which highlights new and interesting research. For seven months, groups of three to four students met outside of class with trained facilitators for 30 minutes. These club meetings took place three days a week either before or after school or at lunch. Impact on Math Assessment At the end of kindergarten, the club students were tested alongside a control group of students who had not had the additional work in math. The program had a positive, though not statistically significant, impact on student scores on the Woodcock-Johnson Applied Problems assessment, a global measure of math ability. But the students in the High 5s program did score significantly higher on a test that measured students discrete math skills. Jacob attributes the programs positive benefits to a combination of factors, including the additional time spent on the subject. The small group piece of that probably also made a big differenceboth the individualized instruction that children were getting as well as the opportunities to engage in math talk and the hands-on types of activities, said Jacob. The group facilitators spent a lot more time asking open-ended kinds of questions than the children were having opportunities to respond to in their general classrooms. Practical Applications But Jacob acknowledges that adding this type of individualized instruction and small-group work might be challenging for many schools. It is much easier to do those kinds of interactive, engaging activities in small groups, said Jacob. Many teachers, especially in urban settings, theres only one adult and 24 or 27 kids. Its really hard to do that kind of instruction in that whole group with a bunch of 5-year-olds who require a lot of attention just to keep on task. She suggested schools may want to look into either adding paraprofessionals, parents or other volunteers to help provide this type of instruction. The High 5s program study was part of a larger study conducted by the MDRC on interventions that help to close the achievement gap. MDRC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy research organization created by the Ford Foundation and a group of federal agencies in 1974. Image by Getty Related stories: for the latest news on policies, practices, and trends in early childhood education. (This is the last post in a two-part series. You can see Part One here .) The new question-of-the-week is: How can we help English Language Learners meet the Common Core Standards? In Part One , Kevin Jepson, Elizabeth Iwaszewicz, Dr. Heidi Pace, Cathy Beck, Gayle Westerberg and Julie Goldman contribute their thoughts. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with Kevin, Elizabeth, Heidi, and Cathy on my BAM! Radio Show . You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here. By the way, you can also now listen to the show on Google Play and Stitcher , in addition to iTunes. Today, Tan Huynh, Stephaney Jones-Vo, Shelley Fairbairn, Bret Gosselin, Mary Amanda (Mandy) Stewart, Emily Phillips Galloway, Nonie Lesaux, Stela Radovanovic, Pete Lawrence and Betsy J. Tregar offer their responses. Response From Tan Huynh Tan Huynh is a Teach For America alumnus and the head of the English Language Acquisition Department at Vientiane International School, an International Baccalaureate World School. He shares his classroom-tested, research-supported strategies on his blog: ELs dont care about the curriculum framework schools use (ie: Common Core [CC], Advance Placement [AP], or International Baccalaureate [IB]), but they do care about how teachers make them feel. All of these programs force ELs to take high-stakes tests and often link teachers performances to the results. In an effort to ensure that students achieve, the love of learning is drained from lesson planning to focus on test taking. If the only goal is to pass a test, then ELs will be disengaged by the lack of meaning in their studies. They dont feel connected to learning out of context because life extends beyond a standardized test. Repackaging Learning to Solve a Problem or Take Action Instead, educators need to repackage the CC standards around learning content to solve problems or take actions based on beliefs. The best problems empower students to solve real problems connected to current events such as President Trumps proposal to build a wall along the United States and Mexican border. The unit might be focused on picking a stance and creating an infographic that supports it, which will then be sent to their respective Senators. Teachers should take an objective stance because their role is to develop students literacy and thinking skills to engage in the unit. Reading to Learn When learning is repackaged to create meaning, reading becomes a task to gather information that helps solve problems or to make informed decisions. ELs have to develop an understanding the opinions of both President Trump and those who oppose the wall. To do so, we need to help students find texts that provide multiple perspectives. We should guide students through reading a text once to develop a shared understanding, then have ELs return to the text to re-read for specific details. For example, we might instruct ELs to find details that support an economic reason for or against the wall. The second reading develops a compulsory skill to pass CCs standardized tests - close reading. Additionally, we can ask them to annotate their notes to develop further engagement with the text. Through this activity, ELs cultivate close-reading skills for a greater purpose than simply passing an exam. They read first to be informed, then to persuade. Students are given time to debate the merits of each article. Talking about texts facilitates comprehension, develops critical thinking skills, and cultivates communication skills - all learning objectives of the AP, CC, and IB programs. Arguing Through Writing Now that ELs have a more informed opinion, theyre ready to prove their point through writing. Educators can help ELs write effectively by teaching them text structures. Every genre of writing (descriptive, sequential, cause-effect, compare, and argue) has a particular way of organizing information. In this instance, we can teach students the argument text structure to help them shape their pitch. Following the argument structure, we might begin by asking them for their stance regarding the wall. This becomes their claim. We then ask them for three specific reasons. Next, we have them return to the text to find evidence that supports each reason. Evidence might consist of a story from an immigrant or statistics from a university study. Because the ELs talked throughout the unit in support of or in opposition to the wall, theyre aware of the counter arguments made against their stance. We incorporate the counter argument in the text structure and follow up with the last and most persuasive argument to validate our position. We then complete the text structure with a final message that connects our stance related to the wall to something bigger than politics such as human rights, values, equality, or nationalism. ELs can now take this text structure and write an argumentative essay, which is the focus on the CC writing assessment. But we want ELs to be prepared for a digital, modern life where theyll be expected to create content, not just consume it - thus the motivation for them to create an infographic. The essay is important, but the infographic creates meaning and helps students take action. Beyond Expectations This mini-unit demonstrates how we repackaged the CC standards into learning skills and content to solve a problem and take actions. The CC standards are the ground floor of achievement, not the ceiling. They serve as the launching pad that propels ELs into deeper exploration of a topic. In the pursuit of solving a problem, ELs learn skills that not only help them pass a standardized test, but also morph into people who are prepared to face future challenges. And that is when they will feel confident, engaged, and ready to take on the world. Response From Stephaney Jones-Vo & Shelley Fairbairn A veteran ESL teacher of K-12 and adult English learners, Stephaney Jones-Vo has also sponsored multiple refugee families and individuals. Her cultural insights are especially evident in recent Corwin publication, Engaging English Learners Through Access to Standards: A Team-based Approach to Schoolwide Student Achievement (2016) which provides useful scenarios and tables detailing the impacts of various student characteristics on K-12 instructional and assessment practices. In her role as Associate Professor at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Shelley Fairbairn oversees the English as a Second Language teaching endorsement program and teaches courses that address intercultural communication for teachers and general teaching and assessment. Her K-12 and postsecondary teaching experiences informed the collaborative writing of Engaging English Learners Through Access to Standards: A Team-based Approach to Schoolwide Student Achievement (2016) with Stephaney Jones-Vo: Since the Common Core Standards are designed to reflect outcomes for non-ELs who are performing on grade-level and have likely stepped through previous grades in consecutive order, teachers must apply Three Inclusive Principles (TIP) to promote English Learners access to the Common Core Standards. 1.) Teachers of ELs must know their students in order to provide them access to the Common Core Standards. More than a shared classroom environment or a specific class period, providing access means that ELs must receive understandable instruction and be held accountable to meet differentiated linguistic expectations. In order to achieve this, teachers of ELs must know their students by analyzing their EL-specific data, and match instruction, materials, and expectations accordingly. 2.) All teachers of ELs must provide scaffolding and supports in their contexts to enhance access to Common Core curriculum. Essential supports such as videos, pictures, academic sentence frames, graphic organizers, and peer interactions help ELs to build content knowledge and English skills simultaneously, when differentiated according to students language development levels. 3.) In an age of standards-based grading, teachers of ELs must differentiate expectations for the demonstration of content knowledge while learning English. For example, while an EL might be on grade level in a given subject due to previous schooling, her/his ability to demonstrate understanding in English is likely constrained. As a result, the evaluative process must factor in the developmental nature of language learning. ELs who clearly can demonstrate content knowledge while still learning language must not be penalized for the developing English skills. Viewing the linguistic development trajectory as a normal part of learning, and implementing these Three Inclusive Principles allows teachers to engage English Learners in Core content instruction in all classrooms. Through data-based differentiation, all teachers have the capability to help ELs meet the Common Core Standards. Response From Bret Gosselin Bret Gosselin is currently a high school ESL teacher in North Texas where he lives with his wife and children: Throughout my career, I have repeatedly been told by teachers all the things that their ELLs cant do. Many educators tend to see these students as academically deficient and thus simplify their learning to a level they feel could comfortably be completed and passed. Taking such liberties with ELLs, however, is not only unethical but in many cases, illegal. The question that remains, then, is how to maintain the cognitive demands outlined in the curriculum, while simultaneously meeting very real and language development needs. To illustrate, I want to examine an objective from algebra in the Common Core to see what a rigorous, grade-level target looks like: Interpret functions that arise in applications in terms of the context: For a function that models a relationship between two quantities, interpret key features of graphs and tables in terms of the quantities, and sketch graphs showing key features given a verbal description of the relationship. In order for a student to reach the goals set by this objective, they must recognize a functional relationship taking place; interpret how quantities affect each other; and demonstrate a high degree of understanding by creating a graph that accurately depicts such a relationship With such challenging objectives in blended classrooms, many teachers struggle to meet these outcomes with all students. The following lesson sequence models how rigor with true language accommodation is actually attainable, and can be adapted to all content areas beyond the math example shown. Observation This is one of the most critical aspects of the learning process that is most widely underutilized. If students are to perform the processes and behaviors described in our objectives, we must provide them opportunities to determine the significance of what they are learning for themselves. In many cases, we are doing that for them. To demonstrate, a teacher could begin by providing a problem and graph like this one from Khan Academy . From there, the teacher would allow the students to independently to record their initial interpretations and observations using guiding questions: -Which quantity seems to control the other? How? -Why is the graph not starting at 0? What does that mean? This gives ELLs time to think, translate, and make meaning on their own. They can then share their ideas with a small group and come to a mutual understanding of the concept. Speaking stems would be an appropriate support to aid this discussion. Independent Learning Now that students have the concept nailed down, the temptation for the teacher may be to present the accompanying algebraic process through lecture. While that isnt always a bad choice, it can prove problematic if the teacher is trying to reach their ELLs who may not be linguistically prepared for this. An effective alternative is the use of text sets that allow students to learn for themselves. Tan Huynh outlines this strategy fully in his article The Perfect Package: Creating a Language-Rich Text Set. The idea here is to allow students multiple resources by which to make sense of a topic independently. This can take the form of infographics, videos, short articles and even a small group station with the teacher. To facilitate this experience, expectations can be set for which terms and concepts the students need to study as well as how students will record their findings. By providing instruction in this format, the teacher is also able to offer genuine language supports to their ELLs more freely. Calibration When students are learning on their own, it is crucial that they come together to ensure any gaps in understanding are filled in. Ideas can be posted to a common location and be collectively evaluated for accuracy. Through this type of sharing, ELLs can both enhance their language skills while simultaneously establishing their place in the classroom as valued contributors, addressing the problem of lowered expectations for these learners. Assessment When effectively scaffolding, the problem of assessment becomes easier to solve. The ELL is now able to apply what they have learned in meaningful contexts. This can range in simplicity from working out complex math problems to creating a product requiring the use of their new skills. When genuine accommodations to language (not rigor) are present, an assessment of skills is now justifiable as each child has been given the opportunity to learn at high levels. When a lesson is intentionally designed to let all students learn for themselves, it allows ELLs to demonstrate grade level learning while acquiring more English. When we compartmentalize our classrooms, inevitably someone will suffer from less than our best. If we are not taking advantage of opportunities to have all our students interact and learn from each other, I argue that it is all students who will. Response From Mary Amanda (Mandy) Stewart Mary Amanda (Mandy) Stewart is Assistant Professor of Reading Education at Texas Womans University. She is the author of Understanding Adolescent Immigrants: An Extraordinary Discourse for Extraordinary Youth (Lexington Books) and Keep it R.E.A.L! Relevant, Engaging, and Affirming Literacy for Adolescent English Leaners (Teachers College Press): We hear the label English Language Learners (ELL) and immediately think of these students need to acquire English as an additional language. Yes, they certainly do need to learn English for social, academic, and perhaps even survival purposes. In school settings, we often have a myopic focus on ELLs necessity to master disciplinary content and give evidence of their learning, all in English. Yet, I submit that in order to most effectively support ELLs in meeting the Common Core Standards, or any academic standards, we first need to see their strengths. Yes. Even before we consider their need to learn English, we need to name and acknowledge the skills, knowledge, and assets they bring with them into our schools. We need to see them as more than English Language Learners. In 2012, I conducted my dissertation research with high school students who had attended U.S. schools for one-two years and were (in)appropriately labeled as ELLs. However, as I spent months studying their lives--their sophisticated use of language and literacy, negotiation of challenging circumstances, and adept application of skills for upward mobility--I realized that to only see them as ELLs was completely missing who they were. In fact, a narrow view of the need to learn English as their defining feature only hindered their classroom learning, critical engagement with academic content, and creative expression of their knowledge and unique perspectives. Indeed, viewing them as only ELLs, obstructed their English language learning. I began to realize that their label positioned them as students who lacked something--English language. Furthermore, the assessments that measured them assumed they were monolingual, monoliterate, monocultural, and mononational. That is, the standards merely encompassed students abilities to use speak, listen, read, and write in one language (English), within the cultural norms of the majority group, while understanding content through one national perspective. However, after study these young people, I concluded that they were multilingual, multiliterate , multicultural transnationals who regularly made meaning in multimodal ways. In other words, they spoke throughout their day at school, home, church, and work in both English and Spanish. They also read and wrote for academic (for school), economic (for work), and social (for networking) purposes, using different registers of Spanish, emerging English, as well as multimodal symbols to send and receive meaning. Illustrating multicultural skills, these youth regularly crossed borders by negotiating meaning across cultural groups. Further, they often acted as language brokers, or translators, for family, commercial employees, service industry providers, and other students. Most notable, they were transnationals with cosmopolitan knowledge of our complex and interconnected world from their experiences living in and maintaining ties to more than one country. Yet what I learned, seemed to be hidden in their schools--the sophisticated nature of their language use, demonstrations of pride in their rich cultural heritages, survival skills learned during their migration journeys (some as unaccompanied minors ), and the way they moved ahead at work to provide a better life for themselves and their families. Consequently, I believe we must learn about our students who acquiring English as an additional language to name and acknowledge their knowledge and skills. How does this affect students academic performance as measured by the Common Core Standards? Once we know their strengths, we can leverage them for classroom learning. For example, knowing your will help you make connections from their prior knowledge to the curriculum. They often bring very unique perspectives into our classrooms that can enhance the learning of all students. Their lived experiences might bring nuanced understandings to abstract concepts--liberty, justice, allegiance, democracy. Empower emergent bilingual students to use all of their linguistic resources to learn and create, particularly with technological resources, other students, or family members. This will give them full access to the content while continually developing their multilingual skills. As you adopt this stance, learning from and with your students, you might begin to see them as more than ELLs. Maybe you will see them as multilinguals who bring their multicultural, transnational, and global perspectives into your learning community. Response From Emily Phillips Galloway, Nonie Lesaux, & Stela Radovanovic Emily Phillips Galloway is assistant professor at Vanderbilt Universitys Peabody School of Education. Phillips Galloways research, which includes quantitative and qualitative studies, explores the relationships between academic language development and reading skill in adolescents with a focus on English Learners and has been featured in Reading Research Quarterly, Applied Psycholinguistics and Reading and Writing.The fundamentals and lessons learned from this work are featured in a recent book entitled, Advanced Literacy Instruction in Linguistically Diverse Settings: A Guide for School Leaders, co-authored with Nonie Lesaux and Sky Marietta. Nonie K. Lesaux, PhD, is Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society at Harvard University. Her research focuses on promoting the language and literacy skills of todays children from diverse linguistic, cultural and economic backgrounds, and is conducted largely in urban and semi-urban cities and school districts. Lesauxs research appears in numerous scholarly publications, and its practical applications are featured in various formats, including recent books: Cultivating Knowledge, Building Language: Literacy Instruction for English Learners in Elementary School (Heinemann, 2015) and Teaching Advanced Literacy Skills: A Guide for Leaders in Linguistically Diverse Schools (Guilford Press, 2016). Stela Radovanovic is Director of ELL Secondary Language and Literacy Development, Department of English Language Learners and Student Support, New York City Department of Education: The Common Core State Standards (CCSS, 2010) (and the broader standards-based accountability movement) acknowledge the changing role of literacy in todays knowledge-based society and economy. That is, all students--including English Learners (ELs)-- must develop the advanced literacy skills needed to access knowledge and participate in its generation (Lesaux, Phillips Galloway & Marietta, 2016). Helping students to develop these skills is not only about achieving the Standards; it is also a matter of equity. After all, language is a powerful tool for contesting and transforming our communities and society. For educators, developing students advanced literacy skills means aligning literacy instruction and intervention with what a decade of research in urban schools serving large numbers of linguistically-diverse students tells us: its not blending sounds together to read words that poses the greatest challenge to the majority, especially in the middle grades; its understanding the academic language of texts that is a primary impediment to accessing curricular concepts and content, and which translates to difficulty in achieving the Standards. Many English Learners who have participated in U.S. schooling for multiple years are skilled in using the English language needed for everyday conversation. Lets keep in mind, however, that this is not the same language used in academic texts. While it was once the case that the texts--often narratives--used in elementary-grade classrooms were focused on familiar topics, the standards-based reform movement has led to a shift in the types of texts used at all grade levels. Today, students are frequently exposed to non-fiction texts--biographies, newspaper articles, social studies informational texts--and must be given the tools to navigate the academic language that these texts contain. You may be asking, What academic language skills do my students need to tackle the complex texts that are part of standards-aligned curriculum? In my own research, I examine the development of academic language in middle graders. Specifically, I focus on students mastery of core academic language, or the language features that are frequently found in all academic texts across content areas (words such as, however and therefore, that connect sentences in text; sentence structures, such as embedded clauses and noun phrases, that help writers to pack information; and text structures used by writers to organize paragraphs and texts). In textbooks and instructional materials, core academic language surrounds the key words. Key words are taught because they are the central concepts or ideas in a unit. Core academic language forms, in contrast, are rarely taught explicitly, although they aid readers in making sense of how ideas in a text are connected. At all grade levels, teaching academic language means much more than teaching word lists or bolded words in a text; instead, students need to have ample opportunity to generate questions, formulate ideas and form an opinion as part of participating in classrooms that are rich language environments --where academic conversations are the norm rather than the exception. This instruction is most often rooted in a content-rich text or set of texts. It is vital that all students, including those English Learners that may be reading below grade level, have opportunities to read segments of grade-level texts that contain age-appropriate ideas conveyed via academic language. After all, struggling readers are not struggling thinkers. Additionally, this instruction should provide students with a purpose for using the knowledge and language gleaned from reading. Indeed, reading to prepare for a discussion with peers, to produce a blog post on the topic, to collaboratively write a lab report or to author a short argumentative essay in preparation for a class debate makes meaningful the task of reading challenging texts and acquiring new language. Finally, this instruction resists the temptation to focus superficially on meeting the Standards; instead, it is rooted in a desire to foster the skills in our students to acquire and generate knowledge. Response From Pete Lawrence Pete Lawrence acts as a supervisor to new teachers in the STEP program at Stanford. He partners with the NBRC National Board Resource Center at Stanford in its efforts to develop teacher excellence: Students are more likely to be excited about skills and content when they see direct and personal connections to class materials and activities. An under-used/appreciated tool in making these connections involves students seeing how class sessions and assignments affect their thinking and responses. When using this approach, the year begins with an attitude inventory, a series of statements requiring a response of strongly agree to strongly disagree. Each student generates an essay describing beliefs and views of human nature, the government, and society. Every lesson, homework assignment, and project involves and connects to statements in the inventory, and students regularly update their original responses using evidence from lessons and experiences. The year ends with students writing an essay tracing their philosophical journey tracking affirmed and changed views using history as a tool. The inventory provides opportunities to focus on individual growth: It works with each students level of thinking and development and lessens some of the problems of diverse student abilities in the class. It prompts students to see how they change as a result of their study and work. Students become more confident of their positions by being able to cite specific events and use evidence appropriately to back opinions. Students become less fearful of perceiving and taking on complex issues and multiple factors involved in decision making. Students see neutral responses as valid. A person may not have enough information to assert a stance or can see reasons to both agree and disagree. The question, What more do you need to know to make a choice? becomes relevant. The inventory offers opportunities to enhance daily lessons: For example, start a class by having students refer to responses to several statements. and return to those statements at the end of class. Connect statements to specific events, people, and choices: * Where are you more Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian? * How would a northerner and southerner in 1860 respond to _____? * FDR decided to _____. How would he respond to statements ______? * How would liberals/conservatives respond to _____? * How does this help you place yourself on the political spectrum? At the beginning of class, choose three students to note the relevance of particular statements as class progresses. At the end of class, return to the statements from the beginning of class and have these the three note-taking students report on their notes, and have a general class discussion/debrief where students update their own inventories. (Download an attitude survey here ) Response From Betsy J. Tregar Betsy J. Tregar, Ed.D. taught preschool, ESL and bilingual crisis intervention in Boston. She is now a Program Chair in a graduate ESL teacher prep program at Cambridge College: Teachers and Schools. In many schools, there is an assumption that the ESL teacher is responsible to prepare English learners for academic learning, and that once the students have learned sufficient English, they should be able to succeed in all-English classes. This often is not the case. English learners often struggle to catch up in a new class. They may seldom ask questions, then fail the unit tests. The content teacher is not certain why, and may assume the ESL teacher over-estimated the students abilities. An ESL teacher may observe a former ESL student in a history class and notice that the English Learner mumbles if the teacher calls on him, never raises his hand, and later hands in a messy paper. The ESL teacher may know that this student was on grade level in prior schooling in his first language, and was an active contributor in the ESL classes. Both teachers want their students to succeed. Each one is trying hard, and both are frustrated. Every teacher has to play a part in helping all students - including English learners - meet the common core state standards. Past national initiatives to encourage content and literacy/language teacher collaboration have failed, because content teachers have not seen themselves as language or literacy teachers. But the current increase in English learners means that we have to try again. English learners must be college and career ready. Neither content subject teachers nor ESL teachers can do it alone. We need to work together, exchange information, and combine forces. School Support and Assessment. A Massachusetts initiative is making inroads. All academic teachers of English learners must qualify for a SEI Endorsement to their educator license. They understand their role; how to use annual WIDA ACCESS test results to plan instruction; what best practices enable English learners to show their knowledge; and how to vary assessments so English learners can show content knowledge. Massachusetts English learners are assessed annually using the WIDA ACCESS Test, so teachers share common information in discussing the academic and language progress of their students. School-based performance evaluators have learned what to look for as they observe a teacher. Teacher preparation colleges include SEI in their programs, so newly licensed academic teachers have the SEI Endorsement. Thanks to Tan, Stephaney, Shelley, Bret, Mary, Emily, Nonie, Stela, Pete and Betsy for their contributions! Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post. Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if its selected or if youd prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind. You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo . 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Look for the next question-of-the-week in a few days. kacylee at 20-06-2018 05:44 AM (3 years ago) (f) Gonen Segev, a former energy minister in Israel, has reportedly admitted contacts with Iran after being arrested in a suspected spying operation, local reports in Israel said. Gonen Segev, a former energy minister in Israel, has reportedly admitted contacts with Iran after being arrested in a suspected spying operation, local reports in Israel said. Mr Segev lived in Nigeria on a self-imposed exile after completing jail sentence for drugs offenses in Israel in 2010. He worked as a medical official for Israeli diplomats and other Jewish expatriates around Abuja. He was arrested in Equatorial Guinea last month and was extradited to Israel where he has now been charged with spying for Iran, reports said. It was not immediately clear if Nigeria played any role in his investigation and arrest. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence Headquarters both declined comments to Premium Times about the development for the most part of Tuesday. Mr Segev was reportedly lured to the Iranian Embassy in Abuja in 2012 under the guise of treating the children of its diplomatic staff, Israels Channel 10 news reported. By taking up assignment with Iranians, Mr Gonen was reportedly hoping to mislead them and ultimately restore his reputation that was tarnished by his jail sentence, Channel 10 said. I wanted to fool the Iranians and come back to Israel a hero, he was quoted as saying during his interrogation. He denied all allegations of wrongdoing and said he did not pass any sensitive intelligence to the Iranians during his contacts with them. Mr Segev was arrested in 2004 for attempting to smuggle 32,000 ecstasy (MDMA) tablets from the Netherlands into Israel. He initially denied the allegations, saying he thought the pills were M&Ms. He was also accused of illegally extending his diplomatic license and credit card fraud. He was convicted in 2005 of drug smuggling, forgery, and fraud. He bagged five years imprisonment with a $27,500 fine. He was released from prison in 2007, after a third of his sentence was cut, due to satisfactory behaviour in jail. Mr Segev, Israeli energy minister from 1995-96, maintained a low-profile since moving to Abuja years ago, and he is not well-known outside the diplomatic and expatriate communities in the capital city. Diplomatic ties between Iran and Nigeria strained recently amidst continuous detention of Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, a foremost Shiite cleric in Nigeria who was arrested in 2015 after Nigerian soldiers raided his compound and killed nearly 400 members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. The army accused the Shiites of block a major road to be used by army chief, Tukur Buratai. One solider was also confirmed killed in the violence. Mr Segev lived in Nigeria on a self-imposed exile after completing jail sentence for drugs offenses in Israel in 2010. He worked as a medical official for Israeli diplomats and other Jewish expatriates around Abuja. He was arrested in Equatorial Guinea last month and was extradited to Israel where he has now been charged with spying for Iran, reports said.It was not immediately clear if Nigeria played any role in his investigation and arrest. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence Headquarters both declined comments to Premium Times about the development for the most part of Tuesday.Mr Segev was reportedly lured to the Iranian Embassy in Abuja in 2012 under the guise of treating the children of its diplomatic staff, Israels Channel 10 news reported.By taking up assignment with Iranians, Mr Gonen was reportedly hoping to mislead them and ultimately restore his reputation that was tarnished by his jail sentence, Channel 10 said.I wanted to fool the Iranians and come back to Israel a hero, he was quoted as saying during his interrogation. He denied all allegations of wrongdoing and said he did not pass any sensitive intelligence to the Iranians during his contacts with them.Mr Segev was arrested in 2004 for attempting to smuggle 32,000 ecstasy (MDMA) tablets from the Netherlands into Israel. He initially denied the allegations, saying he thought the pills were M&Ms. He was also accused of illegally extending his diplomatic license and credit card fraud.He was convicted in 2005 of drug smuggling, forgery, and fraud. He bagged five years imprisonment with a $27,500 fine. He was released from prison in 2007, after a third of his sentence was cut, due to satisfactory behaviour in jail.Mr Segev, Israeli energy minister from 1995-96, maintained a low-profile since moving to Abuja years ago, and he is not well-known outside the diplomatic and expatriate communities in the capital city.Diplomatic ties between Iran and Nigeria strained recently amidst continuous detention of Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, a foremost Shiite cleric in Nigeria who was arrested in 2015 after Nigerian soldiers raided his compound and killed nearly 400 members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. The army accused the Shiites of block a major road to be used by army chief, Tukur Buratai. One solider was also confirmed killed in the violence. Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 20-06-2018 05:44 AM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero kejguv at 20-06-2018 09:42 AM (3 years ago) (m) The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is hoping to pay the next batch of Abacha loot directly into the accounts of poor Nigerians. The Federal Government is making final preparation to disburse $322 million fund repatriated from the accounts of former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha in Switzerland to Nigerians. The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is hoping to pay the next batch of Abacha loot directly into the accounts of poor Nigerians.The Federal Government is making final preparation to disburse $322 million fund repatriated from the accounts of former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha in Switzerland to Nigerians. The National Coordinator of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), Nigeria and Special Assistant to the President on Justice Reforms, Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu disclosed this recently in an interactive session with newsmen. Ibekeaku-Nwagwu said under MoU with Switzerland the funds would be paid directly into the accounts of the poorest Nigerians through their various accounts for two years and identification numbers to be made available on the website being developed by the National Social Investment office and the World Bank. She solicited the patience of Nigerians, explaining that the agencies working on the modalities would brief the public on June 28, adding that the process for the payment will be transparent for civil society and the media to monitor. She said despite oppositions against the MoU from within and outside government, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN) and his team have pursued President Muhammadu Buharis agenda of ensuring that the $322m was returned for deployment in the social safety nets project, which would make targeted transfers to the poor and vulnerable households. The poorest members of the community will be registered online, and before you make any payment, they must have an ID number so that every payment would be tracked. No amount will be paid out without a joint signature between Nigeria and the World Bank and without identification of individuals, she said. Ibekeaku-Nwagwu said President Buharis commitment to the Open Government Partnership during the London Summit in 2016 has enhanced transparency and accountability in government budgeting and contracting, adding that If there is anything we have achieved its about getting Nigerian citizens to become conscious about what is happening with their money. The National Coordinator of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), Nigeria and Special Assistant to the President on Justice Reforms, Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu disclosed this recently in an interactive session with newsmen.Ibekeaku-Nwagwu said under MoU with Switzerland the funds would be paid directly into the accounts of the poorest Nigerians through their various accounts for two years and identification numbers to be made available on the website being developed by the National Social Investment office and the World Bank.She solicited the patience of Nigerians, explaining that the agencies working on the modalities would brief the public on June 28, adding that the process for the payment will be transparent for civil society and the media to monitor.She said despite oppositions against the MoU from within and outside government, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN) and his team have pursued President Muhammadu Buharis agenda of ensuring that the $322m was returned for deployment in the social safety nets project, which would make targeted transfers to the poor and vulnerable households.The poorest members of the community will be registered online, and before you make any payment, they must have an ID number so that every payment would be tracked. No amount will be paid out without a joint signature between Nigeria and the World Bank and without identification of individuals, she said.Ibekeaku-Nwagwu said President Buharis commitment to the Open Government Partnership during the London Summit in 2016 has enhanced transparency and accountability in government budgeting and contracting, adding that If there is anything we have achieved its about getting Nigerian citizens to become conscious about what is happening with their money. Post Reply Writing is my passion and facts-proofing is my hobby, I have been writing at Gistmania for close to a decade now and It is one of the most exciting things I do. Outside writing, I love enjoying time with my loved ones - if you have any tip for me, please do get in touch Posted: at 20-06-2018 09:42 AM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac English Finnish VMP PLC COMPANY RELEASE JUNE 20, 2018, AT [16.00. EET] VMP Plc Managers Transactions ____________________________________________ Person subject to the notification requirement Name: Sentica Buyout V Ky Position: Closely associated person (X) Legal person (1):Person Discharging Managerial Responsibilities In Issuer Name: Uotila, Mika Position: Member of the Board Issuer: VMP Oyj LEI: 743700ZKOMTB7X00OW54 Notification type: INITIAL NOTIFICATION Reference number: 743700ZKOMTB7X00OW54_20180619151750_9 ____________________________________________ Transaction date: 2018-06-19 Venue: FIRST NORTH FINLAND (FNFI) Instrument type: SHARE ISIN: FI4000322326 Nature of the transaction: LENDING Transaction details (1): Volume: 869,770 Unit price: N/A Aggregated transactions (1): Volume: 869,770 Volume weighted average price: N/A Additional information Jarmo Korhonen, CFO, tel. +358 (0)40 510 9336, jarmo.korhonen@vmp.fi Certified Adviser: Danske Bank A/S, Finland Branch, tel. +358 (0)10 546 7934 VMP in brief VMP is a Finnish HR services company with a comprehensive offering of staffing, recruiting and organisational development and self employment services. VMP is one of the leading HR services companies in Finland as measured by revenue. With its comprehensive services offering VMP aims to meet the changing needs of both employees and employers and is a holistic HR partner to its clients. In 2017, VMPs revenue amounted to EUR 109.5 million and EBITDA was EUR 9.3 million corresponding to an 8.5 per cent EBITDA margin. VMP is a Finnish HR services company with a comprehensive offering of Staffing Services, Recruitment Services, Organizational Development Services and Self-employment Services. VMPs mission is to help both people and companies succeed in the changing world of work. VMP serves customers in Finland, Sweden and Estonia and it has recruitment points in Estonia and Romania. VMP group operates under VMP Varamiespalvelu, Staffplus, Personnel, Romana Management, Eezy and Alina brands. Posted 6/19/18 U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced June 12 the re-enrollment deadline for the Margin Protection Program for Dairy will be extended until June 22. The new and improved program protects Posted 6/19/18 On June 11, I gave a talk about my book A History of Highway 65, from the middle of the road to the Friends of the Hickory County Library in Hermitage. I hope they learned a little about the Last month, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed legislation to establish a commission to investigate which senior officials in the Baltimore Police Department knew about corruption in the department's now-disbanded Gun Trace Task Force, when they knew about it and what they did -- if anything -- in response.The commission's creation is just the latest chapter in efforts stretching back for more than a century to address systematic corruption, excessive use of force and other lawless behavior that has plagued some of the nation's most storied police departments. In some cases these investigations have resulted in the creation of permanent civilian oversight or review boards with varying levels of authority over police operations.The vast majority of these boards and commissions have failed to permanently change the culture of the troubled police departments that they were established to oversee, due in large part to a lack of authority over day-to-day police operations or of a mandate for police forces to implement their recommendations. One particular reform, however, holds the promise of institutionalizing reform throughout a police organization: civilian leadership at the top.New York City's police force, which is currently led by a civilian who came up through its uniformed ranks, is considered one of the nation's most professional and corruption-free departments. But that wasn't always the case. Its transformation dates back to 1894, when the state Senate launched the first comprehensive investigation of corruption in the department. The Lexow Committee, as the investigating panel was known, revealed just how deeply entrenched the NYPD had become in managing and profiting from the city's vice economy, a level of corruption fed and intensified by a pay-for-promotion system within the ranks.That investigation led to Theodore Roosevelt being installed as president of the board that oversaw the police department. The future president of the United States took to the job with his customary energy and zeal, effectively functioning as the department's civilian commissioner. Most of Roosevelt's reforms didn't outlast his two-year tenure, but later, as governor of New York, he signed legislation replacing the police board and department chief with a single police commissioner, creating the structure that continues to the present day.Facing opposition from traditionalists who argue that police forces should have a uniformed chief at the top, only a few jurisdictions outside of New York City have adopted its civilian-commissioner model. But it's one that has often proven reasonably effective. In 1966, long before its latter-day scandals unfolded, Baltimore's police force underwent numerous managerial and personnel reforms under Commissioner Donald Pomerleau, most notably in increasing opportunities for blacks and women. And as Boston's commissioner in the 1970s, Robert di Grazia worked to stamp out corruption and professionalize what one of his successors described as "an old-school department set in its ways."Commissioners working in a civilian capacity, and informed by their years as sworn officers, are able to take a high-level perspective, maintain a level of objectivity and avoid much of the conflict that uniformed police chiefs often face in having to balance their allegiance between the elected officials who appointed them and the personnel who share the uniform that they wear. Civilian leaders can focus more on strategic decision-making to address the concerns of the community and implement recommended reforms and programs that will improve services and help to reduce the fear of crime. And having the ultimate power over administration and discipline gives them the tools they need to deal with problems in the ranks in a systemic way. "To really improve policing, it requires organizational reform, as opposed to investigating individual citizen complaints," says Samuel Walker, author of the 2005 bookThe organization of policing in Los Angeles illustrates the difficulty of achieving deep reforms in a fragmented power structure. A five-member Board of Police Commissioners sets the policy agenda and oversees strategic decisions, while a uniformed police chief manages the Los Angeles Police Department's daily operations. The board doesn't possess the authority to impose discipline on LAPD personnel, yet is responsible for oversight of the disciplinary process through a civilian-led inspector general's office. By contrast, individuals who hold the title of police commissioner in Boston, New York City and smaller jurisdictions such as Nassau County, N.Y., are responsible for both administration and discipline, while a uniformed chief handles day-to-day operations and tactical deployments.The policing crisis the nation is facing calls for a resurgence of true reformers in the Roosevelt mold, civilians who are empowered to act and ready to go against institutional norms. In recent years -- and particularly since the killing in 2014 of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., ignited nationwide protests -- many have campaigned for local office on the promise of reforming police departments and instituting some form of civilian oversight. While the needle hasn't moved as far as many communities would like for it to, progress has been made through legislation and programs that work to bring more oversight to policing. As the journey continues, community leaders and elected officials should take a look at the benefits of institutionalizing civilian police commissioners as a way to move the needle farther. For governments, getting sued unfortunately comes with the territory . But in recent years, the amount that cities are shelling out for police misconduct lawsuits has become not just a criminal justice issue but a financial one as well.For big cities, the costs are alarming -- equivalent to huge line items in agency budgets.In just the first eight weeks of this year, for instance, Chicago paid out $20 million in police misconduct lawsuits, according to a local news investigation. That's outpacing its average of $47 million a year over the last six years. New York City pays by far the most. In 2017, it doled out a record $302 million for police misconduct lawsuits, according to the city controller's office.For small cities, however, the financial impact can be even bigger. Most small governments have liability insurance to help them cover the costs of lawsuits. But legal costs for police misconduct can still place huge strains on budgets and, in some cases, can lead to law enforcement agencies being disbanded.Recently in Lakewood, Wash., a jury returned a $15 million verdict for the death of Leonard Thomas, who was unarmed when a police sniper shot him. While Lakewood's insurance is expected to cover a portion of that payout, the city still has to spend $6.5 million on punitive damages -- an amount equivalent to 18 percent of the city's annual spending.When misconduct lawsuits start mounting, insurance companies can withdraw coverage. Without insurance, a single claim against a local police department has the potential to bankrupt a small municipality. As a result, cities in California, Illinois, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee have in recent years opted to disband their police departments after losing coverage.Police misconduct lawsuits are an overlooked area of taxpayer spending and management, says David Eichenthal, executive director of the PFM Group's Center for Safety & Justice Finance. "The ability to limit your future liability by taking preventive steps upfront isn't just good policing policy, but important financial policy," he says.Ron Serpas, New Orleans' former police chief and a consultant with PFM, agrees. He says training and active monitoring of new hires can make a big difference. "You see numerous times that poor decision in hiring or succession planning results in multimillion-dollar lawsuits in cities."In Sorrento, La., for example, a newly hired cop in 2013 slammed into another car on a highway after going on a high-speed chase to catch a separate driver who was speeding. The driver who was hit sued. It was later revealed that the officer was already one of the town's most zealous issuers of speeding tickets, hundreds of which were later thrown out in court.That incident, combined with other lawsuits against the police department serving the small town of 1,500 people, prompted the city's insurer to drop its coverage . The town disbanded its police department shortly thereafter.Some small towns have been able to make a turnaround before losing insurance. Last year, University of Chicago law professor John Rappaport detailed examples of such efforts ranging from new training and supervision of SWAT teams in Wisconsin after botched raids, to firing a police chief in Tennessee.Still, says Eichenthal, governments shouldn't wait until the threat of bankruptcy or losing insurance forces them to start looking at what causes misconduct. "I used to have a boss who'd say it's cheaper to build a guardrail at the top of a cliff than station an ambulance at the bottom," he says. "It's really about building those guardrails in the right places." In a high-stakes and fast-moving legal dispute, Gov. Paul LePage on Monday filed a second appeal of a lower court ruling requiring the administration to move forward with an expansion of Medicaid approved by Maine voters in 2017.LePage's legal team appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to delay a deadline to file a formal expansion plan while it appeals a court order that it must comply with the voter referendum. The latest appeal followed a ruling Friday by a Kennebec County Superior Court justice denying the administration's request to stay, or delay, a deadline while the litigation continues.That order also said the executive branch's failure to follow the people's will could engender disrespect for laws.Nearly 60 percent of Maine voters supported a referendum in November to expand Medicaid health insurance to more than 70,000 adults with incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level.LePage has said he will follow the expansion law but not until the state Legislature approves a way to pay for the state's share of expansion costs, which are estimated to be between $50 million and $100 million a year. Advocates argue the state could move forward with existing funds.LePage's refusal to meet deadlines for the voter-approved expansion prompted a lawsuit and a ruling by Kennebec County Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy that LePage must submit a formal expansion plan to the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. The administration appealed Murphy's ruling to the states' Supreme Judicial Court, which has yet to rule on the underlying dispute.Both LePage's Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Ricker Hamilton and attorneys for Maine Equal Justice Partners, which brought the original lawsuit against LePage, have urged the high court to expedite its hearing on the LePage appeal.At issue in the latest ruling and appeal is whether the LePage administration is required to meet deadlines to comply even as it tries to overturn the ruling in the state's Supreme Court. The actual deadline was June 11, and it's not clear how quickly the administration would have to comply if it loses the appeal.In Friday's ruling denying the administration any additional time, Murphy said LePage's attorneys had not established a likelihood of success on the merits of their appeal and that public interest would be adversely impacted were the stay allowed. She also wrote that the harm to those who would become eligible to receive Medicaid benefits outweighed any potential harm to the state."The executive branch's refusal to act and follow the will of the people ... has the potential to engender disrespect for duly enacted laws," Murphy wrote.The LePage administration argued in Monday's appeal that the state shouldn't be forced to file a federal application without first ruling whether the state must move forward."This case raises tremendously consequential and far-reaching issues regarding the separation of powers and Maine's long-term fiscal health," Patrick Strawbridge, the attorney hired by LePage to represent the state in the expansion case wrote in his appeal to the law court. "The Superior Court's order required the (Health and Human Services) commissioner to make a binding commitment to the federal government to expand the state's Medicaid program even though none of the necessary funding or staffing to effectuate the expansion has been appropriated by the Legislature."Strawbridge, a Boston-based attorney, represents the administration because Maine Attorney General Janet Mills, now a Democratic candidate for governor, declined to make anyone from her office available for the case.LePage and his allies have acknowledged, begrudgingly, that Medicaid expansion is law, but have said their hands are tied until funds are specifically appropriated. Medicaid is funded mostly at the federal level, but the state of Maine is required to contribute its own funds. Thirty-one other states already have expanded Medicaid under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act.Meanwhile, the Legislature, which adjourned in May after lawmakers were unable to reach agreement on among other things, a funding means for the expansion, was expected to reconvene in a special session on Tuesday.The estimated cost of expansion was one of the major sticking points. The Legislature's nonpartisan Office of Fiscal and Program Review estimated that it would cost $45 million in the first year, but the LePage administration argued that it would cost much more and that it would only increase in future years suggesting it could cost the state as much as $100 million a year.The expansion will open up the program to Mainers who earn 138 percent of the federal poverty level, $16,753 per year for an individual or $34,638 for a family of four.It remained unclear late Monday, whether a partial funding bill, which would appropriate about $3 million for covering the state's administrative costs associated with expansion, would be in the mix.Democratic lawmakers have also argued the state has the funding available in its surplus revenues to launch the expansion plan, which would take several years to reach the anticipated state costs. Under the expansion the state's share of expansion would be matched with federal funds at about a 10:1 ratio meaning the state would received about $500 million a year for each $50 million it spent on an expanded Medicaid program. No Election Safe Democratic Likely Democratic Lean Democratic Tossup Safe Republican Likely Republican Lean Republican Safe Republican Likely Republican Lean Republican Tossup Lean Democratic Likely Democratic Safe Democratic In the four months since our previous handicapping of the nation's attorneys general races, primaries have sorted out several contests and potential candidates have jockeyed into and out of others. Still, Republicans remain on the hot seat this fall.That's largely because the GOP holds 27 attorneys general offices, compared to 22 for the Democrats and one nonpartisan seat appointed by Alaska's independent governor.Of those, 30 elected seats are up this cycle, with 18 currently held by Republicans and 12 by Democrats. (In total, 43 seats are popularly elected and seven are either appointed by the governor, the legislature or state supreme court. We do not rate the appointed seats.)According to our reporting, 10 races are considered to be "in play," meaning they are rated tossup, lean Democratic or lean Republican. (Seats rated likely or safe for one party or the other are not in play.) Of the 10 vulnerable seats, the Republicans currently hold seven.The number of competitive races and the partisan distribution has shifted only slightly since our previous handicapping in February and the changes benefit both parties. For the Democrats, we've moved Connecticut's open seat from tossup to lean Democratic and shifted Georgia's open seat from safe Republican to likely Republican.For the Republicans, a sudden upheaval in the Minnesota AG race has convinced us to shift the contest from likely Democratic to lean Democratic. In Texas, we've moved incumbent Republican Ken Paxton's race from likely Republican to safe Republican. And in New York, the abrupt resignation of Democratic AG Eric Schneiderman amid #MeToo accusations turned an easy reelection victory into a scramble to succeed him. Democrats remain favored, but we've shifted the race from safe Democratic to likely Democratic as a precaution.The results of the tossup races will determine which party has a better Election Night. And the seats in that category are currently held exclusively by Republicans. They are the open AG offices in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada and Ohio, plus the seat held by a Republican incumbent in Wisconsin.In a neutral environment, this would suggest the Democrats could expect to gain a couple of seats. But if there's a Democratic wave, the party might win even more than that, perhaps enough to turn an overall Republican lead in AG seats into a Democratic one.In the handicapping below, the seats within each category are rank-ordered from most likely to go Republican to most likely to go Democratic.With a steady first term under his belt, Peterson is almost ensured to see a second one. He doesn't have any serious opposition yet, either in the primary or the general election.In September, Wasden announced his intention to seek a fifth term, squashing rumors that he might run for governor. He'll face Democrat Bruce Bistline, but should cruise to victory in this solidly Republican state.North Dakota leans strongly Republican and Stenehjem is popular. He has no primary opponent and is the heavy favorite against Democrat David Clark Thompson, a former state legislative aide and attorney in private practice.Marshall was appointed to the office by former Gov. Robert Bentley after his predecessor, Luther Strange, was tapped to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy. But Marshall, a former Democrat who was previously a county prosecutor in northern Alabama, is facing a runoff against Troy King, who himself was appointed to the attorney general post before being defeated in a primary by Strange.Either Marshall or Troy are favored to win in this solidly red state, even against a familiar name. Joseph Siegelman, the son of former Gov. Don Siegelman, defeated Chris Christie, who is no relation to the former Republican New Jersey governor, in the primary and will face the winner of the runoff.Democrats finally found a candidate to challenge Rutledge: Mike Lee, an engineer, lawyer and law school professor. But the AG race is likely to struggle for attention from Democrats, who are expected to focus more on the competitive 2nd District congressional race. Either way, Rutledge is the favorite in this strongly Republican state.Hunter was appointed to succeed Scott Pruitt, who was tapped by President Trump to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He's a policy veteran who previously served as a state legislator, secretary of state and top aide to former Republican U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts. Hunter faces an ugly primary fight on June 26 from Tulsa attorney Gentner Drummond, who has accused Hunter of not meeting residency requirements because he lived in Virginia while he was working as a Washington lobbyist. Hunter countered that Drummond encouraged a client to lie under oath, and a tit-for-tat has since ensued. Still, whether its Hunter or Drummond, the Republican is favored to beat Democratic attorney Mark Myles in the fall.Schmidt, a moderate Republican, is popular and well positioned to win a third term. He'll face Democrat Sarah Swain, an attorney, who he is expected to handily defeat.In South Dakota, several Republicans are seeking the nomination. Whoever gets the nod -- they'll to be picked during the party convention June 20-23 -- will be a heavy favorite over the Democratic nominee, given the state's strong Republican leaning.That said, if Democrats select Tatewin Means during their convention, things could get interesting. Means is a former attorney general of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and daughter of the late American Indian activist Russell Means. It's believed that she would be the nation's first Native American woman to be elected as a state attorney general.Superficially, Paxton should be vulnerable: He is facing a trial for securities fraud. But this is solidly Republican Texas, and a conviction by Election Day is unlikely. Meanwhile, Paxton has portrayed the prosecution as a liberal witch hunt, an argument that should resonate with the GOP base. For their part, the Democrats have a credible candidate, trial lawyer Justin Nelson, who has raised nearly $1 million. Ultimately, it looks like Paxton, despite his legal troubles, is positioned to ride Gov. Greg Abbott's coattails to reelection this year. While support for Trump is softer in Texas than in other red states, it's not soft enough to turn otherwise safe GOP races into competitive contests.Carr was appointed to the post in 2016 when Sam Olens was named president of Kennesaw State University. Now, he has to run for a term of his own. He was unopposed in the primary and will face Democrat Charlie Bailey, a former senior prosecutor in Fulton County who has garnered good job reviews. Still, it remains to be seen whether he can gain enough momentum to win in a state that has recently leaned heavily Republican.Wilson, who's seeking a third term, has taken flak for his management of an ongoing statehouse corruption investigation. The issue has forced him into a runoff with state Rep. Todd Atwater. The Democratic candidate, Charleston School of Law professor Constance Anastopoulo, could do well if a damaged Republican emerges from the primary. In the absence of that, though, the Republican nominee is the presumptive favorite.Brnovich, who won his office in 2014 after defeating a Republican incumbent in the primary, has a money edge against former assistant attorney general and Obama administration official January Contreras. The question is whether an energized Democratic and Latino vote can deliver the office to Contreras, or whether Brnovich has demonstrated enough independence to win some crossover voters. But of all the statewide offices in Arizona, the Republicans seem relatively well positioned in the AG race. Brnovich has tackled consumer protection issues and weighed in on the U.S. Supreme Court's gambling decision and its impact on Arizona.Schimel is seeking a second term and faces Democrat Josh Kaul, a former federal prosecutor and first-time candidate who is the son of former Wisconsin AG Peg Lautenschlager. Both Schimel and Kaul should have enough money keep the race competitive and in the tossup category.Republican state Auditor David Yost will face former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach, a Democrat. Both candidates have solid records to run on. Yost used his role as state auditor to push for state takeovers of financially and academically troubled public schools and led an investigation into irregularities at a charter "e-school" that was shuttered earlier this year. Dettelbach, for his part, handled high-profile Cuyahoga County government corruption cases that led to voters changing the county system of government. He was also involved with a federal consent decree with the Cleveland police. This race will likely be influenced by top-of-the-ballot contests, including the open gubernatorial seat and a competitive U.S. Senate race. In recent years, the GOP has had an edge in statewide races, but recent polling has shown gains for Democrats. This one seems competitive enough to remain a tossup.Republican state House Speaker Tom Leonard is the favorite against state Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker in the GOP primary, which will be held in August. Meanwhile, Democratic attorney Dana Nessel, who won a preliminary convention nod and is currently the favorite, will face former U.S. Attorney Pat Miles. Michigan is prime battleground territory and the race is relatively undeveloped at this point, so we're keeping it in tossup for now.The GOP field is led by former Tampa Circuit Judge Ashley Moody, who has Bondi's endorsement; other candidates include state Rep. Frank White. On the Democratic side, state Rep. Sean Shaw, the son of Leander Shaw, the first black chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, and attorney Ryan Torrens are running. Another Democratic name being floated is Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler. The open seat AG race will compete for attention with, and likely be affected by, other major races in Florida this cycle, including an open gubernatorial seat and a hotly contested U.S. Senate race. None of the candidates in the race has statewide name recognition, which puts this race in the tossup category for now. However, the primary in late August could sharpen the outlook.Republican George Brauchler, a well-known district attorney who prosecuted the Aurora mass shooting and previously ran for governor, is awaiting the resolution of the Democratic primary on June 26, which is breaking down to an establishment-vs.-insurgent contest. University of Colorado law school dean Phil Weiser, who previously held several Justice Department positions and clerked for Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is well funded but faces a more aggressively liberal candidate, Joe Salazar. In a neutral political environment, Brauchler has the profile and the credibility to have a strong shot at winning, but if there's a national wave, the Democrats could have the edge.State Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, a Democrat, will face former state Assemblyman and Deputy Attorney General Wes Duncan, a Republican. A recent poll sponsored by The Nevada Independent found Ford ahead, 36 percent to 27 percent. That's positive news for the Democrat, but with lots of undecided voters it's too early to move the race out of tossup.The race changed suddenly when Swanson failed to secure her party's endorsement for AG at the state convention and then announced that she would run for governor instead. This prompted U.S. Rep. and Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Keith Ellison to enter a crowded primary that includes attorney Matt Pelikan, who had challenged Swanson from the left. Former Republican state Rep. Doug Wardlow is in the hunt on the GOP side. Until the Aug. 12 primary defines this race more, we're shifting this to lean Democratic.The Democrats have a three-way primary on Aug. 14, where state Senate Judiciary Chair Paul Doyle, state House Judiciary Chair William Tong and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Mattei will face off. Tong won the party endorsement on the second ballot at the May convention, but he still needs to prevail in the primary against Mattei, who's running to his left, and Doyle, who's running to his right.On the Republican side, Susan Hatfield, a state's attorney, easily won the Republican convention nod, though she may face former state Rep. John Shaban in the primary. While Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy is finishing his second term with low approval ratings, the Democratic base is energized nationally and the last Republican AG left office in 1959. We're moving this race to lean Democratic.This contest has the potential to be competitive. The Democratic nominee is Kwame Raoul, an African-American state senator from Chicago. The Republican candidate is Erika Harold, an attorney from central Illinois with an interesting background: a social conservative Harvard Law School grad and former Miss America. Harold has star power, but Raoul has a solid reputation as a lawmaker. He'll be tied to the Democratic organization, but she'll be tied to GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, who has struggled.Neither candidate has run statewide before, and without massive funding help, both will struggle for visibility. Still, in a race between two largely unknown candidates in a Democratic state, the advantage lies with the Democrat.On the Democratic side, there's an energetic primary brewing for this open seat. The field includes Deputy AG LaKresha Roberts, attorney Chris Johnson and two former New Castle County officials, Kathleen Jennings and Tim Mullaney Sr. Jennings has name recognition; she prosecuted the state's only known serial killer earlier in her career.Meanwhile, the GOP bench is thin in this solidly blue state, which means that whoever wins the Democratic primary should have a strong leg up.Schneiderman, who had been aggressively investigating Trump's personal businesses, was seen as a near lock for reelection and a possible future gubernatorial contender before accounts of his domestic violence became public and he abruptly resigned. Schneiderman's replacement, Barbara Underwood, is not running for a term of her own. The early favorite is New York City Public Advocate Tish James, who has locked up most of the big endorsements and institutional support and has elbowed out some relatively strong potential contenders. But she'll need to get past Zephy Teachout and U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in the Democratic primary in September. Teachout, a vocal progressive, has run unsuccessfully for governor against Andrew Cuomo and for a U.S. House seat.Republicans had a hard time finding someone to nominate at their convention before settling on Keith Wofford, co-managing partner of the law firm Ropes & Gray. And while he's unlikely to beat a Democrat in this blue state, we're moving it to likely Democratic given the unsettled nature of the race.The Republicans have a challenger in attorney Michael Hendricks, but incumbent Balderas enjoys superior name recognition and remains a strong favorite.Attorney General Brian Frosh, who's seeking a second term, has regularly joined with other Democratic attorneys general to take on the Trump administration in court. His Republican opponent, Craig Wolf -- a major in the Army Reserves who is leaving the presidency of a D.C.-based trade association to run -- is expected to tie himself closely to popular GOP Gov. Larry Hogan. But despite a 60 percent approval rating, Hogan will have his hands full getting himself reelected in this solidly blue state. As a result, he's considered unlikely to spend much of his personal political capital taking aim at Frosh.The only contender so far is Democrat Peter Neronha, a former U.S. attorney for Rhode Island who stepped down when Obama left office. He's considered popular with voters for his efforts to fight political corruption in the state, and as a nonpartisan official until 2017, he should have a measure of cross-partisan appeal. Others may eventually join the Democratic field and the Republicans may find a candidate -- the filing deadline is June 27 -- but all eyes are on Neronha.Healy is popular and is poised to face only token opposition from one of two Republican attorneys, James McMahon and Dan Shores. Massachusetts has not elected a Republican to the AG office since 1966.With the exception of four years in the '90s, Miller has been Iowa's attorney general since 1979. His last race in 2014 was relatively close by his standards: He bested Adam Gregg, who is now acting lieutenant governor, by 11 points. But he's running unopposed, so barring something unforeseen, Miller should be good for another term.Becerra is well positioned to win a first full term. He faces Republican Steven Bailey, a former superior court judge and critic of the state's sanctuary laws. Under California's primary system, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance. Bailey got 25 percent of the vote, and Becerra got 45 percent.If Becerra, who was appointed to succeed newly elected U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, does win reelection, he could become California's first appointed statewide official in decades to win the office to which he was appointed. Either way, California has become so strongly Democratic that the AG seat should be safe for the party.Donovan is completing his first term and his only competition will be from perennial candidate Brooke Paige, who filed to run in five statewide races (lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer and auditor). Donovan's reelection is assured. Facing intense pressure -- including from state and local officials of his own party -- President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that ends the practice of separating children from their families at the border.The executive order won't end the so-called zero tolerance policy, announced in April, that leads to criminal referrals of all people caught in the country illegally. But it will allow families to stay together during periods of detention. ( More on the details of the executive order here. ) Under the Obama administration, families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation.In recent days, governors and mayors moved from simply offering words in opposition to taking steps that attempted to block the administration from continuing its policy of separating families.GOP Govs. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Larry Hogan of Maryland each announced this week that they would withdraw troops from the border. Other Republican governors, including Bruce Rauner of Illinois, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, also expressed varying levels of opposition."While there seems to be a lot of misinformation and propaganda regarding the situation on our border, one thing is clear: Children should not be separated from their families," Ricketts wrote on Twitter.On the Democratic side, the governors of Colorado and New Jersey signed executive orders this week barring any state funds from being used for programs that separate families. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that his state would sue, calling the situation "a moral failing and a human tragedy." Several other Democratic governors, including those in North Carolina and Virginia, said that they would withdraw National Guard troops and equipment from the border region."Given what we know about the policies currently in effect at the border, I can't in good conscience send Delawareans to help with that mission," Gov. John Carney said Tuesday, rejecting a call from the administration to send National Guard troops. "If President Trump revokes the current inhumane policy of separating children from their parents, Delaware will be first in line to assist our sister states in securing the border."The actions that were taken by the governors were largely symbolic. Several who announced they would not deploy troops were sending less than a handful. Maryland removed four crew members and a helicopter from New Mexico -- the same mix as Virginia. Gov. Roy Cooper ordered three troops to return to North Carolina.At a news conference announcing his executive order, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper conceded that he was ordering a halt to something that wasn't happening. Asked whether any state resources had been used to assist the federal government in separating families, he said, "We've looked into it, and no one is aware of it."Still, the bipartisan rebuke from governors was loud enough -- along with condemnation from members of Congress, the religious community and others -- for Trump to make a rare policy reversal.A bipartisan group of mayors from cities including Los Angeles, Miami and El Paso were planning to visit Tornillo, Texas, where the federal government set up a so-called tent city to house migrant children."One thing we all agree is this particular policy is not good for America or for families," Bryan Barnett, the Republican mayor of Rochester Hills, Mich., told theWhile most of the state and local officials speaking out reside far from the border with Mexico, some Texas Republicans also complained."You have publicly suggested that your administration may end these policies if congressional Democrats agree to some of your border security objectives and positions," Joe Straus, the outgoing Republican speaker of the Texas House, wrote in a letter to Trump. "But it is wrong to use these scared, vulnerable children as a negotiation tool."Not all Republicans were so critical.South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster -- one of the first statewide elected officials to support Donald Trump's presidential bid -- said on Monday that he supports it "100 percent." The state had sent nine troops and a helicopter to the border to help enforce it. McMaster faces a runoff next Tuesday, and the president is coming to the state to campaign for him on Monday."In my view, it's a smart strategy for McMaster, at least in the short term," says Gibbs Knotts, a political scientist at the College of Charleston. "For GOP primary voters in this red state, Trump's border policy is a winning issue."Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who has pledged to send as many as 1,400 troops -- by far the largest number of any state, has not made a public comment this week about the issue."Greg Abbott's continued silence is deafening," Lupe Valdez, his Democratic opponent this year, said in a news release.GOP state Rep. Jason Villalba sent a letter to Abbott on Tuesday asking the governor to intercede with Trump on a humanitarian basis."These children are innocent," Villalba wrote. "These children did not make the decision to violate out laws to be in this country nor have their violated any crimes."Dan Cadman, a fellow at the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, notes that similar arguments have been used in the debate over the so-called Dreamers, who were brought here illegally as minors. But the U.S., he says, "has to clamp down on letting people think it's okay to move children across hundreds and hundreds of miles."Cadman says the governors could better have spent their energy lobbying Congress to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. Several of them already have."I served in Congress, and I watched for six years as that body failed to pass a comprehensive immigration policy that would secure our borders in a way that upholds the values of this great country," said Delaware Gov. John Carney, in a statement. "Congress and the president need to step up and fix the mess that our immigration system has become." The New York Police Department will spare many people who smoke marijuana in public from getting arrested and will give them a ticket instead, but not if a person has certain kinds of past arrests or convictions, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday.The changes, which are set to take effect on Sept. 1, will move New York City another step closer to eliminating a vast category of arrests that no longer exists in some states. But for New Yorkers on probation or parole or who have open arrest warrants, getting stopped for smoking marijuana will continue to mean being handcuffed and taken to a police station house for fingerprinting.The plans were announced in East Harlem by Mr. de Blasio and the police commissioner, James P. ONeill, who in May convened a 30-day working group to review the issue. Around 17,500 people are arrested each year on marijuana possession charges, but Mr. de Blasio said about 10,000 of those arrests would be eliminated under the new policy. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will sue the federal government over its policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the southern border, as more than 70 of those children have wound up in facilities in New York State _ with a federal source telling the New York Daily News the number of separated children here is even higher, 311."There's been a lot of talk about the morality of this practice but we also believe that this practice is illegal and we are intending to bring suit against the federal government," Cuomo said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon.Cuomo said the children are being held in private facilities, including three in the Bronx, that are contracted by the federal government to provide services to unaccompanied alien children _ minors who cross the border alone and who the Office of Refugee Resettlement temporarily houses while seeking family sponsors."But these are not unaccompanied alien children. These are children who were separated from their parents," Cuomo said.A federal source told The Daily News that the ORR's population of unaccompanied minors in New York State's lower 14 counties was 1,321 as of Monday _ but of those, 311 are actually in shelters as a result of separation from family held in detention centers. All of the facilities in the area house boys and girls, except one that houses boys 14 to 17, the source said.Cuomo said that while the state has oversight of the facilities, they have been told they cannot provide services to the children in them without approval from the Department of Health and Human Services, which he said told the state would take weeks.As for the suit, Cuomo said he intends to bring it in the next two weeks and that it would be based on three legal theories."First that it's a violation of the constitutional rights of the parent to the care, custody and control of their children," he said, and a violation of their due process as the children were removed without any hearings.The second theory, he said, is the policy violates the terms of the 1997 Flores settlement that set national standards on the detention, release and treatment of children in immigration detention "and underscores the principle of family unity."And third, he said, "it is outrageous government conduct."Cuomo said the state had the legal right to bring such a suit."New York has standing, these agencies have standing, because there are children in New York who are, who have been taken from their parents without due process," Cuomo said.His counsel, Alphonso David, said, "The state is vindicating due process, familial association rights, of the children who are located in New York State. In addition New York State is protecting the health and welfare of children within its jurisdiction."Some of those children are being held at MercyFirst in Syosset, L.I., as reported Monday."We have about 10 facilities in the state. We haven't spoken with all of them," Cuomo said. "We know there are over 70 children just by the ones that we have talked about, but they are in Dobbs Ferry, Lincolndale, Yonkers, Irvington, three in the Bronx, one in Syosett and one in Kingston."In a follow-up interview with the Daily News, David declined to characterize these facilities, saying they offer varying degrees of security and services. The facilities are co-located in facilities that provide state-certified foster care programs, David said, but the immigrant children are not part of the state's foster care network. Instead, the agencies contract directly with the federal Office of Health and Human Services and its Office of Refugee Resettlement.A second federal source said the HHS-funded facilities in New York for unaccompanied minors were not comparable to conditions at the facilities along the border, which include chain-link cages.Typically, unaccompanied minors arrive in New York because they have family nearby, and they are held in such facilities while the government looks for relative sponsors to place them with.Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry _ which has a contract with ORR to provide such services_ describes its program as a "family-like and nurturing environment," that offers education, recreation, medical care and family reunification. It declined to comment on its unaccompanied minors program or whether it had children who were separated from their parents at the border.In the Bronx, Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Guardian Services have federal contracts to provide services and shelter to unaccompanied minors. The communications office at Lutheran Social Services said it could not answer questions about whether it housed children separated at the border; Catholic Guardian Services did not return a message left Tuesday afternoon.Cuomo was not alone in terms of ripping the federal policy Tuesday."It's horrible to begin with if a child is taken from their parent even in the same town in Texas and held apart for days," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at an unrelated news conference. "But it's much much worse if they're separated by 1,000 miles, and you have no idea when that family's going to get reunified. And that's what we fear we're seeing, and we just have to do everything we can to stop it."De Blasio, who said he is considering visiting the border, said if visiting a facility here would help, he'd also consider that."I want to do whatever I can to stop this broken, inhumane policy," said, calling the border the immediate issue. "I also want to see anything we can do to stop New York City from being used as a place to send children separated from their parents."Former council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito _ who just returned from a trip to the southern border _ said it was as if the children had been "disappeared.""It tells you the enormity of this issue," she said of having to house children separated at the border all the way in New York. "That's what that tells you."Public Advocate Letitia James also ripped the policy, as she held a baby following an unrelated news conference on childcare."It is unconscionable in this country that we are basically snatching babies from the arms of their families, their mothers," she said. "We should not be cooperating in this policy that separates families." The technologists and administrative experts in Philadelphias City Hall are well aware they have some longstanding procedural efficiency problems that if solved could make wide-spanning improvements to local government.To that end, they have targeted what Jeannette Bruno, the citys assistant chief administrative officer, calls low-hanging fruit, or internal processes that can be fixed without massively overhauling entire departments.Bruno and her team set out to solve three such problems with what she called an enterprisewide approach. Recently, she spoke toabout the results, noting that the central question for the efforts was, What are the things that are going to have the biggest bang for their buck across city government?The first of these projects was an overhaul of the request for proposal (RFP) process, which an informal survey of project managers and others who work with it across city departments found to be ineffective. Basically, Philadelphias current RFP process, which is paper-based, takes about 246 hours to complete, or roughly six weeks of work time and thats all before an RFP is even posted.To that end, the city is currently piloting a small solution called Govlist You can think of Govlist as a Turbo Tax program for writing and reviewing RFPs, Bruno said.The hope is that the city can procure an accompanying customer relationship management (CRM) system to answer basic questions about RFPs, with an end goal of making the process faster and the RFPs themselves standardized. The initial pilot of this program included 20 RFPs from throughout fiscal year 2017. The city subsequently found that the new process takes just 27 hours, an 89 percent decrease from its prior iteration.The second solution City Hall is targeting is the position requisition process, which is what must be navigated to create or backfill a job. Currently, that system is entirely paper-based, and to rectify this they are now working with a local tech startup.The third and final project is the furthest along it is already live and in use and centers around Philadelphias authorized signer process. Each department in the city is required to keep records of signing off on HR processes, payroll, benefits and other decisions, another process that was formerly entirely paper-based.In the past, departments were required to keep separate cards for signing off on the aforementioned decisions. Any time a slight change occurred, theyd have to redo entire cards and sign off again. Some cards required up to 12 signatures to approve certain processes, and if an edit had to be made before the card went to approval, the entire card would have to be redone.That process, however, has now been automated using the relatively common signature authentication program DocuSign. This means that to get a decision authorized, it no longer requires physically walking paper cards to as many as 12 different people for signatures. Now, it can all be done online. Vendors can also send the city completed contracts electronically instead of in the mail on paper.Stephanie Tipton, chief of staff for the office of the chief administrative officer in Philadelphia, said as dry as this all may sound, it really makes a difference for day-to-day employees in City Hall.Its exciting to us, Tipton said. I dont know how exciting and sexy it is to other people, but this stuff really jazzes us.If you break it down into simple terms more work is getting done in less time, saving the taxpayers money probably a lot of people could get jazzed about that. Posted 6/20/18 The Dallas County Health Department currently is taking appointments for 2018-19 back-to-school shots.Appointments are available from 8:30 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday "Officers must activate their BWC (body worn camera) at their earliest opportunity and before arriving on scene." Recording is required when an officer responds to a call or incident, and for traffic and investigative stops, vehicle pursuits, arrests, transport of arrestees, frisks, searches of people, cars or buildings, encounters with resistant or aggressive subjects and when ordered by a supervisor, among other scenarios. During a critical incident, such as officer-involved shootings, cameras can only be turned off when a supervisor or investigator makes the call. Recording is prohibited in patient care areas of hospitals, in sexual assault treatment centers, during nonwork activity and at other times. Officers are given discretion to record in other situations that are not clearly outlined in the policy. The department has said its motto is, "When in doubt, record." (TNS) St. Paul police officers recorded more than 19,000 hours of body camera footage in the first three months of the year, according to information the department released Tuesday.A review of some of the footage showed room for improvement in terms of officer compliance, but overall results were encouraging, police Chief Todd Axtell said about the department's use of the devices, which it started rolling out late last year."Some of the common mistakes that we observed through these audits include, moreso early on, officers forgetting to turn their cameras on," Axtell said. "We're dealing with human beings. Repetition will improve this."Axtell released the audit's results Tuesday ahead of a presentation about it scheduled for Wednesday's city council meeting.Asked if the audit led to any internal affairs investigations into officers' actions, changes in criminal investigations or other action, police spokesman Sgt. Mike Ernster said it was "solely focused on the policy and compliance."Longtime public data activist Don Gemberling said the department should have also looked at what the cameras captured, including officer conduct."These things are sold on two major objectives," Gemberling said of body cameras. "They'll make police officers more accountable And number two, they'll make people act a little better when they're interacting with cops."Hopefully managers are using [body camera footage] to correct [officers'] behavior, because that was objective number one to selling this to the world and Minnesota."Ernster said supervisors who regularly review body camera videos will identify performance issues and address them when necessary. He could not recall whether any reviews have resulted in such action.According to police: Officers recorded a total of 87,544 videos that captured 19,781 hours of footage. Of those videos, 2,477 were reviewed in part by supervisors and investigators as part of their daily duties.The department's Body Worn Camera Review Committee watched another 72 videos in their entirety to evaluate "quality control, challenges associated with using the new technology and overall compliance," the department said.Of the 72 videos, 71 were properly categorized, 69 included a 30-second buffer that is supposed to automatically record before an officer turns on their camera and 68 videos included a correct case number.The committee reviews 24 randomly selected videos in their entirety each month to track trends, training issues and areas of improvement.Axtell said he was pleased with the results, and that some of the noncompliance issues were due to typing errors and mechanical issues.The department increased body camera training in response to the findings, he said.All videos involving use of force are reviewed, the chief said, and the department's technology unit audits videos of all traffic stops and burglary calls.Axtell said that starting in the second quarter, the department also began reviewing all videos for K-9 calls and motor vehicle crashes involving pedestrians or bicycles.Gemberling, a board member of the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information and a member of the open-government advocacy group St. Paul STRONG, urged the department to take those opportunities to look deeper."We looked at a whole bunch of videos? Well, what did you learn from that?" Gemberling said. "We learned that our policies and procedures work. Well, that doesn't tell me anything."The department received 53 requests from private individuals, agencies and attorneys in the first quarter of the year for body camera footage, according to police. Thirty-six were released and 17 were either "denied, withdrawn or there were no records pertaining to the request," Ernster said.Some key provisions of the city's body camera policy include: That's the equivalent to about $32 million.The exchange, called Bithumb, is the seventh-largest cryptocurrency exchange, according to Coinmarketcap.com. The South Korean government has launched an investigation into the hack, which is the second to occur in a South Korean exchange in as many weeks.Cryptocurrencies around the world dropped as a result, including bitcoin, the largest. As of the morning of June 20, it was trading at $6,624, 2 percent lower than its value before the hack. Other major cryptocurrencies including Ripple, Ethereum and Litecoin were also affected. According to Vijay Ayyar, the Singapore-based head of business development for the cryptocurrency exchange Luno, these recent South Korean hacks show how ill-prepared a lot of the exchanges still are across large markets. The overall market is seeing a lot of regulatory action and incidents like these will only hasten the process. Justin Trudeau may be the annoying, youthful avatar of chic progressivism but hes not our adversary. After leaving the G-7 summit, President Donald Trump blasted the Canadian prime minister on Twitter as weak and dishonest, in the kind of invective once reserved for Little Rocket Man. The Trump presidency routinely produces unprecedented events, and here is another: Never before has a president of the United States spoken as scornfully in public about the head of state of a friendly, allied country. Particularly one who has appeared in Vogue. Trudeau is not exactly a threatening figure, although his worshipful, celebrity-fueled press coverage qualifies as one of the more vexing political phenomena in all of North America (Rolling Stone celebrated the fact that he rides a unicycle; TMZ declared him on the clear path to hottest leader in the world). Its not clear what exactly led to the great U.S.-Canada tiff of 2018. White House aides fanned out over the weekend to try to lend meaning and justification to the flap. They said Trudeau had stabbed the president in the back at the meeting. But Trudeau didnt say anything after Trump left the G-7 that he hadnt signaled before namely that Canada finds Trumps steel and aluminum tariffs insulting and will retaliate. The incident is a great misdirection. Canadas trade practices are hardly above reproach. Its tariff on milk of 270 percent, highlighted by Trump officials the past few days, is stupid and indefensible. It is guilty of subsidizing and protecting favored companies and sectors, the way most countries are. It is nothing compared with the worlds great mercantilist power, though. China routinely steals U.S. intellectual property, seeks to distort the entire system of international commerce to its advantage, and is pouring resources into a massive military buildup, with which it eventually hopes to expel the United States from East Asia. Trudeau is the facile, democratically elected leader of a Western society; President Xi Jinping is the remorseless president for life of a hostile dictatorship. Its not a remotely close call who we should be aiming our fire at. That we are dissipating our energies with steel and aluminum tariffs against allies and potentially alienating friends in what should be a united front against China speaks to a key mistake. Trump views the U.S. trade deficit with any country, friend or foe as the problem rather than China as the unique commercial and geostrategic competitor. The flare-up with Trudeau is not an encouraging sign for prospects of renegotiating NAFTA, which also should be viewed in strategic terms. As Derek Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute points out, the trade agreement could extend beyond North America to Britain, which is seeking a new trade arrangement as it exits the EU, and the Philippines and Taiwan, which are pressured by China. None of this will happen if Trump is determined to pursue a protectionist policy no matter what, or he lets his pique at friends get the best of him. The trade war and the fight for our paramount interests wont be won or lost against Justin Trudeau. Beijing, not Ottawa, is our enemy. Rich Lowry is editor of the National Review. 2018 by King Features Synd., Inc. Dr Helmut Marko says Renault forced Red Bull into making an early call about its 2019 engine supplier. Red Bull wanted another race to assess existing supplier Renault's new specification of power unit against Honda's. Instead, the announcement was made slightly unexpectedly on Tuesday. "Actually we wanted to announce the decision after France," Marko, Red Bull's motor racing consultant, told Auto Bild. "But Renault set an ultimatum that ended on Sunday. We had no choice." Marko, though, said Red Bull was already convinced that Honda is the right choice, particularly after the progress made by the junior team Toro Rosso. "The new update, which could not be properly used in Canada due to unfortunate circumstances, brought three tenths of laptime," he said. "So the deal with Honda is extremely positive for us in every way. Sport, technical and financial," added Marko. The Red Bull-Honda contract is set to run for two years, amid rumours Porsche might enter F1 under the new engine regulations for 2021. Team boss Christian Horner says the decision to switch to Honda was made for sporting reasons, but also clear is that the Japanese marque will be a 'works' partner. He said Red Bull got enough information in Montreal to make the call. "Based on Montreal, the decision for us was unambiguous and it's the right time," said Horner. "As for expectations, we want to further reduce the gap to the others. Honda has the infrastructure and the resources to help us with that," he added. (GMM) Posted 6/20/18 Two Illinois newspapers reported that Ray L. Ryan, 60, Buffalo, was arrested last week in Ohio for leaving the scene of a fatal accident on Interstate 70 in Fayette County near Vandalia, Ill., on Fortune 100 companies, including automakers and utilities, have joined labor groups, consumer advocates, environmental organizations and others to sign the Transportation Electrification Accord a written set of principles meant to inspire and continue the conversation around electrified transportation. Advanced Energy Economy, Energy Foundation, Illinois Citizen Utility Board, Natural Resources Defense Council, Plug-in America and Sierra Club worked with diverse stakeholder and business interests to draft the Accord. The goal of the Accord is to educate policymakers on how to advance electric transportation in a manner that provides economic, social and environmental benefits. We envision a world with zero emissions. Thats the future and the Accord lays out the essential building blocks for a compelling energy infrastructure that we can all rely on for decades to come. Innovations in transportation electrification will benefit society as a wholeand cross-industry, multi-stakeholder cooperation is key. Britta Gross, director, General Motors Advanced Vehicle Commercialization Policy Signers, including General Motors, Honda, Proterra, Exelon, NationalGrid, PG&E, Siemens, the Alliance for Transportation Electrification, Consumer Federation of America, Ceres, Forth, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Plug In America, Sierra Club and many more, are committing to support the evolution of electric mobility and the development of programs to accelerate it, while stimulating innovation and competition in the marketplace. Its clear that the future of transportation will be electric. The Accord provides a baseline from which utility regulators can support growing demand for affordable, electrified transport. Our signature on the Accord is a promise to meet that demand through greater grid efficiency and reduced air pollution in a way that benefits all communities. Christopher Budzynski, director of utility strategy, Exelon Utilities Regardless of policy uncertainty at the state and federal level, the Accord outlines how transportation electrification can be advanced by policymakers, public utility commissions and local and state governments in a manner that benefits utility customers and all forms of transportation. Making the transition to an electrified transportation future requires long-term policy certainty. Certainty in the marketplace provides a signal to businesses to invest, thereby driving innovation and jobs. We believe the Accord provides foundational directions that will inspire policymakers. Chris King, chief policy officer, Siemens Digital Grid The Accord outlines how transportation electrification can be advanced in a manner that benefits all utility customers and users of all forms of transportation, while supporting the evolution of a cleaner grid and stimulating innovation and competition for U.S. companies. Context And Guiding Principles Posted 6/20/18 Calvary Chapel belongs to Jesus is printed on signs as you walk through either sanctuary entrance of Calvary Chapel Free Will Baptist Church on Oak Ridge Road in Buffalo. The 38-year-old Beers are available in five- and ten-ounce pours. Photo: Scott Heins Theres no doubt that New York City is in the midst of a beer renaissance. Industrial swaths of Brooklyn and Queens once dominated by whatever the citys version of a tumbleweed is have been transformed into boozy playgrounds where the citys craft-beer lovers can imbibe to their hearts content. But somehow, all of that missed Harlem. Or at least that was the case until a few weeks ago. Earlier this month, Kevin Bradford, Kim Harris, and Stacey Lee, three black entrepreneurs, opened the doors of Harlem Hops, and Harlemites can now boast that they have a real-deal craft-beer bar on their hands. Located on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard between 133rd and 134th, the bar stands out in a neighborhood dominated by hair and nail salons, bodegas, brownstones, and a mixture of local restaurants and fast-food joints. Inside, the design and the goal is simple: Serve locally brewed craft beers in a welcoming environment. That means a nice, long bar that sits just below the word Harlem, emblazoned in lights, plenty of ledges for resting a beer when the bar inevitably reaches standing-room-only capacity, and in the back, larger tables where groups can gather. Beyond that, theres an intimate backyard with barrel-tables and a graffitied wall that reads Harlem Hops in orange and green spray paint. A bartender pours beer from 1 of Harlem Hops 16 taps. Photo: Scott Heins Then, of course, theres the beer. Before opening, Bradford, a math teacher and beer connoisseur, and Harris, the bars general manager, went on a self-directed tour of local breweries that took them to Brooklyn, Queens, and the Hudson Valley, where they met with 80 percent of the brewers whose beers currently flow through the 16 taps at Harlem Hops. Though Bradford is personally obsessed with New England IPAs, the beer style de jour, hes made sure to cover the gamut of beers currently on offer, from salty goses and Mexican-style lagers to hop-forward IPAs and easy-drinking pilsners. His personal preferences aside, its all about keeping the bars kegs in constant rotation. We met the owners, met the brewers, sampled their product, took notes, and when our chance came to open, we said, Okay, Other Half, Island Creek, Industrial Arts, and all these guys, says Bradford. Most of the brewers on tap right now are local. Theyre in a 50- or 70-mile radius of where we are right now, so that freshness is in the product rather than shipping something from California or Washington. So, Harlem Hops has the nearby craft-beer nerds covered. But Bradford, Harris, and Lee also want to make sure theyre reaching out to the black and brown people in the neighborhood, who until now may only have been exposed to imported European beers like Heineken and Stella Artois, or even worse, the dreaded 40 ounce. Its very important that we do realize that 40 ounces, things like that, were brought to our communities to have a negative impact on us, says Harris. So, craft beer, I feel like its a healthier version of alcohol. It has natural ingredients; theres not a lot of additives. Its an all-natural process. Its something different. The craft-beer bratwurst on a pretzel bun with kettle chips. Photo: Scott Heins And it looks like Harlem is ready for something different. On opening day, a line formed down the block within an hour of the bars 4 p.m. opening and remained until midnight. Harris was especially proud to see that, like the owners, many of the people eager to get in were young graduates of HBCUs, or historically black colleges and universities. A few weeks later, on an early Tuesday evening, the majority of the clientele are black and brown people looking to wind down after a long day and grab a quick bite from the menu, which features a variety of piping-hot sausages, from Wisconsin amber beer to vegan bratwurst, as well as empanada-style Guma spicy pies in flavors like chipotle chicken and habanero beef. The patrons may look different, but like at any craft-beer bar, the atmosphere is warm and friendly. We want to be a staple in Harlem, says Lee. We really want our bar to be like Cheers, like everybody knows your name. And I feel like there already is that Cheers effect because we have people coming in every day that are the same people, the same faces, since the first day that we opened. The backyard area at Harlem Hops. Photo: Scott Heins A year from now, the trio wants the bar to be what it already is a gathering place for great beer and good food that runs a little smoother, keeps customer service at a premium, and regularly hosts events focused on educating Harlemites, whether theyre of drinking age or not. Its more than just about the bar for us, says Lee, mentioning that by next year they want to establish a Harlem Hops scholarship for a graduating high-school senior. We want our young people to see that we are black people that own a business in Harlem. And we want to be a reflection to them of what they can do. Snubbed again: Dominique Crenn. Photo: Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images The winners of the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants Awards were announced yesterday in Bilbao, Spain, with typical pomp. While attention was obviously focused on the countdown to the various restaurants in the top ten, some of the ceremonys loudest applause occurred at a midpoint, when Irish chef Clare Smyth took the stage to accept the Worlds Best Female Chef award. Smyth is famously the only woman to have run a three-Michelin-starred kitchen in the U.K., and at Core, her first solo project, she serves ornate, composed plates centered around ingredients like Scottish venison. Onstage, Smyth quickly stowed her trophy behind the podium, thanked voters, and gave a short speech. Im constantly being asked, Why dont we see more women being represented at the top level of the industry, and why is there a lack of diversity? Smyth said. The thing is, I dont have the answers, or not all of them. Smyth continued, sounding hopeful, but with the measured pace of someone whos faced the same two or three interview questions repeatedly. For the last ten years of my career Ive been asked, What is it like being a female chef? she said. To which I reply, Im not sure what you mean because Ive never been a male chef. The audience laughed wearily, and Smyth finished by urging her peers to try valuing the qualities of support, tolerance, and kindness in a chef as much as they value flawless spot prawns and heirloom carrots. The very idea of awarding a Best Female Chef remains, at best, questionable. (Even Gordon Ramsay, Smyths mentor and former boss, once called her the most prominent female chef of our generation.) Critics continually point out that the mere existence of the award continues to promote the idea that female chef is some sort of novelty act, meant to be celebrated as an aside to the real chefs whose restaurants make the cut on the actual Worlds 50 Best list. Its unhelpful to be having this same conversation, or some closely related variant, every year around awards season. Moreover, its worth noting that Smyths restaurant didnt land on the 2018 list, or even the runners-up list, which means that, according to the organization that runs these awards, the best female chef in the entire world runs, at best, the 101st best restaurant, overall. The very idea of ranking elite restaurants is of course silly, as the same ten or so restaurants shuffle around at the top of the list each year when lets be honest no restaurant operating at this level actually gets demonstrably better or worse over the course of a single year. The list is nothing but PR for the various sponsors, most notably the industrial food behemoth Nestle, whose San Pellegrino brand of water is the lists most prominently advertised product. But if youre going to rank these restaurants each year, you owe it to the operators and the diners to do a better job of it. Practically since its inception in 2002, the list has been criticized for its lack of female representation; this looked like the year that the voters and sponsors might actually change that. Instead, they ignored restaurants run by the worlds most prominent female chefs, and in the process, somehow managed to make themselves look less relevant than ever before. Yesterdays ceremony included an expected amount of manufactured drama and some musical-chairs-worthy shuffling of the top five ranked spots, but nothing that happened at the awards was more meaningful than the omission of Dominique Crenns Atelier Crenn. The San Francisco chef was widely tipped to make a praiseworthy, deserved leap from No. 83 on last years roster to, well, anywhere between No. 10 and No. 50. Crenns absence is all the more conspicuous because the chefs long been on the record about the complexities of getting recognition framed by the needless female chef honorific. I hope in the next few years these awards are going to disappear [] But until then, we still have to have a conversation, she told us, five whole years ago, in 2013. Of the 100 restaurants on the full list, just 4 are run by women. At Nahm in Bangkok, Pim Techamuanvivit recently replaced founding chef David Thompson, but the restaurant kept a spot in the top five. Theres Helena Rizzo, of Mani in Sao Paulo; and Leonor Espinosa, who runs Leo in Bogota with her daughter Laura Hernandez-Espinosa, the restaurants sommelier. Hisa Franko in Slovenia, led by Ana Ros, made an auspicious, expansive-seeming debut this year. Its also worth noting that some women were among the co-chefs and chefs de cuisine at several other spots on the list: At Central in Lima, Pia Leon is at the pass, and at Cosme, which went from No. 40 to No. 25, Daniela Soto-Innes commands a kitchen where most of the cooks are women. And while Juan Mari Arzak, the jovial 75-year-old forefather of modernist cuisine, continues to make the rounds at Arzak, taking photos with customers in the kitchen, the menu is steered by his daughter Elena, a prodigy in her own right. Women, of course, also work at all of the restaurants on the list, but by and large, men are the public faces, and largely the owners, who stand to gain the most financially from high placement on this list. The implicit message of this list has become only too clear: The gaze here is fixed, and it is male. (Even the ceremony itself this year began with a testosterone-heavy, flame-spewing introduction with angsty guitars and a deep-voiced European dude intoning lines about being the steel and the knife blade, a metaphor that is both working too hard to be cool, and one thats more or less nonsensical.) This sort of hyperactive narrative the tortured genius chef reverberates through to the way the honored restaurants depict themselves. Consider the Clockwork OrangemeetsJuggalo aesthetic apparent on the website of David Munozs restaurant DiverXo. Given its outsize, big-budget influence, the 50 Best list could do its part to celebrate diversity in the industry. Instead, at a time when some of Americas most prominent male chefs and restaurateurs have been revealed as sexual predators, its infuriating to see a ceremony that continues to lean so heavily on outdated, all-too-familiar narratives. By perpetuating unhelpful ideals, and continuing to qualify the talent and work of women with a separate standard, this group, along with its voters, ensure that the only real winner here is the fizzy-water sales boost that San Pellegrino must get from its affiliation with the award. Haiti - FLASH : Barbados abolished VISAS for Haitians The Administration of Mia Amor Mottley, the new Prime Minister of Barbados, leader of the Barbados Labor Party (BLP) in office since 25 May 2018, has abolished the visa requirement for Haitian citizens entering Barbados . Interior Minister Edmund Hinkson, elected in 2013 and elected in the last elections, said he was shocked when he learned last Saturday that such a requirement existed, as Haiti is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). There was no logical reason to impose visa requirements on its citizens "That is clear law... that was absolutely incorrect. If Haiti is a member of CARICOM and the Treaty of Chaguaramas speaks to non-discrimination and equal treatment, how can you have put on visa requirements on Haitians ? Why do we do this to our own people ?" Hinkson also revealed that his ministry was preparing a white paper on immigration to deepen the integration movement and relations with the rest of the region "We are going to look clearly at reforming the immigration legislation of Barbados as well as the policies of it. Clearly our Immigration Act is outdated," making reference to a section of the legislation which bars imbeciles and mentally and physically handicapped persons" from entering the country. Recall that Mia Amor Mottley is the first woman to be elected Prime Minister in the history of Barbados and has won the election of 30 deputies out of 30 seats, another first in 52 years of independence from Barbados. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23683-haiti-flash-free-movement-of-haitians-in-the-caricom-countries.html SL/ HaitiLibre Posted 6/20/18 After more than a decade of hard work, constant fundraising, untold meetings and historical partnerships with sponsors, landowners and the Missouri Department of Conservation, we are very excited Haiti - Economy : DR increases exports to Haiti During his speech in a panel on "the Dominican foreign policy towards Haiti" Miguel Vargas the Dominican Minister of Foreign Affairs said that commercial exports to Haiti had exceeded 800 million dollars in 2017. Vargas pointed out that Haiti is one of the Dominican Republic's top five trading partners and that its Ministry's objective was to help its economic and social development, create jobs and improve welfare in both countries. He recalled that the Dominican Republic "[...] puts forward today a competitive and dynamic diplomacy capable of promoting trade, foreign investment and tourism [...]" Miousemine Celestin, Charge d'Affaires ai at the Embassy of Haiti in Santo Domingo, welcomed the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for this panel and expressed the need to find solutions to face the socio-economic problems along the border. Moreover, she insisted on the need to effectively control the flow of goods transiting on both sides of the border, in order to increase tax revenues in both nations "Countries need to place more effective controls and must continue to develop economy, we must act and look for ways to get more revenue." TOP 5 DR exports (2016) : 1) United States: $ 4.78 billion; 2) Canada: 883 million; 3) Haiti: 799 million; 4) India: 643 million; 5) Switzerland: 346 million. SL/ HaitiLibre You cannot help but smile when you drive by "Hanks Pumpkintown" on Route 27 in Southampton, especially in October. Even while driving you cant help but marvel at all the pumpkins in the field along the road. Big ones, small... Loire Valley estate Coteau des Treilles changes hands By Lisa Riley Coteau des Treilles owner Jo Pithon has after 40 years transmitted his estate to wine enthusiast Ivan Massonnat. In addition to taking over the reigns from Pithon, Massonnat has simultaneously acquired ten hectares in the heart of the Quarts- de-Chaume "Grand Cru" appellation, to create a new estate dedicated to Chenin Blanc, as well as six hectares of vineyards located on the other side of the Layon river. Inspired by the philosophy of Pithon a figurehead for Anjou, Massonnat said his goal was to create gastronomy white wines, both dry and sweet, reflecting the expression of the most noble terroirs of Anjou. Pithon and I share the same desire to elevate these great terroir wines to the highest level. he said, adding they were now looking for a talented winemaker, naturally in love with Chenin Blanc, to complement the existing team. The nine hectares of Pithon-Paille are at the heart of the project, notably with the Coteau des Treilles being the cornerstone of the new estate, for which a name has yet to be decided, he said. Comprising a unique collection of terroirs representing all the main appellations of Anjou (Quarts-de-Chaume Grand Cru, Coteaux du Layon 1er Cru, Savennieres, Anjou Blanc, etc), the 25 hectares of the new Estate would benefit from the highest level of attention, both in the vineyards and in the cellar, said Massonnat. An ambitious investment plan was in place and the aim was for the entire estate to be certified biodynamic, he said. Having assembled this remarkable collection of terroirs, representing a true mosaic of soils, I wish to express the fullest range of Chenin Blanc expressions. On the Burgundy model, several localised cuvees parcellaires will be crafted for the long hold, aiming to express all the diversity of the Anjou soils: schist, sandstone conglomerates, carboniferous and magmatic rocks. But while focusing mainly on dry Chenin, Massonnat said he also wants to continue producing sweet wines. My project is built for the very long term, and therefore I definitely want to continue this noble tradition of sweet wines, which have been forever recognised among the greatest of France. These magical cuvees have travelled through centuries, and I am convinced they will find new markets tomorrow. Eventually, the estate is expected to produce between 60 and 100,000 bottles - overall high-end, haute couture wines, but offering a "very broad range". Since starting out in 1978, Piton has contributed to the recognition of the dry white wines of the Loire Valley, on terroirs previously renowned for sweet wines. (HedgeCo.Net) Federal Charges have been filed against the individuals and companies behind an alleged $102 million Ponzi scheme that bilked investors throughout the U.S. According to a complaint filed by the SEC, the defendants defrauded more than 600 investors through sales of securities in issuers they controlled, including First Nationle Solution LLC, United RL Capital Services, and Percipience Global Corp. The complaint alleges that investors were told that their funds would be used for the companies and some were guaranteed dividends or double-digit returns. But, according to the complaint, the defendants spent at least $20 million to enrich themselves, paid $38.5 million in Ponzi-like payments, and transferred much of the remainder in transactions that appear unrelated to the issuers purported businesses. The complaint charges Perry Santillo, of Rochester, New York, Christopher Parris, also of Rochester, Paul LaRocco, of Ocala, Florida, John Piccarreto, of San Antonio, and Thomas Brenner, of Orville, Ohio, along with the three companies. We allege that the defendants engaged in a massive fraud and swindled investors to line their pockets with ill-gotten gains, said Marc P. Berger, Director of the SECs New York Office. Investors should be on high alert whenever they are promised guaranteed returns. The SECs complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, charges Santillo, Parris, LaRocco, Piccarreto, Brenner, and the three issuers with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The court granted the SECs request for an asset freeze and a temporary restraining order. The court will hold a hearing in 10 days concerning the asset freeze and will consider ordering a preliminary injunction. (Opalesque) By the end of this year, investment rules in the Bahamas could look a lot different. Delegates at the recent Opalesque Bahamas Roundtable noted that the government is looking at updates to the Commonwealths Investment Funds Act. Policymakers in the Bahamas started a review of the Investment Funds Act in 2016 with the goal of updating regulations to reflect the current state of private funds. To read this article: President Donald Trumps exaggerated America First doctrine elevates a zero-sum approach to pursuing U.S. interests that undermines both U.S. and global security. The era of Pax Americana, which brought seven decades of relative global peace and prosperity, has entered a new and more dangerous stage of decline thanks to Trumps embrace of narrow-minded nationalism. The result will be a much more favorable environment for autocrats at the expense of liberal democracy and human rights. These trends have already come to life in the first year of the Trump administration and will only get worse in year two. The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accord on climate change, the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Iran nuclear weapons deal, rising U.S. tariffs against Americas most reliable democratic trade partners, and ongoing appeasement of authoritarians in China and Russia and now North Korea are exacerbating the self-inflicted harm of a longer-term U.S. retreat from global leadership. Meanwhile, respect for democratic governance and human rights continues to fall even in states once considered safe, such as Hungary and Poland. Few, if any, democratic allies are able to fill the growing vacuum left by the U.S. retreat, leaving the field of geopolitical competition open to the maneuvers of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Why should the survival of strong democracies matter to national and global security? Why not let each country decide how to govern themselves on their own terms, without regard to universal rights and democratic accountability by their citizens? First, democracies historically have not gone to war against each other. If we want to avoid war and all its harms, therefore, we should support the consolidation of healthy democracies. Empirical evidence shows that strong democracies are much less likely to experience civil wars, less likely to suffer deadly terrorism in comparison to non-democracies, have lower levels of violence, including against women, and generate fewer refugees. Strong democracies are also more transparent and accountable to their citizens and their neighbors and more likely to provide security through the rule of law rather than violating sovereignty through armed force, cyberattacks or terrorism. A world with more and stronger democracies is a safer world. The reverse is true for dictatorships and other non-democracies, especially weak and failing states that fall in that messy middle between liberal democracy and autocracy. As authoritarians amass economic, military and technological leverage at home and abroad, they increase pressure on their opponents to expand their hold on power at the expense of more open societies. The inevitable results have already come to pass: Russias growing interference in international elections, Chinas militarizing international waters and artificial intelligence , Irans harboring and sustaining terrorists, and questions over North Koreas nuclear weapons program. Trump, despite his advisers best attempts to maintain the long-held bipartisan commitment of international leadership, seems determined to keep digging the United States deeper into the hole of populist nationalism and protectionism. The president continues to praise strongman rulers in countries around the world: el-Sisi in Egypt, Erdogan in Turkey, and the Philippines Duterte, despite their deplorable human rights records. The few times this administration has spoken out clearly in defense of human rights have been tainted by overt and covert messages calling for military coups and regime change, as in Iran, Cuba and Venezuela. Longstanding U.S. programs designed to support free media, human rights defenders and womens rights around the world face repeated White House attempts to cut funding, which Congress has rejected so far. Worst of all, Trumps rhetoric and actions against domestic opponents are the exact opposite of what are most needed if the United States is to lead a world safe for democratic peace. His record of undermining the separation of powers, attacking independent prosecutors and judges, demeaning journalists, and abetting racist and nativist forces sends precisely the wrong message to both struggling reformers and ambitious autocrats around the world. His partners in the Republican-controlled Congress are going along for the ride; looking the other way while advancing their own factionalized interests wherever possible. Such weaknesses at home will further Americas decline abroad as evidenced by recent polling showing a precipitous drop in U.S. standing around the world, which in turn makes it harder for our democratic allies to partner with us to solve global problems. The good news is that there is nothing wrong with democracy that free citizens cannot fix themselves. The self-correcting features of popular accountability, coupled with respect for human rights and the rule of law, are antidotes to the current mood of retrenchment from globalization. The rise of Trump and his ilk should be a wake-up call not to take our liberties for granted. Democracies, especially the United States, should lead by example and urgently address their political and economic dysfunctions, in order to define a new agenda of cooperation to strengthen the international liberal order. Hakkarainen was issued a fine equivalent to 45 days pay on Monday by the District Court of Helsinki, according to YLE and Helsingin Sanomat . Teuvo Hakkarainen (PS), a second-term Member of Parliament from Central Finland, has been found guilty of assaulting and sexually harassing one of his female colleagues, Veera Ruoho (NCP), in the Parliament House in December 2017. The incident occurred in the canteen of the Parliament House last December. Hakkarainen, who was intoxicated after participating in the pikkujoulu party of the Finns Party, grabbed Ruoho by the neck tried to kiss her forcibly until he was stopped by Kari Tolvanen (NCP), according to Helsingin Sanomat. Hakkarainen did not challenge the accounts of Ruoho and Tolvanen but stressed that it was not his intention to hurt Ruoho. He was also ordered to cover the legal fees of and pay 1,400 euros in compensation to the victim. The prosecution was demanding that he be sentenced to a suspended prison term of 60 days. Prosecutor Eija Velitski on Tuesday told Helsingin Sanomat that she intends to file an appeal against the ruling to the Helsinki Court of Appeal. You simply cant make amends for violence to the head area by paying a fine, he stated to the newspaper. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Emmi Korhonen Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi We got a preview of this beautiful Huawei ad at the launch of the P9 in London , and now it appears the full version is about to roll ... Sherlock is back! Hull Live just gave us a first look at Henry on the set of Enola Holmes 2 in England today. The cast and crew are report... About Us We are a fan blog dedicated to bringing you the latest news on Henry's current and future projects. Everything from interviews to appearances, you'll find it all here first. Have tips, pictures, or videos you want to share? email us at henrycavillnews@gmail.com DISCLAIMER This blog is in no way affiliated with Henry Cavill or his representatives. This blog does not claim copyright on any images used in our posts. 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! On Tuesday, NewsGuild-CWA announced that staff at the Florida Times-Union started a process that will lead to a vote to unionize. If the drive is successful, it will become the third GateHouse newspaper in Florida to do so. The Lakeland Ledger and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune both unionized in 2016. According to the press release, the staff is pushing to unionize for fair wages, a voice in the future of the newspaper and for workers rights. The Times-Union joins other legacy newspapers in the move. This is from the organizing campaigns mission statement: Our union is under no illusion that revenues associated with the news business will magically improve, and that is precisely why we have decided to unite our voices. We fear that GateHouses short-term strategies will lead to more and more cuts in the future. As of today, there are fewer than 40 full-time employees working across the Times-Union newsroom in metro, opinion, life, sports, photo and the copy desk a third of the staff we had just five years ago. Once-filled desks now sit empty. There will be tough times ahead. A union wont necessarily stop that. But a strong contract will help to protect the work of the men and women who report, edit, photograph and put together the stories of the newspaper. In this way, a strong contract will help to preserve good jobs and impactful journalism in Jacksonville. Earlier this month, GateHouse named the Times-Union its newspaper of the year and named editor Mary Kelli Palka Editor of the Year. The newspaper of the year award, according to GateHouse, recognizes newspapers that have a significant impact on the communities they cover, expertly engage with audiences and take coordinated steps to reach new readers. Palka spoke with Poynter at the beginning of the year after another round of layoffs and how she approached reshaping an ever-shrinking newsroom. "We werent going to be the newspaper of record in the sense that if you dont see it in the paper, it didnt happen," she said. "Were going to be the paper of record for the most important things in our community." In December, Poynters Rick Edmonds reported , the expanding GateHouse chain agreed to a 1 percent raise for their 18 Guild properties this September and another 1.7 percent in September 2019. Also, the employee-paid share of health benefits was frozen for 2018. "...I don't think the Guild's push for fairness and a voice has become obsolete," Edmonds wrote. "Maybe here, as in other nooks of the industry, there is reason for cautious optimism that traditional roles and goals can adapt to the times." Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here. Manila (CNN Philippines Life) After watching a report on T.V. about how dogs would eat smaller cats in Marawi as the war dragged on, Ann Ramos-Tagle quickly pooled 10,000 from family and friends to help fund her trip to the besieged city to rescue the animals. Sobrang naawa lang ako doon sa situation nila. At the same time nalaman ko pa na hindi talaga humahawak ng aso yung mga Muslim, says Ramos-Tagle. Haram yun sa religion nila. Haram, a term used to refer to actions, objects, and images that are prohibited by Islamic law, includes adultery, premarital sex, and the consumption of pork and alcohol, among others. Some Muslims also believe that Islamic scripture disallows them to keep dogs in their homes, while others contend that the scripture accepts canine companions. For the first rescue mission in Marawi, Ann Ramos-Tagle, together with one volunteer, was only able to rescue two dogs and five cats. As her Marawi Animal Rescue Mission Facebook page grew, she was able to gather more people, and for their second mission, they were able to rescue 13 puppies. Photo courtesy of MARAWI ANIMAL RESCUE MISSION Nevertheless, Ramos-Tagle reached out to people on animal groups on Facebook to see if there was anyone who wanted to accompany her to go to Marawi. She started her Facebook page, Marawi Animal Rescue Mission, to gather more people, but only one person from Ozamiz was keen to help out. A live control operator at GMA Network, she was told by their reporter who was deployed in Marawi that the Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF), an animal organization whose primary goal is to end dog meat trade, had carried out operations to provide food in the war-torn city. However, the foundation was not allowed to go in the battle area, so they would pass the food over to the military officers then have the military distribute the food to the animals. Iniwan lang nila [yung pagkain] doon sa street. Tapos hindi rin naman nakain ng mga animals, she shares. Pumunta kami doon without battle gear, nagpa-escort lang din kami sa military kung ano lang matagpuan namin na hayop doon na pwedeng ma-rescue na kaya. Kasi meron din kaming dalang net para sa dogs. Lumakas pa sana ang batas natin sa animal welfare kasi may giyera man o wala, sana mapangahalagahan parin sila. They found it hard to rescue the animals as the dogs in particular were intractable, but she says they also were under a lot of pressure to get out of the conflict area as soon as they could so a little bit of force was necessary to get the animals to come to them. Hindi rin naman kami pwedeng maghintay. Alam mo yung hihintayin mo silang lumapit sayo tulad ng usual na parang kunin mo muna yung trust nila. Walang time para dun eh, she says. She stayed in Marawi for four days and they were only able to rescue two dogs and five cats. The animals stayed with the volunteer from Ozamiz, and Ramos-Tagle had them shipped to her to Manila after a few days. Ramos-Tagle got in touch with CARA (Compassion And Responsibility for Animals) Welfare Philippines, a nonprofit organization that advocates for animal welfare, and the organization has offered to provide veterinary needs for the rescued animals. Photo courtesy of MARAWI ANIMAL RESCUE MISSION Feeling that she did not do enough rescuing, she went back to Marawi the following month to save more animals. The outcome was exponentially more productive, as her Facebook page enabled her to gather more volunteers and people who were willing to take the animals in. In this second mission, they were able to rescue 13 puppies and these rescued animals found new homes in Cagayan De Oro. She later got in touch with CARA (Compassion And Responsibility for Animals) Welfare Philippines, a nonprofit organization that advocates for animal welfare, and the organization has offered to provide veterinary needs for the rescued animals. The Facebook page is still up and running as she continues to monitor the animals that were rescued through the page. While there are individual missions such as the one she carried out and various initiatives by animal foundations such as AKF and CARA, Ramos-Tagle believes that the animal welfare act in the Philippines is not enough, especially when natural disasters or armed conflicts happen. Lumakas pa sana ang batas natin sa animal welfare kasi may giyera man o wala, sana mapangahalagahan parin sila. *** For more information, visit the Marawi Animal Rescue Mission Facebook page. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 19) President Rodrigo Duterte warned on Tuesday that no second chances will be given to fired corrupt officials, an apparent contradiction of his reappointment of sacked officials. "Kapag nagkamali ka [If you make a mistake], I won't give you a second chance. No f------ second chance," Duterte said in a speech during the 81st anniversary of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in Pasay City. "Ayaw ko talaga 'yan. [I really don't want that] And give us, give the Filipino a respite of corruption." The President said he did not care if his term would be "characterized by a firing and dismissal of people from government" and that there would be more dismissals to come. "It pains me deeply to do it. Pero sinabi ko na, sinabi ko sa inyo: Huwag. Huwag na huwag. [But I have said that, I have told you: Don't do it.] And that promise, I'm doing until today," he said. Duterte said he would fire government officials even on a "whiff of corruption," especially those that stem from reports from the ordinary citizens. But despite Duterte's pronouncement, several officials sacked due to allegations of corruption have been reappointed, with some given not just another chance but several shots at civil service. Among them is Jose Gabriel "Pompee" La Vina, Duterte's social media campaign strategist during the 2016 presidential race, whose appointment as Agriculture Undersecretary came out earlier this month. Prior to that, his appointment in the Social Security System was not renewed by Duterte in February due to alleged questionable activities. Two months later, he was appointed as undersecretary in the Department of Tourism, but his stint there was short-lived after newly-appointed Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat ordered all Tourism executives to submit their courtesy resignations. "There was an investigation, he was removed (from SSS). But the President made the decision to reappoint, then so be it," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a previous interview. Aside from La Vina, Roque said the other two officials who have been reappointed by Duterte are Nicanor Faeldon and Melissa Avancena Aradanas. Faeldon stepped down from office in August 2017 amid the controversy over the P6.4-billion drug haul from China that slipped past the authorities in May. He was also accused of accepting bribes. He was later appointed Administrator III of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) under the Department of Defense in December 2017. Meanwhile, Aradanas, a cousin of Duterte's partner Honeylet Avancena, was among the commissioners fired from the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) in December 2017 for what the Palace called "notorious junkets abroad." But three months later, she was appointed as Housing Deputy Secretary General. Not included in Roque's list is Manuel Serra Jr., who was one of the sacked PCUP Commissioners. He was appointed as a member of the governing board of the Philippine Coconut Authority this month. The American filmmaker, activist and author states his opinion about separating children from their parents at the Mexican border in a Facebook post. The recent position of the U.S. president Donald J. Trump towards illegal immigration of Mexican families, has caused another wave of condemnation - not just from the public - but also within the republican party itself. For Trump, separating illegal immigrating families at the Mexican border - taking children away from their parents - are the consequences that need to be drawn to show the democrats it's their fault. Now, the well-known filmmaker and activist Michael Moore stated his opinion in a Facebook-post, imploring people to think about the American history, pointing out that this is not the first time that his country has violently separated children from their parents. He says: "Stop being shocked and surprised that Trump is kidnapping Hispanic children from their parents as if "this isn't who we are!" Yes, it is. It has ALWAYS been who we are. Don't say Trump is violating "our American values." Abusing children IS an historic American value. Be proud, America -- Trump is us" Advertisement "In order to stop this madness we need to stop telling each other fairy tales about the past and confront the present by putting our bodies on the line for these kids [...]" Read his full statement here: https://www.facebook.com/mmflint/?hc_ref=ARRONabZ15edXXgkvl4QCrw4Z7mrGYIHKD0qsPweEZmCLRI4DXTygT4mZlv38_v1VkY&fref=nf Two monsters of metal join forces for two shows upon our shores. Norwegian black metal act Enslaved are teaming up with stoner metal legends High on Fire to tour Europe and the UK. High on Fire are celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band while Enslaved are touring in support of their 2017 album E. The tour stops in Dublins Tivoli Theatre on October 9th and the Limelight Belfast on October 10th, courtesy of DME Promotions. Tickets 25/20 on sale June 21st from Ticketmaster and the usual outlets. Oscar-nominated Irish actress Ruth Negga has said that she is "a wallflower in real life" but an "attention seeker" in the realms of acting. The fast-rising star made an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in New York where she opened up about her introversion, which she says she combats aesthetically in her fashion choices. When comedian and show-host Colbert complimented her "arresting" dragon print dress, she responded: "I try and hide the fact that I'm lacking in a personality by wearing dragon prints". Colbert probed her shy tendencies, asking if acting is suitable for such a trait. "I suppose I'm a wallflower in real life but acting creates a very safe space where you can draw attention to you, but there's always action and cuts so it's like a safety net of sorts where you can be an attention seeker but in a very safe way," the former Love/Hate star said. Advertisement Negga is returning to TV screens in the third season of the AMC supernatural thriller Preacher as Tulip O'Hare, which she stars alongside Dominic Cooper. You can watch a clip of the interview below: The hard rock band pledges their proceeds from the hit cover of 'Zombie'. Last night at New York Citys Gramercy Theatre, Bad Wolves presented a $250,000 cheque to Dolores O Riordans family onstage prior to a performance of Zombie. ORiordans two sons, Donny Jr. and Taylor Burton, alongside their father, Don Burton, were presented with the gift in an emotional moment. The check was also accepted on behalf of their younger sisters, Molly and Dakota Burton. ORiordan was set to record vocals on the track on the day of her tragic passing. In advance of their debut album, Disobey, the band released Zombie as a single, with the commitment to donate their proceeds to her four children. The unprecedented global success of Zombie has resulted in the band raising $250,000, with a promise for more! Our sadness the day Dolores passed was nothing compared to that of her children and her family. In light of the tragedy, donating our proceeds to her children was the only thing that made sense. The ultimate goal is to present them with a $1,000,000 cheque and the fact were a quarter of the way there is beyond incredible, reflects Bad Wolves frontman Tommy Vext. The connection that people have to this song, the stories, the memories and the kids who are hearing this song through Bad Wolves for the first time - its a true testament to the timelessness of their mothers songwriting that will live on forever, and we are so grateful to be able to do this for them. Bad Wolves Zombie has been certified Gold in the United States and Australia, as well as gaining Platinum status in Canada. The track has topped charts worldwide, including the U.S. iTunes overall and rock charts, Billboards Mainstream Rock Songs chart, Spotifys Global Viral 50 chart, while also reigning atop the Active Rock radio chart for three straight weeks . Bad Wolves have also earned the #1 spot on the Billboard Emerging Artists chart. Additionally, the single has been planted atop the iTunes Metal chart in the U.K. and Germany for five straight months. The official music video, a tribute to ORiordan and an homage to the original, has garnered over 125 million views across platforms. Advertisement The band have also released the new video for Remember When, which was directed by Wayne Isham (Motley Crue, Avenged Sevenfold, Megadeth). It is the third single from the bands debut album, Disobey. The powerful music video relays the story of frontman Tommy Vexts relationship with his twin brother. My twin brother is currently serving 17 years for attempted murder [he] tried to kill me during a home invasion when he was high in 2010 [Testifying against him] was definitely one of the more difficult moments of my life, Vext reflected in a recent interview with Kerrang!. Remember When kinda goes through a timeline and highlights two people who lived the exact same life and had the exact same hardships and advantages and disadvantages and who we are ultimately as adults is defined by the choices that we made, and our lives reflect those choices. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 19) With her battle for the Chief Justice post finally over, Maria Lourdes Sereno revealed how far the opposition went to unseat her. Sereno on Tuesday said she never anticipated "how low" President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies were willing to go to proceed with her impeachment. Aside from calls for resignation "mounted by" the President himself, Sereno revealed that leaders of the House of Representatives, in August 2017, threatened to suspend deliberations of the judiciary's budget if the Supreme Court (SC) will not give the requested documents to be used in the impeachment proceedings. "The message was clear - the House leadership was going to hold hostage the Judiciary's budget unless the SC cooperated fully with its plan to remove me," she said. She said she did not object to releasing the documents since she had nothing to hide. House Majority Leader Rudy Farinas dismissed Sereno's claim as "hearsay." "The SC Resolution authorizing the SC justices and officials to testify in the impeachment hearings, as well as the release of the documents requested by complainant (Larry) Gadon, was unanimously approved by the Supreme Court en banc," he added. Farinas also revealed that the SC en banc resolution was promulgated only on November 28, 2017, two months after the House of Representatives approved the General Appropriations Bill on September 26. "Indeed, it is providential that she has been removed. How could she honestly believe that the Budget of the SC could be held hostage by the HOR? Unless, if she does not know the Constitution," Farinas said. He also cited Section 3, Article VIII of the Constitution, which states, "The Judiciary shall enjoy fiscal autonomy. Appropriations for the Judiciary may not be reduced by the legislature below the amount appropriated for the previous year and, after approval, shall be automatically and regularly released." At the end of the impeachment hearings which she called "agonizingly long," Sereno said the lawmakers did not send it to the Senate for trial because the charges against her "stood on shaky ground." A quo warranto petition was filed instead, which eventually led to her ouster. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. OTTAWACanada has reached the half-way mark in becoming a cruelty-free cosmetics market with a final endorsement of Bill S-214, the Cruelty Free Cosmetics Act, by the Senate. The proposed legislation, which would prohibit both domestic animal testing for cosmetics as well as the sale of cosmetics that have undergone any form of new animal testing after the ban comes into effect, will now move to the House of Commons. The bill was amended in the Senate to include a phase-in period to allow industry time to comply with the legislation. The bills Senate sponsor, Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, stated: Im pleased that the Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, which I introduced in 2015 in collaboration with Humane Society International and Animal Alliance of Canada, has been endorsed by my colleagues in the Senate. It is my sincerest hope that Members of Parliament will act swiftly to make cosmetic animal testing a thing of the past. The time has come for the Canadian Government to step forward and take action to prohibit cosmetic animal testing and bring Canada into the 21st century. Ask your MP to support it in the House of Commons. HSIs Vice President of Research & Toxicology Troy Seidle, said: We are grateful to Senator Stewart Olsen for her leadership in achieving todays important milestone for animal welfare in Canada. Already 37 countries including the worlds largest beauty markets have taken action to ban cruel cosmetics, and its high time Canada did the same. As a leading cruelty-free company, LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics has supported this bill with enthusiasm and we thank the Senate for making the right decision, said LUSH spokesperson Tricia Stevens. Once passed, the Cruelty Free Cosmetics Act will set Canada apart as a leader and will allow the cosmetics industry to thrive and provide consumers with the products they want. Animal Alliance of Canada Director Liz White added, We urge Members of Parliament to listen to their constituents, the overwhelming majority of whom support federal legislative action to bring an end to the cruelty of cosmetic testing in Canada. We look forward to working with all parties to see this bill become law. No animal should ever again be made to suffer for the sake of human vanity. Take action and donate to help. Media Contact: Christopher Pare, o: 514-395-2914 x 206, c: 438-402-0643, email: cpare@hsi.org In response to efforts by the Humane Society of the United States, the Ohio General Assembly has approved legislation to significantly strengthen standards of care for breeding dogs. Ohio was previously named one of the worst states in the nation for puppy mills. H.B. 506, sponsored by Rep. Brian Hill, R-Zanesville, includes a broad range of reforms consistent with those proposed in a ballot measure campaign by HSUS and its coalition partners with Stop Puppy Mills Ohio, marking a major step forward to protect dogs and Ohio consumers. The new law will help protect dogs and Ohioans from cruelty, high veterinary bills and the heartbreak of losing a family member to disease or conditions produced by mass-breeding of animals. If enacted with a signature by Gov. John Kasich, Ohio will go from having some of the nations weakest provisions to protect dogs on puppy mills to having one of the nations strongest anti-puppy mill laws. The new bill makes the following improvements for conditions in puppy mills: Ends the practice of stacking cages that house dogs on top of other cages Bans wire flooring in enclosures that house breeding dogs Provides constant access to clean water and nutritious food at least twice a day Increases kennel sizes Requires annual veterinary exams Provides protections from extreme temperatures States that breeders can no longer house dogs in isolation Places lifetime limits on the number of litters permitted per breeding mother Requires retailers selling puppies to acquire those animals from breeders who meet these standards, regardless of what state the breeder is located in Because of the comprehensive and strong reforms present in the amended version of H.B. 506, the Humane Society of the United States has suspended its Stop Puppy Mills Ohio ballot initiative, which sought to pass the provisions contained in the bill through the ballot initiative process. The provisions take effect 90 days after Gov. Kasich signs the bill, with the exception of the kennel size requirements, which will go into effect three years after he signs the bill. The ballot initiative provisions would have gone into effect one year after passage. The Humane Society of the United States thanks all of the volunteers who worked on this campaign and whose efforts have resulted in the votes to pass this landmark legislation. Thousands of volunteers helped put a bright spotlight on the puppy mill issue and the lack of meaningful care for breeding dogs, said Corey Roscoe, the organizations Ohio state director. The Ohio General Assembly heard the pleas and, as a result, we are on the cusp of a tremendous leap forward in our effort to ensure that no dog is raised in the filth and misery that is so common in puppy mills. Puppy mills are dog breeding operations that sell puppies for profit while failing to meet the breeding dogs physical, emotional or behavioral needs. Some contain scores, or even hundreds of dogs, confined in small, wire cages. Many of the dogs are bred every heat cycle, until their bodies wear out. The dogs are generally denied exercise or socialization. Another provision protects dogs and consumers by changing the method by which retailers acquire dogs to sell. Once H.B. 506 is signed by Gov. Kasich, consumers will be assured that stores are only selling dogs from breeders who meet these standards, including dogs sold from breeders located outside of Ohio. Ohio is believed to have the second largest number of puppy mills in the country, after Missouri. Ohio stood out among other states in the Humane Society of the United States recently released Puppy Buyer Complaints (PDF) report, which summarized 10 years of complaints the group received from consumers. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 19) Two Makati police officers were relieved from their posts for what the Philippine National Police on Tuesday called a "mishandling" of an arrest of bystanders to enforce local laws. Metro Manila Police Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, in a PNP statement, said he has ordered the police to fasttrack the issue on the "mishandling of people allegedly arrested for violating city ordinances." This was after a Facebook post went viral over the weekend in which a man complained that he and his friends were arrested by Makati police while waiting for their friend outside his house. President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the police to uphold ordinances against bystanders who violate local laws. Police Senior Inspector Aaron Elago, commander of Makati City Police Station Community Precinct 6, and SPO2 James Teano, were ordered relieved following a report of abuse of discretion of authority against them for the arrests. "(Elago and Teano) brought them to their police precinct for verification even without valid violation of city ordinances," the PNP statement said. PNP Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde reiterated on Monday that only those violating local laws not those loitering in the streets will be arrested. The offenses of those who can be arrested include smoking in public, drinking alcohol in public, loitering half-naked, urinating in public, and minors violating a curfew ordinance. Albayalde said no one can be arrested because of vagrancy as the law against it was decriminalized in 2012. The PNP said 2,981 bystanders have been arrested in Metro Manila from June 13 to June 18. Despite the thousands of arrests made, the PNP said it has yet to finalize a policy that will consolidate all city ordinances to make sure it will be in accordance with local laws. Couglin is hoping to get a good sense of how the Chapter 90 program is actually operating. BRPC: Chapter 90 Spending Trails at Least a Year Behind PITTSFIELD, Mass. The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission has found that towns tend to act conservatively with Chapter 90 funds for road work because of uncertainty around the program. BRPC's Senior Transportation Planner Eammon Coughlin did a study on the use of Chapter 90 in the Berkshires and found that there is at least a year delay between when the state funds are allocated to towns and when they are actually spent. The state's Chapter 90 program is money bonded and sent to each municipality in the state based on a formula consisting of road miles, population, and employment. In 2012, the Massachusetts Municipal Association released a report showing that there is a funding gap of $362 million per year to keep the roads in a "state of good repair." At the same time over the last five years, 75 percent of towns had spent less than the annual funds allocated. Coughlin reported that it isn't that the towns don't need the money or aren't spending it, but that the spending is seemingly trending well behind the allocation. "There is at least a one-year lag in terms of how towns allocate their Chapter 90," Coughlin said. That is particularly shown in fiscal years 2015 and 2016. In 2015, the state increased Chapter 90 by 50 percent, up to $12 million in Berkshire County. But, only half of that was spent $6 million and the overall unspent money at the end of the year hit a recent high of $18 million. In that one year, the towns received more but spent less than any prior year, and banked more. Yet, in 2016, the spending hit a peak of $10 million and the overall money saved dropped by $2 million. It was the only year in the five-year period between 2012 and 2016 when spending was more than allocated. So why is there a delay? Coughlin said the 40 percent of Berkshire municipalities responding to his survey reported delays in getting projects started. He said any delay, such as high bids causing a rebid or a shortage of highway staff, can easily push a planned project back a year. Towns also don't start projects until that money is in hand, which means they often miss a construction season and the work gets pushed off until the following year. Coughlin said that is caused by the uncertainty of whether the funds will be available from year to year, if there is an emergency, and how much a town can expect. He believes that if some of the uncertainty was removed with the project, the time between allocation and expenditure will shorten. Many of the communities reported that their individual allocation which tends to be $200,000 or less per year isn't enough. Small towns will stash multiple years' worth of Chapter 90 money aside in order to take on a larger project. It can cost about a $1 million a mile to redo a road. "It is routine for a municipality to save up for multiple years," Coughlin said. "Towns report that it takes several years to accumulate enough Chapter 90 to spend in a meaningful way." Coughlin added that he doesn't know what towns are doing with their own funds toward road repairs. Many towns budget for roadwork, which is supplemented by the state funds. He believes when, how much, and what those funds are being spent on will help complete the picture of how roadwork money is being handled. By the end of 2016, Lenox and Alford were the only towns with nothing left in their Chapter 90 fund balance. In total, 41 percent of municipalities had a year of funding left and 59 percent of towns had more than that. At the end of 2016, Egremont had 537 percent of its annual allocation in balance. Coughlin only had access to five years of comprehensive data on the program. But, throughout that five years, a number of towns had spent more than were allocated in that time period such as Clarksburg, Lee, Sandisfield, and North Adams. Presumably, those towns had a prior balance and completed a larger project early in this reporting time period. Coughlin also found another recent trend: towns are putting more and more of those funds toward full road reconstruction projects than before. The money can be allocated for engineering, equipment, resurfacing, and full construction of a roadway. In 2012, 74.8 percent of the county's allocation was going to resurfacing, 14.3 percent to construction, 4.9 percent to equipment, and 6 percent toward engineering. But by 2016, construction increased to 55.6 percent of the allocation, resurfacing dropped to 36 percent, equipment dropped to 3.9 percent, and engineering dropped to 4.5 percent. "Towns are becoming more cautious. They want to spend money on a longer lasting reconstruction project," he said. Coughlin added that the towns which get the fewest amount of Chapter 90 dollars spend the least on engineering. "Some of our towns don't want to spend money on engineering and would like to see money go toward construction, he said. The transportation planner is now recommending towns to review their road jurisdiction the Road Inventory File and make sure all of the roads being cared for are accounted. Coughlin said he's found a number of roads that towns were maintaining but weren't in the state file. He said that can help boost the amount an individual town receives. He is also recommending a pavement management planning system to make sure Chapter 90 funds are being used in the most efficient way i.e. directed to the highest needs. He also advocates for a way to increase the amount of Chapter 90 funds to alleviate the backlog of work that towns are reporting. Communities, however, offered other suggestions for the Chapter 90 program such as requiring local matches, placing a time limit on spending the money, eliminating the ability to purchase equipment, looking at ways to fund the program outside of a bond program, and increasing state revenues through a gas tax for the program. Engineer Mark Scoco of SK Design Group told the Community Development Board that the developer has complied with the AAB standards. Yola Esther Developer Settles With State, Asks Pittsfield to Accept Roads Residents have been living for a number of years in the subdivision that technically has not been completed as the city, state, and developer seek a path to the final approvals. PITTSFIELD, Mass. The developers of the Yola Esther subdivision are again asking the city to accept the three streets Kara, Giovina, and Karen after reaching an agreement with the state Architectural Access Board. The developers of the controversial subdivision say they have complied with the AAB's orders to make certain improvements to provide for better access for those with disabilities and pay a $150,000 fine a fine significantly reduced by $822,500. Engineer Mark Scoco of SK Design Group told the Community Development Board on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement on the work that needed to be done with the AAB and brought the streets up to their requirements. The City Council, which refused to accept the streets before, will now have to agree to accept the streets the final piece to the 22-year-old project. The central point of contention is what was approved by the city for the project and then how that project ultimately fit the regulations when it was actually built. Particularly, there were areas where sidewalks were too steep, there was a lack of curb cuts, crosswalks and signage, and cross-slopes were not in compliance. The AAB cited a number of violations to current law with the subdivision. Developer Joseph Kroboth purchased the land off Williams Street and received approvals for the development in 1996. It wasn't until 2004 when construction actually began. Development was slow and city officials had leaned on Kroboth to complete the work. By 2015, most of the work was completed but former City Engineer Matthew Billetter, Ward 4 City Councilor Chris Connell, and Commission on Disabilities Chairwoman June Haile objected to the city declaring it finished and releasing the developer's performance bond back. City officials refused to take on the streets and the liability for making costly repairs to comply with the American with Disabilities Act and felt without that performance bond, the city had no leverage in getting those pieces of the project done by the developer. The Community Development Board at the time took the stance that the developer had done what it had originally proposed and opted to release the bond. Meanwhile, the Commission on Disabilities took the issue to the state. The Architectural Access Board opened a case in late 2015. It ordered the developer to submit a plan to resolve the problems by January 2016. But that didn't happen. There were a series of hearings and deadlines scheduled early that year but by August, the developer wasn't responding. The AAB issued a base fine of $175,000 for non-compliance and added $50 per day per violation that wasn't corrected. By September, the fines had added up to $687,500. By March 2017, the AAB called for another fine hearing, which was held in July but no one represented the developer at it. Because of that, it voted among other things to reaffirm its prior findings in favor of the complainants and to recalculate the fines to run through the date of that decision, the report from the AAB reads. The fines continued and, in December, attorney Thomas Hamel wrote to the AAB saying he had been rehired to represent the developer. He reportedly told the AAB that there were "breakdowns in communication" but the AAB wasn't too sympathetic to Hamel's argument for why the correspondences hadn't been heeded by the developer. "The petitioner's conduct is a flagrant and willful disregard of the board's authority and orders. In fact, Yola Esther ignored the board's jurisdiction over the course of years and chose not to comply with significant and ongoing orders. The harm caused was undeniably substantial to the persons with disabilities and is violative of the regulation's intent," the decision reads. Throughout those two years, residents in the neighborhood started to get impatient. Earlier this year, residents petitioned to have the city accept their streets, mainly so they would receive city services. The City Council, however, wanted to wait until the AAB ruling was released before agreeing to take on the responsibility. By March of this year, the AAB ultimately approved a new plan to address the issues and agreed to issue variances for others and to drop the $822,500 worth of fines provided the developer still pay the base $150,000 and completes the work by May 25. "In light of all the above, the board finds that a fine is appropriate in the circumstances. However, it also determines that the owner has presented such credible evidence as to establish that it will complete construction as required and pursuant to the instant granted variances such as to provide some relief to persons with disabilities in the subject location. Therefore, while deeming a significant fine nonetheless necessary, some mitigation thereof is not unwarranted," the board wrote. Scoco said on Tuesday that the AAB's required work was completed. With the AAB case now settled, the developer still needs to settle differences with the city. The Community Development Board went on record Tuesday in favor of the city accepting the streets. However, that will ultimately be up to the City Council. According to City Planner CJ Hoss, Scoco will be putting in an updated request for the City Council to accept the streets. That will trigger another internal review by the city's Engineering, Department of Public Works, and others. Those will report the City Council as well before the council makes the final decision. Barbara May speaks against the commission's decision at the well-attended meeting. Several residents spoke against allowing Kelly to use hangar space at the airport because of his rape conviction. North Adams Airport OKs Hangar Space for Kelly Commissioners voted without taking any public input on the decision; a public comment period was held at the end of the meeting. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The Airport Commission has voted to lease city hangar office space to Taconic Aviation amidst pushback from angry airport users and residents. The commission agreed to give Taconic Aviation owner Alex Kelly, a convicted rapist, permission to continue using the office space but after the vote, attendees railed against the commission and Kelly. "My concern is that many people that first come to the airport either by air or by land come to this building they are going to encounter this person with his history," attendee Derek Rougeau said. "He is infamous. This is going be the face of the North Adams airport. This is a travesty." For the past several months Kelly has been seeking permission and office space at the airport to run his flight school and skydiving business. Last month, the commission delayed a vote so it could review other applications. Kelly was allowed to use the space in the interim. Kelly has continually alleged that the commission purposefully delayed votes and placed obstacles in front of him. He has been trying to relocate his business from Bennington, Vt., because the airport there is closed for reconstruction. Although it has not been specifically talked about at past meetings, it is known that Kelly was convicted in 1997 of raping two teenage girls in 1986 in Connecticut . He fled the country for Europe and evaded capture for nearly a decade. He surrendered and was sentenced to 16 years in prison but was released after 10 years on good behavior in 2007. The commissioners said they also reviewed an application from Greylock Flying Club to use the recently renovated city-owned hangar but agreed that Taconic Aviation was a more viable business. "Mr. Kelly certainly presented a viable business that has been operating there for quite some time and I can certainly see where an office space would be useful," Chairman Jeff Naughton said. "I think you have supplied us with everything we have asked for." Commissioner Dean Bullet was the only one to express some concerns and noted that both proposals made a point to attack the other entity, which he felt was disappointing. The commissioners did not allow comment during the meeting and only opened the floor for public comment after they completed their business. Area resident Joseph Smith said he thought Kelly was a liability to the city and cited a 2015 AP story that reported that Kelly allegedly punched a skydiver, groped a male skydiver and threatened a pilot while working in Connecticut. "Although these accusations did not result in any arrests we should take them seriously based on multiple accusers existing and his previous conviction history," he said. "If we are to grant usage we should at least take reasonable steps to protect our city from litigation such as requiring Mr. Kelly to inform all tandem-jump customers of his past." Smith added that Kelly is not registered as a sex offender in Massachusetts. A search of the Massachusetts registry yields no results for Kelly; he is listed on the state of Connecticut Sex Offender Registry as living in Vermont. * Resident Barbara May said she thought the commission should consider personal character when making its determinations and suggested that if someone else wants to use the space such things should be taken into account. "Does character not count for anything?" May said. "I think it is kind of appalling that someone with his record would be welcomed with open arms. I have daughters, they have gone parachuting and I would never let them jump with someone like Mr. Kelly." Resident and teacher Erica Manville echoed May and said the commission should be protecting the community. "I would not want to go to this business and jump with this obvious horrible person by the way he is acting so I would just want to say on the part of my students who are not here to speak and for the women in this area, I am appalled," she said. "We look at you as people who are going to help us be safe and I am shaking because I can't believe that we aren't taking this into consideration." President of Greylock Flying Club Sue Mead clarified what was in her application during public comment and said the club's goal was to be a positive asset at the airport "to keep the aviation community healthy and engaged." She added that the club has a board of directors and has registered as a nonprofit but is not currently requesting the space yet. She instead asked that the commission only provide Kelly with a lease until Oct. 31. "We did not ask for the space at this time as you know but we did request of you that you would consider giving Mr. Kelly a lease through Oct. 31," she said. "We would ask you to consider this and the circumstances that take place over the next few months at the airport. I know he has brought a lot of business here but there is a lot of controversy that surrounds it." Kelly did not respond directly to anyone during public comment and only had a few words. He reportedly, however, exchanged heated words with several of the attendees after the meeting. "I just want to say thank you for the warm welcome I have received. You guys are wonderful people especially you with the tongue out you are a really good-looking man," Kelly said during the meeting. "Anyways, thank you so much for the warm welcome and I really look forward to this. We are actually going to have a professional business here and we are going to be very successful we have been very successful so far and thank you." The commission did not respond during public comment but noted Kelly's lease agreement would have to be negotiated. Kelly also did offer to maintain the hangar and the public bathrooms and quelled the commission's concern that his business would spill out and take over the public area in the hangar. This was not the only tense moment during the meeting and after Airport Manager Bill Greenwald announced his resignation, former commissioner Trevor Gilman urged the commission and the city to hire a full-time manager. "This is the most dangerous thing that has happened here at the airport since I have been here 25 years," he said. "I don't think any of you four have any idea what really the airport manager does and I think you are going to be overwhelmed." Gilman said multiple airports throughout the county have full-time employees but Harriman & West has never had one and has mostly relied on volunteers. He went on to say with skydiving now at the airport and other changes a full-time manager is needed. "Right now we are switching the traffic patterns ... which is still not marked because no one knows it needs to be marked," he said. "You have no UNICOM anymore, no one providing advisories ... and now you have skydivers jumping in the middle of it making no radio calls to local traffic patterns. Someone is going to die ... it is unsafe." On a lighter note at the beginning of the meeting, Greenwald said he had enjoyed his time as airport manager. "I really worked hard at it and I really enjoyed it," he said. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 19) Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque assured the public that the intensive campaign against "tambays" [idlers] will not lead to the declaration of Martial Law in the country. "Malinaw po ang sinabi na ng Presidente [The President's pronouncement is clear], 'Martial law in the entire Philippines will become very complicated.' He has absolutely no intentions right now unless there would be reasons to do so," Roque said on Tuesday during a press conference in Cotabato City. Roque also said that citizens are also protected by existing laws. "Nariyan iyong ating Bill of Rights [The bill of rights is there]," he said. "So kinakailangan kapag nag-aresto sampahan sila ng kaso at kung hindi sila sasampahan within the prescribed number of hours dapat palayain [So if a person is arrested, a case should be filed. And if there is no case within the prescribed number of hours, they should be freed]," he added. READ: Metro Manila police arrest almost 3,000 'tambays' for violating ordinances Metro Manila Police Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, in a statement, said he has ordered the police to fasttrack the issue on the "mishandling of people allegedly arrested for violating city ordinances." This was after a Facebook post went viral over the weekend in which a man complained that he and his friends were arrested by Makati police while waiting for their friend outside his house. President Rodrigo Duterte on June 13 told the police to be strict against loitering on the streets because "they are potential trouble for the public." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 20) The military confirmed Wednesday the targeted Maute-ISIS leader was not among the casualties in the terror group's firefight against government troops in Lanao del Sur. Joint Task Force Ranao Deputy Commander Col. Romeo Brawner confirmed to CNN Philippines that Owayda Benito Marohombsar alias Abu Dar was not among the five gunmen killed in the encounter. Brawner earlier said the military launched air strikes and artillery fire on Sunday, and continued ground assaults, with troops capturing a Maute-ISIS camp in Tubaran the following day. He added five of the 40 fighters who clashed with the military were killed, but their identities have yet to be verified. READ: Military verifying reports five ISIS-Maute gunmen were killed in Lanao del Sur firefight that has displaced 1,300 families Dar was one of the Maute leaders who was recorded on video in a planning session that authorities say was for the attack on Marawi City. Brawner said the military was targeting Abu Dar, believed to be the last remaining commander of the ISIS-Maute group, as part of a long-term operation. "This is actually part of a bigger military operation which started months ago. We started with our intelligence operations because as we promised we are going to run after the remnants of the Maute-ISIS," Brawner said. Maute-ISIS group gunmen last year stormed Marawi City, the capital of Lanao del Sur, triggering a five-month war that left more than a thousand people dead, most of them local and foreign militants. The violence displaced nearly 360,000 residents and left the mosque-studded city in ruins. Brawner assured residents the firefight will not result in another siege as the militants have retreated to a mountainous region, far from residential areas. Brawner revealed the targeted group was responsible for the killing of a barangay official during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections this year. Malacanang said the presence of the remaining Maute group members is not a cause for alarm since Mindanao is still under Martial Law and the extremist group has become smaller. Activists protested President Trump's immigration policies, including the separation of migrant children from their families, outside Rep. Mimi Walters' office June 19, 2018 in Irvine, Calif. Whether attempting to enter the United States to seek asylum, fleeing violence in their home country, or seeking better economic opportunities, separating children from their parents is abhorrent," said HAFs Indian American executive director Suhag Shukla in a statement. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) Former U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Verma was named June 13 by the Paladin Capital Group to the firms Strategic Advisory Group. The Indian American leader is vice chair at The Asia Group. (screen grab of YouTube/U.S. Embassy India) The U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum recently hosted Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, seen here with Ambassador Navtej Sarna, at a roundtable event in Washington, D.C. Maharashtra is growing at a rapid pace and the state is the first choice for many of our U.S companies that manufacture in India, USISPFs Indian American president and CEO Mukesh Aghi said. (USISPF/Twitter photo) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 20) Self-exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison will not return to the Philippines as originally scheduled in August because of President Rodrigo Duterte's cancellation of peace talks. In a Facebook post Tuesday, Sison,said he would only set foot in the country again if a comprehensive agreement on social and economic reforms is signed with the government. "That cannot be in August anymore because Duterte has upset the work schedule of the panels by canceling the resumption of formal talks in Oslo from June 28 to 30," he explained. Sison, who is on self-exile in the Netherlands, also serves as chief consultant of the umbrella organization National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which represents the rebels in talks to end the five-decade communist insurgency. His statement clarifies reports that he was returning to the Philippines for the peace talks in the second week of August. NDFP consultant Rey Casambre told CNN Philippines the reports were based on the agreements signed by representatives of the government and rebels during the back channel talks. "Aside from the projected date, the agreements expressly state the purpose of the visit and the necessary conditions and preparations to be completed," Casambre said, without providing details. The Duterte government earlier cancelled the resumption of talks set on June 28 citing the need for public consultations. This is another setback in the negotiations after Duterte walked away from the talks in November 2017. PH venue 'unacceptable' Sison also maintained that peace talks should be done in a "foreign neutral venue" like Norway. The Norwegian government has been hosting and facilitating the peace talks. Duterte on Tuesday insisted he wanted the talks in the Philippines. "Bakit ako magpupunta doon sa ibang lugar? Dito tayo mag-usap. (Why will I go to another country? Let's talk here). I guaranteed him safety and security for the duration of the talks," he said, referring to Sison. The CPP however said Duterte's demand is "totally unacceptable," and will "completely paralyze the talks." "In the demand to hold the talks in the Philippines, Duterte is practically scrapping The Hague Declaration of 1992 and, by consequence, the entire peace NDFP-GRP peace negotiations itself," the CPP said in a statement. The 1992 Hague Joint Declaration requires both parties to create an atmosphere conducive to peace the talks. It calls for talks to be held in accordance with "mutually acceptable principles" and with "no preconditions" that will negate the character and purpose of the negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looks on as Indian American U.S. Ambassador to the United Nation Nikki Haley speaks at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. June 19. The United States announced it is withdrawing from the U.N. Human Rights Council. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leader Sanjay Singh leave Raj Niwas after an unprecedented nine-day sit-in protest, in New Delhi June 19. Also seen is Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai. According to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal decided to leave the office-cum-residence of Lt. Governor Anil Baijal after IAS officers attended meetings called by Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, Social Welfare Minister Rajinder Pal Gautam and Food Minister Imran Hussain. (IANS photo) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti speaks during a press conference after submitting her resignation in Srinagar June 19. The BJP ended its alliance with Peoples Democratic Party, which it blames for the current law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir, and the federal government has taken direct control of the state. (Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images) June 19, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - On May 30th, Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced a momentous shift in American global strategic policy. From now on, he decreed, the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), which oversees all U.S. military forces in Asia, will be called the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM). The name change, Mattis explained, reflects the increasing connectivity between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as Washingtons determination to remain the dominant power in both. What? You didnt hear about this anywhere? And even now, youre not exactly blown away, right? Well, such a name change may not sound like much, but someday you may look back and realize that it couldnt have been more consequential or ominous. Think of it as a signal that the U.S. military is already setting the stage for an eventual confrontation with China. If, until now, you hadnt read about Mattiss decision anywhere, Im not surprised since the media gave it virtually no attention -- less certainly than would have been accorded the least significant tweet Donald Trump ever dispatched. What coverage it did receive treated the name change as no more than a passing symbolic gesture, a Pentagon ploy to encourage India to join Japan, Australia, and other U.S. allies in Americas Pacific alliance system. In Symbolic Nod to India, U.S. Pacific Command Changes Name was the headline of a Reuters story on the subject and, to the extent that any attention was paid, it was typical. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter That the medias military analysts failed to notice anything more than symbolism in the deep-sixing of PACOM shouldnt be surprising, given all the attention being paid to other major international developments -- the pyrotechnics of the Korean summit in Singapore, the insults traded at and after the G7 meeting in Canada, or the ominous gathering storm over Iran. Add to this the poor grasp so many journalists have of the nature of the U.S. militarys strategic thinking. Still, Mattis himself has not been shy about the geopolitical significance of linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans in such planning. In fact, it represents a fundamental shift in U.S. military thinking with potentially far-reaching consequences. Consider the backdrop to the name change: in recent months, the U.S. has stepped up its naval patrols in waters adjacent to Chinese-occupied islands in the South China Sea (as has China), raising the prospect of future clashes between the warships of the two countries. Such moves have been accompanied by ever more threatening language from the Department of Defense (DoD), indicating an intent to do nothing less than engage China militarily if that countrys build-up in the region continues. When it comes down to introducing what they have done in the South China Sea, there are consequences, Mattis declared at the Shangri La Strategic Dialogue in Singapore on June 2nd. As a preliminary indication of what he meant by this, Mattis promptly disinvited the Chinese from the worlds largest multinational naval exercise, the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), conducted annually under American auspices. But thats a relatively small consequence, he added ominously, and I believe there are much larger consequences in the future. With that in mind, he soon announced that the Pentagon is planning to conduct a steady drumbeat of naval operations in waters abutting those Chinese-occupied islands, which should raise the heat between the two countries and could create the conditions for a miscalculation, a mistake, or even an accident at sea that might lead to far worse. In addition to its plans to heighten naval tensions in seas adjacent to China, the Pentagon has been laboring to strengthen its military ties with U.S.-friendly states on Chinas perimeter, all clearly part of a long-term drive to -- in Cold War fashion -- contain Chinese power in Asia. On June 8th, for example, the DoD launched Malabar 2018, a joint Pacific Ocean naval exercise involving forces from India, Japan, and the United States. Incorporating once neutral India into Americas anti-Chinese Pacific alliance system in this and other ways has, in fact, become a major twenty-first-century goal of the Pentagon, posing a significant new threat to China. For decades, the principal objective of U.S. strategy in Asia had been to bolster key Pacific allies Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines, while containing Chinese power in adjacent waters, including the East and South China Seas. However, in recent times, China has sought to spread its influence into Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region, in part by extolling its staggeringly ambitious One Belt, One Road trade and infrastructure initiative for the Eurasian continent and Africa. That vast project is clearly meant both as a unique vehicle for cooperation and a way to tie much of Eurasia into a future China-centered economic and energy system. Threatened by visions of such a future, American strategists have moved ever more decisively to constrain Chinese outreach in those very areas. That, then, is the context for the sudden concerted drive by U.S. military strategists to link the Indian and Pacific Oceans and so encircle China with pro-American, anti-Chinese alliance systems. The name change on May 30th is a formal acknowledgement of an encirclement strategy that couldnt, in the long run, be more dangerous. Girding for War with China To grasp the ramifications of such moves, some background on the former PACOM might be useful. Originally known as the Far East Command, PACOM was established in 1947 and has been headquartered at U.S. bases near Honolulu, Hawaii, ever since. As now constituted, its area of responsibility encompasses a mind-boggling expanse: all of East, South, and Southeast Asia, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and the waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans -- in other words, an area covering about 50% of the Earths surface and incorporating more than half of the global population. Though the Pentagon divides the whole planet like a giant pie into a set of unified commands, none of them is larger than the newly expansive, newly named Indo-Pacific Command, with its 375,000 military and civilian personnel. Before the Indian Ocean was explicitly incorporated into its fold, PACOM mainly focused on maintaining control of the western Pacific, especially in waters around a number of friendly island and peninsula states like Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. Its force structure has largely been composed of air and naval squadrons, along with a large Marine Corps presence on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Its most powerful combat unit is the U.S. Pacific Fleet -- like the area it now covers, the largest in the world. Its made up of the 3rd and 7th Fleets, which together have approximately 200 ships and submarines, nearly 1,200 aircraft, and more than 130,000 sailors, pilots, Marines, and civilians. On a day-to-day basis, until recently, the biggest worry confronting the command was the possibility of a conflict with nuclear-armed North Korea. During the late fall of 2017 and the winter of 2018, PACOM engaged in a continuing series of exercises designed to test its forces ability to overcome North Korean defenses and destroy its major military assets, including nuclear and missile facilities. These were undoubtedly intended, above all, as a warning to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un about what he could expect if he continued down the path of endless provocative missile and nuclear tests. It seems that, at least for the time being, President Trump has suspended such drills as a result of his summit meeting with Kim. North Korea aside, the principal preoccupation of PACOM commanders has long been the rising power of China and how to contain it. This was evident at the May 30th ceremony in Hawaii at which Mattis announced that expansive name change and presided over a change-of-command ceremony, in which outgoing commander, Admiral Harry Harris Jr., was replaced by Admiral Phil Davidson. (Given the naval-centric nature of its mission, the command is almost invariably headed by an admiral.) While avoiding any direct mention of China in his opening remarks, Mattis left not a smidgeon of uncertainty that the commands new name was a challenge and a call for the future mobilization of regional opposition across a vast stretch of the planet to Chinas dreams and desires. Other nations welcome U.S. support, he insisted, as they prefer an environment of free, fair, and reciprocal trade not bound by any nation's predatory economics or threat of coercion, for the Indo-Pacific has many belts and many roads. No one could mistake the meaning of that. Departing Admiral Harris was blunter still. Although North Korea remains our most immediate threat, he declared, China remains our biggest long-term challenge. He then offered a warning: without the stepped-up efforts of the U.S. and its allies to constrain Beijing, China will realize its dream of hegemony in Asia. Yes, he admitted, it was still possible to cooperate with the Chinese on limited issues, but we should stand ready to confront them when we must. (On May 18th, Admiral Harris was nominated by President Trump as the future U.S. ambassador to South Korea, which will place a former military man at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.) Harriss successor, Admiral Davidson, seems, if anything, even more determined to put confronting China atop the commands agenda. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 17th, he repeatedly highlighted the threat posed by Chinese military activities in the South China Sea and promised to resist them vigorously. Once [the South China Sea islands are] occupied, China will be able to extend its influence thousands of miles to the south and project power deep into Oceania, he warned. The PLA [Peoples Liberation Army] will be able to use these bases to challenge U.S. presence in the region, and any forces deployed to the islands would easily overwhelm the military forces of any other South China Sea claimants. In short, China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States. Is that, then, what Admiral Davidson sees in our future? War with China in those waters? His testimony made it crystal clear that his primary objective as head of the Indo-Pacific Command will be nothing less than training and equipping the forces under him for just such a future war, while enlisting the militaries of as many allies as possible in the Pentagons campaign to encircle that country. To prevent a situation where China is more likely to win a conflict, he affirmed in his version of Pentagonese, we must resource high-end capabilities in a timely fashion, preserve our network of allies and partners, and continue to recruit and train the best soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and coastguardsmen in the world. Davidsons first priority is to procure advanced weaponry and integrate it into the commands force structure, ensuring that American combatants will always enjoy a technological advantage over their Chinese counterparts in any future confrontation. Almost as important, he, like his predecessors, seeks to bolster Americas military ties with other members of the contain-China club. This is where India comes in. Like the United States, its leadership is deeply concerned with Chinas expanding presence in the Indian Ocean region, including the opening of a future port/naval base in Gwadar, Pakistan, and another potential one on the island of Sri Lanka, both in the Indian Ocean. Not surprisingly, given the periodic clashes between Chinese and Indian forces along their joint Himalayan borderlands and the permanent deployment of Chinese warships in the Indian Ocean, Indias prime minister Narendra Modi has shown himself to be increasingly disposed to join Washington in military arrangements aimed at limiting Chinas geopolitical reach. An enduring strategic partnership with India comports with U.S. goals and objectives in the Indo-Pacific, Admiral Davidson said in his recent congressional testimony. Once installed as commander, he continued, I will maintain the positive momentum and trajectory of our burgeoning strategic partnership. His particular goal: to increase maritime security cooperation. And so we arrive at the Indo-Pacific Command and a future shadowed by the potential for great power war. The View from Beijing The way the name change at PACOM was covered in the U.S., you would think it reflected, at most, a benign wish for greater economic connections between the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions, as well, perhaps, as a nod to Americas growing relationship with India. Nowhere was there any hint that what might lie behind it was a hostile and potentially threatening new approach to China -- or that it could conceivably be perceived that way in Beijing. But there can be no doubt that the Chinese view such moves, including recent provocative naval operations in the disputed Paracel Islands of the South China Sea, as significant perils. When, in late May, the Pentagon dispatched two warships -- the USS Higgins, a destroyer, and the USS Antietam, a cruiser -- into the waters near one of those newly fortified islands, the Chinese responded by sending in some of their own warships while issuing a statement condemning the provocative American naval patrols. The U.S. action, said a Chinese military spokesperson, seriously violated Chinas sovereignty [and] undermined strategic mutual trust. Described by the Pentagon as freedom of navigation operations (FRONOPs), such patrols are set to be increased at the behest of Mattis. Of course, the Chinese are hardly blameless in the escalating tensions in the region. They have continued to militarize South China Sea islands whose ownership is in dispute, despite a promise that Chinese President Xi Jinping made to President Obama in 2015 not to do so. Some of those islands in the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos are also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, and other countries in the area and have been the subject of intensifying, often bitter disagreements among them about where rightful ownership really lies. Beijing has simply claimed sovereignty over all of them and refuses to compromise on the issue. By fortifying them -- which American military commanders see as a latent military threat to U.S. forces in the region -- Beijing has provoked a particularly fierce U.S. reaction, though these are obviously waters relatively close to China, but many thousands of miles from the continental United States. From Beijing, the strategic outlook articulated by Secretary Mattis, as well as Admirals Harris and Davidson, is clearly viewed -- and not without reason -- as threatening and as evidence of Washingtons master plan to surround China, confine it, and prevent it from ever achieving the regional dominance its leaders believe is its due as the rising great power on the planet. To the Chinese leadership, changing PACOMs name to the Indo-Pacific Command will just be another signal of Washingtons determination to extend its unprecedented military presence westward from the Pacific around Southeast Asia into the Indian Ocean and so further restrain the attainment of what it sees as Chinas legitimate destiny. However Chinese leaders end up responding to such strategic moves, one thing is certain: they will not view them with indifference. On the contrary, as challenged great powers have always done, they will undoubtedly seek ways to counter Americas containment strategy by whatever means are at hand. These may not initially be overtly military or even obvious, but in the long run they will certainly be vigorous and persistent. They will include efforts to compete with Washington in pursuit of Asian allies -- as seen in Beijings fervent courtship of President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines -- and to secure new basing arrangements abroad, possibly under the pretext, as in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, of establishing commercial shipping terminals. All of this will only add new tensions to an already anxiety-inducing relationship with the United States. As ever more warships from both countries patrol the region, the likelihood that accidents will occur, mistakes will be made, and future military clashes will result can only increase. With the possibility of war with North Korea fading in the wake of the recent Singapore summit, one thing is guaranteed: the new U.S. Indo-Pacific Command will only devote itself ever more fervently to what is already its one overriding priority: preparing for a conflict with China. Its commanders insist that they do not seek such a war, and believe that their preparations -- by demonstrating Americas strength and resolve -- will deter the Chinese from ever challenging American supremacy. That, however, is a fantasy. In reality, a strategy that calls for a steady drumbeat of naval operations aimed at intimidating China in waters near that country will create ever more possibilities, however unintended, of sparking the very conflagration that it is, at least theoretically, designed to prevent. Right now, a Sino-American war sounds like the plotline of some half-baked dystopian novel. Unfortunately, given the direction in which both countries (and their militaries) are heading, it could, in the relatively near future, become a grim reality. Michael T. Klare, a TomDispatch regular, is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author, most recently, of The Race for Whats Left. A documentary movie version of his book Blood and Oil is available from the Media Education Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @mklare1. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Tom Engelhardt's A Nation Unmade by War, as well as Alfred McCoy's In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, John Dower's The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, John Feffer's dystopian novel Splinterlands, and Nick Turse's Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead. This article was originally published by "TomDispatch" - Copyright 2018 Michael T. Klare June 19, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - May 5th, just after midnight, a Honduran woman named Ana Rivera and her five-year-old son, Jairo, tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. They were caught scaling a fence in El Paso, and spent the night in a holding cell at a U.S. Border Patrol station with other mothers and children, a group of about twenty-five people in all. On the afternoon of their second day in detention, two male agents entered the cell. They didnt say anything, Rivera told me. They just walked over and grabbed Jairo. It felt like my son was stuck to me. He clung to me, cried and screamed. They had to pull him away. She pleaded with the agents to tell her what was going on. The other women in the cell were too stunned to speak, Rivera told me. In the next few hours, the agents started taking other children, too. Eventually, the mothers were told that they would be reunited with their children after spending a few days in jail. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Nearly six weeks later, Rivera has not seen her son. Shortly after the Border Patrol agents took Jairo, she signed a voluntary-departure order, which fast-tracked her for deportation. Shed been confused, she told me, and thought that signing would allow her to see her son sooner. Instead, she was charged with illegal entry, held for a few days in criminal custody, in New Mexico, and then was sent to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center back in Texas. On Monday, I visited her in a small, unfurnished room with white cinderblock walls at the ICE Processing Center, in El Paso, where shes now waiting to be deported. Rivera, who is thirty-seven, wore a standard-issue orange jumpsuit and sneakers without laces. She seemed dazed. The day before her son was taken, she had been informed, after a mandatory physical, that she was two months pregnant. Shes been taking vitamin pills each day, courtesy of ICE. I dont care if they deport me, she said. What hurts me is my son. I need to be with him. During the first twelve days that she spent in federal custody, Rivera had no idea where her son was. She stopped eating, could barely sleep, and cried constantly. The stress was too much, she told me. No one could give her any information about her child, and she didnt have a lawyer to help her press the point. By the time that she arrived at the ICE facility, on May 18th, shed become so upset that she had trouble speaking. The Trump Administration has been separating parents and children at the border without any clear plan or protocol to keep track of them while theyre apart. Under its new zero-tolerance policy, parents are criminally prosecuted for illegally entering the U.S. and then are sent to ICE for detention and deportation, while their children, who are treated as though they came to the country alone, go into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (O.R.R.). Once the parent and child are apart, theyre on separate legal tracks, John Sandweg, the former acting head of ICE under President Barack Obama, told the Times. In the last month, the government has separated some twenty-three hundred children from their parents, who have mostly been forced to locate their kids on their own. One morning late last month, a few days after Rivera was transferred to the ICE facility in El Paso, another inmatea Guatemalan womanapproached her with an idea. She saw I was crying, and she said, Here, take this phone number and try calling it, Rivera said. The woman had been separated from her one-and-a-half-year-old child, and shed eventually found him with the help of an O.R.R. case manager in Chicago. Rivera didnt have enough money on her phone card to call, so the Guatemalan woman lent her some. I called the case manager, and asked if my son was with her, Rivera told me. The woman said to me, Thank God its you. Jairo is here. Ive been looking for his mom. Rivera began speaking with her son twice a week, for fifteen minutes at a time. When I asked her to elaborate, her face tightened, and she started to cry. Hes not the same as before, she said. He used to be more active, more spirited. Now hes sad all the time. Rivera gave the number of the O.R.R. case manager to her mother and older son, who both live in Honduras. They all call Jairo every week. That way, hes not alone, she said. Rivera has been growing increasingly frantic that she might get deported without him. Two weeks ago, she and nine other women at the El Paso Processing Center whod also been separated from their children decided to contact a local immigration lawyer named Linda Rivas, the executive director of the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. Rivas had been coming to the ICE facility to meet with another client, a Guatemalan asylum seeker whod been separated from her daughter. Rivera and the other women passed along their information to the Guatemalan woman, who relayed it to Rivas. Some of these women know where their kids are, some dont, Rivas told me. All of them handle the grief differently. Ana is especially traumatized. Shes pregnant and detained. And shes just miserable without her child. Because Rivera had already agreed to voluntary departure, there was little that Rivas could do to help her legally. But she decided to pressure Riveras deportation officer at ICE to hold off on deporting her until she could be reunited with her child. Theres no set policy for how to do this, Rivas said. It depends on who the individual deportation officer is and how willing he or she is to coordinate with a case worker at O.R.R. Fortunately, Riveras deportation officer seemed receptive. (While ICE granted me access to the facility to interview Rivera, it declined to make her deportation officer available to speak with me.) According to Rivera, Jairo left Chicago last week and was now in an O.R.R. facility near El Paso. She excitedly showed me the phone number of his new case managerit had an El Paso area code. Knowing that her son was close by lifted her spirits, even if she couldnt see him. But each call with him was taxing. I dont really know anything about him. I mean, I just know what they tell me, she said. My son says to me, Mom, come here and take me home. I dont like this! Rivera repeats what her deportation officer has said to her: Be patient. When I left the ICE facility, late on Monday afternoon, Rivera seemed to hover between expectancy and gloom. Her eyes darted as she talked. Why cant they just put me on a plane with my son? she said. Thats all I want. I want them to deport us right away. I want to get out of here fast. She added, But Ive told them, If you take me to the airport and my son isnt there, youll be killing me. That evening, I received a text message from Rivas, saying that Riveras deportation officer was trying to make arrangements to send mother and son home together. Its good news, she said. And I appreciate that. But until Ana and her son are on that plane together, we still cant be sure this is happening. Jonathan Blitzer is a staff writer at This article was originally published by "New Yorker" - June 19, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - When I was in Congress and had to regularly fly between DC and Texas, I was routinely subjected to invasive pat-downs (physical assaults) by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). One time, exasperated with the constant insults to my privacy and dignity, I asked a TSA agent if he was proud to assault innocent Americans for a living. I thought of this incident after learning that the TSA has been compiling a troublesome passengers list. The list includes those who have engaged in conduct judged to be offensive and without legal justification or disruptive of the safe and effective completion of screening. Libertarian journalist James Bovard recently pointed out that any woman who pushed a screeners hands away from her breasts could be accused of disrupting the safe and effective completion of screening. Passengers like me who have expressed offense at TSA screeners are likely on the troublesome passengers list. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Perhaps airline passengers should start keeping a list of troublesome TSA agents. The list could include those who forced nursing mothers to drink their own breast milk, those who forced sick passengers to dispose of cough medicine, and those who forced women they found attractive to go through a body scanner multiple times. The list would certainly include the agents who confiscated a wheelchair-bound three-year-olds beloved stuffed lamb at an airport and threatened to subject her to a pat-down. The girl, who was at the airport with her family to take a trip to Disney World, was filmed crying that she no longer wanted to go to Disney World. The TSA is effective at violating our liberty, but it is ineffective at protecting our security. Last year, the TSAs parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), conducted undercover tests of the TSAs ability or detect security threats at airports across the country. The results showed the TSA staff and equipment failed to uncover threats 80 percent of the time. This is not the first time the TSA has been revealed to be incompetent. An earlier DHS study fund TSA screenings and even the invasive pat-downs were utterly ineffective at finding hidden weapons. The TSAs security theater of treating every passenger as a criminal suspect while doing nothing to stop real threats is a rational response to the incentives the TSA faces as a government agency. If the TSA puts up an appearance of diligently working to prevent another 9/11 by inconveniencing and even assaulting as many travelers as possible, Congress will assume the agency is doing its job and keep increasing the TSAs budget. Because the TSA gets its revenue from Congress, not from airline passengers, the agency has no reason to concern itself with customer satisfaction and feels free to harass and assault people, as well as to make lists of people who stand up for their rights. Congress should end the TSAs monopoly on security by abolishing the agency and returning responsibility for security to the airlines. The airline companies can contract with private firms that provide real security without treating every passenger as a criminal suspect. A private security firm that assaults its customers while failing to detect real dangers would soon go out of business, whereas the TSA would likely have its budget and power increased if there was another attack on the US. If shutting down the TSA is too radical a step, Congress should at least allow individuals to sue TSA agents for assault. Anyone who has suffered unfair treatment by the TSA as a result of being put on the troublesome passengers list should also be able to seek redress in court. Making TSA agents subject to the rule of law is an important step toward protecting our liberty and security. This article was originally published by "RonPaul Institute" - June 19, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - There are signs that the long expected liberation of the Daraa region in southwest Syria is about to begin. After a month of negotiations between Russia, Israel, Jordan and the U.S. no peaceful solution has been found. The various terrorist forces in the (green) area, including al-Qaeda aligned HTS and groups loyal to the Islamic State, have rejected all negotiations. For over a month Russian negotiators tried to convince locals to give up and to reconcile with the government. But the hardliners under the rebels have killed anyone who talked with the Russians. The U.S. government has warned against a Daraa operation and threatened to intervene. First airstrikes were launched by the Syrian government today against villages in the eastern part of the Deraa area. Some local fighting is ongoing. This is not yet the expected all out attack on the 'rebel' held areas but the testing of enemy forces. The Syrian army has assembled a large force to liberate the southwest. It includes ten thousands of soldiers, more than 100 tanks and lots of artillery. Short range air defenses have been moved into the area to protect the Syrian troops. A well coordinated attack on several front and multiple axes should allow for a quick victory. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Israel, with U.S. backing, might intervene in such an operation even if it makes little sense to do so. The current state can not continue indefinitely. Any intervention might well lead to a war for which Israel is unprepared. The Syrian army is willing and able to hit back into Israel. After seven years of war it is not afraid of a fight. The Russian military is warning of a false-flag "chemical incident" in Deir Ezzor governorate. The Syrian Observatory reports that Islamic State remnants in the southeastern desert and in the Rukban camp, both under cover of the U.S. occupied zone around al-Tanf, prepare for a large attack on Syrian government forces. It claims that such an attack is an attempt to occupy the zone between al-Tanf and Albu Kamal at the Euphrates. Both operation would be planned diversions intended to draw Syrian forces away from Deraa and could provide excuses for U.S. intervention on the opposition side. Late Sunday an airstrike destroyed a building in the Harri area near Albu Kamal directly on the Syrian-Iraqi border. The building was used as a headquarter for the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) who are securing the border in coordination with the Syrian army in the fight against the Islamic State. More than 20 fighters were killed and more than 10 were wounded. This may have been in preparation for the reportedly planned large ISIS attack. The strike makes otherwise little military sense. The PMU are nominally under command of the Iraqi government. They used a house on the Syrian side, some 200 meters from the border, as there was no adequate space on the Iraqi side. While they may have Iranian support and may help the Syrian army in some of its operations they are neither Iranian troops nor do they belong to the Lebanese Hezbullah. The Syrian government accused the U.S. of having attacked the building. One U.S. source claims to CNN that the Israeli air-force attacked the site. I doubt that this is true. The U.S. has previously attacked Syrian government aligned forces in the area. It obviously continues to use ISIS to disrupt Syrian army operations. But as the U.S. needs Iraq it can not admit that it hit Iraqi forces. That would practically guarantee that the incoming Iraqi government would tell it to leave. It might have asked Israel to provide a cover for the strike. Technically Israel could have done the attack. It would have needed tanker support and Jordanian compliance for overflight. Over the weekend Netanyahoo announced that Israel would hit Iranian forces all over Syria. But even CNN notes that the strike is untypical for Israel and does not make any sense. Whoever committed the strike did so in an airspace that is controlled by the U.S. military. The leaders of the PMU in Iraq will use it to rally their forces against any U.S. bases in the country. In north Syria Turkey is continuing its colonization of Syrian towns and regions. Turkish post offices, Turkish teachers, policemen and imans are pushing the population to adopt Turkish culture. It will more difficult to dislodge than the few thousand 'rebels' in the Deraa region. Haley says organization makes a mockery of human rights June 19, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The Trump administration withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday, making good on a pledge to leave a body it accused of hypocrisy and criticized as biased against Israel. For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, said Tuesday at the State Department in Washington. She said the decision was an affirmation of U.S. respect for human rights, a commitment that does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights. The 47-member council, created in 2006 and based in Geneva, began its latest session on Monday with a broadside against President Donald Trumps immigration policy by the UNs high commissioner for human rights. He called the policy of separating children from parents crossing the southern border illegally unconscionable. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The Trump administration is under intense criticism from business groups, human rights organizations and lawmakers from both parties over the recently imposed policy. In the Works While that timing was jarring, the U.S. withdrawal had been in the works for some time. National Security Adviser John Bolton had also opposed the bodys creation when he was U.S. ambassador to the UN in 2006. Current Ambassador Haley warned a year ago that the U.S. would pull out if the council didnt address what she saw as its bias toward Israel and the fact that many of its current members -- they include China, Saudi Arabia and Egypt -- have poor human rights records themselves. Condemning the planned withdrawal from the UN group, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the decision sends a clear message that the Trump administration does not intend to lead the world when it comes to human rights. The council also has been a forum for criticism of Trumps economic policies. In a report on the U.S. due to be submitted to the Human Rights Council this week, Philip Alston, the UNs rapporteur on poverty, said the presidents tax overhaul overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and worsened inequality. The report says that while the U.S. has long been the most unequal among developed nations, its getting worse under Trump. The policies pursued over the past year seem deliberately designed to remove basic protections from the poorest, it said. Calls to Revamp Even some critics of the human rights council have called for continuing to push for a revamping of the body rather than quitting it. On the opening day of the councils current session, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson criticized the bodys perennial agenda item dedicated to Israel and the Palestinian territories, calling it damaging to the cause of peace. Nonetheless, he said the U.K. wasnt blind to the value of this council. The council is scheduled to discuss Israel and the Palestinian territories on July 2, according to its agenda. The Trump administrations withdrawal is a sad reflection of its one-dimensional human rights policy -- defending Israeli abuses from criticism takes precedence above all else, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth said in a statement. Other governments will have to redouble their efforts to ensure the council addresses the worlds most serious human rights problems. With assistance by Margaret Talev The Pentagons Strategy for World Domination: Full Spectrum Dominance, from Asia to Africa By Bruce K. Gagnon The Pentagons missile system. August 27, 2014 " ICH " - " PIPR " - - Current US military space policy is primarily geared toward two countries, China and Russia. In May 2000 the Washington Post published an article called For Pentagon, Asia Moving to Forefront. The article stated that, The Pentagon is looking at Asia as the most likely arena for future military conflict, or at least competition. The article said the US would double its military presence in the region and essentially attempt to manage China. The Pentagon has become the primary resource extraction service for corporate capital. Whether it is Caspian Sea oil and natural gas, rare earth minerals found in Africa, Libyas oil deposits, or Venezuelan oil, the USs increasingly high-tech military is on the case. President Obamas former National Security Adviser, Gen. James Jones had previously served as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. In 2006, Gen. Jones told the media, NATO is developing a special plan to safeguard oil and gas fields in the [Caspian Sea] region. Our strategic goal is to expand to Eastern Europe and Africa. In a past quadrennial National Intelligence Strategy report, former U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair claimed that Russia may continue to seek avenues for reasserting power and influence in ways that complicate U.S. interests[and] China competes for the same resources the United States needs, and is in the process of rapidly modernizing its military. Using NATO as a military tool, the US is now surrounding Russia and easily dragged the supposedly European-based alliance into the Afghanistan war and Libya attack. The US is turning NATO into a global military alliance, even to be used in the Asian-Pacific region. ENERGY & MISSILE OFFENSE In mid-March of 2009 the Pentagons Missile Defense Agency (MDA) held a conference in Washington. At that meeting Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) stated, Missile defense is an important element of our nations defense. For example, it is a high priority to field effective defenses for our forward-deployed forces against the many hundreds of existing short- and medium-range missiles. Patriot missiles. The Obama administration is currently deploying missile defense (MD) systems in Turkey, Romania, Poland and on Navy destroyers entering the Black Sea. The NATO military noose is tightening around Russia. Russia has the worlds largest deposits of natural gas and significant supplies of oil. The US has recently built military bases in Romania and Bulgaria and will soon be adding more in Albania. NATO has expanded eastward into Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, right on Russias border. Georgia, Ukraine, Sweden and Finland are also on the list to become members of the cancerous NATO. An Indian journalist observes, The arc of encirclement of Russia gets strengthened. NATO ties facilitate the [eventual] deployment of the US missile defense system in Georgia. The US aims to have a chain of countries tied to partnerships with NATO brought into its missile defense system stretching from its allies in the Baltic to those in Central Europe. The ultimate objective of this is to neutralize the strategic capability of Russia and China and to establish its nuclear superiority. The National Defense Strategy document, issued by the Pentagon on July 31, 2008, portrays Washingtons perception of a resurgent Russia and a rising China as potential adversaries. Just as we have seen the balkanization of Yugoslavia, Libya, and Iraq by US-NATO it appears that the same strategy has been developed for Russia. With NATOs continuing military encirclement of Russia the plan appears to be to draw Moscow into a military quagmire in Ukraine that will weaken that nation. The Rand Corporation has studies that call for the break-up of Russia into many smaller pieces thus giving western corporations better access to the vast resource base available there. The recent announcement by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) that they have created a $100 billion international development bank to rival the IMF and World Bank has angered western corporate controlled governments who dont want any challenge to their management of the global economy. Directly after the BRICS announcement we witnessed an escalation of the US-NATO funded and directed civil war in Ukraine. The Harper government is now recommending that Canada join the US missile defense program. Canadian military corporations are itching to open the flood gates to the national treasury the profits from a junior partnership with the US in an arms race in space are too much to pass up. But first more cuts must be made to the Canadian national health care program and other valuable social welfare programs. In the US the military industrial complex has targeted the entitlement programs Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and what is left of welfare for defunding to help pay for the expensive military space technology agenda. Canada has also undertaken the construction of armed combat vessels at the Irving Shipyard in Halifax. This $25 billion program, the largest military appropriation in Canadian history, was supported by every political party in the country. Why does Canada need such a monumental war ship building program? THE NAVYS EXPANDING ROLE As ice melts in the Arctic, the US Navy anticipates that it will have to increase its presence in the region to protect shipping. Over the past 25 years, the Arctic has seen a 40% reduction in ice as a result of global warming. Maines Independent Senator Angus King recently wrote gas and oil reserves that were previously inaccessible will soon be available for extraction. Last spring Sen. King took a ride on a US nuclear submarine under the Arctic ice. Also along for the ride was Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations, who told the New York Times: We need to be sure that our sensors, weapons and people are proficient in this part of the world, so that we can own the undersea domain and get anywhere there. A new Navy report called US Navy Arctic Roadmap: 2014-2030 states: Ice in the Arctic has been receding faster than we previously thoughtand offers an increase in activity. The Arctic region holds a plethora of undiscovered fossil fuels and natural resources, including an estimated 90 billion barrels of oil, 1,669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids, the roadmap says. The report warns that the Navy will face serious logistical challenges and will need to examine ways to distribute fuel in the region to air and surface platforms. Operating bases will be needed to host deployed military personnel. Partnerships with nations that border the Arctic and more warships will be needed to ensure that the undersea resources are kept in the hands of US-NATO and away from competitors like Russia. US Secretary of War Chuck Hagel stated in late 2013 that, By taking advantage of multilateral training opportunities with partners in the region, we will enhance our cold-weather operational experience, and strengthen our military-to-military ties with other Arctic nations. SCUPPERING PEACE President Obama has in the past called for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The Russians, watching an advancing NATO and MD deployments near their borders, are telling the world that any real hopes for serious nuclear weapons reductions are in jeopardy. Russia and China attempt to prohibit space weapons at the United Nations. Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev delivered the opening address at the Overcoming Nuclear Dangers conference in Rome on April 16, 2009. He noted, Unless we address the need to demilitarize international relations, reduce military budgets, put an end to the creation of new kinds of weapons and prevent weaponization of outer space, all talk about a nuclear-weapon-free world will be just inconsequential rhetoric. The entire US military empire is tied together using space technology. With military satellites in space the US can see virtually everything on the Earth, can intercept all communications on the planet, and can target virtually any place at any time. Russia and China understand that the US military goal is to achieve full spectrum dominance on behalf of corporate capital. Using new space technologies to coordinate and direct modern warfare also enables the military industrial complex to reap massive profits as it constructs the architecture for what the aerospace industry claims will be the largest industrial project in Earth history. TARGET: ASIA The deployment of Navy Aegis destroyers in the Asian-Pacific region, with MD interceptors on-board, ostensibly to protect against North Korean missile launches, gives the US greater ability to launch preemptive first-strike attacks on China. The US now has 30 ground-based MD interceptors deployed in South Korea. Many peace activists there maintain that the ultimate target of these systems is not North Korea, but China and Russia. Europes leaders are complicit in Full Spectrum Dominance. The current US military expansion underway in Hawaii, South Korea, Japan, Guam, Okinawa, Taiwan, Australia, Philippines and other Pacific nations is indeed a key strategy in this offensive pivot to control China. An additional US goal is to have the host countries make significant contributions toward helping the Pentagon cover the cost of this massively expensive escalation. For many years the US Space Command has been annually war gaming a first-strike attack on China. Set in the year 2017 the Pentagon first launches the military space plan that flies through the heavens and unleashes a devastating first-strike attack on Chinas nuclear forces part of the new Global Strike program. In the war game China then attempts to launch a retaliatory strike with its tens of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the west coast of the continental US. But US missile defense systems, currently deployed in Japan, South Korea, Australia, Guam and Taiwan, help take out Chinas disabled nuclear response. Peaceful protestors, Japan. Obamas former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates comments were quite revealing in 2009 when he said, Were converting more Navy Aegis ships to have ballistic missile defense that would help against China. Missile defense, sold to the public as a purely defensive system, is really designed by the Pentagon to be the shield after the first-strike sword has lunged into the heart of a particular nations nuclear arsenal. Living in Bath, Maine, I have a special perspective on this US-China military competition. In my town, the Navy builds the Aegis destroyers that are outfitted with MD systems. Congressional leaders from my state maintain that more Pentagon funds for Aegis shipbuilding are needed to contain China. Renowned author Noam Chomsky says US foreign and military policy is now all about controlling most of the worlds oil supply as a lever of world domination. One way to keep Europe, China, India and other emerging markets dependent on the US and in sync with its policies is to maintain control of the fossil fuel supply theyre reliant on. Even as the US economy is collapsing, the Pentagon appears to be saying, whoever controls the keys to the worlds economic engine still remains in charge. China, for example, imports up to 80% of its oil on ships through the Yellow Sea. If any competitor nation was able to militarily control that transit route and choke off Chinas oil supply, its economy could be held hostage. One is able to see how the Pentagon will use the South Korean Navy base on Jeju Island, now being constructed despite a seven-year determined non-violent campaign opposing the base, to support the potential coastal blockade of China. Victim of US nuclear weapons: Hiroshima, 1945. Victim of Anglo-American nuclear weapons: Fallujah, 2004. CONCLUSIONS For many years Russia and China have introduced resolutions at the UN calling for negotiations on a new treaty that would ban weapons in space. Since the mid-80s every UN member nation has supported the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) resolution, with the exception of the US, Israel, and Micronesia. This was true during the Clinton presidency as well as during the reign of George W. Bush and now under Obama as well. A full-blown arms race between the US, Russia and China will be a disaster for the world and would make life on Earth less secure. At the very time that global resources are urgently needed to deal with the coming harsh realities of climate change and growing poverty, we can hardly afford to see more money wasted on the further militarization of space and greater superpower conflict. The Pentagon actually has the largest carbon boot print on the planet. The US insisted that the Pentagon be excluded from the Kyoto climate change protocols and refused to sign the agreements unless the Pentagon was exempted. As the US undertakes arming the world to the benefit of corporate globalization our local communities have become addicted to military spending. As we oppose the aggressive US military empire overseas we must also talk about the job issue back at home. Calling for conversion of the military industrial complex, demanding that our industrial base be transformed to create a renewable energy infrastructure for the 21st century, helps us come into coalition with weapons production workers who must now support the killing machine if they hope to feed their families. UK Ministry of Defence warns of new technologies potential to trigger a doomsday scenario. Studies have long shown that conversion from military production to creating needed systems like rail, solar or wind turbines not only help deal with the challenges of climate change but also create many more jobs. Its ultimately a question about the soul of the nation what does it say about us as a people when we continue to build weapons to kill people around the world so workers can put food on the table back home? What is needed now more than ever is unified global campaigning across issue lines. Peace, social justice, environment, labor and other movements must work harder to link our issues and build integrated grassroots movements against the destructive power of the corporate oligarchies that run most of our western governments. The rush to privatize social welfare and the privatization of foreign and military policy must be challenged if we are to successfully protect the future generations. Bruce K. Gagnon is the Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and is author of the book Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire. He lives in Bath, Maine. www.space4peace.org President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, June 20, signed 2018 Budget into law. However, the president has revealed that the National Assembly increased its own Budget by 14.5 billion Naira, from 125 billion Naira to 139.5 billion Naira, without any discussion with the Executive. Buhari made this claim via his official Twitter handle, saying he had to sign the budget regardless, so as not to further slow down the pace of recovery of the Nigerian economy, which has no doubt been affected by the long delay in passing the budget. See what he wrote The @nassnigeria increased its own Budget by 14.5 billion Naira, from 125 billion Naira to 139.5 billion Naira, without any discussion with the Executive. #Budget2018 Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) June 20, 2018 These alterations, and @AsoRocks observations notwithstanding, President @MBuhari has decided to go ahead and sign #Budget2018 so as not to further slow down the pace of recovery of the Nigerian economy, which has no doubt been affected by the long delay in passing the budget. Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) June 20, 2018 Meanwhile the presidency says it plans to remedy some of the most critical of these budget alterations through a supplementary and/or amendment budget And hopes that the National Assembly will expeditiously consider and approve this budget when it is presented, for the good of Nigeria. There is definitely nothing wrong with striving to look and behave like your role model but when that person always wears a mask and you are a student, this may be a difficult task to sustain. A student journalist landed in trouble for attempting to look like his role model, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, the famous Ghanaian-masked investigative reporter. The student who is a 200 level student of Department of Mass Communication, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Anambra State, Nigeria, walked into the hall for his exam in a mask covering his face just like Anas. The boy who says Anas the Ghanaian masked journalist is his idol and role model insisted that he must take one of his exams looking like the journalist he wants to be like in future. His classmates were stunned when they saw him looking like the journalist he keeps telling them he would like to follow in his footsteps. The joke ended when examiners walked into the hall and saw him sitting like a student-masquerade. They immediately ordered him to leave the class or they will invite the school security. As he delayed, one of the staff dragged him up and pushed him out of the class because he was delaying the commencement of the class exam. The photos were captured by someone whom the masked student had told to snap him as he sat in class looking like his role model. That joke was short-lived as he was chased out of the hall still wearing the mask while some of his classmates laughed hysterically. Hauwa Indimi, daughter of billionaire businessman, Mohammed Indimi, will be getting married to her man, Muhammad YarAdua in a few days time. Their wedding will be taking place at the brides fathers compound in Maiduguri, Borno state. Below are some of the pre-wedding photos released. Mohammad, son of late NNPC Managing Director, Abubakar Yar Adua, will be marrying Hauwa Indimi in July 2018. Mohammed who is in his late 20s once dated Fatima Indimi, his fiancees sister. One of those who feel awkward about an ex coming back to their family to pick another sister of theirs is Rahmayi Indimi. Taking to Instagram to express her displeasure, Rahmayi who is former wife to Mohammed Babangida, wrote: I USUALLY MIND MY BUSINESS AND DONT COMMENT, THIS IS SO F-K, HES AN EX FOR A REASON AND NOW YOU WILL GO AND BRING THE FK BACK TO MY LIFE.NAHHHH.I WONT SUPPORT IT.THERES A CODE FOR THIS.FRIENDS AND FAMILY EXS SHOULD BE OFF THE TABLE. MY OPINION SHA.. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the death sentence passed on five (5) Christian youths in Adamawa, who allegedly killed a herdsman. According to the Christian body, though it is not in support of jungle justice or any criminality, many Christians have been killed and still getting killed by some criminals parading themselves as Fulani herdsmen but none of them is yet to be apprehended. It wrote; According to reports, Justice Abdul-Azeez Waziri of a High Court in Adamawa State, recently sentenced Alex Amos, Alheri Phanuel, Holy Boniface, Jerry Gideon and Jari Sabagi to death for culpable homicide. The convicts were said to have allegedly on June 1, 2017, at Kadamun village in Demsa Local Government Area willfully and intentionally conspired and attacked three herdsmen rearing cattle, killing one of them, Adamu Buba, whose body they threw into a river and also maimed several cows. While CAN is not supporting jungle justice or any criminality, we note with regret how hundreds of our members in Southern Kaduna, Benue, Taraba and Plateau States in the North-central geo-political zones, and a state like Enugu in the South, have been killed and are still being killed on a daily basis by some criminals parading themselves as Fulani herdsmen but none of them is yet to be apprehended. We recall with sadness how President Donald Trump had expressed sadness over killings of Christians in Nigeria and even told President Muhammadu Buhari, when he recently visited the White House in Washington DC, that the United States of America would no longer tolerate a situation where Christians are being killed with impunity. CAN added that is is shocked at the speed of light deployed by security and judicial officers in sentencing the alleged killers of the herdsman in Adamawa State, but nothing has been done to the killers of Madam Bridget Agbahime, Elisha Olawale and many more. The Federal Government is making final preparation to disburse $322 million fund repatriated from the accounts of former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha in Switzerland to Nigerians. The National Coordinator of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), Nigeria and Special Assistant to the President on Justice Reforms, Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu disclosed this recently in an interactive session with newsmen. Ibekeaku-Nwagwu said under MoU with Switzerland the funds would be paid directly into the accounts of the poorest Nigerians through their various accounts for two years and identification numbers to be made available on the website being developed by the National Social Investment office and the World Bank. She solicited the patience of Nigerians, explaining that the agencies working on the modalities would brief the public on June 28, adding that the process for the payment will be transparent for civil society and the media to monitor. She said despite oppositions against the MoU from within and outside government, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN) and his team have pursued President Muhammadu Buharis agenda of ensuring that the $322m was returned for deployment in the social safety nets project, which would make targeted transfers to the poor and vulnerable households. The poorest members of the community will be registered online, and before you make any payment, they must have an ID number so that every payment would be tracked. No amount will be paid out without a joint signature between Nigeria and the World Bank and without identification of individuals, she said. Ibekeaku-Nwagwu said President Buharis commitment to the Open Government Partnership during the London Summit in 2016 has enhanced transparency and accountability in government budgeting and contracting, adding that If there is anything we have achieved its about getting Nigerian citizens to become conscious about what is happening with their money. Leave a Comment comments The Police in Lagos have arrested one Asabor Joel, for impersonating Senator Andy Uba with the aim of defrauding unsuspecting victims on Facebook. Police sources said the suspect had smartly opened a facebook account with the Senators photograph and entered into chats with unsuspecting job seekers where he allegedly asked them to pay certain amount of money to be able to secure employment in one of the oil companies. It was gathered that the arrest which was effected on Monday, June 18, 2018 at Oghara, Delta State by crack detectives attached to Area D Command Headquarters Mushin after one Charles Asugha on behalf of one Chinelo Nnedimma petitioned the police. Joel successfully milked the complainant of the sum of N300,000.00. He directed her to contact another lawmaker named Nkiruka for further discussion with a view to getting more money from her adding that it was based on a developing twists and turns in the whole deal that raised the suspicion of the victim. The petitioner alleged that sometime in December 2017, one Andy Uba who presented himself as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, informed via facebook assured and promised her a Direct reference as the Sales Manager of NNPC so that she can obtain the requisition form of NNPC recruiting form. He also sent a reference code via Facebook RB344/SV55700, promising the complainant that one Honorably Nkiru with telephone number 08118689670 will call her and assist her with the process of registration in securing the job. He also promised a recommendation letter to the office of the Honorable Nkiru so as to secure a job for the complainant by virtue of his recommendation as a Senator, instructing her to make sure she remitted every necessary details and information through Honorably Nkiru. He advised the complainant to purchase the NNPC recruitment scheme form sold for N35,350 together with the processing and a three-month training the complainant needs to undergo, after which she would be paid at the end of the training and thereafter , start work at NNPC with a monthly pay of N850,000. The complainant in the petition stated that the supposed Honorable Nkiru , contacted her with the telephone number given by Senator Andy Uba and allegedly collected N300,000 from her. A breakdown of the amount collected according to her included : N38,850 paid for the form, N28,500 paid as acceptance fee, N45,850 for insurance and N220,000 for international passport. However , she stated that she became suspicious when she was told to pay additional N45,000 payment for visa a police source said Confirming his arrest, the Lagos State Police public relations officer, CSP Chike Oti, said the suspect would be charged to court after investigation have been concluded. Leave a Comment comments A facebook user identified as Chizoba Miracle Emenaha, has taken to the platform to call out her aunt who she claimed maltreated and denied her sound education. According to her post, her Dad took her to stay with her aunt after the death of her mother to get home training. She revealed she was labeled a bad omen after her aunt got robbed the first day she got to her house. Her aunt consequently refused to register her in school, giving excuses that it is not everybody that will go to school. She wrote: This for my aunt..last born to my father.. I will call her by her name because I have a lot of bitterness for her in my heart, and because of what she did..Im yet to forgive everyone who played one or two roles in it.. De Gladys as you are called.. I will first start by telling you.You will not MAKE HEAVEN!!!! You say you are a Christian but you are a wicked human, soooooo wicked that even the devil is learning from you You see Im writing this now because Im free from you and everyone who would try to hold me back or punish me like you do in those days.. I will now start My dad brought me to your house because to him he said he wanted me to get home training.. First I was deceived into it . I was told It was jus t for a holidaynot knowing you two had it all planned.. I arrived your home, My first night in your house arm robbers visited your house.. That became the beginning of my ordeal because you wont end any of your sentence without reminding me Im a misfortune, a bad omen whom on her first night in your house brought thieves I stayed with you. To enroll me in school became a big deal for you.. Finally when you did,it was a local school in an uncompleted building attended by house helps.. Even at that you wont allow me go to school.. I will wake up as early as 4am sometimes 3am to Prepare what your kids will eat.. Go to the shop,shade your goods Prepare your kids for school. Take them to school.. Then come back to Go In Search of firewood I will use to cook at night .. While you sleep.. You have the money to buy as many litres of kerosene as you want.. But because of wickedness you turned me to a slave Before I could finish with the days runs.. Its 10am.. Some days you allow me to go to school.. Other days you tell me not to go because its late that I should go to he shop and stay while you enter your room to sleep.. Is it the days you beat me at every slightest provocation.. You flog me to the extent I start crying even without been hit.. I talk to myself and lament out of all the mothers why will it be my own mom that should die.. You made me which death for myself.. When you noticed I always talk to myself.. You called my dad and told him I was possessed He believed you his dearest last Born. It it when I started growing Breast.. You noticed because I was using my scarf to tie my breast while going to school to avoid other students from teasing and laughing at my pointed nipple.. When you saw I started growing breast instead of you to get me a new bra.. You gave me one of your old red worn out bra.. The bra wasnt even holding anything.. But I have no choice. And that was the only bra I owned.. Is it days you will starve me, when you finally manage to give me #10 fufu,you will tell me to share it the ekuke dog living with your family.. Is it the day I was to take my last exam in ss1.. You told me to take your kids for their graduation party and leave my exam.. I suggested I take your kids to school then go write my exam since my school was close to your kids school.. You insisted I forget my exam and stay with your kids at their graduation party.. Because to you my future doesnt matter All you know is your own kids. Through out my stay in your house you never bought me one single dress.. Rather you gave me your oversized worn out dresses People around always asked if Im sure Im truly related to you because of your harsh treatment towards me.. When its time for me to write waec.. You told me its not everybody that will go to school.. You knew I was brilliant.. Even with the number of days I manage to go to school I still take the second position which always leave you amazed.. But when it was time for me to get waec form.. Instead of you to buy the form for this girl who labours day and night for your familys upkeep You told me its its not everybody that will go to school.. I should learn sowing.. Even when I agreed to learn sowing you never registered me.. You kept postponing it.. Till I received sense and found out you were out to waste my life I ran away..I ran for my future.. Maybe its something my late mom did to you. Maybe she offended you and you swore to pay back.. Just maybe.. Cos till today I cant fathom the wickedness.. Or you were simply been too wicked in nature. When I left your house You told my dad I stole from you Without pointing one particular thing I stole. You labelled me a thief.. Well my dad believed you.. Because right from day one my dad never believed in me.. Today I found out all your kids attended and still attending one of the best secondary schools in town and others in tertiary institutions.. And Im thinking.. Why didnt you enrol them in sowing training without getting their school cert just like you suggested to me.. I left your house seeing my monthly period but you never noticed, because each time I try to talk to you about something concerning my body You will say Ive started seeing man You damaged a huge part of my life and the damage hasnt left me.. Because of things I went through in your hands and more.. I begged God to keep me alive to train my kids to adulthood or take me when I havent brought any child to this life.because I wouldnt wish want them to pass through half of what I went through as a motherless child.. If my mom was alive You dare not!!! You claim to be a born again Christian, a virtuous woman.. Well laugh and I still tell you.. YOU WONT MAKE HEAVEN.. If you could treat a motherless child the way you maltreated me.. Then Heaven is clearly not for you.. Blessing Chidera Make sure your mom reads this. My dad will also read.. Maybe he will start understanding why I distant myself from home a times.. Things like this are what I remember and I become sad at everyone. Goes to sleep A Nigerian man took up the responsibility of helping Dele Momodus friend who sells newspapers, who hit popularity after a photo, he took with Dele Momodu hit the internet. The Nigerian social media was set ablaze after Ovation owner, shared a photo of himself and his newspaper vendor friend. Many Nigerians lambasted the media mogul, for what they termed wickedness on Mr Momodus part. The commenters were of the view that Dele Momodu is not a good friend for leaving his friend of 20 years in poverty. However, a Nigerian man with the Twitter handle, @Naira4Dollar jumped on the heat of the news, and donated an unnamed sum to the old newspaper vendor. He shared photos of him and the old man, as he handed the vendor some cash. See photo and what he shared via Twitter below Punch President Muhammadu Buhari has finally signed the 2018 Appropriation Act. Vanguard Seeks Stronger Security, Economic Cooperation President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday addressed the Upper Chamber of the Russian Parliament known as the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, in Moscow The Sun Tragedy struck at Akpata Street in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State, on Monday night, as a family of seven were said to have been wiped off by generator fume. The family was said to have put on a generator in their kitchen and left it running throughout the night. Thisday The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the presidency moved swiftly Tuesday to deny media reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had called the bluff of the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) bloc of the ruling party that had declared a dispute, claiming it had been marginalised in the prevailing power sharing arrangement. Daily Times The Democratic Front (DF), a pressure group in the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has alleged that Comrade Adams Oshiomole, the front runner for the national chairmanship of the party has entered into an unholy pact with the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Guardian Atiku vows to fight dictatorship Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday said he was ready to face and fight dictatorship and anti-democratic forces in the country. Daily Trust The Federal Government has mandated all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to authenticate all Tax Clearance Certificates (TCCs) presented by companies and individuals engaged in public procurement processes. Leadership The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) has commended the federal governments decision to shut down a neighbouring country through which rice is smuggled on a large scale into Nigeria. Tribune KOGI State Governor, Yahaya Bello has been tasked to embrace the political family of late Prince Abubakar Audu in moving the state forward. The Nation Ninety-four ranches are on the way in 10 states prone to herdsmen/farmers clashes. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 20) Supreme Court cases with a close result particularly those where ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno gave a deciding vote can now be questioned, two lawyers said on Wednesday. This comes after the high court affirmed its ruling unseating Sereno as the country's top judge on Tuesday. The decision, favoring a quo warranto petition, effectively ruled that Sereno's appointment in 2012 was invalid. The controversial case has raised concern on what will become of the cases handled by Sereno over the course of six years. "If I am party to a case and I know the voting is so close and there is only one difference, and that difference is Atty. Lourdes Sereno, then I might question it," Al Vitangcol, lawyer of impeachment complainant Larry Gadon, told CNN Philippines' The Source. Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) President Abdiel Fajardo agreed. One such case, he pointed out, was the decision on the Filipino citizenship of Senator and then-Presidential candidate Grace Poe, where Sereno's vote was a tiebreaker. "I'd say it's possible and even probable, especially in those cases where the decision was closely divided," said Fajardo. "But there's always a defense, the de facto doctrine." The May 11 decision ousting Sereno referred to her as a "de facto Chief Justice," which Fajardo says allows for all the decisions she penned to still hold weight. "Under the de facto officer doctrine, the court will say even if you are a usurper, all acts done when in office have a color of title," Fajardo explained. "There's a legality to it, therefore all those decisions will stand." What to call Sereno? The two lawyers also discussed Sereno's appropriate title after the high court said it does not recognize that she ever legtimately held the position at all. READ: What's next for ousted Chief Justice Sereno? "She can never use the title 'Former Chief Justice because she was never appointed,'" said Vitangcol. "She should be addressed merely as Atty. Lourdes Sereno." Fajardo agreed that the net effect of the Supreme Court decision was that although Sereno was Chief Justice for six years "she was not really sitting there" during all those years. He said he disagrees with the decision and would personally still use the title former Chief Justice "as a matter of courtesy." "This actually highlights the absurdity and the ignominy of this decision," Fajardo added. "We will continue to advocate that this particular decision is a blot in the history of the Supreme Court and has to be corrected in some other case." But he said, "We have to face the reality that majority of the court has spoken." Apart from Sereno's camp, the IBP also filed a motion for reconsideration when the Supreme Court first decided to oust her. Watch the full interview here. Reno Omokri, has reacted to plans reportedly underway by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to recruit repentant Boko Haram members into the police. Omokri made his stance known via his Twitter handle on Wednesday, adding that, he is glad the Christian Association of Nigeria has rejected the evil plan. Im shocked at plans by the Buhari govt to recruit repentant Boko Haram members into the police. Thank God the Christian Association of Nigeria has rejected the evil plan. How can terrorists police us? Next, Buhari will recruit herdsmen in the army if he hasnt already done so! Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) June 20, 2018 According to Goodluck Jonathans former media aide, graduates who went to school for 17 years and served Nigeria for one year through the NYSC are unemployed, yet president Buhari wants to recruit repentant Boko Haram that he wants to recruit into the police. Graduates who went to school for 17 years and served Nigeria for one year through the NYSC are unemployed and Buhari has not thought it wise to fulfil his promise of job seekers allowance to them, yet its repentant Boko Haram that he wants to recruit into the police! God forbid! Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) June 20, 2018 Must President Buhari show his open bias in favour of one religion over the other? What is this madness of recruiting Boko Haram into the police? Will @realDonaldTrump or @theresa_may ask their police to recruit former jihadists or alqaeda? We must reject this devilish plan! Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) June 20, 2018 10 million Nigerians lost their jobs under Buhari according to NBS, yet it is repentant Boko Haram Buhari wants to employ in the police! Not enough land for Nigerians to farm, yet its herdsmen who kill Nigerians that Buhari wants to build cattle colony for with taxpayer fund! Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) June 20, 2018 He also took a swipe at vice president Yemi Osinbajo for staying aloof, as Buharis admin, which is yet to convict one herdsman, sentenced 5 Christians for killing the herdsmen that raided their village and killed 48 people. He wrote; SINGAPORE - June 20, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Zilliqa, one of the leading companies solving the issue of blockchain scalability, has announced the details of a $5 million grant program for teams and individual developers to build utilities and apps that will help power a new class of high-speed and secure blockchain applications in payments, finance, gaming, digital advertising, media, and more. The ultimate goal of the program is to accelerate the development of new applications on their open source technology platform. Zilliqa is a project that has brought together leading academics, engineers, and entrepreneurs with the goal of building a better blockchain infrastructure that is scalable and secure. Since launching in 2017, the company has built the first blockchain platform that uses the technology of sharding to enable increasing throughput as the network expands. In addition, Zilliqa also looks to fix major security issues with existing smart contracts, which the company is doing by introducing a new, intermediate-level smart contract language called Scilla, that will allow developers to more easily write secure smart contract applications. To encourage the development and adoption of applications that are built on their platform the company has announced the details of the Zilliqa Ecosystem Grant Programme - a pool of $5 million USD equivalent that will be given to great projects, teams, and individuals to start building tools and applications for the Zilliqa platform. "We have built a very strong community of technical people around Zilliqa," said En Hui Ong, Head of Business Development with Zilliqa. "We would like to encourage our community and anyone else who is interested in our vision to contribute to our platform - which is open source and open for anyone to use for developing secure, high-throughput smart contract applications." The program to build on Zilliqa will offer developers non-dilutive funding, technical support, and the opportunity to be featured on the Zilliqa website and highlighted in the community. The company provides a list of suggested projects and Dapps they are looking for, but anyone is open to suggesting anything that will ultimately contribute to the overall Zilliqa open source community. Interested parties can submit applications starting today. To learn more view the announcement on the Zilliqa blog at: https://blog.zilliqa.com/buildonzil-introducing-the-zilliqa-ecosystem-grant-programme-6ccb98892712 More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp OTTAWA - June 20, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Today, the Government of Canada welcomed the final vote on Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, in the Senate as an important step in the process of legalizing and strictly regulating cannabis in Canada. The Act is currently awaiting Royal Assent. Two years ago, the Government of Canada launched the Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation. Following extensive consultation with Canadians, provincial and territorial governments and Indigenous communities, the Task Force presented recommendations, which have served as the foundation for the Government's legislative work. In April 2017, the Government introduced Bill C-45 with the goals of keeping cannabis out of the hands of youth and keeping profits out of the hands of criminals and organized crime. The Ministers of Justice, Health, and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness also confirmed that the date of coming into force of the Cannabis Act will be announced shortly. Once the Act comes into force, adults who are 18 or 19 years of age and older (depending on the province or territory) will be able to legally purchase, grow and use a limited quantity of cannabis. Until that time, cannabis remains illegal in Canada, unless authorized for medical or scientific purposes. During the transition period between now and the coming into force of the Cannabis Act, the Government of Canada will continue to work with the provinces and territories, Indigenous communities, the regulated cannabis industry and law enforcement to prepare for implementation of the new legal framework for cannabis. In the coming days, Health Canada will publish final regulations under the Cannabis Act to provide Canadians and stakeholders with the information they need to be prepared for the legalization and regulation of cannabis. The Government of Canada will broaden its public education activities to help Canadians understand the new legal framework for cannabis, including what will be legal and when, and to remind Canadians that it remains illegal to take cannabis across Canada's international borders. These efforts will complement existing campaigns on the health effects of cannabis and the dangers of driving and working while impaired. Quotes "I am proud of the work accomplished by our Government, Parliamentarians, and all Canadians who contributed to this important shift in our country's approach to cannabis. Our goals are to protect our youth from the health and safety risks of using cannabis and keep criminals and organized crime from profiting from its production, distribution and sale." The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada "Yesterday's vote in the Senate on Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, marks the next step in our Government's commitment to legalizing and strictly regulating cannabis. Our public health approach will better protect our youth, displace the illegal market, and provide adults with a legal source of quality-controlled cannabis. Public education will remain a cornerstone of our efforts to help Canadians get the facts on cannabis and make informed choices." The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor Minister of Health "The Cannabis Act will help keep cannabis out of the hands of our kids and the profits out of the hands of organized crime. We recognize that we are in a transition period until the new law comes into force. Until then, police will continue to enforce current laws on the possession, production and distribution of cannabis. Driving while impaired by drugs, including cannabis, and taking any cannabis into or out of Canada are already illegal and will remain illegal. Drug-impaired driving is extremely dangerous and can ruin your life in a heartbeatdon't drive high." The Honourable Ralph Goodale Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness "I want to thank the Senate for all the hard work they did in improving this legislation and for their support. The passage of the Bill represents a major step forward in the process of legalizing and strictly regulating cannabis, and the beginning of a larger conversation on what we can accomplish together." Bill Blair Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and to the Minister of Health Quick Facts: Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, is awaiting Royal Assent. Until the Cannabis Act comes into force, cannabis remains illegal across Canada unless authorized for medical or scientific purposes. Once in effect, the Cannabis Act will allow adults, subject to provincial or territorial restrictions, to: purchase fresh cannabis, dried cannabis, cannabis oil, cannabis seeds, or cannabis plants from retailers authorized by the provinces and territories; consume cannabis in locations authorized by local jurisdictions; possess up to 30 grams of dried legal cannabis or equivalent in non-dried form in public; share up to 30 grams of dried legal cannabis with other adults; grow up to four cannabis plants per household (not per person) for personal use, from licensed seeds or seedlings from a licensed supplier; and make legal cannabis-containing products at home, such as food and drinks, provided that dangerous organic solvents are not used in making them. Once the legislation receives Royal Assent, provinces and territories will be able to purchase cannabis from federally licensed producers, so that distributors and retailers can begin preparing retail access online or in physical stores; however, they will not be able to sell cannabis products to adults of legal age until the Cannabis Act comes into force. The Cannabis Act creates a specific criminal offence for selling cannabis to a minor and creates significant penalties for those who engage young Canadians in cannabis-related offences. Drug-impaired driving remains illegal in Canada. Law enforcement can currently detect drug-impaired driving using Standard Field Sobriety Testing and Drug Recognition Expert evaluation. Should Bill-C46 be passed by Parliament and receive Royal Assent, additional drug-impaired driving offences will come into effect. Drug screening devices are currently being evaluated to meet Canadian standards and will provide law enforcement with an additional tool to detect drug-impaired driving should Bill C-46 be passed by Parliament and receive Royal Assent. It is illegal, and will remain illegal once the Cannabis Act has come into force, for travellers to take cannabis out of Canada or to bring it back from other countries. Related Products Backgrounder: Top 10 Things You Need to Know About Cannabis in Canada Backgrounder: The Cannabis Act: The Facts Backgrounder: Cannabis Public Education Activities Canada.ca/Cannabis Impaired Driving SOURCE: Health Canada For further information: David Taylor, Office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, 613-992-4621; Thierry Belair, Office of the Minister of Health, 613-957-0200; Scott Bardsley, Office of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, 613-998-5681, scott.bardsley@canada.ca; Media Relations, Department of Justice Canada, 613-957-4207, media@justice.gc.ca; Media Relations, Health Canada, 613-957-2983, Hc.media.sc@canada.ca; Media Relations, Public Safety Canada, 613-991-0657, media@ps-sp.gc.ca; Public Inquiries: 613-957-2991, 1-866 225-0709 More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp Toronto, Ontario - June 20, 2018 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) Leviathan Cannabis Group Inc. (CSE: EPIC) (the "Company" or "Leviathan") for the first time in its history, has been added to the CSE 25 Index at the close of trading on Friday, June 15, 2018. As a requirement for inclusion in the composite index, a company must fall within the top quartile of eligible securities listed on the CSE. Martin J. Doane, CEO of Leviathan, comments, "It is a major accomplishment at our early stage of development and we appreciate the recognition from the CSE. Both the Board and Management at Leviathan are committed to building a unique, world class enterprise for our shareholders." The CSE Composite Index is a broad indicator of market activity for the Canadian Securities Exchange. With approximately 75% coverage of all equities listed on the CSE, it is a uniquely positioned gauge of the Canadian small cap market. The index provides a distinctly different risk/return profile than the broad Canadian equity market. Stock Option Grants Leviathan also announces that the board of directors, on June 19, 2018, approved the granting of stock options to certain officers, directors and consultants exercisable for up to 3,000,000 Common Shares at $2.00 per share. The expiration date for this entire range of options is June 19, 2021. About Leviathan Cannabis Leviathan plans on executing a series of strategic acquisitions that extend across all vertical markets in Canada and internationally, to support the Company's proprietary brand strategy. This global reach positions the Company to be a leading multi-jurisdictional medical and recreational cannabis enterprise one that brings together the best cannabis products, brands and expertise from Canada and around the world. The Leviathan portfolio currently comprises Jekyll+Hyde Brand Builders Inc., a ground-breaking marketing services agency specializing in the cannabis sector, and Woodstock Biomed Inc, a late stage applicant under the ACMPR, which is in the process of retrofitting a substantial greenhouse production facility in Pelham, Ontario. Please visit www.LeviathanCannabis.com www.WeAreJekyllandHyde.com For more information, contact: Rick Rogers Chairman Leviathan Cannabis Group Inc. 416.303.9060 Jayne Beckwith Interim CFO Leviathan Cannabis Group Inc. 416.806.0591 Notice Regarding Forward Looking Information Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Canadian and United States securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, that the Company intends to actively pursue acquisitions in Canada, in international markets and its intention to position the Company as a leading multi-jurisdictional medical and recreational cannabis enterprise. Forward-looking statements are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "in the event", "if", "believes", "assets", "position", "intends", "envisages", "assumes", "recommends", "estimates", "approximate", "projects", "potential", "indicate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon the current belief, opinions and expectations of management that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant litigation, business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and other contingencies. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: identifying acquisitions; successfully negotiating a definitive agreement with an acquisition target; the conditions to the acquisition being satisfied or waived; finding partners to complete a transaction; and applicable board, shareholder, stock exchange, court and regulatory, approval of any proposed transaction. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp June 20, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investorideas.com, a leader in cannabis investor news and resources, reports on the upcoming International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC) https://internationalcbc.com, being held in Vancouver, British Columbia, June 24th-25th at the Sheraton Wall Centre. The conference follows the passing and final vote on Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, in the Senate; legalizing and strictly regulating cannabis in Canada. Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada said, "Yesterday's vote in the Senate on Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, marks the next step in our Government's commitment to legalizing and strictly regulating cannabis. Our public health approach will better protect our youth, displace the illegal market, and provide adults with a legal source of quality-controlled cannabis. Public education will remain a cornerstone of our efforts to help Canadians get the facts on cannabis and make informed choices." Leading stocks in the sector moved up on the news including one of the companies speaking at the ICBC conference, Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX: WEED.TO), trading at $43.07, up 0.54 (+1.27%), with a days high of $45, 07 Conference topics include medical and recreational regulations, raising capital, mergers and acquisition, branding, marketing, investment opportunities, the Canopy Rivers/Canopy Growth million dollar pitch event, and more. "Canada has helped bring cannabis into the mainstream more than any country, first by implementing sensible medical laws, and now by ending prohibition for all adults," says Alex Rogers Executive Producer of the ICBC. "We are proud to educate the attendees about the latest developments in the host country, as well as around the world. In addition to our top-notch program, we hold world-class networking events that can really help entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next level." The Vancouver ICBC includes speakers such as Canopy Growth's (TSX: WEED.TO) Hillary Black; Anna Serin from the Canadian Securities Exchange; Groundworks Consulting's Jamie Shaw; Bhang's Scott Van Rixel; Cannacord Ingenuity's Yasmin Gordon; Prohibited Media's Drake Sutton-Shearer; MMJ Canada's Clint Younge; attorneys Kirk Tousaw and Robert Laurie, and many more experts across the cannabis space. American activist and rock icon Henry Rollins will deliver a keynote address, bringing his unique message and passion to Vancouver. Additionally, Canopy Rivers, in collaboration with Canopy Growth, will be offering up to $1,000,000 of seed capital to aspiring entrepreneurs. Visit canopyrivers.com/pitch-day/ for more information on the pitch event. Learn more about the speakers: https://internationalcbc.com/speakers-vancouver/ Bill C-45 Facts Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, is awaiting Royal Assent. Until the Cannabis Act comes into force, cannabis remains illegal across Canada unless authorized for medical or scientific purposes. Once in effect, the Cannabis Act will allow adults, subject to provincial or territorial restrictions, to: purchase fresh cannabis, dried cannabis, cannabis oil, cannabis seeds, or cannabis plants from retailers authorized by the provinces and territories; consume cannabis in locations authorized by local jurisdictions; possess up to 30 grams of dried legal cannabis or equivalent in non-dried form in public; share up to 30 grams of dried legal cannabis with other adults; grow up to four cannabis plants per household (not per person) for personal use, from licensed seeds or seedlings from a licensed supplier; and make legal cannabis-containing products at home, such as food and drinks, provided that dangerous organic solvents are not used in making them. Once the legislation receives Royal Assent, provinces and territories will be able to purchase cannabis from federally licensed producers, so that distributors and retailers can begin preparing retail access online or in physical stores; however, they will not be able to sell cannabis products to adults of legal age until the Cannabis Act comes into force. The Cannabis Act creates a specific criminal offence for selling cannabis to a minor and creates significant penalties for those who engage young Canadians in cannabis-related offences. Drug-impaired driving remains illegal in Canada. Law enforcement can currently detect drug-impaired driving using Standard Field Sobriety Testing and Drug Recognition Expert evaluation. Should Bill-C46 be passed by Parliament and receive Royal Assent, additional drug-impaired driving offences will come into effect. Drug screening devices are currently being evaluated to meet Canadian standards and will provide law enforcement with an additional tool to detect drug-impaired driving should Bill C-46 be passed by Parliament and receive Royal Assent. It is illegal, and will remain illegal once the Cannabis Act has come into force, for travellers to take cannabis out of Canada or to bring it back from other countries. Source Health Canada news http://www.investorideas.com/news/2018/cannabis/06204BillC45.aspAbout About International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC) https://internationalcbc.com/ About Investorideas.com - News that Inspires Big Ideas Investorideas.com is a meeting place for global investors, featuring news, stock directories, video, company profiles, interviews and more in leading sectors. 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Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: http://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp To sponsor this podcast or be a guest Contact Investorideas.com http://www.investorideas.com/About/Contact.asp 800-665-0411 According to a recent release, BuddeComm has launched an exclusive Telecoms Maturity Index (TMI), designed to analyze the broadband, mobile and fixed Line markets of a country in addition to a range of economic parameters to rank it on a scale of 1 to 100 and compare it to its region. Now, the companys Africa TMI is available and reveals the market leaders, the challengers and the developing ones. The report says that Mauritius is the top-ranking country in Africa with a Telecoms Maturity Index score of 43, followed by Ghana (34) and Tunisia (31). Mauritius stands out, which the report largely explains with the countrys thriving tourism market, which has stimulated the broadband sector. There is an extensive DSL infrastructure and operators have deployed fiber-based services in a number of localities. Mauritius Telecom invested Rs5.1 billion to roll out fiber across the island, with the project completed the end of 2017 (ahead of the original 2020 timescale). The top three market challengers are Mauritania with a score of 13, Uganda (13) and Kenya (12). The top three developing markets are Angola (7) Chad (7) and Cameroon (6) Mobile telephony remains by far the dominant telecom service across Africa, accounting for more than 90 percent of all telephone lines on the continent. Given the very poor condition of fixed-line infrastructure in most markets, mobile internet access as a consequence also accounts for between 95 percent and 99 percent of all internet connections. The size and range of the diverse markets within Africa have contributed to varied market penetration rates between countries. By early 2018 the highest mobile penetration was found in countries including Gabon (163 percent), Botswana (159 percent), South Africa (147 percent) and Mauritius (146 percent). To some degree high penetration reflects the popularity of consumers having multiple SIM cards despite efforts among most regulators to enforce measures by which operators must register SIM card users For the full report, click here. Apple last updated its transit information within the United States earlier in June, and now one more major city has support for the public transportation info. As was first discovered by 9to5Mac, following a tip from a reader, Apple Maps users located in Buffalo, New York, now have access to transit information for the metro area. With the new info available within Apples stock maps and navigation app, users can find quick information pertaining to public transportation like trains and buses. Apple introduced transit data in Apple Maps back with the launch of iOS 9, and, since then, the company has been rolling out coverage support for new cities all across the globe. The expansion was going along quite nicely throughout 2017, but near the end of the year the updates slowed down. Apple is starting to pick up the pace in 2018, though. If you want to double check with Apple which cities offer transit data support, you can find Apples official list through the source link below. However, at the time of publication Buffalo, NY, hasnt been added to the list just yet. The original report indicates that could mean Apple is adding even more cities to the list today, other than Buffalo. Our Take Its great that Apple continues to bring new cities into the mix when it comes to public transit data. This is a must-have feature for Apple Maps, especially considering Google Maps has hosted it for many years now. Of course, Apple also has to focus on making sure Apple Maps doesnt have any additional outages, either. [via 9to5Mac After launching Apple Pay in Poland, Apple has now launched its mobile payment service in Norway. Initially, Apple Pay in the country will be supported by Nordea, Santander, and Sbanken for Visa cardholders. For Nordea customers, MasterCards will also work with Apple Pay issued by the bank. During Apples Q2 earnings call, Tim Cook mentioned that the company would be expanding Apple Pay to Ukraine, Poland, and Norway soon. The mobile payment service launched in Ukraine soon after, and it has now launched in Poland and Norway. Thats not it though as Apple is seemingly also preparing to launch Apple Pay in the Czech Republic. In the country, Apple Pay would be supported by Moneta Money Bank as reported by SmartMania. The report cites that Apple Pay would launch in the country in August. Our Take Apple has been rapidly expanding the regions supported by Apple Pay in recent months. The company has so far managed to launch its mobile payment service in most of the developed markets of the world, and its time it focuses on bringing Apple Pay to other developing nations as well. The biggest hurdle with Apple Pay is that it relies solely on NFC, unlike Samsung Pay which uses MST to work with older PoS terminals. The latter managed to get its hands on the technology when it acquired a startup called LoopPay in 2015. How happy are you with Apple Pay? Is it even available in your country? [Via SmartMania Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 20) A senator on Wednesday proposed the formation of a body to handle all concerns about Boracay and its rehabilitation. Senator Franklin Drilon said a Boracay Development Authority may be patterned after the existing inter-agency Task Force Boracay and will have the power to issue permits. "Bawat isyu, ibang ahensya ang tumitingin. Hindi pa po kasali ang local government unit," said Drilon. "There is not a single body in charge." [Translation: Every issue, a different agency looks at it. That doesn't yet include the local government unit. There is not a single body in charge.] Drilon said with no point person or agency managing Boracay, permits and processes get confused and delayed along the way. "Hindi po pupuwede patuloy ang ganito na bawat isang (agency), kakausapin mo," he explained. [Translation: It's not okay that you have to talk to every single agency.] Drilon's suggestion came after a number of questions from Senators Cynthia Villar and Sonny Trillanes, who asked for updates on Boracay's rehabilitation plan as well as the island's wastewater condition. Interior Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said Task Force Boracay is working on the island's rehabilitation, to be ready for a soft opening in the first week of September. "With all due respect, pinag-aralan talaga namin ito [we really researched]," said Densing. Densing added standards they plan to propose in the next Task Force meeting to which they will base the island's rehabilitation on: 30 consecutive days that water within SB standards at least 50 percent of the illegal structures in the wetlands should have been dismantled 70 percent of the road system and the drainage system should be in place all structures violating the 25+5 meter easement rule should be dismantled sanitary landfill should have zero waste five wetlands lost should be replaced However, Drilon and Villar said the goal is not realistic. "We cannot finish in six months what we failed to do in several decades," Drilon added. 'Confused' water firms Villar said with the way wastewater is being handled, the plan to have Boracay rehabilitated by October for its re-opening may not be feasible. "You have only six months, and the major problem of Boracay is wastewater. If you cannot decide this, how can you solve the wastewater problem?" When Villar, Senate Environment Committee chair, checked for updates on Boracay, she found out that the two water concessionaires in the island have not yet determined their areas of operation. "How can you improve the wastewater if 'yung mag-i-implement ng wastewater facility, confused where they're supposed to operate?" But members of the Boracay Task Force said the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority and the National Water Resources Board are still at odds over jurisdiction on the island among the two water concessionaires Boracay Island Water Company (BIWC) and Boracay Tubi System Inc. (BTSI). BIWC said out of 1,800 commercial accounts, only 51 percent are connected to the sewer system. Five percent of 4,300 residential accounts in BIWC are connected to the system as well. Densing said another problem is illegal connections to the wastewater system. "Minsan pa po, intentional talaga [Sometimes it's intentional]," Densing claimed. But Villar said the delineation between the two water firms should be clear for accountability. "Talagang ang mga tao sa Pilipinas, pasaway din. Pero kung ang gobyerno, hindi maayos, lalong nagiging pasaway," she said. [Translation: People in the Philippines, rulebreakers. But if government can't fix itself as well, people tend to break the rules more.] Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 20) Nine candidates faced the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) on Wednesday to bid for the Ombudsman post after the retirement of Conchita Carpio Morales. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Sandiganbayan Justice Efren Dela Cruz, Edna Herrera-Batacan, Rey Ifurung, Rainier Madrid, Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Martires, Felito Ramirez, Rex Rico, and Edilberto Sandoval were questioned by the members who will shortlist Morales' replacement. Morales will retire on July 26. Bello opened the public interview among candidates. He said this is his last chance to help President Rodrigo Duterte in his crusade against corruption. Bello showed proof he no longer has pending administrative and criminal cases before the Office of the Ombudsman, saying the cases against him were resolved "in his favor." He said the fact that he has served under four president shows he has skills and he is trustworthy. Sandiganbayan Justice dela Cruz said he will continue pursuing pending pork scam cases at the Ombudsman. If there's merit, he will prosecute those responsible. Dela Cruz's division at the anti-graft court is handling the pork scam case of former Senator Bong Revilla. The JBC panel brought up the high-profile clients of defense lawyer Edna Herrera-Batacan. She was the lawyer of Duterte when he was Davao City mayor and former first gentleman Mike Arroyo. "Clients come to me. If I feel like the case is winnable, I take it. But if I think it's not winnable, I say, 'Go to other lawyers,'" she said. She explained she has no personal relationship with Arroyo, but she still has close ties to Duterte as he is the godfather of her two children. "As a lawyer, I think he will not be interfering with my job," she said referring to the President. Batacan said if chosen for the post, she wants to "change the graft-ridden" Office of the Ombudsman. On the pronouncement of Duterte that he won't appoint a woman Ombudsman, Batacan said she believes he will appoint the most competent applicant. "I know him personally. He loves his mother, Sara, Elizabeth, Honeylet, Kitty so much. Mahal niya ang mga babae. Kaya hindi ako naniniwalang hindi siya mag-aappoint ng babae," she said. Rainier Madrid, meanwhile, said the mindset of Carpio Morales is only focused on prosecuting erring government officials. He said he will prevent corruption if he is chosen next Ombudsman. "It's only 20 percent of what an Ombudsman can do... The Ombudsman can lay the groundwork to stop corruption. At the onset, the Ombudsman can halt a project if it is not viable... She (Carpio Morales) is persecution- and conviction-oriented. If given the chance, I will be for prevention," he said. Madrid said the Ombudsman should be proactive in investigating an issue and should not wait for a Senate hearing before launching its own probe. "The Ombudsman should be a money-making entity to save money for the government," he said. Madrid is legal counsel of presidential son and former Davao City Vice-Mayor Paolo Duterte. When the panel asked him of possible conflict of interest, he said he will "completely inhibit" from the case. JBC member Milagros Cayosa quizzed Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Martires on the opposition filed against him when he refused to inhibit from ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno's quo warranto case. A group of Catholic priests and evangelical pastors has asked the JBC to reject Martires' application for Ombudsman as he allegedly faith-shamed Sereno during oral arguments in Baguio City. Martires said he never shamed a woman in public or private, pointing out it was his intention to defend her and that there is nothing wrong for a person to invoke God. Felito Ramirez, Duterte's fraternity brother, said the Ombudsman is the "Superman in the whole structure of the country." However, he appeared not to know the tagline of the office he is applying for ("Manindigan Kontra Katiwalian" - Stand against corruption). "I'm sorry I don't understand the word," Ramirez said. Rex Rico, the President's former law school classmate coming from more than 40 years in private practice believes eradication of corruption is possible but would be "gradual." "We need the cooperation of the people. But this does not happen because they sell their votes. This basic problem denies the government honest officials," he said. He was not familiar with the term "parking fees" paid to delay cases but Rico said he would fire those involved in this practice if chosen as the Ombudsman. Special Prosecutor and former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval was a familiar face to the JBC, which also interviewed him almost a year ago for his current post. He assured that he is aiming for permanent retirement if he gets the job. Sandoval takes pride in boosting the conviction rate of prosecutors under the Office of the Ombudsman through a series of training. He said he would like the Ombudsman to take an active role in presenting defense in cases, often left to prosecutors. After the public interviews, the JBC will deliberate and come up with a shortlist by the end of the month. Duterte will choose the next ombudsman from this shortlist. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 20) The Land Transportation Office is set to release at least 387,000 motor vehicle plates in July. "The LTO will release the available vehicle plates simultaneously nationwide by first week of July," LTO chief Edgar Galvante said in a statement. The first batch will cover pending license plates from July 1 to October 31, 2016. Galvante added the agency will notify the vehicle owners on the dates they may claim their plates. "The LTO will deliver the plates by batch to the ROs (Regional Offices) as soon as they become available to make the release at the DOs (District Offices) continuous," he said. In April, the LTO inaugurated its new license plate-making plant which could produce about 22,000 plates daily. In a separate statement, Galvante said the plant personnel will work in two shifts starting July to fast track the release of license plates. The agency has a backlog of about 3.8 million motor vehicle plates and 5.2 million motorcycle plates from July 2016 to March this year. However, Galvante clarified the agency will not print motorcycle plates yet. He said the LTO will start processing pending motorcycle plates as soon as the Congress settles the pending bill mandating a different plate design for motorcycles. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 20) - President Rodrigo Duterte revealed on Wednesday he is ready to release the "preliminary findings" on the recent killings of priests if asked. Speaking at a convention of the Philippine Councilor's League, Duterte said he's just been opting not to release it to the public because it may not be good for the Church. "There seems to be a rift going on. I don't want to say the things I'm not supposed to, but there's been a lot of killings ng mga pari. Ang gobyerno hindi interesado ng pari...There seems to be especially one who has an advocacy and a very loud one," Duterte said. "But ako, sinasabi ko sa inyo. We have a preliminary finding. I kept it to myself. Hindi ko nirelease kasi it would not be good for the Catholic Church," he added. On December 4 last year, Father Marcelito Paez was killed in Nueva Ecija. The killing of Father Mark Ventura in Cagayan followed on April 29, then of Father Richmond Nilo in Nueva Ecija on June 10. Some believe they were killed for their strong stance on different advocacies like land reform and anti-mining. Duterte said some of these priests may have been killed because of their advocacies, but his statements implied that there could be something more to it, even mentioning a "matrix" involving priests. "You want me to show it to the Catholic Church? I will show it to everybody. Kung yan ang gusto nila, Ilabas ko na lahat, yung nauna na pari na namatay. There's a matrix there...There seems to be something like an undercurrent going on," Duterte said. Duterte said, however, he respects the Church and that he has no policy against priests, even stressing that he cannot stomach killing a single one of them. CNN Philippines' Ina Andolong contributed to this report. Focus on Lisa Netz, co-owner of The Lavish Loft Submitted by Haleh Rabizadeh Resnick, Federation Business and Community Development Director For the Voice What was your path to South Jersey? I grew up in... Focus on Peter Hecht Partner at Magna Legal Services Tell me about your connection to the South Jersey Jewish Community? I actually grew up in East Brunswick, Exit 9 off the Turnpike. But weve... Focus on Abigail Dahan: Owner of the Bake School Tell me a bit about your life in South Jersey. I grew up in Cherry Hill. We moved here from Paris when I was six... (CNN Money) President Donald Trump just raised the stakes in the fight with China over trade. The White House said Monday evening that if China goes through with its promise to retaliate against the US tariffs announced last week, the United States will impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. "Further action must be taken to encourage China to change its unfair practices, open its market to United States goods, and accept a more balanced trade relationship with the United States," Trump said in a statement. The Trump administration said Friday that it will impose a 25% tariff on $50 billion of Chinese exports. China, claiming the United States had "launched a trade war," retaliated almost immediately, outlining its own tariffs on US goods worth $50 billion. The escalating conflict between the world's two largest economies has rattled markets and companies, which fear disruption to their global supply chains. The Chinese Commerce Ministry reacted quickly to Trump's announcement, accusing the United States of "extreme pressure and extortionist behavior" and warning it would "strike back hard." Related: American businesses brace for pain from trade fight with China Analysts warned that the risks are growing of an increasingly damaging clash that will ripple around the globe. "The tit for tat brings the two sides closer to a full-blown trade war," Louis Kuijs, head of Asian economics at research firm Oxford Economics, wrote in a note to clients. "While there is in principle still room for negotiation, attitudes seem to be hardening." The Trump tariffs, which the US government says are punishment for intellectual property theft, will be enacted in two waves. More than 800 exports, about $34 billion worth, will be subject to tariffs starting July 6. Another 280 or so still need to undergo a public comment period, and will take effect later. Trump said Monday that China's response "indicates its determination to keep the United States at a permanent and unfair disadvantage." China's tariffs would target agricultural products, cars and seafood, among other items. Related: Stocks in Asia sink as Trump ups the stakes in China trade fight "China apparently has no intention of changing its unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology," he said. "Rather than altering those practices, it is now threatening United States companies, workers, and farmers who have done nothing wrong." He directed Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for additional 10% tariffs, which would be enacted "if China refuses to change its practices, and also if it insists on going forward with the new tariffs that it has recently announced." In a separate statement, Lighthizer said that he supported Trump's action and that his agency "is preparing the proposed tariffs to offset China's action." The planned new wave of tariffs would have to go through a similar process of public consultation and comment as the earlier ones before taking effect. "If the United States loses its senses and comes up with a new list, China will be forced to strike back hard, and launch comprehensive measures that match the US move in quantity and quality," the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. But Beijing faces challenges in retaliating directly: China ships far more goods to the United States ($505 billion last year, according to US figures) than come back in the opposite direction ($130 billion). To respond to Trump's threat to impose tariffs on as much as $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, Beijing would have to find other ways to respond. Analysts say the Chinese government could target trade in services between the two countries rather than physical products. That means things like tourism and education, industries from which the United States benefits a lot more than China does. Related: Trade war: America risks killing the global growth it needs Beijing could also seek to make life difficult for big US companies that rely on the Chinese market for a big chunk of their revenue. It showed a willingness to do that to South Korean businesses last year during a period of tension between the two Asian countries. Top US brands such as Apple, GM and Boeing generate large amounts of sales in China. In an interview with CNN earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he didn't expect a full-blown trade war to break out and dismissed the notion that iPhones, which are assembled in China, would end up subject to tariffs. But analysts say it's unclear which government will back down in the confrontation, predicting both economies will be able to withstand the initial waves of tariffs without much impact on overall growth. "Neither side will be brought to its knees -- which is one reason to think the trade dispute could drag on," research firm Capital Economics said in a note to clients on Friday. "For China's part, its leaders will be determined not to be seen to back down to foreign pressure." -- Steven Jiang contributed to this report. This story was first publishe on CNN.com, "Trump threatens China with new tariffs on another $200 billion of goods." 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. The attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia sent a letter [text, PDF] to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen [official websites] on Tuesday calling for the end to the Justice Departments policy of separating children from their parents who cross the US border seeking asylum. The AGs state that a childs best interests are served by remaining with his or her family, absent a rigorous judicial inquiry resulting in a finding that a parent is unfit or proof beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime has been committed. Removal of a child from their parents before such an inquiry is stated as being against state law and that the removal of a child should only occur after extremely high levels of scrutiny. The AGs also state that the practice hinders the ability of the state law enforcement to combat human trafficking, drug trafficking, and gang violence because the practice would hinder cooperation and reporting of victims the crimes and criminal organizations. The attorneys General represent New Mexico, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. The practice has seen condemnation from several groups around the world. On Monday the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called [JURIST report] the policy government-sanctioned child abuse. Earlier in June a federal judge declared [JURIST report] that the policy may violate due process. In February the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the policy. The Associated Press reported [AP report] on Wednesday that the news service had uncovered regular instances of rape and other forms of sexual violence against Yemeni detainees by prison officials in secret prisons controlled by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The abuse has been reported in at least five prisons. The UAE has arrested hundreds of Yemeni men whom officials suspect are involved with terrorist organizations. However, the prisoners have not been charged with any crimes or given a trial. Sexual violence is a primary tool aimed at brutalizing the detainees and extracting confessions,' the report reads, based on interviews with the prisoners. Sometimes, prison officials will film the assaults to blackmail detainees into working for the UAE. The UAE is a United States ally, and the US has interrogated prisoners at some UAE secret prisons. The US government denies any knowledge regarding the sexual abuse of Yemeni detainees. A Pentagon spokesperson told AP, We have received no credible allegations that would substantiate the allegations put forth in your line of question/story. Last November activists urged [JURIST report] the International Criminal Court to investigate mercenaries in Yemen allegedly carrying out war crimes. In August NGOs called for [JURIST report] an independent inquiry into rights violations in Yemen. A year ago Human Rights Watch accused [JURIST report] the UAE of supporting human rights abuses in Yemen. US Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Halley [official website] announced on Tuesday that the US will be withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council [official website]. Haley accused the Human Rights Council of protecting human rights abusers and being a cesspool of political bias, a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights, and not worthy of its name. Haley stated that in the past year, the US had made a good faith effort to reform the council. These efforts included meeting with other ambassadors and member states, and leading a session on Human Rights Council reform. The recent membership of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Council, refusal of the Council to have a meeting related to the human rights conditions of Venezuela, and failure to address the killing and arresting of hundreds in Iran were cited as some examples of why the US has decided to leave the Council. The continued bias against Israel was also cited as being a reason for leaving, stating that the Council passed five resolutions against Israel this year. Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt were accused of attempting to undermine efforts to reform the Council. It was also stated that several countries supported the reforms, but would not challenge the status quo except behind closed doors. Haley clarified that the US will continue to support human rights outside of the Human Rights Council and if the Council undergoes reform, the US would be willing to rejoin. The Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia [advocacy websites] filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] on Wednesday against the state of Virginia over the states abortion laws, which the plaintiffs deem [press release] burdensome and medically unnecessary. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of multiple health care organizations, took issue with five Virginia laws regarding abortion: second trimester abortions must be performed in a hospital; abortions must only be performed by a physician; medical facilities providing more than four first trimester abortions per month must undergo strict licensing requirements; patients must undergo an ultrasound and counseling 24 hours before an abortion, requiring them to make two trips to a clinic; and abortion is a class 4 felony if the requirements are not followed. The lawsuit states, the Commonwealth of Virginia has spent over four decades enacting layer upon layer of unnecessary and onerous abortion statutes and regulations. The complaint alleges that the requirements are unconstitutional in light of the Supreme Courts ruling in Whole Womens Health v. Hellerstedt , which requires that the benefits of an abortion restriction must outweigh the burdens. Earlier this month a federal appeals court heard [JURIST report] arguments on Texas defunding Planned Parenthood. Also in June the Supreme Court vacated [JURIST report] a case regarding the right of undocumented immigrants to have an abortion. That same month the governor of Louisiana signed [JURIST report] a measure to ban abortion after 15 weeks. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. MEDFORD, Ore. Today Grants Pass City Council approved a 15-year tax abatement for Dutch Bros. The abatement is a part of the Rogue Enterprise Zone which freezes their current property taxes for the 15-year period. Dutch Bros. will still be required to pay the property tax on the existing structure on Town Center Plaza and the land they own but will not have to pay anything additional for the new structures they build during the abatement period. The City Council discussed the abatement for nearly three hours. Their main concerns surrounded the parking spaces that would be lost during the construction period and how the lack of space could affect surrounding businesses. Those businesses operate on a thin margin, said council member Tyler Flaming, Its possible that a project like this could reduce the amount of customers for some of these businesses downtown to the point of where they may have to close. Dutch Bros. said that it is too early in their planning to have a parking solution but that they would be willing and open to working out a parking solution farther down the road. Were in the initial planning phases, said Dutch Bros. attorney, we havent spent a lot of money on architects and we havent spent a lot of money trying to really get a sense of what this will look like. The application deadline for the abatement is June 30 so council members had to make a decision today. In a vote of 5 to 1, the abatement passed with the condition that Dutch Bros. work with the city of Grants Pass and Josephine County to mitigate the parking problems downtown, which could include monetary contributions from Dutch Bros. EAGLE POINT, Ore. Two motorcycle riders were injured on Monday night after a collision with a pickup truck on Dodge Road. Another motorcycle ridera potential witnessleft the scene and is wanted for questioning, according to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO). Dispatch received a call about the crash just after 7:30 p.m. When deputies arrived at the scene, witnesses said that one of the motorcycle riders, headed west, had collided with an eastbound pickup truck after crossing over into the eastbound lane. The force of that collision caused the struck rider to veer back into his lane, impacting with another motorcycle rider. Both of those men slid from their bikes and wound up on the side of the road. Meanwhile, the pickup truck had crashed through a fence and came to rest in a field. Both riders were brought to Rogue Regional Medical Center for treatmentone of them airlifted by Mercy Flights helicopter with critical injuries. The driver and passenger of the pickup truck were not injured in the crash. Witnesses reported seeing a third motorcycle rider, a woman who had been riding with the two men. After the crash, she reportedly yelled for neighbors to call 911, then left the scene. Deputies seek to identify the woman in order to obtain a witness statement. Deputies were assisted by detectives with the JCSO and a crash reconstruction team from Oregon State Police. Fire District #3 and Mercy Flights aided with medical assistance. The incident is still under investigation and "impairment" may have been a factor, according to JCSO. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Sergeant Scott Waldon at (541) 774-6800, reference case #18-12375. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) An ex-student accused of threatening a shooting at Oregon State University has been indicted on a federal charge. Christopher Strahan is scheduled to be arraigned in Eugene next week on a single count of making threatening communications. Authorities were alerted in February of threatening tweets posted by username "Hard Belly Dorm." Detectives identified the 22-year-old Strahan as the owner of the username and arrested him. Strahan had been arrested a year earlier for threatening a campus shooting. Strahan pleaded guilty to second-degree disorderly conduct, and was sentenced to 20 days in jail and probation. Strahan attended Oregon State from 2014 to 2017. He was a junior when he left. CLICK HERE for reporting from our sister station KEZI in Eugene, who covered the Tweet-threat case. WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden is declaring at least a partial victory after major phone service-provider Verizon backed away from their third-party "location aggregators." The declaration comes after Wyden led an investigation into reports that several of these third-party companies had sold or shared user location data without the user's knowledge or permission. While Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile all sent letters in response to Wyden's inquiries, only Verizon promised to unequivocally cut ties with location aggregators. The other companies largely denied any direct responsibility, or maintained that they had adequately dealt with the specific examples raised. "Verizon did the responsible thing and promptly announced it was cutting these companies off," said Wyden. "In contrast, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint seem content to continue selling their customers private information to these shady middle men, Americans privacy be damned. According to Wyden's investigation, prison phone company Securus was providing tracking data to law enforcement agencies without reviewing the validity of those requests. Securus was purchasing that tracking information from a data broker called LocationSmart. Meanwhile, LocationSmartoperating from an insecure websitewas (unintentionally) offering visitors the ability to track any American's mobile phone, according to Wyden's office. In a letter addressed to Chairman Ajit Pai on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Wyden underlined the problem with major wireless carriers providing unrestricted access to data by third party companies: "This practice skirts wireless carriers' legal obligation to be the sole conduit by which the government conducts surveillance of Americans' phone records, and needlessly exposes millions of Americans to potential abuse and surveillance by the government." Securus was allegedly allowing customers to upload official-looking documents in return for permission to access real-time location data. Those documents were then never reviewed or verified by anyone at the company. "It is incredibly troubling that Securus provides location data to the government at alllet alone that it does so without a verified court order or other legal process. This clear abuse is only possible because wireless carriers sell their customers' private information to companies claiming to have consumer consent without sufficiently verifying those claims," said Wyden. The FCC announced last month that they would consider investigating the leak provided by LocationSmart's website. Wyden, however, has asked Chairman Pai to recuse himselfas a former telecommunications lawyer, Pai represented Securus back in 2012. Chairman Pais total abandonment of his responsibility to protect Americans security shows that he cant be trusted to oversee an investigation into the shady companies that he used to represent, Wyden said. In this Tuesday, June 19, 2018, photo Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder of Instagram, prepares for Wednesday's announcement about IGTV in San Francisco. FacebookAos Instagram app is loosening its restraints on video with a new channel that will attempt to lure younger viewers away from GoogleAos YouTube and pave the way to sell more advertising. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) Benjamin Perryman, Abdoul Abdi's lawyer, attends a judicial review in Federal Court in Halifax on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. The federal government wants to send Abdi back to Somalia because of his criminal history and his lack of Canadian citizenship. The application seeks to challenge the government's decision to refer his case to a deportation hearing, arguing the decision was contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international law. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan Sen. Tony Dean, who sponsored Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, speaks to reporters after the vote on the bill in the Senate foyer on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on tariffs, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 20, 2018 in Washington. The U.S. commerce secretary says Canada's not a national security threat and that a revitalized NAFTA could make the Trump administration's tariffs on steel and aluminum go away. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Jacquelyn Martin Gail Blackmore, 60, leaves court during a lunch break in her sentencing hearing, in Cranbrook, Alta., Friday, June 30, 2017. A woman convicted of taking a 13-year-old girl across the border for a sexual purpose likely didn't know the reason for the trip, as she was expected to follow orders from her husband in their secluded British Columbia religious community, an appeal court has heard. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh President Donald Trump holds up the executive order he signed to end family separations at the border, during an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) FILE - In this Monday, June 18, 2018 file photo, Akemi Vargas, 8, cries as she talks about being separated from her father during an immigration family separation protest in front of the Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. District Court building in Phoenix. Child welfare agencies across America make wrenching decisions every day to separate children from their parents. But those agencies have ways of minimizing the trauma that aren't being employed by the Trump administration at the Mexican border. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) FILE - In this Jan. 2, 2018 file photo, Peter Fonda presents the Desert Palm achievement award at the 29th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival in Palm Springs, Calif. Fonda has apologized for a late-night Twitter rant that said 12-year-old Barron Trump should be ripped from Auhis motherAos arms and put in a cage with pedophiles.Au The all-capitals tweet early Wednesday went on to call President Donald Trump an expletive. Fonda later deleted the tweet and drew sharp rebukes from first lady Melania Trump and Donald Trump Jr. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File) Camelot said: Lying will not cover up your cruel Nazi leader. The world knows what it is watching. You wont be in power forever. There will be a price to pay for all of you right wing racist Nazis. Click to expand... Clara007 said: Many of us have been addressing the subject. You just don't happen to like our points. Trump CAN end this mess. Democrats are not in control of congress and will likely not get anything to pass--which is exactly what Trump wants until he gets his WALL. AND Trump can stop the crisis by signing an executive order suspending such separations, and thats exactly what he should do. BTW, I use references all the time because I fact check. I do the research before I put something in print and do my best to include the links. I'm not trying to fool anyone, unlike those who post a ridiculous statement with absolutely NOTHING to back it up. Click to expand... Democrats are not in control of congress and will likely not get anything to pass--which is exactly what Trump wants until he gets his WALL. Click to expand... Barack Obama Read more at: 'I've got a pen and I've got a phone - and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forwar"Barack ObamaRead more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/barack_obama_634666 Click to expand... Your family stays together your family stays together Hahahaha. Sure you have.Listen to this weak shitSo there are more Rs in Congress then Ds so why even try right. We all know what trump wants. Clara knows. So may as well just toss our hands up in the air and give up screaming "TRRRRUUMMMMP!!!!!"Congress makes laws.Want a law passed call your Congress person.I know that after 8 years of shit like thisYou got used to just getting your way. Fuck the system and how it is supposed to work. Right?PatheticHere is how it is set upWant asylum check in before you enter the nation.Get busted in the nation illegally and do not object to deportation.Get busted in the nation illegally andpull the asylum card. You are detained and your family may be seperated.You see Clara. That is absolutely reasonable. But when it is actually spelled out it is not as dramatic. Maybe that is why you are not going to Congress. Either because you do not know what the fuck is going on or you know that the way things are set up are reasonable.The bell is about to ring. You can free draw for the rest of the period. he FBI agent who was removed from the special counsel investigation for sending anti-Trump texts was escorted from the FBI building Friday and effectively relieved of work responsibilities - though he technically remains an FBI agent, his lawyer said. Peter Strzok already had been re-assigned to the FBI's Human Resources Division after he was taken off Special Counsel Robert Mueller III's team, though the move last week effectively took him off even that assignment. His lawyer, Aitan Goelman, said in a statement, that Strzok was "being put through a highly questionable process," and those in the public should be concerned about how politics had "been allowed to undermine due process and the legal protections owed to someone who has served his country for so long." "Pete has steadfastly played by the rules and respected the process, and yet he continues to be the target of unfounded personal attacks, political games and inappropriate information leaks," Goelman said. "All of this seriously calls into question the impartiality of the disciplinary process, which now appears tainted by political influence." Sebelum Anda bermain, Anda perlu mengetahui apa yang Anda butuhkan untuk masuk ke dalam permainan roulette kasino online ini. Jika Anda sudah mendaftar di situs judi casino online dan sudah memberikan user ID, login terlebih dahulu dan pilih menu live casino yang tertera di situs judi tersebut. Pertama pilih dealer dan putuskan sendiri, lalu pilih meja atau kursi di dalam ruangan. Jika namanya tertera dan berwarna coklat, maka kursi tersebut sudah ditempati oleh pemain lain, dan pilihlah kursi kosong berwarna hitam. Kasino Roulette adalah salah satu permainan paling populer di situs perjudian kasino. Jadi dalam permainan ini kamu harus menebak angka berapa yang akan keluar. Ada 36 nomor berbeda dalam permainan populer ini di mana sebuah bola kecil diputar dan dilemparkan ke dalam mesin roulette. Anda harus menebak dari mana bola kecil itu masuk dan di nomor berapa ia berhenti. Ada banyak jenis pilihan angka dari 0-36, dan mereka dihitung secara berbeda. Sebagai agen casino terpercaya, panduan permainan roulette ini juga memberikan informasi tentang jenis pilihan dan nama permainan roulette casino online sebagai berikut: Jika Anda ingin bermain roulette di situs kasino online, caranya sangat sederhana. Anda dapat bermain di Kasino ION, Kasino Sbobet, dan Situs Kasino. Di bawah ini adalah artikel panduan bermain di mana Anda dapat mempelajari roulette langsung dan memainkannya di situs judi online mana pun. tangkapan layar Sebelum Anda bermain, Anda perlu mengetahui apa yang Anda butuhkan untuk masuk ke dalam permainan roulette kasino online ini. Jika Anda sudah mendaftar di situs judi casino online dan sudah memberikan user ID, login terlebih dahulu dan pilih menu live casino yang tertera di situs judi online tersebut. Pertama pilih dealer dan putuskan sendiri, lalu pilih meja atau kursi di dalam ruangan. Jika namanya tertera dan berwarna coklat, maka kursi tersebut sudah ditempati oleh pemain lain, dan pilihlah kursi kosong berwarna hitam. Panduan Bermain Online Kasino Roulette Kasino Roulette adalah salah satu permainan paling populer di situs perjudian kasino. Jadi dalam permainan ini kamu harus menebak angka berapa yang akan keluar. Ada 36 nomor berbeda dalam permainan populer ini di mana sebuah bola kecil diputar dan dilemparkan ke dalam mesin roulette. Anda harus menebak dari mana bola kecil itu masuk dan di nomor berapa ia berhenti. Ada banyak jenis pilihan angka dari 0-36, dan mereka dihitung secara berbeda. Sebagai agen casino terpercaya, panduan permainan roulette ini juga memberikan informasi tentang jenis pilihan dan nama permainan roulette casino online sebagai berikut: 1. Straight Up: Penempatan angka tunggal dari 0 hingga 36. Contoh perhitungan straight up adalah mengalikan taruhan dengan 35. Ini adalah jenis taruhan tertinggi dalam permainan roulette kasino, jadi 50 dikalikan dengan 35 memberi Anda 1750, mengapa jenis taruhan ini menghasilkan pengembalian yang begitu tinggi? Hal ini karena tidak mudah untuk memenangkan pilihan nomor dengan memilih hanya satu nomor dari banyak. 2. Taruhan split: Jenis taruhan yang ditempatkan pada dua angka atau di antara dua angka yang berbeda. Misalnya, menempatkan di sela-sela angka 9 dan 12 atau 13d dan 14 dihitung sebagai jenis taruhan split. Setiap nomor dapat ditempatkan dalam jenis ini selama nomor tersebut berdekatan dan persis seperti Gambar A dan B. Untuk taruhan ini, jika Anda memenangkan contoh dan mengalikannya dengan 850, Anda akan menerima jumlah taruhan yang dikalikan dengan 17. . 3. Taruhan jalanan: bertaruh dengan 3 angka ke bawah, misalnya 1,2,3 atau 10,11,12. Semua taruhan jalan akan menerima kemenangan dikalikan dengan 11. Misalnya, 50 dikalikan 550. 4. Taruhan sudut: Jenis taruhan di mana empat angka ditempatkan saling berhadapan, seperti 13,14,16,17 atau 19,20,22,23. Semua angka valid karena terdiri dari 4 angka yang diisi seperti kotak dan taruhan dikalikan 8 (misalnya 50 kali 800). 5. Taruhan baris: Atau, Anda dapat mengatakan bahwa ada 6 jenis taruhan yang terdiri dari 2 baris, tetapi 6 poin dengan 2 peregangan, seperti taruhan jalanan. Misalnya, jika Anda memilih angka 7 hingga 12 dan 13 hingga 18, taruhan 50 adalah 5 kali dan kemudian dikalikan dengan 250 kemenangan. 6. Kolom Inner Bet: Jenis taruhan vertikal dengan 12 poin berturut-turut, seperti kolom numerik 1,4,7,10,13,19,22,25,25,28,22,24,34 atau kolom lainnya. Dan jika dia memenangkan kolom, 50 taruhan digandakan dan 100 taruhan. 7. Lusin : Jenis taruhan menempatkan 12 angka tetapi menempatkannya pada kotak berbentuk seperti contoh Kolom A dengan angka 1 sampai 12 dan odds dengan kolom lain untuk dipilih dengan memilih 1 kotak pertama untuk Kolom A. Kalikan dengan 2, 50 taruhan 100. 8. Zero part : Cara bertaruh 0.1,2,3 sama persis seperti di gambar, karena berdekatan dengan angka 0, anda hanya bisa bertaruh 0.1,2,3. Menempatkan taruhan ini mengalikannya dengan 50. hingga 8. 9. Zero Corner: Bertaruh pada angka 0.1,2 atau 0.2,3 adalah dua pilihan karena Anda hanya bertaruh mendekati angka nol. Jenis taruhan ini dikalikan 11 jika taruhan menang. 10. Two Dozen: Jenis taruhan dengan hanya dua pilihan: 1-18 atau 19-36. Jika taruhan Anda adalah 50, itu dikalikan dengan 1 hingga 50 jika Anda menang. 11. Merah atau Hitam: Masukkan taruhan Anda dengan memilih Merah atau Hitam sebagai warna angka yang muncul saat taruhan 50. 12. Genap/Ganjil: Pilih angka yang menghasilkan jumlah jenis taruhan ganjil. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon's highest court certified the language of a gun control proposal aimed for the November ballot. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the Oregon Supreme Court announced the certification Monday, meaning supporters of the proposal can now begin collecting signatures. The petition needs more than 88,000 valid signatures by the July 6 deadline in order for the proposal to appear on the ballot. Named "Oregonians for Safe Gun Storage and Reporting Lost/Stolen Firearms," the proposal would force gun owners to secure their weapons with trigger locks or other mechanisms when they aren't in use or being carried. Violators of the law could face fines of up to $2,000 and would be liable for any injury caused by an unlawfully unlocked weapon, excluding self-defense situations. ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Umpqua Community Colleges apprenticeship program is getting a new home for the upcoming school year. Its moving from South Umpqua High School to a building near the Roseburg airport. Directors from 13 community college apprenticeship programs held their regular meeting at UCC on Tuesday to make sure their programs are on the right track. UCCs Dean of Career and Technical Education Jason Aase said they discussed where their programs are at, if any improvements can be made, and if theyre meeting the current needs of the trade industry. The apprenticeship model theyre active employees. So, their employer is sending them to training. So, its a fantastic source of training. Its training targeted to what the employers need. Very precision. Precision training. UCC maintains an average of 140 apprentices training in fields like industrial fabricators, machinists, and millwrights. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- An ex-student accused of threatening a shooting at Oregon State University has been indicted on a federal charge. Christopher Strahan is scheduled to be arraigned in Eugene next week on a single count of making threatening communications. Authorities were alerted in February of threatening tweets posted by username "Hard Belly Dorm." Detectives identified the 22-year-old Strahan as the owner of the username and arrested him. Strahan had been arrested a year earlier for threatening a campus shooting. Strahan pleaded guilty to second-degree disorderly conduct, and was sentenced to 20 days in jail and probation. Strahan attended Oregon State from 2014 to 2017. He was a junior when he left. WORTH COUNTY, Iowa A two-car accident occurred Tuesday on Thrush Ave. The accident happened on Thrush Ave. just north of 340th St. when a vehicle driven by 29-year-old Lacy Clayton, of Osage, was passing a vehicle driven by 23-year-old Jacqueline Dalluge, of Grafton, when she lost control and hit the drivers side of Dalluges vehicle. Claytons vehicle came to rest in the west ditch, and no injuries were reported. Clayton is being charged with improperly overtaking on the right, a simple misdemeanor. The Worth County Sheriffs Office was assisted by the Iowa State Patrol, Plymouth Fire and Rescue and Mason City Ambulance. MITCHELL COUNTY, Iowa A second suspect has been arrested in connection to damage sustained to Pinicon Alders wildlife area in March of this year despite not cooperating with law enforcement. Jon Crews, 27, of Waltham, Minnesota, was arrested by Minnesota authorities on a warrant from Mitchell County. Crews is facing charges for first-degree criminal mischief and reckless driving. It was discovered that a vehicle had ran into the cabin, destroying the wooden handicap ramp and pushed the cabin off two of its supports, the criminal complain states. The same vehicle also ran into and destroyed a wooden outhouse/restroom. This vehicle also ran over several signs and damaged a barbed wire fence. On March 21, the Mitchell County Sheriffs Office recovered the vehicle that was registered to Crews. It was later learned that Crews called his mother at around 3:45 a.m. stating that his truck had broke down he needed a ride to Riceville, according to court documents. Search warrant information received on Crews cell phone indicates that he was in Stacyville, McIntire and the Riceville area during the time in question. Crews was transferred from the Freeborn County Jail to Mitchell County and is being held on $5,000 cash bond. Ryan Lynn Root, 29, of Riceville, was arrested on Sunday for his role in the incident in the early morning hours of March 13. MITCHELL COUNTY, Iowa- The Mitchell County Board of Supervisors got heated Tuesday with around a dozen residents expressing outrage over what they say are non-answered questions. The meeting started out with questions about the Port Authority, which is a commission including Cerro Gordo County, Mitchell County and Worth County. Many expressed an interest in increasing the number of supervisors to five as a way to have more representation. They also discussed an email which was sent out by Supervisor Stan Walk to former House Rep. Josh Brynes, where Walk stated that Brynes was meddling in the Port Authoritys projects and then threatened him. Those in the community say they want more transparency out of their elected officials. It sounds pretty suspicious to me, said Russ Brandau, of Osage. When Stan was asked more about the project he didnt give any answers that we wanted to hear. I feel like they are divulging information. There is much more to this story that we are working on. KIMT News 3s Brian Tabick will have more as it develops. Flood Warning Areas Affected: Mower NWS LaCrosse (Southwestern Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and Northeast Iowa) .A burst of 1 to 2 inches of rainfall overnight across the eastern parts of Freeborn county has produced significant runoff and rising water along Turtle Creek. River forecasts take into account both observed and forecast precipitation. The National Weather Service in La Crosse WI has issued a Flood Warning for The Turtle Creek Near Austin 3NW. * from this afternoon to Friday morning. Weather links CUSTOM FORECAST: Current Conditions MORE: Maps & Radars INTERACTIVE RADAR: Click Here LIVE EYE: Tower Cams SIGN UP: KIMT News 3 Email Newsletter ALERTS: WeatherWarn WEATHER APP: iOS | Android * At 7:30 AM Wednesday the stage was 9.8 feet. * Flood stage is 10.5 feet. * Minor flooding is forecast. * Forecast...Rise above flood stage by mid day and continue to rise to near 10.9 feet by this evening. The creek will fall below flood stage by Thursday. * Impact...At 10.5 feet...Minor flooding begins along the creek in Austin. && If you live in a threatened area, be alert for high or rising water, and be ready to move to higher ground if necessary. Do not drive cars into flooded areas. Remember, it only takes two feet of water to float most automobiles, including sport utility vehicles. Turn Around, Don't Drown! Stay tuned to your favorite source of weather information, including NOAA Weather Radio, for later statements. Additional river and weather information is available at... http://www.weather.gov/lacrosse . MASON CITY, Iowa - Wooz's, the full-service gas station and car wash that has been in operation since 1972, will soon close its doors for the last time. The business will be sold to the La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Kwik Star chain. The station is located in the Southport parking lot, an area that has seen declining business, with the Driver's License Center and Tobacco Center being the only other businesses in that location. Sharon Heimbuch has been coming to Wooz's since it first opened, for gas and car washes. "I always had a dirty car and they always took care of it." Steve Pirkle has been coming since he got his first driver's license, and will miss owner Henry Pirhonen and his employees. "The people that he hires to work here to give gas to the people and stuff. He really hires some really neat people like Chandler and Levi." Almost all customers will miss something that's going out of style - the convenience of a full-service gas station. "I'm used to coming here to get gas. So I would give them a try if they helped me. I don't get gas in my car often enough to remember how to do it. That's why I need help," Jody Kerr says. John McCorkle, who has worked with Pirhonen for 43 of those 46 years, will ultimately miss one thing, their customers. "Because they're all a different breed. Everybody is a different person...and I'm gonna miss that." Now he says it's time to look toward the future. "I've got some options that I'm looking into." The business was originally slated to close later this week, but that may be changing. While on scene Tuesday afternoon, a realtor who is handling the deal showed up. Now, Pirhonen is saying the last day of business may change. Stay with KIMT for the latest. ST. PAUL, Minn. Theres been another twist in the continuing legal battle over bus service in Rochester. The Minnesota Supreme Court has reversed an Appeals Court ruling that the awarding of the citys bus service contract was unfair, but says the issue must be decided again based on four alternative arguments raised by the plaintiff, Rochester City Lines. Until 2012, Rochester City Lines operated the citys fleet of buses. A change in federal rules then put the contract up for a competitive bid and it was won by a company called First Transit. Rochester City Lines sued, saying the process of awarding the bus service contract was biased against it. That case is still pending. The bus service contract was put up for bid again in 2016 and was again awarded to First Transit. Rochester City Lines sued a second time, claiming the process was still biased against it. That lawsuit failed in District Court but the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the appearance of bias had not been property considered, because several members of the 2016 committee that awarded the bus service contract also served on the same committee in 2012, and invalidated the awarding of the 2016 bus service contract to First Transit. An appeal was then made to the state Supreme Court. In a ruling issued Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that because Rochester City Lines never claimed the appearance of bias, only that the contract bidding process was actually biased, the Court of Appeals was wrong to invalidate the contract and reversed that decision. However, Rochester City Lines did raise four other arguments related to the 2016 contract: That it was unfairly deprived of references, the bidding process did not credit it for past performance, the City of Rochester acted unfairly regarding First Transits bid, and the City of Rochester unfairly denied opportunities for small business. The state Supreme Court ruled those arguments had not been addressed by the Appeals Court and ordered a hearing on those allegations. ROCHESTER, Minn. Its research from Mayo Clinic that will help doctors with treatment plans for their patients with pancreatic cancer. Researchers have found specific genetic mutations linked to pancreatic cancer. Because they found them in patients with no history of the disease, theyre recommending genetic testing. As we understand more about these genetic targets in these sub-populations of tumors, we can improve pancreatic cancer outcomes by really understanding the basic biology of the tumors and how they work, Robert McWilliams, a professor of oncology at Mayo Clinic and one of the authors of the study, said. McWilliams said their research is making strides in understanding all cancers better. A lot of these genes actually overlap with other types of cancer - breast cancer, melanoma, colon cancer, McWilliams said. So increased understanding of these genes, how they work, and the risks that people have who carry them can help us improve therapy for all these types of cancer. Researchers say the next step is taking this new knowledge and steering patients towards the appropriate clinical trial. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 55,000 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and more than 44,000 will die from the disease. ROCHESTER, Minn.- The state Legislative session wrapped up last month. Voters are still getting the chance to voice their concerns. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce stopped in Rochester today, as part of their state wide policy tour. The Chamber is traveling to towns across the state to discuss how this year's session went. In Rochester, they focused on what lawmakers can do next year to make it easier to do business in Rochester. Joseph Duda is a lead certified public accountant at CliftonLarsonAllen in Rochester. He wants ways for the city of Rochester to be able to keep people from moving out to other cities and states. He tells us he wants to see a greater focus on keeping companies in the state. We want a positive business environment, said Duda. The next stops on the tour will be Detroit lakes, Plymouth and Virginia. Steel strip drying after pretreatment with an infrared radiant burner (photo: GoGaS Goch GmbH & Co. KG) Thanks to a new furnace design, energy efficiency in industrial steel strip drying can be significantly increased and the size of the facility drastically reduced. Using the planned process, investment and production costs can be cut by at least 40 percent. This is achieved through the use of infrared radiant burner technology. Implementing this energy-efficient method is the aim of ECCO, a project scheduled to run for four years coordinated by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and funded by the European Union with around eight million euros. In industry, thin steel sheets wound on rollers are painted for garage doors, for example. The paint consists of a mixture of color pigments, chemical components and necessary solvents. In a continuous process, the steel strip coil is rolled out, the paint is applied to the steel strip, and then dried and cured in a furnace before the strip is cooled down and rolled up again. This drying and curing process is carried out on a large scale with large quantities of hot air, because the solvents escaping from the paint are flammable. So that no combustible mixture of solvents and air is produced during the process, the solvent fumes have to be diluted with air to a non-inflammatory concentration. This requires large amounts of air and large-scale production plants. To heat these large quantities of air, a large amount of energy is required. In addition, for environmental reasons the solvents that exist in low concentrations in the drying air have to be removed and this is a highly complex process. At this point in the manufacturing process the ECCO research project will now implement a more energy-efficient method for operating the furnace. In this new process, the heat required for drying and curing the painted steel strips is supplied in the form of infrared radiation through radiant burners, says Professor Dimosthenis Trimis. These radiant burners are located in the burner section of the furnace. It is separated from the drying and curing section by materials which are permeable for infrared radiation. In the drying section, evaporation creates a very high solvent concentration in contrast to the conventional process which is non-flammable because there is no combustion air. This solvent atmosphere is extracted from the drying and curing section, fed into the radiant burners as fuel and completely burned. This eliminates the need for large quantities of hot air and the removal of the solvents from the air at the end of the process, says Trimis. The Institute of Combustion Technology of the Engler-Bunte Institute at KIT is coordinating the research project in the EUs Horizon 2020 program with funding of around eight million euros. The project started in October 2017 and will run for four years. Participants include twelve partners from industry and other academic institutions from Germany, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Greece, Belgium and Switzerland. Being The Research University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,600 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 23,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence. BERLIN (Reuters) - The leaders of Germany and France agreed on Tuesday to create a budget for the euro zone and hailed a new chapter for the currency union, but they left the details to be worked out later with other members of the 19-country bloc. Their meeting, to prepare for an EU summit on June 28-29, had been dubbed a moment of truth for bilateral relations by Frances finance minister, as Paris has pressed Berlin for months to agree reforms to crisis-proof the bloc. After meeting at Chancellor Angela Merkels Meseberg retreat outside Berlin, she and Frances Emmanuel Macron presented the new budget as a means of boosting the blocs economic competitiveness. Macron said it would be operational by 2021, but their plans lacked further detail. We are opening a new chapter, Merkel said after the talks, which produced an eight-page declaration entitled: Renewing Europes promises of security and prosperity. Merkel said the budget would be used to strengthen economic convergence within the euro zone, which was almost torn apart by a debt crisis that took hold in 2009. We know that an economic and monetary union can only remain intact if economic policies converge, she said, adding that euro zone reform was the toughest issue in the talks, which also touched on European foreign and defense policy and immigration. French President Macron, who last September laid out a sweeping vision for euro zone reform, defended the agreement when pressed by journalists. It will be a real budget, with annual revenues and spending, he said. This is a political commitment we make together which will require technical work at the ministerial level by the end of the year, and then indispensable treaty change the year after. The two leaders had decided to focus on broad issues to leave more room for negotiations with the other 17 euro members, Macron said - a scenario that leaves scope for the plans to be watered down. National contributions and European resources would be used to fund the budget, the leaders said in the declaration. Macron said its size and details on its financing would be hammered out by ministers before the end of the year. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called the plans very well balanced. I am very pleased with the German-French paper. It allows European progress and the Commission is very pleased with what is being developed, he told Reuters. EXISTENTIAL CHALLENGES While Europes economy has picked up and there is no immediate sign of financial stress, many analysts say reforms are needed to protect the single currency. Merkel said she was optimistic her government and parliament would back the proposed reforms. However, her political capital is being eroded by a row with her Bavarian allies, who have given the chancellor two weeks to find a European solution to their immigration dispute. The row threatens to scupper Merkels three-month-old coalition and limits her capacity for agreeing to far-reaching euro zone reforms, of which many in her conservative bloc are skeptical. Keen not to increase burdens on German taxpayers, Merkel has indicated she would prefer a euro zone budget in the tens of billions rather than Macrons idea of hundreds of billions of euros for investments. Noting in their declaration that the EU faces existential challenges, the leaders agreed to set up a European border police and to create a European asylum office. But they failed to deliver any big-bang reforms, and soft-pedalled on the idea of a European insurance scheme (EDIS) for bank deposits. Everything depends on the details that are not yet known, Guntram Wolff, director of the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, said of the reform plans. But without finishing the banking union, the euro area will remain fragile, he told Reuters. SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - North Koreas Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping came to an understanding on issues discussed at a summit of the two leaders, including denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the Norths state media said on Wednesday. Kim and Xi assessed the historic meeting Kim had with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last week and exchanged opinions on ways to resolve the issue of denuclearization, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The North Korean leader also promised during a meeting with Xi in Beijing to cooperate with Chinese officials to secure true peace in the process of opening a new future on the Korean peninsula, it said. Xi told Kim the neighbors joint efforts could definitely ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, Chinas official Xinhua news agency said. I have faith that, with the joint efforts of China and North Korea, our relationship can definitely benefit both countries and both peoples, he said, during a meeting at Beijings Diaoyutai state guest house. Kim told Xi that previously China and North Korea had helped each other out like family members. General Secretary comrade Xi Jinping has shown us touching and familial support and concern, he said, according to Xinhua. Kim wrapped up his two-day trip to Beijing on Wednesday with a visit to an agricultural sciences exhibition and the Beijing subway command center, Xinhua added. The visit follows his Singapore summit, where Kim and Trump reaffirmed a commitment to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Trump surprised officials in South Korea and the United States after that meeting by saying he would end provocative joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. The United States and South Korea said they had agreed to suspend a joint military exercise set for August, although decisions regarding subsequent drills have not yet been made. On Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa said the decision to suspend the exercise could be reconsidered, based on future developments with North Korea. I think weve made it clear this is a goodwill gesture to strengthen dialogue momentum, Kang said. Its not irreversible. They could come back if the dialogue loses speed, or if North Korea doesnt live up to its denuclearization commitment, she said. Kim is on his third visit to China this year. Xi offered high praise to the North Korean leader on Tuesday for the positive outcome of last weeks summit with Trump. KCNA also reported that Xi said relations between China and North Korea had reached a new level of development since Kims first visit in March and that the pacts by the two leaders were being carried out one-by-one. Kim also told Xi he was willing to bolster friendship and cooperation, it said. It was widely expected that Kim would visit Beijing to brief Xi on his summit with Trump, which included Pyongyang agreeing to hand over the remains of troops missing from the 1950-53 Korean War. Two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday North Korea could start that process within the next few days. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and a group of lawmakers from the Senate and House of Representatives will meet at the White House on Wednesday to discuss their disagreement over how to penalize Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp (000063.SZ) (0763.HK), a White House spokeswoman said. The Trump administration moved to lift a ban on the company doing business with U.S. suppliers, but the Republican-led U.S. Senate on Monday included an amendment to kill the settlement as part of a defense policy bill it approved. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said the meeting will focus on the problematic amendment to the defense bill, but she declined to go into details. A list of participants in the meeting was not immediately available. Republicans and Democrats have expressed national security concerns about ZTE and another major Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei Technologies Ltd. But their ire against ZTE rose after it broke an agreement to discipline executives who conspired to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran and North Korea. ZTE has agreed to pay a $1 billion penalty and put $400 million in an escrow account in a U.S. bank as part of the settlement reached on June 7 to allow it to do business again with U.S. suppliers. Shares of the Chinese telecommunications firm and its U.S. business partners fell after the Senate vote, although the measure could still be killed when Senate and House lawmakers meet in the coming weeks to forge a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday his agency is launching an investigation of recent steel price hikes to determine whether some market participants are illegitimately profiteering from new U.S. tariffs. Ross told a Senate Finance Committee hearing that the price of steel in the U.S. market has risen far more than justified by the 25 percent tariff, possibly because of speculative activity with some market intermediaries holding back inventories. Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. The Drinks Agency adds Havn gins and rums to its portfolio The Drinks Agency has signed a deal to distribute the new Belgium small-batch premium spirits brand Havn in the UK. The deal will give the online retailer exclusive rights to distribute Havns portfolio of premium rum and gin products to the UK and Ireland markets. The Havn collection includes four different gins and four rums, all with subtly complex profiles that represent the four corners of the world: Antwerp, Copenhagen, Marseille and Bangkok. Founder, Steve Symons, said: There is no doubt that the gin industry continues to be as popular as ever. But with so many different products on the market it can be difficult to select a product that really stands out. We wanted to create a superior quality product in both flavour and bottle design. Our aim was to create gins and rums inspired by world ports, so that you can taste their origin immediately, without further explanation and with equally luxurious bottles to make them real designer gins. We are delighted to announce our partnership with The Drinks Agency to distribute our unique range of premium products. We believe they will enhance any bar and retail offering and so we are very much looking forward to working with the team to develop the Havn brand in the UKs on-trade and off-trade for the first time, as well as making it available to consumers in its bar locations across the Cotswolds. Michele Bodart, founder and director of The Drinks Agency, said: This is an exciting time for the Havn brand to be launching into the UK spirits market. As the sector continues to grow, particularly for gin, the Havn brand brings an extraordinarily unique offering thanks to its innovative range of flavours that truly set them apart from the competition. The Havn Gin portfolio includes Marseille (MRS), dominated by spicy Mediterranean herbs; Copenhagen (CPH), which tastes of the sea with a surprisingly smoky aftertaste; Antwerp (ANR), a sweet and mild gin with delicious notes of star anise; and Bangkok (BKK), a spicy gin with a strong emphasis on citrus. Havns Rum portfolio includes three selection rums and one overproof rum. Havana (HAV) has been inspired by the richness of raw cacao and tangerines in the Spanish archipelago around Havana. It boasts a soft hint of vanilla; Mauritius (MRU) is an elegant French-style rum, with a velvety note of fennel and a hint of lavender; Georgetown (GEO) is reminiscent of smoky English-style rum with a solid touch of cardamom and a spicy hint of cloves; and the portfolio is rounded off with an overproof rum, which has been created as a basic rum for bartenders. Related articles: NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. money market fund assets decreased by $65.25 billion to $2.762 trillion in the week ended June 19, the Money Fund Report said on Wednesday. Taxable money market fund assets decreased by $63.62 billion to $2.626 trillion, while tax-free assets decreased by $1.63 billion to $136.06 billion, according to the report, published by iMoneyNet. The iMoneyNet Money Fund Average 7-Day Simple Yield for All Taxable money-market funds increased to 1.49 percent from 1.41 percent the week before, while the iMoneyNet Money Fund Average 7-Day Simple Yield for All Tax-Free and Municipal money-market funds rose to 0.84 percent from 0.64 percent last week. Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/TNS via Getty ImagesPolice had to disperse a rowdy crowd that gathered Tuesday night in Los Angeles to mourn XXXTentacion. Nearly 1,000 people gathered in an impromptu memorial in the Fairfax area, according to the Los Angeles Times. Some people climbed on rooftops, while fireworks also were being set off and a mosh pit was formed. Los Angeles Police said the crowd blocked traffic in the area and didn't have a permit to gather. Shortly after 9 p.m., officers wearing tactical gear formed a line along a crosswalk to disperse the crowd. By 10: 15 p.m., most of the crowd had left. Born Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, XXXTentacion was shot Monday afternoon at a motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, Florida and died at 5:39 pm ET. He was 20 years old. As police search for suspects, his music sales have seen a dramatic spike, increasing by over 1,600 percent, Billboard reports. XXXTentacions combined album and digital song sales jumped from 2,000 sold on June 17, to 33,000 on the day he died, June 18. His best-selling song was Sad!, which sold 6,000 units, compared to 1,000 on June 17. The song is from XXXTentacions latest album, ?, which is expected to return to the Billboard top ten next week, has sold over 45,000 units this week, compared to 19,000 units the previous week. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. By Dong Sun-hwa Kim Sung-ryung, winner of the 1988 Miss Korea Pageant and now a successful actress, will head the judging panel for this year's final in Seoul on July 4. It is the first time a former Miss Korea has been given the job. Dubbed one of the most beautiful Miss Koreas, Kim has forged a career as an actress. "At first I felt uncomfortable evaluating my juniors, but I wanted to join and do something meaningful for the 2018 Miss Korea Pageant," Kim said. "I accepted the role as the head judge since I could give some guidelines and help." A host of the pageant, the Hankook Ilbo E&B, said Kim is well known for taking good care of her juniors. "Thanks to Kim, who agreed to take the role, the 2018 Miss Korea Pageant is set to have another heyday," the host said. The final with 32 contestants will be broadcast live on MBC Every1 and MBC Music at 7 p.m. on July 4. Check for more information. By Jhoo Dong-chan Korean brokerages are exiting the Chinese market after sustaining heavy losses because of the country's formidable financial barriers. Another reason behind their recent disappointing sales is investors' deflated confidence after an affiliate of a major Chinese energy firm defaulted on a bond payment. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Wednesday, DB Financial Investment has decided recently to liquidate its two affiliates in China. The two firms reportedly posted a disappointing combined net profit of 41 million won ($37,094) in the first quarter this year. Their net gain was also only 167 million won last year. DB Financial Investment founded the two firms in mainland China and Hong Kong more than 10 years ago, but neither of the firms has managed to reach 3.5 billion won in asset volume. Another brokerage Yuanta Securities already withdrew its China affiliate two years ago after failing to post a profit. It liquidated its affiliate after sustaining a 130 million won net loss in 2016. Only two Korean securities firms still operate affiliates in China, but their outlooks aren't bright. Korea Investment & Securities invested in a Beijing-based brokerage, but the Chinese securities firm posted a 150 million won net loss in the January-to-March period. The Korean brokerage also invested in local equity funds only to post a nearly 2.5 billion won loss in the period. China Asia Investment Consulting, owned by Cape Investment & Securities, also posted a 30 million won net loss last year. A major reason behind Korean brokerages' disappointing sales in China is the Chinese government's high financial barriers. In order to run a securities business in China, a foreign securities firm is required to make a joint venture with a local company. Foreign firms are not allowed to own more than 33 percent in the joint venture. Beijing energy giant China Energy Reserve & Chemicals Group (CERCG) defaulting on its $350 million bond is another reason behind Korean brokerages' departure from the country since investor confidence seems frustrated following the energy firm's decision. "A number of Korean brokerages landed China in a hope to attract the increasing Chinese capital along with the county's rapid economic growth," a Nomura Securities analyst said. "However, they failed to overcome such hurdles amid the depreciating investors' confidence there. I believe the remaining two firms have no option but to withdraw their operations if losses continue." By Kim Jae-heun Korea has become the largest global conference organizer in the world for the second straight year, according to a global research institute, Sunday. The Union of International Associations (UIA) issued its latest Global Meetings Ranking and Korea ranked first after hosting 1,297 congresses out of 10,780 held across the world in 2017, accounting for 12.6 percent. In 2016, Korea also led with 997 events, taking up 9.5 percent. Korea has been emerging as a venue for global conferences, as evidenced by the steady increase in recent years _ fourth in 2014 with 636 and second in 2015 with 891. By city, Seoul came in third with 688 congresses as Singapore topped the list with 877. The Belgian municipality of Brussels ranked second at 763. Other Korean cities also moved up the rankings as Busan jumped from 14th to eighth and Jeju Island had a two-notch boost from 17th to 15th. Such accomplishments are believed to have come from the Korean government's longtime comprehensive efforts to draw in various international conventions. Korea made a law in 1996 to foster the industry of hosting conferences here. Their efforts include strengthening programs to support hosting conventions and promoting events through various platforms. "We are happy to keep the top position for two years in a row. An international conference participant in 2017 spent an average of $2,941 per person, which is twice as much as what an ordinary tourist spends. We will continue to make efforts in improving our services to keep satisfying convention participants," an official of the Korea Tourism Organization said. Kim Sa-in, president of Literature Translation Institute of Korea, makes opening remarks during the International Translation and Publication Symposium held at COEX in southern Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of LTI Korea The American military command in South Korea is preparing for the North Koreans to turn over the remains of an unknown number of U.S. or allied service members who have been missing since the Korean War, U.S. officials said Tuesday. Officials say the timing of a ceremony is uncertain, but could be very soon. The officials weren't authorized to discuss the preparations before an official announcement so spoke on condition of anonymity. The remains are believed to be some or all of the more than 200 that the North Koreans have had for some time. But the precise number and the identities -- including whether they are U.S. or allied service members -- won't be known until the remains are tested. President Donald Trump raised the likelihood of the repatriation of remains last week after his summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. At the time Trump said, ''We're getting the remains, and nobody thought that was possible.'' The Defense Department, State Department and White House declined to discuss the latest development. The Pentagon would only say that an interagency effort is underway and that Trump's agreement with Kim last week cleared the way for the planning for the return of remains. The transfer of remains is usually done in a somber, formal ceremony, and that is what officials said is being planned. It also wasn't clear where the ceremony would take place, but it may be at the demilitarized zone on the border between North and South Korea. It's been more than a decade since North Korea turned over the remains of American troops missing from the Korean War. Richard Downes, executive director of the Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs, said he has since been told the North may have the remains of more than 200 American service members that were likely recovered from land during farming or construction and could be easily returned. But he said the vast majority have yet to be located and retrieved from various cemeteries and battlefields across the countryside. More than 36,000 U.S. troops died in the conflict, including those listed as missing in action. Close to 7,700 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, and about 5,300 of those were lost in North Korea. Between 1996 and 2005, joint U.S.-North Korea military search teams conducted 33 recovery operations and recovered 229 sets of American remains. Washington officially broke off the program because it claimed the safety of its searchers was not guaranteed, though the North's first nuclear test, in 2006, was likely a bigger reason. The last time North Korea turned over remains was in 2007, when Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador and New Mexico governor, secured the return of six sets. According to Chuck Prichard, spokesman for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, once the remains are turned over, they would be sent to one of two Defense Department facilities -- Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska -- for tests to determine identification. (AP) By Kim Jae-kyoung U.S. President Donald Trump's move to alter the 1953 Korean armistice agreement could provide a loophole for North Korea to dodge sanctions, according to Tara O, an adjunct fellow at Pacific Forum. She also believes the U.S. and South Korea's decision to halt its annual military exercises is "premature" because there are no signs the North will stop its own annual drills. The New York-based American expert on North Korea said the talk of "ending the Armistice" is related to the talk of a "lasting and stable peace regime" mentioned in the Singapore agreement signed by the two leaders on June 12. Tara O North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toasts together with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People during his visit to Beijing, Tuesday. / Yonhap By Kim Rahn North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's latest visit to China suggests Beijing's growing influence on the denuclearization talks, analysts said Wednesday. Kim made a two-day visit to China from Tuesday to Wednesday and met Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was his third trip to the longtime ally in three months; while the Chinese president has not yet visited Pyongyang. Kim's two earlier visits were made before his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as if he and Xi had strategic get-togethers about the denuclearization deal with the U.S. This visit, too, was made when Pyongyang and Washington were planning follow-up talks on details of denuclearization after Kim's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore, June 12. According to North Korean and Chinese media, Wednesday, Kim and Xi reaffirmed their close cooperation in the denuclearization process. "Cooperation between North Korea and China clearly shows the relationship between the two nations is developing into an unprecedentedly special one beyond the traditional one," the (North) Korean Central News Agency reported. Xinhua News Agency quoted Xi as saying Kim's visit to China showed "the great importance he attaches to the strategic communication between the two parties and two countries." Xi also called on North Korea and the U.S. to implement the outcome of the Trump-Kim summit, and other relevant countries to make concentrated efforts for the peace process, noting China would continue to play a constructive role to this end. By Kim Rahn President Moon Jae-in By Kang Aa-young A student at one of the biggest hagwon (private learning institute) chains in Gangnam has been diagnosed with tuberculosis. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) on Tuesday, the student, 19, was diagnosed on June 12 during a health check at a hospital. The student had been attending classes at the Kangnam Daesung Hagwon. A total of 322 people 292 students and 30 teachers who have been near him or spent over eight hours with him, will be tested for TB on Friday, the KCDC told The Korea Times. The results will be available in two weeks, the KCDC said. Esmail Alqublani, former Yemeni journalist, sent this letter to The Korea Times from Jeju Island, where he together with other Yemenis is trying to get a refugee status. ED. Since the start of the war in Yemen, the displaced people have been searching for a safe life. At first Djibouti, Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries received many Yemenis. And then Malaysia, which became the starting point for Yemenis who came to the island of Jeju and other parts of the world. Now, the war is long and this has made us look for a way of living and working in peace as human beings anywhere. Through United Nations offices and others, we are trying to preserve ourselves and the future of our lives. We are the Yemenis as a people and a state that we have never been enemies of. But there have been many ambitions around our country. The war is the main reason for our displacement and it has consumed the green land in our country and we Yemenis are now on Korea's Jeju Island. We do not want to be misunderstood, and I am aware that we will not be misunderstood, in a civilized and ancient country like South Korea. Journalist Esmail Alqublani fled Yemen after receiving threats. Courtesy of Esmail Alqublani By Kang Aa-young Many Yemeni asylum seekers see Jeju Island as something close to the last beacon of hope in their tiring journey for survival and a new life. Esmail Alqublani, 30, is now on Jeju after leaving the Yemini city of Ibb for Malaysia, where he bought a one-way ticket to Korea. "I left Yemen after receiving phone calls from someone threatening to kidnap and assault me," he said. In that situation, he couldn't do his job as a journalist. "Yemen is not safe," he said. "It was hard for me to leave but I had to for my life." A group of Yemenis attend a job consulting session on Jeju Island. Captured from YTN Jeju is safer than Yemen but refugees like Alqublani are struggling with a minimum level of subsistence help while their requests for refugee status are under review. As of Friday, Jeju has received 549 Yemeni refugee applications, including from 10 families with children. Joseph Shin, head of a special committee established to resolve refugee issues on Jeju, said most refugees arrived with little money to live there for about a month. "They have expectations to go to Seoul soon where there are communities to help them out with government-run shelters," he said. But refugees who recently arrived on the island cannot leave for the mainland due to the Ministry of Justice's decision not to grant them a permission to leave since April 30. "When they run out of money to stay at a hotel, they move out to the streets and become homeless," Shin said. But there has been some good news for the refugees. The government has made an unprecedented decision to allow them to work, which Alqublani called a "golden opportunity." The announcement of work being offered to Yemeni refugee applicants. Courtesy of Facebook 'Yemeni refugee' group By Kim Hyun-bin A recommendation committee started personnel screenings at the Supreme Court, Wednesday, to select three Supreme Court justices to replace judges Ko Young-han, Kim Chang-seok and Kim Shin whose terms end Aug. 1. The committee will select nine candidates from a pool of 41, mostly long-term members of the judicial branch with up to 30 years of experience. The candidates are 33 judges, six lawyers and two professors. However, criticism is rising as out of the 41, 30 graduated from Seoul National University and 36 are male. The union for court employees expressed its opposition to the selection, demanding the removal of high-ranking judges who worked under former Supreme Court chief justice Yang Seung-tae, currently being accused of abusing his authority. . "High-ranking judges who took part in administrative work under former chief justice Yang Seung-tae are also subject to investigation for judicial abuse and should be excluded as candidates," the union said. It demanded the removal of candidates connected to the allegations against Yang as well as prosecutors who opposed an investigation of him. "The candidates are responsible for bureaucratizing the judicial system and were solely focused on increasing their power. They have no right to serve as Supreme Court justices in a democracy," the union said. Yang, who served under ousted President Park Geun-hye, allegedly ensured biased Supreme Court decisions, and supposedly created a blacklist of mostly liberal judges. Yang is accused of deliberately using politically sensitive trials as bargaining chips to curry favor with the Park administration in a bid to establish a de facto second Supreme Court. The trials involved unions and a former spy chief, the verdicts of which could have affected the Park administration. After the committee finalizes the nine candidates it will submit the names to chief justice Kim Myung-soo. The union will also offer an opinion on each candidate. Kim will select three and submit them to President Moon Jae-in for final approval. Critics raise questions over new police chiefs By Kang Seung-woo President Moon Jae-in's appointment of a new chief of the Korea Coast Guard (KCG) is raising some eyebrows as the organization has already had two heads in less than a year. Cho Hyun-bai, chief of the Korea Coast Guard / Yonhap Last week, President Moon named Cho Hyun-bai, the commissioner of the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency, to lead the KCG, replacing his predecessor Park Kyung-min. The President also named Min Gab-ryong as the National Police Agency (NPA) commissioner, following Cho's appointment. Given that Park Kyung-min, who took the position in July 2017, is leaving office just 10 months after his appointment, there are lingering complaints that he was not fully given opportunities to display his ability at the helm of the coast guard. Due to its poor rescue operations during the sinking of the ferry Sewol in 2014 that killed more than 300 passengers, then-President Park Geun-hye disbanded the KCG. However, right after President Moon's election in May 2017, the KCG was reinstated and Park, a former spokesman of the NPA, took office. Currently, Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il and Min, the nominee for NPA commissioner, are from the Jeolla provinces. So the pick of Cho is seen as a move to balance regionalism in the process of selecting government officials. Cho is from the Gyeongsang provinces. Presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom also said the appointment was made as part of an effort to prevent the government from selecting officials from one region. In addition to the regional matter, officials within the KCG are complaining that most chiefs had not been well-versed and doubt whether the new chief will be fit for the job. There have been a total of 15 KCG chiefs in the history of the organization, but only two of them were promoted from within. "I am wondering how much a chief from outside of the KCG will contribute to the organization," said a source. In order to end the cycle of deep-rooted irregularities, there are growing calls for the government to step up efforts to guarantee the tenure of the KCG chief by law and come up with acts to specify the role of the coast guard. The National Government Organization Act simply stipulates the KCG's mission is to patrol the sea and prevent marine pollution. The KCG has made efforts to urge the government to enact its own organization act, but different opinions and conflicts between relevant ministries have derailed the move. Min Gab-ryong, the nominee for the National Police Agency commissioner / Yonhap By Lee Min-hyung B-1B bomber By Park Yoon-bae A recent opinion poll found six out of 10 Koreans do not trust court rulings. This finding accurately reflects people's long-harbored deep distrust of the judiciary. According to the survey conducted by market research firm Realmeter, only 27.6 percent of the respondents said they trust court decisions, while 63.9 percent said they don't. Those who consider themselves progressive gave 35.1 points to court rulings against the full score of 100, while centrists and conservatives gave 38.9 points and 33.3 points, respectively. Beijing should not give wrong signal to North North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's third visit to China is seen as a diplomatic effort to maximize his country's interests in the denuclearization and peace making process. The visit comes a week after Kim held a historic summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore. It is rare for the leader of the reclusive country to visit China, let alone for a third time in such a short period. Kim's first trip was in late March after he offered to hold the summit with Trump. The second one took place in early May, following the April 27 inter-Korean summit. His latest visit to Beijing from Tuesday to Wednesday was aimed at explaining the outcome of the Singapore summit to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Kim expressed thanks for Xi's support for the North's position on denuclearization. It was also intended to seek China's help in follow-up nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington. The frequent Kim-Xi summits could contribute to achieving the complete denuclearization of the North and settling a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. We welcome Xi saying China is willing to continue playing a positive role to promote the peace process. His remarks should not end up only as diplomatic rhetoric; they must be translated into action. Beijing does not want to be sidelined by the ongoing detente among Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington. Thus, Kim's visits have provided a rare opportunity for China to play a certain role on inter-Korea issues and exercise influence over the North's denuclearization and the peace process. No doubt Beijing wants to stake a claim in its client state. China has emerged as the biggest winner from the Kim-Trump summit in which the U.S. and the North virtually adopted Beijing's "freeze for freeze" formula. Following President Trump's promise, Seoul and Washington officially announced the suspension of joint military exercises to accommodate Pyongyang's demand for a security guarantee. China has also called for the North's denuclearization and the signing of a peace treaty, replacing the armistice accord, to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War. On the part of North Korea, Kim is apparently using better ties with China as leverage in the ongoing negotiations with the U.S. He wants to get Chinese support for a phased and reciprocal denuclearization so he can extract more concessions from the U.S. Furthermore, Kim is also trying to get Beijing to ease international sanctions. Some media reports said China is moving to resume cross-border trade with the North. In this context, worries are growing that China might send the wrong signal to the North, which has yet to take any concrete action to dismantle its nuclear and missile programs verifiably and irreversibly. The suspension of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise may only weaken the Seoul-Washington alliance. Thus, the South and the U.S. should make all-out efforts to avoid past mistakes and ensure the complete denuclearization of the North in subsequent talks with Pyongyang. Conservative party needs to start from ground zero Even without reading the public's mind after its disastrous defeat in the June 13 local elections, the main opposition Liberal Korea Party (LKP) is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to the sigh of voters who supported it. The leading conservative party's acting chief, Rep. Kim Sung-tae, declared Monday he would disband the party's central headquarters _ not the party itself _ in a symbolic measure of reform and would change the name of the party. The headquarters Rep. Kim referred to is the governing body of a political party with the authority to set up the process for candidate nomination and execute general affairs for the party. The acting chief's remarks seem to indicate no party members are responsible for the humiliating defeat by holding only the governing body accountable. Any habitual change of party name or restructuring of the central leadership in Seoul is not expected to help revive the conservative force. Kim's "lopsided" idea immediately sparked resistance from most party lawmakers, forcing the already staggering party into a deep-rooted factional feud and adding to the disappointment of the people. To date, the LKP's miserable defeat stemmed from a failure to break with the pro-Park Geun-hye faction involved in her regime's corruption and maladministration. The party members, either novice lawmakers or multi-term ones dubbed seniors, should make a fresh start from ground zero after dissolving their party _ if they can read the minds of the people. After giving up their vested rights, the party members have to invite public figures from all spectrums of life who can help keep the values of real conservatism, instead of worn-out ideology, with a new vision. They have to turn over a new leaf and create a completely different party and then wait for the people's judgment. If they do so, and the people feel the sincerity in their efforts, conservative voters will return. Asiana Airlines Senior Vice President Cho Young-seok, sixth from left, poses for a photo with attendees of an entrance ceremony for the airline's job training program in Vietnam, Wednesday. The program is aimed at training female jobseekers from low-income families. It has so far helped more than 160 people find jobs at companies including Korean firms in Vietnam. / Courtesy of Asiana Airlines By Jun Ji-hye Samsung SDS unveiled its online logistics platform equipped with cutting-edge IT technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to target the global e-commerce logistics market, Wednesday. The platform dubbed "Cello Square 3.0" is grafted with blockchain technology as well as AI in addition to the firm's knowhow on logistics operation, said Kim Jin-ha, senior vice president at the smart logistics business division of Samsung SDS, during a news conference held at the firm's campus in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province. The IT services arm of the nation's top conglomerate said the platform automatically selects the optimal transportation measures and delivery firms, enabling sellers in the global e-commerce logistics market to reduce costs and delivery time. The blockchain technology, embedded in the platform, will raise product reliability as the technology prevents forgery and alteration of places of origin of international cargo. Purchasers can simply confirm information, such as exporting countries, companies and distribution records, by touching their mobile phones on the tag of near field communications (NFC) attached to the products. The firm said the platform improves user convenience significantly, offering a mobile tracking service in which users can check orders and delivery situations in real time with their mobile phones. The company plans to add a premium service using machine learning and data analytics, which will forecast sales volume and suggest measures to cut down distribution costs. The firm said it signed a business agreement with the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), also on Wednesday, to connect logistics information of the Cello Square 3.0 to the bank's export price payment system. "We will offer the best service to sellers in the global e-commerce market through the Cello Square 3.0 embedded with state-of-the-art IT technologies and Samsung SDS's experience on global logistics operation," said Kim Hyung-tae, executive vice president at logistics business unit of Samsung SDS. Min Sung, vice president for the product groups of Hanon Systems, poses at the company's office in Seoul. The manufacturer of air conditioning and heating systems for vehicles has 40 manufacturing plants and 18 engineering centers worldwide. / Courtesy of Hanon Systems Former Ford executive sets example for global leadership By Park Jae-hyuk Korea's automotive industry has gone through a few tough years, culminating in the closure of GM's factory in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, and following the lingering retaliation from China over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system here. Despite these, Hanon Systems has made significant progress amid other unfavorable market conditions, winning a record number of orders last year in its 32-year history. Min Sung, vice president of the manufacturer of air conditioning and heating systems for vehicles, attributed his company's achievements to its diversification of clients beyond domestic carmakers This year, the Daejeon-headquartered company received an award from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and was named one of Ford Motor's aligned business framework network of strategic suppliers. Hyundai Motor also gave a prize to the supplier, recognizing it as the best product development partner that helped Korea's largest carmaker maximize efficiency and increase its cars' motion ranges, in line with the advent of the era of electric vehicles. "As a global enterprise with 40 manufacturing plants and 18 engineering centers worldwide, we have continued to diversify our clients," Sung told The Korea Times during a recent interview. "Global M&As in the auto industry and car manufacturers exiting Korea have little impact on our company." Despite the growing THAAD retaliation last year, Hanon Systems has set up more joint ventures in China. Its key strategy in the Chinese market was diversification. "We will not be satisfied with existing client-led growth, but will continue to find new local clients in China to build up the foundation for growth in the future," Sung said. Hanon Systems established a joint venture with China South Industries Group Corp. (CSGC) last year to begin supplying its products to Changan Automobile, the group's affiliate which is also the largest local original equipment manufacturer in China. Changan Automobile, which produces 2.5 million cars a year, has joint ventures with global carmakers such as Ford, Mazda and Suzuki. "Under the joint venture, we supply not only our air-conditioning, but also eco-friendly auto parts products," Sung said. "The firm's top-notch auto compressor products will also be produced at the Chongqing Jianshe plant, which is scheduled to be completed in 2019. Following the sale of heat-pump system for eco-friendly vehicles, we will gradually invest in heating ventilation, air-conditioning and power-train cooling products." Last December, Hanon Systems also finalized a deal with FAWER Automotive Parts to establish a joint venture named FAWER Hanon Automotive Components (FHAC). FAWER is a subsidiary of FAW Group which has established joint ventures with Volkswagen, General Motors and Toyota. Under the partnership with FAWER, Hanon Systems plans to supply eco-friendly products in China. According to Hanon Systems, the successful joint ventures in China are largely credited to Sung. The vice president is known to be well-versed in the Chinese market after living in Shanghai for seven years to pave the way for Ford's expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. Hanon Systems was formerly Halla Climate Control, a joint venture between Ford and Mando Machinery. "Amid China's economic retaliation against Korea last year, we achieved meaningful results, partnering with the Chinese government and companies there, so we feel both joy and great responsibility," he said. "When it comes to establishing a joint venture with a Chinese partner, the most important thing is building up trust in the counterpart. Such trust cannot be gained in the short term, but through continuous communications, suggestions and consultations." Hanon Systems' factory in Dalian, China / Courtesy of Hanon Systems Eco-friendly technologies Sung said his company aims to take the lead in China's eco-friendly vehicle market with the joint venture. According to the vice president, Hanon Systems is focusing on achieving eco-friendliness and high efficiency to comply with global environmental regulations. "Concerns have grown over fuel efficiency, following the growth of the eco-friendly vehicle market, so we are planning to carry out strategic M&As to take the lead in the thermal management market, beyond air conditioning which we have focused on," he said. "Although eco-friendly products account for only 7 percent of our sales now, they account for 50 percent of our newly obtained orders." As an industry veteran who majored in mechanical engineering at Korea University and got a master's degree in business administration at the University of Michigan, Sung said there is no doubt the auto industry will focus more on eco-friendly and self-driving vehicles. "Still, many people get defensive about the trend, but consumers will be soon aware of visible changes. The direction of the auto industry has already changed, and companies will soon launch their eco-friendly products," he said. The company's next-generation products include a new heat-pump system, electric compressor, thermal and emission valve and pump. Hanon Systems has also supplied filters and air-conditioning systems to carmakers to reduce fine dust, which is regarded as one of the most serious threats to Koreans. "We expect someday drivers will check whether their cars are equipped with Hanon Systems' air conditioning and thermal management systems, if more people are concerned about air pollution," he said. Hanon Systems aims to post 7 trillion won ($6.3 billion) in sales in 2020. It plans to continue to expand its investments until then. Formerly known as Halla Visteon Climate Control (HVCC), Hanon Systems is controlled by Hahn and Company, a private equity fund holding a 50.5 percent stake. Hankook Tire also holds a 19.49 percent stake, with the remaining shares being floated on the KOSPI market. In December 2014, the two domestic companies acquired their stakes from Visteon for 4 trillion won. Sung has more than 20 years of automotive experience in roles of increasing responsibility at Ford, Visteon and HVCC, supporting Visteon's car interior climate control operations in the Asia-Pacific and manufacturing planning for climate operations in Southeast Michigan. Hyundai Motor's NEXO fuel cell electric vehicle / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor By Nam Hyun-woo Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) has forged a multi-year strategic partnership with Audi, covering a broad range of fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) components and technologies, the automaker said Wednesday. According to the group, the partnership will allow the two automotive giants to cross-license their patents on FCEVs and will cover not only HMG and Audi but their affiliates and parent companies including Kia Motors and Volkswagen. HMG said it and its affiliates will equally share their intellectual property with Audi and their affiliates over the years to come. The duration of the agreement has not been disclosed. As the first part of the partnership, HMG will allow its counterparts to access its parts, which are based on Hyundai's technology for developing the ix35 Fuel Cell and the Nexo FCEV. "This agreement is another example of Hyundai's strong commitment to creating a more sustainable future whilst enhancing consumers' lives with hydrogen-powered vehicles, the fastest way to a truly zero-emission world," Hyundai Motor Company Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun said in an English statement. "We are confident that the HMG-Audi partnership will successfully demonstrate the vision and benefits of FCEVs to the global society." Though HMG did not elaborate further on which parts would be shared first, industry sources said they will likely be fuel cell stacks. In FCEVs, fuel cell stack is an assembly of cells that produce electricity. It is regarded as one of the most important parts of an FCEV as it is directly linked with a vehicle's acceleration and traveling distance. HMG said the partnership also creates new opportunities in the fuel cell components business and it plans to strengthen Hyundai Mobis' competitiveness in the industry by developing and supplying proprietary core components for Hyundai and Kia FCEVs. Hyundai Mobis' plant in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, currently has a production capacity of 3,000 powertrain fuel cell complete modules per year. The modules are comprised of fuel stacks, drive motors, power electronic components and hydrogen fuel supply units. Mobis will raise the plant's capacity to tens of thousands of PFC modules in the near future, depending on market demand, the group said. The HMG-Audi alliance comes as a growing number of automakers are joining forces to prop up their FCEV capabilities. Toyota and BMW have already forged an alliance for developing FCEV platforms to commercialize FCEVs by 2020. Honda and General Motors established a fuel cell joint venture earlier this month, while Renault Nissan, Ford and Daimler are co-developing FCEVs. The Hyundai-Audi alliance will focus on the Chinese market. At the end of last year, China announced its FCEV roadmap which calls for the country having 1 million FCEVs and 1,000 FCEV charging stations by 2030. According to a McKinsey study the market value of FCEVs and related industries will stand at $2.5 trillion and create 30 million jobs by 2050. "Long ranges and short refueling times make hydrogen an attractive future energy source for electric mobility," a Hyundai official said. "Key aspects for its future market success include the regenerative production of hydrogen and the establishment of sufficient infrastructure." Hyundai Motor Company is the world's first mass-producer of fuel cell vehicles. It has been offering SUV-Class FCEVs since 2013, and currently sells them in 18 countries around the world. UCOM has officially launched the sale of IPHONE 13 Six servicemen were wounded by the attack of the Azerbaijani armed forces in Artsakh, two of them in critical condition S&P Improved the Outlook on Ameriabank to Positive Ararat Mirzoyan to visit to Minsk Google Ad Foreign Minister of India visits the Memorial of Armenian Genocide 1217 new cases Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group At UCOM only: Tv sets at 10% discount + 1 month free UMIX package + 4k tv channel Ameriabanks Special Offer for New Clients of Hrazdan Branch "Fall forward": Gurgen Khachatryan, the Co-Founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies, addressed a message to young people in Armenia UCOM hosted interns of Russian CBOSS corporation for a month The 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York Google Ad Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homeland Karen Vardanyan has allocated 105 million AMD to rescue the Yerevan Botanical Garden. "The Power of One Dram" to overcome childhood cancer Generation A 13 your chance to be the change President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev "uDays" special offer at Ucom: discounts for all smartphones and accessories for 2 days only For more than 3 hours, 50 or more Azerbaijani servicemen have blocked the interstate road Call on the international community for an adequate response against azerbaijani aggresssion Transformation and trust are important for success in modern banking. Artak Hanesyan UCOMS LEVEL UP 1700 REGIONAL TARIFF PLAN USERS TO RECEIVE MORE THAN THOSE IN YEREVAN Joint statement Korea Times The head of Jin Air Co. has quit over allegations that he forced a pilot to go ahead with a flight last year despite an engine problem. The budget carrier unit of Korean Air Lines said Kwon Hyuk-min resigned on Tuesday for personal reasons. The resignation came four weeks after employees of Korean Air Lines claimed that the No. 1 engine of a B777-200 jet would not shut down despite a pilot's efforts to turn it off after landing at Guam on Sept. 19 last year. The plane, however, left for Incheon about 70 minutes later without addressing a major defect in the engine, according to the employees. They claimed that Kwon, who was then the head of the maintenance center at Jin Air, pushed for the flight to go ahead by concealing problem. However, Jin Air insisted that the engine stopped normally after landing at Guam and that fuel left in the fuel pipes may have caused some smoke. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it is investigating whether Jin Air pushed forward with the flight despite safety issues or resolved to the smoke problem. (Yonhap) By Baek Byung-yeul P&G Korea will help improve the medical care environment for child patients as the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a children's hospital in Seoul and an independent foundation for child welfare. P&G Korea announced Tuesday it signed the MOU with the Seoul Metropolitan Children's Hospital and the Kids & Future Foundation at the hospital in southern Seoul. Attending the signing ceremony was P&G Korea public affairs leader Lincoln Park, Seoul Metropolitan Children's Hospital director Kim Jae-bok and Kids & Future Foundation executive director Park Doo-joon. Specializing in developmental disability care, the Seoul Metropolitan Children's Hospital is a public health and medical institution. Founded in 2000, the Kids & Future Foundation is a private and independent foundation providing support to children who are in a blind spot of welfare benefits. Together with the children's hospital and the independent foundation, P&G Korea said it will support improving medical services for child patients. P&G Korea said it will support child patients receiving long-term medical care as well as their families. "P&G has been putting endless efforts into supporting families and we signed the MOU as part of our ongoing social contribution activities," P&G Korea's public affairs leader Park said. "We are dedicated to supporting child patients and their families so they can receive better medical services." "I feel happy that young patients are able to receive better medical care thanks to this MOU," Kim said. "We will continue to do our best for the patients' quick recovery." P&G Korea has implemented a slew of social responsibility activities including "Thank You Mom" campaigns. As an official Olympic sponsor, P&G has spotlighted mothers of Olympic athletes. Pernod Ricard Korea CEO Jean Touboul By Park Jae-hyuk Pernod Ricard Korea (PRK) is facing worsening labor-management relations, amid the slump in the nation's Scotch whisky market. Since the PRK union alleged earlier this month that a company executive verbally abused and sexually harassed his subordinates, the management has apparently shown no signs of attempting to resolve the dispute. According to industry officials, Wednesday, PRK CEO Jean Touboul, who has been criticized for his attitude toward the union, has been embroiled in another controversy for his friendly relations with the allegedly abusive executive. During a recent internal "town hall" meeting with PRK employees, Touboul declined to dismiss him, saying, "Cursing itself is not illegal, and it is not a basis to dismiss any employee." PRK agreed that its CEO made the remarks at the meeting. The union criticized the CEO for not distinguishing the executive's mistreatment from jokes. According to the union, the management also showed employees a screen capture of a news report about the concerned executive, urging them to tell the truth. The union said the company told its employees that they may have to testify about the case with the company's legal adviser, the law firm Kim & Chang. The company said it has been trying to determine the truth of the allegations. A spokesman from its PR agency, Edelman Korea, however, said Touboul's remarks were not intended to support the executive. "Cursing is obviously not polite. The case of cursing reported by the union has been addressed and cleared in an internal town hall meeting. The concerned executive apologized about it. It appears clear that there was no intention to abuse any employee," the spokesman said. "The CEO wants that the intention of the comment is not twisted and distorted. He said union chairman Kim Guee-hyun should not abuse personal pain by using it for his own purposes by distorting the truth. In particular, PRK refutes firmly that this attempt was due to pressure by management." PRK said it will not comment further, citing it must protect the confidentiality it owes to its employees, in particular those going through personal problems. Industry officials point out the company's worsening profitability underlies the lingering dispute. Since last year, the company has lagged behind domestic Scotch whisky distributor Golden Blue in sales. After PRK's status in the domestic Scotch whisky market nosedived over the past few years, the company carried out large-scale restructuring in 2016, urging six executives and 40 managers to voluntarily leave the company. Its wage bargaining for this year also did not end well. The union is considering going on strike again, following a 38-day walkout in 2015. Activists from the Amnesty International display placards during a protest at the entrance of the Bang Kwang high-security prison in Nonthaburi in the outskirts of Bangkok on June 19, 2019, following the execution of convicted Thai prisoner Theerasak Longji on Tuesday. / AFP Thailand carried out its first execution in nine years, putting to death a man who killed a teenager for his mobile phone, in a move that has drawn condemnation from rights groups. Theerasak Longji, 26, was executed by injection Monday after being convicted of aggravated murder for stabbing his 17-year-old victim 24 times to take his mobile phone. The brutal killing in 2012 drew widespread anger in Thai society and his conviction was upheld in the appeal and supreme courts. It was Thailand's first execution since two drug-traffickers were put to death in August 2009, which came after a period of no executions since 2003, Amnesty International said Tuesday in a statement that called the execution deplorable. Theerasak was the seventh convict to be executed by injection since Thailand switched methods in 2003 from a firing squad. Thailand has executed 326 people since 1930, according to the Department of Corrections. The corrections department said Monday that Theerasak was executed to be an example to those who think of committing serious crimes. ''Even though many countries have abolished the death sentence, there are still many other countries that still use it such as the United States and China who focus on the protection of society and citizens to not become victims of crimes over the priority of the human rights of those who had violated the law,'' the statement said. ''The Department of Corrections hopes that this execution will serve as a reminder to those who think of committing serious crimes or violating the law to stop and consider this sentence.'' Amnesty International said the execution was a major setback for the country. ''This is a deplorable violation of the right to life,'' said Katherine Gerson, Amnesty International's Thailand campaigner. ''Thailand is shockingly reneging on its own commitment to move towards abolition of the death penalty and the protection of the right to life, and is also putting itself out of step with the current global shift away from capital punishment.'' (AP) Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. UCOM has officially launched the sale of IPHONE 13 Six servicemen were wounded by the attack of the Azerbaijani armed forces in Artsakh, two of them in critical condition S&P Improved the Outlook on Ameriabank to Positive Ararat Mirzoyan to visit to Minsk Foreign Minister of India visits the Memorial of Armenian Genocide 1217 new cases Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group At UCOM only: Tv sets at 10% discount + 1 month free UMIX package + 4k tv channel Ameriabanks Special Offer for New Clients of Hrazdan Branch "Fall forward": Gurgen Khachatryan, the Co-Founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies, addressed a message to young people in Armenia UCOM hosted interns of Russian CBOSS corporation for a month The 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York Google Ad Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homeland Karen Vardanyan has allocated 105 million AMD to rescue the Yerevan Botanical Garden. "The Power of One Dram" to overcome childhood cancer Generation A 13 your chance to be the change President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev "uDays" special offer at Ucom: discounts for all smartphones and accessories for 2 days only For more than 3 hours, 50 or more Azerbaijani servicemen have blocked the interstate road Call on the international community for an adequate response against azerbaijani aggresssion Transformation and trust are important for success in modern banking. Artak Hanesyan UCOMS LEVEL UP 1700 REGIONAL TARIFF PLAN USERS TO RECEIVE MORE THAN THOSE IN YEREVAN Joint statement 6th department examines Elips company (video) The Chief Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Republic of Armenia approximately two hours was examining Elips Company, which is a partner of Security Drim company. During a conversation with "A1 +," the staff of the department noted that they were conducting only procedural actions. The lawyer of Elips company told us that they did not report any illegalities in the police. Law enforcement agencies came to the company with suspicion that their compensation presented to the police was more than it actually was. It should be noted that since February 2018, the Government has handed over the maintenance of video surveillance cameras for road traffic control to the management of Security Drim company, By the way, this was the second inspectorate conducted by the police. The first inspection was done in the Security Drim company, and this time it was conducted in Elips company. Villagers present their problems to Defender Visit to Gegharkunik Region: Residents of Chambarak and Vahan Village presented their issues to the Defender Today, Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan visited Gegharkunik Region. He met with Governor Ishkhan Saghatelyan and discussed the complaints addressed to the Defender by the residents of the region. The sides expressed willingness to work together to solve the issues raised by the citizens. During the visit, the Defender also visited Chambarak and Vahan villages. Residents have raised both systematic issues and presented individual complaints related to various state institutions. Particularly, the complaints were about the lack of transport links, the legality of the definition of disability and benefits, compensation of the contribution to the Savings Bank of Armenia, the rights of servicemen and so on. Within the framework of the Human Rights Defender's visit, measures will be taken to address the raised issues. It should be noted that as a result of continuing visits by the Human Right Defender, several issues raised by the citizens have been solved. Of recent President Muhammadu Buhari was reported in the media to have said that, Well no longer tolerate perversion of justice. Nice words if the government will abide by the pledge to all irrespective of their social and religious orientation. (AhlulBayt News Agency) - Of recent President Muhammadu Buhari was reported in the media to have said that, Well no longer tolerate perversion of justice. Nice words if the government will abide by the pledge to all irrespective of their social and religious orientation. However the Islamic Movement in Nigeria has some reservations on this assertion by Mister President if the current injustice meted to our leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky since December, 2015 and his followers is taken into account. First of all on the night of 12 December, 2015, the soldiers that marched to our leaders house on the orders of the then Major General Oyebade did not come with the intent of arresting him. They came with a murderous intent and that was what they did on reaching the street leading to his house, where they started shooting indiscriminately at people within the vicinity of the place. Sheikh Zakzaky has never resisted arrest as typified by his arrest during the military dictatorship of Gen. Abacha. After a two day shooting spree, 1000+ members of the Islamic Movement were gunned down by the soldiers, including three beloved sons of Sheikh Zakzaky, many children and women. The Sheikh himself and his wife were shot several times, leaving them in the pool of their blood. He was dragged over the dead bodies of his children and followers into detention. The Sheikhs residence was torched and razed to ground by the marauding army. The Islamic centre established by him was similarly destroyed and now confiscated by Elrufais government. This is not to mention the destruction of the cemetery where we bury our martyrs in the outskirts of Zaria and Fudiyya Islamic centre. Upon all these atrocities, the Sheikh and his followers resorted to legal battle to win back their rights denied to them ostensibly for no reason. Sheikh Zakzaky won a landmark judgement in his favor from an Abuja High Court. His fundamental human rights were restored to him and the court declared him free. However the federal government contemptuously ignored the courts orders delivered one and half years ago. Now after the Saudi government has indicated that it sponsored the Zaria genocide, which is under investigation by the international criminal court of justice at Hague, Kaduna state government came up with some mischievous charges against Sheikh Zakzaky, his wife and two others. If at all the government respect the judiciary, it should have demonstrated that by first obeying the court orders freeing Sheikh Zakzaky. Hence Mister President if the brutal clampdown on Sheikh Zakzaky and the Islamic Movement is not a perversion of justice, what is it? It is clear to all and sundry that Sheikh Zakzaky is a victim of injustice by this government, and it is not late for it to redeem its image and set him free. However we firmly believe Allah will once again expose this governments cluelessness and ineptitude in governance by handing victory to Sheikh Zakzaky in the court because the case which comes up on Thursday 21/06/18 is enmeshed in many flaws. Apart from the fact that Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife were not at the scene of the alleged fictitious murder of one Soldier during the military onslaught, the two other accused, namely Sheikh Yaqoub Yahya Katsina and Sheikh Sunusi Abdulqadir were not even in Zaria throughout the two days Zaria massacre. While the former was in Katsina, the latter was in far-away Sudan on studies. We hereby reiterate our demand that Sheikh Zakzaky, his wife, hundreds of others in detention over the Zaria massacre should be set free unconditionally in the interest of peace and national cohesion so much desired by this country. SIGNED BY SHEIKH ABDULHAMID BELLO ZARIA 19/06/18 /129 The United States has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council accusing it of a "chronic bias against Israel", a move that activists warned would make advancing human rights globally even more difficult. (AhlulBayt News Agency) - The United States has announced its withdrawal from the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC) over what it calls the bodys entrenched bias against Israel. The announcement was made by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley alongside US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday. The US administration accused the UNHRC of hypocrisy and harshly denounced the 47-nation body as biased against the Tel Aviv regime. "For too long the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not headed, Haley said. Human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the council Therefore, as we said we would do a year ago, if we did not see any progress, the United States is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, she added. Haley accused governments with woeful human rights records of seeking a seat on the UNHRC to avoid scrutiny and then resisting proposals for reform. When we made it clear we would strongly pursue Council reform, these countries came out of the woodwork to oppose it, she said. Russia, China, Cuba, and Egypt all attempted to undermine our reform efforts this past year. The US ambassador to the United Nations blasted the Geneva-based council as a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights." Last year, Haley accused the council of "chronic anti-Israel bias" and warned that Washington was reviewing its membership. During the Tuesday announcement, Pompeo was also scathing in his assessment of the UN Human Rights Council, calling the body an exercise in shameless hypocrisy, with many of the world's worst human rights abuses going ignored, and some of the worlds most serious offenders sitting on the council itself. The only thing worse than a council that does almost nothing to protect human rights is a council that covers for human rights abuses, and is therefore an obstacle to progress and an impediment to change, he said. The UN Human Rights Council was established in 2006 and Washington joined in 2009 after President Barack Obama came to power. Since President Donald Trump took office in 2017, the US has quit the UN cultural agency UNESCO, cut UN funding and announced its withdrawal from the UN-backed Paris climate agreement and Iran nuclear deal. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said the withdrawal is "a sad reflection of the US administration's one-dimensional rights policy," adding that Washingtons defense of Israeli abuses takes precedence above everything else. Scores of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli forces in Gaza since March 30, when they began protests for their right to return to their homelands in the occupied territories. In May, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said Israel has systematically deprived Palestinians of their human rights, with 1.9 million in Gaza "caged in a toxic slum from birth to death." The UN official backed calls for an international probe into Israeli war crimes in Gaza after the regimes deadly reaction to protests along the Gaza fence which he described as "wholly disproportionate." The US administration has for long been pushing the UNHRC to end its scrutiny of Israel's widespread human rights abuses against Palestinians. /129 A celebration was held on June 18, 2018 in Paris on the occasion of granting the prominent Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab honorary citizenship of the city. (AhlulBayt News Agency) - A celebration was held on June 18, 2018 in Paris on the occasion of granting the prominent Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab honorary citizenship of the city. Nabeel Rajab said in an audio speech from the prison that "he has a generation of human rights defenders after him (...). Even I am held in a solitary confinement, I am not alone. I will continue to defend the issue until my last breath." Human rights defender Sheikh Maytham Al-Salman said during participating in the celebration that Rajab "is being punished in every possible way to break his spirit. This reward will give him oxygen to continue his struggle for human rights in Bahrain." He also expressed his hope that France would call on the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to release Rajab, who is serving 5- year jail term. As for the human rights situation in the country, Al-Salman said that Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim "is considered one of the founding fathers of Bahrain's first Constitution. However, he is still under house arrest after having his nationality revoked like hundreds of Bahraini activists." Sheikh Maytham noted that the opposition leader and Al-Wefaq Secretary-General, Sheikh Ali Salman, faces "a verdict that might reach to death penalty over charges related to positive interaction with a mediation encouraged by US in 2011." He also regretted that as elections in Bahrain approach, the authorities have offered none of the minimum guarantees to ensure free and fair elections. The International Federation for Human Rights stated that "despite Nabeel Rajab's alarming situation, he shows great courage and doesn't fall apart in front of the harassment he is being subjected to. Thus, he is a considered a symbol for human rights defenders and especially oppressed ones." It also saw that "Paris decision is a real victory against Bahraini authorities (...) We encourage the French government and civil society to continue their struggle to protect freedom of expression and human rights." /129 During La Jolla Town Councils (LJTC) June 14 meeting, president Ann Kerr Bache reacted to Mayor Kevin Faulconers proposed short-term vacation rental (STVR) regulations. Leaked to the media earlier that day, the proposal is a compromise that, reportedly: allows homeowners to rent their primary residences for up to six months a year and a second home year-round; allows home-sharing only if the homeowner remains on site; limits coastal-zone rentals to a three-night minimum stay; prohibits owners of granny flats from renting them for fewer than 30 days; requires $949 annual licenses for those renting entire homes to guests for fewer than 30 days; charges STVR owners hotel tax and a nightly $2.76 affordable housing impact fee; and waives operating permits for homeowners with five or fewer bedrooms. Fundamentally, the issue is primary residences particularly since residence is defined as an owner paying taxes, but also a renter, Kerr Bache told the Rec Center audience of 20. So you can then proliferate these investor-owned things if youre really clever. And not only that, but if you have four or five people living in a home, they can count their primary residence plus one additional. So one particular dwelling could be responsible for four or five STVRs. That gets a little bit sneaky, Kerr Bache said, and how do you enforce it? Kerr Bache said the San Diego Coalition of Town Councils working group on short-term vacation rentals would testify before the City Council just before it is scheduled to decide this issue on July 16. We really recognize that probably not all of our desires will be taken into account, but were hopeful we can turn it around on residents-only, she said. Kerr Bache also broke the news that one town council, Mission Beach, had unexpectedly given up the fight. They have changed their position from primary residence to primary residence plus one, because theyre trying to keep their current 45 percent STVR at that number and not turn the hotel Mission Beach into a hotel, Kerr Bache said. That was a big surprise to me.Kerr Bache added: Im sure theres horse-trading thats going on, thats politics. But were going to keep up our view and well just see what happens. City Council member Barbara Bry also spoke briefly at the meeting about the mayors proposal, indicating that she opposes it and will stick to the STVR compromise she introduced last December 12 one of multiple proposals that failed to secure five affirmative votes at the dais. Earlier in the day, Council member Lori Zapf whose district includes Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Mission Beach and Point Loma issued a statement saying that the mayors proposal does not go far enough to give my support. Also at LJTC Dynes racks brain: Parks & Beaches advisory group chair Ann Dynes introduced a design proposal for new La Jolla fixed bike racks to be located near the Childrens Pool. One of the beauties of this project is that the new bike rack is inside the budget of the Childrens Pool, so Im not coming to you for your approval on that, said Dynes, who distributed copies of the design to trustees. Im just saying that if we had a shared vision for a bike rack, then La Jolla Parks & Beaches would be open to the question of what would you rather have us put out there at the Childrens Pool, if not this? The Town Council responded by passing a motion supporting the concepts and the efforts, and agreeing with the design that Parks & Beaches decides upon. Air traffic report: Airport Noise Task Force co-chairs Chris McCann and Tony Stiegler updated Town Council on their subcommittees progress. McCann said they are working directly with the consultants hired by the Airport Authority to solve several major problems, including the fact that La Jolla is directly under the arrival path for airplanes flying south along the coast, that northbound departures rerouted around Point Loma are turning close to the shore and pointing the back end of their engines at South La Jolla, and that some late-night planes are being rerouted directly over La Jolla instead of south of it. So, if at 10:30 at night, you hear a very loud airplane over your house at very low altitude, that is a guy headed to DC or New York on a red-eye, who the air-traffic controllers, for reasons quite unknown to us, are sending right over La Jolla, McCann said. Oath of office: Bry swore in Town Councils 2018-2019 officers, including Kerr Bache, first vice president Cindy McGowan, second vice president Joe Pitrofsky and treasurer Elizabeth King. (Secretary Gail Forbes was not in attendance.) Street closures: For the San Diego Challenged Athletes Triathlon, Sunday, Oct. 21, the board approved temporary street closures on Coast Boulevard between Prospect Street and Girard Avenue, and lane closures on Torrey Pines Road between Prospect Street and La Jolla Shores Drive. -- Town Council next meets 5:30 p.m. Thu., July 12, at the Rec Center, 615 Prospect St.; lajollatowncouncil.org UC San Diego officials dug shovels into the dirt to kick-off construction of the planned, 10-acre, seven-building, $627-million North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood, June 18, in an elaborate ceremony on what will be the Neighborhoods site in Fall 2020. Billed as the the largest in the history of the architecturally acclaimed campus, the project will be the new home for Sixth College. The Neighborhood will be comprised of two academic buildings (one for social sciences and one for arts and humanities); four residential buildings with 2,000 undergraduate beds; a 1,200-space underground parking area; auditorium; market; dining hall; retail space and a craft center. It will be located between Muir and Marshall Colleges on the west campus. Sixth College opened in September 2001 as the sixth and newest college at UC San Diego. In the years leading up to the groundbreaking, La Jolla residents reviewed the project and some voiced strong objections. Chiefly, a group in the nearby Blackhorse residential community lamented the increases in traffic and lifestyle impacts the Neighborhood would create, during scoping meetings in mid-2017. In late 2017, the La Jolla Shores Association criticized the timing of the public review process (which ended around the December holidays), and suggested the environmental documents associated with the project did not thoroughly address traffic and environmental impacts. Seeing the project as a step toward UCSDs future development, Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said at the groundbreaking: On this campus, students would come here, some would live here, most would live outside (campus) and even the ones who live here would leave by bus and go downtown to have a good time. My view is, once a student comes here, they should have no reason to leave this campus. We should have anything and everything youd want to do and think about on this campus. This campus should be a destination for all of San Diego Gaslamp, Balboa Park, UC San Diego campus. In walking around campus to explore the location for the Neighborhood, which is currently a parking lot, Khosla added: I thought it was a travesty to have this parking lot overlooking the ocean. Nowhere in the country would you let that happen. We decided we are not going to have cars overlooking the ocean, we are going to have human beings overlooking the ocean and have our students living in buildings overlooking the ocean. Upon announcing the Neighborhood would include a craft center to replace the one that was demolished elsewhere on campus in late 2012, the crowd erupted in applause, leading Khosla to joke: When we got rid of the craft center, all of you sent me hate mail, now will you send me love mail? Executive Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Elizabeth Simmons called the Neighborhood a physical representation of our ethos of non-tradition and a key element in the most transformational plan in our campus history. Noting the growing number and the diversity of the students coming to UCSD, she said: In the past decade, we have seen our student enrollment climb by 25 percent as applications doubled and at the same time, the proportion of our students first-generation college students, Pell (Grant) eligible or from under-represented minority populations have grown even faster. By 2030, we will have more residential students than any campus in the nation. Simmons said the layout of the Neighborhood would help the students otherwise unfamiliar with campus life. Architect Ricardo Rabines explained the Neighborhood would not only transform the experience of the UC San Diego campus but also how we approach planning and design for the future. He said the small urban approach addresses the critical challenges faced by communities today: questions of growth and density, diversity and inclusion, and always through the lens of economical sustainability. Hemlata Jhaveri, executive director of UCSD Housing and Dining concluded the presentation proclaiming: This neighborhood is truly going to be a live, learn and play experience for residents, faculty and the campus community. She said there would be unique dining options available to students and faculty, as well as a to-go market that will be open to the community. Learn more about the project and view a map and renderings at livinglearning.ucsd.edu The third Cultural Dialogue between Iran and Italy was held in Rome on Tuesday. (AhlulBayt News Agency) - The third Cultural Dialogue between Iran and Italy was held in Rome on Tuesday. The scholars and thinkers participating at the gathering discussed ways for countering Islamophobia and religious extremism, according to the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO). Issuing a statement at the end of the meeting, they called for efforts to reach a common understanding of the definition and examples of extremism and joint mechanisms to tackle the challenge. They also stressed the need for logical analyses of the root causes of extremism and avoiding one-sided and wrong judgments about followers of certain religions. The statement further called for benefiting from arts and cultural capacities to fight extremism. ICRO organized the gathering in Rome in cooperation with the Tarekani Encyclopedia Foundation. Scholars and thinkers from Iranian and Italian universities and academic centers attended the event. Tehran had hosted the second edition of the dialogue on the role of arts in promotion of scientific and cultural exchanges. /129 Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei met with members of Iran's Majlis (Parliament) here on Wednesday. (AhlulBayt News Agency) - Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei met with members of Iran's Majlis (Parliament) here on Wednesday. The meeting is being held on the occasion of the start of the third working year of the Iranian parliament current term. Further details will be released later. /129 Tim OBrien, the novelist known for his Vietnam War-themed books The Things They Carried and Going After Cacciato, will serve as a consultant on the third season of the popular NBC show This Is Us. Deadline reports that OBrien, a Vietnam veteran, will advise the shows writers and producers next season. Hell presumably contribute to the storyline about Milo Ventimiglias character, Jack, who fought as a soldier in Vietnam. This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman called OBrien a writing hero. It was incredibly intimidating bringing him into our room to discuss a Vietnam plot line and it was even more rewarding, Fogelman said. Ive never said this before, but I cant wait to be rewritten by him. Advertisement Milo Ventimiglia as Jack and Mandy Moore as Rebecca in This Is Us. (Ron Batzdorff / NBC ) OBrien first gained the attention of the literary set in 1973, with the publication of his Vietnam War memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home. He followed that up five years later with Going After Cacciato, a National Book Award-winning novel about an American soldier who deserts his squad in Vietnam. In 1990, OBrien published The Things They Carried, a short story collection about the Vietnam War. The book, and especially the title story, have become a staple of school reading lists. Its intertwining structure, which allows the details to take on greater meaning as the reader continues through the book, is not unlike that of This Is Us. Planning to establish a new, separate U.S. Space Force, as directed by President Trump earlier this week, is not expected to be a speedy process, Air Force officials say. A letter to airmen signed by Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Kaleth Wright said the Air Force looked forward to working with the Defense Department, Congress and other national security partners to move forward on this planning effort. However, it said the work to create what could be the sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces would be a thorough, deliberate and inclusive process. As such, we should not expect any immediate moves or changes, the letter stated. Our focus must remain on the mission as we continue to accelerate the space warfighting capabilities required to support the National Defense Strategy. Advertisement On Monday, Trump directed the Defense Department and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to create a Space Force. A congressional vote would be necessary to authorize a new military service. The Air Force, as well as Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, had previously opposed a similar idea from the House for a space corps, which would have been housed under the Air Force. samantha.masunaga@latimes.com Twitter: @smasunaga Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon and bestselling author, has been named chief executive of a venture sponsored by Amazon.com Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that aims to bring down those three firms healthcare costs. The companies announced the appointment Wednesday and said the new venture, to be based in Boston, will be run independently and be free from profit-making incentives and constraints. The three corporate giants, which together employ nearly 1 million U.S. workers, announced the joint venture in January, saying they wanted to find ways to provide simplified, high-quality and transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost. Buffett, the famously frugal Nebraska billionaire, at the time called rising healthcare costs a hungry tapeworm eating at the U.S. economy. Advertisement The move triggered speculation that any solutions or innovations the venture develops could ripple throughout the healthcare system, potentially benefiting other employers and workers and threatening the profits of drug, insurance and other healthcare companies. Gawande, 52, said Wednesday in a statement that the joint venture will incubate better models of care for all, not just the three companies employees. Gawande is a professor at Harvard Medical School and a practicing endocrine surgeon at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston. He is also executive director of Ariadne Labs, a healthcare innovation project run by Harvard and the hospital. He will remain on the faculty at Harvard and continue his surgical practice, though he will step down as Ariadnes executive director and take the title of chairman, according to a statement from Ariadne Labs. Gawande has been a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine since 1998 and is the author of four books, including 2014s Being Mortal and 2002s Complications, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. His writing first brought him national prominence and the attention of Buffett and Buffetts longtime business partner, Charles Munger. In 2009, Munger read a New Yorker article by Gawande, The Cost Conundrum, that examined why healthcare was vastly more expensive in some parts of the United States than others despite little difference in the health of people getting the care. Munger thought the article was so socially useful that he blindly mailed Gawande a $20,000 check, Buffett told CNBC in 2010. Gawande donated the money to an international project to improve surgical equipment in developing countries, according to the Huffington Post. Buffett said in a statement that he, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon are confident that we have found in Atul the leader who will get this important job done. Gawande starts July 9. A spokesman for JPMorgan said he could not comment on how much Gawande will be paid or other terms of his employment. Although Gawande is well known in health policy circles, he has never run a major business. Vivek Garipalli, the CEO of Clover Health, a closely held health insurer that serves Medicare patients, said the Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan venture will now need to hire executives with that kind of experience. Almost of the same import is who does Atul hire as his chief operating officer, Garipalli said. That vision has to be translated by somebody who understands the nuances of contracting with doctors and hospitals, health insurance markets and other details. Bloomberg was used in compiling this report. james.koren@latimes.com Follow me: @jrkoren UPDATES: 11:05 a.m.: This article was updated with details about Gawandes plans to stay involved in other activities, information about Mungers interactions with Gawande, and comment from Garipalli. This article was originally published at 8:55 a.m. China doesnt import enough from the U.S. to match President Trumps tariffs dollar for dollar, but President Xi Jinping can still retaliate by squeezing American companies in other ways. American businesses including Apple Inc., Walmart Inc., Boeing Co. and General Motors Co. all operate in China and are keen to expand. That hands Xi room to impose penalties such as customs delays, tax audits and increased regulatory scrutiny if Trump delivers on his threat of bigger duties on Chinese trade. The total amount of U.S. goods exported to China only amounted to $130 billion last year, meaning Trumps potential tariffs on $250 billion or more of Chinese imports cant be matched, at least directly. But if you measure both exports and sales of U.S. companies inside China, the U.S. has a surplus of $20 billion with China, according to Deutsche Bank AG. Pressuring companies through bureaucratic means is a practice that the Chinese have used for a long time and our companies are on guard, William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Peoples Republic of China, said on Bloomberg Television. This is definitely a concern. Advertisement South Korean and Japanese companies have all felt this effect, with their businesses in China hurt as part of a dispute between states. In 2017, following the Seoul governments decision to deploy an anti-missile system that China opposed, China forced South Korean retailer Lotte Shopping Co. to suspend operations at many of its hypermarkets in the country for alleged violations of fire-safety rules. The company eventually decided to pull out of China, but still cant sell all its units and continues to rack up losses. In total due to the dispute, Lotte Group lost an estimated $1.8 billion in the year from March 2017, according to Yonhap News Agency. The backlash also led to boycotts, with consumers shunning cars from Hyundai Motor Co. and cosmetics from Amorepacific Group. Chinese tourists canceled Korean vacations, forcing airlines to scrap flights and hotels to slash rates. The Bank of Korea estimated that 0.4 percentage point was cut from 2017s gross domestic product. Japanese automakers suffered major declines in their China sales in 2012 after the fight over disputed islands in the East China Sea worsened. The Chinese government can organize a boycott very quickly, said Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Weve seen it repeatedly with the cases of Japan and Korea: They whipped up the propaganda machine and suddenly no one was buying Toyotas anymore. Even before Trumps latest threat, some U.S. companies in China were feeling the pressure. Were already beginning to see some increased regulatory scrutiny against U.S. companies operating in the market, whether its increased customs enforcement, local emissions inspections at our companies factories, stricter enforcement of the advertising law, said Jake Parker, vice president of China operations for the U.S.-China Business Council in Beijing. One advantage of this tactic for Xi is that this time the numbers are on his side, as U.S. investment in China is far larger than the reverse. American companies had $627 billion in assets and $482 billion in sales in China in 2015, compared to just $167 billion in U.S. assets and $26 billion in U.S. sales for Chinese companies, according to a report published Tuesday by China International Capital Corp. analysts Liu Liu and Liang Hong. One sector thats at risk is autos, especially considering the historical precedents from Japanese and South Korean companies. Like other foreign automakers, GM and Ford Motor Co. have invested heavily in local production in the worlds largest auto market. China contributed about a quarter of GMs profit last year and about 12% of Fords, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. China is also the biggest market for electric vehicles, and heightened hostility from Beijing could further complicate efforts by Elon Musk to conclude negotiations between Tesla Inc. and Chinese regulators over a proposed factory in Shanghai. The 15,000 vehicles Tesla sold in China last year brought in more than $2 billion, about 17% of total revenue. Starbucks Corp. wants to more than triple its revenue over the next five years from China, which is on track to become the companys largest market within a decade. Starbucks has 3,300 outlets, compared with about 12,000 in the U.S. The U.S. has a huge surplus in aerospace trade with China, largely because of Boeing, the biggest U.S. exporter. That gap could narrow if Beijing expands its levies on Boeings 737 jetliner, the largest source of profit for the plane maker. China so far has said it would target only smaller versions of the jet and the countrys options are limited since competing planes from Europes Airbus SE are largely sold out for the next several years. Apple, which hires companies in China to assemble the iPhone, might have been penalized by the U.S. but so far has avoided tariffs. The New York Times reported that Trump told Apple that the U.S. wouldnt place tariffs on iPhones, although Peter Navarro, the presidents top trade advisor, said he was unaware of any such exemption. One thing that may cause Xi to hold back from a full-scale attack on American companies is concern about the impact it would have on the domestic economy. China has been trying to avoid an ugly outcome of the U.S.-China trade conflict, said Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong, adding that the country left some wiggle room for future negotiations. This year is tough for China as the country will face greater downward pressure on growth in coming months due to the deleveraging campaign and slowdown in some major export destinations. Tens of thousands of former Corinthian Colleges students can breathe a sigh of relief after a federal judge said late Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Education must stop all attempts to collect on their federal student loans. The decision clarifies the scope of the judges ruling in May banning the Education Department from using earnings data to grant partial student loan forgiveness to Corinthian students and halting collection on their federal debts. The agency interpreted the order to apply only to the four plaintiffs in the case, not the horde of Corinthian students defrauded by the defunct for-profit school. To avoid any further confusion, Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco handed down a detailed order Tuesday that applies to Corinthian borrowers who have already received partial forgiveness, those still awaiting a decision on their applications and people who have yet to submit a debt relief claim. Kim said the order will remain in place until the court can determine the proper course of action, but noted that her ruling does not preclude Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from granting full relief to Corinthian students in the meantime. Advertisement The Education Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The case stems from DeVos decision in December to provide debt relief to former Corinthian students by comparing the average earnings of students in similar vocational programs. That earnings information is collected under gainful employment, a regulation that penalizes career-training programs for producing too many graduates with more debt than they can repay. The Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard University and the Housing and Economic Rights Advocates, legal aid groups representing the Corinthian borrowers, filed an injunction in March to stop the practice. They argued that the Education Department has no right to use the data, which is supplied by the Social Security Administration, for any purpose other than to evaluate vocational programs. The attorneys also said denying full relief to Corinthian students is illegal. Kim agreed that the Trump administration violated privacy laws by using Social Security Administration data to calculate loan forgiveness, but she held off on declaring the partial relief scheme illegal. The Department of Education has now been rebuked in court not once, but twice for violating the rights of students it should be serving, said Toby Merrill, director at the Project on Predatory Student Lending. Corinthian ripped off hundreds of thousands of students, and the Department of Education is making it worse by collecting their illegal debts, prolonging their suffering. A federal statute known as borrower defense to repayment gives the Education Department authority to discharge federal student loans when a college uses illegal tactics to persuade students to borrow money. The agency has been inundated with applications since Corinthian folded in 2015 amid state and federal investigations and lawsuits over alleged fraud, deceptive marketing and steering students into predatory loans. (Corinthian was based in Santa Ana and operated schools under its Everest, Heald and WyoTech brands.) The Obama administration was slow to respond to the flood of applications, yet it started to make headway before leaving office. That momentum ended when Trump came into power as his administration refused to take action on the mounting debt relief claims until education officials could fully review procedures instituted under Obama. DeVos started processing claims again in December, announcing the approval of 12,900 applications and denial of 8,600 claims from former Corinthian students. She said applicants would receive full loan forgiveness if their earnings are less than 50% of those of their peers. If their pay is at or above that threshold, the department would provide relief on a sliding scale instead of full forgiveness. According to court filings, nearly 9,000 Corinthian borrowers have been awarded partial relief as of April. Some applicants are getting only 10% of their loans written off, leaving them responsible for covering the balance. The department has the power and the obligation to do the right thing and immediately cancel the debt of cheated Corinthian borrowers, but if they continue to refuse to do it on their own, we will fight them in court until they come around, Merrill said. Tech heavyweights from Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook to Facebook Inc. boss Mark Zuckerberg joined a chorus of Americans denouncing the Trump administrations policy of separating children in the U.S. illegally from their families at the border. But its unclear whether the industry has any real leverage to stop the practice. Top executives from Airbnb Inc., Box Inc. and Twilio Inc. denounced the separations, which started after the U.S. announced in April to pursue criminal charges against people who attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border without proper documents. More than 2,000 children have so far been taken from their parents and are being kept in detention facilities. Its heartbreaking to see the images and hear the sounds of the kids. Kids are the most vulnerable people in any society. I think that whats happening is inhumane, it needs to stop, Apples Cook said in Dublin on Tuesday, according to the Irish Times. Some, including Zuckerberg and YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki, implored their social-media followers to donate to legal and humanitarian organizations that support the migrant families. Advertisement Ive donated to them and I encourage you to as well. We need to stop this policy right now, Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page. Beyond the tweets and individual financial donations, theres no sign yet that tech companies have done anything concrete, such as pulling contracts from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other government agencies, as some migrant advocates are demanding. Unlike other government policies such as a North Carolina law (since repealed) that required transgender residents to use the restroom that matched their birth certificate companies cant threaten to pull employees or investment out of a geographic area in this case. The debate highlights a core paradox that tech companies face in 2018: How to keep their largely progressive workforce happy without wading into political fights that might hurt sales or taint their reputation with conservative consumers and politicians. This year, a debate erupted inside Google over a contract the company has with the U.S. Defense Department to provide image-recognition software for analyzing drone footage. More than 4,000 employees demanded Google end the deal, and some quit in protest. Google relented and plans to let the contract expire next year a potential blow to its recent efforts to work more with the Pentagon and other government agencies. Microsoft deleted, then reinstated, parts of a blog post about how it was proud to provide Immigration and Customs Enforcement with cloud-computing services. Some executives stopped short of criticizing the Trump policy directly. Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith tweeted: Fathers Day is a day we shouldnt take for granted its a special day set aside for families to be together. And given the news from the border, its something Im thinking about today. Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet Inc.s Google, wrote on Twitter that the stories and images of families being separated at the border are gut-wrenching. Urging our government to work together to find a better, more humane way. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, who is a near-constant presence on Twitter, tweeted a song by the band The xx called Shelter, and wrote I hope the kids are ok. When other Twitter users called him out for what they saw as a flippant comment on an important subject, he replied immediately: I couldnt even keep the US in the Paris Accord, but if there is some way for me to help these kids I will do so. I am one of the top donors to @ACLU. As XXXTentacion lay slumped over in his car -- mortally wounded by an unidentified gunman after an apparent robbery Monday in South Florida -- witnesses had their cellphones aimed at his lifeless body, one person getting inches away and zooming in. The footage was disseminated in real-time on Twitter and Snapchat, with tributes to the 20-year-old slain rapper, born Jahseh Onfroy, pouring out before he was even pronounced dead. It was a sad, violent ending to a troubled rapper struggling to get his life back on track while awaiting trial for the brutally violent crimes he had been accused of by his ex-girlfriend. Theres something equally troubling about the instant viral-ness of his final moments which have now been widely shared on YouTube, embedded on blogs and retweeted endlessly. Advertisement Though weve all got a bit of morbid curiosity in us particularly with celebrities who are often seen as larger than life its hard to fathom the thought of a group of bystanders going for their phones as someone lies dying. And its even tougher to reconcile the online celebrations that came with news of Onfroys death. While fans and peers posted emotional tributes, others toasted the demise of the young man whose fame was so largely intertwined with the violence of his past that it was impossible to separate the art from the man behind it. Lenar Nesmith of Pompano Beach, Fla., a fan of XXXTentacion, writes a message on the sidewalk Tuesday outside Riva Motorsports in Deerfield Beach, where the troubled rapper-singer was killed the day before. (Joe Cavaretta / AP ) It was that art that resonated with millions of fans. It was raw and unpolished and it spoke to troubled young people in ways that few hip-hop artists could. For anyone who has been kept up at night by crippling thoughts of despair or struggled with suicidal ideation or gone through a wave of depression, it was easy to connect with Onfroys music. He was part of a generation of young emcees the late Lil Peep, 6ix9ine, Lil Pump, Trippie Redd, among others who cultivated online followings and sold out shows without traditional promotion or radio. I was late catching on to Onfroy. Before the arrival of his debut album, 17, last summer, he had completely evaded my radar. I had heard his wickedly catchy single Look At Me but never looked into the music the performer had been uploading to Soundcloud, which along with a surging presence on Spotify led him to over a billion streams. 17 was undeniable on first listen. He was beguiling and evocative on the album that opened with a literal explanation of its mission: By listening to this album, you are literally, and I cannot stress this enough, literally entering my mind. And if you are not willing to accept my emotion and hear my words fully, do not listen. I do not value your money. I value your acceptance and loyalty. I was gripped by his sullen music that melded nu-metal, indie rock and emo with melodic rap cadences (which have most certainly been pilfered by more than one rapper). Onfroy wasnt concerned with aspirational posturing or waxing about societal ills. He was a young man grappling with mental illness and the dark thoughts in his head, the trauma of his past and the violence that has connected both. Voices in my head telling me Im gonna end up dead, so save me before I fall save me, I dont wanna be alone save me, before I fall so save me, I dont wanna be alone, he sings on the album. That his fans were largely his age spoke directly to the isolation that comes with youth, and the rapper sought solace in their company and vice versa by endlessly engaging with them and offering to call any one of them who needed an ear. I was moved by the music and the man. But then I googled him. It didnt take much digging to see the life of nihilism he led, and still was living. There were videos of fistfights one clip, streamed to Periscope, showed him ambushing a man with punches, elbows and kicks and in one in-depth interview he bragged, in disgusting detail, about beating and strangling his gay cellmate because the man was staring (he laughed about smearing his victims blood on his face like warpaint). There was the arrest over allegedly punching and kicking his girlfriend to the point where both eyes became shut and victim could not see, according to the police report. Photos of her black-and-blue face and bloody eye were plastered on web forums and Twitter and his fans viciously harassed the young woman to the point that she deactivated social media accounts. And this was before her deposition was leaked to Pitchfork late last year. In it she delivered a stomach-churning account of extensive abuse she said she endured at his hands. A month later he landed a distribution agreement reportedly worth $6 million between his own imprint and Caroline Records, which is part of Capitol Music Group the same month that allegations of sexual harassment were made public against Harvey Weinstein, breaking open the #MeToo movement and launching a long overdue cultural reckoning across Hollywood and the media that largely continues to evade music. During this time, I was working on a profile of Onfroy. As impressed as I was by his music, I couldnt ignore the transgressions of his personal life. I spoke to his team, to his ex-girlfriend and one of her friends, to rap bloggers who wrestled with how to cover an extremely talented individual accused of heinous crimes and to sources who wanted to remain anonymous that found particular offense in Capitols involvement. Before his death, he was facing up to 30 years in prison for the crimes he stood accused of. Onfroy and his team maintained his innocence, but his behavior and his comments showed a man who lacked remorse. Regardless, the case needed to play out in court and not tried via social media. Sadly for Onfroy and his accuser, that day wont happen now. In Onfroy I saw a man who struggled with his own demons but desperately wanted to do good for himself, and for others. He was planning charity events to raise awareness for suicide prevention, a cause that was dear to him. Onfroy certainly isnt the first artist accused of heinous crimes and sadly wont be the last and whatever legacy his music may have will forever be cemented alongside the horrible accusations lobbied against him. As much as any artist in recent memory, Onfroy offered stark contradictions between the sensitive and the sadistic, the talented and the tormented. And his violent death, viewed by millions online, seemed both unbearably sad and somehow appropriate. gerrick.kennedy@latimes.com Iranian First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri says the Islamic Republic will stand by Syria in the reconstruction plans of the war-stricken country. (AhlulBayt News Agency) - Iranian First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri says the Islamic Republic will stand by Syria in the reconstruction plans of the war-stricken country. "As the Iranian government and nation stood by the Syrian government and people in the fight against terrorist groups, they will also stand by the Syrian people now that major parts of Syria are under the control of the country's government," Jahangiri said in a meeting with Syrian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Mohammad Samer al-Khalil in Tehran on Tuesday. He hailed the recent achievements made by the Syrian government, army and people in the battle against terrorist groups, including Daesh, saying, "Such victories are useful not only for regional nations but even for European countries which are facing the issue of terrorism these days." Takfiri terrorists have lost much of the territory they once held in Syria amid sweeping gains by government forces on the ground. In April, Syrian forces managed to retake the Eastern Ghouta and Eastern Qalamoun regions near the capital Damascus. For years, the areas had served as a launch pad for deadly terror attacks against civilians in Damascus. Syrian forces later moved to liberate other militant-held areas in the provinces of Homs and Hama. Jahangiri also stressed the importance of enhancing trade and economic relations between Tehran and Damascus in parallel with mutual political ties. Iran's private sector enjoys high capabilities and the Iranian companies are ready to participate and play an active role in the reconstruction of Syria; however, such cooperation requires the removal of economic and banking problems, he said. The Iranian vice president further expressed the Islamic Republic's readiness to sign a trilateral agreement with Syria and Iraq to improve economic cooperation. He stressed that all foreign forces must leave Syria at the earliest and said no country should be present in this country without its government's consent. In a message to his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in April, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic is fully prepared to help Syria with the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country. "Just as it stood by the Syrian people in their fight against terrorism, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to stand by you in Syria's reconstruction employing all it has in power," Rouhani said. Syrias top parliamentarian said in January that Iran has helped Damascus foil major plots against the Arab country. Major plots hatched against Syria were all foiled through Iran-Syria cooperation, Speaker of People's Council of Syria Hammouda Youssef Sabbagh said in a meeting in Tehran with Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Need for enhanced Iran-Syria economic ties The Syrian minister, for his part, said he held positive and constructive talks with Iranian officials and called for enhanced cooperation between the two countries' tradesmen. He expressed hope that the Syrian people would achieve a final victory against terrorist groups soon. /129 How do you pull off the biggest heist of the summer and do it in style? Thats no problem if youre criminal mastermind Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), the estranged sister of Danny Ocean (George Clooney) from Steven Soderberghs Oceans trilogy. Oceans 8, the Gary Ross-directed summer spin-off, which was released this month, follows Debbie Oceans release from prison and her desire to pull off a planned heist at the Met Gala in New York. She enlists a group of experts to help her: partner-in-crime Lou (Cate Blanchett), fashion designer Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter), jeweler Amita (Mindy Kaling), suburban mom Tammy (Sarah Paulson), professional pickpocket Constance (Awkafina) and computer hacker Nine Ball (Rihanna). Cate Blanchett, left, as Lou and Rihanna as Nine Ball in Oceans 8. (Barry Wetcher ) Advertisement Together, they attempt to steal a rare $150-million Cartier necklace, which will be worn by celebrity Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway) at the annual star-studded gala. Oceans 8 costume designer Sarah Edwards worked with several designers, including Alberta Ferretti, Zac Posen and Jonathan Simkhai, to create custom looks for the all-female ensemble. Here, Edwards breaks down the characters off-duty wardrobes, their personal styles and Met Gala looks. Debbie Oceans (almost) all-black wardrobe Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean in Oceans 8. (Barry Wetcher ) I wanted her to have a stealth quality. So she could move in and out of different places somewhat unnoticed. We didnt use a lot of pattern or colors, keeping her very long and lean. ... We reached out to Alberta [Ferretti], who was able to deliver an incredibly beautiful dress for her. It had an embroidered oceans motif in gold with shells and seaweed. Lous rock-n-roll vibe Cate Blanchett as Lou in Oceans 8. (Barry Wetcher ) Her character owns a nightclub in New York, and we thought about what her history was, probably a rock n roll pioneer in the 80s and 90s. We looked at a lot of iconic rock stars throughout time what they did and how they wore their clothes and jewelry. Shes a very strong character, so we ended up doing 70s three-piece suits, which became her silhouette through the film. We incorporated vintage jewelry and scarves. Each one was kind of painfully chosen from everywhere from a thrift store to Burberry to H&M. Getting those layers and textures was really important to defining her character. Rose Weils fashion designer-ready looks Helena Bonham Carter as Rose Weil in Oceans 8. (Barry Wetcher ) Her character is a fashion designer who has been an iconic designer but has lost a little bit of her following in the last decade or so. We looked at a lot of designers who have remained timeless and current in spite of trends people, like Vivienne Westwood, who have managed to remain relevant after a decade. We were interested also in somewhat timeless clothes for her. A lot of the Japanese [brands] like Comme des Garcons and Yohji Yamamoto have that quality, whether its from [the] 1980s, 1990s or 2000s. [At the Met Gala,] shes wearing Dolce & Gabbana from the Alta Moda collection. Its a head-to-toe moment. Daphne Klugers movie star appearance Anne Hathaway as Daphne Kluger in Oceans 8. (David Lee / Barry Wetcher ) We looked at all sorts of iconic movie stars, like Elizabeth Taylor, and we did a sort of update on what that would be. Shes always dressed, always put together. She wore a lot of Cartier jewelry throughout the film. [For the Met Gala,] we really wanted to have that cape so when she goes up the grand staircase, she can make that incredible entrance. Amitas conservative-turned-experimental style Mindy Kaling as Amita in Oceans 8. (Barry Wetcher ) She starts off the film [dressed] more conservatively because shes still living at home with her family. As she becomes more involved with the girls in the heist, she starts to find herself and strike out on her own. We had her move into wearing pants and different things that would show she was experimenting with a different identity. Tammys prim-and-proper outfits Sarah Paulson as Tammy in Oceans 8. (David Lee / Barry Wetcher ) When she comes back into the heist to work with the girls, she gets a job undercover working at Vogue magazine. We looked at pictures of different assistants who worked at Vogue over the years. When she was in that Prada gown at the gala, shes working for Vogue. Nine Balls computer-hacker style Rihanna as Nine Ball in Oceans 8. (Barry Wetcher ) She plays a Rastafarian computer hacker who is totally uninterested in trendy fashion in any way. A lot of her clothes came from the Army/Navy [store]. Shes in a lot of oversized clothing. Then, we have this incredible Cinderella transformation that happens, and she goes into that red Zac Posen dress. Its an incredible reveal, and whats great is we havent seen her in anything like that up until that point. Constances streetwear style Awkafina as Constance in Oceans 8. (Barry Wetcher ) We looked at a lot of urban kids and skate culture to get her look together. A lot of her clothes were from thrift stores, some from skate shops and Opening Ceremony. For the Met Gala, Jonathan Simkhai did a custom dress for her. Like Rihanna, it was another one of these incredible transformations because most of the film shes in sneakers, jeans and a beanie. image@latimes.com For fashion news, follow us at @latimesimage on Twitter. Residents of Compton have complained about brown, smelly water coming out of their taps for more than a year. And when officials began talking about dissolving the troubled local water district, the areas congresswoman scheduled a town hall meeting so community members could weigh in. Before the day arrived, however, an ad appeared on Craigslist offering political advocacy work to African Americans and Latinos promising to pay $40, with the possibility of an additional bonus. A sea of critics showed up at the forum Monday, denouncing the Sativa Los Angeles County Water District. Among them was a smaller contingent of defenders holding up signs with slogans such as Bad water myth created. Advertisement Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan started the meeting by suggesting that some in the audience had been paid to pose as residents supporting the district, although she did not say who she believed was behind the ruse or accuse anyone specifically. Cole Edwards said in an interview with The Times before the meeting that the water district had hired him to place the Craigslist ad and find supporters. The Times reviewed text messages and emails he said he exchanged with a district official, along with a list of questions supporters were to ask at the forum. He said the plan was to hide the water districts involvement. Edwards said he didnt believe the plan was right and thought it should be exposed so he contacted The Times. Organizer Kathrina Abrot said in an interview that she worked with the water district and Edwards to hire canvassers who were tasked with finding people to attend the town hall. She said she didnt know if any of the canvassers spoke at the meeting but that they did not pay people simply to do so. Sativa, which serves parts of working-class Compton and Willowbrook, strongly denied that it hired the supporters. Administrative manager Maria Rachelle Garza said she was unaware of people being paid to attend the meeting, or that a Craigslist ad even existed. I dont know anything about it, Garza said, adding that she didnt know Edwards or Abrot. I have no idea what that is about, but Ill check with my district staff. Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragan, right, tries to calm the concerns of Compton resident Maria Villarreal, who says brown water flows from the faucets of her home. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times ) Sativa has faced years of complaints from consumers and survived earlier attempts to disband it. The Times in 2013 reported allegations of poor financial oversight and mismanagement at the district, including that the board members had awarded themselves bereavement pay and Christmas bonuses not allowed under state law. The water quality issue, however, is the most serious challenge yet. County officials insist that the brown water is safe to drink but acknowledge that it contains higher than normal levels of manganese. They said the problem comes from aging pipes, and that the district occasionally flushes out sediment that builds up in the system. The pipes need to be replaced in a multimillion-dollar infrastructure project, according to Garza. Still, a county governing agency voted last week to begin the process of disbanding Sativa. Most residents who spoke at Mondays forum expressed concerns over adverse health effects from drinking and bathing in the water. Some said the brown and yellow-brown water coming out of faucets has worsened in recent months. Others wanted to know how Sativa would fix the issue. When it was Maria Villarreals turn, she pulled out a bottle with dark brown water and complained that the district wasnt doing enough. She said she had complained many times. Im tired, and they dont do anything, she said before storming away. For years, discolored and odorous water occasionally came out of Martha Barajas faucets. She said it got worse in recent years, flowing chestnut brown or yellow and smelling like rust or chlorine. She said she complained but saw no lasting change. The 47-year-old mother, along with some neighbors, formed a social media group called Sativa Clients. They and other customers posted hundreds of videos chronicling the water conditions. A sea of critics showed up at the forum Monday, denouncing the Sativa Los Angeles County Water District. Among them was a smaller contingent of defenders. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times ) In May, Rosario Pacheco, who identified herself as a representative of the water board, filed for a temporary restraining order against Barajas. In the application, Pacheco alleged that Barajas had a car packed w[ith] women that looked gang affiliated and drove her vehicle almost to the point of hitting her from behind. The restraining order application also alleged that Barajas had verbally confronted Pacheco and threatened her. A judge ordered Barajas to stay away from Pacheco, according to Barajas attorney, Mark Ravis. Pacheco said in a phone interview that she no longer works for Sativa before saying she did not speak English well enough for a longer discussion. A court hearing scheduled for Thursday could determine whether the restraining order is approved or denied. Barajas said the order is part of a larger campaign by the water district to attack opponents. District officials could not be reached to respond to that accusation. But they have denied any wrongdoing and said they simply are trying to provide water to residents. In a statement released Tuesday, Sativa said it absolutely and categorically denies that it in any way paid anyone to attend or speak on behalf of the district. The allegation that the district engaged in any such inappropriate conduct is simply misplaced. In a video of the forum posted on the congresswomans Facebook page, a man who later identified himself to The Times as Kelvin Smith read from a notebook and asked three questions. The material that Edwards provided to The Times before the meeting listed those same three questions, in the same order, and stated that they were assigned to be asked by a Kelvin Smith. Smith said at the meeting that he didnt live in the district, but his mother did and had requested that he ask the questions. Barragan said she was concerned about the Craiglist ad but that she doesnt want it to distract from the goal of getting clear water to the community. Its disturbing that anyone would feel it necessary to hire paid supporters to dilute the outrage from Sativa customers receiving dirty brown water, she said in a statement. UPDATES: 11 a.m.: This post was updated with an additional comment from Edwards. Posted at 4 a.m. The Los Angeles school board on Tuesday approved an $8.2-billion spending plan for the next school year as expected, but also pledged support for a comparatively tiny amount of new spending to give students free college admissions tests and college savings accounts. The school board also debated whether to ask local voters for more money in November through an annual tax on every parcel located within school district boundaries. Board members postponed a decision until July 10. The budget, which has been under discussion for months, included no major surprises. As in previous meetings, senior district staff forecast that the nations second-largest school system was headed for financial disaster in four years, when they predict that reserves will have dried up. After some hand-wringing, the Board of Education approved the plan, 6 to 1. The dissenting vote came from Scott Schmerelson. He voted no after calling unsuccessfully for an additional $5 million for a school-based reform plan supported by the teachers union and allied activists. Advertisement The entire board favored one new spending item: covering the costs of the college aptitude tests that many colleges require applicants to submit. Under the plan, students will take the SAT or ACT during a regular school day, probably in March, in their own schools. The familiar surroundings should help with student performance on the test, said supporters, including board members and staff from the city and school district. Based on a 10th-grade enrollment of 34,438 students, paying the fees for the tests should cost about $750,000. The estimate assumes that 85% of students will qualify for reduced rates because they come from low-income households. Initial training costs for staff to administer the tests could surpass $400,000. And extra help for students could cost close to that, although some free online resources are available. The resolution also directs the superintendent to report back in 60 days with a plan to provide the PSAT, a practice test for the SAT, to all eighth-, ninth-, and 10th-grade students. The district already pays for 10th graders to take the test. Separately, the board reiterated its support, by a formal vote, for a city-led plan to create a college savings account for every first-grader. Each account would get $50 in seed money and the plan would be rolled out over five years. Just opening an account and putting that money away starts that college statement, that mentality, board member Nick Melvoin said. Were putting students on the path toward higher learning, board member Kelly Gonez said. The preliminary planning for such accounts has taken two years, with city staffers exploring different options for how the accounts could work. Later in the meeting, school board member George McKenna put forward a plan to try to slow or even reverse the districts projected slide toward insolvency. McKenna proposed a parcel tax for the November ballot that would raise $150 million a year. Passing the measure would require a two-thirds majority. Theres much debate in districts across the state about whether the November election is likely to be a favorable moment for parcel taxes and school construction bonds. L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner did not get involved in Tuesdays debate, but sources within the district suggest that hes concerned that the timing is not yet right. McKenna alluded to that presumed hesitancy. Mr. superintendent, with respect to your position, all you have to do is say go . and the people in this district will go, McKenna said. Im advocating for a now, a boldness and an urgency. Several board members expressed concern about the expense of a ballot measure and fear that voters rejection then might hurt the districts chances in a later election. I am concerned that there has to be a strategy to win, not just a strategy to put on the ballot, school board President Monica Garcia said. howard.blume@latimes.com @howardblume The Los Angeles Unified School District has hopes of continuing its winning streak this year with another record graduation rate, but the official numbers may not show it. A senior district administrator warned the board Tuesday that graduation rates were likely to decline 2% to 3% across the state, including at L.A. Unified, even though the nations second-largest school system is likely doing better than ever in producing graduates, he said. The issue is that the state will now count high school students who transfer to adult school as dropouts, said Oscar Lafarga, who heads the districts office of data and accountability. Previously, schools treated these students as though they had simply enrolled in another high school, he said. State officials and some experts have been concerned that schools could use such transfers to keep actual and likely dropouts out of the graduation-rate calculation. Advertisement District officials contend, however, that their adult education program may be a better way for some students to succeed. School board President Monica Garcia suggested the district might want to ask for an exemption from the states new way of calculating graduation rates. She said the district needed to notify the public that, because of the change, it wouldnt be fair to compare a rate calculated under the new formula with an older rate. We need to be clear that its apples and oranges, Garcia said. Graduation rates are a controversial topic. Here and around the country, critics have questioned the rigor of the programs that produce rising rates. Leaders of school districts who have lauded their rising rates often have shown little interest in auditing to find out the extent to which the progress represents real academic gains. Last year, L.A. Unified announced a record graduation rate of 80% based on preliminary numbers for the class of 2017. The official state figure, which is still unavailable, probably will be lower because of the adult-school calculation change. Even students who go on to adult school and earn a diploma wont be counted as graduates in the new rate. The districts annual graduation rate has risen steadily since 2010, when the figure was 62%. For many jobs, a high school diploma is an essential credential. But much better jobs are available to college graduates, and the districts progress in helping students get to and through college lags well behind the graduation rate. Only about 41% of entering ninth-graders are eligible to apply to a four-year state college in California by the time their class graduates. (This data is for the class of 2016. The district declined to release preliminary figures for later years.) How adult-school students are counted is just one issue of contention with recent record graduation rates. Another is the extent to which new credit-recovery methods allow students to make up needed classes more quickly than before. In some districts elsewhere that have used such methods to push hard on graduation, decreased academic rigor and even cheating have been reported. No one has offered evidence that the L.A. Unified gains are fraudulent, but the progress also has not been studied to determine whether some of the increased rate has come at the expense of consistently rigorous coursework. In a recent interview, new L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner acknowledged the need for both celebration and vigilance. More kids graduate high school in L.A. Unified than have in a long, long, long time, if not ever, Beutner said. Thats a good thing. We also have to be mindful and transparent and say the challenge still remains: How many of those who graduate are not proficient in math? Are not proficient in English? If math is the language of the future in a digital economy, you have to be proficient in math, Beutner said. If you learn to read so you can read to learn, you have to be proficient in reading. So those two thoughts should be able to coexist. howard.blume@latimes.com @howardblume UPDATES: June 20, 3 p.m.: This article was updated to clarify details of the boards discussion about the states new way of calculating graduation rates. 9:45 p.m.: This article was updated to clarify that the most recent released data on the percentage of L.A. students who qualify for a four-year state college is based on the class of 2016, not the class of 2018. This article was originally published at June 19 at 6:05 p.m. A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday convicted a graphic novelist of the 2016 torture murder of his fiancee a grisly slaying that prosecutors say was patterned after a book he worked on years earlier. Jurors deliberated less than four hours before convicting Blake Leibel, 37, the scion of a wealthy Canadian family, of first-degree murder, aggravated mayhem and torture in the slaying of Iana Kasian, 30, who had given birth to the couples daughter weeks before the slaying. Before sheriffs deputies arrested Leibel at the couples West Hollywood apartment in May 2016, prosecutors say he barricaded doorways with mattresses and locked himself in a bedroom with Kasians lifeless body. During closing arguments at the murder trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman told jurors that Leibel had used a sharp object perhaps the green paring knife or bloodied razor found in the couples bathroom as well as his bare hands to cut and rip pieces of her scalp. Advertisement Kasian, who died from extreme blood loss, was alive during much of the torture and died a very slow, excruciating, painful death, Silverman said, adding that the killing was patterned after Syndrome, a graphic novel that Leibel funded and helped develop years earlier. The book, whose cover shows a baby doll with a partially removed scalp, includes depictions of bloodletting. When Kasians body was found, prosecutors say that most of the blood had been drained from her body. The defendant basically handed us a blueprint, Silverman said. A case of life imitating art. Iana Kasian was killed in 2016. On Wednesday, jurors convicted her fiance, Blake Leibel, in the slaying. (Inform Inc. ) As gruesome photographs of Kasians severed ear and scalp flashed onto a screen during the trial, an older male juror shook his head. Kasians mother whimpered and buried her head in her hands and Leibels brother, Cody, a high-end property developer, sat stone-faced. Silverman rattled off several adjectives vicious, gruesome, sadistic but then stopped herself, saying there were no words to describe Leibels crimes. What happened, she said, is beyond anybodys worst nightmare. A juror nodded. Leibels attorney, Deputy Public Defender Haydeh Takasugi, began her closing arguments by acknowledging that she had seen sadness and anger in the jurors eyes throughout the trial. Still, she said, she hoped the panel could critically examine the case. If they truly scrutinized the evidence, she said, she believed they would have no option but to acquit Leibel. The attorney added that while her client created Syndrome, he didnt write or illustrate the book. And the cover image of the scalped baby doll, she said, was someone elses conception. Were reaching for something that is not there, she said of the prosecutions link. Leibel, who faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, is scheduled to be sentenced June 26. marisa.gerber@latimes.com For more news from the Los Angeles County courts, follow me on Twitter: @marisagerber A small brush fire ignited Tuesday evening in the hills below the Griffith Observatory, drawing a crowd of spectators as firefighters swarmed the scene. The blaze ignited about 7:45 p.m. and burned about 3 to 4 acres of medium to heavy brush, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a series of alerts. Aerial video showed plumes of white smoke above the blaze as fire crews doused flames from the roadway, aided by a lack of wind. Almost 100 firefighters put out the fire in about 2 hours. The topography-driven fire moved slowly off Western Canyon, the Fire Department said. Firefighters faced challenges maneuvering their equipment because of the rugged and remote terrain. Advertisement No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported. Crews will stay on scene through the night. alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @AleneTchek UPDATES: 11:07 p.m.: This article was updated to reflect the fire was put out. 9:15 p.m.: This article was updated with a new acreage figure and the number of firefighters who responded. This article was originally published at 8:40 p.m. A Northern California landlord has been charged with trying to kill a tenant in the third such violent instance between renters and property owners in recent weeks in a region mired in an affordable-housing crisis. The Alameda County district attorneys office charged Herman Levi Little, 75, with attempted murder last week. Authorities say he shot Timothy Loving, 39, in the Berkeley apartment building where the two lived. Neither police nor prosecutors would discuss a possible motive. Little shot Loving three times on June 13, police said. Advertisement Lovings friend, Dottie Moore, said Loving had missed several rent payments because of health reasons. But she said Loving told her the landlord said he was satisfied with a payment plan the two had worked out. He lived in the apartment for five years and appeared to be on good terms with Little, she said. We dont know why he shot Timothy, said Moore, who said she visited Loving in the hospital Wednesday, where he is expected to recover from his injuries. Police recovered multiple guns and a homemade silencer from Littles apartment, according to court records. A judge ordered Little to hire a private attorney by Friday after ruling that he didnt qualify for a public defender. Little is not yet represented by an attorney, according to court records. The shooting occurred in the college town of Berkeley, where affordable housing is especially scarce. The entire region is suffering from a housing crunch, prompting public protests, tenant lawsuits and landlord evictions. On at least two occasions, an apparent rent dispute has led to deadly violence. In San Francisco, a woman was charged this month with killing and dismembering a roommate who wouldnt move out of her home. Lisa Gonzales, 47, has pleaded not guilty to killing her 61-year-old tenant, who was paying $400 a month for a room in a neighborhood where rents for a two-bedroom apartment average $4,000 a month. In Mill Valley, about 25 miles north of San Francisco, Victor Aurelino Lugo, 71, killed himself on May 3 after fatally shooting his landlords daughter and wounding the landlord, investigators said. Lugo was being evicted from his apartment. Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis called President Trumps executive order Wednesday ending the separation of migrant children and their parents nothing more than a reality show sham. This administration continues to use traumatized children as pawns to further the presidents anti-immigrant agenda, Solis said in a statement. This executive order simply perpetuates this White Houses anti-family and inhumane approach to immigrants and immigration reform. Her remarks came one day after the five supervisors voted to send a letter to the Trump administration and Congress formally opposing the policy and urging that no funding be approved for the prosecution of parents with children seeking asylum at the border. Solis said the motion adopted Tuesday remains in effect following the executive order, noting that the administration has no plans to begin reuniting the more than 2,300 children who have been separated from their parents thus far. Advertisement The supervisors also directed county agencies to request permission to visit shelters and assist children who were separated from their parents and could possibly be placed with relatives in L.A. County. Separating babies from their mothers is not the answer to immigration reform, said Solis, who authored the motion. Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, the motions coauthor, called the policy despicable. And to try to justify it through the Bible or through the law makes it even more despicable, she said. There is nothing illegal about seeking asylum. All five members of the board supported Tuesdays motion, including its lone Republican, Kathryn Barger, who has sometimes disagreed with Solis on immigration matters. I understand that we are a nation of laws and everyone should abide by the laws, but I stand firm in my belief that we are a nation of compassion and virtue, Barger said. Supervisor Janice Hahn added an amendment to urge funding for more asylum judges to deal with a massive backlog in the immigration courts, and Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas added one directing the countys Health Agency to participate in any shelter visits and to provide trauma-informed care to affected children. Only half a dozen people testified in response to the motion, but the remarks were at times heated. Our children should not be used as policy to further this administrations racist and xenophobic agenda, said Maria Magana of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Defending the administrations zero tolerance policy, Darrell Kruse blamed Democrats for failing to accomplish federal immigration reform. We need to protect our borders, build a wall, put up some regulations to stop all these invaders. Its funny that these parents would do this to their children, Kruse said, eliciting loud boos from the audience. Another speaker suggested that children were victims of sex trafficking across the border and that parents couldnt prove the children who were being separated belonged to them, although the incidence of such fraud is less than 1%. Besides the letter to the administration and Congress, the motion directed the countys Office of Immigrant Affairs to request permission to visit shelters in L.A. County where immigrant children have been sent and to offer them and their family members county services. Local and state governments do not have jurisdiction over children in federal custody. The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement typically identifies a parent, relative sponsor, shelter or group home where a child can be placed. The countys Department of Children and Family Services said it can intervene and investigate only when there is a disruption in that placement and an allegation of abuse or neglect. The department has protocols in place to assist unaccompanied migrant children who are already in L.A. County, according to the motion. As of April 30, it had identified 72 such children, all of whom came from Central America but are not connected to the current crisis. nina.agrawal@latimes.com Twitter: @AgrawalNina UPDATES: 6:33 p.m., June 20: This article was updated with reaction from Supervisor Hilda Solis to the administrations executive order halting the family separation policy. This article was originally published at 7:10 p.m. on June 19. Authorities are investigating the death of a man who was shot and killed in a Home Depot parking lot in Torrance late Tuesday night, police said. Officers responded to a call of shots fired at 11:38 p.m. in the parking lot on Crenshaw Boulevard, and found a man with gunshot wounds, said Torrance police Sgt. Ronald Harris. They administered CPR and tried to use a defibrillator before transporting the victim to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, Harris said. Harris said the motive was still under investigation, and anyone with information can call Torrance police at (310) 328-3456. Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli. Israeli police on Tuesday set up the fourth watchtower in the vicinity of Bab al-Amoud gate to al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem). (AhlulBayt News Agency) - Israeli police on Tuesday set up the fourth watchtower in the vicinity of Bab al-Amoud gate to al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem). Israeli policemen had earlier installed three watchtowers in the Old City of Occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem). The Islamic Awqaf (endowment) Department in Occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem) warned of Israeli attempts to gradually impose its sovereignty over al-Aqsa Mosque. A joint statement by Awqaf Council, Supreme Islamic Committee and Islamic Awqaf Department asserted that Israeli authorities have been trying to take control over the eastern side of the holy shrine including Bab al-Rahma gate since the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The statement condemned the Israeli attempts to change the status quo in al-Aqsa Mosque and refused any Israeli intervention to manage the affairs of the mosque. The statement also held Israeli authorities responsible for any violations at the holy site. /129 The young woman who called 911 was 17 years old with the voice of a little girl. She hardly ever ventured outside her parents home, she told the dispatcher, and she struggled to understand the difference between a ZIP Code and a street address. But she was clear about why she had climbed out a window that January morning with a disconnected cellphone and called police. My parents are abusive, she told the dispatcher. They abuse us and my two little sisters right now are chained up. Her sisters, she later added, will wake up at night and they will start crying and they wanted me to call somebody and tell them. Advertisement On Wednesday, the young womans parents, David and Louise Turpin, sat stoically at a defense table in a Riverside County courtroom. Prosecutors played the 911 call at the start of a hearing in which a judge will decide whether there is sufficient evidence for the couple to stand trial on dozens of felony counts related to the alleged abuse, captivity and torture of their 13 children over several years. The couple were arrested shortly after their daughters escape, when deputies responding to the 911 call discovered that she and her 12 siblings appeared to have been living for years in abusive and squalid conditions in a Perris tract home. Three of the siblings had been chained to their beds for weeks, deputies said. The couple have pleaded not guilty to all charges. The hearing in front of Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz, which is expected to conclude Thursday, provided a glimpse into horrific conditions that the Turpin siblings described to investigators after they were removed from the home. Louise Turpin, right, appears during a preliminary hearing in Riverside Superior Court. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times ) For the first time, investigators also offered details about how some of the siblings described the familys life in Texas, before they moved to California about eight years ago. One of the siblings, a 25-year-old, told Wade Walsvick, an investigator for the Riverside County district attorneys office, that the parents largely abandoned their children for about three or four years, leaving them to live in a trailer while the couple lived in an apartment not far away. He and his older sister were left in charge, Walsvick said. The parents, however, continued communicating with the siblings over the phone and forcing the two older siblings to punish the others, Walsvick said. Those punishments included locking the children in cages and a dog kennel, Walsvick said the 25-year-old told him. The young man agreed to inflict the punishments because he was terrified of what his parents would do to him and his siblings if he defied them, Walsvick said. I chose to take the correct path and try to keep my siblings alive, he told the investigator. When they met with investigators, the siblings knew little about the outside world and struggled even to understand and pronounce basic words. The 17-year-old told deputies that she often slept at least 15 hours a day, sometimes waking up at 11 at night and going to sleep at 3 in the morning. She often spent 20 hours a day in the room she shared with three of her sisters and was allowed to leave only to eat, to use the bathroom and to brush her teeth, Riverside County Sheriffs Deputy Manuel Campos testified. Defendant David Turpin, left, and his attorney Allison Lowe during a preliminary hearing in Riverside Superior Court. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times ) For exercise, the girl told Campos, she would walk back and forth in her room. The children referred to their parents as Mother and Father because it was more like the Bible days, Campos said. And when they were caught disobeying rules, they would be chained up and called the devil. Investigators testified about what they said were numerous instances of abuse inflicted by Louise Turpin, a fact that David Turpins attorneys appeared to be zeroing in on during cross-examination. But Campos also testified that the 17-year-old told him that when she was 12, David Turpin pulled her pants down and put her on his knee even as she told him to stop. She was able to get away from him when they heard Louise Turpin approaching, he said the girl told him. She also told investigators that her father had tried to forcibly kiss her on the mouth numerous times from the age of 12 to about 15, Campos said. David Turpin has been charged with one count of a lewd act on a child. Riverside County Sheriffs Det. Thomas Salisbury also testified that he was told by the Turpins 22-year-old son that his father had tied him up with rope as discipline. When the young man was able to use his teeth to escape the ropes, his mother began using a small chain to shackle him. When he was again able to escape, they began using heavier chains, Salisbury said. All in all, he had been restrained with chains and ropes off and on for 6 years, Salisbury said. Ultimately, it was the chains that pushed the 17-year-old to escape. Her 11- and 14-year-old sisters had been chained to their beds for weeks as discipline for stealing candy, she told investigators. In December she used the deactivated cellphone to take photographs of her sisters in chains. Prosecutors showed those photos in court Wednesday. They showed two young girls who looked emaciated. Thick chains were wrapped around their wrists. One sat on the bed and another on the floor nearby. There were bruises on their arms. The girl escaped out a window, taking the cellphone that had been deactivated but was still configured to make emergency calls with her. She called 911 even as her hands shook from fear, she told authorities. paloma.esquivel@latimes.com Twitter: @palomaesquivel UPDATES: 6:15 p.m.: This article was updated with afternoon testimony. This article was originally published at 2 p.m. Hundreds gathered in the Fairfax area for a memorial for rapper XXXTentacion, who was killed in South Florida on Monday. (KTLA) An impromptu memorial for the slain rapper XXXTentacion turned rowdy Tuesday night as hundreds of people gathered in the street in the Fairfax area, with some climbing onto rooftops and swarming moving cars as police ordered them to disperse. At its peak, the event drew up to 1,000 people to Melrose and Spaulding avenues, where many blocked traffic in the roadway, said Los Angeles Police Officer Tony Im. Dozens in the middle of the crowd formed a mosh pit, jumping up and down. Standing on rooftops, others pumped their fists into the air as a television news helicopter hovered above. At least one person climbed on top of a news van and jumped on the windshield. At one point, a convertible drove past the crowd. When it stopped in the roadway, people swarmed the car on both sides. Advertisement The gathering was most likely publicized on social media, because the group did not obtain a permit to convene, Im said. Shortly after 9 p.m., about two hours after they were first called to the scene, police officers in tactical gear formed a line along a crosswalk and were authorized to use tear gas to disperse the crowd, Im said. They did shoot something into the crowd, probably bean bags, Im said. One officer was struck by a rock. Several times, the crowd began running. People were setting off fireworks, Im said, which startled the crowd and prompted them to take off. An ambulance was called to treat a 20-year-old person with cuts on the head. Its unclear how the person sustained the injuries. As the crowd thinned, a boisterous group moved down the street and continued to stifle traffic, swarming and weaving between cars stopped in the road. At one point, multiple people climbed on top of a car as it drove through the street, with people running next to it on both sides. Police followed at a distance. Were going to try to have them safely leave and try to get the street back in order, Im said. By 10:15 p.m., most of the crowd had dispersed. No one was arrested. Officers formed a line and followed the crowd at a distance. (KTLA ) XXXTentacion, born Jahseh Onfroy, was shot and killed in South Florida on Monday, just three months after he hit the top of the charts with his latest album. He was shot outside Riva Motorsports in Pompano Beach by a gunman who fled the scene after an apparent robbery, according to the Broward County Sheriffs Office. Onfroy was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was 20. alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @AleneTchek UPDATES: 11 p.m.: This article was updated to indicate the crowd dispersed. 10:05 p.m.: This article was updated with more information about the crowd. This article was originally published at 9:10 p.m. Inadequate medical care probably contributed to the majority of deaths of detainees at U.S. immigration facilities between December 2015 and April 2017, according to a new report issued by a coalition of advocacy organizations. Substandard medical care contributed or led to eight of the 15 deaths reviewed, according to doctors asked to analyze each case for the report released Wednesday as a collaboration between Human Rights Watch, the National Immigrant Justice Center, the Detention Watch Network and the American Civil Liberties Union. The picture that it paints is one of a system that fails to ensure the safety of the people it detains, said Clara Long of Human Rights Watch and lead author of the report. Thats significant, she said, because the Trump administration wants to expand its capacity to hold immigrants both adults and children in detention facilities. Under Trump, immigration officials have also started holding pregnant women for longer periods of time and denying release to people who have complex medical needs, she said. Advertisement The report is the third in a series by these organizations that have monitored deaths of individuals in immigration custody by reviewing Detainee Death Reports, which the government compiles after investigations into the deaths of people in custody. Even though time has passed, the human rights researchers keep reaching the same conclusions, Long said: that medical care was insufficient and oversight didnt fix the problem. What has shocked her the most, she said, are cases that illustrate extreme indifference on the part of facility staff or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for immigrants in custody. When asked about the report, Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE, said, ICE takes very seriously the health, safety and welfare of those in our care, including those who come into ICE custody with prior medical conditions or who have never before received appropriate medical care. Any death that happens in ICE custody is a cause for concern. The agency has an oversight mechanism to review all deaths in custody to make sure detention standards were followed, Mack said. ICE is committed to ensuring that everyone in our custody receives timely access to medical services and treatment, Mack added. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment detainees arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. All ICE detainees receive medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to daily sick call and 24-hour emergency care. For researcher Long, the example from the report that stuck out to her was that of Jose Manuel Azurdia Hernandez, a 54-year-old Guatemalan man who died after six months at the Adelanto Detention Facility, run by GEO Group in San Bernardino. On Dec. 19, 2015, when a nurse came into Azurdias unit to distribute medication, an officer monitoring the unit told her that Azurdia was sick and vomiting, according to a Detainee Death Report released by ICE. The officer recalled the nurse saying to him that she did not want to see Azurdia because she did not want to get sick. Surveillance footage reviewed by the government investigators showed that about 45 minutes later, another detainee helped Azurdia over to the guard desk, where he spoke with an officer and pointed to his chest. Officers told investigators that Azurdia said his left arm was numb and he was having trouble breathing in addition to the vomiting and chest pain. It turned out Azurdia was having a heart attack. It would be almost 15 minutes before he was wheeled to the medical unit and another nine minutes before he saw a doctor. About five minutes later, a nurse called 911. He died at the hospital four days later. While we cannot comment on specific individual cases due to certain privacy protections, we disagree with the conclusions contained in this report, said Pablo Paez of the GEO Group. In partnership with ICEs Health [Service] Corps, GEO delivers high-quality around-the-clock medical care, that complies with performance-based standards set by the federal government and adheres to guidelines set by leading third-party accreditation agencies. The three physicians who reviewed Azurdias case said that his death was probably preventable, based on how much time passed between the onset of his symptoms and when he got help. During a heart attack, every minute counts, Dr. Marc Stern said. A common phrase amongst cardiologists during medical emergencies involving heart complications is Time is muscle. Every minute is vital to preventing the loss of life, and thus delays by medical and detention staff likely turned a survivable event into a fatal one. Between 2010 and 2017, seven detainees died at Adelanto, more than any other facility in the U.S. Twelve detainees died nationwide in fiscal 2017, the most since 2009, when 14 died. The reports physicians also found preventable issues with the care of Igor Zyazin, 46-year-old Russian man who died at Otay Mesa Detention Center on May 1, 2016, after being transferred from San Luis Regional Detention Center, a short-term detention facility in Arizona. Four days after he arrived at San Luis, he told a nurse practitioner that he had a heart condition and was on medication for it, according to an ICE Detainee Death Report. He only knew the Russian names of the medications. The next morning, Zyazin told an officer monitoring his unit that he was dizzy and his chest hurt. A nurse gave him two doses of nitroglycerin, and later that day, a deportation officer recommended that he be transferred to the Otay Mesa center, up to a four-hour drive away, for medical care. He arrived in San Diego later that day. He died in his unit at Otay Mesa the day after he arrived. Doctors reviewing Zyazins case for the advocates report found that the nurses care of Zyazin at San Luis was severely deficient and dangerous. They said she should have called 911 or at least alerted a physician. By filling out the transfer note, the nurse was stating that the patient was stable for transfer to another ICE facility, which he was not, Stern said. Assuming that the Detainee Death Report was complete, [Mr. Zyazin] was having a serious acute event at this point very likely a heart attack and sending him to the hospital for appropriate care likely would have saved his life. The Otay Mesa Detention Center also houses people, including material witnesses in smuggling cases, for the U.S. Marshals Service. One of those inmates, Gerardo Cruz-Sanchez, died at age 32 in February 2016, shortly before Zyazins death. Because he was not an ICE detainee, his death was not included in the new report, but details from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family may shed light onto medical care at the facility. David McGinnis, who was in charge of training at the facility until he recently left the company, testified in a deposition in April that since the detention center moved to its new facility a few years ago, it has been purposefully understaffed by CoreCivic to save money. That understaffing, he said, would make it difficult for officers monitoring units to just take bathroom breaks, much less escort someone to the medical unit. Amanda Sluss Gilchrist, a spokeswoman for CoreCivic, noted that the allegations in Cruz-Sanchezs lawsuit are a matter of active litigation and as such have not been established as fact by the court. In response to the Human Rights Watch report, she said, CoreCivic does not provide medical or mental healthcare services or staffing at Otay Mesa. The federal governments ICE Health Service Corps is solely responsible for contracting, staffing and oversight of any medical and mental health services provided at Otay Mesa. Morrissey writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. In 2011, Kansas passed a law that Republicans said was aimed at ending voter fraud by requiring people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote. But opponents argued that it was really an attempt to reduce registration by blacks and Latinos who tend to vote Democratic and challenged the law with a barrage of lawsuits. On Monday, a federal judge agreed and struck it down. Advertisement The decision is a victory for civil rights groups and a rebuke of the laws architect, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who oversaw President Trumps now defunct voter fraud commission and is running for governor as a Republican. In a 188-page ruling, Judge Julie Robinson said the law disproportionately impacts qualified registration applicants, while only nominally preventing noncitizen voter registration. Heres some background on the law and the recent ruling: How did the law come about? In the months after Kobach became secretary of state in 2011, he called on the states Republican-led Legislature to pass a measure to stop perceived voter fraud. The Kansas Secure and Fair Elections Act mandated that Kansans must produce government-issued identification, such as a drivers license, a military ID or a passport, to register to vote. Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the measure and sent it to the desk of then-Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, who signed it into law. The stated motive of the law was questionable from the start. Studies have consistently shown that voter fraud is almost nonexistent in Kansas and nationwide. Kansas secretary of state records showed that between 2005 and 2009 a period when millions of people cast ballots only seven cases of alleged fraud were referred to authorities in local, state and federal races. Even so, Kobach and the Legislature lauded passage of the bill as a victory for Kansans. Every effort must be made to protect each legitimate vote from being canceled by fraudulent voter activity, Kobach said at the time. Voter fraud is a national problem, and Kansas has offered a solution that will protect every state that adopts it. What happened next? It got ugly fast. Since the law took effect in 2013, dozens of groups, including the local chapters of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and American Civil Liberties Union, along with voting rights groups, filed lawsuits that alleged the new measure would suppress voter turnout by making it difficult to register and vote. The measure saw several back-and-forth battles in lower courts. Mondays ruling, however, is the most significant to date. What did the ruling say? Robinson was ruling on a 2016 lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of the League of Women Voters and individual Kansans. The suit argued that the law disenfranchised people who were attempting to register legally but did not have access to the required identification. The ACLU estimated that that more than 35,000 citizens were blocked from registering to vote between 2013 and 2016. Kobach countered that the law was working. He said that 129 noncitizens had attempted to register to vote since 2000, and that the law was blocking such attempts. In her decision, the judge said the law violated both the Constitution and the National Voter Registration Act, a 1993 law that requires states to offer people the opportunity to register to vote when renewing a drivers license or public assistance. The Court finds that the burden imposed on Kansans by this law outweighs the states interest in preventing noncitizen voter fraud, keeping accurate voter rolls, and maintaining confidence in elections, she wrote. In addition, Robinson said that Kobach would not be allowed to renew his law license until he took six hours of legal education. Hours after the ruling, Kobach said he would appeal. Judge Robinson is the first judge in the country to come to the extreme conclusion that requiring a voter to prove his citizenship is unconstitutional. Her conclusion is incorrect, and it is inconsistent with precedents of the U.S. Supreme Court, Kobachs office said in a statement. What have voting rights groups said about the Kansas ruling? It was their clearest victory to date against Kobach. Dale Ho, director of the ACLUs Voting Rights Project, said the ruling is a stinging rebuke of Kris Kobach and the centerpiece of his voter-suppression efforts: a show-me-your papers law that has disenfranchised tens of thousands of Kansans. That law was based on a xenophobic lie that noncitizens are engaged in rampant election fraud, Ho said. Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, said the ruling confirms that noncitizen voter fraud is very rare and that the law was never needed. Fortunately Kansas voters will no longer be saddled with this unjustified burden on their voting rights, imposed as part of Mr. Kobachs agenda, she said. The ruling could also give pause to other states considering such laws. Alabama and Georgia have passed measures requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote, but the laws are not being enforced. Where does Kobach go from here? Kobach is facing a competitive Republican primary in August. Its unclear how much the federal ruling this week will matter to Kansas voters. It was Kobachs second major setback of the year. The first involved the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which Trump created by executive order in May 2017 with the mission of restoring confidence and integrity in the electoral process. He made Kobach, a staunch ally during the 2016 election, the vice chairman. The commission soon faced a flurry of lawsuits over privacy concerns for seeking personal data on voters across the country. In January, Trump issued an executive order to disband the commission. He did so rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at the time. kurtis.lee@latimes.com Twitter: @kurtisalee Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross defended the Trump administrations tariffs on imported steel and aluminum before Congress on Wednesday amid withering, bipartisan criticism from senators who condemned the levies as unjustified and economically ruinous. Know that you are taxing American families, you are putting American jobs at risk, and you are destroying markets -- both foreign and domestic -- for American businesses of all types, sorts and sizes, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) at a committee hearing on the tariffs. Ross countered, arguing actions taken by the president are necessary to revive Americas essential steel and aluminum industries. He added that allowing imports to continue unchecked threatens to impair our national security. The tariffs of 25% on imported steel and 10% on imported aluminum -- levied on key U.S. allies including Canada and the European Union -- were initiated by the administration under a previously little-used provision of trade law that allows tariffs to be imposed on the basis of national security. The use of that provision gives the administration more leeway to make trade policy unilaterally. Advertisement They represented a culmination of the protectionist threats Trump campaigned on, but also the clearest dividing line between the president and a Republican Party that has traditionally embraced free trade. Senators questioned the national security rationale of imposing high tariffs on friendly countries. I wish we would stop invoking national security, because thats not what this is about, said Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.). This is about economic nationalism. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of GOP leadership, told Ross: This thing seems to be escalating out of control fairly quickly. Yet despite the GOP concerns, Republican senators recently declined to take what was likely their best chance to intervene, when GOP leaders blocked a vote on a bill by Toomey and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) to give Congress veto power over tariffs invoked in the name of national security. As of June 1, the 25% tariff applies to imported steel products from all countries except Argentina, Australia, Brazil and South Korea, according to a Finance Committee fact sheet. Imported steel products from Argentina, Brazil and South Korea are subject to quotas that prohibit any imports above the quota levels. The 10% tariff applies to imported aluminum products from all countries except Argentina, Australia and Brazil. In response, the targeted nations have announced a series of reciprocal tariffs and retaliatory steps of their own, which senators said are causing prices to rise for U.S. manufacturers and other businesses. The administrations tariffs against Mexico and Canada have been seen as an attempt to gain leverage as the administration renegotiates the North American Free Trade Agreement. That deal is widely supported by congressional Republicans, most of whom do not want Trump to follow through on his campaign-trail threats to withdraw from the pact. Negotiations have sputtered, but Ross expressed optimism that they would pick up again after Mexican elections, and that the ultimate result would be an improved NAFTA. Some senators voiced skepticism about that as they questioned the administrations tactics. What is it about the Canadian steel industry that is a national security threat? Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.) asked Ross. Ross acknowledged that, in terms of dollar value, the U.S. actually has a trade surplus in steel with Canada. But he said the administrations approach is necessary to engage other nations in putting up barriers to Chinas practice of routing steel and aluminum through other countries to the United States. The only way were going to solve the global steel overcapacity . is getting all the countries to play ball with us, Ross said. He contended that even as other countries are complaining bitterly they are also taking steps to put up barriers to China, which if taken earlier would have prevented the problems the administration is trying to address. Ross also argued that some price volatility is due to what he termed antisocial behavior by participants in the industry who are engaging in speculative activity. He announced that the department was launching an investigation into such behavior to determine whether there are people who are illegitimately profiteering. Trump has also escalated tariff threats against China, which Republican senators told Ross was resulting in dangerously rising prices in agriculture because of retaliation fears. Several senators presented Ross with stories of businesses in their districts suffering from the tariffs, who have applied for exclusions offered by the administration to companies that cannot get steel or aluminum from other sources. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) criticized the exclusion process as chaotic and incompetent. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said, These businesses are paying the price for the administrations negotiating strategy. Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three tender age shelters in South Texas, the Associated Press has learned. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday. Since the White House announced its zero tolerance policy in early May, more than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, resulting in a new influx of young children requiring government care. The government has faced withering critiques over images of some of the children in cages inside U.S. Border Patrol processing stations. Decades after the nations child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is standing up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents. Advertisement The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it, said Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. Toddlers are being detained. Bellor said shelters follow strict procedures surrounding who can gain access to the children in order to protect their safety, but that means information about their welfare can be limited. By law, child migrants traveling alone must be sent to facilities run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within three days of being detained. The agency then is responsible for placing the children in shelters or foster homes until they are united with a relative or sponsor in the community as they await immigration court hearings. But U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions announcement last month that the government would criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the U.S.-Mexico border illegally has led to the breakup of migrant families and sent hundreds of young children into the governments care. The United Nations, some Democratic and Republican lawmakers and religious groups have sharply criticized the policy as inhumane. Not so, said Steven Wagner, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services. We have specialized facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs and tender age children, as we define as under 13 would fall into that category, he said. Theyre not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and theyre staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs particularly of the younger children. Until now, however, its been unknown where they are. In general we do not identify the locations of permanent unaccompanied alien children program facilities, said agency spokesman Kenneth Wolfe. The three centers in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville have been rapidly repurposed to serve children, including some under 5. A fourth, planned for Houston, would house up to 240 children in a warehouse previously used for people displaced by Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. Doctors and lawyers who have visited the shelters said the facilities were fine, clean and safe, but the kids who have no idea where their parents are were hysterical, crying and acting out. The shelters arent the problem, its taking kids from their parents thats the problem, said South Texas pediatrician Marsha Griffin, who has visited many. The federal governments net neutrality rules blinked out of existence in mid-June, the consequence of a deregulatory push by the new Republican majority on the Federal Communications Commission. So for the first time in more than a decade, there will be no efforts by the FCC the federal body created to oversee communications companies to stop service providers such as Comcast and AT&T that face no real competition in their local markets from influencing which websites and services succeed or fail online. California lawmakers, predictably, are trying to fill the regulatory void with their own rules, and two Senate-passed net neutrality bills are now awaiting action in the Assembly. Senate Bill 822 by Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would adopt into state law key parts of the federal rules the FCC recently repealed, including the ban on internet providers blocking or interfering with legal content and services. SB 460 by Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) would bar government agencies in California from contracting with any internet provider that did not abide by those restrictions. Broadband access is a local service, using local utility poles or rights of way just like the traditional local telephone services that states regulate. But the internet is a global resource, and many of the companies providing broadband access are national in scope. So it would be far better for the federal government to establish one set of rules that applied throughout the country than for individual states to establish their own regimes. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Advertisement The current FCC, however, argues that net neutrality rules prevent broadband providers from charging websites for better service, thus discouraging them from investing in their networks (ignoring how they encourage investment by the thousands of companies delivering content and services online by protecting them against discrimination by broadband providers) and claims that it doesnt even have the authority to regulate broadband. Thats why more than 30 states are working on their own neutrality rules and incentives. California should do the same. Yes, the FCCs deregulatory order explicitly preempted state neutrality rules, but if the commission doesnt have the authority to regulate broadband providers, it certainly doesnt have the authority to stop states from doing so. Opponents have argued that SB 822 would lead to much higher broadband fees by limiting zero rating the practice of exempting certain sites or services from monthly data usage caps. But thats not credible. The bill allows zero rating if the broadband provider doesnt use it to favor its own services or for profit. Thats a sensible safeguard against anticompetitive behavior. Critics also argue that Congress, not state legislatures, should set net neutrality rules, and theyre right. But theres no point in waiting for Washington; in fact, passing these two bills could help prod Congress to act. In the meantime, theyll protect the freedom and openness thats crucial to innovation online. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook A bill in the California Senate would prohibit the possession of trophies including heads, parts or skin of some of the most captivating and exotic animals in Africa. The bill, SB 1487, would cover the possession of 11 species considered endangered, threatened or vulnerable. The state of California cant stop a misguided African government from allowing the hunting of endangered animals in its country. Nor can it stop the U.S. government from permitting the importation of these trophies. But it can discourage such hunting by barring hunters from bringing new trophies to California and keeping them in their homes or elsewhere. This bill would mean no new elephant heads mounted on walls should it be approved. Sponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation and introduced by Sen. Henry Stern (D-Canoga Park), the bill affects trophies of African elephants, lions, leopards and giraffes, as well as the black rhinoceros and the white rhinoceros, among other species. Most of those are listed as endangered or threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The status of the giraffe is under review by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. U.S. laws already in place govern the sale of the trophies from various animals; this bill is only about possession. Advertisement The measure would allow anyone in possession of such trophies before Jan. 1, 2019, to keep them. It would also allow trophies to pass through California, as long as they arent here longer than 30 days. A passel of hunting organizations has opposed the bill. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Of course, there are laws and treaties in effect worldwide that seek with mixed results to preserve species facing threats. Some African countries, for instance, ban the hunting of certain species. But enough hunting takes place to make conservationists and animal welfare advocates worry for the future survival of these animals. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulates the importation of animal trophies, imposing various conditions on permits, in order to conserve species. But conservationists and advocates disagree strongly with some of the agencys decisions. Last year, the agency stirred an outcry even from President Trump when it said it would lift a ban on the importation of elephant and lion trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia. Since then, the agency has decided to allow imports on a case-by-case basis. Thats troubling to many conservationists. Hunters also argue that the huge fees they pay to hunt in these African countries go toward conservation efforts and therefore they are actually helping preserve species. That assertion has fallen under attack by various conservation groups, which contend that hunting groups have overestimated the amount contributed to African government conservation funds. This bill allows California to play its part in trying to protect these vulnerable animals from extinction. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook Government officials who call the cops at public meetings to silence their critics can be held accountable even if an arrest might be justified on other grounds. That was the reassuring conclusion of a ruling by the Supreme Court this week. Mondays 8-1 decision was a victory for Fane Lozman, the owner of a houseboat he kept at a marina owned by the city of Riviera Beach, Fla. As Justice Anthony Kennedy delicately put it in the majority opinion, Lozman had a contentious relationship with city officials. He filed a lawsuit alleging that an agreement the city made with developers violated Floridas open-meeting law, and he testified more than 200 times, not always temperately, at City Council meetings. In June of 2006, the council held a closed-door meeting in part to discuss Lozmans lawsuit and, according to a transcript, one council member suggested that the city use its resources to intimidate Lozman and others who had filed suit. Later in the meeting, other members agreed on a consensus plan that Lozman said was designed to do just that. (The city maintained that the consensus was simply an agreement to invest resources in responding to lawsuits.) Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Advertisement Five months later, Lozman was speaking during the public comment portion of a City Council meeting when he mentioned the arrests of two corrupt politicians from other jurisdictions. The same council member who had talked about intimidating Lozman reacted by summoning a police officer, who arrested Lozman. According to the city, Lozman was arrested because he violated rules by discussing issues unrelated to the city and wouldnt leave the podium. The states attorney concluded that there was probable cause for the arrest, but decided to dismiss the charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Lozman then filed a federal civil rights claim arguing that his arrest was retaliation for the exercise of his 1st Amendment rights. He lost at the trial level after the judge instructed the jury that Lozman had to prove that the police officer lacked probable cause to arrest him. A federal appeals court ruled against him on essentially the same grounds. In reversing that ruling, the Supreme Court recognized an important reality: that a particular arrest might be justified by probable cause and yet still be part of a conspiracy by a local government to retaliate against its critics (including through selective enforcement of the law). Kennedy noted that what Lozman was alleging was a premeditated plan to intimidate him in retaliation for his criticisms of city officials and his open-meetings lawsuit. The court didnt conclude that such a conspiracy had actually existed; it sent the case back down to the lower courts to consider that question. Still, this decision is significant in providing a check on local officials who might seek to use the police to silence their critics. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook Reports of young children ripped from their parents arms at the U.S.-Mexico border are causing outrage, and rightly so. But this shocking practice is just the latest example of the Trump administrations systematic assault on bonds of love and kinship that American immigration law has long valued and protected. Family separation is a tactic designed to scare away migrants and asylum seekers, especially those from Latin America. It is also a bargaining chip in the presidents ruthless attempt to force Congress to agree to a radical cutback in legal immigration and to the construction of a wall along the southern border. The pretense is law enforcement, but cruelty to families has become the hallmark of the Trump administrations overall immigration policy. Consider the presidents travel ban. If the children, spouses, parents and other close relatives of American citizens and lawful immigrants come from any of six Muslim-majority countries, they cannot visit, let alone immigrate to America. Waivers are nearly impossible to obtain. The ban was temporary at first, but unless the Supreme Court steps in, the presidents executive order will make this kind of family separation indefinite. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Advertisement Trumps administration also has been trying to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (so far, it has been thwarted by court decisions). Terminating DACA would expose hundreds of thousands of young people to deportation to countries they barely know and to indefinite separation from their families in the United States. Last week, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions decreed that asylum would no longer be granted to migrants based on life-threatening violence at the hands of partners and spouses, or of criminal gangs, a change that unravels protections already established under U.S. and international law. These policies attack the most vulnerable migrants families fleeing unspeakable violence, women whose own countries cant or wont protect them, children who lose their parents to deportation or detention. They target people of color and religious minorities purposefully and unabashedly. And they take us back to other shameful periods in American history enslaved families torn apart and Native American children taken from their parents in the name of assimilation. Starting in 1790, race played a major role in determining who could be a U.S. citizen, and by the 1880s, who could enter the country. These racial restrictions routinely separated families. Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans suffered well into the 20th century under laws that regularly kept out wives and children, through outright exclusion or the threat of long periods of detention on infamous Angel Island, in San Francisco Bay. Congress gradually repealed racial and ethnic restrictions on immigration and citizenship. The country came to recognize that our immigration rules should protect the dignity and integrity of all families. In 1965, Congress said explicitly that the government could not deny a visa based on national origin, race or gender. The same law established the family as part of the bedrock of American immigration policy. When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed this bill, in a ceremony at the base of the Statue of Liberty, his message was clear: No longer would families be kept apart because a husband or a wife or a child had been born in the wrong place. Even as immigration enforcement intensified in recent decades, protecting families remained a key focus of immigration officers and courts. The Violence Against Women Act allows battered spouses, children and parents of American citizens and permanent residents to stay in the U.S. if they qualify under the law. Both Republican and Democratic administrations until this one have taken family ties into account in setting priorities for immigration enforcement. The government seldom deported undocumented mothers and fathers of U.S. citizens, as is now becoming common, unless the parent had a criminal record. For more than half a century, then, U.S. immigration has operated as part of a cluster of constitutional and international laws that emphasize the value of all families. The Supreme Court has long interpreted the Constitution to protect family relationships from undue government interference. Parents threatened with the loss of their children have rights to due process. The government may not remove children from parents unless the childs safety is threatened. Nor may it deny family rights based on race, gender or religion. The government may not remove children from parents unless the childs safety is threatened. Under international human rights law, too, family protection is foundational. Responding to the Nazi practice of dismantling Jewish and Polish families, the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights includes this clear statement: The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection from the government. This is not to say that domestic and international law has perfectly protected families. It would be naive to think that zealous immigration enforcement has never before visited hardships on immigrant families. But Trumps orders are different. They are intentionally callous and cavalier about tearing families apart. Terrorizing immigrant communities and coercing politicians are the goals. The presidents extremist policies can be stopped. Congress and the courts can act; lawsuits, protests and the ballot box will make a difference. We must reject the administrations claim that it has unfettered power to regulate the border. That is the logic of tyrants. It has taken the Trump administration only 18 months to sabotage our immigration policys foundation of equal treatment and family integrity. It may well take years to undo the havoc. And the damage done to families at the border will take far, far longer to repair. Kristin Collins, Serena Mayeri and Hiroshi Motomura are law professors at Boston University, the University of Pennsylvania and UCLA, respectively. They are co-authors of an amicus brief on family protections in immigration law that was submitted to the Supreme Court in the travel ban case. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook A military strategic expert on Tuesday warned that if Saudi-led coalition forces controlled Yemens western province of Hodeidah that means an Israeli control over the entire Red Sea. (AhlulBayt News Agency) - A military strategic expert on Tuesday warned that if Saudi-led coalition forces controlled Yemens western province of Hodeidah that means an Israeli control over the entire Red Sea. The battle of Hodeidah in Yemen is a decisive battle in the history of the aggression against Yemen, the Lebanese military strategic expert Brig. Gen. Amin Hattit said. Hodeidah is located on an area of 13,000 square kilometers with a long coast of 300 km, including the most important port on the Red Sea, which is the strategic entry of the Red Sea, he explained. Hattit said the battle has a double impact on the resistance, Yemeni people, Ansarullah Movement and the forces that defend the sovereignty of Yemen and the hostile forces. For the hostile forces, the control of Hodeidah coast means changing the Red Sea into an Israeli-Saudi- Atlantic lake, which would have an impact and a global dimension that extends beyond the region and reaches the international communications system, he added. Therefore, the major powers in NATO, namely the United States, Britain and France have a direct combat presence in the battle, Hattit said. /129 The Trump administration, shamed by the national outcry over separating children from their asylum-seeking parents at the border, has capitulated. The president Wednesday signed an executive order to end that brutal practice and instead could imprison children alongside their parents indefinitely. The question Americans need to ask themselves next is this: Why are we imprisoning immigrants or asylum seekers at all? I have been working with families and individuals in our immigrant prison system for about a decade, including people arrested in ICE raids, victims of human trafficking and those who arrive at the border seeking asylum. There are, on any given day, approximately 34,000 to 40,000 such people being held in immigration detention. The largest of these facilities is the adult-only Adelanto Detention Facility, just 90 miles outside Los Angeles where up to 1,960 immigrants are held. Advertisement This is a form of civil, administrative confinement, which means people held in these prisons are not afforded the safeguards of the criminal justice system, such as legal counsel. The conditions are just as inhumane too. We have documented widespread abuse in immigrant prisons, including physical and sexual assault, medical neglect, bacterial infections from mold, and maggots in food. Since the creation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in 2003, there have been over 180 reported deaths in immigration detention. A report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch looked at 15 deaths between December 2015 and April 2017; it found that inadequate medical care contributed or led to the persons death in eight of them. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion The idea of imprisoning immigrants and asylum seekers while they await the outcome of their requests to stay in the United States is a relatively new phenomenon. It wasnt until 1981 that the Reagan administration opened the McAllen Detention Center on a former U.S. Navy Base in Puerto Rico to detain Haitians. The next year, as Reagan warned of a tidal wave of refugees fleeing civil wars in Central America, the administration established its Mass Migration Emergency Plan, requiring that 10,000 immigrant prison beds be ready for use at any given time. This gave rise to the formation of the worlds first private prison company, Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), which changed its name in 2016 to CoreCivic. CCA/CoreCivic got its first federal government contract for an immigrant prison in Texas in 1983. And the publicly traded corporation has been lobbying to expand our immigrant prison system ever since. In the 1980s, there were anywhere from 30 to 3,000 people being held at a time; today its 10 times that, and 73% of them are in facilities operated by private companies. In 1996, under the Clinton administration, two laws were passed that greatly expanded our civil immigrant prison system. These laws added extensively to the list of crimes that made any non-U.S. citizen, including many legal permanent residents, vulnerable to civil incarceration and deportation. Then the George W. Bush administration launched Operation Streamline, which authorized the criminal prosecution rather than civil deportation of those apprehended at the border; thats the program the Trump administration used to separate families. So where we are today is the result of three decades of increasingly aggressive policies under both Democratic and Republican leadership. It is time that we all take responsibility for this system and put forth what former First Lady Laura Bush recently called for: a kinder, more compassionate and moral answer. And we can. The Trump administration or Congress can implement community accompaniment programs, through which relatives and local organizations take responsibility for making sure immigrants and asylum seekers can have their day in court, with due process, instead of being caged in a system that is deliberately set up to prevent them from accessing legal counsel or other support. We already have a more humane and less expensive response to migration that does not involve tearing kids from parents, or incarceration. My organization, Freedom for Immigrants, has been piloting these programs since 2014. In the first six months of our Bay Area-based program, we were able to secure the safe release and housing of 61 people, showing that our communities do indeed want to welcome immigrants. Instead of being detained or wearing ankle monitors, immigrants are released on parole or bond. We connect them to resources, including attorneys, transportation and even housing. If they are recent asylum seekers without family, our volunteer hosts provide them with a place to live while immigration courts process their cases. In the late 1990s, the federal government ran a similar pilot program with the New York-based Vera Institute for Justice where people were released into the care of Vera rather than be imprisoned. Their pilot found that 93% of asylum seekers appeared for their hearings, as did 94% of immigrants with past criminal convictions. The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which ran a pilot program in collaboration with ICE in 2015, found that it costs only $50 a day for an entire family to receive housing and supportive services, such as connections to attorneys and help getting to court hearings. This is far cheaper than the average $798 it costs taxpayers daily to imprison a family (2 individuals). So we already have a more humane and less expensive response to migration that does not involve tearing kids from parents, or incarceration. It is time that we implement it. The moral outrage over family separation has been absolutely justified. Now lets turn this moment into a movement to end the immigrant prison system and replace it with a more compassionate and cost-effective approach that upholds our values as a nation and the dignity of people who want to come here. Christina Fialho is a Los Angeles-based attorney and the co-founder and executive director of Freedom for Immigrants (formerly CIVIC). Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook In 2012, I teamed up with a bread baker, urban farmers and home-based food makers to advocate for the California Homemade Food Act, a law that allows for the sale of homemade foods that are low-risk and do not require refrigeration, such as breads and jams. Thousands of new enterprises were formed or became legal under the act, many of them owned by women, immigrants and small-crop farmers. The Homemade Food Act was a good start, but it was limited. Many more homemade products, including more-perishable foods, would be safe to sell from our home kitchens with appropriate oversight. Now a proposed expansion of the law, Assembly Bill 626, is making its way through the California Legislature, and youd think Id be on board. But this bill isnt the product of bakers, home cooks and farmers, its backed by gig economy tech companies. It would allow sales of homemade meals through web apps that take a cut of cooks earnings. AB 626 passed in the Assembly in January; its due for a Senate committee vote Wednesday. It shouldnt get any further. Advertisement If AB 626 becomes law, the homemade food market would likely become dominated by big companies like Airbnb and Uber. The trajectory of these businesses is rapid growth fueled by venture capital and aimed at disrupting and then monopolizing a market. They disregard important public safety laws and worker protections by treating the workers as independent contractors. They could easily overwhelm the homemade food economy just as they have ride hailing, delivery services and vacation rentals. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion Food-system jobs are among the lowest paid in our society, but at least most food workers are employees who are entitled to minimum wage, overtime, workers compensation insurance, and other protections. If homemade food is dominated by gig economy tech companies, home cooks could end up working in situations where their net earnings are less than minimum wage. Companies such as Uber and TaskRabbit take 15% to 30% of the earnings of their workers. Margins are so tight for home cooks, they wouldnt be able to survive. Yes, we should have a more permissive homemade food law in California, and theres nothing wrong with allowing web apps to facilitate it. But the Legislature should require that third-party web applications used to order and distribute the food must be owned and controlled by cooks and delivery workers, nonprofit organizations, or local governments not by big technology companies. This may sound heavy-handed, but longstanding California law already prohibits big food companies from operating farmers markets. Only nonprofits, governmental organizations and farmers themselves are allowed to run the markets; they exist to support growers and consumers, not middlemen. Just as we dont let Amazon, Walmart and Ralphs operate farmers markets in California, we shouldnt let Uber Eats run our homemade food economy. We can also learn from Austin, Texas, when it comes to incorporating web apps into a service economy. In 2016, Austin enacted safety regulations for ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft, causing both companies to decamp from the city. What emerged in their place was a remarkable flourishing of local ride hailing apps, including the nonprofit RideAustin and the driver-owned ATX Co-op Taxi. Both offer better pay for drivers along with the convenience of mobile phone apps. Such community-based alternatives could never compete with Silicon Valley tech giants. Just as we dont let Amazon, Walmart and Ralphs operate farmers markets in California, we shouldnt let Uber Eats run our homemade food economy. Markets need basic regulations to avoid monopolization and to protect workers and consumers. AB 626 betrays the food movement for the benefit of Big Tech. The Legislature should reject it and instead work with food makers and community organizations on a more just approach to expanding the Homemade Food Act. Consumers, farmers and cooks deserve better than the Uberization of homemade food. Christina Oatfield is the policy director of the Sustainable Economies Law Center in Oakland. She once operated an underground restaurant out of her apartment. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook. 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Allies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch Live: White House holds surprise news briefing amid government shutdown Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration.... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause. #Georgia Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush. The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump as recently as Tuesday continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops You really are our heroes, he said as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see. James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes he last won reelection by a 14-point margin suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election again, in blowout fashion but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10. Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history. Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters... Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice. Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children the older ones are 5 and 2 about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican she the race felt m With about 4 1/2 months to go until a midterm election that will determine whether Democrats gain power to check President Trump, voter interest in the contest has reached historic highs, with far more intense focus than usual on one subject: the president. Midterm elections often act as a referendum on whoever occupies the White House, but in most election years, many voters dont view their ballot that way. This year, they do: Some 60% say they view their midterm vote as a ballot essentially against (34%) or for (26%) Trump, according to a newly released survey from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. That makes Trump a bigger factor in the midterm than any president since Pew first asked the question during President Reagans first term. The new survey highlights how much the national, partisan contest now outweighs local issues in voters choice for Congress: Nearly three-quarters of voters on both sides of the partisan divide said they cared which party will end up controlling Congress a significantly larger share than in previous elections. The poll also pointed to a key group for Democratic hopes: younger women. Nearly 7 in 10 women younger than 35 said they favored a Democrat for Congress, and 4 in 10 said they saw their vote as one against Trump. Only about 1 in 10 said they thought of their vote as a ballot for Trump. Advertisement Overall, Democrats continue to hold an edge over Republicans in the fight for Congress, both in enthusiasm and voter preference, but the advantage remains small enough that the outcome, especially for the House, remains uncertain. When asked which partys candidate for Congress they supported or leaned toward this year, voters surveyed by Pew sided with the Democrats by five percentage points, 48%-43%. (Los Angeles Times ) Good economic news has buoyed Republicans, with voters giving the GOP an edge on managing the economy after several years in which neither party had an advantage on that topic. On most other issues, including the two that voters most often said they want candidates to talk about healthcare and immigration a majority preferred Democrats. The poll was conducted June 5-12, so it pre-dated the current controversy over the Trump administrations splitting up of families of immigrants caught trying to cross the border illegally. Even so, immigration was the top issue that the public cited when asked to name the most important problem facing the country. It was mentioned by 12%. Race relations and racism came in second, cited by 8%. Only 6% named the economy a sharp contrast from only a few years ago. Get the latest news from the nations capital on Essential Washington >> The overall five-percentage point Democratic lead in the survey is consistent with other recent polls that have found, on average, that Democrats have an advantage of about seven percentage points on the so-called generic ballot. Thats around the level that, if history holds, would indicate a small Democratic edge in the battle for control of the House. The generic ballot question typically has provided a fairly accurate election forecast. Democrats generally need a significant majority in the total vote nationwide in order to win a majority of the House in part because of gerrymanders that favor Republicans and in part because Democratic voters, concentrated in cities, dominate fewer geographic districts. The contest highlights a now-familiar divide along lines of race and education. Republicans have a strong lead on the generic ballot, 57%-34%, among white voters who did not graduate from college. Democrats have a smaller edge, 53%-41%, among whites who have a college degree. They have large margins among Latino (63%-30%) and African American (77%-16%) voters. Democrats also have a strong lead (57%-37%) among voters younger than 35; voters 35 and older split closely between the two parties. Republicans have a small advantage, 49%-43%, among men, which is fairly consistent regardless of age. While women younger than 35 favor the Democrats by a large margin, among women 35 and older, the Democrats have an advantage, but a much smaller one. The strong Democratic edge among younger women could prove a major advantage for the party, but it also highlights a risk those voters have a spotty record of turning out to cast ballots, especially in non-presidential years. That Democratic edge among younger women corresponds with their belief that Trump does not respect them. Fewer than a third of younger women said that Trump respects women, with only 10% saying he has a great deal of respect for them. Among women 50 and older, about half said Trump respects women at least a fair amount. Men of all age groups are more likely to say that Trump respects women. Both genders agreed by large majorities that Trump respects men. Americans also agreed by large majorities that Trump respects white people, evangelical Christians and veterans, but most Americans said that he does not respect blacks, Latinos, Muslims or immigrants. Overall, 46% of Americans said they believe Trump respects people like them, while 52% said he did not. Eight in 10 African Americans, two-thirds of Latinos and 62% of women younger than 35 said Trump did not respect people like them. In special elections over the past year, Democratic turnout has exceeded its usual level, and the poll finds some evidence that could continue into the November election. Among people who said they favored a Democrat for Congress, 55% said they were more enthusiastic than usual about voting. Thats a much higher level than at similar points before the 2010 and 2014 midterms, both of which saw big losses for the Democrats. Liberal Democrats reported an especially high level of enthusiasm, with 64% saying they were more enthusiastic than normal. Democratic enthusiasm is even higher than it was in 2006, when the party won a majority of the House. Unlike that election, however, in which many Republicans turned against President George W. Bush, Republicans this year also express considerable enthusiasm for voting roughly on the level of the last two midterms contests. Among Democrats and independents who lean to the Democrats, 61% said their vote was a ballot against Trump. Thats even higher than the share of Republicans who said in the 2010 midterm that their ballot was against President Obama. Part of what makes this election hard to predict, however, is that Trump generates almost equally strong feelings of support on his side. Just over half, 52%, of Republicans and independents who lean their way said they saw their midterm ballot as a vote in favor of Trump. Thats significantly higher than the share of Democrats who said they were casting a pro-Obama ballot in the last two midterms and much higher than the share of Republicans, 33%, who said they were casting a pro-Bush ballot in 2006. Despite the attention given to prominent Republicans who have criticized Trump, they represent a small segment of the party. Almost half, 46%, of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say Trump has changed the GOP for the better. Only 10% say he has changed it for the worse, with the rest, 40%, saying they dont think he has changed it much at all. Among self-identified conservative Republicans, 52% say Trump has changed the party for the better. The Pew survey was conducted by telephone, including cellphones and land lines, among a national sample of 2,002 adults, including 1,608 registered voters. The margin of error is 2.6 percentage points in either direction for the full sample; 2.9 percentage points for the registered voters. David.Lauter@latimes.com For more on Politics and Policy, follow me @DavidLauter A 2-year-old girl, with red sneakers and dark hair, crying as a U.S. Border Patrol agent searches her mother. Boys filing along white tents against a desolate desert backdrop. Toddlers screaming for their parents in a detention center in South Texas. As wrenching scenes of the more than 2,300 immigrant children pulled apart from their parents at the southwest border sparked anguish around the globe and a political backlash at home, President Trump said migrants illegally infest our country, framing his policy to separate families as a deterrent against drug smugglers and Central American gang members. From the June day three years ago when Trump announced his White House bid by charging that Mexico was sending rapists across the border, he has used inflammatory rhetoric on immigration, dehumanizing and criminalizing a broad class of people who he said threatened the nations security. That strategy hit a speed bump Wednesday when Trump signed an executive order that said the administration would keep families together in detention facilities and ask the Justice Department to expedite their cases. The rare tactical retreat reflected how the painful images of children crying in cages and criticism pouring in from Pope Francis, former first ladies and others could endanger Republicans as they head into the midterm elections. Advertisement This is a form for visual rebuttal, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a presidential historian and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. If anything, however, Trump amped up his warnings to suggest that millions of people are preparing to flood across the border and overrun the nation with what he called tremendous crime. We have to be strong on the border, otherwise youll have millions of people coming up, not thousands like we have now, Trump told Republican lawmakers at the White House. Youll have millions of people flowing up and just overtaking the country and were not letting that happen. In fiscal year 2017, the Border Patrol apprehended 303,916 individuals on the southwest border, down 25% from the previous year. Apprehensions have increased this year. Trump blames Democrats, smugglers and Mexico for border crisis as Republicans press him for solution The notion that foreigners pose a threat to public safety is hardly new, although the danger often has been expressed in crude racial terms in the past. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. The law, which sharply limited Chinese immigration and barred those here from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens, was repealed in 1943. A century later, in the 1980s, concerns about crime and the use of cocaine led to federal laws that increasingly melded the nations immigration and criminal justice systems. Congress expanded the number of deportable offenses, incentivized the incarceration of immigrants and increased coordination between federal law enforcement and immigration forces. Since then, the rhetoric driving immigration policy has centered on calls to cast criminals out of the country, often playing on false or inaccurate claims that immigrants who enter the country illegally engage in widespread crimes. Studies show the vast majority are law abiding and commit fewer crimes, on average, than U.S. citizens. In 1987, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) tied Jamaicans to a wide narcotics distribution network. In 1994, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) pledged to fight illegal immigration in a reelection ad that captured images of migrants streaming over the border. Californias governor at the time, Pete Wilson, used similar evocative images to spur support for a ballot initiative intended to eliminate healthcare, public schooling and other services in the state for immigrants in the country illegally. It passed but ultimately was struck down by the courts. Pat Buchanan, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 and 1996, warned of immigrant invasions eroding Western society, and Tom Tancredo, who ran for the same nomination in 2008, warned of the cult of multiculturalism. But the harder edge to the immigration discourse remained on the fringes until recently, civil rights lawyers and immigrant rights advocates said. Now the rhetoric is coming from the Oval Office not Arizona or Alabama, said Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of Americas Voice, a pro-immigrant rights group working to overhaul national immigration laws. To be sure, the last three presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all helped build a deportation apparatus that increasingly targeted families. They each focused primarily on removing convicted criminals, or gang members accused of violent crimes, not people who had overstayed their visas or entered the country illegally. But mothers and children became priority enforcement targets by 2014, as federal agencies struggled with nearly 60,000 unaccompanied children and teens surging across the border, mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Critics lambasted Obama as deporter in chief, and while he kept families together in detention centers, they sometimes were held in poor conditions. The Obama administration set the foundation for the Trump administrations immigration policy, said Cesar Garcia Hernandez, associate professor at the University of Denvers Sturm College of Law. But the Trump administration went into overdrive both in terms of the rhetoric of migrant dehumanization and the reality. Central American immigrant families depart ICE custody, pending future immigration court hearings in Texas. (John Moore / Getty Images ) Coverage of California politics Trump has followed the playbook that helped him win the presidency. In his first seven months in office, Trump imposed a travel ban mostly affecting people from Muslim-majority countries, canceled a temporary deportation relief program for people brought into the country illegally as children and pledged to slash funding from local law enforcement agencies and self-declared sanctuary cities that refuse to assist immigration enforcement efforts. Behind closed doors, Trump expressed frustration over people coming to America from shithole countries. And in a White House roundtable meeting with like-minded Republicans, he labeled immigrants in the country illegally animals, later clarifying that he was referring to members of the international criminal gang Mara Salvatrucha, known as MS-13. According to the most recent FBI estimates, MS-13 has 8,000 to 10,000 members in the United States, mostly around Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Houston. The Justice Department has prioritized the gang for arrests and deportations. In May, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, a longtime immigration hawk, ordered what he calls a zero tolerance policy on the border, detaining and prosecuting many of those who cross illegally, rather than simply turning them back in what the administration derided as catch and release. That policy led to the separation of families, the grueling pictures of toddlers crying behind chain link fences, and pressure even from fellow Republicans to find a solution that at least offered better optics. In an op-ed published Tuesday in USA Today, Sessions tossed the problem back to Congress. We do not want to separate parents from their children, he wrote. What we want is a safe, lawful system of immigration that would end this question altogether. But immigration lawyers stressed that the Trump administrations crisis was self-inflicted, while its justification attempted to blur the distinction between dangerous criminals and the vast majority of immigrants including children. We were outraged from day one, said Sharry, of Americas Voice. We never had any illusion about [Trumps] cruelty, but I think the entire country, indeed the entire world, is seeing how that rhetoric shapes policy. jazmine.ulloa@latimes.com @jazmineulloa A federal judge on Wednesday challenged attorneys for the Trump administration and California over their contrasting views of laws designed to limit the states involvement in enforcing federal immigration policy. In the end, U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez seemed to poke a number of sizable holes in the federal governments argument that Californias sanctuary law which limits local law enforcement cooperation with immigration agents is unconstitutional. He also raised hard-to-answer questions for state attorneys about a different law that forbids most employers from allowing immigration agents without court orders to visit workplaces. At one point, he suggested California lawmakers had left business owners with only bad choices. The laws, part of a package passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year, are the centerpiece of political and legal resistance to President Trump led by California Democrats. Advertisement Jeff Sessions lashes out at Californias sanctuary immigration laws The federal governments attorneys said the statutes are an effort to hamper federal immigration law enforcement. In our mind, the point of the laws was to obstruct, said Chad Readler, the acting assistant U.S. attorney general for the civil division, who argued on behalf of the Trump administration in court. Federal attorneys want an injunction to block the state laws. Attorneys representing California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra and Brown want the judge to dismiss the Trump administrations lawsuit, which was filed in early March. The judge didnt give an indication of when he might rule, but at several points he suggested parts of the laws could be upheld and other parts overturned. The hearing in Sacramento was held just a few blocks from where U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions delivered a fiery late winter speech denouncing state and local leaders for what he said was their embrace of a policy promoted by radical extremists. That same day, Brown returned fire, likening the lawsuit and the rhetoric to going to war against the state of California. A steady stream of anti-Trump protesters crowded the federal courthouses entrance Wednesday. While they voiced support for the state laws, they also held signs protesting the just-rescinded family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border. No law symbolizes the effort by California leaders to push back on the presidents immigration efforts more than the sanctuary law Senate Bill 54, also known as the California Values Act. The law has eliminated much of the discretionary power that local law enforcement previously had to quietly share information with federal immigration agents about people who have been arrested and put in county jails. In some counties, the relationship with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had been so close that the agents had their own workspace inside local lockups. No, Californias sanctuary state law does not allow the release of dangerous criminals to the streets Under SB 54, local law enforcement officers are allowed to give federal agents public information only about an inmates release from jail. The law makes an exemption when a person suspected of being in the U.S. illegally has been convicted of any of 800 crimes outlined in a 2013 state law. Over the course of more than two hours Wednesday, Mendez repeatedly insisted that federal attorneys point out where Congress has explicitly said that a state cant simply opt out of optional assistance to immigration agents. You come in and you want me to strike down a state law that Congress has never said to a state, You cant do this? the judge said. The Trump administration lawyers repeatedly said there are constitutional problems with any blanket plan to limit local-federal law enforcement partnerships. But the attorneys representing California insisted this was not that kind of plan. To do more than the new law allows, said state Deputy Atty. Gen. Lee Sherman, would be tantamount to the federal government dictating the use of local and state resources. The United States cannot commandeer the use of the states law enforcement services, he said. Federal officials have complained the new law is already causing problems. Thomas Homan, the ICE director who is scheduled to retire this month, said in a lengthy letter to Mendez in March that there were more than 119 San Diego-area immigrants that ICE could not get information about during the first two months of 2018. He recounted one case where ICE transferred a person to San Diego police wanted for possession of a firearm silencer, but then local officials simply allowed him to bond out of custody without notifying ICE of the release. Orange County and its top law enforcement officer, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, filed a court brief last week that warned of dire consequences if SB 54 is left in place. In a written statement to the court, Hutchens said she and other sheriffs across California worry that dangerous immigrants will be released from local jails and commit serious crimes. I think it is a question of when, not if, this will happen, she wrote. Her attorneys also presented data they argued show the effects of the new limits on local-federal communications. The brief said that in the first four months of this year, 341 of 601 Orange County jail inmates with immigration detainers were released without prison officials notifying federal agents. Some of those people, the court filing contended, were charged with violent or serious crimes that present a public safety concern. The judge, who engaged in lengthy question-and-answer sessions for much of the day, seemed sharply critical of some provisions in Assembly Bill 450, which limits immigration-related inspections at workplaces across California. The law requires immigration agents to obtain a warrant before visiting most workplaces. Before its passage, according to U.S. Justice Department attorneys, an employer could consent to the visit without a court getting involved. The effect of the state law is to make that job more difficult, Readler said. An early flashpoint in the court proceeding came when Readler, whom Trump appointed to a federal circuit court judgeship two weeks ago, insisted that California lawmakers had an ulterior motive when they included a provision in the law that requires immigration agents give 72-hour notice to employers before a visit. He called that information a warning to those in the U.S. illegally that perhaps they shouldnt show up to work that day. Mendez quickly jumped in from the bench: Thats a very cynical view, he told the federal attorney. I dont want to take it. State lawyers insisted that AB 450 has not altered the fundamentals of national immigration law. The federal government can still complete its workplace investigations by obtaining a warrant, said state Deputy Atty. Gen. Christine Chuang. But the judge sharply questioned Chuang about how an employer should react in a variety of instances when federal agents show up at a business. AB 450 allows an employer to be fined up to $2,000 for voluntarily allowing immigration agents into private areas of a job site. On the other hand, said Mendez, an employer who has knowingly hired people without legal residency can face federal penalties. The statute really puts the employer between a rock and a hard place, the judge said to Chuang. Much of the early moments in court focused on another state law, Assembly Bill 103, which gives state officials the power to inspect federal detention centers. Mendez sounded skeptical of the federal governments insistence that state officials had no right to inspect the detention centers. There are nine in the state and five have already been visited by state officials. Wheres the evidence of it being burdensome in any way? Mendez asked. In the months since Sessions announced the lawsuit to invalidate the California laws, the battle over the states pro-immigrant position has become a cause celebre for both liberal and conservative groups. More than two dozen groups or individuals filed friend of the court briefs. Sixteen states led by Republicans sharply criticized Brown and California lawmakers, as did the GOP governors of Mississippi and Maine. john.myers@latimes.com Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast UPDATES: 9 p.m.: This article was updated with numerous details from the afternoon session of court, including the courtroom debate over Senate Bill 54. This article was originally published at 2:30 p.m. US President Donald Trumps point men on the so-called Israeli-Palestinian peace process, special adviser Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt met with the King of Jordan on Tuesday to kick off their tour in the region intended to focus on advancing so-called peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (AhlulBayt News Agency) - US President Donald Trumps point men on the so-called Israeli-Palestinian peace process, special adviser Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt met with the King of Jordan on Tuesday to kick off their tour in the region intended to focus on advancing so-called peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Building on previous conversations, they discussed increasing cooperation between the United States and Jordan, regional issues, the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and the Trump Administrations efforts to facilitate [so-called] peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, the White House statement said following their meeting in Amman. Greenblatt and Kushner have confirmed that their visit to Israel will take place on Friday June 22 and Saturday June 23, but their visits to Arab allies were less fleshed out, recently adding Jordan and Qatar to the original list that included Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Kushner will return to Israel just one month after attending highly controversial American embassy move from Tel Aviv to Al-Quds Jerusalem, following Trump's decision in December to recognize the city as Zionist regime's capital. The US envoys meeting comes just one day after King Abdullah II met with Netanyahu to discuss similar matters in an unannounced trip to Amman, which the Israeli premiere last visited in 2014. Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said on Saturday that the so-called peace plan, which has been promoted by the US is "meaningless" as it lacks the support of Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority says any plan that does not recognize East Jerusalem al-Quds as the Palestinian capital or address the problem of refugees will be unsuccessful. The US-Palestine ties deteriorated last December, when Washington recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of Israel and announced plans to transfer the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds. The contentious move led President Mahmoud Abbas to formally declare that Palestinians would no longer accept the US as a mediator to resolve the conflict because Washington was completely biased towards Tel Aviv. The US embassy relocation took place on May 14, the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), sparking deadly clashes in Gaza. Israel lays claim to the whole Jerusalem al-Quds, but the international community views the citys eastern sector as an occupied territory and Palestinians consider it as the capital of their future state. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel's continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories. Nearly half of registered California voters are still undecided in the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Dianne Feinstein and state Sen. Kevin de Leon, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. Feinstein, who is seeking a fifth full term, holds a 36% to 18% lead over De Leon among registered voters who said they are going to vote in November, while 46% of registered voters remain undecided, according to the poll. Though Feinstein is ahead by nearly 20 points, its a low level of support for such a long-serving incumbent, said GOP strategist Mike Murphy, an analyst for the poll. (Los Angeles Times ) Advertisement Shes just underperforming. Theres no passion for her at all, Murphy said. Her numbers are just surprisingly low. The poll shows Feinsteins support below the 44% of the primary vote she received on the June 5 ballot. De Leon got 11% of the vote, securing the second spot in the November general election. The number of undecided voters was similar to the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll conducted shortly before the primary that showed 41% of likely voters were undecided in the race. Undecided voters at this point are largely Democrats who are waiting to see how the race between the two Democrats shapes up, said Bob Shrum, a former Democratic operative who is the director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. In the months ahead, Feinsteins massive cash advantage and broad name recognition will mean she has a better chance of reaching those undecided voters and convincing them to give her another term, Shrum said. De Leon struggled to raise money during the primary and secure the second spot on the general election ballot, edging out a Republican who was a virtual unknown for most of the race. Murphy said undecided voters will likely end up backing Feinstein because shes always been there. De Leon has said he is hoping that now that the primary is behind him, hell have a better chance of appealing to donors who want a change and will give him the resources to spread his message. But convincing people to fund his campaign could prove difficult, especially when Feinstein won the primary by such a large margin. The poll shows Feinstein leading among voters who said they place a high value on education, healthcare, taxes, jobs and housing. Even on immigration, which has been a longtime signature issue of De Leon, the sponsor of the states new sanctuary state policies, Feinstein has an advantage. Murphy said that despite De Leons 12 years in state government, the poll shows he isnt yet defined by a specific issue that resonates with voters, and that could be an insurmountable problem. Right now hes just the other name on the ballot whos a Democrat, and I dont think that will be enough, Murphy said. Although Feinstein led among all age groups in the pollparticularly people over age 65 De Leon did best among people under age 45. Still, more than 55% of people in that age group said they were undecided about who to support. Throughout the primary De Leon made specific appeals to the more progressive wing of the state Democratic Party by positioning himself as an anti-Trump warrior, but the poll found Feinstein holds a substantial lead with liberal and moderate Democrats, most of whom have made up their minds. Its among registered Republicans and those with no party preference where more than 54% of voters say they are undecided, according to the poll. Theres a big question of whether Republicans will even vote in the Senate race without a Republican on the ballot, leaving the undecided voters with no party preference as the prime targets for trying to close the gap in the next few months. Shrum said the results dont make that appear likely. When you look at these numbers he would have to pull off some stupendous gains across the board in order to make this race close, Shrum said. The online survey of 893 Californians, including 767 registered voters and 498 primary voters, was conducted between June 6 and Sunday in English and Spanish. The margin of sampling error was 4 percentage points in either direction. The latest from Washington sarah.wire@latimes.com Follow @sarahdwire on Twitter Read more about the 55 members of Californias delegation Jill Darling, survey director of the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, contributed to this report. Researchers have long looked upon wars, famines and mass migrations as grim but important opportunities to understand how adversity affects childrens health. Theyve culled the experiences of orphans warehoused in government facilities, Jewish children dispatched to foreign families ahead of a Nazi invasion, and young refugees fleeing guerrilla warfare in Central America. Theyve conducted experiments in child development labs, taken brain scans, used epidemiological methods, examined the narratives of children torn from their parents all in an effort to find meaning in tragedy. Their trove of findings points to one unmistakable conclusion: Advertisement Separating kids from their parents is detrimental to their physical and mental health. U.S. immigration officials have taken more than 2,300 child migrants from their parents since May, when the Trump administration initiated a zero tolerance policy and began detaining the adults for criminal prosecution. Amid nationwide outrage, President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to bring an end to his controversial family separation policy. Even after children are reunited with their parents, the lingering effects of their time apart may continue to put them at increased risk for a range of health problems. Read on to learn why. Q. Why is a parents presence so important? A. Theres a reason that childhood in humans lasts as long as it does: It takes that long for a childs brain to mature into adulthood, says Columbia University psychology professor Nim Tottenham, an expert in emotional development. A parent is really in many ways an extension of the childs biology as that child is developing, Tottenham said. That adult whos routinely been there provides this enormous stress-buffering effect on a childs brain at a time when we havent yet developed that for ourselves. Theyre really one organism, in a way. A police officer and Border Patrol agent watch over a group of Central American asylum seekers before taking them into custody near McAllen, Texas. (John Moore / Getty Images ) When the reliable buffering and guidance of a parent is suddenly withdrawn, the riot of learning that molds and shapes the brain can be short-circuited, she said. The brains of children who have experienced such a breach appear to become hypervigilant to threats a hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorder. The regions of the brain that govern reward behavior dont respond normally, making them vulnerable to depression, anxiety and substance abuse. And cortical structures needed for attention, planning, judgment and emotional control dont develop properly. Q. How bad could it be? A. Theres evidence that such an experience casts a shadow well into adulthood, and that the effects may even extend beyond a single generation. On average, what we see is that this early experience seems to be a major risk factor for mental health problems later on in life, said Tottenham, who has studied the outcomes of children raised in care institutions orphanages throughout Eastern Europe and China. As these children neared adolescence and beyond, their rates of internalizing behavior (such as anxiety and depression) as well as externalizing problems (such as impulse control, conduct disorder, attention problems and substance abuse) were all significantly higher than those of kids who grew up in intact households. This effect lasts years, she said. An undated handout photo made available on June 18 by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol shows people inside a Border Patrol processing center in McAllen, Texas. (U.S. Customs and Border Patrol ) Mental health is not all that suffers. Early trauma and adversity are thought to set a person up for physical stress reactions specifically, the release of the flight or fight hormone cortisol that arent normal. With age, that stress sensitization is thought to contribute to the development of chronic health problems ranging from pain syndromes to cardiovascular disease. Q. What does this look like on the ground? A. Just ask Rachelle Goldstein, co-director of the Hidden Child Foundation, which represents Jewish Holocaust survivors like herself who were hidden during the war when they were young. The separation of family was probably the worst thing that ever happened to us, Goldstein said. You take a child away from the parents, from the home, from everything they know they are never the same. Even for survivors now in their 70s, 80s and 90s, she added, it still aches. Q. Whats going on? A. More than 50 years ago, Dr. John Bowlby described the reactions of young children to separation from their parents during a stay in the hospital. His observations became the cornerstone for psychologists understanding of attachment, the relationship between infant and caregiver that fundamentally shapes our social worlds. The sequence was: protest, despair, and detachment, said University of Rotterdam psychologist Marinus van IJzendoorn, who has studied the effects of trauma and family separation in India, Vietnam and elsewhere. In the first few days after separation, the children are expected to protest by crying and acting out in ways that reflect a desperate effort to secure the return of their parents. Within a few weeks, they appear to lapse into despair, seemingly without hope for a returning parent. They show little energy or motivation to play and explore. After less than a month or so, Bowlby observed that the children seem detached, Van IJzendoorn said. If the parents return, the children seem aloof and avoid the parents efforts to comfort and cuddle. It might take some months of careful, sensitive interactions to repair the damage done to the attachment relationship of the child, Van IJzendoorn said. The parents have failed the child, and he or she has lost trust in his or her attachment figures, and the wider social world seems hostile. Their basic trust has been damaged. Q. Is it permanent? A. UCLA pediatrician Elizabeth Barnert, who has studied the disappeared children of El Salvador, has seen the long-term consequences of such separations. Boys and girls separated from their parents during El Salvadors civil war in the 1980s are adults now in their 30s and 40s, and many have never recovered their ability to trust others, she said. It truly creates an unresolvable grief, Barnert said. After not knowing whether they would ever meet again, many were reunited after hostilities ended in 1992. Theres such an explosion of emotions, she said. The children are feeling so much joy and grief and anger and abandonment. And parents feel relief and gratitude and guilt. There is an ongoing, lifelong pain as a result of the separation. A 2-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12 in McAllen, Texas. (John Moore / Getty Images ) Q. Can this be studied in a clinical trial? A. Its highly unlikely that bodies called Institutional Research Boards, which police the ethics of proposed research projects at universities, would approve a clinical trial that deliberately separated young children from their primary caregivers in order to see what would happen. Not a chance, said NYU medical ethicist Arthur Caplan. Doing so would certainly run more than the minimal risk to children that these governing bodies are allowed to accept, he said. Q. So how do we know about the health effects of separating children from their parents? A. Clues as to the effect of child separation come from a broad body of work on childhood adversity. Child abuse and neglect, of course, offer some examples. But child trauma including an abrupt or open-ended separation from a primary caregiver is widely thought to leave the same types of scars, including social and emotional problems that negatively affect relationships, education and everyday functioning. Researchers piece together the effects of childhood adversity by revisiting the children who were caught up in historical upheavals such as the Holocaust and the separation of children from their parents during El Salvadors civil war. Stephen Gilman of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has tracked the health consequences of dispatching 70,000 children from Finland during World War II, and the echo-effect in the offspring of those now-adults. Any study like ours looks at averages, Gilman said. The effects varied from child to child, he stressed. But overall, the statistics told a story of the disruptions long shadow. MORE IN SCIENCE World Health Organization says video game addiction is a disease. Why American psychiatrists dont Foods that are both fatty and sweet can hijack the part of the brain that regulates food consumption Ties between researchers and alcohol producers prompt NIH to shut down study of moderate drinking UPDATES: 1:30 p.m.: This story has been updated with information about President Trumps executive order to end the family separation policy. This story was originally published at 3 a.m. Astronomers using a powerful quasar to study an enormous invisible tendril full of superheated gas say they may have finally discovered the universes missing detectable matter. The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, solve a decades-old mystery and could help scientists further probe the structure and evolution of the cosmos. All of the atoms in the planets, stars and galaxies in existence account for just about 5% of the mass-energy density of the universe. Thats dwarfed by dark energy, a mysterious, repulsive force that makes up about 70% of those cosmic contents and is causing the universes expansion to accelerate. Advertisement The remaining quarter or so is made up of dark matter invisible, untouchable stuff whose presence can only be felt by its gravitational influence on galactic scales. Dark matter connects clusters of galaxies with massive tendrils, forming a cosmic web that serves as an unseen skeleton for the universe. Scientists have estimated those shares largely using two different methods, said study co-author J. Michael Shull, an astrophysicist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Many years ago, researchers calculated roughly how much matter would have formed in the wake of the Big Bang that gave birth to the universe. Astronomers have also studied the cosmic microwave background the oldest light in the universe, which permeates the entire sky and found roughly the same proportions of normal matter, dark matter and dark energy. That small slice of normal matter that we can directly detect, which scientists call baryonic matter, is the most known quantity of the three: It emits light (like the sun) or reflects it (like the moon), making it visible to us or detectable by telescopes. And yet it also presents its own mystery, because for decades, scientists havent been able to find all of it. Over 20 years ago people noted that if you added up all the starlight and all the mass in galaxies that goes with that starlight, you only get about 10% of that 5% of ordinary matter, Shull said. So there was a missing matter problem going back over 20 years: Where is the gas? Where are the baryons that arent collapsed into stars and galaxies? Thats why we worried about it, he added. It really goes to the heart of key predictions in cosmology about the Big Bang. Researchers have slowly chipped away at that gap by adding to the census all the hot, diffuse gas in the enormous halos of galaxies and even larger galaxy clusters. But they wondered if more of the missing matter might actually be suspended in the enormous filaments of dark matter that make up the cosmic web. Heres the problem with finding that missing matter: It would be mostly made out of hydrogen, the simplest element and by far the most abundant in the universe. When hydrogen atoms are ionized, they can become invisible at optical wavelengths, making them very difficult to detect. Luckily, if a cloud of ionized hydrogen sits between Earth and a source of ultraviolet light, that hydrogen will absorb certain wavelengths, leaving a distinct chemical fingerprint that astronomers can detect once it reaches their telescopes. Shull and his colleagues have been hunting for this ionized gas. But as the gas gets hotter and hotter say, above a million degrees Kelvin (about 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit) ionized hydrogen stops leaving a clear signal in ultraviolet. So Shull and his team also targeted much rarer oxygen ions, and searched for their fingerprint in X-rays, which are much higher-energy wavelengths of light. The scientists used the European Space Agencys XMM-Newton X-ray space telescope to study the BL Lacertae quasar 1ES 1553+113, an active, supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy. Quasars gobble up matter and shine brightly in many wavelengths of light, from radio waves to X-rays. These celestial lighthouses can basically backlight the material that crosses the beams path, just as a flashlight beam illuminates unseen motes of dust in the air. Studying the chemical fingerprint of oxygen in the X-rays from the quasar light, the scientists found a large amount of extremely hot intergalactic gas so much that they calculate that this gas could account for up to 40% of all the baryonic matter in the cosmos. That could be enough to explain the missing matter. An artists impression of the warm-hot intergalactic medium. Astronomers using ESAs XMM-Newton space observatory have detected the hot component of this intergalactic material, closing the gap in the overall budget of normal matter in the cosmos. (ESA/ATG medialab/XMM-Newton /F. Nicastro et al. 2018/R. Cen ) The researchers think that these ions may have started out in the hearts of stars that went supernova, then were thrown out of their home galaxies by these explosive stellar deaths. They may have been superheated by shocks. Atoms need to interact with each other to radiate energy, and because the individual atoms in this sparse gas were so far apart, unable to touch each other, they remained extremely hot. Taotao Fang of the Jiujiang Research Institute in China, who was not involved in the study, pointed to a few possible alternate explanations, including that the ionized gas signal may have come from within a galaxy rather than from intergalactic gas embedded in a dark matter filament. Still, Fang wrote in a commentary, the findings offer a tantalizing glimpse of where the elusive missing baryons have been hiding. The next step, Shull said, is to repeat these observations using other quasars, to see if the share of baryonic matter that they found holds up in other parts of the sky. amina.khan@latimes.com Follow @aminawrite on Twitter for more science news and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook. MORE IN SCIENCE World Health Organization says video game addiction is a disease. Why American psychiatrists dont Foods that are both fatty and sweet can hijack the part of the brain that regulates food consumption All around the world, humans are forcing other mammals to be more active at night Julie Schad, owner of Griffith Park Horse Rentals, doesnt see her business new location as a new start but instead as business as usual. It was definitely a new start, but at the same time, we didnt lose a beat, Schad said Tuesday afternoon as she tended to one of her horses. The universe stepped in and said, Do what you do over here now. It felt like we were just along for the ride. That ride, a nearly three-year legal battle with her former landlord at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, ended up with a happy ending. Earlier this month, Schads longtime business of about 15 years made the stables at 1820 Riverside Drive in Glendale its new home after spending about 50 years in the neighboring facility. Schad said the new facility is much smaller than her previous setup. Instead of having 30 stalls and a large corral to house her 50 horses, shes had to resort to having only six stalls and a large corral. However, Schad has plans to make improvements to the facility, which will include building a canopy over the corral, fixing the fencing around the property and upgrading a small, secluded picnic area next to the corral where families can host parties. Its got a great energy, and well just build on that, Schad said. One of Julie Schads 50 horses spends time in the stables of the new location of Griffith Park Horse Rentals. (Photo by Anthony Clark Carpio ) Finding a facility so close by her old location was serendipitous for Schad. In mid-May, around the time when she was wrapping up her operations at her previous stable, her dog went missing. Schad looked around the neighborhood and ended up at the property where her business would soon be relocated. Schad said she bumped into the property owner and asked if they had seen her dog. Her dog was not there, but she found something else. I knew the landlord here, and he told me he was getting the place ready to rent, she said. At the time, I didnt think of it, but then, long story short, I called him and asked if we could move there, and he said, yes. Her dog ended up being back at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, but now she also found a new place to put her business. Schad said she knew the new location would suit her well when her horses were not being fussy about the new facility. And like her horses, Schad can now take a deep breath and continue running her horse rental as if the legal battle she was tangled in hadnt happened. About 50 horses are being kept at the new location of Griffith Park Horse Rentals. (Photo by Anthony Clark Carpio ) In February 2015, Schad filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, alleging the business had breached a contract the two parties had entered into in April 2014. The equestrian center was supposed to negotiate a sublease extension with Schad and draft a request for proposal to be submitted to the Los Angeles Department of Recreations and Parks. However, Schad alleged the request was biased toward a competing horse-rental business, Circle K Riding Stables in Burbank. During that time, the equestrian center issued Schad a 60-day notice to vacate the facility. Schad had argued that the notice didnt give a reason for the eviction and she was up to date on the fees she had to pay under her sublease. Then, in May 2016, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center filed an eviction lawsuit against Schad. The case was ultimately dismissed in January 2017 after both parties settled on the lawsuit filed by Schad. Schad said there are no feelings of animosity between her and the equestrian center since the move. In fact, her former landlords allowed her to post a sign where her stables once stood notifying customers the business had moved down the street. There has been another issue on Schads mind since she moved to the new facility. With Rancho District residents from both Glendale and Burbank opposing a proposed housing project on the site of Silver Spur Stables just down the street, Schad said she has heard rumors regarding her site being another property of contention. But until that rumor comes to fruition, Schad said she will continue moving forward with her business and enjoying this new chapter in her life. Its hard not to get stressed out, but [the last three years] was a good lesson in doing what you can do, not giving up and staying positive, she said. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio It took more than three hours and a head-spinning flurry of votes, motions, counter-motions and substitute motions Tuesday night, but Costa Mesa officially has its budget in place for the new fiscal year that starts July 1. When all the dust settled and the City Council granted its approval on a 4-1 vote with Councilman John Stephens opposed the overall size of the 2018-19 spending plan was unchanged from staffs original proposal of $163.7 million about $568,000 larger than the budget for the current fiscal year. However, much of Tuesdays discussion centered on a much smaller figure: $40,000. That was city staffs estimate of the revenue gap created when the council tweaked or scrapped some fee increases originally included in the budget. Stephens and Councilwoman Katrina Foley suggested plugging the hole with a corresponding cut to the legal costs charged by Jones & Mayer, the law firm Costa Mesa contracts with for city attorney services. Foley said the figure could come from trimming the amount the city is billed for administrative services such as shipping, couriers and postage. Trust me when I tell you, however we want to slice it and dice it ... Jones & Mayer can find $40,000 in our fiscal year to help us balance our budget, said Stephens, a business litigation attorney who is a partner in his own firm. I know it because I do it. Council members eventually decided instead to divert $40,000 previously allocated for a stadium bleachers project at Costa Mesa High School. Foley said that effort is no longer moving forward, so the funding can be repurposed. Council members also asked staff to research how much money has been set aside for projects in the capital improvement program that are no longer on the table so they can determine whether those funds are available for other purposes. I do hope that when we do come back we have a full analysis of the CIP and whether or not there are extra funds sitting in an account somewhere, Foley said. Another sticking point Tuesday was whether to budget two additional full-time positions in the city Finance Department a tax auditing specialist and budget analyst at a projected annual cost of $100,000 each. Stephens said it would be prudent to wait to devote money for those roles until after the citys new finance director, Kelly Telford, comes onboard later this month. Mayor Sandy Genis, however, said the additional employees are needed sooner rather than later. These are two important positions and, especially if you look at how much trouble were having here, to say we dont need more help with finance seriously? she said. Overall, the adopted budget will boost the citys full-time staffing from 476 to 479. Fee approvals The short-lived $40,000 hole in the budget stemmed from the councils decision to change staff-proposed fee increases for various parks, recreation and community services programs. Among the recommendations were a new $5-per-person administrative levy for trips provided through the Costa Mesa Senior Center, a proposal to start charging for the currently free Recreation on Campus for Kids, or ROCKS, summer program and a suggested $10-per-player, per-season field-use charge for certain nonprofit organizations. After talking it over, the council voted 4-1 to charge the new or increased recreation fees only to non-Costa Mesa residents and to scrap the proposed field-use charge. Councilman Jim Righeimer opposed the action, saying: Theres costs to operate these things and we should pay for these things. You shouldnt have it free. On another 4-1 vote, this time with Mayor Pro Tem Allan Mansoor opposed, council members approved a 53% increase in building permit fees, which staff said would bring Costa Mesas charges in line with other Orange County cities after more than 20 years without an update. That decision also included an increase in the cost for project or permit applicants to appeal decisions to either the Planning Commission or the council from the current $690 and $1,220, respectively, to $3,825. Call for belt-tightening Though the budget is only slightly bigger than the current fiscal years, several residents implored the council to tighten the citys belt, especially in case there is an economic downturn. According to staff, the citys expenses are projected to grow faster than revenue over the next five years. Mansoor said he would like the city to start to identify cuts and savings so that the next budget does not exceed revenue projections. If we dont make some adjustments, we are going to see cuts in service in the future, he said. luke.money@latimes.com Twitter @LukeMMoney Huntington Beach officials are expected this summer to finalize a proposal to help expand two shelters in unincorporated Midway City to serve Orange Countys growing homeless population. The plan is a partnership among Huntington Beach, Westminster, the county and American Family Housing, a nonprofit that provides housing and other services to the homeless. The proposal would add 55 beds to the Midway City shelters, which currently have a total of 20. Huntington Beach City Manager Fred Wilson and Mayor Mike Posey declined to specify the shelters location. It isnt clear how much money Huntington Beach, Westminster and the county would spend on the proposal. The Huntington Beach City Council will vote on the plan before it moves forward, likely in July or August, Wilson said. We see it as a win-win situation, he said. American Family Housing did not respond to a call seeking comment. Officials from Anaheim and Santa Ana have proposed new shelter sites that, combined with the Huntington Beach proposal, would add about 700 shelter beds. Posey presented the Midway City plan to U.S. District Judge David Carter during a hearing last week. Carter is presiding over a lawsuit filed in January by homeless advocates who sought to halt the removal of an encampment along the Santa Ana River trail. Though Posey said problems associated with homelessness are much larger than any one city can solve, he said officials wanted to demonstrate a commitment to making some progress. Its a step in the right direction, he said Monday. Homeless people were moved off the river trail this year and temporarily housed in motels around Orange County, but vouchers for those rooms have expired. Now, officials are faced with finding adequate shelter options. Carter tasked Orange County cities during a hearing in April with identifying potential shelter sites after a plan to place temporary ones in Irvine, Laguna Niguel and a former landfill in Huntington Beach was scrapped amid loud protests from residents and city leaders. Carter has said he cant decide where shelters should go but that he could prohibit cities from enforcing laws that ban people from camping in public spaces such as parks and riverbeds. Posey said Huntington Beachs homeless task force, which began about three years ago and has grown to include seven city staff members, houses about 80 homeless people in the city each year. If we can help move people along that accept services and reintegrate them into society or reunite them with family, well put in the time and energy to help out, he said. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @HannahFryTCN I never thought the news could make me cry. Until this week. The recent cascade of soul-shattering stories about refugees and asylum-seekers having their children ripped from them more than 2,000 at last count literally brought me to my knees. Under the current administrations new zero-tolerance policy, anyone found smuggling a child into the U.S. will have that child taken from them. The president falsely claims this is required by law; it is not. The policy is an intentionally cruel tactic designed to strike fear into the hearts of anyone fleeing poverty or violence in search of safety in the U.S. Forget the give me your tired, your poor nonsense and listen up: America no longer wants you, and well take your kids away to prove it. This disgrace is not a political issue. It is indicative of a far deeper malignancy infecting the heart and soul of our country a sickness that diminishes the nobler aspects of our history, contradicts the values upon which our nation was built and obliterates our image in the eyes of the world. How did we get to this place? Every human being on this planet shares the same journey the one that starts at birth and ends with death. And despite our geographic, ethnic, economic, political and spiritual differences, were all pretty much on the same road. To deny a helping hand to fellow travelers in need is to deny the basic humanity in each and every one of us. June 20 is World Refugee Day, designated by the United Nations in 2000 to commemorate the strength, courage and resilience of refugees fleeing persecution, war and violence. In the United States, our refugee and resettlement programs have enjoyed bipartisan support for decades. We must commit to upholding this inviolable tradition. There are myriad ways to do this: Tell your representatives to insist the administration stop the inhumane separation of kids from parents seeking better lives for their families. Visit sharejourney.org to learn more about the migration crisis and strategies for engaging neighbors, elected leaders and advocates for refugees. Or check out 8 practical ways to help refugees on ideas.ted.com. And in case you missed this, we have our own immigration detention facilities on Orange County at the James Musick and Theo Lacy Centers in Irvine and Orange. In a relatively affluent area like Orange County, its easy to miss or completely ignore the many challenges faced by those far less fortunate than we are. No matter what your political inclinations, wont you take a few minutes to think about how you can help provide a warm welcome, understanding and assistance to fellow human beings desperately in need? Isnt that what were all about? Susan Menning Newport Beach Border measures are wholly appropriate Once again, the Lunatic Left is lying. The parents are crossing our border illegally and are being held in accordance with existing federal law. The parents are using these children as pawns to gain illegal entry into the United States and to gain sympathy. Thank God for the fine men and women in our U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who are dedicated to enforcing our laws. We wholeheartedly support and fully cooperate with our border patrol and ICE, and will continue to do so, irrespective of the lies of the Lunatic Left. Eddie Rose Laguna Niguel The writer is a former Laguna Niguel councilman. Actions at the U.S. border are un-American From Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address to Franklin D. Roosevelts A date which will live in infamy, and from John F. Kennedys Ask not what your country can do for you to Ronald Reagans shining city upon a hill, presidents have left their mark on generations of Americans. Given the spectacle we are witnessing today of separating children from their parents at the border I think its time President Trump visits the Statue of Liberty. There, he will find these immortal words: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! I ask you: What part of this timeless, inspiring message are we seeing today? Denny Freidenrich Laguna Beach Low-, mid-rise buildings a better fit for Newport I couldnt believe it when I looked at the Birdseye Perspective of the Koll Center Residences on the city of Newport Beach website. In addition to the other problems with this massive project, it is completely out of character with the surrounding buildings with its size and height. Is this the first step toward the Koll Business Park becoming a high-rise, high-density area? I do hope the City Council remembers this compromise and keeps these buildings to a moderate size. Joan McCauley Newport Beach Provide free musician parking at the Fete Congratulations on another great Fete de la Musique in Laguna Beach. We marveled at the wide variety of people of all ages and ethnicities. The goodwill the city spreads during this event is incalculable! But the city should do a little by giving those musicians who make such requests, and who play for free, a one-day parking pass. Ellen and Roger Kempler Laguna Beach How to get published: Email us at dailypilot@latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length. Beginning at 10 p.m. Wednesday, the northbound off-ramp at Colorado Street along the 5 Freeway will be closed through January. The off-ramp, bridge and shoulders will be widened as part of $4.3-million project thats needed for safety reasons, according to Caltrans officials. Construction may also temporarily close the adjacent bike path, officials said. The project will also include the replacement of a guardrail with a concrete barrier to improve the flow of traffic and provide safety for maintenance workers and motorists, according to a statement from the agency. The overall project is expected to be completed in spring 2020, according to Caltrans officials. mark.kellam@latimes.com Twitter: @LAMarkKellam Residents of a Glendale apartment building were left temporarily homeless over the weekend after a natural-gas explosion forced them out while repairs are made. The Glendale Fire Department first responded to a report of an explosion in the 1200 block of Viola Avenue sometime before 9 p.m. on Saturday, according to Anita Shandi, a spokeswoman for the department. She said debris was strewn outside multiple units after the explosion blew out several doors and windows. Gas could be smelled in the area, Shandi said, and utility service to the building was shut off. The source of the explosion was eventually traced back to a utility room in the buildings underground parking garage. Shandi said an open valve in the room led to an environment capable of causing the explosion and the resulting damage. The building was yellow-tagged, meaning people having limited access to entry until the required repairs are finished. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc Senior officials from Iran, Russia and Turkey held substantive talks on Tuesday on how Syrias constitutional committee will be set up and will function, and more such talks are planned within weeks, U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said. (AhlulBayt News Agency) - UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has held "substantive" talks with officials from Iran, Russia and Turkey over the planned formation of Syria's constitutional committee and how it would function. "During the meeting, constructive exchanges and substantive discussions took place on issues relevant to the establishment and functioning of a constitutional committee, and some common ground is beginning to emerge," de Mistura said in a statement after talks in Geneva on Tuesday. The UN envoy noted that more such talks are planned in the coming weeks. The meeting brought together the Turkish Foreign Ministrys Deputy Undersecretary Sedat Onal, Russias Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev and the Iranian foreign ministers Special Assistant in Political Affairs Hossein Jaber Ansari. Iran, Russia and Turkey have mediated nine rounds of crisis resolution talks between the Syrian government and opposition in the Kazakh capital Astana since January 2017, a month after they joined efforts and brought about an all-Syria ceasefire. The three states act as the guarantors of the truce. /129 On a river 9 miles away from the border between North and South Vietnam in 1968, Steve Pierce operated a boat that transported troops to battlegrounds as they took gunfire from the Viet Cong. He knew many of the troops would not come back. I was too young to realize how dangerous it was at the time, he said. A lot of those Marines I took up the river never came home. They sacrificed their lives in Vietnam. And you think about that when youre going on the boat. Knowing so many of his brothers were lost, it makes Pierce proud that now, 50 years later, his community still honors their lives with a Vietnam memorial wall on the corner of Honolulu Avenue and Ocean View Boulevard in Montrose. He and several others, including the executive director of the Montrose Chamber of Commerce, the Local American Legion Post 288 and staff from the Crescenta Valley Weekly organized a 50th anniversary event Saturday that included a flag-folding ceremony and musical performances. The event honored the late Vito Cannella, a Montrose community member and immigrant who, though not a veteran, dedicated his life to the country. Cannella, who passed away last year, wrote a letter to President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 asking him to make the week of June 14 National Flag Week. The request was approved, making Montrose the birthplace of Flag Week, Pierce said. Montrose resident Bronwyn Schramm, who visits the memorial daily, saying a prayer for her boys, spoke at the event. She recited the names of 24 community members who died serving their country, without needing to look at her notes. Pierce, now 74, said he was one of the lucky ones. He got to come home and was received by his friends and family lovingly, unlike many other Vietnam veterans. But it hurt him to learn that the country didnt receive his peers as well. They didnt choose to go over there and kill people, he said. They chose to serve their country. Pierce added he remembers hearing bits and pieces on the radio about the turmoil that was happening in the United States in the 60s, including the Watts riots near his hometown of Inglewood. Its not that much different than what were going through today with President Trump and his administration, he said. Built in 1968, the Vietnam Memorial wall in Montrose was one of the first, if not the first, memorials to honor Vietnam veterans. It makes Pierce happy to be a part of a community that respects and remembers its veterans the way Montrose residents do, he said. Alejandra.ReyesVelarde@latimes.com @r_valejandra In 1993, a land speculator arrived in this remote South Korean village of rice, bean and ginseng farmers, and liked what he saw. Never mind the heavily fortified border with North Korea just a few miles away, the occasional landmine explosions or the North Korean propaganda blaring from loudspeakers at odd hours. Kim Yoon-sik, a developer then in his mid-30s, thought: This looks like money. He bought up farmland and within a few years, set up shop as a real estate agent specializing in land near the border. Kim has been waiting for his big break ever since, watching prices buoy with every thaw of relations between North and South Korea, and plummet with every provocation. Advertisement With military talks last week between the two Koreas reportedly involving discussions of the North moving long-range artillery away from the border, and South Korea and the U.S. suspending joint military drills planned for August following President Trumps meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, this time just might be different. South Korean Maj. Gen. Kim Do-gyun, right, shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart, Lt. Gen. An Ik San, in high-level military talks at the northern side of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone on June 14. ((South Korea Defense Ministry / AP) ) Prices for parcels in the border region are at or near all-time highs, real estate agents say, and buyers have been clamoring recently for a piece of borderland that is slated to become a prime corridor if trade and travel begin to cross this final Cold War frontier. If exchanges start taking place and the railway goes through, theres no place hotter than here, Kim said. It all of a sudden goes from tragedy to hope. Its a big if. The Demilitarized Zone is a 2-mile-wide strip of undeveloped land separating North and South Korea, technically still at war since 1950. Abutting the DMZ is an additional buffer area known as the Civilian Control Zone, mostly farm and forest land which can only be accessed by residents with entry permits, authorized personnel and visitors with escorts, and even then only through a South Korean military checkpoint. Across the border is the North Korean city of Kaesong, where during a previous improvement of relations, an industrial complex enabled South Korean and foreign companies to utilize North Korean labor. The two Koreas in April agreed to work toward getting trains up and running across the border, potentially connecting South Korea by rail to China or Russia, and from there all the way to Europe. The barbed wire fences and phalanx of soldiers havent kept the speculators away. In March and April, real estate transactions in the city of Paju, which includes borderlands, jumped to about three times the average level from the last decade, according to the most recent figures released last week by KB Financial Group. The city also recorded a near twofold increase in prices in April, while prices elsewhere in South Korea stagnated. While separate figures arent available for border-adjacent lands specifically, Kim estimated there had been a five- to tenfold increase in transactions involving those areas since March. On Monday, a middle-aged woman with a bouffant stepped out of a shiny black luxury sedan and into a real estate agency inside the civilian control zone. The woman, who said shed driven up from Seoul, said she was just looking around. Kim, the agent, said the latest rally began after Trump and Kim Jong Un abruptly agreed in early March to meet, setting the stage for an unprecedented meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean head of state. Though there have been booms in past years when leaders of North and South Korea met, or the South Koreans announced initiatives involving the North, Kim Yoon-sik said he hadnt seen anything like this before in his career. His phone was ringing nonstop with hundreds of calls a day. Dozens arrived daily for in-person visits, driving, flying in from all corners of South Korea, some as far as Jeju Island, off the southern coast. There were interested buyers with deeper pockets than ever before those willing to spend in the millions, not hundreds of thousands, of dollars. The investors came flooding in, he said. The calmly flowing river started coursing. South Koreans visit Imjingak park near the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, South Korea, with views across the river of North Korea. (Jeon Heon-kyun / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock ) The real craze began, Kim said, after Trump called off the summit and the Norths Kim, rather than one-upping Trump and escalating the rhetoric as would have been typical of North Korea, appeared eager to make it work. When the summit was back on, he said, the typhoon turned into gale-force winds. North Korea seems to be fundamentally changing, not just a temporary change, said Lee Jong-sung, another real estate agent whose offices are inside the civilian control zone and who was bombarded with calls. Buyers were even cutting big checks for land inside the demilitarized zone, which is off-limits to civilians, eager to sign deals after viewing land through satellite images. Civilians can own the land, even if they cant go there, and at least half is estimated to be privately owned. Kim said it was like land thats still in a mothers womb, not yet born to the world. If it is born, itll be huge. Park Young-ho watched as the potential buyers descended in recent weeks on his quiet village, in the DMZ-adjacent civilian control zone, many of them arriving in fancy cars and eating at his bean restaurant, which he runs as a side venture to his farming collective. Park has lived in Tongil-chon Unification Village since it was first formed by the South Korean government in 1973, when he was in middle school, as a showcase town for North Korean viewing. The name refers to the long-held dream of a reunified Korea. Sure, he had to travel an hour and half each way to school through the military post, and limbs and lives are lost to landmines with some regularity most recently last year but its a place where the air is clean and everyone leaves their front doors unlocked. It is, he said, the most peaceful place in Korea. Besides, Park and his neighbors figure, any artillery fire will fly over their heads and be trained toward Seoul. The real estate speculation and increased changing of hands means little for the 400-some residents of the village who farm the land, he said. Almost none of the outsiders who own about three quarters of the land in the military control zone actually move in, and most young people who grew up in town have left for jobs in the outside world. At 59, hes one of the younger ones left. He isnt happy about his town increasingly being owned by outsiders and speculators, but perhaps its a sign his hometown is on the cusp of a major change. Itll be a new day when unification happens, he said. Were right in the center of it. For now, though, in the week following Trumps summit with the North Korean dictator, the real estate fervor had cooled. Agents said investors appeared disappointed by the lack of concrete commitments in the resulting agreement. The thing that was so anticipated, when the lid was off, there wasnt much to it, said Kim, the real estate agent. A photo taken in May shows the northernmost limit of the Gyeongwon railway line at Baengmagoji station in Cheorwon near the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. Leaders of the two Koreas agreed in April to get railways up and running across the border. (Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images ) Ro Chong-lae, who runs a real estate agency inside the civilian control zone across the street from Parks restaurant, said the stream of customers visiting to tour the land, as many as 10 a day at its height, had slowed to a trickle of maybe one a day. It was no specifics, all vague and ambiguous talk like drifting clouds, said Ro, who has been dealing with borderlands for nearly three decades. With sellers asking to take their listings down, waiting to see if prices will increase even further, there are slim pickings left on the market. At Kims agency on Monday, a couple in town from Ilsan, a suburb of Seoul, came complaining about issues with a seller who appeared to be getting cold feet while the land was in escrow. As for Kim, both as a speculator and as an agent, hes in no hurry. Hes in it for the long haul. Im an investor like everybody else, he said. I just wised up to it 25 years earlier. victoria.kim@latimes.com | Twitter: @vicjkim Tensions along one of the Middle Easts volatile borders continued to escalate this week, with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip firing rockets and the Israeli military unleashing aerial assaults, while incendiary kites and balloons launched from Gaza ignited yet more fires in Israeli territory. No casualties were reported in Israel, according to army spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, who told journalists that, while one home was directly hit by a rocket, the vast majority of the 200,000 Israelis living in bordering communities spent the night in bomb shelters. Gazan authorities said two people were lightly wounded by the Israeli strikes. Over the course of the night, Israels Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted seven of 45 rockets, the military said. At least five projectiles fell within Israeli communities, two landing near a community center and one next to a kindergarten where children later arrived for the last day of the school year, officials said. The kindergarten, the second to be struck by mortars launched from Gaza in the past two weeks, has a reinforced ceiling, Conricus said. Advertisement In response, Israeli fighter jets hit 25 targets belonging to Hamas, the militia that governs the Palestinian territory. The night-long salvo followed two Israeli air force strikes against infrastructure belonging to Hamas on Tuesday. One of the targets, the Israeli military revealed on its Twitter feed, was a previously unreported Hamas underground training compound. The Israeli strikes came in response to an ongoing wave of burning balloons and kites being launched from Gaza into Israel. On Tuesday, Israeli authorities battled more than 20 arson fires, as Conricus called them, that were set by the balloons and kites. More fires broke out Wednesday. At least twice Israeli aircraft fired shots near a group of Palestinians who were launching arson balloons from the southern Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, the army said. Hamas lauded the rocket launches into Israel, calling them a legitimate right for our resistance, and a rival Gaza-based militia, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said in a statement that the time of Israel acting freely in Gaza has come to an end. Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, said, The message of the bombardment is confirmation that the Palestinian resistance is the one who sets the rules of engagement in its own way. In a statement announcing its strikes, the Israeli army accused Hamas of targeting Israeli civilians and said the organization is dragging the Gaza Strip and its civilians down a continually deteriorating path. Hamas is responsible for everything that transpires in the Gaza Strip and will bear the consequences for deliberately targeting its terror at Israeli civilians. Conricus added the booby-trapped kites and balloons to what he called a shameful list of Hamas attempts to harm Israel, ranging from terror tunnels through which they try to infiltrate into Israel to Hamas inserting armed militants into otherwise civilian protests. The escalating clashes are causing political reverberations in Israel. On Monday, Atty. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit said flaming devices launched at Israel from Gaza were a legitimate military target, but refrained from addressing the legality of firing at those behind the launches. A balloon is an innocent and nice thing, but if it is used for fighting it becomes a legitimate military target, he said, at a legal gathering in Jerusalem. In a morning radio interview, Tzipi Livni, a former foreign minister and member of the opposition, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of accommodating Hamas and extending the status quo. Netanyahus messaging to Hamas, telling them, If youre quiet we wont shoot, is contributing to the worsening situation, she said. Referring to the current visit to the Middle East by President Trumps son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner, and the presidential envoy to peace negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, she said that the Americans are starting to hear from other Arab nations, who also hope to isolate Hamas and provide for the basic humanitarian needs of Gazas population of about 2 million people. Israel needs to return to a diplomatic process immediately to disarm the Gaza Strip, help the population and completely isolate Hamas, she said. Meeting with members of the public, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, a centrist coalition rival of the prime minister, said, Hamas wants to embroil us in an international incident. Theyre using children and citizens. On the other hand, he said Israel as a sovereign state cannot accept this constant drizzle of rockets as if it were a prosthesis, something unpleasant that you live with. Netanyahus Cabinet is divided about a possible response to the kites in view of what appears to be a new strategy adopted by Hamas: to respond with rocket fire even to nonlethal Israeli reprisals. Hardliner Naftali Bennett, the education minister, called for kite-fliers to be shot like any other armed attacker. This drew a sharp response from Construction and Housing Minister Yoav Galant, a centrist. Inexperience in using force leads to a power trip, he told Israeli journalists. It would be a serious mistake to fire at an 8-year-old child, especially intentionally. On Twitter, Bennett came close to accusing Galant, a retired general who once commanded Israels Southern Command, which borders Gaza, of siding with the enemy. The shooting terrorists are not 8 years old. Thats false propaganda being spread by our enemies. You should shoot anyone who fires at your family and your people and dispatched incendiary and explosive balloons. Its so clear that I cant believe I have to explain it. Restraint leads to escalation. There is no end in sight to the intensification of violence. On Wednesday, following Israels second strike near a kite production line, Hamas issued a statement saying, We are not interested in starting a war but Israel is mistaken if it thinks we wont respond to its bombings. In a later statement, a group of Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza, including Hamas, said it planned to respond to shelling with shelling and will not allow the enemy to impose its aggressive reckonings on our people. Tarnopolsky is a special correspondent. Hana Salah, a special correspondent, contributed from Gaza City. UPDATES: 8:40 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details on the attacks and comments from Israeli and Palestinian officials. This article was originally published at 1:10 a.m. Three people were shot dead in the city of Masaya as security forces and allied groups tried to regain control of the area, a human rights group reported Tuesday, the two-month anniversary of political unrest that has shaken Nicaragua. Alvaro Leiva, director of the Nicaraguan Pro-Human Rights Assn., said 40 people were also wounded in the clashes in Masaya that came a day after talks on finding a solution to the countrys crisis were again suspended. In the face of this excessive attack involving incomparable forces, the citizens are putting up a physical resistance within their means because they have to protect their lives, Leiva said. Beginning early in the morning, forces allied with President Daniel Ortegas government moved to dismantle roadblocks maintained by protesters for more than three weeks between Managua and Masaya, which is about 15 miles southeast of the capital. They accused the demonstrators of having kidnapped the city. Advertisement Video images broadcast by local television showed police and allied groups shooting toward people at the roadblocks, and later barricades and tree trunks were removed by heavy machinery. More than 170 people have died since April 19 amid a heavy-handed crackdown on protests that have broadened to demand Ortegas exit. The Roman Catholic Church has tried to moderate negotiations on restoring peace, but the talks broke down again this week after the government refused to allow international observers to arrive and verify the human rights situation, as had been previously agreed. The people of Masaya have demonstrated their heroism in the darkest pages of Nicaraguas history, Luis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, tweeted Tuesday. He condemned all manner of attacks that threaten the lives and safety of the public. The latest violence coincided with the arrival in Nicaragua of Washingtons ambassador to the OAS. The U.S. Embassy said in a statement that Carlos Trujillo planned to meet with Ortega and opposition representatives to see firsthand the reality of what is happening in Nicaragua. Its eerie on the mostly empty streets of Aden, Yemens southern port city and designated seat of government that has suffered three years of civil war. Damaged buildings are hollowed-out, a testament to past lives and aspirations of inhabitants who now scrape by on aid handouts and the bare minimum for survival. Shot-up storefronts and apartment blocks, carcasses of burned-out armored vehicles and signs marking minefields now define the cityscape along the sea. An elderly man walks past a damaged building from the 2015 war in Aden, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) Osama Ahmed, right, and Ahmed Saleh, who both fought during the '2015 battle of Aden' pray in front of the tombstone of their friend who was killed during the war, at the Al-Rahma graveyard in Aden, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) Left, a man walks past a damaged building from the 2015 war in Aden, Yemen. At right, Osama Ahmed, right, and Ahmed Saleh, who both fought during the 2015 fighting for Aden, pray in front of the tombstone of their friend who was killed during the war, at the Al-Rahma graveyard in Aden, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) Violence, famine and disease have ravaged the country of some 28 million, which was already the Arab worlds poorest before the conflict began. The conflict pits a U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized government, which has nominally relocated to Aden but largely lives in exile, against rebels known as Houthis. Crumbling, empty billboards line Adens rubble-strewn streets. An old Mercedes-Benz dealership, once a peg in a thriving commercial center that sprang up under colonial rule, sits empty and pockmarked with bullet holes. Its damaged sign now stands over bay windows boarded up by people sheltering inside. With the war still raging, nothing is being rebuilt. Youth play pool on a street in front of damaged buildings due to the war in Aden, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) A boy runs on a pool at Lotus Hotel in Aden, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) A man jogs on the beach after the sun sets in Aden, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) 18-year-old Abdullah gets his hair cut at a barbershop in Aden, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) Clockwise from top left, youths play pool on a street in front of buildings damaged by the war in Aden, Yemen; a boy runs on a pool deck at Lotus Hotel in Aden, Yemen; 18-year-old Abdullah gets his hair cut at a barbershop in Aden; and a man jogs on the beach after the sun sets in Aden (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) Since the Saudi-led coalition began its bombing campaign against the rebels in 2015, the U.N. estimates that some 10,000 civilians have been killed. Millions need humanitarian assistance and have been forced to flee their homes. On the beach, old pleasure venues also lie empty, broken and deserted. A shattered night club and a vacant childrens theme park are ghostlike reminders of generations past. The Mercedes Benz building damaged in Aden, Yemen. Once a peg in a thriving commercial center that sprang up under colonial rule, the dealership sits empty and pockmarked with bullet holes. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) Even with a civil war in full swing, people seek some simple recreations and acts of normal life young men get haircuts and women visit salons where a blow-dry costs 80 cents. Wedding boutiques are open until late at night, salesmen inside chewing stimulant qat leaves to pass the time. Women come in and look at some dresses, but they are expensive for people now, so its hard to sell, said one clerk. A girl pulls water from a well in the home of Ahmed al-Kawkabani, leader of the southern resistance unit in Hodeida, in al-Khoukha, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) An elderly woman smokes a water pipe at the home of Ahmed al-Kawkabani, leader of the southern resistance unit in Hodeida, in al-Khoukha, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) Displaced girls inside a school turned into a camp for displaced persons in Khanfar, Abyan, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) A displaced boy and girl play in his shelter, in Abyan, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) Clockwise from top left, a girl pulls water from a well in the home of Ahmed al-Kawkabani, leader of the southern resistance unit in Hodeida, in Khoukha, Yemen; a woman smokes a water pipe Khoukha; a displaced boy and girl play in his shelter, in Abyan, Yemen; and displaced girls inside a school turned into a camp for displaced persons in Khanfar, Abyan, Yemen. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press) I am engaged and want to get married but how can I in this situation when I do not have a job? said a nearby youth, who like most young men here has recently taken part in the fighting. Due to the turnout, a community town hall meeting regarding the proposed rezoning of the Troyer Brothers property on SR82 for mining was broken up into two days, June 12 and June 14. The second town hall, attended by concerned residents and business owners alike, was held inside the Veterans Park Recreation Center in Lehigh Acres. If the Land Mass Use Amendment is ultimately approved, it will allow the addition of another limerock mine site in Lehigh. According to Greg Stewart of Stewart and Associates, who was presenting on behalf of No Mine On 82, an organized group in opposition of the new mining operation, while reserving land for mining is necessary for the economy, over-allocation is dangerous to the areas natural resources. There is currently not a need for another limerock mine in Lee County. Besides posing a threat to the environment, it creates additional noise pollution, silica dust pollution and increases traffic on an already dangerous road, Stewart stated. This is just one of two limerock mining operations off of SR82 presently looking to get approval. The Old Corkscrew Ranchs proposed mining operation went before the Lee County zoning board back in April. According to Stewart, Lee County released a report stating that no new limerock mines are needed for the next 20 years. The county staff has already released their report approving the mine. Unfortunately their decision was based on an old supply-and-demand study, The Waldorf 2016 report, which was done two years ago, said Stewart. According to Kelly McNab, environmental planning specialist at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, they have real concerns about the environmental impacts this mine would have on the area. Ecologically, limerock mines are not compatible with conservation efforts. The digging that comes from creating these large mine pits results in an ecologic impact to hydrologic flow ways and wildlife. Agricultural is much more compatible, McNab said. McNab also said its important to uphold a plan that Lee County and Florida created back in 1990; the Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource (DR/GR) area. The Army Corps of Engineers identified the Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource (DR/GR) area as containing important wetland and species habitat, as it is adjacent to several conservation and mitigation lands and stores a crucial supply of groundwater, said McNab. According to McNab, this portion of Lee County has also been identified as important habitat for the endangered Florida panther. This habitat is critical for supporting the only known breeding population of Florida panthers in the world. There has been significant public and private investment in adjacent and nearby conservation lands, which would be needlessly put at risk by allowing mines in these locations. On June 26, Lee County Hearing Examiners Office will consider an amendment that would support the rezoning of the 1,790-acre Troyer Brothers Property for limerock mining. Groups opposing the mine urge businesses and residents in Lee County to attend the 9 a.m. hearing at the Lee County Hearing Examiners Office, 1500 Monroe St., 2nd floor in Fort Myers, and to visit NoMineOn82.com. The public may participate in the hearing during public comment or may contact the hearing examiner at hex@leegov.com. Following the hearing, the examiner will make a recommendation to the Lee County Board of County Commissioners, which will hold a second hearing and makes the final decision on whether to approve or decline the request. Residents who do not speak during the initial hearing on June 26, lose the right to speak in front of the county for future hearings. For more information, visit nomineon82.com/ or call the Environmental Planning Specialist at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida at (239)262-0304. A program that provides children who have special needs with peers who can provide some friendly support has received a kickstart in Lee County, thanks to a major donation. More than a dozen chapters of Best Buddies of Southwest Florida have begun since the Golisano Foundation granted the organization $300,000. Best Buddies of Southwest Florida Area Director Melanie Musick said the grant enabled them to expand the nonprofit Best Buddies International in Southwest Florida. The Golisano Foundation had previously granted Best Buddies to open an office in Rochester. We are so pleased to support the launch and expansion of Best Buddies in Southwest Florida, said Ann Costello, executive director of the Golisano Foundation, in a prepared statement. The success we achieved opening Best Buddies in Western NY, has enabled us to replicate that in Southwest Florida. We had some delays launching due to Hurricane Irma, but the team in Southwest Florida made up for that and picked up a lot of steam in a short period of time. Best Buddies has an exceptional track record. It is focused on the next generation, it changes attitudes, fosters inclusion and friendships that transcend differences. We are excited that we are able to expand this work building inclusive communities in Southwest Florida. Six months after becoming established in Southwest Florida, 13 chapters of Best Buddies have been formed. Ten more chapters were pending as of June 6. Its been an amazing journey so far, as far as the connections and how receptive people are. People are excited. Its a good thing, she said. Some of the schools had come on in the last couple of weeks. Even at the end of the school year, the teachers have seen the value this will do for the IDD students. Best Buddies is a friendship club, providing one-to-one friendship opportunities for children with intellectual and development disabilities with someone without IDD in elementary to collegiate levels in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties. The idea is Best Buddies was originally founded for children with disabilities, but what the outcome has been, students without the disabilities being impacted 10 times more than the original targeted audience, Musick said. The number of times I get goosebumps throughout the week I cant talk about without crying, it is so moving to see what the potential is in this area. Musick recalls when she was in school how children diagnosed with disabilities were segregated and kept separate from other students at the school. Part of the goal is, lets mix the populations, she explained. One of the neatest chapters stems from Ida Baker High School, which has had a Baker Buddies program for the past 10 years. The timing just happened to be right. When we visited and presented what Best Buddies would add to their program, they were receptive of coming on with us, Musick said. Other Best Buddies chapters include Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers High School, Lehigh Senior High School, Manatee Middle School, Gateway Charter Intermediate, Varsity Lakes Middle School, Tortuga Preserve Elementary School, Babcock Neighborhood School, Gulf Elementary School, Riverdale High School, Estero High School and Florida Southwestern College. In addition to Musick, Best Buddies of Southwest Florida also staffs Program Manager Katie Vazquez, who is the school liaison. Musick said Vazquez leaves the scheduling up to the school, so they can incorporate what works best for their population. Its a flexible opportunity, she said of some Best Buddies chapters meeting after school, before school and during lunch. You know your school better than we do. Those interested in becoming a peer mentor have to fill out a membership application, which includes a matching survey. Questions include favorite music and television show and what they like to do on the weekends. The faculty advisor and student leader will compare the IDD-defined students likes with the peer mentor, so they can make the best matches. This has been going on for 29 years, Musick said of Best Buddies. It has had time to map things out and find what works. Due to Best Buddies of Southwest Florida being so young, they are open to having volunteers to become more self-sustaining. Best Buddies of Southwest Florida has an office at 5237 Summerlin Commons Blvd. in Fort Myers. The advisory board for the local area includes Chairman Samantha Clark of Caring Transitions in Bonita Springs and Naples; Suzanne Tocci of Tortuga Preserve Elementary in Lehigh Acres and Jodi Suskind of Thrivent Financial in Fort Myers. For more information, contact Musick at melaniemusick@bestbuddies.org, or call (239) 275-2510. On Nov. 3, FGCU Best Buddies and Best Buddies of Southwest Florida will host an inaugural Southwest Florida Friendship Ball, a prom-like event for middle, high and college members. The ball will be held at the Cohen Center Ballroom on FGCUs campus. To the editor: School Board Member Chris Patricca wrote a guest column in support of a tax increase for the school district. A poverty stricken school district which just gave a raise to its superintendent in order for him to make well over $200,000 a year. What struck me about Ms. Patriccas letter was that she writes that she is originally from New York and has lived in Lee County for six years. I can never understand why New Yorkers flee their high tax state complaining of high taxes which they love, then come to the Deep South, ie Lee County, Florida, and the first thing they do when they come here is start to agitate for high taxes so they can destroy Florida like they destroyed New York. These folks must understand Lee County is more of a suburb culturally of Alabama than of New York as is most of Florida with the exception of a couple of counties in Southeast Florida and the Orlando area. I say if you do not like low taxes including low school taxes yall can move on back to NY, NJ, MA, MI or any other high tax state from which you fled and let us live in peace in our no state income tax state and low property tax state we want to live in! In return we wont move North and demand yall lower your sky-high taxes. Craig Farmer Alva Business CiMi.CON Evolution USA Transforming Intelligence into business value 20.06.2018 18:48:16 - The CiMi.CON Evolution USA 2018 (28.-30.11.2018) is a two-day conference that combines an insightful programme about the practical value and impact of CI with interactive networking sessions. (live-PR.com) - Interesting to meet all players of CI, fruitful discussions and space for socializing thats what European attendees loved about this years CiMi.CON in Berlin. After this ongoing success in Europe, the leading platform on Corporate Intelligence is now moving to North America. The CiMi.CON Evolution USA 2018 (28.-30.11.2018) is a two-day conference that combines an insightful programme about the - Interesting to meet all players of CI, fruitful discussions and space for socializing thats what European attendees loved about this years CiMi.CON in Berlin.After this ongoing success in Europe, the leading platform on Corporate Intelligence is now moving to North America. The CiMi.CON Evolution USA 2018 (28.-30.11.2018) is a two-day conference that combines an insightful programme about the practical value and impact of CI with interactive networking sessions. CiMi.CON Evolution USA 2018 fuels you with new ideas, new connections, new inspirations. From corporate intelligence experts to big data architects, innovation, strategy and knowledge management pros whatever hat you wear or wherever you stand on the spectrum of corporate intelligence. The agenda is created by experts for experts. With the support of major influencers and leading stakeholders, we are working to uncover the real needs and challenges industries are facing. Keynote speaker Roger Yoder (NetApp) and Matthew Bocian (Continental) share their experiences on Competitive and Market Intelligence. 150+ experts and decision-makers from across all sectors discuss real-world use cases for business development and innovation & growth strategies. Key Topics Transforming Competitive and Market Intelligence into Business Value: Smart strategies to proof your value and to show that CMI matters Competitive and Market Intelligence in the Digital Era: Monitoring and analyzing new competitive disruptions: How can competitive intelligence cope with completely changing landscapes? Competitive Intelligence and Big Data: Implementing an infrastructure that makes data analysis possible Stakeholder Management: How to set up and lead an effective and successful CI-unit for a global company? Rethinking the technology strategy for efficient CMI: Determine which new technologies and methods will drive intelligence forward to the next stage of development Competitive and Market Intelligence as crucial fuel for Innovation: Is innovation possible without CMI? Assess the market potential for new growth areas: Decide which pain points and opportunities you should focus on now. Whats in for you? By being part of the CiMi.CON Evolution USA not only will you engage with your peers and possible future business partners, but you will also: Align CI with strategic goals: Learn how to transform your competitive intelligence team into a sophisticated strategic decision support function. Improve the CI performance: see real-world examples and case studies that show how companies have implemented best practices to track the performance of their competitive intelligence teams and improve their impact. Restructure the CI team for success: Learn how to develop proper reporting lines and implement a more strategic organizational structure that will provide greater visibility and generate greater strategic impact. Obtain higher CI budgets: Learn why top-notch companies are funding competitive intelligence with greater investments year after year and how they reap the benefits of their increasingly important teams. Create a competitive intelligence culture: Learn how companies establish a culture of competitive intelligence to collect and share valuable information throughout the organization. Gain an insight on how to develop and integrate a full-scale CI unit in your enterprise. Join conversations and discussions about future tech and business trends in CI / MI. Find efficient solutions to your most pressing challenges. Hear dos and donts on how to move toward the digital directly from top experts and enterprises. Take away tips and tricks of the effective and engaging stakeholder Management. Get your spot for this interactive event on Corporate Intelligence in North America. For further information about the programme, speakers and to register for the event visit: practical value and impact of CI with interactive networking sessions. CiMi.CON Evolution USA 2018 fuels you with new ideas, new connections, new inspirations. From corporate intelligence experts to big data architects, innovation, strategy and knowledge management pros whatever hat you wear or wherever you stand on the spectrum of corporate intelligence. The agenda is created by experts for experts. With the support of major influencers and leading stakeholders, we are working to uncover the real needs and challenges industries are facing.Keynote speaker Roger Yoder (NetApp) and Matthew Bocian (Continental) share their experiences on Competitive and Market Intelligence. 150+ experts and decision-makers from across all sectors discuss real-world use cases for business development and innovation & growth strategies.Key Topics Transforming Competitive and Market Intelligence into Business Value: Smart strategies to proof your value and to show that CMI matters Competitive and Market Intelligence in the Digital Era: Monitoring and analyzing new competitive disruptions: How can competitive intelligence cope with completely changing landscapes? Competitive Intelligence and Big Data: Implementing an infrastructure that makes data analysis possible Stakeholder Management: How to set up and lead an effective and successful CI-unit for a global company? Rethinking the technology strategy for efficient CMI: Determine which new technologies and methods will drive intelligence forward to the next stage of development Competitive and Market Intelligence as crucial fuel for Innovation: Is innovation possible without CMI? Assess the market potential for new growth areas: Decide which pain points and opportunities you should focus on now.Whats in for you?By being part of the CiMi.CON Evolution USA not only will you engage with your peers and possible future business partners, but you will also: Align CI with strategic goals: Learn how to transform your competitive intelligence team into a sophisticated strategic decision support function. Improve the CI performance: see real-world examples and case studies that show how companies have implemented best practices to track the performance of their competitive intelligence teams and improve their impact. Restructure the CI team for success: Learn how to develop proper reporting lines and implement a more strategic organizational structure that will provide greater visibility and generate greater strategic impact. Obtain higher CI budgets: Learn why top-notch companies are funding competitive intelligence with greater investments year after year and how they reap the benefits of their increasingly important teams. Create a competitive intelligence culture: Learn how companies establish a culture of competitive intelligence to collect and share valuable information throughout the organization. Gain an insight on how to develop and integrate a full-scale CI unit in your enterprise. Join conversations and discussions about future tech and business trends in CI / MI. Find efficient solutions to your most pressing challenges. Hear dos and donts on how to move toward the digital directly from top experts and enterprises. Take away tips and tricks of the effective and engaging stakeholder Management.Get your spot for this interactive event on Corporate Intelligence in North America.For further information about the programme, speakers and to register for the event visit: competitive-intelligence.us/ Contact information: we.CONECT Reichenberger Str. 124 Contact Person: Maria Willamowius Marketing Development Manager Phone: +493052107030 eMail: eMail Web: http://www.we-conect.com/ Author: Maria Willamowius e-mail Web: http://www.we-conect.com/ Phone: +493052107030 20.06.2018 18:48:16 - Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact the author. Please do not contact Live-PR.com. We are not able to assist you. Live-PR.com disclaims content contained in this article. Live-PR.com is not authorized to give any information about content and not responsible for content posted by third party. Stock Market News Berkeley sees lower profit after performance peaks 20-06-2018 07:04 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Stock Market News Brexit rows 'irrelevant' as banks plan moves, says former City chair 20-06-2018 10:52 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Stock Market News Commons gears up for another 'meaningful vote' showdown 20-06-2018 13:12 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Stock Market News Herencia hunting for new board member after non-executive chairman resigns 20-06-2018 11:35 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Stock Market News Shell to offload Norwegian assets to Okea 20-06-2018 11:53 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks! Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics. The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc. The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics. The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates. Access to college recruiters and advisors its harder to line up higher education. Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family. Vote View Results Motoring The International SeaKeepers Society was part of a handful of organisations that took part in a clean-up of Sisters Islands Marine Park. Jun 20, 2018 | By Joe Lim On 10 June 2018, 18 volunteer divers set off at dawn to the Sisters Islands Marine Park to clean Singapores reefs as part of the KOSE SAVE the BLUE event. This task was also to acknowledge and celebrate 2018 World Oceans Day and the International Year of the Reef. The divers mission was to save the ocean by collecting and documenting the marine debris found within the park. The divers were organised into smaller groups each led by an experienced dive guide and transported to the dive location in two boats. Dive guides from local dive company The Submersibles, National Parks Board (NParks) and Our Singapore Reefs did an excellent job of making sure that it was a safe, efficient and productive mission. Underwater diving and clearing of underwater trash may seem like a new trend, however, Our Singapore Reefs a community group of dedicated dive volunteers are proving it to be a viable solution to protect our waters. Participating in two 45-minute dives, the volunteer divers successfully removed 492 pieces of debris weighing over 126kg, which included bottles, fishing wire, tires, boat parts, along with fragments of metal and glass. All debris collected was transported back to the One15 Marina for proper disposal. The data collected will be available online on Project AWAREs Dive Against Debris, a citizen-science programme that contributes to the global effort to combat marine debris. No mean feat, considering that since the same period last year, the total number of clean up dives organised by Our Singapore Reefs is 11, whilst engaging 190 dive volunteers who have collected 2,815 pieces of underwater trash with a total weight of 619.87kg. Brenda Goh, marketing manager of KOSE Singapore commented about their involvement, The KOSE SAVE the BLUE Project is our ongoing environmental initiative focused on ocean conservation and environmental protection. This year, we are pleased to be able to partner with Our Singapore Reefs and The International SeaKeepers Society in this meaningful activity as we do our part to protect these valuable natural resources. While Tropical Marine Science Institute Director (TMSI), Professor Wong Sek Man added, TMSI works closely with Maritime Port Authority and NParks to conserve marine organisms such as corals, giant clams and sponges. As a Tropical Marine Science Research Institute, we are interested in marine biodiversity and conservation. This mission was organised by Our Singapore Reefs with the cleanup site selected through observations and in consultation with the relevant agencies such as NParks. The KOSE SAVE the BLUE Marine Cleanup was supported by Friends of the Marine Park, Singapore; The International SeaKeepers Society, Asia; The Submersibles; Tropical Marine Science Institute of the National University of Singapore and ONE15 Marina. KOSE SEKKISEI was the generous sponsor for the boats used throughout the mission. All in all, the volunteer divers ended the days mission on a high note with a sense of having contributed to conserving Singapores marine environment and expressing a commitment to regularly do more. KOSE SAVE the BLUE Marine Clean Up was indeed a fruitful demonstration of what a successful collaboration of citizen science, corporations, NGOs and the Government can achieve. For more information about the organisations involved in this ocean clean-up event: www.worldoceansday.org www.facebook.com/oursingaporereefs www.kose.com.sg www.seakeepers.org www.tmsi.nus.edu.sg Style / World of Watches (WOW) One should be excited over the prospect of not what J.N. Shapiro of California is now, but what it represents glimpse of what American watchmaking can be again Jun 20, 2018 | By Jonathan Ho Pre-Industrial Revolution, watchmaking was a painstaking activity which part-time watchmakers/full-time farmers engaged in during the off-season. Due to the amount of handcrafts involved, one can imagine that it was a process which only yielded a handful of watches each year and with such scarce supply, these mechanical watches were only the reserve of the bourgeois and noble elites it has been a legacy of the Swiss ever since they supplanted English and French watchmakers. But after the industrial revolution, things began to change. The Rise and Fall of American Watchmaking In the 1850s, the United States emerged as a leader in mechanical watchmaking. The heritage of machine-assisted watchmaking revolutionised how watches were made. Over turning centuries of single, individually made components, in the countrysides of Switzerland, France and england, the Americans optimised the industry to meet demand in a way which not only increased supply of these ingenious timekeeping mechanisms but also, with the resulting fall in prices, paved the way for mass adoption of timepieces and pocket watches. It was the ingenuity of the Americans which led to the conception of tooling and machinery (the precursor of modern CNC machines) which led to the greatly increased production of watches. The machines cut components in mass numbers, faster and more precise than human hands could. With increased precision, that meant that there could be standardised parts rather than the hodge-podge of trial and error in order to make watch components fit exactly. We have Waltham founder Aaron Dennison to thank for this innovation. Hamilton soon joined Waltham among the top hierarchy of American watchmaking brands, reputed for craftsmanship and manufacturing prowess to produce watches more efficiently and more cost-effectively than the Swiss. Eventually, the Swiss, spearheaded by Longines and Vacheron Constantin, hybridised this new innovation, incorporating American machinery to supplement their handcrafted process and while the artisanal aspects of Swiss watches remained unparalleled, the PR boost from Cartiers own successful Santos wristwatch wasnt enough, it was American watchmakers who dominated the wrist watch craze from the 1920s until its ignominious fall, heralded by the Great Depression and the World War which followed. With economic collapses, wristwatches were the first luxuries abandoned for food and basic necessities, but when World War II erupted in Europe, the conflict was what drove the final nail into the coffin as American factories were co-opted into the war effort and machines, previously making watch components, became re-tooled to make instruments of war. The Swiss, by virtue of their neutrality (and some posit, the impasse that is the Swiss mountains which encouraged Nazi troops to not be foolhardy) continued to make watches and by the time the war drew to a close, and Americans were financially able once again, they became consumers of timepieces rather than makers. Today, Hamilton is no longer American but Swiss and Detroit-based Shinola and Los Angeles-based Devon are reigniting the passion for American watchmaking but arguably, its going to be brands like J.N. Shapiro to truly restart the competition for the hearts and minds of watch connoisseurs. The possible Rise of American watchmaking again: Brands like J.N. Shapiro of California At the highest end of the spectrum, RGM Watch Company, founded in 1992 by Roland G. Murphy, a graduate of WOSTEP, The Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program, has a focus on bespoke timepieces in the $90,000 to $100,000 spectrum. And while there is no denying that his manufacture calibres are made and finished to a superlative degree, its hard to power a resurgent industry without wider adoption. Enter J.N. Shapiro. Lets first address the elephant in the room, J.N. Shapiro watches are badged with a California name plate but the movements are supplied by Uhren Werke Dresden. Conceived, designed and manufactured entirely in Germany, J.N. Shapiros movements are not American but in this instance, one should be excited over the prospect of not what it is, in so much as what it represents a glimpse of how American watchmaking can compete once again. The Dresden calibre features a floating mainspring barrel which in concert with the modern petticoat bracket and orientation by means of conventional positioning pins deliver a unique visual spectacle, giving clear view of the six-shank gear train, unlike your other run-of-the-mill, stock movements used by other American watch brands. That said, everything else is 100% American. The dial is composed of seven different parts, each individually machined. Every surface is engine-turned or circular grained by hand. There are four engine-turned patterns on the dial. The barleycorn, created on the rose engine machine, is outside the chapter ring. The circular ratchet pattern separating the minutes and hours was also created on the rose engine machine. On the inside of the chapter ring is the basketweave, one of the most difficult engine-turning patterns. This dial features a solid 18kt rose gold seconds ring and name plate. Everything else is made from silver. The engine-turned sections have been frosted white using the same techniques as A.L.Breguet. Dressed with an American made leather strap by Stone Creek or Arizona and with prices starting US26,000, what J.N. Shapiro represents, is the potential of what it could be with support and awareness of a nascent genre of American watchmaking mostly forgotten. Available in 18kt yellow, white or rose gold but platinum and stainless steel cases can be done on request. J.N. Shapiro of California Price and Specs Movement Handwound UWD 33.1 calibre with 53 hours power reserve Case 42mm 18kt yellow, white or rose gold with 30 metres water resistance Strap Leather Price US$26,000 SPD relieves two erring police officials posted June 19, 2018 at 11:00 pm by Joel E. Zurbano June 19, 2018 at 11:00 pm Two more police officers in southern Metro Manila were ordered relieved, this time for alleged mishandling of persons arrested for violating local ordinances. Southern Police District director Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario Jr. identified the relieved officers as Senior Insp. Aaron Elago, commander of Makati City-Police Community Precinct-7, and SPO2 James Teano, desk officer of the same police precinct. Elago will be replaced by Chief Insp. Romeo Vasquez, said Apolinario in a text message.National Capital Region Police Office chief Guillermo Eleazar tapped Apolinario to conduct an investigation on the case involving the said police station accused of mishandling arrested night idlers (tambay). The case, according to Apolinario, went viral on social media. COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publications right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section. President Rodrigo Duterte was ready to replace the four suspended commissioners of the Energy Regulatory Commission as early as last year, but his hands were tied by the Court of Appeals temporary restraining order, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Tuesday. He said Duterte had already chosen the replacements for the four to avoid paralyzing the ERC. Lawmakers on Monday had urged the four commissioners to resign after the Ombudsman ordered them suspended for tolerating the misuse by Manila Electric Co. of the bill deposits of its customers. Maybe it is time they resigned, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said, referring to Commissioners Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc, Alfredo Non, Josefina Patricia Magpala-Asirit and Geronimo Sta. Ana. Pimentel, chairman of the House committee on good government and public accountability, said his committee had completed its investigation in aid of legislation into the seven alleged sweetheart power supply agreements being sought by the Meralco-linked generation companies at the ERC involving the four commissioners.We have also completed our committee report and we have recommended [the] further investigation of the ERC commissioners if there is substantial evidence to file the necessary cases, Pimentel said. Roque said the Judiciary was an independent branch of the government in explaining why Duterte had refused to meddle in the case. The Ombudsman issued a new suspension order against the four commissioners that was made public on June 17, and in response to the Court of Appeals three-month TRO on the suspension order on Feb. 9 this year. Lets see what the Court of Appeals will do, Roque said in response to the petition of the four commissioners against the new suspension order. Communist rebels, who believe holding the peace talks in the Philippines, is a recipe for destruction, are using the lull in the negotiations to regroup, recruit new members and acquire new weapons for their offensive against the government, the military said. Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Col. Edgard Arevalo said the information was culled from documents recovered captured during past encounters with the New Peoples Army. Based on records we seized from the CPP-NPA Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army, these documents indicate they are taking advantage of the peace negotiations to recruit new members, to regroup and to refurbish themselves, he added. Arevalo stressed these findings only confirmed what the CPP-NPAs true motive in demanding for peace negotiations was. And I quote, they resort to peace negotiations as another form of legal struggle, which is possible to be used to advance their revolutionary mass movement, he added. Elsewhere, Rey Casambre, identified as a consultant for the negotiating panel of the rebels, referred to what he called potential harm on fellow consultants and members of the National Democratic Front such as arrests and military surveillance. He said holding the peace negotiations in the Philippines would be a recipe for destruction. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, meanwhile, said Norway could still have a role in the peace talks, but stressed third parties need not be abroad to facilitate the talks. Arevalo said, in short, while the rebels were negotiating for peace they were using this as an opportunity to strengthen their combat forces, the AFP spokesperson said.Arevalo said the strong desire of the CPP-NPA to talk peace could be the offshoot of the mass surrenders of their guerrilla fighters and supporters, along with their weapons and equipment, in the past months. Meanwhile, the public deserves to know various provisions contained in any peace agreement done with the rebels. This is the reason why the AFP supports the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to postpone the resumption of the peace talks with the CPP which was scheduled for June 28. Arevalo said this move was in line with efforts to provide the public more opportunities to engage in the peace process. Let us remember that any peace agreement that government enters into especially with group like the CPP-NPA [Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army] that continues to sow chaos in the countryside needs to be acceptable to the people, peace is a public concern, the public deserves to know what are the provisions or the matters contained in every agreement, because this group, the CPP-NPA burns farm implement, they continue to extort huge amounts of money from businesses and they harassed the communities,Arevalo noted. He added the Presidents move would give more time for the consultation of the public on the items arrived at by the parties during the back-channel talks. [With this], we ensure that the substance of the talks has the support of the people. And we are not only one, we are not alone in supporting that decision of the President, even Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the Secretary of the Department of National Defense, even the Presidential Adviser (for the Peace Process) Secretary Jesus Dureza, they all support this decision of the President. Even Senate minority floor leader Sen. Franklin Drilon supported the President and even went on by saying that it is high time that the peace talks be held in our soil, because (it would establish that) the CPP-NPA (is dealing with) the Government of the Philippines, Arevalo said. Going after loiterers is not a prelude to declaring martial law nationwide, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Tuesday. He told reporters martial law would remain only in Mindanao because of the continuing threat of terrorism and armed conflicts, and that declaring martial law in the entire Philippines would become very complicated. The President has absolutely no intention right now unless there would be reasons to do so. There is no reason for him to declare martial law, Roque said. In other developments: Senator Panfilo Lacson said the law on vagrancy was decriminalized in 2012 with the passage of Republic Act 10158. Unless there were other existing laws that could be used by the authorities to arrest alleged loiterers, the police action against them could be questioned before the Supreme Court, Lacson said. Two lawmakers on Tuesday slammed the campaign of the National Police to get rid of loiterers, saying the arrest without warrants of the more than 5,000 people in the last five days in Metro Manila violated their human rights. Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro made the remarks in reaction to the announcement of the National Capital Region Police Office that it had arrested 5,575 individuals from June 13 to June 18. That was after President Rodrigo Duterte gave a directive in a speech last June 13 against loiterers whom he said were potential criminals.This is another show of an iron hand and disdain of the law despite the existence of larger and underlying problems the Duterte administration should face, Tinio said. It should be clear to law enforcers and to President Duterte a person cannot be arrested on the mere suspicion that he or she is up to no good or could be a potential criminal. Castro said the illegal arrest of the tambays or loiterers violated their human rights. On Dutertes directive to round up street loiterers, Roque said, both the Interior department and the Philippine National Police were already working on the guidelines for the implementation of such directive. Lets wait for the guidelines of the DILG and the PNP, Roque said. He said the police were accosting only those violating city or municipal ordinances. President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday stood firm in his decision to hold the peace talks with the communist rebels in Philippine soil and expressed his desire to end Asias longest-running insurgency. He made the statement during the 81st anniversary of the Government Service Insurance System in Pasay City, where he gave Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison a 60-day window to finally end the communist rebellion. The peace talks with Sison, which was scheduled on June 28 but then moved to July, was again marred by a war of words between him and Duterte. Duterte promised to talk to the communists so the government and the rebels could forge a peace covenant. Im talking to Sison, but hes being rude, Duterte said. The government peace panel and the rebels began holding back-channel discussions about going back to the negotiating table after Duterte terminated the peace talks in November last year. Duterte wants to hold the peace negotiations in the Philippines and not elsewhere.Why should I talk outside? We are talking about our country, my country, their country, he said. Duterte, who tried to win the rebels trust through a series of confidence-building measures and the promise of giving them land and jobs, assured Sisons safety should he come home. Why would I go to another place? Lets talk here. I guaranteed him safety and security for the duration of the talks. I gave him a small window, Duterte said. Lets talk for 60 days. In that period you come home, I will pay for your expenses and if after the two months period nothing, then I will see to it that you go out of the Philippines safely, Duterte said. But I will assure you, do not ever, ever come back to this country ever again. The military will acquire a diesel-electric submarine as part of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program that President Duterte has approved, an official said Wednesday. Defense Department spokesman Arsenio Andolong said the government will acquire the submarine to boost the countrys naval security, and that it will be a great equalizer in the Philippines naval arsenal. The Department of National Defense and the Budget department will talk on how to fund [the modernization program], Andolong said. The militarys capability upgrading program, which was crafted and first implemented during the Aquino administration, is divided into three phasesHorizon 1.2 and 3with the second phase covering 2018 up to 2022. Andolong said the submarine procurement program had become a priority, especially for the Navy, as it had moved from Horizon 3 to Horizon 2, whose implementation had been delayed, owing to the completion of other projects under Horizon 1. Horizon 1, programmed from 2013 to 2017, resulted in the acquisition of three Del Pilar-class frigates, 12 FA-50PH light-lift interim fighters, two strategic sealift vessels, to name a few, while Horizon 2 is expected to run from 2018 to 2022.The Horizon 2 project is supposed to be the transition period of the military from internal security operations to territorial, which carries a budget of P300 billion including procurements from the Philippine Air Force and the Army. Francisco Tuyay Andolong declined to give the exact number of diesel-electric submarines that would be acquired. The Philippine Navy has already created a submarine group under the military Horizon 2 project. Philippine Navy Chief Robert Empedrad is already preparing to send his sailors for study and training on submarine operations preparatory to the acquisition of the sophisticated naval craft. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the country needed submarines for its security. We have a national tragedy. This is supposed to be a functioning democracy and yet we do not have a credible leader of the opposition who can lead us in protesting the climate of impunity. There is no central figure we can believe in. Certainly this cannot be done by Vice President Leni Robredo, not by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV or Senator Leila de Lima. They just make noises but they lack credibility. With regard to the opposition, it is unfortunate that it cannot even have a complete senatorial slate for 2019. The only two solid names are Senator Bam Aquino and former Rep. Erin Tanada. My gulay, they are even talking about convincing Kris Aquino to run for the Senate but are worried that two Aquinos may split the votes. The most pathetic of all is former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who presents herself as the champion of the rule of law. But how can she be a credible voice of the opposition when she was ousted precisely for lack of integrity? * * * On the part of President Duterte, he should not take the silent majority for granted. People may laugh at his jokes, cheer and applaud him, but when they see the killings and injustice and the culture of impunity, they will hit back. Mr. Duterte should not trample on the rights of people. He should also stop talking about how he will not give justice to the families of those slain in the name of the war against drugs. I have always maintained that framing the drug problem as a law-and-order issue is a big mistake. It is, instead, a health issue. For so long as there is a demand for illegal drugs, the menace will not go away. Addressing the problem means curbing the demand, not terminating all those involved in it. Im guessing there will still be demand even after Duterte steps down. This is why I have been advocating more community-based rehabilitation centers. * * * Some oppositionists are contemplating filing impeachment charges against the eight Supreme Court justices who ousted Sereno. On what grounds, I ask. The only thing I can think of is their allegation that the eight violated the Constitution because impeachment is the only way to remove a sitting chief justice. Id like to ask, thoughwho interprets the Constitution if not the Supreme Court majority? And thats precisely what the eight justices did in agreeing with the Solicitor General. There is a lot of misunderstanding about the quo warranto (by what right) case against Sereno since she failed to submit her SALN when she was professor of law at the University of the Philippines.So yes, justices can be ousted by impeachment assuming that they were qualified from the start. It is clear that justices MAY be removed, not SHALL, from their posts via impeachment. May will refer to an alternative like quo warranto. And who can best interpret the Constitution if not the Supreme Court? So, on what basis can the eight justices be impeached? Nothing. * * * Something must be made very clear in the police campaign against tambays on the street. There is no law calling for their arrest unless they break the law. Vagrancy and loitering have ben decriminalized. However, if there is a city or municipal ordinance against being half-naked, or making a lot of noise, then they can be arrested. It seems though that the police are overreacting. I would agree with this if the aim were to stop minors from loitering, in the event of a curfew. It is obvious that many cops are ignorant of the law and just do as they please. * * * The President did his special assistant Christopher Go no good when he said the latter was a billionaire. How can Go be a billionaire when he was just an alalay to Duterte starting from when he was mayor of Davao City? Since Go is said to be running for president, people will ask where his money is coming from. And he will have to explain. * * * Please visit my website, www.emiljurado.weebly.com Young global smartphone Vivo is all set to introduce in the Philippines its upcoming flagship smartphone, X21, that features the pioneering In-Display Fingerprint Scanning Technology. The X21 is the first Vivo X-series smartphone launched in the Philippines. Vivo Philippines will reveal all the details about the future of express unlocking technology on June 21 on their official website and social media pages with the #VivoX21LaunchPH.Vivo is the worlds leading smartphone brand on In-Display Fingerprint Scanning Technology. At Mobile World Congress in Shanghai in 2017, the smartphone brand unveiled the industrys first Vivo Under-Display Fingerprint Scanning Solution. Then at CES in 2018, Vivo revealed a ready-to-produce smartphone with the worlds first In-Display Fingerprint Scanning Technology, which preceded the release of the X21. The upcoming X21 also boasts of an extraordinary FullView Display, an extreme dual camera setup, an exceptional AI camera, expansive storage capacity, and exhilarating Hi-Fi music. Not to mention, it also has an exquisite design. Lets face it you doesnt need much convincing to visit Indonesias island of Bali. It has, after all, some of the worlds best beaches and food, iconic rice fields, amazing hotels and more. Now, Bali enthusiasts have something else to include on their travel itinerary: a hot air balloon ride. The Chedi Club Ubud in Bali has introduced the islands latest adventure option: a hot air balloon ride that will take travelers 50-metres high over Ubuds unrivaled natural landscapes of lush forests and rice fields. Surprisingly, this will be a first for Bali. Balis got it all beaches, temples, volcanoes, rice paddies, puppets, dancers, sacred forests, but no balloons, said Deasy Swandarini, general manager of The Chedi Club Ubud. You might capture the same images with a drone, but seeing it with your own eyes is something else entirely. The 23-metre hot air balloon will fly 50-metres above the resorts rice fields and floats at the end of a tether offering passengers views the forests of Ubud, Hendra Hadiprana (now The Chedi Club), and Mount Agung in the distance. Needless to say, its pretty epic stuff. Touted as a soft adventure option for those who arent up for thrill-seeking activities like skydiving or paragliding, there are daily flights scheduled three times a day: at dawn, in the late afternoon or early evening, and just after moonrise. Each balloon ride can accommodate a maximum of two adults and two children (under 12), together with a certified pilot. And if feasting your eyes on the views arent enough, passengers will also be treated to a breakfast, afternoon tea, or dinner at the end of the ride, depending on their flight times. According to The Chedi Club Ubud, each flight lasts between five to seven minutes and will be only offered between June and November. Epic views with a food-filled ending to boot doesnt get any better than that, does it? The Chedi Club Ubuds hot air balloons are priced at USD150 for each morning and afternoon trip (breakfast or lunch for two included), and USD200 for the final flight (dinner for two included). Sarah Khan Photos: Getty Images & The Chedi Club Ubud (in order) READ MORE: 5 Places in the world for incredibly scenic hot air balloon rides Gorgeous Stays: 10 Most Instagrammable boutique hotels in Bali Scenic Sundown: Top 10 places in Bali to catch the perfect sunset As the Chinese Communist Party acts more confidently on the international stage than ever before, the Chinese working class is starting to chafe against the harsh realities of capitalism. Since May, there have been three high-profile, cross-country strikes started by crane operators, fast food delivery workers, and most recently truckers. Although the strikes were small in relation to the general working class, the workers ability to organize across several major cities indicates that a layer of the Chinese working class is being pushed into struggle. Truckers, food delivery workers and crane operators According to China Labor Bulletin, since Friday 8 June more than a dozen locations in Shandong, Chongqing, Anhui, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Shanghai, Huberi, Henan, and Zhejiang saw brigades of truck drivers drape their vehicles with slogans protesting rising fuel prices and tolls, and delaying of wage payments. They were also objecting to the online platform Yun Man Man, the website where they find contacts, which is implementing an app that prevents customers from directly contacting truckers and allows comparison between them, effectively pitting truckers against one another for lower prices. The cross-country action was preceded by an anonymous appeal to 30 million truckers across China to strike. Thus far it would seem that this large-scale organizing effort was conducted via online communities of Kayou (trucker friends) through which fellow truckers can socialize. The fact that this action was able to take off simultaneously across many cities, despite the CCP regimes complete control over social media, speaks to the ingenuity and efficiency of the striking truckers. So far there have been no reports on this matter from any legal Chinese media, and any online discussion has been swiftly removed. This might be because the strikes in some cities have become highly militant against the CCP. One group of truckers refer to themselves as the Wagangzhai Alliance, a reference to the rebels that rose up against a tyrannical emperor at the end of the Sui Dynasty. There is even a video showing a strike where drivers chanted defeat the CCP! The truckers actions were preceded by a food delivery workers strike that took place in early May, which also happened across the whole of China in Shandong, Zhejiang, Chongqing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jilin, Hunan, Guangxi, and Shanxi. These workers rely on food delivery tech giant Meituan for jobs in the same way that GrubHub or Seamless assigns jobs to delivery workers in the West. While Meituan is currently valued at $40bn, the food delivery workers toil in deplorable and stressful conditions, while having to accept lowering pay and absorbing the cost of fuel, phone, and vehicle repairs themselves. An important theme becomes apparent when comparing the conditions of the food delivery workers and the truckers. The proliferation of gig economy apps and services has turned many of these jobs into independent contracting positions, pitting workers against each other for contracts and income, all the while companies like Meituan or ride-sharing company DiDi see their profits soar. Xi claims that China is a socialist country governed by the alliance of the proletariat and the peasantry, but in reality the capitalist system in China is driving more and more workers into precarious conditions for more profit in a manner familiar to the Western working class. Around the time that the food delivery workers launched their strike, the crane operators in construction sites in Guangxi, Jiangsu, Henan, Jiangxi, and Fujian went on strike on May Day. Aside from demanding better pay, safer conditions, and eight hour days for themselves, the crane workers reportedly demanded the same for their fellow construction workers. The strikes high profile compelled state-run media Global Times to run a piece acknowledging the movements existence and the demands of the workers. A new phase for the Chinese labour movement? The aforementioned cross-country strikes that took place in rapid succession underline an important trend in the Chinese workers movement. Since the restoration of capitalism, as directed by the CCP, and the rapid growth of the economy, China has in fact seen magnificent (yet localized) actions, such as the Wukan Village uprising in 2011 and the Shuangyashan Miners protest of 2016. In between there are often strikes in individual factories, and occasionally within a particular city. The idea of extending struggles across the country seems to be catching on / Image: UDN A watershed occured betwen June and July of 2016, where Walmart workers in many locations across China reacted to a new work hour regime the management imposed on them by organizing for a nationwide strike. Although the movement ended with the workers not being able to maintain their organization due to internal problems and pressure from the CCP, in tandem with Walmart, the idea of extending struggles across the country seems to be catching on. The successful launch of the latest three strikes across vast geographical distances may suggest the workers have found a way to organize these actions online while avoiding state surveillance. The CCP feeling the pressure The rise of working-class militancy in China is no surprise for Marxists. The natural tendencies of capitalism ultimately enlarge the size of the proletariat and creates conditions that motivate them to fight the system. Even in China, which has cutting-edge surveillance and censorship, class struggle cannot be avoided. To an extent the CCP, following a Stalinist tradition, understands the eventual arrival of class struggle. The sharp increase of crackdowns against dissidents, the rapid development of surveillance technologies, and Xis campaign to centralize power via the new National Supervision Commission on all levels of the government are measures to boost the states ability to fight against mass movements should they arise. This is not a sign of strength, but evidence of fear. This anxiety was expressed as a recruitment drive conducted by the All Chinese Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) on 10 April. The ACFTU is operated and controlled by the CCP. In this way the CCP put up a facade of representing the workers while at the same time diverting any radicalising ferment into acceptable channels. The irony with this unionization drive was that truck drivers were a key target for recruitment, but evidently the workers still felt that they had to take matters into their own hands. This is the common fate of the Chinese working class in the era of global capitalist crisis. When these workers finally move, they will shake the earth. The community of Havre will have new resources for promoting travel to the area after forming the states newest convention and visitor bureaus (CVBs). The nonprofit Havre Area Chamber of Commerce will receive state Lodging Facility Tax (also known as the bed tax) funds collected in fiscal year 2019 to promote tourism through a CVB. "The Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development is excited to welcome the Havre CVB to the existing network of seven tourism regions and 24 CVBs across Montana," said Jan Stoddard, Industry Services and Outreach bureau chief for the Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development. "CVBs focus on promoting and marketing local activities, attractions and businesses. Working together, we can collaborate between our national level of inspirational marketing and local facilitation to empower nonresident visitors to find incredible experiences here in Montana." Cities initially become eligible to form a CVB by maintaining bed tax collections above a certain threshold. They are then required to develop a marketing plan and present it to the governor-appointed Tourism Advisory Council (TAC), which approves plans every June. The council approved and officially recognized the Havre CVB at its June 12, 2018, meeting in Helena. With this approval, the Havre CVB is now qualified to receive a percentage of bed tax funds once collected. Presiding TAC Chair, Glenniss Indreland, welcomed Jody Olson, executive director of the new Havre CVB. Olson also serves as the executive director for the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce and the Havre Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID). The impact of non-resident visitation on the state continues to grow. In 2017, 12.5 million non-residents visited Montana and spent $3.4 billion. Thats a one percent increase in visitors and a nearly 11 percent increase in spending over 2016. The U.S. Department of Transportation is awarding $1.5 billion in discretionary grants through the new Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) federal grant program. Awards will be given to projects that will have a "significant local or regional impact" and the Montana Department of Transportation is sponsoring the expansion of the Kalispell Bypass as one of the two projects for the entire state that they will put forth toward the application for the grant funding. The City of Kalispell, Flathead County, Montana Department of Transportation, and Kalispell Chamber of Commerce have all come together to work congruently and develop a competitive application for the award estimated between $12-15 million. For the 25 year period from 1990 to 2015, Flathead County was in the top ten percent of fastest growing counties in the nation. Additionally, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Kalispell was the third fastest growing micropolitan area in the U.S. for the period 2016 to 2017. Evident in the consistent rise in regional tourism visitation, record attendees at Glacier National Park, and Kalispells prominence as the regional trade center for Northwest Montana, undue traffic congestion and traffic impediments in and around the county has been noticeable. The U.S. 93 Alternate Route, or Bypass, was originally accepted by the City of Kalispell and Flathead County in a 1994 Final Environmental Impact Study as part of regional improvements to the highway to better move traffic from the south end of Kalispell to the north. In 2010 the two lanes of the southern half of the bypass were completed, but thereafter, with the steady rise of traffic counts and population density, MDT recognized the route was ineffective and acquired all of the necessary right-of-way to construct a full, four-lane bypass. In 2016 the four-lane northern portion of the Bypass was completed. Expanding the southern half of the Bypass would include the removal of current roundabouts, widening the surface to four lanes, and improving access via full interchanges, overpasses, and access ramps in four locations. The project would provide additional safety and quality of life improvements by alleviating traffic from local streets and furthering the intent to establish downtown Kalispell initiatives focused on localized traffic. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Transportation intends to award a greater share of BUILD funding to projects in rural areas, making the expansion of the Kalispell U.S. 93 Alternate Route, or Bypass, an ideal project. Both the City of Kalispell and Flathead County have adopted resolutions supporting MDTs application for the BUILD grant, and the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce completed a letter of support, which was accompanied by the signatures of 551 businesses, elected officials, and individuals. All three organizations, in tandem with MDT, are working to complete the BUILD grant application for the July 19 deadline. A similar letter was written and signed by thirteen Montana State Senators and Representatives. On July 10, the Kalispell Chamber will host an Open House in its conference room from 11:00am to 2:00pm and 5:00pm to 7:00pm and encourages the public to stop in to see potential plans for the bypass expansion and add their personal input. For more information, please contact any of the representatives listed below: City of Kalispell Doug Russell, City Manager (406) 758-7703 Montana Department of Transportation Ed Toavs, Missoula District Administrator (406) 523-5802 Flathead County Mike Pence, County Administrator (406) 758-5501 Kalispell Chamber of Commerce Joe Unterreiner, President/CEO (406) 758-2804 "For small to medium to national organizations, for events and fundraisers of any size, in any format live, virtual or hybrid the platform is built for scale." MVHC recognized as Gold Status Health Center Quality Leader Audio Article Muskingum Valley Health Centers has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as a Gold Status Health Center Quality Leader. HRSAs Community Health Quality Recognition awards recognize the highest performing health centers nationwide that have made notable quality improvement achievements... October 16 Ohio Valley Opry show to feature Dion Pride, son of country music legend, Charley Pride Audio Article The Ohio Valley Opry will return to the stage at the historic Twin City Opera House in McConnelsville this weekend. The October 16 OVO show will feature Dion Pride, son of country music legend, Charley Pride. Dion played lead guitar and keyboards for his father, and opened Charley's shows for... Morgan County Sheriffs Office Daily Call Reports Audio Article Editors Note: The following are initial incident reports from callers to a Morgan County Sheriffs Office Dispatcher. Any details, charges or situations may have been distorted by the caller, or perhaps may have been found to be different after the officer further investigated the incident. Saturday, July 3, 2021 ... HINDSIGHT 2021 Audio Article 10 Years Ago (2011) Representatives of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, State Parks Division, advised Morgan County Commissioners that Burr Oak Lodge would be closed effective February 1, 2012. The news was the result of the states inability to secure a private-sector operator for Burr Oak. The ODNR... McConnelsville Village Council hears report from Chief of Police Copeland Audio Article Chief of Police Troy Copeland reported there were four thefts in the village last month. He stated they have recovered some stolen property from the robberies and it has been returned to the victim, and the suspect was charged. The Chief reminds citizens not to leave vehicles unlocked, and they... Mammograms free for those in need Audio Article Several community businesses and healthcare organizations are partnering to offer free mammograms to those who cant afford one due to lack of insurance, being under-insured or not having the ability to pay. Coconis Furniture, WHIZ TV, Genesis HealthCare System, Muskingum County Community Foundation, Southeastern Ohio Breast and Cervical Cancer Project, and... SALEM TWP., MI - Four employees of Karl's Cabin Restaurant and Bar in Salem Township were taken to a hospital Tuesday after encountering tear gas that leaked out of an old safe. Fire crews were called to the restaurant at 60005 Gotfredson Road about 9:51 a.m. after workers there reported a strange, oily liquid seeping out of an old safe, according to Salem Township Fire Chief Jim Rachwal. The restaurant had been burglarized between midnight and 1 a.m. Monday morning, according to the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office. The old-fashioned safe was tampered with and cash was stolen from it, police said. The safe, which was roughly five feet tall, is about 100 years old and contained the tear gas as a security feature, according to Rachwal. "I guess it's like a booby trap that they put inside the safe to prevent people from cutting inside the safe," he said. It triggered a HAZMAT situation Tuesday morning. It wasn't immediately clear why the four employees waited until Tuesday to clean up after the burglary. They were taken to the hospital and released without incident Tuesday. "The office is now clear of that tear gas material," Rachwal said. Huron Valley Ambulance and the Michigan State Police assisted at the scene. MLive reporter John Counts contributed to this report. After blocking the path of a streetcar and an entrance to One Campus Martius in Downtown Detroit on Monday, June 18, 23 protesters were arrested and are facing misdemeanor charges. "Five people were arrested for blocking the entrance to Quicken Loans, and another 18 for blocking the QLine in both directions simultaneously," says the Michigan Poor People's Campaign, the group that organized the protest dubbed "against corporate greed." Michigan National Lawyers Guild attorney John Royal, a Detroit lawyer who is assisting in the defense of the activists, said the court will mail court dates and it was undetermined whether they intend to fight the charges, all of which are misdemeanor ordinance violations punishable by up to 90 days in jail and $500 in fines. The purpose of the protest was to condemn water shutoffs by the Great Lakes Water Authority and the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department at the homes of low-income customers in Detroit, Highland Park and Flint. The Michigan Poor People's Campaign also hoped to draw attention to the contrast between investment in Detroit's thriving Downtown Detroit versus the neighborhoods, where more than 35 percent of residents live beneath the poverty line. #ServiceUpdate: A protest at Campus Martius park, unrelated to the QLINE, is blocking streetcar service downtown. In consultation with law enforcement, QLINE service will temporarily run short, terminating at Sproat Street. QLINE Detroit (@qlinedetroit) June 18, 2018 After meeting in Downtown Detroit, hundreds of activists walked to Detroit's Campus Martius park, where they "filled buckets of water from the fountain to symbolically give to poor residents, while supporters sang, 'Wade in the Water,'" The Michigan Poor People's Campaign said in a statement. "Our moral actions often lead to arrest," said Tommy Tackett, 22, of Jackson, one of the arrested protesters, who is part of the campaign's coordinating team, " ... so we prepare people for that." Police transported those who were arrested to the Detroit Detention Center, 17601 Mound on a public bus, where they were processed and released, Tackett said. Detroit police representatives in the Media Relations Unit as of Tuesday, June 19 were unable to provide MLive a breakdown of the accusations against the activists. "The downtown development of Detroit may be beautiful and exciting to some, but it has come at a cost to the majority of residents across the city," the Poor People's Campaign said. "Most Detroiters see it as sucking the life/the water out of the rest of the city. Due to the Downtown Development Authority, the development downtown is not benefiting the neighborhoods at all." The Detroit action marked the end to a national protest effort by Poor People's Campaign chapters across the nation called "40 days of action." Not including Monday's action, the campaign says Michigan protests resulted in 105 prior arrests. "During the 40 Days of Action for the Poor People's Campaign, dozens of Michigan residents trained in two-days of non-violent, direct action training," the campaign says. "They pledged to take a stand against poverty, injustice, systemic racism, and a variety of harmful actions by governments and corporations." KALAMAZOO, MI -- Divided along party lines, the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners decided Tuesday to seek lawyers to represent it in a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that manufacture addictive opiates. Communities in Michigan and across the country are joining a multi-jurisdictional federal civil lawsuit seeking damages for opioid-related deaths, treatment and law enforcement costs. Kalamazoo County will still need to vote on whether to join the lawsuit. Six Democrats supported releasing a request for proposals, which would seek a lawyer to represent the county if it joins the lawsuit. The five board Republicans opposed the move, questioning the effectiveness of litigation. Administrator Tracie Moored said the proposal would likely come back within 30 days. Some of the largest companies named in the lawsuit include Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of Oxycontin, several other drug makers, and large pharmacies, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid and Costco. Versions of the lawsuits allege these and other companies knew drugs they manufactured and sold had the potential to be abused but acted with reckless indifference. Commissioners have been in discussions with attorneys and their counterparts in other counties since December 2017. A task force was created to investigate the issue. Commissioner Julie Rogers said pharmaceutical companies mislead health care professionals and the public about the addictive potential of opiates. The crisis is perpetuated by practices that need to stop, she said. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times as potent as morphine, contributed to the death of more than half of people killed by accidental overdose last year in Kalamazoo County. The 79 total drug-related deaths in the county in 2017 is one death fewer than the 7-year high experienced in 2016. Commissioner Roger Tuinier said the lawsuit is picking on a small aspect of a larger problem. Manufacturers shouldn't solely take the blame when distributors, doctors, hospitals and pharmacies are also complicit, the Republican said. Tuinier also laid some of the blame for addiction at the feet of addicts. "There are plenty of warnings pharmaceutical companies give to people when they prescribe them warning these drugs can be addictive," Tuinier said. "We have to be personally responsible for what we put in our bodies." Commissioner Michael Seals strongly disagreed. Some corporations don't care about what you do with their products, the Democrat said. "If we're not going to hold them accountable, then who the hell will?" Seals said. "We're the local government. We have a responsibility to hold up our end of the deal by protecting our citizens." When the board last discussed the lawsuit in April, it resolved to answer questions about risks associated with pursuing litigation and the resources it would require. Republican Commissioner Ron Kendall said these questions haven't been answered. He expressed concern that county staff would put a large amount of work into something that doesn't achieve real change. Seals and Moored said the request for proposals would answer some of Kendall's questions. The county could back out of joining the lawsuit after receiving proposals from lawyers. Vice Chair Dale Shugars gave a sprawling set of reasons to oppose the lawsuit. He said the lawsuit might cause life-saving opioids to be discontinued; said patients need to be more responsible; and said the FDA has a high standard for drugs that are sold to citizens. "To get something to the market is extremely challenging," Shugars said. "I trust the system." In an April statement, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said opioid addiction is "the most profound public health crisis facing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Americans." Any drug can be dangerous, Shugars said. The Republican vice chair highlighted the legalization of medical marijuana, which isn't distributed in pharmacies. Though medical marijuana is tested at state-regulated safety compliance facilities, it remains illegal at the federal level and hasn't been regulated by the FDA. "If you believe it the FDA system then it should go through the FDA system and through the pharmacy because you'll have more problems than you do with opioids," Shugars said. People can pursue a class action lawsuit if they want Shugars said, but it's not appropriate for the government to get involved. "I'd like to sue pharmaceuticals because when you take pain medicine you can't go to the bathroom for a week and that's as painful as anything you've ever gone through," he said. After the meeting, Shugars said he takes opioid addiction seriously. Democratic Commissioner Kevin Wordelman said trial lawyers have a history of addressing "negligence and dangerous behavior" when state and federal regulations fail. Republicans were also concerned that the lawsuit would entangle Pfizer Inc., which is planning a $465 million expansion in Portage. Pfizer has not been named in any version of the lawsuit, though it manufactures one opioid medication. Commissioner Michael Quinn said Portage City Manager Larry Shaffer assured him Pfizer has no position on the lawsuit. Attorney Mark Bernstein has been in contact with the county since December. He previously explained that a Kalamazoo County lawsuit would be filed as its own individual claim in U.S. District Court and move on to a multi-district litigation court in Ohio, Bernstein said. The lawsuit pending in Federal District Court in Cleveland consolidates more than 400 complaints across the country. The U.S. Justice Department asked a Cleveland federal judge to allow it to sit in during settlement talks. In April, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions proposed new regulations that could limit the amount of opioid pain medication drug companies can produce. President Trump announced his plan to establish a sixth branch of the armed forces dedicated to protecting Americans... in space. Critics argue the Space Force is unnecessary and would be a buraucratic nightmare. We should really worry about protecting people on planet Earth first. But Trump insists the Space Force will be "great not only in terms of jobs and everything else" but "great for the psyche of our country." What do you think? PERSPECTIVES President Trump will direct the Pentagon to establish "a sixth branch of the armed forces dedicated to protecting American interests in outer space." But really, a Space Force? We can't get clean water to people in Flint or electricity to Puerto Rico, but we want to dump money into space? I just have two questions about Space Force: 1) When will Flint, Michigan have clean water? 2) When will Puerto Rico have power? Sam Grittner (@SamGrittner) June 18, 2018 Many suspect Trump's Space Force talk is just meant to distract Americans from the humanitarian crisis happening at our borders. A space force will not distract us from the fact that @realDonaldTrump is responsible for the torture of children. Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) June 18, 2018 But others are excited about the Space Force and feel it is only being criticized because Trump wants it. Aren't liberals supposed to be the defenders of science and innovation? The Space Force is a great idea. The late Stephen Hawking said we need to colonize space. Liberals are BIG HYPOCRITES! If Obama came up with this he would be called brilliant. #trump #MAGA #CNN #msnbc #SpaceForce #space #science pic.twitter.com/cegBxYvCW8 Say My Name (@WalterWhitesIQ) June 18, 2018 Space Force is one of those ideas that the opposing party would love if their guy had come up with it. Had Obama just called this an expansion of NASA then Dems would freakin' love it. #SpaceForce #MAGA #NASA #Trump Global Vagabond (@GlobalVagabond_) June 19, 2018 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. After Kirstjen Nielsen held a press conference in which she showed callousness toward children being separated from their parents at the border, many called on the DHS Secretary to step down. Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein believe Nielsen should resign over her "lack of transparency" and "record of misleading statements." But others have come to the defense of Nielsen, arguing she is just doing her job by securing the border. What do you think? PERSPECTIVES Kamala Harris was the first lawmaker to call for Nielsen's official resignation, but Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi and others have since followed suit. Im calling on Kirstjen Nielsen to resign as Secretary of Homeland Security. Under her watch, our government has committed human rights abuses by breaking up families along the southern border. And she has failed to be accountable to and transparent with the American people. Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 18, 2018 Critics argue it is inhumane for the Trump administration to use children as political pawns. .@SecNielsen must resign. This is not an immigration issue, it is a humanitarian issue. Children are being used by the Trump Admin to create leverage, with a goal of passing Trumps anti-immigrant agenda. I struggle to think of anything more barbaric. #FamiliesBelongTogether Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 18, 2018 Nielsen is trying to shift blame onto Democrats and Congress despite the fact that the "zero-tolerance policy" toward separating migrant families was enacted in April by President Donald Trump's Justice Department. Per the Washington Post: UPDATE: The entire Democratic caucus supports our bill to bar children from being taken from their parents at the border. Ive heard countless Republicans say that they oppose children being taken from their parents. If thats true, they should support our bill NOW! Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) June 18, 2018 But Nielsen claims there is no policy of separating migrant families at the border, and the media is "misreporting" the facts. This misreporting by Members, press & advocacy groups must stop. It is irresponsible and unproductive. As I have said many times before, if you are seeking asylum for your family, there is no reason to break the law and illegally cross between ports of entry. Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) June 17, 2018 We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period. Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) June 17, 2018 Supporters say Nielsen is being attacked because she is doing her job and doing it well. You know how you can tell a woman in the Trump Administration is doing her job well? Democrats call for that woman to resign. Stand firm @SecNielsen Stacy Washington (@StacyOnTheRight) June 19, 2018 It's simple: don't break the law and you won't be separated from your children. When you rubber stamp illegal activity you create more ILLEGAL ACTIVITY. Get it? Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) June 19, 2018 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say. Education Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu. Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu. Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events: International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu. EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu. Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets June Homecoming: Participant $18 per person; Sustainer $25 per person; Benefactor $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary. The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events: SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available for information call 610-275-1960 Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above) SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m. Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. 4 p.m. computers are available during those hours. Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m. Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863. Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376. Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com. The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes: Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020. CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313. The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events: Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m. Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m. Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m. Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m. Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30. Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m. The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301. For Kids & Families The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443. Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950. Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required. The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950. Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus. Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage. Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun. Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train. Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world! Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class. Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org. Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583. Community Events at the Ambler Y: -YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register. Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org. Health Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot. The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net. The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863. The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information. Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245. Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net. Spring Aquatic Programs UDHS Pool: -Summer is just around the corner Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required. Shallow Water Aerobics Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR. Adult Swim Instructions Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR -Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21. -Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m. -Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons. -Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates. Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994. SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com. Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org. Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs: FITNESS CLASSES Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month. Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30 9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly. SUPPORT GROUPS Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000. Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30 7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047. New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m. 12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30 4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931. Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325. Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes. Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com. Librarytalk Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744 www.upperdublinlibrary.org APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS: Storytimes: Please register in the library. o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m. o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m. o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6. APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS: North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS: NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org. One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register contact info above. Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744. o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register. Meetings: Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m. Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m. Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org. For children and teens at Blue Bell: * Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian. * Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages. * Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m. * May 14 Despicable Me * June 11 Alpha and Omega * Special Events * April watch for date of spring/Easter events * April 14 at 4:30 p.m. Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children. * April 14 at 7 p.m. Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided. * April 16 at 1 p.m. Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King. * April 16 at 1:30 p.m. Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes? * April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button. * April 30 through May 3 Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults. * May sign up for Science in the Summer * June sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children * June sign up for Summer Reading, all ages For adults at Blue Bell: * Daytime Book Discussion Group fourth Tuesday, Jan April at 1:30 p.m. * April 26 The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester * Night-time Book Discussion Group third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. o April 19 The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester * Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked? *Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs * Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class. * Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class. * Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m. * Giant Book Sale, April 29 May 3 o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults! o Held during library hours. o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m. o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join. * Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series o May 11 at 1 p.m. Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society * Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room. * Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read. * Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome. * Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome. *Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older. * Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours * Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours * Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday! Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library. * Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian. * Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages. * Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages. * For adults: * Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn. * Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net * Special Events: * April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian. * April 19 at 7 p.m. Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m. * April 21 at 7 p.m. Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades. *May 2 at 6:30 p.m. Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time. *May 10 Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m. *May 12 at 1:30p.m. Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. *May 17 Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m. *June 13 at 6:30 p.m. Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time. Meetings and Lectures The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833. The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313. Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200. The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/. LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings. Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment. The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org. Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org. The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org) -Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them. The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter. For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps. Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin. Special Events The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County. The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065. Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org. The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org. The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members. Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex. The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com. The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348. The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org. Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163. The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu. The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com. The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net. Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd. The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages. 13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries. Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler. The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family. The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler. JPRN Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike. Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies. Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately. Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways. Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table. Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443. Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday Friday from 9 a.m. 4 p.m. Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday Friday from 9 a.m. 4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374 Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall: -Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store. Music and Theater The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html. Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free. The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org Religious News The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276. Reunions St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net. Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572. Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779. Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411. Support New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149. PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931. The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296. Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656. Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group every other Wednesday, 7 8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information. CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7 8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich, Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk! You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details. Credit Scoring and HR Products; Freddie and Fannie - Never Standing Still onight/tomorrow morning is the summer solstice. I am in Minneapolis at an ACUMA workshop and where the sun will set tonight at 9:03. (I suppose ACUMA could have held its event in Anchorage, where the sun sets at 11:42 tonight, which would be cool.) I mention credit unions because a) their market share is growing, and b) the talk is how President Trump is trying to reshape the National Credit Union Administration board by nominating former NCUA vice-chair Rodney Hood to fill an expired seat on the three member board. Fannie and Freddie Changes Those rascally, friendly competitors just dont stop to take a breath and seem to be busy trademarking every phrase and new product. (Watch out for a little TM or an R with a circle around it in promotional stuff.) On a more serious note, lets see what theyve been up to lately. Most loan officers will tell you that lower origination volumes are the result of a) millions of borrowers being content with their 3.5% 30-year loans, and b) lack of inventory in many parts of the U.S. It isnt the result of a lack of trying by Freddie and Fannie, who continue to garner the lions share of business. And headlines. A group of civil rights organizations, mortgage lenders, and homebuilders wrote to FHA Director Mel Watt urging him to allow the companies to rebuild their capital. Always a good idea to set aside some money for a rainy day, right? Freddie Mac announced a new website campaign called Borrower of the Future. Over the weekend of June 23, Fannie will implement an update to Desktop Underwriter (DU) Version 10.2. The update includes revised 2018 HomeReady mortgage income limits. Note that income limits will increase for about 94% of census tracts and about half will go up by at least 5%, which may help more of your borrowers qualify for HomeReady. The updated census tract lookup spreadsheet, income eligibility summary, and HomeReady Income Eligibility Lookup tool reflecting the changes will also be published on Fannies website. Beginning July 1, 2018, the new imminent default evaluation business rule requirements are mandatory for imminent default evaluations. Check out the Freddie Mac tutorial for more information. The Fannie Mae Servicing Guide has been updated with changes that provide forbearance plan options which assist borrowers experiencing a short-term hardship; and remove the requirement for servicers to grant separate relief during the 90-day period when attempting to contact a borrower impacted by a disaster. Respond to servicer feedback by removing the time frame associated with servicer reimbursements for escrow advances on delinquent loans. Clarify servicer requirements for submitting Form 1022, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) Reporting and Disbursement Form. For a summary of key updates in Servicing Guide Announcement SVC-2018-04, view the executive perspectives video presented by Jenise Hight, Director of Servicing Policy, and the executive overview from Carlos Perez, Chief Credit Officer for Single-Family. Freddie Macs Guide Bulletin 2018-9 announces updates which include Consolidates requirements for short-term, long-term and unemployment forbearance plan offerings into a single policy. Introduces NextJob re-employment services for borrowers with Freddie Mac Home Possible mortgages in Duty to Serve high-needs areas. Updates special insurance policy endorsement requirements for condominium and planned unit development projects. The Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin 2018-8, includes the following updates: New pricing cap structure and updated minimum LTV ratio requirements for Enhanced Relief Refinance mortgages. Updates to delivery requirements for Freddie Mac HomeOne mortgages. Clarifications regarding income stability and credit inquiries. Revisions to Guide Form 960, Concurrent Transfers of Servicing, involving eMortgages. Updates to the access management provisions of the master systems license, in preparation for the future availability of a new tool, Freddie Mac Access Manager. Removal of the Sellers option to choose super Accelerated Remittance Cycle. Fannie Mae is continuing its transition to the redesigned Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA)/Form 1003 is seamless and efficient. View the updated Desktop Underwriter (DU) Specification, FAQs, Rendering Options, and more to get up to speed on the latest changes. View the URLA page for more details. The Fannie Mae new foreclosure-related title cost guidance will go into effect for all servicers for referrals on or after Sept. 1. The changes will update the maximum allowable foreclosure title costs, clarify what must be included in foreclosure title searches, and provide a new optional foreclosure title vendor list for law firms. Updated documents can be found on the Delinquency and Default Management page. The Fannie Mae 2018-5 Selling Guide update includes: Announcement of MH Advantage, an innovative new homeownership option that pairs affordable financing with specially designated manufactured housing that has characteristics typical of site-built homes. Updated to its condo policies to increase simplicity and flexibility, making it easier for lenders to originate condo loans. Clarifies approved parties for performing inspections on manufactured housing with structural modifications. Provide additional HomeStyle Renovation forms, including special-purpose model documents and riders. DU will apply the HomeReady 2018 income limits to new DU loan casefiles submitted or resubmitted on or after June 23. The Income Eligibility Lookup Tool will also be updated on June 23rd. DU will apply the 2017 income limits to loan casefiles submitted prior to June 23rd. Freddie Mac updated BPODirect with the most recent pre-disaster property values. When you evaluate borrowers impacted by an eligible disaster that occurred on or after August 25, 2017, for a Freddie Mac Flex Modification, use the property values provided in the Auto Value field in BPODirect. These have been updated to provide the most recent available value prior to the date of the eligible disaster. If there is no property value in BPODirect, then you must order a broker price option. Please refer to Guide Section 9206.5 for full eligibility requirements for the Flex Modification. Beginning June 25 Freddie Mac will enforce the requirement to embed the Closing Disclosure PDF in the Uniform Closing Dataset (UCD) XML file. Click here to see what this means for you and how to avoid receiving critical edits when delivering your loan to Loan Selling Advisor. Capital Markets Rates closed slightly lower yesterday, including the 10-year yield hitting the lowest levels since the end of May, after Treasury futures spiked the evening before with President Trump calling to identify another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that could be subject to a 10.0% tariff. The president said the tariffs will be imposed if China does not change its practices and implements tariffs that were announced on Friday. As far as economic releases went, housing starts increased 5.0% MoM in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.350 million (above expectations) while building permits declined 4.6% to 1.301 million (below expectations). Permits, which are a leading indicator, declined for both single-family and multi-unit dwellings, meaning there might not be help coming for poor single-family home numbers in June. Today, we have already had the mortgage applications from the MBA for the week ending June 15 (nicely up over 5%, with refis jumping 6%). At 9:30am ET, Fed Chair Powell along with the ECBs Draghi, Bank of Japans Kuroda and RBAs Lower will participate in a panel discussion at the ECB Forum on Central Banking. May existing home sales are due out at 10AM ET with markets looking for a slight increase to 5.50 million compared with 5.46 million previously. Potentially market moving will be the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Current and Proposed Tariff Actions Administered by the Department of Commerce" which kicks off in Washington at 9:00am. We begin Hump Day with the 10-year at 2.90% and agency MBS prices little changed versus yesterdays close. Lender Products Managers and executives have the constant challenge of managing their business in a rapidly evolving competitive landscape. How do you attract and secure the best LO talent? As the workforce shifts, whoever can captivate talent and retain all-stars will have a leg up. The mortgage industry is not the first industry to tackle this challenge and examining how companies in other industries attract and retain top talent can provide fresh insights and tactics that your team can implement today. This eBook Attracting and Retaining Top Originators is being distributed exclusively to Rob Chrisman readers today. Download your free copy here. Whether you're just starting out or need a quick refresher, it's always important to understand the fundamentals of credit scoring! Check out Informative Research's Ultimate Guide to Credit Scoring for Lenders, which covers everything from tips to helping your borrowers increase their FICO Score to debunking myths on credit scoring and how to correct errors on a credit report, among much more. And if youre looking for something to help consumers, just send them the link to Informative Researchs Ultimate Guide to Credit Scores for Consumers, which provides important links and contact information, tips on what not to do, and how to avoid quick fix scams. With over 70+ years of industry experience and 3 security certifications, Informative Research is dedicated to educating both lenders and consumers to simplify your success and better serve the mortgage industry. Employment, Business Opportunities, and Promotions A National Mortgage Finance lender is seeking to acquire a fully operational loan origination center in the general area of Tampa Bay, Florida. Locations for prime consideration are Clearwater, Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg. Turn-key operations contained in office space from 7,500 to 15,000 square feet that include underwriting and processing personnel where all office equipment is on site and leases are assumable or renegotiable will be given priority. Please send particulars in complete confidence to: tbofficesearch@mail.com. Wintrust Mortgage is pleased to announce that Debbie Uecker has joined its operation as its Minnesota Regional Manager. Debbie has been in the mortgage industry for 30+ years, is excited to join the Wintrust Mortgage team, and looks forward to working with the great people of Minnesota to further expand the Wintrust Mortgage presence in the region. Wintrust Mortgage is a 50-state licensing exempted lender (bank owned) located in Rosemont, Illinois, with offices throughout the nation. Wintrust Mortgage continues to seek great mortgage company operators, loan officers, managers or owners interested in hearing about Wintrust. Anyone interested in joining this great team should contact Bob Shield, EVP of National Sales (847.939.9361). Wintrust is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. Equal Housing Lender. Wintrust Mortgage is a division of Barrington Bank & Trust Company, N.A., a Wintrust Community Bank NMLS #449042. Premier Nationwide Lending is excited to announce an elevated look to match our standard of service. A brand-new logo, website, and overall company rebrand have launched at LoansbyPremier.com. The company teamed up with Americas largest independently owned ad agency, The Richards Group, to develop a website that is modern, intuitive, and consumer-friendly. Premier is known for an operations team that is committed to closing every loan on time, as well as a full-service marketing department to support your business growth. Premier Nationwide Lending is dedicated to assisting our colleagues in achieving their best, and we are seeking experienced loan officers in multiple states. If you are interested in learning more about our dynamic team, please contact Joe Collins, Business Development Director, today at (214) 680-0216. PrimeLending has promoted Jeremy Bordner to Area Manager for the Idaho, Montana and Alaska markets. With more than 17 years of mortgage industry experience, Bordner joined PrimeLending in 2015 as the branch manager in Eagle, ID. A results-oriented production leader, Bordner quickly made a huge impact leading his team to consistent triple digit growth and opening 4 additional offices in Idaho and Montana. Known for his relentless drive, infectious enthusiasm and tireless servant leadership, Bordner has received the support and opportunity to take his career to the next level at PrimeLending. If youre a mortgage expert ready to take on new challenges and reap the benefits of you hard work like Jeremy, maybe its time to look at PrimeLending. For more information, contact Sherri White (972-852-8194). Waterstone Mortgage announced the addition of A.W. Pickel III as President to the Waterstone Mortgage leadership team. Due to Waterstone Mortgages significant growth in the past several years, the new role of President was created as part of a strategic initiative to support our ongoing expansion. Mr. Pickel is a rookie in the biz with only 30 years of experience and is well known for founding LeaderOne Financial. Kantar and Alibaba Promise Marketing 'At China Speed' Kantar has announced a partnership with Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba Group, aiming 'to redefine brand building in China' via an integrated 'insight to activation' platform for CMOs. The platform promises senior marketers the ability to 'develop, measure and optimise their marketing activities at 'China Speed' - the partners say that marketers of 'Chinese and global brands alike' see their marketing strategies 'outpaced by the scale, scope and speed of China's consumer market and media transformation'. To begin with, the partnership will bring together 'fragmented' brand metrics into one platform, to allow more agile decisions and action. Behind the scenes, Kantar has mapped and validated Alibaba's Marketing KPI 'Consumer Asset' framework to its own broader portfolio of marketing KPIs, and is to launch under its own brand a new set of three solutions: Brand Measurement & Diagnosis will spot real-time brand trend / signals, linking brand status to its underlying drivers in real time - sources include Kantar Millward Brown's Brand Health Tracking and Kantar Worldpanel's penetration data. Brand Activation Guidance & Planning, using Kantar's advanced analytics to act immediately on these insights and target the right audiences; and Performance Measurement & Optimisation toolkits, for use in dynamic creative optimisation, campaign impact and ROI measurement - making use of existing solutions such as MB's LINK and ABCS. Kantar CEO Eric Salama (pictured) says of the launch: 'The Chinese market is one of the most difficult and rewarding places in the world to do business. Our partnership with Alibaba is unique in the market place today. The combination of our proven IP and insights and capabilities with Alibaba's deep understanding of their half-billion plus strong consumer base will be a 'positive disrupter' for the Chinese marketing landscape, making it up to four times quicker for brands to understand and respond to the fast moving and evolving Chinese consumer's needs, and up to 40% more cost effective'. Alibaba CMO Chris Tung adds: 'Together we are creating the most powerful and advanced framework to differentiate brands and build growth'.Alibaba, which has previously struck partnerships with companies including Nielsen and Unilever , and invested in data firms such as PlaceIQ Shiji and SenseTime , notes in its press releases that it aims to be 'a company that lasts 102 years'. Web sites are at www.alibaba.com and www.kantar.com Yu Qun, member of the leadership of China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, addresses the launch ceremony for the Silk Road International Alliance of Art Museum and Galleries at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing on June 19, 2018. [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org] A launch ceremony for the Silk Road International Alliance of Art Museum and Galleries was held at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing on June 19. Yu Qun, member of the leadership of China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, attended the ceremony, along with 24 representatives of national galleries and art institutions from 18 countries related to the Belt and Road Initiative. Yu extended his congratulations on the establishment of the alliance. He said cultural exchanges based on the spirit of the Silk Road is an important aspect of the Belt and Road Initiative. "In the past five years, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been devoted to the promotion of exchanges among art and culture institutions from countries related to the Initiative. The alliance is one such fruit from the exchanges. It will provide a platform for international art museums and galleries to communicate," Yu said. Speaking at the event, Ms. Anjuska Weil, Head of the association, reviewed the activities of the association over the past time, especially the establishment of Binh Minh school, the first school teaching Vietnamese language in Switzerland for Vietnamese origin students living in Zurich city. After more than a year of operation, Binh Minh school has achieved initial positive results. She hoped that 30 students at the school will contribute to preserving Vietnamese language and culture among Vietnamese-origin people in Switzerland. In addition, the association has also actively organized and carried out exchange and charitable programs towards Vietnamese people, especially the visit to Vietnam by eight members in October 2017. On this occasion, members of the association transferred USD3,000 as part of the associations small credit program to help elderly people facing difficulty in Vietnams Hue city. Moreover, on Solidarity Day in November 2017, a traditional event of the association, over CHF6,000 was raised to support Agent Orange/Dioxin victims and people impacted by floods and storms in Vietnam. The association usually collaborates with Vietnam les Enfants de la Dioxine (VNED) to organize projects to support Vietnamese Agent Orange/Dioxin victims, especially children. Furthermore, it has also cooperated with the Vietnamese Embassy to organize friendly and community activities. At the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to Switzerland Pham Hai Bang reviewed notable situations at the East Sea over the past time as well as Vietnams efforts in maintaining peace in the region, peacefully resolving disputes based on the international law. The meeting also spent a large time to meet Ms. Tran To Nga, a Vietnamese Agent Orange/Dioxin victim with French nationality. She is the plaintiff to sue 26 American chemical companies, which had participated in the production and provision of Agent Orange/Dioxin to the US army to use in the war in Vietnam. Ms. Tran To Nga said that the lawsuit has been ongoing for over three years, and it has received support and attention not only in Vietnam and France, but in many countries in the world. The Switzerland - Vietnam Association, established in 1982, gathers hundreds of Swiss people at various ages interested in Vietnam. At present, the association has more than 100 members./. SOUTHINGTON When Nicole Roy saw how Hurricane Maria ravaged the island of Puerto Rico, she knew she had to find a way to help. To just see the devastation, I kept seeing it on the news, Roy said. Your just like, What is going on? Why isnt more being done? The Southington native and Bristol resident said she decided to visit the island with The Salvation Army to help with relief efforts. Saturday marked nine months since the hurricane made landfall over Puerto Rico, and Roy said the island is still suffering from its effects. Its not as widespread as it was when I first arrived in December, but your still seeing it and its sad, Roy said. Roy began her trip in December 2017 by visiting The Salvation Armys central office in Caguas, located in a mountain range in the center of the island. She said when she got to Puerto Rico, she fell in love with the island and knew she made the right decision. Its the best thing Ive probably ever done in my life, Roy said. Mark Fazzolari, Southington Community Services assistant director, said Roy has made significant contributions. Shes not like anyone I have ever met, Fazzolari said. Shes one of the most generous people I know. Fazzolari said Roy has been working with the Southington Community Services Department, which partners with United Way of Southington and The Salvation Army, for 3 years. Its life or death there, Fazzolari said. There is a lot we dont see, and shes seen it first hand. Roy has visited over 150 locations, distributing food, water, clothing, water filters, portable stoves and propane. Sometimes people would be in line for hours before we get [to the distribution center] and to distribute it takes awhile, Roy said. for a case of water and a bag of rice. Roy said one of the homes she visited has been without power since Hurricane Irma, which struck the island on Sept. 5. She said that the people of Puerto Rico are fatigued and overwhelmed. They were people that were already weakened [by Irma] and already had outages before Maria came, and that just really wiped them out, Roy said. Roy said cellphone service still occasionally fails, cities lose power as often as every couple of weeks, and accessing the internet is next to impossible. The last time the power went out in San Juan, Roy said it took nearly five hours to restore. Roy said when the power goes out, a collective yell made by the residents can be heard from the buildings in the neighborhood. Youll hear other choice words and you hear everyone open their windows and doors, Roy said. Several of the highways are missing exit signs and some traffic lights, even in tourists areas, do not function. Roy said We were driving and all of a sudden there were two random cones and we [realize] the road ends, Roy said Roy said there is a misconception that the people affected by the storm live in a village or mountain top and that the island is like a third world country. She said that the locals are average, middle-class Americans that have jobs and families. These are just things that people have to deal with every day here. I dont know how they do it, Roy said. Roy was particularly touched when a family invited volunteers to their home after completing a shift at a distribution center, providing them with wash cloths and preparing a meal from donated food. I dont know if Ive ever seen that generosity and its really pure thankfulness, Roy said. It changes your perspective on life. Roy said she is grateful for the experience and it has led her to decide to continue volunteering for emergency disaster relief causes. Roy recently purchased an apartment in Puerto Rico and plans to live there for at least a year. I really love Puerto Rico, Roy said. I think a part of me would always like to come back here. I realized recently I wanted to change my life to here. jroman@record-journal.com 203-317-2420 Twitter: @JenieceRoman An Australian gannet returns from predation in Muriwai Beach, New Zealand, June 19, 2018. Starting from June of each year, adult Australian gannets arrive on the shores of Muriwai gradually for preparations of upcoming courtship season. (Xinhua/Guo Lei) 9 1 [ Editor: zyq ] The event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. MPI Deputy Minister, Vu Dai Thang, said that amidst the strongly developing Industry 4.0 and fierce competition in attracting FDI, Vietnam has set the target of shifting FDI attraction from quantity to quality, gradually moving towards high quality resources instead of attracting FDI in sectors with cheap labour costs. Therefore, it is necessary to review the current situation of labour in FDI enterprises in order to propose solutions to make a breakthrough to improve labour quality and efficiency, making the most of the world's FDI flows which are tending to pour into Asia, including Vietnam, Deputy Minister Thang suggested. Dr. Le Van Hung, from the Vietnam Institute of Economics, said that FDI plays an important role in the productivity growth of the FDI recipient countries. In terms of direct impacts, FDI helps to shift the structure of domestic labour from the low-productivity sectors to the more productive sectors. However, Deputy Minister Thang pointed out that the FDI sector also showed several shortcomings, such as FDI flows being mainly focused on assembling, processing, and sectors with a low localisation rate, while not establishing close links with Vietnamese enterprises to join the value chain. The transfer of technology and management experience has not been as expected; even some enterprises have committed tax evasion or violated regulations on environmental protection. To improve the efficiency of labour productivity in the FDI sector, Dr. Hung recommended paying more attention to the quality of attracted FDI instead of quantity. FDI attraction should be closely linked with the national development strategy, with priority given to attracting investment in sectors and areas with comparative advantages, or in high technology and new energy projects. Deputy Head of Dong Nai provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Pham Van Cong, said that it is necessary to shift the direction in order to attract FDI to the supporting industry projects. The enforcement of the FTA was reviewed at a working session between Vietnams Minister of Industry and Trade, Tran Tuan Anh, and Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Veronika Nikishina, in Moscow, on June 18. According to statistics released by Vietnam Customs, trade between the two sides hit US$3.9 billion in 2017, up 3% from 2016. Also in 2017, Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of nearly US$1 billion with the bloc. In the first four months of 2018, the bilateral trade was at US$1.53 billion USD, an annual increase of 35%. Key exports of Vietnam to the EAEU were phones components, computers electronic devices, apparel, footwear, fruit vegetables, coffee, cashew nuts, and seafood. It mainly imported petrol, oil, steel, fertilizers, and machinery from the EAEU. The commodities of the sides supplement each other, thus limiting the disadvantages usually seen with other FTAs. However, the two ministers took note of the low use of incentives brought by the agreement, particularly the Certificate of Origin Form EAV. They called for further joint efforts to clear the hurdles for Vietnamese and EAEU businesses so that they can capitalise on the favourable conditions created by the bilateral FTA and bolster their bilateral trade towards a value of 10 billion USD in 2020. Tuan Anh voiced his concern over the EECs safeguard duties that are imposed on Vietnamese underwear and childrens wear products for nine and six months respectively since March 14, 2018. He noted that Vietnam had repeatedly asked for reconsideration of the duties considering that Vietnamese goods account for a low share in the EAEUs total import of such products, have good quality, and supplement the garment and textile products made by EAEU countries. The Vietnamese minister asked the EEC to promptly lift the duties and make the criteria of its safeguard measures more transparent in the future. Concluding their meeting, the two officials agreed to exert greater efforts to effectively implement the EAEU Vietnam FTA and create the most favourable conditions for the bilateral trade of agro-forestry-fishery goods. They reached a consensus on accelerating the negotiations to build an electronic origin assessment and certification system following the roadmap committed to by both Vietnam and the bloc. In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency, Minister Tuan Anh said the FTA is a strong catalyst for trade with Russia, an important comprehensive strategic partner of Vietnam in the EAEU. The trade value with Russia currently accounts for about 90% of Vietnams total trade with the bloc. He said the EAEU is intensifying its trade and investment with the ASEAN Community in its strategy to expand its ties with the Asia-Pacific region, and Vietnam is also building production and distribution chains in the region. Therefore, deeper cooperation with Vietnam will give producers and suppliers in Russia and other EAEU opportunities to join supply chains in the Asia-Pacific. By Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE: Some critics of the forced separation of Latino children from their migrant parents say the practice is unprecedented. But it's not the first time the U.S. government has split up families, detained children or allowed others to do so. Throughout American history, during times of war and unrest, authorities have cited various reasons and laws to take children away from their parents. Here are some examples: SLAVERY Before abolition, children of black slaves were born into slavery and could be sold by owners at will. Black women could do little to stop the sale of children and often never saw them again after they were sent away. Owners also split apart parents who had no legal rights to prevent their sale. To resist, slave families regularly ran away together but faced harsh physical punishment, even death, if caught by slave hunters. Last week, both White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney Jeff Sessions cited the Bible in defending the policy of forced separation of Latino migrant children. Sessions referenced Romans 13, which urges readers "to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order." The same passage was cited before the Civil War to justify slavery, to allow slave hunters to return runaway slaves to their owners and to pull slave children away from mothers. NATIVE AMERICAN BOARDING SCHOOLS After the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, when the Army slaughtered 150 Lakota men, women and children in the last chapter of America's long Indian wars, authorities forced Native American families to send their children to government- or church-run boarding schools. The objective, as Carlisle Indian Industrial School founder Capt. Richard H. Pratt put it, was to "kill the Indian in him and save the man." At 150 or so Indian schools around the country, officials made Native American children cut their hair and outlawed all Native American languages. They forced children to adopt Christianity and attempted to "Americanize" children by introducing them to white customs and white history. Native American children returned home almost unrecognizable to their parents. Still, some children resisted the boarding school experience by setting fires to buildings, running away or taking their own lives. Others continued to speak their native language in secret. Some Navajo "code talkers," who used a code based on their native language to transmit messages in World War II, were products of military-style boarding schools as children. POVERTY During the early 1900s, states sometimes pulled children from poor families and placed them in orphanages. But reformers in the 1920s and 1930s began promoting the idea that children should not be separated from their families, according to "In the Shadow Of the Poorhouse: A Social History Of Welfare In America" by Michael B. Katz. However, local and state authorities still used poverty as a reason to take children away from Native American and black families, McClain said. Sometimes the ordered separation came over concerns about a parent's mental health. Malcolm X in his autobiography recalled welfare workers coming to take him and his siblings away as children from his struggling single mother after their father, an outspoken black preacher, was mysteriously murdered. The future civil rights leader lived in various foster homes and boarding houses. His mother, without her children, had a breakdown and was sent to a mental institution. IMMIGRATION During the Great Depression, local authorities in California and Texas participated in a mass deportation of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans whom they blamed for the economic downturn. Between 500,000 and 1 million Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans were pushed out of the country during the 1930s repatriation, as the removal is sometimes called. Some families hid children away from relatives in the U.S. to prevent them from being sent to a foreign country they had never visited, according to Francisco Balderrama, a Chicano studies professor at California State University-Los Angeles and co-author of "Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s." Many families felt they were being forced to separate from their children, who were U.S. citizens. "And many children," Balderrama said, "never saw their parents again." JAPANESE INTERNMENT CAMPS Starting in 1942, when the U.S. was at war with Japan, around 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were ordered by the U.S. government into prison camps around the country. An estimated 30,000 were children. The 1999 documentary "Children of the Camps" highlighted the trauma children faced while being detained with their grief-stricken parents. Some older children waited to turn 18 so they could volunteer to fight for the U.S. to prove their families' loyalty despite not wanting to be separated from their parents. Diaries and later interviews show many of those who went into the military did so reluctantly. Kiyoshi K. Muranaga, whose family was interned at Granada Relocation Center in Colorado, joined the U.S. Army but was killed in Italy. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton. Goods trade, rules of origin, customs, and technical barriers to trade, service trade, trade safeguard, investment, governments purchase, and other legal and institutional issues were tabled at the fifth round. In the spirit of openness and frankness, the two sides made headway in major negotiation fields such as good and service trade, and agreed make greater efforts to complete the negotiations soon in line with directions of the two countries leaders. Vietnam and Israel have enjoyed increasing two-way trade in the past years. Last year, bilateral trade reached US$1.06 billion, of which Vietnam exported US$713 million worth of products to Israel and imported US$347 million worth of goods from the Middle East country. The signing of a FTA is expected to further foster trade and investment between the two countries as well as bring substantial benefits to enterprises, labourers and citizens of both nations. Vietnam and Israel officially launched FTA negotiations on December 2, 2015. The next round of talks will be held at the end of this year in Vietnam as agreed by the two sides. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Reporter Lyndsay Jones is a reporter covering education at The News-Gazette. Her email is ljones@news-gazette, and you can follow her on Twitter (@__lyndsayjones). One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021 Chief Executive Carrie Lam (right), Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau (second left) and the Secretary for Innovation & Technology Nicholas Yang (centre) tour the Louvre Museum. Chief Executive Carrie Lam and Secretary for Innovation & Technology Nicholas Yang (right) talk with students at Ecole Polytechnique. Chief Executive Carrie Lam (third left) meets French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian (second right) in Paris. Chief Executive Carrie Lam continued her visit to France in Paris yesterday where she met Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian. Mrs Lam hopes Hong Kong and France have more collaboration in the future, including in the promotion of free trade and participation in the Belt & Road Initiative. She then joined a breakfast meeting at Institut Montaigne, a French think tank, attended by business leaders and academics. Mrs Lam discussed developments in Hong Kong, including the successful implementation of "one country, two systems", the rule of law and judicial independence. She later visited Ecole Polytechnique to learn about its development and research projects on biomedical technology. Ecole Polytechnique has started co-operating with universities in Hong Kong and Mrs Lam said she hopes these exchanges will promote the internationalisation of higher education in Hong Kong. She also met a group of students and encouraged them to visit Hong Kong under the Working Holiday Scheme. "As the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, I would agree that Hong Kong is great. But Hong Kong could be greater with more talents coming to work and co-operate with us, particularly talented students in the STEM area because my government is now pressing ahead with promoting innovation and technology in Hong Kong ranging from biomedical technology to artificial intelligence, robotics, smart city and fintech." Mrs Lam then visited the Louvre Museum where she met its President-Director Jean-Luc Martinez and saw part of its collection. She thanked the museum for co-organising a large-scale exhibition with the Hong Kong Heritage Museum last year, giving Hong Kong people a chance to see some of the Louvre's rich collection. He affirmed that the projects products are advanced and high-quality scientific and technological achievements in agriculture which can compete with alike products of other countries, thus helping save import costs, take initiative in production, processing and preservation, and increase the economic efficiency and export value of Vietnamese farm produce. The project has also contributed to generating more jobs, boosting poverty reduction, ensuring social welfare, reducing environmental pollution, and consolidating defence in production zones across the nation, especially in mountainous, border, and ethnic-inhabited areas, he stated. Its outcomes affirm the sound cooperation model between the Defence Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, he added. To improve the quality of the project implementation for 2018-2020 and following years, the Government leader asked the two ministries to coordinate with authorised offices to bring into full play forces serving agricultural modernisation, particularly in varieties, cultivation tools, and post-harvest methods and machinery. They were urged to work with the Ministries of Science and Technology, and Finance to give consultations to the Government towards the issuance of regulations assessing and putting into use the projects products, along with mechanisms to attract businesses and localities to use and develop these products. On this occasion, PM Phuc granted the Feat of Arms Order and Labour Order to several collectives and individuals of the two ministries for their outstanding contributions to the project. At the talks after the official welcome ceremony for Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, Lao Vice President Phankham Viphavanh highlighted the visits significance to the two countries relations, noting that the Party, State and people of Laos always keep in mind the enormous assistance Vietnam has given to them throughout history. Vice President Thinh, who is on her first official visit to Laos from June 19 to 22, reiterated that the Party, State and people of Vietnam always treasure the sincere friendship and mutual support with Laos. The two sides briefed each other about their respective countries security, political and socio-economic situation, stressing that amid numerous challenges in the world and the region, Vietnam and Laos should further intensify their time-tested friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation, which are the priceless asset that needs to be maintained and passed down to future generations. The vice presidents noted with satisfaction the flourishing cooperation in all aspects, including politics, security, defence, economy, trade, investment, education, culture, and people-to-people exchange. They said the frequent mutual visits by leaders of the countries Parties, States, Governments and National Assemblies are a vivid demonstration of the pure, faithful and trustworthy connections between Vietnam and Laos. Phankham Viphavanh asked for both sides coordination to soon build a park named after Vietnams late President Ho Chi Minh in the north of Vientiane capital city so as to help educate young people on the great friendship of the countries. At the talks, they agreed to step up mutual visits at all levels with a focus on their effectiveness along with people-to-people exchange, especially among young people, to reinforce the two nations connectivity and create a solid foundation for future generations to foster the traditional relations. They agreed to bolster security-defence cooperation, including in fighting trans-national crimes and ensuring security and development in the countries shared border areas. They also urged better coordination to manage the borderline, reduce irregular migration, and carry out the agreement on the settlement of irregular migrants and undocumented marriages signed by the two Governments in 2013. The Lao Vice President thanked the Vietnamese Government for creating conditions for the Lao-Vietnam International Port Joint Stock Company to build Vung Ang No. 1, 2 and 3 wharves, which are important gateways for the economic development of the northeast of Laos. He also appreciated the Vietnamese sides promotion of trade and investment partnership, transport connectivity, investment cooperation projects, and removal of business obstacles. Valuing the Vietnamese Governments scholarships for Laos, he asked the two sides to improve collaboration in education-training to meet each countrys human resource demand while strengthening ties in culture, sports, communications, science and technology. Phankham Viphavanh affirmed that the Lao Government always supports Vietnamese people to settle in the country under Laos law. The two sides should coordinate closely to manage and create favourable conditions for Vietnamese to work in conformity with Laos law. The two officials said their countries will continue working closely together and support each other at international and regional forums like the United Nations, ASEAN and the Mekong regions cooperation mechanisms. Also on June 19, the Vietnamese Vice President paid courtesy calls to General Secretary of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party and President Bounnhang Vorachith and Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith. The Lao leaders emphasised that the Party and Government of Laos always attach importance to the enhancement of the countries special ties, agreeing to solidify the comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties and Governments. The official had working sessions with Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Japanese House of Representatives, Yasuhide Nakayama, Foreign Minister Taro Kono, and Cabinet minister in charge of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Toshimitsu Motegi, during the stay. During the meetings, both sides shared the view that the bilateral relationship is developing fruitfully within the framework of the extensive strategic partnership, for peace and prosperity in Asia. They took note of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abes visit to Vietnam on the occasion of his attendance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in 2017, the official visit to Vietnam by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko last year and the most recent visit to Japan by President Tran Dai Quang in May 2018. The two sides agreed to reinforce the friendship and comprehensive cooperation in the time to come. Chairman of the National Assemblys Committee for External Affairs Giau highlighted that the bilateral economic-trade cooperation is at its highest ever level, with Japan being the top economic partner of Vietnam. Two-way trade exceeded US$ 33.4 billion in 2017, and Japans direct investment in Vietnam, at over US$ 9 billion, made up 25 percent of the total foreign direct investment (FDI) poured in the country that year. As of the end of 2017, Japanese investors had run 3,700 FDI projects worth US$ 50 billion, he said, noting the symbolic projects such as the Can Tho and Nhat Tan bridges, and the projects on upgrading Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat international airports. Apart from the enhanced collaboration in education, training, employment and people-to-people exchanges, the bilateral legislative ties have also been stepped up, as reflected through the high-level visits by leaders of the two legislatures, the exchanges between parliamentarians, and the mutual support at multilateral inter-parliamentary forums. The Japanese side said the legislative ties have become an important factor that contributes to the comprehensive cooperation. Japan also affirmed its support for stronger cooperation with Vietnam, with attention paid to economics, trade and high-quality personnel training. The Japanese officials expressed their backing of the viewpoints and stance of Vietnam and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regarding the East Sea issue, emphasising the need to maintain freedom, security and safety of navigation and aviation on the basis of respect for international law. Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Japanese House of Representatives, Yasuhide Nakayama, described Giaus visit as a new step forward in maintaining and developing the bilateral legislative ties and concretising the agreements reached by the leaders of the two legislative bodies in 2015 and 2017. Regarding the CPTPP, the two sides agreed that the signing of the deal is an important event bearing great significance towards curbing the spreading trend of trade protectionism. They said the ratification and implementation of the agreement is expected to create a strong boost for regional and global trade. Chairman of the National Assemblys Committee for External Affairs Giau lauded the pioneering role played by Japan, the second country to ratify the deal, and asked Japan to share its experience with Vietnam in the ratification process and provide technical support for Vietnam in implementing the pact. Foreign Minister, Taro Kono, appreciated Vietnams efforts and the Vietnam-Japan cooperation during the process of negotiation and signing the CPTPP, and stressed the importance of free trade and free navigation in the region and the world. The Vietnamese NA official also discussed the role of the parliaments committee for foreign affairs in supervising the implementation of bilateral agreements and international deals to which both countries are members. OPPOSITION MDC-T and MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa yesterday raised alarm and literally pressed the panic baton after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) for the second day running allegedly declined to give him an electronic copy of the voters roll, claiming it was not yet ready. This came amid reports that the ruling Zanu PF party and officials at the British and American embassies had already received soft copies of the roll. We still dont have the voters roll. Our people have been told to wait 48 hours. We are struggling to understand why Zec is frustrating our attempts to access this important document, Chamisa tweeted yesterday. The previous day, Chamisa had reportedly tried in vain to obtain the roll. Zec continues to refuse to release the voters roll. Worse still, the chairperson (Priscilla Chigumba) has now shifted goal posts and says they are printing hard copies. We require an electronic copy; we have made this very clear. What are they trying to hide? he queried. Chamisas spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda last night insisted that Zec had not released the voters roll to the MDC Alliance president and other candidates in the coalition. We went there in the morning and were told to sign for the voters roll and come back and check after 48 hours, Sibanda said. But Zec acting chief elections officer, Utloile Silaigwana said all candidates who visited their offices yesterday had been issued with a copy of the voters roll and warned Chamisa against politicking over the issue. I can confirm to you that all candidates who visited our offices today have been given copies of the voters roll. Those who did not come, we did not give them, Silaigwana said. On Monday, Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba told journalists that the commission was printing copies for candidates who successfully filed their nomination papers to participate in the presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. She, however, warned that elections would be held as scheduled on July 30 regardless of concerns likely to be raised by parties over the quality of the voters roll. The Electoral Resource Centre, that took Zec to court demanding a provisional voters roll that was inspected between May 19 and 29 said they have received a copy of the voters roll, but claimed it served no purpose if it was not accompanied by the roll that was inspected. One can only pick anomalies if there is something to compare with. Zec should simply respect the court order and release the voters roll that was inspected, ERC director Tawanda Chimhini said. He said the quest for a free, fair and undisputed election should have started with political parties receiving the provisional voters roll inspected last month so that they factor in their input to be considered when making the final roll. Zec has been accused by opposition parties of deliberately delaying the release of the voters roll as part of the rigging process on behalf of the ruling Zanu PF, an allegation the commission had denied. Newsday After 50 Years, Rolling Stones Stop Playing Controversial Hit in case you missed it advertisement Jussie Smollett Is Going to Trial UPDATED Halloween Kills Looks Like a Survivor box office advertisement Man Found Guilty of Killing His Wife With a Cobra in case you missed it One in 8 Runners Who Started the Race Ended Up Dying longform Bill Clinton Released From California Hospital updated advertisement Teachers Told to Pair Holocaust Books With 'Opposing' Views in case you missed it advertisement 2 Young Kids, Parents Given COVID-19 Vaccine by Mistake in case you missed it Blown Call Makes Case for Robot Umpires opinion advertisement Space Debris Crashes Through Roof, Onto Woman's Pillow in case you missed it advertisement Sally Rooney Nixes a Hebrew Translation of Her Novel in case you missed it (Newser) A federal judge ruled Monday that Kansas cannot require documentary proof of US citizenship to register to vote, finding such laws violate the constitutional right to vote in a ruling with national implications. The ruling by US District Judge Julie Robinson is the latest setback for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has championed such laws and led President Trump's now-defunct voter fraud commission. The 118-page decision came in two consolidated cases challenging a Kansas voter registration law requiring people to provide documents such as a birth certificate, US passport or naturalization papers. The decision strikes down the Kansas proof-of-citizenship registration law and makes permanent an earlier injunction that had temporarily blocked it, the AP reports. story continues below In an extraordinary rebuke, the judge also ordered Kobach on Monday to complete an additional six hours of legal education on top of other requirements before he can renew his law license for the upcoming year. She imposed the sanction for his numerous disclosure violations. Kobach said his office would appeal the judge's "extreme conclusion," which he said was unlikely to survive scrutiny by a higher court. No other state has been as aggressive as Kansas in imposing proof-of-citizenship voter registration requirements. Also this week, the American Civil Liberties Union sued Kobach, challenging a multi-state voter registration database it claims exposed sensitive information including partial Social Security numbers from nearly a thousand state voters. The complaint alleges "reckless maintenance" of the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, which compares voter registration lists among participating states to look for duplicates. The program is aimed at cleaning voter records and preventing voter fraud but has drawn criticism for its high error rate and lax security. (Read more Kris Kobach stories.) The remark was made by Standing Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee, Le Thanh Liem, at a ceremony held in Ho Chi Minh City, on June 20, to mark the 45th anniversary of the diplomatic ties with Italy. He noted that both sides have enhanced their delegation exchanges in the past few years, including the visit to Vietnam in 2014 and 2015 made by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and President Sergio Mattarella, and the visit to Italy in 2013 and 2014 by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Tran Dai Quang. The two countries have closely cooperated at international and multilateral forums, enhanced their trade and investment ties, and bolstered their collaboration in the fields of education, tourism and science, he said. Regarding the relations between Ho Chi Minh City and the European country, the Standing Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee underlined that both sides have gained important achievements in trade, investment, education-training, culture and tourism. The Italian leaders visit to the southern hub is a vivid illustration of the sound friendship between the two countries, while opening new cooperative opportunities for both sides in various sectors. The Italian Government has committed its support to establishing a garment and leather shoes technology centre at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. In addition, the Italian Linguistics and Literature Department set up in 2008 under the University of Social Sciences and Humanities is the translation of positive education cooperation between the two nations. Consul General of Italy in Ho Chi Minh City, Dante Brandi, for his part, pointed to the need to start concretising the cooperative activities to elevate the bilateral relations in various sectors, especially those of both sides strengths and interests, to the next level. Italy sees potential and opportunities in the relations with Ho Chi Minh City, the most dynamic city in Vietnam, he affirmed, expressing his delights over the smooth cooperation with the city to welcome high-ranking delegations from Italy. Together with the productive results in trade, investment and education, Ho Chi Minh City and Italy have huge potential to further the win-win cooperation in infrastructure development, museum management, tourism development, and scientific research. (Newser) Avocados are the frequent subject of teasing over their ever-so-brief period of ripenessbut one California company is looking to change that. Avocados treated by Apeel Sciences will be sold in the US for the first time this week, and thanks to a tasteless and edible coating, those avocados will stay fresh twice as long as a typical avocado. "The average avocado might be ripe for 2-3 days. Ours will stay ripe for 4-6 days," says the company's CEO, per the Guardian. The edible barrier, made from plant materials, creates a "microclimate," controlling the rate at which water leaves the avocado's surface and oxygen entersthe two main things that make produce go bad. story continues below Apeel's CEO says it started with avocados because "everyone has an experience of cutting into an avocado and discovering its past its prime. Its a visceral reaction when youve spent a few dollars on something that ends up in the garbage." But many other types of produce can be treated with the coating, and Apeel hopes to ultimately help reduce the 400 pounds of food per person estimated to be thrown away in the US per year. Apeel-treated avocados are first rolling out in Costco and Harp Foods stores in the midwest, but will eventually be available across the US. They will cost the same as any other conventionally grown avocado. Business Insider has side-by-side comparison photos of an untreated versus a treated avocado 30 days after harvest. (Read more avocado stories.) (Newser) Sarah Palin's oldest son was formally accepted into a diversion court program Tuesday after assaulting his father so severely it left him bleeding from the head. Track Palin pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal trespass after breaking into the family home north of Anchorage in December, reports the AP. The change of plea will allow the 29-year-old Army veteran who served one year in Iraq to take part in Alaska's Veterans Court, a therapeutic diversion program intended to rehabilitate veterans. If he completes the program, he'll serve 10 days in jail. If he doesnt, hell serve a year in jail under the plea agreement. Allowed to call in to the Anchorage courtroom from Wasilla, Palin told a judge he was "doing good," taking classes, and learning patience. (Read more Track Palin stories.) (Newser) Mexican officials say three gay rights activists have been shot dead and left along a highway in the troubled southern state of Guerrero. Guerrero security spokesman Roberto Alvarez says the bodies were found Sunday on a road between Taxco and Cuernavaca with bullet wounds to the head. Alvarez said Tuesday that evidence and witness testimony suggest the killings may have been linked to extortion, the AP reports. story continues below Four people were arrested in possession of weapons and drugs, and one is suspected in the killings. The victims were identified as Ruben Estrada, a gay community leader in the town of Taxco, and activists Carlos Uriel Lopez and Roberto Vega. Guerrero is a flashpoint for drug gang violence, while Taxco is a popular tourist destination famous for its cobblestone streets and artisanal silver industry. (Read more Mexico stories.) (Newser) "It changes your DNA," Dianne Grossman told reporters Tuesday. The New Jersey mother was speaking on the suicide of her 12-year-old daughter, Mallory, who died last June after what her parents say was a relentless bullying campaign by classmates at Copeland Middle School. Now, per the Star-Ledger, Grossman and her husband are suing the Rockaway Township Board of Education, the township, and individual school workers for not taking appropriate actions to combat the bullying despite their pleas. The Grossmans say four students tormented Mallory for months, even asking her how she planned to kill herself. Their complaint notes when help was sought for Mallory, school officials suggested she take her lunch period in the guidance office instead of the cafeteria. It also says Mallory was forced to hug it out with her harassers. story continues below Grossman tells the New York Post that school principal Alfonso Gonnella personally has "blood on his hands." She says he "humiliated" Mallory on the last day of her life by putting the onus on her to combat the bullying, giving her a poker chip and asking, "Are you all in?" Grossman says the four kids who bullied her daughter still haven't been disciplined. "We know that the poor behavior and poor decisions these kids make has not changed," she tells WABC. The Grossmans' complaint seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, but another reason is also driving the suit. "I really want schools to understand the gravity of what has happened," Grossman says. "Our family is forever changed because they chose not to put systems in place. ... I want other school systems to learn from this." The Grossmans have also started the Mallory's Army Foundation to help combat bullying. (Read more bullying stories.) (Newser) There's been no sign of Paul Fugate since the Chiricahua National Monument ranger disappeared nearly 40 years ago. But there apparently has been "new information" in the case, which has led the National Park Service to triple the reward for information leading to his whereabouts to $60,000. As an NPS release explains, the 41-year-old Fugate was working a Jan. 13, 1980, shift at the southeastern Arizona monument's visitor center when he set out on one of the trails. He was never seen again. In a 1981 article on the missing man, the New York Times reported the 17-square-mile monument area was thoroughly searched, but that search didn't extend beyond those grounds. The Douglas Dispatch in 2010 reported that no items were missing from Fugate's home to suggest he actively disappeared. story continues below The Times reported that friends and family (he left behind a wife) suspected he came across a drug deal in progressdrug deals had been known to occur at the monument, which sits roughly 60 miles from the Mexican borderand that the uniform and badge he was wearing caused those he encountered to panic and abduct him. "I believe there is a 50% chance that a homicide has occurred," an investigator with the Cochise sheriff's office said at the time. The only lead was an acquaintance's report of seeing Fugate sandwiched between two men in a pickup, though that stemmed from a quick glimpse that occurred as the vehicles passed each other at 50mph. Those with info can call or text 888-653-0009. (This man was on a quest to perfect Ulysses, then vanished.) (Newser) President Trump announced his plans Monday to build the "Space Force," a "separate but equal" sixth branch of the US military, spurring a fair amount of in-depth criticism, joshing, and outright mockery. But one nation in particular is taking Trump's pledge quite seriously, even expressing concern, per Radio Free Europe. "The most alarming thing about this news is the aim of [Trump's] instructions, namely to ensure [US] domination in space," Russian Foreign Ministry rep Maria Zakharova says. story continues below Zakharova says such a military unit, if it came to fruition, would have a "destabilizing effect on strategic stability and international security," and she accuses the US of scheming to bring weapons into outer space for possible military exercises. It's that last part that would have the US violating a treaty banning nukes in the cosmos, Viktor Bondarev, the head of the upper house's defense committee, tells the RIA Novosti news agency, via the Moscow Times. "The militarization of space is a path toward catastrophe," Bondarev said Tuesday. "If the US withdraws from the treaty, then of course, not only ours but other states will follow with a tough response aimed at ensuring global security." (Read more space force stories.) (Newser) The tariff tit for tat continues, with the EU set to put a wave of new tariffs against US exports into place on Friday. It's a response to the steel and aluminum tariffs that were imposed on the bloc three weeks ago, and the BBC characterizes the to-be-targeted exports as "specifically chosen to have maximum political effect," citing affected products like bourbon whiskey from Mitch McConnell's home state and orange juice from the swing state of Florida. Also in the crosshairs: everything from Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Levis to cranberries, rice, and peanut butter. The full list covers about 200 product categories, nearly all of which will be hit with a 25% tariff, reports the Wall Street Journal. story continues below Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom says the EU has been "left with no other choice" following President Trump's "unilateral and unjustified decision." Bloomberg calls the move the "first phase of retaliation" against the US, and one the EU had been threatening since March. The value of the impacted goods is roughly $3.2 billion, while the affected EU steel and aluminum exports tally up to about $7.4 billion. The Journal notes Trump had previously threatened to retaliate against any EU retaliation by slapping a tariff on European cars. (Read more tariffs stories.) (Newser) Putting up a fight, a woman managed to escape being abducted by a convicted rapist while out jogging in Massachusetts on Sunday, police say. The woman, who chose not to be identified, was running in Bridgewater around 7:30am when a man got out of his SUV and came toward her. At first, she thought he needed help. "But when he was coming right at me I was like, 'OK, this is happening,'" the 37-year-old tells ABC News. A surveillance video shows the man lunge as the woman tries to escape. "He was grabbing at me," but "I was able to fight and kind of flip him to the ground," she says. Though the move also brought the woman to the ground, "I just kept kicking back behind me trying to prevent him from getting a further hold of me and getting to a point where he could either assault me or pick me up and get me into the vehicle," she says. story continues below Just as a driver stopped at the scene, the woman's neighbor, 84-year-old Donald Prohovich, saw the commotion and came over. Amid his yells, the attacker got back in his SUV and fled, but not before his would-be victim snapped a photo, helping police identify a vehicle that crashed a short time later, per Boston.com. Police arrested Gordon Lyons, a 57-year-old convicted rapist now charged with kidnapping, indecent assault, and battery. Even so, "I'm afraid a lot," the woman tells the Brockton Enterprise. "But the one thing I keep reminding myself is that there was one person yesterday that tried to hurt me, but there were 20 or more who tried to help me." Singling out "hero" Prohovich, she adds, "I cannot tell you how grateful I am. That is a brave man." Prohovich heaps praise elsewhere. "She was terrific," he tells WFXT. "She was a heroine, actually." (Read more Massachusetts stories.) Both sides spoke highly of the sharing of information and expertise between the two legislatures units as well as effective cooperation in their external activities, especially at regional and global parliamentary forums such as the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The Vice President suggested working closely together to refine legal regulations in each country as well as oversee law enforcement, supporting necessary changes to mechanisms, policies and laws to boost bilateral trade and investment. Yathotou, for her part, said amidst complicated developments in the region and the world, the Vietnamese and Lao Parties, States, parliaments and people need to strive to uphold long-standing ties, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation in the fields of politics, diplomacy, national defence-security, economy, trade, investment, culture, education and people-to-people exchange. She lauded the new NA House of Laos as a meaningful gift of the Vietnamese Party, State, NA and people, an invaluable symbol and heritage of the Vietnam Laos special solidarity. Host and guest agreed to accelerate the construction of the building to ensure its quality and progress. Meeting with President of the Lao Womens Union (LWU) Central Committee Inlavan Keobounphan the same day, Thinh highly valued ties between LWU and the Vietnam Womens Union in the cause of promoting gender equality, women emancipation, health care for women and children, and especially educating young generations about maintaining and upholding the tradition of bilateral special solidarity. On the occasion, she congratulated Keobounphan on being awarded the Independence Order, second class a noble distinction of the Vietnamese State in honour of her contributions to bilateral ties. In the morning the same day, Vice President Thinh laid a wreath at a monument dedicated to unknown martyrs in Vientiane, visited Thatluang pagoda, and presented five sets of computers to a gifted boarding school for ethnic students under the National University of Laos. The school was built in 2006 using non-refundable aid from the Vietnamese government. In the afternoon, she visited headquarters of the Star Telecom company a joint venture with Vietnams military-run telecom provider Viettel. It is now the most modern Internet 4G service supplier with nearly 3 million subscribers, accounting for 52 percent of market share in Laos. Meeting Vietnamese nationals in the embassy, Vice President Thinh presented 80 gifts from the National Fund for Vietnamese Children to outstanding Vietnamese students in the country. New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is unwell and likely to fly to Bengaluru on Thursday to join a naturopathy course, officials said. Kejriwal, who is also the AAP president, had fallen ill after the nine-day long sit-in at the Lt Governor's office and is likely to join a 10-day naturopathy course, officials at the CM office said. During the sit-in protest against the IAS strike, his blood sugar levels had increased and insulin injections failed to work on him, according to party sources. "He is likely to leave for Bengaluru tomorrow to join a 10-day naturopathy course to control his sugar levels," the officials said. Earlier too, the AAP leader had attended the naturopathy treatment in Bengaluru for chronic cough problem. He was due to attend the course there in May, the officials said. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the sugar levels were "troubling" Kejriwal and he had a prior programme to join the naturopathy course. Kejriwal's visit to Bengaluru may delay his meeting with IAS officers, who are awaiting a formal communication for a meeting with him. The L-G had on Tuesday wrote to Kejriwal asking him to meet the IAS officers "urgently" to address their concerns. "In the context of CM's assurance, we await formal communication for a meeting with him in the Delhi Secretariat. We reiterate that we continue to be at work," the IAS AGUMUT Association had tweeted. During the sit-in at the L-G office, Kejriwal had assured IAS officers of their "safety", calling them as part of a family. The IAS officers had been boycotting meeting with ministers since the alleged attack on chief secretary Anshu Prakash at Kejriwal's residence in February. They had gone public to express their apprehensions about safety. After which, Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues had started the sit-in June 11, demanding a direction by the L-G to IAS officers to end their "strike". (With inputs from agencies) The biggest partners and donors are the EU, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary and Romania, according to the Foreign Ministrys information released at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Conference on Climate Action to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals Ways Forward in Can Tho on June 18-20. Specifically, the EU implemented a project building a sustainable tra fish (pangasius) supply chain from April 2013 to March 2017 with total investment of EUR1.9 million (US$2.2 million) and another conducting scientific studies on climate change and coastal erosion in Quang Nam, Ca Mau, and Tien Giang provinces in 2016-2017 worth EUR1 million (US$1.15 million). The EU also carried out a EUR108-million Energy Sector Policy Support Programme to increase access to sustainable energy in rural, mountainous, sea and island areas in Bac Lieu, An Giang, and Can Tho. In Ca Mau, the German and Australian governments co-financed VND68.39 billion (US$2.9 million) in ODA for a project under the Integrated Coastal Management and Climate Change and Coastal Ecosystems Programme (ICM/CCEP) and authorised the German development cooperation agency (GIZ) to implement. The German government also provided Ca Mau with EUR1 million to implement a project on restoration of mangroves through sustainable shrimp farming and emission reduction. Ca Mau province is also making preparations to carry out a project combining coastal protection and mangrove forest land restoration using loans of about VND331 billion (US$14.5 million) from the German development bank KfW. In Soc Trang province, the German government is carrying out the second phase of the project on natural resources management in coastal areas from September 2014 to August 2018. Germany also provided a non-refundable aid package of EUR5.1 million (US$5.9 million) for Bac Lieu province to conduct two projects on the sustainable management of coastal ecosystems, second phase from 2015 to 2018, and on climate change adaptation through promoting biodiversity. Meanwhile, the French government offered EUR52.35 million (US$60.6 million) in loans, including EUR1 million in non-refundable aid, for the implementation of a project enhancing climate change resilience for areas prone to extreme climate patterns and rising sea level in Can Tho city along with Ninh Binh northern province and the central province of Ha Tinh. The Danish government supported Mekong Delta provinces to cope with environmental changes through the national target programme on climate change in 2009-2015. Denmark has become the biggest donor with around US$40 million in assisting the Mekong Delta, especially Ben Tre province, in piloting measures to prevent saltwater intrusion prevention and climate change adaptation models such as building flood-proof houses, irrigation networks, salt-to-fresh water treatment factories, and automatic rain gauging stations, contributing to the improvement of the natural disaster warning system. The European country also spent over DKK4.3 million to provide water by renewable energy in 2012-2014 for rural areas in 12 provinces in the Mekong Delta. From 2011, the Danish government has supported Vietnams Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to implement a project assisting the agricultural sector, including the improvement of post-harvest services for households in the Mekong Delta, which increased the proportion of dried rice to 31% of total output from 13% in the previous time. In An Giang province, the Swedish government implemented a project enhancing local capacity and building a scheme for the development of rice husk-fuelled thermal power plants in combination with rice milling plants in 2014-2015 with a budget of nearly EUR345,000, including nearly EUR105,000 in local corresponding capital. The Romanian government carried out a project piloting the establishment of a biodiversity conservation site for sustainable eco-tourism development in Ba Tri district of Ben Tre province. New Delhi: Amid anticipation for merit lists of various reputed institutions across India, the Mumbai University on Wednesday released the first cutoff for admission to various first-year degree courses. The students, who managed to make the cut should get their documents verified and the admissions approved within June 22, 2018. The varsity has started the verification of documents and payment process for the first merit list on Wednesday. The cutoff list for each of the colleges affiliated with the Mumbai University is available on its official website - www.mu.ac.in. Lets have a quick look at the cut off list for various degree courses at different colleges affiliated with the university. Mithibai College: 95.24% for admission to FYBA 92.6% for FYBCom, 53.08 for FYBSc 79.40% for FY Computer Science 85% for FY Biotechnology 67.54 for FY Biochemistry. Notably, this cutoff list has been released for the general category students and in order to access the stream-wise cutoffs, candidates need to log in to the official website of the college. Jai Hind College: 94 % for FYBAa 77 % for FYBSc The merit list for students, who have applied for admission to First Year Degree programme, is also available at the official portal of Jai Hind College. Read | DU Admission 2018: Shri Ram College of Commerce releases first cut-off list St. Xavier's College: The cutoff for FYBA for general candidates from Arts stream in HSC is 92.46% and 98% for other streams. The cutoff for FYBA for Christian students from Arts stream in HSC is 84.31% and 95.20% for others. The cutoff FYBSc for general students from Biological science is 89%. For students from non-biological science, the cut off is 92%. The cutoff, merit list, as well as interview and counselling schedule for various degree courses, are available on the official website. Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics: The cutoff for open category students for FYBCom is 94.33% The cut off for FYBMS for Open category (Commerce) is 95.8%. For open category (Science) it is 91.6% and students want to take admission in open category (Arts) should have at least 89.2% marks in their 10+2 examination. The cut off for FYBSc IT, the cut off for open category is set at 67 marks. First Day of Delhi University Admission 2018: Meanwhile, the admission under the first cutoff list at Delhi University is underway for various affiliated colleges across the national capital. The varsity announced the first list of cutoff percentages on Monday night. On Tuesday, with servers slowing down, candidates reportedly failed to access the registration forms needed to complete the admission procedure. Students who make the cut are directed to complete the procedure within Thursday. Read | AIIMS MBBS entrance test results 2018 declared; check @aiimsexams.org This year it was a great relief for students in and around the national capital, as the merit lists, released by DU have seen a slight drop in the minimum required marks. In the previous years, the university had made it difficult for the students by increasing the cut-off list for various undergraduate courses with each passing session. Students can check the cutoffs for various colleges and universities on their respective websites and complete the admission formalities. New Delhi: Fans are still not over their relationship rumours and the adorable couple is hitting the trend list again. Well! We are talking about Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor, one of the most sought-after couples of Bollywood. Yes! if the latest media reports turn out to be true, Alia and Ranbir are very sure about each other and going to take their nuptial vows sometimes in 2020. Giving the speculations a further boost, the Jagga Jasoos actor recently dropped a hint about his marriage, which according to him is going to happen anytime soon. In a recent Twitter chat on the occasion of Fathers' Day, Ranbir was asked about his marriage plans and what the actor said is, "Soon hopefully! :)" On the other hand, a source close to the couple, told Bollywood Life, "Alia is in a great phase of her life right now. She is in love and they both are sure of each other. Marriage is certainly on the cards but it wonat happen before 2020." Though Alia has remained tight-lipped about her personal life so far, she has not refuted the rumours even. In fact, both Ranbir and Alia have dropped ample hints to keep the media guessing over their affairs. 'Itas too new. Let it cook for some time," Ranbir had earlier said while talking about hisA relationship with Brahmastra co-star. Be it their upcoming fantasy drama Brahmastra or the lovey-dovey affair between the two, the Tinsel town has been going gaga over Ranbir and Alia for quite some time. Y A post shared by Alia aai (@aliaabhatt) on May 9, 2018 at 3:09am PDT Earlier, Ranbir was in headline following his link-up rumours with several B-town divas like Sonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and KatrinaA Kaif. Alia, on the other hand, was in a relationship with her Student of the Year co-star Sidharth Malhotra. Later the break-up news between the two took the internet by storm. On the work front, Alia and Ranbir are currently busy shooting Ayan Mukerji's upcoming superhero film Brahmastra. Also starring Amitabh Bachchan in a key role, Brahmastra also marks the first collaboration between Ranbir and Alia, While we cannot wait more to see their chemistry on screen for the very first time, the latest marriage speculations have left us wondering if this is going to be the next big celebrity wedding in the town. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that the saffron party had given nothing but only slogans to the country. In an exclusive interview with News Nations Vineeta Yadav, Akhilesh criticised the ruling party for fooling the farmers on loan waiver and other issues. The SP chief opened up about his poll strategy ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhis PM remark and the recent bungalow controversy. Hitting out at the ruling party, Akhilesh said that the policies of the BJP had taken the country several years back and all the Opposition parties should now unite to oust the saffron party from power. Excerpts of Akhilesh Yadav's Interview with News Nation: On rift in Bonhomie with Rahul Gandhi: Recently, there were reports that the Samajwadi Party was not keen to join hands with the Congress and would prefer Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The SP even skipped the Iftar party hosted by Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. However, Akhilesh rebutted all reports and said that his partys relations with the Congress were very good and there was no rift between them. On reports of SP offering just two seats - Rai Bareli and Amethi to the grand old party, he said that this party was in talks with the BSP and any decision on seat sharing with the Congress would be made after finalising alliance negotiations with Mayawati. On Anti-BJP alliance: The former UP CM looked very eager to unite all the Opposition parties against the BJP ahead of the 2019 general elections. Speaking to News Nation, he said, The BJP has done a lot of damage to the country by its policies. The most hit were farmers. To save the country, all parties have to unite and oust the saffron party from power. Asked who would be the leader of the anti-BJP front, the SP chief said, First we have to uproot the BJP and the question of who will be the leader of the alliance would emerge after elections. He pulled his name out of the Prime Ministers race in 2019 but maintained that he would be very well in the race to oust the BJP. On farmer's issue: Reacting to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise to double farmer's income by 2022, Akhilesh said that this was yet another gimmick of the BJP to fool the people. "The BJP has given nothing but only slogans to the country. They promised farm loan waiver but nothing has been done to keep that promise. In UP, they promised to settle all dues of sugarcane farmers but they didn't do that. Had they done that, they would not have lost the Kairana bypoll. On Bungalow Controversy: After Allahabad High Courts order that former CMs have to vacate their bungalows, Akhilesh was among the first former CMs to move from their government residences. However, a controversy erupted after videos of broken tiles and damaged walls of Akhileshs residence surfaced. The BJP accused the leader of damaging the house and even suggested that there was something hidden there. However, Akhilesh played down the controversy, saying that there were many other important issues before the nation and the bungalow controversy was part of BJPs evil designs of spreading hatred. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hinted at new government formation in Jammu and Kashmir after it snapped ties with the PDP, Opposition National Conference leader and former CM Omar Abdullah raised horse-trading concerns and demanded fresh elections in the Valley. Former state deputy CM and BJP leader Kavinder Gupta on Wednesday said that though there were uncertainties in government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, his party was working on something. Reacting to Guptas remark, Abdullah said that BJPs only something would be to break other parties by indulging in horse-trading and demanded the J&K Assembly be resolved as soon as possible. What do you mean we are working on something? The only something would be to break other parties & make up the numbers to form a BJP Govt. Has the former DCM inadvertently spilled the beans? the former CM tweeted. The J&K state assembly should be dissolved immediately & fresh elections should take place as soon as appropriate. The former DCM has admitted that BJP cant be trusted not to horse trade for Govt formation. Be it Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections of Karnataka Assembly elections, the BJP has been accused by the Opposition parties of electoral malpractices such as poaching. Numbers nowhere in BJPs favour, not even close to halfway mark In the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, where 44 is the halfway mark, the BJP has only 25 seats, while the PDP has 28. In such a scenario, the Saffron party would need at least 19 more seats to form the government. However, The National Conference (15 seats) and Congress (12 seats) were highly unlikely to support the BJP. However, the seven others MLAs could land their support to the BJP but that still doesnt help the party to reach the halfway mark of 44 to form the government. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: With International Yoga Day upon us, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to lead a crowd of over 60,000 enthusiasts in the sprawling campus of Dehradun's Forest Research Institute (FRI) on Thursday, June 21. Ahead of PM Modi's visit to the capital of Uttarakhand, over 3,000 security personnel, including commandos and sharpshooters have been deployed at FRI "leaving nothing to chance". "Reached Dehradun a short while back. Looking forward to the Yoga Day programme tomorrow morning at the iconic FRI campus at 6:30 AM. Here is a picture from the venue," Modi tweeted an hour back. Reached Dehradun a short while back. Looking forward to the Yoga Day programme tomorrow morning at the iconic FRI campus at 6:30 AM. Here is a picture from the venue. pic.twitter.com/IfU6J1CrrG Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 20, 2018 The forest department is scanning the area giving a "final touch" to the elaborate arrangements for security, electricity, sanitation and healthcare at the venue. Around 60 door frame metal detectors will be placed at the gates of FRI, while CCTVs have been installed in and around the Forest Research campus for surveillance. The authorities have installed compactor machine for immediate disposal of the garbage wastes. A fleet of buses will be provided from the Rangers Ground for people coming from Haridwar, Rishikesh and other places to take part in the event. Read | International Yoga Day 2018: Beauty benefits of Yoga Time to watch International Yoga Day 2018: Authorities at Dehradun FRI will kick-start the yoga day event at 6 am on Thursday. The participants are expected to reach the venue at 5 am. They will be provided with waterproof pouches for keeping mobile phone and bags for shoes. International Yoga Day 2018 LIVE broadcast: Interested can watch the International Yoga Day 2018 LIVE from Dehradun on english.newsnationtv.com/livevideo. They can also log in to english.newsnationtv.com for all the latest updates on International Yoga Day 2018. This will be the fourth edition of the International Yoga Day and different kind of asanas will be practised at FRI to raise awareness about the multiple benefits of practising yoga. The theme for Yoga Day 2018 is "Yoga for Peace." Read | PM Modi shares exercise video, nominates HD Kumaraswamy for #FitnessChallenge In 2014, United Nations declared June 21 as the International Yoga Day following PM Modi's call for a global celebration of yoga, an ancient practice which began in India 5,000 years back. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Hitting back at Congress President Rahul Gandhi over his remarks that BJP-PDP set fire to Kashmir, Union Minister Kiren Rijuju said that it was Congress party and Nehru-Gandhi family who ruined the Kashmir. Reacting to BJPs decision to snap ties with the PDP, the Congress president on Tuesday said, The opportunistic BJP-PDP alliance set fire to J&K, killing many innocent people including our brave soldiers. It cost India strategically & destroyed years of UPAs hard work. The damage will continue under Presidents rule. Incompetence, arrogance & hatred always fails. Responding to Gandhis attack, Rijiju said that it was former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and the Congress party who created trouble in Kashmir and not the BJP. Sardar Patel ji solved all other regions. Nehru ji took charge of Kashmir & created more trouble. Thousands of people were killed, Kashmiri Pandits were slaughtered while more than 1,60,000 were forced out. Your family & party ruined Kashmir & you are accusing BJP? the BJP leader tweeted back to the Congress president. The BJP came under the intense attack from the Opposition parties after it snapped ties with Mehbooba Muftis Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Reacting to the saffron partys move, the Congress had alleged that the BJP had left Kashmir in the state of ruins. Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also echoed similar sentiments and said that the BJP pulled out of the state after ruining it for three years. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A day after the BJP-PDP coalition collapsed in Jammu and Kashmir, President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday approved the imposition of Governors rule in the state with immediate effect. This was the fourth time since 2008 and eighth time since 1977 that the Governor's rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. On Tuesday, the Mehbooba Mufti-led government had crashed after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled out of its alliance with ruling the People's Democratic Party. Following the crash of the government, Governor's NN Vohra had written to President Ram Nath Kovind for the imposition of Governors rule under Section 92 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir. Although the "unholy and unnatural" PDP-BJP coalition never looked easy and its fall was inevitable, but, the sudden move by the saffron party still took Mufti by surprise and she was informed about the development by Governor Vohra and not its three-year-old ally. Mufti handed over her resignation to Governor Vohra soon after the BJP announced break up. "Our agenda was healing touch, we can't treat Jammu and Kashmir as enemy territory, neither the muscular approach will work," she told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday. Here are the five reasons why BJP ditched PDP in Jammu and Kashmir Earlier, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, who was the key architect of the BJP-PDP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir announced the breakup, saying that it had become "untenable" for the party to continue in the government. "It had become untenable to continue with the PDP government in Kashmir," Madhav said, accusing Mufti of non-cooperation. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Who doesnt want a glowing skin? Regardless of who you are, everybody wants to have good skin. Ever thought if Yoga can really help you get a glowing skin? Well, the answer is yes! And better still, beauty benefits of Yoga are not limited to just glowing skin. The list can go on And its never too late to start. Here are the health benefits of Yoga: Glowing skin: The practice of Yoga can help you get a radiant glowing skin. Yoga is a mind-body exercise and is known for its relaxation techniques. Yoga can help reduce stress and anxiety besides, enhancing mood and overall sense of wellbeing. By reducing stress, you will have clearer skin. As Swami Vishnudevananda quoted Heath is wealth, Peace of mind is happiness Yoga can help enhance happiness and health. Balancing mental peace and emotions is important to radiate beauty from within through your skin. Some yoga postures stimulate the blood circulation resulting in glowing skin. Anti-Ageing: Yoga balances hormones and boost oxygen-rich blood flow to the skin. Not just relaxing the body and mind, Yoga can be a determinant to fight against aging. Anti-gravity exercises everyday can do wonders. This will help in wrinkles and fine lines reduction. Yoga also helps in blood circulations and reducing bodys toxicity thereby helping you to look younger. Belly fat reduction: Regular Yoga will help you reduce body fat. Many yoga poses can help strengthen muscles and can help fat burning. So, start yoga to have that sleek, flexible fit body. Beautiful hair, lesser hair fall: Yoga can change from a drab to gorgeous hair. Yoga helps in controlling the mind, body and soul, it harmonizes your entire system and helps manage stress and anxiety. Not only these, Yoga improves digestion and reduces anxiety, which are major factors contributing to hair degeneration. Hair fall indicates the health of the body and the mind. A number of internal and external factors such as stress, poor eating habits, hormonal imbalances and disorders lead to hair fall. Forward bending yoga poses or asanas enhance blood circulation in the head and help in maintaining scalp hygiene and good hair. These poses improve oxygen consumption by the cells of the scalp and supply necessary nutrients to the scalp. Vision: Yoga exercises for eyes relieve you from disorders related to defects in the eye muscles like myopia and hypermetropia. Regular practice of yoga eye exercises helps to relax eyesight and facilitate the normal functioning of our eyes. New Delhi: The NDA governments failure to sell the proposed 76 per cent in Air India brings back the focus on the important issue of governance of public sector units (PSUs) and their sale. This government came to power in 2014, under the axiom of Minimum Government; Maximum Governance, implying thereby that the remote control of Bhawans, Blocks and Buildings (3Bs) of Lutyens Delhi would be minimum. The public sector would be allowed to be board governed with little or no interference from the ministries neither by politicians nor bureaucrats; the emissaries of the politicians; except setting goals for deliverables. However, there appears to be none of the above. On the contrary with control being exercised by the above, the public sector is being allowed to be decimated, reducing them to be worthless, declaring them as a drag on taxpayers money. Public sector companies may not be innovative, transformative or agile which is a need to survive and be relevant in 21st century. But these companies have Brand equity, highly valued and prime immovable assets and operational setup which has a considerable value of taxpayers money and should not be disinvested for the pittance. There are irresponsible statements like if private sector, in the case of Airlines Traffic, can carry 86 per cent traffic, why cant the remaining 14 per cent be carried by them. In the case of BSNL, it is even worse at less than 10 per cent. Who has brought upon this dismal performance, the 3Bs. The question one begets is Do Ambanis, Mittals or Birlas, ask the 3 Bs, No? There is also no denying the fact that the government must not be in the business of running businesses. It must be understood that the public sector was created at a time when no one was interested to venture into these Capital Intensive Industries, some for societal compulsions to serve the un-served in terms of geography and society. They served the nation, but fell into disrepute, when they began to be treated as Jagirs or fiefdoms for political and other extraneous favours, resulting in bloated manpower, poor work culture, attitudinal issues, thus making them grossly inefficient for the quick-footed competition from a market-savvy private sector not kowtowed by the Bhawans and Blocks. Mistakes of NDA 1 The case in question is Air India. I would like to insist that the government should not deviate from the basic principles of managing and selling PSUs even though it couldnt find buyer for Air India. Going by the track record of the previous NDA government, the assets by them were sold dirt cheap. No matter, what these assets were? They sold, VSNL, Hindustan Zinc, IPCL, Hotels, HTL etc at Bargain Basement valuations for acquirers to make obscene amount of money by asset stripping by them. All this happened because of poor valuations, unprofessional due diligence by Government agencies of their own assets; and at times appearing to be in collusion with prospective buyers. To top it all, the shareholder agreements were outright defective, resulting in the proceeds of asset stripping forming part of the balance sheet, with no provision to share either the proceed with shareholders or seeking their nod for selling assets. The shareholders received a pittance of a dividend. Why I am saying this? Let us see a crown jewel disinvestment of VSNL in 2002. Tatas paid meagre around Rs 2,100 Crore, for about 45% of the company, but sold investments in satellite consortium at huge multiples along with sale of vast tracts of land in prime locations of the metropolitan cities. Their selling spree fetched them anything between US$ 0.5 to 1.5 Billion. In recent times they sold a residential plot in Chennai on Mount Road opposite Taj hotel for a consideration of Rupees 195 Crore. There are many more such plots all over cities. It started within days of divestment, when Tatas wanted to siphon of some Rs 1,200 Crore of VSNL cash to Tata Teleservices to fund their Capital expenditure, ironically siphoning off after paying a meagre 2100 crore. In 2005, Tatas decided to write off Rupees 965 crore from shareholder premium account to clean the balance sheet of a profit-making company, denying the government and other shareholders from receiving 2 bonus shares for each share held by them. In addition, there are prime pieces of Residential Complexes, Land & Buildings at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Jullundur, Ernakulum, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Dehradun, Pune etc which were never properly evaluated. There are at least a dozen or more complexes all over India at prime locations of the cities. There were acres of Land around Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Dehradun for earth stations, which were also not valued. By any reckoning, these assets can fetch around Rupees 5000 crore or more in addition to the Rs 7,000 crore under negotiations, in the case of VSNL. Similarly, asset stripping happened in the case of Hindustan Zinc, IPCL and hotels like the two Centaurs at Bombay, Lodhi and Ranjit at Delhi, Ashok at Thiruvananthapuram, Udaipur, Bangalore and Manali among others. The point to be noted is get out of the businesses, but get out properly without indulging in crony capitalism as was the case during NDA 1. Already, the likes of Indigo and Tatas must be salivating to grab Air India, Reliance and others to grab BSNL, not for any love for them but to sell family silver at huge multiples. Air India has prime assets. Any asset can be valued in terms of perception, brand, financial strength, and growth prospect, relevance to the marketplace and peer comparisons. The PSUs get a beating in terms of perception, which results in poor evaluation without appreciation of the inherent and potential strength. It was this loophole which was used for asset stripping. It would be prudent for the government to have a proper inventory of all the businesses and assets to be properly valued confronting the buyers with sum of parts before divestment. What NDA 2 should do? Prima Facie, the question is can we change the past? No, but we can learn few lessons to avoid the pitfalls? Here are a few suggestions, steps and caveats to be observed. lets start a debate on how PSUs need to be disinvested so that government and public gets their due share: Since these are public companies.it is important that involvement of all the parties during due diligence need to be there. Due diligence and valuation process should be made transparent and public should have a say in providing their views before final decision and valuation for disinvestment takes place with a time-bound schedule so that it does not become a never-ending process. Involvement for disinvestment should have involvement from PSUs and their Unions, professional entities for fair and proper valuation. Steps to follow 1. To carry out an in-house computation of its net worth taking into account the massive infrastructure, the land and buildings on the basis of its true market value. That in itself would be mind-bogglingly close to few billion Rupees (50 to 60) for both companies. 2. Get a sanity check of the valuation by a good Chartered Accountant or one of the top public sector or private Indian banks. ICICI Securities and SBI Capital would fill the bill. They must have M&A expertise. This would also provide a balance between Private and Public. Member (F) of DOT and a Secretary from MOF must have an oversight. 3. Set a benchmark of valuation of the company in totality or various parts of businesses, in the case of BSNL, say towers, fibre network, switching equipment, each piece of real estate etc. In the case of Air India, the planes, the landing rights, the real estate, maintenance centres, ground handling, etc. Arrive at valuation of each part and sum of all parts for a fair value and assessment. Never ever sell as one big ticket, like the NDA1. 4. To test the potential, either party sell shares, say 10 to 15 per cent to Financial Institutions or list them directly on to the stock market a la Reliance Comm in 2006 at Rupees 370 (today at 30). 5. Get them listed, allow trading to happen to settle any volatility. The listing would provide a benchmark. Post listing prepare for an IPO either offering fresh equity or off-loading existing equity in favour of investors, say around 10 to 15 per cent. Whatever approach is taken, assure investors of the use of proceeds, like downsizing, etc. 6. Post establishing fair value; go in for either strategic divestment or off-loading majority stake. 7. These steps might take three to six months, but would establish a credible value of family silver. During this hiatus; restructures boards, downsize manpower, consider incentives like employee shareholding, compensation etc. Once this exercise is completed say in a total of 6 months, a benchmark price point would be available for any company to be divested. Right timing for Selling PSUs Why not practice what was mandated by public, Autonomy, Accountability, Audit; Hire & Fire, Rebuke, Reward ie Governance by Professional Independent Boards, after all the Mittals, Birlas, Tatas, Ambanis, Aggarwals, Jindals get on with business after acquiring licenses. To say that they are holy cows is also a travesty. The government is bending backwards to bail them out after they have plundered public money from public sector banks, whether few lakh crore vis-a-vis 30,000 crore. The debt burden must not be the raison deter for divestment. Recovery of taxpayers money adequately following a well-thought-out process should be the objective, whether it takes six months or so is not the concern but doing it properly from the lessons learned from the past should be the priority. Whatever, whichever, whenever do it astutely, smartly, before selling the family silver. They served when called to but understand that the Government destroyed them by over governance, indulgence, and treating them as personal fiefdom (of politicians). Of course, few pliable also fell for the bait for better afterlife. Having committed one mistake of over governance do not commit the blunder of excessive largesse as was done during your previous stint. (The writer is former CMD of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. He has served as board of directors in leading global companies such as Inmarsat, Intelsat, ICO, Irridium, and Newskies.) New Delhi: The Chinese proposal for a tripartite meeting between China, India and Pakistan to resolve Indo-Pak border disputes, floated by Beijings ambassador in India Luo Zhaohui in what he claims to be his personal capacity, is evidently a trial balloon to test Indian waters. In Chinas scheme of things, it is virtually inconceivable that an envoy could have made such a far-reaching suggestion without the knowledge and active participation of the Chinese Government. Significantly, Luo Zhaohui was Chinas ambassador in Islamabad from 2006 to 2010 and was posted in New Delhi recently. It is just as well that the External Affairs Ministry has reacted promptly to the ambassadors suggestion, clarifying that India-Pakistan relations are purely bilateral in nature and have no scope for involvement of any third country. The envoys take was that the meeting could take place on the sidelines of the next meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) of which India and Pakistan have recently become members. That the seminar that Luo Zhaohui spoke at in New Delhi was attended by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, former Indian ambassadors to China Ashok Kantha and Nalin Suri, Russian ambassador Nikoley Kudashev and Bhutanese envoy Vetsop Namgyel shows that his comment was well-thought-out. The attribution of the idea to some Indian friends was also deliberate and well-calculated. Citing a recent example, the ambassador said if China, Russia and Mongolia could have a trilateral summit, then why not India, China and Pakistan? He qualified it by saying that the idea could be tried if not now, sometime in the future. Also Read | Yameens growing brazenness leaves Modi government groping helplessly The Chinese Government has, in the past, said that China supports resolution of disputes between the nations bilaterally. This is a nuanced departure from that traditional position. Last year, Luo had suggested renaming the China-Pak Economic Corridor to include India as well but this country was firm that it would have nothing to do with Chinas Belt and Road initiative which envisages the road passing through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. It goes without saying that India can ill afford to trust China beyond a point. The manner in which Maldives and now Seychelles have been drawn away from Indian influence through clever manoeuvring by China should make India wary of Chinese designs. In the Indo-Pak context, Chinese ambassador to India Luos suggestion for a tripartite meeting of China, India and Pakistan to resolve Indo-Pak border disputes is a trial balloon. Happily, the Modi government has indicated it does not favour it. Were we to agree, the Chinese could hoodwink us by leaning towards Pakistan. Already, the Chinese have shown no sensitivity towards Indias objection to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passing through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which India regards as Indian territory. It would indeed be great folly for India to get carried away by the recent show of Chinese bonhomie. The Chinese under Xi Jinping are working simultaneously on many fronts to establish their hegemony in Asia and on the sea lanes in the region. Finding that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is rallying together Opposition forces against Narendra Modi and the BJP, they have invited her on a visit to China from June 22 with the added purpose of lobbying with her for India to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Several meetings have been lined up with political leaders, government functionaries, business leaders and industry chambers for Mamata and her team which includes Finance Minister Amit Mitra. There are specific plans for China to rope in West Bengal but the External Affairs Ministry has made it clear that all proposals will have to pass through the ministry. The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar corridor is one such ambitious plan which would be dangled before Mamata. >>> European countries implement climate change projects in Mekong Delta >>> ASEM conference highlights climate change response The conference focused on a number of important topics, including development in the context of climate change, capacity building for climate change adaptation, increasing the role and involvement of stakeholders and strengthening the cooperation between Asia-Europe continents in response to climate change for sustainable development. Delegates argued that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Agreement are global frameworks that contribute to addressing the core issues of development, creating new momentum for economic restructuring and transforming the growth model into a green economy with low emissions and enhanced self-reliant capacity of the people, the community and the nation. Practical experience and the typical models in ASEM members were also shared at the conference, especially in smart agricultural development, adaptation to climate change, food security, renewable energy use, clean technologies and infrastructure development for climate change response. The ASEM members highly appreciated Vietnams efforts and agreed to continue supporting the country, especially the 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta region, in sustainable development which is adaptive to climate change. At the closing session, the delegates agreed on several measures to enhance the coordination among ASEM, with the highlight focusing on the promotion of ASEM's contribution to the global effort to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Agreement; identifying a holistic and integrated approach to link climate change adaptation with sustainable development; strengthening the links of ASEM specialised cooperation initiatives and projects; and promoting cooperation on forecasting, impact assessment, capacity building, as well as promoting corporate social responsibility and public-private partnership projects. The ASEM members also agreed to continue supporting the developing country members that are faced by severe challenges in climate change, especially in terms of financial support, experience, and the transfer of green and clean technology, as well as strengthening ASEM cooperation on reducing plastic waste in the ocean and supporting global efforts in this area. Landslides are causing serious damage in the Mekong Delta region. (Photo: sggp.org.vn) The conference also agreed to support regional and sub-regional cooperation mechanisms, including the Mekong-Danube cooperation. At the closing session, the Head of Vietnam ASEM Senior Official highlighted that the outcomes of the conference contributed to the realisation of the ASEM Leaders vision on strengthening inter-regional cooperation and decisive action in responding to climate change. The conference unanimously approved a report to be presented to the 12th ASEM Summit in Brussels, Belgium in October. During the conference, the delegates held meetings and contacts between the Mekong Delta provinces and the relevant Vietnamese ministries, agencies and research institutes with ASEM partners. They also joined an exhibition on climate change and a field trip to Con Son islet in Can Tho, which introduced the challenges and efforts of the Vietnamese Government and the Mekong Delta provinces in adapting to and reducing the impacts of climate change, towards the goal of sustainable development, thereby promoting cooperation between Vietnam and the ASEM members. New Delhi: The United States has detained a group of 52 Indians, mostly Sikhs, for being part of a large contingent of illegal immigrants seeking asylum in the country. A group Democratic lawmakers had recently visited the detention centre in Oregon State of the US, where the Indians were kept. Of the total 123 detainees, the 52 Indians form the largest group of illegal immigrants kept in the Sheridan detention centre. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, who was part of the lawmakers group that visited the facility in Sheridan, said that the Indians were mostly Sikhs or Christians and were seeking asylum in the states due to severe religious persecution in India. Through our Punjabi translator, we learned that these men were planning to request asylum because they faced severe religious persecution in India. Most are Sikh or Christian. Instead, they were incarcerated in a federal prison, Bonamici wrote in her blog. She wrote that the Indians told her that they came to the US seeking religious freedom but instead of that, they were being confined to a small cell for up to 22 hours. The added that other non-immigrant prisoners were getting more time out of cell than them. They said they came to the United States for religious freedom, but they felt as if they were going crazy because they are being confined in small cells for up to 22 hours a day, she said. Another Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who visited the detention centre said, This is a shameful hour in US history. I dont care what your stance on immigration is, no one should favour ripping children out of their parents arms. Blumenauer accused President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions of being xenophobic and said that they were using zero tolerance policy on immigration. The administration is criminalising families who are fleeing abuse and violence and separating children as ICE detains or deports their parents, Blumenauer said in a statement. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The United States on Wednesday withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council in protest against what it calls the hypocrisy of its members and the alleged unrelenting bias against Israel. Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the United States, along with President Donald Trumps close aide Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the decision in Washington. This was the second time that the US has withdrawn from the UN rights body. Earlier, then president George W Bush had pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council. The US continued to boycott the UN rights body until former president Barack Obama re-joined it in 2009. The US decision to pull out of the 47-member Geneva-based body came days after the top UN human rights official openly criticised the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. Trump had suggested reforms in the body and wanted to remove some of the member states that themselves violates human rights. These reforms were needed in order to make the council a serious advocate for human rights, Haley told reporters in Washington. For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded, she added. The Geneva-based body was established in 2006 to promote and protect human rights worldwide, but its pronouncements and reports have often clashed with US priorities. (With PTI Inputs) For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), warned that the militants fleeing the Middle East after the collapse of the Islamic Kingdom, are moving to the Sahel, where they will collaborate with other extremist groups, such as al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, and Boko Haram. According to Beasley, the European leaders may face a much larger migration crisis than the crisis caused by the conflict in Syria if they do not begin to deliver food aid to the Sahel and help to stabilise the region. Since the implementation of the immigration control activities in February 2016 to 2017, the European functional forces have saved more than 285,000 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea and another 2,000 in the desert. Despite Europes attempts to rescue migrants over the past few years, many countries in the Old Continent have shown signs of fatigue with the migrant influx from Africa. It was one of the reasons why Italy and Malta recently refused to open their ports to Frances rescue ship Aquarius to anchor after the vessel saved more than 600 migrants off the Libyan coast. The incident has led to tension between several European countries. The Old Continent is perplexed by the wave of migration from Africa as new arrivals constantly pour onto European shores. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), there is a high demand for human trafficking lines, especially from refugees. Many people have no option but to accept the large payments and debts owed to traffickers so that they can find a safe destination in pursuit of a better life. However, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) revealed that thousands of migrants die each year on their journeys to the promised land offered by human trafficking crime organisations. Crossing the Mediterranean is the most dangerous journey, accounting for about 50% of the total number of deaths. Migrants are also victims of violence, rape, robbery, abduction, and extortion. As the continent directly influenced by the wave of migration from the Middle East and Africa, Europe is facing a decisive test for the future of the European Union (EU), as they have to seek ways to alleviate intra-bloc tensions concerning the issue of immigrants. After the European countries passed around the reception of migrants, as they did with the Aquarius rescue ship in the Mediterranean, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel reiterated the need to work out a European-level solution for this issue, seeing it as one of the most important factors in cohesive and united Europe. The German PM is to hold a meeting between the EU countries in order to discuss the issue of migration. Despite being a pioneering country in implementing an open-door policy for immigrants, Germany has also fallen into a state of confusion due to the deep internal disagreement over their refugee policy. The fierce debate surrounding immigration policy is threatening to break up the ruling coalition in Germany. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian PM Giuseppe Conte agreed that the EU should set up centres responsible for dealing with asylum dossiers, which will be based in the countries of those people who want to migrate to Europe. The French and Italian leaders also called on the EU to change its asylum provisions, which are leaving gateway nations, such as Greece and Italy, overburdened due to the wave of illegal migrants. European countries are still struggling to find a solution to the migration problem, but the deadlocks in the issue led to the recent incident with the Aquarius rescue ship. More than 600 people aboard this ship have already docked in Spains Valencia port, ending a horrific cruise week long ordeal, however, this is only a temporary solution. The fierce debate in Europe concerning how to deal with the matter has not yet come to an end. The Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders warned that Europe needs to change its immigration policy to stop thousands of migrants from dying at sea in their attempt to reach the continent. Nonetheless, it is impossible for Europe to unilaterally resolve the problem without coordination with the African countries on the other side of the Mediterranean, the starting point of dangerous ocean-crossing cruises that threaten the lives of countless people seeking refuge. MP Ghazi Al Rahma has urged his fellow MPs to vote for a proposal he had submitted a few months ago, demanding the authorities to form a list of professions that should be reserved for citizens. Limiting certain jobs to Bahrainis isnt a discriminative move, the parliamentarian told Tribune yesterday. Insisting that the proposal isnt discriminative, as alleged, he said similar rules exist in fellow GCC countries. Its a legislative right to seek and prioritise the interests of citizens. This includes employment. Its the norm followed by many advanced and developed countries of the world. Theres no discrimination here. Foreign workers have contributed to the development of our nation and their efforts are forever appreciated. The proposal, which was urgently submitted by Mr Al Rahma earlier this year, was rejected by the government and will be voted on by the Council of Representatives in an extraordinary final session of the legislative term today. It initially includes several positions in different job fields, such as accountants, human resources specialists, legal consultants, financial consultants, financial experts, information technology specialists and other jobs. The coalition launched an assault on Hodeidah earlier, in the biggest battle of the three-year war between the alliance of Arab states and the Iran-aligned Houthis. Coalition warplanes and warships were carrying out strikes on Houthi fortifications to support ground operations by Yemeni troops massed south of the Red Sea port, the internationally recognized Yemeni government said in a statement. The Golden Victory operation began after the passing of a deadline set by the United Arab Emirates for the Houthis, who hold the capital Sanaa, to quit the sole port under their control. Hodeidah is the lifeline for the majority of Yemens population, who live in Houthi territory. Houthi leader Mohammed Ali Al Houthi, who has threatened attacks on oil tankers along the strategic Red Sea shipping lane, warned the Western-backed alliance not to attack the port and said on Twitter his forces had targeted a coalition barge. The United Nations had been trying to get the parties to reach a deal that would avert an attack on Hodeidah, which it fears would further impede Yemenis access to food, fuel and medicine, exacerbating the worlds most urgent humanitarian crisis in the impoverished Arab state. It estimates that 600,000 people live in the area, and in a worst-case scenario, a battle could cost up to 250,000 lives, as well as cutting off aid and other supplies to millions of people facing starvation and disease. Domestic catches of baby Japanese eels in the 2018 fishing season hit the second-lowest level since the 1982 start of the existing data, Japan's Fisheries Agency said Tuesday. The catches of elvers in the six-month season through April stood at 8.9 tons, down about 40 pct from the previous season, the agency said. The record low of 5.2 tons was logged in 2013. Due to the poor catches, retail eel prices are expected to stay high for the time being, industry sources said. Most eels consumed in Japan are farmed fish. Eel farmers raise baby fish for six to 18 months in aquaculture ponds before shipment. According to the agency, domestic farmers procured 14.2 tons of elvers over the seven months through May, down 30 pct year on year. A 39-year-old man wanted by police in connection with the death of a nurse has been found dead in Niigata City, having apparently committed suicide, police said Tuesday. The body of Toyofumi Akutagawa, who is suspected of illegally confining 29-year-old Mayuko Uchiyama, was found dead last Friday in a hotel in Niigata, some 400 kilometers away from where she was abducted late last month, they said. Akutagawa was a native of nearby Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture. Uchiyama's body was found buried in a mountainous area in Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture, on June 9. A security camera captured two men forcing their way into her car outside a fitness gym she had been to, and driving off on May 26 in Hamamatsu in Shizuoka, while another vehicle tailed them. Two unemployed men -- Mitsuru Suzuki, 42, and Motoki Ito, 28 -- were arrested earlier on suspicion of illegally confining Uchiyama, and they have told investigators they were promised payment and given instructions about the abduction by another man. The three men met at JR Hamamatsu Station on May 26 to plan the abduction. The police had been looking for Akutagawa, suspecting he was behind the attack. The quake has killed five people and injured hundreds of others so far, local officials said on Tuesday (June 19). The fifth fatality as a result of the powerful quake was confirmed by local police as a 66-year-old man was found dead at his home in the hard-hit city of Takatsuki in Osaka Prefecture. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), dozens of aftershocks have continued throughout on Tuesday, with a significant tremor hitting again in the early hours of Tuesday morning and jolting the entire region again. The aftershocks made an uncomfortable night for the some 1,700 people who were forced to spend Monday night in emergency evacuation centers, local Osaka government officials said. The number of evacuees, as of Tuesday evening, stood at more than 1,000 people, according to local authorities. Due to the continued seismic activity and heavy rainfall which is expected to hit the affected region through Wednesday (June 20), the JMA has, in an unprecedented move, deployed its emergency task-force to Osaka and nearby areas to help with recovery efforts and prevent secondary damage. "Frequent seismic activity is continuing in the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. Strong tremors could have raised the risk of landslides or building collapse. People in such areas are advised to watch out for further seismic activity and rain," the JMA said in an earlier statement on the issue. Around 110,000 homes in the quake-hit region remain without gas, according to Osaka Gas Co., which said that gas supply will remain suspended until next Monday. As a result, shoppers have been flocking to supermarkets and convenience stores to stock up on bread and food that can be microwaved, local media reported Tuesday. In some parts of the hard-hit cities of Takatsuki and Minoo, hundreds of homes also remain without water. Local authorities have dispatched water trucks to help with the water shortage in these areas, local officials said. More than 380 people have been injured as a result of the powerful temblor and at least 470 houses have been damaged across four prefectures by the quake, the government said Tuesday. One of the lives lost in the quake was 9-year-old Rina Miyake who was on her way to school when the quake struck at 7:58 a.m. local time on Monday. Due to the quake's shallow origin, the intensity was violent enough to bring down the outer wall of Miyake's school swimming pool and crush the young girl to death. A police investigation has been launched into the girl's death as there are suspicions that the wall did not meet safety standards, meaning the girl's death could have been a result of negligence. An education ministry official said after investigating the scene of the fatal accident, the concrete wall may have contained reinforced steel that was too short to properly connect the concrete-block wall to its foundations. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a 2017 book by economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. The first three industrial revolutions are: 1. 1760 to 1840. the technologies were the steam engine, railroads, and machine manufacturing. 2. 1870 to 1914, the technologies were electricity and mass production. 3. the digital revolution, the last decades of the 20th century and produced semiconductors, computers, and the Internet (1960-2000). 4. Began in about 2000, the physical, digital, and biological are merging. Technological breakthroughs in quantum computing, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, neurotechnologies, smart cities and nanotechnology. War on the Rocks has an analysis of these technologies on future war. The World Bank the total value of global merchandise trade increased sharply from 1995 to 2008, dropped sharply in 2008, climbed steeply until 2011, then flattened from 2012 to 2014 and fell sharply in 2015dropping from $18.995 trillion to $16.482 trillion. The fourth industrial revolution technologies appear to be causing deglobalization. No single industry or social development is driving deglobalization. It is being driven by the cumulative effect of technological, political, and social trends across the globe. Perhaps the primary driver is the elimination of regional labor cost advantages that encouraged manufacturers to locate their production in low- labor-cost regions. Robotics, 3D printing, and artificial intelligence are driving manufacturers to reconsider not only how and what they make, but where they make it. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will spread inexpensive military capabilities. The U.S. military must move away from small numbers of expensive exquisite weapons systems toward smaller, smarter, and cheaper weapons. Mass autonomous drones with swarming destructive power will eventually compete more on numbers of similar drones. Drone swarms may make defense the dominant form of warfare by allowing domain denial much easier than domain usage. There will be innovative new weapons systems, including railguns, directed energy weapons, hyper-velocity projectiles, and hypersonic missiles. Conventional weapons will close the gap with nuclear weapons in destructive capability. Future war could like a lot like Enders Game. This would be billions of tons of hypersonic drones combined with a variety of super-weapons. There not be the big chasm million fold between chemical weapons and nuclear weapons. There could be a smoother range of power using magnetic power storage, kinetic weapons, nanotechnology enhancement to achieve and eventually exceeding nuclear energy and nuclear weapon systems. There will also be extension into cyber weapons, bioweapons and nano-weapons that would be able to defeat opponents subversively. The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team is heading to Le Castellet for the comeback of the famous French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Located near the beautiful town of Marseilles in the South of France, this historical tracks return to the pinnacle of motorsport has racing enthusiasts hearts beating faster. Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc look forward to competing in their first Formula 1 Grand Prix at this renowned location. Mastering this circuit will pose a challenge to all of the drivers, with highlights such as the famous Mistral straight and the celebrated Signes corner making it an unforgettable experience. Marcus Ericsson "It will be interesting weekend in France. I drove on the Circuit Paul Ricard in GP2 many years ago, but returning there with Formula 1 will be a new challenge, not only to me, but to all of the drivers. The circuit has some interesting parts. Especially the second part of the lap with its long corners should be fun to tackle. I have been working hard with myself and the team since the last race, and am determined to have a good weekend at Le Castellet. I look forward to arriving there." Charles Leclerc "I look forward to the French Grand Prix. I have driven on the Circuit Paul Ricard only once in the past. It was quite a long time ago, so it will be exciting to go back there and experience driving there in a Formula 1 car. It is a very technical track, and offers some good challenges to us as drivers. Le Castellet is close to home for me, which is nice. I look forward to meeting all of the French fans there, and to making further progress as a team." Track facts The Circuit Paul Ricard first opened in 1970, hosting the first Formula 1 race in the following year. Its trademark is the long back straight, the Mistral straight, which was originally 1,8 km long, and shortened to 1 km after a chicane was built in the middle of it. This is a power-hungry circuit, with tremendous stress on power-units due to the high use of open-throttle. The second trademark are the black, blue, and red escape zones in tarmac in place of gravel. These zones also provide different grip to tyres, the red one being more abrasive than the blue, providing more stopping power as cars advance deeper into the run-off areas. Its round eight and its the return of the French Grand Prix! Located near Le Castellet in the south of France, Paul Ricard hosted the first French Grand Prix in 1971 up until 1990 when the track became outdated. Williams has enjoyed much success at Paul Ricard with a number of race wins, podiums and pole positions during the seventies and eighties. In 1986, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet qualified first and third. The pair went one better the following season with a one-two finish at the 1987 French Grand Prix. The Circuit Paul Ricard has since been updated to create a challenging and thrilling race for the return of the French Grand Prix in 2018. For France, Pirelli has made available the soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres. Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer This weekend sees the return of the French GP to the Formula One calendar. France has a great history of racing so it will be fantastic to make our first return to the country since the last race was held in 2008 in Magny-Cours. This weekend however, Formula One returns to Paul Ricard for the first race since 1990. It is a place we know very well with the team having spent many long winters there between 1989-1992. There are many memories from our previous visits to Paul Ricard, but one that stands out personally was when Williams first tested traction control here with the FW14B during the winter of 1991. Damon Hill was behind the wheel and he thought it was holding him back, but he was actually a second a lap faster! Situated at Le Castellet, near Marseille, the circuit is well-known for its long Mistral straight and elongated track design. The track is also quite unique as it is built on a plateau, and so is very flat. It is a good challenge and we look forward to putting on a good show for the French fans. Lance Stroll I know the Paul Ricard track from when I drove in Formula 3. I had a good time there and won a race, but I have to be honest because I cant say I like it. It is just run offs everywhere and I am not a big fan. However, it is always interesting to go back to somewhere I have raced before and see what it is like in a Formula One car. Sergey Sirotkin Paul Ricard is quite a well-known track for me. I did thousands of kilometres there last year. Although I know the track quite well, there are a lot of things that change over a race weekend that you never know. Its a new track for everyone so it will be nice to see where we end up. Xi Jinping (R), general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president, holds talks with Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in Beijing, capital of China, June 19, 2018. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president, held talks with Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in Beijing on Tuesday. The two leaders had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on the current development of China-DPRK relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. They agreed to safeguard, consolidate and develop China-DPRK relations, and jointly push forward the sound momentum of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula to make a positive contribution to safeguarding world and regional peace, stability, prosperity and development. Xi said that China was pleased to see the important summit between Comrade Chairman and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore achieve principled consensus and positive results in realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and establishing a lasting peace mechanism on the Peninsula. "China speaks highly of the summit," Xi said. Comrade Chairman's visit to China showed the great importance he attaches to the strategic communication between the two parties and two countries, Xi said, expressing his appreciation to Kim. Xi stressed that he and Kim had met three times in less than three months, which pointed out the direction for the development of the relations between the two parties and the two countries, and opened a new chapter in the development of China-DPRK relations. "The CPC and the Chinese government attach great importance to China-DPRK friendly cooperative ties," Xi said. "No matter how the international and regional situations change, the firm stance of the CPC and the Chinese government on consolidating and developing the relations with the DPRK remains unchanged, the Chinese people's friendship with the DPRK people remains unchanged, and China's support for the socialist DPRK remains unchanged," he said. Xi voiced his willingness to work with Kim to continue implementing the important consensus reached by both sides, and promoting the long-term development of China-DPRK relations in a healthy and stable way, to benefit the two countries and the two peoples. This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy. Xi said that since the reform and opening-up, the Chinese people have been courageous to carry out self-reform and innovation, on the basis of the national conditions and having the whole world in view, and have explored a development path suitable for China's national conditions. "We are happy to see that the DPRK made a major decision to shift the focus to economic construction, and the development of the DPRK's socialist cause has entered a new stage in history," Xi said, adding that China supports the DPRK's economic development, the improvement of people's livelihood, and its development path that accords with its national conditions. Kim said he was very happy to meet with General Secretary Xi Jinping again in a short period of time. He stressed China is DPRK's great friendly neighbor, and Comrade General Secretary Xi Jinping is a great leader who is greatly respected and trusted by the DPRK people. Kim said he appreciated the sincere friendship of and valuable support from Comrade General Secretary Xi Jinping and the CPC, the Chinese government, and the Chinese people, to himself, the WPK, the DPRK government, and the DPRK people. "I will guide all WPK members and the DPRK people to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by Comrade General Secretary and me, to lift the unbreakable DPRK-China relations to a new level," Kim said. Xi said for a period of time, with joint efforts of parties concerned, the Korean Peninsula issue had been put back on the right track of seeking settlement through dialogue and consultation, and the situation on the Peninsula was developing towards peace and stability. "Comrade Chairman has made positive efforts for realizing denuclearization and maintaining peace on the Peninsula," Xi said. On the recent DPRK-U.S. summit, Xi said it marked an important step forward in the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. He called on the two sides to implement the outcomes of the summit, and parties concerned to make concerted efforts to advance the peace process. China will continue to play a constructive role to this end, Xi said. Kim said the DPRK-U.S. summit had achieved positive results in line with the interests of concerned parties and the expectations of the international community. "If the two sides can implement the consensus of the summit step by step solidly, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will open up a new and important prospect," Kim said. He said the DPRK greatly appreciated China's important role in promoting denuclearization of the Peninsula as well as in maintaining peace and stability on the Peninsula. "The DPRK side hopes to work with China and other concerned parties to promote the establishment of a lasting and solid peace mechanism on the Korean Peninsula, and make joint efforts to achieve lasting peace on the Peninsula," Kim said. Before the talks, Xi held a welcome ceremony for Kim at the North Hall of the Great Hall of the People. After the talks, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan held a welcome banquet for Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju, and watched an art performance together. Related activities were also attended by Li Keqiang, Chinese premier and member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee; Wang Huning, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee; Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan; Ding Xuexiang, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee; Guo Shengkun, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee; Huang Kunming, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee; Cai Qi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee; and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Choe Ryong Hae, vice-chairman of the WPK Central Committee; Pak Pong Ju, DPRK premier; Ri Su Yong, vice-chairman of the WPK Central Committee and director of the International Department; Kim Yong Chol, vice-chairman of the WPK Central Committee and director of the United Front Department; Pak Thae Song, vice-chairman of the WPK Central Committee and Minister for Science and Education; No Kwang-chol, Minister of People's Armed Forces; and Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, attended related activities. A faction of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abia State has threatened the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun... A faction of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abia State has threatened the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun with contempt charges for defying a court order to conduct the state congresses of the party. The party said that Oyegun had gone ahead to inaugurate Hon Donatus Nwankpa as state chairman instead of obeying a court order. Prior to the state congresses of APC held across the country last month, an Abia State High Court had sacked the Nwankpa-led executive committee and recognized Dr. Emmanuel Ndukwe as the authentic chairman of the party in Abia. Addressing reporters in Umuahia, the state capital yesterday, the Publicity Secretary of the Ndukwe-led faction, Hon. Mike Ozoemena said the faction decided to press contempt charges against Oyegun so as to remind him that the rule of law remains the backbone of a democratic society. He recalled that a court order issued by an Abia State High Court on March 8, 2018, restrained Oyegun, Nwankpa and his executives and their agents from organizing any ward, local government or state congresses or primaries of the APC in Abia State. He, therefore, expressed disappointment that Oyegun ignored the valid order properly served on him. Justice Collins Okoroafor in the order specifically restrained the Oyegun leadership, from planning, implementing, executing or even holding to discuss or strategize on such issues and other issues concerning nomination or sponsorship of candidates for any elective position in Abia state or Nigeria except with the Dr Emmanuel Ndukwe-led state executive committee pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit. But Ozoemena cried out that without vacating the court order, the APC national leadership still went ahead to send state congress committee to Abia State headed by Senator Jonathan Zwingina as chairman and Hajia Rabi Sulu Gamabari as secretary. However, the committee on arrival in Umuahia conducted a parallel congress supervised by Zwingina and another by Hajia Rabi Sulu Gamabari. While the Zwingina committee elected the Nwankpa-led faction, the Hajia Gambari elected Dr. Emmanuel Ndukwe-led faction, with Gambari saying that her group was in Abia to ensure that the rule of law is upheld in the country. While Nwankpa and Ndukwe emerged chairmen from the parallel congresses, Oyegun later included the former when he inaugurated state chairmen of APC at a ceremony in the partys national secretariat, Abuja. Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has explained why he performed below expectation the last time he was in government as a Vice Presiden... Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has explained why he performed below expectation the last time he was in government as a Vice President. The former Vice President said that Nigerian constitution did not give him the powers to execute projects, adding that he lacked the powers to execute official projects of his own initiative while in office. He said he had limited capacity to deliver even on some lofty projects designed for his own state in Adamawa while he served with President Obasanjo. Atiku said this on Tuesday while speaking to journalists on arrival at the Port Harcourt International Airport in continuation of his consultations to Bayelsa and Rivers States for his 2019 presidential bid. Atiku, who is a PDP presidential hopeful, pointed out that the administration he served in as Vice President awarded contracts for the Mayo Belwa-Jada-Ganye-Tongo and Yola-Mubi-Maiduguri roads in Adamawa State in its first term. He said that there was supposed to be a spur of the road linking Mambilla in Taraba State and thereby making it the shortest cut to Mambilla but execution of these projects were delayed and later truncated on the altar of politics. Atiku said allegations that funds meant for road projects in the state were diverted to build the American University of Nigeria in Yola was being unfair to him, and that it shows lack of understanding of how government runs on the part of the people making such allegations. Government does not run on such pedestrian level, it is a process. He maintained that all the money used for setting up the first development university in Africa came from private sources. To set the records straight, no public funds were involved in all my investments in several sectors that have continued to provide jobs and enhance educational and socio-economic well-being of Nigerians. I have always been contented with what God has given to me in all its ramifications and I thank Him for using me to better the lot of the people. Without being immodest, I was a successful businessman before going into politics and subsequently becoming the Vice President by Allahs Grace. I was not desperate to be in government in order to make money but to serve the people in my own little way and contribute my quota to its overall development. Atiku asserted that he was the most investigated Vice President in Nigeria, and challenged anybody with evidence linking public funds to the AUN or any of his private investment should come forward to prove that. Atiku lamented that some people do not appreciate individuals who create wealth by their personal initiative and resourcefulness but rather hold contrary views with the stigma of such possessing ill-gotten wealth. He said that it was wrong to assume that one cant succeed without stealing public funds, noting that it is well documented that he (Atiku) had made a success of his businesses before he was tapped as Vice President. If money was my motivation for seeking elective office, I would not have joined the presidential race at any point in time in my political career. My ability to make money through my businesses was established long before I was chosen as Vice President, he said. He stressed that passion for service, and the desire to bring efficiency in the management of government affairs are the main reasons he wants to run for President. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on President Muhammdu Buhari to ask the Adamawa state government not to implement th... The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on President Muhammdu Buhari to ask the Adamawa state government not to implement the death sentence passed on five Christian youth in the state. The youth were convicted by an Adamawa high court for willfully and intentionally conspiring and attacking three herdsmen rearing cattle at Kadamun village in Demsa local government area, killing a herder in the process. Abdul-Azeez Waziri, the judge who handled the case, sentenced the convicts to death for culpable homicide. In a statement on Tuesday, Samson Ayokunle, CAN president, identified the convicts as Alex Amos, Alheri Phanuel, Holy Boniface, Jerry Gideon and Jari Sabagi. He said while the association does not support the killing, hundreds of our members in southern Kaduna, Benue, Taraba and Plateau states in the north-central geo-political zones, and a state like Enugu in the south, have been killed. The statement signed by Adebayo Oladeji, spokesman to the CAN president, noted that Chrsitians are being killed on a daily basis by suspected herdsmen who are yet to be apprehended. We are shocked at the speed of light deployed by security and judicial officers in sentencing the alleged killers of the herdsman in Adamawa state, Ayokunle added. Why did the court discharge the alleged killers of Madam Bridget Agbahime on the orders of the Kano state government? Why have security officials not arrested those behind the killings of Christians in Southern Kaduna? While did Nigeria police set free those arrested for the murder of Mrs Eunice Elisha Olawale in Kubwa, Abuja. In view of this, CAN is calling on President Buhari to intervene in the death sentence passed on these Christian youths in Adamawa. Boko Haram fighters killed nine soldiers and wounded two others in northeast Nigeria, according to military sources, just days after 43 civilians died in deadly suicide bombings.Both attacks came as the government, which says the jihadists are on the verge of defeat, urges those displaced by the conflict to return to their homes across the war-torn region.Troops from 242 battalion Nigerian Army stationed at Gajiram, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, came under attack on Monday afternoon.The Borno state police initially said its officers and soldiers engaged the terrorists and promptly repelled the attack. There was no casualty on the side of the police, it added.But military communications seen by AFP said nine soldiers were classed as KIA killed in action while two others were WIA wounded in action.Locals said they had seen between 10 and 12 Boko Haram fighters being loaded into vehicles but it was not clear how many were dead or injured, it added.There was no immediate official response from army spokesman Brigadier General Texas Chukwu.Gajiram has been attacked before during the Islamist insurgency, which has left at least 20,000 people dead and displaced more than two million since it began in 2009.In February last year, seven soldiers were killed in an attack on military positions. Fighters loyal to the Islamic State group-backed faction headed by Abu Musab Al-Barnawi were blamed.Barnawi split from the faction following long-time Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in mid-2016 in opposition to his indiscriminate attacks on civilians.Shekau has in particular used suicide bombers against civilian soft targets such as camps for the displaced, mosques, markets and bus stations.Barnawi in contrast has vowed to hit only hard targets such as the military and police.On Saturday, six young girls strapped with explosives were blamed for blasts that killed 43 in Damboa, some 90 kilometres southwest of Maiduguri.More than 90,000 internally displaced people live in Damboa, the UN said on Saturday; 18,000 of them live in five camps.The world body said humanitarian access outside the town remained limited due to ongoing hostilities and lack of safety assurances. This cartoon shows that China will raise the minimum threshold for personal income tax from 3,500 yuan (about 544 U.S. dollars) to 5,000 yuan per month, or 60,000 yuan per year, as proposed by China's top legislature in a draft amendment to the Individual Income Tax Law on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Xu Jun/Shi Manke) BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature Tuesday began reviewing a draft amendment to the Individual Income Tax Law as part of efforts in the country to achieve fairer income distribution and common prosperity. The draft amendment, submitted for the first reading at a bimonthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, raises the minimum threshold for personal income tax from 3,500 yuan (about 544 U.S. dollars) to 5,000 yuan per month, or 60,000 yuan per year. This standard will also be applicable to those who have no domestic residence but receive an income from wages in China, as well as those who live in China but receive an income from overseas wages. REVISIONS FOR CONTINUING REFORM Entrusted by the State Council, Finance Minister Liu Kun told lawmakers at Tuesday's opening of the session that the revisions are aimed at implementing decisions by central authorities and ensuring a smooth individual income tax reform in accordance with the law. "With this year marking the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, the revisions focus on content that is no longer suitable for China's continuing reform," Liu said, adding that the changes have taken people's rising consumption expenses into account. The draft amendment adds special expense deductions for items like children's education, continuing education, treatment for serious diseases, as well as housing loan interest and rent. "This is the first time that special expense deductions have been introduced in China's individual income tax system," Liu said, adding that they adhere to the basic principles of individual income tax and are helpful for a fair taxation system. The changes are conducive to reducing tax burdens for taxpayers, raising people's income and boosting consumption. The amendment defines resident individuals and non-resident individuals as two types of taxpayers. In addition, the length of time used to distinguish between the two groups will be adjusted to 183 days from the previous 365. "This will help establish tax jurisdictions and safeguard national tax rights and interests," Liu said. The individual income tax was the third major contributor to China's total tax revenue, following value-added tax and enterprise income tax. In 2017, China collected individual income taxes worth nearly 1.2 trillion yuan, about 8.3 percent of the total tax revenue. CHANGES FOR EQUITY The current law has undergone seven revisions since it was enacted in 1980, when the original threshold for individual income tax exemption was 800 yuan per month. It was raised to 1,600 yuan in 2005 and 2,000 yuan in 2007. The current threshold is 3,500 yuan according to the revision made in 2011. According to the draft amendment, the previous method of taxing monthly income will be replaced with a new calculation which focuses on taxing annual income. "The new method will be fairer and more reasonable for those whose monthly salary varies," said Zhang Bin, an expert from the National Academy of Economic Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. If the revisions are adopted, those whose monthly salary ranges from 5,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan will see their tax cut by over 50 percent and those whose monthly salary ranges from 20,000 to 80,000 will see their tax cut by 10 to 50 percent. "The personal income tax reform is primarily a good news for middle to lower income groups as people with less income will see a larger tax reduction," said Li Wanfu, head of the institute of tax science of the State Administration of Taxation. FLEXIBLE TAXATION PREVENTS TAX EVASION The draft amendment also adds an anti-tax avoidance clause, empowering tax authorities to adjust tax rates when individuals transfer property in violation of independent trading. Individuals will also be subject to the clause when they evade taxes through overseas tax havens or obtain improper tax benefits by organizing unlawful commercial activities. "The addition of the clause is meant to let taxpayers pay their taxes in accordance with the law, which is better for the society," Li said. "Concerted efforts are needed to fix tax evasion loopholes and make taxation more open and transparent," Li added. Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, Thursday, pledged unhindered support on legal services to persons living with disabilities in Lagos State.Represented in Lagos, by one of his lawyers, Barrister Folake Falana, at a public presentation organised by Centre for Citizens with Disabilities CCD, with the support of Ford Foundation, he said he will use his good office to provide adequate legal services for Persons with Disabilities, who have genuine matters across the state.In his remark, CCD Executive Director, David Anyanele called for the full implementation and compliance of the Lagos State Special Persons Law LSSPL, in order to protect the rights of persons living with disabilities.He said the report compliance of public institutions in Lagos State to the provisions of Lagos State Special Persons Law (2011), seeks to analyse compliance and produce evidence-based report on the implementation of disability law; strengthen collaboration between organizations of persons with disabilities and provide legal aid services to people living with disabilities, to enforce their human and civic rights and get redress where they are violated. He said, It is important to state here that CCD is committed to supporting the government in ensuring that persons with disabilities in the state benefit maximally to its programmes and activities through sensitization of stakeholders and state actors in particular on issues of critical concern to the disability community in the state,In her Goodwill message, National President/Founder, Deaf Women Association of Nigeria DWAN, Deaconess Adedoyin Beyioku-Alase, urged the government to include Sign Language in the school curriculum to encourage hearing impaired students.Speaking earlier, the Regional Director of Ford Foundation, Mr. Innocent Chukwuma, represented by his Personal Assistant, Adesuwa Ighile, expressed dissatisfaction at the fact that Nigeria is not meeting up with international standards in providing public infrastructure such as ramps and elevators in most public institutions. Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, yesterday, charged judges and other judicial officers in the country to take decisions as heavens will not fall.Swearing in Justice Abdu Adamu Kafarati as the substantive Chief Judge of Federal High Court, Onnoghen said the judiciary would stand behind any judicial officer hounded for taking bold and courageous decisions that have constitutional backing.According to him, the judiciary would remain an arbiter between executive and legislative arms of government.He said: Dont run away from your responsibility, remain courageous and firm. Since God has made it possible for you to be in this position, do what you have to do at the right time. Be bold and courageous. The heavens did not fall in times of old and it will not fall now.So I urge you as the Chief Judge as well as all other judicial officers to take decisions, heavens will not fall. The Nigerian judiciary will always do the best to ensure that we remain the arbiter between the other two arms of government and the citenzry.Maintaining that the swearing-in of Justice Kafarati will bring stability at the Federal High Court, the CJN, urged the new CJ to respect his oath of office.He said: I dont have to remind you of the oath you have just taken. That oath has been your life since you became a judicial officer. You have no other constituency, so continue to abide by it. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has challenged the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to spur more actions in the electronic payment system to fully exploit the potentials of the sector in economic growth and development.The minister who was guest at the Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria, (E-PAAN) media workshop in Lagos recently, however commended the CBN for taking several measures which have seen a tremendous improvement in the overall Nigerian e-commerce sector.The CBN was a major partner of EPPAN in the organisation of the media workshop which aimed at designing a more robust, recognized and nationally utilized electronic payment system in Nigeria.The electronic payment system which includes online mobile transactions, ATM withdrawal, Point of sales POS, and others is currently on the fast rise all over the world showing strong move towards digital and e-payments.Developments in the sector prompted the coming together of stakeholders to deliberate on issues with a view to harnessing good suggestions that will improve payment system in the country. The deliberations are also expected to strengthen consumers confidence in the safety, security, and reliability of payment systems.In a paper he delivered at a media workshop in Lagos, titled: The Nigerian Payment System: The journey so far, Director, Banking and Payments System Department of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Dipo Fatokun said: This National Media Workshop is aimed at getting stakeholders in the payment system closer to the media team for a better understanding of information about the sector and enhancing our collective knowledge on how issues are reported in order to ensure a stable and sound financial system.Fatokun noted that so far, the CBN in collaboration with other stakeholders have improved the countrys Payment System through Nigerian payment system Vision 2020.Part of the initiative he said the CBN has used to improve the sector, included the implementation of Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN) which has significantly reduced electronic card frauds and helped to put more confidence in the utilization of cards as a means of payment;Cash-less initiative which has reduced the cost of cash management; Establishment of Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) to provide a centralized information sharing platform on fraud; licensing 25 Mobile Money Operators to develop products and financial services that would be accessible to the banked and unbanked population; Agent Banking as a delivery channel for electronic payments channels in Nigeria where merchants, consumers and salespersons are rewarded either on points or cash basis among others. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC Wednesday cried out that more than 100 political parties could enter the ballot paper in the forthcoming general elections as it revealed that 138 political associations had applied for registration as political parties.Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)Speaking at an election stakeholders summit in Abuja, INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu also disclosed that the Nigerian Immigration Service has been deployed to the voters registration centres across the country with more than 300 non-Nigerians apprehended for attempting to register.He said that an estimated 9 million Nigerians had as at 24th May been added to the nations voters register bringing the total number of Nigerians captured to vote at an estimated 80 million.He also revealed that the commission was working on a draft policy on Diaspora Voting even as he said the commission was collaborating with security agencies and formulating administrative procedures to check the incident of vote-buying at polling centres.The election stakeholders summit organised by the Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, the umbrella body for more than 400 non governmental organisations in the country drew participation from a wide spectrum of civil society, the countrys election management body, the media among others.TMG chairman, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi while welcoming stakeholders to the summit expressed the determination of civil society to collaborate with INEC and other election stakeholders towards improving the countrys electoral process.The summit which drew collaboration from Christian Aid and the United Kingdom Department for International Development, DFID, drew election stakeholders from different parts of the country.Noting the laws of the land, Yakubu said that there was nothing the commission could do to stop an association from applying to register as a political party saying that an estimated 138 associations had so far applied and a number of the applicants would be registered before the 2019 elections.As at the eight of this month, we have received requests from 138 associations to register as political parties to join the already 68 registered political parties, so we may have more than the 68 registered political parties before the 2019 General Elections.He, however, expressed concern that registering more political parties could have effect on the size of ballot paper, the ballot box and also have implications on the speed of processing the election outcome.On when the ballot papers could be ready, he said:I am looking at November when we will have the sample of the ballot paper and by that time we would also have known the number of political parties contesting in each constituency.Giving reason why some intending voters may have had problems enrolling themselves into the national voters register during the ongoing continuous voters registration exercise, Yakubu said the commission had to cut down on cost as it would have cost the commission N1.2 billion daily to mount registration centres at every polling unit as demanded by some stakeholders. That he said, would have amounted to N131 billion naira for the whole exercise, an amount, he said was not available to the commission.He said that mounting the registration centres at ward level would also have cost the commission N20 billion, a factor that prompted the commission to use the local government level for registration. He, however, said that the commission upon necessity created additional units in some Local Government Areas.He said that presently, there were 1,146 registration centres nationwide.On when the voter cards would be ready, he said: we have been processing the cards and we will make sure that citizens collect their PVCs before the 2019 General Elections.The INEC boss affirmed that ongoing processes in the commission and the advance of technology had made it difficult or almost impossible for the will of voters to be turned around in the country. He thus sought the collaboration of civil society to educate voters.We can no longer hide the outcome of results. It is very, very difficult for an election management body to manipulate the results of an election these days. Using simple technology like your phone you can take snapshots of results. We can no longer write the results of elections and you cannot say that incumbency at the federal or state level will determine who wins an election.Responding to accusations of bias by some stakeholders, notably the Southern and Middle Belt leaders, Yakubu said he was confident of his vision and his duties and was not often moved by criticisms of politicians.I know the job I accepted to do for this country. Being the chairman of an electoral management body in a developing country is one of the most difficult jobs that one can do.He said that the commission had gone far on a draft policy on Diaspora voting saying that it would become a reality once the Electoral Act and the Constitution are amended to give effect to it.Vote buying is a big problem and we have been working with the EFCC and the police on this. We have to look at the administration of voting process by ensuring increased secrecy at the voting point.He also revealed that electronic voting could in the near future be a reality in the country saying that the architecture for the process was increasingly being added to the present voting system in the country.Yakubu lamented the delay in the provision of funds for procurements as he disclosed that as many as 20,000 card readers that failed the integrity test after the last elections needed to be replaced. Pastor Adeboye's son, Leke Adeboye probably should have thought twice before posting a video which has since gone viral. In the video, h... Pastor Adeboye's son, Leke Adeboye probably should have thought twice before posting a video which has since gone viral. In the video, he urged people who have been writing to the church for help to stop. In a part of the video, he referred to them as jokers and advised them to save up now that Nigeria is out of recession. He further said people should engage in trade by barter and exchange food items. He also called out the 'jokers' who were writing to the church seeking for sponsorship to go study in Russia. Ending the video, he was sure to let everyone know he was 'obviously' not in Nigeria. Many people reacted to the video as not everyone found it pleasant. One of which is leader of the Free The Sheeple movement, Daddy Freeze. He took to social media to react to the post, more or less schooling the young man. He wrote, "@lekeadeboye, how are you and how is your daddy? Tell him I send my utmost regards and kind considerations. You are making a lot of sense with this trade by batter suggestion, but let me ask you this; does your dad pay his private jet pilots with cassava or rice? Does he exchange garri for aviation fuel? Charity they say begins at home; why not start by collecting tithes and offering in grains and cattle like it was originally intended in the Bible? The jokers you mentioned so respectfully, could go to one of the numerous redeemed schools littered across Nigeria, cant they? This shouldnt be rocket science. You speak of money saved. I ask from where precisely? Through what means was this money earned? Do accept my kind regards to yourself and Pastor E. A. Adeboye, your father." See post below: A Senior Pastor with the Peniel Church of God in Calabar, Apostle Essien Ayi, has donated the sum of N1 million to the Muslim Community t... A Senior Pastor with the Peniel Church of God in Calabar, Apostle Essien Ayi, has donated the sum of N1 million to the Muslim Community to facilitate the completion of a central mosque and Islamic Centre in the Cross River State capital.Ayi, who represents Akpabuyo/Bakassi/Calabar-South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, said Nigerians should be their brothers keepers, irrespective of religion.The clergyman and lawmaker, who made the cash donation at Gbogobiri, a Hausa settlement in Calabar, said the gesture was also to appreciate the support he has enjoyed from them.He said, Every human being whether Christian or Muslim believes in God, the creator. The religion may be different. The mode of practicing may be different, but it is tilted towards one being, which is God.Also the Muslim society has been very supportive of me right from when I was chairman and they informed me that their former mosque had been demolished and they are trying to erect a new and befitting mosque. I feel as a representative, they too are my constituents. I am bound to make a token donation towards the completion of that mosque. We should be be our brothers keepers. We are all Nigerians irrespective of our religion.Ayi also made donations to two orphanages at Uwanse and Bateba Streets, as well as the Pope John Paul Home for the aged and needy along Target Street.Read Also: Ayade unveils theme for Carnival Calabar 2018He said it has been his tradition over the years, to the less privileged in the society and encourage harmonious coexistence.Whenever God bless you, use part of that blessing to bless others. I came from a disadvantaged home and by the grace of God he has lifted me to this height. I always have a feeling for the less privileged in the society, he said.Head of the Hausa Community, Sarki Lawan, who spoke through the Secretary of the Mosque Committee, Mr Hashimu Abubakar, expressed gratitude for the N1 million donation, which he said would go a long way in the completion of the project.We are very happy. We appreciate his concern about coming here to give us his donation. This is the first time it has ever happened. He donated N1 million and we assure him the money would be put to use. The name of the mosque is Central Mosque and Islamic Centre in Calabar.Work started about four months ago and the money would help us a great deal. Our message to other politicians is to emulate what he has done so that the people they are representing would feel their impact, he said.He called for harmonious inter-religious relations.That is all we preach about. We call for a harmonious living environment because if you dont have a peaceful atmosphere, you cannot even practice your religion. Let us come together. We should not start fighting ourselves and make the environment unconducive for us to stay. If we are in peace everyone can practice their own religion. That is what we believe. Peaceful coexistence is what we need, he said. The arraignment of a former governor of Kebbi State, Usman Saidu Dakingari alongside three others before a Federal High Court sitting in Kebbi could not go on today, June 20, 2018 owing to the failure of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants to appear in court.Others charged alongside Dakingari are Garba Rabiu Kamba, Sunday Dogonyaro and Abdullahi Yelwa.The prosecution was given today to bring the defendants before the court for arraignment but repeated evasion of service by the 1st 2nd and 3rd defendants aborted the planned arraignment as only the 4th defendant, Garba Rabiu Kamba who reported to the Commissions Kano Zonal Office ahead of the arraignment was in court.The defendants allegedly conspired and received the cash sum of N700,000,000 (Seven Hundred Million Naira ) part of the $115,000,000 allegedly distributed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deizani Alison-Madueke for the purpose of compromising the 2015 general election.The money was allegedly warehoused in a new generation bank from where the defendants collected same in cash and distributed among themselves thereby violating the provision of section 1(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 (as amended).When the case came up today, prosecution counsel Johnson Ojogbane informed the court that the prosecution made several attempts to serve the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants but the defendants persistently refused to be served.Ojogbane subsequently requested the court through a motion experte, relying on Section 382(5) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 to allow the prosecution serve the defendants through either their counsel, sureties, an adult member of their household or pasted on their last known address.Justice Amobeda Simone granted the application of the prosecution as prayed and ordered that the defendants be served within 48 hours through any of their counsel, sureties, an adult member of their household or on their last known address.On the issue of the 4th defendant, the court allowed him to return home, with instruction to present himself for arraignment on the next adjourned date.The case has been adjourned to June 25, 2018 for arraignment. The National Assembly leadership has spoken on the concerns raised by President Muhammadu Buhari on the manipulation of the 2018 budget e... The National Assembly leadership has spoken on the concerns raised by President Muhammadu Buhari on the manipulation of the 2018 budget estimates sent to the lawmakers. Mr Buhari on Wednesday signed the N9.1 trillion 2018 appropriation bill into law in his office at Aso Rock Villa, Abuja. In his speech during the budget signing, Mr Buhari observed that The National Assembly made cuts amounting to 347 billion Naira in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to 578 billion Naira. He said many of the projects cut were essential ones while many of those inserted were not relevant to the federal government. The president also complained of the period it took the National Assembly to pass the budget. He said he submitted the budget on November 7, 2018 with a view to passage by December 2018. In their reaction, Bala Na Allah, the deputy leader of the Senate who represented Senate President Bukola Saraki, and the Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Doguwa, who represented Speaker Yakubu Dogara, said the lawmakers had no option than to tinker with the budget estimates. Mr Na Allah said their job as parliamentarians is a difficult one. The way the budget came, if we had allowed it to go that way, we would have been in trouble with those who elected us, the lawmaker told journalists after the budget signing ceremony. The senator also said they decided to alter the budget in order to balance between the six geo political zones across the country. He said it is the balancing efforts by the National Assembly that led to the observations raised by Mr Buhari. On his part, Mr Doguwa said certainly you wouldnt expect us to just rubber stamp and just bring it back. We have to do the nitty-gritty of budget consideration. The chief whip also said they had to tinker with the budget because whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well and we have done what we think is the right thing to do to deliver on the expectations and the mandate bestowed on us by the people of our constituencies. Mr Buhari had also said because of the tinkering, he would be forced to submit a supplementary budget for the consideration of lawmakers. The two principal officers gave assurances that they would consider and pass it faster than the main budget. Happily enough, he himself has said he is coming with a supplementary budget which will be dealt with as quickly as possible, I assure you about that one, Mr NaAllah said. On his part, Mr Doguwa said if Mr Buhari submits a supplementary budget, the House of Representatives will consider it. He said, We will also at the same time be at liberty to look at the presidents concerns and those things he wants us to now review and I want to believe the National Assembly is always in a position to work hand in hand with Mr President. Concerns Are Genuine Both lawmakers also agreed that the concerns raised by the president are genuine. Mr NaAllah said while the concerns raised by Mr Buhari are correct, the faults, he said lies with the executive arm of government. About the issue of delay, the president is right, but at the same time, if you remember, you were here, the president had to order some MDAs to appear before the Assembly for the purpose of defending their budgets. Its a very delicate issue, if somebody said he wants N500 million for the maintenance of bridges nationwide, then you expect the National Assembly to say Ok, that budget is approved because it came from the executive? Then we have not done our work. We will be interested in knowing which of the roads are you going to maintain so that again, we dont give another allocation in the next budget. Those observations are correct but in the budgeting process those things are normal, he said. Mr Doguwa also said I want to believe that the president is at liberty to raise some of these observations adding, but the most important thing you have to know is that the budget has been signed and is now a law of the federation and we expect the executive to now implement the law to the latter. The chief whip also spoke about the absence of the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara. The US on Tuesday withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), accusing it of chronic bias against Israel. The US on Tuesday withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), accusing it of chronic bias against Israel. Nikki Haley, US envoy to the UN, announced her countrys decision in Washington. Hailey slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting US efforts to reform the council. She criticised countries which shared US values and encouraged Washington to remain but were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo. The US is halfway through a three-year term on the main UN rights body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if the 47-member Geneva-based body was not overhauled. Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights, said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of Congo. Haley also said the disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council was motivated by political bias, not by human rights. Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says the 2019 elections will probably be the least expensive elections for the All Progressives Congress (APC).: Minister for Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed briefing journalists on the prosciption of all activities of the Independent People of Biafra at the Presidential villa, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi AdehsidaLai said that his party has performed and would go on to win the elections without having to spend so much.Speaking to the TheCable on how the APC intends to fund the 2019 national elections, and control how much other parties in the country spend on elections, the minister said it is the responsibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor campaign expenditurespending.INEC is the statutory body saddled with the responsibility of monitoring campaign expenditure, but one thing I can assure you is that for us, 2019 election will probably be the least expensive for us, because we have performed, we have delivered, he said.Just talking to you now, we feed 8.2 million pupils everyday, one free meal a day, they have parents. I just told you what weve done in infrastructure.I was about to tell you what we have achieved in tackling insecurity. When we came in in 2015, 20 out of 27 local governments in Borno state alone were under the influence of Boko Haram, today not a single local government in the entire northeast.Elections in Nigeria are reckoned to be one of the most expensive in the world by both national and international researchers and commentators.A research published in the Journal for African Elections revealed that the 2011 elections cost over N566 billion, more than two percent of the countrys gross domestic product.Daily Trust estimates that elections expenditure in Nigeria has grown from a little over N1 billion in 1999 to over N100 billion in 2015, surpassing the cost of election in India, the worlds largest democracy.Bolade Eyinla, chief technical adviser to the INEC chairman, had said the 2015 elections had a core cost of $547 million and a total cost of about $1.5 billion to $2 billion. A local authority on Tuesday denied online reports about misconducted renovation of a Great Wall heritage site by using archaized bricks in Datong, North China's Shanxi Province. The renovation project was examined by experts and approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and Shanxi Culture Relics Bureau, Pan Guojun, head of the relic office at Datong City Culture Relic Bureau told Global Times on Tuesday. The bricks should not be called archaized bricks. "They were handmade bricks based on the ancient method," Pan said. A netizen surnamed Zhang on Sunday visited the site, a Great Wall fort built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and took a photo which showed an excavator peeling off the bulge of the loess wall to make a flat surface on it to attach the bricks, btime.com reported on Monday. "It was not an excavator but a loader that was unloading material for renovation instead of peeling off the wall," Pan explained. Many netizens praised the repair of cultural relics but noted that if the renovation could not obey the principle of maintaining the fort's original look as a historical site, it was actually damaging it instead, said btime.com. If the textual research confirmed the loess walls were originally covered with bricks, then using bricks made in an era-appropriate method is no problem, Liu Su, a professor of architecture at Hunan University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. The walls were originally covered with bricks, some of which still remain there, Pan said, adding that the renovation was to protect the site and ensure tourists' safety. Desheng Bao, or literally "fort of victory" was the largest strategic post of the Ming Dynasty as part of Ming's Great Wall, btime.com reported quoting public data. The renovation work began in April and is expected to be finished by the end of 2019, according to authorities. Governor of Oyo, Abiola Ajimobi, has declared that he does not love the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, because he is not a wo... Governor of Oyo, Abiola Ajimobi, has declared that he does not love the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, because he is not a woman. Ajimobi, who stated he wont support the Ministers governorship ambition, said Shittu and his disunity forum were engaging in lawlessness in the All Progressives Congress (APC). In a chat with Channels TV, the governor also reacted to how Shittu and his supporters were not allowed to enter venue of inauguration of APC state chairmen a fortnight ago. He stated that the event which took place at the APC headquarters in Abuja was a restricted gathering because not everyone was invited. Were they invited? Only elected chairmen were invited. Governors, Ministers, Senators were not asked to be present. So why did they go there? Its part of the lawlessness , he said. The interviewer then asked: It would appear theres no love lost between you and your minister? The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Tuesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to restrain his aide, Lauretta Onochie from alleg... The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Tuesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to restrain his aide, Lauretta Onochie from alleged use of vulgar abuse and unprintable names against others with absolute recklessness. The Christian body condemned Onochies description of CAN as CAN of worms on her Twitter account. Onochie had tweeted, Prime Minister Theresa May, a Christian, is in a mosque doing what humans go to do in a place of worship. She knows that her God is the same one also called Allah. Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN of worms, heres a great lesson in love and godliness, not hatred & anger!. But Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, spokesman to CAN President, Rev Dr Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, in statement, said the failure of the presidency to call Onochie to order was capable of making the body to believe that she is expressing the mind of the presidency, her employer. He said: Onochie, from all indications, shares a lot of things in common with Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal. She is also like Eliab who was not ready to stand up against Goliath who had defied the God of Israel, but was burning with anger at David who would not allow Goliath to continue insulting God and His people. Instead of asking CAN leadership to borrow a leaf from the British Prime Minister, Onochie should have directed her advice to her principal to emulate his British counterpart who gives all the citizens under her watch a sense of belonging and adequate security, irrespective of their religious, ethnic and political persuasions. Instead of being a liability to the Church in the corridors of power, we counsel her to learn from the likes of Moses, Esther, Daniel and the other three Hebrew children who sacrificed their conveniences and risked their influential opportunities to defend the interest of Gods people against the imperial orders. The problem of irritants like Onochie in the corridors of power is that the truth cannot be buried forever, especially in todays world where no government has monopoly of the media with the emergence of the global technological communication, especially the social media. The world is aware of how Christians are being killed on a daily basis, while the security agencies seem to be looking elsewhere. Instead of addressing these failures by the government, its principal officers are justifying the crime with sundry flimsy excuses; forgetting that the primary function of any serious government is the protection of lives and property of the citizens. CAN counsels this big-mouth social media aide to employ decorum in performing her function, instead of acting like an urchin who has strayed into the corridors of power. She is hereby advised to walk away from the path trodden by Cain and stop embracing Balaams blunder for personal profit. A new documentary set to premiere this week focuses on how gun violence directly affects a group of Jersey City teens and young adult artist as they create a 180-ft. mural. The film, "How Many Lives?" follows students participating in the Jersey City Summer Works Public Art Program. The mural, which shares its name with the documentary, spans across the back of a series of buildings on Kearney Avenue and is visible from the West Side Avenue light rail station. Among the images painted by students on the mural are Jersey City Det. Melvin Vincent Santiago, who was fatally shot in the line of duty in 2014, Sandy Hook Elementary School, the site of one of the deadliest mass school shooting in American history, and Philando Castile, who was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop. "My childhood friend, he was shot in broad daylight ... nobody called the cops, nobody called the ambulance, people just pulled out their phones and recorded him, watch him struggle for his life," student artists Saidah Abdulkarim says in the film's trailer. Duda Penteado, who directed the documentary and mentored the students as they painted the mural, has big plans for the film, including bringing the artists on tour to share their stories. He hopes America may be at a "turning point" in how gun violence is viewed. "Art can facilitate a conversation," he said. "When you see artwork, it takes you to a deeper level of thinking." One of the student artists featured is Alex Bride, the brother of slain Santiago. "How Many Lives?" will debut at White Eagle Hall on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10, which can be purchased online or at the door, and proceeds will go towards promoting the film. Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. JERSEY CITY -- A samurai sword and a variety of suspected drugs were found in a vehicle after Secaucus police pulled over a 20-year-old North Bergen man last week on Paterson Plank Road, officials said. After pulling Jonathan C. Hernandez, of 82nd Street, over on June 11, the officers smelled the strong odor of marijuana, called for backup and asked him to get out of the car so a search could be performed, the criminal complaint says. As a result of the search police charged Hernandez with having suspected drugs without a prescription including four bags of marijuana, two Adderall pills, one Oxycodone pill, one Carisoprodol and four bags containing suspected cocaine residue, the complaint says. Officers said they also found drug paraphernalia including 62 plastic bags, a fake soda can "commonly used for concealing" drugs, one green container used for drugs, eight pipes, rolling papers and vape pens, the complaint says. Weapons found in the vehicle included a large metal nail with tape around it, an ice pick and a razor. Police said in the trunk they found the samurai sword a folding knife and four identification cards believed to be fake, the complaint says. Hernandez made his first appearance on five drug charges and a weapons offense on Wednesday in Criminal Justice Reform Court in Jersey City via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny. At the hearing, he was ordered released with conditions of supervision pending trial. His next court hearing is before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City. The teen accused in an Asbury Park shooting that killed a 10-year-old boy will be prosecuted as an adult for a murder charge, officials announced Tuesday. Jah-Del Birch, 16, was also charged with weapons offenses, conspiracy and aggravated assault for his role in the Feb. 21 shooting, which claimed the life of Yovanni Banos-Merino and left his 38-year-old mother wounded. Birch, who initially faced juvenile offenses in the killing, is scheduled to appear in Monmouth County Superior Court Thursday afternoon, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. Prosecutors disclosed the Neptune Township teen's name after the case was waived to the adult justice system. Authorities have said they don't believe the young boy or his mother were the intended targets of the attack, which apparently targeted another person in the same Ridge Avenue home where the victims were shot. Prosecutors previously charged Karon Council, 18, with murder, conspiracy, aggravated assault and weapons offenses in the shooting. Members of a U.S. US Marshals Service fugitive unit arrested the Neptune Township man in Broward County, Florida. Officials have not revealed a possible motive for the shooting. Banos-Merino's mother, Lilia Merino, was released from a hospital after being treated for gunshot wounds. Neighbors remembered the boy playing on his bike and said the family was well-liked on the block. It was not immediately clear if Birch had retained an attorney. Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook. President Trump is trying to use little kids snatched from their parents at the border as negotiating chips, to push his hard-line demands on immigration. He wants to hold children not yet out of diapers hostage in an intractable political debate. But our GOP congressmen don't have to go along with this. Late Tuesday, Senate Republicans vowed to pass a bill they said would end child separations at the border. Their fix, they explained, would detain parents and children together while their cases are pending. In other words, we'd lock up entire families indefinitely, for months or longer, only to ultimately grant them asylum or some other legal status -- or more likely, deport them. It's incredibly expensive, and to what end? Yes, it's a striking rebuke of Trump. But it's still unnecessary and cruel. "There is a more humane, cost-efficient way to guarantee that you get them at their hearing," said Sen. Bob Menendez. He played a much-circulated recording of wailing kids separated from their parents on the Senate floor Tuesday, and implored his colleagues to act swiftly. A bill already exists that would end these child separations along the border, except in cases of human trafficking. One that's far less draconian. Menendez was an original co-sponsor of this measure, called the Keep Families Together Act, introduced a couple weeks ago by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). The bill would allow the administration to release families as their cases for legal status are pending, with ankle bracelets on the adults, for instance, to ensure that they show up for hearings. This would address the criticism that some people went underground after the Obama administration released them on their own recognizance. And it would prevent little kids and their parents from being cruelly and needlessly jailed. Yet as of Tuesday afternoon, while every single Senate Democrat supported the measure, not a single Republican did. "It is literally the least that Congress can do to prevent this crisis from continuing," as Sen. Cory Booker argued. All New Jersey's GOP congressmen have now said they're against these cruel separations and detentions of children. So why are we still locking up kids? More than dozen Republican senators, led by Trump ally Orrin Hatch, just sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, calling for a halt to Trump's appalling policy. But if Trump refuses to stop tearing dozens of kids away from their parents every day, why not support a more humane bill to end the madness? Leonard Lance is our only GOPer who said he would support the companion bill in the House, if one relatively minor change were made; one Feinstein has said she'd agree to. The rest -- including Chris Smith, Tom MacArthur, Frank LoBiondo and Bob Hugin, the Senate candidate -- would not, and refused to say why. Rodney Frelinghuysen didn't even bother to respond to our query. Granted, any stand-alone solution would be better than the so-called "compromise bill" expected to be voted on Thursday, which House Speaker Paul Ryan is peddling. It would have used these kids as pawns for other extremist demands being pushed by Trump's sociopathic muse, Stephen Miller, as he has done with the Dreamers. We can't let children continue to suffer while Congress wrangles over this. Leading medical organizations have denounced the family separations along the border as "child abuse." Every day that Republicans delay, dozens more kids are traumatized. Trump has shown himself unwilling to end this cruelty. But is continuing to detain these children by the thousands really the "solution"? Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. WASHINGTON -- All five New Jersey House Republicans have lined up against President Donald Trump's policy separating children from their parents who try to enter the U.S. "I oppose the cruel 'zero tolerance' policy that is separating children from their parents near our southern border," said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist. "Until a humane solution is developed, this policy should be suspended." The unanimous opposition among the state's GOP lawmakers showed that Republicans would not buy Trump's arguments that his separation policy is required by federal law and is the fault of Democrats. It comes at a time when four of the five Republican-held seats are considered vulnerable to a Democratic takeover in November. And it aligns the Republicans with the entire New Jersey Democratic delegation, which already has criticized the president and demanded an end to separating families. We must all demand that our nation stop tearing apart families. To do nothing, to say nothing is to be complicit in this injustice. Let your voice be heard. pic.twitter.com/093GIed5kZ Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) June 18, 2018 The issue is supposed to be addressed in an immigration bill written by Republicans without any Democratic input. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., promised to bring such a bill to the floor after successfully fighting efforts by Democrats and more moderate Republicans to force votes on bipartisan legislation. It is called a "compromise bill" because it is designed to bridge the gaps among Republican lawmakers. Trump, meanwhile, has shown no signs of rescinding his policy. Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist., who signed a petition to bypass Republican leaders and bring the bipartisan bill to the House floor, said he wasn't sure the GOP-only measure would address the problem of family separations. "I'm not sure it's strong enough on the issue that has come up recently on the children," Lance said. "I think the language is changing on that." He called on Trump to "revise his policies on this." A 2014 bipartisan bill authored by GOP Sen. Cornyn and Democrat Rep. Cuellar that would keep families united and require judges to rule on cases within 72 hours is a good starting point for compromise and should be revived. L.L. https://t.co/DWVD7N91pp Rep. Leonard Lance (@RepLanceNJ7) June 15, 2018 My Father's Day statement on the tragedy at our southern border: https://t.co/0z7wgOj4It pic.twitter.com/Ez5yULI0q2 Archive: Tom MacArthur (@RepTomMacArthur) June 17, 2018 Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., who called for the separation policy to "stop immediately," said he would back the Ryan bill, as did Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., who indicated he also would support narrowly focused legislation just to block the Trump policy. "If there is a vote solely on a stand-alone bill on ending the policy of separating of parents and children at the border, Congressman LoBiondo would vote yes," spokesman Jason Galanes said. Appreciate calls/emails/posts from #SouthJersey residents on immigration debate. Let me be clear how I will vote should bills as currently proposed come to House floor: Compromise bill stand-alone bill ending policy of separating parents/kids at border Goodlatte bill Frank LoBiondo (@FrankLoBiondoNJ) June 19, 2018 Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., called on Congress to "pass legislation to permanently prohibit the egregious practice of family separation" and for the Trump administration to end it. "The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security must halt the practice of family separations, except in the cases of criminal felonies by an adult including rape, murder, sexual assault on a minor, or human trafficking," Smith said. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. New Jersey lawmakers on Tuesday flexed their muscles in advancing a state spending blueprint that eschews Gov. Phil Murphy's call for income and sales tax increases in favor of higher taxes on the state's largest corporations. "The bill is hot off the press," state Senate Budget Chairman Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen, announced before that committee voted along party lines on the $36.5 billion state budget that Murphy has already vowed to veto. Legislative leaders have said they intend to put the budget before the two houses on Thursday, sending the bill to the governor, and with it, a message that the state Legislature doesn't answer to him. "The Legislature is an independent body. We're equal partners and we're expressing that right now," state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, told reporters at the Statehouse Tuesday. "The Legislature is not going to accept 'my way or the highway' talking. We're not subservient." He criticized Murphy for refusing to compromise on his demands for a millionaires tax and bump in the sales tax. The Democrats who control the Legislature and the governor's office are on a collision course, with the prospect for a state government shutdown if state doesn't have a budget by the June 30 deadline growing. For his part, Murphy, a Democrat, has criticized the Legislature's budget proposal as irresponsible and temporary and praises his own as providing sustainable and badly needed tax revenues. The legislative budget retools the corporation business tax hike Sweeney proposed earlier this year, adding two new temporary tiers that would tax businesses with net income between $1 million and $25 million at a 11.5 percent tax rate and businesses with more than $25 million in net income at 13 percent -- the highest rate of any state. Sweeney said the tax should end after two years. State Assemblyman John McKeon, D-Essex, voted in favor of the budget, he said with "trepidation" and hope the Legislature and governor would manage to find a compromise in the coming days and an alternative to that two-year tax. "It sunsets in two years. That's crazy," McKeon said. "What does that mean two years from now?" Business lobbyists and Republican lawmakers warned that the higher taxes would position New Jersey as the least-friendly state for corporations in the region. New Jersey ought to be a "economic monster," said Assemblyman John DiMaio, R-Warren. "I just can't help but realize that as we make this move -- and I truly hope it's temporary -- that we're not keeping more businesses from coming in," he said. "I just hope this is not going to damage the business climate." But Sweeney, architect of that plan, said federal corporate tax reform was like money falling from the sky for these businesses and he wants the state to get a cut. "We looked where the money was. The money wasn't with millionaires. It wasn't with the working class in the state. But it was with the C-Corporations," he said. That tax increase is projected to raise about $805 million, where Murphy's sales tax and millionaires tax would generate more than $1.3 billion. The budget that cleared the committees looks quite similar to that offered by Murphy, it just takes a different path on revenues, said Assembly Budget Chairwoman Eliana Pintor Marin, D-Essex. The Legislature's budget also expects to collect $150 million from a tax amnesty program and find hundreds of millions of dollars in savings to employee health care. They want roughly $155 million to restore the Homestead property tax credit to the levels homeowners received under former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican And they plan to add more than $150 million for Democratic spending priorities for things like court-appointed special advocates for children, cancer research and prisoner reentry services. Democratic lawmakers fought Christie, a Republican, hard for those additions to this year's budget, but Murphy killed out many of them in his budget proposal. That money also includes additional funding for schools, as part of an education funding formula overhaul the budget committees also advanced Tuesday. As part of the budget, lawmakers also voted to impose sales taxes and occupancy fees on such transient accommodations as Airbnb, sales taxes on e-cigarettes and a 30-cent fee on ride sharing services. The Senate Budget Committee passed the appropriations bill 8-3, with two abstentions, and the Assembly Budget Committee, 9-4. Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. China Mobile Ltd, the nations largest telecom provider, has reportedly received its first IPTV license, in Guangdong. This might signal the beginning of the end of traditional cable service in the country, which is offered by the State Administration of Radio and Television (SART), industry analysts say. The license is expected to be applied to other regions in China soon, according to the report, published in Beijing Business Today on June 14. All about timing IPTV, which delivers television programming and streaming video content over the Internet rather than through traditional cable networks, will play a big role in the future of the three major telecom operators in China. China Unicom and China Telecom, the second and third largest providers, already have IPTV licences and have been diverting customers from SART. By the end of 2017, the total number of IPTV subscribers in China reached more than 120 million. Some 92 million were with China Telecom and 28 million with China Unicom. After years of pilot programs with IPTV, telecom carriers have become a threat to SARTs cable service, according to Jia Jinghua, an expert with Beijing-based industry consultancy iResearch. Market saturation China Mobile, without an IPTV license until now, has missed the battle for more users. China Telecom and China Unicom are already seeing a leveling out of new customers for their IPTV services. Since the market is already largely saturated, it may be difficult for China Mobile to compete with its two main rivals once it receives IPTV licenses across the nation. However, with IPTV readily available on all three telecom providers, the viability of SARTs cable services will be at great risk. After all, free IPTV services potentially offered by China Mobile could be a compelling reason for many cable users to stop using SART, Jia predicted in a recent post. Cable TV appears to be lagging behind in innovation. TV technology is ushering in a 4K era. However, SARTs cable services do not offer high-resolution 4K images. Cables poor picture quality and excessive fees are not competitive in the face of the low-cost IPTV services offered by the major operators. Smart homes For all three major operators, IPTV is a key factor for smart home solutions. The operators hope IPTV service will make users keep using their other products. In April, China Mobile was serving 14.41 million broadband subscribers. Its fixed-line broadband subscribers totaled 127 million, according to the companys operation data. China Mobiles rapid growth in the broadband market has set up a strong foundation for them to win more market share in the emerging smart home sector. With its IPTV license, China Mobile's IPTV service will expand explosively. Some new revenue will be generated from mobile broadband users. Other parts of the growth will come from China Unicom and China Telecom. And more growth may come from cable TV users. SART at risk SART has adopted a province-by-province management approach for approving and issuing IPTV transmission service licenses for China Mobile's IPTV business. Guangdong Mobile is one of the most important branches in China Mobile's nationwide system. During peak periods, Guangdong Mobile operating revenues account for nearly one-third of China Mobile's total operating revenues. China Mobiles newly obtained IPTV license does not necessarily mean threats are to China Unicom or China Telecom. Rather, the license may signal a tough test for SART, Jia said. To the editor: It is fascinating how the news media can grab the emotions of people with a single political story. These stories cause some people to become almost hysterical using comparisons to the SS. They call this our darkest hour and use Bible passages to condemn the target of their condemnation. I thought our darkest hour might have been Pearl Harbor, 911 or the beginning of the Civil War. To put the immigrant story into perspective, something less than 1000 small children have been involved in what is a smugglers racket to bring families into this country for money. Under Obama, the family could be caught, released for a trial date long into the future, turned loose and never seen again. The law dictates what has happened in these situations. Parents have to be confined but children cannot be. Those who are upset about this apparently want to ignore the law as was done so often in the past. If you want this to change, contact your congressman to change the law. We dont know how many children are involved. Some of them are late teenagers; maybe some belong to MS-13. Many may be separated only for a few months yet this is likened to the SS who killed over 6 million Jews. Can you possibly see the difference? I have not seen an emotional letter on such items as Chicagos murder rate of two a day, mostly young people killing young people even though they have severe gun laws. Can you see the difference? I have not seen emotional letters regarding opioids, which are killing about 40,000 people per year. Can you see the difference? I did not even see emotional letters when ISIS was allowed to take over much of Iraq and was killing men women and children in the tens of thousands. These items were all under Obamas watch. Nor did anyone attack his character by saying he was void of any human decency. Overreach is a common problem in our public discourse today and these comparisons are up there at the top for overreach high marks. No government is perfect and everyone finds it difficult to make America perfect but one should strive to put things in perspective, at least a little bit. John Benedict Cape Coral Berlin - The ninth Petersberg Climate Dialogue ended on Tuesday in Berlin with an air of uncertainty as Germanys government touted the success and importance of the Paris climate agreement, yet also announced that it failed to reach its 2020 climate change goals. The event was attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, and representatives from 35 countries to speak about climate change and preparations for a United Nations climate summit in December. The Petersberg Climate Dialogue, which has met annually since 2010, provides an opportunity for an informal exchange of experiences in international climate diplomacy. Merkel reiterated her position on the importance of climate change, saying that the Paris Agreement was a big success and that the world must work together to achieve its historic goals. Morawiecki said prosperity for everyone was impossible without a responsible approach to the climate and that environmental factors are crucial for any development policy. European media outlets focused on another climate change related topic, when Germany announced that it would not reach its 2020 climate goal for reducing emissions by 40 percent. According to the German government, the country will achieve 32 percent at best, compared to 1990 levels. The key challenges are from transportation and the mining industry: which are key industries in Germany. We want climate action which is not a wrecking ball but can be safe for the future and good for the economy, Germanys Federal Minister of the Environment Svenja Schulze said at a press conference. Nobody can afford to squander the trust that allowed us to get an agreement in Paris. Merkel said Germany needs to do better at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and that her country plans to give up coal completely this year. The country also announced it plans to reduce its emissions by 55 percent by 2030. It is bitter for me to admit that Germany will fail to meet the target we set for ourselves for 2020, Schulze said. Germanys goal has always been to be a pioneer in international climate policy. Spotlight: One year after first Brexit talk, still long list to unravel before "divorce" LONDON, June 19 -- A year on from the very first meeting between Brexit minister David Davis and the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, Britain remains a country divided. British and EU negotiators started two days of talks Tuesday in Brussels, concentrating on talks about the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic on day one. Wednesday sees a round a talks on the crucial question of the future relationship between the UK and EU. Neither Davis nor Barnier will take part in these talks. Davis, son of a single mom, was appointed to the job by Prime Minister Theresa May following the 2016 when, against all expectations, Britain voted by a 52-48 margin to end its membership of the European Union. Just days after May's snap general election on June 8, 2017, Davis headed to Brussels for his first face-to-face meeting with Michel Barnier, the politician mandated by the EU to negotiate Britain's departure terms. May had gone into the snap election in the hope of building on her narrow majority in the House of Commons. Instead she emerged leading a minority government, striking a deal worth more than a billion dollars, to get the small Northern Ireland party, the Democratic Unionists Party, to shore up her fragile hold on government. It meant Davis was already weakened as he journeyed to Brussels for that first encounter. The talks were billed as the most important negotiations in British history. The Guardian reported on that crucial introductory meeting between the pair that an election-chastened Conservative government had been forced to accept it could not dictate the terms of Brexit. Instead, the newspaper reported, Britain made a significant climbdown on the first day of talks in Brussels. "It now seems clear that a 'divorce bill' running into billions will have to be agreed before negotiations on the big prize of free trade can commence," the report added. Davis, the Brexit secretary, tried to put on a brave face, saying: "It's not how it starts, it's how it finishes that matters." Barnier said after the meeting: "I am not in a frame of mind to make concessions or ask for concessions ... We are looking to unravel 43 years of patiently built relations." A year on, and with the departure date set at 23.00 hours GMT on March 29, 2019, Brexit negotiations have proved to be a difficult beast to tame. Still unresolved is the question of the 500 kilometer border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, which will remain as a member of the EU. The border between the two will be the only UK-EU land border after next March, but both the British and Irish governments insist they don't want border posts. The other big question is Britain's future relationship with the European single market and its customs union. The EU insists on sticking to its rules, that membership of the two, mean free movement of EU citizens. One of the strongest factors in the referendum vote in 2016 had been control of immigration into Britain. Marking the anniversary Professor Anthony Glees from the University of Buckingham said the Brexit vote has led to political and now constitutional chaos without parallel in recent times. "Mrs May has in effect lost the slim majority she cobbled up a year ago. Investment in the UK is down by about 60 percent since 2016. The pound sterling has lost around 15percentof its value and there has been only a 1 percent growth in exports as a result. Productivity continues to slump. Major companies are pulling out of the UK if trying not to publicize this as they want to continue to sell to British people," he said.. Glees told Xinhua: "Brexiters have not revealed their economic and political blueprint for Brexit and plainly more and more people are beginning to wonder if they have one, or, if they do, whether it will be so radical that the UK will take 15-20 years to recover. "The British people have never had it explained that membership of the EU is an investment in a club which brought a return of ten times the fee. They don't now understand that you can't have the privileges of membership without paying." Glees, a supporter of the EU, was outspoken in his views on leading politicians. "Big political egos like Boris Johnson (the Foreign Secretary) leading Brexiteer Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg and cabinet minister Michael Gove are circling like sharks, waiting to destroy Ms May," said Glees. "No one knows how this will end. Some think there will have to be a second referendum, but the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in London will come to be seen as the symbol of the painful Brexiting of Britain," added Glees. BERLIN, June 19 -- Germany and France have agreed on major EU reform plans after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron met Tuesday to prepare the June 28-29 EU summit. According to the statement released after the two leaders' talks in Meseberg outside Berlin, Germany and France are to "open a new chapter" as Merkel told reporters. The two biggest countries in EU agreed on a series of issues which will serve as basis on EU summit for further negotiations and major achievements. Merkel and Macron agreed that that EU member states should integrate their data systems and work more closely with refugees' home countries. Both said efforts should be made to provide young people with better prospects for the future, especially in Africa. The two leaders agreed that that EU should adopt a united approach to asylum-seekers. Common criteria are needed to determine who is and who is not granted asylum, they said. Germany's ruling coalition was stuck in a crisis as Merkel's Bavarian ally threatened to introduce tougher immigration policy and border controls and later they made compromise allowing Merkel two more weeks to find a European solution in the summit. "Unilateral, uncoordinated measures will split Europe, divide its populations and jeopardize the Schengen system," said the statement. The two countries agreed to build a genuine European border police force and establish a European Asylum Office that harmonizes asylum practice. The two countries also reached an agreement to create a multi-billion eurozone investment budget for balanced economic development of the bloc, which will be operational from 2021. Both Germany and France want to reduce the power of EU commissioners, and they ensure that there will be fewer commissioners in the future, according to the statement. In terms of the foreign and defense policy, the two countries called for a European debate on new formats, such as an EU Security Council, and opportunities for closer coordination within the EU and in external fora. They agreed to make progress towards a more integrated European defense, including all civilian and military aspects and resources of EU crisis management. The current European Stability Mechanism (ESM), introduced in 2012 to deal with the eurozone crisis, will be turned into a European monetary fund, which can offer loans to struggling EU countries, and better insulate the single currency from future crises. First Lady Weah meets with visiting Chinese business Delegation Liberias First Lady, Clar Marie Weah, has praised a visiting Chinese Henan Province Delegation for its willingness and readiness to partner with Liberia in supporting development initiatives of the country. Mrs. Weah also praised the swiftness of the Henan Province Business Community in travelling to Liberia as a result of her trip to China in May this year. The Liberian First Lady spoke Monday, June 18, 2018, when she received in audience a thirteen-member Chinese business delegation at her offices on Capitol Hill. The delegation, comprising representatives of six companies including China Energy, Power China and Flauxi Supervision, was accompanied to the First Ladys office by Liberias Ambassador to China, McKinley Thomas and Grand Bassa County Senator Jonathan Kaipay. Mrs. Weah informed the delegation that Liberia is open to do business with China in ways that bring maximum benefits to the Liberian people especially through job creation, training opportunities among others. The discussions between the First Lady and the Chinese Business Delegation focused on the need to support humanitarian initiatives in Liberia through the Clar Hope Foundation. Mrs. Weah informed the delegation about the various projects and programs being identified by the foundation to improve the living condition of the less fortunate Liberians as she craves their support. She particularly pointed out the need to empower rural women in agriculture by providing the needed skills and equipment, the construction of a maternal hospital and the Hope Community where wayward youth would be transformed among others. First Lady Clar M. Weah and Mr. Yang Ge, Head of Chinese Delegation At the same time, First Lady Weah told the delegation of the urgent need for help at the government hospital in Grand Bassa County which was gutted by fires on two separate occasions recently. She thanked Liberias Ambassador to the Peoples Republic of China for working with the Henan Business Community to make its visit to Liberia successful. For his part, Ambassador Thomas extolled the First Ladys initiatives to assist the underprivileged people and assured his commitment to continue soliciting support for such worthy endeavor. Speaking earlier, the head of the delegation, Mr. Yang Ge, expressed gratitude to the First Lady for the warm reception accorded them since arrival in the country. Mr. Yang and his delegation reaffirmed their interest in partnering with the foundation and other partners to support infrastructural and economic development programs. First Lady Weah with members of the delegation He said they were in Liberia to not only discuss with the First Lady and other members of government on opportunities for investing in Liberia but also to tour potential sites in the country. UNITED NATIONS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Children should not be snatched from their migrant parents, Henrietta Fore, executive director of UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), said on Tuesday, in reference to the controversial U.S. practice on the Mexico border. "Stories of children, some of them just babies, being separated from their parents as they seek safety in the U.S. are heartbreaking," she said in a statement. "Children -- no matter where they come from or what their migration status -- are children first and foremost. Those who were left with no option but to flee their homes have the right to be protected, access essential services, and be with their families, just like all children." Detention and family separation are traumatic experiences that can leave children more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse and can create toxic stress, which, as multiple studies have shown, can impact children's long-term development, she warned. Such practices are in no one's best interests, least of all the children who most suffer their effects. The welfare of children is the most important consideration, she said. "I hope that the best interests of refugee and migrant children will be paramount in the application of U.S. asylum procedures and laws." Fore noted that the U.S. government and its people for decades had supported UNICEF's efforts to help child refugees, asylum seekers and migrants affected by crises across the globe. In the past six weeks, more than 2,000 children have been reportedly taken from parents who have crossed illegally into the United States from Mexico. The children have been put in detention centers in southwestern U.S. states. The newly introduced practice of the Trump administration has drawn international and domestic criticism. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that children must not be traumatized by being separated from their parents. Also, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said Monday in Geneva, "The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable." (Photo: CGTN) The 21st Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF), one of Asia's largest film industry events, kicked off on June 16, once again drawing the world's attention to Shanghai, also known as the "Pearl of the Orient." Film seems to have a very close connection to the city. China's century-old film industry reflects the history of Shanghai, and at times, even influences people's understanding of the city. Films, whether they be romance, drama or comedy, enrich the legend of Shanghai. And Shanghai, in turn, provides the film industry with its infinite charm and sensibility. In 1907, Italian filmmaker A.E. Loulos made a short film about Shanghai's first tram, marking the city's first appearance on the silver screen. City of glamour and grit: Shanghai in the 1930s Love was one of the major themes in the 1930s Shanghai film industry. The kiss scene in the 1937 film Crossroads was an eye-opener for audiences in the city. The bright lights of Shanghai dimmed as the gap between the urban dream and harsh reality widened. Street Angel, released in 1937, tells the story of Shanghai's downtrodden. Through the camera, which shows the grittier side of the city, even if Shanghai is a heaven, it is a heaven built on the edge of hell. City of rebirth: Shanghai in the 1980s The film Narrow Road tells the tumultuous story of a blind man and a girl who hides her gender. In this film, we see two sides of Shanghai the sweet and the bitter. City of nostalgia: Shanghai in the 1990s The 1993 film "Old Dreams" depicts old Shanghai as an elusive love interest, and returns the dream of Shanghai to the screen. Today, the story of Shanghai is still being written. Whether it's an old street or a towering skyscraper, Shanghai still provides an inexhaustible source of material for the film industry. Northern Uganda Transforming the Economy (NU-TEC MD), a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), has called upon agribusinesses to seize existing to invest in mechanized agriculture in region. Collins Apuoyo, the team leader NU-TEC market development programme, told The Observer recently that studies have shown that 99 per cent smallholder farmers in Uganda use traditional, undeveloped, obsolete technologies for post-harvest handling which retards development. Efforts have been put in place, which has seen farmers change their ways of farming, mechanisation has become one of the key pillars of agricultural transformation and modernisation at a large scale, he said. Our aim is to generate sufficient information that will enable anybody who wants to invest in mechanisation in Northern Uganda to do so. We shall show where the profits can be made, where the challenges can come and be ready to fight them and highlight the partnerships that can be made to invest profitably. Apuoyo said they have found out that there are about 800 tractors in Northern Uganda, 50 per cent of which are not operating and the few one working are below capacity since they only work during rainy season. The demand for equipment in Northern Uganda is higher than the supply and this provides a big space for investment. Based on our study in Northern Uganda, for every 1,000 hectares of land, there is only 0.4 per cent of the equipment for farming yet in other countries its about 20 per cent equipment, he said Apuoyo said there is also an opportunity to supply spare parts and carry out maintenance of broken down tractors in northern Uganda. However, while these opportunities exits, Robert Acac Okok, the director of Ladwong farming ltd said are still facing challenges of land wrangles and land fragmentation. We advise farmers to open land in block farming and use it in group to avoid land wrangle, he said. zuraneetah2015@gmail.com KABUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- More than 5.2 million Afghan refugees have returned to their militancy-plagued country over the past 16 years, said a statement of UN Refugee Agency, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) here Wednesday. The statement released here to mark the World Refugee Day which falls on June 20. On Tuesday, Afghan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Affairs Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi said that nearly 6 million Afghans are still living as refugees, with nearly 2.5 million in Pakistan and almost the same number in Iran, while the remaining in other countries. According to the minister, around 332,000 Afghan refugees have returned home, with the majority of them from Iran and Pakistan since January this year. However, UNHCR said in its statement that the "lack of access to services including education and health, adequate housing and land remain key critical challenges for returnees to rebuild their lives" in their homeland. It also urges the Afghan government and the international community to continue to support the livelihood of the returnees, offer them economic opportunities, basic services and include them in political and social structures. Speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga has blocked debate on the arrest and detention of former inspector general of police Gen Kale Kayihura. Kayihura was arrested last week on Wednesday from his country home in Lyantonde by the army and is currently detained at Makindye military barracks according to officials. MPs had called for debate of Kayihuras arrest and detention, arguing that it was not a normal occurrence and needed to be debated on. However Kadaga said the debate introduced in parliament by Kisoro Woman MP Rose Kabagyenyi would not add any value since Kayihura was still under investigation. I believe the matter is under investigation. We have no value-addition at this stage. Leave that matter now, Kadaga said. Speaker Rebecca Kadaga Kabagyenyi earlier argued that the former police chiefs arrest was not a normal occurrence in the country, and that it required the attention of the house. We are disturbed by the conflicting statements surrounding the circumstances of the arrest and detention of the former IGP and we are alarmed by the media speculation.We want the government to tell us about the constitutional right to be produced in court not later than 48 hours from the time of a persons arrest. Kabagyenyi said. Busongora North MP William Nzoghu wondered if it was in order for a colleague to challenge a decision taken by the commander in chief (President Museveni) to arrest and detain Kayihura. The commander in- chief has taken a decision to ensure the security of this countryand to make sure that he [Kayihura] also pays for his sins, Nzoghu said attracting cheers from colleagues. He added: Gen Kayihura arrested many people including the people of Kasese...The commander-in-chief in his wisdom, has arrested Gen Kayihura... for the safety and security of our country, is the honourable member in order to challenge the decision of the commander-in-chief? Bukooli North MP Gaster Mugoya Kyawa queried why a member of parliament would demand the house or governments explanation for Kayihuras arrest and detention. Is it procedurally right for a member of parliament from Kisoro to come and require us [MPs] or government to give an explanationwhen there are several and several crimes that are purportedly reported to have been committed by the officer? Mugoya said. Early this year, before he was dropped from the IGP position, Kayihura asked parliament to consider introducing a law that enables security operatives to detain suspects beyond 48 hours on grounds that some of the suspects released on police bond or court bail go into hiding soon afterwards. It was because of how some legislators reacted to the matter raised by Kabagyenyi that prompted Kadaga to block the Kayihura arrest and detention debate. namuloki16@gmail.com Ugandans, Janet Museveni has said, ought to have an honest discussion about responsible parenting instead of surrendering their responsibility to government. In a recent speech at the commemoration of the International Day of the African Child at Kirigwaijjo senior secondary school in Kibale district, the First Lady and minister for Education and Sports, said it is only this generation of parents who expect government to walk into their homes and clothe, feed and take care of children. Even during the hard times, she said, Ugandan families were still able to feed their children on nutritious food. Education minister Janet Museveni We have fruits abundant in rural areas especially. But all that food these days can go to the market and the families go without. So what does that mean? She said. Government will not come into your home to feed your children or pack your childrens lunch to school or remember to dress them decently or wash them. Sometimes you find children on the street who have not had a bath or a shower for a long time and they have parents. She said cases of kidnaps are on the climbs spurred by absentee parents. She said instead of taking care of their children, parents point the finger of blame at someone else including her husbands government. There was a picture that showed two little children standing outside their gate waiting for a boda boda to take them to school with no adult. Very, very early in the morning, on their own and then we talk about kidnapping? she said. There are evil people around the world, when you push your own children outside your gate and close the gate and some evil person comes and picks them up, honestly what responsibility is that? Whose responsibility is that? Why cant parents say; at least let one of us drop these children to school and go to work? She said parents opt to take care of their own needs first. Fathers, she said, prefer drinking alcohol while mothers care more about their hair, nails and shopping. fkisakye@observer.ug Gen Kale Kayihura From inside the high security depths of Makindye Military Police detention facility, former police chief, Gen Kale Kayihura, is reportedly refusing to record a statement until he is allowed to speak with President Museveni. The general, being held on what sources say is suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, espionage and terrorism, has so far been denied this request, The Observer has been told. We allowed Kayihura one phone for receiving calls from his lawyers and his close relatives but not to call. He has persistently requested that he first be allowed to talk to the president and our view is that it is not currently possible for he had time to talk to him before, but he never utilised the chance, one source familiar with the generals interview process said on condition of anonymity. Interviewed for this story, Elison Karuhanga, a lawyer working with Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA), the law firm representing the general, said on Tuesday, As of now no case has been preferred against him and he has never made any statement; we are only waiting for any development to handle it as it comes. Asked about Kayihuras wish to speak to the president, Karuhanga said KAA is willing to facilitate the process. Once our client tells us that is his wish, we will do everything possible to look for available avenues to make sure the president, if he also wishes, they meet each other, Karuhanga said. He said KAA has full instructions from family members and the general himself to represent him. Karuhanga also addressed social media reports pointing to Kayihuras torture. We met our client [Kayihura] and we spoke with him, he did not complain of any torture, he said. For the almost 13 years he was at the helm as Inspector General of Police, Kayihura enjoyed quick access to Museveni. Praised as a good ruling party cadre, Kayihuras fortunes have, however, rapidly diminished since his sacking in March. The grave offences potentially hanging over his head probably explain why he was reportedly attempting to flee the country, on the day he was allegedly fished out of a car boot in Lake Mburo National Park. He reportedly unsuccessfully tried to send army units hunting him down on a wild goose chase to Kabale changing cars three times before trying to sneak out in the boot of one vehicle. Sources say that after the murder of Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga on June 8, Kayihura learned that his time was up. He had retreated to his farm in Kashagama, Lyantonde since March, alternately spending some time in a nearby town. On June 13, he was arrested. He had reportedly slipped out the back entrance of a hotel where he had been holed up and headed for the western Uganda district of Mbarara. One source, familiar with the chase, said, we found out that Kayihura had placed his known phones in a Toyota Premio and instructed his driver to head to Kabale. Meanwhile, Lt Gen Wilson Mbadi called Brig Kayanja Muhanga, the second division commander and instructed him to deploy and block all roads leading to the Rwandan border, the source revealed. As the dragnet tightened, the source said, a Toyota Ipsum car with about three boda bodas riding some distance ahead in the direction of Kabale attracted the attention of the army. It was stopped and searched. All the main routes towards Rwanda were closed, which forced the former IGP to change course and go through Lake Mburo Park in a bid to reach Tanzania. It was while inside the park that he reportedly jumped into the boot of a ramshackle vehicle. A boda boda rider reportedly saw this strange exchange and reported to security officers manning Sanga road block. The former police chief was discovered and recovered. Brig Muhanga now rushed to the scene and picked Kayihura from the boot, put him in his car, drove him to his [Muhangas] home and gave the dirty, tired looking Kayihura water to take a shower. He then reported his arrest to his bosses. The army then re-sent its helicopter to pick him up for an arrest, added the source. By press time, The Observer had not independently verified other reports that as he fled, Kayihura was in telephone communication with a senior officer in the military of a neighbouring country. Possible charges against Kayihura, according to the source, include suspected involvement in the murder of former Assistant Inspector General of Police Andrew Felix Kaweesi in March last year; treason, espionage, kidnapping and forced repatriation of Rwandese asylum seekers, among others. A number of senior police officers close to Kayihura have since been detained as military intelligence clamps down on his network of alleged co-conspirators. lubwamasiraje@gmail.com A 34-year-old man who lost his ability to burp when he was only a baby, due to a condition so rare it doesnt even have a name, has recently been cured by Botox injections in his throat, and claims his life has improved more than anyone could ever imagine. Most of us take burping for granted, or even consider it to be offensive, without considering the fact that without it, we would have to put up with agonizing pain. At least thats what Neil Ribbens, a man who couldnt burp for most of his life, claims. The young record label talent from East London, UK, was unable to release gas from his stomach, which caused him to experience excruciating pain, severe hiccups and bloating, especially after consuming large meals or drinking beer and other fizzy drinks. Neils bizarre problem was caused by his larynx, which apparently became so tensed that it would prevent gases from escaping through his throat. Left unable to burp since he was a baby, the man saw various doctors throughout the years, hoping to find a cure to his condition. However, most physicians had never even heard of such a problem, and some didnt even take him seriously. Neil remembers one doctor laughing at his inability to burp, while most of the others only recommended inefficient medication. Photo: derneuemann/Pixabay You never stop to think about it, but being unable to burp when you really need to can greatly affect your social life. Neil says he avoided to the pub with his friends until he was 25-years-old because he knew a simple beer would cause him serious pain and he wouldnt be able to enjoy himself. The big Christmas dinner or any three course meal for that matter was also a no-no for him, as it would cause his belly to bloat to twice its normal size, and he would experience severe hiccups and pain. When the gas buildup in his stomach got to a certain point, it would trigger a peculiar gurgling sound from the bottom of Neils throat, which he describes as the strangest sound youve ever heard coming from a human body. This was followed by a tightness in his chest and an acidic taste in his mouth. Then the bloating would start, and the cramps, and in extreme cases, he would get vicious hiccups. So how do you put up with this sort of problem? Well, Neil says that his only option was getting really good at releasing the gas by farting, which sometimes put him in embarrassing situations. Luckily for Neil, his nightmare came to an end one day when, while searching online for yet another doctor, he found Manchester-based surgeon Yakubu Karagama, who was not only familiar with his condition, but had actually pioneered a Botox-based treatment for it. Botox is commonly used in cosmetic surgery, so iron out wrinkles, but when injected into muscles, it also causes a reduction in abnormal muscle contraction, allowing the muscles to become less stiff. Neil had it injected in his larynx, to make it lense tense, and although the procedure cost 3,000 ($4,000), he claims that it was worth every penny. Words cant describe how much better I feel, Mr. Ribbens said. Not being able to burp sounds funny looking back and talking about it now, but at the time it was awful. And the best part is that unlike cosmetic Botox, which has to be injected regularly to preserve its effects, in Neils case, the one procedure should have cured his condition for good. Dr. Karagama, one of the few surgeons in the world treating this unusual condition, says that sufferers are often ignored or even ridiculed, but their problem is no laughing matter. They often have to put up with severe pain that can last for hours, until the gas buildup in their stomach is eliminated through the backdoor. Unfortunately, because it is extremely rare, doctors are only just beginning to understand it. The Government of Turkey renewed its strategic consulting and advocacy contract with Ballard Partners for a year, but cut fees to the Trump-connected firm nearly 50 percent to $62,500 per-month. The principal focus of Brian Ballards firm is to improve Turkey-US bilateral relations. According to its contract, Ballard Partners also promotes Turkey as an energy hub and highlights the role that it plays to combat terrorism/transnational threats and support efforts to de-escalate the violence in neighboring Syria. Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is up for re-election on June 24. Ballard was a top fund-raiser for Donald Trump in Florida and chair of Trump Victory in in the Sunshine State. He served as vice chairman of the Inaugural Committee. Online magazine The Intercept issued a scorching report yesterday detailing how BGR Group, a corporate lobbying firm with ties to the Republican Party, is hosting a fundraising event in Washington this evening for Representative Joseph Crowley, a long-time Democratic incumbent serving New Yorks 14th Congressional District. The news comes as Crowley, whose district includes portions of Queens and the Bronx, faces an unexpected reelection challenge from a first-time candidate in NY's contentious Democratic Party primaries next week, his first primary challenge since 2004. BGR Group was founded by former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, who was also chairman of the Republican National Committee. The firm has repped Raytheon, Huntington Ingalls, Eli Lilly and Co., Cardinal Health and United Technologies. Foreign government clients have included Bahrain, Somalia and Ukraine. The Intercept reports that BGR Group was one of the few lobbying outfits to donate directly to Donald Trumps campaign. The event, which is allegedly an attempt to drum up some last-minute campaign cash, arguably provides some bad PR messaging for Crowleys brand, in an election where two politicos have sparred over who's the true progressive candidate in a district thats 85 percent Democrat. Congressman Joseph Crowley Crowleys challenger is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old firebrand who was formerly an organizer for Bernie Sanders campaign. A Bronx native, Ocasio-Cortez has lit up the local news cycle in recent weeks with her progressive platform, which includes rejecting all corporate donations, an expansion of Medicare, a federal jobs guarantee, tuition-free public college and a complete shutdown of ICE. If elected, shed be the youngest Congressperson ever. Crowley, whos favored to beat Ocasio-Cortez, has billed himself as an experienced D.C. insider with an F rating from the NRA who can go the distance in helping voters fight President Trump. A 10-term incumbent, Crowley has been a U.S. Rep. since 1999 and is currently the fourth-ranking House Democrat and a member of the Ways & Means Committee. He also chairs the House Democratic Caucus and the Queens Democratic Party. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Ocasio-Cortezs campaign has labeled Crowley as an establishment Democrat who lives in D.C. and takes large sums of money from corporate lobbyists. The BGR fundraiser comes with an attendance price of $500 minimum for individuals and $1,000 for political action committees, the Intercept reports. Crowley, 56, was also blasted yesterday in an opinion piece by the New York Times editorial board for recently failing to show up for two primary debates with Ocasio-Cortez, a move the board posited might lead voters to wonder: what are we, chopped liver? The Intercept was launched in February 2014 by First Look Media, a news organization backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Accra, 20 June 2018 - Migration should be better integrated in labour market information and analysis, argues a joint report by the OECD Development Centre and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) titled How immigrants contribute to Ghanas economy. This could amplify the impact of Ghanas efforts to enhance the economic contribution of migration, which culminated in 2016 with the adoption of a National Migration Policy aiming to mainstream migration into Ghanas other development policies. The report provides an unprecedented analysis of immigrant workers contribution in three areas of the Ghanas economy: labour markets, economic growth and public finance. Immigrants tend to be well integrated in labour markets in terms of both the quantity and the quality of employment. Employment rates of immigrants are close to those of native-born workers, and a high proportion of foreign-born workers have a salaried job. Foreign-born workers are also well represented in fast-growing occupations. Nevertheless, some immigrant workers may displace native-born workers, and in particular female workers. Some foreign-born workers are also overqualified for the jobs they have, suggesting that skills are underutilized. Based on the sectoral distribution of workers and their productivity in 2010, the contribution of immigrants to GDP that year is estimated at 1.5%, just below their share in employment (1.6%). The report illustrates a number of mechanisms through which they contribute to the Ghanaian economy, using qualitative studies in the trade and mining sectors. According to the report, in 2013, the latest year for which data is available, immigrants made a positive and larger net fiscal contribution than the native-born population (on a per capita basis). This is mostly because the government spends less on average on immigrants than on native-born individuals. Policy recommendations According to the report, the contribution of immigrants to Ghanas economy could be further enhanced by: Systematically analysing data on migration labour market information systems should not only be fed by regular data on foreign-born and native-born workers, but also allow for interaction between stakeholders and policymakers concerned with employment policy and migration policy. Enhancing the capacity of government agencies dealing with migration - by strengthening accountability mechanisms, capacity building and training. Implementing additional programmes focusing on migrants such as improving the outreach of skills transfer programmes and ensuring the recognition of skills acquired abroad. Press contacts: For more information or to obtain a copy of the report or request an interview, journalists are invited to contact: Guebray Berhane (Telephone:+22587905779) at the ILO Hyeshin Park (Telephone: +33 (0)1 45 24 95 84) at the OECD Development Centre How immigrants contribute to Ghanas economy is part of the joint International Labour Organisation - OECD Development Centres comparative project on Assessing the Economic Contribution of Labour Migration in Developing Countries as Countries of Destination that is co-financed by the European Union. The nine other countries covered by the project include: Argentina, Costa Rica, Cote dIvoire, the Dominican Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa and Thailand. Find out more about the project: http://www.oecd.org/dev/migration-development/eclm.htm and http://www.ilo.org/eclm. Santo Domingo, 12 June 2018 - International migration has been a central part of the Dominican Republics development. While the country is a net emigration country with 12% of the population living abroad, it also attracts significant numbers of immigrants, who represent 4% of the Dominican population. The country would benefit from strengthening efforts to integrate immigrants, argues a joint report by the OECD Development Centre and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) titled How Immigrants contribute to the Dominican Republics economy. The report provides an unprecedented analysis of immigrant workers contribution in three areas of the Dominican Republics economy: labour markets, economic growth and public finance. It shows that the labour market characteristics of immigrants and native-born workers in the Dominican Republic are very different. Immigrants tend to be younger, more economically active and more often employed than native-born individuals. On average, the current immigrant population has lower levels of education than the native-born. This is also reflected in the occupations of immigrants. Foreign-born workers are more likely to have low skilled jobs in sectors with high informality. Half of the immigrants are in elementary occupations and are concentrated in agriculture, commerce and construction. The analysis also assesses whether the presence of foreign-born workers has benefited or harmed the employment opportunities of native-born Dominican workers. It suggests that immigrants replace native-born workers, in particular among low-skilled men. Based on the sectoral distribution of workers and their productivity in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, immigrant workers are estimated to contribute between 3.8% and 5.3% of the value added in the Dominican Republic, which is similar to their share in the population at 4.2%. Immigrants are over-represented in some high and mid-value added sectors such as mining, manufacturing, hotels and restaurants and construction, but also in low value added activities of commerce and agriculture. According to the report, in 2007, the latest year for which data is available, immigrants made a positive and larger net fiscal contribution than the native-born population. This is because immigrants paid more in indirect taxes but benefitted less from public expenditure on social security benefits, social assistance and education. This result suggests that immigration did not represent a fiscal burden for the Dominican Republic. Policy recommendations According to the report, the contribution of immigrants to the Dominican Republics economy could be further enhanced by: Ensuring the conditions are in place for everyone to seek employment opportunities. For example, training programmes could help displaced workers to re-skill and move to other occupations and sectors. Reinforcing interinstitutional co-operation and co-ordination. A stronger institutional co-ordination would help implement a coherent agenda between migration and non-migration sectoral policies and enhance the contribution of migration to sustainable development. Paying more attention to integration gaps, reinforce immigrants rights included in the 2004 migration law and fight all forms of discrimination. Increasing de facto access to education, health and social security is crucial to ensure better integration and increase the well-being and economic contribution of immigrants. Keeping up investment in data to better assess the economic contribution of migration. An update of the Income and Expenditure Household Survey would allow to evaluate the fiscal contribution of more recent immigrants and assess recent changes. Background information The immigration landscape in the Dominican Republic has changed since the beginning of the XXIst century. The number of immigrants has increased drastically, mainly from neighbouring Haiti and Venezuela. The share of immigrants in urban areas has increased; and though most of the foreign-born are men, a feminisation of the immigrant population has started over the last decades. Migration policies have been adapted to these transformations. Recent advances include the development of the institutional architecture in the 2004 Migration Law, creating organs such as the National Migration Council, the National Migration Institute and the National Migration School. This law was an important step towards improving the institutional management of immigration. Additional initiatives from the government include the Naturalisation Plan and the National Regularisation Plan, that regularised around 250 000 immigrants. Press contacts: For more information or to obtain a copy of the report or request an interview, journalists are invited to contact: Alely Pinto (pinto@ilo.org) at the ILO Costa Rica Office Bochra Kriout (bochra.kriout@oecd.org; Tel: +33 (0)1 45 24 82 96) at the OECD Development Centres Press Office -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How immigrants contribute to the Dominican Republics economy is part of the joint International Labour Organisation - OECD Development Centres comparative project on Assessing the Economic Contribution of Labour Migration in Developing Countries as Countries of Destination that is co-financed by the European Union. The nine other countries covered by the project include: Argentina, Costa Rica, Cote dIvoire, Kyrgyzstan, Ghana, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa and Thailand. Find out more about the project: http://www.oecd.org/dev/migration-development/eclm.htm and http://www.ilo.org/eclm. Related Documents A super high-speed railway line that makes use of high-temperature superconducting magnetic levitation and vacuum tube technology is under construction in southern China. The line has the potential to allow travel at speeds of up to 1,500 kilometers per hour, according to a report in Science and Technology Daily on Wednesday. Visitors observe the model of a superconducting tube maglev at the 2018 World Transport Convention in Beijing on Tuesday. [Photo: China Daily] Zhang Weihua, a professor from Southwest Jiaotong University, told reporters on Tuesday at the 2018 World Transport Convention that the super high-speed railway line is being built in the city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province. He said that a trial of the line is expected to start by the end of this year, and that 1,500 kilometer per hour speeds could be reached by as early as April 2021. Tianjin eco-city, once a wasteland of northern China, is today a new type of green city thanks to a decades joint effort by China and Singapore, Peoples Daily reported on Tuesday. The bilateral cooperation project between Singapore and China kicked off in 2008 on a 30 square kilometers area of wasteland in Tianjin, home to nothing but saline wasteland, salt marshes and polluted waters, with the aim of co-constructing a new model city featuring an earth-friendly environment and social harmony. After ten years of cooperation, the eco-city, Chinas first green development demonstration zone, has taken on a new look. Instead of sewage, marshes and wasteland, people can see the clear river, with greenery flourishing on the saline land. By 2020, the green coverage rate in this area is expected to reach no less than 50 percent, and the eco-city will achieve 100 percent harmless waste disposal. In addition, the ecological system in the Tianjin eco-city provides space for living, production and eco-development, integrating industrial and urban development. The city hosts a variety of leading tech and commerce enterprises such as Huawei, Tencent and Jingdong, new industries such as smart technology and big data, alongside a number of start-up companies, setting an example of sustainable and integrated development. A group of experts from across the globe gathered near the wasteland and made the worlds first set of 26 standards regarding eco-cities, stating that an eco-city requires 100-percent green buildings, 90 percent environmentally-friendly driving and no less than 20-percent utilization of recyclable energy. Under the guide of standard mechanism, the Tianjin eco-city piloted new ideas of green development so as to find a solution for other cities across China and indeed the world. Xi Jinping (3rd R), general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president, meets with Kim Jong Un (3rd L), chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, June 20, 2018. Xi's wife Peng Liyuan (1st R) and Kim's wife Ri Sol Ju (1st L) also attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president, met with Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Wednesday. The two leaders had an in-depth conversation over tea in a cordial and friendly atmosphere. Noting that Kim has paid three visits to China within 100 days to meet with him, Xi said the two sides have jointly created a new history of China-DPRK high-level exchanges. "We are pleased to see that the important consensus reached by China and the DPRK is gradually being implemented, the friendly cooperative relations between the two sides are radiating new vitality, the momentum for dialogue and easing of situation on the Korean Peninsula has been effectively strengthened, and the WPK's new strategic route has pushed the DPRK's socialist cause into a new journey," Xi said. He said he believes that under the joint efforts of both sides, China-DPRK relations will certainly benefit the two countries and the two peoples. With joint efforts of China, the DPRK and related parties, the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asia will surely embrace the bright prospects of peace, stability, development and prosperity, said Xi. Xi said that socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. The CPC and people of all ethnic groups in China are closely united around the CPC Central Committee to strive for the achievement of the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. China is willing to share its experience with the DPRK, and strengthen unity and cooperation to jointly create a better future for the socialist cause of the two countries, said Xi. Kim said the two countries are as close and friendly as family, and help each other, adding that Xi has offered affectionate care and support for the DPRK people. The current visit to China has served as an opportunity to deepen the friendship between comrade general secretary and I, and advance DPRK-China ties, Kim said. He vowed to work with Chinese comrades to upgrade bilateral ties to a new high, and play their due roles in safeguarding world and regional peace and stability. Kim said he believed that under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core, and the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will definitely be realized. Xi's wife Peng Liyuan and Kim's wife Ri Sol Ju also attended the meeting. After the meeting, Xi and Peng held a luncheon for Kim and Ri. On Wednesday, Kim visited a national agricultural technology innovation park under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the Beijing rail traffic control center. Cai Qi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, accompanied Kim on his tour. Kim concluded his China visit late on Wednesday and departed Beijing for the DPRK. To share with friends and brethren The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (the Everlasting Gospel), and to prepare a people to stand when He returns to redeem His remnant. Also, to share relevant information of current events, and to show how they relate to prophecy; By means of articles, editorials, opinions, scripture readings, and poetry. Disclaimer Endrtimes does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article/video posted on this site. The information provided here is done so for personal edification; It's up to the reader to separate truth from error, and to examine everything (like the Bereans) from a Biblical perspective. Let the Holy Scriptures be you guide! - - - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/videos may contain copyrighted () material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. The rumoured increase provoked strong criticism on social media, with calls for a boycott of mobile operators Related Internet and mobile service resumes in South Sinai after hours-long outage The Egyptian Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) has dismissed news and social media reports on a 50 percent increase in mobile phone recharge card prices after a recent hike the prices of fuel and electricity. IDSC said it had communicated with the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA), which had affirmed that the prices of mobile recharge cards for all operators would remain unchanged. In 2017, NTRA ratified a decision by mobile companies to decrease the value of mobile recharging cards by 36 percent. By way of that decision, a LE100 pre-paid card gave LE70 in credit, the LE50 card gave LE35 in credit, and the LE25 card provided LE17.5 in credit. The latest rumoured increase provoked strong criticism on social media, sparking calls to boycott mobile operators to prompt them reconsider. Egypts currently has four mobile operators: Orange, Vodafone, Etisalat and the national Telecom Egypt's "WE." Mobile subscribers exceeded 100 million in September 2017, according to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Search Keywords: Short link: Nine Egyptian start-up companies have travelled to London to present their ideas in health, finance, engineering, and service industries in an aim to connect with the global entrepreneurship scene at London Tech Week, the UK Embassy in Cairo said on Wednesday. The embassy said that the participation by the Egyptian companies is supported by the embassy's UK-funded Start Egypt Programme, which was launched in November 2017 in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Flat6Labs. The embassy describes the GBP 2 million(around EGP 47 million) Start Egypt programme as aiming to "inspire and support thousands of Egyptian entrepreneurs through a number of entrepreneurial development opportunities, awareness activities and a unique incubation programme." The nine travelling Flat6labs start-ups are Chefaa, Weelo, Mosawer, 7aweshly, Argineering, Recommendator, Couterique, Elkrem, and Pushbots. "We launched Start Egypt because we believe in Egyptian talent, and because we know that Egyptian entrepreneurs have brilliant ideas that can benefit not only their country but the world," British Ambassador to Cairo John Casson said in the statement. "Its great to welcome them to London, the leading tech hub in Europe, so that they can showcase these ideas in a global market." The participation by the nine Egyptian companies comes nearly one month after Start Egypt toured Egyptian cities to track down the brightest Egyptian talents in technology in a series of road shows and female-founders workshops; which focused on providing know-how for future entrepreneurs in starting their own businesses and attracting investments. London Tech Week is the largest free celebration of technology in Europe, bringing together 55,000 tech professionals, from early-stage start-ups to some of the biggest names in tech, including Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia. Search Keywords: Short link: Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki raised hopes of a breakthrough in one of Africa's most intractable conflicts on Wednesday by describing recent peace overtures from arch-enemy Ethiopia as "positive messages". Speaking at a Martyrs' Day event in the capital, Asmara, Isaias said he was sending a delegation to Addis Ababa to understand the position of new Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and "map out future plans". His speech, broadcast on state television, was reported by the BBC Monitoring service. Search Keywords: Short link: Several key EU leaders will hold crisis talks on migration in Brussels on Sunday to try to find answers ahead of a major summit next week, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said. The leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Austria and Bulgaria will be involved, European sources told AFP, while Malta's prime minister said he had also accepted an invitation from Juncker. The issue of migration is causing fresh divisions in Europe, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's domestic coalition under threat and following a row over a boatload of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean who were turned away by Italy's new right-wing government. "I am convening an informal working meeting on migration and asylum issues in Brussels on Sunday, in order to work with a group of Heads of State or Government of Member States interested in finding European solutions ahead of the upcoming #EUCO (European Council)," Juncker said on Twitter Wednesday. All 28 European Union leaders are due at their full summit next Thursday to discuss plans to overhaul the bloc's asylum system, which has been under severe pressure since the migration crisis exploded in 2015. But efforts to reach a consensus have been thrown into turmoil by fresh developments in Europe as countries disagree over who should host new arrivals. After allowing in more than one million asylum seekers into Germany since 2015, sparking a strong backlash against immigration, Merkel is now fighting for her political future. Her hardline interior minister Horst Seehofer on Monday gave her a two-week ultimatum to reach EU deals with already heavily burdened EU frontline states such as Italy and Greece to allow Germany to turn back asylum seekers who previously registered in another member country. Search Keywords: Short link: We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. The Israeli occupation army said it pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, while dozens of rockets and mortar shells were fired from the Palestinian enclave. The strikes targeting Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, were more intense than in previous sorties to convey the message "we will not allow this situation to continue," Israeli occupation military spokesman Jonathan Conricus told reporters. The latest spike in tensions follows weeks of deadly protests and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border as well as the worst military escalation last month since the last Israeli offensive on Gaza in 2014. It comes as US President Donald Trump's special envoy Jason Greenblatt and adviser Jared Kushner visit the region to discuss issues including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Israeli planes initially targeted three Hamas military positions overnight in Gaza in response to kites and balloons carrying incendiary and explosive devices launched into Israel from the Palestinian territory, the occupation army said. "They may look like toys but I can assure they are not toys, they are weapons intended to kill and to inflict damage," Conricus said. He said that so far Israel had sought to warn off those launching the airborne devices but that could change. "Hamas and other terrorists, but mainly Hamas" hit back after the first air raids with more than 45 rockets and mortar rounds fired from Gaza towards Israel, seven of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system, he added. Three more landed inside Israel, he said, but did not account for the remainder. In response, Israeli planes carried out more raids against 25 "terror objectives" including an underground training compound, according to the army. Gaza medical sources said that five people were lightly injured in the strikes. In a joint statement, the military wings of Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad said they had "targeted seven Israeli military positions near Gaza... in response to continued Israeli aggression against resistance sites in Gaza." Early Wednesday afternoon, Israeli aircraft fired near Palestinians in southern Gaza launching incendiary kites, and later in the day, aircraft fired near Palestinians attempting to do the same in northern Gaza, a military spokesman told AFP. Tensions have soared in Gaza since mass protests and clashes broke out along the border on March 30. At least 132 Palestinians have been killed. There have been no Israeli fatalities. Palestinians are demanding the right to return to the homes their families fled or were expelled from during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that Gaza is close to the brink of war. Israel launched three military campaigns against Gaza since 2008. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since 2014. On Tuesday Greenblatt and Kushner met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman to discuss the Palestinian-Israeli peace process during a regional tour that will also take them to Israel, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Trump's controversial December decision to recognise the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital prompted Palestinians to freeze all contacts with US officials. *This story was edited by Ahram Online. Search Keywords: Short link: On Tuesday (June 19) Canada became the second country in the world to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. After introducing the Cannabis Act mid April, the Senate passed the "historic" bill with a vote of 52-29 and according to CNN an official legalization date will be announced in September. The Cannabis Act will permit adults ages 18 and older to purchase cannabis from a licensed producer and will be able to carry up to 30 grams in public legally. Canadians will also be able to cultivate up to four plants per household. Related | How Cannabis Became the New Normal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tweeted his support for the bill stating "It's been so easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate." This legislation fulfills the campaign promise that Trudeau made back in 2015 where he argued that criminalizing the use of the drug has not been effective in reducing related crimes or helped lower the $7 billion illegal market in Canada. Ontario Senator Tony Dean was also enthused over the bill, "I'm feeling just great," he told CBS. "We've just witnessed a historic vote for Canada. The end of 90 years of prohibition. Transformative social policy, I think. A brave move on the part of the government." Recreational marijuana sales in Canada are predicted to bring in $3.3 billion by 2027, according to USA Today. Image via Getty From the beginning of her career, queer artist and performer Love Bailey has been promoting freedom of expression and the type of escapism that gives fellow queer people permission to feel their most vivid fantasies. Bailey's provocative and visually stunning new video for "Hollywood Hooker" is no different, described as a "rock opera fantasy." The eye-catching video, which boasts dazzling costumes, sensual choreography, and a color palette of vibrant and muted deep reds and ocean blues, was made in collaboration with diverse queer arts collective Slather Studios at Savage Ranch an intentional creative community in the Southern California desert. Savage Ranch and Slather Studios are havens for Bailey, and as the Ranch website says, it is a community meant to empower "visionaries, activists and artists a chance to come experience a place free from any gender and sexuality discrimination." Bailey tells PAPER that the creation of "Hollywood Hooker" was born as a response to President Trump's America. "He said that trans women are a burden to society," Bailey explains. "This [video] was me reclaiming my truth during a time of repression where women like us have to fight for respect: Transphobia take a seat, if you fuck with me, I'll chop off your meat!" Related | SOPHIE's Whole New World Furthermore, Bailey says "Hollywood Hooker" was funded after she experienced exploitation by a gay sex app, but fortunately for all of us, her disheartening experience was powerfully channeled to make art she believed in. "[They] took my image for what I thought was an editorial, but later I found out they slathered my face on several billboards around the country without my permission," Bailey recalls. "Once I consulted a lawyer, retribution day came, and I returned the money right back to funding queer art." Check out exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from the set of "Hollywood Hooker" by Mary Rozzi, below. Alarming doesn't do it justice. Trump lowered the bar for crude and violent discourse in national politics past the gutter and into the sewer long before he was elected, but his recent use of extermination terms in relation to immigrants is dripping in white supremacist rhetoric and centuries of racist, genocidal consequences: Back in May, Trump referred to members of the MS-13 gang as "animals," and separately in a memo seemed to cast 'illegal immigrants' in general into the same lot. His supporters argued he only meant the gang members, and Trump's rambling way of speaking meant the discourse was nearly indecipherable. Still, now that Latin American children and babies are being separated from their families at the border, held in cages within detention camps, it becomes impossible to deny the impact of his words and the intention behind them. Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo lays out why this language is so violent, in case anyone's world history class forgot to cover the past two centuries: The use of the word "infest" to talk about people is literally out of the Nazi/anti-Semites' playbook for talking about the Jewish threat. It was also a standard for talking about Chinese in the western United States and it remains part of the vocabulary for talking about Romani (Gypsies) in parts of Europe. This is the most hard-boiled kind of racist demagogic language, the kind that in other parts of the world has often preceded and signaled the onset of exterminationist violence. The verb "to infest" is one generally used to describe insects or vermin (rats), creatures which are literally exterminated when they become present in a house or building or neighborhood. The language has also been used by those enacting the Rwanda genocide, who routinely called their Tutsi victims "cockroaches." As Ed Kilgore writes, it's a "rhetorical line that should never be crossed, regardless of its precise application." The U.S. also announced plans today to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council. Here are four things you can do right now to help families separated at the border. Photo by Department of Health and Human Services from inside Casa Padre, the largest government-contracted migrant youth shelter, in Brownsville, Texas. Iranian Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh Charged With National Security Crimes For Representing Hijab Protesters 06/19/18 Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran Human Rights Lawyer Threatens to Remove Hijab in Protest After Supporters Beaten Outside Prison Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh Detained Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh is facing two national security charges for representing women facing prison time in Iran for peacefully protesting against the Islamic Republic's compulsory hijab law. "During the interrogation, she was told that the charges against her are 'propaganda against the state' and 'assembly and collusion' because she colluded with Ms. Shaparak [Shajarizadeh] in the courthouse in Kashan," Sotoudeh's husband, Reza Khandan, told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). "It's the most laughable thing to say a lawyer met and colluded with her client," he added. "Meeting a client is a basic part of a lawyer's job. But the more interesting thing is that Shaparak was arrested in Kashan (152 miles south of Tehran) and Nasrin was not able to go there and therefore no meeting took place in the Kashan courthouse." Detained Iranian human rights lawyer #NasrinSotoudeh is facing national security charges for representing women arrested in Iran for removing their headscarves in public. She has threatened to remove her own headscarf in protest. https://t.co/DXIea4OO2y #girlsofrevolutionstreet pic.twitter.com/BEbUpCONud IranHumanRights.org (@ICHRI) June 19, 2018 Since December 2017, Iranian women including Shajarizadeh have been arrested for peacefully protesting the Islamic Republic's compulsory hijab law by removing and waving their headscarves on busy streets. Known on social media as the "girls of revolution street," at least three of the womenhave been officially charged for their acts of civil disobedience. According to Article 638 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code, "Women, who appear in public places and roads without wearing an Islamic hijab shall be sentenced to ten days to two months' imprisonment or a fine of 50 thousand to five hundred rials." It adds: "Anyone in public places and roads who openly commits a haram [sinful] act, in addition to the punishment provided for the act shall be sentenced to two months' imprisonment or up to 74 lashes; and if they commit an act that is not punishable but violates public prudency, they shall only be sentenced to 10 days to two months' imprisonment or up to 74 lashes." Sotoudeh's husband continued: "If you ask me what the authorities are thinking deep inside, I will tell they just want Nasrin to sit at home and avoid cases like the Girls of Revolution Street and stop defending civil and political activists and not give interviews to the media." "I really think they are confused," he added. "They have detained her and now they are fabricating a case against her." Khandan said Sotoudeh is contemplating joining Iran's hijab protesters to protest her arrest. "Nasrin told me during visitation today [June 17] that she has worked hard on the cases against her three clients-the Girls of Revolution Street-and believes the compulsory hijab is inhumane and against human rights and if her detention continues, she, too, will remove her headscarf in prison," he said. Khandan also told CHRI that Sotoudeh has refused to hire a defense attorney in protest against the judiciary's recent introduction of a list of 20 state-vetted lawyers exclusively allowed to defend detainees held on politically motivated charges in Iran. To protest Sotoudeh's arrest, Khandan and defense lawyers Arash Keykhosravi and Payam Derafshan as well as several civil rights activists gathered outside the gates of Evin Prison on June 17. Keykhosravi and Derafshan are representing the family of Kavous Seyed-Emami, an Iranian Canadian academic and environmentalist who died under suspicious circumstances in Evin Prison in February 2018. Security agents beat the protesters and detained nine of them for several hours, Khandan said. Keykhosravi and Derafshan, as well as two other protesters, "received a lot of injuries," he added. "We gathered in front of Evin at around 10 in the morning today [June 17] but agents pushed us away and the gathering actually took place under the bridge near Evin," said Khandan. "As soon as our friends started to chant slogans and raise their banners, agents attacked us with fists and kicks and arrested nine of us." "We were inside a police van for an hour and then we were transferred to a courthouse and eventually we were freed after a couple of hours," he added. "Then I immediately went to Evin Prison to see Nasrin because visitation hours with prisoners was today." After he was released, Derafshan told the reformist news site Etemad Online that a judicial official at Evin apologized for the rough treatment. "Following the inappropriate confrontation by the security forces, the judiciary's representative in Evin Courthouse apologized for their mistakes and said he would meticulously investigate the incident for the sake of security and proper crisis management," Derafshan said. Sotoudeh was arrested on June 13 in her home and told without further explanation that she was being taken to Evin Prison in Tehran to serve a five-year sentence that she was unaware had been issued. "The Iranian Judiciary should cease its cowardly and unlawful actions of jailing and harassing human rights lawyers and immediately release Nasrin Sotoudeh," said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of CHRI. "The arrest of this distinguished attorney, who has dedicated her life to defending detainees held on politically motivated charges, reveals the state's fear of those who defend due process and the rule of law in Iran," he added. Rape Cases Stir Controversy In Iran's Sunni-Populated Baluchestan 06/19/18 Source: Radio Farda Iran's Prosecutor-General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri has threatened June 18 to prosecute a local Sunni Imam in the city of Iranshahr in the southeastern province of Sistan va Baluchestan for disclosing that 41 girls have been raped in that city. Read related story (in Persian) by Iranian daily Shargh Mawlavi Tayeb Mollazehi's disclosure of the rape cases on Friday, June 15, stirred controversy in the Sunni-populated province and has put the Islamic Republic's judicial officials on the defensive. Officials have an aversion to acknowledging rape cases because they are concerned these might undermine the claims to high standards of morality by the religious state. This is probably why Prosecutor-General Montazeri rejected the local Imam's assertion about the rapes as "baseless" and threatened to prosecute him if he fails to prove what he said, adding that "news about crimes with a family honor angle should remain secret," several Iranian agencies quoted Montazeri as saying. Montazeri is downplaying the gravity of the case, knowing that in an extremely traditional society it is difficult for the Imam to ask all the victims' families to admit that their daughters have been raped. This is a matter of honor and few people may come forward to support the Imam's statement. According to the local governor of Iranshahr, Mohammad Baluchzehi, family members see the victims as a "disgrace" to their honor and the victims might be murdered by locals including their own family members. He said this kind of crime has happened in the region before. However, he maintained that the victims were innocent, and called on higher-ranking officials to provide counselling for the families. Baluchzehi added that it was the families' silence about the rapes that led to the rise in the number of victims. In the meantime, an Iranian MP has said that one of the rapists is a "rich and powerful" man. Local judiciary officials, however, have said only three girls have been raped, adding that there are four suspects in the case. The local prosecutor of Iranshahr has said only three families have filed complaints. The local Imam has said that the rapist, "a rich man" has "confessed to 41 counts of rape." Meanwhile he called on the family members of the victims to come forward and file complaints about the rape case. He also called on the families and state authorities to protect the victims. Reports from Iranshahr say groups of people have staged protest demonstrations in front of the local governor's office on Sunday demanding government's attention to the case. On Monday, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said that he has ordered "redoubled efforts" by investigators to probe into the case. The case is to be reviewed at the Iranian Parliament on Tuesday. In the meantime, MP Tayebbeh Siavashi has implied a link between the perpetrator and local big-wigs without naming anyone. Siavashi said "One of the suspects is a rich and powerful man." A local governor in the region, Nabi Bakhshi, has been more explicit about the culprits, saying "The perpetrators will be arrested and punished no matter whose sons they are and to which ethnic group they belong." Sistan va Baluchestan is a volatile province because of its ethnic make-up, which is a mixture of Sunni and Shia and for being on the drug transit route from southwest Asia to Europe via Iran as well as for occasional insurgency of local tribes that at times have even taken members of Iranian security forces hostage. Tehran University Students Skip Tests In Protest Of Arrests 06/20/18 Source: Radio Farda Dozens of students at Tehran University have abstained from attending semester tests, protesting the detention of their peers during the widespread anti-establishment uprising late last December and in early January. Scores of students were arrested in the unprecedented protests that broke out in the Shi'ite holy city of Mashhad and soon spread to more than 100 other cities across Iran. Students protesting at Tehran University's Science College on Tuesday June 19th. See photos by IRNA According to state-run Iran Students News Agency (ISNA), a number of students of Tehran University's College of Social Sciences assembled on June 18 on their campus to protest their fellow students being detained and a "police state" dominating the university. "The students will carry on their protests until receiving an acceptable response from the officials of the Science and Higher Education Ministry as well as the authorities responsible for the arrests," the secretary of the Students Islamic Association at the Social Science College, Mohammad Kazem Parhizgar, said on June 18. According to Parhizgar, the dean of the college along with several lecturers attended the assembly, talked to students, and urged them to sit the tests. The dean, Mehdi E'temadi, presented the protesters with a report concerning his efforts toward following up on the detained students' legal cases. Read related story (in Persian) by Iranian daily Ghanoon Earlier, while attending the funeral of sociology professor Mohammad Amin Qane'ei Rad on June 17, dozens of students had held a similar protest demonstration on the campus. University student activists Sina Darvish Omran and Ali Mozaffari were each sentenced to eight years in prison on June 11 by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran for allegedly joining protests in Tehran earlier in the year. "The judge issued the maximum sentence of eight years in prison, but when the sentences are combined, only the five-year sentence for 'assembly and collusion against national security' will be applied," a student activist told the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). "The court's verdict was on the basis of reports given by Intelligence Ministry interrogators who forced the suspects to make confessions in the absence of legal counsel," the source added. "The court did not pay attention to statements by the suspects in their defense." A German language graduate of Tehran University, Omran, and Mozaffari, studying anthropology, are among an unknown number of students' rights activists arrested by the Intelligence Ministry's agents during the demonstrations on December 30 and 31. Meanwhile, Tehran's representative to the parliament, Fatemeh Sa'eidi, tweeted, "The parties responsible for the arrests had promised us to exempt the detained students from any legal prosecution, but, they did not deliver." While President Hassan Rouhani's Intelligence Ministry is directly responsible for the arrests, his deputy for legal affairs, Shaheendokht Molaverdi, simply said that she was following up the detainees' cases. At least 100 students were arrested during the December and January protests across Iran, when tens of thousands of demonstrators chanted vitriolic slogans against the highest authorities of the regime. An MP, Farid Mousavi, at the time cited Intelligence Ministry officials as describing the arrests as a "preventive measure." Scores of legal experts immediately rushed to say that none of the laws of the land allows arrests merely on the basis of "preventing a crime." Nevertheless, Omran and Mozaffar have been convicted of the "vaguely defined" charges of acting against "national security" and waging "propaganda against the state." A hard-line judge notorious for issuing harsh sentences in cases involving politically motivated charges, Abolqasem Salavati, has also issued a two-year ban that prohibits the students from traveling abroad, participating in political activities, and posting on the internet. Omran and Mozaffari were held in solitary confinement, interrogated without the presence of their lawyers, and released on bail, said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons, CHRI reported. Furthermore, a student of anthropology, Ms. Layla Hassanzadeh, has also been sentenced to six years' prisons and a two-year ban from leaving the country. Social sciences student Sina Rabiei and theater set designing student Mohsen Haqshenas were also sentenced. Iran Rejects Russian, Saudi Plan To Raise Oil Output, Rein In Prices 06/20/18 Source: RFE/RL Iran has rejected a plan by Russia and Saudi Arabia to increase oil production at a meeting of the OPEC oil cartel this week in response to consumer disgruntlement with rising prices. "I don't believe at this meeting we can reach agreement," Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told reporters after arriving in Vienna, where OPEC is headquartered, on June 19. Iranian oil minister says expects no agreement at OPEC | Article [AMP] | Reuters https://t.co/25udkLMzRl Reuters Iran (@ReutersIran) June 20, 2018 Moscow and Riyadh have proposed reversing most of a 1.8-million-barrels-a-day cut in production that OPEC and other major producers agreed to in 2016 amid recent calls by the United States, China, and other major oil-consuming countries for relief from rising pump prices. But Iran has signaled its opposition along with Iraq, Algeria, and Venezuela, three other influential OPEC members. Zanganeh cited recent demands for a production increase from U.S. President Donald Trump as a reason to oppose it. Trump has "created difficulty for the oil market" by imposing sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, Zanganeh asserted, leading to lower production and higher prices. "And now he expects OPEC to change something for better prices," he said. "That is not fair. OPEC is an independent organization, not an organization to receive instruction from President Trump.... OPEC is not part of the Department of Energy of the United States," he said. Premium crude prices have surged nearly 75 percent to almost $80 a barrel since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mexico agreed to a production cut in late 2016. Oil prices are volatile as minister arrive in Vienna for OPEC meeting https://t.co/mvQBqokMH4 pic.twitter.com/Ku1hN7CtMB Bloomberg Markets (@markets) June 20, 2018 OPEC is due to meet on June 22 to review the agreement and plans to meet the next day with Russia and other non-OPEC producers that joined the agreement in 2016. Stressing his opposition to reversing the production cuts, Zanganeh said he plans to leave Vienna before the planned talks with Russia. Iran's opposition to raising oil output puts it on a collision course with Russia, which has called for raising production by 1.5 million barrels a day, in a near-total rollback of the 2016 production cuts. Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said the need for increased output is urgent during the summer, when demand for gasoline and oil hits a high point for the year. "Oil demand usually grows at the steepest pace in the third quarter.... We could face a deficit if we don't take measures," Novak said on June 19. "In our view, this could lead to market overheating" -- meaning sharply higher prices. Novak said that if OPEC and its allies decide this week to raise output, they could review their decision and fine-tune it at another planned meeting in September. Iraq, Iran, Libya, Venezuela, and other opponents face constraints on raising production and thus would benefit little from a production increase, especially one that would result in lower prices for their oil exports, analysts say. Russia, Saudi Arabia, and some other Persian Gulf producers, on the other hand, have the capacity to raise output and would benefit the most from an easing of the production freeze, they say. Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the United States, is particularly under pressure from Trump to offset any production decline caused by the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran in November. Riyadh supported Trump's decision to withdraw from Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers and reimpose the sanctions. Beyond that, Russia has warned that continuing to limit supply could encourage increased production from shale oil producers in the United States, who are not part of the OPEC agreement and pose outside competition. On June 19, the head of Russia's second-largest oil firm Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, said the 2016 production cuts should be reduced by half and that Lukoil could restore its oil output levels within two to three months. Without any agreement from Iran and other OPEC members this week, analysts say both Saudi Arabia and Russia may decide to increase production on their own. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and Bloomberg Seven Islamist militants surrendered to Algerian authorities on Wednesday near the North African country's border with Mali, the defence ministry said. Security forces recovered arms including six Kalashnikov assault rifles, the ministry said in a statement. Violence has declined in Algeria since the 1990s, when a conflict between the state and Islamist insurgents killed an estimated 200,000 people. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and small bands of fighters allied to Islamic State (IS) militants are still active in some remote areas. Search Keywords: Short link: Swiss rail company Matisa defies US with Iran deal 06/20/18 Source: Press TV Iran's state rail company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Switzerland's rail tracks maintenance machines manufacturer Matisa for obsolescence management, Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday. Under the MoU, Matisa will cooperate on overhaul and retrofitting of ballast cleaners, tampers and regulators as well as sourcing of 21 track machines with Iran's RAI railway company, the report said. RAI deputy head Maziar Yazdani said the initial value of the deal is 20 million euros, which will rise to 80 million euros later. The agreement comes less than a month after the Swiss firm Stadler Rail said it was ditching a $1.4 billion railway deal in Iran because of US President Donald Trump's decision to reimpose sanctions on the Islamic Republic. "Switzerland has been a neutral country for hundreds of years, and has always maintained its neutrality on political issues," Matisa CEO Franz Messerli said during the signing of the agreement in Tehran, according to IRNA news agency. "And at this stage, it will continue to operate in Iran regardless of US sanctions," said Messerli whose company is the only supplier of existing railway machines in Iran along with Austria's Plasser & Theurer. Stadler Rail had signed a letter of intent in Tehran at the end of February to deliver 960 subway cars. Its sales chief Peter Jenelten has said he was disappointed that the company had to terminate the agreement. "The Swiss railway companies have invested heavily in the Iranian market. It is frustrating that all these efforts have now been for nothing," he told Swiss German-language daily newspaper Blick. Iran's rail sector has become a magnet for rail engineering and rolling stock firms from all over the world, but European companies are most likely to lose out to their Russian and Chinese counterparts. According to Jenelten, "the craziest thing about the story" it that US sanctions should benefit Russia and China in the first place. "The Iranians cannot wait forever. That's why the Chinese are likely to take the subway order away from us." Iran plans to become a transport hub in the heart of Eurasia where regional countries have drawn up their own development strategies. Iranian officials have announced plans to invest $25 billion over the next 10 years in the modernization and expansion of the country's railway network. Under the plan, Iran seeks to stretch out the nationwide railroad line to 25,000 kilometers by 2025 from under 15,000 kilometers now. IRAN: Supreme Leader Khamenei Opposes Joining UN Convention On Anti-Corruption 06/20/18 Source: RFE/RL Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has publicly opposed joining a global anti-money laundering convention on Wednesday, June 20. Referring to recent debates in country's parliament on joining the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crimes (UNTOC) and accepting mandated reforms, Khamenei told lawmakers Wednesday: "It is not necessary to join conventions whose depths we are unaware of." See photos by IRNA Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said the parliament should instead prepare its own bills against money laundering and terrorism, accusing the convention of merely "cooked up" by big powers "to secure their interests." President Hassan Rouhani's government had introduced four bills to pave the way for Iran to join the international convention, as a way to ease financial pressures on the country. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a G7 initiative to combat money laundering and financing terrorism, has placed Iran beside North Korea for nearly two decades at the top of the list of countries with the highest economic and financial risks. This has brought tough banking restrictions on Iran, which can be eased if the country joins the UN convention and accepts other reforms demanded by FATF. Earlier, Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran's parliament had announced that the supreme leader "has no position" on the proposed bills. Deputy speaker, Ali Motahari had also said that all issues regarding the bills "have been resolved" with the office of the supreme leader. But earlier last week the parliament suspended debate for two months out of fear that acceding to the international conventions could thwart helping Iran's allies abroad, including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas. Both are considered terrorist organizations by the United States. Read related articles (here & here) by Iranian daily Ghanoon Last week, several members of parliament complained that they had received threatening anonymous messages not the support the proposed legislation. The ultra-conservative Friday Prayer leader of Mashad, ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda publicly called the supporters of the bill traitors and indirectly threatened assassination. With reporting by AP Preserving JCPOA key to global security: UN Chief Antonio Guterres 06/20/18 Source: Press TV United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has underlined the need for keeping the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in place despite the US's withdrawal, saying the multinational accord is key to ensuring global security. In a meeting with Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), in Oslo on Tuesday, Guterres voiced his full support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), saying he is in talks with the remaining parties on the future of the deal. The two officials were in the Norwegian capital to attend the 16th edition of the Oslo Forum, which brings together every year international conflict mediators, high-level decision-makers and other peace process actors in informal retreats for discussions on global challenges and experience sharing. Guterres further stressed that the Iran deal plays a significant role in protecting international peace and the nuclear non-proliferation regime. Last month, US President Donald Trump announced Washington's pullout from the JCPOA and vowed to impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic, drawing strong criticisms from the remaining parties and the entire world community. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also threatened Iran with the "strongest sanctions in history" if it did not comply with a list of steep demands, including ending uranium enrichment. Iran has said it will remain committed to the deal for the time being, pending negotiations with other signatories to the JCPOA to see if Tehran's interests would still be protected under an accord without the US. Elsewhere in his remarks, the UN chief noted that Tehran's political and economic expectations from the European Union are understandable, saying he would call on the remaining JCPOA parties to seriously respond to Iran's demands. Salehi, for his part, said the benefits reaped from the JCPOA in the fields of economy, banking and investment do not already conform to Iran's expectations, calling on the advocates of the landmark agreement, including the UN and European states, to stand up to Trump's hostile stance and transparently support the international document. He added that the recent US policies towards Iran and the JCPOA are destructive and doomed to failure, expressing doubts about the possibility of maintaining the nuclear pact under current conditions given that the proposals put on the table by the Europeans are not sufficient to keep the agreement alive. "If it continues like this, all sides will lose," he added. Norway defends JCPOA Additionally on Tuesday, Salehi sat down with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg in Oslo. Solberg described the JCPOA as an important achievement for the world and emphasized that her country is serious about salvaging the agreement. Norway, she added, seeks the removal of the existing obstacles to cooperation with Iran. Salehi, for his part, appreciated Norway's support for the JCPOA. He however, complained that the European countries' measures to counter the hostile US polices towards the JCPOA are not sufficient. Mr Timothy Awuntirim Ataboadey, a former Member of Parliament for Builsa North has heaped tonnes of praises on Mr Alban Bagbin, Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament for grooming him and many others in Parliament. The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) guru, has given a reminder that the huge political and intellectual stature of the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament could propel him as Presidential candidate of the party in 2020. Mr Ataboadey, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the potential leadership of the Party in 2020 said the MP for Nadowli/Kaleo, who is a leading contender for the 2020 presidential ticket of the NDC was richly qualified to become President after paying his dues in Parliament over the years. Amidst all the chatter in the media, I think it is worth noting that Mr Bagbin has contributed immensely to our democracy and governance culture in this country. If for nothing at all, he has groomed many of us Parliamentarians, including at least, two out of the five Presidents that we have had in the fourth Republic. Bagbin is an institution that grooms and trains people, I still go to him for guidance. The sitting President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his immediate predecessor, former President John Dramani Mahama both met Hon Alban Bagbin in Parliament Mr Ataboadey said. The former Builsa North MP cited himself as another example of legislators who had benefited immensely from the grooming of Mr Bagbin. Given this impact on Ghanaian politics, he said Mr Bagbin was a personality who deserved to be given the opportunity to lead the country. If even people that he groomed have risen to become Presidents then I think it wouldnt be bad at all to try him too. The gurus reminder comes at a time that Mr Bagbin was locked in an election pre-heat with former President John Mahama, who is lacing his boots to contest for the 2020 flagbearership. As the run-up to the flagbearership vote intensifies, the revered MP for Nadowli Kaleo, who has a fierce reputation as an anti-corruption champion, has been dominating media headlines through unsolicited endorsements from many admirers within the party. As one of the pioneers of the Fourth Republican Parliament, Mr Bagbin came to Parliament in 1993. While Nana Akufo-Addo who later came as MP for Abuakwa in 1997 received guidance on Parliamentary practice from him. For former President John Mahama, Mr Bagbin actually took him under his wings when he first came to Parliament as the MP for Bole Bamboi in 1997. Mahamas brilliance which would lead to his rise to become President started with him getting noticed as an eloquent Parliamentarian. He got this notice because Mr Bagbin appointed him as the Director of Communications for the NDC caucus, Mr Timothy Ataboadey said. He said the former President and the current one are just two of people that Mr Bagbin trained in Parliament and that most young Parliamentarians, including himself, respect the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament as their groomer. When the going was becoming tough for former president Mahama in his constituency in 2004, Mr Bagbin was there and campaigned for him, he even told the people of Bole that MrJohn Mahama was a presidential material and truly Mahama became a President. Mr Bagbin is a very good leader and has helped us in diverse ways, Almighty God enjoins us to speak the truth the former MP added. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The President has assured families of music legends C.K Mann and Jewel Ackah of the states support to ensure a befitting funeral for the two legends. President Akufo-Addo said this when delegations from the families of C.K Mann and Jewel Ackah accompanied by executives of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) and Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO) paid a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House. He lauded the contributions of the two icons to Ghanaian society saying 'the nation is the poorer without them and their music will continue to inspire many generations to come.' On his part, MUSIGA President Bice Osei Kuffour (Obour) thanked the President and his government for the support it has provided MUSIGA and the entire music industry when it was needed. The two icons were honoured as Music Heroes at the MUSIGA Presidential Grand Ball held on December 29 last year under the auspices of President Akufo-Addo. Also present at the meeting were the Chief of Staff, Frema Opare and the Deputy Chief of Staff, Francis Asenso Okyere. C.K Manns family was led by the Ebusuapanyin of the Abrade clan in Takoradi, Samuel Mensah and Agya Armah (Godfirst) of the Alonoba or Abrade clan of Axim led Jewel Ackahs family. Other members of the delegation included children of the two icons and the MP for Takoradi, Kobbie Okyere Darko. MUSIGA was represented by First Vice President, Bessa Simons, Second Vice President, Rev Dr Thomas Yawson, Director of Highlife, Smart Nkansah and Director of Communications and Special Projects, Ahuma Bosco Ocansey while GHAMRO was represented by Operations Coordinator Yaw Osbourne and Welfare Committee Chairperson Augustina Addison. Also present was the C.E.O of Rufftown Ricky Nana Agyeman, also known as Bullet, who was accompanied by his newest protege, Wendy Shay. Bullet expressed their appreciation to President Akufo-Addo for the states support for the funeral of Ebony Reigns. The family of C.K Mann had earlier visited ex-President J.A Kuffour to inform him of the final funeral rites for the late legend. President Kuffour described C.K Mann as a personal friend whose music had a huge impact on Ghanaian society and extended his condolences to the family. C.K Manns funeral will be held on July 13, 14 and 15 in Takoradi and Jewel Ackahs will be on August 3, 4, 5 in Tema. Source: Myjoyonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ontario Premier-designate Doug Ford speaks to the media during a break from the first meeting of the newly-elected Ontario PC Caucus at Queen's Park in Toronto on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin Nova Scotia Minister of Energy Geoff MacLellan watches video on the undersea exploration for oil during an announcement at the Bedford Institute if Oceanography in Halifax on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Nova Scotia's government will invest $11.8 million on geoscience research over the next four years to encourage offshore oil exploration. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michael Tutton The United States is emphasizing that its pullout from the United Nations' main human rights body doesn't mean it's stopping its work with the U.N.'s rights chief. A U.S. official in Geneva says the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights currently Jordanian prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein "performs valuable work in promoting human rights." "We have a very strong relationship with the OHCHR and will continue to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms through that relationship," the press office of the U.S. mission in Geneva said in an e-mail. The human rights office, or OHCHR, is a permanent U.N. organization that ultimately falls under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The United States is traditionally one of its largest donors. The Human Rights Council is a 47-country body that draws its mandate from the U.N. General Assembly, and meets three times a year in Geneva. The U.S. announced its withdrawal from the council on Wednesday, citing among other things its alleged anti-Israel bias. Search Keywords: Short link: This undated image released by the Oxford English Dictionary shows old volumes of the dictionary next to the a computer monitor displaying a page from the Oxford English Dictionary website. The Oxford English Dictionary has added about 1,000 new entries. (Oxford English Dictionary via AP) People enter the Law Courts in Winnipeg on February 5, 2018. A former educational assistant in Winnipeg has been sentenced to 3.5 years behind bars for having a sexual relationship with a student. Sheryl Dyck, who was 42 at the time, was arrested in 2015 after a seven-month relationship with the then 16-year-old. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Hungary's parliament adopted Wednesday a controversial package of laws penalising NGOs that help migrants, a key proposal of the firebrand nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Dubbed the 'Stop Soros' laws after liberal US billionaire George Soros, accused by the government of orchestrating migration to Europe, the package of legislation was voted through by 160 votes to 18. The government says the laws are aimed at people helping undeserving migrants to acquire refugee status, for example if those persons were not in immediate danger before entering Hungary, or who entered the country illegally. The Hungarian chapter of rights pressure group Amnesty International, which could find itself targeted under the new laws, called them "a brazen attack on people seeking safe haven from persecution and those who carry out admirable work to help them". "It is a new low point in an intensifying crackdown on civil society and it is something we will resist every step of the way," Amnesty said in a statement. The 'Stop Soros' laws were promised by Orban in the lead-up to a parliamentary election in April, in which Orban's ruling Fidesz party won a third consecutive term by a landslide. The campaign was dominated by anti-migrant and anti-Soros messaging on pro-government media. Search Keywords: Short link: Liverpool Bishop James Jones delivers a statement on behalf of an independent panel, outside Portsmouth Cathedral, south England, Wednesday June 20, 2018, after the disclosure of the Gosport Independent Panel's report. At least 450 people had their lives shortened by a hospitalAos institutionalized regime of administering opioids without medical justification between 1989 and 2000, an independent panel concluded Wednesday. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP) 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 Oil up Wednesday on U.S. stocks, Libya ahead of OPEC meeting By Christopher Johnson LONDON Petroleumworld 06 20 2018 Oil prices rose on Wednesday, supported by a drop in U.S. commercial crude inventories and the loss of storage capacity in Libya, with investors cautious ahead of a biannual meeting of OPEC exporters to decide production policy. Benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 was up 50 cents at $75.58 a barrel by 0835 GMT. U.S. light crude CLc1 was 50 cents higher at $65.57. U.S. crude inventories fell by 3 million barrels to 430.6 million barrels in the week to June 15, according to an American Petroleum Institute report on Tuesday. [API/S] Traders said a drop in Libyan supplies due to the collapse of an estimated 400,000-barrel storage tank also helped push up prices. Looming large over markets, however, were meetings scheduled on June 22-23 in Vienna of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with other big producers, including Russia. De facto OPEC leader Saudi Arabia, as well as Russia, which is not a member of the cartel but is the world's biggest oil producer, are pushing to loosen supply controls introduced to prop up prices in 2017. Other OPEC members, including Iran, are against such a move, fearing a sharp slump in prices. Unlike previous meetings, the run-up to this OPEC meeting is fraught with uncertainty with Iran from the onset adopting a very entrenched opposition to any supply increase, Harry Tchilinguirian, head of global oil strategy at French bank BNP Paribas, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum. Technical analysts who follow price charts say prices are unpredictable ahead of the OPEC meeting: The market is now stuck in an OPEC-wary condition. It is likely to be thrown around by headlines and over enthusiastic participation is not advised, said Robin Bieber, director of London brokerage PVM Oil Associates. Jack Allardyce, research analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, expects OPEC to compromise and agree a fairly modest increase of 300,000-600,000 barrels per day in production, equivalent to about 0.5 percent of world production. We could see this knocking $5 per barrel off Brent, Allardyce said. Markets are also anxiously watching trade tensions between the United States and China, in which both sides have threatened to impose stiff duties on each other's exports, including U.S. crude oil. A 25 percent tariff on U.S. crude oil imports, as threatened by China in retaliation for duties Washington has announced but not yet implemented against Chinese products, would make U.S. crude uncompetitive in China versus other supplies. This would almost certainly lead to a sharp drop-off in Chinese purchases of U.S. crude, which have boomed in the last two years to a business now worth around $1 billion per month. To view a graphic on U.S. vs international oil prices, click: reut.rs/2M7us7P _________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Jagdeo skirts questions on money Guyana collected from oil companies during PPP/C tenure By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell GEORGETOWN Petroleumworld 06 20 2018 "You are talking about small sums of money; relatively small sums. We have a bigger concern about a larger sum that we have all been talking about. Yet this government refuses to address it. So said, former President Bharrat Jagdeo when questioned how the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) spent money that it collected from oil companies specifically for capacity building. For well over a decade, Guyana received yearly sums from several oil companies, including oil giant, ExxonMobil, for the purpose of capacity building. But from all indications the money was not used for that purpose. As a result, less than two years away from first oil, Guyana finds itself with a deficit of the skills and expertise needed to service the industry and safeguard the country's interest. Head of ExxonMobil's Public Affairs Department, Kimberly Brasington, said that from 1999 to 2016, ExxonMobil paid Guyana a lot of money. ExxonMobil would have paid that sum based on the provisions of the old contract. The sum for capacity building has increased under the new contract. Brasington said that for 2017, the Government of Guyana already received a cheque for US$300,000 which is $60M. Therefore, Guyana would have received a total of $213M for capacity building. While this sum is no extraordinary amount, there is still no record of any Guyanese being awarded a scholarship for geology or to be trained in oil and gas accounting during the years 1999 and 2015. This is despite the fact that the 1999 agreement was clear that the sums were to be used for capacity building for the oil and gas sector. Other oil companies had similar obligations. Therefore, over the years, the government would have been collecting similar sum from at least four other oil companies. When Jagdeo was asked how the money was spent, he chose to highlight the fact that the APNU+AFC government collected way more money in the form of a signing bonus that is yet to be placed into the Consolidated Fund. He noted that despite the fact that PPP/C brought litigation against the government to force them to do the lawful thing the government is still refusing to do so. Jagdeo noted that the money is nowhere national budgetary estimates or revenue figures for 2016 or 2017. So that money, for all practical purposes, does not exist based on the financial laws because if it is not there in the financial statements of the government. He continued, I have bigger concerns the understating of our revenue for 2016 by US$18M and the understating of our 2017 estimates by US$18M. That changes everything. It changes the size of the fiscal deficit and several other macro variables. Jagdeo could not state if the PPP/C ensured that the money went towards capacity building. He said, When it comes to the fees and stuff I know it was paid to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and you may be able to track that through an audit. I have no doubt that it would be accounted for. In 2016, the APNU+AFC Government also received an US$18M signing bonus. It said that US$3M from that sum would be put aside for capacity building. The Government has no known clear plans regarding particular areas where they plan to build capacity with this particular sum. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Venezuela cannot blow hot and cold' on ICJ's jurisdiction on border controversy with Guyana By Denis Chabrol GEORGETOWN Petroleumworld 06 20 2018 Venezuela cannot accept and reject the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in settling the border controversy with Guyana, a legal and security expert said Tuesday. There is an interesting and powerful nuance because the Geneva Agreement named the ICJ as a means of resolution of the controversy, Venezuela has, for all intents and purposes, recognised and accepted the jurisdiction of the Court for this narrow issue and cannot seek to approbate and reprobate at the same time, the official said. Article IV of the 1966 Geneva Agreement permits the United Nations Secretary General to choose either arbitration or judicial settlement if the other means of settlement listed in Article 33 of the United Nations Charter fail to resolve the controversy over the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award of the land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela. Guyana has said that it is tired of waiting for the past 50 years to find a resolution through mediation under the aegis of the United Nations Secretary General. Venezuela on Monday told the ICJ that that court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case, prompting Guyana to publicly state that it would call on that court to rule in its favour that the 1899 award is full, final and perfect. The American-trained hemispheric security expert argued that The Netherlands-based World Court was handed the matter by the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres in late February, 2018 after last year's intensified high-level mediation failed to yield a resolution. It should be noted that the Court is itself already operating as if it has jurisdiction primarily because of the source or origin of the matter, which is the Secretary General, and not a State Party. The UN itself has moved and invoked the jurisdiction of the Court and not Guyana and the ICJ is duty bound to respond, the official said. According to the legal expert, Venezuela's rejection of the ICJ marks that country's move to set the stage to reject the court's decision. In this way they will seek to reserve their right not to respect the decision of the court; especially if, as anticipated, the ruling is against them, the expert said. While Venezuela never acceded to the general jurisdiction of the ICJ and its lawyers have advised not to recognise that UN judicial organ, Guyana has said that that court's ruling would be binding on both participants and non-participants. The legal expert expected the Court to spend sometime on this subject of jurisdiction in its ruling.: The official, who spoke to Demerara Waves on condition of strict anonymity, did not rule out Venezuela maneuvering the controversy away from the Court to the UN Security Council by engineering restive conditions. No doubt they will provoke a situation that will cause a distraction and try to move this matter from the ICJ to perhaps the Security Council so it's no longer a legal issue to be determined but a matter of regional peace and security, the source said. Venezuela has for decades obstructed Guyana from exploring and exploiting gold and hydrocarbons onshore and offshore the Essequibo Region which makes up two-thirds of this country's 83,000 square miles. Guyana now hopes that an ICJ ruling will be persuasive and convincing enough to international investors who are increasingly lining up to do business here especially since the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in 2015. Proven reserves so far total 3.2 billion barrels. ExxonMobil intends to begin commercial oil production in March 2020. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Jamaica replacing discountinuation of PetroCaribe's oil by fuels from Petrotrin By Jamaica Observer KINGSTON Petroleumworld 06 20 2018 Energy Minister Dr Andrew Wheatley says that a discontinuation of the sale of crude oil to Jamaica by Venezuela would have no effect on the availability of petroleum here. Dr Wheatley told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that the last shipment of petroleum products Jamaica received from Venezuela was in May 2017. It wouldn't affect us if we do not get any crude from Venezuela, because for a little over a year now we have not been getting any crude oil, and we have been buying petroleum products from Petrotrin (Trinidad and Tobago), and crude from the Gulf area and countries like Ecuador, he said. Wheatley was responding to contradictory reports coming out of the Eastern Caribbean, suggesting that Venezuela may be discontinuing the sale of petroleum products under the PetroCaribe agreement within the region. A report was carried by the Antigua Observer on Wednesday, stating that the move comes as a result of falling crude production and low refinery utilisation. However, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda described the report as fake news according to the Caribbean Media Corporation . But yesterday, Dominica News Online reported that the Caribbean island was among countries that may be affected by a decision to cut petroleum deliveries from Venezuela by Petroleos de Venezuela South America (PDVSA). Dominica News Online attributed its article to a report carried by S&P Global Platts, a leading independent provider of information, benchmark prices and analytics for the energy market. The report said that the Venezuelan oil ministry stated Tuesday that PDVSA would be indefinitely suspending a combined 38,000 barrels of refined products to a number of Caribbean countries under the PetroCaribe agreement. It said that PDVSA also reported that the decision was primarily due to falling crude production and low refinery utilisation. The story said that, apart from Dominica, the move would affect half of the Caribbean countries in the PetroCaribe agreement, including Belize, Dominica, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and St Kitts. It added that the suspension in some PetroCaribe shipments would be a major second blow to Venezuela's hobbled oil industry. But, according to an Antiguan Government statement following their Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the board of PetroCaribe has said that PDVSA is not ending and will not discontinue its special sale of petroleum products. According to the board the fake news identified the eight Organisation of American States (OAS) member states that did not support a resolution to discontinue Venezuela's membership in the OAS, and which are also recipients of the PetroCaribe agreement. The statement quoted the PetroCaribe Board as saying a writing will be forthcoming pointing out the fakeness of the story. Dominica News Online said that the S&P Global Platts report pointed out that PDVSA stated in June it would supply 45,600 barrels of refined products to Cuba, which has been one of the main beneficiaries from the PetroCaribe agreement, receiving average deliveries from PDVSA of 95,000 barrels of crude and refined products. PDVSA has been operating its refineries below capacity because of a shortage of crude feedstock and various unscheduled shutdowns. This month, the company plans to process 499,000 barrels through its refining system, or 31 per cent of its 1.6 million capacity. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us OPEC math with a gap between headlines and real barrels Many countries won't be able to fulfill any increase in quotas. Real boost likely to be a third less than headline number. - Play video - OPEC May Hold One of The Most Political Meetings in Years, Sen Says . By Javier Blas and Jack Farchy VIENNA Petroleumworld 06 20 2018 When OPEC meets on Friday in Vienna to discuss a possible output hike in the second half of the year, there's likely to be a significant gap between the headline numbers under discussion and the amount of oil that can actually be added to the market. The gap between real barrels and those that exist only on paper means that the impact on the market of any agreement between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to increase supply is likely to be about one-third smaller than the headline announcement, according to Bloomberg calculations. To see why, look at the 1.5 million-barrel-a-day increase that has been floated by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak. He said on Tuesday that his proposal would allocate the quota increase among all OPEC+ members in proportion to the original cuts each country agreed back in 2016. That would give Saudi Arabia a 402,000-barrel increase, Russia a 248,000-barrel hike, and so forth. But it would also allot higher quotas to countries which are probably, or certainly, unable to lift output -- such as Venezuela, Mexico and Angola. Of the 1.5 million-barrel-a-day increase, only 958,000 barrels would go to producers that are almost certainly able to use them. The same logic applies to smaller quota adjustments. A 1 million barrel-a-day boost would actually hand only 639,000 barrels of increased quotas to countries that could definitely use them. "Because so many OPEC countries can't increase production, the real output boost will be substantially lower than the headline announcement," said Amrita Sen, Chief Oil Analyst at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us U.S. oil pipeline companies seek relief from steel tariffs By Liz Hampton HOUSTON Petroleumworld 06 20 2018 Major U.S. energy companies including Plains All American Pipeline, Hess Corp and Kinder Morgan Inc are among many seeking exemptions from steel-import tariffs as the United States ratchets up trade tensions with exporters including China, Canada and Mexico. There have been nearly 21,000 requests overall for exclusions submitted to the U.S. Commerce Department since the Trump administration imposed levies this year. Of those, more than 500 petitions involve pipes and related materials. Initial decisions are expected this month, offering the first clues as to how the administration will balance an agenda favoring oil and gas exports while also supporting the U.S. steel and aluminum industries. For the energy industry, the potential for relief has taken on added importance after China surprised markets last week by proposing 25 percent levies on about $1 billion a month in U.S. oil imports in retaliation for U.S. tariffs. The pipeline industry could face higher costs from tariffs as about 77 percent of the steel used in U.S. pipelines is imported, according to a 2017 study for the pipeline industry. Benchmark hot-rolled U.S. steel coil prices are up more than 50 percent from a year ago, according to S&P Global Platts. Pipelines from the nation's largest oilfield in west Texas to the Gulf Coast are nearly full, depressing crude prices as output is projected to rise by about 850,000 barrels per day this year, and significant projects are not expected to be completed until at least next year. Plains sought a tariff exclusion for its 500-mile Cactus II oil pipeline, which will connect West Texas oil fields to export docks near Corpus Christi, Texas. This month, it expects to receive its first material from Corinth Pipeworks SA, a Greek manufacturer, according to a Commerce Department filing. We think tariffs would be unjust, but we can tolerate them, Greg Armstrong, chief executive of Plains All American Pipeline, told investors this month, adding that tariffs and import quotas could hurt U.S. production growth. No U.S. mills can produce pipe with the specifications needed for Plains' line. Only three mills in the world make such pipe, and delivery delays could exacerbate constraints, the company wrote in its petition, affecting the price of oil from the largest U.S. oilfield. The 585,000-barrel per day line is due to start flowing next year, just as analysts warn a bottleneck of crude could force some producers to shut in production. Total pipeline, rail and local refining capacity from the Permian Basin oilfield in March was 3.175 million barrels per day (bpd), according to energy intelligence service Genscape, just shy of the oilfield's roughly 3.3 million bpd output in June. Rival pipeline operator Kinder Morgan also wants an exclusion for its $1.75 billion Gulf Coast Express natural gas pipeline from West Texas to the U.S. Gulf Coast. It ordered 47 percent of specialized pipe needed for the project from Turkish steel maker Borusan Mannesmann. Only one U.S. producer could meet Kinder Morgan's needs, but it could not meet the volume required within the necessary timeline, Kinder said in a filing. The United States is committed to acting on exclusion requests within 90 days of a petition being posted for comments, a Commerce Department spokesman said. The United States could offer refunds on tariffs paid since a petition became active. For companies unwilling to take the risk of having a request denied, it may mean cutting back or pushing the timeline out farther for some projects, said Brigham McCown, former head of regulator U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Oil and gas producer Hess cited safety concerns in a request to use Japanese pipe for its Stampede offshore project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Without the ability to use this product, we will not be able to guarantee corrosion resistance in deepwater operations using other currently available steel products - potentially compromising both safety and environmental protection, the company wrote in its filing. Between 2015 and 2016, the U.S. imported between about $5 billion and $8 billion in steel line pipe, valves and fittings for the pipeline industry, according to a study by consultancy ICF for the American Petroleum Institute. There's lots of concern that the increased cost in pipe will increase the costs for our oil, said North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, who wants Congress to vote on tariffs imposed under national security grounds. You pull on one string in international trade and it unravels in ways you could not have predicted. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Peru's LNG and natural gas plants to halt operations for 3 weeks for maintenance By Reuters LIMA Petroleumworld 06 20 2018 Peru's sole liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, Pampa Melchorita, will suspend operations for three weeks starting July 27 for a routine maintenance operation, the consortium that operates the plant, Peru LNG, said on Tuesday. No LNG will be produced or exported during the maintenance, which occurs every three years, said David Lemor, Peru LNG's director of corporate affairs and communications. U.S.-based Hunt Oil has a 40 percent stake in Peru LNG, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, SK Innovation Co Ltd and Japan's Marubeni Corp holding smaller stakes. Las Malvinas, a natural gas processing plant in southeastern Peru that feeds Pampa Melchorita, will also close for maintenance at around the same time, the company that operates Las Malvinas has said. ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us The secretary of the Council of Europe rights group on Wednesday called for Russia to release the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, who is currently on hunger strike as he serves a 20-year sentence. A number of influential Russian and foreign figures, including the horror writer Stephen King and Oscar-nominated director Andrei Zvyagintsev, have in recent days also demanded the film-maker's release. A vocal Kremlin critic, Sentsov was detained in Crimea in 2014 after Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine. "I think Sentsov must be liberated for humanitarian reasons. He should be pardoned for humanitarian reasons," Thorbjorn Jagland said in comments reported by the Interfax news agency. "If it is necessary to file a request to pardon him, I will do it with pleasure in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights," he said, in remarks translated into Russian. Supporters of the film-maker say Moscow set out to make an example of him with a harsh sentence on charges of masterminding arson attacks in Crimea, which the 41-year-old denies. On Tuesday 12 big names in the Russian arts, including Zvyagintsev and fellow filmmaker Alexander Sokurov, director of "Russian Ark", called for Putin to pardon Sentsov. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists the director would have to ask for the pardon himself before it could be considered. Moscow's top rights official Tatyana Moskalkova said Wednesday she was receiving daily reports from Sentov's prison camp in the far north after he went on hunger strike on May 14, announcing he was prepared to die in jail. "He is receiving nutrition from a drip filled with all the vitamins twice a day," she said in comments reported by the RIA Novosti news agency, adding that he had not lost weight. Search Keywords: Short link: Iran rejects compromise on oil output as OPEC heads for battle Saudi Arabia favors modest production increase from OPEC+. OPEC not part' of U.S. Energy Department, Zanganeh says - Play video - Iranian Petroleum Minister Says OPEC Deal Unlikely By Javier Blas , Golnar Motevalli , and Nayla Razzouk VIENNA Petroleumworld 06 20 2018 Iran put itself on a collision course with Saudi Arabia at this week's OPEC meeting, rejecting a potential compromise that would see a small oil-production increase to appease energy consumers. I don't believe in this meeting we can reach an agreement, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the Iranian oil minister, told reporters upon his arrival to Vienna, suggesting the gathering on Friday may end without a deal for the first time since 2011. The OPEC battle will reverberate through the oil market, where prices have gyrated in recent days, and affect energy stocks and the currencies of major petroleum exporters from Brazil to Nigeria. Oil prices have surged nearly 75 percent to almost $80 a barrel since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Mexico agreed to cut production by 1.8 million barrels a day in late 2016. Benchmark Brent crude, which fell 0.4 percent on Tuesday, gained as much as 42 cents on Wednesday and was trading at $75.45 a barrel at 7:24 a.m. in London. Saudi Arabia, under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, wants to unwind some of the cuts by engineering a moderate supply boost in the second half of the year. Russia, which aligned with OPEC to cut output nearly two years ago, is pushing for an even larger production hike of 1.5 million barrels a day. Yet Iran has so far rejected any increase, including one compromise mooted in private by some OPEC officials for a 300,000-to-600,000 barrels a day hike in the second half of the year. There's no need, Zanganeh said, surrounded by dozens of reporters and television crews. Iran faces constraints on its oil exports after Trump reimposed sanctions on the country on May 8. Estimates of the curbs' potential impact vary, but an earlier round of U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports from 2012 to 2016 slashed output by about 1 million barrels a day. The Saudi-Iran clash is the toughest diplomatic problem that the kingdom's oil chief, Khalid Al-Falih, has faced since he was appointed two years ago. Al-Falih, who was initially expected in Vienna early on Tuesday, delayed his arrival until Wednesday. Unconstrained OPEC takes its decision by unanimity, so the veto threat may leave Saudi Arabia with only the option of assembling a coalition of willing countries to bypass Tehran's negative stance. Riyadh may also act unilaterally boosting output, as it did in 2011 after a meeting ended without a deal. Saudi Arabia will try to reach consensus, but if that fails I think that Riyadh won't be constrained and they will put the barrels in the market that they deem appropriate, said Helima Croft, chief commodities strategist at RBC Capital Market LLC. Zanganeh said he planned to leave Vienna on Friday immediately after the OPEC meeting, and without waiting for a second gathering that will include ministers from outside the cartel on Saturday. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak will participate in the Saturday meeting. Still, OPEC has a tradition for last-minute deals that keep the often fractious group together. Iran, in particular, has made U-turns in the past, such as when Russian President Vladimir Putin phoned his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani. Trump has tweeted twice in the last two months complaining about high oil prices and accusing OPEC of being at it again. The tweets have irritated several OPEC countries, notably Iran. OPEC is an independent organization, not an organization to receive instruction from President Trump, Zanganeh said. OPEC is not part of the Department of Energy of the United States. Read: OPEC math with a gap between headlines and real barrels - Play video - OPEC May Hold One of The Most Political Meetings in Years, Sen Says . ________________________ Twitter: @petroleumworld1 Petroleumworld.com Hit your target - Advertise with Us Bethlehem City Council on Tuesday voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, making the penalty like a traffic fine. Mayor Robert Donchez said earlier this week he would likely sign the measure into law, but that doesn't mean that people can start lighting up without fear of getting a criminal record. Bethlehem is split between two counties headed by district attorneys who differ on the issue. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said he would leave it up to individual municipalities to decide on decriminalization on amounts of less than 30 grams. But Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin called for the state law, which makes the violation a criminal misdemeanor, to be enforced. Taking a cue from Allentown's police chief after a similar ordinance was passed there, Bethlehem Police Chief Mark DiLuzio said he would not enforce the new ordinance in the Lehigh County portion of the city. In Northampton County portion, DiLuzio said he would leave it to the officers' discretion whether to charge violators under the ordinance, the state law or both, allowing the district judge to decide which to uphold. "I feel like King Solomon with a sword," DiLuzio said. DiLuzio raised concerns about the constitutionality of treating offenders differently within the same city. The ordinance calls the violation a summary offense, punishable by a $25 fine for the first offense. State law calls it a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine. Council President Adam Waldron said he understands the chief's position but is disappointed in it. Councilman J. William Reynolds said decriminalization is the "right thing to do" despite the inaction of state legislators and Martin's directive. DiLuzio said that possession of a small amount of marijuana tallied few arrests. In 2017, Bethlehem made the charge 183 times. There were 624 arrests on the charge across Northampton County, he said. DiLuzio said most of those charges are lodged because the person was stopped first for other crimes such as driving under the influence. The measure passed 6-0. Supporters herald the proposal for ensuring that young violators aren't shackled with a criminal record. Bethlehem is the eighth municipality in Pennsylvania to adopt a pot decriminalization measure. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Harrisburg, York and State College have adopted similar ordinances. The ordinances do not legalize marijuana for recreational use but reduce the penalty for those possessing 30 grams or less of marijuana. nicole.mertz@mcall.com Twitter @McallBethlehem 610-778-2253 The deal comes just a few months after the start of production at Zohr, a field that was discovered in August 2015 by Eni UAE-based investment fund Mubadala has bought a 10 percent stake in Egypt's giant Mediterranean Zohr gas field from Italian oil and gas company Eni, prior to a $934m deal reached in March. The deal comes just a few months after the start of production at Zohr, a field that was discovered in August 2015 by Eni. Since the discovery, Eni has sold a 10 per cent stake to BP, the UK oil and gas group, and a 30 per cent stake to Rosneft of Russia. With the latest sale to Mubadala, Eni will be left with 50 per cent of Zohr. BP and Rosneft each have the option to buy five per cent more. The Zohr field, the largest natural gas discovery ever made in the Mediterranean Sea, is located off Egypt's northern coast within the Shorouk bloc, some 190 kilometres north of Port Said. Last month, Eni, announced the start-up of the third production unit (T-2) of the Zohr gas field project, increasing its functional capacity to 1.2 bcf/d. Field production is expected to rise to 2.7 bcf/d by the end of 2019, transforming Egypt into a regional power hub. Search Keywords: Short link: Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, right, watches as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with manufacturing executives at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. Frazier later broke with the president over the white supremecist rally in Charlottesville, Va. Read more An unexpected call came to Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier after he famously withdrew from Donald Trump's manufacturing council last year over the president's initial unwillingness to condemn the Charlottesville white supremacist rally. "One of the most powerful Republican leaders in Congress phoned me to say in the strictest confidence how much he admired what he called my "courageous and principled stand," Frazier recalled Wednesday, speaking to about 500 members of the Philadelphia Bar Association gathered at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia. "I thanked him. of course, for his kind sentiment. After he hung up, though, it struck me how those who would tear apart the ties that bind us now feel empowered to speak out strongly, while some who would seek to heal our divisions fear being seen as weak." In a 20-minute speech, Frazier, the first African American to lead a major pharmaceutical company, reprised that incident. He also condemned the National Rifle Association, expressed despair over school and church shootings and police brutality, and took shots at politicians who "treat poverty as if it were simply a choice." Frazier also condemned border separation practices and the way in which "religion has been weaponized to excuse or even justify all manner of illwilled and ungodly behavior" after a direct reference to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' quoting of Romans 13 to defend the policy. A native of North Philadelphia, Frazier delivered the Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Memorial Public Interest Lecture at the bar association's quarterly meeting. His speech focused on moral leadership in the tradition of Higginbotham, a federal judge who was previously active in the civil rights movement, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Frazier also spoke about his upbringing: He grew up in an impoverished North Philadelphia neighborhood, his father was a janitor, his mother died when he was 12, and his grandfather was a sharecropper born into slavery. Frazier went on to receive a bachelor of arts degree from Pennsylvania State University and collect a law degree from Harvard Law School. Merck, based in Kenilworth, N.J., is a major employer in the Philadelphia area. As of Dec. 31, 2017, Merck had about 69,000 employees worldwide: Locally, it is the top employer in Montgomery County and ranks 25th among the state's employers, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Frazier came to Merck in 1992. He became general counsel in 1999 and CEO in 2011. Previously, he worked his way from "stranger in a strange land" as a junior lawyer at Drinker Biddle & Reath to become partner and argued a death row exoneration case that garnered national attention. He inherited a major problem during the early part of his Merck tenure: Vioxx, a painkiller, hit the market in 1999 but was withdrawn by Merck in 2004, after it was shown to raise the risk of heart attacks. Frazier, then general counsel, opted to fight thousands of lawsuits. And Merck ended up spending $4.85 billion to settle those cases, far less than many analysts expected. Merck under Frazier has seen its stock nearly double since 2011, though his tenure has coincided with a rising market. Merck's cancer drug Keytruda "has potential to be the largest product Merck ever had," Frazier said on the 2018 first quarter earnings call. Frazier made national news in August 2017 when the "Unite the Right" march in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12 to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee devolved into violence. The rally, organized by white nationalist Jason Kessler, turned violent when a man rammed a car into the crowd, killing one and injuring at least 19. In the chaotic aftermath, two state troopers also died and more people were injured. Trump's initial decision not to condemn those white nationalist groups was widely seen as tacit support for white supremacy. Frazier responded by announcing his withdrawal from the President's American Manufacturing Council, an advisory group. Other executives soon followed, including the CEOs of chip maker Intel and sportswear firm Under Armour. President Trump tweeted his displeasure, saying Frazier would now "have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES." And his administration disbanded the council a few days later. In his speech Wednesday, Frazier encouraged people to "join in what Dr King called a 'coalition of conscience:' We the people, regaining our moral voice to resist injustice, to call out untruth, misinformation, and just plain BS, and to shout kindness." Democracy is "messy and not always comfortable," he said. "We can be right, after all, without being righteous or selfrighteous." A King-of-Prussia-based company is making access to clinical trials easier for patients by giving them a Lyft. Greenphire, a 150-person, financial software provider for clinical trials, is partnering with ride-share company Lyft to help clinical trial sites book rides for participants and reimburse them for any transportation costs. "Greenphire's mission is to remove the barriers of participation for patients in clinical trials" and reduce any administrative burdens of conducting one, said Jim Murphy, CEO of Greenphire. For many patients, those barriers include the ability to get to a trial. The ultimate goal of the software, Murphy said, is to allow for greater enrollment and retention of patients in these trials in order to collect more data and bring new drugs to the market more quickly. "It's taking one of the bigger known obstacles to patient retention and just improving that situation for patients without increasing the burden for the clinical trial," he said. The company provides software that allows clinical trial sponsors and sites to automate all payments for the trial within one system. With the Lyft partnership, sites will also be able to book a ride for a patient and handle the financial transaction through Greenphire. The pharmaceutical and biotech firms that sponsor the trials will pay for the transportation, but the partnership with Lyft streamlines the reimbursement process and doesn't require the patient to turn in a receipt. Cheryl Zinar, director of clinical research at Urologic Consultants of Southeastern Pennsylvania, said she noticed higher trial enrollment numbers while the site was beta testing the new software. The site is located in Bala Cynwyd, but Zinar said it hosts 30 trials with patients from other places such as Philadelphia, Pottstown, and East Norriton. Before testing the software, Zinar said patients were opting out of clinical trials because they weren't able to make the trip to Bala Cynwyd. Now, she said, they have "the luxury to say we can send a ride for you," making patients more willing to do a study because they don't have to drive themselves. "It's really helped us and the patients seem to be really happy," she said. John Jameson explains the process of making vodka at his Kiki Vodka company warehouse in Hatfield. Read more Talk about needing a drink. John Jameson had just decided to enter Pennsylvania's rapidly growing craft spirits industry when the double whammy hit. "I signed my SBA loan the same week I found out I was going to have a child," recalled Jameson, 38, now the father of a 2-year-old daughter, admitting that his decision to press on with a plan to start a vodka distillery left him thinking, "I must be nuts." Time will tell how crazy or not an idea it was. On the Friday leading into Memorial Day weekend, his company's Kiki Vodka debuted in 10 state stores as part of the Liquor Control Board's (LCB) program to promote wines and spirits produced in Pennsylvania. It was Kiki's first direct-to-consumer sales opportunity since the Hatfield-based start-up began producing vodka in June 2016. Prior to placement in state stores, sales were limited to bars and restaurants. Acknowledging he has entered a world where Tito's is king, Jameson said he thinks the consumer movement for locally sourced products provides an opportunity for a regional distillery to "steal some shares" from such a global player as long as it has a product that is "different or unique." The result of months of trial and error, Kiki (the nickname of a Jameson friend) is a gluten- and GMO-free vodka, six-times distilled, and refined through a three-stage silver and platinum activated carbon filtration system. The result is a smooth spirit with a bit more body than a typical vodka. "I was just passionate about doing something ourselves," Jameson said of his motivation. So, apparently, were others. As of June 18, Pennsylvania had 85 active limited distilleries, according to the LCB website. That is up from seven in 2012, the first year limited distillery licenses were available in Pennsylvania, and 21 in 2014. The LCB does not track what each distillery makes, so it could not be determined how many are producing vodka. A limited distillery license allows the production of as much as 100,000 gallons of distilled liquor a year by an individual operator. Privileges were expanded in 2016, allowing each distillery to have as many as five LCB-approved locations and to offer tastings at all of them. Largely credited with pioneering the state's modern-day craft spirits industry is Andrew Auwerda, president and cofounder of Philadelphia Distilling, makers of Bluecoat Gin and the first craft distillery to open in Pennsylvania since Prohibition. Started in Northeast Philadelphia in 2005, Philadelphia Distilling built a $4.5 million distillery, tasting, and retail complex in Fishtown that opened on Presidents' Day 2017, a testament to its success and Auwerda's ambition to be the "number-one premium selling gin in America," he said Monday. Bluecoat is sold in 42 states and is exported to six countries. "We want to be the Tito's of gin," Auwerda said, crediting his company's growth he would not provide actual sales figures to not only a high-quality product but to getting a head start in an industry in Pennsylvania that Auwerda contends is "becoming saturated." When Bluecoat Gin was first available for purchase in 2006, it was the only Pennsylvania-made premium gin on the market, Auwerda said. Now, he said, some of the top state stores "have 15 gins from Pennsylvania, let alone 20 other craft gins from around the country and around the world, plus legacies" such as Bombay Sapphire and Tanqueray. The craft vodka and whiskey market is "not far behind," Auwerda said. >> READ MORE: A gin revival in the whiskey age He said Kiki's principals need to have relatively modest expectations. "If someone wants to start a distillery in a place like Hatfield and they have aspirations of making a living and paying a few other people, that's doable," Auwerda said. "When they start to have greater goals statewide, or out of state, or nationally it's a completely different ballgame in terms of the hurdles and challenges. It's just a huge hurdle to get an out-of-state distributor interested in your product." Contributing to that is consolidation of distributors, a trend that began about 2 years ago, said Herman Mihalich, cofounder of Mountain Laurel Spirits distillery, the Bristol-based maker of Dad's Hat Rye. In business since 2011, it now is selling its whiskey in 20 states and overseas. "The big distribution companies are gobbling up the smaller ones," Mihalich said. Getting their attention depends on uniqueness, he said. "You'd better have a hook. You'd better have something that differentiates you, either through some special ingredients or process," he said. More achievable, Mihalich said, is a business plan that is locally focused selling to bars and restaurants, as Kiki's has been doing, and straight to consumers from distillery sites that double as pubs, "where you can sell out the door your bottle and can make cocktails." At Kiki, Jameson would not disclose sales figures or details on financing. Among the company's investors is Steven Melick, executive director of the La Salle Center for Entrepreneurship at La Salle University and a serial entrepreneur, who is serving as Kiki's chief operating officer. With some local brand traction, the company now needs "some structure" and capital, he said. Melick said Kiki soon expects to seek about $300,000 in capital from angel investors for expansion, sales, and marketing. A five-year business plan includes a couple scenarios, he said one with organic growth, the other a more robust expansion enabled by catching "a really strong wind." "If we get this capital, we're fairly confident we're going to catch that wind," Melick said, citing research that 213 million cases of spirits are sold each year in the U.S., nearly 34 percent of it vodka, with the market having a compound annual growth rate of 1.5 percent to 2 percent. "We think there is a lot of room to play in this market with a strong brand and quality product." Asked what that would look like, Jameson said the sale of several thousand cases of vodka a month. Currently, the company is averaging 200 to 240 cases a month, he said. A case contains six one-liter bottles. The bottles in state stores are 750 milliliters. Plans include an expansion, possibly by July, to the Pottstown Farmers Market, purchased by a group of investors who recently reopened it. Among them is Elliot Menkowitz, a retired orthopedic surgeon and serial entrepreneur who has invested in Kiki. He said what appealed to him is Jameson, who, like Menkowitz, went to La Salle, the quality of the vodka (it was the silver winner last year at both the San Francisco World Spirits and the New York International Spirits competitions), and the reliability of the spirits market. "People drink," Menkowitz said, "when they're happy and sad." Where to buy Kiki's Vodka Philadelphia 3414 Fox St. 180 W. Girard Ave. Harleysville 237 Harleysville Pike Lansdale Allen Forge Shopping Center 850 S. Valley Forge Rd. Allentown Crest Plaza Shopping Center 1516 N. Cedar Crest Blvd. Warrington 1115 Main St. Flourtown 1440 Bethlehem Pike King of Prussia 125 W. DeKalb Pike West Chester 933 Paoli Pike Blue Bell Center Square Plaza 1301 Skippack Pike How ironic that the White House chose to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday just as President Trump was manipulating the suffering of migrant children for his own political ends. The Trump team quit the council on account of that body's fixation with Israel and inclusion of member states with wretched human rights records. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., called the council a "hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights." But the U.S. decision to withdraw rather than use the council as a forum to expose rights violators reflects a White House that rejects America's historic role as a global defender of human rights. That, combined with Trump's policy of ripping migrant children away from their parents, makes the U.S. stance on the U.N. council look hypocritical. To borrow Haley's phrasing, the president's policies abroad and at home make a mockery of human rights. >> READ MORE: Trump thinks his personal relationships with dictators will save the world. He's wrong | Trudy Rubin Since World War II, U.S. presidents have balanced national security concerns and promotion of human rights abroad, with the former often displacing the latter. Yet even when necessity required close ties with tyrants, presidents since Ronald Reagan have made support for human rights part of their calculus, assuming that more open regimes would be less threatening. "The American people cannot close their eyes to abuses of human rights and injustice, whether they occur among friend or adversary or even on our own shores," Reagan stated in 1988. Trump has consigned Reagan's principles to the trash. "Under President Trump, we've seen a pretty dramatic shift in how the United States approaches human rights at home and abroad," says Sarah Margon, Washington representative of Human Rights Watch. For one thing, no U.S. president has spoken about human rights in the denigrating way Trump has. He has praised the way Saddam Hussein killed terrorists ("didn't read them their rights"), advocated waterboarding, and hailed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's "unbelievable job on the drug problem," i.e., the murder of thousands by vigilantes. Last week, Trump extolled Kim Jong Un as "smart," "honorable," and a man who "loves his people," even though the dictator imprisons tens of thousands of opponents in labor camps. When asked about the murder of Russian journalists on Vladimir Putin's watch, Trump snapped back, "Well, I think our country does plenty of killing." >> READ MORE: At the Singapore summit, President Trump got played | Trudy Rubin Such talk does more than undermine U.S. pretensions at the U.N. It reveals a president who has openly rejected the universal values enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. "What we are looking at," says Margon, "is a larger space in which the United States is backing away from any role as a human rights defender. Other states don't bring the same kind of weight to counter the nefarious tactics of China or Russia." The U.S. withdrawal enables Putin and Xi Jinping to promote their brand of authoritarianism as an alternative to democracy, whose principles are being abandoned by the leader of the free world. Trump's abandonment of those principles has been on view since his inauguration. One need only cite the Muslim travel ban, the empowering of bigots in Charlottesville, and the constant efforts to whip up fears of a refugee "invasion" that will submerge his white base in an ocean of blacks and browns. In a disturbing speech in Warsaw a year ago, the president trumpeted his defense of "Western" values, defined as having the courage "to protect our borders" from those who would "destroy our civilization." >> READ MORE: Trump is suffering from a bad case of autocrat envy | Trudy Rubin Which brings me back to the hypocrisy of the administration's exit from the Human Rights Council. Yes, there is something very wrong with a human rights body that since 2006 has passed 70 resolutions critical of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and only 10 critical of Iran. However, there was a sharp decrease in critiques of Israel after the U.S. joined the council, and it has done admirable reports on human rights violations in North Korea and Myanmar. But the bigger point is the contradiction in Haley's condemnation of the council for including rights violators such as China, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, who are all close allies of America that are given a pass by Trump. And there was something even more egregious about denouncing the council while Trump was still refusing to reverse course on separating migrant families. By Wednesday, huge GOP and global pressure forced him to back down, for now. But how can America pretend to stand for anything, when the U.S. president uses babies as leverage to get a border wall? "For many years the U.S. has been a hope for human rights activists around the world, and that is disappearing," says Margon. Those activists see what Trump is doing domestically, and it shatters their dwindling belief that America remains a human rights beacon. The images of crying toddlers on the border will linger for a long time. Penn State University President Eric Barron plans to propose no tuition hike for 2018-19 if the state's proposed funding increase for the university is approved. Read more With news of a proposed 3 percent increase in state funding, Pennsylvania State University president Eric Barron said Wednesday that he will recommend no tuition hike for state residents for 2018-19 if the current state budget proposal is approved. It would be only the second time in more than 50 years that in-state students would face no tuition increase systemwide. Out-of-state students, about 30 percent of Penn State's student body, could get an increase. The tuition freeze would be in effect for all of Penn State's campuses.The board of trustees is to consider the proposal at its meetings on July 19 and 20. "We are encouraged by the direction of these conversations," said Mark Dambly, chairman of Penn State's trustees. "If this proposal were to proceed, we look forward to considering president Barron's recommendations at our upcoming meeting." The legislature and Gov. Wolf appeared this week to have struck an agreement on a state budget. That spending plan still is subject to a final vote, which could come this week. The last time Penn State froze tuition systemwide was 2015-16 and that was a first in 49 years. Since then, some members of the board of trustees have been urging the university to institute another freeze. Eight of Penn's State's 19 Commonwealth Campuses Beaver, DuBois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango and Wilkes-Barre have kept tuition frozen for the last three years. In-state freshmen and sophomores currently pay $17,416 on the main campus; out-of-state students, $32,644. The proposed state budget includes a boost of nearly $17 million for the four state-related universities: Penn State ($7.5 million), Temple ($4.5 million), Pittsburgh ($4.4 million), and Lincoln (close to $475,000). It also proposes a 3.3 percent increase or about $15 million for the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester. Pressure appears to be building for other universities to hold the line on tuition and room and board. With the funding increase proposed, "school officials should make a commitment to not increase tuition and room and board for our Pennsylvania students attending these institutions for the 2018-19 school year," House Speaker Mike Turzai, (R., Allegheny) said in a statement. "The increased state funding should solely be used to make higher education more affordable for Pennsylvania students." Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, a Centre County Republican, on his website also touted Barron's commitment to seek a tuition freeze. Temple is scheduled to decide on its tuition at a July 10 meeting of the board of trustees, said spokesman Ray Betzner. Temple last year raised tuition 2.5 percent, or $384, for in-state students for an annual cost of $15,768, and 4.4 percent, or $1,152, for out-of-state students for an annual tab of $27,528. The State System schools aren't likely to hold the line on tuition. The system had requested a $73 million increase in state funding. The system, said spokesman Kenn Marshall, would have to make up the $58 million gap with tuition increases or cuts. "We needed significantly more than that to balance our budget without a tuition increase," he said. Base in-state tuition at the universities is $7,492. Author David McCullough, after whom the new Carpenters' Company prize in American history is named. (Photo by William B. McCullough) Read more Looking ahead to its 300th anniversary year in 2024, Philadelphia's Carpenters' Company has announced it will inaugurate the David McCullough Prize for Excellence in American Public History, to be awarded annually starting next year. The McCullough Prize will celebrate contributions to the field of American public history that "educate, entertain and inspire readers, visitors, and audiences to more fully appreciate and value learning history through nonfiction and fiction literature, museums and exhibitions, community civic initiatives, theater, narrative and documentary filmmaking," according to the Carpenters' Company. The company, now an association of architects, building contractors, and structural engineers, but a guild of master builders when founded in Philadelphia since 1724, "intends to raise its profile and that of Carpenters' Hall," said Christina Thompson, Carpenters' Company director. "We hope to enhance our visitor experience, an effort we have just initiated, and remind all that the idea of an American republic started here and in Carpenters' Hall. The establishment of the McCullough Prize broadens our commitment to making an appreciation of history central to the responsibility of citizenship." The formal announcement will be made at a small Carpenters' Hall ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 21. Events, including a celebratory film about the importance of history and the many contributions of McCullough, who will also be present and who will speak, will be broadcast outside the hall for one and all. The celebrated historian and author welcomes the opportunity to drive home the importance of history particularly at this historical moment. "There's never been a time when the need for the understanding of our history, who we are, why we are, where we've been has been as great as right now," McCullough said in an interview. "To have a leader in Washington who's pathetically ignorant, who thinks that Canada tried to burn down Washington, is heartbreaking. It makes you cry. But we have to keep the faith." (For the record: the British set fire to the White House during the War of 1812, not Canadians, as President Trump recently proclaimed.) Carpenters' Hall, a small, elegant Georgian building on Chestnut Street between Third and Fourth Streets, had just opened in 1774 when representatives from the increasingly unsettled colonies convened there for the First Continental Congress. The delegates, angered by what they perceived as increasingly aggressive actions on the part of the British Parliament, agreed to petition King George III for a redress of various grievances and, if the king's response proved inadequate, to convene a second congress to pursue perhaps more extreme measures. The Second Continental Congress began meeting a block away in 1775 in what is now Independence Hall, and in 1776 declared the colonies an independent nation. Carpenters' Hall, a National Historic Landmark within Independence National Historical Park, was designed by Robert Smith for use as a meeting hall for the Carpenters' Guild. Sam Katz, executive producer of History Making Productions, which put together the film for the event, noted that public history, as distinct from academic history, focuses on "bringing the stories of American history to the public." McCullough is perhaps the most distinguished practitioner of public history. Twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he is the author of John Adams, The Great Bridge, Truman, The Path Between the Seas, and several other works. In Philadelphia in 2016, McCullough was honored by the Museum of the American Revolution, receiving the Gerry F. Lenfest Spirit of the American Revolution Award. "The ignorance of history is heartbreaking," McCullough said. "It's a form of national creeping amnesia." A panel of nominators for the McCullough Prize will also be announced Thursday morning, Katz said. The cost of insulin and syringes is just the start of the high price of having diabetes. Read more On average, people with diabetes spend about $16,750 a year on health care, more than half of which goes to the costs of managing the condition and its many side effects. That's more than double the bill their peers who don't have diabetes can expect, according to the American Diabetes Association. The biggest impact is on people over 65, which means a major impact on the Medicare program. And costs are rising faster than ever: 26 percent just in the last five years. Yet many people don't understand how much (or little) they can rely on their insurance. >>READ MORE: High insulin costs have diabetes patients, doctors scrambling for answers "The element that has twisted around things are high-deductible plans and patients who may not realize what they are signing up for and find that they're on the hook for a lot more than they thought," said Robert Gabbay, chief medical officer of the Harvard-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center. "Lots of under-insured individuals are really getting hit." There's no way to get around the fact that diabetes is expensive. But it only gets more expensive if you go without the care you need to manage your health before diabetes leads to even more serious consequences. We talked to experts who advised that patients try these tips: If you don't have insurance, ask your doctor's office for help getting connected with resources. Or go online to HealthCare.gov, or call 1-800-318-2596 to get started. "People without insurance may qualify for Medicaid or medical assistance," said Daniel Rosenberg, medical director of Abington Diabetes Center. "Many people are ashamed to talk about these things, but you have to be your own advocate. I can't think of any providers who wouldn't be empathetic to this. And any providers who think less of a patient for bringing it up maybe it's time to see a new provider," Gabbay said. Tell your doctor if you have trouble paying for medicine. Health-care providers "tend to know that generics are cheaper when patients are insured," Gabbay said. But in today's complex payment world, that's just the start. "It may be very easy for a provider to make a change [to a cheaper medicine], but they wouldn't know it unless a patient brings it up," he said. "Physicians may not know that you're paying out of pocket for this or you're in the Medicare doughnut hole." Bring your insurance policy formulary (which list drugs covered by your plan) to every visit. "The formulary can change if a patient's job changes or insurance changes or insurance companies make a change," Rosenberg said. "Typically, changes are made in January but it can happen any time of the year." Shop around. For patients who need to watch out-of-pocket costs, Walmart and Target sell in-house brands of glucose meters and test strips at a cost difference that could be one-fourth that of a brand name. Rosenberg notes that the supplies have to meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements. Although not everyone recommends it, many patients pay cash for testing supplies online from a Canadian pharmacy, which may be cheaper than going through insurance. The new Pennsylvania Rx Price Finder (http://www.parxpricefinder.com) shows that 500 mg tablets of Metformin, a commonly prescribed diabetes drug, can range from $30.29 to $76.58 for 100 pills, depending on the pharmacy. Consider asking doctors for samples. "It's a plus-minus when it comes to samples," Gabbay said. "Samples tend to be for newer medications and in the end, these medications tend to be more expensive. Which is not so great when the sample runs out. But it can provide a temporary fix." Look for coupon cards. Although you can't use these if you're on Medicaid and Medicare, online coupons for brand-name medications and test strips can provide huge savings. These may be for newer and more expensive brands that manufacturers are hoping you will find worth the price, but it gives you a chance to try them out at a reduced cost. Investigate mail-order drug plans offered through your insurer, which can offer savings. Find a patient assistance program. Many pharmaceutical companies have programs for patients that meet income requirements. In Pennsylvania, you can find out about these programs by calling 1-800-955-0989. "Often, the income cut-off for these plans is higher than patients might anticipate," Gabbay said. Companies will ask for tax returns and other information. Medicare.gov has a good online portal that leads to many of these programs. Consider joining a research study. If you qualify and can meet the time commitment, "typically it's going to cover all costs of care," Gabbay said. Take charge of your health. Losing weight (if needed), exercising, not smoking, eating right, checking your feet for cuts and sores to avoid serious infections and amputation, taking medication as prescribed, tracking your sugars, and visiting an eye doctor to check for retinopathies can all help reduce complications from the disease. Even if you can't do everything on the list, each step you can accomplish will help. "Make sure that your cholesterol and blood pressure are under control, since they can lead to complications which are the most costly part of having diabetes, as well as costing you from living your life normally," said Ron Brooks, senior network medical director at Independence Blue Cross. "Many complications can be prevented with fairly simple measures," he said. "People need to be empowered and learn that if you do four or five things for your health you can reduce the overall cost of your medical care." mice30@comcast.net Michelle Sonsino is among the many diabetes patients who must cope with high and ever-rising prices for the medicine and testing supplies this complex condition requires. Read more When his type 1 diabetes patients can't keep up with the high cost of insulin, Mark Schutta half-jokingly offers a radical solution: Buy an off-season ticket to France. On a recent trip to the country, Schutta visited a small-town pharmacy to price several types of insulin and found that they cost one-fifth or one-sixth the U.S. price. So now the director of the Rodebaugh Center for Diabetes at Penn wryly advises patients to head to Europe to purchase a year's supply and bring it home. Federal authorities, who frown on people carrying large amounts of foreign drugs into the county, may not agree. But the rising cost of insulin and other supplies required to manage diabetes is such a huge issue that Schutta's suggestion could sound like a great idea to many people. About 1.25 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, and depend on insulin injections to live. Many of the 29 million U.S. patients with type 2 diabetes, whose bodies still produce some insulin, also rely on the medication which is just the start of their expenses. "Americans with type 1 diabetes are getting taken to the cleaners," Schutta said, comparing the exorbitant costs of insulin in the U.S. to lower prices in Canada and other foreign countries. "The prices are out of reach." "You already have the bad luck to have this disease," Schutta said. "Why should you have to pay $5,000 or more for a drug that you must have to live? It seems unfair. Why aren't the citizens of Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, and Japan paying those costs?" Added expenses One answer: Unlike many countries, the U.S. doesn't limit what drug companies can charge for medicine. Between 2002 and 2013, the price of insulin rose by 197 percent, from $4.34 per milliliter to $12.92 per milliliter, according to a 2016 study. "Patients are paying thousands of dollars a year for human insulin analogs," Schutta said. "These drugs have been around for 20 years, but the pharmaceutical companies, in a way that seems to be collusion, are driving the prices up." At the same time, he notes, more people than ever need insulin, "so demand is also going up." >>READ MORE: 10 ways to save money on diabetes care and get healthier in the process "It's quite clear that insulin pricing is a big issue in this country," said Ajay Rao, an assistant professor of medicine at Temple. "Many efforts to reduce costs are ongoing, with the lead effort from the American Diabetes Association, who are trying to work with industry people to cut down costs on the patient level." For now, Rao says, it's worth shopping around for insulin prices, because sometimes copays may be slightly different. He also notes that for low-income areas there can be government assistance that provides as much as a 50 percent discount. Meanwhile, Michelle Sonsino, 35, a communications specialist who has had type 1 diabetes since she was 9, struggles with out-of-pocket costs for insulin and diabetic supplies that run more than $5,000 a year. Recently, for example, Sonsino's share of her insulin costs jumped from $50 to $75 dollars a month. Add in these expenses: $50 for blood glucose test strips; $100 a month for sensors for her continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which alerts her if she has high or low sugars; about $200 every two years for a new CGM receiver; about $150 every six months for a new CGM transmitter; $50 for syringes as needed; $100 for a glucagon emergency kit; $30 for her primary doctor per visit (about three times a year); and $50 a specialist (she sees at least eight to 10 specialists a year for complications from diabetes, including problems with her stomach, kidneys, and eyes). In addition, she wears an insulin pump to administer precise doses in order to keep her sugars as stable as possible. The pump needs to be replaced every three to five years and costs her from $500 to $2,500 depending on whether there is a warranty or trade-in deal available. Plus, there is the cost of insulin pump pods, about $100 per month. To save money, the Philadelphia mother is taking a break from using her CGM, though she knows doing so could be compromising her health. "It's wonderful," she said of the technology. "But the costs of the sensors [which each last about 10 days] add up." A barrier to diabetes treatment Doctors hope a choice like that won't always be needed. "I think that as CGMs become the gold standard of care, we're going to have less of a problem when it comes to coverage," Rao said. Medicare currently covers Dexcom CGMs and the Abbott Freestyle Libre System and has recently updated its coverage to include mobile smartphone apps that work concurrently with the Dexcom systems. Often, Medicare coverage influences private insurers to follow suit. Insulin manufacturer Eli Lilly attributes the rise in out-of-pocket costs to the fact that more people have high-deductible health insurance plans as employers push a greater share of costs onto workers. The company acknowledges that the list price of Humalog, a fast-acting insulin, has risen, but insists it is getting less for it than it did a decade ago, on average, due to discounts and rebates. "A permanent solution will require leadership and cooperation across many stakeholders," the company said in a statement, "including manufacturers, payers and policymakers, because the answer itself isn't simple." Others note, however, that drug companies are doing far better than patients. A 2017 University of Michigan paper published in Current Diabetes Reports noted that the costs of insulin "have become a barrier to diabetes treatment." Ultimately, the researchers recommend "policy interventions such as more stringent requirements for patent exclusivity, greater transparency in medication pricing, greater opportunities for price negotiation, and outcomes-based pricing models" to control costs. Schutta is far more blunt. "The cost of manufacturing insulin is probably less that it was 20 years ago, but when pharmaceutical companies do an analysis of why costs are so high, they never tell you their cost for the drug and what the costs are going out the door," he said. "The pharmaceutical industry is selling Americans and physicians on the idea that they have to charge higher prices here because it funded research and development, but the truth of the matter is that they spend more money on marketing than R&D." Alternatives to brand-name insulin are few. Sonsino has considered a cheaper insulin sold at Walmart. But after a quarter-century with the condition, she has found that "if you find an insulin that works well for you, you might not make out as well on a different kind." Schutta notes that Walmart insulin may be adequate for type 2 diabetics. But brand name human insulin analogs synthetics designed to mimic the action of naturally released insulin are physiologically better for type 1's, in part because they are associated with less hypoglycemia (low blood sugars). "I talk to my primary doctor all the time about the costs of health care and the whole industry," Sonsino said. "I don't have any answers; I don't know what can be done to make this disease more affordable. Seventy-five dollars for insulin a month to keep you alive is crazy. Plus, I know a lot of people who pay more than that who don't have a two-person income. Not to mention the hours and hours on the phone fighting with someone over getting your supplies." Meanwhile, other priorities go by the wayside. "My money goes into a diabetes fund, not for college for my kid, or vacations, or new shoes. I'm always thinking about diabetes," Sonsino admits. "I'm always stressing about the money." mice30@comcast.net Joe McCole (left) and Dan Hart have decorated their apartment with works from their favorite artists, including the painting above the mantel by Jane Krupp. Read more Passersby may have noticed an unusual sight about a year ago outside the X-rated clothing and paraphernalia shop in the 300 block of South Street: Well-dressed ladies from St. Peter's Episcopal Church giving directions to a party in an apartment upstairs. Host Dan Hart, who works as a hairdresser on Rittenhouse Square, had joined the nearby church shortly before, and he was pleased but realistic at the high percentage of party RSVPs among the traditional Society Hill congregation. "I think they were curious about this tattooed guy who had started showing up [at church] every week," he said. It is unlikely that the walk up the creaking stairs left them disappointed. For 30-plus years, Hart and his partner, retired eighth-grade English teacher Joe McCole, have gone on a decorating journey from eclectic to psychedelic and back, with numerous stops in between. The closest Hart comes to describing a theme for the decor is, "I wanted it to look like Jerry Garcia's place in Haight-Ashbury." Extricating his tongue from his cheek, he quickly admits that he never saw Garcia's place. At the same time, he said, "people don't expect it to be so homey and normal. Almost everything comes from within a three-block radius. We carried it home." The long dining room table actually two $200 IKEA tables placed together is flanked by semi-matched chairs from American Pie up the street. Above, two blue ceramic rabbits are propped on a wrought-iron chandelier from artist Warren Muller, then on Third Street. "I call it 'Alice in Wonderland meets the Last Supper,'" Hart said. Stereo speakers are covered with a fabric pattern by William Morris, the famed 19th-century British textile designer and guru of the Arts and Crafts Movement. "He must have been on mushrooms," Hart said. The living room couch, bought 25 years ago and scheduled for the junk heap after the couple's cat had clawed it to disrepair, was saved when Hart discovered it was a classic piece by Jay Spectre, a famed New York furniture designer. He had it revived using cloth from a matching bolster. The sofa pillow is by well-known French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier. There are also several sculptures by designer Ed Zucca, and a bed and chest in Hart's bedroom from the North Carolina manufacturer Henredon. And the main bathroom is decorated with tiles from Philadelphia mosaic legend Isaiah Zagar that were there when Hart and McCole moved in. Of course, not everything is from or patterned after a name designer. Above the headboard in the guest room is a mural by "a kid I saw doing graffiti on a building on Orianna Street. I paid him a hundred bucks." A native of Syracuse, N.Y., Hart came to Philadelphia after "a bad experience" in San Francisco that he does not discuss. "Philadelphia had a stabilizing effect on me that San Francisco did not," he said. But there are numerous West Coast touches in the apartment, including a photo of him and artist Jane Krupp in which he resembles a young Arlo Guthrie and a painted version of it that evokes the Beatles' Yellow Submarine album cover. Hart lived in several places, including Society Hill Towers, before settling in his present rental in 1988, attracted by the roomy layout despite the fact that the building, which he thinks is about 200 years old, is hard to maintain. It had been renovated by its owners at the time, Ruth and Rick Snyderman, owners of the Snyderman-Works Galleries. Over the years, occupants of the downstairs store have included an upscale Italian clothing store, a water ice shop, and an X-rated lingerie store. The neighborhood, as colorful as ever, makes Hart think about Woody Allen's Annie Hall character living under the roller coaster on Coney Island. But the couple have remained with no plans to leave. Hart anticipates no major changes "If something breaks or the cat soils it, we replace it" but since he is 65, he says, there is still time: exactly four decades. "I want to drop dead at 105 in the middle of a haircut." Robert Marchisello in front of Ladder 19 at Engine 60 in South Philadelphia where he started his career as a rookie. Read more Meet: Robert Marchisello, a retired Philadelphia firefighter who kept journal entries of every shift of his 37-year career, from cadet to deputy chief. In December he released a book, A Firefighter's Journal, based on his writings. Hot take: Stuffed with curse words, absurd events, detailed descriptions of death and first-hand accounts of major Philly incidents, Marchisello's book is shockingly honest and surprisingly funny, but it's not for the faint of heart or the easily offended. First review: Philadelphia firefighter Lt. Matthew LeTourneau, who died in the line of duty in January, bought the book the day it was published. He was the first person to get it signed and the first to review it on Amazon. As proof, the retired Philadelphia Fire Department deputy chief points to his impeccably organized work benches and his recently released book, A Firefighter's Journal, a memoir that's based on the writings he covertly kept of every shift he worked from 1973 until 2010. "I felt compelled to document everything," Marchisello, 69, said. "One of the best-kept secrets of 37 years is that nobody knew." In pen and pencil across seven journals, Marchisello wrote about what he saw, smelled, felt and experienced as a Philadelphia firefighter. The book takes readers up and down familiar Philadelphia streets as Marchisello chases after fire trucks as a kid in South Philly and then as he works his way up the ranks at various stations in South Philly, West Philly and Center City. He describes what it's like to be soaked in someone else's blood, what it's like to feel flesh sliding off of the bones of charred victims and what it's like to smell death (hint: there's "a dash of sharp provolone cheese"). He writes about recovering victims from auto accidents and from under subway cars; what it's like to find a dead child inside of a fire; and what it's like removing a 500-pound decomposing body that's wedged between a toilet and a sink. "I wanted the book to be about the different things that firefighters do," said Marchisello, who now lives in Springfield and works part-time as a hazmat specialist for Delaware County. "We'd be more appropriately called an emergency-services department than a fire department because we get involved in so many things." >> MORE WE THE PEOPLE: Reading Terminal Market's maintenance director, John Sebastian, has played steel drums with Jimmy Buffett Marchisello details his participation in major incidents in Philly history, like how he was inside the MOVE house when a 1978 shoot-out began; how he twice responded to the Gulf oil refinery fire in 1975, where the department lost eight firefighters in one day; and how he helped coordinate triage at the scene of the Pier 34 collapse in 2000, when three women drowned. Some of the best stories in his book are ones that never made headlines the pranks firefighters pull on each other, the absurd incidents that happen on calls and the small-but-meaningful acts of humanity between strangers. With names like Frankie Rags, Rocky and Hoagie Man, there are classic Philly characters who make Marchisello's stories come to life. Mayor Kenney's father, James, a now-retired fire chief, appears in the book, consoling Marchisello after a victim perishes in a fire. And Marchisello, a married father of two, even writes about how he once dated the niece of a notorious Philly mob boss. Every firefighter who died in the line of duty during Marchisello's career all 43 of them are also mentioned by name. "Part of that is survivor's guilt, I guess," said Marchisello, who still gets goosebumps when he hears a firetruck pass by. "It's not something we dwell on in the firehouse. Nobody ever went in and was worried about losing their lives but it happens and it happened pretty constantly throughout my career." As he made his way through the ranks, Marchisello said, he spent more time worrying about losing someone than anything else. When he retired without a line-of-duty death under his command, he said, he felt a wave of relief. >> MORE WE THE PEOPLE: Philadelphia Police Department forensic scientist Antoinette T. Campbell helps bust crimes and stereotypes But on Jan. 6, that relief was shattered when his close friend Lt. Matthew LeTourneau died from injuries he suffered fighting a rowhouse fire in North Philly. It was the first time a city firefighter had died while battling a blaze since 2014. "I broke down crying on the stairs," Marchisello said. "I hadn't put my uniform on since I retired, but I put it on for that funeral." Just a month before his death, LeTourneau was the among the first people to buy Marchisello's book and ask him to sign it. LeTourneau's review on Amazon reads in part: "A great insight into the life of a firefighter around the firehouse and the many entertaining and/or tragic events that many Emergency Responders face throughout their careers." Want more We the People? The increase comes as a corrective measure for the pricing of petroleum products amid a level of consumption that does not reflect the country's economic development, the minister said The recent hike in fuel prices in Egypt will not be the last, Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Tarek El-Molla said in a press conference on Wednesday, days after the country announced subsidy cuts on fuel. El-Molla said that the increase comes as a corrective measure for the pricing of petroleum products amid a level of consumption that does not reflect the country's economic development. The minister added that after last week's partial lifting of subsidies, the government still subsidises around 25 percent of the price of fuel. Over the past week, Egypt announced the partial lifting of subsidies on electricity and fuel as part of the government's ongoing economic reform programme, which was first launched in 2014 and has helped the country secure a $12 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Since the announcement, fares for public transport have soared. El-Molla said last week that the price surge, which is the third since Egypt floated its currency in November 2016, will help Egypt save up to EGP 50 billion in funds allocated for state subsidies in the 2018/19 budget. The new price hike will also reduce the funds allocated for fuel subsidies to EGP 89 billion from EGP 139 billion, according to El-Molla. The fuel subsidy cuts are part of the economic reform package adopted in July 2014 that aimed to ease the country's growing budget deficit, with a five-year plan created to gradually scrap fuel subsidies by 2019. The IMF-supported reform programme has included the liberalisation of the countrys currency in November 2016, as well as the implementation of the Value Added Tax (VAT). The IMF said following its third review last month that Egypt remains committed to continuing energy subsidy reforms to achieve cost-recovery prices for most fuel products by 2019. More than 85 percent of the economic reform roadmap has been implemented so far, Finance Minister Mohamed Moeet told Al-Ahram Daily in an exclusive interview published on Monday. Search Keywords: Short link: Ethan Schiller (left), 4, and his brother Lukas, 2-1/2, look over the dozens of shoes representing children who were separated from their parents by immigration officials, part of a protest at Rittenhouse Square on Tuesday, near the hotel hosting a GOP fundraiser with Vice President Pence. Read more Hundreds of protesters at Rittenhouse Square on Tuesday evening chanted their disapproval of Vice President Pence, who was attending a nearby fund-raiser, but it may have been small stitched samples of canvas and rubber that spoke the loudest: Rows of children's shoes, set on the sidewalk as a silent shout against the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the county's southern border. Images of children in chain-link pens, or crying for missing mothers and fathers, have provoked national outcry and discussion of the administration's "zero tolerance" enforcement tactics. "I'm so angry," said Stephanie Hagan, 35, who was at Rittenhouse Square. "I'm so fed up." >> READ MORE: Why I protested: 10 stories from Philly's rally against family separation Hagan, who is 7 months pregnant with her first child, sat beside her husband, Sam Bryant, 35, who held a sign covered in biblical passages that preached generosity. Pence was appearing at the Rittenhouse Hotel with Scott Wagner, the GOP nominee for Pennsylvania governor, during a fund-raiser for the Republican Governors Association. The event was closed to reporters. Demonstrators holding signs that read, "What if they were your children?" and, "End family separation now," crowded the southwest end of the square. Over a sound system came the 1971 song by Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On?" "Today they're locking up asylum seekers, and calling them criminals, and separating children from their family which is beyond the pale," said Gary Kopp, 56, of Philadelphia. "What's it going to be in three months? Is it going to be people of Islamic faith? Is it going to be the gay community? Is it going to be people who speak out against them? It's a slippery slope that we are starting on." The square wasn't close to packed. People playing with dogs or setting out blankets had plenty of room. But more than a thousand turned out, and a steady stream of people was coming to the square as the work day ended. "I thought there would be a much better showing," said Janet Campbell-Taylor, 84, of Philadelphia. "It's not like the old days. Like Vietnam. Everyone is on their phone." Police said that one man was given a citation for disorderly conduct after he jumped onto the back of a vehicle driven by a Secret Service agent. The protest was organized by groups including Refuse Fascism Philly and Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates. Demonstrators here and across the country used the hashtag #KeepFamiliesTogether, which was near the top of Twitter's U.S. trending, second only to the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the U.N. Human Rights Council. "I have grown kids," said Ina Shea, a retiree from Springfield, Delaware County, who came to the protest. "I have friends who are immigrants. I have friends whose status is a little bit of a gray area." The use of children's imagery has become a regular component of the demonstrations against the administration's policy. Earlier this month in Philadelphia, protesters left a row of children's toys stuffed bears, baby rattles, and soap bubbles outside the Center City offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to symbolize children who were missing from their families. "There have to be some regulations, maybe some standards, but you can't criminalize it," said Frances Castoriano, 58, of Philadelphia, who emigrated from Peru when she was 14. "As a teacher, I had a lot of kids who were from Mexico and Central America, very hardworking kids with beautiful families, and you can't break up families, it's just appalling to me." Despite an uproar over the administration's separation policy, President Trump has refused to back down. He tweeted that "Democrats are the problem," that "they don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13." Wagner, a former state senator, is running against Gov. Wolf, a Democrat seeking a second term. Republican donors were being asked for up to $50,000 at Tuesday night's fund-raiser, a GOP source told the Inquirer and Daily News last week. In this photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a U.S. Border Patrol agent watches as people who have been taken into custody related to cases of illegal entry into the United States, stand in line at a facility in McAllen, Texas, Sunday, June 17, 2018. Read more President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to end his own administration's policy of forcibly separating families at the U.S. border. Trump, however, said his order would not end the broader "zero-tolerance" policy that criminally prosecutes all adults caught crossing the border illegally. Instead, the order directs the Department of Homeland of Security to keep families detained together, contingent on a judge altering a 1997 settlement that places strict limits on the government's ability to detain children. As Buzzfeed reports: Any long-term enforcement of the order is contingent on a judge approving changes to a 1997 settlement agreement that restricts the detention of children. The administration can detain families together for up to 20 days a deadline based on earlier court rulings interpreting the 1997 settlement but then will have to separate them absent action by a judge or Congress. Trump's order directs Attorney General Jeff Sessions to file a request with the federal judge in California overseeing the 1997 settlement, known as the Flores Settlement Agreement, to ask for changes that would allow DHS to detain families for as long as their cases are pending, as spelled out in the executive order. Until the judge approves any changes, the government cannot hold children in facilities that don't meet the standards spelled out in the settlement past 20 days. "Trump has neither backed down nor relented here," Matthew Miller, a justice and security analyst for MSNBC, wrote on Twitter. "Detaining children with their families is better than detaining them separately, but it was not the status quo before his new policy and we shouldn't pretend so." The executive order also instructs the Department of Defense to make space and housing available to detain families, and authorizes the construction of new facilities. The full text of the executive order is available here. >> READ MORE: 'Toddlers detained': Rachel Maddow ends her show in tears, Corey Lewandowski mocks disabled migrant girl Trump's decision was an abrupt turnaround after his administration spent the past few days defending the policy which has led to more than 2,300 children some of them infants being separated from their families at the U.S. border with Mexico and reclassified as unaccompanied minors, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Trump and officials like Nielsen falsely repeated for days that only Congress had the power to end the administration's policy, which has faced increasing criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. Trump himself said on Fox News Friday morning, "We can't do it through an executive order." >> READ MORE: Why I protested: 10 stories from Philly's rally against family separation Here is a recap of the reaction Wednesday: Philly officials honor World Refugee Day Mayor Kenney called Philadelphia a welcoming city as he spoke outside City Hall about World Refugee Day, which was recognized internationally Wednesday. Kenney had emphasized that same message earlier this month, when a federal judge ruled for Philadelphia in its highly contentious "sanctuary city" case against the Trump administration. The judge said the city's refusal to help enforce immigration laws was based on policies that are reasonable, rational and equitable. Ivanka Trump thanks father for ending policy his administration started Her tweet led to some criticism, including from former Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer, who tweeted in response: "YOU DON'T THANK THE KIDNAPPER FOR RELEASING THE HOSTAGES." Trump administration changed its story on the family-separation policy numerous times How many? No fewer than 14 times, according to the Washington Post. Among the administration's repeated falsehoods: That Democrats were responsible for the separation of families (it was the Trump administration's policy). That existing laws required family separation (they do not). And that Trump could not issue an executive order to address the issue (he did Wednesday). Sen. Bob Casey calls move overdue but says more must be done "It is long overdue for President Trump to amend the most egregious element of his cruel and inhumane policy of ripping migrant children from their parents," Casey (D., Pa.) said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "But substituting a lesser form of cruelty for a greater form is still cruelty." Casey added that family detention "is far from the only or best solution for the majority of families at the border." The immigrant rights nonprofit Juntos, based in South Philadelphia, echoed those thoughts. "Detaining families together is not a valid solution to family separation," the group said in a statement. "People seeking refuge do not deserve to be met with chain link fences and trauma. Children should not be growing up in jail cells." Former President Obama: We have to do more Former President Barack Obama broke his silence on the situation at the border in a lengthy Facebook post Wednesday celebrating World Refugee Day. "If you've been fortunate enough to have been born in America, imagine for a moment if circumstance had placed you somewhere else. Imagine if you'd been born in a country where you grew up fearing for your life, and eventually the lives of your children," Obama wrote. "Our ability to imagine ourselves in the shoes of others, to say 'there but for the grace of God go I,' is part of what makes us human. And to find a way to welcome the refugee and the immigrant is part of what makes us American." Obama concluded his post by saying our country's legacy of immigration is "something we have to protect for the generations to come. But we have to do more than say 'this isn't who we are.' We have to prove it through our policies, our laws, our actions, and our votes." Airlines to Trump: Dont fly separated kids on our airplanes American, United and Frontier Airlines all issued statements on Wednesday condemning the separation of migrant children at the border, and told the Trump administration to stop using their airplanes to transport those kids across the country. "We have no desire to be associated with separating families, or worse, to profit from it," American Airlines, the main carrier at Philadelphia International Airport, said in a statement, "We have every expectation the government will comply with our request and we thank them for doing so." Department of Homeland Security Press Secretary Tyler Houlton blasted the airlines' requests in a series of tweets, claiming they were "buckling to a false media narrative" and that their decision "exacerbates the problems at our border and puts more children at risk from traffickers." Executive order could create legal problem If Trump issues an executive order allowing families to remain together, it could create a legal problem for his administration, according to CNN legal reporter Ariane de Vogue. "Indefinite detention of minors would violated the Flores Settlement because it requires release to the "least restrictive environment" within 20 days," de Vogue wrote. "If the President acts, it will be challenged immediately." An administration official with knowledge of the plan told the Washington Post the Trump administration was preparing to litigate the Flores, an agreement that places strict limits on the government's ability to detain children, especially if lawmakers on Capitol Hill fail to pass a legislative fix. Paul Ryan: House will vote Thursday House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters that the House would vote on new immigration legislation on Thursday that would end the Trump administration's practice of separating children from parents who cross the Mexican border illegally. Ryan said that under the Republican bill, "families will remain together under DHS custody throughout the length of their legal proceedings." He also said the legislation would solve the problem facing "Dreamers," undocumented immigrants brought into the country as children, "in a very elegant way." Ryan did not provide any specific details about the legislation. What local officials and residents had said about the policy The shift comes a day after hundreds of protesters had gathered at Rittenhouse Square Tuesday while Vice President Pence attended a nearby fundraiser, to protest the family-separation policy. The demonstrators lined up children's shoes to represent those held in detention facilities. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Delaware Gov. John Carney all voiced their opposition toward sending members of their states' National Guard to the U.S. border because of the policy. Carney said he had refused a request to send troops. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Recently graduated students from Kennett High School in Chester County wave to friends, from the second floor balcony of the house they rented for the week in Wildwood June 13, 2018, during "Senior Week." Read more WILDWOOD For Jessica Dorazio, 18, the week began with getting an impromptu flower tattoo on the Wildwood boardwalk. A few days later, she fell asleep to the sound of drunken neighbors attempting to climb up a column to a second-story balcony at 2 a.m. Dorazio and 11 of her friends all recent high school graduates from Delaware County have been staying at a four-bedroom condo on Wildwood Avenue for the last week in the name of a tradition that spans decades and generations: Senior Week. "It was spur of the moment. I was like, 'It's Senior Week, why not?'" Dorazio said of her back tattoo as her housemates cooked spaghetti. "MotorSport" by Migos, Cardi B, and Nicki Minaj blared in the background. Senior Week is a rite of passage that starts in early June in Wildwood (nicknamed "Childwood") and lasts about three weeks. Thousands of teenagers descend upon the five-mile-long island for back-to-back days of partying after receiving their diplomas. Student rentals dot every Shore town, but Wildwood is the epicenter. Many year-round residents and town officials despise the spectacle, but businesses and homeowners scrambling to make money during the three-month summer season see it as a necessary evil that injects cash into Wildwood's economy. >> READ MORE: The cop in viral Wildwood beach arrest was a temporary officer. Jersey shore towns use them every summer Dorazio and her friends paid $6,500 plus a $1,000 security deposit to stay less than a block from the boardwalk. Their surprisingly spotless kitchen and living room is decorated with homemade banners hung with putty, since the lease doesn't allow holes in walls. It's a post-graduation trip some of their parents made in the 1980s. Dorazio's housemate Sarah Diercksen, 18, who recently graduated from Springfield High School, has a family summer home in Wildwood and said her mother attended Senior Week after graduating in the 1980s. "I knew coming down here what Senior Week is, so I knew what to expect. It's good to know, so I can be cautious and careful. Knowing [Wildwood] like the back of my hand just makes me more comfortable here than anywhere else," she said. "My parents are chill with everything. It's just they want me to be safe and responsible." How Senior Week began remains a mystery one that puzzles even members of the local historical society. The earliest accounts of it come from the early 1970s, when residents say Philadelphia Catholic high school students began coming to Wildwood after graduation. Most probably stayed in the cramped rooming houses that once dominated the city, said Wildwood Historical Society president Al Brannen. Teens paid about $2 a night for a bunk bed and common bathroom. With its two-mile-long boardwalk and free beach, the island was a getaway from strict parents and teachers, Brannen said. Fifty years later, businesses cautiously welcome teens in June, when the boardwalk would normally be deserted. Senior Week T-shirts are displayed in storefronts and lawn signs mark which houses will rent to students and which will not. "I think a lot of business owners dread Senior Week because of the problems, but they don't dread that they make good money off of it," Mayor Ernie Troiano said. "That's what fuels this engine." One boardwalk worker, henna artist Bobby Kole, 25, uses his sales skill to bring teens into Oxygen Tattoo. When a large group of students walks past the store, he pitches a special $20 offer: One volunteer can get a henna tattoo free, given each friend chips in a few dollars. The catch? Kole picks the tattoo (typically a phallic design). "I love" Senior Week," Kole said. "This boardwalk would be empty right now if these kids weren't here." At the Crescent Court hotel on 26th Avenue, a sign outside welcomes students coming to Wildwood for prom and Senior Week. Owner Kathy Distro, 75, has seen a lot in her nearly 50 years running the hotel, including parents supplying their children with alcohol. She rents three-bedroom units to students for $1,200 a night. For families, she charges $315 a night. The price difference, Distro said, is because housing rowdy teens is risky. By the end of June, Distro said, she typically makes around $20,000 to $25,000 from student rentals. "Senior Week is a necessary evil," Distro said in the lounge area of her 10-unit complex. A couch cushion was torn open, with foam pouring out, because a student ripped it apart earlier in the month, thinking his car keys were lost inside. The Senior Week rental market, she said, is broken into two groups: Newer condos and homes with owners not willing to rent to destructive kids, and older units with owners hoping to make extra money off-season. "If you get a bad group, they can do a lot of damage," Distro said. She goes the extra mile to ensure that students behave: They sign contracts and get wristbands, and a parent must sign them in. She's in the hotel all day to shut down shenanigans, even if that means calling their guardians. One of the biggest problems during Senior Week is absentee landlords who rent to large groups of teens, hike up the price, and don't monitor the property, said City Inspector John Davis. Some violate fire codes by using bunk beds to squeeze extra students into rooms. Homes packed with 20 people are common. About eight years ago, Wildwood passed a "Rowdy House" ordinance to address the problem. If police are called to a property repeatedly for underage drinking, disorderly conduct, loud parties, or other violations, the city issues a warning to the homeowner, Davis said. Any subsequent calls lead to a summons issued by code enforcement for "maintaining a nuisance property." Those found guilty are fined up to $1,000. If calls continue, the landlord must appear before the commissioners, who decide whether the owner's mercantile license should be revoked. Those operating without a license are subject to fines up to $1,000 per day. The goal: Make it too expensive for inattentive owners to stay in business. >> READ MORE: Beyond 'Club Wa:' Shore towns grapple with teens gone wild The city issued $6,000 in such fines last year. In the last five years, Davis said, the city has closed at least a dozen properties. Another law requires landlords who live far from Wildwood to hire an agent who lives in the area to check on the property. "This 'Rowdy House' ordinance was designed because property owners were renting to too many kids to make a quick buck," he said. "If there's 1,000 renters and you pick off 100 of the worst ones, now things start to change." Still, taking problem property owners to court is a lengthy process. Months can pass before results are seen. Senior Week draws money to the city's coffers in other ways. Those ticketed for underage drinking must show up in Municipal Court and pay a fine. On average, Wildwood takes in $100,000 each June from tickets written for underage drinking, excessive noise, breaking curfew, and any other local ordinance violations, according to business administrator Chris Fox. Wildwood police issued about 194 citations to party houses in June last year, including underage drinking and noise violations, according to Municipal Court records. About 100 people were ticketed on the beach and boardwalk during that same period for drinking under the age of 21. In the early 1990s, Fox said, police began almost solely writing local summonses for underage drinking, as opposed to more serious state statute violations that appear on criminal records. "I often wonder how many people's jobs and careers were ruined back then because they were charged [by Wildwood police] for underage drinking or fighting under the state statute," Fox said. Ten extra officers are deployed on the boardwalk to keep the peace during Senior Week and the summer season, Troiano said, and the city aggressively enforces underage drinking laws during summer months. >> READ MORE: Wildwood has fans, and they're not all high school seniors In the past, Wildwood officers and judges held assemblies at South Jersey and Philadelphia high schools urging students not to party on the island when they arrive after graduation. Lacking results, the city ended the program. Many falsely perceive Wildwood as being a "lawless land," Troiano said, pointing to the controversial arrest of 20-year-old Emily Weinman over Memorial Day weekend. Video showing a temporary Class II police officer punching Weinman went viral, putting Wildwood in the national spotlight. "They drink, the beer muscles come out, and the brain shuts down," Troiano said. "They're urinating off balconies and throwing up in the streets If Senior Week disappeared, I'd be a happy person." A double shooting Wednesday afternoon in North Philadelphia left an unidentified male in his late teens dead and a 20-year-old woman wounded, police said. The shooting occurred in the 2800 North 26th Street, police said. The male, who was shot in the chest, was taken by medics to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:05 p.m. The woman was also was taken to Temple and was listed in stable condition with a gunshot wound to her right forearm. Police reported no arrests or motive in the shootings. When a man with an AK-47 shot Mike Poeng outside his West Philadelphia beer deli last month, it was not Poeng's first encounter with a deadly assault-style rifle. He had come to the United States in 1981 with eight siblings, their mother, and a nephew ethnic Chinese refugees from Cambodia's killing fields. Poeng, 50, remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition. He was shot about 1:30 p.m. on May 5 while washing his used white Lexus outside his store, KCJ Inc. Police say the gunman tried to push Poeng into the store in an attempt to rob it while his wife and sons were inside. The store's outdoor surveillance video showed the man punching Poeng, who fought back even spraying his attacker with his water hose before he was shot in the right hip. In interviews this month, his brother Thai Poeng, 57, a quiet man from a Buddhist family, said their lives have been upended by the shooting at 54th and Spruce Streets, for which no one has been arrested. "We want to make sure this AK-47 is off the street," he said. "We don't want to see anyone else suffer. We don't want anyone to have the same experience." The annual banquet of the Asian American Licensed Beverage Association of Philadelphia, of which Mike Poeng is among the 245 members, was the next day. "We were all shocked by this tragic event," said Adam Xu, the chairman, who announced Poeng's shooting at the banquet at the Saigon Maxim restaurant in South Philadelphia. "I think the shooting is another critical problem on top of others that is creating a lot of stress on the life and well-being of these Asian American merchants," said City Councilman David Oh, who attended the banquet and who, like Xu, has been outspoken for the right of beer deli owners to protect themselves with interior bullet-resistant safety glass. Poeng's story is another example of hardships faced by refugees and immigrants in Philadelphia. Police have said some Asian American store owners have been targeted because they are perceived as easy victims who may not report crimes due to language barriers or a mistrust of authority. Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives said police are focused on a suspect but seek additional evidence and have not been able to interview Mike Poeng because of his condition. Every morning, Thai and his brother's wife visit Mike at the hospital. Most nights, Thai returns there after work. He has visited as often as four times a day. The family has been helping to take care of Mike's wife and their three sons, ages 7, 9, and 12. Meanwhile, Mike's beer deli is closed. Hes a survivor Mike and Thai Poeng grew up in the northwestern Cambodian city of Battambang. Mike is the youngest of 11 kids, three siblings after Thai. After their father died in 1974, their mother continued to run their restaurant there. They spent the next four years in hard labor. Two older brothers likely were slain by the Khmer Rouge, Thai said. That period, 1975-79, is known as the time of the killing fields, when as many as two million people died of starvation and disease or were murdered under dictator Pol Pot. After Vietnamese troops captured Phnom Penh in January 1979, the Poengs walked to the Thai border but were turned away by border guards who took them to the Dangrek Mountains and forced them to return to Cambodia, Thai said. The family trekked down a jungle mountain, and when they reached the valley, Thai said, they saw "body parts everywhere." After a month in Siem Reap, they returned to the Battambang area. Six months later, their mother decided they should head back to the Thai border. One day at a border camp, the family witnessed Mike's toughness, his brother said. Their youngest sibling had gone missing. Finally, at sunset, a malnourished Mike, 11, returned carrying a bag of rice on his head, his brother recalled. He had risked his life to walk into a Khmer Rouge camp for food for the family. "We were crying, happy to see him with a bag of rice," Thai recalled nearly 40 years later. "He's a survivor." Ultimately the family arrived in the U.S. as refugees and were resettled in Connecticut. Mike graduated from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., his brother said. Their mother died in 1985. In 1995, Thai moved to North Philadelphia, where his wife's relatives had a beer deli. About five years later, Mike moved in with his brother. Mike bought KCJ in 2012. "He was doing really good with the community," Thai said, noting that his brother donated to the local police district at Christmas. Both brothers have worked seven days a week, hoping to give their children better lives. "We learn a lot from the suffering that we had during the killing fields," Thai said. "I didn't have a childhood. We want to make sure they have childhoods and get educated at the same time." "We're Buddhist," he said. "We are peaceful people. We are not seeking any revenge." Tipsters can contact Southwest Detectives at 215-686-3183. Chessa Manion, is photographed in the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol building, minutes after a rally advocating for a change in state law to allow lawsuits for child sex abuse in Harrisburg, Pa Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Chessa Manion, 29, was raped by the son of a Jehovah's Witness leader in Illinois when she was a small child. JOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer Read more Stephen Lett is 69, bald, and round-faced, with eyes that sometimes spring open to dramatic effect while he's talking if you can manage to get an audience with him. For much of the last two decades, Lett has been a member of the small governing body that runs Jehovah's Witnesses and sets the course for the denomination's followers at more than a dozen congregations in the Philadelphia area, and thousands more around the world. Lett and the seven other men on this committee maintain quiet profiles, their voices usually absent from media coverage about the Witnesses' widespread child sex-abuse problems. But in the spring of 2015, Lett unexpectedly starred in a 10-minute video that was posted on the Witnesses' website, an appearance that coincided with a spate of stories about abuse allegations and cover-ups published by Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Reporting. Dressed in a dark suit, he grew animated as he urged followers to stay united by "rejecting false stories." >> READ MORE: For Jehovah's Witnesses, an insular culture and archaic rules have created a 'recipe for child abuse' "As an example, think about the apostate-driven lies and dishonesties that Jehovah's organization is permissive toward pedophiles," Lett said. "I mean, that is ridiculous, isn't it? If anyone takes action against someone who would threaten our young ones, and takes action to protect our young ones, it is Jehovah's organization." With just a few sentences, Lett dismissed the criticism that has been levied against the Witnesses by authorities, victims and attorneys from Australia to Pennsylvania and the United Kingdom. A Kentucky woman named Chessa Manion argues that her own experience shows that the opposite is true that top Witnesses leaders know the organization's child molestation issues run deep, yet refrain from addressing them. Many other victims have made this same claim, too. But the 29-year-old ex-Witness who recently appeared at a rally in Harrisburg calling for lawmakers to strengthen laws protecting child sex-abuse survivors is a little different. She has a letter from Stephen Lett to back her up. Tell Mommy what happened Manion's story began in the early 1990s, when her family moved from the Chicago area to Havana, a small town of about 3,600 people near the Illinois River. Her parents, Tim and Lisa, were Witnesses with a special connection to the top of the organization: Tim said he'd been recruited by Lett when he was a young man and happened to buy a Chevrolet Corvair from Lett at an old barn lot nearby. As Manion and his wife finished moving into their new house on a leafy block lined with Victorian homes, another family of Witnesses they knew well invited their then-5-year-old daughter, Chessa, to a sleepover at their house. They promised to bring her back the next morning for service at the Kingdom Hall. "When they showed up at the meeting," Chessa Manion said, "I ran to my mom and put my arms around her, and wouldn't let go. I was just staring at her. She could tell something was wrong." Her mother questioned her over lunch. Had she gotten in trouble at the sleepover? Yelled at, maybe, by one of the adults? No, Chessa told her something had happened with the other family's then-14-year-old son. "Tell Mommy exactly what happened," her mother said. At her mom's urging, Chessa used one of her stuffed animals to show what the teen did to her. Lisa Manion believed her daughter had been raped. The Manions took their daughter to a doctor, who confirmed their fears. "We felt paralyzed," Lisa said. He also warned them that he was required by law to report the incident to Illinois authorities. He gave them seven days to contact police on their own. Chessa said her dad and the father of the teen who abused her met at a Kingdom Hall, along with the boy, who after several hours of questioning confessed. The next step seemed obvious: Tim Manion needed to go to the police. But matters like this are more complicated than they first seem within the religion. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, the Witnesses' nonprofit corporation, warned elders in a 1989 memo, for example, to be careful about sharing confidential information that could serve as fodder for a lawsuit. Elders were instructed to never allow an officer to search a Kingdom Hall or any other area where secret records were stored. Those who received reports about child sex abuse were expected to simply contact the Watchtower's legal department. The religion also relied on a policy that required abuse victims to produce two eyewitnesses who could corroborate their claims before elders would consider taking action. Lisa Manion, who is still a Witness, said some congregation members discouraged them from reporting the crime. "There were friends of both families that felt if we would just make peace with this and each other that we wouldn't have to go to the authorities," she said in a recent interview. "However, we had brothers from Chicago telling us, 'Jehovah will protect his own name. You do what you have to do to take care of your daughter.' " Before the seven-day deadline, Tim Manion contacted the Mason County Sheriff's Department and reported the attack. He was then referred to the county state's attorney. His daughter still doesn't understand what happened next. I was not comfortable Alan Tucker had prosecuted dozens of violent crimes as the Mason County State's Attorney by the time Chessa Manion's case reached his desk. But this one stuck with him over the ensuing decades. Tucker, who is now an Illinois Circuit Court judge, said in a recent interview that a sheriff took a statement from the 14-year-old boy, who "admitted to having sexual intercourse with Ms. Manion. But the parents of each of the children downplayed the incident, trying to portray it as children being exploratory. They did not want to pursue charges." He puzzled over what he described as the Manions' reluctance to see their daughter's abuser prosecuted. "I know they were from a nontraditional religion," he said. "I laid out the options as to how we could proceed and allowed them, for the most part, to direct me on how they wished to go." Lisa Manion disputed Tucker's recollection. "We did not downplay anything," she said. "We wanted to make sure that the word 'rape' was used as a description of what happened. We only wanted to protect Chessa." She said they were advised by Tucker that their daughter might have to undergo additional examinations and testify in court against the teen. They worried the experience would traumatize her a second time. "He steered Tim out of pursuing a court case," Lisa Manion said. Instead of taking the case to court, Tucker said he arranged a no-contact agreement that prohibited the teen from interacting with Chessa or other small children. Both received counseling, but the teen was not required to complete a sex offender evaluation. Had the case been successfully prosecuted, Tucker said, the teen could have ended up on probation until he was 21 and been registered as a sex offender. Tucker said that he kept a copy of the case files in his personal records because he worried that the teen might reoffend. He dug out the files after being contacted by the Inquirer and Daily News. "Since you called me," he said, "it's really bothered me." Manion said her parents faced pressure from Witnesses elders who urged them to "speak more delicately" and not use the word rape when discussing what she had experienced. Her father called the Watchtower's headquarters in Brooklyn and described how she'd been abused at a sleepover, she recounted, only to be chided by an official who said, "Well, Brother Manion, do you see how you contributed to this?" (Her father did not respond to a request for comment.) The fallout from the rape spread through the family like a disease. Shortly after her father reported the incident to police, he shared Chessa's ordeal with her grandparents and aunts and uncles at a family gathering in the Ozarks in Missouri. "It was a very bad night," said Debbie Manion Ford, her aunt. "A horrible night." As the family absorbed the awful news, their horror turned to outrage. Chessa's father was the only member of the family who was a Witness, and his relatives had long been skeptical of the organization. "We were like, 'How can you stay in this?' " Ford said. "Tim just said, 'Well, the Witnesses are going to take care of this.' But they tried to bury it." Not long afterward, Chessa Manion said, she found herself with her parents at the home of her abuser and his family. "I was made to hug him," she said, "because the elders told our families that we needed to keep the peace." She paused to underscore the horror of the scene: "I hugged my rapist after he raped me." The experience took a terrible toll on the little girl, Ford said. "Chessa got really dark." The family tried to leave the trauma behind by moving to another congregation 1,400 miles away in Arizona. "My parents received a lot of opposition, even though I was only 5," Chessa said. "I was marked as 'dirty.' " She dropped out of school at 14 and became a pioneer, a Witness who spends more than 70 hours a month on missionary work. "I tried to be a good example and show that my dedication to Jehovah would not waver," she said. "But I didn't get any psychological counseling. My PTSD became very bad." As she grew older, Manion became disillusioned with the religion. She'd never gotten a GED because she'd been so influenced by Witnesses rhetoric about the end of the world being nearly at hand. She got married at 20, and when the relationship faltered, other Witnesses encouraged her to become more submissive. Manion learned that her abuser, meanwhile, still attended services and was still around children. But he never faced criminal charges, a fact that gnawed at her. "I had no closure or validation," she said. "It was like the whole thing floated away." When told about Manion's despair, Tucker, the judge, grew quiet. "I would feel the same way if I was her," he said. Wicked mistreatment In 2002, after Tim Manion saw a Dateline special about child abuse and Jehovah's Witnesses, he contacted his old acquaintance Stephen Lett. Much had changed in the decades since they first met; Lett had ascended to the top of the Watchtower while Manion and his family were haunted by their memories of his daughter's rape. "It destroyed my brother and his wife and Chessa's life," Debbie Manion Ford said. "They could never get past it." In an anguished, five-page letter, Tim Manion told Lett about his daughter's ordeal, and how their family was rejected by other Witnesses who had learned about it. "Most of the people we have told over the years have shunned us," he wrote, according to a copy his daughter shared. "Some even thought and said openly to others that we must have done something to deserve this." Manion appealed to Lett to rethink the Witnesses' approach to child sex-abuse allegations, including the two-witness rule. Elders were ill-equipped to handle crimes as serious as rape and sexual assault, he wrote. He argued that such matters be reported directly to law enforcement. "THIS IS NOT A RELIGIOUS SITUATION!" he wrote. Governing body members like Lett rarely communicate directly with rank-and-file followers. But on June 4, 2002, Lett wrote back. "While it was painful to read about the terrible ordeal that you and Lisa and Chessa had to go through," he wrote, "it was so good to hear how you have stayed close to Jehovah and have endured faithfully." Lett referred to Chessa's rape as a "wicked mistreatment," but didn't address any of the urgent points Manion raised. Lett quoted Scripture and bid his old friend well. Thirteen years later, in the 2015 video, Lett's words were far different. He confidently denounced the abuse allegations that dogged the organization as "apostate-driven lies." And as recently as last year, Watchtower leaders said they would continue to rely on the two-witness rule. Lett did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. A Watchtower spokesperson declined to participate in an interview, but sent an overview of the organization's policies, which state that victims and parents have a right to report sexual abuse to law enforcement. "Elders do not criticize anyone who chooses to make such a report," it reads in part. Another line notes that someone who is guilty of child molestation can remain in a congregation if they're repentant, but restrictions will be placed on their activities. Chessa Manion, meanwhile, is trying to pursue the closure she felt she was long ago denied. Illinois recently eliminated the statute of limitations for child sex abuse survivors to come forward and report crimes they say were committed against them. But the state's previous statutes which would apply to her 1994 case, according to a spokeswoman from the Illinois Attorney General's Office gave victims up until their 38th birthday to file a report with police. Manion hopes she can have a voice in what happens next, unlike when she was a little girl and an ordinary sleepover turned into a life-altering nightmare. "People in that religion are taught to remain silent," she said. "And that's what needs to change." Ambassador Amr Aljowaily briefed the Serbian Patriarch on efforts to enhance ties between the two countries, calling for Serbians to visit Egypt's ancient monasteries Ambassador of Egypt to Serbia Amr Aljowaily met His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Irinej, Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci, to discuss ways of enhancing ties between the peoples of Egypt and Serbia, benefiting from the cultural and religious heritage of the two countries. During the meeting, Ambassador Aljowaily invited Serbian citizens to visit Egypt, particulaly the path of the Holy Family in Egypt and the ancient Egyptian monasteries near sea resorts that are well-known to Serbian tourists, such as the Monastery of St Antonius, the oldest in the world, located near Hurghada. For his part, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej commended the excellent historical relations between Egypt and Serbia, welcoming the study of fresh means of cooperation and raising awareness on cultural heritage, including through mutual visits. The Ambassador of Egypt in Belgrade revealed that several activities are being planned, most notably the organisation of an iconographic exhibition for a number of artists from the Department of Art at the Institute of Coptic Studies, exploring similarities with counterpart Serbian art, which enjoys a central status in the cultural heritage of Serbian society. Search Keywords: Short link: People taken into custody related to cases of illegal entry into the United States are shown at a facility in McAllen, Texas, Sunday, June 17, 2018. Read more The controversy surrounding family separations at the U.S. Southern border has prompted outrage, opinions and finger-pointing. It has also raised a number of questions, including from our readers. "Are there really children being separated from their parents at the border and being kept in cages?" one reader asked. We answer that and other questions here. Background In April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a "zero-tolerance policy" regarding illegal immigration at the Southwest border. That was followed by a reported May directive by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen instructing her department to refer all unauthorized immigrants who cross the U.S. border to federal prosecutors for criminal prosecution. Such prosecution has resulted in the separation of parents and children who were apprehended illegally entering the country. As we've explained before, parents are sent to federal court under the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and then placed in a detention center, according to Homeland Security. In turn, their children minors who cannot be housed in detention centers for adults are transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for placement in a juvenile facility or foster care if they can't be placed with another adult relative in the U.S. Those children, as well as those who cross without adults, are considered "unaccompanied" and become the responsibility of HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told NPR last month that family separation "could be a tough deterrent" for others considering immigrating illegally. The criminal prosecution and subsequent separations do not apply to those who seek asylum at a legal port of entry, administration officials have said. But Nielsen has acknowledged "limited resources" at the border that have resulted in the U.S. telling some who arrive at the ports that they have to "come back." Some immigrant advocates told the Arizona Republic that the backlog could exacerbate illegal crossings. How many children are currently being detained? Since the implementation of the zero-tolerance policy, between April 19 and the end of May, 1,995 minors were separated from adults at the border, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to FactCheck.org. And, as of June 15, there were 11,517 minors in the "Unaccompanied Children's Program," according to the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families. (That figure doesn't distinguish between those who crossed the border with their parents and those who did so alone.) Health and Human Services uses about 100 shelters in 14 states. In congressional testimony in May, Steven Wagner, acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, told a Senate subcommittee that children have spent an average of 57 days in custody during fiscal year 2018. After that, minors are placed with a sponsor, who could be a parent, another relative, or a non-family member. Does the U.S. use cages to detain children? The government has rejected the idea that it uses "cages" in its facilities. But that's the term used by activists and others who oppose the administration's immigration policy. Also, news organizations have used that term, including the Associated Press, which used the word to refer to the fencing enclosures at one Texas facility. We have included pictures of that facility with this story, so readers can make their own determinations on what to call the enclosures. The issue was highlighted earlier this month when Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon visited the central processing facility in McAllen, Texas, where those trying to enter the United States are separated. "Unaccompanied" minors, except in select cases, are to be transferred from the processing facility to a juvenile facility or other care under Health and Human Services within 72 hours. "Yesterday morning at the McAllen Border Station, at the processing center, they have big cages made out of fencing and wire and nets stretched across the top of them so people can't climb out of them," he told CNN on June 4. "Every time I probed yesterday on the circumstances (of why they were held this way) the response was just basically a generic, 'That is what's required for security, this is what is required for control.'" (Merkley also likened the enclosures to a "dog kennel.") The Department of Justice disputed Merkley's characterization of the structures. "Before being transferred to HHS custody, DHS houses unaccompanied minors in short-term facilities," it said in a June 4 statement. "These short-term facilities do not employ the use of 'cages' to house UACs, but portions of the facility makes use of barriers in order to separate minors of different genders and age groups. This is for the safety and security of all minors in the custody of the United States government." Much of the media coverage of Merkley focused on his attempt to visit a shelter in Brownsville, Texas, that houses immigrant children after they're processed. He was rebuffed (though in recent days he did visit the facility). News outlets got a glimpse of life inside that shelter, called Casa Padre, during a tour last week. There were no reports of cages being used. NBC News described the conditions at the nonprofit shelter as "more like incarceration than temporary shelter." The report detailed "dorm-style rooms" that were designed to sleep four but accommodate five because of overcrowding. The former Walmart houses almost 1,500 boys, ages 10 to 17, for an average of 52 days. According to the New York Times, whose reporter visited the shelter, it offers classroom instruction, recreational activities and other services. The minors are allowed outside two hours per day. So what about that image of a young boy in a cage? The photo in question depicts a boy in distress as he looks out of a cage he is grasping with his hands. It has been turned into a meme that asks, "Are you Trump fans really OK with this?" Journalist and activist Jose Antonio Vargas included the photo in a June 11 tweet that said: "This is what happens when a government believes people are 'illegal.' Kids in cages." (Vargas openly discusses his own status as an immigrant living in the country illegally.) In a subsequent tweet, Vargas acknowledged he wasn't sure where the photo originated, but many others also shared the image, including the actor Ron Perlman. But the image was actually taken during a June 10 rally in Dallas, Texas. Leroy Pena, the prime minister of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Brown Berets of Cemanahuac, said he took the photo during the demonstration. The pro-Mexican American group's rally was meant to call attention to the conditions where young immigrants are kept, he said. Pena added that the young boy in the photograph, the son of a friend, had wandered into the cage where older children were demonstrating and became upset when he saw his mother on the other side of the structure. The child was promptly taken out of the cage, he said. "I posted it to my personal page I wasn't trying to deceive anybody," Pena told FactCheck.org in an interview. "I think people just started sharing the picture without the narrative that I added. It wasn't done intentionally but it brought a lot of attention with what's really going on." Debra Mendoza, national prime minister of the Brown Berets of Cemanahuac, confirmed Pena's account to us. She decried photos of facilities using fencing similar to "cages," and said the structures were reminiscent of a "jail." Mendoza also mentioned the recently resurfaced images from a 2014 Arizona Republic report on an immigrant holding facility for juveniles in Nogales, Ariz. Those 2014 pictures, taken by the Associated Press, were shared by some online as if they were current including by Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama. The 2014 story was about the surge in children from Central America largely from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala trying to cross the border illegally on their own. The mistake became fodder for Trump's Twitter feed. Is the government using military camps to hold the minors? Health and Human Services is indeed eyeing several military bases "for potential use as temporary shelters for unaccompanied alien children at some point in the future," the Administration for Children and Families confirmed for us. On June 13, McClatchy reported that Fort Bliss in Texas could be used as a "tent city to hold between 1,000 and 5,000 children." In addition to Fort Bliss, officials are evaluating Dyess Air Force Base and Goodfellow Air Force Base, which are also in Texas. If that happens, it wouldn't be the first time military bases were used to accommodate immigrants. Under the Obama administration, bases served as such facilities, including in 2014 during the influx of unaccompanied children illegally entering the country. In his testimony last month, Wagner said the last "temporary" facility at a Department of Defense site closed in February 2017. WASHINGTON The FBI agent who was removed from the special counsel investigation for sending anti-Trump texts was escorted from the FBI building Friday and effectively relieved of work responsibilities though he technically remains an FBI agent, his lawyer said. Peter Strzok already had been reassigned to the FBI's Human Resources Division after he was taken off special counsel Robert Mueller's team, though the move last week effectively took him off even that assignment. The move put Strzok on notice that the bureau intends to fire him, though he has rights to appeal that are likely to delay that action. His lawyer, Aitan Goelman, said in a statement that Strzok was "being put through a highly questionable process" and that the public should be concerned about how politics had "been allowed to undermine due process and the legal protections owed to someone who has served his country for so long." "Pete has steadfastly played by the rules and respected the process, and yet he continues to be the target of unfounded personal attacks, political games and inappropriate information leaks," Goelman said. "All of this seriously calls into question the impartiality of the disciplinary process, which now appears tainted by political influence." Strzok was a key figure in two of the FBI's most high-profile investigations: the probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and the separate examination of whether President Trump's campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Strzok was a particular focus of a recent Justice Department inspector general report that uncovered an August 2016 text message in which Strzok told an FBI lawyer, Lisa Page, that "we'll stop" Trump from making it to the White House. The inspector general also suggested that Strzok's bias might have played a role in the FBI's not acting expeditiously in fall 2016 to follow up on a new lead related to the Clinton email case. The inspector general's findings were forwarded to the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility to determine whether Strzok and other employees should face discipline. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment. Mueller had removed Strzok from the investigation into possible Trump-Russia coordination after being made aware of the anti-Trump texts, and Strzok was then reassigned to human resources. Page, who was also assigned to Mueller's team, had left a few weeks before Strzok was reassigned, and she resigned from the FBI this year. Strzok and Page had been in a romantic relationship, and they exchanged tens of thousands of text messages on a broad range of political and work-related topics. Most of those messages, including their anti-Trump sentiments, had been public for some time, but the inspector general's findings reignited the controversy surrounding the two. The inspector general, pointing in particular to the exchange in which Strzok told Page "we'll stop" Trump from becoming president, alleged that they had shown a "willingness to take official action to impact a presidential candidate's electoral prospects." Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified on Capitol Hill that he found the conduct "deeply troubling and antithetical to the core values of the FBI and the Justice Department." FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers that the Office of Professional Responsibility would go through its process "fairly but without delay." "We will not hesitate to hold people accountable," he said. Goelman said in a previous interview that Strzok disputes that he would have been willing to use his official position to hurt Trump, noting that had he wanted to, he could have leaked that there was an investigation into Trump's campaign before the election. He said Strzok would be willing to appear on Capitol Hill and answer questions without immunity and would do so even if fired from the FBI. FILE: White nationalist demonstrators walk through town after their rally was declared illegal near Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Read more WASHINGTON An organizer of last year's deadly white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville, Va., has received initial approval from the National Park Service to hold a rally across from the White House on Aug. 12, the anniversary of last year's event. Jason Kessler, who organized the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, with Richard Spencer and other white supremacist leaders, submitted a National Mall Special Event permit request on May 8 to hold a "white civil rights" rally in Lafayette Square "protesting civil rights abuse in Charlottesville." The Park Service approved the request but has not yet issued a permit. A Park Service spokesman said the agency is gathering information from the organizers on details of the event, and that information will be used to create the permit. Hundreds of white nationalist marchers engaged in violent clashes and street battles with counterprotesters at last year's rally in Charlottesville while police initially stood by and the fights accelerated. Later that day, after the rally had been shut down by law enforcement, authorities said that James Alex Fields Jr., a self-identified Nazi, drove his car into a throng of anti-fascist marchers, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. A Virginia state police helicopter that had been monitoring events in Charlottesville crashed later that day, killing two state troopers inside. Kessler applied to hold an anniversary rally in Charlottesville, but the city denied his request. He then sued the city, saying his First Amendment rights were being denied. The case has not been decided. Kessler said in an email that he expects to win the lawsuit and will have rallies in Charlottesville and Washington on Aug. 12 if he prevails in court. Kessler estimated in his Park Service application that the Washington event will draw 400 people. A week after last year's rally, Kessler tweeted that Heyer "was a fat, disgusting Communist," and that her death was "payback time." He later repudiated the tweet, saying he had been drinking and taking Ambien and Xanax. A University of Virginia graduate, Kessler was banned from the school's campus in April after multiple reports from students that he had threatened them, according to the university. In an online post, Kessler dismissed the allegations against him and said his attorneys would look into the matter. "I am not surprised at him holding a rally away from Charlottesville, where he is not welcome," said Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer. "It will be interesting to see how the citizens of D.C. and others respond to his rally." With its bloody brawls and scenes of far-right marchers chanting racist and homophobic slogans, the events of Charlottesville rocked the nation, which saw them play out on television and social media. The fallout was exacerbated that day and later in the week when President Trump blamed both sides for the violence rather than forcefully condemning the white supremacists and neo-Nazis for their views and actions. Trump insisted there were "some very fine people" among the white supremacist marchers. Kessler said in an email interview Wednesday that he chose Washington because he wants Trump and elected officials to know about "the civil rights abuse by the Charlottesville government that led to the violence at last year's rally." The rally is for white civil rights, Kessler said, because "white people are being denied the ability to organize in political organizations the way other groups do, free of harassment, to face the issues important to us." Spencer, who took part in the 2017 rally and led a torchlight march of hundreds of white supremacists through the U-Va. campus the night before, said he is not planning to take part in the D.C. anniversary rally. The Unite the Right rally has had long-lasting effects in Charlottesville, where it led to the resignation of the city's police chief and an apology to the city from the mayor at the time, Michael Signer. The city's response to the rally was sharply criticized in an independent report that said Charlottesville was ill-prepared and that the city had devised a flawed plan leading to "disastrous results." William M. Gennett, 54, was found guilty of strangling Shannon O'Rourke, 45, inside of her Nassau Road residence on July 5, 2016. Read more A 54-year-old man was found guilty Wednesday of the 2016 strangling death of a 45-year-old Lumberton woman, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said. A Burlington County Superior Court jury convicted William M. Gennett, of Tabernacle, of first-degree murder in the death of Shannon O'Rourke inside her Nassau Road residence on July 5, 2016. Gennett also was convicted of fourth-degree stalking. Prosecutors said Gennett killed O'Rourke after she rejected his attempts to turn their friendship into a romantic relationship. Gennett is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 16. HARRISBURG The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to indefinitely block the release of a grand jury report detailing decades of clergy sex abuse in six of the state's eight Roman Catholic dioceses. In a two-paragraph order made public Wednesday, the state's highest court said it granted requests from unnamed individuals or institutions to prevent the public release of the much-anticipated report. "The Honorable Norman A. Krumenacker, III, and the Office of the Attorney General are enjoined from releasing Report No. 1 of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury pending further order of this Court," it read, citing the Cambria County judge who has overseen the panel's work. The order unsigned and released in the name of the entire court throws into question the results of a sweeping probe that spanned at least two years and could implicate hundreds of clergy and other officials across the state. The investigation focused on child sex abuse and cover-ups in every Catholic diocese in the state except those in Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown two dioceses that in past years endured similar scrutiny and was expected to run 800 or more pages long. Some said the report could be unprecedented both by reviewing nearly every diocese in a single state, and by exploring the role that other officials outside the church may have played in enabling or concealing child sex abuse. Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat whose office spearheaded the probe, has said he had hoped to publicly speak about the grand jury's investigation by month's end. "The only thing that could stop these findings from becoming public at that time is if one of the bishops or dioceses would seek to delay or prevent this public accounting," Shapiro said in a May 21 statement. In response to the Supreme Court order, Shapiro's office said: "My legal team and I will continue fighting tirelessly to make sure the victims of this abuse are able to tell their stories and the findings of this investigation are made public to the people of Pennsylvania." Bishops in all six dioceses have stated publicly that they would not block the release of the report. It is not known whether any of the people or groups who petitioned the high court to keep it under wraps are associated with the church. In its order, the Supreme Court did not signal who filed the petition or when, explain its reasoning for granting the request, or say how long it would take to consider the issue. Kimberly Bathgate, a spokesperson for the court, said the justices did not publicly explain their thinking because "all grand jury matters are sealed, including the rationale." However, the court has used its power before at least in one recent high-profile case, one involving allegations of state officials sharing pornography on state-owned computers to unseal orders that provided insight into its legal decisions touching on grand jury issues. Asked why it had chosen not to do so in the current clergy sex-abuse case, Bathgate said: "Each case is different." The injunction was denounced by some victims and others who have anxiously awaited the report's release. Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks), one of the dozens of victims who testified before the grand jury, called the court's decision a "travesty of justice and insult to all victims of childhood sex abuse." "It's just like it's been since Day One with me, kick us to the curb. Let the trash on the curb get old, maybe we'll rot and die and go away. We're not going away. I'm not going away, and I can promise that to all the victims across the commonwealth," said Rozzi, who has been among the advocates pressing for the state to extend the statute of limitations so older victims can sue their abusers. Rozzi added that releasing the report would have been a great step forward for the victims' mental and physical health. The Inquirer and Daily News have reported that one victim who testified before the grand jury is said to have attempted suicide, and from her hospital bed implored the grand jury to finish its work. A glimpse of the report's scope and sweep, as well as the behind-the-scenes legal fight to halt its release, came last month from Krumenacker. In a ruling that he unsealed for the public to see, the judge denied a request by unnamed petitioners seeking to hold confidential hearings to challenge the claims or evidence presented to the grand jury. The judge said agreeing to such a request would upend the role of the grand jury, which he said was to investigate rather than adjudicate. But his denial paved the way for an appeal to the state's highest court, though whether or not it was the same petitioners or the same argument was not immediately clear. Lawyers for the unnamed petitioners who appealed to Krumenacker either did not return calls or declined to comment Wednesday. Staff writer Gillian McGoldrick and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Peter Smith contributed to this article. New carbon filters that removed PFOS and PFOA from a contaminated well in Horsham were installed in March. Read more The chemicals found in water supplies near military bases nationwide pose more of a potential hazard to humans than the federal government had indicated previously, according to a new analysis released Wednesday. The results of the study, which linked the chemicals to a variety of health problems, have been highly anticipated since reports surfaced last month that the Environmental Protection Agency and White House officials had sought to block its release, writing in emails that it would cause a "public relations nightmare." The new information could heighten health concerns for thousands of residents in Bucks and Montgomery Counties and across the country who previously drank contaminated water or whose water currently contains the chemicals at levels that the government had once declared was safe. The levels identified by the new report as safe for humans to ingest without a probable risk of health effects are lower than what was previously identified by the federal government. The report, put out by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), identifies the levels of the contaminants that a person could safely consume and its threshold equals only one-tenth of the amount used by the EPA to develop its 2016 drinking water guidelines. The new report concluded the risk level of the chemicals known as per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and used on the local bases mainly in firefighting foam is "roughly seven- to tenfold" higher than what the EPA used in its study, said Alexis Temkin, a toxicologist with the Environmental Working Group, which has pushed for stricter drinking water standards. That could have implications for the drinking water guidelines, although the numbers used for risk levels and drinking water cannot be directly compared. The ATSDR used more and newer data in its study than the EPA had for its 2016 report. >> READ MORE: Nearly 400 military bases must be tested for tainted water >> Questions surrounding the effects PFAS have on human health have swirled since the military-base water contamination became widely known in 2014. Tens of thousands of people in Horsham, Warminster, and Warrington Townships were among the first to learn that their drinking water was tainted, and scores have reported cases of cancer. The Inquirer and Daily News reported last year that the military was beginning to test the water around nearly 400 military bases. Public water systems, private drinking wells, and military water supplies have been treated based on a 2016 EPA recommendation that advised people not to drink water if it had more than 70 parts per trillion of PFAS in it. But scientists and others have questioned that level, with some saying that no amount of the chemical is safe to drink. PFAS are also found in many everyday items, including textiles, food contact materials (such as pizza-box coatings), nonstick cookware, and ski wax. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.), who had called for the report's release, said he was glad the document is now public. "Informing the American people about the latest scientific assessments impacting their health shouldn't be political and shouldn't require members of Congress to pressure the administration to be transparent," he said in a statement. In Pennsylvania, residents have clamored for information in the face of unanswered questions about human health effects of PFAS, which had not been studied extensively. State Rep. Todd Stephens, a Republican who lives in Horsham, said Wednesday he felt "angry and frustrated" after reviewing the findings of the new report. No traces of PFAS are currently present in local drinking water because local officials switched water supplies, but residents are paying higher water rates, he said. "Since these chemicals were first identified in our water, the federal government has failed to fulfill its obligations to our community and we are paying the price in higher water bills and, potentially, adverse health consequences," Stephens said. The report released Wednesday described studies of the chemicals' impacts on both humans and laboratory animals. PFAS have been linked to a variety of health problems including increased risk for liver damage, high cholesterol, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, asthma, and slightly decreased birth weight. Certain types of cancer are also linked to PFAS; the report stated that study results vary but there is "suggestive evidence of the carcinogenic potential" of the compounds. Two years ago, a state Department of Health study determined elevated rates of cancer in Warminster, Warrington, and Horsham Townships, but the overall results did not show a consistent pattern, according to a May addendum to the study. The department is also conducting a pilot study that includes blood testing for about 500 randomly selected residents. Data collected in the study will be used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ATSDR to examine the creation of a federal blood-testing program for PFAS. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein leaves a classified briefing about the federal investigation into President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 24, 2018. Read more It isn't that former FBI Director James Comey was correct not to charge Hillary Clinton. Nor that Comey was insubordinate to Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Not even that FBI agent Peter Strzok went as far as to say he'd stop President Trump from getting elected. Those titillating findings and more were in inspector general Michael Horowitz's 500-plus-page report on the FBI's probe into Clinton's use of a private email server. But none of that was the most significant. No, the long-lasting impact of the IG report will be the conflict it presents for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein when special counsel Robert Mueller wraps up his inquiry into President Trump's firing of Comey and the potential obstruction of justice of the FBI's investigation. Remember: Whether the president acted with the intention of thwarting a lawful investigation is at the core of Mueller's inquiry. The president's detractors will say that Trump fired Comey to stop the Russian probe including the investigation of Michael Flynn and the president himself and that he admitted as much to Lester Holt and the Russian foreign minister and ambassador. The president and his lawyers will respond that Trump had an unfettered right to fire Comey and that he did so based on a written recommendation from the Justice Department. Who wrote that recommendation? Rod Rosenstein. Recall that it was Rosenstein, as deputy attorney general, who sent the memo to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on May 9, 2017, that provided the justification for Trump to fire Comey. In the memo, Rosenstein was sharply critical of Comey's handling of the Clinton investigation, including: " the Director ignored another long standing principle: we do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation." Rosenstein also wrote: "The way the Director handled the conclusion of the email investigation was wrong. As a result, the FBI is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a Director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them. Having refused to admit his errors, the Director cannot be expected to implement the necessary corrective actions." That language sounds just like the scolding of Comey found in the recent IG report, which raises the question: How can Rosenstein remain the arbiter of what happens to Mueller's report on obstruction of justice given his central role in the president's firing of Comey? Even if the memo was just a pretext used by Trump, it was Rosenstein who wrote it, presumably in good faith. That will put Rosenstein in an untenable position as a fact witness regarding the president's defense. Horowitz's testimony on Capitol Hill on Monday also gave fodder to the Rosenstein-backed theory that Comey was fired due to his handling of the email probe. Comey "clearly departed from FBI and Department norms, and his decisions negatively impacted the perception of the FBI and the Department as fair administrators of justice," according to the inspector general, who also said that Comey acted inappropriately in ways that confused rather than clarified the public's understanding of the FBI's recommendation. "For Rosenstein, the IG report leaves him in a type of ethical zero-sum game," said Jonathan Turley, professor of law at George Washington University Law School. "Either Mueller is investigating Trump for obstruction in the Comey firing and Rosenstein has an unavoidable conflict or Mueller has rejected the obstruction theory and both Rosenstein and Trump are in the clear on that issue. Rosenstein could not continue in his position if Mueller was seriously pursuing the obstruction claim linked to the Comey firing." "That raises a stark choice. Either Mueller is pursuing the obstruction claim and ignoring a huge conflict of interest, or he long ago decided that the Comey firing was not a viable obstruction claim. The fact that Rosenstein has not recused and the IG just reached the same conclusion on Comey's misconduct would suggest that the obstruction investigation has not focused on the Comey firing. If Mueller is pursuing the Comey firing as obstruction, he is doing so in total disregard of ethical standards." It's hard to see how Rosenstein can fulfill his role as overseer of the Mueller probe. But easy to surmise that any obstruction case was just made that much harder. HARRISBURG What a difference an election year makes. For the first time since Gov. Wolf took office, his administration and the Republican-controlled legislature appear to have hammered out a deal on the state budget, days in advance of the June 30 deadline to have a spending plan in place for the new fiscal year. The agreement calls for a $32.7 billion budget that raises no new taxes or fees, and includes $100 million more for public schools, $25 million more for early childhood education, and $15 million for special education. State-related universities, including Temple and Pittsburgh, will receive a combined boost of nearly $17 million. Separately, legislators also are expected to approve an additional $60 million for school safety projects. Absent any eleventh-hour kinks, the budget could be approved by week's end, a full week before the deadline a budget milestone. That would be the earliest a budget has been passed in at least 15 years. Since Wolf, a Democrat, took office in 2015, he and GOP leaders have waged fierce battles over the state's finances, leading to chronically late budgets. Publicly, many in the Capitol attribute the swift pace this year to a rosier revenue picture. Privately, others note that it is an election year, and elected officials are motivated to wrap up their work so they can campaign. This year, Wolf, the entire House of Representatives, and half the members of the Senate are facing elections. Retiring State Rep. Joe Markosek (D., Allegheny) gave a nod to that sentiment, saying Tuesday: "We all know this is an interesting year. It's an election year, and we need to make sure we do the best for all the citizens of Pennsylvania." For the last three years, Wolf and a number of moderate Republicans have stressed the need to raise new revenue to keep up with mounting costs, warning of financial doom if the state does not do so. But the politically charged debate over whether to raise taxes, and which ones, has stymied the budget process and led to last year's large-scale borrowing just to balance the books. This year, all have been largely silent on taxes. In his budget address in February, Wolf called for raising the minimum wage and imposing a new severance tax on natural gas drilling. He got neither in this agreement although he did land additional funding for public education, a priority for his administration. In a statement Tuesday, Wolf praised the budget deal moving through the legislature as "responsible and bipartisan." "We have worked cooperatively over the past few months to find common ground and room for compromise," he said. "This budget makes smart investments in education, safety, and human services, and continues the progress we've made to restore fiscal stability to the commonwealth's finances." Administration officials said that a combination of stronger revenues, cost savings in administrative programs, and new money from expanded liquor sales and gambling have improved the state's financial outlook. Legislative leaders on Tuesday boasted that the proposed $32.7 billion spending plan represents only a 1.7 percent increase over this year's budget. The reality is more complex. That total does not include about $800 million in expected Medicaid expenses that were moved off the main budget books. The deal between Wolf and the legislature would fund that by tapping a variety of other accounts, one of which has been the subject of a lawsuit by a group that argues it cannot be used by elected officials to balance the budget. The proposal also calls for moving roughly $158 million in expenses in the upcoming fiscal year onto the current fiscal year's budget, making the percentage increase look smaller than it otherwise would be. The House could take a final vote on much of the proposed deal as early as Wednesday, with the Senate following later in the week. Other bills that supplement the budget were still being finalized Tuesday. That includes the so-called education code, which is expected to provide an additional $60 million for school districts to cover safety efforts, such as hiring a police officer or installing metal detectors. The push for the extra school-safety money came after the shooting on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre) described that funding as "Phase One" in efforts to improve safety in Pennsylvania schools. "This obviously is a beginning," Corman said. "Sixty million is not a drop in the bucket, but at the same time, it's just a beginning." MSNBC host Rachel Maddow breaks down in tears Tuesday night while attempting to read a report about the Trump administration detaining infants forcibly separated from their families at the Mexican border. Read more On Tuesday night, two different reactions on two separate cable news networks appear to have framed the debate surrounding the Trump administration's zero-tolerance immigration policy, which has led to the forced separation of families and the detainment of thousands of minors in facilities throughout the South. On MSNBC, as her show was ending, Rachel Maddow attempted to read a story reported by the Associated Press that Trump administration officials had been sending babies and other young children to three "tender age" shelters in South Texas. Instead, she ended her show in tears. "I think I'm going to have to hand this off," an emotional Maddow said as she looked away from the camera and handed off her show to colleague Lawrence O'Donnell. >> READ MORE: ESPN host offers emotional plead for migrant children following his own heartbreaking loss The story outlines how the Trump administration's policy has led to young children some of them infants being separated from their parents and detained in shelters the Associated Press compared to orphanages. "The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it," said Kay Bellor, the vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. "Toddlers are being detained." Watch: On Twitter following her show, Maddow apologized for being overcome with emotion. "Ugh, I'm sorry. If nothing else, it is my job to actually be able to speak while I'm on TV," Maddow wrote, adding in a subsequent tweet, "Not the way I intended that to go, not by a mile." Meanwhile, on Fox News, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was a guest on The Story with Martha MacCallum,debating Democratic strategist Zac Petkanas about the policy. Petkanas attempted to highlight a story of a 10-year-old with Down syndrome who was taken from her mother after an illegal border crossing and sent to a Texas shelter, despite the fact her father is a legal U.S. resident who lived close to where the pair crossed. But before Petkanas could finish his point, Lewandowski, who was fired by the Trump campaign after manhandling a reporter, dismissed the story by rolling his eyes and saying, "Womp, womp." "Did you just say 'womp, womp' to a 10-year-old with Down syndrome separated from her mother?" any angry Petkanas asked. "How dare you! How absolutely dare you, sir!" Watch: "In his obdurate cruelty in sticking to the party line of the moment as well as his childish reliance on sound effects, Lewandowski became the perfect emblem of Trump's immigration policy," the New Republic's Jeet Heer wrote. "If anyone wants a few seconds that capture the essence of the Trump administration's pigheadedness all they need to do is watch this exchange." Lewandowski did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Amid these two vastly different reactions to the administration's hard-line immigration policy, Trump met with congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill Tuesday night. According to CNN and Politico, Republicans received unclear marching orders from the president, and at least one lawmaker said Trump "didn't move the ball" on ending the forced separation of families at the border. Several Republican lawmakers have made it clear that if Trump actually wanted to end the forced separation of families, he could simply reverse the new policy his own administration enacted this spring. "The White House could change it in five minutes, and they should," Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) told NBC News. "Separating especially young children from their parents at the border is not something we should do." Federal officials told reporters that between May 5 and June 9, they have separated 2,342 children from their families at the Mexican border and reclassified them as unaccompanied minors. On CNN Tuesday, acting ICE director Thomas Homan appeared at a loss for words when host Wolf Blitzer asked whether the administration's policy was humane. "I think that I think I think it's the law," Homan said, avoiding the question. Blizter pressed him again on whether the Trump administration's policy was humane, and again Homan avoided the question entirely. "I think it's the law, and I'm in law enforcement, and I must follow the law," Homan said following an awkwardly long pause. Nilsa Adorno, 30, of Franklinville, has neighborhood children form a line to eat free lunch supplied by the federal government and distributed by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The meals make up for school lunches children miss during summer. Read more Padding quietly on pink and green flip-flops, a dozen children lined up for lunch near a white sidewalk tent set up outside a two-story rowhouse on Fifth Street in Franklinville. Nilsa Adorno, 30, a quirky kind of urban guardian angel sporting tattoos, facial piercings, a Batman T-shirt, and black sunglasses adorned with white skulls, squirted a dollop of hand sanitizer into each tiny palm. The children, many of whom live in poverty, displayed the unmistakable demeanor of the hungry: expectant, quiet, attentive. "Their families have major problems feeding these kids in summer," said Adorno, 30, a mother of five. "That's why I'm here." Adorno is an unpaid neighborhood do-gooder whose partners are some powerful allies the U.S. government and the Roman Catholic Church. She distributes free lunches and snacks to 35 children aged 1 to 16 every day during the summer. This is her second year on the job. Every June, July, and August, the hot sun exposes a hard truth: Summer is the hungriest time of year, as parents have to scramble to feed children accustomed to receiving free breakfasts and lunches at school. To try to fill the gap, the U.S. Department of Agriculture with the help of the state supplies food that's distributed in the area by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, as well as the city's Department of Parks and Recreation and the Philadelphia Housing Authority. To demonstrate the drop-off in feeding that occurs in the summer, the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger measured lunch consumption during October and July 2017. In Philadelphia public and charter schools, around 130,000 free lunches were served per day in October; in July, 52,000 lunches were served per day at the city's summer food sites. That means that even with great efforts to feed children, just 40 percent of those receiving school lunch are reached in summer. While there is much room for improvement, access to summer meals is better here than nationally or statewide, said Kathy Fisher, policy director at the coalition. Nationwide, just one in seven students who eat free lunch in school receives it during the summer (14 percent), while the figure is one in six (15 percent) in Pennsylvania, according to the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger nonprofit in Washington, D.C. Archdiocese food gets delivered to 400 sites like Adorno's in Philadelphia and its four suburban Pennsylvania counties every day. PHA feeds at 16 sites, while Parks and Recreation feeds at 500 individual city blocks as well as at 125 camps. Block leaders like Adorno are trained by the archdiocese to set up a feeding site and to handle food. The meals are cold and ready to be eaten by noon. This is the program's first week, and the 45th year of its existence. The other day, the kids were eating turkey with ham and pepperoni flavors, low-fat chocolate milk, potato salad, and apple slices. Popcorn chicken is a big favorite, as is barbecued chicken with cheese. READ MORE: Doctors writing fruit and vegetable prescriptions to battle hunger "The sandwich is good," said Anayalie Ramos, 10. "I don't have to be in the house and Ma doesn't have to cook for me." Roberto Rolon, 51, who brought his niece for lunch, said he likes how the program teaches children to share. "And it helps hunger," he said, adding that he'd like to run a similar program on his block around the corner. The Fifth Street moms and dads, many of whom come from Puerto Rico, will not acknowledge that anyone suffers from hunger. During a time when children are being taken from their mothers and fathers at the nation's southern border, parents are worried that child services workers will remove kids from a house that doesn't have enough food, hunger experts say. The block's parents allow their children to eat, mostly because Adorno, a freewheeling bohemian with a child's sense of fun, is running the show. "Oh, the parents love me," said Adorno, who completed her third year of studying criminal psychology and forensics at Strayer University in Center City. She wants to be a probation officer and plans to get her master's degree in psychology to work with released convicts. "They can't get jobs, and they turn to suicide," Adorno whispered, out of the children's earshot. She makes money giving people tattoos; her fiance works long hours landscaping. Adorno acts like a kid herself, people say. They've seen her throw herself on the ground, hold sack races, pull a pool from her house and fill it with water. "I'll even do science projects with them," Adorno said. "We make volcanoes, and do arts and crafts. When you're here with me, I say to them, forget your worries." In Puerto Rico as a child, Adorno would watch her mother, a lunch worker, feed children. "I'm second-generation doing this," she said. "It feels good to feed them." When lunch was over, the children lingered, playing keep-away with a red ball. Adorno planned to go outside again at 3 p.m. to distribute snacks. As the No. 47 bus roared by, the street shook. The busy thoroughfare has seen its share of violence and drug dealing, according to neighbors. Brooke Mullen, an assistant director at the archdiocese's Nutritional Development Services, surveyed the scene, referencing the Bible: "We call ourselves the loaves and fishes of the archdiocese," she said. "And we always remember: Hunger never takes a break." Philadelphia Media Network is one of 19 news organizations producing "Broke in Philly," a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city's push toward economic justice. Read more at brokeinphilly.org or follow @BrokeInPhilly. The renovated National Museum of Serbia dedicates its first activity to the Ancient Egyptian civilisation as part of a campaign by the Egyptian embassy titled #EgyptALLogy The Serbian National Museum, the largest and oldest in the Balkans, will host a roundtable on 12 July titled 'Ancient Egypt in Serbian Society,' according to Ambassador of Egypt to Belgrade Amr Aljowaily, who met with the museum's director Bojana Breskovic. The roundtable will be the first activity after the official reopening of the museum on 28 June, Aljowaily revealed following a preopening tour of the museum. The museum has been closed for renewal since 2003. The roundtable will be presented within the framework of a campaign by the Egyptian embassy entitled '#EgyptALLogy,' which aims to bring the history of ancient Egypt to the non-specialised audience, which is passionate about exploring the evolution of human civilisation. We are very happy that the first cultural activity of the museum will be dedicated to the cultural heritage of Egypt in Serbia, Aljowaily said, highlighting that this year marks the 110th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Aljowaily also said that bilateral cooperation mechanisms are being discussed with the Antiquities Restoration Centre of the Grand Egyptian Museum. He strongly praised ongoing efforts to prepare for the opening of the National Museum of Serbia after the renovation. Director of public relations at the museum Lidija Ham extended an invitation to counterpart institutions in Egypt to participate in the opening of the Serbian museum. Ham highlighted the continued interest in enhancing cooperation with the National Egyptian Museum and the Grand Egyptian Museum, stressing that the Serbian museum's collection of ancient Egyptian items, which include a funeral mask and a mummy, will be displayed later at the Belgrade Museum. Search Keywords: Short link: Hundreds of protesters gathered in Rittenhouse Square on Tuesday evening, hoping Vice President Pence would hear their demands, and do something to end President Trump's policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Pence was in Philadelphia for a fund-raiser at the Rittenhouse Hotel with the Republican Governors Association, where he voiced his support for Pennsylvania's GOP gubernatorial nominee, Scott Wagner. Outside the hotel, protesters spoke for the more than 2,000 children who have been heard only in screams and tears. The Inquirer and Daily News were on the scene, talking to protesters about what compelled them to join the rally. Answers have been edited lightly for style and clarity. Brian Lee, 37, Somerset, N.J. "Last night I heard the leaked audio of the children, of the migrant children that got torn from their parents, and they were wailing and crying. I have seen immigrant families cry and plead for their loved ones, but that was one of the most difficult things that I've ever heard. I'm so incredibly upset about it. I just felt compelled to come. But the thing is, family separation doesn't just happen at the border. ICE is ripping away parents and even children away from parents all over the U.S." Maribel Sindlinger, 45, West Philadelphia "This is actually my very first big protest. I have this huge fear of crowds. But the amount of fear that the little children are feeling is tenfold what I could possibly feel for a crowd. I am here for the most innocent, because we're better than this, because I have hope that Americans find gentleness and compassion to those who are the most vulnerable in society, as a world society. They are children, for goodness sake. I love my daughter. My daughter and my husband are here with me. They're both over there in the center of the crowd. I'm on the edge because that's a little too much for me. But I cannot possibly begin to imagine having her being divided from us. It's unimaginable." Nadia Mozaffar, 31, Philadelphia "I am here because I have done a little bit of asylum and immigration work and have heard so many stories of why people come to this country and the horrors that they face when they're coming here. I think we need to treat them better than this. I think that the narrative created by this administration is completely false and we need to be sharing what is actually happening." Mari Menkin-Schmitt, 10, Philadelphia "Kids are in detention homes and they are being separated from their families, and some of the parents are being sent back to Mexico or other places where they're from. Some of these kids aren't getting to see their parents again, and I just think that's really sad." Stephen Gliatto, 26, West Chester "As a Roman Catholic, I find the policy of these child detention centers especially reprehensible after Attorney General Sessions cited the Bible that line he quoted from the letter to the Romans about keeping the order of the land. The whole premise of Christianity is that there is a higher order than the law of the land, and we've cited that for centuries throughout our history. The fact that this administration rides on the back of Christians who believe like myself and look like me is disheartening. I want to at least be the voice of a Christian who knows that poor and the stranger should always be welcome and never cast out. That's why I march." Savion Wilson, 12, Elkins Park "I am at this protest because it's very wrong to keep someone in captivity because they came here to find a better life. America is here because of immigrants. People think that life for a lot of people started in America, but the reason why America is the strongest nation in the world is because a lot of immigrants gathered here to make the land of the free. But recently it doesn't really seem like the land of the free, because they are locking up children from families who just wanted a better life." Maria Fordyce, 54, West Chester "I have a heart and I will speak up for the mothers and fathers who can't defend themselves. It's a crime. It's a crime. I am an educator and a mother. One of my education jobs is teaching ESL students who have come into this country. Some of them have been in refugee camps, and I know a lot of their families' stories. They are not criminals. They are not coming into this country with drugs. I am sure some are, but not my students. They are struggling to just live safely and bring their children to safety, instead of running from the worst things. Using children as obstacles, like, 'Ahh if you give us a deal, Democrats, then we'll stop doing this,' that's criminal." Cayla Barry, 22, Chestnut Hill "If you're watching, then how are you not outraged? The fact that this is even a policy, to separate children from families, is a ridiculous exercise of cruelty. If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. It's really that simple. How can we be in the position to value one life over another? I think a lot of people that are doing that. or that are complicit in that, need to take a hard look at themselves and where their morals are." Nabi Moghadam, 46, Bryn Mawr "I am here to uphold the sanctity of the family against Trumpian-Pencian attempts to rip the fabric of the family apart. I just feel very strongly that we have to take a stand against this criminal policy of family separation and the creation of these dreadful concentration camps for kids. This is a tipping point, first of all because it involves children, who I believe should be sacrosanct at all times, and because it's just an accumulation of horrors. That's all I can say. I comprehensively oppose the Trumpian regime, but this is a moment that really calls out the most visceral feelings of disgust." Patrick Doran, 40, Lafayette Hill "I am here because this zero-tolerance policy is a naked attempt to use children as a pawn for a game being played in Washington. It's immoral. It doesn't represent anything that I thought this country stood for, and it has to stop now. The more that we shout and scream might force people to listen. Maybe we can change a few minds. I don't doubt that Trump is going to close his ears to it. It's not enough to be angry. You have to raise your voice. Maybe I should have raised my voice more when people I voted for did bad things and I realize that. But there is no excuse for this policy. There is no excuse for what's happening. There needs to be a wider debate about immigration policy, but we can do more than one thing at once. We can stop separating families. I have small children. It's child abuse, it's kidnapping. We're all complicit in kidnapping, and that's something I cannot just stand by for." Angelita Ellison testified before City Council members Wednesday about the difficulty finding affordable housing in Point Breeze. Council is considering a 1 percent impact tax on all new construction. Read more Those who think the city is taxing itself to death will be tempted to add a proposal by City Council President Darrell Clarke to impose a 1 percent tax on new construction to the mortality statistics. The construction impact tax, expected to come up for a vote Thursday in Council, is designed to generate $20 million to fund affordable and mixed-income housing. This is an important goal as the city tries to balance continued growth and development with inequities that have many struggling to find the most basic housing a squeeze that can be exacerbated by new, pricier development. Clarke makes a strong case for the tax, and has done thorough homework, including an analysis of how other large cities fare with similar taxes, including Portland, Los Angeles, and Seattle. He also cites a decline in federal funds for affordable housing; which puts additional strain on the $11 million annually going to the Housing Trust Fund. The need is clear: Philadelphia's historically high home ownership rates have declined in the light of federal cuts and other factors, such as declining wages. This kind of directed tax rightly falls on developers, who, after all, already enjoy a 10-year tax abatement a generous spur to development and job growth in the city. In fact, in measuring the tax abatement against the construction impact tax, it's easy to consider the tax as nothing but an adjustment in the abatement. Adjusting or reconsidering the 10-year abatement has been a conversation that has been gaining steam. So in theory, the 1 percent construction tax deserves consideration. On the other hand, someone else has given consideration to how to fund affordable housing and offers an alternative that could also make sense. Councilman Allan Domb is arguing for scheduled reductions in the abatement in lieu of the construction tax, and argues that even more money could be generated without the bad taste of a new tax. Domb calculates that the imposition of the 1 percent construction tax is equivalent to reducing the 10-year abatement to 9.4 years. His idea is to scale back the abatement over a period of time to effectively turn it into a 8.5-year abatement. This would generate more than the revenue expected from the construction impact tax. The hitch is that the cash wouldn't flow immediately, and the city would have to provide upfront cash for the Housing Trust Fund, which it would begin to reclaim after seven years. Council members Domb and Bobby Henon recently requested a fiscal impact study on the construction tax; the results of that study were released Wednesday. The bottom line: The tax could end up costing the city $3 million a year due to losses in transfer tax and wage tax revenues due to reduced construction, as well as costs of monitoring and collecting the tax. Given the arguments and issues on both sides, how Council proceeds on the construction tax is anyone's guess, but the good news is there is little disagreement on the importance of affordable housing. Now it comes down to resolving the best way to pay for it. The meeting between Trump and Jong-un appears to have achieved its main goal: to set the compass for future developments, rather than hammer out an agreement now In 1998, I visited Singapore as part of a journalistic tour of the Asian countries Pakistan, India, Indonesia and China to inquire into the effects of the nuclear tests conducted by both Islamabad and New Delhi, as well as the repercussions of the Asian economic crisis at the time. Singapore was a stop on our way from New Delhi to Jakarta. Sentosa island, which had apparently separated from Singapore due to ancient geological upheavals, was also a must-see. Singapore, at the time, was internationally reputed as the leader of the Asian Tigers while the tiny Sentosa, which had served as a British military headquarters during World War II, had become a world-famous tourist destination that hosted four million tourists a year and that boasts, among other things, underwater restaurants in the Indian Ocean. On 12 June, this special Asiatic island, separated from Singapores main island by a short bridge, was the focus of the world press because this was the venue chosen for the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong-un. It was the meeting in the clouds, the meeting impossible. A year ago, anyone who so much as imagined such a summit would have been branded insane. The substance of the meeting was much as I had suggested it would be in my previous articles. The summit went ahead despite the wars of words and the unusually intense diplomatic brinksmanship. There were other parties to thank for this in addition to officials in the US and North Korea. South Korea, Japan and, above all, China with its regional and international weight were instrumental, while the US and South Korean leaders worked to maximise gains and minimise risks. Both leaders also had to deal with domestic fronts that posed their own types of threats. The Trump administration had the midterm congressional elections in mind and did not want the Republicans to lose their majority. Within the Republican Party, itself, Trump had to preserve his base which had given him the edge over his Republican rivals and then over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. He was simultaneously haunted by personal scandals from the past and the ongoing investigations into the Russian connection with his electoral win. He needed victories both at home and abroad. At home, he could boast the economic recovery and tax reductions. Abroad, he knew that the Middle East was no place to score a success, at least in the short run. Eastern Asia was another matter. There was opportunity there. As for Kim Jong-un on the other side of the Pacific, he faced a society that had been nurtured on the refrain that the US was the great devil and South Korea its pawn, and that had been inculcated with the belief that hereditary rule was a pillar of the natural order. Meanwhile, the country remained gripped by severe economic straits. The only way out was for North Korea to emerge from its isolation, even among socialist states, and board the capitalist train along with China and Vietnam. The Sentosa summit was one of those summits that altered the course of history. It began with what we might call a Sadat moment, that historic moment in which the Egyptian president set a new course for dealing with Israel, enabling both sides to recognise the legitimacy of the other and the others legitimate interests. In this case, the US would recognise not the existence of North Korea, as it already exists and is recognised by many countries in the world, but the fact that it is a part of the regional and international security environment. Washington would also recognise that the Jong-un regime is not a US concern but rather a concern of the Korean people in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea, for its part, would recognise that the US is a great power and, as such, that it has political, economic and strategic interests in East Asia. Foremost among these interests is the security of South Korea and Japan, which necessitates an ongoing US military presence in the region for the foreseeable future. Following mutual acceptance there would remain a long list of pending issues that the two sides had to negotiate. But, first, they would have to establish a set of general, governing principles, before delving into the details. As occurred in Camp David, which set the framework for Egyptian-Israeli negotiations in 1978, the joint statement issued by Trump and Jong-un set the general framework for the historic deal between Washington and Pyongyang. According to this framework, the latter relinquished its nuclear ambitions and the means to produce nuclear weapons, while the former ceased joint military exercises with South Korea. The denuclearisation of North Korea was couched in the framework of rendering the whole of the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons. South Korea would not have the right to produce nuclear arms even if it has the industrial capacities to do so, and the US would not have the right to station tactical or strategic nuclear weapons on the peninsula. Nothing in the statement prevents the US from stationing forces in South Korea or from maintaining a military presence in the nearby seas. Nevertheless, according to the second point, the US would be prohibited from taking any offensive action against North Korea. Henceforward, Washington would consider Pyongyang a friend and strike regime change from its agenda. Having agreed on the essence, the two sides will now have to hammer out the many details. As we know from Middle Eastern experiences, the denuclearisation of North Korea will require precise knowledge of what facilities exist and, also, what might remain hidden. All this will need to be subject to international inspections and verifications. However, given that the framework of the agreement covers the whole of the Korean Peninsula, we are also looking at a comprehensive peace that will finally resolve the Korean War (1950-1953). So far, it looks like the German reunification experience cannot be repeated in the Korean Peninsula, at least in the foreseeable future. However, South Korea has learned that, if there is to be an end of conflict and buffer zones bristling with arms, the south cannot stay rich while the north stays poor. So, at least the process has opened the doors to a form of close cooperation between two Koreas with different types of political regimes but within the framework of a single economic order. Details were left out from the joint statement deliberately. Details were not a priority at this stage. The priorities were to settle the major issues, to set the compass and to pave the way for communications and future exchanges of visits between Washington and Pyongyang. The upshot of all this is that North Korea has been given an opportunity for economic growth, South Korea has been given the opportunity to sustain its prosperity and economic progress, and Japan has been given the hope of an end to the fear of a nuclear or even conventional war. As for Beijing, President Jong-un not only flew to Singapore on a Chinese plane, Chinas regional and international interests were on board with him. The writer is chairman of the board, CEO and director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies. *A version of this article appears in print in the 21 June 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly with headline: Singapore summit Search Keywords: Short link: About 30 Pine Island and Matlacha residents turned out Monday when U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney visited Matlacha to discuss such issues as water releases from Lake Okeechobee and immigration. The Matlacha Chamber of Commerce and Leoma Lovegrove had invited Rooney to the island and he addressed the group and answered questions at Love-groves Matlacha art gallery. Every year the Army Corp of Engineers releases billions of gallons of water from Lake Okeechobee southward and this year it is releasing about 2.6 billion gallons of water daily into the Caloosahatchee. The end result is, the waters off Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel turn from green to brown due to the nutrients in the fresh water releases. We all share our concern about the water, Rooney said. The water drives our economy and drives tourism. Were in the fight for our lives to get more appropriations for the Everglades Restoration project as quickly as we can especially the A-2 reservoir and the repairs made to the Herbert Hoover Dike. The issues the Army Corp of Engineers face is, they have studies that indicate the dike could fail at 15 feet of water, Rooney said. The difference between 15 feet and 18 feet off water is something like 3 million acre feet of water. According to Rooney, Congress is working to repair the dike sooner than anticipated. Last year Florida received 30 percent more dollars for the dike repairs and this year Florida will receive double that amount, Rooney said. That will cut four years off the completion date for repairs to the dike. With the additional funding Gov. (Rick) Scott got for dike repairs, the dike should be completed by 2022 2023. Rooney offered several solutions to the overall water issues. One solution to the water issues is more money for these buildout projects, Rooney said. This is a federal issue. We have a federal law, The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, that said the federal government and the state of Florida will split the cost 50/50 of building some 68 projects north of the lake, south, east and west of the lake. During Rooneys vista, the issue of illegal immigration was raised and the separation of children from their parents. Rooney stated he us emphatically against separating children from their parents. We have to remember, more than half of our illegal immigrants came to the U.S. on a visa and today we dont know where those people are, Rooney said. If you or I get a visa to enter France, you can bet theyll know where we are. When asked about asylum for immigrants, Rooney said, Ive introduced a bill that you cant claim asylum if youre in the United States. This is a huge loophole that gives them (immigrants) 8 months to claim asylum. Im not for separating families but Im not for abusing the laws for asylum either. According to Rooneys website, Securing our borders is a top national security priority. As a member of the Congressional Border Security Caucus, I will fight to protect our citizens against the harms of illegal immigration. We need to enforce current immigration laws to end the incentive for illegal immigration, and funding for sanctuary cities should be cut. I want to thank Congressman Rooney for coming to Matlacha today, Lovegrove said. Congressman Rooney knows how precious our islands are to all of us and as our congressman is devoted to making a positive impact for our future environments and island life. Hes got our backs. Our community has proved time and again that we will stand together to face a challenge or provide a need. There is no more important need than the safety and security of our children and grandchildren. When the Florida Legislature mandated school districts assign at least one safe school officer at each school facility earlier this year, the Lee Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) acted quickly to support paying 50 percent of the school districts cost to provide this important safety measure at every school in unincorporated Lee County. The BoCC did this voluntarily; nothing mandates nor compels county governments or city governments to participate financially in the School Safety Act. The act is an unfunded mandate handed to all school districts in Florida. The statutes language states, each district school board and school district superintendent shall partner with law enforcement agencies to establish or assign one or more safe school officers at each school facility The 2018 Legislative session ended on March 11, and the School Safety Act passed during last two weeks of session. The governors March 25 letter to school districts explained the act provided $64 million statewide enough for 647 new officers. We know the statewide need is 2,000 new officers. (The Lee County School District portion is $1.6 million.) Lee County has a history of providing a 50-50 share of funding for the School Resource Officer (SRO) program. In all, the BoCC has spent $17 million during the last decade, a significant commitment to the protection of our children. For years leading up to 2011, the county partnered with the school district financially to pay for SROs in schools in the unincorporated area. These funds were from the Unincorporated MSTU tax rate, which is paid only by property owners outside of city boundaries in the unincorporated area. Likewise, the cities of Cape Coral and Fort Myers paid their portion within their boundaries from city tax rates and used their own officers. In 2011, both cities left the program and the Sheriff started to supply SROs to municipal middle and high schools. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2011/12, the BoCC agreed to fund Cape Corals and Fort Myers 50 percent share to provide officers at all middle and high schools using a post-recession combination of General Fund and Unincorporated MSTU funding. This arrangement was intended to accommodate the hard times of the recession when all entities suffered significant tax-base and revenue losses. It was never intended to be a permanent arrangement, nor was the SRO program intended to be a General Fund countywide service. The county has continued its participation. The countys SRO allocation for Fiscal Year 2018/19 will be $2.8 million, a nearly 17 percent increase from $2.4 million in the prior year. We have communicated this commitment openly. The BoCC addressed SRO funding in its April 3 Budget Work Session and that consensus was codified April 17 at the regularly scheduled meeting. On April 23, we notified the Lee County Sheriffs Office and the Lee County School District of the BoCCs action. The discussion has continued in our community. On May 1, Waterman Broadcasting, aired on NBC-2 a report on the BoCCs action. Then a May 8, school board meeting at which the SRO funding issue and the BoCCs action was discussed generated additional and increased media coverage in print and broadcast. Lee County Commissioners recognize the importance of funding a portion of school safety by paying 50 percent of the unfunded mandated costs for unincorporated Lee County. The City of Cape Coral, the City of Fort Myers, the City of Sanibel and the county have all stepped forward to partner with the school district to fund this initiative in the areas for which they are responsible and keep our children safe at school. We appreciate that commitment, which we know we all share. Roger Desjarlais is the Lee County Manager KAMPALA President Museveni, addressing parliament, has said Uganda is stable and will never need United Nations peace keeping missions for help. The president while addressing Members of Parliament on Wedesday afternoon at the Parliament in Kampala said, We dont need United Nations to defend us and we shall never need them, we are not Kateyambas, thats why we never have UN to defend us, and we shall never having the UN to defend us, the president said, adding that it is the advantages of having educated army. He also decried the low budget allocations to security department especially Uganda Peoples Defense Forces among others. How do we defend ourselves when we dont have a big budget, how is Uganda able to have a strong army without a big budget. How do we do it? the president said adding that the security of the country is underfunded compared to other departments. He, however, said that despite the low funding, the UPDF has managed to fight criminality especially rebels in northern Uganda and some parts of the west. Since 2007, Uganda has had peace from corner to corner for the first time in the last 500 years. He said that crime escalations is as resulted of police negligence in fighting criminality. Related VIDEO: California Deputy Helps Bear Escape Car A Placer County, CA, Sheriffs deputy had to rescue a bear that trapped itself inside a car recently near Lake Tahoe, the agency posted on its Facebook page. The post reads, "The bear got into a Subaru Outback in Carnelian Bay and destroyed the interior so badly that the doors couldn't be unlocked. It was decided the safest way to get the bear out of the car was to break the window. Deputy Lade was brave enough to break the window, allowing the bear to jump out and flee into the forest." The National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) named the Marion County (SC) Sheriff's Office (MCSO) the 2018 recipient of its Crime Victim Services Award, sponsored by Appriss Safety. (Photo: Appriss) The National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) named the Marion County (SC) Sheriff's Office (MCSO) the 2018 recipient of its Crime Victim Services Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievement by a sheriff's office in support of victims, and is sponsored by Appriss Safety, a leading provider of victim notification services and developer of the VINE service (Victim Information and Notification Everyday). The MCSO, led by Sheriff Brian Wallace, has proven itself a leader in the field of victim advocacy in South Carolina. Since taking office in January 2017, Sheriff Wallace has prompted several victim-focused initiatives, including a promise to transform the current Victim Advocate Program into a proactive part of the MCSO. Wallace immediately hired a full-time civilian victim advocate, Tammy Erwin, who began turning his visions into reality. VA Erwin implemented policies and procedures that ensured every victim in the county received the same level of care and access, while maintaining open lines of communication with each victim throughout the legal process. VA Erwin helped bring Sheriff Wallace's goal of bridging the gap between the community and the MCSO by making the department more child-friendly, as well as facilitating the deputies' involvement in community activities, such as school functions, community groups, and ceremonies. Sheriff Wallace's mantra is "We want our community to meet us before you need us," and the MCSO's revamped Victim Advocate Program was built directly on that foundation. One of the MCSO's defining accomplishments under Sheriff Wallace has been the arrival of Caj, the department's therapy dog for crime victims. MCSO is the first sheriff's office in the state to provide an on-staff therapy dog to victims and staff. Caj comforts and serves crime victims dailyin the office, in court, and out in the community. Caj represents yet another opportunity for the community to interact and get comfortable with MSCO officials before they are needed in a time of emergency. The NSA established the Crime Victim Services Award in 2005 with initial funding from the Office for Victims of Crime. The award has been sponsored by Appriss since 2008. "We are once again honored to partner with the NSA to sponsor this distinguished award," said Mr. Josh Bruner, President of Appriss Safety. "We are inspired by Sheriff Wallace and the dedicated officials of the MCSO; we are grateful for the NSA's reputable platform upon which we are able to appropriately honor their victim service efforts." On behalf of his department, Sheriff Wallace is "profoundly honored" to accept this year's award. "We haven't reinvented the wheel when it comes to victims services; we simply put it in motion. Our goal is to empower crime victims with knowledge about their case and the overall judicial process. Organizations like the NSA and Appriss Safety make our jobs easier with their resources and support." Bruner and NSA officials presented the award to Sheriff Wallace at the NSA's Annual Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans, LA, on June 18. For more information, visit ApprissSafety.com. Turkeys ambition to join the European Union has been made immeasurably more complicated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans Islamist and neo-Ottoman rhetoric Unlike the British, who chose to exit the European Union willingly in 2016, the Turks have been dreaming of the day they could join the EU, allowing them to solidify their position as a major power in the Middle East and expand the political and economic horizons of the Turkish nation on the European continent. Unfortunately, that dream that the nation has been striving for over past decades has now been impeded by the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the helm of the Turkish state. In 2003, Turkish prime minister and now President Recep Tayyib Erdogan promised the Turkish nation that he would work on realising the dream of joining the EU as he stepped up the economic reforms needed to meet the standards set by the EU for membership. Eighteen years later, Turkey may have attained a good economic condition for a few years, but now it is crumbling economically, socially and politically. Nearly 15 years of Erdogans rule in Turkey has turned one of the most promising democracies in the Middle East into an autocracy through multiple constitutional referendums that have paved the way for Erdogan to turn himself from an elected prime minister to a dictatorial president with almost unlimited powers. Over the past two years alone, Erdogan has managed to purge the opposition to his rule, eliminating dissidents through a purge that has included the judicial system, the police, the army and even educational institutions in Turkey. He has used the failed coup of 2016 as a pretext for purging the opposition and has even threatened to reinstate the death penalty in Turkey, abolished in 2004 when the country was working to meet the admission requirements for the EU. Erdogan heads an Islamist regime, and he has aimed to appease the masses in Turkey through a rhetoric that combines Islamism with restoring the glories of the former Ottoman Empire. Europeans, who may remember a history of constant confrontation with that Empire, have not been pleased to hear Erdogans neo-Ottoman and Islamist rhetoric. The memories of the Ottoman Empire have not simply faded away, and they are still taught in European school curricula, like when, for example, the former Empire expanded into central Europe and was only stopped outside the gates of Vienna in 1683. The Ottoman Empire then receded, but it was still often in conflict with the European powers until its fall in 1922. Many Europeans do not wish to see a repeat of Turkish-Ottoman hegemony, thinking that tying their fate to the Turkish Republic carries the same perils that their ancestors ran in suffering the Ottomans. Erdogans rhetoric and hostile stance towards Europe certainly does not help the argument that the successor state to the Ottoman Empire is in reality very different. While opinion polls do not necessarily accurately reflect a given political situation, they are an indicator that cannot be ignored. Recent polls conducted in the European Union have shown that its citizens disapprove of Turkey joining the EU by huge margins. For instance, the German centre-right party the European Peoples Party (EPP) conducted a poll in 2017 that showed that three out of four European citizens opposed Turkey joining the EU. Germany tops the list of European nations whose citizens oppose Turkey being a European Union member, followed by Holland, Denmark and Finland. Countries such as Austria have officially indicated their rejection of the idea of an expanded EU that would include Turkey. Bizarrely, the aforementioned poll also indicated that countries such as Russia and Morocco faced smaller opposition by European citizens to their joining the EU than Turkey. On the official level, the European Commission slammed Erdogans Turkey in April by saying that Turkey continues to take huge strides away from the European Union, in particular in the areas of the rule of law and fundamental rights, according to EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn. Erdogans abysmal record on human rights in both Turkey and in neighbouring countries where Turkish armed forces are conducting illegal operations has become a deal-breaker for Turkeys long-term plans to join the EU. This point of contention joins several others hindering Turkeys chances of joining the EU in the future. Such points are numerous and include the Turkish leaders aggressive speeches against other European leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron and his threats to unleash Syrian and Iraqi refugees into Europe if the EU states do not meet the cost of their residence in Turkey. Such stances, when coupled with Erdogans mix of Islamist and Ottoman rhetoric, have distanced Turkey from its European neighbours. These engaged in many feuds with the former Ottoman Empire in the past, and they are not keen for these to emerge again. For decades, Turkey as a European partner state has been a buffer between the EU and areas of conflict in Iraq, Syria, Iran and the former Soviet states of Georgia and Armenia. The moment Turkey joins the EU, Europes borders will expand into these conflict zones and deep into the Middle East, representing new strategic, demographic and political challenges to the EU that it does not welcome. To make matters worse, Turkeys role in these conflicts has exacerbated their ferocity, such as in the case of Syria and Iraq and the turbulent history of Armenia. The EU has acknowledged the Armenian Genocide carried out by the former Ottoman Empire during the First World War, though this is still denied by Turkey today. Such considerations have not made the Europeans more open to the idea of Turkey as a member of the EU, especially since Turkey is also engaged in feuds with two EU members, Greece and Cyprus, over the situation in Northern Cyprus. The economic development of Turkey over recent decades has been admired by many, and this has led to strengthened ties with the EU. However, these ties have failed to change into anything other than partnership with the EU due to the presence of Erdogan. Erdogans dictatorship, aggression, support for terrorism and hostility towards Turkeys former partners and allies have created huge barriers to the ambitions of the Turkish nation to join the EU. This was never going to be a simple matter, but it has now become immeasurably more complicated as a result of Erdogans paradoxical policies of appeasing his own supporters domestically as an Islamist and Neo-Ottoman leader and appeasing the EU by appearing as the kind of liberal leader needed to secure Turkeys membership. Thus far, Erdogans dictatorship in Turkey has tainted all his actions, and this has meant the withering of Turkeys plans for EU membership. The writer is a political analyst and author of Egypts Arab Spring and the Winding Road to Democracy. *A version of this article appears in print in the 21 June 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly with headline: Erdogans balancing act Search Keywords: Short link: A young girl in western New York went out of her way for a police officer to make sure he'll never be alone while on patrol, reports Fox News. After gifting her doll to a Blasdell (NY) PD officer, Gabby now has Elmo back in her room and she says she wants to be a police officer when she grows up. (Photo: Blasdell PD) The Blasdell (NY) Police Department said in a Facebook post last Tuesday that a 3-year-old girl named Gabby stopped by to drop off thin blue and red line flags to police and fire officials. "Blasdell Police and Fire Departments thank Gabby, a 3 year old village resident who gave the thin blue and red line flags and Elmo to the departments," the post read. "We thank Gabby and her family for the support and nice gesture." Gabby's mom said the little girl wanted to give the officer Elmo because he "works all alone. He needs a friend." Blasdell PD then returned Elmo to the girl, saying he had completed the police academy and was going to live with her to keep her safe. Elmo is now back in Gabby's room and the girl says she wants to be a police officer when she grows up. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. Farmers and ethanol producers gave Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt a rough reception in South Dakota, accusing him of undermining the industry thats a key part of the states economy. About 200 people rallied in Sioux Falls on June 13, urging Pruitt to support federal ethanol mandates, the Argus Leader reported. They criticized him for granting waivers to oil producers that allow them to ignore ethanol-blending rules. The renewable fuel standards have for years been essential to driving ethanol production. "Were here today to bring awareness to everyone in the state of South Dakota and the Upper Midwest that the administrator is not doing his job," Houghton-area farmer Troy Knecht said. Pruitt heard a similar message the day before from Kansas farmers. Corn growers there told Pruitt they were "mad as hell" about EPA efforts they believe undermine the Renewable Fuel Standard law. The EPA administrator told a standing-room-only crowd at a meeting in Garnett, Kansas, that as regulators, EPA is not supposed to pick winners and losers. Kansas Corn Growers Association President Ken McCauley said farmers and ethanol groups wanted to help Pruitt understand the frustration being felt in rural America. "When you look at what EPA is doing, they are most definitely picking winners and losers and right now, ethanol is the loser," McCauley said. During a farm tour in Reliance, S.D., Pruitt told a group of about 50 farmers that its important to understand that the EPA works with other government agencies to determine who receives an ethanol waiver. "Its not a decision the EPA makes in isolation," he said. He said the agency has seen "a spike in applications" from refineries asking permission to avoid ethanol use. "A spike? Thats more than a spike. Thats a moonshot," farmer David Fremark told Pruitt. Many farmers who spoke to Pruitt said they felt the waiver increase was hurting their farms and their income, the Mitchell Daily Republic reported. "Two of these companies that they handed waivers to made over a billion dollars last year," Fremark told the newspaper. "I dont know what kind of hardship that is, but its not like the hardship that Im used to on the farm." That echoed what Pruitt heard in Kansas. "To be honest, Administrator Pruitt, were mad as hell," corn grower Dennis McNinch said. "Today, the American farmer is struggling to make ends meet and our industry is on the cusp of financial ruin in many areas of the country." The oil industry, he said, is trying to unravel the RFS and claiming the governments ethanol requirement is "about to put them out of business." "Big oil is enjoying wide profit margins today," McNinch said. "People like Senator Cruz believe that the oil industry needs to be thrown a bone. How many bones do they need?" Pruitt thanked the Kansas speakers, saying "despite rather harsh criticism, its important for me to hear how passionate and concerned you are about the issues." The next day, he joked about his reception. "As I came to South Dakota, there were a few billboards greeting me, and they didnt say I hope youre having fun," Pruitt said. Instead, he said he saw messages imploring him to support ethanol over big oil. Roughly 25,000 pieces later, Preston Cooks collection of eagle art from fine art by Andy Warhol and John J. Audubon to images on beer cans or comic books is getting its first days in the public eye. The collection, donated to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, is being jointly shown at the Eagle Center and the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona. The exhibition represents the first public viewing of Cooks collection. "Im really pleased Im able to share my collection finally and in such a fine institution as the Minnesota Marine Art Museum," Cook said. "I can see it for the first time the way it should be shown." Through Oct. 14, the Eagle Center is showcasing about 40 items from the collection in its Eagles Everywhere exhibit. The MMAMs exhibit, also through Oct. 14, has 236 items on display. Rolf Thompson, executive director of the Eagle Center, said that what youll see at the two Mississippi River institutions is the tip of the iceberg for what the collection can be. "The possibilities from the collection for exhibits are endless," he said. "Well be able to do a whole exhibit on the eagle and military uniforms or the eagle and official government documents. When you see how it can be presented and what the eagle has meant throughout American history, its really amazing." Cook is writing a book due out this fall about his collection. It looks at eagle art in several categories, focusing on 1,300 pieces out of the still-growing 25,000-piece collection. That book, said Dave Casey, assistant curator at the MMAM, was the basis for how the Winona museum put together its exhibit. There are examples of high art such as the Warhol or an eagle sculpture by John Bellamy. There are commercial products that use the eagles image as part of their product identity. Popular art such as comics, political art, the eagle in military art and iconography are all themes from Cooks book that helped shape the exhibit. "Once we knew what themes we wanted, they gave us free reign of the whole collection," Casey said. Still, with 25,000 items it was easy to get overwhelmed in all things eagle. "Once we narrowed down the topics, it was easy to pull out the pieces we wanted." Cook said his collection began when he was drafted into the Army more than 50 years ago. The first items in his collection? The eagle buttons on his dress uniform. He still uses those buttons today on the blue blazer he wears. "It was originally just a thing to collect. It had no more meaning than just any item to collect," he said. But a line from a movie, "A Thousand Clowns" starring Jason Robards, said, "You cant have too many eagles." Inspired, Cook took that line and ran with it. "Its been a 50-year mission to add to the collection," Cook said. That mission has led to valuable works of art, and pieces of Americana ephemera. "I have some very valuable items, but the next day Ill buy a three-dollar postcard. My goal has been to show how eagles are part of our culture, our history and our heritage. Its like a giant puzzle on how eagles fit into our lives." Thompson said he saw one of those puzzle piece moments a few years ago when he was showing part of the exhibit still in storage to a group of Purple Heart veterans in Wabasha. He showed a recruiting poster for the Army Air Corps circa 1939 to some World War II veterans. The poster shows some P-35 fighter planes in formation, with one of the planes replaced by an eagle. The poster spurred a conversation about the message of the poster and the image of the bird. "We talked about the symbolism of the eagle and how it would motivate the 18-year-old guy to join the Army Air Corps," Thompson said. "This collection will connect with everybody in some way." Cook, who spent most of his adult life living in or near San Francisco, said when he donated the collection to the Eagle Center, he and his wife moved to Wabasha. Now, eagles are a common sight. Still, hes always inspired by the birds. "Im still excited every time I see an eagle," Cook said. "I never hesitate to watch the eagle until I cant see it any longer." Has the US benefited from Chinas rise and could it have acted to stop it In the March issue of the influential US magazine Foreign Affairs, Kurt Campbell and Ely Ratner, two former officials of the Obama administration, have published an important article entitled The China Reckoning: How Beijing defied American Expectations. It is a pleasant read, and the main argument is quite simple. For more than 40 years, the authors say, Americas China policy has rested on naive assumptions, and it is now time to acknowledge this and to change course. The naive assumptions are well-known: economic development requires capitalism and openness to succeed; capitalism cannot be state capitalism without losing its appeal of efficiency and transparency; capitalism and the improvement of living conditions will produce a powerful middle class that sooner or later will extract concessions from the regime with inexorable democratisation in the offing. Much the same assumptions were made about globalisation: co-opt China into global institutions, and it will be grateful. It will have a stake in a process that has greatly benefited the Chinese people, and it will therefore behave responsibly, according to American standards, norms and wishes. However, what has in fact happened in China has been quite different, and US decision-makers should have considered it as a plausible scenario and even as a likely one. State capitalism has flourished instead of disappearing, democratisation has stalled, and authoritarianism has had a second wind. China has looked at the global system as a kind of supermarket, buying what it wants and ignoring the rest. Worse, Beijing is now trying to rewrite many international rules. In an earlier issue of the same magazine (September 2016), former US chief of staff Martin Dempsey said that the Chinese would inevitably point out that those rules were made when they were absent from the world stage. They are no longer absent from the world stage, and so those rules need to be renegotiated with them. The Chinese have relentlessly promoted their interests, according to their own definition of them. They also hold grudges. It would be easy to mock Americas constant wishful thinking, which, combined with its urge to convert the planet to democracy and free markets, often leads to catastrophe. I myself have sometimes indulged in this. However, here we should go further than mockery and say that Americas policies have also rested on misperceptions, even if these may have been good ones. The safer course would be to develop a correct reading of the situation and a proper estimation of what is possible before drawing up and implementing policies. Nevertheless, we have seen political leaders jumping from right assumptions to wrong policies and sometimes opting for good policies despite a radically wrong reading of the situation. The structure of the article by Campbell and Ratner is simple: we did this, expecting that, and instead we got a radically different result. All the American administrations, starting with that led by former president Truman and ending with that now led by Trump, and all the experts associated with them have got things wrong, whether they called themselves liberals, integrationists or hawks. However, Campbell and Ratner never discuss other options even though to prove convincingly that one decision is bad it is necessary to offer other ones. Moreover, though expectations might be based on wishful thinking, this says nothing about real outcomes: have they been good, bad, or mixed? Saying that the results were unexpected is not enough, especially if the reasoning is naive. The proper questions in this regard should be: has the US benefitted from Chinas policies? Could the US have halted or prevented Chinas rise? And, if so, at what cost? The first question is the easiest one to answer, and the answer is a clear yes. Former US president Richard Nixons China policy made a lot of sense in the early 1970s, and corporate America made a lot of money by investing in China. At one point, the authors of the article lament the fact that US multinationals were so eager to invest in China that they accepted an unprecedented set of conditions to do so, especially regarding the transfer of technology. Nevertheless, I well remember the assessment made by the UK magazine the Economist at the time and later that China is too big to ignore. China went on to buy US government bonds and fund US debt. Of course, Chinas rise is a cause of concern for Washington on many issues, but it is also a source of relief on others. The US cannot sustain the world system alone. China brings tough competition, but it also brings necessary help. The story has yet to end, and it is quite possible that on balance the US will lose out. However, the challenge of China is also a formidable opportunity for the US, as it could induce it to change its ways and stop doing stupid things. The second and third questions are much more difficult to answer as they deal with things and processes that did not happen and are more speculative. The US has considerable clout, and it can poison the life of any country, doing considerable damage through its soft and smart power, through the networks it controls, and through relentless pressure. The US could have slowed Chinas rise, or even stopped it. However, the price of doing so would have been considerable, and the US would have been much weaker that it is now as a result. Two further remarks should also be made. First, a key variable would have been Europes behaviour. If it had decided to adopt the US policy of trying to slow or stop Chinas rise, this option would have had much more credibility. Second, the relations between China and the US are not a zero-sum game. On many issues, the gains of the one are the losses of the other. However, on the economy things are much more complicated. The economy matters, and the US partnership with China has been good for the US on this and other counts. I am not saying that China should not be a source of concern for Washington. I am not saying the US has not got a case against Beijing. I am not saying the US should not be worried. And I am not saying the US should not try to correct its assumptions and keep its fantasies in check. More often than not the latter have led to disasters. I am only saying that a proper assessment of what has been done needs more sober analysis. The writer is a professor of international relations at the College de France and a visiting professor at Cairo University. *A version of this article appears in print in the 21 June 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly with headline: China and the US Search Keywords: Short link: Watching the collective media and political class freak out over the crisis of immigration enforcement at the border sent me to my bookshelf to dust off Daniel Boorstins classic 1961 book, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America. Step back for a moment from the whack-a-mole problem of sorting out fact from fiction in this current drama; the way this is playing out is a perfect case study in what Boorstin had in mind. Boorstin defines a pseudo-event as not merely a fact or real event that happened, but a fact or event that is made into news of a certain kind by a deliberate and artificial process. You might think of Boorstins analysis as no more than the Deep Theory of Public Relations (or as the first analysis of what we today like to call fake news), and many of the examples in the book come from the corporate world. Here is some of his description of the dynamics of a pseudo-eventsee how many aspects of this you can make out in the present controversy: 1. It is not spontaneous, but comes about because someone has planned, planted, or incited it. Typically it is not a train wreck or an earthquake, but an interview. [More on this point in a momentSH.] 2. It is planted primarily (not always exclusively) for the immediate purpose of being reported or reproduced. Therefore, its occurrence is arranged for the convenience of the reporting or reproducing media. Its success is measured by how widely it is reported. . . 3. Its relation to the underlying reality of the situation is ambiguous. Its interest arises largely from the very ambiguity. . . Without some of this ambiguity a pseudo-event cannot be very interesting. In the present case, we know that child separation from illegal immigrant adults has been going on for a long time, possibly at a scale larger than at the moment. How did this story suddenly blow up the way it did just now? Since the media hadnt yet toured any detention facilities at the border, where did those first pictures of kids in cages (which turned out to be from 2014) come from? One reason Boorstin called his book The Image was the central importance he placed on visual imagery in affecting public sentimenta development he called the Graphic Revolution. This is not exactly a new or profound insight and lots of examples come easily to mind (like Eddie Adamss famous photograph of the Viet Cong guerrilla being shot in the head on the Saigon street during Tet in 1968), but Boorstin combined it with a remarkably prescient anticipation of todays 24/7 cable TV news cycle: Then came round-the-clock media. The news gap soon became so narrow that in order to have additional news for each new edition or each new broadcast it was necessary to plan in advance the stages by which any available news would be unveiled. . . As the costs of printing and then of broadcasting increased, it became financially necessary to keep the presses always at work and the TV screen always busy. Pressures toward the making of pseudo-events became even stronger. News gathering turned into news making. The interview was a novel way of making news which had come in with the Graphic Revolution. And voilawe have the environment of todays cable news industry, which consists chiefly of unending interviews with analysts and pundits, telling us how to think about the news. In this regard, recall this famous photo of an earlier immigration/refugee controversy from April, 2000: Among other things and in hindsight, this shocking image of armed federal agents snatching Elian Gonzalez and returning him to Cuba may have cost Al Gore the presidency in the election six months later, as it hardened opinion in Floridas Cuban community against the Clinton Administration. (Vice President Gore, recall, declared that he opposed this action shortly after it happened. But it was to no avail.) It is not clear whether the current pull-the-heartstring images of kids behind chain-link fences and sleeping on the floor under space blankets will have the same effect on the iron-willed Trump, but that is the intent behind this pseudo-event. (So far Trumps poll numbers seem to be holding up or maybe even improving.) News this morning suggests that Trump may be about to issue executive directions to revise or end the child-separation practice, and that Congress may attempt to vote on some related legislation tomorrow. Stay tuned. This pseudo-event has enough built up momentum behind it that the agitators and crisis entrepreneurs wont let it die down easily or soon. Counterfactual historyi.e., what if John F. Kennedy had not been assassinated?, etcis a popular though fatuous genre. What is, is singular, Churchill wrote; What might have been is infinite. Quite true, but over the weekend in my item Five Ways to Think About the IG Report I offered a contingent counterfactual that Joe Biden mightI emphasize mighthave beaten Trump if Biden had been the nominee instead of Hillary. This speculation excited a lot of heated disagreement for entirely plausible reasons, namely that Biden is a goof, and Trumps appeal was deep enough to overcome any Democrat. Perhaps so, but the case that Biden would have been a stronger candidate is easy to make, because anybody would have been a stronger candidate than Hillary. Biden says many ridiculous things (such as, in 2012, how Mitt Romney wanted to restore slavery), but I doubt even Slow Joe would have insulted so many voters by calling them deplorable. And in an election as close as 2016 was, it is not hard to imagine Biden getting the extra 80,000 votes that Hillary needed to win the Electoral College. We can never know of course, and Im not especially interested in extending this line of argument because I was actually trying to make a different point in that example about what might be called the bad karma of liberalismin other words, how the moral relativism of liberalism is coming back to bite them. But I think I was too indirect. So let me try out the argument again with some different examples. To go back to the initial counterfactual, suppose John F. Kennedy hadnt been assassinated, but then the news had come out of his ill health and appalling sexual practices in the White House. I suspect the scandal would have been so explosive that hed have been gone within 48 hours. Those were different times. But then fast-forward to 1998, by which time the moral relativism and trashing of standards of behavior by the cultural left made it possible for Bill Clinton to ride out the Monica Lewinski scandal. It was just private behavior, we were told; only about sex and thats no big deal any more. Character isnt important in the Oval Office any more; only job performance counts. (Joe Klein of Time magazine made this argument directly.) But then try this out: had the older morality been in force, and Clinton been made to resign from office (there remain persistent stories that senior Capitol Hill Democrats were close to demanding his resignation), then Al Gore might have won the 2000 election as the incumbent president. I emphasize might once again: it is not at all hard to see him, as the incumbent president, finding another 700 votes in Florida. The point is, had the Democrats followed the dictates of traditional morality in the case of Clintonand correct legal procedure in the case of the FBIs handling of Hillary in 2016the Democrats might have come out a lot better than they did. And in the case of Bill Clinton, had he been forced to resign in 1998 it is possible that Trump would have been done in by the Access Hollywood tape in the fall of 2016. Hard to know, but the coarsening of our public moralsthe conscious embrace by liberals of the view that character doesnt matter was likely a factor in Trump being able to ride it out. To borrow from Horace again, you can expel nature (meaning traditional moral codes) with a pitchfork, but it will come back at you through the window. Trump is the president liberals richly deserve, because they made him possibleand also necessary. Many European Union countries now offer incentives to foreign investors in the form of permanent residency rights or easier requirements for citizenship A previous article in Al-Ahram Weekly touched on Egyptian laws governing the foreign ownership of real estate in Egypt, including the advantages granted to foreigners in tourist areas and the restrictions on ownership in strategic areas and the Sinai Peninsula. The article also noted the key role played by the real-estate sector in reviving markets, taking into consideration its impact on the economic and investment climate in Egypt. Globally, the real-estate sector has played a fundamental role in enhancing investment and tourism, and many governments grant foreign investors advantages and incentives to urge them to pump money into their countries, especially when it comes to real-estate development projects. A large number of real-estate markets have recorded great successes and continuous development as a result of legislation targeting investors around the world. Some of this legislation gives permanent residency rights to those who buy property that exceeds a certain price, and some leads to citizenship being granted to investors, as is the case in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. Launched in July 2013, the Greek golden visa grants five-year residency to those making investments in real estate worth at least 250,000 euros. Portugal also offers the opportunity to obtain a golden visa that gives non-Europeans the opportunity to obtain a residence permit when purchasing property worth at least 350,000 euros, and which can be renewed every two years with permanent residence being given from five years and citizenship from six years. Spain offers the opportunity to obtain a golden visa for anyone investing at least 500,000 euros in real estate in the country. These golden visas reward investors with residence permits that can lead to citizenship in return for investing in real estate. Such visas are highly prized as they entitle holders to travel freely throughout the EU. In Cyprus, the beautiful Mediterranean island that officially joined the European Union in 2004, according to the civil registry laws of 2002-2015 anyone who invests in real estate, land development or infrastructure projects worth at least two million euros can acquire Cypriot citizenship and thus EU citizenship. This gives the holder the right to live, work and move freely in any EU member country and enjoy the advantages and benefits that the EU offers European citizens. Such policies are rooted in the desire of the countries concerned to support investment in local infrastructure through the real-estate sector, giving it a clear importance in stimulating the investment and tourism market as an effective means to increase the total value of GDP. After eight years of financial crisis in Greece, according to the European Commission and the Greek Statistics Authority there are now positive growth rates of 1.4 per cent in 2017, 1.9 per cent in 2018, and a projected rate of 2.3 per cent the year after. These indicators point to a return to growth in Greece, according to preliminary estimates. Greece, a southeastern European country strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa with the longest coastline in the Mediterranean Basin and the third-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, has had strong relations with Egypt from ancient to modern times. Egypt, Greece and Cyprus have always been neighbours having many historical ties and enjoying much economic, political and diplomatic cooperation and many partnerships. Many cultures and civilisations have brought these countries together in the past, and it is to be hoped that a mutually beneficial vision of the future will serve in strengthening the development ties between them. The writer is attorney at law. *A version of this article appears in print in the 21 June 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly with headline: EU citizenship for investors Search Keywords: Short link: ( Read 4780 Times) 20 Jun 18 Share | Print This Page This Article/News is also avaliable in following categories : Your Comments ! Share Your Openion NEW DELHI, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A month-long online photography challenge where photographers will put their skills to test using the Huawei P20 Pro Consumers also stand a chance to win exciting gift vouchers from Huawei India Paving the way for next-generation smartphone photography with the critically-acclaimed Huawei P20 Pro, Huawei Consumer Business Group in collaboration with ace photographer and celebrity Dabboo Ratnani has announced a month-long online photography challenge. The #P20ProBattleLeague will witness 20 photographers competing with each other, using the stellar Huawei P20 Pro to claim the title of the ultimate winner. Aimed at redefining the meaning of visual expression while celebrating the power of mobile photography, the #P20ProBattleLeague will unfold in two phases. In the first phase, one photographer will be selected by Dabboo Ratnani on a fresh theme given by Dabboo Ratnani every 4 days and in the second phase, the four finalists will compete in a deciding challenge for the top spot. Commenting on the announcement, P Sanjeev, Vice President Sales, Huawei India - Consumer Business Group, said, "With a breakthrough triple camera on the HUAWEI P20 Pro and powerful artificial intelligence mechanism on the device, we are confident that these photographers will be able to capture the brilliance of the world around them. With HUAWEI leading the way in advancing image taking, this contest will provide an opportunity to the contestant to rediscover the joy of creating and sharing visual content using smartphone." "I am thrilled to collaborate with Huawei for a fantastic new challenge- the #P20ProBattleLeague. It will be a perfect opportunity to engage with enthusiasts in India while celebrating the power of mobile photography. With the right technology and a unique style, I am looking forward to the #P20ProBattleLeague extravaganza," said Dabboo Ratnani, India's most renowned fashion photographer. The contestants will be encouraged to utilise Huawei P20 Pro's cutting-edge technology to push the boundaries of creative mobile photography and capture powerful and provocative images that will inspire smartphone users to experience the joy of photography. The #P20ProBattleLeague begins from June 19 and the winner will be announced on July 10. The winner will receive an exciting gift voucher from Amazon.in. Huawei India will also run a parallel contest for consumers on its social media platforms, encouraging smartphone users to showcase their photography skills and win exciting prizes. For more details, please refer to the official site: https://www.instagram.com/huaweiindia/ https://www.facebook.com/HuaweimobileIN/ https://twitter.com/HuaweiIndia About Huawei Consumer BG: Huawei's products and services are available in more than 170 countries, and are used by a third of the world's population. Fifteen R&D centres have been set up in the United States, Germany, Sweden, Russia, India and China. Huawei Consumer BG is one of Huawei's three business units and covers smartphones, PC and tablets, wearables and cloud services, etc. Huawei's global network is built on almost 30 years of expertise in the telecom industry and is dedicated to delivering the latest technological advances to consumers around the world. For more information, please visit: https://consumer.huawei.com/en/ Media Contacts: Huawei: Saurabh Saggi [email protected] Avian WE: Somya Jain +91-9711829546 [email protected] Karhan Singh [email protected] +91-9953262049 Avian Media SOURCE Huawei Consumer Business Group PUNE, India, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 50 Million home-grown local retailers, a.k.a. mom and pop stores of India are facing challenge to attract consumer footfalls. Buying from the local stores is less attractive because malls or online platforms offer choices, deals and convenience. To solve this problem, infiniteworx omnichannel has innovated myretailworx, India's first e-commerce platform, designed exclusively for the local retailers. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/708406/infiniteworx_Logo.jpg ) (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/708407/myretailworx_Logo.jpg ) "By empowering the local retailers, myretailworx is poised to create a disruption in the local shopping space. We aim to make local shopping fundaar!," says Anil Pagar, Founder, Chairman & Managing Director of infiniteworx. After successfully vetting the idea in metro as well as in tier 1 and tier 2 cities, the company is geared to take the platform in five thousand localities by the end of 2018 and aims to cross one lakh localities by 2022. Talking about the journey ahead, Bijoy Banerjee, CEO of infiniteworx, says, "We aim to empower 1.4 million local retailers PAN-India within first 24 months of operation. This will result in superior shopping experience for at least 40 million consumers right in their localities. Also, this ecosystem generates about 35,000 direct employments, and it's just the beginning." To tackle the challenge of reaching out to the widely spread local retailers across the country and motivating them to embrace e-commerce, Anil says, "We are building India's first and largest community of e-commerce champions, who will represent at locality levels across the country. In this process, we are fostering local entrepreneurship and employment in line with Digital India mission." But, will the distraught local retailers become attractive shopping destinations compared to the mighty malls or online counterparts? "Yes, they will because for the first time, local retailers will get direct benefits from the manufacturers through our localized warehouses coming up across the country. Also, for the first time they will be able to promote themselves within their consumer base and since the delivery management is on us, the retailers can concentrate on customer delight," says Bijoy. Finally, commenting on the potential competition from the big retail brands, Anil sums up, "Our mission is not to dethrone the existing channels. We simply want our local retailers to get back their mojo. It's about bringing better value propositions to the consumers, in an inclusive manner." myretailworx is slated for PAN India launch in July 2018. About infiniteworx: infiniteworx omnichannel Private Limited is a Pune-based startup pursuing socioeconomic upliftment of India's unorganized and informal business sectors through technology innovations. Website: http://www.infiniteworx.com Media Inquiry: Shalakaa Diwanjii Head - Brand Communications infiniteworx omnichannel Private Limited Pune, India +91-73500-60225 [email protected] http://www.infiniteworx.com http://www.myretailworx.com SOURCE infiniteworx omnichannel Pvt. Ltd. MUMBAI, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PrintStop India Private Limited has moved its base to a bigger, better and a more functional workspace at A-104, 1st Floor, Naman Midtown, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road, Next to India Bulls Finance Center, Mumbai - 400013. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/642500/PrintStop_Logo.jpg. ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/707659/PrintStop_India.jpg ) For the uninitiated, PrintStop India Private Limited is amongst the Top Online Printing and print procurement portal in India, with over 200+ products and complete personalization options. Milap Shah , Co-founder at PrintStop, shares more about this new development. Milap reminisces about his old office, "The old space at Tantia Jogani Estate will remain etched forever in our hearts and mind but the time was right to make the move." Milap quips, "Though the serenity and quiet neighbors were a big plus at Tantia Jogani Estate, the office space was highly compartmentalized. Spreading over two floors it was difficult to have a clear interdepartmental communication. Far too often synergies did not match. Managing people was slowly becoming tedious." "The big plus was our growth trajectory. We were hitting double digit M-O-M growth. So one fine morning, all of us decided it's time to find a new home for PrintStop. And here we are six months later at the new space which will serve as a hub for sales, operations, marketing, production, and dispatch. All of it under one roof." Offerings of the new office space Milap says, "This new space offered us a chance to break down walls, both literally and metaphorically. Create a space which is open, colorful, vibrant, environment-friendly. Sunlight comes in through large open glass window panes." He further adds, "The new space has a flat hierarchy seating structure, a meditation room, a conference room, personal discussion zones, waiting area, reception, press area, post press area, packaging and dispatch area, all of which are visible from any point on the floor." Lending a smile, Milap adds, "Our vision and ambition needed a vantage location amidst corporates and startups. The new place provides just that with companies like Deloitte, India Bulls, Yes Bank, Motilal Oswal etc. in its vicinity. It's at a 5 minute walk from Elphinstone Road railway station, on Senapati Bapat main road making it highly accessible, which will lead to quicker pickups and deliveries locally making logistics easier." Milap concludes by sharing a few details about his big plans for PrintStop. He says, "We want to be the market leader in online printing industry in next three years. We want to pursue rapid growth keeping unit economics in check and our mission is to revolutionize printing and Print Procurement Industry for startups, SME's and large enterprises via our unique cloud-based product offering, PrintSmart." About PrintStop PrintStop is India's leading online printing and print procurement store for office stationery, marketing collaterals, promotional and gift items. PrintStop is revolutionizing print procurement and printing service industry through its cloud-based PrintSmart solution. PrintStop was founded in 2007 in Mumbai by Milap, Pratik, and Siddhi. Media Contact: Pratik Shah [email protected] +91-22-4270-5050 Co-founder PrintStop India Pvt. Ltd. SOURCE PrintStop India Private Limited BENGALURU, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- It has been a known fact that the aviation industry has witnessed an exponential growth in the recent years. Although a lot of new airports have been operationalized, the airlines are constrained to provide direct (no transit) flights from these airports. Envisioning this demand of smaller business jets flying directly from A to B, the Sanjay Ghodawat Group - a reputed business house in India with over 20 business verticals, have entered the aviation with a promising new airline - Star Air. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/707748/Star_Air_Logo.jpg ) Headquartered in the Bangalore International Airport, Star Air has been established with a view of serving the common man, with an experience like that of a business class. "What we aim for is to create the right balance between a common man's pocket and the expectations which he holds from an airline," quoted Capt. Simran Singh Tiwana, CEO of Star Air. "In due course time, we aim to provide an all jet engine fleet connecting new city pairs," he added. Introducing the Embraer ERJ-145 for the first time in India in commercial airline, Star Air has smartly chalked out a road map, which seems to go a long way. The plane, till date, was the chosen favourite of the business class as private business jets. Starting off with a fleet of two aircrafts, the airline is planning a steady expansion. Under the UDAN regional connectivity scheme, launched by the Govt. of India, Star Air has bagged three routes under their wings: Hubli - Pune Hubli - Hindon (Delhi) Hubli - Tirupathi The airline is yet to disclose its routes from Bangalore and other cities. Though the airline is a greenhorn, the team is full of experience and high spirits. Headed by Capt. Tiwana, who believes in leading by example, the highly skilled team is backed by the parent team of The Sanjay Ghodawat Group. "Our Chairman has a vision to Connect the Real India. We have taken the first step. Now, our entire focus remains on providing best-in-class service," stated Capt. Tiwana. The airline is all set to takeoff, with its first flight expected in mid-July 2018. To know more about Star Air, one can follow them on social media or visit their website http://www.starair.in About Star Air Star Air is a scheduled commercial airline with an aim to connect real India. It is promoted by Ghodawat Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., which is the Aviation arm of strategically diversified Sanjay Ghodawat Group. Over the past five years we have made a best-in-class helicopter operator in India with impeccable dedication to safety. Star Air is the latest offering of the group. An upcoming Airline with a firm proposal to connect the unconnected. The target routes are where passengers are currently suffering a lot of transit layover delays. The airline will provide a very reliable, safe and comfortable travel experience with direct connections. Truly the group's 'Star in the Air'. About Sanjay Ghodawat Group Headquartered in Kolhapur in Maharashtra - India, the Sanjay Ghodawat Group is backed by a workforce of over 10,000 employees and the state-of-the-art infrastructure are leaders in floriculture, manufacturing, has strong presence in renewable energy, FMCG, textiles, mining, real estate and growing substantially in education. The group is now poised to go places by replicating its successful business model in remaining parts of India and also plans to look globally for further opportunities. Media Contact : Ms. Megha Choudhry [email protected] +91-8071884600 Media Contact Star Air SOURCE Star Air MUMBAI, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- sANDA approval is for manufacturing of Atovaquone and Proguanil Hydrochloride Tablets, 250 MG/100 MG AND 62.5 MG/25 MG at Monroe facility Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, a global pharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration provided its first supplemental Abbreviated New Drug Application (sANDA) approval for the company's manufacturing facility in Monroe, North Carolina. The approval covers: Atovaquone and Proguanil Hydrochloride Tablets, 250 MG/100 MG and 62.5 MG/25 MG, a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's Malarone (Atovaquone and Proguanil Hydrochloride) Tablets[1]. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/451507/PRNE_Glenmark_Logo.jpg ) "This approval is an important milestone for our U.S. business, as the Monroe, N.C. site will expand our portfolio by providing the manufacturing foundation for future product approvals," said Robert Matsuk, President, North America & Global API at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. "Additionally, we are pleased that the investment we've made in our site will continue to create new, high-quality jobs in the Monroe community, where we have a commitment to long-term growth and expansion." The Monroe, North Carolina facility is Glenmark's first manufacturing site in the U.S., designed to manufacture a variety of fixed dose pharmaceutical formulations. Glenmark has invested more than $100 million into the facility with plans for further expansion in the coming years. At peak capacity, the site is anticipated to produce 300-400 million tablets and capsules, 20-25 million vials and pre-filled syringes and 25-30 million ampoules for inhaled formulations. Globally, Glenmark has 16 manufacturing facilities in Europe, India and the U.S., operating under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to ensure quality and safety. About Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd.: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (GPL) is a global innovative pharmaceutical company with operations in more than 50 countries. Glenmark has a diverse pipeline with several compounds in various stages of clinical development, primarily focused in the areas of oncology, respiratory disease and dermatology. Glenmark has improved the lives of millions of patients by offering safe, affordable medications for nearly 40 years. For more information, visit glenmarkpharma-us.com. References: [1] MALARONE is a registered trademark of the GSK group of companies Media Contact: Ramkumar Uppara [email protected] +91-9820177907 Sr. Manager - Corporate Communication Glenmark Pharmaceuticals SOURCE Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. This year, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards for the Top CEOs feature six distinct company categories across the U.S. , Canada , UK , France and Germany . In the UK, Glassdoor has revealed the 50 Top CEOs (honouring CEOs at employers with 1,000 or more employees). The ten Top CEOs in 2018 in the UK are: "Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day. I congratulate all of this year's winners on this significant achievement," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work." Glassdoor's 50 Top CEOs in 2018 list features winning chief executives across diverse industries spanning technology, consulting, finance and more. Sky Betting & Gaming's Richard Flint (No. 1, 99 percent approval) is among 22 CEOs debuting as a Top CEO, along with Capital One's Richard D. Fairbank (No. 3, 98 percent approval), Kantar Worldpanel's Tim Kidd (No. 5, 98 percent approval) and Taylor Wimpey's Peter Redfern (No. 10, 97 percent approval). Of the six women CEOs who make the top 50, the three highest rated are wagamama's Jane Holbrook (No. 26, 93 percent approval), Alexander Mann Solutions' Rosaleen Blair (No. 33, 92 percent approval) and Enterprise's Pamela M. Nicholson (No. 38, 92 percent approval). This year, there are 15 CEOs who are recognised by employees in multiple countries, including only one CEO who has made five lists Microsoft's Satya Nadella (U.S. Large, Canada, UK, France, Germany) and one who has made four lists SAP's Bill McDermott (U.S. Large, UK, Canada, Germany). When employees submit reviews about their employer on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experience, including sentiment around their CEO's leadership, in addition to rating workplace attributes like senior management, among others. Specifically, when rating their CEO on Glassdoor, employees are asked to report whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the performance of their CEO. Among the more than 770,000 employers reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. Employees' Choice Award winners for the 2018 Top CEOs in the UK are determined using Glassdoor's proprietary algorithm, taking into account the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews shared by UK-based employees between 2 May, 2017 and 1 May, 2018. At a minimum, employers considered must have received at least 35 company reviews, including at least 35 CEO approval ratings and at least 35 senior management ratings, during the eligibility period. For reporting simplicity, CEO approval ratings are displayed as whole numbers, though calculations extend beyond the thousandth decimal place to determine final rank order. Complete award methodology can be found and downloaded here: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/List/about-employees-choice-awards.htm. SEE THE 2018 WINNERS: All winning CEOs across this year's six categories can be found by visiting: 100 Top CEOs U.S. 50 Top CEOs at small & medium companies U.S. 25 Top CEOs Canada 50 Top CEOs UK 10 Top CEOs France 10 Top CEOs Germany WHAT MAKES A GREAT CEO?: According to a study from Glassdoor Economic Research, highly rated CEOs are statistically linked to companies with great cultures. Among measures of company culture, the biggest driver of high CEO approval ratings is employee satisfaction with senior leadership. The study also reveals a strong link between CEO approval rating and financial performance. CEO INTERVIEWS + EMPLOYEE COMMENTARY: Glassdoor is showcasing interviews with winning CEOs, revealing best practices into how they lead, fun facts about their journey to the top and insights into what makes them tick in and out of work. To access these interviews with winning CEOs at Sky Betting & Gaming and Capital One, please email pr@glassdoor.com. Employee commentary about winning CEOs, their senior management team and company culture are also available upon request. About Glassdoor Glassdoor combines all the latest jobs with millions of reviews and insights to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for 770,000 companies located in more than 190 countries. For more information, visit glassdoor.com. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc. Photo- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/707875/CEOs_01.jpg Logo- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/449764/Glassdoor_Logo.jpg Related Links http://www.glassdoor.com SOURCE Glassdoor Launched with the theme 'Beauty in AI', the Honor 10 has an exceptional AI camera and it will play a key role in the show as the camera used by selected Central Saint Martins students to document and share their final projects. A documentary video exploring the inspiration for the Honor 10 Phantom color scheme will share the students' stories about their work with technology and design. Find the video here: https://youtu.be/IW2UJOzmwdg The partnership with the renowned London school of art and design on various projects, now includes the new Honor Art prize, an award for a final degree work that celebrates the innovative use of color and technology in artistic practice. The 2018 inaugural prize was awarded to MA Fine Art student Marco Pantaleoni for his series of works in 3D scanning, photography and painting. Receiving his award, Marco said: "I feel honored and grateful for this prize, which is an inspiring recognition that confirms the concepts behind my artistic research. Like Honor, technology is an essential part of my practice, and through color it takes sensitive and meaningful shapes." As part of Honor's Global Theme Design Contest, there will be a collaborative Honor x CSM theme. Mr. Alex Schady, the Program Leader of the Fine Art Program at Central Saint Martins, will serve as one of the key members of the judging panel. With a broad interdisciplinary practice that includes drawing, video, sculpture and performance, Mr. Schady will select the winners for their cutting-edge mobile Internet design concepts. "At Honor, we bring together the best of innovation, fashionable craftsmanship and engineering to create devices that stand out and help you express your fierce individuality. We are also honored and proud to sponsor Central Saint Martins to provide a creative outlet for a generation of young creative talent," said George Zhao, President of Honor. Stephen Beddoe, the Director of External Relations, Central Saint Martins said, "It's been a pleasure for our creative students to be working with honor during the Central Saint Martins Graduate Degree Shows this year. Our students, who come to us from all over the world, are talented, individual and always pushing at the edges of their art and design work, as well as their own self-expression. They are brave in all aspects of their creative lives. The powerful technology and beautiful design of the Honor 10 has allowed our students to make new work, and record and broadcast their creative process to the world." As the technology sponsor of the Central Saint Martins Degree Shows, Honor will collaborate with the school to explore the intersections between art, design and technological innovation. An Honor 10 Photo Experience Zone will be created for the Central Saint Martins Degree Show Two, 20 to 24 June, alongside some of the world's greatest design work. The launch of the Honor 10, Honor's flagship smartphone for 2018, revealed two major ground-breaking and industry leading smartphone technologies to consumers. The first was the advanced AI 2.0 technology, applied chiefly to the smartphone's dual-lens camera. Second, was the Honor 10 CMF[1]design, a 3D glass back with a stunning nano-scale optical coating composed of 15 layers of shimmering color. Honor 10 has recorded a sales volume at over 1 million, after only one month of its initial launch in China and one week after the global launch in London. [1] Color, Manufacturing, Finish (CMF) in industrial design About Honor Honor is a leading smartphone e-brand under the Huawei Group. In line with its slogan, "For the Brave", the brand was created to meet the needs of digital natives through internet-optimized products that offer superior user experiences, inspire action, foster creativity and empower the young to achieve their dreams. In doing this, Honor has set itself apart by showcasing its own bravery to do things differently and to take the steps needed to usher in the latest technologies and innovations for its customers. For more information, please visit Honor online at www.hihonor.com or follow us on: https://www.facebook.com/honorglobal/ https://twitter.com/Honorglobal https://www.instagram.com/honorglobal/ https://www.youtube.com/honorglobal About Central Saint Martins, UAL Central Saint Martins, UAL is globally renowned for the creative energy of its students, staff and graduates. Its educational reputation across art, design and performance is demonstrated by the ever-growing achievements of its alumni who include Grace Wales Bonner, Terence Conran, Michael Fassbender, Antony Gormley, Craig Green, Tom Hardy, Isaac Julien, Jean Jullien, Christopher Kane, Mary Katrantzou, Helen Marten, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Morag Myerscough, Laure Prouvost and Raqib Shaw among many others. In 2016, Central Saint Martins launched Creative Unions, an initiative bringing together projects that demonstrate how creativity has no boundaries - geographical, social or disciplinary - and can challenge and shape our world. Central Saint Martins is part of University of the Arts London (UAL), an international centre for innovative teaching and research in arts, design, fashion, communication and the performing arts. The University is made up of six Colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Arts. www.arts.ac.uk/csm Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/707666/Honor_Prize_Winner_2_2.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/708468/Central_Saint_Martins.jpg Related Links http://www.hihonor.com SOURCE Honor (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/708488/Javad_Sedghamiz.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/708487/Persian_Idea_2019.jpg ) Persian Idea - an innovative Iran-based ecosystem for the development of the fashion system - was presented by CEO Dr. Sedghamiz during a press conference just held in Milan. During the speech he presented Persian Idea's development project, whose aim is to open up new collaborations between Iran and the international fashion system and that - as first country to kickstar its project - has chosen Italy. Three main values charachterize Persian Idea: an approach to fashion which is wide and involves the whole lifestyle dimension; the empowerment of young talents combined with a new vision of creativity which becomes a mean to overcome gender divisions, to bring back to the center the human dimension of the Human being; and, finally, the commitment towards the eco-sustainability. Persian Idea started its path from Italy: after the debut in Florence - where Pitti Uomo 94 was the occasion to present the 2019 spring-summer collection - the brand plans to open in 2019 a showroom in Milan, which will be followed by an opening in Paris. The company, whose headquarter is based in Teheran, controls directly the whole fashion chain, from creation to production and promotion, and it is based upon highly innovative technologies able to protect the enviroment and to abolish wastes. The company - led by the enterpreneur Javad Sedghamiz - plans to become a priviledged representative for the dialogue between fashion from Iran and international fashion, on both directions. A project which sees Italy as a special partner. "After what we achieved in Florence, we are proud to present our new project in Milan. In which, alongside with gathering most talented designers of our country and presenting their spectacular work within the Persian Idea brand, it pursues three objectives. Firstly, we aim to respect the culture of our country along with using it as our main inspiration. Secondly, we plan to start new projects which are inclusive toward the countries that we share borders with. Finally, thanks to our researches and studies, offer specialized consultancies to those foreign brands that plans to export their products in our country. Now we intend to invest in Italy and - in order to present our best - we plan to open a showroom in Milan, which will be followed by an opening in Paris, in both menswear and womenswear." Persian Idea Mode ArTech, Iran-based private company founded at the beginning of 2018, is a leader ecosystem in the activities of design, training and media for the fashion industry. It manages all the phases of the fashion chain, from creativity to production, through its specific divisions: design studio, the innovatively equipped office which gathers the most talented Iranian and international designers and is made up of two design departments, one sampe-making and one 3D department; the public relations, media & event planning area, the Educational Center, the Reaserch & Develpoment hub; and, finally the directly controlled showroom and Art Gallery. Persian Idea: www.persianidea.com SOURCE Persian Idea 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 Daniel Barchi Becker's Hospital Review is pleased to welcome Daniel Barchi, CIO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and 255 other talented medical professionals as speakers for its Health IT + Revenue Cycle 2018 Conference, September 19 to 22 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. Mr. Barchi has been with NewYork-Presbyterian since 2015. Before that, he served as senior vice president and CIO at Yale New Haven Health System and Yale School of Medicine, where he led a number of initiatives, including the implementation of an EHR across three hospitals and the rollout of a secure iPhone application for physician communication. Dr. Barchi has also served as senior vice president and CIO for Carilion Health System in Roanoke, Va., where he oversaw operations and technology for the eight-hospital academic medical center. Hear Dr. Barchi's keynote presentation Thursday, Sept. 20 at 8:15 a.m. Ed Marx joined Cleveland Clinic which was ranked No. 2 by U.S. News and World Report in for 2017-18 in September 2017 as CIO. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based Advisory Board Company. Mr. Marx was named CIO of the Year in 2013 by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, and he was part of a team that won the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence in 2013. Hear Mr. Marx's keynote presentation Tamara StClaire, PhD, is a health IT evangelist and advisor who created the first predictive, evidence-based and data-driven population health management solution. Dr. StClaire, who holds a doctorate degree in chemistry, frequently speaks on healthcare technology and innovation. She currently services as a digital health adviser to 2Morrow, Inc., a company focused on behaviors that cause chronic disease. Hear Dr. StClaire's keynote presentation, "Facebook, Amazon, Google, Etc. and Their Impact on Healthcare," Friday, Sept. 21 at 8:15 a.m. Becker's thanks its corporate partner, Change Healthcare, for its title sponsor support of this event. To hear Peyton Manning, Venus Williams and other great keynotes and speakers, join Becker's Hospital Review at its Health IT + Revenue Cycle 2018 Conference September 19-22 by registering here: https://www.regonline.com/registration/Checkin.aspx?EventID=2142099 or contact Jess Cole by email at jcole(at)beckershealthcare(dot)com or by phone at 312-929-3675 For the complete conference brochure, click here: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/health-it-revenue-cycle-conference/ About Becker's Hospital Review Becker's Hospital Review is a monthly publication offering up-to-date business and legal news and analysis relating to hospitals and health systems. Articles are geared toward high-level hospital leaders, and we work to provide valuable information, including hospital and health system news, best practices and legal guidance specifically for these decision-makers. Each issue of Becker's Hospital Review reaches more than 18,000 people, primarily acute care hospital CEOs, CFOs and CIOs. Sealing leaks & cracks: The Sealed Insulating Materials team helped repair water tanks at the Emirates Steel factory in Abu Dhabi. Penetron crystalline materials were used to solve the problems. Once the SIM team completed the work, we tested the results and were happy to report a successful result to the customer. The Emirates Steel in Abu Dhabi specified Penetron crystalline technology to seal leaks and cracks in the factory water tanks. The expertise of the Penetron team in UAE and the reliability of Penetron products ensured a successful outcome for the June 2018 completion date. Once a simple re-roller of imported steel billets, Emirates Steel has become an integrated manufacturing plant, utilizing the most modern rolling mill technology to manufacture rebar, wire rod, heavy sections and other finished steel products. The company is owned by SENAAT, the UAEs largest industrial conglomerate and key driver of the governments industrial diversification roadmap. Earlier this year, Penetron UAE Sealed Insulating Materials LLC (SIM), the official Penetron representative for the UAE, was called to the Emirates Steel factory just outside Abu Dhabi to assist in the repair of leaking water tanks. The water stored in these tanks is used to cool down a steel furnace, which reaches extremely high forging temperatures during operation. Better than Polyurethane Foam At that time, SIM successfully repaired the cracks on the outside of the concrete tanks with an application of Penetron crystalline material. Based on this success and the reliability of the Penetron technology the SIM experts were invited back to the Emirates Steel factory to take the repairs on both water tanks a step further. Previously, a polyurethane foam had been injected into the tank in an attempt to seal the leaks. However, the polyurethane foam quickly failed and had to be removed. Applied in slurry form, PENETRON is an excellent solution for waterproofing, and it provides comprehensive protection for concrete structures, explains Jozef Van Beeck, Director, International Sales & Marketing of The Penetron Group. Once its applied to the whole surface, the crystalline technology penetrates into the concrete matrix to successively block any moisture penetration. Using a Range of Crystalline Products The water tanks were emptied before the inside surface could be treated to ensure a durable solution. Once the tanks were emptied, all active leaks were sealed with hand-applied plugs of quick-acting PENEPLUG; any visible cracks in the concrete were cleaned out and filled with PENECRETE MORTAR. Finally, PENETRON slurry was prepared and topically applied to the inside surfaces of the tanks. Penetron products were also used to waterproof the nearby factory retaining walls and the foundation slab. Once the SIM team completed the work, we tested the results and were happy to report a successful result to the customer, says Mr. Van Beeck. Even in the aggressive environment of the concrete tanks, they will remain durable and leak-proof for decades to come. The Penetron Group is a leading manufacturer of specialty construction products for concrete waterproofing, concrete repairs and floor preparation systems. The Group operates through a global network, offering support to the design and construction community through its regional offices, representatives and distribution channels. For more information on Penetron waterproofing solutions, please visit penetron(dot)com or Facebook(dot)com/ThePenetronGroup, email CRDept(at)penetron(dot)com, or contact the Corporate Relations Department at 631-941-9700. Students from Manatee County show off their new reusable water bottles! A souvenir given for free when they attend a STEM Literacy Project program. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Gulf of Mexico Program awarded $97,808 to Natures Academy in Bradenton, FL to support and promote their STEM Literacy Project program that reaches every fifth grade student in the Manatee County School District at no cost to the schools or families. Since 2009, Natures Academy has served the local community through the STEM Literacy Project. This year alone, that reach has resulted in: Educating more than 2,300 local students on the importance of water quality and watershed ecology. Removing 220 pounds of litter from local shorelines. Enhancing STEM literacy, as 100% of schools show learning gains based on pre and post-test data. Distributing 2,400 reusable water bottles for students to use throughout the program and beyond. Indirectly reaching over 23,000 community members through Citizen Science and school conservation projects. This project launched in 2009 because Natures Academy and the Manatee County School District were seeking to improve the standardized test scores for fifth graders within the district. According to the 2017 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests (FCAT), 57% of Manatee County fifth graders are failing science. Hoping to improve this statistic, the STEM Literacy Project is continued today. Through this project, underserved fifth grade students are given the opportunity to attend an outdoor marine science based field trip that they otherwise would not have been able to. During the program, students transform into citizen scientists by collecting and recording real sea grass biodiversity and water quality data. Students also learn about the natural world around them while participating in guided nature walks and a conservation activity where they collect litter from the beaches along Anna Maria Island. This two year collaboration with the EPA will fund new equipment to enhance the STEM and Citizen Science portions of this fifth grade program. This includes the purchase of digital microscopes, new water quality equipment and tablets for students to use in the field. With new equipment and funding for an already beneficial program, Natures Academy will be able to extend their reach and inspire more future stewards of the natural world! This years STEM Literacy Project student survey results showed that: 89% of students believe the health of the local watershed and natural habitats is extremely important to their community. 80% of students learned something new from their field trip that helped them at school. 78% have begun to litter less and pick up trash more. 75% feel that they can be a part of improving the world around them because of their Natures Academy field trip. 86% of students believed that their Natures Academy field trip was a positive experience. A remarkable moment occurs when a child connects with nature. Children want to learn. They are eager for responsibility. They flourish when they can be actively involved. A meaningful outdoor experience can transform a child into a lifelong environmental ambassador. This is the heart of the STEM Literacy Project at Natures Academy. Dana Pounds, Executive Director Through these life altering experiences, students are taught about the importance of preserving our environment while learning important life lessons about teamwork and never giving up. As citizen scientists, they directly contribute to positive change for their data is uploaded to Natures Academys Citizen Science Database, an online server that shares water quality data with people from all over the world. Students return to class with a better understanding of science, a greater appreciation for the environment, and a reusable water bottle to further instill a sense of stewardship. A truly remarkable cause. Our mission at Natures Academy is to enhance STEM literacy and to foster environmental stewardship in our community and beyond. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Bradenton, FL, Natures Academy is always looking for volunteers or individuals that want to support our educational programming. To learn more about Natures Academy and our outdoor edventures, please contact us at info(at)naturesacademy(dot)org, visit our website at http://www.naturesacademy.org, or follow us on Facebook! For further information about the Gulf of Mexico Program, visit the EPA website at https://www.epa.gov/gulfofmexico. For the full story, read here: https://www.naturesacademy.org/community-news/epa-awards-over-97k-to-natures-academy. "Four Foods Group is quickly rising as a superstar in the food & beverage industry..." St. John Properties today announced the sale of five acres in Valley Grove to Four Foods Group to meet the rapid growth needs of this award-winning restaurant development, operations, finance and management company. Four Foods Group (FFG) plans to begin construction of a new corporate headquarters on the parcel by fall. The company will also be developing a restaurant cluster housing some of the companys fast-growing brands, including R&R Barbecue; which is slated to open in July. We are so happy to have such a rapidly growing U.S. company headquartered in Valley Grove, states Daniel Thomas, regional partner for St. John Properties. Four Foods Group is quickly rising as a superstar in the food & beverage industry and we are delighted to have their corporate headquarters and restaurants at Valley Grove. FFG currently owns or manages 158 restaurants in eleven states employing more than 5,000 workers, 1,500 of those in Utah. This number is expected to grow by over a thousand over the coming year. The FFG family includes local Utah chains: Kneaders Bakery & Cafe, MoBettahs Hawaiian Style Food, Swig, and R&R Barbecue, with more in the works. Outside the state restaurants include 74 Little Caesars locations across the Deep South, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida. We have enjoyed Utah Valley as our home for the past 10 years. Valley Grove offers us room to expand our corporate team while staying in this region, states Andrew K. Smith, co-founder and CEO of Four Foods Group. It has been important for us to create a positive and safe work environment that will attract and retain our team members. I believe our new headquarters in Valley Grove will do just that. FFG has developed a unique and hugely successful restaurant growth model creating synergy among its partners. In 2017, Franchise Times Magazine named FFG the 3rd-fastest growing Restaurant Operator in the U.S. FFG has also been recognized as an INC 500/5000 company the past 6 years and one of UV50 BusinessQs Fastest Growing Companies in Utah Valley 7 times consecutively. Valley Grove represents a $300 Million investment of St. John Properties in Pleasant Grove City. Over the life of the project, Valley Grove is anticipated to generate over $800 Million in tax revenue to the state, county and city, while hosting more than 7,000 employees. Space in existing Valley Grove buildings is rapidly being filled by businesses recognizing the developments prized location and value. About St. John Properties Established in 1971 by Edward St. John, St. John Properties has evolved from a developer of commercial buildings into a long-term real estate investment company. Now in Utah, St. John Properties is attracted by the States economic strength, pro-business climate, quality of life, and projected growth. St. Johns new Valley Grove development in Pleasant Grove marks the companys commitment to Utahs quality of life with its 43rd LEED certified commercial office building. Media Contact John Pilmer PilmerPR 801-369-7535 john[at]pilmerpr.com *source: https://www.restaurant.org/Downloads/PDFs/Events-Groups/Fast-Casual-Show-State-of-Industry-Presentation-Ma.pdf 9STAR, a rapidly growing leading provider of enterprise-grade Identity and Access Management software solutions, has extended its partner reach to South East Asia in partnership with HANDD Business Solutions (HANDD). The partnership with HANDD will increase the local support for both local MSPs and customers in a rapidly growing market for the vendor. Vinay Kumar, Managing Director at 9STAR, added, We have seen a jump in sales and enquiries from all over South East Asia and with the appointment of HANDD we can now fully support our customers and partners in this region. It is key for us to ensure our regional customers are supported by a local reseller who can offer not only our product but training and services. Local educated partners have been to our success across all markets, and finding an outstanding partner like HANDD to support this outreach has been critical. We are delighted with the knowledge and outreach of the market that HANDD Business Solutions can add to our South East Asian customer community. Chris Farrelly, General Manager at HANDD, said: We have seen a huge increase in demand for solutions around the area of Identity and Access Management this year and after evaluating the available technologies in this market we found 9Stars Elastic SSO software solutions to be an ideal new addition to our global offering. Not only did we find they had market leading technology but they also have a clean channel model and invest in their partners to enable joint success. 9STAR is delivering software solutions that are built on powerful next-generation protocols, frameworks and standards such as Shibboleth, SAML, CAS and ADFS which is enabling them to leapfrog the competition and establish a dominant position in the marketplace. Their flagship ElasticSSO software solution is leading the industry in terms of cutting-edge innovation in delivering federated identity security and access management. The software can be deployed by MSPs and IT Managers on-premises or in the Cloud for rapid provisioning of Identity as a Service (IDaaS) in the Enterprise. We are delighted to have 9STAR on board. # # # # # # # # About HANDD Business Solutions HANDD Business Solutions (HANDD) is an independent specialist in global data security. Working with market leading vendors HANDD delivers unrivalled, bespoke solutions that analyse and protect data through every aspect of its journey. HANDD has more than 500 clients spanning 25 countries across the energy, financial services, insurance, manufacturing, retail and utilities sectors. These comprise 45% of the FTSE 100, eight of the worlds largest banks as well as a host of global organisations. Following its carefully developed four-step strategy of analyse, protect, detect and respond, HANDDs specialist knowledge and unmatched expertise makes it a trusted partner in securing a clients data wherever it travels, from consultancy and technical design, through to implementation, training and support. http://www.handd.co.uk # # # # # # # # About 9STAR 9STAR is a rapidly growing leading provider of enterprise-grade Identity and Access Management software solutions. The software solutions are designed for Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and IT Managers to rapidly provision and manage IDaaS (Identity as a Service) in the cloud or on-premises. 9STARs software solutions are widely deployed in Education, Non-Profit, Public Sector and mid/large Enterprise markets. The company continues to lead in the marketplace by adopting open-standards in its product offerings, as well as partnering with leading MSPs and Technology Solution Providers around the world for delivering turnkey solutions and support to customers. https://9starinc.com. The goal is to increase job opportunities for students and licensed graduates of the program, while also providing highly trained, top tier Certified Phlebotomy Technician (CPT) graduates to healthcare providers around San Diego. Health Services Academy acquired the phlebotomy training school from the schools founder, Otis Stitt, who formed the school in 1986. Health Services Academy invests in healthcare-focused vocational schools and related services with the goal of advancing student careers and improving healthcare quality. Cinco Plumb, the companys President & CEO, will maintain the Family Health Services name for the time being while making substantial improvements to the current ongoing operations. Health Services Academy has initiated exciting new improvement plans for Family Health Services including substantial administrative advancements, instructional aids, and new digital technology. Some of these improvements include setting up a new a new digital records system, a customer relationship management (CRM) system, digital registration and payment capabilities, and financing options for students. State-of-the-art equipment has been added to the school including new smart TVs, digital teaching devices, electronic testing tools and online course materials. With the help of Health Services Academy, Family Health Services is set on expanding community involvement efforts through new partnerships with healthcare providers (hospitals, diagnostic labs, mobile phlebotomy providers). The goal is to increase job opportunities for students and licensed graduates of the program, while also providing highly trained, top tier Certified Phlebotomy Technician (CPT) graduates to healthcare providers around San Diego. About https://familyhealth-services.com/ Family Health Services Training Centers mission is to enhance students' careers, meet the needs of healthcare providers, and improve patient care by providing high quality, cost effective phlebotomy education through industry leading curriculum, current technology, and extensive hands-on experience. As one of the most established Phlebotomy schools in San Diego, we are approved to operate by the California Department of Public Health Laboratory Field Services (CDPH/LFS) and Californias Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE). We offer accelerated CPT1 classes throughout the year, with programs starting at the beginning of each month as well as weekend and evening classes. In addition to our training courses, we work with healthcare providers around San Diego for externship programs and job placements after graduation. We are committed to providing students with the opportunity to start or advance a career in healthcare while also assisting employers to find high quality entry-level phlebotomists. Our goal is to drive the healthcare community forward through continual refinement of our course curriculum and improvement of the caliber of Phlebotomy students. Dallas Middle Market 50 List "We are honored to be included in the Dallas Business Journals Middle Market 50 list, consecutively for the last two years. We would like to thank our clients for their continued trust in us - and we promise to outdo ourselves year after year. Access Healthcare, one of the largest providers of the revenue cycle business process, automation, and IT services, has been ranked #11 in the 2018 Dallas Middle Market 50 list. The company was honored at a formal award ceremony held on June 14, 2018, at the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas. Now in its fourth year, the Middle Market 50 has returned as the Dallas Business Journal, is highlighting Dallas-Fort Worth companies that are expanding rapidly through acquisition, organic growth or a combination of both. The Middle Market 50 List includes private and public companies with annual revenue between $25 million and $750 million. The list is ranked by a weighted growth index from 2015 to 2017. Speaking at the award ceremony, Access Healthcare's Chairman, Anurag Jain, said, Within just seven years of our existence, Access Healthcare has quickly emerged as one of the most trusted providers of revenue cycle management services. This has been possible because of our focus on transforming the business processes of our customers through technology. We are now enhancing our value proposition through a cutting-edge automation platform powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence. We are honored to be included in the Dallas Business Journals Middle Market 50 list, consecutively for the last two years. We would like to thank our clients for their continued trust in us - and we promise to outdo ourselves year after year. About the Dallas Business Journal Middle Market 50: Founded in 1977, Dallas Business Journal is the leading source for local business news, research, and events in the DFW area. The award-winning Dallas Business Journal is a hub for breaking business news and events. Their mission is to be the dominant and most trusted source of business news in North Texas. Dallas Business Journal provides value to their constituents by helping them grow their business, make money, and grow their careers through a comprehensive set of vehicles, which include print, digital, and events. For more details, visit http://www.bizjournals.com. About Access Healthcare: Access Healthcare provides business process outsourcing, applications services, and robotic process automation tools to healthcare providers, payers, and related service providers. We operate from 12 delivery centers across US, India and the Philippines. The companys 9,000+ staff is committed to bringing revenue cycle excellence to our customers by leveraging technology, emerging best practices, and global delivery. Based in Dallas, Access Healthcare supports over 150,000 physicians, serves over 80 specialties, processes over $50 billion of A/R annually, and ascribe medical codes to over 10 million charts annually. To learn how Access Healthcare can help your organization boost its financial performance, visit accesshealthcare.org. Slavery.. generates estimated profits of $150 billion pa...The UK Modern Slavery Act, requires approximately 20,000 companies.. to report. Today, there are more than 40 million people in modern slavery around the world, 16 million of whom are exploited in the private sector. Slavery is an incredibly lucrative business, generating estimated profits of $150 billion pa. Governments increasingly recongnise that, if this abhorrent trade is to be ended, companies must proactively search for slavery in their supply chains and are introducing new laws to this effect. The UK Modern Slavery Act, for instance, requires approximately 20,000 companies to annually report on slavery in their supply chains. Modern supply chains are constantly changing networks which may include tens of thousands of suppliers. Identifying and addressing slavery in these circumstances is incredibly hard. RightsDD uses technology to help companies meet their obligations. The startup has attracted the support of key players in the modern anti-slavery movement. At the moment, most companies dont know where to start when it comes to modern slavery. RightsDD is that point of departure. Our tool helps companies gather and analyse information from employees, suppliers and third parties. Using RightDD, companies can determine where in their supply chains the highest risks of slavery are, said RightsDD Founder, Oliver Cushing. By using technology to expand data collection, RightsDD is making it possible for a greater number of companies to conduct high-quality due diligence in their supply chains to uncover potential human rights abuses, said Sandy Tesch-Wilkins, Senior Manager at Humanity United. We are pleased to support RightsDD to strengthen and scale their innovative tools and approach. Hogan Lovells believes that slavery has no place in the world. Our International Business and Human Rights Group works with clients to identify and address slavery and other human rights impacts in their operations and supply chains. We believe there is a great need for scalable, affordable and easy to use due diligence solutions such as RightsDD, said Peter Hood, Consultant, Hogan Lovells Business and Human Rights Group. About RightsDD RightsDD is an early stage startup using technology to empower companies to respect human rights. RightsDD was founded by Oliver Cushing, who first came to understand the critical relationship between business and human rights when working on mining projects in Africa and Latin America. For more information see http://www.rightsdd.com. About Humanity United Humanity United is a foundation dedicated to bringing new approaches to global problems that have long been considered intractable. We build, lead, and support efforts to change the systems that contribute to problems like human trafficking, mass atrocities, and violent conflict. HU is part of The Omidyar Group, a diverse collection of organizations, each guided by its own approach, but united by a common desire to catalyze social impact. For more information see http://www.humanityunited.org. About Hogan Lovells Hogan Lovells is a leading global law firm providing business-oriented legal advice and high-quality service across its exceptional breadth of practices to clients around the world. For more information, see http://www.hoganlovells.com. HL BaSE is Hogan Lovells social impact practice, supporting social enterprises and mission-led businesses to develop their impact. More information about HL BaSE can be found on the website, http://www.hoganlovellsbase.com. Diagnosed with tuberculosis as a three-year-old, Kerstin E. White is separated from her family and endures a lengthy stay in a childrens sanatorium in southern Germany in the foothills of the Alps. Many years later, as an adult living in the U.S., she discovers the healing power of writing. In her memoir, Little Girl Found: A German Womans Story of Tuberculosis, Trauma, and Healing (published by Balboa Press), she shows how the beauty of nature, her spiritual connection to an artist, her resilience, and the grace of God guide her on her healing journey. Her trauma psychotherapy leads her to a dramatic return to the sanatorium for the first time in more than 30 years. In the first part of the book, White writes from her perspective as a little girl to capture her experiences in the sanatorium. In the second part, she shifts to the adult voice to reveal her therapeutic process. The dual perspective from the point of view of the child and the adult is very moving and captivating, White states. My writing is poetic and descriptive, and helps the reader experience the world of the child that is traumatic and enchanting at the same time. Spanning the past and present, her life in Germany and the U.S., White writes about her therapeutic modalities and healing techniques, sandplay therapy, expressive writing, and energy work. All these help her to heal her childhood wounds and discover her faith in God. Readers may visit https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001171469 to purchase and know more about the book. Little Girl Found: A German Womans Story of Tuberculosis, Trauma, and Healing By Kerstin E. White Hardcover | 5.5x8.5 in | 174 pages | ISBN 9781982202491 Softcover | 5.5x8.5 in | 174 pages | ISBN 9781982202477 E-Book | 174 pages | ISBN 9781982202484 Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the Author Kerstin E. White was trained as a psychotherapist with a specialty in sandplay therapy and poetry therapy. She has masters degrees in French literature and counseling psychology. She grew up in Germany and moved to the United States in her early 20s. Currently, she lives with her husband in New Jersey and New Hampshire. Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, Inc. a leading provider in publishing products that specialize in self-help and the mind, body, and spirit genres. Through an alliance with indie book publishing leader Author Solutions, LLC, authors benefit from the leadership of Hay House Publishing and the speed-to-market advantages of the self-publishing model. For more information, visit balboapress.com. To start publishing your book with Balboa Press, call 877-407-4847 today. For the latest, follow @balboapress on Twitter. Petix, manufacturer of WizSmart dog pads, celebrates its first year in the U.S.A. by implementing the WizSmart Gives Back initiative to support animal shelters and rescue groups located in and around New York City. As part of the initiative, Petix donated over 22,000 dogs pee pads for shelter pets, fosters and adopting families to use in helping ease the challenge of dog and puppy potty training. Recipients of the first annual WizSmart Gives Back initiative include: The Humane Society of New York, Anarchy Rescue & Rehabilitation, Animal Haven, North Shore Animal League America, Posh Pets Rescue, Zanis Furry Friends, Paw it Forward Pet Pantry and Rescue Dogs Rock. These organizations were selected with the guidance of the Mayors Alliance for NYCs Animals. Its a great product, the dogs took to them right away, says Michael Ripinsky, who, along with Gisella McSweeny, runs Zanis Furry Friends in Central New Jersey. Animal Haven is thrilled to receive doggy pads from WizSmart! said Animal Havens Downtown Manhattan Shelters Tiffany Lacey. Creating a better dog pee pad has always been our mission, says Krister Holm, General Manager of Petix Co., North America. But at the heart of it all is our dedication to helping each dog and puppy in need of an indoor potty solution have a product that works for them and their caretakers. And by helping to eliminate unnecessary stress around potty training or convalescence, we hope to keep the focus on the positive impact that pets bring into the lives of others. We are proud of our product and appreciate the opportunity to give back to New Yorks organizations that are working hard each day to help animals in need. HELPING TO SAVE THE PLANET ONE PEE PAD AT A TIME WizSmart dog pads provide an all-in-one, premium dog and puppy pad option for dog owners requiring either a short or long term indoor potty solution that keeps both dog and home clean. These pads combine all the desired features of a dog pad, offering an eco-friendly, super absorbent, quick drying and leak proof alternative to other products. WizSmart pads also feature patented stay put adhesive tabs that can be used to secure the pad to the floor and the wall at a 90 angle, creating a perfectly placed target for male dogs. The superior absorbency and quick drying is a direct result of our unique blend of materials, says Holm, which includes materials from unused, reclaimed baby-diapers. Petix helps save over 80 million unused defective diapers from going to landfills every year. We also find that people are tired of constantly changing soggy pads. WizSmart works every time, for up to 24 hours, which means less plastic and less waste. Better for the environment! Located in over 200 retail stores in the Northeast, as well as in all 45 locations of Krisers Natural Pet , and the 44 stores of Mud Bay, the Pacific Northwest healthy pet food and supplies retailer, WizSmart has found a following with customers looking for a premium dog pad solution. Doggie Do and Playtime Too, the long established and internationally renowned grooming salon in New York City, praises the pads super-absorbency. When I was first approached by the sales rep of Wizsmart, says Howard Binder, co-owner of Doggie-Do & Playtime Too! in New York, I was very hesitant since my customers were so used to wee wee pads. As with any new product, it is usually very difficult to get people to change from the familar. After my demonstration of pouring a cup of water on a WizSmart pad my customers were sold. Ever since, I have been re-ordering WizSmart as they have been selling extremely well in Doggie Do and Playtime too. Petix will be exhibiting at SuperZoo 2018 in Booth # 6255 and providing demonstrations of its WizSmart dog pads. The company will also debut its latest dog pad the WizSmart XL super absorbent dog pad. WizSmart XL will offer all of the same features and benefits of the original WizSmart dog pad, including the Patented 4 Stay Put Tabs, but provide a larger surface area to accommodate medium and large size dogs. WizSmart XL is expected to arrive in retail stores in the fall of 2018. About Petix Petix, a family-owned company, manufactures quality pet care products and accessories that promote the well-being of pets and their families. The company has distinguished itself within the industry through its dedication to operating more environmentally friendly manufacturing processes, utilizing ecologically correct raw materials and minimizing waste. Staying true to its founders commitment to quality and purpose, the company has achieved 40% market share in Brazil with hundreds of thousands of well-trained and confident pets utilizing their products. Continuing the companys mission to improve the life of pets and their owners, in 2017 Petix launched its innovative WizSmart Dog Pads in the United States. For more information about Petix, visit the companys website at http://www.petix.com. Two of the greatest exponents of boogie-woogie piano currently working in the field will team up this week for two special concerts that are sure to delight connoisseurs of the genre. Bob Baldori and Arthur Migliazza, known when they work together as the Boogie Kings, will reprise selections from their widely acclaimed off-Broadway production Boogie Stomp! at the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival in downtown East Lansing, Michigan on June 22 at 7:30 p.m., sponsored by Michigan State University College of Music. The action shifts to the Windy City on June 23 when the duo brings Boogie Stomp! to PianoForte Chicago, located just south of the Loop, at 7 p.m. (this show is sponsored by WDCB Listener-Supported Jazz & Blues). "Bob Baldori and Arthur Migliazza are two brilliant musicians. Their encyclopedic knowledge of popular music forms over the last century is breathtaking, but their playing of and dedication to their chosen repertoire is even more amazing," said Joel Benjamin, Theater Scene. The brilliant music served up by this pair of piano masters is thoroughly steeped in classic tradition yet retains its contemporary edge. This is American roots music, and its blues, boogie, jazz, swing, stride, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, gospel, all those things, says Baldori. They have the same basic elements: rhythm, improvisation, and syncopation. Those are the basic elements of all those genres. And we show during the course of our performance how they all are seamless. Baldori and Migliazza teamed up half a decade ago. Along with their 2015 off-Broadway triumph at the Elektra Theatre in Boogie Stomp!, theyve brought their combined piano thunder to some mighty exotic locales. We toured Russia five times in the last seven or eight years, notes Bob. The Europeans and the Russians are real students of the history of these genres. Even those dedicated aficionados would be hard-pressed to approach the combined knowledge that Baldori and Migliazza bring to their passion for boogie piano, however. Baldoris interest in the ivories ignited at age three. My grandfather had one of those old player pianos where you push on the pedals, he says. Id be watching the keys, learning how to play the stuff. Along the way, Baldori also learned how to play blues harmonicaanother talent showcased in Boogie Stomp!. I fell in love with Little Walter and both Sonny Boy Williamsons, he says. Corky Siegel and I have been friends since we were kids. Growing up in Dearborn and East Lansing Michigan, Baldori was deeply influenced by the pioneering rock and roll of Chuck Berry. He formed a rock band, the Woolies, along with his guitar-playing high school-age brother Jeff, drummer Bee Metros, and vocalist Stormy Rice, that scored a national hit in 1966 with their rendition of Bo Diddleys Who Do You Love for Lou Adlers Dunhill label. In addition to their own touring, they were recruited by Berry to be his backing band. It was a perfect fit, says Bob, who continued as Berrys pianist long after the Woolies quit the road. It ended up being a 50-year relationship. Prior to joining forces with Migliazza, Baldori honed his four-handed boogie skills to a razor-sharp edge with iconic Detroit pianist Bob Seeley. I was touring for almost 10 years with Bob, Baldori says. Hes considered with good reason the last living link to the origins of boogie-woogie. Migliazza cites some impressive early musical mentors as well. Inspired at age 10 by the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire, he proceeded to soak up piano tutelage from stalwarts that included Mr. B, Ann Rabson, and Henry Butler and attended blues workshops that gave him a firm footing in his chosen idiom. His latest solo album, Bumble Boogie, spotlights the New York-based Migliazzas distinctive ivories prowess on a variety of revered boogie classics (as did his 2014 set Laying It Down). Together, the Boogie Kings are unstoppable. Their upcoming duo CD Disturbing the Peace on Chicago's BluJazz label pays tribute to Jimmy Yancey, Meade Lux Lewis, Little Walter, the first Sonny Boy, and Huey (Piano) Smithbut their thrilling boogie piano exploits are anything but a museum piece. Were showing how contemporary it really is, says Bob. Were not trying to be preservationists. Were trying to play this music in the same spirit of the guys who created it, but show why it works just as well now. The Piano Forte concert is sponsored by WDCB Listener Supported Jazz & Blues. Contact: Lynn Orman Weiss, ormanmusic@gmail.com 847-452-6469, Ralph Lampkin, lampkinmusic@gmail.com Tickets: Piano Forte, 1335 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL - 312-753-5522 http://www.chicagopianoforte.com - https://squareup.com/store/pianoforte-tickets/item/the-boogie-kings-present-boogie-stomp ## Twitter: @BobBaldori http://www.boogiestomp.com http://www.ormanmusicmedia.com @ormanlampkinmusicgroup Jackson County Joins the MITN Purchasing Group Jackson County is excited to be a part of the far reaching and inclusive purchasing group, BidNet, to enhance our procurement process. Today, Jackson County announces it has joined the MITN Purchasing Group, an e-Procurement solution from BidNet, to help simplify their purchasing process and make it easier for their vendors to access and compete for bids and RFPs. Jackson County invites all potential vendors to register online with the MITN Purchasing Group to access its upcoming solicitations by visiting http://www.bidnetdirect.com/mitn. As a member agency of the MITN Purchasing Group, Jackson County joins a community of nearly 200 participating local government agencies located throughout Michigan, including Washtenaw County, County of Livingston and County of Wayne. The MITN Purchasing Group offers a way for Jackson County to collaborate with like minded public purchasing professionals in the area in order to share resources and attract local vendors. Vendors looking to do business with Jackson County and other nearby government agencies are encouraged to register at https://www.bidnetdirect.com/mitn. In addition to a centralized location for regional public bids, benefits of registering with the MITN Purchasing Group include: 24-hour access to local government opportunities Bid alerts customized to the vendors products or services Reliable and timely delivery of notifications, addendums and documents Notification of Term Contract Expiration E-Bid and E-Quote Submission Jackson County Administrator/Controller Michael Overton indicates that, Jackson County is excited to be a part of the far reaching and inclusive purchasing group, BidNet, to enhance our procurement process. By joining the regional purchasing group, Jackson County also benefits from BidNets e-procurement technology, which includes a bid and vendor management, document and addendum distribution, and tracking of all activity throughout the procurement process. About the MITN Purchasing Group: The MITN Purchasing Group is a part of BidNets regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies throughout the country. With years of input from procurement professionals, BidNet specifically developed the bid system to fill the need for a robust bid and supplier management solution for local government agencies. BidNet runs 30 regional purchasing groups used by over 1,200 local governments. To learn more and have your government agency gain better transparency and efficiency in purchasing, please visit https://www.bidnetdirect.com/buyers Audrey Peyton, a London-born fashion model and mother of three now living in California with several romantic suspense and mystery books as well as a biography to her name, has completed her new book Like a Diamond in the Sky: Finding Rosalind: a captivating novel that follows two Americans trying to figure out the mystery behind the English woman Rosalind Tregarran. Author Peyton writes for her believable characters with the same English-American background she grew up with: Arent you excited, honey? she asked loudly. Well soon be wishing each other Merry Christmas eight hours earlier than we did in California. I nodded and stared at the first class sticker on the compartment window. If she just wouldnt put on that phony American accent. In the fourteen months Id known her, her accent had always been deeply English (With a dash of Cockney to give it life, ducky) shed say proudly. When we landed in London at Heathrow Airport, her accent had miraculously changed to American. And not one slip had she made since then, except when we were alone. Then she comfortably switched back to her native tongue, which was Cockney. Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Audrey Peytons new book is a beautifully atmospheric novel that draws the reader into the intricate tangle awaiting the lead characters in Cheese Nab, a picturesque English village one fateful winter. Full of memorable characters and interesting cultural asides, the reader will find the pages turning themselves. Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase Like a Diamond in the Sky: Finding Rosalind at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional New York based full-service publishing house that handles all of the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not bogged down with complicated business issues like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes and the like. Its roster of authors can leave behind these tedious, complex and time-consuming issues, and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. Jared Dylan - Can't Stop Jared is a rare and extraordinary musical act Jared Dylan has returned from Ireland where he has been working with Irish musicians and producers, writing new music, touring, and garnering critical acclaim and radio airplay. To celebrate his return and his brand new single, Jared will be performing to a hometown crowd at The Cutting Room before heading back to Ireland once again. This performance celebrates the launch of Jared's single "Can't Stop," along with two remixes. The first remix is by 2-time Grammy-nominated producer and global DJ CARMEN RIZZO who gives the single that signature Ibiza dance-until-dawn sound. The second remix is by Irish DJ JOHN GIBBONS, who has rapidly established himself as one of the leading faces in the dance music world. At The Cutting Room, Jared will be performing songs from his forthcoming concept album, Consequence, to be released in the fall of 2018. A copy of Consequence will be included with each Cutting Room ticket purchase. Purchase Cutting Room tickets HERE Notable artists who contributed to Consequence include Neville Staple (the Specials, Special Beat, Fun Boy Three) and Kemo the Blaxican (platinum selling hip hop artist from East LA) who are both featured on the track "Party Goes All Night," as well as Cork native Kilian Pettit of Echogram who joins Jared on guitar for the track "Double Time." An animated short will be released with these songs making up the soundtrack. Some of the artists contributing voices to the animated characters include Jimmy Jean Louis (of the TNT hit show Claws), Arlene Tur (from the film Eat, Pray, Love and FX Network show Crash), Rami Jaffee of Foo Fighters, as well as producer Ran Pink. Look for Consequence, along with the animated short and a full Irish tour in September/November 2018. Stream forthcoming concept album Consequence HERE MORE ON JARED DYLAN: At the age of 23, New Jersey native Jared Dylan has already made a name for himself, having amassed a library of hundreds of original compositions and millions of streams on Spotify. His recent work has garnered the attention of some of the industry's most notable writers and producers, having songs mixed and remixed by talent such as Danny Saber (David Bowie, Madonna, The Rolling Stones), Carmen Rizzo (Coldplay, Seal, Alanis Morissette), and Fonogenic Studios (Juliette Lewis, Kris Kristofferson, Micky Dolenz). Before leaving for college at University of Miami's Frost School of Music's Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program, Jared wrote enough original music to pique the interest of producer Anthony Resta (best known for his work with Elton John, Collective Soul, and Duran Duran). This resulted in Jared's first EP, In Panic, which packed a musical punch with elements of Brit-pop, 80s driven vocals and string ballads. The release of that EP and the tracks' accompanying videos garnered Jared a strong YouTube following. 2018 is expected to be a year full of new music and exciting performances with Jared's move to Dublin. Jared is working with Irish musicians and producers on a documentary and soundtrack, The Art of Songwriting, being produced by Zinc Media (Bob Geldof's production company) with contributions from Paddy Casey, Stephanie Rainey, James Walsh, Yoad Nevo, Ryan Sheridan, Picture This and more, while he releases his latest collection of songs and tours the island before heading back to the states this summer for the launch of his single "Can't Stop" along with two remixes of this single. Following a writing session with Paddy Casey at the historic Grouse Lodge Studios, Jared says, "I feel inspired in Ireland and I feel like I am finally making the music I've always wanted to make." Just at the beginning of his Irish adventure, Jared plans to collaborate with many more Irish musicians while based in Ireland and continue to create music that inspires him as well as his many fans. 2018 Anton Paar Research Award "We are looking forward to receiving submissions on new methods and/or applications of instrumental chemical analysis or physical characterization of materials not older than two years." - Gerhard Murer, Chief Scientist at Anton Paar Anton Paar invites researchers and scientists to submit projects for the first research prize for instrumental analysis and characterization with a value of over $23,000. The Austrian specialist for analytical instruments and measuring equipment Anton Paar is calling for applications for the inaugural Anton Paar Research Award for Instrumental Analytics and Characterization. "We are looking forward to receiving submissions on new methods and/or applications of instrumental chemical analysis or physical characterization of materials not older than two years," says Gerhard Murer, Chief Scientist at Anton Paar. Additionally, the proposals should show a high probability of enabling new scientific or industrial products and/or applications. Open to everyone The application is open to anyone interested in chemical analysis or physical characterization. The focus should be on new methods and applications. Projects that are not published may also be submitted, provided the criteria are met. The deadline for entries is September 30, 2018. Award of over $23,000 The Anton Paar Research Award has a total prize package of over $23,000 (20,000 euros) funded by Anton Paar. The winners will be selected by a jury consisting of representatives from renowned Austrian universities and Anton Paar. All entries will be judged based on the potential for application as a product or method, and the impact on the development of new or improved measuring technologies. The prize will be awarded in November 2018 at the Anton Paar headquarters in Graz, Austria, or at an Anton Paar subsidiary to which the winners will be invited. For detailed information and application, check: http://www.anton-paar.com/corp-en/research-award/ Bridgeport Hospital, part of the Yale New Haven Health network, and Joeyband by S2S Innovations, have joined forces to improve breastfeeding rates, patient satisfaction, and eliminate infant falls; Joeyband, an easy-to-use skin-to-skin support system, aims to improve both quality and safety for new mothers and their infants in hospital and at home. Following the Plan, Study, Do, Act quality improvement protocol, Bridgeport Hospital was able to track data related to the implementation, which took place over a 5-month period. Over the course of the study, Bridgeport saw an improvement of 8.2% in exclusive breastfeeding rates, a 7% increase in the number of babies breastfed within the first 60 minutes of birth, and zero infant falls during the course of the study. In addition, Bridgeports Press Ganey Satisfaction score, a metric system to measure patient satisfaction, rose 2.1 points, resulting in a 26% increase in Press Ganey percentage rank, as compared to the large Press Ganey database. Joeyband helps facilitate safe skin-to-skin contact during the most precious golden hour after birth - for our C-Section and Vaginal delivery Moms. All of our Moms may use the Joeyband in their postpartum room to facilitate that bond necessary for breastfeeding success, with the added benefit of infant fall prevention., says Kelley Reddington, MSN, RN, RNC-EFM-OB, CNML, Nurse Manager for Bridgeport Hospital, We provide support to all our Moms to meet their needs and expectations, and the Joeyband has shown to help us achieve that goal. Bridgeport is helping to elevate the standard of care for newborns, said Hayley Mullins, Inventor of Joeyband. Not only are they (Bridgeport) educating Moms on the safest option for skin-to-skin, but they are encouraging continued skin-to-skin upon discharge by sending Joeyband home with patients and their families. ABOUT JOEYBAND, a product of S2S INNOVATIONS, INC. Joeyband, the patented, clinical product of S2S Innovations Inc, is the exclusive skin-to-skin product of La Leche League International, a 2017 AWHONN (Association of Womens Health, Obstetrics, and Neonatal Nurses) Trusted Leader, and the premier product designed to support skin-to-skin and prevent infant falls across the continuum of care in the Operating Room, Labor/Delivery, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and at home. Joeyband will be exhibiting at AWHONN 2018 in Tampa, FL, June 24-26 come visit us at booth #301. ABOUT BRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL Bridgeport Hospital is a private, not-for-profit acute care hospital located in Connecticuts most populous city, primarily serving patients from Fairfield and New Haven Counties. Bridgeport Hospital is a member of the Yale New Haven Health System. CONTACT and GENERAL INQUIRIES: Sarah Cox Vice President, Business Development 1(902)266-2511 scox@joeyband.com ### Silvermist, an addiction treatment facility serving young adults in western Pennsylvania, recently debuted a refreshed brand and website design at https://silvermistrecovery.com Silvermist has honed its clinical focus on young adults suffering from substance use disorders with a specialization in trauma-informed care. Research estimates that two-thirds of people seeking treatment for addiction report one or more traumatic life experiences. The staff at Silvermist provide a compassionate environment for the healing process and utilize therapies that promote emotional safety such as dialectical behavior therapy and mindfulness-based meditation and relapse prevention. An estimated 70 percent of Americans over age 18 have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, and a history of trauma is an important risk factor for substance abuse and addiction. When trauma leads to substance abuse, successful recovery must address the trauma and reduce its impact on mood, mental health, sleep, emotions and well-being. The updated website navigation provides an enhanced user experience that enlightens visitors with detailed information on why Silvermist's focus on treating young adults with a history of trauma is critical to reversing the alarming statistics on substance abuse among today's youth. The overall look and feel more closely aligns with Silvermist's expert approach to treatment while encouraging meaningful and supportive fellowship between clients and staff. Located in beautiful rural Pennsylvania, Silvermist offers individualized inpatient and outpatient treatment for adults with substance use and mental health disorders. Silvermist sets the standard for addiction treatment on the East Coast by providing men and women a beautiful and discreet environment filled with all the amenities that support early recovery. Silvermist is grounded in the highest clinical standards and is committed to clinical integrity, community and education. For more information about Silvermist or any of its programs, please call (724) 481-1284. John J. Pulles, CPA "Orange County is such a diverse community and we want to help the community with quality service. Each client feels like they are a friend and feels comfortable calling me anytime. - John J. Pulles, CPA CPA John J. Pulles, who is also licensed as an insurance broker and can work with financial advisors and is also a licensed California real estate broker, recently expanded his estate and tax planning departments. He is also in the process of acquiring a tax resolution company to expand his tax resolution department with the affiliation with various financial advisors. John J. Pulles, CPA, a full-service professional firm with offices in Costa Mesa, also recently welcomed a new member to its team, Jackson Hu. The firm is also looking to hire more people for insurance and real estate, teaching those interested and help them get licensed. Jackson is eager to learn and is a great asset to our experienced staff, said Pulles. We like to help young people, such as Jackson, get CPA certified. John J. Pulles, CPA also employs experts to assist clients that speak Vietnamese, Chinese, Spanish, English, and Tagalog. Orange County is such a diverse community and we want to help the community with quality service, concluded Pulles. Each client feels like they are a friend and feels comfortable calling me anytime. In addition, John Pulles has affiliated himself with a respected Newport Beach Financial Services Firm. Through this affiliation, his firm will have access to retirement plan design, administration specialists, estate planning attorneys, the latest tax information, and high quality companies offering a wide range of financial products and services. This will provide the convenience of one-stop shopping for new and existing clients. About John J. Pulles, CPA John J. Pulles, CPA works with many small businesses and individuals throughout Southern California. It provides services in business and personal consultation, tax planning, tax preparation, real estate, insurance options, and assistance in organizing and starting up corporations and LLCs. For more information, please call his office at (657) 699-3049, or visit http://www.pullescpa.com. The office is located at 2900 Bristol Street, Suite E202, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. About the NALA The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. The information and content in this article are not in conjunction with the views of the NALA. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361. Your Lemon Law Rights Krohn & Moss, Ltd., a consumer protection firm, announced that after a four-day jury trial, its client, longtime former Valparaiso resident Jared Thieme, was awarded $310,000 by the Superior Court of Porter County in a breach of warranty action against Toyota Motor Sales USA. Past News Releases RSS Krohn & Moss, Ltd. Secures $310,000 Verdict in Lemon Law Case Against Toyota Valparaiso Jury Awards in Favor of Jared Thieme in Breach of Warranty Action VALPARAISO, Ind.-- Krohn & Moss, Ltd., a consumer protection firm, announced that after a four-day jury trial, its client, longtime former Valparaiso resident Jared Thieme, was awarded $310,000 by the Superior Court of Porter County, Indiana (case no: 64D05-1404-PL-2838) in a breach of warranty action against Toyota Motor Sales USA, marking the highest award the firm has secured to date. The case involved a new 2012 Toyota Tundra that Thieme purchased on August 13, 2012 for $43,838. In the winter of 2012, Thieme began experiencing difficulty with the vehicle. I had trouble starting the vehicle, and it was often chugging and riding rough, said Thieme. The malfunction warning lights were also illuminated. After giving Toyota three chances to fix the problem, Thieme was told by a Toyota dealer that the computer in the vehicle was incorrectly reading the alcohol density content of the fuel. He was also told that Toyota had no fix for the problem and that they were working on a recalibration for the computer, according to court documents. From January 2013 to April 2013, Thieme called Toyota regularly seeking an update on the status of his vehicle. In May 2013, an update was performed, pursuant to Toyotas Technical Service Bulletin 58-13, but that did not repair the condition, which reappeared the following winter. According to court documents, on March 8, 2014, Toyota advised Thieme that they were unwilling to perform further repairs. At this point, Thieme retained Krohn & Moss, Ltd. Instead of settling Mr. Thiemes well-founded claims, Toyota fought the case for more than four years, claiming that his problems were caused by contaminated fuel, said John Barker, Attorney for Krohn & Moss, Ltd. A Porter County jury saw through Toyotas defense and awarded Thieme $31,000 representing the amount he overpaid for the vehicle and $279,000 for Thiemes incidental and consequential damages. Additionally, federal law will allow Thieme to recover his attorneys fees and costs. This verdict sends a message to Toyota that they should stand behind their products, said Barker. If they sell a bad vehicle, they need to make it right. This case could have been avoided if they had heard Mr. Thiemes claims and taken the necessary steps to fix his problem. Barker and his colleagues at Krohn & Moss, Ltd. Consumer Law Center , a consumer protection firm, have handled more than 40,000 lemon law actions nationwide, including more than 2,500 in Indiana. About Krohn & Moss, Ltd. Driven by the goal to provide effective and affordable representation to consumers throughout the nation who purchased defective products, were the victims of fraud, were harassed by debt collectors, or who suffered personal injury, Adam J. Krohn and Gregory H. Moss founded Krohn & Moss, Ltd. Consumer Law Center in 1995. Learn more at http://www.yourlemonlawrights.com or contacted at 800 US-LEMON (800-875-3666). John Barker may be reached directly at (800) 875-3666 ext. 252 or at jbarker@consumerlawcenter.com. PowerChord, a leading SaaS company that transforms how brands drive local sales, announces their new partnership with a premier North American auto parts manufacturer. PowerChord will be providing local Digital Storefronts - a fully branded dealer website solution, and local digital marketing services to hundreds of this clients dealerships throughout the United States and Canada. PowerChords robust Content Management System allows this manufacturer to manage product content, promotions, and lead generation throughout their network of Digital Storefronts - ensuring online brand standards are met for each local dealership and providing consumers with a seamless online shopping experience. The flexibility of PowerChords digital solutions has also given this new client the ability to launch co-branded, local online marketing and financing promotions across their network of Digital Storefronts. With the push of a button, each of the clients four brands can now showcase new products, advertise seasonal promotions, and anticipate weather-influenced purchasing - all in real-time through their PowerChord dealer sites. Aiding the impact of this new clients Digital Storefronts is a comprehensive, local digital marketing strategy designed to improve organic traffic, lift online visibility and drive leads back to each brands dealer sites. By the end of 2017, the clients participating dealers saw growth rates of up to 55%, with 11% of organic traffic sessions resulting in a lead and upwards of 25% of site sessions resulting in actions such as quote requests, form submissions, and click-to-get directions. One participating dealer said, Over the first three months of the program, weve sold 85% or better of what weve quoted - the program has given us great visibility and has more than paid for itself. PowerChords CEO, Lanny Tucker said, Were thrilled to have this national manufacturer join our global network of clients that sell through independent dealer networks. Were confident that our digital solutions will continue to drive local revenue and online engagement for each of their four brands while providing long-term value to each of their dealers. # # # About PowerChord A leading SaaS company that offers digital solutions for brands with dealer networks, PowerChords advanced technology works with global manufacturers to provide brand-specific, local websites to their dealer networks. These Digital Storefronts help manufacturers protect their brand, engage customers and grow local revenue - while giving independent dealers the ability to compete against large, online retailers. The PowerChord Platform also includes hyper-local Digital Marketing strategies that scale national campaigns into personalized dealer campaigns, and flexible Digital Services to win local search and drive dealer sales. PowerChord is a BIA/Kelsey GOLOCAL award winner and has been recognized as a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 company, a Inc. 5000 company. They currently operate in 28 countries and service over 10,000 local sites worldwide, with employees based across the United States and Europe. Learn more about PowerChords end-to-end digital solutions at http://www.PowerChord.com. Relay Logo Leveraging the efficiency and automation from Relay, we will be able to provide flexible services for nationwide support of major companies and major cloud services vendors. NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation (NESIC) and Boomtown Network, Inc. (Boomtown) today announced a strategic partnership that sees NESIC adopting Boomtowns Relay platform to elevate its customer support experience in Japan. As part of this arrangement NESIC has also made an investment in Boomtown via its recently established corporate venture capital fund, the NESIC Innovation Venture Limited Liability Partnership. NESIC is a leading Japanese provider of technology consulting, system design and integration, outsourcing and facilities management services to customers across the enterprise, telecommunication and government sectors. In seeking to provide next-generation support services to its largest customers down to small and medium-sized enterprises, NESIC needed a software platform that would enable it to fully leverage its nationwide support network and deliver simple, predictive, and personalized support experiences at scale. Boomtown Relay is an intelligent platform for technology support and customer service that creates more efficient agents and happier customers. Relay combines a universal technology dictionary with curated knowledge and insights from millions of support interactions to create an intelligent support system. Relay deploys chatbots to distill and deliver this knowledge in concise and digestible conversational responses to customer service agents or directly to customers across the communication channels they use every day. When in-person services are needed, Relay is able to intelligently schedule and dispatch the best local field service agent to the job. We expect that NESIC can efficiently provide end-to-end support to customers remotely or in-person by using Relay. NESICs service team can take advantage of single threaded omnichannel communications, access conversational knowledge bases in real time, share tickets in Relay across specialized internal teams, and easily bring in third-party vendors to streamline cross-organization collaboration on customer issues. If field work is necessary, NESIC will use Relays Dispatch feature to send a service technician from its nationwide network to a customers location and manage issue resolution in the field. As companies are shifting to cloud-based IT solutions, there is a parallel shift in the required support services for these companies, said, Shota Ushihara, Business Development Manager at NESIC. Were excited to combine the benefits of Boomtowns Relay platform, machine learning, and knowledge automation with NESICs nationwide support services. Leveraging the efficiency and automation from Relay, we will be able to provide flexible services for nationwide support of major companies and major cloud services vendors. Were thrilled to closely partner with NESIC to take Relay to Japan, said Alfred Chip Kahn IV, CEO of Boomtown. NESIC is a global leader who provides integrated technology services and understands deeply the challenges and opportunities in the space. By adopting the Relay platform for remote and in-person services across Japan, NESIC will create exceptional customer experiences, drive operational efficiencies, and develop lasting partnerships. We are planning to launch a pilot in summer 2018 and full deployment in late 2018. About NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation (TSE: 1973; NESIC) provides integrated communication services that combine the strengths of system integration and related support services, as well as sophisticated engineering and facility management capabilities, for a broad range of customers, including telecommunications carriers, enterprises and government agencies. For more information, please visit http://www.nesic.co.jp/english/. About Relay Relays mission is to provide a better support experience for businesses. Through our platform, technology solution providers can communicate with their customers in efficient and engaging ways, collaborate across organizations to answer questions, and resolve issues fast. We help teams provide simple, predictive, and personal customer experiences at scale. Learn more about Relay at https://thinkrelay.com. Alan Lai, Blockchain Developer, University of California, Berkeley Its great to see XinFin continuing to kick big goals in every country they launch in. Now in North America they have invited students at UC Berkeley to do what they do best, innovate without boundaries on the XinFin Hybrid blockchain. After setting up Research and Development Protocol Lab at Temasek Launchpad Singapore, XinFin is all set to add another Network Protocol Engineering and Business Development Lab at UC Berkeley, USA to attract hot new talent and establish a global approach towards Hybrid Blockchain protocol development. With illustrious forebears ranging from Nobel laureates, researchers, scientists, global leaders and entrepreneurs, University of California, Berkeley is the second most prestigious university known for its innovation conducive environment, a reason enough for XinFin to setup a lab in their premises. Through this association, XinFin intends to secure creative and bright talent from UC Berkeley, San Francisco Bay Area and other universities to work with XinFin Network and Hybrid Blockchain Protocol. While XinFin aspires to grow developer community in Bay Area, its final objective lies in evolving and developing Hybrid Blockchain architecture to make it more suitable for mainstream enterprise adoption and regulatory compliant environment. XinFin will soon be rolling out XDC Virtual Machine, an application far more efficient for mainstream enterprise adoption. XinFin has developed a hybrid blockchain technology which offers the transparency and availability of public blockchain combined with security and scalability of private blockchain. Having incorporated the hybrid feature in its flagship XDC network protocol, XinFin aims to create a robust application deployment layer on its Blockchain Network at the lab. XinFin will be working with enterprises and institutions in San Francisco Bay Area for Blockchain use cases pertaining to different business areas. XinFin is working towards frictionless adoption of its technology and will leave no stones unturned to elevate the awareness about global trade and finance DAPPs like tradefinex.org built over their hybrid blockchain network. XDC Wallet for enterprises and remittance for institutions are most selling uses cases that support local FIAT currency and are compliant with local laws. Sharing the details about collaboration, Alan Lai, Blockchain Developer at UC Berkeley said, After speaking to dynamic XinFin Team members and looking at future bright potential of XDC hybrid blockchain, I am eager to work with them to advance the hybrid blockchain. This will be a great opportunity for not only me, but everyone in the bay area to cooperate on a revolutionary technology. The XDC protocol will significantly influence the blockchain field and I am exhilarated to be in the forefront of its development. An enthusiastic, Kartikeya Bhargava, Senior Blockchain Developer for XinFin said, It is a great coalition, considering the qualitative talent that UC Berkeley and SF bay area brings on table, which will immensely contribute to the forthcoming technological developments and global adoption of the XDC protocol and blockchain applications. It will be exciting to see the innovative solutions put forth by the new talent. David Freuden, Blockchain Advisor and Consultant at XinFin said, Its great to see XinFin continuing to kick big goals in every country they launch in. Now in North America they have invited students at UC Berkeley to do what they do best, innovate without boundaries on the XinFin Hybrid blockchain. About XinFin XinFin is a global open source Hybrid Blockchain protocol/platform with independent community contributors comprising of long term backers, network utility and tech developers that help build various enterprise use cases. XinFin Network[XDCE] (https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/xinfin-network/) is a utility network that lets enterprises deploy real world applications on Hybrid Blockchain Protocol in a conducive, compliant and regulation friendly environment for diverse use cases in trade, finance, remittance, supply chain, healthcare and other industrial areas to improve business efficiency. XinFin's hybrid blockchain network provides viability to host enterprise sub networks on a permissioned and scalable environment for private transactions. The XDC Dev Environment encourages developers to build DAPPs using smart contracts. XDCE is listed on CoinMarketCap which promotes and provides a comparative study of tokens. Follow XinFin on Twitter (@XinfinF), on Telegram (https://t.me/xinfintalk), on Slack (https://xinfin-public.slack.com/) or contribute on their GitHub (https://github.com/XinFinorg) channel. About UC Berkeley, USA The University of California, Berkeley is a public research university in Berkeley, California. Founded in 1868, Berkeley is the flagship institution of the ten research universities affiliated with the University of California system. It is often ranked as a top-ten university in the world and the top public university in the United States. Reach out to them on Facebook and Medium. Exotics By Cedrick Im honored to have introduced our new line of snake bottom heels and boots to some of the most influential tastemakers in Hollywood, said designer Cedrick M. New luxury shoe brand, Exotics By Cedrick, debuted at the Secret Room Events 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards gift suite in honor of the Nominees on Thursday, June 14th, at InterContinental Century City in Los Angeles, California. The Tampa-based brand, known for its U.S. design patent for high heel outsoles swathed in leather snakeskin and encrusted with Swarovski crystals, was on full display at the exclusive luxury event; and interacted with media, celebrities, stylists and other notable guests. To commemorate June as national Pride month, the high-end brand also announced its ongoing philanthropic campaign to donate a percentage of sales to support HIV/AIDS research and prevention awareness. For more information visit the new website and enter to receive a 20% discount on future purchases: http://exoticsbycedrick.com. During the exclusive style and gifting lounge sponsored by 23andMe.com, Bubblelingo, and Welchs among others, Exotics By Cedricks one-of-a-kind heels were featured on a 12-foot display covered in blush rosette fabric with a 4-foot Eiffel tower dipped in gold sparkle. Notable attendees included actors and actresses from blockbuster movies and hit television series such as the top-grossing film Black Panther, along with NBCs Law & Order, ABCs Modern Family, the CWs Jane the Virgin, Showtimes Homeland, and FXs Atlanta, among others. Prominent guests received over $20K in Exotics By Cedrick gift certificates and lifestyle products. The energy at the Secret Room Events gifting suite was electric and Im honored to have introduced our new line of snake bottom heels and boots to some of the most influential tastemakers in Hollywood, said designer Cedrick M. Its such an awesome experience to engage with people that you watch on television and hear them talk about how much they love something that youve created. The spring 2018 Exotics by Cedrick collection includes: Rivet: Sassy leather pumps with 5-inch heel and one-inch platform; patent signature snakeskin outsole with Swarovski Crystals. Available in Black. Donatella: Sleek leather pumps with 5-inch heel and a single rose emblazoned on the back; patent signature snakeskin outsole with Swarovski Crystals. Available in Red. Regal Rachel: Elegant leather pumps with 5-inch heel; patent signature snakeskin outsole with Swarovski Crystals. Available in white. Majesty Mesh: High quality leather 4.5-inch heel designed to perfectly accompany a pencil skirt; patent signature snakeskin outsole with Swarovski Crystals. Available in Black. Sarae: Distinctively crafted leather 5.5-inch boot; patent signature snakeskin outsole with Swarovski Crystals. Available in Smoke Grey. To celebrate June as national Pride month, the high-end shoe brand announced its advocacy for the LGBTQ community with an ongoing campaign to donate three percent of all sales supporting HIV/AIDS research, sexual health awareness initiatives, and STD prevention education. Throughout the years, Ive witnessed loved ones and friends deal with a life-altering challenge that could have been prevented, said Cedrick M. The LGBTQ community has made phenomenal progress over the years and will continue to thrive, but it is necessary to openly support HIV research and prevention awareness because of the disproportionate education provided on the topic. Our goal is to be a life-long ally to our LGBTQ sisters and brothers. Follow Exotics By Cedrick on Social Media: Instagram @exoticsbycedrick; Twitter @EXOTICS2016; Facebook @heelfrenzy. Website: http://exoticsbycedrick.com. ### ABOUT Exotics by Cedrick Exotics by Cedrick is a luxury womenswear shoe brand based in Tampa, Florida. Since inception in 2016, the brand has become best known for its signature patent design featuring a snakeskin outsole encrusted with Swarovski Crystals. Designed by Cedrick M., Exotics By Cedrick donates a percentage of sales to HIV/AIDS awareness and research. Website: http://exoticsbycedrick.com. The fact that student loan repayment assistance and tuition assistance rank so prominently on both lists may be explained by the fact that millennials a generation burdened with student loan debt now account for more than a third of the American labor force. If there is one word to describe the US economy right now, it is bullish. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.8% in May, the lowest level since 2000. Also for the first time since 2000, there are more job openings than unemployed workers to fill them. To attract and retain top talent, many employers have started to roll out more modern, impressive benefits packages. Job platform Joblift analyzed all 48,464,371 online US job postings from the last year to see which percentage offer the benefits that have been deemed most desirable by US workers, defined by this study published in the Harvard Business Review. Young Americans are poised to benefit from a steady monthly increase in jobs promising tuition and student loan repayment assistance. However, despite a high demand for this specific benefit, job listings offering paid time off are, on average, steadily declining. Jobs Offering Option to Work at Home Outrank Those Offering Full Health Coverage 12 to 1 According to the study, the five most important workplace benefits to workers are good health coverage, flexible working hours, vacation time, the option to work from home, and an unlimited vacation policy. Demand, however, is incongruous with what employers are currently offering. Of the workplace perks listed in the study, these are the five most commonly offered in job postings in terms of total listings: the option to work from home (1,499,232), tuition assistance (634,480), student loan repayment assistance (141,212), comprehensive health coverage (125,535) and paid parental leave (37,037). Employers Are 8 Times More Likely to Offer Company Retreats Than Paid Parental Leave However, job listings offering the following benefits are currently increasing at the fastest monthly rate: companywide retreats (32%), paid parental leave (4%), the option to work from home (3%), tuition assistance (2%) and student loan repayment assistance (2%). For perspective, the total number of job postings in the US has increased at an average monthly rate of 1% over the period of the last year. The fact that student loan repayment assistance and tuition assistance rank so prominently on both lists may be explained by the fact that millennials a generation burdened with student loan debt now account for more than a third of the American labor force. Paid Time Off: 80% of Workers Want It, 11% of Postings Offer It Interestingly, over the last 12 months there has been an average monthly decline in the number of job postings offering three of the workplace benefits that American workers consider to be most important: paid time off (-2%), flexible working hours (-4%) and unlimited vacation (-4%). Only 5,386,236 job listings from the last year offered paid time off. That is 11% of all listings. However, according to the study published in the Harvard Business Review, 80% of workers considered more paid vacation to be an attractive perk. As companies continue to think of new and clever ways to retain their workforces, the data suggests that more paid vacation should be taken into consideration About Joblift Joblift is a job search platform providing candidates with the most intuitive and frictionless experience during the recruiting process. Joblift applies latest machine learning techniques and big data-based algorithms to offer the optimal match between employer and job seeker. Currently active in the US, the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, Joblift cooperates with over 4,000 partners to incorporate over 10 million vacancies on our platform. Joblift is a highly energetic and entrepreneurial team led by the experienced founders Lukas Erlebach (CEO) and Alexander Rausch (COO) who most recently held C-Level positions at companies such as Zalando and Amorelie. Sealing the deal with a handshake, Preston Hendrix, President of Micromeritics (L) and Tim Freeman, Managing Director of Freeman Technology celebrates Micromeritics acquisition of the UK-based firm a The acquisition of Freeman Technology is very strategic to the growth of Micromeritics, said Preston Hendrix, President of Micromeritics. Micromeritics Instrument Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of premium products for advanced materials characterization, today announced the acquisition of Freeman Technology. Freeman Technology specializes in providing instruments for the measurement of powder flow properties and other behavioral properties of powders. Freeman Technology, located in Tewkesbury, UK, manufactures instruments which deliver data to assist its customers in maximizing process and product understanding, accelerating R&D toward formulation and commercialization as well as supporting the optimization of powder processes. The acquisition of Freeman Technology is very strategic to the growth of Micromeritics, said Preston Hendrix, President of Micromeritics. Not only does it expand our portfolio of products and solutions in high-growth market segments where we are already active and have a large, global base of customers, but Freeman Technologys strong scientific and applications focus is very much in line with the pre- and post-sales support customers have come to expect from Micromeritics. Tim Freeman, Managing Director of Freeman Technology added, We are excited about joining forces with and becoming a Micromeritics company, as they have penetration in complementary segments, global market coverage and the infrastructure to help us to accelerate the growth we have established in our business since 1995. About Micromeritics Micromeritics Instruments Corporation, a privately held company headquartered in Norcross, Georgia USA, is a leading global provider of high-quality scientific instrumentation for material characterization. In business for over 55 years, Micromeritics offerings include techniques for characterization of density/volume, surface area and porosity, physical and chemical adsorption, size and shape of particles, porous materials and powders. In addition to designing, building and selling its own instrumentation, Micromeritics, under its Particulate Systems brand, also offers complimentary OEM and private label instruments through the Micromeritics global sales channel and distributor partners. Micromeritics also operates fee-for-service testing, certification and methods development laboratories under the Particle Testing Authority and Porotechnology brands in Asia (Shanghai, China); the Americas (Norcross, GA / Kingwood, TX USA); and Europe (Aachen, Germany). For additional information go to http://www.micromeritics.com About Freeman Technology Corporation Freeman Technology Corporation, Ltd. was founded in 1989 as a developer of automated testing systems for materials characterization and has focused exclusively on powders since the late 1990s. The companys R&D, manufacturing and commercial headquarters are in Gloucestershire, UK, with operations in China, Germany, Japan and the USA, and distribution partners in key global territories. In 2007 the company received the Queens Award for Enterprise in Innovation and in 2012 the Queens Award for Enterprise in International Trade. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Many people believe you cant recover from bad credit, when, in fact, you can, and its more attainable than most people think. On Wednesday, June 20, Working Credit NFP, a non-profit organization that enables employers to provide their employees with the tools and information needed to improve their credit score and advance their financial circumstances through credit building counseling and education, is presenting at SHRM18, the largest human resources conference and exposition in the country at McCormick Place. For the nearly 21% of Americans who have low credit scores to the 19% who have no FICO credit score, Working Credit offers an employer-based path to building credit and better overall financial health. This benefit is even more impactful in low-income neighborhoods where 45% of adults have no credit and an additional 38% have low credit scores. Working Credit will present the results of its partnership with Harvard University Campus Services. Key results included the number of employees with prime FICO scores (> 660) increasing by 39%. This translates to the ability for employees to qualify for a mortgage, avoid predatory car loan rates and terms, and increasing their ability to afford reliable transportation and to live closer to work. The number of employees with at least $1,000 available on credit card(s) also increased by 45%, which means employees can weather a financial shock, like an unexpected car repair or medical emergency. For many employees, especially lower-wage employees, one unexpected expense can cascade into eviction, repossession or other life-changing situations. By tracking employees who have available credit indicates an employee population that is financially healthier and able to recover from a financial shock. Working Credit, a low-cost, high-impact employee benefit, teaches individuals best practices for establishing and increasing their credit score, and how to use a good score to reduce expenses inflated by either poor credit or lack of credit. Having a poor credit score or no credit score means that individuals are subject to high rates on loans, poor quality housing, and more. Many people believe you cant recover from bad credit, when, in fact, you can, and its more attainable than most people think, said Co-Founder and CEO, Ricki Granetz Lowitz. Were so proud of the success from our work with Harvard University Campus Services and are excited to present at one of the most important conferences in the human resources industry. We know that improving financial health can improve the quality of life for so many people. Your credit score has nothing do with your income or whether you own a home, its all about what credit products you use and how well you manage them. In fact, 61% of participants increase their credit score within the first six months. Offering to pilot Working Credit to the Universitys Dining Services staff was a great decision, said Susan Simon, Senior Human Resources Consultant at Harvard University. We have offered more traditional budgeting and saving programs that were not been nearly as effective. We knew we had made the right decision when more than 70% of those attending the workshop signed up for the program, and then came to our office to thank us for providing it. Through its partnerships with employers, Working Credit has seen significant improvements in employees, especially lower wage employees, generating prime FICO scores, and subsequently using those scores to access good rates and terms on financial products, better quality rental housing and quality of mortgages. Everyone benefits from good credit. We started Working Credit because we saw a gap in employees financial health and being able to afford necessary items of everyday life, much less save for the future, said Co-Founder and President, Amanda Carney. Our program allows participants to recognize that they have agency and can take control of this critical part of their financial lives, and were thrilled to present our findings with Harvard University Campus Services at the SHRM conference to illustrate the important impact it can have. Working Credit will present at the SHRM Conference from 11:30am 12:45pm as part of the Beyond the next Paycheck: Financial Wellness for Young Workers panel. About Working Credit NFP Working Credit NFP is a low-cost, high-impact employee benefit for employers that want to provide their employees with the tools and information needed to advance their financial circumstances. Working Credit has designed a flexible, scalable employee benefit to help working families build and sustain strong credit scores and then use credit improvements to reduce expenses inflated by poor credit or no credit. A non-profit organization, Working Credit serves employers in the corporate, nonprofit, or public sectors. The addition of Carol to the team will help us maximize the potential of all employees and remain focused on nurturing our culture as we continue to grow. - Jeff Stone, CEO of Compeat Compeat, the only fully integrated restaurant accounting, back office and workforce management software, continues the path of industry leading growth by today announcing Carol Dunnigan as SVP, People & Culture reporting to CEO Jeff Stone. In this new position, Dunnigan will lead the People & Culture team where she is responsible for all facets of human resources and organizational effectiveness. The functions she will oversee include talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, employee relations, labor relations, employee communications, HR policies and performance management. I cant imagine joining a better leadership team, states Dunnigan. The quality of leaders is reflected in the standard they set for themselves. I look forward to working with the Compeat team and continuing to cultivate a culture where the employees can be innovative, creative and challenged. The Compeat team is a family, says Jeff Stone, CEO. We operate on a set of shared core values that include people, appreciation, passion, integrity and empathy. The addition of Carol to the team will help us maximize the potential of all employees and remain focused on nurturing our culture as we continue to grow. Prior to joining Compeat, Dunnigan served most recently as Vice President, People & Culture for Revionics, a SaaS-based pricing, promotion, markdown and space solutions company for retailers, where the team was recognized as a Top Workplace in Austin. Before joining Revionics, she held the position of VP, Human Resources for Tilera, a semiconductor start-up company based in San Jose, CA. Dunnigan spent the majority of her career at Motorolas Semiconductor Sector where she held a variety of positions in human resources, including an overseas assignment in East Kilbride, Scotland. Dunnigan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Arizona State University. She is an active member of the Society of Human Resources Management, the Austin HR Technology Round Table, and several networking meet-up groups throughout Austin. She resides in the Texas hill country town of Dripping Springs with her husband, daughter and mother. A self-proclaimed foodie, Dunnigan spends her time outside of work trying out the variety of amazing Austin-area restaurants. Even though most businesses reach profitability in their first four years, our research shows businesses still encounter unique opportunities or challenges that require extra capital, such as bridging cash-flow gaps, making strategic purchases, increasing marketing spend or opening new locations. Kabbage, Inc., a global financial services, technology and data platform serving small businesses, released survey data that uncovers insights from 500 established small businesses and the key moments that triggered their growth. The results offer entrepreneurs applicable lessons from experienced business owners with proven companies, including business strategies, investments, financing needs, operating costs and even their regrets. In collaboration with leading small business research firm Bredin, Kabbage polled 500 small business owners in nearly every industry across America and in various life stages of business. The sample represents businesses more than 20 years old (24 percent), 10 to 19 (29 percent), 5 to 9 (29 percent), and 1 to 4 (15 percent). More than half earned nearly $1 million to more than $5 million in revenue in 2017. The study provides actionable advice for growing companies, finding: The First Four Years Are Critical for Success According to the survey, 84 percent of established business owners said they reached profitability within the first four years of business, with a significant portion (68 percent) attaining profitability in the first year. Only 8 percent reached profitability after their fifth year in business, giving strong indication that the first four years are truly make-or-break years for any new company. SMBs Regret Not Investing in Marketing Sooner Business owners rank finding new customers as their number one challenge overtime, significantly outweighing cash flow and competition concerns. Consequently, they rank deploying new marketing strategies to acquire future customers as their top focus to ensure business growth. However, marketing is the smallest annual expenditures (as low as 5 percent per year), as its consistently and heavily outweighed by payroll, rent, equipment purchases and technology investments. The data shows responders wish they invested at least two- to nearly five-times more dollars in marketing each year. At each stage of business, marketing spend represented: 7 percent of all costs in their first year; they wish they spent 28 percent 13 percent between years 1 and 4; they wish they spent 25 percent 7 percent between years 5 and 9; they wish they spent 16 percent 5 percent between years 10 and 19; they wish they spent 23 percent 11 percent after 20 years; they wish they spent 23 percent The Cost of Doing Business Responders stated they needed to access as much as $10 million of working capital during certain phases of their business to support growth, with the majority in need of less than $500,000. However, there is a disconnect between the amount of capital a business anticipates using in the future versus the amount established businesses actually borrow: First year: 38 percent accessed capital versus 27 percent dont think theyll need it Years 1 to 4: 29 percent versus 57 percent Years 5 to 9: 26 percent versus 50 percent Years 10 to 19: 17 percent versus 74 percent Years 20-plus: 14 percent versus 84 percent Nearly 20 percent of responders said they know exactly what they need to do to grow their business, they just need more capital to do it, said Kabbage Chief Revenue Officer Victoria Treyger. Even though most businesses reach profitability in their first four years, our research shows businesses still encounter unique opportunities or challenges that require extra capital, such as bridging cash-flow gaps, making strategic purchases, increasing marketing spend or opening new locations. About Kabbage Kabbage Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, has pioneered a financial services data and technology platform to provide automated funding to small businesses in minutes. Kabbage leverages data generated through business activity such as accounting data, online sales, shipping and dozens of other sources to understand performance and deliver fast, flexible funding in real time. Kabbage is funded and backed by leading investors, including SoftBank Group Corp., BlueRun Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Thomvest Ventures, SoftBank Capital, Reverence Capital Partners, the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, ING, Santander InnoVentures, Scotiabank and TCW/Craton. All Kabbage U.S.-based loans are issued by Celtic Bank, a Utah-Chartered Industrial Bank, Member FDIC. For more information, please visit http://www.kabbage.com. Millennials would trade brunch for travel, according to a new study commissioned by HomeAway a site for renting beach houses, cabins, condos and more worldwide. The Ipsos poll found that 93 percent of millennials value trips with friends over bottomless mimosas and avocado toast. For its Brunch Index, HomeAway ran the numbers to see exactly how many brunches someone would have to give up for a weekend stay in hot destinations like Palm Springs, Nashville and the Hamptons. Skip two brunches, book a weekend in: Breckenridge, Colo. ($70 per person) Pocono Mountains, Pa. ($71 per person) Squaw Valley, Calif. ($72 per person) Bend, Ore. ($84 per person) Skip three brunches, book a weekend in: Savannah, Ga. ($92 per person) Galveston, Texas ($100 per person) Palm Springs, Calif. ($109 per person) Nashville, Tenn. ($111 per person) Austin, Texas ($114 per person) Skip four brunches, book a weekend in: San Diego ($121 per person) Charleston, S.C. ($125 per person) Skip seven brunches, book a weekend in: The Hamptons, N.Y. ($217 per person) The HomeAway Brunch Index compares the average cost of brunch ($34) with the average per person cost of renting a vacation home for a weekend stay in various destinations. Why a weekend away? The same survey revealed that nearly half (46 percent) of millennials typically spend two to three nights away with friends. And millennials are choosing to travel with friends over family: 72 percent plan to vacation with friends in the next 12 months, while only 48 percent plan to vacation with family. A vacation with your besties might sound out of reach, but we wanted to do the math to show that small swaps and the right accommodation can make it surprisingly affordable, said Melanie Fish, HomeAways travel expert. HomeAway vacation homes are half the cost for twice the space of a hotel room, and come with amenities like pools, hot tubs, game rooms and grills, making them ideal for groups of friends looking to take a trip together. So skip a brunch, pick a place and start making memories. To start planning your group getaway, visit http://www.HomeAway.com/getaways. About the Study These are the findings from an Ipsos poll conducted June 5 14, 2018 on behalf of HomeAway. For the survey, a sample of 1,087 adults ages 18 - 34 from the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii was interviewed online, in English. To qualify for the survey, respondents had to have gone on vacation with friends in the past year and/or be planning to go on vacation with friends in the next 12 months. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of 3.4 percentage points for all respondents surveyed. About HomeAway HomeAway, based in Austin, Texas, is a leading online marketplace for the vacation rental industry with sites representing more than 2 million unique places to stay in 190 countries, and is a part of the Expedia Group family of brands. For more information about HomeAway, please visit http://www.homeaway.com. 2018 HomeAway. All rights reserved. HomeAway and the HomeAway logo are trademarks of HomeAway. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners Through a strategic partnership with ZayZoon, a responsible financing solution, independent contractors can access their settlements ahead of schedule for a nominal fee. Integrating with ZayZoon to offer early settlement funds access was a natural fit for us and for our customers. This is just one of several upcoming innovative products and services we will be offering that support our vision of work without limits, said Drake Pruitt, CEO of Openforce. Openforce, provider of the most widely adopted platform for onboarding, settlement and risk management solutions for the transportation and growing on-demand economy, has launched a new partnership designed to give independent contractors cost-effective, early-access settlement funds. Through a strategic partnership with ZayZoon, a responsible financing solution, independent contractors can access their settlements ahead of schedule for a nominal fee. Integrated with Openforces industry-leading IC Pay settlement solution, the program enables contractors to escape the exorbitant rates common to the payday lending industry. For example in California, where the interest cost of a $200-payday loan can be as much as 30 dollars or more, the cost of the program offered through Openforce and ZayZoon is just 5 dollars for that same $200. We have built out the most powerful portfolio of independent contracting management solutions, including settlement processing of more than $1.5 Billion last year, and we are committed to delivering products that help contracting companies and independent contract workers build sustainable and profitable businesses, said Drake Pruitt, CEO of Openforce. Integrating with ZayZoon to offer early settlement funds access was a natural fit for us and for our customers. This is just one of several upcoming innovative products and services we will be offering that support our vision of work without limits. Available to Openforce members using IC Pay, this benefit is designed to help contractors keep their independent businesses running while avoiding credit card advances, insufficient funds fees, payday lending practices and high debt loads. For contracting companies, this program eliminates the administrative work and risk of providing early settlement services directly. As part of Openforces Member Benefits program, contractors using IC Pay can sign up with ZayZoon and receive early settlement transfers. Signup takes less than a minute, and contractors can immediately see how much money they are able to access, and have the selected amount transferred into their bank account on the same day. The contracting company is not involved in providing early access to funds. Companies new to IC Pay, and in need of a flexible payment platform for on-demand workforces that helps combat predatory lenders and overdraft fees, are encouraged to visit http://www.oforce.com/ICpay or email sales@oforce.com for more information. About Openforce Openforce is the leader in technology-driven services that reduce operating costs and mitigate compliance risk for companies using independent contractors. Openforce frees contracting companies from the burden of onboarding, contracting, and settlement processing, while helping contractors build their business. Our cloud-based applications help businesses achieve more sustainable, profitable growth by removing financial, operational, and compliance barriers to getting business done. Openforce is a portfolio company of Boston-based private equity firm Riverside Partners. Learn more at http://www.oforce.com. About ZayZoon ZayZoon is a socially responsible Financial Technology company that was created to end predatory lending. We partner and integrate with payroll companies in Canada and the US to provide all workforces with access to their pay on-demand. This is important because 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck forcing them into difficult situations between banks that earn over $30B in overdraft fees and predatory lenders that charge upwards of 600% interest. ZayZoons on-demand access gives people control over their paycheck, reduces financial stress and prevents the debt spiral caused by predatory products. We are excited that Dr. Stiegel has joined Wilson Dermatology. His expertise and top-notch training are invaluable additions to our practice. QualDerm Partners, a company that creates market-leading dermatology practice partnerships through affiliations and de novo development, announced today that Evan Stiegel, MD has joined its affiliated practice Wilson Dermatology Clinic. Wilson Dermatology is located in Wilson, NC. Dr. Stiegel completed a Micrographic Surgery and Cutaneous Oncology Fellowship at Zitelli & Brodland P.C., a Pittsburgh, PA-based Mohs surgery and surgical dermatology practice. He also completed both a medical internship and a dermatology residency at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio. Dr. Stiegel served as the Chief Quality Officer of the Cleveland Clinic Department of Dermatology and was also the co-chair of the Nursing Staff Education Committee for the department. Wilson Dermatology Clinic has a 30-year track record of providing quality care and a good patient experience, says Dr. Stiegel. I look forward to helping the practice expand patients access to high-quality dermatological and skin cancer care to meet the regions growing needs. Last year, Dr. Stiegel was recognized as the Gold Medal Award winner at the Cleveland Clinic Department of Dermatologys 37th Annual Research Day for his work on the prognostic value of sentinel lymph node biopsy according to Breslow thickness for cutaneous melanoma. He has co-authored several publications and lectured nationwide. We are excited that Dr. Stiegel has joined our practice, says David W. Corbett, DO, of Wilson Dermatology. His expertise and top-notch training are invaluable additions to our practice. Dr. Stiegel will provide general dermatology as well as skin cancer care, including Mohs surgery. Patients can schedule an appointment with Dr. Stiegel by calling Wilson Dermatology Clinic at 252.291.5600. About QualDerm Partners QualDerm Partners helps top-tier dermatologists position their practices for sustainable growth and profitability. The company creates market-leading practice partnerships through affiliations and de novo development. QualDerm provides the management support, capital, and guidance for growth. Under QualDerms True Partnership(SM) model, physicians are partners, not employees, and retain their own practice brand. This doctor-driven model is designed to maintain physicians clinical autonomy and ensure the highest-quality patient care. QualDerm offers physicians tailored partnership structures to meet their needs, as well as the option to sell their practices. For more information, visit http://www.QualDerm.com. About Wilson Dermatology Clinic Wilson Dermatology Clinic has served the Eastern North Carolina region for more than 30 years. The practice, an affiliate of The Skin Surgery Center, provides general dermatology as well as advanced skin cancer treatment. The practices staff includes a general dermatologist, a Fellowship-trained Mohs surgeon, a physician assistant, and a nurse practitioner. For more information, visit http://www.skinsurgerycenter.net/locations/wilson-dermatology. Contacts: Andy Mitzen QualDerm Partners Chief Development Officer andy.mitzen@qualderm.com 615.250.6756 Tamara Hunt QualDerm Partners Regional Vice President tamara.hunt@qualderm.com 336.607.8003 Media Contact: Nikki Cary 6 Columns Marketing Group nikki@6Columns.com 615.500.2924 Nate Snyder, Ovation Fertility CEO We are excited to collaborate with The Institute for Reproductive Health. The larger we become, the more force we have supporting our business model, which will magnify our ability to advance our mission to reduce the average cost of a live birth through more efficient and effective care. Ovation Fertility is proud to announce a partnership with the Institute for Reproductive Health in Cincinnati, OH, in which the Institute for Reproductive Health will merge its laboratory with Ovation Fertility. Ovation Fertility Cincinnati allows Ovation Fertility to expand its growing nationwide laboratory network into the Midwest. The partnership also supports Ovation Fertilitys affiliated physicians in their quest to collaborate in the field of reproductive medicine with the addition of Sherif Awadalla, M.D., Michael Scheiber, M.D., M.P.H., and Thomas Burwinkel, M.D., M.B.A. The Institute for Reproductive Health has been a premier source for andrology and embryology laboratory services in the Midwest since 2001. Its laboratory director, Erica Behnke, Ph.D., HCLD, who is the acting Commissioner for the Reproductive Laboratory Accreditation Program for the College of American Pathologists (CAP), and her team of laboratory professionals plan to continue this tradition of excellence as Ovation Fertility Cincinnati. According to Dr. Behnke, Our team is very excited to join Ovation Fertility. The partnership makes sense because the Institute for Reproductive Health and Ovation Fertility share a commitment to using best practices and the latest assisted reproductive technology (ART) to help men and women grow their families - one healthy baby at a time. A pioneer in IVF laboratory services that continues to lead the way For nearly two decades, the Institute for Reproductive Health has provided leading-edge laboratory procedures in reproductive medicine, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), egg freezing and sperm banking. We believe it is important to bring our patients the most-effective fertility treatments, which is why our team has always offered the latest procedures in our IVF laboratory, Dr. Behnke explains. This commitment to helping men and women build families with help from the latest assisted reproductive technology is directly in line with Ovation Fertilitys goals. According to Nate Snyder, chief executive officer of Ovation Fertility, We are excited to collaborate with the team of scientists in Cincinnati and partner with Drs. Awadalla, Burwinkel and Scheiber. The larger we become, the more force we have supporting our business model, which will magnify our ability to advance our mission to reduce the average cost of a live birth through more efficient and effective care Ovation Fertility Cincinnati is the second acquisition in six months with additional partnerships to be announced shortly. Adding Cincinnati to our growing list of laboratories demonstrates our business model is attractive to physicians and scientists looking to participate in the next generation of fertility care. Snyder says. About Ovation Fertility Ovation Fertility is a national network of reproductive endocrinologists and scientific thought leaders focused on reducing the cost of live birth through more efficient and effective fertility care. Ovation Fertilitys IVF and genetics laboratories and affiliated practices work collaboratively to raise the bar with state-of-the-art, evidence-based fertility services that give hopeful parents the best chance of a successful pregnancy. Physicians partner with Ovation Fertility to offer their patients advanced preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) and chromosomal structural rearrangements (PGT-SR). Ovation Fertility also provides donor eggs that come with the worlds first Euploid Embryo Guarantee, as well as secure frozen egg, embryo and sperm storage; consultative services to help IVF laboratories improve quality and performance; and fertility preservation programs that enable more women to freeze their eggs and build future families. Learn more about Ovation Fertilitys vision of a world without infertility at http://www.OvationFertility.com. About the Institute for Reproductive Health The Institute for Reproductive Health provides high-quality care in the field of reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Since 2001, the fertility specialists and laboratory professionals in the practice have utilized the latest assisted reproductive technology (ART) to deliver individualized and highly effective fertility care in an environment that is warm and caring. Learn more about the Institute for Reproductive Health and its mission to make dreams of parenthood come true at http://www.CincinnatiFertility.com. Donald comes to us with very deep experience in the telecom industry and especially strong relationships in the Texas and Southwestern markets. AireSpring, award-winning provider of cloud communications and managed connectivity solutions, is pleased to announce the addition of Donald McMahon to its Channel Sales team as Channel Manager for Texas and the Southwest region. Donald, an experienced telecom professional, brings with him a deep history of channel sales and team-building. Most recently, he was a channel manager at Alpheus Communications where he supported the Dallas/Ft. Worth market. His previous experience includes sales management positions with key telecom companies including XO Communications (A Verizon Company) and Birch Communications. Donald comes to us with very deep experience in the telecom industry and especially strong relationships in the Texas and Southwestern markets, stated Ron McNab, AireSpring Senior Vice President of Channel Sales. We need just his type of seasoned, committed channel manager on the ground to facilitate the AireSpring white glove concierge service and support that our partners enjoy and expect from us. Working from his location in Dallas, TX, Don is strategically positioned to identify and welcome in new partners in a fast-growing market where AireSpring is set to expand service and coverage. His brand of relationship-building expertise and telecom knowledge will be a perfect complement to AireSprings 100% channel focused strategy and increasingly important presence in this region. About AireSpring Founded in 2001, AireSpring is an award-winning provider of cloud communications and managed connectivity solutions serving thousands of businesses nationwide. AireSpring provides fully managed and connected end-to-end, next-generation solutions for multi-location enterprise customers, including SD-WAN, AirePBX Cloud Business Phone System, SIP Trunking, MPLS, Disaster Recovery, Managed Security, and Business Internet. AireSprings solutions are offered through a diversified network of channel partners that includes distributors, master agents, managed service providers (MSPs), and value added resellers (VARs). AireSprings services are delivered over its revolutionary nationwide MPLS Mesh network, providing customers a fully integrated solution from a single vendor. AireSpring has received numerous industry awards for Next-Gen Solution Provider, Top Midmarket Vendor Executive, Product of the Year, Best Telecom Deal, Best in Show, and Top Channel Program. AireSpring is privately held, diversified, debt-free, and renowned in the industry for delivering a broad range of innovative cloud communications and connectivity solutions at competitive rates. To find product information or to become an AireSpring partner or agent, please visit http://www.airespring.com or contact us at 888-389-2899. Genetec Logo Genetec is well aligned to address and cultivate market demands for growth and penetration in APAC Genetec Inc. (Genetec), a leading provider of open architecture security and public safety solutions today announced new appointments to its growing Asia/Pacific (APAC) and Australia /New Zealand (ANZ) regions. Mr. Philippe Ouimette is taking an expanded role as Director of Strategic Partnerships, and Mr. Tiago Ferreira joins Genetec as Business Development Manager in ANZ. With these two new appointments in APAC and ANZ, Genetec is addressing the growing demand for its open-architecture, unified physical IP security solutions. After serving as country manager for the ANZ /Oceania region, Philippe Ouimette is taking on broader responsibilities to develop and lead new strategic commercial ventures in APAC. Mr. Ouimette will oversee new business alliances and technology partnerships across all APAC regions, and other parts of the world, to expand the Genetec vision of delivering enterprise-grade unified security solutions. Mr. Tiago Ferreira joins Genetec in the ANZ region bringing 18 years of extensive operational experience from working in law enforcement at both national and international levels. Mr. Ferreira has years of experience in coordinating a whole-of-government approach in leading investigations related to human trafficking, cybercrimes, child protection, counter-terrorism, Interpol and community crime prevention. In his role, Mr. Ferreira is working closely with ANZ municipalities and government organizations to cultivate and win strategic accounts, help guide integrators and end-users to build a world-class unified security system, and grow partner relationships in ANZ. We are experiencing aggressive growth in the APAC region, and by expanding regional strategic partnership responsibilities for Philippe Ouimette and adding Tiago Ferreira as business development manager to our ANZ region, we are well aligned to address and cultivate market demands for growth and penetration in APAC, said Daniel Lee, Managing Director for APAC. Genetec will attend ASIAL Conference 2018 in Melbourne Australia, July 25-27th on Stand D-8. All attendees are invited to schedule an appointment to meet Philippe Ouimette and Tiago Ferreira, and discuss current trends and issues in physical IP security, and get demonstrations of the latest open-architecture security innovations from Genetec. https://www.genetec.com/ About Genetec Genetec Inc. is an innovative technology company with a broad solutions portfolio that encompasses security, intelligence, and operations. The companys flagship product, Security Center, is an open-architecture platform that unifies IP-based video surveillance, access control, automatic license plate recognition (ALPR), communications, and analytics. Genetec also develops cloud-based solutions and services designed to improve security, and contribute new levels of operational intelligence for governments, enterprises, transport, and the communities in which we live. Founded in 1997, and headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Genetec serves its global customers via an extensive network of resellers, integrators, certified channel partners, and consultants in over 80 countries. For more information about Genetec, visit: http://www.genetec.com Genetec Inc., 2018. Genetec and the Genetec logo are trademarks of Genetec Inc. and may be registered or pending registration in several jurisdictions. Other trademarks used in this document may be trademarks of the manufacturers or vendors of the respective product. Press Contacts: APAC Sharon Chong Genetec Inc. APAC schong@genetec.com Tel: +65 976 391 36 Learn more about CoolIT's reliable Direct Liquid Cooling technology at ISC18, booth F-940 As new advancements in HPC and AI continue to push computational boundaries, data center operators are realizing liquid cooling is, in many cases, the only answer." CoolIT Systems (CoolIT), the global leader in energy efficient liquid cooling solutions, returns to the highly-anticipated ISC High Performance (ISC18) in Frankfurt, Germany, from June 25-27 with its latest Rack DCLC innovations for HPC, Cloud and AI data centers and servers. As the leading liquid cooling integration partner for OEM server manufacturers, CoolIT will showcase liquid-enabled servers from Intel, Dell EMC and HPE. Combined with the broadest range of Coolant Distribution Units, CoolIT and their OEM partners are delivering the most complete and robust liquid cooling solutions to the HPC market. Readily Available Liquid Cooled Servers CoolIT OEM solutions being shown at booth F-940 include: Intel Buchanan Pass CoolIT is pleased to announce a liquid cooling solution compatible with the Intel Buchanan Pass server, capable of 86% heat capture with coldplates for the dual processors, voltage regulators, and memory. Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 this liquid-enabled server will be on display at the Dell EMC booth (C-1210) and CoolIT booth (F-940). With factory-installed liquid cooling, this server pairs with CoolITs stainless steel Rack Manifolds and Coolant Distributions Units specifically for high performance and hyperscale workloads. HPE Apollo 2000 System optimized with Rack DCLC to significantly enhance overall data center performance and efficiency. HPE Apollo Trade and Match Server Solution optimized with Closed-Loop DCLC to increase density, decrease TCO and take advantage of enhanced performance to capitalize on High Frequency Trading trends. All-in-One Micro Data Center with Rack DCLC STULZ Micro Data Center, which combines CoolITs Rack DCLC with STULZ world-renowned mission critical air cooling products to create a single enclosed solution for managing high-density compute requirements, will be on display. This 100% contained solution features integrated critical power, rack security and Direct Liquid Cooling connections. Best-in-Class Coolant Distribution Units Making its debut at ISC18 is CoolITs newest and highest capacity Coolant Distribution Unit, Rack DCLC CHx750. This row-based, liquid-to-liquid CDU manages a network of IT cabinets and can support a 750kW heat load with ASHRAE W4 warm water cooling. Additionally, CoolITs liquid-to-liquid CDU showcase will include the 4U Rack DCLC CHx80 that provides 80-100kW cooling capacity with N+1 redundancy to manage the most challenging, high density HPC racks. Two of CoolITs newest liquid-to-air CDUs will also be shown, including: Rack DCLC AHx10, CoolITs new liquid-to-air CDU that delivers the benefits of rack level liquid cooling without the requirement for facility water. The standard 5U system manages 7kW at 25C ambient air temperature and is expandable to 6U or 7U configurations (via the available expansion kit) to scale capacity up to 10kW of heat load. Rack DCLC AHx2, CoolITs new liquid-to-air heat exchanger tool for OEMs and System Integrators for DCLC enabled servers to be thermally tested during the factory burn-in process, without liquid cooling infrastructure. Rack DCLC Command2: Adaptive, Intelligent CDU Control Systems CoolIT will demonstrate its advanced Rack DCLC Command2 Control System for CDUs. Attendees can experience the plug-and-play functionality of Command2, including built-in autonomous controls and sophisticated safety features. Latest Passive Coldplate Designs for CPUs, GPUs and Memory Utilizing patented Split-Flow design, the latest coldplates to support CoolITs passive Rack DCLC platform will be displayed, including; RX1 Passive CPU Coldplate for Intel Xeon Scalable Processor Family (Skylake) RD1 Passive CPU Coldplate for AMD EPYC processors GP2 Passive GPU Coldplate for NVIDIA Tesla V100 and Tesla P100 MX3 Passive Memory Coldplate for maximum serviceability Planning for Liquid Cooling Panel Discussion: ISC HPC Birds-of-a-Feather Session CoolIT has been selected to host a Birds-of-a-Feather session as part of the official ISC18 conference program on Monday 25 June at 1:00pm. CoolIT encourages all attendees to join the "Planning to Liquid Cool Your Next HPC Deployment" presentation in the Pikkolo Room at Messe Frankfurt. Patrick McGinn, VP Product Marketing & Business Development at CoolIT Systems, will chair the session which will include industry panelists from Dell EMC, Intel, Cooltera and Boston GmbH. As new advancements in HPC and AI continue to push computational boundaries, data center operators are realizing liquid cooling is, in many cases, the only answer, said Geoff Lyon, CEO and CTO at CoolIT Systems. Our collaboration with OEM partners such as Dell EMC, HPE, Intel and STULZ provides further evidence that the future of the data center is destined for liquid cooling. To view CoolITs products or learn more about Direct Liquid Cooling technology, visit technical staff at ISC18 booth F-940. About CoolIT Systems CoolIT Systems, Inc. is the world leader in energy efficient Direct Contact Liquid Cooling for the Data Center, Server and Desktop markets. CoolIT's Rack DCLC platform is a modular, rack-based, advanced cooling solution that allows for dramatic increases in rack densities, component performance, and power efficiencies. The technology can be deployed with any server and in any rack making it a truly flexible solution. For more information about CoolIT Systems and its technology, email or visit coolitsystems.com. About ISC High Performance (ISC18) ISC High Performance, formerly known as ISC (the International Supercomputing Conference), is the worlds oldest and Europes foremost HPC conference. Its history dates back over 30 years, when in 1986 the late Hans Werner Meuer, in his capacity as the director of the Mannheim Computing Center and professor for computer science, organized the worlds first Supercomputer Seminar at Mannheim University. In its inaugural year, it drew 81 attendees, mostly German-speaking. Today it is valued by over 3,300 international attendees as a must attend HPC event. Utilis was selected for its innovative, efficient and economical system that detects drinking water leaks from pipes using satellite imagery. Utilis has been chosen as top entry out of 65 projects from 23 different countries in the WaterFirst! Initiative, winning the 10,000 euro prize and recognition at Seeds&Chips, The Global Food Innovation Summit in MiCo, Milano Congressi. Seeds and Chips was presented in collaboration with the National Research Council (CNR), The Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), and UNIDO ITPO Italy (the Italian Investment and Technology Promotion Offices, part of the United Nations Organization for Industrial Development). The international competition was launched to identify the most innovative technology and ideas to solve the problem of sustainable water management, the most urgent challenge confronting the world. Utilis is so very pleased to be honored with this award, and for it to it to be in Italy, where we have provided services for twenty utility customers already, makes it even more special, said Elly Perets, CEO of Utilis after hearing of the outcome. Utilis was previously chosen as one of five finalists who received travel and accommodation costs to facilitate their participation in the Summit by a jury composed of experts and scientific advisors to the Summit from IIT, CNR, and UNIDO ITPO Italy. The overall winner was announced on May 9 at the 2018 Global Food Innovation Summit. Utilis was selected for its innovative, efficient and economical system that detects drinking water leaks from pipes using satellite imagery. It is immensely satisfying to receive such a large and diverse pool of candidates for this competition, said Marco Gualtieri, founder and Chairman of Seeds&Chips. This is a clear signal not only of the level of attention to water on a global level, but more importantly of the profound commitment to meet this challenge with innovative and sustainable solutions. We are proud to award the best project and include them in our ecosystem so that they can effectively contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Along with the cash prize, Utilis received a special award dedicated to and named for Ambassador Giorgio Giacomelli. Giacomelli, a Milanese diplomat who passed away in 2017, devoted his illustrious career to the conservation and management of water resources. In 2006, he was named an honorary member of the UN Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation by then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan. ABOUT UTILIS CORP. Utilis is the only patented technology using satellite microwave technology to penetrate soil in the search for drinking water associated with leaking pipes. As the worlds only drinking water leak detection provider, their algorithm brings remote sensing technologies to the forefront of protecting the earths resources. Headquartered in Rosh HaAyin, Israel, with a United States subsidiary in San Diego, CA, Utilis currently provides innovative solutions for utilities around the globe. For more information on Utilis and to learn more about our technology visit https://utiliscorp.com/ ABOUT SEEDS&CHIPS Seeds&Chips, The Global Food Innovation Summit, founded by entrepreneur Marco Gualtieri, is one of the most significant global events in the field of Food Innovation and is an exceptional showcase entirely dedicated to the promotion of technologically advanced solutions and talent from all over the world. The Summit brings together some of the most influential actors in the world of food innovation to discuss the themes, models and innovations that are changing the way food is produced, transformed, distributed, consumed and experienced. At the Third Edition of Seeds&Chips, President Barack H. Obama delivered the keynote address in his first post-presidency appearance. The Summit welcomed over 300 international speakers, 240 exhibitors and 15,800 visitors, recording 131 million social media impressions in four days. The Fourth Edition of the Seeds&Chips Global Food Innovation Summit took place at MiCo, Milano Congressi, from 7-10 May 2018. The Fourth Edition welcomed another impressive roster, including former US Secretary of State, John Kerry. Companies can begin their digital transformation by eliminating paper with DocLink, Altecs Certified for Microsoft Dynamics (CfMD) document management and process automation solution which enables companies to streamline business processes, improve efficiencies and reduce costs. Altec, a leader in enterprise document management and process automation solutions, today announced its silver sponsorship of CAL Business Solutions CAL Connect 2018 conference tomorrow, June 21, in Bristol, Connecticut. The single-day event will focus on connecting CALs Dynamics GP clients, industry peers, and the CAL team and partners, for learning and networking. Altec will be highlighting DocLink, its industry-leading document management solution. Laura Lechien, Northeast Sales Director for Altec will detail for attendees how DocLink can help them digitally transform their operations and fully utilize and enhance their Dynamics GP solutions to connect their people, processes and data for competitive advantage. Lechien states, In todays content-intensive world, theres more data than ever for companies to manage, but less time to do so. Digital management of documents and processes can improve productivity, and ultimately save companies time and money. Companies can begin their digital transformation by eliminating paper with DocLink, Altecs Certified for Microsoft Dynamics (CfMD) document management and process automation solution which enables companies to streamline business processes, improve efficiencies and reduce costs. I am looking forward to spending time with CALs customers and helping them understand how easy it can be to take everything digital. About Altec Altec is a leading provider of integrated document management and process automation solutions. Its flagship product, DocLink, helps companies connect people, processes and data providing them with the ability to store, search, retrieve and send any document securely. DocLink effectively eliminates the need for paper while automating processes that improve organizational efficiency and reduce costs associated with human errors. With thousands of customers globally, Altec enjoys collaborative partnerships with Sage, Microsoft, Acumatica, Intacct, Key2Act, SAP B1, AmTech, and Epicor that deliver flexible, comprehensive solutions to adapt to an ever-changing global market. Learn more at http://www.altec-inc.com. # # # Leading architecture firm MBB has been recognized by a number of key organizations in architecture and design. Reflecting its longstanding commitment to innovative design solutions, the leading architecture firm MBB (Murphy Burnham & Buttrick Architects) has been recognized recently by a number of leading organizations in architecture and design. MBBs award-winning Primary School 330Q in New York City has been selected for national design honors this year from the Society of American Registered Architects (SARA), and its renovation and preservation of St. Patricks Cathedral has received The American Architectural Award for 2018 from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. In addition, two of the firms leaders have been recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for, exceptional work and lasting contributions to architecture and society, as its two partners, Jeffrey Murphy and Mary Burnham, have been elevated to the College of Fellows of the AIA. Beginning with Murphy in 2016 and Burnham this year at the 2018 AIA Conference on Architecture, selection for Fellowship represents the highest level of achievement for U.S. architects. With Mary Burnhams election to Fellow -- which will be officially consummated with an investiture in June, coincidentally taking place at St. Patricks Cathedral -- MBBs latest news reinforces the firms growing international reputation for excellence in design. Burnham has served on the Honors Committee of the AIA New York Chapter and is a member of the board of The Architectural League of New York. Other honors and professional recognitions have been announced recently for the women-owned firm MBB. The firms associate, Quinn Lammie, AIA, has been nominated to join the AIA New York Chapters prestigious Civic Leadership program. The group of ten, talented and civically-minded emerging practitioners, is selected for six months of mentoring and training on the civic process, according to AIANY. In addition to the MBBs civic and community focus, the firm is known for sustainable design and highly rigorous energy-efficient design techniques. The MBB associate John Mealy, for one, recently passed the examination to become a Certified Passive House Designer, a mark of technical proficiency in healthy, energy-efficient building design. The three partners, Murphy, Burnham, and Sara Grant, have established a reputation for decidedly modern, sophisticated design solutions offering both sustainable outcomes and humanistic, user-centered benefits. MBBs interventions in historic settings have been lauded for their sensitivity and memorable qualities. This forward-thinking design focus is seen in its work for independent educators including Meeting Street and for institutions such as Park Avenue Synagogue, where Burnham now leads the design of several new facilities including the recently dedicated Eli M. Black Center for Lifelong Learning, a six-story, 1912 townhouse remade as an 18,000-square-foot multipurpose education building. The firm also recently began working on a renovation and preservation of the 1846 Trinity Church near Wall Street in Manhattan. On the global design scene, a new breakout project by MBB will expand the noted Garitage Park mixed-use residential development in Bulgarias capital, Sofia, setting a new precedent in scale for MBBs civic and urban works. The design project including a school, park, and residential and commercial towers, is led by Jeffrey Murphy and Taylor Akin, AIA. MBB has been widely published, winning various awards for design excellence including the AIAs National Honor Award. Many of these laurels reflect the firms expertise in educational buildings, for which MBB has earned dozens of design honors as it has cultivated a reputation for close partnerships with pioneering, mission-driven educators. The results are innovative buildings and spaces that support both independent and public school leaders, as well as specialized research to better understand the performance of learning environments, as seen in MBBs ongoing study with Medgar Evers College. The firms partners frequently present to varied educational groups, including the recent FitKids symposium and a talk in June this year for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in New York. In addition, the firm is developing an award-winning school furniture solution with UNICEF to support schools in Sub-Saharan Africa, including in Rwanda and Malawi. For images and interviews, contact Chris Sullivan, 914.462.2096 chris(at)ccsullivan(dot)com. About Murphy Burnham & Buttrick Architects Recognized internationally for its award-winning work, Murphy Burnham & Buttrick (MBB) Architects is a multidisciplinary architecture firm offering a full range of design services for a broad spectrum of building types. MBBs diverse portfolio includes educational, institutional, cultural, residential and civic projects, which range from planning and new construction to renovation and adaptive reuse. The three partnersJeffrey Murphy, Mary Burnham, and Sara Grantbring unique perspective and skill to client projects, sharing an urban sensibility that manifests in a highly contextual approach to design. Integral to MBBs approach is a belief that sustainability is essential to architecture and extends beyond environmental stewardship to express the vital connection between our buildings and their surroundings. Visit mbbarch.com. Smile Brands CEO, Steven C. Bilt I believe deeply that culture should be on top of every CEOs agenda... CEO of Smile Brands Inc. Steven C. Bilt has won a Glassdoor Employees Choice Award honoring the Top CEOs in 2018. Glassdoor, one of the worlds largest job and recruiting sites, released its annual report recognizing the Top CEOs, which highlights top leaders employees love working for in countries throughout North America and parts of Europe. Smile Brands, a leading dental support organization with over 350 affiliated practices across 15 states, has a deeply rooted culture founded on the companys mission to deliver Smiles for Everyone. CEO Bilt received an impressive 97% approval rating based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews Smile Brands employees and affiliated dental providers shared on Glassdoor throughout the past year. Our Smiles for Everyone mantra was developed from the belief that happy employees and providers leads to happy patients, explains Bilt. To be named one of Glassdoors Top CEOs is a humbling honor. I believe deeply that culture should be on top of every CEOs agenda and this recognition is the result of my personal rating being brought along by the gravitational pull of the incredible work that our entire team does every day to live and breathe our vision. Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, since it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day. I congratulate all of this years winners on this significant achievement, said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work. When employees submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes such as senior management. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing. Among the 770,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. See the complete list of all Top CEOs in 2018: https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Top-CEOs-LST_KQ0,8.htm About Smile Brands Based in Irvine, California, Smile Brands Inc. is one of the largest providers of support services to dental groups in the United States. Smile Brands Inc. provides comprehensive business support services through exclusive long-term agreements with affiliate dental groups, so dentists can spend more time caring for their patients and less time on the administrative, marketing and financial aspects of operating a dental practice. Smile Brands supports 360+ Bright Now! Dental, Monarch Dental, Castle Dental, A+ Dental Care, OneSmile Dental, and Johnson Family Dental offices in 15 states, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington. Smile Brands is a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors (Gryphon), a leading middle-market private equity firm based in San Francisco, CA. For more information, visit smilebrands.com. About Glassdoor Glassdoor is one of the largest job and recruiting sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for more than 770,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms. Smile Brands Contact: Jody Martin Press(at)smilebrands(dot)com Glassdoor Media Contact: Amelia Green-Vamos, pr(at)glassdoor(dot)com In the last century, six disruptions created multi-billion dollar industries. Blockchain represents the seventh," said Tom McMurrain, The 7th Disruption author. Blockchain can lift more people out of poverty than any other human advance in history. Amazon best-selling author and crypto-currency expert visits Colorado for lecture Free lecture explores blockchain technology and the Global economic impact of cryptocurrency Amazon best-selling author, Tom McMurrain, will be visiting Colorado to give a free blockchain technology and cryptocurrency lecture on Friday, June 22 at the American Mountaineering Center located at 710 10th Street in Golden. Tom McMurrian authored The 7th Disruption: The Rise of the Digital Currency Billionaire (https://amzn.to/2LTjxOP), which delves into the dynamic market disruptions created by technological advances. His book details how and why disruptions create trillion dollar markets, reshape human culture, bankrupt companies (Blockbuster Video vs. Redbox), disrupt industries (taxis vs. Uber) and transform countries. In the last 100 years, six disruptions notably TV, Internet, email, mobile, e-commerce, and social media have created thousands of multi-billion dollar industries. Global banks, financial institutions and even governments are moving into blockchain and cryptocurrency applications. This includes the UKs central bank, Qatars commercial bank, the State of Arizona, Nevada, Delaware, the Ukraine, Dubai and Canada, said Tom McMurrain, The 7th Disruption author. My mission is to educate as many people as possible regarding the true impact of blockchain and cryptocurrency. Blockchain technology possesses the potential to lift more people out of poverty than any other human advance in history. People can register to attend Tom McMurrains free blockchain and cryptocurrency lecture at: https://cmdfriday.eventbrite.com, which is scheduled to begin on June 22 at 7pm. This lecture will cover the evolution of blockchain, industry trends, how cryptocurrency has created wealth faster than any other technology in history and how people can participate in this disruption. On June 23, Tom McMurrain will be giving a private lecture on the application of cryptocurrency to the healthcare market as part of his latest project called CoinMD. This company provides the worlds first universal healthcare marketplace, called the CoinMD Choice Healthcare Marketplace, which accepts cryptocurrency. About Tom McMurrain Tom McMurrain is the author of an Amazon best seller - The 7th Disruption: The Rise of the Digital Currency Billionaire. He highlights business models that disrupt companies, industries and countries. Speaking to audiences around the world, he is known for his ability to help people clearly understand what digital currency is and how people can make it part of their lifestyle. His thesis is that blockchain is a major disruptor and that it will lift more people out of poverty than any other technological advance in human history. Acobot How does AI generate leads? They just ask users for their email address straightforwardly! Acobot Web Assistant, the conversational artificial intelligence designed for increasing website sales, has learned a new skill to generate more sales leads from websites. When interacting with the website visitors, the AI identifies the potential customers and chooses the right time to ask them for email address or telephone number. In many cases, visitors are happy to leave their contact information. Modern merchants, from micro businesses to enterprises, rely on their websites to sales lead generation, pointing the prospective individuals or businesses showing interest in their product or service in the right direction and reaching for their contact information. As the online traffic to websites is not free and could be sometimes as expensive as over $100 per visitor, enhancing the ability to capture more sales leads from their website becomes an effective way to increase profitability of businesses. Previously online form was the only means to capture online sales leads from website besides telephone. To encourage visitors to leave their email address, the websites often offer free services such as newsletter, downloads or discounts. To increase the chances of visitors submitting the form, compelling call to action buttons and other conversion rate optimization tactics were applied. These tactics work but their limitation is obvious as they lack deep engagement and thus have no way to improve conversion rate further. Now, by adding artificial intelligence to the website, merchants can impress visitors with an elegant simplicity of the webpages and try a new and more effective way to capture leads letting the AI ask potential customers for their contact information straightforwardly yet unobtrusively via text conversation. When visitors land on a website, the artificial intelligence proactively uses personal welcomes and dynamic messages to initiate a chat. Once the visitor- AI interaction starts, the AI can always seek for opportunities to prompt visitors to be further approached through their contact information. It turns out that many visitors are happy to give their contact information during the flow of conversation with the AI. Smart AI knows when is the timing. Explained Vic Duan, If AI asks the users to leave their email address or telephone number when the conversation has taken a couple of turns or users request info about the business, many of them would be happy to say yes. There is another positive finding. Even in the case of the artificial intelligence having no answer to a certain customer question, which is generally considered as a bad user experience, it tells the truth frankly and offers a human follow-up, many customers are still happy to give their contact information and say thanks to AI. Once getting a lead, the artificial intelligence will immediately send an email notification to the website owner, with chat logs and user profile such as city and country included. Then it continues interacting with the website visitors, engaging them and keeping them stay on the website. Upon notification, the website owner may email or call the potential customers to close the deal. Acobot Web Assistant is simple and easy to use AI chatbot for websites of any types and sizes. Website owners may watch its demo at acobot.ai. They can sign up for a 15-day free trial of PRO plan or get an AI for free. The Web Assistant PRO users may choose to collect email leads or telephone leads. The artificial intelligence will ask the website visitors for email address or telephone number. The PREE users can capture only email leads. To encourage web developers to introduce its AI with leads capturing feature, Acobot LLC is offering them with a lifetime commission affiliate program. Web developers gain 50% lifetime commissions for every customer they refer. More information about the affiliate program is available at acobot.ai. We are honored to give back to the troops who sacrifice so much for our country. Starting the day with a great cup of Joe can make all the difference when facing a demanding day. Columbus, Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is holding its annual Military Coffee Drive June 24 through June 30. For every 12-ounce bag of coffee purchased at Crimson Cup Coffee Houses in Columbus and Tallmadge, Ohio, the company will send a bag of fresh-roasted beans to active-duty U.S. Military personnel serving overseas. We are honored to give back to the troops who sacrifice so much for our country, said Crimson Cup Founder and President Greg Ubert. Starting the day with a great cup of Joe can make all the difference when facing a demanding day. He said the annual drive has resonated with coffee house customers, who enjoy a chance to support the troops when purchasing their favorite coffee. Last years drive allowed us to send 85 pounds of coffee to the troops, including some in very remote locations. he said. We make it as simple as possible for our customers to join us in giving back, he added. All you need to do is buy a bag of coffee at one of our three Crimson Cup Coffee Houses at 4541 North High St. in Clintonville, at 2468 Northwest Blvd. in Upper Arlington or at 116 Tallmadge Circle in Tallmadge, Ohio. Well send a matching bag to the troops. In addition to the drive, Crimson Cup sends coffee and tea to service personnel throughout the year to offer a little piece of their hometown community while they are away. Anyone who wants us to send coffee to a friend or loved one in the Armed Forces can send the soldier, sailor or airmans name and mailing address to marketing@crimsoncup.com and well get a bag of coffee to them, said Vice President of Marketing Melissa Rogner. About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea Columbus, Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year. Since 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced specialty and craft coffee in small batches, which it sells directly to consumers and as wholesale coffee beans. The company also teaches entrepreneurs to run successful coffee houses through its coffee franchise alternative program, which includes a coffee shop business plan. Crimson Cup coffee is available through a community of more than 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 37 states, Guam and Bangladesh, as well as the companys own Crimson Cup Coffee Houses. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Billionaire Boys ClubPharrell Williams and black-ish creator Kenya Barris are developing a stage musical based on the Juneteenth African-American holiday, which celebrates the final day of slavery in the U.S.: June 19, 1865. I dream about projects like this," Pharrell said, according to Deadline.com. Juneteenth will change culture and change history. We couldnt sign up fast enough. Barris will write the dialogue with Peter Saji, with whom he's worked on black-ish. Pharrell will compose and produce the music. The acknowledgement and celebration of Juneteenth as an American and possibly international holiday is something that I would put in the life goals column for me, Barris said. For Peter and me to be able to team up with Pharrell on such an important project like this is something that neither of us in a billion years would have thought possible." Last year, a black-ish episode titled "Juneteenth" imagined the Johnson family celebrating the holiday in 1865. "For us, this project isnt about numbers; its about humanity, Barris added. Slavery is Americas recessive gene and its time we all dealt with it and what better way to have an audience swallow this dose of medicine than with amazing music and raw, honest, jaw-dropping comedy? Pharrell and Barris haven't yet revealed when they plan to debut the musical. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Our US-based staff has helped clients in many markets to realize true gains via search engine optimization. SEO is not only about technical expertise, but it is also about content writing and we got some of the best optimizers and writers! Submit Express, an award winning SEO company in business since 1998, now offers white label reseller packages for its cutting-edge SEO services. The companys packages offer small and mid-sized businesses an affordable alternative to costly marketing campaigns with ambiguous results. Our US-based staff has helped clients in many markets to realize true gains via search engine optimization (SEO), says Pierre Zarokian, CEO of Submit Express. SEO is not only about technical expertise, but it is also about content writing and we got some of the best optimizers and writers! Submit Express has existing relationships with over 600 bloggers for high quality guest posting opportunities. Submit Express does not utilize any spam techniques to achieve its results. In fact, each SEO project starts with site analysis for prior spammy techniques such as low quality backlinks and duplicate content. Once all issues are found, cleanup and disavow process begins. In addition, Submit Express uses extensive content marketing techniques to bolster SEO. Submit Express can also help optimize eCommerce websites on any platform such as Magento, BigCommerce, WooCommerce or Shopify. White label services include SEO, SEM, social media marketing, content writing, Wikipedia page creation, and reputation management services with competitive rates and clearly-defined outcomes. Digital Marketing partners can pitch their clients on time-tested techniques, with a brand that has been in business for two decades. Even those unfamiliar with SEO can pitch clients a new form of marketing with proven results at a substantial commission. Contact Submit Express for more information. About Submit Express Since it began in 1998, Submit Express has helped thousands of businesses find better results in search marketing. The company began with a tool to submit websites to search engines for free, and has over 20 million visitors to date. Dedicated to helping clients achieve their personal and business goals, Submit Express uses the latest in search marketing techniques with an industry knowledge and proficiency available to businesses of all sizes. About Pierre Zarokian Pierre Zarokian is the CEO of Submit Express, and a thought leader in search marketing. Specializing in SEO, reputation management, and other digital marketing areas. Zarokian also writes for Engine Journal, Search Engine Watch and other publications. Morrison & Foerster, a leading global law firm, recently received eight awards at the Asian Legal Business (ALB) 2018 Japan Law Awards. Now in its 14th year, the ALB Awards recognize the achievements of Japans leading private practice law firms and in-house counsel. Ken Siegel, Managing Partner of Morrison & Foersters Tokyo office, and Louise Stoupe, Tokyo partner and co-chair of the firms Commercial Litigation and Trial Practice Group, both received individual accolades. Of particular note, Morrison & Foerster was also named International Deal Firm of the Year. Morrison & Foersters awards included: Foreign Lawyer of the Year: Ken Siegel Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year: Louise Stoupe BMW Award Woman Lawyer of the Year: Louise Stoupe International Deal Firm of the Year Japan Deal of the Year for Toshibas Sale of Toshiba Memory Corporation M&A Deal of the Year (Premium) for Toshibas Sale of Toshiba Memory Corporation Technology, Media and Telecommunications Deal of the Year for Toshibas Sale of Toshiba Memory Corporation Real Estate Deal of the Year for the acquisition of the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay Hotel It is an honor to be recognized by Asia Legal Business, said Mr. Siegel. Im proud of my colleagues for their outstanding work this past year. These awards are a testament to the strength of our Tokyo office and further emphasize Morrison & Foersters position as the largest international law firm in Japan. Mr. Siegels recognition as Foreign Lawyer of the Year came as a result of advising Japanese clients on a number of blockbuster deals, including a series of large investments by SoftBank in tech and media companies in multiple jurisdictions. These included SoftBank's $7.7 billion primary and secondary investment investment in Uber, and SoftBank Group and SoftBank Vision Fund's $4.4 billion investment in WeWork Companies, a platform for creators and provider of an extensive network of shared workspaces. He also advised Hitachi, Ltd. in its $1.245 billion acquisition of the Sullair brand air compressor manufacture and sale business from Accudyne Industries. Additionally, along with his multi-practice team in Tokyo, Mr. Siegel advised Toshiba Corporation on the $18 billion sale of its wholly owned subsidiary Toshiba Memory Corporation to a consortium led by Bain Capital and including SK Hynix, HOYA Corp., Apple, Seagate, Kingston, and Dell. The transaction has been reported as the largest Japanese M&A deal since 2011 and the largest private equity deal ever in Asia. The matter was named by ALB as Japan Deal of the Year, M&A Deal of the Year, and Technology, Media and Telecommunications Deal of the Year. The firms second individual honoree, Ms. Stoupe, has represented Asia-based clients in complex international disputes over the course of her career at Morrison & Foerster, including Toshiba Corporations seven separate disputes with its joint venture partner and the JCAA arbitration that resulted in the first and only Japan Supreme Court ruling in arbitration. I am thankful to have received the Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year and Woman Lawyer of the Year awards, said Ms. Stoupe. I work with a terrific team of lawyers at Morrison & Foerster who are at the top of their fields, and awards like these arent possible without everyones efforts and hard work. Eric Piesner, Morrison & Foersters Firmwide Managing Partner for Asia, added: I want to congratulate Ken, Louise, and the entire Tokyo team for their well-deserved recognition. To be honored in so many categories this year affirms the depth and breadth of our practices in Tokyo, and reflects the reputation that the firm has in the region overall. The ALB Awards were held on June 13 at the Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo. MOFO IN JAPAN Morrison & Foerster has the largest and most diverse practice of any international law firm in Japan, with approximately 120 attorneys in Tokyo (including 45 bengoshi admitted to practice in Japan). We were one of the first foreign law firms licensed in Japan, opening our offices in 1987. Today, we are the largest international law firm in Japan. Morrison & Foerster was selected as Japan International Law Firm of the Year by the Chambers Asia Pacific Awards in 2018 - the seventh time in eight years since the awards were created, including the last six years in a row. We were also recognized by Chambers Asia Pacific 2018 in more Band 1 practice rankings than any other international firm in Japan. MergerMarket, Bloomberg, and Thomson Reuters each ranked Morrison & Foerster at the top of the Japan charts in their annual 2017 global M&A league tables. Key rankings include: #1 by deal value among all law firms in Japan Mergermarket #1 by deal volume among all law firms in Japan Bloomberg #1 by (announced) deal value among all law firms in Japan Thomson Reuters ABOUT MOFO We are Morrison & Foerster a global firm of exceptional credentials. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, investment banks, Fortune 100, and technology and life sciences companies. The Financial Times has named the firm to its lists of most innovative law firms in Northern America and Asia every year that it has published its Innovative Lawyers Reports in those regions. In the past few years, Chambers USA has honored MoFos Privacy and Data Security, Bankruptcy, and IP teams with Firm of the Year awards, the Corporate/M&A team with a client service award, and the firm as a whole as Global USA Firm of the Year. Our lawyers are committed to achieving innovative and business-minded results for our clients, while preserving the differences that make us stronger. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education for poor children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, winning asylum for the persecuted, and safeguarding the environment. If you want valuable and powerful insights and the knowledge to grow your business to unbelievably successful levels, attend. Grant Cardone New York Times bestselling author, social media sensation and the worlds number one sales expert, Grant Cardone, is holding one of the most highly anticipated business growth conferences in the sales and marketing industry at the James L. Knight Center in Miami on Friday, June 29th. Joining him on stage for this incredibly popular experience will be Shark Tank TV star and creator of the FUBU clothing line, Daymond John. In addition, the worlds youngest female self-made billionaire, Sara Blakely, founder and CEO of Spanx, will be speaking. The one-day intensive conference will focus on getting attendees more business, discovering new ways to generate more income for themselves and how to improve their lives. Topics will include how to brand yourself like the top social influencers in the world, the key to eliminating fear and rejection in business, and five strategies to double income in 60 days. Attendees will not only come away motivated by this event, theyll know the strategies and methods these speakers used to build their wealth and success. Grant Cardone, CEO of Cardone Training Technologies, states, I handpicked Daymond John and Sara Blakely to join me at this event because of the value I know theyll bring to every attendee. They each have an incredible and inspiring story to share of how they faced adversity and failure to build their empires. The Grant Cardone 10X Conference is a one-day, premiere business growth conference tailored to sales and marketing professionals, business owners and entrepreneurs. It will be held in downtown Miami on Friday, June 29 with tickets starting at just $99. If you want to be inspired, attend this one-day conference. If you want valuable and powerful insights and the knowledge to grow your business to unbelievably successful levels, attend. If you want to get advice and information from some of the most influential business owners, dont miss this conference! Grant Cardone. For more information and ticket prices visit https://deal.grantcardone.com/10xmiami/ About Grant Cardone: Grant Cardone is a New York Times bestselling author, international social media influencer, the number one sales trainer in the world, and an internationally renowned speaker on leadership, real estate, investing, entrepreneurship, social media, and finance. He owns five companies with annual revenues exceeding $100 million. He is a regular guest on Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, and MSNBC. He also is a contributing writer for Forbes, Success Magazine, Business Insider, Entrepreneur.com and the Huffington Post. Tom Hemphill, marketing manager of Yamaha Music Education, leads the Music School Advantage seminar. Operators came away with many new tactics to effectively combine products and services that will result in an enhanced customer experience, remarked Tom Hemphill, marketing manager, Yamaha Music Education. More than 80 musical instrument dealers, music school owners and Yamaha staff across North America recently attended the Yamaha Advantage program, designed to assist educators and dealers in upping their game. Held in Las Vegas on June 4-6, the workshop was sponsored by Yamaha for its dealers and Music School owners as part of its Dealer Development Services, which is celebrating its 21st year. The workshop was led by Alan Friedman, CPA, a partner with Friedman, Kannenberg & Company, P.C.; and Tom Hemphill, marketing manager, Yamaha Music Education, who used case studies and role playing to give teachers and proprietors hands-on experience navigating challenges facing their schools and dealerships today. The Yamaha Advantage program covered a wide range of topics, falling under the headings Succession Advantage, Financial Advantage and Music School Advantage. Succession Advantage is the component seminar in the program that shows dealers how to formulate exit strategies as they plan their retirement or the sale of their businesses or schools. This instruction helps them sustain continuity through business operation during and after such a transition, and minimize disruption. This year, for the first time in Yamaha Advantages history, Succession Advantage brought together music school owners as well as instrument dealers for the seminar, allowing the two groups to benefit from their difference in perspective on similar types of ventures. Bringing the dealers and music schools together for the first time was very successful, Hemphill observed. I believe operators came away with many new tactics to effectively combine products and services that will result in an enhanced customer experience. Succession Advantage was held in conjunction with the popular Financial Advantage seminar, the flagship component of Yamaha Advantage marking its 13th year, having trained more than 600 dealer participants in 20 training sessions. Program administrators noticed that the Financial Advantage attendees were predominantly young this year, which they interpreted as an encouraging sign that new participation in the music industry is on the rise. Also featured was Music School Advantage, a program that assists these institutions in recognizing and responding to a changing marketplace. The workshop serves as an essential tool for Yamaha Music Schools to develop relationships and trust with their local communities on a personal level. In addition, the program helps develop and sharpen skills in finances, sales, marketing, operation and employee training, as well as share contemporary best practices and trends. Attendees had high praise for the program. Kevin Rindlisbacher of Piano Showroom of Arizona, Inc. in Phoenix remarked, [Succession Advantage] gave me a lot to think about. The actual method of valuation was an excellent example. Cathy Reynolds of Lacefield Music in Missouri said of Financial Advantage, I learned so much about how to run the business, to be alert of danger zones and to maximize profit! "I thought to myself, what if the rag was a sponge with a hose connected to the water bottle? And just like that, the Geyser was born. Combining engineered design and patented technology, Geyser System, the worlds most advanced portable shower, is both portable and powerful. Providing transportable heat, consistent water pressure and unrivaled convenience, the system creates an experience unlike any other. After a short time on Kickstarter, Geyser System is quickly nearing their $50,000 funding goal and showing no signs of slowing down. Geyser System was designed with a focus on efficiency, optimizing water usage with a special Geyser Valve. The system is designed to be as intuitive as possible and requires only three steps to get it up and running. Users can have hot water in just five minutes. Simply add water, connect it to a car charger, and connect a Geyser Skrub. Consumers can simply twist off the used Geyser Skrub and re-attach a new one for easy cleanup. Replacement Geyser Skrubs can be reordered and are available in a variety of colors. Additionally, the system is simple to heat, offering consumers a variety of options to effectively heat their water up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. A lid sensor deactivates the heating element if not properly screwed on while temperature sensors monitor the water temperature and turn off the heating element when the water reaches 95 degrees. There is also a water level sensor that will shut off the heating element when the water level gets too low. A smart LED dashboard displays the water temperature, water level, and heating element status. The Geyser System features a plastic gate to keep fingers safe from the heating elements and thermostats and a hose connector constructed from non-corrosive plastics. After he rigged his van and started his way across Australia, Founder Jonathan Ballesteros realized that while exploring each beautiful location, the one thing he missed was a hot, refreshing shower. The wheels in my head started to turn, and then inspiration hit one fateful day in Melbourne, he explained. I needed to prepare for a social outing and only had a small bottle of water left. While pouring the water bottle on a rag and attempting to wipe myself down, the initial idea for Geyser hit. I thought to myself, what if the rag was a sponge with a hose connected to the water bottle? And just like that, the Geyser was born. Backers Are Behind 2.3 Billion People. Geyser Systems is on a bold mission to fight the water crisis faced by 2.3 billion people around the world. From the homeless in our streets to communities in Ethiopia, Geyser is already collaborating with non-profits to make water available in water-stressed situations. A Skrub saves up to 1500 gallons of water compared to the regular faucet and the CEO is aiming to make that savings a new global reality. Im proud of our team. Were moving forward a Buy A Skrub, Give A Skrub program. Each time you buy a Skrub, Geyser will send another Skrub to those in need. The potential is huge, Jonathan says. If 15% of the rural population in Ethiopia use our technology in their communal showers, they could save up to 5 million gallons of water per year. The implications of improving basic hygiene or food supplies will unfold soon. Together with our backers and non-profits, we are bringing a whole new future for water. With the help of 170+ backers and counting, The Geyser Systems Kickstarter campaign is now nearly 70% funded. Consumers can continue to pre-order the portable shower solution starting at $195 at http://pr.go2.fund/geyser. About Geyser Technologies Geyser Technologies is made up of a global team of adventurous and talented outdoor explorers. While the companys members have various goals and activities, they all share the common challenge of limited water. The company is pushing design and manufacturing limits to deliver an easy, convenient way to keep everybody clean, even on the dirtiest outdoor adventures. Beyond their industry-leading products, Geyser Technologies believes in inspiring others to get outdoors and join the movement towards nature. Cold showers and getting dirty no longer need to stop anyone from enjoying the great outdoors. To learn more, visit http://www.geysersystems.com. Tracy Funk, VP of Carrier Solutions, Hodges-Mace The decisions employees make about their benefits during open enrollment can impact them (and their job satisfaction) throughout the year, says Tracy. Employers must examine how their employees are choosing their benefits... Hodges-Mace, LLC, an award-winning benefits delivery innovator, presents Cant Get No Benefits Satisfaction, on June 26, at 1:00pm ET. During the one hour webinar Tracy Funk, VP of Carrier Solutions, will reveal how to turn enrollment exhaustion into enrollment exhilaration with the right decision support tools. Register here to attend and receive the recorded link after the event. Over 90% of employees keep the same benefit plans every year because they are overwhelmed by the complexity of their options. Many over-insure because they fail to understand how voluntary benefits can supplement their plans and offset out of pocket expenses. Others are underinsured and cant afford a trip to the emergency room. In her session, Tracy will explain how to leverage decision support technologies to empower employees and enhance engagement. She will discuss the different types of decisions support tools available today, and walk through how employers can evaluate their workforce to implement the most successful tool(s) for their strategy. By going through the variety of options available and placing real-life workplace personas in scenarios, attendees will learn what to look for in a decision support system to ensure its the right choice for their specific organization. The decisions employees make about their benefits during open enrollment can impact them (and their job satisfaction) throughout the year, says Tracy. Employers must examine how their employees are choosing their benefits, and what assistance they can provide to help them make the smartest decisions to meet their specific needs. Studies show that when employees feel confident in their benefits they are more satisfied in their jobs and with their employer, which leads to improved performance, loyalty and retention. By deploying the right decision support tools, employers encourage their employees to make the right choices and feel confident in their selections. This provides an experience that makes enrollment easier and amplifies the employees perception of the value of their benefits packages. Download Tracys article in California Broker Magazine on Using Decision Support Tools here. About the Presenter Tracy Funk is VP of Carrier Solutions for Hodges-Mace where she is the conductor of carrier relationships. In this capacity she works with internal sales and operations teams, as well as consulting partners to ensure the success of mutual clients. Tracy has a broad range of experience from formulating private exchange and ACA compliance strategies to overseeing home office worksite operations. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a business administration degree. Contact Tracy at tracyfunk@hodgesmace.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracy-funk/. About Hodges-Mace Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Hodges-Mace, LLC is a leading provider of benefit management software and services. Their portfolio ranges from mid-size companies and Fortune 500 enterprises in a variety of industries, including education, energy, gaming, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. Hodges-Mace is a respected leader in the employee benefits industry and is dedicated to helping employees and employers make smarter benefits decisions through a blend of innovative technologies and intelligent service solutions. The company was named one of the Best Companies to Work for in Georgia in 2016 and 2017. For additional information visit http://www.hodgesmace.com. As a major urban school district, Wayne Township had a challenge: to provide equitable access to quality digital content to enable students to take control of their learning. They selected itslearning as their partner to meet that challenge. Wayne Township Metropolitan School District and itslearning, an internationally acclaimed learning management system (LMS), have been awarded a bronze medal in the 2018 IMS Global Consortiums Learning Impact Awards program. Their entry in the Established Projects Category, Using LMS Interoperability to Power and Drive Student-Centered Learning, was recognized at this years annual Learning Impact Leadership Institute held in Baltimore, Maryland. An expert panel of judges used eight criteria for determining the learning impact of entries. Out of the 26 projects that competed as finalists in this years competition, eight medalists were selected for their outstanding achievement. The award aligned to the theme Evolution to Next Generation Digital Learning Environments and was chosen among applications and platforms to manage the creation and delivery of learning experiences, including personalization, accessibility and mobility. As a major urban school district, Wayne Township had a challenge: to provide equitable access to quality digital content to enable students to take control of their learning. Further, these needed to be available anytime and anywhere to all students, including their large population of low-income students. They selected itslearning as their partner to meet that challenge, said Arne Bergby, CEO of itslearning. In doing so, Wayne Township has created a rebranded LMS, the Wayne Learning Hub, that now serves as a hub for 21st-century collaboration, personalization, instruction, and student, teacher and parent communication. In their submission to the awards program, Wayne Township and itslearning highlighted five key goals of their LMS partnership, the Wayne Learning Hub: Curated Resources; Digital Community; Safe, Collaborative Learning Spaces; Individual Learning Paths; and Readily Available Access. It is so important to allow students to have a voice in their own learning, said Michele Eaton, director of virtual and blended learning at Wayne Township. Creating the Wayne Learning Hub with itslearning has allowed our students to engage in personalized, blended learning experiences using digital tools, resources and strategies. Bergby concluded, The success of this program through the curated online resources available in a readily accessible online learning space is what can be accomplished when organizations work together on a single mission and vision. The 2018 IMS Global Consortiums Learning Impact Awards program held even more good news for itslearning. Beatriz Arnillas, senior educational advisor for itslearning, was recognized as one of the two recipients of the IMS Global 2018 William H. (Bill) Graves Leadership Award. Arnillas received the award alongside fellow educator and itslearning customer Lenny Schad, chief technology information officer (CTIO) for the Houston Independent School District (HISD), for the extraordinary improvement in student outcomes as a result a similar implementation of itslearning at HISD. An analysis of the 2018 winning projects will be provided in the annual Learning Impact Report, which will be released in the fall. About itslearning Established in 1999, itslearning is headquartered in Boston, MA and Bergen, Norway and serves more than 7 million users worldwide. For more information, visit https://itslearning.com Shipware is the clear-cut leader in the parcel and LTL spend management space, and Im thrilled to play a critical role in the companys growth, expansion, and prosperous future. - Marc Schrader, Director of Partnerships & Referrals Shipware, leading parcel and LTL spend management solution provider, today announced the hiring of Marc Schrader as the companys Director of Partnerships & Referrals. With over 20 years of marketing and sales experience, Schrader will focus on managing and growing Shipwares network of referral partners to enable continued business growth. Its an absolute pleasure to join the Shipware team and be part of such an innovative and forward-thinking organization, said Schrader. Shipware is the clear-cut leader in the parcel and LTL spend management space, and Im thrilled to play a critical role in the companys growth, expansion and prosperous future. Schrader comes to Shipware with a wealth of progressive experience working for Fortune 100 Companies in the logistics and transportation sector. Most notably, Schrader worked as a Marketing Manager at FedEx for 11 years leading the FedEx Compatible team. This team helped TMS, ERP, eCommerce and WMS software solutions providers integrate FedEx shipping services. Marc has a proven sales, marketing and management track record within the logistics and transportation industry, said Rob Martinez, CEO and co-founder of Shipware. The knowledge and expertise he brings to the table, coupled with his team-first mentality, will undoubtedly help Shipware hit our business goals in 2018 and beyond. Shipware is one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. The company currently has 25 full-times employees and is hiring for various roles. To learn more about available positions, visit: https://www.shipware.com/job-application/ About Shipware Shipware provides expertise and advanced technology to help businesses reduce parcel/LTL shipping costs 10-30% with no disruption to current operations and no required change in carriers. Our team of industry experts leverage over 200 collective years of carrier pricing experience to help shippers negotiate superior shipping contract terms & pricing. Shipwares proprietary technology audits weekly carrier invoices to recover refunds on all billing errors, ensuring proactive compliance of contract rates and terms, as well as on-time service performance. Shipwares cloud-based reporting platform delivers powerful analytics for greater spend management visibility empowering clients to make intelligent cost-saving transportation decisions. To learn more, visit: https://www.shipware.com/ George C. Jalil, MIAMI Chairman of the Board Total Miami luxury home sales rose 24.1 percent year-over-year in May as existing condominium sales rose for the second consecutive month, according to a new report by the MIAMI Association of REALTORS (MIAMI) and the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. Total Miami luxury sales ($1 million-and-above) increased from 158 to 196 in May 2018, a rise of 24.1 percent. Condo luxury sales led the surge by posting a 58.6 percent jump (from 58 luxury transactions in May 2017 to 92 last month). Condo and single-family $1 million-and-above transactions have each now increased year-over-year in four of the last five months. Miami real estate luxury sales continue trending upward, MIAMI Chairman of the Board George C. Jalil said. Strong pent-up demand for $1 million-and-above Miami properties, sellers becoming more reasonable with their prices and the federal tax reform leading more home buyers from high-taxed northern states to purchase in Florida, which has no state income tax, are several key factors. Miami Condo Sales Increase for Second Consecutive Month Miami existing condominium sales increased 0.6 percent year-over-year in May 2018, rising from 1,384 to 1,392. The increase comes on the heels of a strong April 2018 which saw condo transactions jump 24.6 percent. Total Miami home sales decreased 3.9 percent year-over-year, from 2,728 to 2,622. Miami single-family home sales decreased 8.5 percent in May 2018, from 1,344 to 1,230. The decrease is due to a lack of inventory in lower price points. Inventory decreases for Miami single-family homes selling at $400,000 and below. Total sales volume increased to $1.3 billion from $1.2 billion in May 2017.Existing condos saw the biggest increase, rising from $517.9 million total sales volume to $645.8 million (an increase of 24.7 percent). Single-family home total dollar volume rose 3.4 percent, from $651.2 million to $673.6 million. Lack of access to mortgage loans continues to inhibit further growth of the existing condominium market. Of the 9,307 condominium buildings in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, only 12 are approved for Federal Housing Administration loans, down from 29 last year, according to Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and FHA. 6.5 Consecutive Years of Price Appreciation in Miami Miami-Dade County single-family home prices increased 7.7 percent in May 2018, increasing from $325,000 to $350,000. Miami single-family home prices have risen for 78 consecutive months, a streak 6.5 years. Existing condo prices rose 8.9 percent, from $225,000 to $245,000 in May. Condo prices have increased in 81 of the last 84 months. Low mortgage rates makes purchasing a home more affordable. According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage increased for the seventh straight month to 4.59 percent in May (highest since 4.64 percent in May 2011) from 4.47 percent in April. The average commitment rate for all of 2017 was 3.99 percent. Miami Distressed Sales Continue to Drop, Reflecting Healthy Market Only 6.4 percent of all closed residential sales in Miami were distressed last month, including REO (bank-owned properties) and short sales, compared to 10.0 percent in May 2018. In 2009, distressed sales comprised 70 percent of Miami sales. Total Miami distressed sales declined 38.3 percent year-over-year, from 274 to 169 last month. Short sales and REOs accounted for 1.3 and 5.1 percent, respectively, of total Miami sales in May 2018. Short sale transactions dropped 52.1 percent year-over-year while REOs fell 33.5 percent. Nationally, distressed sales accounted for 3 percent of sales (lowest since NAR began tracking in October 2008), down from 5 percent a year ago. Miami Real Estate Selling Close to List Price The median number of days between listing and contract dates for Miami single-family home sales was 44 days, an 8.3 percent decrease from 48 days last year. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date for single-family properties was 92 days, a 6.1 percent decrease from 98 days. The median time to contract for condos was 73 days, a 2.7 percent decrease from 75 days last year. The median number of days between listing date and closing date decreased 2.6 percent to 112 days. The median percent of original list price received for single-family homes was 96.0 percent. The median percent of original list price received for existing condominiums was 93.3 percent. National and State Statistics Nationally, total existing-home sales decreased 0.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.43 million in May from downwardly revised 5.45 million in April. With last months decline, sales are now 3.0 percent below a year ago and have fallen year-over-year for three straight months. Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 28,071 last month, up 0.8 percent compared to May 2017, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide closed condo sales totaled 12,012 last month, up 4.1 percent compared to a year ago. The national median existing-home price for all housing types in May was $264,800, an all-time high and up 4.9 percent from May 2017 ($252,500). Mays price increase marks the 75th straight month of year-over-year gains. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes was $255,000, up 6.7 percent from the previous year, according to Florida Realtors. The statewide median price for townhouse-condo properties in May was $188,688, up 6 percent over the year-ago figure. Miamis Cash Buyers Represent almost Double the National Figure Miami cash transactions comprised 39.0 percent of May 2018 total closed sales, compared to 39.4 percent last year. Miami cash transactions are almost double the national figure (21 percent). Miamis high percentage of cash sales reflects South Floridas ability to attract a diverse number of international home buyers, who tend to purchase properties in all cash. Miami has a higher percent of cash sales for condos due to lack of financing approvals for buildings. Condominiums comprise a large portion of Miamis cash purchases as 50.9 percent of condo closings were made in cash in May compared to 25.5 percent of single-family home sales. Balanced Market for Single-Family Homes, Buyers Market for Condos Inventory of single-family homes increased 0.4 percent in May from 6,195 active listings last year to 6,219 last month. Condominium inventory increased 2.2 percent to 15,502 from 15,326 listings during the same period in 2017. The increase in inventory is for properties above $400,000. The market had a 3.5 percent jump in properties listed for $400,000 to $599,999 in May 2018, 4.4 percent for $600,000 to $999,999, and 3.4 percent for $1 million and above. Miami saw a drop in inventory for properties below $400,000. Monthly supply of inventory for single-family homes increased 7.1 percent to 6.0 months, which indicates a balanced market. Existing condominiums have a 14.1-month supply, which indicates a buyers market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six and nine months supply of inventory. Total active listings at the end of May increased 0.92 percent year-over-year, from 21,521 to 21,721. Active listings remain about 60 percent below 2008 levels when sales bottomed. New listings of Miami single-family homes decreased 0.4 percent to 1,881 from 1,888. New listings of condominiums increased 8.1 percent, from 2,431 to 2,617. Nationally, total housing inventory at the end of May climbed 2.8 percent to 1.85 million existing homes available for sale, but is still 6.1 percent lower than a year ago (1.97 million) and has fallen year-over-year for 36 consecutive months. Unsold inventory is at a 4.1-month supply at the current sales pace (4.2 months a year ago). To access May 2018 Miami-Dade Statistical Reports, visit http://www.SFMarketIntel.com Note: Statistics in this news release may vary depending on reporting dates. MIAMI reports exact statistics directly from its MLS system. About the MIAMI Association of REALTORS The MIAMI Association of REALTORS was chartered by the National Association of Realtors in 1920 and is celebrating 98 years of service to Realtors, the buying and selling public, and the communities in South Florida. Comprised of six organizations, the Residential Association, the Realtors Commercial Alliance, the Broward Council, the Jupiter Tequesta Hobe Sound (JTHS-MIAMI) Council, the Young Professionals Network (YPN) Council and the award-winning International Council, it represents more than 46,000 real estate professionals in all aspects of real estate sales, marketing, and brokerage. It is the largest local Realtor association in the U.S., and has official partnerships with 178 international organizations worldwide. MIAMIs official website is http://www.MiamiRealtors.com The comics here expose the contradictions, complexities, and confluences around diverse individual experiences of the entire reproductive process, from trying to conceive to child loss and childbirth. Jenell Johnsons introduction situates comics about reproduction within the growing field of graphic medicine and reveals how they provide a discursive forum in which concepts can be explored and presented as uncertainties rather than as part of a prescribed or expected narrative. Through comics such as Lyn Chevleys groundbreaking Abortion Eve, Bethany Doanes Pushing Back: A Home Birth Story, Leah Hayess Not Funny Ha-Ha, and Losing Thomas & Ella: A Fathers Story, by Marcus B. Weaver-Hightower, the collection explores a myriad of reproductive experiences and perspectives. The result is a provocative, multifaceted portrait of one of the most basic and complicated of all human experiences, one that can be hilarious and heartbreaking. From the Introduction Jenell Johnson There is a common story about human reproduction that circulates in Western culture. Two (middle- to upper-class, white) people meet, they fall in love, they get married, they have (heterosexual) sex, and then, after a glowing nine months of pregnancy full of ice cream and pickles, a (cisgender) woman has a (healthy, typical-bodied, full-term) baby, maybe two. Maybe two and a half. You know the rest: picket fence, bliss, happy endings, school, college, wedding, grandkids on a porch somewhere, everybody drinking lemonade in glasses tinkling with ice. To call this narrative a myth is an understatement, of course, not only because its reproduced in nearly every form of media one can imagine, but also because few people have this type of experience with conception, pregnancy, birth, and raising children. A lesbian couple uses donor sperm and conceives via intrauterine insemination. A father spends the first few months of his sons life in the neonatal intensive care unit, anxiously monitoring the vital signs of a tiny human who beeps instead of coos. A single woman gives birth to a baby who dies shortly after birth. A heterosexual couple enters the chutes and ladders of fertility treatment, only to find their way to a dead end. After an uneventful first trimester, a pregnant woman experiences a bad bleed in her second and spends the rest of her pregnancy on bed rest. A gay couple uses in vitro fertilization and a gestational surrogate, who gives birth to twins. A woman spends the first months of her daughters life in a deep depression. These experiences and many others are not aleatory events that somehow prove the rule of normal conception, pregnancy, and birth. Nor do they mark the ways that experiences of conception, pregnancy, and birth are changing in response to social, cultural, medical, and technological changes. They are simply examples of how varied and complex the experience of human reproduction is and has always been. Human reproduction is at once an utterly singular experience and utterly banal: after all, its happened billions and billions of times. In humanities books about this subject, this is the point where authors position themselves in the text, drawing on decades of feminist arguments about the role of the personal and private in political and public life and offering a powerful illustration of these arguments. So this is the point where I must note that I do not have any children. And yet while I do not have children, I have quite a bit of experience with reproductionor at least the attempt at it. I tried to get pregnant for seven years before finally calling it quits, and I went through just about every possible route to get there. At some point during this multiyear process, I started keeping an illustrated journal about my experiences, which eventually became the comic Present / Perfect. Im not sure why I started drawing comics about my failed attempts to reproduce, but as Ive been working on this book, I discovered why I kept drawing them. To put it bluntly: Ive never felt more like a body than I did while undergoing fertility treatment. Constantly monitoring and dutifully reporting my bodily processes day after day, month after month, year after year; getting injected, swabbed, poked, prodded, and measured both quantitatively (this follicle is 3.5) and qualitatively (your lining is beautiful!); undergoing invasive procedures and regularly looking at and thinking about my insides (usually with a group of people in the room): when trying to conceive, I was a (female) body first, and, most important, I was a body that didnt work the way I should. After returning from yet another visit to the gynecologist, reproductive endocrinologist, or obstetrician, there was something thrilling about taking the instruments of representation into my own hands. In the pluripotent space of the comic panel, I had the power to represent not only my body and my experiences, but also my doctors, nurses, friends, and husband. Confronted daily by a pronatalist world that reminded me how abnormal I was, in the constant din of infertility testing and treatmentand then during my pregnancy and the grief that followed its lossmy pencils, pens, paints, and paper offered a quiet place to work out what was happening to me with some measure of critical distance. French surgeon Rene Leriche once described health as life lived in the silence of the organs. Yet as Michel Foucault famously explains in Birth of the Clinic, medicine is not just an aural art but a visual one, and the two arts are intimately intertwined. The doctors silent observation is transubstantiated as speech; clinical observation, Foucault writes, has the paradoxical ability to hear a language as soon as it perceives a spectacle. Moreover, the [precarious] balance between speech and spectacle underlying medical practice and the scientific impulse to carry this balance forward to create knowledge about the body demand that speech and sight be translated into images. Medicine makes pictures. Physicians look at and in their patients and craft maps of the body and its processes with X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds, and colonoscopy videos. These pictures, writes Ian Williams, help construct the illness stereotypes that influence the way in which a condition is viewed by others as well as the patients experience of the condition. Medical maps of the body, in other words, not only bring the bodys territory into being for scientists and doctors; they also represent cultural geographies that shape understanding of our bodies and our very selves. If the twenty-first-century self, as Nikolas Rose has argued, is anchored by a sense of somatic individualitythat is, an under- standing of the embodied self filtered through the lens of biomedicinethen this self is given shape through words and images. In the intensely visual domain of contemporary medicine, then, to experience health is to enjoy both the privilege of silent organs and the luxury of their invisibility. The noisy presence of trauma, illness, and pain closely maps onto the experience of even the most typical pregnancy and birth. Many pregnant people (especially pregnant trans people and gender nonconforming folks) feel as though they are on constant display. To be an extraordinary body in the world is to be seen as available for public consumption. As Rosemarie Garland-Thomson writes, because we come to expect one another to have certain kinds of bodies and behaviors, stares flare up when we glimpse people who look or act in ways that contradict our assumptions by interrupting complacent visual business-as- usual. Staring is an interrogative gesture that asks whats going on and demands the story, Garland-Thomson explains. The eyes hang on, working to recognize what seems illegible, order what seems unruly, know what seems strange. This initial interrogatory gesture of staring becomes folded into narrative, which may then be carried over into engagement, sometimes welcome and sometimes not. As many visibly pregnant people report, the engagement initiated by a look often turns into deeply personal questions and sometimes even direct touch. As Anne Balsamo writes, A pregnant woman is divested of ownership of her body, as if to reassert in some primitive way her functional service to the speciesshe ceases to be an individual, defined through recourse to rights of privacy, and becomes a biological spectacle. The pregnant body in the world is first and foremost apprehended as a symbol: a narrative to be deciphered and an image to be seen, consumed, interpreted, and scrutinized. To be visibly pregnant, then, is to lose the privilege of privacy. Even further, visibility, as Peggy Phelan argues, summons surveillance and the law. A visibly pregnant body not only calls forth stares, advice, and touches, but also judgment, discipline, and control. Like any other instantiation of power, the regulation of reproduction and the surveillance of pregnant bodies are not distributed equally. The history of reproductive rights in the United States and its territories, for example, is rife with examples in which calls for the individual right to birth control have been transformed into racist practices and eugenic policies of population control. Black, Chicana, Puerto Rican, Indigenous, disabled, and poor women have all been disproportionately subjected to institutionalized fertility control, including involuntary sterilization. As activists and critics have been arguing for generations, human reproduction is a place where the boundaries between biological, social, technological, and political life collapse, even while, as Emily Martin has argued, reproduction is also a site where discourse about the natural reigns supreme. Reproduction is a complicated process of meiosis, if you willa merging of personal and political, body and ideology, individual and institution, science and technology, joy and pain, nature and culture, sex and gender, humor and horror, seeing and saying. In this deeply tangled site, Graphic Reproduction seeks to intervene. Importantly, we do not aim in this book to unravel the many ways of under- standing reproduction; instead, we investigate their crossings and pull gently on their knots. In other words, this book does not seek to resolve the tension that arises among the stories in the following pages. What reproduction means for one artist is not what it means for another. There are (re)productive contradictions and rhetorical contractions throughout the words and images in this volume. The primary function of Graphic Reproduction is to provide a discursive and visual forum where the affective, biological, social, and political complexities of reproduction can exist together in generative uncertainty. The comics in this book offer a rich, multivalent perspective on human reproduction. In the rest of this introduction, I first situate comics about reproduction within the growing field of graphic medicine, with the requisite notes of caution about this positioning. Then, I introduce each comic included here and offer a brief reading of the work to illustrate some of the generative tensions that are revealed. Graphic Medicine The field of graphic medicine combines the discourses of medicine with the medium of comics. Scholars and practitioners of graphic medicine explore how comics can effectively represent the many voices and bodies involved in any healthcare encounter, and they draw on this multiplicity in productive and unexpected ways. In a landmark essay in the British Medical Journal, Michael Green and Kimberly Myers argue that the multiple perspectives of graphic medicine can be used to train more effective and empathetic healthcare providers. Visual under- standing is intuitive in ways that verbal understanding may not be, they write; comics might assist doctors to communicate effectively with their patients, and graphic pathographiesautobiographical comics about illnessmay also help patients and their families better understand what to expect of a certain disease. Moreover, for medical students and residents, particularly those actively working with patients, these deeply engaging personal accounts of illness and medical care are vivid reminders that healing a patient involves more than treating a body. In this way, graphic medicine may be viewed as a subset of medical humanities, which is often presented as a method of training more effective doctors and nurses. While I strongly believe that comicsand the humanities more generallycan and should serve an important function in medical education (and I deeply hope that this book is used that way), there is a risk in viewing comics about health and medicine as yet another instrument in a doctors iconic black case. As Susan Squier argues in Graphic Medicine Manifesto, as medical humanities has begun to take a new shape as health humanities, the field has expanded from an implicit endorsement of the practitioners emphasis on medical treatment to a critical incorporation of the caregivers or patients experiences, including the social determinants of health and wellbeing. This perspectivethe patients view, the view from below, the view from the table, as it wereis where the medium of comics comes to matter a great deal. As the authors of Graphic Medicine Manifesto explain, graphic medicine is a movement for change that challenges the dominant methods of scholarship in healthcare, offering a more inclusive perspective of medicine, illness, disability, caregiving, and being cared for. . . . [It] arises out of a discomfort with supposed techno-medical progress, working to include those who are not currently represented within its discourse. Comics have long served as a medium to explore taboo subjects. Many of the earliest underground comics, for example, graphically depicted sex and drugs and pushed the legal envelope to the point where several artists, publishers, and comic shops were charged with obscenity. Although the underground comics movement of the 1960s and 1970s was largely dominated by straight white men, there were also many subversive women cartoonists, queer cartoonists, and cartoonists of color whose work was disseminated in political circles. As a medium already on the margins of proper literature and culture, then, comics offer an ideal [forum] for exploring taboo or forbidden areas of illness and healthcare. (End of excerpt) Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Posted Tuesday, June 19, 2018 8:00 pm Carolyn Woods remembers well the first time she saw orcas in the wild. It was about three years ago, and Woods was on a whale-watching boat on the Puget Sound. A pod of resident orcas swam by. It was quiet enough, and we were close enough that we could hear them breathe, Woods said. That was pretty incredible. The experience inspired Woods, an artist who works at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, to create a linocut print featuring an orca with a salmon its food source amid sea waters. Today, that artwork can be seen all around town on a poster promoting the second annual Port Townsend Orca Festival taking place June 23. For an event celebrating the relationship between the orca and the salmon, Woods art is especially fitting. ART & EDUCATION Woods, 26, is the education coordinator at the marine science center, where she has held various positions since 2014. In her current position, she works with students through school programs and summer camps, often using art as a teaching tool. I try to bring art into all of the education practices that we do here so they can record their camp experience and take that home, Woods said. Shell encourage the students to sketch in nature journals and complete scientific illustrations of what they see. Woods said in her own experience drawing and sketching helps deepen her connection to the natural world. I just love having (art) as a way to focus my attention when Im outdoors, taking a closer look at things that I might not have otherwise, she said. She wants to encourage that close examination in her students, too. As someone who works outdoors as an educator, I think (art) is a really useful tool for getting kids to slow down and stop and remember their experience better, she said. PAINTING MEMORIES Woods grew up in Vancouver and attended the University of Washington, where she studied ecology, evolution and conservation biology. She cant remember a time when she wasnt into conservation or art. One memory she recalled was that of going to a creek near her school in fifth grade and testing for water quality. We looked at what was living in and around the creek, she said. And she loved it. Today, Woods hopes she can help kids have their own experiences like the ones she remembers. Its nice being here and getting to give kids the same experience I had and hopefully inspire the same passion in them that it did in me, she said. Watching the students experience the wonders of the natural world observing them discover, for example, the squishy sea anemones on the pier and creatures who live under the many rocks on the beach is especially rewarding, she said. As for when she started making art I dont remember; I was probably a toddler, she said. My parents have some of my crayon sketches from age 3, Woods said. Later on, they were very patient when I wanted to stop and pause on hikes or at the zoo when everyone else was ready to move on. Woods keeps a nature journal and tries to draw in it every day even if its just a quick sketch. She carries with her a field kit a pencil, a sketchbook and a tin full of watercolor-filled bottle caps. I like to keep it simple, she said. Its light and easy to take with me. And, while she doesnt yet have a website, she does post her art on Instagram at @seewoods99. When I go back and look at the drawings later it brings back the memories of where I was sitting, what I was feeling, she said. If I draw something I will remember it forever. Posted Tuesday, June 19, 2018 8:00 pm Lunches at the Port Townsend School District will feature more local products thanks to one Port Townsend Food Co-op member and a host of other co-op shoppers who are stepping forward. A co-op member who wishes to remain anonymous recently granted $10,000 to support the schools lunch programs and challenged the co-op to match that amount. They challenged us to double the impact, co-op marketing manager Andrea Stafford said. Fundraising began June 1 and so far $2,350 of the $10,000 has been raised. Patrons can choose any dollar amount they would like to donate and write that amount on a paper veggie cutout. The cutouts are being used to create a rainbow behind the member services desk in the store. The co-op already has ties with the school districts local food-focused lunch program and has donated produce and meats to be used, along with equipment. They do a lot of scratch cooking, and we want to support that, Stafford said. The co-op has also started a cooking with the co-op program at the middle school and plans to host a presentation next year for elementary school students on eating a locally-sourced rainbow of foods. They are our next generation, Stafford said of the students, adding that it is important to start getting kids eating locally from an early age. (They) will help turn the needle. Eating local food is not only healthier, but it also helps build the local food economy, Stafford continued. Local veggies have more nutrients, Stafford said. She noted when food travels many miles from its source, it starts to diminish in nutrients and, eating locally keeps money in the community rather than sending profits to big corporations. Were putting the money right back into the local economy, she said. The plan is to raise funds by the time school starts in the fall. Eating local helps kids develop a sense of community and pride in where they live and where their food comes from, district food services director Stacey Larson said. The funds raised will help us provide more local food for our students and purchase new kitchen equipment to ensure that our cooks have the tools they need to create nutritious meals made from scratch. Posted Tuesday, June 19, 2018 8:00 pm Kitsap Credit Union is already searching for a new president and CEO, since the man whos filled that post for the past 19 years has officially announced his upcoming retirement. Elliott Gregg was hired as president and CEO of what was then Kitsap Community Federal Credit Union in March 2000, right around the same time it opened its ninth branch. When Gregg was first hired, all of KCUs branches were located in Kitsap County, and it had about $398 million in total assets. Under Greggs tenure, which has included a merger with the Jefferson County-based Quimper Credit Union in 2012, KCU has grown to encompass 15 branches spanning five counties, and more than $1.2 billion in total assets. When asked why he intends to retire effective Jan. 16, 2019, Gregg admitted approaching the age of 70 in 2018 had a lot to do with it, as did being able to end his 43-year career in financial institutions with his 19 best years at KCU, so I can retire on a very positive note. During those decades, Gregg has witnessed firsthand how technological innovations such as the smart phone have transformed banking. Transactions that were once completely branch-dependent can now be done remotely, Gregg said. However, when it comes to those big financial decisions in life, such as buying a car or a house, our members still turn to us for trusted advice. As a board member of the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance, Gregg has also seen the Olympic Peninsula become more integrated with the economy of the Puget Sound region as a whole, which he believes puts the onus on community leaders to grow and integrate their transportation and other infrastructure in turn. In reaching the Jefferson County market, through our merger with Quimper Credit Union, we found great similarities, in the needs of the people of the Olympic Peninsula, to the needs wed been meeting on the Kitsap Peninsula, Gregg said. Gregg also takes pride in KCU step up to offer the largest-volume auto-lending in the West Sound. By connecting with car dealerships throughout the region, and across the state, weve been able to provide our members with auto loans, wherever they buy their cars, Gregg said. Gregg framed this as part of community-charted credit unions evolution into what he deemed community institutions, by forging partnerships with the Port Townsend and Chimacum high schools, the annual Rhody Run, the Jefferson County Farmers Markets, the Port Townsend Main Street Concert series, the Jefferson Teen Center, the Hadlock Block Party and Parade, the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival series and the Humane Society of Jefferson County. Our staff provide the same level of engagement in each of the communities they serve, Gregg said. Our Port Townsend and Port Hadlock staff support many community organizations, and help make a positive difference. One significant change Gregg did not anticipate was KCUs 2007 conversion to a state charter. It may not seem like much, but it did allow us to serve our members beyond the Kitsap Peninsula, Gregg said. Now, were lending across the state, and about to open a branch in Puyallup. It took a vote of the membership to make that charter change. Their support to our future growth meant a lot. As KCU retains the recruiting firm DDJ Meyers to find a suitable replacement for Gregg, KCU Board Chair Jim Rowson credited Gregg with overseeing the credit unions entry into the digital realm, use of employee feedback and staff training to promote more efficient service, and the launch of a 24-hour call center. I speak for the board, and KCU membership as a whole, that we are thankful for Elliots leadership as our CEO, and wish him and his wife a most deserved and relaxing retirement, Rowson said. Until Gregg and his wife are able to return to the Southwestern desert where they lived in the 1980s, he promised his highest priority would be to work closely with the board in ensuring a smooth transition. KCU has been recognized by readers of The Leader as Best Credit Union of the Year during a number of recent years, and was named the 2014 Department of the Navy Credit Union of the Year. Kitsap Credit Union is a nonprofit financial cooperative serving a membership of more than 100,000 from branch offices in Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason and Pierce counties. Membership eligibility is open to those who live and work in Washington State. Learn more at www.kitsapcu.org. Posted Tuesday, June 19, 2018 8:00 pm A Port Townsend man who earned the world record for the fastest solo finish at last year's Race to Alaska is currently leading this year's race as of press time. Russell Brown is a local designer who has sailed all four years of the R2AK with his wife, Ashlyn, during the first leg of the race. He is again sailing the second leg solo this year on the Gougeon 32 catamaran PT Watercraft, which boasts human propulsion with a custom pedal drive. Russell was the first solo finisher last year, Northwest Maritime Center Communications Director Anika Colvin said. His boat is crazy fast and has been winning in the first day's light airs. The annual R2AK, a 750-mile race open to all engineless vessels and sponsored by the Northwest Maritime Center, has no handicaps or classes and offers a $10,000 first prize. The 40-mile qualifying stage to Victoria, British Columbia, crosses the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a notoriously rough body of water that opens to the Pacific Ocean and separates the U.S. from Canada. In past years, the start of the race has been really windy, R2AK race boss Daniel Evans said. By contrast, Colvin reported this year's first leg was relatively calm. Out of the 39 vessels that completed the first leg, PT Watercraft pulled in first at 9:10 a.m. June 14, followed by First Federal's Sail Like a Girl monohull in second at 9:51 a.m., Strait to the Pool Room catamaran in third at 10:04 a.m., Ptarmigan trimaran in fourth at 10:05 a.m., Swan Song trimaran in fifth at 10:10 a.m., BlueFlash monohull in sixth at 10:13 a.m., the Super Friends and Dreamcatchers monohulls tied in seventh at 10:20 a.m., Wright Yachts trimaran in ninth at 10:21 a.m. and Lagopus monohull in 10th at 10:23 a.m. Evans caught up with Brown on the second stage of the second day to interview him live on the morning of June 18 on the Northwest Maritime Center's R2AK Facebook page. Brown said he had only slept three and a half hours the previous night. You guys are wasting a lot of gas and film talking to me, he joked with the media team. Those wishing to follow the R2AK in real time can log on to the race tracker at tracker.r2ak.com, or follow its progress at the end of each day through r2ak.com/2018-daily-updates. Ghana has signed a partnership deal with Arkansas, one of the 50 states in the United States of America, to foster business a seamless business relationship. Here are three lessons we drew from the partnership. An expected boom in the Agriculture sector This partnership agreement between Arkansas state and Ghana is expected to give a boom to the agricultural sectors of both partners. From the talks of both parties, there are huge agricultural benefits. Arkansas with a population of about 3 million generates over $20 billion from agriculture, serving as a food basket for the United States, with rice production in the lead. The Arkansas Agriculture Department, State of Arkansas of the United States of America and the Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture of the Republic of Ghana have agreed on the basis of friendly cooperation, equity and mutual benefit to continue to develop relationships to promote and broaden agricultural development, cooperation and cultural exchanges between the two sides, the MoU stated. A new channel for cultural exchange The partnership deal between Ghana and Arkansas is expected to open a new channel for cultural exchange aside agricultural development. Arkansas Governor, Asa Hutchinson, who signed the partnership Memorandum of Understanding said the deal is committed to increasing cultural exchange. The cultural exchange is expected to give a boom to the tourism sector of both Ghana and Arkansas. Inter-Trade boost During the signing of the partnership deal on Wednesday, June 20, 2018, in Little Rock, Arkansas, both parties agreed that this deal will give a boost to inter-trade. The agreement will establish a sister-state relationship for Arkansas with a comprehensive framework for doing business between the parties. Governor Hutchinson said the agreement will help in boosting trade between the parties which, as at 2016, saw Arkansas exporting goods worth nearly $6 million to Ghana. The deceased, identified as William Osae-Ansah, served as the Treasurer of the church before his untimely demise. According to a report by Accra-based Kasapa FM, the Elder checked in at a Guest House known as Su Su Sei Me Guest House with a 40 year old Woman, also a member of the Church, at about 9:25am. However, after some minutes of sexual intercourse the woman rushed to the reception to report that her partner was unresponsive. When some workers of the Guest House rushed to the room, the man was found dead and totally naked as he lay on the bed. The case was then reported to the New Juaben Municipal Police command, with an investigation team subsequently being dispatched to the scene. Earlier observation by the Police indicated no signs of violence on the body of the deceased. The corpse has since been deposited at to the Eastern Regional Hospital for preservation at the mogue, pending post Moterm examination. Meanwhile, the woman with whom the deceased Elder lodged into the Guest House was seen boarding a vehicle in an attempt to escape following the incident. The United Nations has designated SCD as a global public health problem. While simple public health measures such as newborn screening, vaccinations, and early interventions have been proven to greatly improve childhood survival in several countries, including the United States, SCD continues to be a major global public health issue. It remains a major killer of infants and children in the developing world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where an estimated 5090 percent of infants born with SCD will die before their fifth birthday. In support of World Sickle Cell Day, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) is taking measures to raise awareness of SCD in Africa in an effort to improve health outcomes for people with the disease from infant to adulthood. In a webinar today, Global Action: Improving Health Outcomes for Sickle Cell Disease, ASH convened global health experts, media, and its Sickle Cell Disease Coalition partners to address the urgent need to raise global awareness about this devastating disease. Experts also discussed recent efforts to distribute two new videos a public service announcement and short documentary that address the need for newborn screening and counter the prevailing myths about the disease in sub- Saharan Africa. These videos, made possible by a grant from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, can be found and shared at http://scdcoalition.org/global. One of the greatest hurdles we face in curbing the heartbreaking rate of mortality caused by sickle cell disease in sub-Saharan Africa is lack of awareness of the condition and the simple, relatively inexpensive interventions that can save lives. It starts with early recognition, ideally through newborn screening, said ASH President Alexis A. Thompson, MD, MPH, of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago. Our hope is that by using these videos to dispel myths and tell parents that SCD is manageable, we can encourage families, communities and public officials to screen newborn children for sickle cell disease so that they can receive critical, accessible treatment that will help them survive. The videos highlight efforts currently underway in Ghana, a country with a high incidence of SCD, to help dispel myths and eliminate the stigma of the disease. The videos show families the steps they can take to ensure that children born with SCD are diagnosed promptly so they can get proper medical care. In Ghana, newborn screening and educational efforts have significantly decreased mortality rates. Unfortunately, despite the work weve done in Ghana and across Africa, much remains to be done to reduce infant mortality 90 percent of children with SCD in resource-poor countries will not survive to adulthood, said Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, MD, of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Ghana. In Ghana, weve seen that simple public health measures, especially newborn screening, help children lead more normal lives. In the first 10 years of newborn screening, we made dramatic improvements in reducing sickle cell-related childhood mortality. ASH has made conquering SCD around the world a top priority and is leading efforts to translate research into cutting-edge therapies and cures, increase access to care, educate health care providers, and encourage policymakers to make strides in universal screening and care efforts. In 2016, the Society founded the Sickle Cell Disease Coalition to amplify the voice of the SCD stakeholder community, promote awareness, and improve outcomes for individuals with SCD globally. Webinar Information To access the June 19 webinar, Global Action: Improving Health Outcomes for Sickle Cell Disease, please click here. About the American Society of Hematology (ASH) The American Society of Hematology (ASH) (www.hematology.org) is the worlds largest professional society of hematologists dedicated to furthering the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting the blood. For more than 50 years, the Society has led the development of hematology as a discipline by promoting research, patient care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology. Dr Anim-Odame has been asked to report to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, for re-assignment. A letter communicating his fate said the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo is not in a position to renew your contract as Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission for another term, adding: Report to the Hon. Minister for re-assignment at the end of your leave. READ ALSO: AirtelTigo CEO resigns Dr Anim-Odames contract ends on 14 July 2018. It is not clear why the president has decided not to renew his contract. The dismissal of Dr Anim-Odame comes barely two weeks after four Chief Executives of parastatal institutions were fired. Mr Adadevoh succeeds Ebenezer Asante who is now the Vice President of the MTN Group. Before he was appointed, Mr Adadevoh was the CEO of Digicel and based in Haiti, which is the Digicel Groups largest market. READ ALSO: AirtelTigo CEO resigns He was also the Chief Commercial Officer and head of Mobile Financial Services (MFS) for Millicom (Tigo) Ghana. He is an alumnus of the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. MTN explained that Mr Adadevoh will bring a wide-ranging skill set to his new role. These include experience in the technology industry where he has leveraged technology innovation to drive P&L/ EBITDA improvement. It is expected that Mr. Adadevoh will also take the business to the next phase of excellence. Meanwhile outgoing CEO, Ebenezer Asante has congratulated Selorm and urged MTN users to welcome him with open arms. I would ask all MTNers to welcome and embrace Selorm and the changes that will flow from his leadership. He also thanked the MTN family for contributing to making his tenure a success. Reports suggest that the body was covered with weeds when it was found. Dr Aya Hayfron was found by local fishermen after she was trapped on a bridge on Teshie Bush Road. Her body has since been sent to a morgue. READ ALSO: Here are 10 tips to beat floods according to Dr Lloyd Amoah She was returning from church around 10 pm with two other people whom she offered a lift. Bernard Kofi Agyei Oppong narrated that the heavy floods swept away the vehicle after the missing doctor attempted to cross a bridge on a small river called Naa Pra. READ ALSO: Cocaine dealer Nayele Ametefe released from jail When some rescuers came to their aid, they were unable to save Dr Hayfron but managed to save the two passengers. The distraught husband revealed that they have a 15-month-old baby and were hoping to enroll her in school to enable his wife to go back to work. When asked he felt, Bernard Kofi Agyei Oppong said It is hard to describe how I feel. At some points, I cant breathe. My heart aches. Nayele Ametefe was released from jail for good behaviour. The 35-year-old was convicted on January 6, 2015 for transporting cocaine to the UK and was sentenced to eight years and eight months jail term. READ ALSO: Here are 10 tips to beat floods according to Dr Lloyd Amoah She was convicted on her own plea by the Isleworth Crown Court in the UK. She made the headlines in the country from late 2014 and early 2015 after news broke that she reportedly used the VVIP Lounge of Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to smuggle narcotics outside the country via a British Airways flight. She was caught with about 12.5kg of cocaine with a street value of 1.9 million Pounds. She was reported to have had on her $23, 000 and 6000 Pounds at the time of her arrest. Background During her trial, she disclosed she has had protection from people in authority since 2004. She, however, did not disclose if those high people were politicians or not. She also added that she was introduced into the drug smuggling business by a businesswoman in Ghana after her struggles to keep up with the affluent lifestyle she enjoyed while married to her ex-husband, who was a very wealthy spare parts dealer. The 32-year-old mother of 3 failed to name her accomplices for fear that her children might be harmed in Ghana. Ametefe, whose final destination was the Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean, said she stopped over in London to shop and have a medical checkup. She was arrested with the whopping sum meant to be her full payment for the courier services and 6,000 Pounds as her bonus. Meanwhile, six persons who were standing trial in Ghana over their alleged complicity in the case were freed. According to him, such events are satanic and haram (forbidden under Islamic laws), and therefore must not be encouraged. The Imams outburst come following a street jam organised by the Member of Parliament of the Gomoa East constituency for the Muslim youth of the community. Hon. Kojo Asemanyi is reported to have been organizing such events each year to thrill the Muslim youth in his constituency. The MP is reported to have once again sponsored this years Salafest which lasted the whole night through to the next morning. Musicians like D Flex and other Muslim artistes were invited to perform at the event and to entertain the Muslim youth as part of the Eid-ul-fitr festivities. However, Alhaji Ibrahim has condemned the lawmaker for consistently organizing such events, describing the Salafest as satanic. The Gomoa East Imam said such events only expose the youth to promiscuity and other immoral acts and therefore must be stopped. He added that the MP must focus on bringing development to the community rather than wasting funds on an event which destroys the moral fibre of Muslims. Hon. Asemanyi knows nothing about Islam; we didnt see him organizing such satanic acts during Christmas or Easter for his Christian brothers. He has not thought of bringing scholarships to the Muslim youth here but he is organizing these satanic acts for our boys and girls, Alhaji Ibrahim said, as quoted by MyNewsGh.com. This is a condemnable act by a Member of Parliament who should be bringing development to the constituents and not acts that seek to lead our youth astray and further exposes young girls and boys to this midnight danger. Is that all that he has for the Muslims in this constituency? [It] destroys the moral fibre of Muslims. He cited bad governance among his reasons for resigning. In a letter announcing his resignation, he said "After witnessing several instances and degrees of bad governance, including the abuse of entrusted power (or corruption), lack of probity, accountability, transparency and integrity at the Secretariat of the AUABC and some Departments of the AU Commission itself for over a period of three years now, while efforts at seeking redress have yielded no results, I have decided on grounds of principle that enough is enough". He said corruption is endemic at AU adding that the organisation lacks probity, accountability, transparency and integrity. Batidam who was elected twice to serve on the Board in January 2015 for a term of two years and again in January 2017 to serve for a second term of another two years in line with Article 22 of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption once served as the anti-corruption advisor of former President John Mahama. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and president, accompanies top leader of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Kim Jong-un as they greet children at a welcoming ceremony in Beijing on Tuesday. SHEN HONG / XINHUA With DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un on 3rd trip to China, Singapore meeting, economy high on agenda Beijing hopes that the outcome of the DPRK-US summit will be fully implemented as it is an important step for the political resolution of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remark when meeting in Beijing with Kim Jong-un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The two leaders agreed to safeguard, consolidate and develop China-DPRK relations and jointly push forward the sound momentum of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula. Xi called for all related parties to jointly push forward the peaceful process on the peninsula and said China will play a constructive role as always. Xi said the peninsula issue has been brought to the right track of being solved through dialogue and negotiation due to the concerted efforts of all related parties, and the situation is moving toward the direction of peace and stability. Kim has made positive efforts for realizing denuclearization and maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula, he said. Xi said China speaks highly of the results of the Singapore meeting between Kim and United States President Donald Trump, during which both sides agreed to work toward denuclearization and establish a lasting, stable and peaceful situation on the peninsula. Kim's special trip to China reflects the great attention he paid to strategic communication between the two parties and the two countries, Xi said. Kim's two-day visit to China started on Tuesday. It is his third trip to China since March, when he visited Beijing on his first foreign trip since taking office. In May, he traveled to Dalian, Liaoning province, and met with Xi a second time. Xi said the three meetings with Kim in less than three months indicate the direction for developing relations between the two parties and two countries, opening a new chapter for the China-DPRK relationship. Whatever the international and regional situation, the CPC and the Chinese government's firm commitment to consolidating and developing bilateral ties will not change, the Chinese people's friendly affection with the people of the DPRK will not change, and China's support for socialist DPRK will not change, he said. Xi said he stands ready to work with Kim to continue to implement the important consensus reached between the two sides, and push forward the long-term, sound and stable development of the China-DPRK relationship, benefiting the people of both countries. Noting that this year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up, Xi said the Chinese people have explored a development path suitable for its own situation and China is glad to see that the DPRK has made the important decision to turn its priorities toward economic development. The DPRK's development of the socialist cause has entered a new stage in history, and China supports the DPRK's development of its economy, improvement in people's livelihood and taking a development path that suits its conditions, Xi said. Kim said the Singapore summit has achieved results that conform to the interests of all parties and meet the expectations of the international community. He said his country thanks and speaks highly of China's important role in promoting denuclearization and maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. The DPRK hopes to work with all related parties including China to promote building a lasting and solid peace mechanism on the peninsula, and work together for realizing lasting peace there, Kim said. He also said he was pleased to meet with Xi. Kim described China as a great and friendly neighbor of DPRK, and Xi as a great leader that the DPRK respects and trusts. He expressed thanks for China's friendship and precious support. Kim added that he will lead all members of the Workers' Party of Korea and people of the DPRK to implement the consensus reached between him and Xi, elevating the unbreakable DPRK-China relationship to a higher level. Before the meeting, Xi held a ceremony to welcome Kim at the Great Hall of the People. The accused who voluntarily made the confession at the district court said he was contracted by some personalities within the governing New Patriotic Party NPP to kill the former MP for the Abuakwa North constituency. According to him, the said person after his arrest urged him to accuse certain persons within the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of contracting him. Daniel Asiedu added that the said NPP officials later promised to release him when they win power in the 2016 general elections but have failed to fulfill their promise. The accused Daniel Asiedu and one other person Vincent Bosso, have been charged with murder and abetment of the murder of the late MP. J.B Danquah Adu was stabbed to death on the night of Tuesday, February 9, 2016, at his Shiashie residence in Accra. The prime suspect, Daniel Asiedu was arrested two days after the incident. The accomplice was picked several weeks later. On Wednesday, May 9, 2018, the judge Arit Nsemoh informed the two accused persons that she was yet to receive the A-Gs opinion leaving her with no choice than to adjourn the case. The case has been adjourned to the 26th of July 2018. He will be assisted by Richard Nyamah and Kofi Agyepong. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko in a Facebook post hinted that Mr Yaw Buabeng Asamoah is the new Director of Communications. He said the NPP is yet to announce the appointment of the 54-year-old lawyer who hails from Sekyere Odumase in the Ashanti Region. READ MORE: NDC MP to resign from Parliament "Congrats to Yaw Buabeng Asamoah for your appointment as the new Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party. Clearly, there was a huge leadership vacuum in the ruling partys communication machinery and we are all happy to hear that Chairman Blay, General John Boadu and the team have acted accordingly," Gabby Asare Otchere Darko wrote. Political life of Asamoah Buabeng Asamoah was the first Secretary of the NPP on the University of Ghana, Legon campus and his skillful deployment of students in the 1992 elections laid an enduring foundation for TESCON. He was also a youth representative on the inter-party Joint Action Committee formed after the 1992 elections and a veteran of the Public Order Act and Radio Eye demonstrations as well as the Kume Preko protests of the Alliance For Change (AFC). READ ALSO: NDC MP blames floods on implementation of Free SHS Buabeng Asamoah is a man with extensive media competence. He was a show moderator on Forum and Governance Hour on radio and the popular political programme Talking Point on GTV. Talking Point provided a platform for members of the NPP to criticize the government in the 90s. "More than half of the fatalities came from the ambush and roadside bomb blasts that hit a reinforcement convoy," provincial governor Abdul Qhafoor Malikzai told AFP. The other soldiers and police were killed when militants raided their bases, Qhafoor added. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a WhatsApp message to journalists. Provincial council chief Abdul Aziz Bek confirmed the death toll and accused the Taliban of taking advantage of the suspension in fighting to do reconnaissance in the area. "During the ceasefire the Taliban had sent informants to collect information about the bases and plan the attack," he told AFP. Badghis governor spokesman Jamshid Shahabi told AFP that 15 Taliban fighters were also killed and 21 wounded in the attacks on two bases in Bala Murghab district. The defence ministry issued a statement saying fighting in the area continued as the Taliban faced "stiff resistance" from Afghan security forces. Further reinforcements had been deployed, the statement said. It appeared to be the deadliest fighting since the Taliban returned to the battlefield on Monday after refusing a government request to extend their unprecedented three-day ceasefire. Year-long truce offer President Ashraf Ghani announced over the weekend that the government's eight-day ceasefire, which had been scheduled to expire on Tuesday, would be prolonged for another 10 days. The first formal nationwide ceasefire since the 2001 US-led invasion had sparked extraordinary scenes of Taliban fighters, security forces and civilians happily celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday together. But the jubilation appeared to alarm Taliban leaders, who on Sunday ordered their fighters to stay at their posts or in areas under their control. The Taliban hailed the truce as a success and a demonstration of their "full control" over their fighters. The government's move to extend its ceasefire with the Taliban may buy Ghani more time to work out how to keep the momentum going. His February offer of peace talks with the Taliban, considered to be one of the most comprehensive plans ever offered by an Afghan government, was ignored by the militants, who went on to launch their annual spring offensive. The insurgents have repeatedly demanded direct dialogue with the United States, which Washington has refused, and the withdrawal of foreign troops. Ghani said Tuesday he was prepared to extend the ceasefire to a year "if the Taliban accepts it", according to a video of a meeting between the president and a group of peace marchers who arrived in the capital on Monday. The US and North Korean leaders agreed to the repatriations during their historic June 12 summit in Singapore. "On several occasions in the past, DPRK officials have indicated they possess as many as 200 sets of remains they had recovered over the years," the Pentagon said in factsheet updated Monday about those reported missing in action during the Korean War of 1950-1953. "The commitment established within the Joint Statement between President Trump and Chairman Kim would repatriate these as was done in the early 1990s and would reinforce the humanitarian aspects of this mission." The document used the acronym for North Korea's formal name. More than 35,000 Americans were killed on the Korean Peninsula during the war, which ended in an armistice with no peace treaty. Among them, 7,700 are still considered missing, including 5,300 in North Korea alone, according to the Pentagon. Smiling as she took the White House lectern on Monday, Nielsen read from a script defending Trumps zero tolerance policy, which has separated 2,300 children from their parents yet failed to reduce the number of families trying to cross the border. She falsely said that Trumps family separation strategy was not administration policy, wrongly insisting it was the result of legal loopholes that only Congress can fix. Asked whether images of young children packed into detention centers and an audiotape of them keening for their parents was an intended or unintended consequence of the administrations decision making, Nielsen replied: They reflect the focus of those who post such pictures and narratives. The narratives we dont see are the narratives of the crime. Asked how is this not child abuse, she responded coolly, Be more specific, please. The fallout has been swift. A growing number of congressional Democrats are calling for Nielsens resignation, and Republicans moved to stanch the political bleeding. The governors of Maryland and Virginia withdrew National Guard troops from the southern border. The powerful Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce slammed the practice of tearing migrant families apart. Surely a nation as big, generous and compassionate as the United States can find a way to prevent separating children from their parents at the border, Thomas J. Donohue, the chambers chief executive, said in a statement on Tuesday. During his first year in office, the president delighted in boasting that illegal crossings at the border with Mexico had declined drastically on his watch. But so far in 2018, illegal crossings have surged, with more than 50,000 migrants entering the United States each month in March, April and May. The reasons for the increase in border traffic are many, including the cyclical nature of migration and a booming U.S. economy. But Trump has become increasingly enraged and focused on a crackdown, adding new pressure on Nielsen. The Department of Homeland Security, which has a budget of more than $40 billion and a staff of more than 240,000, is a sprawling amalgam created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that cobbled together 22 government agencies. The department is responsible for everything from protecting the nation from cyberattacks to responding to natural disasters. But as the president rails about illegal immigration, Nielsens attention has been increasingly drawn to the departments border security role. Your priority, once you accept the job, is to echo the presidents priorities. She has done that, said Tom Ridge, the first homeland security secretary, who said Nielsen has often sought out his advice. But this president, with some of the things he sometimes does and says, has made her job harder. At 46, Nielsen is the youngest person to lead the sprawling agency, and an unlikely choice for the job. She was a staff member at the agency before leading it, helping to set up the Transportation Security Administration, now an agency within homeland security, after the Sept. 11 attacks. She was later tapped to be a special assistant to President George W. Bush, working on the Homeland Security Council. After Trumps surprise election victory, Nielsen volunteered for his transition team and helped prepare John F. Kelly, then the president-elects nominee for homeland security secretary, for his confirmation hearings. Kelly named Nielsen his chief of staff, and the two have moved in tandem through the Trump administration, becoming friends in the process. When Trump named Kelly his White House chief of staff last July, Nielsen became his deputy, helping to enforce new rules on access to the president. Kelly then backed Nielsen to succeed him at the Homeland Security Department, though both Democrats and anti-immigration groups criticized her lack of experience. During her confirmation hearings, Nielsen sidestepped questions about Trumps immigration policy, but acknowledged that his pledge to build a wall along the entire Southwest border was unrealistic. There is no need for a wall from sea to shining sea, she told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. She was confirmed by the Senate with bipartisan support. During her first Cabinet meeting as homeland security secretary in December, Trump told the group, I sure hope Kirstjens tough enough, according to a report in Politico. In a recent interview, Nielsen said she was quietly trying to put her own stamp on the agency, focusing on beefing up the cybersecurity division and doing a critical assessment of other programs at the department. Its time we took a look at what works and what might work better, she said. Nielsen has also been raising her visibility as an advocate for Trumps immigration policies. During whirlwind trips to the border, and in speeches and testimony on Capitol Hill, she forcefully lobbied Congress for Trumps border wall. In April, touring Arizonas border with Mexico, she called illegal crossings a crisis and criticized a Supreme Court ruling curtailing her departments ability to deport legal immigrants convicted of certain crimes. She defended the departments withdrawal of Temporary Protected Status for nearly 300,000 Hondurans, Salvadorans and Haitians, many with American-born children, who were granted haven in the United States after natural disasters and civil unrest. The decisions prompted a diplomatic outcry. The statute is very clear, she said in an interview with NPR in May. If the conditions that originated from the designating event no longer exist, the statute says the secretary shall terminate. To pretend that conditions continue to exist from a hurricane 20 years ago is a fiction. In February, after the administration began pulling back the temporary protections, the departments assistant secretary for international engagement in the office of strategy, policy and plans decided to resign. The official, James D. Nealon, a former U.S. ambassador to Honduras, had reportedly also clashed with the White House over immigration policy. In the interview, Nielsen insisted she was simply doing her job. Its not partisan, she said. We should all care about securing our borders and our country. Were talking about stopping criminals, criminal gangs and terrorist suspects. We need to know who is trying to come into the country. Over her six months in office, Nielsen has tried to straddle the line on immigration policy, between critics on the left who wanted her to be a voice of conscience and those on the right who accused her of being soft on unauthorized immigrants. Under the best circumstances, DHS is a hard place to run, said Jay Ahren, a former commissioner of Customs and Border Protection during the administration of President George W. Bush. No single person can run an organization of that size without a strong team. Even before her Monday briefing, Nielsen had become a political lightning rod. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, accused Nielsen of politicizing the department. I think she has been distracted by overthinking how well something is going to be received at the White House, he said. In the White House, Nielsens political fortunes have hewed closely to those of Kelly. A department spokesman disputed that she drafted a resignation letter last month and described as false reports that she had been close to resigning. On Monday, Kelly reportedly urged Nielsen not to participate in the White House briefing. She went anyway. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said that all of the members of the Republican conference support a plan that keeps families together, endorsing quick passage of a narrow bill to provide legal authority to detain parents and children together while the courts consider their status. In the House, Republicans vowed to press ahead with votes this week on a pair of more sweeping immigration bills drafted by conservatives and moderates, claiming they would address the family separation issue while overhauling the nations immigration system. In an hourlong meeting on Capitol Hill with House Republicans, Trump declined to explicitly back either one, saying he would sign both bills. The president was very firm in explaining why its so important that he gets this bill to his desk so that we can solve some problems and secure our border, said Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican whip. He added, We want to secure our border, we want to reunite kids. Our bill does just that. In a fiery address to a business group earlier in the day, Trump falsely blamed Democrats for the separation crisis and demanded a broad overhaul of the nations immigration laws, a process that would take months. At the same time, he belittled one of the central ideas behind the effort by Senate Republicans to immediately stop separating families on the Mexican border. McConnell said he planned to reach out to Democrats to support the effort, hoping to stanch the political damage from the administration's zero-tolerance policy that has led to heartbreaking stories of children separated from their mothers. But Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, immediately shot down the Republican approach, saying that Trump could and should use his executive authority, not legislation, to quickly end the family separations. Anyone who believes this Republican Congress is capable of addressing this issue is kidding themselves, Schumer said in a statement. The president can end this crisis with the flick of his pen, and he needs to do so now. The president has the power own his own to change that zero tolerance policy at the border, which would once again allow border agents and prosecutors the discretion to allow families to remain together after crossing the border illegally. But it would allow those families to be released while their court proceedings go forward, something Trump opposes. In his afternoon speech, Trump dismissed as crazy several of the Republican proposals by Senate Republicans to expedite processing of immigrant families by hiring hundreds of new immigration judges. Rejecting a proposal by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to increase personnel in immigration courts with the hiring of up to 375 new judges, Trump suggested that many of the immigration judges could be corrupt, and he said some lawyers who appear in their courtrooms are bad people. They said, Sir, wed like to hire about five or six thousand more judges,' Trump said in a long and rambling speech to the National Federation of Independent Business. Five or six thousand? Now, can you imagine the graft that must take place? Youre all small-business owners, so I know you cant imagine a thing like that would happen. Trump has for weeks been urging lawmakers to pass broad legislation to overhaul the nations immigration system, including hard-line changes that would crack down on asylum-seekers, reduce visas and spend $25 billion to build a border wall. Doing so, he said, would have ended the need for a zero-tolerance policy by allowing families to be quickly deported. Broad immigration legislation was supposed to be the subject of the meeting with Republican House members on Tuesday afternoon. But in his speech, the president also vowed to rewrite Republican immigration legislation to his liking. We have a House thats getting ready to finalize an immigration package that they are going to brief me on later, and Im going to make changes, Trump vowed. Lawmakers later said that the president gave no indication that he wanted to change anything about their legislation. Aides to Trump said he later told the House Republicans: Im with you 100 percent. During the meeting with the lawmakers, Trump took no questions and veered from immigration to trade, North Korea and took a swipe at Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who lost his primary race after Trump opposed him. The president called him nasty. In his speech, the president once again blamed Democrats for supporting crippling loopholes that cause family separation and claimed without evidence that Democratic politicians are eager to let members of MS-13 and other violent gangs into the United States so they can eventually vote for them. The president was greeted by enthusiastic applause throughout his speech to the crowd of mostly small-business executives. But two other leading business groups the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable condemned the practice of separating children from their parents. The Business Roundtable called it cruel and contrary to American values. The chambers top official said, This is not who we are, and it must end now. Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, announced in a tweet on Tuesday that he would withdraw four members of the Maryland National Guard, and their helicopter, from the southern border until this policy of separating children from their families has been rescinded. But the broadest Republican opposition to the administration's policy was in the Senate. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, asked his Senate colleagues to sign a letter to the Justice Department requesting a pause on family separations until Congress can pass legislation, a spokesman for the senator said Tuesday. Hatch told reporters on Monday that the separation policy was not American. As I have said for the last several weeks," Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said in a statement. I oppose the Trump administrations policy of separating children from their parents. This is counter to our values. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he was working on legislation that would keep families together while increasing the number of federal immigration judges so court hearings could be expedited. Were overwhelming the system, Johnson said. We dont have enough detention units for family units. He added, We would probably need to build more, identify more detention facilities, certify them so we can keep the families together. In the House, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, also said Tuesday he would introduce a measure that more easily allows for family units to stay together as part of a legislative package to limit the number of asylum claims. In a series of tweets on Tuesday morning, Trump continued to falsely blame Democrats for forcing the separations and calling for Congress to enact hard-line changes to immigration laws that he says would make the zero tolerance policy at the border unnecessary. Democrats are the problem. They dont care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13, Trump tweeted. They cant win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters! Later in the morning, Trump administration officials defended their treatment of children who had been separated from their parents at the border, describing a network of shelters in 17 states that provided education, counseling, health care services and playtime until children were reunited with their parents. Officials from the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services insisted to reporters that the children in their custody were treated humanely. The officials said 2,342 were children who crossed the border illegally between May 5 and June 9 and were taken from a parent to allow the adult to be charged and detained. Once the parents were taken away to detention, those children were reclassified by the government as unaccompanied children, and quickly sent to the Health and Human Services shelters. But the officials disputed charges of mistreatment of those children, saying that the agencies were subject to strict rules about how children were cared for. The facilities are staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs, particularly of younger children, said Steven Wagner, the acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families. Wagner said that the children in our care are receiving a full range of services. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. He is one of the well-known Nigerian billionaires across Africa and the world. As at 2015 record, he had an estimated net worth of $700 million and one of the Nigerian billionaires in the financial institutions, according to Forbes magazine. Also READ: 6 things Tony Elumelu told Linkedin CEO and World Bank President on Digital Economy Business Insider Sub-Saharan African looks at how he makes and spends his money: How he makes his billionaires 1. United Bank for Africa with subsidiaries in over 20 African nations and in the United States and the United Kingdom 2. Transcorp - Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, a diversified conglomerate in the country. 3. Heirs Holdings is the African proprietary investment company with interests in financial services, power, oil & gas, real estate, hospitality and healthcare. 4. Stake in Nigeria's largest telecommunication network, MTN Nigeria and other assets and investments. How he spends his money Humanitarian work He provides million dollars in seed grant to thousands of proto-entrepreneurs every year through his foundation. Since the launch in 2010, the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme has become one of the largest African philanthropic initiative devoted to entrepreneurship with about $100 million commitment, to identify and empower 10,000 African entrepreneurs, create a million jobs, and add $10 billion in revenues to Africas economy. He was part of the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation for the 2012 flood victims in Nigeria. In 2017, he donated $250,000 on behalf of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and another $250,000 on behalf of the staff, management and Directors of United Bank for Africa (UBA) as emergency aid grants for victims of the mudslides in Sierra Leone. He also disclosed via his official social media account same year that he already donated N1 billion to help victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east, Nigeria. Lifestyle He attends shows, events and travel across African countries, teaching his philosophy if Africapitalism to entrepreneurs, business leaders and policymakers. Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill (budget) into law few minutes past noon on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Heres what we know The National Assembly made cuts amounting to N347 billion The 8th National Assembly, NASS, have made some cuts in the Appropriation Bill submitted by President Buhari to the tune of N347 billion. President Buhari revealed that legislative arm of the government made cuts amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billion. The 2018 approved Budget Budget size: N9.12 Trillion Deficit: N1.95 Trillion: Recurrent Non Debt: N3.51 Trillion Capital Expenditure: N2.87 Trillion Debt Servicing: N2.2 Trillion Statutory Allocation: N530 Billion Revenue: N7.1 Trillion 2018 budget is the longest to be passed into law The 2018 budget has been judged as the longest budget in the history of Nigeria to be passed by legislative. The passing of the budget is responsible for the execution of various Federal projects. During ex-President Olusegun Obasanjos administration, the budget was delayed till February. For late former President Umaru YarAdua, the Appropriation Bill was passed on April 22 while ex-President Goodluck Jonathan signed the countrys budget into law on May 24, 2018. The longest budget so far to be passed into law is the 2018 budget which was signed into law on June 20, 2018, by President Muhammadu Buhari. While signing the budget into law, President Buhari noted that the budget was passed by the National Assembly seven months after he had submitted the proposals. While the Federal Governments budget represents less than 10% of aggregate yearly expenditures in the economy, it has a very significant accelerator effect on the financial plans of other tiers of government, and even more importantly, the private sector, which mostly operates on a January-December financial year. President Buhari is unhappy and worried President Buhari has expressed worries over the substantial cut of N347 billion for 4,700 projects by the National Assembly and replaced with N578 billion for 6,403 projects. Buhari said: I am however concerned about some of the changes @nassnigeria has made to the budget proposals I presented. The logic behind the Constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is that it is the Executive that knows & defines its policies & projects. Unfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me. Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and cost and will, therefore, be difficult to execute. Project affected by the cuts on 2018 Budget President Buhari has reiterated that the cut in the 2018 budget will affect several projects. According to the Presidency, here is a list of the projects that will be affected as a result of the cut. A total of N5 billion was cut from the provisions for Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage Adjustment. The provision for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport was cut from N2 billion to N500 million, which will further delay the completion of this critical project. The Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State, a key strategic initiative of the Federal Government, was cut from N5 billion to N3.4 billion. About 70 new road projects have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works, and Housing. In doing so, the legislative arm applied some of the additional funds expected from the upward review of the oil price benchmark to the Ministrys vote. The NASS increased the provisions for Statutory Transfers by an aggregate of N73.96 billion. They are: Ghana Last week, the Deputy Minister of Transport, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, announced that preaching on commercial buses is a punishable offence. Issuing the statement after a ghastly accident on the Accra-Kumasi Highway on Wednesday, June 13, 2018, "One of the things I have noticed in recent times which I have communicated to the driver unions the trend where some pastors preach in buses. "I am not against preaching, religion is very good and I am a Christian, but when the driver is driving and a pastor is preaching, it has the propensity of dividing his attention, some of the drivers are passionate about religion, and, so, when they get soaked too much into what the preacher is saying at that moment, his attention will be divided." He added, "I have told the driver unions that they must not allow anybody to sell medicines or preach in the buses. Road safety is a shared responsibility." Jamaica Despite the fact that this is a predominantly Christian country, BBC reports that preachers have been banned from evangelising to fellow passengers. The ban was announced in 2012 by Hardley Lewin, managing director of the Jamaica Transit Company Limited who told The Gleaner newspaper that it is in the interest of the passengers. "I am all for evangelizing, but they cannot use the bus as their platform," he said. "I think this is what makes the bus an attractive mobile church. I suppose you cannot just get off because you have spent your money." Bolivia In 2017, preaching the gospel in a South American country called Bolivia became a crime. According to a law, which stated that anyone caught telling others about their faith could face five to 12 years in prison. The law titled Article 88 says, "whoever recruits, transports, deprives of freedom or hosts people with the aim of recruiting them to take part in armed conflicts or religious or worship organizations will be penalized five to 12 years of imprisonment." This law, which affects approximately 2 million evangelical Christians, went into effect on December 15, 2017. Russia President Vladimir Putinsigned a new law against evangelism in 2016. According to the new law, anyone caught preaching in anything other than a recognised church building will face tougher sanctions. Sadly, things have only gotten worse for Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses in particular since this law went into effect on July 20, 2016. China For a country that holds a permanent spot on Open Door USA's World Watch List for countries suffering religious persecution, it comes as no surprise that it does not tolerate public preaching. In 2017, Pastor Xu Shizhen, her daughter, and her 3-year-old grandson were arrested by Chinese authorities for spreading the gospel. China has produced a new type of electric motor that would meet the heavy demand from China's latest electromagnetic weapon system, which may involve electromagnetic railgun and ballistic missile technologies, said an expert. Academy of Aerospace Solid Propulsion Technology under China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has recently delivered a batch of newly developed brushed DC electric motors to an unnamed unit. The motors will be used in China's latest electromagnetic weapon system and are under heavy demand, reads an article published by the academy on WeChat on June 10. The new motors can operate in special environments including in high-intensity magnetic fields and are resistant to strong blasts, according to the article. A staff member in charge of publicity at the academy confirmed the news to the Global Times on Tuesday but refused to provide further information. The delivery marks China's constant improvement on DC electric motors, Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Tuesday, noting the recent technological advancement was a challenging one. The electromagnetic weapon system that needs the motors might be China's electromagnetic railgun. Other weapons that need a servo mechanism, such as ballistic missiles, may also require such motors, said Song. The Chinese Navy will likely be the first in China to equip vehicles with an electromagnetic railgun. Type 055, China's first domestically developed 10,000-ton class missile destroyer, would be a great fit, said Song. Photos spread on the internet since January 30 showed that a Type 072 III landing ship of the People's Liberation Army Navy was equipped with a main gun that is suspected to be an experimental electromagnetic railgun, reported Science and Technology Daily on February 5. An electromagnetic railgun can fire projectiles via electromagnetic force at incredibly destructive velocity. It can reach farther ranges compared with standard artillery and maintain high accuracy, said Song. However, the words "heavy demand" does not necessarily mean that China's electromagnetic railgun has entered mass production phase, said Song, noting that the heavy demand could come from anywhere since the brushed DC electric motors are widely used in weaponry. As part of its ongoing commitment to grow the tech eco-system and drive innovations on campuses, Facebook is using its university-wide roadshow to call on Nigerian students to come up with innovative solutions. ALSO READ: This Nigerian university might be going into extinction However, in a bid to help the students grow in the tech industry, Facebook has said that the campus roadshows will feature its FB Start Accelerator programme which is a deep-tech focused research and mentorship-driven initiative. Facebook tours Nigerian Universities According to Guardian, Facebook will be visiting 13 cities across Nigeria in 30 days, with the team already completing events at University of Lagos (Lagos State), University of Port-Harcourt (Rivers State), Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Anambra State) and University of Nigeria, Nsukka (Enugu State). Other schools that have been toured by Facebook include the University of Ibadan, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osun state, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ondo state, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Akwa Ibom state, University of Uyo. From Thursday, June 21, the tech giant will tour University of Jos, Kaduna state, Colab, Kaduna, June 25; University of Abuja, June 26 and Bayero University, June 27. The MTF Academy students will be provided with skillsets to develop their talent, connect with industry professionals and tell authentic African stories through a comprehensive curriculum comprising theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience in cinematography, editing, audio production and storytelling. MultiChoice is calling all aspiring young film & TV creatives to apply for the MTF Academy on www.multichoicetalentfactory.com. The Call for Entry will close on 05 July 2018. The 60 post-school MTF students (20 for each region) will be selected from *13 African countries where MultiChoice operates - will have an exciting opportunity to hone their television and film production skills in the company of industry experts during the year-long programme that will begin on 01 October 2018. Join the MTF social media conversation on the hashtag #multichoicetalentfactory and follow/join on Instagram:@multichoicetalentfactory; Twitter: @MCTalentFactory Facebook@multichoiceafricatalentfactory With the emergence of Afrobeats on the international radar in recent years, a long of young artistes with African heritage around the world have openly embraced the genre and helped in pushing its appeal to their respective audience. Primarily a mainstay in the United Kingdom, one of those artistes in the United States who have also associated with the culture is Milandou Badila popularly known by his stage name, Young Paris. Young Paris, is a rapper and model of Congolese heritage who got signed to Roc Nation in 2016 shortly after the release of his debut EP, African Vogue. The rapper who recently dropped his latest studio effort, My Tribe is touring Nigeria for the first time, and he stopped by the Pulse office for a chat covering his career, the controversy with Mr Eazi, Roc Nation and his new album. One of the very first questions he responded to was his deal with Roc Nation, ''After my EP, Africa Vogue, I was touring in a lot of Afrobeats party introducing people to a lot of hits from Africa, then this A&R came to see me, that they loved my sound, and I was invited to the office... At that time, I had no idea it was Roc Nation, then I walked into the building and I saw the big Roc Nation sign and they told me they wanted to sign me, it happened really quickly''. Speaking on Roc Nation's visit to Nigeria in 2015 to seek African talents, ''Me and Tiwa got signed around the same time... in the States, they don't really understand the African sound but it is a process, they have a vision and it is going to take time, cause they want talents with international sounds''. Young Paris address incident with Mr Eazi Sometime in September 2017, Young Paris was involved in an online spat with Banku Music boss, Mr Eazi over the difference between Afrobeat and Afrobeats. Clarifying the entire issue, he says, ''It's love, one of my guys sent me something and I was in a period when I was seeing how people were taking my project and he (Mr Eazi) was talking about this guy who was doing this type of sound and I felt very much he was talking about me and I felt he was going through a really cocky time and needed to remind him of that... I'm a fan of his music, I feel like 'Pour Me Water' was his response to the whole incident, sometimes though I think you need to be checked, to remind yourself to be humble''. On Fela and the difference between Afrobeat and Afrobeats Young Paris who stated that his favourite Fela Kuti song is ''Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense'', admits, ''For me, Fela is like bigger than Bob Marley, I love artistes that have a message with their music but also that are creative about it and inspires his vision for Africa. In the States, he was like our , my parents bought a picture of Fela in the house and watching his interviews and listening to his message blew me away, Fela has a beautiful darkness to him.'' Restating his stand on the difference between Afrobeat and Afrobeats, ''Afrobeat is about Fela and his legacy, and when I think about Afrobeats, this is like the new generation sound, Afrobeats covers all the new sound coming out of Africa, while Afrobeat is simply Fela and his real Africa sound'', he says. On the explosion of Nigerian music internationally ''This is amazing, I think everytime that Wizkid and Davido wins, it is actually making all of us win, I really celebrate these guys as they are making the industry bigger and opening more doors for other artistes.'' His second studio album My Tribe released in May, features a number of Nigerian artistes and consists of a lot of African sounds infused into hip-hop. ''I made this album for Africa... the productions and collaborations are a lot stronger', ''the feedback received thus far has been amazing, was my way of showing a different kind of range to my music, I added more features and flavour to my sound'', he says. Among the Nigerian artistes he has worked with, he rates Skales highly, ''Skales is madly talented, I think he is so underrated, he has this way of playing on words and has that international sound to his music'', while naming Olamide as one artist he wants to work with. The message he is preaching with his music is a message of Africa, ''I want to celebrate Africa... My father always told me about the beautiful things in Africa and I always want people to see that in my message. People don't understand the true history and the impact that Africa has on the rest of the world and for me it is embracing what I believe is the most powerful continent''. The deportees arrived at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, at 2.30 pm on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. The deportees, comprising 32 males and two females, were brought back in a chartered Omni Air International aircraft with Registration Number W342AX. Spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command, DSP Joseph Alabi, confirmed the development to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). "At 14.30 hours (2.30 pm.), we received 34 Nigerians who were brought back from the United States. They were made up of 32 males and two females," Alabi said. Criminal Offences He said 25 of the deportees were alleged to have committed criminal offences, with one involved in narcotics, while others allegedly committed immigration-related offences. Alabi said the deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and the Police. ALSO READ: How Nigerians get to overseas illegally Also on ground to receive them were officials of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. All hell broke loose when the 20-year-old man supposedly deceased showed up at his own burial in the village of Santa Teresa in Paraguay, leaving his grieving family beyond shocked. Mirror UK reports that Penayo returned home after he had been missing for some days. ALSO READ: Girl reportedly rises from the dead 2 years after being buried However, some burned remains had earlier been discovered by the police and seeing as it could not be identified, it was believed that it had to be Penayo. His family had feared that drug gangs that operated in the area had gotten to him and killed him. So one can only imagine their shock when he casually walked into the wake being held for him. However shocked Penayo's family was, they must have been relieved to realise that their son was alive after all. Dead man shot 15 times attends his own funeral The family of a man who was shot dead decided not to opt for a coffin and instead sat him up on a chair, cigarette in hand and with his eyes wide open to pay their last respects. Mirror UK reported. Fernando de Jesus Diaz Beato, 26 died after he was shot 15 times outside his home in the Villa Carolina neighbourhood of San Juan on March 3. His family decided against laying Beato in a coffin, and instead chose to prop him up in a chair so that they could remember him as he was. He can be seen clad in designer gear while sitting in the chair with his legs crossed. In his hand, the dead man holds a cigarette while his eyes was left open. It is the first time Marin Funeral Home have kept the eyes open of a dead person during a funeral. Damaris Marin, the owner of Marin Funeral Home, in Rio Piedras, said they worked closely with the family to achieve their wish. She said: This time is different because he is seated with his legs crossed but, this is the first dead man in history with his eyes open. We gave [the family] a surprise by leaving the eyes of the dead man open. One of Beatos sisters said in a video obtained by Live Leak: Everybody is really surprised because seeing him like that is like seeing him as if he were alive. Another sister, Ihizz Diaz Beato, said: We decided to embalm him like this because he was a very happy person, very active and we want to remember him as he was. Police say they have yet to find any leads on the crime and are continuing to investigate. It appears that embalming bodies and putting them in unusual settings has become a trend in Puerto Rico in recent years. Images from a recent fight showed deep wounds to two men but it appears only the beginning. ALSO READ: Survival of female corps member in doubt after 15 men raped her at lodge On the evening of Tuesday, June 19, 2018, the gangs clashed in a duel that makes them even having both ensured a worrisome damage at each other's camp. The aggression is likely to continue according to a post published today via Instablog9ja's IG. 2 pregnant women shot during burial of Baga cultist Two pregnant women have been shot following a clash between Aiye and Baga cultists. The Daily Post News reported that the incident occurred in Obosi, Anambra State. Friday Roll, a member of the Baga cult group was being buried at his family home but a solemn day of mourning soon turned chaotic for guests at the ceremony. Ten cultists belonging to both gang were reportedly killed during a blood bath. The intensity of the rivalry had prompted policemen who were called the scene of the fight to keep their distance. On the burial day, as the funeral ceremony was about to start, members of the Baga cult group made straight to where the corpse of its member was lying in state in the family compound in Obosi, and removed the corpse to where the Baga members were performing their own funeral rites in honour of their killed member - a development which the family saw as a slight but was handicapped to react to because of the weapons they carried," a source told the Daily Post. Ekene, a resident of Kubwa, was docked on charges bordering on criminal intimidation and inciting disturbance of public peace. He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. He alleged that Ekene went to Helens house without her consent with intent to cause breach of peace and threatened to pour acid on her. According to the prosecutor, the action of the defendant, put Helen in the state of fear of death, adding that the offences contravened Sections 397 and 114 of the Penal Code. Counsel to Ekene, Mr Anenin Enabosi, urged the court to grant his client bail and promised that he would provide reliable surety. Olanipekun opposed the bail application on the grounds that Helen was Ekenes girlfriend and issues of couples killing each other were on the increase. He also drew the attention of the court to the nature of the offence committed; adding that if bail was granted it should be on stringent conditions. The judge, Abdulwahab Mohammed, admitted Ekene to bail in the sum of N300, 000, with one surety who must be employed and well known in his area of residence. He also ordered Ekene to write an undertaking to maintain peace pending the determination of the case. Nga suit revealed that she met the suspect on social media in January 2018, and on January 10, he came to Hanoi to meet up with her, convincing her to invest in a brick-making factory in Cambodia. ALSO READ: Nigerian man nabbed in India for defrauding 90 people via online lottery scam According to the reports, the suspect reportedly took the victim to the factory site in Cambodia, telling her that it belonged to a friend of his. Nga who became convinced decided to invest in the business and went on to transfer the sum of $356,000 to Okonkwo. However, Nga was unable to reach Okonkwo as soon as he took delivery of the money. Nga informed the police of all that had transpired between the both of them and Okonkwo was arrested at his arranged meet with Nga. Nigerian Internet fraudster arrested for duping woman in India A Nigerian Internet scammer, Fred Omeleze, has been arrested by the police in New Delhi, India, for allegedly defrauding a woman by pretending to be an American by the name of Benson, and proposing love to her. Indian Times reports that Omeleze also posted fake photos of the purported Benson on his Facebook wall and after developing friendship with the woman, he moved in for the kill and duped her of a huge amount of money. According to the police, Omeleze, had convinced the woman that he wanted to invest $5 million in a business in India, telling the victim he wanted her to be in charge of the business. The woman later received a call from a fake official from the customs department at the Delhi Airport, asking her to pay the sum of Rs 2.5 lakhs (about N1.2m), as duties for a certain Benson who was trying to bring in dollars and gold into the country but was held by the customs. The woman, believing her boyfriend was in a serious trouble, was said to have deposited the amount in a bank but when she could no longer trace Omeleze, she realized she had been duped and reported the matter to the police. Also Read: Nigerian arrested for defrauding businessman in India Abdulkareem gave the commendation on Wednesday while declaring open a leadership summit organised by the Nigerian Association of Physical Science Students (NAPHSS) held at the University of Ilorin. He hailed the decision of the president to give Nigerian youth voice in the countrys democratic setting, noting that the bill would allow for a level playing field to both young and old to run for political offices. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the bill, which was passed by the National Assembly last year to alter sections 65,106,131,171 of the Constitution, was assented to on May 31. The bill reduces the age qualification for President from 40 to 35, Governor from 35 to 30, House of Representatives membership from 30 to 25 and State House of Assembly from 30 to 25. Abdulkareem said that the bill would give youths the opportunity to contest for the post of president at the age of 35. He noted that involvement of youths in leadership was not essentially the panacea to the countrys numerous challenges. He warned them not to be carried away by the exciting torrent of their involvement in politics. Never had there been more clamour for youth leadership in our political offices than we have been getting in recent times, he said. The vice chancellor noted that it has birthed the struggle to pass the Not-too-young-to-run bill into law. What is most important for national development is for the youth to have the right skills to deliver purposeful leadership to the followers, he said. He described the leadership summit as an opportunity to reflect on the leadership crises that had hindered the nations growth and possibly think over the ways to wriggle out of them and get the country back on track toward greatness. He said that the theme for the leadership summit was one that hinges the consciousness of the nation and reminds us that there is still a long way for the country to go in attaining growth through purposeful leadership. Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences, Prof. Uche Eke, commended the leadership of the association for organising the historic event and for bringing exemplary dignitaries of the society to the university. It is my belief and hope that the lectures here today shall forever impact in the lives of our youths so that they will represent and protect the image of the university in this nation and world at large, he said. According to Vanguard, the Senator said that the party is not treating its members well. Sani, who said the party is standing on the foundation of injustice, said he will leave if nothing is done to solve matters. He said this while speaking to his supporters during the Sallah celebrations in Kaduna state. I will win The Senator however dismissed insinuations that he will lose elections if he moves to another party. His words: I have confidence in whatever political party I contest, I am going to win my election. I am very much convinced about this. Since those that vote you into the office are the masses and the masses have since abandoned the bandwagon of people hiding under the cover and pocket of Buhari and re-election. I can confirm to you that we are at the departure lounge and that we are waiting for the train to come and pick us and certainly, we are leaving to the next destination without the fear. APC has failed The Senator also hinted that there are more aggrieved people in the party ready to leave if situations do not improve. APC stands on the foundation of injustice as it is to its members. It has not treated its members well, it has failed to live up to its promises and pledges of a transparent internal democracy as a party. So, for people like me, we are not going to tolerate or endorse injustices of any kind. We are talking at the national level, still trying to find a solution to the problem, but if a solution is not found within the next few weeks, you would be told of which party we would be going to. ALSO READ: 5 things Shehu Sani said about jumbo pay of senators I can tell you confidently that our goods are now at the departure lounge of the APC and we are leaving the party because we cant tolerate the embarrassment, but we are still giving the party time. Its not me that will do it alone, but all people who felt that the party has not treated them well and there was not an attempt to address the issue, he said. General Wei inspecting anti-riot gear yesterday. KT/Chor Sokunthea Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50502682/exhibition-to-solidify-military-ties-with-china/ Defence Minister Tea Banh and Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe yesterday launched an exhibition highlighting military cooperation between the countries on Koh Pich in Phnom Penh. During the exhibition, Lieutenant General Phat Vibol Sopheak, deputy general-director of the Defence Ministrys General Department of Politics and Foreign Affairs, said that the exhibition is to feature activities of the two countries military leaders and military training, as well as display 20 Chinese military vehicles. The exhibition shows the history of traditional friendship of both armed forces and that of diplomatic ties and cooperation of both armed forces, said Lt Gen Vibol Sopheak. The exhibition was divided into three presentations, activities of the countries top leaders, cooperation of the armed forces and joint military training. The goal of the military exhibition is to showcase the relationship of both countries, to build it into one community and work together to maintain peace and development, Lt Gen Sopheak said. Gen Wei said during the exhibition that close ties between Cambodia and China dated back to 1960s when Prince Norodom Sihanouk ruled the country. For 60 years, the relationship between Cambodia and China has been growing, he said. The armed forces of both countries are closer, like brothers. Gen Wei is on a five-day state visit to Cambodia which ends today. During his visit, China has granted Cambodias armed forces with an additional $130 million in aid. At the Council of Ministers on Sunday, Gen Banh said that the Chinese military will continue its regional joint military exercises with RCAF. They were arraigned by EFCC on a four-count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy and purchase of a property valued at N600 million from the account of Naval Engineering Services Limited (NESL) without budgetary provision. The judge had on Jan. 22 ordered a trial-within- trial to ascertain the voluntariness or otherwise of the statement, after Mr Yakubu Maikyau (SAN) counsel to the ex-naval chief, questioned the voluntariness of the statement. The prosecution counsel, Abdullahi Faruk, had sought to tender the statement through the fifth prosecution witness (PW5) Chidi Nweke, in the substantive matter. Ruling on the admissibility of the statement after the conclusion of the trial-within trial, Justice Umar held that the statement violated the provision of Section 29 of the Evidence Act 2011. According to him, a confessional statement made by an accused person ought to be voluntary, adding that for it to be admitted, the prosecution had the burden of proving that it was made voluntarily. Umar held that from the evidence of both Nweke and Jubrin during the trial-within-trial, the former Chief of Naval Staff was not invited by EFCC. The judge said that he only accompanied his wife, Lami, who was invited by the commission, to its office, in company of his friend. He held that Nweke came to tell him that his wife was not cooperating with interrogators and as such she would not be allowed to go home. Umar noted that when Jubrin opted to be interrogated, he was told that his son would not be charged to court if he cooperated with the interrogators. The judge added that during the trial-within- trial, the prosecution failed to prove that the statement was voluntarily made. He held that there was threat and inducement before Jubrin made his statement to EFCC operatives. The statement is hereby marked tendered and rejected, he held. He adjourned the matter until June 27 for the continuation of the substantive case. Meanwhile, the court also ordered the release of the international passports of Jubrin and Msheila to enable them travel to the United Kingdom and United States of America respectively. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had slammed a two-count charge of money laundering and fraud onNwaoboshi, who represents Delta North in the National Assembly. Nwaoboshi had at its arraignment pleaded not guilty to the charges. Justice Mohammed Idris had granted him bail on self-recognizance as a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on Wednesday, the EFCC called its first witness, Prince Kpokpogiri, who mountedthe witness box after he swore on oath and was led in evidence. The witness told the court that he wrote a petition to the EFCC after he received an anonymous call and some documents at hisoffice in Asaba, Delta capital. He said he was subsequently invited by the EFCC to Abuja to come and adopt the petition. The witness also told the court that he runs a NGO known as Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum, and also owned a real EstateFirm, called P.K Aro Multiservices Nigeria Ltd. Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), the witness said that it was not his duty to investigatethe contents of his petition before forwarding same to the EFCC because it is the duty of the commission to investigate. He, however, said that he only perused the document. Idigbe then said: I put it to you that apart from the fact that you did not investigate the documents, you did not also take any stepto verify the facts stated in the petition. The witness maintained that it was not his duty to investigate. In his examination-in-chief, the second prosecution witness, Mr Murtala Abubakar, told the court that the third accused,(Suiming Electricals Ltd), applied for a loan at the Nigerian Export Import Bank in December 2013, which was approved inApril 2014. He said that the head of the Enterprise Risk Management unit of the bank said that the accused was a former board memberof the bank. The witness also said that while the meeting to take a decision on the loan request was being held, the accused indicated hisinterest in the transaction and was recused from the deliberation. He said that the accused is a director at Bildeberg, a holding company, which had the majority shareholding in SuimingElectricals Nigeria Ltd. According to him, the EFCC made five requests to the bank on Suiming Electricals Ltd, starting from June 2017 in respectof the loan granted the company. He said the company met all the banks conditions before the loan was disbursed. The witness said that although the third accused had repaid over one billion naira out of the facility which was for five years,it is still a non-performing one. There is a difference between paying and performing; when we give a loan, we give you a payment plan, so, when you aresupposed to be paying one million naira quarterly but you are paying 200,000, you are paying but you are not performing. The court adjourned the case until July 2 and July 3 to enable the prosecution to assemble its remaining witnesses. The EFCC alleged that the accused committed the offences between May and June 2014 in Lagos. Nwaoboshi was said to have acquired a property described as Guinea House, Marine Road in Apapa, Lagos, for the sum of N805million when he reasonably ought to have known that N322 million out of the purchase sum formed part of proceeds of anunlawful act. The sum was said to have been transferred to the vendors by order of Suiming Electrical Ltd. Suiming was said to have on May 14,2014, aided Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch to commit money laundering. The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun disclosed this in a statement issued by Director, Information in the ministry, Mr Hassan Dodo on Tuesday in Abuja. Adeosun said the N1.58 trillion total capital releases for 2017 were higher than the N1.219 trillion total capital releases for 2016. The minister said that in the 2017 capital releases, the Power, Works and Housing sectors received the highest allocation of N523 billion which was 33.10 per cent of the total capital releases. The sector received the highest releases in the 2016 capital budget, which was a total of N307.4 billion (25.21 per cent) of the 2016 capital budget. Defence and security sector received the second highest capital releases of N197.5 billion (12.50 per cent) in 2017, as against N77.5 billion (6.36 per cent) total releases the sector received in 2016, she said. The minister said that Agriculture and Water Resources sector received N149.4 billion (9.46 per cent) in 2017, adding that the sector received N143.1 billion (11.74 per cent) of capital releases in 2016. Adeosun said that Transportation sector received N126.2 billion (7.99 per cent) of the 2017 capital releases as against N171.9 billion (14.10 per cent) it received in 2016. Health and Education sectors together received N98.1 billion (6.21 per cent) for 2017 as against N56,270,030,992.00 (4.61 per cent) the sectors received in 2016. Other sectors combined received N485.7 billion, which was 30.74 per cent of the 2017 capital releases. In 2016, a total of N463.2 billion (37.99 per cent) was disbursed to these sectors, she said. ALSO READ: Kemi Adeosun faults figures of recovered loot provided by EFCC Adeosun, however, said that in spite of the economic challenges in 2017, the Federal Government was able to fully cash-back the capital releases. In addition, she said the sustained high allocations to key sectors were a reflection of the governments commitment to infrastructure development in the country. This was disclosed in the federal government's National Livestock Transformation Plan (2018-2027) which was presented by the technical adviser to the National Economic Council (NEC), Andrew Kwasari, at a briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. Kwasari noted that the plan is targeted at putting a definitive end to recurrent clashes between cattle herders and farmers which is the product of the struggle for common resources such as water, land and pasture. The plan outlined that these conflicts, coupled with the low productivity of local breeds and limited value addition, are the two overriding factors responsible for terrible output in the livestock sector. According to Kwasari's presentation, the agricultural industry is characterised by low productivity and output, resultng in huge gaps between demand and supply. The report estimated that Nigeria loses about N5.04 trillion annually to conflicts between herders and farmers which typically also involves huge loss of lives as well as the destruction of schools, homes, religious houses, primary health centres and community infratructure. Kwasari noted that the 10-year-plan is a mediation plan stemming from meetings and recommendations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the National Economic Council headed by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, in response to the incessant clashes between herders and farmers. The plan is built on six key pillars which cater to economic investment, conflict resolution, law and order, humanitarian relief, information education and strategic communication, and cross-cutting issues. For its pilot phase, Adamawa, Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara will receive interventions in the form of ranches. In the ranch design plan, there are six pillars that are essential to the success and viability of the ranches: land allocation, ranch size models, feed, priority breed improvement, access to finance and market, and humanitarian efforts. The proposed ranch size models, according to the plan, is a cluster of 30, 60, 150 and 300 cows ranch models in a location within the donated gazetted reserves, as well as a minimum of 1000 cows breeder ranch in 7 of the 10 pilot states. A ranch design plan has been proposed in models of various sizes clustered in 94 locations in the 10 pilot states. The government's proposed ranching solution will supposedly improve genetic material of indigenous cattle for milk and meat production; improve reproductive performance of indigenous cattle; provide critical market access infrastructure; and create better linkages between smallholder livestock producers and investors for agricultural technology adoption and support for value addition. It is also hoped that it will foster sustained peace and harmony between farmers and herders. In the legal structure proposed for the plan, cattle herders are expected to be registered and recognised as cooperatives for the purpose of the ranching scheme. These cooperatives will then be able to get rental agreements for land from state governments and also benefit from ranch resources on several terms including loans, grants, and subsidies. The funding of the plan from the federal government and state governments is expected to last for the first three years in the pilot phase for a total of N70 billion while private sector interests and investment between the third and tenth year is expected to be in excess of N100 billion. Herders/farmers conflict Herders and farmers have clashed for years over the battle for resources as roaming herdsmen tend to graze their cattle on farmlands, leading to tension and sometimes violence that leads to deaths of people on both sides. Ever since herdsmen were blamed for the death of 73 people in attacks launched in Guma and Logo local government areas of Benue State in the opening days of January 2018, hundreds of people have been killed in similar attacks with Taraba and Benue bearing most of the brunt. The federal government has largely blamed the recent escalation of the conflict on the anti-open grazing laws of both states and the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, recently called for a suspension of the implementation of the laws to reduce tension. According to The Cable which cited a military source, suicide bombers sneaked into the barracks in a tricycle and detonated explosives at a relaxation spot. "The attackers took advantage of the high influx into the mammy market as a result of the demolition of brothels in the city," the source said. "The Borno state government has destroyed brothels in the city centre, people now troop to the barracks which is still full of life. The suicide bombers sneaked in and struck within the crowd." Many people were said to have been killed in the attack while scores of others sustained injuries. The wounded persons have been evacuated to the Maiduguri Specialist Hospital. "I cannot ascertain the number of dead people. We all ran for our dear life," he said. ALSO READ: Death toll in Borno bombings increase to 43 Buhari signed the appropriation bill on Wednesday, June 20, as he lamented the changes the National Assembly made to the original budget proposals. The President had tendered an N8.6 trillion 2018 budget before a joint session of the national assembly on November 7, 2017. However, after lawmakers were done with the budget, the appropriation bill had been increased to the tune of N508billion and the national assembly budget had been increased to N139billion (from N125billion in the 2017 budget). The lawmakers also slashed the capital expenditure estimates before the document was transmitted to the president for assent. "The national assembly made cuts amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billion. Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by the national assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and costed and will, therefore, be difficult to execute," Buhari said during the budget signing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He disclosed that he would send a supplementary budget. The House of Representatives, however, said the alterations made to the 2018 budget were justifiable. In a statement released on Wednesday, the spokesman for the lower legislative chamber, AbdulRazak Namdas, said the National Assembly "has a job to do". He also blamed the delay in the implementation of the January-to-December budget cycle on heads of ministries, department and agencies (MDAs). He said, "The house of representatives is appreciative of President Muhammadu Buhari in signing the 2018 Appropriation Bill into law and wish to make the following observations. "That the budget is usually a proposal by the executive to the national assembly, which the latter is given the constitutional power of appropriation to alter, make additions, costs or reduce as it may deem necessary. The Legislature is not expected to be a rubber-stamp by simply approving the Executive proposals and returning the budget to Mr. President. Therefore, the additions Mr. President complained of in his speech are justifiable. "We are on the same page with Mr. President in his desire to return our budget cycle to January-December. By the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, the budget estimates should be with the national assembly around September of the year. In the case of the 2018 budget, the estimates came behind schedule in November 2017, even though this attempt was seen as one of the earliest in recent years. Going forward, we urge the executive to speed up the reporting time to the National Assembly by complying fully with the FRA. "Besides, there were delays that should be blamed on the heads of MDAs. Mr. President will recall that he had to direct ministers and heads of agencies to go to the National Assembly to defend their proposals. This came after the National Assembly had persistently raised the alarm over the non-cooperative attitudes of these government officials. On this grounds, the delay in passing the budget cannot be blamed on the legislature. "New projects in budget. On this aspect, we have to remind Mr. President that we are representatives of our people and wish to state that even the common man deserves a mention in the budget by including projects that will directly affect his life positively. Some of the projects designed by the executive, as high-sounding as their names suggest, do not meet the needs of the common man." Namdas also justified the N14.5 billion increase in the budget of the national assembly, saying the lawmakers slashed their budget compared to 2015. "Before 2015, the budget of the national assembly was N150 billion for several years. It was cut down to N120bn in 2015 and further down to N115bn in 2016. In 2017, the budget was N125bn and N139.5bn in 2018. This means that the budget of the national assembly is still far below the N150bn in the years before 2015. "While we commend Mr. President for a good working relationship, we also wish to state that we have a job to do, which requires adequate funding as well. The additional costs and projects to the budget were done in good faith for the sole purpose of improving the lives of Nigerians", the spokesman said. The Ecuadorian Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Leopoldo Rovayo was said to have disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday, June 20. According to Punch, Rovayo announced the visa-free agreement when he paid a courtesy visit to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olukunle Bamgbose. He said the visit was to strengthen bilateral ties between Ecuador and Nigeria, especially in the communication sector, and to initiate an agreement between the two nations to enable their nationals to visit each other's country without visas. Nigerians in Ecuador The diplomat said there are currently about 1000 Nigerians living in Ecuador. "The purpose of my visit was to further cement the bilateral relations between Ecuador and Nigeria. The two countries have agreed to sign an agreement to enable our citizens to visit each other without a visa. There are approximately about one thousand Nigerians living in Ecuador and the number would continue to rise", Rovayo said. In his response, Bamgbose assured the Ecuadorian Ambassador that the Federal Government would work on the implementation of the non-visa agreement. ALSO READ: Ecuador president calls Wikileaks founder a 'problem' He said the agreement would be beneficial to both countries they are witnessing an increase in trade. Christened "Budget of Consolidation", President Buhari had presented the N8.6 trillion appropriation billat a joint session of the National Assembly for consideration on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Some heads of ministries, departments and agencies allegedly delayed passage of the budget according to the National Assembly. But some ministries had accused some lawmakers of seeking bribes from them during budget defence. Recently, former INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega echoed this claim while delivering his Democracy Day lecture in Abuja. The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, however, urged Jega to provide name of the bribe-seeking lawmakers for proper investigation into the allegation instead of making blanket statements capable of undermining the legislature. After much back and forth, the 2018 budget was passed by both chambers of the National Assembly on Wednesday, May 15, 2018. The N8.6 trillion budget was increased to N9.120 trillion following insertions of some projects by lawmakers. The bill was transmitted to President Buhari for assent. His aide on National Assembly matters, Senator Ita Enang confirmed receipt of the document. A month later, President Buhari signed the budget into law. While some Nigerians lauded President Buhari for promptly signing the document into law, others are either not bothered by it, while many expressed displeasure over the budget of previous years. Here's what some Nigerians on Twitter are saying about the budget. ALSO READ: Some of the residents who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Port Harcourt said that they do not receive power from the PHEDC in their area. Mr Clement Onyesom, a resident, said that the area had been without steady power supply for the past three months. He said that the area has a 500 KVA transformer which might be small for the area, thereby aggravating the problem. I am thinking that the low voltage transformer might be the cause of this low supply of power in my area. I have prepaid meter but I dont see light, I buy fuel every day, and it is the same thing with every other person in my area. The sound of generator every night poses a lot of discomfort in the neighborhood, he said. He accused the PHEDC of not responding to their complaints except those on direct transmission problem. We use technicians to repair any fault when there is the need because we dont get response from them (PHEDC). PHEDC should tell us why we cant enjoy light like other residents in Rumuomasi, Woji and other places, even some places in Oyibo enjoy power supply more than us, he added. Mr Geoffrey Elieza, another resident, said that PHEDC was not performing effectively in his area. He called on PHEDC to hand over the company to another distribution company if they could not distribute power to the area. I have applied for them to give me prepaid meter since 2016, yet I cant get one, Elieza said. Mr Edward Robert, another resident, said that there was need for other power distribution companies to compete with the PHEDC to enable it perform better. He called on the Federal Government to invite other power distribution companies to invest in Nigeria and compete with PHEDC to distribute power to Port Harcourt residents. In his response, Mr John Onyi, the Manager, Corporate Affairs of the Electricity Distribution Company, Port Harcourt, said that the company distributed prepaid meter in phases. He said that residents in Okporo, Rumuodara area were yet to receive the prepaid meter. We are not denying them of the prepaid meter but they should be patient, it will get to them, we are now at the Rumuodumanya area. Onyi said that the company distributes power according to what it gets from the national grid. We receive 3, 000 MW as and we distribute power to four states including Rivers, so it is not peculiar to the state. We do systematic load shedding or power rotation thats why they may not have it as they expected, the manager said. He called on residents to stop bypassing or diverting the loads from the meter directly to their air condition and other electronics used in their houses. ALSO READ: Gas pipeline rupture causes drop in power supply They should pay the bills they consumed and allow the meter to read what they use to enable the company pay up their bills to the company where they get their grid, he said. Onyi also advised residents to call the customer service emergency line with the number 070022557433 for any emergency or complain. He condemned the act of self-help by some residents using roadside technicians to tamper with the transformers and other properties of PHEDC. Hardly a day goes by without reading about a terrible experience of a young Nigerian at the hands of SARS operatives. The encounters are disturbing frequent at this point and despite hashtags and online protests, it seems this special division of the Nigerian Police Force will continue to operate with a disdain for fundamental human rights and the abandonment of their fundamental duty- to protect and serve its citizens. After numerous reports of alleged assault, extortion and torture of Nigerians by SARS operatives, the hashtag #EndSARS became the rallying cry to mount a concerted opposition to the illegal activities of the police unit. It gained momentum before fizzling out when it seemed the SARS horror stories had reduced. The hellish reports are back in full force. The profiling of young Nigerians as criminals with no hard evidence litter Instagram and Twitter timelines. #EndSARS is popping up on timelines again. Unfortunately, despite mounting claims both by foreign agencies and alleged victims, nothing seems to be done about SARS. To be fair, we have a few cases of the NPF properly handling men of the SARS unit who went against the law. Unfortunately, these cases are too few to stop the growing menace of the police special unit. The top brass of the Nigerian Police Force have tried their best to curtail the activities of SARS but we are yet to see huge results. ALSO READ:If you want to report a SARS officer here are the numbers From the reports, it is clear that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad target mainly young Nigerians who appear in a certain way. SARS operatives wrongfully profile young men and women with dreadlocks, tattoos, piercings and expensive smartphones as criminals or Internet fraudsters. This wrongful profiling has cost innocent young men and women their freedom and money also. As barbaric and inhumane as it sounds, it is clear that the NPF is running its ship based on a supposedly 'moral centric' leaning to identify criminals. It would soon be a year of the anti-SARS movement online and despite the attempts to reform the Nigerian Police Force by citizens, nothing has been done about it by the Federal Government. The Buhari administration has been notoriously quiet on SARS and the #EndSARS movement. Not a whiff of a statement has come from the office of the President and the Vice-President. Nigeria's political elite and ruling class (apart from Abubakar Atiku) more or less are not concerned about the maltreatment of people by the police's special unit. As with most things that affect everyday Nigerians, the ruling class cannot be bothered if an innocent person is tortured or killed. The apathy of the Nigerian politicians and leaders is simply because the SARS menace has not affected any of their children or relatives. The political class feeds fat on the resources of this country, making it immune to everyday struggles that millions of us go through daily. Their children are sheltered from the hellish conditions they have created. Many off springs of Nigerian politicians and leaders study abroad thereby escaping the brutalities that the children of average citizens face at the hands of SARS. In Nigeria, the biggest sin is to be poor. Once you are poor, you are vulnerable to the worst Nigeria has to offer, which are a whole lot. Nigeria runs on the systemic oppression of the poor orchestrated by those in the corridor of power. The reason why SARS has not been reformed is that the children of the high and mighty are not affected by its activities. Yeah, we have a few rich kids who have bumped into SARS, but as a whole, they do not face the dangers that the average Nigerian youth does. There is a reason why you can't find SARS in highbrow and really exclusive areas like Ikeja, G.R.A, Ikoyi, and Victoria Island. These are the places where dynasties stay and no SARS operative would want to get into trouble with a billionaire for harassing his son or daughter. You can, however, find SARS operatives lurking in areas that need the most protection- middle income and low-income neighbourhoods. In the eyes of Nigerian politicians and rulers, SARS is a poor man's problem that has nothing to do with them. ALSO READ:Paul Okoye says SARS officers are getting out of hand Until the children of top shots are assaulted, detained and extorted by SARS officers, expect nothing to happen. The cries of the poor are never heard by those who should bring justice. The reform we are seeking for the Special Anti Robbery Squad is not coming soon even though the NPF is in need of one seriously. By Hou Rui and Wang Xiaoxin KIEL, GERMANY, June 20 (ChinaMil) -- The guided-missile frigate Binzhou (Hull 515) of the 29th Chinese naval escort taskforce was open to the public from June 16 to 17 in Kiel, Germany. The Chinese warship is in Kiel to participate in the Kiel Week activities and pay a friendly visit to Germany. Local residents, overseas Chinese living in Germany and military personnel from different countries, with a total number exceeding 4500, boarded frigate Binzhou for a visit. Many overseas Chinese and Chinese students studying in Germany traveled from Hamburg and Berlin to Kiel by train in the early morning to have a close look at the warship form their motherland. Sailors from navies of foreign countries including Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Poland, who are also participating in the annual Kiel Week events, toured the Chinese frigate and were impressed with the ship's good performance and the well-trained and highly-disciplined crew. The first Kiel Week was held in 1882 with a ship race among 20 sailing yachts. It has now become the largest sailing event in the world, which includes yacht race, summer cultural festivals and gathering of international naval ships. Also the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said the the people of the state have no better choice than to vote-in the ruling party at the centre for them to get liberated from the pangs of poverty. Oyegun, who said he was shocked by the magnitude of people that trooped out to witness the event, said the development was a clear signal that the Ekiti people were ready to effect change. The APC boss urged the people to replicate the same affection for the party on July 14, 2018 by voting massively for the APC candidate, Kayode Fayemi, who was the former governor and later minister of Mines and Steel. NAN reports that the Vice-President who led scores of party leaders from across the country to the venue, said there was no better alternative to APC in terms of good governance. He urged persons of voting age in the state to obtain their Permanent Voters Cards, (PVCs), and vote for Kayode Fayemi, who he described as reliable and trustworthy. I can assure you all that Fayemi will bring the prosperity that Ekiti is in need of, he said. Other key leaders, such as Asiwaju Bola Amed Tinubu, National Chairman, Chief Segun Oni, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, former governor Adams Oshiomhole, and governors Simon Lalong, Ibikunle Amosun, Abiola Ajimobi, Rauf Aregbesola, Rotimi Akeredolu, Yahaya Bello, Abdulaziz Yari and Abdulfatai Ahmed who also spoke, canvassed support for the APC candidate, describing him as the best alternative. While Tinubu urged the crowd to prove their loyalty by obtaining their Voters Cards and consequently voting out the PDP government in the state come July 14, , another top speaker and former governor Niyi Adebayo declared that the federal government would deploy both armed soldiers and mobile policemen for the election, whether or not the ruling PDP government in the state liked it or not. Others party leaders present included Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), Boss Mustapha, former minister of state for works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye. NAN reports that the high point of the event included presentation of the APC flag to Fayemi and formal welcome of former Minister of State for Works and one-time National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Adeyeye who recently switched loyalty from PDP into the APC. Other bigwigs of the party present were Chief Bisi Akande, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora and Mr. Bamidele Olumilua. NAN reports that the 14,000-capacity Oluyemi Kayode stadium had been filled to capacity as early as 12 noon, long before the Vice-President arrived the state at about 2:39pm. Masqueraders and musicians, led by Adewale Ayuba entertained the crowd. In an interview, Fayemi said he was convinced that God would deliver the state to him on the election day, saying his decision to seek re-election was not for selfish reasons. He enjoined all his supporters not to be distracted but remain focused in their resolve to bring about change in the state. The lawmaker representing Kogi West took to his Twiter account (@dino_melaye)on Wednesday, June 20, 2018, to criticise the party despite being a member himself. He posted, "A party in power is suppose to guide the presidency in implementing party manifesto, policies, programmes & promises. Instead the presidency controls the party like a car steerin the weak leadership of the party became lifeless. The story of APC. There was a party called APC!!!" Melaye vs APC and Presidency 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. The outspoken lawmaker is a major critic of the party and has publicly criticised its conduct many times. During an interview on Channels Television on June 8, 2018, he described the APC as a sick party that may have a problem with Nigerians. He said, "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." During another interview in April 2018, he accused the party of failing to fulfill its promises to Nigerians because it is disorganised. He further said the party may be in grave danger if it fails to implement its manifesto before the 2019 general elections. He said, "So far, APC has not taken charge in implementing the manifesto they promised Nigerians. The party is not organised or showing capacity and capability. "I do hope that in 2019, what we sold to Nigerians is the manifesto and the ideology of the party, but the party has taken the backseat. "In 2018, I do expect that the party will take her rightful place in pushing government to implement the manifestos that was sold to the people. If we don't do that, there's a grave danger." The senator may well be on his way out of the party as he fueled speculations of defection when he made a request to the Senate President Bukola Saraki to assign him a seat on the side occupied by senators of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the upper legislative chamber of the national assembly. He said he feels more comfortable there than with senators of his own party. Seventy-four soldiers and seven police have been killed by separatists since clashes erupted in the two regions in late 2017, it said. It added that more than 100 civilians had been killed "over the past 12 months," and at least 120 schools -- a favourite target of the radicals -- had been torched. The document also calls for an emergency humanitarian aid plan worth 12.7 billion CFA francs ($21 million, 19 million euros), funded from "the state budget, an appeal to national solidarity and contributions from international partners". The report coincides with a blaze of international criticism over the government's crackdown in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, home to most of the English-speakers who account for about a fifth of a mainly French-speaking population of 22 million. On June 12, Amnesty International issued a report saying the security forces had carried out "unlawful killings, destruction of private property, arbitrary arrests and torture" since late 2017. The operation, far from resolving the crisis, had "empowered... more radical and violent movements," it said. The report was dismissed by the Cameroonian government as "crude lies" and "part of a strategy of harassment and destabilisation of our country". And in May, the US ambassador in Yaounde, Peter Barlerin, sparked a diplomatic furore by saying the armed forces had carried out "targeted killings". He also said the separatists had carried out murders of gendarmes and other acts of violence, a fact noted by Amnesty which said "at least" 44 members of the security forces had been killed. The presence of a large English-speaking minority dates back to the colonial period. It was once a German colony that after World War I was divided between Britain and France. The French colony gained independence gained in 1960, becoming Cameroon. The following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons was amalgamated into it, giving rise to the Northwest and Southwest Regions. In 2016, years of resentment at perceived discrimination culminated in protests, which escalated in the face of a government refusal to make concessions. Violence surged in late 2017 after radicals declared an independent state -- an entity named Ambazonia that has not been recognised internationally -- and launched an armed campaign, which was met with a crackdown. The overall toll among civilians remains unclear. According to the International Crisis Group think-tank, at least 120 civilians and 43 members of the security forces have been killed since the end of 2016. Another point of friction is how the burden can be shared across the EU -- especially when large swathes of the population are increasingly hostile to the idea of taking more migrants. Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel allowed more than one million asylum seekers into the country in 2015, a decision that was welcomed at the time but has fuelled anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe's biggest economy. Merkel's CDU party suffered stinging losses in last year's general election, and she only just managed to hang on to power, while the far-right anti-immigrant, anti-Islam AfD party won seats in parliament for the first time. The CDU's Bavarian sister party, the CSU, has since threatened to shutter German borders if Merkel does not adopt a harder position on migration, an impasse that could topple her government. An opinion poll last week showed that nearly 90 percent of Germans favour a tougher stance on migration. Italy The main gateway into Europe for refugees arriving by sea, Italy is struggling under the burden placed on it by the so-called Dublin rules, which require migrants to apply for asylum in the first country they enter. An anti-migrant coalition between Italy's far-right and anti-establishment parties was sworn in to government earlier this month after March's election. One of its first decisions was to refuse to allow the Aquarius rescue ship carrying 630 migrants to dock in Italy. Italy has seen around 700,000 migrants arrive since 2013. Since January 1, the number of new arrivals has fallen by 78 percent to just over 15,600, according to data compiled by the interior ministry. France France, one of the countries where many migrants have said they would most like to settle, has also experienced tensions, particularly at its border with Italy which authorities have attempted to close. The majority of French people have said they are opposed to illegal immigration, with 56 percent saying they were against the Aquarius being allowed to dock in France. Nearly half of the 630 migrants on board, mostly of African origin, want to apply for asylum in France. Last year asylum applications in France rose to more than 100,000, a 17.5 percent increase. Austria Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who claims to have helped shut down the so-called Balkan route for migrants in 2016, said Tuesday the debate in Germany could help accelerate efforts to find a Europe-wide solution. Austria received 200,665 applications for asylum between 2013 and 2017, equivalent to 2.3 percent of its population of 8.7 million. After peaking at 88,160 in 2015, the annual figure fell to 24,715 in 2017. Belgium Belgium awarded refugee or equivalent status to around 40,000 people between 2015 and 2017, according to official data. The government has toughened its stance, particularly under the state secretary for asylum and migration, Theo Francken, who recently said he was opposed to all illegal immigration in the EU and that only refugees who have been sent from UN-administered camps in war zones should be allowed in. Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia The four so-called Visegrad countries are opposed to any refugee quota system that the EU has tried to impose on them in the two years since the migrant influx peaked at more than 1.26 million in the entire bloc in 2015. Spain Spain is the third main point of arrival after Italy and Greece, but seems to be one of the few countries within the bloc where public opinion is not deeply divided. And more than 9,300 migrants have arrived on the Spanish coast since the beginning of the year, double the number for the same period in 2017. The new Socialist government under Pedro Sanchez agreed to allow the Aquarius to dock and to handle the migrants' applications for asylum. He argued that the crisis over the boat should help "nudge" other countries within the bloc. Sweden Sweden, which previously had a very open refugee policy, has toughened its stance since the end of 2015. According to the official figures, it awarded asylum to more than 144,000 people, primarily from Syria, between 2015 and 2017, compared with an overall population of under 10 million. Dry weather has affected half of Poland's farmland with cereal crops most at risk, according to Poland's Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG). The drought in "June is worse than in the worst dry years of 2006 and 2015, so losses may turn out to be very significant," rightwing Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters in Warsaw. Speaking alongside him, new farms minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski vowed to present a package of measures to help farmers cope in the coming weeks, without going into details. Deputy farms minister Jacek Bogucki on Tuesday estimated that losses caused by the drought were "unprecedented", according to Poland's PAP news agency. Experts said that about a third of Polish crops have suffered amid the unusual spring drought marked by unseasonably high daily temperatures. This May was the warmest in 55 years in Poland, with average daily temperatures pegged at 18.7 degrees Celsius (65 degrees Fahrenheit), up from 15.3 degrees Celsius last year, Professor Zuzanna Sawinska from the University of Life Sciences in the western city of Poznan told the PAP. With no rain since May 3, the dry weather has already forced farmers in western Latvia to begin culling their cattle due to a shortage of fodder. Grain and vegetable farmers in neighbouring Lithuania have also warned of drought-related losses. Rodriguez had headed the all-powerful, pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly since its inception in 2017. "I swear I will do what I have to to defend the Constitution....I swear I will accompany our beloved brother President Nicolas Maduro in constructing Bolivarian socialism," Cabello said as he was sworn-in. A former speaker of parliament, Cabello was targeted by US sanctions along with his wife and brother. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who announced the sanctions on May 18, said "figures like Diosdado Cabello....exploit their official positions to engage in narcotics trafficking, money laundering, embezzlement of state funds and other corrupt activities." The US Treasury also accused Cabello of working with other blacklisted individuals to move narcotics from Venezuela to Europe via the Dominican Republic, while moving cash back to Venezuela, as well as to Panama and the Bahamas. Swiss and EU authorities had already blacklisted Cabello earlier this year, citing grave human rights abuses. The US leader has also complained that the transatlantic defence alliance is more useful for Europe than it is for the United States. However Stoltenberg remained decidedly upbeat on Tuesday, while acknowledging the differences. "I'm absolutely confident that the NATO summit will demonstrate the transatlantic unity, that Europe and the United States stand together despite important differences on important issues like trade, the Paris (climate) agreement or the Iran nuclear deal," the NATO leader told the France 24 television channel. "I met president Donald Trump recently in the White House and he reconfirmed his strong personal commitment to NATO and he also recognised that European allies are investing more in defence." Trump caused dismay in Europe during his presidential campaign when he said that NATO was "obsolete" and failing to meet the challenge posed by Islamist terror groups. "He has a strong message about the need to do more (on defence spending) and I agree with him and the European allies also agree with him," said Stoltenberg. The issue of migration is causing fresh divisions in Europe, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's domestic coalition under threat and following a row over a boatload of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean who were turned away by Italy's new right-wing government. "I am convening an informal working meeting on migration and asylum issues in Brussels on Sunday, in order to work with a group of Heads of State or Government of Member States interested in finding European solutions ahead of the upcoming #EUCO (European Council)," Juncker said on Twitter Wednesday. All 28 European Union leaders are due at their full summit next Thursday to discuss plans to overhaul the bloc's asylum system, which has been under severe pressure since the migration crisis exploded in 2015. But efforts to reach a consensus have been thrown into turmoil by fresh developments in Europe as countries disagree over who should host new arrivals. After allowing in more than one million asylum seekers into Germany since 2015, sparking a strong backlash against immigration, Merkel is now fighting for her political future. Last Wednesday, government forces launched an offensive to clear Hodeida of rebel fighters who have held it since 2014, raising UN concerns for vital aid shipments and commercial food imports through the city's docks. The airport is disused but housed a major rebel base just inland from the coast road into the city from the south. It lies just eight kilometres (five miles) from the city's port, through which three-quarters of Yemen's imports pass, providing a lifeline for some 22 million people dependent on aid. UN envoy Martin Griffiths held four days of talks in the rebel-held capital Sanaa in a bid to avert an all-out battle for the city but flew out on Tuesday without announcing any breakthrough. The new tax, which will be contributing to the National Housing Fund, is meant to finance President Uhuru Kenyattas Big Four plan in a bid to provide affordable housing. On Tuesday, a Bill indicating that Kenyans will get one percent cut off their salaries caused confusion with many complaining that the Government was taxing them from all angles. According to the Bill, employers will also pay the one percent of the employees monthly gross emoluments once Parliament approves it. However, CS Rotich made a clarification on the Bill widely circulated on social media noting that there was an error. The Treasury minister stated that employees are only meant to pay 0.5 percent of their salaries which will go to the National Housing Fund. "The right rate is the one in the Budget statement. The error will be dealt with in Parliament, where we will harmonize what is in the Bill and what is in the Budget speech," he said. In his budget statement, Rotich noted that tax will go up to a maximum of Sh5,000 to those earning Sh1 million and above. What the tax means is that if you are earning a salary of Sh70,000, you will be deducted Sh350 per month. In a report by the Nation, the CS further divulged that the houses constructed using the funds will be given priority to those who contribute. By Li Qinghua and Yang Qingmin BEIJING, June 20 (ChinaMil) -- The Chinese peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Army conducted first operations command capability assessment for its thirteen Group Army commanders on June 19, 2018. The assessment was open, fair and transparent. The PLA Army formed 13 disciplinary inspection teams to fully supervise the assessment sites in the 13 group armies. The 13 army commanders were assessed at their own command posts, which was broadcasted via video to more than 3,600 troops at both the main venue and 24 branch venues. During the assessment, they received random questions and on-site judgments from the leaders of the PLA Army and the experts from the military academies. The assessment consisted of six steps: 1. Twenty-four hours prior to the assessment, the scenario conditions are distributed through military confidential system to the army commander who is going to receive assessment; 2. The army commander, together with 15 selected staff officers and relying on the field command post and the integrated command platform, formulate operations orders and determination diagrams under enclosed environment; 3. The army commander must complete dictating the key points of his operations determination within 40 minutes; 4. The army commander randomly selects 2 questions related to the operations determination through automatic question generation systemand answer them on site; 5. The panel of judges composed of 12 experts and professors assesses the army commander's performances in the above two steps and gives out scores on the spot. 6. The panel of experts scores the operations documents of the army commander and his unit by way of blind assessment. This score is then combined with those obtained in the above steps to produce a comprehensive score for the army commander. According to the result of drawing lots, the first army commander to be assessed was Maj. Gen. Gong Maodong, commander of the 75th Group Army of the PLA Southern Theater Command. Following Gong, the other army commanders from the 74th Group Army and 73rd Group Army and so on were successively assessed in order. Each army commander was subjected to inquiry, questioning and judgment according to his troops' functions and combat missions. At the assessment site, a leader of the PLA Army said: Command is the key factor that decides whether the military can fight and win a battle. The battle commanders capability is always the decisive thing in wars. 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... Olympians Presented With Keys To Queens Two beloved daughters of Queens took their rightful place in the pantheon of iconic borough residents on October 1, as Queens Borough President Donovan Richards,... The Government's changes on its overseas buyers' ban is a good thing, according to Newsroom Pro's Bernard Hickey. Overseas investors will still be able to invest in properties, but can't occupy them. The Government's new rules will exempt some multi-storey apartment buildings, and buyers from Singapore and Australia will still be able to buy property. Mr Hickey said the move was absolutely the right thing to do. "If youre all about increasing the volume of houses going into the market, then that makes a lot of sense," he said. We'll have a few more apartments in Auckland which is exactly what we need. Theres an enormous amount of capital out there in the world printed by central banks all round the world and it needs to come somewhere and it may as well go into help building New Zealand apartments in particular, he said. Mr Hickey told RadioLIVEs Mark Sainsbury that many new apartments house new migrants and international students. This is a good thing, and means well have a few more apartments in Auckland which is exactly what we need. Listen to the full interview with Bernard Hickey above. Morning Talk with Mark Sainsbury, 9am - 12pm Weekdays and streaming live on 'rova' channel 9 - available on Android and iPhone. RadioLIVE. Tonight on Night Talk, Mitch Harris throws out some somewhat controversial topics, and we hear your views. Mitch starts the show off with a spotlight on the current state of Trumptopia. First up we are joined by Paul Buchanan, former policy analyst and intelligence consultant to US government agencies, specialising in matters of security. Paul discusses the ramifications of last weeks meeting between the Koreas, China and a possible impending trade war. We have had the erosion of US supremacyother power contenders have risen He also looks at Trumps hopes to destroy NATO and child separations at the Mexican border. Loneliness is the most pressing issue facing elderly people in New Zealand, according to a senior citizen centre in Christchurch. Age Concern Canterbury chief executive Simon Templeton told The AM Show that elderly people in New Zealand need to be given better care, as he reflected on other countries that have already introduced commissioners for older people. "The UK has recently put in a Minister for Loneliness," Mr Templeton said. "Certainly from my perspective of what we see from Age Concern Canterbury, loneliness is the biggest issue facing older people today." The UK has recently put in a Minister for Loneliness. He said if New Zealand wants someone who is a champion voice for the elderly, we need to look to successful voices that have succeeded in other areas. Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft, for example, has "done a brilliant job" at "making sure we're all aware of what those issues are," said Mr Templeton. Age Concern Canterbury delivers an elder abuse response service across all of Canterbury and the West Coast that's driven out of the Office for Seniors and comes directly from the Seniors Minister Tracy Martin, said Mr Templeton. However, he admits New Zealand could do better to protect elderly, particularly around loneliness which "absolutely does" kill people. "There are studies that have been done - we know that loneliness is as dangerous to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and it's more dangerous to your health than being obese." "Age Concern Canterbury has a whole team that work to socially connect older people - but there's always more that can be done and I don't think it has a strong enough focus in policy and a strong enough awareness in our community." Morning Talk host Mark Sainsbury recently launched a petition on Change.org urging the Government to create a champion for the elderly, after receiving an email from a listener who said residents in some rest homes were restricted to two showers a week, among other shocking revelations. "We call on the Government to create a champion for our elderly to ensure they receive the respect and care they deserve in all aspects of their lives," says Sainsbury's campaign page. Sainsbury notes on his petition page that the Children's Commissioner advocates for protecting the rights of children, so where is the advocate for elderly? Watch the full interview with Simon Templeton above. The AM Show with Duncan Garner, Amanda Gillies and Mark Richardson, weekdays 6-9am on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the rova app on Android and iPhone. Newshub. LITHUANIA: National railway LG is to be restructured with effect from September 1, following government approval last month of proposals drawn up by the Ministry of Transport & Communications. IRELAND: Iarnrod Eireann has awarded Rolls-Royce a contract to rebuild the three MTU PowerPacks fitted to a Class 22000 diesel multiple-unit with ZFs EcoWorld transmissions, which are designed to be more efficient and quieter in operation. Rusnano top manager appeals his detention in fraud case RAPSI 10:59 20/06/2018 MOSCOW, June 19 (RAPSI) The Basmanny District Court of Moscow has registered an appeal against detention of the managing director of the state-owned technology corporation Rusnano Andrey Gorkov charged with fraud involving 200 million rubles ($3.1 million), the court ruling reads. The defendant is charged with embezzling Rusnanos funds from a bank account in 2009-2010 and will stay in detention until August 7. Prosecutor in the case asked not to put Gorkov in detention as the investigator and the victim in this case are the same person, just as with another case against Gorkov, who is also charged with abuse of office that resulted in grave consequences. Hence prosecutors believe that the new charges should be considered as part of the existing case. Investigators believe that between 2011 and 2013 Gorkov was transferring Rusnanos assets to the Smolensky Bank under the guise of provision of cash services, in effect financing its activity. The top manager denies guilt and notes that he did not have the right to manage corporations money at the moment of revocation of the banks license in 2014. As a result, Rusnano lost over 738 million rubles ($12.5 million) and, according to investigators, 400 million rubles ($7 million) were allocated to Gorkovs brother, who is at this time wanted by police, a day before the banks license was revoked. Gorkov was arrested in June 2017 when bought an airline ticket to another country. His defense claimed that the bank account was opened in 2011 when the defendant was no longer a financial director. Also, lawyers pointed out to the letter from the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) stating that all problems of the bank were solved. The defendant pleaded not guilty to all charges. China's top shipbuilding firm released a photo on Wednesday of what is believed to be the country's first aircraft carrier equipped with an electromagnetic aircraft launch system, with Chinese military experts speculating that China will have three aircraft carriers in the near future. With the new aircraft carrier in the center and the Liaoning and China's first domestically developed aircraft carrier Type 001A on either side, the photo shows battle groups at sea led by the three carriers as the backdrop at a meeting at the No.701 Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), according to the company's WeChat account on Wednesday. It is widely speculated that China is building its third aircraft carrier in Shanghai. China's J-15 jet fighters and a new type of fixed wing early warning aircraft were on board the mysterious ship. CSIC Chairman Hu Wenming visited the Wuhan-based institute on Tuesday and attended a meeting where the photo was shown, during which CSIC officials and experts discussed the development of China's surface vessels and submarines, according to the CSIC post. The photo shows two carriers with jump-rack decks, but the mysterious carrier with a flat deck, which makes an electromagnetic aircraft launch system possible, Song Zongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Wednesday. Judging from the photo, the new aircraft carrier will have a displacement above 8 tons, and together with the Liaoning and Type 001A, China will soon have three aircraft carriers, a significant boost to the capabilities of the Chinese navy. The Type 001A began sea tests in May, and the Liaoning was commissioned to the China's People's Liberation Army Navy in 2012. Song added that judging from the size of the ship, the new aircraft carrier will continue to be conventionally powered rather than nuclear powered. Three catapults on board show that the new ship will be able to launch aircraft faster and more frequently than the previous carriers, and therefore will possess stronger combat capabilities, Song noted. CSIC is dubbed the "cradle of Chinese aircraft carriers." The institute's former head Zhu Yingfu was the chief designer of China's aircraft carrier program, with Wu Xiaoguang, the institute's current head, as the program's deputy chief designer. CSIC has designed and built, among many prominent naval vessels, the country's first domestically-built aircraft carrier, known as the Type 001A, and the company also disclosed in February its plan to build China's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier as part of planned weaponry upgrades for the Chinese Navy by 2025. The Wechat post featuring the photo of the mysterious carrier was deleted by the CSIC later on Wednesday, and the CSIC has yet to confirm any details about the photo or carrier as of press time. According to the CSIC official website, the chairman Hu said during Tuesday's meeting that test results shows that the CSIC has made new progress in terms of the development of a new type of vessel. However, there was no specific mention of an aircraft carrier. China's offshore defense capability will be significantly enhanced with three aircraft carriers in active naval service, Zhang Junshe, a senior research fellow at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, told the Global Times. The country can also better fulfill its international responsibility in the event of a global humanitarian relief effort, such as when there is a natural disaster, or an international convoy, Zhang added. Two gang members receive suspended sentence for gyrfalcon poaching flickr.com/Andrea Pokrzywinski 11:24 20/06/2018 MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI) Two gang members have received a 2.5-year suspended sentence each for poaching and unlawful capture of Red Book species, gyrfalcons, the Russian Investigative Committees press service reports Wednesday. The court found that from June till November 2016, an organized criminal group caught 17 wild gyrfalcons in the Olyutor District of Kamchatka. Birds, listed in the Red Book of endangered species, were then kept in captivity and later released into their natural habitat when the group members were busted. According to investigators, actions of the gang caused damage valued at more than 73 million rubles ($1.3 million) to the Russian Federation. On Tuesday, the gang leader was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. The mastermind of the crime has been hiding in Crimea until July 2017. Later, he was apprehended and transported to the Kamchatka Region. He pleaded guilty. According to investigators, he provided the gang with poaching equipment and managed two groups through satellite uplink while remaining outside the region. Up to date, the court convicted and sentenced 17 members of the criminal group. One more defendant left Russia and was put on the international wanted list. Former deputy head of Hermitage museum admits embezzling $481,000 flickr.com/Jon Ander 14:59 20/06/2018 MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI) Former deputy director of the Hermitage Museum Mikhail Novikov and managing director of BaltStroy company Alexander Kochenov admitted their guilt in embezzlement of 30.6 million rubles ($481,000) during construction and restoration of the museums facilities, attorney Natalya Shitikhina told RAPSI on Wednesday. A court in St. Petersburg will review the case under special procedure on June 25. The attorney noted that the defendants compensated damage in full. In late March, the Federal Security Services (FSB) officers conducted searches in the State Hermitage Museum. Searches in the engineering departments buildings were related to a criminal case earlier launched against several individuals allegedly involved in embezzling money during construction of new facilities for the museums use, the State Hermitage announced on its website. Museum officials provided law enforcement authorities all information required including documents on two construction contracts, according to the statement. Alleged leader of notorious Russian gang extradited from Austria flickr.com/Andrey Belenko 13:45 20/06/2018 MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI) - Aslan Gagiyev, an alleged leader of the notorious organized-crime syndicate, was extradited from Vienne to Russia on Wednesday, the Interior Ministrys spokesperson Irina Volk told journalists. Gagiyev, who was arrested in Austria in January 2015, faces life sentence in Russia on multiple murder charges. Russian investigators claim that Gagiyevs gang has been operating since 2004 and includes over 50 members. Members of the gang committed more than 60 counts of murder in Moscow, Moscow Region and North Ossetia including murders of officials, law enforcement officers and businessmen. Some members of the gang have already been convicted and are serving long prison terms. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate "The key to successful integration into the Australian community, to economic success, to every success, social success is being able to speak English," he said. New laws to administer tough English exams for migrants failed to pass parliament last October, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is reviving the plan. Australia's first citizenship ceremony was held in 1949. Since then millions of migrants have pledged their loyalty to their adopted homeland. But the government says census figures indicate about one million people in Australia -- or about four percent of the population -- do not speak English or have the basic skills to understand the national language. Australia is planning to bring in tougher English language tests for migrants and new citizens. The center-right government says too many settlers do not speak English well enough to integrate into Australian society, while critics argue the changes are discriminatory. For more than a decade new citizens have had to pass a general knowledge test about Australias people, its democratic traditions and institutions. The Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Alan Tudge, says a more stringent language exam is needed. "One of the more important things there I do think is English language," he said. "And we need to ensure for the interests of the migrant as much as for social cohesion, that there is that common language across the community, that common glue which is so vital for social cohesion. The great Australian multicultural success story which has been built on integration, not on assimilation, where you have to give up your heritage, but nor separatism of where communities sit side by side one another. But integration where we merge together, learn from one another, work together, share experiences." Arabic is among more than 300 languages spoken in Australian homes. The most widely used after English is Mandarin. The government says migrants will need to have "conversational" English to pass the new test, but Jamal Daoud from the Social Justice Network worries that the bar will be set too high. "These English tests are very difficult to pass. It is at academic level and even people who completed universities are struggling with this test. There is no credible evidence that this will benefit their settlement in the country," he said. The debate isn't whether new citizens should learn the language but how proficient they must become. Woman #1: "We have to speak English to understand other people. That is the main language here, so we have to respect that." Man #1: "It is impossible to get a job if you don't know the language. It's as easy as that. That's why we've got so many people on the dole." Woman #2: "There's a lot of need out there and generally people do want to learn English, they do want to improve, they want to gain that independence and that autonomy in the community." Man #2: "They should be able to speak English otherwise they just don't fit in." After ten years in Sydney, Ran Malik, a disability support worker from India, fears that he may never become an Australian citizen because in his opinion there are too many obstacles. He is on a temporary work visa and has thought about trying his luck elsewhere. "I have got a lot of friends from back home who actually moved to Canada in the last three or four years and they already become citizens and I just thought that could be another option for me to move to Canada or maybe look close to Australia, maybe New Zealand," he said. Other critics of the language tests, including the Labor opposition's Justice spokesperson, Clare O'Neil, believe they are an insult. "I just find that sort of thing really offensive because it's effectively devaluing the contribution that thousands of people that I represent have made to this country without much English and they're making a very fine contribution to this country," said O'Neil. Australia wants its new citizens to embrace not only its language but also its values, such as respect for democracy, and gender equality. The government plans to introduce the new language tests laws in the coming weeks. 'Flush with funds, lending became a cash management exercise.' 'Road projects, power generation plants, airports etc were financed left and right with apparently no regard for the projects' ability to repay,' explains S Muralidharan, former managing director, BNP Paribas. Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com Another day, another dire headline about failing companies, bankruptcies, and banks groaning under the weight of dodgy loans. Then there are the tabloid stories of the unbelievable lifestyles of errant tycoons who have managed to elude the law here and live in royal luxury elsewhere; and of poorly-paid PSU bank chiefs wrestling with bad loans with one hand tied behind their backs and the referee (read government) making the rules up as they go. Is this something that is inevitable in a liberal democracy, or are we given to egregiously plundering and thieving public resources? Some Western critics have even suggested that this is the inevitable result of the 'transactional nature of Hindu culture'. There are all sorts of diagnoses made of the problem (of bad loans), a few factual, even fewer non-partisan, with none suggesting solutions. Politics also plays a very big part in the process as it did in the sanction in the first place. Major parties trade blame when bad loans come to light with the sole intent of throwing in the first handful of mud in the hope that some will stick. Invariably, truth is the casualty in this political mud slinging. I am surprised to find even a former RBI governor wading in. Whatever the motives of individual commentators, some facts stand out: 1. There is a big bad loan problem. 2. The problem has reached levels where some banks' viability is under threat. 3. No one has a clue how it happened, nor ideas on how it might have happened other than blaming one dispensation or the other. 4. The political classes do not want to solve the issue, but only keep the pot boiling with 2019 elections in view. 5. A meaningful, dispassionate, and rational analysis (let alone solutions) is beyond the hyperventilating media and their hand-reared talking heads. Why do we suddenly see so much of bad loans, outright financial frauds and business failures? Is it all just a matter of reporting by media ever hungry for headlines, or have our society's moral fabric and financial rectitude suddenly taken a turn for the worse? Are the government's policies to blame, or should the RBI's guidance and supervision of banks carry the can? Are the bank managements up to their task in a complex, inter-connected and ever sophisticated financial environment? Is the banking supervisor asleep at the wheel or are the owners and their mandarins interfering in the day-to-day business of the banks? Do the senior and middle management of the banks have the technical bandwidth to deal with legacy problems and forestall new ones?; The answer is that the NPA problem is the result of all of these factors. In such systems, the result of two factors is not simple addition, but exponential. Any attempt to find a solution based on a simple or simplistic answer is bound to cause the situation to become much, much worse. In the following paragraphs I shall attempt to parse the issue. I shall only visit the past in order to provide context and only in so far as it helps understand the issue. To paraphrase George Santayana, 'You can't know where you're going unless you know where you've been. It is increasingly accepted wisdom in finance that in order to arrive at accurate and actionable diagnoses in the real world, we cannot afford to ignore the behaviour of the people involved. Behaviours are shaped by millennia of culture, civilisation, traditions, and the balance between collective wisdom and individual will. Our traditions insisted on meeting our obligations in full and without fail. For us, the discharge of obligations is a moral imperative, not a contractual requirement. It is absolute, not conditional or contingent. But that was our tradition. Post the arrival of the East India Company, the moral imperative was replaced by contractual provisos. During the next three hundred years conscience gave way to contract law. It was no longer necessary to be 'just' or 'fair' or 'straight'; legal liability was all that mattered. Thus, financial probity meant adherence to the letter of the contract, not to some set of lofty traditional values. Legality replaced ethics and contract trumped conscience. Businessmen were quick to spot the opportunities that the new reality presented. Government ownership created some of the worst distortions in our banking system. In 1969, ostensibly to fund the development agenda of the government which the privately-owned banks were allegedly loath to toe, 14 banks were 'nationalised'. Suffice it to say the motives were anything but 'clean'. The floodgates to governmental interference, and political influence were thrown open. The managements quickly discovered that personal progress demanded pleasing the governments and placating the unions. Banks continued to open branches left right and centre with little understanding of their new markets and no regard for its viability. Commercial banks were on an expansion spree throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Their branch network expanded geometrically while staffing went up exponentially, severely testing the managerial bandwidth of their managements. The unionised workforce enjoyed political patronage and was often the de facto management. Labour issues increasingly came to occupy a disproportionate share of management's time and energies, which had to have adversely impacted the core business of banks. The future management cohort learnt how to 'manage up' rather than how to lend. Under government ownership it was more important to do things right (procedures) than to do the right things (results). In other words, 'following procedures' was more important than showing results. In this atmosphere lending was reduced to a few well-defined steps to be followed, not risks to be divined and controlled. There were pre-set benchmarks for assessing loan requests which could be met with the help of a halfway decent chartered accountant (and later with MS Excel). Bank managers had to balance the risk of making 'bad' loans or reject the loan and face the backlash that would ensue. They usually chose in favour of a 'bulletproof proposal' on paper. Judging by the situation now, one can conclude that what was then bulletproof on paper is now a dead loan. In the hands of a savvy businessman one loan can become many. Although bank loan rules stipulate at least 20% of total requirements of a business must come in the form of 'capital', in point of fact this is hardly ever so. Through diversions and investments, borrowed funds can be used as capital in another firm where more money can be borrowed against it. This can go on ad infinitum. The true nature of the diversions can be hidden by adopting a different financial period for each entity. This, of course, is a simplified version of what goes on. After the liberalisation of foreign investments, money goes abroad and returns as foreign investments in a company, much like a snake swallowing its own tail. If you stop this process you will discover a part of the snake is missing! The government has no incentive to stop it as it gave a false sense of foreign investments into India which it could cite as proof of a policy's success. The possibility of diverting loans had been observed in the 1960s. Concerned with its ramifications, the Dehejia committee was set up to examine how to curb such practices whilst meeting industries' genuine needs. This was followed by the Tandon and Chore committees in 1975 and 1980 with the same objectives, but more granular details. The sum and substance of the recommendations of these three committees was to provide finance for legitimate working capital needs of industry without permitting bank financing for 'hoarding', 'diversion' and 'investments'. The industries went to work and effectively sabotaged effective implementation using 'salami tactics'. Instead of fighting these regulations head on, they carved exemptions for their firm, industry, location, etc. Today, the spirit of these recommendations lies in tatters. Business houses have grown from a few crores turnover to few tens of billion dollars turnover in just a couple of decades through new investments and acquisitions financed by plain old diversions of bank finances. One of the ills the Tandon committee foresaw and tried to address was the nature of company borrowings in India. It uses a 'running account' called cash credit. Essentially it has no repayment date. Tandon prescribed that increasingly equity capital must finance the core of the working capital, with cash credit only providing the fluctuating part. The 'salami attack' by industry ensured we never progressed to this stage of the Tandon reforms. A variation on foreign investment is the acquisition of overseas companies. Based on a counting trick which inflated our foreign reserves, we allowed Indian companies to invest overseas. If anyone were to correlate the overseas investments with overseas real estate acquisitions by Indian tycoons, a positive correlation will be found. Of course, all the acquisitions are by entities based in tax havens whose beneficial owners are unknown, rendering any investigation infructuous. Another bonus for the business community was the Sick Industrial Companies Act. While professing to control and punish 'errant' businessmen who ran their businesses to the ground, what this Act did was to extract concessions from everyone including bankers, creditors and even employees in order to 'nurse' the business back to health and hand it over to the very people who ran it to the ground. It was all done in the name of labour. Could you think of a greater fraud on the public than this Act? Mercifully, the Act has been repealed in 2016. The stinger in the tail is that many of the businesses so 'revived' went on to borrow more and are in their death beds now. There can be no better example of nefarious designs masquerading as noble intent turning into deadly outcomes. A little-commented development which in my view led to the loans problem is the change in the structure of our banking system, which quietly happened starting the 1990s. Prior to the 1990s the banks mainly provided working capital and 'term lenders' provided loans for long term requirements like plants, machinery, projects, and infrastructure. These institutions (ICICI, IDBI and IFCI) were considered competent at what they were doing, with the quality of their assets inversely proportional to the government's holding. Then ICICI merged with the commercial bank it had floated, followed by IDBI. With the specialised institutions gone, every commercial bank jumped into the fray, financing long term despite being ill prepared for this task. Flush with funds, lending became a cash management exercise. Road projects, power generation plants, airports etc were financed left and right with apparently no regard for the projects' ability to repay. This is largely held to be the most proximate cause of the banks' ills. A related issue is the technical skills of PSU bankers. A story from my past: 20 years ago a French colleague and I went calling on a number of PSU bank CMDs in Mumbai. After the initial round of the various banks in Nariman Point area he started classifying them in order of their perceived calibre. Then I took him to see Big Daddy, also in Nariman Point. When we came out, he was visibly upset and said we had wasted our time meeting clerks in suits and should only have met Big Daddy. The skill levels in understanding the banking environment, developments, problems, and prospects were totally lacking, in his opinion, in all except Big Daddy. The old skill at 'managing up' is clearly insufficient to deal with today's issues and problems. The results are plain to see for all who can read the headlines today. And then there is the regulator. They are a breed apart. They cannot tell you how to live, but find fault with you for dying. In my experience their inspections are a litany of procedures not followed. But we know that once-best loan proposals are the ones on the death row now. Perhaps it is time to get some outside help to analyse how things came to such a pass from the files of the failed loans. I have reserved the piece de resistance to the very end. One of the biggest reasons for business failure is that it happens! My late lamented father-in-law used to say that the largest cause of death is living. We in India appear to assume, especially those in the government and regulatory circles, that if proper procedures are followed and required entries are made in designated registers, businesses can remain forever young like Markandeya. Businesses fail despite the best laid plans. Managements fail, markets change, products become obsolete, new competition emerges from unexpected sources, etc. We must accept it. S Muralidharan retired as managing director, BNP Paribas, after serving the bank for 20 years. The report suggests India in the longer term needs to create far more jobs in the formal organised sector -- 97 per cent of all female worker activity is in the informal sector Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com Just around 25 per cent of Indias workforce is female, according to a recent report by consultants McKinsey & Company on the advancing of womens equality in the Asia-Pacific region. A 10 per cent increase to that, it says, could add $770 billion to the countrys Gross Domestic Product in the next seven years. Primary factors driving the male-female gap include gender inequality at work and in society. Physical security and autonomy, legal protection, political voice and womens role in essential services are all areas where Indias statistics lag in comparison. For instance, says the report, violence against women in India is six times higher than the global best scores, on a weighted index based on female populations. Maternal mortality per 100,000 births is close to double that of the average in the Asia-Pacific as a whole. Child marriage is higher than any other groups compared. It also lists the many states and Union Territories with no female members of Parliament. Anu Madgavkar, partner with the India office at McKinsey, says the fix has to be a combination of both government effort and the private sector stepping up together. She points to digital inclusion as an example. She cites how Google and the Tata Trusts joined hands in 2015 for a programme called Internet Saathi, which enrolled womens groups for training on basic internet usage. Female entrepreneurs ride bicycles with smartphones and tablets, and visit villages, where they share their knowledge with women there. At the end of last year, 33,000 digital bikers had reached 125,000 villages and are estimated to have trained at least 13 million women. The object is to reach 30,000 villages, says Madgavkar. The report suggests India in the longer term needs to create far more jobs in the formal organised sector - 97 per cent of all female worker activity is in the informal sector. That includes low-paying jobs such as domestic household work, cleaning streets and picking up waste. It is, however, more than a simple provisioning of jobs for women that will address the deeper maladies that come with gender inequality. The entire mindset has to change, says Madgavkar. The report details how households with budget constraints give men priority access for technology. A Delhi survey says three of every five men agreed they had priority over women in accessing the internet access. One villages government body in Rajasthan mandated that girls couldnt use social media or mobiles; another in Uttar Pradesh fined girls Rs 2,100 for using a mobile phone outside their homes. If we are to avoid suffering a huge economic drain that we cant afford as a growing economy, that has to change, she adds. Jammu and Kashmir was placed under Governor's rule on Wednesday and the state assembly kept in suspended animation, as Governor N N Vohra reviewed security measures and brought in former top cop Vijay Kumar, a counter-insurgency specialist, as one of his two advisers. A day after the People's Democratic Party government collapsed after the Bharatiya Janata Party snapped its three-year-old alliance with the regional party citing 'larger national interest' and 'deteriorating security situation', a Union home ministry spokesman said in the morning that President Ram Nath Kovind has approved imposition of Governor's rule in the border state with immediate effect. As Vohra held multiple meetings in Srinagar, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said the ongoing military operations in the Valley against terrorists would continue as earlier. Governor's rule in the state is unlikely to have any impact on ongoing military operations, he told reporters in New Delhi. According to an official communique, Chhattisgarh cadre Indian Administrative Service officer B V R Subrahmanyam was appointed as the chief secretary of the state in place of B B Vyas, who along with K Vijay Kumar, a former Indian Police Services officer and an anti-Naxal expert, were named advisers to Governor Vohra. Kumar's experience ranges from jungle warfare and security detail to counter-insurgency. The names of advisers were cleared by the MHA after the state was put under the Governor's rule. Kumar, a 1975 batch IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, had earlier served in the Kashmir valley as Inspector General of Border Security Force in 1998-2001 when the border guarding force was actively involved in the counter-militancy operations. Kumar, 65, had shot to fame when he headed the Special Task Force for a long time and strategised operations that culminated in the elimination of the dreaded forest brigand Veerappan after an encounter in Tamil Nadu in October 2004. He was later appointed as Director General of world's largest paramilitary force -- CRPF-- after Naxals killed 75 personnel in Dantewada in 2010. It is for the fourth time that J and K was placed under Central rule in the last one decade--all under the tenure of Vohra, who was made the Governor in June 2008. This is the eighth time in the last four decades that the state was kept under Governor's rule. "Immediately after receiving President of India's approval, Governor N N Vohra issued the proclamation to impose Governor's Rule in the state under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir today," a Raj Bhawan spokesman said in Srinagar. The Governor also placed the legislative assembly in suspended animation till the proclamation of Governor's rule is revoked or varied by a subsequent proclamation, according to a gazette notification. The six-year term of the current Assembly ends in March, 2021. As part of the Governor's meetings, Northern Army commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh called on Vohra and discussed the security situation in the state. The Governor and the Army commander discussed certain issues about the need for very close coordination in security management in the Valley, particularly keeping in view the need to prevent collateral damage in counter-terrorist operations, the Raj Bhavan spokesman said. Separately, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Centre wants terrorism to end and peace to prevail in Kashmir. "Our only aim is that terrorism should end and peace should prevail in Kashmir and our government will work keeping this in mind," he told reporters in Lucknow. Vohra had on Tuesday night recommended imposition of Governor's rule in a report sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan around the time when President Ram Nath Kovind, who is on an overseas trip, was on board his special aircraft. The contents of the Governor's report were immediately sent to Suriname where the president was scheduled to land at 6.30 pm (3 am IST). The president after perusing the report gave his assent and tiahe same was sent to the Union Home Ministry by 6 am (IST) following which the process of promulgating Governor's rule was initiated and a communication sent to Srinagar. After assuming charge as the head of the state administration, Vohra held meetings with top civil administration and police officials at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar. Security preparations for the annual Amarnath yatra also figured during the meetings held by the Governor. The two-month long pilgrimage to the 3,880 metre high cave shrine of Amarnath commences on June 28. Vohra held meetings with top civil administration and police officials at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar on Wednesday. He held discussions with Vyas and identified the major tasks which shall require to be dealt with on a strict time-bound basis, beginning from Wednesday. Vohra asked the chief secretary to forward by Thursday department-wise lists of all pending cases with remarks regarding the reasons for delay. Meanwhile, Northern Army commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, called on the governor and discussed the security situation in the state. The Governor and the Army commander discussed issues regarding the need for very close coordination in security management in the Valley, particularly keeping in view the need to ensure against co-lateral damage in counter-terrorist operations. A group of 52 Indians, mostly Sikhs, has been held at a detention centre in the United States State of Oregon for being part of a large contingent of illegal immigrants seeking asylum, an American lawmaker has said. The Indians form the largest group of detainees in the total 123 illegal immigrants being held at a facility in Sheridan. The detention centre was recently visited by a group of Democratic lawmakers from the Oregon State, who later told the media about the alleged inhuman condition of the illegal immigrants. The immigrants are seeking asylum in the US. The detainees from India form the largest group being held in Sheridan, wrote Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici in a blog post. She along with several other Democratic lawmakers from the State visited the detention centre on Saturday. "Through our Punjabi translator, we learned that these men were planning to request asylum because they faced severe religious persecution in India. Most are Sikh or Christian. Instead they were incarcerated in a federal prison," she said. "They said they came to the United States for religious freedom, but they felt as if they were 'going crazy' because they are being confined in small cells for up to 22 hours a day," the Congresswoman said. The Indian detainees pointed out that the other non-immigrant prisoners get far more time out of cells, she said. Most of the detainees at the federal facility are asking for asylum because they experienced violence or persecution in their home countries, Bonamici said. Several had travelled to the border with a wife and a child or children; none knew where their family members are, she said. "This is a shameful hour in US history. I don't care what your stance on immigration is, no one should favour ripping children out of their parents' arms ...." Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer told reporters after visiting the detention centre. He alleged that President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have doubled down on their anti-immigrant, xenophobic agenda with the administration's new 'zero tolerance' policy on immigration. 'The administration is criminalising families who are fleeing abuse and violence and separating children as ICE detains or deports their parents,' he said in a statement. According to the local daily The Oregonian, of the total detainees, 52 have identified themselves as Sikhs or Christians from India. They alleged that they fled from their country because of religious persecution from the Hindu majority. The Indians told the delegation that their Hindi and Punjabi translators were the first outsiders they've been able to talk to since they were imprisoned weeks ago, the daily reported. The Congressional delegation included Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden. "As the child of parents whose families found refuge in America from the terrors of Nazi Germany, I strongly believe Donald Trump's cruel and callous treatment of human beings seeking asylum flies in the face of America's core humanitarian values," Wyden said. "Trump's choice of zero tolerance for the refugees we met today and for the others imprisoned around the country this Father's Day weekend makes zero sense and shows zero understanding of American values. "What I saw and heard today highlights the urgency of reversing Trump's mean, dangerous and damaging actions -- returning America to our unique role as a beacon of hope that welcomed our immigrant ancestors and creating the future we want for our children," he said. These 123 detainees are among the more than 1,600 people that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is holding in federal prisons across the US as it enforces Trump's zero-tolerance policy on immigration, the lawmakers said in a joint statement. The men come from 16 different countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, China, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, India, Mauritania, Nepal, Peru and Russia, as well as from Congo and Eritrea, it said. The Congressional delegation was told that that the detainees are being held upwards for 23 hours a day with three men bunked in each cell. The prison does not have the resources to house ICE detainees alongside pre-trial inmates who are normally held in the facility. The delegation was also told that incompatibility between BOP and ICE telephone systems was preventing ICE detainees at the BOP facility from accessing legal services. According to lawmakers, the detainees described stress as they sit in cells day after day without knowing when they will get a hearing, or get a lawyer, or what comes next. "Several men had been separated from their children, and experienced the added stress of not knowing what happened to their families. "Under Trump's 'zero-tolerance policy', the men's children were taken away at the border -- one man said an ICE official told him, 'it's not my choice; the decision came from above' -- and the fathers still don't have any information about their location, condition or well-being," the lawmakers said. The break-up of the People's Democratic Party and Bharatiya Janata Party coalition in Jammu and Kashmir sparked celebrations in parts of the Valley, even as some people expressed apprehension that governor's rule might lead to lack of transparency and worsen the situation in the state. The BJP pulled out of the alliance with the PDP on Tuesday, following which Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti tendered her resignation. Governor's rule was imposed in the state on Wednesday. In several areas of Kashmir, including Srinagar, Kupwara and Pahalgam, people burst firecrackers after the news broke out. "This alliance was unholy. The PDP should not have joined hands with the BJP in the first place. But better late than never. We are happy that this alliance has ended," Faizan Mir, a resident of Srinagar, said. Mudassir Nazir, a businessman, described the PDP-BJP alliance as a coalition of north and south poles as the their ideologies are in stark contrast. "Their ideologies are totally opposite. The BJP has its own interests and does not care about the people of Kashmir. They were totally opposite to what PDP stands for and hence, the people were suffering," he said. The businessman also accused the coalition government of being corrupt and hoped for a clean and transparent administration under Governor N N Vohra. "There would be no ministers now and no lust for power or money. I am sure the governor will be able to give a clean, transparent and corruption-free administration. We have seen this in the past," he said. The celebrations over the end of the alliance were reported from south Kashmir -- the PDP's bastion -- as well. Speaking over phone from Pahalgam, Hameed-ullah Wani, a PDP supporter, said the people wanted to get rid of the alliance right from day one. "We never appreciated the PDP for joining hands with the BJP. This was their biggest blunder and they will pay for it. We are happy that it is over as this alliance caused agony and suffering to the people of the state, especially in the Valley. "However, it would have been better if the PDP would have ditched the BJP rather than what happened," he said. However, some people felt that an elected government was any day better than the Governor's rule. "A democratically elected government is much better any day than the governor's rule which essentially means New Delhi's direct rule in the state where now they will have absolute control over the administration and the security apparatus. "They can do anything now in the absence of a government which otherwise could built pressure on them on certain issues," Feroz Ahmad Bhat, a resident of central Kashmir's Ganderbal said. Bhat's views were echoed by Sheikh Tanveer, a resident of uptown Srinagar. Tanveer said when a government is in place, people can take their grievances to their representatives and hold them accountable, which is not the case in governor's rule. "Whether you like it or not, you cannot do anything about it (Governor's rule). That is the major difference. You can hold the government responsible, your representatives and ministers are reachable and they listen to you because they have a constituency which the Governor does not have," he said. Tanveer said it would have been better if the regional parties -- the PDP and the National Conference -- would come together with the support of the Congress to cobble up a coalition government. "The regional party government acts as a buffer in states like Jammu and Kashmir. I wish the PDP and the NC would have come together rather than having this unholy coalition or the governor's rule," he said. He expressed apprehensions over the situation worsening in the days to come. "I think it (situation) will worsen. There was some calm because of the ceasefire and then the government had some control over how to deal with the situation. Now, the forces will have a free hand," he said. The governor's rule, which has been imposed in Jammu and Kashmir for the eighth time, was necessitated in the state after chief minister Mehbooba resigned yesterday following BJP pulling out from the over three-year-old coalition. European Union leaders will try to reassure Germany and Italy over migration at a summit next week as a stand-off in Berlin threatens Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition. The EU could take steps to stop asylum seekers moving on from the country in which they are registered and start deciding asylum requests at centers to be established beyond EU borders in the future, according to a draft summit statement. The proposed steps come ahead of the June 28-29 summit in Brussels at which EU leaders will attempt to agree on a joint migration policy three years after more than 1 million people arrived in Europe, causing a crisis for the union. Their joint draft statement is not public and its wording might change. But it showed the bloc is trying to accommodate a new, anti-establishment government in Italy, as well as Berlin where Merkel's coalition partner issued an ultimatum for an EU-wide deal on migration. If the summit fails to reach a satisfactory outcome, Berlin would issue a unilateral ban on refugees already registered in other EU states from entering the country, said the junior governing Christian Social Union that has the interior ministry. German police data suggest any such ban would only affect several hundred people a month and hence have no big impact on the overall number of refugees in Germany. The EU border agency Frontex said more than 90 percent of current arrivals in Italy, Greece and Spain register for asylum there. Many still often go north, including to Germany. This "secondary movement" violates EU law but has been widespread. "Member States should take all necessary internal legislative... to counter such movements," the text said in an indirect response to German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. Merkel opposes the proposal that comes from a party facing a tough vote in its home base in Bavaria in October against a resurgent far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has advocated harsh anti-immigration line. The AfD on Tuesday accused the CSU of copying its ideas on how to deal with the migrant crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron and Merkel called in a joint statement on Tuesday for a European solution on migration and said secondary movement must be tackled. Pope Francis and British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday led global condemnation against the Trump administration's controversial policy of separating children from migrant parents at America's border with Mexico. Pictures of dozens of children sleeping in cages and audio of children crying for their parents have emerged in recent days, triggering widespread criticism. It comes after a 'zero-tolerance' crackdown on illegal immigration was brought in by United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions. US immigration officials say 2,342 children were separated from 2,206 parents between May 5 and June 9. Reacting to the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy, Pope Francis said he supported US Catholic bishops who said it was 'immoral' and 'contrary to our Catholic values'. "I am on the side of the bishops' conference," Francis said. Prime Minister May said holding children 'in what appear to be cages [is] deeply disturbing' and 'wrong'. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the US practice of separating migrant children from parents caught crossing the US-Mexico border illegally is 'wrong'. "What's going on in the United States is wrong," he told reporters. "I can't imagine what the families living through this are enduring. Obviously this is not the way we do things in Canada," Trudeau said. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray Caso said the practice was 'cruel and inhuman', and clearly violated human rights. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who in the past has praised Trump's policy of curbing immigration, told French TV that she disagreed with splitting children from parents. The Republican-controlled Congress is under pressure to change President Trump's policy. Republicans are also scrambling to draft a new immigration bill to address the growing outcry. President Trump told a group of House Republicans he would back any bill they passed, a White House spokesman said. The president made clear that separating parents and children was 'certainly not an attractive thing and does look bad', Representative Tom Cole said. However, Trump insists it is necessary to stop illegal border crossings. On Tuesday, he said: "When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally -- which should happen -- you have to take the children away." Under the 'zero-tolerance' approach unveiled in May, all undocumented border crossers are criminally charged and jailed. Migrant children cannot be held with their parents, and are kept in separate facilities maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under previous US administrations, undocumented immigrants caught crossing the border for the first time tended to be issued with court summonses. But the Trump administration points out that most of those migrants never showed up for court. The United States withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council and condemned its "shameless hypocrisy" in absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those committing no offence, saying America will not take lectures from hypocritical institutions. The decision to pull the US out of the UN Human Rights Council was announced by US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley who also criticised the council for a "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel". She claimed that human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the council. The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape scrutiny, and the council continues politicising and scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in their ranks, she said. "Therefore, as we said we would do a year ago if we did not see any progress, the United States is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council," Haley said. In doing so, Haley made it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from human rights commitments. "On the contrary, we take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. Haley also criticised the council for a "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel," citing a series of resolutions highlighting alleged abuses by the Israeli government of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged that the council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those who have committed no offence. "We have no doubt that there was once a noble vision for this council. But today, we need to be honest the Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights," Pompeo told reporters at a joint media appearance with Haley. "Worse than that, the Human Rights Council has become an exercise in shameless hypocrisy with many of the world's worst human rights abuses going ignored and some of the world's most serious offenders sitting on the council itself," he said. A mere look around the world today demonstrates that the council has failed in its stated objectives, he said. "Its membership includes authoritarian governments with unambiguous and abhorrent human rights records, such as China, Cuba and Venezuela," Pompeo said. "The US -- which leads the world in humanitarian assistance and whose service members have sacrificed lives and limb to free millions from oppression and tyranny -- will not take lectures from hypocritical bodies and institution as Americans selflessly give their blood and treasure to help the defenceless, he said. Top American lawmakers welcomed the move. Applauding the decision, Senator Marco Rubio said that it is a travesty that countries such as Venezuela, China, and Cuba would even be considered for membership on this council. "Governments that persecute people of faith, imprison dissidents, repress free speech and violate others' basic human rights have no business participating in an international body purportedly committed to ending human rights abuses," he said. Rubio said he is gravely concerned that US security partners such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt also continue to fall in this category. "I implore them to fundamentally improve their human rights practices. "If the UN Human Rights Council wants to maintain any shred of credibility, basic respect for and protection of human rights must be a prerequisite for membership and the council must end its hostility toward Israel. Until that is the case, the US should have nothing to do with this broken institution," Rubio said. However, the opposition Democratic party opposed the move. "The United States should be leading the world on human rights, not retreating into isolation and separating young children from their families," said Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Tom Perez. Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon welcomed the announcement by the US. "The Human Rights Council has long been the foe of those who truly care about human rights around the world. The US has proven, yet again, its commitment to truth and justice and their unwillingness to allow the blind hatred of Israel in international institutions to stand unchallenged," he said. Title Afghanistan: Return and Reintegration Response Plan (2018) Publication Date 27 January 2018 Country Afghanistan Cite as National Legislative Bodies / National Authorities, Afghanistan: Return and Reintegration Response Plan (2018), 27 January 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b2a46f74.html [accessed 18 October 2021] Comments This plan was prepared by the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR), concerned government entities and the UN, as recommended by H.E. the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan during the High Commission for Migration, held at the Presidential Palace on 27/1/2018. Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. China says it will take appropriate countermeasures if the United States follows through with additional tariffs on Chinese goods. U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday that he had asked the U.S. trade representative to identify a list of products to subject to 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods. The president said the move was in retaliation to Beijing's decision to impose tariffs on $50 billion in U.S. goods, matching the first set of tariffs imposed by Trump. In a statement issued Tuesday, China's commerce ministry criticized Trump's latest move as nothing more than "extreme pressure and blackmail" that "deviates from the consensus reached by both sides" during multiple talks. "China apparently has no intention of changing its unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology," Trump said in his statement Monday. "Rather than altering those practices, it is now threatening United States companies, workers and farmers who have done nothing wrong." He threatened even more tariffs if Beijing again hits back with tit-for-tat duties on American goods. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Beijing on his own jet on Tuesday morning for his third summit in as many months with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The trip comes a week after his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12, which he discussed with Xi. During their meeting at the Great Hall of the People, Xi expressed hope that "North Korea and the U.S. can carry out the outcomes of their summit and work together to push forward the peace process for the Korean Peninsula." Kim said denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula would open a "new important chapter" if Pyongyang and Washington faithfully implement their joint agreement "step by step." Both Kim and Xi favor a phased approach to denuclearization, with rewards at every stage, but Trump has said international sanctions will stay in place until the North fully denuclearizes. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's latest China trip was surrounded by none of the secrecy that marked the last two visits, with Chinese media freely reporting on his arrival on the arm of his wife Ri Sol-ju. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan welcomed the Kims at a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Chinese state media reported that Xi praised Kim's "successful summit" with U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim thanked China for "playing an important role in the denuclearization, and the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula." He called China "our great neighbor" and Xi "a great leader we respect and trust." After the summit, Xi and his wife hosted a dinner and the two leaders and their wives watched a cultural performance together. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's three consecutive trips to China have heightened expectations of a trip to North Korea by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Kim invited Xi to visit Pyongyang when the two first met in March and the Chinese leader accepted the offer. The decisive factor until now was the outcome of the U.S.-North Korea summit, the prevailing view being that Xi would not be able to visit the North if that fell through. A hasty visit to Pyongyang could have put the blame for the failure on him. U.S. President Donald Trump complained that China and the North appeared to be growing extremely close in the days leading up to his meeting with Kim. But now both the U.S. and North Korea are keen to proclaim their summit a resounding success, nothing stands in Xi's way. The decision was originally announced by U.S. President Donald Trump after his recent summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, apparently as a goodwill gesture as he basked in the glow of their newfound harmony. The drills, which have been staged in August every year, consist of the Ulchi defensive command post exercise staged by the South Korean government and the Freedom Guardian computerized command and control training by South Korean and U.S. troops. Only the second will be suspended. This is the first time in 26 years that joint military exercises is suspended. South Korea and the U.S. on Tuesday announced the temporary suspension of the joint Freedom Guardian drills scheduled for August while denuclearization talks with North Korea go on. Cheong Wa Dae suggested that Seoul could also suspend the Ulchi drill. Presidential spokeswoman Kim Eui-kyeom said, "We're just mulling the possibility. No decision has been made yet. The issue is still under discussion." Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said, "We agreed to 'suspend,' which means stopping it temporarily while the U.S. and the North continue denuclearization talks," suggesting they could resume if things go wrong. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has indicated that the deadline for the North's nuclear disarmament is January 2021, when U.S. President Donald Trump's term in office ends. "No decisions on subsequent war games have been made," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said. But there are growing concerns that spring Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises could be suspended. This could leave the two countries ill prepared for an emergency. The suspension of the joint drills could lead to the downsizing and disbanding of the Combined Forces Command and the eventual withdrawal of the U.S. troops from South Korea, which Trump has also flagged for some point in the future. The raison d'etre of the CFC is to head combined operations in wartime and joint exercises in peacetime. But the wartime command is to be handed over to Seoul in the next few years. If joint exercises no longer take place, there is little reason for it to operate at its current size. South Korean military authorities are reportedly considering carrying out their own training in an effort to calm security fears. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. The KEF said Tuesday it asked the Labor Ministry to help resolve "systemic and realistic" difficulties being encountered by businesses as they seek to implement the measure. The Korea Employers Federation, the leading big-business lobby, has officially asked the government for six more months so member firms can adjust to the shortened 52-hour working week. It explained that businesses are confused by the vague guidelines the government has so far provided and find it difficult to put the measure into practice. The government has offered businesses a trial period of around 20 days, but the KEF says that is not enough. The KEF also asked the government to consider extending the parameters of flexible working hours and authorized extensions. At present, authorizations can be granted only in cases of natural disasters that make it vital for some industries to work longer. Flexible working hours authorize employees to work more than 52 hours a week if they usually work less. At present, they are then allowed to work extended hours every two weeks or every three months. "We need to extend the time frame of flexible working hours to deal with trial operations in the shipbuilding industry and delayed completion dates involving construction companies," the KEF said. Small and mid-sized South Korean businesses have asked the government to bring in cheap North Korean labor in a move that jumps a whole battery of guns to ease their chronic labor shortage. The idea is to invite 100,000 North Koreans to South Korea annually as industrial trainees and offer them four-year work visas. But the prospects are remote since the idea faces a mountain range of hurdles, not least the lifting of international sanctions against North Korea and the dim view the international community takes of the North's exploitative labor exports. A senior official at the Korea Federation of SMEs said Tuesday, "There are 1 million foreign workers here in South Korea, but small and mid-sized businesses in rural areas still suffer from a shortage of laborers. With North Korean laborers there is no language barrier, and they tend to work harder than foreigners and should be able to invigorate small and mid-sized businesses." The federation is apparently in talks with officials at the Justice Ministry, which handles visa regulations. The federation hopes to bring back an industrial trainee program that was scrapped in 2006, this time to suit North Korean workers. As industrial trainees, they would have to work for a designated company and would not be allowed to switch jobs. The federation thinks the number of North Korean industrial trainees could rise to 400,000 just four years after implementation. Businesses employing fewer than 300 workers face a shortage of an estimated 101,000 workers and may need 340,000 more once the shorter working week is implemented. The proposal might appeal to North Korea as well since it could generate valuable foreign currency, but Seoul would have to work hard to persuade the world that the North Korean regime will not steal the trainees' entire wages, as it did with staff in the joint-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex. Kaesong employed 55,000 North Korean workers, who were nominally paid US$75 in base pay and $200 a month if various benefits are included, though many ended up with almost nothing after the regime took its cut and had in some instances to be paid in kind. In South Korea, North Korean workers could make 10 times more money even if they are paid minimum wage, which could motivate the regime to let them keep a little more. The average monthly salary of foreign workers in South Korea stands at around W2.4 million including overtime pay (US$1=W1,115). If 400,000 North Korean workers earn that amount as industrial trainees in South Korea, their combined annual pay would total W11.5 trillion. A 'DANGEROUS' career criminal who kidnapped bank staff in a failed attempt to steal 500,000 from a safe where they worked has been sentenced to 23 years in prison. Michael Dunphy (45), of Barton Road, Hyde, Manchester, was found guilty of four counts of kidnap and two counts of attempted robbery at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday). Dunphy (pictured) was part of a gang of robbers who tried to take 500,000 from a branch of Barclays at Stag roundabout in November while dressed as police officers. Dunphy and his gang followed a Barclays employee from her home in a stolen Audi and kidnapped her, her seven-year-old daughter, and two of her colleagues. He forced two of the banks employees to open a safe before fleeing the scene empty-handed minutes before police officers arrived. Dunphy was sentenced to 18 years in prison which Judge Robert Bartfield extended by five years because he deemed him to be a dangerous person. Judge Bartfield told Dunphy: "To kidnap a mother and child as you did shows a determination well beyond that of a normal individual or even a normal criminal. "I was asked to assess your evidence here on the witness stand and my answer to that was chilling, with no sense of responsibility and no thought at all for anybody but yourself." Dunphy dumped a stolen Audi outside a Wickersley church before fleeing to Manchester KIDNAPPER Michael Dunphy showed no remorse for putting his victims through the terrifying ordeal of a bank raid, the lead detective has said. Dunphy (45), of HMP Doncaster, was part of a gang who tried to rob 500,000 from Barclays at the Stag in November. Three of them kidnapped three bank employees and a seven-year-old girl before fleeing empty-handed before police arrived. Dunphy (left) found guilty yesterday (Tuesday) of kidnap and attempted robbery has previous convictions for manslaughter, kidnap and drug offences. Det Insp Mark Monteiro said: Dunphy has a history of serious organised crime and showed no remorse whatsoever for putting his victims through a terrifying ordeal. The bravery shown by the victims daughter in raising the alarm after seeing her mum and sister being forced into a car is highly commendable. Thanks to her quick-thinking, officers were able to foil the plot to rob the bank and ensure the safety of all the staff and the child involved. We cannot underestimate how frightening this would have been for any adult, never mind a child who was threatened with harm, if they did not do as they were told. Detectives used automatic number plate registration technology, CCTV and witness statements to identify four vehicles used by the gang. Det Insp Monteiro said: The small team of officers working on this case did an excellent job collating the evidence and mapping Dunphys phone to match his movements and the movements of the four linked vehicles. When Dunphy was arrested, two days after the attempted robbery, officers recovered two of the vehicles involved in the robbery as well as the wig and Nike trainers he was seen to be wearing in CCTV from the bank. Thanks to information provided by members of the public, mapping the movements of four vehicles and forensic evidence, we were able to show Dunphy to be the offender in question, despite him continually denying the offence. It is thanks to the bravery of the victims and the hard-work of our officers, working closely with the CPS to build a strong evidential case, that he is facing a long time behind bars. I am pleased Dunphy has been shown to be the callous, criminal that he is. Dunphy will be sentenced today (Wednesday) at Sheffield Crown Court. Dunphy in disguise BANK robber Michael Dunphy is pictured wearing a wig and a fake police uniform as he attempts to steal 500,000 from a Rotherham bank. Dunphy (45) covered his face with a white bandanna as he forced a bank employee to unlock the bank after kidnapping her and her seven-year-old daughter. The wig was later found by detectives after they searched his Manchester home two-days after the foiled raid in November. The Nike trainers he can also be seen wearing were also found at his address. Dunphy claimed he had bought the wig for a Guys and Dolls-themed Halloween ball. His accomplices are still at large. Police have made several arrests. Dunphy was sentenced to 18 years in prison today (Wednesday) which Judge Robert Bartfield extended by five years because he deemed him to be a dangerous person. Read more on this in Friday's Advertiser. CAR struggling to resume diamond exports, tax revenue lags 20 june 2018 News The Central African Republic (CAR) is battling to resume diamond sales despite a partial lifting of a ban on its gem exports by the Kimberley Process, according to a news report. Reuters quoted the troubled countrys mines minister Leopold Mboli Fatrane as saying that they were only getting a fraction of the tax revenue they previously received. Its a country of conflict. The situation has affected a lot of people, notably the mining sector, which is more than 20 percent of the population, he said. Fatrane said official diamond sales of just over $2 million had so far this year generated $27,180 in taxes. The country sold diamonds worth about $7.6 million last year, raising $361,493 in taxes. Sales peaked at $62 million in 2012, according to Reuters. The minister also said that CAR needs more assistance including training, as the demands of Kimberley Process administration were holding up shipments for between three and six months. CAR was banned from exporting diamonds in 2013 after rebels seized power. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished HRD Antwerp and Russian Ministry of Finance signed cooperation agreement 20 june 2018 News In the context of the KP Intersessional taking place this week, which has brought the diamond world to Antwerp, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, represented by the Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Aleksey Vladimirovich Moiseev, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with HRD Antwerp for the establishment of an HRD Antwerp diamond grading lab in Moscow. The signing of this landmark MoU is an important step forward in the process of opening the first HRD Antwerp laboratory in the Russian Federation. Ari Epstein, President of the Board of Directors of HRD Antwerp, emphasized the importance of Russia as the worlds largest producer of rough diamonds, and as an industry leader when it comes to transparency in the value chain. This collaboration will further enhance confidence in the diamond and jewellery market in Russia and worldwide, said Epstein. The signing of the agreement took place in the presence of Ludo Van Campenhout, Antwerp Alderman for Diamonds, AWDC reported. Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels PRESS RELEASE, June 19, 2018, Las Vegas The Rapaport Group has today issued a statement saying that De Beers is destroying transparency in the diamond industry by not allowing its clients to disclose the source of their diamonds. The full text of the statement is available here The statement claims that all De Beers rough diamonds are now opaque. Thats 42% of the worlds legitimate diamond production in 2017, and $14.993 billion of rough diamonds from 2015 through 2017.The statement cites the De Beers Sightholder Signature License Agreement Clause 3.6.6:It also refers to a De Beers letter that states, In relation to programmes such as GIAs Mine to Market (M2M), or other downstream entities initiatives seeking to make provenance claims. We have declined all such requests.Martin Rapaport, Chairman of the Rapaport Group, said, De Beers is extending its market power from rough to polished markets through exclusive polished distribution networks such as Forevermark. They are making it impossible for independent third parties to source-certify their diamonds, thereby disabling legitimate diamond distribution systems. De Beers is using its market power to restrain competition in the market for legitimate source-certified polished diamonds.With extensive human suffering in developing countries such as Zimbabwe, the Congo and others, as well as billions of dollars of diamonds not subject to human rights, AML and CTF compliance, the Rapaport Group begs De Beers to do the right thing and allow its clients to disclose the legitimacy of their diamonds.The Rapaport statement calls on De Beers to immediately cancel its restrictions on disclosing the legitimate source of diamonds. It asks all responsible members of the diamond industry to directly email De Beers CEO Bruce.Cleaver@DeBeersGroup.com and request that De Beers end its restrictions on source disclosure.Rapaport Media Contacts: media@diamonds.net U.S.: Sherri Hendricks +1-702-893-9400International: Alex Shine +1-718-878-5138 ALROSA sells large diamonds worth $10.5 mln at the auction in Dubai 20 june 2018 News ALROSA, the world's largest diamond mining company, has sold special size rough diamonds (weighing more than 10.8 carats) during the international auction in Dubai, which took place from May 27 to June 14, 2018. The results were summed up on June 18. The company has sold 111 gem-quality lots with a total weight of 1,725 carats. The overall revenue from sales amounted to $10.5 million. 32 companies from the largest diamond trading centers (India, Belgium, Israel, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States) were recognized as winners. "The auction has concluded with excellent results for us, the starting price was almost doubled. This once again confirms that diamond market participants are still interested in our products. We plan to hold the next auction in Dubai in October-November this year," Evgeny Agureev, Member of the company's Executive Committee and Director of USO ALROSA, commented on the results. Since the beginning of 2018, there have been three auctions on the Dubai trading floor, including the last one. The Guild of Jewellers of Russia Association is planning to create a jewellery aggregator, which will bring transparency and clarity in the business of online jewellery trading. Image credit: gjr.ru According to the Internet Industry Association, consumers increasingly use online selling services. In 2017 every fifth engagement ring was sold online. However, the problem of consumers mistrust to online services remains a challenge. Some malicious companies run their businesses irresponsibly, which caused discontent among the clients who bought low-quality products. By means of creating the jewellery aggregator the Association wants to address the problem of consumers mistrust to online shops. The Association claims that all the members of the Guild sign the Russian market participants declaration On conducting business in a conscientious manner on a mandatory basis. The Guilds CEO Eduard Utkin said, Our members are the players that are prepared to stand by guarantee commitment, provide reliable data about their jewellery and ensure the quality of their products. Victoria Quiri, Rough&Polished South Korea and the U.S. said Tuesday that the joint Freedom Guardian drills that normally take place in August will be suspended while denuclearization talks with North Korea go on. If North Korea ends up scrapping its nuclear weapons, the suspension will have been worth it, but for the moment there are no signs of that whatsoever. That means the decision to suspend the drills, which have served as both a powerful deterrent against North Korean aggression and as a symbol of the strong Seoul-Washington alliance, is hasty at best. As both South Korea and the U.S. have said, the exercises are purely defensive in nature, and Freedom Guardian involves the least number of weapons and troops of any of the regular joint drills and focuses primarily on computer simulations. It cannot therefore pose any great threat to North Korea and there was no real need to suspend it simply because negotiations are underway. North Korea has demanded for decades that the joint military drills be halted, but South Korea and the U.S. wisely ignored the demands since the exercises symbolize the strong Seoul-Washington alliance. The only time they were halted was back in 1992, to coax the North into scrapping its nuclear program, and everyone knows how successful that was. What is even more alarming is that U.S. President Donald Trump effectively decided to halt the drills unilaterally and without consulting with South Korea. Even the U.S. Defense Department seems to have been caught off guard by Trump's giddy announcement in Singapore last week that he would be stopping the "war games." U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis says he knew, but it looks like he had little time to consider the choice. It is appalling to think that such an important decision was made on the hoof. By describing the drills as "provocative," Trump sounded just like North Korea, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un finally got his wish. The joint drills were supposed to be used as a final card in a drawn-out negotiating process with North Korea. But now that card has been dropped before full-fledged talks have even begun. What was the rush? All North Korea had done was to close down a nuclear test site that by all accounts was unusable already. It was perhaps due to such concerns that the White House hastily added some conditions to suspending the drills, saying it depends on North Korea displaying "good faith," while Cheong Wa Dae also stressed that the suspension will last as long as the North "shows its willingness to denuclearize and continues dialogue." But a resumption of the drills would surely give the North an excuse to protest and not hold up its end of any bargain. Still, realistically the joint drills are on their way out, and by and by the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea will only be here to defend American bases until they too are withdrawn. Nobody knows what other unbelievable deals have been made in working-level talks between the U.S. and North Korea. Kim has already gotten far more than he ever wished for and seems on course to shed his image as a vicious dictator by palling around with Trump, who has expressed his admirations for Kim's "tough" leadership style. Already the North Korean denuclearization issue has morphed into denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Kim is now on his third trip to China this year, where he will have discussed ways to blunt international sanctions. China already lifted a travel ban for North Korea and reportedly eased trade bans as well. How can North Korea ever be persuaded to scrap its nuclear weapons now? U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised there would be no easing of sanctions until North Korea proves it has completely scrapped its nuclear weapons. But judging by the Trump administration's track record, this pledge could change too. South Korea and the U.S. say they are proceeding with talks with North Korea based in good faith. But security is something to be taken on faith alone. Reviews Just a few days ago, Arctic Monkeys celebrated fifteen years of performing live music. The discography had been widely celebrated, adored, revered until the release of its new album. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino has invited reviews and opinions like never before - and that's some good news. God knows what went through Arctic Monkeys manager Ian McAndrews mind when he gifted Alex Turner a Steinway, perhaps it was providence, maybe some cosmic joke, or just sheer eccentricity, but it has given us, what is possibly the bravest Monkeys album so far. Publications cant afford to waste a day before some other press puts down the coolest, newest take on the freshest album before a bandwagon is created, there is constant pressure on them to be unique, edgy and offer perspectives that no other publication does, and often this can be to the detriment of artists. The Arctic Monkeys all new Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is one such album; it pointedly resists such casual, hurried listening. Getting better with repeated listens, it dares to rarefy its audience, and shows others the door, thats just it. Thats all there is to it. The more you listen to it, the more it pulls you into its ornate, dizzying, otherworldly vacuum, the complicated design becomes clearer, the longer you look at it, its like chaos magic; the new albumwelcomes you into its own universe, off somewhere in space, a grand sci-fi narrative where gentrification and technology tumefy on the arid surface of the moon, because thats all that the upper, technologically advanced classes can do to a new place (Golden Trunks refers to the leader of the free world, one wonders if its his casinos the Monkeys are parodying), this is the apparent extent of the vision of the top 1%, and Turners satire is far too classy and subtle at this point to ignore. Monkeys fans need to be reminded that Star Treatment, the opening track, and Everything Youve Come to Expect by Turners second baby The Last Shadow Puppets, were written around the same time on the same piano, which is why it makes little sense to find things in common between the Monkeys of the past, and now. Its hilarious how miffed beer swinging #brodudes are with the Monkeys new album, flinging some hefty opprobrium their way. Alex Turner needs to be understood as a solo artist, this is the key to unlocking the intended listening experience. New aesthetic choices, along with his politics have taken a left turn, which is a wonderful congruence. The space travel storyline, as many have picked up, is a gestural genuflection to David Bowie, one may safely guess. Though its worth pointing out that Turner has borrowed an intergenre navigational tendency from David Bowie as well. Yet, its still Turners own thing, replete with our present-world dilemmas, on the question of technology (information-action ratio), God (Its time for my weekly chat/ with God/ on video call), and friendship (Ive still got pictures of friends on the wall... perhaps I shouldnt have called/ that thing friendly at all). At first glance Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino has appeared difficult. The Ultracheese, which is still in the Cornerstone, Piledriver Waltz and Love is a Laserquest territory. While on the previous albums, Turner consistently employs coltish irony in the lyrics, a way into joking self-deprecation, flouting common stereotypes about old chestnut rock performers, he never fails to include the sincere mood of cinema in his poetry, redeeming himself. In their previous stadium rock monster AM, Knee Socks opens with the lines, like the beginning of Mean Streets/ You can be my baby, referring to the Ronettes song at the starting of the cult Scorsese film Mean Streets . One could say, there were clues in the last album(s) where Turner sought to break from the realism of life, and escape into the fantasy of music, cinema, and literature (Turner has acknowledged John Cooper Clarke previously, and recently David Foster Wallace). Its apparent now. In Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Turner admits in a radioX interview , that cinema has played a role in the making of the new 11 track space truck - especially Jean Pierre Melevilles Le Samourai (1967) and Le Cercle Rouge (1970); for these aesthetic decisions, this studio effort has rightly been seen as a sudden left turn. AM (2013) embraced, and caricatured the trope of the rockstar rather self-consciously, easy to see, and easy to digest. On the other hand, aims to discard a past self -- the jokes have bored the joker. Those looking for a cohesiveness, a coherence, a thread, some unity between the Arctic Monkeys of Suck it and See and AM , wont be able to find it in Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino , without considering the work Turner did with Miles Kane, while the Monkeys went on hiatus after AM . The Last Shadow Puppets seems to have given Alex Turner (and Miles Kane, surely) a boost of confidence, in that he makes intuitive choices more courageously, resisting the basic songwriting structure in the latest studio effort, to accommodate the autonomy his Steinway has begun to demand. Tranquility Base Hotel and CasinoTranquility Base Hotel and Casino It may be a clue into his life, too, a glance at how he is solidifying, as a musician. Turner is far too skilled an artist to be able to stay true to his punk roots at this point, and perhaps, its fair to let him be so, and engage with the songs the way they want us to: completely (or completely sober, who knows). Someone real, a palpable human being behind the humor, satire and irony is emerging out of Turners new work, lyrically more earnest (the satire is now in the narrative, no longer in the speaker), he honors his past, and his younger self in the lyrics, I just wanted to be one of the strokes/ look at the mess youve made me make right at the beginning of the opening track Star Treatment. At the same time, the album is an affirmative send off to the old, caddish, young boy Turner used to be. No more loitering about Rotherham or Hunters Bar sardonically observing the crowd, because theres nothing else to do. Turner wont validate the listeners desire to look back upon it either, the album gathers a momentum towards transcendent, transformative artistic growth. They will never go down as a nostalgia band exactly because of this. The Monkeys could have just given us another heavy, stadium rock Behemoth like AM and cashed in on predictable market returns, but they made a stylistic decision. Its a matter of enormous artistic integrity to make that choice, given that the possibility of it becomes rarer for artists as time goes on. We all peddle shit to create a safe resting bed for our true expressions, and for Turner this is it. Theyre just not going to make straight up rock n roll for drunk teenagers anymore because the songwriter no longer is one, hes a rich rock star. To expect him to be banging on about being heartbroken, chasing women, eating crisps is a bit near sighted. The band moved to LA, and have been living there a good few years. The Monkeys took a detour, and a real artistic risk with Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino. Replacing the guitars for piano, knowing money may suffer because of it, and definitely pulling it off (it went to number 1 in the UK charts, beating Liam Gallaghers 2017 comeback As You Were , as the fastest selling vinyl LP of the past 25 years). Turner speaks about his father and the jazz influences he's had, he acknowledges his peers, the album's got a space travel storyline, creating its own lore. For all its subtleties and decisions, you can't say it's not a rewarding listen. He's begging for you to engage with his work more cerebrally, and if an artist can't ask you to listen to him from the summit of Parnassus, then no one can. It isnt that much of a stylistic shift, if you consider the baroque style embellishments, with all of its curlicues in The Age of Understatement, Dream Synopsis and Everything Youve Come to Expect, by The Last Shadow Puppets. Turner confidently takes that risk with the Monkeys to intentionally disorient our listening experience. No artist wants to be predictable, in the end, reserving a right to surprise himself. It should be taken for granted the Arctic Monkeys knew well before, that they were going to put out a divisive album, because how could they not? Theyve been around long enough to predict what works and doesnt. One refers here, to Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino s affective intentions, he's asking you to look at a ponderous, mature musician and poet. Turner harps on about rockstar boredom and ennui with self critical humor, which is important, and rare. Weve not seen this from Noel or Liam Gallagher all through Oasis or their post breakup solo careers, so far. In fact, the latter have embraced it to the point that it has become vulgar (Playing on their working class roots, in their interviews, not having anything to with the working class for damn near a quarter of a century). Social media makes us all far too conscious than we were in the nineties, and thats something often dealt with in Monkeys' latest work. Turners become a better writer, musician and artist over the years. It follows that his work is ornate, more lavish, from this vantage point. It wouldnt be wise of us to expect him to stick to his punk roots. It may be well worth considering, that this departure from AM, is not so much a leap, as a sidestep. People are turned off by Turners coldness, but he doesnt want you to feel too much of yourselves, rather come out and see whats around you, after all. Aesthetically, Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino is nothing like AM , though Alex Turners artistic trajectory is clearly visible in the work with The Last Shadow Puppets three albums. Maybe it's just about finding that piece of the puzzle in the end. Merck (MKGAY.PK) announced the company has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Chinese internet healthcare company Alibaba Health. The collaboration will focus on the areas of drug track and trace and internet services, and to jointly explore areas such as pharmaceutical e-commerce and artificial intelligence. The collaboration will start with Alibaba Health's drug tracking platform, combining Merck's expertise in diabetes, thyroid disorders and cardiovascular diseases with Alibaba Health's strengths in online healthcare to help ensure safety and security of drug use. The two companies will also explore online healthcare service applications, Direct-to-Patient models as well as Artificial Intelligence enabled healthcare applications. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) on Wednesday announced plans to deliver intelligent Microsoft Cloud from two new datacenter regions in Norway: in the greater Stavanger region and in Oslo. The company noted that Microsoft Cloud would accelerate digital transformation and innovation through a strategic partnership with Equinor. Microsoft Cloud, comprising Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365, will offer enterprise-grade reliability and performance with data residency from new datacenter locations. Initial availability of Azure is planned for late 2019 with Office 365 and Dynamics 365 to follow. Microsoft Cloud is expected to enable greater innovation for oil and gas and other industries, as well as the public sector. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb lost coins worth around $30 million in hacking, following which it stopped all trading temporarily. While announcing the incident in Twitter posts, the world's sixth largest exchange by volume, urged customers not to make any deposits until further notification as it is changing wallet system. The Seoul-based company said it has moved all users' assets into safe cold wallets, which are not directly connected to the internet, making it less vulnerable to theft. The company intends to fully compensate customers from its own reserves. "All deposit and withdrawal service will be stopped to make sure the security. We will keep notice you of the restart of the service," the company said in its Twitter post. Following the tweets from Bithumb, Bitcoin fell to as low as $6,561.79 from about $6,718.35, according to CoinDesk's bitcoin price index. Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, also lost its value. Earlier in June, Coinrail, a relatively small South Korean exchange, had said some of its digital currencies appeared to have been stolen by hackers, following which cryptocurrencies were down. The exchange, which trades more than 50 different cryptocurrencies, then said it had transferred other coins to a cold wallet. In late January, nearly $500 million worth digital coins were stolen from Japanese exchange Coincheck Inc., following which regulators around the world started taking strict actions against crypto exchanges. According to coinmarketcap, bitcoin was at $6,660.70 on Wednesday morning, down 1.04 percent over 24 hours, with a market cap of $113.93 billion. Ethereum, however, was up 1.02 percent over 24 hours to $525.64 a coin, while Ripple was down 1.3 percent. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Cryptocurrencies are deep in red Wednesday morning after market sentiment was hurt by the news that the South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb announced that over $30 million worth of coins were stolen in a hacking incident. Overall cryptocurrency market cap was $286.47 billion at around 9.34 am ET on CoinMarketCap. Here is wrap of the main news from the cryptocurrency and blockchain world over the past 24 hours. S. Korean Crypto Exchange Bithumb Says $30 Mln Coins Stolen In Hack South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb lost coins worth around $30 million in hacking, following which it stopped all trading temporarily. While announcing the incident in Twitter posts, the world's sixth largest exchange by volume, urged customers not to make any deposits until further notification as it is changing wallet system. Read more... Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein: Bitcoin 'Is Not For Me', But May Succeed Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive officer of the investment banking giant Goldman Sachs, said he is not into cryptocurrencies and was at a loss to explain why they should be successful as an asset class. In an interview at the Economic Club of New York, Blankfein said, "But if it [cryptocurrency] did work, I will be able to explain in hindsight why it did." Read more... Europe's First Blockchain Accelerator For Startups Opens In Paris France has launched Europe's first blockchain accelerator, Chain Accelerator, with a view to supporting new international blockchain startups. It is based in Paris' Station F, the largest startup campus in the world. The move is expected to make Paris a major hub for blockchain development. Read more... New York Grants BitLicense To Payments Firm Square The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has granted BitLicense, the license of virtual currency activities, to mobile payments firm Square, Inc. to offer Bitcoin trading to New Yorkers. Square said it will "provide New Yorkers with Cash App's quick and simple way to buy and sell bitcoin." Read more... US Executive Branch Officials Required To Disclose Crypto Holdings The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has issued a legal advisory urging employees of the executive branch of the U.S. government to disclose their cryptocurrency holdings. OGE advised that filers must report their holdings in a virtual currency if its value exceeded $1,000 at the end of the reporting period or if the income produced by the virtual currency holding exceeded $200. Read more... Swiss Dukascopy Bank To Open Corporate Accounts For Crypto Firms Dukascopy Bank has become the second Swiss bank after Hypothekarbank, to welcome crypto brokers, crypto exchanges and crypto-related firms to open corporate accounts with the bank. This move is the second step in Dukascopy Bank's strategy towards becoming a crypto friendly Swiss bank. Earlier, in March, the bank had started offering CFD on Bitcoin. Read more... Current Prices As of 9.32 am ET on Wednesday, Bitcoin was down 0.86 percent at $6,717 and Ethereum was lower by 1.35 percent at $531.03 on Coinbase. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Forex News Engie, formerly called GDF Suez, (GDSZF.PK,GDFZY.PK), denied it had received any state aid from Luxembourg and said that it has fully complied with the applicable tax legislation." The company added that it doesn't expect the decision to hit its 2018 results. Engie said it will assert all its rights to challenge the State aid classification considering that the Commission did not demonstrate that a selective tax advantage was granted. Therefore, Engie will apply for annulment of this Commission's decision before the competent courts. Earlier today, The European Commission has ordered Luxembourg to recover about 120 million euros in unpaid taxes plus interest from Engie, after finding that the country allowed two of the French company's subsidiaries to dodge taxes on most of their profits for almost a decade. Following an in-depth investigation launched in September 2016, the Commission concluded that two sets of tax rulings issued by Luxembourg have artificially lowered Engie's tax burden in Luxembourg for about a decade, without any valid justification. In 2008 and 2010, respectively, Engie implemented two complex intra-group financing structures for two Engie group companies in Luxembourg, Engie LNG Supply and Engie Treasury Management. These involved a triangular transaction between Engie LNG Supply and Engie Treasury Management, respectively, and two other Engie group companies in Luxembourg, the Commission said. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News The United States has withdrawn from the UN Human Rights Council, the human rights arm of the United Nations. The decision, which the Trump administration has threatened for months, was announced by Nikki Haley, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Speaking from the State Department Tuesday, Haley called the human rights body a "cesspool of political bias." Criticizing its "shameless hypocrisy" in absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those committing no offense, she said America will not take lectures from hypocritical institutions. Haley announced the decision in the presence of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The US ambassador to the UN also criticized the Council for a "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel." Naming a few countries, she claimed that human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the Council. "With members like China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela, the Human Rights Council is not worth its name." Haley accused the council of "politicizing and scapegoating countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in their ranks." The Indian-origin diplomat made it clear that this step is not a retreat from Washington's human rights commitments. "On the contrary, we take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights." The move comes a day after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the US Government for the separation of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border as "unconscionable." In response to the withdrawal of the United States, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he would have much preferred the US remaining in the United Nations body which is designed to promote and protect human rights around the globe. The Democratic party opposed the move. "The United States should be leading the world on human rights, not retreating into isolation and separating young children from their families," said Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Tom Perez. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Gold prices were slightly lower Wednesday after Federal Reserve leader Jerome Powell said there is "rising" concern from leaders about trade tensions. "If you ask, is it in the forecast yet or the outlook? The answer is no. You don't see it in the performance of the and we don't have any way to know how to put it into the outlook just yet," he said. Also, President Donald Trump has directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for additional tariffs at a rate of 10 percent. August gold settles at $1,274.50/oz, down $4.10, or 0.3%, the lowest settlement in 2018. the National Association of Realtors released a report showing an unexpected decrease in existing home sales in the month of May. NAR said existing home sales fell by 0.4 percent to an annual rate of 5.43 million in May after plunging by 2.7 percent to a downwardly revised 5.45 million in April. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis President Donald Trump remains widely popular in West Virginia, but the results of a new Monmouth University Poll still show Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.V., leading his race for re-election in the state. The poll showed Manchin with a 48 percent to 39 percent lead over Republican state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey among potential voters. Another 4 percent of voters support former coal baron Don Blankenship, who is trying to run as the Constitution Party candidate after losing the GOP nomination but could be prevented from appearing on the ballot due to West Virginia's "sore loser" law. Without Blankenship in the race, Manchin holds a slightly narrower 49 percent to 42 percent lead over Morrisey. Manchin holds similar leads using a historical midterm model as well as a model that includes a turnout surge in areas where Democrats tend to perform more strongly. The advantage for Manchin comes even though Trump as a positive 67 percent to 29 percent approval rating in West Virginia. "West Virginia may be a deep red in presidential elections, but Joe Manchin has carved out a niche for himself, especially among older voters who see him as the type of Democrat they used to support for decades," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. The Monmouth University survey of 653 West Virginia voters was conducted June 14th through 19th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Bike firm credits users who obey the rules From:Shine | 2018-06-20 02:29 Shared bike firm ofo is to introduce a new system in Shanghai based on its big data platform, Singularity, with users having high credits able to ride bikes without paying a deposit. Ofo says the starting credit for all new registered users will be 270. Those who keep to the rules will earn points while those who violate traffic laws or damage the bikes will lose points. The maximum credit is 600. Existing customers points from Zhima Credits (a system launched by Ant Financial) will be converted to the new system. An ofo staff member said more details of the credit system would be released soon. Under the new system, those who mistreat bikes will be blacklisted and wont be able to unlock an ofo bike. Previously, people who had more than 650 Zhima credits could ride an ofo bike without paying the 199 yuan (US$30.70) deposit. Last month, ofo started to cancel the nationwide deposit waivers system which has been practiced for over a year. Since June 15, users in Shanghai found they had to pay a deposit as well. Ofo offered a non-refundable 95 yuan riding bundle as an alternative. Users can pay for the bundle or pay the deposit before using a bike. Users can use the 95 yuan to purchase a monthly pass or pay for single trips. Once the 95 yuan has been used up, people can choose to pay another 95 or the deposit. Yu Xin, one of ofos partners, said that before Singularity the company did not have their own data platform to monitor user behaviour. Unlike Zhima Credit which judges the users by their consumption level, Singularity is completely oriented by how users obey the rules and treat the bikes, said Yu. It is a more reasonable credit system for us. Zhang Yan, a regular shared bike user, said she was confused as to why the 95 yuan could not be refunded. It usually costs me 1 yuan for a trip, said Zhang. Why do I have to pay that much ahead? Ansarullah Leader: We welcomed UN supervision of Hodeidah port, but they are liars [20/June/2018] SANAA, June 20 (Saba) Leader of the Yemeni Revolution, Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi, on Wednesday said he has offered the UN envoy Martin Griffiths in his recent visit to Sanaa to place Hodeidah port under the United Nations supervision. "We welcomed a supervisory, technical and logistical role of the United Nations on the port of Hodeidah, but they are liars, they just made baseless justifications", Sayyed al-Houthi said in a speech to the nation aired by al-Masira satellite TV. The leader vowed to resist the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition, affirming that "Britain, France and other European countries involving in support to the coalition's assault will be confronted too." "The foreign military assault on the western coast has not begun six days ago as the coalition's media claims, but it has started more than two years ago." The aggression forces have mobilized all their efforts, money and weapons for the western coast battle and the geographical factors have helped them to progress in the coastal strip, as an open area, Sayyed al-Houthi added. Sayyed al-Houthi noted that the coalition forces have suffered heavy losses in the battle and lost military leaders, including senior Saudi, Emirati, American and Israeli officers, who were part of "Blackwater" troops. "The battles have not stopped over 32 months in the western coast from Bab al-Mandab area until the recent period in Duraihmi and al-Dawar areas," al-Houthi said. He confirmed that the coming battles will be more difficult and painful for the aggression forces. "A large area of the coast is still free under the control of the people, the army and the popular committees," Sayyed al-Houthi said. Sayyed al-Houthi said that "the aggression forces claim that Iran's missiles come through the port of Hodeidah, although all ships entering the port are strictly inspected by both the United Nations and the coalition in Djibouti." "More than 400 items of essential goods have been banned by the aggression forces from entering the port without any fair justification," he added. "We target battleships that threaten the Yemeni coast and back the coalition aggression on Hodeidah," Sayyed al-Houthi explained. He underlined that the coalition's air bombing on headquarters of humanitarian and relief organizations is what poses a threat to relief work in Yemen. Sayyed al-Houthi described the position of the coalition forces in the western coast as miserable, saying that they are "besieged and targeted at every moment." "All the field penetrations will remain confrontable, and our will will never be broken," Sayyed said. BA Saba The most highlighted issue on the front pages of Nepali and English newspapers published from Kathmandu on Wednesday is the visit of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to China and his possible engagements today. As Oli is scheduled to hold top political meetings with today itself, the newspapers have published reports filed from Beijing with the top priority. Some newspaper reports are focused on the address that PM Oli delivered at a function organised by the Nepali Embassy in Beijing in his honour. Few other contemporary political, economic and sociocultural issues have also been published on the front pages today. Important Oli to see Xi today Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli reached the Chinese capital of Beijing on a six-day official visit on Tuesday and he is scheduled to hold meetings with top political leaders of the northern neighbour today, according to newspaper reports. Gorkhapatra says Oli will pay a courtesy call on Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday whereas a meeting with his counterpart Li Keqiang has also been scheduled for today. Meanwhile, Prime Minister said China was a reliable neighbour of Nepal and he was for strengthening connectivity between the two countries. Kantipur anchor story reports that Oli spoke the first sentence of his speech at a function organised at the Nepali Embassy in Beijing in Chinese language and said he was there for establishing railways and roadways between the countries. Rajdhani and Annapurna Post have reflected Olis high-level meetings scheduled for today in the headlines of their lead stories. Sitaula boycotts stage at NC meeting Rajdhani and Naya Patrika report that Nepali Congress leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula did not agree to be a part of the state set for the inauguration of the partys district presidents gathering, a clear indication that some leaders are too disgruntled with Sher Bahadur Deubas leadership. The reports have claimed that Sitaula expressed his displeasure after his name was not included in the programme schedule as a speaker. Kantipur lead story, on the other hand, reports that the district presents have pushed the party leadership for forming lower level committees in line with the federal structure envisaged by the constitution through elections. The leadership, however, wants to form just ad hoc committees to be appointed by the Central Working Committee. Meanwhile, speaking at the function, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba said the democratic system in the country fell in jeopardy following the beginning of communist rule, according to Republica. Ignored NRB pushes commercial banks for merger The lead story in Abhiyan daily says the central bank of Nepal, Nepal Rastra Bank, is still pushing commercial banks to merge with each other so that the financial institutions get stronger with more capital. Earlier, the NRB had directed commercial banks to increase their paid up capital to Rs 8 billion so that the banks would merge. Even after the implementation of this policy, the central bank is directly or indirectly pushing them for the merger, according to the report. Therefore, banks which have already crossed the mark are also invested in merger these days. Rs 24 billion insufficient for school reconstruction Annapurna Post and The Kathmandu Post have published two highlighted snippets about problems surfaced in post-earthquake reconstruction of schools. Annapurna Post says Rs 24 billion has been insufficient for the construction of all damaged school buildings and the government is exploring more sources for the fund. The Kathmandu Post, on the other hand, says lack of land has also emerged as one of the major problems of reconstruction drive. Govt not to change +2 curricula this year The government has withdrawn its plan to implement new curricula for grades XI and XII as a part of reform in the schooling system after stakeholders protested some of the proposals, according to Nepal Samacharpatra. Among few key changes, the decision to keep mathematics as an optional subject even for students choosing science stream had received a wide criticism from the stakeholders. Therefore, a meeting of the National Curricula and Evaluation Council made the decision, the report reads. 74 per cent jarred water contaminated An examination conducted by the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology has found that around 74 per cent of drinking water that consumers get in jars are contaminated and unfit for consumption, reports Kantipur in its three-column story. During the examination, e coli bacterium was found in the jarred water, the report says, adding jars of 50 various branded were selected for the sampling-based study. Interesting Home Minister to directly oversee special investigations A four-column story in The Himalayan Times says that Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa is planning to set up a squad comprising high ranking police personnel which will work directly under him to conduct special investigations and operations. The task force under the leadership of a deputy inspector general will be formed soon and preparations are currently underway for that, the report quotes Minister Thapas political advisor Surya Subedi to say. Meanwhile, security analyst Geja Sharma Wagle has commented that if the intention of Minister is to put in place a parallel agency, such move cannot be welcomed. One policeman was killed and two others were injured in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Wednesday, police said. In the first attack after the state came under Governor's Rule, militants fired at a police vehicle in Kandizal area near Galander bypass in Pulwama, injuring three policemen. The injured policemen were shifted to the army's Base Hospital in Badamibagh area here where one of them succumbed to his injuries. Police in Pulwama said that the area around the site of the attack has been surrounded for searches. The Elders of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S.) and Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Dr. Malielegaoi were unable to reach an agreement during their much-anticipated meeting on Monday. This was confirmed by the General Secretary of C.C.C.S., Reverend Vavatau Taufao. He said they were told during the meeting that the Prime Minister and the relevant government officials would have a meeting to discuss their letter to the Prime Minister. The letter, which a copy has been received by the Samoa Observer, recapped their position on the matter of taxes. They said that they will have a meeting about it and they will let us know their decision. Thats it, Rev. Vavatau said. So all we can do is wait, but we hope that the Government changes the law or takes it out. With regards to what actions the congregation will take when the Government enforces penalties on them for non-compliance of the new tax law, Reverend Vavatau said he can only speak for his actions should it ever come to that. We hope the Government will change the law or take it out, he said. Im praying for it but I dont know. Also I cant say anything about it or speak about it on behalf of others except for myself. If there are consequences and I end up in jail, I dont care because I believe what I am doing is right and its what I believe in. Referring to members of their church and other church denominations who are vocal in their support of the Governments decision to tax their church Ministers, Reverend Vavatai said their congregation is a democracy and therefore the majority rules. Its like anything else, there are some people that support the laws if its out of their respect for the Government, but the vast majority of church 98 percent or 99 percent support our congregations position to stand firm on this taxing alofa issue. At our last conference, only one person voted to pay tax out of 700 plus members. As for the other churches who agree to pay taxes, I cant say anything about that because they can decide for themselves and I respect them for their decision to do so. I go by my own beliefs because I cannot accept people touching my alofa. I am a faifeau who works and receives a salary which is already taxed. I give alofa, I dont receive alofa. So I cannot accept that and I stand my decision. I give my taulaga to thank the Lord for the all the blessings given to me. Asked about his thoughts on the E.F.K.S. church Ministers in New Zealand who comply with the law of the land to tax their alofa, Reverend Vavatau said that context must be provided about the tax systems in New Zealand and Samoa. People have a different understanding because in New Zealand their tax laws are different and the people who are giving the alofa to the faifeaus are tax exempt, he said. All they have to do is fill out a form declaring all their church contributions which will be reimbursed. Here in Samoa, we do not have that system. How other people perceive all of this, I can respect their opinions but I do not have to follow what they do. I can only speak and decide for myself. In the meantime, the 11-page letter from the church to Prime Minister Tuilaepa, written in Samoan, highlights the churchs position on the issue. In the letter, the Church argues that: The tax law is not in line with Biblical principles The tax law contradicts the E.F.K.Ss core beliefs The tax law will impact the work of the church The tax law does not take into account the churchs contribution to the development of the Government and Samoa The need for separation between the church and state It is the belief of the E.F.K.S. that our customs, traditions and Christianity beliefs are the pillars of the Constitution of the Independent State of Samoa, reads a translation of the letter. Samoa is founded on God. It means any law that contradicts our customs, traditions and Christianity beliefs, should not be implemented at all. There is no doubt that the law in question violates the fundamental religious beliefs and the core beliefs of the E.F.K.S. Church. This is why the Fonotele (E.F.K.Ss General Assembly) rejected this law in 2017 and again in 2018. The following is the letter in Samoan in full: 15 Iuni 2018 Afioga i le Palemia Paia ma Mamalu o le Kapeneta Malo Tutoatasi o Samoa Mataupu: MAU A LE EKALESIA FAAPOTOPOTOGA KERISIANO SAMOA (EFKS) Ia tumau pea le mamalu ma le Pule Aoao i le Atua Silisiliese o loo faavae ai le Malo Tutoatasi o Samoa, ma faaao foi iai lana Ekalesia Paia i Samoa ma le lalolagi. Ae ee ia i le atulagi ole Tagaloa paia faalanugata o le Maota o Samoa. Le afio o lau Afioga i le Alii Palemia, le mamalu o Minisita o le Kapeneta, tainane foi le maualuga o Sui Faipule uma o le Palemene o Samoa. O outou sa ma faiga, nuunuu atu ia i Faleupolu e fia o le atunuu, aua e le gafataulimaina i se upu a le EFKS. Ae matou te faatalofa atu ma le agaga faaaloalo tele i le suafa manumalo o Iesu Keriso le Ao o le Ekalesia. E faatulou atu foi pe afai, o le a sopo le manuvale ile fogatia ao ala le mafua-alii. O le Mau a le Au-Kerisiano e pei o la le Aposetolo o Iakopo; O le iloa o le mea e tatau ona fai, ae le faia, o le agasala lea. Tulou, Tulou, Tulouna lava. Ao lenei tusiga, ua tuuina atu ose MAU tusitusia a le EFKS e uiga i le Tulafono ua pasia ma ole a faamamaluina, e faalafogaina ai taulaga a tagata lotu o le EFKS e ala i o latou alofa o loo ofoina atu aua le tausiga o le aufaigaluega Faifeau tausinuu. MAU: E LE TALIAINA E LE EFKS LE FAALAFOGAINA O ALOFA O ONA FAIFEAU TAUSINUU. O le finagalo lea o le Ekalesia EFKS e ala i lana Fono Tele 2017, lea na toe faamausaliina i lana Iugafono o le Fono Tele i le tausaga nei, 2018. Mo le silafia, e le itiiti ifo i le 98 pasene oi latou uma na aofia i nei Fono Tetele e lua, i latou sa teena lenei tulafono a le Malo. Na malama lava ulugalu le mafuaaga autu o lenei tetee; ona e aafia ai Talitonuga faale Lotu EFKS, aemaise o ana Aoaoga faavae faale- Tusi Paia i lenei tulafono. AAFIAGA O LE EFKS I LE MATAUPU. E ui lava ona o le Tulafono ua taua, e faatatau ma faatutu tonu i Faifeau tausinuu i aulotu taitasi a le EFKS, ae ia silafia, o le tofi faifeau (F.S, REV) Faifeau Samoa o soo se faifeau EFKS, o le meatotino a le EFKS. E ia te ia (EFKS) le pule e tuuina atu ai lea tofi i le taimi ua talafeagai ai, e i le EFKS foi le pule e toe faamuta ma aveese ai lea tofi, i ni mafuaaga ua tatau ai. O faiga faavae lava ia a le EFKS o loo faafoe ai lana Galuega molimau, aemaise o lana Aufaigaluega faifeau talu mai lava le amataga. O lona uiga, e le ma nofonofo le Ekalesia faatina (Mother Church) EFKS, pe a afaina pe aafia soo se itutino, poo se faifeau i soo se mataupu. O lona uiga foi, o le aafia o le EFKS i lenei mataupu, o se tasi lea o ona tiute taua. O le vaai totoa i mataupu e aafia ai ona tagata Lotu, aemaise foi o lana aufaigaluega faifeau. MAFUAAGA OLE MAU 1. E le o gatusa le tulafono ma Aoaoga a le Tusi Paia (Taiala a le Tusi Paia mo Lafoga o Tupe/Oloa/Tamaoaiga Maua) Ia silafia o le Faatuatuaga ma Talitonu o le Ekalesia EFKS e taiala lava e le Tusi Paia e tusa ma lana lava ia faitau i Afioga a le Atua. Ua tuuina atu nao le vaega e faatatau i lafoga o Tupe Maua (income tax) i lenei tusiga. E manino foi le EFKS i le taofi eseese o tagata ma Ekalesia. Ma e ui lava foi e faaaloalo ma amanaia e le EFKS nisi foi taofi, peitai e lima taitaina lava le EFKS latou i lana lava ia Mataupu Silisili o loo fausia ai lona Faavae. O le tala o le Faaolataga ua faaaogaina ai Isaraelu e fai ma nuu ole Atua. E 12 ituaiga o le nuu lea e aofia ai ma le ituaiga o Sa Levi, o le ituaiga lea o le au ositaulaga poo le au failotu. I pulega a Isaraelu poo le nuu o le Atua, e lafo sefuluai uma ituaiga e 11 ae nao Sa Levi e le lafo lafoga. O nai faataitaiga: Ao i Aikupito, e oo lava i le Farao e tapuai i Atua faapaupau, na ia malamalama lelei ma talia le le lafo lafoga o ositaulaga (Kenese 47) Faapena i taimi o pulega a Peresia. Na matua faamatamata tetele ai le aua nei faalafogaina le au ositaulaga ma soo se mea lava e fai mo le tapuaiga a Iutaia pei ona faamauina i le tulafono a le Tupe o Aretaseta (Esera 7) O aiaiga lava ia o loo manino i tusi a le au Perofeta ma o aiaiga foi na na maua mai e Iesu i ona taimi. Manatua, o pulega a le malo o Roma lea na soifua ai Iesu. O ao lafoga na galulue mo Roma, na inosia lava ona o a latou faiga piopio na ao faasili ai lafoga a tagata. Ao le mea e tasi e mautinoa, e lei faalafogaina e le au piopio na ao faasili ai lafoga a tagata. Ao le mea e tasi e mautinoa, e lei faalafogaina e le au piopio ia le au ositaulaga. E lei oo lava lo latou maemae i le tulaga lea ma o le ala foi lea e leo tele ai se talanoa a le Feagaiga Fou i le faalafogaina o se tamaoaiga maua (income tax) a le au ositaulaga. Aisea na le faia ai ni lafoga mo le tamaoaiga maua (income tax a Sa Levi, le au fai lotu, ma le au ositaulaga? O le tali: Ona e ola i meaalofa a tagata. E le aofia i latou i vaevaega poo tufatufaga o le tamaoaiga, o fanua ma le tele o mea a le nuu. E faalagolago tasi lava lo latou olaga faaletino i le alofa ma le agalelei o tagata. Sina tala i Mau sii o loo faaaogaina pea e le Malo ma nisi tagata e uiga i le lafoga. I. Ave mea a Kaisara ia Kaisara, ave mea a le Atua i le Atua O le lafoga o loo talanoa ai le fuaiupu lenei o le poo tax (poo le head-tax e leo se income tax O le poo tax e lafo ia Kaisara, o le faailoga o Kaisara e ona fanua ma tagata uma o loo iai (ownership of land and the people). Pe afai e fai le fuaitau lea e fai ma faavae o le tulafono e faalafogaina ai Faifeau Tausinuu, O ai la Kaisara? Pe afai o le Palemia poo le Malo, o lona uiga o le lafoga lenei o se faailoga o le ownership a le Palemia poo le Malo i Faifeau Tausinuu? II. Mataio 17:24-27 O le lafoga o loo talanoa ai mataio i le vaega lenei o lana Evagelia o le temple Tax (Lafoga mo le Malumalu). O lafoga e lafo aua le tausiga o le malumalu. E lua mea e tatau ona tulimatai- Muamua: Na lafo lafoga ai Iesu i le Temple Tax ona elei lavea Iesu i le au ositaulaga a le lotu Iutaia. Lua: O le lafoga a Iesu e lei faia i ni meaalofa a ni tagata. Na fai i le tupe na maua mai le faiva na faatino e Peteru ona o le faatonuga a Iesu. Ia silafia foi, afai lava e suesue i le loloto o le Mataupu Silisili o nei lava felafolafoaiga o loo taua ai lafoga i le taimi o Iesu e le Au Faievagelia, e leai leai lava se mea e faasino tonu ise totogiga oni lafoga. Aua o le io (context) lava o nei tala uma e pei ona faamauina, ma ua sii mai e tagata e le malamalama i le Tusi Paia, o le sailia lea o se auala e molia ma fasioti ai lo tatou alii Faaola. Ailoga o se mafuaaga talafeagai lea e tatau ai ona totogi ni lafoga a le au galulue a Iesu? O le sailiili auala o tagata le migao e fasioti ai le Alo o le Atua, ae fai ma faavae e totogi ai ni lafoga? Ia manatua pea, o faifeau tausi nuu, e le ni tagata faigaluega e maua ni totogi, oi latou lava o auauna a Iesu e tausi e tagata lolotu i lo latou agalelei ma le alofa ona ole suafa Iesu. 2. E feteenai le tulafono tau lafoga ma le Talitonuga faa EFKS 1. Talitonuga o le EFKS ile Galuega faa-Faifeau Tausinuu: O Faifeau Tausinuu, e o lava i le Galuega tausinuu ma le talitonuga ua valaauina i latou e le Ao o le Ekalesia. E faatuatua e tausi lava i latou e le galuega aua o le fetalaiga lea a le Matai. (Aua le avea se ete tupe poo se ofu... Luka 9:2-6. O lona uiga o le galuega e leai se totogi). O lagona oooo loloto ia o lenei valaauina, e galulue ai ma le faatuatua faifeau, ma le loto tetele i taimi uma, i tiute tauave poo matafaioi mo le manuia o le aulotu ma le Ekalesia. E le popole ai foi i le olaga faaletino aua, e tausia lava i latou e tagata ole Aulotu. Ia manatua foi: E leai se tuaoi (limit) o le taimi ole galuega faa-Faifeau Tausinuu. Tusa pe fafagu atu le faifeau i le tuneva o le po e logo atu ua gasegase tigaina pe ua maliu se tasi o le aulotu, e tulai ma le agaga/loto atoaota ona o le taua ia te ia o le valaau a le Matai. E alu e leai se manatu i se totogi aua foi o lona talitonuga e le o ia o se tagata faigaluega e iai pea le lagona mo lona valaauina e Keriso (sense of calling). O le manumanuga lea o le EFKS. Nao tagata faigaluega e fai o latou totogi e tatau ona totogi lafoga. Pe a faalafogaina faifeau, o le a avea ma ala e tutusa ai le faifeau ma le galuega a le tagata faigaluega e maua lona totogi. E aveesea ai le lagona o ia o le tagata valaauina (loss of sense of calling) O le faifeau foi, e leai se tuaoi o ona nafa i lana galuega faa-faifeau (unlimited job description). Pe a silasila i faataitaiga nei: a) O loo faamauina i Tala tusitusia a le EFKS le alii faifeau o Lopeti Nuualiitia, ma lana galuega laveai na fai i le nuu sa galue ai. Na faatonuina e matai taulelea o se tasi alalafaga e lau le fafie ma tafu le afi (tulou) e susunuina ai se tasi o le nuu ua sala. Na mu ai lava le pito o le pelaue o si faifeau ona o le laveaiina o le tagata agasala. O le mea moni, e matua leai leai se tuaoi o matafaioi o le galuega faa-faifeau tausinuu. E oo lava i lona ola e le toe afaina ia te ia, ona o lona valaauina, e mai lona Matai (Luka 10:3-12) b) Manatua le taeao o le aso na faamamalu ai le suiga o le itu auala e feoai ai taavale afi, ae poloka e se tasi alalafaga i Salafai le auala, na faasifo lava ma tootuli faifeau o le nuu, ma usi ai i le filemu le tofa ma le utaga teeva o alii ma faipule o le alalafaga, ae fegasoloai filemu le atunuu i lena taeao. Ioe! E leai se tuaoi o matafaioi o le valaauina. O fea lava tuluiga o faigata e oo iai le ola o le faifeau, ae afai e maua ai le Filemu o Samoa ma ona tagata, e alu lava iai. Lau Afioga i le alii Palemia ma le mamalu o le Kapeneta, e manumanu le Ekalesia i le lagona o le valaauina (sense of calling). O le fatu lea o le galuega faafaifeau. Tatou te faia loa faa-tagata faigaluega (e fai lona totogi) le galuega faa-faifeau, malepe loa ma le fatu e malosi ma mauaa ai le galuega a le Atua i Samoa. Ia manatua, o le galuega Faifeau Tausinuu o le valauina maoioi (purely a calling) lava, e leo se valaauina e fua i ni tomai (career). E leai se fuafaatatau (salary scale) e fua iai ni ona faamanuiaga, aua e faalagolago i lona alualu i le galuega, tainane le alofa o tagata lotu e ola ai ma lona aiga. E le pei o galuega uma a le lalolagi e fua faamanuiaga (totogi) i ona Tusi Paia ma agavaa. E le faapena le tagata ua valaauina i le Galuega tausinuu a le EFKS, aua o lona valaauina e mai le Mata o le Galuega. (ii) Talitonuga faa EFKS e uiga i le Foai ma le Alofa Soo se foai e faia e soo se tagata o le EFKS, e faia uma lava i le suafa o Alii e ou le Galuega. E faavae i luga o le Talitonuga, o lana faiga taulaga lava lea i lona Atua ma lana Tala Lelei. O fua vaaia ia o lona Faatuatua i le Atua, o lana tali foi lea i le alofa o le Atua ia te ia ma lona aiga ma lana fanau. O taulaga ua ave i le Atua ma ua fai ma mea a le Atua. Poo se tupe e lafo i le Falesa, poo se suavai e fue ma momoli i le fale o le Galuega, poo se inati mai le Nuu, poo se tupe e totogi ai le pasese o le Faifeau poo lona toalua ua lua o faatasi i le pasi poo le vaa, poo se tupe e tuuina i le faifeau ina ua feiloai i le taulaga, ma soo se mea e ofo atu ona o le suafa o le Alii O le talitonuga faa-EFKS, o ana taulaga uma na ua ave mo le Atua. O le agaga foi lea o loo faatino ai alofa (tupe mo tausiga o faifeau) o tagata EFKS. Lau afioga i le alii Palemia ma le mamalu o le Kapeneta, e sili ona manumanu le Ekalesia i talitonuga ma faatuatuaga ia o ona tagata lotu. Aua o le faalafogaina o nei tupe o le a foliga ai i tagata lotu, o alofa o loo latou lafoina, o ni totogi mo faifeau o loo latou pale feagai. Manatua: (a) O foai nei ua faaigoaina o le ALOFA ma lona natura e faia ai O le Loto fuatia ifo lava e lelei, talitonu ma le faatuatua o le ala lea o faamanuiaga a le Atua mo ia ma lona aiga ma lana fanau, ae o le faaaliga foi lea o lona loto faafetai i le Atua i mea uma. (e) O le Alofa foi e leo se totogi mo Faifeau ona o ni a latou galuega ua faia mo tagata lotu, ao le foai faitaulaga ona ua faatuatua ma talitonu tagata lotu o lo latou lea valaauina mo le Tala Lelei a Keriso. (i) O tupe a tagata o le EFKS ua foai e fai ai o latou ALOFA i le faifeau, o le talitonuga faa-EFKS o le MATUPALAPALA ua to mo le Atua, o a latou Taulaga ia te Ia, ma e le tatau ona toe faalafogaina. 3. Aafiaga o Galuega a le Ekalesia ona o le Lafoga. O galuega uma lava a le Ekalesia, e faamoemoe tasi lava i ana faiga taulaga, aua e leai se isi ana alagatupe. Ao faiga taulaga nei, o loo taulamua ai lava nai faifeau tausinuu. E iloa gofie lava e tagata lotu e lafo e le faifeau le mea sili ma e afua ai lo latou foi agaga fai mea sili o loo lafo ai a latou taulaga i le Atua. O le pine faamau o le tulaga lenei Pe a ma le 99% o aulotu e leai ni faifeau i taimi o faiga taulaga, e pau i lalo a latou faiga taulaga mai le tausaga ua tuanai. Aisea? Aua ua leai se faifeau e faamaite ma unaiiina le faiga taulaga. Ae mai fea tupe o loo lafo e faifeau? O le tali E mai le alofa o loo foai atu e tagata lotu. O le uiga o le tala, o le vaega tele o alofa o loo lafo e tagata lotu mo le faifeau e toe faafoi mai e le faifeau i le Ekalesia, e ala i faiga taulaga, ae maise o le atinaeina o aulotu taitasi. 4. SAO MA LE LAGOLAGO A LE EFKS I LE MALO. Lau afioga i le alii palemia ma le mamalu o le Kapeneta, e faaleo pea se faanoanoaga o le Ekalesia ona o le faapea mai o le Minisita o Lafoga e tatau ona tofu sao tagata uma mo le atinae o le Malo. Aisea ua le amanaia ai le sao o lenei Ekalesia, o loo taulamua ai Faifeau Tausinuu, e faia pea i tausaga uma? Silasila lau afioga ma le Kapeneta: (a) O Aoga o le tiute patino lea a le Malo. Ao lea e tausoa e le EFKS le isi mamafa o le avega a le tatou Malo. E lima Kolisi, o le Aoga Tusiata, ma le Aoga Matata Eseese o loo faagaioi ma faatupe e le EFKS i lona lava tamaoaiga. Mo le silafia, o le Tupe Faaalu (expense) pito maualuga lenei a le EFKS i tausaga uma, o le faatupega o ana Aoga (Operation, staffing, materials and infrastructure). Silasila lau afioga i le moni o le tautua a le EFKS i le atunuu ma le agaga e faia ai lona sao lenei mo le Malo Samoa ma ona tagata aemaise lona atinae: (i) E sili atu ma le 60% o fanau aooga o Aoga a le EFKS o tamaiti o isi Tapuaiga. Faapena foi le aufaigaluega, e toatele e leo ni tagata o le EFKS. (ii) E leai ni Aoga Tulagalua a le EFKS. Pe a silasila i le tulaga o loo iai, o Aoga a le EFKS e sulufai i ai nai tamaiti ua le talia e se isi lava Aoga. Ao le agaga lea ma le manulauti o Aoga a le EFKS, ia maua avanoa tutusa o fanau uma a Samoa e aooga ai i Kolisi maualuluga, le afaina poo le a lana tapuaiga. (iii) A silasila i faamaumauga o tusigaigoa (census) a le Matagaluega o Aoga (MESC) i tausaga 2014 2016, ona silafia ai lea, e sili atu ma le 80% o fanau e le ausia togi faatapulaa (failure) o Aoga tulagalua a le Malo o loo talia ma faaaooga e Aoga a le EFKS, ina ia tapena le faamoemoe fou mo i latou mo le lumanai. (e) O loo faatupe foi e le EFKS lana galuega faamisionare o loo faia mo le OLOAMANU ma le TAEAO TOE AFUA, o polokalame ua faia e le Malo mo le soifua toe fuataina o ona tagatanuu ua faasalaina e le tulafono. E aofia i lenei faatupega le fausia o le faleaoga, masini computers, piano ma isi mea manaomia e fatino ai aoaoga, faiaoga e faia aoga, ma le taavale mo faiaoga e malaga a ii Oloamanu ma toe foi mai. (i) E iai fesoasoani e faia pea e le EFKS i tausaga uma mo auauanaga a le Malo pei o le Fale faamamatoto (Dialysis Unit), ma auaunaga a isi Ekalesia pei o le Mapu-i-Fagalele. E le gata o le EFKS Aoao ae faapena foi lana Mafutaga a Tina. (o) Ua tuu atu foi le fesoasoani a le Ekalesia i le Malo i le atinaeina o taaloga. E faia pea afeleti (athletics) i tausaga taitasi a ua faapea foi ona oo ana polokalame mo tupulaga i le Kirikiti palagi. E ui lava i le taugata o ia fuafuaga, a ua faatino lava ona o le manatu o le Ekalesia i le atinae o tupulaga o le atunuu ae maise le lagolagosua pea i le Malo ma ona nafa tausi. (p) O loo totogi lafoga o tiute o oloa mai fafo, totogi VAGST, ae maise totogi o le aufaigaluega e fai lafoga uma. E le ititi ifo ma le 260 le aufaigaluega a le Ekalesia, o le 90% o i latou e fai uma a latou lafoga. Mai faamaumauga a le Ekalesia, o le tupe e totogi e le Ekalesia mo lafoga a ana tagata faigaluega e i le va o le $429,000 ma le $481,000 i le tausaga. O tupe e totogi ai nei mea uma e mai le faiga taulaga a le EFKS. O loo totogi lafoga foi fanau a Faifeau ma o latou auaiga ma tausoga i le Malo i tiute ma faiva eseese o galulue ai. (u) E faaopoopo i na sao e tele o EFKS, le sao faaleagaga o lana Aufaigaluega faifeau tausinuu; AUA OLE NATURA MONI LEA O LE GALUEGA FAALEAGAGA ALE AUFAIGALUEGA FAIFEAU TAUSINUU; IA MAOPOPO LE ITU FAALEAGAGA O LE SOIFUAGA O TATOU TAGATA. Latou te fafaga olaga o tagata i Aoaoga ma afioga a le Atua. E fanau mai i lea galuega taua ma le faigata, tagatanuu faamaoni, tagatanuu lotonuu, tagatanuu totoa i mea lelei, tagatanuu faimeatonu, tagatanuu amio lelei ma amio mama...Ua utiuti ai foi tagata solitulafono ma faatupu faalavelave i nuu ma aiga aemaise o le Malo. O le faiva tatalo, ma le tofi faanonomanu foi lena o le aufaigaluega faifeau tausinuu o loo manuia ai ou faiva, ma au atinae, aemaise o le tutupu ai o vavega i si o tatou siosiomaga e pei ona molimauina pea lava pea. E seasea ona i ai ni afa ma ni matagi malolosi ma ni lologa ma isi faalavelave faalenatura e pei ona tatou vaaia i isi atunuu ma motu o le atu Pasefika. E faalagolago foi i lenei faiva faaleagaga (tatalo) o le aufailotu, le galuega taua faatausi soifua, aemaise le faiva faa-faiaoga ina ia atamamai fanau a Samoa. Manatua foi, e fanau mai le Malo Tutoatasi o Samoa i le 1962, ua leva ona aoao e le Ekalesia le atunuu i le Talalelei tainane o le Poto-salalau, aemaise ona aoao e le Ekalesia le atunuu i le Talalelei tainane o le Poto-salalau, aemaise lava i le Matematika, le Tusitusi ma le Faitau tusi. O le galuega o loo faaauau pea e oo mai i le aso nei Aua foi nei galo, e leai ni faiganuu poo se faigamalo a Samoa i atunuu i fafo o papaao ma nonofo ai o tatou tagata. Ae o le isi lea galuega topito faa Talalelei o feagai pea ma le Aufaigaluega Faifeau tausinuu, o le saga faamaopopoina ma faatumauina lea o le faatuatuaga, agaga lotonuu ma le lotoaiga i o tatou tagata o aumau i ia atunuu, ina sei manatua mai aiga i Samoa. E afua ai ona alolofa ma lafo mai pea le tamaoaiga tau tupe mo aiga i Samoa, ma fesoasoani tele ai i lo tatou atinae ma le tamaoaiga. O le talitonuga lava la faa-EFKS, ua taele magavai lava o tatou tiute ma faiva mai le Atua, tatou te tofu sao ai i le atinaeina o le atunuu, ma nai o tatou tagata i ona itu uma. E faasaga isi e atiae le itu i le tino, ae faasaga pea faifeau tausinuu i le itu faaleagaga, o lona sao lena i le atinae lautele o Samoa ma ona tagata mo le lumanai. Faamolemole le Malo e aua le vaaitualafo i lea sao taua o le aufaigaluega tausinuu. O lana lafoga tele lena ua augatupulaga o totogi mai. 5. EKALESIA MA LE MALO E ao lava ona mavaevae pulega a le Ekalesia ma pulega a le Malo e le tatau ona feaiaai, ae lagolago le tasi i le isi. O le fotuai mai o lenei tulafono i le silasila a le EFKS, o se aiaina lea e pulega a le Malo o Pulega a le Ekalesia. E fia faatepa e lenei Mau lau Afioga ma le mamalu i le Kapeneta i faamaumauga a le Faamasinoga Maualuga (Supreme Court) a New York 1970: ...the power to tax involves the power to destroy. Taxing churches breaks down the healthy separation of churches and states and leads to the destruction of the free exercise of religion... O le faamolemole a le EFKS, ia tumau pea le galulue faatasi o le Malo ma le Ekalesia, ae ia aua lava nei feaiaai, aemaise i le itu tau Pulega. 6. O LE VAAI A LE EFKS I LE TULAFONO LENEI I le vaai a le EFKS o se tulafono e leo taoto lelei lona faauigaina ma lona faatulagaga. i. Manatua o le galuega faa-Faifeau Tausinuu a le EFKS, e le mafai ona alu toatasi i ai se tagata. O le Faavae o le Ekalesia, e le mafai e se faifeau ona talia se valaau mai se nuu, pe afai e lei faaipoipo. E mafua ona e tele foi le sao o le toalua o le faifeau i le Galuega faafaifeau i nuu ma aulotu. Pe afai foi e iai ni o la alo, o latou uma nei e o e osi feagaiga ma le aulotu. E foliga mai le tulafono o le ALOFA e fai nao le Faifeau (tamaloa). Ae faapefea le toalua e tele foi lona sao i le galuega; ma le fanau? ii. I lalo o le Governments National Accounts, o le ALOFA o loo faitau faatasi ma tupe lafo mai fafo e aiga (remittances). E le tatau la ona faalafogaina ona o meaalofa. iii. O le suiga na faia i le Vaega 2 o le Tulafono 2012 (Main Act 2012) ua faitauina ai faifeau o Ekalesia (minister of religion) o se tagata faigaluega (employee). Ao ai la e ona le Galuega (employer)? Pe afai o tagata lotu, e matua le taliaina e le EFKS lea tulaga aua o faifeau EFKS e valaau e le aulotu e le ina ia fai ma a latou tagata faigaluega, a ia fai ma Faafeagaiga mo i latou (E faafeagai ai tagata lotu, aiga, nuu, ma le Atua). Pe afai o le EFKS le employer, o lona uiga foi la o le faifeau tausinuu o le tagata faigaluega e galue fua (volunteer) aua e leo totogiina e le Ekalesia E le tatau la ona faia ni ana lafoga. O lona uiga, e le talafeagai lava lenei tulafono ma le galuega faa-Faifeau Tausinuu. iv. O le suiga na faia i le Vaega 61 o le Tulafono 2012 ua aofia ai le vaega (g) income of minister of religion. Pe a Iloilo lelei le mea e taua o le totogi (income), e le mafai ona taua ALOFA o se totogi (income). Pe afai e maua se alauni a se faifeau i sana fono, po se tupe mai sana faatoaga poo sona faiva o mea la na e taua o income ma e tatau ona faalafoga. Ao alofa o faifeau tausinuu, e leo se totogi (income), ae o le maau faitaulaga o tagata lolotu, ua faia ona o le suafa o le Atua e ala i lana auauna. v. Ua fesili lava le mafaufau ona o le tulafono lenei e foliga mai ua tulituli aupu lava faifeau tausinuu e le Malo. Aua e le nao faifeau tausinuu e maua ni a latou Teutusi. E maua Teutusi a le palemia ma Minisita faapea Faipule uma o le maota i faaaloaloga a Ekalesia ma le atunuu, faapena foi Pule Sili (CEO) o matagaluega a le Malo, ma le isi toatele. Aisea lava la ua fai ai le tulafono nao faifeau tausinuu? UPU FAAIU MA LE TALOSAGA Lau afioga e, i le Palemia ma le Kapeneta, FAAMOLEMOLE ia seu pea le manu ma tagai ane i le galu. Ua popole lava le Ekalesia i lana vaai faa-perofeta i le sa o Samoa ma le itulagi ua agai iai. Ua e popona tele i le ia, ae galo ai le upega. Ia silafia, e le atoatoa le malosi o le upega o Samoa pe afai nao le tino e faamamafa, ae seuama i le itu faaleAgaga. E tele lava ni mataupu taua ma ogaoga i le tuanai sa tuualalo ai le EFKS i le Malo e tauala atu i le Ekalesia Soofaatasi; e pei o le Mataupu i Casino, faamamaluina o le Aso Sa ma isi. E mafua ona e tele pea faataitaiga faanoanoa o atunuu e siitai le maualuga o le tamaoaiga ma atinae, ae ua afaina le itu faaleAgaga, ma ua lofia i faigata, mea faanoanoa ma faafitauli ua le gafatia e le tupe ona toe fofo. Ua agiga foi malae i le tele o taimi saunoaga ma lafoga tuulafoai e faatatau i Ekalesia i ana feau ma ana avefeau, ae afua mai mauga tetele. Lea foi lava la ua faataitai iai ma le tinifu latou e pei ose me anoa. Talofa e, i le vatapuia o le Aganuu ma le Talalelei sa tapui e o tatou matua, o lea ua soloa i le fuefue. O le atumatagiga lava lea o le Ekalesia, ona o aafiaga matautia o nei mea nonofo pea le Ekalesia, ma tatalo ma tapuaia pea ou faiva. Peitai i le tulai mai o lenei tulafono e uiga i le faalafogaina o ALOFA o faifeau, ua manatu le EFKS, ai lava ose avanoa lelei lenei e faaleo ai sona lagona mo ona tagata lolotu ma ana faifeau, aemaise foi o Samoa uma. O le talitonuga ole EFKS, o Tu ma Aganuu mamalu a Samoa, o Tu foi ma Talitonuga faa-Kerisiano, o poutu iloga ia o le Faavae o le Malo Tutoatasi o Samoa. FAAVAE ILE ATUA SAMOA O lona uiga, soo se tulafono lava e fia fausia ma faatuina ae aafia ai Tu ma Aganuu mamalu a Samoa, poo tatoau Talitonuga faa-kerisiano, e le tatau lava ona faatinoina sea tulafono. O le tulafono e pei ona taua ne, o le mea moni, ua afaina faavae faale faatuatuaga, ma talitonuga faavae o le Ekalesia (EFKS). O le auga moni foi lea o le teena e le Fonotele a le EFKS o lenei tulafono i le tausaga e 2017, aemaise foi lenei tausaga 2018. Ia silafia foi, o le tusiga o lenei Mau, o le aotelega lea o felafolafoaiga, ma fetufaiga o le tofa ma le faautautaga a le EFKS i ana Fonotele e lua 2017 ma le 2018 na latou auau faatasi ai e teena lenei tulafono. O le tatalo, faamolemole toe liuliu le tofa ma le faautautaga. E tumau pea le lagolago a le Ekalesia i atinae o Samoa ma lana faigamalo, peitai e le mafai ona lagolagoina ele EFKS se tulafono e oia ai ona Faavae ma ona Talitonuga. E tumau pea lana tatalo ma lana lagolago i le Malo o Samoa i soo se mea lelei ma talafeagai, aua le atinaeina o Samoa ma ona tagata, e pei ona faia ai pea ona sao eseese e oo ma ii le taimi nei. Ae ua fia gagana pea Faitolo ma faia pea le mea e tatau ona fai, ona o lenei tulafono ua solia ai ona Faavae ma ona Talitonuga. O le tatalo lava lea ma le faatoga mamate, ina sei toe liuliu le tofa ma toe sasaa le fafao ona o lenei tulafono. Matou te tatalo pea ina ia toia pea outou finagalo i le malamalama o le Agaga Paia, ina ia outou silafia ai le agaga moni o le Mau a le EFKS ua folasia nei; o ona alofaaga molipo mo Samoa ma lona Malo Tutoatasi. Ia taitaiina pea e le mana o le Atua Silisiliese la outou faatofalaiga ma le faautaga saili, aua se manuia o Samoa mo a taeao. FAAFETAI TELE, EFKS Laulau o le Fono Tele: Tautiaga Senara FT ____________________ (Taitaifono) Vavatau Taufao FS ______________________ (Failautusi Aoao) Tunumoso Soliai Iosia FT _____________________ (Sui Taitaifono) Rimoni Wright FS _______________________ (Teutupe) Laulau ole Komiti Au Toeaina Tavita Anesone FT __________________________ (Taitaifono) Iosefa Uilelea FT __________________________ (Failautusi) Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi objected to being called a sifi yesterday when Parliament convened to discuss the 2018/19 Budget at their makeshift home at Tuanaimato. The word sifi in Samoan is often used to describe the leader of a bad gang who is the last to be killed in an action movie. Im not a sifi, Tuilaepa retorted, Im a servant of the (H.R.P.P.) party and the country. Remember Gods word, if you want to be great, be a servant of the kingdom first. The problem today is that there are too many sifi. The reference to Tuilaepa being a sifi was made by Member of Parliament, Faumuina Wayne Fong, who raised concerns about the apparent lack of consultation with his constituents over the Governments plan to build a wharf at Vaiusu. Faumuina reminded the Government that they need to consult with the people who will be most affected by their plans. Think about the villages affected, he said. Think about Vaigaga, Vaiusu, Vailoa and everyone who lives there. I believe when people understand the intentions behind the developments then there will be no trouble. From what has transpired so far, Faumuina said it appears the Government has proceeded without seeking the opinions of the landowners. We are still waiting, he said. Thats when the Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Papalii Niko Lee Hang, intervened. He told Faumuina that while the Vaiusu wharf is one of the Governments dream projects, nothing has been finalised. Prime Minister Tuilaepa followed Papalii and said that the plan for the Vaiusu wharf has been mooted since the 1970s. Civil engineers who have conducted four different studies have all concluded that Vaiusu is the best place to have the wharf given the strong currents at Matautu that often slam the boats against the wharf, destroying it. So I have been talking about this development for a while now, he said. When the negotiations are done then we will consult with the villages. We cant consult the villages until we secure the funding. The Prime Minister said the Government is negotiating with her development partners to use grants to fund the project. Were looking for grants to fund it, its a big development with a massive cost, he said. He added that the negotiations are about 60 percent completed. If we wanted it to be built on a soft term loan, it would have been done right away but we want it to be funded through a grant. At that point, Tuilaepa blamed the newspaper for spreading misinformation. There are too many false things in the newspaper so dont read it, Tuilaepa said. Thats why you come up with these statements because you are reading the Observer when you should listen to the 2AP where accurate statements are being aired. Back on the floor, Faumuina was trying to explain himself. Still Tuilaepa was not satisfied so he stood up again. What youre saying is that you (Government) cant go ahead until we (villages) talk and we (villages) give you permission. Im telling you now that we cant have consultations with until the negotiations are completed. It was at that moment that Faumuina referred to Tuilaepa as the sifi. Parliament continued last night. The Police are working on identifying the body of a man who was found dead at the Tiapapata River on Sunday. When the Samoa Observer visited the area yesterday, a man who gave his name as Falefa spoke to the Samoa Observer about the horrific scene he encountered. I went on Sunday afternoon to swim there and thats when I saw a body, he told the Samoa Observer. When I found his body, I couldnt see his face because it was all covered with maggots. It was smelly too so I called the Ministry of Police and told them." The Police was quick to respond and they came and took his body." None of us were able to get closer because it was really bad so the Police had to cover the deceaseds body with a tarpaulin so they could carry it up." As you know the river is very far down and by the look of the deceased body, he was probably dead for about three to four days. Mr. Falefa said it was such a sad scene. Its scary and sad, he said. I hope the Police will be able to identify who he is because Im sure his family is probably worried to death." I dont know who he is and Im sure he is not from around here because if he was, we would have known because his family would be looking for him." Its just sad and I have only seen such things in movies, but now its happening here in Samoa too." May this mans soul rest in peace and hopefully the hospital and Police will be able to find out how he got here and his identity. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Police, the deceaseds body was found around 4pm on Sunday. Officers at the scene found the body in a decomposing state, said the statement. They discovered that the person has been dead between two to three days." We are still conducting our investigations and the deceaseds body is yet to be confirmed." A scene examination has been carried out and Police enquiries are ongoing. The rhinoceros beetle has the ability to wipe out our growing coconut industry if it is not controlled. In August of 2017, an alert was issued identifying a new danger to the Pacific is causing devastation to coconut palms and expanding rapidly across the region. The rhinoceros beetle is a longstanding adversary in Samoa, but according Crops A.C.E.O, Moafanua Tolo Iosefa, there are several environmental conditions that can cause its numbers to increase and wreak havoc on our coconut plantations. Moafanua said one of the main causes of the increase in population of the rhinoceros beetle is due to neglect, on many different fronts. Lots of people move and clear the land down which means cutting down coconut trees, but instead of destroying the logs they are left there to become a breeding ground for the beetles. The same goes for the old coconut trees that are dying but are still standing them need to be cut down and destroyed so as not to infect the new coconut trees in the productive ages. Moafanua said that there also needs to be a consistent effort from the Ministrys crops division to keep on top of monitoring and assessing rhinoceros beetle populations from year to year. This year $300,000 tala was allocated in the budget for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to fight the spread of the rhinoceros beetle as it threatens to halt our growing coconut industry during a time when the global demand for coconut oil and its products are at an all-time high. According to Moafanua, their Ministrys plan of attack is going to involve working with the village and their taulealea. M.A.F. is also looking at their own capacity to see if the number of people they have to deliver their strategies is enough. This will take a massive and expensive undertaking, which not only involves a lot of human resources but we will be utilising all of our heavy machinery and equipment as well. We are going to work together with the village communities. What we are planning to do is call a meeting with all the pule nuus and ask them for their support in mobilizing their taulealea who are not working to work with us on this task. During a coconut plantation inspection in Sapapalii, Moafanua pointed out that there are some farms that are free of the rhinoceros beetle because of good sanitation practices. In Sapapalii, the first one we went to, the coconuts didnt have any rhinoceros beetle, and we couldnt see any signs of it because the sanitation programme is working there. People are actually looking after their plants by gathering the old coconut logs cutting them into pieces and burning them." So the major activity we are going to focus on is the sanitation and spreading of the bio-control pathogens which are the virus and the fungus. We are also continuing the collecting to establish several hundred traps in different villages in Upolu and Savaii. The staff is responsible every two weeks to collect those beetles trapped which will be brought into the labs, inspected for data and then destroyed. Asked whether virus development is a silver bullet for eradicating rhino beetle, Moafanua said the jury is still out but that so far it is the most effective control method available at this time but that their division will be monitoring its effectiveness as they go about their activities to halt the threat of the insect to our coconut plants. We are trying to monitor that at this time. All beetle, larvae and eggs are collected from the field. We will count numbers of different states of beetles to see if they are infected by virus or fungus." We will know the rough estimates of beetles affected and we will know what allocations on which part of the island that the virus and fungus is effective. This is very urgent because the success of our coconut industry is threatened if we dont control this. A man convicted of raping his niece has been jailed for 16 years. The sentencing for Pulemau Sione was handed down by Supreme Court Justice, Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala. Rexona Titi, of the Attorney Generals Office, prosecuted the case while lawyer, Afamasaga Michael Soonalole represented the defendant. Justice Tafaoimalo issued a suppression order prohibiting the publication of the name of the victim and any details that might identify her. However, the suppression order does not relate to the defendant. According to the evidence, the accused travelled to Samoa from Auckland, New Zealand, on 21 October 2017. Sione is the eldest brother of the victims mother. According to evidence heard before the Court during the trial, Siones second day at his family, sometime in the evening, he consumed some beer at the same time the mother of the victim went to bingo. The victim and her younger cousins set dinner for the accused and then went to their room. At some point during the night, Sione went into the victims room where she was sleeping. He blocked her mouth with his hand, told her not to tell anyone and proceeded to force himself onto her and forcibly had sex with her despite her protestations. Once done, he said to her not to say anything to anyone in their family, he would kill her, he would shoot her and chase her and her mother from his family. When the accused left the room, the victim then called her mother and sister numerous times but no one answered. She then messaged her intended adoptive mother in New Zealand who called the Police in Samoa. When the Police arrived, the victim had locked herself in her room and refused to open the door. She was crying and was afraid to come out. As it was revealed from the evidence, she was contemplating suicide. The Police officers, who attended the call out, managed to get the victim out of the room and took her with them. The accused remained in bed in the sitting room. The accused is 68 years old, a father and has lived in New Zealand since his early 20s. He was in Samoa visiting family when this offending occurred. His youngest sister, who is the mother of the victim, remains supportive of her eldest brother -the accused. She says he has always supported their family and contributed to family faalavelave without fail. The Methodist Minister of Levi Saleimoa has written in support of the accused. He says the accused contributes to his family and church when he is in Samoa, and that he is kind and hard working. Justice Tafaoimalo noted that Sione maintains his innocence to probation. During the trial, the victim visibly shaken during her testimony and she informed the Court contemplating suicide because of what the accused had done to her. This indicates the desolation felt by the victim. In the pre-sentence report, it says that the victim was adopted by an aunty in New Zealand and she currently lives in N.Z. The aggravating features of this offending are firstly, the age of the victim. She was 18 years old at the time of the offending and the age difference of 49 years is also an aggravating factor. The accused is an adult, with immense life experience as opposed to this young victim of 18 years old. Regarding vulnerability of the victim, the young age of the victim and the age difference between the victim and the accused made her vulnerable to the accused. It is also aggravating that the accused is related to the victim, being her uncle, her mothers eldest brother and the sao of their family. The whole family at Levi Saleimoa were dependent on the accused for money, cars and shelter. He took advantage of that position of authority and trust in relation to the victim. The magnitude of the breach of relationship of trust between the victim and the accused is an aggravating factor. He had just arrived from New Zealand the day before and the family had prepared for his arrival given that he was highly respected and loved by the family. He held a special position of authority and trust in relation to all family members, which he abused when he raped the victim. This position of authority, respect and trust held by the accused also makes the victim particularly vulnerable as she and her whole family were at that time financially dependent on and obedient to the accused. Furthermore, Justice Tafaoimalo noted that it is aggravating that the accused threatened the victim after raping her. He threatened to kill her, shoot her and remove her family from their home in Levi Saleimoa. Threats to kill are acts of threatened violence. Justice Tafaoimalo also pointed out the need to hold the accused accountable for the harm done to the victim, to promote in him a sense of responsibility for, and an acknowledgment of that harm, and to provide for the interests of the victim who was young, vulnerable and defenseless at the time. There is also an overriding need to deter the accused and others from committing the same or similar offences and to protect the community from the accused. This protection is particularly important for young persons. It is of major concern to the Court that this offending occurred within the sanctuary of a home, committed by a family member on whom this young victim was dependent. This rape occurred in a place where this young person should be protected and feel protected, her own home. This type of sexual offending on young persons, whether it occurs within a family or outside of the family, will not be tolerated by the Court and the Court will impose stern penalties on those who commit this type of offending. This type of sexual offending within the family, which has become so visible in the Courts as of late, runs contrary to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Samoa is a party. The preamble to that Convention so far as it is relevant provides: recalling that in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations has proclaimed that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance, convinced that the family as the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community. Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding. Considering that the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity. The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (S.P.R.E.P.) held their annual open day its headquarters in Vailima yesterday. It was also a special event because this year marks the 25th anniversary of the regional organization. Today (yesterday), we want to take that service to our people on step further by nurturing our children and the future leaders of our world. You are our future, and whatever path you choose will make a huge difference. We want to make sure you know that our environment is worth protecting as you all travel down your different paths, S.P.R.E.Ps Acting Director General, Roger Cornforth said to the students and teachers from five invited schools that gathered. Mr. Cornforth said our Pacific Islands, and many places around the world are seeing the impacts of climate change, pollution, deforestation, loss of wildfire and natural habitats, the decline of coral reefs, lagoons and more. S.P.R.E.P. is one of many organizations that fights to protect our environment, and among you are future Spreppies. We want you to know that you can work here one day too. It has been 25 years since S.P.R.E.P. was established in Samoa, and it has been a wonderful 25 years. We have done so much work in the Pacific, but we still have much work left to do, and the Pacific needs your help to make that happen. If even just one of you left today (yesterday) inspired to become an environmentalist, we will have succeeded. And before you ask, an environmentalist is not just some weird person who talks about birds, fish and plants all the time. An environmentalist in the Pacific is someone who cares for their communities now and in the future, who recognises that life in our villages and nations depend on Gods bounty that we have been entrusted with, and seeks to ensure that each generation hands on that same bounty to the next, Mr. Cornforth said. New provisions in the Samoa Coroners Act 2017 seek to re-address and regulate the reporting of suicide but lacks input from the relevant parties affected. During last weeks Coroners Continuing Education workshop, New Zealand Coroner Gordon Matenga questioned whether Samoa media were complying with the new Coroners Act 2017. The Act restricts the publication of the details in self-inflicted death without the prior approval of a Coroner. It also further states that the only details that can be made public after the approval of a coroner is that the coroner has found the death to be self-inflicted as well as the name, address, and occupation of the person concerned. As an example, Mr. Matenga referred to an article published in the Samoa Observer on Friday 15 June with the headline Former lecturer Gounder dies. Mr. Matenga invited members of the judiciary and the media to comment on whether the Samoa Observer was in breach with the Coroners Act 2017. It says here that the Samoa Observer understands that his death was among three suicide cases reported by the Police during the weekend, read Mr. Matenga. So the question is, on that one sentence, do you think that is in contradiction of this Section 33? A person must without the prior approval of the Coroner make public any detail in which the death occurred, my only issue is - is it a detail? And it saying that they identified the person and suggested that it was a suicide suggests to me that yes, it is a detail so I agree that it is a contradiction of this Section 33. Samoa Correspondent for Radio New Zealand, Tipi Autagavaia explained to Mr. Gordan the long time process of how the media receive information regarding suicides and deaths in Samoa showing that neither the Police nor the media are aware of this new law. That particular line in todays (Friday) paper is referring to a Police press release from the day before, said Mr. Autagavaia. The normal practice we have here in Samoa when we report suspected suicide cases in Samoa, it comes from the Police first and then to the media and then we report on what the Police is telling us instead of going through the process like you said, which is going through the coroners first. Mr. Matenga was not aware that this was the case in Samoa. Contacted for a comment about the new developments of the Coroners Act 2017, the President of the Journalism Association of Western Samoa (J.A.W.S.) Rudy Bartley was also not aware of the new Act. He said the new powers of the coroner to prohibit the release of information is new to him but in general, the media code of practice in Samoa already has guidelines on the issue of suicide and reporting on it. The media code of practice does address the issue of suicide and reporting on it. Identifying the person and how the act was committed is not permitted. And if there is a story, there should always be a statement at the end to contact a medical/suicide prevention agency like Faataua le Ola for people needing help in relation to this issue. The Samoa media code of practice states that when reporting on suicide, media must verify with an appropriate authority such as Police, National Health Services or the coroner that suicide was the cause of death and always cite the relevant authority in news coverage. The code goes on to dictate that reporting details of the event, including the means by which death occurred and explicit images of the event are prohibited. Mr. Bartley pointed out that this was an example of a breakdown of communication between law makers and the people they affect. There still seems to be a disconnect with government making laws without proper consultation from the media. If they had known about our code of practice, they may not have included as much detail as it is already in our code. Now they seek input when its already written and ready to go to Parliament. When the media does not become part of the process, this leads to miscommunication and creates problems/difficulties for everyone. Couple, Brandy Cochane and Joey Diamond, is having the time of their life in Samoa. For the pair, spending time together, relaxing and enjoying the weather, are reasons that make everything perfect for them here. It is good, it feels a little bit different to the other end of the island, but still very relaxed, Joey told the Dear Tourist team of his impression of Apia. Its Brandys first time in Samoa whereas Joey has been here before when he was a child with his family. I dont remember a lot just that we had then a very good time. It has been beautiful, Joey said. It is very nice and beautiful, the people are really nice here, Brandy said. Why Samoa? I think part of it was that Joey came here with his family before and the family their whole faces light up every time they talk about Samoa, what a great trip they had and how they loved riding the buses and meeting the people. So we have been thinking of somewhere to go that would be relaxing, something other than places that are busy. We like those places as well, but we need to go and relax, Brandy said. We both love swimming. Brandy and Joey are staying at the Samoan Outrigger Hotel in Apia. They also stayed at Lalomanu, which Brandy describes as really lovely. Probably just swimming in the beautiful ocean and the snorkeling is the highlight of our stay so far. The food is really good, the oka for example. We had some taro chips, but not a lot of the normal ones yet. We had Chinese food that was very good. Everywhere has been really yummy, I have been well fed on this trip, Brandy added. They prefer Samoa the way it is. I think we had everything we needed. We got a guidebook as well. The only issue was that things were closed, which we knew about, but for some reason forgot. It took us a little while to find a restaurant out there. If we need anything everybody has been very helpful. The dogs havent been bothering us, they just walk away, Joey said. It feels special and if you try to change too much for tourism, I guess that would be when it would lose that a bit. It is nice now; it is kind of in the middle. I would say it is a really good balance, Brandy explained. They havent seen a lot of the villages so far, but they are definitely going to a church in Savaii for a bit more island experience. Everything has been really good and we are happy to come here. We are already planning our next stay here. It is such a nice place and it feels special, it is not too busy, Joey said. Some business leaders are condemning the Trump administration's decision to separate children from parents who are accused of crossing the border illegally, but it's unclear what impact if any they will have. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was donating money to groups that help immigrant families get legal advice and translation services at the border. He asked others to do the same. Around 2,300 minors have been separated from their parents at the border between May 5 and June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security. "We need to stop this policy right now," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted that the stories and images about family separation were "gut-wrenching." In an interview with The Irish Times, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the policy "is inhumane. It needs to stop." And in a joint statement, the three founders of Airbnb said separating kids from their families is "heartless, cruel, immoral and counter to the American values of belonging." Conservative-leaning business lobbying groups also weighed in. The Business Roundtable, which represents the CEOs of Walmart, General Motors, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase, Mastercard and others, urged immediate end to the policy. So did the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than 3 million small and large businesses. "Surely a nation as big, generous and compassionate as the United States can find a way to prevent separating children from their parents at the border. If we can't agree on that, then we can't agree on anything," U.S. Chamber President and CEO Thomas Donohue said in a statement. The flurry of corporate statements might soothe CEO consciences and rally their employees and customers, but they're unlikely to lead to policy changes, said Erik Gordon, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. When business leaders weigh in on issues in which they have expertise like trade, taxes or regulations it does influence policy, he said. But on issues that involve them less directly, like immigration or gun control, they tend to have less impact. "They have a bigger voice, but I'm not sure they have a bigger influence," Gordon said. Some companies spoke up because they feared being connected to the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy. Microsoft, which has a cloud computing contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, insisted on Tuesday that it's not working with the government on any projects related to separating children from their parents. "As a company, Microsoft is dismayed by the forcible separation of children from their families at the border. Family unification has been a fundamental tenet of American policy and law since the end of World War II," the company said in a statement. General Dynamics Information Technology, a government contractor, said it has no role in the family separation policy or in the construction or operation of detention facilities. Its work supports unaccompanied minors, helping them receive medical care and reuniting them with families, the company said. Falealili East Member of Parliament, Fuimaono Teo Samuelu, has urged the Government to increase the minimum wage. He made the point in Parliament, during the discussion of the 2018/2019 Budget. I know that the cost for chicken as well as frozen food have increased, but the question is isnt it time for the minimum wage to be increased too, said Fuimaono. Its been too long since the Government had a raise on the minimum wage. We should feel for the people of the country who are working and are facing this problem. I notice that if the people cannot afford to buy a pound of chicken in the evening, by now they dont want to work anymore. This means they will turn to their plantation and they will start working on their plantation so that they can look after their family. But I am urging the Minister as well as the Government, isnt it time to put a change to the minimum wage, have an increase so that our people will be able to afford the cost of chicken and be able to provide for their families. This is when Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi intervened. There are people whose responsibility is this, he told Parliament. They are responsible in looking into the salaries of those who get paid daily but also the salaries of the government workers. They are well aware of what the Member of Parliament is asking. However, let me remind you that it is not an easy job because when its time for them to touch these things, they need to look at all the workers not only in the Government but Samoa as a whole. I can never forget the time when the salary for the government workers was at its lowest, and then we had to increase it by 40 percent, but government money at the time could not afford this increase. I am talking about the year 2006-2008 and at that time government workers were spread out because the salaries had been at its lowest. So we decided to increase it by 40 percent at the time so it could balance with the private sector because a lot of government workers left to go to the private sector because they get more from them than from the Government. But its always good to raise this issue because now I am standing in front of you and I tell you that those who are responsible are not sleeping. They are working on it and when they see that it is time to do that they will do it, but I will also have to give them a call and ask where their plan is and they will decide when the right time to make this change is. Parliament continues today. PROVO, Utah (AP) Three-year-old Genesis Gonzalez Lopez giggled excitedly as she played with her father at a sunny Utah park, zipping down a slide again and again into his arms. The happy scene this week in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, was a far cry from what the pair experienced on Thanksgiving, when U.S. immigration authorities took Romulo Gonzalez Rodriguez into custody at the U.S.-Mexico border and whisked away the frightened girl, with no explanation of where she'd end up. Gonzalez had fled Guatemala with the then-2-year-old after kidnappers held him captive, ripped out his right eye and forced his family to pay a $13,500 ransom for his life. He traveled by bus and train to a San Diego port of entry to seek asylum in the United States and was separated from his daughter for seven days. "It's painful to be running away and come to where you think they're going to rescue you, and they take the measure of separating children," the father told The Associated Press in Spanish on Tuesday. "You fall again into fear and the same anguish that you're leaving behind." Gonzalez's experience offers a window into the distress and uncertainty parents endure when they are separated from their children at the border, even though it happened before President Donald Trump's administration in April adopted a "zero tolerance" policy in which all unlawful border crossings were referred for prosecution. The policy led to a spike in family separations in recent weeks, provoking a national uproar and pressure from Trump's allies. In a dramatic reversal, the president on Wednesday signed an executive order ending the practice, keeping families together while they're in custody, expediting their cases and asking the Department of Defense to help house families. It has been longstanding practice for Homeland Security to separate adults and minors at the border when it's unable to confirm they're related or if it believes a child is at risk. But Gonzalez has no record criminal record, his attorney Mari Alvarado Tsosie said. Gonzalez has a brother in Provo who sought Alvarado's advice after Gonzalez was held for ransom in his home country. Gonzalez followed her instructions, arriving at the San Ysidro Port of Entry with his daughter Nov. 23 and handing U.S. immigration authorities a Guatemalan police report about his kidnapping. Authorities shepherded his young daughter into another room while Gonzalez answered questions. He thought they would be reunited when he was done, but he was instead taken to a detention center without his daughter, Alvarado said. When he asked where she was, they wouldn't tell him, he said. Gonzalez said he then spent seven days at a cold facility where the lights never turned off, wondering if his daughter was safe and if he would ever see her again. In Guatemala, his kidnappers had threated to dismember the child, and he suspected corrupt authorities were involved. His mind raced with worries U.S. law enforcement was corrupt too. "It's tremendous anguish because you don't get any answers from authorities," Gonzalez said at his attorney's office in Provo, his daughter sitting on his lap. "They don't give you information, and you don't know the laws. ... You're wondering: Where is she? What is she doing? Such a small child." Parents who surrender at U.S. ports of entry have occasionally been separated from their children with no formal explanation since long before the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy, said Dan Kowalski, editor of Bender's Immigration Bulletin, a national journal focused on immigration cases and law. He believes it's because of a lack of training, leadership and standard operating procedures that allows border agents to make up rules as they go. If they suspected Gonzalez was abusing the child or trafficking her, they would have sent the case to prosecutors, Kowalski said. A spokesman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had no immediate comment on the case. After learning of Gonzalez's situation, Alvarado began calling every ICE facility in Southern California looking for him and the child. It took her three days to find Gonzalez at San Diego's Otay Mesa Detention Center and another four days to reunite him with his daughter. To this day, Alvarado doesn't know where Genesis was held, though she believes the girl was somewhere in San Diego. All the girl has said is that she ate a lot of cereal. The father and daughter are staying with Gonzalez's brother while they await word on the asylum request. A hearing is set for Oct. 22 at a Salt Lake City immigration court. Gonzalez's wife and two step-children are in hiding in Guatemala and waiting until he can send enough money for them to make the journey north. Genesis is too young to say what happened to her while they were apart or express how it affected her. But her father said she was sickly when they reunited, and seems nervous and clingier now. She starts therapy later this month. On Tuesday, Genesis looked like a typical, sweet toddler, hugging her father tightly and giving him kisses while he spoke. Gonzalez is happy to be safe for now but said he's living in limbo not knowing if he'll be forced to return to the Guatemalan beach town that he once loved, where he now fears he'll be killed if he returns. He wears a glass eye following his attack. Between that ordeal and the separation from Genesis, Gonzalez said he suffered significant trauma of his own that he has yet to deal with. "It's a situation I don't wish upon any father or human being," he said. "It affects you a lot psychologically, emotionally. There are moments when I remember it all, and I start to cry for no reason." The fate of a 47-mile natural gas pipeline that San Diego Gas & Electric wants to construct between Rainbow and Miramar is on the line Thursday when the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is scheduled to vote on it. SDG&E says the new pipeline would largely replace an old line that was constructed nearly 70 years ago but a CPUC administrative law judge last month recommended commissioners reject the utilitys plan. And theres more: Should the CPUC accept the administrative law judges recommendation, the old pipeline will have to undergo a high-pressure water test that SDG&E says will be expensive and could impact as many as 125 homes and structures near the path of the existing line. At least one critic of the utility said SDG&E is overstating the expense. The proposal for a new pipeline Advertisement SDG&E wants to partner with Southern California Gas to replace a 16-inch pipeline called Line 1600 that runs along the Interstate 15 corridor with a 36-inch line that runs north-south and goes past a number of parcels of land and communities, including Escondido and Poway. The 16-inch line has been in service since 1949. The utilities have estimated the project will cost $639 million, paid for by ratepayers. Typical residential customers are estimated to see a 1.7 percent increase in their monthly bills, which works out to 57 cents more. The utility said the route for the proposed pipeline Line 3602 would follow streets in order to avoid private properties. Fundamentally, this application project is about safety, compliance and what is the best investment of ratepayer customer resources, said Jimmie Cho, SDG&E senior vice president. But the administrative law judge assigned to the case didnt buy the argument. SDG&E and SoCalGas have not shown why it is necessary to build a very costly pipeline to substantially increase gas pipeline capacity in an era of declining demand and at a time when the state of California is moving away from fossil fuels, Colette E. Kersten wrote in a 130-page proposed decision released on May 2. Opponents of the pipeline project want the CPUCs five commissioners, who have the final say, to follow Kerstens recommendation when the commission meets Thursday in San Francisco. The proposed decision was very clear; (the pipeline) is not needed and its inconsistent with the states clean energy and climate goals, said Masada Disenhouse, co-founder of San Diego 350, an environmental group that held a rally Sunday at Mission Trails Regional Park that attracted about 100 demonstrators. Under Californias Renewables Portfolio Standard, power companies are required to derive 50 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2030. Natural gas burns twice as clean as coal, but it is a fossil fuel. About 100 opponents of the SDG&E pipeline proposal gathered Sunday at Mission Trails Park. (Photo by Rob Nikolewski ) SDG&E has dubbed the proposal the Pipeline Safety and Reliability Project and utility officials say the larger pipeline will improve safety, system reliability and resiliency while also adding capacity to the gas system in the San Diego area. The 16-inch pipeline provides only 10 percent of SDG&Es demand while another line a 30-inch pipeline called Line 3010 provides the remaining 90 percent. But the utility said the project is needed to make sure there is no shortfall of gas in case Line 3010 ever goes out of service. Lori Holt-Pfeiler, who served as mayor of Escondido from 1998 to 2010, is in favor of building the pipeline, saying its a better use of money in the long run. Its a 70-year-old pipe(line) and no matter what you do to that pipe to fix it, to test it, do whatever youre still going to have an old pipe thats not going to last that long, Holt-Pfeliler said. A face-lift is not going to make this pipeline any younger. Should the commission approve the project, SDG&E will still keep the old 16-inch pipeline in the ground, lowering the pressure in the line and converting it from a transmission to a distribution line. Pipeline safety experts testified and all agree that lowering the pressure of Line 1600 reduces the risk of rupture of all causes, including third-party damage, Cho said. Simply abandoning Line 1600 is not an option because it serves approximately 150,000 customers, as well as playing a critical role in SDG&Es gas system. That rankles April Maurath Sommer, executive director and lead counsel for the Protect Our Communities Foundation, an environmental group based in San Diego County that opposes the project. They want their cake and they want to eat it, too, Maurath Sommer said. They want two lines here, far more capacity than is needed. The testing flap In the aftermath of a Pacific Gas & Electric natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno in 2010 that killed eight people, the state Legislature passed new regulations, including replacing or pressure-testing gas lines. Given the age of Line 1600, SDG&E opted for replacing the old pipeline with the project to build a 36-inch line. But in addition to recommending the $639 million project be shelved, Kersten called on the utility to conduct a hydrostatic, high-pressure water, test of Line 1600. SDG&E officials say testing the existing line could take four years to complete. Because we only have two transmission lines feeding the system, we cant do this work continuously, said Estela de Llanos, SDG&Es director of major projects. We have to wait until the demand on the system is very low. So its not four years of continuous construction. Its four years in what we call the shoulder months (in the fall and spring), when demand is low. The utility originally estimated the cost of a test of Line 1600 would would cost $130 million that would be passed on to ratepayers but now says the price tag will be closer to $200 million. What changed? SDG&E says the proposed decision provides two options: testing the entire 50-mile pipeline, or replacing segments of the pipeline in highly populated areas and pressure-testing the rest. There are also an additional five miles that need to be tested and SDG&E says at least 77 locations in Line 1600 need to be cut out and reconfigured so the line is straighter for inspection tools to navigate through. Sommer Maurath did not dispute that a high-pressure test may take up to four years to complete but said the original $130 million estimate was over-exaggerated and called the $200 million price tag completely out of whack. Their newly inflated costs are completely fictional and are clearly a Hail Mary attempt to resuscitate a dying project, Sommer Maurath said. SDG&E officials also say a high-pressure test of the line could affect as many as 500 properties along the existing pipeline, including 125 homes and other structures. Thats largely due to development that has been built around the area since the pipeline was put in place in 1949. The population of the county was less than 300,000 people, less than a tenth of what it is today, de Llanos said. There was not very much out in this area (in 1949), other than the city of Escondido. Sommer Maurath said if SDG&E had started testing the line a few years ago, pursuant to the PUCs orders in the wake of the San Bruno explosion, they would have finished already. Other issues SDG&E and SoCalGas are subsidiaries of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, a Fortune 500 company with investments in other locations beyond California. Sempras subsidiary in Mexico is operates a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility near Ensenada and is considering expanding it to include an export component to send LNG cargoes to markets in the Pacific. The Protect Our Communities Foundation has speculated thats the real reason behind the pipeline project. They could use that excess capacity to get that gas down to Mexico to that LNG export facility, Sommer Maurath said. Cho called the assertion absurd. We are barred and limited from having interactions with any of the affiliates of Sempra, Cho said. So the decisions were making are based solely on what we believe is right for the region and the customers of San Diego. Kerstens proposed decision also rapped the knuckles of SDG&E and SoCalGas, saying it is clear the utilities did not aggressively and diligently take the necessary steps to ensure timely updates of Line 1600 pipeline data to parties taking part in the debate over the 36-inch pipeline project. The utilities disputed the claim, saying they did not deliberately suppress evidence or evade requests for data but admitted they could have been more explicit in communications. Kersten called on the two utilities to hire an independent bidder at their own expense to perform an audit on the records used to track data on Line 1600. I stated this before the commission, Cho said, we welcome any auditor coming in and well gladly cooperate and support the audit process. The pipeline project is listed on the commissions Thursday agenda but it is not unusual for items to be put on hold. For example, four times last year the CPUC delayed taking a vote on SDG&Es request to bill customers $379 million in costs associated with the 2007 wildfires that ripped though the San Diego area. The commissioners eventually ruled against SDG&Es bid. Business rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski Anaheim residents can expect an emotional and expensive campaign over the next few months before they decide on a measure to require hospitality businesses including the Disneyland Resort to pay its workers a living wage. The stage was set when the Anaheim City Council voted late Tuesday night to place an initiative on the November ballot to hike hourly wages for workers at the two Disney theme parks and nearby hotels that serve the citys surging tourism industry. The measure, which targets hospitality businesses that accept a city subsidy, has sparked intense debate between unions for Disneyland Resort workers, who say many of their members dont earn enough to pay for their basic needs, and business leaders, who say the requirement to pay higher wages will kill economic growth in the city. During a lengthy and heated council hearing Tuesday night, opponents of the measure suggested that their message to voters will be that the higher-wage initiative will kill thousands of construction jobs and cancel the building of at least two high-end hotels. Advertisement Even the debate between council members was contentious, with Mayor Tom Tait calling for a time out when the discussion on whether to first call for an economic analysis of the initiative became testy. Tait said a study would be a waste of time because an independent consultant would have only 30 days to complete the report and would be rushed. I think we are better off doing no report rather than a wrong report, he said before the council voted 4 to 3 to put the initiative on the Nov. 6 ballot without calling for a study. The initiative was proposed by a coalition of unions representing workers from the Disneyland Resort. The coalition successfully collected the verified signatures from more than 10% of the citys voters enough to qualify the initiative for the citywide ballot. The measure would affect wages of workers at the Disneyland Resort which includes the Disneyland park, Disney California Adventure Park, three adjacent hotels and several retail businesses as well as two high-end hotels that are planned in the city. By law, the City Council was required to respond to the petition either by placing the initiative on the ballot for the next regular election or adopting the measure as law without putting it up for a public vote. Several Disneyland employees who spoke asked the council to adopt the measure immediately to help workers earn a wage that allows them to pay for their necessities. We are not asking for Disney to buy our homes for us or pay for our cars, said Armando Gonzalez, a Disneyland hotel worker who said he earns $11.41 an hour. We just want a decent wage. But representatives for the construction workers said they feared the initiative would force developers to cancel proposed hotel projects, eliminating up to 3,000 jobs in Anaheim. Opponents of the measure suggested that the loss of the hotels could force the city to raise taxes and cut police services. It will kill many of our jobs and put an end to many hotel projects, said Ron Miller, executive secretary for the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building & Construction Trades Council. The measure would require Disneyland Resort and the other hospitality businesses that have accepted city subsidies to pay workers a minimum of $15 an hour starting Jan. 1, with salaries rising $1 an hour every Jan. 1 through 2022. Once the wage reaches $18 an hour, annual raises then would be tied to the cost of living. Walt Disney Co. representatives previously have said that the average annual pay for all hourly workers at Disneyland Resort is $37,000, or about $17.80 an hour. Union leaders say the hourly salary of their members is much lower. They released a survey in February that found that 73% of Disneyland Resort workers questioned said they dont earn enough to pay for expenses such as rent, food and gasoline. The online survey, funded by the labor groups that are pushing for the measure, also found that 11% of resort employees have been homeless or have not had a place of their own in the last two years. Disney representatives have called the survey inaccurate. The Disneyland Resort has joined an alliance of businesses in Anaheim to fight the initiative. The group said the wage increase would scare off new businesses and stifle economic growth. hugo.martin@latimes.com Twitter: @hugomartin A Tesla employee who committed extensive and damaging sabotage by breaking into software systems at Teslas auto plant could be part of a larger plot by enemies bent on the companys destruction, Chief Executive Elon Musk told employees via email Sunday. As you know, there are a long list of organizations that want the company to die, Musk said in the note, sent out Sunday at 11:57 p.m. and reported by CNBC. He listed short sellers, the oil and gas industry, and car companies as possible culprits. In a different email to employees Monday morning, Musk hinted that a small assembly line fire a day earlier might be part of a plot and told workers to remain alert. Could be just a random event, but as Andy Grove said, Only the paranoid survive. It was another reminder of the turmoil sweeping Tesla these days as it scrambles to ramp up production of the new Model 3 sedan and produce a profit. The company recently took just three weeks to get a third Model 3 assembly line up and running under a large tent-like structure at its Fremont, Calif., factory. At the same time, it has laid off 9% of its workers, the biggest layoff in its 15-year history. Advertisement Tesla stock sank nearly 5%, to $352.55, Tuesday but analysts attributed that more to the Trump administrations trade war with China, which could hamper Tesla plans to build a factory there. Steve Man, a senior autos analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence in Hong Kong, said protectionist U.S. levies could derail automakers plans to open new manufacturing and export bases in China. Tesla is racing to reach agreement in China before that happens, said Michael Dunne of ZoZo Go, an investment advisory company specializing in China. Without a doubt, trade tensions will accelerate Teslas plans to produce in China. Musk recently tweeted that short sellers who bet that a stock will decline and who have made Tesla one of the most shorted stocks on Wall Street have about three weeks before their short position explodes. Thats about when Musk has said to expect a China-related announcement, which some analysts believe could include new equity investors. Musks invocation of Grove, the late Intel co-founder and one of Silicon Valleys most revered pioneers, comes as Tesla faces increasing pressure to fix severe production problems stalling its electric Model 3 sedan, to start making money and to bring in enough cash to keep the company afloat. Grove, who died in 2016 at age 79, employed a hyper-competitive management style to turn chipmaker Intel from a scrappy startup into an international mega-corporation. His 1996 book, Only the Paranoid Survive, is practically required reading for students of Silicon Valley. What prompted Musks paranoia, he said in the Sunday night email, was learning over the weekend about employee sabotage. A worker upset at being passed over for a promotion, he said in the Sunday email, made direct code changes to Teslas manufacturing operating system under false usernames and exported large amounts of highly sensitive data to unknown third parties. A manufacturing operating system, put simply, connects robots and other computerized equipment on a factorys assembly lines. Tesla has pushed aggressively into factory automation but has suffered fundamental breakdowns on parts of the Model 3 assembly line, which had to be disassembled and replaced with redesigned systems. The employee is being investigated, Musk said in his memo, adding: We need to figure out if he was acting alone or with others at Tesla and if he was working with any outside organizations. Wall Street short-sellers have already lost billions of dollars and stand to lose a lot more, he said. Oil and gas companies are sometimes not super nice and dont love the idea of Tesla advancing the progress of solar power & electric cars. And if car companies are willing to cheat on emissions, maybe theyre willing to cheat in other ways? Musk offered no evidence that any short seller or company was involved in sabotage. The level of damage inflicted on the manufacturing operating system was not addressed. Asked for elucidation, a Tesla spokesman said no comment. The small, quickly extinguished fire on the Model 3 assembly line further aroused Musks suspicion. He asked employees to be on the alert for anything thats not in the best interests of this company. Teslas Fremont plant, had a history of labor strife when it was run by General Motors, with a renegade workforce that was known to sabotage cars by, for example, putting cola bottles behind door panels to rattle car buyers. General Motors later brought in Toyota as a partner at the plant, but the partnership dissolved and the factory was sold to Tesla. Although United Auto Workers has embarked on a thus-far unsuccessful attempt to unionize workers at Tesla, no one has publicly accused the union of sabotage. Musks reference to Grove and use of the term paranoid struck some management experts as off-key. What Andy Grove meant by paranoid is missing the next strategic inflection point in business, said Ratmir Timashev, co-founder of data management company Veeam and a longtime Grove fan. What Grove was focused on was fighting complacency, said Barry Nalebuff, a professor at the Yale School of Management. He was afraid [his employees] would rest on their laurels and not feel as if they were to be taken out by competitors at any moment. Fearing that, say, rival Advanced Micro Devices might set a fire in an Intel semiconductor fabrication plant is certainly not the Grove sense of paranoia, he said. Bloomberg contributed to this report. RELATED: Tesla builds another production line to make Model 3 cars more quickly russ.mitchell@latimes.com Twitter: @russ1mitchell UPDATES: 1:50 p.m.: This article was updated with Los Angeles Times staff reporting. This article was originally published at 5:55 a.m. A San Diego charity has severed ties with a consultant it paid $3.1 million over a decade to run dream house raffles that never gave away a dream house. Charles Day, CEO of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego, said it did not renew the contract of Seattle consultant Neal Martin Zeavy and would now have staff members run the raffle. He said the changes will ensure we are maximizing the proceeds which support the families who rely on our charity. The Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego announced recently it did not sell enough tickets to give away the main prize for the 11th year in a row. The charity used Zeavy to run its dream house raffle since at least 2008. Efforts to reach him were unsuccessful. The grand prize in this case a La Jolla dream house or $2.5 million cash would only be given away if enough tickets were sold, something charity watchdogs have criticized because there could be incentive to not actually sell enough. Fine print on websites and advertising materials explain the rules, but critics have said that the average participant may miss those details. Advertisement The San Diego raffle was nearly 25,000 tickets short this year, more than 25,000 last year and 11,000 short in 2016. Although the dream house wasnt given away, there were other winners. The top prize getter in this years San Diegos contest was Anthony Strom of San Diego, who will get his choice of $1.3 million paid as an annuity over 20 years or $900,000 as a one-time cash payment. Efforts to reach him were unsuccessful. Other prizes were also awarded. Zeavy has earned $17 million since 2006 running dream house raffles across the nation, all with similar rules and results, according to tax records. This year, he was involved in at least six dream house raffles, including ones for the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver, Special Olympics Washington, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northern California, Special Olympics of Southern California and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Yerba Buenas raffle does not conclude until the end of the week. The Special Olympics Washingtons dream house raffle also did not sell enough tickets to give away the house, coming about 20,000 tickets short, it said. The three other charities did not respond to requests for information on contest results by email, phone and social media. Special Olympics Southern California CEO Bill Shumard responded to a request with a statement about how much the raffle helps athletes, but did not disclose contest results. Daniel Borochoff, founder and president of Chicago-based CharityWatch, has criticized the raffles over the years because it is unlikely the main advertised prize would ever be given away. It should be called The Castle in the Sky Raffle with a disclaimer that it is constructed with pipe dreams, he said. Borochoff said it could be a step in the right direction that the Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego has parted ways with a for-profit consultant, because it probably means more raffle money could go to the charity. However, he said it would be better if a house were actually given away in the next raffle. They could just do a less costly house based on the amount of tickets they can reasonably expect to sell, Borochoff said. It doesnt have to be outlandish. People in California would be thrilled to have, basically, a house of any kind. The primary purpose of the raffle is to fund the organizations mission to provide lodging, meals and other services for families with children being treated for serious, often life-threatening conditions at area hospitals. Each year, about 1,100 families stay at the Ronald McDonald House during their childs hospitalization. In 2017, Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego earned $3.4 million in gaming activities while Zeavy netted $525,000, said tax records. While not enough raffle tickets were sold to make the grand prize home available as a prize option, more than $2 million in prizes were awarded to winners, the charitys press release said. Raffle net proceeds help provide much needed support for families using Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diegos services. Other prizes included a 2018 Maserati GranTurismo Sport convertible, seven night vacation to Thailand or $5,000, $150 gift card to the Herb & Wood restaurant, Philips Avance ProMix hand blender, Yamaha NX-50 computer speakers, Polaroid ZIP mobile photo printer and OXO Steel food storage set. A single ticket for this years contest was $150, or contestants could buy three tickets for $400 or five tickets for $550. * * * Raffle websites Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver milehighraffle.com Special Olympics Southern California socalraffle.com Yerba Buena Center for the Arts sfraffle.com Special Olympics Washington pugetsoundraffle.com Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northern California sacramentoraffle.com Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego sdraffle.com Business phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar ALSO Consultant makes money on dream house raffles, even if nobody wins a home Dream House Raffle doesnt give away dream house again Dream House raffle rarely gives away dream house Grand prize harder to get in 17 Dream House Raffle Children can build their own miniature cardboard harps on Thursday at the Make Music Day in Carlsbad, but its likely their attention will be focused instead on something much, much bigger: the Earth Harp. The elaborate, building-height outdoor harp holds the Guinness World Record as the largest playable stringed instrument. For its Carlsbad installation, the Earth Harps strings will be stretched from the top of the two-story Museum of Making Music to the courtyard below. The harp which will be played every 20 minutes is the star attraction at the all-day, family-friendly, music-making festival. Children can make and play their own instruments, jam on real instruments and more. It runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, June 21. William Close performs on the Earth Harp in concert. (Courtesy photo ) Advertisement The Earth Harp is the creation of Malibu luthier and musician William Close, who has invented more than 100 nontraditional and sculptural instruments over the years. He came to the art form with an education in music, sound design, architecture and sculpture as well as a skill for rigging learned aboard sailboats as a kid. He created the Earth Harp in 1999 when he stretched harp strings across a canyon in Illinois as a musical experiment. The very first one was this idea of stringing the landscape and the earth itself, he said. It was an environmental piece and it caught the publics imagination and I could see that. From that first installation, Closes Earth Harp has become an international phenomenon. It has been strung in concert halls and arenas, from tall buildings and mountainsides and at outdoor festivals in the U.S., China, Israel, Italy, Macau and in Singapore, where it set the Guinness record for having 1,000-foot strings stretched from the roof of a skyscraper. Close competed on Americas Got Talent with the Earth Harp in 2012 and he has custom-built permanent harp installations on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and for a Cirque de Soleil show in Las Vegas. Demand for his instruments is so great that he now has up to four touring Earth Harps ensembles to manage requests. Back in 2007, Close lost most of his instrument collection when a wildfire destroyed his former Malibu home and studio. But from the ashes grew inspiration, including plans for his new home with a built-in Earth Harp with strings that stretch a thousand feet into the nearby mountains. You know the way wildfires are, he said. It cleared the palate and I built a really cool place. William Close stands between two banks of strings while playing his Earth Harp in concert. (Zeynep Yeldan ) As unique as the Earth Harp looks Close stands beneath or between the custom-made wire strings and rubs his hands along them with rosined gloves its actually the otherworldly sound it creates that most mesmerizes audiences. Each vibrating string has the ability to sound like an entire string section. Its such a beautiful sound thats unlike any other instrument, Close said. If it sounded exactly like a cello or a violin, then why not just break out a cello? Close arrived in Carlsbad on Wednesday afternoon to set up the Earth Harp and tune the strings, which are connected at the base to a U-shaped sound bridge and resonator. He said his one- to two-day tuning process always creates the same musical pitches, but the timbre, or quality, of the sound changes, depending on the length of the strings and the environment. When he performs, he plays a mix of original compositions written for the Earth Harp as well as popular tunes that audiences will recognize. On Thursday, hell be performing on both the Earth Harp and his drum jacket, a piece of clothing with a built-in electronic drum kit. Besides the Earth Harp performances, there will be a variety of hands-on opportunities for museum visitors. Children can create their own cardboard harps and acoustic shakers. There will also be two scientific stations using instruments to demonstrate the movement of sound waves. Children can sign up for open-mic sessions, take part in interactive drum circles and jam on multiple instruments. Admission to the museum is free but donations will be accepted on a pay what you will basis. The Museum of Making Music is one of many arts organizations celebrating Make Music Day, a free global celebration of music held each year on June 21. Launched in 1982 in France as the Fete de la Musique, it is now held on the same day in more than 750 cities in 120 countries. There are also a handful of events planned on Thursday in Balboa Park for Make Music Day. Digital music improvisation will be presented from noon to 4 p.m. at The Old Globe. From noon to 5:45 p.m. at Starlight Theatre, there will be audience interactive programs of guitar and ukulele strumming, improvisational singing and native flute open mic. There will also be a drum circle from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on the Presidents Way Lawn. For more details, makemusicday.org/sandiego/ Make Music Day When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, June 21 Where: Museum of Making Music, 5790 Armada Drive, Carlsbad Admission: Pay what you can Phone: (760) 438-5996 Online: museumofmakingmusic.org/makemusicday pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com The team behind Carlsbads popular restaurant Campfire has announced plans to open an 80-seat French bistro just down the street this fall. Jeune et Jolie will open sometime around October at 2659 State St. in Carlsbad Village. It will be the second project conceived by Campfires owner John Resnick and executive chef Andrew Bachelier. Jeune et Jolie which translates from French as young and beautiful is named after the longtime friends young daughters, Elsie June Resnick and Margot Jolie Bachelier. Were a couple of guys who live in Southern California opening a French restaurant, Resnick said. We wanted it to feel inspired by French restaurants but also draw a lens to who we really are. Advertisement Jeune et Jolie restaurant owner John Resnick, left, with his daughter Elsie June, and chef Andrew Bachelier, right, with his daughter, Margot Jolie in the new restaurant space. The girls names inspired the nouvelle French restaurant, which will open this fall in Carlsbad. (Brian Eastman ) Resnick said diners can expect the new location to have the same inspired design ethos and hyper-focus on culinary technique as Campfire, which has become one of the countys most successful new restaurants since it opened in late 2016. Its been incredible, Resnick said of Campfires success. I think I had very high hopes for the restaurant and how the community would respond and those hopes were far surpassed. Campfire celebrates the communal aspects of camping and campfires. Virtually everything on the menu is prepared over an open flame or in a wood-fired oven and the restaurants whimsical interior and its teepee-dominated patio resemble a 1950s-era campground. Like Campfire, Jeune et Jolie will be designed by L.A.s Bells & Whistles interior design firm. Resnick said the petite, white-walled restaurant will have the casual elegance of a classic Parisian bistro. Jeune et Jolie is being built inside a revamped 2,000-square-foot commercial building just a one-minute walk north of Campfire on the same street. Because of their proximity, Resnick said creating a unique niche for the new restaurant is important. A six-year resident of Leucadia, Resnick said his restaurant research process involves constantly being on the lookout for concepts that are new to North County. With Campfire we were trying to make a restaurant with really good food, cocktails and hospitality in an engaging environment and vibe. For Jeune, we are trying to create a French restaurant that would be dynamic and new but still authentic and true to who we are and the location. For Jeune, Resnick and Bachelier have been inspired by the many trips they have taken, separately, to France, and Bachelier is eager to dust off his culinary skills in classic French technique. Carlsbad Village already has an upscale French restaurant, Paon, which is a favorite of Resnick and his wife. To distinguish itself, Jeune will have a menu inspired by the cuisine of France as well as its former colonies in the Caribbean, Vietnam and Africa. In keeping with Southern California tastes, Bacheliers dishes at Jeune will be lighter in style with more vegetable and seafood-driven entrees. The restaurant will also have a raw bar. Campfires bar manager Leigh Lacap is overseeing Jeunes wine and cocktail program. The restaurant will serve only natural wines, which are organically farmed and unfiltered. Cocktails will feature French spirits like Cognac and Armangnac and absinthe drinks will be served from a 1920s-style tower fountain. Rather than the toddler-friendly Campfire, Jeune will be more for grown-up get-togethers, date nights and celebrations. It will be open for dinner and brunch only. This will still have that incredible energy and vibrancy of Campfire, but it will be a bit more geared to the big nights of your life, Resnick said. pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com University of California President Janet Napolitano served as U.S. Homeland Security secretary for President Obama from 2009 to 2013. During that time, she says, she considered separating parents from their children as they were processed on charges of illegally entering the United States. But she says she quickly rejected that option, which the Trump administration now embraces. Napolitano spoke with The Times on Tuesday. What do you think of the Trump policy of family separation? I think it is bad policy. It is not a function of law and it is inconsistent with our values. And I think it has the effect of putting a human face on immigration. These are not all MS-13 gang member wannabes. These are parents with sometimes very young children trying to flee to a place where they can have greater opportunities for themselves and their families. This can be undone by the president with a phone call to the attorney general or the secretary of Homeland Security saying, Lets stop this. Did the option of separating families come up while you were Homeland Security secretary? Yes it did. We were dealing with how do we create a safe and secure border area. Would a change in how we handled these first-time migrants who were picked up have any impact? As you work it through and you realize the difference between handling these as civil deportation matters as opposed to criminal prosecution matters, it was pretty clear off the bat that this would not be a good idea. Advertisement Why not? Not only would it require the separation of families but it would be a misallocation of our uses of the U.S. attorneys offices, which would have to pull assistant U.S. attorneys off of cases involving illegal arms, involving large drug shipments, involving human trafficking [and] into handling what under federal law is a misdemeanor, which is your initial apprehension for illegal entry into the United States. And that, in addition to consideration of what would happen to families or children, led us to conclude pretty quickly that it would be a bad idea. And it is. We were very clear that on immigration enforcement, we would prioritize the prosecution and deportation of those who committed serious crimes, those who were known gang members, those who were known security risks. One of the things that the current administration did shortly after they came in was to rewrite those priorities so that basically there are no priorities. Everybodys treated the same. Everybody whos caught gets criminally prosecuted, not just deported, which is where the separation of children and parents happens. The Obama administration also detained families, though it did not separate them. Did that work as a deterrent? No, and it was stopped after a pretty short period of time. Instead what they did was pursue immigration-court remedies so that parents would be given a return date to immigration court to handle their deportation along with their children. And they oftentimes had ankle bracelets or enhanced reporting in during the period between their initial appearance in immigration court and when they were called back for their actual deportation hearing. So the family detention idea didnt last very long, as I recall. What are effective short-term ways to discourage illegal immigration? One technique that we tried that may have had some impact was to do public service announcements in Spanish in those countries, saying basically Dont come to the United States. If you get arrested, you will be deported. And to basically communicate that the nations immigration laws were not a free pass. What about long-term solutions? What the United States should be doing is working with the countries that are the homes of many of these migrants to deal with the push circumstances and to really focus on what is [causing] this kind of immigration, not on these policies that are unduly harsh and really put the United States in a bad light, not only to Americans of both parties but to the rest of the world. Focusing on the leadership of these countries where illegal immigration begins, on building up their own law enforcement and civil institutions so they can crack down on gangs and gang violence in the end will be the most effective way to control the migration from those countries because so many are coming to flee the dangerous circumstances. An impromptu memorial for the slain rapper XXXTentacion turned rowdy Tuesday night as hundreds of people gathered in the street in the Fairfax area, with some climbing onto rooftops and swarming moving cars as police ordered them to disperse. At its peak, the event drew up to 1,000 people to Melrose and Spaulding avenues, where many blocked traffic in the roadway, said Los Angeles Police Officer Tony Im. Dozens in the middle of the crowd formed a mosh pit, jumping up and down. Standing on rooftops, others pumped their fists into the air as a television news helicopter hovered above. At least one person climbed on top of a news van and jumped on the windshield. At one point, a convertible drove past the crowd. When it stopped in the roadway, people swarmed the car on both sides. The gathering was most likely publicized on social media, because the group did not obtain a permit to convene, Im said. Advertisement Shortly after 9 p.m., about two hours after they were first called to the scene, police officers in tactical gear formed a line along a crosswalk and were authorized to use tear gas to disperse the crowd, Im said. They did shoot something into the crowd, probably bean bags, Im said. One officer was struck by a rock. Several times, the crowd began running. People were setting off fireworks, Im said, which startled the crowd and prompted them to take off. An ambulance was called to treat a 20-year-old person with cuts on the head. Its unclear how the person sustained the injuries. As the crowd thinned, a boisterous group moved down the street and continued to stifle traffic, swarming and weaving between cars stopped in the road. At one point, multiple people climbed on top of a car as it drove through the street, with people running next to it on both sides. Police followed at a distance. Were going to try to have them safely leave and try to get the street back in order, Im said. By 10:15 p.m., most of the crowd had dispersed. No one was arrested. Officers formed a line and followed the crowd at a distance. (KTLA ) XXXTentacion, born Jahseh Onfroy, was shot and killed in South Florida on Monday, just three months after he hit the top of the charts with his latest album. He was shot outside Riva Motorsports in Pompano Beach by a gunman who fled the scene after an apparent robbery, according to the Broward County Sheriffs Office. Onfroy was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was 20. alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @AleneTchek UPDATES: 11 p.m.: This article was updated to indicate the crowd dispersed. 10:05 p.m.: This article was updated with more information about the crowd. This article was originally published at 9:10 p.m. Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce joined the growing opposition to the Trump administration policy of separating children from their parents at detention facilities for unauthorized immigrants. As the mayor for the busiest port of entry in the United States, I know firsthand we need a safe and secure border, but I am against separating parents and children, Mayor Kevin Faulconer said in a statement Tuesday. Families shouldnt be used as bargaining chips in the fight over how to repair our broken immigration system. The right thing to do is for the administration to rescind this policy now and for Congress to bring forward broader immigration legislation. The chamber agreed. Advertisement What is occurring at our southern border is not a security measure, said Jerry Sanders, chamber president and CEO who is a former San Diego mayor. A successful border management plan has nothing to do with separating children from their parents. This has to do with our broken immigration system. It is time for our nations leaders to take action to resolve immigration policies, find a solution for Dreamers, and most importantly, end the separation of minor children from their parents. Driving up Interstate 5 from downtown San Diego, you see a landscape that has all kinds of development with brief respites provided by scenic bays, lagoons and river valleys. Then north of Oceanside, it all ends in vast open space save the occasional structure with rolling hills to the right and coastal scrub and glistening ocean to the left. Its hard to imagine this is one of the worlds most storied military training grounds unless you happen to be cruising through when a practice amphibious assault is taking place, with military vessels in the distance. The vast Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton has long been a geographic buffer between San Diego and Orange counties. Advertisement It also separates a unique north-south political split. The hotly contested 49th Congressional District straddles the base and overlaps with much of the 36th state Senate District, which also has a footprint in both counties. (This paragraph has been updated to correctly reflect the relationship of the districts.) Driving farther north on I-5 you wouldnt know youve left Orange County and entered Los Angeles County were it not for a sign. Not so leaving San Diego. Camp Pendleton gives a sense that Orange County is a distant place. It does feel like a different world, said Thad Kousser, chair of the political science department at UC San Diego. He notes the Orange and San Diego portions of the political districts share many things in common. There are military, surfers, suburbs and lots of commuters though among the commuters, one group tends to drive north and the other south, or possibly east-west. Both areas also lean Republican and are becoming increasingly diverse, though the populations remain predominantly white. But within those demographics are notable differences. The Orange County area is more Republican and whiter than the San Diego portion. The economic difference between the two cities bordering Camp Pendleton is substantial: median household income in Oceanside is around $58,000, while in San Clemente it tops $87,000. Theres a bit of a cultural divide, Kousser said. That all helps explain the political trends being felt across the area. Every state Senate district is made up of two Assembly districts. Comparing the ones within the 36th Senate District is instructive. The 76th Assembly District, currently represented by Republican Rocky Chavez of Oceanside, stretches from Encinitas to the northern edge of Camp Pendleton. It long was a Republican stronghold, but not any more. Look at the voter registration: 34 percent Republican, 33 percent Democrat, 27 percent no political preference. The district produced one of the true shockers of the June 5 election. Two Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Tasha Boerner Horvath advanced to the November election under Californias top-two primary system. A Republican with political pedigree, former Gov. Pete Wilsons stepson Phil Graham, finished third. Chavez did not run for re-election and instead waged an unsuccessful congressional bid. The 73rd Assembly District, represented by Republican Bill Brough of Dana Point, is in the Orange County half of the Senate district just north of Pendleton. Like the county itself, it is more Republican than its San Diego counterpart: 45 percent Republican, 27 percent Democrat and 24 percent with no political preference. Brough finished nearly eight points ahead of Democrat Scott Rhinehart, but in November Brough would be expected to pick up much of the double-digit support that went to another Republican, Ed Sachs. Despite the Democratic showing in the San Diego portion of her 36th district, Sen. Pat Bates of Laguna Niguel shouldnt have too much to worry about in November. The Senate Republican leader finished eight points ahead of the only other person on the ballot, Democrat Margie Castellano, who ran with hardly any money. Thats closer than some expected and political leaders took notice. But its hard to imagine Castellano could close that gap, even with the anticipated increased Democratic turnout in the fall. The real marquee campaign in this border region, of course, is in the 49th Congressional District, which stretches from Del Mar to Dana Point and is one of the pivotal races that may determine whether Democrats take over the majority in the House of Representatives. Not only is the San Diego portion more Democratic, there are a lot more voters there. Three-fourths of the districts registered voters live in San Diegos North County, with about one-third Republican, one-third Democrat and 27 percent with no party preference, according to a breakdown by the Voice of OC. Republicans have about an 11-point advantage among the Orange County registered voters. In 2016, when incumbent Republican Darrell Issa narrowly defeated Democrat Doug Applegate, he did so by winning big in Orange County. He lost in the San Diego County portion of the district. He decided not to run for re-election this year. The demographic shifts, voting trends and the prospect of a Democratic blue wave surge in November would seem to bode well for Mike Levin, the Democratic attorney who advanced out of the 49th district primary. Even though he trailed Republican Board of Equalization member Diane Harkey by a substantial margin, Levin had tougher competition on his Democratic flank. Still, Harkey has a lot going for her. She had already solidified much of the Republican base during the primary and, unlike Levin, has had a long elected career as a mayor, state legislator and more recently on the board. Harkey is from Dana Point and Levin from San Juan Capistrano, but dont expect this to be an Orange County-centric campaign. Both of these candidates know where the votes are, UCSDs Kousser said. Most of them are south of Camp Pendleton. Perhaps its fitting symbolism that a huge military base is in the middle of one of the nations hottest political battlegrounds. A jury is being asked to decide whether the San Diego Unified School District fired its in-house investigator because he refused to cover up a principals alleged mishandling of sexual assault cases involving elementary school children. Lawyers on both sides gave closing arguments Tuesday in San Diego Superior Court as the nearly two-week wrongful termination trial came to an end. Michael Gurrieri, the former investigator, was fired because he wouldnt stop complaining about the school district politics that were protecting Bruce Ferguson, then principal at Green Elementary School in San Carlos, attorney Mark Radi told jurors. This case is about a cover up, Radi said. This is David versus Goliath a massive entity (the school district) trying to snuff out a lone investigator. Advertisement Radi said that in 2014, Gurrieri investigated a parents complaint that the principal didnt follow district policies on sexual harassment when one kindergarten boy orally copulated another boy in a bathroom and asked him to do the same. Gurrieri claims he was forced to whittle-down his 34-page findings that referred to additional cases of alleged sexual misconduct, including a complaint that a girl at Green Elementary was molested by three other girls in a bathroom. Gurrieri wanted Ferguson fired. Instead, Gurrieri was fired in October 2014. He had worked for the school districts quality assurance office for about seven months. After being let go, he returned to his previous job as a police detective in South Carolina. His lawsuit claims he was the victim of whistleblower retaliation by district supervisors who wanted to keep the sexual abuse cases quiet. Gurrieri is seeking about $636,000 in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages. Ferguson retired from the district in 2016. Michael Sullivan, attorney for the school district, argued that none of Gurrieris supervisors told him how to write his investigation report, but he was asked to correct errors in the document. Gurrieri didnt pass probation, Sullivan said, because he wasnt doing a good job. Sullivan said district Superintendent Cindy Marten wanted as much transparency as possible in the schools handling of the alleged oral copulation incident. The parents of the victim wanted a copy of Gurrieris report, so other unrelated incidents were edited out, he said. Sullivan also said that the alleged incidents were found to be unsubstantiated, and even the two bathroom cases were non-touching. It was more show me yours, Ill show you mine, Sullivan told jurors. He said Ferguson handled the complaints properly, referring the boys case to Child Protective Services as a possible sexual assault. Sullivan said Gurrieri did not prove his assertion that he was fired at least in part because he complained about wrongful conduct in order to protect the students safety. Jurors began deliberations for about half an hour on Tuesday and were to resume Wednesday. pauline.repard@sduniontribune Twitter: @pdrepard President Donald Trump has named prominent San Diego private litigator Robert Brewer for his pick for U.S. attorney, the White House announced Wednesday. Brewer, 72, a former prosecutor early in his career, had long been rumored to be one of the top candidates for the job. The official selection makes for a bit of a shake-up in the office. The U.S. Department of Justice had previously signaled its support for Adam Braverman, who has been serving as U.S. attorney since November, pending the White Houses appointment. Brewer will still need to pass through the Senate Judiciary Committee and then be confirmed by the Senate, a process that could be especially scrutinizing with California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein as the committees ranking member. Advertisement I am honored by the nomination to serve as the United States attorney for the Southern District of California, Brewer said Wednesday. It will be a great privilege to lead the skillful and dedicated attorneys of the office and to join our law enforcement partners in the Southern District to ensure the safety and security of our community. As of Wednesday, Trump has nominated 73 U.S. attorneys out of 93. The four U.S. attorney nominations for California are traditionally recommended by the states two senators, who form vetting committees. In this case, Sen. Kamala Harris was supposed to recommend the U.S. attorneys for Northern and Southern districts and Feinstein the Central and Eastern districts. Braverman, known for several high-profile Mexican drug cartel prosecutions during his career, said it has been a dream fulfilled to serve as U.S. attorney and promised a smooth transition. There can be no greater honor or privilege than to work with the kind of women and men who dedicate themselves to public service here, Braverman said in a statement. Their work ethic, integrity and principles are unmatched and I consider myself incredibly lucky to call them colleagues and friends. I have been inspired, too, by the dedication of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, who work tirelessly to pursue justice and keep our community safe, he said. I look forward to working with the new U.S. Attorney to ensure a smooth transition and to continue the mission of seeking justice and truth with humility and kindness. Brewer, who lives in downtown San Diego, joined San Diegos Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek law firm in 2015 as of counsel, a special advising position often reserved for experienced attorneys who are neither partners nor associates. His practice focuses on white collar defense and civil litigation, including government investigations, fraud, business and commercial torts, health care and intellectual property disputes, according to the firms website. Before that he was a managing partner in the San Diego office of international powerhouse law firm Jones Day, as well as McKenna Long & Aldridge. This isnt his first stab at the opportunity to be the lead federal prosecutor for San Diego and Imperial counties. He was on the short list of candidates for U.S. attorney in 2002, but the fact that his wife, Irma Gonzalez, was a federal judge in the district was likely seen as a conflict. She has since retired. Brewer last sought public office in 2014, running for San Diego County district attorney against incumbent Bonnie Dumanis. He gained wide support among the countys rank-and-file law enforcement, ran a well-funded campaign and promised to take the politics out of the office. But he lost in the primary to Dumanis. Im not ashamed at all of being a criminal defense attorney, Brewer told the Union-Tribune in an interview during the 2014 district attorney race. It gives me a great perspective. The system is based on both sides being prepared, ethical and aggressive. The picks for U.S. attorney in San Diego and other Southwest border regions will undoubtedly have to take a strong stance on illegal immigration one of Trumps key campaign pillars as well as drug trafficking and cross-border criminal organizations. These federal border issues were not as relevant in Brewers run for district attorney but he did touch on them then. He pointed to his federal prosecutorial background: I think thats very important because especially in a border city and a border jurisdiction you are constantly dealing with border issues which the predominant jurisdiction falls within the federal government. Being an assistant U.S. attorney, speaking their language, trying cases, trying border-related cases provides me a real advantage ... he told the U-Ts editorial board in 2014. His views on medical marijuana also came up. Brewer underwent aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatment to fight non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the late 1990s, likely due to his exposure to Agent Orange from his days as an Army Ranger in Vietnam. He has said he would have considered using medical marijuana had it been available during the brutal cancer fight. The perspective provides interesting context given U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions strong stance against legalizing marijuana in any form. Another question will be how he might handle the ongoing federal investigation into campaign expenditures of Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, should the case go to prosecution. One of Hunters attorneys, former U.S. attorney Gregory Vega, is Brewers colleague at Seltzer Caplan. It is common in certain situations for U.S. attorneys to recuse themselves from cases to prevent actual conflicts of interest or the appearance of such a conflict. Brewer grew up in Ithaca, N.Y., where his father handled alumni affairs at Cornell University. His fathers death during Brewers freshman year at St. Lawrence University prompted him to join the ROTC to pay for school. Just days after graduation in 1968, he reported for duty. The Army Ranger saw heavy combat embedded with the Vietnam Airborne Division. He was awarded the Silver Star for his bravery and leadership during a three-day firefight with North Vietnamese troops and an Air Medal for helping rescue pilots in a downed helicopter, among other honors. He returned to the U.S. after the 13-month tour. As many Vietnam vets did, he felt a pull back to the battlefield and returned 25 years later to find a peaceful, rebuilt country. It exorcised a lot of demons, Brewer told the Union-Tribune in a previous interview. Buoyed by the experience of giving military briefings to special operations officers, he took the advice of one of those officers and graduated from law school at University of San Diego. He began his legal career in the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office then moved on to the U.S. Attorneys Office there. One of his career-defining cases was the prosecution of Marian Zacharski, a Polish spy who stole secrets on U.S. military aircraft and weapons. (Brewer won the case but Zacharski was released from prison after only four years as part of a spy trade.) Brewer moved to San Diego after seven years of prosecuting and launched into private practice. He has counted Boeing, Sempra and Radio Shack among his clients, as well as former Del Mar mayor Nancy Hoover Hunter, whom he defended in the $80 million J. David Dominelli Ponzi scheme investigation in 1989. She was found guilty of tax evasion, but the jury deadlocked on 192 fraud counts. In 1999, he earned a prestigious fellowship in the American College of Trial Lawyers. Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law who has been following the nominations, said it might take a few months for Brewer to get in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Approval could be quick if he is non-controversial, Tobias said. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis More than 2,000 faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States are protesting the separation of immigrant children from their parents in an open letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The letter takes a stand against President Trumps zero tolerance immigration policy, under which thousands of children have been separated from their parents in recent months and are being housed in shelters and tent cities near the U.S.-Mexico border. Signatories call the practice an extreme human-rights breach. The faculty members write that the policies also violate due-process rights and the right to representation for those accused of crimes. The authors express concern that the children affected more than 11,000 of them in shelters in 17 states, according to The New York Times could suffer physical and emotional abuse. Advertisement The local faculty and students signing the petition include: Frances Contreras, UC San Diego Michael Calderon-Zaks, UC San Diego Kelly Gates, UC San Diego Ross Frank, UC San Diego Ana Celia Zentella, UC San Diego Megan Hopkins, UC San Diego Amelia Glaser, UC San Diego Vanesa Ribas, UC San Diego Roshanak Kheshti, UC San Diego Amy M. Cimini, UC San Diego Lisa McDonnell, UC San Diego Dolores Lopez, UC San Diego (student) Gail Perez, University of San Diego Cristian Aquino-Sterling, San Diego State University Sarah Garrity, San Diego State University Alyson Shapiro, San Diego State University Inadequate medical care likely contributed to the majority of deaths in immigration detention between December 2015 and April 2017, according to a new report by a coalition of advocacy organizations. Substandard medical care contributed or led to eight of the 15 deaths reviewed, according to doctors asked to analyze each case for the report released Wednesday as a collaboration between Human Rights Watch, the National Immigrant Justice Center, the Detention Watch Network and the American Civil Liberties Union. For the record: This article previously said that Gerardo Cruz-Sanchez was 32 when he died. Cruz-Sanchez was actually 52 when he died. The picture that it paints is one of a system that fails to ensure the safety of the people it detains, said Clara Long of Human Rights Watch and lead author of the report. Thats significant, she said, because the Trump administration wants to expand its capacity to hold immigrants both adults and children in detention facilities. Under Trump, immigration officials have also started holding pregnant women for longer periods of time and denying release to people who have complex medical needs, she said. Advertisement The report is the third in a series by these organizations that have monitored deaths in immigration custody over time by reviewing Detainee Death Reports, which are government investigations into deaths in custody. Even though time has passed, the human rights researchers keep reaching the same conclusions, Long said, that medical care was insufficient and oversight didnt fix the problem. What has shocked her the most, she said, are cases that illustrate extreme indifference on the part of facility staff or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for immigrants in custody. When asked about the report, Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE, said, ICE takes very seriously the health, safety and welfare of those in our care, including those who come into ICE custody with prior medical conditions or who have never before received appropriate medical care. Any death that happens in ICE custody is a cause for concern. The agency has an oversight mechanism to review all deaths in custody to make sure detention standards were followed, Mack said. ICE is committed to ensuring that everyone in our custody receives timely access to medical services and treatment, Mack added. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment detainees arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. All ICE detainees receive medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to daily sick call and 24-hour emergency care. For researcher Long, the example from the report that stuck out to her was that of Jose Manuel Azurdia Hernandez, a 54-year-old Guatamalan man who died in December 2015 after six months at Adelanto Detention Facility, run by GEO Group in San Bernardino. On December 19, 2015, when a nurse came into Azurdias unit to distribute medication, an officer monitoring the unit told her that Azurdia was sick and vomiting, according to a Detainee Death Report released by ICE. The officer recalled the nurse saying to him that she did not want to see Azurdia because she did not want to get sick. Surveillance footage reviewed by the government investigators showed that about 45 minutes later, another detainee helped Azurdia over to the guard desk, where he spoke with an officer and pointed to his chest. Officers told investigators that Azurdia said his left arm was numb and he was having trouble breathing in addition to the vomiting and chest pain. It turned out Azurdia was having a heart attack. It would be almost 15 minutes before he was wheeled to the medical unit and another nine minutes before he saw a doctor. About five minutes later, a nurse called 911. He died at the hospital four days later. While we cannot comment on specific individual cases due to certain privacy protections, we disagree with the conclusions contained in this report, said Pablo Paez of The GEO Group. In partnership with ICEs Health Corp Services, GEO delivers high-quality around-the-clock medical care, that complies with performance-based standards set by the federal government and adheres to guidelines set by leading third-party accreditation agencies. The three physicians who reviewed Azurdias case said that his death was likely preventable based on how much time passed between the onset of symptoms and when he got help. During a heart attack, every minute counts, Dr. Marc Stern said. A common phrase amongst cardiologists during medical emergencies involving heart complications is Time is Muscle. Every minute is vital to preventing the loss of life, and thus delays by medical and detention staff likely turned a survivable event into a fatal one. Between 2010 and 2017, seven detainees died at Adelanto, more than any other facility in the U.S. Twelve detainees died nationwide in fiscal 2017, the highest number since 14 died in 2009. The reports physicians also found preventable issues with the care of Igor Zyazin, 46-year-old Russian man who died at Otay Mesa Detention Center on May 1, 2016, after being transferred from San Luis Regional Detention Center, a short-term detention facility in Arizona. Four days after he arrived at San Luis, he told a nurse practitioner that he had a heart condition and was on medication for it, according to a Detainee Death Report released by ICE. He only knew the Russian names of the medications. The next morning, Zyazin told an officer monitoring his unit that he was dizzy and his chest hurt. A nurse gave him two doses of nitroglycerin, and later that day, a deportation officer recommended that he be transferred to Otay Mesa Detention Center, a three- to four-hour drive away, for medical care. He arrived in San Diego later that day. He died in his unit at Otay Mesa the day after he arrived. Doctors reviewing Zyazins case for the advocates report found that the nurses care of Zyazin at San Luis was severely deficient and dangerous. They said she should have called 911 or at least alerted a physician. By filling out the transfer note, the nurse was stating that the patient was stable for transfer to another ICE facility, which he was not, Stern said. Assuming that the Detainee Death Report was complete, [Mr. Zyazin] was having a serious acute event at this pointvery likely a heart attackand sending him to the hospital for appropriate care likely would have saved his life. Otay Mesa Detention Center also houses people, including material witnesses in smuggling cases, for the U.S. Marshals Service. One of those inmates, Gerardo Cruz-Sanchez, died at age 52 in February of 2016, shortly before Zyazin. Because he was not an ICE detainee, his death was not included in the new report, but details from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family may shed light onto medical care at the facility. David McGinnis, who was in charge of training at the facility until he recently left the company, testified in a deposition in April that since the detention center moved to its new facility a few years ago, it has been purposefully understaffed by CoreCivic to save money. That understaffing, he said, would make it difficult for officers monitoring units to take bathroom breaks or escort someone to the medical unit. Amanda Sluss Gilchrist, a spokeswoman for CoreCivic, said allegations in Cruz-Sanchezs lawsuit are a matter of active litigation and as such have not been established as fact by the court. In response to the Human Rights Watch report, she said, CoreCivic does not provide medical or mental healthcare services or staffing at Otay Mesa. The federal governments ICE Health Service Corps is solely responsible for contracting, staffing and oversight of any medical and mental health services provided at Otay Mesa. Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter A proposed $900 million housing bond still has a chance to make the November ballot, but its now being characterized as mainly a fallback option to a separate November measure to expand the convention center and address homelessness. Supporters of the convention center measure have expressed concern that two tax increase measures related to housing and homelessness on the same ballot could prompt San Diego voters to reject both. The housing bond would raise taxes on city of San Diego property owners an average of $72 per year to pay for 7,500 subsidized apartments for the chronically homeless, veterans, senior citizens, the disabled and low-income families. The convention center measure would increase hotel taxes to pay for a long-awaited expansion of that facility, repair roads and boost funding for homelessness solutions. Advertisement Despite concerns about both appearing on the same ballot, a City Council committee voted last week to have attorneys for the city draft official ballot language for the housing bond so the full council could possibly place it on the November ballot later this summer. Councilman Chris Ward characterized that decision as less about a commitment to placing the housing bond on the ballot, and more about keeping the councils options open as supporters of the convention center measure gather the signatures required for it to make the ballot. Getting a more fully developed version of this proposal next month will go a long way to help us establish what all the options are viable and available going forward, Ward said. Right now we do not have a qualified measure for the November ballot that addresses housing, he added. And we should leave no opportunities off the table until such a time that we have to make a collective decision about what is going to be available to the voters. Supporters of the housing bond say they are pleased the council committee didnt outright reject it, but theyve also expressed frustration that their measure now appears to be only a fallback option. They have repeatedly said their measure would complement, not compete with, the convention center measure, which could fund counseling and other support services at the 7,500 apartments that the housing bond would fund. Supporters also contend that the subsidized housing their measure would fund is the only proven, long-term solution to homelessness. Critics, however, have said it makes more sense for community leaders to get behind one measure addressing homelessness and housing this November, not have two measures potentially competing for voter support. Under that scenario, supporters of the housing bond would wait until 2020 to submit their proposal to voters. But supporters of the housing bond say now is the time to ask voters to pay for low-income housing. Not only would the bond raise money for local housing, it would help San Diego secure a greater share of state money devoted to homelessness and affordable housing by providing local matching funds typically necessary for such assistance. Without such local funds, San Diego will be eligible for less state assistance than other California cities and counties that have approved similar tax hike measures addressing homelessness in recent years. Those cities and counties home to roughly two-thirds of the states population include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Alameda County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County and Berkeley. In addition, last years Hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego has made local voters more focused on homelessness and aware that aggressive solutions are needed, supporters of the housing bond say. The only solution to homelessness is a permanent home, so we will be very disappointed if were not able to take this to the voters this November, Stephen Russell, head of the San Diego Housing Federation and the man spearheading the bond measure, said on Tuesday. We dont want to wait. Maybe well have to. Political consultants, however, say it would hurt the housing bond to be on the same ballot as the convention center measure because voters would be more likely to opt for a hotel tax on out-of-town visitors than raising their own property taxes. Its also not clear, even in a best-case scenario, whether there is enough support on the council to place the housing bond on the ballot. The council committee vote last week to have the ballot language drafted was 3-2 along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. The Democrats have a 5-4 majority of the full council, but a two-thirds supermajority of the council six of the nine members must approve placing the measure on the ballot because its a tax increase requiring two-thirds approval by the electorate. The convention center measure may need only simply majority approval by voters instead of two-thirds. A state Supreme Court ruling last year reduced the approval threshold for citizens initiatives from two-thirds to a simple majority, but there are lingering legal questions about that ruling. david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick Senate Republicans mobilized on Tuesday to end the administrations policy of separating children from their migrant parents and the mounting political backlash as President Trump publicly held firm, warning that those illegally crossing the border infest our Country. Yet cracks appeared in the White Houses hard line as well, as outrage against the policy grew amid continued media coverage of bedraggled children penned in austere government detention centers. An administration official suggested the president might sign a narrow bill to address the issue, despite his public demands that any measure include $25 billion for his promised border wall and new limits on legal immigration. The president wants a comprehensive fix, the official stressed, adding, but he is willing to strongly consider legislation that would address the separation issue. Advertisement Late in the day Trump met at the Capitol with House Republicans about their proposals for a comprehensive immigration bill. After rambling remarks, including familiar recollections about his 2016 victory, he spoke little of the controversy over separating families or immigration policy generally, and left without giving party leaders the full endorsement they sought for their bill, according to accounts from those in the room. Hours earlier, in a partisan speech to a friendly small-business organization, Trump stuck to his demand that Congress address the crisis as part of a wide-ranging immigration bill that includes money for a border wall. He ignored calls, including from Republicans, that he could end his own six-week-old policy simply with a word. Faced with the presidents resistance to act, however, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters at the Capitol that Senate Republicans would devise a plan that keeps families together. The plan seems likely to accomplish that by detaining families as a whole, not by allowing them to be free pending a deportation hearing, as was typically the case until last month. McConnells deputy, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), said the Senate could act in a matter of days, hopefully this week. More than a dozen Senate Republicans signed a letter to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions urging him to suspend family separations until a legislative fix can be signed into law. I dont think anyone has the patience to let him hold children hostage for a wall, one senior Republican aide in the Senate said. He can get that funding the old-fashioned way, through a budget request. It remained unclear, however, whether House Republicans would go along. And Senate Democrats, believing they have the upper hand politically, are resisting giving Republicans help to fix the issue. Legislation is not the way to go here, when its so easy for the president to sign it, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer told reporters. More Republicans echoed that sentiment, even as they searched for legislative fixes. The White House could change it in five minutes, and they should. Its a mistake. Its a change in policy by this administration, said Sen. Lamar Alexander, a senior Republican from Tennessee. Senators in both parties have proposed limited legislation to end the family separations, which have put more than 2,000 children in detention centers since the Trump administration announced its zero tolerance policy six weeks ago. Many parents now face criminal as well as civil prosecution, and because children cant be jailed with their parents, they are detained separately. All Senate Democrats have endorsed a bill by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, while Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican facing reelection in Texas, where much of the crisis is playing out, has proposed a separate measure. The proposals take different tacks to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from separating children from their parents at the border. Backlash builds against Trumps policy splitting families at border, as he falsely blames Democrats Trump, in his earlier remarks to the National Federation of Independent Business, reiterated that he doesnt want families split, yet defended the policy as putting a stop to thousands of child smugglers crossing the border. The president assailed proposals like Cruzs to provide more immigration judges to expedite the backlog of asylum cases at the border. His Justice Department recently announced it was sending 18 additional judges to the border region, however. Cruzs bill calls for hundreds more. I dont want judges. I want border security, Trump said in an extraordinary attack on the longstanding immigration courts system. We have to have a real border. Not judges. Thousands and thousands of judges they want to hire. Who are these people? The president riffed for nearly 20 minutes at the business luncheon on the topic of immigration, veering from scripted lines demonizing child smugglers and Democrats to an aside blaming Mexico for allowing smugglers and drug traffickers to reach the border. Mexico, they do nothing for us, Trump said. Try staying in Mexico a couple days see how long that lasts. The president asserted that the administrations choice on family separations was a hard but necessary one: We can either release all immigrant families and minors who show up at the border from Central America, he said. Or we can arrest the adults for the federal crime of illegal entries. He added: Those are the only two options: Totally open borders or criminal prosecution for lawbreaking. Trump attacked the news media for its reporting on the border crisis. Since late last week, the near-blanket television coverage and published reports from the border with images of young children alone inside detention centers and an audio recording of wailing toddlers has spawned one of the largest backlashes of the tumultuous Trump administration. They are fake, he said of the news media, drawing applause. They are helping these traffickers and these smugglers like nobody would believe. They know it. As he has throughout the controversy, Trump attempted to blame Democrats even though it was his administration that formally announced the policy in May, after considering it since the early days of his presidency. The administration opted to shift to a zero tolerance approach with asylum seekers, believing that the separation of immigrant parents and children would serve as a deterrent to illegal immigration. Bridging the differences among Republicans in control of the White House and Congress is essential to getting any immigration legislation into law, and that didnt seem any closer after Tuesdays events. A bigger problem thus far than any policy in particular is the inability to explain it, said Josh Holmes, a Republican consultant and former chief of staff to McConnell. A failure to have a consistent message about what youre trying to accomplish yields the reality to the pictures that youre seeing on TV, and the pictures that people are seeing are horrifying. As the border crisis showed no sign of ending, only worsening, the question was whether Trump could resist the public pressure to reverse his policy while holding out for legislation. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, whose restrictionist views on immigration often align with the administrations, suggested that Trump, despite his preference for a broad bill that includes border wall funding and limits on legal as well as illegal immigration, would likely accept a narrower measure like the Cruz proposal. I dont see Trump vetoing that if they pass that, Krikorian said. Follow the latest news of the Trump administration on Essential Washington noah.bierman@latimes.com | Twitter: @noahbierman UPDATES: 4:45 p.m.: This article was updated with new details on Senate Republicans and Trumps meeting with House Republicans. This article was originally published at 12:40 p.m. Are FIEs the cause behind the increase in rising pork prices in VN? VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese livestock companies believe that foreign-invested enterprises are involved in the current pork price escalation, and that the livestock industry may fall into foreigners hands just in one or two years. The pork price has been escalating Tran Van Chien, director of Co Dong Livestock Cooperative in Hanoi, said there are abnormal signs in the current price escalation which began one month ago. There are three reasons behind the price surge. First, after the crisis period, household-run farms incurred big losses, went bankrupt and suspended farming. As a result, the number of pigs bred by households decreased by 40-50 percent Second, the households which still farm dont want to sell pigs at this time. They want to delay the sale, waiting for prices to increase further. As the supply has decreased, the pork price has been increasing, now trading at VND50,000 per kilogram. Third, foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) might be behind the price escalations. Households now dont have pigs in large quantity to sell. As most pigs are in FIEs hands, they can easily raise prices, Chien said. Vietnamese livestock companies believe that foreign-invested enterprises are involved in the current pork price escalation, and that the livestock industry may fall into foreigners hands just in one or two years. Chien warned at a conference one year ago that the pig price would plunge and bounce back again, but the profit would go to FIEs pockets, while Vietnamese farmers would be at a disadvantage. Co Dong is a large pig breeding cooperative in the north with 700 farms which generated thousands of jobs. However, most cooperative members have shifted to do farming for FIEs. Co Dong is now breeding 150,000 pigs, of which 130,000 belong to FIEs. Chien said that more farms have been working for FIEs. If the state cannot create a reasonable policy, Vietnams pig breeding industry will fall into foreigners hands in one or two years. If so, the consequences will be serious. The environment will be seriously polluted. The Vietnamese households which once got rich thanks to pig farming will stop farming. Rural workers will lose jobs, he said. An analyst pointed out that FIEs can enjoy big preferences in land and credit access. This is discriminatory treatment between Vietnamese and FIEs which gives FIEs an advantage over Vietnamese companies. People can borrow money from banks without collateral if they do farming for FIEs, but they cannot do this if they farm pigs for themselves, though their assets and farming facilities are exactly the same, he said. If the current unreasonable credit policy is maintained, small and medium enterprises, and households in rural areas wont be able to develop and compete with FIEs, he said. RELATED NEWS VN livestock industry in danger as imports are too cheap High feed prices cut into animal husbandrys profits Thanh Lich State appellate judges have ordered the California Public Utilities Commission to produce at least some of the disputed emails exchanged between regulators and the Governors Office in the run-up to a 2014 deal that charged ratepayers $3.3 billion for the nuclear plant closure. In an opinion issued late Tuesday, the 1st District Court of Appeal gave commission lawyers 10 days to produce many of the communications withheld for years under exemptions from the California Public Records Act. The CPUC did not meet its burden of demonstrat(ing) a clear overbalance on the side of confidentiality between the public interest in nondisclosure and the public interest in disclosure, the ruling states. Judges said the commission must produce all records withheld under the deliberative process privilege, an exemption state lawyers cited in refusing to release at least 40 documents related to the 2012 shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station north of Oceanside. Advertisement But the opinion only directs the commission to produce some of the dozens of emails to and from the Governors Office first sought by the San Diego law firm Aguirre & Severson in 2015. Utilities commission spokeswoman Terrie Prosper did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment. The Governors Office also declined to respond to the ruling. Maria Severson, who represents law partner Michael Aguirre in the litigation, said she is pleased with the appellate judges order and looks forward to seeing some of the long-requested documents. We are thankful the court took time to review the records, and urge the governor and CPUC to release those they are still withholding, she said in a telephone interview. We look forward to receipt of the records without redactions and the privilege log to understand just what the CPUC has refused to date to show the public. It is unclear at this point how many documents were ordered to be disclosed and how many were permitted to be withheld because the tabs submitted to the court by the commission contain different numbers of pages. In addition to the records ordered by the court to be produced by next Friday, the commission is required to release whats known as a privilege log, or a list of specific emails or other records withheld by the commission. Severson said the log would help explain who at the commission and Governors Office were communicating about the San Onofre case while the investigation into what caused the plant failure was still active. We are hoping the privilege log sheds light on the universe of documents withheld, she said. The 1st District court ruling does not resolve a discrepancy in the number of emails sent to the judges by the commission. Late last year, commission lawyers acknowledged providing the court fewer emails than they told Aguirre they were withholding and blamed it on an oversight. Aguirre filed a California Public Records Act request for the emails early in 2015, shortly after the commission unanimously approved a settlement that allows plant owners Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric to charge customers $3.3 billion of $4.7 billion in costs related to the 2012 closure. The former San Diego city attorney, Aguirre argued in court papers that the communications were improper and may have influenced what is supposed to be a state utilities commission that is independent of political influence. Previously released records show utility regulators and executives met regularly to discuss matters pending before the commission in secret. Other publicly released records show that Brown met privately with then-Edison CEO Ted Craver for nearly two hours just weeks before another Edison executive and former commission president Michael Peevey sketched out the framework of a deal at a hotel bar in Warsaw, Poland. Most of those deal points were subsequently incorporated into the settlement commissioners approved in 2014, effectively sticking customers with the multibillion-dollar cost of the plant failure. The secret meeting in Warsaw became the subject of a criminal investigation opened by the state Attorney Generals Office in 2014. But despite executing at least six search warrants and seizing more than 1 million pages of internal utility and commission documents, no charges have been filed. In an unrelated lawsuit, Aguirre and Severson sued to reverse terms of the San Onofre settlement. Last year, they reached an agreement with Edison and SDG&E to whittle $775 million from the $3.3 billion in closure costs to be paid by ratepayers, but the commission has refused to sign off on the arrangement. Watchdog Videos On Now Sexual misconduct accusers worry deputy is being protected 6:16 On Now City funded $2-million waterfront bathroom 1:26 On Now Public water district charges customer for legal work, response to records request On Now Video: Tiny homes won't be reused amid housing, homeless crisis On Now Attorney General seeks documentation for Miss Middle East On Now Rep. Hunter probe covers possible fraud On Now Video: SDG&E delaying solar credit for some low-income housing tenants On Now Video: Former San Diego Junior Theatre teacher sentenced for sex with teen girl 0:24 On Now Video: Shelter volunteers believe they were fired for finding a dog a home 0:49 On Now McKamey Manor is leaving San Diego 3:35 jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald TORONTO Canadas Senate gave final passage Tuesday to the federal governments bill to legalize cannabis, though Canadians will have to wait at least a couple of months to legally buy marijuana as their country becomes the second in the world to make pot legal nationwide. Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government had hoped to make pot legal by July 1, but the government has said provincial and territorial governments will need eight to 12 weeks following Senate passage and royal assent to prepare for retail sales. Trudeaus government is expected to decide a date that would legalize it in early or mid-September. Its been too easy for our kids to get marijuana and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate, Trudeau tweeted. Canada is following the lead of Uruguay in allowing a nationwide, legal marijuana market, although each Canadian province is working up its own rules for pot sales. The federal government and the provinces also still need to publish regulations that will govern the cannabis trade. Advertisement Canada is the largest developed country to end a nationwide prohibition on marijuana use. In the U.S., nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana. California, home to one in eight Americans, launched the United States biggest legal marijuana marketplace on Jan. 1. Rowdy protesters crashed Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsens work dinner at a Mexican restaurant on Tuesday night and left her speechless. The demonstrators marched into the MXDC restaurant in Washington around 8 p.m. and confronted Nielsen and her dinner companion on the Trump administration policy she defended allowing migrant kids to be taken from their parents. How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as youre deporting, imprisoning tens and thousands of people who come here seeking asylum? a man bellowed. Nielsen refused to acknowledge the protesters and stared at her food instead, according to video of the encounter. She never touched her cutlery and only moved to make a phone call as Secret Service agents stopped the protesters from stepping closer. Advertisement Protesters rallied for about 10 minutes, alternating between chants of shame and If kids dont eat in peace, you dont eat in peace. Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America took credit for the stunt. We will not stand by and let Secretary Nielsen dine in peace while she is directing her employees to tear little girls away from their mothers and crying boys away from their fathers at our border, said activist Margaret McLaughlin in a statement. Erica Olmstead, who witnessed the demonstration unfold, said some patrons at the intimate eatery joined the protesters in clapping and chanting. Others kept eating and were visibly ambivalent. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen was confronted by protesters while eating at a Mexican restaurant in Washington on Tuesday. (Alex Wong / Getty Images ) She was in the corner on her phone, just staring at her phone. Not engaging at all, Olmstead told the Daily News. The restaurant staff, according to Olmstead, stayed out of the way. An employee who picked up the phone confirmed that the protesters were inside but referred all questions to a manager, who stepped out after the protest. Metropolitan police were dispatched to the restaurant but there were no arrests, according to police and protest organizers. Nielsen left the restaurant soon after the protest ended. I dont think shell be back, Olmstead said. Homeland Security spokesman Tyler Houlton acknowledged the protest and suggested in a tone-deaf tweet that Nielsen feels the same as those upset with the immigration debacle. The secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protesters who share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border, Houlton wrote. Nielsen, speaking through Houlton, said her protesters should reach out to lawmakers instead. President Trump took to Twitter after the demonstration to laud Nielsens contentious White House briefing Monday. Homeland Security @SecNielsen did a fabulous job yesterday at the press conference explaining security at the border and for our country while at the same time recommending changes to obsolete & nasty laws, Trump tweeted. We want heart and security in America! The Taliban has killed 30 Afghan soldiers as hopes of peace from a three-day holiday ceasefire were shattered. Soldiers at checkpoints in the province of Badghis were killed in an ambush from the terrorist group on Wednesday, according to the regional governor. The Taliban had agreed to a three-day ceasefire from last Friday to the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, though said in a statement on Sunday that they would continue fighting. Government officials had unilaterally announced that they were extending their ceasefire, during which ISIS launched an attack that killed 36 people, by 10 days. Advertisement The break in fighting was the first for the Taliban since 2001, when the U.S. and NATO troops forced them from power. International figures, including the head of NATO and Secretary of State Pompeo, had said the ceasefire could lead to peace talks. The Taliban has said it wants to engage directly with the U.S. about the removal of Western troops from the country that have been there since 2001. With News Wire Services Donald Trump Jr. bailed on a fundraiser for George P. Bushs re-election bid in Texas next after a political foe the candidates dad spoke out against Trumps contentious zero tolerance policy. The Presidents eldest son was slated to headline a June 25 fundraiser for the land commissioner but, as reported by the Washington Post, he pulled out of the event after Jeb Bush railed against the Trump administration for using migrant kids as a negotiation tool. The failed presidential candidate tweeted Monday that Trump should end this heartless policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S-Mexico border. Trump reportedly interpreted the tweet as the last straw in years of character attacks against the President and if he continued, the 42-year-old son could face concequences, sources close to situation told the Post. Advertisement Bush, unlike his former Florida governor father, endorsed Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. The Trump administration faced admonishment from another member of the Bush family over the weekend. Former First Lady Laura Bush published an opinion piece slamming the policy that has led to more than 2,000 children being separated from their families. If there is one image that has illustrated for many the heartbreak of children being separated from their parents as they illegally enter the U.S. under a zero-tolerance policy, it is this one: a 2-year-old Honduran girl crying as her mother is searched and detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents. The image, shot by award-winning photographer John Moore on June 12 in McAllen, Texas, has been shared over social media countless of times and has appeared on numerous covers of newspapers across the country including The New York Times. In one cover of the New York Daily News, the image appeared with the headline NEWS SAYS: Callous. Soulless. Craven. Trump. On Thursday, Time magazine created this cover image for its latest issue. And it is powerful. The image is heartbreaking, but it is just one of several photographs that Moore took that night, and it is just one story of numerous others that have been reported over the last several weeks and months as the Trump administration enforces what it calls a zero-tolerance policy for immigrants crossing the border illegally. Under that policy, the Justice Department is criminally prosecuting every immigrant, even those seeking asylum, in a process that ultimately separates adults from children. Journalists have reported that in many cases, children are taken without warning and sent to crowded detention facilities across the country. Pediatricians have raised alarms about the potential long-term effects of separating children from their parents at a tender age. The pope and other religious leaders have also denounced the policy as immoral. The issue has sharply divided Americans (though one poll found most Americans oppose immigrant family separation). Its driven many organizations to raise funds to try to prevent further separations. One of those has used the iconic image of the girl crying to ramp up support. The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, better known by its acronym RAICES, used the photo of the girl to raise money. Jasmin Ramsey on Twitter noted on Tuesday that the organization had raised just over $5 million. That number had ballooned to more than $11.2 million by Wednesday. USA Today reported Tuesday that the mother and the child in the photo were still together. Still, the photo has had a heartwrenching effect on those following the story and the photographer himself. In an interview with CNN, Moore said that the girl in the photo crossed the Rio Grande with her mother and other mostly women and children in rafts that night. He said that he spoke with the mother of the child who said they had been traveling from Honduras for a month. The mother had to set down her daughter to be body-searched, to be frisked, before she was loaded into a van and taken away, Moore told CNN. And that very moment when she sat her little girl down is when she started crying. Moore told The Washington Post that the two were eventually boarded onto a van together and that he never saw them again. "I took only a few photographs and was almost overcome with emotion myself," Moore told Getty Images. "Then very quickly, they were in the van, and I stopped to take a few deep breaths." Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @RunGomez Read The Conversation on Flipboard. The Trump administrations policy of separating families after illegal border crossings is in the spotlight again this week with pressure being put on the president from all angles. The zero-tolerance strategy introduced in April by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to increase prosecution of unauthorized immigrants resulted in at least 2,000 children being separated from their parents since the policy took effect. Trump met with House Republicans on Tuesday amid complaints from lawmakers in both parties and public outrage in the form of protests, criticism from all five living current or former first ladies and increased interest in the conditions the children are living in. As lawmakers look for legislative solutions, we wanted to get a better sense of where our congressional representatives stand on the issue. We sent the five members of San Diego Countys congressional delegation and Californias two senators the same set of questions on Tuesday. What is your view of the unfolding situation with children of unauthorized immigrants being separated from their parents at the border? Public discourse surrounding this issue has included comparisons to Nazi concentration camps and internment camps for U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent during World War II. Is this appropriate? What do you think of the Trump administration policy leading to such separations and how he has handled the last few weeks and days? What are you doing about this? What should Congress do about it? Some responded with general statements on the issue, others replied to each question. Here are the replies weve received so far. Well update this page with more answers as we get them. Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego AP There is no law requiring the separation of families. It is a policy choice, which can be ended today if the President wanted to stop it. Since this administration refuses to treat families humanely, Congress must step up and do the right thing. I am cosponsoring the Keep Families Together Act in the House which would prevent migrant families from being ripped apart. The United States should have a zero tolerance policy for the immoral treatment of children. As a social worker who practiced in medical and psychiatric settings, particularly focusing on children and families, I can say the profound trauma these children are experiencing could cause immediate and long-lasting damage to them. U-T Our nation has laws that are in place and that deserve to be enforced. We owe this to our citizens as well as to our brave men and women enforcing those laws, they need to know they have our support. The amount of individuals with children coming to the border and either entering illegally or presenting themselves at a Port of Entry has increased significantly, more than doubling from previous years. The policy by the prior administration of simply providing a notice to appear and then releasing these individuals into the U.S. for a court date that is three years away is both irresponsible and unsustainable. Additionally, the number of our Border Patrol agents are down, so these agents are trying to handle more with less. For clarification, the policies in place now are the same policies that were in existence with prior administrations. Additionally, most individuals seeking asylum are not being separated from their families. People have legal options for gaining entry into our country and there are consequences to breaking those laws. That said, there are changes in our immigration policy that definitely need to be made and when policies are presented that start with building a border wall, then I am willing to work with any of my colleagues, including Democrats, to resolve the ongoing situation as soon as possible. It is my understanding that President Trump will be addressing the House GOP on this matter, I look forward to hearing more on what he has to say about the situation. U-T Issa has not yet responded. Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego Getty Images What is your view of the unfolding situation with children of unauthorized immigrants being separated from their parents at the border? Separating children from their parents is cruel, immoral, and un-American. It also goes against decades of immigration policies that kept families together and court rulings that established protections for children. As a parent, I can only imagine how devastating it would be to have my child taken away and yet, thats exactly what were doing. This policy abandons the fundamental values of our country, especially the institution of family, which shapes every aspect of our lives. We should be treating immigrant families with respect and dignity that demonstrates American values to the rest of the world. Tearing families apart as an immigration deterrent is repulsive, and its not American. Public discourse surrounding this issue has included comparisons to Nazi concentration camps and internment camps for U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent during World War II. Is this appropriate? I believe that if we dont act swiftly and forcefully to stop this, as with the Nazis and Japanese internment, in years to come, we will look back on ourselves with deep regret and sadness. History and our experience has taught us that we must intervene. They are also similar in that they are motivated by fear and xenophobia. No one should inflict or endure this kind of suffering based on race, religion, nation of origin, or any other discrimination. America was founded as a place of refuge. This is about how we treat those seeking a better life, as our founders were. What do you think of the Trump administration policy leading to such separations and how he has handled the last few weeks and days? Most policy directives if you can even call them that from the White House are chaotic and meant to divide Americans. Once again, the president is resorting to extreme measures to get his border wall and using immigrant children as a bargaining chip. President Trump knows what hes doing, but he likely doesnt know, nor care, the extent to which his policies endanger immigrants. The majority of Americans oppose family separation, but the President continues to listen to a small, extreme minority to justify his actions. This zero tolerance policy is a measured attack on immigrants because he has not gotten his ridiculous border wall. Finally, the administration has stalled for months on the bipartisan proposals Congress has put forward to fix our immigration system to address border security, Dreamers, and more. There is now a bill to address family separation. Yet, the president blames Democrats in Congress for his administration's decision. Unfortunately, Trump continues to spread false information in an attempt to get his border wall. What are you doing about this? I helped introduce the Keep Families Together Act, which prohibits Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials from separating children from their parents, except in extraordinary circumstances, like trafficking indicators or other concerns of risk to the child. It also requires DHS to develop policies and procedures allowing parents and children to locate each other and reunite if they have been separated. Congress would have oversight of implementation by requiring a report from DHS on the separation of families every six months to explain their reasoning for each case. Im also urging my Republican colleagues to support and help pass this bill. Truth and what is right always transcends party. Theres no question we need to be unified against this practice to stop it. What should Congress do about it? Congress needs to pass the Keep Families Together Act as soon as possible. Its clear the Trump Administration has no intention of reversing this cruel policy which they could with the stroke of a pen so Congress needs to act. On a larger scale, it is beyond time to debate and pass comprehensive immigration reform so we can address family separation, Dreamers, border security, and more. Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego Chadd Cady Ripping children from the arms of their parents who are fleeing violence and seeking safety at the border is cruel, inhumane, and un-American. It is shameful that the Trump Administrations anti-immigrant policies have come to this. Recently, I led a Congressional visit to various immigration detention centers in San Diego to witness first-hand the effects of President Trumps family separation policy. No child should have to endure what these children are experiencing, and no parent should have their children ripped from their arms. President Trump put this immoral policy in place, he has the power to end itbut his inaction speaks volumes. I cosponsored the Keep Families Together Act and I call on my Republican colleagues to join us in passing this legislation to stand up to this Administration and end this immorality. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-San Francisco Getty Images There is no law that requires a child be taken from a mothers arms while nursing. This is the Trump administrations policy. President Trump could put an end to this immoral policy right now. Further, the crisis created by the administration shouldnt be used to rewrite my 2002 and 2008 laws that protect unaccompanied minors from prolonged detention and guarantee the right to make their case before an immigration judge. Were not going to make a Sophies Choice between the welfare of different groups of children. The United States should not have to choose between keeping nursing babies with their mothers and ensuring minors arent incarcerated for months on end. We can provide all immigrants who arrive at our border seeking asylum with humane, respectful treatment and return them to their country when necessary. Our country is better than this. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-San Francisco AP What is your view of the unfolding situation with children of unauthorized immigrants being separated from their parents at the border? This is a human rights abuse that is being committed by the United States government. Government should be in the business of keeping families together not tearing them apart. Actions by this Administration paint a constellation of attacks on women, children and families. They have issued a directive allowing for more detentions of pregnant women, turning away victims of domestic violence and asylum seekers, and ended DACA. Public discourse surrounding this issue has included comparisons to Nazi concentration camps and internment camps for U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent during World War II. Is this appropriate? What is most inappropriate is this Administrations inhumane policy of ripping parents from their children. It is not who we are as a country and violates our deepest shared values. What do you think of the Trump administration policy leading to such separations and how he has handled the last few weeks and days? President Trump is attempting to use this as leverage to force the government to spend billions in taxpayer money on a wasteful border wall and his anti-immigrant agenda. It is outrageous and immoral. Its a false choice to suggest we either have to protect our border or snatch children from their parents and its misleading to the American public. With a phone call, the President could end this right now. He had claims to be against it, so stop separating children from their parents and stop criminalizing parents for doing what any parent would do, protect their children. It's his administration and he can stop this immediately. What are you doing about this? I worked with Senator Feinstein on legislation to keep families together, continuing to speak truth to this issue, visiting a detention facility and working on cases of mothers seeking asylum who were separated from their children. What should Congress do about it? This has got to be one of those moments where people take a hard look at themselves and asked themselves what is the right thing to do. Republicans and Democrats need to speak out against this policy and should all cosponsor the Keep Families Together Act. Check back for more responses, or if you have a follow up question youd like to have answered, email the address below or tweet it to @sdutIdeas. Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @abbyhamblin ALSO Editorial: Trump, not Democrats, is responsible for cruel policy of separating families Gun violence: We asked San Diego County's congressional members their positions A City Council meeting in National City became tense Tuesday as protesters demanded more information in the case of a man who died after he was restrained and arrested by police last month. That tension escalated when one of the protesters who spoke to the council about the death of Earl McNeil was arrested after she continued to speak past the three-minute limit on public comments. Police officers entered the crowded room as the protester, Tasha Williamson, shouted over Mayor Ron Morrison, speaking about the police chiefs response in the aftermath of McNeils death. 1 / 14 Civil rights activist Tasha Williamson, who is handcuffed, is escorted out the National City council chambers by police after her outburst while speaking about the death of Earl McNeil. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 14 Civil rights activist Tasha Williamson, left, Bishop Cornelius Bowser, Carol Landale, center, with San Diego Gun Violence Prevention, community members Birdie Gutierrez and Sarina Sanchez, right, hold signs outside the National City Council Chambers as they protest the death of Earl McNeil. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 14 People hold up signs in protest over the death of Earl McNeil, who went into medical distress while in the custody of National City police. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 14 Yusef Miller, who is with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, speaks to city council members about the death of Earl McNeil. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 14 Civil rights activist Tasha Williamson speaks to city council members about the death of Earl McNeil. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 14 National City Police Chief Manuel Rodriguez watches as civil rights activist Tasha Williamson yells toward city council members. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 14 Civil rights activist Tasha Williamson yells toward city council members. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 14 Birdie Gutierrez holds her fist up as civil rights activist Tasha Williamson yells at city council members. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 14 National City Police Chief Manuel Rodriguez watches as civil rights activist Tasha Williamson, foreground, yells toward city council members. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 14 Civil rights activist Tasha Williamson yells at National City Police Chief Manuel Rodriguez. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 14 Mayor Ron Morrison watches as civil rights activist Tasha Williamson, foreground, yells while speaking about the death of Earl McNeil. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 14 Civil rights activist Tasha Williamson argues with plainclothes police officers before she is handcuffed and escorted out the National City council chambers. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 14 Civil rights activist Tasha Williamson, who is handcuffed, is escorted out the National City council chambers by police after her outburst while speaking about the death of Earl McNeil. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 14 A National City police lieutenant, center right, keeps people back as police escort civil rights activist Tasha Williamson out of the council chambers after her outburst while speaking about the death of Earl McNeil. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) Advertisement Williamson said she and the McNeil family met with police Chief Manuel Rodriguez Monday. She accused the chief of smirking the entire time Earl McNeils family sat in the room. This is the National City Police Department we sat with yesterday right before the family went to go view Earl McNeil and make funeral arrangements, Williamson said. As she continued to speak after her allotted time had expired, Morrison recessed the meeting. You were disrespectful, Williamson added as she looked at the chief, who was seated at the staff table near the front of the dais. How dare you be disrespectful to the family? Officers escorted Williamson out of the room as other protesters followed. Acting Capt. Alex Hernandez said Williamson was arrested on a count of disrupting a public meeting. Ms. Williamson was given numerous opportunities to stop and she refused, Hernandez said. Williamson is a longtime community activist and co-founder of the San Diego Compassion Project, a group that reaches out to community members who have lost children to accidents and violence. She was one of almost a dozen speakers who called on the National City Police Department to release to the public any video recorded by the body-worn cameras of officers who interacted with McNeil. I think what they did to me yesterday was retaliatory and goes against every fabric of the First Amendment, Williamson said Wednesday of the arrest. She said she was taken to a hospital for wrist injuries she suffered while in custody. When asked why she continued to speak she said, Why should I stop talking? A person died in their custody, and theyre refusing to give us transparent answers by showing us the video. Police have said McNeil went on May 26 to the police station, where he used an outdoor telephone to contact dispatchers. Police said he told them he was high, had a warrant out for his arrest and wanted to kill Jesus. Police said officers found McNeil to be agitated, making irrational statements and acting paranoid. They arrested him on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance. When he became combative, he was placed in the Wrap, a type of restraint, before taking him to county jail, where he began to display signs of medical distress, police said. He stopped breathing while being checked out by paramedics and was taken to a hospital. Hernandez said the department doesnt plan to release body-worn camera footage until the departments investigation is complete. He said the department is awaiting toxicology reports from the Medical Examiners Office. Until we get the Medical Examiners report, were not going to know what actually happened to Mr. McNeil, Hernandez said. Rodriguez, the police chief, said his department is reviewing the demands made by Williamson and others. We all want to know why Mr. McNeil passed. I think were all on the same page with that. Its just that theres a process in place. He said preliminary information from investigators who were present during the autopsy indicates there was no trauma on McNeils body. Williamson said that statement doesnt explain the bruising the family said they found on McNeils head and face. Members of the public were visibly affected by the incident at the Tuesday night council meeting. At least two people walked out of the chambers in tears. Staff writer Lyndsay Winkley contributed to this report. Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com Phone: (619) 293-1876 Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez UPDATES: 5:00 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Tasha Williamson. This article was originally posted June 19, at 7: 40 p.m. Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Celebration gets open container permit, pool nears readiness, sewer rate change ordinance passes second reading The Hanna Town Council met at 6 p.m. on June 12 for a public hearing on the open container permit for King Coal Days Celebration. The permit was approved and the event will run from July 20-22. The public discussion finished and business as usual with the approval of the agenda, approval of the April 16 minutes special meeting and May 8 regular meeting minutes. Larry Korkow, public works director said they had fixed a pipe that fed water to the Hanna Recreation Center. He said once all the water was in to fill the recreation centers pool, the newly-installed pump would be started. Korkow gave the council different prices of trucks he had researched. Craig Kopaz, Engineering Associates said the work on pipes on Jefferson had started. He said there were some fittings that had to be put on the pipes when they got to them. The same situation also happened when they dug on Fourth Street. He said parts had been ordered and they would be installed in the next few days. Kopaz said as the work continues, there would be weekly meetings at 8 a.m. on Tuesdays and invited the board to come. Jeff Neimark, Hanna Marshall, said the new speed sign was working and he thanked the mayor and Sinclair for all their help. He said that the Nugget Bar had been broken into for the second time in recent weeks and the alleged thief was apprehended. He said a tip from the public had helped in the apprehension. Neimark said a law enforcement vehicle had been shot, leaving a dent, sometime between June 1-2. An investigation is ongoing. Vivian Gonzales said the pool was coming close to being open, but she still had to wait for the inspector to get the new license. She also said there will a flea market at the Recreation Center on June 22. Matt Cox, of the South Central Wyoming Emergency Services, said the Hanna station was doing a good job of handling the calls, but due to personnel taking vacations, Elk Mountain station was helping take calls. He said the board was still going over what impact funds might be needed from the wind project of TB Flatts. He said the next board meeting would be 6 p.m. on June 19 at Elk Mountain Fire Station. Michael Zediker was approved as a Housing Board member. Pam Paulson, museum board member, told the council the antique firetruck had been pushed into the new building by public works. After the board and department reports were approved, the council approved the financials. Ordinance 2018-378, the budget for fiscal year 2018-2019 was approved for its second reading. The open container permit for King Coal Days Celebration was approved. The schedule for King Coal Days Celebration on the days July 20-22 was approved. Resolution 2018-487 issuing an open container waiver permit to allow open containers in certain areas within the Town of Hanna was approved. Hanna resident Rose Dabbs had her fowl permit approved. Ordinance 2018-379 was approved on its first reading. The ordinance is amending section 13.08.30 on sewer rates and penalties and section 8.04.100 landfill fees and penalties. In items from the public, Dale Brawley, resident of Hanna, asked about ordinances enforcing removing junk. Mayor Tony Poulos said the procedure was to fill out a nuisance form at town hall and the marshal would investigate. There is not one nuisance form that is filled out that we dont investigate and treat fairly with the other citizens, Neimark said. If you have any questions, I will help you, but there is a process. Brawley thanked the mayor for his time and the mayor thanked Brawley for his participation. Jon Ostling, Hanna resident and candidate for mayor, said he noticed waste from animals in some parks and suggested possibly of using fencing. The mayor thanked him for his suggestion. The next scheduled Hanna Town Council meeting is 6 p.m. on July 10 at the Hanna Town Hall. Weekly Newsletter The best of The Saturday Evening Post in your inbox! Join Aviator glasses from the 1940s. Bell-bottom jeans from the 60s. Scrunchies from the 80s. Theyve all gone out of fashion and returned. Nothing, it seems, ever goes irreversibly out of style. But there have been fashion trends that are so dated, so uncomfortable, or so dangerous that they have little chance of being revived. Here are eight that we hope never make a comeback. 1. The Crinoline Even though the hoop skirt was extraordinarily impractical, it didnt make it any less popular. In the 1850s, almost all women wore some version of this style. The trend began with stiff crinoline petticoats made of horsehair, which flared out the skirt. This was followed by the cage crinoline, a contraption that wasnt as heavy or as hot as horse hair and supported an even wider skirt. Women had to learn how to sit, enter a carriage, bend over, or even walk in a stiff wind without revealing more of themselves than any Victorian would want. Thankfully, as women in the 1900s demanded more freedom of movement and realized that this style was not only impractical but also uncomfortable, they abandoned this monstrosity. 2. The Bustle The second gone-forever fashion is the bustle, a device worn at a womans waist to extend her figure posteriorly, achieving a profile that anticipated Kim Kardashian. The bustle came into being when designers started reducing the wide circumference of the hoop skirt. This new style flattened the front of these very full, highly decorated skirts. The extra material was pushed to the rear. The bustle propped up this material, enabling a woman to wear more skirt than a normal figure would allow. When skirts became less extravagant, the bustle was no longer needed. It faded away and hasnt reappeared since. 3. Knee Breeches They were all the rage in the 18th century. Paintings of the founding father show all the men wearing those curious half pants. They evolved from the short pants of Roman men, which became long enough to reach the knee. In time, wealthier men added the hose that covered the lower part of the leg. Knee breeches seem to have fallen out of fashion in the early 19th century, a victim of the romantic style of the Regency period. Men now wear shorts or full length pants; there has been no serious effort to revive the awkward breech-length for men. 4. Powdered Wigs A fashion trend for both men and women throughout the 18th century was the powdered wig. In addition to being extremely expensive and fragile, these wigs were not cleaned and would become homes to lice, insects, and even rodents. To make matters worse, these towering headpieces were tall enough to brush against low chandeliers, whose candles could easily set one of these wigs alight. The wigs fell out of favor when the British government started taxing wig powder in 1795. In France, elaborate wigs, along with French royalty who wore them, met their end during the French Revolution. Fortunately, we havent yet seen a return of these unsanitary and dangerous hair pieces. 5. Mourning Wear Mourning wear was extremely popular in the Victorian Era. Following a family members death, women would only wear somber, black outfits, often with dark veils, after the death of a husband or child. Several household manual publications would advise them what styles were appropriate and how long they should wear black. For a first cousin, mourning wear could be worn for as little as four weeks. If your husband died, you were expected to be in black for two years. In time, the tradition gave way to a preference for more personal, private expressions of grief. 6. Hobble Skirt The hobble skirt was a short-lived fashion trend of the early 19th century. The slim-fitting skirt was not only extremely uncomfortable, but also made it nearly impossible for women to walk, which is how it earned its nick name hobble skirt and the speed limit skirt. Women wearing these skirts had trouble climbing onto street cars or darting out of the way of traffic. In one extreme incident, a woman at a horse race ended up getting trampled because her skirt didnt allow her to flee from a runaway horse. Thankfully, as women became more active in play and in work, there was a corresponding upsurge of common sense that booted the hobble skirt into permanent absence. 7. Celluloid Collars While women were binding their feet together with tightly hemmed skirts, men were squeezing their necks cruelly with celluloid collars. These tall, rigid collars, which could be washed separately from the shirt, were made of an early form of plastic. Men wore them so tightly that multiple cases of choking were reported. Moreover, celluloid is extremely flammable, and more than once proved dangerous to a wearer who got too near an open flame. Mens collars have become more and more open since those turn-of-the-century times. Nowadays its nearly impossible to get men to wear a tie, let alone a tight, uncomfortable collar. 8. The Mullet And could we forget the mullet? The old description of this unfortunate mutant of a short/long haircut was described as business in the front, party in the back. They could have added awful on both sides. But it was surprisingly popular in its heyday of the 1980s. Stars like Paul McCartney, Mel Gibson, and George Clooney fell victim to the treacherous charms of the mullet. Thankfully, we have been mullet-free since about the 90s. Billy Ray Cyrus, father of Miley Cyrus, recorded a song called I want my mullet back, but we hope that the mullet or any of the styles above is gone for good. Hyderabad, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/18/2018 -- According to the research report published by Market Data Forecast on Spain Cards and Payments Market, the Card-based transactions are growing at a rapid pace in online and retail transactions of Spain increasing the competitive landscape of the country between the local and foreign financial institutions through new product offers and customized solutions for customers. Below are some of the retail and corporate uses targeted marketing strategies implemented by the overseas and foreign banks. Browse the following URL for more details of report @ https://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/Spain-Cards-and-Payments-Market-6929/ Industry segmentation The payment cards demand in the Spanish market varies for corporate and individual users, different age and income groups, travelling for business purpose and holidays, and other factors. The whole industry is categorized into various segments by the domestic banks to identify and capitalize on the most profitable segment to increase their presence in the market and cut down the expenses. The card payments channel's customer segmentation is mainly separated into retail and corporate customers. The retail segment comprises income, demographic and psychographic levels. The corporate segment is separated into small, medium-sized and large enterprises. High profitable segments are the primary focus areas for the leading banks of Spain to capitalize the increasing payments channel market of the country. They mostly include the categories of students, high net worth income individuals and frequent travellers. Several banks of Spain offer value-added services, investment suggestions, and cross-selling card products to their corporate business customers. The cards and payments industry operating banks and payment solution providers of Spain categorize their retail customers based on age, gender, behaviour of spending, and level of income. Customized products, innovative market approaches, and specific promotional offers are provided separately by banks to each section. The popular segments of the retail industry are detailed below. Avail Sample Brochure of the report to understand report usefulness, Get a Copy @ https://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/Spain-Cards-and-Payments-Market-6929/request-sample Co-branded cards Different company associated cards are provided by the banks as a part of their marketing approach targeting potential customers that regularly purchase products of particular renowned brands in the market. Filled with special offers and reward points, these cards can be redeemed by the cardholders at the respective brand stores. Conservative Customers The eurozone debt crisis has forced many customers of Spain to control their spending and follow a limit pattern for their monthly expenses. To encourage such customers, several banks of Spain are offering prepaid cards and cards with fixed spending limits. Bankia offered prepaid cards can be loaded with fixed amount through online or bank branches, which can be helpful for the retail customers that have a predefined monthly budget. Similarly, CaixaBank provides Money Visa card online without any extra charges and concessions like zero maintenance fees for online reloading. HNWI Customers High net worth individuals are offered special benefits like more credit limits and premier facilities by the banks and card providers along with the additional advantages of wealth management, legal and tax suggestions, and business advises. Banks of Spain such as CaixaBank offers the American Express Card Plus credit card particularly for HNWI customers with features like wealth management and business advisory solutions. Similarly, Banco Sabadell offers the Platinum card for HNWIs providing priority services at all the bank's branches in the country. Inquire more @ https://marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/Spain-Cards-and-Payments-Market-6929/inquire Philanthropic and social activists Philanthropic customers are one of the mainly focussed segments of Spanish banks in terms of both debit and credit cards. Several banks are offering customized cards for such customers. For example, Bankia offers Action Against Hunger card, Red Cross card, and Manos Unidas card that donate some portion of each card-based transaction to the charity organizations. Solidarity cards offered by the banks make regular donations to institutions like Down's Syndrome Foundation. The Solidarity Visa card provided by Bankinter donates some percentage of their transactions to social action projects. Self-employed and micro enterprise cards Several banks offer value-added services like business and legal advisory services, travel accident and assistance to the customers that are self-employed and part of micro-enterprises. For instance, Bankia provides Professional Credit and Professional Debit cards to its customers without any charges, and CaixaBank and Banco Popular also provide cards with multiple advantages. Outbound business travellers Travel cards and credit cards are the main preference for the outbound business travellers prior to the eurozone crisis in Spain. The tourism industry has also faced the negative impact due to the financial crisis that resulted in the decreasing outbound business travels during the review period. To promote the payment cards in this division, different variety of cards were introduced by the banks in Spain. Exciting features like international use, insurance coverage for travel accident and assistance and concierge services are integrated to those outbound business travellers' targeted cards. Purchase this report @ https://marketdataforecast.com/cart/buy-now/Spain-Cards-and-Payments-Market-6929/ About Market Data Forecast: Market Data Forecast is a firm working in the areas of market research, business intelligence and consulting. We have rich experience in research and consulting for various business domains to cater to the needs of both individual and corporate clients. A few key business areas that we handle with excellence include business process improvement, corporate financing and decision making based on market research, assisting in developing appropriate strategy and providing consultancy based on extensive research. Contact Us: Abhishek Shukla Sales Manager Market Data Forecast Direct Line: +1-888-702-9626 Mobile: +91 998 555 0206 Mail: abhishek@marketdataforecast.com Sarasota, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/20/2018 -- Global Feed Phytogenic Market: Overview Phytogenics are natural growth promoters on non-antibiotic growth promoters used as feed additives. These are mainly derived from herbs and spices or other plants. They are also used as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters in livestock production. Feed phytogenics are segmented based on types like essential oils, herbs and spices oleoresin and others. And in livestock such as swine, ruminants, aquatics, equine poultry and others. FREE | Request Sample is Available @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/feed-phytogenic-market Global Feed Phytogenic Market: Growth Factors Feed phytogenics market is expected to witness rapid growth over the forecast period. Increasing per capita meat consumption and rising livestock production is the main reason for market growth. Rise in meat consumption brought a significant increase in the utilization of feed additives. Ban on the use of antibiotics as a growth promoter also acted favorably. Furthermore, European Union and U.S. FDA are in support of increased consumption rate of feed phytogenics. Implementation of new technology like encapsulation of active ingredients, the efficacy of phytogenic feed additives improved to great extent. The essential oil is expected to witness highest CAGR in the forecast period. Global Feed Phytogenic Market: Segmentation Feed Phytogenic Market is segmented on the basis of types, livestock and geography. Phytogenics market is segmented in to essential oils, oleoresins, herbs, spices and others like Echinacea, mucilage etc. Essential oil is expected to attain highest market share in the feed phytogenics market. On the basis of livestock, the market is segmented in to ruminants, swine, poultry, aquatic, equine, and pet animals among others. Poultry among the livestock segment is expected to account higher market value in the global feed phytogenics market. Due to increasing demand for safe and organic poultry, poultry is expanded to contribute significant growth for feed phytogenic markets in the forecast period. Global Feed Phytogenic Market: Regional Analysis Asia Pacific has the highest growth in feed phytogenic market. Emerging countries like China, Singapore and Thailand shows the rising demand for feed phytogenics. Middle East and Africa, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe and Japan are the major geographic regions where large number of demand is estimated. Globally Asia Pacific is projected to attain relatively higher revenue share in this market. Europe is expected to witness rapid growth in the forecast period. Due to continuous investments made by European manufacturers in order to expand their geographical presence. Request Free research report Brochure @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/requestbrochure/feed-phytogenic-market Global Feed Phytogenic Market: Competitive Players Some of the important players in Global Feed Phytogenic Market are Delacon Biotechnik Gmbh, Phytobiotics Futterzusatzstoffe Gmbh, BIOMIN Holding GmbH, Cargill Incorporated, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and company, Nutricare Life sciences, Pancosma and Slivestris. Global Feed Phytogenic Market: Regional Segment Analysis North America The U.S. Europe The UK France Germany The Asia Pacific China Japan India Latin America Brazil The Middle East and Africa Request Report TOC (Table of Contents) @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/toc/feed-phytogenic-market About Zion Market Research Zion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the client's needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us. Boca Raton, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/20/2018 -- SunCool Energy Company, which deals with solar power solutions in Florida, is currently running a campaign offering free consultations for residential and commercial property owners. The goal is to educate property owners on the benefits of adding solar power solutions in West Palm Beach and throughout the state in an effort to prepare for the upcoming storm season. "Last year, the state was hit hard by hurricane Irma. There were billions of dollars in damages and people were without electricity for days or even weeks. We're not trying to convince people to switch their entire house or business to using energy from the sun. However, we want to show you how even adding a few panels can make a bid difference if you have to go without power for a few days. Imagine being able to run your refrigerator, a water heater, a few fans and other things in your house during the day while there's no energy? Even if you have a generator, solar power solutions in Miami can help you conserve fuel and save it for night time use or other things." SunCool Energy Company Representative While the majority of people interested in solar power solutions in West Palm Beach are looking for ways to cut down on energy usage and save big throughout the year, the fact is that there are other benefits to utilizing solar power solutions in Miami other than cutting electric costs and receiving tax breaks. The goal of the campaign is to eliminate speculation and provide factual information to the public. "People are amazed at the information they receive when they call us. They are expecting a simple brochure and some basic facts about solar power solutions in Florida. We provide so much more including an estimate of cost, based on the size of your roof, what functionality there will be, how many appliances you can run off of these panels, tax breaks, energy savings and more. This is the information you need in order to make an informed decision and we are happy to provide that to you for free. We encourage everyone to get a free consultation before hurricane season gets in full swing." Interested parties may contact 855-446-2SUN (786) or info@suncoolenergy.com. About SunCool Energy Company For nearly a decade, SunCool Energy Company has served Florida home owners and business owners by providing elite service and high-quality products in the solar industry. Their staff is dedicated to provided the best quality assistance to their clients, helping them to save money and cut down on energy usage throughout the year. Related Links: https://www.facebook.com/SunCool-Energy-Company-162743621020630/ https://twitter.com/Suncoolenergy https://www.linkedin.com/company/suncool-energy-company/ Delray Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/20/2018 -- Florida Healthcare Law Firm's Susan St. John, who has experience with multiple areas of law including intellectual property law Florida and as a Medicare fraud attorney Florida, will be hosting a free webinar on June 20th, 2018. The webinar will cover various topics including what providers need to know about opting out of Medicare. The firm offers monthly webinars and Susan St. John will be hosting this months' event. "We are excited to have Susan host the event this month. She has years of experience as one of our top intellectual property attorney Florida representatives and covers a wide range of topics for her clients. It's important to us that we allow different lawyers within our firm to host these events. Not only does it provide a different perspective for the audience but shows everyone the versatility that we offer. This month's topic was selected based on the request of the audience as well as trending interest in the media. We hope that people will tune in and learn from this event." Florida Healthcare Law Firm Representative Along with monthly blogs, FHLF offers the free webinars in an effort to eliminate misinformation and provide a reliable resource where medical professionals, doctors and business owners can get updated and accurate information online. The topics covered will include telehealth, intellectual property law Florida, the services a Medicare fraud attorney Florida will cover, regulatory compliance, business transactions and more. "Where do you go for updated information on your industry, what's going on and more? You can try news websites, but they aren't going to have the information presented to you in the right context. You can speak with an individual lawyer, but often times they will charge for the consultation or not be aware of a recent trend because they are focused on their work. As a business owner, you need to find a reliable source of information, one that you can tap into again and again. Rather than calling a lawyer and hoping they know the rules, you can call us and directly speak with an intellectual property attorney Florida, someone with years of experience and is ready to assist you." About Florida Healthcare Law Firm Florida Healthcare Law Firm has been around for years, providing high-quality legal assistance to medical businesses and individual clients throughout the State of Florida. Monthly events including free webinars, blogs and other options are conducted to provide business owners and managers a platform to get detailed information related to their field. If you would like to see a topic covered or if you have any questions, feel free to contact us today. Contact Us: The CenterState Bank Building 909 S.E. 5th Avenue, Suite 200 Delray Beach, FL 33483 561-455-7700 (office) 561-455-7701 (fax) 888-455-7702 (toll free) Related Links: https://www.facebook.com/FloridaHealthcareLawFirm https://twitter.com/FLHealthLawFirm https://www.linkedin.com/company/florida-healthcare-law-firm/ Sarasota, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/19/2018 -- Spunbond nonwoven market: overview Spunbond nonwovens define as porous flat sheets and fabrics like materials, made from molten plastic or plastic films or long fibres bounded together by hot-press. Spunbond nonwoven is different from other fibbers, as they are not made by knitting or weaving and they do not need conversion of fibers into yarn. Bonding applied to raw material, which is thermoplastic in nature, such as polypropylene, polyesters, etc. Spunbond nonwoven have various properties, such as they are resistant to heat and chemical, porous, burst strength, elongation to break, and have gram per square meter (GSM) range from 10 to 150. Download Research Report Broachers @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/requestbrochure/spunbond-nonwoven-market Spunbond nonwoven market: Growth factor The drivers for the spunbond nonwoven markets are the end use application like personal care application, medical & hygiene. Increasing demand from the geotextile industry. Increasing demand for the polypropylene spunbond nonwoven material. Increasing the disposable income which influence the use of spunbond non woven products. Increasing the use of baby diapers in developed & developing countries & high cost of finish products, volatile raw material price are the factors which influence the market. Spunbond nonwoven market: Segmentation The spunbond nonwoven market classified on the basis of material type, end-use application, based on function. Based on function the spunbond nonwoven market segmented into disposable, non disposable. The disposable spunbond nonwoven prophesied to significant growth in market. The disposable product is use in personal care & medical sectors large volume. The disposable product segment is best alternative for traditional textile & these are easily dispose-off after use. Based on material type the spunbond nonwoven market bifurcated into polypropylene spunbond nonwoven, polyester spunbond nonwoven, polyethylene spunbond nonwoven, other (in that polyurethane spunbond nonwoven, polyamide spunbond nonwoven, bico spunbond nonwoven). The polypropylene spunbond nonwoven material having low-cost compare to other so having largest share in market, because of growing awareness about its benefits. Polyester shows second largest share in global market especially in industries including automotive, agriculture & medical. Based on end-use application the spunbond nonwoven market is bifurcated into personal care & hygiene, medical, agriculture, packaging, automotive, others (geotextile, apparel, construction). Personal care & hygiene have the largest segment in the market. Having functionality like absorbency, stretch, softness, strength, bacterial barrier & sterility property gives high demand in the spunbond nonwoven market by the end use. Request Free Sample Report @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/spunbond-nonwoven-market Spunbond nonwoven market: Regional analysis In terms of region, the spunbond nonwoven market is classify into North America, Europe, Asia pacific, Latin America, Middle east & Afferica. Asia pacific had anticipated highest growth in spunbond nonwoven market. Having hug amount of availability of raw material, & cheap labour. In Asia countries the India, China, Japan shows high investment than other countries & predict as top players in global market. The North America & Europe are the second largest players in the global market. Spunbond nonwoven market: Competitive players Some of the important key players in spunbond nonwoven market are Schouw & Co. (Denmark), Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Japan), Johns Manville Corporation (US), Fitesa S.A. (Brazil), RadiciGroup SpA (Italy), Avgol Nonwovens (Israel), Kimberly-Clark Corporation (US), Berry Plastics Group, Inc. (US), Toray Industries, Inc. (Japan), Asahi Kasei Corporation (Japan), Pegas Nonwovens SA (Luxembourg), Kuraray Co., Ltd. (Japan), Kolon Industries, Inc. (South Korea), E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (US), and Mogul (Turkey), among others. Request Report TOC (Table of Contents) @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/toc/spunbond-nonwoven-market About Zion Market Research Zion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the client's needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us. Irving, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/20/2018 -- According to a new market report published by Lucintel, the future of the ethylene vinyl acetate market looks attractive with opportunities in the packaging, solar, agriculture, wire & cable, footwear, and automotive industries. The global ethylene vinyl acetate market is expected to reach an estimated $9.9 billion by 2023 with a CAGR of 4.8% from 2018 to 2023. The major growth drivers for this market are growth in the various end use industries, and growing demand from packaging sector, especially in food and medical applications, due to its non-toxic nature. In this market, solar, packaging, footwear, and agriculture are the major end use industries. Lucintel forecasts that solar will remain the largest and highest growth segment over the forecast period supported by growth in solar photovoltaic cells installation in Asia pacific region, especially in China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Browse 142 Market Data Tables and 165 Figures spread through 261 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Ethylene Vinyl Acetate Market- Global Forecast to 2023" http://www.lucintel.com/ethylene-vinyl-acetate-market-2018.aspx Within the ethylene vinyl acetate market, film will remain the largest application during the forecast period due to increasing awareness about the use of solar energy, which is augmenting the demand for EVA film in photovoltaic cells. Lucintel predicts that the demand for ethylene vinyl acetate for film is likely to experience the highest growth in the forecast period due its growing demand in the areas of solar photovoltaic cells, packaging, and agriculture. Download PDF Brochure @ http://www.lucintel.com/rb/ethylene-vinyl-acetate-market-2018.aspx Asia Pacific is expected to remain the largest market by value and volume and will experience the highest growth over the forecast period supported by growth in the various end use industries, such as packaging, footwear, solar photovoltaic cells, and wire & cable. China is the largest market for ethylene vinyl acetate due to its high consumption in footwear, solar, automotive, and wire & cable supported by the high domestic demand. Emerging trends, which have a direct impact on the dynamics of the industry, include increasing demand for EVA in the medical industry and expansion of the solar industry. E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Hanwha Chemical, ExxonMobil Corporation, Formosa Plastics Corporation, LyondellBasell Industries NV, Arkema S.A., Celansese Corporation, USI Corporation, Lotte Chemical Corporation, and Versalis S.p.A. are among the major manufactures of ethylene vinyl acetate. Download Free Sample @ http://www.lucintel.com/ds/ethylene-vinyl-acetate-market-2018.aspx The study includes a forecast for the global ethylene vinyl acetate market by application, by end use industry, by density, and region as follows: By Application [Volume (Million Pounds) and $M shipment analysis for 2012 2023]: - Film - Foam - Adhesives - Others By End Use Industry [Volume (Million Pounds) and $M shipment analysis for 2012 2023]: - Packaging - Solar - Agriculture - Wire & Cable - Automotive - Footwear - Others By Density [Volume (Million Pounds) and $M shipment analysis for 2012 2023]: - Very low density EVA - Low density EVA - Medium density EVA - High density EVA By Region [Volume (Million Pounds) and $M shipment analysis for 2005 2023]: - North America - Europe - Asia Pacific - The Rest of the World Inquiry before buying@ http://www.lucintel.com/pq/ethylene-vinyl-acetate-market-2018.aspx About Lucintel Lucintel, the premier global management consulting and market research firm, creates winning strategies for growth. It offers market assessments, competitive analysis, opportunity analysis, growth consulting, M&A, and due diligence services to executives and key decision-makers in a variety of industries. For further information, visit www.lucintel.com Current Press Releases of Lucintel @ http://www.lucintel.com/press-release.aspx This report answers following 11 key questions: Q.1 What are some of the most promising potential, high-growth opportunities for the global ethylene vinyl acetate market by application (film, foam, adhesives, and others), end use industry (packaging, solar, agriculture, wire & cable, automotive, footwear, and others), by density (very low density EVA, low density EVA, medium density EVA, and high density EVA), and region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World)? Q. 2 Which segments will grow at a faster pace and why? Q.3 Which regions will grow at a faster pace and why? Q.4 What are the key factors affecting market dynamics? What are the drivers and challenges of the market? Q.5 What are the business risks and threats to the market? Q.6 What are emerging trends in this market and the reasons behind them? Q.7 What are the changing demands of customers in the market? Q.8 What are the new developments in the market? Which companies are leading these developments? Q.9 Who are the major players in this market? What strategic initiatives are being implemented by key players for business growth? Q.10 What are some of the competitive products and processes in this area and how big of a threat do they pose for loss of market share via material or product substitution? Q.11 What M & A activities have taken place in the last 5 years in this market? The Goosenecks State Park, located in southeastern Utah, rests upon a high desert mesa overlooking the San Juan River. Here, lying below your feet at a jaw-dropping 1000 feet, the river meanders for five miles, progressing only one linear mile as it steadily flows to join the Colorado River. These immense goosenecks are what inspired the park's name. Long before rafting and river-running were commonplace terms in America, Norman Nevills of Mexican Hat was leading expeditions down the Green, Colorado and Idaho rivers. These trips were quite expensive, with some costing as much as 1500 dollars, a tidy sum during the Depression Era. What is largely forgotten were Nevills' river excursions down the San Juan River from Mexican Hat to Lees Ferry. This excursion over the San Juan and Colorado rivers totaled 191 miles and took seven days to complete. His Canyon Wonderlands Excurisons here on the San Juan were much more affordable, and when Nevills died in 1949 the cost was only 200 dollars. Nevills was the first to offer San Juan River excursions on a regular basis and personally guided over 600 people down the San Juan. The spectacular scenery is reminiscent of what Norman Nevills loved so much about this area. The entire southeastern desert is filled with scenic landscapes and historic landmarks. A climb up Moki Dugway, just to the north, provides another breathtaking viewpoint at Mulley Point. Goosenecks State Park is And getting up to Mulley Point is more than half the fun! From this elevated perch, sightseers overlook the Valley of the Gods, Mexican Hat and one of Arizona's famous attractions, Monument Valley. For an older sampling of the area's history, visit Edge of the Cedars Pueblo, a village inhabited by the Ancestral Puebloans from 825 to 1125 AD. Here you may climb down a ladder to explore a 1000 year old kiva. This southeastern section of Utah is truly a remarkable corner of the state. Area Map Knowing it wouldn't be easy, small groups of settlers arrived in central Pennsylvania in the early 1700s to start fresh, enjoy their religious freedom, and establish farms and businesses in what was considered a wilderness. Retaining some reminders of home back in Europe, the Scotch-Irish from Londonderry named their new homestead Derry Township. Along with subsistence farming, some settlers built mills and general merchandise stores. It wasn't long until these "small worlds" expanded and eventually were linked together with turnpikes. Local iron and steel companies took root, sending their products across the state. Freedom Forge began its iron works in 1795, laying the foundation of modern steel industry. By the beginning of the 19th century, local roads and railroads were extended from town to town. In 1800, Harrisburg was connected to Pittsburgh with a rudimentary turnpike. Today, the old turnpike has either been covered over in concrete and asphalt, or simply faded away over time. One reminder of this historic route is the Old Stone Arch Bridge in Lewistown, built in 1813. The bridge stands as a reminder of yesteryear and the unique craftsmanship of bridge builders. One of the few stone bridges built without a keystone, the Lewistown Stone Bridge is more than 200 years old. Part of a 2002 enhancement grant, the bridge underwent a total refurbishment in 2005. The landscaping, walkways and bank stabilization project was completed the following year, creating a park-like atmosphere around this historic landmark. Spanning Jacks Creek, this bridge site offers photographers, bridge hunters and sightseers a great place to end the day. Area Map General William Bradford and his troops arrived at the confluence of the Poteau and Arkansas rivers on Christmas Day in 1817. Their main objective was to establish a military post in the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. As eastern settlers moved into the new territory, hostilities increased with Native populations of Cherokee and Osage Indians. Fort Smith became the westernmost outpost in the new territory, with hopes to quell the unrest. Despite its importance, the army soon pulled out of the base due to high rates of disease and death. The Fort Smith National Cemetery was established at this time, burying the bodies of 25 percent of the command. During the Civil War Confederate forces occupied Fort Smith until Union troops moved in during the fall of 1863. Over three years of occupation at least 400 Rebel soldiers were buried at the cemetery. In 1867 the burial grounds were nationalized and reactivated, as many of the Civil War dead were moved from the battlefield and reinterred in the expanded cemetery. Many of the dead, in keeping with Arkansas tradition, are buried with their feet facing their headstones, ensuring their bodies will arise facing east, a proper direction on Resurrection Day. This Arkansas cemetery, a National Historic Landmark, is the oldest national cemetery in the United States. Two of the most famous Americans laid to rest here are Brigadier General William O. Darby (U.S. Army Rangers) and Judge Isaac C. Parker (the "hanging judge"). Additional memorials and monuments include a carillon, donated by the American Veterans, a Vietnam Veterans Memorial and a marble memorial to the Unknown Confederate Dead. Area Map Just south of Elko and I-80, Lamoille Canyon Road leads to this beautiful, yet uncharacteristic Nevada landscape scene. Carved out by ancient glacial activity, this scenic section of the Ruby Mountains sits under the watchful eye of Ruby Dome, topping 11,000 feet in elevation. Following Route 227 from the town of Lamoille, the 13 mile scenic drive leads to a string of alpine lakes, waterfalls, and an icy cold Lamoille Creek. Here in the canyon, covered in groves of aspen, white and limber pines, the marmot, pika, beaver and mule deer let byway travelers know this is a well preserved and wild ecosystem. Mountain goats and Rocky Mountain bighorn have a distinct advantage in valley. While enjoying edible plants and grasses in the low lying meadows, their keen eyesight easily detects the movement of mountain lions, coyotes, and bobcats. Even the very young bighorns are able to head quickly to safety among the rocky peaks above the valleys. Designated the official state animal of Nevada in 1973, desert bighorn sheep are well known for their sure-footedness and epic mating battles. The desert bighorn, smaller than the Rocky Mountain bighorn, exists for long periods without water. Although Nevada supports an ever dwindling herd of desert bighorns, in Lamoille Canyon, one of the wettest sections of the Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest, this unique adaptation is not necessary. Here in the Ruby Mountains, the much stockier and muscular Rocky Mountain bighorns prevail. Named after the gemstone garnet, the Ruby Range is one of Nevadas remarkable scenic wonders. Its U-shaped canyons, hanging valleys and granite mountains have inspired the nickname Little Yosemite. Lamoille Canyon and a web of side canyons can be enjoyed at a distance from the Lamoille Canyon National Forest Service Byway. For close up views backcounty routes, such as the Ruby Crest National Recreation Trail and Overland Lake Trail, lead hikers further into this mountain oasis. Area Map It's about a 45 minute drive from the Flagstaff area to one of Arizona's most famous resort cities, a desert setting well known for its glowing red-rock scenery. For some of Arizona's first time visitors, the drive to Sedona from I-40 may come as a big surprise. Route 89A, the highway through Oak Creek Canyon, always earns a top spot on the list of Arizona's scenic drives. Oak Creek Canyon is a stark contrast from the desert beauty of Sedona's red-rock landscape. Following 89A, a 2000 foot deep canyon slices through the Coconino National Forest. Here, the mountainsides are covered in an evergreen blanket of ponderosa pine. A scattering of gambel oak, aspen, and Utah juniper are intermixed in this high elevation forest. An overlook, called the Oak Creek Canyon Vista, gives sightseers a great preview of the canyon as Route 89A drops down from Flagstaff. Over its 14 mile length, the highway descends 4500 feet, and twists its way through a series of switchbacks, while hugging the edges of canyon cliffs. Once in Sedona the forest thins and its famous red-rock landmarks are quite evident. After seeing miles of this immense pine forest, canyon travelers may begin to wonder where are the oaks of Oak Creek Canyon? Some of the best Oak Creek Canyon views are reserved for those willing to do a little exploration on foot. Canyon visitors soon discover that the missing deciduous trees are located in moist areas along creeks and streams. One of the most popular trails, West Fork Oak Creek #108, is a pleasant hike along the Oak Creek streambed. This view looks down onto Oak Creek, a section of the Slide Rock State Park. This stop at the park is another great way to extend your visit in Oak Creek Canyon. It's a winter day in this photo, and a solitary visitor has come to experience the beauty and tranquility of this recreation area. During Arizona's hot summer months, the natural water slide is the place for fun, and a popular oasis for cooling off. Area Map Byway Map Proclaimed a National Monument in 1937, it took another 34 years before Capitol Reef achieved national park status. Phasing out cattle grazing, purchasing remaining Mormon homesteads and annexing additional land areas proved to be the key problems that took years to mitigate. Finally, President Nixon signed the park into law December 18, 1971. Made up of nearly a quarter million acres (378 square miles) of Utah's slickrock country, erosion continues to form Capitol Reef National Park's massive domes and cliffs, soaring spires, unique monoliths, narrow gorges, twisting canyons and natural arches. Capitol Reef is home to many unique geological highlights, especially the Strike Valley of the Waterpocket Fold. Accessible by a short hike from the end of the Upper Muley Twist Canyon, geologists proclaim the fold as one of the largest and best examples of a monocline in North American. A 100-mile long deformation in the Earth's crust, the Waterpocket Fold is Capitol Reef's most dramatic feature. Associated with an underlying fault, the fold has risen more than 7000 feet. Formed between 50 and 70 million years ago, major folds are almost always associated with underlying faults. East of the park, area creeks and the Fremont River have carved out canyons and more of the park's towering monoliths. The Caineville Wash Road heads north from Utah's Route 24 and guides curious sightseers off to an adventure through the slickrock countryside of Cathedral Valley. Early Mormon pioneers settled in the Freemont River Valley during the late 1870s. Never growing to more than ten families, the small community named Fruita had little contact with the outside world. One of the valley's first settlers, Nels Johnson, planted the first orchards. Groves of apples, peaches, plums, almonds and pears still stand today in the shadows of Capitol Reef National Park's towering cliffs. The park has the largest area of groves and orchards of any of the national parks with more than 3000 fruit and nut trees. Just south of Scenic Highway 24 is Capitol Reef's Grand Wash (main photo). Here the sheer cliffs emphasize the power of erosion. After brief downpours, streams turn into torrents, carving away at soft sandstone. Runoff, laden with sand particles, is one of the primary reasons for this rapid down cutting, a process similar to sandpaper wearing away wood. Throughout the park erosional effects are responsible for the ever changing topography. This spring a significant rock fall blocked off the Hickman Bridge Trailhead. Several hundred tons of rocks, including boulders the size of a car, severed the only trail to the 133 foot Hickman Bridge. Closed in March, park officials are studying the best and safest way to establish access the natural bridge. Capitol Reef is certainly another spectacular example of Utah's rugged canyon country. Claiming to be two hours from the nearest traffic light, this remote park is still one of the popular stops along the Grand Circle of national parks. From Arches National Park to the Grand Canyon, southern Utah and northern Arizona offer extended stays and exciting visits to all of the incredible state parks, Navajo Tribal parks and national parklands. Area Map The SS Meteor was one of 44 steam powered, Great Lakes freighters, built with Captain Alexander McDougall's unusual whaleback steamer design. Constructed in Superior, Wisconsin, the American Steel Barge Company launched the 380 foot ship in 1896. Starting out as the Frank Rockefeller, the original cost was just over 180,000 dollars. Throughout its service on the Great Lakes, the ship changed ownership and names at least six times. Designed to haul iron ore, other cargo varied from grain and automobiles to oil, spanning a 73 year period of service. After running aground in 1969 during a snowstorm, the SS Meteor was retired from service and returned to the port where she was launched. The steamer is now planted on Barkers Island, on the shores of Lake Superior and the Osaugie Waterfront Trail. On board tours are available to see the world's last whaleback ship, including many of its original fixtures, such as the steam engine, ship's wheel and sleeping quarters. Battling the elements for well over a century, the ship had taken on a grave state of disrepair. Once assigned to the top ten list of Endangered Historical Properties by the Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation, concerned groups kicked off the S.S. Meteor Preservation and Stabilization Project in 2004. An enthusiastic band of volunteers participated in preservation events every year since then, completing numerous tasks which involved cleaning, rust removal, painting and significant repairs. Area Map The Convict Canyon Basin, made up of ancient metamorphic rock layers, is set apart from remainder of the magnificent scenery of the Sierra-Nevada Range. The trails here, just south of Mammoth Lakes, California, are not interconnected with the trail system of the Sierra-Nevadas. For this reason Convict Lake area is one of the lesser known points in the area, but still attracts quite a bit of attention. This lakeside view captures a line of golden color and the reflection in the deep blue waters of Convict Lake, all enhanced with a chilly dusting of a light snow on the Sevehah Cliffs of Laurel Mountain. Displaying some of the oldest strata in the range, the Convict name begs for further explanation. History tells a story of a band of lawless desperados who escaped a Carson City jail, finding a hideout in the canyon. Robert Morrison, leader of a posse, was killed in a shootout here and is remembered in the naming of Mount Morrison. It's unclear about the gang's fate, but with an inspired posse, one can easily guess the outcome. Access to Convict Lake follows a six mile trail into the Sherwin Range, gaining nearly 2700 feet in elevation. Here, high above Convict Lake, backpackers find the sure-fire way to capture the reflection of a kaleidoscope of autumn color requires an early start. The real adventurer may decide to spend the night. Awake and ready to capture first light pays off in a calm lake view. For those with no desire for hiking, Convict Lake Road leads up to the northeast end of the Lake. Either way, by foot or vehicle, this section of the Sherwin Range is tops for splendid mountain scenery. Area Map Considered one of Missouri's most scenic areas, the clear running rivers of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways attract over a million outdoors lovers every year. With so much to see and do here in southeastern Missouri, it's hard to choose one particular destination. Along with two popular spring destinations nearby, the area east of Eminence and Winona introduces National Park visitors to two more sites well within hiking distance of each other. Not recommended for large motor homes, County Road 522 leads to Klepzig Mill and Rocky Falls. At the "Y" take NN-522 to the old 1928 mill. Built in the sawmill house vernacular, Walter Klepzig's Mill is located in a thicket and may be difficult to spot during the summer. A widened section of the narrow dirt road may be your best clue to find the old mill. Built of rough cut planks, the mill house rests on a foundation of native stone. Most of the millrace still stands, offering an inviting wall for youngsters to scale and do their best on the impromptu balance beam. For on-looking moms, this is the type of adventure that will surely add a few more gray hairs. Beyond the mill is Rocky Falls, located in the Shut Ins area of Rocky Creek. Here the creek was squeezed by volcanic activity, constricting the streambed with rhyolite porphyry. Since rhyolite is much tougher than other rock in the area, a shut in was formed. This simple term from the local Ozark residents simply means a small canyon-like area. Depending on rainfall, Rocky Falls varies from this tame view to a broad, full force waterfall. Supporting plenty of native fish, Rocky Creek continues to the nearby Current River. Area Map Ozark National Scenic Riverways Map A few miles south of the Kentucky-Tennessee border, U.S. Route 127 passes through the small community of Pall Mall and the Sgt Alvin C. York State Historic Park. Here you'll find a tribute to one of the most decorated American soldiers of World War I. The historic park includes the York home, York Mill and Alvin Yorks final resting place at the Wolf River Cemetery. York, a pacifist, was denied conscientious objector status when he was drafted in 1917. Having never traveled more than fifty miles from Pall Mall, York was off to join the fray in Europe. During combat in France, York's platoon wandered behind enemy lines where half of York's fellow soldiers were killed in an ambush. Armed with a pistol and rifle, York took on the German machinegun nest alone, killing more than 20 of the enemy. The day ended with a 131 German soldiers surrendering to York and his half dozen companions. York was honored with a string of prestigious medals, a statue at the Tennessee capital, and this park in his hometown. The park offers tours of the York family home, a two story Colonial Revival dwelling built in 1922. The York Mill, no longer operational, is also open to the public. The mill grounds offer picnic sites and pavilions along the peaceful Wolf River. The cemetery, where Sgt. Alvin C. York and his family are buried, is found just west of his Pall Mall home. Once called the Mount Pleasant Burying Ground, the Wolf River Cemetery dates to the early 1800s, where some of the weathered headstones and markers are no longer discernable. Area Map Less than 15 miles from Lake Michigan, German immigrant Frederick Graue and his family settled in the farming village of Fullersburg during the late 1840s. Among many new arrivals to Illinois, Graue and his brother-in-law built a water-powered sawmill in the area. Striking out on his own a few years later, Graue decided to harness the power from Salt Creek for a grist mill. Using clay material found locally, he and family fired bricks on site and began to raise a four story mill. During the summer of 1852 the building was complete and Graue started up the machinery for the very first time. His mill added an important business near the outskirts of the newly founded City of Chicago. Graue and his family continued to operate the grist mill for 60 years, grinding wheat, corn and other grains produced by local farmers of DuPage County. Several years after the mill had closed it was added to the properties of the Dupage County Forest Preserve. Fullersburg, now known as Oak Brook, saw its residents come together and repair the mill. Opening as a museum in 1951, the old mill now houses a collection of artifacts from the 1850s to the 1890s. Volunteers dress in period clothing to demonstrate the arts of spinning, weaving, churning butter, milling, and other activities common in the lives of early Fullersburg residents. Opposed to American slavery, it was no surprise to find the cellar of Graue Mill to be a regular stop on the Underground Railroad. It was reported that President Lincoln visited Graue Mill on a trip from Chicago to Springfield. Lincoln's visit adds more credence to stories of runaway slaves at the mill. The mill is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and is also the only gristmill, on a national level, to be recognized as an engineering landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Area Map Beyond the glitz of Las Vegas and the deep blue waters of Lake Tahoe, Nevadas visitors may discover one of America's most mountainous states and a preview of the Silver State's rich mining heritage. And quickly apparent, nothing was more important to the mining industry than Nevadas railroads. Today, Nevadas visitors may enjoy a glimpse of Nevada's railroading history in one of the state's railroad museums. In the northeast corner of the state, the East Ely Railroad Depot has been restored to its 1907 appearance, featuring all the rooms of a leading 20th century railroad depot. A ride on their historic steam train will cap off any Ely visit. In Boulder City, a 45 minute rail journey through Mojave Desert brings the original Union Pacific Line to life. Built in 1996, the museum features a variety of refurbished locomotives and railcars. The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City preserves a large piece of the state's railroading history, especially locomotives and cars from the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. A great amount of equipment has been rescued from Hollywood studios, including a classic 4-4-0 steam engine built in 1888. Used in Twenty Century Fox films during the 30s and 40s, the Cooke Locomotive and Machine Company steam-engine helped celebrate the grand opening of the California State Railroad Museum. Today, steam locomotive #8 provides the power for rides at the Carson City railroad museum. Along with full sized equipment, the Nevada State Railroad Museum features an elaborate HO-scale railroad display. Its highly detailed models of Virginia and Truckee, Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and Nevada Copper Belt thrill the younger crowd and gain plenty of respect from rail fans. Area Map Just south of Green Bay, near the town of Ledgeview, Fonferek's Glen marks the beginning of Wisconsin's northeast waterfall country. Heading northward toward Lake Superior, a large collection of falls and cascades may keep waterfall fans busy for days. This Brown County park is located in a rural area, mostly surrounded by farmland. Bower Creek has managed to break through the upper layers of Silurian dolomite, easily eroding away the soft under-layers of cherty dolomite. Here at the falls area a short section of fence marks the overlook, but for the most part you can walk up to the edge of the cliff-face. Steep drop-offs and the deep gorge may catch first time visitors by surprise - please be careful. The 78 acre park also features a natural bridge, where erosion has opened up a skylight in the cliff wall. Bower Creek's lack of water flow cuts down on the beauty of the waterfall, but makes it easy to cross the stream during your search for this natural bridge. Downstream of the falls, the cliff-side becomes negotiable. Unofficial trails are woven throughout the underbrush, and during the spring hikers will be treated to a carpet of wildflowers. The 30 foot waterfall may be the centerpiece for the Fonferek's Glen Conservancy Area, but the gorge and rock bridge deserve a close-up look as well. Area Map During a quest to find the impact site from a falling star in 1916, Monsignor Joseph Bosetti came across a large rock formation just east of Rocky Mountain National Park. Stirred by the Biblical phrase upon this rock I will build my church, Bosetti soon began to envision a church perched on the rock he had just discovered. As with many dreams, Bosetti's lack of funds delayed construction for nearly 20 years. During this time not only did Bosetti keep his dream alive, but struggled with the Colorado Highway Department to keep his rock intact. Eventually, land for the church and retreat center was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Malo, and Denver architect Jacques Benedict transposed Bosettis dream to paper. With Mount Meeker as a backdrop, the Chapel on the Rock took shape. Here in this dramatic Rocky Mountain setting, Bosetti dream was completed in 1936. Adorned with Giacomo-Mussner statues and Franz Mayer stained-glass, Saint Malo is one of those must see Colorado sights. Found just north of Allenspark on Route 7, the Saint Malo Retreat Center offers a three story lodge and a number of conference rooms for religious and spiritual purposes. Camp Saint Malo, a non-profit Catholic retreat, extends invitations to all religions denominations, including groups and individuals. Update: Unfortunately fire and flood has devastated the Saint Malo Retreat and the conference center is closed. While the chapel was undamaged, and renovations at Camp St. Malo were proceeding at a fast pace, a mudslide puts any possible plans to rebuild the property on indefinite hold. Area Map Founded in July 1864, present day Helena grew up around the Last Chance mining camp. And it didn't take long for some of the town's people to decide that Last Chance wasn't an appropriate name for their community. After John Summerville proposed the name Helena, and ultimately chosen, controversy arose over its pronunciation. Founded on a huge gold deposit, the crossroads town of Helena (HEL-i-na) turned into the capital city of Montana as well as the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. Shortly after the city's rise to prominence, Bishop John Carroll led the initiative to build a cathedral church for the Catholic community. With a generous contribution from Thomas Cruse, the church site was selected in 1905. Architect A. O. Von Herbulis of Washington DC was commissioned to design the structure because of his extensive knowledge of European cathedrals. Of the two designs offered, the building committee selected the classic geometric Neo-Gothic design modeled after the famous Votive Church of the Sacred Heart in Vienna, Austria. Although the first church services were held in 1914, the Cathedral of Saint Helena wasn't completed until 1924. Its most notable stained glass windows, designed by F.X. Zettler Firm of Austria, tell the Bible history from Adam and Eve to the 20th century Church. The cathedral's towering twin spires, seen from many vantage points around the city, accentuate the exterior, while its high domed ceiling sets of the dramatic interior. Although the cathedral was severely damaged during a 1935 earthquake, toppling one of the twin spires, the damage was repaired. The church is open for tours, and is best appreciated with the help of a guide. Area Map Not far from the Lost Trail Pass and the Idaho border, Montana's Big Hole River and Big Hole National Battlefield follow Route 43 among the shadows of the Beaverhead Mountains. Resisting a confined life on a small Idaho reservation and encountering brief skirmishes with the U.S. Calvary, it became clear the Nez Perce Indians could no longer live in Idaho territory. Five bands of Nez Perce, hoping to join their allies in Montana, packed up and headed out on an 1170 mile journey. All in agreement with Chief Looking Glass, the Tribe set out on the Lolo Trail to the Bitterroot Valley. Believing they were well ahead of General Oliver O. Howard and his troops, and discounting dreams of death and soldiers, Chief Looking Glass chose to set camp for his 750 people along the Big Hole River. Unknown to the Nez Perce, Col. John Gibbons and the 7th Infantry closed in on the Big Hole valley camp. Army scouts spotted their teepees on August 8, 1877, and a two day battle ensued. The Nez Perce pinned down the army troops while hastily packing their essentials. The Battle of Big Hole totaled the highest casualties of what was called the Nez Perce War. The Big Hole National Battlefield site memorializes the lost lives of the Nez Perce Warriors, their women and children, including the soldiers of the 7th Calvary and the Bitterroot Volunteers. The park grounds encompass the North Fork of the Big Hole River and battle site. Short trails are woven throughout the siege area, howitzer site, the Nez Perce camp site and Big Hole River. Area Map First European to settle on the Delaware River near present day New Hope, fur trader John Pidcock relied on the river to move his goods and trade with area natives. And soon thereafter Pidcock became the first settler to stake his claim on the property. When Quaker John Simpson acquired the land in 1740, he built a modest stone house and grist mill. Simpson died soon thereafter and his miller stayed on, marrying widow Simpson and establishing a thriving farm and milling complex. Enjoying much success, Robert Thompson enlarged the original house, making room for his daughter and son-in-law, William Neely. Across the Delaware, General Washington suffered humiliating defeats in New York, and retreated with his troops through New Jersey. Making a safe camp along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, the Thompson-Neely Home served as a temporary hospital, tending to Washington's troops and two notable patriots, James Monroe and William Washington. A turning point in America's history occurred on Christmas Day, 1776. Strengthened by the watchword Victory or Death, Washington crossed the Delaware River with 2400 men and marched on Trenton in the sleet and snow. Washington Crossing Historic Park interprets this famous crossing and preserves the miller's house and grist mill. The second mill on Pidcock Creek stayed in the Neely family until 1880. Restored to its 1830s appearance, today's mill features an overshot water wheel and Oliver-Evans-style grain elevators. Nearby, the Bowman's Hill Tower was built in 1931 to commemorate the hill's historic role in American history. Reaching 380 feet above sea level, the Bowman Hill was often considered the lookout point for Washington's troops. The Pennsylvania park commission developed the park as a historic shrine, with its secondary role to preserve the area's natural beauty. Created in 1917, the park also honors the famous Crossing Point and the turning point of the American Revolution. Area Map Off to the northwest corner of the state, Mount Greylock is the Massachusetts high point, rising nearly 3500 feet. Along with a web of hiking trails, including the Appalachian Trail, a seasonal road allows visitors to explore the Mount Greylock area. Opened to the public in 1933, one of the summit highlights is the Veterans War Memorial Tower. Built as a permanent war memorial to World War I veterans, the 93 foot tower was originally designed to shine to perpetually for the men and women lost in war. Now, the light is ocasionally extinguished for star parties and during bird migratory seasons. Built of granite blocks by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the stone tower endured harsh weather extremes and many frost and thaw cycles. During its last 80 years the memorial has undergone several improvement projects and total restoration periods. Well known for the marvelous 360 degree views from its observation portals, the tower is now closed once again due to unsafe conditions. Following a total disassembly and reconstruction in 1973, architects are studying the best ways to proceed in a 2014 restoration. Although climbing in the tower is now off-limits, views from the top of Mount Greylock are still spectacular. Nearby the famous Berkshire Hills, this section of the state has always been praised for its mountain beauty. Located in the only taiga-boreal forest in the state, this area was the first section of public land preserved in Massachusetts. Presented with the name Mount Greylock State Reservation, the preserve dates back to 1898. Area Map Not nearly as far removed from the War Between the States in the east as one may think, discoveries of gold brought thousands into the new Montana territory. When John White staked his claim on Grasshopper Creek in 1862, the town of Bannack soon followed. Lured by the promises of a new Eldorado, the gold found here was some of the purest in the West. However, the town's claim of first territorial capital was short lived, as the fickle population moved on to Virginia City, the next boom town. For those that stayed in Bannack (named for the local Bannock Tribe), gold mining continued for almost another century. While its early days were marked by road agents, murders, vigilantes, gangs and lynch mobs, later years saw a quiet Bannack, utilizing all the latest improvements in mining techniques. By the 1950s Bannack was established as a state historic site. With more than 60 buildings on site, Bannack is Montana's most complete ghost town. Buildings included hotels, blacksmith shops, bakeries, saloons and a Masonic Lodge. The Grand Lodge of Masons officially chartered the Bannack Lodge and now hold their annual meetings here every September. Masonic members and the Bannack Association work hand-in-hand with the Montana State Parks Department to promote and preserve this marvelous historic site. Bannack Days, held the third week of July, offer visitors one of the best ways to experience frontier life of the 19th century. Area Map They are tiny nation states, which largely depend upon the assistance of their large and prosperous neighbours to help them out with the necessaries of modern life. Their brightest and best tend to emigrate to these helper nations, with Australia, New Zealand and the US favourite destinations. There is now considerable controversy over the growing influence of China in the western South Pacific, with some alarm being expressed in both Australia and New Zealand at Chinese investments in the islands and deals being struck between Island governments and the Chinese over maritime access, fishing rights and port development projects. Typical of these is a massive new Chinese built facility at Port Vila in Vanuatu, which, it has been suggested, has military as well as commercial potential. The New Zealand government has been so concerned by these developments in what was deemed their zone of influence that they have hugely increased their aid budget to the islands to an annual NZ$1bn, and Australia is being urged to follow suit. The provision of safe, affordable and practical marine transport has been a major issue in the South Pacific, with the island nations having suffered recent tragedies involving old or unsuitable inter-island craft. There is a long legacy of redundant First World ferries or other unwanted ships being gifted or foisted off on island shipping firms which can afford nothing better. Uneconomic, unsuitable and sometimes downright dangerous ships have been pressed into inter-island service and have occasionally come to grief. A fierce critic of aid schemes which suit the donor rather than the recipient, is Dr Stuart Ballantyne, Australian master mariner and naval architect, who has been concerned with transport in the Western Pacific for many years. He instances a notorious case in the 1970s, when a brand new Australian donated ship arrived in Samoa to discover that its draught was too deep to enable it to get alongside in its principal port. He recalls the Pacific Forum Line, which was supposed to bring modern and regular sea transport to the islands, but was doomed by the unsuitable craft which aid provided. The Solomons, Tonga and Vanuatu have all been recipients of gifted craft, which have been far from ideal for the particular maritime needs of the islands. On his recent return from the islands, Dr Ballantyne reports on a voyage he took on a nine year old Japanese ferry which had vehicle deck heights, designed for Japanese trucks, into which the vehicles used in Samoa will not fit. He also noted that the personnel accesses were designed for smaller people than those currently using the ship, with doorways under 1.8m high and 0.5m wide. He also suggests that the use of capable ships for emergency response in a region in which tsunami are identified hazards and devastating cyclones regular occurrences, are not really assisted by the sort of aid vessels provided by Australia as patrol boats. The islands as a result, have to depend on their large neighbours to help in the case of disasters, where the provision of more suitable, multi-functional local craft, could be more effective in providing immediate assistance. As the recipients of these donated craft, it is difficult for the islanders themselves to be critical of their suitability. Dr Ballantyne suggests that by failing to consider the actual practical needs of the islands Australia has been guilty of poor and arrogant behaviour for the past half century. Other critics have suggested the old-colonial- we know best attitude of the traditional donors has made the blandishments of an emergent maritime China (which may be no more focussed on the islanders real needs) more attractive. Maersk said that Happe would join Maersk by 1 January 2019 at the latest and also become a member of the companys board. She will replace Jakob Stausholm, chief finance, strategy and transformation officer and a director of Maersk, who stepped down at the end of March. Maersk took the decision to divide the role into single finance function and functions focused on IT, strategy, digital and transformation. Read more: Maersk finance and strategy chief quits as it accelerates business transformation While Happe takes up the role of cfo her experience in disgitalisation was noted. "Carolina Dybeck Happe brings significant experience from a company with a strong organic and acquisition growth record. In her tenure as CFO, Carolina Dybeck Happe has created substantial shareholder value, successfully streamlined processes and driven the digital agenda in a well-reputed, global company. She draws on a skill set that will benefit our organisation and continued business transformation, said Soren Skou ceo of Maersk. Happe said: "I am happy to join AP Mller - Mrsk at such exciting times. AP Mller - Mrsk is a market leader with solid values and an ambitious strategy that's positioning the company for future growth and value creation. We can all probably think of at least one Ann Arbor house that catches our eye every time we walk, bike, or drive past. We may stare because theyre particularly ornate, oddly shaped, historical, or architecturally striking. They make us wonder what life lived within their (sometimes peculiar) walls might feel like, and whether a house has the subtle power to shape its occupants. Who knows? But to explore this notion further, weve put together this list of Ann Arbor's 10 most interesting houses according to us, of course. Let us know your favorites in the comments. 1. Frank Lloyd Wrights Whiteford-Haddock House 3935 Holden Dr. Although Frank Lloyd Wright's best-known Ann Arbor design is the Palmer House (227 Orchard Hills Dr.), locals recently learned of another, lower-profile, Wright-designed residence called the Whiteford-Haddock House. Wright designed the structure, but it wasn't built until 1979, many years after his death. Since the end of May, when a $1.2 million listing went up for the angular, wood-and-brick, 1,300-square-foot home, weve all been secretly daydreaming about the great books wed write, the memorable dinner parties wed throw, and the brilliant insights wed have, if only we lived in this gorgeous, magazine-spread-ready, tastefully rustic bungalow. 2. The Inverted Parabola House 826 Spring St. Thats not the official name or anything, but the house at 826 Spring St. is distinctive for its uniquely-shaped roofline (which a friend of mine recently compared to a musk ox). With both palladian windows and a doorway arch that visually echo the roofs curved shape, not to mention a green-toned roof, this house is likely to always draw the gaze of passersby. 3. The Eberbach House 1115 Woodlawn St. This Italianate villa is a beaut, and always puts me in mind of my all-too-brief visit to Siena, Italy. Built in the 1860s, the house began life as a farmhouse that offered Eberbach Drug Store owner Christian Eberbachs children who otherwise lived on South Fourth Avenue an opportunity to run around in the countryside. (Eberbach, a pharmacist by trade, also oversaw a farm, founded Hutzel Plumbing Company and Ann Arbor Savings Bank, and was an early organizer of the Republican Party back in the days of Lincoln.) The houses showstopper is the three-story tower rising up from its point of entry. You look at that third level and picture yourself enjoying a birds eye view of the street, or setting up a home office or reading room there. 4. Castle House 1909 Linwood Ave. When I asked friends to suggest their favorite Ann Arbor houses on social media, this is one of the houses that was mentioned again and again. Constructed with what appears to be fieldstone and painted white, the pint-sized castle features four merlons at the center of its facade. The house sticks out among its far more conventional-looking neighbors. When looking at it, you cant help but wonder why and how it was designed in this rough-hewn regal style, and why its original tenant wished to literally make their home their castle. 5. Bridge House 2950 Trillium Lane Written up in The Wall Street Journal in 2011 (and the winner of a couple of design awards), Ann Arbors so-called Bridge House was designed by Connecticut-based architect Wilfred Armster. The reason for the name is obvious: the home looks like a long, dark-gray covered bridge, suspended over a dip in the grassy landscape. Two narrow, staggered rows of windows give the house a kind of space-age private train car vibe. More than anything else, the houses visual impact always reminds me of sci-fi classics like Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey. Inevitably, when a house starkly defies our expectations of shape, we wonder how it looks inside, and how it feels different from our usual experience in domestic spaces. 6. Dome House 5299 W. Ellsworth Rd. Moving from sleek sci-fi to fantasy, theres the monolithic Dome House on West Ellsworth that, were it smaller, would appear a reasonable place to house elves, Smurfs, or a Tim Burton character played by Johnny Depp. Construction on houses like these involves laying a concrete ring foundation, inflating a giant balloon that becomes the exterior, and then continuing the building process from the inside. Would curved walls bend my perspective? Would I miss the hard angles Im accustomed to? I have no idea. But hanging art would be infinitely more challenging. 7. The Mothership House 300 Brookside Dr. This mid-20th-century house (designed by an architect who lived in it), which I dubbed The Mothership years ago, caught my eye because at first glance, its all roof and no house but the windows along the top and bottom ultimately give it a spaceship vibe. When you view the house from the side, and see that the back forms a slanted triangle facing the opposite direction (with even the chimney slanted in a visual echo), you cant help but want to ring the doorbell and ask for a tour. In my younger days, I often wondered, "Wouldnt it be dark in there?" 8. Kempf House Museum 312 S. Division St. Im cheating a little here, since this isnt used as a residence any longer. But every time I go to a Sonic Lunch show, I end up slowly walking past the Kempf House Museum and imagining what Ann Arbor was like when the buildings original owners lived there, right in the heart of what would become downtown. The Greek revival house, built in 1853, looks like a mini-temple with its square columns and floral iron grilles. The German-American Kempf family, who lived in the house in the late 19th and early 20th century, were musicians, so it seems only fitting that their former home is the backdrop to a popular local music tradition today. 9. Tetradecagonal House 2875 Gladstone Ave. A friend tipped me off to check out this dark brown corner house, which has a large 14-sided, or tetradecagonal, section. The building immediately reminded me of the single-car-garage-turned-family-room in my own home that was long and narrow and so oddly proportioned that I couldnt, for a while, figure out how to place furniture within it. I have to imagine I would face an even tougher challenge with a 14-sided space. 10. Block House 814 Pauline Blvd. This white-painted cinder block house at the corner of Pauline and Seventh makes me think of every public school gymnasium I spent time in as a child. (Its as if the rest of the school fell away, and the walls of the gym somehow remained standing.) More than that, though, the simple, aggressively no-nonsense design of it just a cube with absolutely no flourishes or detailing, other than columns of what appear to be glass block windows flanking the door and one metal sculpture attached near its roof always disarms me with its stark minimalism. If you want to see these homes for yourself, check out our handy Google Map: Jenn McKee is a freelance writer with a long history of covering arts and culture in the Ann Arbor area. She also has a pair of blogs: The Adequate Mom and A2 Arts Addict. The inaugural year of a new weekend-long tech event in Ann Arbor included a high-profile summit focused on Michigan's mobility leadership and solving community problems through mobility. Ann Arbor SPARK recently expanded its June Tech Trek and Tech Talk programs to include a Meeting of the Minds Mobility Summit. SPARK partnered with the national organization Meeting of the Minds to create an all-day mobility conference June 14. It was preceded by a day of discussions around investing in the mobility sector on the 13th and followed by Tech Trek, Tech Talk, and a public mobility exhibition called Mobility Row on the 15th. Komal Doshi, director of mobility programs at SPARK, says the ultimate goal in coming years is to expand what was formerly one day of programming around tech in Ann Arbor to an entire week of programs and networking under the umbrella of A2Tech360. Meeting of the Minds is a national think tank that sponsors conferences nationwide regarding different aspects of smart cities. The national organization has only done one other conference centered on mobility before, Doshi says. She says Meeting of the Minds chose Ann Arbor for its second mobility summit because Ann Arbor has "such a strong ecosystem, such a strong drive around the mobility industry." Doshi says much of the summit was focused on positioning Michigan as a leader in the mobility industry. "We discussed the governor's mobility challenge and the chance for us to strengthen the regional ecosystem," Doshi says. "We also talked about how the focus really needs to be on how we meet users' needs. All around southeast Michigan, disadvantaged people are traveling large distances to make it to work and often have job loss for that reason because they don't have a way to get around, to the economic detriment of our society." She says mobility is a "deciding factor" in issues ranging from healthcare access to job opportunities and higher education. "We need to focus on how to use our innovations and grant money ... to (close) these gaps that exist," she says. "The conversations really showcased these gaps and what they mean for the prosperity of the region." The day started with panels and keynote speeches from both local and national organizations, followed by small-group discussions about gaps and challenges in the mobility industry. In the afternoon, participants took a field trip to tour the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti Township. Global auto supplier Visteon provided two live demos on ACM's test tracks, one of vehicle-to-vehicle technology and the other on vehicle-to-infrastructure technology. Additionally, eight other companies did demos in the ACM garages, showing off products ranging from technology that collects data on pavement conditions to controls for lighting infrastructure to cybersecurity for autonomous vehicles. After the field trip, participants were divided into small roundtable discussions of seven or eight people to dive deeper into solving problems in the field. The conference was followed by a networking reception and SPARK's annual FastTrack awards for high-growth local companies. Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com. Photos by Jenn Cornell. Press Release June 20, 2018 Nearly 100 bullying incidents reported daily in schools ANGARA REMINDS SCHOOLS TO IMPLEMENT ANTI-BULLYING POLICIES Senator Sonny Angara has urged the Department on Education (DepEd) to ensure that all public and private kindergarten, elementary and high schools in the country are conducting prevention and intervention programs to address bullying in schools. Angara made the call after receiving data on child protection from DepEd which showed that a total of 19,672 cases of bullying in public and private elementary and high schools were recorded during the school year 2016-2017. Based on a cycle of 202 school days, this translates to 97 reported incidents of bullying in schools every day. "Halos isandaang kaso ng pambu-bully kada araw ang naitala ng DepEd, at posibleng marami pa ang hindi nairereport dahil sa takot, hiya o pag-aalinlangan ng mga biktima ng bullying. Bullying is one of the earliest forms of violence our children encounter. We must do everything we can to protect them from it," said Angara, who principally authored the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 or Republic Act 10627 when he was still a congressman. "To give our children quality education, we must ensure that they have a safe and positive learning environment. Itinulak natin ang Anti-Bullying Law para masiguro ang kaligtasan ng mga bata at para maiwasan ang mga insidente ng bullying sa paaralan," added Angara, who advocated for such measure because his own son was bullied in school. The Anti-Bullying Law mandates all public and private kindergarten, elementary and high schools in the country to adopt anti-bullying policies which would include provisions on prohibited acts, prevention and intervention programs, mechanisms and procedures in handling bullying incidents. Under the law, bullying can be: 1) unwanted physical contact such as punching, pushing, kicking and slapping; 2) any act that causes damage to emotional well-being; 3) any slanderous statement or accusation like directing foul language or profanity and name-calling; 4) gender-based bullying; and, 5) cyber-bullying. The implementing rules and regulations of RA 10627 provide for the proper handling of bullying incidents in schools. Immediate responses should include: 1) calling the attention of any school personnel who could intervene and stop the bullying; 2) separating the students involved; 3) ensuring the victim's safety; and, 4) bringing the bully to the guidance office. The bullying incident should be immediately reported to the school head, who shall then inform the parents or guardian of the victim and the bully about the incident. Considering the nature or severity of the incident, the school head may impose disciplinary measures, such as written reprimand, community service, suspension, exclusion or expulsion, on the bully. Victims and bullies may be referred to trained professionals outside the school such as social workers, psychologists, or child protection specialists for further assessment and appropriate intervention measures. Parents are encouraged to join the intervention program. Parents should also be involved in bullying prevention activities. Schools must conduct education sessions for parents to learn, teach, model, and reinforce positive social and emotional skills to their children. "The school is our children's second home. The law provides a platform for young victims to speak up and seek help. I call on school authorities to be proactive and responsive to the law in order to ensure the safety of the students," Angara said. Press Release June 20, 2018 On World Refugee Day, De Lima files bill to protect refugees and stateless persons In observance of World Refugee Day, Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima today filed a measure seeking to promote and protect the rights of refugees and stateless persons in the country and prescribe a fair procedure for their status determination and eligibility. In filing Senate Bill (SB) No. XX, De Lima noted that despite the country's history of hosting several waves of refugees, the Philippines still lacks a law that sets the criteria and fixes the procedure in determining the status of refugees and stateless persons. "Refugees are a global phenomenon. In different parts of the world, large groups of people are forced to leave their home countries because of war, armed conflicts, and persecution. They are in search of safer places," she said. As of June 2017, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) placed around 65.6 million people around the world who are forcibly displaced worldwide and among them are nearly 22.5 million refugees. UNHCR also disclosed that there are 10 million stateless people who have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights including education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement. De Lima noted that the Philippines served as host to several waves of refugees, including the "White Russians" who fled Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution, the Jews during World War II, the Chinese in the aftermath of the Communist revolution, and the Vietnamese "boat people" after South Vietnam was taken over by North Vietnam. "Throughout the history of refugees, one such place that was always considered as a safe haven is the Philippines. In all instances, we have always provided them safe haven, ever true to our nature as a warm and hospital people," she added. In May 2015, when she was justice secretary, De Lima put forth the idea of sending ships to rescue 3,000 Rohingya refugees from the sea and provide them shelters as a humanitarian measure to avert a humanitarian crisis in the region. Last December, De Lima has supported a draft resolution submitted to the Inter-Parliamentary Union expressing serious concerns over the humanitarian crisis affecting Rohingya people in Myanmar, one of the world's most prosecuted minorities. De Lima explained that although the Philippines has implemented policies that seek to address some of the challenges posed by the global refugee phenomenon and that of the stateless persons, it does not have a clear-cut procedure to determine their status. "[T]here is a need to enact a law to establish that central authority and institutionalize the status determination procedure for refugees and stateless persons," she pointed out. In her measure, also known as the "Refugees and Stateless Persons Protection Act of 2018," De Lima proposed the creation of the Refugees and Stateless Persons Protection Board (Protection Board) as the central authority to determine the status of refugees and stateless persons and their eligibility for protection. The Protection Board is mandated to prescribe rules and regulations to properly implement the Act and to receive, examine and decide applications for status as refugee or stateless persons while promoting programs for their protection. Through the proposed measure, the Senator from Bicol also sought to strengthen the government's cooperation and coordination with the UNHCR and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and other relevant institutions and agencies. "The Protection Board may seek the CHR and the UNHCR for their expertise, technical guidance and assistance. It shall inform the CHR and the UNHCR about relevant policies and programs pursued by the Philippine Government toward ensuring the implementation and compliance with the UN Conventions and the provisions of this Act," she noted. The Philippines is a party to the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the 1967 Protocol, and the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. Press Release June 20, 2018 MESSAGE ON THE CELEBRATION OF WORLD REFUGEE DAY AND FILING OF THE BILL ON REFUGEES AND STATELESS PERSONS PROTECTION Today, we are one with the international community in celebrating World Refugee Day. We thank the Catholic Church, various human rights groups, academic institutions, experts, and other civil society organizations for our collective effort to push for a meaningful measure which seeks to promote and protect the rights of refugees and stateless persons. The Philippines may be a developing country, but history serves as witness that despite our limited resources, we have a big heart and genuine concern for those who are in need. In the past century, we have accommodated the "White Russians" who fled Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution, the Jews during World War II, the Chinese in the aftermath of the Communist revolution, and the Vietnamese "boat people" after South Vietnam was taken over by North Vietnam. As a human rights advocate, I am committed to strengthen our country's stance in providing assistance to refugees. In 2015, during my tenure as justice secretary, I put forth the idea of sending ships to rescue 3,000 Rohingya refugees from the sea and provide them shelter. And now as Senator, I supported a draft resolution submitted to the Inter-Parliamentary Union expressing serious concerns over the humanitarian crisis affecting the Rohingya people in Myanmar. Though the Philippine government has adopted and implemented policies addressing some of the challenges posed by the global refugee phenomenon, primarily the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, we still do not have a law that sets a firm and clear mechanism in determining the status of refugees and stateless persons, and their eligibility for protection in our country. Thus, it is high time to enact a law to institutionalize the status determination procedure for them. The bitter truth: In certain parts of the world, there are still millions of people who live in fear and are sick and tired of decades-old conflict, violence, and persecution; there are parents who only want their children to be safe and to live a normal life but there is nowhere for them to go. There are children, innocent and helpless, who are out in the cold. In his profound message during the World Day of Migrants and Refugees in January 2016, Pope Francis stated: "How many minors are still forced to fight in militias as child soldiers! How many people are victims of organ trafficking, forced begging and sexual exploitation! Today's refugees are fleeing from these aberrant crimes, and they appeal to the Church and the human community to ensure that, in the outstretched hand of those who receive them, they can see the face of the Lord." Sa panukalang batas na inihain ko ngayong araw na ito, ipinapakita natin sa buong mundo ang tunay na katangian ng lahing Pilipino: Maka-Diyos, may malasakit, may respeto sa buhay, dignidad, at karapatang pantao. Now is the time to take another momentous leap in humanity; to strengthen and protect the rights of refugees and stateless persons. Let us take pride in being Filipinos-being responsible citizens and compassionate brothers and sisters living in a just and peaceful community. Press Release June 20, 2018 Si Duterte ang Pambansang Tambay - Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Statement on Duterte's new policy of arresting on sight "tambays" The President and the PNP cannot just make up a law out of thin air. Hanging out has never been a crime. It is not even vagrancy, an act that was decriminalized precisely because of the law's discriminatory and senseless objective. With no law to back up his new policy of arresting on sight so-called "tambays", Duterte wants to demonstrate once again the lengths he would go to be more despotic than his idol Marcos. He has already succeeded in this in several aspects. Foremost among them is having the record for the highest number of Filipinos killed in State-sanctioned extra-judicial executions. And as always, his victims are the poor. In no way will the police be arresting rich teenagers hanging out in posh coffeeshops anytime soon. The new policy is targeted against poor communities and ordinary people on the street with or without any immediate business to attend to. Because it does not matter what the reason one has for being in one place at a particular time, it is the police who will determine by the look of the person whether he or she will be arrested. The arrests are that discriminatory. They are illegal arrests plain and simple. They are arbitrary seizures of persons that exemplify a constitutional violation of the freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. But of course, Duterte does not care about the Constitution when it comes to the poor. And the PNP which is his instrument of oppression and abuse of power in this period of our history does not care less as long as they please him and its generals get their promotions. Under this government, the poor have no rights, not even the right to be in the place they want to be at a given time and occupy a portion of the public space. That right is now only reserved for the middle class and the rich. This new authoritarian and oppressive policy must be resisted at all costs. If there is anyone who is wastefully occupying public space, it is the crazy man in Malacanang. And to think that we are even paying a huge sum of taxpayers' money for an entourage of incompetent officials to aimlessly hang out with him while the country sinks deeper into crisis. Si Duterte ang tunay na tambay ng bansa na walang ginawa kung hindi magmukhang palaging lasing at bangag sa harap ng publiko. Yan ang taong hindi talaga nagtatrabaho, na walang ginawa kung hindi magpatawa, magkalat ng tsismis at intriga, at mambastos ng mga babaeng dumadaan sa harap niya sa araw-araw ng kanyang pagka-pangulo ng bansa. Si Duterte ang tunay na pambansang tambay. Press Release June 20, 2018 Transcript of Interview with Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon Q: On the issues on Boracay SFMD: Tama po iyan, because right now there is no management of this jewel of an island. Boracay contributes so much in the development of our country particularly in the field of tourism and yet, there is not one single body in-charge of Boracay. As we have witnessed, about a dozen of agency would have their own little kingdoms, issuing permits, etc. The local government would utilize their powers under the Local Government Code. So what do you have? A chopsuey of a management. What we would suggest is a strong administrator which can manage the place like this. It cannot be left to where it is today. All that we have now are ad-hoc solutions. We need a master plan and a master plan to be implemented by a single authority. Otherwise, maybe after six months we have some reforms done but these cannot be sustained unless there is a single authority. We are studying as a model the Subic Bay Management Authority. Governor Mraflroes has fully endorsed the idea, even if it will mean a reduction of the powers of the LGUs. For the national interest, we need a governing authority with stronger powers and can coordinate and has the final say on all these development. It must be manned by career and professional people so it could not be a political patronage. Q: On putting Boracay under agrarian reform SFMD: I do not know. The DAR is clear in its position. We will continue to monitor what this exactly means. The chair of the committee said this creates instability in the investment plans particularly for tourism. Q: Are you satisfied doon sa target soft opening? SFMD: That's just a month before the deadline. I assume they can do it and we will monitor their compliance with this commitment. It is their own deadline. We look forward to opening Boracay so that ang ating mga manggagawa na naghihirap dahil sa pagsasara ng kanilang pinagtatrabahuhan ay mabigyang muli ng hanapbuhay. Q: Considering yung basic problems ng water concessionaires hindi pa nila nareresolba? SFMD: They should resolve that. Yes, there are two water concessionaires. The suggestion of the chair is they must already divide the island as they have divided, for example, Metro Manila between two concessionaires. That's one of the suggestions. Q: On meeting the deadline for soft-opening of Boracay SFMD: We will call the to task if they do not meet their own deadline. That's their own deadline. We are looking forward to the first week of September that the Boracay can re-open. The reforms that are being instituted, certainly, will not be finished by that time but at least, the minimum requirements that meet environmental standards will be in place. On the long-term, we propose and the chair has agreed for a single authority to manage Boracay. Q: Are you in favor at least initially of putting it under the coverage of agrarian? SFMD: I don't believe that is feasible. Can you imagine putting topsoil on areas which will be covered by land reforms, so it will be suited for agriculture? Even the representatives of the DAR disowned the undersecretary who said that. There are confusions. Q: On the demolition of West Cove SFMD: There is no exception. They said they will fully finish West Cove demolition. West Cove must be demolished because this is the symbol of the abuses done on Boracay. TO project that we are serious in the reforms that we are doing in Boracay, West Cove, which is the mother of all the violators, must be demolished. Q: Petitioner of the same-sex marriage was advised by the SC to refer the matter to legislators SFMD: I don't really know. I am not very familiar with the issue. I haven't really examined the views expressed during the hearing. Q: Consulting the concerned sectors be part of the process? That's consultation. If there is a bill filed, a committee hearing is a consultation. Necessarily that consultation will happen if a bill is filed. Q: Si CJ Sereno, kasama sa senatorial line up? SFMD: We have not discussed that. I have always taken the position that being a candidate is a personal decision of the person. Q: On tambays SFMD: Vagrancy is not a crime. I do not know on what basis the arrests are being made. There must be a crime committed. The PNP should know that and they can be liable for arbitrary arrest if they violate the law. Sen. Joel Villanueva's statement on the alleged suicide of 2 OFWs in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon We express our deepest condolences to the family of our two overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who reportedly committed suicide while they are abroad providing for their families left behind. We hope that the authorities in Beirut and Riyadh will immediately finish the investigation on whether there was a foul play in the deaths of our kababayans. We also urge our lead agencies the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to provide all necessary assistance to our fallen OFWs and their loved ones. We would also like to stress the importance of mental health amongst our OFWs who are experiencing depression while they are away from their families. Further, we want to reiterate our call for the passage of Senate Bill No. 1819 or "An Act Establishing The Office For Social Welfare Attache" which provides: a) adequate and timely social, economic and legal services to OFWs; b) deployment of social welfare attaches to manage cases of OFWs in distress; and c) ensures coordination among agencies and various groups to address the psychosocial needs of distressed OFWs. We believe that having permanent social welfare attaches in our embassies can help prevent incidents of suicide and cases of abuse against our modern-day heroes. Press Release June 20, 2018 Senate committee seeks updates on Boracay rehab Sen. Cynthia Villar has called for a committee hearing to hear the updates on the rehabilitation being conducted in Boracay Island two months after the island's closure. Villar, chair of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, said the committee will supplement rehabilitation efforts in the island by taking a closer look at the factors that significantly contribute to the deterioration of Boracay's ecological condition and threaten its position as a prime tourist destination. "We will also work to come up with appropriate policies and strategic courses of actions for the protection and sustainable development of the island, including the proposal to create the Boracay Development Council," Villar said. "We will also look at the lingering impact of the closure decision, particularly on the marginalized workers solely relying on their work in the island for their livelihood," she added. The hearing on June 20 will be the second hearing on the Boracay issue. The first one was held in Boracay on March 2, and was attended by Villar, Senators Loren Legarda, Nancy Binay, Joel Villanueva, and Migz Zubiri. During the hearing, the senators learned that informal settlers as well as temporary and permanent structures are encroaching on protected areas in the island. It was also discovered that only 15% of the establishments in the area are connected to the sewerage system and that majority of the establishments had to be demolished due to overbuilding and shoreline easement violations. "Moving forward, this Committee likewise intends to come up with the appropriate legislation that will help in ensuring a concrete and total rehabilitation and sustainability of the ecological nature of Boracay for the years and generations to come," Villar said. The Treasury says a "first version" of its living standards framework will be ready for the government to use in Budget 2019, although it expects to see the measures it uses evolve over time. At the finance and expenditure select committee this morning, Fiona Ross, the Treasury's chief operating officer, and Tim Ng, chief economic adviser, gave a briefing on a proposal by independent economist Conal Smith on the Living Standards Dashboard. The Treasury is currently consulting the public on the document. There are 13 dimensions of current wellbeing that the report says need to be measured: life satisfaction; material standard of living; housing; jobs and earnings; health; knowledge and skills; leisure and recreation; cultural identity/ukaipotanga; safety; environmental quality; civic engagement; social connections; and self and aspirations. There are also four capital stocks to measure - produced capital, natural capital, human capital and social capital. The government plans to use the framework in the 2019 budget, and Ng said the new minister had asked the Treasury to accelerate the work it had been doing. In answer to questions from National's Amy Adams, Ross said the work wasn't being rushed. "We will have the framework in a state that we believe we can put out for the public to see, and for the government to choose how it uses in the budget process," Ross said. "This government has said it will make a first go at a wellbeing budget, and it will take multiple budgets to keep working on that and building it. We don't believe we're rushing into it, we're using the best of the knowledge and evidence that we have in New Zealand and internationally." Adams also asked how the Treasury could be sure the framework was objective and auditable. Ng said proposed wellbeing dimensions like housing and employment were measurable and objective, and other dimensions such as social connectedness could be measured through surveying. "They are necessarily subjective. Having said that, there is evidence of varying degrees of reliability about the connection between those subjective measures - what people report about their own feelings about social connectedness - and outcomes that actually matter, that you would measure as a government and as a policy analyst, things like participation in the labour force." Ng said New Zealand is not alone in testing wellbeing tools, with Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom also doing so, but New Zealand is further ahead as the government wants to use those measurements to frame policy. He stressed that the proposed framework is a first version which Treasury anticipates will evolve with time. "How do we assure the public that this is an objective, well-founded, credible, empirical measure of how we're doing as a nation? Think of the analogue with GDP - and with generally accepted accounting principles - it's now part of the furniture in New Zealand that you measure national income with GDP. it's an international standard, everyone accepts it, nobody questions the numbers. They question what the numbers are telling you. We want to move towards that type of feel with these domains and aspects. "I'm comfortable we've got enough to go on. We're by no means there yet - it's taken GDP 40, 50 years to get to the point it is, and it's still being revised every five years or so, similarly with accounting standards, but they're fit enough for the purposes to which they're put." Ross said Treasury expects to see the framework impact how public sector management operates and to get agencies to work more horizontally on issues that affect multiple agencies, along with how government considers ministerial portfolios. Additionally, Ng said he would like to see the framework give agencies a "more concrete and systematic evidence base" for procurement proposals, and Ross said Treasury would have a clearer understanding of the outcomes it wanted agencies to deliver. Committee chair Michael Wood said the committee wants Treasury to brief it again after it closes public consultation on July 31, and would want to get further briefings from Conal Smith, the paper's author, as well as other organisations. "We're wanting to be very proactive around this issue and to really understand it, to tease out some of the issues in terms of our parliamentary function and what is quite an important piece of direction in terms of economic and social policies," Wood said. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. 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Dollar Industries Managing Director Vinod Kumar Gupta said Chitrangada features in a new ad campaign, shot in Bangkok, that showcases products like leggings, capris and inner wears. The company forayed into the fashionable female wear segment under the brand name Dollar Missy in 2014. "She represents today's elegant and vivacious woman who takes on the world, beaming with confidence. We have recently shot a new ad campaign with her where she showcases our product style with loads of panache," said Gupta in a statement. The company has four manufacturing units in Kolkata, Tirupur (Tamil Nadu), Delhi and Ludhiana, and enjoys a 15 per cent market share in the branded hosiery segment in India. It has recently started business in the African market with Nigeria to enhance export revenue. The company's existing export markets are the Gulf, Middle East and Nepal. Text: IANS Images: Chitrangada's Instagram Page "It has been the best job I ever had or will ever have. It was enriching and exciting. I will go back with the happiest best memories of this tenure. I will always be committed to serving the country in future," he said. : CEA Arvind Subramanian's press conference on his decision to quit ahead of his term ending May 2019. Some excerpts: "We have not fixed the last date," Subramanian, said on being asked about his last day in office. "I was very much in Delhi on the day of demonetization," he said on being asked if he was present in the capital on the day of demonetization announcement. He also said that, 'Soon the process will be started for choosing my successor, let us see how it turns out." He said the only factor that should be looked at while choosing his successor should be 'competence' and quickly added self-deprecatingly that it does not mean that he was competent. Subramanian will go back to the US after nearly four years as India's Chief Economic Adviser, Minister Arun Jaitley announced today in a Facebook post. Mr Subramanian, in a tweet, referred to "personal reasons, researching and writing" for quitting before his term ends in October. He would like to go back to the United States on account of pressing family commitments. ..He left me with no option but to agree with him," Arun Jaitley wrote. The bihar board had conducted the class 10 exam from 21 to 28 February. The practical examinations were held from 22 to 24 January. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has declared results of class 10 examinations on June 26 at 4.30PM. Candidates who had appeared for the exams may check the official website, biharboard.ac.in The results were supposed to be released on June 20 but according to reports emerging from news websites, it is believed that nearly 42,000 copies of answer sheets have gone missing from a evaluation centre in gopalganj. The result was declared by the School Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma today, on June 26 at 4:40 pm. The total pass percentage of BSEB class 10 is 68.89 per cent.Of the total number of 17,58,757 students who had appeared for the examination this year, over 12 lakh students have cleared the examination successfully, which includes 6,67,505 boys and 5,44,112 girls. 1.23 lakh boys and 65,779 girls have got first division while 3.67 lakh boys and 2.95 lakh girls have got the second division. The third division has been reveived by 1.75 lakh males and 1.81 lakh females. About 1304 students have got compartment. Prerna Raj has topped the exam with 91.4 per cent while the second position is secured by Pragya and Shikha Kumari. The third rank is bagged by Anupriya Kumari who has scored 452 marks. How to check bihar BSEB class 10 exam results 2018: 1) Visit the official website, http://biharboardonline.bihar.gov.in/ 2) Click on the link that says results on the homepage of the website or click here for direct link 3) Enter the necessary information in the spaces provided and click on submit Once the results are displayed, make sure to take a print of the same for future reference. The three-year-old Jammu and Kashmir government, wracked by bitter political feuds and worsening security challenges, collapsed on Tuesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party pulling out of its alliance with the People's Democratic Party. : President Ram Nath Kovind has approved governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect after the ruling coalition collapsed on Tuesday. Last evening, Governor NN Vohra had forwarded his report to the President for imposition of central rule. In all states of India, the state government's failure results in President's rule. The process is slightly more nuanced in Jammu and Kashmir where not the President's but Governor's rule is imposed. Under the provision of Section 92 of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, Governor's rule is imposed for six months, but only after the consent of the President of India. Vohra will be presiding over the governor's rule in the state for the fourth time, having done so in 2008, 2015 and 2016. Dominican Republic names ambassador to China Santo Domingo, June 20 (AFP) Jun 20, 2018 The Dominican Republic appointed its first ambassador to China on Tuesday, after switching diplomatic ties from Taiwan in April. The envoy is Briunny Garabito Segura, who has previously served as ambassador to Colombia and Canada. Until April, the Dominican Republic was among just a handful of countries that recognized Taiwan. China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since 1949 but Beijing views the island as a renegade province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. "The Dominican Republic could not go on without having relations with the world's second largest economy," President Danilo Medina said at the time of the change. China already had a commercial office in Santo Domingo and established an embassy on May 21, although it has yet to designate an ambassador. China is the Dominican Republic's second biggest trading partner, after the United States. Will China hit Hollywood and N.Korea diplomacy in US trade war? Beijing, June 20 (AFP) Jun 20, 2018 China may look beyond tit-for-tat tariffs in the looming trade war with the United States, analysts say, with a range of creative options at its disposal, including targeting Hollywood films or dragging its feet on North Korea. Fears of a debilitating trade war between the United States and China are rising after US President Trump said up to $450 billion in Chinese goods -- nearly all of its exports to the US -- could be in the firing line for higher taxes. Beijing immediately responded, calling Trump's threat "blackmail" and warning it could hit back with "strong countermeasures combining quantitative and qualitative measures". But with only $130 billion of imports from the US last year, how would China hit back? Why is Beijing retaliating? "Retaliation has to be done, if you don't retaliate you lose even more, so that's why you have a trade war," said Yukon Huang, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has discussed the trade tensions with top Chinese officials. Other countries have learned from Japan's experience, Huang said, alluding to the Asian giant's historical trade tensions with the US, which cooled off only after Tokyo accepted quotas on exports to the US, reduced its import tariffs and allowed its currency to appreciate. "Japan lost 20 years," Huang said, referring to the country's two decades of no growth. "You both lose, but if you don't do that, only you lose." Beyond tariffs: how else can China hit US products? The iPhone X, Buick Excelle car, Starbucks' double mocha macchiato and tickets to see Tom Cruise's summer action flick are all hot sellers in China. They could all become subject to restrictions should tensions snowball into an all-out trade war with the US, analysts say. Beijing has shown to other countries that it can use wide-ranging tactics to mete out economic punishment. Last year, when geopolitical frictions with Seoul ratcheted up, South Korea's conglomerate Lotte saw scores of its 120-plus outlets in China shut down, ostensibly over "safety issues", while angry protesters demonstrated in front of others. China's hordes of tourists, usually hungry for the South's cosmetics, stopped arriving in Seoul as Beijing banned group tours. Some US businesses are already getting hit: China last month said it had stepped up inspections of key US imports such as pork and automobiles -- stranding them in ports -- because of "problems". "China still has plenty of weapons to use once it runs out of quantitative measures," economist Andrew Polk said in a newsletter. Could Beijing end cooperation on North Korea? Punishing UN sanctions on North Korea -- approved and enforced by Beijing -- drove Pyongyang to the negotiating table, analysts say, landing Trump his made-for-TV summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore earlier this month. To achieve the North's complete denuclearisation, Trump likely needs Beijing to stay on board with the sanctions, but a trade war could change Chinese thinking, said Cheng Xiaohe, an international relations professor at Renmin University. Cooperation between China and the United States on the North "will become very complicated and very difficult," Cheng said. In an indication of China's leverage on the issue, Kim visited Beijing exactly one week after the summit to brief President Xi Jinping, his third trip to China this year. How will the trade spat play out? Huang, the economist, outlined three stages of a trade war, from prices rising, to imports and exports shifting countries, to firms moving production and investment. During the final stage, a prolonged trade war will be "affecting the growth rate by significant margins" and lead to a collapse of global trade, Huang said. "Tensions are not going to go away. Probably going to get worse before they get better," he said. 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Funded by Grand Challenges Canada, with financial support from the Canadian government, the ideas to develop and test innovations aimed at addressing persistent challenges. Grand Challenges Canada announced an investment of over 10 million Canadian dollars to develop and test innovations delivered by social enterprises, non-profit organisations, research institutes, universities, foundations and hospitals. Over 4 million dollars is dedicated to 44 projects addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights, putting Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy into action. Proposed by institutions in Canada and abroad, the bold ideas embrace a range of creative solutions to empower the lives and improve the health of some of the world's poorest and most vulnerable women and children in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe. A total of 17 projects in India received grants to develop and test innovations aimed at addressing persistent challenges in women and children's healthcare. The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre is looking to assist rural women in India with the creation of a personalised, accessible, data-driven, women-centric strategy for sexual and reproductive wellness and clinical care in the form of a wearable pendant. This technology will track health data on menstruation, clinical signs, symptoms, body temperature and heart rate and display information with different colored emojis. The wearable pendant connects to a smartphone app to deliver wellness indicators to nearby clinical providers, where women can access self-controlled, high-quality tailored health services, using data to inform smart choices. Such choices will inform their reproductive and sexual lives and reduce morbidity and mortality. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Jodhpur aims to empower adolescents. It says adolescents in India face barriers to accurate and constructive information about sexual and reproductive health and rights. The "flipped classroom" provides sexual and reproductive health information via mobile app and allows students to study the material privately at home. Class time is then used for questions, deeper learning, analysis, clarification and discourse with a skilled facilitator. So is detection and monitoring heart disease in underserved women in India by Audicor Cardiometrics Pvt. ltd. The company has a tool which non-invasively provides four biomarkers of heart disease, in 10 seconds, and can be done at point of care in rural remote settings, for about one-third of the cost of traditional heart failure diagnostic services. Non-profit organisation ARMMAN is implementing and testing a free teleservice in which counsellors guide parents of 960 children in Mumbai and New Delhi with severe acute malnutrition through direct calls on food, health and nutrition. About six million young mothers in India face post-partum depression annually and as a result 20,000 women commit suicide, says BEMPU Health Pvt ltd. Its project aims to develop and test Bhappy; a low-cost screening tool for postpartum depression that is usable on any standard smartphone and categorises mothers as healthy, at-risk or needs attention in order for nurses to connect mothers to clinical assistance as required. Remote parts of Indian mountainous states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are still facing age-old menstruation taboos that force menstruating women to inhabit cramped sheds away from their homes. Nyaya Health Nepal will combat this practice called Chaupadi in the Himalayan country. Despite recent progressive healthcare policies, over 10 million Nepalis lack access to healthcare, due to fragmented infrastructures, a decade-long civil war, and the 2015 earthquake. In India, women in many remote parts of the hill states are virtually ex-communicated when they are menstruating. They are forced to sleep outside the house, in cattle-like sheds known as menstruation sheds. The reason: A woman is considered "unclean" when she's bleeding or in a post-natal state. The so-called "unclean" women, during their periods and after childbirth, are barred from touching cattle or men and they are even denied access to toilets, walking miles from their villages daily to take a bath. Over the past seven years, Grand Challenges Canada's "Stars in Global Health" programme has provided $70 million Candian dollars to 661 projects, implemented in 87 low and middle-income countries over nine rounds of funding since 2011. Cerelia Neutritech has proposed developing a nutrient loaded cosmetic preparation for tackling iron and vitamin deficiency among women. We are working on a scientifically formulated nutrition intervention in the form of a body lotion or face cream comprising of iron, folic acid and vitamin B12 to tackle anaemia in adolescent and pregnant women. This requires no behavioural change and can be integrated directly into supplementation schemes. The solution improves bioavailability, reduced malabsorption, said Kiran Vuppala, co-founder of Cerelia while speaking to India Science Wire. Sachin Dubey from Module Innovations proposes to develop a rapid, simple and low-cost strip for early screening of cervical cancer at the point-of-care. In India 74,000 women succumb to cancer of the cervix, which is one third of the global burden. Most of these deaths are preventable. While methods like PAP smear and HPV DNA test are employed for cervical screening, they need a lab, trained manpower and suffer with many drawbacks. In rural setting the scenario is even worse, said Dubey. Ratul Narain from Bempu Health has proposed BHappy app. It is a low-cost screening tool for postpartum depression among women in low-resource settings, enabling intervention to protect the mother and baby. This app is usable on any standard smartphone. Trained nurses can screen mothers at discharge and 4-week and 6-week neonatal visits. Based on a mothers responses, the app categorizes her as healthy, at-risk, or needs attention. The Mumbai-based ARMMAN is testing a free tele-service in which counsellors guide parents of 960 children in Mumbai and New Delhi with severe acute malnutrition through direct calls on food, health and nutrition. These are conducted weekly through eight weeks of treatment and fortnightly during six months of rehabilitation. Though 21% of children in India suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition, there is a critical gap in counselling of their mothers to ensure adherence to treatment, subsequent nutritional adequacy/diversity and prevent relapse. The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2018 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement Pyongyang may soon return US soldier remains Washington, June 20 (AFP) Jun 20, 2018 North Korea may soon return a first out of 200 sets of remains of American soldiers who died during the Korean War, after an agreement reached last week by Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, a US official said Tuesday. "Preparations continue" to receive the remains, the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "It could happen in the next few days." The US and North Korean leaders agreed to the repatriations during their historic June 12 summit in Singapore. "On several occasions in the past, DPRK officials have indicated they possess as many as 200 sets of remains they had recovered over the years," the Pentagon said in factsheet updated Monday about those reported missing in action during the Korean War of 1950-1953. "The commitment established within the Joint Statement between President Trump and Chairman Kim would repatriate these as was done in the early 1990s and would reinforce the humanitarian aspects of this mission." The document used the acronym for North Korea's formal name. More than 35,000 Americans were killed on the Korean Peninsula during the war, which ended in an armistice with no peace treaty. Among them, 7,700 are still considered missing, including 5,300 in North Korea alone, according to the Pentagon. Between 1990 and 2005, the United States was granted the repatriation of 229 sets of remains from the North under an earlier agreement that was subsequently suspended when ties between the two countries deteriorated. Russia warns against Trump's 'alarming' plans for US space domination Moscow, June 20 (AFP) Jun 20, 2018 Russia on Wednesday expressed alarm over US President Donald Trump's call for the United States to dominate space exploration and his plan to create a separate branch of the military called a Space Force. Russian foreign ministry Maria Zakharova said at a briefing that Russia "noted the US president's instructions... to separate space forces from the air force," saying "the most alarming thing about this news is the aim of his instructions, namely to ensure (US) domination in space." Trump on Monday said at a speech in the White House that "America will always be the first in space" and "we don't want China and Russia and other countries leading us." He also called for the Pentagon to create a new "Space Force" that would become the sixth branch of the American military, although this requires Congressional approval to take effect. Zakharova warned that the US is "nurturing plans to bring out weapons into space with the aim of possibly staging military action there." "This is not based on guesswork, this is understanding the realities," she insisted. US military build-up in space "especially after the appearance of weapons there, would have a destabilising effect on strategic stability and international security," Zakharova warned. Russia takes a "diametrically opposite position" that space must be used for "peaceful aims," she said. While Russia has a branch of the military called "space forces," their activities are "purely defensive," she stressed. Space research is one of the few areas where Russia and the US continue international cooperation. Both NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are crew members on the International Space Station and the orbiting laboratory is reliant on space launches from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome. Israel says could get tougher on Gaza after warplanes hit Hamas Gaza City, Palestinian Territories, June 20 (AFP) Jun 20, 2018 Israeli warplanes pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday in a new flare-up of hostilities that saw dozens of rockets and mortar shells fired from the Palestinian enclave, the army said. The strikes targeting Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, were more intense than in previous sorties to convey the message "we will not allow this situation to continue," Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus told reporters. The latest spike in tensions follows weeks of deadly protests and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border as well as the worst military escalation last month since a 2014 war. It comes as US President Donald Trump's special envoy Jason Greenblatt and adviser Jared Kushner visit the region to discuss issues including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Israeli planes initially targeted three Hamas military positions overnight in Gaza in response to kites and balloons carrying incendiary and explosive devices launched into Israel from the Palestinian territory, the army said. "They may look like toys but I can assure they are not toys, they are weapons intended to kill and to inflict damage," Conricus said. He said that so far Israel had sought to warn off those launching the airborne devices but that could change. "Hamas and other terrorists, but mainly Hamas" hit back after the first air raids with more than 45 rockets and mortar rounds fired from Gaza towards Israel, seven of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system, he added. Three more landed inside the Jewish state, he said, but did not account for the remainder. In response, Israeli planes carried out more raids against 25 "terror objectives" including an underground training compound, according to the army. Gaza medical sources said that five people were lightly injured in the strikes. - Sirens sound - In a joint statement, the military wings of Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad said they had "targeted seven Israeli military positions near Gaza... in response to continued Israeli aggression against resistance sites in Gaza." Conricus said that most of the 200,000 Israeli civilians who live within range of the short-range rockets fired from Gaza "spent the night in bomb shelters." Kobi Ivri, a resident of an Israeli kibbutz neighbouring the southern Gaza Strip whose house was damaged by the Gaza fire, said he and his family ran into their bomb shelter after being woken at 5:20 am by a siren. "There was a boom. I heard glasses breaking, but I understood it (the mortar shell) fell outside, close," he said. Ivri described "a routine of tension, a routine of anticipation (of attacks), a routine of understanding that not too much is being done in order to help us," noting that an incendiary balloon from Gaza fell at the entrance to his kibbutz on Tuesday. Early Wednesday afternoon, Israeli aircraft fired near Palestinians in southern Gaza launching incendiary kites, and later in the day, aircraft fired near Palestinians attempting to do the same in northern Gaza, a military spokesman told AFP. - Deteriorating path - Tensions have soared in Gaza since mass protests and clashes broke out along the border on March 30. At least 132 Palestinians have been killed. There have been no Israeli fatalities. Palestinians are demanding the right to return to the homes their families fled or were expelled from during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel. Israel maintains the use of live ammunition is necessary to defend its borders and stop infiltrations. It accuses Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, of seeking to use the protests as cover for attacks. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that Gaza is close to the brink of war. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008 and observe a tense ceasefire that is regularly shaken by hostile acts. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since 2014. On Tuesday Greenblatt and Kushner met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman to discuss the Palestinian-Israeli peace process during a regional tour that will also take them to Israel, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Trump's controversial December decision to recognise the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital prompted Palestinians to freeze all contacts with US officials. Israel says could get tougher on Gaza after warplanes hit Hamas Jerusalem, June 20 (AFP) Jun 20, 2018 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel could step up its "intensity" on Gaza, after a new flare-up that saw Israel carrying out air strikes and Palestinians launching rockets and mortar shells. The latest spike in tensions follows weeks of deadly protests and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border as well as the worst military escalation last month since a 2014 war. It comes as US President Donald Trump's special envoy Jason Greenblatt and adviser Jared Kushner visit the region to discuss issues including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Israeli planes initially targeted three Hamas military positions overnight in Gaza in response to kites and balloons carrying incendiary and explosive devices launched into Israel from the Palestinian territory, the army said. "Hamas and other terrorists, but mainly Hamas" hit back after the first air raids with more than 45 rockets and mortar rounds fired from Gaza towards Israel, seven of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system, Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said. Three more landed inside the Jewish state, he said, but did not account for the remainder. In response, Israeli planes carried out more raids against 25 "terror objectives" including an underground training compound, according to the army. Medical sources in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, said five people were lightly injured in the strikes. Speaking about Israel's plans regarding Gaza, Netanyahu said he would not go into detail, pledging however that "the intensity will be stepped up as necessary". "We are prepared for any scenario and our enemies would do well to understand this," he said at a military ceremony in southern Israel. - Sirens sound - In a joint statement, the military wings of Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad vowed to respond to Israeli attacks, saying they had "targeted seven Israeli military positions near Gaza... in response to continued Israeli aggression against resistance sites in Gaza." "The equation will be: bombardment in return for bombardment," they said. Kobi Ivri, a resident of an Israeli kibbutz neighbouring the southern Gaza Strip whose house was damaged by the Gaza fire, said he and his family ran into their bomb shelter after being woken at 5:20 am by a siren. "There was a boom. I heard glasses breaking, but I understood it (the mortar shell) fell outside, close," he said. Ivri described "a routine of tension, a routine of anticipation (of attacks), a routine of understanding that not too much is being done in order to help us," noting that an incendiary balloon from Gaza fell at the entrance to his kibbutz on Tuesday. A spokesman for the Israeli fire services told AFP that firefighters had put out 12 blazes in areas adjacent to Gaza caused by airborne incendiary devices. Early Wednesday afternoon, Israeli aircraft fired near Palestinians in southern Gaza who were launching incendiary kites, and later in the day, aircraft fired near Palestinians attempting to do the same in northern Gaza, a military spokesman told AFP. - Deteriorating path - Tensions have soared in Gaza since mass protests and clashes broke out along the border on March 30. At least 132 Palestinians have been killed. There have been no Israeli fatalities. Palestinians are demanding the right to return to the homes their families fled or were expelled from during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel. Israel has defied international condemnation over the Palestinian deaths, maintaining the use of live ammunition is necessary to defend its borders and stop infiltrations. It accuses Hamas of seeking to use the protests as cover for attacks. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that Gaza is close to the brink of war. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008 and observe a tense ceasefire that is regularly shaken by hostile acts. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since 2014. On Wednesday Greenblatt and Kushner were in Saudi Arabia where they met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discussed Gaza and "the Trump administration's efforts to bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians," according to a White House statement. The duo's regional tour started in Jordan and will also take them to Israel, Egypt and Qatar. Trump's controversial December decision to recognise the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital prompted Palestinians to freeze all contacts with US officials. #travel agencies Major tour agencies forecast to swing to profit in 2022 South Korea's major travel agencies are expected to recover from the prolonged fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and swing to a profit in 2022 on growing demand for overseas travel,... #Premier League Son Heung-min scores for Tottenham, quells COVID-19 speculation After being subject to rumors about a possible COVID-19 infection over the weekend, Son Heung-min scored for Tottenham Hotspur in their latest victory. The South Korean star net... Trumping Trump The Truth About German Crime Statistics U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that the German crime rate had risen by 10 percent because of refugees in the country. He's wrong. We took a closer look at just how wrong. Trump's Attacks on Germany The Enemy in the White House Trump's latest lies are an open attack on the German government and the European Union. This U.S. president was never a partner. He is an aggressive opponent and should be treated as such. English19/06/2018 SEHOVAC: SARAJEVO SERBS UPROOTED SARAJEVO, June 19 /SRNA/ - The director of the Bureau of Human Rights at the Democratic Initiative of Sarajevo Serbs, Dusan Sehovac, has said that Sarajevo Serbs who fled to Istocno Sarajevo preserved their identity and memory of their roots. The most quality Serbs at the end of the 20th century, Sarajevo Serbs, have been uprooted, partly because of their troubles and partly because of the will of Bosniaks and Serbs. They left their ancestral homes where they were an important factor in the creation of the city of Sarajevo as a large regional, cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-faith center, Sehovac told SRNA on the occasion of June 20, World Refugee Day. He says that Sarajevo Serbs are scattered all around the world, that they lost much of that which adorned them as civilized people, as people who were the quality of one city. Had it not been for Istocno Sarajevo, which is now a new home on the outskirts of the city of Sarajevo, Sehovac says, they would lose their identity and forget the existence of their ancestors, culture and civilization, the traces of which still exist in Sarajevo. He says that in 1991, there were around 180,000 people in Sarajevo who were born as Serbs and Orthodox Christians. According to him, there are less than 10,000 Serbs in Sarajevo at the moment. A majority left the city of Sarajevo, and some 40,000 moved to Istocno Sarajevo, Sehovac has said. /end/sg A more recent publication of this set of statistics is available. Latest publication: Financial statement statistics on credit institutions 2021, 1st quarter Published: 20 June 2018 Net income from financial operations and operating profit of banks operating in Finland grew in the first quarter of 2018 In the first quarter of 2018, the net income from financial operations of credit institutions engaged in banking in Finland amounted to EUR 544 million and their operating profit to EUR 713 million. Compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year, net income from financial operations increased by EUR 56 million and operating profit by EUR three million. These data derive from Statistics Finlands financial statement statistics on credit institutions. Net income from financial operations and operating profit of banks operating in Finland, 1st quarter 2005 to 2018, EUR million Interest income and expenses In the first quarter of 2018, credit institutions engaged in banking in Finland accumulated EUR 1.2 billion in interest income and EUR 651 million in interest expenses. The net income from financial operations calculated as the difference between these was EUR 544 million. Compared to the corresponding quarter of the year before, net income from financial operations increased by EUR 56 million, that is, around 11.6 per cent. Due to the renewed FINREP reporting practices of credit institutions, the net income from financial operations is not, however, in all respects fully comparable between 2018 and previous years. Administrative expenses Administrative expenses are the single largest expenditure item of banks operating in Finland. In the first quarter, banks had EUR 672 million in administrative expenses, which was EUR 35 million less than in the year before. Wages and salaries represented 47.3 per cent of administrative expenses. Compared to the first quarter of 2017, total wages and salaries decreased by EUR 28 million to EUR 318 million. Operating profit The operating profit, or profit from continuing operations before taxes, was EUR 713 million. Compared to the corresponding quarter of the year before, operating profit grew by EUR three million. Due to the renewed FINREP reporting practices of credit institutions, the operating profit is not, however, in all respects fully comparable between 2018 and previous years. Balance sheet The aggregate value of the balance sheets was EUR 359 billion. The balance sheet was 4.3 per cent down from one year ago. The share of own equity in the total of the balance sheets was 4.1 per cent or around EUR 15 billion. Compared to the corresponding period of the previous quarter, banks own equity declined by EUR 1.8 billion. Due to the renewed FINREP reporting practices of credit institutions, the balance sheet items are not, however, in all respects fully comparable between 2018 and previous years. A company restructuring made in the Finnish banking sector in the first quarter of 2018 explains part of the unexceptionally large changes in the profit and loss account and balance sheets and, in particular, in equity. Source: Credit institutions' annual accounts, Statistics Finland Inquiries: Antti Suutari 029 551 3257, Jarkko Kaunisto 029 551 3551, rahoitusmarkkinat@stat.fi Director in charge: Ville Vertanen Publication in pdf-format (267.6 kB) Updated 20.6.2018 Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Financial statement statistics on credit institutions [e-publication]. ISSN=2342-5180. 1st quarter 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 18.10.2021]. Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/llai/2018/01/llai_2018_01_2018-06-20_tie_001_en.html TO VIEW MORE NEWS STORY, PLEASE CLICK ON NEWS TAB ON MAIN MENU BAR Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (135) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (348) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (442) Jan 2014 (547) Feb 2014 (476) Mar 2014 (526) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (469) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (443) Oct 2014 (472) Nov 2014 (497) Dec 2014 (536) Jan 2015 (539) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (582) Apr 2015 (658) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (924) Nov 2015 (802) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (866) May 2016 (947) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (967) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (809) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (935) Jul 2019 (950) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (849) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (789) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (812) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sep 2021 (791) Oct 2021 (434) INVENTIVA : FDA Approval of an Investigator Initiated IND Application to Conduct Phase II Study of Lanifibranor in Type 2 Diabetic Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease FDA Approval of an Investigator Initiated IND Application to Conduct Phase II Study of Lanifibranor in Type 2 Diabetic Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Study to enroll first patient in the third quarter 2018 with topline results expected early 2020 FDA approval is a positive signal for SSc and NASH IND applications Daix (France) June 20, 2018 - Inventiva S.A. ("Inventiva" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), systemic sclerosis (SSc) and mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS), today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the investigator initiated Investigational New Drug (IND) application providing clearance to proceed with the Phase II study of lanifibranor in type 2 diabetic patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This FDA approval is also a positive signal for the planned Company IND applications in SSc and NASH. The trial to be conducted by Dr. Kenneth Cusi, Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism in the Department of Medicine at the University of Florida, Gainesville, is expected to enroll 64 patients treated for a 24-week period with a single daily dose of lanifibranor (800 mg/day) or placebo and 10 subjects in a healthy, non-obese control group. The study's overall objective is to measure the metabolic improvements induced by lanifibranor, and its effect on steatosis in type 2 diabetic patients with NAFLD. Additionally, this study will detect lanifibranor's impact on fibrosis using the most recent imaging and biomarker technology. Its main endpoints are a decrease of liver steatosis assessed by state-of-the-art imaging, including H-MRS (Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy), a decrease of insulin resistance (glucose clamp, HBA1c), a decrease in de novo lipogenesis, and safety. The first patient is expected to be enrolled in the third quarter of 2018 and topline results are expected beginning of 2020. "With its unique pan-PPAR profile, lanifibranor has shown very good safety features, relevant efficacy data in NASH preclinical models as well as positive metabolic effects in a Phase IIa study in diabetic patients," Dr. Cusi said. "We anticipate the results of this study to translate well to diabetic patients with NAFLD or NASH and look forward to demonstRating that lanifibranor could become a very valuable drug for these patients." Jean-Louis Abitbol, MD, MSC, Chief Medical Officer of Inventiva, added: "We are delighted that the FDA has allowed Dr Cusi and his team to proceed with this exciting metabolic and imaging study and we very much look forward to the enrollement of US patients as these results will provide additional supporting data for our regulatory filings with US and European regulators." About Inventiva: www.inventivapharma.com Inventiva is a biopharmaceutical company specialized in the development of drugs interacting with nuclear receptors, transcription factors and epigenetic modulators. Inventiva's research engine opens up novel breakthrough therapies against fibrotic diseases, cancers and orphan diseases with substantial unmet medical needs. Lanifibranor, its lead product, is an anti-fibrotic treatment acting on the three alpha, gamma and delta PPARs (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors), which play key roles in controlling the fibrotic process. Its anti-fibrotic action targets two initial indications with substantial unmet medical need: NASH, a severe and increasingly prevalent liver disease already affecting over 30 million people in the United States, and systemic sclerosis, a disease with a very high mortality rate and for which there is no approved treatment to date. Inventiva is also developing a second clinical program with odiparcil (IVA 336) for the treatment of patients with mucopolysaccaridosis type VI (or Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome), a rare and severe gene disease affecting children. Odiparcil has also the potential to address other MPS types, characterized by the accumulation of chondroitin or dermatan sulfate (MPS I or Hurler/Sheie syndrome, MPS II or Hunter syndrome, MPS IVa or Morqio syndrome and MPS VII or Sly syndrome). Inventiva is also developing a portfolio of early research projects in the field of oncology. Inventiva benefits from partnerships with world-leading research entities such as the Institut Curie in the field of oncology. Two strategic partnerships have also been established with world-class major pharmaceutical companies AbbVie and Boehringer Ingelheim in the fields of autoimmune diseases (specifically in psoriasis) and fibrosis respectively. These partnerships provide milestone payments to Inventiva upon the achievement of pre-clinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, in addition to royalties on the products resulting from the partnerships. Inventiva employs over 100 highly qualified employees and owns state-of-the-art R&D facilities near Dijon, acquired from the international pharmaceutical group Abbott. The Company owns, a proprietary chemical library of over 240,000 molecules as well as integrated biology, chemistry, ADME and pharmacology platforms. Contacts Inventiva Frederic Cren Chief Executive Officer info@inventivapharma.com +33 3 80 44 75 00 Brunswick Julien Trosdorf / Yannick Tetzlaff Media relations inventiva@brunswickgroup.com +33 1 53 96 83 83 LifeSci Advisors Chris Maggos Investor relations chris@lifesciadvisors.com +41 79 367 6254 Important Notice This press release contains forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates with respect to the clinical development plans, business and regulatory strategy, and anticipated future performance of Inventiva and of the market in which it operates. Certain of these statements, forecasts and estimates can be recognized by the use of words such as, without limitation, "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will" and "continue" and similar expressions. Such statements are not historical facts but rather are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's beliefs. These statements reflect such views and assumptions prevailing as of the date of the statements and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause future results, performance or future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual events are difficult to predict and may depend upon factors that are beyond Inventiva's control. There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline product candidates that the candidates will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that they will prove to be commercially successful. Therefore, actual results may turn out to be materially different from the anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements, forecasts and estimates. Given these uncertainties, no representations are made as to the accuracy or fairness of such forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates only speak as of the date of this press release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. Please refer to the "Document de reference" filed with the Autorite des Marches Financiers on April 13, 2018 under n R.18-013 for additional information in relation to such factors, risks and uncertainties. Inventiva has no intention and is under no obligation to update or review the forward-looking statements referred to above. Consequently, Inventiva accepts no liability for any consequences arising from the use of any of the above statements. This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: INVENTIVA via Globenewswire Lisen Schultz, a researcher and programme director of the centres new executive programme on resilience thinking will join the Stockholm Resilience Centres leadership team until the end of this year. She will lead a redesign of the organisation in response to both external and internal changes, supporting the transition of the centre into its next phase of development. The work will coincide with the appointment of Line Gordon as the new director from 1 August 2018. Johan Rockstrom will step down and become joint director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Schultz will work to ensure that the centre remains a creative organization where individuals and groups are motivated to contribute to its strategic direction. Trust, inclusiveness and transparency will remain fundamental values of the organisation. One Japanese respondent from Matsushima Bay stressed that diversification of risk, changing your mindset and not sticking to conventional ways and thoughts are the keys to adapting to a changing environment and increasing resilience. This particular fisher also told the researchers that he has been involved in everything from small-scale fisheries and harvesting clams to owning a guesthouse and working as an oyster farmer. Correspondingly, on the Canadian side, several respondents reported that First Nations fisheries communities have diversified by operating traditional lodges that focus on cultural practices related to the sea. For example, visitors can participate in spiritual ceremonies connected to the Salish Sea and build stronger emotional ties to the region. Some respondents who have decided to stay in the fisheries and aquaculture sector reported that they feel an obligation or desire to continue the family business or maintain proud cultural traditions. Others expressed an emotional longing for a stronger connection to nature or for a more independent lifestyle. Blasiak and his colleagues also put forward a number of possible practical steps that could attract more people to the sector. For example, they suggest that barriers to new entrants can be eased through community, industry, or government support. They also mention ecosystem monitoring and participatory decision-making processes as ways to make management practices more effective, as well as diversification to mitigate specialization in high-risk production or harvesting activities. A clear commonality throughout the interviews was that respondents felt the government can, and indeed must, play an active role in supporting the management of marine resources as well as the people working in this sector, they write. From academic insights to policy and practice As mentioned above, the new publication appears in the Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review. It is a publication series containing case studies providing knowledge and lessons related to socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS). The review series aims to collect experiences and relevant knowledge, especially from practitioners working on the ground, in order to provide concrete and practical knowledge and information as well as contributing to policy recommendations. All contributing authors were asked to identify challenges and opportunities in sustaining livelihoods, social and ecological changes that have occurred and approaches being deployed to strengthen natural and social resilience in the landscapes and seascapes where they work. Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. In May 2018 Pakistan agreed to buy 30 ATAK (T129) helicopter gunships from Turkey. The T129 is a license-built version of the Italian A-129. ATAK stands for Turkish Attack Helicopter and has become the preferred (by Turkey) name for the T129. The ATAK project was part of a larger effort to create a larger and more diversified Turkish defense industry. So far Turkey has made a lot of progress with this but it has been expensive and often frustrating as Turkish manufacturers tend to overpromise and under deliver. This has caused problems with more successful defense manufacturing partners like Israel and South Korea. Italy took this into account and adapted to the Turkish way of doing things. The means the ATAK works but it is not serious competition for other helicopter gunships. By early 2018 Turkey had received 35 ATAK gunships. These arrived slowly because until 2017 the final design of the ATAK was still in flux. Turkey received its first T129s in 2014 and these were put to the test. A T129 was first used n combat (against PKK rebels) in 2015. In early 2018 the ATAK had shed the T129 name and was being heavily used in eastern Turkey and northeast Syria where ATAK suffered its first combat loss. One was shot down by Syrian Kurds using a shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile. Turkey has spent over $2 billion in development and production setup costs for the T129. Additional development costs will push total development costs to nearly $3 billion but that will also result in two T129 models; the T129A combat support helicopter and the more advanced T129B multirole helicopter with more capable electronics, similar to the AH-64 Longbow that appeared in the late 1990s. The manufacturing cost of the T120 is nearly $30 and, depending on how many are built, the development cost pushes that up to over $50 million. Turkey wants to buy 90 ATAKs but so far has only ordered fifty with an option to order 40 more. Export sales make it more likely that overall ATAK costs will remain low enough for Turkey to buy another 40 for itself. In 2014 Turkey received the first nine of sixty T129s it ordered in 2010. Delivery was supposed to take place in 2013, but there were problems (vibration, flight performance, and weight issues) meeting performance specifications. These defects were discovered during the 2012 acceptance tests and before mass production could begin these problems had to be attended to first. The T129s are of Italian design (as the A-129) and were modified and assembled in Turkey. The T129 is an improved A129 with a more powerful engine (for operating in hot and high conditions) and armed with 12 Turkish made UMTAS (similar to Hellfire II) missiles and a 20mm autocannon. The T129 can also use 70mm unguided rockets. Turkey has been in desperate need of more helicopter gunships since the 1990s. The Turks have found this type of aircraft particularly useful against Kurdish separatists (the PKK) operating in southeastern Turkey. Until the ATAK arrived in sufficient numbers (20-30) Turkey relied on a fleet of about two dozen elderly American AH-1 gunships, which are being worn out because of intense operations against the PKK. Since the 1990s, Turkey bought over 40 AH-1s, but these were all used machines and the Turks worked them hard and many had to be retired. Beginning in 2007, Turkey began looking into acquiring some Italian Mangusta (Mongoose) A129 helicopter gunships as quickly as possible. At one point the Turks were seeking to lease nine A129s from the Italian manufacturer (or anyone else who would make a deal). The Turks also asked the United States for more AH-1W gunships. The U.S. was not willing to make a major effort to get Turkey more AH-1s, not in light of how hostile Turkey had been toward the United States since September 11, 2001. The A129 manufacturer said it would take two years to deliver the new A129s, while the Turks hoped that leased ones could be obtained in less than a year. When this did not work out, the Turks ordered development and manufacture of the T129. This gunship shortage is a problem of Turkey's own making. In 2007, after over a decade of evaluating, negotiating, haggling, and delays, Turkey decided to buy 50 A129 helicopter gunships, for about $32 million each, with an option to buy another 40 later. That deal then fell apart and was resurrected in 2010, as a plan whereby at least 51 A129s would be built in Turkey (along with some technology transfer). The latest deals waive a lot of the co-production (building A129s in Turkey). The Turks just want the gunships as quickly as possible. The latest version of the Italian A129 is roughly comparable to the upgraded versions of the U.S. AH-1 (especially the AH-1W SuperCobra). The 5 ton A-129 was the first helicopter gunship designed and built in Western Europe and was introduced in the 1980s. While it has been upgraded frequently, until the T129 deal came along the only customer had been Italy, which bought 60 of them. A few of these saw some action in peacekeeping operations during the 1990s. The manufacturer, Agusta/Westland, has been desperate to get an export customer and went along with Turkish demands to turn the A129 into the T129/ATAK. Given the delays in selecting a supplier, who was buying, and who was selected, there were probably some bribes involved once the Turks finally selected the A129. Agusta was the only manufacturer to stick with the baffling Turkish procurement process and was finally forced to basically turn over the manufacture of the A129 to the Turks in order to get the sale. The T129 first flew in 2011, and Turkish firms were found who would develop and deliver the electronics. Despite the problems with the prototypes, Turkey was always confident it could perfect and even export its T129. This would make Turkey one of the few nations that manufacture and sell helicopter gunships. These include Americas AH-64, Chinas Z-10/19, the French/German Tiger, and Russian Mil-24/35. The Pakistan purchase is partly driven by Turkish purchase, in early 2017 of 52 Pakistani MFI-395 Super Mushshak training aircraft. This was the largest export order to date for Pakistani built aircraft. But another reason for Pakistan choosing the A129 was that Pakistan had a situation very similar to Turkey. Pakistan has been fighting Islamic terrorists and separatists since the late 1990s and wanted to upgrade from the American AH-1 type gunships it has long been using. It would have liked to get the larger and more capable American AH-64. This is a 10-ton gunship that entered service in the 1980s and has been the most successful of its kind. Israel uses it, as does India but the Pakistanis really could not afford it. The T129 is a different matter which indicates that the price for Pakistan will be low and that the Turks will have to take a loss on the sale. But if that results in more export sales it is considered a marketing expense. by Austin Bay June 19, 2018 In June 2018, the Russo-Ukraine War has become an expensive example of violent stagnation. The expenses are measured in lives lost and money wasted, spilled blood and red ink. Both sides suffer, and Ukraine demonstrably since the fighting occurs on its territory. However, Russian president Vladimir Putin and the curious oligarchy of billionaires and gangsters backing his Kremlin regime have discovered the expensive stalemate has exacerbated Russian economic problems. Widespread disappointment has revived demands for internal change, which is bad news for Putin and his cronies. In retrospect, Putin's Kremlin bet on two things: rapid military and political victory in Ukraine and high oil prices constantly replenishing Russia's national coffers. In February 2014, when it launched its Ukraine adventure, Russia had cash flow. With lightning quickness, its forces seized Crimea. Kremlin propagandists claimed Russia was protecting threatened ethnic Russian minorities. However, invading Crimea shredded the 1994 Budapest accord, which traded Ukraine's nuclear weapons for Russia's guarantee it would not violate Kiev's territory. In March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea. The swift political action indicated the Crimea invasion had been planned. For the first time since the end of World War II, military aggression in Europe by a major European power had led to political annexation and territorial expansion. Yet there was surprisingly little pushback beyond rhetorical condemnation. Russia's April 2014 attack into Ukraine's eastern Donbas region likewise made comparatively quick initial gains as Russian special forces soldiers and "separatist" ethnic Russian proxy forces counterfeited by the Kremlin seized key Ukrainian towns. However, Ukraine didn't fold; Ukrainians fought back. Russian gains were no longer quick and swift. Negotiations began. Ceasefires, however, never held -- the Russian proxy forces usually broke them. Then oil prices began to drop. U.S. fracking techniques became more economically competitive. The Saudis used their oil pricing clout to wage economic war on Iran and affect Iranian troublemaking in Yemen and Syria. Meanwhile, Russian forces became more deeply involved in Syria. Since 2016, the frontline snaking through Ukraine's Donbas region has scarcely shifted -- which, from a map warrior perspective, justifies the description "stalemate." Yet all has not been quiet on the stalemated front. Russia has deployed artillery units and air defense missiles in Ukrainian territory and built electronic intelligence facilities -- their pictures appear on the internet. Russia has also built a bridge that crosses the Sea of Azov's Kerch Strait. It connects Russian territory to Crimea and circumvents Ukraine. Sporadic infantry battles and artillery attacks erupt along the front. These attacks may not nudge the frontline but they do wound and kill. Some of the dead are Russian soldiers and mercenaries whose presence in eastern Ukraine Russian propagandists deny. However, their undeniably dead bodies are eventually returned to their families in Russia, as are the bodies of Russian mercenaries killed in Syria. So who is losing this stalemated European war? Ukraine has lost territory it may never recover. Though Russian "separatist" forces have failed to take key Ukrainian cities like Mariupol, Kremlin support for separatists has sapped Ukraine politically, stymied economic growth and increased domestic debt. Kiev struggles with internal corruption. On the other hand, the revived Russian superpower Putin vowed to create is faltering in a Donbas quagmire his Kremlin created. The Russian death toll in Ukraine and Syria has become a domestic political problem he cannot ignore. Russia remains dependent on oil and gas exports, but foreign competition moderates prices, so Russia lacks the cash to wage no-win wars. International sanctions imposed after the Crimean annexation also squeeze finances. However, retreating from Ukraine would deeply embarrass the Kremlin. A permanent quagmire in eastern Ukraine might be more acceptable, as long as mercenaries and separatists take the casualties. NEARLY 15,000 cigarettes and over 9kg of hand rolling tobacco have been seized in raids on shops across Warwickshire, including Stratford. Officers with the Warwickshire County Councils Trading Standards Service, assisted by Warwickshire Police and Border Force carried out the raids over a two-day period last week. Officers seized 3,000 individual illegal cigarettes and 1.5 kg of illegal tobacco in Stratford as part of the operation. They used local intelligence to identify shops where cheap illegal cigarettes were being sold and tobacco sniffer dogs were used to hunt for counterfeit and non-duty paid cigarettes and tobacco hidden in corner shops, mini supermarkets and parked vehicles in Stratford as well as Atherstone, Nuneaton, Rugby, and Leamington. Warwickshire County Councillor Andy Crump, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety said: The sellers of cheap illegal cigarettes dont care who they sell to, making it easier for children and young people to obtain cigarettes and get hooked on smoking and making it harder for adults to quit. Investigations are ongoing. The council used the services of B.W.Y Canine, a leading specialist in detection dogs for UK and International operations. Cllr Crump added: Cheap illegal tobacco also threatens the livelihoods of honest genuine businesses and robs the taxpayer of money that could be spent on schools and hospitals. Im delighted that Warwickshire County Council is working closely with its partners and other agencies to tackle this issue in order to keep Warwickshire residents safe and healthy. Anyone with information about the manufacture or sale of illegal tobacco can phone the confidential fakes hotline on 0300 303 2636. EUROPES largest outdoor rail exhibition, drawing an anticipated 6,000 visitors, has returned to Long Marston with Transport Secretary Chris Grayling also making an appearance. - writes Tom Hitchenor Hundreds of leading suppliers are presenting a wide range of products and stock, with some of the latest technologies and innovations in the rail trade on display. Organised by RAIL Magazine and taking place today and tomorrow, Thursday, the event is considered the biggest on the rail industrys calendar. Part of the line-up includes the showcasing of a battery-operated D Train. Three of these models were supplied to West Midlands Trains in March for future use, as reported by Rail Technology Magazine. Other highlights will include counter-terrorism displays by the British Transport Police and a run out for the UKs first hydrogen fuel cell-powered locomotive, built by the University of Birminghams Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE). Hosted by the Quinton Rail Technology Centre, this facility was once a Royal Engineers supply base in the Second World War and is the largest and most extensive rail storage facility in the UK. For more information on the event's website at Raillive. The Cheyenne County Commissioners discussed approaches to controlling weeds in the county Monday. The issue is how to control specific weeds that may be added to the countys noxious weed list while on a limited budget. Specifically, the commissioners talked with Weed Superintendent Cris Burks regarding the impact of Canadian thistle, dalmatian toadflax and bindweed. Common Mullein is a biennial plant with grayish white, woolly leaves. It is listed as a noxious weed in Colorado with the USDA listing its presence in northeast Colorado adjacent to Cheyenne County, Neb. It reduces the value of property greatly, said Randy Matthewson, a property owner in Cheyenne County. The Dalmation Toadflax is believed to be toxic to cattle and horses, according to discussion between the commissioners and Burks. The good news, according to Burks, there is little enough of the weed that authorities should be able to control it. Linaria dalmatica, the scientific name for Dalmatian Toadflax, is native to Western Asia and southeastern Europe. According to the USDA, it is a perennial that has been introduced to most of the United States and Canada. According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Dalmatian Toadflax is toxic to cattle and other livestock. However, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture reports cattle avoid Dalmatian toadflax so there are few reports of livestock poisoning. Common mullein is best controlled while the population density is low, according to University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Cropwatch. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture lists Canada Thistle as a noxious weed. One of the issues is when commissioner is when a motor grader operator reportedly scraped recently treated weeds. The action resulted in a waste of private and county funds and time, according to commissioner Philip Sanders. The commissioners also approved a contract with the University of Nebraska for a summer intern at the Cheyenne County Extension Agency. A request by Randy Mathewson to vacate part of a road was tabled until the area could be inspected. County Attorney Paul Schaub updated the commissioners on plans by the City of Sidney to purchase new landfill equipment. Cheyenne County will be the financial conduit for the City to secure financial bonds. Schaub also told the commissioners of a financial commitment letter from NEMA for the new emergency siren at Sunol. The commitment from the county is 25 percent of the project, about $4,300. Both issues were approved by the commissioners. At the end of meeting, an executive session was called by commissioner Sanders for personnel matters. An executive session was not on the agenda. The State Highway Commission will hold its regular meeting June 22 at 10:00 a.m., at the Western Community College, 371 College Drive, in Sidney. The agenda for the meeting can also found on the NDOT website at http://dot.nebraska.gov/news-media/ by clicking on the State Highway Commission Meeting link. The State Highway Commission meetings are conducted in compliance with the Open Meetings Act, as cited in the Nebraska Revised Statutes. For details, call (402) 471-4567. The State Highway Commission will gather for dinner on Thursday, June 21 at 6:00 p.m.at the Buffalo Point Steakhouse & Grill, located at 638 Cabela Drive, in Sidney, Nebraska. Prior to the Highway Commission meeting on June 22, the City of Sidney Economic Development Department, Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce, and Heartland Expressway Association will host an open house from 8:30-9:30 a.m. for all members of the public at the Sidney City Council Chambers located at 1115 13th Avenue, Sidney, Nebraska. Memorial services for Lexie Piehl were held Monday June 18, 2018 in the St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Sidney. Services will conclude at the church. Cremation has been held. In lieu of flowers, memorials have been established to the General Multiple Myeloma Group. You can view the online obituary and share condolences with the family at http://www.holechekfuneralhomes.com On June 13, 2018, God, in mercy and compassion, chose to end Lexie's pain. She had long suffered the agony of multiple myeloma and the infections that resulted from it. Lexie brought unfailing empathy and genuine joy to all she knew. She is survived by her husband, Arthur Piehl, with whom she lived the example of a committed marriage filled with love and lifelong dedication. She is survived by her two daughters, Heidi (Russ) Lepisto, and Heather (Don) Erdman, who were constantly inspired by her choice to live a life of giving. Lexie is also survived by her two granddaughters, Hannah (Ben) Stevenson, and Samantha (Aaron) Timmens; her great-grandson, William Stevenson; sisters Kerry (Jeff) Verbeck and Billie (Tom) Westervelt, nieces Katie (Matt) Hille and Brianna Westervelt; and nephews Kolby Verbeck and Dylan Westervelt. Lexie is also mourned by her great-nieces and nephews, her cousins, and the many friends she drew to her. She is preceded in death by her mother, Joyce Johnson, her father, Ken Johnson, her grandson Richard Gibney, her sister-in-law Colleen (Piehl) Compton, her aunts Birdie Jacobsen and Rose McCamly, her nephew Scott Verbeck, and her great-nephew Bennett Hille. Alexis Marie Piehl (nee Johnson) was born on June 16, 1950 in Rapid City, South Dakota. She and Art married on August 16, 1968. Later that year, Art and Lexie moved to Perry Point, Maryland, and then, after several years, to Tomah, Wisconsin, where they raised their daughters. In the year 2000, they moved a final time to Sidney, Nebraska. Lexie loved the Black Hills in which they grew up, and she and Art visited there often. Lexie enjoyed a career in human resources that gave her the opportunity to serve others. She demonstrated dignity and compassion with each of her interactions with employees and patients in medical and psychological services. Lexie employed her knowledge and diplomacy to ensure that all whom she encountered retained or received necessary health insurance and other benefits. She worked long hours to reach compromises between employees and management, and she succeeded in crafting effective agreements in trying situations. As a young adult, Lexie engaged her sewing skills to create clothing and blankets for her family and for those in need. She persistently sought out her family members for reminiscing and new adventures. She loved to read mystery novels, write short stories, grow flowers and vegetables, add to her collection of sheep artifacts, and share her soprano voice in the church choir. Lexie's life was a model to others. She created a Christian example of loving, kindness, gentleness and self-control. She attended worship regularly throughout her life and she enriched her church community with her contributions to girls' youth groups, world missions, and people in assisted living and nursing care. On many cold days, Lexie removed the gloves from her own hands and placed them on the bare hands of those who lacked warm clothing. Much of her life can be defined by this simple act of pure kindness. Lexie's heart was happiest in Cannon Beach, Oregon, where she collected shells, took long walks on the beach, and charmed seagulls. She shared her favorite place with friends, and she and Art regularly visited Cannon Beach with their children and grandchildren. Friends of her daughters and granddaughters considered Lexie to be their second mom. She mothered anyone who needed to talk and who required help making life decisions. Lexie listened closely to those with whom she spoke, and her answers and advice suited individual situations perfectly. Lexie dried many tears and brought smiles to multiple sad and lonely faces. Her soft voice and undivided attention to the situations of others called to the suffering, who left Lexie's presence enriched by her wisdom and creativity. Those who met Lexie remembered her. Those who knew Lexie treasured her. Those who loved Lexie are now bereft of the most beautiful person in their lives. Yet those who remembered, treasured and loved her were not to decide. Holechek Funeral Home and Cremations in Sidney is serving the Piehl family. Francesca has a distinctive metallic champagne coloured hull and is built in composite materials to give her an impressive speed of up to 40 knots, a lightness and an ease of handling. Created for use in the tropics and the shallow waters around Florida, she has an especially limited draught of 1.2 metres. The shipyard reports that her layout is 'classic American,' with a spacious open country kitchen located on the main deck. Extensively glazed, the yacht allows in plenty of natural light with a skylight included above the central dining table. Tommaso Spadolino of Design Studios Spadolini has created her traditional and luxurious interior. Eight guests can be accomodated in four cabins with crew quarters allowing for three. Keen to master handling the yacht themself, the owner has requested the latest in onboard technologies - a state-of-the-art home automation system fully integrates the two MTU 16V2000 M96L engines and the modern steering system has been designed for ease of handling. Following the US economy's consistent growth, and the favourable political climate for UHNWIs, the love affair US clients are having with Italian yachts is still going strong. This is especially true when these yachts are sporty looking, easy to handle for owners wanting to take control themselves, and built with the smaller draughts suitable for the shallow waters of Florida and the Caribbean. Earlier this month we reported on the sale of a Mangusta 94 to an American client - a yacht with all these key selling points. After cruising the Mediterranean during the summer, Francesca will be presented as a world premiere at the Cannes Yachting Festival between 11 and 16 September. Candidates named in city and school elections With the passing of the filing deadline for the upcoming city and school election, several area governing bodies including the City of Tama and ... In 1988, NASA's top climate scientist made a bold prediction that would come back to haunt not just him but also the entire world. Predicting Global Warming James Hansen revealed in June 1988 that global warming had arrived on the planet, and it was already making its presence known. Hansen explained in a scientific report that global warming could strengthen its hold on the Earth depending on greenhouse gas emissions. Thirty years after he made that startling prediction, several members of the scientific community praised Hansen's efforts for correctly predicting the predicament given the 1980s technology. However, Hansen lamented that he was correct and will not utter the phrase "I told you so." In a recent interview, the scientist noted that he was concerned with the rapid rate that both Antarctica and Greenland's ice was melting. The 77-year-old former NASA employee also stated that he wished that government leaders heeded his warnings and took appropriate actions. Blaming World Leaders Hansen stated that while world leaders agreed that something needs to be done to combat global warming during the 1992 Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the 2015 Paris Accords, he revealed that he was unhappy that California Governor Jerry Brown and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel gave their people lip service as they ignored global warming. He announced his disappointment with former U.S. President Barack Obama and claimed that his climate change policies "failed miserably." When he left the space agency in 2013, Hansen became an environmental activist. Currently, Hansen is suing the federal government over their failed attempts to take on global warming. Hansen, along with his granddaughter and 20 other plaintiffs, accuses the U.S. Government of putting the environment in danger. "If scientists are not allowed to talk about the policy implications of the science, who is going to do that? People with financial interests?" asked Hansen in a statement to the Associated Press transcribed by Newsday. Global Warming News Scientists have noticed that only 1 percent of Japan's largest coral reef, Sekisei Lagoon, is healthy. The report blamed coral-eating starfish and rising water temperatures for causing the lagoon's coral population to shrink. The Japanese government also noted that massive bleaching of the lagoon occurred in 1988, 2001, 2007, and 2016. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed that April was the 400th consecutive month that had warmer-than-average temperatures. The government agency announced in their climate report that Europe and South America had the warmest April they ever had. They also noted that on April 30, Pakistan recorded its hottest day of the month with 122.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Researchers also noted that record heat in 2017 played a role in strengthening the deadly Hurricane Harvey. They discovered that the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters supercharged the massive hurricane and gave it tons of moisture. They said that the moisture levels caused the devasting damage to the Houston, Texas, area. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Drought haunts farmers in Poland, Baltic states Warsaw, June 20 (AFP) Jun 20, 2018 Poland's prime minister on Wednesday warned of "very significant" crop losses as the EU country scrambled to help farmers struggling to cope with an unusual spring drought amid soaring temperatures. Farmers in the nearby Baltic EU states of Latvia and Lithuania are also facing drought, with Latvian officials due to consider declaring a state of emergency on Thursday, according to the BNS Baltic News Service. Dry weather has affected half of Poland's farmland with cereal crops most at risk, according to Poland's Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG). The drought in "June is worse than in the worst dry years of 2006 and 2015, so losses may turn out to be very significant," rightwing Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters in Warsaw. Speaking alongside him, new farms minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski vowed to present a package of measures to help farmers cope in the coming weeks, without going into details. Deputy farms minister Jacek Bogucki on Tuesday estimated that losses caused by the drought were "unprecedented", according to Poland's PAP news agency. Experts said that about a third of Polish crops have suffered amid the unusual spring drought marked by unseasonably high daily temperatures. This May was the warmest in 55 years in Poland, with average daily temperatures pegged at 18.7 degrees Celsius (65 degrees Fahrenheit), up from 15.3 degrees Celsius last year, Professor Zuzanna Sawinska from the University of Life Sciences in the western city of Poznan told the PAP. With no rain since May 3, the dry weather has already forced farmers in western Latvia to begin culling their cattle due to a shortage of fodder. Grain and vegetable farmers in neighbouring Lithuania have also warned of drought-related losses. "We estimate today that at least 30 percent of the harvest has already been lost," said Ausrys Macijauskas, chairman of the Lithuanian Grain Growers' Association, quoted by the BNS. The fight between the state and Plaquemines Parish over a key project in the states 50-year coastal master plan is escalating, with the board that oversees the states coastal restoration efforts threatening to withhold funding for other Plaquemines coastal projects or take the parish to court. The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority board voted Wednesday to give its chairman and executive director authority to go to court if Plaquemines Parish officials dont cooperate by June 29. The fight is focused on the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, a $1.4 billion project planned for lower Plaquemines Parish. The diversion would send as much as 75,000 cubic feet per second of freshwater and silt from a cut in the Mississippi River levee near Ironton into the Barataria marshes. State officials and many environmentalists say the diversion, and another one planned for Breton Sound on the east bank, are a crucial way to build new land in Plaquemines Parish as the state tries to cope with an ever-disappearing coastline. Plaquemines officials and seafood industry leaders worry about the impact the diversion would have on oyster beds and other fisheries because of the introduction of freshwater and pollutants from the Mississippi into the productive marshes. Plaquemines doesnt want to be the testing ground for experimental restoration projects, Parish President Amos Cormier III told the CPRA board Wednesday. The parish has refused to grant CPRA permission to take soil borings near the levee as part of a mandated environmental impact study connected to the diversion. Those samples will help the state address the communitys concerns, CPRA Chairman Johnny Bradberry said in an interview. The borings are needed to ensure the diversion is designed correctly and also to write the environmental impact statement, which looks at the effect a new infrastructure project would have on the local ecology, he said. The CPRA board met behind closed doors with its attorneys for about an hour during Wednesday's meeting. When it emerged, the board authorized Bradberry and CPRA Executive Director Michael Ellis to take Plaquemines to court if the parish doesnt agree to cooperate by June 29. According to the resolution, the CPRA may pursue an injunction, a writ of mandamus or a civil suit to assert the states supremacy and its need to perform restorative work on the coast. The board may also cut off funding for the $6.6 billion in coastal projects planned in Plaquemines Parish. Alternatively, the CPRA could ask a judge to declare that the authority's projects are not subject to local control, Bradberry said. He emphasized that such a suit will be filed only if efforts to work with the parish fail. Private landowners and other permitting agencies have all given permission to collect the soil samples. The state has other work it can focus on for now, but eventually it will need to do the borings. Every month the project is delayed could cost up to $400,000, said Brad Barth, of the CPRA. The Plaquemines resolution passed with little discussion and the support of the entire board except St. Bernard Parish President Guy McInnis. He said the board must keep in mind that the states master plan is a working document. He urged his colleagues to consider the possibility that previous decisions may have been wrong and to be willing to change the plan if it is in the best interest of coastal communities. He declined to comment further after the meeting, saying he wanted to be cautious in case the matter winds up in court. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up One issue that has rankled Plaquemines authorities is that their parish is not directly represented on the CPRA board. The members representing areas east of the Atchafalaya River represent St. Bernard Parish, the South Lafourche Levee District and the Pontchartrain Levee District. This is an experimental project they are proposing, Cormier said. The adverse impacts need to be mitigated for the people of Plaquemines Parish. Cormier pointed to two studies, one by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on crevasses near Fort St. Philip, and another that he said studied the impact of storm surge on freshwater marshes. Those both show that the proposed Barataria diversion could actually lead to loss of land, he said. The war of words has been brewing for some time but has intensified recently, with Gov. John Bel Edwards attempting to allay Plaquemines residents concerns. The state has years of science and planning, all pointing to sediment diversions as being essential to the future of our coast, he wrote in a letter published in the Plaquemines Gazette on June 12. (The review process) is driven by public input and will scientifically evaluate potential impacts to the fisheries, the economy, and many other aspects of life and the environment. In the end, these projects will not be built unless the state addresses every single negative impact through avoidance, minimization or mitigation, he wrote. Nevertheless, Cormier appeared at the CPRA meeting ready to contest the Mid-Barataria project. In an April letter to Bradberry, Assistant Parish Attorney Shane Landry wrote that the issue isnt just seafood. There also are worries that the project will bisect roads, interfere with levees and disrupt sewer and water service, Landry said. Environmental groups, meanwhile, have criticized Plaquemines leaders for holding up Mid-Barataria, which has the enthusiastic support of groups like Restore the Mississippi River Delta, a coalition of local and national conservation nonprofits. What Plaquemines Parish needs at this moment is progress, not delays. As the parish experiences some of the worst land loss in the state, the one luxury it does not have is time," the coalition wrote in a news release. "Unfortunately," it added, "the action of President Cormier to prevent routine evaluations from occurring as part of the environmental review of the project is costing the parish and all of its residents time and threatening the future existence of this special place. In a letter to the Plaquemines Parish Council, the CPRA board expressed hope they can all put the matter to bed without getting a judge involved. "While the state's preference is to work cooperatively with Plaquemines Parish government to resolve this issue and move forward ... CPRA will pursue all legal remedies available," the letter said. A modest move towards convening a convention to rewrite the state constitution was again shot down, this time by a House committee. On separate 3-3 votes Wednesday, the House & Governmental Affairs Committee, rejected two resolutions that would have organized a study commission to consider the feasibility and possible issues surrounding the possibility of changing the state constitution to better address the states ongoing fiscal problems. Democratic New Orleans Rep. Neil Abramson said 13 mid-year corrections and a string of special sessions, including this one, to address ongoing budget problems underlined the need for fundamental changes in the way state government collects and spends taxpayer dollars. The most efficient way of accomplishing that goal would be to change the financial structure in the constitution that, among other things, locks away money for specific programs. The New Orleans Democrat, who sponsored House Concurrent Resolution 2, had tried and failed in previous sessions to pass legislation that would call the first constitutional convention since 1973 and address those fiscal issues. North Louisiana legislators had voiced concerns that south Louisiana lawmakers would dominate such a convention and make changes that would hurt institutions relied on in the less populous areas north of Interstate 10. Push for new state constitution squashed in Louisiana House, likely dead for the year A bid to hold a constitutional convention aimed at tackling Louisiana's persistent budget problems failed Wednesday in the state House. State Rep. Dorothy Sue Hill, D-Dry Creek, said the states fiscal problems werent rooted in the constitution, but came about because legislators rolled back provisions in the Stelly Tax Plan a few years after the states voters overwhelmingly approved in 2002. Named after Vic Stelly, the Republican representative who sponsored the legislation, the plan was to make up for a reduction in sales taxes by broadening income tax brackets. By 2009, legislators had changed back Stellys income tax provisions without touching the sales taxes causing a huge drop in tax receipts. Rep. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, filed House Concurrent Resolution 5 that similarly created a commission to study the feasibility of a constitutional convention. Foil too has filed numerous bills over the year to rewrite the state constitution. The difference between his resolution and Abramsons was the make-up of the study group. The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up HCR2 would have put five representatives and five senators on the panel. HCR5 would have also included members appointed by the governor, the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, deans of the states law schools and representatives from good government think tanks. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards supports creating a task force to study convening a constitutional convention. Foil and Abramson asked the committee to approve both because of the abbreviated time the years thirds special session began Monday and ends Wednesday, June 27. They promised to work out the task force membership before asking the full House to vote. But the committee basically said no and defeated each resolution in turn with identical votes. Both legislators asked to voluntarily defer the resolutions, a common courtesy that technically keeps the measures alive. But Foil said both resolutions likely are dead for this special session because of the time considerations. Both legislators said they'd try again in the next legislative session. Voting for the constitutional conventions study groups (3): Interim H&GA Committee Chairman Stephen Pugh, R-Ponchatoula; Reps Gregory Miller, R-Norco; and Rob Shadoin, R-Ruston. Voting against HCR 2 and HCR 5 (3): Reps Dorothy Sue Hill, D-Dry Creek; Sam Jenkins, D-Shreveport; and Jay Morris, R-Monroe Cory Stewart, House Communications Director, at lectern right, sings the National Anthem before Gov. John Bel Edwards addresses the joint session during the opening of this year's third Special Legislative Session to address the state budget Monday June 18, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen speaks at the National SheriffsO Association Opening Session at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, La. Monday, June 18, 2018. The National SheriffsO Association (NSA) is a trade organization of law enforcement professionals representing more than 3,000 elected sheriffs across the nation. The organization also lobbies before the United States Congress, the White House, and the various federal agencies about political issues and for funding law enforcement. New Orleans will join a nationwide protest against federal immigration policies separating immigrant families from their children on June 30. Events across the U.S. will target a mandate from President Donald Trumps administration that calls for the immediate prosecution of people entering the country without legal permission, including families traveling with children A rally is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 30 in Lafayette Square across from U.S. District Court. The Department of Homeland Security reported this month that nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families at U.S. borders within a six-week span between April and May 2018. Reports from Border Patrol detention centers, camps and DHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities, including a former Walmart in Texas, revealed thousands of migrant children detained without access to their families. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen were in New Orleans June 18 to speak at the National Sheriff's Association's annual meeting, where they defended the policy. New Orleans City Council calls for end to 'un-American and inhumane' immigration policy After defending the separation of migrant children from their families at U.S. borders, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Local officials and organizations have joined a growing chorus condemning the administrations immigration policies, which began to take shape through a series of executive orders in January 2017, along with a zero tolerance policy for border crossing. A draft resolution from the New Orleans City Council says the administrations prosecution-first mentality is costly, taxing on our courts, and unnecessarily punitive, especially as it affects family units. The resolution defines the policy as a a human rights abuse that causes unnecessary trauma to children and parents. The United States has a higher standard than legality, with our countrys most basic moral commitment being human rights and dignity, the resolution states, adding that the U.S. must heed the United Nations call to end the practice of family separation though on June 19, the Trump administration announced plans to exit the U.N. Human Rights Council. New Orleans Democratic U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, expressing support for a Congressional measure urging the Subcommittee on Homeland Security on Appropriations to work with DHS to end the policy, said on Twitter that Family separation at our borders is cruel and goes against our values as a country. IT MUST STOP! Former Mayor Mitch Landrieu wrote, Mr. President- Please stop separating children from their parents. Rise above. You have the power. Use it. The Archdiocese of New Orleans also has joined calls to act a statement from New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond says the Catholic faith teaches that we believe in the dignity of the human person and the preservation of the family. +2 "Were called to serve the vulnerable": New Orleans responds to Trump's immigration order as refugee agencies face uncertain future A family with three children under 5 years old was expected to arrive in Louisiana this week from Syria, where the death toll of a six-year-ol Nations are encouraged to create laws that will allow legal immigration in a just way. As a church we have never suggested, Open our borders all are welcome, yet countries must regulate their borders with justice and mercy, Aymond writes. We believe immigration should be guided by laws that show charity while providing safety and security. Our current immigration laws are not guided by these principles and are not fair or just. Similar calls from the Archdiocese were issued in the wake of Trumps ban on immigrants from majority-Muslim countries and a freeze on refugee programs within his first days in office. (Its our call as Christians to help our fellow man, Catholic Charities Division Director Martin Gutierrez told Gambit last year. It doesnt matter what nationality or religion theyre from, were called to serve the vulnerable. We believe there are mechanisms in place already to ensure our security at the same without sacrificing our values ... The Archdiocese of New Orleans has been doing this for many, many years, and well continue to do this. Its our duty.") Five people were arrested during protests outside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on June 18 during appearances from Nielsen and Sessions (who received the Sheriffs Association lifetime achievement award). The demonstration partially organized by immigrant advocacy organization the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ) also challenged collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), particularly in recent targeted arrests in Jefferson Parish and in the implementation of surveillance cameras sharing streamed data with federal partners. While many would like to believe that Jeff Sessions is an isolated extremist, we know thats not true, said Ana Rodriguez, one of the protesters who was arrested, in a statement from NOWCRJ. When the National Sheriffs Association gives him a Lifetime Achievement Award, what theyre really celebrating is child detention, mass trials, racial profiling, and mass incarceration. After defending the separation of migrant children from their families at U.S. borders, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen appeared in New Orleans June 18 to speak at the National Sheriff's Association's annual meeting, where they received a standing ovation from law enforcement inside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center as protesters gathered outside. The New Orleans City Council denounced the DHS mandate at its June 7 meeting and this morning, the body announced plans to issue a formal resolution demanding DHS put an "end to the un-American and inhumane" policy and calling on U.S. officials to work to reunite families. The resolution from Council Vice President Helena Moreno and Council President Jason Williams will be discussed at the City Council's June 21 meeting. "The Trump Administration is perpetrating a heartless violation of human rights right here in America," Moreno said in a statement. "These innocent children are being terrorized in our name, and I simply won't stand for it. This evil must stop immediately, and these children must be reunited with their parents without delay." +5 Attorney General Jeff Sessions defends 'zero tolerance' policy in N.O. speech amid protests As the public outcry over a policy separating newly arrived children from their parents at the border reached a fever pitch, the Trump adminis DHS announce its "zero tolerance" policy earlier this month, calling for the "immediate" prosecution of "all amenable adults who illegally enter the country, including those accompanied by their children." Following reports of roughly 2,000 children separated from their families at U.S. borders between April and May, the City Council's draft resolution echoes the United Nations' call for an "immediate halt" to the policy and denounces the poor infrastructure used to detain immigrants, including "inhumane" conditions at immigration enforcement facilities. The resolution directs the council clerk to send a copy to President Donald Trump, Sessions and Louisiana members of Congress. Williams, who has joined several calls for immigration reform throughout Trump's administration, says he'll continue to "publicly condemn the Trump administration and Attorney General Jeff Sessions' enforcement of their new immigration policy to separate families." "Forcibly separating children from parents as a matter of course is inhumane and unnecessary, and as an African American and a descendant of American slaves, this policy is evocative of some of darkest days in this countries young history," Williams said in a statement. "This policy is truly self-inflicted wound, and like many we have seen from the current administration, is antithetical to American values and basic humanity." At the June 7 City Council meeting, Williams took a moment to "publicly condemn" Trump and Sessions, and Council Vice President Helena Moreno suggested the Council "come up with a resolution in the near future stating our position on this issue." Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three "tender age" shelters in South Texas, The Associated Press has learned. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday. Since the White House announced its zero tolerance policy in early May, more than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, resulting in a new influx of young children requiring government care. The government has faced withering critiques over images of some of the children in cages inside U.S. Border Patrol processing stations. Can't see video below? Click here. Decades after the nation's child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is starting up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents. "The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it," said Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. "Toddlers are being detained." Bellor said shelters follow strict procedures surrounding who can gain access to the children in order to protect their safety, but that means information about their welfare can be limited. By law, child migrants traveling alone must be sent to facilities run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within three days of being detained. The agency then is responsible for placing the children in shelters or foster homes until they are united with a relative or sponsor in the community as they await immigration court hearings. But U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' announcement last month that the government would criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the U.S.-Mexico border illegally has led to the breakup of migrant families and sent a new group of hundreds of young children into the government's care. +5 Trump cabinet members defend 'zero tolerance' policy in New Orleans speeches amid protests As the public outcry over a policy separating newly arrived children from their parents at the border reached a fever pitch, the Trump adminis The United Nations, some Democratic and Republican lawmakers and religious groups have sharply criticized the policy, calling it inhumane. Not so, said Steven Wagner, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services. "We have specialized facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs and tender age children as we define as under 13 would fall into that category," he said. "They're not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and they're staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs particularly of the younger children." Until now, however, it's been unknown where they are. "In general we do not identify the locations of permanent unaccompanied alien children program facilities," said agency spokesman Kenneth Wolfe. The three centers in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville have been rapidly repurposed to serve needs of children including some under 5. A fourth, planned for Houston, would house up to 240 children in a warehouse previously used for people displaced by Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. Turner said he met with officials from Austin-based Southwest Key Programs, the contractor that operates some of the child shelters, to ask them to reconsider their plans. A spokeswoman for Southwest Key didn't immediately reply to an email seeking comment. "And so there comes a point in time we draw a line and for me, the line is with these children," said Turner during a news conference Tuesday. On a practical level, the zero tolerance policy has overwhelmed the federal agency charged with caring for the new influx of children who tend to be much younger than teens who typically have been traveling to the U.S. alone. Indeed some recent detainees are infants, taken from their mothers. Doctors and lawyers who have visited the shelters said the facilities were fine, clean and safe, but the kids who have no idea where their parents are were hysterical, crying and acting out. "The shelters aren't the problem, it's taking kids from their parents that's the problem," said South Texas pediatrician Marsha Griffin who has visited many. Alicia Lieberman, who runs the Early Trauma Treatment Network at University of California, San Francisco, said decades of study show early separations can cause permanent emotional damage. "Children are biologically programmed to grow best in the care of a parent figure. When that bond is broken through long and unexpected separations with no set timeline for reunion, children respond at the deepest physiological and emotional levels," she said. "Their fear triggers a flood of stress hormones that disrupt neural circuits in the brain, create high levels of anxiety, make them more susceptible to physical and emotional illness, and damage their capacity to manage their emotions, trust people, and focus their attention on age-appropriate activities." Days after Sessions announced the zero-tolerance policy, the government issued a call for proposals from shelter and foster care providers to provide services for the new influx of children taken from their families after journeying from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. As children are separated from their families, law enforcement agents reclassify them from members of family units to "unaccompanied alien children." Federal officials said Tuesday that since May, they have separated 2,342 children from their families, rendering them unaccompanied minors in the government's care. While Mexico is still the most common country of origin for families arrested at the border, in the last eight months Honduras has become the fastest-growing category as compared to fiscal year 2017. During a press briefing Tuesday, reporters repeatedly asked for an age breakdown of the children who have been taken. Officials from both law enforcement and Health and Human Services said they didn't know how many children were under 5, under 2, or even so little they're non-verbal. "The facilities that they have for the most part are not licensed for tender age children," said Michelle Brane, director of migrant rights at the Women's Refugee Commission, who met with a 4-year-old girl in diapers in a McAllen warehouse where Border Patrol temporarily holds migrant families. "There is no model for how you house tons of little children in cots institutionally in our country. We don't do orphanages, our child welfare has recognized that is an inappropriate setting for little children." So now, the government has to try to hire more caregivers. The recent call for proposals by the federal government's Office of Refugee Resettlement said it was seeking applicants who can provide services for a diverse population "of all ages and genders, as well as pregnant and parenting teens." Even the policy surrounding what age to take away a baby is inconsistent. Customs and Border Protection field chiefs over all nine southwest border districts can use their discretion over how young is too young, officials said. And while Health and Human Services defines "tender age" typically as 12 and under, Customs and Border Protection has at times defined it as 5 and under. For 30 years, Los Fresnos, Texas-based International Education Services ran emergency shelters and foster care programs for younger children and pregnant teens who arrived in the U.S. as unaccompanied minors. At least one resident sued for the right to have an abortion in a high-profile case last March. For reasons the agency did not explain, three months ago the government's refugee resettlement office said it was ending their funding to the program and transferred all children to other facilities. This came weeks before the administration began its "zero tolerance" policy, prompting a surge in "tender age" migrant children needing shelter. In recent days, members of Congress have been visiting the shelters and processing centers, or watching news report about them, bearing witness to the growing chaos. In a letter sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday, a dozen Republican senators said separating families isn't consistent with American values and ordinary human decency. New Orleans City Council calls for end to 'un-American and inhumane' immigration policy After defending the separation of migrant children from their families at U.S. borders, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of On Tuesday, a Guatemalan mother who hasn't seen her 7-year-old son since he was taken from her a month ago sued the Trump administration. Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia was released from custody while her asylum case is pending and thinks her son, Darwin, might be in a shelter in Arizona. "I only got to talk to him once and he sounded so sad. My son never used to sound like that, he was such a dynamic boy," Mejia-Mejia said as she wept. "I call and call and no one will tell me where he is." WASHINGTON (AP) Facing rising outrage from some Republicans as well as Democrats over the forced separation of migrant children and parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, President Donald Trump dug in Monday, again falsely blaming Democrats and declaring he would keep the U.S. from becoming "a migrant camp." Democrats have turned up the pressure over the administration policy, and some Republicans have joined the chorus of criticism. Former first lady Laura Bush has called the separation policy "cruel" and "immoral" while GOP Sen. Susan Collins expressed concern about it and a former adviser to Trump questioned using the policy to pressure Democrats on immigration legislation. Trump continued to cast blame on Democrats Monday, as he detoured from planned remarks on U.S. space policy to defend his administration's policies. "I say it's very strongly the Democrats' fault," he said at the White House. "The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility," he added. "Not on my watch." Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen rejected criticism accusing her department of inhuman and immoral actions. "We are doing none of those things. We are enforcing the laws passed by Congress," she said in an appearance before the National Sheriffs' Association in New Orleans. Like Trump, she called on Congress to reform immigration laws. +5 Trump cabinet members defend 'zero tolerance' policy in New Orleans speeches amid protests As the public outcry over a policy separating newly arrived children from their parents at the border reached a fever pitch, the Trump adminis Nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new "zero-tolerance" policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. U.S. protocol prohibits detaining children with their parents because the children are not charged with a crime and the parents are. Nielsen said that releasing parents with their children amounts to a "get out of jail free card" policy for those in the country illegally. Speaking at the same conference, Sessions echoed Nielsen's defense of the policy, and called on Congress to act. "We do not want to separate parents from their children," Sessions said. "If we build the wall, if we pass legislation to end the lawlessness, we won't face these terrible choices." Trump asserted Monday that children "are being used by some of the worst criminals on earth" as a way to enter the United States. He tweeted: "Has anyone been looking at the Crime taking place south of the border," calling it "historic." Criticism is rising from both sides of the political aisle. In a guest column for The Washington Post Sunday, Mrs. Bush made some of the strongest comments yet from a Republican. "I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart," she wrote. She compared it to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, which she called "one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history." +8 Five issued summonses during New Orleans protest over immigration policy outside Jeff Sessions speech Five people were issued a summons during a protest outside the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans as Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke Underscoring the emotional tension, first lady Melania Trump, who has tended to stay out of contentious policy debates, waded into the issue. Her spokeswoman said that Mrs. Trump believes "we need to be a country that follows all laws," but also one "that governs with heart." "Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform," spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said. The signs of splintering GOP support are spreading. The Rev. Franklin Graham, a longtime Trump ally, called the policy "disgraceful." Several religious groups, including some conservative ones, have pushed to stop the practice of separating immigrant children from their parents. Former Trump adviser Anthony Scaramucci said Monday on CNN that it "doesn't feel right" for the Trump administration to blame Democrats and use the issue as a way of pressuring Democrats into negotiating on a Republican immigration bill. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she favors tighter border security, but expressed deep concerns about the child separation policy. "What the administration has decided to do is to separate children from their parents to try to send a message that if you cross the border with children, your children are going to be ripped away from you," she said. "That's traumatizing to the children who are innocent victims, and it is contrary to our values in this country." House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said the policy "leaves a dark stain on our nation." "Ripping vulnerable little children away from their parents is an utter atrocity that debases America's values and our legacy as a beacon of hope, opportunity and freedom," she said Monday. Trump plans to meet with House Republicans on Tuesday to discuss pending immigration legislation amid the election-season debate over what has been one of his favorite issues. The House is expected to vote this week on a bill pushed by conservatives that may not have enough support to pass, and a compromise measure with key proposals supported by the president. The White House has said Trump would sign either one. Both House proposals face broad opposition from Democrats, and even if a bill does pass, the closely divided Senate seems unlikely to go along. Trump's former chief strategist said Republicans would face steep consequences for pushing the compromise bill because it provides a path to citizenship for young "Dreamer" immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. Steve Bannon argued that that effort risks alienating Trump's political base and could lead to election losses in November, when Republicans hope to preserve their congressional majorities. ___ AP writers Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, and Ken Thomas in Washington and Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed. SUMMER SWEAT SERIES: Canal Place is partnering with Club Pilates instructor Michael Scott to present community workout classes from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays through June on Level 3 of Canal Place, near Saks Fifth Avenue. To register, visit eventbrite.com. DEBTORS ANONYMOUS: Debtors Anonymous, a 12-step group for people who have problems with money, debt, work, underearning or overspending, meets Saturdays from 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. at Canal Street Church, 4302 Canal St., New Orleans. A Business Debtors Anonymous group meets from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays in Room 250 of the New Orleans Healing Center, 2372 St. Claude Ave., New Orleans. For information on the organization, visit debtorsanonymous.org. SAFE SITTER: The Parenting Center at Children's Hospital and the Junior League of New Orleans will present Safe Sitter Essentials classes with CPR this summer at the Junior League headquarters, 4319 Carondelet St. The one-day classes for young people in grades six through eight will be from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, June 23-24, June 30-July 1, July 14-15 and July 21-22. The $50 fee includes lunch; some scholarships are available. For information, call (504) 896-9691 or email chparenting@lcmchealth.org. PARKINSON'S SUPPORT GROUP: Lori Boudet, a sales specialist with Adamas Pharma, will discuss the treatment of dyskinesia the sudden, uncontrolled, jerky movements that can plague Parkinsons patients when the Big Easy Fleur de Lis Parkinson's Support Group meets from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. June 25 in the Esplanade I room of the first floor conference center at East Jefferson General Hospital, 4200 Houma Blvd., Metairie. For information on the support group, email Bonnie Huddleston at bonhudd4417@gmail.com. GRIEF SHARE: A 13-week grief recovery and support group is meeting from 10 a.m. to noon Thursdays through July 26 at Christian Fellowship Church, 5049 Ehret Road, Marrero. The program of video presentations, group discussions and at-home preparation can be joined in progress. Fee of $15 covers cost of the workbook. To register, call (504) 347-4875. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up NOEH FIT: New Orleans East Hospital is presenting a free New Orleans East Hospital Fit wellness program at noon Wednesdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays through June 30 at 5620 Read Blvd. Classes will incorporate physical activity and health information; light snacks will be provided. To register, visit eventbrite.com. CO-DEPENDENTS ANONYMOUS: The Co-Dependents Anonymous 12-step group for people seeking help with relationships will meet from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at Aurora United Methodist Church, 3300 Eton St., New Orleans. For information on the self-help organization, visit coda.org. HELP WITH PRESCRIPTION COSTS: The New Orleans Council on Aging offers prescription assistance through its Aging and Disability Resource Center/Senior Rx helpline. The assistance is available to seniors, adults with disabilities and their families. Email mhorton@nocoa.org or call (888) 922-8522 or (504) 827-7843. Have ready a Medicare number or insurance information, effective date for Medicare parts A or B, or Social Security number, along with a list of medicines. People with no insurance also may call. WALKING GROUPS: Walking groups meet Saturdays at the New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, in City Park, and at St. Roch Park, 1800 St. Roch Ave. The City Park group, the AARP Soul Steppers, gathers at 9 a.m. The St. Roch group gathers at 9:30 a.m. Most people dont want to associate with criminals, and a local man was one of them. David Smith, of Mandeville, said someone at church asked him to consider volunteering for the international prison ministry known as KAIROS. I told them absolutely not, never, he said. But that Sunday, the Gospel reading was the judgment of nations in Matthew, and he heard the words I was in prison, and you visited me. Something changed in his heart. Smith went on his first KAIROS weekend at B.B. "Sixty" Rayburn Correctional Center, a state prison in Angie. He has been going every since. As the ministry prepares for its next KAIROS weekend in October, Smith is part of an outreach effort that will host a Changing Hearts event for the public. Speakers who work directly with the ministry at Rayburn will be there to help answer questions. Changing Hearts will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at St. Timothy on the Northshore United Methodist Church, 331 Asbury Drive in Mandeville. Lunch is included. Speakers will include Warden Robert Tanner and Chaplain Mark Hollingsworth from the Rayburn Correctional Center. Also scheduled is Department of Corrections Deputy Secretary Malcolm Myer. The ministry connects free men with prison residents who are referred by the chaplain within a structured program. The volunteers cannot advocate for the individual. They are not told why the men are in prison. They cannot befriend them once they are out. The change happens within the prison. Its an unforgettable experience, Smith said. We are trying to grow. Ronnie Berg, of Covington, is also a volunteer with KAIROS. He said Louisiana has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world with more than 38,000 men and 2,900 women behind bars. Of those, more than 90 percent will be released at some point in their lives. The ministry not only help change a life so that the person does not return to prison, it also prevents creation of future crime victims. Berg said more than 1,300 men are incarcerated in Rayburn. With more volunteers, the program could reach more prisoners, Berg said. KAIROS needs one volunteer for every prisoner who attends a KAIROS weekend held twice a year. This is an opportunity to tell the community what weve been doing and why. Its not about us, its about them, he said, referring to the inmates. These are the real heroes. You wont read about them (reoffending). These men change. They go back into society and disappear. Thats why the warden and chaplain have agreed to speak, he said. They are stepping forward to say what KAIROS is doing and why its needed," Berg said. St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up He said applications will be available for anyone who wants to try out for a spot on the team. The ecumenical ministry draws from every denomination and from nondenominational churches, mainly in St. Tammany. Other areas include parts of Washington Parish and towns in Mississippi near the prison. There are five Saturday training sessions, and applications must be signed by the applicants pastor. Berg said that when he first heard about KAIROS, he wasn't interested. He was teaching adult Sunday school at his church when a member of the class asked if he could make an announcement. He was going to KAIROS No. 1 at Rayburn, and asked if I wanted to go, Berg said. It took two years, but Berg attended No. 4. I was scared to death, and after the first afternoon almost went home. But two ladies (of the support team) prayed over me and I went in. He has been going ever since, and became the first national KAIROS trainer in Louisiana. I saw changes that were dramatic. I saw the effect of the Holy Spirit on their lives. Berg volunteers as chairman of the subcommittee on KAIROS programs for the state. He said KAIROS operates inside six of the 10 medium- and maximum-security prisons in Louisiana. Each prison has a KAIROS advisory council made up of volunteers that report to the state committee. The 14 members of the Rayburn advisory council are free men and women. They form the KAIROS community on the outside and more than 200 prisoners form the KAIROS community inside. Only men go into Rayburn, Berg said. The team members are hosted by a local church, and women can help with preparing the meals served throughout the weekend and with prayer and support. Where KAIROS serves in a womens prison, the roles are reversed, he said. There are weekly prayer and share meetings on Wednesday nights for residents who have attended KAIROS weekend and a monthly reunion and weekend retreats. Changing a life is not an event, but a process, he said. KAIROS operates in more than 40 states, 500 prison institutions and in nine other countries, including Canada, Great Britain, Australia and in Central and South America. It began in 1979 and is estimated to have served more than 300,000 prisoners. For information, call Ronnie Berg at (504) 452-9791 or visit mykairos.org. MEDICARE COUNSELING: The state Department of Insurance's Senior Health Insurance Information Program will offer counseling services for Medicare beneficiaries from 9 a.m. to noon on the third Wednesday of each month, beginning June 20, at the Slidell Senior Center, 610 Cousin St. The counselor is Medicare-certified and able to explain original Medicare, Medicare supplement insurance, Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Part D. The counselor will be able to complete Medicare Part D comparisons and enrollment, assist with claims issues and explain Medicare enrollment periods. For more information, call (800) 259-5300 or visit www.ldi.la.gov/SHIIP. LAKEVIEW REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: Lakeview Regional Medical Center, a campus of Tulane Medical Center, recently presented its 2018 Frist Humanitarian Awards to Dr. Marco Hidalgo; Tilly Gard, who also received the Mid-America Award presented by HCA; and volunteer June Selzer. HCA Excellence in Nursing Awards were presented to Debra Piglia, for compassionate care; and Kelly Enggeran, for professional mentoring. The award presentations were made during a recent Clinical Ladder Program celebration. SLIDELL AUTISM SUPPORT GROUP: Strengthening Outcomes with Autism Resources will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 20, in the community outreach center on the second floor of the Slidell Memorial Hospital Wellness Pavilion, 501 Robert Blvd. For information, call Anne Galiano at (504) 812-9548. SAFE KIDS 101: Nurse Stephanie Daniels will present a Safe Kids 101 course for youth ages 9-14 from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, June 20, in the community outreach center on the second floor of the Slidell Memorial Hospital Wellness Pavilion, 501 Robert Blvd. Topics will include basic first aid skills, digital and cooking safety, and how to handle unfamiliar scenarios. The cost is $35. For information and to register, call (985) 280-8529. WOMEN WARRIORS: Breast cancer patients, survivors and caregivers will meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 20, in the first-floor conference room of the Slidell Memorial Hospital Founders Building, 1150 Robert Blvd. For information, call (985) 280-6611. CANCER SUPPORT GROUP: People living with cancer and their caregivers will meet at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 20, in the second-floor chapel of the Slidell Memorial Hospital Regional Cancer Center, 1120 Robert Blvd. For remote participation, call (985) 280-8958 at 1 p.m. on group day. BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT: A bereavement support group will meet at 3 p.m. Thursday, June 21, in the second-floor chapel at the Slidell Memorial Hospital Regional Cancer Center, 1120 Robert Blvd. For information, call (985) 280-6612. YOGA FOR CANCER PATIENTS: Patricia Hart conducts free yoga classes for cancer patients, survivors and their caregivers from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mondays on the second floor of the Slidell Memorial Hospital Wellness Pavilion, 501 Robert Blvd., Slidell. The next class will be June 25. Wear loose-fitting clothing; mats are available for use. Registration and a medical release are required. For information, call Hart at (985) 707-4961. CAREGIVER SUPPORT: The Council on Aging for St. Tammany Parish caregiver support program lets those caring for people with Alzheimer's, dementia or other age-related illnesses share their struggles and successes, guided by an experienced facilitator. For information, call (504) 339-1757. Sessions are scheduled at: Slidell Senior Center, 610 Cousin St., from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of each month; the next sessions will be July 3 and July 17. Covington Senior Center, 500 Theard St., from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month; the next sessions will be June 26 and July 10. HERNIA SEMINAR: Dr. Stephen Harkness and Dr. Cary Gray will conduct a free hernia seminar from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 27, in the Pelican Room of Lakeview Regional Medical Center, 95 Judge Tanner Blvd., Covington. The general surgeons will conduct screenings, provide information about the importance of early detection and discuss minimally invasive procedures for repair. To register for a screening, call Cheryl Baham at (985) 302-4369. MALL WALKERS: North Shore Square Mall, 150 Northshore Blvd., Slidell, will open for walkers at 7 a.m. Wednesday, June 27, through a partnership with Slidell Memorial Hospital, to encourage people to walk with the advantages of mall security, air conditioning and water fountains. For information, call (985) 280-8529. ANTIBIOTIC STEWARDSHIP: Nurse Sharlene Dering will discuss the use of antibiotics as many organisms are becoming resistant to them during a free Lunch & Learn program at 11:30 a.m. Friday, June 29, in the first-floor conference room of the Slidell Memorial Hospital Founders Building, 1150 Robert Blvd., Slidell. Dering will discuss the proper use of antibiotics and their side effects. To register, call (985) 280-2657 or visit SlidellMemorial.org. FIRST AID SKILLS: The Covington Fire Department and the St. Tammany Parish Hospital Parenting Center will present a two-hour class in first-aid skills at 10 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. June 30 in Bogue Falaya Hall, 317 N. Jefferson Ave., Covington. The free class will include instruction in hands-only CPR and stopping bleeding, and is recommended for people 10 and older. Certain laws protecting citizens who initiate care also will be covered. St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up CAREGIVER COFFEE TALK: Caregivers will discuss ways to cope with stress, care for themselves and restore their energy from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 5, at the Slidell Memorial Hospital Regional Cancer Center, 1120 Robert Blvd., Slidell. For information, call (985) 280-6612. LOOK GOOD ... FEEL BETTER IN SLIDELL: Women with cancer can get free makeup kits, step-by-step demonstrations, a free lunch and support from this program, which will meet from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, July 9, at the Slidell Memorial Hospital Imaging Center, 1495 Gause Blvd., Slidell. To register, call (985) 280-2657. ART THERAPY FOR CANCER PATIENTS: A free art therapy program for cancer patients will be held from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 10, at the Slidell Memorial Hospital Regional Cancer Center, 1120 Robert Blvd. The program aims to enhance coping, confidence and stress management. For information or to enroll, call (985) 280-6612. BABY SITTER TRAINING: A one-day Safe Sitter class for people ages 11-14 will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, July 10, in the community outreach center on the second floor of the Slidell Memorial Hospital Wellness Pavilion, 501 Robert Blvd., Slidell. Topics include how to rescue someone whos choking and helpful information like what to do if theres severe weather. The cost is $75, which includes a manual and completion card. For information, call (985) 280-8529. Registration packets are available at slidellmemorial.org/outreach. BETTER BREATHERS CLUB: The Better Breathers Club, a program of the American Lung Association, meets from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month in the Magnolia Room of Lakeview Regional Medical Center, 95 Judge Tanner Blvd., Covington. The next meeting will be July 12. The club is meant for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as their caregivers. To register, visit lakeviewregional.com or call (985) 867-3900. BREASTFEEDING CLINIC: Lactation consultants will offer free support and encouragement from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 14, the Florida Avenue conference room at Slidell Memorial Hospital, 1025 Florida Ave., Slidell. To register, call (985) 280-8585 or visit slidellmemorial.org. BABY LOVE: Expectant couples will get information about labor and delivery, postpartum care and pain options during labor from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 14, in the first-floor conference room of the Slidell Memorial Hospital Founders Building, 1150 Robert Blvd. To register, call (985) 280-2657 or visit slidellmemorial.org. GIRL TALK: Girls ages 9-13 will learn about the physical, social and emotional changes of puberty during the Girl Talk session from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 17, in the first-floor conference room of the Slidell Memorial Hospital Founders Building, 1150 Robert Blvd., Slidell. Presenters will include pediatrician Alice LeBreton and dermatologist Deborah Hilton. Teens must be accompanied by an adult. The fee is $15 per family. To register, call (985) 280-2657 or visit slidellmemorial.org. REBOUND HEADACHES: Dr. Olga Fermo will discuss medication-overuse headaches, also known as rebound headaches, during a Lunch & Learn program at 11:30 a.m. Friday, July 27, in the first-floor conference room of the Slidell Memorial Hospital Founders Building, 1150 Robert Blvd. Rebound headaches are a result of using as-needed pain medications too frequently. To register for the free event, call (985) 280-2657. BIG BROTHER, BIG SISTER IN SLIDELL: A free Big Brother, Big Sister class for children ages 3-10 will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 4, in the Florida Avenue conference room at Slidell Memorial Hospital, 1025 Florida Ave. Children will learn safe ways to interact and care for their familys new baby, practice diapering and make a special gift for the new baby. To register, call (985) 280-2657 or visit slidellmemorial.org. CHILD SAFETY SEAT INSPECTIONS: The St. Tammany Parenting Center is scheduling appointments for free inspections of child safety seats. Call (985) 898-4435. Inspections also are held from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. every Tuesday at the Louisiana State Police Troop L headquarters, 2600 N. Causeway Blvd., Mandeville. Walk-ins are accepted, but appointments are appreciated. For information on the State Police program, call (985) 893-6250 or email greg.marchand@la.gov. BABY AND ME TOBACCO-FREE: Slidell Memorial Hospital is holding smoking-cessation programs for expectant mothers on Mondays and Wednesdays by appointment. For information or to request an application, call Ashlee Menke at (504) 733-5539. GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS: Gamblers Anonymous meets several times a week throughout the New Orleans area. Gamblers Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experiences, strength and hope with one another that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from a gambling problem. For information, call (855) 222-5542 or visit gamblersanonymous.org. A Covington retiree is suing the New York investment company where her nephew once worked, claiming the company missed clear signs that he was defrauding her, draining her nest egg of more than $1 million. Beryl Patin's nephew Terry Trenchard, who worked for Aegis Capital from 2003 to 2009, killed himself last year, according to the lawsuit, days after he found out he was under investigation for fraud by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Just before his death, Trenchard wrote a letter to his subsequent employer, Capitol Securities Management, admitting wrongdoing. He described a scheme in which he transferred money from his aunt's account using forged letters of authorization and placed it into another client's account to make up for investment losses. Trenchard said he tried to make up for the losses, defrauding other clients aside from his aunt and trading aggressively before ultimately losing more money. "This whole thing is at a breaking point anyway," he wrote. "I am glad it's over. ... I am so sorry that it escalated to this point." Trenchard said he could not "go on living knowing all the money I have lost for people." The lawsuit seeks reimbursement of the amounts taken by Trenchard along with "recovery of damages equal to the returns that a well-managed account would have realized" during the time Trenchard misused his aunt's money. Patin, described in the lawsuit as an elderly woman who relied on her investments for living expenses, had received $1.5 million for the 2005 sale of some property and had an account with her nephew. Trenchard targeted victims who had little or no financial sophistication and who placed a high degree of trust in him personally and were unlikely to question his conduct or statements, the suit claims. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up By the time he was under investigation, the suit says, most of his aunt's money was gone, and while Trenchard blamed the losses on the 2008 stock market crash, the lawsuit alleges that the losses were primarily the result of his theft. The suit lays the ultimate blame on Aegis, saying that even minimal supervision would have spotted the fraudulent activity, including checks Trenchard wrote directly to himself. Trenchard also carried out unauthorized and inappropriate trading in his aunt's accounts both at Aegis and later at his subsequent employer, the lawsuit says. It says he caused her to incur margin debt of more than $870,000 on an account with a net value of only $766,000. "This use of margin was grossly inappropriate for an elderly retired investor with conservative investment objectives and should not have been approved by Aegis," the suit says, adding that the activity should have set off red flags within the company. The company also should have spotted excessive trading, known as "churning," in Patin's account, the suit alleges. "Adequate supervisory systems at Aegis would have prevented Mr. Trenchard from engaging in abusive practices," the suit says. Patin originally sued the company in state 22nd Judicial District Court, but Aegis had the suit moved to federal court. An attorney for the firm did not return a request for comment. A federal judge has ordered a new trial for a tourist who filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Louisiana State Police over his arrest in the French Quarter, finding that attorneys for the agency improperly blocked a black teacher from sitting on the jury. U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan said that Lyle Dotson, who is black, will get another chance to prove that he was racially profiled during his October 2015 arrest. Morgans decision is unusual because she oversaw the jury selection process. The judge said she erred when she allowed attorneys for the state agency to strike Marcus Henderson, a 49-year-old black teacher, from the jury. After reviewing the record ... the court concludes that defendants peremptory strike of juror Henderson evinced purposeful racial discrimination, Morgan said. Lawsuit says State Police trooper used excessive force in shocking French Quarter bicyclist A New Orleans man is alleging excessive force by a State Police trooper, saying in a federal court lawsuit filed Sunday that he was knocked of Dotson said in an October 2016 lawsuit that State Police mistook him for another black man and roughed him up during the course of his arrest. The allegation that he assaulted a trooper was later dismissed and expunged. During jury selection, an attorney for the State Police said that Henderson, as a teacher pursuing a graduate degree, might be biased toward Dotsons father, a professor of architecture at Ball State University in Indiana. My clients were concerned that the scholastic connection would tend to make Mr. Henderson favor the plaintiff in this case over the defense. Its that simple, lawyer Andre Gaudin said. Dotsons attorneys said the question of his fathers profession was exceptionally peripheral to the lawsuit and was further undermined by the fact that two white jurors with similar academic connections were seated without challenge. Nevertheless, Morgan said at the time that the State Police attorneys had offered a sufficiently race-neutral reason for striking Henderson. Dotson went on to win a mixed victory after a four-day trial in January. Jurors found that his Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful seizure were violated, but they rejected a claim that he was racially profiled. The jury awarded him no money. In her ruling Friday, Morgan said that upon further consideration, the court finds that it gave insufficient weight to the comparative juror analysis offered by the plaintiff. Did state troopers racially profile black N.O. tourist? Claim rejected in court A federal court jury has rejected a series of civil-rights claims against three State Police troopers accused of racially profiling and unlawf Gaudin declined to comment. We stand by the original decision of the jury and are considering our options based on the judges ruling," said Maj. Doug Cain, a State Police spokesman. The new trial will allow Dotsons lawyers at the MacArthur Justice Center to revive their claim that his arrest was part of a larger pattern of discrimination against black people in the French Quarter by state troopers. The nonprofit law firm filed another suit against the State Police on June 10, alleging that another man was the victim of excessive force when a trooper used a stun gun to shock him off a bike during a drug arrest last year. Four men and a woman landed in jail after a brawl with New Orleans police on Bourbon Street over the weekend, leaving two officers injured and one of the suspects shocked with a stun gun, authorities said Wednesday. Police said one of the arrested men pulled out a gun but didnt use it during the wild melee that erupted outside The Swamp bar about 11 p.m. Saturday. At a news conference, police brass showed two surveillance video clips of the incident, holding it up as evidence of the effectiveness of the violence de-escalation training given to officers as part of a six-year-old federal reform pact for the Police Department. Can't see video below? Click here. Even though two policemen were attacked and an illegally concealed gun was brandished as other officers came to help, none of the suspects was killed or even injured seriously, Superintendent Michael Harrison said. They (kept) their cool even as the crowd that night antagonized them, said Police Cmdr. Nicholas Gernon, whos in charge of the police district that includes the French Quarter. This is what these de-escalation techniques look like. According to records filed in Criminal District Court, problems started when police officers Lee Berry and Matthew McKoan approached Patriceia Casher, 26, as she caused a disturbance in the 500 block of Bourbon. Casher and a 27-year-old man, Kyle Stallworth, punched Berry after the officer was knocked to the ground and struggled to regain his footing, police said. Casher also allegedly kicked both Berry and McKoan in the groin as she was handcuffed. David Wilson, 26, then shoved and head-butted McKoan in a bid to free Casher, police said. He allegedly tried to flee and ignored commands to stop until an officer on horseback, Christopher Eymard, made his way through a large crowd to stop Wilson by shocking him with a stun gun. A third man, 21-year-old Trumaine Holmes, had also punched McKoan while the officer helped handcuff Casher, the police account said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Court records said officers initially didnt see Holmes attack, which occurred on a street that was packed from sidewalk to sidewalk with Saturday night revelers. But Sgt. Sam Dupre noticed the attack later when reviewing footage from a surveillance camera belonging to nearby Razzoos Bar, and Holmes also was taken into custody, police said. Police said a fourth man 23-year-old Alejandro Ford pulled a gun out of his waistband during the fight and, alarmingly, stood behind officers for a time. Officer T.J. Johnson noticed Ford tuck the weapon back into his waistband and, with the help of colleagues, confiscated the gun. Investigators said they determined Ford did not have a permit for the gun, which he also had inside The Swamp, violating a law that prohibits carrying firearms in drinking establishments. Officers booked Casher, Stallworth, Holmes and Ford into New Orleans jail on various counts, court records show. Casher, who is accused of hitting two officers, faces the most counts, including battering and resisting police. Police said they took Wilson, the one who was shocked, to the hospital before bringing him to jail. All of those arrested were part of a group of about 15 people from Mississippi and Florida who had arrived in New Orleans on a party bus, Gernon said. While Gernon said he wasnt sure what provoked the fracas, WWL-TV reported that witnesses saw tensions boil over when Casher was thrown out of The Swamp. Despite their injuries, McKoan and Berry were in good condition by Monday, police said. WWL-TV reporter Katie Moore provided information for this report. New Orleans police jailed a Louisiana State Police trooper Tuesday evening on allegations that he raped a 16-year-old girl, according to authorities. Leander Journee, 36, faces one count of third-degree rape. He had posted a $25,000 bond to secure his release from custody by Wednesday morning and will be due back at Orleans Parish Criminal District Court at a later date. In a statement Wednesday, State Police Superintendent Col. Kevin Reeves said Journee had immediately been placed on administrative leave, and troopers had taken back his agency-issued equipment. "We trust the (New Orleans police) investigative process and have offered any assistance they may need," Reeves said. A person who answered a telephone number associated with Journee on Tuesday night declined to comment. The girl initially told a friend, and then her mother, that shed been raped by Journee, whom she knew, at her home in Gentilly on June 11 while her mother was at work, police said in court documents filed Wednesday. She went to a relatives home and told a friend what had happened. The friend contacted the girls mother, who spoke to her daughter and then called the New Orleans Police Department on June 13. The girl was taken to Children Hospitals to undergo a sexual assault examination, commonly referred to as a rape kit, which police seized. She also spoke to a forensic interviewer at the Childrens Advocacy Center, relaying an account that was consistent with what shed told her mother, police said. Meanwhile, Journee threw away the clothes she was wearing during the alleged encounter and then threw away his own clothes, the girls mother told police. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Police said they swabbed Journees cheek for DNA over the weekend to compare with evidence found on the girl. On Tuesday afternoon, NOPD Sgt. Corey Lymous obtained a warrant to arrest Journee. He surrendered a few hours later with his attorney, David Belfield. Belfield on Wednesday said Journee denies any sexual contact between him and the girl. He also described Journee as a trooper with a clean record. Journee made a brief appearance Wednesday morning in front of Magistrate Court Judge Harry Cantrell, who had pre-set the troopers bail. Cantrell ordered Journee not to go near or contact the girl or her family. Belfield said his client would comply with that order. Journee graduated from the State Police Training Academy in 2007 and was placed in Troop B, which is based in Kenner. He was most recently assigned to the agencys Bureau of Investigations Criminal Intelligence Unit. In Louisiana, third-degree rape is defined as sex with someone who didnt or legally couldnt give consent. That statute doesnt mention an element of force or threat of physical violence, which the first- and second-degree rape laws do. Anyone convicted of third-degree rape can face a maximum of 25 years in prison, but there is no mandatory minimum punishment. WWL-TV reporter Paul Murphy contributed to this report. Five people reported robberies since Tuesday evening, according to reports from New Orleans police. The first incident occurred in Audubon Park about 6:50 p.m. A 27-year-old woman said she was running near Magazine Street when a man approached on a bicycle took her phone from her hand before fleeing. A second robbery occurred about 90 minutes later in the Central Business District. A 45-year-old man said he was near Howard Avenue and Baronne Street about 8:15 p.m. when two men robbed him. The man said he was struck several times with a bat before the men made off with his wallet and backpack. A 42-year-old man said he was working at a shop in Algiers when a man demanded money. The incident occurred about 9:30 p.m. in the 3600 block of MacArthur Boulevard. The employee said he began to fight with the other man, who pulled out a gun before fleeing. Minutes later, a 26-year-old man was robbed in New Orleans East. The incident occurred about 9:35 p.m. in the 4700 block of Laine Avenue, according to an NOPD report. The man said two men ordered him to drop his belongings. The man told police he heard a shot fired as the two men fled the scene. Finally, a 37-year-old man said he was in the French Quarter early Wednesday when he was struck with a gun and robbed. The incident occurred about 3:40 a.m. in the 800 block of Toulouse Street. In other matters recently handled by local authorities: Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up A man pleaded guilty in New Orleans federal court Monday to plotting to deal heroin as well as illegally firing a gun in a school zone, prosecutors said Wednesday. Dwayne Labranch, 35, pleaded guilty to one charge each of conspiring to sell heroin and fentanyl, conspiring to possess guns while trafficking drugs, and discharging a firearm in a school zone. Labranch was described as a resident of the Hollygrove neighborhood and was initially charged alongside several other people from that section of New Orleans. The gun conspiracy is the most serious crime for which Labranch could be punished. It carries up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. A man was shot in the 1000 block of Tallow Tree Lane in Harvey about 4 a.m. Wednesday, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said. The victim's injuries weren't life-threatening, the agency added. New Orleans police on Wednesday asked for help finding a man and a woman described as "persons of interest" in a deadly May 7 shooting in Algiers. Corey White, 26, and Elaine White, 34, are wanted for questioning in the slaying of 20-year-old William Randall. Police asked anyone who knows where they are to call 504-658-5300. Also on Wednesday, New Orleans police said they wanted to question Yasha Yvetta Ayers, 43, as a person of interest in a homicide in November 2017. Police didn't specify which killing. Police said Ryan Smith, 18, is wanted in connection with a June 5 armed robbery case reported in the 7300 block of Fieldston Street in New Orleans East. They also released surveillance camera images of a second suspect. After a long vetting process, President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated Peter Strasser, a partner at the Chaffe McCall law firm and a former longtime federal prosecutor, to be the next U.S. attorney for Louisianas Eastern District. Meanwhile, Trump plans to nominate Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Greg Guidry to fill a vacant federal judgeship in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans, two sources with knowledge of the appointment process told The Advocate. However, the White House has yet to make that announcement. Before assuming the post of U.S. attorney, perhaps the most powerful law enforcement post in the region, Strasser must be confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate. Eight months ago, The Advocate reported that Strasser, 64, was the presumptive nominee for the job, which has been vacant since March 2017, when Trump fired most of the U.S. attorneys around the country who had been appointed by his predecessor, including then-U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite Jr. The office has been led in the meantime by acting U.S. Attorney Duane Evans. Because the appointments are political, its typical for incoming presidents to replace most or all of the country's 93 U.S. attorneys. But Trump has taken flak for his slow pace in filling many of the open spots. Presidents typically defer to leading local members of their party in making such appointments, especially senators. U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, took the lead on filling the New Orleans-based U.S. attorney's post, but the White House balked at Kennedy's first choice for the job, the pugnacious defense attorney Kyle Schonekas. It's unclear what sank Schonekas' chances. Kennedy and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, issued a joint news release Wednesday applauding Trump's choice of Strasser. Strasser said he was out of the country but that he is "honored and extremely grateful" for the nomination. Before being nominated by the president, potential nominees for U.S. attorney posts and federal judgeships must undergo a background check supervised by the FBI. Strasser's vetting was expected to be relatively simple because of his long tenure with the Department of Justice. But his experience working as a foreign attache, with postings in numerous countries, may have slowed the process. Strasser was among four nominees for U.S. attorney posts announced by the Trump administration Wednesday. A native of Charlottesville, Virginia, Strasser earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and his law degree from Washington and Lee University. He spent the first few years of his legal career as a lawyer with the Judge Advocate Generals Corps, the U.S. Navy's legal arm, according to a copy of his resume posted on LinkedIn. He moved to New Orleans in 1984 to work as an assistant U.S. attorney, a job he held for 18 years, eventually heading the fraud and organized crime sections in that office. He left in 2002 but remained with the Department of Justice as a legal attache, working at embassies in Africa, Europe and Asia. He returned to New Orleans in 2013 to join Chaffe McCall, where he is a partner. Strasser was on the prosecution team that convicted former Gov. Edwin Edwards of racketeering in 2001. He was the lead prosecutor in the 1995 federal bank fraud case against former Jefferson Parish Council Chairman Bob Evans, who was acquitted of all charges. In recent years, Strasser has represented some high-profile defendants in federal trials. He was among the first New Orleans defense attorneys to voice allegations of misconduct against Chad Scott, a longtime U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who is facing 10 corruption-related charges, including perjury and obstruction of justice. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Long before Scott was indicted, Strasser in court papers accused him of helping himself to nearly $2,000 during the search of a murder suspect's home. Early this year, Strasser represented Damian "A.D." Barnes, one of 10 alleged "39'ers" gang members accused in more than a dozen murders and extensive drug-dealing activity in New Orleans. A jury convicted Barnes on racketeering, drug and firearms conspiracy charges but acquitted him in the April 2011 murder of Floyd Moore. Strasser took aim at the government's witnesses in acerbic cross-examinations, highlighting the self-serving nature of claims made by other defendants who had cut deals with prosecutors. At one point in the trial, Strasser got into a heated argument with Assistant U.S. Attorney Myles Ranier that turned into a minor physical tussle, with Strasser either pushing or poking Ranier in the chest. No one was hurt, but the incident was bothersome enough to Polite, then the U.S. attorney, that he noted it in a written document. The incident was reviewed as part of Strasser's recent background check. Strasser has said that he and Ranier apologized to one another within minutes of the confrontation, and that the two men remain great friends." If Strasser is confirmed by the Senate, Ranier will be among the people he supervises. Louisiana's Eastern District comprises 13 parishes in the southeastern part of the state. Trump has already nominated new U.S. attorneys in Louisiana's other two districts. Brandon Fremin has been confirmed by the Senate as U.S. attorney for the Middle District, while David Joseph was confirmed as U.S. attorney for the Western District. Guidry, 57, has served on the state's high court since 2009. The White House is expected to name him to the seat left open at the New Orleans federal court by Judge Kurt Engelhardt, who was recently promoted to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Trump has already nominated two people for other open seats on the Eastern District's bench. Guidry declined to comment Wednesday. A Republican and Harvey native, Guidry graduated from the LSU law school with honors and spent a decade as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Orleans. He spent six years as a judge in the 24th Judicial District, which covers Jefferson Parish, before being elected to the state's 5th Circuit Court of Appeal in 2006. He was elected to the state Supreme Court in 2008, representing the 1st District, which includes all of St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes as well as parts of Orleans and Jefferson parishes. Louisiana Supreme Court justices serve 10-year terms in office. Guidry is up for re-election this fall. It's unclear if he is likely to face a potential challenger for his seat; qualifying for the post will take place July 18-20. Guidry's election nearly a decade ago represented part of an ideological and partisan shift on the state Supreme Court. He replaced retiring Justice Pascal Calogero, a New Orleans Democrat who had served as the court's chief justice. Cassidy oversaw the selection process for picking Engelhardt's successor. He declined to comment last week when asked by The Advocate about Guidry's pending appointment. Guidry's nomination, if it clears the Senate, would fill the last open seat on the New Orleans district court bench. Two other nominees, Barry Ashe and Wendy Vitter, have been confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee and are awaiting approval by the full Senate. The two seats that had been open at the federal appellate court in New Orleans were recently filled as well. Engelhardt took one of those judgeships; the other went to Kyle Duncan, a Baton Rouge native. WASHINGTON Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Greg Guidry is the White House's choice to fill a vacant federal judgeship in the United States Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, two sources with knowledge of the appointment process told The Advocate. Guidry, 57, has served on the state's high court since 2009. The White House is expected to name Guidry to the seat left open by Judge Kurt Engelhardt, who was recently promoted to the New Orleans-based U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Presidential picks for positions in the federal judiciary undergo additional vetting after being tapped by the White House before being formally nominated, including an FBI background check. Judges then need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before taking their posts on the federal bench. Guidry declined to comment Wednesday. A Republican and Harvey native, Guidry graduated from LSU's law school with honors and spent a decade as a federal prosecutor in the New Orleans-based U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Guidry spent six years as a judge in the 24th Judicial District, which covers Jefferson Parish, before being elected to the state's 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up He was elected to the state Supreme Court in 2008, representing the 1st District, which includes all of St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes as well as parts of Orleans and Jefferson parishes. Louisiana Supreme Court justices serve 10-year terms in office. Guidry is up for re-election this fall. It's unclear if Guidry might face a potential challenger to his seat; qualifying for the post is July 18-20. Guidry's election nearly a decade ago represented part of an ideological and partisan shift on the state Supreme Court. He replaced retiring Justice Pascal Calogero, a New Orleans Democrat who had served as the court's chief justice. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, oversaw the selection process for picking Engelhardt's successor. Cassidy declined to comment last week when asked by The Advocate about Guidry's pending appointment. A spokeswoman for Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, also declined to comment. Guidry's nomination, if it clears the Senate, would fill the last open seat on the bench at the Eastern District of Louisiana. Two other nominees, Barry Ashe and Wendy Vitter, have been confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee and are awaiting confirmation from the entire Senate. The two seats that had been open at the federal appellate court in New Orleans were recently filled as well. Engelhardt took one of those judgeships, and the other went to Kyle Duncan, a Baton Rouge native. if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi... Last week, Politico broke the news that the White House Office of Management and Budget is set to release a report outlining a radical reorganization of the federal government, which could impact people living with HIV. This report, which is slated to be unveiled in late June, will detail the Trump administration's plans to significantly alter the structure of the federal government by lumping all safety-net programming into a single department that would spring from what is currently the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Most notably, this reorganization would move the $70 billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, i.e., food stamps) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) into what is now HHS, pairing it with entitlement programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, as well as programs benefiting specific populations of low-income Americans, such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF) and Ryan White. On the surface, this federal reorganization makes a good deal of sense. As it is currently arranged, the federal government houses a number of programs that serve similar populations and need areas in different government departments, which is both inefficient and potentially confusing to the people who use them. In a political vacuum, it makes a lot more sense to house SNAP and TANF under the same departmental roof, as they're both traditional welfare programs with a lot of overlap of who they serve. Related: Trump Administration Refuses to Defend ACA in Court, Potentially Jeopardizing Health Care for Millions However, we do not live in a political vacuum. Unfortunately for people living with and affected by HIV, for the modern-day Republican Party, the concept of reorganizing or streamlining the federal government means little more than reducing and demolishing it, with the poorest and most vulnerable members of society almost always on the wrong end of the proverbial wrecking ball. The Trump administration has the clear intent to use this reorganization to decimate safety-net program funding at the federal level. This intent, while easily gauged from the administration's relentless war on Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, Title X family planning funding, and a litany of vital safety net programs, is evident in its desire, reported by Politico, to change the name of the revamped HHS to include the word "welfare" in its title. No more glaringly obvious political dog whistles exist than calling for "welfare reform," a term that rarely fails to set off a racially motivated Pavlovian response among conservatives. To put the word "welfare" in the title of government department is akin to painting a bright red bullseye on its back, making it all the easier for Republican lawmakers to call for its funding to be cut. If this reorganization occurred, the impact on people living with and affected by HIV could be swift and profound. Medicaid, which serves more than 40% of all people living with HIV who are engaged in care, would find itself in even greater danger, particularly from the threat of unnecessary and draconian work requirements that are already being implemented in state Medicaid programs across the country. Similarly, the pressure from Republican members of Congress to further tighten SNAP work requirements would likely increase. The funding of the Ryan White program would likely not be directly impacted by this government reorganization, but attacks on portions of the program, such as the Secretary's Minority AIDS Initiative Fund and the AIDS Education Training Centers, would likely continue. Moreover, the Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS (HOPWA) program, which is currently in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, could be moved into the new Trump "welfare" department, although there is no evidence yet that this is under consideration. As it stands now, it seems unlikely that the Trump Administration's federal reorganization plan will come to fruition in the manner it has been reported. Any government reshuffling as significant as what will be likely proposed in the upcoming report would require congressional action, and that isn't likely to happen. Beyond what would certainly be universal opposition from Democrats in Congress, a number of Republicans serving on committees overseeing departments that would see a vast reduction in importance -- namely, those related to the USDA -- would likely be loathe to adopt the plan, as well. However, as with both of the Trump Administration's budgets, these disruptive and unfeasible plans for federal reorganization are more intended to plant the seeds for such changes than to achieve them in them in the short term. It is up to HIV advocates and our allies in the myriad populations that would be devastated by such a reorganization to remain vigilant and to ensure that harmful ideas do not become tolerated and championed by those members of the Republican Party who have yet to fully abandon their responsibility to the health and wellbeing of their constituencies. Canadian lawmakers have approved a legislation that will make it legal for adults to buy and consume marijuana across the country. Canada now joins Uruguay as only the second country in the world to legalise recreational marijuana nationwide. The Cannabis Act allows the federal government to license producers to grow and sell marijuana seeds and products, and for citizens to grow up to four plants. Under the law, only adults over 18 will be allowed to posses up to an ounce of weed for recreational use, although provincial governments could impose stricter rules for consumption and sales. Edibles will not immediately be legal, but will be allowed for purchase after a year. The delay is meant to allow the government time to figure out how to regulate the products. It is now up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet to decide when to allow the act to go into effect. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, June 20, 2018 08:05 1216 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e9c2f97 4 Editorial #Editorial,Lake-Toba,sinking-boat,ferry-accident,tourism,tourism-industry,10-new-bali,safety,Transportation Free In early 2016, the government announced that Lake Toba and its surrounding area in North Sumatra would be made into an international tourist destination, one of the new Bali locations. The following year, President Joko Jokowi Widodo inaugurated the airport in Silangit as an international airport. In a later visit, he quipped, Every place located in Lake Toba is so beautiful, echoing the sentiments of countless visitors. On Monday, a ferry sank in Toba, a crater lake known as the worlds deepest, reaching up to 500 meters deep. Many fear the worst for the dozens still missing in the usually freezing waters. At least one person died among the 80 on board. The ferry reportedly lacked a manifest and sufficient life vests, if any. Tuesdays reports said only 18 had been rescued. In this holiday season, hopefully the ferrys capsizing was the last accident. Rescue workers are still seeking one missing passenger of a boat that sank off the coast of Makassar, South Sulawesi, last week. Seventeen had died among the 55 passengers. In December 2015, almost 80 boat passengers died, also in the waters off South Sulawesi. Despite so many accidents during regular holiday seasons and our heavy daily dependence on sea transportation, the lack of safety measures of passenger vessels is the norm rather than the exception similar to many, if not most of our modes of public transportation, regardless of international tourist destination status. Local and foreign travelers will find that preventative measures exist only where supervision is intensive and strict, which is a rarity. This is despite the campaigns for the new Bali destinations to boost tourist arrivals and diversify them beyond Bali. Most of these sites boast heavenly beaches and diving spots, including Tanjung Kelayang in Belitung, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara, Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara, North Maluku, the Wakatobi islands of Southeast Sulawesi and Tanjung Lesung in Banten. Even the new Bali of the Thousand Islands near Jakarta lacks passenger vessels that meet safety standards set by the National Transportation Safety Commission, as revealed when a boat engine exploded and reportedly injured nine people earlier this year. In such a situation, how are we to promote such tourist resorts? The campaign shows our national trait of disregard for safety, amid conviction that Indonesias natural beauty from west to east is surely enough to lure travelers. Beyond the adventurous, however, more cautious visitors select locations with more certainty of safety for their families, therefore falling back on Bali with its wide choice of players experienced in tourism. Alongside the locals offering carefree and inexpensive boat rides, picky tourists wary of their insurance coverage opt for operators seeking to adhere to strict safety standards, if only to survive tight international competition. Both safety and hygiene remain low on the radar of tourism campaigners. A much higher awareness of these aspects is urgent among those involved in the industry, if we indeed care about our visitors, and not just their expected cash. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin I Gusti Agung Putra Trisnajaya (The Jakarta Post) Quezon City, Philippines Wed, June 20, 2018 15:39 1215 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e9dee55 3 Opinion Palestine,Israel,Israel-Palestine-conflict,United-Nations,Indonesia,international-relations,diplomacy,UNSC,UNSC-non-permanent-seat,Security-Council Free Since taking office, President Donald Trump has issued many controversial policies and statements. In terms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the United States has shifted to stronger support for Israel, most notably expressed by the relocation of US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Support for Israel was represented specifically in the United Nations Security Council. In a recent meeting, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley rigorously maneuvered to block a draft resolution submitted by Kuwait, which pleaded for international protection for Palestinians in Gaza after the decision to relocate the US embassy. US vetoed the resolution and proposed a revised resolution which implied heavy blame on Hamas for the surge of violence between Israeli official authorities and Palestinian protesters on the day of US embassy opening in Jerusalem. Kuwait had pleaded for greater promotion of peace and protection for the Palestinians instead of excessive use of force. Eventually, the US-drafted resolution was rejected by the majority of the Security Council member states. On the other hand, Indonesia remains a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause. Now that Indonesia holds a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council, how can the country promote and bring peace to the Palestinians? This will be Indonesias fourth time as a non-permanent member as it had earlier served the two-year terms for the same position in 1973-1974, 1995-1996, and 2007-2008. Indonesias diplomatic record within the Security Council can be considered quite promising. During the last term, Indonesia held its rotating presidency under then foreign minister Marty Natalegawa. After elected as a new non-permanent member of the UNSC for the 2019-2020 term on June 8, along with Germany, South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Belgium, Indonesias term begins from Jan. 1 2019. The US policy shift regarding Israel is clearly the greatest obstacle for Indonesias support for a free Palestine. Since its candidacy, Indonesia has voiced a strong message in its commitment to contribute to global partnership, peace, security and prosperity. For instance in his address to a General Assembly session on the Middle East last year, Vice President Jusuf Kalla stated, Palestine is at the heart of Indonesian foreign policy. Indonesia will continue to support Palestine. Indonesias position is encouraging peaceful talks towards resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. As the worlds largest Muslim country and a founding member of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Indonesia believes it can bring about successful amicable and peaceful conflict resolutions. As a non-permanent member, Indonesia lacks veto rights which are only entitled to permanent members. Veto rights have historically been used by the permanent members to block any resolution considered to be against their favor. Thus Indonesia must ingeniously find ways to promote peaceful resolutions for the Palestine-Israeli conflict. As also stated by Kalla to the above UN General Assembly session, Peace is never given. It has to be developed and nurtured. This is the best chance for Indonesia to effectively used its role as a non-permanent member to develop and nurture peace for the Palestinians. Amid rising support to Palestinians, Indonesias support for peaceful resolution to the generations-old conflict comes at the right momentum. Recent media coverages on the Gaza strip have highlighted again the suffering and violation of human rights. More countries are voicing peace talks to the conflict and promoting a two-state solution. Indonesia must and should be able to gather more support on any initiative towards peace to the Palestinians. The US is losing its teeth in the global arena, as obvious from the rejection of its latest proposed resolution on the issue. Although the US strongly warned that it took names of those countries against its position in Israel, many strongly continued support to the Palestinians nonetheless. Following Indonesias three previous terms as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, particularly the last, including its brief term as its president, Indonesia should be able to understand how the Council works and have the capacity to convene with other diplomats to promote its interests. A rather controversial example of Indonesias diplomacy was shown in its maneuver on Irans nuclear issues. Indonesia supported Resolution 1774 imposing international sanctions against Iran for its nuclear proliferation program. However it then promoted a peaceful approach in resolving the issues by abstaining on the voting of Resolution 1884 in 2009 on a new round of sanctions against Iran. Indonesia believed Iran at the time had sufficiently cooperated with UN Security Council calls on its nuclear program. Yet such a position lacked support from other countries, leading to the approval of the new sanctions. Therefore with a sufficiently strong record Indonesia should be upbeat towards its fourth term in the UN Security Council and confidently promote peaceful resolutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is maybe mere utopia to see the resolution of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the near future. However Indonesias upfront promotion of peace should be able to change the dynamics within the council on the issue. It will also be interesting to see Indonesias take on the non-proliferation of nuclear issues within the Security Council. Peaceful resolution to overcome nuclear proliferation tension would also be preferable rather than supporting sanctions and embargoes. *** The writer is pursuing a double degree program of Master of Arts in political science (Non-thesis track) and international law and human rights at Ateneo de Manila University and United Nations-mandated University for Peace. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. For young adults, the adverse effect of negative social media experiences on mental health outweigh any potential benefits of positive experiences, a study of university students suggests. Each 10 percent increase in a students negative experiences on social media was associated with a 20 percent increase in the odds of depressive symptoms, researchers found. But positive experiences on social media were only weakly linked to lower depressive symptoms. Each 10 percent increase in positive social media interaction was associated with only a four percent drop in depressive symptoms - a difference so small that it might have been due to chance. Read also: What social media platforms and search engines know about you This is not inconsistent with the way we see things in the offline world . . . The negative things we encounter in the world count more than positive ones, said study leader Brian A. Primack, director of the Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. If you have four different classes in college, the fourth class that you did poorly in probably took up all your mental energy, he told Reuters Health by phone. Primack said he believes social media lends itself to negativity bias because it is saturated with positive experiences that leave people jaded. As reported in the journal Depression and Anxiety, Primack and colleagues surveyed 1,179 undergraduate and graduate students, ages 18 to 30, at the University of West Virginia in August 2016. They asked students to estimate what percentage of their social media interactions were positive or negative. They also assessed students depressive symptoms using a four- item standardized questionnaire called the Patient -Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scale. Participants were asked how frequently in the past seven days they had felt hopeless, worthless, helpless or depressed. Sixty-two percent of participants were female. The majority were white. About half were single, and about half were at least 20 years old. This is not the first time researchers have tried to gauge the effects of social media. According to a study published online last month by the Pew Research Center, teens have mixed views on the impact of social media on people their age. Thirty-one percent of teens said social media's impact is mostly positive impact, 24 percent described it as mostly negative, and 45 percent felt social media have neither positive nor negative effects. Aaron Smith, associate director of research on internet and technology issues at Pew Research Center in Washington, DC and a coauthor of that study, told Reuters Health that teens who reported a negative impact of social media were troubled by bullying and rumors, among other things. Among the limitations of the study by Primacks team is that the subjects arent representative of a broad swath of the public, so the results cannot be generalized to a more diverse population. Also, the authors acknowledge, participants may have under-reported their depression. Furthermore, the researchers did not have enough information to disentangle cause and effect. Read also: How to quietly ignore people on social media Michael Schoenbaum, senior advisor for mental health services, epidemiology and economics at the National Institute of Mental Health, told Reuters Health in a phone interview that he found the new study deeply frustrating. There are lots of important questions about the role of social media in our psychological lives and, in particular, how the effect that social media might have on people with psychological distress or on people who are vulnerable to psychological distress . . . and I dont think this study answer all of these questions, he said. Schoenbaum added, One cognitive error in social media is to imagine if you turn it off your social life is over . . . As a researcher, but also as a parent, I definitely think turning it off needs to be an option. In 1979, renowned painter Hendra Gunawan, (June 11, 1918 July 17, 1983) held a solo exhibition at Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta. The special display drew the attention of observers and received mass media praise. Oddly, though, almost none of his paintings sold on the occasion. Many collectors were reportedly reluctant to buy because Hendra was a former political detainee because of his affiliation with the Peoples Cultural Institute (Lekra), an organization under the banned Indonesia Communist Party (PKI), which made Hendra feel despondent. After the show, he took four of his artworks to Jusuf Wanandi, a politician known as a true collector. At first, Jusuf declined to buy the large pieces, but Hendra insisted he purchase all of them, offering a reasonable price. On humanitarian grounds, Jusuf bought them to adorn his house and office. Unexpectedly, 20 years later Hendras paintings had increased in price by 500 times the sum Jusuf had paid. In 2016, one of Hendras paintings sold at Sothebys in Hong Kong for HK$33.2 million (US$4.2 million) the price had rocketed 1,500-fold from the rate set by Hendra in 1979. But Jusuf was not surprised by this because in his view, Hendra was indeed a respectable artist, on par with Raden Saleh, Affandi, Sudjojono and Lee Man Fong. He was an outstanding maestro, said Jusuf. Berebut Topeng (Struggling for a Mask), 1973. (JP/Agus Dermawan T.) Hendra Gunawan was actually one of Indonesias greatest artists and those lauding him will present the fact that he was most capable of portraying Indonesian populist feelings in all aspects. With the themes, tales and colors of his paintings mainly representing the characteristics of populism, curators from various countries became interested in featuring his works at international exhibitions in America, Europe and Australia. Hendras paintings are appealing. Ordinary people in rural areas were the subject of his creative works. In fact, Hendra was from a wealthy Sundanese noble family. Its unique, said Prof. Astri Wright, an art historian from America. More than just his exceptional works, Hendras biography is also worth examining as a historical accentuation. Hendra was an artist imbued with nationalist spirit, with Indonesia as his most treasured motherland. But as everything started from the 1930s in the Dutch East Indies era, he frequently came across major obstacles. He experienced hard times as a wanderer living with a beggar and a village adventurer doing puppet performances for money. He was also fighting for independence and painting amid showers of bullets. His active and flexible attitude enabled him to maintain close ties with whomever he found, from homeless people under bridges, artists, farmers, fishermen and freedom fighters to top-ranking statesmen such as Adam Malik, Chaerul Saleh, Ali Sastroamidjojo and even president Sukarno. Hendra was also known as an intellectual with a broad knowledge of art, culture, national history and sociopolitical sciences. His brilliant thoughts, presented to a big discussion forum at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, in 1956, are fondly remembered by many academics. Hendras artistic and intellectual reputation as well as his flexibility were much needed by political organizations in Indonesia, which dragged him into the political arena and made him a member of Lekra, the cultural wing of the PKI, although he claimed not to have been engaged in any political activity. Berkah dari Langit (A Blessing form the Sky), 1977. (JP/Agus Dermawan T.) I just used the arena to spread the concept of populist humanism in art, said Hendra. Nonetheless, in the wake of the Sept. 30, 1965 incident, he was arrested and imprisoned. After being confined for 13 years as a political detainee without any trial, he was released in 1978. In 1978, he joined a display at Taman Ismail Marzuki along with his peers, Affandi, Barli Sasmitawinata, Wahdi and Sudarso, who in the 1930s formed the Group of Five. In 1979 he launched a solo exhibition in the same place. Living in poverty as an ex-detainee, he moved to Bali. In 1982, he held a solo display at the Art Center, Denpasar, during which he granted two big paintings to the Bali regional administration. This is my first gift to the Indonesian government. Now Im working on large paintings to be granted to a number of provinces in Indonesia, said Hendra at the time, as if ignoring the fact that the government he was presenting with his works had jailed him without mercy. In Ubud, Bali, Hendra suffered from some ailments he had acquired during his time in prison. On July 17, 1983 he passed away at Sanglah Hospital, Denpasar, and was later buried in Bandung, his birthplace. Decades after his demise, Hendra and his works continue to be analyzed, including the forging of his highly valued paintings. Hendra survived his ordeals with remarkable power of endurance and fortitude, for which he was posthumously awarded the Bintang Budaya Parama Dharma cultural honor by President Joko Jokowi Widodo in 2015. June 11 was Hendra Gunawans centenary. His centennial celebration will be held at Museum Ciputra in early August, with a display of his best paintings. Several books will also be launched, including Hendra Gunawan - A Great Modern Indonesian Painter and Surga Kemelut Pelukis Hendra: Dari Pengantin Revolusi ke Terali Besi (The Crisis of Painter Hendra: From Revolution to Prison). Italy's Osteria Francescana took the top spot at the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony on Tuesday, garnering praise for playful use of local ingredients in dishes including "Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano". It was the second time in three years the restaurant, which serves up modern Italian fare in Modena, in Italy's northern gastronomic heartland, has headed the list, entries on which are now as coveted as Michelin stars. Organizers said Osteria Francescana combines "nods to tradition with fierce modernity, philosophical conceptions with old-fashioned flavor, warmth with daring". Flamboyant chef Massimo Bottura described the feeling of hovering around the top spot in recent years. "My heart has held up despite it all, I think it's a strong heart ... after all these years number two, number one, number one, number two," he told a news conference in Bilbao, Spain, where this year's event was held. Places on the roster, created by William Reed Business Media, are based on a poll of more than 1,000 chefs, food critics and other industry experts around the world. Read also: These are the 50 best restaurants in Asia All three top slots were taken by European eateries. El Celler de Can Roca, presided over by three brothers in the Spanish region of Catalonia, nabbed second, and Mirazur, run by an Argentine-Italian on the French riviera, came in third. Last year's winner, Eleven Madison Park in New York, slipped to number four, but goodies like a sturgeon and caviar cheesecake kept it rated the best restaurant in North America. Kolkata-born chef Gaggan Anand's eponymous restaurant in Bangkok, where diners are presented with a menu of emojis to give clues to the morsels they eat mainly with their hands, was the only Asian entry in the top 10, at number five. Peru, which has become a dining destination partly thanks to the variety of ingredients which can be produced on its diverse terrain, was featured twice: a contemporary take on rare ingredients put Lima's Central in sixth, one slot ahead of Japanese-Peruvian fusion outlet Maido. Three Michelin star-holder Alain Passard at Parisian institution Arpege was ranked eighth, with special mention reserved for the fresh vegetables grown on the chef's own farms. Flying the flag for the Basque region around Bilbao was Mugaritz, which organizers compared to a research laboratory for the innovation and creativity that goes into its 20-course menu. Nearby Asador Etxebarri, where even ice cream is barbecued over home-made charcoal, rounded off the list at number 10. Virgil Abloh paid tribute to his friend and longtime collaborator Kanye West as the US designer took star billing as Paris men's fashion week began Tuesday. Relations between the pair have been tested since Abloh was named head of menswear at Louis Vuitton in March, with the rapper saying it was "hurtful" to lose his muse and erstwhile artistic director. West has made no secret of his own ambitions to lead a major luxury brand as a designer, and revealed last month that he had also once been in talks with Louis Vuitton's owner, French fashion magnate Bernard Arnault. Abloh -- the son of Ghanaian immigrants -- will show his own Off-White label in Paris Wednesday before making his debut bow with the world's biggest luxury brand on Thursday. As he put the finishing touches to his collections he posted a photo of Kanye West to his 2.3 million Instagram followers with legend, "The architect of it all". West's wife Kim Kardashian responded with emojis of a heart and two fires to signal her approval. The rapper -- who has his own Yeezy line for Adidas -- remained silent. Read also: Kanye West's Abloh takes over Louis Vuitton menswear - Black empowerment - But he told US radio star Charlamagne tha God in a wide-ranging interview last month that there were no hard feelings. "These things are hurtful when you are working with a talent like... Virgil and somebody comes through and says 'Bam! I am going to take Virgil.' "There is some validation in that someone that I came up with is now the head (of menswear) of Louis Vuitton," West added. Abloh, 38, is only the second black man to rise to the top of a big Paris fashion house, with French designer Olivier Rousteing responsible for both Balmain's men and women's lines. As well as his nod to his former employer, Abloh dropped hints on social media that he was about to give the aristocratic Vuitton label a strong dose of black empowerment and streetwear style. Vuitton's previous designer, Briton Kim Jones -- who makes his own debut for Dior Homme on Saturday -- often referenced British colonial and safari chic in his clothes. Abloh grew up in Illinois where his seamstress mother taught him her trade as he studied engineering and later architecture. He has made it clear his clothes will be much more street. He posted films on Instagram of cotton plants and ceramic neck chains, in what could be seen as references to slavery, as well as a Louis Vuitton record box inspired by hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash, "where you can put your coat in while DJing, shielding it from smoky clubs and spilled drinks". Read also: Rimowa, Off-White unveil suitcase collaboration - Celebrity fans - Abloh had worked hand in glove with West for more than 15 years. They designed clothes together on Photoshop and were $500-a-month interns under Karl Lagerfeld at Fendi in Rome in 2009 even though the rapper already had a string of Grammy awards under his belt. West said that he only found out about Abloh taking over at Vuitton as the appointment was announced in March. "He (Abloh) made the call two minutes before it hit the Internet... He had told me he was looking at Versace too... but he knew he was going to Louis Vuitton," he added. West admitted days later in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter that the news had weighed on him. "It's not bad or good," he said. Abloh has built up a celebrity following at Off-White with high-profile collaborations with Nike, Jimmy Choo and Moncler. Such has been the buzz that fashionistas jostled each other to get into his show in Paris last March. Not everyone, however, is sold on streetwear's inexorable rise. New York Times critic Guy Trebay said a "lot of what turns up on the runways lately looks less designed than crowdsourced". The young German and Swedish brands CMMN SWDN and Gmbh kicked fashion week off on Tuesday evening after a dance show by choreographer Mathilde Monnier inspired by shoemaker J.M. Weston. French label Pigalle also tried to rethink the catwalk by presenting its new collection during an hour-long music and dance show at one of the French capital's most prestigious concert halls. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Makassar Wed, June 20, 2018 07:17 1216 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e9c2836 2 National Python,Sulawesi,#SoutheastSulawesi,death Free Muna Police in Southeast Sulawesi have teamed up with locals to prevent another python attack in Muna regency, after a residents body was found inside the belly of a 7-meter python last week. The police and locals carried out a thorough sweep up to a radius of 1 kilometer from the scene in Persiapan Lawela village, Lohia district, and searched caves and rocky cliffs known to be home to snakes on Monday, Muna Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agung Ramos Sinaga said. We found a number of caves covered by bushes on rocky cliffs, Agung said on Tuesday. But when we searched the area, we found no sign of snakes. Wa Tiba, a 54-year-old housewife, disappeared on Thursday night last week after she went to inspect her corn plantation 1 kilometer from her house. Village head Faris, who quoted Wa Tibas family, said she wanted to check the plantation because wild boars often destroyed crops. Her family became anxious as by 6 a.m. the next day she had not returned home. Her sister went to look for her at the plantation, only to find her footprints, a torch, slippers and a machete on the ground. She immediately asked for help from locals, who found a big python with a swollen belly near the plantation. The locals killed the snake and dissected its stomach, in which they found Wa Tibas body. Authorities warned locals to remain cautious when working on their farms located near cliffs and caves Faris said villagers often found pythons roaming around rocky areas where the incident took place. A couple of months ago, a calf was swallowed alive [by a python], he said. The police, meanwhile, will soon meet with the Southeast Sulawesi Natural Resources Conservation Agency to coordinate and prevent such incidents from happening again in villages near the snakes habitat, Agung said. The incident, which is believed to have occurred due to conversion of forests into farms leading to human-animal conflict, has been in the spotlight of the international media. Last year in West Sulawesi, residents of Salubiro village in Central Mamuju regency were shocked by an incident where a large python swallowed an oil palm plantation worker. Just like in the case in Southeast Sulawesi, locals spotted a 7-meter-long python in the bushes near the farm of Ahmad, the 25-year-old plantation worker who went missing after setting off to harvest palm oil. Residents used a large knife to cut open the giant reptiles belly and found his body inside. Horrifying footage, which was uploaded to social media, showed the corpse being slowly removed from the killer reptile. Shocked by the incident, farmers in the village stayed at home for days, despite their plantations being ready for harvest. Meanwhile in North Sulawesi, snake dishes, including python meat, can commonly be found, particularly in Manado, the provinces capital where snake meat is sold at traditional markets. (ipa) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Martin Parry (Agence France-Presse) Sydney Wed, June 20, 2018 11:01 1216 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e9c6e40 2 Business Australia,telecomunication,layoffs,Competition,Sydney,Telstra Free Australia's dominant telecommunications company Telstra Wednesday announced plans to axe 8,000 jobs -- a quarter of its workforce -- as part of a drastic new strategy to cope with an increasingly competitive industry. The decision by the company, one of Australia's largest employers, is part of a shake-up targeting an extra Aus$1 billion (US$750 million) in cost-cutting by 2022, on top of Aus$1.5 billion previously announced. To create a leaner operation, it will also split its mobile and infrastructure divisions into separate businesses. "We are creating a new Telstra that is able to continue to lead the market," said chief executive Andrew Penn. "In the future our workforce will be a smaller, knowledge-based one with a structure and way of working that is agile enough to deal with rapid change. "This means that some roles will no longer be required, some will change and there will also be new ones created." The cuts come less than a month after Telstra said its 2017/18 earnings will likely be at the bottom of its guidance range of Aus$10.1 billion to Aus$10.6 billion, blaming increasing competition in mobile and fixed broadband. That earnings warning sent its shares tumbling to a more-than six-year low of Aus$2.71. They had partially recovered since, but took another hit on Wednesday, crashing almost seven percent at one point before bouncing slightly to be trading 5.3 percent lower at Aus$2.75 late morning. CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael McCarthy said the restructure plan may not be enough to please investors, who have watched Telstra's share price almost halve in the past year. "Some investors think the Telstra patient needs radical surgery, and could view today's measures as band-aids," he said. - Tipping point - Telstra employs 32,000 people across 20 countries, according to its most recent annual report. Of the jobs to go, one in four will be executive and middle management roles. Penn said the company had to take action to stay on top in a highly competitive market. "The rate and pace of change in our industry is increasingly driven by technological innovation and competition," he said. "In this environment traditional companies that do not respond are most at risk. "We have worked hard preparing Telstra for this market dynamic while ensuring we did not act precipitously. However, we are now at a tipping point where we must act more boldly if we are to continue to be the nation's leading telecommunications company." Telstra has a range of businesses including fixed broadband, mobile, data and IP, network application and services and digital media. Part of its new strategy will see it create a wholly-owned standalone infrastructure business unit from July 1. Called Telstra InfraCo, it will comprise the telecom's fixed-network infrastructure including data centres, non-mobiles related domestic fibre, international subsea cables, exchanges, poles, ducts and pipes. Its services will be sold to Telstra, wholesale customers and Australia's National Broadband Network, controlling assets with a book value of about Aus$11 billion. "As technology innovation is increasingly relying on connectivity, the role of telecommunications infrastructure is becoming more important," said Penn. "There is virtually no technological innovation happening today that does not rely on a high-quality, reliable, safe and secure telecommunications network. "In this world our infrastructure assets are becoming more valuable. By creating a new infrastructure-focused business unit we will better optimise and manage these assets." Telstra also intends to "monetise assets of up to Aus$2 billion over the next two years to strengthen the balance sheet", and has set aside Aus$600 million in restructuring costs. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Beijing Wed, June 20, 2018 14:34 1215 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e9da98a 2 Business Europe,business,business-climate,China,Censorship Free European companies complain they still face a difficult business climate in China despite Beijing's pledges of openness, with about half saying it has become tougher in the past year, according to a survey released Wednesday. The study comes as President Xi Jinping looks to portray the world's number two as being at the forefront of the globalisation while trade tensions with the United States rise. "The root of the tension we see today starts with a China that has not opened up and reformed as quickly as it promised in its rhetoric," said Mats Harborn, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Among the litany of complaints for European companies were the uncertain legal environment, higher cost of labour, regulatory headaches and the "Great Firewall" that censors much of the global internet. "As its economy matures, the longstanding inefficiencies in China's business environment are rendered all the more glaring," according to the report by the EU chamber. Harborn told reporters that the "regulatory environment is actually holding the economy back." "Time is running out for China to continue its reform process," Harborn said, noting 2018 must be the year Beijing acts. Instead Beijing has backtracked in some areas. New cybersecurity regulations make it more costly to jump the firewall, requiring businesses to sign up for expensive and problem-plagued government-approved virtual private networks that allow users to circumvent filters and access the global internet. Two-thirds of companies believe that censorship and blocking of certain sites has a negative impact on their business, while only 23 percent say the state-sanctioned VPNs are efficient. This is the "great contradiction," said Harborn. "We have China which claims itself a leader in globalisation, talking of the importance of integration, but the cybersecurity law is creating problems." The survey found 48 percent of European firms felt it had become "more difficult" to do business in the past 12 months. And a fifth say they have been victims of forced technology transfers, a practice denounced fiercely by Washington as it carries out a probe on the issue while threatening tariffs in retaliation. And there is little optimism for the future as nearly half of European businesses believe barriers to business will harden in the coming five years, while a quarter believe they will never witness a "significant opening" of the market. But progress was reported in some areas. Some 61 percent of the 532 European companies polled by the chamber said they are "optimistic" about the growth of their sector in the country, compared with 55 percent the previous year. Just over half of surveyed companies, 51 percent, consider that they are treated "unfavourably" compared to their local competitors, compared to 54 percent last year. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, June 20, 2018 14:49 1215 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e9da9db 1 City crocodiles,North-Jakarta,sighting,expert Free A researcher focused on the study of crocodiles was perplexed by the emergence of a saltwater crocodile in Pondok Dayung, Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta. The waters of Tanjung Priok are not a natural habitat of crocodiles, according to the crocodile expert from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) biological research center, Hellen Kurniati. Hellen explained that saltwater crocodiles are able to live in the sea as long palm plants surround the area, since they naturally belong in estuaries or beaches with an abundance of palm plants. She expressed her confusion as to how the crocodile could appear in Tanjung Priok, knowing that the waters of Jakarta do not provide the habitat required for saltwater crocodiles to survive. [The crocodile] was probably just passing through to find something to eat, because the [Tanjung Priok] waters are not its natural habitat, Hellen said as quoted by tempo.co. She added that, since saltwater crocodiles generally dislike crowded places, the fact that it showed up in Tanjung Priok, where ships regularly pass, confused her even more. The 2.5-meter-long crocodile was sighted in the waters near Pondok Dayung dock last Thursday. Despite having been shot with a long-range firearm by a member of the Navy who was stationed in the dock, the crocodile has not yet been found. On Monday evening, a second sighting of a crocodile near the East Flood Canal in Cilincing has shocked local residents. It is unclear if the crocodile was the same one spotted in Tanjung Priok. (rfa) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, June 20, 2018 12:42 1216 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e9cc4da 1 City crocodiles,North-Jakarta,East-flood-canal,sighting Free Another sighting of a crocodile near the East Flood Canal on Monday night in Cilincing, North Jakarta, has shocked local residents. A witness, Enda, said she saw the crocodile around 10 p.m. "I saw [the crocodile] as people were trying to shoot it with an air rifle" Enda said as quoted by tribunjakarta.com, adding that the reptile was about 3 meters long. The crocodile was apparently unfazed, although it was reportedly shot. Residents in the area have since been on the lookout for the animal. It is unclear if the crocodile was the same one spotted last Thursday in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, swimming toward the beach near Ancol Dreamland Park. Even though a Navy personnel stationed at the Pondok Dayung dock shot it with a long-range rifle, the crocodile has not been found to date. (rfa) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 21, 2018 05:57 1215 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e9ed8ea 1 World Britain,UK,student Free The United Kingdom government has announced a change to its immigration rules, allowing Indonesians to get a student visa more easily. The UK Visas and Immigration agency will have fewer documentary requirements for Tier 4 student visa applicants from Indonesian nationals under the changes, which were announced Tuesday. The documents no longer required are: evidence of finances, qualifications and evidence of English language ability. This new regulation will come into effect on Jul. 6. In addition, Indonesian students will be eligible to benefit from the new rule whether they apply for the visa from within Indonesia or elsewhere. Nonetheless, Indonesian students still need to meet all requirements for the Tier 4 visa route. UK Visas & Immigration reserves the right to request evidence of this, and will do so for a random sample of applications, according to a press statement. This simplification of the UK visa process for Indonesian students is great news for thousands of young people starting courses this autumn and for those considering a UK education in years to come. I am proud that the quality of our education system is continuing to attract the brightest and best from Indonesia; and grateful for the contribution they make to education in Britain, said British Ambassador to Indonesia Moazzam Malik as quoted in the statement. This new arrangement will also apply to students from several other countries, such as the United States, Hong Kong and Malaysia. As of March 2018, the UK government had issued around 2,500 Tier 4 visas to Indonesian students. Of those who applied, 96 percent were successful. (dmr) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dian Septiari and Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 21 2018 Indonesian officials are to be able to travel more conveniently to Finland even as the United Kingdom is making it easier for students to apply for visas. The Foreign Ministrys director general for American and European Affairs, Muhammad Anshor, said both the Finnish and Indonesian governments were committed to completing a long-delayed memorandum of understanding (MoU) over waiving visas for holders of diplomatic and service passports. [This] was agreed in principle when Finlands president visited Indonesia in 2015, he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, June 21 2018 Being a comic creator in Indonesia is challenging as many people do not consider it a legitimate career path. Furthermore, the difficulties comic artists face in networking due to the tendency for them to be introverts only exacerbates the stigma. One artist, best known as Mimi N. from FutarinoKizuna, based in Tangerang, said that even though it was not necessarily difficult to reach out to other artists, they arent close enough with each other to meet up frequently [they are] more like acquaintances. According to Mimi, about 80 percent of local artists are introverted. They dont like competition. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Reuters) Manila Wed, June 20, 2018 17:08 1215 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e9e2d2b 2 SE Asia Philippines,corruption-case,Benigno-Aquino-III Free The Philippine anti-graft agency on Wednesday recommended charges of corruption against former president Benigno Aquino, for disbursing more than a billion dollars of state funds without the required approval of Congress. Aquino, the only son of democracy icon and former leader Corazon Aquino, also faces separate charges of negligence over the deaths of 44 police commandos in 2015 in a botched counter-insurgency operation that marked the biggest crisis of his presidency, from 2010 to 2016. There was "probable cause" to charge Aquino for "usurping the powers of Congress" in approving requests to spend 72 billion pesos ($1.35 billion) in 2012, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said. Abigail Valte, a spokeswoman for Aquino, said she was waiting for instructions from the former president before providing comment. The ombudsman has reversed a decision to clear Aquino after left-wing lawmakers filed a review motion against last year's ruling, accusing him of giving the funds to his legislative allies. It has now found strong evidence that Aquino colluded with his budget minister to illegally disburse funds without passing through Congress. The Supreme Court in 2014, while Aquino was still in power, declared the transfer of public funds was "illegal" and "unconstitutional", but no follow-up action was taken. Aquino's budget secretary, Florencio Abad, was indicted on Wednesday for the same offence. Abad made no immediate comment. Construction has begun on a new Jesus Christ statue in Sebea-bea Hill in Samosir regency in North Sumatra on Sunday. A promotional video on the Samosir regency's public relations Facebook page shows that the statue's design is similar to the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. The statue was reportedly the brainchild of the Jakarta-based Shine Bright Danau Toba Foundation headed by Sudung Situmorang. Read also: Interesting facts about the National Monument North Sumatra Regent Samosir Rapidin Simbolon, who opened the groundbreaking ceremony, praised the foundation for its initiative. He expects it to be a major tourist attraction in Samosir, a small island on Lake Toba. Lake Toba is one of the 10 destinations of focus in the government's plan to grow tourism. However, not everyone approved of the construction as several members of the Pasaribu clan reportedly protested, claiming it was being built on their indigenous land. (wng) Over 181,000 tourists flocked to Gunung Kidul regency in Yogyakarta during the Idul Fitri holiday from June 16 to 18. Over three days, we recorded 181,016 travelers visiting Gunung Kidul, Harry Sukmono, the secretary of Gunung Kidul Tourism Agency, told Antara news agency on Tuesday. Harry also estimated about 50,000 tourists would come on Tuesday. He further explained that 80 percent of the vacationers visited the beach. The agency is confident it can reach the target of 300,000 travelers during the holiday. Read also: Yogyakarta sets cap on number of tourists allowed in Pindul Cave The peak period occurred on Monday, with most tourists coming from cities in Central Java, namely Surakarta, Karanganyar, Kebumen and Brebes. Harry also stated that other destinations, such as Kalisuci in Semanu regency, was not affected by the tourist boom as there is a limit of 250 visitors per day. The agency had also prepared the site by adding more security and cleaning staff. We urge vendors within the tourist destination not to take advantage of the situation by setting high prices for tourists, Harry said. (wir/wng) Today marks 20 years since Disney's famous film, Mulan, was released in cinemas. I actually came to Mulan rather late, having missed out on the film as a child, and watched it for the first time just two years ago. There have been many arguments over the years about what Disney's most feminist film is, but it is undebatable that Mulan paved the way for future Disney heroines like Merida, Rapunzel, Tiana, Elsa and Moana to continue breaking glass ceilings. And it is still, 20 years on, a really important film for young girls. First off, it's important to note that Mulan is not technically a princess. She's part of the Disney franchise of Princesses, but she does not have any royal blood, nor does she marry a prince. Mulan is, at least at the start of her movie, an ordinary Chinese woman. This might seem like a strange thing to point out, but it's actually one of the things that make her such a good role model for young girls even 20 years on. She demonstrates that you don't have to be a princess to change the world, and that being a princess is not the only thing that women have to aspire to be; you can aspire to be a warrior instead, and that's just as awesome. Mulan's story doesn't revolve around her romance, but rather her romance with Shang is somewhat of an afterthought. Her goal throughout the entire story is protecting her family (the whole reason she joins the army in the first place is to make sure her elderly father doesn't have to fight) and her country, and falling for Shang is just something that happens along the way. The achievement in this film is not falling in love with Shang, it's saving China. Mulan challenges gender stereotypes, as she proves (albeit whilst all the other characters think she is a man) that women are strong and capable. Most pointedly however, when she saves China, she does so as a woman. In the film's climactic fight scene, where Mulan is fighting Shan Yu, she does so as herself, not dressed in armour, or in the costume she is made to wear by the matchmaker at the beginning of the movie: she embraces both parts of her identity, as a woman and as a soldier. Mulan is able to use her feminity to her advantage, and in one of the most iconic scenes of the film, Mulan and her fellow soldiers manage to ambush the huns by dressing up in geisha dress. This shows her not only embracing feminity but using it as an asset. The fact that the tongue in cheek, "I'll Make A Man Out of You" is reprised in instrumental in this scene is also important because it is a background to Mulan using her feminine qualities to espouse all the things that the song supposedly says "makes a man". In the end, Mulan rejects the job offered to her by the Emperor, in favour of going home to her family, bringing the film full circle and ending with Mulan doing what she had always intended to do; make her family proud. When Mulan returns home, she is told by her father that he was "never prouder to have [her] as a daughter"; she had achieved her goal and brought honour to her family, all whilst discovering and embracing her own identity. Disney has put out a spate of other feminist films since then, with The Princess and The Frog, Tangled, Frozen, Brave and Moana, but it was Mulan who paved the way for them. Mulan shows young girls that girls can be strong, and brave and smart and powerful, that romance doesn't have to be your only goal, and that it's okay not to fit in to the moulds society lays out for you. And for that, twenty years on, Mulan is more relevant than ever, as a whole new generation of children get the chance to discover a Disney heroine who is not a princess, but an ordinary woman who does extraordinary things, a message frankly just as relevant now as it was in 1998. Verdict: important viewing for anyone politically minded. Most of the stories you hear out of the Horn Of Africa are overwhelmingly negative. But in Somaliland, a state battling for recognition, they have attempted to create something hopeful - a blueprint for the region: a democratic state. Screened as part of ConIFA's film festival, Somaliland: An Experiment in Democracy covers the 2012 elections. Despite being surrounded by a plethora of states where democracy makes the government shudder, Somaliland was founded as one in 1991, when the central government in Somalia collapsed. It covers the land of the former British Somaliland colony, which merged with Italian Somaliland in 1960. Hargeisa is its capital and this documentary is filmed there. We meet Ali, the head of the electoral commission, in charge of distributing ballots and ensuring the integrity of the elections. There's a travel ban to prevent voter fraud, as the infrastructure for voter registration no longer exists, and the department controls who gets plates to allow them to bypass this rule - mostly international observers, electoral commision members, journalists etc. The elections in Somaliland break in a 10-year cycle. They are essentially local elections, but the top three parties will be classed as constitutional parties, allowing them to run for the presidency. Sideways Films speak to people on the ground, international observers and political leaders about their hopes for the fledgling state, which is without any international recognition. As one voter explains, democracy is part of Somaliland culture and even tribal politics had a fair deal of democracy. Despite all the hope and the fact that it is the seventh democratic election in the state, the election is not smooth. Ali has a tense several days when 31 number plates go missing and the security at the commision abandon their posts, stations run out of ballot papers, and there's controversy over the results of the vote. Somaliland's experiment in democracy may be closer to a success than a failure, but there is some way to go yet. This documentary shows that very well, explaining how the balance is maintained, with the constant threat of democracy breaking, and the usual "failed state" rhetoric always close to being bandied about. The documentary is a real eye-opener into how to run and maintain a free and fair election - something we have a tendency to take for granted in the West, although my one criticism would be that it does not delve into everything in very much detail. We don't know what the parties really stand for or the effects of the democratic experiment on daily lives. Despite that, it does help give a hopeful view of the country and the region and shows a side to it we rarely see. Gerry Howley, University of Sheffield Now that the current crop of inmates disporting themselves around Love Island have settled in, members of the mainstream and social media have been passing judgement on the islanders. While Im by no means a regular viewer of the show, as a sociolinguist, it is the comments that are being made about the way some of the contestants sound that have really caught my attention. ITV2 Linguistic discrimination, also called linguicism , is discrimination against somebody based on their use of language. This can include their vocabulary, the sound of their accent, or their grammar. When the show started at the beginning of June, 11 young people moved into their luxury accommodation on the island and immediately social media lit up with people passing judgement on their demeanour, their looks, body language and what they had to say. From a sociolinguistic point of view, its been easy to predict who of the 11 would receive the most criticism theres a body of research to back this up and, for anybody who has studied this, there were few surprises. In general, speakers with more standard southern accents are less criticised, and those with accents that we are socially conditioned to think of as funny, friendly, and socially attractive, such as Welsh, Scottish and Newcastle accents, also get off lightly. However, the Liverpool accent is frequently found near the bottom of the list when people are asked to rate how much they like the sound of different accents. One young islander, Hayley from Liverpool has been widely criticised on Twitter. Viewers have variously stated that her voice is annoying, cringeworthy, makes [your] skin crawl. Hayleys speech prompted one viewer to ask the twitterverse: What level of education does this girl have because its so difficult listening to [her] speak. Another tweeter left this tweet: Now, if I were someone who discriminated against someone because of their language, Id be pointing out that the last sentence in that tweet needs some punctuation and by the way its youre embarrassing. Theres more than a sprinkling of irony in someone being a language pedant and then getting it wrong while doing so. And while Hayley might say some surprising things , it tends to be her accent that people queue up to criticise. Common complaint Links between a lack of education and use of language have long been used as justification for oppression and control of people by the dominant ruling classes throughout history. Whether it be putting down the Welsh Treachery of the Blue Books (where it was falsely concluded in 1847 that the Welsh were ignorant, lazy and immoral, and that their use of the Welsh language was partly responsible) or whether it is used as a tool of the class system, language snobbery is and has been used to oppress people. ITV2 Unfortunately, accent prejudice is now so deeply ingrained within us that its incredibly frequent to hear speakers describing themselves as sounding common. I spend much of my teaching time at university trying to get my first year students to understand that there is no such thing as a common-sounding or bad or correct accent but in fact these are societal norms that have been imposed on us. Like it or not Back on Love Island, another islander who received negative attention was Niall from Coventry. His voice was criticised for being annoying but, according to Good Morning Britains Piers Morgan, Nialls biggest crime was his use of the word like. The presenter demanded that a clip of Niall be played several times. He also mocked Nialls West Midlands accent by doing an impression that sounded more like a really bad stereotype of a West Country farmer (or Worzel Gummidge if youre from my generation): The use of the word like is currently one of the most stigmatised aspects of linguistic variation. Its use is generally attributed by non-linguists to adolescents and young people when it is often perceived as a sign of lexical indecision, perhaps through having a small vocabulary or just not knowing what you want to say. However, research shows that the use of like in utterances always performs a function. It frequently acts as a marker that may be used to sustain or repair a sentence, link information in the utterance together, or alternatively mark a boundary between the different points the speaker is making. ITV2 Like receives so much attention that theres even a book on 800 years of like . In the book, Canadian linguist Alexandra DArcy details the different uses of like, the fact that there is a long history of use of like by speakers of all ages, and dispels a number of the myths and stereotypes associated with it. Class act It would be easy to dismiss the comments about the Love Islanders as a bit of fun, but there is a much darker side to linguistic discrimination. In the US, a study showed that some potential employers, real estate agents, loan officers and service providers linguistically profile callers responding to adverts, despite this being against federal and state law. Although we now hear more regional dialects on the TV and radio, more than a quarter of Britons feel discriminated against because of their accent. Teachers feel that they need to change their accent to be taken more seriously and teachers with northern accents have even been told to posh up . Experts in their field face prejudice because of their accents including my colleague Katie Edwards, who has spoken out over times she has felt that she cant be taken seriously as an academic with her Doncaster accent. Even masters of their craft have been typecast and discriminated against just because of the way that they speak, such as the acclaimed actor Maxine Peake who was told to lose her Bolton accent because the character she was auditioning for had been to university. The list goes on. So why can we not seem to shake our prejudices about dialects? Well, part of the issue is that by now, these attitudes are so deeply ingrained within us that we all tend to believe the hype. Our standard language ideology maintains that standard accents are associated with the upper classes, privilege, education and opportunity. Despite John Majors 1990 declaration that the former prime minister wanted Britain to be a classless society, more recent evidence indicates that class divides are just as bad as before. And unfortunately, it seems that linguistic discrimination really is one of the last acceptable forms of prejudice. Read more: Why Love Island is the best kept guilty secret on British television Alex Stevens, University of Kent The case of Billy Caldwell, the 12-year-old boy whose doctors were granted exceptional permission to prescribe a cannabis-based medicine, has reignited the long-running debate over the medical uses of the plant in Britain. Amid mounting public pressure, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, announced a review of the medical use of cannabis. Caldwell suffers from a severe form of epilepsy and his mother Charlotte reported that the only medicine that works to reduce his seizures is an oil made from cannabis. But this contains a small amount of one of the many compounds found in the plant cannabis sativa: tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Of the 97 phytocannabinoids in the plant, 12 of them are controlled by criminal law in the UK. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 imposes criminal penalties for the production, importation, supply and possession of raw cannabis and cannabinol derivatives containing THC. Many other phytocannabinoids, including cannabidiol (CBD), do not meet the legal definition of a cannabinol derivative, and so are not controlled by the legislation. If these legal derivatives are sold or advertised as medicines, they are controlled by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Of course, cannabis was not always a legally controlled substance. Its banning in the UK was almost incidental to the geopolitical discussions of opium and coca products in the early 20th century. British diplomats initially opposed the international control of cannabis, as its sale was earning revenue for the British empire. In an early sign of Britains waning imperial influence, they lost the argument at the Geneva opium convention in 1925. Cannabis was subsequently added to the British Dangerous Drugs Act in 1928 by the Coca Leaves and Indian Hemp Drug Regulations. The continuing criminalisation of cannabis in Britain reflects ongoing international commitments expressed in the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961. The definition of cannabinol derivatives in the Misuse of Drugs Act also reflected the list of banned substances in the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971. Since then, regulations have been used to limit the medical use of controlled substances. The most recent 2001 Misuse of Drugs Regulations place cannabis in schedule 1, for substances with no medical use. This again followed contemporary international norms on cannabis, which denied it medicinal value. Read more: Medical breakthroughs missed because of pointless drug bans A boom in new products As legal markets for medical cannabis have developed in countries such as the US, Canada and the Netherlands, product innovation has boomed. New preparations, including cannabis tinctures, waxes and oils, are sold in these countries alongside the traditional, raw herbal and resin forms. These products can contain many different combinations of THC, CBD and other phytocannabinoids. The product used by Caldwell contains CBD and a small amount of THC. Although the amount is so small that it would not be used recreationally, it cannot be supplied without a specific license in the UK. Current laws makes it possible to grant a license for the use of THC in research, but the legality of prescribing it as a medicine is far less clear. Caldwell is the first patient for whom the Home Office has allowed an exception. The special license granted to Caldwells doctors has now been offered to another child with severe epilepsy called Alfie Dingley, but not yet to the other children represented by the Familes 4 Access campaign. One product containing THC, Sativex, has clinical approval for use in treating multiple sclerosis, although it is not considered sufficiently cost effective to be available through the NHS. It was moved to schedule 4 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations in 2006, which means it can be privately prescribed. Another cannabis-based medicine, called Epidiolex, is also under review in the US for treatment of epilepsy. Both are owned by a company called GW Pharmaceuticals in which Capital Group, the firm where Theresa Mays husband Philip works, is a major shareholder a link which has caused allegations of hypocrisy Read more: How cannabis was used to shrink one of the most aggressive brain cancers Next step, a legal market? On June 18, policing minister Nick Hurd announced the creation of a clinical panel to review applications for use of cannabis-based medicines. The next day, Javid, announced the review of these products, while emphasising that the government has no intention of legalising cannabis. Some forms of cannabis-based medicine may end up in a similar situation to Sativex, with availability under prescription. But this is likely to be a small selection of the existing products, given the lack of clinical evidence on their effects. This might meet the needs of some patients, but will frustrate the wishes of many medical users of raw and untested cannabis products. Politicians are clearly worried that medical cannabis will be used as a wedge to drive through wider policy reform, and even the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use. The US states which have fully legalised cannabis started by allowing its therapeutic use. Canada allowed medical cannabis nearly 20 years ago. It is now creating a legal market for non-medical use. Once again, the UK is behind the pendulum on cannabis as it swings between social control and market freedom. Some formerly prominent politicians, including William Hague and Ed Miliband have used this current controversy to call for legalisation. Home >Police Enforcement > Seizure/Confiscation > US Supreme Court To Consider Car Seizure Constitutionality Anything for more sales, Diamond! Source: Comichron Diamond Comic Distributors has announced a new spinner rack program encouraging local comic shops to partner with other local businesses to sell comics. All comic shops would have to do is buy spinner racks from Diamond and then ask local businesses if they're open to putting these spinner racks in them. It's up to the retailers to come to an agreement on the profit split on the comics they've also had to buy from Diamond. Diamond is also offering a variety of bonus items to qualifying retailers who sign an agreement with another business for at least six months. What these bonus items are is yet to be seen. So all a comic shop has to do is pay for a spinner rack, seek out another business to help cannibalize their own shrinking fanbase, and profit(?). President George Manneh Weah The current debate in Liberia is centered on two loans that the infant administration of President George M. Weah has entered with certain private entities to undertake the construction of roads in the Southeast and in Eastern Liberia. Anyone who spent 16 hours to cover a rocky 500 kilometers as I did a few times this year - will wholeheartedly welcome any alternative. A drive on the bush road from Buchanan in Bassa County to Pleebo in Maryland is akin to a trip into the abyss of time past. For people in that region, the prospect of a modern road that would link them to the rest of the country, trumps any other consideration. People have raised concerns that should help the Administration to provide appropriate answers to clear the air. The loans are the largest any government has ever taken in Liberias history. The magnitude of the amount is unsettling to many. This uneasiness is understandable in a country that has been lived on hand-outs and humanitarian aid for decades. There is no doubt about the prerogative of President Weah to raise funds to implement his development agenda. However, in an age of global threats posed by drug and money laundering, human trafficking and terrorism funding, these are legitimate concerns, especially when dealing with people so far unknown to Liberians on behalf of who the money is being borrowed. Unfortunately, the debate has escalated and wild political rhetoric. Modernity begins with transportation and electricity. These are the two greatest challenges facing Liberia. According to estimates, it will take billions of dollars to connect Liberia to the 21st Century or even to the 20th century for that matter. The money required will never come through aid. The highest aid Liberia has ever received was the US grant through the MCC of $260 million dollars for the Mount Coffee rehabilitation project. Ten million today, twenty million tomorrow and sporadic budget support do not fund development. To finance its infrastructure, Liberia will have to do exactly what other countries did: get capital. Almost every government in the world currently runs deficit amounting to many folds of their budget. The IMF-World Banks intervention was crucial in effacing the excruciating debt Liberia was crumbling under. The $4 billion dollars forgiven was mostly an accumulation of interest on bad loans, that went from less than $1 billion under the Interim Government in the 1990s to four billion by the end of the transition in 2005. Since the eradication of that debt, billions have poured in in aid and for emergency issues such as Ebola. The UN system, the World Bank, and the IMF were helpful in guiding Liberias recovery process. Now, the country is entering another stage and must find new solutions for the emerging and structural priorities. Cote dIvoire is often a reference of what can be achieved by a visionary leader in one generation. The late Ivorian President Houphouet-Boigny is known to never be shy in borrowing: money, talent, and creativity, he took them wherever he could find them and made them work for his vision. This took Cote dIvoire from being the less-developed francophone country in 1960 to become the economic engine of an entire region. The country is now heavily indebted but continues to enjoy the confidence of lenders, be it the World Bank who just poured close to a billion dollars in cocoa development to the Chinese who invested more than a billion in rural energy and banks who invested both in the private and the public sectors or the US providing some $780 million on the MCA account. The economic infrastructure laid by Houphouet-Boigny evolved on two prongs: infrastructure (electricity, roads) and agriculture, both capital intensive. Strategy, discipline, and patriotism served as the thread that kept everything in sync. One could ask, if under different global financial system, Liberia could have done better if it were able to borrow $4 billion dollars in 2006 to invest in infrastructure, agriculture and private sector rather than receive debt forgiveness. To develop its potentials, Liberia will need to borrow capital. The question is from whom and under what conditions should it borrow. When and if the money comes, the other question would be: how well will it be managed? How much of it will go to the projects its intended for? How much will be siphoned into private accounts? Does the country have the capacity to avoid waste, theft, and mismanagement? The final question is whether the two projects will finish in time to create economic dividends to justify their costs. There are many questions, but one thing is certain, Liberia will have to borrow a lot of money to finance its development. Investors will not come if there is no infrastructure. Local markets will not develop if there is no infrastructure. Bilateral partners and traditional financial institutions will be of no help. So, borrow, Liberia will have to: but from whom and to what end and under what conditions are the questions. Pro-Poor Policy of a government usually targets directly poor peoples economic plight, which is due to the poverty they experienced in society. The goal of this policy is to improve their living standard. However, the Hut Tax re-introduced by the traditional Chiefs and Elders in Liberia resembles a reversed Robin Hood intended to TAKE (Steal) from the POOR. Whereas, the Robin Hood and his Merry Men of Sherwood Forest took from the abusive and corrupt leaders what they stole from the poor and had it returned. My article titled CDC Pro-Poor Government Hut Taxs Historical Amnesia intents to prove that the reintroduction of the notorious and abusive hut tax system of yesteryear was proposed either out of ignorance of history by the traditional Chiefs and Elders, or out of pure self-interest. According to the Daily Observers Nimba County Correspondent, Ishmael Menkor, the 15 chiefs representing the Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia have agreed to the reintroduction of HUT TAX to support the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led Governments Pro-poor Agenda. The elders maintained that the hut tax will enhance their participation in the promotion of governments agenda and development initiatives. They accordingly argued that government cannot be dependent forever, relying on donor support or begging all around the world for help, so, in their view, it is good to bring back the collection of hut tax to back up the economy. My question to these Chiefs and Elders is how will the reintroduction of the hut tax benefit most of the poor people in rural areas; especially when most of them live on US$1.50 a day? Or is their time to eat as Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor espoused? Perhaps, the This is our time to eat comment is directed at CDiCians to get ready to receive their share of the BIG ELEPHANT MEAT as Ellens Unity Party government, her family and associates had their share. Lets review the history and enforcement of the notorious Hut Tax that Chief Zanzan Kawor and Elders of the Liberian Council of Chiefs failed to acknowledge; either out of ignorance or were seeking favor from President Weah and his CDC Pro-Poor government. HUT TAX The Hut Tax was first instituted following the administrative reform of 1904 both as a means, on part of the central government, of imposing its writ over hinterlanders and coastal indigenes, and also as an important revenue source to sustain the newly established auxiliary interior bureaucracy. Initial, it appears, there was a tax of $1.00 per annum on each indigene domicile (hut). In the 1980s the tax had reached $6.00 per annum per the district commissioner. Each chief received a percentage of the tax collected as his commission. The hut tax is widely viewed as one of the areas of repressive government during the first republic, for the manner in which agents of the state went about collecting constitutes flagrant violations of peoples rights. Tax collectors often accompanied by soldier of the LFF moved into villages, at times terrorizing the inhabitants in order to secure not only the taxes but to requisition food and other local products. Several months following the 1980 coup, the hut tax was abolished by the PRC, but then reportedly reinstituted the following year in modified form. [See TAX MISSION, 1970: 89; Handbook, 325] / [African Historical Dictionaries, p. 91] In addition, based on the Area Handbook for Liberia, Direct money taxes known as a hut, health and development taxes are collected annually from the tribal people. Levied on households on the basis of a hut rather than a head count, the taxes totaled $5 per household in the early 1960s. Tribal communities are also officially required by the government to make annual contributions of rice that may amount to a higher value than money taxes. Informal requisitions of food by agents of the central government and members of the armed forces are common occurrences in some areas of the interior and constitute an indirect form of taxation impossible to measure. (Area Handbook, p. 325) I was told of similar practices by my parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts. It was a common practice for District Commissioners (DC) and members of the Liberian Frontier Force (LFF) to engage in when they traveled in the hinterland (now counties) to collect taxes and recruit laborers for government projects; such displayed brute behaviors were not unusual. Initially, the Armed Forces, known then as the Liberian Frontier Force (LFF) collected Hut taxes, and enforced labor policies against the native (indigenous) masses. On many occasions, these natives (African Liberians) were forced to carry loads for government officials for days, while their farms were left unattended and their livestock used to feed the soldiers; their wives and female daughters used as sex objects for the pleasure of these officials and soldiers. The novel, Red Dust on the Green Leaves by John Gay, epitomizes this reality: The soldiers had come again every year to get taxes and men to work at Firestone. Flumo (Flomo) still was not sure what Firestone was, even though he knew that men who went there had to clear the ground and plant rubber trees. He also knew that when Saki went to Firestone, he did not make farm but would come back after six months or a year with little other than new clothes and gifts from the coast. President Arthur Barclay too alluded to this culture of impunity in his Inaugural Address of 1904: The militia, largely lower-class Americo-Liberians and tribal people drawn from areas other than those in which they were serving were tending to become a greater danger to the loyal citizens, and his property, which it ought to protect. This repressive and humiliating treatment was abolished after the coup of 1980 when the Peoples Redemption Council (PRC) repealed the Hut Tax Law. This was one benefit of the PRC that the poor indigenous people considered an achievement at the time. However, the reintroduction of the Hut Tax by the chiefs and elders raised more questions than answers. October 15, 2016, I wrote an article which was published in The Perspective. The title of the article is: Home, Sweet Home and The Significance of the Red Cap. In the article, I narrated a story about a Kpelle Paramount Chief called Zamgba. He was very wicked to his own people. This paramount chief was a very powerful dictator. With the support of the Government, he exercised brute power over his people. Those of you who were around in the late 50s into the early 60s might have heard the popular Santa Clause song regarding his abusive behavior towards the Kpelle people. The chorus of the song goes like this: Zamgba die, Kpelle people put on shoes; Zamgba die, Kpelle people, put on shoes. Legend has it that because he wore shoes, he did not allow his people to do the same. Paramount Chief Zamgba had a partner who possessed similar characters like him. This partner of his was commonly referred to by officials of the Government as Chief Buzzy. Buzzy was chief of the Lorma tribe from Lofa Country. Chief Buzzy joined with the Liberian Government to put down the rebellion and resistance from the coastal tribes. He too was powerful and dictatorial. These two chiefs joined forces with the Government to collect Hut Tax by whatever means they deemed necessary, including fighting alongside government forces to put down the so-called rebellious natives - the Klaos (Krus), Grebos and Bassas along the Atlantic Coast. Find below their method of enforcement. Compulsory Voluntary Recruitment Practice In 1926, the Government picked palava with the hinterland tribes; specifically the Kpelles and the Lormas. This palava was not only exploitative; it was abusive to the tribal people. During this year, Industrialist Harvey Firestone of Ohio, USA, established the Firestone Plantation in Liberia. The Firestone Plantation needed workers, Paramount Chief Zamgba and Chief Buzzy were identified by the Government as the source that could be used to provide the needed laborers to plant and tap the rubber trees. Both Chiefs and the LFF got involved in what is known in Liberian history as compulsory voluntary recruitment practice. The Kpelles and Lormas were forcibly recruited, sometimes at gunpoint and with threats to work on the Firestone Plantations. This heartless procedure of recruiting these people to work on the Firestone Plantations provided no meaningful compensation to the people who left their own farms work unattended to. They were made to abandon their livelihood their farms, to work like slaves for below minimum wages; living under poor and unacceptable working conditions. Due to the brute power that Chief Buzzy exercised over his people, the Government authorities inaccurately referred to the Lorma Tribe as Buzzy people. In fact, an area in Monrovia is named as Buzzy Quarter in honor of Chief Buzzy. This area is located at the intersection of Camp Johnson Road, not far from Bassa Community and Capitol Hill. Today, the Lorma people resent being called Buzzy people; a vivid reminder of Chief Buzzys treatment of them. Red Cap These LFF soldiers wore a Red Cap that was introduced by the British Colonial authorities in Africa. The Igbo tribe of Nigeria adopted it as a symbol of authority. Also, the Red Cap is worn by the Eze (king) or Igwe and his council members and Titled Men. However, in Liberia, the Red Cap was part of the official uniform of the LFF and Constables also organized by the British. It was a sign of power and authority. The LFF served as the military of the Liberian Government. They collected hut and head taxes from the poor native people in the interior who hardly benefited from their resources and labor. Also, they pay head tax - for having heads on their shoulders. What a dehumanizing way to treat ones fellow human beings! In the book: The Mask Of Anarchy written by Stephen Ellis, he provides an example of the historical, political and cultural factors of Liberias brutal unlawful practices against the native people. According to him: In the many parts of the country, throughout its history, the Liberian system of indirect rule bore the stamp of military means used to establish it in the early twentieth century. It was first established in the Liberian Army, which had a reputation of brutality and for looting, since troops largely lived off the land. In 1910 some chiefs (King Gyude and other Grebo chiefs), in the south-east of the country complained of the activities of the Liberian Frontier Force (LFF), which they termed 'this execrable force', and was 'entirely mobilized' and wherever they had been sent throughout the country - whether to Rivercess or in the hinterland - their custom has been to plunder the towns through which they pass and rape the women." Liberian authorities and their Western enablers should use cautionary measures and be aware of the fact that politics does not always reward the best and brightest, it has the tendency to elevate the most dishonest of men who will lie and cheat without compunction; excellent example of it was found during the Tubman Administration, which was referred to as Growth Without Development. Growth Without Development Sanford J. Ungar, made reference to this underdevelopment in the book titled: Africa, The People and Politics of an Emerging Continent. It reads: [William V.S. Tubman] established an Open door policy, attracting foreign capital to Liberia under unusually favorable conditions. Investors could obtain eighty-year leases for tracts of undeveloped land, and the flow of profits and dividends out of the country was not restricted. Machinery imported for industrial use was exempt from customs duty, and other taxes were low. This did little for the improvement of agriculture, and while the policy did have some beneficial effects in the countryside, overall it intensified the contrast between the industrialized coast and the backward Hinterland. In the long run, the open door policy produced what outside analysts (Robert W. Clower et al, Growth Without Development: An Economic Survey, 1966) called growth without development. CONCLUSION Current events in Liberia suggests that we are heading in the wrong direction once more; a direction in which citizens do not have the right to question or challenge their elected officials to behave in accordance to the laws of the land. Groups are found everywhere, especially on FaceBook who do not have any knowledge of Liberias UGLY PAST, and are resuscitating the UGLY days gone by when RESOLUTIONS to show support for the President and elected officials was the order of the day; and an accused person was considered guilty before his/her case made it to court. Are our memories failing us? If not, why we do not speak against these existing evils? Instead, we are falling back into the practice that almost brought about our demise. Why cant we learn from our recent history? The truth shall set you free has been proven by history over and over, and no matter what the power that be attempt to do in restricting telling the truth truth being a universal principle will remain the same today and tomorrow. Yet, there are always individuals who by choice or influence will tamper with the truth to advance their own individual interests or for those they are loyal to. They need to be told that there is nothing abstract about the truth; in the end, truth withstands the test of time. To be frank, Liberia does not require us to be perfect; rather it requires us to be honest with ourselves. As imperfect humans living in these perilous times, we are not immune to the wind of adversity; we have the ability to reverse the course of the wind. To do so, we must acknowledge that there is something morally wrong with us as a people. Having admitted our general fault, we are able to set-up the means by which our fault can be addressed and have our solutions become the way of life to which we are committed and never to be compromised for political favors or government positions. This challenge has to be met with our collective efforts in order to bring to an end the practice that has prevented our development with what we have in common as Liberians regardless of class, religion, and ethnicity. This is the place to start! Seeking Truth seems to be our best option, though Truth also has consequences. For example, King Darius of Babylon enacted a new law stipulating "Whoever makes a petition to any god or man for thirty days except (the) king should be thrown to the lions' pit" (Daniel 6:7-9). The law was intended to eliminate the King's real or perceived enemies, notably Daniel. Daniel did not compromise his belief; as a result, he was thrown into the lion's den for not obeying the new law. But Daniels God set him free. While we cannot compare ourselves to Daniel in wisdom and statute, we certainly can pursue Truth no matter how corrupt elites and their supporters might fight against our efforts; Truth, being a universal principle, will sustain us to the end. More important, we should bear in mind the fact that there will always be individuals who by choice or influence will tamper with the Truth to advance their own individual interests or the interests of those they are loyal to, not realizing that there is nothing abstract about the Truth and that those who subscribed to corrupt practices will certainly be caught up with time. In addition, I am reminded of the statement by the famous English Dictionary publisher, Dr. Samuel Johnson that reads, "There is no crime more infamous than the violation of truth. It is apparent that men can be social beings no longer than they believe each other. When speech is employed only as the vehicle of falsehood, every man must disunite himself from others." It means those who engage in deceit and telling lies to please their supporters are operating from what former Senator Joe Lieberman described as "value vacuum." A place "...where traditional ideas of right and wrong have been gradually worn away." In fact, this phenomenon has redefined what was once held to be universal Truth. Today, Truth is now widely viewed on the basis of an individual's point of view (or talking points) - even if the facts are overwhelming, like embezzlement, human rights abuse, the denial of free speech, violation of civil and constitutional rights, kangaroo court system, excessive use of force, framed-up charges and incarceration of unarmed civilians by the governments, including Liberia. The popular phrase: If one does not stand for something, he/she will fall for everything; here lays the dilemma facing many of our people. What Liberia lacks in short supply are principled individuals. In other words, many Liberians are not firm believers in the "principle of right and justice". They are forever ready to sell their souls for positions or for mere crumbs. Finally, as a firm believer in the fact that there is nothing wrong with Liberians, that cannot be cured with what is right; I believe, we have an essential role to play in deciding our present as well as our future. The fact that we have a choice shows that God has given us a measure of control over our lives. The coward who makes excuses for not taking a position come Judgment Day will have some explaining to do. As Liberians, if we earnestly want genuine peace and democracy, we will have to earn it the old fashion way, work for it. It means we will have to take positions that are not always popular. And for what it's worth, lets take the advice by General Colin Powell; it reads: "Where discrimination still exists or where the scars of past discrimination still contaminate and disfigure the present, we must not close our eyes to it, declare a level playing field, and hope it will go away by itself. It did not in the past. It will not in the future." In closing, let me share with you the poem titled: I Will Not Tote That Hammock Anymore! I I am not going to tote that hammock anymore! If my great grandparents and relatives did it That doesnt mean I should do the same II So you better find someone else To do your plotor work cause this time for sure I am not going to tote you in that hammock! III Big hellova man like you if you cant walk by yourself Then thats your own kinja you will have to bear You dont expect me to tote you on my shoulder Instead of toting you, I could be attending To my rice farm, cassava farm and doing small, small thing So let me tell you Joe Blow, this time I am not going to tote you in that hammock! IV Although, I was a small pekin when The District Commissioner came to our town He humiliated my grandparents and relatives In front of their wives and children I can still feel pains and sufferings they endured Toting Government officials from village to village And through thick and thin So, let me tell you once and for all, that job is not for me You cannot force me this time, I know my rights So, you better take your hot sun trouble from here! V My friend, this time you really juke-o! You will kill me dead Even then, I will still refuse to tote the hammock. VI You see, I made up my mind long, long time ago Not to tote anybodys hammock, even the President, self Cause the same way God gave you hands, head and feet Thats the same way He gave me mine And since theres nothing wrong with yours I dont see why I or my people should be the One to do your toting for you. VII So, Mr. Big Shot or whatever your name is You're really juked this time You better try hard! Carry your trouble someplace else! Because if you make me vex, it will be HELL To tell the Captain Cause Ill not tote Big Hellova man like you ANYMORE! (TIPOSAH: Message from the Palava Hut, from the book of poems by Siahyonkron Nyanseor, published 2014) The most vexing perennial and pervasive problem in Liberia is mass poverty. Mass poverty has become a principal pretext for violence, including war, as was seen in the Liberian Civil War. Out of this Civil War has emerged the clear Mandate of the People of Liberia, indicative of lessons well learned from the experiences during the Civil War. This Mandate remains: WE WANT PEACE! NO MORE WAR! This Mandate demonstrates that mass conscientization has taken place to the point where the People are motivated to express themselves in the drive to make their lives better. The conscientization did not occur by accident. It emerged from the People's experience with dismal living conditions, like the brutality of the hut tax and its attendant poverty generation, as well as from the sharing publicly of knowledge about the dismal conditions by intellectuals/advocates/activists in civil society. This Mandate is hailing mainly from the People, most of whom are illiterate. The management of the Liberian State continues to view illiterate people as being uneducated people, and, therefore they are devoid of any significant participatory role in national decision-making. This non-participatory role is also assigned to women, who are more often than not considered to be bearers of babies and housekeepers. In the midst of mass poverty, where the only way out of this dismal condition is for national decision-makers to respect the masses by encouraging their participation, especially in getting their approaches to societal problem solving, such disposition on the part of State Managers remains nonexistent. Witness the continuation of the colonial system of production of raw materials for export, where there is no emphasis on value addition, mass poverty, as seen in mass unemployment, especially youth unemployment, prevails. One can not help but be reminded about the high and rising violence-oriented expectations of the unemployed youth. The idea that education is about knowledge attained from western schooling rather than from gaining awareness (the Greek concept of Educere), or learning about living with people (John Lewis, 1916) or learning to solve societal problems, especially those facing the poor (Paolo Friere,1970), is inconsistent with democratic institution building, which promotes mass participation, the indispensable factor for mass poverty alleviation. This definition of education that promotes mass participation in national decision-making is rooted in culture. It is through the appreciation of the People, as seen in their music, their languages, their tales/stories, their wearings that provide the self-respect and image building posture for making lives better. This late day meets some persons on the national broadcaster not being able to pronounce Liberian names properly. This definition of education at once promotes unity and stability for making lives better for an increasingly large segment of the population. Most, unfortunately, the educational system in Liberia, as promoted by the government, remains western-oriented and is not Liberian-culture based. This is precisely why the educational system is a MESS, as described by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. When a culture does not define and operate the educational system, the system becomes a MESS. When we do not know about our problems, we do not know how to solve our problems. Our educational institutions, especially the higher educational ones, teach more about the problems of western countries and this precisely why the students learn to solve problems of western countries. Recently, I went to Sinoe County for the funeral of a great person, a Liberian, Mrs. Frances Mayson, who performed a great patriotic deed from teaching students civics, where they learned about Liberia. Civics has now become a study not found in our schools. On the way back to Monrovia from Sinoe, my vehicle got stuck in Rivercess County, near Grand Bassa County, and it took two caterpillar machines to pull my vehicle out of the mud. Then, I made it my business to talk with many persons about why some part of the Grand Baasa-Sinoe Road was good, even in the rainy season, when another part was bad. The answer that I got was: the big shots were taking too much money from Stony Rock, the Liberian Contractor who built the all-weather laterite road, to the point that he became tired of the corrupt officials and got out of the contract, which was then given to a corrupt Contractor, who did the bad part of the road. The point here is that we have Liberians who can build all-weather laterite roads; but corruption prevents them from building good roads. With the bad roads and no roads, transportation and food prices rise and mass poverty increases. In demonstrating knowledge about solving problems in western countries, State Managers, operating within the "greed" mode mimic the mistakes being made by the State Managers in the western countries. Witness the poor economic policies and practices that have resulted in the widening gap between the poor and rich within countries and between poor and rich countries to the point where 82 percent of the income and wealth of the world is accounted for by one percent of the world's rich persons. This greed led to the Great Depression of the early 1930s and the global financial crisis of 2008, pointing to the unsustainability of the dismal relationship between the poor and the rich. In effect, education, as defined here, tells us that the poor can not look up to the rich to get the poor out of poverty because the rich will not do anything to end the sources that make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Liberia is now the second poorest country in Africa (African Development Bank, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund), the fourth poorest country in the world (World Bank, International Monetary Fund) and has the world's worst record (62%) of children who should be school but are not in school (UNICEF). The foregoing knowledge informs us that intensive education/conscientization of the masses is indispensable for the motivation of the poor to utilize peaceful means to take themselves out of poverty and get into the land of progress where mass poverty is alleviated sustainably. *This brief perspective paper titled Education and National Decision-Making was sent to the Ministry of Education, Liberia, 2018 National Educational Summit, scheduled to be held May 21 to 25, 2018 The three-year project will expand health care services in these two counties by increasing access and assistance for opioid use disorder. "I want this to be the crazy new food trend coming out of Melbourne." Carrick added: "There's nothing sweet about it. All savoury. It's 98 percent chicken that has our unique and top-secret spice mix." Donugs are only available in Melbourne right now but we're optimistic they'll be coming over the ditch soon enough... Otherwsie we might have to send someone over to give 'em a hoon and bring some back for us donugless beggars. Anyway that's enough from us. Excuse us while we go clean the drool from our faces. City_news featured Suburban exclusive: Revenue Quebec wrong to send fed tax forms in French only: Official Languages Joel Goldenberg / Facebook Harold Staviss with CSL Councillor Ruth Kovac An investigation by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (OCOL) has determined that it was wrong for the Quebec Revenue Ministry (MRQ) to provide federal Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax forms to a Quebec corporation in French only, The Suburban has learned. Late last year, Hampstead lawyer and language activist Harold Staviss filed a complaint with OCOL, saying that a Quebec-based corporation filing GST/HST returns could not obtain the necessary forms and documents in English. Staviss pointed out that an individual could receive the forms in both languages, but not a corporation. In its refusal last year to provide the material in English, the MRQ cited Quebecs language laws. Staviss has also been working on language rights issues with Cote St. Luc Councillor Ruth Kovac. The OCOL report points out that the MRQ, in providing federal forms, acts on behalf of the federal Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), and is thus obliged to communicate in Canadas two official languages, according to the Official Languages Act. The complainant was told [by Revenue Quebec] the service (the forms in English) was not available, the OCOL report written by Ghislaine Saikaley, Assistant Commissioner, Compliance Assurance Branch, concludes. Even though the CRA and the MRQ later confirmed that the forms are indeed available in both official languages, this information was not communicated to the complainant before he or she filed a complaint.... The complaint is founded. The OCOL, which itself confirmed the GST/HST forms were being offered in French only, also points out in its report that the situation with the MRQ was resolved while the investigation was taking place. However, I strongly encourage the CRA to follow up with the MRQ to ensure its employees and representatives have a thorough understanding of their linguistic obligations with respect to the [Official Languages] Act, Saikaley wrote. Staviss was pleased, and passed on advice to the public. If you are entitled to get a document from the provincial government in English, make sure you request it, he told The Suburban. If you dont, my opinion is that the government will take that as a sign that English documentation no longer has to be provided. And the same thing applies on the retail side. Make sure retail outlets use English as permitted under the Charter of the French Language; English signage should be visible alongside French ones and flyers should be bilingual. If not, speak up. Numbers do speak volumes. Remember, we must make sure that English is treated as one of Canadas two official languages; it should not be treated as a disease in Quebec. Held on June 6, 2018, on McGill Universitys downtown campus under a big tent, the Goodman Cancer Research Gala this year brought together more than 800 guests and raised $3,002,906, setting a new record in its 10-year history in support of the McGill University Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre (GCRC). With a goal to double the number of lung cancer survivors in the next decade, the GCRC concurrently launched the Lung Cancer Network, a project to unite basic and clinician scientists and clinicians in Montreal, provincially, nationally and internationally to accelerate research outcomes and, ultimately, to find cures. We are privileged to have at McGill an internationally renowned cancer centre where the best scientists in the field are working to decode the disease, says Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier. By collaborating, the opportunities for discovery are multiplied, and we can begin imagining, as Morris and Rosalind Goodman did, a future that is cancer-free. Also announced was the creation of the McGill University Rosalind Goodman Chair in Lung Cancer Research. Dr. Logan Walsh, GCRC scientist and recruit from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, was named the inaugural chair holder. My late wife Rosalind, who lost her battle to lung cancer in 2014, was the visionary behind all we have done, says Morris Goodman, Co-founder of The Gala. She would be so proud to see what has been accomplished through scientific advancements and the building of unique partnerships between all those who are committed to finding a cure. We are so fortunate as Montrealers to have this world-class research centre as a resource to all in our community. For more photos see the story at TheSuburban.com For more information visit www.mcgillgcrcgala.com and www.mcgillgcrc.com McGill University AB Former Lac. St. Louis federal Conservative candidate Andrea Paine (center), who is now the Aurora Vie National Director of Governmental Relations, stands with two employees as they check the health of maturing cannabis plants. Paine expects the legislation on recreational cannabis to be legal by September. WIPCR co-founder and Executive Director Teresa Dellar (r) gives a playful kiss to former Nelligan MNA and residence co-founder Russell Williams at last Fridays groundbreaking for the new consolidated extension of the residence. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Children are exposed to 30 per cent more toxic pollution than their parents when walking to and from school every day, a new study had found. Thermal imaging conducted outside schools showed that nursery and primary students inhale almost a third more harmful car fumes, because they are shorter and therefore in closer proximity to vehicle exhausts. And it's even worse if parents drive their kids on the school run - clean air campaigner Global Action Plan said children are exposed to twice as much pollution inside a car as when they're walking on busy streets. Dangerous of the school run: Children under the age of 11 are exposed to 30% more toxic car exhaust fumes than their parents while walking to school, a new study has found The thermal imaging study was conducted across four UK cities - Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and London. The aim was to discover if an individual's height had an impact on the level of exposure to harmful particulate emissions from cars, focusing primarily on the differences for adults and kids under the age of 11. Thermal imaging experts, FLIR, captured shots that show the invisible danger of air pollution around children using infrared cameras. They use CO2 as a tracer gas to visualise exposure to harmful substances such as nitrogen oxides, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter that are emitted from car exhausts. The campaigning group, which is spearheading Clean Air Day 2018 on Thursday, said parents could help protect their children by simply taking a different walking route to school. This thermal images captured by infrared cameras show the invisible danger of vehcile exhaust emissions around children The research found that pollution levels from petrol and diesel vehicles were 2.5 times lower if kids strolled along quieter roads with fewer cars. However, it warned that the answer to reducing their exposure to exhaust fumes isn't to take them on the school run in the car. The study found that 50 per cent of kids are chauffeured to the school gate by their parents, which actually increases their risk on inhaling toxic fumes. That's because you're exposed to double the pollution inside a vehicle compared to when you're walking down a traffic-heavy street, previous studies have shown. Driving them is not the answer: Children are exposed to double the amount of vehicle fumes inside a car compared to when they're walking outside HOW MANY PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN WALK TO SCHOOL? % of primary school pupils using this mode of transport Number of primary school pupils using this mode of transport Walk Car Public Transport Walk Car Public Transport England 0.51 0.41 0.03 2530839 2028485 138049 Scotland 0.59 0.3 0.09 234583 120494 35227 Wales 0.45 0.54 0.06 29975 35970 3997 Northern Ireland 0.25 0.65 0.09 45863 119244 16511 Averages Totals 0.507 0.411 0.035 2841260 2304194 193784 Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the findings of the study we 'troubling' that they further demonstrated why the Government needs to act immediately to improve air pollution levels. This includes measures to ban the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars in 2040, as outlined in Mr Gove's DEFRA Clean Growth Strategy a year ago. 'Our new Clean Air Strategy sets out how we will be the first major developed economy to reduce air pollution in line with World Health Organisation limits and we have invested 3.5 billion to reduce harmful emissions,' he said. 'But Clean Air Day reminds us that by taking simple steps, like leaving the car at home for the school run, we can work together to reduce air pollution and protect our health.' Research by Professor Jonathan Grigg - a leading UK paediatrician in the effects of air pollution - has found that toxic air is associated with both reduced lung growth in childhood, severity of asthma and pneumonia. He added: 'Its critical that we protect the health of our childrens lungs from air pollution, in order to prevent lasting damage. 'My research has shown that exposure of young children to higher amounts of air pollution from traffic, has a major impact on their lungs. 'Although parents can reduce this impact by walking on less polluted roads and taking public transport, the UK government must take further steps to reduce toxic emissions from all roads.' A leading UK paediatrician in the effects of air pollution said that toxic air is associated with both reduced lung growth in childhood, severity of asthma and pneumonia UK cities are already taking action against air pollution - and motorists will pay the price In some major cities, action is already underway. London introduced the Congestion Zone in 2013 and added the T-Charge last year - both of which are aimed at reducing vehicle emissions in the centre of the capital with a combined 21.50 charge imposed on high polluting vehicles. The T-Charge will be replaced by the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) in the same area from next year and broadened to the whole of inner London between the North and South Circular in 2021 under recently revealed plans. This will see all motorists - including residents - driving non-qualifying older cars charged 12.50 every day they use their motor. Ultra-Low Emissions Zones in London and Clean Air Zones in other UK cities will be in place next year in a bid to reduce air pollution Similar measures - called Clean Air Zones (CAZ) - have also been proposed for Birmingham and Leeds city centres - as well as Derby, Nottingham and Southampton - from 2020 to make our air less toxic. This could see drivers charged up to 10 a day to drive in these areas. The Government has also recently introduced a new regulation that will see car makers fined 50,000 for every car found to emit more pollution than official figures state. For the general population air pollution increases the risk of some serious illnesses, and can make existing conditions, like respiratory disorders, worse. 'All of the organs in the body seem to be affected in some way by breathing in air pollution,' according to Professor Frank Kelly, Director of the Environmental Research Group at King's College London. This includes heart and blood vessel problems, cardiovascular disease and furring of the arteries. It is estimated that as many as 40,000 early deaths each year are caused by the air we breathe when we are out and about. Clean Air Day, which is supported by Defra and 180 organisations, is calling on UK residents and parents to leave their car at home today (21 June) to address the UKs significant problem of air pollution, and where practical walk on quiet routes to reduce exposure to pollution. Bosses at ASDA and Sainsbury's have been accused of planning to 'cut the throats' of small suppliers with a 14billion merger that will create a new mega-supermarket. Store bosses claim the key benefit of the deal will allow them to cut prices on some essential products by 10 per cent, while protecting small suppliers, such as British farmers. However, MPs say this is not true and that suppliers, including many small businesses, will have to carry the burden. In a blistering attack, they accused senior executives of 'talking baloney' and 'not being truthful'. Promises: Chief executive of Asda, Roger Burnley, left, and Sainsbury's boss Mike Coupe, right, give evidence on the planned merger to MPs MPs say suppliers are terrified of the merger, which will give the new group 30 per cent of supermarket sales, with Tesco having almost another 30 per cent. The attack came as the chief executive of Asda, Roger Burnley, 52, and Sainsbury's boss Mike Coupe, 57, gave evidence on the planned merger to MPs on the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee. Asked about the promise of price cuts, Burnley said: 'We have been very clear that we are committed to reducing the price of everyday items ... by around 10 pc.' Justifying the merger, he said: 'This is about making us a more successful business ... as our customers increasingly demand value and low prices from us.' Burnley said the evidence of store closures, such as Toys R Us and Maplin, pointed to a radical change in shopping habits. On concerns that small suppliers will be squeezed, he said: 'I refute that the supplier will be paying the price ... We need the supply base as much as they need us the retailer.' Questioning Burnley, the Tory MP and committee chairman Neil Parish described the promises of 10 per cent price cuts without harming small British suppliers as 'total baloney'. He said: 'You are going to save 10 per cent, therefore you are going to save it at the expense of those who supply you ... For goodness sake, be honest with us, don't come in here and give us a load of baloney. You have got to face the fact that if you are going to save 10 per cent you are going to get most of that from the supply chain.' He accused Burnley of wrapping up the merger plans with politically correct promises about protecting suppliers, which will not stand the test of time. Parish said: 'You tell us it is a cut-throat business ... I know exactly whose throats you are going to cut. The more you give evidence the more unbelievable it becomes.' Meanwhile, the Sainsbury's chief executive told MPs the merger would help the company compete with Amazon in the future, which is 100 times bigger with enormous resources. Coupe said it would also be able to compete more effectively with Aldi and Lidl, which are also much bigger than Sainsbury's in terms of global stores and sales. 'We want to secure our business's future,' he said. Coupe said the main burden of funding price cuts for shoppers would be carried by around 150 big, mostly foreign, suppliers. He said American-owned Weetabix, for example, which currently makes 20p in the pound profit on sales of the cereal, would be asked to cut prices. Defence giant BAE Systems has struck a deal worth up to 1billion to sell amphibious tanks to the US Marines. America is buying 30 of the tanks designed to carry troops ashore for 150million, with plans to buy a further 174 by 2020 for around 900million. BAE and partner Iveco Defence Vehicles beat off competition from rival US tech firm Science Applications International Corporation. Heavy metal: America is buying 30 BAE amphibious tanks designed to carry troops ashore for 150m, with plans to buy a further 174 by 2020 for around 900m Maintenance of all vehicles could be worth around 4.7billion over their lifetime, the US Department of Defence estimated. British defence firms have been expecting to benefit from a boost in US defence spending under President Donald Trump. The contract is a boost to BAE after it announced plans to cut almost 2,000 UK jobs in aerospace and maritime last year amid a slump in orders. The tank the US Marines are buying will replace models dating back to the Vietnam era. They can each carry three crew and 13 Marines and can run through nine-foot waves. Work on building the tanks will now take place at BAEs plants in the US. BAE boss Charles Woodburn welcomed the contract and said its US business is expected to double production of combat vehicles in the next three years. Dean Medland, from BAEs tanks division, said: We are proud to continue our partnership with the Marine Corps. BAE made sales of 18.3billion in the year to December. Profits slipped slightly, to around 1.48billion. BAE shares rose 0.5 per cent, or 3.4p, to 633.2p. First Sunday of every month, 3-4 p.m. and Third Sunday of every month Moxie Massage 605 E. Washington St., Springfield Downtown Free Health & Fitness Participate in a demonstration of free-flowing movements designed to relieve stress, promote balance and enhance clarity of mind. All skill levels and ages. Wear loose clothing and bring water. Check the host Facebook page for event updates. (217) 725-6597 MBABANE The Nkhaba High School teacher who was dismissed after being found guilty of wrongfully awarding SGCE Design Technology pupils full marks for evaluation of their project, is suing government a sum of E130 000 for unfair dismissal. Phumelele Nkhomo of Ludzeludze was dismissed last year after the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) found him guilty on four counts of contravening the Teaching Service Regulations of 1983. According to the TSC charge sheet, in 2015, Nkhomo wrongfully awarded the pupils full marks, 30 and 10, testing and evaluation of the project, respectively. The head teacher of the school testified that Nkhomo awarded these marks despite that the pupils had not undertaken the practicals, which was a serious malpractice. The TSC heard that Nkhomo was asked if it was correct to award a mark when no marking had taken place and no project undertaken at all. His response was that it was wrong to do so and added that putting a dash instead would have been better. The head teacher said Nkhomo failed to give a satisfactory answer when asked why he did not put a dash if there was no mark to record. The pupils, according to the TSC judgment, were all disqualified by the Exams Council due to the conduct of the teacher. Nkhomo was also accused of not teaching other classes except for Form I. This was said to have been uncovered by the regional inspector of Design and Technology. The TSC judgment further showed that Nkhomo failed to submit the underlisted official books to the regional inspector despite reminders from the head teacher. The TSC found him guilty on all four counts and dismissed him. Nkhomo reported a dispute with the Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC) which issued a certificate of unresolved dispute. MANZINI A radio host was forced to plead with banned listener Queen Shongwe to stop calling or he would be in trouble while on air. Listeners were taken by surprise yesterday morning during a health programme that was hosted by Veli Simelane, who was with guests from the health sector. The programme Asihlephule is aired every Tuesday between 8:30am and 9am on the SiSwati channel. In yesterdays edition of the programme, when it was time for listeners to call into the Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service (SBIS) station, as soon as Simelane recognised Shongwes voice, he hung up. However, this did not deter the outspoken Shongwe as she repeatedly called into the station. It was at this juncture that Simelane pleaded with her to stop calling because of the consequences that it could entail. Simelane further mentioned that this could also cost him his job if Shongwe did not give up. Ngiyakucela shem sisi wami, Simelane pleaded. This meant, I beg you my sister. Shongwe was banned from participating in any live call-in programmes late last month, after she allegedly referred to MTN Corporate Affairs Manager Mandla Luphondvo as a boy during a call-in programme that she participated in. Even after this proscribe, Shongwe continued to do the opposite and interrupted programmes. At the time, Shongwe vowed to continue doing so until the stations authorities engaged her and explained the exact reason behind her ban. When quizzed about this, Shongwe confirmed that she called into the station several times yesterday morning in a bid to contribute to the topic of the day, only for Simelane to ask her to hang up. Before being asked to hang up, Shongwe alleged that Simelane told her that his job was at stake if she continued to interrupt the programme. I gave up only because it was a programme that was meant to benefit emaSwati, otherwise I wouldnt mind blocking the telephone line until the programmes time elapsed, she said. Previously, just after Shongwes ban was announced through a notice, some employees of the radio station expressed their discontent over alleged threats from their superiors. The employees alleged that they were warned not to entertain Shongwe in any call-in programme on the radio, or else those who failed to comply with this directive would be taken to task. Their argument was that the station was not equipped with advanced technologies that would aid them determine who a caller was before they could answer the phone. When Simelane was called regarding the matter, he said the station still did not have the instrument that would assist them to sift through phone calls so that Shongwe would not participate in live programmes. Simelane referred further questions to the stations Deputy Director Gcinangaye Tsabedze. However, she also directed questions regarding Shongwes matter to the director. LOBAMBA Outgoing Members of Parliament have given the electorate a perfect goodbye by passing the controversial Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Bill, 2015. This took place during a sitting held at the House of Assembly. The latest developments have put to rest the curiosity that was created during a sitting on Monday where it seemed like the Bill was going to be delayed again after a communication from Senate was tabled with amendments that the upper House had made. The communication from Senate was read by Deputy Prime Minister, Paul Dlamini and the main issue was the age of consent which had been changed from 16 to 18. In his address, the DPM stated that according to the Bill, the age of consent was 16 while it should be 18. As if ensuring that they ended their era on a clean note, during yesterdays sitting the MPs did not even waste time debating the amendments but instead agreed in one voice that the Bill should just be passed. It was Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo who simply stood up to move the motion that the Bill should just be passed. I find it fit that we approve the message from Senate because yesterday (Monday) it became clear that as MPs we had enough time to look into the amendments and we debated that there was nothing serious that made us differ with what Senate had said, Khumalo said. He mentioned that since the MPs had no problem with the Bill being given a go-ahead, there was no need to delay it. However, he warned that there was a need to be clear on the other laws that were stipulated in the Bill which would in future clash with it. I ask that it be made clear as to which laws are those that would then be repealed should it be discovered that they clash with this Bill. It should not just be a general provision but they should be written and made clear, he said. Khumalo was seconded by Mtfongwaneni MP, Mjuluko Dlamini who said that the Bill should be given the blessing of the House as he argued that the amendments that had been made by Senate were not that serious. As if they had planned it, the rest of the MPs screamed in support of the motion and no one could blame the representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who were seen smiling as they watched the proceedings while sitting at the gallery. MBABANE Out of a population of 330, only 29 have an income of more than E2 000 per month. The population is the total number of people who live on the portion of Farm 319 which is legally owned by the Swaziland National Provident Fund. This was revealed by the Swaziland Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration in a report submitted to court. The commission stated that while dealing with the matter, they identified a few issues that were essential for consideration by the court. Illegally The commission said the court should consider that the land illegally occupied by the residents measured approximately 13.4565 hectares, a 0.0035 percentage of the property. The commission alleged that even with well intentions and efforts, the socio-economic status of the majority of residents contributed to the challenges, in adhering to the agreements for the repayment plan. The commission, in their socio-economic status report concluded that residents of Madonsa were indigent people who relied on other family members for their livelihoods. Out of the population of 330 people, only 33 per cent of those within the employment bracket have jobs, and only 31 per cent have an average monthly income of E2 000 per month, the commission stated. It was also revealed that 33 per cent of the population accounted for children, with 81 per cent attending school and 19 per cent being infants. The commission also alleged that 61 per cent of the households had formal structures which were characterised by modern structures built from cement and blocks, and a majority of the households did not have alternative houses to use in case they were evicted from their current homes. MBABANE The eviction of illegal occupants from a farm belonging to the SNPF and the demolition of their houses is imminent. SNPF is the acronym for the Swaziland National Provident Fund. This comes after the residents allegedly failed to raise E4.7 million, which was required for them to purchase the farm from SNPF. The occupied area has about 60 homesteads. After SNPF obtained a judgment for the eviction and demolition of houses situated on Farm 319, Manzini, the residents filed a complaint with the Swaziland Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration, as they alleged that they were allocated the land by traditional authorities. The two parties further agreed that the matter should be resolved through a process of negotiation and compromise facilitated by the commission. This agreement was made an order of the court on April 19, 2016. The commission has since filed a report with the High Court on the negotiation process. Memorandum The commission said consequent to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) entered into by the SNPF and the Madonsa residents, the commission was mandated to resolve a complaint which was lodged by the residents against the fund through a negotiations and compromise process in 2011. In the court documents, the commission said the Madonsa residents came to be in the illegal occupation of the farm, as a result of an error, which they could not ascertain whether was negligent or genuine, committed by Umnyenyweni Royal Kraal through the kukhonta system. The commission said it was evident that the residents had been unable to raise funds towards purchasing the portion of the farm, which had been evaluated to cost E4.7 million. Giving a background of the matter, the commission stated that the residents started settling on the farm as early as 1998, after they, on different occasions, approached traditional authorities of the area. After consultations with several stakeholders, the commission recommended that the portion of the farm occupied by the residents should be partitioned from Farm 319, and the costs borne by the residents. The stakeholders included Indvuna Malangeni Dlamini of Emnyenyweni, the Human Settlement Department under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and the Regional Administrators office. Others were Noah Nkambule, a former Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Mrs Ceko, from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy. ABSTRACT The role and importance of the energy saving in the conditions of Georgia are analyzed in this article. Based on the specific materials, the impact of the public labor fruitfulness and energy saving is compared to the volume of the whole inside product (WIP). It is said, that the reduction of the energy volume of WIP on 1% is giving approximately the same and in separate years even more effect in the augment of the volume of the WIP, compared to the rising the public labor productivity in the same way. In reference to this, the level of the main macroeconomic indicators of the development of the Georgian economy and the dynamics for 2013-2016 is studied in this article. Keywords: GPD, Energy Resources, Energy Volume, Energy Saving, Labor Productivity 1. Introduction It is undoubtedly a long time truth that without the regime of the economy the society will not be able to control its limited resources. Economy is the essential condition in achievement of the agricultural business. It can be reached by the reduction of the losses, using the resource economizing technologies, high organization of the labor etc. The problem is distinctively actual in the view of usage the energy resources. It is especially significant for those countries which have the shortage of these resources. Georgia is among them [1] . Our country is getting the most quantity of the energy resources (approximately 70%) from the outer countries in order to provide the own economy. It is the whole amount of the consumed natural gas, oil and oil products main, and in the period of autumn-winter the significant part of the electro energy. The far distance transfers, despite its being rational, are a burden for each enterprise and the whole economy of the country. For example in 2016 the local productivity of energy was 1376.3 tone conditional heating [1] , and the total volume of used energy 4330.5 tone conditional heating. It means that the energy, produced by Georgia is a 31.7% of the total volume of used energy [2] . The expended reproductive intensive form is the organic character of the economic system of the society. It makes the objective precondition for the utilization of the resources rationally and effectively, in order to achieve the better final results. It is known that from the intensive factor of the economic growth of the country, the increase of the labor productivity of the society is the most important. Its role in every areas of the development of life is immeasurable in the improvement of the material and cultural state of the members of the society. It undoubtedly represents the main source of the growth of the whole inside product (GPD) and makes a big opportunity for the increase of the life level, the reduction of the working time and the augment of the free time as well [3] . But is it enough or not for the successful implementation of the intensive course of the economic growth of the country only by achievement of the high tempus of the labor productivity growth, even when the whole addition of the product in the field is got at the expense of labor productivity augment? In our opinion, the answer to this question cannot be positive unilaterally. In particular, for the evaluation of the production intensification level, the usage of the other resources should be taken into account as well. The obvious example of this was the agriculture of the former USSR, the coal industry, peat extraction etc. It is known that in these fields, the whole gains were got on the grounds of the rise of the labor productivity. But saying that those fields were totally transitioned into the intensive form of the development at that time would not be correct. The self cost of the production unit in 1961-1980 became expensive by 30% and some fields were working with losses. 2. Ton Conditional Heating-Oil Equivalent For example: in 1980 the level of the common profitability was minus 7.5% in the coal industry. During 10 years repercussion of the foundation was decreased by 41%. The expenses of the material resources of the most important sorts on the product unit were increased. Only in 1980 the field overspent 71.5 million KW/H electro energy in comparison to the planned indicator, etc. [4] . Based on the said above it becomes clear that the amount of the share of the labor productivity in the rise of the production cannot be a unique and exhaustive indicator in order to evaluate the extensive and intensive forms of the economic growth. It is obvious that it cannot be insignificant for the economy how all the other resources are utilized and first of all it is heating-energy. The importance of the economy of the energy resources is particularly high in our country. It was so before and now. However, its role is much more today [5] . 3. Social Labour Productivity, Energy Efficiency and Kindness The analysis has shown that during the Soviet period, on the level of development of that time in conditions of Georgia, the economy of energetic resources was more important in some fields rather than the rise of the labor productivity: in particular, each percent of the economy of energy resources in comparison to the rise of the labor productivity in the same way, gave 1.3 times more effect in the black metallurgy. The calculation has shown that in 1988 net products of 815,000 Ruble could be got by the rise of the labor productivity by 1% in this field, however, in the conditions of saving 1% of the electro volume 106,900 Rubles were saved, which is 31.2% more [6] . The importance of the energy inclusive economy was risen even more during the years of Georgian independence. This was promoted by the conditions that the economics of the country became mainly dependant on the import of the energy resources. In 2000 in the industry of Georgia the reduction of the electro volume of the production by 1% was worth of GEL 18,500 cost production. When the increase of the labor productivity by the same level would mean the expanding of GEL 10,500 of the product (Table 1) [7] . 4. GEL National Currency 1US Dollars = GEL 2.45 (May 2018) Some macroeconomic figures of Georgia during the last 4 years are givenin the first table; the following calculations (Table 2) and the main conclusions in the article are based on them. The data of the Table 1 shows us that during the mentioned period the production of the Gross domestic product (GDP) was Table 1. Some macro economical indicators of Georgia in 2013-2016 [8] [19] . Table 2. The inter comparison of the importance of the social labour productivity and energy volume of theproduction in the economy of Georgia [6] [10] [19] . increased by 26.7% and the final consumption of the energy resources by 16.2%. The volume of the energy production in GDP was increased by (23.8%) and the amount of employees in the economics by (30%). Accordingly, the export-import of the energy products were reduced [9] [10] . The conducted analysis (Table 2) showed us that the production of GDP on a single employee (the productivity of the social labor) in Georgia during 2013-2016 was increased by 23%. And the energy volume in the natural indicators was decreased by 8.6% in the cost indicator by 10.2%. Its mentionable that during the years of independence of Georgia, so since 1991 till 2013 the fuel and energy balance was not developed at all for the entire country. First it was made in 2013. The simple calculation confirmed that the conclusion made above about the role of importance of energy volume reduction in the real growth of GDP is still active today. In particular, during the 4 years of research the decrease of the energy volume by 1% increases the GDP by the same amount and in some years even by more than the increase of the labor productivity. The meaning of the economy of energy resources as the source of the economic growth of the country, as it has already been said, is increasing more and more according to the scales of the production and its intensification. Its impact is especially big in the conditions of development of the market relationship [11] . Saving the energy reduces the demands, as for personally of oneself, the necessary expenses of the serving fields as well. At the same time it also enables us to reduce the financial investments on production of extraction of the raw materials and necessary equipment for extraction industry. The saved expenses can be used for development of production of consumables and the people service field, for the improvement of the level of living of inhabitants [12] . 5. Increasing of Energy-Producing or Energy-Efficiency? It is known that the conduction of the heating-energy resources, as well as their extraction needs particular expenses. Therefore, there is a question: is it better to care about the expanding the production of the energy resources instead of its economy? It is obvious that the expanded reproductive process requires creation of the new energy powers. However, the answer cannot be positive particularly here. Firstly, even if the supplies of the heating-energy resources are not limited, the mentioned opinion is not justified in the view of economy. The research shows that the measures used for the economy of heating-energy resources give us quite an effective result. Using small expenses it becomes possible to save quite a lot of heating-energy resources and the extraction of its equivalent amount would need much more expenses. It is proved that in comparison to the extraction of the equivalent amount of the heating and the expenses used for production of the energy in order to economize the heating-energy resources, the conduction of the high scale measures needs 2 - 3 times less money on average [13] [14] . Secondly, the practice shows us that the increase of the heating-energy resources not only reduces, but on a contrary, aggravates the deficit of these resources as well as of other resources. As it has already been mentioned, this is caused by the circumstances that the extracting industry is a more capital capacious, fund capacious and labor capacious field, and a significant number of machines and equipment, materials and energy are necessary for its development. The demands of the economy on these resources are increasing rapidly and its satisfaction by only an extensive way is not only effective, but also impossible [15] [16] . The economic and rational usage of the energy resources has an especially big importance for our country. It is enough to say that some kinds of fossils (coal etc.) the significant number of the heating-energy resources (oil, natural gas, oil products), wood etc. are imported to Georgia from a long distance of the outer countries. Also, its import expenses are quite high. And the losses on the transportation are high as well [17] . In the near past of Georgia (the 90th) the consumption of the heating-energy resources, 2.180 million KW/H electro energy was saved by 1% economy: over 20 tons of conditional heating amount coal: up to 52 thousand gas and almost the same amount of black oil: 200 thousand giga calories on the heating-energy. Using the named resources it could be possible to prepare: 600 million units of red bricks, i.e. much more than Georgia totally produced, or 1.5 million tons of bread and bakery products. The indicated amount of the electro energy was enough for preparation of 250 thousand of paper or 1.3 million tons of cement, 4 million units of silicate bricks, 200 million pairs of shoes or 1.8 million tons of sausages and so on [18] . The rational usage of the energetic resources also has a big economic and social importance in life. Their sensible and correct usage reduces the losses in the household agriculture and it is a significant source for the improvement of the level of the household life. Thrift and economy in the everyday life is a good additional income, not only for the budget of the family but for the whole society as well. Today, approximately 1.6 billon KW/H electro energy is consumed in the household sector of Georgia annually. It is 40 times more energy than the amount which our large hydro power plants: Khram HPP, Shaor HPP and Jinval HPP can produce together. 15 million KW/H energy could be saved only by 1% of its economy [19] . Cite this paper Chomakhidze, D., Zivzivadze, O., Kachkachishvili, P. and Kiladze, A. (2018) The Role and Importance of the Energy Saving in Georgia. Theoretical Economics Letters, 8, 1740-1745. https://doi.org/10.4236/tel.2018.810113 References WILL THE AG JOSH HAWLEY IMMIGRATION HARDLINE WIN SUPPORT OR RALLY MORE SUPPORTERS FOR SEN. CLAIRE McCASKILL??? Fact is, Missouri voters have universally supported some of the cruelest immigration crackdowns . . .Credit to a Missouri blogger for drilling down on the issue . . .Meanwhile . . .And so we ask our blog community . . .The Twitter beef is a good start forYou decide . . . LENEXA, Kan. -- A local faith community is celebrating a victory Tuesday night after the Lenexa City Council voted 4-2, approving plans for a new temple despite concerns from nearby residents. It's currently a big empty field near Lone Elm Road and 101st street. The Midwest Sikh Association owns the land. Suspected Drug Lab Busted Michael Bushnell Northeast News Authorities discovered an apparent drug lab in the Historic Northeast on Tuesday, June 19. Police were called to the 400 block of S. Gladstone Boulevard yesterday at approximately 11a.m. Upon arrival, officers on scene observed items used during the manufacture of drugs. Aftermath of an urban core operation that was "shut down" right after it detonated. Read more: . , 19:30 (20:30 ) ... "Mayor Sly James addressed the startup communitys challenge with reflecting the true demographics of the city around it. Most of my staff are women. And on our team are people of color, different sexual orientations, physical abilities, ages and religions, he told a packed crowd in the auditorium at Plexpod Westport Commons. Now take a look at your own organizations if everyone looks the same, you may not be inclusive. We must work to make sure KC is a community where todays and tomorrows employment force wants to stay, put down roots, raise their families and help shape this citys future, James added." Here's another peek at the local effort to make Kansas City tech nicer or at least join the culture war debate among corporate coders.Check the description that I guess isn't counting "diverse" H1B workers (& contract workers) who do most of the heavy lifting for their middle-class execs who are often too busy buying SUVs and tacky brand name clothing.You decide . . . Old School Po-Po Talks Life Lessons Northeast Newscast 55 - Catching up with new KCPD East Patrol Major Greg Volker By Paul Thompson This week on Kansas City's Northeast Newscast, East Patrol's new commander, Major Greg Volker, sits down with Northeast News managing editor Paul Thompson to talk about his previous experience within KCPD; his strengths as a police officer; what lessons he learned from his previous position at the Perfect Village Demands Quiet Time Prairie Village residents fed up with construction noise PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. - Prairie Village's current building permit states loud noises are prohibited before 7 a.m. and after 10 p.m. on weekdays and not before 8 a.m. and after midnight on weekends. Officials say some contractors aren't following rules resulting in a chorus of complaints that have reached City Hall. TV Hot Take On Killing Inside The Loop Questions remain after police shooting in downtown Kansas City killed 2 men null Meth Town Mom Offers Teachable Moment Local mom turns son in to police for making inappropriate comments, gestures at 10-year-old INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- An Independence man who allegedly exposed himself to a 10-year-old is behind bars for his alleged actions because his mom turned him in to police. Jackson County prosecutors charged 28-year-old Joshua A. Williams with attempted enticement of a child and one count of attempted statutory sodomy with a person less than 12 years old. 2nd Look At Metro Mugshot Of The Moment Second man charged with murder in teen's death outside of Olathe restaurant Malik Jamal Delva, 22, has also been charged with first-degree murder. (Johnson County Jail) Angelo Monteleone, 18, is facing first-degree murder punishable by death or life in prison with no chance of parole. He's being held on $1 million bond. (Johnson County Jail) Learning Kansas City Dividing Line Lesson Kansas City Public Schools To Election Board: New Map Shouldn't Divide Communities Ahead of a state-mandated redistricting of school board seats, the Kansas City Public Schools Board of Education has put forth its own map suggesting how the boundaries should be drawn. The proposed map builds on the work of three consultants hired by the Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners and incorporates community feedback, KCPS Board of Education Chair Melissa Robinson wrote in a letter to commissioners. Golden Ghetto Fears Prez Trump Deal??? Farmers in Johnson County weary of trade war with China JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. - This week President Trump said he would put more tariffs on China exports. China responded by saying they will do the safe if that happens. Shortly after World War II, Ted Guetterman's father bought acres of land south of Kansas City. Since then, farming has been in the family's DNA. The Pitch Serves Mostly Foodie Promo A chat with grill master Steven Raichlen ahead of his BBQ talk on Wednesday in Overland Park Steven Raichlen is, perhaps, the world's leading authority on how to cook outdoors. With the publication of The Barbecue Bible in 1998, Raichlen established himself as both an enthusiast and a scholar of "bringing out the primal flavor of food," as he put it in the introduction to that seminal cookbook. One of our favorite hotties shares a fact check:Closer to home, here's way more than a handful of local links . . .And this is thefor right now . . . Voters Say Yes to a KC Streetcar Extension on Main Street A Kansas City mail-in ballot triumph just now . . .The press release was already drawn up because aoutcome was assured . . .(Kansas City, Missouri) - Voters in the Main Street Rail Transportation Development District (TDD) overwhelmingly approved the local funding structure to support the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension. The final tally was roughly 75.6% yes on Question 1 (sales tax) and 74.7% yes on Question 2 (special assessments). Final results are available on the KC Election Board website, www.kceb.org.In August 2017, these same voters approved formation of the Kansas City Main Street Rail TDD with a 70 percent yes vote and in October 2017, entire slate of TDD Board of Directors endorsed by Mayor Sly James was elected to oversee the TDD. This was the third in a series of local elections to seek local approval for a KC Streetcar Main Street Extension project.The Main Street Rail TDD is a separate entity from the Kansas City Streetcar Authority and the City of Kansas City, Missouri. This latest election allows the TDD Board of Directors to impose the TDDs revenue sources, which will generate local funding to support the Main Street extension of the KC Streetcar.The TDDs revenue sources will not be collected until the extension is fully funded, either through Federal grants or other non-TDD sources and will replace and expand the existing downtown TDD used to support the starter-lines construction and operations. The TDD boundary extends from the Missouri River on the north to 53rd Street on the south; State Line Road on the west to Campbell Street on the east.We are grateful for the voters support today and will work closely with the KCSA, the City of Kansas City and the KCATA to ensure this projects success. We are also grateful for all the hard work, time and energy put in by the volunteers and transit advocates during this election process, said Jan Marcason, Chair of the TDD.The funding structure is similar to the current downtown TDD structure in which: - A sales tax not to exceed 1 percent on retail sales within the TDD boundary.-A special assessment on real estate within the TDD boundary, with maximum annual rates as follows:* 48 for each $100 of assessed value for commercial property* 70 for each $100 of assessed value for residential property* $1.04 for each $100 of assessed value for property owned by the City* 40 for each $100 of assessed value for real property exempt from property tax, such as religious, educational, charitable, etc. property, but only on market value more than $300,000 and less than $50 Million.- A supplemental special assessment on surface pay parking lots within the TDD boundary (not garages and not free parking lots). The maximum rate for the supplemental special assessment on surface pay parking lots will be $54.75 per space per year. This special assessment primarily applies to parcels in the downtown area.The completion of our local funding mechanism is a critical step necessary to advance this project for federal funding and bring the project to life, said Tom Gerend, executive director with the Kansas City Streetcar Authority. This is one step in a long process but the strong support from the public is a great motivator for all of us and reinforces the importance of making this vision a reality, continued Gerend.The KC Streetcar project team, consisting of the KC Streetcar Authority (KCSA), the KC Area Transportation Authority (KCATA), the City of Kansas City, MO (KCMO), and the consultant team led by HDR, Inc., has continued to advance the project planning for the Main Street Extension to UMKC, including work to refine streetcar stop locations, track alignments, and coordinated transit connections.The KC Streetcar Main Street Extension project is being planned through a data driven process. In order to build the best streetcar extension for Kansas City, the planning group is looking at operational efficiency, cost, constructability and public input. The Main Street extension would run from Union Station to the vicinity of the University of Missouri-Kansas City at approximately 51st and Main Street. The project team recently held two public meetings in order to gather community input on stop locations and track alignment. A final recommendation from the project team about stop locations and track alignment, along with projected cost, will be available to the public this summer.The KC Streetcar is owned by the City of Kansas City, Missouri, and operated and managed by the KC Streetcar Authority along with operator contractor Herzog Transit, Inc., and partners with the KC Area Transportation Authority. The award-winning KC Streetcar has proved to be a success for downtown Kansas City with more than 4 Million rides during the first two years of service and more than $2 Billion in development dollars around the streetcar route.########### WyDot Daily: Community prepares for funeral service for two deputies SHOULD KANSAS CONSIDER RESTARTING DEATH PENALTY BEGINNING WITH CONVICTED COP KILLERS GIVEN THE SPATE OF RECENTLY DEADLY ATTACKS AGAINST LAW ENFORCEMENT?!?! This week Kansas City, Kansas is preparing to lay two fallen law enforcement workers to rest following a brutal tragedy.Check the links and today's most relevant reporting and vital public information . . .Accordingly, given increased talk in the comments and reader requests about capital punishment in the Sunflower State, we ask our blog community . . .Consider . . .Conservative author Jack Cashill informs us that,On the other side of the equation, this is not to suggest that police and law enforcement don't make mistakes which pose a threat to the public - Remember thatFinally, let's not forget the history of the death penalty is complicated in the Sunflower State, it's the subject of. . .You decide . . . Dubai-based global marine terminal operator DP World said it has reached an agreement with Canada's Port of Prince Rupert on the terms of a project development plan that outlines the next phase of expansion for the DP World Prince Rupert Fairview Container Terminal. The Phase 2B expansion will increase annual throughput capacity at Canadas second largest container terminal to 1.8 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) when complete in 2022, said the statement from DP World. The Fairview Phase 2B project follows the 2017 completion of Fairview Phase 2A, which increased the terminal capacity by 500,000 TEUs to its current capacity of 1.35 million TEUs. The Dubai group said the construction on Phase 2B will begin in mid-2019. There will be an initial gradual release of capacity to 1.6 million TEUs, in 2020 following the completed expansion of the container yard to the south. The project will expand the container yard from its current 32 hectares to 41 hectares and add two new rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes as well as an eighth dock gantry crane. The existing maintenance and administration buildings will be relocated to create additional container storage capacity, said the statement from DP World. Expansion and relocation of the truck gate to the south end of the terminal, where it will connect with the Fairview Ridley Connector project being advanced by the Port of Prince Rupert, will also improve efficiency, it stated. The Phase 2B project will further expand on-dock rail capacity with the addition of 6,680 feet of working track, for a total of 24,680 feet of on-dock rail by 2022, it added. DP World Group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said: "Canada is an important part of our global network and we are delighted to confirm these plans, which underline our commitment to Prince Rupert, which plays a major role in enabling trade in the region and across the west coast with rail connections inland to the rest of the country and the US." "It also demonstrates the excellent relationships built with the Port Authority and the confidence we both share in the future and the creation of jobs in the community, stimulating the local and regional economy," noted Bin Sulayem. Port of Prince Rupert Chair, Bud Smith, said: "The execution of this agreement signifies DP Worlds commitment to enabling Canadian trade with another significant investment that will bring a total of one million additional TEUs of container capacity to the Port of Prince Rupert in less than five years." "This project will provide critical trade-enabling infrastructure for Canadas west coast, a timely response to forecasted growth in trans-Pacific trade and supportive of Canadas efforts to diversify markets through new free trade agreements such as the CPTPP," he stated. CN Interim President and CEO JJ Ruest said: "Together with our supply chain partners, this expansion, combined with CNs investments in BC and across its rail network, positions us to drive this unique trade gateway success story forward." "The project will have significant economic impact on Prince Rupert and the surrounding region, creating approximately 300 additional full-time equivalent (FTE) positions at Fairview Container Terminal," he added.-TradeArabia News Service UAE-based Mubadala Petroleum, a global upstream oil and gas exploration and production company, said it has signed an agreement with Italy's Eni to acquire a 10 per cent participating interest in the offshore Shorouk Concession in Egypt. Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC, holds a 50 per cent stake in the concession which contains the supergiant Zohr gas field. The other partners in the concession are BP with 10 per cent interest and Rosneft with 30 per cent interest. The Zohr field was discovered by Eni in August 2015 and is the largest natural gas field ever found in the Mediterranean, with a total potential of up to 30 trillion cu ft of gas in place. The field is located 190 km north of Port Said in waters approximately 1,500m deep. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi government's Mubadala Investment Company, the company manages assets and operations spanning now nine countries with a primary geographic focus on the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The acquisition of a 10 per cent interest in the Shorouk concession with the producing Zohr gas field is a significant portfolio addition for Mubadala Petroleum and marks its entry into Egypt, remarked Dr Bakheet Al Katheeri, the chief executive of Mubadala Petroleum after signing the agreement with Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi in the presence of the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tarek El Molla in Cairo. Dr Al Katheeri said this world-class asset will provide Mubadala Petroleum with increasing future production, and substantial reserves, all of which support the Emirati firm's drive for long-term and profitable growth. "At the same time we have joined a world-class partnership with Eni and look forward to working closely with them to deliver the resources to meet growing local energy demand," he noted. On the deal, Descalzi said: "We welcome todays announcement with Mubadala Petroleum, a strong and reliable partner with whom we look forward to working with." "Working alongside significant partners such as Mubadala Petroleum, BP and Rosneft is a further boost for the development of Zohr and underlines the quality of the asset, which will play a fundamental role in supporting Egypt's goal of achieving energy independence," he stated. Mubadala Petroleum said the project was delivered in record time as production in the first phase of the Zohr gas field commenced last December. The field is currently producing over 1.1 billion cu ft of gas per day (bcfd), equivalent to 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Production is expected to increase to 2 bcfd by end 2018 and to reach a production plateau of 2.7 bcfd by end 2019, it added.-TradeArabia News Service Bowing to Pressure, Israel Regulators Postpones Crypto Exchange Rules Score one for overseas crypto traders. Israeli finance regulators failed to gain passage of a set of regulations designed to protect investors who trade crypto traders. The Finance Committee of the Knesset convened a special meeting late last week and decided to postpone the law regulating the nations cryptocurrency exchange. The original law was to take effect on June 1 but will now go into effect Oct 1. Without the regulations, the nations financial services providers and Israeli companies will remain without any legal framework governing the trading and investing into cryptocurrencies. Two weeks ago, the Israeli Ministry of Finance, headed by Moshe Kahlon, published a draft of a prohibition on money laundering that would apply to financial services providers that operate in digital currencies. It was supposed to be the dawn of digital currency regulation for vehicles such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, and enable institutional banks to enter the field. Jacob Enoch, head of M&A at M. Firon & Co. and Co-chair of the Israel Bar Association's committee on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, told Traders Magazine that the last-minute decision to postpone the entry into force of the new legislation is nothing short of dramatic. There is no doubt that this decision plays into the hands of the large financial institutions, who, understandably, fear the competition that is certain to be generated by the entry into the sector of regulated Fintech companies, Enoch said. I am concerned that the message of instability sent by this decision could lead to stagnation in the existing Israeli fintech industry and to inhibit the launch of new startup companies featuring innovative financial solutions. One can only hope, that such inevitable antagonism among fintech investors will not snowball into a potential loss of trust." Jeremy Dahan, CEO at Hello Diamonds Blockchain, who was against the decision by the Israeli government added the postponement is a sign of the unwillingness to make a decision. We feel that there is deep disdain for the (crypto) industry and its people. Close to 50 Israeli start-ups have already begun their preparations, and some have raised huge sums of money to do so, dahan said. The ball is in the hands of the Capital Market Authority, which needs to install an appropriate money laundering prohibition order, which can shorten the duration of the delay. We hope so." For more information on related topics, visit the following channels: ZuBlu Ltd. launches a new dive travel platform providing scuba divers with a simple yet intuitive way to discover exciting and sustainable dive experiences across Asia. (TRAVPR.COM) UNITED KINGDOM - June 20th, 2018 - ZuBlu provides an easy-to-use platform allowing guests to discover new and exciting dive destinations in Asia. The website marries a powerful search tool with an exciting range of dive destinations, eco-friendly resorts and conservation experiences, putting the power of discovery and choice into the hands of ZuBlus guests. ZuBlus platform is built around a unique search tool designed to match a guests preferences with an ideal dive destination in Asia. Adam Broadbent, ZuBlu co-founder, said the ZuBlu concept arose from a desire to give guests the ability to easily discover and compare destinations and experiences. We take their choices - what species they would like to see and when they would like to travel - and match them with the most suitable locations. Whether its swimming with a whale shark, diving among dozens of manta rays, or watching a nest of turtles hatch, ZuBlu helps you find the right place, at the time. ZuBlu ensures conservation and sustainability are at the heart of its business. Each resort listing displays an at-a-glance summary of sustainable practices, as well as information about conservation activities. And as part of its commitment to the environment, ZuBlu donates a percentage of revenue to local conervation organisations. By linking conservation and dive travel, we help our guests make more informed choices that, in doing so, will result in a significant positive impact in the destinations we feature, said Matthew Oldfield, ZuBlu co-founder. The ZuBlu platform features dive destinations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and the Maldives, with new destinations being unveiled in the coming months. The company works with a carefully chosen selection of partner resorts and dive operators, all with high standards of customer service, established safety records and a commitment to the environment. For more information, contact: Adam Broadbent +852 6545 9965 adam@zubludiving.com About ZuBlu ZuBlu is a new dive travel platform that puts the power of discovery and choice into the hands of its guests. With its unique species search tool, up-to-date and accurate information and a commitment to conserving the marine environment, ZuBlu aims to become the leading dive travel agency for destinations in Asia and create positive change in the destinations featured on the ZuBlu platform. Discover and book your diving adventure at www.zubludiving.com now. ### editorial@tribune.com Ishrat S Banwait Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 20 She still remembers the pleasant April day in 2015. The bus journey from Rishikesh to Chandigarh had been a bit rough but it was exciting. She had wanted to stay back a little longer in Uttarakhand but time was a problem. Three months after she came from USA on a tourist visa, she was happy with her long-awaited India trip and was ready to go home. And then suddenly her dream vacation turned into a nightmare. In an assault that shocked and shamed Chandigarh, Cathy was raped by two men who promised to help her find a hotel for the night before she could take a cab to Delhi. The days that followed were sheer horror. Three years after that fateful night of April 17, Cathy, now 31, spoke about her attack for the first time in an exclusive conversation with The Tribune. I was to fly to France the next day from Delhi after arriving in Chandigarh from Rishikesh, she said. When I got down from the bus, I went with a man called Baldev (the main accused in the case who was arrested in December last year) in his auto-rickshaw. The first hotel he took me to refused to offer me a room saying my visa had expired, though it hadnt. Later he drove me to Kharar. There, I was forced to consume alcohol. Before I knew, Baldev and his accomplice Jaswinder Singh, alias Lucky, began to rape me. Cathy, whose real name The Tribune is not using to protect her identity, said she was scared and didnt know what to do. Dreading a journey to Delhi alone, she accompanied a Canadian tourist back to Rishikesh the next day instead. Confused and rattled, she didnt approach the police immediately. She also had no idea where to find them so late in the night. On her way to Rishikesh, a dark thought crossed her mind: what if the men who had raped her passed on something dreadful to her. She thought it was best to get a medical check-up done. But what happened in the two hospitals she went to left her devastated. Doctors in Haridwar refused to examine her and instead blamed her for bringing it all upon herself. They said it was my fault. And that I was responsible for what happened. I even begged a female doctor to see if I had contracted any sexually transmitted disease. But I was refused. Another shocker in Chandigarh for Cathy was the polices callous attitude. She had written an e-mail to the then IG of Chandigarh police, RP Upadhyay, narrating her ordeal. Police asked her for details about the incident and medical report. They scheduled a WhatsApp call but the connection was poor. They never called again, she said. After this, the police did not communicate for six months. Every time I dropped an e-mail, the response would come after three to four months. Cathy said the first arrest took place two-and-a-half years after the crime was committed. Lucky is still absconding. Also, till date, her statement under Section 164 of the CrPC has not been taken. Neither has an identification parade been done. The police asked me to come down to India again for these procedures but it is not possible for me due to money and time constraints. I have asked them to do so through video-conferencing, she said. Police have moved an application for it to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The police denied any wrong from their side and said it was she who was non-responsive. DSP Anjitha Chepalya said, The victim does not respond to e-mails. We have to send multiple messages to get her response. Asked if she has any hope that the perpetrators would be brought to justice, Cathy said, I have given up on the judiciary and the police. I just want to move on as every aspect of my life has been affected. editorial@tribune.com Ishrat S Banwait Tribune News Service Mohali, June 20 With more areas, that have fallen prey to illegal mining on the periphery of Chandigarh, coming to light, the murderous attack on forest officials has placed the spotlight on another village being ravaged by the sand mafia. Seonk, the picturesque village that houses Jayanti Dam and the nearby Jayanti Devi temple, is the latest victim. While the Majri-Khizrabad belt in the area has been depleted of most of its sand over the years, Seonk is fast losing its natural resources. About 2 km from the dam, a rough terrain inside the forest takes you to trenches extending over at least 5 km from where earth has been dug up. A visit by this correspondent on Wednesday showed fresh tyre marks in the area, indicating that the illegal activity is on. The area that has been dug up is a rich source of sand as before the construction of Jayanti Dam, the rivulet used to flow through it. As the flow of the water was stopped towards the area by the dam, a large part of the area dried up. This made it vulnerable and gave birth to sand mining in the area. While villagers in the area are scared to talk, Kashmir Singh, brother of Forest Block Officer Devinder Singh, who is in a coma after the attack, along with natives of Baghindi, his village, are vocal about it. They said while people in and around the area had tried to take up the issue with the authorities, no action had been taken on it. Lone road to mining site made inaccessible The lone road that led to the mining site has been made inaccessible by the administration as of now. A part of it has been excavated to prevent any four-wheeler to pass by. The DC confirmed the development and said it was a simple solution and would be used in other areas having single approach roads. However, the solution has come up only after a huge area has already been ravaged and an officer has had to almost pay with his life. Trailers, not tippers, used to transport sand While tippers were reportedly used in the Majri-Khizrabad area to transport the illegally dug up sand, the mafia in the Seonk area use tractor-trailers. Locals said the trailers were safer as these were used for various purposes and no one doubted that these would be carrying illegal sand. Rs 50,000 compensation announced for forest officer, Rs 25,000 for colleagues As Block Forest Officer Devinder Singh battles for his life at the PGI, the government has announced Rs 50,000 as compensation for him. His other colleagues who were present with him will be given Rs 25,000 each, said District Forest Officer Guramanpreet Singh. He said Devinder was in a coma, but doctors had noticed some improvement in his condition. "Instructions have been issued that no department will set up check posts or go for checking without adequate police force from now on. The SDM concerned has been asked to prepare a report of the Jayanti Dam area. Implementation of directions has been an issue. The Mining Department needs to work better and stop infighting." Gurpreet Kuar Sapra, DC, Mohali "I do not have much information about this; the block officer should be contacted." Tehal Singh, GM, Mining Dept "I cannot comment on the matter as I do not have any knowledge about the incident; please speak to the GM." Simarjeet Kaur Dhillon, Block Mining Officer "We are identifying geo-coordinates of the areas where sand mining has recently taken place. These spots can then be kept under check to prevent any further attempts." Guramanpreet Singh, District Forest Officer, Mohali KC Singh KC Singh A former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs THE 47-member Geneva-based UN Human Right Council and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have been in focus the past week. First came an unprecedented report by the UNHCR Zeid al-Hussein on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. While Pakistani knuckles were rapped mildly, the report, as conceded in its executive summary, is really about "widespread and serious human rights violations in J&K from the death of militant Burhan Wani in July 2016 to April 2018. Under separate headings it holds India guilty on account of lack of access to justice and impunity; military courts and tribunals blocking this access, excessive use of force and pellet-guns, arbitrary arrests, including of minors, torture and enforced disappearances, and sexual violence, etc. All through, even UN-listed terror outfits are referred to as armed groups. A former Indian diplomat writing elsewhere calls it more akin to a report by Organisation of Islamic Conference than a UN high official. India strongly rebutted it and could have probably ignored it, except that Zeid is on record saying he would recommend to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which convened on June 18 for one of its three annual sessions, an investigation. Two events impinge on this development. One, Jammu and Kashmir has been placed under Governors rule with the BJP withdrawing from the coalition government. Two, US Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley announced, at the State Department, US withdrawal from the UNHRC, alleging lack of reform and it having become a protector of human rights abusers and cesspool of political bias. Both need closer examination. The Trump administration has been threatening to withdraw from the UNHRC for some time but the decision came a day after Zeid slammed the US for separating children from parents on border with Mexico when apprehending illegal immigrants. The media is also reporting illegal immigrants from India, many from Punjab, held in detention centres under sub-human conditions. Republican Senator John McCain, terminally ill with brain cancer but combative as always, tweeted that the "administrations current family separation policy is an affront to the decency of the American people, and contrary to the principles and values upon which our nation was founded. He later went on to oppose Trumps nomination of Ronald Mortensen to lead the US refugee and migration policy, alleging he lacked empathy for people fleeing oppression. Thus, while the US is right that election to the UNHCR of nations like Venezuela and Congo (though the US omitted mentioning China) hardly makes it the custodian of global conscience on human rights, but neither does the US by its xenophobic immigration control creating gulags for apprehended illegal immigrants qualify it to lecture the council. The J&K imbroglio raises many similar questions about Indias trajectory in dealing with terrorism at home. The PDP-BJP alliance raised hope that their Agenda of Alliance would provide a template for resolution of the Kashmir issue. The death of Mufti Sayeed at the beginning of 2016 and a long hiatus before his daughter Mehbooba effectively took charge probably doomed the experiment, if at all had any chance to succeed. At the root of the problem was the Modi governments Pakistan policy of no dialogue unless terror ends. On the contrary, the PDP had got elected promising dialogue with Pakistan, more political space even for separatists and improved trade and people-to-people links with Kashmiris across the Line of Control (LoC). The Pakistan army exacerbated these fault lines by keeping up support to militancy, provocatively killing Indian soldiers and turning the LoC into free-fire zone. The Governors rule now denies India the argument that J&K has a popularly elected government which is a guardian of peoples rights scrutinising, if not overseeing, counter-terror operations of security forces. Pakistan, currently a member of the UNHRC, shall use the High Commissioners tendentious report and collapse of the alliance to pillory India in coming weeks. The Modi government must surely have assessed the profit-loss outcome of its decision. The domestic implications would dominate New Delhis thinking as the government heads into literally the last six months of effective rule before the Lok Sabha election process kicks-in. It needs to ensure that no major breakdown of security order in Kashmir occurs till election, particularly during the Amarnath pilgrimage. There may be information that leading to parliamentary election in Pakistan in July its army, having a freer hand than normal with a caretaker government in position, is planning to fling every last terror asset across the LoC in a make-or-break gambit. The targeted killing of moderate journalist Shujaat Bukhari and the taped torture and execution of soldier Aurangzeb were intended to provoke New Delhi. A big attack on pilgrims, as has happened in the past, could make the Union Government look extremely ineffective. Governors rule is the counter-move to ensure that despite the debate in Geneva on Indias human rights record the Modi government is seen as strong at home. If India and the US let domestic politics colour their approach to the protection of human rights in the 70th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it would prove that terrorism and illegal immigration have succeeded in making the two major democracies less liberal. The latest survey by Freedom House, a US think-tank, is called Democracy in Crisis. Last year was the 12th consecutive year when nations suffering democratic setbacks outnumbered those gaining. According to Democracy Index of The Economist Intelligence Unit, 89 countries regressed in 2017 and only 27 improved. Globalisation and technology in the West and Pakistan-sponsored terror in South Asia are derailing the quest for liberal, law-based democratic rule. If a four-year political alliance between the PDP and BJP, representing disparate views on Kashmir, cannot develop a consensus for bridging the divide, the future is indeed bleak. A fresh attempt at reconciliation seems unlikely until after parliamentary elections in Pakistan and India. Till then, geopolitical haze in South Asia will be thick as the dust that enveloped northern India a week ago. MK Bhadrakumar MK Bhadrakumar WITHOUT doubt, a new criticality has arisen in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, but as can happen, sweet are the uses of adversity to borrow from Shakespeare. There are both internal and external factors at work here. The contradictions in the political situation in J&K may ease if a level playing field is made available for all political parties and groups to make a new beginning. It doesnt have to be the case that things move from the frying pan into the fire. One important reason for expressing cautious optimism is that in the external environment, an opportunity is at hand to take a road less travelled by, which could make all the difference. This involves engaging with Pakistan. The political dynamics within J&K invariably have an external dimension and not engaging with Pakistan is untenable. No one probably knows this better than the incumbent Governor NN Vohra in Srinagar, given his vast experience in statecraft. During the transition ahead, it will help matters a great deal if the disconnect between the efforts to shore up internal security and engagement with Pakistan is addressed. Of course, a hugely consequential electoral battle is looming ahead in the country in less than a year, which makes it obligatory for political parties to engage in grandstanding, but again, a non-partisan eye cannot miss the point that the reactions to the latest events in J&K suggest that no one is in any real combative mood. In fact, the mood is sombre. There are no victors here. Pakistan was not even dragged into media discourse. A question is often put why engage with Pakistan at all, given the past experience? But then, that is a self-serving digression, neither fair nor honest, because engaging Pakistan was never a substitute for doing homework that was also needed on our part, which was never quite forthcoming, for one reason or another. Yet, the past serves a purpose insofar as the scars remind us that we did survive our deepest wounds and it is not only an accomplishment, but an enduring reminder that the heavy toll that life took left us more resilient, and perhaps, better equipped to face the present. The ruins of a stupendous past are all around us today. Second, a nation never replays its history. Despite our dogmas regarding Pakistan, that country of yesteryear no longer exists. Pakistan has been in transition with a searing knowledge that the past cannot be altered and is fixed, and the present is its reflecting actuality, while the future remains undefined and nebulous until a part of the present becomes a part of the past so that an unrealised future can become the new present. Plainly put, what is playing out in the Hindu Kush in recent weeks testify to a rethink in Pakistan. Curiously, this rethink is attributed to none other than army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa. With an interim government training its energies on the conduct of the forthcoming election, General Bajwa is having a free hand to withdraw the sticky tentacles of past Afghan policies from the present so that a future dawns for Pakistan in terms of regional connectivity, a flourishing economy and a nation at peace with itself and its neighbours. From the Indian perspective, therefore, it is hugely consequential that General Bajwa has held out positive signals for better relations with New Delhi. The Modi government seems to appreciate it. The dramatic happenings of the past few weeks testify to the winds of change sweeping Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, especially the Eid festivities with Taliban fighters and security forces taking selfies in cities and towns, and secondly, the killing in Afghanistan of the Pakistan Taliban chief, Mullah Fazlullah, variously described as the mastermind of Pakistans suicide culture, in a US drone strike. The latter is particularly important, as evident from Afghan President Ashraf Ghanis eagerness to personally transmit to General Bajwa the fulfilment of a long-standing Pakistani demand. Ghani expects him to reciprocate. Succinctly put, Chinas initiative to create a trilateral forum to foster amity between Afghanistan and Pakistan has gained traction. In fact, China and Pakistan have agreed to look at extending their $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan. To be sure, India-China-Pakistan triangle always brought to bear the regional backdrop. Therefore, we need to comprehend that Chinese policies too cannot be stereotyped through the prism of a bygone era. Regional stability and security providing the external environment in which development objectives are optimally realised becomes a top priority for Chinese policies. Thus, China is acting as a moderating influence on Pakistan. On the other hand, if there was a past when China was indifferent toward India, it is far from the case today. Indias impressive growth is taken seriously by the Chinese. All evidence suggests that despite the drift in the Sino-Indian relationship in the most recent years, the Chinese perception regarding PM Modi remain positive and his reform agenda has consistently drawn praise from Chinese commentators underscoring faith in him that he is a strong leader who can take difficult decisions leading to a paradigm shift in Sino-Indian ties. Above all, China hopes that a bonding with India China India Plus can be a game changer in the prevailing international milieu, characterised by anti-globalisation trends, protectionism and growing pressure from the entrenched West, which is chary of redistribution of power in favour of emerging powers. It is highly significant that in a speech last Monday in Delhi, outlining Beijings strategy toward India, Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui singled out the idea of creating a new platform of China-India-Pakistan leaders meeting under the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Taking into account foreign minister Wang Yis recent remarks after the SCO summit in Qingdao that membership of India and Pakistan will strengthen the fight against terrorism and promote Indias connectivity with Central Asia, one can quite figure out the Chinese intentions. The bottom line is that China sees it as in its self-interest that India-Pakistan tensions do not pose a contradiction in its efforts to boost the content and inject new verve into its relations with India. Interestingly, Ambassador Luo also revisited the long-standing proposal on signing a Treaty of Good Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation with India. Suffice to say, it will be to Indias advantage if an imaginative approach toward the situation in J&K could run parallel with a diplomatic track attuned to the positive power shift in the region. The writer is a former ambassador pardeepdhull@gmail.com London, June 20 A leading Indian-origin academic has gone strike against tutoring students from Kings College London after its staff members allegedly refused to address her as Doctor. Priyamvada Gopal, a Cambridge University fellow specialising in post-colonial literature, described the incident as part of consistently racist aggression and profiling from porters at Kings College. She declared on Twitter, after the incident on Monday, how she told one of the porters: Please address me as Dr Gopal, to which he responded: I dont care who you are. The 50-year-old academic said it was not just a case of her arrogantly insisting on her proper title being used instead of the term Madam, but that the term was being used mockingly and dismissively. He then launched into a tirade about how people treat him. I am sorry but my brown body isnt taking the hit for that. Hed never talk like this to actual white men who behave badly, she said on Twitter. Gopal declared, with deep regret, that she had finally decided on my behalf and of other people of colour at Cambridge University to refuse to supervise any students at Kings College. She added: Enough is enough of the consistently racist profiling and aggression by porters, adding that hundreds of stories abound over the years...If you cant be polite to me at the gate, I cant do any work for you. According to The Times, students at Kings College have reportedly collected evidence from others. Sarah Jilani, a mixed-race Ph.D student at the college, said the porters behaviour was unacceptable. Not shocked, sadly. My parents visited recently and my (brown) father was stopped and asked if you sir was with them (me & my white) mother, she said. In Oxford, student newspaper Cherwell identified 14 incidents of racial profiling by porters, where non-white students were stopped and asked for identity card repeatedly while white friends were ignored. Kings College said that it had investigated the matter and found no wrongdoing on the part of our staff. We categorically deny that the incident referred to was in any way racist. Kings College is a rich and diverse community, and take the wellbeing of its students and staff extremely seriously, a spokesperson said. PTI editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Panchkula, June 20 In an apparent clean chit to two IAS officers over the use of a government chopper while on a trek from Chamba to Barot valley in Mandi district, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said it was their moral responsibility to provide help to the officers. Replying to a query on the use of government chopper for the two IAS officers, the CM said, Two of our officers had gone on leave and went to Chamba for trekking. We got the information that our officers were stuck there. It is our moral responsibility to help out not only the officers but even the common man. On the request of the Chamba DC, the help was provided by the state government. The CM was here to attend the BJPs intellectual cell meet. On June 14, Hem Raj, ADC, Chamba, and Haryana officers Dr Shalin, Director, Medical Education, and Nitish Yadav, ADC, Karnal, were airlifted from the remote Bara Bhangal area in Kangra. The demand for the chopper was conveyed to the DC, Chamba, who further informed the Chief Secretary. Circular on greeting MP, MLAs a routine: CM On the state government circular reminding all its officials that they were required to stand up while meeting MPs and MLAs and that they should respond to any communication from them promptly, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said, It is a routine matter. Every year, new officers join and it is the duty of senior officials to make them aware of the protocol. It could be a normal letter, which you (media) are pointing out. I have not seen the letter yet. editorial@tribune.com Ravinder Saini Tribune News Service Mahendragarh, June 19 A normal person needs woollen clothes to brave the bone-chilling cold in December and January, but Santlal walks around sporting a kurta-pyjama and bathes using ice cold water. He lies down on ice slabs for several hours to protect himself from the weather. In summer, this 60-year-old resident of Deroli Ahir village wears woollen clothes and uses a thick blanket to keep his body warm. He sits near a bonfire to brave the weather in May, June and July. This is the bizarre health condition of Santlal. He has been facing this condition since childhood, but has never fallen ill. Dr Ashok Kumar, Deputy Civil Surgeon, Narnaul, said Santlal had come to the hospital some years ago for treatment and was advised to visit the PGIMS, Rohtak, for further treatment as his was a rare ailment. It may be a disorder concerning the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls thermoregulation. This process allows the human body to maintain its core internal temperature, he said. The Mahendragarh district administration honoured Santlal during the Independence Day function last year for lying down on an ice slab for over two hours during winter. He has four brothers and four sons, but none of them have this health condition. My father came to know about my health condition when I felt very cold during school hours in summer. He took me to Jaipur for treatment, but doctors failed to identify the disease. I started wearing warm clothes and a woollen cap to protect myself, said Santlal. He added that it later became routine for him to sport warm clothes in summer and walk around in kurta pyjama in winter. Residing in the Prajapati locality of the village, he claimed he had to use ice slabs to remain comfortable when the temperature fell below 5 degree Celsius. He had to sit near a bonfire when the temperature crossed the mark of 40 degree Celsius, he pointed out. This bizarre condition had adversely affected his work, he added. I am unable to work during the peak of winter and summer. My family pays extra for ice slabs in winter and wood for bonfire in summer to keep me in good health. I have to bathe three or four times in winter, he said. Santlal further said media teams from London and South Africa had visited the village to make a documentary on his condition. Initially, I had to face a lot of problems in adjusting with him. But now, I am habitual of his health condition, said his wife Bimla. She said she had to take extra care of her husband during the peak of summer and winter. His younger brother Sarjeet said Santlal had been struggling to make both ends meet due to his health condition. The government should provide him financial aid so that he could live comfortably, he added. editorial@tribune.com Ravinder Saini Tribune News Service Rewari, June 20 A big consignment of illicit liquor is supplied to dry states of Gujarat and Bihar from Punjab and border areas of Haryana via Rewari. The mode of transport is gas and oil tankers. And drivers are changed after every 100 km. All this has come to light during an investigation following the seizure of more than 55,000 bottles of illicit liquor in the past one month. Drivers ply on the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway 8 that passes through Rewari. Bottles of liquor are brought to Rewari from Punjab and its border areas in Haryana, say the police sources. The liquor mafia uses a different modus operandi every time to dodge the police, sources said, adding that the police had, on June 5, seized an LPG gas tanker that was stored with liquor. The consignment was meant for Gujarat. The sources say the liqour mafia pays a handsome amount to drivers for taking the consignment to the next destination safely. They try to hire local drivers who are familiar with routes so that they can use alternative roads in case the police have set up nakas. The liquor is transported to Bihar through Uttar Pradesh and to Gujarat via Rajasthan while passing through Rewari, the sources said, adding the police have arrested several drivers, but are yet to catch the big fish. Rewari Superintendent of Police Rajesh Duggal said the police had succeeded in breaking backbone of the mafia by catching illicit liquor worth Rs2.5 crore in the past month. More than 15 vehicles, including a gas tanker and three trucks, have been seized. We are working on vital leads. Some more persons involved in the racket will be arrested soon, he said. Modus operandi editorial@tribune.com ------- Case of kidnapping registered * The girls studying in Classes IX and X left the ashram at Tutikandi for their school on Wednesday. * The issue of their disappearance came to light when the principal called up the ashram authorities to enquire about the reason for the girls' absence. * The police have registered a case of kidnapping. ----------- Tribune News Service Shimla, June 20 Three inmates of Balika Ashram at Tutikandi, near here, went missing on Wednesday while they were on their way to the school. They are students of Classes IX and X. The matter came to light when the principal called up the ashram authorities to enquire the reason for the girls' absence. The police said while one girl was a Nepalese, the two other belonged to Solan and Mandi. Although the police questioned other girls who had also left the ashram for school, there is no clue about their whereabouts so far. The families and relatives of the girls have been informed about their disappearance. A case of kidnapping under Section 363 of the IPC has been registered at the Boileauganj police station, though it is not known whether the girls have been kidnapped or gone somewhere on their own. However, in view of the court directives, a case of kidnapping has been registered. The police are checking CCTV footages of the cameras installed near the ISBT. Searches were also conducted in the surrounding areas of the ashram and the school. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Jammu, June 20 Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday described the supreme sacrifice of Rifleman Aurangzeb, who was abducted and killed by militants in Pulwama district, and his family as an inspiration for the entire country. Sitharaman said this after visiting the family of Aurangzeb at Salani village in Poonch district. The minister was accompanied by senior Army officers. I have come here to meet the martyrs family and spend some time with them. One message I can take back is that heres a family, heres a martyr, who, to me and I am sure to the whole nation, stands out as an inspiration, the Defence Minister told mediapersons. She stayed with the family for about half an hour and handed over a welfare cheque of Rs 5 lakh to Aurangzebs father. She also presented shawls to martyrs brothers and sisters. On June 18, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat had visited the family and had said that the supreme sacrifice by the brave son of India would not go in vain. Gen Rawat had assured all possible assistance to the family. Mohammad Hanief, Aurangzebs father and an ex-serviceman, had made a passionate appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to avenge the killing of his unarmed son and reiterated his resolve to sacrifice his life for the country. Meanwhile, the Defence Minister also visited forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Krishna Ghati sector and interacted with the troops. On her official visit to the state, the minister was briefed by the GOC, Ace of Spades Division, on the prevailing security situation and steps being taken to maintain a close vigil on the LoC and maintain peace in the hinterland, a Defence spokesperson said. He said the minister also interacted with soldiers and complimented them on their exemplary devotion towards maintaining sanctity of the LoC and giving a befitting reply to the inimical forces. Interacts with soldiers in Krishna Ghati sector rchopra@tribunemail.com Ehsan Fazili Tribune News Service Srinagar, June 20 Governor NN Vohra issued a proclamation to impose Governors Rule in the state under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday after receiving the Presidents approval. The Governors Rule was recommended on Tuesday after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti submitted her resignation to the Governor following the BJPs pullout from the coalition government. Vohra consulted leaders of all major political parties, including PDPs Mehbooba Mufti (CM), BJPs Kavinder Gupta (Dy CM), National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah and J&KPCC president GA Mir on the possibilities of alternative alliances. He later forwarded his report to the President recommending the imposition of Governors Rule in the state. Soon after the Presidents approval and immediate proclamation to impose Governors Rule, Vohra held discussions with BB Vyas, Chief Secretary, on Wednesday morning and identified the major tasks which shall be required to be dealt with on a strict time-bound basis, beginning from Wednesday, a Raj Bhawan spokesman said. To gear up the state administrative machinery to function with speed, efficiency and accountability the Governor is speaking to senior officers of the civil, police, forest and other departments on Wednesday, a statement from the Raj Bhawan said. This meeting will be followed by a Security Review Meeting at the Raj Bhavan in the afternoon, it added. This is for the third time that J&K was brought under Governors Rule since January 2015, following the Assembly elections held in November-December 2014, when no party got a clear majority in the 87-member House. The PDP with 28 and the BJP with 25 seats formed a coalition government led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The state was brought under Governors Rule from January 9 to March 1, 2015. Governors Rule was again imposed following the death of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7, 2016, which continued up to April 4, 2016, when Mehbooba Mufti took over as the head of the coalition government. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Srinagar, June 20 A day after his recommendation, Governor NN Vohra on Wednesday issued a proclamation imposing Governors rule in the state under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, following President Ram Nath Kovinds approval. The Governor had sent the recommendation after the PDP-BJP coalition government collapsed in the state with the BJP pulling out. That was followed by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, submitting her resignation. Editorial: An unmourned alliance exits Before the recommendations, Governor Vohra consulted leaders of all major political parties to find out possibilities of an alternative alliances. This is the third time that J&K has been brought under Governors rule under NN Vohra since January 2015, following the Assembly elections held in November-December 2014, when no party got a clear majority in the 87-member House. The PDP with 28 and BJP with 25 seats formed a coalition government led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on March 1, 2015. The state came under Governors rule from January 9 to March 1, 2015. It was again imposed following the death of Mufti Sayeed on January 7, 2016, when Mehbooba Mufti refused to take over. She finally took oath on April 4. Earlier, Governors rule under Vohra was imposed from July 11, 2008, to January 5, 2009, after the Congress-PDP coalition collapsed. Meanwhile, 1987-batch Chhattisgarh-cadre IAS officer BVR Subrahmanyam has been appointed as the new state Chief Secretary in place of BB Vyas, who has been appointed adviser to Governor Vohra. Former IPS officer Vijay Kumar will be another adviser. Subrahmanyam, considered an expert in internal security matters, served as private secretary to former PM Manmohan Singh during 2004-2008. He worked with the World Bank from 2008 to 2011 before again joining the Manmohan PMO in 2012. He was in the PMO after Narendra Modi became the PM in 2014 and stayed till March 2015. Vyas was given a years extension last month. Due to superannuate in November 2017, he was given two extensions till May-end to remain Chief Secretary. editorial@tribune.com Sumit Hakhoo Tribune News Service Jammu, June 20 The ambitious Chenab water diversion project that was stuck in red tape seems to be back on track again. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has granted a no-objection certificate which will pave way for its funding by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. Now, about 100 cusecs of water will be diverted from the river at Akhnoor, some 30 km from Jammu, and later carried to filtration plants by pipes. Though its going to take years before the water supply resumes from the Himalayan river, the delay in granting permission had stalled the plan aimed at ending perennial water crisis facing nearly two million people in J&K. Proposed in late 1980s, the first detailed project report was formulated in 2007 when the PDP-Congress coalition was governing the state. Later, the failure of the then Omar Abdullah led NC-Congress government to submit the detailed environmental assessment report had led to the cancellation of funds by the Asian Development Bank in 2013-14. In 2015, the previous PDP-BJP coalition under its Rs 886-crore plan, Augmentation of water supply to Jammu city from the Chenab, had approached the Department of Economic Affairs, which comes under the Union Ministry of Finance, for funding. After which, the Department of Economic Affairs directed the state to seek clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Niti Aayog and the MHA. The MEA and Niti Aayog had given their nod in 2017 but the Union Home Ministry had not given a clearance due to security concerns. Yes, the MHA has given its clearance. Now, the project will be submitted to the Department of Economic Affairs, which will approach the Japanese International Cooperation Agency to acquire funds for the Phase-I. As soon as we get the funds, the work will be started, said Abdul Majid Shabnam, Director, Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA), Jammu. Already suffering due to the discriminatory provision of the Indus Waters Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1962 restricting J&K from using the water of its river, the scheme could help the authorities to meet the growing needs of the expanding population. The glacier-fed Chenab originates from upper Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh and passing through erstwhile Doda district is joined by several streams before entering Pakistan at the International Border in the Akhnoor sector. It is a long-pending scheme and we hope it is completed soon. The purpose is to switch over from groundwater source to surface water by next two decades to meet the growing needs of J&K, especially Jammu, said AK Gandotra, chief engineer, public health engineering department. Cost overrun major concern ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Its not a cakewalk for anybody to get into the Telly industry without a struggle. Arina Dey, who recently made her Hindi television debut with Star Bharat show Musakaan, also faced hardships before bagging the lead role of Aarti in the show. While she has always dreamt of becoming a part of an engrossing Hindi show, her father was not quite okay with her decision. But she kept her belief alive and reached Mumbai even though her father never wanted her to enter the industry. Arina plays the role of a mother who also happens to be an erotic dancer in the show. It was a difficult task for her to explain the role that she is playing and convince her dad for the same. A close source to the actor informs that Arinas dad was against the character that she was playing. Even before getting the role, her dad did not want her to struggle in Mumbai and stay on her own in the city. Her father was afraid of the possibilities of her not making it big in Mumbai and therefore wanted her to focus in Bengali shows in Kolkata. Well, the good part is that, her father now religiously follows Musakaan and is glad to see her daughter doing well in the show! Sartaj Chaudhary Sartaj Chaudhary I dont think the regime can touch me. The people will just burn the airport down! spoke Benazir in a soft voice from exile in London soon after Pakistan lifted the Martial Law in 1985. So right she was! She was greeted by a humungous crowd at Lahore airport and an estimated 20 lakh heard her at Iqbal Park, where she rallied against Zias authoritarian regime. Originally from Jaisalmer, the Bhuttos were Bhati Rajput warriors who had settled in Larkana. They had converted to Islam in the early 17th century and had come to own 2,50,000 acres spread over three districts. Benazirs grandfather, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, entered the Legislative Council of Bombay Province, of which Sindh was a part. His third child, Zulfikar Ali was a shy boy to begin with but grew into a true aristocrat. Zias coup against him subjected the whole family to imprisonment, house arrest and torture. Benazirs cell was boiling hot and often intentionally infested with scorpions to break her will. The authorities regularly administered medicines (sedatives and psychoactive drugs) to Benazir; it took a brain surgery for her to become herself again. Benazir in Urdu means incomparable, unparalleled. After being released, she visited her father in jail every week. Her plea to hug her father before his execution was denied and Bhutto had to settle for a last physical touch with his princess with the prison bars in between. She had an arranged marriage with Asif Ali Zardari who came from a much smaller landowning family. A friend asked her, Was he the only one you could think of? She giggled, He was the only one willing to marry me! Zia died in a plane crash in 1988 and Benazir won the subsequent elections to become the first woman PM in a Muslim-majority country. Her tenure was difficult; marred by an uneasy relationship with the President. In a male-oriented society, some military men refused to salute her and she was kept in the dark about the nuclear programme! Her pregnancy in office sparked a hue and cry. Nevertheless, true to her character, she stood her ground. Unfortunately, her first tenure was marred by corruption. In August 1990, her government was dismissed. She again became PM three years later but her government was again dismissed in 1996 and Nawaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister in 1997. Benazir served as the leader of opposition for two years till Gen Pervez Musharraf seized power. Benazir spent most of her time outside Pakistan, fighting cases of corruption and misconduct. By 2007, the people of Pakistan and its Western allies were losing faith in Musharraf and Benazir was being seen as an alternative to constrain Pakistans domestic problems. She admitted that she would most likely be killed on her return. But go back she did. Before leaving Dubai, she told her son Bakhtawar where she had kept his birthday present. A young Bakhtawar told her, But Mummy, my birthday isnt until January! Benazir hugged him and said, Life is uncertain, you never know! She was right. She was killed on December 27, 2007. No one has been convicted. She would have turned 65 today. Happy birthday, Benazir! monicakchauhan@gmail.com United Nations, June 20 Over 7,000 people from India filed applications for asylum in the US last year, according to a report by the UN refugee agency, which said America was the largest recipient of new asylum requests in 2017. The UN Refugee Agency said in its annual Global Trends report that 68.5 million people globally were displaced as of the end of 2017. Among them were 16.2 million people who became displaced during 2017 itself, either for the first time or repeatedly indicating a huge number of people on the move and equivalent to 44,500 people being displaced each day, or a person becoming displaced every two seconds. Wars, other violence and persecution drove worldwide forced displacement to a new high in 2017 for the fifth year in a row, led by the crisis in Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan's war, and the flight into Bangladesh from Myanmar of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees. Overwhelmingly it is developing countries that are most affected, it said. In the US, the trend of increasing asylum claims from people originating from the north of Central America also continued. Salvadorans made up the largest nationality of applicants with 49,500 claims, almost half again as much as the 33,600 submitted in 2016. Asylum claims from Venezuelans increased by 63 per cent to 29,900, reflecting the challenging conditions in the country. Other nationalities from which there were more than 5,000 claims in 2017 were Mexico (26,100), China (17,400), Haiti (8,600) and India (7,400). Altogether claims were received from nationals from 168 countries, the report said. According to the report, there were 197,146 refugees as at 2017 end in India and 10,519 asylum seekers with pending cases. There are about 40,391 asylum seekers from India at the end of last year, the report said. It added that for the first time since 2013, Syria was not the most common country of origin for new asylum-seekers. The highest number of asylum claims filed by individuals was from nationals of Afghanistan who submitted 124,900 claims in 80 different countries. As in 2016, Turkey received the most claims with 67,400 registered, replacing Germany, which received 16,400 claims compared with 127,000 in 2016. In contrast to 2016, Greece was the third most common recipient of claims from Afghans with 7,500, followed by France (6,600) and India (4,500). Refugees originating from Myanmar represented the fourth-largest population group by country of origin, more than doubling in number from less than half a million to 1.2 million by the end of 2017. The majority of refugees from Myanmar at the end of the year were hosted by Bangladesh (932,200). Other countries with sizable populations of Myanmar refugees were Thailand (100,000), Malaysia (98,000) and India (18,100). The report said that refugees who have fled their countries to escape conflict and persecution accounted for 25.4 million of the 68.5 million. This is 2.9 million more than in 2016, also the biggest increase UNHCR has seen in a single year. Asylum-seekers, who were still awaiting the outcome of their claims to refugee status as of 31 December 2017, meanwhile rose by around 300,000 to 3.1 million. People displaced inside their own country accounted for 40 million of the total, slightly fewer than the 40.3 million in 2016. We are at a watershed, where success in managing forced displacement globally requires a new and far more comprehensive approach so that countries and communities aren't left dealing with this alone, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. But there is reason for some hope. Fourteen countries are already pioneering a new blueprint for responding to refugee situations and in a matter of months a new Global Compact on Refugees will be ready for adoption by the United Nations General Assembly. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com New Delhi, June 20 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said his government had doubled the budget for agriculture to Rs 2.12 lakh crore to achieve its objective of doubling farm income by 2022. Interacting with farmers from over 600 districts via video-conferencing, Modi said the four cornerstones of the government policy for raising farm income are cutting input cost, fair price for the crop, preventing the produce from rotting and creating alternative sources of income. He said the budget for the agriculture sector had been doubled to Rs 2.12 lakh crore during the first four years of his government compared to the previous five years of the UPA regime. The budget for the 2018-19 fiscal has taken steps to provide farmers a price equivalent to 150 per cent of their cost of production, he said. We are working towards ensuring that the income of our hardworking farmers doubles by 2022. For that we are facilitating proper assistance wherever required. We have faith in the farmers of India, he said. Modi said the country is not just witnessing record foodgrains production but milk, fruit and vegetable output too are at all-time high. In 2017-18, 280 million tonnes of foodgrains were produced as compared to an average of 250 million tonnes between 2010 and 2014. Pulses production has increased by 10.5 per cent. Our effort is to provide farmers assistance at all stage of agriculture--at the time of sowing, after sowing and at the time of harvesting, he said, adding that the policy interventions are being planned to help farmers right from seeds to markets. First, soil health cards are being provided to help farmers better understand soil nutrient status of his/her holding and advise them on the dosage of fertilisers. Thereafter, loans are being made available to farmers to help them procure good-quality seeds, he said, adding that neem coating of urea had ensured that black-marketing of the crop nutrient is stopped and farmers get it without any problem. To ensure farmers get the right price for their crops, online platform e-NAM has been started to eliminate middlemen. PTI editorial@tribune.com Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 20 Almost a year after Delhi and Beijing were locked in 73-day intense military stand-off at Doklam, the Peoples Liberation Army troops conducted a three-day tactical exercise close to last years confrontation point at the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan. The only difference this time was India was informed in advance about the drill. The exercise was conducted from June 6-8 in the southern-most edge of Chumbi valley, which is a Chinese territory located between Sikkim and Bhutan. The last years stand-off had started on June 16 and ended on August 28. India closely watched the exercise and an assessment had been made, said sources. Some 500 Chinese troops are now permanently based in the area close to Doklam, which is the new normal, said a senior functionary. India has much superior defence with more than 30,000 troops and even a regiment of tanks lined up along eastern Sikkim, which literally overlooks the Chumbi valley 25 km at its widest and 2 km at its narrowest. In the past decade or so, India has militarily tailored its defence set-up along the Himalayas. In early-2004, Delhi stepped up efforts to secure areas along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Controlthe de facto boundary. Every possible route of ingress is now continuously war gamed its the art of predicting future outcomes of military postures of rivals fine-tuned by regular military exercises, study of satellite imagery and available inputs. In March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had, at an informal summit in Wuhan, issued strategic guidance to their respective militaries. Build trust and have a mechanism to prevent incidents in the border regions, said a statement issued from Wuhan. The local commanders of both sides have been meeting at Nathu La in Sikkim and China had informed in advance about the exercise. Chinas control over Chumbi valley has an interesting anecdote. Patrick French, author of Younghusband: The last of the great imperial adventurer, writes: The article which allowed British access to Lhasa (after the 1904 annexation) was torn up and Younghusbands hard-earned indemnity reduced to two-thirds of a more manageable Rs 2.5 million (Rs 25 lakh). The Chumbi valley was to be vacated by 1908. pardeepdhull@gmail.com Suresh Dharur Tribune News Service Hyderabad, June 20 Hyderabad MP and president of All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi has received online threats after he took a strong stand against a recent report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Kashmir. Owaisi, a three-time MP, rejected the UN report on the alleged human rights violations in the Kashmir Valley, saying the world body has no right to interfere in the internal matters of India. The MP, a strong critic of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unequivocally backed the government on the matter. After he articulated his views on Twitter, Owaisi received threats from the same social media accounts that had reportedly issued death threats to the veteran Kashmiri journalist and editor of Rising Kashmir Shujaat Bhukari who was shot dead in Srinagar recently. Syed Abdul Kashaf, the social media head of AIMIM, said that the matter had been brought to the notice of the cyber crime cell of the Hyderabad Police and Twitter India. Following the complaint, Twitter India has suspended two of the accounts that were highlighted. I will oppose Modi till my last breath, but when it comes to the countrys sovereignty, we support the government, irrespective of the party in power, Owaisi said. Some of the social media users targeted the MP for backing the Indian government on Kashmir and accused him of betrayal. An independent MLA from Kashmir Engineer Rashid accused Owaisi of distorting the facts and misleading the country on the ground situation in the Kashmir Valley. Whatever Owaisi has said on Kashmir dispute and UNHRC report is far from reality, misleading and distortion of facts. Owaisi has every right to praise India and must be loyal to his country but saying that the Muslims of India stand with rest of the country on the Kashmir issue is laughable and has no logic, he said in a statement. Owaisi calling the report a propaganda and rejecting the solid evidences given by UNHRC exposing grave human rights violations and massacres of Kashmiris has proved that the political class of rest of India is adamant to mislead the world and ensure that Kashmiris are made to surrender. By criticising UNHRC and adding salt to the injuries of Kashmiris, Owaisi and like-minded leaders can never win sympathy of the majority community in India as it is not Kashmiris but the Indian society which is getting radicalised day by day, the legislator said. rchopra@tribunemail.com Kota, June 20 Two unidentified men robbed a bank cashier and his aide of Rs 8 lakh while the money was being shifted to different branches in Rajasthans Kota district, police said on Wednesday. Giyarsiram, the cashier of Baroda Rajasthan Regional Rural Banks Kansuwa branch, along with the banks contractual employee, Devprakash, was on his way to deposit the money at the banks Bhamasha Mandi branch on Tuesday afternoon, they said. The two-wheeler-borne robbers, aged around 25, approached the bank employees--riding a motorcycle--from behind on Bhamasha Mandi overbridge in the Anantpura police station area and snatched the bag containing the cash from Devprakash who was riding pillion, they added. Giyarsiram told the police that whenever the cash deposited at the Kansuwa branch crossed the Rs 5 lakh mark, it was sent to the Bhamasha Mandi branch. The robbers were most likely aware of this, police said. Although, the identity of the robbers is yet to be ascertained, police have registered a case and initiated investigation. The accused have not been arrested and no clue regarding their identities has surfaced so far, Sub Inspector Ramswaroop at the Anantpura police station said. Police are also studying the CCTV footage of the area where the crime was committed, he added. The attack comes at a time when the city police is on a high alert as Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will arrive here to participate in yoga guru Ramdevs ongoing three-day yoga camp on Thursday on the International Yoga Day. PTI pardeepdhull@gmail.com Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, June 20 The Economic Offences Wing of the Pune Police on Wednesday arrested Ravindra Marathe, CEO and Managing Director, Bank of Maharashtra, and his predecessor Sushil Muhnot for allegedly colluding with builder D S Kulkarni in fraud case involving more than Rs 2,000 crore. According to police sources, Marathe was arrested from Pune while Muhnot was held in Jaipur. Several others, including Rajendra Gupta, Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra, Nityanand Deshpande, Zonal Manager Bank of Maharashtra, have also been arrested. Officials from Kulkarnis DSK Developers Ltd, including its chartered accountant Sunil Ghatpande and vice-president, engineering Rajiv Newaskar, have also been arrested, police said. All have been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption under various laws, police said. The builder D S Kulkarni and his wife Hemanti are already under arrest and lodged at Punes Yerwada Jail. Kulkarnis son Shirish from his first wife and other relatives have also been arrested for defrauding home buyers who had booked flats in several projects of the company. As per the initial information available from the EOW, the bank officials are suspected of illegally sanctioning loans worth crores of rupees to DS Kulkarni Developers Ltd. The arrests came after a local RTI activist, Vijay Kumbhar, sought details of the loans sanctioned to the developer. Kumbhar told reporters in Pune that Bank of Maharashtra officials had sanctioned loans to the builder without adequate documentation. As per the chargesheet submitted by the EOW in a Pune court, the DSK group may have defrauded home buyers and investors to the tune of Rs 2043 crores. Police sources say, that verification of various collateral submitted by the DSK group to obtain bank loans has resulted in the detection of the bank fraud. Fresh cases are likely to be filed against the Kulkarni family and the bankers, police sources said. More than 12,000 home buyers, investors and depositors have been duped by the company. Police say, as many as 8,000 senior citizens may have lost their life-savings after investing in DSKs fixed deposit. Predecessor held too monicakchauhan@gmail.com Ottawa, June 20 Canadian Parliament has passed a "historic" bill legalising the recreational use of marijuana nationwide, becoming the second country in the world to do so. The Cannabis Act passed its final hurdle on Tuesday in a 52-29 vote in the Senate. The bill controls and regulates how the drug can be grown, distributed and sold, the BBC reported. Canadians will be able to buy and consume cannabis legally as early as this September. Uruguay became the first country to legalise the sale of cannabis for recreational use in December 2013 while nine US states and the District of Columbia also allow recreational marijuana use. Thirty US states allow marijuana for medical use. Cannabis possession first became a crime in Canada in 1923 but medical use has been legal since 2001. The bill will likely receive Royal Assent this week and the government will then choose an official date when the law will come into force. On Twitter, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised the bill and focused on Canada's youth. "It's been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalise and regulate marijuana just passed the Senate," he said. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould also applauded the vote. "This is an historic milestone for progressive policy in Canada," she tweeted. "This legislation will help protect our youth from the risks of cannabis while keeping profits out of the hands of criminals and organized crime." But some groups objected to the new law, with opposition Conservative politicians and indigenous groups among those voicing concerns. The government is expected to give the provinces and territories, as well as municipalities, eight to 12 weeks to set up the new marijuana marketplace. This time-frame will also allow industry and police forces to prepare for the new legal framework. Once the bill is formally approved, adults will be able to carry and share up to 30 grams of legal marijuana in public. They also will be allowed to cultivate up to four plants in their households and prepare products such as edibles for personal use. However, stringent rules will still govern the purchase and use of marijuana. IANS L-R: Homer Steinweiss and Richard Swift; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for CoachellaMusician Richard Swift, who's played with The Shins and is currently a member of Dan Auerbach's band The Arcs, has been hospitalized with an unspecified "serious medical condition." A GoFundMe page has been launched to help Swift pay for his medical bills. "[Swift] is receiving excellent care in Tacoma, Washington and everything is being done to allow his body time to repair and heal," the page reads. "He is uninsured and the cost of the care he is getting is a lot. If you can afford to share the weight of this burden, it would be most deeply appreciated. Anything helps." Swift has also been a touring member of The Black Keys. The fundraiser aims to raise $100,000. If you'd like to donate, visit GoFundMe.com/Medical-Fund-for-Richard-Swift. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. uttara@tribuneindia.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 20 The Congress on Wednesday calibrated its stand on Jammu & Kashmir, attacking both BJP and PDP for the current turmoil in the state by saying the collapse of the opportunistic alliance was a huge relief. The Congress questioned the BJP and Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP for joining hands for greed after having attacked one another viciously in the 2014 state elections. The BJP told Jammu to vote for its candidates and the PDP asked its constituency in Kashmir tk back it. Both abused one another and then came together. This was the unholiest alliance, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Wednesday. The statement came after the Congress core group on JK met under the chairmanship of former prime minister Manmohan Singh. The Congress also decided not to press for fresh elections in the state and instead put the onus on Centre to restore law and order in the state for elections to be held. We want elections but do not want a situation of 7 per cent voting, said Azad. The core group posed seven questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi including how he proposed to prevent radicalisation of state youth and by when will be restore normalcy. J&K Congress chief GA Mir said the party hoped Governors Rule would help restore trust and normalcy in the state. rchopra@tribunemail.com Bengaluru, June 20 Noted poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar on Wednesday sought immediate arrest of Karnataka cleric Tanveer Peera Hashim for his controversial remark that cows would be slaughtered during Bakrid, saying the comment was irresponsible and outrageous. Secularism doesnt mean ignoring or tolerating minority communalism. This irresponsible and outrageous cleric Tanveer Hashim should immediately be arrested for trying to create communal tension in Bengaluru, Akhtar tweeted. The cleric kicked up a controversy with his remarks made in the presence of state minister Shivanand Patil during his sermons on the occasion of Ramzan prayer at Vijayapura in north Karnataka a few days ago. The remarks sparked a row as cow-slaughter is banned in Karnataka. Tanveer Hashim is the head of Hashim Pir Dargah at Vijayapura, a popular Muslim shrine. The video of his purported remarks has gone viral. The minister chose to remain quiet after Hashim made the controversial remarks. Condemning Hashims remark, BJP spokersperson S Prakash told PTI that it is a pragmatic counter-remark made by Akhtar and the coalition JD(S)-Congress government should wake up and book a case against the cleric immediately. The government had a very partisan attitude towards the communal speeches made by minority clerics or people, he alleged. Prakash also questioned the double standards of the JD(S)-Congress government, asking why it should have different yardsticks for party MLA and former union minister Basavaraj Patil Yatnal and Hashim. Both JD(S) and Congress call themselves secularists. Why are they silent? When the government can book a case against Yatnal, why not the cleric? Why the double standards? It is certainly questionable, he said. RSS ideologue Ratan Sharda said he did not expect any action from the Congress when in the past they hadnt been able to stop Mani Shankar Aiyar from making controversial remarks. When they could not stop Mani Shankar Aiyar from making useless comments, how can we expect them to take action against the minister (Patil) and the cleric? They will never do it, he said. The clerics remarks came days after a purported video of Yatnal asking corporators to work only for Hindus, who voted for him, and not for Muslims, went viral on the social media. PTI editorial@tribune.com Bijay Sankar Bora Tribune News Service Guwahati, June 20 Women from the Punjabi Lane area in Shillong today sat on a silent protest even as a team of the Land Record and Survey Department undertook a survey to resolve the long-pending issue of relocation of residents of the colony as per the demands of local groups. Residents of the Sikh colony located in the main business hub of the city have already stated that they would not leave the place under any circumstances as their forefathers had settled there over a century ago. The survey was held on the instructions of a high-level committee formed by the Meghalaya Government after the recent violence in Shillong. The panel has been told to look into various aspects of relocating Punjabis to resolve the issue that came into limelight once again after local tribals went on a rampage on May 31 and June 1. A delegation of the Delhi Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday met Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, also the panel chairman, in Shillong and requested him to resolve the matter with a humane touch. After visiting the Punjabi Lane area, Delhi SAD president Paramjit Singh Sarna said the government should go for rehabilitation of the residents on the present site instead of relocation. The government can develop the area and provide proper accommodation to the residents instead of relocating them... The best solution is rehabilitation and not relocation, said Sarna. Tynsong said the issue should not be seen as one between tribals and non-tribals as for the government, all citizens were equal. The government is going all out to take care of them, he said, maintaining the committee wanted a permanent solution. monicakchauhan@gmail.com New Delhi, June 20 Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has decided to quit the job, with close to a year of his tenure remaining, and return to the US for very compelling reasonsthe second high-profile exit from the government in less than a year. He said he would leave the office within the next two months, even though his contractual term was co-terminus with the government. Subramanian was appointed CEA, Finance Ministry, on October 16, 2014, for a three-year term and was given an extension last year. My departure from this job for entirely personal reasons. It is no secret that we are expecting our first grandchild in the early September. Thats a very compelling reason that takes us back to old life of that used to lead of researching, writing, teaching and reflecting above all, he said. Subramanians official contract was till May 2019. The first person I mentioned this to was the Prime Minister after consulting Mr (Arun) Jaitley, he said, while expressing that this was the best job he ever had and probably ever will. Earlier in the day, Union Minister Arun Jaitley announced that Subramanian will be leaving the Finance Ministry after nearly 4 years because of pressing family commitments and return to the US. Asked about his last date in the office, he said, in terms of date, the hard deadline is early September, when the baby is going to arrive. We havent exactly finalised. It would be over the next month or two. No firm date as yet has been fixed. To a question on his future plans, he said, it will be revealed in the next few days. You will get to know what I am exactly, I will be going do, in the next few days. I can not reveal that right now for obvious reasons. Whatever has to be done has to done through formal channel but in few days you will get to know what I will be doing in the next year at least, he said. I am profoundly grateful and humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister Arun Jaitley announcing my decision to return-for personal reasons-to researching and writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had, he said. Subramanian is the second key economic policy adviser to quit the job mid-way to return to the US. Previously, the then NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya had quit in August 2017, nearly two-year before his term was to end. Incidentally, both were handpicked after the BJP government came to power in May 2014 and cited personal reasons for quitting the job ahead of tenure. When asked about his successor, he said the process would start soon and competence, competence, competence, thats what the government believes in and thats what the government should follow while choosing his successor. On the unfinished agenda, he said, he would like to see office of CEA in every state. One thing which I wish we could have done... there was a lot of demand for creating the office of CEA in a number of states, a number of Chief Ministers were keen to have something like this and I wish I had more bandwidth, time and energy to kind of do this in the states as well. I hope it will happen going forward, he said. On the recent talks of India aiming at touching double digit growth rate, he said it should certainly aspire for this. Subramanian said: It helps on so many fronts. To achieve double digit growth, you need two things, you need favourable external environment, which is not the case and you need to do a lot of domestic policy hard work at home. I think government has begun to do the later but I think economic environment has deteriorated. So may be task become that more challenging. I would never say double digit growth is beyond the reach of India. We can but you would need both need external environment and ongoing sustained policy reform at home. On global trade wars and growing protectionism, the CEA said: I do think we need to think about what measures we need to take to cushion any adverse fallout. I think trade war will not happen internationally but if it does, we have to find appropriate responses in terms of domestic polices as well. When asked if he would be willing to take up assignment in the future in India, he said, he always committed to serving the country. On the Goods and Services Tax, he said many of the exempted sectors should come under this as broader the base of GST better it is. It is for the GST Council to take a call, he added. On his proposal of setting up a bad bank two-and-a-half years ago to deal with bad loans, he said: I was very passionate about that but the NCLT process offers a legal framework for resolving this bad bank might not have been able to do. I am very happy in this instance that an alternative idea gained traction and resolution process is moving well. With regard to the Universal Basic Income proposed by him in the Economic Survey of 2016-17, he said, it didnt happen but it became a part of the policy discussion. The idea has been around. We just brought it in the more prominence. All policies will have to navigate through challenging times, he said. Brightest fleeing sinking ship, says Rahul Congress president Rahul Gandhi today hit out at the Central Government, claiming that the brightest were fleeing the sinking ship as the invisible hand of the RSS was steering it into rocks. In a veiled dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party president alleged that he was fast asleep and described the situation as crazy. He hit out at the government after Union Minister Arun Jaitley announced that Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian was leaving the Finance Ministry. Gandhi took a dig at the Union minister for breaking the news on Facebook and questioned whether Jaitley, who held the Finance portfolio before undergoing a kidney transplant surgery in mid-May, continued to be the Finance Minister. Ex? FM is locked in his room, breaking news on Facebook. BJP treasurer has the keys to the Indian economy, he tweeted. The brightest flee the sinking ship, as the invisible hand of the RSS steers it onto the rocks. Meanwhile, Captain DeMo is fast asleep. Its crazy out there!, he claimed. PTI PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Thane, June 20 A Thane court has sentenced two Bangladeshi couples to two years imprisonment for staying illegally in India. Assistant sessions judge SA Sinha convicted the four Bangladeshi nationals last week on charges under the Foreigners Act and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on them. According to the prosecution, the police raided a hutment colony in the Mira Road area of Thane district on December 28 last year after getting a tip-off. The police arrested Uttam Golap Sikandar, 27, Mau Uttam Sikandar, 24, Allauddin Gani Malik, 40, and Muslima Allauddin Malik, 38--from there. The prosecution further said the accused admitted that they were Bangladeshi nationals but failed to produce a valid proof of their identification and residence. The accused told the police that they did petty works to earn their livelihood. After hearing both the sides, the judge said it appeared from the record that all the accused are poor people and they entered the country because of their bad financial condition and unemployment. They did daily-wage jobs in India, she noted. Hence, while imposing the punishment on them, it is necessary to show leniency, the judge observed. Therefore, considering the situation, the judge sentenced them to two years imprisonment each, and said it is required to give a message to society and prospective criminals that crime never went unpunished. The court also directed the authorities concerned to take necessary steps to deport the accused to their country on the completion of their sentence. PTI editorial@tribune.com Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 20 Uncertainty looms large over the possible elevation of Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph, which has turned out to be bone of contention between the government and the judiciary, as there was no collegium meeting scheduled before the retirement of Justice J Chelameswar on June 22. Only two of the top five judges are in Delhi and there is no information about any collegium meeting before June 22, a source privy to the process told The Tribune. Justice Josephs elevation to the top court has been held up despite in principle agreement among the top five judges who constitute the collegium that decide on appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts. The collegium led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had thrice in a row failed to take a final call on the controversial proposal to elevate Justice Joseph to the top court despite unanimously agreeing in principle to reiterate his name which was returned by the government for reconsideration. Under the law on judicial appointments laid down by Constitution Bench verdicts of the Supreme Court, the government can ask the collegium to reconsider its recommendation; but if the latter reiterates its recommendation it would be binding on the former. Things are likely to get complicated as after Justice Chelameswars retirement the composition of the collegium will change and Justice AK Sikri will replace him. Led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, the top five judges of the Supreme Court met had last met on May 16 but could not decide to send Justice Josephs name back to the government as they failed to agree on other names to be sent along with the Uttarakhand Chief Justice to fill the existing seven vacancies. Earlier, the collegium had met on May 2 and May 11 and decided to defer a decision on Justice Josephs appointment. Four more Supreme Court judges are due to retire by the end of this year. After Justice Chelameswars retirement on June 22, Justice AK Goel will retire on July 6. Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Madan B Lokur, both collegium members, are due to retire in November and December, respectively. Other names that were considered for elevation to the top court on May 16 included Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee (parent HC Calcutta), Gujarat High Court Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy (parent HC Telangana and Andhra Pradesh) and Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari (parent HC Rajasthan). Names of some other chief justices were also under consideration in view of the concept of fair representation, sources said. While agreeing in principle on Justice Josephs elevation, the collegium members had on May 11 decided to meet on May 16 as they felt the said reiteration (of Justice KM Josephs name) should also be accompanied by the recommendation of the names of Chief Justices of (other) High Courts for elevation as Judges of the Supreme Court, for which detailed discussion is required. Govt, judiciary lock horns over seniority issue rchopra@tribunemail.com Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 20 As Aam Aadmi Partys NRI supporters rally behind Punjab Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Khaira, the remainder of his party remains upset with him over his remarks on Referendum 2020, with the partys national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal refusing to meet him on Wednesday. Beleagured Khaira, currently in Delhi to meet senior AAP leaders, later approached Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the person in-charge of the Punjab unit's affairs. Party leaders who wanted to remain unnamed said Sisodia wanted him to come clean. "Sisodia lashed out at Khaira while telling him that AAP has nothing to do with his referendum thoughts. He was also asked by Sisodia, to explain his stand through the Punjab unit president of the party," said a party leader. Delhi leaders are believed seething at Khaira. Sources in the party said that the party might take a decision once they receive his written response. NRI support Khaira, however, found support among the partys NRI base, which wrote an open letter to Sisodia. The letter, signed by 36 NRIs from USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, among other countries, said Khairas demand for justice for Sikhs was justified, and demanded Balbir Singh be immediately removed for issuing media statements without getting Khairas version of story. They also cited the partys Shahpur bypoll defeat as reason for sacking him. Balbir said in a tweet on Monday that his calls to Khaira to ask for his side of the story went unanswered. Last week, Khaira is reported to have supported Referendum 2020a secessionist movement for a separate Sikh homeland. News reports quoted him as saying: "I support the Sikh referendum 2020 movement as Sikhs have the right to demand justice against atrocities suffered by them". Khaira later clarified that he was misquoted, and that he had only said that Sikhs had the right to demand justice. Khairas statement provided another weapon to rival parties, who immediately demanded his dismissal. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh condemned Khaira for backing secessionism, prompting Khaira to respond with a tweet: "I am surprised a leader of your level is tweeting against me without checking the facts, I am not a votary of 2020 but I don't hesitate to point out a consistent policy of discrimination against Sikhs by Central governments! Be it attack on Darbar Sahib (or), genocide of Sikhs leading to 2020". Senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a union minister, demanded that AAP should immediately sack him. The timing of the controversy has caught the AAPs Delhi leadershipwhich was busy until recently with Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal's sit-in at the Lt Governors office over its tussle with the bureaucracyoff guard. With PTI editorial@tribune.com Archit Watts Tribune News Service Muktsar, June 20 A 17-year-old Dalit boy of Thandewala village was allegedly tied to a tree, half-stripped, thrashed and given shocks by some farmers over suspicion that he stole two bottles of soft drink, a pressure cooker and ghee from their fields on Saturday night. His family said the boy was mentally challenged and was illegally kept in police custody for three days. The video of the incident, which has gone viral on the social media, shows some youths (faces not clearly visible) thrashing the boy tied to a tree and asking him to name his accomplices. Baldev Singh, the victims father, said: My son had taken some sheep to graze. As one of them went missing, he searched for it. Some farmers tied him to a tree, removed his trousers and thrashed him before giving him shocks. Later, they even handed him to the police, where he was kept in illegal custody. He said he had received the video of the incident on Tuesday. My son is mentally unstable. We, along with a large number of people of our community, requested the accused to get our son released, but in vain. While we were on our way to the police station, the cops released my son from a window on the backside of the building. Those present there told us that a youngster, who introduced himself as a resident of our village, forcibly took him away in his car, claiming the matter had been amicably resolved, Baldev said. He was later dropped at his house and taken to a hospital for medical examination. Baldev alleged that his son was targeted as he belonged to a lower caste. He neither made a mistake nor stole anything. The police kept him in illegal detention for three days. We want strict action against all those involved, Baldev said. In the afternoon, the boys family staged a protest outside the Sadar Muktsar police station, blocking traffic. They dispersed after SHO Davinder Kumar assured them of action against the accused. A case under Sections 365, 342, 148 and 149 of the IPC has been registered against six persons but nobody has been arrested, he said. editorial@tribune.com Varinder Singh Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 20 The mandatory registration of NRI marriages within seven days has left the Punjabi diaspora confused. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has warned that if this was not done within the stipulated period, passports and visas will not be issued. The decision by a Group of Ministers (aimed at checking fraud marriages) is riddled with ambiguities. For instance, what would be the way out if a would-be-bride or groom already has a passport and visa, but fails to get the marriage registered within seven days. The ambiguities in the order are likely to harm the prospects of the would-be NRI bride than to protect her interests for all practical purposes for she could face difficulties in getting her passport in case of a dispute. Another question being asked is whether the new rule is for those betrothed to NRIs who have yet to apply for a passport or those already in the process of acquiring one. Tarlochan Sohal, Sheriff of Livingstone County, California, was planning to solemnise the marriage of one of his sons in India. He now has second thoughts. He says the order is vague and the government must come out with clear guidelines. Raising questions on the efficacy of the new norms, Harsimarjit Kaur, former chairperson of the Punjab Social Welfare Advisory Board, says the Centre has no powers to withhold a foreign passport (held by an NRI) in case he defaults on the mandatory marriage registration. The government must set up special desks in embassies to help parents verify the antecedents of NRIs intending to marry in India. This way, the Indian Government can curb marriage frauds, she suggests. The Indian Government cannot stop another country from granting a visa to an Indian with a valid passport, points out Satnam Singh Chahal, chairman, North American Punjabi Association (NAPA). Knotty affair editorial@tribune.com Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 20 Though Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday urged the External Affairs Minister to help the 52 Indians, mostly Sikhs, detained as illegal immigrants at Oregon in the US, the state government does not have any data on such persons. Capt Amarinder tweeted: Like to bring this to your notice @SushmaSwaraj ji @MEAIndia and request your intervention regarding media reports of detention of Sikhs & other illegal immigrants held in allegedly inhuman conditions at the Oregon detention centre in the US and to provide necessary help. While the Centre is yet to respond, the state machinery began a process to identify the Sikh detainees. Unlike the case of nearly 40 persons who went missing in Iraq in 2014, the government has not established any control room where the families of the victims can approach. Sources in the police said the issue of political asylum seekers was different from that of other persons stuck in a problem abroad. Many of these persons may be wanted for some crime in India or can be sympathisers for a separatist movement, a source said. Home Department Secretary Kumar Rahul said the government had asked the Ministry of External Affairs to provide names and addresses of the Sikh detainees. Sources said the phenomenon of Punjabis seeking political asylum was the byproduct of terrorism era in the 1980s and 90s. A number of persons, including genuine claimants, would seek such an asylum citing human rights abuse, fake police encounters and political witch-hunting in Punjab. It was quite common to see notices in newspapers, especially vernacular, in which the applicants said they had no relation with certain Akali leaders (who were considered anti-Khalistani). Some alleged victimisation and prosecution for being supporters of SAD (A) president Simranjit Singh Mann. They even submitted letters of recommendation by Mann in this regard. CM on Twitter Like to bring this to your notice @SushmaSwaraj ji @MEAIndia and request your intervention regarding media reports of detention of Sikhs & other illegal immigrants held in allegedly inhuman conditions at Oregon detention centre in the US and to provide necessary help. pardeepdhull@gmail.com Lusaka, June 20 Ten people were killed and another 10 injured after a dumping site for copper mining waste collapsed in the town of Kitwe in Zambias Copperbelt province, police said on Wednesday. The incident happened this morning and at least 10 people have been confirmed dead, Copperbelt police chief Charity Katanga said by phone from Kitwe, 400 km (248 miles) north of the capital Lusaka. Zambia is Africas second largest copper producer and houses operations of many global mining companies including Vedanta , Barrick Gold Corp and Glencore Glencores Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) has been forced to halt production in recent years due to similar fatal incidents in the copper-rich area, which is also know for illegal mining around the dumpsites. The latest incident happened at Black Mountain where artisanal miners have taken to re-mining the waste site for copper and other metals. In February the governments mining investment arm gave a 10 percent stake in the waste site to small-scale miners to empower surrounding communities riven by unemployment and poverty. There remain, however, serious concerns about safety measures at the site which continues to suffer periodic collapses. Reuters rchopra@tribunemail.com Herat, June 20 Taliban fighters killed around 30 Afghan security forces in multiple attacks in western Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, days after the group ended its ceasefire. More than half of the fatalities came from the ambush and roadside bomb blasts that hit a reinforcement convoy, Badghis provincial governor Abdul Qhafoor Malikzai told AFP. The other soldiers and police were killed when militants stormed their bases overnight, Qhafoor added. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a WhatsApp message to journalists. Provincial council chief Abdul Aziz Bek confirmed the death toll. During the ceasefire the Taliban had sent informants to collect information about the bases and plan the attack, he said. AFP editorial@tribune.com LONDON, June 20 Prime Minister Theresa May won a crucial Brexit vote in Parliament on Wednesday, keeping her deeply divided government's plans to end Britain's more than 40 years of partnership with the European Union on track. After pro-EU Conservative lawmaker Dominic Grieve said he would support the government's proposal for a "meaningful vote" in parliament on any Brexit deal, a potential rebellion that could have undermined May's authority looked was averted. May adopted a high-risk strategy by facing off with rebels in her Conservative Party, and it paid off. One lawmaker said May had no option but to take them on or risk their rebellion growing as she cuts ties with the European Union. Reuters editorial@tribune.com Washington: A federal judge in Los Angeles has rejected a request by adult film actress Stormy Daniels to restart her lawsuit there against US President Donald Trump and his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen. US District Judge James Otero said the amount of media attention in the case was not a sufficient reason to reconsider the 90-day stay he had imposed in April. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is suing to void a non-disclosure agreement under which Cohen paid her $130,000 not to discuss her alleged relationship with Trump. Reuters Twitter unveils new platform for publishers San Francisco: In an apparent attempt to get close to publishers, Twitter has launched Twitter Media a website dedicated to helping small publishers get the most from its platform. With Facebook disappointing publishers for the last few years Twitter saw an opportunity, and now its launching Twitter Media, tech website WeRSM reported on Tuesday. Twitter Media will be updated regularly with case studies and success stories and will also feature a blog to help publishers stay up-to-date with tools for publishers. IANS Indian-American is CEO of Amazon-led joint health care New York: Eminent Indian-American surgeon, writer and public health innovator Atul Gawande has been named as the CEO of a new US employee health care company, a joint venture between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase, the three American majors announced on Wednesday. Gawande, 52, will take over as the Chief Executive Officer of the company from July 9. The new company will be headquartered in Boston and will operate as an independent entity that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints. PTI Dennis Quaid to play Ronald Reagan in new biopic Los Angeles: Dennis Quaid has been roped in to play former US President Ronald Reagan in a new biopic. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor will play the title role in the film, currently dubbed as Reagan, which will explore the ex-POTUS life from boyhood through his presidency of both the US and the Screen Actors Guild. Sean McNamara will direct the biopic from a script by Howie Klausner and Jonas McCord. The feature is based on two biographies from author Paul Kengor. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Beijing, June 20 Nepal and China on Wednesday signed eight agreements worth $2.4 billion on the second day of Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis visit. These agreements were reached between the two governments and private sectors where Chinese investors will put money on developing hydroelectricity, water resources, cement factories and fruit cultivation and farming. The signing ceremony took place at the Nepal Embassy here. Additional memoranda of understanding will be signed on Thursday after delegation-level talks between Oli and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang. Oli, who arrived here on Monday on his five-day-visit, will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This is Olis first official visit to China after returning to power in February and the second foreign trip after India. IANS gspannu7@gmail.com Beijing, June 20 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for his support in last week's groundbreaking summit with President Donald Trump, the North's official media reported on Wednesday. Kim is in Beijing on his third visit to China this year, underscoring the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbors. A report by the Korean Central News Agency said Kim expressed his gratitude to Xi in a meeting on Tuesday, during which Xi "gave high appreciation and extended heartfelt congratulations" to Kim over the summit. KCNA said that during a banquet hosted by Xi, Kim also said Pyongyang and Beijing are seeing their ties develop into "unprecedentedly special relations." At the summit with Trump in Singapore, Kim pledged to work toward denuclearization in exchange for US security guarantees. The US and South Korea suspended a major joint military exercise that was planned in August in what was seen as a major victory for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia. There was no official word on Kim's activities on Wednesday, although South Korea's Yonhap news agency said his motorcade was seen at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing. China has pressed North Korea to adopt economic reforms and has touted the prospects of increased trade and investment if Pyongyang makes progress in talks on abandoning its nuclear weapons and long-range missile programs. That could allow the lifting of UN Security Council economic sanctions that have brought about a plunge in the North's foreign trade, although the US insists easing of sanctions can only come after Pyongyang shows it has ended its nuclear programs. The US says China is in agreement on that point, although Chinese officials have repeatedly stated that sanctions should not be considered an end to their own. Chinese media reported that in the Tuesday talks, Xi told Kim that he hopes Pyongyang and Washington can fully implement the summit outcomes and that China would "as always play a constructive role" in that process. The US has long looked to China to use its influence with North Korea to bring it to negotiations, but the visit comes as ties between Beijing and Washington are being tested by a major trade dispute. Kim is expected to return to Pyongyang today. AFP. harinder@tribunemail.com Washington, June 20 Facing nationwide protests and global outrage over his decision to separate children from their parents who cross the border illegally, US President Donald Trump today said he is working on a new executive order to prevent such a situation. Were going to be signing an executive order in a little while... Weve got to be keeping families together, Trump said, as he met lawmakers on the issue. Ill be doing something that's somewhat preemptive and ultimately will be matched by legislation Im sure, said the President, who till a night ago was asking the Democrats to come out with a legislative fix in Congress. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen was at the White House to discuss the language of the executive order. Trump is expected to sign the order later today. In recent weeks, some 2,500 children who crossed the US border illegally along with their parents have been separated from them. Media reports have appeared about heart-rending scenes of children crying for their parents. A day earlier, Trump blamed the opposition Democrats for the current impasse and asked them to come out with a legislative fix. Senate Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer said the Trump administration has been sending babies and young children to what they call tender age facilities. It is unconscionable, unconscionable, that the government of the United States is warehousing babies and toddlers, alone, in an institutional setting, he said. Schumer alleged that this crisis was wilfully and purposefully created by Trump through his zero tolerance policy at the border. It can and should be ended by the same mechanism. With the simple flick of the pen, a simple flick of the pen, the president can end this policy. If the president wants to borrow my pen, he can have it. But he can do it quickly and easily if he wants to. It's on his back," he said. The administration must end this gratuitous, cruel, and counterproductive policy that has brought such pain to innocent children and so much shame on this nation, Schumer said, adding that no law requires the separation of children from their families. No law says you must send babies to detention facilities. And no law is required to end it. Nineteen Republicans here in the Senate have already called on the Trump administration to reverse or suspend this policy administratively, without any Congressional action. If our Republican colleagues, and the Republican leadership in particular, want to solve this problem, they ought to be directing their attention to the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House because that's where it can get done, done well, and done quickly," he said. PTI Pope: Populism is not the answer Pope Francis has criticised the Donald Trump administrations policy of separating migrant families at the Mexican border, saying populism is not the answer to the worlds immigration problems Speaking to Reuters, the Pope said he supported recent statements by US Catholic bishops who called the separation of children from their parents contrary to our Catholic values and immoral. Its not easy, but populism is not the solution, Francis said on Sunday night. Deeply disturbing: May British Prime Minster Theresa May today said images from the United States of migrant children being held in cages were deeply disturbing and that she would press President Donald Trump on the issue. On what we have seen in the United States, pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing... this is wrong, she told MPs. US Presidents zero-tolerance on immigration fills worldwide media President Donald Trumps policy of separating immigrant parents and their children at the US-Mexico border has invited widespread criticism as images of youngsters in cages and an audiotape of wailing children affected by Trumps zero-tolerance policy filled worldwide media The policy, announced in April, directed that all immigrants apprehended while crossing the US-Mexico border illegally should be criminally prosecuted. Parents referred by border agents for prosecution are held in federal jails, while their children are moved into border shelter facilities US Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday that 2,342 children had been separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9. The policy has sparked condemnation from Democrats, some Republicans, UN officials and rights activists EU leaders to hold mini summit on migration in Brussels singhking99@yahoo.com Domiz Camp: UN refugee agency special envoy Angelina Jolie on Sunday visited a camp for Syrian refugees in northern Iraq to drum up support for those displaced by years of civil war. The Hollywood actress toured the Domiz camp, home to 33,000 refugees from Syrias seven-year conflict. A day earlier she visited Mosul, Iraqs major northern city which Iraqi forces took back last year from Islamic State militants. Reuters Private diary of Albert Einstein reveals his racist shades London: Albert Einsteins diary reveals that the German scientist held racist views about Chinese people, and viewed them as being intellectually inferior. In diaries that Einstein kept during his five-month journey across countries, the Nobel Prize winner called China a peculiar herd-like nation. Later in his life Einstein called racism a disease of white people and became a champion of the civil rights movement in the US. PTI Never say never: Kim Kardashian on political plunge Los Angeles: Reality TV star Kim Kardashian said she is not actively considering a career in politics but she would not rule out the possibility of running for office. The 37-year-old entrepreneur recently met US President Donald Trump to discuss prison reforms after she spent months working with her legal team in a bid to get Alice Johnson parole. When asked if she would ever run for office, Kardashian said: I guess never say never. But thats not going to be like, Kims running. Thats not where I am. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Washington, June 20 The US withdrew on Wednesday from the UN Human Rights Council and condemned its "shameless hypocrisy" in absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those committing no offence, saying America will not take lectures from hypocritical institutions. The decision to pull the US out of the UN Human Rights Council was announced by US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley who also criticised the council for a "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel". Opinion: Taking the UNHCR report in stride She claimed that human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the council. The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape scrutiny, and the council continues politicising and scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in their ranks, she said. Therefore, as we said we would do a year ago if we did not see any progress, the United States is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, Haley said. In doing so, Haley made it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from human rights commitments. On the contrary, we take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. Haley also criticised the council for a "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel," citing a series of resolutions highlighting alleged abuses by the Israeli government of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged that the council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those who have committed no offence. We have no doubt that there was once a noble vision for this council. But today, we need to be honest the Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights, Pompeo told reporters at a joint media appearance with Haley. Worse than that, the Human Rights Council has become an exercise in shameless hypocrisy with many of the world's worst human rights abuses going ignored and some of the world's most serious offenders sitting on the council itself, he said. A mere look around the world today demonstrates that the council has failed in its stated objectives, he said. Its membership includes authoritarian governments with unambiguous and abhorrent human rights records, such as China, Cuba and Venezuela, Pompeo said. The US -- which leads the world in humanitarian assistance and whose service members have sacrificed lives and limb to free millions from oppression and tyranny -- will not take lectures from hypocritical bodies and institution as Americans selflessly give their blood and treasure to help the defenceless, he said. Top American lawmakers welcomed the move. Applauding the decision, Senator Marco Rubio said that it is a travesty that countries such as Venezuela, China, and Cuba would even be considered for membership on this council. Governments that persecute people of faith, imprison dissidents, repress free speech and violate others' basic human rights have no business participating in an international body purportedly committed to ending human rights abuses, he said. Rubio said he is gravely concerned that US security partners such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt also continue to fall in this category. I implore them to fundamentally improve their human rights practices. If the UN Human Rights Council wants to maintain any shred of credibility, basic respect for and protection of human rights must be a prerequisite for membership and the council must end its hostility toward Israel. Until that is the case, the US should have nothing to do with this broken institution, Rubio said. However, the opposition Democratic party opposed the move. The United States should be leading the world on human rights, not retreating into isolation and separating young children from their families, said Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Tom Perez. Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon welcomed the announcement by the US. The Human Rights Council has long been the foe of those who truly care about human rights around the world. The US has proven, yet again, its commitment to truth and justice and their unwillingness to allow the blind hatred of Israel in international institutions to stand unchallenged," he said. PTI When I first arrived in Moldova, I was surprised to learn that a quarter of its population lives abroad either temporarily or permanently. Between the last two censuses - in 2004 and 2014 - the population decreased from 3.3 million to 2.8 million. Some 20,000 children now have both parents working abroad, while 80,000 children have at least one. Emigration from Moldova is the eleventh highest in the world. Two thirds of the people who left the country are from rural areas and most of those are also young people. Combined with low fertility and high mortality rates, the countrys demographic future looks grim. Moldova is far from alone in facing these challenges. Many countries in our region and around the world struggle with high rates of migration that can leave gaps in families and in entire societies. But with an inventive approach, emigration can also bring significant benefits for the home countries. In Moldova, migration has had a particularly severe impact on education and health. Between 2011 and 2016, the public health sector lost 7 percent of its medium qualified medical staff and 6 percent of its nurses. Alarmingly, around 27 percent of the medical staff is above retirement age. Take the Causeni district, which has a population of 87,000. Based on WHO standards, there should be 7.2 family doctors for every 10,000 inhabitants, but in Causeni we have half: 3.3 family doctors for 10,000 inhabitants. Why would a country that is not at war lose its every fifth citizen in 10 years? As the Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Moldova, I see these figures as symptomatic of a pressing development challenge. Lack of decent job opportunities is a major problem. With over 1 million Moldovans granted Romanian/EU citizenship, labour markets abroad generate more diverse income sources and higher salaries. Even our UNDP office in Moldova has experienced these challenges first hand, with many of our best national staff seizing opportunities abroad. Lack of adequate public services is another pressing issue, which affects rural areas disproportionately. Both the government and development partners are pursuing and promoting reforms and continue to push for investments to improve the job market. But it is not enough. Many Moldovans are not willing to wait for 12 years for the Moldova 2030 development vision to come true: they want a better future now, or they will choose to emigrate. In 2016, more than 20 percent of the GDP of the country came through remittances. While the money sent from abroad contributes to reducing poverty, less than 10 percent of remittances are invested productively. The remaining amount often fuels private consumption and investments in real estate. So, we at UNDP asked ourselves: Could we nudge the diaspora to invest in their communities of origin? And could we work with them to contribute to the development of the country, making it more attractive for people to visit and even stay? This is why we experimented with the Swiss approach (coined Making the most of migration), which linked migrants with their native communities in Moldova through a five-pillar approach: Two thirds of the people who left Moldova are from rural areas and most of those are also young people. Photo: UNDP (1) appointing local migration focal points acting as connectors between the diaspora and their communities of origin; (2) creating databases that map the impact of migration and make it easy to capture investment opportunities; (3) listening to migrants voices and consulting them on local priorities, integrating their suggestions in development plans; (4) establishing Hometown Associations that bring together local governments, local populations, internal migrants and the diaspora to collaborate on local development initiatives; and (5) strengthening transparency and building trust between the diaspora and the local governments in the process. I am proud to say that our experiment has yielded some very impressive results. Through the 38 Hometown Associations established so far, we have consulted Moldovan migrants from all over the world in the last two years. Together with local populations they have defined challenges and priorities, identifying and owning solutions at the local level. It is inspiring to see more than 20,000 migrants taking part in developing local socio-economic development strategies. An example is Chiscareni village with a population of 5,000 people, where one quarter of its population resides abroad. To make sure migrants voices were heard, the mayors office held consultations online (via surveys) and offline (via various campaigns and events) to identify the most urgent local development needs and priorities. Four hundred migrants expressed their views and voted overwhelmingly for better recreational and sporting facilities in the village, especially for children. As a result, a local park was renovated and equipped, with substantial financial contributions from the diaspora. The dedication and hard work of Moldovan migrants has translated into 250 small initiatives, including scholarships and school equipment for children from vulnerable groups, promotion of local brands and products abroad and cultural events. Close to 9,000 migrants have contributed financially, through a crowdfunding platform, to 36 local projects, bringing better services to more than 300,000 people. Contributions reached more than US$200,000. To increase the impact of the funds provided by migrants, we blended them with funds from the Swiss Development Cooperation and local governments. According to the central government, the model is a success and has been institutionalized and legally framed by a government decision so it can be replicated throughout the country. So far 100 communities have expressed interest in setting up Hometown Associations outside our programme using our methodology, and 50 of these have already been established. The model is also being experimented in a handful of other countries. The question you might ask yourself is whether these types of initiatives will really make a difference, whether the challenging migratory trends can be reversed? In the short term, probably not. In the medium to long term, if coupled with reforms, investments and other support, maybe. What we can say with certainty is that this initiative has mobilized tens of thousands of migrants for the benefit of hundreds of thousands of Moldovans back home and that is a good start. New York, 20 June The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) remains one of the most transparent development organizations in the world, according to a new index rating similar organizations across the world. The Aid Transparency Index, produced by the campaign for aid transparency Publish What You Fund, rated UNDP as the second most transparent aid organization in the world, making it the highest rated UN organization. This is the sixth full Index report, which this year assessed 45 of the largest donors of aid and development finance. UNDP scored 95.4 percent, a rise of 2.1 percentage points over the last index, published in 2016. UNDP noted that other organizations assessed for the index have greatly improved their own ratings, spurred on by UNDPs leadership role in striving for transparency. Transparency is a cornerstone of our work at UNDP. We continuously strive to find effective and innovative ways of ensuring that we achieve our goal of being a transparent and trusted partner for all who are interested in our work, said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. UNDP has a long-standing commitment to transparency. As a member of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) since its creation in 2008, UNDP has led outreach efforts with partner countries and UN agencies to champion the aid transparency standard and make it relevant for national development planning, public financial management and mutual accountability of aid, development and humanitarian funding. Said Steiner: We welcome this years ratings and are proud that we have continued to improve our overall performance on the Aid Transparency Index. And we congratulate the growing number of organizations who have decided to commit themselves to transparency and participate in this valuable index. Since the 2016 Aid Transparency Index review, UNDP has further enhanced the publication of project and financial information to the IATI Standard. Significant efforts have been made to increase the number of project related documents available to the public as well as our development results. UNDP also launched today a new UNDP Transparency Portal, which features a number of innovations to allow key information on UNDPs work to be accessed and understood by partners and the wider public. We are always looking at ways to innovate, and our new Transparency Portal is an excellent example of this. Now the world can access our data and better understand how we work, where we work and what we achieve, Steiner said. The new portal allows users to see how UNDP is contributing to development in many categories, including by country, by thematic issues and by contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. The new portal also offers, for the first time, an online training platform on the IATI Standard open to all. The new portal can be accessed from today at open.undp.org. Contact Information: Adam Cathro, UNDP, +1 212 906 5326, adam.cathro@undp.org London, UK, Washington, DC, 20 June On the first day of the Ministerial Climate Change (MOCA) Summit, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and five not-for-profits launched an initiative calling for concerted action to address a neglected area of climate change the land sector. Last year, a study by 16 institutions including several of the Nature4Climate partners found that the land sector contributes a quarter of total greenhouse gas emissions, but could deliver as much as a third of the greenhouse gas reductions required by 2030 to keep global warming below 2 degrees, and do so cost-effectively. Natural climate solutions such as reforestation, conservation agriculture and coastal wetland protection enhance natures ability to absorb and store carbon in forests, farms and wetlands. While there is increasing policy action and investment on renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, governments have been slow to date to address land use. Just 38 out of the 160 governments who signed the Paris agreement have specific targets for the sector. Moreover, natural climate solutions only receive 3% of public mitigation finance, despite being the only economic carbon removal solution available today at scale. Nature4Climate is the worlds first coordinated effort to address the totality of natural climate solutions - across forests, farms, grasslands and wetlands. The group brings together UNDP as well as Conservation International (CI), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Woods Hole Research Center, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), World Resources Institute (WRI). Together they will work over the next five years with national and subnational governments, and business groups at the global and national levels, to increase policy action and investment on natural climate solutions. Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, said: Nature-based solutions for climate are one of the most cost-effective approaches we have for achieving our climate goals. They also provide multiple co-benefits for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals investing in nature is not only the smart thing to do, it is the right thing to do. Dr. Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the World Resources Institute, said: Landscape restoration is the next big thing. It has extraordinary benefits for the economy, jobs, food security, and the climatebut until now, only a sliver of public climate finance and policy attention has been dedicated to land use, said Dr. Andrew Steer, President and CEO, World Resources Institute. The Nature4Climate Initiative is coming at exactly the right moment to build on the growing momentum to restore degraded land, encourage investment, and help save people and the planet. To date, different NGOs and UN agencies have tended to focus mostly on protecting tropical forests as the main land use climate strategy. As part of the initiative, the partners launched a new website today, at Nature4Climate.org. This includes the N4CMapper, which shows the potential of 10 natural climate solutions to reduce and store greenhouse gas emissions in 190 countries, both rich and poor, and north and south. Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy, said: Natural climate solutions are absolutely critical in addressing the climate challengeand they include strategies that are available today, in every country, ready to be implemented and scaled. Managing land presents a great opportunity: it is one of the most effective, cost-efficient tools we have to slow the runaway effects of climate change. Dr. Phil Duffy, President, Woods Hole Research Center, said: "There is no feasible way to stay under 2C of warming without significant removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. There is no better technology for large scale carbon removal, available right now, than natural systems. Science has shown us the scale and potential. Nature4climate will help national and international climate policy makers to take advantage of this opportunity." The partners are also engaging with businesses and local, regional and state governments, including at the upcoming Global Climate Summit in California in September. The 30x30 Challenge, launched last week, invites non-state actors to increase action on land use, alongside four other key challenge areas, and calls for action on forests, food and land to deliver 30% of the solution to climate change by 2030. Dr. M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International, said: Under R&D for 4.5 billion years, nature is the only carbon sequestration technology that today achieves negative emissions at a meaningful scale. It is also among the most economical forms of climate mitigation available and has hosts of other benefits. We have the knowledge to use land efficiently, to protect carbon in soils, and to keep carbon rich forests standing. What we need is partnerships among governments, businesses, indigenous communities and civil society to get it done. Peter Bakker, CEO of World Business Council for Sustainable Development, said: The implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement is a collective challenge, and the private sector is committed to delivering the required business pathways. Forward-thinking businesses are calling on all leaders to introduce effective economic mechanisms for transitioning to a low-carbon world, including carbon pricing and the recognition of natures contribution to carbon storage and emission-reduction potential. We are keen to be working in partnership with Nature4Climate to help scale investment, business action, and ambition on natural climate solutions. About N4C: Nature4Climate (N4C) is an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and five world-leading not-for-profits (Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, Woods Hole Research Center, World Business Council for Sustainable Development and World Resources Institute) that aims to increase investment and action on natural climate solutions in support of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. The N4C partners work together to catalyse partnerships between governments, civil society, business and investors to cut and remove greenhouse gas emissions across the land sector. To learn more, please visit www.nature4climate.org or follow @nature4climate on Twitter. Contact information: Dylan Lowthian, +1 212-906-5516, dylan.lowthian@undp.org. As prepared for delivery. Excellencies, ladies, and gentlemen, Let me start by thanking our distinguished speakers for their continued efforts to strengthen the rule of law and human rights, and for their willingness to share their experiences with us today. Its a pleasure to be here with you at this years Annual Rule of Law and Human Rights Meeting. As a community of governments, practitioners, think-tanks and UN entities, we have spent nearly ten years investing in and learning from our efforts to strengthen the rule of law in countries hardest-hit by crisis. I am very happy that UNDP continues to play a pivotal role in this work and in bringing stakeholders together. This meeting provides us with an important opportunity to review the results that we have achieved together in 2017 and to shape our collective priorities for the years to come, especially in the context of UN reforms. Introduction The international community currently faces challenges unprecedented in their complexity - mass displacement, protracted and complex conflicts, climate change, violent extremism. These challenges pose risks to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in many countries and undermine efforts to support those who are furthest behind. Establishing inclusive, effective, and responsive justice and security institutions remains a key priority in all development settings, and particularly so in crises settings. The Recent UN-World Bank Study Pathways for Peace confirmed that these institutions are critical for preventing outbreaks of violence and conflict and are among the main foundations for sustaining peace. UNDPs Global Programme on Strengthening the Rule of Law and Human Rights for Sustaining Peace and Fostering Development aims to focus our efforts, providing technically-sound and politically-relevant support throughout the decisive moments in a countrys trajectory from crisis towards sustainable development. We support national partners in fostering a rule of law culture in which people experience greater peace and security and can exercise their rights, advance their livelihoods, and protect those of future generations. This work is carried out under the leadership of our national partners and in close collaboration with UN sister agencies. The ability to work across the UN system to achieve the vision set forth in the 2030 Agenda requires a collective UN effort in line with the UN Secretary-Generals reforms - and the mobilization of all our talents to get us there. Key Partnerships Partnerships have become the modus operandi in the UN. I am proud that the Global Programme has played a strong role in driving this change to ensure the system can deliver, in a unified manner, informed by a common analysis and common rule of law strategy, and led by UN leadership on the ground. This support to DSRSGs and RCs is buttressed by UNDP's programme delivery and represents the future I see for UNDP. Since 2012, the Global Programme has worked hand in hand through the Global Focal Point for Police, Justice, and Corrections, convened by UNDP and DPKO, to leverage expertise from across the UN system and deliver coordinated rule of law assistance in crisis-affected settings around the world. It has been recognised by the Secretary-General as a flagship effort for joint engagement in the field and at headquarters to achieve the Sustaining Peace and the SDG agendas. The Global Programme also supports the Global Alliance for Reporting Progress on Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies to mobilize Member States, the private sector and civil society around SDG16. And, we maintain robust partnerships with OHCHR, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and UNHCR to adequately support refugees and host communities. Dynamic partnerships such as these have helped shape the Global Programme into the strong platform of comprehensive support to Member States it is today. And I wish to extend my gratitude to all these partners present here today. Achieving Results The 2017 Annual Report of the Global Programme highlights the key results we have achieved together. Allow me to share a few examples: In The Gambia, UNDP, together with OHCHR, has been a key convener of government officials, justice service providers, civil society organizations, the public, and the international community to discuss issues around truth, reconciliation, and reparations. Nation-wide consultations took place in all seven regions of the country, providing a rare space for justice providers to engage with communities on the mechanisms to address their grievances and aspirations. As a result, a Truth and Reconciliation and Reparations Commission was established in December 2017, in compliance with the Paris Principles. In El Salvador, with support from the Peacebuilding Fund, UNDPs community security efforts have contributed to a significant decline in violence, with 60 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017 compared to 103 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015. In 2017, UNDP provided support to the technical secretariat of the National Council for Citizen Security and Coexistence and built the capacity of security institutions to implement the El Salvador Seguro national policy in 26 municipalities. In Nepal, UNDP, in partnership with UN Women, helped the National Judicial Academy develop the Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy and corresponding training manual for the judiciary. The manuals were then utilized in 10 trainings, increasing the knowledge on gender and social inclusion of 400 judges, public prosecutors, police, court officers, and court personnel. In addition, we supported the Womens Committee of the National Bar Association in reviewing 10 laws on gender and social inclusion. In Liberia, the UNDP - UNMIL Joint Programme on the Rule of Law, developed under the auspices of the Global Focal Point, has been successful in facilitating the transition from peacekeeping towards sustainable development. Together with the Liberia National Law Enforcement Association, the joint programme set up five regional offices to oversee the work of the security councils in the different regions and strengthen their prevention efforts by collaborating with the National Security Council and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Early Warning Centre in Monrovia. These results represent important milestones within each specific country context towards creating more just, peaceful, and inclusive societies. Thanks to the Global Programme and its partners, UNDP now assists in strengthening the rule of law and promoting human rights in nearly 40 crisis-affected countries around the world. In 2017 alone, 28 countries expanded the geographical reach of their justice and security services and 19 countries established or improved mechanisms to prevent and address sexual and gender-based violence. Through the Global Programme, UNDP and our UN partners also have a unique opportunity to capture the lessons learned across a wide-range of development contexts, which has helped to inform global processes and ongoing UN reforms. Setting Priorities for the Future UNDP remains committed to ensuring the Global Programme is at the service of the UN system and is contributing to the Secretary-Generals efforts on prevention and the 2030 Agenda. Let me share three points for reflection on the way forward: First, we see great opportunity for providing support to the empowered Resident Coordinator system within the sustaining peace agenda. We will be exploring the idea of deploying Rule of Law Advisers to RCs based on the existing model of security sector reform (SSR) advisers. Together with DPKO and the Peacebuilding Fund we already support three SSR advisers in Burkina Faso, Gambia and Guinea. Second, we can leverage the Global Focal Point arrangement to sustain progress on the rule of law during peace mission transitions and in situations of protracted displacement. Third, I also see much potential in using the Global Programme to build on Member States commitments in the Universal Periodic Review process, to accelerate implementation of the Agenda 2030. Finally, I remain committed to growing UNDPs rule of law engagement in our policy realignment reinforcing our focus on peace, justice, inclusion as well as the rights of the most vulnerable as an essential component of our support to the 2030 Agenda. In doing so, we aim to work with our national partners to foster a rule of law culture that does not only exist on paper, but that permeates the actions and aspirations of every person and every public and private institution. By coming together in partnerships like the Global Focal Point, each with our unique strengths and experiences we hope to make this living rule of law a reality for the benefit of people, planet, peace and prosperity. The city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Creative Commons Zero Today on World Refugee Day (June 20), mayors from more than 50 cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Los Angeles, Manchester, Mexico City, New York, Sao Paulo and Sydney, are calling for more local authorities and municipalities to join them in welcoming and including refugees in their communities. The Cities #WithRefugees initiative highlights the increasingly important role cities have taken on in accommodating refugees. Nearly two out of three refugees settle in urban areas whose residents are often the first to help refugees when they flee danger or later when they are resettled to new countries. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, praised the communities and individuals that are a positive force for inclusion. The Cities #WithRefugees initiative sends an important message of solidarity with refugees, at a moment when conflict and persecution is uprooting millions of people worldwide. With the majority of refugees now living in towns and cities, mayors and community leaders play a critical role in mobilising support, opening up access to services and opportunities, and helping refugees become members of new communities. As we work towards a new Global Compact on refugees, we want to ensure that when local people and organisations come together to welcome refugees, they receive the recognition and support they need. The Cities #WithRefugees initiative follows the release yesterday (June 19) of new figures by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency that show a continuation of a five-year upward trend in the number of people displaced by conflict or persecution worldwide. At the global level UN member states have been drafting a Global Compact on Refugees to transform the way the international community responds to refugee crises and create a more predictable and equitable support for the countries and communities which host them. Cities will play a vital role in making it work. The Cities #WithRefugees initiative is part of UNHCRs ongoing #WithRefugees campaign, launched in 2016 to support the development of the global compact on refugees. The Campaign seeks to channel global public support for families forced to flee their homes and calls for all refugees to be able to live in safety, have access to education and be able to support their families. To date the campaign has almost 2 million signatures to its core petition and approaching 19 million actions in support of refugees. Full list of cities and joint statement For more information on this topic, please contact: June 13 2018 Grahams Family Dairy has appealed to the Scottish Government to approve its planning application for a 40m processing and R&D plant alongside 600 homes spearheaded by Mactaggart & Mickel at Airthrey Green, Stirling A planning application documenting the bid was lodged in 2014, outlining plans for a new primary school and public park as part, but this was refused by planners in 2016 , beginning a two-year appeal battle to force it through. The projects fate now rests in the hands of the Scottish Government which must decide whether to back or overturn the decision by Stirling Council. Robert Graham commented: Airthrey Green is the ideal case study for what the Sustainable Growth Commission Report refers to as the Next Generation Economic Model for Scotland. It will have a transformational, positive impact at a crucial time, not only to our business but also the local community. Approval will constitute a step-change in investment by facilitating the new dairy, while at the same time tackling the critical housing shortage for Stirling. If approved the development would include 15,000sq/ft of retail, new foot and cycle paths and infrastructure improvements such as a flood alleviation scheme. June 20 2018 Fourteen tenants have been handed the keys to a FitHome concept village in Dalmore, Alness, which seeks to marry basic housing provision with healthcare and welfare. The pilot project has been delivered by Carbon Dynamic on behalf of Albyn Housing Association and NHS Highland to enable people to extend their independence within the community for longer by taking advantage of new technological solutions to detect the onset of ill-health. The village will serve as a proof of concept for this new approach, which is already in planning to be rolled out in Nairn and Inverness. Lucy Fraser, head of innovation at Albyn Housing Society, said: At the heart of the FitHome concept is a shared vision which states that everyone should have the choice to live safe and well in their homes and communities for as long as they want. Whats more, it demonstrates a collaborative approach to wellness by combining the principles of health, care and housing with modular home design and Internet of Things technology something we must embrace and take advantage of as we delve deeper into the digital age. Just as important, the FitHome and its social business model is replicable throughout Scotland, the UK and globally, delivering a real solution that puts the customer first as well as directly addressing inequality and growing healthcare challenges, and creating training and employability opportunities. The FitHome concept originated in 2008 when a tenant was found dead in their home, having lain unnoticed for over a year, galvanising Albyn into putting new preventative measures in place. June 20 2018 Real estate giant Vastint has obtained planning permission from City of Edinburgh Council to proceed with the first phase of a new urban quarter on the site of the former Fountain Brewery. The planned urban neighbourhood balance a mix of commercial, residential and leisure uses on the brownfield city centre site including a 262 bed Moxy hotel and restaurant fronting a new civic space. Dubbed New Fountainbridge the development will also include a landmark office and retail together with family homes and canal-side apartments. Chris Jetten, development manager at Vastint said: Our plan heralds a fresh start for Fountainbridge and we look forward to working with the community to create a vibrant, new neighbourhood that forms a distinctive, urban quarter in Edinburgh.Phase one of the plan, designed by 3DReid to include the hotel and 56,370sq/ft of office space, will move on-site by the end of the year. A separate planning application for the residential component of the scheme will also be lodged later this year. UW, Community College Educators Train at Active-Learning Institute Assistant Professor Michael Taylor, of UWs Department of Chemistry, presents his instructional strategy during the recent UW Learning Actively Mentoring Program Summer Institute. (UW Photo) A group of 25 educators from the University of Wyoming and three Wyoming community colleges came away from a recent UW summer institute with new ideas and methods to better engage their students. The Learning Actively Mentoring Program (LAMP) Summer Institute, part of UWs Science Initiative, took place June 4-9 in Leadville, Colo. Joining the 16 UW educators were instructors from Northwest College (NWC) in Powell, Laramie County Community College (LCCC) in Cheyenne and Sheridan College. I cant imagine it being a more positive, energizing, productive experience, one participant wrote in a post-institute evaluation. This is just what we need -- hands across campus, working as a tribe to make learning more active and also more interdisciplinary. Active learning, a foundational element of the UW Science Initiative, is a process in which students are required to synthesize and apply their knowledge rather than just memorize. It requires doing rather than observing and can range in scope from small learning activities to the format for the entire class. LAMP is a comprehensive, sustained mentoring and professional development program for educators with an emphasis on how to best adopt active-learning strategies in their classrooms. When practiced effectively, active-learning methods have been shown to decrease student failure rates and increase academic success, understanding and retention; student engagement; motivation to learn; and science professional skill. I had no idea about implementing active learning prior to the program, another participant wrote. It was fantastic to learn from diverse mentors with various expertise. The institute included in-depth training on team-based learning and problem-based learning. Among the presenters was Julie Estis of the Team-Based Learning (TBL) Collaborative, an organization of educators from around the world who encourage and support the use of team-based learning in all levels of education. All institute participants will design or redesign curriculum based upon what they learned. The way everything was presented in modeling style and the time to collaborate was the key, a third participant wrote. Its the best professional development I have ever done. I am walking away ready to implement and feeling supported. Here are the educators who participated, listed by home institution and department: NWC chemistry program -- Michael Cuddy. NWC biology program -- Mathew Osborne. NWC mathematics program -- Kerrie Spinney. Sheridan College biology program -- Matthew Craig. LCCC chemistry program -- Stephanie Fielder. LCCC agriculture program -- Matthew Morrison and Bruce Nisley. LCCC agroecology/natural resource economics program -- Rosemary McBride. LCCC mathematics program -- Kira Heater. UW science education and Albany County schools -- Ali Baas. UW Department of Veterinary Sciences -- Gerard Andrews. UW Department of Physics and Astronomy -- Amy Cavanaugh, Riley Jordan, David Kasper and Dylan Kloster. UW Honors College -- Lori Howe, Mary Katherine Scott and Ann Stebner Steele. UW Department of Zoology and Physiology -- Karagh Brummond, Libby Megna and Amy Navratil. UW Air Force ROTC -- George Noah and Samuel Shearer. UW Department of Botany -- Katie Wagner. UW Department of Chemistry -- Michael Taylor. Here are those who served as LAMP mentors, listed by home institution and department: UW LAMP -- Director Rachel Watson. UW Department of Physics and Astronomy -- Danny Dale. UW Department of Botany -- Kali Nicholas Moon. UW Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning -- Christine Boggs and Janel Seeley. NWC biology program -- Monia Haselhorst. Eastern Wyoming College chemistry program -- Sridhar Budhi. Eastern Wyoming College mathematics program -- Dinesh Kasti. Eastern Michigan University -- Peggy Liggit. Retired expert in knowledge surveys, science literacy and metacognition -- Ed Nuhfer. The decision may open the doors for more investors as the auction will not only be for strategic investors BSR has adjusted the state ownership divestment plan. According to Tran Ngoc Nguyen, general director of BSR, the refinery would have to complete the selection of strategic investors before March 8, which it missed due to complications during the selection process. Besides, the government refused to extend the deadline for the firm. As a result, BSR decided to put the shares on sale on the stock exchange. The script of BSRs divestment will be similar to that of Sabeco, which sold 53.59 per cent to a Thai partner. At the same time, BSR will have the opportunity to find more interested investors, instead of limiting the sale to the strategic investors as previously planned. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. is considered the most promising investor for the second share sale. Nguyen shared that at present, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. is considered the most promising investor. However, if BSR conducts the second share sale on the stock exchange, it will push out the process by at least one more year. BSR will take a long time to complete the divestment procedures. The Indian and other investors are evaluating their investment plans in BSR. BSR is a large-scale firm, thus the evaluation is also expected to last between six months to one year, Nguyen stated. Nguyen added that the offering price will depend on the market at the time of the sale. Along with the state ownership divestment plan, BSR also has accelerated the progress of expanding Dung Quat Refinery. To date, the firm completed 99.8 per cent of the land clearance and compensation. It has co-operated with design contractors to build an updated environmental impact assessment report according to local authorities' requirement. BSR expects to select the EPC contractor next year. Regarding the arrangement of the $1.2 billion loan to expand Dung Quat Refinery, the representative of BSR released that it will sign a contract with a consultancy firm to be in charge of building the plan to call for capital in the project. Nguyen stated that the consultancy firm is be a local firm that has a joint venture with foreign partners. Hanoi has imported 100 cleaning machines from the Hako Group, which have helped make remarkable environmental changes. - VNA Photo Their first stop was Germany, where they arrived on June 19. In Frankfurt, they had a working session with the Hako Group, one of the leading international manufacturers of cleaning and municipal technology. Hanoi has imported 100 cleaning machines from the Hako Group, which have helped make remarkable environmental changes. Hako representatives informed the delegation of the groups decision to open a representative office and a maintenance plant in Ha Noi. Chung welcomed Hakos long-term plan in the city and confirmed that the authority would provide optimal conditions for the opening of its representative office in Hanoi. He expressed hope that the group would bring other major German business to the capital. Chung asked the group to increase the training of staff running the cleaning machines to maximise their operations. He also urged the group to participate in building an urban management and operation centre in Ha Noi as the city was undertaking a strategy to develop smart urban areas. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping make a toast at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Photo: AFP) The two-day visit which ends Wednesday (Jun 20) is designed to reassure Beijing that Pyongyang will not neglect its interests as Trump and the young autocrat move into uncharted diplomatic terrain. The performance is part of a delicate balancing act for Kim, who analysts say is seeking to play US and Chinese interests off each other while maintaining good relations with Beijing, his economic patron and diplomatic protector. China and the US both hope to see the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons, but Beijing is concerned Washington and Pyongyang might move closer at its expense, a possibility that China sees as threatening to its economic and security interests in the region. While China was not present at the Jun 12 summit in Singapore, it lent Kim a plane to travel to the city-state, a clear sign that it remains an influential force in the diplomatic shuffle. The Cold War-era allies, which fought side-by-side against US-led UN forces and South Korea in the 1950 to 1953 Korean War, have sought to repair ties strained by Pyongyang's nuclear tests and Beijing's support of subsequent United Nations sanctions. Kim chose Beijing for his first official foreign trip in March and met Xi again in April in the northeastern port city of Dalian. Kim's agenda for Wednesday was not made public. An AFP journalist saw a motorcade leaving the Diaoyutai guest house for foreign dignitaries in Beijing, but it was unclear where it was headed. During his meeting with Xi Tuesday, Kim thanked China for "positive and sincere support and good help for the successful" summit with Trump, according to North Korea's official KCNA news agency. The North Korean leader, who was greeted by a military honour guard and cheering children at the Great Hall of the People Tuesday, said he valued the "recently strengthened strategic cooperation" between the two countries. "He expressed the determination and will to further develop the closer relations of friendship, unity and cooperation between the two parties and the two peoples of the DPRK and China," KCNA said. Kim also invoked the "prospect for the denuclearisation of the Korea Peninsula" following his meeting with Trump. For his part, Xi told Kim that China "speaks highly" of his summit with Trump and he urged Washington and Pyongyang to implement their agreement struck in Singapore. The Chinese leader vowed that Beijing would continue to play a "constructive role" in the nuclear diplomacy. TRADE CARD The official media of both countries did not say whether Kim and Xi discussed the prospect of easing UN sanctions that have crippled North Korea's economy, though analysts said it could have been part of the agenda. Shin Bum-cheol, a senior fellow at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said Kim and Xi were likely seeking "common ground" following the Singapore summit. (Graphic: AFP/Gal Roma) For China, North Korea can serve as "an important card" as Beijing faces a potential trade war with the United States," Shin told AFP. "For the North, it can also show to the world, especially the US, that Beijing has Pyongyang's back if the North's ties with the US sour in the future," Shin said. North Korean officials have also visited China recently to learn about its economic reforms - yet another sign of Pyongyang's reliance on Beijing for its economic wellbeing. "We are happy to see that the DPRK made a major decision to shift the focus to economic construction, and the development of the DPRK's socialist cause has entered a new stage in history," Xi told Kim, according to China's official Xinhua news agency. China has backed United Nations sanctions against its ally but indicated last year that the UN Security Council could consider easing the punitive measures. Banks will be prohibited from buying bonds for the purpose of restructuring the issuers existing loans.-Photo VNA Under Circular No. 15/2018/TT-NHNN issued on Monday, which revises Circular No. 22/2016/TT-NHNN dated June 30, 2016, the central bank prohibits them from buying bonds for the purpose of restructuring the issuers existing loans, effective from August 2 this year. The central bank also stipulates that for corporate bond purchase, credit institutions and foreign banks branches must have an internal credit rating system besides the system to rate the bond issuers. They are also required to issue internal regulations on the purchase of corporate bonds in accordance with the current legal regulations. Accordingly, internal supervision regulations on corporate bond purchase, especially bonds issued for the purpose of implementing programmes and projects in areas of potential risk as identified by the assessment of credit institutions and foreign banks branches, must be established to detect risks and violations to ensure the recovery of principal and interest of corporate bonds. Credit institutions and foreign banks branches must also issue internal regulations on specifying the areas of potential risks as well as their credit and investment policies on the areas. It is estimated that some 75 per cent of corporate bond buyers in Viet Nam are commercial banks, which makes these bonds no different from bank loans. Bui Quang Tin, professor at the HCM Banking University, told the Dau tu (Vietnam Investment Review) that some companies sold bonds to banks to restructure their existing loans rather than raise new capital, which defeated the original purpose of bond issuance. According to Tin, outside investors, especially individual investors, usually have no access to a firms business activities. Viet Nam does not have an independent credit rating agency, which makes bond investment risky, as investors do not know which issuer can pay back their bonds. To attract more international investors, Tin suggested setting up a credit rating agency, as well as diversifying bond offers to the market. Besides, financial experts also believed that a streamlined legal framework will pave the way for more corporate bond issuers as fixed-income products, such as bonds, are still attractive to investors, thanks to its safety and lower risks. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc gives a speech at the conference in Soc Trang on June 19.- VNA/VNS Photo Im delighted to witness the huge investment of $5.4 billion, which will soon come to the province, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the conference. He expressed the belief that in the coming decade Soc Trang would expand its economy to achieve middle-income status. We should have strong belief to act aggressively to make Soc Trang move forward. He suggested three development trends for the province: high-tech agriculture adapted to climate change, clean seafood production and processing targeting high-class markets and eco-tourism linked with clean and smart agricultural models. With respect to tourism he pointed to the cultural advantages the province has in terms of language, religion, beliefs, cuisine, and festivals. Soc Trang Province must develop a new belief and inspiration for its residents and the national and international business community. He instructed local authorities to pay attention to human resources and education, saying they hold the key to sustainable development. We must stop thinking on the basis of borders. It is necessary to have inter-regional thinking to take advantage of all available resources. He called for creating a co-operation model between farmers, authorities, investors, banks, scientists, and distributors, and for the province to develop value chains and quality standards for agricultural products. Let us work together with national and international distributors, like supermarkets, to promote sales and increase the value of high-tech agricultural products. He said the province must also improve its business environment to become more attractive to local and foreign investors. Authorities and industries must work together to cope with climate change. He called on local authorities to create the most favourable conditions for investors, balance the need for investors profits with social welfare and not offer too many incentives to investors while depriving locals of benefits brought by development. I would like all investors and enterprises to actively undertake corporate social responsibility. Incentives should be paid back by contributing to society. Soc Trang in Khmer means Treasure Land, and he expressed the belief that in future the province would be a place where investors find their treasure. Participants were updated on Soc Trangs investment incentives, other investment-related information and the list of projects seeking investment. New place for investors Since 2016 investment in Soc Trang has grown thanks to administrative reform by the local government. It has set up a taskforce to resolve all difficulties faced by investors. The province has winds averaging speeds of 6-6.2 metres per second, which offer enormous potential for generating wind power. Like most other places in the tropical country, its solar power potential is also huge. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has approved 22 locations for wind power development in the province with 35,740 hectares, where plants can be put up with a total capacity of 1,470MW. Soc Trang also boasts great agricultural potential thanks to its fertile soil and excellent climate. Agriculture, with many key items, contributes significantly to the local economy. Its rice output last year topped 2.11 million tonnes, with speciality varieties accounting for almost half. It has more than 74,000 hectares of aquaculture lands, 50,000 hectares of have been set aside for brackish-water shrimp breeding, mostly along the coast. Its fisheries exports were worth $570 million last year. Livestock farming has been growing strongly, with a dairy cow-breeding programme in 2013-2020 proving efficient and expanding to many districts and towns. There are 9,720 cows which provide 2,880 tonnes of milk a year. Soc Trang also has strengths in the maritime economy with ports and shipping services being major segments. It has in place a master plan to develop its coastal economy through 2020 with a vision to 2030. The province is seeking the Governments approval to build a deep-water port and hopes to involve investors with deep pockets in the project. It plans to prioritise connectivity between its ports, urban areas, industrial parks, and tourism sites along the Hau River, while developing sectors like aquaculture, beach tourism and energy. With aquaculture being a major pillar of its economy, the province plans to pilot an irrigation model for specialised shrimp farming in Tran De District and Vinh Chau town. To develop tourism, the province has joined hands with Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province to operate a speedboat to Con Dao Island. It has sought investment in many eco-tourism sites like Ho Be in Vinh Chau Disrict and Mo O in Tran De District. The investment conference was attended by Party and State leaders, officials from ministries, localities, international organisations, foreign diplomatic agencies in Viet Nam, trade and investment promotion organisations, finance and credit institutions, economic associations and groups, and local and foreign companies. The Prime Minister meeting with representatives of agencies and international organisations On June 19, the Soc TrangYour Opportunity investment promotion conference took place in Soc Trang city, featuring the launch of the provincial startup community. The event gathered the participation of around 500 delegates representing Vietnamese ministries and sectors, international organisations, as well as foreign diplomatic agencies in Vietnam, financial and credit institutions, trade-investment promotion organisations, and businesses and investors, both from home and abroad. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended and addressed the conference. Tran Van Chuyen, Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, said that Soc Trang is calling for investment in high-tech agriculture associated with the three priority fields of the processing industry, renewable energy, and tourism. With a coastline stretching 72 kilometres and three large estuaries, Soc Trang possesses a lot of advantages in developing a seaport and sea freight system. This is also one of the areas in which the province is mobilising investment. Chuyen committed to accompany and create the most favorable conditions in procedures and land to welcome long-term investors. Nguyen Van Hieu, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, said that despite its advantages, FDI in Soc Trang is still modest. Thereby, this province needs to pay attention to the socioeconomic development master plan, regional linkages, and useful advice from international conglomerates and organisations. Key projects should to be developed quickly, especially infrastructure, which creates connectivity and spill-over effects, as well as improves CPI and enhances business dialogue. Tran Quoc Khanh, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, agreed with the orientation of renewable energy development, which is considered the provinces breakthrough for sustainable development. Khanh also committed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade would facilitate investors to develop projects in this sector and exploit the potential of the provinces 72km coastline. Huong Tran Thuy Dung, deputy general director of FLC Group, said that the group is ready to invest into Soc Trang. Despite various initial difficulties and challenges, Dung believed that FLC would create breakthroughs to complete large projects in the province in the time to come. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc addressing the meeting At the conclusion of the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that Soc Trang has three estuaries facing the East SeaDinh An, Tran De, and My Thanhgiving it a business advantage. The leader suggested that the province develop hi-tech agriculture to adapt to climate change and adopt clean aquaculture, processing industry, and eco-tourism. The PM highlighted other local advantages, going from cultural and religious diversity to cuisine and festivals, notably Ok Om Bok (moon worship) festival and the Ghe Ngo (Khmer boat) race. Stressing that education is key to development, the PM asked the province to attract talented people to contribute to the homeland, considering it a driving force for rapid, sustainable, and inclusive development in Soc Trang and the southwestern region as a whole. According to him, the Trung Luong-Can Tho Highway will create an important driving force for the region, including Soc Trang, once it is completed. At the event, he proposed building a value chain and manufacturing by connecting farmers, the state, investors, banks, scientists, and distributors, as well as switching to farming with higher added-values. The province was also urged to improve its business climate to make it more attractive to domestic and foreign investors, while departments and agencies must join Soc Trang in the fight against climate change. The government leader also asked Soc Trang to offer all possible support to investors, adding that incentives need to be exchanged for corporate social responsibility. Cooperation agreements on agriculture, trade, and investment promotion, power grid and credit supply between Soc Trang, ministries, and agencies were signed at the event. Numerous projects were granted investment certificates On this occasion, the province granted investment licences and Memoranda of Understanding on investment cooperation to 47 projects worth over $6 billion in total and VND4.3 trillion ($189.4 million) in credit assistance. Certificates of merit and funding were also presented to startup and innovative firms. Last year, Soc Trang granted investment licences to 29 projects, seven more than in 2016, at a total cost of more than VND4.15 trillion ($181.98 million), or a 3.5-fold increase against the previous year. In the first five months of this year, investment certificates were presented to 12 projects worth over VND2.8 trillion. In the framework of this investment promotion conference, on June 18, Soc Trang inaugurated the business incubator under the Soc Trang Investment Promotion and Enterprise Support Centre in the presence of Le Thanh Tri, Standing Vice Chairman of the Soc Trang People's Committee, Charlene Laurence, the first secretary of the Canadian Embassy in Vietnam, and leaders of provincial departments, agencies, and startups. File photo of US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley speaking during the UN Security Council meeting in New York. (Don EMMERT/AFP) The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, came to Washington to announce the decision alongside President Donald Trump's top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Both insisted the United States would remain a leading champion of human rights, but for many, the decision will reflect Trump's general hostility to the world body and to multilateral diplomacy in general. The announcement came after the top UN human rights official criticised Washington for separating migrant children from their parents who are seeking asylum after crossing into the country from Mexico. But Haley and Pompeo stressed the decision had been made after a long year of efforts to shame the council into reform and to remove member states that themselves commit abuses. "These reforms were needed in order to make the council a serious advocate for human rights," Haley said. "For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded." The Geneva-based body was established in 2006 to promote and protect human rights worldwide, but its pronouncements and reports have often clashed with US priorities. In particular, the council's focus on Israeli behavior towards Palestinians in the territory it occupies on the West Bank and in Gaza has infuriated Washington. But, as Haley stressed, Washington also believes it comes up short on criticizing even flagrant abuses by US opponents like Venezuela and Cuba. "Countries have colluded with each other to undermine the current method of selecting members," Pompeo said. "And the council's continued and well-documented bias against Israel is unconscionable," he said. "Since its creation, the council has adopted more resolutions condemning Israel than against the rest of the world combined." Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US move, branding the council "a biased, hostile, anti-Israel organisation that has betrayed its mission of protecting human rights." Haley, who issued a warning a year ago that Washington would make good on its threat to leave the council if reforms were not carried through, used even starker language. "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he regretted Washington's decision, adding: "The UN's human rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide." On Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein - a Jordanian - had rebuked Trump over the US practice of splitting up migrant families detained on the Mexican border. "The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable," he said. DEFENDING ISRAEL Independent watchdog Human Rights Watch criticized the move, warning Washington's absence at the council would put the onus on other governments to address the world's most serious rights problems. "The Trump administration's withdrawal is a sad reflection of its one-dimensional human rights policy: defending Israeli abuses from criticism takes precedence above all else," executive director Kenneth Roth said. "The UN Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel." US criticism stems from the fact that Israel is the only country that has a dedicated agenda item, known as Item 7, at the rights council, meaning its treatment of the Palestinians comes under scrutiny at each of the body's three annual sessions. The United States refused to join the body when it was created in 2006, when George W. Bush was in the White House and his ambassador to the UN was John Bolton, Trump's current hawkish and UN-skeptic national security advisor. It was only after Barack Obama came to power that Washington joined the council in 2009. Since Trump took office, the United States has quit the UN cultural agency UNESCO, cut UN funding and announced plans to quit the UN-backed Paris climate agreement. Historically, Germany maintained excellent relations with the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was fascinated by Islam, pursued archeological excavations, notably in Baalbeck, and participated in the construction of the first railways, including the Damascus -Medina line. The Reich and the Sublime Porte stood together against the British when they organised the Great Arab Revolt of 1915. Then they lost the First World War, and as a result, were excluded from the region (Sykes-Picot-Sazovov agreements). During the Cold War, the CIA recuperated some of the best Nazi officers in order to continue its struggle against the USSR. Among them were Gerhard von Mende, who had recruited Soviet Muslims against Moscow [1]. In 1953, this senior civil servant installed the chief of the Muslim Brotherhood outside of Egypt, Said Ramadan, in Munich [2]. In the same period, the CIA secretly sent Nazi officers all over the world to fight the pro-Soviets. For example, Otto Skorzeny went to Egypt, Fazlollah Zahedi went to Iran, and Alois Brunner [3] to Syria. They all organised the local secret services on the model of the Gestapo. Brunner was only to be ousted much later, in 2000, by President Bachar el-Assad. In the period between the Khomeinist revolution of 1979 and the attacks of 9/11, West Germany remained prudent in their dealings with the Muslim Brotherhood. However, at the demand of the CIA, and while Syria recognised East Germany, it accepted to offer political asylum to the putschists who attempted the coup detat of 1982 against President Hafez el-Assad, including the ex-Supreme Guide Issam al-Attar (brother of Syrian Vice-President Najah el-Attar). In the 1990s, the Brotherhood reorganised itself in Germany with the assistance of two businessmen, the Syrian Ali Ghaleb Himmat and the Egyptian Youssef Nada, who was later to be accused by Washington of financing Oussma Ben Laden. When the United States began the never-ending war in the Greater Middle East , the CIA encouraged reunified Germany to launch a Dialogue with the Muslim world . In Berlin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs based his work for that purpose mostly on the new local chief of the Brotherhood, Ibrahim el-Zayat, and on an expert, Volker Perthes, who would become the director of the main federal think-tank, the Foundation for Science and Politics (SWP). In 2005, Germany participated in the assassination of Rafic Hariri by supplying the weapon which was used to kill him - (it was obviously not a classic explosive, contrary to the propaganda of the special Tribunal ) [4]. Thereafter, Germany supplied the head of the UNO Enquiry, ex-prosecutor Detlev Mehlis [5], and his assistant, ex-police commissioner Gerhard Lehmann, who was implicated in the affair of secret CIA prisons. In 2008, while the CIA was preparing the Syrian civil war , Volker Perthes was invited by NATO to the annual reunion of the Bilderberg Group. He worked with a Syrian civil servant of the CIA, Bassma Kodmani. Together, they explained to all participants the profit that could be made by the West by overthrowing the Syrian Arab Republic and placing the Muslim Brotherhood in power. Having adopted the double language of the Brotherhood, in 2001 he wrote an op-ed in the New York Times mocking President Assad who believed he had unearthed a conspiracy against his country [6]. In October of the same year, he participated in a meeting of Turkish business leaders organised by the private US intelligence agency, Stratfor. He told his listeners of the oil and gas resources that they could steal from Syria [7]. Expanding this work, Germany organised in Abou Dhabi a meeting of the Friends of Syria under the presidency of one of its diplomats, Clemens von Goetze, who shared among those present the future concessions for exploitation which would be awarded to the winners once NATO overthrew the Syrian Arab Republic [8]. In mid-2012, Volker Perthes was tasked by the US Department of Defense with preparing The Day After (in other words the government which would be imposed on Syria). He organised meetings at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs with the participation of 45 Syrian personalities, including his friend Bassma Kodmani and Muslim Brother Radwan Ziadeh, who had come especially from Washington [9]. Finally, Perthes became one of Jeffrey Feltmans assistants at the UNO. With that title, he participated in all the Geneva negotiations. The positions of the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs were adopted word for word by the European External Action Service (EEAS) of Federica Mogherini. This administration, directed by a French senior civil servant, drew up confidential notes on Syria for the heads of state and government of the Union. In 2015, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had become the world protector of the Muslim Brotherhood, organised the transfer of more than a million people to Germany [10], thus conforming to the demand by German industrial business leaders. A number of these migrants are Syrians, including those the AKP no longer wants, and which Germany does not want to return home. Chancellor Angela Merkel will be in Beirut and Amman this week to talk about Syria. The politico-media projectors, focussed as they are on the migratory flow from South to North across the Mediterranean, are leaving other Mediterranean flows in the dark those moving from North to South, comprised of military forces and weapons. Perhaps we should say the Greater Mediterranean , an area which, in the framework of USA / NATO strategy, stretches from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, and to the South, from the Persian Gulf as far as the Indian Ocean. During his meeting with NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, in Rome, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte pointed out the centrality of the greater Mediterranean for European security , now threatened by the arc of instability stretching from the Mediterranean to the Middle East . Which is why it is important for NATO, an alliance under US command, which Conte describes as the pillar of interior and international security . This is a complete inversion of reality. It is the foundation of USA / NATO strategy which in fact provoked the arc of instability with its two wars against Iraq, the two other wars which demolished the states of Yugoslavia and Libya, and the war aimed at demolishing the state of Syria. According to Conte, Italy, which participated in all these wars, plays a key role for the security and the stability of the Southern flank of the Alliance . In what way? We can discover the truth by what the medias are hiding. The US navy ship Trenton, which welcomed aboard 42 refugees (authorised to land in Sicily, unlike those of the Aquarius), is not based in Sicily in order to carry out humanitarian actions in the Mediterranean it is in fact a rapid force unit (up to 80 km/h), capable of landing on the coasts of North Africa, within a few hours, an expeditionary force comprising 400 soldiers and their vehicles. US Special Forces are operating in Libya to train and lead allied army formations, while US armed drones, taking off from Sigonella (Sicily), hit their targets in Libya. In a short time, announced Stoltenberg, NATO drones will also be operating from Sigonella. They will integrate the Hub or NATO Strategic Direction South (NSDS), the intelligence centre for military operations in the Middle East, North Africa, the Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa. The Hub, which will become operational in July, has its headquarters in Lago Patria, alongside the Joint Force Command of NATO (JFC Naples), under the orders of a US admiral - presently James Foggo who will also command US naval forces in Europe (with their headquarters at Naples-Capodichino, and the Sixth Fleet based in Gaeta) and also the US naval forces for Africa. These forces have been integrated by the aircraft-carrier Harry Truman, which entered the Mediterranean two months ago with its attack group. On 10 June, while media attention was focussed on the Aquarius, the US fleet, carrying 8,000 soldiers, and armed with 90 fighters and more than 1,000 missiles, was deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean, ready to strike in Syria and Iraq. At the same time, on 12-13 June, the Liberty Pride docked at Livorno it is a militarised US ship, and carried on its 12 bridges further cargos of weapons which, from the US base of Camp Darby (Pisa), are sent every month to Jordan and Saudi Arabia to cultivate the wars in Syria and Yemen. This is how we feed these wars, which, using neo-colonial methods of exploitation, provoke the pauperisation and uprooting of populations. Consequently, the migratory flow continues to increase dramatically, creating victims and new forms of slavery. It seems that being tough on immigration now pays , commented President Trump, referring to the measures decided not only by Matteo Salvini, but by the totality of the Italian government, whose Prime Minister is qualified as fantastic . This is fair recognition on the part of the United States, which, in the governments programme, is defined as a privileged ally of Italy. Gnosis Senior Leadership Team in Gibraltar Albert Isola Minister for Commerce HM Government of Gibraltar met with the leadership team of Gnosis, on their recent business visit to Gibraltar. The group led by Martin Koppelmann, CEO, appraised Minister Isola of the continued development of their exciting project and their ambitious plans for the future. During their visit, they also met with the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission. Gnosis aims to build a truly impartial exchange for information aggregation to quantify the future. A permissionless and decentralized platform built on Ethereum, Gnosis is the easiest way to aggregate relevant information from both human and artificial intelligence agents into one number. Gnosis seeks to establish a global, open platform with a single liquidity pool. This resource enables the simple creation of custom market applications and embodies a flexible marketplace for blockchain oracle services. The Gnosis team included, Martin Koppelmann, Dr Friederike Ernst, Stefan George, Nadja Benes, Alessandro Gasch, Silke Noa and Mareen Glaske, who were accompanied by Joey Garcia and Karan Aswani. Paul Astengo Senior Executive with Gibraltar Finance who leads on technology initiatives and is Co-Chair of the DLT Working Group was also present. Gibraltar law firm ISOLAS LLP advises Gnosis. Deputy Chief Minister Opens The Brightmed Talks Students from Bayside, Westside and Prior Park today packed the Inces Hall for a day of BrightMed talks. The Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, welcomed both the speakers and the audience to an event planned to help young people to understand and develop the key skills they need in the future. The theme of the day was Borders. In his address, Dr Garcia stressed that, although the world is criss-crossed with many physical frontiers, there were also invisible borders created between people and races. He pointed out that environment problems, such as marine pollution and air pollution, do not recognise any frontiers and need no passport or identity card to spread around the world. Similarly, the internet is able to cross international borders without any hindrance. Dr Garcia described the time that the Spanish Government closed the frontier between Gibraltars and Spain. I remember as a child being driven around the border area when it was closed. Families on this side shouted news to relatives on the other. Babies and small children were held up in the air for those relatives to see. There was no internet then: No Facebook, no Twitter, no Messenger, no mobile phones. There were no telephone links either those too were cut off. That traumatic experience was an act of inhumanity. Finally, he stressed that Gibraltar is a melting pot of people whose ancestors were able to cross borders in order to live in our community, a community in which people from a mixture of different religions, cultures and traditions are proud to live together in harmony. below deck mediterranean Hasta Barista, Baby! Season 3 Episode 6 Editors Rating 4 stars * * * * Previous Next A scene from Below Deck Mediterranean. Photo: Bravo I finally figured out why Hannah and Conrad are so terrible at their jobs, and thats because theyre classic middle management. Theyre the type who think theyre all powerful because they have titles like SVP or Chief something, but are actually, unbeknownst to them, completely incompetent. If you work in an office its likely you have a manager just like this, who ruins the lives of everyone beneath and around them while fooling their bosses into believing theyre something other than a complete bozo. Seeing that theyre bozos, they hire other bozos, leading to the phenomenon Steve Jobs famously called the bozo explosion. And that is why we have Kasey, who cant work an iron, and Joao, who claims he wants to stay up all night to prevent guests from falling into the sea while the boat is docked. And Brooke, who may not struggle with toilet paper points or turning espresso pods into drinks, but tries to pick up both Joao and Adam, who seem about as capable of emotional connection with women as with the rags they wipe the boat with. We open this episode with a hot mess of people either making out or trying to. After telling Adam pitifully that she likes him while sitting on the cobblestones outside the nightclub like a panhandler, Brooke gets back to the boat where she makes herself a salad, which she eats alone, still wearing her chandelier earrings and going-out peasant blouse. If there ever was a cry for help its a drunk woman coming home alone and making herself salad instead of stuffing cold spaghetti into her mouth like a normal person. Kasey seems enthused by Joao hitting on her. He holds her hands behind her back like hes leading her to her doom a Hades in which he flirts with her for all eternity. And Conrad and Hannah are sucking face on the bus in front of all their co-workers despite Conrad insisting that hes professional and doesnt want anyone to know theyre doing it. Conrad claims its completely new for him to have feelings like this, but I dont believe him one bit. I think hes the Disney Prince of Bravo, falling in love with women left and right, daydreaming and picking petals off flowers instead of setting up the slide like hes supposed to. While he and Hannah smoke and drink on the deck, the editors, who must hate Joao as much as I do, share shots of him alone in his bunk struggling to remove his shorts and shirt. The next morning everyone has sobered up and realized they probably embarrassed themselves. Conrad jumps into Hannahs bed to tell her they snogged in front of everyone. Brooke says she feels like a dick because she told Adam she likes him and he didnt say it back. And Jamie, who really grows on me this episode, is in the galley talking about how much she likes chocolate milk in cereal. Captain Sandy calls a preference sheet meeting, where we learn the next group of guests are a squad of seemingly normal middle-aged couples and the primary, an executive recruiter, is taking them on this bozo-run boat to thank them for their friendship. None of them are vegan or gluten-free or paleo or whatever Vinny is on Jersey Shore now, and want to eat whatever Adam feels like cooking, which puts him in a good mood. Hannah pulls Kasey out of the laundry room, where shes complaining to Joao that people just throw things in there, as though this is out of character for a laundry room. They sit with Brooke for a meeting in which Hannah tells Kasey that she wants to make sure shes feeling quite confident with the coffees so she doesnt get woken up in the morning. You know, Sandy didnt sit Hannah down to ask her if she was feeling quite confident with the fire code, to keep from setting the fire alarm off so she doesnt get woken up in the middle of the night. But anyway, Kasey says that the barista training she put on her resume meant she knows how to throw a pod in a Nespresso machine and push a button to make a coffee which, if Im not mistaken by the espresso pods on the wall of the galley, is exactly how they make coffee on this boat. Yet, Hannah is appalled and asks Kasey if shes really done silver service as her resume also stated, and Kasey admits that she had a friend rewrite her resume to make her an appealing candidate for yachting jobs and that she never read it when the friend was done and she doesnt even know what silver service is. (Girl, neither do I!) This sends Hannah into a frenzy and she spends the rest of the day telling everyone that Kasey lied on her resume instead of ordering groceries and polishing the glass aquamarine stones she foists on all the centerpieces. Naturally, no one really gives a shit, especially Captain Sandy who points out that Kasey is in an entry-level position and if shes suffering in her duties its Hannahs fault for not training her properly. Finally, the next guests arrive, looking like they blew in from a backyard BBQ in Westchester. After Hannah shows them the chartreuse velvet bedspreads, they change into their swimwear, and we learn that one of the men is super hot. Jamie says she doesnt feel bad for staring at him because shes starved for hot men on this boat, which restored my faith in her entirely. Shes the only woman on the boat aside from Captain Sandy not trying to get into the pants of one of the deck crew dodos. After Kasey sets the dinner table with the usual chunk of coral and aquamarine parachute, Hannah tries to find fault with everything else shes done that day. She berates her for not having a checklist to track all her chores, and Kasey says, I mean, its not brain surgery. Which is true! Making beds and vacuuming is not brain surgery. I think part of the reason Hannah finds Kaseys to pick on every season is so that she looks important and smart like shes the only one who can handle this super hard job of waiting tables and washing glasses. Shout-out to these guests who show up to dinner in sweat suits like normal people instead of animal prints and viscose from Cache. They love Adams food, which makes him happy until the hot guest starts clearing plates because this is what I do at home. Hannah is unable to control him, which sends Adam into a rage because he needs Hannahs usual slow plate-clearing to give him time to plate the next course of deconstructed carrot cake, which weirdly thrills the guests. I mean, youre in Positano eating a slice of carrot cake, which given the setting, feels like the Mountain Dew of desserts. After dinner, Conrad slides into bed with Hannah while Kasey settles into bed with her chores checklist. The next morning, Kasey tries to kiss Captain Sandys ass because Joao tells her to, which actually isnt the worst advice. She asks her how she likes her coffee and vacuums her wheelhouse, which delights Captain Sandy, who lays on the deck in peace while the guests are on land buying knickknacks. Joao and Conrad have a dick-measuring contest over setting up the slide, which Colin has decided is maybe the worst invention in the history of life. Im assuming he hasnt seen this seasons centerpieces. After the guests splash about with their toys, Brooke makes another attempt to pick up Joao, which is just depressing. Jamie puts it best when she says, Its absolutely horrifying watching Joao flirt. Theres a point where youre just like, please stop. The only thing more horrifying than watching Joao flirt is watching women who know what Joao is like try to flirt with Joao. That night, Adam serves New York strip steak and key lime pie, and the guests are beside themselves with delight. Between courses, the hot guy takes the plates down again, which infuriates Adam, who tells Hannah to stop him. Hannah, who is lazy and would never say no to help, says theres nothing she can do. And Adam sums up Hannah perfectly when he says, Its never her fault. But Hannah doesnt care because Conrad visits her chambers that night, rendering him tired and useless the next morning. Sandy, who wants to teach Conrad a lesson, allows a giggling Joao to drive the boat out to sea while Conrad does lowly anchor stuff. Next week, well find out if Joao wrecks the boat! Will Conrad let Hannah have the piece of driftwood while he freezes to death or will he be too mad to save anyone but himself? Springsteen. Photo: Walter McBride/WireImage Bruce Springsteen has performed his one-man Broadway show based on his memoir 146 times, each sticking to the usual script and set list, as most theater productions tend to do. But during Tuesday nights performance, he went rogue with an emotional speech slamming Donald Trumps new (and short-lived) border-control policy separating children from their families. According to The New Yorkers David Remnick, Springsteen stood on a bare stage and under a simple spotlight to reflect on the renewed significance of the March for Our Lives protest after witnessing the traumatic scenes from detention centers at the border in recent days. It was a good day, and a necessary day, because we are seeing things right now on our American borders that are so shockingly and disgracefully inhumane and un-American that it is simply enraging, he said. And we have heard people in high position in the American government blaspheme in the name of God and country that it is a moral thing to assault the children amongst us. May God save our souls. Following his speech, Springsteen further deviated from his set list to perform The Ghost of Tom Joad. Springsteen has skewered Trump multiple times, once calling him a moron whos taken the country under siege, and trolling him in Australia. Read Springsteens full speech, per The New Yorker, below: Its hard being the person who has to talk about ripping children from their families with reporters, but, as Tuesdays The Late Show with Stephen Colbert pointed out, its a lot harder to make it funny. After White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reportedly opted to bow out of Tuesdays White House Press Briefing due to the difficulty of discussing the administrations child separation policy, Stephen Colbert suggested she try doing it for a comedy show. During his monologue on Tuesdays Late Show, the host took a moment to remind Sanders she doesnt get to tag out of being Donald Trumps mouthpiece. After all, this is the job she wakes up and goes to every day, voluntarily. Its a job she chose to have and a job she continues to choose to keep. And, as Colbert puts it, This is the White House, not an abandoned Walmart, youre allowed to leave. The photographer Arthur Fellig, more commonly known by his nickname Weegee, became famous for his grisly, exciting photos of murders on the streets of New York City. But what might seem like a simple click of a shutter took a lot of preparation and smart thinking. Christopher Bonanos, New York Magazines city editor and author of the book Flash: The Making of Weegee, reenacts one particular scene that has since ended up on museum walls and book jackets around the world. Get ready to dab the corners of your eyes because this one looks like its going to hit you right in the heart. In the Robert Zemeckisdirected Welcome to Marwen, Steve Carell stars as Mark Hogancamp, a man whose life is shattered after being beaten within an inch of his life by a group of Nazis. Mark copes with his trauma by making art out of an elaborate WWII doll village called Marwen created outside his home where his small soldier avatar is protected by the communitys female residents, characters that are re-creations of his real-life friends. Its based on the true story of the real Mark Hogancamp, who was attacked in 2000 outside a bar near his home for being a cross-dresser, and who really did create the fictitious town of Marwencol, Belgium, in his backyard. Welcome to Marwen opens on November 21. A man who authorities said was making plans to attack Madison County law enforcement agencies and possibly Redstone Arsenal was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday afternoon. A federal judge also sentenced Aziz Sayyed, 23, to a lifetime of supervised release once he has served his sentence. Sayyed pleaded guilty in March to a charge of attempting to provide material support to ISIS. Prosecutors said Sayyed viewed ISIS propaganda videos online and expressed his support for the terrorist group to others. He also admitted in his plea agreement to researching how to make explosives and purchased the ingredients. Sayyed was arrested after he met with an undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS member in June 2017 and offered to carry out attacks on the group's behalf, authorities said. Sayyed pleaded guilty in March. His attorney, Bruce Gardner, said Sayyed was taken to the Cullman County Detention Center and would be transferred to federal prison in the next 30 to 40 days. "Aziz is glad the whole ordeal is over and he understands what's happening with prison, and he's just ready to pay his debt to society," Gardner said. ... but you will need to show proof of jab get into bars STUDENTS heading to college in September will not have to be vaccinated... WATERFORD is marking time with a new museum in the Viking Triangle. The Irish Museum of Time is the first of its kind in the... With the recent and ongoing easing of restrictions, Waterford Today would like to say a massive 'Welcome Back' to those businesses finally opening their... To mark World Alzheimers Day, Home Instead is making two courses freely available to provide support for family members. The first course on the Basics... An international operation against the illegal trade in wildlife and timber has seen hundreds of seizures worldwide as well as suspects arrested. Codenamed Thunderstorm and targeting the people and networks behind global wildlife crime, the operation involved police, Customs, border, environment, wildlife and forestry agencies from 93 countries and resulted in millions of dollars-worth of seizures. The month-long (1-31 May) operation has so far brought 1,974 seizures and the identification of some 1,400 suspects, triggering arrests and investigations worldwide. Further arrests and prosecutions are foreseen as ongoing investigations unfold. Total worldwide seizures reported to date include: 43 tonnes of wild meat (including bear, elephant, crocodile, whale and zebra) 1.3 tonnes of raw and processed elephant ivory 27,000 reptiles (including 869 alligators/crocodiles, 9,590 turtles and 10,000 snakes) almost 4,000 birds, including pelicans, ostriches, parrots and owls several tonnes of wood and timber 48 live primates 14 big cats (tiger, lion, leopard and jaguar) the carcasses of seven bears, including two polar bears The operation saw eight tonnes of pangolin scales seized worldwide, including almost four tonnes by Vietnamese maritime authorities on board a ship arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two flight attendants were arrested in Los Angeles attempting to smuggle live spotted turtles to Asia in their personal baggage. Both suspects have been charged with smuggling CITES-protected species and a transnational investigation has been opened between the involved countries. A man was arrested in Israel and awaits deportation to Thailand after his hunting photograph on social media led to the seizure of multiple wildlife items at his home including fox, jackal and mongoose bodies. Follow-up inquiries have revealed that the suspect was also engaged in people smuggling and illegal employment. Canadian authorities intercepted a container holding 18 tonnes of eel meat arriving from Asia. Thought to be poached from Europe originally, the juvenile glass eels had been reared in Asia before being dispatched to North American markets for consumption. An intelligence-driven operation Investigative crime intelligence was gathered ahead of the operation to help target specific hotspots for action, including land and airport border points and wildlife parks. Cars, trucks, boats and cargo transporters suspected of moving illicit products were also targeted with searches carried out by officers, often with specialist sniffer dogs and x-ray scanners. By leveraging the global network of worldwide environmental law enforcement experts and Customs communitys commitment to protecting wildlife, the World Customs Organization (WCO) and its partners have clearly illustrated the power and effectiveness of international cooperation in keeping our natural heritage safe, both now and for future generations, said WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya. Operation Thunderstorm clearly demonstrates that by pooling our transnational law enforcement collaboration in the field, WCO and INTERPOL firmly contribute to making sure that borders everywhere divide criminals but connect Customs and law enforcement as a whole to make the world a safer place, added Dr. Mikuriya. Results will continue to be analysed globally to generate intelligence which will be used as guidance in future national, regional and international law enforcement efforts. An integrated global response The second in a global Thunder series initiated by the INTERPOL Wildlife Crime Working Group, Operation Thunderstorm was coordinated by INTERPOL and the WCO in conjunction with the other members of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), namely the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Secretariat, UNODC and the World Bank Operation Thunderstorm has seen significant seizures at global level, showing how coordinated global operations can maximize impact, said INTERPOL Secretary General Jurgen Stock. By revealing how wildlife trafficking groups use the same routes as criminals involved in other crime areas often hand in hand with tax evasion, corruption, money laundering and violent crime Operation Thunderstorm sends a clear message to wildlife criminals that the worlds law enforcement community is homing in on them, added the Secretary General. Organized wildlife crime: everybodys business The organized crime groups behind wildlife crime target high-value animal and plant specimens, and operate through complex global criminal networks. Driven by profit, the activities of these groups can have devastating economic, social and environmental impacts. Ben Janse van Rensburg, CITES Secretariat Chief of Enforcement Support said: No one country, region or agency can tackle illegal wildlife trade alone. Collective action across source, transit and destination states is essential. On behalf of all ICCWC partner agencies, I commend the excellent work done in member countries - Operation Thunderstorm is testimony to what can be achieved if we all work together. Senior officer Grant Miller of the UK Border Force and head of the UK national CITES enforcement team, said: Through Operation Thunderstorm, criminals have seen the products they need to ply their trade seized and their illegal profits targeted. Organized crime groups engaging in wildlife crime will feel the impact of this operation for a long time. Mr. Miller is also chair of the INTERPOL Wildlife Crime Working Group, which leads a number of projects to combat the poaching, trafficking, or possession of legally protected flora and fauna. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet "About the transfer of the Crimean Oblast". Supreme Council Herald, 9 March 1954. On 19 February 1954 the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union issued a decree transferring the Crimean Oblast from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian SSR. The documents which are now housed at the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) do confirm that the move was originally approved by the Presidium of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) on 25 January 1954, paving the way for the authorizing resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union three weeks later.[1] According to the Soviet Constitution (article 18), the borders of a republic within the Soviet Union could not be re-drawn without the agreement of the republic in question. The transfer was approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union; however, according to article 33 of the constitution, the Presidium did not have the authority to do so. The constitutional change (articles 22 and 23) to accommodate the transfer was made several days after the decree issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.[2][3] The decree was first announced, on the front page of Pravda, on 27 February 1954.[4] The full text of the decree was:[5] Fort Polk, LA (71446) Today Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 76F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Mainly clear early, then a few clouds later on. Low 51F. Winds light and variable. Home Invasion Suspect to Have Competency Hearing Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 19, 2018 | PADUCAH By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 19, 2018 | 11:37 AM | PADUCAH A man accused of a Kevil home invasion and shooting was in court Monday, but a trial date must wait on a competency hearing. According to the McCracken County Circuit Court Clerk, 21-year-old Spencer S. Forrest had a pretrial conference, but it was continued until August 2, so a competency hearing could take place on August 1. Forrest was arrested in October 2017 after a string of crimes took place in the Kevil area, including a home invasion and shooting that left a woman hospitalized. The victim said she awoke to find a man in her home and he asked her for Tylenol, then allegedly shot her as she tried to walk him back outside. Forrest was arrested four days later and reportedly told McCracken County Sheriff's detectives he had broken into several homes in the Magruder Road area over a weekend, and reportedly admitted shooting the woman. The Sheriff's Department said Forrest's family members told them he suffers from schizophrenia and had not be taking his medications. Forrest faces three counts of burglary 1st degree, ten counts of wanton endangerment 1st degree, one count of assault 1st degree, two counts of criminal mischief 1st degree and one count of theft of a firearm. SIU Board to Discuss Removing President Dunn Advertisement By The Associated Press Jun. 19, 2018 | EDWARDSVILLE By The Associated Press Jun. 19, 2018 | 05:14 PM | EDWARDSVILLE Southern Illinois University's Board of Trustees are scheduled to meet Thursday in Edwardsville about the future of President Randy Dunn. The board has set a special meeting to consider placing the school president on administrative leave after a dispute over a failed move to shift about $5 million in state funding between its campuses. The board's agenda includes consideration of appointing an acting president. Three state lawmakers called for Dunn's resignation last month after release of an internal email in which Dunn used an expletive to describe opponents of shifting money from SIU's Carbondale campus to its growing Edwardsville campus. The meeting comes two weeks after the board's vice chairman and secretary tried to take action against Dunn. But the chairwoman objected, calling the attempt a "power play." Dunn was previously president at Murray State University from 2006 until 2013. Visit, vote for best scene in Crittenden County Bale Trail Peyton Hall and Kristen Yost served as valedictorian and salutatorian for River High Schools Class of 2018, and Hanna Blake served as the schools vocational valedictorian. Peyton Joseph Hall, valedictorian at River High School for the Class of 2018, is the son of Dana and Becky Hall, of Sardis. Peyton graduated with a 4.75 GPA participating in the dual enrollment program and will graduate with 50 college credit plus hours. Peyton is a four-year Kiwanis Scholar, member of the River High School National Honor Society, Buckeye Boys State participant, Regional Scholar, Ohio Legislative Summit Speaker Pro Tempore, and HOBY Youth Leadership participant. Peyton recently was recognized as one of the top 84 seniors in the state as Franklin B. Walter Scholars. Peyton also won the Ohio Americanism Test and traveled to Washington, D.C., along with 17 others in the state of Ohio. He was a Scripps National Spelling Bee participant. Peyton is a member of the Sardis United Methodist Church. Peyton plans to attend The Ohio State University and double major in chemical engineering and biology and minor in history. Kristen Breanne Yost is the salutatorian of the River High School Class of 2018 and will graduate with an honors diploma. She is the 18-year-old daughter of Greg and Bobbi Yost of Hannibal. She is a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish Club, Art Club, and the Duffy Church of Christ Youth Group. She has participated in volleyball, the Marietta Times Calendar Contest, and was a student exhibitor for the Monroe County Arts Council as well as the Stifel Fine Arts Center. Her volunteer work includes preparing and delivering food baskets for the elderly and shut-ins, provide Christmas presents to underprivileged children, volunteer for the Red Cross and Community Food Drive. She has received awards for principals list, student of the month, academic achiever, and top of the class for various subjects. She plans to attend Freed-Hardeman University and major in elementary education and minor in art. Hanna Blake is the daughter of Robert and Stephanie Hayes. She studied Medical Technologies at Swiss Hills Career Center. Hanna plans to attend Belmont College in the fall, to study Nursing. WHEELING Law enforcement officials in West Virginia and Ohio have cracked a local drug distribution organization, resulting in the indictments of 31 people. Bill Powell, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, announced the indictments during a press conference held June 12 at the U.S. Federal Building in Wheeling. Indictments were returned by a federal grand jury on those involved, including 23 West Virginia residents, many of whom live in New Martinsville and Sistersville. The methamphetamine problem is a growing one in this district, and weve contributed significant resources to their investigations, Powell said. Weve had a meth problem for some time and the drugs were seeing are no longer the mom and pop type drugs we used to see, relatively impure. Instead, were now almost exclusively seeing very pure crystal meth made in laboratory. Its a highly addictive substance and an increase in violent tendencies is just one of its many effects. The 11 agencies involved in the arrests seized more than $360,000 worth of methamphetamine as well as a large quantity of cash and firearms. The operation consisted of trafficking crystal meth, heroin and cocaine into West Virginia from Columbus and from as far away as Atlanta. Also indicted were six men and two women from Ohio, who are suspected to be members or associates of a street gang called the Elaine Crip Family. Most of these suspects are from Columbus, with one from Canal Winchester and another from Groveport. They were indicted in connection with trafficking of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin into Wetzel and Tyler counties, as well as into the southern district of West Virginia. While Powell said most of those indicted had been arrested without incident or turned themselves in peacefully, two men remain at large. Cedric Douglas, 39, and Todd Jones, 50, are wanted by the U.S. Marshals, both for trafficking meth. Jones has ties to New Martinsville and Douglas has ties to Columbus and to Florida. We are blessed with a group of highly professional law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local government level, Powell said. Were particularly proud of our task forces, including the Marshall County (Drug) Task Force, a group of dedicated individuals from local, federal and state law enforcement which spearheaded this investigation. Our task forces represent a force multiplier for our whole state and are a shining example of what we accomplish when we work together, and no one is concerned about who gets the credit. The following individuals in West Virginia were indicted: * Joshua Cathers, age 38, of Sistersville * Michael Shawn Hartline, age 34, of Sistersville * Rachel A. Cook, age 28, of Sistersville * Holly C. Jenkins, age 55, of New Martinsville * Justin Richeson, also known as Squash, age 34, of New Martinsville * Timothy Lohri, age 36, of Williamstown * John M. Talkington, age 29, of New Martinsville * Haley Weigle, age 24, of New Martinsville * Wilson Longwell, age 26, of Littleton * Desiree Morgan, age 23, of Paden City * Ronald Morgan, age 50, of New Martinsville * Richard Warf, age 54, of Sistersville * Charles C. Williamson, age 31, of Sistersville * Brea M. Saeger, age 27, of Sistersville * Miranda Stewart, age 23, of Sistersville * Susan Kotson, age 53, of New Martinsville * Alex King, age 32, of New Martinsville * Amber M. Richeson, age 36, New Martinsville * Boyd Williamson, age 36, of Middlebourne * Cynthia L. Henries, age 47, of New Martinsville * Randy Peffer, age 25, of New Martinsville * Doug William Matthews, age 32, of New Martinsville Specific charges are as follows: * Charged with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances are the following: Stewart, Cathers, Charles Williamson, Saeger, Warf, Ronald Morgan, Hartline, Cook, Jenkins, Justin Richeson, Lohri, Kotson, King, Amber Richeson, Boyd Williamson, Henries, Jones, Peffer, Matthews, Talkington, Weigle, Longwell, Desiree Morgan * Charged with aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine are: Stewart, Hartline, Cook * Charged with aiding and abetting the distribution of methamphetamine are: Charles Williamson (2 counts), Saeger (2 counts), Henries (2 counts), Jones, Peffer * Charged with aiding and abetting distribution of methamphetamine are the following: Warf (3 counts), Ronald Morgan (3 counts) * Charged with distribution of methamphetamine are the following: Cathers (3 counts), Jenkins, Justin Richeson, Henries, Boyd Williamson (2 counts), Amber Richeson (3 counts), Longwell (2 counts), Desiree Morgan * Charged with possession with intent to distribute controlled substances are: Warf, * Charged with possession with intent to distribute heroin are the following: Jenkins * Charged with distribution of methamphetamine in proximity to a protected location: Matthews (2 counts, near Magnolia High School) * Charged with aiding and abetting the maintaining of a drug-involved premises: Kotson and King * Charged with maintaining a drug-involved premise: Talkington, Longwell, and Weigle * Charged with aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute heroin: Talkington, Weigle * Charged with unlawful possession of firearms: Talkington, Longwell Those, of Ohio, charged with Conspiracy to Distribute and to Possess with the Intent to Distribute Controlled Substances are: * Marisa Page, age 26, of Columbus, Ohio * Kenyatta Banks, Jr., also known as Yatta, age 28, of Canal Winchester * Matthew Jackson, also known as Matt-Matt, age 22, of Columbus * Delkira L. Rodgers, age 20, of Columbus * Robert L. Gregory, age 36, of Columbus * Cedric L. Douglas, age 29, of Groveport * Aaron Callahan, age 28, of Columbus Of the indictments, Prosecuting Attorney Luke Furbee commented, I commend the hard work of the U.S. Attorneys Office, the Tyler County Sheriffs Office, the West Virginia State Police, and all of the other law enforcement agencies that contributed to this prosecution. Investigations such as this one take time, and I know that can be frustrating for the public. However, its important to do it the right way and hopefully now we will be in a position to make a positive impact in our communities through this prosecution. As always, I am committed to interagency cooperation and to the constant employment of all legal means to confront the lawlessness of the criminal drug culture and the destructive effect it has on our communities. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert H. McWilliams Jr., and Shawn M. Adkins are prosecuting the cases on behalf of the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol; Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Marshall County Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the West Virginia State Police; the Tyler County Sheriffs Office; the Wetzel County Sheriffs Office; the Sistersville Police Department; the Paden City Police Department; and the New Martinsville Police Department investigated. The Columbus, Ohio, Police Department Gang Crimes Unit assisted in the case. The United States Marshal Service assisted in the arrests. The investigation was funded in part through the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program. SUMMER HEAT IS HERE; FANS ARE AVAILABLE FOR THOSE WHO QUALIFY; REMEMBER THE DANGER OF HEAT STROKE AND HEAT EXHAUSTION AND NEVER, EVER LEAVE CHILDREN AND/OR PETS IN HOT PARKED CARS With summer officially starting Thursday morning at 6:07am in Hendersonville, its no surprise that temperatures have been hot. Hendersonville temperatures have been running about 5 degrees warmer than normal now for over a week. Hendersonvilles average high temperature reading for this point in June is 83...our recent daytime highs have been in the mid to upper 80s. Our average overnight low for this point in June is 61 degrees. Weather records were set back in 1933...when Hendersonville had a high temperature 94 degrees on June 19th. Greenville-Spartanburg set a record high of 92 degrees also in 1933 on June 19th. And Charlotte hit 102 degrees on the same date back in 1944. Local health care providers remind us of the danger of heat stroke and heat exhaustion in this hot weather. The local Council On Aging has fans available for those who qualify in their heat relief program. Wendy Lou Billings with the Council On Aging told WHKPs Tippy Creswell this week that in order to qualify for fans you must be at least 60 years of age, a resident of Henderson County, and you apply at the Councils location at 105 King Creek Boulevard off the Spartanburg Highway. The local Salvation Ar,y had had fans available for those who qualify in years past, but the Armys Carrie Israel says this year funding is slow and they dont have them, but can perhaps help with a voucher good at their thrift store...if the store has fans available. Drinking plenty of water, taking frequent breaks, and staying as cool as possible are tips to keep in mind in this season. While never, ever leaving children and/or pets in hot parked cars. By Larry Freeman WHKP 06/19/18 CHARLESTON, W.Va. Believe in yourself, take risks, and empower each other were the messages[Read More] VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Doubleview Capital Corp. (Doubleview) (TSX-V:DBV) (OTC:DBLVF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement (Option Agreement) with Hudbay Minerals Inc. (Hudbay) in respect of Doubleviews Hat Copper-Gold Project (the Hat Property). Under the terms of the Option Agreement, Hudbay will be the operator and has the right to earn up to a 65% interest in the Hat Property in three stages, as follows: 1) spending $25 million on exploration and delivering a mineral resource estimate to earn a 51% interest; 2) spending a further $15 million on exploration and completing a pre-feasibility study to earn a cumulative 55% interest; and 3) spending all amounts required to complete a feasibility study to earn a cumulative 65% interest. Benefits to Doubleview shareholders No dilution to Doubleview shareholders to advance the Hat Property to a feasibility study. Doubleview is entitled to receive a substantial portion of the exploration tax credits over the life of the Option Agreement (including 100% of the credits in the first year and 75% of the credits in the second year). In order to earn a 65% interest, Hudbay is required to incur the exploration expenditures within the following timeframe: - $25,000,000 of exploration expenditures by June 2022; - An additional $15,000,000 of exploration expenditures by June 2025; and - Uncapped expenditures to deliver a feasibility study by June 2028. - $25,000,000 of exploration expenditures by June 2022; - An additional $15,000,000 of exploration expenditures by June 2025; and - Uncapped expenditures to deliver a feasibility study by June 2028. In addition, Hudbay is required to deliver a mineral resource estimate by June 2022 and a pre-feasibility study by June 2025 Our ultimate goal with the Hat Property has been to joint venture with a successful and well-respected major mining company, said Doubleview President and CEO Farshad Shirvani. In this milestone agreement, we have achieved this goal. With Hudbay, we have found a partner with the technical expertise and resources to move this project forward for the benefit of our shareholders. Shirvani noted that Doubleviews drill program at the Hat Property has identified a robust gold-copper porphyry deposit. With a 2.5 kilometer by 1 kilometer identified zone, Hudbay will have ample targets for its drill campaigns. Terms of the Option Agreement Under the terms of the Option Agreement, Hudbay will be the operator and has the right to earn up to a 65% interest in the Hat Property on the following terms: Hudbay may earn an initial 51% interest in the Hat Property (the First Option): by incurring a total of $25,000,000 in exploration expenditures as follows: (i) $2,000,000 in exploration expenditures by the first anniversary date, (ii) an additional $5,000,000 in exploration expenditures by the second anniversary date, (iii) an additional $7,000,000 in exploration expenditures by the third anniversary date, and (iv) an additional $11,000,000 in exploration expenditures by the fourth anniversary date. Hudbay must also deliver a resource estimate by the fourth anniversary date to exercise the First Option. Hudbay may earn an additional 4% interest (cumulative 55% interest) in the Hat Property (the Second Option) by: incurring a total of $15,000,000 in exploration expenditures by the seventh anniversary date; completing pre-feasibility study by the seventh anniversary date; and paying to Doubleview $1,000,000 in cash by the seventh anniversary date. Hudbay may earn an additional 10% interest (cumulative 65% interest) in the Hat Property by completing a feasibility study by the tenth anniversary date (the Third Option). Under the terms of the Option Agreement, Hudbay may, on a one-time basis, elect to defer one year of exploration expenditures to a later date without extending the length of the agreement or the timeline for earning an interest in the Hat Property. Upon exercise of the First Option, the Second Option or the Third Option, Hudbay may elect to form a joint venture with Doubleview in respect of the Hat Property. If Hudbay elects not to proceed with the Second Option, Doubleview has the right to purchase a 2% interest from Hudbay for CAD $500,000, which would result in Doubleview holding a 51% interest in the project and becoming the operator. Qualified Person Mr. Erik A. Ostensoe, P. Geo., a consulting geologist and Doubleviews Qualified Person with respect to the Hat Property as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release. He is not independent of Doubleview as he has a royalty interest in the Hat Property. About Doubleview Capital Corp. Doubleview Capital Corp., a mineral resource exploration and development company, is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is publicly traded on the TSX-Venture Exchange (TSX-V:DBV), (OTCBB:DBLVF), (GER:A1W038), (Frankfurt:1D4). Doubleview identifies, acquires and finances precious and base metal exploration projects in North America, particularly in British Columbia. Doubleview increases shareholder value through acquisition and exploration of quality gold, copper and silver properties and the application of advanced state-of-the-art exploration methods. The Companys portfolio of strategic properties provides diversification and mitigates investment risk. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Farshad Shirvani, President & Chief Executive Officer For further information please contact: Doubleview Capital Corp. 409 Granville St., Suite #880 Vancouver, BC V6C 1T2 Farshad Shirvani, President & CEO T: (604) 678-9587 E: corporate@doubleview.ca NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. English French OTTAWA, June 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada has reached the half-way mark in becoming a cruelty-free cosmetics market with a final endorsement of Bill S-214, the Cruelty Free Cosmetics Act, by the Senate. The proposed legislation, which would prohibit both domestic animal testing for cosmetics as well as the sale of cosmetics that have undergone any form of new animal testing after the ban comes into effect, will now move to the House of Commons. The bill was amended in the Senate to include a phase-in period to allow industry time to comply with the legislation. The bills Senate sponsor, Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, stated: Im pleased that the Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, which I introduced in 2015 in collaboration with Humane Society International and Animal Alliance of Canada, has been endorsed by my colleagues in the Senate. It is my sincerest hope that Members of Parliament will act swiftly to make cosmetic animal testing a thing of the past. The time has come for the Canadian Government to step forward and take action to prohibit cosmetic animal testing and bring Canada into the 21st century. HSIs Vice President of Research & Toxicology Troy Seidle, said: We are grateful to Senator Stewart Olsen for her leadership in achieving todays important milestone for animal welfare in Canada. Already 37 countries including the worlds largest beauty markets -- have taken action to ban cruel cosmetics, and its high time Canada did the same. As a leading cruelty-free company, LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics has supported this bill with enthusiasm and we thank the Senate for making the right decision," said LUSH spokesperson Tricia Stevens. "Once passed, the Cruelty Free Cosmetics Act will set Canada apart as a leader and will allow the cosmetics industry to thrive and provide consumers with the products they want." Animal Alliance of Canada Director Liz White added, We urge Members of Parliament to listen to their constituents, the overwhelming majority of whom support federal legislative action to bring an end to the cruelty of cosmetic testing in Canada. We look forward to working with all parties to see this bill become law. No animal should ever again be made to suffer for the sake of human vanity. Media Contact: Christopher Pare, o: 514-395-2914 x 206, c: 438-402-0643, email: cpare@hsi.org #BeCrueltyFree is the largest campaign in history to end cosmetics animal testing worldwide online at hsi.org/becrueltyfree. Humane Society International/Canada is a leading force for animal protection, with active programs in companion animals, wildlife and habitat protection, marine mammal preservation, farm animal welfare and animals in research. HSI/Canada is proud to be a part of Humane Society International which, together with its partners, constitutes one of the world's largest animal protection organizations. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty worldwide - on the Web at www.hsicanada.ca Animal Alliance of Canada is committed to animal protection through politics, advocacy and education. Since 1990, Animal Alliance of Canada has been committed to the protection of all animals and the promotion of a harmonious relationship among people, animals and the environment. Bringing together dedicated professionals with proven records in animal and environmental protection, together we work on local, national, and international educational and legislative advocacy initiatives to protect animals and our environment. Online at animalalliance.ca. Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics are purveyors of good, clean fun. They offer luxurious and ethical skincare, haircare and bath products, as well as unique gifts filled with fragrant and effective products. Founded in 1995 as a small, family-run business in Poole, UK, Lush Cosmetics expanded across the water in 1996. Once a single room factory with a lone free-standing store on in Vancouver, Canada, Lush now has 250 locations across North America. 2018 marks Lushs 23rd anniversary of creating innovative cosmetics using fresh fruits and vegetables, the finest essential oils and ingredients that are ethically and sustainably sourced. Lush campaigns on animal protection, human rights and environmental justice because its the right thing to do. With over 930 shops worldwide, Lush is in a unique position to raise awareness on serious issues and bring about real change. Never tested on animals, every single Lush product is vegetarian, and about 85 percent are vegan, 40 percent preservative-free and 35 percent unpackaged. Lush supports Fair Trade, Community Trade and charitable initiatives, and follows the simple policy: have the least possible impact on the environment while still producing beautiful and effective products. Board member in Monobank ASA, yvind Oanes, has informed Monobank that he will leave the Board as from and including 20th June 2018, due to a potential conflict of interest with his new role in a company within the consumer finance space. Deputy Board Member Guro Rberg will, until further notice serve as regular board member. For further information contact: Bent H. Gjendem, Chief Executive Officer at Monobank, phone: +47 996 11 996 About Monobank ASA: Monobank is a digital bank offering unsecured lending to qualified private individuals in Norway and Finland. Operations started out of Bergen, Norway, in November 2015 after Monobank received its banking license from the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway. The bank also offers attractive deposit rates on its savings accounts. Deposits up to NOK 2 million are guaranteed by the Norwegian Banks Guarantee fund, of which Monobank is a member. For further information, please visit the company web page www.monobank.no Close Get email notifications on Lisa Neff daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. Whenever Lisa Neff posts new content, you'll get an email delivered to your inbox with a link. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. WiGBits Headline News Would you like to receive our WiGBits? Signup today! WiG Entertainment News Would you like to receive our WiG Entertainment News? Signup today! Digital Issue Would you like to receive our Digital Issue? Signup today! A screen caption of a video NextGen published on Mother's Day joking that mothers should talk to their children about the dangers of the Republican Party. As protests continue to erupt in the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and across the world in outrage against the horrific shooting of Jacob Bla Read more News Release Lubrizol LifeSciences and Particle Sciences to Host Micro- and Nano- Particulate Drug Product Development Seminar CLEVELAND, June 20, 2018 - The Lubrizol Corporation announces its LifeSciences Pharmaceutical business will organize the first annual "Complex Drug Delivery Seminar: Micro- and Nano- Particulate Drug Product Development and Manufacturing" in Amsterdam on Thursday, September 27, 2018. Lubrizol LifeSciences through its pharmaceutical CDMO, Particle Sciences, and Co-Sponsor, Corbion, a world leader in bioresorbable polymers, would like to invite both pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical professionals to join international experts and guest speakers from industry and academia at the historic TOBACCO Theater in the heart of Amsterdam to learn about drug development and case studies in particulate-based pharmaceutical products. Seminar attendees will learn about the use of nano- and micro-particles as drug products, characterization and analysis of particulate-based systems, PLGA considerations for drug delivery, as well as regulatory and academic perspectives from industry authorities. The agenda will also allow plenty of time for expert discussion, idea exchange and networking. "Particle Sciences has been formulating and developing nano-particulate drug products for almost two decades and is viewed as a global leader in complex drug formulation," says Barbara Morgan, director of Pharmaceutical Solutions, LifeSciences. "We have joined forces with Corbion and other leaders in the field to bring you this one-of-a-kind educational and networking experience." Attendees will enjoy a welcome reception the evening of Wednesday, September 26 including cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and networking. After the seminar, participants will join the Sponsors for a celebration upon an evening canal cruise featuring the sights of Amsterdam's canals, cocktails and interesting facts about the city. Registration is open and seating is limited. Sign up now to reserve a spot at this exclusive event. Visit go.lubrizol.com/EUSeminar for more details and to register. About Lubrizol LifeSciences Lubrizol LifeSciences is a preferred Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) partner for complex pharmaceuticals and high-end medical devices providing differentiated polymers and excipients, along with state-of-the-art design, development and manufacturing services to the healthcare industry. Particle Sciences is a Lubrizol LifeSciences Company. About The Lubrizol Corporation The Lubrizol Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is a market-driven global company that combines complex, specialty chemicals to optimize the quality, performance and value of customers' products while reducing their environmental impact. It is a leader at combining market insights with chemistry and application capabilities to deliver valuable solutions to customers in the global transportation, industrial and consumer markets. Lubrizol improves lives by acting as an essential partner in our customers' success, delivering efficiency, reliability or wellness to their end users. Technologies include lubricant additives for engine oils, driveline and other transportation-related fluids, industrial lubricants, as well as additives for gasoline and diesel fuel. In addition, Lubrizol makes ingredients and additives for home care, personal care and skin care products and specialty materials encompassing polymer and coatings technologies, along with polymer-based pharmaceutical and medical device solutions. With headquarters in Wickliffe, Ohio, Lubrizol owns and operates manufacturing facilities in 17 countries, as well as sales and technical offices around the world. Founded in 1928, Lubrizol has approximately 8,700 employees worldwide. Revenues for 2017 were $6.3 billion. For more information, visit Lubrizol.com. Media Contact Ben Patti (216) 447-5827 Benjamin.patti@lubrizol.com www.lubrizol.com/LifeSciences ### The Hidden Child Foundation The Hidden Child Foundation represents the youngest survivors of the Holocaust. With a worldwide membership of more than 6,000, the organization has a mission to educate all people about the consequences of bigotry and hatred so that never again will anyone suffer the atrocity, the injustice and the agony of genocide. LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StaffConnect, the leading provider of mobile employee engagement solutions, today announced two new upcoming live webinars, featuring some of the leading voices in employee engagement, including: "Integrating Your Engagement Strategy with Business Goals With Emma Bridger" and "Transforming Engagement in Healthcare With Helena Reeves." Date & Time: Thursday, June 28, 2:00 p.m. 2:30 p.m. BST Webinar Title: "Integrating Your Engagement Strategy with Business Goals With Emma Bridger" Why Attend: Employee engagement expert Emma Bridger will give advice on how best to integrate an employee engagement strategy with the business goals of a company. Register Here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/9056728244271257859 Date & Time: Thursday, July 12, 11:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m. BST (recorded and available here: https://www.staffconnectapp.com/latest/events/) Webinar Title: "Transforming Engagement in Healthcare With Helena Reeves." Why Attend: Innovation and digital are some of the key initiatives for The NHS improvement. Helena Reeves, Director, Helena Reeves Associates, and former Communications Director, Community Health Partnerships (CHP), will discuss how embracing mobile technology can help to drive employee engagement, boost productivity and improve patient care and satisfaction. Register Here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3974442453062734083 Tweet this: .@StaffConnectApp webinars to feature leading voices in #EmployeeEngagement industry Integrating Your Engagement Strategy with Business Goals With Emma Bridger https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/9056728244271257859 and Transforming Engagement in Healthcare With Helena Reeves https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3974442453062734083 About StaffConnect StaffConnect is the leading provider of mobile employee engagement solutions. The StaffConnect platform transforms the employee experience by enabling enterprises to connect, communicate and engage their entire workforce, especially remote, non-desk employees. The customer-branded mobile app gives employees a voice - with access to company and user-generated content to increase loyalty and productivity. The cloud-hosted platform empowers employers to target that content, with analytics, to deepen engagement with everyone. From offices in London and San Francisco, StaffConnects platform and domain expertise are supporting large businesses around the world to inspire their workforces to deliver better performance, improved customer experiences and greater shareholder value. For further information, please visit: www.staffconnectapp.com. Media Resources (logos, screenshots, etc.): https://www.staffconnectapp.com/media-resources/ PR Contacts: Sabrina Sanchez The Ventana Group, for StaffConnect (925) 785-3014 ssanchez@theventanagroup.com Nicole Gorman The Ventana Group, for StaffConnect (508) 397-0131 ngorman@theventanagroup.com The US-Africa relationship Wits experts respond to questions around the relationship between the US and Africa. Africa and the United States have had bilateral relations in trade and investments which spans over many years. More specifically, the cordial relationship between the US and South Africa strengthened post-apartheid and this made South Africa a strategic partner of the US. Today, SA is a strong ally of the US. Across Africa, the US has deepened its relationships with other countries in the continent also through trade, export and investment, while enhancing political and social multilateral relationships. In March this year, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made his first visit to Africa in an effort to further advance international relations between the two continents and cement Africa-US ties. At the time of Tillersons visit to Africa, a new centre was established at Wits University. The African Centre for the Study of the United States (ACSUS) serves as an intellectual base for the study of the US and Africa. To promote this, ACSUS held a dialogue last month which provided a space for intellectual and cultural exchanges on the multi-faceted relations and interactions between African countries and the US with Wits University students and a group American students who were part of an Envision International Scholar Laureate Program. The dialogue sought to impart knowledge to students about the relationship between the US and Africa and South Africa in particular. Experts from ACSUS, Professors Tawana Kupe, John Stremlau and Gilbert Khadiagala addressed questions posed to them by students about Africa and the US. What aspirations are there for Africans, especially for South Africans, and do those aspirations lead them to want to travel to the US and does that have an effect on the Africa-US relations? Before 1994, South Africa was a very insular society looking into itself in many levels. During apartheid, there were some sanctions against South Africa and that limited movement of all types of people. Some of the people that went to the US before 1994 were people who were expelled by the apartheid regime, because if they opposed the apartheid system they were arrested. These people were often deported out of South Africa and given a one way passport, meaning they could not come back to the country. One of the reasons why South Africa was closed off to the rest of the continent was that the apartheid regime did not want a situation where South Africans understood the context where everybody had universal suffrage, where everybody could vote and all people were equal not as the apartheid regime was. Africans are also not blind to some of the achievements that the US as a society and as a nation have achieved. Both the US and Africa have historical parallels, where they share the same history of oppression by the same colonial power. In Africa, people aspire for the positive and good things that might happen in the United States and see whether they are replicated here. Some people aspire to go and live in the US but there are constant movements between the two continents all the time. Also, Africans look up to the US in a broader cultural sense. Given this, there is a broader expectation that South Africans or Africans are also going to be cosmopolitan and the model of cosmopolitanism is the United States. Africans are trying to approximate the United States cosmopolitanism because its also a global cosmopolitanism. What aspects of the US Constitution were adopted in the SA Constitution? The US Constitution and the SA Constitution both begin with we the people, but we the people in this context is a country that is home to all who live here united in its diversity whereas we the people in the US Constitution is to form a perfect union of states, not people and human rights. In we the people there is a similarity but there is a difference in what is meant in we the people. SA has one the best constitutions in the world, partly because it has inherited some of the best elements from other constitutions. The SA Constitution is a representation of some of the best constitutions around the world. SAs Constitution did not only incorporate elements from other constitutions; it looked at the history of the country first. It looked at how and what South Africans suffered during slavery, colonialism and apartheid and how can the constitution be adapted so we do not repeat these. The SA Constitution is not just a recite of borrowing from other constitutions. There is a big distinction between the US and the SA Constitution. The SA Constitution not only promotes civil and political rights, it also protects socio-economic rights unlike the US Constitution. What did the US do to move from being colonised to having an actual democracy and where could Africa have gone wrong? There is no real democracy. More than 2500 years ago, the Greeks taught us that democracy is actually an approximation to their ideals and these ideals are participation, representation, accountability. Today, we refer to these as governance. In Africa, what we are trying to do is that we are trying to approximate on some of these big issues around how many people are represented in parliament. How accountable are our leaders? How open is our system? The question in Africa is why have we not build up much more stronger constitutional or democratic systems? One response is the question of time. Our constitutions are very young. Most of our constitutions are from 1960s (only about 55 years), compared to French Constitution from 1789. African constitutions are relatively young and thats the issue we have to confront. Secondly, our democracies are being negotiated under very difficult circumstances of poverty, of ethnic fragmentation, of all kinds of divisions. Other societies have confronted those issues and in doing so, they have done very well over the years. The US Constitution was not a linear thing that was created and all was well. The US Constitution was exclusionary in its long history. There was a time where women couldnt vote and there was a time when blacks couldnt vote. This is a society where people owned other people as slaves so the equality was for other people and not others based on unscientific things like gender because they or women or blacks. A route to democracy or to approximating the democratic ideals is never a straight line. The African countries in their own journey to create their own societies had two big intrusions, which were slavery and colonialism. Countries which were practising democracy back home colonised other countries and denied the people in those countries their democratic rights. What possible strategies are there to overcome colonial inequality? In South Africa, the issue has often come up that we have inherited a system of massive inequalities. How then do we begin to use public policy to actually right these historical wrongs? South Africa is trying to move to a context where it has a growing economy but also an economy that is addressing the problems of inequality. Although this is a very difficult balance, very delicate, we have to work at it. To address inequality we need public policy, we need engagement of all sectors to address that issue because it is a time bomb in South Africa. Also people should always investigate alternative economic systems and what impact they might actually have. FORM 8.5 (EPT/NON-RI) PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY AN EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER WITHOUT RECOGNISED INTERMEDIARY (RI) STATUS (OR WHERE RI STATUS IS NOT APPLICABLE) Rule 8.5 of the Takeover Code (the Code) 1. KEY INFORMATION (a) Name of exempt principal trader: HSBC Securities (South Africa) (Pty) Limited (b) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Sibanye Gold Ltd (c) Name of the party to the offer with which exempt principal trader is connected: Sibanye Gold Ltd (d) Date position held/dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 19-June-2018 (e) In addition to the company in 1(b) above, is the exempt principal trader making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer? If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state N/A YES - Lonmin plc. 2. POSITIONS OF THE EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(b), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security. (a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any) Class of relevant security: Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: (2) Cash-settled derivatives: 0 0.00 8,028,095 0.354 (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: TOTAL: 0 0.00 8,028,095 0.354 All interests and all short positions should be disclosed. Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions). (b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors and other employee options) Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages: 3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(b), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in. The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated. (a) Purchases and sales Class of relevant security Purchases/ sales Total number of securities Highest price per unit paid/received (ZAR) Lowest price per unit paid/received (ZAR) (b) Cash-settled derivative transactions Class of relevant security Product description e.g. CFD Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit (ZAR) Ordinary Shares Swap Reducing a Short Position 205,549 922.420 c Ordinary Shares Swap Increasing a Short Position 382,961 922.430 c Ordinary Shares Swap Increasing a Short Position 112,170 924.190 c (c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options) (i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit (ii) Exercise Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit (d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities) Class of relevant security Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable) 4. OTHER INFORMATION (a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the exempt principal trader making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer: Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state none (b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the exempt principal trader making the disclosure and any other person relating to: (i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or (ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced: If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state none (c) Attachments Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? No Date of disclosure: 20 June 2018 Contact name: Sukant Roy Telephone number: 0207 088 2000 Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service. The Panels Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Codes disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129. The Code can be viewed on the Panels website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk. A cross-country family vacation turned tragic Tuesday when three members of a North Carolina family were killed and a fourth critically injured in a head-on crash near Scipio, Millard County. The crash happened on state Route 50 about three miles south of the town about 8:35 p.m., according to the Utah Highway Patrol. A Porsche Cayenne was passing another vehicle, but after doing so did not immediately return to the proper lane, staying instead in oncoming traffic, said UHP Lt. Todd Royce. The SUV then hit a Ford Focus head-on, he said. The impact from the violent collision caused the SUV to flip onto its roof, and pushed the Focus backwards a good distance, according to Royce. Both vehicles then caught fire. A passer-by who came across the crash was able to cut the seat belts of the SUV's occupants and drag them out of the burning vehicle. Information about the heroic good Samaritan was not immediately available, Royce said. "Fortunately, the fire department arrived in time to prevent the fire from overtaking any of the occupants," Royce said. The driver and front-seat passenger of the Focus - Tyrone Bova, 47, and his wife, Holly Jo Bova, 43, of Archland, North Carolina - were killed instantly, he said. Both had to be extricated from their car. Haden Bova, 11, who was in the back seat, died while en route to Primary Children's Hospital, Royce said. A 17-year-old boy also in the back seat was taken to Primary Children's Hospital in extremely critical condition. Lying among the wreckage of the Focus, investigators found a binder with the title "Bova Family Vacation 2018," Royce said. The family appeared to be a cross-country road trip that started in their home of North Carolina. Based on their itinerary, Utah was not their final destination, he said. The Sandy woman driving the SUV was stable, he said. Her 9-year-old daughter was hospitalized in critical condition. Their names were not immediately released. Royce said speed and possible distracted driving from two dogs in the SUV were being looked at as possible factors in the crash. A Louisiana State Police Trooper has been arrested in New Orleans and charged with third-degree rape. Leander Journee is accused of raping a juvenile girl on June 11 in the 6200 block of Waldo Drive, according to the NOPD. He was arrested and booked on June 19. "Immediately upon being notified of the serious allegations, the department placed him on administrative leave and recovered all State Police property," Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Kevin Reeves said. "This is an independent criminal investigation by the New Orleans Police Department. We trust the investigative process and have offered any assistance they may need." Journee joined the Louisiana State Police in 2007, according to spokesperson Melissa Matey. Anyone with additional information on this incident is asked to contact NOPD Child Abuse Division detectives at (504) 658-5267. From all levels of government, lawmakers in Arizona said they want the immigration crisis resolved and for kids not to be separated from their families. GOP Congresswoman Debbie Lesko said she co-sponsored a bill and it "secures our border, closes immigration loopholes, and allows children to remain with their parents if taken into custody." Southwest Key has more than a dozen child migrant shelters in Arizona. On Tuesday, former Southwest Key worker Antar Davidson said he quit his job at the Tucson location when he said he was told by a superior that a group of siblings was not allowed to hug. Davidson said the influx of kids has been heartbreaking. "Over the past six weeks they've seen more kids that weren't prepared and that were lifted from their parents' arms," he said. But U.S. Border Patrol official Art Del Cueto is unapologetic about his duty. He said the situation is not all that it appears on television. "You hear the audio of a child asking for mom, dad, aunt and it is heartbreaking to hear that," Del Cueto said. He serves as the president of the U.S. Border Patrol Union in Tucson. "We're out there arresting individuals that are committing a crime. We're not out there arresting Mexicans, we're not out arresting Guatemalans, we're not out there arresting El Salvadorians. We're arresting people committing crimes." Del Cueto said the border patrol agents have a job to do and they are taking a public beating over President Trump's zero tolerance policy. "For people to compare us to Nazi Germany, people that were murdering kids, experimenting on kids and murdering parents. That is just disgusting and despicable to come up with that comparison," Del Cueto said. Del Cueto said many times that people who try to cross the border illegally are posing as families and really smuggling kids. "They have committed that crime with a child, and we are not going to tolerate it," he said. "We have been separating them to make sure the child is not in danger." He said it's not uncommon to see people leave their children in the desert if they're in fear of being caught. Rep. Debbie Lesko, Sen. Jeff Flake, Gov. Doug Ducey, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, and Sen. John McCain have all said they don't want to see families separated at the border. Top Senate Republicans said they will work on legislation as early as this week to stop it. Nineteen year old Dustin N. Groat was out kayaking with a friend on Canadarago Lake Monday evening around 7:30. The two teenagers were headed back to the boat launch when one kayak overturned. Groats friend tried to help save his friend when his kayak capsized as well. He was able to swim back to shore and call 9-1-1. While State Police are still investigating what may have caused the kayak to turn over, weather may have played a role in the accident. State Police Troop C Captain Scott Heggelke tells us the waters were so rough, the search had to be calle off for a while. "Some storms did come through last night, so it got a little rough out there. State Police divers showed up and they had to suspend the search for a short period of time, and then this morning about 4:45 State Police Divers located Dustin in about 23 foot of water, a couple hundred yards west of the island." State Police say Dustin Groat was not wearing a floatation device. Richfield Springs High School Principal tells us they are providing grief counseling for students and former graduates. ROME Two educators with the Rome City School District have been arrested for what is being called excessive discipline. According to the Oneida County Sheriffs Office, on June 20, 30-year-old Ashley Rasbach and 47-year-old Maria Fountain, both of Rome, were arrested on two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, and second degree harassment, a violation. Deputies say the Sheriffs Office's Juvenile Aid Unit was called to investigate a report of excessive discipline at John E. Joy Elementary School, where Rasbach is a teacher and Fountain is a teacher's assistant. Maria Fountain (left) and Ashley Rasbach (right) - photo courtesy Oneida County Sheriff's Office Maria Fountain (left) and Ashley Rasbach (right) - photo courtesy Oneida County Sheriff's Office Sheriff Rob Maciol says an adult at the school witnessed the alleged excessive discipline and reported it. The allegations, we felt strongly that some very unique and unusual disciplinary measures theres allegations that a spray bottle was used to discipline the children. There was some pushing alleged, Maciol said. Deputies say Rasbach and Fountain were released and they are due to appear in Rome City Court on June 29. Rome City School District Superintendent Peter Blake issued a statement Wednesday afternoon in response to the arrests, and he says that both employees are currently on leave from their positions. "As we understand it, the charges, while not condoned by the District and are serious in nature, are merely accusations at this point and both women, like all citizens, are presumed innocent of any criminal offense unless and until proven guilty in a court of law," a portion of Blake's statement read. "We intend to take all steps necessary to respect Ms. Rasbachs and Ms. Fountains rights while, at the same time, taking all prudent steps to ensure the welfare and safety of our students." NEWSChannel 2 has reached out to the Oneida County Sheriff's Office and we are working to learn more information. You can read Blake's full statement here: TORONTO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) announced today a R$ 500 million (C$175 million) equity target for a 20% interest in the newly established Goodman Brazil Logistics Partnership (the Partnership) to invest in prime logistics and industrial assets in the key gateway cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Launched by Goodman Group, the R$ 2.5 billion (C$880 million) Partnership also includes global investors APG, First State Super and GIC. CPPIB expects the industrial sector to particularly benefit from an improvement in Brazils domestic consumption, supporting long-term demand for modern, efficient logistics space, says Hilary Spann, Managing Director, Head of Americas, Real Estate Investments. Together with Goodman, a longstanding global real estate partner, and other like-minded investors, the Partnership will work to deliver over one million square metres of high-quality logistics space, a supply-constrained segment in Brazil. The Partnership is acquiring an initial portfolio comprising four high-quality Class A warehouse logistics facilities and two development land sites primarily located in the consolidated logistics markets of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The assets are built to modern building specifications and leased to a strong customer roster. The Partnership will pursue additional investments in both development opportunities and existing prime assets. Since 2006, when we made our first investment in Latin America, this region has been a key focus market for CPPIB. The strong fundamentals and growth prospects in Brazil and Latin America are attractive to CPPIB and we are committed to increasing our exposure over the long term, says Rodolfo Spielmann, Managing Director, Head of Latin America. CPPIB is well-positioned as a valuable investment partner in the region given our long-term focus and our team of experienced investment professionals based in Sao Paulo. CPPIB is a significant and growing investor in Latin America, with C$12.3 billion invested in real estate, public equities, private equity funds and direct investments, of which C$3.7 billion is invested in Brazil, as at March 31, 2018. About CPPIB Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is a professional investment management organization that invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) to pay current benefits on behalf of 20 million contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build a diversified portfolio of CPP assets, CPPIB invests in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income instruments. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, New York City, Sao Paulo and Sydney, CPPIB is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm's length from governments. At March 31, 2018, the CPP Fund totalled $356.1 billion. For more information about CPPIB, please visit www.cppib.com or follow us on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter. For More Information: An Ilion man has been charged following a crack cocaine trafficking investigation in the Ilion area, according to New York State Police. Shawn Adams, 42, is charged with felony third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Police say on June 15, the State Polices Community Narcotics Enforcement Team was assisted by members of the Ilion Police Department serving multiple search warrants in the village of Ilion and the surrounding area. Police say Adams was allegedly found to be in possession of crack cocaine with the intent to sell it. Police also found and seized $4,000 cash, drug paraphernalia, packaging material and a vehicle belonging to Adams as part of their narcotics trafficking investigation. Adams was arraigned and sent to the Herkimer County Jail without bail. Police say he may face additional drug-related charges pending grand jury action. LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - The Fourth of July is still two weeks away, but some in Lafayette are already fired up over fireworks. News 18 met with one neighbor who wants to see more regulations and enforcement when it comes to fireworks. For Karen Gray, summer typically means it's time for fireworks. "They're not using sparklers and those little things that go along the ground, with very little noise. This is the big stuff," said Gray. This summer, Gray said she's had enough. Fireworks in the state of Indiana are allowed from June 29 until July 9. Gray feels that 11-day allowance is too long. "Eleven days is really an exceptional time in our opinion, while this should be going on," said Gray. It's not only that. She said she's already heard several fireworks go off and the city has little control when it comes to holding people accountable. "Apparently, the officer has to witness that with his own eyes before he can do anything," said Gray. "I even asked them, 'What if you see somebody and you video tape them and you got it right there on tape?' 'Well, that's not good enough.'" Gray isn't alone. About a year ago, she posted on NextDoor about her concerns. She then started a petition and received dozens of signatures. "If they're not going to change the law, then enforce the law," said Gray. She then took the petition to State Representative Sheila Klinker. "I think it is disturbing and in some cases it's scaring folks," said Klinker. Klinker said she plans to bring up this issue during the next legislative session. "I'd be happy to work with Karen and other folks on that issue," said Klinker. "And would actually like to hear from both sides." Gray said she doesn't want fireworks banned, she just wants more enforcement and accountability. "I think that people selling the fireworks should have a responsibility and I think they should be required by law to pass out fliers with the sales of fireworks and tell them to read this when you can legally shoot them off," said Gray. Gray hopes action is taken. However, until then she knows she and her neighbors will be keeping an ear out. Dublin, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Research Report on China's Photovoltaic Industry, 2018-2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. In 2017, China Exported Approximately 37.9 GW of Photovoltaic Modules, With an Increase of 77.9% YOY In 2017, the newly installed capacity of the global PV market reached 102 GW, with an increase of over 37% over the same period of last year, and the cumulative PV capacity reached 405 GW. China's newly installed capacity was 53 GW, increasing by over 53.6% YOY, ranking first in the world for five consecutive years. The cumulative installed capacity of China reached 130 GW, securing the first in the world for three years in a row. In 2017, China exported approximately 37.9 GW of photovoltaic modules, with an increase of 77.9% YOY. Its PV products are increasing in exports to emerging markets such as India and Brazil. In recent years, the growth engine of the Chinese PV market has gradually shifted from exports to both domestic and export markets. In 2017, the market scale of photovoltaic power generation enlarged rapidly. The newly installed capacity registered 53.06 million kilowatts, which covered 33.62 million kilowatts of photovoltaic power stations, with an increase of 11% YOY, and 19.44 million kilowatts of distributed photovoltaics, increasing by 3.7 times YOY. This has become the highlight of the development of the photovoltaic market last year. According to analysis, the rapid growth of China's photovoltaic power generation in 2017 directly drove the development of each sector along the photovoltaic industry chain. In the same year, the polysilicon production was 242,000 tons, with an increase of 24.7% YOY; the wafer production was 87 GW, with an increment of 39% YOY; the battery output reached 68 GW, growing by 33.3% YOY; the solar modules were produced of 76 GW, up by 43.3% YOY; the output of inverters was 62 GW, with an increase of 55% over the same period of last year. China's production scale of different joints along the PV industry chain all exceeded 50% in the world, maintaining the first place. The great development of the photovoltaic industry has also promoted the technological advancement, which has reduced the production costs and electricity costs. With the advancement of technology and scale economies, the production cost of Chinese leading polysilicon companies in 2017 fell to CNY 60,000/ton, the production cost of modules dropped to CNY 2 per watt or less, the investment cost of photovoltaic power generation systems dropped to CNY 5/watt and the cost of power generation decreased to CNY 0.5-0.7 per kWh. Benefited from the expansion of the market size, the increment of the company's shipment volume and the reduction in the production costs, in 2017, Chinese PV companies made remarkable progresses in profitability. The development of the photovoltaic industry is affected by multiple factors such as Chinese government policies, international and domestic market demands and international trade barriers. In recent years, the Chinese government has given incentives to PV power plants including financial subsidies and preferential on-grid tariffs. Because of these policies, photovoltaic power plants attracted large amounts of capital and were built in a great quantity. In the light of the overheating in the photovoltaic industry, the government has also issued some measures to control excess production capacity, mainly reducing financial subsidies. It is expected that during 2018 to 2022, the demand in the PV market and PV export volume will both continue to increase. For investors, there are still many opportunities in China's photovoltaic industry chain. Selling points: Development environment of China's photovoltaic industry Supportive and restrictive policies of the Chinese government on the photovoltaic industry Analysis on China's photovoltaic industry chain Supply and demand analysis on China's photovoltaic industry Export analysis of China's photovoltaic industry Chinese photovoltaic manufacturers Chinese photovoltaic market competition Driving forces and opportunities of the photovoltaic industry from 2018 to 2022 Threats and Challenges of the photovoltaic industry Prospects of China's photovoltaic industry from 2018 to 2022 Key Topics Covered: 1 Overview of Photovoltaic Industry 1.1 Definition and Classification 1.1.1 Definition 1.1.2 Classification 1.2 Overview of Global Photovoltaic Industry 1.3 Characteristics of China's Photovoltaic Industry 2 Development Environment of Photovoltaic Industry in China, 2013-2017 2.1 Economic Environment 2.1.1 Global Economy 2.1.2 China's Economy 2.2 Policy Environment 2.2.1 Policy Overview 2.2.2 Policy Trend 3 Status Quo of China's Photovoltaic Industry, 2013-2017 3.1 Supply 3.1.1 Production Capacity 3.1.2 Output Volume 3.2 Demand 3.2.1 International Market 3.2.2 Chinese Market 4 Photovoltaic Industry Chain of China, 2013-2017 4.1 Structure of Photovoltaic Industry Chain 4.1.1 Overview 4.1.2 Polysilicon 4.1.3 Modules and Battery Pieces 4.1.4 Inverters 4.1.5 Photovoltaic Power Station and Distributed Photovoltaics 4.2 Cost Analysis of Photovoltaic Industry Chain 4.2.1 Costs of Raw Materials 4.2.2 Costs of Power Generation 5 Key Areas of Photovoltaic Industry in China, 2013-2017 5.1 Analysis by Regions of Photovoltaic Power Stations 5.1.1 Overview 5.1.2 Gansu 5.1.3 Qinghai 5.1.4 Xinjiang 5.1.5 Ningxia 5.1.6 Inner Mongolia 5.1.7 Jiangsu 5.2 Analysis of Distributed Photovoltaics by Region 5.2.1 Zhejiang 5.2.2 Hunan 5.2.3 Guangdong 5.2.4 Jiangsu 5.2.5 Shandong 5.3 Development Plans of Local Governments on Photovoltaic Industry 6 Analysis of China's Import and Export of Photovoltaics, 2013-2017 6.1 Export 6.1.1 Export Overview 6.1.2 Export Destinations 6.2 Import 6.2.1 Import Overview 6.2.2 Import Sources 7 Chinese Photovoltaic Manufacturers, 2015-2018 7.1 GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited 7.1.1 Enterprise Profile 7.1.2 Operation Status 7.2 Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. 7.2.1 Enterprise Profile 7.2.2 Operation Status 7.3 Trina Solar Co., Ltd. 7.4 Canadian Solar Inverstment Inc. 7.5 JA Solar Co., Ltd. 7.6 LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. 7.7 Jiangsu Akcome Industrial Group Co., Ltd. 7.8 Risen Energy Co., Ltd. 7.9 Suzhou Talesun Solar Technologies Co., Ltd. 7.10 Tongwei Solar (Hefei) Co., Ltd. 7.11 Astronergy Development Co., Ltd. 7.12 Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor Co., Ltd. 7.13 The IT Electronics Eleventh Design & Research Institute Scientific and Technological Engineering Corporation Limited 7.14 CETC Electronics Equipment Group Co., Ltd. 7.15 Linuo Power Group Co., Ltd. 7.16 Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd. 7.17 Tunghsu Azure New Energy Co., Ltd. 7.18 Cecep Solar Energy Co., Ltd. 7.19 Qingdao New Energy Solutions Inc. (NESI) 7.20 Jiangxi Zhanyu New Energy Co., Ltd. 8 Prospects of China's Photovoltaic Industry, 2018-2022 8.1 Influencing Factors 8.1.1 Driving Forces and Opportunities 8.1.2 Threats and Challenges 8.2 Forecast on Supply of China's Photovoltaic Industry, 2018-2022 8.2.1 Forecast on Production Capacity, 2018-2022 8.2.2 Forecast on Production Volume, 2018-2022 8.3 Forecast on Demand of China's Photovoltaic Industry, 2018-2022 8.3.1 Forecast on Global Photovoltaic Market 8.3.2 Forecast on Demand in Chinese Market 8.4 Investment and Development Suggestions, 2018-2022 For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/bxs7hh/research_report?w=12 China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page With this latest joint venture contract, Bombardiers automated people mover systems will be in service in Chinas five largest urban centers New generation of reliable and ecofriendly INNOVIA APMs to help Shenzhen airport meet growing passenger numbers BERLIN, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Note to editors: To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3eb2c427-92ce-4524-bf1a-8cf64b48ca9f Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation announced today that its Chinese joint venture, CRRC Puzhen Bombardier Transportation Systems Limited (PBTS), has been awarded a contract from Shenzhen Airport Co. Ltd to provide a BOMBARDIER INNOVIA automated people mover (APM) 300 system to Shenzhen Airport in China. The PBTS joint venture will deliver an Integrated System Package, including 18 cars, for a 2.6 km APM line connecting an airside satellite to Shenzhen Airports existing Terminal 3. The total contract is valued at approximately 453 million CNY ($70 million US, 61 million euro) with the APM system scheduled to enter service in 2020. Bombardier owns 50% of the shares in PBTS, which is consolidated by Bombardier Transportations partner CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Co., Limited. Jianwei Zhang, President, Bombardier China, said, The INNOVIA APM 300 system is one of our leading airport and urban transportation solutions. There are already more than one hundred airports in China and we are confident that, with our cutting-edge technology, strong reliability, availability and punctuality, combined with our sharp focus on passenger safety and comfort, our APM system is the ideal passenger mobility solution for Chinas fast-growing airports. Since opening in 2013, Shenzhen airports Terminal 3 has seen rapid passenger growth, surpassing 45 million passengers by the end of 2017, and is estimated to be moving up to 82 million passengers by 2025. To accommodate this rising demand, Shenzhen has chosen the INNOVIA APM 300, an innovative APM system representing the very latest in driverless solution technology. Incorporating Bombardiers more than 40 years of experience in automated transit operations across some of the worlds busiest airports and urban environments, the INNOVIA APM offers increased passenger capacity, greater speeds and an aluminium carbody that will continue to meet the ever-increasing industry standards for safety and sustainability. Bombardier has already supplied APM systems to Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai Metro Line 8 and Guangzhou Zhujiangxincheng and is also currently delivering an INNOVIA APM 300 system for Hong Kong Airport. With this latest contract, Bombardiers APM technology will be in service in China's five largest urban centers. Bombardier Transportation in China is the full solution provider across the entire value chain. From vehicles and propulsion to services and design, Bombardier Transportation in China has six joint ventures, seven wholly foreign-owned enterprises, and more than 7,000 employees. Together, the joint ventures have delivered more than 3,500 high speed railway passenger cars, 580 electric locomotives and over 2,000 metro cars to Chinas growing urban mass transit markets. Bombardier also provides propulsion equipment to third party metro car builders for use in 24 Chinese cities. About Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation is a global leader in rail technology and offers the broadest portfolio in the industry. It covers the full spectrum of rail solutions, ranging from trains to sub-systems and signalling. The company also provides complete transport systems, e-mobility technology and maintenance services. As an innovation driver, Bombardier Transportation continuously breaks new ground in sustainable mobility. It provides integrated solutions that create substantial benefits for operators, passengers and the environment. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Bombardier Transportation employs around 39,850 people and its products and services operate in over 60 countries. About Bombardier With over 69,500 employees across four business segments, Bombardier is a global leader in the transportation industry, creating innovative and game-changing planes and trains. Our products and services provide world-class transportation experiences that set new standards in passenger comfort, energy efficiency, reliability and safety. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Bombardier has production and engineering sites in 28 countries across the segments of Transportation, Business Aircraft, Commercial Aircraft and Aerostructures and Engineering Services. Bombardier shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, Bombardier posted revenues of $16.2 billion US. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier. Notes to Editors To receive our press releases, please visit the RSS Feed section. Bombardier, and INNOVIA are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries For Information Li Wang, Media Relations China +86 10 85172268 li.wang@rail.bombardier.com Group Media Relations +49 30 98607 1687 press@rail.bombardier.com You can also contact one of our worldwide contacts for specific press inquiries. Israel Doesn't Want Customers Left Waiting We all know that consumers are becoming increasingly impatient. Most of us also understand that the telecommunications industry has traditionally been a highly regulated industry, at least in the U.S. But did you also know that new Israel Ministry of Communications requirements deem communications companies cant keep callers waiting for customer service longer than six minutes? Its true, according to this Globes report. It relates to callers seeking to get bill clarification, end an agreement, and repair malfunction. And it applies to Bezeq (News - Alert), Hot Telecom, internet access providers, mobile phone companies, and unified communications outfits with more than 20,000 private subscribers. These measures reflect a more stringent policy than the three-minute waiting time law, which is also binding on communications companies, Globes explains. While the law allows companies to offer callers the option of leaving a message to which the companies' representatives are obligated to respond within a defined time, the new measures now mandate a human response to a call with a relevant professional without recording a message and responding later. The same story reports that the Israeli regulatory body also bars telcos from using answering services to record caller messages asking for service. And it says the Ministry of Communications is encouraging telcos to create answer menus that are based on best practices. "This measure will facilitate a response to an acute problem with which every one of us is very familiar - prolonged waiting for a human professional response for getting service from the communications companies, said Minister of Communications Ayoob Kara. With the implementation of the measures, it is expected that the response will be rapid, professional, and effective, and will put an end to the feelings of helplessness and disappointment felt by many consumers." This will prompt some communications providers that do business in Israel to reassess their resources. That may include implementing and optimizing their workforce management systems and practices. Service providers have up to 10 months to implement the new measures. And the Ministry of Communications will test the responses over two weeks. Edited by Maurice Nagle GE Power starts Arabelle production for Hinkley Point C 20 June 2018 Share GE Power's Steam Power and EDF Energy have reached a key project milestone with the start of manufacturing of the first rotor of the Arabelle steam turbine at GE's Belfort, France, centre of excellence for the Hinkley Point C project in England. The contract, awarded in May 2016, is on track to have its first 1770 MWe EPR reactor unit completed by 2025, GE said today. An Arabelle steam turbine rotor for Hinkley Point C (Image: GE) The steam turbine rotor allows the transfer of the turbine rotating movement to the generator, enabling electrical output. The Arabelle steam turbine - the largest in operation for the past ten years - produces 2% more power output than a traditional configuration and has a 99.96% reliability rate, GE said. "We are very pleased with the progress of the Hinkley Point C project. We are on track with the project, which is expected to deliver around 7% of the UK's power generation capacity for the next 60 years," said Matthias Schweinfest, senior executive for business operations at GE Power's Steam Power. GE's Arabelle steam turbine represents six decades of nuclear steam turbine expertise, he added. GE said it will supply the two conventional power islands for Hinkley Point C, which include the Arabelle steam turbine, generator, and other critical equipment. Hinkley Point C's Arabelle turbines will be the largest ever built - longer than an Airbus 380 - and capable of producing 1770 MWe each, it added. With an increase in the UK's retirement of power plants by 2030, the need for additional energy supply to secure its grid is critical, GE said, noting that Hinkley Point C is expected to deliver more than 3200 MWe to the grid, enough for six million homes, and avoid nine million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. Located in Bridgwater, Somerset, Hinkley Point C will be the UK's first nuclear power plant to be built in more than 20 years. GE Steam Power Systems announced in November last year the signing of a contract to deliver the main equipment of the conventional island for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Buyukeceli, Turkey. It will supply the four nuclear turbine generator sets including the Arabelle half-speed steam turbine, Gigatop 4-poles generator and condenser vacuum equipment. Chooz and Civaux, both in France, have the largest Arabelle turbines currently in operation. When commissioned and in operation, Taishan in China and Flamanville in France will have the largest. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics EU must support extended use of reactors , says Foratom 20 June 2018 Share Foratom, the European nuclear trade body, has called on the European Commission and other EU institutions to recognise and reward the long-term operation (LTO) of nuclear power reactors in their role to help Europe meet its climate targets. There are 126 operational power reactors in 14 EU Member States, providing more than one-quarter of the bloc's total electricity production. In its Communication on the Nuclear Illustrative Program (PINC) published last year, the European Commission expects nuclear to maintain its significant role in Europe's energy mix up to 2050. This would require investment of some EUR40-50 billion (USD46-58 billion) in nuclear LTO by 2050. However, the Commission has warned that as many as 50 reactors in the EU are at risk of early closure over the next ten years, assuming their operators do not pursue LTO licences. A workshop held in Brussels yesterday - titled Shaping Europe's Energy Mix of the Future: A Role for Nuclear LTO - brought together stakeholders from various EU institutions, national regulators and representatives from the nuclear industry. Invited speakers discussed the current status of LTO and its role in Europe's future energy mix, the industry's needs and challenges, the contribution of LTO to securing energy supply in the EU and combatting climate change, its role in preserving nuclear expertise and maintaining highly-skilled jobs, and the impact of LTO on national economies. Foratom Director General Yves Desbazeille said: "Nuclear LTO pays off for a number of reasons. It incurs low capital investment costs, requires a relatively short realisation time for upgrade works and - most of all it enables a reliable, low-carbon and affordable source of electricity to be retained in the mix at lowest cost." He added, "If the European Union wants to meet its climate goals, nuclear LTO will play an indispensable role in the EU's future energy mix. Therefore, the EU institutions should recognise and reward it with incentives for the benefits it brings to the system." Desbazeille warned that the early closure of 50 reactors would translate into slowing down significantly the decarbonisation of Europe, maintaining CO2 emissions at the current level and losing the equivalent of around seven years of renewable energy expansion. As an example, he said Germany is set to miss its 2020 emission targets by a wide margin due to its decision to phase out the use of nuclear energy. "If the country had decided in 2011 to phase out 20 GW of coal plant capacity instead of nuclear, it would have reached its emission targets and now it could be rightly recognised as the European climate champion." In a position paper on LTO - published in 2014 - Foratom said: "Nuclear new build plans announced by EU Member States, together with LTO to 60 years for plants currently operating already equates to 20% of the EU's 2050 projected electricity demand being met by nuclear power." "The case for long-term operation is robust," the paper said. The operating nuclear power plants "are an important asset for Europe, strongly contributing to final energy price moderation, security of supply, CO2 emissions reductions and employment." However, it warned that "clear energy policy and political support are a prerequisite". Once nuclear power plants have reached the end of their nominal licensed operating life, they must undergo special safety reviews and ageing assessments of their essential structures, systems and components to validate or renew their operating licence for terms beyond the service period originally intended. Some countries have given a high priority to extend the designed lifetime of their reactors from 40 years to 60 or 80 years. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics COLUMBUS, OHIO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, transportation officials in Ohio announced that Virgin Hyperloop Ones technology will be included in a federally-required Environmental Impact Study, marking the first time hyperloop will be considered as a transportation mode in such a process. The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) announced that this step will be taken as part of its Rapid-Speed Transportation Initiative (RSTI), which will include both a feasibility and environmental impact studies (EIS) to explore intercity routes that could utilize two rapid-speed transportation technology options traditional passenger rail or Virgin Hyperloop One technology - between Chicago, Columbus, and Pittsburgh. MORPC and its public and private partners in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania are excited to take this important next step in moving innovative transportation technology forward in Central Ohio and across the Midwest, said William Murdock, Executive Director of MORPC. This is the first route in the world that incorporates hyperloop technology into both a feasibility study and an environmental impact study. Adding AECOM and WSP to the RSTI team demonstrates our commitment to this effort. It is because of visionary transportation agencies like MORPC that hyperloop is moving forward in the United States. We are excited to collaborate with these world-class public and private sector partners to connect the Midwest with rapid speed transport that will fuel future economic activity, said Virgin Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd. The potential is enormous to connect some 20 percent of the nations population and economic activity and create a vibrant, globally-competitive Great Lakes Megaregion. Midwest Connect, spearheaded by MORPC and other regional partners, was one of 10 global winners of the Virgin Hyperloop One Global Challenge. It was the only route selected in the United States to cross over four states; Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. It is also the first in the U.S. to focus on leveraging major freight assets in the Midwest, the epicenter of freight movement in North America. Virgin Hyperloop One, sponsors of the global challenge, is the only company in the world to have a built a full-scale hyperloop. Phase 1: Hyperloop Feasibility Study In the first phase of this initiative, AECOM, a design, engineering, construction, and management firm, will conduct the feasibility study of hyperloop technology for the corridor, building upon the work already completed by MORPC that submitted the winning proposal to Virgin Hyperloop One as part of its "Global Challenge" competition last year. The study will include visioning and technology application, route planning, transportation demand and economic benefit analysis, regulatory framework and implementation strategy, project management, and stakeholder and public engagement. The study will also include two potential route alignments for evaluation. One option follows the rail corridor featured in the original Midwest Connect corridor proposal; the other is an alternative to be defined as part of the study work. At minimum, the potential routes will include the following cities: Chicago, Fort Wayne, Lima, Marysville, Columbus and Pittsburgh. The study is expected to be completed by March 2019. Phase 2: Environmental Impact Study (EIS) of the Corridor For the second phase of the initiative, WSP USA, a professional engineering firm, will conduct Tier One of the environmental impact study (EIS) of the corridor. The study complements and incorporates work for the corridor portion between Chicago, Fort Wayne and Lima currently underway by the Indiana corridor partners that includes the city of Fort Wayne in collaboration with the Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association. The Columbus to Chicago Passenger Rail project began as an effort to study passenger rail and identify investment needs to improve freight flows and freight rail congestion between Chicago and Columbus. The project has since evolved to include Pittsburgh in the corridor and expand the scope of study to include other high-speed transportation options that are available, such as hyperloop. The EIS is expected to be completed in July 2019, and the study will collect data, document existing conditions, prepare a purpose and need statement, provide route alternatives and service alternatives for proposed routes, and evaluate infrastructure investments. Note for editors: For press assets, click here. Additional Virgin Hyperloop One images can be accessed here. About MORPC The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) is a voluntary association of local governments and regional organizations that envisions and embraces innovative directions in economic prosperity, energy, the environment, housing, land use, and transportation. Our transformative programming, services and innovative public policy are designed to promote and support the vitality and growth in the region. For more information, please visit www.morpc.org About Virgin Hyperloop One Virgin Hyperloop One is the only company in the world that has built a fully operational hyperloop system. Our team has the world's leading experts in engineering, technology, and transport project delivery, working in tandem with global partners and investors to make hyperloop a reality, now. Virgin Hyperloop One is backed by key investors including DP World, Caspian VC Partners, Virgin Group, Sherpa Capital, Abu Dhabi Capital Group, SNCF, GE Ventures, Formation 8, 137 Ventures, WTI, among others. For more information, visit www.virginhyperloopone.com. Attachments JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) Officials with the state and with Alaskas largest city, Anchorage, hope to avoid any confusion about voting in this years primary and general elections. Anchorage has moved to a vote-by-mail system for its local elections. However, the state has not gone that route and will conduct the Aug. 21 primary and Nov. 6 general elections as normal. That typically means voting in person. However, a voter also can request an absentee ballot, which can be returned in the mail one of the options the state offers for casting ballots. Samantha Miller, communications manager... Controversial plans to axe one of Wrexhams fire engines ruled out for now This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jun 20th, 2018 Proposals that would have seen the removal of one of Wrexhams whole-time fire appliances have been ruled out at least for now. The plans to reduce the number of Wrexhams engines, along with changing the hours of the countys second whole-time fire appliance to cover daytime hours only, had been put forward as one of a number of proposals before the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority as it looked to plug an expected 1.9m budget gap. However at a meeting of the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority yesterday the controversial plans were ruled out, with members voting to consult on the following two items: Asking all six local councils to pay more Ask all six local council to pay some more and also make internal cuts. In effect this means the proposals for Wrexham and other potential cuts across north Wales have been taken off the table for the present time. It is the second time such proposals to axe services in Wrexham have been put forward, with a similar option consulted on and eventually withdrawn last year following strong opposition locally. The decision has been welcomed by Clwyd South MP, Susan Elan Jones, who said: As the MP who represents the large constituency of Clwyd South that includes many towns and villages to the South of Wrexham County Borough, I see todays outcome as a positive one. Over the last eighteen months, I have worked with members of the community as well as local representatives of the Fire Brigade Union on this most vital of safety issues. Our chief fire officer made it quite clear that for our area to lose its second fire appliance would be to increase the risk to the public; and Im pleased the Authority took notice. However its not over yet. As the Authority consults further, I want to repeat what Ive said before if the Authority ever gets rid of Wrexham areas second appliance, people will die. Difficult choices have to be made because of UK Government cuts but I implore the local decision makers, what was true 18 months ago and is true today will be just as true into the future. We cannot take risks with peoples safety. Wrexham Councillor Marc Jones, who has headed up campaigns to save the engine, said: This is good news for Wrexham and the entire region. The second fire engine crews regularly cover for more rural stations as well as Wrexham and I think thats been recognised. Its important now that the Fire Authority is put on a more sustainable and secure financial footing. Its no good having this hand-to-mouth existence each year and thats why Id favour moving to a separate precept as the police do. By doing that, taxpayers could clearly see what they were paying for rather than the Fire Authority having to go cap in hand to the councils each year. The Fire Authoritys members have clearly understood the message that came from last years campaign Wrexham needs its fire crews and engines and the local population are behind our firefighters 100% in ensuring our town and surrounding areas are kept safe. Phased introduction of Welsh Governments free childcare scheme to launch across parts of Wrexham This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jun 20th, 2018 A ground-breaking childcare scheme offering 30 hours a week of government funded early education will begin in Wrexham this September. The Welsh Government initiative is currently available in Anglesey, Gwynedd, Caerphilly, Flintshire, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea and Blaenau Gwent. However Minister for Children, Huw Irranca-Davies, has announced that a further seven local authorities across Wales will pilot the scheme from September 2018 including a phased introduction in Wrexham. When rolled out across Wales by September 2020, the offer will provide 30 hours of Welsh Government-funded early education and childcare to working parents of three and four year olds for 48 weeks of the year. In Wrexham the following areas have been chosen to take part in the pilot scheme: Llay Gwersyllt East and South, Gwersyllt North, Gwersyllt west New Broughton Coedpoeth Ponciau Gresford East and west Rossett Marford and Hoseley Holt Bronington Overton Brymbo Minister for Children, Older People and Social Care, Huw Irranca-Davies said: Our ground-breaking childcare offer is making a real difference to parents right across Wales, reducing the strain on family income and helping ensure childcare is not a barrier to them taking up employment or increasing their hours. Im delighted to confirm the offer is being rolled out to seven more local authorities across Wales, as we continue the work to roll out the offer across the entire country by September 2020. Wrexhams Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths added: This was one of Welsh Labours key commitments and I welcome the progress that is being made. Families from Wrexham will benefit from the latest phase and I believe this pioneering childcare policy will make a tangible and positive difference to parents lives. We have contacted Wrexham Council for comment and are awaiting further information. Velvet Energys offer of $0.75 in cash per common share represents a significant 58% premium to the $0.475 closing price of Iron Bridge common shares on May 11, 2018, the last trading day prior to the submission of Velvets offer letter to the Iron Bridge board of directors. Velvets all-cash offer represents full and fair value and certainty, which is financially superior to the high-risk go it alone alternative. Velvets offer is not subject to due diligence and has only limited conditions that are customary for a takeover offer of this kind. Iron Bridge common shares have underperformed, even in a strengthening commodity price environment, reflecting the markets concerns with Iron Bridges business plan and financing ability. Iron Bridge shareholders can tender their shares now by contacting Kingsdale Advisors at 1-866-879-7650 or by e-mail at contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com. CALGARY, Alberta, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Velvet Energy Ltd. (Velvet or We or Us) today commented on the recently published Directors Circular (the Circular) issued by Iron Bridge Resources Inc. (TSX:IBR) (Iron Bridge or the Company) regarding Velvets all-cash offer (the Offer). It is clear from our conversations with supportive shareholders that they believe the Velvet Offer is in their best interests and superior to the uncertainty of a standalone plan, said Ken Woolner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Velvet Energy. There is nothing in the Iron Bridge Directors' Circular that provides a realistic strategic direction for Iron Bridge or that detracts from the strength of our $0.75 per share Offer, which represents a significant 58% all-cash premium to Iron Bridges pre-Offer common share price of $0.475, immediate liquidity, and certainty of value against the backdrop of a very uncertain market and a risky Iron Bridge standalone plan. Velvet urges Iron Bridge shareholders to consider the following points as they review the Circular: VELVETS OFFER REPRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT 58% CASH PREMIUM TO MARKET PRICE Velvets 58% premium is fair to Iron Bridge shareholders especially considering the current merger and acquisition environment in the oil and gas sector in Canada, where the two most recent transactions Baytex Energy/Raging River Exploration and Vermilion Resources /Spartan Energy saw respective premiums of only 10% and 5%. More broadly, across all takeover transactions in all sectors in Canada since 2000, the median premium was approximately 26%. Iron Bridges attempt to discount the premium Velvet is offering and claim credit for stock appreciation fails to account for the fact that Iron Bridge had our $0.75 offer letter in hand for nearly a week prior to the Iron Bridge dissemination of a press release regarding certain well results. During that interim period the stock traded at more than three times the year-to-date average daily volume at higher prices. For this reason, the closing common share price on the TSX on May 11, 2018, the last trading day prior to the submission of Velvets offer letter to the Iron Bridge board of directors, is the most accurate reference point when evaluating the size of the effective premium. The effective premium is significantly higher when compared to Iron Bridges standalone prospects and unattractive financing options highly dilutive equity or very expensive and non-traditional debt. At this time, Velvets Offer is the highest price and valuation available for Iron Bridge common shares. If Velvets Offer was not made or is not accepted, Iron Bridge common shares would be trading materially below $0.75, given the market understands that any junior oil and gas standalone plan will require some form of financing transaction, which has substantial execution risk for a company such as Iron Bridge. MARKET VALIDATES VELVETS VALUATION Research analysts and public markets support $0.75 per share as a fair valuation for Iron Bridge. The volume-weighted average price of Iron Bridges common shares since the launch of our Offer on May 22, 2018 on all Canadian exchanges is $0.75, demonstrating that the market agrees with the valuation of Velvets Offer. In addition, the median one-year forward target price of the equity research analysts that cover Iron Bridge is also $0.75, further validating the markets support of the Offer. Notably, these target prices were established subsequent to both the Velvet Offer and the disclosure of new well results from Iron Bridge. REFUTING IRON BRIDGE ASSERTIONS The underperformance of Iron Bridges share price is the result of its financial constraints and poor operating results, despite the significant increase in the price of crude oil. Iron Bridge makes an unsubstantiated assertion that there are 500 viable drilling locations on the Companys lands. Even if this assertion was true, extracting this resource would require over $3.5 billion of capital, unattainable by a company with a pre-Offer market capitalization of approximately $74 million. To put potential dilution into perspective, if our Offer was withdrawn and Iron Bridges common shares return to the pre-Offer price of $0.475, the Company would have to issue over 14 million common shares to deliver one additional producing well at the estimated cost of $7.1 million equivalent to 9.5% dilution per well. Iron Bridges future prospects are weighed down by poor cash flow and negative working capital. Following the closing of its Waskahigan asset sale on October 17, 2017, Iron Bridge estimated corporate working capital of $45 million. Based on Iron Bridges most recent quarterly disclosure, that surplus swung to a deficit of approximately $2.2 million at March 31, 2018 with marginal corporate cash flow. The numbers dont lie any standalone plan for Iron Bridge will require significant financing, the availability and cost of which is highly uncertain and risky for a junior oil and gas company such as Iron Bridge. The synergies Iron Bridge references in its Circular are only available to Iron Bridge in a combination with Velvet and this value is fully reflected in our 58% premium Offer. Velvet believes that a financially superior offer for Iron Bridge is highly unlikely. CERTAINTY OF VALUE vs. UNCERTAIN FUTURE Iron Bridge speaks of having financing term sheets in-hand, yet the Fairness Opinion by Iron Bridges financial advisor, which lists all documents they reviewed, mentions only An indicative debt financing proposal received by Iron Bridge in May 2018. If additional financing was indeed readily available, one would think that given the large capital spending requirements facing the Company, management would proactively execute a financing to avoid allowing available capital to decline to the current nominal unused capacity on its $5 million bank line. Any debt financing, including debt convertible into equity, if achievable, would be costly given the risk profile of Iron Bridge and would represent a significant transfer of economic value (and potentially control) from shareholders to creditors, while debt servicing costs would seriously erode cash flow and margins. Iron Bridge has yet to articulate a business plan inclusive of a tangible anti-dilutive and/or anti-debt burdening financing strategy. Moreover, its inability to even provide guidance for the second half of 2018 shows a lack of confidence in execution and a lack of transparency about the dispersion of results from its drilling program. Simply put, Iron Bridge is asking shareholders to blindly risk their investment. Velvets all-cash Offer provides immediate returns and certainty of value; it also eliminates the risk of value transfer to other stakeholders at the expense of you the independent shareholders. NOTION OF SHAREHOLDER SUPPORT INCONSISTENT WITH AGM VOTING RESULTS According to an Iron Bridge press release dated June 5, 2018, only 24% of the Companys outstanding common shares were voted on the resolution to re-elect the current board of directors at the Companys annual general meeting (AGM). Having only 24% of shares voted for the directors of a company at an AGM indicates that shareholders are at best not enthusiastic about the current direction of the company. CEO Robert Colcleugh had the largest number of withheld votes at 27.55%. A large number of shareholders seemingly dont agree with the current direction of the Company and are holding specific individuals accountable, namely the CEO, who is responsible for executing the strategy. This year the median withheld vote for a CEO was ~1% for the Montney peer group, as defined in our circular, and less than 1% for the S&P/TSX Energy Sub Index. Iron Bridges CEO, at ~28% withheld, is the highest of any CEO in either group. This vote apathy is inconsistent with Iron Bridges claims of support, and suggestions that the Offer cannot be successful are unfounded. Shareholders are reminded that the statutory minimum tender condition is 50%, after which point the board of directors and management of Iron Bridge could be replaced. We are confident in shareholders ability to judge the value of our Offer for themselves. A FINANCIALLY SUPERIOR ALTERNATIVE TO THE STATUS QUO Velvet is offering Iron Bridge shareholders a fully-valued all-cash offer that gives shareholders immediate liquidity against the backdrop of volatile markets and a very uncertain ability for Iron Bridge to execute on its business plan. Under the terms of the Offer, Iron Bridge shareholders will receive $0.75 in cash for each common share of Iron Bridge held, representing an immediate 58% premium to the closing price of the Iron Bridge common shares on the TSX on May 11, 2018, the last trading day prior to the submission of Velvet's offer letter to the Iron Bridge board of directors. Shareholders no longer need to endure poor operating results, a declining share price, and a leadership team that has no real plan to create value for shareholders. Iron Bridges AGM voting results suggest shareholders are keenly interested in a different choice than the status quo. Were offering shareholders an opportunity to realize $0.75 cash for their investment in Iron Bridge common shares, Mr. Woolner added. LIMITED CONDITIONALITY Velvet has the financial resources available to complete the Offer, and reminds Iron Bridge shareholders that the Offer is not subject to any due diligence condition. Velvets ability to complete the Offer and deliver certainty of value to Iron Bridge shareholders is reinforced by the very limited number of conditions to closing, which are customary for a transaction of this nature. Velvet also reiterates to Iron Bridge shareholders, and has repeatedly made clear, that the Offer was made based on publicly-available information about Iron Bridge, and Velvets expertise in Iron Bridges areas of operations. Velvet categorically rejects any allegation that the Offer was informed by improperly-obtained confidential information, and views such allegations as a distraction from the significant financial merits reflected in the Offer. TENDER YOUR SHARES TODAY Consider the benefits, and take the simple steps needed to tender your Iron Bridge common shares to the Offer now. The Offer expires at 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on September 12, 2018. If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact Kingsdale Advisors, our Depositary and Information Agent, by telephone toll-free at 1-866-879-7650 with North America and at 1-416-867-2272 outside of North America or by e-mail at contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com. Visit velvetenergy.ca/ironbridgeoffer for more information and updates. ADVISORS Velvet has retained BMO Capital Markets as its exclusive financial advisor and Bennett Jones LLP as its legal counsel. Kingsdale Advisors is acting as strategic communications advisor and its Information Agent and Depositary. INFORMATION AGENT For additional information, including assistance in depositing Iron Bridge shares to the Offer, Iron Bridge shareholders should contact Kingsdale, toll-free in North America at 1-866-879-7650 or call collect outside North America at 1-416-867-2272 or by email at contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com. ABOUT VELVET Velvet Energy Ltd. is a privately-held, full-cycle exploration and production company. Focused in the liquids-rich gas and light oil window of the Deep Basin of Alberta, the Company executes an organic growth business plan, including early land capture, technical evaluation, exploration and development of internally generated prospects. Headquartered in Calgary, Velvet has current production of approximately 24,000 boe per day and a focused land position consisting of over one million net undeveloped acres spanning from its core liquids-rich Ellerslie development in the greater Edson area to early phase Montney light oil exploration at Gold Creek. IMPORTANT NOTICE Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information can be generally identified by the use of words such as anticipate, continue, estimate, expect, expected, intend, may, will, project, plan, should, believe and similar expressions. Specifically, forward-looking information in this news release includes statements respecting the Offer, including the benefits, results, effects and timing of any such transaction and the completion thereof, if at all. Forward-looking statements in this news release describe the expectations of Velvet as of the date hereof. These statements are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons, including without limitation, the ability to obtain regulatory approvals and meet the other conditions to any possible transaction. Although Velvet believes the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, and they should not be unduly relied upon. For further information: Ken Woolner President and Chief Executive Officer (403) 781-9134 Chris Theal Chief Financial Officer (403) 781-9162 Peter Henry Vice President, Finance (403) 781-9133 Media Contact: Kingsdale Advisors Ian Robertson, 416-867-2333 Executive Vice President, Communication Strategy irobertson@kingsdaleadvisors.com Cell: 647-621-2646 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7c393b6f-5828-4dce-9571-4ac80500ffd1 Last week, the Trump administration announced new visa restrictions for Chinese students entering the United States. Long-term visas will be invalid for students entering the country after one year and those who return home while on a visa will be forced to reapply for re-entry and be subjected to additional screening. The change, which was confirmed by a senior department official during a Senate panel on June 11, will apply to Chinese nationals only, and specifically to students engaged in research in fields that are considered to have potential military import, including robotics, aviation, and high-tech manufacturing. It is being justified with reference to the need to prevent spying on sensitive military technologies by Beijing. The announcement is the latest step in an escalating racist and hysterical anti-Chinese campaign in the US. It follows a series of recent statements by intelligence officials, in military strategy documents and in the media, arguing that more than 2 million Chinese nationals residing in the USincluding more than 350,000 students at American colleges and schoolsare a potential fifth column for the Chinese government. This issue was the subject of testimony by FBI director Christopher Wray during a February 13 Senate committee hearing on national security threats. Wray was asked by Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a leading anti-China hawk, to comment on the counterintelligence risk posed to U.S. national security from Chinese students, particularly those in advanced programs in sciences and mathematics. Wray replied by referring to Chinese nationals as nontraditional collectors, especially in the academic setting, whether its professors, scientists, students, whom the agency was monitoring in almost every field office that the FBI has around the country. He declared that this threat was not just in major cities but small ones as well; its across basically every discipline. He added that these collectorsi.e., spieswere exploiting the very open research and development environment that we have, which we all revere. It was necessary, he said, to view the China threat as not just the whole of government threat, but a whole of society threat on their end, which would correspondingly require a whole of society response by us. Wrays testimony was followed five days later by an op-ed piece in the Washington Post by security writer Josh Rogin, provocatively titled Waking up to Chinas infiltration of American colleges. On April 30, the New York Times published an article by Ana Swanson and Keith Bradsher that cited anonymous government officials signaling the administrations impending visa restrictions. Swanson and Bradsher noted ominously that In America, research institutes look particularly vulnerable to espionage. They quoted former Bush administration national counterintelligence executive Michelle Van Cleave, who labeled the US a spys paradise and declared that Russian and Chinese agents come to the US with detailed shopping lists. Rubio has since escalated his campaign for the closure of Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes, which promote the views of the Chinese government on university campuses. On May 4, he published a letter to the Wilson Center, a Washington-based think tank, demanding that it publicly disclose the fact that one of its speakers in a May 9 panel centering on Chinese political activities in foreign countries is connected to the Chinese government. What is to explain the increasing vilification of anyone of Chinese origins by the American media and intelligence establishment? In the history of the United States, it recalls nothing so much as the official rationale of national security to justify the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. From 1942 onwards, some 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry were placed in concentration campsWar Relocation Campssurrounded by machine guns. At the time, the New York Times provided a justification for these actions, declaring that we are at war with their race. Facing a historic decline of its relative economic dominance, the American ruling class is again preparing for a major war, including with China, its largest economic rival. The Trump administrations National Security Strategy, published in December 2017, declares that the US is once again in the era of great power competition against China and Russia, which it defines as revisionist states that challenge American power, influence and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity. This document also makes reference to the threat posed by nontraditional collectors inside the USthe same phrase used by the FBI director to refer to Chinese students. A month after the Pentagon strategy documents publication, Washington Post commentator David Ignatius, who is highly connected in the US military/intelligence establishment, published a xenophobic tract titled Chinas fingerprints are everywhere. Ignatius cited an unnamed US official claiming that the National Security Councils interagency group was coordinating the study of Chinese activities that are outside traditional espionage, in the gray area of covert influence operations. Ignatius concluded his article with a call for a campaign to demonize Chinese presence inside the United States, writing, America certainly doesnt want a new Red Scare, but maybe a wake-up call. The growing military preparations against China have coincided with escalating trade war measures, including recent US economic sanctions that have crippled Chinese cellphone manufacturer ZTE. The diplomatic and military buildup against China was initiated under President Obama. The Democratic president announced the Pivot to Asiawhich includes shifting up to 60 percent of US naval and air forces to the Pacific by 2020from the floor of the Australian parliament in Canberra in November 2011, with the support of the Australian Labor, Liberal/National and Green parties. The Australian intelligence agencies, acting with their US counterparts, and media, have waged an increasingly hysterical and racist anti-Chinese witch-hunt, targeting political figures or academics who have previously accepted donations from Chinese-linked sources. This has included the forced resignation of Labor Party Senator Sam Dastyari. A central purpose for this campaign has been to overcome the anti-war sentiments in the Australian working class with anti-Chinese hysteria. In an article published in September 2016 in the Sydney Morning Herald, journalist Peter Hartcher denounced Chinese students as rats and flies and potential spies for Beijing. Last February, Hartcher published a column citing senior Pentagon official Randy Schriver declaring that Australia had woken up the world to look at Chinese activity within their own borders, and declared that the US would be adopting similar measures as its Australian ally. Last month, Australian Greens member and academic, Clive Hamilton, was invited to testify before the US Senate Congressional-Executive Commission on China, chaired by Senator Rubio. Hamilton is the author of a book, Silent Invasion: Chinas influence in Australia, which declares that joining a US-led war against China is the only means of averting Australia being subjugated in a new Chinese empire. Hamilton told the US senators that China was engaged in psychological warfare against Australia, and that the scale and nature of the threat is one lay people need to understand. Under conditions of a renewed eruption of the same contradictions of world capitalism which led to two world wars in the 20th century, the American ruling class is once again turning to the most reactionary traditions of that period to prepare for war and domestic political suppression. It is worth recalling the comments of the arch-reactionary Antonin Scalia, the late supreme court justice, who referred to the mass internment of Japanese Americans during World War II in a speech to Harvard students in February 2014. Scalia declared that you are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again. On Saturday around 2,000 people demonstrated outside Prime Minister Theresa Mays residence in Downing Street, in a rally called by the Justice for Grenfell group/Fire Brigades Union (FBU). The protest was significantly smaller than the 10,000 or so who attended the Silent March, near Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, just three days previously, to mark the one-year anniversary of the inferno that claimed the lives of 72 people on June 14, 2017. Simultaneous commemorative events and vigils were also held in other towns and cities, including Birmingham, Sheffield, Bradford, Bristol, Liverpool, Salford, Bolton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. These events showed the extent of anger and solidarity that exists over the Grenfell fire. Thousands of tenants in social housing and privately-owned blocks are still living in buildings that are surrounded by the same kind of flammable cladding that allowed Grenfell Tower to be consumed by flames in a matter of minutes. Workers and youth nationally suffer the same devastating austerity, cost-cutting, and deregulation policies, including cuts to local fire services, as those who lived in Grenfell. If Saturdays rally was far smaller, it was because the unions and Labour Party did little to mobilise for it. Only a very small fraction of the FBUs 40,000-plus membership were in attendance. This despite the fact that the media have now begun a smear campaign against fire-fighters, holding them responsible for the loss of lives at Grenfell. Two weeks ago it was announced that the Metropolitan Police are to investigate the London Fire Brigade over the stay put policy that saw many Grenfell residents told to remain in their residences. Nor did the Trades Union Congress, or Britains largest unions, Unite and Unison (both with over a million members), organise support. FBU leader Matt Wrack had to acknowledge this in his own remarks to the rally. Wrack, who is a former member and a close supporter of the pseudo-left Socialist Party and its predecessor Militant, said that in the struggle ahead, we cannot leave it to the community of north Kensington. This is a national issue... we need to build a mass movement, he said. But his own remarks on the public inquiry into the fire were very circumspect. His union had raised their concerns about whether that inquiry can fulfil the desire of the bereaved and fulfil the needs of the community to actually answer the real questions and to provide justice but were still participating in it. The FBU, were in favour, where appropriate, of prosecutions, of those responsible for the fire, despite noting he had seen no change in the criminal complacency of the authorities in relation to fire safety in the year since. His statements were of a piece with the political objective of the rally, which was to spread illusions that through public pressure on the official inquiry into the fire, justice can be achieved, and that a Corbyn-led government is the best means of ensuring this. Speakers included Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell and the Labour MP for Kensington and Chelsea, Emma Dent-Coad. A message was read from Labour shadow Housing Minister John Healey. McDonnell and Dent-Coad made no criticism of the fact that more than a year after the tragedy, not a single person has been charged, let alone prosecuted, for the gross negligence and cost-cutting that led to the catastrophic loss of lives. Labour is backing the inquiry even though its terms have been fixed under the 2005 Inquiries Act, which specifically rules out criminal prosecutions. Moreover, as proposed by its chairman, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, in agreement with Prime Minister Theresa May, it will not discuss anything of a social, economic and political nature, i.e., anything which would expose Grenfell as an act of social murder and a crime of capitalism. McDonnell spoke vaguely of holding to account, those who through their actions, were responsible for the 72 deaths, and claimed that Labour will stand up against austerity when we go into government. Labour will build a million new homes and half of them, well be proud to call council homes again... He concluded, When they ask me as shadow chancellor, how are we going to afford it: Well the corporations and the rich are going to pay their taxes for a change... So the memorial to the 72 will be the generation after generation to come that will live in safety and will be housed decently in our capital city. Dent-Coad said she would contact Tory MPs in the House of Commonswho had shed a few crocodile tears on the anniversaryto get the backing for an unspecified Grenfell debate in parliament. The aim is to divert social anger into official channels, with everyone being asked to wait for the inquirys conclusion, which could take years. In the meantime, the conditions that produced the Grenfell fire continue and worsen. Labour is playing a key role in this. While McDonnell talks of ending austerity in the future, the reality is that Labour administrationswho run the councils in every major urban centre in the UKare implementing savage spending cuts. One of the first actions taken by Corbyn upon becoming Labour leader was to write a letter to Labour councils instructing them that they had to continue setting legal budgets, on pain of facing legal action. What this meant was that after having their budgets cut by central government, they had to keep imposing cuts. This policy they have continued to follow to the letter in London and nationwide. Joe Delaneywho lived in a flat just next to Grenfell Tower and has only recently been temporarily re-housed by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea councilspoke at the rally. He was the only one to raise the role of all the political parties of the ruling eliteTory, Labour and Liberalin the deregulation of safety standards over the last decades. He said, A phrase Ive heard since Martin Moore-Bick was appointed to the inquiry, and Ive heard it in a lot of places, is institutional indifference. And I think this is what weve seen a lot of in the last 30 or 40 years, from, Im sad to say, governments of all colours that weve had in this country. It was Tony Blairs [Labour] government who sold off the Building Research Establishment back in 1998 and that led to the commoditisation of building safety in the first place. Since the Tory-Lib Dem coalition came in 2010 we saw countless cuts to services that we now see are vital. Delaney said it was absolutely disgusting that the government and its media backers were seeking to shift the blame onto the fire brigade and individual fire fighters who tried to tackle an unprecedented blaze at Grenfell. He stated to applause and cheering, Individual firemen did not close North Kensington fire station. Individual firemen did not make decisions that equipment had to be brought from Surrey that night in order to reach the top floors of that block. And it was individual firemen that I saw enter that place with breathing equipment and no helmets in a desperate attempt to get people out. The author also recommends: Thousands gather to mark first anniversary of Grenfell Tower inferno [16 June 2018] One year since the Grenfell inferno [14 June 2018] The WSWS spoke with workers seeking asylum in the United States, who line up in scores near the El Chaparral pedestrian border crossing at the San Ysidro district of San Diego, California. An immigration official appears with a clipboard and a few names are called at a time to begin the process in making their case for asylum. All immediately gather around in hopes of hearing their names called. They call in maybe three or four people, and thats it for the day, Rogelio, 38, a construction worker from the state of Guerrero, told a WSWS reporter. The majority of those present are Mexican citizens forced to make the long and often risky journey to seek out political asylum in the US as a response to cartel-related crime and violence in Mexico. The American media focuses on gang violence in Central America, often as part of an anti-immigrant campaign to smear as animals and criminals those seeking refuge from the consequences of US intervention in the region. Of course, the role of US foreign policy in actively creating the conditions of rampant criminality and corruption goes unmentioned. Mexico, a long-standing target of Trumps nationalist and xenophobic vitriol, also faces conditions that resemble in many respects those of its southern neighbors, particularly in its rural zones. Violence linked to drug cartels, and the attendant governmental corruption, has not abated since the Calderon governments declaration of war on gangs. All the established parties of Mexican bourgeois politics stand exposed as both ineffectual and complicit in dealing with these pervasive symptoms of a crisis-ridden social order. During the first three months of the year alone, 7,667 murders were reported, an average of 85 a day, according the Executive Secretariat of the National System of Public Security (SESNESP). This was the most violent three-month period since 2015. Rogelio, from a small town of less than 10,000 inhabitants not far Chilpancingo, the state capital, said, I was just speaking with [a woman also seeking asylum], and she was telling about how they had killed her three brothers. If, say, you get mugged or robbed, and you try to contact the authorities about it, you may be never heard from again. Theyre the same people, really. The police are completely infiltrated by the gangsters and the hitmen. Everybody in the state knows about iteverybody except the governor, apparently. There is no government there. It doesnt matter who we vote for in [presidential elections in] July, they wont really do anything about the corruption and the crime, and this will go on in the same way. Lets say Lopez Obrador wins. He might say nicer things, but at the end of the day the politicians never keep their word. The attitudes towards Lopez Obrador, who is supported by the pseudo-left in Mexico, ranged from pessimism to a kind of lesser-evilism to cautious optimism. Employing populist phrases, Lopez Obrador has managed to outmaneuver his opponents by speaking, however superficially and half-heartedly, to economic issues and disgust at the political establishment, including making the connection between the dire economic situation and criminality. Of the 28 million people living in extreme poverty in Mexico, the majority are concentrated in rural areas. Indeed, according a recent report by the Latin American Center for Rural Development, Mexico ranks highest among Latin American countries for what is termed territorial inequalitythe geographical unevenness of access to basic infrastructure and resources, including education. The study also notes that between 2010 and 2015 the Gini coefficient in 93 percent of Mexican municipalities rose, from 0.37 to 0.45. Given all of this, the connection between the concentration of poverty in the rural areas of the country and lack of gainful employment forces many into illicit activity. David, 43, told his story, I came here seeking asylum about fifteen days ago. I came with my family, it's eleven of us. These fifteen days [here at the border] have been pretty hard. I've never been to this part of Mexico. I came from Morelia, but here I don't have any friends or family. I try to do odd jobs when I can. I'm supposed to be waiting here in case my name gets called or else they pass me up, and its on to the next person. Because of that, I can only afford to work one day and stay here waiting the next. Sometimes we can't afford to eat much. My kids are two and four years old, but my brother's kids are here with us too. I was a baker in my hometown, but things are getting too difficult. There's no work. You work one day and then don't come to work for the next three. It's really insecure. If you try to sell food or resources on your own, then people harass you for protection money. If you can't afford to pay, you disappear. And that's why I'm here. Even here, the hotel across the street charges me 250 pesos per person, and everyone in the hotel has to share the same shower. They charge 100 pesos just to sleep on the floor. A man here says I can buy a camper from him and make payments. That sounds like a good deal right now. There's just no way I'm going back to my state. Vancouver, British Columbia, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EVITRADE Health Systems Corp. (CSE: EVA, OTCQB: AXHLF) (the Company) is pleased to raise its hand in support of the Canadians Senate approval of the legalization of adult recreational cannabis use, which could occur within eight to twelve weeks. The Senate overwhelmingly voted in favour of the revised bill from the House of Commons which should create a fully federally legal cannabis program for Canada within eight to twelve weeks. Said Evitrade CEO CK Cheung. This vote will provide a framework from which companies like ours can utilize advanced scientific research and developments to operate successfully within the cannabis market in Canada. The Company recently signed a definitive agreement with Cantech Molecular Research Inc. whose focus is on the development of haploid breeding protocols for plants that will enable the delivery of consistent and predictable biologics each and every growth cycle. A technology that is a solid fit in the recreational, medicinal and pharmaceutical cannabis world. Management continues to strive to seek optimal business and commercialization strategies for the Company, This, with the continuing engagement of Haywood Securities has the Company planning forward for a bright future. EVITRADE Health Systems Corporation (formerly Auxellence Health Corporation) Email info@evahealthsystems.com Website http://www.evahealthsystems.com CSE Micro-site: http://thecse.com/en/listings/technology/evitrade-health-systems-corp US OTC Markets: http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/AXHLF/news About EVITRADE Health (CSE: EVA, OTCQB: AXHLF) EVITRADE (formerly Auxellence Health Corp.), was founded in 2013 to provide online digital healthcare services for resolving common health problems. The current markets are weight-management, high blood pressure, high blood glucose and heart arrhythmia. Disclaimers Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward looking statements. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to revise or update such statements. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Companys Managements Discussion and Analysis and other disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulators and on the OTC Markets website which is posted on www.sedar.com , http://thecse.com/en/listings/technology/evitrade-health-systems-corp , and http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/AXHLF/filings . This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE or CNSX Markets), nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities law and may not be offered or sold in the United States, as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration requirements is available. World Socialist Web Site reporters spoke to some of those attending the demonstration outside Downing Street on Saturday, marking the first anniversary since the deadly June 14, 2017 Grenfell Tower fire. Most expressed the view that the official inquiry will result in a whitewash of the official neglect that precipitated the tragedy. Pauline from Bromley in south London, I came along today to stand with the people of Grenfell. I was also on the [monthly] Silent March [near Grenfell Tower] on Thursday. Before this I had never taken part in a demonstration in my life. When I saw the Grenfell fire I was in disbelief. I never thought a building could go up in flames like that in the 21st century. I cried. Pauline I see tower blocks like Grenfell in Croydon near to where I live and the cladding on these buildings failed safety tests. This could have happened to anyone. Why would you wrap concrete in plastic? The people that lived in Grenfell are the workers who do many of the jobs that are not well rewarded or recognised, making things shiny and clean in this citysweeping the roads, cleaning the offices and hospitals. Yet they were not deemed worthy of proper and safe housing. Pauline has no faith that the government-sanctioned public inquiry into the fire will establish the truth and bring the guilty to account. She said, The criteria for the inquiry will mean it will have a predetermined outcome. Nobody will be held to account, like those who signed off the paper work for the flammable cladding. They want to whitewash it all. They think by allowing the families to give testimony and tell their story to the inquiry they can assuage them. But they will not be held to account. It is time for people to rise up. She supported the assessment of the Socialist Equality Party that the Labour Party also bears its share of responsibility for the deregulation and cost cutting that resulted in Grenfell being made into a death trap. I believe Labour should be held to account. The Tories picked up from where Labour left off with all the deregulation and privatisation. You cannot hark back to Labour, it does not represent the working class. We need a new party. Joyce from Hackney in east London said, The Grenfell fire is not about ethnicity or race, it is about class. All those who promote identity politics are feeding their own careers. We need to address how to unite the working classblack and white. Those on low pay, the dispossessed and politically disenfranchised who have no voice. I am not optimistic about the outcome of this inquiry. There are likely to cite multiple factors for the fire with no one held directly responsible. There is a desire for fundamental change. The right to housing is a fundamental social right. Ive been to Labour Party meetings. The Labour councils have their environmental projects, but they have nothing on poverty and social rights. They talk about protecting public services but dump more work on the workers who have to provide it. Those in power are making a complete mess of our lives. They are completely detached and divorced from social reality. They can sign off on the paperwork which led to the Grenfell fire and go home to their nice little houses and nice little families. I want to see a better world without inequality. It is not about begging for more entitlements or means tested benefits. It is about social rights. Geoff from Bristol travelled to London to take part in the march. He attended because, First of all, an awful lot, hundreds, of other tower blocks around the country are similar to Grenfell. Then that coincided with the cutbackswhat they see as cutting back on red tape and bureaucracy as the Tories see it, and therefore endangering peoples lives. Several people died in [the] Lakanal House [fire in 2006] and yet nothing was done. There were no sprinklers, the wrong cladding and no fire escape. All of these things seemed to be of prohibitive cost as far as the authorities were concerned. Hedia, a secondary school teacher from London said, I know in my heart it is a political issue what happened to Grenfell. Living on a council estate, I knew that me and a lot of people that I know and love and that a lot of innocent people could be out at risk because of the austerity that has ensued in this country since the Tory government. We need to think: who does this government serve? It doesnt serve normal people like you and I. It doesnt serve the people who died in Grenfell. It serves the private companies and investors of the sort who provided the cladding used in Grenfell. Its going to serve to protect those who are responsible for this. I knew in my heart that there would be no justice for the people who put up the cladding. Hedia said the inquiry will definitely whitewash the events that have happened and a struggle for the truth would need to be street-led based on bringing more awareness to the fact that this is not a single issue. That Grenfell itself can happen anywhere in London where there is flammable cladding. We need to protest against the private companies who are still allowed to operate in social housing when they really shouldnt be. After the fire, said Hedia, I felt compelled to fight in an artistic way for the people who I felt had been done so wrong by austerity and the British government that I wrote a poem blaming several people: [Prime Minister] Theresa May, and the man who put up the cladding. To think that he only saved 2 per square meter in order to put up something that risked the lives of people. Comparing human life to money and exchanging human safety for moneythat for me captured the problem at the heart of British politics. Of those seeking to establish the truth about Grenfell and whistle blowers, including WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange, Hedia said, Anyone who exposes even a glimmer of truth about what goes on behind closed doors will be persecuted by the British government. Because you cant expose their deepest secrets and get away with it. Its very easy to dismiss the truth when you start fearmongering, when you start branding people as crazy people when in reality they are people trying to shed some light on certain issues. Its one of their tactics to discredit people. Carmela is a childcare professional. To protest on behalf of the Grenfell survivors and the community and the firefighters. Now there is a very dangerous tendency [by the government and its media supporters] to start blaming the firefighters and that is not acceptable. It is abominable to allow that to happen. Carmela The firefighters experienced a living hell, still they went in all night long. At six oclock in the morning they were still saving lives. The firefighters worked hard, theyve been traumatised, they came out distraught, they did everything they could. Its amazing none of them died. They did a superhuman job to save 60 plus people in the living hell of Grenfell Tower. We need justice and we need justice from the right sources: I mean government, the council, the private companies and profiteers, the TMO [Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Association who managed Grenfell Tower for the royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council], all the organisations involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell. The irresponsible, criminal behavior of private companies allowed by the government, the TMO, and RBKC to organise and refurbish a building like Grenfell. It had been a very safe building. If they had not done that fancy [cladding] coverage, the fire would never have happened. The man in whose flat the fire started, he had concerns that his windows were not fit properly, and that is what allowed the fire to escape and then go all around the building. Asked her thoughts on the fact that not a single person has been arrested or charged over the Grenfell deaths, Carmela said, I feel sick, I feel sick on behalf of the victims, the families, the community, London and the country. It is unbelievable that after a year there are still people who have not been fully rehoused. Survivors who went through traumatic, dreadful experiences still have to be in temporary accommodation, which is not fit for purpose. Theresa May, on day one, said their priority would be to rehouse the survivors May, you ruined the lives of so many people with your party and your profiteer politics and the organizations like the TMO that your party helped to build from the 80s onwards. Hamish works for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service as a firefighter. He said, I wanted to show solidarity with the people of Grenfell and the London Fire brigade who responded on that terrible night. Hamish I think its disgusting, its an outrage [that the London Fire Brigade was being investigated by the Metropolitan police]. The firefighters on that night and emergency fire control operators did everything they possibly could to save as many lives as they possibly could. Everyone who worked that night will be traumatized because of what they saw and what they heard. We do need an inquiry, but an inquiry where we have faith there will be justice. Asked his view of the causes of the fire, he said, At the moment we still dont know for sure, but I think a lot of people suspect the truth. And that may be a combination of 40 years of privatization of local housing associations, 40 years of profit motive in local government and local housing, and approximately 15 years of deregulation of fire safety laws. If the police havent, as you say, spoken to the leaders of the council, of the companies who produced the cladding which seemed to be on fire that night, then that is very, very strange. For further information, like and share the Grenfell Fire Forums Facebook page: facebook.com/grenfellforum At a meeting yesterday, staff at Sydneys Macquarie University voted in favour of two resolutions moved by Socialist Equality Party (SEP) supporters. In the presence of representatives of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), the staff called for a unified national struggle by university workers to overturn the budget cuts inflicted by successive governments and for vastly increased education funding, at all levels, to guarantee the basic social right to free, first-class education. The meeting was marked by considerable hostility, on the part of the union members present, to the NTEUs efforts to push through a new enterprise agreement (EA), in collaboration with university management. A key EA proposal would introduce a second-grade job classification that would compel up to a quarter of the universitys academics to devote 80 percent of their workloads to teaching, with no time for research. An SEP supporter asked for a show of hands on whether those present believed that the proposed classification, euphemistically described as a new job family, would be truly voluntary, as claimed by both the union and management. Only two hands went up, and both were those of NTEU bargaining team members. The staff votes represent a significant rejection of the decades-long betrayals of the NTEUby splitting up university workers, institution by institution, and cutting EA deals with individual universities. These EAs have invariably involved the erosion of conditions, the casualisation of the workforce and the transformation of universities into corporatised entities. At Macquarie University, the NTEU is engaging in interest-based bargaining (IBB), consisting of backroom talks, based on defining common interests between union and management. In plain language, the IBB means devising schemes to overcome rank-and-file opposition to management demands for further cost-cutting and pro-business restructuring. In the face of opposition by the NTEU, the meeting of about 36 staff members passed resolutions (2) and (3) below: This meeting: (1) Opposes the NTEUs pro-business partnership with management. (2) Opposes the splitting up of university employees, via individual EAs, and calls for a unified national struggle against the Liberal-National governments latest multi-billion dollar cuts, and the overturn of all previous cuts imposed by both Labor and Coalition governments. (3) Demands that billions of dollars be poured into education at all levels, from pre-school to tertiary, to guarantee the social right of all young people to a free, first-class education and the social right of all staff to decent, well-paid and permanent positions. The first resolution was defeated, with only 2 votes for, reflecting a certain fear of the consequences of attacking the union. A union branch committee member had declared that if members voted for it, they would be expressing no confidence in the NTEU bargaining team, which would then simply pull out of the bargaining process. Then you should get a new bargaining team, he warned. The second resolution was carried, with 13 votes for, 14 abstentions and 9 against. During the discussion, an SEP supporter drew attention to the unions recent industrial bulletin, which had reported pitched battles across the sector, with staff opposing attacks on their conditions and pay, including at the University of Newcastle, the University of New South Wales and the University of New England. These attacks are a direct consequence of massive funding cuts by both Labor and Liberal governments over decades, the SEP supporter said. The NTEU, through the enterprise agreement process, has blocked the unification of these struggles. Last December, the current Liberal-National government announced the cutting of another $2.2 billion from universities over the next four years, on top of the $2.7 billion stripped out of tertiary education by the Greens-backed Gillard Labor government in 2013, but the NTEU has organised no struggle against it. The third resolution was passed almost unanimously, with 35 for, 0 abstentions and 1 against. Hypocritically, in an attempt at damage control, NTEU officials and bargaining team members voted for it, despite its advocating a perspective that the NTEU has opposed for decades. During the discussion, some of the measures being implemented by the union-management partnership were exposed, including abolition of the payments made to casual teachers for the time they spend in student consultations. This move is a direct consequence of billions of dollars in cuts to the tertiary sector, another SEP supporter said. The NTEU acknowledges an overwhelming opposition to the cuts by casual staff in law. Why, then, is it trying to prevent industrial action? And why is the NTEU not seeking to broaden the struggle? After all, budget cuts are impacting on the workloads of all staff, both here and across the sector. Instead, the NTEU is seeking a collaboration with management. A member of the Macquarie University International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) club spoke in support of the SEP resolution, defying an attempt by the NTEU branch president, Alison Barnes, to declare him out of order because he was not a union member. He spoke, nevertheless, insisting that students should be involved in the fight for better conditions for university staff. Staff members voiced opposition to the union-management jobs families scheme, which would establish a two-tier workforce. Traditionally, standard academic workloads consist of 40 percent teaching, 40 percent research and 20 percent administration. Under the proposal, educators pushed into a so-called Teaching and Leadership (T&L) classification would have their teaching loads raised to 80 percent, with no time for research, which is essential for both face-to-face teaching and for career development. One university worker commented that for the people who are brought in on T&L, their entire workload will be teaching. There will be no capacity for them to get promoted through research. Responding to a suggestion that academics could do research in their spare time on the weekends, she responded: Well thats unpaid labour, and thats the model that we are being signed up to. A young casual staff member from the law school said: There are 60 casuals in the law school if you get one of these [T&L] jobs, you will not be able to apply for a job elsewhere. The majority support for SEP resolutions (2) and (3) provides a perspective for all university staff. It indicates the emergence of significant opposition to the decades-long betrayals of the trade unions and their suppression of any organised and unified struggle against the cuts implemented by both Labor and Liberal-National governments. Protests were held at a number of cities across the United States yesterday as part of international demonstrations demanding the release of WikiLeaks journalist Julian Assange. June 19 marked six years since Assange was forced to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has remained imprisoned in order to avoid arrest and extradition to the United States. Protests and vigils for Assange took place in Melbourne, Australia, in London, United Kingdom and in Sri Lanka and India. The protests in the US were largely organized by small local groups and individuals. They received no coverage within the media, and were boycotted by the entire political establishment, including pseudo-left organizations such as the International Socialist Organization, Jacobin magazine, the Democratic Socialists of America and Socialist Alternative, which have maintained a silent complicity in the face of the escalating campaign against Assange. Protests occurred in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington D.C., and elsewhere. In New York a small demonstration was called in front of the British consulate in mid-town Manhattan. The demonstration, which was called by an unaffiliated activist, drew a crowd of roughly 30 protesters many of whom brought homemade signs and chanted Free Assange! outside of the consulate. Christian Christian, who is an actor and screenwriter, said, Julian Assange has sacrificed so much for us, I feel the least we can do is to assemble here and raise awareness of his grave circumstances and the grave circumstances for freedom of speech and the freedom of the press. If these freedoms do not apply to any one of us, it does not apply to any of us. I wish more people in the arts would speak out for him, he added. If we allow his sufferings and basic human rights to be infringed on, then it will only escalate from there. This is totalitarianism. The system as a whole needs to change. Anthony Anthony, an adjunct at a community college, explained that he came to the protests because I feel like Julian Assange is the only connection between the public and the facts without back stories. This is what our elite are trying to hidethat they break the laws and work not in the public interest. Without the publics ability to monitor our government, there is no hope of democracy. Anyone who is in opposition to WikiLeaks or Assange is ignorant or complicit in the suppression of the truth. Anthony noted that liberal Democrats in this country got so shocked when Hillary Clinton lost to Trump that many of them resent Assange. They dont want to address the reality of the Democratic Party and the corruption that exists in there. Adam Adam Ozcelik, a student at LaGuardia Community College who was passing by the protest, said that he had donated to Assange with BitCoin and noted that Visa and Paypal had blocked payments to WikiLeaks. I respected what he does, he said. Referring to the trumped-up sexual misconduct allegations used by Swedish authorities against Assange, Adam said, I dont believe the accusations against him. He has done a lot of whistleblowing and that has made him a target. Journalism has gone down the toilet, he continued. Assange has become a headache to a lot of people and that is what we need. I dont know what is being monitored. I dont know what is real or what on Google or Facebook is being censored. That is why I want to get my news from WikiLeaks. Some of the protesters in Los Angeles Many of the demonstrators came to the Socialist Equality Party table and expressed their appreciation of the campaign by the World Socialist Web Site in defense of Assange, and took WSWS articles to distribute to passersby. Eve At the vigil held in San Diego, California, Eve Lee, a restaurant worker, told WSWS reporters, In 2012 I had heard the establishment arguments that he was threatening national security when really he was exposing corruption. Only once he was imprisoned in the [Ecuadorian] embassy did I realize his importance. He's a leader in defending free speech and human rights. We're kept in the dark. If you don't know independent news sources, you repeat the mainstream sound bites that keep us divided and ignorant. In Washington, D.C., a protest of approximately 20 people was held outside of the White House. Ross told the World Socialist Web Site, I completely support Assange and think we need more people like that all across the globe exposing the truth and bringing that information to the people. The more access to information we have, the better off we will be. Incriminating whistleblowers will not strengthen democracy or improve our values. Manish said he came because "I wanted to share some support for Julian Assange and support for WikiLeaks. I think he has been unfairly imprisoned through false allegations. The man is a hero." The protest was addressed by Socialist Equality Party member Alex Gonzalez. In the course of her remarks, Gonzalez declared, For the working class, free and open access to the Internet is a life-and-death issue. The defense of Julian Assange is the defense of all the democratic rights that the ruling class wants to attack, censor, and dismantle. Cynthia, a real estate investor, organized the LA rally in front of the UK and Australian consulates. She told the WSWS, I first heard about your website on Twitter because of your rallies in Sydney and Melbourne. I just hate what is going on in my country. And I wish that Australia would stand up to America and the UK and bring Julian home. The UN has stated that Assange is being illegally detained by the UK and US. Our government is not abiding by international law. Its just ignoring the UN. Currie Currie, a limousine driver, has been reading the WSWS for many years. He said, The media is using everything under the sun to smear Assange because he had the courage to tell the truth about the crimes of this government. When whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Snowden came out with their information, they knew if you submit it to WikiLeaks, it would get published. All of so-called leftists are freaking out and not supporting him. I think this is really separating the real left from the fake left. Here's a look at the life of Iraq's former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Personal: Birth date: July 1, 1950 Birth place: Hindiya, Iraq (some sources say Hilla) Birth name: Nuri Kamil al-Maliki Marriage: Married Children: Four daughters and a son Education: Usul al-Din College, B.A., Islamic Studies, 1973; Salahaddin University, M.A., Arabic Literature, 1992 Religion: Shiite Muslim Other Facts: Prono: NOO-ree al-MAA-lick-ee Changed his name to Jawad al-Maliki while he was in exile. Negotiated with Sunnis and Kurds to help draft Iraq's constitution. Previously an adviser to former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Directed activists in Iraq during his exile in Syria and Iran. Timeline: 1968 - Joins the Dawa Party. 1979-1980 - When he is sentenced to death for opposing Saddam Hussein and the Baathist party, Maliki flees Iraq and finds refuge in Iran and later Syria. 2003 - Returns to Iraq from Syria. 2003-2004 - Member of the de-Baathification Commission, which works to rid former Baathists from Iraq's military and government. January 2005 - Is elected to the new parliament as a member of the Dawa Party and serves as the head of the Security and Defense Committee of the National Assembly. April 22, 2006 - Is chosen by the Shiite-dominated coalition United Iraqi Alliance to replace Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. He has one month to form a government. May 20, 2006 - Iraq's new government is sworn in, with 37 cabinet members and Maliki as prime minister. July 26, 2006 - Addresses a joint meeting of the US Congress on the war in Iraq. October 27, 2006 - Meets with US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, telling him he considers himself "a friend of the US, but [he's] not America's man in Iraq." January 2, 2007 - States in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, "I wish I could be done with it even before the end of this term.. I didn't want to take this position... I only agreed because I thought it would serve the national interest, and I will not accept it again." March 3-5, 2008 - Meets with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Baghdad. February 2009 - Maliki's State of Law coalition wins a plurality in 9 of the 14 provinces that held elections. March 7, 2010 - Parliamentary elections for Iraq's second full-term legislature. The main rival to the State of Law coalition which includes Maliki's Dawa Party, is the Iraqiya coalition headed by former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. March 26, 2010 - In Iraq's parliamentary elections, Allawi's Iraqiya coalition edges out Maliki's coalition 91 seats to 89. November 25, 2010 - Maliki is named to a second term by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in a televised ceremony. December 12, 2011 - Meets with US President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss the shift in US-Iraq relations with the end of the Iraq war. June 10, 2012 - Maliki survives the threat of a no-confidence vote by parliament when President Talabani announces that there is not enough support for the vote. Maliki's opponents accuse him of monopolizing power. June 21, 2012 - Osama al-Nujaifi, speaker of parliament, announces that Maliki will be asked to appear before parliament in a continued effort to oust him. January 4, 2014 - Maliki vows to crush the insurgency in Anbar province, where the Sunni insurgency -- al Qaeda in Iraq -- flourished following the 2003 US-led invasion. "There will be no withdrawal," Maliki says in a speech carried by Al-Arabiya. April 30, 2014 - Maliki's party wins 92 seats in parliamentary elections, short of the 165 seats needed for a majority. August 11, 2014 - President Fuad Masum appoints Haider al-Abadi as prime minister of Iraq, replacing a defiant Maliki with a member of his own party, despite Maliki's pronouncement earlier in the day that he intends to stay in office for a third term. Abadi, is the deputy speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and a former aide to Maliki. August 14, 2014 - In a televised address, Maliki withdraws his candidacy for a third term and endorses Abadi. September 8, 2014 - Maliki is asked to serve as one of the country's three vice presidents in the newly formed government. TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The Terre Haute Police Department says its satisfied with a judges decision in a dispute over a city ordinance. Recently, News 10 introduced you to Tommy Williams. He said the city unfairly cited his wife, Kemi Williams, after she threw a private birthday party. However, police disagree. They said the party was open the public, which goes against a so called dance ordinance. Thats because Williams didnt have a permit. A Terre Haute judge recently sided with police and ruled Kemi Williams was in violation of the ordinance. Police went on to say this case was never about dancing or holding a private birthday party. A judge will decide the punishment in this case in August. TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI)-With the July 4 just a couple of weeks away, Americans everywhere are expected to celebrate with a bang. Stores, stands, and tents are going up across the Wabash Valley with a full stock of fireworks ready for the Forth of July. What used to be Wise Pies on South 3rd street is now a fireworks store. It has been opened since May. Jeremy Monnett, an employee, says they are getting busier. "we have had a lot of people come get fireworks for Father's Day," Monnett said. Some may think the bigger the boom, the bigger celebration. But, officials say celebrating comes with warning. "Use safe practices," Norm Loudermilk, Arson Investigator at the Terre Haute Fire Department said. "Have a bucket of water nearby or a small extinguisher." Loudermilk says fireworks are legal to sell and legal to buy. But, there is a law for when you can shoot them off. "We are not interested in getting fines. What we are interested in, is that people comply," he said. According to Loudermilk, cities can forbid some fire work use, but not five days before or after the holiday. Per Indiana state law, fireworks may be legal every day of the year during certain times. But, Loudermilk says you should check with your county prosecutor to find out what is legal in your area. Setting off fireworks on any other day could cost you up a $2,000 fine. Loudermilk says knowing where the fireworks come from is important too. You must have a permit from the state of Indiana to sell fireworks. The permit must be available to anyone. Monnett's store is in compliance. "Play it safe," Monnett said. "If a kid is setting off fireworks, make sure there is adult supervision." Learn more about rules and regulations here. OLNEY, Ill. (WTHI) - A local child has died in an accidental drowning. It happened at a home in Olney, Illinois. News 10 reached out to the Richland County coroner's office Tuesday. The coroner said 18 month-old Ellen Schick drowned in an above ground pool on Sunday. The coroner believes she may have found her way up the ladder and into the pool on her own. The coroner is calling this a tragic accident. VERMILLION COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - You have the chance to safely get rid of prescription drugs Wednesday. Indiana's Attorney General's Mobile Operations Center is hosting a drug take back event. The Mobile Center will be at the Vermillion County Fair. People can take their unused, unwanted, or expired medications to the event. The group will dispose of them so they aren't a hazard. You can drop them off from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at the fairgrounds, in Cayuga. 69 partners working together to develop future technologies focused on security, safety and privacy across multiple application domains. Vienna, 20. June 2018 (AIT): SECREDAS stands for "Cyber Se curity for Cr oss Domain R e liable D ependable A utomated S ystems." SECREDAS consortium - 69 partners from 16 European countries (see PDF file enclosed) - has kicked-off the 50 million Euro ECSEL Joint Undertaking research and innovation project, to build a reference architecture for Secure and Safe Automated Systems compliant with the new GDPR Regulation. The focus will be on automotive, rail and personal healthcare, all of which demand high security and safety, covering technologies such as radar, lidar, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure and in-vehicle networks. The project started on on May 1st, 2018 and the kick-off meeting took place on May 16-17 at NXP Semiconductors, coordinator of the project, and it will last for 3 years. First results are expected to be demonstrated at the ITS European Congress on June 3-6, 2019 in Helmond/Eindhoven, The Netherlands (see https://2019.itsineurope.com/). Bert De Colvenaer, Executive Director of the ECSEL JU: "SECREDAS is one of the first ECSEL JU funded projects which looks at security, safety and privacy across multiple application domains. The new European GDPR-regulation provides the opportunity to develop future technologies able to answer to urgent safety, security and privacy concerns. The ECSEL JU programme demonstrates once again its flexibility to take up new challenges". Patrick Pype, SECREDAS Project Leader: "We are proud to have gathered together the key European stakeholders with expertise in their respective application domains as well as in the security & privacy area. This will allow to make a giant leap forward in the trust of road users in autonomous transport modes and healthcare. The consortium expects that 25% of all new road vehicles will be fitted with SECREDAS technology by 2030, representing a value of 10B". The intertwining of safety, security & privacy of connected and automated systems is a concern in multiple application domains for many consumers in the European Union. As an example, one in four potential buyers/users in Europe of automated driving is reluctant to do so, mainly due to a lack of trust into its security. Hence industry and research communities need to work on an answer to ensure that these concerns are no longer roadblocks for further evolutions in the transport and personal healthcare sectors. The high-level goal of SECREDAS is to develop and validate multi-domain architecting methodologies, reference architectures, components and suitable integration and verification approaches for automated systems, as well as taking into account and influencing standardization, certification and qualification in different domains, combining high security and privacy protection while preserving functional-safety and operational performance. With SECREDAS, a first important step will be made into the direction of developing "trust"-building components and (sub-)systems for, in particular, the European transportation and medical industry of tomorrow. The vision of SECREDAS is to take an important step forward by providing the means to enhance this trustworthiness. This will assist in making connected and automated vehicles a market reality, to ensure that European OEMs remain competitive and that they remain world leaders, together with embedded system and semiconductor suppliers. In addition, SECREDAS addresses cross-domain cybersecurity, privacy and safety related technologies in the areas of automated systems in the personal healthcare & railway sectors, with strong support to cross-domain actions. Advanced cryptography technology contribution by AIT Austrian Institute of Technology Within SECREDAS, AIT deeply focuses on advanced, e.g. attribute-based (quantum-safe) cryptography to enhance SECREDAS' Common Technology Elements (CTE) which are existing domain-independent industrial proven technologies. AIT is further supporting the supervisor architecture, the Railway Workpackage as partner of Thales Austria, and leads the Standardization, Certification and Qualification Workpackage. The Austrian contribution is supported by the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology as well as the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). Contact: AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH: Michael Murling AIT Austrian Institute of Technology Marketing and Communications Center for Digital Safety & Security T +43 (0)50550-4126 | M +43 (0)664 2351747 michael.muerling@ait.ac.at | www.ait.ac.at Follow us on: Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter ECSEL JU: Alun Foster, Head of Plans and Dissemination of the ECSEL JU (Communication related queries) Alun.foster@ecsel.europa.eu Yves Gigase, Head of Programmes of the ECSEL JU (Technology related queries) Yves.gigase@ecsel.europa.eu Despite opposition from the US Congress, Turkey is set to receive its first F-35 Joint Strike Fighters on Thursday during a ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas, the Pentagon said Tuesday. "Lockheed Martin will hold a rollout ceremony for Turkey this Thursday in Fort Worth, and the two jets will follow-on to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona at a later date," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews told CNN. "Turkish F-35 pilots and maintainers have arrived at Luke Air Force Base and will begin flight academics soon," he added. Although Turkey has long been a participant in the development of the F-35 program, the US Senate had sought to block Turkey from receiving the stealth warplanes through language in the National Defense Authorization Act amid a deterioration of the US-Turkey relationship. The Senate's version of the defense bill expressed concern over Ankara's planned purchase of the S-400 anti-aircraft system from Russia and what it labeled Turkey's unlawful and wrongful detention of Andre Brunson, a US citizen. Many US officials have expressed concerns that a major Russian military system like the S-400 would be incompatible with the NATO systems used by Turkey's alliance partners. The Senate bill also calls on Secretary of Defense James Mattis to submit to Congress "a plan to remove the Government of the Republic of Turkey from participation in the F-35 program" as well as list the "steps required to prohibit the transfer of any F-35 aircraft currently owned and operated, by the Government of the Republic of Turkey, from the territory of the United States." The Senate overwhelmingly passed its version of the defense authorization bill on Monday. Congressional efforts to block the sale to Turkey have drawn criticism from Turkish officials. "We have been in that program, including some joint production, production of the parts of F-35s in Turkey," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevl-t -avu-o-lu told PBS earlier this month. "Turkey has been paying the installments on time, on due time. And Turkey have met all the requirements, but you cannot cancel this because of the S-400s that we are buying. It is a totally different issue," he added, saying Turkey should not be forced to choose between the US and Russia. Andrews said the Department of Defense "does not comment on proposed legislation," adding that "Turkey is a close, key NATO ally, and has been an international participant with the F-35 program since 2002." The Senate bill still needs to be reconciled with the House's version and the final version would need to be signed by President Donald Trump. TALLASSEE, Ala. (AP) A gunman crashed into a vehicle outside a Walmart store on Tuesday morning, opening fire and killing two men before taking his own life, authorities said. Tallassee Mayor Johnny Hammock told news outlets the alleged shooter drove a car into another vehicle in the store parking lot, then opened fire. Two women inside the vehicle were fatally wounded, he said, and the gunman turned the weapon on himself. The violence appeared to be related to a domestic dispute and there was no broader danger, Police Chief Matthew Higgins told reporters. "(We're) still trying to work out the details. It's still fresh," he said. Authorities didn't immediately release the names or any other details about what happened. Photos shared on social media showed a light-colored SUV with cloth draped over the driver's window parked outside the store. Tallassee is located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Montgomery. A cold front passing through our area overnight will bring into our area some of the coolest temperatures of the season so far. We will see most of the highs this weekend only in the upper 60s to lower 70s. While overnight lows will drop off down into the 40s Saturday night. Radar Temperatures Severe Weather UNION COUNTY, Miss. (WTVA) - About a dozen people are in federal custody following their arrests by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). A spokesman for ICE confirms the arrests happened Saturday, June 16, at various locations in Union County. The federal agency says those involved were arrested for other criminal charges when their immigration statuses were soon discovered. No names were provided. ICE says these arrests came on the heels of leads or local arrests. The people are accused of being illegal aliens. They will go before a federal immigration judge. The judge can decide if they can stay in the United States or be deported. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Democratic Black Caucus of Florida has officially endorsed Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum for Florida Governor. The group made the announcement at a press conference earlier Wednesday morning. Gillum said it's an honor to be endorsed by a group that connects to the voters. He also mentioned his status as the 'only non-millionaire Democrat' in the primary and how it makes him more relatable to those casting ballots. "One of my opponents is 11,000 times wealthier than I am, but I think I am in good company," said Gillum. "Because I am an in the company of everyday average Floridians who know what it means to get up every day to try to work on a job, to try to earn a wage, to try to take care of yourself and your family." The news comes as a new poll reveals Gillum is in the lead in the Democratic field with 29 percent. U.S. Representative Gwen Graham has 24 percent and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine has 17 percent. Also in the race for Florida governor, businessmen Jeff Greene and Chris King as well as Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Congressman Ron DeSantis. Our political contributor, Doctor Richard Murgo, says the endorsement may help increase the African American voter turn out through out the state. "This will simply endorse that and I think it will garner a lot more of African-American support. However, a lot of this is going to depend on African-American turn out in Florida," said Dr. Murgo. "If he's able to get the turnout in Florida, brilliant, it's going to help him and this may do that this may bring African-Americans out to vote." The Florida primary is Tuesday, August 28. LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) (ALC) announced long-term lease agreements with SAS for two new CFM LEAP-1A26-powered Airbus A320-200neo aircraft scheduled for delivery in November 2019 and April 2020. We are pleased to announce this new lease placement with SAS, said Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, Executive Chairman of Air Lease Corporation. ALC looks forward to building our long-term relationship with SAS as they continue to add new aircraft to modernize their fleet and grow their network, as well as maximize their competitive advantage in the market. Marc Baer, Air Lease Corporations Executive Vice President added, ALC expects these two Airbus A320-200neo aircraft additions will be key to SAS as the airline continues to enhance their fleet operations and provide their passengers with elevated comfort and excellent service. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including expected delivery dates. Such statements are based on current expectations and projections about our future results, prospects and opportunities and are not guarantees of future performance. Such statements will not be updated unless required by law. Actual results and performance may differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) ALC is a leading aircraft leasing company based in Los Angeles, California that has airline customers throughout the world. ALC and its team of dedicated and experienced professionals are principally engaged in purchasing commercial aircraft and leasing them to its airline customers worldwide through customized aircraft leasing and financing solutions. For more information, visit ALC's website at www.airleasecorp.com. About SAS SAS carries more than 30 million passengers annually and is Scandinavias leading airline with close to 800 daily flights on 272 routes to 123 destinations in Scandinavia, Europe, USA and Asia. SAS is a member of Star Alliance and can together with its partner airlines offer more than 18,400 daily flights to 1,300 destinations around the world in over 190 countries. SAS is listed at the stock exchanges in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo. For more information, visit www.sasgroup.net. Investors: Mary Liz DePalma Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations Email: mdepalma@airleasecorp.com Media: Laura Woeste Manager, Media and Investor Relations Email: lwoeste@airleasecorp.com Source: Xinhua| 2017-05-26 07:24:47|Editor: Song Lifang Video Player Close QUITO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa revealed Thursday that he is in hospital, recovering from pneumonia. Writing on Twitter, he told his follower that "from Saturday, I felt very ill: headache, high blood pressure, chills, fever, extreme fatigue." He was checked into Quito's Carlos Andrade Marin hospital on Wednesday, where a medical checkup diagnosed him with pneumonia, following his handing over of power to President Lenin Moreno. On Wednesday night, the ruling PAIS Alliance stated that Correa "saw his health diminish, worsened by the lack of rest from his busy activities and intense schedule in recent days." Correa commented on Twitter that he felt so bad he almost had to cancel the handover of power ceremony but kept going to avoid raising questions in the eyes of the world and so as to not let down his successor, Moreno. After ten years in power, the former president is to take a step back from political life, and devote himself to his family and academic pursuits. He will move to Belgium, the country of origin of his wife, Anne Malherbe Gosselin. A train runs on the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway during an operational test near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Oct. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo) ADDIS ABABA, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Officials from the African Union (AU) and African diplomats have hailed the Chinese-built Ethio-Djibouti railway as a project that helps Africa realize its aspirations of development and integration. The Chinese Mission to AU on Friday organized a train trip event, with officials of the pan-African bloc as well as African and other international diplomats on board of the Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway that links the two East African nations. The event, which also included a visit to a Chinese-built industrial park in Adama town about 80 km away from Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, was to enable the participants to witness projects carried out through Sino-Africa cooperation as well as the cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Kuang Weilin, Head of Chinese Mission to AU. "The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in Beijing will be held very soon, and the theme of the summit will be the Belt and Road Initiative and Africa's Development. That is why we organize this trip so that we can have the opportunity to take a look at the railway, to see the early harvest of the Belt and Road Initiative," he said. The Chinese-built 756 km electrified rail project connecting landlocked Ethiopia to Djibouti, was contracted by two Chinese companies, namely the China Rail Engineering Corporation and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. Rossette Nyirinkindi Kataungye, AU Advisor on Regional Integration, said the railway project is a demonstration carried out with China's commitment to supporting Africa in realizing the continent's aspirations for development and integration. "It is a really wonderful project that shows that Africa is integrating, when you have country like Djibouti, which has the coastline and a port that we can use; this is a way of having shared resources, shared vision. It is an excellent project," noted the Advisor. Katungye said China has proved that it is a "very good" partner for Africa's development as well as cultural ties. "They (the Chinese) have demonstrated that they can stand by us to achieve our aspirations; and especially on infrastructure, this is a very good example of that very good cooperation," she said. "Many countries in Africa have embarked on similar programs; for instance in East Africa, the standard gauge railway, again with cooperating with Exim Bank (China)." she added. Levi Uche Madueke, Head of AU Strategic Partnership, said the Ethio-Djibouti railway project is the product of Sino-Africa cooperation, which aims at mutual benefits. "What we are witnessing today is a very good thing; it makes us happy, because we are beginning to realize our vision which is about African development and integration," said Madueke. "This railway project is a part of the cooperation program that we have, coming into reality; because linking Ethiopian people to Djibouti, is going to facilitate a lot of things, it is going to boost development process; it is going to boost issues related to trade; even people to people exchange... It is very good thing that we are experiencing today," he said. "This is actually very good example to other African countries; this is part of integration program; and we believe that it will be replicated in other regions," he added. File photo taken on June 14, 2018 shows that protestors chant outside the Metropolitan Detention Center where the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees are held, during a 'Families Belong Together March' against the separation of children of immigrants from their parents, in Los Angeles, California, the United States. (AFP Photo) UNITED NATIONS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Children should not be snatched from their migrant parents, Henrietta Fore, executive director of UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), said on Tuesday, in reference to the controversial U.S. practice on the Mexico border. "Stories of children, some of them just babies, being separated from their parents as they seek safety in the U.S. are heartbreaking," she said in a statement. "Children -- no matter where they come from or what their migration status -- are children first and foremost. Those who were left with no option but to flee their homes have the right to be protected, access essential services, and be with their families, just like all children." Detention and family separation are traumatic experiences that can leave children more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse and can create toxic stress, which, as multiple studies have shown, can impact children's long-term development, she warned. Such practices are in no one's best interests, least of all the children who most suffer their effects. The welfare of children is the most important consideration, she said. "I hope that the best interests of refugee and migrant children will be paramount in the application of U.S. asylum procedures and laws." Fore noted that the U.S. government and its people for decades had supported UNICEF's efforts to help child refugees, asylum seekers and migrants affected by crises across the globe. In the past six weeks, more than 2,000 children have been reportedly taken from parents who have crossed illegally into the United States from Mexico. The children have been put in detention centers in southwestern U.S. states. The newly introduced practice of the Trump administration has drawn international and domestic criticism. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that children must not be traumatized by being separated from their parents. Also, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said Monday in Geneva, "The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable." Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 06:16:26|Editor: yan Video Player Close GENEVA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Tuesday night responded that the U.S. withdrawal from UN Rights Council is "disappointing, if not really surprising". "Given the state of Human Rights in today's world, the U.S. should be stepping up, not stepping back," Zeid said following the United States' latest decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council. Also right after the announcement of the U.S. withdrawal, the President of the UN Human Rights Council Vojislav Suc stressed that it is essential that we uphold a strong and vibrant Council in times when the value and strength of multilateralism and human rights are being challenged on a daily basis. In a statement issued late Tuesday night, the UN official said the Council should be recognized as a central part of the United Nations for the 21st century. He stressed that over the past 12 years, the UN Human Rights Council has tackled numerous human rights situations and issues keeping them in sharp focus. "In many senses, the Council serves as an early warning system by sounding the alarm bells ahead of impending or worsening crises. Its actions lead to meaningful results for the countless human rights victims worldwide, those the Council serves," he noted. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced in Washington that the United States is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council. RABAT, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani said on Tuesday that Morocco's exports have increased significantly in terms of quality and technological content under the free trade agreements. Morocco signed free trade agreements with several parties, including the European Union, the United States and Turkey. Othmani noted that over the past 10 years, Moroccan exports to the EU, the U.S. and Turkey have surged 6.1 percent, 16.4 percent and 30 percent respectively under the free trade agreements with them. These agreements have also helped accelerate the pace of Morocco's reforms, notably by modernizing the legislative and regulatory framework for foreign trade, simplifying procedures, improving the business climate and the competitive capacity of domestic enterprises, as well as promoting foreign investment, he said. In addition, the Moroccan prime minister reviewed the measures taken to avoid the negative impacts of free trade agreements on the economic and entrepreneurial fabric as well as on the national products, enhance the performance of the national economy and improve access of Moroccan products to the markets of trading partners. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 06:51:31|Editor: yan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regretted the withdrawal of the United States from the world body's Human Rights Council, said his spokesman on Tuesday. "The secretary-general would have much preferred for the United States to remain in the Human Rights Council," said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, in a note to correspondents. "The UN's Human Rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide." The remarks came shortly after U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced in Washington that the United States is officially withdrawing from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. In Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein responded that the U.S. withdrawal is "disappointing, if not really surprising." "Given the state of Human Rights in today's world, the U.S. should be stepping up, not stepping back," Zeid said. Delegates attend a special session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, May 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan) WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley said here on Tuesday. The exit marks the latest U.S. departure from multinational organizations and treaties after it pulled out of the Paris climate accord, the UN global compact on migration, the UN culture and education body UNESCO, as well as the Iran nuclear deal. At a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Haley said the council had failed to conduct the "major, dramatic and systematic changes" required by the United States. Haley accused the council of being "a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias." "As we said we would do a year ago, if we did not see any progress, the United State is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council," she said. MEXICO CITY, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Mexico on Tuesday condemned U.S. immigration policy that separates undocumented migrant children from their families as "cruel and inhumane." Foreign Affairs Minister Luis Videgaray also called on the United States "to reconsider" the policy that has separated about 2,000 Mexican and Central American families since April. "On behalf of the people and government of Mexico, I want to express our most categoric and emphatic condemnation of a cruel and inhumane policy," Videgaray told reporters at a press conference. Mexico's government has taken steps to overturn the policy, he said, including delivering a message Monday night to U.S. President Donald Trump, whose "zero tolerance" immigration policy has led to the unprecedented step of taking children away from their parents and keeping them in separate detention facilities. Following U.S. media reports that some of the children are unaccounted for, Mexico also requested better coordination between authorities from the two countries to maintain an updated registry of the migrant parents and children affected, and that separated family members be allowed to communicate on a daily basis. The policy "clearly violates human rights and places small children in a situation of vulnerability," said Videgaray. The minister said he had spoken by phone earlier in the day with Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, to reiterate Mexico's position. In keeping with migration trends, the vast majority of families targeted by the new policy have been from Central American nations, such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Of the 1,995 cases of minors separated from their families since the policy was enforced in April, 25 involve Mexican citizens, or about one percent of the cases, according to Videgaray. Most of the Mexican minors have already been repatriated and reconnected with relatives in Mexico, but seven remain in U.S. government detention centers, including a small girl with Downs Syndrome, and consular personnel are "attending" to her case, he said. However, Mexico has the "moral obligation" to work to relieve the situation for all children who have fallen victim of the hardline immigration policy, said Videgaray. Mexico will be meeting with representatives of the Central American governments on Friday to coordinate efforts, exchange information, "and outline our positions" at international organizations such as the United Nations, said the minister. "We call on the highest levels (of the U.S. government) to reconsider this policy and prioritize the wellbeing of the rights of children, regardless of their nationality or migratory status," said Videgaray. Dublin, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "In-Flight Wi-Fi Market to 2025 - Global Analysis and Forecasts by Type (Hardware & Service); Aircraft Type (Narrow Body Aircraft, Wide Body Aircraft, Very Large Aircraft & Business Jet); & Technology (Air to Ground Technology & Satellite Technology)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. In-Flight Wi-Fi market is estimated to reach US$ 7.30 Bn by 2025 The companies are trying to bring better service with a faster speed of Wi-Fi owing to the increase in the number of air travelers and rise in passenger's expectations. Moreover, airlines are also increasingly switching towards the better Wi-Fi services, mainly satellite-based broadband services which deliver high internet speed. Airlines are now increasingly replacing their existing systems with better Wi-Fi system, in order to meet with changing passenger's demands, and there are different types of Wi-Fi systems available depends upon the types of aircraft. Key trend which is expected to have predominantly effect the market in coming year in In-Flight Wi-Fi market is growth in number of air travelers and Wi-Fi connectivity preferences. In-Flight Wi-Fi allows air passengers to get online, do basic browsing, to get connected using cell phones via voice calls, emails, and SMS or MMS. Currently, there is an increase in the number of business and general air travelers. Thus, airline operators are more focused towards offering passengers with the benefit of using mobile phones for data connectivity, as well as for voice calls in domestic and international flights. In-Flight Wi-Fi increases the productivity of business travelers by enabling them to communicate while flying. With the increase in the number of flights offering Wi-Fi connectivity, passengers are more inclined towards boarding a flight which offers Wi-Fi connectivity. Another factor acting as a propellant for the market is implementation of new systems and technologies with better operational benefits. Airlines are increasingly switching towards the better Wi-Fi services, mainly satellite-based broadband services which deliver high internet speed. Airlines are now increasingly replacing their existing systems with better Wi-Fi system, in order to meet with changing passenger's demands, and there are different types of Wi-Fi systems available depends upon the types of aircraft. In 2017, various airlines have upgraded their existing Wi-Fi systems for better speed and connectivity. Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction 2. Key Takeaways 3. In - Flight Wi-Fi Market Landscape 4. In-Flight Wifi Market - Key Industry Dynamics 5. In-Flight Wifi - Global Market Analysis 6. In-Flight Wi-Fi Market Revenue And Forecasts To 2025 - Types 7. In-Flight Wi-Fi Market Revenue And Forecasts To 2025 - Aircraft Types 8. In-Flight Wi-Fi Market Revenue And Forecasts To 2025 - Technology 9. In-Flight Wi-Fi Market Revenue And Forecasts To 2025 - Geographical Analysis 10. Industry Landscape 11. Competitive Landscape 12. Global In-Flight Wi-Fi Market - Key Company Profiles Echostar Corporation Global Eagle Entertainment Inc GOGO Llc Honeywell International Inc Panasonic Avionics Corporation Viasat Inc Sitaonair Thales Group Thinkom Solutions Inc Kymeta Corporation For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/n74ddz/global_inflight?w=12 by Xinhua writers Tian Dongdong, Wang Zichen BRUSSELS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Two years before the first World Refugee Day, Tony Blair, who was then the British prime minister, offered the international community in the midst of the Kosovo war in 1999 a set of criteria for deciding when and how to intervene militarily in the affairs of another country. Known as the "Blair doctrine", his proposal was an "irresistible notion" as it virtually enabled NATO "to intervene in other people's conflicts", said the London-based Guardian newspaper. The doctrine, which argued that a war was "just" when it rested not on any territorial ambitions, but on halting or preventing humanitarian disasters, gave the West a long-awaited "noble and inspiring" justification for their neo-interventionism. In the name of "humanitarian intervention", the doctrine witnessed wave upon wave of Western interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya as well as a string of other developing countries across the world. Unfortunately, what was dressed up as noble cause didn't have a noble ending. In the Middle East, in the name of protecting human rights, fighting terrorism, building democracy and restoring perpetual peace, the United States and its allies, launched a wave of military actions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. However, in their rush to open a Pandora's box, they failed to recapture the devil in the region. Facts have since proved that apart from overthrowing the Taliban government in Afghanistan, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, none of the other war goals advocated by Washington and its European allies were fulfilled. The actions left hundreds of thousands of people killed or wounded, with millions of civilians uprooted. The old saying goes that "for whatever one sows, that will he also reap." So after decades of following on the coat-tail of U.S. neo-interventionism, a number of European countries are finally swallowing the bitter pill of interventionism. With transatlantic relations at a historic low, European countries are currently at loggerheads over the worst-ever refugee crisis in the history of the European Union. The refugees didn't choose to become pawns in a battle over migration, but their influx has nonetheless contributed to Europe's rising populism, now threatening cohesion and integration within the EU bloc of nations. The 18th World Refugee Day on Wednesday should not be squandered amid division, as it offers a perfect opportunity for Europe, along with the United States, to ponder the damage of their neo-interventionism. At the EU upcoming summit later this month, when the issue of refugees will be high on agenda, leaders of each member state are advised to learn a succinct lesson from their predecessors. They should feel pains recalling Blair's infamous words that "I shall be with you whatever" when making a commitment to then U.S. President George W. Bush. Some 15 years later Blair is still blamed for leading Britain's rush to war in Iraq. Sir John Chilcot, author of a British government-sponsored report critical of Iraqi war, believed that the military intervention in Iraq has made the Middle East less stable and more dangerous by breaking a balance of power. Given the increasingly strong backlash against refugees in the EU, it is high time for European countries to wake up and recall the painful lessons of interventions. WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Tuesday announced its withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council, marking the latest departure by the Trump administration from an international institution. U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the council had failed to conduct the "major, dramatic and systematic changes" required by the United States. "As we said we would do a year ago, if we did not see any progress, the United State is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council," Haley said at a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. She accused the council of being "a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias." She also criticized the council as a "hypocritical and self-serving organization," saying that it has rendered membership to unworthy nations and harbored "disproportionate focus and unending hostility towards Israel." The exit marks the latest U.S. departure from multinational organizations and treaties after it pulled out of the Paris climate accord, the UN global compact on migration, the UN culture and education body UNESCO, as well as the Iran nuclear deal. Shortly after the U.S. announcement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced his regret over the U.S. decision. "The secretary-general would have much preferred for the United States to remain in the Human Rights Council," Stephane Dujarric, the UN chief's spokesman, said in a note to correspondents. "The UN's Human Rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide." Also, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein responded that the U.S. withdrawal from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council is "disappointing, if not really surprising." "Given the state of Human Rights in today's world, the U.S. should be stepping up, not stepping back," Zeid said on Twitter. Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, said that the withdrawal is "a convergence" of "a longstanding antipathy toward the UN generally on the American right" and "Trump's view that international relations should be transactional and benefit the U.S." "This is one more action that will have the long-term effect of isolating the U.S. from its allies and other nations," he told Xinhua. "I don't know that many in this administration care for international norms and rules in the first place." The pullout also came as the Trump administration faces intense criticism for its recently introduced policy that separates children from parents who were arrested for illegally crossing from Mexico into the United States. On Monday, the UN chief voiced opposition, saying that he believes that children must not be traumatized by being separated from their parents. Zeid said he was deeply concerned about the U.S. policies that "punish children for their parents' actions," calling on Washington to immediately end the "unconscionable" practice of forcible separation of these children. SYDNEY, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Australian supermarket chain Woolworths on Wednesday banned single-use plastic bags from its stores nationwide, in a move that is expected to remove more than 3.2 billion of the items from the environment every year. "This is a landmark day for us not just as a business, but for our customers and communities, to help support a greener future for Australia. We are proud to say that from now on, single-use plastic bags are gone from our stores, for good," Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said in a statement. "What we're trying to do with this change is encourage more customers to bring their own reusable bags when shopping, so we can prevent plastic bags from reaching our waterways and reduce the overall production of plastics," said Banducci, adding that shoppers will be able to buy reusable bags from the group's outlets. Rival supermarket chain Coles also rolled out plans last July to stop the use of the disposable plastic bags within the year, following similar moves by major retailers across the world that environmental groups have lauded. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 08:56:49|Editor: ZD Video Player Close CARACAS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Diosdado Cabello, a prominent Venezuelan politician and close aide to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, was sworn in as the new president of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) on Tuesday. Cabello, who serves as the vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), takes over the powerful lawmaking body from Delcy Rodriguez, who was appointed as the nation's vice president last week. In his first address as the ANC president, Cabello urged fellow assembly members to get close to the grassroots to better serve the people. "Let's go into the streets ... Let the people tell us what they want to tell. Let's put ourselves at the service of the people," Cabello said. The ANC, an elected body tasked with drafting a new Constitution, still has a lot of work to do, especially to fulfill Chavez's vision of Venezuelan-style socialism, he said. "We owe a large debt to the commander, and that is the construction of the communes," he said. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Thursday "a partial and profound renewal" of his cabinet, making 12 new appointments, among whom seven are female. Since Maduro was re-elected to a second term in May, he has pursued a policy of renewal and reconciliation between supporters of the PSUV and the conservative opposition coalition. Some 80 prisoners serving sentences for politically motivated violent crimes have received pardons. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 09:01:51|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close PARIS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- A French court on Tuesday sentenced two men to prison on charges of deadly violence against a Chinese textile designer in 2016. During a closed-door trial, the criminal court in Bobigny, Paris suburbs, gave one defendant a 10-year imprisonment and the other five years in prison with a 12-month suspension. They were found guilty of "robbery with death causing violence" and causing a "total work disability of less than eight days" to a friend of the Chinese designer during the incident. On Aug. 7, 2016, 49-year-old fashion designer Zhang Chaolin and his Chinese friend were mugged in the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers. The two defendants accompanied by a teenager who was sentenced to three months in prison, violently attacked the designer while trying to steal his bag. He was in a coma for five days before dying of his injuries. His death prompted massive demonstrations by the Chinese community. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 09:21:54|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close GAZA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Israeli army's war jets on Tuesday night struck military facilities belonging to the Islamic Hamas movement west of Rafah, a town in southern Gaza Strip, wounding at least two people, medics and security officials said. At least two people were injured by Israeli missile shrapnel and they were evacuated to a nearby hospital in the town for medical treatment, medical sources said. Immediately after the Israeli airstrikes on Hamas, Gaza militants fired a barrage of mortar shells into Israel. An Israeli army spokesman said that Israeli air fighters targeted a Hamas military base in Rafah in retaliation for the launch of flaming balloons and kites at Israel. Launching kites and balloons is part of the Palestinian protest activity "The Great March of Return and Breaking the Israeli Siege" which started in the Gaza Strip on March 30. Israeli drones and F16 war planes have repeatedly targeted military facilities that belong to the armed wing of Hamas west of Rafah, the security officials in Gaza said. Ashraf al-Qedra, a health ministry spokesman in Gaza, told reporters that 130 people have been killed and about 14,000 injured since March 30. Around half of the victims were shot by live ammunition, many of whom are still in a critical condition. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 09:36:57|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close Zhu Qin, charge d'affaires at the Chinese Embassy to Britain, delivers a speech at the Margaret Thatcher Conference on China and Britain in London June 19, 2018. China and Britain need to seize the opportunities to deepen their mutually-beneficial cooperation and shift the China-Britain "Golden Era" into a higher gear, Zhu Qin said on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Isabel Infantes) LONDON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- China and Britain need to seize the opportunities to deepen their mutually-beneficial cooperation and shift the China-Britain "Golden Era" into a higher gear, Chinese Charge d'Affaires to Britain Zhu Qin said Tuesday. Zhu made the remark when delivering a keynote speech at the Margaret Thatcher Conference on China and Britain held by the British think tank the Center for Policy Studies (CPS) in London. Recalling that China embarked on the great journey of reform and opening up 40 years ago, Zhu said the policy has brought profound and historic changes both to China and to China's relations with the rest of the world. Zhu said China has entered a new era of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, and Britain is embracing a "global Britain." "This is a time of new and historic opportunities. Our two countries need to seize these opportunities to deepen our mutually-beneficial cooperation and shift the China-UK 'Golden Era' into a higher gear," said the Chinese diplomat. He said the two countries should consolidate the strategic foundation of bilateral relations and take the lead in open and inclusive cooperation. "I believe that, as long as China and the UK follow the international trend of development and progress, and advance our bilateral relations with a strategic vision and political wisdom, we will write a new chapter for China-UK win-win cooperation and take the China-UK 'Golden Era' to a new high," Zhu said. CPS chairman Lord Saatchi said the conference is intended both to examine and to strengthen the relationship between Britain and China. "As our country leaves the European Union, seeking to strike new trade deals with old friends and new allies, China will play a crucial part in that story," he said. CPS Director Robert Colvile said their focus is on maximizing the prosperity of post-Brexit Britain, by making it a place that champions aspiration, enterprise, opportunity and ownership. He believes the nature of Britain's relationship with China, both commercial and political relationship, will do much to shape that future. CPS is a free-market British policy think tank whose goal is to promote coherent and practical public policy. Although identified as non-partisan, the center has strong historical links to the Conservative Party. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 10:00:17|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close A member of the Chihu emergency rescue team demonstrates how to put out a fire at Nanshexing Primary School in Xinzhen Town of Wen'an County, north China's Hebei Province, June 19, 2018. The Chihu emergency rescue team, a commonweal organization in Wen'an County, promoted to pupils knowledge of disaster prevention and reduction, safety awareness and rescue skills ahead of the summer vacation. (Xinhua/Li Xiaoguo) Workers work at a site of a damaged road in Osaka, Japan, on June 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Ma Ping) TOKYO, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Osaka Prefecture in western Japan continues to be rattled by tremors in the wake of a powerful quake of 6.1 magnitude that struck the region a day earlier. The quake has killed five people and injured hundreds of others so far, local officials said Tuesday. The fifth fatality as a result of the powerful quake was confirmed by local police as a 66-year-old man was found dead at his home in the hard-hit city of Takatsuki in Osaka Prefecture. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), dozens of aftershocks have continued throughout Tuesday, with a significant tremor hitting again in the early hours of Tuesday morning and jolting the entire region again. The aftershocks made an uncomfortable night for the some 1,700 people who were forced to spend Monday night in emergency evacuation centers, local Osaka government officials said. The number of evacuees, as of Tuesday evening, stood at more than 1,000 people, according to local authorities. Policemen lead vehicles away at a site of a damaged road in Osaka, Japan, on June 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Ma Ping) Due to the continued seismic activity and heavy rainfall which is expected to hit the affected region through Wednesday, the JMA has, in an unprecedented move, deployed its emergency task-force to Osaka and nearby areas to help with recovery efforts and prevent secondary damage. "Frequent seismic activity is continuing in the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. Strong tremors could have raised the risk of landslides or building collapse. People in such areas are advised to watch out for further seismic activity and rain," the JMA said in an earlier statement on the issue. Around 110,000 homes in the quake-hit region remain without gas, according to Osaka Gas Co., which said that gas supply will remain suspended until next Monday. As a result, shoppers have been flocking to supermarkets and convenience stores to stock up on bread and food that can be microwaved, local media reported Tuesday. In some parts of the hard-hit cities of Takatsuki and Minoo, hundreds of homes also remain without water. Local authorities have dispatched water trucks to help with the water shortage in these areas, local officials said. Engineers walk at a street in Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan, on June 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Ma Ping) More than 380 people have been injured as a result of the powerful temblor and at least 470 houses have been damaged across four prefectures by the quake, the government said Tuesday. One of the lives lost in the quake was 9-year-old Rina Miyake who was on her way to school when the quake struck at 7:58 a.m. local time on Monday. Due to the quake's shallow origin, the intensity was violent enough to bring down the outer wall of Miyake's school swimming pool and crush the young girl to death. A police investigation has been launched into the girl's death as there are suspicions that the wall did not meet safety standards, meaning the girl's death could have been a result of negligence. An education ministry official said after investigating the scene of the fatal accident, the concrete wall may have contained reinforced steel that was too short to properly connect the concrete-block wall to its foundations. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 10:37:08|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close SEOUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Wednesday that China is expected to play an important role on issues of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula. Kang made the remarks in a press conference for foreign correspondents in Seoul, saying that the visit by top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un to Beijing will contribute to realizing the shared goal of denuclearization and a lasting peace settlement. "China has an important role to play on issues of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula," said Kang. Kang expected the DPRK leader's dialogue in Beijing to contribute to realizing the shared goal of denuclearization and achievement of lasting peace on the peninsula. "We are watching closely to see the outcome of this latest move in Chairman Kim's new-found diplomatic activism," said the top South Korean diplomat. iTeos Therapeutics Completes $75 Million Series B Financing Oversubscribed financing round led by new U.S. investor MPM Capital Proceeds to support accelerated development of innovative next-generation immuno-oncology pipeline into the clinic and the companys expansion into the U.S. Gosselies, Belgium June 20, 2018 iTeos Therapeutics SA, a biotechnology company developing novel cancer immunotherapies, today announced the completion of an oversubscribed $75 million (64 million) Series B financing led by MPM Capital, with participation from additional new investors HBM Partners, 6 Dimensions Capital and Curative Ventures. All existing investors also participated in this financing round including Fund +, VIVES II and SRIW, as well as SFPI. This oversubscribed financing underscores the enormous potential of our innovative next-generation immuno-oncology pipeline and confirms the confidence in our leadership team to deliver value for patients and investors. We plan to continue to rapidly advance our promising therapies into the clinic and to design additional therapeutic candidates based on our industry leading drug discovery and early clinical development expertise, said Michel Detheux, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of iTeos. We are grateful for the continued support of our existing investors and look forward to welcoming the new investors who participated in this Series B financing. We are confident their guidance will prove invaluable as we continue our growth. Proceeds from this financing will support the advancement of several promising best-in-class immuno-oncology programs within iTeos unique pipeline into the clinic. This financing will also support the companys expansion into its new U.S.-based offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Specifically, the funding will enable iTeos to move EOS100850, an adenosine A 2A antagonist, into the clinic in 2018 and toward clinical proof-of-concept, and EOS884448, an anti-TIGIT antibody, into the clinic in 2019. The Companys development pipeline also includes additional drug candidates targeting the tumor microenvironment. We believe iTeos is a strong investment opportunity with several promising immuno-oncology drugs in its pipeline that have significant clinical advantages over competitive drug candidates, said Dr. Gadicke, Co-founder and Managing Director of MPM. Michel and his team have an excellent track record of discovering new ways to fight cancer and strategically growing the operations. MPM is very excited to be involved as the company expands into the U.S. and continues its evolution. Ansbert Gadicke, M.D., Co-founder and Managing Director of MPM; Christiana Bardon M.D., Managing Director of the UBS Oncology Impact Fund managed by MPM; and Priyanka Belawat, Ph.D. Investment Advisor at HBM Partners will join the iTeos Board of Directors. About iTeos Therapeutics iTeos Therapeutics is a privately-held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to extending and improving the lives of cancer patients by designing and developing next generation immunotherapies. The Company is advancing EOS100850, an insurmountable and non-brain penetrant adenosine A 2A receptor antagonist, into a Phase I trial in the second half of 2018. A second program for its human ADCC-enabling anti-TIGIT antibody (EOS884448) is expected to enter the clinic in 2019. Based in Gosselies, Belgium, iTeos Therapeutics was founded out of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and the de Duve Institute (Universite Catholique de Louvain) in 2011, with funds from the LICR, Fund+, VIVES II-Louvain Technology Fund, private investors and the Walloon Region of Belgium and the European Fund for Economic and Regional Development (FEDER). For more information, please visit www.iteostherapeutics.com. About MPM Capital MPM Capital is a venture firm founding and investing in early-stage life sciences companies that seek to cure major diseases by translating scientific innovations into positive clinical outcomes. MPMs portfolio of companies aims to revolutionize the face of medicine across multiple areas including cancer, neuroscience, metabolic disorders and regenerative medicine. With its experienced and dedicated investment team, executive partners and entrepreneurs and its medical and scientific advisory board, MPM is powering novel medical breakthroughs that transform patients lives. MPM is investing in iTeos from its BV2014 and BV2018 funds as well as the UBS Oncology Impact Fund managed by MPM, which invests in both public and private equities. For more information, please visit www.mpmcapital.com. For further information, please contact: Michel Detheux, CEO iTeos Therapeutics info@iteostherapeutics.com Amber Fennell, Mathew Neal, Sukaina Virji, Hendrik Thys Consilium Strategic Communications +44 203 709 5700 iteos@consilium-comms.com Sarah McCabe Stern Investor Relations, Inc. + 1 212 362 1200 sarah@sternir.com Liz Doherty MPM Capital +1 617 425 9275 ldoherty@mpmcapital.com YANGON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has reset the second week of July for holding the third meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference and preparations are underway for the session, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday. Secretary of the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee U Khin Zaw Oo told a preparatory meeting held in Nay Pyi Taw Tuesday that there remains 19 points to be discussed in the upcoming session, covering political, economic, social and land sectors. On Feb. 13, the New Mon State Party and the Lahu Democratic Union signed the Nationwide Cease fire Accord (NCA) with the government, becoming the first two armed groups joining the NCA in time of the incumbent government, led by the National League for Democracy. The join-in signing of them to the government's NCA has brought the total of such signatories to 10 since the first signing with eight armed groups on Oct. 15, 2015. In April's peace negotiation between the government and the Kayinni National Progressive Party (KNPP), which represents the third armed group the incumbent government targets, the KNPP pledged commitment to joining the NCA as soon as possible. Following the 2015 initiation of the NCA, the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conferences were held twice during the incumbent government in August 2016 and May 2017 respectively. The upcoming third meeting of the Panglong Peace Conference is expected to further discuss unfinished fundamental principles on federalism as well as the formulation of new principles for the establishment of a federal union. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 11:32:16|Editor: ZD Video Player Close by Zhu Dongyang, Liu Chen WASHINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Despite wide criticism, the United States is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley said here on Tuesday. U.S. IS LEAVING In a speech at the State Department, Haley said the HRC had failed to conduct the "major, dramatic and systematic changes" required by the United States. Saying the council is a "hypocritical and self-serving organization" and "a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias," she said it has rendered membership to unworthy nations and harbored "disproportionate focus and unending hostility towards Israel." "As we said we would do a year ago, if we did not see any progress, the United States is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council," she said. "The council ceases to be worthy of its name." She also complained about many nations' blockage against the U.S. reform initiative and the unwillingness of those "like-minded" members sharing the U.S. values to "challenge the status quo." However, she added that Washington will continue to advocate the council's reform, and "should it become reformed, we would be happy to rejoin." Haley said last year that the United States would leave the council over what she said the "bias" against Israel. UN CRITICISMS UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regretted the withdrawal. "The secretary-general would have much preferred for the United States to remain in the Human Rights Council," said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesman, in a note to correspondents. "The UN's Human Rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide." Vojislav Suc, the president of the UN Human Rights Council, also said that it is essential to uphold a strong and vibrant council in times when the value and strength of multilateralism and human rights are being challenged on a daily basis. In a statement issued right after Haley's announcement, Suc said the council should be recognized as a central part of the United Nations for the 21st century, and it is the prerogative of any member state to make such a decision. The matter of filling the vacancy left in the council membership after the U.S. withdrawal will need to be addressed by the United Nations General Assembly, he added. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein also responded by saying that the U.S. withdrawal is "disappointing, if not really surprising." "Given the state of human rights in today's world, the U.S. should be stepping up, not stepping back," Zeid said. U.S. UNILATERALISM The exit represented another U.S. departure from multinational organizations and treaties, after it pulled out of the Paris climate accord, the UN Global Compact on Migration, the UN culture and education body UNESCO, as well as the Iran nuclear deal. Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua that the withdrawal is "a convergence" of "a longstanding antipathy toward the UN generally on the American right" and "Trump's view that international relations should be transactional and benefit the U.S." "This is one more action that will have the long-term effect of isolating the U.S. from its allies and other nations," he said. "I don't know that many in this administration care for international norms and rules in the first place." (Matthew Rusling from Washington also contributed to the report.) BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Washington's trade war against China and some U.S. allies is "extremely unwise and so unnecessary," said a renowned Singaporean expert on Asian and world affairs. The move is detrimental both to the American middle class and to the multilateral institutions in the world, Kishore Mahbubani told Xinhua in a recent interview. "The U.S. economy is doing well. You don't need to do this. You are only damaging the prospects for the American workers and American middle class by launching this trade war," said Mahbubani, senior advisor and professor in the practice of public policy at the National University of Singapore. Among many others, U.S. equipment manufacturers and agricultural associations have already voiced strong opposition to Washington's decision to move forward with tariffs on Chinese goods, saying it will put over 1 million jobs in America at risk and inflict heavy losses on the U.S. side. Meanwhile, "in the case of this trade war, not a single ally of the United States is supporting it," said Mahbubani, noting that the United States is also targeting Canada, the European Union, Mexico and Germany, among others. Commenting on the consequences of Washington's tariff plans, the former Singaporean permanent representative to the United Nations said his biggest worry right now is the World Trade Organization (WTO). Such moves "are going to damage international confidence significantly in the WTO," said the professor. "We must do our very best to protect the WTO in the next five to 10 years and make sure that it survives." The WTO is an intergovernmental organization established to regulate international trade. One of its primary functions is to serve as a framework for settling trade disputes. Mahbubani called on the United States and other Western countries to respect and utilize multilateral institutions. "The best way the United States and the West can handle these relations with the rest of the world is to use multilateral institutions, because multilateral institutions create a level playing field for everyone," he said. Zooming out on the international landscape, Mahbubani said that the West is "feeling quite lost" due to the phenomenal growth of emerging-market economies such as China and India. "You have to adjust. It's a different world," said the academic and former diplomat. "You cannot keep on dominating the world, guiding the world, trying to decide for other societies what they should do." Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 13:37:40|Editor: ZD Video Player Close By Xinhua Writers Cao Kai, Fan Shihui SHIJIAZHUANG, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Fifty years after starting experiments on hybrid wheat, Wang Zhen is happy to see a bumper harvest this year. The 80-year-old farmer from Linzhang County, north China's Hebei Province, rode his tricycle to the fields to watch machines reap 15 mu (1 hectare) of wheat over the past week. The average yield of the hybridized wheat, a produce of wheat and twitch-grass, is 452 kg per mu, 150 kg more than that of local varieties, according to Wang, who is seen by his peers as crazy. Wang's wheat, which is called "wheat with massive ears," has 90 ears, more than twice of that of ordinary wheat. He said it also has a higher protein content and is more resistant to lodging and diseases. Wang, who has only a senior high school education, said he has discovered seven species of wild grass that can be hybridized with wheat. Out of the 15 mu of wheat he planted, 5 mu is wheat hybridized with twitch-grass and the other 10 mu is hybridized with other wild grasses. Distant hybridization, between different species belonging to the same genus, is a global challenge that even scientists are not eager to attempt. Wang said he was motivated by a government slogan in the 1950s to develop China into the world's first country with a stable and high grain yield after the country was hit by famine and feeding the population was a big problem. "I wanted to breed quality wheat with high yields through hybridization, making my own contribution to the country," said Wang, who quit a post office job to work as a technician at a farm. Wang has hybridized several different varieties of wheat but failed to produce a variety with better yields. He then had the bold idea to hybridizing wheat with twitch-grass, which has bigger ears as well as strong stems and is more resistant to diseases. Wang read all the genetics and breeding books he could get his hands on and continued experiments with hybridizing wheat despite derision from local farmers and scientists. He managed to produce his first hybrid wheat seed in 1977 and planted it in a flowerpot. With continuous breeding and optimizing, Wang began to plant the hybrid wheat on a large scale in 2012 with the help of his neighbor Chen Fulin, who offered 5 mu of land. "I didn't want to see him take his research to the grave," said Chen. Developing hybrid wheat is costly. To cover land rental and labor costs, Wang had planted vegetable greenhouses and kept bees. He also works part-time as a security guard. Although yet to get official certification to be promoted nationwide, Wang's hybrid wheat has already played a role in Linzhang. "Wang's wheat is good breeding material. A hybrid wheat variety we are promoting now has his wheat as the male parent," said Jin Guangxian, a senior agro-technician from the county agriculture and animal husbandry bureau. Despite decades of effort, it still has a long way to go for Wang's hybrid wheat to be a quality variety that can be promoted on a larger scale, said a professor from the China Agricultural University who requested anonymity. "The formation of a quality variety needs strict examination procedures," he told Xinhua. "You have to figure out how the variety should be planted, including seeding rate, water demands, disease prevention and control." As Wang's hybrid wheat is not a mature variety, he will keep parts of the yield for family use and sell the rest to the market as normal wheat. For Wang, the biggest concern now is his health. "If I pass away, nobody will carry on my research," he said, adding that it takes at least six to 10 years to make achievements in breeding. "I will donate my research to the country and let scientific institutions continue the research on distant hybridization," he said. YANGON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar authorities have banned illegal fishing in Yangon river to prevent the fishery sector from being threatened, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday. Fishing is banned at the confluence of three rivers -- Bago, Yangon and Hlaing rivers, down to the mouth of the sea. Such restriction is imposed from June to August to reduce overfishing in the countrys sea. Myanmar Fishery Federation (MFF) is calling for eliminating the illegal fishing as the number of such cases using electricity and bombs have increased in the country. The electrocution and bombing are blamed for the decrease of fish reproduction as well as threatening the fisheries resources, biodiversity and marine life. The illegal fishing cases occurred especially in Yangon, Ayeyarwaddy and Taninthayi regions. There are about 480,000 acres (194,249 hectares) of fish and prawn breeding farms across the country and the MFF is trying to set up fish and prawn farming zones in cooperation with the region and state governments. In accordance with the figures from the Ministry of Agricculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Myanmar earned about 717.7 million U.S. dollars from export of over 568.227 tons of fishery products to foreign countries in fiscal year 2017-2018 which ended in March. Enditem SYDNEY, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The former operators of two massage parlors in Australia's Queensland state capital Brisbane have been fined after they refused to back-pay two of their employees who were on the country's popular working holiday visas, authorities said on Wednesday. They were fined more than 100,000 Australian dollars (73,900 U.S. dollars). A federal circuit court imposed the penalties after Sean Pinnell, Sajana Paudel and their company Bishnu Laxmi Ganesha Trading, which formerly ran the "Brisbane City Thai Massage and Day Spa" and "Heavenly Asian Massage" parlors, refused to back-pay two massage therapists more than 12,800 Australian dollars (9,460 U.S. dollars) in outstanding wages and entitlements, the Fair Work Ombudsman government workplace relations regulator said in a statement. Both employees, Japanese women in their mid-20s, had been underpaid over a three-month period in 2016, the regulator said. The workers had been paid on a per-massage basis for most of their employment but were entitled to the minimum hourly rates and entitlements. The regulator's inspectors investigated the case after the two women requested assistance, it said. Court judge Salvatore Vasta said the company "was saving itself, on average, 60 percent of what it should have been paying to what it did actually pay." "In other words, it was giving itself a huge advantage over its competitors," said Vasta, who also ordered the company to back-pay the employees in full. "It also needs to be borne in mind that these two employees were vulnerable, having come here to the country on working visas. They are entitled to be protected under Australian workplace law and to not be taken advantage of in the way they have been by this company." Many foreign students and visitors use Australia's working holiday visas to travel and work in the country, with many filling vacancies in the agricultural, services and other sectors. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 13:52:45|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close HOUSTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese diplomat on Tuesday called for joint actions against trade wars which hurt bilateral interests and go against world trade order. Waging a trade war does not conform to global interests nowadays, said Wang Yu, Chinese deputy consul general in Houston, Texas, in a speech during a seminar organized by the Greater Houston Partnership and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The United States on Friday announced additional tariffs of 25 percent on Chinese imports worth approximately 50 billion U.S. dollars, contradicting the consensus reached in bilateral economic and trade consultations. "Officials and entrepreneurs from both countries should take collective actions to firmly curb such outdated and regressive moves," he said. In disregard of the consensus between the two sides, the United States has demonstrated "flip-flops and ignited a trade war," which not only hurts bilateral interests, but also undermines world trade order, Wang said. More than 30 Chinese investment delegates, mainly from east China's Jiangsu Province, attended the one-day seminar held in Houston. Enditem KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Two civilians were killed and two civilians and two policemen wounded in a bomb attack in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar overnight, provincial government spokesman said Wednesday. "The blast occurred roughly at 08:30 p.m. local time Tuesday in Spin Boldak district when a sticky bomb attached to a vehicle was detonated at a police checkpoint, killing two civilians aboard the vehicle and injuring two civilians and two police officers of the checkpoint," spokesman Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua. The injured were shifted to the district hospital. Security situation has been improving in Kandahar, the former stronghold of Taliban, over the last months, as security forces have conducted search and cordon operations across the province. But the militants attack government interests in the province from time to time. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 14:22:52|Editor: Chengcheng Video Player Close HANGZHOU, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Over 100 suspects have been detained while more than 50 kilograms of drugs seized in a major drug trafficking case, local police in east China's Zhejiang Province said Wednesday. Police in Cangnan County of the province received information about a large drug trafficking network in Feb. 2015 and launched an investigation team. One of the prime suspects was arrested by police in Pingyang County in July 2015. Around 13 kilograms of methamphetamine were found at the scene. Another 15 kilograms of methamphetamine were seized at the house of another prime suspect and he was also arrested. The drug trafficking network had expanded to provinces of Hubei, Fujian and Yunnan. The investigation team spent three years locating the other suspects involved. Over 30 kilograms of methamphetamine and other drugs including heroin and methadone, as well as more than 1.2 million yuan (185,000 U.S. dollars) were seized. Eight people have already been sentenced to the death penalty. Further investigation is under way. WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington, D.C., secured the Democratic Party nomination Tuesday as she's looking for a second term in office. Bowser, 45, campaigned on her role in leading the District of Columbia through an economic turnaround, although her administration has struggled in recent months over several scandals in the public school system. A former member of the D.C. Council, Bowser defeated Vincent Gray to win the D.C. mayorship in 2014. She is expected to win again in the November election. On Tuesday night, voters also approved a ballot initiative intended to restructure the payment system for tipped employees in bars and restaurants. The initiative will eliminate the so-called "tipped minimum wage," a two-tier system under which restaurant and bar owners pay servers, bartenders and bussers a lower hourly wage with the expectation that they will be compensated with tips from customers. Employers are now required to pay every employee at least the current minimum wage of 12.50 U.S. dollars per hour. Highlights Positive results from 103 new channel samples from the Zaragoza mine at the Puerto Rico project. All assays from Zaragoza have now been received; New results from the Zaragoza Lower level returned the highest Zn and ZnEq values on the Puerto Rico project to date (39.6% and 45.5% respectively) and the highest manto ZnEq average grade at the Zargoza mine, at 15.8% ZnEq (over 21 samples); Of the total 293 channel samples at the Zaragoza mine, 83 were from manto mineralization and returned an average grade of 129 g/t Ag, 7.6% Zn, 4.3% Pb, 0.12% Cu (12.8% ZnEq). The three known mantos at Zaragoza are open laterally in all directions, and chimneys are open to depth, indicating potential for additional stacked mantos below. TORONTO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Discovery Metals Corp. (TSX-V:DSV) (Discovery or the Company) is pleased to announce the third and final batch of assay results from the detailed underground channel sampling program taken at the Zaragoza mine (Zaragoza), part of its flagship Puerto Rico project (Puerto Rico or the Project) in northern Coahuila State, Mexico. The first two batches of results were announced in news releases dated April 30 and May 24, 2018, which are available on the Companys website at www.dsvmetals.com. Taj Singh, P.Eng, President & CEO states, The third and final batch of channel samples from our detailed mapping and sampling program at Zaragoza were impressive, and continue to increase our confidence in the tenor and scale of carbonate replacement mineralization at Puerto Rico. The results will be instrumental in understanding the system locally at Zaragoza and regionally at the Project. In addition, the results will help develop targets for our maiden drill program at the Project, planned for Q3. We look forward to receiving results from the San Jose and Puerto Rico mines in short order, both of which possess a larger footprint and vertical extent than Zaragoza. Results & Discussion Channel samples were collected at intervals every 3m to 5m along both sides of the entire length of the ~250m of accessible workings, over three levels Chica, Grande and Lower from top to bottom, respectively. Details on sampling methodology are outlined in the Technical Notes section below. Sample locations and widths were restricted to the extent of historic workings. The table below highlights assay results of the 15 highest-grade channels at Zaragoza compiled from all three batches of results, including the new batch released (N) and the two batches previously released (P): Sample Results (New or Previous) Zaragoza Level Width (m) Ag (g/t) Zn (%) Pb (%) Cu (%) ZnEq (%) Mineralization Type / Host Rock 215305 N Lower 0.4 133 39.6 4.5 0.3 45.5 manto 215107 P Grande 0.7 1859 7.6 5.7 1.0 44.5 manto 215267 N Lower 0.3 79 36.1 6.6 0.1 41.6 manto 215180 P Grande 0.9 529 19.6 18.2 0.5 41.5 andesite dike 215011 P Grande 0.5 237 13.8 33.8 0.1 40.5 manto 215269 N Lower 0.3 216 26.2 10.4 0.2 37.2 manto 215073 P Grande 0.6 1675 2.2 4.0 1.1 35.3 manto 215115 P Grande 0.8 35 33.5 1.7 0.0 35.2 manto 215154 P Grande 0.8 98 28.2 5.4 0.0 33.5 manto 215066 P Grande 0.7 46 30.2 3.0 0.0 33.0 manto 215173 P Grande 1.0 102 27.3 4.8 0.1 32.3 andesite dike 215164 P Grande 0.7 148 27.9 2.6 0.1 32.3 andesite dike 215285 N Lower 0.4 131 20.5 11.1 0.1 30.3 manto 215020 P Chica 0.6 274 8.5 24.9 0.2 30.1 manto 215065 P Grande 1.1 61 26.5 2.9 0.1 29.7 manto Note: All numbers in this news release are rounded and assays are uncut and undiluted; ZnEq calculation based on USD $17/oz Ag, $1.50/lb Zn, $1.00/lb, $3.00/lb Cu and does not consider metallurgical recovery. The table below categorizes all channel samples taken at Zaragoza by level and by mineralization type / host rock and includes the average grades from the specified number of samples. Zaragoza Level Mineralization Type / Host Rock Average value of all samples Samples (#) Ag (g/t) Zn (%) Pb (%) Cu (%) ZnEq (%) Chica Manto 11 96 3.4 10.5 0.10 12.2 Chimney 11 69 1.4 5.2 0.09 6.2 Wallrock 23 12 0.6 1.0 0.08 1.6 Grande Manto 51 159 6.8 3.1 0.11 11.7 Chimney 29 46 3.5 2.3 0.04 5.9 Wallrock 92 54 2.1 1.5 0.08 4.1 Andesite Dike 20 90 12.0 5.3 0.07 17.2 Lower Manto 21 73 11.7 3.9 0.14 15.8 Chimney 1 56 0.7 4.5 0.04 4.7 Wallrock 34 17 1.1 1.1 0.11 2.4 Note: All numbers in this release are rounded and assays are uncut and undiluted; ZnEq calculation based on USD $17/oz Ag, $1.50/lb Zn, $1.00/lb, $3.00/lb Cu and does not consider metallurgical recovery. Key findings and interpretations from Zaragoza, several of which are illustrated in the table above include: Ag-Pb-Zn mineralization is present in limestone-hosted flat-lying mantos and sub-vertical chimneys; All levels host strongly mineralized mantos and chimneys; The three levels of workings span an approximate vertical extent of 30m, and cover a horizontal extent of 100m by 80m; Three mantos and three chimneys were identified. Mantos range from 0.3m to 1.8m thick, while chimneys range from 0.5m to 2.2m wide; The Grande level hosts a north-striking, steeply- to moderately-dipping, and strongly mineralized andesite dike. The dike extends below the workings and may be related to mineralization and vector to further mineralization at depth; The wallrock on all levels was well mineralized. At the Grande level, where over 60% of the total wallrock samples were taken, it averaged 4.7% ZnEq. This suggests that larger mining widths may be possible vs. selectively mining mantos or chimneys alone; The mantos are open laterally in all directions, and the chimneys are open to depth, with no information from drilling below them. The three known mantos at Zaragoza are stacked and, based on field observations from the other historic mines at Puerto Rico and case studies on similar systems, there is potential for additional mantos below them; and Zn grades in mantos increase with depth and Pb grades are higher at higher levels. This may be a function of Zn leaching from the higher area, making the rock proportionally more Pb-rich, with supergene enrichment in Zn at lower levels. The Company continues to compile the geochemical sampling results with its geologic mapping data to refine its understanding of the Zaragoza mine. Sampling of the San Jose mine area is complete and results are expected in the coming weeks, while sampling of the Puerto Rico mine area is still underway. In addition to the underground mapping, the Companys property-wide surface mapping program is progressing as planned and the Company is also carrying out detailed ASTER and orthophoto / DEM analyses as part of its work. Additionally, a detailed regional and structural analysis of the Project is underway and within the next several weeks the Company is also planning to conduct a magnetic survey on the historic mining area of the Project, in preparation for drilling in Q3. References For a full table of results, maps and graphics related to this news release, please refer to the Companys website at: https://dsvmetals.com/site/assets/files/5187/dsv-nr-appendix-june20.pdf Technical Notes Sample analysis and QA/QC Program: The rock chip and channel samples were taken perpendicular to mineralization, with variable length (across width of mineralization, typically 0.5m-2.5m) and a minimum channel thickness of 60mm and minimum channel depth of 30mm. The entire volume of each chip or channel sample was transported from site by ALS and prepared at the ALS lab facilities in Zacatecas and Chihuahua facilities, with splits of pulps shipped to the ALS lab in Vancouver for analysis. Samples were analyzed for gold using (1) a standard fire assay with a 30-gram pulp and Atomic Absorption (AA) finish for gold; and (2) Thirty-element inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). Over limit sample values were re-assayed for: (1) values of zinc > 10%; (2) values of lead > 10%; and (3) values of silver > 100 g/t. Samples were re-assayed using the ME- OG62 (high-grade material ICP-AES) analytical package. For values of zinc or lead greater than 30%, a third re-assay using the Zn-VOL50 or Pb-VOL50 (potentiometric titration) analytical method was used while values of silver greater than 1,500 g/t, were re-assayed using the Ag-CON01 analytical method, a standard fire assay with 30g pulp and gravimetric finish. Certified standards and blanks were routinely inserted into all sample shipments to ensure integrity of the assay process. Qualified Person: Taj Singh, M.Eng, P.Eng, President and CEO, Discovery Metals Corp., is the Company's designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) and has reviewed and validated that the information contained in this news release is accurate. ABOUT DISCOVERY METALS Discovery Metals is focused on discovering and advancing high grade polymetallic deposits in a recently assembled land package of approximately 300,000 hectares over a large and historic mining district in northern Coahuila State, Mexico. The portfolio of seven key properties, all with shallow high-grade silver-zinc-lead mineralization, is situated in a world class CRD belt that stretches from southeast Arizona to central Mexico. The land holdings contain numerous historical direct-ship ore workings with ~4km of underground development. No modern exploration or exploration drill testing has been carried out on the properties prior to Discoverys time on the projects. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Taj Singh Taj Singh, M.Eng, P.Eng, CPA President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director For further information contact: #701 - 55 University Ave Toronto, ON Canada, M5J 2H7 info@dsvmetals.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. All statements within this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements include fluctuations in market prices, including metal prices, continued availability of capital and financing, delays in receipt of required permits, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable laws. WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- A group of almost 60 U.S. business associations, including the National Retail Federation and the National Foreign Trade Council, have urged Congress to exert greater oversight of President Donald Trump's use of tariffs and other trade policy measures. "We are writing to express our deep and increasing concern with the direction of America's trade policy," the business associations wrote in a letter to leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, released by the National Foreign Trade Council on Tuesday. "In particular, we see the growing willingness of the current Administration to use tariffs (and the related use of absolute import quotas) as a major policy tool in an increasing number of trade disputes with our allies as a trend that needs to be addressed by Congress," they said. The business associations said that "this extensive unilateral use of tariffs by the Executive Branch is upsetting the historic balance between Congressional and Executive powers," as the Constitution clearly states that Congress has the power to regulate foreign trade and to specify the parameters of its delegated authority in the area of tariffs. They urged both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee to "consider a robust congressional response" to the Trump administration's trade policy. "We strongly support increased congressional oversight by your Committees, the holding of expeditious hearings on the President's use of delegated trade authority, and consideration of whether amendments to existing delegations of authority are necessary to clarify Congress' important role in the execution of the nation's trade policy," they said. The Trump administration has unilaterally imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in the name of national security, risking provoking trade wars with its major trading partners. These tariffs would raise the cost of manufacturing products in the United States, hurt American families, decrease global competitiveness for American innovators and create a drag on the U.S. economy, the business associations said. "Escalating tariff threats and the potential of trade wars with our trading partners, including with some of our most important allies, create uncertainty that will be felt by Americans across the country and by businesses of all sizes and across all industry sectors," they said, adding it's critical to reassert the balance between Congress and the Executive Branch in managing U.S. trade policy. SAN FRANCISCO, June 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. aerospace leader Boeing Co. Tuesday delivered the first 737 MAX airplane to Jet Airways, the first Indian carrier to fly the new 737 passenger plane. This delivery marks the first of 150 737 MAX aircraft that Mumbai-based Jet Airways has ordered from Boeing after it placed two separate orders for 75 aircraft in 2015 and earlier 2018. Boeing said the new jet "delivers a double-digit improvement in fuel efficiency and improved passenger comfort" for the Indian carrier. "This milestone delivery adds yet another chapter in our long and successful relationship with Jet Airways," said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president of Asia Pacific and India Sales at Boeing Commercial Airplanes headquartered in Seattle, the largest city in the western U.S. state of Washington. Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal said the new 737 MAX is critical to the company's future growth strategy. Jet Airways is India's second-largest airline with a fleet of nearly 120 airplanes serving more than 60 destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe and North America. Boeing has accumulated more than 4,500 orders for the 737 MAX family from 99 global customers, which makes the jet the fastest-selling airplane in its history. The Seattle-based aircraft giant said the new 737 MAX features many improvements that can reduce fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions by at least 14 percent compared to today's Next-Generation 737 jets and by 20 percent more than the older type of single-aisle airplanes. SEOUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday that an action plan by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and reciprocal measures by the United States will be needed to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. Moon made the remark during an interview with Russian media ahead of his state visit Thursday to Moscow for a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the presidential Blue House of South Korea. He said the DPRK needs to offer a concrete action plan for denuclearization, while the United States needs to offer comprehensive reciprocal measures to it, to eventually implement their respective proposals. The South Korean leader said the DPRK-U.S. summit was a "great success" that was greater than he had expected, and Pyongyang and Washington had made a grand historical achievement. Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump met in Singapore on June 12 for the first DPRK-U.S. summit, agreeing to complete denuclearization in return for security guarantees for the DPRK. The remaining task to do, Moon said, would be a complete, rapid implementation of the Kim-Trump agreement. Pyongyang has stopped its nuclear and missile tests, dismantling its main nuclear test site in which the country carried out all of its six nuclear detonations. In return, Washington and Seoul decided to suspend their summertime war game, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian, a computer-simulated command post exercise slated for August. Moon said the DPRK leader's denuclearization commitment was clear as he was willing to develop the economy by "putting down" its nuclear program if Pyongyang can get security guarantees in return for denuclearization. The leaders of the two Koreas held their first summit on April 27 at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, agreeing to complete denuclearization and enhance inter-Korean relations. Moon said he and Putin had a shared goal of the complete denuclearization and a peace regime settlement on the Korean Peninsula, noting that when inter-Korean cooperation is resumed after the peace settlement, the two Koreas and Russia should increase trilateral economic cooperation. The trilateral economic cooperation, Moon said, can start in the railway, natural gas and electricity sectors as those can be launched quickly and can provide economic benefits to the three countries. MEXICO CITY, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. immigration policy that separates undocumented migrant children from their families and charges those families with human trafficking violates human rights, Mexican experts have said. The experts said the move that was designed to discourage other would-be migrant families from trying to enter the United States has led to some 2,000 minors being separated from their parents or relatives since the policy was enforced in April. "There is definitely a policy, I don't know whether to call it 'rigorous,' of not just charging them with illegal entry. The situation with human trafficking is something new," said Bernardo Mendez, a former Mexican consul in the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy that began in April applied to all adults, regardless of whether they cross alone or with their children. Before he retired, Mendez spent 20 years attending to immigration cases in several U.S. cities including Atlanta, San Francisco, Tucson and Chicago. But he cannot recall any undocumented migrants ever being accused of human trafficking for crossing the U.S.-Mexico border with their children. Mendez said undocumented migrants were usually charged with breaking immigration law, and repeat offenders would potentially receive a sentence of up to six months in jail. "There was no definition of a father who was traveling with his son being accused of human trafficking," said Mendez, who currently serves as director of America Without Walls, a non-governmental organization that works to raise awareness of the plight of migrants in the United States. The U.S. policy has come under fire from many sectors in the United States, including from within Trump's own Republican party. Mounting criticism and demands for transparency forced U.S. authorities to release official figures on Friday, revealing that 1,995 children were separated from 1,940 adults over a six-week period, from April 19 to May 31. U.S. media on Monday reported that the children, ranging in age from toddlers to teenagers, were kept inside metal "cages" in a converted warehouse in the U.S. state of Texas. On Tuesday, Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Luis Videgaray condemned the separation of families as "cruel and inhumane," and a clear "violation of human rights." Mexico called on the U.S. government "to reconsider" the policy and "prioritize the wellbeing and rights of children." Gretchen Kuhner, director of the Institute for Women in Migration, a Mexican organization specializing in improving the situation of migrant women and children, told Xinhua that "the separation of families at the border is immoral and violates the international rights of the family." So far, U.S. authorities have not released the nationalities of the migrants affected by the policy, but Kuhner, a lawyer and migration policy expert, said families fleeing violence-torn Central American countries have become the main targets. To justify its policy, the Trump administration has suggested that criminals are using children to pose as families in order to gain entry into the United States. "Trump has ... criminalized migrants at every turn, but I think that he totally went over the line with the separation of families," said Ruben Figueroa, a member of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement that defends the human rights of Central American migrants. The policy is part of Trump's efforts to control the 3,200-km-long U.S.-Mexico border, which also includes building a wall. Mendez fears that the worst is yet to come. "It's very serious for these detentions to drag on for a long time .... If they are not going to reunite them (the children) with their families in the United States, it's very risky for these minors to return to their countries," said Mendez. ULAN BATOR, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia is willing to expand bilateral cooperation with Finland in areas of mutual interest, such as agriculture and forestry, the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday. Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar made the remarks when meeting with Finnish Ambassador to Mongolia Jarno Syrjala. Tsogtbaatar also expressed his willingness to enhance economic and trade cooperation with Finland, and hold joint business meetings. During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on international and regional issues of mutual concern. "I will put all efforts in expanding bilateral trade and economic cooperation during my tenure," said Syrjala. This year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The two countries are preparing for the regular meeting of the Mongolia-Finland Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation in September in Finland's capital of Helsinki. MOSCOW, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed when a car collided with a truck in Crimea, Russia, local emergency services said Wednesday. "When a truck collided with a passenger car, five people died. The circumstances of the crash are being clarified," local emergency services were quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying. The accident occurred on a highway 18 km from the Crimean capital Simferopol. SAN FRANCISCO, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Tuesday denied that his company had aided in enforcing the controversial family separation policy by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, calling it "abhorrent." In an email to all Microsoft employees, Nadella said he was "appalled at the abhorrent policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the southern border of the United States." He reaffirmed that the company is not working with the U.S. government on any projects related to it. "Our current cloud engagement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is supporting legacy mail, calendar, messaging and document management workloads," he said. Microsoft came under fire Monday after a blog post of its cloud service Azure in January highlighting its work with ICE resurfaced on social media. The U.S. tech giant later issued a statement asserting that its products are not being used specifically for the separation of families. The new policy of Trump's administration being "implemented on the border is simply cruel and abusive, and we are standing for change," Nadella said. The Trump administration launched a campaign to crack down on illegal immigration in the past few weeks, which has led to nearly 2,000 children being forcibly separated from their parents, sparking unprecedented outrage from the public across the nation. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 15:38:08|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close SEOUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China will play a positive role in stably denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula as top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un visited Beijing for the third time, the presidential Blue House of South Korea said Wednesday. "China is anticipated to play a positive role in stably completing the denuclearization," Kim Eui-keum, a spokesman for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told a press briefing. He said the DPRK's third visit to China was a step forward toward the peninsula's denuclearization. The DPRK leader arrived in Beijing Tuesday for his two-day visit. It was his third trip to China in just three months. China, which is a party closely concerned in the peninsula issues, can and will play a significant role in establishing a peace regime on the peninsula, the spokesman noted. Moon and Kim signed the Panmunjom Declaration on April 27 after holding their first summit at the border village of Panmunjom. Under the declaration, the leaders of the two Koreas agreed to alter the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty by the end of this year. The peninsula remains technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with armistice. by Xinhua writers Wang Wen, Yang Shilong NEW YORK, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States' newly imposed controversial tariffs on imports from countries and regions including China and Europe are opposed by its own people. The United States threatened on Tuesday to slap an additional 10-percent tariff on 200 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese goods. In response, the Chinese government pledged to take comprehensive measures to retaliate and safeguard its own interests as well as free trade. Many New York City residents told Xinhua that they felt the U.S. protectionist measures would hurt the interests of its own consumers and that President Donald Trump is carrying out these measures to please his voters. "Your pay does not increase, but everything else gets increased," said Darius Francis, a 47-year-old carpenter. He said it is stupid to try to solve trade issues through imposing tariffs because "all the tariffs are basically back and forth," and could only make matters worse. Andrew, a college student, said the measures could potentially make his life less easy and less cheap. Moreover, he believed it is terrible for the global economy. "Globalism is basically what makes the modern world as good as it is. Free trade allows us basically to have things that we weren't able to have in the past and allows us to have improved life," said Andrew. "What he (Trump) is doing is really going to hurt the future," said Andrew. Paul Sanchez, a song writer, said the idea that the United States might enter a trade war with its trade partners bothers him. "I'm not looking for war. I'm looking for peace. (I wish) we can trade in peace and work our differences out. That will be a healthier way to approach (trade issues)," said Sanchez. He added that it seems to him "Trump says what he feels will get him clicks and what his base wants to hear." Experts are also talking about how imposing tariffs could hurt U.S. consumers. Stephen Roach, former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, said with the domestic saving rate at just 1.5 percent of national income in the first quarter of 2018, U.S. multilateral trade deficit with 102 nations is unavoidable. "Trying to cure multilateral deficits with bilateral tariffs such as those being imposed on China can only backfire -- shifting the Chinese piece of the U.S. trade deficit to higher cost producers and thereby taxing American consumers," said Roach. "President Trump's trade fix runs counter to his avowed promise to make America great again," he added. (Qiu Junzhou, Lin Bilin in New York also contributed to the report) English French MONTREAL, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced today that Delta Air Lines, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia (Delta Air Lines) has signed a firm purchase agreement for 20 CRJ900 aircraft becoming the launch operator of the new ATMOSPHERE cabin for CRJ Series regional jets. Based on the list price for the CRJ900 aircraft, the firm order is valued at approximately US$961 million. We are thrilled that Delta continues to select the CRJ Series as the airline looks into the future growth of its regional operations, said Fred Cromer, president, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. Together with Delta, we have driven the development of regional aviation in the U.S., and we are looking forward to further enhancing regional air travel with the launch of the new ATMOSPHERE cabin with our long-standing and esteemed customer. The new CRJ900 aircraft with ATMOSPHERE cabin will fly under the Delta Connection brand in a comfortable two-class regional jet configuration with 70 seats. Delta Air Lines will take delivery of the worlds first ATMOSPHERE cabin CRJ900 aircraft in late 2018. Including the order form Delta Air Lines announced today, Bombardier has recorded firm orders for 1953 CRJ Series aircraft. About the ATMOSPHERE Cabin The new ATMOSPHERE cabin sets new standards of passenger experience in the regional jet market segment. Key features of the new interior are comprised of larger passenger living space, wheel-first roller bag capability, more spacious lavatory, increased cabin connectivity options, all integrated in a contemporary design and material choices. In fact, the ATMOSPHERE cabin design allows each passenger to carry and store an oversized roller bag within the aircraft cabin bins which minimizes the need to check bags at the counter or the gate. To learn more: DiscoverAtmosphere.com About Bombardier With over 69,500 employees across four business segments, Bombardier is a global leader in the transportation industry, creating innovative and game-changing planes and trains. Our products and services provide world-class transportation experiences that set new standards in passenger comfort, energy efficiency, reliability and safety. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Bombardier has production and engineering sites in 28 countries across the segments of Transportation, Business Aircraft, Commercial Aircraft and Aerostructures and Engineering Services. Bombardier shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, Bombardier posted revenues of $16.2 billion US. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier Notes to Editors Images of CRJ900 in Deltas livery, as well as pictures of the new ATMOSPHERE cabin are posted with this news release at www.bombardier.com . The CRJ900 aircraft backgrounder is available in the BCA Media Hub For information about Delta, visit: www.delta.com Follow @BBD_Aircraft on Twitter to receive the latest news and updates from Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. To receive our press releases, please visit the RSS Feed section of Bombardiers Website. Bombardier, Atmosphere, CRJ900 and CRJ Series are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. For Information Nathalie Siphengphet Bombardier Commercial Aircraft +1 416-375-3030 nathalie.siphengphet@aero.bombardier.com www.bombardier.com Two photos accompanying this announcement are available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ff620384-13bd-438a-b8ae-43e03359d897 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/eb54620f-10c2-472c-a3c9-66dd88bc5734 by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Despite a whirlwind of controversy involving young children separated from their parents who illegally entered the United States, President Donald Trump is digging in his heels. But the bid to shore up his base in the run-up to the midterm elections could backfire, experts have warned. "Separating mothers from small children is not a winning issue for him," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua, referring to Trump. Recent days have seen a surge in reporting illegal migrants detained and incarcerated in separate facilities with their children. That came after 2,000 children were separated from their parents after their families were detained for trying to enter the United States illegally in April and May. U.S. media have reported such incidents as children being taken away from their mothers' arms during breastfeeding, and children in detention centers crying themselves to sleep. Despite much controversy, Trump reckons that if he can keep his 2016 coalition intact, he can win the midterms and the next presidential elections. That coalition comprises a mix of loyal GOP lawmakers and die-hard Trump fans who will vote for him no matter what he does. With getting tough on illegal immigration, a core issue among his supporters, Trump is betting big that this will work, wrote Julian Zelizer, a professor at Princeton University, in an op-ed on Tuesday. "Trump is seeking to galvanize his base with hardline immigration enforcement," West said. "He believes the public wants him to crack down on illegal people entering the country." However, this bid to solidify his base could well backfire, some analysts argue, as the images being broadcast by U.S. media of children being pulled away from their parents are often heart-wrenching. "The stories of babies being pulled away from nursing mothers and children crying over separation from their mothers are heartrending," West said. A CNN report cited a lawyer who said a woman's child was taken from her while breastfeeding. "They have led to many negative media stories and condemnation from every First Lady," West said. "Even Republicans are nervous this is going to backfire and cost them their congressional majorities. The issue definitely will bring large numbers of Democrats to the polls," West said, referring to the midterm elections. Indeed, leaders such as Republican senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain have chimed in, blasting the family separation policy as an "affront" to American decency. But that isn't stopping Trump. Just five months away from the midterms, Trump on Tuesday reiterated his support for the policy, tweeting that Democrats are the problem, rather than his policy. "We must always arrest people coming into our Country illegally. Of the 12,000 children, 10,000 are being sent by their parents on a very dangerous trip, and only 2,000 are with their parents, many of whom have tried to enter our Country illegally on numerous occasions," he posted on social media Tuesday. "Democrats are the problem. They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13," Trump wrote, referring to the infamous and violent gang from El Salvador. "They can't win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!" Trump said of Democrats. Not everyone, however, agrees that media reports are telling the entire story, and some groups say the story is not so simple. In an email to reporters, the Center for Immigration Studies said that border apprehensions of adults bringing children with them "skyrocketed during the (former U.S. President Barack) Obama administration, from about 15,000 in Fiscal Year 2013 ... to more than 75,000 in FY 2017." "Before the Obama years, it was rare for a parent to bring children with her when trying to infiltrate the U.S. border. No parent, after all, would subject her children to such risks unless there was an incentive to do so," the center said, adding that changed under Obama. "Children have served as get-out-of-jail-free cards for border infiltrators, ensuring the whole family's release," the center said. LUANDA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- According to an agreement with Russia, the country will compensate Angola after the African country's first geostationary satellite Angosat-1 became inoperative. This was announced to the press in Luanda Tuesday by the Angolan Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technologies, Jose Carvalho da Rocha. The minister said that since April 23, when the satellite was declared dead, they have been redirecting services that were based on other operators for the compensation of Angosat-1, the Angolan satellite built by Russia. According to the contractual clauses, Russia has the obligation to compensate the African country for the damages. The minister also announced earlier the construction of a new satellite, expected to be completed within one and a half years. Angosat-1 was launched into orbit through a Ukrainian transporter rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Built in 2012, following an agreement signed between Angola and Russia in 2009, Angosat-1 cost more than 300 million U.S. dollars. The communications satellite was launched into orbit on Dec. 26, 2017, and was scheduled to work for 15 years. By Levi J Parsons SYDNEY, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop spoken out on Wednesday about the United State's decision to turn their backs on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). "Australia is disappointed by the decision of the United States to resign from the United Nations Human Rights Council," she said in a statement. "It was our strong preference for the United States to remain a member of the UNHRC and I had made this known to senior members of the Trump Administration." Predominantly tasked with investigating alleged human rights abuses around the world and designing solutions to address any violations, the 47 member institution was established by the UN General Assembly in 2006, to promote and protect international human rights. But in line with U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" worldview, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley described the council as "hypocritical and self-serving," citing "bias against Israel" as one of the reasons for the decision to leave. While the Australian government also shares many of the concerns held by the United States when it comes to anti-Israel bias, Bishop said Australia remains commitment to a "strong multilateral human rights system and to advancing human rights globally." "It is in our national interest to shape the work of the council and uphold the international rules-based order," she said. Although the move has shocked many political observers, the United States under Trump, has made a pattern of withdrawing from a number of multilateral arrangements. Since 2017, the United States has left the Paris Climate Accord, tore up the Iran nuclear deal and walked away from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The news of the United States' latest high profile exit in global diplomacy comes just 48 hours after UN high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein publicly criticized Washington for their own alleged abuses of human rights. During the past six weeks it's estimated that nearly 2,000 migrant children have been forcibly separated from their parents as part of the U.S. border protection policy. "The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable," al-Hussein said. Echoing the high commissioner, the American Association of Pediatrics described the border policy as "government-sanctioned child abuse" which may cause "irreparable harm" with "lifelong consequences." But despite bad blood between the United States and the UN, Haley did not fully close the door on the council, suggesting the United States would "be happy to rejoin" if the council moves to adopt a string of reforms she advocated for last year. Director of the Australian Human Rights Institute Louise Chappell told Xinhua that it will be interesting to see if other nations try and move to bring the United States back into the fold or whether they just let them sit on the sidelines. "Australia holds the position that it is more important to try and raise human rights standards from inside the council, rather than going it alone," she explained. "These institution exists to create accountability for everyone, so it's very important that you have everyone involved in these discussions to hopefully shape and raise standards rather than just withdraw and leave it." "We join with our allies across the world in finding this a really disappointing outcome and I think that is the general view of human rights actors in Australia." 45 security forces, 16 militants killed in clashes in W. Afghanistan Source: Xinhua 2018-06-20 16:13:14 HERAT, Afghanistan, June 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 45 Afghan security forces and 16 militants were killed after Taliban militants attacked security checkpoints in two western Afghan provinces overnight, authorities said Wednesday. Editor: Xiang Bo Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 16:13:14|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close Rigzin (1st R) and his family arrive at Katrug Village, their new home in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, June 18, 2018. (TO GO WITH Xinhua Headlines: Relocation changing lives on Tibetan plateau) (Xinhua/Chogo) by Xinhua writers Cao Bin, Cheng Lu, Zhang Jingpin LHASA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Wearing red lambskin clothing and a fur hat, Rigzin cracked a herding whip to drive his sheep home. In front of his house, he took a photo with the livestock, for perhaps the last time on the prairie where he has lived for more than 40 years. Due to an ecological relocation program in high-altitude areas of Tibet Autonomous Region, Rigzin, his wife Karma Detso and son have decided to leave their hometown in Rungma Township, Nagqu for Lhasa, the regional capital, to start a new life. "I've been herding sheep and cattle for more than 40 years, and I thought my whole life would be just like this," said Rigzin, 49, who had often wondered if he could ever leave one of the most inhospitable places on earth. TO STAY OR LEAVE A small television and a ghee making machine are the only electric appliances in Rigzin's adobe house which stands against a snow-dusted landscape. Every day, the family made four trips to carry water from a nearby river. In winter when the river was frozen, they had to trek further to collect water. Rigzin rode his motorbike across the prairie to the township seat, around 30 km away, to make a phone call or send a WeChat message. Life in Rungma is anything but modern. Endemic diseases such as rheumatism and heart disease are prevalent. White-haired elderly residents are rare, because the life expectancy is no more than 60 years, much lower than the region's average. Harsh natural conditions have also precluded any possibility of improving the standard of living of residents. Storms and heavy snow seal the mountain passes every winter. Due to its remoteness, basic public services including education and medical care are not always accessible. The local primary school only offers education for students from Grade 1 to 3 and only four students from the township have been admitted to university over the past five years. "One of our colleagues once joked that this area is not suitable for humans and should be left to wild animals," said Jamyang Paljor, secretary of the township's Party committee. In April 2017, the regional government decided to launch an ecological relocation program in high-altitude areas. Rungma was the first on the list. Relocation is not compulsory. There are a total of 1,102 residents in 262 households in Rungma. Among them 81 are registered low-income households. Last June, a form was sent to Rigzin's home, seeking opinions on relocation. He was excited to have a chance to live in Lhasa a place he had visited three times. But many concerns soon dampened his excitement. How would he deal with his sheep and what would he do in Lhasa? So he refused. More than 200 families like Rigzin's initially refused the offer of relocation. Township officials went door to door to explain the favorable relocation policies, including new homes, better education for children, medical care for the elderly, and assured residents their livestock would be taken care of. Rigzin swayed toward relocation after officials visited him the second time. After a family discussion, he placed his red fingerprint on the form to show agreement the next day. RETURNING LAND TO WILDLIFE About 50 km north to Rungma, workers have begun dismantling pasture fences that Dradul spent a fortune to build. The 600-hectare meadow he fenced in is in the core area of the Qiangtang National Nature Reserve, an important habitat for Tibetan antelopes. "Antelopes used to get injured on the fences," said Dechen Lhundrup, deputy head of forestry police in Nyima County. Before Dradul relocated to Lhasa, he called the forestry police to help him dismantle the fences. "The meadow used to belong to wild animals. Now we are leaving, and it's time to return the land to its original owners," Dradul said. Rungma is located in the state-level reserve. At an average altitude of more than 5,000 meters, the reserve covers 298,000 square km and is home to dozens of protected species. Due to the relocation program, about 180,000 hectares of meadow will be left undisturbed by grazing activities. The local government will gradually dismantle all the fences. A total of 570 people have relocated to new homes in Lhasa. Rigzin's daughter and son-in-law stayed to look after the remaining flocks. They can also entrust the animals to cooperatives when they decide to move to Lhasa and continue to earn revenue from their animals. According to the regional government, 27,880 residents from 6,910 households will be relocated in the five years from 2016 to 2020. Nearly 10,000 people will be able to move into their new homes by the end of this year. MOVING FOR A BETTER FUTURE After two days of walking, bus and truck journeys across mountain passes and grasslands, Rigzin's family arrived in Lhasa on Monday afternoon. Katrug Village, their new home 3,800 meters above sea level, has been built with a total investment of over 200 million yuan (31 million U.S. dollars). In addition to 266 homes, a kindergarten, villagers committee office building, and other infrastructure are already in operation. Relocation is more cost-effective than staying. In comparison, building an asphalt road to Rungma alone would cost at least 800 million yuan. Each family is allocated a home of 80 to 180 square meters based on the number of family members. The steel-framed construction can resist earthquakes up to 8 magnitude. The relocated families should pay 10 percent of the construction cost per family member, approximately 6,000 yuan per person. Registered poor households are exempt for this. Not far from where they live, a 33-hectare industrial park is taking shape. Wang Guochen, deputy mayor of Lhasa, said 220 jobs have been created, and more to come to guarantee at least one job for each household. Rigzin's new house covers 150 square meters. As night approached, he put away his luggage and boiled a pot of water with gas cooker to take a foot bath. He will take his son to a nearby primary school in the morning. His wife is expected to give birth very soon. The couple have lost six children due to harsh natural environment and poor medical conditions. "I will give the baby a good name to commemorate this life-changing trip. With better medical resources, we believe that he or she will be healthy and safe this time," he said. (Video editors: Shan Ruchao, Xu Yalan) ULAN BATOR, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The government of Mongolia has decided to ban single-use plastic bags across the country starting from March 1, 2019, Mongolian Environment and Tourism Minister Namsrai Tserenbat announced Wednesday. The ban aims to prohibit all factors that are threats to the environment, Tserenbat told reporters. "This early announcement of the decision is a warning to citizens and importers," he said. The Mongolian Customs General Administration and Mongolian State Professional Inspection Agency will monitor the ban's implementation. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 16:23:17|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close An explosion is seen in northern Gaza city on June 20, 2018. The Israeli military said Wednesday its aircraft had struck overnight about 25 Hamas sites in Gaza after Palestinian militants launched rockets and mortars at southern Israel. (Xinhua) JERUSALEM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli military said Wednesday its aircraft had struck overnight about 25 Hamas sites in Gaza after Palestinian militants launched rockets and mortars at southern Israel. Some 45 projectiles were fired at Israel over the night and early morning, a military spokesperson said in a statement, adding that "seven launches were intercepted by the military Iron Dome aerial defense system and at least three fell in the Gaza Strip." Some rockets exploded in southern Israel, causing no injuries but damaging some houses and cars. In Gaza, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that "a number of Palestinians" were injured in the strikes. A Hamas spokesperson praised the rocket attacks but did not assume responsibility for the fire, said a Palestinian media report. The clash was part of an escalation along the Israel-Gaza fence. Since a mass protest starting from March 30 near the fence between the besieged Palestinian enclave and Israel, Israeli forces have killed at least 130 protesters, according to Palestinian count. HERAT, Afghanistan, June 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 45 Afghan security forces and 16 militants were killed after Taliban militants attacked security checkpoints in two western Afghan provinces overnight, authorities said Wednesday. In one attack, 30 Afghan army soldiers were killed after militants stormed two security checkpoints in Bala Murghab district, western Badghis province, provincial governor Abdul Qhafoor Malikzai told Xinhua. The governor added that 16 Taliban militants were also killed and more than 15 militants were wounded during the fierce clashes. The security posts were overran by the militants and those among the injured were a Taliban shadow provincial governor, the governor confirmed. In neighboring Farah province, at least 15 policemen were killed in two similar attacks in Juwayn and Farah Road districts, provincial sources confirmed. No official of Afghan defense ministry was immediately available to make comments. The Afghan security forces' casualties have risen since the beginning of 2015 when Afghan soldiers and police assumed full responsibilities of security from the U.S. and NATO troops. The clashes came as a temporary unilateral ceasefire with Taliban militants is on effect since June 12 which is expected to end before the end of the month. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 16:48:24|Editor: Xiang Bo Video Player Close WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Minister of the Chinese Embassy to the United States Li Kexin said Tuesday that sincerity and patience are needed to mend China-U.S. relations. He made the remarks while delivering a speech at the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS) 2018 Annual Conference entitled "China-U.S. relations in Year Two of (President Donald) Trump." CHINA'S POLITICAL WILL Citing the remarks of U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Friday that described China and Russia as major U.S. challenges, Li said he sees Mattis' "referral to political will in the China-U.S. relationship as very relevant: That's the crux for how wrong our two countries at this moment look at each other, especially the way the U.S. looks at China, at least some people." "How to judge the political will of China will surely lead American politicians to make different choices," said the Chinese diplomat, adding that China's political will to deal with the rest of the world, especially the United States in the next few decades, is "a sincere and pure wish to have peace, stability, harmony, economic prosperity, a decent life for every human creature, and be open to the world." Also, he said he believed that the Chinese Dream should and can converge, rather than clash, with the American Dream. What's more, he said that some movers and shakers in the United States see China as a rival. "These people are showing more suspicion about China, arguing that the U.S. policy of engagement with China has failed, unable to realize the goal of reshaping China." "With this perception, nothing looks right. Even Confucius Institutes for teaching Mandarin can be taken as a form of covert influence. Every Chinese student looks like James Bond. What worries me most is that being unfriendly to China seems to be becoming a new political correctness. Those who understand China's intention well choose to be silent," he said. BE TRUE, PATIENT, FRANK AND OPTIMISTIC Li suggested the two nations extend sincerity and engage constructively. "The sincerity from the Chinese side to be a constructive partner with the U.S. is there," he said, citing China's role on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. "China is the important party of cooperation for both the U.S. and the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)," Li said. The Chinese diplomat urged both sides to "be patient" when faced with problems, saying, "It takes time to change people's minds ... Let's wait, but do something at the same time." The Chinese envoy said being frank is also important for them in dealing with bilateral relations. "There are many issues between us that are negotiable, but some are not," he said. "The issue of Taiwan is one, because for China, it is not a diplomatic issue, but a sovereignty issue ... But the risk we see today is that some people want to break this framework." Citing the U.S. Taiwan Travel Act and Capitol Hill's attempt to enhance clauses on Taiwan in this year's National Defense Authorization Act, Li said he is worried that "such breakthroughs will finally make the possible impossible." "My real worry is that any misjudgment on the Taiwan issue will lead to unwanted consequences," because no politicians in China have any room to compromise on the issue of Taiwan, he said. "This is also not in the U.S. interest." Meanwhile, Li called for optimism, saying "We see a much brighter picture at the sub-national level. Every time I visit different states, I can feel the strong enthusiasm from the locals to develop closer ties between their states and China." BE CREDIBLE, CONSISTENT ON TRADE On trade, China urges the U.S. side to "be credible and consistent," Li said. "When you agree, you mean it," he said, adding that imposing massive tariffs on Chinese products as a means of pressure will achieve nothing. "We never bend our principles under pressure," he said. "When the Chinese economy has a problem, we try to find solutions by ourselves, not blaming others," Li added. When answering questions from the audience after his speech, Li said he believes that "ultimately everybody will come back to the negotiation table because it is the only way to address the issue." "All trade agreements China has reached with the U.S. side are generally under WTO (World Trade Organization) rules," he said. "For us, we do not understand why this administration does not recognize the agreements of previous administrations. This is not a way for international practice." "Maybe you say that there is unfair practice in China, but we follow the rules. If you think China is against the rules, you can talk with us or sue us at the WTO," he said. Li meanwhile said he disagrees with Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, who has accused China of stealing technology and forced technology transfer. "Let's talk about the gist of this issue, and don't make illusions. We cannot agree with Mr. Lighthizer's accusation of stealing technology and forced technology transfer in China. In the national guidelines, there is no such a kind of stipulation for forced technology transfer," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 17:33:31|Editor: mmm Video Player Close SINGAPORE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The first meeting of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Advisory Council on Dangerous Drugs (AIPACODD) concluded here Wednesday with the agreement of two resolutions to combat illicit drugs. The resolutions are the "Resolution on Securing A Drug-Free ASEAN Community for Future Generations" and the "Resolution on the Terms of Reference on the AIPA Advisory Council on Dangerous Drugs", according to a press release by the Parliament of Singapore. They will be submitted for subsequent adoption at the 39th AIPA General Assembly, which will be held in Singapore in September 2018, it added. As a major step forward in the fight against drugs, AIPACODD's Terms of Reference were finalized, according to the press release. Christopher de Souza, Chair of the first meeting of the AIPACODD, affirmed that these resolutions signified AIPA parliamentarians' strong and firm stance against dangerous drugs in the region. "The fight against drugs requires constant and regular vigilance and attention. We must therefore remain resolute in the face of calls and efforts to decriminalize illicit drugs. As ASEAN, our own local and regional circumstances will guide and steer our efforts to secure drug-free ASEAN communities for our future generations," he said. Hosted by the Parliament of Singapore from June 19 to 20, AIPACODD was attended by over 50 delegates, including parliamentarians from the 10 AIPA Member Parliaments, as well as the AIPA Secretaria. AIPA comprises all 10 parliaments of ASEAN, aiming to provide solidarity, understanding, cooperation and close relations among AIPA Member Parliaments, AIPA Observers and other organizations. AIPA was first established in 1977 as the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO), with the parliaments of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand as its founding members. In 2007, AIPO was officially renamed as AIPA. TORONTO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ceridian, a global human capital management technology company, today announced that CEO David Ossip won a Glassdoor Employees Choice Award honoring top CEOs in Canada. David received this award his third time achieving this recognition based on anonymous and voluntary employee reviews shared on the Glassdoor website. One of the worlds largest job and recruiting sites, Glassdoor awarded David Ossip this recognition as part of its annual report, which ranks CEOs in Canada and around the world. CEOs from more than 770,000 companies globally were reviewed on Glassdoor as part of the report. This award has special meaning for me because it shows that our people, who are our best advocates, believe in Ceridians leadership, culture and values, said David Ossip, Chairman and CEO, Ceridian. Without a doubt, our success as a company and tremendous workplace culture are a result of the commitment and passion demonstrated by our employees around the world. Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is an acknowledgement of exceptional leadership as it reflects the true opinions of the companys employees. I congratulate all of this years winners on this significant achievement, said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work. When employees submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including overall job satisfaction and other workplace attributes, such as senior management, and whether they would recommend their workplace to friends. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about their CEOs performance. A testament to Ceridians enviable culture and leadership, this award is the latest of several Glassdoor recognitions: David Ossip was previously named a Top CEO in 2015 and 2016; Ceridian was recognized as one of Glassdoors most highly recommended companies in 2017; and Ceridian received a Glassdoor Best Place to Work award in Canada in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and in the U.S. in 2018. Click here to see the complete list of all Top CEOs in 2018 in the Canada category. About Glassdoor Glassdoor is one of the largest job and recruiting sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for more than 770,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms. About Ceridian Ceridian. Makes Work Life Better. Ceridian is a global human capital management software company. Dayforce, our flagship cloud HCM platform, provides human resources, payroll, benefits, workforce management, and talent management functionality. Our platform is used to optimize management of the entire employee lifecycle, including attracting, engaging, paying, deploying, and developing people. Ceridian has solutions for organizations of all sizes. Visit Ceridian.com or follow us @Ceridian. Media Contact: Teri Murphy Corporate Communications teri.murphy@ceridian.com 647.417.2117 Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 17:43:32|Editor: mmm Video Player Close JERUSALEM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Myway Georgian Airline Company, founded by a Chinese company, announced Tuesday that it will soon begin flights between Georgian capital Tbilisi and Israeli coastal city Tel Aviv. The competition on the route to Georgia, one of the popular destinations of Israeli tourists, is heating up under the influence of Chinese investors. Myway, which began operating just a few months ago, will start the new route on June 28. The company currently holds two Boeing 737-800s and two similar planes have been ordered. The airline is backed up by Hualing Group, which was founded in 1988 in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Hualing started its investment activities in Georgia in 2007 and until now has carried out eight projects with an investment of 500 million U.S. dollars and over 3,000 employees. The company made its maiden flight in April between Tbilisi and Iranian capital Tehran. Upon establishment, it announced that it would operate flights to destinations including Kiev, Minsk, Dubai, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Tel Aviv. The company will perform three weekly flights on Sunday, Monday and Thursday. Flights from Tel Aviv will take off at 21:10 and land in Tbilisi at 00:45 local time, and flights from Tbilisi will take off at 18:30 and land at Ben Gurion Airport at 20:10. Myway offers special prices for round-trip flights from Tel Aviv. Each flight includes 162 economy class seats and eight seats in business class. Flights between Tel Aviv and Tbilisi are currently under operation by Israeli airlines Israir and Arkia as well as Georgian Airlines, which has a code sharing agreement with leading Israeli airline EL AL. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 17:48:33|Editor: mmm Video Player Close BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China is disappointed that the United States has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday. U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced on Tuesday the withdrawal of the country from the UN Human Rights Council. Authorized and created by the UN General Assembly, the Human Rights Council is an important platform for different parties to enhance dialogue, cooperation, mutual learning, and joint promotion of human rights. All parties attach great importance to the council, spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing. China advocates and commits itself to safeguarding multilateralism, and supports the Human Rights Council and other mechanisms to work together for the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, Geng said. "China will continue to work with other parties and make contributions to the sound development of international human rights through constructive dialogue and collaboration," said the spokesperson. NAKURU, Kenya, June 20 (Xinhua) -- At least seven mourners were killed and more than 10 others injured in a grisly road accident on Tuesday night in Nakuru County, the police confirmed on Wednesday. Nakuru County police commander Hassan Barua said the deceased were headed to Nakuru from a burial ceremony of their kin when the accident occurred. "Two people died on the spot while five others died on arrival in hospital. Initial investigations revealed that a tyre burst caused the vehicle to roll several times," said Barua of the incident which occurred along Lake Elementaita-Nakuru road. He said the minibus (matatu) had 16 passengers and was traveling to Nakuru when the accident occurred. He said those injured have been rushed to local hospital. Road accidents still continue to occur despite stringiest traffic rules which were introduced by the government to help curb road carnage. An estimated 3,000 Kenyans die in road accidents annually despite concerted efforts by the state and the private sector to promote safety on the highways, according to the National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA). ISLAMABAD, June 20 (Xinhua) -- At least four terrorists and a child were killed and eight others injured in a shoot-out between security forces and terrorists in Pakistan's southwest province of Balochistan on Wednesday morning, an official said. A spokesperson from the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said that the encounter started after security forces cordoned off a compound in Tera Meel area of Dasht in Mastung, a district near the provincial capital of Quetta. The terrorists attacked security forces with automatic guns and hand grenades. One of the terrorists came out of the compound and exploded his explosives-laden jacket near an armored vehicle, which injured seven security personnel. A four-year-old child was killed and his mother injured when a hand grenade hurled by the terrorists landed in a neighboring house. Security forces killed all the terrorists, including a woman, present in the building. All the injured were shifted to the civil hospital where two of the wounded were reportedly in critical condition. Police and security forces have launched a search operation in the area to find any possible aid of the terrorists. According to the official, the killed terrorists were involved in an attack at the security forces' vehicle on Friday in Quetta city in which three personnel were killed. SEOUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's biggest automaker Hyundai Motor and German luxury carmaker Audi on Wednesday agreed to patent cross-licensing in fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) technology, covering existing patents and technologies to be developed over the coming years. Hyundai and Audi signed the cross-licensing agreement to jointly develop a broad range of FCEV components and technologies, according to the joint statement by the automakers. Technologies to be developed through the partnership will apply to Hyundai's affiliate Kia Motors and Audi's parent company Volkswagen. Hyundai said the company, its affiliate and its German partners will equally share the patent licenses over the years to come, but it noted that the duration of the agreement has not been disclosed. The partnership will help the two automakers leverage collective research and development capabilities in fuel cell technology, allowing Audi to gain access to Hyundai's know-how that has been accumulated from the development of its ix35 Fuel Cell and Nexo. The Nexo is Hyundai's second-generation fuel cell electric vehicle. The South Korean automaker currently sells SUV-class FCEVs in 18 countries around the world. "This agreement is another example of Hyundai's strong commitment to creating a more sustainable future whilst enhancing consumers' lives with hydrogen-powered vehicles, the fastest way to a truly zero-emission world," said Euisun Chung, vice chairman at Hyundai Motor. MOGADISHU, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Somali Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority (SCAMA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) have jointly agreed to close the office in Kenya's Nairobi after nearly 30 years. SCAMA, which regulates civil aviation activities in the Horn of Africa nation, said the airspace will now be controlled within Somalia as part of his government's commitment to restore important public service. "We are pleased to announce that from today (Monday) onwards the office operating in Nairobi has been closed and work will resume from Somalia. Somalia's airspace will be controlled within Somalia after nearly 30 years," the regulator tweeted the announcement seen on Wednesday. The move comes after the Somalia government in December 2017 inaugurated the offices and also installed equipment at Mogadishu International Airport, saying the move represents a significant step towards the development of the country. ICAO has been controlling Somalia's airspace from its regional office in Nairobi since the fall of the country's central government in 1991. The UN body has also been collecting revenue on behalf of Mogadishu. The government has since relocated more than 30 air controllers who were working in Nairobi to operate in Mogadishu. PHNOM PENH, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Exiled former Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy is facing the charges of insulting the nation's King Norodom Sihamoni over a Facebook post, according to a court summons on Wednesday. The summons, issued by Seang Sok, deputy prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, invited Rainsy, former president of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), to appear in the court on July 12 to answer questions over a "case related to insulting the King of the Kingdom of Cambodia on a Facebook page." The summons came after the 69-year-old former opposition leader wrote on his Facebook page on June 7 that the king's royal message that urged people to vote on the July 29 national election was a "forgery" or "written under duress". The royal palace has said that the king's royal message was authentic. If he is found guilty, Rainsy can be jailed between one and five years under the lese-majeste law. The Southeast Asian country adopted in February the lese-majeste law that makes it a crime to insult the monarch. Since the law came into effect, three men have been arrested and charged with insulting the king over Facebook posts. It is unlikely that Rainsy will appear in the court as he has lived in self-imposed exile in France since 2015 to avoid the at least eight-year-prison sentence for defamation and incitement cases. In November last year, his CNRP was dissolved by the Supreme Court after his successor Kem Sokha was arrested and charged with treason for conspiring with a foreign power in an attempt to overthrow the government. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 18:33:48|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 20, 2018. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin) BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China stands ready to strengthen cooperation with Nepal in infrastructure connectivity, post-disaster reconstruction, trade and investment under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, said President Xi Jinping here on Wednesday. Xi made the remarks while meeting with Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli. WARSAW, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Polish President Andrzej Duda Wednesday morning appointed Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski as the new Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Ardanowski replaced Krzysztof Jurgiel, who resigned from the post due to personal reasons on Monday. The new minister is supposed to come with a package of solutions to reduce the negative effects of drought which has struck Poland recently. Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski was born in 1961 in Czernikowo and graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Technology and Agriculture in Bydgoszcz. From November 2005 to January 2008, he performed the function of Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. He also served as an advisor to then president Lech Kaczynski. Until now, he's been serving as vice-chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee in Polish Sejm (lower house of the parliament). HARARE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa once again implored Zimbabweans to remain peaceful ahead of the July 30 general elections and urged political parties and candidates to promote peace and unity. In a message posted on social media Wednesday, Mnangagwa said he was happy with the peace and tranquility prevailing in the country. He said the coming elections should be a contest of ideas and should not degenerate into physical clashes. "I wish to express to you my desire for us to have a peaceful election," he said. "You may be a Zanu-PF member or a member of an opposition political party, the crucial thing that we require of all our political parties is peace," he said. He urged fellow contestants to encourage the general public to elect whoever they wanted in peace. "We must also encourage the general public to elect us in peace. Differences may be there, but those differences should be about ideas and one party saying they can execute them better than the other party. That is allowed. "For now I'm quite pleased that so far we've not had any problems regarding our politics. All parties, brought together, are campaigning peacefully. My wish is for us to continue like that," he said. Previous elections have been fraught with violence between ruling Zanu-PF supporters and opposition parties, especially the MDC-T. TORONTO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WeedMD Inc. (TSX-V:WMD) (OTC:WDDMF) (FSE:4WE) (WeedMD or the Company), a federally-licensed producer and distributor of medical cannabis, is pleased to announce it has entered into an agreement to become a medical cannabis supplier to Shoppers Drug Mart. Subject to Health Canada's approval of Shoppers Drug Mart's application to be a licensed producer, under the terms of the agreement the Company will supply Shoppers Drug Mart with WeedMD and affiliate branded medical cannabis products. It is expected the products will be sold online, as Canadian regulations currently restrict the sale of medical cannabis in retail pharmacies. WeedMDs medical cannabis products have become a trusted source for the seniors market and we are excited to expand accessibility to all medical cannabis patients through this strategic agreement with Canadas leading provider of pharmacy products and services, said Michael Kraft, Chairman of WeedMD. As one of the most trusted names in pharmacy retailing and patient support services, we are pleased to be partnering with Shoppers Drug Mart as it looks to WeedMD for the supply of premium medical cannabis. Our strains directed at seniors and womens health will add a range of depth to Shoppers Drug Marts anticipated medical cannabis product offerings. WeedMDs expansion into its recently licensed large-scale, fully-funded modern greenhouse will be the main supply source for its medical cannabis patients in addition to the future adult-use market. For more about the expansion, read here. For more information, access our investor presentation here and corporate video here. About WeedMD Inc. WeedMD Inc. is the publicly-traded parent company of WeedMD Rx Inc., a federally-licensed producer and distributor of medical cannabis and oils under the ACMPR. The Company operates a 26,000 sq. ft. indoor facility in Aylmer, Ontario, and a second cultivation site at its greenhouse facility located in Strathroy, Ontario, representing 610,000 sq. ft. or 14 acres under glass. WeedMD has entered into supply agreements in addition to strategic relationships with established cannabis brands. WeedMD is focused on providing medical cannabis to the seniors' markets in Canada through its proprietary seniors care program. It is dedicated to educating healthcare practitioners and furthering public understanding of the role that medical cannabis plays including as it pertains to regulatory requirements, indications and potential side effects. Follow WeedMD On: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weedmd/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/5020743/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeedMD Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weedmd/ For further information, please contact: WeedMD Inc. Keith Merker, Chief Financial Officer Tel: 519-765-2440 Ext. 222 Email: investor@weedmd.com To learn more, visit us at www.weedmd.com For Media Inquiries: Marianella delaBarrera Margin Communications & Public Relations Tel: 416-897-6644 Email: marianella@marginpr.com Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information based on current expectations. Statements about the date of trading of the Company's common shares on the Exchange and final regulatory approvals, among others, are forward-looking information. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 19:18:58|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close ULAN BATOR, June 20 (Xinhua) -- As of June 15, 27.8 million dams in Mongolia have given birth, Mongolia's Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry said in a statement Wednesday. According to the statement, the dams that have given birth account for 98.9 percent of 28.1 million dams nationwide which were counted by the end of 2017. Of the newborn animals, 96.8 percent survived, the statement said. Mongolia is one of the last nomadic countries in the world. As of 2017, the number of livestock animals in the East Asian country has surpassed 66 million. Animal husbandry is the backbone of the landlocked country's economy as nearly 40 percent of the country's nomad population depends on animal husbandry for their livelihood. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 19:18:58|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close XI'AN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A court in northwest China's Shaanxi Province upheld the verdict of two men who killed a highly endangered crested ibis and were sentenced up to 10 years in prison. According to the intermediate people's court in Tongchuan City, the two men used a slingshot to injure a white bird in June 2016 and took it to the car. They noticed a hoop on its foot with code on it, feared they might be investigated and abandoned the bird on the side of the road. The endangered birds were coded by forestry workers who tracked their whereabouts for conservation purposes. The bird was found dead by the city's wildlife protection station, which identified it as crested ibis, a bird once thought extinct. The court of Yaozhou district in Tongchuan city sentenced the two men to eight and 10 years in prison respectively, and fined them 3,000 yuan (460 U.S. dollars) in December 2017 for poaching state protected wildlife. Both appealed. The intermediate people's court in Tongchuan City upheld the original judgment on Wednesday and the rulings are final. Crested ibis are found in China, Japan, Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The current population exceeds 2,600 in China, including about 1,800 in the wild. About 2,000 crested ibis live in Shaanxi. Their habitat stretches around 14,000 square kilometers. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 19:29:01|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close by Xinhua Writer Zhang Yongxing NADI, Fiji, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Fiji warmly welcomes Chinese tourists to have different experiences in the South Pacific Island nation, which has more than 300 beautiful islands and a population of more than 880,000, a Fijian tourism association chief told Xinhua on Wednesday. In an exclusive interview with Xinhua on the sideline of the 30th Joint Meeting of the United Nations' World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Commission for East Asia and the Pacific and the UNWTO Commission for South Asia held in Nadi, Fiji's third largest city, Dixon Seeto, president of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, said that China has been developing very fast over the past decades, the Chinese people are getting richer and the number of middle class Chinese is increasing. As more Chinese love to enjoy overseas travels, Seeto hopes that Fiji can be Chinese tourists'favorite destination in the South Pacific region. "Today, China represents a very promising tourist market for all of us. The outbound from China is increasing. Every country in the world now is trying to woo Chinese visitors as they are heavy consumers." "As a beautiful island nation with tourism contributing more than 30 percent to the economy's GDP, Fiji is, of course, eager to welcome more Chinese tourists," he said. According to Seeto, tourism is the most important industry in Fiji and the biggest foreign exchange earner for the country, which has in recent years received more than 800,000 visitors per year, almost equal the entire population of the country. The government has set a goal of developing the tourism industry to a 2.2 billion Fijian dollar (about 1.1 billion U.S. dollar) industry by 2021. Currently, Fiji's tourism industry employs about 119,000 Fijians indirectly and directly. 2017 marked the best year ever for Fiji's tourism, with 842,884 visitors coming to the nation, a 6.4 percent rise from 2016. And the visitors spent 1.8 billion Fijian dollars (about 86.4 million U.S. dollars) in terms of foreign exchange earnings. In Seeto's eyes, the island nation is famous for its pristine and beautiful natural environment -- crystal clear waters, excellent climate with fresh air, beautiful sandy beaches and tropical rain forests. And these are the reasons why Chinese tourists love to visit Fiji as they want to have a different experience. Currently, China is Fiji's fourth largest tourist market with about 50,000 Chinese tourists visiting Fiji per year. According to Seeto, most Chinese visitors arrive in Fiji on a short term basis, but the impact of the Chinese visitors could not be underestimated. "Chinese tourists are in Fiji for five days to a week. They usually stay in good quality hotels and spend a lot of money," he said. "Fiji and China have enjoyed a very good relationship over the past decades and the Fijian government appreciates the Chinese tourist market, believing that it has a great potential." He said Fiji has done a lot to attract Chinese tourists, such as the visa exemption to Chinese tourists, many shops and hotels accepting China's Union Pay, hoping that more direct flights will be opened soon. by Maria Spiliopoulou ATHENS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Greece, a country at the frontline of the refugee crisis in the past three years, called on Wednesday for a global comprehensive solution to the challenge on the occasion of the World Refugee Day. About 68.5 million people were displaced in 2017, including more than 22 million refugees, citing the latest UNHCR data, Greek officials said at a press conference in Athens presenting the recent figures on the management of the refugee crisis in Greece. Some 62,000 asylum seekers are currently hosted in the country after more than 1 million landed on Greek shores since early 2015 before borders to central Europe closed in the winter of 2016, according to the Greek Migration Policy ministry. In the first quarter of 2018, Greek authorities recorded 25,578 new arrivals up from 14,222 in the same period in 2017, as the 2016 EU-Turkey deal to stem the influx is tested. "Every year on June 20 we honor the refugees, the people that were forced to abandon the life they had built and to leave their homes to save their dignity, their values and their life itself," stated Greek Migration Policy Minister Dimitris Vitsas in his message. "We also honor those that welcomed refugees with understanding and solidarity and offered them another opportunity, shelter and hope for their future in another land...The protection of refugees and the offer of relief is a moral and legal duty provided by International Law for both Greece and Europe," he added. The adoption of comprehensive European policies in addressing the issue is a necessity, the Greek official underlined. "There is not comprehensive solution and we do not see it in the horizon. This is not a temporary phenomenon. We should not have illusions. As long as there are wars and extreme poverty -- and the West has responsibilities for these -- people will be on the move," Yannis Balafas, Deputy Minister of Migration Policy added during the press briefing. The Greek official presented the progress achieved compared to 2015 in improving living conditions at reception centers, noting that 24,487 refugees and migrants are living in apartments. He acknowledged that hotspots on the islands of the northern Aegean Sea remain overcrowded due to the continuing flows from Turkey and delays in the assessment of asylum bids by the Asylum service, stressing that not all sides are fulfilling their obligations to people in need. "Some European states act as if this is a case that does not concern them," Balafas said, noting that there are delays in returns to Turkey as well as in the relocation scheme under which European countries would share the burden with Greece and Italy welcoming thousands of refugees. Philippe Leclerc, UNHCR's representative in Greece, on his part welcomed Greece's efforts in addressing the crisis, urging for more work to be done by the international community to deal with the roots of the problem by helping put an end to conflicts. "Today we celebrate the refugees' resilience and look how the international community can respond to the dramatic situation. The responsibility is global and should be shared," he stressed. Urgent: 10 killed in mine collapse in Zamia: police Source: Xinhua 2018-06-20 19:34:05 LUSAKA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed after a small scale mine collapsed in Zambia on Wednesday, police said. Editor: Shi Yinglun SKOPJE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Macedonian Parliament on Wednesday is expected to ratify a name deal with Greece, Macedonia International Agency declared on Wednesday. On Tuesday Macedonian MPs voted 69-40 for the adoption of a shortened ratification procedure for the agreement. Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs later on Tuesday also endorsed the draft-law ratifying this name deal. VMRO-DPMNE MPs, main opposition party were absent from the Committee session due to their opposition to the name agreement. Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Dimitrov stressed that it is necessary to put this law on a fast-track in Parliament. The bill, Dimitrov explained, is envisaged in the national program on applying the European Union's (EU) law as part of the political criteria considering regional cooperation and international duties. The deadline for its adoption expires on June 22. According to Dimitrov, after the deal is ratified in Macedonia's parliament, Greece is tasked with informing the European Council President Donald Tusk, that it endorses the opening of EU negotiations and with notifying NATO Secretary General Jens Stollenberg that it supports NATO in extending a membership invitation. "June council is near, the EU foreign ministers will convene on June 25-26 and the EU Summit is on June 28. These dates are of great importance for the European perspective of our country and they depend on the agreement's ratification. To deliver these results, we propose that parliament should decide to fast-track the bill. The ratification allows the citizens to decide for their future in a referendum this coming fall," said Dimitrov. President Gjorge Ivanov informed the media on Wednesday on a written statement that his position on the name agreement will not change. "I call on Zaev (Prime Minister Zoran Zaev) to immediately to initiate the impeachment procedure, the procedure to determine the President answerability by the same two-thirds majority vote necessary to amend the Constitution of Macedonia," reacted Ivanov. Macedonian Parliament needs a simple majority to adopt the agreement. According to the government, the agreement will be finally put up for referendum in Macedonia, which should be organized either in September or October. On Sunday Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov and his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias signed the final agreement on the name dispute settlement and the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two countries. Both countries have been working towards settling the decades-old dispute over the use of the name Macedonia in the past months. The issue began in 1991 when the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) declared its independence from Yugoslavia, choosing the name Macedonia, which is also the name of a northern Greek province. Athens is worried that the use of the same name by the neighboring state could lead to territorial claims. KIGALI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- An armed gang on Tuesday night shot five people and killed two of them in a rural village in southern Rwanda, the Rwandan police said on Wednesday. The attack took place shortly before midnight in Nyabimata Cell, Nyabimata Sector in Nyaruguru district, Southern Province, the police said in a statement. "The gang shot five people, killing two. Those injured in the attack, including the executive secretary of Nyabimata Sector, were rushed to Munini hospital where they are receiving medical care," the statement said. The assailants also set fire to a car belonging to the executive secretary and unsuccessfully tried to break into Nyabimata Savings and Credit Cooperative, it said. The group also attacked a trading center in Nyabimata Sector, where they looted mainly foodstuff. The assailants had emerged from Nyungwe forest which borders Burundi, and fled in the same direction after the attack, said the police. The police said that security officials responded immediately and are currently in pursuit of the attackers, adding that local leaders and security authorities convened a meeting with affected residents to restore calm and reassure them of their security. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 20:09:11|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, inspects Tianjin Planning Exhibition Hall during an inspection tour in Tianjin, north China, June 19, 2018. (Xinhua/Ding Lin) BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng has called on the northern port city of Tianjin to make greater contributions to the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during an inspection tour of Tianjin on Tuesday. Han said the city should make good use of its comparative advantages and position, and play a bigger role in leading the region's development. "The city's Binhai New Area should support the development of competitive industries transferred from Beijing, and serve as a national research and development base for advanced manufacturing as well as an industry cluster of services for producers," Han said. Authorities should make Tianjin Port internationally competitive, reducing fees and costs while increasing efficiency, he said. The vice premier also encouraged the city's free trade zone to make bold experiments to gain more experience that can be shared with other places. He urged the city to strive for high-quality, innovation-driven and green development, create a better business environment, and integrate urban and rural development. KAMPALA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- As the world commemorated World Refugee Day on Wednesday, Uganda said it will distribute mosquito nets to all refugees in the country in efforts to fight the deadly malaria. Health Minister Ruth Aceng told reporters here that refugees residing in 10 settlements will get the nets starting June 23. "With support from Global Fund, a total of 849,495 mosquito nets have been procured aiming to protect approximately 1.4 million people," she said. A study conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in December 2017 showed that only 37 percent of refugee households owned at least one mosquito net. Uganda hosts refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi among others. Ministry of health figures show that malaria kills between 70,000 to 100,000 people in the country, mostly pregnant mothers and children. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 20:24:13|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Israel's formidable nuclear arsenal is a real threat to the Middle East and the world, Financial Tribune daily reported on Wednesday. Zarif called for a new international focus on Israel's secret nuclear warheads developments. All nuclear warheads stationed in the Middle East belong to Israel, Zarif said, alluding to recent statistics released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Although Iran has no nuclear weapons, Israel continues to howl about the so-called Iranian "ambitions" concerning its nuclear program, he said. "There are at least 80 nuclear warheads stationed in the Middle East. None is in Iran; rather, they're at the fingertips of a warmonger who howls incessantly about fabricated Iranian ambitions," Zarif was quoted as saying. Tel Aviv, Israel, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InspireMD, Inc. (NYSE AMER:NSPR), a leader in embolic prevention systems (EPS) / thrombus management technologies and neurovascular devices, today announced that CGuard EPS was featured at the SBHCI Congress, sponsored by the Brazilian Society of Hemodynamics and Interventional Cardiology, which took place in Curitiba, Brazil from June 13-15, 2018. The Congress hosted approximately 1,200 participants including doctors from across Brazil and Central and South America. As part of the scientific sessions, Dr. Antonio Micari, MD, PhD of Maria Cecilia Hospital, in Cotignola, Italy, presented How to Minimize Complications, the Safe Carotid Artery Stenting (CAS), Step by Step. Dr. Micari discussed the importance of selecting the right type of stent to minimize the risks of complications in CAS procedures. He presented CGuard EPS as the carotid embolic protection stent system of choice. In addition to his presentation he also showed a challenging and successful case that utilized the CGuard EPS which employs the companys patented MicroNet PET fiber and SmartFit Technology. We are pleased to have had CGuard EPS featured so prominently at the SBHCI Congress in Brazil, which included over a thousand attendees from across Central and South America, commented James Barry, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of InspireMD. We particularly appreciate the continued support from Dr. Micari from Maria Cecilia hospital, one of the leading endovascular surgery facilities in Italy and one of the leaders in the world doing more than 40,000 endovascular procedures per year. Regional congresses such as SBHCI are central to our strategy as we expand our footprint and generate awareness among both key opinion leaders and leading physicians in Latin America. About InspireMD, Inc. InspireMD seeks to utilize its patented MicroNet technology to make its products the industry standard for embolic protection and to provide a superior solution to the key clinical issues of current stenting in patients with a high risk of distal embolization, no reflow and major adverse cardiac events. InspireMD intends to pursue applications of this MicroNet technology in coronary, carotid (CGuard), neurovascular, and peripheral artery procedures. InspireMD's common stock is quoted on the NYSE American under the ticker symbol NSPR and certain warrants are quoted on the NYSE American under the ticker symbol NSPR.WS and NSPR.WSB. Forward-looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Such statements may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with (i) market acceptance of our existing and new products, (ii) negative clinical trial results or lengthy product delays in key markets, (iii) an inability to secure regulatory approvals for the sale of our products, (iv) intense competition in the medical device industry from much larger, multinational companies, (v) product liability claims, (vi) product malfunctions, (vii) our limited manufacturing capabilities and reliance on subcontractors for assistance, (viii) insufficient or inadequate reimbursement by governmental and other third party payers for our products, (ix) our efforts to successfully obtain and maintain intellectual property protection covering our products, which may not be successful, (x) legislative or regulatory reform of the healthcare system in both the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions, (xi) our reliance on single suppliers for certain product components, (xii) the fact that we will need to raise additional capital to meet our business requirements in the future and that such capital raising may be costly, dilutive or difficult to obtain and (xiii) the fact that we conduct business in multiple foreign jurisdictions, exposing us to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, logistical and communications challenges, burdens and costs of compliance with foreign laws and political and economic instability in each jurisdiction. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 20:24:13|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close by Xinhua writers Pan Lijun, Li Ming NEW YORK, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A group of workers in the U.S. state of South Carolina, who have teamed up with their Chinese colleagues, are working against the clock in a nascent industrial park near the state capital of Columbia. Some workers drive bulldozers or trailers shuttling back and forth on the construction site while others gather in a temporary shed trying to figure out how to solve problems. As employees of fiberglass manufacturer China Jushi, they have the common goal of finishing a huge project started from scratch in Pineview Industrial Park. Fiberglass is a composite material widely used in many fields including aerospace, transportation as well as electronics. Henry Briggman, a South Carolina resident, said he was "happy" to join the Chinese company and "confident about the bright future here." Headquartered in China's southeastern Zhejiang Province, the fiberglass giant is establishing its first U.S. fiberglass manufacturing operations in the 900-acre (364-hectare) new industrial park, as its first tenant. Jushi's anchoring was "extremely needed to kick-start the development of the park," Nelson Lindsay, director of Global Business Development at the South Carolina Department of Commerce, told Xinhua. The construction of the U.S. factory is part of the company's global strategy under the guideline of "first build the market, then build the plant," since it has more than 20 years of experience in the U.S. market, Wu Qing, CEO of China Jushi USA corporation, told Xinhua. Breaking ground in December 2016, the company planned to complete the first phase of installation within two years, Wu said. Jushi, or "giant stone" in Chinese, means backbone of heaven and earth in Chinese culture. For Richland County, where the park is located, the company means a giant boost for the local economy. The first phase of the project with an 80,000-ton production line is expected to bring 300 million U.S. dollars in capital investment and create 400 new jobs. "Instead of U.S. jobs going to China, we're bringing Chinese jobs to South Carolina," said Drew Walker, president of China Jushi USA Corporation. All new employees will receive three to six months' job training in China, according to the company. The presence of Chinese firms in South Carolina dates back to almost 20 years ago. In 1999, Qingdao-based refrigerator manufacturer Haier became the first Chinese enterprise to establish itself in the state. "China has a lot of strength in manufacturing, so does our state. It's a good marriage," Doug Woodward, an economist from the University of South Carolina, told Xinhua. The professor also expected further growth of Chinese businesses in the state. Since 2011, China has become one of the top five countries to invest in South Carolina. With over 1.3 billion dollars in capital investment, Chinese manufacturers have created about 4,000 new jobs, according to the latest figures from the state's commerce department. File photo of a mosquito nets delivery event in Wakiso district, Uganda, Jan. 23, 2018. (Xinhua/Joseph Kiggundu) KAMPALA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- As the world commemorated World Refugee Day on Wednesday, Uganda said it will distribute mosquito nets to all refugees in the country in efforts to fight the deadly malaria. Health Minister Ruth Aceng told reporters here that refugees residing in 10 settlements will get the nets starting June 23. "With support from Global Fund, a total of 849,495 mosquito nets have been procured aiming to protect approximately 1.4 million people," she said. A study conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in December 2017 showed that only 37 percent of refugee households owned at least one mosquito net. Uganda hosts refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi among others. Ministry of health figures show that malaria kills between 70,000 to 100,000 people in the country, mostly pregnant mothers and children. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 20:44:18|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close NAIROBI, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of Islamist militant attacks increased from 317 in 2013 to 1,549 in April in sub-Saharan Africa, an international risk and strategic consulting firm, Control Risks, said in a report released on Wednesday. The risk consultancy firm said while some of the attacks are inspired by the Islamic State (IS) that loses its grip in its Middle Eastern heartland, the drivers behind this rise in sub-Saharan Africa are more complex. "The many shades of political and ideological violence and militancy in play across the globe are part of a complex picture of risk and opportunity facing businesses and organizations," said the consultancy firm. In the report, Changing Patterns in Terrorism and the Threat to Business, Control Risks says Somalia, which witnessed 879 incidents over the period, accounted for over half of the Islamist militant incidents recorded across sub-Saharan Africa. According to the report, the only other East African country affected during the period was Kenya, with 79 incidents. The Somalia-based extremist group, al-Shabab have carried out increased terrorist attacks targeting public places, government installations and military bases manned by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The Somali militants are fighting to overthrow the internationally-recognized government and impose sharia law in the country. The firm says West Africa accounted for 36 percent of the incidents, Nigeria suffered most (220 incidents), followed by Mali (194) and Cameroon (96). "Although the total number of Islamist militant attacks in Southern Africa was relatively low - 56 incidents in total; 43 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 12 in Mozambique, 1 in South Africa - the rise in attacks particularly in Mozambique, where the first attack was recorded on October 5, 2017, is concerning," it said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 20:49:20|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 20, 2018. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin) BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China stands ready to strengthen cooperation with Nepal in infrastructure connectivity, post-disaster reconstruction, trade and investment under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping said Wednesday. Xi made the remarks while meeting with Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli. "China and Nepal are friendly neighbors sharing weal and woe," Xi said. "Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Nepal, the two countries have always carried out mutually beneficial cooperation on the basis of the 'Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.'" Xi said China appreciates Nepal's firm adherence to the one-China policy and will, as always, support Nepal's efforts to safeguard national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and support Nepal's independent choice of social system and development path suited to its national conditions. He expressed hope that Nepal would achieve its development goals at an early date. China-Nepal relations are facing new opportunities for development, said the president, noting that the two sides should maintain close high-level exchanges, strengthen strategic communications, continue to adhere to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, respect and accommodate each other's core interests and concerns, and consolidate the political foundation of their relations. China is willing to work with Nepal to build an all-round and mutually beneficial pattern for cooperation, Xi said. He said the two sides should strengthen cultural exchanges and create new highlights in Sino-Nepalese humanities cooperation to build a solid foundation for bilateral friendship. He also called for strengthened cooperation on law enforcement capacity-building, so that the two countries could jointly fight against transnational crimes and safeguard their common security. "China and Nepal should strengthen communication and coordination on major international issues," Xi said. Oli said Nepal and China enjoyed a time-honored friendship and their relationship served as a model for relations between countries with different systems and sizes. Nepal admires China's development achievements and highly appraises China's important and positive role in international affairs as well as China's neighborhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, Oli said. He thanked China for its support to Nepal's national transformation and development, saying that Nepal firmly adheres to the one-China policy and will never allow any forces to engage in any anti-China activities on Nepalese territory. Nepal is willing to expand cooperation with China under the new situation, Oli said, adding the Nepalese side highly values President Xi's proposition on building a community of shared future for mankind and is willing to actively participate in the Belt and Road construction. ZAGREB, June 20 (Xinhua) -- German automobile manufacturer Porsche AG has invested in Croatian electric vehicle (EV) tech company Rimac Automobili and its subsidiary Greyp Bikes, the Croatian company announced in a press release on Wednesday. Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of Rimac Automobili said in the press release, "Entering the collaborative partnership with Porsche AG is an important step in our strategy to become a leading EV technology supplier to the global OEMs (original equipment manufacturer)." A spokesperson confirmed to Xinhua on Wednesday that Porsche AG had decided to buy a minority ten percent stake in Rimac. In 2011, the Zagreb-based Rimac Automobili grabbed media attention when it introduced Concept One, the world's first all-electric hypercar at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Seven years later, on March 6, 2018, at the Geneva Motor Show, Rimac Automobili unveiled a new car called Concept Two. "We feel that Rimac's ideas and approaches are extremely promising, which is why we hope to enter into close collaboration with the company in the form of a development partnership," said Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman of the executive board and member of the executive board for finance and IT at Porsche, in the press release. In 2017, Rimac closed a 30-million-euro (35 million U.S. dollars) deal with China-based Camel Group Ltd. It was the single largest foreign direct investment in a Croatian technology company. The new funding round should boost the business and support the global expansion of Rimac and Greyp, the company said in the press release. As a co-investor in Rimac's series B round led by Camel Group Co. Ltd., Porsche AG concluded the company's second capital raising round. As of June 2018, the founder and CEO Mate Rimac remains the majority shareholder. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 21:56:59|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close A BYD electric bus arrives at the Kyoto Women's University in Kyoto, Japan, June 20, 2018. Japanese company Princess Line bought five electric buses from Chinese automaker BYD in 2015 and two more in 2017. The seven buses have now travelled some 370 thousand kilometers, cutting costs for their owner and reducing emissions for the city. (Xinhua/Ma Ping) Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Israel's formidable nuclear arsenal is a real threat to the Middle East and the world. (file photo) TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Israel's formidable nuclear arsenal is a real threat to the Middle East and the world, Financial Tribune daily reported on Wednesday. Zarif called for a new international focus on Israel's secret nuclear warheads developments. All nuclear warheads stationed in the Middle East belong to Israel, Zarif said, alluding to recent statistics released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Although Iran has no nuclear weapons, Israel continues to howl about the so-called Iranian "ambitions" concerning its nuclear program, he said. "There are at least 80 nuclear warheads stationed in the Middle East. None is in Iran; rather, they're at the fingertips of a warmonger who howls incessantly about fabricated Iranian ambitions," Zarif was quoted as saying. BERLIN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Bavarian governor Markus Soeder (CSU) expressed hope on Wednesday that his state would be able to cooperate with Austria in implementing a controversial new "migration master plan" in Germany. Speaking ahead of a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Soeder emphasized that Bavaria and Austria had a "shared understanding and position" on the reform of asylum policy in the European Union (EU). The CSU politician hereby also referred to his party's desire to turn asylum seekers back at the German border if they have already been registered in another Schengen area country. Austria is set to assume the rotating presidency of the EU Council shortly. Vienna has identified a reform of European asylum policies as a key goal of its six-month term. Yet while the CSU's plans for a stricter migration regime, which may enjoy the support of Kurz' right-wing populist government, they are opposed by the German Chancellor and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Angela Merkel. The disagreement between the two conservative sister parties over the issue has sparked a heated cabinet conflict and raised the specter of an unravelling of the ruling "grand coalition" formed by the CDU, CSU and German Social Democrats (SPD). Merkel has warned of creating a domino effect with the "migration master plan" as Germany's neighbors rush to shut their internal Schengen borders and is instead calling for a joint European solution to the refugee crisis. The veteran stateswoman is under pressure to find an alternative ahead of an upcoming EU summit in only two weeks before the CSU threatened to press ahead with its own plans without obtaining her consent. Soeder argued on Wednesday that while Europe was an outward-looking and open continent, better policing of the external Schengen borders and limits to immigration were necessary. "We can also achieve European measures (on asylum policy) by establishing national regulations which serve as a model to emulate for others," he said. The Bavarian governor noted that he would welcome a European solution championed by Merkel as long as it resulted in concrete changes demanded both by the CSU and German citizens. Soeder said that the success of progress towards a new asylum regime on the EU level would ultimately hinge on whether it also enjoyed popular support. The meeting between Soeder and Kurz on Wednesday is being watched closely in Berlin as observers across the political landscape look for clues over whether the CSU will seek to escalate its cabinet conflict with the CDU further. According to media reports, Bavarian police have already begun to turn back asylum seekers at the border to Austria. In the meanwhile, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has abruptly cancelled a commitment to speaking together with Merkel at a memorial event in Berlin which draws attention to the historical plight of refugees on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the interior ministry cited a schedule issue as the reason for the cancellation. RIGA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Latvian Justice Minister Dzintars Rasnacs survived two successive no-confidence votes in Parliament on Wednesday initiated by two groups of opposition lawmakers, local media reported. The opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) blamed the justice minister for poor job performance regarding his failure to ensure a proper oversight of the Insolvency Administration, the authority in charge of winding down failing businesses. Last week, parliamentarians began debating two petitions on June 14 calling for Rasnacs' resignation, but the session was suspended as several MPs left to attend a commemorative event. One of the proposals the parliament considered on Wednesday was a draft resolution on a no-confidence motion against the justice minister, signed by 16 MPs from the opposition parties Harmony and For Latvia from the Heart, as well as several unaffiliated parliamentarians, initiated by non-partisan MP Romans Mezeckis. Another petition, signed by ten lawmakers and called for the justice minister's resignation, has been filed by the Latvian Association of Regions (LRA). The LRA faction argued that Rasnacs should be held responsible for Latvia's seriously flawed insolvency laws, which have led to numerous violations and irregularities. LRA also alleged that for many years insolvency processes have only been providing gains to their state-appointed managers, whereas the state itself has seen little benefit. However, both no-confidence motions against Rasnacs were eventually rejected as Latvia's center-right government coalition -- which includes the Greens and Farmers Union, Unity, and Rasnacs' National Alliance -- agreed not to rock the government and instead supported the justice minister, although at one point some MPs of the center-right Unity party had considered backing the no-confidence motion. RAMALLAH, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah urged on Wednesday the international community to uphold financial promises to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) amid its financial crisis. Hamdallah said in a press statement following his meeting with UNRWA General Commissioner Pierre Krahenbuhl in Ramallah that some parties are trying to undermine the operations of UNRWA, warning against "harming the legitimate rights of the Palestinian refugees safeguarded by the international law." The PM highlighted the importance of UNRWA's role and its protection of the rights of Palestinian refugees until a just resolution for their cause is reached. UNRWA announced following its advisory commission meeting in Amman Tuesday that it suffers a shortage of 250 million U.S. dollars until the end of 2018. The UNRWA has over 700 schools serving almost 525,000 children and offers healthcare to some 3.5 million refugees through a network of 150 clinics. In addition, the agency's food and cash assistance program offers some 1.7 million dollars to extremely vulnerable refugees. The UNRWA also mentioned in a statement the severity of the risks ahead "with more than 250 million dollars in further support required to preserve UNRWA's core and emergency assistance in the second half of the year." Access to schooling for a generation of Palestinian refugee youth is at stake, the UNRWA said, as well as access to essential health care in and around 58 refugee camps and emergency assistance to millions of insecure refugees in an unstable region. The statement said Krahenbuhl reiterated his urgent call for all partners "to stay on a successful collective path for the sake of the Palestine refugee community" in light of an upcoming pledging conference for UNRWA in New York on June 25. He insisted on the need to respect the hope and dignity of Palestine refugees, added the statement. In the beginning of the year, the United States cut down its contribution to UNRWA from 125 million dollars to 65 million dollars. Palestinian officials said the U.S. move to reduce UNRWA funds is in line with the new policy of U.S. President Donald Trump to ignore the final issues of the peace process. The officials added that the United States tries to remove the issues of Jerusalem and the refugees "off the table" as Trump said in a tweet after he recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital on Dec. 6, 2017. UNRWA serves 5.3 million Palestinian refugees throughout the region. Vancouver, British Columbia, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Future Farm Technologies Inc. (the Company or Future Farm) (CSE: FFT) (OTCQX: FFRMF) is pleased to announce that the formal process for completing the distribution of 11,000,000 common shares of NexTech AR Solutions Corp. (NexTech) to the shareholders of Future Farm (the Future Farm Shareholders) on a pro-rata basis is now under way. The process began with the filing last week of a Notice of Meeting and Record Date for an Annual General and Special Meeting to take place on July 26, 2018. That notice is available on the CSE. The distribution of the NexTech common shares is to be completed pursuant to a court-approved Plan of Arrangement. The next step in the process is the application for an Interim Order from the British Columbia Supreme Court. The application for the Interim Order was filed yesterday and is set for a court hearing on June 21. Upon receipt of the Interim Order the Company will proceed to mail to the Future Farm Shareholders a proxy circular disclosing detailed information on the business of NexTech. If the Arrangement is completed, Future Farm Shareholders will receive a total of 11 million common shares of NexTech while maintaining their current ownership interest in Future Farm. NexTech will apply to list its shares on the CSE following completion of the Arrangement. NexTech will focus on the advancement and development of its revenue generating portfolio of gaming and all-in-one apps known as the All-In-One-App Portfolio using its augmented reality technology. NexTech has also expanded its augmented reality technology products and is working with a number of clients for the provision A/R enhanced marketing services including through its Native AR Platform and AR learning model. The securities referenced in this news release have not and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. For further information, contact William Gildea, Director, at (888) 387-3761. On behalf of the Board, Future Farm Technologies Inc. William Gildea, Chairman and CEO About Future Farm Technologies Inc. Future Farm is a Canadian company with holdings throughout North America including California, Massachusetts, Florida, Maine, Puerto Rico and Newfoundland. The Companys mission is to advance sustainable agriculture through production of wholesale and retail cannabis products, including hemp. As a leader in its field, Future Farm is committed to using only the highest quality processes and products. Towards this goal, the Company acquires or partners with licensed cannabis operators, and acquires or develops leading technologies in cannabis production, breeding, genetics, and Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). Future Farms scalable, indoor CEA systems utilize minimal land, water and energy resources. The Company holds an exclusive, worldwide license to use a patented vertical farming technology that, when compared to traditional plant production methods, generates yields up to 10 times greater per square foot of land. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. There is no guarantee that the Company will complete the Arrangement, or if completed, will be listed on a stock exchange. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws. ADDIS ABABA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- South Sudanese rebel leader, Riek Machar, arrived in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Wednesday for peace talks with South Sudan's President, Salva Kiir, after nearly two years of discussions among the two rival leaders. President Kiir, who is also expected to arrive in Ethiopia later today, will meet his former deputy Machar, who had been in exile in South Africa for close to two years, the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday. The discussion between the two warring South Sudanese factions is said to be the first of its kind since the last discussion among the two leaders two years ago that contributed little to South Sudan's peace process. According to the ministry, the meeting between the South Sudan warring sides is organized under the invitation of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is also the current chairman of the eastern African bloc, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Machar, currently head of the opposition, Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), is also expected to hold talks with Ethiopia's Ahmed on ways of creating lasting solutions to the crisis in South Sudan, it was noted. IGAD, which recently revealed its decision to bring leaders of the two major warring factions to the table, has also scheduled to undertake its ministerial as well as leaders' summit in Addis Ababa as of Tuesday. IGAD's Council of Ministers summit earlier this month had revealed a possibility of punitive measures against violators of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) that was signed by South Sudan's warring factions in December 2017 in Addis Ababa. The IGAD Council of Ministers had also decided to submit punitive measures against violators of the peace agreement to the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government for approval. The ceasefire agreement, brokered by IGAD, asked the warring parties to stop military operations, demanded that forces remain in their bases and further called for the release of political detainees. Despite the cessation of hostilities agreement that was signed during the first round of peace talks, the violence has continued and new rebel groups are reportedly joined the vilest humanitarian condition witnessed in the country. "Despite all efforts made so far, South Sudanese parties have not made sufficient compromises to overcome the outstanding issues on governance and security matters," IGAD's Council of Ministers said earlier this month. According to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the humanitarian crisis triggered by the legacy of civil war and chronic underdevelopment continues to intensify on a costly trajectory for the country's people and their outlook on the future. The number of people uprooted since the start of the conflict in 2013 has reached more than 4 million, including 1.9 million internally displaced people, with up to 85 percent estimated to be children and women, according to UNOCHA. The IGAD Summit is also expected to deliberate and decide on the outcomes of the year-long process of the second phase of the High Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF) on South Sudan. Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed, while inviting the two rival leaders for peace talks in Ethiopia, has also urged them to contribute their almost efforts to end the suffering, migration as well as death of South Sudanese people, according to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 21:29:31|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Li Zhanshu (R), chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), meets with Cedric Frolick, house chairperson of the National Assembly of South Africa, in Beijing, capital of China, June 20, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Li Zhanshu on Wednesday met with Cedric Frolick, house chairperson of the National Assembly of South Africa, in Beijing, calling for closer exchanges between legislative bodies. Li said China's African policy of sincerity, affinity and good faith is evident in China-Africa cooperation and the friendship between China and Africa has borne new fruit. "Many African countries appreciate China's development achievements and experience," Li said, adding China is willing to enhance its exchange of governance experience with African countries including South Africa, to realize common development. Li said China-South Africa ties are an example of friendly cooperation among developing countries and emerging economies. He called on the two countries to take the opportunity of the 20th anniversary of establishment of the diplomatic ties between the two countries to arrange for the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in July, and the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing in September. Li urged both sides to promote the Belt and Road Initiative and enhance exchange and cooperation between legislative bodies. Frolick said China is a sincere friend of African countries and South Africa expects to enhance cooperation with China within FOCAC and BRICS, aiming to boost overall development of relations. RIGA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A member of the Latvian parliament and two other persons were arrested on Wednesday as part of a criminal investigation into an illegal party financing scheme, local media reported. Operatives of the Latvian Corruption Prevention Bureau arrived at the parliament house in the morning, asking lawmakers' permission to detain and search MP Artuss Kaimins on suspicion of using an illicit scheme to finance his KPV LV party. The anti-corruption watchdog's request was promptly granted, and Kaimins left the parliament house flanked by the anti-corruption bureau's officers. Shortly afterwards, the Corruption Prevention Bureau released a statement saying that a total of three arrests have been made in connection with the party financing probe. Latvian public television reported that the premises of KPV LV board member Atis Zakatistovs and entrepreneur Viesturs Tamuzs were also being raided as part of the investigation. The Corruption Prevention Bureau declined to provide more detailed information in order to protect the integrity of the investigation. The anti-corruption watchdog started probing Kaimins for receiving illicit financing for his party in February 2017 when Ilmars Poikans, an IT researcher at the University of Latvia and high-profile whistleblower, quit KPV LV and filed a statement against Kaimins. Media reports suggest that businessman Tamuzs had been illegally sponsoring the Kaimins-led party through Zakatistovs who had been hired by one of Tamuzs' companies as an adviser but never did any work there. His salary was handed over to Kaimins who spent it on his party and his personal needs. BERLIN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has expressed concern on Wednesday over a growing security risk posed by left-wing extremists in Germany. "The current level of violence and aggression on behalf of left-wing extremists against police officers, as well as civilian individuals and institutions is worrying", BfV president Hans-Georg Maasen told the press in Berlin. Left-wing extremists in Germany have traditionally showcased a preference for non-violent protest. Maasen stressed, however, that members of the scene increasingly justified violence against the state and police in their rhetoric on the grounds that they allegedly served as "instruments of repression." According to the BfV president, there was consequently an urgent need for a societal debate in Germany over how to respond to the threat of violent left-wing extremism. "Violence cannot become acceptable as a legitimate course of action in political conflict", Maasen warned. Figures compiled by the BfV indicate that the number of left-wing extremists who were potentially violent has increased by 27 percent between 2012 and 2017 from 7,100 to 9,000 individuals. During the same period, recorded incidences of left-wing extreme violence rose by 88 percent to a total of 1,648, while general criminal offenses motivated by a left-wing extreme ideology increased by 99 percent to 6,398 offenses. The group "Interventionist Left" (IL) was identified by the BfV as the single most significant left-wing extreme group operating in Germany. The government agency accused the IL of pursuing a thinly-veiled strategy to radicalize its members. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 21:39:32|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday condemned the Saudi-led military offensive to seize Yemen's port city of Hodeidah. The assault on Hodeidah is another indicator of "the evil nature of bullying powers," Khamenei said according to the state TV. This "bloody" and "criminal" attack on Hodeidah is contributed by a number of countries possessing advanced weapons and with an aim to strip the Yemeni people of their control over a vital seaport, he said. Saudi-led coalition has been involved in a war in Yemen against Shiite Houthis since 2015 in support of the exiled Yemeni government. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 21:39:33|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's state-owned railroad company signed a contract with Swiss rail company Matisa on the maintenance and supply of railroad machines, Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday. Under the contract, Matisa, the Swiss manufacturer of track maintenance equipment, will carry out the overhaul of two ballast machines and nine other ballast regulators in Iran. Iran's railway company is also going to ask Matisa to set up a production site inside Iran. The Swiss company has also showed an inclination to provide Iran with 21 railroad machines. Women of faith gather outside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters to call on the Trump administration to halt its policy of detaining immigrant children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, during a demonstration in Washington, U.S., June 19, 2018. (Xinhua/REUTERS) SAN FRANCISCO, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Tuesday denied that his company had aided in enforcing the controversial family separation policy by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, calling it "abhorrent." In an email to all Microsoft employees, Nadella said he was "appalled at the abhorrent policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the southern border of the United States." He reaffirmed that the company is not working with the U.S. government on any projects related to it. "Our current cloud engagement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is supporting legacy mail, calendar, messaging and document management workloads," he said. Microsoft came under fire Monday after a blog post of its cloud service Azure in January highlighting its work with ICE resurfaced on social media. The U.S. tech giant later issued a statement asserting that its products are not being used specifically for the separation of families. The new policy of Trump's administration being "implemented on the border is simply cruel and abusive, and we are standing for change," Nadella said. The Trump administration launched a campaign to crack down on illegal immigration in the past few weeks, which has led to nearly 2,000 children being forcibly separated from their parents, sparking unprecedented outrage from the public across the nation. ADDIS ABABA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Wednesday called for opening of "new chapter" with longtime bitter rival Eritrea. In a press statement, MoFA said it considers Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki's decision to accept Ethiopia's peace offer as a "positive step" and applauds his plans to send an Eritrean delegation to Ethiopia for peace talks. The statement comes hours after the Eritrean president announced on Eritrean state TV that his government is sending a delegation to Ethiopia to end a bitter two decades old border dispute. Afwerki broke two weeks of Eritrean silence to Ethiopia's offer to unconditionally implement the decisions of peace agreement that ended a two-year border war from 1998-2000, which is estimated to have killed 70,000 people from both sides. On June 5, the Executive Committee of the ruling coalition EPRDF said it is committed to an unconditional implementation of the December 2000 Algiers peace agreement with Eritrea. The peace agreement ended the two-year border war, but a tense armed standoff continued, with the two countries engaging in skirmishes occasionally. Ethiopia until this month had declined to endorse the results of the peace agreement fully, including the symbolically important town of Badme which Ethiopia currently controls but which was awarded to Eritrea. Eritrea for its part has insisted the border demarcation has to be done first before any talks on normalizing ties. MOSCOW, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. decision to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) demonstrates its disrespect for the international body, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. "The United States once again dealt a powerful blow to its own human rights reputation and demonstrated disrespect not just to UNHRC, but to the United Nations as a whole and to the structures that are part of it," she said at a news briefing. The United States announced its withdrawal from UNHRC on Tuesday. The U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, Nikki Haley, accused the UN human rights body of being "a protector of human rights abusers" and of bias against Israel. The 47-member Geneva-based body has adopted a series of resolutions critical of Israel's behavior toward the Palestinians, the latest in March, which irritated Washington. Zakharova accused the United States of double standard by refusing to acknowledge the existence of human rights problems at home, on one hand, and attempting to reshape the UNHRC to suit its own political interests, on the other. The U.S. attempt to impose by force an "extremely specific understanding of human rights" on other states is in itself a gross deviation from universal human values and civilized norms of behavior, she said. Zakharova also said that Washington's current step, like its previously announced decision to abandon the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, confirmed that it is ready to "interact only with those multilateral mechanisms and only on those issues that meet the interests of Washington itself." Russia hopes that the UNHRC will work effectively without the United States, she said. File Photo: Cannabis storage bags are displayed at Triparte shop in downtown Lisbon, Portugal, Jan. 10, 2018. (Xinhua/REUTERS) OTTAWA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Canadian Senate passed a bill Tuesday evening to legalize cannabis, paving the way for a fully legal cannabis market within 8-12 weeks. Bill C-45 was passed by a vote of 52 to 29, with two abstentions. It still needs the royal assent of the governor general, before the government decides on the date when the legislation will come into force. To legalize cannabis was a campaign promise of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party. The newly-passed bill will allow adults in the country to legally possess and use small amounts of recreational cannabis. It sets out parameters around the production, safety standards, distribution, and sale of the drug. It also creates new Criminal Code offences for selling cannabis to minors. The proposed federal law stipulates that it will be illegal for anyone younger than 18 to buy pot, but allows for provinces and territories to set a higher minimum age. The bill represented a "historic milestone for progressive policy in Canada," Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould tweeted. TORONTO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Toronto based CO2 GRO Inc. (GROW or the Company) (TSX-V:GROW) is pleased to announce more scientific proof validating its dissolved CO2 foliar spray technology on lettuce. The first trials at St Cloud State University in Minnesota ("St. Cloud") measured a fourfold sustained increase of chlorophyll concentration in Romaine lettuce leaves with dissolved CO2 foliar spray pulsed in 15-minute intervals for four hours. More chlorophyll lets plants grow faster and larger. According to Tridge Intelligence, the worldwide lettuce market is 26.8M tonnes/y with the US producing 15.2% or 4M tonnes/y. Over 90% of US lettuce grown is in California. At the current $1.17/kg global wholesale lettuce price, the global wholesale lettuce market is worth $30B/y. GROW believes that these initial chlorophyll trials with further replication of previous lettuce grow trials using its CO2 foliar spray technology will confirm the potential of 1-2 more lettuce crops/year in California or $1-2B/y more wholesale California lettuce revenue with less water use per unit of lettuce yield. St. Cloud's first weekly plant science report states " Notable in these initial experiments is the rapidity of physiological response seen in CO2 exposed plants. This data is encouraging and consistent with the hypothesis of significant plant growth enhancement with CO2 delivered via foliar spray:" In April 2018, GROW signed an ongoing Collaboration Agreement with St Cloud for scientific plant cultivation research services. Regular scientific documentation of CO2 foliar spray impacts on plant leaf stomata and now started grow trials in lettuce and peppers will be ongoing. The primary objective of the started St. Cloud Romaine lettuce trial is to duplicate the excellent 100% incremental biomass results from an earlier lettuce trial conducted by the University of Guelph. That dissolved CO2 foliar spray lettuce biomass result was measured against lettuce grown with 800 PPM of CO2 gassing. All patentable results from scientific discoveries at St Cloud will be 100% owned by GROW. About CO2 GRO (GROW.TSXV) or "GROW" GROW's mission is to accelerate all indoor and outdoor value plant growth naturally, safely, and economically using its patented advanced CO2 foliar technologies. CO2 GRO's global target plant markets are retail food at $8 trillion per year (Plunkett Mar 2017), retail non-food plants at an estimated $1 trillion per year and legal retail cannabis that may reach $50 billion per year by 2022 (Bay St Analyst estimates). GROW's sole focus is working with its plant grower and Agri-industrial partners in proving and adopting its CO2 technologies for specific growers plant yield needs. The CO2 technologies work by transferring CO2 gas into water and foliar spraying across the entire plant leaf surface area, which is a semi permeable membrane. The dissolved concentrated CO2 then penetrates a leaf's surface area naturally like nicotine naturally dissolves through human skin from a nicotine patch. Foliar spraying natural nutrients and chemicals on plant leaves has been used for over 60 years by millions of indoor and outdoor plant growers. To date, outdoor growers have not had any way to enhance plant CO2 gas uptake for faster growth. Indoor use of CO2 gassing has enhanced plant yields for over 60 years. However, over 50% of the CO2 gas is typically lost through ventilation. Current greenhouse CO2 gassing levels of up to 1500 PPM are also not ideal for worker health and safety. GROW's safer dissolved CO2 foliar spray can be used by indoor and outdoor plant growers with minimal CO2 gas lost. GROW's CO2 technologies are commercially proven, scalable and easily adopted into existing irrigation systems. GROW's proven crop yield enhancements and revenue model is compelling for growers and Agri-industrial partners. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on CO2GRO's expectations, estimates and projections regarding its business and the economic environment in which it operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements and readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update them publicly to reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances, unless otherwise required to do so by law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For more information, please visit www.co2gro.ca or contact Sam Kanes, VP Business Development at 416-315-7477. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 22:24:47|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) has commended China for its commitment to driving the Sino-African partnership further through its dedicated mission to the pan-Africa bloc. This came on Wednesday during a farewell reception on the premises of the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, for the Head of the Chinese Mission to AU, Kuang Weilin, who has completed his three-year tenure as the first ambassador of China to AU. The first mission was inaugurated on May 7, 2015 aimed at scaling up the existing good relations between China and Africa, benefiting comprehensive cooperation and exchange between China and AU. Speaking during the farewell reception, Quartey Kwesi, Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission, noted that several achievements have been recorded since the establishment of the mission, strengthening the cooperation between Africa, the African Union (AU), and China. "[The establishment of the Chinese Mission to African Union] allows us to effect the implementation of our cooperation which include in infrastructure development, construction of railways, airways, highways, and development of industrialization to accelerate Africa's integration within the framework of Agenda 2063," Kwesi said. Reiterating that the Sino-African relationship is based on mutual understanding and respect, the deputy chairperson said: "In the past years, Africa and China have engaged in pragmatic and close cooperation with the spirit of South-South cooperation across sectors that help health, education, infrastructure development, trading and capacity building." The African continental free trade area, the protocol on free movement of persons, the single African air transport market, and enforcing domestic resource mobilization are among the key achievements gained here during Kuang's tenure, he noted. He has further noted that AU and China have been cooperating on peace and security in Africa, whereby China supports the AU peace and security architecture, institutions such as the AU Peace and Security Council, and regional peace operations. China has committed 100 million U.S. dollars to support African standby force and for Africa capacity building for immediate response to crisis, he said, adding that China also supports Africa's efforts in the fight against terrorism as well as in the area of peace keeping operation and conflict resolution. Speaking on his part, Kuang hailed the achievements that AU has made in reform, integration, peace and security, and infrastructure development among others. Kuang reiterated that China and Africa have witnessed dynamic relations over the past three years, whereby China and African countries have worked closely to expedite the implementation of the outcomes of the previous summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). "Over the past three years, together we have witnessed an ever-growing China-AU partnership," he said. Kuang has also hailed the accomplishments during his tenure including frequent high-level visits and exchanges between China and AU as well as new development of practical cooperation between the two sides in infrastructure, public health, peace and security among others. He has also expressed China's commitment to always standing with Africa and the international community at large to foster win-win cooperation and common development in a sustainable, steady, and efficient manner. "China will continue to adhere to the principle of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith and uphold the values of friendship, justice, and shared interests, so as to further enrich China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 22:24:49|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Li Zhanshu (R), chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), holds talks with Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan Ogtay Asadov in Beijing, capital of China, June 20, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), held talks with Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan Ogtay Asadov in Beijing on Wednesday. When talking about China-Azerbaijan cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, Li said China is willing to follow the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration, and carry out closer cooperation with Azerbaijan in areas where the two sides have complementary advantages. He said China has always supported Azerbaijan in exploring a development path suitable for its national conditions, and supported Azerbaijan's efforts to realize its economic development and national prosperity. China will stick to its opening-up policy to promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and share development opportunities with all countries in the world, Li said. "The NPC attaches importance to its ties with the National Assembly of Azerbaijan," Li said, calling on both sides to implement the consensus reached by the two countries' leaders and make sure that bilateral trade and investment will be protected by law. He expressed the hope that the NPC and the National Assembly of Azerbaijan will increase exchanges at various levels, share governance experience, and support cooperation in education, youth exchanges and tourism. Asadov said Azerbaijan, one of the first countries to support the Belt and Road Initiative, expects more pragmatic cooperation with China to benefit the people of the two countries. He added that the National Assembly of Azerbaijan is willing to contribute more to the friendly relations between the two countries. MANILA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Ombudsman of the Philippines indicted on Wednesday former President Benigno Aquino for usurpation of legislative powers over the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). The ombudsman said in a statement that it found probable cause to file a case against Aquino before an anti-graft court, saying Aquino violated Article 239 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC). The ombudsman said the indictment stemmed from the unlawful issuance of National Budget Circular (NBC) No. 541 to implement the DAP involving 72 billion pesos (1.3 billion U.S. dollars) public funds. The ombudsman's decision reverses its 2017 decision which cleared the former president of the charges over alleged illegal implementation of the DAP when Aquino was in office. "A re-evaluation of the case establishes that the individual actions of respondent Aquino and respondent-movant (Florencio) Abad showed a joint purpose and design to encroach on the powers of Congress by expanding the meaning of savings to fund programs, activities and projects under the DAP," the ombudsman said, quoting a resolution issued on May 22, 2018. Abad served as budget secretary during the Aquino administration. The ombudsman has earlier indicted Abad for usurpation of legislative powers. Usurpation of legislative powers is the lesser charge, penalized by prison time of six months to six years and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos (18.71 U.S. dollars) as stated by Article 239 of the RPC. Aquino can still ask the ombudsman to reconsider its latest decision. JUBA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar were due on Wednesday to discuss issues on governance and security which remain sticky issues among the warring parties when the leaders would meet in the Ethiopian capital, a senior official revealed. Awut Deng Acuil, South Sudan's minister of Gender and Child Affairs, told journalists Wednesday in Juba that Kiir would discuss the outstanding issues on governance and security with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-in opposition (SPLM/A-IO) leader Machar at the face-to-face talks in Addis Ababa. "I think more will be on governance and security issues because when we were discussing governance and security issues we had differences in the timeframe, the opposition are talking about 12 to 18 months and the government is talking about 120 days for integration of the forces," Awut said in Juba as President Kiir left for the Addis Ababa talks. The government has rejected the opposition demand on dissolving the transitional parliament and formation of two armies which in the past resulted in clashes on July 8, 2016 as Machar returned to take up his position of First Vice President under the 2015 peace agreement. The minister said the government side was opposed to the idea of two armies as being proposed by the opposition in the capital. "If we take the position suggested by the opposition it is just the same as like what happened last time (two armies) and we cannot afford to have two armies anymore that is why the time has to be shortened so that we start with the transitional period with one national army," Awut disclosed. She revealed that talks between the two leaders who are invited by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will take place as scheduled on Wednesday prior to the Thursday summit of the Heads of States from the East African regional bloc IGAD. South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world. A 2015 peace agreement was shattered when the warring parties renewed fighting in July 2016 in the capital forcing rebel leader Machar to flee into exile. The UN estimates that about 4 million South Sudanese have been displaced internally and externally. SOFIA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria's opposition on Wednesday filed the second no-confidence motion against the coalition government of the center-right GERB party and the nationalist United Patriots that was elected last May. The parliamentary group of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which holds 80 seats in the 240-seat parliament, filed the motion for the government's "failure" in the area of security. Failures of the government to ensure the national security and the necessary conditions for the work of Bulgarian service people were among the reasons for the motion, BSP spokesperson Elena Yoncheva told reporters. Jordan Tzonev, deputy chairperson of parliamentary group of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), which has 25 members, said his party would vote against the government. "From his first day we have been against it and the coalition. Our position is principled and consistent," Tzonev said. However, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, GERB's parliamentary group leader, said that despite some weaknesses in some sectoral policies, this vote of no-confidence was baseless and "does not correspond to the expectation of the people". Volen Siderov, leader of the parliamentary group of the United Patriots, said in turn that BSP had no strong reasons for the motion, and statistics were not in the BSP's favor. According to parliamentary rules, the motion has to be discussed within one week, and voted not earlier than 24 hours after the closure of the debate. To be passed, the motion must be supported by more than half of the legislators. BSP filed the first no-confidence motion against this coalition government in January because of the government's alleged inability to cope with corruption. It was backed by 103 deputies of the BSP and the MRF, while 131 voted against it. All no-confidence motions in Bulgaria in the last 28 years have been unsuccessful. BANGKOK, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Another arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who is allegedly involved in a bank loan scandal over a decade ago. The Supreme Court judges in charge of criminal lawsuits against politicians issued the arrest warrant. Over the last decade, Thaksin has been given several arrest warrants by court involving other lawsuits but has been apparently unresponsive to them. After a law was revised in 2017, the lawsuit could practically be proceeded in court in absentia of Thaksin, who is unlikely to return to Thailand as defendant in court. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 22:50:00|Editor: yan Video Player Close HONG KONG, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Export index of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the second quarter of 2018 (2Q18) climbed to a 29-quarter high, indicating positive sentiment among local exporters for the first time in 12 months. Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) announced on Wednesday that the HKTDC Export Index, made to reflect exporters' confidence, stood at 54.1 in 2Q18, up from 49.4 in 1Q18. The results suggest that Hong Kong exports are likely to sustain their growth momentum over the near term. The index monitors the current export performance of Hong Kong traders and gauges their near-term prospects. Readings above 50 indicate positive sentiment, while readings below 50 indicate negative sentiment. Among major sectors, the indices for electronics and machinery performed exceptionally well, reaching 55.2 and 54.9 respectively in 2Q18, the highest levels since early 2013. Toys continued its uptrend seen in the last two quarters, rising to 53.2. Clothing, while staying in contractionary territory, also showed signs of improvement in 2Q18 with a 17-quarter high reading of 43.6. "Overall, Hong Kong exporters have shown a strong reversal in sentiment," HKTDC Director of Research Nicholas Kwan said, adding that "despite the mixed performances across sectors, exporters are generally positive about the outlook for major export markets." Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 23:20:09|Editor: yan Video Player Close ANKARA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Two soldiers were killed and another one was wounded in a rocket attack by outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey's southeastern Hakkari province, local government said Wednesday. A statement from the Hakkari governor's office said the separatist militants carried out the rocket attack at around 10:30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT) on a Turkish military convoy passing from a military command in the Cukurca district, close to the border with Iraq. Turkish security forces have launched air-supported operations to capture the suspects in the region, according to local media. The attack came as Turkey intensified cross-border airstrikes against suspected bases belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq's Qandil and Sinjar regions since June 11. On Tuesday, at least two soldier were killed in two separate bomb attacks by the PKK militants in southeastern provinces, military said. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-20 23:30:14|Editor: yan Video Player Close LHASA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Nathu La Pass in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Wednesday welcomed the first group of officially-organized pilgrims from India this year. In the following 12 days, the 38 pilgrims will travel to Mapam Yumco Lake and Mount Kangrinboqe, both sacred Hindu and Buddhist sites in Tibet's Ali Prefecture. Anuj Gupta made the journey with his 66-year-old mother. "This is her dream, and mine too. This is a holy pilgrimage. I'm here to find something," he said. This year, the pass is expected to see about 500 officially-organized pilgrims from India who will make the 2,874-km pilgrimage, according to Yang Zhigang, deputy director of the office of foreign affairs and overseas Chinese affairs in Xigaze City. "The pilgrims will be provided with room and board, as well as medicines and other help in their journey," Yang said. The Nathu La Pass sits over 4,000 meters above sea level and is wedged between Tibet's Yadong County in Xigaze Prefecture, and India's Sikkim State. It is the shortest land pass for trade between China and India, and also the highest altitude land pass for trade. In 2015, the pass started to receive officially-organized Indian pilgrims. So far, 509 such pilgrims entered Tibet through the pass. The pilgrims traditionally climbed over Qang La Pass, which is 5,200 meters above sea level on the China-India-Nepal border, to reach their destination. The road is steep and usually covered by snow. HARARE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Wednesday hailed the positive steps taken by Zimbabwe in its preparations to hold a free, fair and credible election on July 30. As part of the preparations, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has compiled a biometric voters' roll and opened it for public inspection and has started availing copies to political parties and candidates. It has also received nomination papers from prospective candidates for the harmonized presidential, parliamentary and council election. A total of 23 candidates have filed nomination papers to contest for the presidency, the highest number since the country's independence in 1980. The visiting UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs Taye-Brook Zerihoun told journalists that the world body would continue to provide electoral support to Zimbabwe to ensure the country holds an inclusive, transparent and credible poll. "We met with the head of ZEC and were given a very comprehensive briefing, an encouraging briefing but certainly there are issues to be handled and discussed. But I think there is ... a positive pre-disposition in the way things are going," he said after meeting Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo. Zerihoun is in Zimbabwe as part of his regional tour of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to review cooperation agreements. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised to hold a transparent and credible election that will be observed by Western observers for the first time since 2002. So far, the campaigning period has largely been peaceful compared to previous elections that were marred by violence. BALTIMORE, MD, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- View Systems, Inc. (OTC:VSYM) today announced that its new medical division, Medical Therapeutics, a concierge medical service providing sexual health therapies, has been approved by three of the largest credit providing facilities. Male enhancement is a $7.6 Billion growth market. William Kelly, Director of Operations , states, "We have recently been approved by three of the largest patient financing companies to offer credit options to our patients when they are not covered by their medical health insurance. In many cases these options are interest free. Sexual health is not something that insurance companies routinely support. Our therapy programs have been so successful that we guarantee positive results for our patients or do not charge for their visit. Our propriety formulations use FDA approved medicines. Our success rate has been more than 90% plus effective." According to Pew Research, 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 years every day , of which 49% (approximately 4,900) are male. This trend ensures that Medical Therapeutics will continue to see an expanding pool of prospective patients, ensuring the anticipated growth of our business . Common problems are: diabetes, high blood pressure, prostate difficulties, side effects of prescription drugs, testosterone decline and cardiovascular issues. On the heels of a profitable last quarter, Medical Therapeutics patient base has doubled in the Baltimore/Washington area and is discussing franchise options and other rapid growth opportunities. About View Systems/Medical Therapeutics: View Systems, Inc. is entering new and additional markets to include boutique medical clinics offering a variety of specialized procedures to appropriate patient demographics. Other View Systems' security products are used by commercial businesses and residential consumers wishing to monitor their assets and limit their liability. View Systems security scanners are installed at the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Washington, DC headquarters as well as the public-school systems in a major U.S. cities. View Systems security products are Homeland Security approved. Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" and involve both known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such uncertainties include, among others, certain risks associated with the operation of the company described above. The Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. CONTACT: Medical Therapeutics, www.maletherapeutics.com 410-449-3200 NAIROBI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Wednesday launched a smallholder farmers project that aims to boost the country's food security. Mwangi Kiunjuri, Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, said the AgriFi program will promote integration of smallholder farmers in their value chains in crops such as cassava, sorghum, green grams and beans. "The overall project amount is 53 million U.S. dollars and will benefit approximately 100,000 small holder farmers to practice environmentally sustainable and climate-smart agriculture as a business in inclusive value chains over the next seven years," Kiunjuri said. The primary target of this program is the smallholder farmers, pastoralists and their groups who are occasional market players with the potential to become full players in specific value chains. AgriFi, through the Kilimo Value Chain Challenge will help to finance projects with high development impact that would not have otherwise been undertaken in the same scale. Kiunjuri said that the project is structured in such a way that it leverages 57.8 million dollars of loans via the European Investment Bank as well as additional funds from partner businesses and commercial banks. He noted that agri-businesses will be the strategic actors to enable smallholders farmers to integrate into commercial farming within their specific value chain as well as help them to upscale research innovations. Kiunjuri said that in choosing to invest in the agriculture sector, this initiative is recognizing the very central role that agriculture will play in driving the economic development of the country. The CS said farmers remain trapped in poverty due to lack of affordable financing and limited access to formal markets. He said maximizing small holder production requires farmers to have the means and capacity to adopt the best production practices. "This means utilizing high quality inputs such as seeds and livestock breeds, getting well organized in order to aggregate their produce and maintaining high quality and sanitary standards in order achieve maximum income," he added. The AgriFi project is being implemented by Self Help Africa. Rebecca Amukhoye, the Country Director of Self Help Africa, said the project seeks to increase smallholders output by 70 percent over the term of the initiative. Amukhoye said the project will also put 20,000 hectares of land under climate-smart practices. The beneficiaries' agribusiness is expected to receive disbursements of grants of an average of 400,000 dollars. The program also aims to create jobs, raise incomes, promote value addition and provide market access. The country director said that the program will also introduce financial blending, which is an instrument mechanism that combines grants with other innovative financial instruments such as loans, equity investment and financial guarantees. She said the project will promote production of cassava due to its drought resistant qualities as well as multiple uses starch, flour and livestock feed. "Cassava remains a largely underdeveloped and therefore requires support to enable farmers to increase their incomes by tapping into growing demand," she said. The project is seeking to link at least 23,000 cassava farmers to market opportunities. Amukoye said the project will facilitate the availability of quality cassava planting material by working with the research bodies. KAMPALA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday directed that a bill regulating the use of drones in the country be brought to Parliament for approval. Museveni ordered this while briefing Parliament on the security situation in the country after a spate of murders including the killing of a legislator, senior state prosecutor, and a senior police officer. He said drones can be used for useful purposes but also illegal activities, thus warranting legislation. Museveni told the legislators that over 500 drones have been impounded at the customs, noting that only 30 have been authorized to fly. He said the military was already using drones to monitor the security situation in some parts of the country, noting that the police could also use them as a quick reaction to the crime scene. Museveni said in the meantime, illegal drones flying will be jammed and the owners arrested. In Uganda the use of drones is neither illegal nor legal because there is no law regulating them. Government has set up a defense committee which authorizes their use. BRUSSELS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel Wednesday called for legal corridors of migration to stop the cruel business of people smuggling and people exploiting human misery, on the occasion to mark the World Refugee Day, according to a press release. Following a visit by an Amnesty International delegation on Wednesday morning, the Belgian government cabinet demands a cohesive and integrationist approach that harmonizes the different migration policies of the Member States of the European Union. "It is undeniable that Europe has been confronted for some years with a complex issue of significant migratory pressure. This calls for responsibility, in accordance with the values we carry in the framework of the European project," said the press release. According to Charles Michel, a collective response to the migratory situation must apply to three distinct areas. First, the strict reinforcement of the control of the EU's external borders. The Federal Government supports the European Commission's proposals to increase the budget from 12 to 30 billion euros. Second, the reform of the Dublin Regulation in order to guarantee a real solidarity between European states. Belgium has always advocated a balanced solution, based on the principles of responsibility and solidarity. Finally, it is necessary to conclude agreements with Third States in a similar fashion to what transpired between the EU and Turkey. The prime minister also noted that Belgium will continue to conduct a fair but firm human migration policy that meets its international and moral obligations but where "abuses are not tolerated and will be sanctioned". It is in this spirit that Prime Minister Charles Michel has increased contacts with European leaders (including Angela Merkel, Donald Tusk and Emmanuel Macron) to prepare the European Council of June 28 and 29 where the subject will be discussed. The prime minister will continue to play an active role in the run-up to the next European Summit. World Refugee Day, observed on June 20 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees throughout the world. NAY PYI TAW, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The 55th Myanmar Gems Emporium kicked off here Wednesday, with Myanmar's Vice President U Henry Van Thio and other officials being present at the opening of the 10-day event. Over 3,100 gems merchants from China, Thailand, Canada and the United States are attending the event, of whom the majority are from China, while 1,203 are local gems traders. Pearls, gems and jade lots will be sold under an open tender system and transactions done in euros. Putting on sale are 6,795 jade lots, 336 gem lots and 360 pearl lots. There are more than 10 exhibition booths at the Mani Yadana Hall. A special sale booth for pearls is added, while it was absent in the last three occasions, said U Than Zaw Oo, vice chairman of the emporium central committee. LUSAKA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Wednesday hailed the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) for the regional bloc's decision to award the hosting of its 20th Head of State and Government Summit to Lusaka, the Zambian capital. The summit, to be held on July 18 and 19, but will be preceded by meetings of ministers and technical officials starting from July 9, was initially supposed to be held in Rwanda. Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya said hosting the summit of such magnitude comes with economic benefits for the country and that the government was happy that the regional bloc has picked Lusaka. She said the hosting of the event will help cement Zambia's position in the southern African region as it tries to benefit more from the free trading arrangement by getting a larger share of the market. She further said the hosting of the summit comes at an opportune time when the government has approved the National Trade Policy aimed at transforming the country from an exporter of primary goods to an exporter of value added products. The summit will be held under the theme "COMESA: Towards Digital Economic Integration." LUSAKA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Wednesday said it was important for diplomats accredited to the country to observe diplomatic etiquette even as they comment on issues in the country. Dora Siliya, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, said the government expected diplomats to use diplomatic channels in airing their views on various issues happening in the country. Commenting on British High Commissioner Fergus Cochrane-Dyet who has been tweeting strong remarks on various issues in Zambia such as corruption, political violence and bad governance, the Zambian minister said the government appreciates the views from cooperating partners but noted that this should be done using established diplomatic channels. The minister, who is also the chief government spokesperson, said she will liaise with her foreign affairs counterpart on the conduct of the British envoy but noted that the government has no intention of deporting him. The governing Patriotic Front (PF) has expressed reservations over the conduct of the British envoy and has warned that he risked being expelled if he continued with his attacks on government in his tweets. In April this year, the government expelled Cuban Ambassador Nelson Pages Vilas after he attended the launch of a new political party and made some unwelcome remarks at the event. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 00:05:23|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Li Zhanshu (C), chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, attends the second plenary meeting of a bimonthly session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 20, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Tao) BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature Wednesday heard a report on the central government's final accounts and an audit report for 2017 at a plenary meeting of its ongoing bimonthly session, which runs Tuesday to Friday. Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, attended the plenary meeting. Entrusted by the State Council, Finance Minister Liu Kun delivered the report on 2017 final accounts. The central government's general public budget revenue was 8.11 trillion yuan (1.25 trillion U.S. dollars), while the general public budget expenditure was 9.49 trillion yuan, accounting for 103.2 percent and 99.1 percent of the budget respectively, Liu said. Liu said the ministry would strengthen management on budget enforcement, help win the "three tough battles" and speed up fiscal and tax system reform. The three tough battles refer to defusing major financial risks, targeted poverty alleviation and preventing pollution. Entrusted by the State Council, Hu Zejun, head of the National Audit Office, made an audit report on enforcement of central government's 2017 budget and other fiscal revenue and expenditure. Efforts should be made to increase efficiency on financial resource allocation, promote high-quality development and improve measures related to the three tough battles, according to the audit report. The meeting also heard a report on the examination results of the draft 2017 final accounts made by Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the NPC Financial and Economic Committee. Xu called for efforts to advance fiscal and tax system reform, strengthen budgetary work and final accounts and rectify problems uncovered during auditing. Wang Chen, vice chairman of NPC Standing Committee, presided over Wednesday's meeting. In addition, panel discussions were held to deliberate bills on two draft revisions of laws on the organization of courts and procuratorates to prevent intervention in judicial affairs. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 00:05:25|Editor: yan Video Player Close PARIS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The number of people who fled war and poverty and sought refuge in OECD member countries decreased in 2017 due to a decline in asylum applications over the period compared to 2016 data, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Wednesday. With around 5 million new permanent migrants recorded last year, migration flows dropped for the first time since 2011, from 5.3 million a year earlier. "This trend is mainly due to a significant decrease in humanitarian migration as a result of the decline in new asylum applications, with 1.2 million applications in 2017 compared to 1.6 million in 2016," the Paris-based organization said. In its 2018 International Migration Outlook, the OECD said asylum applications to European countries were halved due to "the large decline in applications in Germany after the very high figure recorded in 2016, which partly reflected delayed registrations from 2015." However, applications to Canada were more than doubled and those to Australia rose by 29 percent. The OECD member countries currently host around 6.4 million refugees, more than half of whom are in Turkey. The top three countries from which asylum seekers have come are Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. JOHANNESBURG, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A South African legislator was shot dead on Tuesday night in a suspected highjacking incident, the country's ruling party African National Congress (ANC) said Wednesday. ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu said the ruling party's Member of Parliament (MP) Goodwill Sibusiso Radebe was shot dead when somebody tried to highjack his car west of Johannesburg. "Comrade Radebe succumbed to injuries sustained from being shot during an attempted hijacking last night (Tuesday) in Roodepoort, Gauteng," said Mthembu. South African police also confirmed the death of Radebe. Gauteng police spokesperson Mathapelo Peters said the motive of the killing is not known, and they have launched a manhunt for the suspects. "Preliminary reports indicate that the deceased was with another person in a vehicle parked in Carbon Street, Lindhaven when two suspects allegedly approached the vehicle and opened fire, fatally wounding the deceased," she said. Radebe's companion managed to escape uninjured and the suspects then reportedly made off in a Ford Fiesta, Peters said. ISLAMABAD, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The apex regulator Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) issued the Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFR) Regulations 2018 on Wednesday. The regulations are fully compliant with the recommendations set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which are compulsory for the country as a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering. In its fresh set of regulations, the country's apex regulator has enhanced its focus towards the high-risk areas by adopting the taking-a-risk-based approach towards battling the scourge of money laundering and financing of terrorism. The new regulations make it difficult for the criminals to hide their identity by using complex ownership structure of companies, partnerships, trusts, or other similar forms. Similarly, the financial institutions will now be required to identify the ultimate beneficial owner before offering their services to them. The FATF is all set to review Pakistan's Action Plan in the coming day. The FATF will announce its decision regarding Pakistan's including in its "black-list" of countries that financially aid terrorism on June 29, 2018. A spokesperson for the FATF has informed that the meeting will commence on June 25 and review Pakistan's Action Plan until June 29 before announcing its decision. San Francisco, CA. , June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vet Online Supply, Inc. (OTC PINK:VTNL) (Vet Online Supply or the Company), a holistic manufacturer of Pet products, today announced that the company has started hiring employees in both Europe and the USA as manufacturer representatives for expanding its internal sales force as a foundation towards the projected $265M global revenue stream. Daniel Rushford, CEO and Chairman, Stated, As mentioned in our last press release, we have started hiring experienced and educated people for our sales team. Our manufacturer rep base will consist of 100 representatives for the USA and 100 representatives for Europe. We have placed several reps in the past 7 days, and will continue to hire industrious minded sales people until we reach our quota. Mr. Rushford further stated, We have already scheduled an onsite meeting with Laurent Ponce, the Business Development Manager for Paris Regional Enterprises in France who has expressed a keen interest in developing sales in the European Community. Paris Region Enterprises (a government funded agency for economic development) supports foreign companies in setting up their businesses in the Paris Region. We have begun to review hundreds of new applicants and will identify those applicants who qualify to our standard of sales. We are focused on a $265M consumer revenue stream for Vet Online Supply over the next 5 years. www.vetonlinesupplies.com ABOUT VET ONLINE SUPPLY: Vet Online Supply Inc., the company, manufactures its own brand of holistic pet products to promote health and well being. The goal of "Vet Online Supply" is to provide the $38B industry with value priced and superior quality holistic pet products. Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements. While these statements are made to convey to the public the company's progress, business opportunities and growth prospects, readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements represent management's opinion. Whereas management believes such representations to be true and accurate based on information and data available to the company at this time, actual results may differ materially from those described. The Company's operations and business prospects are always subject to risk and uncertainties. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ are and will be set forth in the company's periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. NAIROBI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will invest in vocational training for refugees to enhance their integration in the host country through employment or entrepreneurship, senior officials said Wednesday during an event to mark the World Refugee Day. Fred Matiang'i, Cabinet Secretary for Interior, said Kenya will reach out to multilateral partners and industry to promote education for refugees as a means to rebuild their lives. "We are focusing on a new model to help refugees become an integral part of our social and economic fabric and can only succeed if we provide them with education and training opportunities," Matiang'i remarked in a speech read on his behalf by the Chief Administrative Secretary in his ministry, Patrick Ole Ntutu. Matiang'i said Kenya is committed to implementing a global pact on finding durable solution to the refugee crisis by focusing on their socio-economic empowerment as opposed to emergency assistance. "We are appealing to development agencies and the private sector to invest in basic services like education and health that will benefit refugees and their host communities," said Matiang'i. Kenya hosts an estimated 300,000 refugees from strife-torn Horn of Africa and the great lakes region though the number has been on a decline due to voluntary repatriation. Gordon Kihalangwa, Principal Secretary in the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services, revealed that Kenya has repatriated 80,000 Somalia refugees since 2014 when the exercise began. He said asylum seekers will still be entitled to essential services like education, health and shelter once they legalize their stay in their host country. Raouf Mazou, the UNHCR Representative in Kenya, said the East African nation that has a long tradition of hosting refugees should harness their skills in order to realize progress. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 00:20:34|Editor: yan Video Player Close KUNMING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China's poverty-relief campaign has brought benefits at home and abroad. "We are willing to share our experience in poverty reduction with the rest of the world and make utmost efforts in helping others. We are especially willing to bring benefits to neighboring countries in South and Southeast Asia with our development to realize social stability and economic prosperity in the region," said Ruan Chengfa, governor of southwest China's Yunnan Province, at a sub-forum of the fifth China-South Asia Expo, which concluded Wednesday. Since the reform and opening up, large-scale development-oriented poverty relief efforts led by the Chinese government have yielded significant results. Between 1978 and 2014, over 700 million people in China were lifted out of poverty, known as "Poverty reduction with Chinese characteristics." From 2012 to 2017, China lifted nearly 70 million rural people out of poverty, and the poverty rate fell from 10.2 percent to 3.1 percent. According to the forum organizer, with cooperation and exchanges enhanced between China and countries in South and Southeast Asia, a series of poverty reduction cooperation projects have been launched over the past years. The projects alleviate poverty in targeted areas, improve conditions in communities, enhance self-development, diversify streams of income, and provide examples for countries to eliminate poverty and improve livelihoods, according to Ruan. As a border province in southwest China and a gateway to Southeast and South Asia, Yunnan has invested more than 38 billion yuan (5.9 billion U.S. dollars) over the past five years to lift nearly 5.6 million people out of poverty, with the provincial government and local enterprises successfully sharing their experience in poverty relief with countries in the wider region. In 2006, the Yunnan State Farms Group established a subsidiary company in Laos and launched a project to develop the country's natural rubber plantation to help locals escape poverty. The company has opened 18 rubber planting bases in nine counties in Laos with a plantation area of nearly 6,000 hectares, employing more than 6,000 local villagers and more than 100,000 short-term workers. The annual income per villager has increased to 20,000 yuan from 2,000 yuan. The huge rubber market potential also attracted locals to plant a further 7,300 hectares of rubber trees in the region, creating demand for professional in the industry. "A good rubber tapper can collect latex without doing too much harm to a rubber tree, which can be harvested for as long as 30 years instead of the normal 10 years," said He Jianchun, a deputy manager in the company. From 2010 to 2017, the company provided 800,000 sets of rubber tapping tools and helped train 4,500 villagers to improve their rubber tapping technology. The 24-year-old Lao resident Naingwin and her husband are both beneficiaries of the project. Before 2007, the only thing that Naingwin could do for a living was farming in Pentong Village where four of her family were crowded in a small thatched cottage. "Life was rough. We ate what we planted and barely had any income," Naingwin said. A life-changing opportunity came in 2011 when she started working at the Chinese company's rubber planting base in Xayabouly, one of the largest rubber trees planting regions in Laos. She and her husband are responsible for gathering latex from rubber trees. Their jobs now bring her family more than 50,000 yuan a year. "We can support our children for school. We even have our own motocycle and have renovated our house with the subsidy of our company. I had never even dreamed of our current life," Naingwin said. Bin Parasi, head of Pentong Village, said the development of the rubber plantation industry not only increased the income of villagers, but helped locals build infrastructure such as roads and water facilities, as well as enhance communal environment. "We are confident that we will have a better life in the future," Parasi said. ALGIERS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Seven armed militants laid down their weapons and surrendered to the Algerian army on Wednesday, the Algerian Defense Ministry said in a statement. These terrorists laid down their arms, including six machine guns, a sniper rifle and 11 loaded magazines, on Wednesday morning to the military authorities in the province of Tamanrasset, near the border with Mali and Niger. The statement has released the identity of the terrorists who have taken part in terrorist operation since 2008. Algeria has deployed tens of thousands of troops on the southern and eastern borderline, in a bid to thwart the intrusion of terrorists and arms, amid instability reigning in Mali and civil war hitting Libya. The North African nation has also opened safe routes along its southern border, to encourage Algerian militants who joined terrorist fiefs in the Sahel, to lay down arms, in exchange of fair trials. Located in a region plagued by unprecedented security and political instability, Algeria faces ongoing terrorist threats. A woman looks out a kitchen window at a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, in this Feb. 5, 2017 file photo. (Xinhua/Dan Hang) by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Despite a whirlwind of controversy involving young children separated from their parents who illegally entered the United States, President Donald Trump is digging in his heels. But the bid to shore up his base in the run-up to the midterm elections could backfire, experts have warned. "Separating mothers from small children is not a winning issue for him," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua, referring to Trump. Recent days have seen a surge in reporting illegal migrants detained and incarcerated in separate facilities with their children. That came after 2,000 children were separated from their parents after their families were detained for trying to enter the United States illegally in April and May. U.S. media have reported such incidents as children being taken away from their mothers' arms during breastfeeding, and children in detention centers crying themselves to sleep. Despite much controversy, Trump reckons that if he can keep his 2016 coalition intact, he can win the midterms and the next presidential elections. That coalition comprises a mix of loyal GOP lawmakers and die-hard Trump fans who will vote for him no matter what he does. With getting tough on illegal immigration, a core issue among his supporters, Trump is betting big that this will work, wrote Julian Zelizer, a professor at Princeton University, in an op-ed on Tuesday. "Trump is seeking to galvanize his base with hardline immigration enforcement," West said. "He believes the public wants him to crack down on illegal people entering the country." However, this bid to solidify his base could well backfire, some analysts argue, as the images being broadcast by U.S. media of children being pulled away from their parents are often heart-wrenching. "The stories of babies being pulled away from nursing mothers and children crying over separation from their mothers are heartrending," West said. A CNN report cited a lawyer who said a woman's child was taken from her while breastfeeding. "They have led to many negative media stories and condemnation from every First Lady," West said. "Even Republicans are nervous this is going to backfire and cost them their congressional majorities. The issue definitely will bring large numbers of Democrats to the polls," West said, referring to the midterm elections. Indeed, leaders such as Republican senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain have chimed in, blasting the family separation policy as an "affront" to American decency. But that isn't stopping Trump. Just five months away from the midterms, Trump on Tuesday reiterated his support for the policy, tweeting that Democrats are the problem, rather than his policy. "We must always arrest people coming into our Country illegally. Of the 12,000 children, 10,000 are being sent by their parents on a very dangerous trip, and only 2,000 are with their parents, many of whom have tried to enter our Country illegally on numerous occasions," he posted on social media Tuesday. "Democrats are the problem. They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13," Trump wrote, referring to the infamous and violent gang from El Salvador. "They can't win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!" Trump said of Democrats. Not everyone, however, agrees that media reports are telling the entire story, and some groups say the story is not so simple. In an email to reporters, the Center for Immigration Studies said that border apprehensions of adults bringing children with them "skyrocketed during the (former U.S. President Barack) Obama administration, from about 15,000 in Fiscal Year 2013 ... to more than 75,000 in FY 2017." "Before the Obama years, it was rare for a parent to bring children with her when trying to infiltrate the U.S. border. No parent, after all, would subject her children to such risks unless there was an incentive to do so," the center said, adding that changed under Obama. "Children have served as get-out-of-jail-free cards for border infiltrators, ensuring the whole family's release," the center said. KAMPALA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's ministry of health said Wednesday starting next week all newborn babies will be immunized with the rotavirus vaccine free of charge to protect them against diarrhea. Vivian Nakalika, the ministry's spokesperson told Xinhua that on June 26, the vaccination will be officially unveiled and it will be included in the routine national immunization schedule. "People have been paying a lot of money. With the rollout, the public will be able to access the vaccine free of charge in all public health facilities," she said. Rotavirus diarrhea accounts for almost 40 percent of diarrheal cases in Uganda and an estimated over 10,000 children below 5 years of age die each year, according to the ministry of health. The World Health Organization says rotaviruses are the most common cause of severe diarrheal diseases in young children throughout the world. The global health body recommends that rotavirus vaccine for infants should be included in all national immunization programs. Health experts believe the introduction of the vaccine will go a long way in reducing infant mortality in Uganda. BERLIN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- German automotive corporation Volkswagen Group is assessing the possibility of entering into a strategic cooperation with its U.S. rival Ford, the two carmakers announced on Tuesday night U.S. time. Volkswagen and Ford announced that they are exploring potential projects across a number of areas, including developing a range of commercial vehicles together to better serve the evolving needs of customers. The companies have started high-level talks and have signed a corresponding memorandum of understanding. "Markets and customer demand are changing at an incredible speed. Both companies have strong and complementary positions in different commercial vehicle segments already," a statement by Thomas Sedran, head of Volkswagen Group Strategy, read. Sedran highlighted that the prospect of a Volkswagen-Ford strategic cooperation offered an "opportunity to improve competitiveness of both companies globally." However, the potential alliance would not involve equity arrangements, including cross ownership stakes. The two companies will provide updates and additional details on the potential strategic alliance as talks progress. The announcement of talks on Tuesday night came against the backdrop of looming regulatory changes which have led automotive producers to seek new ways to lower the costs of their development and production. Stricter Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emission limits in the European Union from 2020 onwards in particular are seen as a posing a challenge for the Volkswagen Group which must ensure compliance with the rules across all of its brands. Volkswagen was recently listed as the world's largest carmaker in terms of sales and revenue during the first quarter of 2018 in a study published by the accounting firm Ernst & Young. In 2017, the Wolfsburg-based Group recorded gross annual revenue of 230 billion euros (266 billion U.S. dollars). KIGALI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda is committed to supporting refugees in the country to achieve self-reliance, Rwandan minister of disaster management and refugees said Wednesday. "We have empowered refugees in our country to enroll in several economic development initiatives. Through these initiatives both host and refugee communities will be enabled to enhance self-reliance and improve their common living environment," said Jeanne d'Arc De Bonheur at the celebrations to mark the World Refugee Day at the Nyabiheke refugee camp in Gatsibo district, Eastern Province. Established in 2005, the Nyabiheke camp is home to over 15,000 refugees and 1,337 asylum seekers mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the ministry of refugee. Refugees will be self-reliant through the government's efforts under Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), said the minister. As a vehicle for the implementation of pledges made at the United Nations leaders' summit in September 2016 in New York, CRRF specifies key elements for a comprehensive response to any large movement of refugees, According to her, the government of Rwanda is committed to ensuring that all refugees get valid refugee identity cards, 100 percent of refugee students enroll in secondary schools and 50 percent in primary schools get integrated in the national education system, among others. Helping refugees rebuild their lives requires all concerted efforts from host countries and the UN, said Ahmed Baba Fall, Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to Rwanda. "Self-reliance model is vital because it encourages refugees to have hope for a better future. It leads to better outcomes in terms of income, food security and education," he said. Rwanda currently hosts nearly 153,000 refugees mainly from Burundi and the DRC, statistics of the ministry of refugee showed. LONDON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- UK Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox, in a speech published on a UK government website Wednesday, said the UK welcomed the steps that China, the world's second largest economy, had taken to facilitate global trade. Addressing the Centre for Policy Studies' UK-China conference on Tuesday, Fox noted the role of China's success in re-balancing of the world economy. "For policymakers and those whose job it is to help shape the global trading environment, China's success is part of the wider story of the re-balancing of the global economy, with nations across Asia and the Far East recording levels of growth far above that of the traditional advanced economies of the Western world, with a consequent shift in global influence," said the trade official. He said the total trade between the two nations last year amounted to some 67.5 billion pounds (89.16 billion U.S. dollars) -- a 13.8 percent increase from 2016. In 2017, British companies and consumers bought more Chinese products than ever before, around 45 billion pounds worth, Fox said. But the most significant development was the upsurge in demand for British goods and services in China, with exports to the country up 32.2 percent on 2016. "Research from Barclays Corporate Banking found that 57 percent of Chinese consumers were willing to pay more for British products, because of their quality," he said. Skills from accountancy to financial services to architecture to life sciences to education were among the exports. "So, there is good reason to believe that our trade with China will continue to grow," he said. Speaking about the recent developments regarding trade tariffs and trade protectionism, he said: "Unless we maintain an open and liberal global trading system, reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, we will put at risk future jobs, growth and prosperity." He added that the UK would work with its partners to liberalize international trade, "remove barriers to commerce where we can, to help our businesses and ensure greater choice and cheaper prices for consumers." Fox said the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China was among the most ambitious projects in the world today as it represents an unprecedented opportunity to promote greater trade, connectivity and integration across Asia, Europe and Africa. "Seldom has the world seen such an ambitious program of investment, with such potential to stimulate global trade." "As one of the world's greatest exponents of free and open international trade, this is central to the United Kingdom's engagement with the initiative." He believes that the initiative holds great potential for the UK and China to collaborate, calling the UK a "natural partner" and a "Western anchor" for the Belt and Road Initiative. "It will create more opportunities to work together with others on global health, peacekeeping, conflict prevention, and crisis response," said Fox. It was "the Golden Era of UK-China relations", said Fox, adding that it was "only just beginning". "As China continues to astound the world with its economic progress, a newly global Britain emerging from Brexit will be ready to build a constructive partnership, working towards greater global prosperity and stability, and rooted in a rules-based international system." LONDON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May won a crucial vote in the House of Commons Wednesday when MPs rejected a call by a former government official to give parliament a meaningful vote on a Brexit deal with Europe. Conservative MP Dominic Grieve proposed that MPs should decide on a deal Britain makes with the European Union on the terms of their future relationship after Brexit. In what was a nail-biting finale to several weeks of intense debates in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, MPs by 319 votes to 303 rejected the proposal put forward by Grieve. The success for May and her Brexit Secretary David Davis came after a last minute concession to revel MPs who had threatened to support Grieve. The result meant that MPs backed May over what would happen in the event of there being no deal with the European Union. Later Grieve told the Guardian newspaper: "We've managed to reach a compromise without breaking the government - and I think some people don't realise we were getting quite close to that. "I completely respect the view of my colleagues who disagree, but if we can compromise we can achieve more." Meanwhile, Tom Brakes, Brexit spokesman for the minority Liberal Democrats accused the rebels of getting cold feet. He said: "Despite the clear calamity that May and Davis are making of Brexit, the so-called Tory rebels have lost their bottle and caved into yet another pathetic government compromise that isn't worth the paper it is written on." The Guardian reported that Grieve voted against his own amendment following the last minute government concession, but six Conservative MPs voted against the government in the vote. The Brexit Withdrawal bill will now go back to the House of Lords where it is almost certain to be supported, paving the way for Royal Assent by Queen Elizabeth II. But for May, the Brexit battles are not over, with other bills relating to Brexit waiting in the wings to be discussed by the Houses of Parliament. KAMPALA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday announced stringent measures to fight the recent increase of murders and kidnappings in the east African country. Museveni outlined the measures while briefing Parliament on the country's security situation. He directed that all cars and motorcycles in the country be fitted with new registration number plates that have an electronic device. He said government would use the device to monitor the movement of the vehicle or motorcycle and in case it is used for illegal activities, the owner can be easily traced. The president also directed that all motorcyclists must wear helmets which are printed on illuminated numbers for easy identification. He said the numbers must be registered at a central place where by the owner can easily be traced in case they were sighted near a scene of crime. He said all guns in the country must be registered so that once a bullet shell is discovered at the crime scene, it will be easy to identify which gun fired the bullet. Museveni said cameras would be installed in urban centers to keep violent criminals at bay. He said the country would build a state of the art forensic laboratory, which could among others be used to match the DNA of suspects found at the scene with that in the bank. The other measures include speeding up of the police's response to the crime scene, use of drones in surveillance, closely monitoring social media, use of scanners at all ports to apprehend people smuggling in illegal guns. The army will continue to be modernized to be able to effectively deal with negative elements. English French MONTREAL, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX:CNR) (NYSE:CNI) will issue its second-quarter 2018 financial and operating results on July 24, 2018, at 4.01 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). CN's senior officers will review the results and the railway's outlook in a webcast/conference call starting at 4.30 p.m. EDT July 24. JJ Ruest, CNs interim president and chief executive officer, will lead the call. Parties wishing to participate in or listen to the second-quarter 2018 presentation and question-and-answer period by telephone should call 800-355-4959 or 416-641-6122 by 4.20 p.m. EDT on July 24. CN will webcast the presentation live and furnish slides supporting the officers' remarks via the Investors section of its website, www.cn.ca/en/investors. The slides will be posted on the website after the close of markets on July 24. A webcast replay will be available after the call ends. CN is a true backbone of the economy whose team of approximately 25,000 railroaders transports more than C$250 billion worth of goods annually for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail network of approximately 20,000 route-miles spanning Canada and mid-America. CN Canadian National Railway Company, along with its operating railway subsidiaries serves the cities and ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For more information about CN, visit the companys website at www.cn.ca. BRUSSELS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and visiting French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Wednesday hailed the Franco-German consensus on revamping the EU. Speaking at a joint press conference with Philippe following their talks at the Commission headquarters, Juncker stressed the Franco-German consensus, reached at a meeting in Germany's Meseberg Tuesday, reflected the Commission's own ideas. "France and Germany for once have joined us in the same effort with the same dynamism," he said. Philippe, for his part, depicted the Meseberg meeting as "a meeting of historic nature", stressing that he saw it as a breakthrough "which enables us to provide a Franco-German response to the challenges facing the European Union." During the Meseberg meeting, which Juncker also attended, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed on a series of issues which will serve as the basis on EU summit late this month for further negotiations and major achievements. According to the statement released after the two leaders' talks, Germany and France are to "open a new chapter." The two leaders agreed that that EU should adopt a united approach to asylum-seekers. Common criteria are needed to determine who is and who is not granted asylum, they said. Macron won Merkel's backing on creating a multi-billion eurozone investment budget for balanced economic development of the bloc, which will be operational from 2021. Both Germany and France want to reduce the power of EU commissioners, and they ensure that there will be fewer commissioners in the future, according to the statement. NAIROBI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Wednesday launched a 10 million U.S. dollars unsecured loan scheme to enable women who are majority of farmers in the country to access loans. Lucas Meso, the Managing Director of Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), said the Women Affirmative Action Window (WAAW) will enable women who do no have assets such as land title deeds to access loans from banking institutions and acquire technology in advancing their farming. "The initiative is aimed at promoting women entrepreneurship in agriculture by ensuring that they own and control productive assets including land and financial resources," Meso said during the launch of the scheme in Nairobi. Unsecured loan is a loan supported by creditworthiness of the borrowers instead of other collaterals. Meso observed that despite that fact that women in Kenya provide 75 percent of labor force in small-scale agriculture and manage 40 percent of the small scale farms, they do not own the land hence the need for an initiative. He said WAAW will serve organized women in producer cooperatives, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), salaried women in the public sector and micro traders who have been farming over time. "We are looking at empowering rural women to take advantage of emerging green economic opportunities in new crops, technologies, digital finance and markets while employed women will be able to venture in commercial agriculture as they retire and while working through creation of employment," he noted. Meso said the initiative will also solve inadequate access to agricultural inputs and technology, inadequate access to business development and extension services and inadequate access to markets for agricultural produce. Meanwhile, Richard Lesiyampe, Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture, said the government is currently designing programs aimed at revolutionizing agriculture by supporting women farmers early. "We are looking at empowering women to accessing facilities so that they are capable of making independent decisions in farming activity," Lesiyampe noted. He said the plan is at advanced stage to restructure AFC to be answerable to the farmers and give them loans just like other commercial banks in the country. Lindiwe Sibanda, Vice President for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), said gender specific constraints that women have faced over the years have dampened their role and spirit in agriculture. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 01:26:02|Editor: yan Video Player Close KUWAIT CITY, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Kuwaiti National Council of Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) will hold the 21st International Music Festival in Hawalli Governorate in late June, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) said on Wednesday. Sponsored by Ministry of Information and Ministry of State for Youth Affairs of Kuwait, the event will be held from June 23 to 28. Different music bands, troupe and folkloric arts coming from China, Bahrain, Kuwait and Turkey will participate in this event, KUNA said. As a part of the festival, a Chinese cultural show, to be performed by artists from Guangxi Culture and Art Troupe, will be held on June 24 in Kuwait, Zhu Xi, director of cultural office of the Chinese Embassy to Kuwait, told Xinhua. NCCAL holds the musical gala annually to highlight Kuwaiti heritage in the minds of the new generation, while showcasing Arabic and foreign creativity. The first International Music Festival was held in 1998. ADDIS ABABA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday urged residents affected by recent ethnic violence to live together in harmony. Ahmed, who brought together some 1,300 residents of one of the violence-hit areas in Ethiopia's southern region on Wednesday to make peace, has vowed to bring perpetrators of the ethnic violence to justice, state news agency ENA reported. The premier "emphasized government officials will have to take full responsibilities for allowing tragic incidents to happen," Fitsum Arega, Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Office, said in his twitter account on Wednesday. "He (Ahmed) called on Sidama, Wolaita, Gurage, Kebena top leaders to resign immediately," Arega added. The premier, who has visited the violence-affected areas since Tuesday, also urged residents to respect movement of people in the country. The regional communications bureau last week disclosed that several days of violence in the regional capital of Hawassa alone had left 10 people dead, 89 others injured, and more than 2,500 people displaced. The ethnic violence in Welkite town involved ethnic Kebenas with Gurages; while the Sidamas, who are the original inhabitants of the Hawassa city, went into ethnic clashes with the neighboring Wolaita ethnic group. Ethnic Sidamas and ethnic Wolaitas are among the numerous ethnic groups in the Southern regional state and have a history of tension spilling occasionally into deadly communal violence, reportedly over land rights and economic resources. Hawassa, one of Ethiopia's fastest growing cities, is home to Ethiopia's flagship Hawassa Industrial Park. The chains of ethnic violence in the reported areas occurred amid a relatively better security situations that are witnessed in Ethiopia, which has seen recurrent violent demonstrations since the second half of 2016. Ahmed, while briefing the Ethiopian House of People's Representatives (HoPR) on Monday, said the reconciliation efforts accompanied by discussions with different groups have brought better security situations over the past two months. According to Ahmed, Ethiopia was at a cross road as the worsening peace and security challenges exacerbated earlier this year, eventually leading Africa's second populous nation "into a brink of disintegration." Ahmed, who became Ethiopia's prime minister in April, had vowed to ensure unity and equality among Ethiopians in socioeconomic and political scenarios. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 01:46:07|Editor: zh Video Player Close Members of the Hungarian parliament vote on the anti-migration law package in Budapest, Hungary, on June 20, 2018. The Hungarian parliament adopted its anti-migration law package called "Stop Soros" here on Wednesday, targeting "organizers of illegal migration." The motion passed by 160 votes to 18. (Xinhua/Szilard Voros) BUDAPEST, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian parliament adopted its anti-migration law package called "Stop Soros" here on Wednesday, targeting "organizers of illegal migration". The motion passed by 160 votes to 18. The "Stop Soros" package which includes a modification of the Penal Code, makes it illegal to organize illegal immigration, according to which everybody who would organize illegal migration and encourage the bypassing of Hungarian law will be punished. Before the adoption of the "Stop Soros" package, the parliament also adopted modification to the Hungarian Constitution. The new constitution states that without the consent of the National Assembly, no immigrant can be deployed to the country and no refugee status can be obtained by those who arrived in Hungary through a secure country and are not exposed to persecution. "The "Stop Soros" package of laws and the constitutional amendment validate the will of the Hungarian people, and is yet another powerful defense for the country against the illegal migration," the Hungarian government declared in a statement following the adoption. "Hungary is the first for the government and therefore, the constitutional amendment strengthens the sovereignty of the country and forbids the introduction of a foreign population into Hungary," the statement explained. The Hungarian government submitted its anti-migration law package called "Stop Soros" to the parliament citing national security concerns. The text of the package has been be debated in the new Hungarian parliament. Drafts of the "Stop Soros" laws published earlier this year had been criticized by rights groups in both Hungary and abroad, mainly in the European Union. ROME, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Italy's Finance Guard has seized 1.3 billion euros (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) from more than 1,000 large-scale tax dodgers in the past year and a half, the corps said in a statement Wednesday. It also arrested 644 people for corruption in the public sector and nabbed 751 drug and migrant traffickers, the law enforcement agency said on the 244th anniversary of its founding. The corps, first established in 1774, added it has intercepted three billion euros in laundered money, and seized assets worth two billion euros from Italy's various mafias. Large-scale tax dodgers are not the small and medium businesses which make up the country's economic backbone, but rather "criminal associations...capable of undermining competition between the country's healthy businesses," the Finance Guard said. "Overall, they defrauded the state of 2.3 billion euros in the past year and a half," the statement said. In the past 18 months, the corps has also unearthed corruption in the public sector, seizing 800 million euros' worth of assets and reporting over 6,000 people for crimes against the public administration. It also investigated public contracts worth 7.3 billion euros, and found anomalies in 40 percent of them. "Corruption is just the tip of the iceberg of an overall system of inefficiencies and waste carried out by people who operate in the public sector and damage the public purse," the statement said. "In the past year and a half, we identified 8,400 (individuals) who caused financial damage to the state of five billion euros," said the Yellow Flames, as the corps is also known thanks to the symbol decorating their uniforms. A part of the Economy Ministry, the Finance Guard is a militarized police force that fights financial crime, terrorist financing, smuggling, money laundering, cybercrime, fraud and counterfeiting. It also deals with customs, and patrols Italy's land and sea borders. (1 euro = 1.16 U.S. dollars) LONDON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Defense (MOD) said Wednesday the British army is set to redefine warfare with the launch of a game-changing Autonomous Warrior. Autonomous Warrior, the 2018 Army Warfighting Experiment, will push the boundaries of technology and military capability in land environments, said the MOD. One of the key areas it is to test is the autonomous last mile resupply on battlegrounds and war zones. The so-called last mile' which represents the extremely dangerous final approach to a combat zone, is crucial to ensuring soldiers have the food, fuel and ammunition to keep them alive. The Autonomous Warrior experiment will test a range of prototype unmanned aerial and ground cargo vehicles which aim to reduce the danger to troops during combat. The British Army is to launch a four-week exercise in November with an armed infantry battlegroup providing the exercising troops and taking responsibility of command and control. The British soldiers will test and evaluate the effectiveness of robotic and autonomous systems on the battlefield. "These technological advances will play a key role in the army's strike capability, ensuring our forces remain unmatched on the global stage," said a spokesperson for the MOD. Mark Lancaster,minister of state for the armed forces, said: "Our armed forces continue to push the limits of innovative warfare to ensure we stay ahead of any adversaries or threats faced on the battlefield. "Autonomous Warrior sets an ambitious vision for army operations in the 21st Century as we integrate drones, unmanned vehicles and personnel into a world-class force for decades to come." As well as demonstrating the vehicles during the last mile, Autonomous Warrior will also develop capabilities in surveillance which will greatly improve the effectiveness of long-range and precision targeting by service personnel. The British military's new Chief of the General Staff, Gen Mark Carleton-Smith called for British forces to be "combat ready today and prepared for tomorrow". Carleton-Smith said the nature of warfare is broadening beyond the traditional physical domains, adding that 21st Century battlefield requires non-traditional skills, beyond those normally associated with careers in army, to ensure British forces remain world leaders. In a speech Wednesday, Gen Mark Carleton-Smith said: "Autonomous Warrior will play an integral role within the 800 million pound (1.05 billion U.S. dollars) Defense Innovation Fund which supports ground-breaking ideas aimed at transforming both defense and British industry." Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 02:31:17|Editor: yan Video Player Close BEIRUT, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The European Union Regional Trust Fund approved Wednesday an unprecedented 165 million euros (around 191 million U.S. dollars) grant for Lebanon, according to a statement issued by the EU. "During the past few months, the EU and member countries reiterated their commitment to support Lebanon's stability, security and economic development," the National News Agency (NNA) quoted the EU as saying. "This new package reflects EU's commitment in strengthening Lebanon's public education sector," it added. The statement noted that the EU allocated 100 million euros to build up the public education sector and make sure that all children can accept high standards of education. "The EU works, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and all its schools, to ensure the sustainability of the public education sector," it said. Around 52 million euros of the grant are allocated to financially support needy Lebanese and Syrian refugees. "This step will, in coordination with the Ministry of Social Affairs, contribute to enhancing the social aid system in Lebanon," it said. According to UN Higher Commission for Refugees, Lebanon hosts more than 1 million Syrians who fled their war-torn country since the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in 2011. As for the rest of the money (13 million euros), they will be offered to Palestinian refugees coming from Syria to help them adapt to their new situation and to meet their daily needs and demands. According to Lebanese Central Administration of statistics, a total of 174,422 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon in 2017. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 02:36:18|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close Georgia's new Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze speaks to media in Tbilisi, Georgia, on June 20, 2018. Georgia's parliament on Wednesday voted to approve a new cabinet led by Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze. (Xinhua/Georgian Prime Minister's Office) TBILISI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Georgia's parliament on Wednesday voted to approve a new cabinet led by Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze. At an extraordinary session in Kutaisi, the lawmakers of the parliament voted in confidence of the new Prime Minister and cabinet with 99 votes in favor and 6 votes against. "In the foreign policy, we will be consistent on the path of a full integration into the European Union and will use all existing mechanisms of cooperation to ensure more systematic and transparent European integration process," said Prime Minister-designate Mamuka Bakhtadze in his speech to elaborate his policies before the voting. He also vowed to conduct all-round reforms and introduce new approaches in fighting against corruption to ensure an effective government. "All the reforms we will implement, including economic, structural, educational or social ones, serve the only purpose - to achieve dignified living conditions of each citizen consistently and rapidly," said Mamuka Bakhtadze, stressing that Georgia will be built into a democratic, economically powerful and modern country. There are three new ministers in the approved cabinet consisting of 14 ministers, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Davit Zalkaliani, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Cherkezishvili and Minister of Finance Nikoloz Gagua. On Wednesday, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced his resignation. Georgia's ruling party on Thursday named former Finance Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze as the candidate for prime minister. Mamuka Bakhtadze has served as finance minister from November 2017. Before that, he was the director general of the Georgian Railway from April 2013. LJUBLJANA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Director of the Government Office for Support and Integration of Migrants of Slovenia, Mojca Spec Potocar, stressed on Wednesday that tolerance and dialogue were crucial for successful integration. Her words came at a gathering of Slovenian NGOs, other organisations and individuals with migration experiences in downtown Ljubljana on Wednesday, also the World Refugee Day. The organizations called for aid and solidarity. Potocar also called for cooperation with NGOs, the wider society and state bodies, according to the Slovenian Press Agency STA. Another speaker, Sara Bevc Jonan, told her own refugee story as she came to Slovenia 15 years ago from Iraq. She said a lot had changed since her arrival at the country and nowadays it was easier for refugees to integrate into society. Meanwhile, a roundtable debate focussing on migrations was held in Crnomelj in southeast Slovenia bordering with Croatia, a municipality that has been strongly affected by the recent surge in refugee arrivals, the STA reported. Igor Petelinc of the Slovenian Novo Mesto regional Police Department disclosed at the debate that this year 1,435 illegal crossings of the border had been recorded by the Novo Mesto police until last Sunday, which was a notable increase compared to last year. NEEDHAM, Mass., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acceleration Partners' CEO and founder, Robert Glazer, has won a Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award recognizing the Highest Rated CEOs for 2018 in the U.S. SMB category. Glazer was rated #2 of 50 CEOs with a 99% approval rating from employees. "This award is particularly special because its based on confidential reviews by many of the people that know Robert best, Acceleration Partners employees, said Matt Wool, President of Acceleration Partners. "Robert has put a lot of thought and resources into cultivating a healthy, high-performing culture where employees feel supported and valued in both their personal and professional lives. Hes a confident, engaged leader who is proud and passionate about building an exceptional company culture and making a difference in the lives of our employees. When employees submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes like senior management. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing. Among the 770,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. See the complete list of all Top CEOs in 2018: https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Top-CEOs-at-SMBs-LST_KQ0,16.htm Previously, Acceleration Partners was honored with a Glassdoor Employees Choice Award, ranking fourth out of 50 other companies on Glassdoors Best Places to Work in the U.S. SMB list. The Employees Choice Awards program relies solely on the input of employees, who elect to provide feedback on their jobs, work environments and companies via Glassdoor. About Acceleration Partners Acceleration Partners is a global affiliate marketing agency delivering performance-based customer acquisition and partnership programs for the worlds leading brands. Through our Performance Partnerships program management framework, we help clients create transparent, high-value programs that bring more customers, incremental sales and faster growth. Acceleration Partners growing global reach, industry expertise and relationships with performance-focused partners has led to a client roster that includes adidas, Gymboree, Reebok, Target, Warby Parker, ThirdLove, Stadium Goods and many other brands. About Glassdoor Glassdoor is one of the largest job and recruiting sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for more than 770,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms. Glassdoor Media Contact: Amelia Green-Vamos, pr@glassdoor.com Acceleration Partners Media Contact: Laurie Cutts, press@accelerationpartners.com ROME, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A global deal on refugees was urgently needed, as the number of people forcibly driven from their home by war, persecution, and violence reached 68.5 million in 2017, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said here on Wednesday. The new record high marked a 2.9 million increase against 2016, and included an estimated 16.2 million of new displaced people. More specifically, some 11.8 million individuals were newly displaced inside their own country, and 4.4 million were new refugees and asylum seekers. These were some of the figures provided by the UNHCR in its "Global Trends" annual report, unveiled on Tuesday, and presented at Rome's Foreign Press Association to mark the World Refugee Day. Refugees fleeing their countries due to war and persecution accounted for 25.4 million of the 68.5 million last year. Furthermore, minors represented at least 52 percent of the overall figure, marking a 41 percent increase compared to 2009. "We are at a watershed, where success in managing forced displacement globally requires a new and far more comprehensive approach, so that countries and communities are not left alone in dealing with this," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi stressed in the report. In fact -- despite a misperception widely spread across Europe, Italy included -- some 85 percent of all refugees at the end of 2017 were granted protection in developing countries, according to UNHCR. The report showed that nine of the ten largest refugee-hosting countries belonged to developing regions, with Turkey (3.5 million), Pakistan (1.4 million), Uganda (1.4 million) and Lebanon (998,900) topping the ranking, and Germany (970,400) as sole "representative" of developed countries. Thus, the need for a global approach to manage the phenomenon was pressing, according to the UN officials. "The UNCHR is engaged in discussing (the issue) in these days, both internally and with the International Organization for Migration (IOM)," UNHCR Representative for Southern Europe Felipe Camargo told Xinhua. "The aim is to elaborate a proposal on migrant and refugee disembarking system and on redistribution of responsibilities, which could eventually be integrated in the debate on migration on-going within the European Union," Camargo explained. Details of such blueprint were not yet available, but its basic principle would "obviously remain that of solidarity and responsibility sharing," according to the official. In a statement released on the eve of the World Refugee Day, UNHCR's Grandi had already mentioned that "in a matter of months, a new Global Compact on Refugees will be ready for adoption by the United Nations General Assembly." TRIPOLI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Libyan navy on Wednesday said that a coast guard commander, who was imposed on sanctions by the UN Security Council, has been suspended on suspicion of human trafficking. Abdurrahman Milad, the coast guard officer, is under the law and stay acquitted until proven guilty, the Libyan navy said in a statement. The Attorney General for investigation issued a warrant, and the coast guards suspended him from his duties, said the statement, adding that he has handed over the assets during custody until he clarifies the truth of the accusations. The navy demanded the involved parties submit evidence and documents condemning Milad for human trafficking and torturing migrants to the Libyan navy and court. The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on six individuals earlier in June for involvement in human trafficking in Libya. The sanctions are freezing assets, travel bans and international arrest warrants. Milad is the head of the coast guards in the city of Zawyia, some 45 km west of the capital Tripoli. The British Daily Mail a few days ago published an image of Milad's brutally beating migrants on a Libyan navy boat, during a rescue operation. The published image dates back to the last two years. The "fact is that Milad and members of the patrol were trying to control stampede migrants, in order not to disrupt the rescue ship," the Libyan navy said. "The mentioning of Milad in the report this way aims to discredit Libyan coast guards in general and accuses the members of crime and illegal work," the Libyan navy said. The statement also said that since 2014, Milad and his patrols have rescued tens of thousands of illegal immigrants at sea and seized eight tankers that illegally smuggled fuel. "We, as navy forces, confirm that we are not responsible for any action or behavior of our members who violate our orders without our knowledge," the statement said. Delegates attend a special session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, May 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan) UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The vacant seat on the UN Human Rights Council left by the United States will be filled by a member from the same regional group, said the spokesman of Miroslav Lajcak, president of the UN General Assembly, on Wednesday. The General Assembly resolution that established the Human Rights Council in 2006 does not contain any reference to possible withdrawals by members of the council, said Brenden Varma, the spokesman. But the resolution provides for geographic distribution of the 47 members of the council, he said. Therefore, the vacancy left by the United States will have to be filled through election in the General Assembly of a candidate from the Western European and others group, he said. As the United States is the first member to withdraw from the Human Rights Council, there is no past practice in terms of procedures for withdrawal or for replacement, said Varma. "Now we are looking into possible next steps." But as the first step, he said, the General Assembly is still waiting for the official notification of the United States on its withdrawal. On reports of Russia putting itself forward for candidature, Varma said the country does not qualify as it is not from the Western European and others regional group. Notification of candidature would normally go to the UN Secretariat, before the General Assembly president can decide on an election. There is no timeframe for such an election, said Varma. It remains unclear where a replacement will be determined as the current session of the General Assembly is wrapping up its business. The members of the UN Human Rights Council are elected each year in the General Assembly for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. TRIPOLI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Africa Command (Africom) on Wednesday denied killing civilians during an airstrike on June 6 that targeted four Islamic State (IS) terrorists on the outskirts of the Libyan city of Bani Walid. "In coordination with the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), U.S. forces conducted a precision airstrike near Bani Walid, some 180 km southeast of the capital Tripoli, on June 6, killing four ISIS-Libya militants, as previously released," Africom said in a statement. "Following reports alleging civilian casualties resulting from this operation, U.S. Africa Command performed a thorough review and determined the allegations of civilian casualties to be not credible," the statement said. "The command complies with the law of armed conflict and takes all feasible precautions to minimize civilian casualties and other collateral damage," the statement added. The uninhabited valley where the airstrike took place is located some 140 km south of Bani Walid, and it is an important area where the remnants of militant groups take shelter and operate. The Libyan Foundation for Human Rights said the U.S. airstrike killed three civilians "who have no links with extremist groups." The foundation, in coordination with the families of the victims, said it would present a request for investigation, holding the UN-backed government and the U.S. government responsible for the alleged deaths of the civilians. BERLIN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said migration is the greatest European challenge at the moment, calling for a common instead of unilateral solution in the bloc. Attending an event in Berlin commemorating the victims of flight and expulsion on the World Refugee Day, Merkel said Germany stood by both its obligation to protect people fleeing war and terrorism and its commitment to keeping Europe together. "Migration is a European challenge; perhaps our biggest challenge right now. It is about the cohesion of the European Union (EU)," said Merkel. The German Chancellor said the EU has to manage and organize migration, which must follow clear rules, and common standards in the EU -- who will come and who can stay; and who is not -- should be defined if possible. "It is in the deepest interest of our countries to hold Europe together. It is of great interest to answer the big questions of foreign, refugee and migration policy together. It would not be good if everyone did it at the expense of the other," said Merkel. Merkel's remarks comes while her party has been in a dispute with the Bavarian ally on whether to introduce tougher refugee policies and border controls, a situation threatening the country's ruling coalition. Merkel opposed unilateral measures and she expected to find a common European solution during the EU summit on June 28-29 to maintain the cohesion of the bloc. An informal summit on migration will be convened on Sunday, on which Merkel will discuss with leaders of migration-affected countries including France, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria and Spain, in a bid to find European solutions to the migration and asylum issues ahead of the EU summit. by Stefania Fumo ROME, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Italy's leaders spent World Refugee Day discussing how to curb illegal immigration in meetings held Wednesday in the nation's capital. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte met with European Council President Donald Tusk, while Interior Minister Matteo Salvini met with Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl. The meetings came in view of a pre-summit called by European Council chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Sunday in Brussels and ahead of a European Council summit on June 28-29, when reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) will feature prominently on the agenda. "Today I held a very useful meeting with President Tusk," tweeted Conte. "I told him that I am not willing to discuss 'secondary movements' without first addressing the 'primary movements' emergency, which Italy has been facing on its own, at the pre-summit in Brussels." The European Commission defines secondary movement as the movement of migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, from the country of first arrival to another country. Italy, Greece, and Spain have borne the brunt of the primary movements, as tens of thousands of men, women and children fleeing war and destitution in Africa and the Middle East entrust their lives to migrant traffickers to ferry them illegally across the Mediterranean. "We believe Europe can change for the better, and that it will finally decide to protect its outer borders with respect to immigration, security and the fight against terrorism," Salvini said at a joint press conference with Strache and Kickl. ITALY'S PROPOSAL "We count on a change of the rules on immigration and on asylum that will be to the advantage of the few, real refugees -- and I say so on World Refugee Day," added Salvini, who leads the far-right League party and also serves as deputy prime minister of Italy. "We are working right now on a final draft of the Italian proposal for reform of the rules on immigration, to protect the security of the Italian people and of those who embark and die in the Mediterranean," he said. The Austrian officials echoed Salvini's sentiments. "Our motto is a Europe that protects," said Strache, who leads Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPO). "We must first of all reconquer the trust of the people," the vice chancellor continued. "And to do so... we must protect (Europe's) eastern and southern borders, and defeat the human traffickers who have built ever-expanding criminal networks." For his part, the Austrian interior minister slammed the "time wasted building a false system, in which human traffickers shaped the immigration flows." "Politicians so far have thought that their only duty was to repair the damage caused by the traffickers," said Kickl, who is also from the FPO. "Now we must move from a reactive to an active (immigration) policy." So far this year a total of 16,133 asylum seekers have reached Italy by sea, down 77.4 percent compared with the same period in 2017, according to Interior Ministry data. Sunday's gathering in Brussels will reportedly be attended by Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, and Spain. Austria will take over the rotating presidency of the EU for six months, beginning on July 1. U.S. soldiers take part in the urban fighting drill during the NATO Saber Strike exercise in the Soviet-time former military town near Skrunda, Latvia June 13, 2018. (REUTERS PHOTO) MOSCOW, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday accused the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of strengthening combat forces near Russia's border and warned that Moscow will take mirror-like actions against NATO's moves. "Since the beginning of the year, NATO countries have conducted thirteen large-scale exercises in the South-West Strategic Area with over 40,000 troops and 2,000 units of military equipment," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting of the Defense Ministry's senior officials in the city of Sevastopol in the Crimean peninsula. "This forces us to take symmetrical measures to neutralize the emerging threats and combine strategic deterrence with increasing combat readiness," he said. This came at a time when the hysteria over the alleged Russian aggression has become increasingly intensified among the Baltic States and Poland. According to Shoigu, the anti-Russian rhetoric has led to an increase of the number of NATO contingents in the Baltic, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria from 2,000 to 15,000 people since 2015, and even up to 40,000 to 60,000 troops during the period of NATO exercises. In order to facilitate the transfer of troops, NATO is actively improving the transport infrastructure while simplifying procedures for crossing borders, and decided to create two new commands responsible for protecting maritime communications in the North Atlantic, he said. NATO also plans to grow capable of keeping in combat readiness 30 battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 warships which can be effectively engaged within 30 days by the year of 2020, he added. In particular, the minister noted that new U.S. nuclear strategy designates Russia as the main enemy, and that the U.S. missile defense system deployed in 2016 in Romania and the planned deployment of similar facilities in Poland "undermine the regional stability." On the other hand, Shoigu said that Moscow is not building up its troops in the contact line between NATO members and Russia, including in the Baltic region. "All activities of our Armed Forces related to their development, are conducted on the national territory through improvements of their management system, organizational and staff structures within the existing strength," he said. Georgian acting finance minister Mamuka Bakhtadze speaks during a press conference in Tbilisi on June 14, 2018. (AFP PHOTO) TBILISI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Georgia's parliament on Wednesday voted to approve a new cabinet led by Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze. At an extraordinary session in Kutaisi, the lawmakers of the parliament voted in confidence of the new Prime Minister and cabinet with 99 votes in favor and 6 votes against. "In the foreign policy, we will be consistent on the path of a full integration into the European Union and will use all existing mechanisms of cooperation to ensure more systematic and transparent European integration process," said Prime Minister-designate Mamuka Bakhtadze in his speech to elaborate his policies before the voting. He also vowed to conduct all-round reforms and introduce new approaches in fighting against corruption to ensure an effective government. "All the reforms we will implement, including economic, structural, educational or social ones, serve the only purpose - to achieve dignified living conditions of each citizen consistently and rapidly," said Mamuka Bakhtadze, stressing that Georgia will be built into a democratic, economically powerful and modern country. There are three new ministers in the approved cabinet consisting of 14 ministers, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Davit Zalkaliani, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Giorgi Cherkezishvili and Minister of Finance Nikoloz Gagua. On Wednesday, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced his resignation. Georgia's ruling party on Thursday named former Finance Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze as the candidate for prime minister. Mamuka Bakhtadze has served as finance minister from November 2017. Before that, he was the director general of the Georgian Railway from April 2013. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 04:52:04|Editor: yan Video Player Close BAGHDAD, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Wednesday confirmed that the upcoming meeting of political parties aimed at reviewing and agreeing on a program for the state administration in the next phase of the political process in the country. "We have invited the political blocs to hold a national meeting, as the state consists of institutions and authorities, and to lay foundations for the state administration in the next phase in accordance with the constitution and the law," Abadi told a press conference after weekly cabinet meeting. "A preparatory committee has been formed to put forward a national charter, and the political blocs have nominated their representatives to this committee," Abadi said, asserting that the national meeting of the political blocs will be soon. "The agreement of the political blocs on the program of building state institutions and reform of its administration will facilitate reaching a consensus on the selection of new cabinet," Abadi added. On Thursday, Abadi called on the political parties to hold a meeting after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr to agree on new mechanisms that would establish the next parliament and government. Abadi's comments came after serious setbacks in the Iraqi political process following the elections held on May 12, after the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced the final results of the parliamentary election. The result showed that al-Sa'iroon Coalition backed by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was the front-runner and won 54 seats in the upcoming 329-seat parliament. Many Iraqi parties, especially in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan and the disputed areas, including Kirkuk province, have complained about alleged irregularities and forgery in the parliamentary election. On June 11, Sadr warned of the seriousness of the situation in Iraq by the political struggle after a huge fire that burnt warehouses storing ballot boxes of Iraq's parliamentary election in downtown capital Baghdad. "Iraq is in danger. So stop fighting for seats, posts, gains, influence and power," Sadr said in an statement issued by his office, one day after the fire. The burned ballot boxes are part of a manual recount of votes, after the Iraqi parliament on June 6 approved recount of votes in all polling stations across Iraq over allegations of fraud and irregularities. On May 12, millions of Iraqis went to 8,959 polling centers across the country to vote for their representatives in the next 329-seat parliament that will form a new government, which will rule Iraq for the next four years. UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Over the last few years, the political and security situation in Darfur of Sudan has considerably improved, a Chinese representative told the UN Security Council on Wednesday. The improvement is partly attributed to the cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations and the entire international community. More importantly, it is due to the efforts and contributions of the Sudanese government itself, said Zhang Dianbin, the Chinese official. The government of Sudan has been working for many years to strengthen its own capacity in the field of security and governance and to promote the political process of reconciliation, he said. "We very much welcome the progress that we've witnessed in Darfur." He asked the international community to continue to respect the leadership of the Sudanese government when it comes to the Darfur issue. He expressed the hope that the international community will contribute effectively to peace and stability in Darfur with a focus on capacity building, provide humanitarian and economic assistance, and stand with the Sudanese government when it seeks to promote reconciliation and reconstruction in Darfur. China hopes that the sovereignty of Sudan will be respected, and the legitimate concerns of the African Union and the Sudanese government will be addressed, the official said. PASADENA, Calif., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wetzels Pretzels is a brand born from the Southern California lifestyle that has cultivated fans for more than 20 years thanks to its scratch-made pretzels, fresh lemonade and craveable Cin-a-Bitz. Building on that fan passion and the brands ability to cultivate fanatics from coast to coast, Wetzels Pretzels' director of franchise development, Frank Gonzales, will be hosting exploratory meetings with qualified multi-unit operators June 27 and 28 in Atlanta. Wetzels targeted growth plans for the Atlanta area come on the heels of another banner year for the company, which included consistent, industry-leading sales growth as well being named one of the top three fastest-growing snack concepts by Franchise Times Magazine, and a Top Franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine. Beyond Wetzels Pretzels sales momentum, company leadership views Atlanta as a fantastic growth opportunity thanks to the states business-friendly environment, offering tax credits and job-creation incentives. Furthermore, population and job growth in Atlanta are outpacing national averages. Currently, the brand has the following immediate opportunities available: Town Center at Cobb North Point Mall Mall of Georgia Lenox Square Phipps Plaza Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta Cumberland Mall Tanger Outlets Wetzels Pretzels menu items sit at a fantastic intersection of being quick, affordable snacks that are made from scratch with limited ingredients, exactly what todays consumers are looking for, said Jennifer Schuler, Wetzels Pretzels' President. This brand is positioned for immediate and long-term growth thanks to operational simplicity, unit size flexibility and the corporate teams core focus on franchisee profitability. We believe there is a tremendous opportunity across Atlanta and look forward to partnering with operators to bring this beloved West Coast brand to life throughout the area. Beyond traditional mall buildouts, Wetzels Pretzels is able to capitalize on various nontraditional locations as the brand offers a variety of build-out options to accommodate most any space, including both baking and non-baking kiosks, as well as remote units that can supplement a traditional in-line location. Its a concept that can truly fit anywhere there is appropriate space. Those interested in learning more about Wetzels Pretzels can contact Frank Gonzales to schedule an initial discussion at 909.717.9843 or frank@wetzels.com. Alternatively, operators who are looking to expand or diversify their holdings can visit Wetzels Pretzels franchise site. About Wetzel's Pretzels Armed with a vision and a tasty recipe for soft pretzel perfection, Bill Phelps and Rick Wetzel opened the first Wetzel's Pretzels bakery in Redondo Beach, Calif., in 1994. Long lines of hungry customers soon formed, attracted by mouth-watering soft pretzels that were hand-rolled, baked fresh and served hot from the oven. As word spread about these golden-on-the-outside pretzels, the company added additional offerings to its menu. Today, Wetzel's Pretzels has grown to more than 340 fresh bakeries across the United States and around the world, including premier locations at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. Every Wetzel's Pretzels bakery adheres to the original vision of its founders; that each super-premium pretzel will be crafted from fresh dough and baked in-store consistently throughout the day, to ensure a delicious offering for each consumer, regardless of when the craving for a pretzel strikes. For additional information on Wetzel's Pretzels or franchise opportunities, please visit the website, call (626) 432-6900, "Like" them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter and Instagram. Media Contact: Josh Levitt Canvas Blue for Wetzels Pretzels 949.215.1438 JLevitt@canvasblue.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d76023af-c2d7-4402-8bc7-cc8693cd1472 DUBLIN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's population is likely to reach 6.69 million in the year 2051, up by nearly two million more from the current level, according to a projection released by the country's national statistics bureau CSO on Wednesday. This is a projection made under an optimistic scenario where there is high net inward migration and high fertility in the country during the projection period, said James Hegarty, a statistician of CSO. Even under a pessimistic scenario where there is low net inward migration and low fertility throughout the years to 2051, the country's population will increase from the 2016 level of 4.74 million to 5.58 million in the next 30-plus years, he said. Three main factors, namely mortality, migration and fertility, are taken into considerations when making the projections, said Hegarty. Under different scenarios, the CSO predicts that by the year 2051 the number of the primary school-going children aged 5 to 12 will be between 453,900 and 607,600 compared with the 2016 level of 548,100, and that of the secondary school-going children aged 13 to 18 will be between 330,300 and 439,600 against the level of 369,900 in 2016. The number of the older population aged 65 and above is set to increase sharply from the 2016 level of 629,800 to between 1.5 million and 1.6 million in 2051 no matter under any scenarios, said the CSO in its report entitled Population and Labour Force Projections 2017-2051. The share of the old people aged 65 and above in the country's total population will jump from the 2016 level of 13.3 percent to between 23.9 percent and 27.4 percent in 2051, said the report. The report also predicts that by the year 2051 the life expectancy for males and females in Ireland will reach 85.6 years and 88.3 years respectively. According to the CSO, the life expectancy for the Irish males and females stood at 79.3 years and 83.3 years respectively in 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 05:52:16|Editor: yan Video Player Close SANAA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The chief of Yemen's Houthi rebels on Wednesday said he had proposed to UN special envoy Martin Griffiths to place Hodeidah under UN supervision, the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reported. "We welcomed a supervisory, technical and logistical role of the UN on the port of Hodeidah, but they are liars, they just made baseless justifications," Saba quoted Abdulmalik al-Houthi, as saying in a speech commenting on the Saudi-led coalition forces' control of the Hodeidah airport a day earlier. Griffiths left the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Tuesday after a three-day visit to seek resumption of the peace talks in the war-torn country. On the same day, the pro-government Yemeni forces supported by the Saudi-led coalition seized control of the city's airport in a major battle that killed dozens from both rival forces. Griffiths on Monday briefed the UN Security Council via a video conference from Sanaa, saying he would launch a first round of the Yemeni peace talks next month. In his speech, al-Houthi vowed to resist the coalition forces, calling on his followers for a mass mobilization to recapture the city. "All advances made by the coalition forces on the ground will be confronted, and our strong will would not be broken," al-Houthi said. Meanwhile, the coalition forces, including the Yemeni Giant (Amaliqa) brigade, on Wednesday continued advancing into the center of the port city, according to local residents. Coalition spokesperson Colonel Turki al-Malki told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV that the coalition forces are keeping advancing in the city and attacking rebel hideouts nearby, a day after capturing the airport. Al-Malki said the coalition has a plan to completely liberating the city, adding that the port has been operating normally since the coalition's launch of a major offensive days ago. Residents were forced to stay in their homes due to fears about the coalition airstrikes. "The streets are empty, the shops and restaurants are closed, no water and no electricity...the situation and sounds of air bombardment are extremely terrifying," said Adel Bishr, a member of a local humanitarian team in Hodeidah told Xinhua by phone. International humanitarian agencies have warned that an assault on Hodeidah would be a major disaster to the densely populated port city and would block aid supplies to the residents there. Hodeidah is the lifeline route for importing and transporting humanitarian aid to northern Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen's civil war in March 2015. The war has so far killed over 10,000 people, mostly civilians, and forced three million others out of their homes. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 06:02:19|Editor: yan Video Player Close TIKRIT, Iraq, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Three Islamic State (IS) militants were killed and three others captured Wednesday after the Iraqi paramilitary Sunni tribal fighters repelled an IS attack near a town in Iraq's central province of Salahudin. The leader of a paramilitary brigade, Hmoud al-Shimmary, told Xinhua that the Sunni fighters clashed with IS militants who tried to attack the town of Tlul al-Baj in the northern part of Salahudin province, leaving three IS militants killed and three others captured, while others fled the scene in two vehicles to the nearby desert. The captured militants were interrogated and confessed that they kidnapped some of the Sunni Shimmar tribesmen and killed some of them, al-Shimmary said. Two of the tribal fighters were also injured by the clashes, he added. Meanwhile, the police found a body of a civilian who was kidnapped earlier from Tlul al-Baj area by the extremist militants, Colonel Mohammed al-Jubouri from the media office of Salahudin's provincial police told Xinhua. The body was blindfolded and handcuffed with bullet holes in the head and chest, Jubouri said. In the past few days, the IS extremist militants kidnapped some 30 civilians from Shimmar tribe in separate incidents, and so far, nine bodies of those kidnapped were found executed. During the past months, hundreds of IS militants fled their former urban strongholds in Mosul, Salahudin province and Hawija area in the west of Kirkuk, after Iraqi forces cleared these regions of IS militants during major offensives. On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from the IS after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group. However, small groups and individuals of IS militants have since then regrouped in rugged areas including Himreen, carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down. CAIRO, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's exports to the United States increased by 105.5 percent in 2017, reaching 23.6 billion Egyptian pounds (1.32 billion U.S. dollars), Egypt's national statistics agency said on Wednesday. Egypt's ready-to-wear clothes ranked the first among the exports to the U.S., accounting for 51.5 percent of the total. The export value of clothes hit 12 billion pounds in 2017, up from 6.4 billion pounds in 2016, Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics said in an economic bulletin. It added that Egypt's imports from the U.S. hit 69.1 billion pounds in 2017, representing 5.9 percent of Egypt's imports from the world, up from 38.1 billion pounds in 2016. The agency said the Egyptian imports from the United States included machines and spare parts, accounting for 12.9 percent of the total. The bulletin pointed out that the U.S. investments in the establishment of companies in Egypt hit 79.9 million pounds in 2017 against 27.02 million pounds in 2016. Egypt has been suffering an economic slowdown over the past few years due to political instability and security challenges. The country hopes to increase exports and revive tourism as ways to boost its economy, while implementing a strict three-year economic reform plan since late 2016, based on austerity measures, fuel and energy subsidy cuts, and tax hikes. Egypt's reform plan has been encouraged by a 12-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, half of which has already been delivered to the most populous Arab country. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 06:12:23|Editor: zh Video Player Close DAMASCUS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Syrian troops have recaptured over 4,500 sq km of desert areas from the militant group Islamic State (IS) in several parts of the country in the past days, the Syrian army said Wednesday. Most of the battles were fought in eastern Syria, where the army regained control of 2,400 sq km of terrain east of the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria near the Syrian-Iraqi border, the army was quoted by the state news agency SANA as saying. In the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, the army liberated some areas of about 1,200 sq km, after eliminating a number of IS militants. The Syrian army also recaptured some territories, estimated at around 1,300 sq km, from IS in south of the capital Damascus. Most of the recaptured areas are in the Syrian desert, where IS still controls several pockets. The military operation is part of the Syrian army's efforts to eliminate the IS threat and secure more areas near the Syrian-Iraqi border. IS lost control of key areas last year to the Syrian army and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern province of al-Raqqa and Deir al-Zour. Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-21 06:17:26|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close VIENNA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called for strengthening of outer space governance and cooperation in the international community's joint effort to build a shared future in space exploration. Shi Zhongjun, China's ambassador to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, made the remarks at the UNISPACE+50 gathering, held to mark the 50th anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. The Chinese envoy called for efforts to foster a sense of shared future to promote the sustainable development of outer space. A shared vision for the future in space exploration and use is not only consistent with the objectives and purposes established in the Outer Space Treaty -- that the exploration and use of outer space should be for the benefit and in the interest of all countries -- but also in line with current needs to protect the outer space environment and promote sustainability both for outer space activities and socioeconomic development, Shi said. He said the principle of wide consultation, joint construction and shared benefits should be followed in efforts to take the global space governance to a new level. Currently, space congestion highlights the difficulties of governance, the emergence of a commercial space industry calls for regulatory reform, and large numbers of developing countries have yet to benefit fully from space technology, he noted. Moreover, he said that the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative has brought strong impetus to space cooperation. With multiple countries and regions along the Belt and Road, China has established mechanisms of cooperation in the satellite navigation area and will jointly build a Belt and Road space information corridor to promote information connectivity in the regions concerned, he added. TRIPOLI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The British Ambassador to Libya Frank Baker on Wednesday said Britain is discussing with the international community about taking joint action to help Libya on recent clashes in the oil crescent region. Ambassador Baker made his remarks following a meeting with Chairman of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanalla. "These are resources that belong to all Libyan people, and they are being destroyed by a terrorist leader and a number of people around him, including foreign nationals," Baker added. Baker confirm the British stance on the issue to oppose the clashes, saying "we are discussing with our international partners, including our friends in the (UN) Security Council, actions that we can take collectively to help Libya in this matter," Baker said. The clashes were between the army forces and the ally of Benghazi Defense Brigades, an extremist group that fight against the army, and Ibrahim Jathran, a wanted ex-chief of the oil installation guards service. They launched an attack on the Libyan oil crescent region on Thursday and clashed with the army forces there. The NOC evacuated all employees from the area, declared force majeure in the two large oil ports, and announced that the attack caused losses of 240,000 barrels of oil. The corporation also warned against an environmental disaster due to damage of oil tank. The oil crescent region is located some 500 km east of the capital Tripoli. It contains the country's largest oil ports. The UN Mission in Libya condemned the attack, warning that "this dangerous escalation puts Libya's economy in jeopardy and risks igniting a widespread confrontation." RABAT, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Morocco's immigration policy enabled refugees to recover their dignity and contribute to wealth creation, Jean-Paul Cavalieri, the representative of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Morocco, said Wednesday. Over 5,000 people from 30 countries, including Syria, Yemen, Congo, Iraq and Palestine, take refuge in Morocco and enjoy free movement across the country, Cavalieri said at a press briefing on the World Refugee Day. Noting that 62 percent of the refugees in Morocco are women and children, he stressed that granting legal status to the refugees will protect them against forced return to origin countries and provide them access to basic services and health care. The refugees exist side by side with Moroccans in over 50 cities throughout the kingdom, he said, lauding Morocco's constructive role during the UN talks on migration, ahead of the signing of the Global Compact for Migration. Morocco will host the Intergovernmental Conference on International Migration in December. KHARTOUM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of displaced people in Sudan's Central Darfur State took refuge at a base of the UN African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) after clashes broke out between Sudanese army and an armed group, the mission said Wednesday. "In the evening of June 15, 2018, displaced persons started gathering outside UNAMID's newly established Temporary Operating Base in the Golo locality, of the Jebel Marra area, central Darfur," said UNAMID in a statement. On June 16, 305 internally displaced people, including 200 children and 85 women, started erecting temporary shelters outside the base, it said. It noted that the staff at the UNAMID Golo base provided protection and water to the displaced people, as well as first aid to a woman who gave birth near the base. Clashes between government forces and Sudanese Liberation Army Abdul Wahid elements continued in the Jebel Marra area between June 13 and 16, with casualties on both sides as well as further civilian displacement, the statement said. TRIPOLI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Libyan navy on Wednesday rescued 82 migrants and recovered one body, while a Libyan Red Crescent team recovered 5 bodies of migrants in different locations off the country's coast. Ayob Qassem, Libyan navy spokesman, told Xinhua that a coast guards patrol had rescued 82 illegal immigrants from different African nationalities 48 km off Garrabulli town, some 55 km east of the capital Tripoli. "The migrants were on a broken rubber boat. They waited for four hours in the water, until the coast guards patrol boat arrived and rescued them in two batches," Qassem said. The spokesman confirmed that a migrant body who drowned after the boat crashed was recovered. During the past two days, the Libyan navy has rescued 191 migrants in separate operations, and recovered bodies of 11 who drowned at sea. Red Crescent emergency team at Zawiya city, some 45 km west of Tripoli, has recovered four unidentified bodies of migrants, and also recovered another migrant body off the coast of Tocra town in eastern Libya. Libya is a preferred point of departure for illegal immigrants who want to cross the Mediterranean towards Europe, due to the state of insecurity and chaos. Improved weather conditions increase the flows of migrants towards Europe, particularly off the western coast of Libya. HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSX-V:UCU) (OTCQX:UURAF) (Ucore or the Company) announces that Orca Holdings, LLC (Orca), a company owned and controlled by Randy T. Johnson of Ketchikan, Alaska, has notified the Company of a prospective desire to increase Orcas investment in the Company such that Orca would control in excess of 20% of the Companys voting shares on a partially diluted basis. This would result in Orca becoming a Control Person as defined by TSXV Policy 1.1 and any such transaction may also result in a Change of Control as defined in TSXV Policy 1.1, which would be subject to the approval of both the TSX Venture Exchange and a majority of the Companys disinterested shareholders (in accordance with TSXV Policies as well as Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions). However, no offer has been made by any party and no transaction is being contemplated by the Company at this time. Orca currently owns or controls 36,188,032 common shares of the Company (representing 13.1%) and 11,408,772 warrants that are exercisable into that number of additional common shares of the Company (representing an aggregate of 16.5% on a partially diluted basis). Orca filed an early warning report on SEDAR on January 19, 2016 when it completed a royalty conversion transaction with the Company and then held approximately 15% of the Companys common shares. Orca also participated in the Companys recent Private Placement. Details are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on SEDI at www.sedi.ca. The Board of Directors of the Company is considering Orcas request and has elected to end the previously announced Private Placement (see press releases on May 23 and June 11, 2018) and is not accepting any further investment at this time, pending a more detailed consideration and review of potential investment opportunities with potential Control Persons. Background Ucore Rare Metals Inc. is a development-phase company focused on rare metals resources, extraction and beneficiation technologies. The Company has a 100% ownership stake in the Bokan Project. On March 31, 2014, Ucore announced the unanimous support of the Alaska State Legislature for the investment of up to USD $145 Million in the Bokan project at the discretion of the Alaska Import Development and Export Agency (AIDEA). For further information, please contact Mr. Jim McKenzie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ucore Rare Metals Inc. at: +1 (902) 482-5214 or visit . Cautionary Notes This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects, are forward looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined by the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. TRIPOLI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Speaker of Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives Agila Saleh on Wednesday stressed the need to pass laws regulating the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya. Saleh made the remarks during a meeting with a number of deputies, Fah'ti Al-Maremi, Agila Saleh's media adviser, said in a statement. France recently hosted a meeting on Libya in Paris which gathered the Libyan parties aimed to end the Libyan political crisis, the parties end up agreeing to hold "credible" presidential and parliamentary elections on Dec. 10. "The parliament speaker stressed the importance of approving the laws regulating the holding of the elections in the set dates," the statement said, revealing that the army is preparing to "launch an attack on the militants occupying two oil ports in the oil crescent region since Thursday." The statement added that the meeting stressed importance of supporting the army "in the war on terrorism gangs that try to control the livelihood of the Libyan people, namely the oil ports and fields." The extremist Benghazi Defense Brigades allied with Ibrahim Jathran, a wanted ex-chief of the oil installation guards service, and launched an attack on the oil crescent region on Thursday, clashing with the army forces there. The NOC evacuated all employees from the area, declared force majeure in the two large oil ports, and announced that the attack caused losses of 240,000 barrels of oil. The corporation also warned against an environmental disaster due to damage of oil tank. The oil crescent region is located some 500 km east of the capital Tripoli. It contains the country's largest oil ports. The UN Mission in Libya condemned the attack, warning that "this dangerous escalation puts Libya's economy in jeopardy and risks igniting a widespread confrontation." Visitors look at a 67 million year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur, named Trix, during the first day of the exhibition "A T-Rex in Paris" at the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France, June 6, 2018. (REUTERS Photo) WASHINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and American researchers found that T. Rex dinosaurs could not stick out their tongues, contrary to their classic image in the films where they bared their teeth with tongues wildly stretching from their mouths like giant, deranged lizards. In a study published on Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers suggested that many dinosaurs' tongues were probably rooted to the bottoms of their mouths in a manner akin to alligators, and they connected the origin of flight with an increase in tongue diversity and mobility. The team led by Li Zhiheng, associate professor at the Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, compared the tongue bones of extinct dinosaurs and modern specimens, including three alligators and 13 bird species as diverse as ostriches and ducks. Li carried out the comparison using the High-Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography Facility at University of Texas at Austin. The fossil specimens, most from northeastern China, included small bird-like dinosaurs, as well as pterosaurs and a Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the largest land carnivores. The results indicated that hyoid bones of most dinosaurs were like those of alligators and crocodiles, short, simple and connected to a tongue that was not very mobile. These findings revealed that dramatic reconstructions that showed dinosaurs with tongues stretching out from between their jaws were wrong, according to Julia Clarke, a professor of Geological Sciences at University of Texas at Austin and the paper's co-author. The researchers also found that pterosaurs, which were bird-like dinosaurs, and living birds have a great diversity in hyoid bone shapes. Tongue bones act as anchors for the tongue in most animals, but in birds these bones can extend to the tip. The researchers suggested that the range of shapes could be related to flight ability or they evolved from an ancestor that could fly in the case of flightless birds such as ostriches and emus. The researchers proposed that taking to the skies could have led to new ways of feeding that could be tied to diversity and mobility in tongues. That evolution could be related to the loss of dexterity that accompanied the transformation of hands into wings, according to Li. "If you can't use a hand to manipulate prey, the tongue may become much more important to manipulate food," Li said. However, the fossil record haven't yet pinned down when these changes to the windpipe occurred. Also, the scientists noted one exception linking tongue diversity to flight as some plant-eating dinosaurs like triceratops had tongue bones that were highly complex and more mobile. Further research on other anatomical changes that occurred with shifts in tongue function could help improve our knowledge of the evolution of birds, Clarke said. The municipal council of Budapest is set to take ownership of the Rac baths in the summer, paving the way for its reopening within the following six months, the head of the capitals baths operator said in an interview. If the capital gets the baths back, the Rac will become a jewel among Budapests baths, next to the Gellert, Rudas and Szechenyi, Laszlo Szoke of Budapest Gyogyfurdoi es Hevizei told daily Magyar Idok. Szoke noted that the Budapest Municipal Council had voted in February to acquire the Rac, one of Budapests historic Turkish baths that was renovated in 2010 with some 10 billion forints (EUR 31m) in state funding and loans. An ownership dispute prevented its reopening. The investor who carried out the renovation asked for a 75% stake in the baths, and got it from Budapest Gyogyfurdoi es Hevizei with the support of the local council at the time, Szoke explained. Then the investor took out a loan, using the Rac baths themselves as collateral, and the local council, strangely enough, went along with this, he added. MTI Photo: Kovacs Tamas A legal expert who took part in the negotiations on the withdrawal of Soviet armed forces from Hungary recounts hitherto unknown details of the talks and complains that the general public is unaware of the importance of the date when Hungary regained her independence. In Magyar Hirlap, Izabella Bencze suspects that the only ones who still cherish the memory of June 19, 1991 when the last Soviet soldier left Hungary are those who participated in the long drawn-out negotiations on the withdrawal. She was on the Hungarian team that conducted the negotiations with the Soviet generals and experts who demanded substantial compensation for the infrastructure they were leaving behind. Their 100 thousand troops were stationed in 90 garrisons, 328 buildings and 50 military bases. In the most hair-raising episode, they even claimed that the Soviet Union had become the owner of its bases and wanted east Hungarian territories in exchange. In fact, Hungary was the only east European country that refused to pay compensation for the withdrawal of the Soviet troops. The negotiations therefore even continued after the withdrawal and were only completed a year later. When President Yeltsin arrived in Budapest from London (after meeting PM Margaret Thatcher), he was unable to leave the plane for hours. He wasnt ill, Bencze euphemistically remarks. When Yeltsin then refused to sign the deal without some compensation, PM Antall of Hungary offered a few million forints worth of symbolic pharmaceutical aid to Russia. This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher. Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online Click here to Share Your Story A Marxist philosopher excoriates the governments proposed constitutional amendments and accuses the government of ethnic nationalist politics as well as the uprooting of the rule of law. A conservative lawyer, on the other hand, thinks that the defence of Hungarys ethnic composition and constitutional identity is necessary to strengthen democracy In Heti Vilaggazdasag, Gaspar Miklos Tamas lambasts the governments plan to amend the Constitution. The Marxist philosopher claims that the proposed constitutional ban on the settlement of foreign populations on the territory of Hungary as well as the constitutional protection of Christian heritage are indications of a tacitly racist ethnic nationalist ideology. Tamas adds that the proposed banning of homeless people from the streets is a violation of the principle of basic equality. Taken all together, the new constitutional amendments will uproot the rule of law in Hungary, Tamas concludes. In Magyar Demokrata, Miklos Szantho welcomes the governments plan to constitutionally protect Hungarian identity and democratic self-determination. The conservative lawyer believes that the constitutional amendments are intended to limit the power of external actors including George Soros and the EU in Hungarian affairs. The new amendments to Hungarys Fundamental Law will rule out the possibility of new impositions on Hungary by the EU, including being forced to recognize the marriage of gay couples or admit migrants, Szantho writes. He contends that all this is necessary as external factors including pro-migration NGOs try to use human rights in order to change Hungarys ethnic composition through the admission of migrants from different cultures. This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher. Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online Click here to Share Your Story Laszlo Palkovics, the Minister of Innovation and Technology, has dismissed concerns that the government is stepping on the toes of scientific researchers of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). Palkovicss new ministry recently announced it will distribute almost 70 billion forints (EUR 216m) of R&D funding to state institutions. Critics say the government is depriving the Academy of some of its funding and redeploying it. In an interview, Palkovics denied that the ministry was taking over the management of research institutes or telling researchers what to do. The government created the innovation and technology ministry to optimise spending on scientific research and it does not question the importance of basic research, he told commercial broadcaster Echo TV late on Monday. But he insisted that the ministry should have a say in determining some areas of research that are important for the Hungarian public. In the last four years, research funding has involved a process whereby universities and the government agreed on areas of focus proposed by the institutes, Palkovics said. They then received funding and assigned the scientists to carry out the research. The new draft budget aims to push the scientific community to prioritise fields of research but to also find areas that serve the public interest, he said. The ministry does not want to strip scientific fields of their funding but wants a professional body to decide which of the challenges of the modern world they want to find solutions to, he said. Hungarian developments are in no way different from whats to appear in EU science funding for the 2021- 2027 financial cycle, he said. The ministry wants a more structured procedure based on the decisions of the scientific community, he said, adding that this approach is made significantly harder by having to conduct this dialogue through the press. Despite the governments purely professional intentions, a political situation is being generated, he said. Opposition parties last week rejected what they said was the government placing MTA under its purview. Green LMP said the government wants to nationalise part of the Academy, which goes against the principle of freedom of scientific research. Radical nationalist Jobbik has called for a special session of parliaments education committee to discuss 29 billion forints (EUR 89.7m) allocated to university R+D and 13 billion forints earmarked for the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) being given to the ministry. The ministry will coordinate almost 70 billion in R&D funding, including 29.1 billion for higher education institutions, 28.1 billion for research institutes of the Academy of Sciences and 12.7 billion for the National Scientific Research Programme. MTI Photo: Jaszai Csaba Changing schedule Currently, Alaska Airlines offers four flights daily on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday and three flights on the other days. The airline had already reduced flights earlier this year, cutting the fourth flight on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The number of daily flights will drop to three when the fall schedule goes into effect Aug. 26. Flights to Sea-Tac will depart Yakima Air Terminal at 5 a.m., 11:40 a.m. and 6:55 p.m. for the roughly 45-minute trip. Returning flights from Sea-Tac will depart at 10 a.m., 5:25 p.m. and 11:10 p.m. Bob Ferguson wants Washington residents to contact his office if they are asked to host immigrant children separated from their family as part of the federal government's new "zero-tolerance" immigration crackdown. Ferguson's announcement comes amid widespread uproar over the practice of undocumented children being taken away taken from their parents. RESTON, Va., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider, announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Carahsoft to its 2018 Solution Provider 500 list. The Solution Provider 500 is CRNs annual ranking of the largest technology integrators, solution providers and IT consultants in North America by revenue. Carahsoft ranked #18 on the annual list, marking its 12th consecutive year on the list and its second year in the top 20 of 500 companies listed. Carahsoft debuted on the list in 2006 at #399 with $36M in sales. In 2017, the company crossed the $4.4B mark. We are proud to see our dedication to our vendor partners, government customers and resellers reflected in our year-over-year appearances on the Solution Provider 500 list, said Craig P. Abod, Carahsofts president. As the mission needs of our customers evolve each year, we continue to expand our team and our portfolio to provide them with the cutting-edge solutions that meet their unique requirements. CRNs Solution Provider 500 list spotlights the North American IT channel partner organizations that have earned the highest revenue over the past year, providing a valuable resource to vendors looking for top solution providers to partner with, said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. The companies on this years list represent an incredible, combined revenue of $320 billion, a sum that attests to their success in staying ahead of rapidly changing market demands. We extend our sincerest congratulations to each of these top-performing solution providers and look forward to their future pursuits and successes. Since its founding in 2004, Carahsoft has provided IT solutions and support to over 3,000 prime contractors, system integrators, value-added resellers and other channel partners. In 2017, the company booked over $4 billion in sales and expanded its team to 900 sales, marketing, customer service and contracting professionals. The Solution Provider 500 is CRNs predominant channel partner award list, serving as the industry standard for recognition of the most successful solution provider companies in the channel since 1995. The complete 2018 list is now available online and a sample from the list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine. About the Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelco.com About Carahsoft Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider. As a top-performing GSA Schedule and SEWP contract holder, Carahsoft serves as the master government aggregator for many of its best-of-breed technology vendors, supporting an extensive ecosystem of manufacturers, value-added resellers, system integrators, and consulting partners committed to helping government agencies select and implement the best solution at the best possible value. The company's dedicated Solutions Divisions proactively market, sell and deliver VMware, Palo Alto Networks, Symantec, Veritas, Dell, Adobe, F5 Networks, Google Cloud, ServiceNow, Open Source, Micro Focus Government Solutions, SAP, Salesforce, and Innovative and Intelligence products and services, among others. Carahsoft is consistently recognized by its partners as a top revenue producer, and is listed annually among the industry's fastest growing and largest firms by CRN, Inc., Forbes, Washington Technology, The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, and SmartCEO. Visit us at www.carahsoft.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Contact Kim Sparks The Channel Company 508-416-1193 ksparks@thechannelco.com Mary Lange Carahsoft Technology Corp. 703-431-8485 pr@carahsoft.com By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER New medical marijuana caregivers setting up shop in Bessemer may soon have to get a business license from the city after the city council had the first reading of a proposed ordinance Monday. The council passed the measure to have caregivers register as a home business 3-2, with council members Linda Nelson and Allen Archie voting no. The ordinance wouldnt impact anyone growing their own medical marijuana or any caregivers already growing marijuana for others. This only applies to medical marijuana growing facilities under 72... French English OTTAWA, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) and the Society of Actuaries are pleased to announce the release of the New CPP Enhancements: What do they mean for Canadian workers and seniors? research report. The study, sponsored by the CIA and SOA, examines how the enhanced Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefit will impact the financial well-being of Canadian seniors. These enhancements are similar to those that will be made to the Regime de rentes du Quebec. The study was authored by Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, PhD, senior research fellow at the National Institute on Ageing (Ryerson University), Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Associate of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, and resident scholar at Eckler. Up until now, research on the implications of the CPP enhancements on retirement financial outcomes for future Canadian seniors has been limited. It remains unclear how much the enhancements will improve the retirement preparedness of Canadians in generallet alone vulnerable populations, such as seniors without workplace pensions, and low-income Canadians. Investigating these and other questions, the study uses the sophisticated LifePaths population microsimulation model, formerly supported by Statistics Canada, and finds the following: Overall, the CPP enhancements will eventually increase total CPP benefits across Canadians by approximately 44% when they are fully phased in by 2070. CPP enhancements should help young Canadians maintain their working-life living standards after retirementparticularly middle- and upper-income earners who do not have significant participation in employer pension plans during their working lives (40% of the Canadian population), dropping the proportion of this group considered unprepared for retirement from 46% to 34%. For every dollar of new CPP benefits that a worker earns, about $0.62 will make its way into his/her pocket as a senior. This is fairly consistent across Canadians with varying earnings historiesalthough the dynamics vary greatly. Enhanced CPP for low-earnings workers in retirement will be offset by reduced Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) benefits and higher taxes. High-earning workers will lose nearly the same proportion due to higher taxes and lost Old Age Security (OAS) benefits. CPP enhancements will push 9% of Canadians to become overly prepared for retirement, particularly middle-income earners with workplace pensions. Nearly a quarter of Canadians are projected to be unprepared to sustain their living standards in retirement despite the CPP enhancements. And this ratio increases to over a third for Canadians without meaningful employer pension plan participation. Until the enhanced CPP benefits are fully mature in 2070, a more immediate concern is the retirement financial prospects of todays older Canadians, for whom the CPP enhancements will do very little. And while the goal is retirement security for all Canadians, it will also be important to protect the financial welfare of the working-age population. There are clearly challenges ahead to ensure retirement financial security for Canadians. The CIA places high value on authoritative and unbiased high-quality empirical evidence to inform public policy decisions that protect the public interest. This study suggests that the CPP enhancements are a step in the right direction. About the Canadian Institute of Actuaries The Canadian Institute of Actuaries is the national, bilingual organization and voice of the actuarial profession in Canada. Its members are dedicated to providing actuarial services and advice of the highest quality. The Institute holds the duty of the profession to the public above the needs of the profession and its members. About the Society of Actuaries With roots dating back to 1889, the Society of Actuaries is the worlds largest actuarial professional organization with more than 30,000 actuaries as members. Through research and education, the SOAs mission is to advance actuarial knowledge and to enhance the ability of actuaries to provide expert advice and relevant solutions for financial, business and societal challenges. The SOAs vision is for actuaries to be the leading professionals in the measurement and management of risk. For more information or to set up an interview with an actuary, please contact: Josee Gonthier Manager, Communications josee.gonthier@cia-ica.ca 613-236-8196 ext. 106 Website: cia-ica.ca Twitter: @CIA_Actuaries By JAN TUCKER [email protected] ONTONAGON Ontonagon County Airport Manager Margo Anderson updated the Ontonagon County Board Monday on the airport projects underway and those planned for the future. She explained the next phase of an expanded runway clearing project is an environmental assessment. She noted any project which receives federal money, or requires federal permits, must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. Since MDOT-Aeronautics money is being used, and a lot of those funds are federal, the project requires an environmental assessment and a subseq... English French OTTAWA, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This year, international recognition of the United Nations World Refugee Day is set against the backdrop of harsh new policies being imposed on migrants by the U.S. government. Canadas unions are marking the occasion by calling on the Canadian government to embrace migrants and refugees and re-examine the status of the United States as a safe third country. The Canadian government has a moral duty and an international obligation to ensure that we provide a safe haven for all people fleeing imminent danger, disaster and war. The U.S. has failed the safety test for migrants and we cannot send displaced families who meet the refugee criteria back into another climate of fear and persecution, said CLC President Hassan Yussuff. A year after issuing a controversial Executive Order barring Syrian refugees and discriminating against travellers from predominantly Muslim countries, American authorities have been instructed to rigorously enforce migrant detention and the separation of children from parents caught crossing into the U.S. The Trump administration announced further plans to deny survivors of domestic violence the ability to claim asylum, even when authorities in their homeland will do nothing to protect them. The history of Japanese internment and Canadas residential school system offer lessons that we cannot afford to ignore. In modern immigration policy, there should be no place for practices that treat thousands of desperate refugees like criminals, tear children from their parents and deport women back to abusive situations. Canada must be unwavering in its commitment to championing human rights and international law, said Yussuff. Canada has expressly refused to discriminate in its immigration policy based on faith or ethnicity. Thats why Canadas unions are calling on the Trudeau government to further distinguish itself by taking immediate steps to publicly challenge Americas new immigration policies and to encourage Canadians to continue to open their hearts and homes to the worlds most vulnerable people. These steps include: Re-examining Canadas Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States to ensure that all migrants entering Canada through the U.S. have their claims for refugee protection fairly and properly processed; Helping those stranded now, on an emergency basis, by offering asylum to all those who despite having passed a two-year rigorous screening process are being denied entry to the U.S.; and Launching an intensive public awareness campaign to educate Canadians about Canadas rigorous border security and the dire and vulnerable circumstances facing refugees in the lands from which they flee. The Canadian Labour Congress represents 3.3 million unionized workers and has been actively campaigning to raise public awareness around the plight of refugees and to encourage Canadian municipalities to declare themselves sanctuary cities for international refugees. For more information, please contact: Chantal St-Denis CLC Communications 613-355-1962 Email : cstdenis@clc-ctc.ca New Delhi: Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is all set to return to the big screen with 'Fanne Khan' was snapped by the shutterbugs while she was exiting from the shoot of the film at Mumbai's Mehboob studio. Though the photos were taken from a distance, we can see how ravishing Aishwarya look in these pictures. The lady was dressed up in a black dress which she teamed up with ankle high boots. She had kept her hair open and was thoroughly looking away from the camera. Take a look at her photos from the studio here: 'Fanne Khan' is an upcoming musical-comedy film which will be directed by debutant Atul Manjrekar. In the film, Aishwarya will be paired opposite Anil Kapoor. The film also stars talented Rajkumar Rao. 'Fanne Khan' is an official remake of the Belgian film Everybody's Famous!. Bhushan Kumar is producing under his banner T-Series along with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. It is speculated that the film's teaser will be attached with Ranbir Kapoor-starrer 'Sanju', which is slated to release on June 29. The film is scheduled for a worldwide release on August 3. Aishwarya was last seen in 2016 opposite Ranbir in 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'. New Delhi: Director Ali Abbas Zafar's upcoming film, titled 'Bharat' has been making news for all the right reasons. The film is important as it will make the comeback of Bollywood's desi girl Priyanka Chopra in Hindi film industry after two years. She was last seen in 2016 in Prakash Jha's 'Gangaajal 2'. Secondly, it reunites hit Jodi of Bollywood - Salman Khan and Priyanka onscreen almost after a decade. And now, we hear that Salman and Priyanka are all set to shoot for a special Holi song for the film. The shooting of the song will start in coming days and will be wrapped up within three days, as per a Bollywoodlife.com report. Apart from Salman and Priyanka, the film also stars Disha Patani, Tabu, Sunil Grover and Asif Sheikh in pivotal roles. Actress Katrina Kaif is also rumoured to be a part of the project. Tthe Mumbai shooting schedule of the film will kickstart on July 17 and will be wrapped up within 11 days. Post which, the team will fly to Punjab to shoot the next schedule. Earlier, there were reports that the shooting of the film was also scheduled to take place in London, followed by Spain, Poland and Portugal. But due to Salman's conviction in the blackbuck poaching case, the actor cannot be allowed to enter the United Kingdom. However, the report has been dismissed by BollywoodLife saying that there were no plans ever by the makers to shoot for the film in London, in the first place. 'Bharat' is an official adaptation of the South Korean movie 'Ode To My Father', which is a critically acclaimed film depicting the Korean history from the 1950s till the recent times. The movie also highlights events such as the Hungnam Evacuation, 1950 Korean War and the Vietnam war. According to producer Atul Agnihotri, Bharat will show us the journey of Salman and India from 1947 to the early 2000s. However, the adaptation will be slightly different from its original one. The film is likely to be released on Eid next year. Meanwhile, Salman, who is currently on a bail, has left for the US for Da-Bangg Tour Reloaded as the concert has been announced beforehand. NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who ended his nine-day long sit-in protest at Lt. Governor Anil Baijal's office on Tuesday, cancelled all his scheduled meetings on Wednesday as his health deteriorated. The AAP convenor was not feeling well, said sources. Kejriwal, a diabetic, was suffering from high sugar levels for the past few days. The Aam Aadmi Party chief is expected to leave for Bengaluru on Thursday to undergo a 10-day naturopathy treatment for diabetes, the sources said. He has been to Bengaluru for the naturopathy treatment in past too. "His trip was already planned. He was to go to Bengaluru, but the unplanned sit-in came in between. So he will go now," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said while speaking to reporters. The AAP chief along with his party colleagues was in news recently over their sit-in protest against the L-G demanding statehood for Delhi and a direction for IAS officers, who were allegedly on strike, to report back to work. The strike by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders ended a day after the Delhi High Court pulled them up saying they could not hold dharna at someones office or residence in this manner. Kejriwal and other AAP ministers had started the dharna at the L-Gs office on June 13. Two AAP ministers Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia had gone on a hunger strike a day after the dharna began. However, earlier this week, the health condition of both Jain and Sisodia deteriorated and they were admitted to LNJP hospital in the national capital. During his dharna, Kejriwal got the support of various opposition parties, barring the Congress. Chief Ministers of four states Andhra Pradeshs Chandrababu Naidu, West Bengals Mamata Banerjee, HD Kumaraswamy of Karnataka and Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala had even gone to the L-G office to meet Kejriwal and other AAP leaders. However, they were denied permission to meet the leaders sitting on dharna. Following this, the chief ministers went to the residence of Kejriwal and met his family members. Backing Kejriwal, BJP's estranged ally Shiv Sena said that an elected leader should be allowed to work. New Delhi: Reaching out to farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday showcased his government's "unprecedented" work in the agriculture sector, including doubling of the budget to Rs 2.12 lakh crore. Modi also reiterated that his government is working to double farm income by 2022. Continuing his outreach programme of direct interaction with beneficiaries of his pet schemes, Modi spoke to farmers from over 600 districts via video-conferencing, highlighting the government interventions right from seeds to market that is aimed at addressing farm distress. The government, through an extensive and balanced policy, is aiming to provide inputs like quality seeds, fertilisers, water and electricity as well as markets for increasing farmers' income, he said. "We have decided to double farmers income by 2022... When I talked about doubling of farmers income, there were many people who made fun that this is not possible and difficult. They created an atmosphere of doom. But we decided as I had full faith in farmers," Modi said. To achieve this target, he said the four cornerstones of the government policy are cutting input cost, fair price for the crop, preventing post-harvest losses and creating alternate sources of income. Modi said in the Budget for 2018-19 fiscal, the government announced that the minimum support price (MSP) for all crops will be fixed at least 1.5 times the cost of production. He also listed out all the costs that will be included while fixing the MSP. "The budget allocation for the agriculture sector in 5 years of the previous government was Rs 1.21 lakh crore. This has been increased to Rs 2.12 lakh crore during 2014-19, which is almost double. This clearly reflects our commitment to farmers welfare," Modi said. Stating that there has been "unprecedented development" in the farm sector during the last four years, the Prime Minister highlighted that foodgrains production in the country touched an all-time high of 280 million tonnes during 2017-18 crop year as against an average production of 250 million tonnes during 2010-14. There has also been bumper production of fruits, vegetables and milk, he said, adding that pulses production has increased by an average 10.5 percent. Production of fish and milk grew by 26 percent and 24 percent, respectively. Egg output has risen by 25 percent. "Our effort is to provide farmers assistance at all stage of agriculture -- at the time of sowing, after sowing and at the time of harvesting," he said, adding the policy interventions are being planned to help farmers right from seeds to markets. First, soil health cards are being provided to help farmers better understand soil nutrient status of his/her holding and advice them on the dosage of fertilisers. Thereafter, loans are being made available to farmers to help them procure good quality seeds, he said, adding neem coating of urea has ensured that black-marketing of the crop nutrient is stopped and farmers get it without any problem. To ensure farmers get the right price for their crops, Modi said an online platform e-NAM has been started to eliminate middlemen. As many as 22,000 rural markets are also being linked to wholesale mandis. The government is also giving special attention to allied sectors like fisheries, dairy and bee-keeping to boost farmers income, he added. The Prime Minister said farmers should get full credit for ensuring the country's food security but rued that "from the beginning, farmers were left to fend for themselves" which resulted in their shrinking prosperity. Modi highlighted the various initiatives launched by the government in the last four years such as soil health cards, new crop insurance scheme, irrigation programme and e-NAM, among others. Under Prime Minister Krishi Sinchaee Yojna, Modi said about 100 projects are being completed so that water reaches all agriculture fields. The government is promoting drip irrigation to achieve "per drop more crop" and reduce input cost. Modi said farmers can increase their income by value-addition of farm produce. The Prime Minister highlighted that more than 500 farmer producers organisations have been established in the last four years which help farmers in getting more sales realisation with lower input costs. These FPOs have been exempted from income tax. Talking about the new crop insurance scheme, Modi said farmers were not getting any claim under the previous scheme. "We have reduced premium and scope of insurance has been widened," he said, adding that this has helped in increasing the insurance coverage by 60-65 percent. Modi said the government has provided soil health cards to 12.5 crore farmers in the last four years, helping farmers to boost yields and cut input cost. Interacting with farmers from the North-East, he said 21 lakh hectares have been brought under organic farming as against 7 lakh hectares in 2013-14. New Delhi: Zee Media on Wednesday hosted the India Ka DNA 2019 Conclave where eminent business experts and leaders discussed and deliberated on a wide range of issues including digital India, farming sector growth and affordable housing. The first session of the Conclave was being held at Hotel Taj Palace in New Delhi. Experts also discussed on the achievements of government in the last four years in the sector of economy and growth. The second session will have political leaders giving out their opinion on four years of PM Narendra Modi's government and on their vision for the road that lies ahead. Here is what the experts said on a host of topics Digital Dividend Anupam Shrivastava, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL talked about the changes that Digital India has brought into the country. He also added that BSNL is trying to begin 5G services in India by 2020. "BSNL was the first to begin 3G in the country. Continuing the trend we are trying to begin 5G services by 2020," Shrivastava said in the panel discussion. He emphasised on the need to focus on broadband for all that will take the country ahead on digitisation path. Rural Resurgence Several Agri experts talked about government's objective of doubling farm income by 2022. Issues like water supply for irrigation, fixing the MSP and creating a conducive market for farmers dominated the discussion. Experts highlighted that water was a very important element of irrigation. It is important to ensure that farmer gets ample water supply for irrigating farmland. Our dependence on Monsoon can be reduced if we pay more attention on this front, RG Agarwal said in the panel discussion. Vijay Sardana stressed on the need to arrive at a workable Agriculture model where the consumer pays a little more and the farmer gets a little more. He said, there are 3 types of cost in farming--A2 or direct cost, labour cost and fixed cost. In our country everybody talks on affordable price for consumers, nobody talks about giving more benefits to farmers. We need to focus on this area where the farmers benefit output can be enhanced. Another expert highlighted the need to focus on farm harvest gate to the last consumer the agri-logistics like storage, transportation, handling and processing everything has to be in place. The session ended with common agreement that it is more important to recognise agriculture as an economic activity and not a political activity. Farmers will be benefited if we work on policies towards increasing their farm output. Affordable Housing Real estate experts held discussion on Affordable Housing and how the government's dream of housing for all can be achieved through buyers and builders participation. The interesting fact that came out from the panel discussion was the new thrust into tier 3, 4 and 5 cities. Experts said that a lot of development is taking place in the Sub-urban areas. Many of these developments fall under government's affordable housing scheme. Panelists also said that such types of conclaves, as hosted by Zee Media, will create more awareness among the buyers. The conclave on economy ended with Union minister for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri's views on affordable housing. The minister was hopeful that PM Modi's 'Housing for All' Mission by 2022 will be completed before time. The governments has strong intent to achieve its Housing for All mission by 2022 by enabling home ownership for every Indian. Till May 31, 4.75 million homes had been sanctioned. 3-5 lakh homes are being sanctioned every month. And by June, 51 million we will have sanctioned homes. So going by this rate, I think we can achieve housing for all scheme target by the third quarter of 2019. Srinagar: Three Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terrorist were killed and five security men injured in a gunfight in Tral area of Pulwama district, police said. The gunfight had started on Tuesday and ended late last evening. The police have confirmed that all the three JeM terrorist hiding in Nazneenpora village of Trial area have been killed by the security forces. "The slain terrorist include one Pakistan national and two locals. "Five security personnel including on CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) jawan and four army soldiers have been injured in this encounter," the police said. Following specific information about three terrorist hiding in Nazneenpora village of Trial area, troops of Rashtriya Rifles, CRPF and Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu & Kashmir Police surrounded the village. As the security forces tightened the cordon around hiding terrorist , they fired at the security forces triggering a gunfight that ended with the killing of the three JeM terrorist. This was the first anti-terrorist operation in J&K after the Bharatiya Janata party withdrew support from the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led coalition government headed by Mehbooba Mufti. The state has been placed under Governor`s rule which as per the J&K constitution can last for three months. FORM 8.3 PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code") 1. KEY INFORMATION (a) Full name of discloser: Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a): The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree CME Group Inc. (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 19 June, 2018 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer? If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" Yes NEX Group PLC 2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security. (a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any) Class of relevant security: USD 0.01 Class A common Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 276,678 0.0812 (2) Cash-settled derivatives: (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: TOTAL: 276,678 0.0812 All interests and all short positions should be disclosed. Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions). (b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options) Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages: 3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in. The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated. (a) Purchases and sales Class of relevant security Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit USD 0.01 Class A common Increasing a short position 8,880 GBP 126.8046 USD 0.01 Class A common Increasing a short position 22,200 GBP 127.0311 USD 0.01 Class A common Increasing a short position 6,962 GBP 126.8341 USD 0.01 Class A common Increasing a short position 2,428 USD 167.0171 USD 0.01 Class A common Increasing a short position 21,700 USD 167.0504 USD 0.01 Class A common Increasing a short position 31,372 USD 167.6110 (b) Cash-settled derivative transactions Class of relevant security Product description e.g. CFD Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit (c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options) (i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit (ii) Exercise Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit (d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities) Class of relevant security Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable) 4. OTHER INFORMATION (a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer: Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" NONE (b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to: (i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or (ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced: If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" NONE (c) Attachments Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO Date of disclosure: 20 June, 2018 Contact name: James Gange Telephone number: 212-446-4029 Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129. The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk. Hapur: Six people, including the driver, were killed and four others sustained grave injuries when the car they were traveling in crashed into a stationary truck in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district, police said. The Maruti Eeco van with 11 passengers was on its way to Sambhal from Delhi when it met with the accident on National Highway 9 near Garhmukteshwar at around 4 am. Police said the driver may have dozed off at the wheel. According to Superintendent of Police, Rammohan Singh, while five passengers were killed on the spot, the sixth occupant succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. All the bodies were sent for post-mortem. Only the body of Shah Alam, a resident of Sambhal was identified while efforts were being made to find out the names of the others, Singh said. The injured include Rifaqat Atta and Shaan Muhammad from Sambhal and Aarif and Nafees, residents of Ajmer in Rajasthan. The families of the victims have been informed, Singh said. According to eye-witnesses, the impact of the accident reduced the van to a heap of mangled metal trapping the passengers inside. The police faced an uphill task as they extricated the bodies with the help of the locals. People in the vicinity claimed to have heard a loud bang believed to be of the car crashing into the truck, police said. NEW DELHI: The imposition of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir will not affect the anti-terror operations, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Bipin Singh Rawat said on Wednesday, adding that there's no political interference. We only stopped our operations during Ramzan. But, we saw what happened. The imposing of Governor's rule will not affect our operations. Our operations will go on like they used to. We don't face any political interference, said Rawat at an event in New Delhi. Earlier today, President Ram Nath Kovind approved the imposition of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir for six months with immediate effect. The move comes within 24 hours of the breakdown of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - People's Democratic Party (PDP) alliance in the state. The rift between PDP and BJP emerged after the BJP-ruled Centre decided to resume anti-terror operations, after a month-long suspension of a ceasefire in the state during the Holy month of Ramzan. While the Mufti-led PDP wanted Centre to reach out to the separatists and give them more time, the latter argued that the separatists were handed several opportunities but failed. "It has become untenable for the BJP to continue in the alliance government," said Ram Madhav while apprising the media about BJP's decision to pull out of the alliance. The decision was taken after consulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, he added. "Terrorism, violence and radicalisation have risen and fundamental rights of the citizens are under danger in the Valley. Shujaat Bukhari killing is an example," said Madhav. Rawat had visited forward areas in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, reviewed the security situation along the frontier as well as in the hinterland. He also visited slain Army jawan Aurangzeb's family in Salani, Poonch. The Army Chief commended the synergy between all security agencies and civil administration in Jammu and Kashmir, the official said. Rawat also visited northern command, he added. NEW DELHI: Army on Wednesday honoured the soldiers who have been disabled while serving the nation in a seminar on 'Physical and Mental Issues of Disabled Soldiers' organised at Manekshaw Centre. The seminar was organised to commemorate the 'Year of Disabled Soldier in Line of Duty'. The event was attended by disabled soldiers and veterans, along with serving soldiers, officers and ladies. This event was used as an opportunity to connect with injured Army bravehearts and acknowledge their service to the Nation. Seminar onPhysical & Mental Issues of Disabled Soldiers organised at Manekshaw Centre. General Bipin Rawat #COAS stressed on the need to recognize physical & mental aspects of disability & providing care to disabled soldiers to help them reintegrate into society #YearOfDisable pic.twitter.com/rbdsnLfHBs ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) June 20, 2018 Director General (DG) AFMS, Lt Gen Bipin Puri delivered the welcome address for the event which was presided over by Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), Gen Bipin Rawat. During his speech, the COAS emphasized on the need to recognise both the physical and mental aspects of the disability and providing comprehensive care to the disabled soldiers to help them reintegrate into the society. He also highlighted various disabled-friendly initiatives that have been taken in Armed Forces Hospitals. On the occasion, Maj DP Singh (Retd), a Kargil War veteran and celebrity blade runner, also shared his experiences with the audience. Other speakers included Col Sachin Saxena, Psychiatrist from Base Hospital Delhi and Col AS Kalra, Prosthetic Surgeon from Artificial Limb Centre, Pune. They spoke about the challenges faced by disabled soldiers and discussed the very pertinent issue of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) that afflicts a large proportion of disabled soldiers. The aim of the Seminar was to provide an educative experience about the various stresses faced by the soldiers and their families, especially when a family member suffers from an injury leading to a devastating disability. A detailed account of various problems with special emphasis on effective solutions to combat them was deliberated upon. This Seminar is one of the events which focuses to establish 'feel good' connect between disabled soldiers and the organisation and also aims to galvanise support for them. Srinagar: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday met the family of martyred Indian Army soldier Aurangzeb in J&K's Poonch. Accompanied by high-ranking officials from Indian Army and J&K Police, Sitharaman offered her condolences and assured family members of the soldier that the perpatrators of the ghastly crime would be brought to justice. #WATCH: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman meets the family of Sepoy Aurangzeb in J&K's Poonch. Aurangzeb was abducted from Pulwama by terrorists and later his bullet-ridden body was recovered on June 14, #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/xv2sobrq18 ANI (@ANI) June 20, 2018 Aurangzeb was kidnapped by terrorists last week was later shot dead by terrorists. His body was found by a team of police and Army in Gussu village - some 10 kilometres away from Kalampora in Pulwama district. The Army jawan, who was involved in the encounter of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Sameer Tiger, was a resident of Poonch. Sources in the intelligence agencies have said that Pakistan's ISI may have been involved in the killing of Aurangzeb and may have even asked terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen to not claim responsibility. It is learnt that ISI is keeping a close watch on the local situation in J&K - especially because there is an increased anger after the killing and support for the Indian Army. Aurangzeb was laid to rest in Poonch with full state honours on Saturday and hundreds of people had attended his last rites. The martyred jawan's body was earlier flown from 92 Base Hospital located at the 15 Corps at Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar. Joining the call to sack Congress leader Digvijaya Singh for allegedly describing Hindus as terrorists is Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Speaking to news agency ANI, Chouhan wondered why Digvijaya Singh always has Hindu terrorism on his mind. Accusing the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister of defaming Indias traditions, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said, Using the name of saffron terror, our countrys traditions are being defamed. Chouhan further asked if Congress president Rahul Gandhi agreed with Singhs statement. He said, Does Rahul Gandhi agree to this? If not then he must ask Singh to leave Congress and if he doesnt agree he should say so. Speaking to a television channel, Digvijaya Singh had said that all Hindu terrorists caught in the past had links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Accusing the right-wing organisation of spreading hatred and violence, Singh had named Mahatma Gandhis assassin Nathuram Godse as an example. Reacting to the statement of the Congress leader, the BJP on Wednesday demanded that he be removed from his party, saying that the opposition party cannot take Hindus for granted. Addressing a press conference over the issue, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, We demand Congress leader Digvijaya Singh should be sacked from the party. You (Digvijaya Singh) pointed finger at millions of Hindus, denigrated them and called them terrorists. The BJP spokesperson further demanded that the Congress president must clarify his stand on the issue, accusing Rahul Gandhi of taking Hindus for granted. Meanwhile, Digvijaya Singh clarified his remark saying he never used the term Hindu terrorism, instead he used the term Sanghi terrorism. You have wrong information that Digvijaya Singh used the term 'Hindu terrorism'. I have always used the term 'Sanghi terrorism', he said at a public conference, adding, No terror activity can be defined on the basis of religion. No religion can be a supporter of terrorism. NEW DELHI: The BJP-led Centre is focusing on empowerment and not appeasement, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday. In the last 70 years, the government's only focused on appeasement. But BJP is working towards the empowerment of all communities, not just minorities, said Naqvi at Zee News India Ka DNA 2019 Conclave. The Union Minister of Minority Affairs went on to speak on subsidies, development, minorities' education and women empowerment. People were questioning why only Muslims are been given (Haj) subsidies? I spoke to several Muslim outfits, who agreed that the subsidies are creating troubles for us. So we ended the subsidy, and made sure flight prices remained stable, said Naqvi. Referring to the demonetisation, Naqvi mentioned, PM Modi's demonetisation initiative was not any religion specific. It was applied to all. PM Modi is a committed and hard-working leader. When you're taking care of 1.25 billion people, there's no space for favouritism. When asked about the Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's recent Iftar party, Naqvi said, "I am totally against these political Iftar parties. It's only a platform for political exchange. Have you ever heard of Navratri Vrat party." PM Modi's top priority is development, added Naqvi. PM Modi's government has focused on 'sabka saath, sabka vikas' ever since voted into power four years ago Zee News' India Ka DNA 2019 Conclave witnessed top minds in Indian politics and business come together to discuss issues which concern the country and its people. NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday stepped up his attack on the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, saying that the country is without a Finance Minister and the national economy is on the brink of collapse. Attacking the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, who has not been very active due to his kidney ailment and keeps writing blogs of Facebook on issues of national importance, Rahul Gandhi said, ''The FM is locked in a room,'' adding that it was a breaking news on the micro-blogging site. The Congress president also attacked the Prime Minister and said that the man who took the demonetisation decision was ''fast asleep''. Accusing the incumbent BJP regime of not doing enough for bringing the national economy on track, the Gandhi scion said that ''the BJP national treasurer was actually running the economy''. Rahul Gandhi, who recently turned 48, also blamed the BJP's parent body - the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) - for the current financial mess in the country, saying that ''the invisible hands of the RSS has steered the economy onto the rocks.'' The Congress leader took to Twitter to share his observation about the present economic situation. ''Ex ? FM is locked in his room, breaking news on FaceBook. BJP Treasurer has the keys to the Indian Economy. The brightest flee the sinking ship, as the invisible hand of the RSS steers it onto the rocks. Meanwhile, Captain DeMo is fast asleep. Its crazy out there !'' he tweeted. Ex ? FM is locked in his room, breaking news on FaceBook. BJP Treasurer has the keys to the Indian Economy. The brightest flee the sinking ship, as the invisible hand of the RSS steers it onto the rocks. Meanwhile, Captain DeMo is fast asleep. Its crazy out there ! Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 20, 2018 This is not the first time that the Congress president has attacked the Narendra Modi government over its functioning, policies, decisions and major announcements. Rahul had in past attacked the Prime Minister over his decision to implement demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax, which the Congress party termed ''Gabbar Singh Tax'', farmers' loan waiver, rising cross-border terrorism among other issues. Rahul had even attacked the PM over his alleged continued silence on the multi-crore PNB fraud involving billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had earlier taken a dig at the BJP government with a mock letter to the minister by the prime minister. Rahul Gandhi's note on Twitter - addressed to the "FM" and signed off by the "Prime Minister" - said it had been decided that the ministry would be shut till further notice. Rahul Gandhi also posted a news report along with his tweet in which he said that FM Arun Jaitley has not attended office for a month because of a kidney ailment. The report claimed Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has taken leave till May 20 to do yoga and meditation with Swami Visharadanand Saraswathy in Mysuru. The absence of the two effectively left the Finance Ministry headless, the report added. "Dear FM, as you are indisposed and Finance Secretary is on vacation with his Guru on a quest for inner peace, I have decided to shut the Finance Ministry till further notice," Gandhi's tweet said. "The PMO will take all financial policy decisions as before. Prime Minister," he wrote. Expenditure secretary A N Jha is expected to officiate in Adhia's absence, the report said. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi/Dehradun: The country is all geared up to roll out Yoga mats on Thursday to mark the fourth International Day of Yoga. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to lead around 50,000 enthusiasts in performing asanas in Dehradun's Forest Research Institute. Nashik-based Yoga promoter Vishwas Mandalik and the Yoga Institute in Mumbai have been selected for this year's prime minister's award for outstanding contribution in the field. The selection was done from among 186 nominations received under different categories. Two panels were constituted - a screening committee (for preliminary evaluation) and an evaluation committee (jury). Nomination for the awards were invited through open advertisement. The screening committee chaired by the secretary (AYUSH) shortlisted some of the applications. The jury chaired by the Cabinet secretary, with the additional principal secretary to the PM, the foreign secretary, secretary (AYUSH) and some experts as members, examined the recommendations of the screening committee. Mandalik, in 1978, he set up the first branch of Yoga Vidya Dham, and as of today, there are 160 centres in India. He established an institute called Yoga Vidhya Gurukul in 1983 for Yoga education. He wrote 42 books and developed 300 CDs to cover various training courses. The Yoga Institute, established in 1918 by Yogendraji, completed its 100 years serving the society. It produced more than 50,000 Yoga teachers and had over 500 publications to its credit. The institute contributed to the promotion and development of holistic Yoga for over 10 decades, serving all sections of the society. The winners would be felicitated with of a trophy, certificate and a cash award each. The value of each cash award is Rs 25 lakh. Reached Dehradun a short while back. Looking forward to the Yoga Day programme tomorrow morning at the iconic FRI campus at 6:30 AM. Here is a picture from the venue. pic.twitter.com/IfU6J1CrrG Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 20, 2018 Yoga is the journey from me to we. It promises balance, calm, helps boost concentration and gives immense strength. As we approach the #4thYogaDay, I urge people around the world to make Yoga a part of their lives. pic.twitter.com/A4zk3ybNye Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 18, 2018 On the ocassion of #InternationalYogaDay , our PM Shri @narendramodi will be in Dehradun tomorrow; and he will be doing Yoga with 50000 fellow citizens at Doons Forest Research Institute Campus. We consider this opportunity as a blessing for our young state with an old soul. Trivendra S Rawat (@tsrawatbjp) June 20, 2018 Meanwhile, five thousand Yoga events will be held in India, an AYUSH ministry official said, PTI reported. Eight events are planned in New Delhi alone with the main one at Rajpath, where PM Modi showcased a series of asanas on the first Yoga Day in 2015. Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Uma Bharti, Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Shankar Prasad will be in Lucknow, Nagpur, Chennai, Rudraprayag, Hajipur and Patna respectively for Yoga Day, a BJP functionary said. Among other ministers, Ananth Kumar will be in Bengaluru, JP Nadda in Shimla, Narendra Singh Tomar in Gwalior, Piyush Goyal in Noida and Prakash Javadekar in Mumbai. Around 50,000 Yoga enthusiasts including women personnel from paramilitary forces like BSF, CRPF and CISF will participate in an event at Delhi's Red Fort organised by the Brahma Kumaris. Yoga sessions will be also held across the world to mark the day, picked by the United Nations to celebrate the ancient Indian practice that has spread across the globe. Indian missions abroad are also coordinating activities, officials said, to mark the UN day for which the country had lobbied hard. In 2015, the Yoga event on New Delhi's Rajpath made it to the Guinness World Records with 35,985 participants performing asanas at one venue and 84 nationalities being part of it. The UN General Assembly in December 2014 had declared that June 21 would be observed as International Day of Yoga every year. (With PTI inputs) Geneva: India on Wednesday raised the cold-blooded murders of veteran journalist Shujaat Bukhari and Indian Army soldier Aurangzeb inside the United Nations assembly in Geneva while slamming a recent report by the global human rights watch body that alleged human rights violations in Kashmir. It is the cross border terrorism that seeks to muzzle the voices of our people. The last week's gruesome assassination of a senior journalist and his security officers, silencing a voice of moderation, and abduction and brutual killing of a soldier while on his way home for Eid in Jammu and Kashmir, are its chilling reminders, said India in an oral response, presented by Permanent Representative Rajiv K Chander at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Last week, the UN released a first of its kind report on alleged human rights violations in both Kashmir and "Pakistan-administered Kashmir" and sought an international inquiry into these abuses. Calling the report fallacious and motivated, New Delhi questioned the agency's intent behind bringing out a report with selective compilation of largely unverified information. India at UN #HRC38 We are dismayed at the reference to a fallacious and motivated report that has already been rejected by India| The report legitimises terrorism by referring to the UN designated terrorist entities as armed groups and calling terrorists leaders| pic.twitter.com/fTodaXJwQV India at UN, Geneva (@IndiaUNGeneva) June 19, 2018 India pointed out that the UN council was legitimising terrorism which remains the "pernicious violator of fundamental rights". Governments in the Valley are elected through free and fair elections who are sworn to protect the Constitution, that is the bedrock of all freedoms, added India. When the UN report on Kashmir was released on June 14, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a strong-worded statement said that the facts are "overtly prejudiced" and seeks to build a "false narrative". The assassination of cold-blooded killing of Rising Kashmir editor-in-chief Shujaat Bukhari and Army jawan Aurangazeb last week sent shock waves across the country, leading to massive public outrage. Bukhari was on his way to an Iftar party in a car, when three unidentified terrorists shot him dead. Two of his personal security officers (PSO) were also killed in the attack. Aurangzeb, who was a part of Major Rohit Shukla's team that eliminated top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Sameer Tiger, was abducted by terrorists while he was on his home for Eid celebrations. His bullet-ridden body was found by a team of police and Army at Gussu village, about 10 km away from Kalampora, in Pulwama district. A purported video of Aurangzeb being interrogated by terrorists, moments before his death, later surfaced in public domain. Chicago, IL, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) today announced that, following rigorous review, Pavilion Advisory Group Inc. (Pavilion) has once again achieved the Peer Reviewed by HFMA designation for its Investment Consulting and Advisory Services. Pavilions Healthcare Practice team, co-led by Alyssa Cheatham and Meggan OShea, provides investment consulting services to healthcare organizations including stand-alone hospitals and large not-for-profit healthcare systems. Pavilion creates investment strategies that help clients fulfill their mission, meet operational and asset goals, ensure adequate liquidity, integrate assets and liabilities, manage their capital fundraising proceeds, and attain sustainable growth. Our team understands the issues particular to the U.S. healthcare industry, said Keith Mote, President and Managing Director. Weve participated in HFMAs peer review process since 2009 because we believe this designation gives prospective clients valuable information on their service providers. We are proud that our services have continued to meet HFMAs rigorous standards. HFMA's Peer Review process provides healthcare financial managers with an objective, third-party evaluation of business solutions used in the healthcare workplace. The rigorous, 11-step process includes a Peer Review panel review comprising current customers, prospects who have not made a purchase, and industry experts. The Peer Review status of the healthcare business solution and its performance claims are based on effectiveness, quality and usability, price, value, and customer and technical support. Were pleased to have Pavilion renew its HFMA Peer Reviewed designation, said HFMA President and CEO Joseph J. Fifer, FHFMA, CPA. The HFMA Peer Review process assures our members, through a rigorous evaluation, that the reviewed healthcare business solution meets an objective, third-party assessment of overall effectiveness, quality, and value." Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has said that a joint opposition is not a threat to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), as all the parties coming together were against the BJP even during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Speaking to Zee News Editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary at India ka DNA conclave, Shah conceded that the battle for 2019 would be Prime Minister Narendra Modi vs the rest. Responding to a question on Mahagathbandhan, Shah recalled that when he was a worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the elections were Indira Gandhi vs the rest. When I saw that elections were about Indira Gandhi vs the rest, I used to wonder how strong the position of Congress party was. Today, it is Narendra Modi vs the rest, and the BJP is at the same position. We do not need to fear, said Shah. The BJP president further said that the increasing proximity of opposition parties does not matter as people of India would select only Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of the country when the time comes. When the country will decide about who should be the next Prime Minister, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, people will vote for Narendra Modi, he said. According to Amit Shah, the country has seen several alliance governments, both under the UPA and the NDA, and they know that an alliance government is not the best for the interests of the country. He added, When UPA was in power, the then Prime Minister was compelled to say that alliance was his compulsion. When asked about several opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, among others, sharing a stage during the oath taking ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy, the BJP president took a dig at them saying, Mahagathbandhan did not get any push from Karnataka. If the legal age for marriage is 21 years, you can't have 21 children of one year each. All the opposition parties will lose against BJP. And there is a reason for the same. Rahul says remove Modi while BJP says remove poverty. Mamata says remove Modi while BJP says work for development, said Shah. Talking about the end of alliance with Mehbooba Muftis PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, Shah said that people were with the BJP even when it formed the alliance, and they are with the BJP now also when we have ended the alliance with the PDP. He further said that the strategy and vision of the BJP for Jammu and Kashmir will never change, adding that the party wants to work for Ladakh apart from Jammu and Kashmir regions. We had sent money to Kashmir government for re-establishing Kashmiri pandits and migrants from Pakistan, but nothing was done. Mehbooba had the intention, but there were pressure groups, said Shah. He also dismissed claims that the move by the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir was aimed at the strategy for 2019 Lok Sabha elections saying, Pulling out of alliance with PDP is not because of Lok Sabha elections, we would have done the same 6 months later had that been the case. Lucknow: A magisterial inquiry has been ordered and two persons arrested by Lucknow Police in connection with the fire incident at two hotels which claimed five lives. A major fire broke out at two hotels in the busy area of the city morning, killing five people and critically injuring four. The fire broke out at a hotel in the Charbagh area near the railway station at around 6 AM and spread to an adjacent hotel. "We have arrested two persons -- Pankaj and Rajkumar. One of them was a manager in a hotel, while the other was a security guard on duty when the accident took place. In the FIR, the owners, managers, and guards on duty of both hotels were named," Superintendent of Police (Lucknow West) Vikas Chand Tripathi told PTI. Pankaj was the supervisor on duty at Hotel Virat, while Rajkumar was the guard on duty at SSJ International at the time of the incident, police said. An official of Lucknow district administration said, "The deceased has been identified as Mehar (one-and-half-year-old) from Kanpur, Santosh Mane (35) from Pune, Priyansh Sharma (40) from Aligarh, Ganesh Prasad (45) from Patna and an unidentified woman." District Magistrate of Lucknow Kaushal Raj Sharma said, "A magisterial inquiry has been set up for the Charbagh hotel fire incident. The city magistrate will conduct an inquiry into the reasons behind the incident and submit the report in a month. "Teams will be made in two days comprising the additional city magistrate, circle officer, municipal corporation, Lucknow Development Authority and Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration. The team will conduct inspection and inquiry will be done vis-a-vis following buildings - hotels, restaurants, bars and nursing homes," he said. He said the team will find whether the buildings were made according to plan and had no objection certificate from LMC and LDA and whether they had the permissible electric load, which is required to run their whole complex or not. ADG Lucknow zone has been directed to inquire into the incident, Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said. DIG (law and order) Praveen Kumar had said that the map of one of the hotels was not approved, while there was no staff to handle firefighting equipment in the neighboring hotel. Cases have been registered against owners of both hotels under various sections of the IPC, he had said. Bhopal: At a time when Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has been criticised for making giving high-ranking political portfolios to sadhus and sanyasis, cabinet minister Akhileshwaranand has said that the state government must constitute a cow ministry to better take care of the animal. Chairman of the Cow Protection Board, Akhileshwaranand was promoted to cabinet rank last week. At the time, he had said that he deserved the promotion because of the position he held in Madhya Pradesh Cow Protection Board (MPCPB). Now, Akhileshwaranand has highlighted what cows in the state deserve. "I request the Madhya Pradesh govt to constitute a cow ministry. The CM himself is a farmer & people like me will help him in this. I am getting full support from the public," he told news agency ANI. Not surprisingly, Twitter quickly came up with sharp reactions to the demand and underlined the need to address more urgent problems in the state. If #Akhileshwaranand, MP Cabinet Minister has full support of public, let him first clear the roads from stray bovines, to earn credibility. Otherwise #CowMinistry, my and many other's foot! Rupsas Gujun (@GujunRupsas) June 20, 2018 Sir feed cows its good for them. Provide shelter and create employment .many people dont bother cows until they wanna blame somebody.why cant you people act or is it just a talk. Mithilesh Korrapati (@mithileshchowd1) June 20, 2018 I hope that they will be sane enough not to have a minister for cows. Why not use the same energy and work for the betterment of the society rather than waste tax payers money? Darshan Suvarna (@darshansuvarna) June 20, 2018 In recent past, there have been other voices in support of having a cow ministry as well. In August of 2017, Hindustan Times reported that VHP wants a cow ministry at the Centre and in states. Back in 2013, BJP's manifesto for Rajasthan had promised a cow ministry as well. NEW DELHI: Escalating its attack on veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, the BJP on Wednesday demanded that the former should be immediately sacked for describing Hindus as terrorists. Speaking to reporters, BJP spokesperson Sambi Patra said, ''We demand Congress leader Digvijay Singh should be sacked from the party. You (Digvijay Singh) pointed finger at millions of Hindus, denigrated them and called them terrorists.'' Patra even asked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to clarify his party's stand on the issue. ''Why do you take Hindus for granted Rahul Gandhi?'' Patra asked. We demand Congress leader Digvijay Singh should be sacked from the Party. You (Digvijay Singh) pointed finger at millions of Hindus, denigrated them & called them terrorists. Why do you take Hindus for granted Rahul Gandhi?: Sambit Patra, BJP pic.twitter.com/aGnL1hK531 ANI (@ANI) June 20, 2018 The demand from ruling BJP came days after Digvijaya Singh said all Hindu terrorists arrested till now are from RSS. Clarifying on his alleged ''Hindu terrorism'' remarks made earlier, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh had said on Friday that he spoke on 'Sanghi-terrorism', but never alluded to 'Hindu terrorism'. You have wrong information that Digvijaya Singh used the term 'Hindu terrorism'. I have always used the term 'Sanghi terrorism', said Singh at a public conference. No terror activity can be defined on the basis of religion. No religion can be a supporter of terrorism, the senior Congress leader. Attacking the RSS, Singh said that several blasts were propelled by Sangh ideologies. Bomb blasts were executed by people influenced by Sangh ideology, be it Malegaon blast, Mecca Masjid blast, blast in Samjhauta express or Dargah Sharif. This outfit, which propagates violence and hatred further propagates terrorism, he said. Speaking on Pranab Mukherjee`s much-talked-about address at RSS headquarter in Nagpur, Singh has earlier said that it was very courageous of the former President to challenge the RSS in their own "den" and that what he said was amounted to hitting at the "core ethos of the RSS". However, he made a U-turn later and said that all Hindu terrorists arrested till now are from RSS, evoking a sharp response from the BJP. BJP leader Vishwas Sarang said, Congress always makes caste-based remarks and Digvijayas statements are part of the partys political game plan. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has assigned Digvijaya to instigate caste-based politics in MP ahead of elections. Rahul himself went to Italy to meet separatist forces. LUCKNOW: Days after Centre revoked its month-long suspension of anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday assured that several Pakistan-backed terror groups active in the state will be completely wiped out in the days to come. The Home Minister said that the government will not tolerate terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir anymore and full-fledged operations will be launched to flush out terrorists. Singh stressed that restoration of peace in the terrorism-hit state was the top priority of the Narendra Modi government. Singh, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Lucknow, also reiterated the Modi government's resolve to ensure a complete end to terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking on the sidelines of an event at a private hospital here, the senior BJP leader also warned terrorist groups against any misadventure and said that security forces were prepared to foil any such attempt. The Home Minister's statement came a day after the BJP ended its alliance with Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP and pulled out of the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, citing growing incidences of terrorism. The state last week witnessed the cold-blooded killing of the Rising Kashmir journalist Shujaat Bukhari and the army rifleman Aurangzeb by Pakistan-linked terrorists. Growing incidents of cross-border terrorism, attack on Army and civilians and infiltration was cited among the factors which led to the BJP severing its ties with the PDP. PDP was reportedly unhappy with the Centre's decision to revoke the anti-terror operations in the Kashmir Valley and wanted it to be extended for another month, which was rejected by the Modi government. Within 24 hours of the breakdown of the ruling BJP PDP alliance in J&K, President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday approved the imposition of Governor's Rule in the state for six months with immediate effect. Commenting on the security situation in J&K, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Bipin Singh Rawat said that the imposition of Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir will not affect the ongoing anti-terror operations, adding that there's no political interference. We only stopped our operations during Ramzan. But, we saw what happened. The imposing of Governor's rule will not affect our operations. Our operations will go on like they used to. We don't face any political interference, said Rawat at an event in New Delhi. (With Agency inputs) Thane: A Thane court has sentenced two Bangladeshi couples to two years' imprisonment for staying illegally in India. Assistant sessions judge Ms. S A Sinha convicted the four Bangladeshi nationals last week on charges under the Foreigners Act and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on them. According to the prosecution, the police raided a hutment colony in the Mira Road area of Thane district on December 28 last year after getting a tip-off. The police arrested the four people -- Uttam Golap Sikandar, 27, MauUttamSikandar, 24, AllauddinGaniMalik, 40, andMuslimaAllauddinMalik, 38 -- from there. The prosecution further said the accused admitted that they were Bangladeshi nationals but failed to produce a valid proof of their identification and residence. The accused told the police that they did petty works to earn their livelihood. After hearing both the sides, the judge said it appears from the record that all the accused are poor people and they entered the country because of their bad financial condition and unemployment. They did daily wage jobs in India, she noted. Hence, while imposing the punishment on them, it is necessary to show leniency, the judge observed. Therefore, considering the situation, the judge sentenced them to two years imprisonment each and said it is required to give a message to the society and prospective criminals that crime never goes unpunished. The court also directed the authorities concerned to take necessary steps to deport the accused to their country on the completion of their sentence. Over 8.5 million people are uprooted across the globe, shared the United Nations on World Refugee Day, which is celebrated on Wednesday, June 20, every year. Requesting solidarity, compassion and action, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that a new model to help those uprooted from their homes is now being tested. A new model is now being tested, with positive results - based on equity, on justice and on humanitarian values and standards. Countries and communities need more systematic, long-term support as they take on the job of helping uprooted families. Refugees themselves need to be included in new communities, and given the chance to realise their potential. And solutions are needed - to help refugees return home when the time is right, or build new lives elsewhere. The Global Compact on Refugees to be adopted this year - aims to make these happen, said UN in a statement. Nine out of 10 refugees are in their own countries or countries next door, and the impact is massive on refugees themselves, and on the communities that open their doors to them, added the statement by UN. On World Refugee Day, its time to recognise their humanity in action and challenge ourselves, and others, to join them in receiving and supporting refugees in our schools, neighbourhoods, and workplaces. This is where solidarity starts with all of us, said the UN. We see this every day in Beirut, Lebanon; Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh; Yumbe, Uganda; Frankfurt, Germany; Lima, Peru and countless villages, towns and cities around the world. Its the men, women and children there, the local organisations and faith groups, the teachers, local business people and municipal leaders who make the difference with humanity, compassion and solidarity. Sharing details, Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said the continued crises in places like South Sudan and Congo, as well as the exodus of Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar that started last year, raised the overall figure of forced displacements in 2017 to 68.5 million. Of that total, 16.2 million were newly displaced last year -- an average of more than 44,000 people per day. Most have been displaced for longer than that, some forced to flee multiple times. For the fourth year running, Turkey was again the country with the largest number of refugees - mostly Syrians - at 3.5 million at the end of 2017. The United States received the most new individual applications for asylum last year, at nearly 332,000. Germany was second at more than 198,000. But UNHCR, Grandi's agency, said the figures debunked the flawed perception among some that a refugee crisis has affected more developed countries in the "Global North". It said 85 per cent of refugees are in developing countries, many of them "desperately poor". With agency inputs Hong Kong: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is planning to raise up to $6.1 billion from a Hong Kong IPO launching this week, people with knowledge of the matter said, in what will be one of the biggest tech floats globally of recent years. Xiaomi, which also makes internet-connected devices, plans to sell about 2.18 billion shares in its initial public offering (IPO) at a price range of HK$17 to HK$22 ($2.17 to $2.80) each, said the people, who declined to be identified as the information was not public. The company plans to bring in eight cornerstone investors including U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc, Chinese express delivery company SF Holding Co Ltd (002352.SZ), domestic telecom service provider China Mobile Ltd and state-run conglomerate China Merchants Group Ltd, according to the people. The cornerstone investors are expected to buy about 15 percent of the shares being offered in the IPO, the people said. Beijing-based, Cayman-domiciled Xiaomi will open the book to intuitional investors on Thursday, they said. Xiaomi declined to comment. Qualcomm, SF Holding, China Mobile and China Merchants Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CLSA, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are joint sponsors for Xiaomi`s Hong Kong IPO. NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday morning approved the imposition of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect. The move comes within 24 hours of the breakdown of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - People's Democratic Party (PDP) alliance in the state. On Tuesday evening, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav announced that the party is pulling out of the alliance with Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP. Later, Mufti and her team of ministers submitted their resignation to Governor NN Vohra. Following this, Governor Vohra forwarded his report to President Kovind for the imposition of Governor's rule under Section 92 of the Constitution of J&K. In all states of India, the state government's failure results in President's rule. The process is slightly more nuanced in J&K where not the President's but Governor's rule is imposed. Under the provision of Section 92 of the J&K Constitution, Governor's rule is imposed for six months, but only after the consent of the President of India. The Constitution of India grants special status to J&K among Indian states, and it is the only state in India to have a separate Constitution and regulations specific to it. The President and first lady Savita Kovind, who are on a three-nation visit, arrived in Suriname on Tuesday night. The Unfolding Of Events Rumours of a rift between PDP and BJP started doing the rounds after the BJP-ruled Centre decided to resume anti-terror operations, after a month-long suspension of a ceasefire in the state during the Holy month of Ramzan. While the Mufti-led PDP wanted Centre to reach out to the separatists and give them more time, the latter argued that the separatists were handed several opportunities but failed. "It has become untenable for the BJP to continue in the alliance government," said Ram Madhav while apprising the media about BJP's decision to pull out of the alliance. The decision was taken after consulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, he said. Citing the assassination of Rising Kashmir's editor Shujaat Bukhari's, Madhav said, "Terrorism, violence and radicalisation have risen and fundamental rights of the citizens are under danger in the Valley. Shujaat Bukhari killing is an example." The veteran journalist was shot dead in Srinagar by unidentified assailants last week. On the same On the same day, Army jawan Aurangzeb was abducted and brutually murdered by terrorists. The incidents led to a massive public outcry. Later Mehbooba said, "I submitted my resignation to the Governor and have told him that we are not looking to explore any other alliance... We had formed the alliance with BJP because we shared a grand vision. It took us many months to form an alliance whose prime focus was reconciliation and dialogue." Former state Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said that his party will not be staking claim to form the government in the state and called for fresh elections soon. "I have told Governor that since no party has the mandate to form the government, he will have to impose Governor's rule in the state. We also requested the Governor that Governor's rule should not remain imposed for a long time period. After all, people have the right to choose their government. Fresh elections should take place and we will accept the mandate of the people," he said. Bengaluru: Streetlights in Karnataka's IT city Bengaluru will continue to keep the city glowing thanks to an agreement between the civic administration here and the electrical contractors. According to a TNM report, hundreds of electrical contractors in Bengaluru had earlier threatened to go on a strike over payment of Rs 35 crore due to them. However, the strike was called off following a meeting between them and the BBMP officials here. The strike would have plunged several localities of the hi-tech city into darkness and created problems for the local residents. Electrical contractors have the task of switching on streetlights in the city. They also attend complaints made by residents and carry out repair works. Streetlights in several areas of the city including stretches of Residency Road, Corporation Circle, Lower Agaram Road were switched off on Wednesday until talks with the BBMP were held. While the talks were still on, switchmen agreed to call off their strike and switched on streetlights in all 198 wards in the city. Earlier in the day, the contractors had staged a protest outside the BBMP office demanding pending payments. The contractors later held talks with BBMP officials during which they agreed to switch on street lights but refused to carry out repair works. They also refused to attend complaints from local residents until the payment is made. Following the talks, the BBMP offered to pay half of the amount now and promised to pay the rest by Friday, which was rejected by the contractors. TORONTO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Torontonian Tina Ware understands the importance of confidence and self-esteem. The writer, travel agent and humanitarian had body image issues just like her main character in her recently released book, Somewhere in the Middle ( Victorine Publishing ). Self-esteem issues are something that women across Canada can relate to. According to a study published in 2015, one in five Canadian women report being dissatisfied with their appearance. Somewhere in the Middle follows the story of Danae, who moves from the suburbs to Toronto where she realizes fitting in as a young adult, and dealing with school, dating and her thick, coiled hair, is tough, but finding self-worth is even tougher. I wanted to write a book that every young woman could relate to, regardless of their background, a book that would help boost confidence and self-esteem, Tina writes. With the prominence of social media at our fingertips, I felt it was important to highlight the theme of body image. Like the main character in the book, I struggled with self-esteem in young adulthood and it wasnt until I realized that other people I idolized had the same issue, that I started feeling better about myself. Tina, who was born, raised and lives in Toronto, looks to inspire people with her writing and traveling. Her goal is to inspire and motivate people to leave an impact wherever they are. Somewhere in the Middle is now available on her website and online through Amazon , Kobo and Indigo . About Tina Ware Tina Ware is a writer, avid traveler, entrepreneur, travel agent and humanitarian who has been in love with reading for as long as she can remember. Her goal as a writer is to craft books that are relatable and have positive messages for both youth and adults. To keep up-to-date with Tina, follower her on Twitter and Instagram @tinaware or visit her website, www.tinaware.com . MUMBAI: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will participate as Chief Guest at the International Yoga Day 2018 celebrations being held in Mumbai on Thursday, June 21. According to reports, Naidu will lead the celebrations at Bandra Reclamation Sealink Promenade in Mumbai. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, and many top political leaders will also attend the event which is being organized by a voluntary organization from Mumbai. Recognizing that Yoga provides a holistic approach to health and well-being, the United Nations has proclaimed June 21 as International Day of Yoga. Since the first International Day of Yoga held on June 21, 2015, the event is being celebrated in many countries across the world every year to raise awareness on the benefits of practicing Yoga. The theme for this year is Yoga for Peace. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead fourth International Yoga Day celebrations here in Uttarakhand on Thursday in the presence of thousands of volunteers performing yoga "asanas". He will start the event from the lawns of Forest Research Institute when a series of yoga-related events will be organised around the world to mark the occasion. In a statement, Modi on Wednesday greeted yoga enthusiasts across the world, saying "yoga is not just a set of exercises that keeps the body fit. It is a passport to health assurance, a key to fitness and wellness". "Nor is yoga only what you practice in the morning. Doing your day-to-day activities with diligence and complete awareness is a form of yoga as well," he said. "In a world of excess, yoga promises restraint and balance. In a world suffering from mental stress, yoga promises calm. In a distracted world, yoga helps focus. In a world of fear, yoga promises hope, strength and courage." Earlier, the Prime Minister took to social media to share the intricacies of various yoga asanas and posted pictures of people performing yoga at various locations across the world. New Delhi: Ace comedian turned actor Kapil Sharma has been away from the limelight for quite some time. The actor, who had a rather rough time lately with the legal notices flying and him accusing a journalist of maligning his image through negative reportage is now back in town. Kapil was spotted at the Mumbai airport last night and he looked visibly happy. He was smiling like never before and he had a special company. Guess what? No, it was not his girlfriend Ginni Chatrath but a cute little pooch. Yes! He had an adorable dog along with him who made him a happy face once again. Check out pictures: (Pic Courtesy: Yogen Shah) It's good to see Kapil getting back in old form. He recently tweeted after a long time and even briefed about having changed his lifestyle for good. Chalo now good night .. trying to change my life style .. god bless all .. love u KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) June 7, 2018 Earlier this year, Kapil made his comeback with 'Family Time With Kapil Sharma', however, it didn't flag off as expected and it has reportedly gone off air. Many television celebs have supported to Kapil, from Shilpa Shinde, Sugandha Mishra, Krushna Abhishek and Bharti Singh, to Sunil Grover, Kiku Sharda, Ali Asgarall have expressed their concerns about his health. Kapil fans are eagerly waiting for him to make splashing comeback! Los Angeles: "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria and Jose Antonio Baston have become proud parents to their first child - a baby boy. The 43-year-old actor gave birth to the little one at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center here, HOLA! USA reported. They have named their son Santiago Enrique Baston. "We are so grateful for this beautiful blessing," Longoria and Baston, 50, told the magazine. The couple recently celebrated their two year anniversary on May 21. A rep for Longoria had confirmed her pregnancy in December last year. Mumbai: Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt are reportedly seeing each other. The two very talented actors, who apparently fell in love while shooting for the first schedule of Ayan Mukerji's Brahmastra, may get married soon. The love blossoming between the two is going strong and they may take the marital plunge sometime in 2020. Yes, according to a report in Bollywoodlife.com, Ranbir and Alia, are very sure about each other. Alia is in a great phase of her life right now. She is in love and they both are sure of each other. Marriage is certainly on the cards but it wont happen before 2020," BL quoted a source as saying. Interestingly, both Ranbir and Alia, who have remained tight-lipped about their personal life so far, have not refuted rumours. In fact, they have dropped ample hints about being in love. Ranbir is a heartthrob who has millions of female fan following. He was initially linked to his first co-star Sonam Kapoor. Later, he was in a relationship with Deepika Padukone. After his break-up with his Bachna Ae Haseeno co-star, Ranbir started dating Katrina. But his relationship with her went kaput a couple of years back. Alia, on the other hand, was believed to be in a relationship with Sidharth Malhotra. But the two neither confirmed nor denied being a couple. On the work front, Alia (25) and Ranbir (35) will be sharing screen space in Brahmastra for the first time and it will be interesting to see their chemistry on screen. Ranbir is gearing up for the release of Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju, a biopic on Sanjay Dutt produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. He also has Karan Johar's Shamshera in his kitty while Alia has Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy with Ranveer Singh and Kalank with Varun Dhawan in the pipeline. Though Alia and Ranbir haven't yet discussed marriage yet, it would be interesting to see if speculation about their marriage in 2020 turns out to be true. New Delhi: Google's artificial intelligence will no more be limited to just driverless cars soon it might be able to predict when a patient is about to die. As per a report in the Bloomberg, Google's Medical Brain team is using new type of algorithm backed by artificial intelligence that can predict death among hospital patients. Using the example of a woman suffering from late-stage breast cancer, the report said that she came to a city hospital, which predicted a 9.3 percent chance of her death during her stay at the hospital. In contrast, the Google AI assessed her her death risk at 19.9 percent. It seemed that Google's predictions were more accurate as the woman passed away soonafter. What impressed medical experts most was Googles ability to sift through data previously out of reach: notes buried in PDFs or scribbled on old charts. The neural net gobbled up all this unruly information then spat out predictions. And it did it far faster and more accurately than existing techniques. Googles system even showed which records led it to conclusions, Bloomberg wrote. Meanwhile, Google CEO Sundar Pichai last week announced several product and platform announcements that have Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology embedded in them and are powered by its AI assistant Google Assistant. Google has been using AI to make it easier for specially-abled people to communicate through Morse code technology. Google AI can now write words depending on the Morse code input. Google's implementation will replace the keyboard with two areas for short and long signals and users can use multiple word suggestions above the keyboard just like on the normal keyboard. The company has also created a Morse poster so as to learn Morse code more easily. Google is adding morse code input to its mobile keyboard. It also added AI capabilities in Photos, Gmail and Google Assistant which is now present in nearly every consumer-centric device. With Agency Inputs The way Chinese companies do business could pose problems for Chinese President Xi Jinping's pet Belt and Road Initiative, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has indicated. He said Chinese companies' refusal to use local workers or resources is not welcome in his country. Mohamad trained his criticism on the Chinese business practices that have attracted criticism all over the world, especially in the form of functioning as debt traps for projects under the BRI. His comments also come as a word of caution to a number on Chinese projects in a number of African nations and other projects like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka. "We welcome foreign direct investment, from anywhere, certainly from China. But when it involves giving contracts to China, borrowing huge sums of money from China, and the contract goes to China, and China contractors prefer to use their own workers from China, use everything imported from China, even the payment is not made here, it's made in China. So, we gain nothing at all. That kind of contract is not something that I welcome," the 92-year-old Mohamad said in an interview to South China Morning Post (SCMP), the Hong Kong-based English daily. He also pointed a finger at the systemic problems with "Chinese big contractors who want only a contract here, and are not even hiring the workers; the workers are all imported from China." "That is not welcome," he declared. Mohamad also attacked massive Chinese real estate projects, which he had repeatedly criticised during his recent election campaign. "The other thing is that they develop whole cities, very sophisticated, very expensive cities, which Malaysians cannot buy. So they are going to bring foreigners to live in those cities. Now, no country in the world will accept a lot of immigrants coming into the country," he said. " we don't want to have whole cities built in Malaysia, have them purchase a big piece of Malaysian land, and then bring in foreigners to stay there. That is what I am against. I am against it even if it is from India or from Arab countries or from Europe. Foreign immigrants in huge numbers - nobody will welcome, certainly not in Malaysia," he told SCMP. Mohamad's recently-formed government has ordered a review of a number of infrastructure projects backed and funded by China that had been agreed to by the previous government of Najib Razak, a former protege of Mohamad. Among these was the $13.1 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), which aims to link Malaysia's more industrialised east coast with its less-developed western coast and interior highlands. will run from Port Klang, Malaysia's main port near the capital Kuala Lumpur, to Tumpat on the border with Thailand, bisecting the peninsula's hilly interior. Other projects include a build-and-manage agreement for a deep-sea port and an industrial park near the city of Melaka, a port rebuilding project in the town of Kuantan, and a massive residential project close to the southern border with Singapore. Mohamad's hard line on these projects is not without basis. Sri Lanka has already handed over complete control of the Hambantota Port to a Chinese company after failing to find the money to repay the loan that China had given it for the port's construction. Pakistan is also facing a steadily worsening financial situation burdened by the repayments of the loans it has taken from China for CPEC. WASHINGTON: As India resumed its anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir, a top US commander launched a fiery attack on Pakistan for providing safe haven to terrorists. Army Lieutenant General Austin 'Scott' Miller President Donald's Trumps latest pick to head the US-led military forces in Afghanistan called for better cooperation and coordination from Islamabad in the fight against terrorism on Tuesday. "We have to squeeze out safe havens (from Pakistan) if we're going to be successful here (Afghanistan), Miller said while responding to a question on achieving a long-term stability in Afghanistan. Its obviously a very tough neighborhood with some tough neighbors, General Miller told US lawmakers, as reported by the Washington Post. Pakistan must be part of the solution, and we should have high expectations that they are part of the solution. Expressing disappointment in Pakistan, the 57-year old military veteran, said, As I look at Pakistan, Pakistan must be part of the solution, and we should have high expectations that they are part of the solution, not just diplomatically but from a security standpoint as well. The US, he said, ought to have high expectations from Pakistan to address the issues like the presence of Haqqani network and safe havens. Millers comments came five days after Pakistan Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in eastern Afghanistans Kunar Province. Pakistan's own stability and prosperity will benefit from peace in Afghanistan, he added. The US senators, however, pointed out that Pakistani actions so far seems to be contradictory. While unveiling the South Asia strategy in August 2017, Trump had accused Pakistan of giving "safe haven to agents of chaos, violence, and terror", a fact reiterated by India time and again. With agency inputs The simmering tensions between China and a number of other countries over the South China Sea dispute can be addressed by removing warships from the region, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has suggested. He proposed a multi-nation force of small vessels to protect the shipping lanes in the region from pirates. Mohamad, who recently returned to power, addressed the escalating tensions in the South China Sea, with the US and China taking turns sending warships on patrols through the waterway. "I think there should not be too many warships. Warships create tension. Someday, somebody might make some mistakes and there will be a fight, some ships will be lost, and there might even be a war. We don't want that," he said, in an interview to South China Morning Post (SCMP), the Hing Kong-based English daily. "But you need to have small boats to make sure the sea is safe from pirates and that the countries in Southeast Asia and China and other countries in the East can cooperate to keep the seas safe for the ships to pass through," Mohamad added. He said the ASEAN countries had high stakes in keeping the South China Sea free of pirates, and suggested they could take the lead in a joint anti-piracy force. "But if China wants to participate with small boats, they are welcome. Anybody, even the US, if they want to participate, but don't bring battleships here," he said. Mohamad expressed confidence that it was not Chinese President Xi Jinping's intention to prevent ships of other countries from passing through the Malacca Strait or the South China Sea. "I think it is to the benefit of China to have the seas open, because then, there will be more trade. You can't expect all the goods going to China to change into Chinese ships before entering the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea The sea must always be open," he said. Malaysia is one of the victims of China's expansionist claims in the South China Sea. It holds some of the islands in the Spratly Islands chain, which lies off the coast of East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS: The United States withdrew from a "hypocritical and self-serving" United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform, a move activists warned would make advancing human rights globally even more difficult. Standing with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting US efforts to reform the council. She also criticized countries which shared US values and encouraged Washington to remain, but "were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo." Washington`s withdrawal is the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It also comes as the United States faces intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra`ad al-Hussein on Monday called on Washington to halt its "unconscionable" policy. "Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights," said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of Congo. She did not mention Saudi Arabia, which rights groups pushed to be suspended in 2016 over killings of civilians in the Yemen war. Among reforms the United States had pushed for was to make it easier to kick out member states with egregious rights records. Currently, a two-thirds majority vote by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly is needed to suspend a member state. Haley also said the "disproportionate focus and unending hostility towards Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US decision. The United States has long shielded its ally Israel at the United Nations. In citing what it says is bias against Israel, the administration of President Donald Trump could further fuel Palestinian arguments that Washington cannot be a neutral mediator as it prepares to roll out a Middle East peace plan. Washington also relocated its embassy to Jerusalem after recognising it as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of US policy. The United States is half-way through a three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if it was not overhauled. `MISGUIDED POLICY` Rights groups have criticized the Trump administration for not making human rights a priority in its foreign policy. Critics say this sends a message that the administration turns a blind eye to human rights abuses in some parts of the world. "Given the state of human rights in today`s world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back," Zeid said after Haley announced the US withdrawal. Reuters reported last week that talks on reforming the council had failed to meet Washington`s demands, suggesting the Trump administration would quit. "The Human Rights Council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those that committed no offence," Pompeo said. Diplomats have said the US withdrawal could bolster countries such as Cuba, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan, which resist what they see as U.N. interference in sovereign issues. Haley said the withdrawal "is not a retreat from our human rights commitments." Twelve rights and aid groups, including Human Rights First, Save the Children and CARE, warned Pompeo the US withdrawal would "make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world." Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union`s Human Rights Program, said Trump`s "misguided policy of isolationism only harms American interests." The EU said Washington`s decision "risks undermining the role of the US as a champion and supporter of democracy on the world stage." British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was regrettable and that the council was the "best tool the international community has to address impunity." FIRST MEMBER TO WITHDRAW The Human Rights Council meets three times a year to examine human rights violations worldwide. It has mandated independent investigators to look at situations including Syria, North Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan. Its resolutions are not legally binding but carry moral authority. When the Council was created in 2006, US President George W. Bush`s administration shunned the body. Under President Barack Obama the United States was elected for a maximum two consecutive terms on the council by the UN General Assembly. After a year off, Washington was re-elected in 2016 for its current third term. UN officials said the United States would be the first member to withdraw from the council. Haley said a year ago that Washington was reviewing its membership. The body has a permanent standing agenda item on suspected violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories that Washington wanted removed. The council last month voted to probe killings in Gaza and accused Israel of using excessive force. The United States and Australia cast the only "no" votes. "The UN Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel," said Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth. ROME and STAMFORD, Conn., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Finacity Corporation (Finacity) announced today that it has facilitated a EUR 30 million receivables financing facility for Green Network, a primary independent Italian player in the energy market. The new facility provides additional financing for the growth of the company in the electricity and gas markets in Italy. About Green Network The Green Network Group was founded in 2003 by an enthusiastic group of professionals who, since the outset, have worked hard to make the company one of the most firmly established and reliable operators on the Italian energy market. Created following the deregulation of the electricity market (Bersani Decree 79/99), the Group has been an energy partner to major domestic business clients since the outset, acting as a middleman between them and the domestic producers. Green Network is also the first independent player to enter in the UK market as a supplier, currently serving 250,000 retail users. In November 2017, Green Network acquired Energrid and Tradeinv Gas & Energy from the US fund HII. This acquisition has led to the formation of one of the largest Italian groups in energy sales (Power & Gas) with more than 600,000 customers and sales of 10 Tw/h for power and 500 MSmc for Gas. For further information, please visit www.greennetwork.it . About Finacity Finacity specializes in the structuring and provision of efficient capital markets receivables funding programs, servicing, and bond administration. Finacity currently facilitates the financing and administration of an annual volume of receivables of approximately US $100 billion. With resources in the USA, Europe and Latin America, Finacity conducts business throughout the world with obligors in 175 countries. For further information, please visit www.finacity.com. For more information on this transaction please contact: Finacity Joao Valente Tel: +33-(0)9-541-22-555 Tel: +1-(203) 428-3536 Email: jvalente@finacity.com Jim Leonard Tel: +1- (203) 428-3584 Email: jleonard@finacity.com Russian occupant forces did not use Minsk-banned weaponry over the period A serviceman of Ukraine's government forces sustained combat wounds in Donbas on Tuesday. The press centre of the HQ of the Joint Forces Operation posted this on Facebook. From 7 a.m. till 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Russian mercenaries attacked the positions of Ukrainian troops four times. The enemy troops opened fire mostly in Donetsk region, using automatic grenade launchers, heavy machineguns and small arms; the Ukrainian forces had to return fire several times. The enemy casualties are being specified, the HQ of the Joint Forces Operation said. Earlier on June 19, the Headquarters of the Joint Force Operation published the photo of the Russian soldiers located in the hostile positions in Novoazovsk area, the occupied area of Donetsk region. It is specified that the electronic warfare means complex is depicted in the photo (two antennas and two solar batteries). It is supposed that the means were used as part of radio stations working at the short-wave frequency. A man in the Russian mold uniform stays near an antenna. It is supposed that he is a representative of one of the illegal armed units or a military advisor of the Armed Forces of Russia. Over the past 24 hours, Russian mercenaries have attacked positions of Ukrainian troops in Donbas 26 times. This led to combat injuries for three Ukrainian soldiers; as of 7 a.m. Wednesday, no fatalities were reported. According to the HQ of the Joint Forces Operation, the enemy used Minsk-banned heavy weaponry three times. The illegal armed units attempted to break the defense lines of Ukrainian forces near Artemove, Donetsk region. High fire density was observed in Starohnativka, Chermalyk, Talakivka and Vodyane. The adversaries used artillery, mortars, IFVs and small arms. On June 19, a serviceman of Ukraine's government forces sustained combat wounds. The press centre of the HQ of the Joint Forces Operation posted this on Facebook. From 7 a.m. till 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Russian mercenaries attacked the positions of Ukrainian troops four times. The enemy troops opened fire mostly in Donetsk region, using automatic grenade launchers, heavy machineguns and small arms; the Ukrainian forces had to return fire several times. Earlier on June 19, the Headquarters of the Joint Force Operation published the photo of the Russian soldiers located in the hostile positions in Novoazovsk area, the occupied area of Donetsk region. It is specified that the electronic warfare means complex is depicted in the photo (two antennas and two solar batteries). It is supposed that the means were used as part of radio stations working at the short-wave frequency. A man in the Russian mold uniform stays near an antenna. It is supposed that he is a representative of one of the illegal armed units or a military advisor of the Armed Forces of Russia. Open source The militants attacked the Joint Forces Operation positions three times from 7:00 till 18:00 today. No casualties reported. This was reported on the Facebook page of the Joint Forces Operation HQ. The enemy fired at the Ukrainian positions from 82-mm mortar launchers in Luhansk sector near Novotoshkivske. Russia troops were shooting at our positions from small arms and grenade launchers in Mariupol and Donetsk sector near Pisky and Lebedynske. No casualties among Ukrainian soldiers reported. The information about the casualties among enemys ranks is being determined. As we reported earlier, the Ukrainian army re-claimed another piece of the enemy-occupied territory in Donbas. The respective operation took about two weeks to complete, no casualties among Ukrainian troops occurred over the period; the operation was strictly classified. The Ukrainian forces developed the operation plan and brought it to life; the fight occurred in the vicinities of the village. The Ukrainian side took no casualties; the enemy lost one man killed, and another man wounded. Ukraine news on 112.international Open source The Ukrainian army re-claimed another piece of the enemy-occupied territory in Donbas; according to the HQ of the joint forces operation, the military units advanced two kilometers forward from their previous positions near Zholobok, Luhansk region. The Facebook post mentioned that lately, the pro-Russian mercenaries have been too close to the Ukrainian positions, so the Ukrainian military command decided to move the emplacements forward, thus creating the 'safety line'. The respective operation took about two weeks to complete, no casualties among Ukrainian troops occurred over the period; the operation was strictly classified. 'The HQ planned, prepared and conducted measures to create a two kilometers-deep provision line. It was a tough task for the troops that held the defense lines in Luhansk region intact because the enemy constantly landed attacks and performed intense reconnaissance. Nevertheless, the task was completed successfully', the message said. Last month, the HQ of the Joint Forces Operation claimed that the government troops released Pivdenne village in Donetsk region. 'The tactical situation of the defenses in the area of Horlivka somewhat improved. The well-planned and prepared actions of the reconnaissance of the 24th brigade allowed them to provide safety for the civilians in Pivdenne (Chygyri). A group of enemy fighters was spotted in the area in early April. They were checking if the locals were loyal to the Ukrainian government, showing their presence there,' the HQ of the Joint Forces Operation said. The Ukrainian forces developed the operation plan and brought it to life; the fight occurred in the vicinities of the village. The Ukrainian side took no casualties; the enemy lost one man killed, and another man wounded. Open source Excluding the crash of Boeing MH17, 2725 civilians have died since the outbreak of hostilities in Donbas region in the April 2014. Fiona Fraser, a Chairman of the UN Monitoring Mission on Human Rights reported this at the briefing session. 'For the entire period of the conflict, since April 14, 2014, till May 15, 2018, at the very least 2725 civilians have died. Among them: 1568 men, 961 women, 93 boys, 47 girls, 56 adults of unidentified sex,' Fiona Fraser claimed. Related: Day in Donbas: Three attacks of pro-Russian militants during the day 298 of civilians, including 80 children died in the plane crash flight MH17 on July 17, 2014. Which eventually increases the civilian death toll to 3023. The total number of civilians injured by the conflict is between 7-9 thousand. Moreover, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine informed that since the outbreak of hostilities in Donbas region until the October of 2017, the toll combat is 10710 of soldiers, 2378 from them are dead. As it was reported earlier, 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. They visited annexed Crimea and were banned from entry for three years The border guards of Ukraine did not allow two Russian actors who earlier illegally crossed the state border of Ukraine through the closed checkpoints of occupied Crimea to enter the country as the press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported. The border guards found the citizen of Russia who visited occupied Crimea at Kyiv Zhuliany Airport during the registration for the flight Minsk-Kyiv. It was Russian actor Boris Kamorzin who visited Crimea in 2015 for the shooting of a film without a proper permission. Moreover, one more Russian was disclosed at checkpoint Starokozache checkpoint. It as Sergey Mikhailov who visited temporarily occupied territory in 2015. At the moment, they are banned from entry to Ukraine for three years. Totally, 122 foreign cultural and art figures were banned from the entry to Ukraine due to the illegal visit of Crimea. 52 persons were banned from the crossing of the state border. Earlier the SBU banned 23 Russian citizens from entering the country; they are the same diplomats who had been ousted from the United Kingdom because of the high-profile case of Sergei Skripal. The Fund's Managing Director praised the fact that the Ukrainian Parliament approved the respective law, which she described as a 'step forward to successful combating corruption' Open source The International Monetary Fund (the IMF) welcomed the creation of the Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine; this was mentioned in the statement released by Christine Lagarde, the Fund's Managing Director, which she composed based on her conversation with Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko. 'I am very encouraged by the adoption of the law on the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) by the Ukrainian parliament, which is an important step forward in the authorities fight against corruption. The new law paves the way for setting up an independent and strong anti-corruption court that together with existing institutions (NABU and the Special Anticorruption Prosecutors Office) will contribute to delivering the accountability and justice that the people of Ukraine demand of their public officials', the official stated. The IMF chief expressed her gratitude for Ukrainian president's intention to render the court active by the end of this year. 'We agreed that it is now important for parliament to quickly approve the supplementary law submitted by the President to formally establish the court, as well as the necessary amendments to restore the requirement that the HACC will adjudicate all cases under its jurisdiction, including all appeals of relevant first instance court decisions, as it was in the draft law approved in the first reading. We also agreed to work closely together, including with the government, toward the timely implementation of this and other actions, notably related to gas prices and the budget, that are critical to allow the completion of the pending review under Ukraines IMF-supported program,' the statement said. As is known, the Ukrainian MPs approved the respective law earlier this month. 315 lawmakers supported the bill. The law obliges to form the Anti-corruption court within a year that should consist of at least 35 judges, 10 of which are representatives of the Appeal Chamber. The document offered the president to submit the draft law on the creation of the new court to the Verkhovna Rada; Petro Poroshenko did so on Tuesday, June 19. During the month after the appointment of 35 judges, the senior of them should call a meeting at which they will determine the date of the beginning of the courts work and solve the organizational matters. The Supreme Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine (SQCJU) will select the judges of the SACC with the help of six members of the International Experts Council. So, it is necessary to create this council first. The members of the International Experts Council will be appointed by the SQCJU choosing among the nominees offered by the international organization with which Ukraine cooperates in the prevention of corruption sphere. When there are at least 12 nominees, the SQCJU will choose the members of the International Experts Council at the open session. Both foreigners and citizens of Ukraine can become the international experts. The requirements are flawless business reputation, high moral character and working experience abroad starting from 5 years in the execution of the procedural management, maintenance of the prosecution in the court or corruption proceedings. The law took effect June 14, which means that the court should be established by June 14, 2019. Also, he claimed that he was ready to request a pardon personally Thorbjrn Jagland, the Secretary-General of the Europe Council, claimed that Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker imprisoned in the Russian Federation has to be released for humanitarian reasons. The Secretary-General claimed this after the meeting with Tatyana Moskalkova, the Russian ombudsman today on Wednesday, June 20, according to Interfax Ukraine. 'I think Mr. Sentsov has to be released for humanitarian reasons. He can be pardoned for humanitarian reasons,' the news agency quotes. Also, he said that he was ready to request a pardon for Sentsov personally according to the European Convention on Human Rights. Related: Crimean Tatar detained in Russia for supporting Sentsov Moskalkova, in her turn, stated that Sentsov didn't request a pardon himself, and the Jagland's claim - it is his personal interest. 'Personally, Sentsov didn't address me with any particular request. Also, I didn't have a full pack of legal documents in order to fully assess the situation,' she said. As we reported earlier, Lyudmyla Denisova, the Representative of the Ukrainian parliament on Human Rights, addressed Moskalkova with a request to facilitate the Sentsov's release. Earlier, Denisova wasn't allowed to visit Roman Sushchenko, a Ukrainian political prisoner. Later, there was a meeting of the Ukrainian and the Russian ombudsmen where the status and citizenship of the prisoners were discussed. Reportedly, the Ukrainian ombudsman has already been to the colony where Oleg Sentsov is kept, but she was denied visitation. Later, she wasn't allowed to see Mykola Karpyuk. The Russian side refuses to provide any accurate information on political prisoners' condition, who are on a hunger strike. Meanwhile, Tatyana Moskalkova visited Dmytro Shtyblikov, a Ukrainian diversionist kept in Omsk. Denisova made it to Russia on June 13 again. Previously, Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin discussed the release of the political prisoners during a telephone conversation. Oleg Sentsov was falsely imprisoned in the Russian Federation and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment. Oleg declared indefinite hunger strike on May 14. His main requirement is to liberate all Ukrainian political prisoners kept in Russian penitentiary systems. The country's only strategic producer of TNT and several major chemical industry enterprises sustain enormous economic damage due to the growing imports of sulphuric acid from Russia and Belarus Ukraine's several major chemical industry producers take huge economic damage and may eventually shut down because of the considerably lowered prices for their products, as well as due to the growing imports of sulphuric acid from Russia and Belarus. The list of these companies includes Zorya company (TNT producer), Vostok (uranium concentrate producer) and another two big mineral fertilizer producing companies. Oleksiy Holubov, the President of Ukraine's Union of Chemistry Workers said this as quoted by censor.net news agency. According to him, the sulphuric acid is the irreplaceable part of the metallurgy, chemistry and agriculture, as well as the enrichment of uranium ore and production of explosives and ammunition. 'The attempts to destroy the domestic producer of acid, to make these branches dependent on the imports - given the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine - are the matters of not only business interests but also the country's defense capability,' Holubov said. The said companies indicate that in 2014-2017, the sulphuric acid from Russia and Belarus grew more than threefold, reaching the overall volume of 79,000 tons; the Russian side is represented by Sredneuralsky copper-melting plant, Belarus is represented by Gomel chemical plant and Naftana plant, Holubov said. He added that the prices for Russian and Belarusian products are twice lower than those for the Ukraine-made products. 'This doesn't let the Ukrainian companies compete with Russians and Belarusians in equal condition, keeping the production in a proper state. That may lead to a complete shutdown and economic losses at the rate of 4.1 million U.S. dollars annually', Holubov stressed. The official concluded by noting that the companies turned to the Ministry of Trade and the Economic Development of Ukraine, asking for protection against the unfair competitiveness. No other country has guts to join Washington for reforming this 'hypocritic authority', - Nikki Haley, the U.S. envoy in the UN The United States officially withdraws from the UN Council for Human Rights; Nikki Haley, the U.S. envoy in the UN said that as quoted by Reuters. This is due to Washington's protest against the fact that 'no country has enough courage to join our struggle for reformation of the hypocritic and biased body', as Haley put it. She added that this step does not mean the U.S. throws away its commitment to the cause of human rights protection. 'The disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights', the U.S. official said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the U.S. decision, Reuters mentioned. Donald Trump's administration has considered the opportunity to withdraw from the UN Council for Human Rights since early 2017. Previously, Ukraine was elected the member of the UN Council for Human Rights in 2018-2020. Earlier this month, The UN General Assembly elected Volodymyr Yelchenko, Ukraine's permanent envoy in the UN, as the Vice President of the 73rd session of the Assembly. The press service of the UNGA reported this on Twitter. "Ukraine is ready to actively contribute to the implementation of the UN General Assemblys tasks on the whole range of issues, from maintenance of international peace and security to fulfillment of the goals of stable development and protection of human rights," Yelchenko said after the election, Ukrinform cited. He also noted that the Ukrainian delegation to the United Nations during the next sessional year would actively support the proper organization and effective work of the session of the General Assembly. The session will start working in September. SAN FRANCISCO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zenefits today announced the key addition of Issac Vaughn, a seasoned technology, operations, legal and venture expert, to its executive team as Senior Vice President of Business Operations. In addition, the company shared updates on its recent market momentum based on its business model pivot last fall. Reporting to Chairman and CEO, Jay Fulcher, Vaughn will work closely with the Zenefits customer experience, benefits solutions, business development, legal and compliance teams to deliver a best-in-class customer experience and build market traction to accelerate Zenefits growth. So far this year we have exceeded our bookings and revenue targets, transitioned our insurance brokerage to a market leading partner, and extended our technology lead across our HR/Payroll/Benefits platform. We have accomplished so much in the past year all while delivering a compelling SMB customer experience that is unique in the industry," said Jay Fulcher. Now is the right time to bring in someone with Vaughns unique credentials and considerable leadership skills to help us execute on whats ahead. Vaughn brings exceptional cross-functional operational, M&A, public and private financing experience to Zenefits. Previously, he held a range of executive roles at cloud-based video and analytics company, Ooyala, most recently as acting CEO, and before that as SVP of business and corporate development, general counsel and corporate secretary. At Ooyala, he built a global channel, orchestrated two acquisitions and helped to substantially increase the companys value in advance of its acquisition by Telstra. Prior to Ooyala, Vaughn was managing director of SC Investments Consulting, LLC, an angel investment and consulting company, and a founding partner of Bennu Venture Group. Earlier, he was notably a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) for 15 years working with dozens of both early and late-stage tech companies. Market Acceleration Proof Points Zenefits business resurgence this year further validates the companys decision in September 2017 to shift its business model from a technology-powered insurance broker to a best-in-class, comprehensive software platform spanning HR, payroll and benefits for small and mid-sized businesses and insurance brokers. In recent months, there have been a number of notable milestones achieved including impressive revenue growth, new product launches and new company leadership that showcase how the company is successfully executing against its strategy. Highlights include: Business and Customer Growth Zenefits is on track to meet its goal for 100% growth in annual recurring revenue (ARR). The company is seeing about 55% of its business coming from net new customers and 45% from additional investment by current customers, signaling strong installed base engagement. Customers continued the trend set in the prior quarter of licensing three Zenefits applications per deal on average. In fact, the newest product, Zenefits Performance Management, was included in 25% of customer deals in the quarter. Zenefits Payroll, which supports payrolls across all 50 US states, also saw a 200% year-over-year increase in total payroll processed through the system, reinforcing the demand for new, transformative capabilities and services like those offered by Zenefits versus incumbent legacy systems. Product Innovation & Expertize Zenefits has extended the functionality and ease of use across its People Platform, with significant advancements in its Payroll, Performance Management and Benefits offerings over the past year. It has also added significant expertise across its engineering and development teams in multiple locations. The company added industry experts such as Sean McCleary to lead its User Experience initiatives, and Rajiv Bagora lead it's Payroll engineering. PC Magazine recognized Zenefits product in two separate categories, rating the complete Zenefits People Platform Excellent in a comprehensive review and naming its Benefits Administration application as the 2018 Editors Choice. Expanded Executive Perspective and Impact To power it's vision for enabling small business in the new world of work, the company has expanded its board and advisory groups. Zenefits appointed Pat Wadors, chief talent officer at ServiceNow, to its board of directors. The company also built out its Advisory Council with the additions of Jeff Carr, Ronnie Lott, Phil Fasano and John Faylor, each with distinct expertise spanning HR software, SMB business perspectives, healthcare industry and real estate. Zenefits Chief People Officer, Beth Steinberg, was also honored by the San Francisco Business Times as one of The Most Influential Women in Business in the Bay Area for 2018. About Zenefits Zenefits is helping more than 10,000 small and mid-sized companies empower their modern workforce, manage change and stay compliant. Zenefits' People Platform delivers the most comprehensive and mobile HR experience in the market. Zenefits' HR, Benefits, Payroll and Performance apps combine with advisory services and tightly integrated partner apps to radically simplify HR administration reducing paperwork and complexity so companies can focus on running and growing their business. Subscribe to Zenefits blog: http://www.zenefits.com/blog Follow Zenefits on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/zenefits Follow Zenefits on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zenefits Russian is responsible for most of the cases of human rights violation in Crimea 28 cases of human rights violation in the annexed Crimea were documented during the period from February till May 2018, as the report of the UN Monitoring Mission on Human Rights says. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights documented 54 violations of human rights including forced disappearance and encroachment on the property. 28 of those violations took place within the reporting period (February 16 May 15, 2018). It was noted that Russian is responsible for most of the cases of human rights violation in Crimea. Russias Government is responsible for 25 violations, Ukraines for 3, the message says. Russian annexed Crimea in March of 2014. Crimea is declared a temporarily occupied territory. Ukraines Parliament has officially declared February 20, 2014 the beginning of the temporary occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol/ On October, 7 Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, signed a relevant document. The international organizations recognized the occupation and annexation of Crimea illegal and condemned Russias actions. The West imposed a series of economic sanctions. Russia denies the occupations of the peninsula and calls it a restoration of the historic justice. After Russia annexed Crimea, searches are frequently conducted on the peninsula, the population is being questioned. The human rights advocates call it a struggle against dissidence. Moldova expressed concern over the unauthorized movements by Russian military forces in the breakaway Transdniester territory On June 15, Moldovan Reintegration Policy Bureau informed that the Moldovan Government notified the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) about an unauthorized deployment of military trucks and equipment in separatist-controlled region, as RadioFreeEurope reports. Earlier, Moldovan authorities recorded around 40 trucks and other military vehicles with Russian symbols in Transdniester, a territory along the Ukraine-Moldova border. Transdniester separatist Government denied its involvement and the Russian troops stated they would comment on it later. Tudor Ulianovschi, Moldovan Foreign Minister, said that the UN General Assembly intends to discuss the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Transdniester on June 22. "In the context of the crisis in Ukraine, the stepping up of military activity by Russian troops and Transdniester forces is fanning tensions in this European region," he said. Moldovan authorities and other states in the region registered increased concern about Moscow's intentions since Crimeas annexation in 2014 and started assisting separatists in eastern Ukraine. Earlier, pro-Russian separatists in Transdniester declared independence from Moldova in 1990. Later, the separatists conducted was against the Governments forces when around 1000 people were killed. The conflict has been frozen since Russian troops stationed in Transdniester during the Soviet era intervened on the side of the separatists. Transdniester's independence is not recognized by any internationally recognized country, but Moscow has been unofficially backing the separatists self-declared government, the news agency reports. The ceasefire agreement signed in 1992 provides the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Transdniester. Around 1400 Russian troops stay in Transdniester guarding Soviet-era arms depots. Yet, at the OSCE summit in 1999, Russia promised to withdraw the troops called Operational Group of Russian Troops. The film's creators plan to complete the shooting in late August, and the premiere of the film is scheduled for 2019 The shooting of a feature-length historical action film 'Zakhar Berkut' directed by Akhtem Seitablayev began in Synevyrska Polyana in Zakarpattia region. According to movies story, the Mongol horde, headed by the Khan Burundai, moves to the west, destroying everything in its path. Having reached the high Carpathian Mountains, the army stops at the foot. However, at night, several local hunters - the Berkut's brothers secretly climb into the camp and release prisoners. Driven by fury Khan decides to to revenge and destroy the Carpathian settlements. For this, he finds traitor among the locals, which reveals a secret passage in the mountains. However, in a small community of mountain hunters under the leadership of 'Zakhar Berkut', have the plan how to stop a numerous enemy forever. The big international actor's team from Ukraine, the United States, Kazakhstan, Great Britain and Mongolia will play part in Zakhar Berkut movie. The original story was created by Ivan Franko, the 19th-century poet and prosaic from western Ukraine. As it was reported earlier, Robert Patrick, the famous Hollywood actor is going to play the main part in 'Zakhar Berkut,' the film by Ukraine's film director Akhtem Seitablayev. Patrick even shared some photos from his Instagram account. Apart from Patrick, whom the TV audience may know as T-1000 from 'Terminator 2: The Judgment Day', Seitablayev will enjoy the company of U.S. filmmaker John Wynn, who previously worked with Guillermo del Toro and Marvel company. Famous U.S. producer Jeff Rice, who worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Silvester Stallone, Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, also joined the team. Also, they are enough to close the border with Russia Open source An income from the fight against corruption and smuggling is $4 billion that is enough for five divisions of the anti-aircraft warfare that can completely close the border with Russia. Stepan Poltorak, the Defense Minister of Ukraine claimed this as 112.ua reported. The income from the fight against corruption, smuggling would provide us the possibility to purchase five divisions of the anti-aircraft warfare. We would completely close the border with Russia, he said. Also, Arsen Avakov, the Interior Minister of Ukraine emphasized the importance of the fight. We will occupy the rigid formal position. The Ukrainian smuggler always knew: they begin the campaign, get cold and we will work again. It will not be the same this time. That is why this time, I allow myself to announce this, he said. As we reported the Ukrainian army re-claimed another piece of the enemy-occupied territory in Donbas; according to the HQ of the joint forces operation, the military units advanced two kilometers forward from their previous positions near Zholobok, Luhansk region. Around 70 activists of Kyiv Volunteer Hundred demanded Hungary to stop unfriendly policy and actions against Ukraine Public activists conducted a protest against Hungarys Government interference in Ukraines affairs, as Golos.us reports. Around 70 activists of Kyiv Volunteer Hundred demanded Hungary to stop unfriendly policy and actions against Ukraine. In particular, according to them, to stop funding and supporting anti-state events in Ukraine, to issue Ukrainian citizens Hungarian passports and agitate for teaching Ukrainians from Zakarpattia in Hungarian, as the news agency reports. We will have only one language on the land God gave us Ukrainian. There should be Hungarian schools, but only in Hungary! In Ukraine, children will study only in their mother tongue in Ukrainian! the organizers of the protest explained. The protesters brought an effigy to the Embassy. It represents Viktor Orban, the PM of Hungary. The protesters tried to set the effigy on fire and then threw it to the ground and crush it. The decision on the transfer was made on June 15 Open source The Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine passed the case on the clash of Serhiy Sternenko, the former leader of Odesa Right Sector and two men to the Chief Prosecution Department of the National Police. The press service of the Prosecutors Office in Odesa claimed this as Interfax-Ukraine reported. The decision on the transfer was made on June 15. In her turn, spokeswoman of the Prosecutor Generals Office Larysa Sargan claimed that such decision was made on the request of the MPs as Ukrayinska Pravda reported. Due to the flow of the numerous appeals in the interest of Sternenko to the Prosecutor Generals Office, including the MPs to provide more effective prosecution by the Prosecutors Office, the case was passed to the Chief Prosecution Department of the National Police, she said. As we reported in the evening, May 24, the unknown, armed with cold weapons, attempted on the life of the former head of Odesas Right Sector Serhiy Sternenko. According to Sternenko, there were two attackers. One of them escaped and the second was stabbed by ex-leader of Righ Sector to death. Later Odesa police established and detained the escaped person. The law enforcers consider a few lines of enquiry of the incident from the domestic conflict or robbery (when the sides did know each other) up to the intentional attack on the political grounds for the public activities of the victim. In Serious Times We All Like a Good Laugh: New... PLEASE NOTE! Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate! All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited! (One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!) PLEASE NOTE! Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate! All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited! (One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!) NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ZenoRadio, a top ten streaming radio company that amplifies local voices while connecting niche and diaspora communities worldwide, today announced the acquisition of AudioNow and a rebranding to Zeno Media. The acquisition further expands the companys product offering creating a global media powerhouse that serves 2 billion monthly listening minutes in more than 100 languages and across 150 countries. With a breadth of product offerings that help publishers monetize via Call-to-Listen, Free Unlimited Streaming and Mobile App Development, Zeno Media streams to 6 million+ monthly active users (MAU). AudioNow played an important role in the Call-to-Listen and app development space with a client list that represented marquis broadcasters including BBC, Voice of American and ESPN as well as an expansive customer base, said Baruch Herzfeld, Founder and President of Zeno Media. Incorporating AudioNow app development offerings rounds out our overall app strategy. We can now sign exclusive deals with broadcasters and deliver high quality streaming and apps that drive unique revenue streams for our clients. At Zeno Media we see the evolution of telecommunications and spoken-word audio as core business opportunities, said Morris Berger, CEO of Zeno Media. Our team is constantly innovating by creating new ways to empower local and established voices all over the world. This strategic acquisition not only broadens our product offering, but also allows us to focus on building a library of content along with licensing deals. These relationships help to give international and niche broadcasters an equal footing by making them more competitive in a fierce marketplace. In addition to doubling the number of Zeno Medias listeners and clients, the acquisition included key personnel team members in sales, operations and a cutting edge app development team in Romania. The company has expanded its global reach with offices in New York, Washington DC, Romania, Greece and the Philippines. Zeno Media hosts satellite offices in various countries including Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Ghana, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Nigeria, Senegal, and Somalia. About Zeno Media Zeno Media, a top ten streaming radio company, amplifies local voices while connecting niche and diaspora communities to their hometown radio stations and native language programming. With more than 650 apps and 7,000+ large and small broadcasters globally, the company averages 2 billion listening minutes every month and has a growing audience of 6 million monthly active users. Zeno is the pioneer and largest player in the Call-to-Listen space. The company also offers the only end-to-end streaming solution at no cost as well as innovative tools that help broadcasters monetize content and broaden their audience base worldwide. Learn more at zenomedia.com. YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. The Folklife Festival of the Smithsonian Institution will kick off June 27 in Washington D.C., USA, with Armenia participating for the first time. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian will attend the grand opening of the event. Sarkissian will depart to the US capital on June 26 to take part in the annual Folklife Festival, dedicated to Armenian cultural legacy. Ethnographer Levon Abrahamyan, coordinator of Armenias participation in the festival, told ARMENPRESS that the presidents participation underscores the significance of the countrys participation in the festival. Smithsonian Institution is organizing the festival for fifty years, and this years event will also see the first time participation of Catalonia also. Folklife isnt an ordinary exhibition festival, it presents in a live style the household life, crafts, cuisine and other aspects of the given country. Various themes and directions are features each year. The main character this year is the master, through whom the crafts, traditions and cuisine will be displayed, by maintaining the tie with the past. The idea is how the crafts have been preserved and passed on to generations, Abrahamyan said. The program of Armenias participation has the following idea behind it From Nature To Home. Pottery, wood craft, carpet weaving and cross-stone art will be presented. By the way, all of this will not simply be displayed. The cross-stone artist will show his work during the entire process, and will finish his work on spot. We also plan to have a blessing ceremony of that cross-stone. Blacksmiths will also show their crafts. Carpet weavers will make several types of carpets, he said. Abrahamyan said that the festival has an interactive nature, and visitors will be included in the entire program. Cuisine is also an important component of Armenias participation in the festival. Organizers spare no effort to present the very best of Armenian cuisine at the event. Visitors will have the chance to see how lavash is being made, and taste the well-known Armenian bread. Pakhlava, cheese, dolma, dried fruits, wine and many other Armenian cuisine specials will be presented. Levon Abrahamyan said that a cave environment will be created for kids to participate in excavations. Children will excavate the souvenir variant of the real-life oldest discovered shoe which was found in Armenia. The festival will begin June 27 and run through July 8. July 4th is Independence Day in the US, and usually a large number of visitors arrive in Washington. Estimates show that half a million visitors come to the festival on an average basis. Since Vardavar (Armenian festival when people drench each other with water) will be celebrated on July 8 this year, the concluding event at the Smithsonian will be pretty wet. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenian foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyans visit to Brussels kicked off June 19 with a meeting with the European Commissions Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner Johannes Hahn. The Armenian FM presented the latest developments in Armenia to the Commissioner, which according to the latter can be characterized as a good example of democratic change, the foreign ministry said. FM Mnatsakanyan presented the new governments program to Commissioner Hahn, as well as the foreign policy priorities, and thanked for the EUs continuous assistance to the reform proves in Armenia. The FM presented the governments projects and activities for the implementation of consistent reforms, strengthening of democratic institutions, rule of law, the fight against corruption, and attached importance to cooperation with partners in achieving this goal. The FM also attached importance to CEPA as a circle of bilateral relations. The minister presented the implemented actions based on the foreign policy priorities aimed at protecting the interests of Armenia. The sides discussed issues related to cooperation within the framework of the European neighborhood policy, and exchanged ideas over prospects of cooperation in the Eastern Partnership format. The upcoming June 22 Minsk informal ministerial meeting of Eastern Partnership countries was also discussed. The sides also exchanged ideas over regional and international challenges. The Armenian FM touched upon Armenias stances and priorities regarding the peaceful settlement process of the NK conflict, attaching importance to forming an atmosphere contributing to peace for advancing the talks. The FM thanked the EU for its assistance to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairmanship. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. On 19 June, the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN, in partnership with the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), organized a panel on Humanitarian response at the UN Headquarters in New York. Bridging technology, innovation, development, human rights and humanitarian agendas, the panel discussed the role of social media and emerging information and communications technologies in engaging populations affected by crisis, ARMENPRESS correspondent reports from New York. In his opening remarks, Mher Margaryan, Charge d'Affaires a.i. of Armenia to the UN, highlighted that effective community engagement remains an important priority in overall coordination of humanitarian response. He noted that the UN system should do more to engage affected populations and support those who amplify their voices. The panel, moderated by Lara Setrakian, CEO, Co-Founder of News Deeply, included Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque, a representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Andrej Verity, a representative of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Panelists discussed the ways, in which digital technologies can help improve and consolidate the work of humanitarian actors, how their impact on the ground can be assessed in terms of the quality and effectiveness. The panel brought together representatives of the UN member states, UN agencies, academia, as well as a large number of civil society representatives. Also participating was travel blogger and journalist Alexander Lapshin who, while presenting his case, reflected on instances of attacks, threats and intimidation against journalists and media activists, as well as attempts to politicize the issue of access to conflict zones. Below is the transcript of Mr. Margaryans remarks at the event. It is my pleasure to welcome everyone to a panel discussion on the role of social media and digital technologies in times of disasters and crises organized by the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN, in cooperation with our long-standing partner, Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU). The topic of todays panel is central to addressing the very many challenges and disturbing realities of our times, in so many parts of the world. Improved humanitarian coordination and response will be critical to help mitigate situations of crisis where the right to life of the human being is increasingly threatened. Community engagement remains an important priority in overall coordination of humanitarian response, and deserves special focus. 26 years ago, when Armenia became a UN member state, we had to make our way in the world of humanitarian and development assistance, which, back then, had a different set of actors, policies and problems. Since then, the international cooperation landscape has become much more complex, in particular, in the face of multiple challenges and threats we are facing. The global wave of displacement has brought about a large number of risks and instabilities, which require a collective response on an international level, including through better coordination on matters of border management, migration and fight against trafficking important areas of international cooperation effectively embraced and supported by Armenia. Armenia is deeply concerned and is closely following the ongoing refugee crisis and the developments in our wider region. More than 22.000 displaced persons have sought protection in Armenia over the past few years. We continue to implement facilitated integration and settlement programs for the displaced people, and, in this regard, it is important to give due acknowledgements to the invaluable role of international institutions, non-governmental sector, Diaspora and faith-based organizations for having supported our country in alleviating the needs of refugees over the years. In Armenia, we have been privileged to have a vibrant and ever-stronger civil society, which is an integral part of our public life, and we see merit in continuously supporting the efforts of the civil society, also on a global level, as an important contribution to humanitarian and development response. Within the United Nations, Armenia has been consistently supporting the promotion of human rights, including, most notably, through the concept and the practice of prevention. This implies a focus on the early action to prevent situations, which, if not addressed, result in conflicts and atrocity crimes. To this end, since 1998, Armenia has been leading the international efforts to underpin the significance of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as well as to construct solid foundations for prevention. In 2015, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted resolution tabled by Armenia, which proclaimed the 9th of December as an International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of that Crime. This landmark resolution followed up on resolution unanimously adopted by the UN Human Rights Council, upon Armenias initiative. High-level events in observance of the 9th of December have since been held regularly at the United Nations and across the world, to pay tribute to those who fell victims of past inaction. The establishment and the regular observance of the International Day adds to the continued efforts of Armenia to promote consolidated international action against the crime of genocide. Armenia continues to exert resolute efforts in promoting consolidated international action against the crime of genocide. Since 2015 Armenia has been regularly hosting a Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide, attended by political, public, religious, academic, civil society and media representatives from all over the world. The 2018 Global Forum will focus on the role of education and media in eliminating hatred, intolerance and xenophobia. We encourage all member states and all relevant bodies and entities of the United Nations to bring their participation. Over the past three years, the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity has been honored in Armenia, in recognition of modern day humanitarians. Earlier this month, a 1 mln. dollar Prize, established on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, was awarded to its third recipient since 2015, to offer life and hope to those in need of humanitarian assistance. Todays panel will look into the role of social media and ICT in engaging populations affected by crisis. We look forward to an active dialogue on how social media and ICTs can help improve and consolidate the work of humanitarian actors, how their impact on the ground can be assessed in terms of the quality, relevance and effectiveness and what are the major challenges undermining the credibility and validity of such communication channels. With this, I am happy to introduce our distinguished panelists, - Ms. Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque, who is the Manager for Community Engagement at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC). Prior to IFRC, Alexandra was the Global Adviser for Community Engagement at the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) supporting field offices in implementing community engagement strategies and leading policy at headquarters. I am also pleased to introduce Mr. Andrej Verity, Information Management Officer at the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and a co-founder of the Digital Humanitarian Network. Alexander brings over 17 years of experience in information management field, with at last 13 years in the humanitarian realm. And finally, it is my pleasure to introduce the moderator of todays panel, Ms. Lara Setrakian, who, for so many of you, I am sure, needs no introduction. Lara is the CEO and Executive Editor of News Deeply, a network of digital media platforms that convene stakeholders and passionate communities on the world's biggest challenges, previously, a correspondent for ABC News and Bloomberg Television, covering the Middle East. Lara is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. With that, I am very happy to pass the floor to Lara, who will take this conversation forward. I thank you. YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has become noticeably active in the frontline, which has different manifestations in different periods of time: equipment movement, build-ups, active engineering works, attempts to psychologically influence the Armenian and Artsakh societies and propaganda will all possible targets, Tigran Abrahamyan, advisor to President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan told ARMENRPESS. Abrahamyan said that it is a dangerous period of time after the April War. In terms of the reasons of the process in the current phase, Abrahamyan pointed out several factors. For the record, the main reason of this all is that the issue of a military solution still remains in the political agenda of Azerbaijan. For justifying this approach, the activeness of bloggers controlled by Azerbaijani politicians, experts and authorities is seen. They are trying to justify the approach of a military solution by all means, he said. He says that it seemed like after the April combat operations Azerbaijan should had returned to the negotiations table, but not only doesnt it return, but it is also trying to escalate the situation all the time. He said that Azerbaijan is constantly maneuvering, and this concerns not only to military equipment, but also special forces. It is hard to say what work is being done through different diplomatic channels in this direction. Understandably a part of this work cannot be visible for the wide society. Anyhow I think that the mediators should be a lot more active in this issue in order not to give a chance for increasing the wave of escalation in the frontline. The main task of the mediators is to shift the solution of the issue to a political platform, he said. Asked how the political development in Armenia might impact the situation in the border, Abrahamyan said the domestic situation is directly tied with external development. In this context, he attaches importance for the developments to be healthy, contribute to the consolidation of the society, increase and strengthening of trust between the government and the society. If the processes get out of control and the problems worsen, then obviously it will have negative impacts. Azerbaijan is hoping for a division among our society, to use it as a factor in this situation. This is Azerbaijans expectation, he said. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Based on credible intelligence reports, the Naitonal Security Service of Armenia and the Special Investigation Service jointly sent a motion of assistance to Artsakhs law enforcement agencies which led to a raid and search of arrested MP Manvel Grigoryans villa in Artsakh. The mansion is located near a military base of Artsakh and is the already the third property of the MP to be searched by law enforcement agencies. Agents discovered large amounts of military food supplies For Soldier canned meat, which is not for sale anywhere tobacco, military clothing, medical kits, petrol and large amounts of 7.62 mm and 5.45mm caliber ammunition, the Special Investigations Service said. As part of the ongoing investigation, the Special Investigation Service said it has arrested a relative of Manvel Grigoryan yesterday. Manvel Grigoryan, the former general who is suspected in misappropriating military supplies and donations, as well as illegal possession of firearms, will remain in pre-trial detention for two months. Grigoryan, a former general who chairs the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union, a paramilitary organization, was arrested on June 16 by national security service in his hometown of Ejmiatsin (Vagharshapat). The lawmaker from the Republican Party faction is suspected in embezzling military supplies and illegal possession of firearms. Upon searching the compound of Grigoryan, agents found huge amounts of military weapons and ammunition and supplies, including donated food and clothing which was meant to be sent to soldiers in Artsakh back in 2016. The donated supplies even include letters written by schoolchildren during the days of the April War of 2016. The Prosecutor General requested an extraordinary sitting of the parliament to take place to strip the MP of parliamentary immunity, in order to keep him in pre-trial custody. The MP has denied any wrongdoing, and in a letter sent to the Speaker said he will restore his reputation, and called on his colleagues to strip him of immunity since he has no desire to obstruct the investigation. A private zoo and a large car collection were also found during the search of the compound. On June 19, the parliament voted to strip the MP of immunity and approved launching criminal proceedings. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Officers of the organized crime department of Yerevan police have raided the headquarters of ELLIPS GA, a Yerevan-based security systems company engaged in importing, manufacturing and installing various security devices. The company is known in Armenia for installing speed cameras and traffic enforcement cameras. Police spokesman Ashot Aharonyan confirmed the raid to ARMENPRESS, saying a special operation is underway. Additional information will be provided later, he said. ELLIPS GA was founded in 1989 and at the time of the establishment was the first enterprise in the security sector in Armenia. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. A 10-year-old boy from a village in Artsakh has died more than two weeks after being bitten by a wolf. An ambulance was called in the early morning of June 19 to the Shekher village of Martuni region. The boy died in the ambulance while being rushed to the local hospital. Police said they revealed that the child was bitten by a wolf on May 28, and his health drastically deteriorated on June 19. It is unclear if the boy had been treated for the wounds after the wolf attack. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, 20 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 20 june, USD exchange rate down by 0.24 drams to 482.02 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.49 drams to 557.50 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.07 drams to 7.59 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 1.09 drams to 634.24 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price down by 93.58 drams to 19776.88 drams. Silver price down by 4.00 drams to 253.46 drams. Platinum price down by 208.29 drams to 13498.15 drams. YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of Armenias Security Council, has commented on the situation in the Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. In an interview to RFE/RLs Armenian service Azatutyun, Grigoryan mentioned the Armenian delegations visit to Artsakh last week led by PM Nikol Pashinyan. One of the purposes of the visit was to get acquainted with the situation in the frontline, he said. We can say that the situation doesnt differ much from other times. Azerbaijan continues movements in the frontline, which is entirely being followed by the Defense Army of Artsakh in order not to allow actions which can escalate the situation. Overall, I can say that the tension has somewhat increased, we have concerns, Grigoryan said. He stressed that Artsakhs military is in control of the situation. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. The new authorities of Armenia, the Defense Ministry have set a task to develop the sphere of aviation, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan told RFE/RL's Armenian Service, commenting on Kommersants information, according to which the Armenian air forces can soon be replenished with Russian multifunctional jets. The new authorities of Armenia have set a task to develop the aviation. Currently a number of options are discussed. I think a final conclusion will be made very soon to understand our resources and the ways of using them aimed at reinforcing the Armenian army, ARMENPRESS reports Armen Grigoryan as saying. Kommersant newspaper published an article recently, according to which Russia has intentions to supply Armenia with Su-30SM fighter jets. Its mentioned that before the power change in Armenia the leadership of the country cancelled the purchase of multifunctional Su-30SM jets until 2024. The contract between the sides had been signed in 2012, but never entered into force. The newspaper informs that Russia plans to implement the contract with the new authorities of Armenia. Its mentioned that Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has already been inside Su-30SM and called the fighter jet one of the best in the world. The newspaper writes that talks about Armenia's desire to acquire Su-30SM jets started after the Armenian PM posted a photo on his Facebook page inside the jet in Yerevans Erebuni airport. Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan English French OTTAWA, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the Canadian Senate officially passes Bill C-45 on Marijuana legalization, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) has looked at the effects of marijuana on the heart, the conclusion is still unclear. Widely published experts in the prevention of heart disease, physician and researcher Andrew Pipe, MD, and behavioural scientist Robert Reid, PhD, both from the Ottawa Heart Institutes Division of Prevention and Rehabilitation, are raising some concerns about cannabis and heart health. As Dr. Pipe put it, When we consider marijuana and issues relating to the heart we really are steering into terra incognita. The long-standing illegal status of marijuana has made it a lower priority for health researchers and posed a hurdle to conducting studies. Even if there is a lot of unknown about heart health and cannabis, a 2014 review article in the New England Journal of Medicine summarized the effects of marijuana on all aspects of health. The authors found that marijuana use has been associated with vascular conditions that increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, although the mechanisms by which that happens are not clear. The article also noted that the risk is mainly associated with immediate use of marijuana and isnt necessarily cumulative. There is existing evidence that marijuana use may lead to quicker onset of exercise-induced angina during a stress test among people with heart disease. This suggests another reason why it is not a good idea to use marijuana, said Robert Reid. He also noted that marijuana use could be problematic for people with an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, because it activates the sympathetic nervous system. What happens to your heart when you use marijuana? Your heart rate and blood pressure increase, forcing your heart to work harder. If you smoke marijuana, the capacity of your blood to transport oxygen throughout your body, including to your heart, is reduced. The result is strain on your heart, and a reduced ability to handle increased demands. Another concern frequently raised is the link between marijuana and depression. Depression is a known risk factor for heart disease, in part because it interferes with a patients ability to adopt healthier behaviours, and many believe that marijuana use can lead to depression. We really dont know whether marijuana causes depression, said Dr. Pipe, or whether people who are depressed use marijuana at least in part as an effort to self-medicate. Either way, it underscores yet another area where more research is needed. What are patients to do? With all this uncertainty, its hard to know the wisest course for a patient. Dr. Reid advised that patients start asking their care providers about using marijuana just as they would about alcohol and to use caution, until something more definitive is known. Based on what evidence there is, as well as common sense, trying this newly legal drug should be approached with caution and that, if you must, then dont smoke it, said both Dr. Pipe and Robert Reid. About the University of Ottawa Heart Institute The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) is Canadas largest and foremost heart health centre dedicated to understanding, treating and preventing heart disease. UOHI delivers high tech care with a personal touch, shapes the way cardiovascular medicine is practiced and revolutionizes cardiac treatment and understanding. It builds knowledge through research and translates discoveries into advanced care. UOHI serves the local, national and international community, and is pioneering a new era in heart health. Contact: Leigh B. Morris Communications Specialist University of Ottawa Heart Institute 613-316-6409 lmorris@ottawaheart.ca @HeartInstitute YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Representatives of Azerbaijan and Turkey will participate in the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. ARMENPRESS reports the delegation of all the member states will arrive in Armenia on June 27. Armenia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine are the BSEC members. Agriculture and agro-industry, banking and finance, combating organized crime, culture, customs matters, education, emergency assistance, energy, environmental protection, exchange of statistical data and economic information, healthcare and pharmaceutics, information and communication technologies, institutional renewal and good governance, science and technology, SMEs, tourism, trade and economic development and transport are among the main fields of cooperation within the framework of the Organization. BSEC covers an area of nearly 20 million square kilometers. It represents a region of 337 million people, reaching an intra-BSEC trade volume of USD 167.3 billion annually. The principal regular decision making organ of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation is the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The Council meets twice a year, but in case of necessity special or non-formal meetings are convened. Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan Taliban fighters killed around 30 Afghan security forces in multiple attacks in western Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, in the deadliest clashes since the militant group ended its ceasefire. Militants stormed at least two bases belonging to government forces in Badghis province overnight and ambushed a convoy of reinforcements. Officials said the group may have used the three-day truce, that ended Sunday, to plan the attacks. "More than half of the fatalities came from the ambush and roadside bomb blasts that hit a reinforcement convoy," provincial governor Abdul Qhafoor Malikzai told AFP. The other soldiers and police were killed when militants raided their bases, Qhafoor added. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a WhatsApp message to journalists. Provincial council chief Abdul Aziz Bek confirmed the death toll and accused the Taliban of taking advantage of the suspension in fighting to do reconnaissance in the area. "During the ceasefire the Taliban had sent informants to collect information about the bases and plan the attack," he told AFP. Badghis governor spokesman Jamshid Shahabi told AFP that 15 Taliban fighters were also killed and 21 wounded in the attacks on two bases in Bala Murghab district. The defence ministry issued a statement saying fighting in the area continued as the Taliban faced "stiff resistance" from Afghan security forces. Further reinforcements had been deployed, the statement said. It appeared to be the deadliest fighting since the Taliban returned to the battlefield on Monday after refusing a government request to extend their unprecedented three-day ceasefire. - Year-long truce offer - President Ashraf Ghani announced over the weekend that the government's eight-day ceasefire, which had been scheduled to expire on Tuesday, would be prolonged for another 10 days. The first formal nationwide ceasefire since the 2001 US-led invasion had sparked extraordinary scenes of Taliban fighters, security forces and civilians happily celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday together. But the jubilation appeared to alarm Taliban leaders, who on Sunday ordered their fighters to stay at their posts or in areas under their control. The Taliban hailed the truce as a success and a demonstration of their "full control" over their fighters. The government's move to extend its ceasefire with the Taliban may buy Ghani more time to work out how to keep the momentum going. His February offer of peace talks with the Taliban, considered to be one of the most comprehensive plans ever offered by an Afghan government, was ignored by the militants, who went on to launch their annual spring offensive. The insurgents have repeatedly demanded direct dialogue with the United States, which Washington has refused, and the withdrawal of foreign troops. Ghani said Tuesday he was prepared to extend the ceasefire to a year "if the Taliban accepts it", according to a video of a meeting between the president and a group of peace marchers who arrived in the capital on Monday. The government's ceasefire does not extend to the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks in the eastern province of Nangarhar over the weekend that marred an otherwise peaceful Eid holiday. str-emh-us-amj/ds/kaf The attacks came just days after the Taliban ended a brief ceasefire Seven people have been hospitalised after a outbreak of salmonella linked to alfalfa sprouts caused a widespread product recall. There have been 21 people struck down this month after eating South Australian produced sprouts. Bins are filled to the brim at the SA Sprouts factory at Mile End, with the companys own products. Seven people have been hospitalised after a widespread outbreak of salmonella linked to alfalfa sprouts. Source: 7 News The salmonella outbreak has sparked a widespread recall, with South Australians urged to throw out their alfalfa products. Today we had absolute confirmation that their alfalfa sprouts are contaminated with salmonella Havana, Professor Paddy Phillips of SA Health told 7 News. The symptoms of salmonella food poisoning are abdominal pain, cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Some people may get a little but of a tummy upset. Others, as weve seen in this case, can be so severely affected they need hospitalisation. A product recall is in place for nine SA Sprouts products. Source: 7 News The recall affects nine SA Sprouts products. Drakes Foodland, IGA supermarkets, and other independent greengrocers who stock them have been ordered to remove them from the shelves. Cafes and restaurants are urged to check their supplier. Anyone who has bought them has been advised to throw the products out or return them. Bins are filled to the brim at the SA sprouts factory at Mile End, with the companys own products. Source: 7 News With a recall of this size, health authorities say it is possible some of the contaminated products will slip through the cracks. They are urging anyone who experiences salmonella symptoms after eating these sprouts to see a doctor particularly children, the elderly, and pregnant women. SA Sprouts has been ordered to stop producing alfalfa sprouts until further notice. President Donald Trump ordered an end to the separation of migrant children from their parents on the US border Wednesday, reversing a tough policy under heavy pressure from his fellow Republicans, Democrats and the international community. The spectacular about-face comes after more than 2,300 children were stripped from their parents and adult relatives after illegally crossing the border since May 5 and placed in tent camps and other facilities, with no way to contact their relatives. Despite the order, there was no plan in place to reunite the thousands of children already separated from their families, according to multiple US media reports citing officials from the Health and Human Services Department (HHS). Those youngsters would remain separated while their parents were under federal custody during immigration proceedings, according to The New York Times, before officials backed off those comments late Wednesday. "It is still very early and we are awaiting further guidance on the matter," said Brian Marriott, senior director of communications at HHS's Administration of Children and Families. "Reunification is always the ultimate goal," he said. Pictures and accounts of the separations sparked outrage and a rebellion among Republicans in Trump's own party, as well as international accusation that the US was committing human rights violations. "What we have done today is we are keeping families together," Trump said as he signed the executive order. "I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated." At a later campaign-style rally of supporters in the northern state of Minnesota, he reiterated that the change does not mean a softening at the border. "We will keep families together, but the border is going to be just as tough," he said. Trump then accused rival Democrats of putting "illegal immigrants before they put American citizens." For weeks, Trump had insisted he was bound by law to split the children from their parents and that only Congress could resolve the problem -- before he radically shifted gears. His daughter and advisor Ivanka had reportedly urged her father to end the separations, while First Lady Melania Trump made a rare political plea, saying the country needs to govern "with heart." "We want security for our country," the president said Wednesday. "And we will have that -- at the same time, we have compassion." The order says the Department of Homeland Security -- and not the Justice and Health and Human Services Departments, as under previous policy -- would have continuing responsibility for the families. It also suggests the government intends to hold the families indefinitely by challenging an existing statute, the 1997 Flores Settlement, that places a 20-day limit on how long children, alone or with their parents, can be detained. That move could lead to new legal battles for the administration. Trump said there was a need to sustain his "zero tolerance" policy to prevent crime, which he blames illegal immigrants for. "We still have to maintain toughness, or our country will be overrun by people, by crime, by all of the things that we don't stand for and we don't want," he said. - 'Deeply disturbing' images - Earlier, as countries marked World Refugee Day Wednesday, global leaders assailed Trump for the separations. British Prime Minister Theresa May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Council of Europe and Pope Francis all took issue with the "zero tolerance" policy. May said images of migrant children kept in cage-like units were "deeply disturbing," and the Council of Europe, a global human rights watchdog, said Trump had abdicated any claim to moral leadership in the world. After a downturn last year, since October, the number of migrants seeking to cross the southwest US border from impoverished Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, as well as from Mexico, has surged. From March to May this year, more than 50,000 people a month were apprehended for illegally crossing the border from Mexico. With the legal system swamped, the Department of Defense on Wednesday said 21 military lawyers would be seconded to the Department of Justice for about six months to help prosecute "misdemeanor improper entry and felony illegal reentry cases." Nearly all of the arriving families, and many others, have officially requested asylum, citing the incessant violence in their home countries. The policy, with mandatory separation of children from adults, was announced May 7 as a deterrent. The issue struck an emotional chord, with accounts of children screaming and crying in facilities prepared for them. Gene Hamilton, a senior Justice Department official, said the executive order was a "stopgap" move and that Congress needs to pass new legislation to give the president more powers to fight illegal immigration. Current laws including the Flores Settlement, he argued, simply encouraged people to enter the country with their children, expecting to be caught and then released into US society. Democrats and Republicans had at least two bills crafted Wednesday to address broader immigration issues, but it was not clear if any had adequate support to pass. But Democrats and rights groups were immediately critical of the plan to change the Flores Settlement. "The Flores Settlement prohibits the indefinite detention of children -- even with their families -- and any order to undermine this critical protection will be immediately challenged in court," said senior Democratic Senator Dick Durbin. "The Trump Administration must reverse its policy of prosecuting vulnerable people fleeing three of the most dangerous countries on earth, who are attempting to seek safe haven in America." US President Donald Trump -- flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (L) and Vice President Mike Pence -- signs an executive order to end family separations at the border Children and workers are seen at a tent encampment for illegal immigrant children in Tornillo, Texas, near El Paso Map locating arrests of families at the border between the United States and Mexico, with an indication of increase in arrests since October 2017 Faced with the disturbing images of migrant children separated from their parents at the US border with Mexico that have shocked America and the world, President Donald Trump did not flinch for a long time. But finally, with a mounting political crisis within his own Republican Party, Trump made an abrupt about-face. At a meeting on Wednesday with Republican lawmakers at the White House, he surprised everyone by announcing he would sign an executive order to "keep families together." Hours later, he put his signature on the page. Since May, when his administration adopted a "zero-tolerance" border security policy helmed by ultra-conservative Attorney General Jeff Sessions, more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents. Recent images of crying and screaming children, trying to cling to their parents, have left many Americans shocked -- and asking why such a practice is needed. The real estate mogul-turned-president is certainly used to controversy -- and in fact seems to fuel it on purpose. And it certainly seems ill-advised to declare another major turning point in his unconventional presidency. But nevertheless, recent events are certainly a bit different, at the very least. Rarely has Trump faced such an widespread outcry, such an avalanche of condemnations Day after day, tensions were palpably mounting within the Republican camp. And while the controversy has certainly emboldened part of Trump's base, the president also has cut himself off from other core supporters, especially evangelical Christians, who helped him win in 2016 but are since disgruntled. The Grand Old Party is aware of the chinks in the armor: a few months before crucial November mid-term elections, in which it fears losing control of the House of Representatives, the party is in a high-risk face-off on a deeply emotional issue. Steve Schmidt, a former advisor to Senator John McCain and a longtime Trump critic, on Wednesday renounced his party membership, disgusted by what he called "internment camps for babies." "29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life," Schmidt tweeted. "Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump." - Trump's 'Katrina moment'? - While the executive order could serve to calm public outrage, the controversy could leave lasting black marks on Trump's presidency. For Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of The New York Times who is now a columnist for The Guardian, this could be Trump's "Katrina moment" -- referring to George W Bush's botched handling of the 2005 hurricane disaster. The photo of Bush surveying the damage in New Orleans from far above, in Air Force One, remains an indelible symbol of a president who was totally disconnected from the tragic reality on the ground. "Trump is making Bush?s same fatal mistake," Abramson wrote. "It?s the exact same heartlessness and cluelessness." "This is not the America that even staunch conservatives want the world to see," she added. Beyond the political arguments, the words used by the leader of the world's superpower are also stoking the firestorm. "Democrats are the problem. They don?t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country," Trump tweeted Tuesday. According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday, less than a third of Americans (27 percent) approve of the separation of migrant families at the border. Among Republicans, the number is far higher, with a majority backing the president, but only just -- 55 percent. Trump, whose mantra is "border security" at all costs, is to address supporters at a campaign-style "Make America Great Again" rally Wednesday night in Minnesota. In that setting, he is most likely to abandon his prepared remarks -- and consequently usually offers the most provocative statements. With a mounting political crisis within his own Republican Party, US President Donald Trump made an abrupt about-face on migrant family separations US President George W. Bush looks out the window of Air Force One in 2005 as he flies over hurricane-ravaged New Orleans -- one commentator has suggested Trump is having his "Katrina moment" European companies complain they still face a difficult business climate in China despite Beijing's pledges of openness, with about half saying it has become tougher in the past year, according to a survey released Wednesday. The study comes as President Xi Jinping looks to portray the world's number two as being at the forefront of the globalisation while trade tensions with the United States rise. "The root of the tension we see today starts with a China that has not opened up and reformed as quickly as it promised in its rhetoric," said Mats Harborn, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Among the litany of complaints for European companies were the uncertain legal environment, higher cost of labour, regulatory headaches and the "Great Firewall" that censors much of the global internet. "As its economy matures, the longstanding inefficiencies in China's business environment are rendered all the more glaring," according to the report by the EU chamber. Harborn told reporters that the "regulatory environment is actually holding the economy back." "Time is running out for China to continue its reform process," Harborn said, noting 2018 must be the year Beijing acts. Instead Beijing has backtracked in some areas. New cybersecurity regulations make it more costly to jump the firewall, requiring businesses to sign up for expensive and problem-plagued government-approved virtual private networks that allow users to circumvent filters and access the global internet. Two-thirds of companies believe that censorship and blocking of certain sites has a negative impact on their business, while only 23 percent say the state-sanctioned VPNs are efficient. This is the "great contradiction," said Harborn. "We have China which claims itself a leader in globalisation, talking of the importance of integration, but the cybersecurity law is creating problems." The survey found 48 percent of European firms felt it had become "more difficult" to do business in the past 12 months. And a fifth say they have been victims of forced technology transfers, a practice denounced fiercely by Washington as it carries out a probe on the issue while threatening tariffs in retaliation. And there is little optimism for the future as nearly half of European businesses believe barriers to business will harden in the coming five years, while a quarter believe they will never witness a "significant opening" of the market. But progress was reported in some areas. Some 61 percent of the 532 European companies polled by the chamber said they are "optimistic" about the growth of their sector in the country, compared with 55 percent the previous year. Just over half of surveyed companies, 51 percent, consider that they are treated "unfavourably" compared to their local competitors, compared to 54 percent last year. European businesses say it has become harder to do business in China over the past year A teenage girl has died after falling more than 30 metres down a waterfall in the US. Kaylee Marvin, 16, was hiking with a friend in Santaquin Canyon, Utah when police said she took a misstep while trying to cross a log and fell down the waterfall, on Monday morning (local time), Fox 8 reports. Utah County Sheriffs Office Lieutenant Tom Hodgson described Kaylees death as an unfortunate accident. Kaylee Harvin, 16, died after slipping down a waterfall in Utah. Source: Utah County Sheriffs Office With the water up there and the slick rocks the way they are, she just unfortunately didnt put her feet in the right locations and slipped off the edge, he said. The teen suffered serious head and leg injuries. Kaylee was also unconscious and not breathing. CPR was performed on the 16-year-old for about 40 minutes but she couldnt be saved. Kaylee (left) with family. Source: Utah County Sheriffs Office Kaylees father had also been hiking in the area but wasnt with the two girls. Sergeant Spencer Cannon said Kaylees family described her as beautiful inside and out. Sgt Cannon added in a release that at this point there is nothing suspicious about Kaylees death. SAN FRANCISCO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in multi-tenant SaaS EHS and environmental management software, is pleased to announce that Hudbay Minerals, a premier mining company in Canada, will use Locus EIM to improve their environmental data management for field and analytical data reporting. In addition to the standard features of Locus EIM, Hudbay Minerals is opting to use Locus GIS+ mapping solution, Locus Mobile for iOS, and the robust LocusDocs document management solution to enhance and streamline their processes. Locus EIM and the integrated GIS+ solution will help Hudbay Minerals to improve efficiency of sampling and monitoring activities for both field and analytical data. The SaaS solution is enhanced by Locus Mobile for field data collection, which works offline without any internet connection. "The Hudbay team in Arizona looks forward to working with the Locus team and using the system," said Andre Lauzon, Vice President, Arizona Business Unit at Hudbay. By using the powerful smart mapping technology of Locus GIS+, powered by Esri and integrated with all the functionalities of Locus EIM, Hudbay Minerals can save data queries as map layers to create more impactful visual reports, said Wes Hawthorne, president of Locus Technologies. About Locus Technologies Locus Technologies is a Silicon Valley company that provides EHS compliance, water quality management, and sustainability software that has been helping companies achieve environmental and compliance business excellence since 1997. Public and private companies, such as Chevron, Honeywell, San Jose Water Company, Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Monsanto, DuPont, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, rely on Locus to manage their water quality, air, and soil data to calculate emissions including greenhouse gases, discharges, and environmental impacts. Locus pioneered mobile and multi-tenant SaaS and PaaS (Software as a Service/Platform-as-a-service) software solutions to build end-user configurable solutions. For more information, visit https://locustec.com or email info@locustec.com Hungary's parliament adopted Wednesday a controversial package of laws penalising NGOs that help migrants, a key proposal of the firebrand nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Dubbed the "Stop Soros" laws after liberal US billionaire George Soros, accused by the government of orchestrating migration to Europe, the package of legislation was voted through by 160 votes to 18. The laws will bring in a punishment of up to a year in prison for anyone convicted of helping a person who entered Hungary illegally from outside the Schengen zone, and whose life wasn't in immediate danger. MPs also approved a change to the the constitution stipulating that no authority is allowed to affect "the make-up of the Hungarian population", a clause designed to prevent Hungary participating in any EU scheme for mandatory refugee resettlement. The measures passed Wednesday include a constitutional obligation for all state institutions to "defend Christian culture", as well as a ban on homeless people spending the night in public spaces. The latest changes come in addition to a measure passed with a finance bill on Tuesday slapping a 25-percent tax on NGOs suspected of helping migrants. - 'Will of the people' - The Hungarian chapter of rights pressure group Amnesty International, which could find itself targeted under the laws passed on Wednesday, called them "a brazen attack on people seeking safe haven from persecution and those who carry out admirable work to help them". "It is a new low point in an intensifying crackdown on civil society and it is something we will resist every step of the way," Amnesty said in a statement. The UN children's agency UNICEF pointed out the Hungary plays host to less than one percent of registered child asylum seekers in Europe and that hobbling NGOs that help them could lead to "further harm to children who have already been forced to leave their homes, often experiencing traumatic journeys, and will perpetuate dangerous misconceptions rooted in racism and discrimination". However, in an official statement the government said the changes "are implementing the will of the Hungarian people". "This reinforced protection is necessary as the pressure of migration on Europe is constant and the Soros network, as well as the pro-migration policies of Brussels, threaten our country with a migrant invasion," the statement added. The government's language is in keeping with the rhetoric it used in the lead-up to a parliamentary election in April, in which Orban's ruling Fidesz party won a third consecutive term by a landslide. The "Stop Soros" laws were promised by Orban prior to the vote, which was dominated by anti-migrant and anti-Soros messaging on pro-government media. Last month, the Open Society Foundations (OSF) run by Soros announced they were closing operations in Hungary and moving to Berlin, citing the government's "repressive" policies. The adoption of the new laws comes as migration once again moves up the European political agenda. On Thursday, Hungary will host a group of leaders of the Visegrad group of four central European countries, along with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The Visegrad bloc has traditionally taken hardline stances against migration and refugee quotas and Kurz has been cultivating allies in the EU for his own proposals to clampdown on migration. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised the so-called 'Stop Soros' laws in the run-up to the parliamentary election in April Leading Hungarian NGOs pose with a giant heart-shaped balloon during a demonstration against the so-called 'Stop Soros' laws New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was admitted to hospital in Auckland for the birth of her first child. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is now acting prime minister and will run the country for the next six weeks while Ms Ardern takes maternity leave according to a previously published agreement, her office said in a statement. Ms Ardern arrived at the countrys largest public hospital at 5:50am (local time) on Thursday with partner Clarke Gayford, her spokesman said. The 37-year-old took office as New Zealands third female prime minister last year and announced in January she was expecting a baby with Gayford, a television fishing show presenter. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (right) and her partner Clarke Gayford (left). Source: Getty Images Auckland District Hospital declined to comment. Just a handful of elected leaders worldwide have given birth while in office, notably Benazir Bhutto who had her son in 1990 while Prime Minister of Pakistan. Mr Peters a colourful political veteran and head of the populist New Zealand First party had already taken over some of Ms Arderns duties in recent days, including running cabinet meetings in the capital of Wellington while she stayed close to home in Auckland. Ms Ardern has said there would be little disruption during her time off as she would stay in regular contact with Mr Peters and involved in major decisions. She has continued to work right up until the birth, with her partner posting on social media on Wednesday afternoon a photo of her poring over official documents from home with the hashtag still waiting. Diplomats from across the globe defended the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday after the United States withdrew from a body it branded an anti-Israel "cesspool". Slovenian ambassador Vojislav Suc, who currently holds the council's rotating presidency and has been pushing a faltering reform drive, described the Geneva-based chamber as the best place to trigger action on dangerous rights crises. "Let me say it very clearly, if human rights issues are not discussed here, in this very room, they have little chance to be dealt with meaningfully anywhere else," he told the council's 38th session, hours after Washington announced its pullout. Suc further praised the 47-member council as the "only intergovernmental body responding to human rights issues and situations worldwide." The council confirmed Wednesday evening that it had received a formal notification from Washington of the resignation of its membership. "Action will now be taken by the UN General Assembly to elect a new member to replace the United States for the remainder of its term," which had been set to expire next year, the council said in a statement. China, which has on multiple occasions voiced support for multilateral institutions abandoned by US President Donald Trump, portrayed the council as "a major body... to promote the realisation of human rights". "All delegations attach great importance to this body," said Chinese ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Yu Jianhua. China currently sits on the council and rights groups have repeatedly criticised Beijing for seeking to stifle criticism of its own conduct. - 'Gross cynicism' - The European Union assured that it "remains steadfastly and reliably committed to the Human Rights Council," and said it would continue to try to fix the body's problems despite the US withdrawal. Russia's foreign ministry had earlier accused the US of "gross cynicism" and "disregard" for the UN. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and UN ambassador Nikki Haley announced the decision on Wednesday, making good on a threat Haley made in Geneva a year ago. They said their calls for change, notably to fix "hypocrisy" and "unrelenting bias" against Israel were ignored. Membership of the council, established in 2006 to replace the disgraced Human Rights Commission, has long been controversial. Current members include Burundi, the Philippines and Venezuela -- all nations accused of massive abuses against civilians. But the main US objection was the council's Agenda Item 7, which mandates discussion of Israel at each of the three annual sessions. Israel is the only country recorded as a dedicated agenda item. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US withdrawal, experts and diplomats have noted that without US pushback, resolutions approving investigations of Israel's conduct in the Occupied Palestinian Territories could multiply. Diplomats from around the world criticised the US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council, announced by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley UN ambassador Nikki Haley announced that the US would withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday,making good on a threat she made a year ago NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg voiced confidence Tuesday that Alliance members will demonstrate unity at a summit next month despite "important differences" between the United States and European members of the transatlantic Alliance. US President Donald Trump has called on fellow members to shoulder a bigger share of the NATO budget. The US leader has also complained that the transatlantic defence alliance is more useful for Europe than it is for the United States. However Stoltenberg remained decidedly upbeat on Tuesday, while acknowledging the differences. "I'm absolutely confident that the NATO summit will demonstrate the transatlantic unity, that Europe and the United States stand together despite important differences on important issues like trade, the Paris (climate) agreement or the Iran nuclear deal," the NATO leader told the France 24 television channel. "I met president Donald Trump recently in the White House and he reconfirmed his strong personal commitment to NATO and he also recognised that European allies are investing more in defence." Trump caused dismay in Europe during his presidential campaign when he said that NATO was "obsolete" and failing to meet the challenge posed by Islamist terror groups. "He has a strong message about the need to do more (on defence spending) and I agree with him and the European allies also agree with him," said Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg also said NATO hopes to start accession talks with Macedonia at the summit, which will be held in Brussels on July 11 and 12, after the small Balkan nation reached a deal with Greece to be renamed the Republic of North Macedonia. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg hopes members will show unity at a summit next month, but acknowledges differences in view Residents in the Nicaraguan opposition bastion of Masaya were on Wednesday holding off an offensive by police and pro-government paramilitaries as fresh violence flared across the Central American country. Funerals were held for three people killed in clashes in the flashpoint city on Tuesday, bringing to 187 the number killed since protests against President Daniel Ortega's government began on April 18. "This is horrible. You can't live in peace anymore, people are dying because of a government that won't leave," 40-year-old housewife Ramona Aleman told AFP at the cemetery in the north of the city, as a victim of Tuesday's violence was laid to rest. Marvin Lopez was shot in the throat and his friend Edgar Taleno said he and his friends had to dodge gunfire from pro-government forces to retrieve his body. "This is total anarchy. We ask the international community to support us. We can no longer live here, they are massacring people who don't have weapons," Taleno said. Mourners sang Nicaragua's national anthem and fired a volley of homemade mortars in homage to the victims, blaming government "assassins" for their deaths. Meanwhile, a pro-government mob early Wednesday burned down the Masaya hotel owned by the family a of key government opponent, student movement figure Cristian Fajardo. "They entered my business, they poured fuel inside, my uncle was beaten and his head was smashed with the butts of the AK-47s they carried," said Fajardo. Riot police and paramilitaries had deployed Tuesday in the historically combative city after it declared itself in rebellion against Ortega's government. The government-backed forces entered the city to leave munitions and food for the police, and removed some barricades. Police in the city are remaining in their barracks, but according to a priest in the Monimbo neighborhood, Augusto Gutierrez, the opposition remain in control of some areas of the city. The pro-Ortega forces used tractors and tow trucks brought in from the capital Managua to clear barricades from the main road leading to the city. Anti-government protesters erected new barricades in some neighborhoods overnight, as witnesses said trucks carrying armed men patrolled the streets of the city, 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Managua. Ortega's wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, said her husband "is committed to curbing this wave of terrorism, hate crimes, kidnappings, threats and intimidation." Gunfire was heard Wednesday in different parts of the town. Elsewhere, residents in the towns of Jinotepe, Leon, Matagalpa and Esteli reported shootings and attacks by heavily armed men. "There are situations of extreme violence where they are already exceeding the limits, and the truth is that we find ourselves totally defenseless," the executive director of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, Marlin Sierra told AFP. - Fear of 'civil war' - "The tendency is to deepen the crisis," said Sierra. "We are extremely worried because we see that there is a political will on the part of the state to push for a civil war." On Tuesday, the rights group's head Alvaro Leiva said residents were resisting "within the scope of their possibilities" but were under "disproportionate" attack by security forces. The auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Jose Baez, appealed to the government to back off. "Stop the attack on Masaya. Respect the life of the population," he tweeted. The country's Roman Catholic bishops have attempted to mediate the crisis -- but the latest attempt collapsed on Monday, with the bishops and opposition accusing the government of failing to act on a promise to allow international organizations to investigate the violence. Carlos Trujillo, the United States representative at the Organization of American States (OAS), planned to meet with Ortega on Wednesday. He met opposition leaders in Managua on Tuesday shortly after arriving in the country. Masaya, once a stronghold of Ortega's Sandinista revolution, has been a focal point of protests aimed at forcing him out of office. A onetime leftist guerrilla, Ortega led the country from 1979 to 1990 and then returned to the presidency in 2007, now serving his third consecutive term. The death toll in Nicaragua has reached 187 since protests against President Daniel Ortega's government began A bullet hole is seen on a lamppost in Masaya some 35 km from Managua Locals walk near a barricade in Masaya, where residents are holding off an offensive by police and pro-government paramilitaries as fresh violence flared across the Central American country. Funerals were held for three people killed in clashes in the flashpoint city on Tuesday, bringing to 187 the number of dead since protests against President Daniel Ortega's government Kim Jong Un concluded a two-day whirlwind visit to China Wednesday, where he declared North Korea's unstinting "friendship" with Beijing in a show of loyalty to his main ally following a landmark summit with US President Donald Trump. It was Kim's third official visit to China, designed to reassure Beijing that Pyongyang will not neglect its interests as Trump and the young autocrat move into uncharted diplomatic terrain. The performance is part of a delicate balancing act for Kim, who analysts say is seeking to play US and Chinese interests off each other while maintaining good relations with Beijing, his economic patron and diplomatic protector. China and the US both hope to see the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons. But Beijing is concerned Washington and Pyongyang might move closer at its expense, a possibility that China sees as threatening to its economic and security interests in the region. While China was not present at the June 12 summit in Singapore, it lent Kim a plane to travel to the city-state, a clear sign that it remains an influential force in the diplomatic shuffle. The Cold War-era allies, which fought side-by-side against US-led UN forces and South Korea in the 1950-1953 Korean War, have sought to repair ties strained by Pyongyang's nuclear tests and Beijing's support of subsequent UN sanctions. Kim chose Beijing for his first official foreign trip in March and met Xi again in May in the northeastern port city of Dalian. Over the course of this two-day visit, Kim and Xi exchanged vows of friendship and promises of economic cooperation, in a carefully choreographed display of amity that ignored the recent history of chilly relations between the neighbours. - 'Friendship, unity and cooperation' - The North Korean leader, who was greeted by a military honour guard and cheering children at the Great Hall of the People Tuesday, said he valued the "recently strengthened strategic cooperation" between the two countries, according to North Korea's official KCNA news agency. "He expressed the determination and will to further develop the closer relations of friendship, unity and cooperation between the two parties and the two peoples of the DPRK and China," KCNA said. Kim also invoked the "prospect for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula" following his meeting with Trump. At a Wednesday meeting over tea at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Xi said that "the two sides have jointly created a new history of China-DPRK high-level exchanges", according to the Xinhua state news agency. "The momentum for dialogue and easing of situation on the Korean Peninsula has been effectively strengthened," Xi said. "With joint efforts of China, the DPRK and related parties, the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asia will surely embrace the bright prospects of peace, stability, development and prosperity," Xinhua quoted Xi as saying. Following the meeting, Kim toured China's an agricultural technology park and rail traffic control centre in Beijing, Xinhua said, in a possible hint at some of the North's goals for future economic cooperation with China. - Trade card - The official media of both countries did not say whether Kim and Xi discussed the prospect of easing UN sanctions that have crippled North Korea's economy, though analysts said it could have been part of the agenda. China has backed United Nations sanctions against its ally but indicated last year that the UN Security Council could consider easing the punitive measures. Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said Kim and Xi were likely seeking "common ground" following the Singapore summit. For China, North Korea can serve as "an important card" as Beijing faces a potential trade war with the United States, Shin told AFP. "For the North, it can also show to the world, especially the US, that Beijing has Pyongyang's back if the North's ties with the US sour in the future," Shin said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping make a toast at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Graphic on Kim Jong Un's three visits to China this year The first ladies of North Korea and China joined their husbands Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping at the gathering in Beijing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects an honour guard accompanied by Chinese President Xi Jinping The external hard drive had been smuggled from Syrian regime territory through jihadist-held towns and into Turkey. When Ghazwan Koronful finally got his hands on it, he sighed in relief. Loaded onto the disk were pictures of thousands of title deeds from towns in central Syria recently recaptured by government troops and largely emptied of their residents. Fearing Syria's regime would expropriate abandoned properties or tamper with deeds, a network of activists and lawyers set their covert plan into motion. "It was our most complex operation yet," said Koronful, a 65-year-old Syrian lawyer who heads the network from Turkey, where he has lived in exile since 2012. For nearly five years, Koronful's Free Syrian Lawyers (FSL) have been working to preserve property deeds and other civil paperwork in Syria's opposition areas. They enter town registries, photograph the documents, carefully log and organise them, then smuggle the hard drives across Syria's sealed northern border into Turkey. "In total, we've got eight terabytes of documents, about 1.7 million documents -- court records, wills, birth, marriage, and death certificates," said Koronful. Among them are up to 450,000 land-related documents from northern and central Syria -- title deeds, contracts, and other papers that displaced Syrians could use to prove property ownership. These documents are crucial now, Koronful explained, as the government passes a series of laws that rights defenders fear may unfairly dispossess Syrians from their homes. "Our work simultaneously protects against hostilities that could damage the deeds, and against the regime's attempts through these new laws to tamper with people's properties," he told AFP. "Those files represent the hope of return." - Race against air strikes - FSL sprang into action after Homs city's registry was destroyed in a fire in 2013, which activists suspected was a regime bid to strip oppositionists of their land. Smuggling out original deeds from other towns was risky and could be considered tampering, so the FSL's 15 lawyers opted for the next best thing: digital copies. With help from civil society group The Day After, they travelled to Turkey to learn how to handle, photograph, and archive documents. Back in Syria, they began working through abandoned registries in northern rebel towns: Harem, Azaz, Saraqeb. "We set up a little studio in the room with the most light," said an FSL lawyer still in Syria who identified himself as Samer. With just four Canon digital cameras, two laptops, flashes, and tripods, they photographed thousands of deeds, making sure names and dates were clearly visible. "As soon as we'd finish one 200-page ledger, we'd upload the SD card onto the computer. Meanwhile, the camera didn't stop. We'd put a new card in and start photographing again," Samer, 43, told AFP. Each month, they emptied their computers onto external drives which they sent to Koronful in Turkey. They raced against air strikes that damaged cameras and wounded staff members, worrying registries would be bombed to pieces before they could finish. "When we reached the last page, we'd be so happy to be finished. Whatever happens now, if we get bombed, we have a drive with everything on it," said Samer. Sometimes they lost the race. In 2013, days before FSL was to begin photographing deeds in the northern town of Al-Bab, the Islamic State group swept in and destroyed the registry, Koronful said. They now struggle to get permission to enter registries from suspicious rebels, especially in jihadist-run Idlib, occasionally photographing in secret. - A chance to return - Since Syria's war erupted in 2011, more than six million people have been internally displaced and another five million have fled the country. More than 920,000 have been displaced this year alone, the UN said, the fastest rate yet in the seven-year war. A vast majority leave behind property-related papers, the Norwegian Refugee Council found in polls last year. That puts them at risk of losing access to their land through decrees like Law 10, which allows for property expropriation for urban development. Koronful fears the regime could also dispossess refugees through legislation on re-issuing damaged deeds. A set of laws allows for missing titles to be restituted using digital copies, but it remains unclear if the government would accept a version produced by opposition-affiliated lawyers. "We're expecting a lot of people to ask for copies," said The Day After's Amr Shannan, pointing to similar post-conflict property disputes in Lebanon and Bosnia as precedents. For now, the digital titles remain tucked away on a pair of hard drives, one in Turkey and another in an undisclosed European city. They aren't yet searchable, but are archived in the same order as the originals. "If there's going to be a return of refugees, one of the most important factors is that they have homes or land to return to," said Shannan. The Free Syrian Lawyers have worked their way through deeds held in abandoned registries in Azaz and other towns Map of northern Syria with numbers of property deeds smuggled into Turkey on hard drives. To go with AFP story. The registry in the town of Al-Bab was destroyed by the Islamic State group More than six million Syrians have been internally displaced by the war SAN FRANCISCO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trifacta, the global leader in data preparation, today announced it was recognized as a market leader in self-service data preparation in the first report on this topic by global technology research firm Ovum. The report, titled Ovum Decision Matrix, Self-Service Data Prep, 2018-19, assesses data preparation solutions based on quantitative measures of technology, execution and market impact. Ovums inaugural report further validates the growing need for independent data preparation options as a component of modern analytics strategy. The report is available to download in its entirety here. In this era of self-service analytics and exponential growth in data consumption, organizations require a more flexible, iterative approach to data preparation to allow non-technical business users to prep and consume data on their own terms, said Paige Bartley, senior analyst for Data and Enterprise Intelligence at Ovum. Trifactas independent approach to data prep is defined by best-in-breed functionality and provides the enterprise with maximum flexibility and choice in its IT deployments and broad support for a variety of end-user data consumption models. The market-leader recognition from Ovum is the latest in a string of accolades from respected analysts and independent research firms that rank Trifacta as the top-ranked data preparation platform on the market. Others include: Q1 2017 Forrester Wave for Data Preparation According to Forresters widely respected evaluation of vendors in a given market, Trifacta delivers a strong balance for self-service and business users. Dresner Advisory Services End User Data Preparation Survey ranked Trifacta the No. 1 data preparation vendor of 2017, the third year in a row. In the Gartner Research Market Guide for Data Preparation, Trifacta demonstrated support in all of the established capabilities for Data Transformation, Blending and Modeling, Diverse Data Sources, and Data Exploration. Trifactas data preparation platform allows customers to balance their needs for self-service and data governance. This accelerates the process of making data understandable and useful for analysis regardless of where it lives and how it is consumed. The companys innovative approach attacks the bottleneck of data preparation through a unique combination of the latest techniques in data visualization, human-computer interaction and machine learning. Recognition as a leader by Ovum is yet another honor and milestone for Trifacta, said Trifacta CEO Adam Wilson. Were pleased to see the growing momentum around data preparation with analysts expanding their coverage of data preparation as a standalone enterprise platform for operational and analytic workloads. The results of Ovums first report on the data preparation category provide additional evidence of Trifactas continuing leadership in this market and how our platform can help enterprises streamline the most tedious, time-consuming and critical part of the analytics process. Trifacta is poised to take advantage of the growing industry awareness of the criticality of robust data preparation platforms. The big data and business analytics market is expected to be worth $210 billion by 2019. Meanwhile, industry analysts predict data preparation technologies will be used in more than 50 percent of new data integration efforts for analytics by 2020, underscoring the need for solutions that transform raw data to serve valuable downstream purposes such as analytics. Earlier this year, Trifacta announced $48 million in financing from new strategic investors, including Columbia Pacific, Deutsche Borse and Google. Building on Trifactas threefold increase in customer count, the company is accelerating the development of its data wrangling platform and continuing expansion into the cloud and other geographic locations. About Trifacta: Trifacta is the industry pioneer and established leader of the global market for data preparation technology. The company draws on decades of academic research to make the process of preparing data faster and more intuitive. More than 50,000 Data Wranglers in 10,000 companies worldwide use Trifacta solutions across cloud, hybrid and on-premises environments. Leading organizations such as Deutsche Borse, Google, Kaiser Permanente, New York Life and PepsiCo count on Trifacta to accelerate time-to-insight and discover opportunities that drive success. Learn more at trifacta.com. About Ovum: Ovum is a market-leading data research and consulting business focused on helping digital service providers and their technology partners thrive in the connected digital economy. We create business advantage for our customers by providing actionable insight to support their business planning, product development and go-to-market initiatives. Media Contact: Jennifer Harlan Trifacta@highwirepr.com (415) 963-4174 Slovakia's president on Wednesday called on the government to address the demands of farmers who drove their tractors into the capital to protest against irregularities in EU farm subsidy payments first made public by murdered journalist Jan Kuciak. "The situation is serious," President Andrej Kiska told reporters after meeting with the farmers' representatives. "It is high time that the government started addressing the demands and problems of Slovak farmers." The farmers are demanding transparent rules for land usage rights and the distribution of EU subsidies among other issues, according to the Rural Platform group behind the protest. The irregularities were uncovered by Kuciak, who was gunned down in his home as he was about to publish the investigative report into corruption and alleged ties between politicians and the Italian mafia. The article included allegations that several million euros in EU farm subsidies had been lost to fraud. The murder and Kuciak's last explosive report plunged the eurozone country of 5.4 million people into crisis, sparking weekly mass protests that forced the government to resign in March. The demonstration began Tuesday evening, when up to 50 farmers from across the country rolled into public parking lots on the banks of the Danube river to spend the night. The farmers plastered their tractors with signs saying "Give back our land", "We need agricultural reform" and "Give young farmers a chance". On Wednesday, a dozen farmers parked five tractors in front of the agriculture ministry and asked to be invited in as a group for talks. A ministerial aide said that only a few of them could be admitted, so they decided not to go in at all. "I wanted to have a discussion with these farmers," Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matecna told reporters. "It is a pity that they did not come inside to talk to us." Other farmers parked their tractors in front of parliament as well as the presidential palace. Organisers said they intend to continue the protest on Thursday. Slovak farmers drove tractors into Bratislava during a protest against irregularities in EU farm subsidy payments The two figures at the centre of the civil war that has ravaged South Sudan are scheduled to meet on Wednesday for the first time in nearly two years. Ethiopia, which has helped broker the meeting, says rebel leader Riek Machar, who fled South Sudan in July 2016, is expected to meet face-to-face with the country's president, Salva Kiir. Machar arrived in the Ethiopian capital Wednesday morning for the talks, Menasseh Zindo, a senior official in his Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in Opposition (SPLM-IO) rebel group, told AFP. A foreign ministry spokesman confirmed his arrival. The official scope of the talks is broad -- to build bridges between the two. But analysts say the outcome remains unclear given their notoriously volatile relationship, and there is doubt whether the meeting will even take place. Once comrades-in arms in the fight for independence, Kiir and Machar experienced a bitter falling out, a development that played a key part in the civil war that blights the future of the world's youngest state. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly a third of the 12 million population have been driven out of their homes, and many to the brink of starvation. The two will meet at the invitation of Ethiopia's new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who also chairs the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional bloc that has taken the lead in thus-far fruitless peace negotiations. Abiy "will call upon the two leaders to narrow their gap and work for the pacification of South Sudan and relieve the burden of death and uprooting of South Sudanese people," Meles Alem, Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman, said. Kiir's attendance has been confirmed by South Sudan's ambassador to Ethiopia, James Pitia Morgan. A landlocked state with a large ethnic mix, South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long and brutal war. The event was hailed around the world and by celebrity supporters such as George Clooney. But in 2013, Kiir accused Machar, his vice president, of plotting a coup against him, and violence erupted between the two factions, feeding on brooding ethnic tensions. - New fighting - They have not met since July 2016, when heavy fighting in the capital Juba signalled the collapse of a 2015 peace deal and Machar fled to South Africa. The renewed violence spread across the country, spawning numerous new armed opposition groups and further complicating peace efforts. Despite the pressure, observers say Kiir has little incentive to make concessions to his rivals. His soldiers are winning militarily, while the opposition is more fractured than ever before. Efforts to revitalise the 2015 agreement resulted in a ceasefire in December which lasted just hours before warring parties accused each other of breaking it. The meeting in Addis Ababa comes against a background of growing international frustration. In May, the UN Security Council gave the two warring sides a month to reach a peace deal or face sanctions. Washington was a critical backer of South Sudan during its separation from Sudan, and remains Juba's biggest aid donor. But a top US official earlier this month threatened parties on both sides of the conflict with sanctions after a report from a US foundation, The Sentry, said South Sudanese elites were profiting from human rights abuses. Ready to meet: South Sudan President Salva Kiir, left, and rebel leader Riek Machar Ready to meet: South Sudan President Salva Kiir, left, and rebel leader Riek Machar Millions of people in South Sudan have fled their homes because of the violence US President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers Tuesday he backed their efforts to craft an immigration solution that ends the politically toxic practice of separating families on the US-Mexico border. Just hours after doubling down on his administration's much-derided policy that triggers separations of migrant children from their parents, Trump braved frustrated and in some cases angry fellow Republicans to assure he wanted their swift resolution to the crisis. While top officials have stood by Trump's "zero tolerance" approach, insisting children are being held in humane conditions, criticism has swelled from international rights groups, Christian evangelicals, former US first ladies and the president's own Republican Party. Democrats who have visited minors in detention in Texas and California describe crying children held in cage-like conditions behind chain-link fencing, with no idea when they will see their parents again. An audio recording purported to feature Central American children separated from their parents sobbing and wailing has also struck a nerve. With emotions running high, a handful of House Democrats protested the Trump meeting, yelling out at Trump in a rare face-to-face demonstration against a president by sitting members of Congress. "Quit separating the kids!" Juan Vargas, a Democrat from southern California, shouted as Trump exited the meeting. "Mr President, don't you have kids?" Republican lawmakers emerged from the 45-minute huddle energized that Trump was giving his backing to legislation that House leaders expect to bring to a vote this week. It contains several of Trump's main priorities, including border wall funding, protecting young "Dreamer" immigrants who were brought to the country as children and curbs on legal immigration programs such as an end to the visa lottery. House Republican Mario Diaz-Balart said the priority of ending the separations has been slotted into a compromise bill currently under consideration and favored by GOP moderates. "Not only does he support the compromise bill, but he backs it all the way," Diaz-Balart said of Trump. But even after the meeting, it was unclear whether Trump favored that bill over a more hardline measure supported by conservatives. White House spokesman Raj Shah said Trump "endorsed both House immigration bills" during the meeting, adding that they "solve the border crisis and family separation issue by allowing for family detention and removal." "I'm with you 100 percent," Trump said, according to Shah. Several Republicans have said the more conservative plan is doomed, and that Trump's address was helpful in unifying the divided caucus. "We're going to have work to do" to get the compromise across the finish line, said number three House Republican Steve Scalise. On Tuesday evening, protesters heckled US homeland security chief Kirstjen Nielsen as she dined at a Mexican restaurant in Washington. They chanted "shame!" repeatedly at the woman who has become the frontline defender of the Trump administration's widely condemned practice of taking kids from their parents. "How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you're deporting, imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States?" one of the activists cried out. Earlier in the day, a defiant Trump sounded unfazed by the mounting pressure to alleviate the situation before it ruptures into a public relations disaster for his party. - 'Take the children away' - "I don't want children taken away from parents," he told a gathering of small business owners, before adding: "When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away." Trump has accused Democrats of provoking the current crisis by blocking legislation to combat illegal immigration. But Democratic leaders have pushed back. Senator Chuck Schumer said the president "continues to try to use these separated families as hostages in the legislative process." Calling for an immediate fix, Schumer added: "The president can end this crisis with the flick of his pen, and he needs to do so now." Senate Republicans are also moving to block Trump's policy. A group led by Senator Orrin Hatch wrote Attorney General Jeff Sessions demanding a pause in separations, while Senator John Cornyn was drafting "emergency" legislation to allow families to remain intact while their cases are adjudicated. The United Nations has slammed the separation practice as unconscionable, while Amnesty International blasted it as "nothing short of torture." Mexico's foreign minister condemned it as "cruel and inhuman." The issue risks becoming a political nightmare several House Republicans who face tough re-election fights in November. Some may worry that public outrage over the family separations could hurt their chances. - 'Outcry' - Democrats say the crisis is of Trump's own making, and accuse him of using children as pawns. "This has caused an outcry throughout the country," said Senator Chris Van Hollen, who visited a detention facility in McAllen, Texas over the weekend where some 1,500 children are being held. US officials say more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents or guardians since early May, when the administration announced its "zero tolerance" push to arrest and charge anyone illegally crossing the US-Mexico border, regardless of whether they were seeking asylum. Since children cannot be sent to the facilities where their parents are held, they are separated from them. Separated children make up a minority of immigrant minors in US custody. The Department of Health and Human Services said there are currently 11,700 children under its care in 100 shelters across 17 states. Most crossed the border without their parents. US public opinion appears divided along partisan lines on the family separations, with two thirds of all voters opposed, but 55 percent of Republicans supporting the policy, according to a Quinnipiac University National Poll. US President Donald Trump doubled down on his controversial immigration policies that lead to migrant family separations before heading to Capitol Hill to huddle with Republicans on a way forward A US Customs and Border Protection photo shows intake of illegal border crossers at a processing center in McAllen, Texas in May Protesters rally against the separation of immigrant families outside US Customs and Border Protection headquarters in Washington on June 19, 2018 Chart showing illegal immigrant apprehensions at the US-Mexico border since 1960 US President Donald Trump is "no longer the moral leader of his country or the world", the human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, said Wednesday amid global outrage over the White House's policy of separating migrant children from their parents. "What is happening at the (US-Mexico) border where he (Trump) is separating children from their parents is a sign that he is no longer the moral leader of his country or the world," the Council of Europe's secretary general, Thorbjorn Jagland, told Norwegian broadcaster TV2. "Everything he does excludes him from the role American presidents have always had," Jagland said during a trip to Moscow. "He can not speak on behalf of the so-called free world." The Council of Europe is a Strasbourg-based international human rights organisation with 47 signatory states. Jagland is also one of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee which annually awards the Nobel Peace Prize. Some have suggested Trump ought to be awarded the prestigious prize for his denuclearisation efforts on the Korean peninsula. The Trump administration's controversial policy of separating children from their undocumented parents, many of whom are fleeing violence in Central America, has triggered outrage and criticism from human rights groups across the globe. British Prime Minister Theresa May also said on Wednesday that images of migrant children kept in cages in the US were "deeply disturbing". Jagland said the US withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council "was not unexpected". "This is just one more example which shows that he does not want to be part of international treaties or international cooperation-based organisations," he said. The US announced on Tuesday that it was withdrawing from the Geneva-based body, accusing it of "hypocrisy" and bias against Israel. Human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, says US President Donald Trump is no longer the moral leader of the free world The United States -- facing massive controversy over immigration -- received more asylum requests than any other developed nation in 2017, overtaking Germany, the OECD said in a report published Wednesday. Asylum requests went up 26 percent in the US to 330,000 last year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its annual International Migration Outlook. Germany, which had topped the ranking since 2013, meanwhile saw a 73 percent drop in applications to 198,000 as the massive influx to Europe across the Mediterranean has slowed, the report said. The report was released as President Donald Trump faces a cacophony of criticism over his administration's practice of separating migrant children from their parents on the US-Mexico border. "The refugee crisis has heightened concerns in the public opinion about the potential benefits of migration," the OECD's labour director Stefano Scarpetta wrote in the report. If countries want to work together better on migration and protect refugees, "these concerns must be addressed." Trump has promised a "zero tolerance" approach to immigration, vowing that America will not become a "migrant camp". But the policy of separating families has sparked a huge uproar, with Democrats who have visited detention facilities describing crying Central American children held in cage-like conditions. The United Nations has slammed the separation practice as unconscionable, while Amnesty International blasted it as "nothing short of torture." - 'Jobs needed for young men' - In Europe, which has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants arrive on flimsy boats since 2015, the OECD warned governments needed to find jobs for young refugees or risk fuelling anti-immigrant sentiment over their failure to integrate. Young men with little education make up a disproportionate number of the roughly four million people who have claimed asylum in Europe since 2014, the Paris-based rich nations' club said. While it stressed the influx has so far had relatively little impact on locals' chances of getting a job, it said countries like Germany and Sweden, which have taken in particularly large numbers, could see a rise in unemployment. In Germany, it predicted migrants could swell the number of unemployed by about six percent by the end of 2020, which would bring the unemployment rate up around half a percentage point. The warning comes as tensions over migration have returned to the fore in European politics, not least in Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel's interior minister is calling for a tougher approach. The OECD said the swelling numbers of young men looking for manual work could create pressure in countries like Germany as they compete for jobs with unemployed locals. In both Austria and Germany their arrival could grow this segment of the labour market by up to 15 percent by the end of 2020. "Young, low-educated men are overrepresented among refugees," the report said. "Since this population group is already vulnerable in most host countries, well-targeted measures are needed to provide them with adequate support," it added. "Further deterioration of employment outcomes in this group could negatively affect the public perception of the impact of refugees on the economy." It called for "policy support for low-educated men in general" to help them win jobs as well as "effective integration measures specifically for recently arrived refugees". Unemployment has been falling for years in Germany, with fewer out of work in May than at any time since reunification in 1990 -- though many who recently arrived as refugees are yet to join the labour market, undergoing job training or language classes. The report noted governments are increasingly turning their attention to how to integrate those who stay as arrivals drop, with asylum claims falling 46 percent last year to 650,000 from 1.2 million in 2016. Yet European states are still feuding over how to handle arrivals themselves, as shown by Italy and Malta's recent refusal to take in the 630 migrants onboard the Aquarius rescue ship. Trump has promised a "zero tolerance" approach to immigration, vowing that America will not become a "migrant camp" Europe has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants arrive on flimsy boats since 2015 Stan Wawrinka has warned Andy Murray not to rush his return from hip surgery after the former world number one hinted he isn't certain to compete at Wimbledon. Murray was beaten 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 by Australia's Nick Kyrgios in the Queen's Club first round on Tuesday in his first competitive match for 11 months. The 31-year-old Scot, whose ranking has plummeted to 156, admitted after the defeat he was unsure if his body could hold up to the demands of best-of-five-set ties at Wimbledon. He planned to see how he recovered before deciding whether to play at the All England Club, where he has twice won the Wimbledon title. With Wimbledon starting on July 2, Murray doesn't have much time to regain full fitness. And Swiss star Wawrinka, working his way back from a lengthy injury of his own, has told Murray just how difficult it is to play at a Grand Slam after so long on the sidelines. "Well, my first match was at the Australian Open, and two days after I was not feeling pain or whatever, but my body was completely off. I felt dead," Wawrinka said. "I lost in my next match, but I couldn't really do anything. That's mentally tough, because you have never experienced that in the past. "So you need to learn from it, you need to adapt and accept it and be patient with yourself and what you're going to do." Wawrinka needed two operations on a knee problem last year and, in a trend Murray will hope to buck, the three-time Grand Slam winner still isn't back to his best. Wawrinka showed that lack of confidence and rhythm as he crashed to a 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1 defeat against Sam Querrey in the second round at Queen's on Wednesday. "For the first match I think Andy was for sure moving, playing well, knowing that he's been away for a year," Wawrinka said. "But if I take my experience, what's important is how he's going to be in the next match he plays. "I know the feeling. You know, we have different injury, but for me I was also similar. I was only allowed to do certain amount of time on the court or on the physical end. "Even when you come back on the tour, you need to still be patient, because it's not going to come back like that and you're going to be the same player as one year before." - Cilic mastery - Wawrinka faded badly in the final set against Querrey as the American world number 13 condemned the 33-year-old to his seventh defeat in his last nine ATP Tour matches. Querrey, who won Queen's in 2010, will play Croatian top seed Marin Cilic in the last eight. Cilic maintained his mastery over Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, hitting back to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in their latest big-serving battle. Chasing his second Queen's title and his fourth final appearance, Cilic once again frustrated Muller 12 months after beating him in the final set in both the Wimbledon quarter-finals and Queen's semi-finals. Cilic, who lost last year's Queen's final against Feliciano Lopez, hit 19 aces to 17 from Muller as he made the quarter-finals for the seventh time. American prodigy Frances Tiafoe moved into his first ATP Tour grass-court quarter-final with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win against Argentina's Leonardo Mayer. Tiafoe, ranked 62nd, is looking to add a second ATP title to his maiden success at Delray Beach in February. The 20-year-old out-lasted Mayer to stop the world number 38 building on his surprise first round victory against third seed Kevin Anderson. Tiafoe next faces France's Jeremy Chardy, who beat Russia's Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (8/6), 6-3. Stan Wawrinka's Wimbledon preparations were hit by defeat against Sam Querrey At a stretch: Marin Cilic returns to Gilles Muller as he wins in three sets to reach the Queen's quarter-finals Emirati-backed Yemeni government forces seized Hodeida airport from Huthi rebels on Wednesday, the coalition said, in a major step towards retaking the key Red Sea port city. "The airport was completely cleared, Thank God, and is under control," coalition commander for the Red Sea coast, Abdul Salaam al-Shehi, said in a video posted by the United Arab Emirates' official WAM news agency. Last Wednesday, government forces launched an offensive to clear Hodeida of rebel fighters who have held it since 2014, raising UN concerns for vital aid shipments and commercial food imports through the city's docks. The airport is disused but housed a major rebel base just inland from the coast road into the city from the south. It lies just eight kilometres (five miles) from the city's port, through which three-quarters of Yemen's imports pass, providing a lifeline for some 22 million people dependent on aid. UN envoy Martin Griffiths held four days of talks in the rebel-held capital Sanaa in a bid to avert an all-out battle for the city but flew out on Tuesday without announcing any breakthrough. The United Arab Emirates and other members of a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in support of the government in 2015 have accused regional arch foe Iran of using Hodeida as conduit for arms smuggling to the rebels. Tehran has denied the allegation. Emitari-backed Yemeni government forces advance into Hodeida airport on June 19, 2018 in a major step towards recapturing the strategic Red Sea port city from Shiite rebels. .UAE-backed Yemeni government forces fought their way into Hodeida airport today, pressing an offensive that has seen some of the most intense fighting of a three-year war against Shiite Huthi rebels. Yemen's Huthi rebels vowed to fight on after pro-government forces seized Hodeida airport from them on Wednesday, in a major step towards retaking the port city following a week-long battle. Rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi called for reinforcements to repel the advance of the UAE-backed government forces, after ongoing fighting left nearly 350 people dead. "We will face all of the incursions on the ground. Our determination will never be dented," he said via the rebels' Al-Masirah news outlet. Pro-government forces announced the capture of Hodeida airport on Wednesday morning, a day after breaking through the perimeter fence. The airport was disused but it housed a major rebel base just inland from the coastal road into the city from the south. Fresh clashes later erupted between UAE-backed government forces and the Iran-allied rebels on a road linking the airport to Hodeida port on the Red Sea coast, a Yemeni army source said. Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi said military "operations will continue on various fronts until (the capital) Sanaa and the whole territory" are retaken from the rebels. On June 13, Yemen's army and its allies launched their offensive to clear Hodeida of rebel fighters who have held it since 2014, raising UN concerns for vital aid shipments and food imports through the city's docks. At least 156 Huthis and 28 soldiers were killed in the fight for the airport, according to Hodeida hospital sources. That raised the death toll in the battle for the city to 348. No civilian casualties have yet been confirmed. The United Arab Emirates and other members of a Saudi-led coalition that intervened in support of the government in 2015 have accused regional arch foe Iran of using Hodeida as the major conduit for arms smuggling to the rebels. Tehran has denied the allegation. UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said the "liberation of Hodeida is the beginning to ending the war. "The choice in Yemen is between the state and militia, between order and violence, between peace and war," he wrote on Twitter, referring to Huthi militiamen. - Water supply disrupted - Three-quarters of Yemen's imports pass through the port, providing a lifeline for some 22 million people dependent on aid. UN envoy Martin Griffiths held four days of talks in rebel-held Sanaa in a bid to avert an all-out battle for Hodeida but flew out on Tuesday without announcing any breakthrough. The United Nations has described Yemen as the world's gravest humanitarian crisis and warned any attack on Hodeida port could cripple aid shipments. The Norwegian Refugee Council said the fighting had already hit water supplies, putting people at high risk of contamination. "As of 19 June, the water supply has been disrupted in several areas and people are reportedly relying on water from mosque wells," it said in a statement. "Access to adequate and safe water is now a major concern, particularly in light of the ongoing cholera emergency." Hodeida's residents are bracing for what they fear will be devastating street fighting, as tanks and buses carrying uniformed troops roll through the empty streets of the once-bustling city. Some 5,200 families fled their homes this month as pro-government forces advanced up the Red Sea coast, according to the UN. The Hodeida offensive, dubbed Operation Golden Victory, is the most intense battlefront in the already-brutal Yemen war which has left millions displaced. The 2015 Saudi-led intervention came after Hadi fled into exile as the rebels overran much of the country. The conflict has since killed nearly 10,000 people, most of them civilians, while more than 2,200 others have died from cholera. The coalition has helped pro-government forces regain control of the south and much of the Red Sea coast, but the rebels still control Sanaa and most of the north. Multiple rounds of UN-brokered peace talks have all failed to achieve any breakthrough. The Yemeni government and its allies have insisted that the Huthis must fully withdraw from Hodeida and turn over the port to UN supervision. The rebels have so far agreed only to share control of the port with the United Nations. This image grab taken from an AFPTV video shows Yemeni pro-government forces firing a heavy machinegun at the south of Hodeida airport, in Yemen's Hodeida province on June 15, 2018 Graphic showing the imports of food and fuel into the ports of Hodeida, Salif and Ras Isa and their location. The UN says fierce fighting in the Hodeida area of Yemen has already driven 5,200 families from their homes as pro-government forces advanced up the Red Sea coast LYONS At a Democratic candidates forum Tuesday night, Dana Balter did not mince words when asked about the ongoing immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Balter, D-Syracuse, accused the Trump administration of "committing human rights abuses" by enforcing a family separation policy at the border. Children have been separated from their parents, who are taken into custody for illegally entering the U.S. The children are then transferred to a shelter operated by the federal government. An estimated 2,000 children have been separated from their parents. Balter believes the children are being used as "political hostages" by the Trump administration. "I cannot believe that the president of my country is doing that," she said. Juanita Perez Williams, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination in the 24th Congressional District, agreed. She said the Trump administration is using children as a "tool." For Perez Williams, the ongoing problem reminds her of experiences growing up near the U.S.-Mexico border. Even though her father was an American citizen, she said the Border Patrol would harass him as he walked his children to a bus stop. The answers from both candidates were in response to a question about whether the U.S. should help address conditions in the countries people are fleeing. Balter supports efforts to boost the economic and political stability of struggling countries. "If they have safety and opportunity at home, they would not be trying to relocate," she said. Perez Williams also supports addressing problems in the countries of origin. "We should be focusing on where they're coming from, what they need and we can do that," she said. There may be a resolution to the family separation policy this week. President Donald Trump said Thursday he will issue an executive order to prevent families from being separated at the border. The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Thursday on legislation that would address several immigration-related issues, including child separations. Love 0 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 LYON, France and NEWBURYPORT, Mass., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novacap, a worldwide player in pharmaceutical synthesis and advanced specialties, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Boston-based PCI Synthesis, a leading U.S. pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), further reinforcing Novacaps capabilities and offering for the pharmaceutical industry. Located in Bostons booming biotech and pharmaceutical hub, PCI Synthesis offers its customers a wide range of services, including process research and early stage development as well as commercial production of new chemical entities (NCEs), generic APIs and other specialty chemical products. The company operates a R&D facility in Devens, MA, and a manufacturing facility in Newburyport, MA, and generates a turnover of $32 million. Leveraging its wide business offering and technologies, proximity to customers, reactivity and undisputed project management skills, PCI Synthesis has achieved tremendous growth over the last years, most recently closing its fifth consecutive year-to-year of double-digit growth. This has been driven by more than forty new customers and an expansion into new offerings such as GMP manufacturing for nutraceuticals and pharma foods, large-scale cryogenic manufacturing, large-scale chromatography, controlled substance development, and medical-grade polymers. The company is North Americas most awarded drug substance manufacturer and has become a strategic partner for the U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The combination of the two companies will provide PCI Synthesis with additional resources to continue its development while reinforcing Novacaps global leadership in pharmaceutical synthesis with 12 cGMP sites, 2 main R&D centers and its comprehensive range of services and technologies dedicated to clinical development and commercial manufacturing. "This acquisition validates our strategy, resources, offerings as well as our great employees and wonderful customers. Since we started the company more than 20 years ago, weve continued to evolve and innovate, and by teaming with Novacap, we will continue to do so, now with access to Novacaps deep technical expertise to better serve our customers," said Ed Price, Founder and President of PCI Synthesis. The acquisition of PCI Synthesis perfectly fits with our strategic roadmap as it will strengthen our offering to the pharmaceutical industry and provide Novacap with a strong and innovative platform to accelerate our development in the U.S. We have been impressed by the outstanding achievement of PCI Synthesis over the last years and its promising pipeline of projects. The two companies operate complementary CDMO activities and share common values such as entrepreneurship, operational excellence and dedication to customer satisfaction. We look forward to working with the PCI Synthesis team, said Pierre Luzeau, CEO of Novacap. The closing of this acquisition remains subject to customary merger control approval. BlackArch Partners served as the exclusive financial advisor to PCI Synthesis. About Novacap Novacap is a global player in pharmaceutical synthesis, advanced specialties and cosmetics. The Group offers its clients custom manufacturing services for pharmaceutical and speciality markets as well as a large portfolio of APIs & pharmaceutical intermediates. Novacap also boasts leading positions in a variety of markets, including cosmetics and fragrances, electronics, home care, food and feed or environment. Novacap sets itself apart not only by the outstanding quality of its products but also by its culture of excellence which aims at providing its clients with the best level of service. Novacap posted sales of $1bn in 2017, operates 28 industrial plants and employs more than 3,000 people across the world. More information on www.novacap.eu. Contact Novacap: presse@novacap.eu About PCI Synthesis PCI Synthesis is a Pharmaceutical Development CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) based in Newburyport, MA and is the largest small molecule drug substance manufacturer in the New England area. PCI Synthesis is also a commercial manufacturer of new chemical entities (NCEs), generic active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and other specialty chemical products for the medical device industry. As a CDMO, PCI Synthesis provides emerging and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies access to the expertise needed to develop and manufacture complex small molecules. To learn more about PCI Synthesis, its proprietary NCE development activities and process R&D capabilities please visit www.pcisynthesis.com. Contact PCI Synthesis: Edna Kaplan Birnbach Communications for PCI Synthesis 617-974-8659 ekaplan@birnbachcom.com LYONS If the forum Tuesday at Ohmann Theater is any indication, the two Democrats running in the 24th Congressional District race won't overlook Wayne County in the primary or general elections. Dana Balter and Juanita Perez Williams answered questions from the crowd of more than 100 people for more than an hour. The forum, which was sponsored by Wayne Action for Racial Equality and the Citizens Response Network, covered health care, immigration, taxes and more. But it was a question about Wayne County's role in the 24th district that seemed to interest the audience. The candidates were asked how they would win votes from Wayne County during the election. The westernmost county in the 24th district is a Republican stronghold. As of April, there were nearly 9,000 more active GOP voters than Democrats in Wayne County. Dan Maffei is the last Democrat to win this Syracuse-area congressional race. When he won the 2012 election, he lost Wayne County by more than 9,000 votes. Both candidates pledged to have a constant presence in Wayne County. Balter, D-Syracuse, said it was her first stop after entering the congressional race in September. She questioned why Democrats have overlooked the county. "To me, the heart of representation is about showing up," she said. "It is about listening. It is about making the person-to-person connection in the community." She added later, "Wayne County will never be at the bottom of the list." Perez Williams, D-Syracuse, acknowledged that while she hasn't been in the campaign as long as Balter, she has made traveling to Wayne County a priority. When she launched a series of community conversations in the district, the first event was at a home in Marion, a town in western Wayne County. If elected to Congress, she plans on being a frequent visitor to churches, community centers and other sites in the county. "I will be here," she said. "I will be a voice for Wayne County and I will ensure that you have a representative that you see." The candidates answered questions on other issues during the forum. They agreed that the Trump administration's policy of separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border must end. They both support repealing the tax overhaul passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump late last year. The pair also agreed that more needs to be done to combat gun violence. Perez Williams supports a ban on assault weapons. Balter wants to ensure public health agencies have the ability to research gun violence. There was one prominent disagreement during the forum, and it came on the final question of the night. An attendee asked Perez Williams to clear up her stance on abortion. Balter's campaign launched a television ad early last week that raised questions about whether Perez Williams supports a woman's right to choose. The ad highlighted social media posts by Perez Williams in which she wrote about her "pro-life advocacy" and participation in the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion rally held annually in Washington. Perez Williams, who has repeatedly said that she is pro-choice, reiterated that stance at the forum. She called the Balter campaign's ad "disingenuous." "I have always supported a woman's right to choose," she said. "I will always protect and defend it." Balter responded by saying that she is "100 percent pro-choice" and reiterated her belief that her stance is different than Perez Williams'. She defended her campaign's TV ad and disputed the claim that the commercial is dishonest. She again questioned Perez Williams' past comments on abortion and her participation in the March for Life. "I don't understand how somebody who says and does those things can be trusted to protect these rights," she said. "And my question is, which of those is the real Juanita Perez Williams?" The forum was held one week before the Democratic primary in the 24th district. Polls will open at noon Tuesday, June 26. The winner of the Democratic primary will face U.S. Rep. John Katko in the general election. Both candidates have said they support their party's nominee in the congressional race. Love 3 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Democratic voters in the 24th Congressional District will select the party's nominee to challenge U.S. Rep. John Katko, a Republican who is seeking a third term representing all or parts of four counties in central New York. The primary is Tuesday, June 26. The district includes all of Cayuga, Onondaga and Wayne counties, plus the western portion of Oswego County. The cities of Auburn, Fulton, Oswego and Syracuse are in the district. Here is what you should know about voting in the Democratic primary for Congress: The candidates. Dana Balter and Juanita Perez Williams are seeking the Democratic nomination in the 24th Congressional District. Balter, D-Syracuse, is an activist and visiting assistant teaching professor at Syracuse University. Perez Williams, D-Syracuse, is a former Syracuse mayoral candidate and an ex-regional director of the state Department of Labor. Where to vote. The standard polling locations in Cayuga County will be in place for the primary. Onondaga and Wayne counties will have different polling locations for the primary election. (See here and here.) If you're an Oswego County voter and unsure of where to vote, call (315) 349-VOTE. When the polls will be open. The polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday, June 26. Voting by absentee or military ballot. The deadline to mail in your absentee ballot application has passed, but you can still submit your application in person at one of the county boards of election in the district. The last day for in-person applications is Monday, June 25. That date is also the deadline to postmark the absentee or military ballots. You may submit absentee ballots in person on Election Day. Can you still register to vote? Unfortunately, the deadline to register to vote in the primary has passed. The last opportunity for new voters to register to vote in the primary was earlier this month. When will we know the winner? After the polls close at 9 p.m. Tuesday, each county will tally the results and release the final numbers. A winner may be determined within two or three hours after the polls close. It's possible a winner may not be known until the absentee ballots are counted. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 At a recent workshop in Auburn, it was argued that a child can learn just as well with a paintbrush, guitar or ballet shoes as they can with a textbook. Central New York Arts, an organization that supports and promotes the arts, ran a series of training sessions for teaching artists at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art in Auburn June 14 and 15. Carol Dumka, CNY Arts' board president and arts in education coordinator for BOCES in Herkimer County, said a teaching artist works with a class to teach a lesson related to its curriculum. For a social studies class, for example, a teaching artist might have students stage a play related to a current lesson. Teaching artists create those lessons through dance, theater, visual arts and more. Dumka said the arts can help students connect to other subjects. Different students learn best through reading, drawing or other methods, she said. "I think by offering different ways of learning through the arts we can reach all kids," Dumka said. The training offered attendees insight on several topics, such as ways teaching artists can secure funding to run their programs, and the new arts education standards implemented by the state education department. The event was funded by the New York State Council of the Arts. Kenneth McLaurin, a stand-up comedian based in Ithaca, attended the event both days. He said he did so to develop the skills needed to create a program that will translate his comedy skills into helping people in prison work on critical thinking, conflict resolution and literacy. "Comedy, it's about self-expression and it's about letting your voice be heard, and I think incarcerated people are a group who really have a lot to say," McLaurin said. "And this is a way to allow them to say critical things in a way that's sort of light and funny and talk about really tough situations in a way that's easy." McLaurin said he wanted to learn about lesson plans, putting a curriculum together and contacting the right people to gain access within the prison or school systems. The training was helpful, he said. One of the presenters at the training was Jose Velez, associate director of teaching artist faculty and fellowships at the Lincoln Education Center in New York City, which helps people learn skills through the arts. Before presenting, Velez talked about the ideal qualities of a teaching artist. "A teaching artist has to be flexible and open-minded, you need to be able to learn how to listen, because teaching is not just about you standing in a place and talking to people, it's about really being aware of what's happening with the learner and how they're engaged with what you're doing," Velez said. Arts educator and choreographer Heidi Miller gave a presentation on assessments to determine how students are connecting with the material. She had recently run an activity with students involving Langston Hughes' poem "I, Too," so she created a series of objectives and goals based on that. In the activity, Miller's students worked individually and together to create dance compositions inspired by their interpretations of the poem. Some of her goals included students learning about Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance period. Miller said after the workshop that it is important to determine what the students learned, and the teaching artist's effectiveness during their residency within a school. "In order for us to be effective for the kids to get a lot out of it, we have to have clear goals, clear lesson objectives and clear ways we are going to assess at the end and during the residency," Miller said. Miller said she feels education and the arts are not separate concepts. "We are artists going into classrooms, but I view us as educators," Miller said. "We're not separate, we're part of the kids' experience at the school or after school," she said. Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Q What is 3D printing? Lily Kopietz, Mukwonago, Wis. A Ben Cox, assistant engineer at the Morgridge Institute for Research: The process known as 3D printing refers to a kind of manufacturing where a part is built up layer by layer. With a typical machine, you take a block of material and subtract away. With additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, you start with nothing, and you add layer by layer until you have a final part. There are a lot of ways to create files for 3D printing. The most common by far is modeling with computer software. You need to have a file before you can 3D print something. One of the machines used at the Morgridge Institute for Research for 3D printing is called a fused-deposition modeling printer. It uses spools of corded plastic, like you might see in a Weed Wacker or something at home, which it pulls through the machine, heating it up and extruding it through a tiny little die. That die makes a tiny little filament, which it lays out in lines to create a layer of plastic. Then it moves up and creates another layer of plastic. Another potential use for 3D printing is printing of tissue. Scientists are pretty good at making different tissues in layers, but its hard to get tissue to live and behave exactly how you want it to behave when you start stacking layers of tissue. NASAs actually really interested in this too. NASA wants to be able to print food, so theres not much packaging waste. The idea there would be, in space, to print exactly the nutrients that each astronaut would need. It might not taste the best, but there wouldnt be packaging waste. But anything that you can melt and extrude through a die, you can use in these printers. Blue Sky Science is a collaboration of the Wisconsin State Journal and the Morgridge Institute for Research. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The typical household in New York's 24th congressional district, which stretches from Syracuse to Rochester's eastern suburbs, will receive a $1,000 tax cut this year thanks to tax reform. Larger paychecks aren't the only benefit of the reform, which Congress passed in late December. The new law also slashes business tax rates. Hundreds of companies have already announced they'll use their financial windfalls to reward employees and expand operations. The surge in investment will lead to higher wages and more jobs for central New York workers. Many local business owners know exactly how they'll use their tax savings. Consider Joanne Cross, owner of Moravia-based Cross Filtration, which manufacturers cloth filters for industrial applications. In a roundtable discussion with Congressman John Katko, who voted in favor of tax reform, Cross explained that she would upgrade employees' health coverage and raise wages. Cross isn't alone. Across the country, over 500 companies have given workers raises, bonuses, and better benefits. At the same roundtable with Rep. Katko, Steve Wells, the owner of American Food & Vending in Liverpool, gushed that "In every way, this tax plan advances the economy as a whole and in particular, upstate New York." He's right. Tax reform will help small businesses thrive. New York is home to almost 430,000 small firms, virtually all of which will benefit from changes in how "pass-through entities" are taxed. Mom and pop shops typically register as pass-through companies, where any income or losses are passed through to the owners' personal tax returns. Thanks to a new 20 percent deduction for pass-through income, plumbers, bakers, electricians and other small-business owners will have more money to re-invest in their enterprises. The tax overhaul is also aiding large firms. Before tax reform, the staggeringly high corporate tax rate dissuaded multinational firms from investing in America. Between 2004 and 2016, almost 5,000 companies left the United States. By cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent, the law helps reverse this outflow. Hyundai is ramping up its U.S. investment, which will total $3.1 billion by 2023. Toyota is investing $10 billion over the same period. The law also helps New York businesses compete on an international scale. Consider Nucor Steel, a multinational steel manufacturer with a factory in Auburn. The company has invested over $7 billion in the United States over the past decade or so. "To have a similar tax rate as a lot of these other companies that we are competing with . . . gives us a chance to keep our people working and busy and making a good wage," explained Nucor Vice President Drew Wilcox. Rep. Katko should be commended not only for supporting the tax reform bill, but for making sure the final text represented our district's best interests. He successfully fought to protect the Historic Preservation Tax Credit, which funds restoration efforts in downtown Syracuse. Only six months have passed since the tax reform became law, and workers are already taking home larger paychecks and enjoying higher wages and more job opportunities. As investment surges in the months and years ahead, these benefits will surely snowball. Dadey is chairman of the Onondega County Republican Committee Love 3 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 The eagerly awaited non-partisan inspector general's report has affirmed that there was no institutional political bias in the FBI's investigation of the Hillary e-mail case and no criminal wrongdoing on the part of Hillary. Hillary and the FBI have been exonerated once again, but as always, in the Bizzarro World of Trump and FOX "NEWS," up is down and black is white. Trump and his minions at FOX are focusing on the issue of two FBI agents communicating their dislike of Trump, but the report has shown that this had zero effect on the overall investigation and NO effect on Mueller's investigation. What they are pretty much ignoring is the major thrust of the report which concluded that there was NO attempt to favor one candidate over another. The report has shown what many of us have suspected for some time regarding James Comey's behavior. He ignored Justice Department rules when he lambasted Hillary at a July 2016 press conference while, at the same time, reporting that she had broken no laws. At that time we all knew that such a diatribe was unprecedented, but Comey wanted to throw some red meat to the right in order to take some heat off himself. Another self-serving act by Comey was when he made the poor decision to announce a re-opening of the e-mail investigation merely 11 days before the election. At the same time the FBI was investigating connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. This was kept quiet for the same reason that Hillary investigation was revealed. Both out of the fear that, had he acted otherwise and should Hillary win as expected, both he and the FBI would be excoriated by Trump. In fact Trump was already claiming the election was rigged as the polls (prior to Comey's announcement) predicted a defeat in his future. Comey's hubris and self-interest and his decision to reveal the re-opening of a Hillary investigation while keeping secret the Trump investigation likely led to Trump's victory. Now Mueller seems to want to delay HIS final report on the Trump investigation if the investigation is concluded too close to the 2018 mid-term or the 2020 election. How about letting the voters know the results regardless of the consequences? A fully informed electorate depends upon it and, as an individual who does not favor Trump, I will gladly accept the consequences either way ... will Trump's supporters? Thomas Hanley Fulton Love 4 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 This article originally ran in the June 2018 issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the digital edition. His pictures cause jaws to drop. They even had award-winning NakedSword director mr. Pamwho has seen it allstaring in disbelief. We could see his photos on Instagram, and were like, Is this real?! Does this guy really look like this or is it all Photoshopped? she laughs as she recalls the first time she laid eyes on Alam Wernik, who was brought to the studios attention by superstar performer, director and producer Trenton Ducati. He is amazing. This boy is like a superstar in the making. Trenton was following Alam on Instagramhe has a huge social media following. Trenton had also seen his OnlyFans, and asked Alam if he had ever thought about doing an actual movie with a studio. So they met up and talked about it. Fast forward months later, the two industry icons co-directed the newbiewho has nearly 300,000 Instagram followersin his studio debut, NakedSwords recently released The Chosen Few. I did not get a chance to Skype with him, which I normally do, so it was kind of like, Okay, Im trusting you, Trenton! Lets do this! mr. Pam says. We all shared a house in Fort Lauderdale, and he shows upand looks even cuter than his photos. Hes so sweet and nice, and is such a wonderful person. And in addition to being gorgeous, hes also super piggy and loves sex. Its so hard to find bothusually theyre either really pretty but might be a little reserved when it comes to sex, or theyre really piggy and they look a little rough or whatever (in a good way). But hes both. Wernik arrived for the shoot after most of the cast and crew, who had rented a house in Fort Lauderdale. We were all in the kitchen, and all of a sudden, this vision of beauty walks in. He had this matching tracksuit on, and even with that you could still tell that his body was rocking. And he was just so kind, Hola, hello Pamela! So nice to meet you! Hi! And he kissed me on both cheeks and was just so warm. And every single person we introduced him to, he was so friendly and hugging and polite. In the morning, were all getting ready to go and hes running around in a towel, and his body was crazy. He would just hang out with us and laugh, and hes also very, very smarthes very strategic about when he posts to his Instagram and OnlyFans. And those lips? Oh my god! And theyre real, too! says mr. Pam before adopting Werniks accent as she recalls: Everybody thinks that my lips are injected, but no, theyre real! He swears by his real lips and the fact that he goes bike riding all the time, and thats why he has such a big ass and legs. So impressed were the directors that they put him in two full scenes and an oral one. He just rocked all three of them. His first scene was with Arad Winwinit was so over the top and amazing, and they ended up sharing a room in the house. I think theyre still kind of hanging out as special friends, so a little romance brewed from my shoot. (Winwin and Wernik are on the next page; photo by Ducati.) She also co-directed (with Tony Dimarco) Wernik in the Falcon Studios movie Zack and Jack Make a Porno, released at the end of May: He plays this little slutty boy that just lays around the house half naked taking selfies of himself, which is kind of him anyways, the director laughs, so hes getting a little typecast. His sensuality comes as no surprise to mr. Pam: Hes Brazilian, and being really close to some Brazilians like Rafael Alencaryou know, sex is very free and very open, so he already has that going for him. Hes got this amazing body, but hes just so humble. He loves showing off his big legs and his ass, and he loves getting fucked. Everybody else loves that ass, too. He also takes direction beautifully; I knew he had done selfies for forever, but I dont know how many official photo shoots he had donebut when we took pictures that first week, his skills and his ability to follow direction were limitless. It was wonderful to photograph him. Toby Morris, VP marketing for Falcon Studios Group, also credits exclusive Austin Wolf with introducing Wernik to them along with Ducati to get the conversations started. This man is stunning. Hes the entire package: killer looks, fun personality, amazing assets and he brought an established fan base along with all that, Morris says. Hes a natural in front of the camera just look at his Instagram. Plus, he truly loves being a power bottom, so it really comes across in his performance. Hes fun and energetic. But before he signed on the dotted line, Wernikwho lives in New Yorkput mr. Pam in touch with his sister, who lives in California (coincidentally in the same county the director is from, Marin). He is very close with his sister. So before he signed an exclusive contract, we were in negotiations and he had a huge phone call with her, which I thought was random. And I was on a plane about to take off, and I finally got a hold of her because we wanted to discuss the details. She speaks English perfectly, and we get on the phone and Im on this crowded airplane, and Im like, You know what he does, right? mr. Pam laughs. I wasnt sure what he had told her, but I guess she knows everything. So we went into explicit detail about what the sex scenes would include, what the contract is, and Im just laughing that Im talking about all this to his sister while Im on a crowded airplane: Sorry everybody! She was great and supportive, and I guess the whole family back in Brazil knows what he does. He just took a trip back home to see them, and him and his sister and some friends just went to Tahoe. So hes really connected to his family, and theyre all super supportive. Its great. During his busy schedule, Wernikwho also served in the Brazilian navytook some time out for a quick Q&A: AVN: Tell me a little about your life before you got into the industry. Alam Wernik: I am originally from Brazil, but I grew up in Buenos Aires, where I attended medical school for two years before moving to the United States. What memories do you have about discovering your own sexuality? In high school, all of the boys were constantly watching porn. I was watching too, but I was only looking to see the guys cocks! That happened so many times! When did you start watching porn? I never thought Id ever be in porn. Im kind of shy about cameras, the spotlight. But using OnlyFans and social media was my profession I used to pay for school. My first actual movie was so amazing, and I got to film with really nice people. Tell me about your first sexual experience. Oh boy it happened in a car with my friends brother in high school. He picked me from school on a rainy day and my friend wasnt there. When and why did you decide that you wanted to work in adult films? After OnlyFans, I was looking for something more professionalI wanted to show something more professional and produced for my followers. Before Falcon and NakedSword, I only made homemade videos. How did you amass so many Instagram followers? I actually dont know! I just started on Instagram only one year ago! I love to take pictures, so I just started to post all of my pics, and did some light marketing for some brands. How did you come to work with Falcon and NakedSword? I filmed some videos with Trenton Ducati for OnlyFans. Hes so cute and has really helped me a lot making all of the industry connections for me. Tell me about shooting The Chosen Few in Fort Lauderdale. I was so nervous because I didnt know anybody there. It was my first time being on set, but everybody was so nice and helpful for me. My first scene was with Arad Winwin. He took really good care of me and made sure I felt comfortable. So far, that was my best scene! Plus, five days in Miami was a lot of fun, too. Tell me about the Zack and Jack Make a Porno shoot. That was amazing, too. A new and totally different experience with Tony Dimarco and the Falcon crew! It was so much fun. How are attitudes about sex and porn different in South America than the United States? I dont know about porn in South America, cause I started my porn life here in America! What are your favorite cities in America so far? I havent been to all of the big cities in America yet. So far, my favorites are Los Angeles and New York City. How do you stay in such great shape? I actually started going to the gym one year ago. When I was at university, I wasnt in shape. When I moved to America, I put all my effort into the gym, my nutrition, everything! The gym became my No. 1 addiction. What is your favorite and least favorite exercise? I dont like doing back day. My favorite is chest and legs. Whats your favorite part of a mans body? Hmmm, I dont think I have just one favorite part. I like to see everyones body because everybody has a different body and a different beauty I want to see. What are your favorite sex acts? I dont have a favorite. I just know I love sex! What goes into being a power bottom? First you need to love being a bottom. You need to move your body and make everyone crazy and hot for you. Being shy is not allowed! What fantasies would you like to explore on camera? Maybe something like a gangbang scenario but thats in the future, not now! Below, Arad Winwin and Alam Wernik; photo by Trenton Ducati SAN FRANCISCOWe'd say they've hit the big time, but after all, what fan of gay porn doesn't know about multi-award-winning producer NakedSword? And now, NakedSword Originals award-winning director mr. Pam, as well as gay porn stars Wesley Woods and Timothy Drake, and crewmembers Colton Grey, Brian Bonds and Leo Forte from the NakedSword Originals hit Berkeley: Sophomore Year, will appear in an episode of Just Another Immigrant on cable TV network Showtime on Friday, June 22, at 9:30 p.m. The new Showtime series focuses on Romesh Ranganathan. In the U.S. he's "just another immigrant," but he happens to be one of the most popular stand-up comedians in the UK. As the series progresses, he uproots his entire familyhis supportive wife, three kids, his Sri Lankan mother and his eccentric uncleand immigrates to Los Angeles, all chronicled in documentary fashion. Viewers will witness the hilariously true-life adventures of this modern immigrant family and the obstacles they face in trying to make it in today's America. The June 22 episode prominently featuring NakedSword Originals crew and cast promises to be a hilarious display of the antics Ranganathan conjures up as he strives to achieve his American dream. The trailer for the series can be found here. NakedSword Director mr. Pam stated, "I'm so excited to see the Just Another Immigrant episode we were featured in, and for fans to experience it as well. I can't give too much away, but I guarantee NakedSword followers will get an absolute hoot out of what transpires." Fans may tune in or set their DVR to Showtime, June 22, 2018 at 9:30 p.m. to see the episode of Just Another Immigrant featuring NakedSword Originals cast and crewand those who'd like to check out Berkeley: Sophomore Year can do so on NakedSword.com. It is also available for DVD and download purchase at the Falcon Studios Group Store. THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. NEWS AGENCIES TORONTO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Century Global Commodities Corporation (Century or the Company) today announced it is planning a spin-out transaction (the Spin-out Transaction) whereby a portion of the shares of its wholly owned subsidiary, Century Metals Inc. (Century Metals) will be distributed pro-rata to shareholders of Century, by way of a dividend-in-kind. The Spin-out Transaction is expected to be completed during the second quarter of Centurys 2018-9 fiscal year and will be subject to approval of the listing of Century Metals common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange. In advance of the Spin-out Transaction, Century Metals will be completing private placements of up to 12,000,000 special warrants (the Special Warrants) at a price of $0.06 per Special Warrant (the Special Warrant Private Placement). Century Metals has to date received subscriptions for 4,532,000 Special Warrants for gross proceeds of approximately $271,920. Each Special Warrant will be convertible into common shares of Century Metals on a one-for-one basis upon the earliest of (i) effectiveness of a prospectus qualifying the distribution of the common shares issuable upon conversion of the Special Warrants, and (ii) six months from the date of issuance of the Special Warrants. In accordance with the requirements of the Toronto Stock Exchange, including Section 604(d) of the TSX Company Manual, completion of the Special Warrant Private Placement requires approval of Century shareholders, which has been obtained by way of a written consent from the holders of a majority of the outstanding ordinary shares of Century. The Spin-out Transaction will create Century Metals as an independent public Company. Century Metals will initially be focused on the exploration of the Companys currently 100% owned Fabie, Trudeau and Eastchester claim groups for gold, with the potential for acquisition of other precious metals projects moving forward. As an independent public company, Century Metals will have the ability to source its own funding independently from Centurys iron ore and other metal projects and non-metal business. This approach of singling out an exploration direction, without the complication of valuation of other mineral properties and non-mineral projects of different market profiles, has demonstrated to be effective in attracting funding by the participation of both institutional and private accredited investors in the Special Warrant Private Placement beyond Centurys original expectations. Century believes this is a small but meaningful start to demonstrating Century Metals ability to secure future financing. About Century Metals Century Metals was originally incorporated by Century as Trudeau Gold Inc., and subsequently changed its corporate name to Century Metals Inc. on April 30, 2018. During the fall of 2017, Century Metals completed a gold-focused exploration program on its 100% owned Fabie, Trudeau and Eastchester claim groups accumulated and acquired by staking. The property initially consisted of three non-contiguous claim groups surrounding Duparquet Lake-namely: Fabie, Trudeau, and Eastchester comprising 21 claims (543.6 hectares). Subsequently the property was extended to add 26 claims, including a further 10 claims at Placer Dome and Figuery, for a total staked claim area of 1,671.4 hectares. Exploration by Century Metals included geological reconnaissance, prospecting and sampling on the Fabie, Trudeau and Eastchester claim groups, followed by line-cutting and a ground induced polarization survey over the Fabie claim group. The exploration program objective was to conduct a preliminary assessment of the mineral potential through the verification of site historic data, prospecting and sampling to understand the background of the delineated mineralization, and an induced polarization survey over the Fabie area to delineate anomalies for further exploration. A total of 148 rock samples were collected, and 11.15 line-kilometers of pole-dipole induced polarization surveys were completed. Several samples returned values of up to 2.82 g/t gold and 0.25% copper, with 12 geophysical anomalies being identified, eight of which were considered of sufficient interest for follow-up testing. The Fall 2017 exploration program results confirmed the character of this property being of sufficient merit to warrant further staged exploration to identify, prioritize and test exploration targets on the Fabie, Trudeau and Eastchester claim groups. NI43-101 Technical Report Century Metals has engaged SRK (Canada), Inc., (SRK) to prepare a NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Fabie-Trudeau-Eastchester Polymetallic Property. The Technical Report has been completed and will be filed by Century Metals on SEDAR in connection with the filing of its prospectus in connection with the completion of the Spin-out Transaction. The Technical Report summarizes the historical work documented in government files, and recent exploration efforts by Century Metals, and the character of the early stage Fabie-Trudeau-Eastchester polymetallic property. The Technical Report concludes that the property group is of sufficient merit to recommend a two-stage exploration program designed to identify, prioritize and test exploration targets on the three separate claim groups. The first stage of the recommended exploration program consists of field geological mapping, structural study, and geophysical induced polarization, time-domain electromagnetic, and magnetic surveys over selected areas. The studies are to be followed by trenching and sampling with the objective of identifying and prioritizing targets for further exploration, including drilling. The estimated cost of the first phase is approximately $244,000. The second stage recommended exploration program is contingent on the results of the first phase, and comprises core drilling and further geological studies with the objective to characterize any mineralization of interest identified during the first phase and, if warranted, test the lateral and depth extension of any surface mineralization detected during the first phase. The estimated cost of the second phase is $1,034,000. Total costs for the proposed two-phase exploration program is estimated at $1,278,000. This result is signed off by Dominic Chartier, Senior consultant of SRK, who is a qualified person within the meaning of NI 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the contents of this press release. Capitalization of Century Metals and Special Warrant Private Placement Century has previously advanced by way of a shareholder loan slightly over $1 million to Century Metals primarily for the advancement of exploration on the Fabie-Trudeau-Eastchester polymetallic project, in Canada. As at March 31, 2018, Century Metals had cash of $250,373 and exploration and evaluation assets of $820,275. In anticipation of completion of the Spin-out Transaction Century plans to convert its shareholder loan into approximately 20 million common shares of Century Metals at a deemed price of $0.05 per share. Following this loan conversion, Century plans to complete the following private placements: Century will subscribe for additional common shares of Century Metals at $0.06 per share for total proceeds in the range of $150,000 (2,500,000 shares) to $350,000 (5,833,333 shares), and Century Metals will complete the Special Warrant Private Placement of Special Warrants with an arms-length group of investors at a price of $0.06 per Special Warrant for additional proceeds of up to $720,000, each of which Special Warrants will be convertible into one common share of Century Metals (the Special Warrant Conversion Shares). Based on subscriptions received to date, a minimum of 4,532,000 Special Warrants are anticipated to be issued, which will represent approximately 14.9% to 16.8% of the outstanding shares of Century Metals, on an as converted basis and dependent upon the number of common shares of Century Metals purchased by Century in the concurrent private placement (as described above). If the maximum number of Special Warrants are sold, these Special Warrants would represent approximately 31.7% to 34.8% of the outstanding shares of Century Metals, on an as converted basis. There is no assurance as to the number of Special Warrants that will ultimately be sold, and this amount may be significantly below the maximum 12,000,000 Special Warrants. There will be no participation in the Special Warrant Private Placement by any insiders of Century. The completion of the above transactions will enable Century Metals to be fully funded for at least the next twelve months following the completion of the Spin-Out Transaction and enable the Company to complete the Phase I Work Program, as outlined in the NI 43-101 Technical Report. The number of shares of Century Metals to be distributed to the shareholders of Century in the Spin-off Transaction will be dependent upon the ratio of (i) the aggregate number of shares of Century Metals that Century ultimately determines to spin-out to shareholders, divided by (ii) the aggregate number of issued and outstanding common shares of Century. The aggregate number of shares of Century Metals to be spun-out by Century will be determined in part by reference to the initial listing requirements of the TSX Venture Exchange, including the requirement that Century Metals have adequate public distribution upon completion of the Spin-out Transaction. Century Metals TSX Venture Exchange Listing Century has held preliminary discussion with the TSX-V and plans to be in full compliance with TSX-V listing requirements. The Spin-out Transaction will be conditional on approval of the listing of Century Metals common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange. Century Metals Prospectus Qualification The Spin-out Transaction distribution of Century Metals shares to Century shareholders will be qualified by a prospectus to be filed by Century Metals with Canadian securities regulators. The prospectus will also qualify the issuance of the common shares to the holders of special warrants issued by Century Metals under the Special Warrant Private Placement. About Century Century Global Commodities Corporation (TSX:CNT), having established itself as one of the worlds largest iron ore resource owners and developers over the course of the last decade, is diversifying into non-ferrous opportunities while awaiting a full recovery of the iron sector. Capitalizing on its business network and relationships in the China market, it started a quality food business there a few years ago, as an auxiliary unit that would create value for our shareholders during the global mining down cycle, and has successfully established it as a new growing business segment reporting many quarters of solid revenue growth. Iron Ore With Baowu and Minmetals, both Global Fortune 500 companies, as Chinese strategic partners, Century owns one of the largest iron ore mineral resource bases in the world, across five projects in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. Joyce Lake, a direct shipping ore project in Newfoundland and Labrador, is the companys most advanced project. It has completed feasibility and permitting studies and can be brought to production within approximately 30 months. Century is maintaining its properties ready for a return to sustained higher iron ore prices. Non-ferrous Metals Century is monitoring Investment and acquisition opportunities in the non-ferrous metals sector. When the right opportunity presents itself, our strong balance sheet will allow us to acquire cost effective assets. Quality Food Quality food products sourced from advanced countries are in great demand from the quickly-growing middle class in China. The emphasis is on the need for safe, high-quality food products. Century has established a professional marketing team and built a distribution system to serve Hong Kong and eventually throughout China. For further information please contact: Sandy Chim, President & CEO Century Global Commodities Corporation 416-977-3188 IR@centuryglobal.ca CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION THIS PRESS RELEASE CONTAINS FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION WITHIN THE MEANING OF CANADIAN SECURITIES LEGISLATION. THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF CENTURY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PRESS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION INCLUDES INFORMATION THAT RELATES TO, AMONG OTHER THINGS, CENTURYS INTENTION TO EVALUATE PROSPECTIVE TRANSACTIONS ARISING FROM THE REVIEW BY CENTURY OF ITS STRATEGIC OPTIONS AND ITS AVAILABLE WORKING CAPITAL. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION IS BASED ON, AMONG OTHER THINGS, OPINIONS, ASSUMPTIONS, ESTIMATES AND ANALYSES THAT, WHILE CONSIDERED REASONABLE BY CENTURY AT THE DATE THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION IS PROVIDED, ARE INHERENTLY SUBJECT TO SIGNIFICANT RISKS, UNCERTAINTIES, CONTINGENCIES AND OTHER FACTORS THAT MAY CAUSE ACTUAL RESULTS AND EVENTS TO BE MATERIALLY DIFFERENT FROM THOSE EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED BY THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION. THE RISKS, UNCERTAINTIES, CONTINGENCIES AND OTHER FACTORS THAT MAY CAUSE ACTUAL RESULTS TO DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED BY THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION MAY INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, RISKS GENERALLY ASSOCIATED WITH CENTURYS BUSINESS, AS DESCRIBED IN CENTURYS ANNUAL INFORMATION FORM FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2017. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARDLOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE CENTURY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS. When the allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, better known as FOSTA, passed the United States House of Representatives in February, only 24 reps voted against it, 14 Republicans and 11 Democrats. But if an insurgent but well-financed Democratic candidate in New York City succeeds in his bid to oust his longtime incumbent opponent, there will be one more voice of opposition to the law that sex workers say does little to curb illegal human traffickingbut has done a lot to make their own lives more dangerous. Suraj Patel, a 34-year-old New York University business ethics professor and former Barack Obama campaign worker, will run against 72-year-old Democratic Party stalwart Carolyn Maloney, who has held a congressional seat since 1993, after serving on the New York City Council for a decade. Maloney has a solid record of left-liberal voting in Congress. The site OnTheIssues.org, which uses empirical data to evaluate office-holders' political ideologies, rates Maloney a hard core liberal, with a voting record only slightly to the right of Bernie Sanders. But Maloney took a strong stand in favor of FOSTA (for the record, Sanders also supported the Senate version of the bill), and that has alienated her from the sex worker community, according to New York sex worker-rights advocate Lola Balcon. [Maloney] has been sponsoring really bad anti-sex-work legislation for literally decades, Balcon told the news and culture site The Verge. This community has a lot of will toward voting her out. Though Patel initially took no position on the FOSTA law, after lobbying by Balcon and others he quickly formed a strong anti-FOSTA positionone that he spelled out to an approving crowd of about 200 New York sex workers and their supporters at a town hall meeting in Brooklyn recently. Patel also made his views public in a blog post to the VICE-owned platform Broadly on May 21. In the post, Patel slammed the combined FOSTA/SESTA law as deeply irresponsible and dangerous, saying, SESTA/FOSTA has rolled back internet freedoms and inflicted deep damage on already-marginalized communities, putting lives at risk while setting the fight against trafficking back decades. Those words may be exactly what the sex worker community wants to hear, but even Patel is not their perfect candidate. The Indiana nativewho has raised a whopping $1.2 million despite never previously holding or even running for public officehas yet to take a position on the decriminalization of sex work, leading one sex worker at the recent town hall to caution him, What youre saying right now, its great, and its awesomeand its just not enough. I need to know that youre going to keep listening to us. The New York state congressional primary election is set for next Tuesday, June 26. Photo by Fatsif / Wikimedia Commons ONTARIO, Calif.CalExotics, one of the largest adult novelty companies in the world, today announced its decision to financially back the production of Cocks Not Glocks, a documentary that will chronicle the controversial Campus Dildo Carry anti-gun rally that was held on August 24, 2016, at the University of Texas, Austin. Campus Dildo Carry rallied thousands of UT students carrying dildos, (ironically regulated as a Class C misdemeanor), in protest of Campus Carry Law S.B.11, that provides that gun license holders may carry a concealed handgun throughout public university campuses in Texas. The protest captured campus sentiment: Why leave your dildos at home if other people won't leave their guns at home? As a female who has been in the adult novelty industry for decades, I am well aware of what it means to stand up for what you believe in, said Susan Colvin, Founder and CEO of CalExotics. So when I see young people exercising their freedom of speech in this way, when many others dont have gumption to do it, I cant help but want to support their efforts. In addition to financially supporting its documentary, CalExotics has also backed the Cocks Not Glocks organization in 2016, when the novelty company made a sizeable donation of dildos to help arm UT students who attended the original Campus Dildo Carry protest. We are incredibly grateful for the support CalExotics has shown us as we pursue our mission and passion, said Jessica Jin, creator of Cocks Not Glocks. With their support, we will reach millions with this documentary and we cannot wait to reveal it to the world in 2019. CYBERSPACE Bella Rose returns to Naughty America for a third time and stars in a new episode of My Sister's Hot Friend. Shot in 4K HD, the scene also stars Tony Rubino, who plays the role of Bella Rose's best friend's brother. Bella Rose's best friend is convinced that her brother is hooking up with her best friend. But are they? "I had a lot of fun with Tony Rubino on set," says Bella Rose. "Tony really showed me a good time. Making this scene was such an awesome experience. Tony Rubino really enjoys what he does and is so easy to work with." You can see a free preview of the scene here. Follow Bella Rose on Twitter at @xxxbellarose, or on Instagram @bellaeliserose. Bella Rose is represented exclusively by LA Direct Models. To get her on set, please visit them at LADirectModels.com, or visit them on twitter @DirectModels. Portland, Ore., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) and Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced that the 33rd International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exposition (EVS33) will be held in June 2020 and hosted in the City of Portland. The announcement was made during the annual Roadmap Conference organized by Forth. Our association has selected Portland to host EVS33 and we are excited, along with our collaborators for this event, including Forth, to gather the electric drive community from around the world in one of the nations most vibrant communities committed to electrification, said EDTA President Genevieve Cullen. The EVS series, launched in 1969 as a global academic forum, circulates around the world and has become an annual gathering of the worlds EV experts. The symposium features cutting edge research and showcases innovative technologies and market offerings. Portland has long been a leader in transportation electrification, with some of the highest per capita electric vehicle sales and densest fast-charging infrastructure in the country, as well as the nations first brand-neutral electric vehicle showroom, the Go Forth Electric Showcase. Governor Kate Brown recently signed an Executive Order setting a goal of 50,000 registered electric vehicles in the state by the end of 2020. Oregon is thrilled to welcome the worlds leading mobility experts in 2020, Governor Kate Brown said. Were very proud of Portland evolving transportation system and excited by the new technologies that are driving the economy of the future. EDTA is already working with Forth and the City of Portland to ensure a successful offering of the worlds largest international electric vehicle conference, recognized as the foremost event for academic, government and industry professionals who are advancing electric transportation. We are thrilled to welcome EVS33 to Portland in 2020, said Forths Executive Director Jeff Allen. We will fold the Roadmap Conference into EVS33 as a complementary event that year, and we hope many international visitors will return again for Roadmap in 2021. Visit http://evs33portland.org/ to subscribe to the EVS33 mailing list. More information about the event will be released in the coming year. ### About the Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS) The Electric Vehicles Symposium (EVS) series began in 1969 as an academic forum for global networking and the exchange of technical information. As electric drive technologies progressed from classrooms and laboratories into the marketplace, EVS expanded to include academic and business audiences. Today, the EVS series is recognized as the global electric transportation industry's premier and largest forum, showcasing all forms of technologies in the market place and on the drawing boards. The event alternates annually between North America, Europe and Asia. EVS attracts academic, government and industry leaders from around the world who are interested in exploring the technical, policy and market advances for a paradigm shift to electric transportation technologies. About EDTA The Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) is the trade association promoting battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell electric drive technologies and infrastructure. EDTA conducts public policy advocacy, provides education and awareness, and enables industry networking and collaboration. Our membership includes vehicle and equipment manufacturers, energy companies, technology developers, component suppliers, government agencies and others. EU crop yields have been revised downwards following unusually warm and dry weather in much of Europe. The average total wheat yield has been revised down by 2.4% since May, from 5.93 tonnes per hectare (t/ha) to 5.79 t/ha, although this remains above the 5.73 t/ha five-year average, according to the latest EC Crop Monitoring Report. While many parts of Europe have been adversely impacted by the weather, conditions for UK winter and spring crops have been described as largely positive in the past six weeks, with development progressing well. Spain has also benefited from good conditions. UK total wheat yield is now forecast at 8.16 t/ha, which is fractionally below the five-year average. In contrast, hot conditions and low rainfall in Germany particularly in the north and east have taken a toll, with yield now forecast 3.3% below the five-year average. Similar conditions have been reported in areas including Austria, Czech Republic and Romania. In France, wet and warm weather has raised disease concerns for winter crops. With warmer than usual weather forecast for at least the short term in Europe, the focus will continue to be on what effect this may continue to have on yields and, therefore, output, reported the UKs Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board. 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. Recent rhetoric from Gov. Roy Cooper attempts to pit North Carolina taxpayers against one another. His comments target individuals earning more than $100,000 and married couples earning more than $200,000.The Democratic governor suggests Republican leaders of the N.C. General Assembly favor those groups over people with lower incomes. But the facts show that the governor bears responsibility for trying to divide North Carolinians by income level.Turn the clock back to 2013. Cooper was starting his fourth and final term as state attorney general. At that time, he confined most of his public policy pronouncements to warnings about scams and state crime rates.Meanwhile, Republican legislators who had spent much of the previous two-year period battling a Democrat in the state Executive Mansion were looking forward to a period of greater cooperation with a new Republican governor, Pat McCrory.GOP legislative leaders and McCrory rallied around the idea of tackling the most significant reform of North Carolina's tax code in decades.Rather than tinker with an existing system of three personal income tax rates - set at 6, 7, and 7.75 percent - reformers scrapped the tiers completely. Instead they wanted North Carolinians to face a single flat tax rate To ensure that every taxpayer would enjoy a rate cut, lawmakers set the new flat rate at 5.8 percent for 2014. The initial plan also dropped the rate to 5.75 percent for 2015.In future years, lawmakers cut the flat rate even further. It stands now at 5.499 percent. It drops to 5.25 percent in 2019.Each of these rate cuts affected every taxpayer paying state personal income tax. Lawmakers made no distinction among taxpayers earning $40,000 or $400,000. Each dollar subject to state taxation faces the same tax rate.This is not to say that every taxpayer saw an immediate tax cut. Other changes to income tax credits and deductions, along with changes to other state taxes, meant that some families did not see immediate savings in 2014. But the vast majority of North Carolinians have saved money in recent years because of changes the Republican-led General Assembly has implemented.Counting savings linked to Republicans' decision in 2011 to reject Democrats' proposed extension of a temporary state sales tax, North Carolinians have seen as much as $13 billion in tax relief from 2012 through the budget year that ends June 30. That's according to John Locke Foundation Senior Fellow Joseph Coletti, who expects another $2.8 billion in tax reform relief in the next budget year.At the same time, nothing related to the institution of a flat tax rate pits one set of taxpayers against another. A flat rate, by itself, forces one taxpayer earning 10 times as much income as his neighbor to pay 10 times as much tax.Why then does a May 30 fundraising email from Cooper's political campaign accuse lawmakers of protecting tax breaks for "people making over $200,000 per year"? Why does the governor suggest repeatedly that Republicans want to "protect" those breaks rather than increase government spending?That figure has nothing to do with lawmakers. Instead, the governor set that dividing line himself. In his most recent budget proposal, Cooper urged lawmakers to use that number while reinstating a tiered income tax system.Under Cooper's plan, individuals earning less than $100,000 and married couples earning less than $200,000 would be able to take advantage of the new 5.25 percent income tax rate in 2019. Those earning more income would have been taxed at the 2018 rate of 5.499 percent.In other words, Cooper wanted lawmakers to reinstate a version of the tax system they scrapped five years ago.It's no surprise that lawmakers rejected the governor's plea.Had Cooper wanted to ensure that higher-earning North Carolinians pay an even larger share of the state's tax burden than they do today, he could have looked at a different dividing line. It exists in the current tax code. It's set now at $20,000.One of the least-discussed elements of North Carolina's recent tax reforms involves the continual, substantial increase in the standard deduction . That's the amount of money taxpayers subtract from their incomes before applying the tax rate. Some supporters call it the "zero tax bracket."Before the 2013 reforms, North Carolina's standard deduction stood at $3,000 for individual filers and $6,000 for married couples filing jointly. While setting the new flat tax rate, lawmakers more than doubled the standard deduction to $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for married couples. They've continued to increase that deduction while lowering rates. In 2019 the deduction will stand at $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for married couples.Lawmakers have more than tripled the standard deduction in the span of five years. Yet Cooper and his ideological allies never emphasize this piece of North Carolina's tax reform package. They rarely mention it all.Their silence is disappointing, especially since the larger deduction produces disproportionate benefits for lower- and middle-income taxpayers. A brief example explains how.Had lawmakers made no change to the 2013 standard deduction, a married couple with $20,000 of income would pay $735 of state income tax under the new 5.25 percent flat tax rate scheduled for 2019. That's an effective tax rate of less than 3.7 percent. Meanwhile, a couple making $200,000 would pay a tax totaling $10,185. That's an effective tax rate of 5 percent. Making 10 times as much income, the higher-earning couple would pay nearly 14 times as much income tax.With the higher standard deduction actually built into the law next year, the couple with $20,000 of income will pay no state income tax. The higher-earning couple will pay $9,450. Yes, both families save $735 because of the increased standard deduction. But the higher-earning couple's effective tax rate of 4.7 percent is much higher than the lower-income couple's new rate: zero.If the governor wants higher-earning taxpayers to pay an even larger share of the state's tax burden, he doesn't have to create a higher tax rate at $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for married couples. He doesn't have to manufacture a new complication in the tax code.Instead he could lobby lawmakers to raise the standard deduction again. He could focus on raising the current dividing line of $20,000 between those married couples who pay no state income tax and those who bear some income tax burden.Lower- and middle-income earners would see more tax relief. Higher-income earners would bear more of the tax burden. Yet North Carolina would still reap the economic benefits of having one flat income tax rate. Earning an additional dollar of income would not subject higher earners to the disincentive of progressively higher state taxation.Cooper wouldn't pit one set of taxpayers against another. He might even secure some bipartisan support. Governor disputes nonpartisan legislative staff's conclusion that his budget would cause $470 million deficit; GOP vows fast override Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the $23.9 billion General Fund budget for 2018-19, warning Republicans that voters in November's general election will reject GOP candidates and their policies.Cooper said Wednesday, June 6, when asked why he would veto a budget knowing Republicans would override him. The thousands of teachers who rallied at the legislative building May 16 would want him to veto the budget, he said.GOP leaders swiftly vowed to override the veto with their supermajorities in the House and Senate.Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said in a joint statement.Cooper said. He repeatedly said Republicans were beholden to corporations and the wealthy by giving them tax breaks. He said families earning more than $200,000 should forfeit more of their income in taxes to raise teacher salaries. Corporate and personal income taxes are scheduled to drop Jan. 1, 2019.Cooper dismissed a study by the nonpartisan legislative Fiscal Research Division released just before his veto announcement that determined his $24.5 billion budget proposal had a $469,303,681 hole.he insisted, even after being offered a view of the study.He tried to turn the tables, claiming, without documentation, Republicans passed a deficit-ridden budget. The shortfalls will be evident in coming years, he said, due to tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.Cooper said.Berger and Moore disparaged Cooper's veto message.Berger and Moore said in a joint statement.the emailed statement said.said Terry Stoops, vice president of research and director of education studies at the John Locke Foundation.Stoops said.Stoops said.Cooper said, flanked by 17 teachers and education support personnel as he ripped Republican leadership.Cooper said. They boasted about their level of education funding whenHe hit lawmakers on a host of Democratic themes.He said Republicans did not adopt his plan to get teacher salaries to the national average in four years, gave some teachers no raise at all, deprived thousands of young children from getting access to an early childhood education, and gave education vouchers to unaccountable private schools.He said they were out of touch by budgeting "a pittance" to address the state's opioid crisis, failed to narrow the health care gap by refusing to expand Medicaid, and didn't allocate enough for GenX research and cleanup.Cooper said.with lobbyists' input.said Joe Coletti, senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation who researches tax and fiscal policy.Coletti said.said Chris McCoy, state director of Americans for Prosperity-NC. This book examines the lives of test pilots and astronauts and chronicles the early years of the U.S.-manned space program. We picked it because (a) Wolfe's sympathetic engagement with the pilots brings to life the human side of this hugely complex scientific and technical accomplishment, (b) the book exemplifies the rhetorical power of the "new journalism" when it was truly new, and (c) it offers a compelling portrait of courage and self-reliance. Dickens published this account of his travels just after his six-month visit to the United States. It is an unflattering portrait of a country that effusively welcomed him-far too effusively in his judgment. We picked it because (a) Dickens' account of American character still resonates, (b) the book lampoons qualities in which Americans continue to take pride, and (c) it raises important questions about celebrity, status, travel, crime, law, and a host of other themes that still preoccupy us. Books that have withstood the test of time. Books can be hugely celebrated when they are first published and win awards as well as the enthusiasm of readers, only to disappear within a decade. The passage of time draws its own distinction between fleeting celebrity and permanent value. College should focus on the latter. Books that have high literary quality. The book should model for students the power of written expression in the hands of an expert writer. Writers who are not-so-expert can publish interesting and important books too, but better that the book selected for a common reading be one that shows a master craftsman at work. Books at a reading level of at least 11th grade. We're aware that many students now arrive at college without ever having read a serious book. The goal is not to pick something so difficult that students won't even try, but the common reading should pose a moderate challenge. One goal of the program is to ready students for the challenges of the college curriculum. We do that by pulling them forward, not by catering to the weakest readers. Books that present important ideas and themes that will be new to most students. The excitement of college is that it opens intellectual horizons. The common reading shouldn't be just another iteration of the same things that high school taught. North Carolina just added a new layer of meaning to its motto, First in Flight. This time the state is the first in the nation to get campus free speech off the runway.The North Carolina Campus Free Speech Act lofts the idea that college students and invited speakers have a right to express their views. It also puts public colleges and universities on notice that they must remain neutral on controversial political issues.My friend Stanley Kurtz, who helped write the model legislation on which the bill was based, wrote about " Implementing the North Carolina Free Speech Act " for the Martin Center. Among other matters, Kurtz drew attention to a provision of the law that requires public colleges and universities to submit an annual oversight report from their boards of governors on how well the institutions are doing in their efforts to protect free speech.Kurtz runs through several of the issues that these Boards of Governors could pursue in the effort to create a climate of institutional neutrality. As it happens, I'm an expert on one of these issues: the selection of books for common reading programs. North Carolina is no stranger to the controversies engendered by these programs. Typically a college or university picks a single book and informs all the admitted freshmen that they should read it before showing up in the fall. And typically the book that is chosen is rife with trendy left-wing political proselytizing. Think of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, picked by UNC-Chapel Hill in 2003, which occasioned considerable controversy at the time.The selection of a single book is significant because it so prominently and emphatically presents to students what the university thinks is important. The book also becomes a touchstone for the entering class. In an era in which universities have abolished core required courses in favor of menus of dozens or hundreds of options, the freshman common reading is typically the only book that all (or most) of the students will read.This hands the new Boards of Governors Committees on Free Expression an excellent opportunity. Or, rather, two opportunities. On the one hand, they can look back to see what sorts of books their institutions have picked in the past. Those choices, like tree rings, testify indelibly as to what the campus climate has been before now. Are the tree rings mostly slickly packaged progressive propaganda? Or have the institutions picked respected works of literature, history, biography, and philosophy?On the other hand, the Committees on Free Expression or the Boards of Governors as a whole could take the opportunity to assume control of the selections. Who better to pick the single book that will represent the institution as a whole, and to guarantee that it will be a work in keeping with institutional neutrality?As it happens, my organization, the National Association of Scholars, has been tracking campus common reading programs for nearly a decade. We publish an annual summary of our findings under the title Beach Books . The newest edition, due out this summer, looks back over the last decade and provides copious details on who chooses what and why.Some of the findings are pretty disturbing.The vast majority of the books selected are very recent: younger than the students, and often published within just the last five years. That's because the colleges and universities are racing to stay topical and putting no weight at all on the qualities that make a book survive beyond its immediate circumstances. When you are pushing politics on students, that's what you get.We have also found that the "reading level" of most of the chosen books is surprisingly low. Most of the books are rated as appropriate for eighth and ninth graders, not college freshmen. Why do our colleges and universities aim so low? Making college look as easy as possible is a priority for many institutions. That's something for Boards of Governors to wrestle with too.In an effort to improve the selections that colleges make, the National Association of Scholars has also published each year an appendix to our Beach Books reports in which we suggest fifty or more alternative books that colleges might choose from. Most of the titles are familiar to liberally educated adults. They include James Agee's 1957 autobiographical novel, A Death in the Family, Jane Austen's 1817 masterpiece Persuasion, and Charles Darwin's classic account of his voyage around Cape Horn and across the Pacific, The Voyage of the Beagle.Somewhat to our surprise, our list of recommendations has been taken up by many adults as a way to fill gaps in their own lifetime reading. That by itself testifies to the value of the list, as it shows that these books (and books like these) can connect readers across the generations. Plugging college freshmen into a conversation that includes older siblings, parents, employers, grandparents, and myriad strangers they will meet in years to come is surely a better investment in their education than being up-to-date with the latest polemic against capitalism or in favor of the vegan lifestyle.Each book we recommend is presented with a brief description and an explanation of why we think it suitable for a common reading program. Here, for example, is our recommendation for Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff (1979)And here is our recommendation for Charles Dickens' American Notes for General Circulation (1842):We plainly don't think college freshmen need to be protected from books that criticize America or raise troubling social issues. There are numerous worthy books that raise hard questions that students at the level of college should be prompted to examine. But it is far better to prompt them with books that exemplify excellent writing, that have stood the test of time, and that pose some degree of intellectual challenge.Our recommendations certainly don't exhaust the possibilities. Our list is meant merely to show a path, not to pick every flower growing beside it.But what flowers are growing beside the paths that North Carolina's public colleges and universities have been walking?Here is our spreadsheet of 38 North Carolina colleges and universities showing their common reading selections from 2007 to 2017. Some of the titles will be unfamiliar, but all can be readily looked up. In many cases, the National Association of Scholars has examined the book to determine its genre, major subject, and theme. Those can be found in Beach Books So, for example, the book chosen by UNC Wilmington for 2017 was Little Bee by Chris Cleave, published in 2008. We list its genre as a novel; it major subject, immigration; and its theme Africa. This sort of classification says nothing about the quality of the work, only that it is a recent book on a politically controversial subject.Not all the books selected by North Carolina colleges and universities are bad. A few are terrible. Many more are mediocre. As a whole, they fall short of what we should expect from both the institutions and the students. A common reading should be at least a little stretch for the students. They are starting college, not Remedial Reading 101. They need a glimpse of material that is more challenging than what they saw in junior high school.With that in mind, I recommend that the Committees on Free Expression take charge of selecting the common readings and that they either pick from the NAS list themselves or delegate a selection from that list to an appropriate faculty committee.A case could be made for eliminating common readings altogether in view of how often the choices have been politicized. But there are many worthy books, and it seems a shame that a college education wouldn't include any common readings at a One book is better than no books.When the NAS first compiled its list of better books, and as we have modified it year by year, we have been guided by a handful of principles that the Boards of Governors or the Committees in Free Expressions might find useful. We sought: Contact: White House White House Press Office President Donald J. Trump signed Space Policy Directive - 3 directing the United States to lead the management of traffic and mitigate the effects of debris in space. Space Policy Directive - 3 provides guidelines and direction to ensure that the United States is a leader in providing a safe and secure environment as commercial and civil space traffic increases. As space becomes increasingly contested, the demand for the Department of Defense to focus on protecting U.S. space assets and interests also increases. At the same time, the rapid commercialization of space requires a traffic management framework that protects U.S. interests and considers the private sector's needs. The new Directive seeks to reduce the growing threat of orbital debris to the common interest of all nations. The Directive articulates the policy of the United States to pursue and utilize both Government and commercial sector technologies to track and monitor space debris. The Directive requires updates to the U.S. Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices and new guidelines for satellite design and operation. The new Directive sets guidelines for the United States to manage space traffic more effectively by spearheading new data sharing initiatives. The United States should continue to provide basic space situational awareness data and basic space traffic management services free of direct user fees. The Department of Commerce will make space safety data and services available to the public, while the Department of Defense maintains the authoritative catalog of space objects. The United States will maintain and expand its leadership in space by increasing its capabilities and developing standards and best practices. This effort will: Improve space situational awareness data standards and information sharing; Leverage U.S. standards and best practices to shape international norms; and Streamline processes and reduce regulatory burdens that inhibit commercial growth, enabling the U.S. commercial sector to lead the world in space.The new Space Policy Directive builds on the President's efforts to reinstate the United States leadership role in space. On May 24, 2018, the President signed Space Policy Directive - 2 to reform United States commercial space regulatory framework, seeking to ensure our place as a leader in space commerce. On March 23, 2018, President Trump unveiled a National Space Strategy that laid out an approach to ensuring that the United States is strong and competitive in the space environment. On December 11, 2017, the President signed Space Policy Directive - 1, instructing NASA to return United States astronauts to the Moon, followed by human missions to Mars. On June 30 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order reviving the National Space Council for the first time in 24 years. Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen James S. Brady Press Briefing Room Issued on: June 18, 2018 5:11 P.M. EDT MS. SANDERS: Good afternoon. As you know, President Trump has laid out an immigration reform proposal that closes loopholes and provides the necessary resources to secure the border. Congress needs to fix our broken immigration system. To answer some of your questions on this topic, I've invited Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to the podium. And, as always, I'll be back up afterwards to take questions on other news of the day. Thanks. SECRETARY NIELSEN: Well, good afternoon. It is my pleasure to be here because I would love to see if I can help explain some of what's going on and give you some of the facts. I know there have been a lot put out there, but hopefully we can clarify some things today. I just wanted to start by thanking the sheriffs of the United States. I had the privilege of speaking to them this morning at the National Sheriffs' Association Conference. We are so thankful for their partnership at DHS and all they do to protect our community. So I thank them. So I want to provide you an update on the illegal immigration crisis on our southern border and the effects - the efforts the administration is taking to solve this crisis and to stop the flood of illegal immigrants, drugs, contraband, and crime coming across the border. So let's just start with a few numbers and facts. So in the last three months, we have seen illegal immigration on our southern border exceed 50,000 people each month. Multiples over each month last year. Since this time last year, there has been a 325 percent increase in unaccompanied alien children and a 435 percent increase in family units entering the country illegally. Over the last 10 years, there has been a 1,700 percent increase in asylum claims, resulting in asylum backlog to date, on our country, of 600,000 cases. Since 2013, the United States has admitted more than half a million illegal immigrant minors and family units from Central America, most of whom today are at large in the United States. At the same time, large criminal organizations such as MS-13 have violated our borders and gained a deadly foothold within the United States. This entire crisis, just to be clear, is not new. It's been occurring and expanded over many decades. But currently, it is the exclusive product of loopholes in our federal immigration laws that prevent illegal immigrant minors and family members from being detained and removed to their home countries. In other words, these loopholes create a functionally open border. Apprehension without detention and removal is not border security. We have repeatedly called on Congress to close these loopholes. I, myself, have met with as many members have been willing to meet with me. I've testified seven times. I will continue to make myself available to ask that they work with us to solve this crisis. Yet the voices most loudly criticizing the enforcement of our current laws are those whose policies created this crisis and whose policies perpetrate it. In particular, we need to reform three major loopholes. Let me quickly walk you through them. First, we need to amend the 2008 Trafficking Victims Prevention Reauthorization Act, or TVPR - which is much easier to say. This law encourages families to put children in the hands of smugglers to bring them alone on this dangerous trek northward. And make no mistake, we've talked about this before - this trek is dangerous and deadly. Second, we need to reform our asylum laws to end the systemic abuse of our asylum system and stop fraud. Right now, our asylum system fails to assist asylum seekers who legitimately need it. We are a country of compassion. We are a country of heart. We must fix the system so that those who truly need asylum can, in fact, receive it. Third, we need to amend the Flores Settlement Agreement and recent expansions which currently allow for - which would allow for family detention during the removal process. And we need Congress to fully fund our ability to hold families together through the immigration process. Until these loopholes are closed by Congress, it is not possible, as a matter of law, to detain and remove whole family units who arrive illegally in the United States. Congress and the courts created this problem, and Congress alone can fix it. Until then, we will enforce every law we have on the books to defend the sovereignty and security of the United States. Those who criticize the enforcement of our laws have offered only one countermeasure: open borders; the quick release of all illegal alien families and the decision not to enforce our laws. This policy would be disastrous. Its prime beneficiaries would be the smuggling organizations themselves, and the prime victims would be the children who would be plunged into the smuggling machines and get gang recruitment on the trip north. There's a lot of misinformation about what DHS is and is not doing as it relates to families at the border and I want to correct the record. Here are the facts: First, this administration did not create a policy of separating families at the border. We have a statutory responsibility that we take seriously to protect alien children from human smuggling, trafficking, and other criminal actions while enforcing our immigration laws. We have a long-existing policy. Multiple administrations have followed that outline when we may take action to protect children. We will separate those who claim to be a parent and child if we cannot determine a familial or custodial relationship exists. For example, if there's no documentation to confirm the claimed relationship between an adult and a child, we do so if the parent is a national security, public or safety risk, including when there are criminal charges at issue and it may not be appropriate to maintain the family in detention together. We also separate a parent and child if the adult is suspected of human trafficking. There have been cases where minors have been used and trafficked by unrelated adults in an effort to avoid detention. And I'd stop here to say, in the last five months, we have a 314 percent increase in adults and children arriving at the border, fraudulently claiming to be a family unit. This is, obviously, of concern. And separation can occur when the parent is charged with human smuggling. Under those circumstances, we would detain the parent in an appropriate secure detention facility separate from the child. What has changed is that we no longer exempt entire classes of people who break the law. Everyone is subject to prosecution. When DHS refers a case against a parent or legal guardian for criminal prosecution, the parent or legal guardian will be placed into the U.S. Marshals Service custody for pretrial determination, pursuant to an order by a federal judge. And any accompanied child will be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services and will be reclassified as an unaccompanied alien child. That is in accordance with the TVPRA - a law that was passed by Congress - and a following court order, neither which are actions the Trump administration has taken. And let's be clear: If an American were to commit a crime anywhere in the United States, they would go to jail and they would be separated from their family. This is not a controversial idea. Second, children in DHS and HHS custody are being well taken care of. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement provides meals, medical care, and educational services to these children. They are provided temporary shelter. And HHS works hard to find a parent, relative, or foster home to care for these children. Parents can still communicate with their children through phone calls and video conferencing. And a parent who is released from custody can be a sponsor and ask HHS to release the child back into their care. Further, these minors can still apply for asylum and other protections under U.S. immigration law, if eligible. We take allegations of mistreatment seriously. And I want to stress this point: We investigate. We hold those accountable when, and if, it should occur. We have some of the highest detention standards in the country. Claiming these children and their parents are treated inhumanely is not true and completely disrespects the hardworking men and women at the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Third, parents who entered illegally are, by definition, criminals. Illegal entry is a crime as determined by Congress. By entering our country illegally, often in dangerous circumstances, illegal immigrants have put their children at risk. Fourth, CBP and ICE officers are properly trained to care for minors in their custody. DHS and HHS treats all individuals in its custody with dignity and respect, and complies with all laws and policy. This reinforces and reiterates the needs to consider the best interest of the children, and mandates adherence to establish protocols to protect at-risk populations, to include standards for the transport and treatment of minors in DHS and HHS custody. Additionally, all U.S. Border Patrol personnel in the southwest border are bilingual - every last one of them. They are directed to clearly explain the relevant process to apprehended individuals, and provide detainees with written documentation in both Spanish and English that lays out the process and appropriate phone numbers to contact. And finally, DHS is not separating families legitimately seeking asylum at ports of entry. If an adult enters at a port of entry and claims asylum, they will not face prosecution for illegal entry. They have not committed a crime by coming to the port of entry. As I mentioned, DHS does have a responsibility to protect minors. And in that case, as well, we will only separate the family if we cannot determine there is a familiar relationship, if the child may be at risk with the parent or legal guardian, or if the parent or legal guardian is referred for prosecution. We have a duty to protect the American people, and it's one that I take very seriously. Here is the bottom line: DHS is no longer ignoring the law. We are enforcing the laws as they exist on the books. As long as illegal entry remains a criminal offense, DHS will not look the other way. DHS will faithfully execute the laws enacted by Congress, as we are sworn to do. As I said earlier today, surely it is the beginning of the unraveling of democracy when the body who makes the laws, instead of changing them, tells the enforcement body not to enforce the law. I ask Congress to act this week so that we can secure our borders and uphold our humanitarian ideas. These two missions should not be pitted against each other. If we close the loopholes, we can accomplish both. Before I take questions, I just want to ask that, in your reporting, please consider the men and women of DHS who are dedicated law enforcement officers and who often put their lives at risk. Let's remember their sacrifice and commitment to this country. And with that, I'll take some questions. Yes. Q Secretary Nielsen, if you could, what you talked about there - DHS is no longer ignoring the law - you're calling on Congress to change the law. SECRETARY NIELSEN: Yes. Q I mean, that is the big message here. Members of Congress on the Democratic side say that you're using children as a lever to try to get them to take legislative action. What do you say to that? SECRETARY NIELSEN: I say that is a very cowardly response. It's clearly within their power to make the laws and change the laws. They should do so. Yes. Q Have you seen the photos of children in cages? Have you heard the audio clip of these children wailing, that just came out today? SECRETARY NIELSEN: I have not seen - as something that came out today. But I have been to detention centers. And again, I would reference you to our standards. I would reference you to the care provided not just by the Department of Homeland Security but by the Department of Health and Human Services when they get to HHS. Q But is that the image of this country that you want out there - children in cages? SECRETARY NIELSEN: The image that I want of this country is an immigration system that secures our borders and upholds our humanitarian ideals. Congress needs to fix it. Yes. Q Madam Secretary, I'd like to give you a chance to respond to Laura Bush. In an op-ed, she says this is cruel. She supports an application of the law. Even the current First Lady, Melania Trump, has said we should be a nation of laws; we should do so "with heart." Do you have anything you want to tell them? Do you believe they're misunderstanding the situation? Or do you believe there's any component of this policy which, as you've outlined, other administrations have done, but you're using in a way that is more intense and creates this separation issue? SECRETARY NIELSEN: What my response would be is, is calling attention to this matter is important. This is a very serious issue that has resulted after years and years of Congress not taking action. So I would thank them both for their comments. I would thank them both for their concerns. I share their concerns. But Congress is the one that needs to fix this. Q And this policy is not, by your definition, in any way, cruel? SECRETARY NIELSEN: It's not a policy. Our policy at DHS is to do what we're sworn to do, which is to enforce the law. Yes. Q Following up on Major's question there, Former First Lady Laura Bush compared this to Japanese internment during World War II - one of the darkest days in the nation's history. Do you believe that the effect of this policy - so not the law - but the effect of it on separating children from families in those specific instances is moral, is ethical, is American? SECRETARY NIELSEN: What I believe is that we should exercise our democratic rights as Americans and fix the problem. It's a problem; let's fix it. Yes. Q How is this not child abuse? SECRETARY NIELSEN: Which? Be more specific, please. Enforcing the law? Q The images that Cecilia was talking about, and the sounds that we've seen from these big box stores - the Walmarts, the other stores - when you see this, how is this not specifically child abuse for these innocent children who are indeed being separated from their parents? SECRETARY NIELSEN: So I want to be clear on a couple other things. The vast majority - vast, vast majority - of children who are in the care of HHS right now - 10,000 of the 12,000 - were sent here alone by their parents. That's when they were separated. So somehow, we've conflated everything. But there's two separate issues. Ten thousand of those currently in custody were sent by their parents, with strangers, to undertake a completely dangerous and deadly travel alone. We now care for them. We have high standards. We give them meals. We give them education. We give them medical care. There's videos; there's TVs. I've visited the detention centers myself. That would be my answer to that question. Yes. Dallas, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- North Texas Food Bank (NTFB), Walmart and Feeding America are extending their thanks to everyone who helped raise approximately $403,670 as part of the fifth annual Fight Hunger. Spark Change. Campaign this April for the more than 800,000 individuals who struggle with food insecurity in North Texas. We are incredibly grateful for the funds this campaign raised during this crucial time of year, said Trisha Cunningham, President and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank. This campaign helped increase awareness about the issue of hunger in America, and it will allow us to provide meals for the thousands of hungry children in North Texas who may be going hungry this summer without access to school-funded meals. Walmart, Feeding America and NTFB exceeded the total meal goal for the 2018 anti-hunger campaign and want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped raise more money to provide more meals than ever before. The North Texas region campaign also raised the second most amount of money in the nation! The fifth annual Fight Hunger. Spark Change. Campaign kicked off on April 2 and ended on April 30. Walmart and Feeding America doubled their meal goal to at least 200 million meals. With the help of new partner Nextdoor, customers, suppliers and Synchrony Bank, the final meal count was more than 230 million meals nationally. Because of the generous support of our suppliers, customers and associates, food banks will be able to do even more this year to help families who are struggling, said Kathleen McLaughlin, president of the Walmart Foundation and chief sustainability officer for Walmart. We are passionate about fighting hunger, and through this campaign, we have taken another significant step to breaking down the barriers that prevent families from enjoying ready access to healthier, nutritious food. To learn more about the campaign, visit www.walmart.com/fighthunger. To download video and photos from the nationwide campaign, visit https://corporate.walmart.com/. # # # The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a top-ranked nonprofit hunger-relief organization, serving 13 counties. The Food Bank's administrative headquarters is located in the Dallas Farmers Market, and its new distribution and volunteer center the Perot Family Campus - is set to open in Collin County in the late summer of 2018. Each day, NT FB provides access to more than 190,000 meals for hungry children, seniors, and families through a network of more than 1,000 programs and more than 200 Partner Agencies. In fiscal year 2017, NT FB provided access to almost 70 million nutritious meals. While the NT FB is making steady progress toward closing the hunger gap, much work remains to be done to reach the organization's 10- year goal of providing 92 million nutritious meals annually by 2025. www.ntfb.org Buried in the Department of Justice Inspector General's report - a report that found no political bias in the actions of the FBI during the Hillary investigation - is one massive bombshell: a text from FBI agent Peter Strzok to his lover, FBI agent Lisa Page. Here's the insane exchange, circa August 2016:How in the world could an FBI agent - and not just an FBI agent, but a key, high-ranking FBI agent involved in both the Hillary Clinton investigation and the Russian election interference investigation - text this? And more importantly, how could the IG then find that no political bias was present in the actions of the FBI? Finally, why didn't the DOJ turn over this text to Congress? What possible excuse could there be for that that isn't related to a corrupt attempt to protect their institution above the truth?We won't know the extent of FBI mishandling of the Russian investigation today. That's not covered by this IG report. But it's nearly impossible to overstate the importance of this set of text messages. It lays bare the motivations of Strzok and Page, and lends serious credibility to the contention that when Strzok spoke of the Russia investigation as an "insurance policy" against Trump's presidency, he was serious. Critics of the Republican narrative on this point (including me) have asked why, if Strzok truly saw the Russia investigation as an insurance policy preventing Trump's election, the information didn't hit the press until after the election? The typical response has been that Strzok and Page didn't see Trump winning, and didn't need to use the information.Their case is looking a hell of a lot stronger today. This is an explicit admission that high-ranking actors in the FBI saw preventing Trump's presidency as paramount. Barring some highly damning information demonstrating the full legitimacy of the Russia investigation, this text from Strzok to Page could and should completely destroy whatever faith that America still had in the legitimacy of the Russia investigation. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GVIC Communications Corp. (GVIC or the Company) (TSX:GCT) reports the voting results of the Annual General Meeting of its shareholders held on June 19, 2018 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The following four nominees were re-elected as directors of the Company by the following votes: Nominee Votes For Percent Votes Withheld Percent Jonathon J.L. Kennedy 3,465,137 99.28% 25,203 0.72% Bruce W. Aunger 3,490,236 100% 104 0% Richard C. Whittall 3,490,246 100% 94 0% Donald J. Ross 3,490,246 100% 94 0% In addition, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, Chartered Accounts was re-appointed as the auditor for the Company. Shares in GVIC are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GCT. For further information please contact Mr. Orest Smysnuik, Chief Financial Officer, at 604-708-3264. About the Company: GVIC Communications Corp. is an information & marketing solutions company pursuing growth in sectors where the provision of essential information and related services provides high customer utility and value. GVICs strategy is implemented through two operational areas: content and marketing solutions; and data, analytics and intelligence. Is California Overruling State Court's Coffee Ruling? It's probably minimizing things to say so, but a dispute over a new coffee regulation seems like a tempest in a teapot. California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment says coffee does not pose a cancer risk. It's controversial because California Superior Court recently said retailers must include cancer warnings on coffee products. Naturally, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are upset. But for the millions who line up for Starbucks everyday, it's really just another day. Another Day It was an eye-opener, however, when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge said coffee poses a cancer risk in Council for Education and Research on Toxics v. Starbucks Corporation. The decision was based on an eight-year-old lawsuit under Prop. 65, a ballot initiative passed in 1986 that requires disclosure of suspected carcinogens. The coffee industry didn't quite know what to say after the decision, but California regulators did: Stop the presses, we've updated our regulations! "The proposed regulation is based on extensive scientific evidence that drinking coffee has not been shown to increase the risk of cancer and may reduce the risk of some types of cancer," the agency said. Raphael Metzger, who won the state supreme court case for the advocacy group, wasn't buying it. "The whole thing stinks to high hell," he said. Another Cup of Joe Whatever it is that stinks, the coffee/cancer debate exposed an underbelly in the daily commodity. Research has teetered between the sides, and profits have been weighed in the balance. According to reports, the same advocacy group won a case against Burger King with similar claims. The plaintiffs said french fries posed a cancer risk, and won $1,250,000 -- plus $700,000 in attorney's for Metzger -- in 2007. The good news was, at least the coffee was safe. Related Resources: She picks a Mexican restaurant. The irony is not lost on anyone. "DHS Secretary Nielsen just got driven out of a Mexican restaurant here on 14th Street by activists," says tweeter Osita Nwanevu. Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America organized, shouted SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!, and published a view of the incident from inside the establishment. "Cops came," they posted later. The gall of Trump and his racist regime. On the night she's personally responsible for jailing babies for the crime of being carried across the Mexican border to freedom, Kirstjen Nielsen ducks out for fajitas. Shame on her. And Fuck Trump, John Kelly, and all the rest of 'em. DHS Secretary Nielsen just got driven out of a Mexican restaurant here on 14th Street by activists. DSA, I believe. pic.twitter.com/lTKutryXBO Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) June 20, 2018 Members of Metro DC DSA confronted DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at dinner. Why should she get to eat in peace while thousands of migrant children sit in cages? See the video here: https://t.co/bv3ksvTOuQ#abolishice #abolishcbp #FamilySeparation #FamilesBelongTogether Metro DC DSA (@mdc_dsa) June 20, 2018 We've got less than a day until the key vote on the wording of the new EU Copyright Directive, when members of the EU's legislative committee will vote on whether to include controversial mass censorship language in the proposal that the parliament will vote on. These two proposals are the "link tax" (Article 11), which forbids linking to news stories without a license (but doesn't define "news story" or "linking," leaving it up to 28 member states to make 28 contradictory rules for this); and "copyright filters" (Article 13), requiring that everything Europeans post to the internet be automatically checked for copyright violations first, in a kind of vast, unprecedented version of YouTube's Content ID, but for everything your Tinder profile, the code you check into Github, the skins on your Minecraft avatars. Article 13 is every bit as defective as Article 11: it insists that companies filter their users' posts, but does not penalize people who abuse the system by falsely claiming copyright over works that don't belong to them, whether tactically (a political party using false copyright claims to suppress embarrassing footage before a key vote), or trollishly (claiming all of Shakespeare just for the pleasure of banning anyone from quoting him). Sarah Jeong covered this today for The Verge: "legislators everywhere seem to have accepted the status quo of a digital landscape that's dominated by a handful of giants with self-perpetuating silos." The vote will be early in the day (Central European Time) on the 20th. There is still time to contact your MEP. For anyone who's been on the internet long enough, the problem with Article 13 is pretty clear. It's YouTube Content ID but for the entire internet. Axel Voss, the member of European Parliament who is taking the lead on the copyright bill, has argued that the actual proposed language never mentions a filter, although that just raises the question of what using "effective technologies" to prevent copyright infringement means, other than filtering. Although the most recently revised language exempts sites such as "online encyclopaedias," clearly aiming to exclude the likes of Wikipedia, Voss has said in the past that he cannot predict which platforms will be affected. Remember the time YouTube Content ID took down a video with birds chirping in the background because an avant-garde song in its copyright database also had birds chirping in the background? Remember the time NASA's videos of a Mars landing got taken down by a news agency? Remember the time a live stream got cut off because people started singing "Happy Birthday"? And all this happened despite the fact that Google is really good at what it does. Opponents of the proposal argue that if smaller platforms are also required to implement upload filtering, it'll not only be a significant burden to them, but they're likely to do a much worse job. Placing content-filtering obligations on platforms encourages them to block as much as possible, and it gives them little incentive to let innocent content through. FOSTA in the United States is a good example of how these incentives work. After the passage of the law, which was intended to combat sex trafficking on the internet, Cloudflare dropped Switter, a sex worker-friendly Mastodon instance. New EU copyright filtering law threatens the internet as we knew it [Sarah Jeong/The Verge] Don't despair. Take action. Trump just signed an executive order ending his family separation policy. The alternative they're proposing is indefinite military detention of families. This is not acceptable. This is not over. Feeling despair? Take action. Please share. 1. Donate to RAICES, a nonprofit that provides low-cost legal defense services to immigrant families. Donate directly to the RAICES 'LEAF' Project here. Donate directly to the RAICES Family Reunification and Bond Fund here. 2. Al Otro Lado is a binational border NGO that provides legal services in Tijuana, MX to immigrants who are crossing into or deported out of the U.S. from Mexico. Some of the people they're helping are deportee mothers or fathers whose children have been separated from them, and remain in the United States. Donations here. 3. The Texas Civil Rights Project here says, "We are Texas lawyers for Texas communities, boldly serving the movement for equality and justice in and out of the courts." Donate. 4. The ACLU rules. They're fighting this. It's what they do. Get involved. 5. Pueblo Sin Fronteras offers humanitarian aid and shelter to migrants heading to the U.S. Donate here. 6. This ActBlue Charities link lets you donate to 8 different nonprofits easily and quickly. List includes ACLU, United We Dream, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project. 7. Contact your elected officials. Let your Senator or Representative in Congress know how you feel. Contact the office of the President of the United States, which Donald Trump is currently defiling, and register your opposition to his abusive policies. 8. Families Belong Together is organizing events. 9. Donate to ProPublica, the news organization that published the audio of the crying children. 10. Immigrant children forcibly injected with drugs, lawsuit claims. REVEAL News, from the Center for Investigative Reporting, published this story on the forced drugging of detained kids. Read it, if you can bear it. The nonprofit that's suing to help these children is The Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law. "The Center is a non-profit, public interest legal foundation dedicated to furthering and protecting the civil, constitutional, and human rights of immigrants, refugees, children, prisoners, and the poor." Support them. Volunteer. Donate. PS: I just want to remind everyone who is newly concerned about the detention of immigrants that ALL of our prisons, jails and many community-based punishment shelters are torture chambers. THIS IS WHAT PRISONS ARE. FULL STOP. #Prisonculture (@prisonculture) June 20, 2018 Your suggestions in the comments, please. - XJ Toy model manufacturer Revell agreed to discontinue its model of the Haunebu II Flying Saucer, described as "the first object in the world capable of flying in space." According to the product description, the Nazi aircraft never made it past its 1943 test stage due to World War II. Thing is, none of that is true. From The Local: The fact that Revell's product's description fails to mention the aircraft never existed is risky in that people who buy it might actually believe the Nazis possessed superior technologies, (said historian Jens Whener of the Military History Museum in Dresden, Germany). "Enthusiasts can use this as a strategy to cast doubt on what we know today about National Socialism," the historian said. The company said it agrees with the MHM, adding that "it is in fact a legendary, extraordinary aircraft which cannot be proven in terms of its existence." "Unfortunately, our product description does not adequately express this and we apologize for it," Revell said in a statement. In 1928 Nancy Wake ran away from her Australian home and into an unlikely destiny: She became a dynamo in the French resistance, helping more than a thousand people to flee the Germans and then organizing partisans to fight them directly. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the White Mouse, one of the bravest heroes of World War II. We'll also marvel at mailmen and puzzle over an expensive homework assignment. Show notes Please support us on Patreon! Norcross, GA, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EasyCare (div. APCO Holdings) has named Scott Jacobsen as the National Director of Business Performance for SAVY, the award-winning, dealer-branded mobile app suite designed to bridge the gap between the customers digital vehicle shopping experience and the dealership retail experience. Based in the Atlanta area, Jacobsen will lead the SAVY team as well as the ongoing, store-by-store rollout of SAVY, which has earned a number of accolades since its launch including a first-place finish in the Tech Tank competition at last years Digital Dealer Conference & Expo. The response has been resounding. Our pipeline is full and we have already exceeded our second-quarter goal, Jacobsen said, crediting SAVYs success to its ability to transform lot operations and drive front- and back-end growth for dealers. Its all-encompassing. SAVY improves the upfront sales process and is the ultimate customer retention tool. Jacobsen joined EasyCare in 2011 as a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina. He played a pivotal role in the development and launch of the 7th Profit Center, a turnkey retention program that markets to dealers customers, resulting in vehicle sales, after-sale service contract sales and more service business. Scott has been integral to realizing our goal of connecting dealers and customers with industry-leading technology that helps deliver a better customer service experience, said Larry Dorfman, Chairman and CEO of APCO Holdings. We appreciate his hard work and look forward to even greater accomplishments in the years ahead. For more information, visit www.EasyCare.com/savy. About EasyCare EasyCares mission is to help dealers succeed at every customer touchpoint by creating passionate employees and customers. Whether its protecting the dealerships customers on their behalf or helping deliver the ultimate driving experience, EasyCare is fully engaged. Since 1984, the company has provided leading-edge benefits that have helped nationwide dealers deliver an outstanding ownership experience to over 7 million customers. EasyCare provides the only F&I benefits that are named a MOTOR TREND Recommended Best Buy for franchised dealers, in addition to a full suite of training programs, management development, and proprietary software. For more information, please visit www.easycare.com. Attachment California Assembly member Miguel Santiago [D-83/@SantiagoAD53] is the chairman of the Communications and Conveyance Committee, where he is single-handedly sabotaging the state's outstanding proposed Net Neutrality bill. The lawmaker, who received $60K in telcoms money in the last election and who counts AT&T as his fifth-largest campaign contributor, has introduced amendments that gut the the bill, allowing ISPs to charge "access fees" to websites so that the ISP's subscribers can visit the site; allowing ISPs to throttle websites who don't pay for premium access; and allowing websites to create data-caps that their own services are exempted from, leveraging their networks to choke out all competition. Specifically Assemblyman Santiago wants to amend SB 822 to allow: 1. ISPs to be able to charge any website, any amount of money simply so that website can be used by that ISP's subscriber. These are called "access fees" and the U.S. internet has never had them. They were explicitly banned by the FCC in 2010 and 205 2. Allow ISPs to throttle online services and websites at the point where data enters their networks. ISPS did this in 20132015, slowing down business services, online games and video for tens of millions of Americans until the FCC order in 2015 put a stop to it. 3. Allow AT&T/TimeWarner and Comcast/NBCUniversal to use their pipes to make their content win by making all other online content count against your data caps, but not their own. That kind of zero-rating scheme hurts everyone and gives them even more incentive to keep your data caps artificially low This California Democrat is single-handedly ruining our best chance to save net neutrality [Fight for the Future/Medium] In 2014, the Alice decision made it much harder to patent software in the USA; in 2016, Congress passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act, creating the first federal trade secrets statute: the result of these two developments is that software companies aggressively switched from patents to trade secrets as a means of controlling competition and limiting inspection and criticism of their products. This has wide-ranging effects, but the most vivid and immediate ones were on the criminal justice system, where algorithmic forensic analysis, bail assessment, and sentencing has become the norm. As a result, people facing criminal penalties are frequently told that trade secrecy means that they can't look at the evidence against them, can't challenge the basis for their bail, and can't look at the calculations that went into their sentencing. This is absolutely unprecedented: criminal defendants have never had their rights curtailed by the trade secrecy of the technology providers who contract with the courts and police. What's more, repeated experience tells us that the machine learning systems that accuse, convict and sentence criminal defendants are wildly imperfect, subject to racial bias (and other forms of bias), riddled with errors, and really, just the sort of thing you'd hope to be able to inspect before you were sent to prison. In a wide-ranging, beautifully written Stanford Law Review article, Yale Law School fellow Rebecca Wexler traced the history of trade secrecy in algorithmic justice and analyzes the incredible miscarriage of justice it represents. This Article has made the case against recognizing a trade secret privilege in criminal cases. The application of the privilege in criminal contexts is a relatively recent development and is not generally required by controlling authority. In addition to being discretionary, extending the privilege wholesale from civil to criminal proceedings is both harmful and unnecessary. A criminal trade secret privilege would almost certainly lead to overclaiming, abuse, and the exclusion of highly probative evidence; it would also project a message that the government values intellectual property holders more than those whose life or liberty is at stake. These harms are unnecessary because narrow criminal discovery and subpoena powers combined with protective orders should suffice to safeguard the interests of trade secret owners to the full extent reasonable. Illustrating the sufficiency of those safeguards, after a draft of this Article was posted to SSRN in February 2017, the developer of the software program at issue in Chubbs began voluntarily offering limited access to the program's source code, under protective orders, to criminal defendants' expert witnesses.473 More broadly, this Article raises the issue of how evidence rules function differently in civil and criminal cases. At common law, some commentators considered criminal evidence to be a distinct area of law.474 A mid-twentieth century movement for uniform laws led the federal courts and most states to adopt a single set of evidence rules for different types of disputes.475 Yet vast procedural differencesas in the scope of civil and criminal discoverymean that information inputs for each type of case diverge. When the underlying rules of procedure vary, applying formally consistent evidence rules will produce disparate results. To achieve consistent results across civil and criminal law, the rules of evidence must be tailored according to the procedural backdrop. Life, Liberty, and Trade Secrets: Intellectual Property in the Criminal Justice System [Rebecca Wexler/Stanford Law Review] (Images: Chris Potter, CC-BY; Cryteria, CC-BY) News / National by Staff reporter MDC Alliance partners have blasted the coalition's leader Mr Nelson Chamisa as a deceptive politician who does not respect agreements after he dribbled them and fielded candidates in constituencies reserved for the allies. Further, the alliance partners concluded that Mr Chamisa's actions vindicated assertions that there was a strong and pronounced anti-Ndebele sentiment in MDC-T, as most candidates from the Matabeleland region under Professor Welshman Ncube failed to file their nomination papers after being duped by Mr Chamisa's team.In Matabeleland South, the MDC-T refused to sign nomination papers belonging to Prof Ncube's candidates and most alliance partners were not contesting in council elections. Proportional representation sitting MP Nomalanga Khumalo also suffered a similar fate. Mr Chamisa is also running court battles with Dr Thokozani Khupe, who also hails from Matabeleland following a nasty separation underwritten by deception and dishonesty.The move by Mr Chamisa saw other alliance partners snubbing his campaign rallies in Binga and Victoria Falls last weekend. Notable absentees at the rallies in Binga, Hwange and Victoria Falls were Prof Ncube, Mr Tendai Biti of People's Democratic Party and Ms Lynette Karenyi, the MDC- T women's assembly chairperson who was elbowed out of the opposition party's primary elections in a violent manner.An MDC Alliance partner who spoke to The Herald yesterday said the issue of alliance building was unnecessary."What has happened indicates that Chamisa has upheld the plan of his predecessor (Mr) Morgan Tsvangirai, which was to attract back the dissident element, but without conceding a single inch of the ground to them," said the alliance partner."It is an old rule of politics that you don't reward rebellion, lest you encourage it. It lowers Chamisa's trustworthiness as no one will want to cut deals with him in future for, as Welshman puts it, nothing was unexpected." MDC spokesperson Mr Kurauone Chihwayi had no kind words for Mr Chamisa, saying they realised that they were dealing with "chameleons and vultures"."We have a history of surviving life threatening storms," he said."I can safely confirm the presence of bad apples in the bag. The MDC family is in pain, but we are all praying for an alliance victory. The grabbing of our seats is a disturbing development."We are dealing with chameleons and vultures. Our eyes are on the ball and everybody is full of life. We have a history of surviving life-threatening storms. We are widely consulting members of the party."Another alliance partner said the arrangement was a marriage of convenience between two "dishonest sides"."The only difference is that Chamisa's act has ripened fast and earlier," he said."In the case of smaller parties, the strategy was to buy time while enjoying the comfort of the then MDC-T wings in order to rebuild themselves from local council elections upwards. If you take a look, there is a preponderant presence of small parties at local government elections level, which is the basic building block."Unfortunately for them, they did not push hard enough to ensure that they wrestled or shared the signing powers which remained exclusively with the MDC Alliance and sure to its character, the alliance used it to devastating effect, forcing most of these stranded council aspirants to either drop out or run as independents."Other alliance partners said they had various options to express their disgruntlement."We can use our independent candidates as chips to recover lost ground," said one partner."We can simply turn our back on the alliance and proceed as independents now that the nomination court has closed. "We can as well join other parties merely for propaganda purposes against Chamisa."The only way Chamisa can recover our support is if he makes a strong showing against Zanu-PF, itself a tall order, to then dangle sinecures of office post-elections."In the event of a hung result, again unlikely, Chamisa will then realise how badly he needed to carry the goodwill of us little parties."Mr Chamisa's actions have already given Zanu-PF a head start by way of an uncontested parliamentary seat in Insiza North and several council wards.Said an alliance partner: "The Insiza case is interesting. It makes nonsense of (Morgan) Komichi's claim that they dropped weak candidates from alliance partners to improve their chances."Who doesn't know that Dumiso Dabengwa is moribund politically, in fact, more dead than Welshman Ncube to give Zanu-PF any real contest in Insiza North. It is about punishing rebels in order to thwart future rebellions which look all the more likely."Mr Chamisa's camp said it would support a ZAPU candidate in Insiza North. The camp is also contesting Prof Ncube's candidates in two Mazowe constituencies. Another alliance partner, Transform Zimbabwe, which was allocated 12 seats, will battle it out with MDC-T candidates in six of its constituencies.Zanu-Ndonga was allocated one seat in Chipinge under the alliance, but using its big brother mentality, MDC-T grabbed the seat. This effectively means that the party is in the alliance only for the sake of it. MDC-T initially was allocated 114 seats under the alliance agreement, but by last Thursday, it had breached the 150 threshhold.The party grabbed 14 seats from Prof Ncube's MDC and allocated two to Mr Biti's PDP seats, before robbing PDP of the other seat. News / National by Staff reporter Ashwin Willemse's legal team has confirmed they will be taking the SuperSport matter to South Africa's Equality Court.It has been just over a month since Willemse walked off a live SuperSport broadcast, accusing fellow-analysts Nick Mallett and Naas Botha of 'patronising' him.The incident sparked a racial debate in South Africa, with Willemse having suggested at the time that Botha and Mallett were undermining him.On Tuesday, SuperSport released their findings of an independent review that found that there had been no racism involved.Willemse, although he did not attend any of the review dates, maintains that racism was at the core of what had transpired.According to SuperSport CEO Gideon Khobane, Willemse had opted not to take part in the review because he felt that it was not the right forum for the issue to be discussed.Now, we seem to have a clearer understanding of what forum Willemse would find appropriate.According to Jacaranda FM, Willemse legal team will be approaching the Equality Court and ask them to probe further into the review.The station spoke to Willemse's lawyer, Nqobizitha Mlilo, who referred to the independent review as a "fruitless exercise".Mlilo added that the SuperSport report was one-sided."We believe the whole incident is rooted in racism. We are at an advanced stage with preparing those documents, and we will be approaching the Equality Court," Mlilo confirmed. News / National by Staff reporter OVER a hundred political parties have registered with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to take part in the much-anticipated plebiscite due end of next month.However, a record 23 parties in the end successfully fielded presidential candidates. Some of those who didn't field are regional parties.While veteran politician Dumiso Dabengwa last week decided in the last minute to drop his presidential ambitions by not filing his papers at the Nomination Court, he surprised many when he revealed he was going to back MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa for the hotly-contested presidency.Newly-formed United Movement for Devolution led by Lovemore Moyo - the former Speaker of Parliament - said party members were free to vote for any presidential candidate of their choice."Officially, we are not backing any presidential candidate in the 2018 harmonised elections."The reason being that the 2018 harmonised elections were never part of our political strategy hence there was no party decision on who to support among the aspiring presidents," he said."However, our members are free to exercise their constitutional right to vote for a presidential candidate of their choice since our party did not field a presidential candidate," Moyo added.Moyo said the party has fielded House of Assembly as well as local government candidates."We fielded 16 council candidates across the region. I am happy to inform you that 15 council candidates were successful and only one was disqualified," Moyo told Southern News."We fielded eight parliamentary candidates across the region and all of them were successful."I am extremely satisfied with this milestone achievement in a short space of time."Remember, the number of candidates fielded in both parliamentary and local authority seats reflects the extent to which UMD has covered ground since its inception," he said.Alliance for National Salvation (Ansa) president Moses Mzila Ndlovu said he could not contest the presidential race due to financial challenges but said they have advised their members not to vote anyone from Zanu-PF."We only managed to field five candidates and everything was determined by the depth of our pockets. So I could not vie for the presidential race yet I didn't even have money to support the other candidates," he said."As for which presidential candidate we are going to back, we have not yet resolved that one but we have told our supporters not to vote anyone with a Zanu-PF surname."We just said to them, use your conscience and vote a presidential candidate of your choice but don't vote Zanu-PF," Mzila Ndlovu said.Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) president Mqondisi Moyo said their party had nothing to do with national elections."As for the presidency, we are not backing anyone as MRP," he said."We don't have a say in determining who rules in Zimbabwe since we are said to be the minority and it's not people from Matabeleland and Midlands who put Zanu-PF into power in 1980 and I feel even right now it is said that 5,4 million people registered to vote this year and from the three provinces that is Mat North, Mat South and Bulawayo the figure does not surpass 800 000 and this means the 4,6 million people from other provinces can determine who is the next president without us." News / National by A Mhlongo A total of 46 countries have been invited by the Zimbabwean government to observe the 2018harmornised elections set for the 30th of July next month.Zimbabwe is preparing to host its first ever election without former perennial presidential campaigner and president Robert Mugabe who has held on to power for the past 37 years, outmaneuvering the late major opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in controversial previous elections.President Mnangagwa has lobbied for peaceful, free and fair elections.Last week, the country held senatorial, Member of Parliament and Presidential nominations country wide ahead of the country's elections. News / National by Staff reporter The MDC plans to field agents in all polling stations during next month's election, the party's organising secretary Amos Chibaya said.Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, Chibaya said the move was targeted at ensuring that the ruling Zanu-PF will not "rig" the elections."Like any other year, we are going to field polling agents in every polling station. We want to stop Zanu-PF from rigging this election. Our agents are going to alert us on every move," he said.On Monday, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) said it will allow political parties to have "roving" election agents who will move from one polling station to another, observing the conduct of the elections.In previous elections, election agents were only allowed to observe one polling station."To be eligible to appoint roving agents a political party must have supplied the stated lists of office bearers in the period starting from the fourth day after the publication of the proclamation and ending two days before the sitting of the nomination courts, that is, the period from June 3 -12, 2018," Zec said.MDC has failed to dislodge Zanu-PF in four elections, although none of them were free or fair, according to the MDC and Western observers.Former president Robert Mugabe denies MDC allegations that his Zanu-PF has cheated the MDC of victory in four major elections since 2000.The late MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was urged not to contest in the 2013 elections because many of the electoral reforms he had asked for had not been implemented, but he went on to participate and controversially lost to Mugabe.The MDC has said it will not repeat that mistake. It remains the biggest challenge to Zanu-PF's continued hold on power. By Patricia Zengerle and Mike Stone WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate passed a $716 billion defense policy bill on Monday, backing President Donald Trump's call for a bigger, stronger military but setting up a potential battle with the White House over Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corp <000063.SZ>. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 85-10 for the annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which authorizes U.S. military spending but is generally used as a vehicle for a broad range of policy matters. Before it can become law, the bill must be reconciled with one already passed by the House of Representatives. That compromise measure must then be passed by both chambers and signed into law by Trump. Considered must-pass legislation, the fiscal 2019 Senate version of the NDAA authorizes $639 billion in base defense spending, for such things as buying weapons, ships and aircraft and paying the troops, with an additional $69 billion to fund ongoing conflicts. This year, the Senate included an amendment that would kill the Trump administration's agreement to allow ZTE to resume business with U.S. suppliers, one of the few times the Republican-led Senate has veered from White House policy. That ZTE provision is not included in the House version of the NDAA. While strongly supported by some of Trump's fellow Republicans as well as some Democrats, the measure is opposed by the White House and some of its close Republican allies, who control the House as well as the Senate. It could face a difficult path to being included in the final NDAA, especially if Trump lobbies the Republican-led Congress against it, as he is expected to do. Republicans and Democrats have expressed national security concerns about ZTE after it broke an agreement to discipline executives who had conspired to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran and North Korea. The U.S. government placed a ban on ZTE earlier this year, but the Trump administration reached an agreement to lift the ban while it is negotiating broader trade agreements with China and looking to Beijing for support during negotiations to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Republicans Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio and Democrats Chuck Schumer and Chris Van Hollen, who led the Senate push for the ZTE provision, said in a joint statement after the vote that they were "heartened" by support, adding: "It is vital that our colleagues in the House keep this bipartisan provision in the bill as it heads toward a conference." But the final NDAA could include only a much less stringent provision, included in the House bill, that would bar the Defense Department from dealing with any entity using telecommunications equipment or services from ZTE or another Chinese company, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd . FOREIGN INVESTMENT RULES The Senate version of the NDAA also seeks to strengthen the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which assesses deals to ensure they do not compromise national security. The bill would allow CFIUS to expand the deals that can be reviewed, for example making reviews of many proposed transactions mandatory instead of voluntary and allowing CFIUS to review land purchases near sensitive military sites. The Senate NDAA also includes an amendment prohibiting sales to Turkey of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets made by Lockheed Martin Corp unless Trump certifies Turkey is not threatening NATO, purchasing defense equipment from Russia or detaining U.S. citizens. Senators included the legislation because of the imprisonment of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson and the purchase of the S-400 air defense system from Russia. The measure also includes an amendment to bar the U.S. military from providing aerial refueling support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen unless Secretary of State Mike Pompeo certifies that Saudi Arabia is taking urgent steps to end the civil war in Yemen, ease the humanitarian crisis there and reduce the risk to civilians. Shipbuilders General Dynamics Corp and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc could benefit from the bill's authorization of advance procurement of materials needed for the Virginia class nuclear submarines. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle an Mike Stone; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Chris Sanders and and Peter Cooney) A long-running oil and gas conference kicked off in St. John's Tuesday with more concern about how regulations are slowing growth in the industry, and chipping away at Newfoundland and Labrador's ability to be globally competitive. The theme for the 34th Newfoundland and Labrador Oil and Gas Industries Association (Noia) is Redefining oil: The time is now. But multiple speakers say they fear opportunity may be lost unless the rules governing how companies can explore are changed, and the time it takes to get approval for exploration drilling is shortened. "Canada's regulatory system is complex, inefficient and multi-jurisdictional. Layers with no clear outcomes," said Jim Irving, co-CEO of New Brunswick-based J.D. Irving Ltd., and the owner of Atlantic Towing, which operates a fleet of offshore supply vessels that service Newfoundland's offshore. Incredible potential Irving gave the keynote address Monday morning, and his message was one repeated often by groups like Noia over the past year. Newfoundland's offshore holds incredible potential with oceans of oil in frontier basins like the Flemish Pass and the Orphan Basin, but oil companies are having to wait up to three years for approval to drill an exploration well. "We're faced with challenges that are man-made. They're self-inflicted," said Jim Keating, vice-president of Nalcor Energy's Crown-owned oil and gas company. By comparison, the same process can take six months in places like Norway and the United Kingdom, said conference chairman Andrew Bell. "We're not suggesting that we take away any of the rigour of the process. Bell said. "What we're suggesting is that we condense the time." Major overhaul underway Currently, oil companies must get approval from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency for exploration activities, but the federal government is in the process of overhauling the environmental assessment process, with new rules about a year away. Story continues Oil insiders say there's also growing confusion about marine protected areas and marine refuges, and what this might mean for future development. All this comes at a time when geoscience activity in just five per cent of the the offshore has revealed an estimated 37 billion barrels of oil, with record amounts of money committed for exploration by some of the world's largest players, and an unprecedented interest in hiring rigs to drill exploratory wells. Keating said future developments are a "geological certainty" because of prospects like Cape Freels, but he said three years to get approval to drill a well is too long. "It's off the chart in terms of being a non-competitive situation," he said. Investment on a downward trend One of the phrases used Tuesday is that "money will go where money is wanted," and the trend for Canada is not encouraging, said Irving. He said capital spending in Canada on oil and gas was $45 billion last year, a drop of 46 per cent from 2014. By contrast, he said spending in the United States increased by 38 per cent last year, up to $120 billion. "Canada's number one customer is now becoming our No. 1 competitor." He said the "burden of government regulations" has pushed Canada to the bottom when it comes to global competitiveness, and regulatory approval. He came armed with numbers to make his point, noting that 55 exploratory and appraisal wells have been drilled in Newfoundland's offshore over the past decade. He said between 123 and 976 wells were drilled in "peer" jurisdictions like Mexico, the United States, Norway, United Kingdom, Brazil and Australia. "It all starts with exploration," he said, adding that Newfoundland is competing with 160 other oil and gas producing countries for investment money. The provincial government has set a target of drilling 100 exploration wells over the next dozen years, dramatically increasing daily production to 650,000 barrels, and reducing the time from discovery to development. Premier Dwight Ball opened the conference by saying that such ambitious targets could be jeopardized by a "very exhaustive, complicated, long and enduring regulatory regime." Ottawa Public Health is making a new push to help more Ottawa residents get access to vaccinations, including newcomers to Canada. An OPH report presented to the Ottawa Board of Health on Monday contains the new Vaccinate Ottawa Together plan, which outlines the organization's need to seek out "under-immunized" residents of Ottawa. According to the report, newcomers to Canada and those who have limited access to healthcare are especially at risk of their vaccines not being up to date. In 2015, OPH debuted a new immunization strategy aimed at increasing immunization levels among school and daycare aged children and youth. The report presented to the board at a meeting on Monday continues that work, said Lorette Dupuis, immunization unit program manager at Ottawa Public Health. "We've now reached the point where we think we're probably catching about 80 to 85 per cent of Ottawa parents and children who are in school," she said. "So now we need to look for that other 15 per cent and get them up to speed as well." Many newcomers, others left behind According to the report, there are still several groups whose immunization rates are lower than the city's average. Those populations include newcomers to Canada, people who have limited access to healthcare and families who deliberately choose not to vaccinate their children. Dupuis said OPH saw an increase in newcomer visits to their immunization clinics when the numbers of asylum-seekers and government-sponsored refugees first began to climb in 2015. Though the numbers are now steady, Dupuis said there are still multiple barriers to increasing vaccinations among newcomer populations, including language differences and a lack of available medical records. Some of those families fleeing violent or war-torn countries might not have been able to bring their immunization records with them, Dupuis said, leaving OPH officials with few ways to confirm what, if any, vaccinations a person has received. Story continues In 2017, the public health agency's immunization centre provided over 8,500 doses of vaccines to people who had limited or no access to the healthcare system, according to the report. Of those people, "approximately 66 per cent were not born in Canada," the report states. Vera Etches, Ottawa's medical officer of health, said the responsibility often lies with Ottawa Public Health to reach out to those who may need help accessing vaccines. "There are different reasons people come to Canada," she said. "Their priority isn't first to find their yellow card and get your immunization record." In those cases, OPH will put people on a "catch-up" vaccination schedule, in which base vaccines and boosters are provided so that an individual's vaccination record is brought up to the same level as someone else in their age category child, adolescent or adult. And when it comes to new residents, it's not just international arrivals that are susceptible to being left behind, Dupuis said. Even families who have moved to Ontario from another province may present a challenge when it comes to tracking and verifying immunization history, she said. Partnerships with community groups Ottawa Public Health is relying on partnerships with shelters, school boards and community health clinics to collect data, Dupuis said. With particular thought to Canadian newcomers, OPH has partnered with the Centretown Community Health Centre and the YMCA family shelter, where many refugees and asylum-seekers go upon arriving in Ottawa. "We need to have the immunization rate up about 90 per cent to really be able to shut down any spread of a highly communicable disease like measles," Etches said. "It will mean that the chance of an outbreak is diminished in Ottawa." VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Glacier Media Inc. (Glacier or the Company) reports the voting results of the Annual General Meeting of its shareholders held on June 19, 2018 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The following six nominees were re-elected as directors of the Company by the following votes: Nominee Votes For Percent Votes Withheld Percent Sam Grippo 87,960,583 98.08 % 1,718,605 1.92 % Jonathon J.L. Kennedy 87,205,183 97.24 % 2,474,005 2.76 % Bruce W. Aunger 87,210,048 97.25 % 2,469,140 2.75 % Geoffrey L. Scott 89,668,947 99.99 % 10,241 0.01 % S. Christopher Heming 87,956,341 98.08 % 1,722,847 1.92 % Timothy A. McElvaine 89,668,931 99.99 % 10,257 0.01 % At the meeting, shareholders also passed a special resolution with 99.75% of shareholders voting in favour of the consolidation of the common shares of Glacier on the basis of one new share for every ten old shares. Glacier will provide shareholders with further details on the timing of the share consolidation. In addition, shareholders also approved the advisory resolution of the Companys approach to executive compensation with 99.67% of shareholders voting in favour and PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, Chartered Accounts was re-appointed as the auditor for the Company. Shares in Glacier are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GVC. For further information please contact Mr. Orest Smysnuik, Chief Financial Officer, at 604-708-3264. About the Company: Glacier Media Inc. is an information & marketing solutions company pursuing growth in sectors where the provision of essential information and related services provides high customer utility and value. Glaciers strategy is implemented through two operational areas: content and marketing solutions; and data, analytics and intelligence. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has executed its first prisoner since 2009, the Department of Corrections said on Tuesday, a move the human rights group Amnesty International condemned as a "deeply misguided" effort to reduce crime. Theerasak Longji, 26, was executed by lethal injection at Bang Kwang Central Prison north of Bangkok on Monday. He was found guilty of murdering a 17-year-old boy in 2012, the department said. He was the seventh person to be executed by lethal injection since Thailand introduced the method in 2003 to replace execution by firing squad. Before Monday, the last people executed were two Thai drug dealers in 2009. "This is a deplorable violation to the right of life," Amnesty's Thailand campaigner Katherine Gerson said of Theerasak's execution. She said Thailand had reneged on a commitment to move towards abolishing the death penalty and was out of step with a global shift away from capital punishment. "There is no evidence that the death penalty has any unique deterrent effect, so the Thai authorities' hopes that this move will reduce crime is deeply misguided," Gerson said. "The Thai government must immediately halt any plans to carry out further executions," she added. Narat Sawettanan, director-general of the Department of Corrections, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters that surveys showed most Thais were in favor of capital punishment. "We have many dangerous crimes ... it is a necessity and the will of the people," Prayuth said. Thailand has some of Asia's most crowded prisons, with most inmates jailed for drug offences. Various governments have had little success in tackling overcrowding. Thailand has 361,030 prisoners, 520 of whom are on death row, according to data from the Department of Corrections. Capital punishment can be applied to 35 crimes in Thailand, including murder and drug trafficking. (Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Additional reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak; Editing by Darren Schuettler, Robert Birsel) By Aislinn Laing and Dave Sherwood SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean prosecutors said on Tuesday they questioned the Vatican's top sex abuse investigator as he prepared to fly out of the country following a fact-finding and reconciliation mission ordered by the Pope. Raul Guzman, a prosecutor based in the capital Santiago, said he "interrogated" Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta in the police station at Santiago airport in relation to an abuse case involving 25 Marist brothers and 30 alleged victims. "We arranged an interview with Charles Scicluna that took place in the offices of the investigative police in the airport before his flight," he told journalists. At a press conference hours earlier, Scicluna said the Vatican was committed to working with the Chilean civil authorities to get justice for the victims. Asked whether he would make public a 2,300-page report he had produced following an earlier visit to Chile in February, Scicluna said the decision was up to Pope Francis, adding that the Church's "freedom and autonomy" should be respected. "Every demand and petition must be sent to him who as the leader of the church ... has jurisdiction," he told reporters. The latest events come as the Church and the state address a growing abuse and cover-up scandal that has damaged the reputation of the Andean country's most popular religion. Last month, the pope accused the Chilean church of "grave negligence" in handling previous claims that children had been abused and that evidence of sex crimes had been covered up. He also accepted the resignations of three bishops. Scicluna said that during his second visit to Chile, which began last week, he conducted "hundreds" more interviews, including with abuse victims who had come forward in recent weeks. He announced the establishment of a "listening service" for church officials to hear the claims of many more who wrote to him. "The invitation to recognize and admit the full truth, with all of its painful repercussions and consequences, is the starting point for authentic healing," he said. COUNCIL QUESTIONED Some alleged abuse victims denounced Scicluna's decision to appoint officials from the National Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Accompaniment of Victims to run the "listening service." Juan Carlos Cruz, one of three Chilean victims who visited the Pope in Rome earlier this month, said in an interview on Tuesday that he was "very disappointed" by Scicluna's announcement. "People are not going to be comfortable to speak to them about abuse when they are the same people who disregarded victims for years," he said. Eneas Espinoza, who alleges he was abused by a Marist brother at a Santiago school, said those wanting to lay abuse claims should go to the police. "The Church cannot be judge and jury," he said. "This is a backwards step." Chile's national prosecutions director Jorge Abbott said on Tuesday he was preparing an official request to the Vatican for information on sexual abuse in the Church. "It's important that we investigate to be able to establish facts, do right by the victims but also find out if there is any way to prosecute some of these cases." (Reporting by Aislinn Laing and Dave Sherwood; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Richard Chang) SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The City of San Clemente filed a lawsuit today in Orange County Superior Court alleging the Transportation Corridors Agencies (TCA) is failing to comply with the California Public Records Act, a violation of California law. The City is seeking all consulting agreements, including all agreements with lobbyists and public affairs consultants for the TCA. The Public Records Act request also requested all expense reimbursements, stipends and other payments to the TCA CEO Michael Kraman and TCA Board members. The City contends these documents will clearly show that the TCA has spent more money on lobbyists over the past twenty years than it has spent on building new toll roads during this same period of time. The City of San Clemente filed its initial Public Records Act request seeking these documents on March 13, 2018. Despite communications from the TCA in April that they would provide the document, TCA has failed to provide any documents or respond to any further communications. After the City sent one final request on June 5, 2018 requesting these public documents, TCA once again failed to respond or provide any documents. The City of San Clemente is seeking a writ of mandate from the court, to compel TCA to turn over the public documents detailing the millions it has spent on lobbying and public relation efforts. The City of San Clemente will also be entitled to recover all attorneys fees for such action. It is estimated that TCA has spent over $20,000,000 in lobbying fees to firms such as Curt Pringle & Associates, run by the former Chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority, and Venture Strategic, headed by the former campaign consultant for Supervisor Lisa Bartlett. TCA has also spent millions in Sacramento in attempts to stave off its consolidation with the OCTA. The TCA continues to refuse to follow the law and simply provide their multi-million dollar lobbyist and consultants contracts over to the public, said Mayor Tim Brown of San Clemente. The amount of money the TCA has spent on lobbyists to keep their organization afloat despite not having built anything in over 20 years, and the taxpayers have the right to know. The hearing on the Citys Public Records Act lawsuit against the TCA is expected to be held on expedited basis. Contact: Erik Sund (949) 361-8341 Email: SundE@San-Clemente.org The role of Israel and the Jewish people are a central and fundamental topic, or at least should be, in any Christians' formulation of their theology and worldview. Many of us believe that the promises God made to Abraham and Israel in the Old Testament are no longer applicable to them and have been transferred to the Church. Then there are other Christians who believe that the emergence of the state of Israel is a fulfillment of prophecy and therefore part of God's end-time plan signalling the advancing denouement or conclusion of world history. Since God's promises still apply to Israel God remains unfinished in his plans concerning them corporately as His children--in distinction to His work and plan for the church. A handful of Christian Israel supporters are literally funding the temple institute in Israel, which exists for the specific purpose of rebuilding the ancient Jewish Temple. The intended rebuild probably targetting the disputed lands where the Herodian Temple once stood, whenever some agreement or opportunity arises for this to happen. Then there are other Christians who fully support the Palestinian movement, who attend conferences like Christ at the Checkpoint and are immersed in liberation theology. Liberation theology incorporates aspects of social marxism into the gospel, to seek out social justice as part of their Christian walk. For them this means taking up the cause of the oppressed and marginalised--Palestinians being members of this category. Many on the Christian right suggest that this social justice mandate overshadows the efforts or requirement to share the gospel and teach repentance, instead focusing on material issues of land ownership, freedom of movement, entitlements, politics etc. The zionists on the other hand are sometimes accused of Israel worship; wanting to bring back old covenant worship by rebuilding the temple and giving Israel special omission from the great commission, because all Israel will be saved. The average Zionist Christian is a passionate advocate of Israel, while some verge on obsession, to the exclusion of attention to other important issues of doctrine and faith. Those who believe Jews have rights to the land due to ancestral ties and history there, are designated as Zionists. The progressive leaning Christians are skeptical of Israel if not downright hostile, buying into the Palestinian narrative hook line and sinker. Such people believe Israel is an apartheid state despite its ethically and religiously diverse population, and equality under law enshrined as a nation based on western institutions. They see the Israeli government and IDF as murderers of innocent Palestinian children, acting without any rule of law or modern military rules of engagement. That this is a simple equation of innocent refugee vs despotic apartheid regime, despite the nuances and history being more complicated. On top of this they seem to ignore the terrorists, extremist ideology, and religious motivations of Muslims. I personally still believe Israel has special significance to God despite their unsaved condition. They are a wayward child, but God doesn't forsake them forever as He promises. I believe God has been returning them to the land and will soften their hearts and return many to righteousness before Christ returns. Some of the so called Zionist and rapture crowd also believe that Israel will suffer many dire tribulations and even massacres before the end, based on some passages in Revelation. So is God gathering and protecting them now, or not? I find it difficult to believe that the miracle of their gathering and nascent nationhood transpiring, despite astounding odds stacked against them, that God would allow the overwhelming global and local opposition enclosing them to win. Despite their tiny size they possess the clout of a technologically advanced world power. Yet against such tremendous odds, it seems only God's intervention could save Israel if a great alliance was to strike them (Ezekiel 38). Time will tell. Everyone seems to be against Israel except some evangelical Christians and conservatives. The Muslims, Progressives, the Christian Left and the Far Right in general are contrary if not outright hostile toward Israel. And that makes me think that satan is employing some serious demon power in effort at destroying them - as history Is routinely poised to kill the Jew at every opportunity. In short time we will see if God steps in once again to protect Israel and thereby verify if gathering this new nation from the diaspora was His plan all along as we suspect in prophecy. When a tiny nation survives another war against overwhelming odds, it will make plain which side God is on--and whom is theologically sound concerning Israel. Amos Sale is a Press Service International young writer from Auckland A National Dialogue between the Nicaraguan government and opposition groups being mediated by Roman Catholic Bishops in Nicaragua has broken down, and violence has escalated in the Central American country. Opposition groups have been calling for the removal of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo. This was initially triggered by plans to change the pension system in Nicaragua. Initial protests were peaceful, but became violent when the government used a heavy hand to respond to the protests. It has resulted in widespread violence throughout Nicaragua, and led opposition groups to set up roadblocks in an attempt to strangle the transport system in the country. The roadblocks have affected commerce throughout the country including the cigar industry located in Esteli. On Friday night there appeared to be some progress in the mediation sessions as the government had agreed to allow the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the UN Commission on Human Rights, and the European Union to come to Nicaragua to help investigate the violence and deaths reported. Concurrently, an agreement had been struck on both sides to end the violence. The plan was to continue the mediation sessions and begin to craft an agenda to discuss the democratization issues. However, there was never a cessation of the violence which has continued since the agreement took place. In the hours following the agreement, eight people were killed in a shootout and fire in Managua. Since the overall violence started in April, there have been over 185 confirmed deaths. When the mediation sessions resumed Monday, no evidence was presented by the government in terms of inviting the international groups in to investigate the violence. This resulted in government opposition groups and the Catholic bishops walking out of the mediation sessions. Its the second time such sessions have broken down. The first set of mediation talks by the bishops broke down on May 23rd. The violence has escalated as groups aligned with President Ortegas administration moved to dismantle roadblocks, most notably in the city of Masaya. There have also been reports of gunfire at the blockade located at the southern part of Esteli. In addition, the roadblocks have led to gasoline and food shortages at grocery stores throughout the country, including Esteli. Photo Credit: La Voz del Norte Royal Agio Cigars Balmoral brand is getting two new lines. At the 2018 IPCPR Trade Show, the company will introduce the Balmoral Anejo XO Connecticut and Balmoral Anejo XO Oscuro lines into the brand. These cigars join the follow-up to the current Balmoral Anejo XO. Its Royal Agio Cigars first two major releases since establishing its own U.S. operation. The Balmoral Anejo XO Connecticut utilizes a U.S. Connecticut Shade wrapper while the Balmoral Anejo XO Oscuro utilizes a San Andres wrapper. Both blends will be offered in the same sizes as the Balmoral Anejo XO. This includes: Torpedo Mk52 (6 14 x 52, MSRP $11.25), Gran Toro (6 x 52, MSRP $10.50), Rothschild Masivo (5 x 55, MSRP $9.75), Corona (5 7/8 x 42, MSRP $9.00) and Petit Robusto (FT 4 14 x 48, MSRP $8.50). The cigars are produced at the Royal Agio cigar factory in San Pedro de Macaris in the Dominican Republic utilizing what the company calls an exploratory blending philosophy of company CEO Boris Wintermans. I can honestly say that now is the right time to release these special new Balmoral line-ups. It has taken us several years to find just the right super-premium tobaccos to merit inclusion into these spectacular new Anejo XO blends. For me, its always about having the commitment and patience to ensure we find and work with only the best available tobaccos that will ultimately deliver an enjoyable, one-of-a-kind experience for cigar lovers. It is this unwavering, curious approach to blending all Anejo XO cigars that provides us with the opportunity to discover the best there is to be found. The Balmoral Balmoral Anejo XO Connecticut and Balmoral Anejo XO Oscuro are slated to ship to retailers in September 2018. Photo Credits: Balmoral Cigars If you want to contact me, my email address is my first name dot my last name at gmail. No spam, please. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Strongbow Exploration Inc. (TSX-V:SBW) (Strongbow or the Company) reports that, pursuant to the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) announced March 17, 2016, regarding the acquisition of the South Crofty tin project, the Company has issued a total of 8,456,664 common shares (equivalent to C$2,000,000) to Galena Special Situations Master Fund Limited (Galena), and Tin Shield Production Inc (Tin Shield). Galena received 4,439,749 shares, and Tin Shield received 4,016,915 shares. Under the terms of the SPA the Company was required to make a payment of C$2,000,000, in cash or shares at Strongbows election, to Galena / Tin Shield on or before the second anniversary Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) date. The CVA date was June 10, 2016. ABOUT SOUTH CROFTY South Crofty is an iconic former producing copper and tin mine located in the towns of Camborne and Pool, Cornwall, England. The first documented production history from South Crofty dates back to 1592, and it was the last tin mine to close in Cornwall in 1998. Strongbow published a NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate on the project on April 19, 2016 (see Technical Report here), and published a NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment on the project on February 16, 2017 (see Technical Report here). The project received an Underground Permission (mining licence) in 2013, which is valid until 2071, and Planning Permission to construct a new process plant in 2011. In October 2017, Strongbow was successful in securing a Water Discharge Permit allowing for the dewatering of the now flooded mine workings. In January 2018, the Company completed the sale of a 1.5% Net Smelter Returns Royalty to its largest shareholder, Osisko Gold Royalties, for C$7,170,000. These proceeds are being used to construct a water treatment plant in order to commence dewatering the mine. For additional information please contact: Irene Dorsman at (604) 210 8752 or by e-mail at idorsman@strongbowexploration.com or Sherman Dahl of Pretium Communications at (250) 558 8340. Blytheweigh (Financial PR/IR-London) Tel: +44 207 138 3204 Tim Blythe tim.blythe@blytheweigh.com Camilla Horsfall camilla.horsfall@blytheweigh.com Nick Elwes nick.elwes@blytheweigh.com ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Richard D. Williams Richard D. Williams, P.Geo Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. WEDNESDAY, June 20, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Compulsive gambling. Shopping until your money has run out. Eating until you've grown obese. Relentless sexual risk-taking. Medications that restore normal movement in patients with Parkinson's disease can unlock their inner demons more often than thought, a new study finds. It's long been known that the drugs can lead to impulse-control issues in some patients, said Dr. Michael Okun, national medical director for the Parkinson's Foundation. But this latest research shows that more than half of the people taking dopamine agonists for Parkinson's could eventually develop an impulse-control disorder. "These investigators followed patients for five years, and their results revealed a much higher than expected incidence of impulse-control disorders," Okun said. But the study did not prove that these drugs caused impulse-control problems. At their worst, these uncontrolled impulses can bring on financial ruin, destroy families and land the patient in legal jeopardy, said Dr. Laura Boylan, an adjunct professor of neurology with the New York University School of Medicine. Boylan had one Parkinson's patient who developed a compulsive desire for pornography so strong that it wiped out his finances. "The family had been unaware that his impulse-control problems might possibly be related to his medicine, and he was being repeatedly admitted to the hospital because he couldn't afford his medicines because of his particular habit," Boylan said. People with Parkinson's are unable to produce sufficient quantities of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is critical to the brain's ability to control body movement. As a result, patients develop tremors, slowness of movement, rigidity in their arms and legs, and problems with their walking gait and balance, according to the Parkinson's Foundation. Dopamine agonists help by directly stimulating the brain's dopamine receptors, essentially acting as a stand-in for the neurotransmitter itself. Unfortunately, dopamine also is "centrally involved in the body's reward system," Boylan said. "Cocaine and nicotine produce a release of dopamine." Doctors suspect that the activation of dopamine receptors by these drugs might fuel a person's cravings, driving them to impulsive actions, she explained. In the study, French researchers found that 52 percent of Parkinson's patients who ever used a dopamine agonist developed an impulse-control disorder over the course of five years, compared with only 12 percent of those who never used the drugs. The team, led by Dr. Jean-Christophe Corvol, of the ICM Brain and Spine Institute at the Sorbonne University in Paris, identified impulse-control problems, such as binge-eating, sexual addiction, compulsive shopping and gambling. Other reported behaviors included intense focus on hobbies and creative pursuits, hoarding and wandering, Boylan said. "It may be coincidental, but bears mentioning that Robin Williams' suicide took place shortly after initiation of an agonist," Boylan wrote in an editorial accompanying the new study. The study authors noted that higher doses of the drugs or taking them for longer periods of time were associated with a greater risk of developing impulse-control problems. The drugs pramipexole (Mirapex) and ropinirole (Requip) appeared to carry the highest risk, the researchers said. Doctors treating patients using a dopamine agonist "should be extra vigilant, as impulse-control disorders in the setting of Parkinson's disease could emerge after a significant delay," Okun said. Families of Parkinson's patients also should be on the lookout for repetitive or compulsive actions or behaviors as an early red flag, Boylan suggested. "Families should be aware of these issues, because often the families and the patients themselves don't think these are relevant to Parkinson's disease," Boylan said. Younger patients appear to be at greater risk for developing an impulse-control disorder, Okun said, as well as those suffering from anxiety or with a history of addiction. Switching to another medication or halting drug therapy might relieve these symptoms, Okun and Boylan said. The researchers reported that half of the impulse-control disorders went away within a year after patients stopped taking dopamine agonists. However, similar impulse problems have been noted with levodopa, Boylan said. Levodopa is a chemical precursor of dopamine that remains the most effective treatment for Parkinson's. The study findings were published online June 20 in the journal Neurology. More information The University of California, San Francisco has more about Parkinson's disease. TUESDAY, June 19, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Fewer than 14 percent of American adults smoked cigarettes in 2017, the lowest level seen since data collection started in 1965, government health officials reported Tuesday. "Certainly, it is fantastic that the U.S. smoking rates continue to drop," said Dr. Adam Lackey, chief of thoracic surgery at Staten Island University Hospital. "I suspect education is a large part of why the rates are dropping." "Unfortunately, I suspect part of the drop is also related to more and more people switching to the various other methods of consuming nicotine," he noted. "Vaping seems to be taking off, and I am always dismayed to have patients proudly tell me that they don't smoke, and thank goodness for all those vaping products that they use now." "Yes, vaping doesn't have the high levels of tar and soot that are the major contributors to the cigarette lung cancer risk," Lackey said. "But you are still inhaling heated chemicals into your body. And you are still getting nicotine, which in and of itself is not particularly healthy, aside from the addiction standpoint." Meanwhile, the report unearthed some bad news along with the good. Twice as many of those who smoked lived in rural areas and smaller cities than in cities of 1 million or more -- about 22 percent versus 11 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. Dr. Len Horovitz, a lung specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, offered some possible explanations for the discrepancy. "Anti-smoking campaigns reach more city dwellers than rural adults," he said. Also, the "health consciousness" of rural populations is lower than in cities, Horovitz added. In addition, medical access where smoking cessation might be discussed is lower in rural areas, he said. Regardless, Lackey said the message to smokers should be simple. "No matter what people are inhaling or using, I always tell my patients that you can't live without working lungs, and they should treat their lungs with respect," he said. The report, from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, also found that people in nonmetropolitan areas had higher rates of obesity and serious psychological distress during the past 30 days and also had more diagnosed diabetes, compared with those living in large cities. The researchers found that residents of rural areas and smaller cities fell short in other ways compared to large-city dwellers. They were less likely to meet federal physical activity guidelines for aerobic and strengthening activity in leisure time, to ever have had an HIV test, or to have excellent or very good health compared to those in large cities. The report notes another key difference as well: People outside the big cities were less likely to have obtained needed medical care in the past year due to cost. The agency analyzes 15 health measures on a quarterly basis. More information For advice on quitting smoking, visit the American Lung Association. Mysuru It appears has though sand imported from Malaysia has made inroads in the Mysuru construction market as well. Multiple traders are selling Malaysian sand to contractors and builders in the district. However, the flipside, according to industry insiders is that Malaysian sand is nearly twice as expensive when compared to its local counterpart. A sand trader said, "Malaysian sand is sold for around Rs 3,900 to Rs 4,000 per ton in the city. Imported sand is new to Mysuru district, but response to it has been very encouraging." He added that apprehensions about Manufactured Sand or M-Sand had also driven the demand for imported sand. "The quality of imported sand is comparable with that of what is available on the river banks. Although it is new to the market, there is demand for it," the trader said. Since the state government was directly involved in importing sand, the trader said that transporting the commodity posed no problem. Consequently, fears over possible damage to the environment have reduced to some extent. "Everyone is hopeful of the demand rising once the market stablises," a trader said. Harish, an engineer, however voiced concerns over the price of imported sand. "Presently, a ton of local sand is available for Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,200, while plastering sand costs Rs 1,400 to Rs 1,500 for the same quantity," Harish said. Customers, meanwhile, are happy with the entry of imported sand to the market since it reduces dependence on M-sand. "Despite the state government's nod for use of M-sand in construction projects, there are reservations about endurance of these structures built using it. Supply of natural sand reduced following introduction of M-sand. Hope sand imported from Malaysia bridges the gap in supply," said Vasu, a resident of Ramakrishnanagar. Shrinivasa M, Economic Times, Mysuru Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Ahead of June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey, the Committee to Protect Journalists today joined 18 other international press freedom and freedom of expression organizations in calling on to the future leader of Turkey to prioritize press freedom and safety of journalists in the country. Turkey is the worlds leading jailer of journalists, with at least 73 in jail in direct retaliation for their work when CPJ conducted its most recent prison census on December 1, 2017. The joint letter, led by European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, calls on presidential candidates, including the incumbent, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to drop charges against all journalists and to release those in prison, and to protect and strengthen press freedom and independent journalism by restoring impartiality of the judiciary and ending the state control of media. To read the letter, click here. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram For World Refugee Day, exiled Ethiopian photojournalist Aziza Mohamed spoke with CPJ Journalist Assistance Program Coordinator Nicole Schilit about her experience of being a refugee and eventually being resettled in the U.S. [This transcript of Azizas comments has been edited for length and clarity.] Photojournalist Aziza Mohamed fled Ethiopia after being released from jail. (Image courtesy of Aziza Mohamed) My name is Aziza Mohamed. I started working as a photojournalist and reporter in 2011, for Addis Guday. I was arrested on July 18, 2014 while photographing a protest in Addis Ababa. I was released after almost a month in jail. When I was released from prison, nobody wanted to be seen with me. Even journalists, friendsthey were all are scared to meet me. And it was impossible to get [a] job. Also, Ethiopian security was following me physically and electronically. That time was very difficult for me. That is why I left. I could not work as a photojournalist without risking being arrested again. When I had to leave Ethiopia, I was only thinking about collecting my belongings and getting to a safe place, together with people I knew. The hardest part about life in Nairobi was living without work, it is difficult economically and it psychologically affects you. Living in a place where you cannot work and you cant move freely, feels the same as being in a prison. Aziza Mohamed, pictured in Nairobi in 2014. The photojournalist says life in the Kenyan city was hard while she waited for resettlement. (CPJ/Nicole Schilit) For me, relocating to Nairobi was like moving from one prison to another. I was so scared to move without proper papers or a passport. My process with UNHCR [the UN refugee agency] was very fast. The reason my case was accepted was because of the news published by CPJ when I was in prison in July 2014. After six months I was told I would receive resettlement. But then my case was stuck for one year with USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services]. After two years I arrived in the U.S., it was October 25, 2016. Aziza Mohamed, pictured in Pittsburgh, says she is happy to be in a safe place. (Image courtesy of Aziza Mohamed) After my orientation in Nairobi my expectations for the U.S. were very low. But now, after a year, day by day, I started to believe in the opportunity I have in Pittsburgh. The most difficult thing about living in the U.S. is that it takes a long time to get back to your profession. In Ethiopia, I was working only at what I love. Here I am working at what earns me money. It is not easy to focus on work that you love to do here. In my country, OK, I am a journalist. But when I say thatI am ready to work anything, any jobs now. I am pregnant now and I am happy to raise my child in any safe place. Its a right time for me now. ATLANTA, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In 2017 Yamaha Motor Finance Corp, USA announced plans to bring its floorplan financing in-house, with a vision to provide a complete range of finance company services. Yamaha has chosen to partner with White Clarke Group, selecting the CALMS Compass Floorplan Finance Software to support their efforts. Already successfully live in Yamaha Motor Finance Canada, CALMS Compass has provided a high level of dealer adoption and satisfaction as well as supporting the growth and smooth transition to their new captive finance business. The CALMS Compass solution is due to go-live in Q4 2018. White Clarke Group is thrilled to partner with Yamaha Motor Finance Corp, USA, by offering industry proven technology while fully supporting the launch of their new wholesale finance program. As always, the timing and smooth delivery is crucial for this project as both companies focus on the Yamaha dealer experience during this transition, said Kurt A. Ruhlin, COO Americas at White Clarke Group. We went through a detailed software evaluation process and decided to partner with White Clarke Group. The CALMS Compass software is able to offer our business true supply chain integration and exceptional operational efficiency, while giving our dealers the power to manage their own wholesale accounts and support a complete set of competitive wholesale financing options, said Brian Hinchman, VP, Yamaha Motor Finance, who is leading the captives new wholesale finance division. About Yamaha Motor Finance Corp, USA Yamaha Motor Finance Corporation, USA (YMFUS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA (YMUS) and was established to support the financial needs of the YMUS Dealer base and loyal Yamaha customers. YMFUS provides consumer retail financing for its diverse line of motor products through captive and partner solutions, commercial leasing and wholesale financing based in Cypress, CA. About White Clarke Group White Clarke Group is the global provider of end-to-end loan origination, servicing, collections and floorplan/wholesale finance technology for the automotive, consumer and equipment finance sectors. It is a global organization employing around 600 professionals, with offices in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Austria, Germany, India and China. Clients include: GM Financial, Toyota Financial Services, Volkswagen Financial Services, Daimler Financial Services, Ford Credit, BMW Financial Services and FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles). For more information, please visit www.whiteclarkegroup.com Press contacts Anna Lepp, Global PR & Marketing Director Phone: +44 (0)1908 576 710 Email: alepp@whiteclarkegroup.com URL: www.whiteclarkegroup.com The tri-service joint military exercise Indra-2018 between India and Russia will take place at Indian military base in second half 2018. In this regard, Russian military delegation visited India to discuss logistics of the exercise. In this edition of exercise, combined military units of Russian Eastern Military District will participate in military drills. Members of Indian defence forces were also involved in planning of the exercise which included practical operations of units besides consumer services, catering and medical support for Russian units. In addition, they also agreed on procedure for receiving and servicing of military transport aircraft in India. Background INDRA military exercise was launched in 2003 as bilateral exercise between India and Russia to boost cooperation and interoperability between navies of two countries. The name of the exercise INDRA has been derived from INDia and RussiA. Till 2016, the bilateral exercises under INDRA were undertaken between respective Armies, Navies and Air Forces of India and Russia by separately engaging with each other without concurrent participation from other services. This exercise was transformed into tri-services military exercise in 2017 and was for first time held successfully in October 2017 at Vladivostok, Russia. It was Indias first joint tri-services exercise and also first between Russia and India. It was also first time Russia has hosted tri-services military exercise on its soil. Andhra Pradesh: Cargo facility at Gannavaram airport to boost aqua exports by Rajulapudi Srinivas June 20,2018 | Source: The Hindu The cargo facility launched at the Vijayawada International Airport is expected to boost seafood exports from the State. The facility is a long-pending dream of the aqua farmers of the East and West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts. At present, aqua producers are exporting frozen shrimp, chilled items, frozen fin fish, live items such as crabs from Krishnapatnam, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Kakinada, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and other ports. We are exporting to the European Union, Japan, China, the U.S., West Asia and other countries. The service will definitely enhance exports, say farmers. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), AP Regional Division, Joint Director P. Anil Kumar said the service would help the farmers and exporters to transport the produce in hours to the international markets. Many aqua farmers are importing shrimp and crab seed from quarantines. Due to lengthy transportation, the mortality rate is high and the farmers are suffering losses. The air cargo will minimise the transportation time, he told The Hindu. Farmers are exporting aqua products worth thousands of crores from the Visakhapatnam and the Krishnapatnam ports. In 2015 and 2016, seafood of worth more than Rs. 10,000 crore was exported, Mr. Anil Kumar said. MPEDA Assistant Director P. Brahmeswara Rao said chilled items worth Rs. 1,693 crore were exported and produce valued Rs. 1.918 crore was transported from the Chennai port in 2016-17 and 2015-16 respectively. We are cultivating mud crabs and importing seed from Chennai and exporting through Krishnapatnam and Chennai ports. Crab farmers are getting Rs.400 to Rs.500 per kg (live item), depending on the demand and the size of the crab in the international market, said a farmer T. Krishna Rao of Bantumilli. Another farmer S. Venkata Narayana of Nagayalanka said it would take five days to export the produce to other countries. But now we can transport the crabs in one or two days. Andhra Pradesh: Fishermen to call off strike June 20,2018 | Source: The Hindu Mechanised boat operators, who went on an indefinite strike from June 15, have decided to venture into sea from midnight of June 27 following a promise by the State government to increase diesel subsidy. After meeting leaders from various associations across the State at Vijayawada, Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and Fisheries Minister Ch. Adinarayana Reddy to effect increase in diesel subsidy in proportionate to revised diesel price a decision was taken to withdraw the strike. Conservation period Even after end of 61-day annual conservation period in the East Coast, they did not resume fishing operations from the midnight of June 15 to demand proportionate increase in diesel price. Diesel subsidy was last revised over a decade ago when price per litre was Rs. 38. Till now fishermen are being given a subsidy of Rs. 6.03 per litre. Following a directive by the Ministers, Principal Secretary Gopal Krishna Dwivedy and Fisheries Commissioner Rama Shankar Naik said the budgetary allocation of Rs. 57 crore should be enhanced to Rs. 82 crore for proportionate increase in diesel subsidy. Both the Ministers immediately agreed and told us that the issue will be taken up at the next Cabinet meeting, AP Mechanised Boat Operators Association president P.Ch. Appa Rao and Dolphin Boat Operators Welfare Association president Ch. Satyanarayana Murthy said on Monday. The associations held the general body meeting here on Sunday and unanimously resolved to take part in the Gangamma jatara- the Goddess of Sea on June 26. A day later fishing operations would be taken up. They thanked Mr. Adinarayana Reddy, Mr. Ramakrishnudu, Visakha South MLA Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar and Kakinada MLA Vanamadi Kondababu for supporting their cause to increase diesel subsidy. Sri Lanka: Fishermen threaten more action over fuel hike June 20,2018 | Source: UCA News Sri Lankan fishermen are urging the government to further reduce the price of fuel to 44 rupees (US$0.27) per liter to protect the fishing industry and their livelihoods after a confusing few weeks where prices have been raised and lowered. Fishing organizations met recently with cabinet ministers and Vijith Vijayamuni Zoysa, the minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and Rural Economic Affairs, to discuss the matter. Aruna Roshantha, president of All Ceylon Fisher folk Trade Union, said the talks were unsuccessful despite the government appearing to seek a compromise by partially rescinding earlier price hikes. "The small-scale fisheries industry has largely been ignored so far and the government should have a concrete plan for the industry before it increases the price of fuel," he said. In early May the government made a controversial decision to ramp up the price of kerosene by 57 rupees a liter, petrol by 20 rupees and diesel by 14 rupees. This echoes a similar trend witnessed in neighboring India, which saw diesel and petrol prices surge to a record high last month, with petrol costing 77.17 rupees a liter as of May 23 and diesel selling for 68.34 rupees. This prompted Indian opposition leaders to slam New Delhi for failing to rein in rising prices. The nation's law minister said the government was subsequently mulling changing its fuel-pricing mechanism for pump prices to better protect consumers from the volatility seen in global markets. In Sri Lanka, Colombo justified the hikes by claiming that bus and truck owners were misusing kerosene by mixing it with diesel but it later backpedaled on the higher prices, at least in the case of kerosene, under mounting pressure from local fishermen. On the night of May 13, boats from several villages along the North Western coastal belt refused to head out to sea, leaving fish markets low on supplies of fresh fish, according to local media reports. In frustration, fishing organizations launched an island-wide strike on June 11 to show their opposition to the government's decision, with docked boats hoisting black flags in some cities as a show of solidarity against the hikes. As a result, Colombo agreed to reduce the price of kerosene from 101 rupees per liter to 70 rupees from June 12. However this apparent concession was not enough to mollify many fishermen, who said they still felt discouraged from working as their incomes have dwindled to such low levels. "Fisheries-related unions from the [western] city of Negombo to the southern coastal belt have threatened to take more action soon to pressure the government [into further lowering prices]," Roshantha said. "Most of the fishermen at this level are facing [financial] difficulties going out to sea," he said. "They buy kerosene on a daily basis in small quantities. Moreover, the government is causing them more pain by heavily taxing their boats, nets and other necessities," he added. The union chief said lower prices would be better than government subsidies due to a widespread mistrust of local officials amid concern about rampant corruption. Many of Sri Lanka's predominantly Christian fishermen already lose one day's work a week as they refuse to head out on Sundays and attend church services and feasts with friends instead. Justin Fernando, a fisherman from Negombo, said he can use anywhere between 20 and 110 liters of fuel a day when working. "The government claims they have all these subsidies for us but it's just fake news," he said. "Fishermen have also called for reduced taxes on fishing equipment so their families and the industry as a whole can survive," he added. "Next up will be hunger strikes unless the government starts to heed our calls," he warned, adding resentment was still high over a brutal crackdown on fisherman who rallied against previous price hikes in 2012. "The police killed at least one of our brothers during those demonstrations," he said. Catholic man Anthony Fernando was reportedly shot and killed during the clashes. Minister Zoysa said the negotiations are ongoing. He expressed confidence a solution would be found soon. On June 9, the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Tibetan Autonomous Regions (TAR) government announced that Tibet will soon have three new airports. A communique said: Construction of three airports, all above the altitude of 3,900 metres, should begin in 2019. Xinhua, the Chinese official news agency, gave the rationale: Tourist travel will be more convenient and economic development in Tibets agricultural and pastoral areas will also be assisted. The announcement came during a conference on Civil Aviation System Supporting Tibet Airport Construction Development held in Lhasa a day earlier. The Chinese language press gave more information about the location of the three airports one will be located in Lhuntse in Lhoka (called Shannan by the Chinese) area, north of the Upper Subansiri and Tawang districts of Arunachal Pradesh; the second will be between Tingri and Lhatse counties of Shigatse City, north of Zangmu, the border post with Nepal; and the last in Purang near the trijunction Nepal-Tibet-India, north of Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand (on the yatris route to Mount Kailash). While Tingri airport is near the Nepali border, the other two (Lhuntse and Purang) are at a short distance from the Indian border. Xinhua said that Capital Airport Holding Company will be the contractor of the Lhoka, while the Shanghai Airport Authority will be responsible for the airport in Shigatse. The West Airport Group will take care of Purang. It reported: The three companies are scheduled to transfer the airports to local operators after one or two years operation. The airports should be completed in 2021, by which time there will be eight airports in the TAR region (plus three close to the Indian border in Xinjiang Kashgar, Hotan and Yarkand). At present, the preparatory work for the three airports is underway. The preferred sites have been determined, and the construction of temporary weather stations at each site is completed, added the news agency. The three airports will be high-altitude airports; they will be operated by companies, including Air China, China Eastern Airlines or Sichuan Airlines, which are already involved in Tibet. Let us not forget an important element; by law, these new airports will be for dual use meaning they will have to be built to suit both the civilian and military standards. The Peoples Liberation Army may use them when required. The conference was a high-level affair. Apart from TARs party secretary Wu Yingjie, Chinas civil aviation administrations secretary Feng Zhenglin, TAR governor (who is also the director of the TAR Border Defence Committee) Che Dalha, deputy secretaries Ding Yexian and Zhuang Yan and the commander of the Tibet Military District Lt. Gen. Xu Yong attended it. Three other PLA officers were also on the dais. The level of the participants shows the importance of these three new airports for Beijing, particularly after the post-Doklam reset of bilateral relations with India. One has to understand Chinese President Xi Jinpings plans for Tibet. The core leader had declared: Govern the nation by governing the borders; govern the borders by first stabilising Tibet; ensure social harmony and stability in Tibet and strengthen the development of border regions. For a few months, the authorities in Tibet have started implementing the boss theory while the partys propagandawing is doing its best to entice the local Tibetan population to side with it. This serious development is unfortunately largely being ignored in India. A new formula is mentioned in every speech of the local satraps the inhabitants of Chinas borders (with India) should be the protectors of the sacred homeland and the builders of happy homes. It has taken a concrete shape with the mushrooming of new model villages and towns on the Tibetan side of the Indian border, mainly north of Arunachal Pradesh, officially linked with poverty alleviation and the defence of the borders. The development of Chinas borders with India is indeed going on in full swing; the construction of three new airports has to be seen in this context. Several senior Communist leaders have visited the new villages, either north of Kibithu in the Lohit valley; in Metok, north of Upper Siang district; in Yume (also written Yumai), north of Takshing in Upper Subansari or in Lepo, Marmang and Tsona, north of Khenzimane and Tawang. The Lhuntse airport will serve the Tsona and Yume areas. Mr Wu recently gave an interview to the Peoples Daily on the happenings in the border areas; he spoke of the significance of implementing the new strategy of rejuvenating villages under the banner of the protectors of sacred homeland and the builders of happy homes. The new scheme started soon after the conclusion of the 19th party congress, when Mr Xi sent a reply to two young Tibetan herders who had written to him introducing their village, Yume. According to Xinhua, Mr Xi encouraged a herding family in Lhuntse County to set down roots in the border area, safeguard Chinese territory and develop their hometown. He acknowledged the familys efforts to safeguard Chinas territory, and thanked them for the loyalty and contributions they have made in the border area. Without the peace in the territory, there will be no peaceful lives for the millions of families, he wrote. The two Tibetan girls, Choekar and Yangzom, had told the CCP secretary-general about their experiences in safeguarding the border area and the development of their township over the years. The girls village, Yume, is located in Lhuntse county, not far from the remote Indian village of Takshing, which incidentally got its first motorable road earlier this month. Mr Xi further hoped that the girls family could motivate more herders to set down roots in the border area like kalsang flowers, blooming in hard conditions. China is ready to invest 110 million yuan in the Yume Well-Off Rural Construction Project. To start with, 56 sets of light-steel prefabricated residential houses are being built, linked by two new municipal roads, a central park and six squares. Electricity and water have already reached the border village. The rationale of the these post-Doklam measures is to consolidate the border and to promote the deep integration of the military and the people. Tourism and cultural industries remain the pillars of the scheme; it is supposed to help the population to get rid of poverty through participation in tourism while promoting ethnic exchanges with Han tourists. Yume is the model for the entire scheme. Another pet project of Mr Xi is the Military-Civilian Integration (or Fusion); this too applies to the border. Consider Zhayul County located north of Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh in the Lohit valley. According to China Tibet News, the villages of the county have started implementing the double-support model city, which translates into full military and civilian integration. India should not fall back into a Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai mood, even if a reset of bilateral relations is necessary. New Delhi should realise that Beijing is working hard to prepare itself for a new Doklam if such an eventuality arises anywhere along the 4,000-km-long border. It is definitely not the time for complacency. IRVINE, Calif., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sperry Commercial Global Affiliates today announced that JD Johnson Realtya commercial brokerage based in Madison, Mississippihas joined as the first Mississippi affiliate to help with the companys expansion in the Jackson metro area. Led by owner and managing broker Jon-David Johnson, JD Johnson Realty specializes primarily in investment and industrial properties. We were initially attracted to Sperry Commercial because of its platform and the quality people within the company, said Jon-David Johnson. Being affiliated with a national organization thats respected allows us to expand our network and attract national buyers into our market. We look forward to working with Sperrya brand thats known, trusted, and has a global network of commercial broker affiliates, Johnson added. Jon-David Johnson began his commercial real estate career in 2006 and formed JD Johnson Realty in 2010. Throughout his career, Jon-David has had experience as a broker and investor in industrial properties, self-storage, office buildings, retail, commercial development land, multi-family properties, mobile home communities, and 1031 exchange transactions. He is an active member of the Mississippi Commercial Association of Realtors, the National and Central Mississippi Association of Realtors, and the Agriculture, Commercial, and Industrial Association of Mississippi. Jon-David is a licensed broker and will be receiving his CCIM certification in the near future. Jon-David is a wonderful addition to our team, said Rich Enderlin, Chief Operating Officer at Sperry Commercial Global Affiliates. His commitment to excellence and integrity has served him well in the real estate industry, and his passion is evident in every aspect of his work. We look forward to having his extensive knowledge of commercial real estate as we expand into Mississippi. About Sperry Commercial Global Affiliates, LLC: Sperry Commercial Global Affiliates, LLC offers the highest level of commercial real estate services available through thoughtful, cooperative, and ethical practices. The firm is headquartered in Irvine, CA, and combines more than 200 sales professionals and 32 affiliate operations across 34 offices throughout the United States. Unique to Sperry Commercial Global Affiliates, LLC are a system of tools for affiliates that include a comprehensive real estate intranet and transaction management platform named Sperry CENTRAL and a custom designed marketing support software system called SperryLINK, among other immediate industry advantages. For more information, visit www.sperrycga.com. Contact Sherri Walkenhorst (801) 373-7888 Sherriw@connectmarketing.com Gazprom's appeal of Stockholm arbitration award may take 3 years Naftogaz The official noted that if the appeal is successful, the re-arbitration will take another 4 years, the results, which can also be appealed, making the process endless. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter It is now important for parliament to quickly approve the supplementary law submitted by the President to formally establish the court, according to Lagarde. Ukraine's new law on the Hign Anti-Corruption Court is an important step forward in the fight against graft, according to Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). I am very encouraged by the adoption of the law on the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) by the Ukrainian parliament, which is an important step forward in the authorities fight against corruption," Christine Lagarde said in a statement released late Tuesday, following her telephone conversation on June 18 with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Read alsoNBU expects to get next IMF tranche in 2018 We agreed that it is now important for parliament to quickly approve the supplementary law submitted by the President to formally establish the court, as well as the necessary amendments to restore the requirement that the HACC will adjudicate all cases under its jurisdiction, including all appeals of relevant first instance court decisions, as it was in the draft law approved in the first reading," the statement reads. We also agreed to work closely together, including with the government, toward the timely implementation of this and other actions, notably related to gas prices and the budget, that are critical to allow the completion of the pending review under Ukraines IMF-supported program, Lagarde said. As UNIAN reported earlier, on June 7, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft law No. 7440 on the High Anti-Corruption Court. It was supported by 315 MPs. On June 11, the president signed the law. Shortly after the vote, a dangerous loophole was spotted in the law on the anti-corruption court. In particular, the appeals in NABU cases, which are now being heard in the first instance courts, will be considered by ordinary appellate courts instead of the Anti-Corruption Court. According to the Anti-Corruption Action Center, the provision emerged in the text of the amendments, handed over to the Rada's profile committee members just one hour before the final voting. In order to establish the court one more draft law needs to be passed that has already been submitted by the president for Paliament vote. For the actual launch of the court, according to the Constitution, the president has to submit to parliament a short draft law with just one article "The High Anti-Corruption Court is established and based in Kyiv." UNIAN memo. In March 2015, the IMF approved a four-year EEF loan program for Ukraine under which $17.5 billion will be disbursed. Under the program, Ukraine has received only four disbursements from the Fund to the tune of $8.7 billion due to the slow implementation of the agreed reforms. The program is expiring in March 2019. However, the National Bank of Ukraine and the Finance Ministry expect to receive $1.9 billion from the IMF in 2018. The key requirements of the IMF to continue cooperation include passing a law on setting up an independent anti-corruption court consistent with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, as well as bringing gas prices to import parity and providing a mechanism for their automatic regulation, with a change in the price conjuncture. Kazakhstan exported to Ukraine 8,000 tonnes of liquefied gas in January-May 2017. The supplies of Kazakhstans liquefied gas to Ukraine increased by 11.5 times and amounted to almost 87,700 tonnes in January-May 2018, UPECO consulting company said in a message June 19. Ukraine imported 8,000 tonnes of Kazakh gas in January-May 2017, according to Trend.az. "Almost 87,700 tonnes of Kazakhstans LPG (including re-export through Belarus) was supplied to Ukraine in January-May 2018 compared to 8,000 tonnes in the same period of 2017, the message said. Read alsoLPG output down in Ukraine, import boost seen in Q1 2018 expert In the reporting period, about 17% of supplies in Ukrainian imports accounted for Kazakhstans gas. The main exporter of Kazakhstans LPG to Ukraine is Tengizchevroil. The company exports propane and butane fractions directly in accordance with long-term and spot contracts. Mukachevo-Budapest EU-type railway may emerge by end of summer According to Kravtsov, a new train can arrive to the Hungarian capital in six hours. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Ukraine, Israel agree upon readiness of free trade deal Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu is set to pay a visit to Ukraine. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Ukraine's Finance Ministry borrows almost UAH 1.5 bln, over US$305 mln on domestic market The hryvnia equivalent of the raised funds at the NBU rate amounted to UAH 9.491 billion. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Following the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan, and later China to brief them on the way forward with North Korea. At a press briefing in Seoul with the foreign ministers of both South Korea and Japan, Secretary Pompeo praised the cooperation of the two U.S. allies as key to creating the opportunity for the summit in Singapore, which he said, marked a turning point in the U.S.-North Korea relationship, when Kim Jong-un made a public commitment to completely denuclearize. Secretary Pompeo emphasized that this will be a process, and not an easy one. He stressed that during it, the United States will stay closely aligned with South Korea and Japan, and reiterated the ironclad nature of the U.S.-South Korea alliance and U.S.-Japan alliance. He also underscored that sanctions relief cannot take place until such time as we have demonstrated that North Korea has been completely denuclearized. At a press conference in Beijing following a meeting with Chinas foreign minister, Secretary of State Pompeo thanked China and President Xi Jinping for also helping bring North Korea to the negotiating table and for continued support as we work to achieve the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea. Mr. Pompeo pointed out that China has reaffirmed its commitment to maintain sanctions on North Korea mandated by U.N. Security Council resolutions. Those [resolutions] have mechanisms for relief contained in them, and we agreed that at the appropriate time that those would be considered, he noted. But we have made very clear that the sanctions and the economic relief that North Korea will receive will only happen after the full denuclearization, the complete denuclearization, of North Korea. Secretary of State Pompeo said he is heartened that South Korea, Japan and China all acknowledged what occurred at the U.S.-North Korea summit: that we have turned a corner; that we have begun a process away from the threat of war and towards peace on the peninsula. English Danish Bagsvrd, Denmark, 20 June 2018 - Novo Nordisk today announced the successful completion and headline results of the phase 3a trials PIONEER 4 comparing oral semaglutide as a treatment for adults with type 2 diabetes to Victoza (1.8 mg liraglutide) and placebo, and PIONEER 7 comparing oral semaglutide as a treatment for adults with type 2 diabetes to sitagliptin 100 mg. Oral semaglutide is a new GLP-1 analogue taken once daily as a tablet. Two distinct statistical approaches to evaluate the effects of oral semaglutide were applied in the PIONEER 4 and 7 trials; a primary statistical approach required by recent regulatory guidance, evaluating the effect regardless of discontinuation of treatment and use of rescue medication, and a secondary statistical approach describing the effect while on treatment and without use of rescue medication. PIONEER 4 PIONEER 4 was a 52-week double-blinded, double-dummy trial investigating the efficacy and safety of 14 mg oral semaglutide compared with Victoza 1.8 mg and placebo in 711 people with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on metformin, with or without an SGLT-2 inhibitor. PIONEER 4 achieved its primary objective according to the primary statistical approach by demonstrating a non-inferior reduction in HbA 1c and statistically significant and superior weight loss at 26 weeks with oral semaglutide compared to Victoza. Furthermore, oral semaglutide provided statistically significant and superior reductions in HbA 1c and weight compared to placebo. When applying the secondary statistical approach for week 26 and week 52, respectively, people treated with oral semaglutide experienced a reduction in HbA 1c of 1.3% and 1.2% compared to 1.1% and 0.9% with Victoza whereas placebo declined by 0.1% and increased by 0.2%. Reductions in HbA 1c were statistically significantly greater with oral semaglutide compared to both Victoza and placebo. Reduction in body weight from baseline was statistically significantly greater with oral semaglutide at 4.7 and 5.0 kg at 26 and 52 weeks, respectively, compared to 3.2 and 3.1 kg with Victoza, and 0.7 and 1.2 kg with placebo. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) treatment target of HbA 1c below 7.0% was achieved by 69% of people treated with oral semaglutide, 63% of people treated with Victoza and 18% of people treated with placebo after 52 weeks; the difference between oral semaglutide and placebo was statistical significant. In the trial, oral semaglutide was well-tolerated and with a profile consistent with GLP-1-based therapy. The most common adverse event for oral semaglutide was mild to moderate nausea which diminished over time. In PIONEER 4, 20% of people treated with oral semaglutide experienced nausea, compared to 18% of people treated with Victoza and 4% of people treated with placebo. The proportion of people who discontinued treatment due to adverse events was 11% for people treated with oral semaglutide compared to 9% for people treated with Victoza and 4% for people receiving placebo. PIONEER 7 PIONEER 7 was a 52-week open-label trial investigating the efficacy and safety of oral semaglutide with dose adjustment based on clinical evaluation of glycaemic control and drug tolerability compared with the DPP-IV inhibitor 100 mg sitagliptin in 504 people with type 2 diabetes, inadequately controlled on 1-2 oral antidiabetics. The trial achieved its primary objective according to the primary statistical principle by demonstrating that oral semaglutide was statistically significant and superior to sitagliptin 100 mg in the proportion of people achieving the American Diabetes Association (ADA) treatment target of HbA 1c below 7% at week 52. Oral semaglutide also demonstrated statistically significant and superior reductions in body weight versus sitagliptin. When applying the secondary statistical approach, people treated with oral semaglutide experienced a statistically significant reduction in HbA 1c of 1.4% compared to 0.7% with sitagliptin at week 52. From a baseline HbA 1c of 8.3%, 63% of people treated with oral semaglutide achieved the target HbA 1c below 7% after 52 weeks of treatment compared to 28% of people treated with sitagliptin, and the difference was statistically significant. The reduction in body weight of 2.9 kg with oral semaglutide was statistically significantly greater at week 52 compared to 0.8 kg with sitagliptin. After 52 weeks of treatment, approximately 9% of the people receiving oral semaglutide treatment were receiving 3 mg oral semaglutide, while approximately 31% and 60% were receiving 7 mg and 14 mg oral semaglutide, respectively. In the trial, oral semaglutide was well-tolerated and with a profile consistent with GLP-1-based therapy. The most common adverse event for oral semaglutide was mild to moderate nausea, which diminished over time. In PIONEER 7, 21% of people treated with oral semaglutide experienced nausea, compared to 2% of people treated with sitagliptin. The proportion of people who discontinued treatment due to adverse events was 9% for people treated with oral semaglutide compared to 3% for people treated with sitagliptin. "With the significant one-year results in a real-world dose setting, oral semaglutide was superior to sitagliptin by documenting a greater proportion of people achieving the ADA target," said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice president and chief science officer of Novo Nordisk. "At the same time, we have shown that oral semaglutide is even more efficacious in lowering glucose and body weight than the most widely used injectable GLP-1 treatment, Victoza". About PIONEER 4, PIONEER 7 and the PIONEER clinical trial programme PIONEER 4 was a 52-week, randomised, double-blinded, double-dummy, active- and placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multicentre, multinational trial with three arms comparing the efficacy and safety of 14 mg oral semaglutide compared to Victoza and vs placebo in people with type 2 diabetes, inadequately controlled on metformin with or without a sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor. PIONEER 4 randomised 711 people in a 2:2:1 manner to receive either 14 mg oral semaglutide, Victoza 1.8 mg, or placebo once daily. The primary endpoint was change from baseline to week 26 in HbA 1c . Key secondary endpoints included change in HbA 1c and body weight from baseline to week 52. PIONEER 7 was a 52-week, randomised, open-label, active-controlled, parallel-group, multicentre, multinational trial with two arms comparing the efficacy and safety of oral semaglutide using a flexible dose adjustment (3, 7 or 14 mg) based on clinical evaluation (glycaemic target and tolerability) of their response to treatment compared with sitagliptin in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus, inadequately controlled on 1-2 oral antidiabetics. PIONEER 7 enrolled 504 people randomised 1:1 to receive either oral semaglutide or 100 mg sitagliptin once daily. The primary endpoint was HbA 1c below 7% as per the ADA treatment target at week 52. Key secondary endpoints included change in HbA 1c and body weight from baseline to week 52. Novo Nordisk plans to report the PIONEER 3 trial comparing 3, 7 and 14 mg oral semaglutide with 100 mg sitagliptin before the end of second quarter of 2018. The PIONEER phase 3a clinical development programme for oral semaglutide is a global development programme with enrolment of 8,845 people with type 2 diabetes across 10 clinical trials, which are all expected to complete in 2018. Further information Media: Katrine Sperling +45 3079 6718 krsp@novonordisk.com Ken Inchausti (US) +1 609 786 8316 kiau@novonordisk.com Investors: Peter Hugreffe Ankersen +45 3075 9085 phak@novonordisk.com Anders Mikkelsen +45 3079 4461 armk@novonordisk.com Christina Kjr +45 3079 3009 cnje@novonordisk.com Company announcement No 51 / 2018 TORONTO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gods Lake Resources Inc. (the Corporation) (CSE:GLR) is pleased to announce that the Corporation intends to proceed with a change of business, as such term is defined in policy 8 (Policy 8) of the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the CSE), from an exploration stage mining company to an investment company (the Change of Business). Pursuant to Policy 8, the proposed Change of Business will be subject to the approval of the shareholders of the Corporation, which approval will be sought at a special meeting of shareholders of the Corporation (the Special Meeting) to be held on a future date. Further details regarding the proposed Change of Business will be included in the information circular to be delivered to shareholders in connection with the Special Meeting. The Corporation has requested a trading halt pursuant to section 1.5 of Policy 8. The trading halt is expected to continue until the documentation required under sections 1.6 and 1.7 of Policy 8 has been accepted and posted. For additional information please contact: Edward Merchand, CFO (416) 364-8788 Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information contained or referred to in this press release includes, but may not be limited to, the completion and expected timing of the proposed Change of Business and the holding, and timing, of the Special Meeting. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, risks related to the Corporations inability to meet the listing requirements of the CSE, the Corporations inability to raise the necessary funds to proceed with the proposed Change of Business and the Corporations inability to receive the approval of its shareholders in respect of the proposed Change of Business and any matters ancillary to the proposed Change of Business. The forward-looking information in this press release reflects the current expectations, assumptions and/or beliefs of the Corporation based on information currently available to the Corporation. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this press release, the Corporation has made assumptions about: the proposed Change of Business, the economy and the investment industry in general, the Corporations ability to obtain the funds necessary to meet the capital requirements of the proposed Change of Business and the listing requirements of the CSE, the Corporations ability to meet the other listing requirements of the CSE, the Corporations ability to implement the proposed Change of Business and the Corporations ability to obtain the approval of its shareholders for the proposed Change of Business and any matters ancillary to the proposed Change of Business. Although the Corporation believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such information due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Corporation disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Neither the CSE nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. When you are making plans to travel to another foreign country, you have to take into account many things. Starting from whether you will be allowed to enter the country to where you will be staying a If you are coming from a country which does not have a lot of free movement in foreign countries, then you will most likely need a visa. This is the case for many non-EU nationals who want to enter the EU or Schengen zone countries. These people will need a Schengen visa to enter any of the participating countries. But getting a visa is a long process and you as an applicant will need many documents and steps to get it. One of the most important things you have to prove though is that you will not stay illegally in any of the Schengen zone countries. Because of this, having an invitation letter for the Schengen visa is extremely beneficial and will help your application a lot. Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin has agreed with Israeli leaders on the readiness of the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Israel, the press service of the Ukrainian ministry has said. "During the meeting, the sides discussed and agreed upon many topics of mutual interest, particularly in the area of trade and investment, agriculture and water management, energy and communications, standardization and tourism. A Protocol of the 11th Meeting of the Commission was signed as a result of the negotiations," a message reads. It is noted that the 11th meeting of Joint Ukrainian-Israeli Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation took place in Jerusalem under the co-chairmanship of Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and Minister for Environment, Minister for Jerusalem and Heritage of the State of Israel Zeev Elkin. Klimkin also had a meeting with the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, where the subject of the creation of the Autocephalous Orthodox Ukrainian Church was discussed. Naftogaz Ukrainy has served Gazprom with an order to freeze assets in England and Wales that was issued by the Commercial Court in London on June 18, 2018 to enforce the Stockholm arbitration award, whereby Gazprom owes Naftogaz $2.6 billion, Naftogaz said in a press release on Wednesday. The court has scheduled a hearing on the order for July 6, 2018. In the meantime, Gazprom is obligated to maintain assets in England and Wales equal to the value of the transit award, Naftogaz said. "In addition to freezing assets, it requires Gazprom to provide Naftogaz with a list of all assets with a value greater than $50,000 located in England or Wales," the company said. Naftogaz has also notified the London offices of 17 banks doing business with Gazprom that they may not facilitate any reduction in Gazprom's assets in England and Wales. Banks that fail to comply could be penalized, it said. "The English court ruling was made in full knowledge of a temporary decision made on June 13, 2018 by the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm to suspend the enforcement of the transit award," it said. On June 17, 2018, Naftogaz filed a pleading in the Stockholm court requesting that the court reverse its decision. In its request, Naftogaz submitted evidence refuting Gazprom's allegations that the award had not been drafted in a proper manner. "Naftogaz is confident that the Stockholm court will rescind its suspension decision in light of our submission. Despite media reports to the contrary, the Swedish court ruling does not suspend the award itself, it only suspends enforcement in Sweden," Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev is quoted in the press release as saying. It is up to the courts of each individual country to determine, under its own national laws, whether the Swedish ruling suspends the enforcement of the award in such country, he said. "The Transit Award remains valid, and interest continues to accrue and we will seek enforcement in jurisdictions where enforcement is an option," he said. Gazprom reported on Tuesday it was aware that Naftogaz Ukrainy is undertaking actions in the UK on the enforced recovery under the arbitration ruling. "These actions are being taken counter to the order of the Svea Court of Appeal suspending execution of the ruling," Gazprom said in a statement. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree on the introduction of Pavlo Zhebrivsky as a member of the commission for external control to conduct an independent assessment of the effectiveness of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the presidential press service has reported. "To include Pavlo Zhebrivsky in the external audit commission for conducting an independent evaluation (audit) on the effectiveness of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine," the presidential decree says posted on the website of the Ukrainian head of state on Tuesday evening. As noted, this decree entered into force after its promulgation. Russian-occupation forces have violated the ceasefire regime 26 times, including three times with the use of heavy weapons banned by the Minsk agreements, with three Ukrainian servicemen recorded as wounded in action (WIA), the press center of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) HQ has reported. "The enemy has violated the ceasefire regime 26 times, including three times with the use of heavy weapons," the JFO HQ said on Facebook page on Wednesday morning. In the Horlivka sector, militants never ceased attempts to weaken the defensive lines of Ukraine's Armed Forces in the vicinity of the Artemove settlement. In the Donetsk sector, outside Avdiyivka and Pisky, the invaders opened provocative fire from small arms. The situation in the Mariupol sector remains tense in the areas of Starohnativka, Chermalyk, Talakivka, and Vodiane. "JFO units adequately responded to the enemy fire from artillery, mortars, infantry fighting vehicles and small arms, not allowing the enemy to improve their tactical position," the JFO HQ said. According to an intelligence report, three invaders were wounded as well. "Overnight Wednesday, the intensity of hostilities decreased. The fighting prevailed with the use of small arms. As of 7:00 on Wednesday, no casualties were reported," it says. The Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova has asked head of the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Russia, Belarus and Moldova Magne Barth to make visits to several Ukrainian political prisoners and to assist her in organizing such trips. "Since yesterday I have been trying to meet with the leaders of the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Russia, Belarus and Moldova Magne Barth. Today, his assistant reported that he (quoting) "has a very tight schedule and he cannot meet." On the question if he can meet tomorrow, there was a reply that there is not a single gap in his schedule," Denisova wrote on her Facebook page on Wednesday. In view of the current situation, she sent an official letter to Barth with a request to visit Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Volodymyr Balukh, Stanyslav Klykh and Oleksandr Shumkov. "I asked him to carry out visits to penitentiary institutions, where they serve their sentences in order to check their state of health, as well as facilitate the organization of my visits to the above-mentioned citizens of Ukraine," explained Denisova. She attached a photocopy of the letter to her message. Defense lawyers of Ukrainian parliamentarian Nadiia Savchenko, who is under arrest in the detention facility of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv, have sent a motion to Shevchenkivsky district court of Kyiv to change a preventive measure for her. "The motion was submitted to the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv to change the measure of restraint (in accordance with Article 201 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine), filed by the defense attorney of the suspect Savchenko. The court session on the consideration of this motion is scheduled for June 22 at 13:00," the district court's press service said on its Facebook page on Wednesday. As reported, on March 22, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada granted the prosecutor general's recommendation and gave its consent to prosecute, detain, and arrest Savchenko. The same day, law enforcement officials notified Savchenko that she was being treated as a suspect at parliament, after which they escorted her to the offices of the SBU branch for Kyiv and Kyiv region. The recommendation that Savchenko be deprived of parliamentary immunity from prosecution was made as part of criminal proceedings opened on counts of preparations for change or dismantling of the constitutional system or for the seizure of power by a group of individuals acting in concert, preparations for assassinating a statesperson or a public figure by a group of individuals acting in concert, preparations for a terrorist attack by a group of people acting in concert, the establishment of a terrorist group, and the illegal handling of weapons, ammunition, or explosives by a group of people acting in concert. Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court ruled on March 23 to place Savchenko under arrest pending trial for 59 days, until May 20. Kyiv's Appeals Court upheld the ruling. On April 17, the procedure for conducting forensic psychological examination of Savchenko using a polygraph was completed. On May 15, Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court extended the measure of restraint in the form of detention for Savchenko until July 13. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov points out the need to create a strategic deterrent weapon in Ukraine. "We face a very serious challenge. Before Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, and this is not a close prospect, we are forced to rely solely on ourselves. What can stop an aggressive nuclear country from a large-scale invasion? Only modern, powerful deterrence weapons. Whether our partners like it or not, but we must work on such a strategic level weapon, a weapon that can effectively hit the enemy at any distance," Turchynov said in an exclusive interview with the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency. According to him, there is "no pacifism, which was at the end of the last century, and probably there will not be." "The Budapest Memorandum, which gave us nuclear disarmament guarantees in exchange for security, it is not worth the paper on which it was written," Turchynov stressed. In his opinion, no one has "either moral or legal right" to prevent Ukraine from implementing such an initiative. "This is my position," the NSDC secretary added. The erection of a bridge across the Kerch Strait into occupied Crimea has created a number of serious security threats to Ukraine, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov has said. "Thanks to the bridge, it is now possible to quickly deploy significant Russian ground forces to Crimea, which can launch offensive operations in the south of Ukraine," Turchynov said in an exclusive interview with Kyiv's Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Turchynov said Russia has militarized Crimea since annexing the peninsula in 2014. "It created the powerful 22nd Army Corps, built up forces of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and deployed missile systems, which can strike at our rear position. Anti-aircraft S-400 can strike any aerial target in the central part of Ukraine. All this is a serious threat for us," Turchynov said. Recent mounting Russian security threats include the Azov Sea flotilla, which has been reinforced with additional ships, Russian border troops, as well as Russian Navy ships deployed to the Caspian Sea. "Now, to conduct military operations in the Sea of Azov, they can use a significant number of landing ships, as well as ships of the Buyan-M class, which have cruise missiles in service," he said. Turchynov said increasing the airborne capabilities of the Russian Armed Forces in the Sea of Azov will allow the transfer of forces and assets of the armies of the Southern Military District to the Ukrainian coast, which are now threatening Ukraine from the east. "As a result, we have the most powerful military infrastructure along the Ukrainian-Russian border and in addition to the threat from the east, we have a significant threat from the south, while Russia's Western Military District hovers over Ukraine from the North," Turchynov said. Turchynov said the Kerch Strait Bridge allows Russia to exercise illegal control over the vessels that cross the Kerch Strait and block Ukrainian ports in the Azov Sea at any time. "Ukraine has the opportunity to delay the Russian ships whose actions violate our laws ... But if we act appropriately under international law, Russia, as always, is grossly violating the norms of international law, conducting illegal searches of ships going to the Ukrainian ports. It is actually a continuation of a hybrid war in the economic sense, a demonstration of readiness to carry out the blockade of our ports on the Azov Sea," Turchynov said. According to Turchynov, Ukrainian authorities can redirect traffic flows from ports on the coast of the Azov Sea, but that would complicate logistics and make exports from Mariupol metallurgical plants more expensive, thus reducing their competitiveness. "The difficulty is that right after the conflict over the island of Tuzla in late 2003, Ukraine, under the pressure from Russia, signed an agreement according to which the Sea of Azov is defined as the internal sea of two states, and this status does not allow clearly fixing the maritime boundary line and provides an opportunity for intensification of Russian provocations," he said. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the law on the transplantation of organs and other human anatomical materials (No. 2386a-1) adopted by the Verkhovna Rada. According to the official website of the Ukrainian parliament, the law was returned with a signature from the president on June 19. As reported, on May 17, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada approved bill No. 2386a on introducing amendments to some legislative acts concerning the transplantation of organs and other human anatomical materials, which foresees a presumption of disagreement - removal of the organ for transplantation after death is possible only if the donor has given written consent. According to Olha Bohomolets, the head of the parliamentary committee on healthcare, any person who had previously given his or her consent to the collection of organs can at any time reject this in the event of a change in his or her decision. Every adult able-bodied person can also identify his or her authorized person, who will make a respective decision to remove anatomical materials after death. If a person did not express his or her will regarding consent or disagreement with organ transplantation and did not identify an authorized person, then permission for organ removal after death is requested from the spouse or close relatives of the deceased. In the absence of such people a transplant coordinator asks permission from the person who has committed to bury the deceased. The unified state information transplantation system for the collection, registration and accumulation of relevant information, as well as for an objective and unbiased distribution of human anatomical materials and identification of donors and recipients, should be created before October 1, 2018. It is also planned to create a central executive body that will implement the policy in the field of providing medical assistance with organ transplantation and performing activities related to organ transplantation. According to the text of the bill prepared for voting, organ transplantation is used exclusively in cases when it is impossible to save life or restore health by other methods of treatment, which is established by a team of doctors. The removal of anatomical materials from the deceased persons is prohibited if they were orphans, children deprived of parental care, and persons recognized as disabled. In addition, people who were not identified, or those who died as a result of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) and during other military operations related to national security of the country, cannot act as cadaver donors. The list of persons who cannot be living donors includes those serving prison terms, foreigners and stateless persons illegally staying in Ukraine, people with severe mental disorders, patients with serious illnesses (which can be transmitted to the recipient or harm his health), pregnant women, as well as those who have previously provided the organ or part of it for transplantation. The law enters into force on January 1, 2019, with the exception of the fourth paragraph of section 7, which prescribes the measures to be taken by the Cabinet of Ministers before the law comes into force. Since 2019, the current law on transplantation of organs and other human anatomical materials will lose its force. As reported, draft law No. 2386a-1 was adopted at first reading on April 21, 2016. In September 2017, the Health Ministry supported this bill, which was drafted by the parliamentary committee on health care, and also announced plans in 2018 to begin a pilot project for organ transplantation from an unrelated cadaver donor, for which the draft state budget foresees UAH 112 million. ACHESON, Alberta, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- North American Construction Group Ltd. (NACG or the Company) (TSX:NOA.TO) (NYSE:NOA) today announced the successful negotiation of a second term contract related to the recently notified extension to a key Master Services Agreement, with a major oil sands customer. The work-scope involves mine reclamation services and has duration of three years, commencing with this winter season. The value of this incremental backlog is expected to be around $160 million. Martin Ferron, Chairman and CEO, stated: It appears to becoming a trend that customers are willing to consider term contracts to lock in heavy equipment availability in a tightening marketplace. This much improves our work visibility and provides us with a more positive operating environment in which to make capital allocation decisions. About the Company North American Construction Group Ltd. (www.nacg.ca) is the premier provider of heavy construction and mining services in Canada. For more than 60 years, NACG has provided services to large oil, natural gas and resource companies. The Company maintains one of the largest equipment fleets in the region. For further information, please contact: David Brunetta, CPA, CMA Director; Investor Relations North American Construction Group Ltd. Phone: (780) 969-5574 Email: dbrunetta@nacg.ca If Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland is ready to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to free Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov convicted in Russia and other Ukrainians held there, he must immediately do so and seek their release for humanitarian reasons, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko, who represents Ukraine in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, has said. "The hostages must be released immediately. This is the duty of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to demand that the president of Russia, a member state of the Council of Europe, observe international humanitarian law and free all illegally held Ukrainians. We are waiting for Jagland's official address to Putin demanding the release of hostages and political prisoners, including Oleh and all others in Russian prisons and in occupied areas," Gerashchenko wrote on her Facebook page on Wednesday. At the same time, she did not exclude that Jagland could link the issue of the release of political prisoners to his promise to return Russia to PACE without the fulfillment by Russia of PACE resolutions on the implementation of the Minsk agreements and de-occupation of Crimea and Donbas. "I emphasize that the immediate release of hostages is just one of the requirements for the Russian Federation and just one of the points of the Minsk agreements, which also refers to the ceasefire, the withdrawal of foreign weapons and equipment, etc.," Gerashchenko wrote. Earlier on Wednesday, Jagland told reporters that Sentsov should be released on humanitarian grounds. "I believe that Mr. Sentsov should be released on humanitarian grounds," Jagland told journalists in Moscow on Wednesday after meeting with Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova. "If there is a need for a request for pardoning him I would gladly do it on the basis of the European Convention of Human Rights," he said. A nonpartisan nonprofit has accused Iran of attempting to disconnect peoples access to independent information online. The report by the New York-based Center For Human Rights In Iran says the filtering of the Telegram messaging service in Iran shows that President Hassan Rouhanis position against blocking the popular app has had no impact. Rouhani has repeatedly stressed his opposition to the filtering of Telegram. Condemning a legal verdict that banned the app used by more than 40 million people inside Iran, Rouhani tweeted, The government is neither responsible for the recent blocking of the Telegram nor approves the decision. The disruption to millions of peoples daily lives in Iran caused by the Iranian judiciarys blocking of the popular Telegram messaging app on May 1, 2018, is costing jobs and income and fueling discontent in Iran at a time when unrest and grievances against the state are already at a high point, CHRI said in its new 40-page report on the messaging app in Iran. The states faceoff with more than 40 million users of Telegram in Iran, regardless of the discontent created by the move, shows the Iranian leaders deep fear of the free flow of information and their reckless pursuit of censorship at any cost, said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRIs executive director. According to the report, The ban is unprecedented in its scope and impact, as Iranians use Telegram for everything from personal communications to health care, education, and business. By 2018, it had become the principal means by which Iranians access the Internet. The report examines the ban in the context of the states massive, decade-long investment in the countrys national Internet infrastructure, which has been designed to restrict Iranians to a digital world controlled and censored by the authorities. Furthermore, the report reveals the strong state consensus behind this goal, despite public statements by the Rouhani administration. It also discusses the full implications of the ban for Iranians digital rights and their social and economic rights. The Telegram ban is a huge step toward curbing peoples online freedom, Ghaemi said. The international community should speak out forcefully in defense of Iranians Internet freedom and basic rights. CHRI says the report, titled Closing of the Gates: Implications of Irans Ban on the Telegram Messaging App is based on in-depth CHRI research conducted over the past five years on digital access and privacy issues in Iran and detailed interviews conducted in April-May shortly after the ban was implemented. The interviewees include tech experts, journalists, businesspeople, rights activists, factory workers, students, bankers, state employees, and artists, all within Iran. CHRI listed its key findings, including, The ban blocks the principal way Iranians access the Internet, in an attempt to cut them off from any information or communication not controlled and censored by the state. In another key point, the report maintains that Rouhani is losing ground. The ban demonstrates the growing political irrelevance of President Rouhani, who publicly opposed the ban but took no effective action against it, it noted. Nevertheless, the report notes that many Iranians are still fighting the ban through using circumvention tools, while those who do not have the resources or know-how for these tools will lose access. The report emphasized, Rouhanis Information and Communications Technology Ministry has tried to block access to the circumvention tools needed by Iranians to continue using Telegram, calling into question the presidents professed opposition to the ban. CHRIs report also highlights the fact that those switching to domestic messaging apps will be using platforms that only deliver state-approved content and allow state surveillance of personal accounts. Former chief of the joint staff of Iranian armed forces, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi says he has returned a 10 thousand square meter villa he had occupied for 25 years. Earlier, in what appeared to be a new round of infighting among Iranian conservatives, an ultraconservative student group had called on Firouzabadi on June 17 to return the expropriated villa, but Firouzabadi claimed on June 19 that the villa was given to him by the Islamic Republics Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be used by him for top secret business of the armed forces joint staff. In an open letter to Tehrans prosecutor, an ultraconservative student group, called Justice Seeking Students Movement (JSSM), said Khamenei has twice ordered the evacuation of the villa, but it is still occupied by the retired IRGC Major General Firouzabadi. Firouzabadi denied receiving any evacuation order. However, the student group told Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) that a court order has been issued ordering Firouzabadi to evacuate the villa, but he refused to do so and the police refused to carry out the evacuation order. Police Chief Hassan Rahimi told reporters the police have not received any court order about the villa. The JSSM was formed in early 2002, as a group supporting the anti-corruption statements of ayatollah Khamenei. As such, the group maintained regular presence in state sponsored meetings and gatherings. However, over time it somewhat gravitated toward former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supported him in his two election bids. While official news agency IRNA reported the value of the villa as 100 billion tuman (around $22 million based on official rate), Firouzabadi told reporters that the villa is between 70 to 100 years old and has only four rooms in desperate need of refurbishment. The villa located in Lavasan, north of the capital, Tehran, was expropriated after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and let for free to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Major General Firouzabadi in 1993. Social media users have said the villa belonged to Princess Ashraf, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavis sister. Officially however, the villa belongs to one of the financial institutions under the aegis of Khameneis office. Firouzabadi is one of the Iranian officials listed in the EU sanctions for violating human rights. EU sanctions were imposed after IRGC violently cracked down on Iranian protesters following the disputed presidential elections in 2009. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has publicly opposed joining a global anti-money laundering convention on Wednesday, June 20. Referring to recent debates in country's parliament on joining the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crimes (UNTOC) and accepting mandated reforms, Khamenei told lawmakers Wednesday: "It is not necessary to join conventions whose depths we are unaware of." Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said the parliament should instead prepare its own bills against money laundering and terrorism, accusing the convention of merely cooked up by big powers to secure their interests. President Hassan Rouhanis government had introduced four bills to pave the way for Iran to join the international convention, as a way to ease financial pressures on the country. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a G7 initiative to combat money laundering and financing terrorism, has placed Iran beside North Korea for nearly two decades at the top of the list of countries with the highest economic and financial risks. This has brought tough banking restrictions on Iran, which can be eased if the country joins the UN convention and accepts other reforms demanded by FATF. Earlier, Ali Larijani, the speaker of Irans parliament had announced that the supreme leader has no position on the proposed bills. Deputy speaker, Ali Motahari had also said that all issues regarding the bills have been resolved with the office of the supreme leader. But earlier last week the parliament suspended debate for two months out of fear that acceding to the international conventions could thwart helping Iran's allies abroad, including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas. Both are considered terrorist organizations by the United States. Last week, several members of parliament complained that they had received threatening anonymous messages not the support the proposed legislation. The ultra-conservative Friday Prayer leader of Mashad, ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda publicly called the supporters of the bill traitors and indirectly threatened assassination. With reporting by AP A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator has expressed doubt whether the Iran nuclear agreement can survive, saying that what European powers have offered Iran so far is insufficient. ISNA reports that Ali Akbar Salehi, vice president and chief of Irans nuclear energy agency made these remarks in his meeting with the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, on June 19 in Norway. Following the May withdrawal of the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran has been asking the three main European signatories of the accords to resist American sanctions and provide Iran with guarantees of continued economic benefit. Tehran argues that it made many concessions by signing the JCPOA and so far, it has not seen the anticipated economic windfall. President Hassan Rouhani and other Iranian officials have threatened to leave JCPOA if impending U.S. sanctions cripple business, banking and trade relations with Europe. Germany, Great Britain and France, as signatories, have tried to assure the Islamic Republic that they are doing their utmost to help keep the agreement in force. Salehi told Guterres that what Europe has offered so far does not meet Irans expectations and he doubts JCPOA will survive. He expressed disappointment with the economic benefits of the deal for Iran since 2015 and demanded the full support of the remaining signatories to defy the U.S. sanctions. President Donald Trumps administration has given European and other companies six months to wind down their deals with Iran, before renewed U.S. sanction kick in. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Officials in a Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels for control of a crucial port in Yemen on Tuesday displayed weapons captured on the battlefield that they say show Iran is arming the insurgents. Iran long has denied arming the rebels, known as Houthis, despite reports by the United Nations, Western countries and outside groups linking it to the rebels' arsenal. Weapons shown to reporters in Abu Dhabi and later at an Emirati military base on a government-sponsored tour included drones, a sniper rifle, roadside bombs disguised as rocks and even a "drone boat," which had been filled with explosives that failed to detonate. The officials showed Iranian-labeled components inside of equipment they said was used to produce and load fuel for the rockets the rebels have fired across the border at Saudi Arabia. They also displayed images allegedly showing Iranian officials building components for the "drone boat." The officials said such weapons threaten both coalition forces and civilians. "Unsurprisingly, there are advanced military components in the Houthi militia's hands," Talal al-Teneiji, an Emirati Foreign Affairs Ministry official, told The Associated Press. "We took time to inspect and disassemble these to figure out the source ... and we can say that these elements are military-grade materials imported from Iran to the Houthi militias." Iran's mission to the United Nations later said it had no comment on the specifics of the Saudi-led coalition's allegations "other than reiterating that Iran has not sent and does not send armaments to Yemen." The rare show-and-tell by the Saudi-led coalition comes as the United Arab Emirates leads Yemeni forces in an offensive seeking to capture the Red Sea port city of Hodeida. Their campaign has been criticized by aid groups, which fear a protracted fight could force a shutdown of the port and potentially tip millions into starvation. Some 70 percent of Yemen's food enters via the port, as well as the bulk of humanitarian aid and fuel supplies. Around two-thirds of the country's population of 27 million relies on aid and 8.4 million are already at risk of starving. The Houthi-controlled port has remained open, as the main battle Tuesday was around the city's airport, to the south. Some of the weapons shown have previously been described by U.N. weapons experts and an independent group called Conflict Armament Research, which gained access to the materiel through the UAE's elite Presidential Guard. Among them were roadside bombs disguised as rocks that the research group has said bear similarities to others used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and by other Iran-backed fighters in Iraq and Bahrain, suggesting at the least an Iranian influence in their manufacture. Already, the Saudi-led coalition has disarmed between 20,000 to 30,000 land mines and bombs, most laid indiscriminately by the Houthis, al-Teneiji said. Other weapons on display Tuesday included a .50-caliber sniper rifle and mines. Officials also displayed a series of drones they said showed a growing sophistication by the insurgents, starting first with plastic foam models that could be built by hobby kit to one captured in April that closely resembled an Iranian-made drone. Those advanced drones have been flown into the radar arrays of Saudi Arabia's Patriot missile batteries, according to Conflict Armament Research, disabling them and allowing the Houthis to fire ballistic missiles into the kingdom unchallenged. Iran has been accused by the U.S. and the U.N. of supplying ballistic missile technology to the Houthis, something Tehran denies. At a military base, the officials showed what they described as "dual-use" equipment that they believe was used to fuel Badr rockets, gear which they seized from smugglers in Yemen's central Marib governorate. Inside one piece of equipment a component bore the name of Shokouh Electric, an Iranian firm. Another piece of the equipment bore the Farsi name and address of Mashal Kaveh, another Iranian company. The Saudi-led coalition officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. The AP could not immediately reach the Iranian companies for comment, but Iran has mocked previous show-and-tell events by Saudi and American officials. The officials also shared black-and-white images they said came from the "drone boat" that failed to explode. They said the pictures and associated data from the boat's computer showed Iranians building components for the boat's guidance system in eastern Tehran, with a hat in the background of one picture bearing the symbol of Iran's hard-line paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. They said those involved in building the boat's components likely believed it would be destroyed in the blast, so they didn't wipe down the computer's hard drive. But perhaps more telling in Yemen's long, complicated war was the fact that the boat itself actually came from the UAE, which had originally given it to Yemeni government forces. The United States said it was withdrawing from the United Nations' Human Rights Council, citing what it said was persistent bias against Israel and a need for reform. U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on June 19 that the council counts among its members what she called "persistent human rights offenders" like China and the Democratic Republic of Congo while failing to condemn others like Venezuela and Cuba. "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. She said the council regularly seeks to pass measures that she called "anti-Israel." U.S. officials have long complained that the council focuses too much on Israel while ignoring rights violations in other countries. Washington has sought to reform the body, but Haley said those efforts did not succeed. Washington refused to join the council when it was first created in 2006 during the presidency of George W. Bush. His successor, Barack Obama, opted to join in 2009. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded the U.S. move as "courageous" while UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein called it "disappointing, if not really surprising." Based on reporting by AP and AFP Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Russia will do its utmost to make constructive contribution to the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said a press conference on June 20. "Firstly, Russia is fully committed to its role as a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, she said. Secondly, Russia will do its utmost to make constructive and effective contribution to the settlement of the existing crisis and the normalization of relations between the two countries. This is our traditional position. This is a very serious issue for us." The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Yerevan should focus on its domestic problems, instead of attempting to distort Azerbaijans admirable image, Peter Tase, US expert on Global Politics and Transatlantic Relations, an adviser to Global Engineering Deans Council and other prestigious International Institutions told Trend June 20. He was commenting on Armenias claims that allegedly, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjrn Jagland has voiced an initiative to cease Azerbaijan's membership in the Council of Europe. The government of Armenia has always been invested and attempted very hard to manipulate the positions of international actors. However in the case of the Council of Europe, it is evident that this body has maintained an unfair position towards Azerbaijan, as a result its reputation in Europe is tarnished. It is well known for its double standard approach. It has shown a constant advocacy for Armenia and its government that is violating human rights every single day, said Tase. The expert said there is no doubt that Armenian government spares no effort in setting up a smoke screen, or as they say in Spanish a 'cortina de humo', in order to detract attention from the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia and prolong the armed conflict as much as possible, while relentlessly embarking and financing terrible propaganda campaigns against Azerbaijan and its people. Yerevan should focus on its domestic problems and ever growing economic crisis, instead of attempting to distort the admirable and attractive image of Azerbaijan on every single region of the world, he concluded. Earlier, the Armenian media quoted Tigran Balayan, spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, as saying that Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjrn Jagland allegedly voiced an initiative to cease Azerbaijan's membership in the Council of Europe. At the same time, Balayan stressed that the process is quite long-term but he did not disclose the process. In his turn, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend June 18 that Jagland always had a pro-Armenian stance and a biased attitude toward Azerbaijan. Hajiyev added that thanks to the spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the public learned about the things which everyone knew about Jagland on the sidelines of the organization. --- Follow the author on Twitter:@Lyaman_Zeyn Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Armenias claims that allegedly Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjrn Jagland has voiced an initiative to cease Azerbaijan's membership in the Council of Europe, is nonsense, Spokesperson of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Daniel Hoeltgen told Trend. This is nonsense, he said. Earlier, the Armenian media quoted Tigran Balayan, spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, as saying that Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjrn Jagland allegedly voiced an initiative to cease Azerbaijan's membership in the Council of Europe. At the same time, Balayan stressed that the process is quite long-term but he did not disclose the process. --- Follow the author on Twitter:@Lyaman_Zeyn NEW YORK, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation (Macquarie or the Company) (NYSE:MIC) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 18-cv-03744, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Macquaries securities between February 22, 2016, and February 21, 2018, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials. If you are a shareholder who purchased Macquaries securities between February 22, 2016, and February 21, 2018, both dates inclusive, you have until June 25, 2018, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. [Click here to join this class action] Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation owns, operates, and invests in a portfolio of infrastructure businesses. The Companys businesses consist of bulk liquid terminals, airport services, gas processing and distribution, and a portfolio of contracted power and energy investments. Macquaries International-Matex Tank Terminals (IMTT) business provides bulk liquid storage and handling services at 12 marine terminals in the United States and Canada, is Macquaries most important business segment. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) IMTTs performance and utilization were at risk of significant decline due to ongoing industrywide changes in the market for heavy residual oils, and in particular, declining demand and pricing for No. 6 fuel oil; (ii) IMTT relied significantly on demand for storage of heavy residual fuel oils, including No. 6 fuel oil; (iii) Macquarie needed to undertake significant capital expenditures to repurpose IMTT storage tanks to accommodate alternative products; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, Macquaries shares traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, and class members suffered significant losses and damages. On February 21, 2018, after the market closed, Macquarie surprised the market by announcing disappointing fourth-quarter earnings of $0.43 per share, well short of analysts estimate of $0.51 per share, and that the Company would be slashing its dividend by 31%. Macquarie blamed its poor performance on the declining use of heavy residual oil products, declining demand and prices for No. 6 fuel oil. On this news, Macquaries share price fell $26.21, or 41.19%, to close at $37.41 on February 22, 2018. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP rswilloughby@pomlaw.com 888-476-6529 Ext. 9980 Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Samir Ali - Trend: Thanks to the successful operation of the Azerbaijani army in Nakhchivan, 11,000 hectares of the territory have been liberated from the Armenian occupation, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov said at a press conference June 20. The minister noted that a very successful operation was carried out in Nakhchivan. "Now the Azerbaijani army also controls the road leading to Lachin. This is our another success," Hasanov said. He stressed that the goal is to prepare the army for real combat. "Today, the Azerbaijani army is able to liberate the occupied territories," the minister said. As a result of successful actions, the village of Gunnut of the Sharur district and the strategic heights of Khunut (2,065 meters), Gyzylgaya (1,683 meters), and Mehridag (1,869 meters), located around the village, came under the control of Azerbaijani units. Also today, Minister of Defense Zakir Hasanov observed the training involving the cadets of the Higher Military School named after Heydar Aliyev. The minister visited a shooting range in a center for training of snipers, where he observed the organization and practical execution of shooting. The minister of defense also watched the training of motorized rifle, tank and artillery units. 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 20 By Ilhama Isabalayeva Trend: Turkey is confident that Karabakh will be liberated from Armenian occupation and Azerbaijanis will return to their native places, the Chief Ombudsman of Turkey, Sheref Malkoc, said on June 20 during his speech at the 15th Baku international conference of ombudsmen on "the Role of national human rights institutions in ensuring and promoting legal equality". Malkoc added that Turkey and Azerbaijan are brotherly countries which are closely connected with each other and said that these close ties will continue in the future as well. He noted that today more than 65 million people in the world cannot return to their homes, and the main reason for this is wars and conflicts. He said currently there are 3.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. Malkoc added that to date, the Turkish state has spent on Syrian refugees up to $30 billion. "The refugees are undergoing free medical examination, and more than a million of them were operated for free in Turkish hospitals," Malkoc said. He noted that, today hundreds of thousands of Syrians are engaged in small business, as citizens of Turkey. 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 20 Trend: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will take part in an informal meeting of the ministers of the Eastern Partnership countries in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on June 21-22, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message June 20. Mammadyarov is expected to deliver a speech and hold meetings during the event. Meetings with participation of foreign ministers and ministers of digital affairs of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine will be held during the event. The regional situation and the prospects for development of the Eastern Partnership as an initiative focused on practical results are planned to be discussed during the meeting of the foreign ministers. The meeting of the ministers for digital affairs will be devoted to the harmonization of the digital markets of the EU and partner countries, cybersecurity and the development of broadband internet. Details added (first version published at 15:54) Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 Trend: As a result of the Armenian occupation, Azerbaijan has become one of the countries with the biggest number of refugees per capita, the head of the press service of Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev said in connection with the June 20 World Refugee Day. "Armenia, in gross violation of international law and the UN Charter, started war against Azerbaijan, occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan, subjecting to ethnic cleansing more than one million Azerbaijanis living in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, as well as in the territory of Armenia. As a result, taking into account the population growth, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan has exceeded 1.2 million people," Hajiyev said. The head of the press service of the Foreign Ministry noted that, over the past 20 years Azerbaijan spent $6 billion to ensure the social welfare of internally displaced persons, and as a result, a significant reduction in poverty and unemployment among internally displaced persons was achieved. "Voluntary, safe and dignified return to their native land is the only choice demanded by the IDPs themselves. The reconstruction of the village of Jojug Marjanli in the occupied Jabrail district and ensuring the safe return of the residents of this village to their native land, has become a manifestation of the strong intention of the government of Azerbaijan, and is a unique and successful project in terms of post-conflict rehabilitation and solution of the problems of internally displaced persons," Hajiyev said. He said that Armenia demonstrates its desire to change the economic, cultural and demographic character of the occupied territories, prevent the return of the Azerbaijani population of Armenia to their homes and to annex the Azerbaijani lands. "The policy pursued by Armenia to resettle Armenian refugees from Syria to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, in flagrant violation of the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Additional Protocol, is a clear example of attempts to use human suffering for illegal purposes," Hajiyev added. Hajiyev also noted that the European Court of Human Rights in the case of "Chiragov and others against Armenia" confirmed the right of return of internally displaced persons to their land and called for respect for human rights related to international humanitarian law and civil rights. "The only solution to the problem of internally displaced persons is to ensure their safe return to their native land. Armenia should withdraw its troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in accordance with the requirements of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and ultimately ensure the return of the displaced Azerbaijani people to their native land and ensure their rights to use their property," Hajiyev said. The head of the press service of the Foreign Ministry noted that, only in this case it is possible to ensure peace and stability in the region. 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 20 Trend: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order regarding measures to construct the Garamaryam-Ismayilli-Shaki (5 km)-Kelband-Girk highway in the Ismayilli region. Under the presidential order, 5,400,000 manats will be allocated to Azerbaijan Highway State Agency for construction and renovation of the road connecting two residential areas with a total population of 1,000 people. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 Trend: Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia Vyacheslav Volodin will visit Azerbaijan on June 24-25, said a message posted on the website of the People's Assembly of the Republic of Dagestan June 20. Moreover, Chairman of the People's Assembly of the Republic of Dagestan Khizri Shikhsaidov will also visit Azerbaijan as part of the Russian delegation. Development of bilateral relations between the countries is expected to be considered during the visit. Russia is one of the main trade partners of Azerbaijan. Therefore, Azerbaijan opened the first trade representative office in Russia. A positive trend is observed in bilateral trade. Trade turnover between the countries increased by 22 percent and reached $2 billion in 2017. Over the five months of 2018, trade turnover increased by 23.5 percent to $919.3 million. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Ilhama Isabalayeva Trend: Azerbaijans constitution is based on human rights and freedoms, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Ghulam Isaczai said. Isaczai made the remarks at the 15th Baku International Conference of Ombudsmen entitled "Role of National Human Rights Institutions in Ensuring and Promoting Legal Equality" in Baku June 20. He added that nine of eight UN documents related to human rights were ratified in Azerbaijan. "Effective cooperation on human rights protection has been established between the UN and Azerbaijan, Isaczai said. A number of events are held in Azerbaijan in connection with refugees and IDPs. He said that Azerbaijan marked the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which granted women the right to vote for the first time in the East. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 Trend: Bakcell, the First Mobile Operator and Leading Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan, has received yet another Socially Devoted certificate. Socialbakers being a well-known company engaged in monitoring social network activities of the large companies all over the world by means of a special analytics platform, has reviewed the Facebook activities of Azerbaijani companies during the first quarter of the year 2018. According to results of this monitoring, the company has responded to 100% of customer inquiries on its official Facebook page in the period from January to March of the current year. It should be noted that last year Bakcell was awarded with four Socially Devoted certificates, based on rate of responses to the customer questions on Facebook social network. What makes this achievement even more admirable is the fact that the official Bakcell page on Facebook has well-over 400 000 followers. Social media are one of the most important communication means of Bakcell, in terms of efficient delivery of information about products and services to the wide customer audience, as well as provision of responses to the customers questions. The company has official pages, functioning in most of the popular social networks. The provision of high quality service and customer satisfaction is one of the priority areas in the overall activities of Bakcell. Thus, the companys customer satisfaction strategy is based on the experience of the worlds leading companies along with the requirements of the local market, where the needs and interests of the all the segments of population are taken into consideration. Bakcell customers are able to contact the company not only by means the 555 Information Center, functioning 24/7, but also by means of the companys official Facebook page, where the record-braking 100% of their inquiries will be responded to. *** About Bakcell Bakcell, the First Mobile Operator and Leading Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan, offers a wide range of products and Services to users of modern mobile communications Services. The company provides its customers with the best-in-class 3G and 4G mobile internet. With more than 6500 base stations, Bakcell network covers 99% of the population and 93% of the land area of the country (except for the occupied territories). After proving itself to provide the best 3G mobile internet service in the country, Bakcell has announced the commercial launch of 4G LTE services on 5th of May 2015. 4G ensures a significant increase of mobile internet speed and is especially useful for those users who wish to stay mobile at all times, having an access to high-speed mobile internet at all locations. Currently, in addition to Baku and Absheron peninsula, residents of Ganja, Quba, Qusar, Khachmaz, Shabran and Siyazan regions are able to benefit from the high-speed 4G internet of Bakcell. In the year 2018, Bakcell continues to expand its LTE network to other regions of Azerbaijan. Bakcell became the first mobile operator in the country to launch 4G service in Baku subway. In the year 2017, Bakcell network has been recognized as the Best in Test in Azerbaijan by P3 Communications, being the international leader and most trusted independent authority in mobile benchmarking. According to tests, implemented in August 2017, Bakcell has the best score overall network experience in Azerbaijan and the best mobile internet network in test in Baku and other big cities. For more information about Bakcell products and services, please visit www.bakcell.com or call 555. For press releases please see www.bakcell.com/az/news (or www.bakcell.com/en/news for press releases in English). If you are not a Bakcell subscriber, but wish to find out about Bakcell and its products and services, please call 012 498 89 89. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Anvar Mammadov - Trend: A new draft law on the promotion of agricultural insurance can be adopted before the end of the year, Executive Director of the Financial Markets Supervision Chamber of Azerbaijan Ibrahim Alyshov said on June 20 during his speech at the conference "Insurance in Azerbaijan: New Prospects". He noted that, the draft law has already been prepared and sent to the government. "The draft law is fully ready and is under consideration. I hope very much that the Parliament of the country will approve the new law before the end of 2018," Alyshov said. At present, the law "on assistance to and development of agriculture in Azerbaijan" in force in Azerbaijan regulates state financing of agricultural insurance premiums. In addition to wheat, the list of crops insured at the expense of the state budget, includes barley, corn, sunflower, potatoes, sugar beet, etc. The average tariff for agricultural insurance in Azerbaijan is about 1,500 manats per year (five percent per hectare), despite the fact that the average profit per hectare of land is about 25,000 manats per year. The Financial Markets Supervision Chamber of Azerbaijan announced that, in 1Q2018, fees on the agricultural insurance market amounted to 1.56 million manats, with payments of 282,900 manats. A large part of the fees and charges in this area fell on the insurance of livestock - 947,700 manats. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 Trend: The United States of America International Development (USAID) agency and a Kyrgyz-Tajik joint-venture Altin Aymak launched a new dried fruits processing plant in the Kara Bak village (Batkensk region of Kyrgyzstan, the Vecherniy Beshkek newspaper reported, referring to the US embassy in Kyrgyzstan. The USAID co-financed the acquisition of new sorting, washing, and sun-drying equipment for the plant. This will allow the business to process apricots, plums, apples, walnuts and other dried fruits. The new equipment meets the food safety regulations and is located near the raw material sources, which, increases the capacity, quality and competitiveness of the business to the point of allowing competition in new markets. Previously, dried fruits were transported to Tajikistan for additional processing, before being exported to Russia, Turkey and other countries. Such partnership will grant Kyrgyzstan advantage to export dried fruits directly," said the embassy. The new factory was launched within the framework of USAID Agro Horizon project, which has worked in four regions of Kyrgyzstan (Batkensk, Jalalabad, Naryn and Osh) for four years with an aim of increasing the income of smaller farmers by increasing the performance and expanding the opportunities of Kyrgyz producers in local and international markets. As expected, the factory will employ 35 people, increasing the welfare of 400 families, the embassy noted. Former Brazilian president: Revolutionary conditions are developing in Brazil by Fernando Henrique Cardoso An image of the Brazilian flag adorns the presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil. (Eraldo Peres/AP) SAO PAULO Brazilians are confronted with a fateful choice in the upcoming general elections, including for the presidency, in October. Either there must be a convergence of democratic leaders capable of bridging the gap between society and politics, rebuilding trust from the bottom up, or Brazil will join other disintegrating democracies, such as Venezuela, which have embraced false prophets and demagogues who persuade the population that the only solution to the crisis lies in the direct relationship of a strongman with the masses. Should the latter be the outcome, representative democracy, freedom and the public interests will all be at risk. Brazils structural challenges Brazil faces a series of structural and short-term problems. The difficulty of a middle-income country in sustaining its level of prosperity is compounded by the fact that the country is industrialized but not yet fully integrated into the global networks of production and commercialization. A great part of Brazils economic dynamism in recent decades came from the deepening and expansion of the internal market. But it still lacks a strong capacity to export manufactured goods. Despite steady growth from the end of World War II to the 1980s, and some sparse favorable periods later on, Brazils GDP growth rate in 2017 was only 1 percent, which pales in comparison with the global rate. The average productivity of the Brazilian economy remains inferior to that of developed economies and even that of some still developing ones. GDP per capita in Brazil was 13 percent of that of the United States in 1990; today it is 15 percent. By contrast, South Korea stood at 27 percent of U.S. levels in 1990, but it is now 48 percent. In Brazil and elsewhere, the radical transformations in the means of communication (Internet and social media) and in the modes of production (automation and artificial intelligence) have profoundly changed society and the way people connect with each other and acquire information. One of the consequences of these tectonic shifts has been the generalized feeling that political institutions the parties, Congress and the whole architecture of representative democracy are no longer capable of responding to the demands of a connected and informed citizenry. Misguided policies and a moral crisis To these structural factors one must add two major hazards. First, the misguided economic policies implemented in the last years of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas government and throughout the mandates of his successor, Dilma Vana Rousseff, have nearly bankrupted the state with fiscally reckless spending. Second, Brazils political and economic systems are facing an appalling moral crisis. Investigations by the judiciary have brought to light a systemic web of corrupt collusion among the government, the political parties and private and public companies. Privilege and patronage replaced competition as the driver of both economic and political life. Prosecutors and magistrates in the so-called Operation Car Wash scandal have revealed that the money used to illegally finance political parties came from overpriced contracts with public corporations, whose directors were nominated by the government to execute exactly this kind of deal. Far from a simple matter of covert campaign funds, what came to light was a system organized to divert public funds for the benefit of companies and parties, and more often than not, also for the pockets of individual politicians. Moral crisis combined with relative economic stagnation unemployment stands at 13 percent today is a deadly mix for any society. Confronted with the indignation of the public, and also with the crossfire of accusations among conflicting political groups, it became impossible to acknowledge that not all corruption cases are alike, that a given political leader did not misuse campaign funds for personal benefit, that another may have committed a crime but his party had not and so forth. To the eyes of an incensed public, all politicians looked like a bunch of crooks guilty of thievery. Both the political class and the government have lost credibility and legitimacy. No revolution has occurred in Brazil. Yet we are witnessing the revolutionary conditions in which avengers are gearing up to cut off the heads of the high and the mighty and are cheered by the populace. If history is any guide, the endgame tends to be the arrival of a providential leader, the charismatic savior or strongman who comes to put an end to anarchy in the land. These are the risks hovering over the forthcoming elections. With Lula ineligible due to being jailed on corruption charges, the different segments of the left, bereft of their natural leader, feel electorally insecure. The right is calling for the restoration of order at any cost, including the curtailment of democratic freedoms. A far-right former military officer, Jair Bolsonaro, accused of racially charged language against Brazils Afro-Brazilian and indigenous communities, is currently leading in the polls. A fragmented body politic that distrusts institutions The remaining political sensibilities are fragmented, unable to coalesce around the disconnected parts of the political center, really only an amalgam of some with an archaic vision and others more liberal or vaguely social-democratic who value the institutions of democracy and know that inequality is the main threat. The wide array of political groups is organized in no less than 26 political parties with representation in Congress, the majority of which hardly deserve to be called parties. They are rather conglomerates of individuals whose only objective is to loot the booty of the state. Understandably skeptical, the body politic at this stage does not know whether it is worthwhile to vote at all. In this, Brazil is no exception. Our society, like others, has been splintered by the very advances of modernity: improved social mobility, the advent of the information age and the rise of race and gender identity politics. All have broken the cohesiveness of the old class divisions and of the parties and ideologies that represented them in an earlier era. A dim prospect Is there no way out? I am convinced that in situations like this, a common vision of the future is the only message that can unite society. Social demands are linked to peoples basic needs: the search for jobs, the fight against inequality, and the complaints about the inability of the state to efficiently provide security, housing, transportation, health and, above all, education. In times of crisis, political leaders must translate a common set of values the spirit of freedom, equality of opportunity and the respect for human dignity into concrete ideas and proposals that touch peoples hearts and minds. They must address themselves to persons who are no longer part of an amorphous mass. Each voter has access to information, is aware of his or her rights and wants the government to take care of his or her needs. This re-enchantment of public life has to go hand in hand with the effort to control public finances and promote productive investment, without which there is no employment creation. Everyone who values democracy and freedom knows what has to be done. Yet, as elsewhere, the old mainstream is out of step with the new realities, and new political alliances have not yet found a cogent voice in common with the whole of the people. The risk of regression coexists with the perspective of renewal. Brazilian society, driven by social and economic transformations and by new values, is on the move. This process of change is not as visible as the current political polarizations. In many fields, the pace of change in society is faster than in institutions. There is, thus, reason for hope if we find the political will to transform our institutions in sync with public aspirations. Fernando Henrique Cardoso was the president of Brazil from 1995 to 2002. He is a member of the Berggruen Institutes 21st Century Council. This was produced by The WorldPost, a partnership of the Berggruen Institute and The Washington Post. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan agreed on increasing the number of bilateral flights, the Civil Aviation Committee of the Ministry of Investment and Development of Kazakhstan said in a message. The relevant agreement was concluded by Chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee of the Ministry of Investment and Development of Kazakhstan Talgat Lustaev and Deputy Head of the Uzbek State Inspectorate for Supervision over Safety of Operations Oleg Lim. "The agreement aims to increase the number of flights on the existing Astana-Tashkent route from 4 to 6 flights a week and on the Almaty-Tashkent route from 7 to 10 flights a week. In total, the designated airlines of the two countries are now able to carry out 32 bilateral flights a week," the ministry said. The airlines of the two countries are also expected to sign a commercial "Codeshare" agreement on mutually beneficial terms. The sides also agreed that the already achieved results will contribute to the development of tourism, economic and trade ties, as well as, to reaching a new level of cooperation between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in the aviation sphere. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Ali_Mustafayev Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Ilkin Shafiyev Trend: Azerbaijan and Vietnam have great potential for the development of cooperation, which should be fully used, Parviz Shahbazov, Azerbaijani energy minister, co-chairman of the Azerbaijani-Vietnamese intergovernmental commission for economic, trade, scientific and technical cooperation, said. Shahbazov made the remarks at the second meeting of the intergovernmental commission in Baku June 20. He said that Azerbaijan and Vietnam intend to expand bilateral relations in various fields. In his turn, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh stressed that Vietnam and Azerbaijan have the potential to develop cooperation in many fields. During the meeting it was stressed that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Vietnam amounted to $101 million in 2017; the export of Azerbaijani goods to Vietnam amounted to $55 million, while export of Vietnamese goods to Azerbaijan totaled $46 million. The ministers also discussed the possibilities of cooperation in such areas as the application of new technologies in the oil and gas sector, the rational use of energy and the use of renewable energy sources. According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Vietnam amounted to $15.86 million in January-April 2018. Around $630,000 accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products to Vietnam. The trade turnover between the two countries increased by 65.2 percent for the year. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @IlkinShafiyev Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Ilkin Shafiyev Trend: Azerbaijan and Vietnam have signed the protocol of the second meeting of the joint Intergovernmental Commission on economic, trade, scientific and technical cooperation in Baku on June 20. The document covers cooperation in a number of areas, including trade, investment, energy, agriculture, transport, communications, and high technologies. The protocol was signed by the Commission's co-chairs - Azerbaijan's Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov and Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam Tran Tuan Anh. According to the data of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the trade turnover with Vietnam in January-April 2018 amounted to $15.86 million. The export of Azerbaijani products to Vietnam amounted to about $630,000. During the year, the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 65.2 percent. Details added (first version posted on 13:48) Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Ilkin Shafiyev Trend: Azerbaijan and Vietnam have great potential for the development of cooperation, which should be fully used, Parviz Shahbazov, Azerbaijani energy minister, co-chairman of the Azerbaijani-Vietnamese intergovernmental commission for economic, trade, scientific and technical cooperation, said. Shahbazov made the remarks at the second meeting of the intergovernmental commission in Baku June 20. He said that Azerbaijan and Vietnam intend to expand bilateral relations in various fields. In his turn, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh stressed that Vietnam and Azerbaijan have the potential to develop cooperation in many fields. During the meeting it was stressed that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Vietnam amounted to $101 million in 2017; the export of Azerbaijani goods to Vietnam amounted to $55 million, while export of Vietnamese goods to Azerbaijan totaled $46 million. The ministers also discussed the possibilities of cooperation in such areas as the application of new technologies in the oil and gas sector, the rational use of energy and the use of renewable energy sources. According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Vietnam amounted to $15.86 million in January-April 2018. Around $630,000 accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products to Vietnam. The trade turnover between the two countries increased by 65.2 percent for the year. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @IlkinShafiyev Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Ilkin Shafiyev - Trend: Vietnam hopes to increase trade with Azerbaijan, as well as volume of bilateral investments, Minister of Industry and Trade of the country Tran Tuan Anh told reporters June 20. "During the meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission in Baku, we discussed the development of cooperation in a number of areas of mutual interest. This includes both energy and other areas, such as processing industry, IT technologies, education, and transport. In particular, we agreed to accelerate cooperation in the sphere of maritime transport. I am sure that the development of our relations will accelerate in the near future. In particular, it is necessary to increase the trade turnover, as well as to increase the volume of mutual investments, which today is $300 million. This indicator is not bad, but there is a potential to increase it," he said. Azerbaijan and Vietnam have signed the protocol of the second meeting of the joint Intergovernmental Commission on economic, trade, scientific and technical cooperation in Baku on June 20. The document covers cooperation in a number of areas, including trade, investment, energy, agriculture, transport, communications, and high technologies. According to the data of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the trade turnover with Vietnam in January-April 2018 amounted to $15.86 million. The export of Azerbaijani products to Vietnam amounted to about $630,000. During the year, the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 65.2 percent. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @IlkinShafiyev Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Fikret Dolukhanov Trend: Exemption from transportation fee of empty wagons returning from the Baku International Sea Trade Port to Uzbekistan could positively affect the expansion of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, Babur Rakhimov, marketing manager of the Uzbek-Chinese company Ekoklimat , told Trend June 20. The company began to export Uzbek products to Azerbaijan in 2017, where, despite the tough competition, it finds a buyer, he added. "However, big transportation fees affect the tangible increase in trade turnover between our countries, Rakhimov said. Due to the existing requirement in the Baku port to collect fees not only for the carriage of full wagons, but also for empty wagons [for their return to the ports of Turkmenbashi or Aktau], our goods are shipped by vehicles bypassing the Caspian Sea, which affects the cost of Uzbek products in the Azerbaijani market. He added that Ekoklimat shipped nearly five trucks to Azerbaijan in 2017, while it would be much more convenient to transport goods from Uzbekistan through ports. "However, such issues are not resolved at the level of individual companies, Rakhimov said. Appropriate intergovernmental and interministerial negotiations should be carried out to grant certain benefits." Charging for empty train cars is a common international practice, because regardless of congestion, vessels use port's infrastructure, territory, its communal and other services. At the same time, tariffs of the Baku International Sea Trade Port are among the most competitive across the Caspian Sea states. "The current level of trade and economic relations is not satisfactory, Azerbaijans Ambassador to Uzbekistan Huseyn Guliyev said in an exclusive interview with Trend earlier. In 2017, trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $31.2 million, of which $26.2 million accounted for exports of Uzbekistans goods and only $4.9 million accounted for imports, he said. To expand cooperation, both sides should intensify efforts to fully use the existing potential." The Uzbek-Chinese joint venture Ekoklimat was established in April 2015. Its plant was put into operation in the Jizzakh free economic zone in September 2016 to produce high-tech heat and sound insulation fiberglass in accordance with the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan, which became the first plant producing such products in Central Asia and the Caucasus. The company's products are produced under the Ecover brand name. Ekoklimat's customers are such companies as Enter Engineering, Hyundai Engineering, Trust 12, etc. The company's products were used during the construction of the Novo-Angren thermal power plant and the LT Textile International joint venture. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will bring significant benefits to its host, transit and destination countries, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic told Trend. "I trust that the construction of the TAP, a European section of the Southern Gas Corridor, will continue to progress also thanks to the continuous support of the three national governments involved, so that Caspian gas reaches the EU by 2020," said the European Commissions vice-president. Sefcovic went on to add that TAP will bring significant benefits to its host, transit and destination countries, including their local communities in terms of investment, jobs as well as lower energy prices for consumers and transitioning to low-carbon economies. 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). --- Follow the author on Twitter:@Lyaman_Zeyn Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 20 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline is of great importance as it will greatly increase Turkmenistan's export capacity. This is stated in the greeting message of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to the participants of the international conference "Partnership for Financing Development in the Heart of the Great Silk Road" in Ashgabat June 20. "Moreover, TAPI will contribute to strengthening energy security and economic stability and will become a powerful basis for achievement of sustainable development goals of the entire region." The co-organizers of the event are the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan. Construction of the Turkmen section of TAPI was launched in December 2015 and the Afghan section in February 2018. Turkmen gas via TAPI may reach Pakistan in 2019, Muhammetmyrat Amanov, chief executive officer of TAPI Pipeline Company Ltd. Consortium, said in May at the International Gas Congress in Avaza. The total length of the pipeline, with a capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year, will be 1,840 kilometers. TAPI will export gas from the Galkynysh field in Turkmenistan, the second biggest field in the world. Interview with student who left 7,500 rivals behind What can you tell about yourself? My name is Emiliya Mammadova. I am Petroleum Engineering student of Baku Higher Oil School and I will graduate from BHOS this summer. Currently I am working as LEAD program engineer in Azerbaijan branch of Baker Hughes, one of the worlds largest oil field services companies. How does it feel to be the BHOS graduate? When I was looking for a higher educational institution, education in English language, high quality of education and dual diploma program were the main reasons for choosing BHOS. Now I do realize that these five years were not only about study, as the Higher School became my family. Of course, I received good education, but I also gained very important communication skills and understanding of importance of a teamwork. Moreover, I also learned a lot about rules and procedures. The Higher School is well known for strict rules and regulations applied here. To be frank, initially I did not like them, but then I realized their importance. Now, when we start working for large companies, we do not face any problems when we have to follow their policies and procedures, as we are well accustomed to them! That is why I am saying that I feel proud of being the BHOS graduate. How it happened that you left 7.500 other candidates behind and became an employee of Baker Hughes? Baker Hughes has developed a LEAD program aimed at the training of future leaders and managers. I learned about this initiative from social networks and sent my application immediately. There were five stages of online tests, including psychological and logical tests. Then I had two interviews, after which I passed to the semi-final stage. It was a very difficult contest and the competition was very strong. The good news was that I was selected for the final stage. I can hardly describe my feelings, but I was very happy. The final competition was held in Russia, in Tyumen city. There were participants from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia, and many of them were professional engineers. The final lasted about 24 hours, and I was very tired. However, my efforts were not in vain. I received a job offer to join the company as a leading specialist! Whom would you thank for contribution towards your success? First of all, I would like to thank my mother, who is the most important person in my life. She always supports me, and my success including high score at the entrance exams shall be shared with her. Of course, I am very grateful to all my teachers, both at the secondary school and at BHOS. Each of them greatly contributed to my education and personal growth. As I said, study at the Higher School goes beyond education, as it is a school of life. My special thanks go to the rector Elmar Gasimov. I see him not just the BHOS rector. For me, he is a head of our big Higher Schools family. In your view, what does success depend on? Is it just sheer luck or something else? Luckiness is important, but not all the time. I never rely on the fortune only. People shall build their future themselves and rely on their own strength. To achieve your goals, you need to have knowledge, experience, communications skills, and understanding of international standards. You also shall be an ambitious and a goal-oriented person. Are you going to continue your education? Currently, my focus is primarily on my professional career. I may continue my education through distant learning system. What are your plans for the future? As said, my new job is most important for me at the moment. I need to enhance my professional knowledge and further develop my practical skills to be successful in my career. I also want to honorably represent our country and our Higher School wherever I may be living and working. What advice would you offer to prospective students? I would recommend them to consider the conditions and opportunities offered by BHOS. You need to envision your future and your place in the future. You also need to define your objectives. I am confident that the Baku Higher Oil School can provide everything students may need. I wish them every success, but let me repeat that they shall not rely on their luck only. You need to work hard to succeed! Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Ilkin Shafiyev Trend: The easing of the policy of reduction of oil production may be discussed at the 9th meeting of the OPEC/Non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov said June 20. "We must take into account that the situation in this area has changed. World oil reserves are declining, we must take this into account. With this in mind, we can assume that, the consultations on the easing of production reduction policy will be held at the meeting," Shahbazov said. Recently, a very fruitful cooperation has developed in the framework of the OPEC+ format, he added. "As a result of this cooperation, oil prices have stabilized at the international level. The results are evident. We will participate directly in the negotiations. The results achieved during the meeting, will be thoroughly analyzed," Shahbazov said. Parviz Shahbazov will be in Vienna on June 21-23 at the invitation of OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo, where he will participate in the 7th international OPEC conference on "Oil-cooperation for a sustainable future". Shahbazov is expected to participate in the 9th meeting of the OPEC/Non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In December 2016, eleven non-OPEC countries (including Azerbaijan) at the meeting of oil producers in Vienna agreed to reduce production by a total of 558,000 barrels per day. The agreement was concluded for the first half of 2017 and was extended at the meeting on May 25, 2017 until the end of 1Q2018. At the last OPEC meeting in Vienna, the agreement was again extended until the end of 2018. Azerbaijan has joined this decision. Anna Sorokinbetter known as alleged socialite scam artist Anna Sorokinwas in court on Tuesday for a hearing about a possible plea deal, which she hoped would significantly reduce her potential jail time in exchange for a guilty plea. For nearly five years Sorokin had been living the high-life, enjoying accommodations in luxury hotel suites, flying around the world for fashion shows and parties, and allegedly presenting herself as a German heiress who wanted to create a huge gallery spaceuntil she was arrested in October 2017 on numerous counts of fraud. Prosecutors say she allegedly scammed banks, investors, and a friend out of nearly $275,000 to fund her fantasy life. The NY Post reports that Justice Diane Kiesel "ripped" into the 27-year-old on Tuesday, saying, "I see no remorse... She seems more concerned about who is going to play her in the movie than what shes done to the people she allegedly took advantage of." Judge Kiesel seemed to be referring to news that in addition to Shonda Rhimes writing a Netflix series about her (based on a New York magazine article by Jessica Pressler), Sorokin is also personally invested in a film version based on a Vanity Fair article from one of her friends-turned-victims, Rachel Deloache Williams. Neff Davis, the hotel concierge that Sorokin befriended at the luxury hotel 11 Howard in Soho, spoke to Paper magazine about Sorokin and the silver screen adaptation: How does Anna feel about the film project? Oh, Anna's aware. She's like, Okay, as long as Jennifer Lawrence or Margot Robbie play me. And I'm like everyone wants Lindsay Lohan to play you and she's like, "Oh my god, no offense, but isn't she like 30? My hair's not even red anymore, did you tell them that?" She really, really wants Margot Robbie. She just watched I, Tonya in Rikers and thinks Margot is badass. I'm sure Margot Robbie would kill it. So that's where her concern is. Her feelings are high and she lets none of the negativity bother her. She said she's going to do what she has to do, and then she'll get out. I feel like we're like Thelma and Louise... I'm going to help tell the story correctly, and I'm going to be a film director someday, and you know what you can add to this article? That it was fate. How so? Anna had a plan. She always told me she'd be the reason my first movie got made, whether she paid for it, or otherwise. And in the weirdest turn of events that I could've never expected, that's exactly what happened. I became a part of it when I started hanging out with her. Nothing felt amiss, we were usually just having dinner. Rich people have dinners, that's what they do. So, to me, everything she was doing felt legit. She was a white girl and I just judged her off the way she looked and acted. I just didn't know that millionaire bankers were fooled. How stupid are those guys? You're fooled by a girl who [says she's German but] is from Russia and can't even speak German. And she had an AOL email from a "family accountant." But you know, that's America. That's America. Prosecutors recommended a plea deal with a possible sentence of 3-9 years in prison, while Sorokin's defense attorney asked for 1-3 years, which Judge Kiesel called "a mere slap on the wrist for a crime this serious." Sorokin ultimately rejected a plea deal with a higher prison sentence and the case will now go to trial. Sorokin is still being held at Rikers Island, with her trial set for September 18. Jezebel's Prachi Gupta was at the hearing and marveled, "Though Sorokin ostensibly has no money to her name, the lithe and petite white woman played the part of an heiress because she, to other rich white men and women, looked the part of an heiress. While countless men and women, disproportionately black and brown, file through a broken and racist justice system, Sorokin manages to float above them, admiring her inmates as part of a 'sociological experiment' and wondering which famous actress will play her in a movie." Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Ali Mustafayev Trend: Kazakhstans Onisgroup plans to start exporting oil products to Azerbaijan by the end of summer 2018, Director General of Onisgroup Chingis Nugumarov told Trend. "Presently, trading companies of Onisgroup process nearly 15,000 tons of oil per year, producing petroleum products for Kazakhstans domestic market. However, in the coming months we plan to start export of oil products to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan," Nugumarov said. He added that Onisgroup also considers Iran, China and Vietnam as alternative routes for trading and transshipping oil and oil products of Kazakhstan. The priority of commercial activity of Onisgroup is the export of hydrocarbons produced at its own production facilities. The enterprises of Onisgroup have already exported oil products to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Afghanistan and Mongolia. The group of companies also produces and supplies LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) to Europe, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Onisgroup also manages sea, railway and automobile transport and logistics hubs, as well as participates in infrastructure projects on oil field services in Kazakhstan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Ali_Mustafayev Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Ilkin Shafiyev Trend: Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR intends to close its representative office in Estonia due to growing expenses, according to Estonias Aripaev financial newspaper. The office was opened in October 2017 and specialized in rendering IT, accounting and other related services. Turnover of SOCAR Trading Services Tallinn amounted to 100,000 euros in the first quarter of 2018. SOCAR closed its office in Canadas Calgary in 2017. SOCAR includes such production unions as Azneft (enterprises producing oil and gas onshore and offshore), Azerikimya (the chemical enterprises) and Azerigas (distributor of gas produced in the country), as well as oil and gas processing plants, service companies and the facilities involved in geophysical and drilling operations. Currently, SOCAR is the sole producer of oil products in Azerbaijan, as well as it operates more than 370 gas filling stations in Switzerland, Georgia, Romania and Ukraine. SOCAR is also a co-owner of Turkey's biggest petrochemical complex Petkim and other assets in Turkey. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @IlkinShafiyev Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20, 2018 Trend: Kazakh Company "Expo Food" has made the shipment of the first batch of packed cereals worth more than 4.3 million tenge for sale in the hypermarkets network of "Essen Production AG" in Russia's Tatarstan, the press service of "Kazakh Export" reports on June 19. "While the exact scope of supply is not determined, the company will each time negotiate the volume of deliveries", "Kazakh Export" noted. "Kazakh Export" provided the "Expo Food" company with insurance support in the form of export credit insurance (deferred payment) under the contract concluded with the Russian buyer "Torgpartner" LLC, a member of the "Essen Production AG" Group of Companies. "Food Expo" LLP is a subsidiary of "Green Foods" LLP - a national manufacturer specializing in the production of a wide range of food products under the trademarks of Natura Bogata and "Bud Laska". KazakhExport is engaged in support of the growth of exports of non-raw materials, works and services in the priority sectors of the economy and the formation of the practice of financial, insurance and non-financial assistance to Kazakh enterprises. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 20 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has paid a working visit to Tajikistan, Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary (TDH) state news agency reported. The president will participate in the International High-level Conference on International Decade for Action "Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028" announced by the UN, to be held in Dushanbe. The bilateral meetings are planned to be held during the visit. The forum is designed to continue the dialogue of all interested sides on water issues, promote the expansion and strengthening of partnership in this important area and develop practical recommendations for the achievement of water-related Sustainable Development Goals. Turkmenistan once proposed to open a regional center for technologies in Ashgabat related to climate change in Central Asia and develop the UN Aral Sea Program and the UN Water Strategy. Turkmenistan borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Afghanistan and uses water resources coming in accordance with agreed quotas from four trans-boundary rivers, namely, Amu Darya, Tejen, Atrek and Murgab. Turkmenistan has a problem of the Aral Sea ecology, which is most noticeable in the northern region. In the Dashoguz region there were problems with the provision of drinking water and the fight against salinization of cultivation lands. Peugeot Citroen, Mazda and Hyundai are among the car manufacturers that have already left the country. Meanwhile, some other manufacturers have limited their output, and this has led to a further rise in prices. Tehran, Iran, June 20 By A. Shirazi - Trend: Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian is set to leave Tehran for Dushanbe on Wednesday evening to attend an international water conference in Tajikistan. The energy minister will depart Tehran for the Tajik capital today in the evening to participate in an international conference titled International Decade for Action Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028, the official website of the ministry said on June 20. Before his departure, Ardakanian said Irans energy ministry would seize the opportunity during the two-day event to improve its mutual cooperation with relevant Tajik organizations. The Iranian minister is scheduled to sit down with senior officials in Tajikistan during his stay in the country. The conference is being organized by Tajikistan government in cooperation with the United Nations and its entities, particularly the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs. Tajikistan is planning to hold the meeting bi-annually to facilitate implementation of the water-for-sustainable-development program. Nearly 750 million people do not have access to clean drinking water globally, whereas 2.5 billion lack access to basic sanitation. About 1.3 billion people are deprived of electricity. Annually, water disasters cause $60 billion in economic losses while drought and desertification threaten livelihoods of more than 1.2 billion people across the world. Global climate change and demographic situation will undoubtedly elevate these issues. According to estimates given by experts, worlds population will increase to more than 9 billion by 2050, resulting in a surge in water demand. It is feared that due to the impact of climate change, more than 50% of the worlds population will face water scarcity. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on December 21, 2016 entitled International Decade for Action Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028, sponsored by 177 member states of the world body. Tehran, Iran, June 20 By A. Shirazi - Trend: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh, who has traveled to Vienna to attend the OPEC summit this week, will return to Tehran on June 22, one day before the meeting is scheduled to conclude. According to a statement by Shana news agency, the Iranian oil minister will travel back to Iran from the Austrian city on Friday. The report said the minister's return to Iran one day before the OPEC summit comes to an end has nothing to do with the outcome of the meeting or a proposal to increase oil production thats backed by Saudi Arabia and Russia. The summit will be held in Vienna on June 22-23. The statement came after media reports said that the Iranian minister will leave Vienna earlier than the scheduled time as a sign of protest to Russia. OPEC and its allies could consider a production increase of as much as 1.5 million barrels a day, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday. That would be enough to offset the supply losses from Venezuela and Iran foreseen by the International Energy Agency. Saudi Arabia has been discussing different scenarios that would raise production by between 500,000 and 1 million barrels a day, according to people familiar with the matter. The alliance is also facing pressure from outside. US President Donald Trump has continued to criticize the OPEC on his Twitter account. Worried about the impact of gasoline prices on mid-term elections, the Trump administration is lobbying hard for a surge in production. Before his departure to Vienna on Wednesday, Zangeneh said that current problem in the oil market is the result of "political tension caused by the American president, not supply and demand imbalance". Tehran, Iran, June 20 By A. Shirazi - Trend: The managing director of Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company said the 9th Iran Gas Trunk Line (IGAT 9) can pave the way for the countrys export of natural gas to Europe once completed. IGAT 9 is a 1,900-kilometer prospective pipeline that will stretch from the southern city of Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province through Ahvaz, Dehgolan and eventually Bazargan, Hassan Montazer-Torbati said June 20, IRNA news agency reported. Saying that IGAT 9 will transfer millions of cubic meters of gas per day from South Pars Gas Field in the Persian Gulf to western and northwestern regions, he added that the trunk line will be able to pump gas to Iraq, Turkey and later Europe. The routes toward Turkey and the Black Sea will be the main export routes for Iran to export gas to Europe, Montazer-Torbati further said. Recently, the managing director of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said IGAT 9 has made 70 percent physical progress and will become operational by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21). The trunk line will come on stream at the end of the year after the process of injection of gas into its pipes in Dehgolan is done, Hamidreza Araki said. The gas will be transferred from Dehgolan, Kurdistan Province, to the city of Miandoab in West Azerbaijan Province. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 Trend: Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there is no need for approval of treaties that have problems. Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with MPs in Tehran June 20, the official website of the Iranian leader said. We do not need to approve treaties, which have problems, for their positive aspects, Khamenei said, calling the parliament to pass domestic laws on fight against money laundering and terrorism. Khameneis comments came after the Iranian parliament suspended discussing the bill of "Accession of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism for two months after disputes. Iran needs to pass the bill in order to get off the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklist, but the hardliners in the country are concerned over the certain limitations that the convention would impose on Irans ties with groups such as Lebanons Hezbollah or Palestines Hamas. There is no need to accept things for some of their positive aspects when we do not know where they are leading, and when we do know that they have some flaws, Khamenei said. Major powers define the international conventions in line with their own interests, he said, adding that member states to these conventions have no say in them. If an independent government like the Islamic Republic refuses to sign up, it will come under attack and criticism that 150 countries have already joined, so why dont you?, the Iranian leader added. The FATF-related bill, which was proposed by Irans Ministry of Foreign Affairs and approved by the Cabinet in October 2017, was presented to the Parliament May 20 to take its relevant legislative procedures. But the parliament in a session on June 10, decided to suspend discussing it for two months. Defending the bill in that session, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the countrys membership in the Financial Action Task Force, the policy-making body of the international financial system, would not pose any security threat to the Islamic Republic. Araqchi said that the bill is one of the international instruments to fight against terrorism, adding that terrorism has countless international networks and that without joining international conventions, fighting terrorism and uprooting its financial sources would be impossible. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 Trend: France 24 TV presented a story about the dangers of the mining industry in Armenia under the title "How corruption has harmed the environment in Armenia". The report notes that recent protests in Armenia were caused by corruption, which also affected this industry. The story also describes the damage caused to the nature by the Teghut copper-molybdenum deposit. As villagers complain in an interview with the TV company, they can not use water from the river, as it is infected, despite the fact that the company denies that there have been leaks of dangerous toxins. According to the authors, in neighboring Noyemberyan people believe that they can develop the economy through tourism, not the mining industry. Together with environmental activists, they are fighting against a company that intends to start development near the city. Former congressman, convicted felon, and current Staten Island/Bay Ridge Republican congressional candidate Michael Grimm defended the Trump administration's immigrant child separation policy yesterday, comparing the cries of kids at the border to cries from a daycare. Michael Grimm says if people went to a nursery after a mother leaves her child there they would hear the "same exact things" as kids crying after being separated from their parents at the border. pic.twitter.com/p5FnlFm0fX Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) June 20, 2018 "I think its extremely unfortunate, but what people are forgettingthey just want to listen to those tapes," Grimm told NY1. "You know, I can take you to any nursery and youre going to hear the exact same things as a mother has to leave for work and has to leave her child at daycare. Youre going to hear those exact same things, OK?" "I think when you really look at it, those children havent been that safe in a long time and the conditions they have are much better than where they came from," he added. Anyone not brainwashed by the Fox News machine probably doesn't need Gothamist to point out that it is patently absurd and morally reprehensible for Grimm to make this comparison. Tara Neubrand, a 36-year-old pediatric emergency physician, spoke to BuzzFeed about the debilitating, traumatizing effects of separating migrant children from their parents. She said that the children she has met who were removed from their parents somewhere along the border "clung so tightly, and so completely, to their foster mothers, both in the ED [emergency department] and at home, that they were literally unable to be put down. They didn't explore the world, they were terrified that their world would be broken for a second time. Their trauma, and the direct effect it was having on their development, was obvious." "I'm just trying not to ruin his life. He screams every day for his pappa, and I don't even know where his pappa is," Neubrand said one foster mother tearfully told her. Grimm is challenging SI Rep. Dan Donovan in the upcoming Republican primaryand Donovan is also toeing the party line. "They are horrible images, but the United States has taken good care of those children," the congressman told NY1. "So many of those ten thousand of those children are sent across the border unaccompanied. We've taken care of those children." "Right now, the Trump administration is obeying the law. A child comes across our borders unaccompanied, we take care of that child. The few thousands of children being separated by their families the Trump administration's interpretation of the law is that what they are required to do," he added. A wide range of people and agencies including Mexico's foreign minister, Anthony Scaramucci, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the American Medical Association, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and even Geraldo Rivera have called the policy "inhumane" and asked for it to end. WATCH: "Child internment camps... What country is that?!" Rep. Cummings shouts through tears to Congress. https://t.co/WV2xjD1rR0 pic.twitter.com/lhpaen4t8U CBS News (@CBSNews) June 20, 2018 Vanity Fair reports this outraged reaction is exactly what dead-eyed White House troll Stephen Miller was hoping for: "Stephen actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border, an outside White House adviser said. "Hes a twisted guy, the way he was raised and picked on. Theres always been a way hes gone about this. Hes Waffen-SS." He's apparently not answering his phone today either. Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Luaibi said on Tuesday that Baghdad was not considering an increase in oil production in the framework of the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-OPEC oil output cut deal, Sputnik reported. "We have not considered the increase yet, we will discuss it at the meeting," Luaibi said. The minister pointed out that he had not heard about the Russian initiative to increase the daily oil production by 1.5 million barrels. "I havent heard about it," Luaibi said. On Saturday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia and Saudi Arabia would offer the parties to the oil output cut agreement to raise production in the third quarter of 2018 by 1.5 million barrels per day. However, Iraqi Oil Minister expressed hope that the OPEC and non-OPEC producers will reach an agreement on oil production during Friday's meeting. On June 22, at its regular meeting in Vienna, the OPEC will discuss whether to raise oil production. In 2016, the OPEC countries reached an agreement in Vienna to reduce daily oil production during the first half of 2017 to boost global oil prices. The agreement was also supported by 11 non-OPEC states. In late 2017, OPEC and non-OPEC states, including Russia, agreed to extend the agreement on reduction of oil output until the end of 2018. On Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that marijuana will become legal nationwide starting October 17. Canadas Senate passed the federal governments bill to legalize marijuana nationwide Tuesday, Sputnik reported. Although Trudeau's government had hoped to legalize pot nationwide by July 1, the government announced Tuesday that it will take several weeks for provincial and territorial governments to prepare for retail sales. The bill passed in the Senate by a vote of 52-29, ABC News reported Wednesday. The move will make Canada the second country in the world to legalize cannabis nationwide for medical and recreational use. Medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001. Each Canadian province will publish its own regulations regarding cannabis trade. The new legislation will allow Candian adults to legally possess and use up to 30 grams of dried cannabis in public spaces. In addition, the law will allow Candian adults to grow up to four cannabis plants at home. Uruguay was the first country to legalize marijuana nationwide. Uruguay's House of Representatives and Senate passed a bill legalizing and regulating the production and sale of marijuana in 2013. The law allows the sale of marijuana to registered Uruguayan citizens and permanent residents and allows the growing of cannabis at home. "We have seen in the Senate tonight a historic vote that ends 90 years of prohibition of cannabis in this country, 90 years of needless criminalization, 90 years of a just-say-no approach to drugs that hasn't worked," said Senator Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the upper house, AP reported Wednesday. Following the passing of the bill, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould tweeted that it was a "historic milestone for progressive policy in Canada as we shift our approach to cannabis." Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor tweeted: "We're on the cusp of a sensible, responsible and equitable cannabis policy." However, some Conservative senators still oppose the legislation. "We're going to have all those involved in illegal marijuana peddling right now becoming large corporation," Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos said Wednesday, AP reported. "When you normalize the use of marijuana and you're a young person and you had certain reservations because of the simple fact that it was illegal, there's, I believe, a propensity to have somebody be more inclined to use it." Russia has issued a request to join the consultations between the United States and the European Union in the World Trade Organization (WTO) in an official letter released, TASS reports. The request, dated June 15, says that Russia is willing to join the consultations as a third party, because "the measures at issue are applied to the imports of steel and aluminium products from the Russian Federation." "The application by the United States of the challenged measures has significant detrimental effect on Russia's trade interests," the statement reads. WTO Member governments have direct access to the dispute settlement system either as parties or as third parties. The third party status confers a right to a delegation to attend talks, listen and present its point of view but it is not the party to the dispute as such. If a third party is willing to join the dispute settlement case as a full-fledged member, it should approach the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. The United States introduced new duties for steel and aluminum products amounting to 25% for steel and 10% for aluminum. Russia earlier said it can dispute the US decision in the WTO, notified the Organization about possible retaliation measures in connection with duties and made an offer to the EU to jointly undertake measures for protection of Russian and European business in connection with new tariffs. On April 19, Russia sent a request to the WTO for consultations with the US on steel and aluminum duties set by Washington. In accordance with the procedure in effect in the WTO, if no compensation for Russia by the US is agreed during consultations, Russia can approve responding trade measures. China, the European Union and India also requested consultations in the WTO earlier in view of new US duties on steel and aluminum products. Seoul, Moscow and Pyongyang may implement a number of big trilateral infrastructure and energy projects in case peace is established in the region, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman for TASS, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily and the Rossiya 24 TV channel ahead of his state visit to Moscow. "Russia and South Korea have huge potential as far as economic, humanitarian and cultural exchanges go," Moon Jae-in said. "The potential has not been exhausted yet. We can involve North Korea in cooperation after permanent peace is established in the region," he added. By way of example, the South Korean president mentioned plans to connect the three countries railway networks that would make it possible to deliver goods to Russia and Europe via North Korea. "Once the Trans-Korean Main Line is built, it may be connected to the Trans-Siberian Railway. In this case, it will be possible to deliver goods from South Korea to Europe, which would be economically beneficial not only to South and North Korea but to Russia as well," Moon Jae-in said. He went on to say that building a gas pipeline from Russia to South Korea via North Korea was another possibility. According to Moon Jae-in, this gas pipeline could also be used for exporting Russian gas to Japan. "We can also build a gas pipeline via North Korea, so that not only South Korea will receive Russian gas but we will also be able to deliver it to Japan," the South Korean president noted. He also mentioned the possibility of connecting the three countries electricity grids, which would create opportunities for further cooperation, particularly with Japan. "We can also establish a powerline that would allow us to receive electricity from Russia. It could also be delivered not only to South and North Korea but also to Japan. Moon Jae-in was confident that "implementing these plans may contribute to the economic prosperity of all countries on the Eurasian continent." Seoul and Moscow are preparing agreements on the comprehensive development of economic cooperation that may be sighed during South Korean President Moon Jae-ins visit to Russia. "Our countries have established an intergovernmental commission that considers various economic cooperation issues," he said. "Documents that are being prepared may be signed during my visit to Russia," Moon Jae-in added. According to him, the process involves not only the two countries governments but interested organizations and private companies as well. The South Korean president stressed that in 2017, he had determined priority areas of bilateral economic cooperation. "They include railroads, gas industry, electricity production, the construction of port infrastructure facilities, agriculture, fishery, ship-building and so on," Moon Jae-in said. He emphasized the need to boost cooperation with Russia in the above mentioned areas, adding that in 2017, the South Korean presidential administration had established the Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation, which is responsible for economic interaction with Russia. Moon Jae-in also stressed that in the near future, Seoul and Moscow would need to agree on a specific action plan for boosting cooperation. "As far as I know, the intergovernmental commission is currently working on such a document and I hope that it will be signed before the Fourth Eastern Economic Forum due in September this year," he said. According to the South Korean president, thanks to increasing economic cooperation, bilateral trade grew by 40% in 2017 compared to the previous year, reaching $19 bln. "I believe that it is only the beginning," Moon Jae-in concluded. Russias First Deputy Energy Minister Aleksei Texler expects participants of the OPEC+ deal to define a new goal of the agreement at the meeting on June 23, TASS reports. "The Vienna alliance (OPEC+) is not involved in price regulation. (Previously) there was a certain goal, which has been met recently - to bring (global oil reserves) to a five-year average. Now it is necessary to set a new goal. I am confident that this agreement will be reached on 23th. A new goal of the agreement will be defined," he said on Wednesday. Representatives of OPEC nations will meet on June 22 in Vienna, which will be followed by a meeting of OPEC+ ministers. The main agenda of the meetings is partial withdrawal from the agreement. According to Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Russia proposes to increase the current level of production by 1.5 mln barrels per day during the third quarter and distribute quotas among participating countries on a pro rata basis. Being against the revision of quotas, Iran, Iraq and Venezuela have threatened to veto the decision. Iran assumes that OPEC+ peers simply want to distribute its share among them. Crude production in Venezuela is collapsing due to the countrys economic downturn as output has dropped from 2.3 mln barrels per day in early 2017 to 1.4 barrels as of now. Iraqs free productive capacities are located in a politically unstable region. At the end of 2016, OPEC and 11 independent oil-exporting countries, including Russia, entered into an agreement to reduce oil production. According to the agreement, during the first half of 2017, the participants had to withdraw 1.8 mln barrels per day from the oil market against the level of October 2016. Russia pledged to reduce oil production by 300,000 barrels per day. The purpose of the agreement is to reduce global oil reserves to five-year average levels. On June 22-23, OPEC + participants will meet in Vienna to discuss options for further implementation of the transaction, including mitigation of the existing restrictions. Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkeys State Hydraulic Works (DSI) Agency has announced an open tender for the selection of consultants for the planning of the construction of water reservoirs in Eskisehir province. Local and foreign companies can participate in the tender. The tender procedure will be held at 14:30 (GMT + 3) on July 5, 2018. Applications and proposals from interested parties may be submitted to: Krmztoprak Mahallesi Taskopru Caddesi DSI Sok. No: 2 2 26020 Odunpazar/Eskisehir. For more information, the tender organizers can be contacted via the following e-mail: [email protected] Phone: (+90 222) 226 23 10 , Fax: (+90 222) 226 08 53. The cost of participation in the tender is 100 Turkish liras. The official exchange rate on June 20 is 4.7630 TL/USD. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Iran and Iraq do not participate in military operations against the PKK in northern Iraq, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, Turkish media reported on June 20. Cavusoglu noted that the operations in northern Iraq against the PKK are not directed against the Iraqi sovereignty. He also noted that Turkey has the right to ensure the security of its borders. "PKK is a real threat to the entire region," Cavusoglu said. Earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish Armed Forces launched a new military operation in northern Iraq. He noted that the Turkish Air Force used 20 aircraft and destroyed 14 PKK bases in northern Iraq. "Turkey is resolute in the fight against PKK," Erdogan said. The conflict between Turkey and PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has lasted more than 25 years, claiming more than 40,000 lives. PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by the UN and the EU. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The North of Iraq will be completely cleared of the PKK terrorists, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, Turkish media reported on June 20. Yildirim noted that the PKK is currently the main threat to the security of Turkey and the entire region. "The operation of the Turkish armed forces for the liberation of Northern Iraq from the terrorists of the PKK is going on well," said Yildirim. He noted that, the countries of the region should fight with the PKK. Earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish Armed Forces launched a new military operation in northern Iraq. He noted that the Turkish Air Force used 20 aircraft and destroyed 14 PKK bases in northern Iraq. "Turkey is resolute in the fight against the PKK," Erdogan said. Earlier it was reported that in the framework of the operation against the terrorist PKK organization in Northern Iraq, the Turkish military moved deep into Iraqi territory by 73 kilometers. Earlier, the Spokesman and Deputy Chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party of Turkey Mahir Unal said that the Turkish authorities have repeatedly stated that, a military operation against the PKK militants in the North of Iraq may be started at any moment. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 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, has lasted more than 25 years, claiming more than 40,000 lives. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by the UN and the EU. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkey has sheltered about four million refugees, 3.5 million of whom are Syrian refugees, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Turkish media reported on June 20. Erdogan noted that, Turkey is one of the few countries in which refugees live in normal conditions. "While the EU countries refused to accept Syrian refugees, Turkey opened the doors to Syrian and Iraqi refugees," Erdogan said. He noted that, the European countries are not attentive to the issue of Syrian refugees. According to the data of the Ministry of Interior Directorate General of Migration of Turkey, the total number of Syrian refugees in Turkey is 3.49 million people. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act passed by the US Senate yesterday allocates $500 million for Israeli missile programs and $50 million for a joint US-Israeli program for combating the tunnels threat, Globes reports. This is the first time that military aid to Israel has been determined under the memorandum of understanding between Israel and the US governing the US aid package for ten years from 2019. Israel will receive $3.8 billion annually in total - $3.3 billion for financing military procurement and $500 million for the rocket and missile defense programs Iron Dome, Arrow 2, Arrow 3, and David's Sling (Magic Wand). In practice, Israel will receive less for the missiles program but more for procurement. In the 2018 fiscal year Israel received $705.8 million for the missiles program and $3.1 billion for military procurement. The memorandum of understanding provides that Israel may not submit a request to Congress to expand aid for the missiles program (the "plus-up" process) as it has up to now. The new law extends by five years the validity of the law on storing US weapons in emergency stores in Israel, and calls for the setting up of a joint body to determine the quantity and type of smart ammunition that Israel needs in its confrontation with Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terror organizations. Five Metro-North employees made complaints to the agency about a colleague wearing blackface to a 2013 costume party, but he was nevertheless promoted to his role as "one of the highest-ranking supervisors" a year later, according to an NBC New York investigation. MTA chief Joe Lhota has since responded to the report, calling Richard Ranallo's actions "reprehensible" and emphatically said that "wearing blackface is racist." "Those who decide to wear blackface are maintaining I believe a legacy of marginalizing and dehumanizing African Americans," Lhota said. ""The employee in question was, and still is, represented by a union. We will work with our labor partners to ensure that all understand what our expectations are and that actions like this, they understand, are unacceptable and that employees that participate in actions like this - and those employees who cover up actions like this - have no place at the MTA." Randy Morgan, who worked under Ranallo, was one of the people who complained to the agency's diversity office about his boss's outfit, which was for a private Halloween party. "He's dressed up in blackface, which is abhorrent to many people on many levels," Morgan told NBC New York. "It's kind of like wearing a KKK outfit, just kind of screams at you... Racism isn't something that people wear proudly. It's kind of insidious." Ranallo's only reprimand from Metro-North was five days of "sensitivity training." He was subsequently promoted in 2014, "managing even more workers and keeping his pay of more than $200,000 a year." Ranallo refused to commenttelling NBC New York he had to "catch the train." The new Metro-North president, Cathy Rinaldi, who said she was "disturbed" by the pictures, wasn't able to explain why Ranallo wasn't fired, telling NBC New York for their Tuesday broadcast, "This is five years ago. I really can't look back and second-guess the decisions that were made at this time." However, on Wednesday, Rinaldi launched a review of the matter and said, "What I need to do going forward is making sure that Mr. Ranallo - who still works for me, and Im very concerned about that - he needs to have the training to treat the people he works with every day fairly, appropriately, and with respect. And if he doesnt have that training I need to make sure he gets that training." Is sensitivity training really going to solve things? Would anyone want to continue as a client of Aaron Schlossberg, aka the racist lawyer who threatened to call ICE on restaurant workers speaking Spanish? Schlossberg claims that the video didn't show the "real" him, but does anyone really believe that? In today's timely #RebelConvo column, Rebecca Carroll asks, "Would you hire a racist?" KYODO NEWS - Jun 20, 2018 - 02:09 | All, World The Japanese government is arranging to convene a summit meeting to discuss how to share funding and cooperate toward North Korea's complete denuclearization on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly gathering in late September, government sources said Tuesday. Although Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed readiness to support initial costs related to the International Atomic Energy Agency inspections, Japan is also planning to provide additional funds needed to neutralize Pyongyang's nuclear facilities and transport its nuclear materials, according to the sources. Abe also aims to propose a new international body to manage the funds provided by each country in collaboration with the United States and South Korea, the sources added. The plans apparently reflect Tokyo's eagerness to take the lead in the denuclearization process of the Korean Peninsula after the North's leader Kim Jong Un vowed to do so in his historic summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last week in Singapore. The annual U.N. gathering may be an opportunity for Abe and Kim to hold bilateral talks if the latter is invited to deliver a speech there. Abe is keen to resolve the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by the North in the 1970s and 1980s, which his administration has viewed as its top priority. In the run-up to the planned summit on North Korea's denuclearization in September in New York, Japan is also seeking support from China, Russia and the European Union, in addition to the United States and South Korea. (Abe and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres at U.N. headquarters in 2017) In a television program aired Saturday, Abe made public the consortium plan to make sure the collected funds do not directly flow into the North under the name of denuclearization. Tokyo aims to nail down its financial burden by calculating how much it will cost to realize a nuclear-free North Korea after Pyongyang presents its denuclearization project, the sources said. Abe has said the envisioned costs are different from possible economic cooperation to North Korea, which it will consider providing only after normalizing diplomatic ties and comprehensively resolving the issue of nuclear and missile programs as well as the past abductions. Related coverage: Ex-U.S. official backs Abe's efforts to engage with North Korea South Koreans more optimistic about North Korea's future than Japanese KYODO NEWS - Jun 20, 2018 - 15:06 | All, Japan A 9-year-old boy suffered a serious head wound of about 20 centimeters and a fractured skull in a knife attack on his way home from school in central Japan, local authorities said Wednesday. Police arrested a teenager on the spot. Firefighters received an emergency call from a woman at around 3:50 p.m. Tuesday saying she had found the boy lying on a road in Fujieda in Shizuoka Prefecture, about 300 meters from Takasu Minami Elementary School. Some other pupils who were on their way home with the victim fled after the attack and ran back to the school, the local education board said, adding that a knife was later found at the scene. Teachers from the school hurried to the site, where a youth carrying a hammer approached them. They backed off as he ran to the school, but then managed to overwhelm him there and handed him over to police, according to the board in the city of Fujieda. The police arrested the 18-year-old juvenile for trespassing on school premises and have launched an investigation into the attack. The teenager has told the police that he had been "bullied" in the past, according to an investigative source. A day after the attack, which sent shockwaves through the local community, the education board convened an emergency meeting, attended by elementary and junior high school principals, to discuss necessary measures. (A police officer keeps watch as children head to school in the morning) "I feel strong resentment toward the occurrence of the painful incident," Tadashi Nakamura, head of the board, said. "We will renew our commitment to building a school where children can study with a sense of security." The attack occurred at a time when local authorities in many parts of Japan are studying ways to ensure the safety of pupils after a 7-year-old girl was killed on her way home from school in Niigata in May. In March last year, a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl was killed on her way to school in Chiba Prefecture. One woman living close to the scene of the latest attack said she had told children who were playing nearby to come into her home to stay safe when she heard the sirens of ambulances and police cars, and saw the teachers running around. "It scares me to think of my own child being attacked," she said. A 78-year-old man said, "There have been several incidents in which children have been attacked. But I'm surprised that one has occurred in our neighborhood." KYODO NEWS - Jun 20, 2018 - 22:10 | World, All Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a second day of talks Wednesday in Beijing, reaffirming amicable bilateral relations at a time when North Korea is expected to soon start full-fledged negotiations with the United States. By joint efforts by China and North Korea, the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asia region will "surely embrace the beautiful prospects of peace, stability, development and prosperity," Xi was quoted as saying by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. [Photo courtesy of Korea Media] Calling bilateral ties "as close and friendly as family," Kim told Xi that North Korea will work with China to bring them to a "new high," the ministry said. The two leaders had "in-depth" conversation over tea in a "cordial and friendly atmosphere," it added. In their first day of talks Tuesday, Kim and Xi discussed how to achieve a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. Their latest summit, the third in less than three months, came just one week after the first-ever U.S.-North Korean summit. In March, Kim met with Xi in Beijing on his first foreign trip since becoming supreme leader following the death of his father Kim Jong Il in 2011. The two also met for two days in May in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian. China, North Korea's main economic lifeline, has shown readiness to be involved in U.S.-North Korean denuclearization talks, having provided a chartered aircraft for Kim to travel to and from Singapore for his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Kim Jong Un getting off a car at North Korean embassy in Beijing) Kim, using his personal jet, returned to North Korea on Wednesday after visiting the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Beijing rail traffic control center, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. His visit to the national agricultural institute suggests a desire to improve his country's farm production. In May, Pak Tae Song, a vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, toured the same place, calling for enhanced agricultural cooperation between China and North Korea. Kim also visited the North Korean Embassy in the Chinese capital before heading to Beijing International Airport, Kyodo News confirmed. North Korea's official media in the morning reported on Tuesday's meeting between Kim and Xi. It was very rare for the state-run Korean Central News Agency to release stories on an overseas trip by its leader before he returns home. While China's official media already reported on their first day's summit, one of the KCNA stories said the two leaders reached consensus on the prospect for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. On Tuesday, the two leaders exchanged opinions on Kim's June 12 meeting with Trump in Singapore and on denuclearization prospects, KCNA said. "Beneficial views on a series of issues of mutual concern including the prospect for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula were exchanged and a shared understanding on the discussed issues achieved," the news agency said. (Kim Jong Un before getting on a plane at Beijin International Airport) Xi congratulated Kim on the success of the historic U.S.-North Korea summit, praising his efforts to put the situation of the peninsula "on the track of dialogue, negotiation, peace and stability," according to KCNA. Kim expressed his "will to further develop the closer relations of friendship, unity and cooperation" between North Korea and China, the news agency added. Xi and Kim also confirmed in their talks that it is important for the agreement signed recently by Trump and Kim to be steadily implemented to realize denuclearization on the divided peninsula, Chinese media reported Tuesday. At the Singapore summit, Kim pledged complete denuclearization, while Trump promised to provide security guarantees to North Korea. The United States and North Korea, however, are still at odds over how to attain the denuclearization goal. Washington has sought swift and complete denuclearization, but Pyongyang has been apparently aiming to gain concessions such as easing sanctions by vowing denuclearization in a "phased" and "synchronized" manner. KYODO NEWS - Jun 20, 2018 - 10:24 | World, Urgent, All At least 166 people are still missing a day after a passenger boat, presumed to have been carrying over 185, capsized and sank in Indonesia's giant Lake Toba, with only one confirmed death so far, police and local military said Tuesday. "As of now, the total valid number of passengers is still unknown. The lack of a manifest of KM Sinar Bangun has made it difficult for the authorities to determine the number of victims in the accident," the National Police said in a statement. (Photo courtesy of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency) Late Tuesday, the Pantai Timur military command that supervises the area issued a list of missing persons totaling 166, based on information from relatives of unaccounted-for people believed to have been on the wooden tourist boat when it sunk. The police said the figure may increase if more relatives report their loved ones missing. Bad weather and high waves in the lake Monday hampered rescue efforts, the police said. Only 18 people have been found alive. The boat was on its way from Samosir, a volcanic island in the middle of the country's largest lake, to the town of Parapat, a few kilometers away, when it sank at 5:30 p.m. Monday. (Supplied video by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency) The 1,145-square-km lake, located in the northern part of Sumatra Island about a three-hour drive from the island's largest city of Medan, is the world's biggest volcanic lake. It is a popular spot for local and international tourists. No foreign visitors appear in the list of missing passengers, most of whom were believed to be Indonesian holidaymakers enjoying the country's 12-day-long Eid al-Fitr holiday. Maritime accidents occur with some frequency in Indonesia, mostly due to safety problems such as overcapacity and bad maintenance of ships and boats. No houses at Poovanchi were damaged during the 2018 floods but the people there had been living a nightmare since then. We still don't know where many of the thousands of children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico are living, or what will happen to them now that President Trump has signed an executive order that he says will bring an end to the family separation policy. But in the last few hours, it's become clear that at least 239 of these children were sent to the New York area without their parents. They are believed to be staying at some of the eleven local foster agencies that collect more than $100 million from the federal government to house immigrant youth. On Wednesday, two leaders of those organizations spoke with Gothamist, on the condition of anonymity because contractees are prohibited from talking to press. Both sources stressed that the foster services were working toward the children's best interests, and that they were aghast at the federal governments decision to take children from their parents. The system they describe begins within 72 hours of ICE separating a family, at which point the unaccompanied children are legally required to be transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The federal agency then places the kids with one of the contracted foster groupsin some cases, thousands of miles away from their detained parents, who may have no way of contacting them and no connection to the region. "In theory, you would think that the government would be sending kids to New York who might have a sponsor in the northeast, but that's not always how it works," one source told Gothamist. "There doesn't seem to be a method for this. We get a phone call from ORR and they say, 'Hey, we're arriving at JFK. We have three kids with us.'" "Clearly this information was not provided on purpose," Mayor de Blasio says after acknowledging that he had no idea 239 children separated from their parents at the border were sent to NYC. Grace Rauh (@gracerauh) June 20, 2018 The children in the agency's care who've been separated from their parents under the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy are between the ages of 6 and 17, that source said. Most of their parents are detained near the U.S.-Mexico border, and one of the organization's first priorities is figuring out which detention center they're in, so the kids can speak to them by phone. So far, they've had only "a tiny bit of success" in finding numbers for the young children to call. The next step is locating relatives of the children who are willing to take them in. When that's not possible, the services will attempt to connect the kids with a foster family"a much longer term process." In the past year, "the average length of stay has increased, one employee told Gothamist, because it's harder to find sponsors, because they fear deportation. Throughout the conversations, both service workers repeatedly emphasized that their contracts were not an endorsement of the Trump administration's immigration tactics. "We do think about whether were complicit in the federal governments policy, but on the other hand this is child welfare were talking about, one source said. Its kids whove been traumatized by war, who may not know the language, so what else can we do except provide them with as much as we can? "We are the people who know how to care for these children, another source added. We're trying to do that in the way that we know how. EXCLUSIVE: Children from the southern border are being brought to NYC after being separated from their families. Overnight, @joshrobin captured video of unusual activity at a foster agency in East Harlem. #MorningsOn1 pic.twitter.com/WhiN27wb5T Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) June 20, 2018 On Wednesday, reports identifying the facilities where some of the minors are living sparked calls for protest, and heads of several organizations confirmed that they received threats. Some also worry that the ongoing media frenzy could further traumatize the children. Edward Hayes, the president and CEO of Cayuga Home For Children, told Gothamist that children at his facility were suffering more because reporters are chasing them with cameras, which look a lot like gangs with guns in El Salvador. Critics of the contract arrangement, meanwhile, say that the services deserve scrutiny, and point to past reports of abuse at immigrant youth shelters, including Children's Village. In 2013, an unaccompanied Guatemalan boy caught crossing the border was transferred to that facility, and was soon sexually assaulted by one of the other boys, according to his mother. Childrens Village maintains a $6.9 million contract with the government to house unaccompanied minors. While both foster care leaders who spoke with Gothamist acknowledged that concerns for the children were warranted, they emphasized that maintaining the contract with the government was the best way to ensure the safety of the children. "We're not the enemy here," a source said. "We're not the ones ripping the children away from their parents." Getty Images Want to beat the market? Academic work for decades has pointed the way: Invest in value stocks -- stocks that are cheap relative to their earnings, cash flow or assets. Since 1940, value stocks have beaten the broad stock market by an annualized 4.5 percentage points per year, according to The Leuthold Group, an investment research firm. But over the past 10 years, growth crushed value. The Russell 1000 Growth index topped the Russell 1000 Value index by an average of 3.5 percentage points annually. What happened? Scott Opsal, a Leuthold analyst, cites earnings growth and price-to-earnings ratios. From July 31, 2008, through March 31, 2018, the growth index's P/E rose 53% while the value index's P/E expanded just 14%. Meanwhile, from the value index's peak in May 2007 through March 31, earnings per share rose just 16% compared to 46% for the growth index. Drilling deeper, about one-quarter of value stocks are financials, which were slaughtered from 2007-09 and continued to lag for years afterwards. The second largest sector in value is energy, which tumbled over the past four years. Meanwhile, technology -- which has soared since the end of the last bear market -- makes up 35% of the growth index. "There are no FAANGs in value, just FAANG victims," says Russell Kinnel, director of fund manager research at Morningstar, referring to the FAANG stocks Facebook (FB), Amazon.com (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL). Value stocks remain a sensible way to invest. And now that two of the biggest value sectors have cleared major hurdles, they could finally turn the tide against growth. Here are five top value funds to buy if you want to harness the power of a good bargain. American Funds Washington Mutual Investors F1 Market value: $105.1 billion Expense ratio: 0.67% Minimum Investment: $250 American Funds Washington Mutual Investors F1 (WSHFX, $44.95) is one of the most conservative funds from a very conservative fund shop. All but 10% of the stocks must be in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, all but 5% of the stocks must pay dividends and 80% of firms must have paid dividends in at least eight of the past 10 years. The fund also steers clear of companies involved in defense, tobacco or alcohol. Story continues Washington Mutual is designed to earn decent returns in bull markets and hold up better than its competitors in rocky markets. The fund is about 5% less volatile than the S&P 500 and did better than the benchmark in the last two bear markets. In the past 10 years, the fund has returned 9.3% -- a bit less than the S&P, but easily topping the Russell 1000 Value. WSHFX sticks largely to mega-caps. The average market capitalization of its stocks is $105 billion -- almost double that of the S&P 500. The fund's eight managers, each of whom is responsible for a percentage of the fund's assets, don't like to trade; stocks stay in the fund an average of eight years. In a theme you'll see repeated in other funds in this article, Washington Mutual is not a deep-value fund. In fact, it currently lands in the large blend category in Morningstar's style box. But in more ordinary times, expect it to tilt harder to value. American Funds, which used to be available only through investment advisors, offers F1 shares that can be purchased through online brokerages, including Fidelity and Schwab. Continue Reading: The 5 Best Value Funds to Buy Now EDITOR'S PICKS Copyright 2018 The Kiplinger Washington Editors A Chinese, government-controlled conglomerate is seeding a bumper crop in big data thats modernizing the world of farming, from the vineyards of Burgundy to the cornfields of Illinois to the lychee orchards of Guangdong. A year ago, Bejing-based colossus ChemChina purchased crop protection and seed producer Syngenta of Switzerland for $43 billion, setting the all-time record for the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese company. ChemChina quickly targeted Syngentas drive to transform farming through digital technology as the paramount area for investment and growth. ChemChina is taking the long view by substantially raising spending on R&D, and by far the biggest increases are going to groundbreaking digital technology, Erik Fyrwald, Syngentas CEO, tells Fortune. Syngenta is providing two main digital services to farmers, packaged together under a product called AgriEdge, which also includes a suite of its seed and crop protection products. The first is FarmShots, a software offering that uses satellites and drones to pinpoint sick crops in the field. The second is its Farm Management System enabling farmers to create profit and loss statements (P&L) tracking every dollar spent and earned in each field of corn or soybeans. The satellites send farmers one photo each day of individual sections of their fields; an average shot covers several hundred acres. The photos are displayed on PCs, iPads, or smartphones as heat maps that identify ailing and healthy sections of plants using color codes. The satellite software filters out the areas of soil, displaying only the foliage. The amount of light the plants generate helps establish the colors displayed on the farmers screen. Healthy plants reflect a lot more sunlight, and depending on the filter, produce a bright green image, says Dan Burdett, Syngentas chief of digital agriculture. By contrast, a patch of red signals danger, spotting a potato field, say, thats starved for irrigation or fertilizer. Yellow can show that plants are stunted, as from over-application of nitrogen fertilizer that burns the roots of corn crops. Story continues The advantage of satellite images is that they spotlight problem areas that could take a farmer a week or more to pinpoint scouting the spread on a Gator 44. Still, the daily photos produce only broad areas of color. They dont yield up-close shots of leaves or stalks that might help the farmer identify the specific disease afflicting the plant. To zoom in, Syngenta teams the satellite with drone technology. Once the heat map shows the problem areas on the farmers GPS, he can dispatch a drone that sends back high-resolution shots of the leaves or stalks. Through experience, the farmer can frequently identify such common maladies as gray leaf, a fungal infection that damages corn, and then go to the site and spray the endangered crops with the correct fungicide. Many diseases, however, are hard for even veteran farmers to diagnose with certainty. So Syngenta is pioneering the next giant step in drone technology: Software that identifies the precise rust, virus, or infestation, and sends instructions detailing the best treatment. Today, Syngenta is deploying a team of seven retired plant pathologists to compile a giant library of images displaying most plant diseases. The drone software uses machine learning to match a photo from that catalogue with the shot of a leaf or stalk taken by the drone. Syngenta expects to launch the first product enabling drones to diagnose plant diseases in 2019. For small farmers who dont have access to the full package of drone and satellite images, Syngenta will offer a smartphone application. The farmer takes a shot of the diseased plant, and the app sends back a full diagnosis and plan for care. Related: California Indoor Farming Startup Plenty Plans to Launch Global Operations in China and Japan FarmShots partners with the Farm Management System, a financial tool that highlights precisely where and why farmers are making or losing money. FMS comes in two main parts. The first is new tractor software that tracks the amounts of seed, fertilizer, water, herbicides and pesticides being used in each part of the farm. Syngenta has data agreements tractor manufacturers John Deere and CNH Global, maker of Case and New Holland brands. Their tractors are equipped with an iPad-like computer that quantifies all seed, fertilizer and herbicides that a tractor or tank sprayer is applying. In the past, farmers measured those inputs only for entire properties often spread over several crops and 10,000 or more acres. Now, were treating every individual field as a separate factory, says Burdett. Using GPS, the tractor shows exactly where the machines are planting, harvesting, or seeding. Their sensors record all the materials used in each area of the farm, and send the data to farmers P&L, which runs on the Syngentas FMS software. That data provides a detailed breakdown of which fields and crops are generating an acceptable ROI. Syngenta provided Fortune with P&Ls from fields in two Illinois farms that illustrate how these tools spotlight how these tools are used. One P&L covers a 117-acre field growing soybeans thats a section of a much larger farm. In last years growing season, stretching from planting in May to harvesting in October, that field produced 7,000 bushels that it sold for $10.24 each, for total revenue of $71,708. Its tractors recorded the use of three inputs, seed, fertilizer, and crop protection products. The cost of those materials, plus labor, was $29,591. The big cost was rent, amounting to $41,120. By tabulating all of that data on his FMS P&L, the farmer learned that it had earned just $998, or virtually nothing, on those 117 acres. Clearly, the soybean farmer needs to make big changes. He cant influence the market price. But a solution might be raising his yield by using different seed or fertilizer. Syngenta software benchmarks the fields soybean production per acre compared with other areas on the same farm, and unnamed competing spreads in the region, and also shows the products the best farms are using to achieve superior yields. It also shows rental rates for similar properties. Its crucial for farmers to choose the most profitable crops for each field. And the numbers from a nearby farm show that the soybean farmer might be better off replanting his field with corn. Here are the far better numbers on the 259 acres this farmer has planted with corn. Unsurprisingly, his revenues$221,147 last yearare much bigger, in part because his farm is more than twice as large. Its the per acre figures that tell the story. Even though corn prices at $3.60 per bushel were one-third those of soybeans, the corn farmer more than made up for the difference in bountiful production. His sales were $854 per acre, 39.5% higher than the soybean farmers. Material and labor cost per dollar of revenues per acre were the same as the soybean farmers. Besides the superior yield that generated much bigger revenues per acre, the big factor was rent. The two farmers paid the same amount, $350 per acre. But the corn producer could afford it and his soybean neighbor couldnt: That figure represented only 41% of the corn producers revenue per acre, versus 57% for the soybean farmer. The corn purveyor earned a sizable $153 per acre after all expenses, compared to a profit drought for the soybean farmer. Related: How Millennials Will Forever Change Americas Farmlands The breakdown arrays the soybean farmers best options. He can negotiate with his landlord to lower the rent, arguing that soybeans wont sustain a charge of $350 per acre. He can examine whether the different seed or fertilizer used by rivals generate the much higher yield needed to make the field profitable. Or he can replace soybeans with corn. Farmers are getting comfortable viewing their spreads as a patchwork of profit centers. I tell farmers that to be better farm managers, you need to know your numbers on a field by field basis, says Burdett. AgriEdge is now Syngentas fastest growing business, accounting for $500 million of its $12.1 billion in sales. The product now serves 19 million acres. Thats more than 2% of all the farmland in the U.S. and AgriEdges domain is growing at over 25% a year. Nothing harvests cash from the back forty like big data. The world has a fake news problem. And with the speed and scale of false information being spread across the internet, it can seem impossible to stop. Artificial intelligence could be a way to slow its spreadand help stop companies profiting from intentional or accidental dissemination. The method will be complex but the idea is simple. AI can be trained to identify fake news and gather data on sites that are the most prolific in peddling itor just sloppy in their fact checking, experts say. Listssomewhat like risk-management reportscan be made for companies that are looking to advertise on credible sites, as well as for those looking to invest in reliable publishers. Dhruv Ghulati, CEO and founder of Factmata, was presented an award by the UK prime minister for his companys role in using machine learning to tackle fake news. He pointed out to Quartz that sites that publish misleading or unvetted information are often financially drivenfake news stories correlate highly from a linguistic perspective to clickbait stories. According to researchers at Sofia University in Bulgaria and the Qatar Computing Research Institute, clickbait is up to 98% correlated with fake news (pdf). With this in mind, these experts said there is at least one tangible option that can adopted right now: Defunding deliberate, proactive news articles which damage public health or conversation and even could be life threatening should be the case, said Ghulati. Mevan Babakar, head of automated fact-checking at the UK nonprofit Full Facts, told Quartz: This is an effective route for certain kinds of false content. When advertising platforms were inadvertently creating an incentive for made-up content by allowing anyone to make money from adverts on content regardless of whether it was made up, it made sense to fix that unintended consequence. Story continues Harvard Universitys Nieman Lab has noted the links between fake news and ad revenue before. Google and Facebook have also said theyre trying stop fake news sites siphoning ad money through their platforms by amending their AI and employing human fact checkers. Ghulati insisted that the data wouldnt be biased towards a platform or a brandit would simply provide the information for investors or advertisers to make up their own minds. Babakar said that this could be a realistic way of limiting distribution of very low quality content, by acting as a spam filter. Its only one piece of the puzzle Humans will still need to play a vital role in fact checking, in tandem with technology, to address the more complex claims of bias we see in political debate. Above all, we all have to choose what to trust for ourselves. Charities, businesses, governments can all do things to make that easier. Free speech is key. Governments shouldnt be controlling what people say, said Babakar. Fake news isnt always spread with malicious intent, which is why fact-checking needs to be done at the source. For the most part, we imagine its well-intentioned people inaccurately sharing things, says Babakar. She added that presentation of cherry-picked information is what leads to misleading articles and statements posted by hyper-partisan outlets. This is where automated fact-checking can come in. Unlike the AI risk-management reports flagging sites for disseminating fake news, Babakar says that the fact-checking technology Full Facts is developing is a way for news organizations and other outlets to check information more granularly and in real-time. The aim is to stop false information from being published. The approach is very specific, very targeted, and requires a deep knowledge of the underlying sources and issues to develop, she says. Reviews are very honed-in, looking, for example, at statistics floated by politicians about the National Health Service, immigration or other specific topics. The prototype is already being used in-house and Full Facts is hoping to offer its technology to news sites and other outlets in October this year. Fact-checking organizations across the world are also adopting automated tools, as highlighted by The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University (pdf). The institute noted development for automated fact-checking has accelerated over the past couple of years and outlets such as Associated Press and the Washington Post are looking into how to adopt these tools. Heres how automated fact-checking can work When two opposing politicians cite statistics on poverty, with one saying poverty is up while the other says poverty is falling, both can be right when you look at absolute versus relative numbers. Automated fact-checking can examine repeated claims, document where they have been cited before and whether there is evidence to back up the statements, as demonstrated here: The following video also demonstrates another part of this process, allowing key words and statistics from speeches and statements to be checked against the facts. Its not like just classifying whole web pages as either true or false but what it can do in specific cases is give people the information they need to make their own minds up when they need it, said Babakar. AI isnt going to be the cure-all in identifying and limiting the impact of fake news. The technology itself has been partly to blame for the spread of false information, especially across social media platforms like Facebook. Still, the hope is that the very weapon that has been used to disseminate misleading information can be used to curb it. One element of that solution will depend on using AI to penalize publishers by hitting them where it hurtstheir wallets. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / June 19, 2018 / AmeriCann, Inc. (OTCQB: ACAN), an Agricultural-Technology company that is developing the next generation of eco-friendly state-of-the-art greenhouse style cannabis cultivation and processing properties, announced today that CEO Tim Keogh will be speaking at State House News Forum "Massachusetts' Expanding Cannabis Economy" held in Boston, MA, on Wednesday, June 26, starting at 8am ET. The Forum will kickoff with an address by Massachusetts' Cannabis Control Commission's Executive Director Shawn Collins and two lively panel discussions with experts from government, law, and the state's rapidly evolving marijuana industry about the many challenges and opportunities in Massachusetts. Mr. Keogh will be speaking about the expanding cannabis industry's statewide potential, including investment, job growth, tax revenue, real estate and tourism. Tim Keogh, AmeriCann CEO, has spoken at cannabis industry conferences across the United States as an expert on topics including industry best practices, real estate development and the cannabis economy. In January of 2018, Marijuana Business Daily recognized Mr. Keogh as one of the "Top People to Watch in 2018." AmeriCann is developing the Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center (MMCC), a state-of-the-art cannabis cultivation and processing development in the midst of the rapidly growing Massachusetts medical cannabis market. The MMCC project is approved for 1 million square feet, which will be developed in phases and is expected to be one of the most technologically advanced cultivation facilities in the nation. "Massachusetts is one of the most dynamic developing cannabis markets in the United States," stated AmeriCann CEO Tim Keogh. "Our MMCC project is positioned to become a center of excellence for quality, consistency, and efficiency and play an important role in helping to provide the cannabis infrastructure the Commonwealth requires." In 2016, AmeriCann formed an alliance with BASK, Inc. (formerly known as Coastal Compassion, Inc.) as a Preferred Partner in Massachusetts. BASK is scheduled to be the first cultivation and processing business in AmeriCann's Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center. This alliance makes AmeriCann one of the only publicly traded companies that have a partnership with an operating dispensary in the Massachusetts market. Story continues On July 1st, 2018, Massachusetts is expected to add adult-use cannabis, allowing any adult over 21 years old to purchase cannabis, in addition to the existing medical cannabis market. Industry experts believe it will become the epicenter for cannabis innovation and research for the entire northeast US with annual sales of over $1 billion by 2020. About AmeriCann AmeriCann (OTCQB: ACAN) is a publicly traded Agricultural Technology (Ag-Tech) company that is developing a new generation of sustainable, state-of-the-art medical cannabis cultivation and processing properties. AmeriCann, Inc. is a Certified B Corp, an acknowledgment of the company's commitment to social and environmental ethics, transparency and accountability. AmeriCann became the first public cannabis company to earn this respected accreditation. More information about the Company is available at: www.americann.co , or follow AmeriCann on Twitter @ACANinfo . About Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center (MMCC) AmeriCann's flagship project, The Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center, is approved for nearly 1,000,000 square feet of medical cannabis cultivation and processing in Freetown, Massachusetts. The state-of-the-art, sustainable, greenhouse project will consist of multiple planned phases for tenants in the Massachusetts medical marijuana market. Voters in Massachusetts approved legalizing the adult use of recreational marijuana in November of 2016. The state is on track to open the first cannabis storefronts for Adult-Use by July 1, 2018, making Massachusetts the first state in the Northeast to legalize adult-use cannabis. AmeriCann's Cannopy System uniquely combines expertise from traditional horticulture, lean manufacturing, regulatory compliance and cannabis cultivation to create superior facilities and procedures. The company is planning to replicate the Cannopy platform in additional states. The first phase of the MMCC project consists of 30,000 sq. ft. of cultivation, processing and research facility. About Bask, Inc. Bask, Inc. ("BASK" or "BASK Premium Cannabis") is one of a limited number of vertically integrated medical marijuana companies that are operating in the Massachusetts market. BASK Premium Cannabis has received all necessary approvals to grow, process and dispense medical marijuana to registered patients in the Massachusetts Medical-Use of Marijuana Program. In addition, BASK has received Priority Certification by the Cannabis Control Commission which allows for expedited application processing for Adult-Use Cannabis which is scheduled to start July 1, 2018. BASK is scheduled to be the first business to operate in AmeriCann's Massachusetts Medical Cannabis Center. For more information on BASK, visit www.cometobask.com or its social media links below: Twitter: @baskfairhaven Instagram: @basksouthcoast Facebook: @baskfairhaven Leafly: Leafly Menu Bask, Inc. 2 Pequod Road Fairhaven, MA 02719 Email: info@cometobask.com Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act") (which Sections were adopted as part of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words "believe,""anticipate,""estimate,""expect,""intend,""plan,""project,""prospects,""outlook," and similar words or expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "will,""should,""would,""may," and "could" are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any anticipated results, performance or achievements. The Company disclaims any intention to, and undertakes no obligation to, revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, a future event, or otherwise. For additional uncertainties that could impact the Company's forward-looking statements, please see the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1, which the Company recently filed with the SEC and which may be viewed at www.sec.gov. CONTACT: Corporate: AmeriCann, Inc. 1550 Wewatta St. Denver, CO 80206 (303) 862-9000 info@americann.co www.americann.co @ACANinfo on Twitter Investors: Hayden IR hart@haydenir.com (917) 658-7878 SOURCE: AmeriCann, Inc. BOJA vs. SBUX: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now? BOJA vs. SBUX: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option? It commonly happens in stock investing that investors miss the chance of buying winning stocks that they knew would stand out. Before they take the plunge, others get to know the hidden potential and enter into these stocks, pushing them out of reach. So, instead of repenting, spotting the off-the-radar potential winners and immediately investing in them could be a smart decision. One such company that looks well positioned for a solid gain, but has been overlooked by investors lately, is Apache Corporation APA. This Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States stock has actually seen estimates rise over the past month for the current fiscal year by about 26.1%. But that is not yet reflected in its price, as the stock lost 3.3% over the same time frame. Apache Corporation Price and Consensus Apache Corporation Price and Consensus | Apache Corporation Quote You should not be concerned about the price remaining muted going forward. This years expected earnings growth over the prior year is significant, which should ultimately translate into price appreciation. And if this isnt enough, APA currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) which further underscores the potential for its outperformance (See the performance of Zacks' portfolios and strategies here: About Zacks Performance). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. So if you are looking for a stock flying under-the-radar that is well-equipped to bounce down the road, make sure to consider Apache. Solid estimate revisions and an impressive Zacks Rank suggest that better days may be ahead for APA and that now might be an interesting buying opportunity. Today's Stocks from Zacks' Hottest Strategies It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +21.9% in 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +115.0%, +109.3%, +104.9%, +98.6%, and +67.1%. And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 19X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation. See Them Free>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Apache Corporation (APA) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research * Decisions will be effective beginning in mid-2019 * MSCI to consult on potential reclassification of Kuwait as EM (Adds detail, background, comment) By Rodrigo Campos and Trevor Hunnicutt NEW YORK, June 20 (Reuters) - Index provider MSCI said on Wednesday it will reclassify Argentina as an emerging market and begin including Saudi Arabia in that classification, sharply broadening the investor base for both countries in a move that could be supportive of their equity markets. The decisions will be effective beginning in mid-2019. For Saudi Arabia, there is high anticipation over the market listing of state-controlled energy company Aramco, which could be the largest publicly-traded company globally. International investors' expectations were that "the current privatization effort in Saudi Arabia will continue to grow the investable opportunity set available," Sebastien Lieblich, MSCI managing director and global head of equity solutions, said in a statement. That should contribute to an increased weight of Saudi Arabia in the Emerging Markets Index in the future, he added. For Argentina, it is some rare positive news for its economy, as its market-friendly president seeks to normalize the country's international financial standing. It was downgraded to frontier market status in 2009 after former populist President Cristina Fernandez imposed capital controls. MSCI's benchmarks are widely used, with some $14 trillion in investors' assets tracked against them. The index provider's blessing can launch billions of dollars from index-tracking funds into markets around the world, especially developing economies. "The addition of Argentina and Saudi Arabia will add diversification to MSCI emerging market indices that are increasingly weighted to South Asian and tech heavy markets such as China, South Korea and Taiwan," said Todd Rosenbluth, director of fund research at New-York based CFRA. SAUDI INFLOWS The Saudi index has been among the best performing in the Gulf region, up 13.3 percent year to date. Story continues Saudi Arabia could see $30-45 billion of portfolio inflows in the next two years if it reaches the same level of foreign ownership in stock markets as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, according to investment bank EFG Hermes. The MSCI Saudi Arabia Index will have a weighting of approximately 2.6 percent in the emerging markets index with 32 securities, following a two-step inclusion process in May and August next year. Rosenbluth said he expects investors to add exposure to the iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF and Global X MSCI Argentina ETF ahead of the implementation of the changes. The Saudi Arabia ETF was up 2.4 percent while the Argentina ETF rose 5.3 percent in after-hours trading in U.S. markets. Saudi Arabia's MSCI index has risen nearly 20 percent this year, while Argentina's is down nearly 40 percent from its 2018 high hit in January. The overall MSCI emerging Markets index is down 5.6 percent year to date. Only offshore listings of Argentine companies will be included, such as American Depositary Receipts. International institutional investors said higher liquidity in the domestic market is needed before considering a shift to onshore listings, MSCI said. It said it would review its decision on Argentina if the country re-introduces capital controls or puts restrictions on its currency's movement. MSCI also said it will include the MSCI Kuwait Index in its classification review next year for a potential move from frontier to emerging markets. It added that the inclusion of some domestic Chinese shares in its emerging markets index this year is going smoothly so far, according to its clients. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos and Trevor Hunnicutt, additional reporting by Saeed Azhar; editing by Daniel Bases, Rosalba O'Brien and Grant McCool) FILE PHOTO: The logo of BP is on display at a petrol station in Moscow, Russia, July 4, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhi/File photo SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's largest supermarket operator Woolworths Group Ltd (WOW.AX) cancelled a A$1.8 billion (1 billion) sale of its petrol stations to BP Plc (BP.L) on Thursday, after it was blocked by Australia's antitrust regulator. The grocer, which wants to exit the business to focus on supermarkets, said it would pursue "alternative options" for the 527 petrol stations and 16 development sites, without giving details. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission blocked the deal in December because of concerns it would lead to higher fuel prices. "It is negative at the margin, but I don't think it changes the overall direction and strategy of Woolworths," said Michael McCarthy, chief strategist at stockbroker CMC Markets. Other options could include floating the business, finding another buyer or selling it to a private equity firm, he added. Woolworths Chief Executive Brad Banducci said last month other parties had expressed interest in the service stations. Fuel sold by Woolworths is supplied by Caltex Australia (CTX.AX), which was an underbidder for the petrol stations. It stood to lose the supply contract under the BP deal, at a cost of up to A$150 million in lost earnings. "Despite its best efforts, BP has determined the transaction cannot be structured to meet its strategic objectives," BP said in a statement. (Reporting by Tom Westbrook in Sydney. Additional reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by James Dalgleish and Stephen Coates) After over six decades of performing around the world, Paul Simon is currently embarking on what he says is his farewell tour. And he announced today that the final concert of the tourhis final show ever, in theorywill take place in Queens in September. "Paul Simon's Homeward Bound The Farewell Performance" will happen Saturday September 22nd at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. It is the first major concert event to take place there in decades; events like Panorama and Governors Ball have unsuccessfully tried to get permits to take place there in recent years. "It seems more like fate than coincidence that I should do the final show on this final tour at Flushing Meadows Corona Park," Simon said in a press release about the show. "I could have ridden my bike from home to the park in about 20 minutes, when I was a kid. But this is less a goodbye than a farewell. Thank you all for the ride, I had a great time." "When Paul Simon sings 'Homeward Bound,' there's no doubt he means New York," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "The grit, beauty and complexity of this city are woven into Simon's most haunting songs, and our greatest venues have formed the backdrop of his performing career. It's only fitting that this son of Queens comes home to Flushing Meadows Corona Park." Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said she believes the historic show should be free for all: Queens adores the fact that Paul Simon has chosen to come home for the final concert of his Farewell Tour. As a lifelong fan, I am absolutely thrilled. The news, however, is bittersweet. The City of New York could have - and should have - turned this long-anticipated homecoming of Paul Simon into a free concert for all in the park, not limited to those who can afford to pay concert ticket prices at the expense of the surrounding community. There are still several days before tickets go on sale. In fairness to all New Yorkers, the City should figure out a way to make this historic performance free and accessible to everyone. Tickets for the farewell show will go on sale beginning Friday, June 29th at 10 a.m. here. American Express Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Monday, June 25th at 10 a.m. through Thursday, June 28th at 10 p.m. A graduate of Forest Hills High School, Simon announced in 2016 that he was planning on retiring from performing. In a NY Times piece about the decision, he sounded world-weary and showbiz-weary in equal measure, especially when he discussed how he often needs 15 hours of sleep at a stretch, or that he mistakes big white tents for mountains. He sounded tired of needing to rest his voice for days between shows, tired of fame (Ive seen fame turn into absolute poison when I was a kid in the 60s) and mostly tired of being tired all the time. Gothamist caught him at Forest Hills Stadium in 2016 as well. You can see video from that below. Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins Cisco Cisco announced its intent to acquire July Systems, a startup that uses wifi to gather insights about visitor behavior in physical spaces like malls, stadiums and airports. Cisco, which already partnered with July Systems, plans to scale the startup's technology and apply it to new physical spaces such as hospitals and government buildings. It's unclear how much Cisco will pay for July Systems. But the Sequoia and Intel Capital-backed start up was last valued at $45 million in a 2012 funding round. BJ Arun July SystemsCisco plans to acquire July Systems, a startup that uses wifi to gather data about visitor behavior in physical spaces like airports and malls for enhanced customer insights and visitor engagement programs. In an announcement Tuesday, Cisco Vice President Rob Salvagno described the acquisition as part of the company's "journey to intent-based networking a fundamentally new way of building and managing networks for the digital era." July Systems, which is headquartered in Burlingame, California with offices in Bangalore, India, specializes in tracking mobile devices through retail spaces and stadiums. The acquisition will enhance Cisco's ability to track locations indoors, while building out July Systems and fine-tuning its services for new industry-specific verticals like healthcare and government. The startup, which has partnered with Cisco for several years, was last valued at $45 million in 2012, according to PitchBook. Some of its biggest name investors include Sequoia Capital and Intel Capital. The terms of the deal with Cisco were not disclosed. It's expected to close in the first quarter of 2019. NOW WATCH: The world is running out of sand and there's a black market for it now See Also: SEE ALSO: A former Amazon Alexa executive says the death of all websites is coming, and it could happen sooner than you think ASGN vs. FICO: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now? ASGN vs. FICO: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option? CNH Industrial N.V.s CNHI IVECO BUS brand has started delivering 900 school buses to the government of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The bus models include CityClass, WayClass, SoulClass and SeniorClass. This marks worlds largest delivery of school buses enabled with special needs accessibility. Fitted with a mobile armchair device, buses will be used by public school students of Minas Gerais. The addition of the armchair device will help operators and passengers with reduced mobility, enabling them to travel comfortably. Initiating the delivery is a key development for IVECO BUS, which is making efforts to expand in LATAM (constituting the Central and South America, and the Caribbean Islands). CNH Industrial N.V. Price and Consensus CNH Industrial N.V. Price and Consensus | CNH Industrial N.V. Quote IVECO BUS, which offers an entire range of chassis and buildup vehicles, was launched in 2014. Later, in 2016, the accessibility device was introduced by IVECO BUS in Brazil. The device places a set outside the bus, helping passengers with special needs to board and disembark in the seat. CNH Industrial offers vehicles for agricultural and industrial purposes. Its products range from tractors to trucks and buses as well as powertrain solutions for off and on-road, and marine vehicles. Price Performance In the past six months, CNH Industrials stock has moved down 16.5%, underperforming 3.4% decline of the industry it belongs to. Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider Currently, CNH Industrial has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the auto space are Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. ALSN, Oshkosh Corporation OSK and Ferrari N.V. RACE. Allison Transmission and Oshkosh sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) while Ferrari carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Allison Transmission has an expected long-term growth rate of 10%. Shares of the company have risen 13.5% over the past year. Story continues Oshkosh has an expected long-term growth rate of 18.3%. Shares of the company have risen 6.9% over the past year. Ferrari has an expected long-term growth rate of 17.3%. Shares of the company have risen 65.7% over the past year. Today's Stocks From Zacks' Hottest Strategies It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +21.9% in 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +115.0%, +109.3%, +104.9%, +98.6% and +67.1%. And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 19X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation. See Them Free>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CNH Industrial N.V. (CNHI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (ALSN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Oshkosh Corporation (OSK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Ferrari N.V. (RACE) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA, June 20 (Reuters) - Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol has no estimate of when pumping will resume on the Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline, which has been halted for 161 days because of bomb attacks and oil theft, the company told Reuters. The 480-mile-long (773-km) pipeline, which has a capacity of up to 220,000 barrels per day, runs from the eastern border with Venezuela to the Caribbean. It has been offline since Jan. 10, the longest stoppage in its history. The pipeline has been attacked 53 times this year in bombings attributed by the military to the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group. Apart from bombing damage, 23 illegal valves used to steal crude have been found on the pipeline, the company said. "The restart of pumping will depend on the verification of reported damage and repairs," Ecopetrol said in response to Reuters questions about the timeline for the re-opening of the pipeline. The company said Ecopetrol and its subsidiary Cenit, which owns the pipeline, have been working nonstop on the problem. The pipeline's closure has not yet affected production at or exports from the Cano Limon field, operated by Occidental Petroleum Corp and located in the northern Arauca province, Ecopetrol said. Crude from the field is being transported using a smaller pipeline, also at risk of attack. Ecopetrol, which produces around 60 percent of Colombia's 866,000 barrels a day of oil, said it hopes to restore pumping as soon as possible. "It has never been planned to cease using the pipeline," Ecopetrol said. "We are the first people interested in returning this system, which is so important for the industry, to normality. We are working without rest in conjunction with the armed forces and the authorities to reach that objective." The ELN, considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union, has about 1,500 combatants and opposes multinational companies, claiming they seize natural resources without benefiting Colombians. Story continues Outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos and the ELN launched peace negotiations in 2017 but the talks, which shifted from Ecuador to Cuba in May, have been fraught. The guerrillas stepped up their attacks after the end of a bilateral ceasefire in January. President-elect Ivan Duque, who was voted in this week, has said he will halt the talks unless the ELN declares a unilateral ceasefire and concentrates its forces into a single area. Cano Limon has been bombed more than 1,400 times during its 32-year history. The attacks have kept it offline for the equivalent of 11 years and spilled about 2 million barrels of crude. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb) Ford Motor Co.'s big celebration today at its newly purchased Michigan Central Station in Detroit was arguably more about putting a Blue Oval stamp on the city's rich history than about cars. But it's clear that Ford sees its acquisition of the long-abandoned train depot as opening a bold new chapter in its own corporate history, one that's focused less on raw horsepower and shiny metal than on devising the future of urban transportation. Ford last week confirmed its purchase of the infamous, long-abandoned train station last week, and it released a few renderings suggesting what the place will look like when the building opens for business in 2022, if all goes well. The building will include residential units on the top two floors, plus space for other businesses and suppliers. In a star-studded affair that included a performance from hometown rap star Big Sean, Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr., donning black Wayfarers, a blue suit and a pink-and-blue-striped tie, discussed the historical significance of the hulking train station and how it mirrored the Motor City's meteoric rise and painful decline. His vision for the building in many ways mirrors his own environmentalist leanings: He and other company leaders see the train station anchoring a larger campus in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood where Ford will devise new mobility solutions, rethinking cities to make the air cleaner, ease traffic congestion, and build connected vehicles and roadways of the future. At the same time, Ford says he wants the company to play an active role in helping rebuild the city where his great grandfather, Henry Ford, started the company 115 year ago. The company plans to keep the depot's soaring lobby area open to the public, filled with locally based retailers and eateries, with a renewed focus on entrepreneurship, another echo of Detroit's industrial past. "This station is a symbol," Ford said in his prepared remarks. "But what Ford Motor Company is doing in Corktown is anything but symbolic." Here's what Ford told Autoblog when asked about the types of jobs and functions the new building and campus will house. Story continues "There will be a lot of mobility-related jobs, so what does that look like? There will certainly be software engineers, but there will also be people creating businesses around mobility. Think of a lot of services that will be created around that. So they will be here too. It won't be just technical people. Although there will be a number of them. There will also be business people helping to create the kind of businesses around the software and technology that is being developed. So you'll have a mix honestly." Is that what you mean by Ford partner jobs? "The partner jobs could be from startups because we're not going to do this all ourselves, we can't. It could be from tier ones, tier twos, from non-traditional suppliers. Really anyone who has a stake in the future and can help us build out the future. Because capital is dear, it's not unlimited, and we are very aware of that, as is everyone else in this space. So we're looking to partner wherever and with whomever we can." Ford eventually plans to house 2,500 of its own employees, plus another 2,500 employees from suppliers and other "partners," in the train station and nearby properties. In his own prepared remarks, Ford CEO Jim Hackett invoked Silicon Valley's fabled Sand Hill Road in outlining a vision of the company's Corktown campus becoming an innovation center for mobility and the development of electric and autonomous vehicles. It would connect Detroit to the Blue Oval headquarters just down Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, the American Center for Mobility testing grounds in Willow Run, and researchers and engineers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He envisioned "an ecosystem of companies. We're gonna have partners here. Colleges are going to want to connect." "This will play a huge role," Hackett told reporters afterward. "But we have Greenfield Labs out in Palo Alto (Calif.), that's one of the nodes, there's people there. The mobility topic crosses the physicality of the car, its engineering, which is in Dearborn. The cloud, which is in Palo Alto. The connectivity, which is both in Dearborn, Palo Alto, and here. And then the autonomous vehicle, which is in Pittsburgh. What's going to be here is a lot of the business design, of how all those things work together, is gonna be centered here." The company won't comment on what it expects to spend to refurbish the massive train station, which is missing entire roofs in some areas and will need extensive work just to plug the many leaks that developed during 30 years of abandonment, decay, metal scrapping and vandalism. But it says the money will come from a fund already established for redeveloping its Dearborn campuses. Whether it will work remains to be seen, and so far Wall Street appears to have reacted with a collective shrug. Ford is hardly the only company betting on mobility, and Silicon Valley itself is angling to steer transportation into the future. But Bill Ford sees Corktown as a powerful magnet to attract talent to the organization. "I really can't think of a better investment for our future in terms of our branding, our talent creation and also the kind of testing we're gong to have to do for our AVs than this corridor we're creating," he said. Related Video: The ongoing eruption of Kilauea on Hawaiis Big Island is starting to have a noticeable impact on the states agriculture industry and some farmers, cut off by lava flows, are resorting to unusual methods to harvest their crops, according to a recent report in Hawaii News Now. The state department of agriculture estimates the eruption has resulted in over $14 million in losses for farmers on the island. That figure is likely to rise as the lava continues to flow, with no predictable end in sight. Rusty and Jenny Perry, owners of the Kapoho Grown farm, told the local news outlet that they had to rush out several weeks ago as lava approached their property. Ultimately, it ran across their driveway, making access to the orchid seemingly impossible, they The crops, though, werent impacted by the flow, meaning the lychee, apple bananas and papaya were sitting on the vine, but inaccessible. Neighbors have banded together to help the Perrys, letting them drive through their land and, in one case, cut down a fence, to travel to their orchid without having to cross the lava stream. The couple now goes in several days a week with two workers to harvest what they can. I would much rather be here, but we dont want to spend the night here anymore, Rusty Perry told Hawaii News Now. We can see the flow going down but nothing says it has to go in that direction. Even though theyre avoiding the lava, the work isnt without risk. Gas emissions and fumes from the lava are dangerous, which (in part) has led to Hawaii enacting $5,000 fines and possible jail sentences for tourists who enter lava zones that have been closed off to the general public. New lava zones from Kilauea continue to emerge on Hawaii without warning and the flow has already devoured over 500 homes. The lava evaporated Hawaiis Hawaiis largest freshwater natural resource, called Great Lake, in just a few hours. Story continues And officials say the activity could bring about a financial crisis on the island, as volcano insurance isnt an option for most Hawaiians. The eruptions have been ongoing since May 3 and lava now covers just shy of 6,000 acres or 9.25 square miles of the island. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com A self-regulatory body compromising of Japans sixteen registered cryptocurrency exchanges is reportedly set to vote on new proposals that will forbid insider trading and plausibly restrict support for anonymous tokens like Monero and Dash. The Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) was founded in March 29 as a concentrated effort among the sixteen licensed cryptocurrency exchange operators to establish guidelines and restore confidence in the industry following the infamous $530 million hack of Tokyo-based exchange Coincheck in January. We are working hard to develop security measures and internal control, we will promptly promote the rules of transactions and advertisements and the information we disclose, said group chairman and Monex CEO Taizen Okuyama at the time. We want to eliminate customers concerns and work to restore confidence in order to develop healthy markets. In sticking to that promise, the association has drawn up nearly 100 pages of self-regulatory rules with measures such as enforcing an explicit ban on insider trading, prohibiting exchanges from accepting new coins that cannot be traced to previous sellers also known as privacy coins like Monero and Dash, a Nikkei report on Wednesday has revealed. Japans Financial Services Agency (FSA) has notably been instrumental in pushing domestic exchanges to drop support for privacy coins, citing their potential for abuse in money laundering. The crypto industry group is working in compliance with the FSAs rules and is seeking recognition as a self-regulatory body. The JVCEAs member exchanges will also be required to report internal audits to the body and better safeguard customer assets by storing private keys offline to minimize the risk of a hack or theft. The 500 million NEM theft from Coincheck this January, the biggest crypto exchange hack ever, was a result of tokens stored in online hot wallets that are more vulnerable to compromise. Further, the self-regulatory framework will also demand exchanges to keep their quoted exchange rates in synch with wider market rates and also introduce circuit breakers to freeze trading in the event of a significant market spike or plunge, akin to a traditional stock exchange. Story continues Were being subjected to rules almost as tough as the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, an official at one exchange was quoted as saying by the Nikkei, with concerns toward soaring compliance costs. The JVCEA will vote on the new proposed rules at a meeting next week on June 27. The industry group will then have to wait and earn recognition as a self-regulatory body by the FSA before adopting those rules. Images from Shutterstock. The post Japans Crypto Industry Drafts Rules to Ban Insider Trading, Privacy Coins appeared first on CCN. KBR, Inc.s KBR global government services business, KBRwyle, recently secured a seat on a multi-award contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center. Per the contract, KBRwyle has been selected as one of the six prime contractors on the $900 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, under which the company is entitled to provide rapid solutions for fixing problems identified through the Department of Defense's (DoD) Joint Test and Evaluation (JT&E) Program. This 10-year, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract also allows KBRwyle to assist the JT&E program in finding options for U.S. warfighters to achieve their missions. Moreover, KBR will also have the chance to bid on task orders issued by the JT&E Program Offices to address and resolve critical warfighter issues. KBR Banking on Government Services Businesses The companys Government Services segment, accounting for more than 65% of its total revenues, has been performing pretty well. The segment performed impressively in the last reported quarter, driven by organic growth and new award wins from the U.K. Ministry of Defence, U.S. Air Force and Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. The divisions revenues rose an impressive 31.5% year over year to $677 million. Further, the company expects growth across all key markets in the United States, UK and Australia on account of continued opportunities across the lifecycle of its projects. Recently, KBRwyle secured a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification from the Army Contracting Command. Per the deal, KBR will offer base life-support services to the U.S. Army throughout Iraq, supporting the Operation Inherent Resolve. Estimated revenues related to this one-year task order modification will be booked as unfilled orders in the Government Services business segments backlog. (Read more: KBR Secures Modification Contract From ACC to Support OIR). Share Price Performance KBR, a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, has a robust inorganic strategy in place for expanding its market share. In this regard, the company completed the Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies (SGT) and the Aspire buyouts in April. These additions are in sync with its strategies to expand high-tech professional services across the Government Services sector and have helped the stock to gain 4.4% in the past three months, outperforming the industry it belongs to. Story continues The company remains optimistic about the prospects of both the buyouts, mainly on account of increased government spending across space and defense. We believe such strategic buyouts will likely give a major boost to KBRs top line, going ahead. Other Key Picks Other top-ranked stocks in the same space include Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. JEC, Quanta Services, Inc. PWR and Gibraltar Industries, Inc. ROCK. Jacobs Engineering Group holds the same rank as KBR. Its earnings are expected to grow 31.5% in 2018. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Quanta Services earnings are expected to grow 41.6% in 2018. It also carries a Zacks Rank #2. Gibraltar Industries is also a Zacks Rank #2 stock and its earnings for the current year are expected to grow 21.6%. Today's Stocks from Zacks' Hottest Strategies It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +21.9% in 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +115.0%, +109.3%, +104.9%, +98.6%, and +67.1%. And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 19X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation. See Them Free>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Quanta Services, Inc. (PWR) : Free Stock Analysis Report KBR, Inc. (KBR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Gibraltar Industries, Inc. (ROCK) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research During the Tuesday night broadcast of her MSNBC talk show, Rachel Maddow began to describe a breaking AP story about the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy and its effect on migrant families. Maddow struggled to read the first sentence"Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three 'tender age' shelters in South Texas"stopping every few words to try to regain her composure. Rachel Maddow chokes up and cries on air as she struggles to deliver news that migrant babies and toddlers have been sent to "tender age" shelters pic.twitter.com/O6crm8cvyR Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) June 20, 2018 Maddow tweeted an apologetic message shortly after the show ended: Ugh, I'm sorry. If nothing else, it is my job to actually be able to speak while I'm on TV. What I was trying to do -- when I suddenly couldn't say/do anything -- was read this lede: 1/6 Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018 "Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents to at least three tender age shelters in South Texas... 2/6 Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018 "Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the "tender age" shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis... 3/6 Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018 "Decades after the nations child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is standing up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents... 4/6 Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018 The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it, said Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Toddlers are being detained. 5/6 Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018 All from this Associated Press story that broke while I was on the air tonight, but which I was unable to read on the air:https://t.co/2VBLTVxvQq Again, I apologize for losing it there for a moment. Not the way I intended that to go, not by a mile. Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018 Others understood why Maddow broke; Mother Jones editor-in-chief Clara Jeffrey summed up the feelings of many: Whe @maddow is too choked up to finish a segment you know we are in deep fucking shit Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) June 20, 2018 Meanwhile, over on Fox News, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski mocked the children when Democratic strategist Zac Petkanas mentioned a 10-year-old migrant child with Down syndrome being separated from her parents: .@Zac_Petkanas says on Fox News a 10-year-old girl with Down Syndrome was separated from her mother at the border. Corey Lewandowski responds: "Womp womp." pic.twitter.com/cZMXWmwbjw Jon Passantino (@passantino) June 19, 2018 Since early May, over 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the southern border and placed in makeshift government-funded facilities. (Yahoo News has revealed five of the companies that are profiting off of operating the facilities.) An untold number of the children are pre-verbal, and it's unclear how they will be reunited with their parents, if ever. Alicia Lieberman, who runs the Early Trauma Treatment Network at University of California, San Francisco, said the separations are likely to cause permanent psychological damage for the children. "Children are biologically programmed to grow best in the care of a parent figure," Lieberman told the AP. "When that bond is broken through long and unexpected separations with no set timeline for reunion, children respond at the deepest physiological and emotional levels. Their fear triggers a flood of stress hormones that disrupt neural circuits in the brain, create high levels of anxiety, make them more susceptible to physical and emotional illness, and damage their capacity to manage their emotions, trust people, and focus their attention on age-appropriate activities." Some Senate Republicans are searching for a way out of the border crisis, and last night some House Republicans met with President Trump. According to the Wall Street Journal, "In the controversy over immigrant families, Mr. Trump said: 'We have to take care of separation,' according to a lawmaker in the room. 'Its too nasty, its too nasty.'" However, the WSJ notes, "[H]e stopped short of telling them he would immediately reverse a widely condemned policy that has separated thousands of migrant children from their parents." Here's how you can help the migrant children. * North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on two-day trip to Beijing * Kim and China's Xi discussed U.S.-North Korea summit -KCNA * U.S.-South Korea drill suspension 'not irreversible' -minister (Adds U.S. defense secretary comment on troop remains, joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, paragraph 19-20) By Christine Kim and Christian Shepherd SEOUL/BEIJING, June 20 (Reuters) - North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping came to an understanding on issues discussed at a summit of the two leaders, including denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the North's state media said on Wednesday. Kim and Xi assessed the historic meeting Kim had with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last week and exchanged opinions on ways to resolve the issue of denuclearisation, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The North Korean leader also promised during a meeting with Xi in Beijing to cooperate with Chinese officials to secure "true peace" in the process of "opening a new future" on the Korean peninsula, it said. Xi told Kim the neighbours' joint efforts could definitely ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, China's official Xinhua news agency said. "I have faith that, with the joint efforts of China and North Korea, our relationship can definitely benefit both countries and both peoples," Xinhua quoted Xi as saying. Kim told Xi that previously China and North Korea had helped each other out like family members. "General Secretary comrade Xi Jinping has shown us touching and familial support and concern," he said, according to Xinhua. Kim wrapped up his two-day trip to Beijing on Wednesday with a visit to an agricultural sciences exhibition and the Beijing subway command centre, Xinhua said. The visit follows his Singapore summit, where Kim and Trump reaffirmed a commitment to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. Trump surprised officials in South Korea and the United States after that meeting by saying he would end "provocative" joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. Story continues The United States and South Korea said they had agreed to suspend a joint military exercise set for August, although decisions regarding subsequent drills have not yet been made. On Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa said the decision to suspend the exercise could be reconsidered, based on future developments with North Korea. "I think we've made it clear this is a goodwill gesture to strengthen dialogue momentum," Kang said. "It's not irreversible. They could come back if the dialogue loses speed, or if North Korea doesn't live up to its denuclearisation commitment," she said. Kim is on his third visit to China this year. Xi praised Kim on Tuesday for the "positive outcome" of the summit with Trump. KCNA also reported that Xi said relations between China and North Korea had reached a new level of development since Kim's first visit in March and that the pacts by the two leaders were being carried out "one-by-one". Kim also told Xi he was willing to bolster friendship and cooperation, it said. It was widely expected that Kim would visit Beijing to brief Xi on his summit with Trump, which included Pyongyang agreeing to hand over the remains of troops missing from the 1950-53 Korean War. Two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday that North Korea could start that process soon. In Washington on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters that discussions were continuing on obtaining the remains of U.S. troops. Mattis said he would meet with Trump's national security adviser on Friday to discuss the issue of joint military exercises with South Korea. He said he would visit China and South Korea next week. (Reporting by Christine Kim and Christian Shepherd; additional reporting by Joori Roh and Joyce Lee in SEOUL and Idrees Ali in WASHINGTON; Editing by Paul Tait, Clarence Fernandez and Grant McCool) Oil Prices Hit Session Highs After Weekly Supply Data Investing.com - Crude prices extended gains on Wednesday, after data showed that U.S. oil stockpiles fell much more than expected last week. U.S. benchmark oil, August West Texas Intermediate crude was up 98 cents, or roughly 1.5%, at $65.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by 10:35AM ET (1435GMT). Prices were at around $65.64 prior to the release of the inventory data. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 5.9 million barrels in the week ended June 15. That compared with analysts' expectations for a decline of 2.1 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply-drop of 3.0 million barrels. Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 426.5 million barrels as of last week. Domestic oil production- driven by shale extraction held steady at an all-time high of 10.9 million barrels per day last week. Only Russia currently produces more, at around 11 million bpd. The report also showed that gasoline inventories increased by 3.3 million barrels, compared to expectations for a much more modest gain of 188,000 barrels. For distillate inventories including diesel, the EIA reported a rise of 2.7 million barrels. Elsewhere, August Brent crude, the global benchmark, tacked on 39 cents, or around 0.5%, to $75.45 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. Oil traders continued to weigh potential outcomes for a meeting of major oil producers later this week. Oil ministers from OPEC, Russia and other major producing countries will meet in Vienna on Thursday and Friday to review their current production agreement that has held back 1.8 million bpd from the market for the past 18 months. Russia has pushed for returning a million barrels per day back into the market relatively quickly. However, Saudi Arabia would like to try a lower amount to prevent the price from dropping too much, experts said. However, not all OPEC members agree. Iran, Venezuela and Iraq have all said the current production agreement should stay in place. Story continues Related Articles Gold Steady as Dollar Rises and Trade Tensions Ease Iran signals compromise for modest rise in OPEC oil output OPEC Races to Salvage Oil Deal After Iran and Saudi Clash Oil prices were mixed on Wednesday Investing.com Oil prices were mixed on Wednesday as markets digest reports that Iran rejected a potential compromise at OPEC and said it would not support even a small increase in oil production at the key OPEC meeting in Vienna on Friday. Crude Oil WTI Futures for August delivery were trading at $65.38 a barrel at 1:20AM ET (05:20 GMT), down 0.47%. Brent oil futures for August delivery, traded in London, were up 0.45% at $75.42 per barrel. Meanwhile, Shanghai Crude Oil WTI Futures for September delivery were up 0.56% at 463.30 yuan per barrel on Wednesday. I dont believe in this meeting we can reach an agreement, Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters on his arrival in Vienna. Trump has tweeted twice in the last two months to complain about high oil prices and accuse OPEC of being at it again. Saudi Arabia will try to reach consensus, but if that fails I think that Riyadh wont be constrained and they will put the barrels in the market that they deem appropriate, said Helima Croft, chief commodities strategist at RBC Capital Market LLC. The OPEC is expected to agree to raise production along with Russia and other producers after a key meeting in Vienna later this week. Oil prices were under pressure this week after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he has ordered the U.S. Trade Representative to identify $200 billion worth of China goods for additional tariffs, escalating a trade dispute between the worlds two largest economies. Meanwhile, a drop in U.S. commercial crude inventories reported by the American Petroleum Institute (API) were cited as supporting oil prices on Wednesday. U.S. crude inventories fell by 3 million barrels in the week to June 15 to 430.6 million barrels, according to the weekly API report published on Tuesday. Related Articles U.S. shale producers warn Chinese tariffs would hit energy exports Gold Prices Slip as Dollar Steadies, Equities Advance Oil prices edge up on report of lower U.S. crude inventories MasTec (MTZ) is a Great Momentum Stock: Should You Buy? Does MasTec (MTZ) have what it takes to be a top stock pick for momentum investors? Let's find out. SandRidge Energy, Inc. SD was a big mover last session, as the company saw its shares rise nearly 8% on the day. The move came on solid volume too with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This continues the recent uptrend for the company as the stock is now up 13.9% in the past one-month time frame. The company has seen one positive estimate revision in the past few weeks, while its Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter has also moved higher over the past few weeks, suggesting that more solid trading could be ahead for SandRidge Energy. So make sure to keep an eye on this stock going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road. SandRidge Energy currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) while its Earnings ESP is 0.00%. SandRidge Energy, Inc. Price SandRidge Energy, Inc. Price | SandRidge Energy, Inc. Quote A better-ranked stock in the Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States industry is Occidental Petroleum Corporation OXY, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Is SD going up? Or down? Predict to see what others think: Up or Down Today's Stocks from Zacks' Hottest Strategies It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +21.9% in 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +115.0%, +109.3%, +104.9%, +98.6%, and +67.1%. And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 19X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation. See Them Free>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SandRidge Energy, Inc. (SD) : Free Stock Analysis Report Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research FILE PHOTO: SpaceX founder Elon Musk listens at a press conference following the first launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., February 6, 2018. REUTERS/Joe Skipper By Salvador Rodriguez SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk accused an employee of "extensive and damaging sabotage" to the company's operations in an email sent on Monday to company employees. Musk said an employee had made code changes to the company's operating system and exported "large amounts of highly sensitive Tesla data to unknown third parties," according to the email, which was obtained by Reuters. The company is investigating whether the employee "was working with any outside organizations," the email said. "As you know, there are a long list of organizations that want Tesla to die," Musk wrote, listing Wall Street short-sellers, oil and gas companies, and car company rivals. A company spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment. The accusations of sabotage come a week after Musk announced layoffs for 9 percent of the company's workforce. Although Musk said the reorganization does not impact production associates and is not expected to delay manufacturing targets, thousands of employees lost their jobs. Tesla has struggled to ramp up production of its Model 3 sedan, which is intended for mass production and critical to helping the company achieve long-term profitability. Tesla's stock price slipped 53 cents to $370.30 in after-hours trading. (Reporting by Salvador Rodriguez; Editing by Bill Berkrot) When it was announced in 2013 that Angela Ahrendts would leave her long-time role as chief executive of Burberry BRBY-GB to run Apple AAPL 's stores, the fashion label's shares went down 5.5 percent . Today, Ahrendts admitted to doubts about the job opportunity at Apple. "It was funny I fought joining Apple, because I thought I had the greatest job on the planet and we were flying, and life was incredible but it was the culture that we had built and the values of the team at Burberry that was so brilliant. (But Apple CEO) Tim (Cook) kept saying 'trust me, trust me'," she said, addressing an audience at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France on Wednesday. But the draw of Apple's stores convinced her to accept the role as senior vice president of retail. "You guys have been to Apple stores, you feel that energy and the values at Apple of the store teams and the loyalty and the tenure. The company's values are aligned with my values and when you have that (you think) 'let's go.'" Ahrendts added that she was brought up to be herself. "I was raised to use your instincts. My parents would say, what are your God given gifts, what do you love to do, and my dad was an avid reader and he would always say to thyself be true, and be your authentic self. Be who you are. I don't care how old I am, I don't ever want to forget where I came from," she told the audience. Diversity and inclusion are hot topics at the Cannes Lions event this year. Asked by colleague Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing communications, what advice she would have for young women starting their careers, Ahrendts said they should listen to their gut. "To young girls: to thyself be true. And use your instincts, and don't let anybody ever tell you that you can't, you shouldn't ... Not in this day and age." Ahrendts has said she thinks of the tech company's stores as "town squares," due to initiatives such as " Today at Apple ," which runs sessions each day on topics such as taking video with an iPhone to how to run a business. "It has to serve a bigger purpose than just sell," she told the audience at Cannes. Story continues The company is set to open new stores in Milan, on the Champs Elysees in Paris and inside the former Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C., in the coming months. More From CNBC The U.S. is expected to withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council, just as the council begins a three-week forum in Geneva. The withdrawal, reported by Reuters and citing an anonymous U.S. source, is due to disagreements over key issues and Washingtons belief the council is biased against Israel, a U.S. ally. Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., told the council a year ago that the United States would remove itself unless a chronic anti-Israel bias was eliminated from council activities. The main debate is over Agenda Item 7: a permanent agenda item concerning potential rights abuses by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories. Washington wants this item removed, but after months of talks, the point remained on the agenda. Just last month, the 47-member forum voted to investigate killings in Gaza and accused Israel of excessive force. The U.S. and Australia were the only no votes, and the Israeli ambassador deplored the council for spreading lies against Israel. As the Human Rights Council meets in Geneva, Britain has joined the U.S. in its dissent on council treatment of Israel. Unless things change we shall move next year to vote against all resolutions introduced under Agenda Item 7, said British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Monday. That does not mean that we in the UK are blind to the value of this council, including the work it could do on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict under the right agenda item. Agenda Item 7 is scheduled for discussion on July 2, but its unknown if the U.S. will be in attendance. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has the option of withdrawing fully from the council (the option allegedly supported by Haley), or the U.S. can remain as an observer, where countries can speak, but not vote on council resolutions. The U.S. has also argued for stricter membership requirements and easier procedures for removing members with egregious human rights records. Haley has criticized member countries like Venezuela, Cuba, China, Burundi, and Saudi Arabia for failing to uphold the highest standards of human rights. Just a month ago, the UN released a report criticizing the U.S. for its own state of poverty. Story continues The Human Rights Council, which was founded in 2006 to oversee and investigate rights abuses, has never seen a serving member drop out voluntarily. The U.S. boycotted the council for three years under George W. Bush, but joined again in 2009 under the Obama administration. The U.S. removal from the UN Human Rights Council will leave the forum without one of the traditionally strongest voices against human rights abuses. The U.S. has recently been involved with discussions to divulge human rights abuses in South Sudan, Congo, and Cambodia. The Trump administration also acts as a barrier against China, which has become more assertive in its diplomatic moves lately, despite reportedly curbing human rights defenders in its own land. It is up to any state to determine whether they would like to be a member of the council, said Human Rights Council President Vojislav Suc last Wednesday. The U.S. has been very active in the council in the previous years, including this year, with many initiatives. Human Rights Council spokesman Rolando Gomez said there have been a lot of rumors and a lot of speculation about the U.S. stepping down, but no concrete statements. The decision to step down from the council will be one more step in President Trumps America First policy, which has led the U.S. to remove itself from the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal, and the U.N. cultural and educational agency, UNESCO. The withdrawal announcement is expected at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Bloomberg reported. New York State plans to sue the Trump administration for allegedly violating the rights of children and parents separated at the border, according to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. The governor has directed several agencies to file suit based on their various responsibilities for the well being of children, families, and the disabled, and for public health. In a statement, he decried the callous and deliberate attack on immigrant communities. New York officials say they know of over 70 children separated from their families who are housed in federal shelters in the state. But a survey of all facilities in New York isnt complete. The state plans to cite violations of the Constitution, laws, and legal settlements. This includes the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, which binds federal authorities to specific standards about the detention of minors. The settlement requires children be released without unnecessary delay first to parents or other adult relatives. The state argues that this by itself requires the end of the recently implemented policy. The Trump administrations zero-tolerance immigration policy now subjects anyone found to have entered the U.S. without proper process to arrest and prosecution. Children cant be held in the same detention conditions as their parents, allowing the administration leverage for its border wall and other changes in immigration it favors. The administration has repeatedly said that ending family separation would require a legislative change, but there is no support for that position. The administration has suffered widespread condemnation for taking children from parents and family members, including among staunch Republican and Trump supporters and all four living former First Ladies. Gov. Cuomo also sent an open letter today to Vice President Mike Pence, calling for an end to the policy and noting your administrations actions will have devastating long-term consequences for these children. STORIES YOU MIGHT LIKE You can manage your notification subscription by clicking on the icon. To start receiving timely alerts, as shown below click on the Green lock icon next to the address bar Click it and Unblock the Notifications Click it and Unblock the Notifications Close X ZARGHOON SHAHR, Afghanistan In the Arg Presidential Palace, Afghanistans academic-turned-politician President Ashraf Ghani advocates girls education and gender equality. But an hours drive or some 70 kilometers away in the rural district of Mohammad Agha, his birthplace, the Taliban have now banned adolescent girls from getting an education after forcing some schools to close and imposing their own curriculum on others. A sprawling high school in the agricultural village of Zarghoon Shahr is a good example of how the Taliban are expanding and strengthening control. While the government still pays teachers salaries, the insurgents have taken over management of the school. The Taliban have changed the curriculum in the schools they control in the southeastern Logar province where Mohammad Agha is one of its five districts. More crucially, they allow boys to complete their high-school education by going through all 12 grades but restrict girls to only six. Mullah Abdul Fatah Sadiq is the Taliban commander responsible for education in Mohammad Agha. He told Radio Free Afghanistan that the education of adolescent girls violates Islamic Sharia law. We dont have security. We are under occupation, and we have a lot of [pro-government] Arbaki [militia operating here], he said. The government-controlled regions are afflicted by anarchy; this is why Sharia doesnt allow girls who have reached puberty to leave their homes, particularly when such insecurity prevails. Armed Taliban guards circle the Zarhoon Shahr school as their comrades control the battle-scarred village. The insurgents took over the village a few years ago and have now imposed their rules and worldview. We have banned the subjects of art and culture, Sadiq says. We have introduced more Islamic subjects such as Siratul Nabi (biography of Prophet Muhammad) and the study of the Koran. In Kabul, the Education Ministry is monitoring the situation in Logar. We already have Prophet Muhammads biography and the teaching of the Koran as part of our curriculum, so it is wrong to say we dont have these, spokesman Kabir Haqmal told Radio Free Afghanistan. He says that even the subjects of arts and culture teach nothing that violates Islamic teachings or Afghan traditions. We follow our laws and do not accord formal recognition to anyone who attempts to alter or influence our educational system, Haqmal noted. Aware of their armed Taliban minders, students are all praise. Rameen, who goes by one name only and appears to be 8 years old, wants to be a doctor. I am very happy because of the mujahedin [Taliban fighters], he says. Our teachers are working hard, and we come to school regularly. The Talibans stint in power in the 1990s attracted global attention for banning girls education in Afghanistans multicultural cities. Their emergence as an insurgent movement following the demise of their hard-line regime in 2001 was distinguished by an opposition to modern education. Insurgents are blamed for blowing up hundreds of schools over the past 16 years. According to a new study by UNICEF, nearly half of Afghan children between 7 and 17 years old are out of school. The report, released this month, identifies persistent discrimination against girls as a major factor in keeping them away from school. Girls account for 60 percent of the out-of-school population, putting them at a particular disadvantage and compounding gender-based discrimination, the study said. In the worse-affected provinces including Kandahar, Helmand, Wardak, Paktika, Zabul, and Uruzgan, up to 85 percent of girls are not going to school. Religious clerics also oppose the Talibans restrictions. Mufti Shamsur Rahman Farutan, a cleric in Kabul, says that in Islam education is even more important for women. The Islamic Sharia law does not impose any restrictions on the education of women and girls; they can go to schools, seminaries, and universities without any discrimination, he said. But the bullet-riddled school in Zarghoon Shahr is unlikely to welcome adolescent girls anytime soon. CALGARY, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Thursday, June 21National Indigenous Peoples Daythe Fraser Institute will release a new study on Canadas First Nations. Specific Claims and the Well-Being of First Nations spotlights specific claims, which are filed by First Nations who claim that Canadian governments violated the Indian Act or historic treaty agreements, and whether the monetary settlements have improved living standards for recipient First Nations. A news release with additional information will be issued via GlobeNewswire on Thursday, June 21 at 5:00 a.m. (Eastern). MEDIA CONTACTS: Tom Flanagan, Senior Fellow Fraser Institute To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact: Bryn Weese Media Relations Specialist, Fraser Institute Office: (604) 688-0221 ext. 589 bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter | Like us on Facebook The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institutes independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org TORONTO, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fura Gems Inc. (TSXV:FURA) (OTC:FUGMF) (FRA:BJ43) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Dibya Baral as Director - Technical Services, Mr. Rahul Gopal as Director - Security and Risk Control and Mr. Amit Sharma as Head Geology for Mozambique. Both Mr. Baral and Mr. Gopal will be based in Furas administrative headquarters in Dubai and will be reporting to Mr. Ashim Roy, Vice President - Operations. Mr. Baral will be responsible for Furas overall technical functions, including mining, geology, processing plants and other technical services. Mr. Gopal will be responsible for the security and risk functions. Mr Sharma will be based in Montepuez and will be reporting to the Project Manager-Mozambique. Mr. Sharma will be responsible for the exploration and mining operations of Furas Mozambican ruby project. Prior to joining Fura, Mr. Baral served as General Manager for Kagem Emerald Mine in Zambia, the worlds largest supplier of emeralds and subsidiary of Gemfields plc. He has worked previously with mining majors like Vedanta Resources and Tata Steel and has a total of 20 years of experience in multi-commodity exploration, development and mining in diverse geological settings and geographical terrains across the globe. Mr. Baral is a professional Geologist and Fellow for Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) and Competent Person for Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and holds a Master of Applied Geology from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India. Mr. Gopal has over 15 years of experience in the field of security. Prior to joining Fura, he was the Head of Security for the Montepuez Ruby Mine (MRM) in Mozambique, the worlds largest Ruby deposit and a subsidiary of Gemfields plc. While at MRM, he was responsible for putting in the best security practices, incorporating a balanced mix of technological, structural and operational elements. Mr. Gopal has also worked in Nigeria at a petrochemical plant where he was responsible for formulating and implementing security processes as an integrated management system. Mr. Gopal has also worked with Vodafone in India and has also served in the Indian Army as a Major, where he was deployed in the hostile areas of Jammu and Kashmir and was in charge of planning and coordinating operations along the Line of Control. Mr. Sharma worked with MRM since 2013. During his tenure at MRM, Mr. Sharma and his team were responsible for building the mine from the exploration stage to the production stage. Mr. Sharma has more than 15 years of experience in geology, of which 8 years were in Mozambique at the MRM. He gained African experience in the mining sector as an exploration geologist for gold and gemstones in The Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique. Mr. Sharma holds a Master of Geology from University of Baroda. Dev Shetty, President & CEO of Fura, commented: At Fura we have always tried to hire the best talent from the industry and today I am pleased to welcome our newest team members to the Fura family. As a growing business, we are always on the lookout for unique talent and I am lucky to have Dibya, Rahul and Amit joining our team. They are veterans and very well-respected individuals from the colour gemstone industry. Having worked with all of them in the past and knowing their passion, dedication and commitment, I am certain they will add a lot of value to our business and help take Fura to much greater heights. About Fura Gems Inc. Fura Gems Inc. is a gemstone mining and marketing company which is engaged in the exploration and acquisition of gemstone licences. Furas headquarters are located in Toronto, Canada and its administrative headquarters are located in the Almas Tower, Dubai. Fura is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol FURA. Fura is engaged in the exploration of resource properties in Colombia and owns a 76% interest the Coscuez emerald mine in Boyaca, Colombia. Fura is involved in the exploration of rubies in Mozambique through its 80% effective interest in the four ruby licences (4392, 3868, 3869 and 6811) that it acquired in November 2017. For more information about Fura Gems Inc., please contact: Fura Gems Inc. Dev Shetty - President & Chief Executive Officer Tel: +971 (0) 4 240 8760 dev.shetty@furagems.com Vikram Pathak Investor Relations Tel: +1-647-276-7816 vikram.pathak@furagems.com Public Relations Tavistock (UK) Jos Simson / Barney Hayward Tel: +44-207-920-3150 fura@tavistock.co.uk Investor Relations Renmark Financial Communications Inc. Barry Mire, Vice President Tel.: 416-644-2020 or 514-939-3989 bmire@renmarkfinancial.com Regulatory Statements This press release may contain forward looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect the impact of managerial appointments, the Companys exploration activities and mining activities and the Companys performance. Generally, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; the actual results of exploration activities; regulatory risks; risks inherent in foreign operations, uncertainties with respect to the Coscuez deposit, which has never been subject to modern mining methods nor any comprehensive feasibility study; legacy environmental risks, title risks and other risks of the mining industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Analysis Question Type BID (Boil It Down) Big 3 GMAT Assumptions: 1. Success (the plan is likely to work) Installing the speed humps will not have serious negative consequences. Goal Undercut the notion that the new humps will generate an improvement in safety/point out a significant downside of the humps. Choice B is correct. Though traffic might be slowed considerably, slowing emergency vehicle down to a stop is obviously a negative consequence if the objective of the plan is to ENHANCE SAFETY. This option certainly doesnt crush the plan, but it does raise a substantial drawback to the plans goal of enhancing safety. Reducing emergency response time could be a pretty big freaking problem for safety. Choice A does not tell us anything new about the lack of wisdom of installing the humps. We already know there Ardane has a speeding problem. Choice C makes an irrelevant comparison. Test-takers are attracted to this distraction option because people picture drivers more likely to possibly lose control/crash if they are driving faster (higher speed limit). However, even if the speed limit in Ardane were higher than in neighboring towns, installing the humps could and would likely reduce speeding (maybe improving safety even more dramatically). This option certainly doesnt detract from the wisdom of installing humps. In fact, it could very well be the case that the speed humps could mean an even greater enhancement to safety in light of the higher speed limits. Choice D would only be a drawback if there were no signs, but of course there could be. We dont know that Ardane is even contemplating not installing signs, so this option doesnt have any clear negative force on the plan. Choice E has absolutely zero impact on the plan. Having spaces on either side on the humps for bicycles may or may not be done, and whether it is or isnt has no clear impact on the safety outcome of the plan. Dump it. Enforcement of local speed limits through police monitoring has proven unsuccessful in the town of Ardane. In many nearby towns, speed humps (raised areas of pavement placed across residential streets, about 300 feet apart) have reduced traffic speeds on residential streets by 20 to 25 percent. In order to reduce traffic speed and thereby enhance safety in residential neighborhoods, Ardanes transportation commission plans to install multiple speed humps in those neighborhoods.Which of the following, if true, identifies a potentially serious drawback to the plan for installing speed humps in Ardane?A. On residential streets without speed humps, many vehicles travel at speeds more than 25 percent above the posted speed limit.B. Because of their high weight, emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances must slow almost to a stop at speed humps.C. The residential speed limit in Ardane is higher than that of the nearby towns where speed humps were installed.D. Motorists who are not familiar with the streets in Ardanes residential districts would be likely to encounter the speed humps unawares unless warned by signs and painted indicators.E. Bicyclists generally prefer that speed humps be constructed so as to leave a space on the side of the road where bicycles can travel without going over the humps.: Weaken: Bumps reduce speed, so we should have bumps to enhance safety.2. Relevance - N/A3. No Other Factors - N/A_________________ Status: On a mountain of skulls, in the castle of pain, I sit on a throne of blood. Re: The Black Death, a severe epidemic that ravaged fourteenth century Eur [ #permalink 13 Kudos 6 Bookmarks Larger U.S. milk supplies require growing consumer demand both in America and abroad. Fortunately, dairy exports have been up to the task thus far in 2018. On a volume basis, this Aprils dairy exports set an all-time monthly record at 18.8 percent on a total milk solids basis. That was on top of the March 2018 totals a record that stood for one month, following the all-time daily average high that was set in February. For the first quarter of 2018, export volumes of both milk fat and skim solids were 18 percent above year ago levels. All sales are up All of the major dairy product categories recorded double-digit percentage gains in volume for the first quarter of the year. This is the first time that has happened since the third quarter of 2010. Shipment totals were: Butter, up 54.5 percent Dry whey, up 28.1 percent Nonfat dry milk and skim milk powders, up 23.1 percent Whey protein concentrate, up 20.8 percent Lactose, up 17.5 percent Cheese, up 11 percent The total value of dairy exports amounted to $1.39 billion for the first three months of the year, 4.2 percent above last year. Tribulations on trade It is against this backdrop that dairy industry participants keep a wary eye toward U.S. trade negotiations with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners and China. Mexico (22.7 percent), Canada (11.7 percent), and China (10.3 percent) have accounted for almost 45 percent of U.S. dairy export volume during the first three months of the year. These sales totals are similar to their combined purchasing power since 2015. With U.S. milk production projected to grow by another 1.5 billion pounds during the second half of the year (1.4 percent), the extent to which international consumers purchase U.S. dairy products will be a large factor in determining milk prices for the remainder of the year. America isnt the only country growing milk production; Australia (2.2 percent) and the European Union (1.1 percent) are also projected to grow this year. In addition, with large stocks of nonfat dry milk continuing to hang over world markets, competition from other major dairy exporters is unlikely to ease. Dairy exports from Canada have also increased markedly for the first quarter of 2018, rising by 24.5 percent in terms of volume and 7.4 percent in value. It is clear that the challenge to keep consumer demand growing at or above the rate of milk production increases will continue to be difficult. But failure to do so will likely translate into lower milk prices and an even more difficult financial environment in the months to come. To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com. (c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2018 June 11, 2018 Italian police arrested 102 suspects on Monday after a 12-year investigation into mafia families that allegedly rule Puglia region on Italys southeast coast and are responsible for large-scale drug trafficking from the Balkans. Authorities charged the suspects with mafia association, three murder attempts, violent extortion, robbery, theft, personal injury and kidnapping. Among those arrested was a businessman called Roberto De Blasio, who sat on the local chapter of the Italian Anti-Racketeering Association, FAI. The association said on Monday that the man had been immediately expelled from the group following his arrest. Operation Pandora tracked the infiltration of two crime families into the local economy of the province surrounding the port city of Bari, where the arrests took place, Il Fatto Quotidiano reported. The families are part of the Sacra Corona Unita, a consortium of crime groups that operate in the heel of Italys boot. During a recorded Mafia lesson at a local bar, a boss of the two families, Guiseppe Mercante, said, In life, three things are important: omerta, respect and a mans dignity." The videotaped lessons covered avoiding clan wars, prevent police interference, managing businesses and specific illegal activities. While the recordings describe Mercante as a man of peace who is good at resolving internal disagreements, he is also said to have power over life and death." Evidence also showed that the Puglian mafias have access to military weapons such as Kalashnikovs. Investigators also said the SCU clans joined forces with neighboring mafia-type associations, the Calabrian Ndrangheta and the Naples-based Camorra, to smuggle large drug hauls from the Balkans and the Middle East into Europe. The Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate, DIA, had been following the Mercante-Diomede and Capriati families and got an insight into their organization, rituals and alleged criminal activities. Prosecutors found that the organization still uses affiliation rites dubbed baptisms, which most Italian crime groups in other parts of the country have long abandoned. During the initiation, godfathers confer their godchildren with mafia character so that they will act according to the rights and duties of the organizations. Ancient rituals and traditional ways of solving internal conflict aside, the two Sacra Corona Unita families evolved along with the regions economy, which it had completely integrated. occrp.org 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 Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrap Mnatsakanyan kicked off his working visit to Brussels on June 19 by meeting with Johannes Hahn, the European Commissions Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations. The ministry reports that Mnatsakanyan briefed Hahn regarding recent political developments in Armenia and the new governments foreign policy priorities. The two discussed regional and international matters, focusing on the Karabakh conflict settlement process and the Armenian sides position on the matter. Photo (from left): Johannes Hahn, Zohrap Mnatsakanyan He revealed that several men were accused kidnapping and raping the girls. Some of incidents allegedly took place during the holy month of Ramadan, which ended last week. He called on Iranian officials to launch a probe into the claims and hold the perpetrators accountable. News of the crime sent shockwaves throughout the country. Angry Iranians protested in front of the districts municipal headquarters, demanding the quick prosecution of the perpetrators. Iranian officials attempted to contain the anger of the public, and demonstrations were dispersed by force. Reports by Balochistan activists say that at least six protesters were arrested by the security forces. Baloch sources claim that the perpetrators are members of the security and Basij forces. Abdullah Burozgzada, a Baloch activist, was arrested when he along with his other friends was protesting in front of Governor House in Pahra (Iran Shahr) against the rape of Baloch girls by criminals. He said that the crime was committed by a state-supported gang in Pahra city of Iranian occupied Balochistan. Fears over their reputation was a deterrent from filing harassment complaints for the majority of victims families, ILNA news agency reported, and said that an accurate number of victims has not yet been determined. The Iranian Minister of Interior, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, ordered Balochistan to open an investigation and announce its outcome to the public, according to the Fars News Agency. Several of the victims have since received medical support, Mohammad Naim Aminifard, an MP from Iranshahr, told the media. However, a judicial chief in the city refused to confirm this information, and claimed that only three victims had stepped forward. Mohammed Khani, General Prosecutor in Balochistan, said that four people were behind the kidnapping of girls, who were abducted off the street. Sources reported that the victims have claimed that they were kidnapped at gunpoint by people who were dressed in law enforcement or military uniforms. A team of specialists has been sent to Iranshahr to join the investigation, announced the Health Ministry. Locals in the area fear that the victims might be physically eliminated either by state forces, or that they might commit suicide out of fear because of the traditional stigma attached to rape. Law enforcement officials today found large amounts of canned meat, cigarettes, bandages, bullets, personal grooming supplies and undergarments destined for soldiers in the Artsakh Defense Army at a house owned by Manvel Grigoryan in Artsakh. Armenias Investigative Committee says it sent a request to Artsakh officials to raid the property located near an Artsakh army base near Dashkesan. Boxes of the supplies, marked For Soldiers, were found at the house. Seventeen teachers and the principal of P.S.13, in the southern Armenian town of Kapan, have resigned from the Republican Party of Armenia since they agree with the position of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to depoliticize schools in Armenia. The announcement was made on the schools Facebook page. Nepal, China will work together for common development: PM Oli Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said Nepal and China will continue to work together in the future for common development and everlasting peace and prosperity in a spirit of mutual trust, friendship and understanding, and close co-operation and collaboration. WASHINGTON, D.C. Congressmen Randy Hultgren (R-IL) and Jim McGovern (D-MA), Co-Chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, say they "regret"Tuesdays decision by the Trump Administration to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council. The announcement to withdraw from the Council was made by UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The ambassador said the council had become a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias" in overlooking human rights abuses in the Congo, Iran and Venezuela - which all participate in the Council. In contrast, over the years, the Council has condemned Israel nearly 70 times. I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments, Haley said. On the contrary. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights. A statement from Hultgren and McGovern's offices explains their opposition: The grieving father told Illinois Review that the White House discussion he will be attending is expected to include officials from Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He expects the current controversy over separating children from parents entering the country illegally to be central. Tranchant's 16-year-old daughter Tessa and her 17-year-old friend Ali were instantly killed eleven years ago while sitting at a Virginia Beach stop light. The drunk driver that hit the girls was in the US illegally and is now serving 40 years in prison for manslaughter. In the midst of one of the nation's most heated, emotional discussions over children being separated from their parents when being caught illegally attempting to enter the United States, the White House is calling a roundtable discussion Friday that will include Ray Tranchant of downstate Catlin, Illinois. "Those kids will be joined again with their parents if that is who brought them," Tranchant said. "They are communicating with them as well. I will never get that opportunity with my daughter who was killed by an illegal alien, nor will her friend Ali Kunhardt's parents. That is the ultimate in breaking up families, brought on by people who should not be here illegally!" Tranchant has been encouraged by President Trump's strong stance to protect the southern border. "The adults that bring their children in harm's way by desert, coyote, in harsh conditions without food, supplies and water endanger the children's lives. That is assuming that the children are family members which has not been verified until they are separated and processed," he said. "America does not want to keep their kids, they want them safe. They also want to verify that they are not a part of child trafficking. "If Americans did the same as the illegal aliens do to their kids, they would most likely get a prompt visit from Human Services, which are there to protect the children. This situation is the same. It may also discourage the migrant from beginning the process all together," Tranchant said. Tranchant has not been so encouraged by Illinois Democrats and Republican Governor Bruce Rauner's actions in protecting illegals in Illinois from law enforcement queries. He voiced concern about the effort last year. He appealed to the governor not to sign HB 31 last year, and was one of the families that was hoping the governor would call before making his final decision to sign the "sanctuary state" proposal into law. Governor Rauner did not reach out to any of the grieving families before signing the bill at a celebratory rally with immigrant groups. Tranchant and his wife met with President Trump last year at the White House. Tranchant, who hopes to meet once again with other families from Illinois who have lost loved ones to illegal aliens, says he has prepared comments for Friday's meeting. The thoughts he hopes to share with the president conclude with, "Im hoping what happened never happens again and that we learn from our mistakes." President Trump, Mr. & Mrs. Ray Tranchant last year in D.C. John Moore/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Their names are a mystery and in some cases, their faces are too. But the stories of the children caught in the crosshairs of the "zero tolerance" policy at the border are resonating with people across the country. Here are some of the stories of children whose experiences have captured the nation's attention. The girl pictured crying for her mother One of the most iconic images of the border crisis featured a 2-year-old girl from Honduras. John Moore, a special correspondent and senior staff photographer for Getty Images, took the photo after spotting the girl in her mother's arms while he was participating in a ride-along with Customs and Border Protection agents in Texas. He saw a group of roughly 20 mothers and children late on June 12, "gathered on a dirt road" in a part of the Rio Grande Valley and, upon approaching the group, he saw the girl in her mother's arms. Moore said that he saw that the mother was breastfeeding her daughter "to keep her calm" and that, later, one of the agents asked the mother to put her daughter down. "Once the mother put her on the ground she started screaming immediately," Moore said. The mother and daughter were taken away from the scene together, and because their names are unknown, it remains unclear if they were separated, though the policy mandates that if the mother faced charges they would be separated. Read more about Moore's experience here. The boy put in foster care with American parents When a 9-year-old Guatemalan boy arrived at a Michigan foster care home, he was so afraid he couldn't eat. Over time, the boy, whose name has not been released, confided to his foster parents that he and his father had escaped violence and poverty in their homeland only to be greeted with more hardship when they arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, where the boy watched his dad being taken from him in handcuffs. "When he came to us, he was extraordinarily fearful,"said Jen, the new foster mother of the boy, who asked ABC News not to use her last name to protect the family's privacy. "He came in all-black clothes, we learned, because he traveled at night with his dad and they didn't want to be seen." The child handed them a piece of paper from a packet his mother had sewn into his pants before he and his father left home. The paper contained phone numbers of people his family knew in the United States, as well his mother's phone number in Guatemala. While a Michigan caseworker was collecting the father and son's intake information, she called the mom's phone and she answered. "He was overcome," said Jen. "He couldn't talk. He was crying so hard he was almost to the point of being sick." Over the past eight months, the boy, now 10, opened up - telling caseworkers the story of his and his father's treacherous journey to what they thought would be the land of promise. Read more about the boy's journey here. The heartbreaking audio The recording first reported and released by ProPublica of crying children in one of the shelters included the voices of a number of distraught children, and one of them has since been identified. Alison Jimena Valencia Madrid is a 6-year-old girl who fled gang violence in El Salvador with her mother. She's heard on the tape asking an official in Spanish, "Are you going to call my aunt so that when I'm done eating, she can pick me up?" She memorized her aunt's phone number, and the aunt told ProPublica that she was allowed to make the phone call, but it was still heartbreaking. "Shes crying and begging me to go get her. She says, I promise Ill behave, but please get me out of here. Im all alone,'" the aunt told ProPublica. Watch our video report about her story here. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Worth noting is that we have the largest deficits with our top five trading partner (Census provides trade data by country for goods only, not services): As noted in an article by Kimberly Amadeo , updated May 10, 2018: The United States has the world's largest trade deficit . It's been that way since 1975. The deficit in goods and services was $566 billion in 2017 . Imports were $2.895 trillion dollars and exports were only $2.329 trillion. Trump Makes Good on His Promises During his first year in office, Trump and his top economic aides made repeated threats and warned that preliminary investigations were launched into whether certain imports were being unjustly subsidized. But no concrete steps were taken. That all changed in March of this year when our "America First" president went on the offensive. Becoming more confident as to his own judgement - - ignoring the warnings of then chief economic advisor Gary Cohn, who has since left the administration -- Trump is now willing to do the radical things he promised during his campaign and for many years before that. Already in place in China are tariffs on Chinese imports of steel (25%) and aluminum tariffs (10%) to protect U.S. metal makers. These went into effect on March 23, 2018. Following is an excerpt of the White House report issued on March 8th about the importation of steel into the U.S. upon advisement of the Secretary: "The Secretary found and advised me of his opinion that steel articles are being imported into the United States in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States. The Secretary found that the present quantities of steel articles imports and the circumstances of global excess capacity for producing steel are weakening our internal economy, resulting in the persistent threat of further closures of domestic steel production facilities and the shrinking [of our] ability to meet national security production requirements in a national emergency. Listed below are the top steel exporters to the United States, along with their corresponding percentage of total U.S. steel imports: Canada 16.7 percent China 2.9 percent While China ranks low in the importation of steel into the U.S., it does rank 2nd in aluminum. Canada: US$8.5 billion (36.3% of total aluminum exports China: $3.5 billion (15.1%) Steel and Aluminum tariffs imposed on European Union, Canada, and Mexico On June 1, 2018, U.S. tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum were imposed on the European Union, Canada, and Mexico at 25% and 10% respectively. Trump had announced worldwide steel and aluminum tariffs in March of 2018, but exemptions were granted to some major trading partners. Canada, Mexico and the EU were among those granted relief. In the interim, the United States pursued negotiations to address the administration's concerns about the state of domestic steel and aluminum production. Negotiations had a deadline of deadline of May 31, 2018. See here the global steel industry by numbers: How does Justin Trudeau get off slamming Trump for placing 20% tariffs on Canadian steel and 10% on Canadian aluminum? Canada, in case its slipped Trudeaus mind, places a 275% tariff on most American dairy products, 300% on our butter. Additionally, Canada is at the top of the list of exporters of both steel and aluminum to the U.S. Trump's Latest Tariff Moves Friday. June 15 Trump announced a stiff 25% tariffs on Chinese imports which sparked immediate retaliation from Beijing. This prompted Beijing to slap punitive duties on 128 US goods, including pork, wine, and certain pipes. (The US and China did reach a "consensus" at high-level trade talks led by US Treasury Secretary Steven Munchin in May, where China offered to ramp up purchases of American goods by only $70 billion to help cut the yawning trade imbalance with the United States, whereas Trump had demanded a $200 billion deficit cut. When President Trump didn't receive his $200 billion deficit cut, he made good on his threat to unleash a raft of tariffs. To Trump the move was justifiable, as payback for the theft of American intellectual property and technology.) Monday, June 18 Trump asked his administration to identify a new list of $200 billion in Chinese goods that would be penalized with tariffs. The day after China's Commerce Ministry said that it will take counter measures if the U.S. publishes an additional tariffs list. Talk of Tariffs Rattle Stock Market and Economists Many are saying that Trump's strategy will create significant collateral damage. Peter Navarro and other Trump advisor who are convinced that the US will win a trade war. Their argument is that Beijing has more to lose than the U.S. given China's dependence on selling to the U.S. market. Just consider the math! China is limited somewhat in the degree of retaliatory tariffs it can apply, simply because it doesn't import nearly as much in American goods compared with what the U.S. takes of Chinese products. China imported just $129.9 billion from the U.S. in 2017, compared with $505.5 billion in exports, according to the Census Bureau. Secretary Wilbur Ross in his guest appearance on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs on June 15, 2018, expressed the following thoughts: The trade imbalance started many years ago. We are just calling for balanced international trade, which is so important for this nation's economic growth and our national defense. The Business Press is wringing its hands about a possible trade war, and the stock market is reacting negatively, but we have already lost the trade war. Consider what happened when tariffs were leveled on washing machines, solar power, and steel and aluminum. Factories are now starting up in this country. The sky is not falling, and positive signs do point to continued growth of our economy. Most worrisome to Secretary Ross is our technical deficit because of China's predatory economic policies in using material stolen for the U.S. For Ross, balancing trade is so important. "Trade deficits only don't matter if you don't have them." Off-the-Cuff Remarks by Author I dont claim to be an economist. But having seen and heard from far too many of them ever since Trump rattled their cage by announcing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, I really dont think Id care to be one. I can't say for sure if the proposed tariffs will be good or bad for American workers and consumers, but I do know a few things: One, I believe Trump is convinced the tariffs will prove to be beneficial for the U.S. or he wouldnt consider calling for them to be imposed. Two: I take comfort in knowing hes being advised not just by his usual trustworthy gut, but by people like Larry Kudlow who prefer capitalism to all the other isms out there. Three: I know that the talking heads on TV whose hair goes up in flames the second the President says or does anything arent to be trusted. They hate him and theyre not too crazy about those of us who elected him. Perhaps most telling of all is that Trumps critics are all agonizing over retaliation by China, Mexico, Canada and the EU, while ignoring the fact that his tariffs are in retaliation to those that have been leveled on our products for decades. If you didnt know about that, its because until now we havent had a president who cared to mention that embarrassing fact, let alone do something about it. For instance, the EU places a 10% tariff on American cars; we have had a 2% tariff on theirs. Trump vows Fair Trade Relations with G7 Nation As vowed by President Donald Trump on Saturday, June 10, 2018, at a press conference from the Canadian town of La Malbaie before leaving the G7 meeting to head to Singapore to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 1: "The US will do whatever is necessary for his country to have fair trade relations with other countries. Trump then added: Look, all of these countries have been taking advantage of the United States on trade." Those days are over. Trump wants a quick end to trade practices that he says have led to an exodus of American companies and jobs to other countries. Shouldn't the American people also desire fair, reciprocal, and balanced trade, so wealth remains in this country to grow our economy instead of contributing to the growth of other countries? Relatives of the more than 190 people missing after a boat sank on Lake Toba in Sumatra have asked government officials for a bigger search. The families also criticized the Indonesian government for ignoring unsafe conditions on passenger boats. Disaster officials have raised the number of dead several times. Family members arrived at Lake Toba in northern Sumatra to seek information. But, there was no passenger list for the overcrowded wooden ferry. Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi and the chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency, Muhammad Syaugi, spoke to reporters about the incident. The officials said the boat was built to hold 43 passengers, but was carrying about 200. It had only 45 life jackets designed to keep passengers from drowning. Only 18 survivors were found within hours of the sinking on Monday. The boat sank in deep water half a kilometer from a popular island. It is possible many victims are still inside the sunken ferry, said North Sumatra province police chief Paulus Waterpau. Many survivors told authorities that less than half of them had jumped into the water before the boat sank, he told The Associated Press. Suwarni had a 20-year-old son who was with his girlfriend on the ferry. She criticized the search and rescue operation as slow. What kind of government is this that cant protect their own people from unnecessary accidents? she asked. The search has involved 350 people but they have found few bodies. Syaugi said only four deaths were confirmed after three more bodies were found on Wednesday. Syaugi defended the search effort, saying that the agency, police, military and other personnel have been working all out and non-stop. The search may continue for another 10 days. Survivor Juwita Sumbayak said she had crossed the lake many times on the same boat. She said it was overcrowded on Monday because of the holiday for the end of the Muslim holy month. The mother cried uncontrollably as she spoke to a reporter. She called out the names of her husband and children who she believes drowned inside the boat. She said that about 20 minutes after the ferry left, high waves caused it to list to the right and take on water, which caused the passengers to panic. After it was hit by additional waves, it seemed to shake and then it capsized. Many passengers without a life jacket jumped into the deep lake, but others drowned with the boat, she said. I jumped, I cried with fear. She saw many people in the water but nobody can help. Another survivor, Riko Saputra, said that many motorcycles packed on one side of the boat caused it to list. He said he was in the water for about an hour before he was rescued. He believed he only survived by holding onto a helmet. Cellphone video released earlier in the week by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed the crew of another ferry trying to rescue people in the waters shortly after the sinking. But bad weather and rough waters held them back. The disaster comes as tens of millions Indonesians return home for the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. Sumadi, the transport minister, said that all 40 ferry operators on Lake Toba are being suspended and examined by the government until they show they are following safety rules. Lake Toba is popular with tourists on the island of Sumatra. The Indonesian government hopes to develop the area for increased tourism. Im Susan Shand. The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted the report for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story ferry n. a boat used to take passengers to a place drone n a type of small aircraft that flies without a pilot tourist n. one who visits a place for pleasure list v. to lean to one side panic v. to become filled with fear capsize v. to turn so that the bottom is on top helmet n. a hard hat that is worn to protect your head The number of people who do yoga around the world has been growing steadily in the last 40 years. People in more than 180 countries will do the breathing and movement exercise on this years International Yoga Day. It is officially observed on June 21, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. This years guiding idea is peace. The Daily Star newspaper, published in Bangladesh, reports that people in China have yoga fever. The report says the country will have the most people after India observing International Yoga Day. Public yoga events will be held in parks, vacation places and even at the Great Wall. The same report notes that in South Korea, sales of yoga mats and yoga towels have risen sharply this year. In Vietnam, International Yoga Day has brought increased attention to the activity. The Economic Times reported that three years ago, 2,000 people there took part in yoga events on International Yoga Day. This year, more than 8,000 Vietnamese are expected to. Dung Tien Nguyen runs a yoga center in Vietnam. Dung told reporters that long years of war in Vietnam affected peoples physical and mental health. Dung said, yoga is helping them feel better. The United Nations declared June 21 the International Day of Yoga four years ago. The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, proposed the idea to the U.N. General Assembly. Modi noted that yoga was an ancient Indian tradition. He said the practice can unite mind and body, thought and action, people and nature. Yoga has also been praised for improving balance, lowering blood pressure, increasing flexibility, and providing a sense of calm. The secretary-general of the U.N., Ban Ki-Moon, said, "Yoga is a sport that can contribute to development and peace. Yoga can even help people in emergency situations to find relief from stress. But yoga has also been criticized. A study by Australian and American researchers found that 10 to 20 percent of people felt pain or worsened injuries after doing yoga regularly. However, nearly 75 percent said regular yoga helped them feel less pain. And researchers in Germany and England recently found that participating in yoga classes may make people think they are worthier than others. Historically, yoga has aimed to limit the ego. Im Anna Mateo. Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this report for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver 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 steadily - adv. happening or developing in a continuous way flexibility - n. ability to bend contribute - v. to help to cause something to happen relief - n. a pleasant and relaxed feeling that someone has when something unpleasant stops or does not happen stress - n. a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life ego - n. the opinion that you have about yourself A major study carried out in Norway suggests IQ scores among men there have been falling since the mid-1970s. The study involved more than 700,000 men born to Norwegian couples between 1962 and 1991. The research was carried out by Oslos Ragnar Frisch Center for Economic Research. Results were published last week in the U.S.-based scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The men were given tests around age 18 to measure IQ - or intelligence quotient as part of required military service in Norway. IQ tests are designed to measure intelligence based on areas such as vocabulary knowledge, verbal and non-verbal reasoning skills, and working memory. In the Norwegian study, results showed the average IQ score increased about three percent for men born between 1962 and 1975 from 99.5 to 102.3. But the scores began dropping for men born after 1975. By 1989, the average IQ score had returned to 99.4. The study is related to something known as the Flynn effect. This is the idea that if the same IQ tests are given to people born at different points in time, the scores will generally rise. Ole Rogeberg is with the Frisch Center and was a lead researcher on the study. He told VOA the Flynn effect showed a clear increase in IQ scores during the 20th century throughout the Western world. Researchers found the IQ increases during this time period happened too fast to be related to genetics. They said the higher scores were instead caused by environmental factors. Among possible factors were better teaching and learning methods, improvements in test-taking skills and healthier eating. Rogeberg said that in the new study, he wanted to examine possible causes for the steady drop in IQ scores. To rule out genetics, he attempted to find similarities between brothers. Because on average, the genes that the first born and the second born and the third born get, they will be relatively similar. Theres no reason to expect that one sibling gets better genes just because hes the first or second child. He concluded that external factors probably influenced the scores more than genetics. However, he added that the study did not provide any information about specific kinds of environmental causes for the lower IQ scores. But he said researchers are considering a number of theories. It may be due to changes in the educational system or that it reflects a change in the media environment if people used to read books more, but now they're watching television more or going on the internet more. Rogeberg looks forward to results of additional studies that can support his findings. He says more research is needed to help explain all the reasons behind changes in IQ scores. It's difficult to compare the results across time, and whether it actually reflects a change in some underlying intelligence or whether it reflects differences in how we have been trained to use our intelligence to solve different kinds of tasks. In any case, Rogeberg says he believes the reasoning and critical thinking skills measured by intelligence tests will always be important. He notes that humans will still need to process information, even as technology and artificial intelligence become a bigger part of peoples lives. You have to be able to reason your way through the world as you live it, he said. And I don't think these skills are going to lose their relevance. But the way they are relevant might change. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn reported this story for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Quiz Quiz - Norwegian Study: IQ Scores Dropped for Decades Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story vocabulary n. all the words you know in a particular language score n. the number of points someone gets in a test or game factor n. one of the things affecting a particular situation, decision, event, etc. relatively adv. used to say something is true or correct as a general statement, even if not entirely true or correct sibling n. a sister or brother reflect v. to show or be a sign of something task n. piece of work that has been given to someone critical thinking n. disciplined thinking that is clear, open-minded, and informed by evidence artificial intelligence n. ability of a machine to reproduce human behavior relevance n. the degree to which something is related or useful to what is happening or being talked about Experts say spreading street protests in Vietnam this month show a growing fear of China, worries about freedom of speech and distrust of the lawmaking process. The rights group Amnesty International says demonstrations involving about 30,000 people took place on June 9 and 10. The group says protests were held in 10 cities, including Vietnams largest, Ho Chi Minh City. Occasional violence was reported. But on June 17, protests brought out thousands more people. The rights group said at least 150 people were detained. Police beat some of the demonstrators. Vietnams Tuoi Tre newspaper reported that eight people were arrested. Protesters throughout the country were reacting to a National Assembly bill. The law would let foreign investors occupy land for up to 99 years in three special economic areas. The protesters worry that investors from China would lease the land. They also condemned a cybersecurity law that the National Assembly passed on June 12. The bill could lead to rules that let police more closely watch the publics internet activity. Trung Nguyen is an international relations official at Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities. He thinks the cause of the protests is that the public does not trust the government, the National Assembly or the legislation. Proposed cybersecurity law criticized The National Assembly has delayed the lease bill until October for possible changes. But protesters in cities still opposed the cybersecurity law. That is because the exact rules on what will be permitted online will not be known for about six months. The law requires service providers such as Google and Facebook to store user information in Vietnam, open offices in the country and remove offending posts within 24 hours. One official with Amnesty International said the law may let the government ask service providers to share information about what common users say online. Adam McCarty is chief economist with Mekong Economics in the capital, Hanoi. He said the Vietnamese government has always watched peoples internet activity. He said the government has made some arrests in recent years. But he thinks the new law will permit more watching of the public, even people not really actively trying to overthrow the government. In June 2017, the Ministry of Public Security proposed the Law on Cybersecurity to give it more power over banned content and anti-government activities. The assembly strongly supported the law by a vote of 423 to 15. Second wave of protests However, on the same day, June 17, thousands of people protested in Ha Tinh province of central Vietnam. They opposed the cybersecurity law and the idea of leasing land to Chinese investors. China makes up nearly 7 percent of Vietnams foreign direct investment now, media reports say. Relations between the countries are uneasy, however, because the two have a territorial dispute in the South China Sea. The Catholic news website Ucanews.com reported that about 200 protesters were detained, beaten and questioned in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday. The website said tens of thousands of Catholics, including priests from Ha Tinh province, had attended special masses Sunday. They said they were seeking "to pray for justice and peace in the nation and for government leaders to protect the country. In Binh Thuan province protesters came with bricks and Molotov cocktails. The news website Vietnam Net Bridge reported that they burned vehicles, injured police and damaged official buildings on June 10 and 11. Vietnamese officials have accused extremists of starting some of the protests. Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong appealed Sunday for calm. Next moves Ming Yu Hah is an Amnesty International official for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. She said, I thinkwere in a different digital environment, so I think theres a lot of unknown factors that are definitely difficult to predict. Vietnam does not block websites, and this lets people organize on social media. But Maxfield Brown says as long as Vietnams economy keeps raising peoples incomes through job creation, protests are unlikely to increase. He is with Dezan Shira & Associates, a business advice agency for foreign investors based in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnams economy grew nearly 7 percent last year. Brown said the intensity of the protests and where they took place suggest that the protesters are isolated groups of people already feeling dissatisfied. Im Mario Ritter. Ralph Jennings reported this story for VOA News. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story occasional adj. happening or done sometimes, but not often cybersecurity n. the protection of internet-connected systems, including hardware, software and data, from cyberattacks mass n. the central act of worship in the Catholic church brick n. a small, hard block of baked clay that is used to build structures and sometimes to make streets or paths Molotov cocktail n. a simple bomb made from a bottle filled with gasoline and stuffed with a piece of cloth that is lit before the bottle is thrown digital adj. related to computers and information on them factors n. something that helps produce or influence a result isolated adj. separate from others Many Americans are expressing shock at the Trump administrations policy of separating children from their parents at the United States border with Mexico. But throughout U.S. history, officials have taken such action. Here are some examples: Slavery Slave families were often separated in sale. Slave owners could sell slave children to anyone. Their parents had no legal rights to prevent their sale and could do little to stop them. Some slave families attempted to escape. But all faced severe punishment, even death, if captured. Last week, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions used the Christian holy book, the Bible, to defend the policy of forced separation. He said, I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order. That same passage was cited before the Civil War as a defense for separating slave children from their mothers. Native American boarding schools In the 1870s, the United States began a policy of forcible assimilation for Native Americans. The government ordered the removal of Native American children from their families and reservations. They were sent to boarding schools that many described as similar to prisons. The schools were established with the goal destroying all Indian tradition and nature within the child. At about 150 Indian schools around the country, officials made Native American children cut their traditional long hair and banned them from speaking in their native language. The schools forced the children to accept Christianity and white customs. Native American children returned home almost unrecognizable to their parents. Still, some children resisted by setting fires to buildings, running away or taking their own lives. Others continued to speak their native language in secret. Some Navajo code talkers were students at the boarding schools as children. During World War II, they used a code based on their native language to send secret messages for the U.S. military. Indian boarding school policies remained in place through the 1960s. Poverty During the early 1900s, American states sometimes took children from poor families and placed them in orphanages. Author Michael Katz wrote in his book In the Shadow of the Poorhouse: A Social History Of Welfare In America that this practice ended in the 1920s and 1930s. However, Katz said, local and state officials continued to use poverty as a reason to take children away from Native American and African American families. Sometimes the ordered separation came over concerns about a parents mental health. The late civil rights activist Malcolm X described his experience of such treatment in a book about his life. He wrote that government workers took him and his siblings from his mother after the murder of their father. He said he lived in several foster homes and boarding houses. He said his mother, without her children, had a psychological breakdown and was ordered to a mental health asylum. Great Depression repatriation During the Great Depression, California and Texas officials blamed Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans for the economic event. They forced between 500,000 and 1 million Mexicans and Mexican Americans to leave the U.S. Francisco Balderrama co-wrote Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s. He said some families hid children with family members in the U.S. to prevent them from being sent from the country. Many families felt they were being forced to separate from their children, who were U.S. citizens. And many children, Balderrama said, never saw their parents again. Japanese internment camp Former U.S. first lady Laura Bush criticized the current family separation policy in an opinion piece published by The Washington Post newspaper. She compared the images of children in tent cities in the desert outside El Paso, Texas, to those in internment camps for U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent during World War II. In 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an order forcing around 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry into internment camps around the country, including 30,000 children. George Takei is an American actor who was sent to an internment camp at the age of five. Takei wrote in Foreign Policy, At least during the internment of Japanese-Americans, I and other children were not stripped from our parents. We were not pulled screaming from our mothers arms. We were not left to change the diapers of younger children by ourselves. Im Jonathan Evans. And Im Ashley Thompson. The Associated Press reported this story. Hai Do adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story cite - v. to write or say the words from a book, an author, etc. ordain - v. to officially establish or order assimilation - n. an action to cause a person or group to become part of a different society, country code - n. a set of letters, numbers, symbols used to secretly send messages orphanage - n. a place where children without parents can live and be cared for practice - n. something that is done often or regularly sibling - n. a brother or sister foster - adj. used to describe a situation in which a child is cared for by someone other than his parents psychological - adj. of or relating to the mind strip - v. to remove scream - v. to cry loudly because of pain or surprise diaper - n. a piece of clothe or material fastened around a baby to hold body waste China Hydroelectric Corporation is a developer, owner and operator of small hydroelectric power projects in China. The projects are located in Zhejiang, Fujian, Yunnan and Sichuan. As of December 31, 2012, wholly owns 22 operating hydroelectric power projects and have controlling interests in three operating hydroelectric power projects. In March 2012, the Company sold 100% of the Yuanping hydroelectric power project. In April 2013, the Company sold the Yuheng hydroelectric power project, a 30 megawatt (MW) project located in Fujian province. In July 2014, the Company announced that it has completed the merger with CPT Wyndham Sub Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of CPT Wyndham Holdings Ltd. Read More China has agreed to provide more than USD100 million in military aid to Cambodia, a senior Cambodian defense official said yesterday. Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Chhum Socheat said the aid for training, exercise and equipment was agreed upon over the weekend in a meeting between visiting Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Banh. Wei on Monday also met with Prime Minister Hun Sen. Weis five-day trip was undertaken to strengthen military ties and attend a China-Cambodia military exhibition. It concludes on Wednesday. China is Cambodias closest political ally and a major economic supporter, wooing it into its sphere of influence with millions of dollars in aid and investment over the past decade. It has provided millions of dollars in aid and investment over the past decade, granted Cambodia a tariff-free status on hundreds of trade items and written off its debt. In return, Cambodia supports China in international forums, including Beijings ongoing dispute with Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea. The alliance with Beijing has allowed Hun Sen to snub Western concerns about human rights and corruption. In 2010, Beijing stepped in to provide Cambodia with more than 250 military vehicles after the United States earlier suspended a similar shipment when Cambodia repatriated 20 ethnic Uighurs asylum seekers to China. In January, Cambodia and China signed nearly 20 agreements worth several billion dollars to develop the impoverished Southeast Asian countrys infrastructure, agriculture and health care. The agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed during a meeting between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang. AP China yesterday threatened comprehensive measures in response to U.S. President Donald Trumps new tariff hike, raising the possibility Beijing might target operations of American companies. Trumps announcement fueled fears that economic losses, limited so far to companies hit by U.S. or Chinese tariff hikes, might spread if the dispute chills global trade. Global stocks fell after Trumps announcement. Chinas market benchmark dropped 3.8 percent while Hong Kongs lost 2.8 percent. In Europe, Germanys main index was off 1.3 percent and Frances lost 1.1 percent. The Commerce Ministry criticized Trumps order for new tariffs on USD200 billion of Chinese goods as blackmail. In a forceful statement, it said Beijing was ready to defend the interests of the Chinese people and enterprises. If the tariff hike goes ahead, China will have to adopt comprehensive measures that combine quantity and quality, the statement said. It gave no details, but Chinas lopsided trade balance with the United States means Beijing doesnt import enough American goods to stick with its strategy of matching the scale of Trumps tariff increases. China responded to the U.S. announcement Friday of a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion of Chinese goods by imposing an identical charge on the same amount of American goods. But Chinas imports from the United States last year totaled $153.9 billion. That would leave about $120 billion available for a tariff hike, falling short of Trumps $200 billion target. The mention of comprehensive measures suggests Beijing might go beyond tariffs, said Jake Parker, vice president for China operations of the U.S.-China Business Council. He asked whether that might include delaying or denying licenses required by U.S. companies. That seems to open up a new front, Parker said. Chinas heavily regulated economy also gives officials the option of tying up companies with tax, anti-monopoly or other investigations. China could target U.S. firms through tax and regulatory policies, Citigroup said in a report. The dispute is part of broader U.S. complaints about global trading conditions that have prompted Trump to raise duties on steel, aluminum, washing machines or solar panels from Canada, Europe, Japan and South Korea. Economists warn Washington might be undercutting its negotiating position by alienating potential allies. Tariff hikes imposed so far by Trump affect a total of $109 billion of imports, according to Morgan Stanley. It said with retaliatory tariffs imposed by American trading partners added in, the total rises to $181 billion, or 1 percent of global trade. The risks of a more meaningful impact on global trade and growth have increased, Morgan Stanley economists said in a report. The United States and China have the worlds biggest trading relationship but official ties are increasingly strained over complaints Beijings technology development tactics hurt American companies. Beijing has offered to narrow its politically volatile trade surplus with the United States but has resisted changing development plans its leaders see as a path to prosperity and to restoring Chinas rightful role as a global leader. Trumps tariffs target goods the White House says benefit from industrial policies that Chinas trading partners say violate its market-opening pledges. The Trump administration also has threatened a tariff hike on another $100 billion of imports in its parallel dispute over Beijings trade surplus. It has yet to say when that might take effect. Europe, Japan and other trading partners raise similar complaints. But Trump has been unusually direct about threatening to disrupt such a large volume of Chinese exports. Beijing will not panic in response to Trumps latest threat, but will be deeply concerned, Eurasia Group said in a report. It said the Chinese government is trying to find out whether Trump has the political strength to carry out his threats and is pressuring U.S. interests to force him to compromise. Joe McDonald, Beijing, AP The Chief Executive (CE) Chui Sai On said on Monday that the suspension of the public consultation of the amendment of the Road Traffic Law demonstrates that the SAR government listens to the opinion of the public. The purpose of a public consultation is to listen to the opinions of Macau residents, declared Chui, adding, I think that a public consultation is one way [the government has] to listen to these opinions. The residents of course have different ways of expressing their sentiments. As to demonstrations and assemblies, we all need to obey the law and need to pay attention to public safety. The government must protect residents regarding how they express their opinions. The CE also acknowledged that Macaus current traffic conditions still do not correspond with the residents expectations. Hence, the CE claims that solving traffic problems has to start early. This means that we agree with most of the opinions we have collected, said Chui, according to whom, after the public consultation announcement was made earlier, the government received different opinions from residents, in particular addressing the topic of heavier fines applied to illegal parking. In consideration of the abovementioned facts, the SAR government decided to suspend the public consultation. In addition, Chui claimed that laws and regulations, after they have been implemented for a certain period, would be appreciated in different ways by different people as the society develops. Japans government has ordered an emergency inspection of cinder-block walls at schools nationwide, a day after an earthquake in Osaka killed five people, two of whom were crushed by falling walls. The magnitude 6.1 earthquake that struck Osaka during Mondays morning rush hour injured more than 370 people in the region, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The quake also damaged many buildings and disrupted traffic. Authorities confirmed a fifth victim Tuesday a 66-year-old man found dead, covered with books and other objects at a home in Takatsuki. The death of 9-year-old Rina Miyake just outside her school in Takatsuki city has sparked concerns about cinder-block walls and prompted authorities to call for safety checks. An 80-year-old man, who was on his way to volunteer in a neighborhood watch while schoolchildren walked to school, also was killed by a collapsing wall. Education Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Tuesday he was ordering all public elementary and junior high schools to urgently inspect their walls. Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Keiichi Ishii said he planned to raise awareness of the potential risks of cinder-block walls among private property owners as well. Concrete walls made of stacked cinder-blocks are a known risk in earthquakes but the danger has been largely ignored even though the current building codes call for walls built before 1981 to be upgraded. Japan introduced stricter quake-resistant standards in 1981 after cinder-block walls caused 11 of 16 deaths in a 1978 quake in northern Japan. Japanese schools have largely upgraded the safety of classrooms and other buildings to meet current anti-quake standards, but many of the old cinder-block walls have been left untouched. Past local government surveys in school neighborhoods have found most walls lack additional safety reinforcement. Some quake-prone cities in central and eastern Japan, including Tokyo, Aichi and Shizuoka, have started offering subsidies for dismantling or reinforcing cinder-block walls as a way to motivate private owners. Officials in Takatsuki city have acknowledged that the wall at the municipal-run school that broke and killed the girl exceeded the legal height limit of 2.2 meters (about 7 feet). On Tuesday, police investigated the site and city officials on suspicion of professional negligence. Elsewhere in Takatsuki and the other hardest hit areas, relief workers and residents worked to return life to normal. Many homes remained without safe drinking water or gas Tuesday. While some stores remained closed Tuesday for safety inspections or repairs, residents rushed to operating grocery stores to stock up on bottled water, instant noodles and other preserved food. Authorities have warned residents of possible strong aftershocks. Mari Yamaguchi, Tokyo, AP GGCT monitors osaka earthquake The Tourism Crisis Management Office (GGCT) announced that it is paying close attention to the Osaka earthquake and will maintain in close contact with the Macau travel industry for any developments. From the information gathered through the local travel industry, there is currently one tour group from the SAR with approximately 25 people in Osaka. GGCT states that there is no indication that their safety has been compromised. The Macau travel industry added that they have not received any request for assistance from local residents. According to a statement issued yesterday, GGCT has not received further requests for information or assistance. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is making a two-day visit to Beijing starting today in which hes expected to discuss with Chinese leaders his next steps after his nuclear summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last week. Kims visit to Beijing, while expected, is one way for China to highlight its crucial role in U.S. efforts to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. The U.S. has long looked to China to use its influence with North Korea to bring it to negotiations, but the visit comes as ties between Beijing and Washington are being tested by a major trade dispute. Chinese President Xi Jinping is exerting a lot of influence from behind the scenes, said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Glaser said it was predictable Xi would want to be briefed by Kim directly about the North Korean leaders talks with Trump. I expect they will talk about the path going forward and where priorities should lie, Glaser said. Those priorities, from Chinas perspective, would be to ensure that Beijing is included in any peace treaty talks and in creating an environment on the Korean Peninsula that will make it unnecessary for U.S. troops to remain. Security was tight yesterday morning at the Pyongyang airport, where another flight was unexpectedly delayed, and later at the Beijing airport, where paramilitary police prevented journalists from shooting photos. A motorcade including sedans, minibuses, motorcycles and a stretch limo with a golden emblem similar to one Kim used previously was seen leaving the airport. Roads near the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where senior Chinese officials meet with visiting leaders, were closed and the same motorcade was later seen heading into the compound. A ring of police vehicles and black sedans surrounded the perimeter of the guesthouse, where Kim stayed on his first visit earlier this year. A similar convoy of vehicles was seen leaving the state guesthouse in the direction of the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing yesterday Tuesday afternoon. Kims presence in Beijing and the schedule of his visit, including any meetings with Xi, have not been confirmed. Kim was diplomatically isolated for years before making his first foreign trip as leader in March to meet with Xi in Beijing. This is his third visit to China, North Koreas main ally and key source of trade and economic assistance. Following his summit with Trump, Kim was expected to meet with Chinese leaders to discuss progress in halting his countrys missile and nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic incentives. Chinas foreign ministry refused to provide details on Kims visit other than to say that Beijing hopes it will help deepen relations between the countries. Geng Shuang, a ministry spokesman, said at a regular briefing yesterday that the visit would strengthen our strategic communication on major issues to promote regional peace and stability. Geng said Beijing supported Russias calls last week for unilateral sanctions on North Korea ones that arent imposed within the United Nations framework to be canceled immediately. China always stands against the so-called unilateral sanctions outside the Security Council framework. This position is very clear and we believe sanctions themselves are not the end, Geng said. While Beijing and Moscow have supported U.N. restrictions, they bristle at Washington imposing unilateral sanctions to put pressure on North Korea. The Singapore meeting resulted in a surprise announcement of a U.S. suspension of military drills with its South Korean ally, a goal long pursued by China and North Korea. That move is seen as potentially weakening defenses and diplomacy among Americas Asian allies, while bolstering China and Russia. The U.S. has stationed combat troops in South Korea since the Korean War, in which China fought on North Koreas side and which ended in 1953 with an armistice and no peace treaty. South Koreas Foreign Ministry said Kims visit to China highlights the constructive role Beijing could play in disarming North Korea. Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said Seoul and Beijing share a strategic goal in achieving the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that progress in nuclear diplomacy has been facilitating high- level contacts between North Korea and its neighbors. Noh also downplayed concerns that improving relations between China and North Korea could result in loosened Chinese sanctions against North Korea, saying that Beijing has repeatedly stated its commitment to U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North. Chinese state medias treatment of Kims visit departed from past practice of not announcing his travels until Kim returned home. Analysts said Beijing appeared to be trying to normalize such visits. Cheng Xiaohe, an associate professor at Renmin Universitys School of International Studies in Beijing, said that unlike previous visits, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV announced Kims visit before his departure. This is an improvement. This shows that China is moving toward a healthier and more normal direction in relations with North Korea, Cheng said. He added that the frequency of Kims visits was unprecedented. Yang Mu-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kims repeated visits to Beijing this year show that the recent chill in the two countries ties over Kims development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles had fully lifted. I believe that indicates that the blood alliance between the North and China has been completely restored, Yang said. The visit comes as a dispute over the large trade imbalance between China and the U.S. has been escalating, straining ties between the worlds two largest economies and moving them closer to a potential trade war. Trump recently ordered tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods in retaliation for alleged intellectual property theft. The tariffs were quickly matched by China on U.S. exports, a move that drew the presidents ire. On Tuesday morning China woke to news that Trump had directed the U.S. Trade Representative to prepare new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese products, a move swiftly criticized by Beijing. A trade war with the U.S. could make it less attractive for China to use its influence over North Korea to help the U.S. achieve its objectives of denuclearization. The potential comprehensive trade war will make the cooperation between China and U.S. in North Koreas nuclear issue more complicated, Cheng said. There will be a big question mark over whether China and the U.S. will continue this cooperation. Christopher Bodeen, Dake Kang, AP NATOs chief is urging the alliances 29 countries to set aside a festering trans-Atlantic row over trade, climate and the Iran nuclear deal, amid concern that the tensions will undermine the military alliance. In an editorial in yesterdays Guardian newspaper, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the ties that bind us are under strain. He said we must continue to work hard to settle our differences and where differences persist, we must limit any negative impact on our security cooperation. Stoltenbergs message comes less than a month before U.S. President Donald Trump meets with his NATO counterparts in Brussels. Stoltenberg says NATO has overcome divisions before and can do so now. Trump humiliated his partners at a summit last year, publicly berating them for failing to spend enough on defense. AP The Philippine Supreme Court upheld the expulsion of its chief justice, the authoritarian presidents highest-ranking critic, in a final ruling yesterday that critics warned is unconstitutional and threatens judicial independence and the countrys democracy. Justices voted 8-6 to uphold their May 11 decision to oust Maria Lourdes Sereno from the 15-member high court and deny her appeal, said court spokesman Theodore Te. The governments solicitor-general had asked the court to boot Sereno out for allegedly failing to file some of her past assets disclosures in act he said damaged her integrity, a charge she denies. President Rodrigo Duterte has 90 days to appoint a replacement. Sereno blasted the government petition that led to her removal as an abominable perversion of the rules of court and a total violation of the constitution. It has made our courts, and indeed the entire civil service, constantly vulnerable to political intimidation, and thus unable to properly dispense their duties professionally and without fear, she said in a speech at a state university. Dutertes allies said the ruling should be respected, but opponents deplored it, with one opposition group, Tindig Pilipinas, labeling the tribunal as a supremely erroneous court and threatening to file impeachment complaints against the justices, who approved the government petition. Our constitution mandates the Supreme Court to be the final arbiter of legal and constitutional questions. Let us respect its decision, no matter what our persuasions are, said Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Dutertes allies. Serenos expulsion cut short a separate congressional impeachment attempt against her. She argues that the government petition, known as violates the constitution because it stipulates that justices like her can be removed only by congressional impeachment. Alvarez said the court ruling has rendered moot and academic the impeachment proceedings, which now have to be consigned to the archives. More than half of the 23-member Senate, however, including some Duterte allies, has asked the Supreme Court to review its decision, calling the ruling a dangerous precedent that infringed on the constitutional power of Congress to impeach senior officials. The 57-year-old former law professor angered Duterte after she disagreed with his efforts to take action against judges linked to illegal drugs in 2016, saying the Supreme Court should be the one to punish erring judges. Duterte, who is sensitive to criticisms, has said he had avoided getting involved in efforts to remove Sereno but got fed up. So Im putting you on notice that I am now your enemy. And you have to be out of the Supreme Court, Duterte said in a speech in April. The House Justice Committee said in March that there was probable cause to impeach Sereno, accusing her of corruption, breach of public trust and other serious crimes. Sereno has denied any wrongdoing, but Duterte and his officials maintained that she breached the law and should not have been designated chief justice by Dutertes predecessor in 2012. Sereno was the first woman to head the Supreme Court and the first chief justice to be forced out through a government petition. Her predecessor, Renato Corona, was impeached by the House in 2011 and became the first chief justice to be convicted in a 2012 Senate trial for failing to accurately disclose his bank deposits and properties. U.N. Rapporteur Diego Garcia-Sayan, who looks into threats to the independence of judges and lawyers worldwide, warned recently that Serenos expulsion from the court is an attack on judicial independence that could imperil Philippine democracy. If the chief justice can be easily expelled, everybody would have to dance with the same music and with that, the independence of the judiciary is finished and that opens the route of abuse of power, Garcia-Sayan told The Associated Press in Manila. Duterte angrily reacted by asking Garcia-Sayan not to meddle in the countrys domestic affairs and told him to go to hell. After her removal was made final, Sereno vowed yesterday she would be at the forefront to help lead a public movement that would seek government accountability and defend civil liberties. Jim Gomez, Manila, AP Taiwan will encourage its people to boycott airline companies that list the island as a Chinese territory on their websites, the Financial Times (FT) reported. Such listings come after recent pressure from Beijing that called on several international entities from different sectors, namely transport and logistics, to change the way they address the region. In response, and following the call-to-action from central government authorities, several major international airlines changed Taiwans designation on their websites and other relevant documents to Taiwan, China over the last few weeks. Now, Taiwanese authorities seem to be eager to fight back, calling on their fellow citizens to boycott such airline companies. We will tell our people: Those are the airlines that caved in to China, it is your choice [whether to use them or not], David Lee, Secretary-General of Taiwans National Security Council, said to the FT. The same Taiwanese official noted that the idea of boycotting the airlines comes as a countermeasure against what he classified as Beijings excessive aggressiveness, advancing also that a legal action against the companies that are labeling Taiwan as part of China is not ruled out, although he admitted that it would be a complex process and may take two to three years to reach a ruling. Still, Lee noted the will of the island to fight back, saying, we wont just sit idle here. As previously reported by the Times, in April, Chinas aviation regulator issued a statement calling on airline companies to remove all references on their websites as well as in other material that could suggest that Taiwan, and the SARs were countries. The initial deadline for the companies to act was settled for May 25, later extended to the end of this month. According to a report from Singapore-based Straits Times, the Singapore flag carrier Singapore Airlines as well as its low-cost subsidiary Scoot were two of the companies to immediately comply with Beijings request. Australias Qantas, Air Canada, Air France, Germanys Lufthansa, British Airways and Emirates were among several companies that already reportedly changed their websites according to Chinese rules, while Macau flag carrier, Air Macau, continues to refer to Taiwan as previously, using Taiwan, China in the Chinese version of the website and naming it Taiwan District in the English language. On the other hand, Hong Kongs Cathay Pacific mentions the region as solely Taiwan in both English and Chinese versions. RM Invited by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Macau, a group of 20 local media representatives have visited the Penghu archipelago in Taiwan. Penghu is located on the Taiwan Strait between China and Taiwan. During periods of low tide, more than one hundred isles surface in the Penghu County. The total area of more than 90 isles is around 127 square kilometers. There are 19 isles populated, while 71 isles are uninhabited, spanning a total area of approximately 3 square kilometers. The coastline of Penghu is crooked and extends along 448 kilometers. Besides the common cape bays, people can also see wave-erosion cliffs and sandy and rocky coast landforms along the coastal area. During last weeks trip to Penghu, the Macau group visited some of its well-known attractions, including Kuibishan, the Penghu Rainbow Bridge, and many of the places in Penghu that are commonly visited by the local community. The media group also met with Penghu County Magistrate Chen Kuang-fu. Chen hopes that the SARs residents can visit Penghu for both the places natural attractions and its gastronomy. Penghu is the worlds most beautiful bay. This year, the annual Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club will be held in Penghu. 41 regions in the world are part of this club, said Chen. The Most Beautiful Bays focus primarily on the weather and ecology. Penghu is the only county in Taiwan having participated in the Club, he added. In September, we hope that all you [SAR residents and media groups] can come to attend the 2018 World Congress of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World, declared Chen. Having invited the SAR residents to visit Penghu County, Chen highlighted Penghus good weather, clean environment, and the countys hospitality, in addition to the unique basalt landscape, which represents the main landscape in Penghu County. When talking to the media, Chen suggested that they spend some time in Penghu and enjoy the stunning fireworks displayed above the sea, which, Chen believes, will leave the visiting group with unforgettable memories. In September, besides the Most Beautiful Bays conference, which will be organized in Penghu, the County will further prepare a series of activities, including the Global Gulf and Harbor City Summit, the Global City Expo, the Summit Forum on Marine Environment and Climate Change, and the worlds night of bays, yachts exhibition, food exhibition, tourism pageant, triathlon, among other events. Moreover, according to Chens introduction, from August until December, direct charter flights from Hong Kong to Penghu will operate twice a week. In April and May, we already had several flights between Hong Kong and Penghu, informed Chen, adding, it will also be convenient for those visiting Penghu who are departing from Macau. The flight lasts one hour and 15 minutes. We welcome you [Macau and Hong Kong residents] to come to Penghu. Chen hopes that, through these flights, more international tourists, including Hong Kong and Macau residents, can be appealed to visit Penghu, while simultaneously promoting Penghus beauty to the world. Tourists who come to Penghu say that it is beautiful. We also think Penghu is beautiful, said Chen. According to him, during northeast monsoons, floating objects will arrive in Penghu, but the county has always effectively cleaned these drifts. There are more than 90 islands in Penghu. There are also two beaches which are completely white-sand beaches. The 90 isles consist all in basalt landscapes, said Chen. During his introduction to the media, Chen noted that Penghu County, in the past, allowed tourists to set foot upon one of Penghus islands. However, because several tourists littered across the islands, eventually turning them into big trash bins, Penghu County decided to ban entry to the island, thus allowing tourists to only see the natural landscape from afar, in order to protect the natural environment. Commenting on the archipelagos nature, Chen said that Penghu encourages people to bring sleeping bags, to lay on the beach, to observe the stars, and to watch the fireworks. In total, Penghu has 19 historic sites, eight museum exhibitions, two ancient temples, and 57 recreations, including several beaches. Penghu also has six military historic sites, and 19 geo- ecological sites. The county, which is currently inhabited by around 101,000 people, is a clean place with a strong dedication towards saving water, as the Penghu county faces water shortages. Penghu has also been carrying out tourism business to take advantage of its rich natural and cultural resources, which make Penghu an ideal location for the development of the tourist trade. The Taiwan government has been cooperating with the Penghu national scenic management office to promote the tourist trade, and has invested a great deal of effort to attract international and domestic investments, as well as to bolster local prosperity, and reduce population outflow. Currently, there are international and domestic organizations that have already invested money in the construction of a five- star international tourist resort. The journalist was in Taiwan at the invitation of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Macau An audio recording that appears to capture the heartbreaking voices of small Spanish-speaking children crying out for their parents at a U.S. immigration facility took center stage in the growing uproar over the Trump administrations policy of separating immigrant children from their parents. Papa! Papa! one child is heard weeping in the audio file that was first reported Monday by the nonprofit ProPublica and later provided to The Associated Press. Human rights attorney Jennifer Harbury said she received the tape from a whistleblower and told ProPublica it was recorded in the last week. She did not provide details about where exactly it was recorded. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said she had not heard the audio but said children taken into custody by the government are being treated humanely. She said the government has high standards for detention centers and the children are well cared for and stressed that Congress needs to plug loopholes in the law so families can stay together. The audio surfaced as politicians and advocates flocked to the U.S.-Mexico border to visit U.S. immigration detention centers and turn up the pressure on the Trump administration. The president was to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the crisis with House Republicans. And the backlash over the policy widened. The Mormon church said it is deeply troubled by the separation of families at the border and urged national leaders to find compassionate solutions. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, reversed a decision to send a National Guard helicopter from his state to the Mexican border to assist in a deployment, citing the administrations cruel and inhumane policy. At the border, an estimated 80 people pleaded guilty Monday to immigration charges, including some who asked the judge questions such as Whats going to happen to my daughter? and What will happen to my son? Attorneys at the hearings said the immigrants had brought two dozen boys and girls with them to the U.S., and the judge replied that he did not know what would happen to their children. Several groups of lawmakers toured a nearby facility in Brownsville, Texas, that houses hundreds of immigrant children. Democratic Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico said the location was a former hospital converted into living quarters for children, with rooms divided by age group. There was even a small room for infants, complete with two high chairs, where two baby boys wore matching rugby style shirts with orange and white stripes. Another group of lawmakers on Sunday visited an old warehouse in McAllen, Texas, where hundreds of children are being held in cages created by metal fencing. One cage held 20 youngsters. More than 1,100 people were inside the large, dark facility, which is divided into separate wings for unaccompanied children, adults on their own, and mothers and fathers with children. In Texas Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for people trying to enter the U.S., Border Patrol officials say they must crack down on migrants and separate adults from children as a deterrent to others trying to get into the U.S. illegally. When you exempt a group of people from the law that creates a draw, said Manuel Padilla, the Border Patrols chief agent there. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, speaking to reporters during a tour of San Diego immigration detention facilities with Rep. Juan Vargas and other House Democrats, said family separation is a heartbreaking, barbarian issue that could be changed in a moment by the president of the United States rescinding his action. It so challenges the conscience of our country that it must be changed and must be changed immediately, she said during a news conference at a San Diego terminal that is connected to the airport in Tijuana, Mexico, by a bridge. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas announced late Monday that he was introducing emergency legislation intended to keep immigrant families together. All Americans are rightly horrified by the images we are seeing on the news, children in tears pulled away from their mothers and fathers, Cruz said. This must stop. President Donald Trump emphatically defended his administrations policy Monday, again falsely blaming Democrats. The United States will not be a migrant camp, and it will not be a refugee holding facility, he declared. Not on my watch. Nomaan Merchant, Anita Snow, AP Vietnam boasts one of the worlds fastest-growing economies, optimistic citizens and a stable government. But below the surface of positive data points lies discontent that spilled over during recent protests across the country. On Sunday, hundreds of anti-riot police blanketed central Ho Chi Minh City, the nations thriving commercial center, to prevent demonstrations after thousands of Vietnamese took to the streets across the nation the previous week. They were marching against proposed special economic zones with 99-year land leases they fear will lead to Chinese encroachment, as well as cybersecurity legislation they believe will curb online freedoms. Theres an overall frustration in society, said Alexander Vuving, a political analyst at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. During the 10 years since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization, they have seen progress in terms of wealth creation. At the same time, people have seen a lot of corruption scandals. And Vietnamese are very suspicious of Chinese influence. Vietnams one-party system is governed by a collective leadership involving the Communist Party general secretary and ministers. Activists and bloggers who challenge the legitimacy of the party and government can be jailed there are currently 169 activists in prison, according to U.S. Representative Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who has held hearings on Vietnam. In the south-central province of Binh Thuan, police are prosecuting eight people on charges of causing public disorder, the government- owned Vietnam News reported today. The province experienced demonstrations on June 10-11, when vehicles were set ablaze, government buildings damaged and 45 police officers injured, according to the Ministry of Public Security. To be sure, citizens have benefited greatly by the communist governments aggressive moves to open the economy up to the world. Vietnam has averaged economic growth of 6.3 percent between 2005 and 2017, multiplying its per capita income six-fold to USD2,385 last year from $396 in 2000, according to data from General Statistics Office in Hanoi. The economy grew 7.38 percent in the first quarter and the World Bank revised its forecast on Vietnams 2018 economic growth to 6.8 percent from 6.5 percent. The booming economy is being driven by investments from foreign companies that have made the country a manufacturing powerhouse. Still, a level of distrust of the government exists among average citizens, whose concerns are amplified on social media. One flashpoint is the nations fraught relations with its powerful neighbor, China, with which it fought a brief border war in 1979. A Pew opinion poll released last year found just 10 percent of Vietnamese view China favorably. Territorial tensions have picked up between Vietnam and China since China dragged an exploration oil rig into contested waters in mid-2014. The move led to deadly anti-China protests in Vietnam and clashes at sea between coast guard boats. Anti-China sentiment is toxic in Vietnam, said Carlyle Thayer, an emeritus professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. Thousands of protesters, fearing a proposed law on special economic zones would allow Chinese to gain influence over the nation with 99-year leases, demonstrated from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City on June 10. In all, about 300 people were detained, including U.S. citizen Will Nguyen, who was accused of causing public disorder, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a Hanoi press briefing Thursday. Vietnamese are also inflamed about a cybersecurity law approved by the National Assembly last week that requires companies to store data of local users within the country. The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, also bans internet users from organizing, encouraging or training other people for anti-state purposes, spreading false information, creating difficulties for authorities and damaging socioeconomic activity. Unlike previous protests such as those in 2016 against an environmental disaster tied to Taiwans Formosa Plastics Corp., the recent demonstrations involved more ordinary citizens and fewer well-known activists, Vuving said. An undercurrent of anger is swelling among average Vietnamese because of massive corruption and extreme lack of transparency in provincial governments, said Le Dang Doanh, a Hanoi-based economist and former government adviser. Its very important that the government talk more to people to relieve problems before they become big issues among citizens. For now, the discontentment wont deter investors in Vietnam, which depends on foreign investment for growth, said Bernard Lapointe, Ho Chi Minh City-based head of research at Viet Dragon Securities JSC. The biggest risk for Vietnam, in case of an escalation of social discontent, would be a drop in FDI. Political leaders are working to tamp down the anger. The National Assembly postponed voting on the special economic zones legislation until later this year and removed the 99-year lease provision. Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong called on citizens to trust the partys leaders and remain calm, according to a statement posted on the governments website Monday. The party, he added, has no other purpose other than being for the country and for its people. 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Ltd., Technology Partners, Telegra, The Technology Partners, Tourmaline Holding B.V., Tower Software, Tower Software Engineering Pty Ltd, Transoft Networks, Trellis Software & Controls, Triaton, Trinagy, TruLogica, Trustgenix, Turquoise Holding L.P., VeriFone, Verifone, Versatest, Vertica Systems, Vesta Holding B.V., Vital Technology Pte Ltd, Voltage Security, VoodooPC, and ZAO Hewlett-Packard A.O.. ConocoPhillips engages in the exploration, production, transportation and marketing of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and liquefied natural gas on a worldwide basis. It operates through the following geographical segments: Alaska; Lower 48; Canada; Europe, Middle East and North Africa; Asia Pacific; and Other International. The Alaska segment primarily explores for produces, transports and markets crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The Lower 48 segment consists of operations in the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico. The Canada segment is comprised of oil sands development in the Athabasca Region of northeastern Alberta and a liquids-rich unconventional play in western Canada. The Europe, Middle East and North Africa segment consists of operations and exploration activities in Norway, the United Kingdom and Libya. The Asia Pacific segment has explorations and product operations in China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. The Other International segment handles exploration activities in Columbia and Argentina. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, TX. Read More Travelport Worldwide Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates a travel commerce platform that offers distribution, technology, payment, mobile, and other solutions for the travel and tourism industry in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It facilitates travel commerce by connecting travel providers, such as airlines, hotel chains, and car rental companies with online and offline travel buyers in a business-to-business travel platform. The company provides distribution and merchandising solutions for hotel, car rental, rail, cruise-line, and tour operators; Virtual Account Number payment solutions that automatically generate unique MasterCard numbers that are used to process payments; advertising solutions; and other platform services, such as subscription, processing, and business intelligence data services, as well as marketing-oriented analytical tools to travel agencies, travel providers, and other travel data users. It also offers critical IT solutions and other services to airlines, such as shopping, ticketing, departure control, business intelligence, and other solutions. Travelport Worldwide Limited was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Langley, the United Kingdom. Read More 2 hours ago China's economic growth weakens amid construction slowdown BEIJING (AP) Chinas economic growth is sinking under pressure from a construction slowdown and power shortages, prompting warnings about a possible shock to its trading partners and global financial markets. The worlds second-largest economy grew by a weaker-than-expected 4.9% over a year ago in the three months ending in September, down from the previous quarters 7.9%, government data showed Monday. Read Article Ford has acquired the iconic Michigan Central Station and plans to transform it into the centerpiece of a vibrant new campus in Detroits Corktown neighborhood that will serve as an innovation hub for Fords vision for the future of transportation The Corktown campus is a place where Ford and its partners will work on autonomous and electric vehicle businesses, and design solutions for a new transportation operating system that makes mobility more convenient and accessible through smart, connected vehicles, roads, parking and public transit Corktown will be part of a Ford mobility corridor running from Ann Arbor to Dearborn to Detroit. Its also the latest node in Fords research network stretching from Palo Alto to Germany to China. Fords plan to redesign its Dearborn campus will continue in parallel with the Corktown campus development Michigan Central Station, shuttered 30 years ago, will be redeveloped over the next three to four years into a magnet for high-tech talent and a regional destination with modern work spaces, retail, restaurants, residential living and more Watch the livestream RELATED: Michigan Central Station Through the Years DETROIT, June 19, 2018 Fords Highland Park plant helped create Americas middle class. At Willow Run, Ford workers built the planes and tanks that helped win World War II, setting the stage for American prosperity. Generations of families have worked at the 100-year-old Rouge factory, putting the world on wheels and helping grow the middle class. Now, as the company ushers in its next era, Ford adds Detroits Corktown neighborhood to that transformative list. The new Corktown campus will be a hub where Ford and its partners will work on autonomous and electric vehicles, and design urban mobility services and solutions that includes smart, connected vehicles, roads, parking and public transit. In a week in which the company celebrated its 115th anniversary, Ford today formally announced the acquisition of Michigan Central Station. Ford employees, city and state officials, Corktown residents and Detroit civic leaders attended the ceremony at the iconic former train station. Michigan Central Station is a place that in many ways tells the story of Detroit over the past century, said Bill Ford, the companys executive chairman. We at Ford want to help write the next chapter, working together in Corktown with the best startups, the smartest talent, and the thinkers, engineers, and problem-solvers who see things differently all to shape the future of mobility and transportation. The acquisition of Michigan Central Station comes alongside the companys purchase of the former Detroit Public Schools Book Depository, two acres of vacant land, the site of an old brass factory and the recent purchase of a refurbished former factory in Corktown, now home to Fords electric vehicle and autonomous vehicle business teams. What Rouge was to Ford in the industrial age, Corktown can be for Ford in the information age, said Ford President and CEO Jim Hackett. It will be the proving ground where Ford and our partners design and test the services and solutions for the way people are going to live and get around tomorrow, creating a Southeast Michigan mobility corridor that spans west from Dearborn to Ann Arbor, and east to Detroit. Ford plans to have at least 1.2 million square feet of space in Corktown, three-quarters of which will be split between the company and its partners. Approximately 2,500 Ford employees, most from the mobility team, who will call Corktown their work home by 2022 with space to accommodate 2,500 additional employees of partners and other businesses. The remaining 300,000 square feet will serve as a mix of community and retail space, and residential housing. This project is supported by our strong partnership with state and local government officials. Development of Michigan Central Station and other Corktown locations is critical to Fords future as the company continues learning how urban areas are changing and the role transportation plays in revitalizing cities. Being in the heart of Americas comeback city will help attract talent, startups and engineers that want to address these issues with Ford. At the same time, Ford is continuing with its Dearborn Campus Transformation plan that started in 2016. This summer the 150,000-square-foot Wagner Place development in West Dearborn is on track to open, as is a new driving dynamics lab located on Fords Product Development Campus. The 10-year Dearborn plan will also continue to bring key work groups closer together, including the companys product development teams to one campus. Preparing smart vehicles for a smart world As cities cope with booming populations, aging infrastructure and new technology, the way people move is changing rapidly. Rather than simply integrating new technology into an aging transportation system, Fords vision includes a fresh approach for how the overall transportation system can benefit from new ideas that help people lead better and more productive lives. The future of transportation requires more than new vehicles or even self-driving vehicles. It requires smart vehicles that can communicate with an increasingly smart and connected world. Thats why Ford is developing a Transportation Mobility Cloud an open platform that manages information flow and transactions between different services to help cities optimize their various modes of transit. The company is also committed to ensuring vehicles can communicate with tech-enabled surroundings to reduce CO2, lower congestion, and improve safety. In Corktown, Fords efforts can come together in an urban environment, proving-out technology in the same environment where new ideas must be applied. This campus has the potential to help return Detroit to being the mobility capital of the world shaping the future of transportation for the better. This will be the kind of campus where the emerging economy thrives a collaborative ecosystem of companies, educators, investors, and innovators, Hackett said. This is where part of our team will live and work as a part of this community, alongside the customers and neighbors whose lives were trying to make better. Working for the community While Fords Corktown investments are crucial to the companys long-tern planning, it is also represents a commitment to the city of Detroit and its future, with Michigan Central Station envisioned as a beacon of development and opportunity. Fords plans for the station to include restoration of the grand hall to its original luster; attraction of local shops and restaurants; and creating new residential options in the up-and-coming neighborhood. The station will serve as a public space for people to enjoy, with more details to come in the future. Ford is committed to working with Corktown residents and businesses to make certain its development efforts align with the historic nature of the community and complement other planned developments to revitalize the neighborhood. Just as Dearborn does, Corktown holds a special place in my heart, said Bill Ford. Henry Ford was the son of an immigrant. His father, William Ford, came over from Cork during Irelands potato famine. And Corktown was a destination for immigrants like him who came here with little more than hope. It was a place where you could reimagine whats possible. Thats what we want to do all over again, right here in Corktown to build tomorrow, together. Ford thanks the Moroun family, the long-time owners of Michigan Central Station, for their support in making this project possible. Michigan Central Station, designed by the same architects that designed New Yorks Grand Central Station, was the main intercity passenger rail depot in Detroit. Built for the Michigan Central Railroad, it replaced the original depot in downtown Detroit, which was shuttered after a major fire in December 1913. Formally dedicated on Jan. 4, 1914, the station remained open for business until the cessation of Amtrak service on Jan. 6, 1988. With a train depot and 13-story office tower with a roof height of 230 feet, it was the worlds tallest rail station when constructed. Before renovations begin, Ford is offering the public a chance to attend an open house at Michigan Central Station from June 22-24. Highlights of this complimentary tour include: Credit: Case Western Reserve University African-Americans who regularly attend church are far less likely to suffer from mental-health issues, including depression and suicide, according to new research from Case Western Reserve University. The findings, recently published in the Journal of Community Psychology, were based on a national survey of 3,000 study participants. (The African-American ethnic distinction is defined as participants with family origins from Africa.) "In a nutshell, being in touch with family and church members is good for mental health," said Ann W. Nguyen, an assistant professor at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve. "People who are more emotionally close to church members have lower rates of suicide. Religion is support for [many] African-Americans." Having strong connections with family, friends and church members can be beneficial to mental health, Nguyen explained, because they serve as a guard against a range of psychiatric problems, such as depression, suicide, psychological distress and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). What African-Americans describe as "family" generally is broaderthink cousins, aunts and unclesthan what white people describe, according to respondents. "There's more frequency of contactAfrican-Americans are more in touch with church membersadding a layer of benefit," Nguyen said. Key takeaways Among the African-Americans who participated in this study: People who had more contact with church and family members had less depressive symptoms. Those who received more emotional support from family had less depressive symptoms. People who experienced more negative interactions with church and family members had more depressive symptoms. "They likely reached out to the church community for support," Nguyen said. "That's what we call 'resource mobilization.'" When people experience conflicts in their relationships, those connections may also be a source of stress and negatively impact mental health, she added. For instance, Nguyen's research found that negative interactions with family and church members may be linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and PTSD. Previous research has shown that African-Americans have lower rates of depression that whites. However, despite being less prevalent, depression is more severe, chronic, persistent and disabling for African-Americans than for whites. These disparities constitute an excess burden of depression for African-Americans, according to the new research. For most respondents, negative interactions tended to be infrequent, with positive interactions tending to far outnumber the negative ones. Those negative interactions include how often study participants reported that family members criticize and/or take advantage of them and place excessive demands on them. Among the few studies dedicated specifically to the mental health of African-Americans in relation to social structures, the research complements a body of data analyzing family and church separatelybut not the interaction and its effect on mental health, Nguyen said. Explore further Americans view child abuse and neglect as a serious public health problem The BedMed study, led by a U of A researcher, will look at the purported health benefitsand potential risksof having patients take blood pressure medication at bedtime instead of daytime. Credit: University of Alberta More than seven years ago, a big health finding reported on in a peer-reviewed journal went largely unnoticed. "Spanish chronobiologists found that taking your blood pressure medication at bedtime instead of in the morning reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke and death by 61 per cent," said Scott Garrison, an associate professor in the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. "If this were true, it would extend people's life expectancy by 5.5 years. The next best thing we have for lowering heart attack and stroke risk is cholesterol-lowering medication, and that's only a 35 per cent reduction." One of the reasons the extraordinary finding went largely unnoticed is because "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence to be believed," said Garrison. His team of researchers is embarking on a massive study in Western Canada that will finally answer the question: when is the best time to take blood pressure medication? The study, called BedMedwhich has already recruited 947 patients (and counting) with the help of 155 family physiciansis not only investigating the purported health benefits, but also the risks. "We do not recommend that the public change when they take any medication without consulting with their doctor," said Garrison, who is leading the study. "There is the possibility of huge benefits from changing the time you take your blood pressure medicine, but there could also be unrecognized harms no one has looked at before." Why timing may matter For the one in five Canadians with high blood pressure, medication is often prescribed for daytime use based on the assumption that the medication will combat the increase in blood pressure that may happen while the person is active, explained Garrison. "The normal pattern is for blood pressure to be higher during the day and lower at night," he added. So why might taking blood pressure medication at night, when blood pressure is already lower, reduce the risk of a heart attack? "We know that if you don't dip lower at night, you have a higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke," said Garrison. "Taking the medication at night preferentially lowers bedtime blood pressure and creates a more normal rhythm. If the benefit to bedtime prescribing is real, that may be why." Garrison added that BedMed aims to show whether there truly is a benefit for everyone. Their goal is to recruit 8,750 participants from Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba. "This is a pragmatic trial. We are trying to answer the question for everyone, regardless of how complex their health issues might be. " The potential risks In addition to investigating whether taking blood pressure medication at night time reduces the risk of heart attacks, strokes and death, Garrison said BedMed will attempt to find three potential harms. Visual changes "It has been shown that if you have glaucoma, and if you also have lower than normal blood pressure while you sleep, your vision deteriorates more quickly. For this reason, we're excluding anyone with known glaucoma and watching closely for this outcome." Falls and fractures There is a legitimate concern that older adults who get up in the middle of the night may experience dizzinessdue to lower than usual blood pressureand fall and cause a fracture. "Our aim is to ascertain the true risk of this occurring when blood pressure medication is taken at nighttime." Dementia "This concern is pure speculation. Lowering overnight blood pressure could be helpful or harmful so far as developing dementia," added Garrison. He added that the relationship between blood pressure and dementia is highly complex. Unique approach BedMed is the only study of its kind in North America to be primary care-led. The pilot work for this project involved 236 family physicians participating in 54 Western Canadian communitiesthanks to the Pragmatic Trials Collaborative, a unique model of study design developed by Garrison, which does not impede physician work flow or require a major time commitment. "We're hoping to get the participation of around 500 physicians," said Garrison, who pointed out how the participation of family physicians is critical to accessing patients for all kinds of research. Their participation entails sending out a letter to suitable patients informing them of BedMed and managing any resulting medication changes. The study is also unique because it has been co-developed and co-managed with a 10-member patient working group, noted Garrison. "The insights and values of our patient partners played a critical role in the study development, including which risks and benefits we're searching for," he added. How to participate in the study Anyone who is on blood pressure medication and lives in Alberta, British Columbia or Manitoba may apply online or call 1-844-492-7570 to see whether they're eligible to participate in BedMed. "We screen participants and start the process off with a phone call. We're keen to hear from anyone who's interested in taking part," said Garrison. Participants will need to supply a list of medications, and will be screened for cognition and past health issues. If patients are randomized into a group that is changing medication timing, they might need to visit their family physician to guide and monitor the switch. Participants will be in the study for about three years, but the only commitment after the switch is a phone interview or email survey every six months. Explore further New guidelines mean 1 in 3 adults may need blood pressure meds It is easier to match images of smiling faces. Credit: University of York A fulsome smile in a photo makes it easier for people to identify the individual, say researchers at the University of York. Previous research at York has shown that it is difficult for people to match a pair of unfamiliar faces in photographs, presenting significant issues for authorities to spot identity fraud. Research has also shown that new face morphing technology can not only deceive human eyes, but smartphone software as well. To improve accuracy rates, research led by Dr. Mila Mileva at the University's Department of Psychology, looked into the possibility that a smiling image of a person could be more easily matched to a different image of that same individual, as well as more easily distinguished from an image of a similar- looking identity. Dr. Mileva said: "Photo ID is a significant part of our lives and yet we know that the human brain has a hard time matching photos of people to other photos and matching photos with the real-life person. Identity fraud is a real problem on many levels, so it is important that we do more research in this area to see how we can improve methods of identification." The team conducted three studies; one where 40 study participants were asked to match 60 unfamiliar images of neutral face expressions, much like a passport photo, with an open-mouth smiling face, and another where they compared neutral expressions with images of a closed smiling face. They also asked 34 participants to match images where only the lower part of the face was visible. In all three studies, the researchers found that participants' success in matching two images of the same person was higher when an open mouth smile was displayed, as opposed to either a neutral image or a closed mouth smile. Analysis of the results from study one found a 9% improvement in performance for smiling images when comparing two images of the same person and a 7% improvement when comparing images of two different, but similarly looking, people. Dr. Mileva said: "Our research suggests that replacing the neutral expression we usually use when taking identification photographs with an open mouth smile, can make face matching an easier decision. "As soon as there's a mismatch in emotional expressioncomparing a smiling and a neutral image for examplethe matching accuracy drops substantially. "We also had success in showing that an open mouth smile can help people to tell two similarly looking, but different people apart which is critical when checking photo identification." Researchers say that an image of a smiling person at passport check points, for example, could see an improved identification success rate compared to the neutral image, but a more practical solution could be to embed a smiling picture in the chip, so that passport officials have access to both a neutral image and a smiling image to assist them in their decision-making. The research is published in the British Journal of Psychology. Explore further Photo selection study reveals we don't look like we think we look Zachary Estes in his office at Bocconi University, Milan. Credit: Paolo Tonato Individual speech soundsphonemesare statistically associated with negative or positive emotions in several languages, according to new research published in the journal Cognition by Bocconi Professor Zachary Estes, his Warwick colleague James Adelman and Bocconi student Martina Cossu. These associations can quickly signal people to avoid danger, because the phoneme-emotion associations are strongest at the beginning of the word and the phonemes that are spoken fastest tend to have a negative association. It has long been known that phonemes systematically convey a range of physical properties such as size and shape. For example, the "e" sound in "beetle" sounds small, whereas the "u" sound in Hummer sounds big. This is known as sound symbolism. Given the evolutionary importance of avoiding danger and approaching rewards, Estes and colleagues hypothesized that, like size and shape, emotion should also have sound symbolic associations. They tested this prediction in five languagesEnglish, Spanish, Dutch, German and Polishand in all five languages, particular phonemes occurred more often in positive or negative words. Estes and colleagues also tested whether this emotional sound symbolism could be an adaptation for survival. To aid survival, communication about opportunities and especially danger needs to be fast. The researchers tested this assumption in two ways. First, they showed that in all five languages, the phoneme-emotion associations are stronger at the beginnings of words than at the middle or ends of words. This conveys emotion rapidly, even before the whole word is spoken. Second, they examined the speed with which specific phonemes can be spoken. Estes and colleagues discovered that phonemes that can be spoken faster are more common in negative words. This allows danger to be understood faster than opportunities, and this aids survival, because avoiding danger is more urgent than winning rewards. For instance, being too slow to avoid a snake can be fatal, but if you're too slow to catch a bird, you will probably have other chances. Estes and his colleagues argue that emotional sound symbolism evolved due to its adaptive value to humans. It made communication about danger and opportunities more efficient, allowing a quicker reaction to important stimuli and thereby supported the fitness and survival of the human species. First author James Adelman said, "In debates about whether human language abilities evolved from more general cognitive skills or more specific communicative adaptations, these findings reveal one specific adaptation. Our findings suggest that the ability to appreciate very short speech sounds could have helped humans to efficiently warn kin and peers, aiding survival." Zachary Estes said, "We have also begun testing applications in business, because emotional phonemes provide an opportunity for companies to inform consumers about their products. For example, a pharmaceutical company might want to use positive sounds for a drug that promotes health benefits like a vitamin, but they might want to use negative sounds for a drug the prevents health detriments like an anti-malarial drug." Explore further Researchers discover link between gene variation and language More information: James S. Adelman et al, Emotional sound symbolism: Languages rapidly signal valence via phonemes, Cognition (2018). Journal information: Cognition James S. Adelman et al, Emotional sound symbolism: Languages rapidly signal valence via phonemes,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.02.007 Provided by Bocconi University Christa Murphy was in the bathroom getting ready for work, yet the routine wasn't going like it should. She kept dropping the soap in the shower. She squeezed globs of toothpaste out of the tube, seemingly everywhere but onto the bristles of her brush. "I started to feel really strange," she said. "But I didn't feel sick. I didn't have a headache." With her husband out of town and her son away at college, the only other person home was her daughter, Katie, an eighth-grader. Katie wasn't even supposed to have been home that Saturday morning; she was only there because a sleepover the night before got cancelled. Katie was in bed, watching Netflix on her phone, when Christa went into the teen's room and asked for help. What Katie heard was gibberish. "What's wrong with you?" Katie said. As Christa struggled to give a coherent answer, Katie remembered a lesson from her science class just two days before. Teacher Beth Tomlin told the students that when a friend of hers had a stroke, her words were jumbled. Katie immediately called her dad, but he didn't answer. So she called her grandmother, Christa's mom. She told Katie to take a deep breath and call 911. As Katie suspected, Christa was suffering a strokea blood vessel in her brain had become blocked. Thanks to Katie's quick response, Christa got to the hospital in time to receive clot-busting medicine. In most cases, the medicine must be administered within three hours of the stroke's onset; the sooner it's delivered, the better the chances of recovery. For Christa, the delivery came soon enough. "It was like a switch was flipped," she said. "Suddenly I was able to talk, my mind cleared up, and I knew I was going to survive." Christa was in the hospital for three days and underwent a series of tests. More than a year later, doctors still don't know why she had the stroke. This happens in about 30 percent of all ischemic strokes; it's classified as cryptogenic. Christawho lives in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukeehad no other warning signs. She has no family history, aside from a grandmother who died of a stroke at age 94. Christa was 45. While in relatively good health, she faced plenty of stress as a mother, daughter and wife. She also worked two jobs. Now, she's more health conscious, eating better and regularly walking the family doga new addition since her recovery. She also was recently an honoree at the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women luncheon in Milwaukee. Not only did she tell her story to about 400 attendees, she also watched for the first time a video in which she, Katie and Tomlin recounted the morning everything had to go right to save her life. "The bond between the three of us will last a lifetime," Christa said. Explore further Therapy dogs like Katie are good medicine after stroke Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association, Inc., and all rights are reserved. If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org. Giving the drug sodium thiosulphate after chemotherapy reduces hearing loss in children treated for liver cancer, according to findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine today. Results from the Cancer Research UK funded SIOPEL-6 clinical trial show that giving sodium thiosulphate (STS), after a type of chemotherapy called cisplatin, reduces hearing loss by nearly 50% in children treated for hepatoblastoma, a childhood liver cancer. This is a major step forward in minimising the number of children left with debilitating and long-term side effects after being treated for cancer. Dr. Penelope Brock, trial lead and paediatric consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said: "We're lucky to have such an effective treatment for this type of liver cancer. But like many cancer treatments, there can also be long term side effects. For children treated with cisplatin alone, a huge proportion are left with permanent hearing loss, which can be utterly debilitating. Even mild hearing loss can severely impact a child's future development. Key consonants are heard at high frequencies like 's,' 'h,' and 'f', and their loss can be particularly difficult for children who haven't yet developed speech. "This treatment combination could help ensure that parents aren't faced with an upsetting scenario where successful cancer treatment comes at the cost of their child's hearing." 109 children took part in the trial, which was led by researchers at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and had either cisplatin alone or cisplatin followed by STS 6 hours later. While 63% of children given cisplatin alone suffered a degree of hearing loss, this was only the case for one third (33%) of children also given STS, meaning their risk of this side effect was reduced by 48%. Importantly, there was no difference in overall survival or incidence of cancer returning, meaning the treatment was just as effective if children were given STS. Professor Pam Kearns, Cancer Research UK's expert on children's cancers at the University of Birmingham, said: "No child should have to suffer a disability as a result of their cancer treatment. Hearing is precious and we're delighted to see that we can safeguard the future development of more children, without compromising the chance of curing their cancer." Cisplatin is a very effective treatment for many cancers including hepatoblastoma, for which survival has improved dramatically. However, around two thirds of children treated with this drug are left with some hearing loss. This is because while cisplatin is rapidly removed from the body following treatment, it is retained in and damages the cochlea, the portion of the inner ear responsible for hearing. Preclinical and clinical research, by a team led by Dr. Ed Neuwelt at Oregon Health and Science University, had previously shown that STS could prevent hearing loss caused by cisplatin. Scientists then determined how to delay when STS was given to patients to avoid any interference with cisplatin's effect on their tumour. In light of these latest results, STS could become part of a new standard of care for treating hepatoblastoma, and researchers are also looking at whether it could work for other children's cancers where cisplatin is used as part of treatment. The next step is to get marketing authorisation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA). It has already received a breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA and will be filed under a Paediatric Use Marketing Application in the EU. Ollie Simpkin, 12, from Islington, was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma when he was five-months-old. Ollie's mum Philly Simpkin, said: "After eight rounds of chemotherapy and surgery at GOSH, the great news is that Ollie is now cancer free. While Cisplatin was very effective in shrinking Ollie's tumour, it is a very strong drug which can lead to serious side effects including hearing loss. We are very thankful that this was kept to a minimum for Ollie but he has still lost the top end of his hearing. This means he struggles to hear in big crowds and has to sit at the front of the class. He really wants to learn to play the drums, but we can't risk the damage getting any worse. "When Ollie was going through treatment, STS hadn't been developed yet, but it's fantastic that this new treatment could prevent other children from experiencing similar damage that can have such a big impact on their life." The SIOPEL-6 trial recruited patients from 52 centres in 12 countries. In the UK, the trial coordination was funded by Cancer Research UK. The STS drug was provided free of charge by Fennec Pharmaceuticals. "International trials like this are crucial to help us improve treatments for children," added Professor Kearns. "The UK is a major contributor to clinical trials research across Europe and this is something we hope will continue. Researchers and patients need certainty on clinical trials both during and beyond the Brexit transition period." Explore further Preventing childhood deafness following chemotherapy treatment More information: Brock, P, R., et al. Sodium Thiosulfate Protection of Cisplatin-Induced Ototoxicity. New England Journal of Medicine (2018). Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine Brock, P, R., et al. Sodium Thiosulfate Protection of Cisplatin-Induced Ototoxicity.(2018). Credit: CC0 Public Domain There is no strong evidence that vitamin D protects against pregnancy-induced high blood pressure (hypertension) or pre-eclampsia, conclude researchers in The BMJ today. The findings support current World Health Organization guidance that evidence recommending vitamin D supplements for women during pregnancy to reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes is insufficient. However, in many countries, including the UK and the US, pregnant women are advised to take a daily dose of vitamin D. It is common for pregnant women to have low levels of vitamin D, which can suppress the hormone that regulates blood pressure which may increase the risk of both hypertension and pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. Previous population-based studies have found that women with lower levels of vitamin D are at greater risk of pre-eclampsia and some trials of vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy suggest a potential benefit. But it remains unclear whether vitamin D is a cause of pre-eclampsia. So an international team led by Maria Magnus at the University of Bristol, set out to investigate whether vitamin D has a effect on pregnancy induced hypertension or pre-eclampsia. Using a technique called Mendelian randomisation, they examined whether genetic variants associated with vitamin D production and metabolism also influenced the risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension and pre-eclampsia for 7,389 women (751 with gestational hypertension and 135 with pre-eclampsia) from two large European studies (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, also known as Children of the 90s, and Generation R Study). They also performed another (two sample) Mendelian randomisation analysis of 3,388 pre-eclampsia cases and 6,059 controls. Analysing genetic information as proxies for the exposure of interest in this way avoids some of the problems that afflict traditional observational studies, making the results less prone to unmeasured (confounding) factors. An association that is observed using Mendelian randomisation therefore strengthens the inference of a causal relationship. Mendelian randomisation analysis showed no evidence to support a direct (causal) effect of vitamin D levels on risk of gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia. The researchers point to some study limitations. For example, the analyses were restricted to pregnant women. If vitamin D affects fertility, this may have resulted in selection bias. In light of the uncertainty, they suggest further studies with a larger number of women with preeclampsia or more genetic variants that would increase the predictive power of vitamin D levels are needed. "In combination with adequately powered clinical trials, this could help finally establish whether vitamin D status has a role in pregnancy related hypertensive disorders." they conclude. Explore further Insufficient vitamin D linked to miscarriage among women with prior pregnancy loss More information: Vitamin D and risk of pregnancy related hypertensive disorders: mendelian randomisation study, Vitamin D and risk of pregnancy related hypertensive disorders: mendelian randomisation study, www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k2167 Bipolar disorder is characterized by transitions between depression and mania. Credit: Wikipedia Symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, including psychosis, depression and manic behavior, have both shared and distinguishing genetic factors, an international consortium led by researchers from Vanderbilt University and Virginia Commonwealth University is reporting. The consortium's findings, which were published online June 14 in the journal Cell, are raising hopes that genetics could help characterize and eventually inform more effective treatment options for patients with these brain disorders. "We can show that some of these symptoms which comprise these diagnoses have underlying biology that can be studied separately and characterized," said first author Douglas Ruderfer, Ph.D., assistant professor of Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Biomedical Informatics in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "Of the many interesting findings reported here, one of the most important has been our ability to classify the risk genes for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder into three broad groups: those that influence risk for both disorders about equally, those that impact only on risk for schizophrenia with no apparent effect on bipolar illness and the smaller group that appear to act only specifically on bipolar illness," said senior author Kenneth Kendler, MD, director of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at VCU. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are among the world's leading causes of disability. Although they are clinically distinct entities, they are often both seen within the same families and share overlapping symptoms. With the sequencing of the human genome and development of powerful computational tools, it became possible to look for genetic variants that explain the biological basis for the differences between these two brain disordersand their common symptoms. The problem was numbers, said Ruderfer, an investigator in the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute who came to Vanderbilt in 2016 from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Researchers needed to study thousands of patients in order to tease out "needles" from their genetic "haystacks." Toward that end Kendler and another pioneer in psychiatric geneticsthe late Pamela Sklar, MD, Ph.D.along with a number of other investigators including especially Patrick Sullivan helped organize the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. In 2014, they, Ruderfer and their colleagues, published the first evidence that differences between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have a genetic basis. The current study, authored by the consortium's Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia Working Group, involved more than 500 investigators at more than 200 institutions in 34 countries. Pooling their resources, the researchers were able to accumulate more than 53,000 individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia and substantial information on 28 symptoms of these disorders. The researchers compared genotypes, the genetic readout, of individuals with the disorders to those from 54,000 controls who did not have either mental illness. They also compared the genotypes of people who had differing symptoms of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. The analysis, called a genome-wide association study, identified dozens of loci, or chromosomal locations, that were shared, and multiple loci that were divergent between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The researchers were able to quantify genetic risk of each disorder in each individual and correlate the genetic component with the symptoms. Some of these genetic components clearly distinguished between the two illnesses, while others, particularly those that were associated with psychosis, were shared. In other words, people who experienced psychotic symptoms had similar genetic traitswhether they had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. More research is needed. But "if we could utilize genetics as a kind of biomarker, (potentially) we could inform treatment and tie that to outcome and course of illness," Ruderfer said. Explore further Shared genetics in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder More information: Douglas M. Ruderfer et al. Genomic Dissection of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, Including 28 Subphenotypes, Cell (2018). Journal information: Cell Douglas M. Ruderfer et al. Genomic Dissection of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, Including 28 Subphenotypes,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.05.046 The Reproductive and Sexual Health Initiative is an interdisciplinary working group comprised of health care professionals and university faculty. Credit: CHSP Eighty-five percent of a sample of college students report engaging in risky sexual behavior and the knowledge of the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STI) seemed to have little to no effect on the behavior, according to a study by Ohio University's Reproductive and Sexual Health Initiative (RSHI). RSHI is an interdisciplinary working group comprised of faculty and professionals in the College of Health Sciences and Professions (CHSP), the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, OhioHealth O'Bleness River Rose Obstetrics & Gynecology and Rio Grande University. Caroline Kingori (Ph.D., MPH), Zelalem Haile (Ph.D., MPH) and Tania Basta (Ph.D., MPH)RSHI's core facultydeveloped the initiative in collaboration with a local healthcare organization in Athens to conduct the study with the background that incidence of STI has increased across the country among young adults. Examining the association between knowledge of STI and risky sexual behavior, defined as having oral, vaginal and/or anal intercourse without a barrier method, a group of 200 college students participated in the study at a local clinic. The participants were asked to complete an online questionnaire presented by research assistants while they waited to be attended to by a health care provider. The results showed no statistically significant difference in STI knowledge scores between participants who reported engaging in risky sexual behavior and those who did not. Kingori, an assistant professor in CHSP and co-founder of RSHI, called the results of the study "shocking" in that students still engaged in risky sexual behavior regardless of the knowledge base on the diseases. A Master of Public Health graduate student and a Community and Public Health undergraduate student worked on the ongoing study as research assistants. They assisted with data collection and reporting. The research team hopes to expand the study to eventually include 1,000 participants. "This will allow for a preplanned subgroup analysis to determine whether the observed lack of difference in STI knowledge by risky sexual behavior is consistent across certain subgroups," said Haile. Among sexually transmitted infections, the most prevalent are chlamydia followed by gonorrhea and syphilis. "This study is critical to determining the best strategies to reach out to our students," said Kingori. According to OHIO's Division of Student Affairs, the University's certified peer health educator group POWER/Gamma presented 29 programs to more than 1,100 students in 2017 covering topics such as STI, contraceptive methods, consent and women's health. The division also works with Planned Parenthood to provide free testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea and conducts ongoing education on the use of latex products which are then made available for free. Kingori said access to self-testing kits would be helpful for students and access to condoms at places like bars would also help. It has also been suggested by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that urine test as opposed to other invasive modes may increase the number of people willing to be tested. She spoke on the need for continuing sexual health education to help prevent "a surge of these cases" and added, "We need to go beyond just knowledge and focus more on developing skills." Explore further Protecting young adults' sexual health A TiO 2 crystal extracted from a T2D pancreas and its electron diffraction pattern. The resulting interference patterns indicate the findings outlined by the study in the journal, Chemical Research in Toxicology. Credit: Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin. In a pilot study by a team of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, crystalline particles of titanium dioxidethe most common white pigment in everyday products ranging from paint to candieswere found in pancreas specimens with Type 2 diabetes, suggesting that exposure to the white pigment is associated with the disease. Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) is not a known constituent of any normal human tissue. Our body normally has plenty of salts and compounds of metallic elements such as sodium, potassium, calcium, iron and magnesium, as well as lesser amounts of other metallic elements like cobalt or molybdenum but not of titanium. The team examined 11 pancreas specimens, eight of which were from donors who had Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and three from donors who did not. Whereas the three non-diabetic pancreatic tissue specimens contained no detectable TiO2 crystals, the crystals were detected in all of the eight T2D pancreatic tissue specimens. The UT Austin researchers found more than 200 million TiO2 crystallites per gram of TiO 2 particles in the specimens from T2D donors but not in the three specimens from non-diabetic donors. They published their findings last month in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology. The UT study was led by Adam Heller, professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering, a 2007 recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation and a lifelong champion for diabetes research. Heller was a leading member of the teams that designed FreeStyle, the first painless blood-glucose-monitoring system used by millions of people with diabetes worldwide; and the glucose-sensing technology of the FreeStyle Libre system, developed by Abbott Diabetes Care. "Our initial findings raise the possibility that Type 2 diabetes could be a chronic crystal-associated inflammatory disease of the pancreas, similar to chronic crystal-caused inflammatory diseases of the lung such as silicosis and asbestosis," Heller said. In the mid-20th century, titanium dioxide pigment replaced highly toxic lead-based pigments. It became the most commonly used white pigment in paints and in foods, medications, toothpaste, cosmetics, plastics and paper. As a result, annual production of titanium dioxide has increased by 4 million tons since the 1960s. According to the World Health Organization, the number of people with diabetes has quadrupled during the past four decades, affecting approximately 425 million people, with T2D comprising the majority of recorded cases. Although obesity and an aging population are still considered major factors leading to a rise in T2D cases worldwide, Heller's study suggests that increased use of titanium dioxide may also be linked to the rapid rise in the number of people suffering from the disease. "The increased use of titanium dioxide over the last five decades could be a factor in the Type 2 diabetes epidemic," Heller said. "The dominant T2D-associated pancreatic particles consist of TiO 2 crystals, which are used as a colorant in foods, medications and indoor wall paint, and they are transported to the pancreas in the bloodstream. The study raises the possibility that humanity's increasing use of TiO2 pigment accounts for part of the global increase in the incidence of T2D." Given the wide-reaching implications of his findings, Heller is keen to repeat the study, but this time using a larger sample. "We have already begun a broader study," he said. "Our work isn't over yet." Explore further Does the titanium dioxide in food and nanomaterials affect the gut microbiome? Penn Nursing's Linda Aiken, PhD, the Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing and Director of the Center for Health Outcomes & Policy Research Credit: Penn Nursing Nurse practitioners (NPs) are providing an increasing proportion of primary care, which is in short supply in many areas of the country. NPs deliver quality care in retail clinics, community health centers, rural clinics, and in primary care and specialty medical practices. In an article published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania researchers call for modernizing the way Medicare pays for training nurses, and highlight a successful new model of cost-effectively training more advanced practice nurses to practice community-based primary care. The findings come from a recently completed, five-state demonstration of an innovative model of graduate nurse education (GNE), authorized by the Affordable Care Act. In 3 projects, each GNE site, managed by one teaching hospital hub, combined the training capacity of entire communities across health systems, hospitals, private medical practices, clinics, long-term care, and universities. Offering payment to Medicare providers allowed communities to scale up high quality clinical training for advanced practice nurses in the settings where they are most needed when they graduate. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing's Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) led the largest demonstration site, which included nine universities, multiple health systems, and more than 600 community health care providers in the greater Philadelphia region. The article calls for Medicare to adopt, and fund, the nurse training model nationally. "There are significant economies of scale in organizing education across multiple universities and practice settings with a single teaching hospital hub," said Linda Aiken, Ph.D., the Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing and Director of CHOPR. According to an independent evaluation, the cost of educating each nurse practitioner varied from $28,000 to $57,000, compared to the cost of training a primary care doctor of close to $158,000 a year for multiple years. Studies show that nurse practitioners (NPs) provide high-quality primary care that is satisfactory to patients, improves access to care in underserved areas, and reduces costs of care. But although Medicare spends more than $15 billion annually on graduate medical education for physicians, it spends very little on clinical training for NPs. How Medicare pays for nurse training is based on formulas that predate the existence of most advance practice programs. The researchers call for a shift in Medicare funding from diploma nursing programs that produce entry-level RNs to permanent, national funding of training for advance practice registered nurses (APRNs). To underscore their point, they analyzed how Medicare currently allocates funds for nurse training. They found that Medicare funds for nurse training have decreased 30% (from $174 million in 1991 to $122 million in 2015), and that most funding still goes to hospital-operated diploma programs that now train less than 5% of RNs. "That analysis showed a substantial decrease in Medicare payments for nurse training between 1991 and 2015, at a time jobs for NPs are estimated to grow by 50%, making NPs among the top 10 jobs in the economy in terms of percent job growth," added Aiken. The researchers also explain another consequence of outdated Medicare policies for nurse training: inequitable distribution of Medicare funds for training by state. Hospitals in six states (Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, New York, Virginia, and Missouri) received 53 percent of Medicare nurse-training funds in 2015, largely because they have historically been home to a disproportionate number of diploma nursing schools. Only two hospitals west of the Rocky Mountains received any Medicare funding for nurse training in 2015. "The GNE Demonstration shows how Medicare could achieve greater value for its investments in nurse training while contributing to the development of a workforce that can better deliver the care that Medicare beneficiaries want and need," said co-author Barbara Todd, DNP, Director of the Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration at HUP, a 791-bed nonprofit teaching hospital affiliated with the Perelman School of Medicine and part of Penn Medicine. "The Demonstration shows that it is feasible and affordable for Medicare to pay hospitals to facilitate the expansion of clinical training opportunities for APRNs in the community as well as hospital settings, similarly to Medicare's support of clinical residency training for physicians." Explore further Surgical outcomes equivalent whether physician anesthesiologist assisted by nurse anesthetist or AA A study in the United States has shown that attitudes among community nurses are important for their compliance with infection control practices. The study, by researchers at The University of Manchester, Columbia University, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and Appalachian State University in the US, is published in the American Journal of Infection Control. The survey of 359 community nurses analysed knowledge, attitudes and reported compliance with practice guidelines looking at the relationship between attitudes to infection and actual compliance to infection control norms. The study is led by Dr. Jingjing Shang from Columbia University School of Nursing, with Dr. David Russell from the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and Department of Sociology, Appalachian State University. The survey revealed that attitudes and organisational culture, rather than knowledge base was much more likely to inculcate greater compliance with infection control. Older nurses were more likely to report self-compliance as were Non-Hispanic black nursesa cultural designation specific to the United States- who were 24 percent more likely than other groups to self-report compliance The percentage of community nurses in the survey who reported compliance with infection control practices exceeded 90 percent for most of the measured behaviours. However, 81.9 percent said they wear a disposable face mask whenever there is a possibility of a splash or splatter, and 79 percent said they wear a gown if soiling with blood or bodily fluids is likely. And 78.8 percent - 69.6 percent said they wear goggles or an eye shield when of exposed to bloody discharge or fluid. Slightly more than two-thirds of respondents said that the influenza vaccine is safe (68.5 percent), and 60.4 percent of them felt it was easy for them to stay at home when they are sick. And almost all the respondents failed to identify that hand hygiene should be performed after touching the nursing bag, which may transport infectious pathogens between patients. Professor Dawn Dowding, from The University of Manchester is on the research team. She said: "Infections such as urinary tract, respiratory, wound, and sepsis are one of the major reasons why patients are admitted to hospital. But we know very little about controlling it in the community "In fact, the community is a place where control is more difficult as patients may live in a variety of circumstances, with varying degrees of hygiene and knowledge." "We find most of the nurses said they were compliant with infection control protocols, but some said they were not." She added: "We're not entirely sure why older nurses are more likely to comply with infection control protocols, but it's probably a combination of factors. "One possibility could be that older nurses have probably spent more time in the same organisation and whose infection control practices have become second nature to them "But our key message is that infection control is not necessarily about knowledge- as most of the nurses surveyed had been working for some time. "So more training, for example, might not necessarily change behaviour; we felt from this research that inculcating good practice into the organisational culture is likely to be more effective." Explore further Fewer than one in five nurses comply with guidelines for standard precautions More information: David Russell et al. Factors for compliance with infection control practices in home healthcare: findings from a survey of nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward infection control, American Journal of Infection Control (2018). Journal information: American Journal of Infection Control David Russell et al. Factors for compliance with infection control practices in home healthcare: findings from a survey of nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward infection control,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2018.05.005 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Our ability to learn, remember, problem solve, and speak are all cognitive functions related to different parts of our brain. If researchers can identify how those brain parts communicate and exchange information with each other, clinicians and surgeons can better understand how diseases like Alzheimer's and brain cancer affect those cognitive functions. The majority of existing simulation studies show that the parts of the brain with high connectivity, the so-called "hubs", are most important when it comes to several different cognitive tasks. But the results of a recent and rare in-vivo study just published in Nature Communications demonstrate that the nucleus accumbens (NAc) - a part of the brain with weak connectionsplays an unexpectedly influential role in enhancing the memory network. The study was led by Gino Del Ferraro, Research Associate in the Levich Institute at the City College of New York in collaboration with a team of CCNY researchers and a group of researchers at Instituto de Neurosciencia in Spain, led by Andrea Moreno. Del Ferraro and team provided the theoretical analysis, modeling and predictions, while the Spanish team performed the in-vivo validations of the predictions. The study's goal was to identify which areas of the brain could be stimulated to enhance memory by identifying which are the influential nodes in the memory brain network within the three different areas for brain integration: hippocampus, prefontal cortex and nucleus accumbens (NAc). Previous studies of cognitive tasks showed the NAc was downstream of the hippocampus and the prefontal cortex and thus not influential for brain integration. In fact Del Ferraro and team proved that, for memory formation, the NAc is upstream and influential. The results of the CCNY-led research are worth noting, as is the methodology used to achieve them. Del Ferraro observes: "The effects of removing a node from a network has been studied with simulations, both for human and animal brain networks, but direct in-vivo validations are rare. Thus, up to this point, there was no well-grounded approach to predict which nodes are essential for brain integration." Del Ferraro and team are currently collaborating with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC, trying to apply similar techniques on people who have brain cancer in the language parts of the brain. They are attempting to identify which are the essential nodes for language production so that if patients undergo neural surgery, the surgeon knows which parts of the brain need to be preserved. Explore further Study describes changes to structural brain networks after radiotherapy for brain tumors More information: Gino Del Ferraro et al, Finding influential nodes for integration in brain networks using optimal percolation theory, Nature Communications (2018). Journal information: Nature Communications Gino Del Ferraro et al, Finding influential nodes for integration in brain networks using optimal percolation theory,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04718-3 ...and replaced with a privileged race... RT (Russia Today) brought us the English version of a story (originally in Spanish) that describes the fate of the 629 African migrants in a rescue ship (Aquarius) that was rejected by the new, more sensible, Italian government (as well as the government of Malta). These young people were sent to Spain which also has a new government, but a left-wing one, and therefore, unsurprisingly, (even) much more insane than the previous one when it comes to these matters. It turns out that Alicante, a city of 330,000 at the Southeastern Spanish beaches, didn't have any capacity to deal with the prospective immigrants and various groups that need to be separated e.g. unaccompanied teenagers. So what did the socialists do with the black teenagers (12-17 years old)? They just told all students living at La Frorida, Alicante a hostel to evacuate their apartments within 24 hours due to the "emergency situation". (I think that this eviction must be illegal in Spain and the EU and they must be using some loopholes designed for the state of war or huge natural catastrophes to legally justify what they're doing.) So you have the students who are paying up to 750 a month for their pretty nice rooms, who are going through intense learning and/or summer courses, and who were expected to live there at least for two more weeks. They were evicted. To discourage any students who might be tempted to stay, everyone was told that the migrants were also likely to enrich Alicante with numerous new diseases. That should help them to pack their belongings and leave immediately. (A migrant from an adjacent region, North Africa, just sexually attacked six children in the same city of Alicante. There are many reasons to move away from the city.) I don't see the information on whether they will at least be returned the rent. Just think what it means. You have loads of blacks from sub-Saharan Africa who aren't satisfied with the wealth they have at home and they probably have some modest place to live in Africa. So they jump on a ship, are being helped by human smuggling rings, organized criminal organizations that shamelessly call themselves NGOs and often receive government subsidies instead of ropes to be hanged, and they just make it to Europe through one of the holes that exists at the moment. (Incidentally, this algorithm of "looking for the holes" shows us what the defense of Czechoslovakia against Germany could have looked like in 1938. We had some very good fortification system at the mountainous border. A problem was that it wasn't complete. So the invaders would probably find some holes and because of them, things would proceeds as if no system existed.) The Spanish government found out that it has a worse capability of giving housing to these Africans than what these Africans actually had in Africa. In other words, the government has no ability to help them under any civilized conditions. But it doesn't matter because these days, such governments may get away with uncivilized solutions. So firing students who are actually paying for their hostel is OK. Fine. Assume it's acceptable to admit these people into Spain in the first place. With this assumption, the country has a shortage of housing for the people who were allowed to be there. Someone must be evicted and forced to look for a place to stay. The students were evicted, the migrants had a higher priority. What is the logic that justifies the choice? The most sensible logic is that the Spanish students are treated as an inferior race relatively to the new race whose incorporation into Spain was deemed a priority. This choice is quite a gesture. For example, the average student in the hostels could have the IQ around 115. The average migrant from the ship has 70. You know, one of my points is that even if you accept that the migrants should be allowed to stay in Europe now, which they shouldn't, there were other solutions. For example, there's this Rio Safari park in Alicante which would look like home for the migrants and the weather is OK there now. Tigers could temporarily live in smaller homes along with lions to get some extra space with roofs, too. But kicking the European students from dormitories they have paid for is probably seen as something that sends a better message. It's more politically correct to show that the European citizens' property rights may be or even should be trampled upon than to suggest that the Africans fit into an African ecosystem. These nice folks from the black continent surely have nothing to do with giraffes, tigers, or elephants. They're automatically equivalent to the Spanish college students. I am sorry but they're more familiar with the environment with giraffes, tigers, or elephants than with university dormitories. I am imagining what the evacuation would look like when I was living in the dormitories. In 1992, I moved to the hostels in Prague. It was three years after the fall of communism and at the beginning, we only paid some $20-$30 a month (which was more money than today, of course). Some people would have a hard time to get the belongings from the place in 24 hours. Others would be out of the city for a while. There would be quite a mess. At Rutgers dorms, I paid $400 a month but the situation could have been similar. It's fun to look at the photographs of the La Florida hostel. The hall is truly impressive like one in a luxurious hotel, I think. Some other photographs are slightly more ordinary but the place is clean and fine. Tourists gave it a 7.8 of 10 rating at booking.com. Prices probably started below $100 for tourists but the place is "full" according to booking.com now. If the officials get away with these things, it's almost unavoidable that such events will be repeated and will probably be getting more frequent. The migrants can they whatever they want. There are 1.2 billion people in Africa and the number is growing quickly. The newcomers will feel increasingly self-confident because there already are precedents. They may rather reasonably argue that because some of their countrymates could have been served a nice housing and other things by Spain, they deserve the same. Unless the situation is being solved and at least the safety of Europe as a whole is regained and what we need is to either to install sensible governments in all EU countries, or restore the borders inside the EU, to protect at least the countries that choose sensible governments there will be thousands or millions of new exotic immigrants who smuggled to Europe. European countries will lack the housing and the governments that choose these suicidal policies will have to evict increasingly shocking groups of people from the places where they live. Students were picked as the first ones because most Spaniards are ordinary and hate these nerds, anyway. But if you don't protest or fight when students are evicted, you will also be evicted after some time. This is really an effort to change the character of the European continent. The human smuggling rings (NGOs) and politicians who are responsible for such treacherous acts must be caught and arrested. What's paradoxical is that the treatment of the individuals may be worse in Spain than it is in the African countries where the migrants were born. I think that these African governments aren't expelling students from hostels if they pay the rent. But in countries like Spain, this outrageous behavior of the government is "OK" because the government is allied with the media that constantly emit lies about "refugees" who need help etc. In this way, the Spanish population is being emotionally manipulated and calmed down like the Jews who were told that they were going to have a shower. I am sorry but the Africans aren't refugees. They're greedy economic migrants and criminals. It's the students who were evicted from their places to live who are the refugees terrorized by the government of their country. They have all the rights to demand the e.g. bureaucrats to be expelled from assorted ministries and Spanish presidential palaces and move there. A silver lining is that a substantial part of the students who were evicted are "liberals" who always look for safe spaces. You have to look for a safe space elsewhere the dorm is no longer safe for you. I hope that at least some of them will learn a lesson. Deputy Minister of Communications Pinky Kekana has called technology a gift from God, and the second-greatest of Gods gifts. Kekana made the comment during a speech at the IBM Think Johannesburg 2018 conference held at the Kayalami Conference Centre on 20 June 2018. Technology is a gift from God. After the gift of Life it is perhaps the greatest of Gods gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and sciences, said Kekana. Kekana added that the government will soon establish a Digital Industrial Revolution Commission, which will include the private sector and civil society. She called on those in attendance at the conference to raise their hands and state they want to help use technology to solve an array of issues. These include: Lending a hand to the SABC to broadcast digital content. Being there when the technology starts to turn it around. Being there when the technology helps stop the surge in cash in transit heists. I would like to assure you that I will be the messenger in chief, when it comes to seeing technology as an enabler instead of a threat, because I have agreed to be sent, she said. Rapid advances in technology are transforming the way that students learn, and enrolment in online courses is increasing in South Africa, as well as worldwide. The World Economic Forum calls online learning the future of education in its Global Shapers report, as it helps make education more accessible and assists in achieving education for all especially those with restricted access, such as in South Africas rural areas. As the online learning trend gains traction globally, the market is likely to reach $331 billion by 2025, according to the Global E-Learning Market Analysis and Trends report, and this is driven largely by the growing on-demand market. What online learning is Online learning includes anything from short courses to executive learning programmes, where students take classes online at their own convenience rather than in a physical classroom, which allows professionals to upskill their current skill set and abilities to ensure that they are aligned to industry requires. It is often made up of a collection of webinars, online-collaboration tools, software that supports individually-paced learning, learning-management systems, and instant messaging and social networking. According to a Brandon-Hall Study, students learn 40% to 60% faster online and at their own pace than they would learn the same material in a traditional classroom setting, and retention rates are increased by 25% to 60% Online learning also offers flexibility, and students dont need to commute or attend physical classes, and may even have access to experts across the globe without needing to travel. Students are still able to benefit from the social and cognitive benefits of a traditional classroom, however, through interactive webinars. Students are able to select from a wide variety of courses across various industries, with institutions such as Damelin Online offering short courses in subjects ranging from Data Analytics, to Bookkeeping, to teaching Grade R. The fees for online programmes also tend to be lower than traditional courses, and many programmes include the course materials so students arent required to purchase textbooks. The importance of online learning in South Africa The online learning options that enable students to access course material, take assignments, and virtually attend classes offered by higher education institutions in South Africa is growing steadily, according to the Connecting Africas Potential report by In On Africa. Internet-based learning provides a platform for student-lecturer interface, and is vital for student success. Without it, many students face exclusion from opportunities for learning, research, and employment, states the report. Upskilling courses significantly increase the likelihood of employment, according to the most recent Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics SA, which revealed that local matriculants who never study further face a 36% chance of unemployment. Furthermore, in South Africa, employers are favouring employees that have had continuous development as professionals. What to look out for when choosing an online course Not all online institutions are created equal, however, and its important to choose a reputable institution that offers industry-expert-curated courses that have been aligned with current and trending industry skill requirements. Damelin Online, as an example, offers Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who curate course content to ensure that the course material is industry relevant, and an Academic Advising Centre (AAC) support structure to encourage learning and promote an enjoyable tertiary study experience. Damelin Onlines courses are also highly flexible, offering courses that allow students to upskill and start regularly throughout the year. For more information, visit the Damelin Online website. Arrests for marijuana issues are almost nonexistent now based upon the new laws, Campagna said Tuesday. In addition to the state changes, he said, the Napa Valley Unified School District Restorative Practices program and the police departments diversion program might be factors in why arrests in Napa County have decreased so much. The (Youth Services Bureau) Diversion Programs purpose is to address at-risk behavior and minor criminal behavior without getting a juvenile involved in the criminal justice system, he said. Part of it could also be linked to state funding given to counties about a decade ago that allowed for more local rehabilitation services, Napa County Chief Probation Officer Mary Butler said. The number of youths on probation during this 10-year span went from about 750 to about 235, she said. The Probation department, which runs juvenile hall, has been seeing positive results stemming from its evening reporting center. The center runs from 3 to 7 p.m. during hours when most juvenile crime occurs, Butler said. The grand jury found that juvenile hall has a full schedule of youth engagement activities and that participants have had positive encounters with counselors, managers and staff. Members of local law enforcement leave Veterans Memorial Park in downtown Napa on Wednesday morning as part of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics. The relay began in Calistoga at 6 a.m. and would conclude around 1:30 p.m. in American Canyon with members of different public safety departments participating in the relay. The Torch Run is in its ninth year in Napa County. Scorching temperatures coming to Napa Valley this weekend ^pTemperatures will reach the 100-degree mark and higher in the Napa Valley this weekend as a heat wave moves into Northern California, the National Weather Service forecasts. In Napa, the temperature will climb into the low 90s on Friday, hit 100 degrees on Saturday, then drop to 92 degrees on Sunday, according to the Weather Service. In Calistoga, the thermometer could reach 100 on Friday and 104 on Saturday before dropping to 95 on Sunday. Temperatures should drop back into the 80s by Monday. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Due to hardline immigration policies the White House has engineered along the U.S. border with Mexico, at least 2,000 children have been forcibly separated from their parents and placed in makeshift detention centers - including tents and an abandoned Walmart store. It's possible that many more than 2,000 kids have been dumped into this limbo recently; already more than 10,000 children apprehended at the border who reside in shelters overseen by the federal government. Whatever their exact number, all of them face the likelihood of emotional and psychological unraveling. "She was so traumatized that she wasn't talking" is how one children's advocate described a young detainee to NBC. "She was just curled up in a little ball." A recording that ProPublica released on Monday from inside one detention center offers a searing chorus of wails, cries and moans from children, apparently four to 10 years old, separated from their parents. The White House, if you've been listening to President Donald Trump or members of his administration, didn't set any of this in motion. And it's unlikely that anyone on that team is going to acknowledge that they did, because doing so would violate basic tenets at the core of Trumpism: Don't ever back down, and repeat lies with such confidence and frequency that your supporters believe you - and your critics go numb. Nobody wants to be a refugee. To be forced from your home, your family, all that is familiar. No one wants to be one of the 1,995 children separated from their families at the border, because of a most inhumane policy. Every minute, 20 people must flee their land because of terror, war or persecution, according to the latest reports from the United Nations. Ive listened to the horrific stories of refugees in the camps of eastern Chad, and talked to displaced people in Haiti, survivors of genocide in Rwanda and many who settled in the United States. They want the same things we do: safety, opportunity and the ability to contribute to society. Their deep sense of humanity, especially given the nightmare of their lives, has impacted me greatly. World Refugee Day began in 2001 to increase awareness of the plight refugees endure, to stand in solidarity with them and to stimulate action by countries to help them. Its a day to acknowledge the courage, perseverance and strength of refugees, who are among the most vulnerable people on earth. But compassion is not enough. On World Refugee Day, June 20, 2018 it is not enough to commiserate with people risking their lives in desperate search for a haven. Policies must be in place to provide aid and home. We have over many years tried to find ways to address the affordable housing shortage in the county as a whole, Hall said. We feel really strongly that the community needs to step up and do our part wherever we can. At last weeks council meeting, White questioned whether farmworker housing could be built on the parcel behind Dean & DeLuca, due to serious septic problems at the adjacent commercial complex. Minor modification The council objected to the project being treated as a minor modification, which the county reserves for applications that do not affect the overall concept, density, intensity or environmental impact of a property. Minor modifications may be approved by a county zoning administrator without a public hearing. However, the Hall application also requests a development agreement that will require public hearings before the Napa County Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. In an email, Napa County Planning Director David Morrison said the applicant is still refining the project and staff has not yet finished its analysis. He estimated that the earliest possible county hearings would be in September. Verizon Wireless is proposing to install a new cluster of cell antennas on top of an existing PG&E tower in a vineyard north of Grayson Avenue. A 12-foot addition to the 83-foot PG&E tower in the Beckstoffer vineyard would improve cell service and fill a significant gap in coverage by the least intrusive means, Brian Moore, representing Verizon, told the Planning Commission on Tuesday. Verizons design review application was continued to the commissions July 3 meeting so that the applicant and city staff can negotiate some technical details. A few neighbors have raised concerns about the arrays visual impact. On Tuesday, commissioners said they were also concerned about the arrays appearance and asked Moore to come to the next hearing with detailed coverage maps and more information about why Verizon chose to pursue the proposed design and location. Alzheimers disease is an insidious robber In May the community rallied for Rianda House, an anchor partner with the Alzheimers Association. On June 17-19, more than 1,000 volunteers rally in Washington, D.C. pushing for more Alzheimers research funding in Congress. The number of people living with Alzheimers is projected to triple to 16 million in 2050, with costs expected to rise to $1.1 trillion! In California, there are now more than 650,000 people living with the disease, with an anticipated increase to 840,000 by 2025. In just two years, Alzheimers jumped from the fifth to the third leading cause of death in California. The Alzheimers Association and Alzheimers Impact Movement worked with bipartisan champions in the House, such as Congressman Mike Thompson, and Senate to introduce legislation, the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimers Act (S. 2076 /H.R. 4256), which prioritizes a national approach to Alzheimers disease as a public health issue. Next time Mike is in your neighborhood, thank him for cosponsoring this act to increase quality of life for those affected and reduce costs. Bhutan Film Festival will be held on June 23 and June 24, 2018 at Gangtok as a part of the celebration to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of formal diplomatic relations between Bhutan and India. The event is being organized by the Ministry of Information & Communications, Royal Government of Bhutan in collaboration with the Film Association of Bhutan with facilitation support from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Royal Government of Bhutan and the Cultural Affairs & Heritage Department Government of Sikkim. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, the State Cultural Affairs & Heritage Department secretary, Ambika Pradhan, expressed that it was an honour for the State to host the first ever Bhutan Film Festival. She added that this would strengthen the bond of two countries and further boosts tourism and business exchanges between two nations. She assured of providing all possible support for the grand success of the film festival. President of Film Association of Bhutan, Karma Tshering expressed his gratitude to the State for helping in making this film festival a reality and expressed positivity on the success of the upcoming festival. He said that this would greatly promote and encourage the ties between the two nations and extended invitation to all to be a part of the festival. It was informed that a total of six popular Bhutanese films will be screened at the auditorium of Cultural Affairs & Heritage Department and Hotel Rendezvous in Gangtok. The film screenings would be followed by panel discussions with film professionals, producers and directors. The film festival intends to bring together citizens of the two countries, strengthen the friendly relationship and showcase Bhutans efforts towards the preservation and promotion of distinctive culture, tradition and language. It also aims to promote tourism and establish collaboration to develop the film industry. Spains Puig acquires Dries Van Noten Europe The Spanish Group, owner of the Carolina Herrera, Jean Paul Gaultier and Nina Ricci fashion brands, has acquired premium Belgian label Dries Van Noten. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed but founder and designer, Van Noten, is to retain a minority stake in his label and to remain as Chief Creative Officer and Chairman of the Board. His collections include leather footwear, bags and accessories for both men and women. In 2017, Barcelona-based Puig recorded 1.9 billion in sales, up +8% year-on-year. Americans create robot dog armed with sniper rifle Armenia local elections: Ruling party wins in 2 communities of Syunik Province Armenia local elections: Preliminary results say ex-PMs party won in Meghri city Armenia local elections: Incumbent mayors bloc wins in Gyumri Armenia local elections: Goris city imprisoned mayors lawyer to inform him of his winning in city Armenia local elections: Voter turnout at 33.23% as of 8pm when polls closed Lawyer: Purpose of this Armenia police search was to disrupt work of Goris mayor blocs election headquarters UK very interested in Turkish drone program, says Turkey official Germany still tops EU countries list of asylum seekers Armenia local elections: Voter turnout at 25.57% as of 5pm Azerbaijan soldiers complete Mountain Commandos training in Turkey Lawyer explains why Armenia police broke into Goris mayor blocs election headquarters Armenia local elections: Voter turnout at 15.97% as of 2pm Armenia police break into mayor Arush Arushanyan bloc headquarters in Goris on local election day Georgia parliament delegation to head for Turkey on official visit Armenia police apprehend "Arush Arushanyan" bloc candidate for Goris city council Russian-Egyptian military exercise to be held in Egypt Hurricane Pamela leaves at least 9,000 victims in Nayarit state of Mexico Bill Clinton expected to be discharged from hospital on Sunday Armenia local elections: Voter turnout in Dilijan at 8.43% as of 11am Armenia local elections: Shirak Province voter turnout unprecedentedly low as of 11am 65 Italy cities holding second round of local elections Iran tanker truck falls into gorge in Armenia, driver get stuck in cabin Armenia local elections: Syunik Province voter turnout as of 11am announced 1,697 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia 17 American Christian missionaries, their families kidnapped in Haiti China surprises US intelligence with new hypersonic missile Armenia Iranologist: Iranian propaganda field has put Azerbaijan presidents regime in corner Large number of police forces brought to Armenias Goris on eve of local elections US to release only Afghan in Guantanamo prison Armenia local elections underway Armenia ombudsman: Azerbaijanis opened fire at Yeraskh village (VIDEO) WHO recommends third COVID-19 vaccine UN Secretary General calls on all parties in CAR to support ceasefire Arabian coalition announces elimination of more than 160 Houthis as result of strikes in Yemen Two resistance commanders killed in Afghanistan NATO Special Representative to visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan Situation with COVID-19 discussed at Pashinyan's Bali earthquake kills 3 people UN court hearings on Armenia against Azerbaijan is over Expert: War and defeat should be a shock shock that will stimulate the formation of a new elite US authorities offer compensation to relatives of those killed in impact of drone in Kabul Erdogan and Merkel quarrel over forms of government Russia, US and Israel agree to hold meeting of heads of Security Councils 65-year-old man killed in Armenias Tavush province Armenia reports 1,863 COVID-19 new cases ISIS claims responsibility for Afghan mosque bombing Quake hits Kuril Islands Japanese PM allows possibility of preemptive strikes on enemy bases Armenia launches case of attack on military posts by Azerbaijani army and attempt to murder 6 Karabakh soldiers Ruben Vardanyan: I'm involved in politics, but I'm not seeking power, I'm ready to lose it all in Russia and Armenia Karabakh Defense Army: News spread on social networks about shelling near Harav village inaccurate Ilham Aliyev blames Iranians and Armenians for alleged collapse of mosques in Nagorno-Karabakh Karabakh Ombudsman: Azerbaijani Armed Forces fired a few gunshots in sector of military posts near Harav village Armenia Deputy PM Suren Papikyan discusses North-South Energy Corridor with Russian counterpart Armenia PM proposes to strengthen trilateral mechanisms to investigate incidents and adhere to ceasefire Russian academician: Erdogan understands that direct confrontation with Russia may be fatal Opposition 'Armenia' alliance issues statement Bill Clinton recovering from infection in hospital US to lift curbs for vaccinated foreign travelers starting November 8 Karabakh President spokesperson: Situation on Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact stable, not counting provocation 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 Within the framework of his visit to Albania, National Assembly (NA) of Armenia Vice Chairman Eduard Sharmazanov, who also heads the NA Armenia-Greece parliamentary friendship group, on Tuesday met with Konstantinos Morfidis, head of the Greek delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. Sharmazanov reflected on the friendship and shared history of the Armenian and Greek peoples, and he underscored the need for strengthening Armenia-Greece relations and expanding the domains of their cooperation. Touching upon cooperation between the parliamentary delegations of the two countries, the interlocutors highlighted the need to assist one another within international organizations. Separately, Sharmazanov expressed the hope that the Greek parliament will ratify, as soon as possible, the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement which Armenia and the European Union have signed. And speaking on the process of international recognition of Armenian Genocide, the NA deputy speaker thanked Greece for passing a bill that criminalizes the denial of genocides. He added that the Armenian legislature, for its part, has adopted a statement that condemns the Greeks and the Assyrians genocide by the Ottoman Turks, from 1915 to 1923. Armenians and Greeks are peoples who have survived genocide, Eduard Sharmazanov noted. The destructive and [genocide] denialist policy of Turkey is worrisome and reprehensible. A UBI program could actually be a danger to the climate if, in distributing revenue from publicly owned resources, we rely on profits from destructive industries such as oil, as in Alaska. But there are alternatives: a depletion tax on companies that degrade so-called natural capital, a tax on carbon and other pollutants, or a land value tax targeting large landownersall of which foster environmental conservation and make public claims to natural wealth. I initially supported UBI because separating livelihoods from jobs is important, not only for human wellbeing but for breaking an environmentally destructive growth cycle. Thats where many JG proposals make me nervous. I have yet to see a JG proposal that doesnt promise, at least tangentially, to increase growth and productivity. A proposal published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, for example, suggests a JG would produce increases in the growth rate of GDP, and substantial productivity and capacity gains. But not all such gains are desirable. We ought to crowd out the many jobs that are actively harmful to people, society and the environment, whether in fast fashion or Amazon warehouses. Raul and Rohan agree that we should work less in general, and its possible to build work reduction into a JG program. But the valorization of work nevertheless permeates JG discourse, often framed in terms of dignity or solidarity. If the point is for everyone to contribute to necessary work in the spirit of equality and solidarity, we should be making everyone workbut no one yet has proposed drafting landlords and the idle rich to shovel compost. (Im on board.) It is encouraging, however, to see that many current JG advocates are thinking about what constitutes low-carbon, socially beneficial work. Economists Stephanie Kelton and Pavlina Tcherneva have both called for a JG oriented around care: for people, for the planet and for communities. Important questions remain. Could parents get jobs caring for their children? Could friends get jobs caring for one another? Yet the move to put care work at the heart of a climate program is important. We need to move away from the work of resource-intensive consumer goods toward the work of bettering lives, planting trees, constructing playgrounds, making art. Perhaps most promising is the combination of a JG and universal basic services: free and publicly provided housing, transportation, internet access, education, healthcare and other necessities. Dense housing and public transportation are particularly crucial to reducing carbon emissions in a just way. If that sounds too good to be true, thats where politics comes in. The most significant political challenge for both policies, of course, is that private employers dont want people to have alternatives to bad jobs. Realistically, the Left doesnt have the power to win both a UBI and a JG in the immediate futureparticularly at a time when unemployment is relatively low, even if bad jobs are rampant. So we need to be alert to the challenges of actually passing something, and to how our ideal policies might be distorted in the process. Ive grown more wary of a UBI as its increasingly championed by tech scions who see it as a way to throw crumbs to workers replaced by robots. That version of UBI, which would replace social services with lump sums of cash, isnt what I want but of late its been the one with more momentum. Similarly, while left-wing JG programs arent workfare, we need to be careful not to reinforce the idea that people only matter if they work enough, as the Right tries to impose work requirements on food stamps and other assistance programs. My hunch is that the JG-UBI debate has become so loaded in part because passing any left-ish legislation seems hard enough right nowso people want a policy that can do as much as possible all at once. (Ive been guilty of this myself!) But we dont need a single silver bullet: We need a strong Left movement. The most important problem isnt which policy looks best in the abstract, but how we build a political force capable of winning a decent version of either in the short term, and then building on it over time. Left-liberal energy is gathering around a JG, as witnessed in recent proposals from Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker. Thats reason enough for me to get behind it, too, and to push hard for a program that will support the kinds of work, from solar panel installation to wetland restoration to elder care, that are absolutely crucial to our survival. Its also why Ive spent more time discussing it here. Yet, I will continue to insist that everyone has a right to a decent life whether or not they have a job, that human dignity does not depend on paid employment, that perpetual growth is not the way to prosperity, and that everyone should benefit from shared wealth and our shared planet. I hope the Left can keep both ideas in mind at once. Previously: Do We Need a Federal Jobs Guarantee? Do We Need a Universal Basic Income? Alyssa Battistoni is a doctoral candidate in political theory at Yale and an associate faculty member at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. Her writing has appeared in Dissent, n+1 and Jacobin, where she is on the editorial board. Never miss a story. Subscribe to the free In These Times weekly newsletter: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. YEREVAN. Armenian Parliament Speaker Ara Babloyan received the delegation of France-Armenia Friendship Group of the French National Assembly led by the head Jacques Marilossian, National Assembly press service reported. Are Babloyan underlined the high level of the Armenian-French friendly relations and highlighted the importance of the holding of Francophonie Summit in Armenia. Referring to the Armenia-EU agreement, Babloyan expressed hope that the French colleagues would support Armenia in ratification of the agreement in the parliaments of France, as well as other EU member states. Babloyan highly assessed France's role as OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair country in the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through peaceful means and highlighted the importance of French deputies visit to Artsakh in terms of being comprehensively informed about the conflict background. Marilossian, in his turn, conveyed the warm greetings of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of France Francois de Rugy and emphasized the activities of the Friendship Groups aimed at the strengthening of the Armenian-French relations. According to him, the Francophonie Summit is a good opportunity to make Armenia more recognizable to the world. The two referred to the activities of the French educational institutions in Armenia, highlighted the bilateral mutual visits, the deepening of the Armenian-French relations in different spheres, including economy. YEREVAN. Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, who is on a working visit in Brussels, met with Nicolas Tavitian, director of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Europe. Mnatsakanyan highly appreciated AGBUs significant contribution to the initiation and implementation of programs aimed at raising the issues of the pan-Armenian agenda and their solution. Foreign Minister emphasized that strong community structures are one of the pillars of Armenia's stable development. In turn, Tavitian presented the activities of the European Office of AGBU, as well as current programs and new initiatives. Armenian FM presented the latest developments in the country, the foreign policy direction envisaged by the program of the new Cabinet and the Armenia-EU agenda. The sides touched upon the role of Armenian structures in expanding Armenia-EU cooperation. Mnatsakanyan also presented country's approaches to an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Visitors gather at Saluki Stadium for the August, 21, 2017, eclipse. (Photo by University Communications and Marketing) SIU Carbondale earns international award for eclipse events CARBONDALE, ILL. - In 2014, when Southern Illinois University Carbondale began preparing for the August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse, there was no blueprint to guide its planning. Four years later, the universitys eclipse events have been recognized with a grand gold award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. CASE is an international association of 3,700 colleges, universities and independent schools. Bob Baer, co-chair of an eclipse steering committee made up of university and community representatives, said the committee didnt know what to expect when it started planning. This was going to be the first total solar eclipse over the continental United States since 1979 and the first coast to coast in 99 years, Baer said. It was an incredible opportunity for outreach on a grand scale. Focal Point for Visitors However, there were also concerns due to the possibility of large crowds overwhelming local infrastructure and transportation capacity, Baer said. The eclipse path created a 70-mile wide area of possible viewing locations throughout Southern Illinois with particular interest on the point of greatest duration near Carbondale. We knew we had to be prepared. Scott Ishman, Baers co-chair and the current interim dean of the universitys College of Science, said it eventually became clear that SIU and Carbondale would be a focal point for visitors and members of the scientific community on eclipse day which also happened to be the first day of classes. Our goal as we planned was to use the eclipse as a platform to highlight SIU and its educational mission, Ishman said. At the same time we wanted to provide plenty of opportunities for people of all ages and interests, from scientists and amateur astronomers to school groups, families and our own students. Among the events that took place on campus over several days were a science and technology expo, a comic con, a live broadcast of Planetary Radio airing on PBS stations, and a range of activities at Saluki Stadium, highlighted by the eclipse itself. Global Exposure Millions of people connected with SIU during the eclipse. NASA established a broadcast set outside of Saluki Stadium to share the event with an international audience via live streaming video. On the day of the eclipse, more than 30,000 people were on campus, including more than 250 journalists from around the world There were more than 150 people involved in planning and managing SIU eclipse events and more than 1,500 from the campus and community who contributed to our success, Baer said. It was truly a team effort. An International Award That effort was recognized last week with a CASE grand gold award for multi-day special events. CASEs annual Circle of Excellence awards program honors outstanding work in advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising and marketing at educational institutions. Winners are selected based on overall quality, innovation, use of resources and the impact on the institution or its external and internal communities. This year, CASE received more than 3,200 entries in nearly 100 awards categories. Judges who who are peers from CASE-member institutions may award bronze, silver and gold awards and have the option of honoring exceptional entries with grand gold awards. SIU was one of 13 institutions earning a grand gold this year. Other institutions winning awards in the special events categories this year include Auburn, Carnegie Mellon, Clemson and Duke universities, the University of Miami and the University of Southern California. Another Illinois institution, MacMurray College in Jacksonville, was also recognized. Heres what the judges said about SIUs entry: Very creative events! A good incorporation of using a natural planetary wonder to advance the mission of the university. Good planning , excellent use of resources, and a great way to include the surrounding community and not just the campus community. Very well done, and very innovative. Model of Collaboration SIU Chancellor Carlo Montemagno, who was in his first week on campus when the eclipse took place, said he was impressed by the teamwork he witnessed. I suspect that the steering committee had doubts along the way, but they made it happen with perseverance, creativity and collaboration, he said. It told me that together, we can accomplish anything as a university. Congratulations to everyone involved. SIU and Carbondale are also on the path for a total solar eclipse April 8, 2024, earning the area the title of Eclipse Crossroads of America and providing a unique opportunity to observe and study both eclipses from the same location. We started the countdown to 2024 on the eclipse website as soon as the 2017 eclipse was over, Baer said. But were taking a year or two off from planning before we start it all over again. We went into 2017 with no existing model to work from. This time around, we have the model and a great deal of experience to build on. (For more information, contact Rae Goldsmith, chief marketing and communications officer, at 618/453-2589.) Falun Dafa practitioners from all over the world meditate at the New York Chinese Consulate and Union Square, on May 12, 2016 in New York City. (Youzhi Ma/Epoch Times) Falun Gong to Hold Mass Rally and March in Washington WASHINGTONPractitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong will take center stage in the U.S. capital on June 20 and 22, with a rally held on the west lawn of the Capitol and a march through the city. There will be 5,000 Falun Gong practitioners from all over the world who have come to Washington to call for stopping the persecution of Falun Gong in China, said Mindy Ge, spokesperson of the Falun Dafa Association of Washington. Ge explained that Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime for almost 19 years. It has been too long, Ge said. It has to end. Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual practice, teaches individuals to improve themselves by living according to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance and by doing five sets of meditative exercises. There will be support from members of Congress and NGOs, who will call for ending the persecution, Ge said. Following the rally, a grand march will head down Pennsylvania Avenue, circle around the White House, and end at the Washington Monument. Other activities will include a candlelight vigil and demonstrations by Falun Gong practitioners of the disciplines slow-moving meditative exercises in large groups at various locations around Washington. One such demonstration will also be a character formation near the Washington Monument, in which practitioners perform the Falun Gong exercises while standing in such a way that, when seen from above, they form an image of the Falun, the symbol of Falun Gong. The candlelight vigil will be held to mourn the thousands of practitioners who have been killed during the persecution in China. Ge explained that in 1999, then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin feared that the Chinese people were preferring the traditional moral teachings of Falun Gong to the Communist Partys atheism and materialism, and so he started a campaign to eradicate the practice. Human rights organizations have documented mass detentions, widespread torture, and the harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners organs for use in Chinas large organ transplantation industry. Ge hopes that locals and tourists alike will come to enjoy the activities. People can learn a little about the practice and benefit from that. And maybe they can pray for ending the persecution, Ge said. Falun Gong Activities in Washington Wednesday, June 20, 2018 Public rally, grand march, group exercises Falun Gong group exercises 8 a.m.10 a.m. Public rally and speech on the West Terrace Lawn of the U.S. Capitol (Capitol Hill & Capitol Reflecting Pool) 10 a.m.11:30 a.m. Grand march 11:45 a.m.3:00 p.m. Falun Gong group exercises in front of the Washington Monument (close to Constitution Avenue) 3:30 p.m.6:10 p.m. Falun Gong group exercises at Freedom Plaza (Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street, NW) 3:30 p.m.6:30 p.m. Falun Gong group exercises in front of the Chinese Embassy (3505 International Place, NW) 3:30 p.m.6:30 p.m. FRIDAY, June 22, 2018 Falun Gong group exercises with a character formation at Washington Monument (close to Constitution Avenue) Falun Gong practitioners will perform the exercises while in a formation that represents the symbol of Falun Gong, the Falun. 8:30 a.m.1:30 p.m. Falun Gong group exercises at McPherson Square Park 2:30 p.m.4 p.m. Candlelight vigil at Washington Monument (close to Constitution Avenue) Mourning the deaths of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party 8 p.m.10 p.m. Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) said that its sales in China fell 29% in May from a year ago, to 61,744 vehicles, continuing a trend of precipitous declines in sales of Ford-brand vehicles in the world's largest new-car market. Year to date, Ford's sales in China are down 22% from the same period a year ago. A red Ford Edge, a midsize crossover SUV, parked on a waterfront. The Edge has a Chinese-language front license plate. Not long ago, this special seven-seat version of the Ford Edge was a hot seller in China. But sales have plummeted: Year to date through May, Edge sales are down 23%. Image source: Ford Motor Company. The raw numbers Ford reports four categories of sales in China: Mainstream Ford-brand passenger vehicles produced by its joint venture with Chinese automaker Changan Automobile, called Changan Ford or CAF Trucks and commercial vehicles produced by its joint venture with Jiangling Motors (JMC); those include three Fords, as well as several truck models sold under the Yusheng and JMC brand names Ford-brand vehicles that are imported into China Lincoln-brand vehicles, all of which are currently imported into China Here are the results reported by Ford for each of those categories in May: Category May 2018 Sales Change vs. May 2017 CAF 34,026 (43%) JMC 22,712 * Imported Fords 1,305 (20%) Lincoln 3,701 (3%) Data source: Ford Motor Company. *JMC sales are essentially unchanged from last year's (six vehicles more than a year ago). Why are Ford's sales down so much? Here's another way to look at those sales numbers that gives us a clue to what's happening. Sales of Ford-brand vehicles fell 40.4% in China in May; meanwhile, combined sales of Yusheng, JMC, and Lincoln vehicles rose 4.7%. This seems to be a Ford-brand problem. It may be that Ford has become old news in China, which is the fastest-moving major auto market in the world. Ford's product-launch cadence has fallen behind faster-moving rivals, and there's a sense that Ford hasn't kept pace with Chinese market trends. It's also possible that the ongoing war of words between the Trump administration and the Chinese government may be starting to dent Ford's sales in China. There are precedents for this: Back in 2012, Chinese sales for Toyota, Honda, and Nissan all fell sharply during a dispute between the Chinese and Japanese governments over ownership of a group of islands. Story continues Ford is a very, very American brand; if Chinese consumers are feeling upset with the United States, it certainly won't help the Blue Oval's sales. Here are the sales results for the five top-selling Ford-brand vehicles in China. As you can see, the numbers are not good: Vehicle May 2018 Sales Change vs. May 2017 Year-to-Date Sales Change vs. 2017 Escort 12,070 (37%) 67,443 (23%) Focus 6,313 (50%) 33,880 (45%) Edge 5,899 (22%) 35,327 (23%) Mondeo 3,794 (50%) 25,553 (30%) Kuga 3,782 (52%) 22,030 (37%) Data source: Ford Motor Company. Take particular note of the sales results for the Edge and for the Kuga, which is the Chinese version of the Ford Escape. Like Americans, Chinese auto-buyers are increasingly favoring crossover SUVs, a Ford specialty. But Ford's mainstays, both of which are locally built and thus not priced particularly high because of import tariffs, are a tough sell right now. It's especially tough because the Edge isn't all that old, having been launched just three years ago. What's more, Ford builds the Edge in a special longer-wheelbase version for China, with three rows of seats, and that variant was very popular for a while. But sales of both have slid sharply along with the rest of the Ford-brand lineup. Ford can fix this, but it will take time Ford is working on an elaborate overhaul of its China lineup, part of what it calls a "repositioning" effort that will unfold between now and 2025. The plan calls for 50 new-to-China products over the next seven years, along with changes to Ford's operational structure in China that have already begun to happen. The first new Fords will include all-new versions of the Focus and the Escort, still the company's top sellers in China, along with three new or revamped SUVs for Lincoln and a version of the midsize Ranger pickup. (The Escort is a value-priced China-only compact sedan based on the Focus; the global Focus is positioned as a premium offering in China.) Those will help. But it seems likely that Ford's sales in China will need more than a few new models to fully recover. Investors should be prepared to be patient here. More From The Motley Fool John Rosevear owns shares of Ford. The Motley Fool recommends Ford. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. AQSACOM has launched a centralized cyber intelligence compliance solution targeted at communications service providers. This software-based offering, called ALIS, helps CSPs address local-country lawful cyber intelligence and GDPR compliance. ALIS provides CSPs that deliver services in multiple countries with cost savings. It does that by freeing them from having to deploy end-to-end mediation solutions within each country for data retention legal compliance, geolocation, and lawful interception. And it can be deployed in virtual, bare-metal, or hybrid environments. AQSACOM's programmable software approach enables a level of flexibility and scalability for cyber intelligence that alternative centralized, platform-based technologies can't match," explained Frederick Reynolds, vice president of marketing at AQSACOM. "With our distributed architecture, AQSACOM can help CSPs streamline operations and reduce costs when deploying communications services across multiple countries, while offering the highest level of data protection and preservation. ALIS addresses 2G, 3G, 4G, cable, eRCS, FTTH, IMS, IP, PSTN, satellite, xDSL, and VoLTE services. And AQSACOM says its ideal for CSPs with cloud-based or SaaS (News - Alert) communications solutions and those using hosted communications platforms like BroadWorks by BroadSoft. This architecture offers an isolated virtual mediation node dedicated to LEA with an end-to-end data encryption, the company explains. As a result, the AQSACOM solution ensures full compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. The distribution of the mediation and delivery function provides the flexibility and scalability according to each countrys requirements. The imbedded security features, LEA management, data segregation, encryption, and isolation provide the best-of-breed data protection, confidentiality, and system access control required for such cyber intelligence software. AQSACOM was established in 1994 and is headquartered near Paris. It has research and development facilities in Dallas, Dubai, and Paris and regional sales and support on every continent to locally serve a global, tier one customer base. The company says it has extensive experience interoperating with such suppliers as BroadSoft, Cisco, Ericsson, GENBAND (News - Alert) /Nortel/SONUS, Huawei, Nokia/Siemens/Alcatel/Lucent, ZTE, and others. Edited by Maurice Nagle he's dead, that's all that matters Reply Thread Link This comes across so dismissive of her. Reply Parent Thread Link People's negative reactions toward him are not on her behalf if she wants to forgive him, that's her prerogative Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ia Reply Parent Thread Link Poor girl. She must have so many different feelings right now. The cycle of abuse is complicated, I don't expect his Neanderthal fans to understand Reply Thread Link Yea, when she states that he's dead n she isn't makes me think she's feelin enormous amount of guilt. How could she not? In abusive situations that tends to happen, plus she's had his family n stans attackin her relentlessly over it. They still are makin it feel like its her fault. Nevermind the fact this pos had a death wish from the get go. He lived his life as such n he openly challenged it. Reply Parent Thread Link People are saying ohhh well his ex is mourning him so obviously she forgave him for what he did! Like uhhh mourning =\= forgiveness and even if she did forgive him, it is part of the cycle of abuse and we cant forget that. I dont know them personally obviously but this is how it reads from an objective standpoint. Stockholm syndrome teas tbh Reply Thread Link Facts. Ive gotten married, have 3 kids and years of therapy and parts of me still feels sadness for the man who spent years beating my ass. He could die tomorrow and Id likely cry instead of feeling relief. Reply Parent Thread Link Mte like my ex and I went through so much together and while I would never be in a relationship with him again, I'd probably feel pretty fucked up if he died right now. It's possible that she's feeling guilty, too. Lord knows how many times I've wished someone would take my ex out. Reply Parent Thread Link Exactly people are still putting words in her mouth they clearly dont give any single type of fuck about her Reply Parent Thread Link Stockholm syndrome hit the nail on the head Reply Parent Thread Link Well, that and even though he was super shitty and abusive, he was still someone "close" to her. I know ONTD was spiking the football in the endzone over his death, but lots of people can feel shock or trauma from a sudden violent death, regardless of how they may have felt about the decedent. Reply Parent Thread Link and forgiveness =/= doesnt mean he didnt do anything but Ive seen plenty of people apparently missing that connection too Reply Parent Thread Link you said exactly what i was thinking. i want it to be simple where she's happy he's dead, but a part of her did care for him, i suppose. i just hate that he did this shit to her. Reply Parent Thread Link Most ppl don't understand the psychology of abuse. It goes beyond them. Reply Parent Thread Link I made the mistake of reading the comments on The Shaderooms IG and people are seriously pieces of shit. The cycle of abuse is so fucked up and people are just trashing her endlessly calling her a liar and saying she ruined his life and so on as if it was that one incident on his rap sheet. The entire thing is so gross. Reply Thread Link Their comment section when it comes to posts involving abuse or rape allegations is absolute trash. I'm not surprised by how much they hate women, but it breaks my heart when women are the ones being hella cruel :/ Reply Parent Thread Link There's soooo much of those wannabe hiphop dudebro meme profiles. I want to die Reply Parent Thread Link I saw those. Sad that most of those appeared to be teenagers. Also weird how they have been harassing and defaming her while simultaneously posting how much positivity xxxtentacion put in their lives. Reply Parent Thread Link Teenagers are the fucking worst. Reading something about how "wOmEn MaKe OuT In A DiVoRcE" and the fucker's profile says, "UGHS c/o 2018," like wtf do you know about shit? Have your balls even dropped yet? Reply Parent Thread Link yes xxxtentacion is such a positive influence on their behavior Reply Parent Thread Link Twitter has been a mess with this. Its shown up so many mens propensity to dismiss womens claims even in the face of evidence. They dont care if it happened they only care about man they liked. Reply Parent Thread Link The comment section is horrible no matter what is posted there, like any other comment section that exists on the internet. Reply Parent Thread Link my heart breaks for her. I hope she has a supportive community around her right now. his stans are just as vile as him. Reply Thread Link oh lordy Reply Thread Link "Stop believing the motherf**king rumors. I did not beat that b***h; she got jumped. Bye.' In another call, XXXTentacion said: 'For all you dumb f**k ass n****a that thought this stupid b***h was pregnant. I've got the paperwork signifying that she wasn't pregnant." I decided to Google both of them and this is the first thing I saw. Christ. Girl will need some time to snap out of it. She didn't get any closure in any way. Hopefully she has good people around her. Reply Thread Link and heres what he said on the call to her that leaked for anyone who cares to compare: X: Here's what you're gonna do, and if you don't do this the way I'm playing it, then I'm gonna send 'em to your mom's house. We have the address. That's where you f**ked up, you gave it to [redacted]. So here's what you're gonna do. I'm gonna call one more time. I'm gonna use the rest of this call (...) You guys are gonna listen to what I'm saying, and you're going to accept what I'm saying. You need to go delete every single tweet now. You don't have to delete the GoFundMe yet though. Geneva's gonna delete all those tweets, uhh, she's gonna send a specific text message to [redacted] to make it that if you guys play with me, you've f**ked yourself in the long run. You can hear me, correct? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link jesus. there are no words. Reply Parent Thread Link good riddance. Reply Parent Thread Link Wow. I'm happy he's gone Reply Parent Thread Link How can you be that cruel and sinister before the age of 20???? What the fuck. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link such a manipulative little shit Reply Parent Thread Link abusive relationships are not as black and white as a lot of people think EDIT: also knowing someone you were once close to has died is pretty hard to swallow. this literally just happened, so i hope she's gonna get the help she needs to get her through this; especially with his fans giving her shit on social media. Edited at 2018-06-20 05:10 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link I believe she also changed her IG to @liar. She has posts on there about people burning items she left at his vigil and attacking her. Somehow people think this treatment of her is ok. Reply Thread Link people are garbage Reply Parent Thread Link I hope she is able to get the surgery and recover from her injuries. Gosh reading the comments towards her and about him in general have been so discouraging. Reply Thread Link I don't know why I came into this post tbh. What a dark, unsettling read. Reply Thread Link Gurl, I'm so fucking angry. Fffffs hes dead and that's all that matters. Awwww GURL . Seriously I hope she got such immense good support system.... GURL!!!! Reply Thread Link mte Nothing of value is lost when people like him die. Reply Parent Thread Link There were so many Xs in the title that I thought he was tweeting from the grave. Clearly, I cannot read tonight. Reply Thread Link Genesis: Rollout: Lot's of good music coming from @Epic_Records in the next few weeks. Stay tuned music fans. Welcome back Fiona! #BeEpic LA Reid (@LA_Reid) January 22, 2012 Meaning of tidal title: Promo The songs Released on June 19 2012, 7 years afteris Fiona's boldest, and barest album to date.Fiona (listed as "Feedy" in the credits) produced the album under the radar along with her touring drummer Charley Drayton ("Seedy"). Her record company found out she had an album done when she handed it to them. This freedom is manifested in her uninhibited approach to its creation. Piano-driven arrangements and intricate melodies are still at the core, they are however decked with unorthodox percussion and homespun sounds that articulate the tension, and illustrate Fiona's psyche. In addition to creating loops, playing percussion, piano, and keyboards, Fiona's production credits include "field recordist", "truck stomper", "dance partner", and "Daredevil thighs".is a journey inside Fiona's mind as she makes sense of her inner-workings, waxes poetically about exorcising her pain, sees herself through others, then reconciles everything with her brain. This post is arevisit of the record, mostly written in Fiona's own words, featuring her drawings and writings.The album was finished in 2011, but Fiona delayed the release until her label found a new president in 2012, because she "didn't want her work to be mishandled amid corporate disarray." When she finally surprised Epic executives with it, they asked if she thought the record was really finished; if there wasn't another song, a hit perhaps, still forthcoming. She told them it was finished.Apple's camp didn't want bells and whistles for her return.A small tour was announced in Spring 2012.Ahead of her first performance, the album and its title were uploaded on her Facebook page on March 8th.Footage of Fiona performing live from her first tour in 5 years intensified the anticipation.She premiered "Every Single Night", "Anything We Want", and "Valentine" at SXSW on March 15th."Every Single Night" was posted on her Soundcloud page on April 23rd.The music video was directed by Joseph Cahill in Paris, France and premiered on June 10th.Fiona appeared on Late Night on June 18th, her first TV appearance since 2006!She was interviewed by some guy, before performing "Anything We Want" and a cover of "Let Me Roll It" with The Roots.The album came out the next day and she was off on her 27-city second leg of the tour!Fiona had some great interviews this era, I recommend checking the first 4 later for further reading.was critically acclaimed, and debuted at number 3 (her highest debut yet), selling 72,000 copies in its first week. It received a 2013 Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album ( not that she cares )."Hot Knife" was the second and final visual released in July 2013. It was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson who was also responsible for "Paper Bag", "Limp", "Fast As You Can", and "Across The Universe"."Jonathan" was named after Jonathan Ames whom she was dating at the time.Fiona first played this song at Largo on Valentine's Day, 2007. She said at the time that the song was about a woman she admired and would like to be more like. In her Vulture profile, the lady is mentioned among some of Fiona's relationships: "There was a younger girl a few months ago, a beautiful dancer with whom she climbed onto her roof to watch the sky at various times of day and night.""While you were watching someone else / I stared at you and cut myself."The text below is lifted from the writer who hung out and got high with her in her Vulture profile.Similar reads: When The Pawn... turns 18! Sources: How Listen: Spotify Second Amendment Fight Protects More than Guns By Dean Weingarten. June 17th, 2018 Original Source People who talk and write about the Second Amendment focus on firearms. There is nothing wrong with that. Some people go off into the weeds on nuclear weapons, but the cost of obtaining one for non-state actors is prohibitive and covered in minute detail by thousands of pages of regulations. Consider the other end of the spectrum. That end is clearly covered by the Second Amendment. Consider how much protection the Second Amendment gives to items other than firearms. Items which are used and carried every day by tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of Americans. This was driven home to me in the months I spent in Australia. The Australian right to arms, which should have come with the Australian Constitution, has been destroyed. It was driven into oblivion by the willingness of the Australian courts to follow the British lead and simply ignore it. In Australia, the only item in the picture which can be carried without tacit police approval, is the pen, included for scale. A knife dealer assured me that no police official would prosecute me for carrying the Swiss army knife. I was *not* allowed to carry it into a pub (bar). I could carry it most other places because I was obviously not a shady character, as long as I uttered the magic words that gave a reasonable reason to carry it (food preparation, farm work). That emphatically did *not* include self defense. The Choate ice scraper was right out; reading the law, it appeared to fit the very broad Australian definition of a prohibited weapon. So are sling shots and cross bows. I probably could have gotten by carrying the Cold Steel with its 5.4 inch blade... but I did not want to risk it. This is how lives are penned in and circumscribed by the regulatory nanny state. In America, because of incremental restoration of Second Amendment rights, things are different. We have been in a cultural and legal war to restore Second Amendment rights for over 50 years. We were in a holding action for the previous 40. Progressivism detests the idea of the Second Amendment in its very essence. During the last 30 years, we have been winning the majority of the battles. The focus has been on firearms. That focus has taken much of the regulatory steam out of attempts to destroy the right to carry items deemed of less lethality. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously, that electric stun guns are covered by the Second Amendment, in the Caetano decision. Several cities and states have repealed or revised their ban on stun guns. Knife Rights has been wildly successful in repealing or reforming knife laws in numerous states. Typing this in Wisconsin, I have no worries about carrying my Cold Steel XL Voyager virtually everywhere. (It is a wonderful knife. I have used it for everything from a mini-machete to gutting deer, to removing splinters to slicing apples). I can carry it in Wisconsin without worries, because of the efforts of Knife Rights. When legislators are focused on firearms, it is possible to craft and pass reforms to eliminate stupid knife bans. I do not know of any state that bans the Choate ice scrapper. Maybe New Jersey, maybe New York City. Knife reform law passed the legislature twice in New York State, very close to unanimously, but was vetoed by Governor Cuomo. The American fight to restore the Second Amendment keeps those who wish Americans disarmed from focusing on knives, slingshots, ice scrapers, stun guns and walking sticks. As I read the law in Wisconsin, I may legally carry a sword cane or strap a sword to may belt and stroll through Milwaukee. It is time consuming, frustrating, and expensive for people to keep fighting to restore the Second Amendment. It has been going on for decades. Doing so, Second Amendment supporters keep the fight focused on firearms, and away from "less lethal" items. That is worth a good deal. As legislation is passed reforming knife law, and removing bans on other weapons, momentum is built for reforming gun law and restoring Second Amendment rights. In England, a judge is calling for legislation to remove the point from English knives. That view is derided with laughter in America. That derision occurs because the Second Amendment fight is focused on firearms, making concerns about knives mockable. The fight to restore Second Amendment rights is far from over, but there are many positive secondary effects. 2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Gun Watch Back to Top Iran has suggested it could be open to a compromise on a small rise in OPEC oil output after earlier rejecting a plan by Russia and Saudi Arabia to increase production in response to consumer concerns over rising prices. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh on June 20 said cartel members that had cut more than required in recent months could increase output back to higher agreed quotas. Experts said that would effectively mean a slight increase from top producers such as Saudi Arabia, which has been cutting more deeply than required under previous policies designed to raise once-slumping prices. A day earlier, Zanganeh had told reporters upon arrival at Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) headquarters in Vienna that "I don't believe at this meeting we can reach agreement." Moscow and Riyadh have proposed reversing most of a 1.8 million-barrels-a-day cut in production that OPEC and other major producers agreed to in 2016 amid recent calls by the United States, China, and other major oil-consuming countries for relief from rising pump prices. But Iran has signaled its opposition along with Iraq, Algeria, and Venezuela, three other influential OPEC members. Zanganeh cited recent demands for a production increase from U.S. President Donald Trump as a reason to oppose it. Trump has "created difficulty for the oil market" by imposing sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, Zanganeh asserted, leading to lower production and higher prices. Related: OPECs Modest Aims Wont Be Enough "And now he expects OPEC to change something for better prices," he said. "That is not fair. OPEC is an independent organization, not an organization to receive instruction from President Trump.... OPEC is not part of the Department of Energy of the United States," he said. Premium crude prices have surged nearly 75 percent to almost $80 a barrel since OPEC and allies such as Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mexico agreed to a production cut in late 2016. OPEC is due to meet on June 22 to review the agreement and plans to meet the next day with Russia and other non-OPEC producers that joined the agreement in 2016. Zanganeh had said he would leave Vienna before talks with Russia and other non-OPEC countries were held, but participants said on June 20 that efforts were taking place to persuade Iran to participate in any deal. OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said on June 20 he was confident there would be a deal during the June 22 discussions. Iraq's oil chief, Jabar al-Luaibi, said he hoped there would be agreement when OPEC met, but added that the "oil market has not reached the level of stabilization." Iran's opposition to raising oil output puts it on a collision course with Russia, which has called for raising production by 1.5 million barrels a day, in a near-total rollback of the 2016 production cuts. Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said the need for increased output is urgent during the summer, when demand for gasoline and oil hits a high point for the year. Related: Goldman: Expect Another Bull Run In Oil "Oil demand usually grows at the steepest pace in the third quarter.... We could face a deficit if we don't take measures," Novak said on June 19. "In our view, this could lead to market overheating" -- meaning sharply higher prices. Novak said that if OPEC and its allies decide this week to raise output, they could review their decision and fine-tune it at another planned meeting in September. Saudi Arabia, a close ally of the United States, is particularly under pressure from Trump to offset any production decline caused by the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran in November. Russia and others have also warned that continuing to limit supply could encourage increased production from shale oil producers in the United States, who are not part of the OPEC agreement and pose outside competition. By RFE/RL More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Back in 2011, when OPEC met to discuss raising oil production to offset the drop in Libya, resulting from the civil war, Saudi Arabias Ali al-Naimi called it one of the worst meetings ever. That meeting ended without consensus and this is likely to happen again this week, when the cartel meets to discuss another production increase. The fault line is between Saudi Arabia and Russia, which have both signaled that they are all for a substantial increase in production, of up to 1.5 million bpd, and Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Algeria (to date), which would have a problem raising their production. The latest remarks from Irans Oil Minister are not really encouraging. Bijan Zanganeh said, as quoted by Reuters, that I dont believe at this meeting we can reach agreement. OPEC is not the organization to receive instruction from President Trump ... OPEC is not part of the Department of Energy of the United States. The comment refers to President Trumps tweets about OPEC artificially pushing prices higher and reports that he personally asked Saudi Arabias government to step in and replace soon-to-be-lost Iranian barrels with its own after sanctions kick in. Zanganeh also said he will be leaving Vienna before OPECs meeting with Russia and the other non-member partners in the cut deal. Russia is Irans geopolitical ally, but now they are in opposing camps with regard to oil production moves and missing that particular meeting could be a diplomatic move to avoid confrontation. Russia is the country pushing for the highest increase, of 1.5 million bpd. Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Oil demand usually grows at the steepest pace in the third quarter ... We could face a deficit if we dont take measures, echoing widely shared analyst expectations of booming oil demand that they have argued was instrumental in the oil price improvement over the last year or so. Instrumental as it has been, it is not as robust and unyielding as previously believed. When prices climbed closer to US$80 a barrel, demand growth began to slow down, which for some reason surprised many oil bulls. Related: Goldman: Expect Another Bull Run In Oil This slowdown in demand growth highlighted the fact that the emerging economies that are the biggest drivers behind global oil demand growth are not ready to pay whatever asking price they are offered. They are rather going to bargain for lower prices, which is exactly what India and China did, prompting OPEC to consider an early end to the cuts. As for the internal fractures within OPEC, its also worth noting that two of Saudi Arabias Gulf alliesKuwait and Omanare also not on board with a quick, major production boost. They seem to be leaning more towards a gradual, and more modest, increase, Reuters reports citing OPEC sources. Indeed, some believe Russias 1.5-million-bpd proposal is a tactical move aimed at priming the dissenters for agreement to a more modest increase. Whether or not this move succeedsthe chance seems to be fifty-fifty right nowOPEC might soon have a bigger problem to deal with. The U.S. Congress is deliberating the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, whichif passedwould allow lawsuits against OPEC members for manipulating the market. Need we say that President Trump is an ardent supporter of NOPEC? By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The fastest-growing oil producing region in the United States, the Permian, is nearing the limits of its pipeline takeaway capacity and some producers may be forced to shut in wells within months, according to the chairman of one of the biggest U.S. shale producers, Pioneer Natural Resources. We will reach capacity in the next 3 to 4 months, Pioneers chairman Scott Sheffield told Bloomberg in an interview on the sidelines of an OPEC conference in Vienna, which is attended by representatives of some U.S. oil companies. Some companies will have to shut in production, some companies will move rigs away, and some companies will be able to continue growing because they have firm transportation, Sheffield told Bloomberg, commenting on the Permian constraints that threaten to slow down the relentless pace of production growth. Oil production in the Permian is rising by 800,000 bpd annually, with current production at 3.3 million bpd, Sheffield said, adding that total pipeline capacity is 3.6 million bpd, so producersespecially those that dont have firm deals for pipeline transportationwill be bumping into the limit of takeaway capacity in the next three to four months. The Permian oil production in June is expected to reach 3.277 million bpd, and projected to rise by 73,000 bpd in one month to reach 3.350 million bpd in July, according to EIAs latest Drilling Productivity Report. Related: Can Oil Pull Greece Out Of Poverty? A lot of new pipelines are being planned and approved, but none of them are expected to come online before the second half of 2019possibly leaving production stranded. The Permian pipeline bottleneck is unlikely to ease for at least one year, Sheffield told Bloomberg, noting that this constraint will continue to affect U.S. oil prices, with WTI at Midland, in the heart of the Permian, likely to trade at a huge $25 discount to the WTI priced at Cushing, Oklahoma. With Permian production booming and pipeline capacity tightening, producers are forced to sell their crude at a painful discount to benchmarks, and they have also recently lost billions of U.S. dollars in market capitalization. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: President Trump is back on his warhorse called Tariffs, yesterday announcing he was considering the introduction of a 10-percent levy on Chinese goods worth US$200 billion. The latest escalation in the tariff exchange, however, is a little bit different than all the others so far. Its different because it came after Beijing said it intends to slap tariffs on U.S. oil, gas, and coal imports. Chinas was a retaliatory move to impose tariffs on US$50 billion worth of U.S. goods, which followed Trumps earlier announcement that another US$50 billion in goods would be subjected to a 25-percent tariff starting July 6. And thats not all. Now, Trump has said if China does not change its unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology new tariffs on another US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods will follow. This sounds like a never ending game of chicken with the stakes close to becoming ridiculous. Yet the threat to U.S. oil exports to China is not at all ridiculous: it is very real and should worry drillers. In a recent column, Reuters analyst Clyde Russell noted that U.S. oil imports into China account for a relatively tiny portion of the total, at 3.5 percent. However, for oil exporters, shipments to China account for 16 percent, both figures based on data from the first five months of 2018. Related: Oil Markets Turn Bearish Ahead Of OPEC Meeting This is a discrepancy that should be alarming, despite belief among other analysts that U.S. drillers could just sell their barrels of cheap oil elsewhere. This is true, of course, oil is in universal demand. Yet it is also true that China is the biggest buyer, and as Russell put it, it would be easier for China to find new suppliers of crude than it would be for U.S. exporters to find new buyers. Its all in the price. China has been importing increased amounts of U.S. crude because it trades at a very attractive discount to Brent and the Middle East benchmark. The WTI discount to Brent at the moment stands at around US$9.50 a barrel, but this will be not just wiped out should China go ahead with the tariffs. A 25-percent price increase will actually make WTI more expensive than Brent, which will kill its attractiveness for Chinese refiners. Yet not all is gloom and doom, because markets like balance. CNBC quoted Wood Mac analyst Suresh Sivanandam as explaining that as China turns to alternative suppliers for light and medium crude grades, this would mean taking away supply from other buyers who can then turn to U.S. producers to replace their source of supply. In other words, theoretically at least, all could be well and good, as long as U.S. oil makes sense for those other buyers. Even so, the U.S. drillers will be the losers in this game. China is a fast-growing huge market, and with tariffs of 25 percent, this market will remain effectively closed to U.S. oil producers and LNG producers, too. Thats not so good for the shale industry, which many worry is running on debt rather than on free cash flow. Shale drillers, in other words, probably need Chinese refiners more than Chinese refiners need them. In such a situation it might be wise for someone in Washington to ask how wise it is to continue playing chicken with Beijing. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Cathay Pacific Airways is looking to control its jet fuel costs with new long-range planes that can take passengers further while using 20 per cent less fuel than its current Boeing 777 aircraft, as oil prices see-saw from geopolitical instability and trade war fears. On Wednesday, its latest purchase, the technologically advanced, long-haul Airbus A350-1000, landed in Hong Kong, decorated in the airlines green and white livery, after a 12-hour journey from the planemakers headquarters in Toulouse, France. Hong Kongs flag carrier is only the second airline to fly the long-range jet, after Qatar Airways. By 2021, it will have 20 of the A350s larger twin-aisle, twin-engined planes in its fleet. This will add to the current 22 smaller A350-900s it has, with six more of the planes to be delivered over the next two years. Even as the airlines chief customer and commercial officer Paul Loo Kar-pui endorsed the A350 jetliner as a high performer, he scotched Airbus hopes that one of its biggest customers would order more aircraft. We are happy with where we are now, Loo said. The impending deliveries mean the carrier will get about one new plane a month, which is around the right pace, Loo said. Cathay Pacific and its subsidiary Cathay Dragon fly to more than 200 destinations and have a fleet of almost 200 aircraft. Airbus has faced a lull in orders of its A350 jets of late, and chief commercial officer Eric Schulz said it hoped the carrier would buy more aircraft. But Schultz added he understood the company would refrain from a spending spree now as it had sizeable investments coming. Aviation leaders at an annual gathering in Sydney this month cited rising oil prices as one major drag on airline profits. Loss-making Cathay Pacific is still trying to move past bad fuel hedging bets made some years back, that locked it into agreements to buy fuel at a price higher than the market now offers. It still has some paid-up fuel contracts made at US$80 a barrel, which will cover about 45 per cent of its fuel needs in the next two years. Story continues The airlines fuel costs, including losses from hedging, rose 11 per cent last year from the previous year to HK$31.2 billion. The airline will use a number of its new A350-1000 planes seating 334 passengers, including 256 in economy to replace the 340-seater Boeing 777-300ER on several existing routes such as Amsterdam, Zurich and Madrid. It will also use them on its newest destination and longest non-stop flight Hong Kong to Washington from September this year. The airline will rework 65 of the Boeing planes, adding 10 per cent more economy seats. This will allow the carrier to move more passengers and raise revenue, amid a three-year restructuring and cost-cutting exercise. Airbus executives noted how low oil prices over the past three years had induced airlines to extend the operating life of old aircraft or buy second-hand planes, rather than spending millions on new ones. Marisa Lucas, head of marketing for the A350 ultra-long-range planes, said: When the prices [of oil] went down, it was easy to extend the life of the aircraft already in service. If the oil prices start to go up, and there is a big uncertainty there, the most fuel-efficient planes are your natural hedging. But she said rising oil prices had not shown signs of pushing up demand for new planes, for now. The A350 has proved more reliable than its rival Boeing 787 series. While Boeing has had dozens of 787 planes grounded with engine problems, Airbus said it had not had a single shutdown during the 1.5 million flying hours for its A350 planes. Both planes use Rolls-Royce engines, but different kinds. Airbus has received 847 orders for the A350 series from 44 airlines so far. It has delivered 174 planes to 17 operators, including Qatar Airways, which owns a 9.94 per cent stake in Cathay Pacific. Danny Lee was reporting from Toulouse, France This article Cathay Pacifics new, long-range, fuel-efficient Airbus A350-1000 flies in to Hong Kong first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. President Rodrigo Duterte (Courtesy of RTVM) QUEZON CITY, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte vowed there would be no let-ups in his anti-corruption campaign as he warned of dismissing more corrupt government officials. In a speech during the 81st anniversary of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on Tuesday, June 19, the Chief Executive said he doesnt care if his administration will be criticized for it. There will be more dismissals to come. And I dont care if my whole term would be characterized by a firing and dismissal of people from government. Ayaw ko talaga iyan (I really do not want it). Give the Filipino a respite from corruption, Duterte said. Duterte, however, admitted of having difficulty in resolving the deeply rooted corruption in the government. Marami talaga diyan (Theres plenty of it) until now. Hindi mo maputol maski sinong president (It will not stop regardless of who is president). Even if I have to just dwell on it only, focused on it only. Kaya (that is why) as fast as they come up, bibirahin mo talaga (you have to nip it in the bud). Wala akong patawad diyan (I am merciless when it comes to corruption). Sabi ko nga sa mga (As I have said) even a whiff, he added. The President has fired at least 20 government officials accused of corruption and excessive travels since he came to power in 2016. Tungkol po sa katiwalian, pag proven at pumasok sa korupsyon, talaga namang sisibakin ng pangulo at kung kailangan ay fa-filan po ng charges (Regarding corruption, the president will not hesitate to fire people if proven guilty. Charges will be filed if needed.) supported Special Assistant to the President Bong Go. The opposition, however, is questioning Dutertes sincerity in fulfilling his promise to get rid of corruption in the government after reappointing three of the sacked officials, including Agriculture Under Secretary Jose Gabriel Pompee La Vina, Housing Deputy Secretary-General Melissa Aradanas and Philippine Coconut Authority Member Manuel Serra. Victor Cosare / Marje Pelayo The post Duterte still on firing mode, warns of more dismissals appeared first on UNTV News. A strong earthquake in Osaka this week has not only rattled Japans second-largest city, but also shaken Hong Kong buyers growing interest in Japanese property in the short term, according to real estate agents. One of our clients was paying a visit there, making the final decision among several properties, but came across the earthquake and decided to hold off, said Michael Cheung, branch manager of Trusty Japan Realty, which specialises in selling Japanese property in Hong Kong. The 6.1 magnitude quake on Monday has killed four people and injured hundreds more, as well as shattered windows, brought down walls and created chaos in the Japanese city. Cheung said many existing clients had called to learn more about the situation, with as many as 100 enquiries received within two days. The flats owned by these clients were largely unaffected, he said. A cloud would hang over the business in the next one to two weeks for the market to get over the news, and the 35 to 40 deals expected to be completed this month would represent a 25 per cent drop from May, Cheung said. It is just a short time of sudden panic, he said, adding that the deal number should return to a normal level soon as most potential buyers of Japanese property are aware that Japan is an earthquake-prone country. Ive checked that my house has survived [the quake], said Candy Lam, a 28-year-old bank staff who bought a studio in Osaka last year for self-use. Many of my friends and I travel to Japan several times a year as we like the culture and lifestyle there. I dont expect to see a large drop of tourists because of the earthquake. The return for buying a flat in Japan is better than what I could get in Hong Kong. The holiday property investment in Japan fever is rapidly growing among Hongkongers, who have long considered the country as one of their favourite tourist destinations. Osaka, where prices are lower compared to Tokyo, has always top the list for Hong Kong buyers. Story continues The return for buying a flat in Japan is better than what I could get in Hong Kong Candy Lam, Japanese flat owner TY-Property in Hong Kong sells between 40 to 50 flats a month in Osaka alone, which represents a 30 per cent increase from a year earlier, and more than double the number from three years ago. Gordon Tse, the agencys managing director said any adverse impact on Hong Kong buyers interest would not be for the long term. They can buy a flat in core areas in Osaka, similar to Hong Kongs Wan Chai, for about HK$1 million (US$127,400). What kind of property can we buy with that money in Hong Kong? Tse said. Veteran buyers will not change their investment strategy due to this, they look at the investment yield. Flats used for home-sharing such as those listed on sharing platforms like Airbnb, would fetch a yield of as much as 10 per cent, while those leased out on a long-term tenancy can generate a 4 to 5 per cent investment return rate. In Hong Kong, the rental yield of private residential flats in April was 2.6 per cent, according to Rating and Valuation Department. This article Hong Kong buyers interest in Japanese property cools in the short term after Osaka quake first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. More from South China Morning Post: Former President Benigno Aquino III QUEZON CITY, Philippines Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales on Wednesday, June 20, indicted former President Benigno Aquino III over the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP.) In a statement, the Office of the Ombudsman said Morales found probable cause to file a case against Aquino for usurpation of legislative powers before the Sandiganbayan for violation of Article 239 of the Revised Penal Code. The indictment stems from the Aquino Administrations unlawful issuance of National Budget Circular (NBC) No. 541 to implement DAP involving P72 billion public funds. The Ombudsman claims of having evidence that would prove a conspiracy between Aquino and former Budget Secretary Florencio Butch Abad to encroach on the powers of Congress by expanding the meaning of savings to fund programs, activities, and projects under the DAP. The resolution further noted that the budget circular would not have been issued without Aquino signing it. Meanwhile, the Ombudsman denied Abads motion to reverse its decision charging him for a similar complaint. It can be noted that the Supreme Court (SC) in July 2014 ruled that it was illegal to transfer funds under DAP. UNTV News & Rescue The post Ombudsman indicts Aquino over DAP appeared first on UNTV News. Tourists were left hanging in mid-air for two hours waiting to be rescued, after an amusement-park ride broke down in eastern China on Monday afternoon, during the Dragon Boat Festival public holiday. The flying-carousel ride left 23 people stranded, including children, when it stopped working at Ganglong Lehui theme park in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. No casualties were reported, according to a Weibo post by the Public Security Bureau-run Shaanxi Internet Police. The park called firefighters after its hour-long efforts to free the visitors failed. A video by Beijing News showed the site surrounded by police, while two cranes lifted people, one-by-one, from the ride to the ground. We received a call at 1.54 and were there in seven or eight minutes, said Cao Yifei, head of Suzhous Wuzhong district firefighters. Altogether, from arriving to rescuing everyone, it took two hours. There were four or five children and a few people had sunstroke, so we gave them glucose to drink when they got down. Temperatures reached 31 degrees Celsius in the city on Monday. A flying-carousel ride was hoisted up as normal and spun around twice but then suddenly stopped, a tourist who was at the scene told PearVideo. It didnt move again or come down. I brought two children to play in the park and they were both up there. The Beijing News video said the amusement park was investigating the breakdown. Girl, 13, dies after being thrown off ride at Chinese amusement park In a similar incident in May 2016 a roller coaster, 70 metres off the ground, malfunctioned at a theme park in southeastern Jiangxi province, stranding visitors for over an hour, and in February 2017 a 13-year-old girl died after being flung from a ride at Chaohua Amusement Park in Chongqing, southwest China. This article Tourists trapped for hours in flying-carousel ride in China first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. Thank you for responding to this Weblog (blog). We wish to maintain a high level of integrity and responsibility among our participants. In the spirit of camaraderie of the blogsphere, interested parties are welcomed to reproduce or quote materials published in this weblog WITH THE CONDITION that they are credited to akadirjasin.blogspot.com/akadirjasin.com to avoid misunderstanding.Thank you. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Does the arrival of asylum seekers lead to a deterioration in the economic performance and public finances of the European countries that host them? The answer is no, according to economists from the CNRS, Clermont-Auvergne University, and Paris-Nanterre University, who have estimated a dynamic statistical model based on 30 years of data from 15 countries in Western Europe. On the contrary, the economic impact tends to be positive as a proportion of the asylum seekers become permanent residents. This study is published in Science Advances on June 20, 2018. Over 1 million people claimed asylum in European Union countries in 2015, making it a record year. What is the economic and fiscal impact of these migration flows? This study is not the first to consider this question, but the method it uses is new. Traditional approaches mainly adopt an accountancy approachthey compare the taxes paid by the immigrants with the public transfers paid to them, but do not take into account the economic interactions. The researchers used a statistical model introduced by Christopher Sims, who was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 2011. Widely used to evaluate the effects of economic policies, this model lets the statistical data speak for itself by imposing very few assumptions. The macroeconomic data and data on migration flows come from Eurostat and the OECD and concern 15 countries in Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The researchers distinguished the flows of asylum seekers from flows of other migrants. They evaluated the latter flows on the basis of net migration, which does not take into account asylum seekers. The flows of asylum seekers are made up of people who have a legal right to reside in the host country while their application is processed; the host country will consider them to be residents only if their asylum application is granted. During the period studied (1985-2015), Western Europe experienced a significant increase in the flows of asylum seekers following the wars in the Balkans between 1991 and 1999 and, after 2011, in the wake of the Arab Springs and the conflict in Syria. At the same time, flows of migrants, particularly EU nationals, have increased after the EU's expansion eastwards in 2004. These events provide numerous opportunities to test the consequences of an unforeseen increase in migration flows on GDP per capita, the unemployment rate, and public finances. The researchers show that an increase in the flow of permanent migrants (i.e., not asylum seekers) at a given date produces positive effects up to four years after that date: GDP per capita increases, the unemployment rate falls, and additional public expenditure is more than compensated by the increase in tax revenues. In the case of asylum seekers, no negative effect is observed and the effect becomes positive after three to five years, when a proportion of asylum seekers obtain asylum and join the category of permanent migrants. According to these results, it is unlikely that the ongoing migration crisis is a burden for European countries; on the contrary, it could be an economic opportunity. Explore further Mass-drug administration curbs scabies for asylum seekers in the Netherlands More information: "Macroeconomic evidence suggests that asylum seekers are not a "burden" for Western European countries," Science Advances (2018). Journal information: Science Advances "Macroeconomic evidence suggests that asylum seekers are not a "burden" for Western European countries,"(2018). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaq0883 The project expects to achieve a positive impact on marine biology research, conservation, and policy making for fisheries in Europe and worldwide. Credit: @IMDEA Networks Institute The University of Haifa (Israel) and two teams from the IMDEA Networks Institute have developed an innovative autonomous system, SYMBIOSIS, to monitor real-time schools of fish. This system, which combines optical and acoustic technologies, will be environmentally friendly and will provide reliable information about the condition of marine fish stocks, something that at the moment is practically impossible to achieve without investing enormous resources. The SYMBIOSIS system integrates acoustic and optical technologies without human intervention. The system is the product of an international scientific initiative under the EU's Horizon 2020 program. Real-time monitoring of schools of fish will inform the development of fishing policy and lead to enhanced protection of the marine environment. An international scientific initiative under the auspices of the European Union's Horizon 2020, project SYMBIOSIS is developing an autonomous system to identify schools of fish, including information about their size and movements in deep waters. The University of Haifa is leading the project, while two teams from IMDEA Networks Institute in Madrid are contributing to the development effort. The SYMBIOSIS system integrates acoustic and optical technologies that require no human intervention, and will be able to transmit real-time warnings to coastal stations. These data will contribute to the formulation of ocean fishing policies and to enhanced protection of the marine environment. "The system will be environmentally friendly, not only in its operation which will be non-invasive and won't impact the marine ecosystem, but more importantly because it will provide reliable information about the condition of marine fish stocks. At present, it's virtually impossible to collect such information without investing enormous resources. Using the latest optical and acoustic technology, we hope to change attitudes towards marine resources", explained Dr. Roee Diamant of the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa, who is coordinating the initiative. The development of fishing technology since the twentieth century has resulted in the growing realization that fishing is one of the most serious problems facing marine ecosystems. According to some estimates, if over-fishing is not brought under control, the world's fish stocks may collapse by 2048. Global fishing authorities are hoping to curb over-fishing with new regulations and enforcement based on fish stocks. But, there are very few methods presently available for real-time monitoring of those stocks. Most involve surface boats attempting to locate schools of fish using sonars. According to Dr. Diamant, these methods require considerable resources and personnel to monitor and interpret the sonar findings. Consequently, they have limited viability in cost-benefit terms. Also, the use of sonar usually limits the search for fish stocks to narrow areas (those beneath the ship doing the sampling), impairing any subsequent decision-making. The limited statistics provided by this random and short-term sampling of the marine environment mean the process is prone to numerous sampling errors. Combining optical and acoustic technologies, the SYMBIOSIS system will monitor the marine environment, and in particular the size of the fish stock, within a radius of one kilometer. It works on an entirely autonomous basis, collecting underwater data over long periods and transmitting this information to a coastal center. The research is focusing on the identification of six large fish species that are in especially high demand from the fishing industry: two species of tuna; scad (a species of mackerel; Trachurus mediterraneus); Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus); mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus); and swordfish (Xiphias gladius). This will provide authorities with concrete and actionable information. Graphic demonstration of the Symbiosis system. Credit: IMDEA Networks Institute | SYMBIOSIS Project The solution has a processing chain that begins with the acoustic discovery and classification of fish, based on their typical speed and movement characteristics. Acoustic sensors also measure the size of the fish and the total biomass of the fish in the area. Once the acoustic system identifies one of the six selected species, it activates the optical system, which features several cameras and sophisticated data processing with various image identification algorithms using deep learning. When the optical system confirms the identification of one of the six selected species, it transmits the information via underwater acoustic communications, and then by radio communications to a coastal station. IMDEA Networks' researchers are focused on the design of an efficient fish localization system, and on the visual recognition of the selected fish species. The two teams from the Madrid-based research institute are the Ubiquitous Wireless Networks laboratory led by Dr. Paolo Casari, IMDEA PI and Scientific Manager for the project; and the Global Computing Group led by Dr. Antonio Fernandez Anta. "Using acoustics to localize specific fish species is very challenging"; said Dr. Casari. "Firstly, the acoustic processing chain has to incorporate cost-effective components, and it needs to be highly energy-efficient. The signal processing algorithms deployed in the acoustic fish identification system have to strike a good tradeoff between complexity and accuracy. On top of this, the underwater environment contains many background acoustic noise sources and reflectors, and the signals from fish around the SYMBIOSIS system will be much weaker than acoustic interference coming from the environment. The algorithms need to be robust enough to cope with these shortcomings." "For optics, the marine environment is characterized by low visibility and elements in the water volume that distorts the image. The big challenge is to secure good detection performances and to minimize false alarms. This needs to happen autonomously in a deep-sea environment, where there's practically no possibility of human intervention," continues Dr. Diamant. "The optical classification of fish species has its own particular challenges, too. There are very few pre-classified images available with which to train the deep-learning classifier. And many of the images that are available were taken under very different visibility conditions to those the system will encounter. In SYMBIOSIS, we are dealing with this uncertainty by leveraging public databases of fish pictures, many of them provided by scuba divers and underwater photographers. To address the lack of a large image dataset, we are starting with pre-trained neural networks for object recognition, and we'll add more images from SYMBIOSIS test environments once we enter the experimental phase of the project," concludes Dr. Fernandez Anta. Explore further An advanced autonomous platform for securing marine infrastructures Provided by IMDEA Networks Institute Building sites are going to look a bit different, in the future. Credit: Shutterstock It's often claimed that 3-D printing known in the trade as "additive manufacturing" will change the way we live. Most recently, a team from Eindhoven University of Technology announced plans to build the "world's first" habitable 3-D printed houses. But it's one thing to build small, prototype homes in a park it's quite another to successfully use additive manufacturing for large scale projects in the construction sector. Additive manufacturing uses a combination of materials science, architecture and design, computation and robotics. Yet in some ways, it's not as futuristic as it sounds. The simple approach of layer-wise construction where building materials are layered on top of each other to create a facade has already been practised for a long time in the construction sector, for example in conventional brick layering techniques. The true novelty of additive manufacturing lies in its ability to combine new, highly efficient and sustainable materials with architectural design software and robotic technology, to automate and improve processes that have already been proven manually. In this sense, additive manufacturing holds many potentially groundbreaking benefits for the construction sector. 3-D printing can produce up to 30% less material waste, use less energy and fewer resources, enable in-situ production (which in turn cuts transport costs), grant greater architectural freedom and generate fewer CO emissions over the entire lifecycle of the product. Printable feedstocks But there is still some way to go before additive manufacturing technology can deliver on its potential. There are several different components of additive manufacturing, each of which must be developed and refined before the process can be successfully used in large-scale construction. One component is printable feedstocks the materials which are actually "printed" to create the final product. There are many types of printable feedstock, but the most relevant one for large scale construction is concrete. Printable feedstocks are typically made from a combination of bulk materials such as soil, sand, crushed stone, clay and recycled materials mixed with a binder such as Portland cement, fly ash or polymers, as well as other additives and chemical agents to allow the concrete to set faster and maintain its shape, so that the layers can be deposited rapidly. In a project I am currently working on at Brunel University, we are focusing on producing a printable cement feedstock. To create materials for 3-D printed constructions, scientists must carefully control the setting time of the paste, the stability of first few layers and the bonding between the layers. The behaviour of the materials must be thoroughly investigated under a range of conditions, to achieve a robust structure which can take load. The combination of cement, sand and other additives must be just right, so that the feedstocks don't set while still in the printer, and don't stay wet for too long once they have been deposited to form a structure. Different grades of feedstock need to be formulated and developed, so that this technology can be used to build a range of different structural elements, such as load-bearing and large-scale building blocks. Building blocks Another component is the printer, which must have a powerful pump to suit the scale of manufacturing in the construction industry. The pressure and flow rate of the printer must be trialled with different types of feedstocks. The speed and the size of the printer is key to achieving a good print quality: smooth surface, square edges and a consistent width and height for each layer. How quickly the feedstock materials are deposited typically measured in centimetres per hour can speed up or slow down construction. Decreasing the setting time of the feedstock means that the printer can work faster but it also puts the feedstock at risk of hardening inside the printer system. The printing system should be optimised to continuously deliver the feedstock materials at a constant rate, so that the layers can fuse together evenly. The geometry of the structures produced is the final piece of the puzzle, when it comes to using 3-D printing in construction. When the printer and the feedstock have been properly set up, they will be able to produce full-size building blocks with a smart geometry which can take load without reinforcements. The shape stability of the truss-like filaments in these blocks is an essential part of printing, which provides strength and stiffness to the printed objects. This three-pronged approach to adapting additive manufacturing for construction could revolutionise the industry within the next ten to 15 years. But before that can happen, scientists need to fine tune the mix ratios for the feedstocks, and refine a printing system which can cope with the rapid manufacturing of building blocks. Only then can the potential of 3-D printing be harnessed to build faster, and more sustainably, than ever before. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Two different aspects of fat: left, mature human fat cells grown in a Petri dish (green: lipid droplets); right, a section of mouse fat tissue with in the middle, a blood vessel (red circle) surrounded by Aregs (arrows), newly discovered cells capable of suppressing adipogenesis. Credit: Bart Deplancke/EPFL Fat cells, or adipocytes, are at the center of nutritional and metabolic balance. Adipogenesisthe formation of mature fat cells from their precursor cellshas been linked to obesity and related health problems such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. However, it has proven very challenging to determine the identity and molecular properties of fat cell precursors. This is because fat tissue contains a large number of stromal cells that are difficult to distinguish using traditional approaches such as genetic labeling. In a new study, scientists from Bart Deplancke's lab at EPFL, Christian Wolfrum's lab at ETHZ, and the Swiss Stem Cell Foundation led by Gianni Soldati, have used a high-resolution technique called "single cell transcriptomics" to characterize, for the first time, the different types of stromal cells that reside within mature fat depots. This technique provides a unique snapshot of which genes are expressed in a cell for thousands of cells at a time. Since cells of the same subpopulation will share similar gene expression profiles, the obtained data can be used to group cells according to their molecular similarity. Using this approach, the scientists first identified several stromal cell subpopulations in the fat tissue of mice. The research team then isolated these subpopulations and studied their cellular behavior. Unexpectedly, they found that one of these subpopulations not only fails to differentiate into adipocytes, it also actively suppresses adipogenesis of other adipocyte precursor cells through a secretory mechanism. The researchers therefore called this novel subpopulation adipogenesis-regulatory cells (AREGs). The scientists then followed up by examining human fat, where they discovered the presence of an analogous adipogenesis-suppressing cell population. These findings provide the hope that AREGs, or their mechanism of action, could be harnessed to modulate the plasticity of human adipose tissue. In the long run, this could improve the ability to control obesity and insulin sensitivity and thus to treat metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes. "Our work shows that there are still many human cell types that await discovery," says Christian Wolfrum. "Several of these may be very important also for medical reasons such as the AREGs that we found in this study." "Controlling fat cell formation is not only important for improving metabolic health," says Bart Deplancke. "It could also be important for slowing aging, since several tissues, such as bone marrow and muscle, accumulate fat cells over time, which negatively affects their function. Our discovery has therefore widespread biomedical implications and we cannot wait to learn more about these intriguing cells." Explore further Culprit in reducing effectiveness of insulin identified More information: Petra C. Schwalie et al, A stromal cell population that inhibits adipogenesis in mammalian fat depots, Nature (2018). Journal information: Nature Petra C. Schwalie et al, A stromal cell population that inhibits adipogenesis in mammalian fat depots,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0226-8 When Google's AlphaGo defeated the Chinese grandmaster at a game of Go in 2017, China was confronted with its own "Sputnik moment": a prompt to up its game on the development of artifical intelligence (AI). Sure enough, Beijing is pursuing launch a national-level AI innovation agenda for "civil-military fusion". It's part of China's ambitious quest to become a "science and technology superpower" but also a new front in an increasingly worrisome arms race. In 2017, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping explicitly called for the acceleration of military AI research to better prepare China for future warfare against a major adversary such as the US. China's approach to AI has been heavily influenced by its assessment of US military initiatives, in particular the Pentagon's Third Offset Strategy, an Obama-era plan that gave the Pentagon a mandate to experiment with cutting-edge weapons technologies, AI among them. Beijing still hasn't formally articulated a coherent strategic framework or operational concepts but, like Russia, it continues to pursue a range of military-use AI technologies as part of a broader effort to exploit vulnerabilities in US military assets. While the US (for now) retains the upper hand in AI innovation across the board, China is catching up. It is a strong competitor in all kinds of military innovation, and is expected to overtake the US in AI development in the not-so-distant future. And, as the US and China race to innovate in AI, the uncertainties surrounding their respective advances (and setbacks) will have profound and potentially destabilising implications for the strategic balance of the world order. Among all the risks that this entails, top of the list is that as the US and China's approaches to military innovation diverge, new prejudices and preferences for instance, criteria to decide when the use of lethal force is appropriate and ethically defensible will be "baked into" their respective AI weapons systems, resulting in intelligent weapons that act on the basis of flawed human logic or assumptions (as has already been observed in algorithms developed to assess criminals' propensity to re-offend). The resulting cognitive biases could exacerbate the two countries' mutual mistrust, suspicion and misperceptions, and possibly nudge them closer to a major conflict. Hot on the heels China has several structural, political and societal advantages in the AI arms race. Its national strategic planning is far more coherent than that of the US, and its national datasets are unparalleled in size. Xi's sprawling "One Belt, One Road" initiative, a plan to build a vast international network of trade links and infrastructure, has a nascent virtual counterpart: the so-called "Digital Silk Road", which encompasses not just AI but also quantum computing, nanotechnology, big data, and cloud storage. The situation in the US is far messier. The Trump administration and Silicon Valley share an increasingly strained relationship, meaning they will struggle to work together on AI technologies the US military can use. If American commercial AI innovation continues to rapidly outpace the Pentagon's far more sluggish approach to AI procurement and development, the two won't complement each other as they should leaving China a major opportunity to get the upper hand. The US seems to be taking steps to address these problems. Despite a brief pause in the development of the US's AI strategic road map, the White House recently announced the creation of a new committee of AI experts to advise it on policy choices. And in 2017, Donald Trump blocked a Chinese firm from acquiring Lattice Semiconductor, a US company that manufactures chips critical to the operation of AI applications. These steps reflect a deepening concern that China's strategy of fusing civil and military technological innovation could allow American technology, expertise and intellectual property shared with Chinese commercial entities to be transferred to China's military. The Terminator conundrum It seems that China like Russia has relatively few moral, legal or ethical qualms in deploying lethal autonomous weapons. Recent reports suggest that China has already begun to incorporate AI technologies into its next generation conventional missiles and missile defence intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems to enhance their precision and legality. The US will likely be much more constrained in the development of these technologies. The Pentagon's reticence to incorporate AI into existing weaponry is grounded in liberal democratic norms governing the use of military force, and in a concern to avoid what the Pentagon has called the Terminator conundrum the prospect that military robots could one day decide independently whether or not to take a human life. That said, propelled by the rapid pace of technological trends in AI and the aggressive pursuit of these capabilities by rival powers the US's current commitment to keeping humans in charge could waver. If the present trajectory holds, China will soon challenge the US's lead in several emerging military-technological strategic fields. That is likely to accelerate the Pentagon's efforts to innovate offsetting initiatives and concepts and in turn, make it harder to keep this disruptive high-tech arms race in check. Explore further China dispatches low-level official to security conference This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Researchers set out four microphones like this one in the foothills of Alaska's Brooks Range to record songbird calls over five breeding seasons. In a new study, they describe an automated tool for sifting through thousands of hours of recordings to estimate when migratory birds arrive en masse in the Arctic. Credit: Heather Greaves Spring is coming earlier to parts of the Arctic, and so are some migratory birds. But researchers have yet to get a clear picture of how climate change is transforming tundra life. That's starting to change as automated tools for tracking birds and other animals in remote places come online, giving researchers an earful of clues about how wildlife is adapting to hotter temperatures and more erratic weather. In a new study in Science Advances, researchers at Columbia University describe a way to quickly sift through thousands of hours of field recordings to estimate when songbirds reached their breeding grounds on Alaska's North Slope. They trained an algorithm on a subset of the data to pick out bird song from wind, trucks and other noise, and estimate, from the amount of time the birds spent singing and calling each day, when they had arrived en masse. The researchers also turned the algorithm loose on their data with no training to see if it could pick out bird songs on its own and approximate an arrival date. In both cases, the computer's estimates closely matched what human observers had noted in the field. Their unsupervised machine learning method could potentially be extended to any dataset of animal vocalizations. "Our methods could be retooled to detect the arrival of birds and other vocal animals in highly seasonal habitats," said the study's lead author, Ruth Oliver, a graduate student at Columbia. "This could allow us to track largescale changes in how animals are responding to climate change." Lapland longspurs, like this one, migrate thousands of miles to the Arctic each spring to breed. Credit: John Wingfield Though relatively simple, these tools could speed up the analysis of acoustic datasets packed with biodiversity information valuable to conservationists and others, says Andrew Farnsworth, a researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who was not involved in the study. "An archive of acoustic recordings tells you how biodiversity is changing over time," he said. "Understanding the dynamics of songbird arrival and breeding timing is the doorway to thinking about climate change and how temperature, weather and snowfall are affecting various species." Songbirds are notoriously difficult to track in the wild. Their migrations span thousands of miles and their bodies are too small to tag with GPS receivers. In a novel approach, Natalie Boelman, an ecologist at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and her colleagues set out microphones in the foothills of Alaska's Brooks Range to eavesdrop on two particular species that fly in each spring to mate and raise their young: white-crowned sparrows and Lapland longspurs. Gambel's white-crowned sparrows, like this one, prefer woody shrubs. As the Arctic continues to warm, shrubs on Alaska's North Slope are expected to overtake open grasslands. That could create conditions for sparrows to outcompete longspurs and other migratory birds. Credit: John Wingfield Starting in 2010, the team recorded for five seasons at regular intervals from early May through July. The hoped to pin down when the birds were arriving and if the species mix would shift as plants favoring warmer temperatures expand their range. White-crowned sparrows prefer woody shrubs, and Lapland longspurs, open grasslands. With shrubs expected to dominate the area by 2050, sparrows could end up pushing out longspurs and other tundra-adapted birds. In the next phase of their research, the team hopes to develop the tool further to distinguish between sparrows and longspurs, among other species, to spot population-level trends. Species-specific identification is a complex problem that other researchers are trying to crack. At Cornell, Farnsworth and his colleagues are using deep learning tools in a project called BirdVox to classify recordings of migratory bird calls at night, when there's less competing noise to filter out. Wildlife Acoustics, a company near Boston, is building low-cost field recorders and developing software to track the comings and goings of birds, as well as frogs, bats, and whales, by the sounds they make. A visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies through time as songbirds sing near Toolik Field Station in arctic Alaska. Credit: Oliver et al. 2018 "We want to know what species are present when humans are not," says Farnsworth. "We're trying to teach the machine to classify sound the way the human brain does." The longer the data set, the greater chance that a climate change signal will pop out. For Boelman, five years proved too short in a region known for big year-to-year swings in weather and temperature, which appear to be growing more extreme with climate change. In a recent study in Oecologia based on observational data, the team reported that both sparrows and longspurs appeared to time their arrival and breeding to local conditions; when a late spring delayed snowmelt by 10 days in 2013, the birds arrived 3 to 6 days later than usual, and hatched their young 4 to 10 days later. A visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies through time as a Gambel's white-crowned sparrow sings near Toolik Field Station in arctic Alaska. Credit: Oliver et al. 2018 "However, it's still unclear how songbirds will cope if spring comes even earlier or later than it did during our study period," said Boelman. "Species also time their migration and breeding with day length, which isn't shifting with climate change. Species whose migratory response is hard-wired to day length alone may not adapt as well to a changing environment." Explore further Climate change could impact critical food supplies for migratory birds More information: R.Y. Oliver el al., "Eavesdropping on the Arctic: Automated bioacoustics reveal dynamics in songbird breeding phenology," Science Advances (2018). Journal information: Science Advances R.Y. Oliver el al., "Eavesdropping on the Arctic: Automated bioacoustics reveal dynamics in songbird breeding phenology,"(2018). advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/6/eaaq1084 Having friends in high places such as the U.S. Congress can lead to reckless behavior at the local government level, according to a new study. Mihir Mehta, assistant professor of accounting at the University of Michigan, and colleagues Christine Cuny and Jungbae Kim of New York University analyzed the public financial disclosures of local government units and found that powerful political representation in Congress weakens local government incentives to act in the public interest. Mehta said the findings "are most important for citizens who stand to benefit from their local government links to powerful politicians. They're not getting the full value out of what they should given how federal money is allocated at the local level." The study looked at about 10,000 local governments in the United States from 1999 to 2016. The sample size consisted of more than 56,000 local government audit reports, of which 24 percent had material weaknesses in their internal controls and 9 percent did not comply with laws and regulations. "These local governments seem to become less responsible at looking after their money once they have extra money because of their powerful congressional representatives," Mehta said. "However, our results suggest that this effect is mitigated in more competitive voting areas." For example, in the set of local government data that included voter data, the researchers could see that when Democrats and Republicans were nearly equally represented, local officials managed taxpayer dollars more wisely. And once a long-serving member of Congress passes away or departs office for a Cabinet position, the researchers find that less money flows to their districts and local governments subsequently behave better. "Once they get less money, local governments become more careful with their money," Mehta said. The main takeaway from the study, he said, is that "having strong federal relationships can lead to suboptimal outcomes at the local level in terms of how local governments use their money." Explore further Indian government grounds Air India sale plans: reports More information: Friends in High Places: An Examination of Politically Connected Governments. Friends in High Places: An Examination of Politically Connected Governments. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf ?abstract_id=3171830 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Earth's intact forests shrank by an area larger than Austria every year from 2014 to 2016 at a 20 percent faster rate than during the previous decade, scientists said Wednesday as the UN unveiled an initiative to harness the "untapped potential" of the land sector to fight climate change. Despite a decades-long effort to halt deforestation, nearly 10 percent of undisturbed forests have been fragmented, degraded or simply chopped down since 2000, according to the analysis of satellite imagery. Average daily loss over the first 17 years of this century was more than 200 square kilometres (75 square miles). "Degradation of intact forest represents a global tragedy, as we are systematically destroying a crucial foundation of climate stability," said Frances Seymour, a senior distinguished fellow at the World Resources Institute (WRI), and a contributor to the research, presented this week at a conference in Oxford. "Forests are the only safe, natural, proven and affordable infrastructure we have for capturing and storing carbon." The findings come as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and five major conservation organisations launched a five-year plan, Nature4Climate, to better leverage land use in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that drive global warming. "Thirty-seven percent of what is needed to stay below two degrees Celsius"the cornerstone goal of the 196-nation Paris Agreement"can be provided by land," said Andrew Steer, WRI President and CEO. "But only three percent of the public funding for mitigation goes to land and forest issuesthat needs to change," he told AFP. Beyond climate, the last forest frontiers play a critical role in maintaining biodiversity, weather stability, clean air, and water quality. Some 500 million people worldwide depend directly on forests for their livelihood. A future without intact forests? So-called "intact forest landscapes"which can include wetlands and natural grass pasturesare defined as areas of at least 500 sq km with no visible evidence in satellite images of large-scale human use. That means no roads, industrial agriculture, mines, railways, canals or transmission lines. As of January 2017, there were about 11.6 million sq km of forests worldwide that still fit these criteria. From 2014 to 2016, that area declined by more than 87,000 km2 each year. "Many countries may lose all their forest wildlands in the next 15 to 20 years," Peter Potapov, an associate professor at the University of Maryland and lead scientist for the research, told AFP. On current trends, intact forests will disappear by 2030 in Paraguay, Laos and Equatorial Guinea, and by 2040 in the Central African Republic, Nicaragua, Myanmar, Cambodia and Angola. "There could come a point in the future where no areas in the world qualify as 'intact' anymore," said Tom Evans, director for forest conservation and climate mitigation at the Wildlife Conservation Society. "It is certainly worrying." In tropical countries, the main causes of virgin forest loss are conversion to agriculture and logging. In Canada and the United States, fire is the main culprit, while in Russia and Australia, the destruction has been driven by fires, mining and energy extraction. Compared to annual declines during the period 2000-2013, Russia lost, on average, 90 percent more each year from 2014 to 2016. For Indonesia, the increase was 62 percent, and for Brazil it was 16 percent. The new results are based on a worldwide analysis of satellite imagery, built on a study first done in 2008 and repeated in 2013. Protected areas "The high resolution data, like the one collected by the Landsat programme, allows us to detect human-caused alteration and fragmentation of forest wildlands," said Potapov. Presented at the Intact Forests in the 21st Century conference at Oxford University, the finding will be submitted for peer-reviewed publication, said Potapov, who delivered a keynote to the three-day gathering. Addressing colleagues from around the world, Potapov also challenged the effectiveness of a global voluntary certification system. Set up in 1994 and backed by green groups such as the World Wildlife Fund, the self-stated mission of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is to "promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world's forests." Many forest-products carry the FSC label, designed to reassure eco-conscious consumers. But approximately half of all intact forest landscapes inside FSC-certified concessions were lost from 2000 to 2016 in Gabon and the Republic of Congo, the new data showed. In Cameroon, about 90 percent of FSC-monitored forest wildlands disappeared. "FSC is an effective mechanism to fragment and degrade remaining intact forest landscapes, not a tool for their protection," Potapov said. National and regional parks have helped to slow the rate of decline. The chances of forest loss was found to be three times higher outside protected areas than inside them, the researchers reported. Explore further Tracking the world's final wilderness frontiers 2018 AFP Claudia Cancellieri and Sebastian Siol are investigating heterostructural alloys at Empa's Laboratory for Joining Technologies and Corrosion. Credit: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology The term alloy usually refers to a mixture of several metals. However, other materials can also be alloyed. In the semiconductor industry, for instance, oxide and nitride alloys have long been used successfully to tune the material's functional properties. Usually, these changes occur gradually and the properties of the base materials are still easy to recognize. However, if compounds with unmatched crystal structures are mixed, "heterostructural alloys" are formed. In these alloys, the structure changes depend on the mixing ratio of the components. Sometimes, this yields surprising properties that differ remarkably from those of the base materials. It is these oxide alloys that Empa researcher Sebastian Siol is interested in. He not only wants to discover them, but make them usable for everyday life. In his quest to find the desired material, he has to keep an eye on several materials properties at once, such as the structure, the electronic propertiesand the long-term stability. Siol joined Empa last year. Previously, he conducted research at the National Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, where he left behind a notable publication: alloys with "negative pressure." Together with his colleagues, he mixed manganese selenide and manganese telluride using a cold-steam technique (magnetron sputtering). At certain ratios, the base materials merged to form a crystal lattice that was "uncomfortable" for both components. Neither of the partners could force its favorite crystal structure, which it prefers in a pure state, upon the other. The resulting compromise was a new phase, which normally would only form at "negative pressure"i.e., when the material is permanently exposed to tension. These materials are extremely difficult to produce under normal conditions. Siol and his colleagues at NREL have managed to overcome this difficulty. The new material, now accessible thanks to this method, displays many useful properties. For instance, it is piezoelectric. In other words, it can be used to generate electricity, produce detectorsor conduct semiconductor experiments, which would not have been possible with the pure base materials. Researching stable systems At Empa, Siol will bring his experience in making "impossible" oxide alloys to the table. He aims to discover oxide mixtures with a variable structure and thus stabilize them to such an extent that they become fit for everyday use. The Laboratory for Joining Technologies & Corrosion headed by Lars Jeurgens has plenty of experience in practical applications for stable oxide layers and alloys. The initial focus is on mixed oxides made of titanium and tungsten oxide, which could be of interest for window coatings, semiconductor technology or sensor technology. Siol's colleague Claudia Cancellieri has been researching the electronic properties of oxide interfaces for several years and contributes her expertise to the project. Sebastian Siol showing a sample of heterostructural oxides, which could be a promising coating for smart windows. Credit: EMPA "The material combination is very exciting," explains Siol. Titanium oxides are extremely stable and used in solar cells, wall paints and toothpaste. Tungsten oxides, on the other hand, are comparatively unstable and are used for smart windows, gas sensors or as catalytic converters in petrochemistry. "In the past, research often focused solely on optimizing material properties," says Siol. "It is crucial, however, that the material can be used for several years in the respective field of application." For instance, this would be important for semiconductor coatings in electrochromic windows, which have to last for decades in aggressive environments, exposed to sunlight and temperature fluctuations. The Empa researchers are seeking this long-term stability. To produce these oxide phases Siol and his colleagues use different industrially scalable techniques: controlled oxidation of thin metal films in a tube furnace or electrolyte solution, as well as reactive sputtering, where the metals are oxidized directly during the deposition process. "Impossible" oxide alloys, the subject of fundamental research until now, are thus gradually becoming tangible for industrial applications. Explore further Research effort creates new alloys, phase diagram More information: Sebastian Siol et al, Negative-pressure polymorphs made by heterostructural alloying, Science Advances (2018). Journal information: Science Advances Sebastian Siol et al, Negative-pressure polymorphs made by heterostructural alloying,(2018). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaq1442 An enormous cloud of pollution over South Asia: The Atmospheric Brown Cloud is created during the winter months every year by the combustion of biomass and fossil fuels. Credit: NASA, Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response The same phenomenon recurs every year. During the dry season, in winter, burning fossil fuels and biomass in South Asia creates a huge pollution haze: the Atmospheric Brown Cloud. How and why it disappears as soon as the rainy season starts in spring has now been clarified by an international team of scientists led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. The result is that thunderstorm updrafts, lightning and chemical reactions enhance the self-cleansing power of the atmosphere, allowing atmospheric pollutants to be efficiently washed out of the air. However, the pollutants that are not eliminated are transported into the upper troposphere by the monsoon and then spread worldwide. No weather phenomenon defines South Asia as much as the monsoon: this enormous circulation system leads to dryness in winter but brings intense precipitation in summer. The summer monsoon is created by the heating of air masses over the Indian subcontinent and the warm air rising. As a result, humid ocean air is drawn in and flows over land towards the Himalayas. Deep thunderstorm clouds produce rain over the region for months, guaranteeing water supplies and safeguarding harvests. Atmospheric researchers have long suspected that the rising air masses also transport pollution high into the atmosphere, even above the rain clouds. "We anticipated that gaseous and particulate pollutants are transferred into an anticyclone, a huge clockwise circulation of winds, which forms above the clouds over South Asia as a result of the thunderstorm convection," says Jos Lelieveld, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. Geographically, the countries of Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Tibet, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan are part of South Asia. In this region, nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide emissions from burning coal and other fossil fuels have increased by fifty percent over the past decade. However, the pollution cloud is also fuelled by other sources, in particular the combustion of biomass by the region's large population. The monsoon transports atmospheric pollutants and eliminates them Evidence that the South Asian monsoon actually transports pollutants through the cloud layer as high as the stratosphere has now been provided by an elaborate expedition with the HALO research aircraft: in 2015, the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, together with colleagues from the Forschungszentrum Julich, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), launched the "Oxidation Mechanism Observations" mission (OMO). "Our research flights revealed that the monsoon also effectively removes pollutants from the atmosphere," said expedition leader Lelieveld. The pollutants are carried aloft from the surface and rapidly converted into compounds that are more easily removed by rain. The scientific team's study thus uncovered the monsoon's virtue but also its downside: a large proportion of South Asia's pollutants moves up above monsoon clouds into the anticyclone. There they accumulate and are then distributed around the globe. For example, almost ten percent of South Asia's sulphur dioxide emissions reaches the stratosphere, which in turn has effects on the climate and the ozone layer. The monsoon therefore not only represents a type of efficient pollutant washing machine, but simultaneously contributes to global atmospheric pollution. HALO reveals the sources of atmospheric pollution and the degradation processes The scientists achieved these findings from measurements in the anticyclone: in July and August they flew up to 15 kilometres into the monsoon outflow, between the eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, and analyzed the composition of the atmosphere with the research aircraft HALO. They passed over regions in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and North Africa to investigate the extent of the phenomenon. Modelling results illustrate atmospheric pollution over South Asia. The left figure shows carbon monoxide emissions (CO) at an altitude of 12 to 17 kilometres, on the right is the same visualization but without emissions from South Asia. The figure on the left also shows the winds over the region, clearly revealing the anticyclone created by the monsoon. Credit: MPI for Chemistry During the survey flights, they identified numerous chemical compounds in order to understand the sources of atmospheric pollution and the chemical processes in the atmosphere: sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, ozone, aerosols, chlorine-containing molecules, hydrocarbons and their degradation products. More carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide, but also more hydroxyl For example, the measurement flights revealed that carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide concentrations within the anticyclone were significantly increased compared to outside. "The large amounts of sulphur dioxide originate from combustion processes by human activities and are much higher than natural background concentrations," says atmospheric researcher Hans Schlager of the DLR. This, in turn, means that a substantial proportion of atmospheric pollution is transported to altitudes up to 15 kilometres. In addition, the researchers were able to demonstrate that India represents a significant source of pollutants. It was previously assumed that much of the emissions come from China, because the monsoon's area of influence extends as far as East Asia. "We also analysed the levels of hydroxyl radicals and found significantly higher concentrations within the anticyclone than outside it," relates Max Planck researcher Hartwig Harder, who was present during the entire expedition. The hydroxyl molecule (OH) is better known as the atmospheric cleansing agent because it is highly reactive and efficiently oxidizes pollutants. Chemically, this has two effects: on the one hand, their solubility and thus their ability to lock on to existing airborne particles change, making them easier to wash out of the atmosphere by precipitation. On the other hand, the oxidized molecules can combine to form new aerosols. Because the anticyclone expands widely and disperses the particles, this effect can impact the global climate. More atmospheric cleaners thanks to lightning The atmospheric cleanser OH primarily forms when ozone and water are broken down by sunlight. Once the radical has reacted with pollutants, it is generally lost. However, if nitrogen oxides are present, it is recycled and can purify repeatedly, explains the atmospheric chemist Andreas Hofzumahaus of Forschungszentrum Julich. Nitrogen oxides are formed not only by the combustion of diesel fuel, but also by lightning in the atmosphere. Because lightning frequently occurs during monsoon thunderstorms, the self-cleaning power at 15 kilometres altitude is maintained despite the atmospheric pollution. According to the scientists, even much more OH is recycled than is primarily formed. This means, then, that the monsoon weather phenomenon not only pumps pollutants high into the atmosphere, but simultaneously provides a cleaning mechanism to remove some of those pollutants again. This explanation was confirmed by the results of an established numerical model system, which computes the chemical processes in the atmosphere globally. Based on this model, it is possible to determine, among other things, the concentrations of individual chemical compounds such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and those of the OH radical verified based on the measurements. The OH decreases by a factor of two to three if the scientists do not take into account the nitrogen oxides produced by lightning in the model. Because it can be assumed that pollutant emissions in the region will continue to increase in future years, the researchers headed by Jos Lelieveld are interested in how the two faces of the Janus-headed South Asian monsoon will develop in the future: Will the cleaning and transport mechanism continue to exist side by side or will they be tilted in one direction or the other? Explore further High altitude research aircraft explores the upper levels of the Asian Monsoon More information: J. Lelieveld et al. The South Asian monsoonPollution pump and purifier, Science (2018). Journal information: Science J. Lelieveld et al. The South Asian monsoonPollution pump and purifier,(2018). DOI: 10.1126/science.aar2501 Srinagar, June 20: The unabated Indian state terrorism during the last twenty nine years has forced over thirty five thousand Kashmiris to live outside the territory as refugees. According to a report released of on the occasion of World Refugee Day, today, revealed that a big number of the Kashmiri refugees lived in the refugee camps in Azad Jammu and Kashmir while many of them lived in Pakistan and in the European countries. The report pointed out that due to the Indian atrocities against the struggling Kashmiris since 1947, over two million people had taken refuge in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan and in the UK. The new species of fossil chancelloriid: an enigmatic animal from the Cambrian Period with a tube-like body, 'minotaur-horn' spines, and doughnut-shaped scars. Credit: Derek Siveter/Tom Harvey/Peiyun Cong Scientists have discovered the fossil of an unusual large-bodied 'nude' sea-creature from half a billion years ago. The creature belongs to an obscure and mysterious group of animals known as the chancelloriidsand scientists are unclear about where they fit in the tree of life. They represent a lineage of spiny tube-shaped animals that arose during the Cambrian evolutionary "explosion" but went extinct soon afterwards. In some ways they resemble sponges, a group of simple filter-feeding animals, but many scientists have dismissed the similarities as superficial. The new discovery by a team of scientists from the University of Leicester, the University of Oxford and Yunnan University, China, adds new evidence that could help solve the mystery. The researchers have published their findings in the Royal Society journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The Leicester authors are Tom Harvey, Mark Williams, David Siveter & Sarah Gabbott. The new species, named Allonnia nuda, was discovered in the Chengjiang deposits of Yunnan Province, China. It was surprisingly large in life (perhaps up to 50 cm or more) but had only a few very tiny spines. Its unusual "naked" appearance suggests that further specimens may be "hiding in plain sight" in fossil collections, and shows that this group was more diverse than previously thought. Furthermore, the new species holds clues about the pattern of body growth, with clear links to modern sponges. It is too soon to say the mystery has been solved, but the discovery highlights the central role of sponge-like fossils in the debate over earliest animal evolution. Dr. Tom Harvey, from the University of Leicester's School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, explained: "Fossil chancelloriids were first described around 100 years ago, but have resisted attempts to place them in the tree of life. We argue that their pattern of body growth supports a link to sponges, reinvigorating an old hypothesis. We're not suggesting that it's "case closed" for chancelloriids, but we hope our results will inspire new research into the nature of the earliest animals." Dr. Peiyun Cong, from the Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Kunming, China, and The Natural History Museum, UK, added: "The Chengjiang deposits of Yunnan Province continue to reveal surprising new fossils we could hardly have imagined. Together, they provide a crucial snapshot of life in the oceans during the Cambrian explosion." More information: Naked chancelloriids from the lower Cambrian of China show evidence for sponge-type growth, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, rspb.royalsocietypublishing.or .1098/rspb.2018.0296 Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Naked chancelloriids from the lower Cambrian of China show evidence for sponge-type growth, Pilot whales feed primarily on squid and have a distinct, rounded head with a very slight beak The Faroe Islands' ritual pilot whale hunt is not only highly controversial, eating the whale meat also poses a health hazard, public health authorities in Denmark's autonomous North Atlantic territory warn, advising against eating it. In a centuries-old tradition known as the "grindadrap", pilot whales swimming close to shore during their summer migration are surrounded by Faroese in small boats, who herd them into shallow waters and beaches where they kill them with knives, turning the water red. The meat is then distributed to locals. The practice is "ecological" and "respectful", says Fisheries Minister Hogni Hoydal, who also argues it is a key part of the Faroese tradition of living in a sustainable way off their marine resources. But the head of the Faroe Islands public health administration, Pal Weihe, advises against eating it. "We find it so problematic for the health of the Faroese to eat it that we have asked them to make this cultural sacrifice," he told AFP, stressing: "It is a sacrifice not to consume this very traditional food anymore." "If Denmark or Britain should stop eating bacon for breakfast, that would be a part of the culture which disappeared. Whale meat has really been part of our way of living, our identity, our culture," he said. High levels of mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), released by industries into the environment, end up in the whale meat which can in turn affect humans' intellectual and neurological development and weaken their immune systems. After following hundreds of children in a study that began in 1986, Weihe first recommended in 1998 that people limit pilot whale meat consumption to one or two meals a monthand advised pregnant women and those planning to have children to refrain completely. As scientific documentation of toxicity levels steadily improved, that recommendation was extended to the entire Faroese population in 2008with mixed results. "When I say, 'You shouldn't eat it anymore', that's almost the same as to say 'Do not kill the whales anymore'," Weihe said. "I'm not interfering in that, I'm just saying 'Don't eat them'. But as the only reason for killing them is the consumption, that means that some people are not listening to what I say." Explore further Up to 50 pilot whales killed in Faroes: activists 2018 AFP 2 dead, 7 injured as truck carrying excavator falls into Koshi River (Update) Two persons died after a truck carrying an excavator fell into the Koshi River at Koshi Barrage in Sunsari on Wednesday. Seven others were injured in the accident. Achham health facilities face medicine shortage Government health facilities in Kamalbazar, Turmakhad and Chaurpati municipalities in Achham district are reeling under shortage of medicines for the past one month. June 20, 2018 in FileMaker (E) [prMac.com] Prague, Czech Republic - 24U Software today is proud to announce the release of fmRESTor for FileMaker(R) Data API. fmRESTor is an object-based PHP library developed to interact with databases and custom apps hosted on a FileMaker(R) Server via the new FileMaker Data API from within PHP code. With fmRESTor, PHP developers don't have to learn FileMaker Data API in detail, they can just create a new object, passing it necessary parameters to connect to the database, and use fmRESTor's easy to understand methods to access or modify their data. fmRESTor will take care of authentication, exceptions, logging, and even session preservation in order for the PHP code to be a well-behaving client for the FileMaker Data API without the developer having to worry about these technical details. Features of fmRESTor: * One object class conveniently handles everything * Automatically generates authentication token * Re-uses existing token to avoid unnecessary additional connections * Automatically re-generates expired token * Handles exceptions and provides meaningful error results * Can handle raw form data for easier container uploads * Provides customizable debug logging 24U believes that the whole FileMaker developers community will benefit from the FileMaker Platform not only having new powerful RESTful API, but also developers using the API nicely and efficiently, therefore they decided to make this library available as Open Source. System Requirements: * PHP 5.5 or greater * cURL * FileMaker database hosted on FileMaker Server 17 or FileMaker Cloud 1.17 Pricing and Availability: fmRESTor is available as open source, licensed under the "GNU LGPLv3" License. 24U greatly appreciates contributions, but cannot provide free support for the library. Developers may hire 24U to help them with their projects, either by purchasing developer-level support or by utilizing 24U's custom development services. With a team of full-time testers, web, plug-in, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android native app developers, and FileMaker certified developers, led by the FileMaker DevCon 2015 Developer Cup champion, 24U excels in taking care of existing FileMaker solutions, optimizing their performance, identifying and resolving potential issues and liabilities, improving reliability, stability and scalability, integrating them with other systems including various hardware devices, and extending them beyond expectation. As a platinum member of the FileMaker Business Alliance, we help global businesses around the world to maintain sustainable growth by working with their in-house developers or completely taking care of the maintenance and development of their business solutions. (c) 2018 24U s.r.o. All rights reserved. 24U, 24U Software, and FM Bench are trademarks of 24U s.r.o. FileMaker is a trademark of FileMaker, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Pricing and availability are subject to change without notice. ### Amnesty slams inaction over Ganga Maya Amnesty International on Tuesday denounced the governments reluctance grant justice to Ganga Maya Adhikari who is on hunger strike for the last 21 days since she launched a fresh protest. Border hopping shoppers increase after budget Residents of border towns are hopping across the frontier into India in increasing numbers to buy daily household goods following a sharp price hike after the federal budget statement was issued. China committed to Nepals natl sovereignty, territorial integrity: Chinese Prez Xi Chinese President Xi Jingpng has said that the Peoples Republic of China is committed to keep intact the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nepal. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. China revisited China aggressively wants a place in the new world order and Nepal should learn to benefit from its rise British Prime Minister Theresa May survived another knife-edge Brexit vote in parliament on Wednesday but came under fresh pressure from the European Union to step up the withdrawal negotiations. May saw off a rebellion by pro-European MPs on a flagship draft law by offering last-minute reassurances over the role parliament would play if she fails to agree a Brexit deal. In doing so, she concluded months of acrimonious debate over the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, which sets the legal framework for Brexit and can now finally become law. A defeat would have been humiliating for the prime minister just days before an EU summit in Brussels, where she will seek to make further progress in the withdrawal negotiations. May is still publicly aiming for a deal by October, to allow time for the British and European parliaments to ratify it before Britain withdraws from the EU in March 2019. But the debate in the House of Commons over the implications of a "no deal" reflects concern on both sides of the Channel at the pace of talks. The EU this week raised the alarm over continued lack of agreement on the key issue of the Irish border, and also knocked back London's proposals for the future security partnership. EU leaders meanwhile will be asked at the June 28-29 summit to step up their contingency plans for the possibility of no deal, according to draft conclusions seen by AFP. - Sovereignty of parliament - May has promised parliament a vote on Britain's exit deal, but has been engaged in months of negotiations with MPs in her Conservative party over what happens if it is rejected. Pro-Europeans are determined that parliament be given the opportunity to intervene to stop Britain crashing out of the bloc, which they say could have catastrophic consequences. But May warned that any attempt to tie her hands would undermine the negotiations, while eurosceptics accused the rebels of trying to block Britain's exit altogether. Under threat of a Conservative revolt last week, May agreed that if there is no deal by January 21, ministers must put a statement to a vote in parliament. But May insisted MPs could not amend that statement to force the government into a course of action -- a stance that critics said made the exercise meaningless. Just hours before a showdown over the issue on Wednesday, Brexit Secretary David Davis appeared to compromise. He issued a statement acknowledged that under House of Commons rules, "it will be for the Speaker to determine whether a motion... is or not amendable". Leading rebel Conservative Dominic Grieve said this was an "obvious acknowledgement of the sovereignty of this place (parliament)", and confirmed he would back the government. However, Tom Brake, from the pro-European Liberal Democrat party, condemned Grieve for getting "cold feet". "Despite the clear calamity that May and Davis are making of Brexit, the so-called Tory rebels have lost their bottle and caved into yet another pathetic government compromise," he said. MPs voted by 319 to 303 to reject a rebel amendment and backed the government's plan without a vote. Later in the evening, the motion was passed without a vote in the Lords, clearing the way for the bill to become law. - Sick MPs called in - While May won the day, the high-stakes vote is a reminder of how difficult her situation is. Her Conservative party commands only a slim majority in the 650-seat Commons and relies on the support of Northern Ireland's 10 Democratic Unionist Party MPs. Wednesday's vote was so close that heavily pregnant and sick MPs were called in to cast their ballots, including one in a wheelchair. Further clashes are due in the coming weeks when MPs debate bills on Britain's future trading relationship with the EU. One difficulty Britain has faced in the negotiations is that May's divided cabinet has yet to even agree on what it wants from the economic partnership. The prime minister will gather in her top ministers at her country retreat after the EU summit, where they finally hope to thrash out the detail of London's offer. Cambodia's former opposition leader faces royal insult charges punishable by a jail term, according to a court summons, the first prominent figure to be accused under the new law. The adoption of the law in February triggered alarm from rights groups who warned it would become another tool for Prime Minister Hun Sen to stifle dissent. The strongman premier is seeking to prolong his 33-year grip on power in a general election next month and has used the courts to cripple his opponents. Since the lese majeste law was approved three people have been charged for Facebook comments deemed insulting to King Norodom Sihamoni, a symbolic head of state who has steered clear of politics since taking the throne in 2004. Now Sam Rainsy, the former leader of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), is under investigation after calling into question the authenticity of a public letter from Sihamoni urging people to vote. A prosecutor on Wednesday issued a warrant summoning Rainsy to appear in court next month to answer questions over a "case related to insulting the king of Cambodia on a Facebook page", according to a copy of the document seen by AFP. On June 6 Rainsy wrote a post on his widely followed page calling Sihamoni's letter a "forgery" and "worthless" and speculating that it could even have been produced under duress. The palace denied the accusation. Rainsy faces up to five years in prison if found guilty. But he is not expected to appear in court as he lives in self-exile in France to avoid the mounting charges and convictions against him, which he says are politically motivated. His opposition party was dissolved under a court order last year as part of a sweeping crackdown. In recent weeks former opposition lawmakers -- mostly those who fled the country in the wake of the crackdown -- have urged voters to boycott July's poll in protest. Western democracies have withdrawn support for the July vote and the US sanctioned the head of Hun Sen's bodyguard unit last week for his alleged role in human rights abuses. China has pledged around $100 million to help modernise Cambodia's military, the government said Tuesday, the latest largesse showered on the country amid a crackdown on dissent before national elections. The pledge came from visiting Defence Minister Wei Fenghe, who arrived on Saturday for talks with his Cambodian counterpart and Prime Minister Hun Sen, said defence ministry spokesman General Chhum Socheat. Wei, who leaves Wednesday, "promised to support, to train, and to help reform our military to be modernised like others", he said, adding that the two countries would next year hold their third series of joint military exercises known as "Golden Dragon". The aid pledge comes at a time of worsening relations between the United States and Cambodia, which scrapped joint military exercises last year. Hun Sen also accused the US of assisting in a plot by the opposition to topple his government, claims dismissed by the current ambassador as "absurd". Hun Sen is looking to extend his 33-year grip on power in the vote next month after the main opposition party was dissolved last year and one of its leaders arrested. Analysts say unwavering support from China in the form of loans and investment has allowed him to hammer away at threats to his rule without fear of consequences. The US has withdrawn financial support for Cambodia's elections and this month sanctioned the head of Hun Sen's bodyguard unit for his alleged role in human rights abuses. In a separate case, dozens of Cambodians who formerly worked at the US embassy in Phnom Penh protested outside it on Tuesday after being fired from their jobs in March, when allegations of sharing sexually explicit material and child pornography surfaced. Carrying posters of Hun Sen and US President Donald Trump, they called on the embassy to provide evidence and asked for compensation. "We were sacked from the jobs unjustly," said one former employee Chuon Im. An embassy spokesman said it takes incidents involving child pornography and child exploitation "very seriously" but would not comment on internal personnel issues. China has vowed to grant more than US$100 million in military aid to Cambodia as it promised to boost ties with the Southeast Asian nation ahead of its election next month. The pledges came during Chinese defence minister Wei Fenghes visit to Cambodia, where the two sides also agreed to increase military cooperation, including future joint military exercises, as well as a Chinese naval visit next year. Weis visit began on Sunday and will come to an end on Wednesday. Wei met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday in Phnom Penh, where Wei extended greetings from President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. During his visit, Cambodian officials asked China to provide tactical gear, and provide the equipment and machinery needed to construct a training ground for live-fire drills. Cambodias former opposition leader urges Japan to lean on Hun Sen to ensure fair elections Hun Sens ruling Cambodia Peoples Party is expected to win the elections to be held on July 29, after the countrys primary opposition party the Cambodia National Rescue Party was dissolved last year. As a consequence, the EU and the US withdrew their support for the elections. Instead, Russia will provide election monitors and China and Japan have supplied election ballot boxes and booths. Hun Sen has accused the US of supporting the opposition party in an effort to overthrow his government. Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales, said the show of military support by Beijing is not directly related to the election, but shows how much Cambodia relies on China as it becomes increasingly isolated from other states. He said that as ties worsened with the EU, Australia and the US, Cambodia has nowhere else to go. During Weis visit, the two sides agreed to hold the Golden Dragon joint military exercises again in 2019. Military partnerships with other countries have been put on hold. Cambodia postponed joint military exercises with the US in January and with Australia in March last year. Story continues Cambodia launches campaign to persuade voters to turn out for election despite international scepticism Zhang Jie, a Southeast Asia expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Chinas increases in aid before the election should be seen as a long-term effort to safeguard its investments. China also realises that if Cambodia has a serious corruption problem, its bad for the long-term strategy for investment in the country, said Zhang. On the Belt and Road Initiative, Zhang said China recognised that corruption could endanger the safety of investments. But this is not something that can be solved in the short-term. https://multimedia.scmp While Hun Sen is likely to win the election, the military visit is also meant to stave off the threat of instability in the country, and convince hardliners that he is still the right man for the job, said Jean Jonathan Bogais, adjunct professor at the University of Sydney and specialist in Southeast Asia. There are divisions within Cambodia, within the ruling party and the military, who have vested interests in agriculture, business and other sectors of society. They need to be sure that the status quo will not change for them, and need reassurances, he said. If Hun Sen can show he has protection from China, this will be a determining factor regarding whether there will be instability to Hun Sen. This article Chinas pledges more military aid as Cambodia prepares for controversial election first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018. Forces loyal to Syria's government committed what amounted to crimes against humanity, including deliberately starving civilians, during the siege of Eastern Ghouta, UN investigators said Wednesday. The five-year siege, on the outskirts of the capital, ended in April when Damascus regained control of the rebel enclave. "Following the end of the longest running siege in modern history... the UN Commission of Inquiry (for human rights in Syria) has condemned this method of warfare in Syria as barbaric," the UN investigators said in a statement. The COI, tasked by the UN Human Rights Council in March to urgently investigate recent events in Eastern Ghouta, released a 23-page report filled with horrific details of civilian suffering. "It is completely abhorrent that besieged civilians were indiscriminately attacked, and systematically denied food and medicine," commission head Paulo Pinheiro said in the statement. As pro-government forces dramatically escalated their campaign to recapture the besieged enclave between February and April this year, they used tactics that were "largely unlawful in nature," the report said. The tactics, it said, "aimed at punishing the inhabitants of eastern Ghouta and forcing the population, collectively, to surrender or starve." It described thousands of desperate people holed up for months in squalid basements with dwindling food rations and few if any sanitation facilities, as bombs and missiles rained down. - 'Deliberate starvation' - The report concluded that "certain acts perpetrated by pro-Government forces during the siege laid to Eastern Ghouta, including the deliberate starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare, amount to the crime against humanity of inhumane acts causing serious mental and physical suffering." The investigators slammed the widespread use of sieges throughout Syria's seven-year conflict, which has killed more than 350,000 people. "Hundreds of thousands of Syrian women, men and children countrywide have suffered for too long the perverse and long-lasting effects of this medieval form of warfare," the report said. The UN's Syria commission, set up in 2011 shortly after the civil war began, has repeatedly accused the warring parties of crimes. In Wednesday's report, the commission also faulted armed opposition groups like Jaysh al-Islam, Ahrar al-Sham and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham for committing "war crimes" by launching "indiscriminate attacks" on Damascus, and killing and maiming hundreds of civilians. "Through the entire duration of the siege, armed groups also regularly arbitrarily arrested and tortured civilians in Douma, including members of religious minority groups, repeatedly committing the war crimes of cruel treatment and torture, and outrages upon personal dignity," the report said. The investigators, who have never been granted access to Syria, said they based their findings for their latest report on some 140 interviews conducted in person in the region and from Geneva. They also said they analysed photographs, video recordings, satellite imagery, and medical records, as well as reports from government and non-government sources. The report noted that by the time government forces declared Eastern Ghouta recaptured on April 14, around 140,000 people had been displaced from their homes. Tens of thousands of them are still being unlawfully interned by government forces in managed sites throughout the Damascus region, the report said. Following local "evacuation agreements", up to 50,000 civilians from Eastern Ghouta were displaced to Idlib and Aleppo governorates, it said. Clarion calls to relocate airport fuel storage tanks In March 2015, a Turkish Airlines jet skidded off the runway and veered onto the grassy shoulder during landing at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). The Airbus A330 carrying 224 passengers came to a stop barely 100 metres from the airport fuel depot. Residents in the Nicaraguan opposition bastion of Masaya were on Wednesday holding off an offensive by police and pro-government paramilitaries as fresh violence flared across the Central American country. Funerals were held for three people killed in clashes in the flashpoint city on Tuesday, bringing to 187 the number killed since protests against President Daniel Ortega's government began on April 18. "This is horrible. You can't live in peace anymore, people are dying because of a government that won't leave," 40-year-old housewife Ramona Aleman told AFP at the cemetery in the north of the city, as a victim of Tuesday's violence was laid to rest. Marvin Lopez was shot in the throat and his friend Edgar Taleno said he and his friends had to dodge gunfire from pro-government forces to retrieve his body. "This is total anarchy. We ask the international community to support us. We can no longer live here, they are massacring people who don't have weapons," Taleno said. Mourners sang Nicaragua's national anthem and fired a volley of homemade mortars in homage to the victims, blaming government "assassins" for their deaths. Meanwhile, a pro-government mob early Wednesday burned down the Masaya hotel owned by the family a of key government opponent, student movement figure Cristian Fajardo. "They entered my business, they poured fuel inside, my uncle was beaten and his head was smashed with the butts of the AK-47s they carried," said Fajardo. Riot police and paramilitaries had deployed Tuesday in the historically combative city after it declared itself in rebellion against Ortega's government. The government-backed forces entered the city to leave munitions and food for the police, and removed some barricades. Police in the city are remaining in their barracks, but according to a priest in the Monimbo neighborhood, Augusto Gutierrez, the opposition remain in control of some areas of the city. The pro-Ortega forces used tractors and tow trucks brought in from the capital Managua to clear barricades from the main road leading to the city. Anti-government protesters erected new barricades in some neighborhoods overnight, as witnesses said trucks carrying armed men patrolled the streets of the city, 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Managua. Ortega's wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, said her husband "is committed to curbing this wave of terrorism, hate crimes, kidnappings, threats and intimidation." Gunfire was heard Wednesday in different parts of the town. Elsewhere, residents in the towns of Jinotepe, Leon, Matagalpa and Esteli reported shootings and attacks by heavily armed men. "There are situations of extreme violence where they are already exceeding the limits, and the truth is that we find ourselves totally defenseless," the executive director of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, Marlin Sierra told AFP. - Fear of 'civil war' - "The tendency is to deepen the crisis," said Sierra. "We are extremely worried because we see that there is a political will on the part of the state to push for a civil war." On Tuesday, the rights group's head Alvaro Leiva said residents were resisting "within the scope of their possibilities" but were under "disproportionate" attack by security forces. The auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Jose Baez, appealed to the government to back off. "Stop the attack on Masaya. Respect the life of the population," he tweeted. The country's Roman Catholic bishops have attempted to mediate the crisis -- but the latest attempt collapsed on Monday, with the bishops and opposition accusing the government of failing to act on a promise to allow international organizations to investigate the violence. Carlos Trujillo, the United States representative at the Organization of American States (OAS), planned to meet with Ortega on Wednesday. He met opposition leaders in Managua on Tuesday shortly after arriving in the country. Masaya, once a stronghold of Ortega's Sandinista revolution, has been a focal point of protests aimed at forcing him out of office. A onetime leftist guerrilla, Ortega led the country from 1979 to 1990 and then returned to the presidency in 2007, now serving his third consecutive term. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., June 7, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo By Lesley Wroughton and Michelle Nichols WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States withdrew from a "hypocritical and self-serving" United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform, a move activists warned would make advancing human rights globally even more difficult. Standing with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting U.S. efforts to reform the council. She also criticized countries which shared U.S. values and encouraged Washington to remain, but "were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo." Washington's withdrawal is the latest U.S. rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It also comes as the United States faces intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein on Monday called on Washington to halt its "unconscionable" policy. "Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights," said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of Congo. She did not mention Saudi Arabia, which rights groups pushed to be suspended in 2016 over killings of civilians in the Yemen war. Among reforms the United States had pushed for was to make it easier to kick out member states with egregious rights records. Currently a two-thirds majority vote by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly is needed to suspend a member state. Haley also said the "disproportionate focus and unending hostility towards Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the U.S. decision. Story continues The United States has long shielded its ally Israel at the United Nations. In citing what it says is bias against Israel, the administration of President Donald Trump could further fuel Palestinian arguments that Washington cannot be a neutral mediator as it prepares to roll out a Middle East peace plan. Washington also relocated its embassy to Jerusalem after recognising it as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of U.S. policy. The United States is half-way through a three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if it was not overhauled. 'MISGUIDED POLICY' Rights groups have criticized the Trump administration for not making human rights a priority in its foreign policy. Critics say this sends a message that the administration turns a blind eye to human rights abuses in some parts of the world. "Given the state of human rights in today's world, the U.S. should be stepping up, not stepping back," Zeid said after Haley announced the U.S. withdrawal. Reuters reported last week that talks on reforming the council had failed to meet Washington's demands, suggesting the Trump administration would quit. "The Human Rights Council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those that committed no offence," Pompeo said. Diplomats have said the U.S. withdrawal could bolster countries such as Cuba, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan, which resist what they see as U.N. interference in sovereign issues. Haley said the withdrawal "is not a retreat from our human rights commitments." Twelve rights and aid groups, including Human Rights First, Save the Children and CARE, warned Pompeo the U.S. withdrawal would "make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world." Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program, said Trump's "misguided policy of isolationism only harms American interests." The EU said Washington's decision "risks undermining the role of the U.S. as a champion and supporter of democracy on the world stage." British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was regrettable and that the council was the "best tool the international community has to address impunity." FIRST MEMBER TO WITHDRAW The Human Rights Council meets three times a year to examine human rights violations worldwide. It has mandated independent investigators to look at situations including Syria, North Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan. Its resolutions are not legally binding but carry moral authority. When the Council was created in 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush's administration shunned the body. Under President Barack Obama the United States was elected for a maximum two consecutive terms on the council by the U.N. General Assembly. After a year off, Washington was re-elected in 2016 for its current third term. U.N. officials said the United States would be the first member to withdraw from the council. Haley said a year ago that Washington was reviewing its membership. The body has a permanent standing agenda item on suspected violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories that Washington wanted removed. The council last month voted to probe killings in Gaza and accused Israel of using excessive force. The United States and Australia cast the only "no" votes. "The U.N. Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel," said Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by Michelle Nichols, Editing by Yara Bayoumy and James Dalgleish) Also, Quantifeedss Series B, Sakay.PH, RHTRA, and another digital money heist RedDoorz expands into the Philippines [Press release] Online budget hotels booking platform RedDoorz has announced its expansion to its third market in Southeast Asia, the Philippines with an investment of more than US$5 million and a projected growth to 100 properties across 12 months. Our expansion into the Philippines came as a natural progression for RedDoorz, where like our first market in Indonesia showed many similarities and thus the potential for a vibrant domestic travel and hospitality industry, said Amit Saberwal, RedDoorz Founder and CEO. The Philippines ranks second as the fastest growing internet economy in the world with a projected 93 million internet users by 2020. The countrys online travel market also enjoys aggressive growth projections, which RedDoorz aims to capitalise with the introduction of a new category of properties. RedDoorz Premium are properties that are designed for the budget business traveller and will be available for the Philippine market. This introduction of Premium properties came with our observation of how the Filipino concept of a condotel had seen a remarkable growth in the Philippines over the past decade, said Rishabh Singhi, RedDoorz Chief Operating Officer. The aim of this new category is to target the business traveller who looks for certain amenities like good Wifi connection, location closer to business districts and other amenities. Apart from its three categories of properties, RedDoorz will also make its loyalty programme available to the Philippine market. RedCash allows app users to earn perks from their stay. RedDoorz runs a full operations team in Manila. Established in 2015, RedDoorz helps hoteliers and guest house owners to showcase their property over a responsive platform, allowing them to reach out to larger audiences, increase their distribution, earn a brand name and streamline operations. Story continues Bithumb loses $32 million in digital money heist [Reuters] South Korea cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb said that 35 billion won (approximately US$32 million) worth of virtual coins were stolen by hackers, according to this report from Reuters. Bithumb is the second local exchange targetted in a span of just over a week. All trading has been stopped, and Bithumb announced that they would fully compensate customers affected by the heist. Quantifeed raises US$10M Series B [TechinAsia] HongKong-based Quantifeed has raised US$10 million ins Series B funding, according to this report from TechinAsia. The round was led by Cathay Financial Holdings and participated in by Legg Mason, a US-based asset management firm. Quantifeed makes wealth management and advisory software and currently operates in five countries. Funding will be used to expand its business and improve research and development. RHT Holdings and Rockchain.com announce joint venture to support Asias booming crypto economy [Press release] Professional services group RHT Holdings and crypto fund management company Rockchain.com has announced a joint venture established to support businesses and investors within the crypto economy. RHT Rockchain Advisory (RHTRA) will be an integrated crypto solutions provider focussing on transparency, integrity, and projects with a sound token-to-market strategy, delivering blockchain, business consultancy and project management for token generating events. The partnership presents a win-win opportunity where RHTRA will be built on the combined expertise of RHT Holdings compliance, technology and marketing expertise as well as Rockchains deep understanding of the Blockchain ecosystem and their technical experience in the Token economy, Distributed Ledger Technology and Digital Asset Management, said Jayaprakash Jagateesan, Chief Executive Officer of RHT Holdings in a press release. RHTRA also aims to support its clients with technology, marketing, and other necessary services for token generating events and for businesses applying blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies in general. Our collaboration with RHT Holdings reflects our continued commitment to partnering with best-in-class service providers to deliver the right solutions for our clients, said Julian Jarvis, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Rockchain. With this move, RHTRA will be able to deliver world-class DLT and crypto advisory services, backed by experienced local compliance industry professionals for added transparency and integrity. Sakay.ph rebrands, launches app [Press release] Philippine-based Sakay.ph has launched its app that contains up-to-date information for various commuter transportation modes in the countrys capital. Together with the app, Sakay.ph also features a new logo and branding system. Metro Manila transport is multi-modal, and commuters rely on multiple transport methods to get around. The team has spent a lot of time researching and double-checking our route data, because we want to make sure people dont get lost. said Rodrick Tan, Head of Sakay.ph Data and Research, in a press release. We use both research and user feedback to make sure the information we serve is a good reflection of whats happening on the streets. Sakay.ph provides free step-by-step commuting directions to and from anywhere in Metro Manila, with trip comparisons by time, number of stops and cost. It boasts of helping over a million users since it launched in 2013. Commuters face so many challenges every day, said Philip Cheang, Head of Sakay.ph Product Development. While we cant stop train breakdowns, road closures, and transport strikes from happening, we can at least ease commuting for the riding public by providing relevant information. The post Todays top tech news, June 20: RedDoorz expands to the Philippines appeared first on e27. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Turkish military carried out air strikes in northern Iraq's Avasin-Basyan and Sinat Haftanin areas on Wednesday, killing 10 Kurdish militants there, it said in a statement. Weapons storages and shelters were destroyed as a result of the air strikes, the military said on Twitter. Ankara has recently stepped up warnings of a potential ground offensive into northern Iraq's Qandil region, where high-ranking Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members are believed to be located. (Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun; Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Daren Butler) View from the Auckland Sky Tower. mbrand85/Shutterstock Singapore nationals to be exempted from controversial law banning home sales to foreigners. By Property Report The New Zealand government has announced that Singapore will be a carve-out nation, granting citizens in the Southeast Asian city-state the right to buy property in the archipelago, Stuff reported. Singapore nationals will join Australians and certain types of visa holders in an exemption from a controversial bill seeking to ban sales in the Kiwi residential property market to foreigners. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters noted that New Zealand has a side-letter agreement with Singapore if denizens from the latter begin buying homes at such significant quantities. Proponents behind the bill have imputed declining affordability in Kiwi homes to a large presence of foreign speculators in the market. In addition to exemptions for Singaporean buyers, the Kiwi government announced it would relax provisions of the foreign buyers ban for apartment seekers, a move Peters called a smartening up of the law. As suggested by members of the Finance and Expenditure Committee, the bill will allow foreign buyers to keep apartments bought off-plan, as long as the units are part of a project with 20 or more units. More: Its a hiatus for the Auckland housing market The bill originally called for foreign buyers to sell the apartments once the building was completed. Up to 60 percent of apartments may also be purchased by offshore buyers under the new provisions. Trade Minister David Parker acknowledged that the the ban, in its original language, could have hurt investment in new housing in Auckland. Weve decided that if they are multi-storey apartment they can be held for leasing but not owner-occupying, Parker said. Local and international bodies have criticised the ban, with the IMF calling it discriminatory. The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand expressed some measured enthusiasm over the new rules. Story continues We welcome the fact that the Select Committee has listened to some of the criticisms around restrictions on off-the-plan sales, the institutes chief executive Bindi Norwell said. This article was originally published on Property-Report.com. For more stories from Asias most trusted and enduring luxury real estate, architecture and design publication, visit Property-Report.com Last weekend saw the UK Independent Vert Series hold Round 3 of this years contest series at the spiritual home of vertical skateboarding on the South Coast, namely Southsea skatepark. Southsea was also celebrating its 40th anniversary over the same weekend, with events held across the park by local SOS Bored of Southsea to celebrate both the parks birthday, and the recent regeneration of some of Southseas original concrete features courtesy of a group of dedicated locals (see more on that via the @the_duffnell_project Instagram). Along with Romford, Harrow, Stevenage and the slightly newer (in relative terms at least) Livingston Southsea skatepark is a living monument to 4 decades of UK skateboarding history and is still deeply embedded into the local skate scene. If you havent visited the place, get your pilgrimage on as its so much more skateable now than its ever been thanks to the resurfacing and repairs conducted recently. A quick Southsea skatepark history lesson courtesy of Iain Borden Who better than The Donz AKA Don Brider to lead you through a bit more of Southseas history? Cover photo above George ONeill Invert. Photo: Stuart Bennett Conservationists give Khadgi grass in novel protest Locals, students and heritage conservationists on Tuesday staged a novel protest by offering grass to Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade. As a rule, I am generally skeptical of viral fundraising campaigns. When everyone was dumping ice on each others heads on Facebook, I was the killjoy. The ALS Association seemed to be an entirely random choice as the destination for funds raised by the Ice Bucket Challenge, which started as a dare between professional athletes totally unrelated to ALS, and there was no good reason to believe those funds would be put to particularly effective use. This time, however, Im out on Facebook myself, supporting the increasingly viral campaign to raise as much money as possible for RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services in Texas. I donated money to RAICES before the campaign even started, and its been amazing to watch as this formerly obscure nonprofit has achieved a level of visibility that thousands of much older and more established organizations can only dream of. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Right now, with the Facebook campaign closing in on $6 million at the time of publication, and still seemingly accelerating, is normally the point at which Id start worrying about the capacity of a small shop like RAICES to absorb all that money. Look at Michael Dells Rebuild Texas fund, for instance, which was set up in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and rapidly raised about $90 million; so far it has spent only $30,876,658. One wonders, as we enter the next hurricane season: What are they waiting for? (Its not the next hurricane; these funds were specifically raised to respond to Harvey.) All too often, when fundraising outruns a charitys capacity to spend the money, donations end up either sitting in a corporate account somewhere doing nothing or else spent on projects that were mostly dreamed to find a use for the money. Advertisement Right now, with the Facebook campaign closing in on $6 million and still seemingly accelerating, is normally the point at which Id start worrying. Whats more, the RAICES donations are mostly coming from a place of political outrage: They have all the hallmarks of being emotionally driven rather than the product of much careful ratiocination. Emotional appeals can be effective in terms of fundraising, but they generally tell you nothing about whether the charity in question is a worthy steward of your hard-earned philanthropic capital. Advertisement In this case, however, we got lucky: The RAICES donations are not only going to an excellent and effective cause, theyre going to an excellent and effective cause that scales. Effectiveness of donations is hard to measure at the best of times, but its much easier than normal in the case of RAICES, because of the way in which the funds are going to be used. To put it another way: The RAICES money will be well-spent, not because we can be sure that RAICES itself is well-managed, but rather because of what its going to be spent on. Advertisement Advertisement There are two main areas where the inbound millions will flow. The first is the Legal Representation, Advocacy, and Education Project, which aspires to provide universal legal representation for released unaccompanied kids in Texas. Last year, 76 percent of children in immigration court in Texas were not represented, and the LEAF fund will help find lawyers to change that. Its similar to many other legal funds: The money comes in, it goes to lawyers, and the lawyers help individuals who would otherwise find themselves helplessly caught in a system they have no ability to understand. Its all pretty straightforward, in terms of how the funds are used. Advertisement Of course, there is a limited supply of lawyers in Texas to do the work. At some point, its not obvious that a marginal extra dollar will have anywhere to go, and no one really knows where that point lies. But RAICES isnt just raising money for LEAF and for its own operating costs. Its also raising for a family-reunification bond fund, and thats an area where an almost unlimited amount of money can be put to great use. Advertisement When an immigrant is separated from his or her child, theres a way to reunite that family that doesnt require any action from Congress or the Trump administration: You pay an immigration bond, the parent is released from detention, and the children can then rejoin their parents. But the immigrants themselves rarely have the necessary cash. Immigration bonds are never less than $1,500 and are usually closer to $5,000, $10,000, or more. The bonds will, eventually, get repaid, once the immigrants case is heard. A bond is not a fine: Its just a surety, designed to ensure that the immigrant shows up to all court dates. Once the immigrant has obtained legal status or has been deported, a process that can take well over a year, then the conditions of the bond are met, and the government gives the money back. A permanent bond fund, which has the resources to bail out every detained parent, and ideally every wrongfully detained immigrant, is a fantastic public good, and once its seeded with enough money, it can operate almost indefinitely. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Across America, thousands of people are jailed every night, not because theyve been convicted of any crime, but because they cant find the bail money they need to be able to go back home and back to their jobs. Bail funds solve these problems at a stroke, but they almost never have enough money. When you give to a bail fund, your money doesnt just get used to bail someone out once. It gets recycled with repayment, and used over and over again to help out the most neglected people in the justice system. Thats why Im going to be happy to see RAICES raise as many millions of dollars as it possibly can. Its that rarest of beasts: a viral fundraiser where the money is going to a deserving and urgent cause that can scale almost without limit. Right off I-45the interstate highway located entirely within the state of Texasand about 65 miles north of Houston, theres a large statue of the citys namesake. To be precise, its massive, as most things in Texas tend to be: The Tribute to Courage looms 67 feet over the highway. Against the green monotony of the journey down to Houston, the white concrete statue looks decidedly alien. Still, the familiar profile of Sam Houston in his 19th-century statesman clothes and walking cane is surely a welcome sight to many road-weary travelers making the pilgrimage to what was once the state capital. On the plaque at Houstons feet is a warning to Texan leaders to come: Govern wisely, and as little as possible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Houston the politician, but also the city, embodies the paradox of Texas. You would be hard-pressed to find someone, beside Willie Nelson, more proudly claimed by Texans, yet the state was his chosen home rather than his native one. A protege of fellow Tennessean Andrew Jackson, Houston served as governor of that state before a catastrophic romance led him to flee to Indian Country, where he found an indigenous wife and became a Cherokee citizen. According to Lawrence Wrights new sprawling memoir-cum-guidebook God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State, like so many with shipwrecked ambitions, [Houston then] headed to the Mexican colony of Texas to make a new start, where he soon found himself leading a kind of rebel mob that called itself an army. The moment that launched Sam Houston to Texan icon status came at the battle of San Jacinto where, in a classic David vs. Goliath moment, he managed to land a decisive victory against the better-equipped Mexican army. In 18 minutes, the founding mythology of Texas was forged. Advertisement God Save Texas is a searing indictment of the cruel partisanship that is, along with oil, Texas main export. In my mandatory Texas history class in seventh grade, I spent months learning about Houstons victory over Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at San Jacinto, and about his two terms as president of the nascent Republic of Texas. I learned about the Alamo and watched that terrible 2004 rendition staring Dennis Quaid as Houston, one Wright deems Texas creation myth. I learned about the Battle of Gonzales and the Come and take it slogan that has become the motto of gun advocates across the country. Advertisement What I didnt learn until college was that the Texas Revolution was largely fought over slavery. Or that Houston himself owned slaves, while simultaneously voting against the spread of the institution to new territories of the United States during his 13 years as senator. Or that, on the eve of Texas split from the Union, Houston implored his fellow Texans to ignore the propagandists and demagogues [who] fanned the clamor for secession with deluded visions of victory. As Wright notes, before he was evicted as governor, Houston, ever the populist, asked, Are we ready to sell reality for a phantom? With the affectionate and dry intimacy of a native, Wrights God Save Texas deftly illustrates how that question has come to define Texas, and how that question will come to define America. Advertisement Advertisement God Save Texas is a searing indictment of the cruel partisanship that is, along with oil, Texas main export. But its also a tender defense of the beauty of a culture that is still raw, not fully formed dangerous and magnificent in its potential. It is both an apologia for the past and a roadmap for the future of the statea roadmap that ranges as far and wide as the West Texas plains. Over the past few decades, Texas has grown at a staggering pace. The only state with more residents is California, but Texas population is expected to approach California and New Yorks combined by 2050. The states gross domestic product is $1.6 trillion; if it were an independent country today, Wright says, its economy would settle in around tenth, eclipsing Canada and Australia. Between 2000 and 2016, job growth rose 31 percent in Houston and Dallas, three times higher than the rate in Los Angeles. Every decade, Texas gains more and more congressional seats and electoral votes, and its currently the nations largest red state. Throughout 14 chapters, Wright charts the complicated history of his state while also laying out a vision for how Texas will shape the future of the countryfor better or worse. Advertisement Advertisement Trump won the state by 9 percentage points and the electoral map mirrored that of the rest of the country: a sea of red with city-islands of blue. Yet more than half of the states population growth since 2010 can be attributed to Latinos, and despite the ultra-conservative legislating body, the states demographics suggest that Texas should be as reliably blue as California. Governor-hopeful Wendy Davis observed that Texas is not a red state. Its a nonvoting blue state. The rest of the countryand especially the Democratic Partyhas a lot to learn from Texas, but Wright notes that the lessons arent as negative as liberals assume. One cant be from Texas and fail to have encountered the liberal loathing for Texanness, even among people who have never visited the place, he writes. They detect an accent, a discordant political note, or a bit of a swagger, and outraged emotions begin to flow. Advertisement Advertisement That liberal loathing is in part born out of an unwillingness to acknowledge that Texas is not the red-state caricature its made out to be; its in as much a state of contradiction as America overall. Its a place of boom or bust. Houston is the largest American city to elect (and re-elect) an openly lesbian mayor; it settles 25 of every 1,000 United Nation refugees. But its also a low-tax haven with a crippled safety net that makes the state extraordinarily cruel to under-resourced people. And it is, in Wrights words, a macho state, one that can be fairly blamed for fostering a sort of loathing of compassion, as manifested in our schools, our prisons, our mental health facilities and our lack of concern for the environment. Advertisement Advertisement Wright is at his strongest when excavating a specific Texas mythos that exemplifies and reconciles these contradictions. As with his previous books The Looming Tower and Going Clear, he has a great talent for at once characterizing broad systemic forces and making them intensely personal. In God Save Texas, his most compelling chapters feel less like a testament to his reportage than to his skills as a cultural analyst and as an autobiographer. Far West, Far Out and The High Lonesome are lovely ruminations on the existential loneliness of the plains of West Texas and the art that that emptiness producesits impossible to read without a yearning for wide-open space lodging itself in your ribcage. Culture, Explained lays out Wrights theory of cultural development, which he breaks down into three levels. A fledgling society, closed off from the bigger world, might start at the first level, which Wright describes as a primitive template. Level One Texas is the Texas most outsiders know, the cowboys and Tex-Mex and nasal twangs. A culture arrives at Level Two, a stage of sophisticated imports, once it turns its eyes toward other societies to see what they have to offer; as an example, Wright points to the architectural sameness of Austins downtown office buildings. Level Three is the point at which a society turns back inward and returns to its cultural roots with knowledge, self-confidence, and occasionally forgiveness while also picking and choosing the best of other cultures. Examples of transcendental Level Three cultural works that Wright gives includes Beyonces Lemonade and Alvin Aileys Revelationstwo black Texans who, upon fleeing the state, found that its culture still permeated their art. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wright is at his strongest when excavating a specific Texas mythos that exemplifies and reconciles these contradictions. And this, regrettably, is where Wright falters. The fact that two of his examples of transcendental culture are imbued with blackness seems to escape his noticeas does his states rejection of that blackness. Between his moments of sharp and intimate clarity, there is a parallel blindness around race. There is no doubt that Wright knows Texas, but what is also clear is that he knows a specific Texas, a specific America. God Save Texas treats the contradictions of life as a Texan of colorthe prospering immigrant communities of Houston contrasted against the racial inequality that defines the Dallas metroplex, the rampant xenophobia in a state that relies so heavily on cheap migrant laboras incidental to the state, rather than as the result of deeply held prejudice that is as integral to the states founding credo as cowboy individualism. Advertisement That same individualism creates what Wright considers tolerance in places like Dallas, but is really just exceptionalism. The individualism that is central to Texas mythos allowed white people I grew up with to simultaneously consider me a friend while dehumanizing black people as whole. In one of my last years in Texas, I sat in a biology class taught by a teacher who had written me a letter of recommendation for my college applications. We were reviewing for AP/IB exams when the subject of genetic diseases came up. I asked him why African Americans were statistically more likely to be born with sickle cell anemia. He replied, Karma. The prospect that blackness apparently deserved karmic retribution didnt apply to me because, to him, I was different. And to be honest, at the time, the statement didnt faze me. After six years in the state, I was inured to the particularities of Texan racism. Divergence from whiteness was tolerable as long as I simultaneously diverged from whatever stereotypes they held of me. I was different, I was assured over and over. What I was different from was largely left unsaid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wright passingly acknowledges that a lot of the fear that animates Texas ever-rightward shift is predicated on two ideas: that undeserving black and brown people will live lavishly off of hardworking white folks tax dollars, and that the white evangelical stranglehold on Texas politics will disappear as the state continues to diversify. Yet he rarely does it in his own voice, relying repeatedly on people like Texas Tribune founder Evan Smith or Texas state Rep. Garnet Coleman to excavate the truth of the state: almost every animating issue in Texas politics can be squarely traced back to race. Over and over again, I found myself getting frustrated at Wrights inabilityor unwillingnessto analyze race and the ways in which it so clearly defines Texas future. And its unfortunate that this is where he stumbles. The culture that Wright describesthe maligned root of so much of American culture overallis one that black people know all too well. There are court cases working their way through the legal system challenging the legality of Trump administrations child separation policy at the border, but a lawsuit filed by a Guatemalan asylum seeker in federal court Tuesday shows how maliciously inept the functioning of the White Houses border policy is. Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia is suing the government for taking her 7-year-old son from her days after they arrived in the U.S. seeking asylum on or around May 19th. Since then she has not seen her son and doesnt know where he is, even though she was released from custody on bond on June 15th. Advertisement Ms. M. brings this action to have the government reunite her with her young child, D.M., from whom she has been separated now for more nearly one month. Ms. M. was released on bond after seeking asylum, but her son remains in custody and Ms. M. does not even know where her son is, the suit reads. From the suit: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ms. M. and her son crossed the U.S. border near San Luis, Arizona on approximately May 19, 2018 Ms. M. and her son D.M. were placed in a holding cell by border agents. Approximately two days later, in the middle of May, immigration officials forcibly separated 7-year-old D.M. from his mother. Men dressed in green uniforms (border agents) told Ms. M. they needed to take her son and would not tell her why. Ms. M. said no and demanded an explanation, but they would not tell her why they needed to take her seven-year-old son, and they took him anyway When D.M. was taken away from his mother, he was screaming and crying and did not want to be taken away from his mother. That was the last time Ms. M. saw her son. Ms. M. was subsequently transferred to Eloy Detention Center. At Eloy, she spoke to an officer who was able to find out that her son was in Phoenix, AZ, but could not give her any more information. Ms. M. has not been given any paperwork to indicate where her son is or what his status or health condition is. De Jesus Mejia-Mejia is demanding the release of her son, an order prohibiting the future separation of the mother-and-son, along with damages. As images of screaming children in cages dominate the news, Republican senators are scrambling to persuade the Trump administration to stop separating families at the border. Thirteen GOP senators sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday begging him to halt zero tolerance, the Justice Department policy thats driving family separation. Sen. Ted Cruz introduced legislation on Monday that purports to address the problem, though its actually a cynical ploy to undercut asylum claims. And Sen. Jeff Flake, as is his wont, tweeted that Trump should end the policy while sharing a story about tender age shelters for immigrant toddlers. Advertisement On Wednesday, the White House finally indicated that its going to do something about child separation. Donald Trump told reporters that hed be signing something in a little while thats going to end the practice. There is no reason to be confident that President Trump, a habitual liar who defended the practice as recently as Tuesday, will actually follow through on this assurance. And it appears that his solution may involve the illegal detention of parents and children together, a stopgap that could be quickly struck down, leaving us back where we started. If he doesnt propose a lasting and humane resolution, there is one obvious way that Republicans could exert real, effective pressure to end the policy: Block every single one of Trumps judicial nominees until the administration scraps family separation. This gambit would require just two Republican senators with a semblance of a conscience. And it would almost certainly break the administrations resolve. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For a majority of Republican senators, confirming judges is more important that imprisoning children. It is difficult to overstate the importance of Trumps judicial nominations to the GOPand specifically, to the donors and party leaders who have not fully embraced Trumpism. In his 17 months in office, Trump has already appointed one Supreme Court justice (Neil Gorsuch), 21 judges to the federal courts of appeal, and 20 judges to federal district courts. This rapid clip far outpaces his predecessors. One out of every 8 federal appeals court judges working today was appointed by Trump. These judges, who have life tenure, will frequently have the final say on vital matters of law, and they are consistently unflinchingly reactionary. So, too, is Gorsuch: Trumps justice has delivered the key fifth vote undercutting employees ability to sue collectively, and in the coming days he will do so again to hobble public-sector unions. Republicans who supported Trump with the hope of stacking the federal judiciary are getting a massive return on their investment. (And Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society leader who hand-picks many of Trumps judges, is also getting lavish trips on the taxpayers dime.) Advertisement Although a number of Trumps judges are plainly unqualified, Republicans have balked only at those nominees who are outrageously and conspicuously unfit to serve on the bench. A cadre of senators led by Louisianas John Kennedy sank the nominations of Brett Talley (who appears to have defended the first KKK) and Matthew Spencer Petersen (who could not define basic legal terms). But Wendy Vitter, who wouldnt say if she thinks Brown v. Board of Education was rightly decided, faced no GOP opposition. Leonard Grasz, who seems to support ex-gay conversion therapy, was confirmed. John K. Bush, an anti-gay blogger who promoted birther conspiracy theories, was also easily confirmed with full GOP support. Republicans are getting the judges they want. In exchange, they need only tolerate a steady stream of chaos, cruelty, and white nationalism from the White House. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This implicit agreement is a two-way street. As soon as Republicans decide that Trumps cruelty does not justify his judges, they could easily throw a wrench in the machine. The Senate Judiciary Committee has continued to hold rolling hearings for nominees, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to push through as many judges as possible before the 2018 midterms. If two Republicanssay, Flake and Sen. Susan Collinsvowed to vote with Democrats against every single judicial nominee until the Trump administration discontinued family separation, McConnells plan would come screeching to a halt. There are still an astounding 177 vacancies for Trump to fill, and he has every intention of filling them. If two Republican senators blocked its path, Trump would lose his most powerful tool to keep the party unified behind him. Senate business would grind to a crawl. And the GOP, wary of a blue wave in November, would recognize that it might be missing out on its last best chance to stack the courts. Advertisement The Trump administration would have no choice but to fold. For a majority of Republican senators, confirming judges is more important that imprisoning children. A temporary judicial blockade would break the impassewhich, after all, is not due to a federal law or a court order, but a policy implemented by Trump and Sessions. They created this problem. And under the crushing pressure of judicial obstruction, they would be compelled to reverse zero tolerance and replace it with some face-saving policy that keeps most families together. Advertisement Republicans who are genuinely interested in stopping this crisisrather than using it to extract their own anti-immigration concessionsshould therefore direct their attention toward the two GOP senators who appear to have the strongest backbones. Convince these two senators to vote no on every single judicial nominee until family separation ends, and thats the ballgame. In the face of Stephen Millers gleeful resolve to keep kids in cages, Republican lawmakers may have no other meaningful leverage. And even if Trump caves now, he will retain family separation as a future bargaining tool. The practice is too barbaric to leave to Trumps whims. Senate Republicans should seize this crisis to take a stand against the use of children as hostages in the immigration fight. Its time for them to draw the line: Until the Trump administration abandons this policy for good, not a single judge will pass through their chamber. On Wednesday, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach had failed to comply with a federal court decision handed down on Monday. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson permanently blocks the enforcement of his signature voter suppression law, which requires proof of citizenship from voters when they register. Robinson found that the measure runs afoul of the National Voter Registration Act as well as the 14th Amendments Equal Protection Clause. Although Robinsons decision unambiguously bars the state from requesting proof of citizenship from voters, Kobachs office appears to have dragged its feet in explaining this prohibition to election officials. On a conference call Tuesday morning, Kansas director of elections Bryan Caskey reportedly told clerks to maintain the status quo until they received updated instructions. According to Nancy McCarter, an election official for Pottawatomie County, Caskey told clerks to continue as we have beencompelling them to continue demanding proof of citizenship from voters attempting to register. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A spokeswoman for Kobach explained the delay by telling the Capital-Journal: I think immediately is kind of open to interpretation. Reached by phone on Wednesday, Caskey told Slate that Kobach wanted to comply with Robinsons ruling, but pointed out that it is 118 pages long. He suggested that his office needed time to formulate clear instructions so that everyone knows exactly how we will comply. (The ruling came out on Monday afternoon; the conference call took place at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.) Caskey added that at no time ever has the secretary of state ever said we will not be complying with Judge Robinsons order on this. Dale Ho, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney who argued against the Kansas law in court, initially called Kobachs apparent non-compliance outrageous. Later, however, he tweeted that while some compliance problems remain, it looks like Kansas Secretary of States office is backing down. And on Wednesday afternoon, Kobachs office finally sent formal guidance to election officials informing them not to ask voters for proof of citizenship. Advertisement Kobach has already been fined $1,000 for making patently misleading representations to the court and held in contempt of court for violating one of Robinsons previous orders directing him to inform residents that they could vote without proof of citizenship. Robinson directed him to pay part of the ACLUs legal fees and to take six extra hours of continuing legal education in light of his pattern and practice of flaunting disclosure and discovery rules. Advertisement Mark Johnson, a professor at University of Kansas Law School and partner at Dentons who successfully challenged the Kansas law on constitutional grounds, said on Wednesday that he doubted Robinson would sanction Kobach over his delay. But he noted that Kobachs official guidance may not comply fully with the court order. While the guidance told election officials not to ask for proof of citizenship, it noted that, if a voter provided it voluntarily, officials should make a copy of it for tracking purposes. While its unclear what precisely that means, Johnson said, I think Robinson would be surprised to see that provision. If she is in fact surprised, the judge may bring Kobach before the court once again to explain himself. And so the saga of the Kansas secretary of states obtuse attempts at voter suppression continues unabated. Amid the public furor over the Trump policy that has separated roughly 2,000 migrant children from their parents, organized opposition, ranging from small impromptu streetside protests to massive, orchestrated demonstrations, continues to break out across the country. Tuesdaya day in which it was reported that the Trump administration was using tender age shelters; a Guatemalan asylum-seeker sued the Trump administration to find out where her son is; and Trump explained to small-business owners that you have to take the children awaysaw a number of protests in D.C., near the border, and in cities around the country. Those followed protests on Monday and Sunday, when Democratic legislators helped spark the organized protest with Fathers Day demonstrations. Advertisement In Philadelphia on Tuesday night, protesters lined childrens shoes around a square near the hotel where Vice President Mike Pence was attending a fundraising event. The protest, which organizers said numbered several thousand, evolved into a march, and demonstrators locked arms as police tried to move them off the streets. One person was reportedly arrested. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Outside the Philadelphia hotel where Mike Pence is speaking: children shoes. I recently bought my daughter her 1st pair of shoes. Just thinking of them makes me smile. The parents of 2,000 children dont know if they will ever see their babys shoes again. #KeepFamiliesTogether pic.twitter.com/dPZRTnyuYl Abraham Gutman (@abgutman) June 19, 2018 Advertisement Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here. The message being yelled at Vice President Mike Pence. Protest going on for more than 2 hours now. @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/lJILKiwBAU Aaron Baskerville (@ABaskerville10) June 19, 2018 Protesters chanting, Our streets, as they block a federal security detail car from driving. This went on for about 15 minutes before cops were able to move the crowd. @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/tEyZUhqdrk Aaron Baskerville (@ABaskerville10) June 20, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement In Syracuse, New York, hundreds also protested Pence earlier that day. Advertisement Advertisement And in downtown San Francisco, hundreds of protesters who gathered in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office there also blocked the streets. Hundreds outside ICE headquarters in San Francisco demanding families stay together. #StopSeparatingFamilies pic.twitter.com/NyedswS5P1 francesca fiorentini (@franifio) June 19, 2018 Advertisement Demonstrators gathered outside the Department of Homeland Security office in San Francisco to protest the practice of separating families at the border https://t.co/iqlDtWazdk pic.twitter.com/EDLfVOJeHy CNN (@CNN) June 20, 2018 Advertisement In Portland, a small group of people continued a protest that began with a Fathers Day demonstration. The group has camped outside an ICE building and said it plans to remain until the administration revokes its zero-tolerance policy. If it stays until Sunday, state legislators have said they will join them for a rally. Leaders of the group told the Portland Mercury they have been an inconvenience for the ICE officers, delaying them from leaving at one point by four hours. Advertisement Protesters set up camp at Portland ICE facility https://t.co/ugVO71lzN2 pic.twitter.com/YE27yAz13o KGW News (@KGWNews) June 20, 2018 In Washington, D.C., protesters also interrupted Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsens dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C. Outside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters, nearly 200 female clergy members gathered. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And closer to the border, hundreds marched to a migrant processing center in El Paso, Texas. 500+ marchers in El Paso protesting President Trumps zero-tolerance resulting in children separated from parents. Marchers closed a gate at U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility. pic.twitter.com/potSJlJeHp Jason Whitely (@JasonWhitely) June 19, 2018 Advertisement Advertisement Even part of the tech world took a stand, with an open letter of protest to Microsoft signed by more than 100 employees asking the company to stop working with ICE. Other Silicon Valley companies have encouraged their employees in recent days to donate to groups supporting immigrants. There are still more protests in the works, with, most notably, a coordinated multi-city protest planned for June 30. On that day, one major demonstration will take place at Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C, while 132 cities across the country have planned their own. Many thousands have expressed interest in joining the protest. The American Civil Liberties Union is also planning a rally in Brownsville, Texas, for June 28, and it will be driving demonstrators in from Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Laredo. A group called Lawyer Moms of America is planning to deliver letters to legislators around the country on June 29. A bipartisan coalition of mayors plans to travel to Texas on Thursday to call for the policy to be reversed. And on Wednesday, smaller grass-roots protests are set to carry on the momentum from Tuesdays nationwide action. Dr Devkota cremated with full state honours at Pashupati Veteran neurosurgeon Dr Upendra Devkota was accorded full state honours as his mortal remains were consigned to flames in Pashupati crematorium in Kathmandu on Tuesday. House Republican leaders plan was for President Trump to meet with House Republicans at the Capitol on Tuesday night, for him to tell them that their compromise immigration bill was the greatest bill in legislative history and that he would sign it with a tremendous pen, and for the president to provide the assurances members have been looking for since last week, when he said he certainly would not sign it. So. Did President Trump explicitly and proudly endorse this immigration bill negotiated by moderates and conservatives, the only one of the two the House will vote on this week that has a chance to pass? Advertisement I guess, North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones told reporters. He found it hard to follow everything [Trump] says. Hes kind of like a bouncing ball. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement New Jersey Rep. Leonard Lance, when asked whether Trump endorsed the bill, said sure, but that was only his understanding of what Trump did. Even Florida Rep. Carlos Curbeloone of the principal moderates who negotiated the billcouldnt say squarely that Trump said he would sign the measure. Instead the congressman said that Trump indicated he would and, later, that Curbelo was pretty sure he would. It wasnt unequivocal, this is the greatest bill ever, Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said. It was, this is better than nothing. Advertisement He said we need to pass the bill. A bill, Pennsylvania Rep. Ryan Costello said. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, at least, heard a firm endorsement of the compromise measure. Its not clear, though, whether Diaz-Balart heard this before or after Trump said that he likes him better than his brother, Jose Diaz-Balart, the Telemundo and NBC News anchor. Such asides from Trump more accurately reflected the general tenor of the meeting than the presidents slippery enunciation of his immigration policy preferences did. Like Walter Jones, many members were confused about what the president did or didnt endorse in part because they couldnt keep up with Trumps rambling about North Korea, trade, the tax bill, Mario Diaz-Balarts cable-news brother, and occasionally immigration. Advertisement Advertisement The hour was not on immigration, a grinning Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei said. The hour was on the last 24 months. One of the first things Trump did was roast South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford who, to Trumps pleasure, lost his primary last week. He said, according to several of the members, something along the lines of, Is Mark Sanford here? Congratulations on running a good campaign, and then referred to him as a nasty guy. Sanford was not in the room, but the scene was awkward, Costello said. Advertisement It made me mad as hell, Jones said. I asked if anyone booed Trump, and Jones said that a few of usand then appeared to make a hissing noise. Advertisement The defenders of Mark Sanfords pride were not the only ones to take issue with the president Tuesday night. A slew of Democratic members, largely from the Hispanic Caucus, protested the president and his entourage on their way out of the basement over the administrations family separation policy. (The president told members in the meeting that his daughter, Ivanka, had urged him to find a solution to family separation. Since Trump did not end his policy of family separation after the conversation, though, she appears to have been immediately unsuccessful.) No members asked Trump a question, since there wasnt any opportunity to fit one in. At least, some members said, Trump did not recommend any changes to the bill, as he had said he might do earlier in the day. Republicans leaders will now begin whipping support for the bill, which is tentatively set for a vote on Thursday. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vowed to take revenge against his political enemies after his victory in elections in April, and is now carrying it out. A new package of laws known as the Stop Soros bill (the Hungarian-born financier is the governments favorite liberal boogeyman), was passed by Hungarys parliament, with vicious irony, on World Refugee Day, and it effectively criminalizes organizations that work to help undocumented immigrants. As the New York Times summarizes, under the new law, helping migrants legalize their status in Hungary by distributing information about the asylum process or providing them with financial assistance could result in a 12-month jail term. The government also changed the constitution to make it illegal to settle foreign populations in Hungary, a response to EU efforts to resettle refugees throughout the blocs member states. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hungarys slide into authoritarianism under Orbanor illiberal democracy as he calls it has earned him criticism from abroad, but hes had a fairly simpatico relationship with the current U.S. administration. Orban was the first foreign leader to endorse Trumps candidacy in 2016, and the two leaders spoke four days ago, discussing the need for strong national borders, just as the domestic backlash to Trump family-separation policy was growing. Steve Bannon has gone as far as to describe Orban, who portrays himself as a defender of Western Christian civilization against Islam, as Trump before Trump. And indeed, Orbans immigration and refugee policies have at times seemed to foreshadow Trumps. Hungary completed a fence along its border with Croatia to block the entry of asylum seekers. A second fence along the border with Serbia was built last year. Orban instituted his own version of a zero tolerance immigration policy last year, making irregular entry a criminal offense punishable by up to eight years in prison, instituting obstacles to legal asylum, and detaining asylum seekers in border camps while their claims are processed. Observers have noted jarring similarities between conditions in these camps and the facilities that have lately been publicized in the U.S. And all the while, Orban has used the issue of immigration to attack his political opponents, accusing them of working with Soros to destroy the countrys cultural identity. Given the parallels, the latest move from Orbans government is alarming, and not just for Hungarians. As one of the few journalists permitted to tour the governments new internment camp, about 40 miles from the southern border, the New York Times correspondent tried to be scrupulously fair. Forcing civilians to live behind barbed wire and armed guards was surely inhumane, and there was little shelter from the blazing summer heat. But on the other hand, the barracks were clean as a whistle. Detainees lazed in the grass, played chess, and swam in a makeshift pool. There were even workshops for arts and crafts, where good work could earn an extra allotment of bread. True, there had been some clashes in the camps first daysand officials, the reporter noted, had not allowed him to visit the disciplinary cells. But all in all, the correspondent noted in his July 1933 article, life at Dachau, the first concentration camp in Nazi Germany, had settled into the organized routine of any penal institution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the days since U.S. border protection agents released video of immigrants being kept in cages, and the first detained children began arriving behind the barbed-wire fences of a new government camp at Tornillo, Texas, people across the country have been struggling over how to think about what the Trump administration is doing. Some, horrified by the images and a leaked recording of children plaintively crying for the mothers and fathers from whose arms theyd been torn, have drawn comparisons to concentration camps of the pastparticularly the most notorious ones of all, those of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. For others that comparison is going too far. Stop already with the Nazi and Hitler analogies. Really. Stop, conservative writer John Podhoretz tweeted. Whats happening is its own kind of bad and you court discrediting the seriousness of your complaints about it by overstating things so tastelessly and wrongly. Advertisement This is not just a debate over semantics. How we categorize what is happening on the Southern border has everything to do with how the public and lawmakers will respond. That is why Trump administration officials have spent so much time trying to justify, lie, and shift blame for their new policy. Even Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced to confront the concentration camp label on Fox News, which he tried incoherently to deflect. Its obviously true that the Customs and Border Protection camp at Tornillo is no Auschwitz. But in dismissing any such historical comparisons out of hand, people are making the common mistake of reading history backwardlooking only at the endpoint of a decadeslong process and ignoring the hard lessons humanity has learned, again and again, about where a policy like the one President Donald Trump and his supporters are now implementing can go. To see what I mean, you have to start at the beginning of the short and brutal history of the concentration camp. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Concentration camps were born out of warnot in Europe, but Latin America. In 1896, the Spanish empire was trying desperately to hold onto one of its last remaining colonies, Cuba. Independence wars had been raging there for three decades, and the fight wasnt going well for Spain. Cuban revolutionaries, known as mambises, used ambushes, dynamite, and their deep knowledge of Cubas mountainous countryside to defeat colonial reinforcements. Believing the mambises advantage lay in the support and intelligence they received from rural communities, the islands Spanish governor, Gen. Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, declared a new policy he called, euphemistically, reconcentracion. Starting on Oct. 21, 1896, all civilians had to move behind the barbed wire of a handful of garrison towns controlled by the Spanish army. Any Cuban found moving freely or transporting food through the countryside was subject to execution. Knowing from the start that controlling the people required controlling information, Weyler also set out to aggressively censor any news critical of what he was doing. Advertisement The immediate result was a humanitarian catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands died of disease and hunger. An assistant U.S. attorney, Charles W. Russell, who toured the island in January 1898, told the New York Times he had seen women and children emaciated to skeletons and begging everywhere about the streets of Havana and cities where a fifth of the population had died in the previous three months. A previous Spanish governor-general had considered, then decided against, implementing the policy, knowing full well how brutal its effects would be. But Weyler was a hard-liner who saw no difference between mambises and Cuban civilians. He believed it was his duty to starve and demoralize the people into surrender. But the unintended consequences of reconcentracion doomed his war effort. Even Cubans who had been ambivalent about independence now resolved to fight to the death, since that seemed to be the only option either way. Worse for Spain, the horrific reports scandalized Cubas neighbors in the United States. When the battleship USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in February 1898, for reasons that still remain unknown, advocates for U.S. entry into the war only had to remind the public of the concentration camps to convince them the fading European power was capable of any evil. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Americans would be next to put concentration camps into action. Americas entry into the Spanish-Cuban war mushroomed into a conflict on two continents, in which the United States annexed the Spanish territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, as well as previously independent Hawaii. (We effectively took over Cuba, too, and established a naval station at Guantanamo Bay, where a century later another infamous prison camp would be built.) U.S. officials were especially pleased with the capture of the Philippines, a resource-rich archipelago and source of new land on Chinas doorstep. Filipinos were not as enthusiastic about one imperial overlord replacing another, and in 1899 a new war broke out. As a guerrilla insurgency mounted, Gen. James Franklin Bell ordered Filipinos herded into protected zones, where they would be prisoners of the U.S. Army. As in Cuba, violators would be shot. While Army officers claimed that the camps were healthy and not overcrowded, the military historian Brian McAllister Linn has written, the cost in human suffering was unquestionably high. Americans were shocked to learn their forces had adopted the tactics of Butcher Weyler. An anti-imperialist senator read into the record an anonymous U.S. soldiers letter describing an American concentration camp in the Philippines as some suburb of hell. Such reports helped undermine public support for the war, though the U.S. occupation of the Philippines would continue until after World War II. Advertisement Advertisement Those first experiments helped establish a pattern that concentration camps would follow from then on: punishing civilians through mass detention and keeping them separate from society. Some observers, looking even further back, see foreshadows in other parts of history, including the breaking up of African and black American families during slavery, and the forcible displacement of Native Americans in the conquest of North America. But researchers note key, specific characteristics that set the concentration camp apart from other atrocities. Camps require the removal of a population from society with all its accompanying rights, relationships, and connections to humanity, author Andrea Pitzer writes in her 2017 book One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps. This exclusion is followed by an involuntary assignment to some lesser condition or place, generally detention with other undesirables under armed guard. Advertisement Advertisement One of the major reasons the Nazis were able to kill so many people so easily was the dehumanization and isolation created by their original concentration camps. Removal, exclusion, denial of rights, mass detentionthose tactics appeared again in the concentration camps Britain used to subdue the Dutch-descended Boers of South Africa in 1900, the imprisonment of enemy alien civilians on all sides in World War I, and the Soviet Unions corrective labor camps, better known by the Russian acronym for the agency that administered them: Gulag. The United States used them on its own territory in World War II to imprison its own citizens of Japanese descent. Not yet fully discredited as a term, President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself suggested in a 1936 memo, written five years before the attack on Pearl Harbor that, should Japan strike, the Navy should prepare to put Hawaii residents of Japanese descent into a concentration camp in the event of trouble. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Which brings us back, historically speaking, to Nazi Germany. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he made no secret of his intentions to punish those he viewed as enemies, stamp out undesirables, and restore an imagined Teutonic greatness of the past. His government built its first concentration camp at Dachau just over a month after he became chancellor, to house political opponents of the new regime. Hitler knew the histories of Spain, Britain, and the United States. He had experienced the strategies of stripping citizenship from and forcibly imprisoning civilian populations during World War I. As he consolidated power, his staff ramped up pre-emptive arrests of anyone it deemed a target or threat, gaining confidence with every step. Advertisement It is important to understand that at the time, no onenot even Nazisthought of such camps as places for extermination. Concentration campKonzentrationslager in Germanwas still a euphemism for forcible relocation and imprisonment, not murder. Even Auschwitz wasnt Auschwitz at firstat least not in the sense we mean it today. When the Nazis built what would become their most notorious camp in German-occupied Poland, in 1940, it was used first for criminals, then expanded in anticipation of receiving Soviet prisoners of war. Despite seeming in retrospect to have been masterfully planned, historians believe, Nazi rule was mostly chaotic and improvisatory, taking advantage of circumstances as they arose. It was not until 1942, as the Nazi high command decided on a campaign of total genocide against the Jewish people, that camps were redesigned for mass murder. By the end, an initial population of a few thousand prisoners had ballooned to more than 1.3 million who passed through Auschwitzs iron gates. Most would never return. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the war, when the scale and horror of the genocide became clear to the world, anything associated with Nazism, including the term concentration camp, became an explosive insult. But as ridiculous as it would be for modern generals not to study tactics the Nazis used, it would be absurd for people today to ignore modern parallels with the most dangerous parts of history just because invoking them risks an imperfect comparison with the Holocaust. Its an unavoidable fact that one of the major reasons the Nazis were able to kill so many people so easily, once they decided to, was the dehumanization and isolation created by their original concentration camps. Convincing a bureaucracy to massacre civilians is hard. Subjecting legal prisoners to Sonderbehandlung, or special treatment, as the killing of 6 million Jews and many others was officially called, was easier. As the philosopher Hannah Arendt, a refugee from the Nazis who spent time imprisoned in a French concentration camp before the German invasion, later observed: All [concentration camps] have one thing in common: The human masses sealed off in them are treated as if they no longer existed, as if what happened to them were no longer of any interest to anybody, as if they were already dead. Advertisement Advertisement We are not there yet in this country. But what is happening near the Southern border is an unmistakable step down that road. In a Tuesday tweet defending his new policies, Trump blamed his political enemies, the Democrats, for being the problem, and accused them of conspiring with immigrants who want to pour into and infest our Country. He has repeatedly accused the people he is now detaining from across Central America, including presumably their children, of being reinforcements for a Salvadoran-American criminal gang. Forget for a second that illegal immigration to the United States has declined consistently since its peak more than a decade ago in 2007, that immigrants commit less crime than native-born Americans, or that most of the Central American children, women, and men imprisoned on the border are fleeing violence and poverty fueled by civil wars in which the United States played a leading role. Trumps language, using a verbinfestusually reserved for vermin or disease, is exactly in line with the kind of rhetoric and action that has defined concentration camps since 1896: the denial of rights, isolation, and concentration of undesirables by force. Advertisement Advertisement Some may hope that these revitalized horrors will stay limited to the most vulnerable peopleeven including families who have risked everything to travel thousands of miles in hopes of reaching safety. But as the path from Spanish reconcentracion to the gulags and death camps of the 20th century showed, once it is tolerated by society, a tactic does not tend to stay bottled up for long. Already the Trump administration has signaled its intention to begin stripping U.S. citizenship from those it feels dont deserve it. Considering how even U.S. citizens deemed enemy combatants have already been treated under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, there is no telling what treatment people formally stripped of their most fundamental rights might expect if these new policies are allowed to continue. Like with camps of the past, the Trump administration has tried to control the flow of information about what is going on inside the barbed wire. CBS News David Begnaud, one of the few allowed to see the cages at Central Processing Station Ursula in McAllen, Texas, reported after his visit that his team was not allowed to talk to anyone detained. Not only could the journalist not learn about the detainees experiences, but he was not allowed to put names or human faces on anyone being held. When information does get out, officials like Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen are instructing supporters not to believe ita tactic that, as all authoritarian regimes have proved, often works. Nonetheless, a clear majority of Americans are opposed to the most hard-line tactics being implemented on the border. Those numbers are likely to grow as stories mount about conditions in the sweltering heat at Tornillo and the baby jails of South Texas. Protests are underway, with nationwide marches planned for June 30. Some in the administration and its supporters are trying to stop the backlash by noting that inhumane deportation and detention practices existed under previous administrations as wella fact that has been widely covered for years. But everyone builds on what comes before them. The FBI can shut down hundreds of online marketplaces on the dark web and identify web administrators on the internet anonymizing platform Tor. But when it comes to cracking encrypted mobile devices, it can seem as helpless as any regular citizen. In a January 2018 speech at Fordham University, FBI Director Christopher Wray noted that in 2017 alone, agency investigators couldnt access content on 7,775 devices: Thats more than half of all the devices we attempted to access in that timeframeand thats just at the FBI. Advertisement It was dire revelation. But there was only one problem: It wasnt true. The Washington Post found the number was closer to between 1,000 to 2,000, more in line with the 880 devices the agency said it was locked out of in 2016. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The FBI eventually admitted its error, though it came after months of Wray and other government officials repeating the inflated numbers. The revelation, however, may not exactly mean the FBI is better at cracking phones than it publicly discloses. The agency, after all, has been known to supplement its hacking abilities with outside help. Most of the time, cracking encrypted devices comes down to finding and leveraging zero-day vulnerabilitiesunknown exploitable weaknesses in software or hardware. While agencies like the FBI can do this themselves, they also outsource the task to third-party hackers and companies who operate on the gray marketa furtive marketplace of sellers offering zero-days and hacking services exclusively to government and corporate clients. Advertisement In 2015, for instance, the FBI paid about $1.3 million to an undisclosed gray-market company for an exploitessentially a tool leveraging a zero-day vulnerabilitythat cracked a locked iPhone used by gunman Syed Farook in the San Bernardino, California, shooting, according to thenFBI Director James Comey. While the purchase received much attention, it was hardly the first time the U.S. government relied on the gray market. In 2012, the NSA bought exploits from Montpellier, Francebased Vupen, a gray-market company that closed in 2015 and reopened as Zerodium. In fact, the NSA budgeted $25.1 million to purchase zero-days in 2013. Advertisement For the federal agencies, there is one significant incentive to use the gray market: It allows them to bypass the Vulnerabilities Equities Process, an interagency policy that requires the government decide whether to disclose zero-day vulnerabilities to tech companies to be patched, or to keep them classified to leverage in intelligence operations or investigations. Advertisement Though it was first established in 2010, the very existence of the VEP was only made public in 2014. Three years later, the Trump administration updated the VEP, and publicly released an unclassified policy charter. Many, including a former cybersecurity official in the Obama administration and the American Civil Liberties Union, praised the move for, among other things, disclosing the criteria used to determine whether to reveal or classify a vulnerability. The charter shows that the cybersecurity of everyday tech consumers is a significant factor in the decision-making process. Advertisement But like its earlier iterations, the updated VEP is flawed because it continues to include a glaring loophole. The government doesnt have to follow the VEP if it purchases zero-days that are subject to contractual restrictions, such as nondisclosure agreements. In other words, the government need not weigh the security repercussions of keeping vulnerabilities purchased on the open market secret. Advertisement Advertisement To be sure, there is incentive for both government zero-day buyers and seller to seek nondisclosure agreements. Sellers dont want vulnerabilities disclosed to be patchedit ruins their products. This, in turn, allows agencies like the FBI to bypass their responsibility under the VEP and potentially keep purchased vulnerabilities operationaleven if they pose a significant cybersecurity risk to U.S. consumersfor as long as possible. Whats more, such agreements can also benefit buyers by restricting sellers from publicly discussing their business dealings. The U.S. government, after all, would not want potentially adversarial nations knowing it purchases zero-days in the first place, out of concern that it could show the limits of its hacking abilities. Nor would it want adversaries to know the specific zero-days it purchases, as they could offer clues about ongoing U.S. intelligence operations. Advertisement Stephen Maurer, adjunct professor of public policy at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley, notes that while both buyers and sellers can ask for nondisclosure agreements, they are more likely to come from sellers. In the current system the vast majority of business models are based on trade secrets. If the FBI asks for a nondisclosure agreement in the first place, thats really only an accident. Because if they didnt ask, the contractor would immediately demand one. Advertisement A 2017 report by the RAND Corp. found that most prices for zero-days on the gray market averaged about $50,000 to $100,000, though they can hit as high as $1 million. Yet the extent to which U.S. government purchasing power supports the gray market is not definitively known. But Sharon Bradford Franklin, director of surveillance and cybersecurity policy for New Americas Open Technology Institute notes that while there is little transparency in zero-day transactions, there has been some reporting about how the U.S. government is the biggest buyer in the market. (Disclosure: New America is a partner with Slate and Arizona State University in Future Tense.) Advertisement Advertisement It might be tempting, then, to argue that the U.S. should stop doing business with the gray market altogether and instead leverage only the zero-days it finds on its own. But that could be risky. Should the government stop buying from gray-market sellers, nation-states and private organizations that may be adversarial to the U.S may have an opportunity to fill the void. Ari Schwartz, former senior director for cybersecurity at the National Security Council, likens the situation to blackmail: Youre engaging in a process where people will sell to anyone, and they are also sort of saying if you dont buy from us, were just going to sell it to someone else, your enemy, so you might as well buy from us. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some gray-market companies say they work only with the U.S. and its allies, like the now-defunct Vupen claimed to do. But such exclusivity is far from universal, and could change should market dynamics alter. U.S. intelligence agencies may also be too reliant on gray-market companies to suddenly disengage. A report by the Department of Justices Office of Inspector General on how the FBI handled unlocking the San Bernardino gunmans iPhone, described such companies as contractors working on several long-term projects for FBI teams. U.S. intelligence agencies may be too reliant on gray-market companies to suddenly disengage. While the U.S. may be hard pressed to leave the gray market, supporting sellers that retain zero-days also poses risks. After all, gray-market companies like the Hacking Team and Cellebrite were breached by cybercriminals in the past (though to be fair, so were government agencies). Advertisement In addition to security concerns, Schwartz notes that there is a morality risk as well in encouraging hackers to sell vulnerabilities to government buyers, instead of disclosing them to tech companies for patching, There is also the moral uneasiness posed by supporting some gray-hat market companies, such as the Hacking Team, that will sell zero-days to repressive governments. Advertisement The U.S. could continue to operate in the gray market while closing the VEP loophole. But doing so is not just a matter of rewriting policy, but of reorganizing the entire [gray market] and federal vulnerabilities purchases in some completely different way, Maurer says. Advertisement There are some ideas about how to go about this. In a 2016 report, Schwartz and his colleague Robert Knake, former cybersecurity policy director at the National Security Council, recommended requiring the government to buy the exclusive rights to gray market zero-day vulnerabilities and enter them into the VEP. The government could then decide whether to disclose or classify every zero-day it knew about. Advertisement But just how receptive gray-market companies would be to selling their vulnerabilities outright is an open question. Lillian Ablon, an information scientist at RAND, notes that some gray-market companies opt for leasing exploits and vulnerabilities to multiple different groups so they can make more money off of them. There are others, however, who want the government to disrupt the gray market form the ground up. Maurer believes the government should enter the gray market itself by directly working with independent researchers who are not tied to any particular gray-market company. He notes that Zerodium already offers independent researchers bug bounties for the exclusive rights to zero-days they find. It then sells those zero-days to its corporate and government clients. The question then becomes: Why doesnt the NSA just run its own bounty program and cut out the middleman? Because theyre almost certainly paying Zerodium a markup, in which case they could probably do the job cheaper themselves. Advertisement Advertisement Once the government obtains vulnerabilities, Maurer adds, they should immediately disclose each one, thereby shrinking the gray market and establishing a baseline level of competition for the private sector. He says that if you publish a vulnerability, you help defenders, and make life harder for all attackers everywhere. Advertisement But disclosing all zero-days doesnt sit well with many government officials. Rob Joyce, the former NSC cybersecurity coordinator who spearheaded the 2017 VEP updates, has dismissed the idea. In my view, this is tantamount to unilateral disarmament, he wrote in a blog post announcing the VEP changes. Our adversaries, both criminal and nation state, are unencumbered by concerns about transparency and responsible disclosure and will certainly not end their own programs to discover and exploit vulnerabilities. Advertisement While some are calling for radical changes, there are those who believe in a more measured approach, arguing that the current situation is unsustainable anyway. Schwartz, for instance, sees the gray market eventually flaming out on its own, thereby allowing the loophole to be closed with little repercussions. We are starting to see the rate of vulnerabilities being found really increasing right now, and you can look at the Spectre and Meltdown cases as one example, he says, referring to the 2017 discovery of Intel microprocessor vulnerabilities by multiple researchers. Advertisement Of course, uncovering more vulnerabilities potentially supports the gray market. But Schwartz argues that in the short term, an investment in finding these vulnerabilities is going to pay off because youll find a lot of them, and in the long term its going to be harder to find them as tech companies become more security conscious with their products. In the meantime, he calls on the government to increase funding for its own vulnerability discovery to rely less on the gray market. But expanding the governments cybercapabilities doesnt always sit well with everyone. Advertisement OTIs Franklin notes that there are concerns in the privacy advocacy community and among cybersecurity experts about having the government develop their hacking capabilities. But she is in favor of relying more on the government than the private sector. Advertisement Whatever the solution, it is clear that something has to change. The U.S. governments relationship with the gray market poses deep moral and security problems for a country facing increasing global cyberthreats and more public scrutiny over its own cyberspying programs. While the creation and development of the VEP was meant to rein in the security dangers posed by use of zero-days, a robust gray market ensures that increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and government-sponsored hacking will continue unabated. The tension between government policy and practice, however, is not sustainable long-term, and eventually, one has give at the expense of the other. But while it may be easier to change a relatively new policy than decades-old practice, its also becoming less and less feasible to keep the status quo. Robert Gilpin, R.I.P. - The Washington Post : His greatest book was written in 1981, but the main theory in it is perhaps more trenchant now... Digital News Report: What are the biggest challenges of Slovak journalism? Trust in the media slightly increased following the murder of journalist but it may not last. Slovak journalism was drawn into a political crisis following the murder of an investigative journalist, says Digital News Report 2018. Slovakia dropped in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index by 10 positions earlier this year and ended up at 27th place. The Digital News Report 2018 conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism does not feature a ranking of countries, but it pointed out ongoing issues faced by the Slovak media. The climate of hostility between sectors of the media and the government, mentioned in last years report, worsened during 2017, and is seen as a factor contributing to a situation in which journalists, especially investigative ones, feel vulnerable, the report reads. Read also: Read also: Being a journalist in Slovakia in 2018 Read more Slovakia has been part of the survey for a second year now. The survey was conducted by using an online questionnaire at the turn of January and February 2018. The questionnaire consisted of questions focusing on using Internet, accessing news, people's interest in the news, fake news and other topics. In Slovakia, the survey was conducted on a representative sample of 2,006 people. Trust in the media The murder of the aktuality.sk investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova and the events that followed led to greater support of Slovak journalists. However, it is questionable if the support will last and increase the trust of Slovaks in the journalistic profession. Only 34 percent of those polled trust the media overall. The average is 44 percent. In comparison with last year, the number slightly increased, from only 27 percent. More people also trust the media they use, 45 percent in comparison of 39 percent from the previous report, but still under the average. 20. Jun 2018 at 14:43 | Nina Hrabovska Francelova Measles continue spreading in the east From the original source of infection, the village of Drahnov, the infected who violated quarantine rules have spread measles to other places. Six cases also involve medical staffers. Font size: A - | A + The number of patients sick with measles is still growing in the eastern Slovak area of lower Zemplin. By June 14, there were 38 cases of measles registered in the Michalovce and Sobrance districts, of which 17 are confirmed by laboratories, spokesperson of the Slovak Public Healthcare Office (UVZ), Dasa Rackova, told the TASR newswire. In Drahnov, there are 29 incidences, while in the villages of Falkusovce, Matovske Vojkovce, Trhoviste, Vysoka nad Uhom, Lozin and in the towns of Strazske and Michalovce there is one case each as well in the villages of Baskovce in the Sobrance District, and in the city of Kosice. A total of 33 patients were hospitalised all with clinical symptoms but without serious complications, Rackova said, as quoted by TASR. Where do measles come from? Of all the cases, three are imported, and six involve the medical staff of the Michalovce hospital. All incidences have an epidemiological connection, Rackova added. Most cases are registered with people aged 15 to 19 (13 cases); and the same number of patients are between 20 and 54 years of age. Twelve children between one and 14 years of age have been recorded as sick with the disease. The increase in measles cases in eastern Slovakia, despite the ordered anti-epidemic measures, can be ascribed also to those sick coming from poor hygienic living conditions in the Michalovce District, Rackova explained, adding that patients from this community are not responsible enough to continue anti-epidemic measures. She also mentioned previous epidemics earlier recorded in these population groups in eastern Slovakia, the Sme daily wrote. By the morning of June 19, six patients were hospitalised in the infectious diseases ward of Michalovce hospital under suspicion of measles. Medical staff face the threat So far, no serious complication in the course of the sickness has been recorded in patients, Jana Fedakova, of the Svet Zdravia company that operates the hospital, told Sme. She added that since the beginning of June, three cases of measles have been confirmed in nurses working the infectious diseases ward. All of them have recuperated from the sickness and returned to work, she mentioned, as cited by the daily. Two other nurses (one from radiology and the other from the paediatric ward) and a doctor of the infectious diseases ward are awaiting the results of laboratory tests. Fedakova pointed out that in the Michalovce hospital, strict measures are in effect to protect patients, as well as employees. So far, more than 600 medical staffers of the hospital have been vaccinated against measles, she told Sme. They must receive mandatory vaccination, the Pravda daily wrote or else take compulsory days off. Disclaimer: Svet Zdravia is owned by the Penta financial group, which is a minority shareholder of Petit Press, the co-owner of The Slovak Spectator. 20. Jun 2018 at 13:20 | Compiled by Spectator staff Oncology register will get an update after 10 years Screening, prevention and registering of incidences can help reduce risk of cancer which is supposed to become the most frequent cause of death in a few years. HPV vaccination to be introduced has provoked protest emails. After ten years and four governments three of them led by the Smer party the state wants to update the National Oncology Register. This is part of the National Oncology Programme to be adopted soon; and Slovakia is the last European Union member state to adopt it. In the country, more than 30,000 people get cancer annually, which is a medium-sized town. One third of them are cured, one half survive in the long term. But these figures are mere estimates, as updated figures for the National Oncology Register have been missing for eight years, the Sme daily wrote on June 20. The register has been in place since 1978, with data from 1968. They were added until 2008, then the updating became stuck and for ten years, only data from 2009 and 2010 were listed. Health Minister Andrea Kalavska (Smer nominee) said on June 19 that her ministry would again update the register starting this autumn. It should contain complete data sometime next year. Then we should finally know the precise number of cancer patients, which is important for doctors to diagnose the disease in its early stage and efficiently treat it, oncologist Jozef Suvada told Sme, adding that now, cardiovascular diseases are the top killers but the global trend shows cancer will prevail. The National Oncology Program should help reduce the number of oncology patients. Precise stistics necessary The main task in the long run is to reduce the number of new cases, better diagnosis, earlier therapy, better care after oncology treatment, Kalavska said. The ministry is also launching the Year of Prevention project, which will inform people about their options. The core idea is that from this autumn, three screenings for breast, cervical and colon cancer should help detect the disease in early stages, Spanik said, as quoted by Sme. Precise statistics can help, too, the doctor said. He added that currently, hospitals and doctors do not report them, despite being obliged by law. Experts suggested that fines or rewards of 30 should help. According to data available, in 2014 almost 14,000 Slovak inhabitants died of cancer. The speed at which new cases appear has been increasing in the hundreds to thousands of cases a year, Spanik told the daily. Until 64 years of age, women are more prone to cancer; but after 64, men beat them, according to the oncology register data from 2008. With men, colon cancer is most frequent, but they die of lung cancer more since it is usually detected in later stages. The third most-frequent type is prostate cancer. Women are most plagued by breast cancer, followed by cervical, ovary and colon cancer. Screenings, vaccination fight against cancer Since autumn, the Health Ministry plans to introduce regular (usually biennial) screenings. Currently, the participation is around 30 percent, according to the minister, but invitations to screenings should help this by increasing the rate to at least 50 percent. The vaccination against human papilloma virus (HPV) should help as well. Beginning in 2019, girls and boys aged 13 can get free vaccination, Kalavksa noted. She added, however, that a massive anti-vaccination campaign has already started, involving hundreds of emails mostly fighting against the compulsory vaccination. The Minister assured, as quoted by Sme, that the HPV vaccination will not be compulsory at all. 20. Jun 2018 at 13:55 | Compiled by Spectator staff Last Week in Slovakia: Farmers staged a protest by driving across the country Listen to all the headlines from The Slovak Spectator's news podcast. Farmers also met President Andrej Kiska in Bratislava (Source: Sme) https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/460907487&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true Last Week in Slovakia, farmers staged a protest by driving tractors across the country. Measles have continued spreading in the east of the country. Meanwhile, in Bratislava, Most-Hid has started pondering legalising home-made alcohol. This programme is part of The Slovak Spectator subscription and our readers are receiving it every Thursday morning as part of their subscription. More information: Print+audio: shop.spectator.sme.sk/newspaper Online+audio: www.sme.sk/predplatne-spectator 20. Jun 2018 at 15:49 | Compiled by Spectator staff In Beijing, PM sets tone for China visit On the day of his arrival in Beijing, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday set the tone for his visit by recalling that his 2016 visit to the Chinese capital was historic, an occasion that brought the two sides to a groundbreaking political understanding on diversifying Nepals trade and transit. KAZ Minerals PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing copper and other metals primarily in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. It operates through Bozshakol, Aktogay, East Region and Bozymchak, and Mining Projects segments. The company operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open pit copper mines in the east region and Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan; three underground mines in the east region of Kazakhstan; and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. It also develops greenfield metal deposits; operates Koksay deposit in Kazakhstan, and the Baimskaya licence area in the Chukotka region of Russia; and produces and sells various by-products, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, and zinc. In addition, the company supplies and distributes heat, water, and electricity; and offers construction, project management, financing, management, sales and logistics, and repairs and maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Kazakhmys PLC and changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC in October 2014. KAZ Minerals PLC was founded in 1930 and is based in London, the United Kingdom. Read More Guyana Goldfields Inc. provides exploration and production of gold. It engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, production, and operation of gold mineral properties. The company also owns and operates gold drilling rights. The company was formerly known as Chiboug Copper Company Limited and changed its name to Guyana Goldfields Inc. in January 1995. Guyana Goldfields Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. As of August 25, 2020, Guyana Goldfields Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Zijin Mining Group Company Limited. Read More Armenia became the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as a state religion, in 301. This country has the oldest history and the most interesting and beautiful places. Echmiadzin is one of such places. Etchmiadzin or Vagharshapat, became the political, cultural, religious and educational center of the country. There is a bracing chill of history in the air. As soon as I reached the city, I decided to ask the local people where I should start my trip in Etchmiadzin. And the answer I received immediately: the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, which hes its connection with the name of King Trdat III and the Catholicos of St. Gregory the Illuminator. Usually Armenian churches are rather ascetic which creates some peaceful atmosphere of the Armenian churches. But not this Cathedral. The path to the cathedral runs past the carved wooden sculptures, khachkars of various shapes and sizes. There is a theological university-institute of the Armenian Apostolic Church: Gevorkian Theological Seminary on the territory of the monastic complex. As well as Armenian Genoice monument, which was erected to the victims of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, on the monument are carved the names of the holy Armenian martyrs who were victims of the massacre. There is also the Vache and Tamar Manukian Matenadaran, which allows the reading community and scientists to use rich collection of the religious and Armenian study books from the Holy See depository. Etchmiadzin is the residence of the Armenian patriarch, the Catholicos of all Armenians. His palace is located in the courtyard of the monastery. At the entrance to the residence of Catholicos rises "the gates of Trdat. But while visiting Etchmiadzin its worth to drop a little deeper and further out of Etchmiadzin Cathedral. Armenian guests also like to visit other temples of Vagharshapat as St. Hripsime, Shoghakat and Gayane. These temples not only enchant the harmony of proportions, but also force you to ingulf more and more in the enchanting and mysterious atmosphere floating in the air. Follow NEWS.am STYLE on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram India agrees to open two quarantine posts in Nepal India on Tuesday agreed to open two quarantine posts in Vittamod, province 2 and Gauriphanta in province 7 in a bid to facilitate better implementation of quarantine measures and reduce hassles faced by traders, during a meeting with a Nepali high-level delegation led by Chakra Pani Khanal, Minister for Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives, in New Delhi , India. Lack of land stalls school rebuilding in hills Lack of land and government funding has stalled rebuilding of 450 earthquake-damaged schools in 32 districts, a senior official said on Tuesday. Leaders hope district chiefs meet heals rift A three-day national gathering of the Nepali Congress district presidents kicked off in Hetauda on Tuesday. Nationalism: An alternative view Nationalism should build confidence of citizens in their political leaders NEA set to charge Dhalkebar substation this month The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) plans to start charging the Dhalkebar substation this month. The Indian contractor Telmos Electronic has almost completed the construction of the 220 kV substation which converts high voltage electricity to lower voltage electricity for distribution to customers. Park clamps curfew for red panda to deliver in peace Langtang National Park has clamped curfew in the habitat of red pandas (Ailurus fulgens), the shy and charismatic endangered mammal species, as they have started to deliver their offspring. PM Oli meets Chinese President Xi Jinping Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli held a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday. Coastal and riverine areas in Vietnams Mekong Delta have witnessed worryingly rapid land erosion during the past several years, owing to loss of alluvium in the Mekong River, heralding a grim scenario for the regions livelihood. About 25 years since 1992, the southern Vietnams Mekong Delta, home to over 20 million people, witnessed increasing land erosion and declining alluvial deposition, with the first occurrence evolving at a much higher rate than the second in several areas, according to Nguyen Huu Thien an independent ecological expert. This spelt the end of a six-millennium period in which accumulation of alluvium invariably dominated erosion in the Mekong basin of Vietnam, expanding the area continuously, Thien said. From 2005 onwards, more than half of the regions coastline has recorded erosion, which is also seen along local rivers, large and small, Thien said. Up to 50 meters of coastal land was averagely worn away every year in some locations, the researcher added. Boats and riverine houses are seen in Vietnams Mekong Delta. Photo: Tuoi Tre A man looks at an eroded road from a boat in An Giang Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre During the past two months, a series of land erosions on river banks played out in the Mekong Deltas provinces of Tien Giang and An Giang, and Can Tho the regions largest and most modern city, sending multiple residents into homelessness and confusion as their house were toppled and washed away. Vietnams southernmost province of Ca Mau, which faces the sea on three sides, has sustained the greatest damage from the erosion, with its coastal protective forests and embankments succumbing to destructive waves, and locals forced to evacuate. Averagely 20-25 meters of Ca Maus coastal land is eaten away yearly, and around 8,900 hectares of the seashore for protected forests has disappeared during the past 11 years. Hundreds of thousands of households in these places lost their property and experienced a threat to their lives and sources of income, which rely chiefly on farming. Near the provinces Vam Xoay Estuary a local infamous erosion hotspot, from which a number of residents have fled, those trying to stay are living with a constant worry. The Mekong Delta, Vietnams rice and fruit basket, is currently dotted with 562 land erosion spots collectively stretching 786 kilometers along the coastline and rivers, according to an online subsidence map released by Vietnams agriculture ministry recently. Officials observe an eroded area in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Concrete slabs fall apart due to erosion at the Vam Xoay Estuary in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Amongst them, 55 locations are gravely dangerous, reaching the length of 173 kilometers. Thien put the extensive erosion primarily down to the lack of alluvium in the Mekong system. The insufficiency stems from hydroelectricity dams recently built upstream across the Mekong River, and the inland sand mining in countries crossed by the river, especially in Cambodia and Vietnam. A house has collapsed near a river sand extraction in Dong Thap Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre A man anchors his boat at an eroded river bank in An Giang Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre A woman poses for photos while catching fish in Ca Mau Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Southeast Asian stock markets declined on Tuesday, with Thailand and Vietnam closing more than 2 percent lower, as escalating U.S.-China trade tensions led to a broad sell-off in regional equities. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Washington would impose a further 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods after Beijing's retaliated to its earlier tariffs. The Shanghai Composite Index ended nearly 4 percent down after hitting its lowest level since mid-2016 while the blue chip CSI300 index fell 3.5 percent. Key Wall Street index futures were trading more than 1 percent lower. Vietnam shares closed 2.6 percent lower, after falling as much as 4.6 percent during the session, dragged by consumer staple and financial stocks. Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank lost 5 percent each while Vietnam Dairy Products JSC ended 3.7 percent lower. Thai and Philippine shares declined ahead of policy meetings by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Bank of Thailand on Wednesday. Financial and energy stocks weighed on the Thai index which saw its worst intraday fall since October 2016, with PTT PCL marking its lowest close since January. Energy stocks that outperformed at the beginning of the year are now witnessing selling pressure, while investors are also trying to book profit ahead of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting later this week, said Teerada Charnyingyong, an analyst at Phillip Capital Thailand. Philippine shares fell for a fourth consecutive session. Index heavyweights SM Investments Corp, BDO Unibank Inc and JG Summit Holdings Inc ended between 2.2 percent and 3.7 percent lower. Malaysian shares extended losses to a seventh straight session. Public Bank, Malayan Banking slid 2.7 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. Singapore shares erased gains to finish at an eight-month closing low. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and DBS Group Holdings closed lower and Venture Corporation Ltd fell for a fourth consecutive session. Indonesian financial markets are closed on Tuesday for Eid Al-Fitr. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Chi Nguyen, the first Vietnamese representative at Miss Asia World, has decided leave for Lebanon one week early to have more time to visit the beautiful host country and be more prepared for the 2018 edition of the contest. Chi said she had to do everything by herself from the very first days in Lebanon. The contest was scheduled for June 20 and theres no helping from the organizers until the event really kicks off, she said. Even though Chi had to get by on her own, everything has been going on well. I have got accustomed to the countrys way of living, which will help me to be more confident for the next challenges in some way, Chi, first runner-up at the 2017 Charming Ao dai contest and the second-runner up of Vietnam Top Fashion Models 2018, shared. As one of the earliest bird to come to Lebanon for the beauty contest, Chi did not miss the chance to discover the Western Asia country, which is not quite familiar to Vietnamese people. Chi said she was excited about this place thanks to its extremely peaceful atmosphere, plus an interesting culture waiting to be explored. Along with the other contestants from many countries, the Vietnamese beauty explored several local produce and even visited a cellar. After few days in Lebanon, I learned a lot of interesting things, and new experiences. At this point, I am very confident and be ready for the challenges of the contest, she said. Although contestants from the other countries appear to have better looks and figures than her, the Vietnamese representative attracts all looks with her body and her knowledge. Chi, 27, born in the southern province of Vinh Long, is 1.72m tall, weighs 48kg and measures 86 - 58 90. The Miss Asia World 2018 is held in Tyre, Lebanon, with the participation of 40 contestants from Asia, during 20 days of competition from June 20. Chi Nguyen (left) poses with the Venezuelan contestant in this supplied photo. Supplied photo of Chi Nguyen. Supplied photo of Chi Nguyen. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! PM's China Visit: MoU signed to develop eight different projects Nepal and China signed eight different agreements in the presence of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in Chinese Capital Beijing on Wednesday. A Filipino tourist has been rescued by local fishermen after getting lost while trekking on Son Tra Peninsula, a popular destination in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang. The victim was walking through the forest from a famous centuries-old banyan tree to Nghe Cape, both must-visit destinations on the peninsula, with two fellow Filipino trekkers on Tuesday afternoon, when he got lost. The Filipino managed to find a way out of the forest to a rocky area by the sea and began to shout for help. A group of Da Nang fishers heard the victims call and came to their rescue on Tuesday night, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hoang Man, a police official in Son Tra District, confirmed. Competent authorities look for the missing tourist on the evening of June 19, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre The trekker was rescued about three hours after officers from the border guard office and Son Tras management board began a search for him at around 6:00 pm, at the request of his two friends. As the victim was nowhere to be seen along his original trekking route, a second search and rescue team was dispatched to nearby areas at 8:00 pm. At around 9:00 pm, some fishermen discovered the tourist at the rocks near the sea and brought him ashore to safety. Facing the East Vietnam Sea, Son Tra Peninsula is located ten kilometers east of the center of Da Nang. It has an area of about 60 square kilometers and is over 690 meters above sea level. A view from Son Tra Peninsula. Photo: Tuoi Tre Well-known sites on the peninsula include Linh Ung Pagoda, Ban Co Peak, the Banyan Tree, and Tien Sa Lighthouse. Proper roads have been added for easier access to these destinations. However, most areas on Son Tra are untouched forests, thus non-locals are likely to get lost if they go off roads. People are advised not to spend the night in the forests on the peninsula. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Nguyen Van Tuan, 30, Truong Ngoc Hien, 21, Nguyen Huynh Duc, 18, and Bui Van Tien, 17, were prosecuted for deliberately causing damage to property. Tuan and Hien were put under arrest, while Duc and Tien are barred from leaving their place of residence during the legal process. According to the police, all four suspects were participants of a protest in Ho Chi Minh City on June 10 to object to a draft law on Vietnams new special economic zones. During the event, Tuan used a metal pipe to smash two police motorbikes and a bus and hurled a rock at an SUV parked on the side of a street, causing substantial damage to the vehicles. Hien was also accused of hurling hard objects at a bus mobilized by the police to contain the protest, breaking the vehicles windows. At the police station, Hien confessed to having been invited by an acquaintance to join the protest. He also extended the invitation to 70 other friends on Facebook who were told to meet at his place for the event. Meanwhile, Duc and Tien said they had used rocks given to them by other protesters to throw at police buses, smashing their windows. They also admitted to having been incited into throwing rocks at police officers. District 3 Police said a 15-year-old boy was also found throwing rocks at police vehicles during the protest, but he is too young to be criminally prosecuted. Measures will be enforced by law enforcement in Hoc Mon Distict, where he lives, to prevent him from repeating the violation, police say. Thousands took to the streets in Ho Chi Minh City on June 10 to protest the countrys draft law on special economic zones they feared would pose a serious threat to national security due to the 99-year land lease period. Ho Chi Minh City police and lower-level law enforcement units say they have handled a total of 310 people who broke the law while joining the marches, including an American citizen and some with links to terrorist groups based in foreign countries. Vietnam has plans to establish three new special economic zones where greater incentives and fewer restrictions are offered to lure foreign investment into the areas. The zones Phu Quoc, Van Don, and Bac Van Phong are to be located in Kien Giang, Quang Ninh, and Khanh Hoa Provinces in the southern, northern and south-central parts of Vietnam, respectively. Under public pressure, the Vietnamese government has pledged to scrap the lease period entirely from an updated version of the bill, which would be submitted to lawmakers for consideration in October. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnamese authorities are detaining six Taiwanese suspects in connection with a scam that yielded them nearly US$300,000, police in the central province of Quang Nam said on Tuesday. The foreigners were Chung Shao Teng, Chang Seng Ping, Chang Chia Pin, Bian Zong Xun, Chang Fu Lung and Lo Yu Hsuan. Six Vietnamese are also being held for their involvement in the racketeering. The Taiwanese and Vietnamese nationals were accused of defrauding to illegally appropriate property and failing to report the crime to authorities, the police said without elaborating how the charges were divided amongst the captured. In early June, a woman in Quang Nam known as H.T.P. told the local police that she had been deceived by a group of men into giving them over VND1.9 billion ($84,000), according to the case file. The woman received a phone call from a man who at the time identified himself as Hai, claiming to be a Ho Chi Minh City-based official of the General Department of Public Security, a section of the Ministry of Public Security. Having told P. the exact number and issue date of her ID card, Hai said her two bank accounts were implicated in an international drugs trafficking ring under investigation. He demanded her to disclose the probe to no one else and transfer all her bank savings, more than VND1.9 billion ($84,000), to a person named D.V.Q. in Ho Chi Minh City for safekeeping since her account information had been stolen. She did just what was asked by Hai, who subsequently also required her to burn all documents related in the transaction. The twelve suspects were arrested following the cooperation between the police in Quang Nam and the southern metropolis. The putative fraudsters sought for personal information of Vietnamese people on the Internet, and made telephone calls by a communication service known as Voice over Internet Protocol, according to police records. Their major trick was pretending to be officials from law enforcement agencies who are dealing with criminal cases so that they can dupe the victim into sending bank savings to them. Between early May and mid-June, multiple Vietnamese people fell prey to the above the scam of the group, who received nearly VND7 billion ($308,000) from the scheme, police added. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Mystery Road will play on streaming service Acorn TV in the US, which has a history of picking up Aussie titles. Acorn has the show for the US and has secondary rights in the UK and Ireland, New Zealand & Australia (it is yet to launch a service in Australia). With its remote landscape, intriguing mystery and award-winning cast led by Aaron Pedersen and Judy Davis, Mystery Road is right in line with the first-rate international dramas were bringing to our subscribers every month, said Shane Murphy, Acorn Media Enterprises managing director. Series producer Greer Simpkin told Variety It has been a long time since there has been an outback cop character on Australian television but now that we have the character of Jay Swan from the movies it made perfect sense that we create a TV series about him. Producers are also in discussion with ABC about the development of a second season. "I hear our opposition isn't coming either this year. What, they're too good to support the local industry?" @KarlStefanovic #9Today pic.twitter.com/j0TnyhQ43L The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) June 19, 2018 After Hugo Weaving indicated he wouldnt be attending the Logie Awards Karl Stefanovic delivered another Karl-atorial in which he suggested the actor support the industry. He then hit out at Sunrise for also not attending (Edwina Bartholomew & Sam Mac are both attending), even referencing Grant Denyer.. In case anybody forgot it was also Karl who called for a boycott on the Gold Coast Logies. Im not happy about this Logies situation with Melbourne, he said in September. Im telling you right now if the Logies move from Melbourne Im boycotting them. I will not be going to the Logies. Authenticity, Karl? Netflix has confirmed Will Ferrell will star in a film about Eurovision and has reportedly given the go-ahead to make the film by organisers -an ideal way to broaden the contests appeal in the US market. Ferrell was at this years contest and is thought to have been a fan since being introduced to it by his Swedish wife. He also spent time with some of the contestants. Hes set to write the screenplay with former head writer of Saturday Night Live, Andrew Steele. The film will be Will Ferrells second Netflix feature-length production. He also worked on Ibiza, a comedy starring Gillian Jacobs, which was released last month. Source: BBC Xi says China to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation with Nepal China stands ready to strengthen cooperation with Nepal in infrastructure connectivity, post-disaster reconstruction, trade and investment under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping said Wednesday. A new report by St Mungos Homelessness Charity indicates that problems faced by those sleeping on the streets are getting worse. A particularly concerning finding is that death rates are increasing at an alarming rate. Citing figures reported by The Guardian, the report stated that between the start of January and the end of April this year, 40 people have died. This is noted to be greater than the number for all of 2013. Responses to a survey issued by St Mungos to homelessness outreach teams across England and providing the basis for todays report, suggest that along with increasing death rates, it has become harder for those who are sleeping rough to access important services. This includes mental health services, emergency accommodation, and drugs and alcohol services. Lack of availability of key mental health services With high numbers of those who are sleeping rough having a mental health illness or substance misuse problem, the report argues that access needs to become easier and services providing for rough sleepers who are in those categories need to increase. The majority of survey answers stated there was a non-availability of key mental health services in their area while 70% reported that it had become more difficult to access support for mental health. Similar findings were found regarding help for those with drug or alcohol addictions, though the figure for access to help becoming more difficult was less at 42%. Figures indicate that among those who have died, mental health or substance misuse problems affected a very high proportion. St Mungos analysis of data reveals that the figure in London stands at 90% since 2010. Furthermore, accessing emergency accommodation, important for protection from the elements and violence, got more difficult according to 64% of survey respondents. Provision of adequate emergency accommodation is reported as being a way to lower rates of rough sleeping especially for those who are facing homelessness for the first time as the accommodation providers can offer information on other services and guidance on getting a place to stay on a long-term basis. When put into the context of the percentage increase in those who have been sleeping rough over the past five years in England, 97%, the report findings indicate improvements are arguably needed. St Mungos recommendations The charitys report advocates for the government to take a number of actions. This includes improving access to services providing help to those affected by homelessness and increasing funding for those services. It also calls for confirming that multi-agency reviews always take place following the death of anyone sleeping rough. Currently, only 23% of respondents reported being aware of a review taking place after a death. The carrying out of reviews would aid in the reforming of services to lower risk of deaths of other people sleeping rough in the future. Government attempts to tackle homelessness The Homeless Reduction Act, applying from April 3 of this year, is preventative in nature and is aimed at decreasing the numbers of those becoming homeless by increasing the responsibilities of local councils. A pilot case study used in the government press release announcing the act coming into force suggested positive impacts of the legislation. It is too early to say whether the rate of homelessness in that London borough, Southwark, has seen further improvements since the official England-wide launch of the act as homelessness report dates from April to June are not due to be released by London Datastore until the end of July. Homelessness charity, Centrepoint, said in a report on the early aftermath of the Acts enforcement that the Act marks a fundamental shift towards a preventative approach, improving the support available to those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. It also cautioned, however, that areas including the welfare system could prove to be an insurmountable challenge to the effectiveness of the Act. This sentiment was echoed in a briefing from UK-wide charity, Shelter, which stated that the commendable intentions of the Act will be undermined if areas like housing policy are not amended. They have further said that more than the Act is needed if homelessness is going to be lowered. Around the UK, homelessness is also a concerning issue. Statistics from the Scottish Government indicate that in 17 out of 32 local Scottish authorities, applications of homelessness became greater with an overall rise of 1% across Scotland. This was for the timescale from April 2017 to March 2018. In Northern Ireland support was requested from the government by nearly 20,000 people in 2017. The British government has pledged to eradicate rough sleeping by 2027. Todays report released by St Mungos shows that there remains much to be done to effectively tackle the issue. Slovenias Prime Minister Miro Cerar arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, March 22, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir Thomson Reuters By Marja Novak LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia will take neighboring Croatia to court because Zagreb is unwilling to implement an international arbitration ruling on the border between the two European Union members, Prime Minister Miro Cerar said on Monday. The case against Croatia will be filed at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in July, he said. Slovenia and Croatia both declared independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 but have so far failed to agree on parts of their common sea and land border. "The government will on Thursday confirm the decision to file the suit ... I expect the suit will be filed by the middle of July," Cerar told a news conference. A year ago the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that Slovenia should have "uninterrupted access" to the international waters in the Adriatic Sea. The dispute has chiefly affected fishermen from both countries who are being fined by the other state for illegally crossing the border. The Hague court's ruling is final and binding but Zagreb has said it is not valid because Croatia withdrew from the arbitration process in 2015. This followed the leaking of a recording in which a Slovenian judge on the panel improperly exchanged confidential information with the Ljubljana government. The judge resigned and the court continued with the case, saying the incident had not compromised its ability to reach a verdict. Slovenia asked the European Commission in March to issue its opinion on the matter but earlier on Monday Brussels said it would not do so. "I am very worried about the silence of the Commission ... I believe politics prevailed over the law in this case," said Cerar, adding the rule of law is "one of the fundamentals of the European Union". Croatia believes the dispute should be solved in bilateral talks although the two countries turned to arbitration in 2009 after failing to resolve the matter themselves in almost two decades. Story continues The dispute has prompted a change in the EU's expansion strategy, which was released in February and states that countries will no longer be able to join the bloc before resolving their border issues. Another former Yugoslav republic, Macedonia, signed a deal with neighboring Greece on Sunday to settle a long-running dispute over its name. The agreement paves the way for the country's possible admission to the EU and NATO. (Reporting By Marja Novak; editing by David Stamp) See Also: SoftBank Group Corp Chairman and CEO Son speaks during the Wall Street Journal CEO Conference in Tokyo SoftBank Group Corp Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son speaks during the Wall Street Journal CEO Conference in Tokyo, Japan May 15, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai By Sam Nussey TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday he plans to devote the bulk of his time to hunt for technology investments around the world, as part of a major shift in focus at the Japanese tech and telecoms conglomerate. "I have spent 97 percent of my time on managing the telecoms business and only 3 percent on investing," Son said. Reversing that balance will allow SoftBank to grow faster, he said. The comments, made to investors at the group's annual general meeting, came as shareholders approved the appointment of three executive vice-presidents - SoftBank unit Sprint Corp's former chief executive, Marcelo Claure, and former bankers Katsunori Sago and Rajeev Misra. Son's comments fit with a transformation underway at SoftBank from a domestic telecoms firm to "unicorn hunter" - as Son termed it - focusing on late-stage startups around the world. SoftBank and its investment vehicle Vision Fund, which raised over $93 billion (70.65 billion pounds) last year, have stormed the world of dealmaking, buying up stakes in disruptive tech companies such as shared-office space firm WeWork and ride-hailing rivals Uber Technologies Inc, Didi Chuxing, Ola and Grab. Bolivian-born billionaire Claure was appointed SoftBank's chief operating officer in May, tasked with driving cooperation between the group's portfolio companies. Former Goldman Sachs executive Sago became chief strategy officer on Wednesday and will focus on group investment. Misra runs the Vision Fund. Son also bemoaned the so-called conglomerate discount weighing on SoftBank's shares. He said when the market value of stakes the firm holds in companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and ARM Holdings are taken into account, SoftBank's shares should be trading above 14,000 yen, rather than around 8,000 yen currently. The perceived undervaluation has led the businessman to consider a management buyout in the past, Son said. The planned listing of SoftBank's domestic telecoms unit should help clarify the value of the group's component parts, he said. Story continues There were few signs of shareholder scepticism at the meeting, with questions fielded by Son including a request to shake his hand and whether he had thought of becoming prime minister. SoftBank's shares have fallen around 7 percent this year. Thomson Reuters data showed 14 of 15 had "buy" or "strong buy" recommendations on the stock. A note of caution came from outside director and chief executive of Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing Co Ltd Tadashi Yanai. "I'm always watching with butterflies in my stomach," he said, before urging shareholders to "not feel at ease". "Butterflies in the stomach are part of the joys of youth," Son quipped back. (Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing) FILE PHOTO: A view of damaged buildings in Jobar as seen from Harasta highway, in Damascus FILE PHOTO: A view of damaged buildings in Jobar as seen from Harasta highway, in Damascus, Syria March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki/File Photo By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrian government troops and affiliated forces committed war crimes and a crime against humanity in their long siege of eastern Ghouta through heavy bombardment and "deliberately starving" 265,000 people, U.N. investigators said on Wednesday. About 20,000 rebel fighters entrenched in the besieged area, some belonging to "terrorist groups", shelled the nearby capital of Damascus in attacks that killed and maimed, amounting to war crimes, they said. The latest report by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria, led by Paulo Pinheiro, is based on 140 interviews as well as photographs, videos, satellite imagery, and medical records. "Even if pro-Government forces are bombing and starving the civilian population of eastern Ghouta into submission, there can be no justification for the indiscriminate shelling of civilian inhabited areas in Damascus," panel member Hanny Megally said in a statement. Pro-government forces encircled Ghouta in April 2013 and "laid the longest running siege in modern history, steadily wearing down both fighters and civilians alike through a prolonged war of attrition", the report said, denouncing a "medieval form of warfare". From February to April 2018, their tactics to recapture the enclave were "largely unlawful in nature, aimed at punishing the inhabitants of eastern Ghouta and forcing the population, collectively, to surrender or starve". "Through the widespread and systematic bombardments of civilian inhabited areas and objects, and the continued denial of food and medicine to besieged civilians during the period under review, pro-Government forces perpetrated the crime against humanity of inhumane acts causing serious mental and physical suffering," the report said. Syrian and Russian air forces controlled the skies over Ghouta and carried out heavy air strikes on residential areas where families huddled in dark, overcrowded basements lacking toilets, it said. Story continues Warplanes hit hospitals, depriving wounded of health care, it said, adding: "This pattern of attack strongly suggests that pro-Government forces systematically targeted medical facilities, repeatedly committing the war crime of deliberately attacking protected objects, and intentionally attacking medical personnel." The U.N. experts cited evidence that chlorine had been used in Ghouta at least four times this year but said their investigations continued. Armed groups including Jaish al-Islam, the region's largest, Faylaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham exercised control over Ghouta. They operated tunnels and deep trenches, and regularly arrested and tortured members of religious minority groups, the report said. Government attacks were "regularly met with brutal acts of reprisal", it said, saying the rebels' use of improvised rockets that could reach parts of Damascus aimed to "spread terror". By mid-March, pro-government forces implemented negotiated local truces and "evacuation agreements", the report said. Tens of thousands left via humanitarian corridors amid chaos and many civilians remain "interned". (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) An emergency meeting of key European leaders has been convened in Brussels this Sunday to discuss migration at the request of Germany. In a highly unusual move, the European Commission is organising the "informal working meeting" with just four days' notice. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced the meeting in a tweet, saying: "I am convening an informal working meeting on migration and asylum issues in Brussels on Sunday in order to work with a group of heads of state or governments of member states interested in finding European solutions ahead of the upcoming European Council." The leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Austria, Bulgaria, Spain and Malta have all been invited to attend the meeting which comes just four days ahead of the June European Council summit at which migration will be a key focus. In a sign of tensions around the migration issue, Sky News understands that the German government first suggested holding the meeting in Berlin but some other countries objected. The European Council, which would be the appropriate forum for leaders to convene, was then asked to organise the meeting but president Donald Tusk is known not to favour hosting mini-summits with select groups of nations and rejected the idea. The European Commission then stepped in. The migration issue has caused renewed and deep divisions between European governments and even within national coalitions. The latest crisic was brought into focus both by political conflict in Germany and after the new Italian government turned away a boat packed with 630 migrants rescued in dinghies off the coast of Libya 10 days ago. The Aquarius was denied a safe port to dock in by the Italians and the Maltese. It eventually docked in the Spanish port of Valencia on Sunday. In Germany, Angela Merkel's interior minister Horst Seehofer threatened to defy her by closing German borders to migrants who had already registered in another EU country. Story continues Given that all migrants arrive in either Greece, Italy or Spain and register there, this move would mean those three countries agreeing to take them back. Mrs Merkel agreed with Mr Seehofer that she would secure EU-wide agreement within two weeks on how his demand could be achieved. The issue will be a key focus for the Sunday crisis talks. They will centre on how to overhaul the EU's asylum system which requires all migrants arriving in the EU to register and claim asylum in the country where they arrive. This has put huge strain on the bloc's frontier countries - Italy, Greece and Spain. They have called, in vain, for other EU states to share the burden. If the German chancellor fails to secure agreement on the issue, Mr Seehoffer, whose CSU Party is a key part of her coalition, has said he will act unilaterally. She would then have little option but to fire him which could bring down the German government. Although the issue is now highly politicised, ironically the migratory pressures are now far less acute than they were at the height of the crisis in 2015. Figures released this week by Eurostat show that there were 739,000 asylum applications made across the EU in 2017. That represents a 44% drop on the previous year. However the asylum backlog remains high with 954,100 claims outstanding. This highlights the need to overhaul and speed up the claims process and improve the ability for the EU to return failed asylum seekers to their home countries. Controversial deals with Turkey and Libya have reduced the number of people trying to cross into Europe over the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, 37,000 people have still made the journey this year alone and according to the International Organisation for Migration, more than 800 people have died . The true figure will be higher because some drownings go unrecorded. Migrants sit at a naval base after being rescued by Libyan coast guards in Tripoli, Libya June 18, 2018. Picture taken June 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan coastguards said on Monday they had recovered the bodies of five migrants and picked 191 survivors off the coast west of the capital Tripoli. Libya's western coast is the main departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by the sea, though the number of crossings has dropped sharply since last July. The five dead migrants were brought back to port in Tripoli on Monday along with 115 survivors from various sub-Saharan African and Arab countries, coastguard officials said. Their boat was intercepted off Mellitah on Sunday after being damaged by rough seas, according to Ayoub Qassem, a coastguard spokesman. Another group of 76 migrants was intercepted on Sunday off Zawiya, just west of Tripoli. Since last summer, smuggling networks inside Libya have been disrupted under Italian pressure and Libya's EU-backed coastguard has stepped up interceptions, returning more than 7,000 migrants to Libya so far this year. Since January, some 10,760 migrants have crossed from Libya to Italy, more than 80 percent less than during the same period last year, according to statistics from Italy's interior ministry. Last week, crossings in the central Mediterranean were thrown into further uncertainty when Italy's new government closed its ports to a rescue ship operated by humanitarian organisations that was loaded with more than 600 migrants. It eventually docked in Spain. (Reporting by Hani Amara and Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Sandra Maler) FILE PHOTO: Greek PM Tsipras and Macedonian PM Zaev gesture before the signing of an accord to settle a long dispute over the former Yugoslav republic's name in the village of Psarades FILE PHOTO: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev gesture before the signing of an accord to settle a long dispute over the former Yugoslav republic's name in the village of Psarades, in Prespes, Greece, June 17, 2018. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo By Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) - With a brief formulation of words, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras may have boosted his chances of persuading foreign creditors to free his nation from years of financial humiliation on better terms than a few days ago. Tsipras agreed a deal with his Macedonian counterpart at the weekend under which Greece's neighbour will be renamed "Republic of North Macedonia", a formulation offering a chance to end a 27-year dispute with Skopje that has bedevilled the European Union's eastward expansion. Now the hope is that the political goodwill will earn Athens a warmer-than-usual reception when euro zone finance ministers meet in the Eurogroup on Thursday to plot Greece's steps toward exiting its bailout programme, Greek and EU officials said. That includes possible relief on the country's debts, which have soared since the first EU/IMF rescue in 2010. Tsipras acknowledges that the Macedonia deal, which opens the way for the former Yugoslav republic to seek EU and NATO membership, is separate from any Greek debt relief. "I feel like a chess player who is simultaneously playing two games, because you know at the same time (there are) the name issue negotiations and crucial negotiations for the debt issue," he told the head of the euro zone bailout fund last week after the Macedonia talks achieved a breakthrough. But he added: "I'm hoping, as we had a breakthrough yesterday, we will have the same next week in maybe the most crucial for the country after eight difficult years." Tsipras has often had testy relations with the EU as austerity measures imposed under the bailouts hurt Greeks badly. But an EU official expressed cautious optimism that the Macedonian settlement, which must be approved by both countries' parliaments, will have a positive psychological effect. "I think the deal will help (Greece) in debt relief talks. The government will head to the talks with a different morale," the official said on condition of anonymity, while adding that the deal had never been linked to bailout talks. Story continues PROBLEM SOLVER The deal was warmly welcomed in the EU and by the United States, long impatient with what it perceives as Greek obduracy over the name, potentially destabilising the Balkans. "One cannot rule out that it will have a positive impact, since Greece appears to be a force that solves instead of creating problems," a Greek government official said, dismissing any suggestion that debt relief is dependent on the Macedonian settlement. "It was never demanded by European lenders, there was never a trade-off." Another person who has participated in past bailout talks sounded a note of caution as the German government, whose support is vital for any debt deal, is unlikely to be more generous as it is currently preoccupied by an internal row over migrant policy. The Macedonia deal has led to fiery protests in both countries and unrest in Tsipras's left-right coalition, which has a fragile parliamentary majority and is trailing the conservative opposition in opinion polls. It survived a confidence vote on Saturday night but lost one lawmaker from the right-wing Independent Greeks party, Tsipras's junior ally, which has vowed to back the coalition but rejects any settlement that includes the name Macedonia. On Monday, Dimitris Kammenos, who was expelled from the Independent Greeks after backing the no-confidence motion against the government, insisted the deal was indeed a quid pro quo. He said a group of right-wing lawmakers had been dissuaded from submitting a censure motion against Greece's foreign minister who signed the accord on Sunday. "There were arguments related to the economy," Kammenos told Skai TV. "Whether Greece would get the debt deal was subject to whether it would give the name Macedonia," he said. His comments have frequently caused public uproar on social media and angry responses from politicians. The Independent Greeks dismissed his comments. "There was never reciprocity between the process for a deal over Skopje's name and negotiations on financial issues within the framework of the EU," said Independent Greeks' spokesman Theodoros Tosounidis. "He (Kammenos) is obviously trying to link things to cover up his actions." (editing by David Stamp) By Camilla Knudsen OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's $1 trillion wealth fund's process to blacklist firms for producing too much greenhouse gases has taken longer than expected, but recent clarifications from its ethics watchdog could mean a decision is near, a top official told Reuters. The fund is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with stakes in over 9,000 companies worldwide. It is forbidden from investing in firms that produce nuclear weapons or landmines, or are involved in the production of tobacco, among other criteria. Carbon emissions became a criteria for exclusion from the fund in 2016 and last year the Council on Ethics recommended "a small handful" of firms be excluded for producing too much greenhouse gas emissions in either the oil, cement and steel sectors. Since then recommendations have been under review with the board of the central bank, which oversees the fund. "We sent a letter to the council for further interpretation of that criteria and we just now got an answer, so the process is moving forward," Deputy Central Bank Governor Egil Matsen told Reuters. "We will deal with the reply internally in the bank during the next weeks and months, but I can't say exactly how long it will take," Matsen said, adding that the dialogue with the council had been extensive. He said the main difficulty had been to define and limit this new type of criteria based on the companies' conduct or behavior, rather than their products. (Editing by David Evans) See Also: Extreme pain Salah Abdeslam, one of the suspects in the 2015 Islamic State attacks in Paris, has reportedly been rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis (Picture: Reuters) The only surviving suspect in the Paris terror attacks has reportedly been rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis. Salah Abdeslam, 28, is said to have been taken from solitary confinement at Fleury-Merogis in Paris to a nearby hospital in extreme pain. Abdeslam is a suspect in the Paris terror attacks in November 2015, which left 130 dead. He is currently awaiting trial in Paris. A source told Mail Online: Early indications are that he is suffering from appendicitis and is in extreme pain. The prisoner was being kept in isolation in the prison wing of the hospital, but it was decided that specialist treatment was needed, suggesting that surgery may be necessary. Trial Abdeslam is awaiting trial for his part in the Paris terror attacks in November 2015 (Picture: Getty) Abdeslam is said to have been rushed to hospital on Tuesday, where he stayed under armed guard before being returned to Fleury-Mergolis some time on Wednesday. He is said to have been part of an Islamic State death squad that launched attacks across Paris including the Stade de France and the Bataclan and included his brother Brahim. MORE: Glamour model reveals how IS tried to recruit her via Facebook to become the next White Widow MORE: Kim Jong-un says he will work with China to secure true peace after meeting with president XI Jinping All blew themselves up or were shot dead by police, but Abdeslam abandoned his mission and went on the run. Earlier this year, the 28-year-old was handed a 20-year prison sentence in Belgium for taking part in a shoot-out with police in Brussels in 2016. Theresa May is facing a knife-edge Commons vote on Brexit (Rex) Theresa May has seen off a backbench rebellion that would have given MPs more power to direct the governments approach in the event of a no deal Brexit. The PM secured a victory after an amendment on the issue of granting the Commons a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal was defeated by 319 votes to 303. If the rebels had won, MPs would have been able to reject a no deal option and force ministers back to the negotiating table. Number 10 was against the idea, saying it would curtail the UKs negotiating power by removing the option of walking away from the table. The PMs win came after backbench rebels accepted an 11th-hour compromise on the amendment. The Government had previously put forward a proposal allowing MPs to debate the final deal and then hold a symbolic vote, without giving them power to influence the governments next move. The concession now explains it will be for Speaker John Bercow to decide if amendments can be tabled to the neutral motion. This opens up the possibility of giving the MPs power to decide the Governments strategy if a deal is not reached. Heres the compromise or non-compromise pic.twitter.com/bLNJAJIZUM Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) June 20, 2018 However the compromise was widely seen as a symbolic gesture, and has been dismissed by Labour as meaningless. Four Tories still rebelled and voted against the government. Lead rebel Dominic Grieve confirmed in the Commons that he would no longer be voting against the PM after receiving assurances from the cabinet. Mr Grieve told the house: Having finally obtained, I have to say with a little bit more difficulty than I would have wished, the obvious acknowledgement of the sovereignty of this place over the executive in black and white language I am prepared to accept the Governments difficulty and support it. Story continues Dominic Grieve speaks during the debate on the EU withdrawal bill in the House of Commons. I am prepared to accept the Governments difficulty and in the circumstances to accept the form of amendment it wants. He told MPs that if unsatisfied with the deal, Parliament could issue a vote of no confidence or use other methods to bring its very clear view to bear on the Government. His climbdown was met with groans from the Labour benches, after the shadow Brexit secretary Kier Starmer implored them to back his changes to the Governments flagship Brexit bill. MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO The Prime Minister was facing a very real threat of defeat today as Remainers and Tory rebels threatened to vote her down . The closeness of the vote meant that MPs who were ill and heavily pregnant were impelled to attend Parliament. The Tories also removed the convention of nodding through, which allows the votes of unwell politicians to count as long as they are present on the parliamentary estate. Just saw very heavily pregnant Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson two days past her due date walk down the corridor to vote on the EU withdrawal bill, looking not very thrilled to be there. Sometimes parliament can seem *very* archaic. Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 20, 2018 Ive just seen a Labour MP in a wheelchair with a paper sick bucket looking in lots of pain after voting (because Tories refused MPs who r ill to vote from the car park). It was quite a sad sight. Sam Coates Times (@SamCoatesTimes) June 20, 2018 David Davis opened the debate, warning the divisions in Parliament have an adverse affect on the negotiations with the EU. When they believe we might be forced to change our position to suit them, they stall, he said. We cannot allow such an approach to become commonplace across all negotiations. Mr Davis said an amendable motion would still allow Parliament to direct how the Government should proceed, adding the Lords amendment could be used to undermine the result of the referendum. He said: Our amendment on the other hand is consistent with the notion that its right for Parliament to express its view but not to how to conduct itself in an international negotiation. It passes the three tests set out by myself and the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has warned against any moves to tie her hands during negotiations with Brussels, saying that Parliament must not be able to overturn the will of the British people. FILE PHOTO: An exhaust pipe of a car is pictured on a street in a Berlin, Germany, February 22, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo Thomson Reuters LONDON (Reuters) - Britain still plans to end the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040 and will set out more detail as soon as this week, a government source told Reuters on Tuesday after a report suggested the plans were being watered down. Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative government said last year it would ban new petrol and diesel cars from 2040 although the Financial Times said on Monday that the plans had been downgraded to a "mission". There has also been confusion over whether the proposals will include hybrid models, which have both an electric and combustion engine. A government source told Reuters that there had been no change. "We will end the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel engine cars by 2040," the source said on condition of anonymity. "It's not government policy to ban hybrids." The earliest ministers will detail the plans, known as "Road to Zero", is on Wednesday but they are unlikely to come so soon, the source added. The document has already been delayed as Britain's transport, business and environment ministries discuss the final proposals. Carmakers have been particularly angry about any restrictions on hybrid models, which are seen by some as a transitional technology as the uptake of purely electric cars ramps up. (Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Guy Faulconbridge) See Also: FILE PHOTO: Protesters hold a banner which reads Thomson Reuters By Martin Petty MANILA (Reuters) - Protests by thousands of people in cities across Vietnam are showing just how easy it is to unite public opinion and mobilize dissent when an issue has one key ingredient: China. The demonstrations, which are technically illegal, sprung up for a second consecutive week on Sunday, stoked by fears that proposed coastal economic zones for foreigners would be beachheads for an invasion of Chinese businesses. The proposal makes no mention of China. But political analysts say Vietnamese minds were already made up, with popular Facebook posts reinforcing deep-rooted suspicion that Chinese interests are influencing state policy. Central to the issue is a combustible mix of generations of anger over perceived Chinese bullying, and a lack of faith in Vietnam's ruling communist party to do anything about it. "The government underestimated the amount of anti-China sentiment in the country," said Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "There's a constant undertone among many in Vietnam that the government isn't doing enough to protect the country's sovereignty against China," Hiebert added. Social media such as Facebook, used by half of Vietnam's 90 million people, makes such fervor easy to stoke and hard to contain. After protests spanned cities nationwide, the National Assembly last week postponed its vote on the economic zones until October. Security was tightened on Sunday to prevent protests in major cities, but thousands still gathered in central Ha Tinh province, many with signs saying "No leasing land to Chinese communists for even one day." Tensions are likely to persist as long as China pushes its Belt and Road initiative to advance its overseas business, and takes stronger action to fortify its claims over almost the entire South China Sea. China has been accelerating construction and militarization in the Spratly and Paracel islands claimed by Vietnam, and in March pressured Hanoi to suspend some major offshore oil drilling for the second time in the space of a year. Story continues 'PATRIOTISM' APPRECIATED The Vietnamese government's resistance to Chinese pressure has been limited. The communist party top brass rarely acknowledges anti-China sentiment even exists in Vietnam. On Friday, house speaker Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan skirted the issue, saying the legislature "appreciates the people's patriotism and their profound concerns about important issues." Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong weighed in on Sunday to reassure the public about the economic zones, which have 99-year leases, but also made no specific mention of China. "No one is that foolish to hand over land to foreigners for them to come and mess things up," state media quoted him saying. The June 10 protests were in large part peaceful, but turned violent in central Binh Thuan province, where vehicles were set ablaze and angry mobs hurled rocks and charged at riot police. Tran Vu Hai, a prominent lawyer, said the anger had been festering for years in Binh Thuan, where China is blamed for assaulting fishermen, polluting the land with a Chinese-built power plant, and for deforestation to mine minerals exported primarily to China. Hai said people were venting fury not only at China, but at a local government, which is perceived as being corrupt and enslaved by destructive Chinese commercial interests. "They don't investigate why people are irritated and they don't solve the people's problems," he said. "The trust in the authority in that area has already been lost." Analysts say the turnout and coordination of protests is now emboldening ordinary Vietnamese, but also complicating the party's difficult balancing act of tolerating some dissent while keeping it under control. That risks angering a vital trade partner that can hold Vietnam's fast-growing economy hostage. SKILLED INSTIGATION The protests are being taken seriously by China; its diplomatic missions in Vietnam held meetings last week with Chinese business groups, local government and local media. In one of several postings on the embassy's website, it said charge d'affaires Yin Haihong "demanded" that Vietnamese authorities protect Chinese businesses and citizens. Yin said the embassy had been informed by the Vietnamese authorities that people with "ulterior motives" had "deliberately misrepresented the situation and linked it to China." The recent rallies follow similar protests in 2014 after China's deployment of an oil rig off central Vietnam, and months of demonstrations in 2016 over an environmental disaster at a steel plant run by Taiwan's Formosa Plastics. Responding to questions from Reuters, Vietnam foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang made no mention of China but said "extremists" had "incited illegal gatherings." He added that Vietnam's policies served its peoples' interests and supported business and investment. Nguyen Van Quynh, a well-known lawyer followed widely on Facebook, said it was clear that the rallies were organized and violence had been instigated. He said they showed meticulous planning and knowledge of state security procedures, and suggested Binh Thuan was a weak spot. "The scale, organization, sophistication of the protests, riots are increasing, proving that there must be a person or a leading group with knowledge and skill for it to be organized this way," Quynh said. Some current and former lawmakers say it is time to revisit a long-delayed law to regulate demonstrations. The constitution allows freedom of assembly, but protests are often broken up by police and participants held for "causing public disorder." Others say it's time to listen more to public opinion. "The administration needs to care for what its people care for," said Nguyen Si Dung, a former deputy head of the National Assembly office. (Additional reporting by John Ruwitch in SHANGHAI; Editing by Gerry Doyle) See Also: By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces and their Iran-backed allies will face "volcanoes of fire" if they launch a threatened offensive in the opposition-held southwest, a rebel commander told Reuters on Tuesday. Syria's southwest has come into focus since President Bashar al-Assad and his allies crushed the last remaining rebel pockets near Damascus and Homs. Assad has vowed to recover opposition-held areas near the frontiers with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and government and allied forces are mobilising. A major flareup there risks escalating the seven-year-long war that has killed an estimated half a million people. Violence flared in several parts of the southwest on Tuesday, with government warplanes launching air strikes near a rebel-held village. But there was no sign yet of the start of the big offensive threatened by the government, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said. The United States last week warned it would take "firm and appropriate measures" in response to Syrian government violations of a "de-escalation" agreement that it underwrote with Russia last year to contain the conflict in the southwest. "Everyone is on guard. We are still committed to the de-escalation agreement but if the regime launches any attack on any sector of the south, it will be faced by volcanoes of fire," Nassim Abu Arra, commander of one of the main Free Syrian Army groups in southern Syria, the Youth of Sunna Forces, said. Rebels attacked a military convoy bringing reinforcements overnight in the Khirbat Ghazala area, igniting clashes between midnight and 2 a.m., he said. The air strikes near al-Masika village were a response to a separate rebel attack that destroyed a tank, he added. Syria's state-run Ikhbariya television said a child was killed in an insurgent missile attack in the same area. State news agency SANA said rebel shells had also fallen on Deraa city, killing one girl overnight, and on Sweida city, causing material damage. Story continues Families fled the rebel-held town of Busra al-Harir, fearing it could be targeted, activists said. "NO SURRENDER" The conflict in the southwest has been complicated by the role of Iran-backed forces and Israeli demands for them to kept away from the occupied Golan Heights and, more widely, to be removed from Syria entirely. Assad said earlier this month the government, at Russia's suggestion, was seeking to strike a deal in the southwest similar to agreements that have restored its control of other areas through withdrawals of rebel forces. But he also said there had been no results yet and blamed "Israeli and American interference". He said the territory would be recovered by force if necessary. Abu Arra said the reinforcements arriving in the southwest aimed to put pressure on rebels to succumb to government demands such as accepting "reconciliation" deals, or to surrender strategic positions including the Nassib crossing with Jordan. "But we have made up our minds. There will be no retreat from the principles of the revolution or surrender of a single inch of the Syrian south," he said. On Tuesday the Israeli military said that a tactical Sklyark drone was lost along its "northern border" but did not say exactly where it fell. It said there was no risk of its finders gleaning any information. A military news outlet run by Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, which supports Assad militarily in Syria, said a drone fell in the government-held Syrian town of Hader near the Golan Heights frontier. Israel has lost a number of the hand-launched drones in the past in the Gaza Strip and media reported last year that one fell in Lebanon. They are used mainly for short-range surveillance. (Additional reporting by Lisa Barrington in Beirut and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Heavens, William Maclean and Peter Graff) Mineral exploration and mining company China Nonferrous Gold announced on Wednesday that its subsidiary LLC Pakrut has signed a contract for the first-stage mining project with Wenjian Limited Liability Company . The AIM-traded firm described LLC Wenjian as a private corporation registered in Tajikistan, focused on construction, developing and contracting in the country, adding that it was not a related party of CNG. It said the total contract period agreed was 12 months. The contract could be extended by mutual consent, with most of the mining operations to be effectively undertaken by the contractor with their own equipment. The total estimated cost of the contract is CNY 50m and is a tolling arrangement which is payable in accordance with each stage of construction accomplished by the contractor under the contract, the China Nonferrous Gold board said in its statement. The main scope of the first-stage project includes developing, prospecting and mining - except paste filling - of the Pakrut Gold Mine, as well as all auxiliary work. Wednesday saw the resignation of Herencia Resources's non-executive chairman Peter Reeve, who will step down from his role with immediate effect. Reeve is stepping down from his role at the AIM-traded multi-commodity resources firm after being appointed almost exactly one year ago, on 21 June 2017, when he replaced outgoing chairman John Moore, the former Australian minister for defence. Reeve is an industry veteran, with a career spanning more than three decades, having held professional metallurgist at Rio Tinto, Shell-Billiton and Newcrest Mining, as well as co-founding Ivanhoe Australia. Following Reeves exit from the company, newly appointed non-executive director Carl Dumbrell will now take on the role of acting non-executive chairman. "Jeff (Williams executive director) and Carl recognise the importance of good corporate governance practice for companies quoted on AIM and accordingly will be seeking to appoint an additional non-executive director as soon as possible. Further updates will be provided in due course," said a statement from Herencia Resources. As of 1138 BST, Herencia Resources shares were down 3.25% at 0.04p. Ocado was a high riser on Wednesday as Peel Hunt said that Ocado Solutions has the potential to become the "standard" platform for retail logistics across all sectors as the operating system of retail. "Whilst the company is currently focusing on exclusive contracts within the food retail vertical, we would advocate an eventual shift in its focus towards becoming the open industry standard; just like the Windows operating system, which has more than 80% market share as it didnt restrict itself to just IBM manufactured computers." The brokerage, which hiked its price target on buy-rated Ocado to 1,700p from 610p, called it "the Microsoft of retail". It argued that niche, closed, exclusive platforms like those from Apple lead to a quick rise, but eventual stagnation, whereas generic, open, standard platforms like Windows and Android supersize. Peel Hunt said Ocado should adopt Microsofts approach. It pointed out that in the 1980s, both Microsoft and Apple released their first graphical user interfaces but while Windows was available for all manufacturers of PCs, MacOS was only available on the Mac. It said the benefits of Microsofts approach are clear: higher penetration, stronger control, and greater revenue. "In 2016 alone we postulate that for the top 100 store-based retailers with revenue of $3.4trn, Ocado could tap a portion of those companies annual capex budget, an estimated $89bn in total. On a 15-year view, this takes us to a 10bn valuation for Solutions." At 1120 BST, the shares were up 4% to 986.60p. In telecoms, BT Group was on the rise as investors appeared to cheer an upgrade to buy from hold at Jefferies and ignore news that the company has been fined 77,000 by the Information Commissioners Office for sending nearly 5m nuisance emails to customers. One day after it reported a solid set of final results, Telecom Plus was also being lifted by analysts' opinions. JP Morgan Cazenove said the companys price-competitiveness would be held back until there was more clarity on the proposed energy price cap. Analysts said "it is hard to see the shares re-rating" until then, though the 1,200p price target was still suggesting some upside for investors. Tobacco giants Imperial Brands and British American Tobacco were standout gainers as broker Peel Hunt initiated coverage of both stocks at buy. Analysts said Imperial Brands was the top pick, offering investors a "resilient stream of cash flows, pricing power, high margins, and strong returns on capital with 25% upside". As for BAT, the shares are off 34% from their highs and trade at a 40% discount to the European staples sector - the widest in 15 years. "The market discounts the loss of all US profits after 2020, which is highly unlikely. The current rating fails to appreciate BAT's strong and durable brand positions." Top performing sectors so far today Fixed Line Telecommunications +2.66% Tobacco +2.57% Food & Drug Retailers +1.85% Industrial Metals & Mining +1.82% Leisure Goods +1.52% Bottom performing sectors so far today Oil & Gas Producers -0.87% Industrial Transportation -0.66% Household Goods & Home Construction -0.44% General Retailers -0.37% Life Insurance -0.31% The European Parliament is set to vote on Wednesday and Thursday on a new law to prevent the availability of copyrighted material online. If passed, Article 13 would make large internet platforms like Facebook and Reddit introduce automated filters that captured copyrighted content uploaded by their users. This would mean every post is scanned looking for pilfered or borrowed content which would directly affect online memes that often use images that are subject to copyright. Important figures from the tech industry, including Tim Berners-Lee and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, wrote a letter to the European Parliament warning that Article 13 could pose dangers to the future of the internet. "Article 13 takes an unprecedented step towards the transformation of the internet from an open platform for sharing and innovation, into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users," the letter read. "We support the consideration of measures that would improve the ability for creators to receive fair remuneration for the use of their works online. But we cannot support Article 13... For the sake of the internet's future, we urge you to vote for the deletion of this proposal." If the legislation is passed the dissenting lawmakers will force a vote at the general assembly in early July. The next step would be negotiations with the EU countries to find a common ground. In announcing the award, APLU emphasized community partnerships such as Virginia Techs, which involved community activist LeeAnne Walters; Mona Hanna-Attisha, Hurley Medical Center pediatrician; and residents of Flint who mobilized at town hall and other meetings. Virginia Tech students distributed test kits and created a video to show residents how to test for lead. Community engagement is at the heart of public universities mission, APLU President Peter McPherson said. We congratulate this years Magrath Award finalists and exemplary designees. What sets their community engagement efforts apart is their exceptional partnerships with community organizations to identify, address, and overcome challenges facing their regions. The teams work in uncovering the facts about lead in Flints drinking-water supply helped expose a nationwide problem, with experts estimating that cast-iron pipes in more than 600 communities are more than 100 years old and as many as 10 million older pipes may pose a hazard similar to Flints. In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Virginia Tech, along with three other universities, $1.9 million to work with consumers and citizen scientists to detect and control lead in drinking water. Guru Ghosh, vice president of Outreach and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, said, All of us at Virginia Tech are deeply proud of Marc Edwards his scientific prowess, his students expertise, and their collective commitment to the advancement of citizen science in carrying out the values of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) to serve communities. What the Flint Water Study Research Team accomplished embodies everything that is unique about Virginia Tech faculty members who not only deploy their own scientific knowledge, but also engage students to create a more resilient society. Earlier this year, Edwards was awarded the 2018 Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The three other regional winners of the 2018 Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award are Ball State University, the University of Florida, and Texas Tech University. Since 2007, APLU and the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, have partnered to honor the engagement, scholarship, and partnerships of four-year public universities. The award recognizes programs that demonstrate how colleges and universities have redesigned their learning, discovery, and engagement missions to become even more involved with their communities. The national award, which includes a sculpture and a $20,000 prize, is named for C. Peter Magrath, APLU president from 1992 to 2005. The three other regional winners will each receive a cash prize of $5,000 to further their engagement work. Natasha Saunders has worked at Virginia Tech for only a year, and already, she has made a distinctive mark as a diversity leader. As director of student recruitment for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, she revitalized Virginia Techs chapter of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences, which promotes advancement for minorities in this field. She also served on the colleges Diversity Council, and she will be vice president of the universitys Black Caucus this fall. Now, Saunders is leading a new initiative at Virginia Tech. This month, she became the director of the Student Opportunity and Achievement Resources program in the universitys Office for Inclusion & Diversity. The SOAR program supports Virginia Tech's strategic goals by working with entities across campus, from colleges and academic departments to Enrollment Management and the Division of Student Affairs, to help students who are underrepresented and underserved. The new program is in line with Virginia Techs goal to become more diverse. By 2020, the university aims to increase its population of underrepresented and underserved students to 40 percent, which includes minorities, first-generation college students, and those from low-income households. This is a significant commitment from Virginia Tech to enhance retention and timely attainment while focusing on developing rich learning experiences for our students, said Mercedes Ramirez Fernandez, who is associate vice provost for strategic affairs and diversity. We are very fortunate to benefit from Ms. Saunders expertise, knowledge, and passion for the educational achievement of all students. In her new role, Saunders will work directly with students to connect them with university resources and opportunities, from job placement to landing internships and studying abroad. I want to continue to contribute to the collaborative spirit thats already here, she said. All of us have the end goal of working to support these underrepresented students. Saunders, a Roanoke native, has an extensive background in diversity and inclusion work. She came to Virginia Tech from the University of Kentucky, where she was an extension associate for diversity recruitment and retention in the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment. There, she also worked with the Kentucky Jr. Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences Leadership Institute. She served as committee chair with the Governors Minority Student College Preparation program, and for four years, she chaired the Kentucky Youth Seminar. Saunders has a bachelors degree in family consumer sciences from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and a masters degree in human and environmental sciences from the University of Kentucky. In her new role at Virginia Tech, Saunders said she wants to help students chase their passions. What excites me most is being a part of empowering students, she said. Written by Jenny Kincaid Boone vchal En espanol | As if the surgeon general's warning on cigarette packages were not enough, tobacco companies as of this week are required to state on their websites that cigarettes are "addictive" and that they kill on average 1,200 Americans every day. The new regulations, effective June 18, come at the directive of a federal court in the District of Columbia, which ordered four big tobacco companies to issue statements about the detrimental effects of smoking. The warning must cover five key areas: the adverse health effects of smoking, the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine, the lack of health benefits in smoking low-tar or light cigarettes, the intentional design of cigarettes to be addictive and the deadly effects of secondhand smoke. The directive stems from the court's 2006 ruling that tobacco companies were guilty of covering up the health risks of smoking and intentionally marketed their products to kids. Similar labeling will be required in cigarette package inserts by Nov. 21. The court-ordered labeling requirement comes ahead of todays Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) news that the smoking rate in the U.S. has hit an all-time low. In 2017 approximately 14 percent of U.S adults smoked, according to the CDC, down from about 16 percent the previous year. Of the more than 30 million adult cigarette smokers in the U.S., the largest group who regularly light up are those in their mid-40s to early 60s, experts say. Overall, there is a marked decline in cigarette usage across all age groups. Brian King, the deputy director for research translation in the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, attributes the decline to a fourfold anti-smoking campaign, which includes higher prices for cigarettes, additional smoke-free policies, increased access to cessation methods and an anti-tobacco media campaign that demonstrates the harms of smoking. "We know cigarettes are extremely deadly, and if used correctly, they kill half of their users," says King, noting that the new stats show that the numbers are moving in the right direction. The bottom line is, quitting smoking is beneficial at any age. And even older adults experience [health] benefits within minutes of stopping. Apple is trying to drag the United States' antiquated system for handling 911 calls into the 21st century. If it lives up to Apple's promise, the iPhone's next operating system will automatically deliver quicker and more reliable information to pinpoint the location of 911 calls to about 6,300 emergency response centers in the U.S. Apple is trying to solve a problem caused by the technological mismatch between a 50-year-old system built for landlines and today's increasingly sophisticated smartphones. An estimated 80 percent of roughly 240 million emergency calls in the U.S. this year will come from mobile phones, most of which are capable of precisely tracking where their users are. Emergency calling centers, however, don't get that detailed location information from mobile 911 calls. Instead, they get the location of the cellular tower transmitting the call and must rely on other methods to figure out where the caller is. That can take up precious time, and often the location isn't very accurate, especially when calls come from inside a building. Sometimes emergency responders get dispatched a mile or more away from a caller's location. Tom Wheeler, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, believes that Apple's new approach for locating 911 calls will set a new industry standard. "This is going to save a lot of lives," said Wheeler, now a visiting professor at Harvard University. The planned changes will be part of iOS 12, the next version of Apple's iPhone software, which the company will release in September as a free update. Apple's upcoming 911 feature relies on technology from RapidSOS, a New York start-up. The approach, developed by Apple and RapidSOS, sends location data from an iPhone to a "clearinghouse" accessible to emergency calling centers. Only the 911 calling centers will be able to see the data during the call, and none of it can be used for nonemergency purposes, according to Apple. Individual call centers will each have to embrace the technology required to communicate with the RapidSOS clearinghouse. Some centers already have the compatible software, according to Apple, but others will have to install upgrades. Apple expects calling centers for large metropolitan areas to upgrade more quickly than those in rural areas. Among Floridas registered voters 50 and older, President Trump gets the biggest thumbs up for his handling of jobs and the economy, as well as national security, according to a new Politico/AARP poll. On jobs and the economy, the Florida voters gave Trump a 61 percent approval rating and a 59 percent positive rating for his record on national security. The survey was conducted on May 29 and 30, just as it appeared the summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would happen despite some uncertainty. But those same voters gave Trump lower marks for his job performance on health care and drug prices only 48 percent approved of his work on health care and 44 percent supported his handling of drug prices. AARP and Politico Magazine have teamed up to conduct surveys and report on how older voters view issues and candidates in the 2018 midterm elections. The Florida survey is the first in this series of public opinion polls. AARP has also launched a Be the Difference. Vote campaign to maximize the power of the 50-plus voter and highlight issues most important to that electorate, including Social Security, Medicare and financial security. The poll also revealed that Trumps approval ratings in Florida among all registered voters and those over the age of 50 were higher than his national approval numbers. While the Politico/AARP poll showed Florida voters statistically tied when it comes to Trumps overall approval rating (48 percent approve; 49 percent disapprove), among registered voters over 50 his approval rate improves to 52 percent, with 44 percent disapproving of the job hes doing. During the period that the Politico/AARP poll of Florida voters was conducted, 43.6 percent of voters nationally approved of the president's performance, and 53.1 percent disapproved, according to the RealClearPolitics average of national polls. We generally know that older Americans tend to be more conservative, so its not surprising that we see Trump performing better in Florida than nationally, says Tyler Sinclair, managing director of client services at Morning Consult, which conducted the poll for AARP and Politico. Poll respondents were also asked which party they would vote for in the upcoming congressional elections. Among Florida registered voters over the age of 50, 41 percent said they would vote for a Republican for the House of Representatives and 36 percent for a Democrat, with 23 percent undecided. For the U.S. Senate, 44 percent said they would vote Republican, 35 percent Democratic and 21 percent undecided. With nearly a quarter undecided, candidates in both parties have a chance to influence this important voting bloc. For this poll, Morning Consult surveyed 1,199 registered voters in Florida, including 676 voters over the age of 50. The online poll results have a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points for all voters and plus or minus four percentage points for voters over the age of 50. Top area high school top performers from the week of Oct. 15 Here are some noteworthy performances from the week of Oct. 15. Albuquerque-based SolAero Technologies Corp. has won its first major contract for a new solar cell to provide more power with less weight for spacecraft. The technology, in development over 10 years, will be deployed on multiple satellites being built by SSL in Palo Alto, Calif. The 60-year-old company, owned by Maxar Technologies, has built more geostationary communications satellites in orbit than any other firm worldwide. Those spacecraft, which operate about 22,000 miles above earth, supply telecommunications signals for everything from direct-to-home television and broadband Internet to mobile communications. But like most space companies, SSL is moving rapidly into the low-earth-orbit arena less than 1,000 miles up to supply faster communications at much lower cost. SolAeros new Inverted Metamorphic, or IMM, solar cells will help boost those efforts, said SolAero President and CEO Brad Clevenger. It was a long process to get these solar cells to their current level of performance, Clevenger said. We usually roll out new technology every 18 to 24 months, but this took a decade, and some doubted it would ever come to market. Weve demonstrated it now on multiple small satellites, which allowed us to win this first major position for IMM in the market with SSL. IMM is made with thin film about one-fifth the thickness of a human hair, making it super lightweight and super flexible, Clevenger said. Its also a five-junction device, providing more power than todays triple-junction solar cells, which stack three levels of photovoltaics on top of one another to capture more sunlight. Its a pretty significant advance from three junctions, allowing it to capture more of the suns spectrum to produce more power, Clevenger said. Overall, IMM is 12 percent more efficient and 40 percent lighter than triple-junction cells. SolAero, which launched in 1998, has supplied solar cells for SSLs geostationary satellites for 20 years. But the latest contract marks a new milestone as SSL moves into low-earth-orbit technology. The company did not disclose the contract value. SolAero is a long term and reliable partner to SSL and we are very pleased to incorporate its new IMM technology into our production spacecraft, SSL Chief Operating Officer Paul Estey said in a prepared statement. After many years of development we are pleased that it has become a cost effective solution for our next-generation satellite systems. SolAero is already one of the worlds premier suppliers of solar cells for spacecraft. Its now producing solar panels for Airbus OneWeb Satellites, the largest low-earth-orbit constellation to date with 900 satellites scheduled for launch. SolAero recently completed a $10 million upgrade to its facility at the Sandia Science and Technology Park where it now employs 320 people, up from 250 in early 2017. The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce have announced a partnership aimed at promoting economic development from Latin America to Albuquerque and the rest of New Mexico. Among the types of activities that may arise from the five-year partnership, according to a signed agreement between the two organizations: Convening groups of international experts in education, government and trade chambers Promoting international summits in science and technology Participating in and supporting conferences for public officials At a news conference Tuesday, Hispano Chamber President Ernie Cde Baca said the partnership will allow both organizations to combine resources and prioritize two of the most important things to focus on in New Mexico: education and economic development. Cde Baca identified The Americas Conference for Mayors, which held its inaugural gathering last year in Albuquerque, as an example of an event the partnership will promote. NM Tech President Stephen G. Wells said the partnership is a step toward creating a community of scholars that transcends borders. I cant think of a better time to do something like this, for us and for our neighbors, said Wells. The agreement states that the joint program will be coordinated by Juan de Dios Pineda, New Mexico Techs director of the Latin American Research Initiative for STEM Education, and Jim Garcia, vice president of the Hispano Chamber. Van Romero, vice president for research and economic development at NM Tech, said he thought it was likely the partnership would last well beyond the five-year term of the agreement. CHICAGO Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that the Chicago Police Department relies on an error-plagued database that names up to 195,000 people as gang members, including many who have never been in a gang. Many people were erroneously listed in the database simply because of a tattoo, social media post or address, according to the federal lawsuit from Northwestern Universitys MacArthur Justice Center and other groups. Those listed as gang members have a harder time landing jobs, are more likely to be denied bond after arrests and are often targets of harassment by police or immigration officers, it contends. The way police manage the database is arbitrary, discriminatory and over-inclusive, and it gives beat officers unlimited discretion to falsely label people gang members based solely on their race and neighborhood, the lawsuit states. In some cases, license-reading devices flag cars registered to someone in the gang database, increasing the odds of the car being stopped. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Chicagoans for an End to the Gang Database, several other groups and four individual plaintiffs. It questions the overall accuracy of the database, noting it contains many obvious mistakes, including the names of two supposed gang members who are listed as being 132 years old. One plaintiff, Donta Lucas, was falsely named a Gangster Disciple based on tattoo on his ankle that officers saw when they arrested him in 2012 for a bowling alley fight. Lucas says officers never told him they suspected he was a gang member and never said they would register him as one. He couldnt get a concealed-carry permit he needed in 2016 for a security job because he was in the database. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, names the city, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and several officers as defendants, saying they violated the constitutional rights of people falsely listed as gang members. It calls for a court order halting the way the database is compiled and a process for getting a name removed from it. The citys legal department declined to comment about the lawsuit. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in statement that although he couldnt speak directly to the lawsuit, the validity and reliability of such data was important. He said the department has been working on a revised database order and that proposed policies will be announced soon. The number of people officially designated as gang members in Chicago, which has a population of about 2.7 million, dwarfs the numbers in gang databases kept by other U.S. cities. The database for New York City, which has a population about three times larger than Chicago, lists just 17,500 names, the lawsuit contends. Theres a racial element, too. Of the more than 128,000 adults in Chicagos gang database, 70 percent are black, 25 percent are Latino and less than 5 percent are white. That means around 11 percent of Chicagos black population is named in the database. But whites are undercounted, the lawsuit says, noting the database names just 23 people as members of white supremacist organizations. Police have confirmed there are now more than 128,000 adults in the gang database. It hasnt confirmed how many juveniles are included, though the lawsuit estimates its between of 28,000 to 68,000. ___ Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mtarm Clovis police arrested three escaped inmates Tuesday evening at a home only a few miles from the detention center they escaped from, according to a statement from the Curry County Sheriffs Office. Sheriff Wesley Waller released a statement Tuesday evening saying all three inmatesAaron Davis, 31, Victor Apodaca, 28, and Ricky Sena, 24surrendered after a standoff with the Clovis police SWAT team during which shots were fired but nobody was injured. According to the statement, authorities received a tip that the escapees were at an apartment on the 1200 block of Dartmouth. Deputies say they spoke with someone inside the home, 38-year-old Jon Hausmann, who denied that the escapees were there. Soon, authorities learned the escapees were inside and the Clovis police SWAT team was called out to assist deputies, according to the statement. At one point during the negotiations, the Clovis police SWAT team fired shots after one of the occupants pointed a firearm at them, the statement read. No injuries were reported. The three inmates surrendered around 6 p.m. As of Tuesday evening, the Clovis police department could not say how many officers fired weapons, how many shots were fired, or who pointed a gun at officers. All three are charged with escape from jail and were booked into the Curry County Detention Center, where they initially escaped from Friday. Hausmann was also arrested and charged with three counts of harboring or aiding a felon. Curry County deputies say a jail guard, 28-year-old Sarina Dodson, helped the trio escape the detention center Friday morning. Dodson was arrested in Lubbock early Saturday for helping the three escape and is charged with aiding a prisoner to escape. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the inmates escaped from the outdoor recreation area, through three secured doors, with help from Dodson who opened the doorsand silenced alarmsfrom the control room. When deputies questioned Dodson after the escape, she denied opening any of the doors and claimed many of the doors had been malfunctioning in the past two days. Deputies say Dodson admitted to knowing Sena before she became a guard at the jail but hadnt contacted him since working at the jail. According to the jail administrator, (Dodson) was observed on at least one occasion recently going into a cell with Sena, a deputy wrote. According to the affidavit, Dodson had also let Apodaca use her cell phone to talk to the mother of his child while behind bars. Deputies say Dodson became upset and angry during the interview and left as she was not under arrest. A captain at the detention center told deputies that Dodson gave him an incorrect prisoner count after the escape and, when he recounted, noted three prisoners missing. Also, deputies say they discovered Dodson had used the intercom from the control room to speak with the inmates as they moved through the secured doors in addition to silencing the alarms as each door opened. At the time of their escape the inmates were being held on various charges, from possession of a firearm or destructive device by a felon and identity theft to trafficking controlled substances and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. A Quay County deputy shot and killed an armed man during a hostage situation in Tucumcari early Tuesday, according to a New Mexico State Police spokesman. State Police officer Ray Wilson said 55-year-old Robert Roybal was killed by the deputy as Roybal held a knife to another mans throat during a standoff that lasted more than an hour at a home in Tucumcari. He said Tucumcari police initially responded to the home in the 1300 block of 7th Street around 3:30 a.m. Wilson said arriving officer found Roybal holding a knife to a mans throat. Roybal had already stabbed the victim, he said. Officers continued to attempt to convince Roybal to release the victim but he refused. Wilson said at some point during the standoff, a State Police officer at the scene fired a round through the bedroom window that Roybal was in but didnt hit anyone. He said negotiations continued with Roybal but he refused to release the hostage. Wilson said a Quay County Sheriffs Office deputy entered the home around 4:50 a.m. and Roybal responded by pushing the knife harder against the hostages throat. As the victim cried out in pain, the Quay County sheriffs deputy fired a single shot, striking and killing Roybal, he said. Wilson said the hostage was treated for his injuries. He said State Police are investigating the shooting and are not releasing the victims name or the names of the officers involved until the investigation is over. As New Mexico swings from the bust economy of a few years ago to a boom economy this year with the state on track to take in more than $500 million more in revenue than last fiscal year, according to a tracking report released last week by the Legislative Finance Committee it is the perfect time to combine some hard lessons of the past with smart actions of the present. In 2016-17, state lawmakers had to look under every proverbial couch cushion and shake out every proverbial pocket to make up budget shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of dollars. There were tough cuts, controversial revenue sweeps and scaled-back spending plans. And in that vein, lawmakers also made the pragmatic decision last year to establish a true rainy day fund to help ride out future lean years. The current predicted uptick in revenue means more than $20 million will flow into that fund so when revenue dries up in future budget years things arent as dire as they have been in the past. But why stop there? Earlier this month, state Investment Officer Steve Moise suggested to the Investments and Pensions Oversight Committee that instead of just sending the bulk of the new money into the states general fund where it helps pay for public schools the Legislature could earmark some of the new revenue for a particular purpose, such as early childhood education. Its a way to address a longstanding budget request now, while also ensuring new revenue goes to something virtually everyone agrees is important without sacrificing the sustainability of the states permanent funds. For years, advocates have sought to further tap the multibillion-dollar Land Grant Permanent Fund, proposing an increase beyond the prudent 5 percent distribution rate. But theres a reason for the Permanent in the funds name: its a sovereign wealth fund established to provide New Mexico with a meaningful income stream when oil and gas revenues dwindle which they have done before and undoubtedly will do again. The fund income comes from leases, royalties, and taxes on oil and gas production in New Mexico, and from other activities on state lands. The State Investment Council also invests that money in stocks, bonds and other financial instruments to grow the funds. Every year, the land grant fund pays out 5 percent of its average value over the past five years into the states general fund to fuel around 15 percent of government, including public schools, universities, specialty schools and other state institutions. And while those who have advocated for increasing that 5 percent maintain its a rainy day fund and say its raining, the fact is the LGPF has been around since statehood and needs to be here long after we and our children are gone. Other states and universities with such funds keep the distribution rates at 5 percent or under, because going in deeper jeopardizes the corpus and puts the fund at risk. But earmarking its revenue during boom economies does not. Rep. Tomas Salazar, a Las Vegas Democrat and chairman of the Investments and Pensions Oversight Committee, said the concept deserves more study. Hes right, especially considering the current boom in the Permian and San Juan basins. Rep. Larry Larranaga, R-Albuquerque, says what we have going on in southeast New Mexico is a black gold rush thats absolutely unbelievable. Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, says we have an opportunity to learn from history and prepare for that eventual downturn. And Rep. Jim Townsend, R-Artesia, a retired oil company executive, says he thinks the current boom will likely last for the foreseeable future and New Mexico is kind of sitting in the catbird seat in terms of production. Lawmakers should take advantage of that lofty perch and make another pragmatic decision that keeps our state on sound financial ground whether its boom or bust times. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. SANTA FE After a long saga full of political setbacks, the Children, Youth and Families Department got the green light Tuesday to move forward with the acquisition of property in Albuquerque that it intends to convert into a child wellness center. The state Board of Finance voted unanimously to approve acquisition of a $7.7 million property a five-building campus just south of Interstate 40 and a $10.4 million contract to renovate the buildings, though some current tenants are expected to remain until the end of their leases. The money for the project is expected to come from tax revenue bonds authorized under a bill signed into law this year by Gov. Susana Martinez. CYFD Secretary Monique Jacobson said Tuesday that the new facility would give the agency a place to temporarily accommodate children removed from their homes as a result of abuse or neglect before they can be placed into foster homes. We want to make sure theyre cared for in those first few hours after theyre taken from often violent homes, Jacobson said. There are 2,611 children in foster care in New Mexico, about 1,000 of whom are in Bernalillo County, she said. In recent years, many children in such situations have had to wait in agency offices, often eating fast food and sleeping on couches or makeshift beds, while CYFD caseworkers try to find them a safe home, said Martinez, who has made the child wellness center a priority of her administration. In an attempt to remedy the situation, CYFD has been seeking for years to open a new child wellness center in Albuquerque. But previous attempts have ended up running into political turbulence. A plan to buy an office complex in Southeast Albuquerque unraveled in 2015 after the Journal reported that the administration planned to pay more than six times the price the complex had been acquired for just months earlier. And 2017 legislation that would have extended a lease at a different Albuquerque office complex and allowed for the construction of a new CYFD building stalled after the revelation of more than $20,000 in campaign contributions from the buildings majority owner to Martinez and her political committee. After winning approval Tuesday, CYFD is expected to complete the purchase later this month. Renovation work could then begin in August, with the goal of a December move-in. The new facility could represent a boost for a beleaguered agency. CYFD officials have come under fire repeatedly in recent years for their handling of high-profile child abuse cases. Lawmakers have given the agency the ability to carry over unused budget allotments from one fiscal year to the next in an attempt to address chronic staff turnover and vacancy rates. By Samuel Ssebuliba. Nurses under their umbrella body of the Uganda nurses and midwives union have vowed lay down their tools by 23rd this month if government does not engage them in negotiating for their salaries. In the next financial years, government is said to have included salary increment for doctors and nurses, however these say they have not been engaged in negotiating for this increment. Speaking to media today, Justus Kiplangat the president of this union said that, they had a road map for salary increment which they wanted government to follow, but this has been disregarded and no communication has been, made by government in relation to their salary. He said that if no progress is made before 23rd this month, all nurses will down their tools. SANTA FE The state Board of Finance on Tuesday rejected a request from Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver for $66,516 in emergency funds to pay court-ordered legal fees to Steve Pearces gubernatorial campaign. Pearce, a Republican, filed a lawsuit last year against Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, after the secretary of state said he could use only a small portion of his federal campaign account the maximum $11,000 allowed under the states campaign contribution limits in this years gubernatorial contest. A federal judge ruled in Pearces favor in November 2017, allowing him to transfer about $942,000 in his federal election account over to his gubernatorial campaign and putting the state on the hook for his legal fees. In considering the secretary of states request, Gov. Susana Martinez and Lt. Gov. John Sanchez, both members of the Board of Finance, questioned Toulouse Olivers handling of the lawsuit. They also wondered aloud whether the situation amounted to an emergency. When we have the fires and monsoons and watersheds overflowing with debris were going to pay the lawyers? Martinez asked at one point during Tuesdays meeting. It concerns me to open this door. A motion to approve the funding request then failed, with only two members voting in favor state Treasurer Tim Eichenberg and Adelmo Del Archuleta of Albuquerque. The other five board members, including Martinez and Sanchez, voted against it. Toulouse Oliver said during the hearing that the Secretary of States Office does not have enough money in its budget to pay the court-ordered fees. She also pointed out that Pearce initiated the litigation and said she was merely trying to uphold the states campaign laws. Secretary Toulouse Oliver went to the state Board of Finance in a good-faith effort to request the necessary funds to pay the attorneys fees owed to Congressman Pearce, spokesman Joey Keefe said. After being rejected Tuesday, the secretary of state plans to ask lawmakers to approve the funding during the next regular session, which starts in January, Keefe added. However, that will be two months after the November general election, and its unclear whether Pearces campaign might take steps to collect the money before then. Pearce campaign spokesman Kevin Sheridan said Tuesday that the situation was avoidable and accused Toulouse Oliver of attempting to violate Pearces constitutional rights for partisan purposes. Her repeated delay tactics and overt politicization of her office were rejected outright by the court, Sheridan told the Journal. She alone is responsible for costing taxpayers this money, and one way or another, she will ultimately bear responsibility for how this is resolved. The total amount of legal fees owed to Pearces campaign is slightly more than $133,000, but thats expected to be split between the Secretary of States Office and other state agencies involved in the lawsuit, including Attorney General Hector Balderas office. Pearce will face Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham in the Nov. 6 general election. Both candidates are forgoing congressional re-election bids to run for governor. Prev 1 of 15 Next Copyright 2018 Albuquerque Journal SANTA TERESA The New Mexico border region is the backdrop for the President Trump administrations zero-tolerance policy that has separated hundreds of children from their parents in recent weeks. In the past, most parents caught crossing the border in El Paso and New Mexico illegally who had no prior deportations or criminal charges were released with ankle monitors and allowed to remain with their children while their cases moved through the immigration courts. Part of the reason for that tactic was a court settlement that barred the government from holding kids in detention centers longer than 20 days, even with their families. Now, because the zero-tolerance policy calls for detaining everyone crossing illegally regardless of whether it is their first time parents are locked up and the children are placed in the care of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HHS has had to set up temporary shelters, including several tents in Tornillo, Texas, for teenage boys to make room for younger kids at other shelters. The shelters are not considered detention centers. New Mexico does not have any of its own shelters, so children crossing with parents in New Mexico are sent to shelters across the country. There is no limit to how long HHS can retain custody of children although the average stay is about 50 days before children are placed with a sponsor. The federal government is required to choose family members as sponsors whenever possible, even if those relatives are undocumented. The El Paso Border Patrol sector, which includes all of New Mexico, apprehended 7,401 people between October 2016 through May 2017. From October 2017 through May 2018, the number has fallen by 35 percent to 4,765, according to the federal government. At the same time, theres been a surge in families arriving at ports of entry in the region, most seeking asylum, from 4,996 in 2017 to 9,514, according to numbers just released from Customs and Border Protection. The number of asylum seekers has overwhelmed CBP, and officers have been posted in the middle of international bridges and border crossing to screen people as they enter the U.S. to ask for asylum. On Tuesday, officers were questioning nearly every parent with a child and asking them to show documents before proceeding to the official immigration checkpoint. Some Central American families have been turned away and asked to come back another day. Port of Entry facilities were not designed to hold hundreds of people at a time who may be seeking asylum, said Roger Maier, a CBP spokesman in El Paso, in an emailed statement. Immigrant rights organizations have said the delay in allowing people to cross the border is another effort to deter asylum seekers. No one is being denied the opportunity to make a claim of credible fear or seek asylum, Maier said. CBP officers allow more people into our facilities for processing once space becomes available or other factors allow for additional parties to arrive. Many asylum seekers are released while their cases move through immigration court. But asylum seekers who arrive without children increasingly are sent to detention centers. Seeking asylum While typically asylum seekers with children are not detained, there are reports of cases in which families seeking asylum are separated. In at least one case, an asylum seeker crossing into New Mexico was detained and separated from a child long before the zero-tolerance policy. Maria Vandelice de Bastos showed up at the Santa Teresa border crossing with her 16-year-old disabled grandson seeking asylum 10 months ago. She hasnt seen him since. She is devastated, said immigration attorney Eduardo Beckett, who represents the 54-year-old grandmother from Brazil. She remains in a detention center in El Paso waiting for a ruling on her asylum case from an immigration judge. Her grandson Matheus who has severe epilepsy, neurological problems and is autistic is at a facility in Connecticut. This is what we call the criminalization of the asylum process, in my opinion, from what Im seeing on the ground, Beckett said. He said Vandelice de Bastos fled her native Brazil after getting death threats when she complained about conditions at her grandsons school that led to the firing of the principal. The principal happened to have a brother who was a cop, and he showed up at her doorstep, Beckett said. Immigrant advocacy organizations and human rights groups say the increasingly harsh measures on the border are designed to deter families seeking a safe haven in the U.S. This didnt happen overnight, and it didnt happen in the last year, it has been such an evolution of border enforcement policies, said Johana Bencomo, community organizer for NM CAFE, a faith-based organization in Las Cruces. Vandelice de Bastos attorney said the message from the Trump administration for families arriving on the border these days is clear. Dont come here, Beckett said. Dont apply for asylum. Go home. Hundreds protest New Mexicans were among hundreds of demonstrators who showed up outside the El Paso Immigration Detention Center on Tuesday for a protest against family separation. The protest was organized by the Border Network for Human Rights. Protesters also chanted free the children outside the nearby Border Patrol Headquarters. U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen defended the controversial zero-tolerance policy. The border is being overrun by those who have no right to cross it, she said. As long as illegal entry remains a criminal offense, DHS will no longer look the other way, Nielsen said. The other alternative is just let the entire family walk, in which case youre very unlikely to see them again if they dont have a valid claim, said Ira Melman, a spokesman for Americans for Immigration Reform, an organization that advocates for a tighter border controls and lower levels of legal immigration. Theyre just going to game the system. Copyright 2018 Albuquerque Journal U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan traveled from Washington, D.C., to Brownsville, Texas, near the Mexican border, on Monday to check on migrant children being housed in government shelters. Lujan said what he saw disturbed him, even though the staff seemed compassionate. The New Mexico Democrat told the Journal on Tuesday that he and a delegation of congressional members from several states visited the Casa Padre and Casa Presidente shelters in Brownsville. Some of the children there had crossed the border by themselves, while others were separated from their families. Lujan said the delegation was told not to speak with any of the children at the sites. It was made clear to me that Health and Human Services and ORR the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement had said we were not allowed to talk to the children, which really upset me, Lujan said. Why is it they dont want you to talk to the children? What dont they want the children telling you? I imagine Health and Human Services is worried about something, and that is wrong. Both Casa Presidente and Casa Padre are operated by the not-for-profit Southwest Key under contract with the federal government. Casa Padre is a former WalMart, store converted with drywall partitions, that is holding about 1,450 minor boys, roughly ages 10-17. All are unaccompanied minors. The congressman described small rooms that had bunk beds. They werent enclosed from the top, he said. They were walls inside a warehouse. Casa Presidente is former hospital housing boys and girls under 12 years old, pregnant minors and new mothers who have given birth since arriving there. It housed 85 children, about half of whom were unaccompanied minors and half of whom were separated from their families by the federal government. Lujan said at Casa Presidente he briefly interacted with two infants an 8- or 9-month-old named Roger and a 1-year-old named Lea. Staff members told the congressman the children had been separated from their parents. All the staff that we spoke to seemed very compassionate; but these are kids that are torn away from their families, Lujan said. Lujan challenged President Donald Trump to make a similar trek to the Texas border and hold one of the children himself. If theres a little something left in the presidents heart, if he maybe embraced one of these babies, it might help him make the right decision and end these policies of separating babies from their moms, Lujan said. U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both New Mexico Democrats, plan to visit the site of the temporary tent city for migrant children in Tornillo, Texas, on Friday, as well as the port of entry in El Paso. That evening, the senators, who have called on Trump to end his family separation policy immediately, will hold a Keep Families Together community event in Las Cruces. CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect which facility houses which group of migrant children. CAIRO The 15 officers who arrived at the prison in southern Yemen hid their faces behind headdresses, but their accents were clearly foreign from the United Arab Emirates. They lined up the detainees and ordered them to undress and lie down. The officers then searched the anal cavity of each prisoner, claiming that they were looking for contraband cellphones. The men screamed and wept. Those who resisted were threatened by barking dogs and beaten until they bled. Hundreds of detainees suffered similar sexual abuse during the event on March 10 at Beir Ahmed prison in the southern city of Aden, according to seven witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press. Descriptions of the mass abuse offer a window into a world of rampant sexual torture and impunity in UAE-controlled prisons in Yemen. The UAE is a key U.S. ally whose secret prisons and widespread torture were exposed by an AP investigation last June. The AP has since identified at least five prisons where security forces use sexual torture to brutalize and break inmates. Yemens war began in 2015, after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels took over much of the countrys north. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading a coalition to fight the rebels, but UAE forces have overtaken wide swaths of territory, towns and cities in the south. The U.S. is backing the coalition with billions of dollars in arms, and partners with the Emiratis in anti-terrorism campaigns. Emiratis have swept up hundreds of Yemeni men into a network of at least 18 hidden prisons on suspicion of being al-Qaida or Islamic State militants. The prisoners are held without charges or trials. The AP first asked the Pentagon about grave rights abuses committed by the UAE one year ago. But despite well-documented reports of torture reported by the AP, human rights groups and even the United Nations, Marine Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. has seen no evidence of detainee abuse in Yemen. Still, he called the allegations disturbing and said, The United States take all allegations of abuse seriously, although we have no substantiating information at this time. U.S. officials have acknowledged that American forces receive intelligence from UAE partners and have participated in interrogations in Yemen. But Rankine-Galloway said he could not comment on intelligence sharing with partners. Reacting to the APs report, the State Department called the allegations disturbing and called on the UAE to investigate. We call on all parties to the conflict, including the UAE, to treat prisoners and detainees humanely and to ensure that allegations of abuse are investigated quickly and thoroughly, the department said in a statement. UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment, but the countrys permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva released a statement after publication claiming that the Yemeni government is in complete control of its prisons. The UAE has never managed or run prisons or secret detention centers in Yemen, the mission said. But Yemens interior minister has said he does not have authority over prisons and must ask for UAE permission to enter Aden, where witnesses documented much of the sexual torture. Witnesses said Yemeni guards working under the direction of Emirati officers have used various methods of sexual torture and humiliation. They raped detainees while other guards filmed the assaults. They electrocuted prisoners genitals or hung rocks from their testicles. They sexually violated others with wooden and steel poles. They strip you naked, then tie your hands to a steel pole from the right and the left so you are spread open in front of them. Then the sodomizing starts, said one father of four. From inside the prison in Aden, detainees smuggled letters and drawings to the AP about the sexual abuse. The drawings were made on plastic plates with blue ink pen. The artist told the AP that he was detained last year and has been in three different prisons. They tortured me without even accusing me of anything. Sometimes I wish they would give me a charge so I can confess and end this pain, he said. The worst thing about it is that I wish for death every day and I cant find it. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of further abuse. The drawings show a man hanging naked from chains while he is being electrocuted, another inmate on the floor surrounded by snarling dogs as several people kick him, and graphic depictions of anal rape. Naked after beating, one Arabic caption says. Another drawing shows a mans rectum being forced open. This is how they search the prisoners, the caption reads. Of the five prisons where the AP found sexual torture, four are in Aden, according to three Yemeni security and military officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. One is at the Buriqa base the headquarters for the Emirati forces. A second is at the house of Shallal Shaye, the Aden security chief closely allied with the UAE, and a third is at a nightclub-turned-prison called Wadah. The fourth is at Beir Ahmed, where the March atrocities occurred. U.S. personnel have been seen at the Buriqa base, along with Colombian mercenaries, according to two prisoners and two security officials. The detainees could not say whether the Americans, some of whom wear military uniforms, are members of the U.S. government or mercenaries. But it is the UAE that has taken the lead in southern Yemen. The humiliation of the entire prison population in March may have been triggered by a series of hunger strikes among prisoners, who are held for months or years. At least 70 detainees were ordered released earlier this year by state prosecutors but most remain in detention. The Yemeni government has said that it has no control over the UAE-run prisons and Hadi has ordered an investigation into reports of torture. The incident in March began when soldiers opened cells at 8 a.m., ordered all detainees out to the prison yard, then lined them up and forced them to stand under the sun until noon. When the Emirati force arrived, the detainees were blind-folded, handcuffed and led in groups or individually into a room. The Emiratis told the victims to undress and lie down and then spread their legs open, touched their genitals and probed their rectums. You are killing my dignity, one prisoner was heard crying. A second screamed to the Emiratis, Did you come to liberate us or strip our clothes off? The Emiratis shouted back: This is our job! One prisoner said that when the Emiratis forced them to stand naked, All I could think of was Abu Ghraib referring to the prison outside Baghdad where U.S. soldiers committed abuses against detainees during the Iraq war. They were searching for mobile phones inside our bodies, another witness told the AP. Do you believe this! How could anyone hide a phone in there? In the same city, at the UAE-run prison inside the Buriqa military base, two prisoners told the AP they think American personnel in uniform must be aware of the torture either because they have heard screams or seen marks of torture. Prisoners said that they have no knowledge of Americans being directly involved in the abuse. Americans use Emiratis as gloves to do their dirty work, said one senior security official at the Riyan Prison in the city of Mukalla. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. Two other security officials, who were once close to the Emiratis, said that mercenaries including Americans are present at all the Emirati military camps and sites, including the prisons. Their mission is mainly to guard. The father of four said that sometimes the screaming from the beatings is so intense that he can feel his cell shake. Its beyond imagination, he said. A former security chief who himself was involved in torturing detainees to extract confessions told the AP that rape is used as a way to force detainees to cooperate with the Emiratis in spying. In some cases, they rape the detainee, film him while raping, use it as a way to force him to work for them, he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, because of security concerns. Based on the AP investigation last year, the House of Representatives voted on May 24 to require Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to determine whether U.S. military or intelligence personnel violated the law in interrogations of detainees in Yemen. The House adopted the measure as part of the 2019 defense authorization bill, which is still under consideration by the Senate. The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California. The Defense Department would have to submit a report within 120 days to Congress. Khanna called the APs report Wednesday a shocking revelation of the ongoing human rights abuses happening in Yemen. Now, with greater urgency than ever before, we need the Pentagon to launch an investigation and determine whether our nation has been involved in torturing prisoners in Yemen, he said. Amnesty International said it had also documented systematic grave violations in UAE-run prisons in Yemen. Responding to the AP report, the group said it was shocking that U.S. officials continue to dismiss these credible allegations. Kristine Beckerle, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Yemen, said her group had also documented abuses. U.S. claims that they found no evidence of detainee abuse shows they werent looking very hard, she said. Yemens war has left over 10,000 people dead, displaced millions, and pushed the already poor country to the edge of famine . After Houthi rebels forced out the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, he fled to Riyadh, where the Saudi government kept him for more than a year. He was only allowed to return to Yemen Thursday at the beginning of an offensive led by the UAE to take control of the major port city of Hodeida, the key entry point for humanitarian aid. The UAEs control over southern Yemen, and the prisons, has left many Yemenis worried that innocent civilians are being pushed into the arms of the very extremists that Emirati forces claim they are fighting. In the prisons, they are committing the most brutal crimes, said a Yemeni commander currently in Riyadh. Joining ISIS and al-Qaida became a way to take revenge for all the sexual abuses and sodomization. From here, the prisons, they are manufacturing ISIS. He spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation from the Emiratis. One middle-aged man said he has been in prison since 2016, and has been moved across the network of secret prisons multiple times. He said he was interrogated 21 times, during which he was tortured with electricity, beatings, and attack dogs while he was blindfolded and chained. They beat me up with electric wires, with steel, an electric shock, or they take off the clothes except for the underwear and stomp on my body and face with their boots. The soldiers would carry you up in the air and dump you on the ground. The AP previously confirmed 18 detention sites, but he named 21, including 13 prisons and 8 military camps. Another prisoner gave the AP what he said were the real names of five Emirati torturers. UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment about the men. One of the most brutal torturers is Yemeni, a former prisoner called Awad al-Wahsh, who was detained and tortured before agreeing to work with the Emiratis, four witnesses told the AP. His supervisor, Yosran al-Maqtari, could not be reached for comment. Al-Maqtari is Adens chief of anti-terrorism. Other torturers named by detainees are Emirati officers known to prisoners by their noms de guerre: Abu Udai, Abu Ismail, and Hitler. The prisoners who were sexually abused in March had tried to fight back. They had organized three hunger strikes to protest their treatment. They had launched a campaign with their families to get human rights groups to secure their release. Thats when the 15 Emirati officers showed up with their dogs. ___ The Associated Press reported this story with help from a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. ___ Associated Press reporters Lolita C. Baldor and Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report. Two firefighters working the San Antonio Fire on Valles Caldera National Preserve have been released from a hospital after being injured a falling tree on Tuesday, according to a news release from the fires incident management team. The firefighters had been airlifted to a hospital where they were treated and released early Wednesday morning. This incident again emphasizes that firefighting is a dangerous profession, said Jorge Silva-Banuelos, superintendent at the preserve. Our firefighters and the publics safety is always our first priority. The lightning-caused fire San Antonio Fire has been burning in the northwest corner of the preserve since Thursday. Listed on Wednesday mornings report has having burned 495 acres, it hasnt grown since Sunday after rain dampened the area. It was listed at 30 percent contained on Wednesday mornings fire report. SANTA FE U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham is calling on Gov. Susana Martinez to rescind the deployment of New Mexico National Guard troops working on the border as part of President Trumps efforts to fight illegal immigration. Lujan Grisham the Democratic candidate to succeed Martinez after the fall election said the troops should be redeployed to aid in efforts to combat wildfires across the state, not used to help President Trumps inhumane immigration policies. Her call comes after governors of some states rescinded their deployments amid the national uproar over the separation of migrant children from their parents at the border. On Tuesday, for example, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, ordered a helicopter and four crew members to return after being stationed in New Mexico. Lujan Grisham said Gov. Martinez should immediately recall New Mexicos troops, too. Using New Mexico personnel and hard-earned taxpayer dollars to support an administration that is tearing children from their parents is sickening, she said Wednesday in a written statement. We have a responsibility to stand up to policies that betray our most basic values. The Martinez administration, in turn, said it doesnt have any current requests for National Guard resources to respond to wildfires or disasters and that National Guard troops have been on the border for decades. Removing them would interfere with the work of a drug interdiction task force, according to the administration. As of April, about 60 National Guard members from New Mexico were serving in a support role on the border, where they have been helping with vehicle maintenance and caring for horses used by the Border Patrol in rugged train, among other tasks. Martinez was expected to deploy up to 150 troops altogether. She visited the troops in April and said they would help combat human trafficking and the flow of illegal drugs across the border. President Trump wants as many as 4,000 members of the National Guard on the border until a wall is built. Martinez has been a firm backer of the Trump administrations zero tolerance immigration policy for illegal crossings. Martinez spokesman Ben Cloutier said the governor also strongly supports the presidents new executive order, signed Wednesday, to keep immigrant families together and hopes that the decision will be upheld by the courts so that the federal government wont be forced to return to the failed policy of catch and release. Lujan Grisham, who represents the 1st Congressional District covering much of the Albuquerque area, is running for governor this year rather than seek re-election. She faces one of her colleagues in Congress, Republican Steve Pearce, who is also giving up his seat to run for governor. DENVER A nonprofit wildlife sanctuary nearly at full capacity has purchased 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) of land in southeastern Colorado. KUSA-TV reports the Wild Animal Sanctuary in the town of Keenesburg located northeast of Denver is nearly fully. It houses over 460 animals including lions, tigers, bears, wolves, jaguars, mountain lions, leopards, bobcats, lynx, coyotes, fox, porcupines, raccoons, ostriches, emus, alpacas, horses and a camel, rescued from illegal or abusive situations. Sanctuary officials say the new property features dense forests, rock outcroppings and canyon spaces. They say it will provide animals with more space to live on along with more natural and stimulating environments. The new facility will not be open to the public for the foreseeable future. The sanctuary says the Keenesburg location will stay open. ___ Information from: KUSA-TV, http://www.9news.com The mayors of Santa Fe and Albuquerque will be in Tornillo, Texas, today followed by a Friday visit from U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall as they demand a permanent end to the Trump administration policy of separating immigrant families and as they demand transparency in the administrations alternative housing plan. The politicians, all Democrats, planned their visits earlier this week and intend to continue with their travel despite President Trumps Wednesday announcement that he signed an executive order halting his administrations policy of separating immigrant children from their parents when they are detained after illegally crossing the U.S. border. I will be traveling to the border this week to demand answers from the administration about the conditions that defenseless children have been held under, and about how the administration plans to reunify families. We must not consider this matter settled until every last child is returned to their mothers and fathers, and until we find a humane path forward for these families, Udall said in a statement Wednesday evening. He and Heinrich will visit the site of the temporary tent city for immigrant children and will visit the port of entry. On Friday evening they will attend a Keep Families Together community event in Las Cruces, according to their spokespeople. At the root of all of this, we need to reaffirm the humanity of immigrants and refugees mothers, fathers, and children who are overwhelmingly hardworking people seeking to come to America because of the promise our nation represents, Heinrich said in a statement. Their visit follows a U.S. Conference of Mayors event to call for the end of the family separation policy at the Tornillo Port of Entry on Thursday morning. Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and his wife Elizabeth Kistin Keller plan to attend, they announced on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Webber, Keller and Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima signed a letter addressed to Udall, urging Congress to take action. We are writing to add our voices to the outrage at the inhuman, un-American policy of the Trump administration that is deliberately tearing immigrant children from the arms of their parents. We strongly support efforts in Congress to stop this senseless policy, they wrote. The mayors say that the Trump administrations policy seems to be as heartless as possible as often as possible and that democracy and democratic ideas are being tested. They vowed to fight back. As New Mexico mayors we live the reality not the politics of life along the border, the mayors wrote. We know firsthand the overwhelming benefits that come with opening our arms to the world, tearing down barriers between us, and embracing what makes us different. We know the difference between smart border policy and racist rhetoric. The V. Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho will be strong magnet for future home builders looking at expansion opportunities, according to a developer who broke ground Wednesday on the first phase of a community of single-family homes on the edge of the schools campus. The 50-acre parcel, which was purchased by Sunland Development from the New Mexico State Land Office earlier this year, will be the site of a 215-home DR Horton subdivision in the Cleveland Heights community, which is directly west of the high school and north of Paseo Del Volcan, said a Sunland official. The high school campus is the anchor of the whole (infill) community thats being envisioned, said Jim Rogers, Sunland president and managing member of Cleveland Heights LLC. Rogers firm developed the Oxbow neighborhoods that surround St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque and Alegria in Bernalillo. Rogers said DR Horton is under contract to acquire the 50 acres. While he wouldnt disclose the purchase price, Rogers said the plan is to deliver the first tranche of 70 lots to Horton in September. He estimated that construction at the site would be completed in three years. A DR Horton sales and marketing official in Albuquerque declined to provide specifics about the community, but Rogers said he believes the future homes will be selling in the $225,000-$250,000 price range. He said Horton likes the fact that the high school was one of 11 in the state ranked by U.S. News and World Report as among the best in the nation. A recent Trulia survey found that 35 percent of Americans with children under 18 indicate that their dream home would be in a great school district. Also attracting future home buyers is the residential communitys proximity to significant employers, such as UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center, CNM Rio Rancho campus, UNM West and Presbyterian Rust Medical Center, Rogers said. This investment by Cleveland Heights LLC will positively impact many citizens and families, Rio Rancho Mayor Greg Hull said in a prepared statement. Im excited that more opportunities for people to call Rio Rancho home are coming soon. In March, the state sold the land to Cleveland Heights LLC for $2.5 million. The tract is within the Paseo Gateway master-planned community. Sunland has initiated discussions with the high school so future homeowners can access its performance venues, exercise and training facilities. He said the high school was built with community utilization in mind. The school is named after the longtime Rio Rancho Public Schools superintendent. The Bernalillo County Code of Conduct Review Board on Wednesday unanimously voted to impose a fine of $1,000 and a public censure on State Auditor and former County Commissioner Wayne Johnson for a violation during his unsuccessful run for mayor of Albuquerque last year. The board previously found in April that Johnson violated the code by accepting a $2,500 donation from a restricted donor, individuals or companies doing business with or seeking to do business with the county. Restricted donors can contribute a maximum of $1,000. Attorney Pat Rogers, representing Johnson, said the board failed to follow the law and its own rules in multiple areas and that a lawsuit is forthcoming. The board heard the complaint in May but took no action when only three members were present. All five members were present Wednesday. The complaint, filed by Dennis Maez, a retired U.S. Secret Service agent and Albuquerque resident, stated that Kevin Yearout, CEO and owner of Yearout Energy Service Co., a New Mexico firm also known as YESCO, contributed $2,500 to Johnsons campaign in July 2017. Johnson as a commissioner voted in December 2017 to enter an $14 million energy performance contract with YESCO intended to improve energy efficiency at the Metropolitan Detention Center. We and Mr. Maez continue to be happy with the decision of the board, said attorney Nicholas Hunt, who was representing Maez. We think that it was clear that auditor Johnson violated the ordinance and that the sanction was appropriate. Rogers again argued the countys code of conduct doesnt cover municipal elections. Basic due process protections, First Amendment rights and the rule of law were violated from beginning to end, Rogers said in an email. Before a rule can be violated, there must be a rule. In this case no rule barring the donation can be fairly invented from the existing county rules to prohibit the receipt of a donation in the mayors race. The definition of restricted donors cannot, in any fair fashion, be re-written, modified, tortured or invented to cover the donation at issue. Lawsuits to address these violations will be filed shortly. Historically, the board has not imposed a sanction when a violation has occurred but remedied. Johnson can avoid the fine by returning $1,500 to Yearout within 30 days, according to the sanction order read by board member Rachel Higgins. The violation finding would stand. The board voted to admonish Yearout for failing to appear as a witness for a prior hearing. Yearouts attorney, Colin Hunter, argued the subpoena of Yearout was improperly served. Hunter declined comment after the hearing. Gov. Susana Martinez appointed Johnson as state auditor in December after Tim Keller resigned before he was sworn in as mayor. Voters will elect an auditor to a four-year term in November. Johnson, a Republican, will face Democratic nominee Brian Colon in that election. By Ssebuliba Samuel. Parliament has approved a supplementary budget for the Ministry of defense worth 367.2 billion shillings as an additional funding to cover shortfalls on different items. The requested funds will cover special meals, fuel for land forces, medical products owed to private Hospitals, classified expenditure and fuel for air force. Out of this budget 247 billion shillings will go to classified expenditure, 60 billion shillings for Special Meals, 22 billion shillings fuel for Land Forces, 24 billion shillings for clothing; 2 billion shillings will go to medical products from private hospital and 13 billion shillings for fuel and 13 billion for air force. Other items to be funded, 7.3 billion shillings is for Lands Ministry to cater for payment of outstanding debts owed to Shelter Afrique by the National Housing and Construction Company. However the Budadili West mp Nathan Nandala Mafabi argued that 60 billion shillings for feeding soldiers is an inflated amount. Parliament has also authorized government to borrow of 84.7 million dollars from the Export Import Bank of China for the innovation and development of Science and technology project in Uganda. Havmor Ice Cream Ltd, announced the winners of the digital campaign #TheCoolestSummerJob - Season 2. Amongst the entries received, five deserving candidates - Anushka Sharma (Mumbai), Shivam Sardana (Pune), Samridhi Gogna (Delhi), Anuraj Munjal (Delhi) and Akshina Bhargva (Indore) were selected for the position of Chief Tasting Officer (CTO). Similar to last year #TheCoolestSummerJob - Season 2 campaign received overwhelming response. It went live on April 19, 2018 and over 30,000 entries received from across the nation; creating over 4.5 million digital impressions. The three-day event kicked off with the induction of the winners and a mentoring session with the Queen of Desserts - Chef Kainaz Messman, Founder, Theobroma. Kainaz spoke at length with the newly appointed CTOs on how to utilize their passion for ice cream in developing enticing flavors keeping in mind the key factors - taste, texture and presentation. She also spoke about the ingredients and the simplicity and complexity of flavors on the first day of training program. The newly appointed Chief Tasting Officers (CTOs) worked closely with R&D team at Havmors manufacturing facility at Naroda, Ahmedabad and underwent a great learning experience as they receive the opportunity to work with the best state-of-the-art technology at the manufacturing plant. New CTOs came up with unique ideas and tested more than 40 new possible flavours under supervision of Havmors R&D team and chefs. Commenting on the success of the campaign, Chaitanya Rele, VP Head of Marketing, Havmor Ice Cream said, #TheCoolestSummerJob - Season 2 campaign has witnessed a wide reach of participation across cities and across the age group of 18 34 years. This reflects the success of our campaign. We welcome the winners as they embark on this journey with Havmor and we look forward to introduce appealing and distinctive flavors with the creativity of these new CTOs. Commenting on the continuity of the idea, Sunny Tulsiani, Managing Partner, Prodigitz said, #TheCoolestSummerJob has become a great platform for the brand and its consumers to be able to connect on a one on one basis. The campaign not only allows the consumers to get a behind the scene experience of the ice cream industry along with endless ice creams to be had, but the brand also benefits from getting fresh ideas and perspectives from their consumers. An absolute win-win for both. The newly appointed CTOs had unique and learning experience at Havmor ice cream. They played a significant role in ideating and co-creating new flavors of their own choice. From the first draft of about 40 new flavours invented by these CTOs, Havmor ice cream will select few flavours which might be introduced in Havmor Ice Creams Menu. For More Stories Visit Here. Anuj Rakyan, Founder & MD, Raw Pressery, has ambitious plans for his brand, where he sees it expanding all over the world in the next five years. Quality is the key focal area, along with scaling the product to make it widely available to the consumers. Founded in the year 2014, Raw Pressery is Indias largest cold-pressed juice brand. Incorporated as a part of Rakyan Beverages, Raw Pressery is a vertically integrated company with in-house capabilities in farm-produce procurement, processing, manufacturing, cold chain logistics, warehousing and distribution. Raw Pressery took birth in Rakyans kitchen with a Norwalk cold-press juicer splattering carrots all over the ceiling. From just 8 juices, the company has now grown to include 4 categories Benefits, Basics, Boosters and Soups, with over 18 juices in their portfolio, including Indias first ever bottled Ganne Ka Rass (sugarcane juice). The brand recently launched is annual integrated media campaign All Good No Bad and has been amplifying this philosophy through all their communication on digital and print media. This campaign has also gone live through the OOH platform across Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai. The campaign has been conceptualised and designed keeping in mind the visual identity of the brand that has been fruit centric/ ingredient led. All 28 variants of the brand best embody the philosophy of All Good No Bad keeping in the nutrition while keeping out preservatives, chemicals, added sugar and water. In conversation with Adgully, Anuj Rakyan speaks about the brands journey so far, the challenges faced, expansion plans and more. Excerpts: How has Raw Presserys journey in the Indian market been so far? What started off with a process of making healthy and fresh juice in my kitchen has today expanded into a nationally scaled business with some international distribution. It is essentially fulfilling the gap of being able to provide a fresh and healthy nutrition juice to organised retail sector. In India, everybody has tasted fresh juice, but they cant really buy it from any store because it is generally made at home or in those juice centres at street corners and have to be consumed immediately. So, what we have really done is that we have tried to organise an unorganised market by using very innovative technology, by creating a cold train for supplying and allowing consumers to have a much more conscious and valuable choice of purchasing juice, instead of drinking concentrated, pasteurised juice in tetra packs. What are the challenges that the brand has faced? When you look at the market, I think Raw Pressery has a reason to exist today. People around the world today are becoming more health conscious about what they consume, how they exercise, how they manage their work-life balance. Even if Raw Pressery hadnt existed, people have been becoming more serious about their fitness. The sensibility in Indian consumers already exists and now its growing. Although it is at a very nascent stage, but the direction is towards growth. Keeping all these things in mind, we have started at the right time. The idea behind an entrepreneurial business is that we are visionaries and we are ahead of the curve in the things that we have started. Talking about the challenges, these are typical to those of other young business start-ups, which includes capital, marketing, developing a product and acquiring consumers. In our case, because our products are fresh and chilled, we have to have proper and good source of fruits and vegetables in India. We also have to store it and supply it at the right temperature. Retail was the biggest challenge because in retail chilled beverages never existed before, but we created that category. We actually have to create an entire shelf space. Its been just two and a half years for us in retail and we have created maximum amount of distribution visibility only because the consumers wants something different. Basically, performance has let us to overcome all the challenges. Given the high price range of the product, are you only targeting the metro markets? Price is a function of value. We have two types of consumers: one, who actually make juices at their home, but typically when you make juice at your home and calculate the cost of all the fruits that have been utilised while making the juice, it would be equal to or more than the price that we have for our brand. We are not actually a high price brand. This is just like fresh juice that one makes at home. But it is made in a much more superior manner and is easily available. We are not core expensive like any other fresh juice that one would make at home. Secondly, if you compare it with the tetra pack juice brands, it is not a proper comparison between two equal things. In tetra packs, you are getting 10 per cent concentrate plus 80 per cent water with some added preservatives. But in Raw Pressery, its only real and fresh juice. So obviously, if something has 100 per cent real fruits, it is bound to have a certain higher price as compared to others. Our customers have begun to understand that this brand stands for value and I dont believe that in India people are constrained by price. In fact, the market is expanding in India as people understand the value. Our consumers are people in the age group of 18-49, who live in metros as well Tier 1 markets and speak and understand English. In India, nearly 60 per cent of the population is below the age of 35 and these people mostly have English as their first language. This makes a difference in what they read, watch and what they aspire for. There is a large bunch of people who have intense focus on fitness and fashion, due to their hectic lifestyle they just dont have time to grab healthy and fresh stuff. This is new age India, where the number of people in this particular segment is increasing day-by-day. What are your expansion plans for the brand? Currently, we have 2,000 points of sales, which we plan to expand to about 4,000 in this fiscal year. We have also completed our test pilot in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha and will further extend our capabilities in the Middle East, which we see as a very promising market. In terms of category, we started off as a juice company but now we are a clean label beverage brand. Clean label means everything which is pure, fresh and natural without any additives, and we describe this in four simple words All Good, No Bad. Today, we are into juices, smoothies, almond milk, and instant soups, which we are launching in India for the first time. These are some things that consumers want and even if other brands are selling it, consumers dont believe they are under the clean label category. How are you strengthening your marketing and advertising efforts? We have completed large chunks of outdoor campaigns in 6 cities, including Mumbai. Outdoor happens for us once in a year. We are very active with digital marketing. We have allocated 35-40 per cent of our spends on digital advertising. Apart from social media, we have our website. We also do lots of events across the country to create awareness about the brand. We also have an influencer in the form of Jacqueline Fernandes. She also actively promotes the brand as she is a big believer in our brand. For More Stories Visit Here. Mexico Citys Island of the Dolls smells of manure from surrounding fields, and it looks like something dreamed up by Stephen King: Dolls are nailed to walls and trees. Some are impaled on bamboo stakes. Some are headless, some are heads alone. But La Isla de Las Munecas attracts a steady stream of the curious, who disembark from party boats plying the 50-plus miles of Mexico Citys Xochimilco canals, notes The Washington Post, which features photographer Sarah L. Voisins images of the strange place. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. Aiken's Design Review Board has continued a request to amend the City's historic overlay district to include the old Aiken County Hospital and its related land. On Tuesday night, during a special meeting, the board unanimously hit the pause button. Design Review Board member Lucy Knowles recused herself from the discussion and vote. She participated in the public comment portion of the meeting, however. The continuance lasts until October or until the Marian Group can participate in the public discussion, according to Planning Director Ryan Bland. Design Review Board meeting packet The Design Review Board's meeting agenda and related documents for Tuesday, June 19. The Marian Group a Kentucky-based real estate firm Aiken County is currently negotiating with has targeted the hospital for redevelopment. The Aiken County Council approved an amended hospital sale ordinance June 5; it named the Marian Group as the buyers. Marian Group officials have said they are interested in preserving and repurposing the historic structure and its land for housing, as was reported earlier in the Aiken Standard. Once formal action is taken by the Design Review Board, the potential redistricting will head to the Planning Commission for further review and interpretation. City Council will make the ultimate decision, though. Design Review Board Chairman McDonald Law said the topic deserves "careful, methodical deliberation." The hospital property, generally located at 828 Richland Ave. W., was first developed in 1917 and was later updated in 1930. Right now, a vast majority of the property in question abuts the historic overlay district. A little more than 1.5 acres is already included in the historic district. If the hospital was to be added to the district, it would mean stricter rules for redevelopment. In general, publicly visible changes made to a property within the historic overlay district require a Design Review Board sign-off. But inclusion would also open the door for local incentives and would serve as a stepping stone to federal credits. The West Richland Improvement Team, a local organization, supports extending the overlay district, according to City documents and Tuesday testimony, as do a number of meeting attendees. On Tuesday night, board members briefly discussed what it takes to qualify for the district. The criteria there are seven total relate to historical and cultural impact and significance. "There's a lot of history on this property," Law said, later adding the board was "interested in partnering with whoever the new owner is." By Ritah Kemigisa. The European Union has given a shillings 530 billion fund to Micro small and medium enterprises in the country as its commitment to fostering an inclusive green economy in Uganda. Giving a key note address at the SEED national dialogue forum in Kampala, the head of cooperation at the EU Cedric Merel said the fund will help advance and also empower them in a number of value chains including solid waste management and renewable energy production among others. Merel added that another shillings 135 billion is being proposed to specifically provide SMEs with better access to finance and knowledge through credit facility and technical support. The Dialogue was among other things seeking to create awareness and exchange ideas about how SMEs can advance an inclusive green economy. +23 USC Aiken Freshmen Orientation USC Aiken welcomed new students during the university's first freshman orientation service Tuesday. USC Aiken was thrumming with activity on Tuesday morning as new students attended the university's first freshman orientation service. The event, which in some ways resembled a cross between a "Toy Story"-themed party and a pep rally, took place at the Etherredge Center on campus. "'Toy Story' ended up winning because it's got a really friendly vibe to it," said student leader and rising USC Aiken sophomore Samuel Boyd. "We really like it. It looks great." The new freshman were treated to breakfast, toured the facilities and got a brief glimpse into what life as a college student is like. "First day of class, theyre going to give you something called a syllabus," said keynote speaker and former USCA faculty member Michael Ritchie. "A syllabus is a Latin word for 'you aint going to believe all the stuff youve got to do.'" Ritchie, who was a professor of management at the university, encouraged students to embrace change, take advantage of university resources and opportunities, and to tackle academic studies and challenges with an "I-dare-you" attitude of enthusiasm and confidence. He also gave everyone an idea of the freedom they would have as college students and as legal adults at USC Aiken, and the kind of responsibility that comes with that freedom. "If you get up for class, its because you want to get up," Ritchie said. "If you want to do your homework, its because you want to do your homework. Its up to you now." Ritchie lightened his speech with jokes about college life. He warned students they would have to learn to fix their own Pop Tarts, suggested against trying to read a whole Shakespeare play in a single night, and hoped one of them will invent a zero-calorie Snickers bar. He also shared his faith in their abilities and all they could accomplish in their time at USC Aiken. "I know that somebody in this room is going to major in biology and come up with a cure for cancer," Ritchie said. "I know that will happen." Other speakers at the event included Student Body President Brandon Eberl and USC Aiken Chancellor Sandra Jordan, who both shared their experiences with the university and the importance of higher education. After the speakers had their turns at the podium, student leaders called Pace Setters led groups of freshman around on campus for orientation and provided information to curious students and parents. They were introduced to the crowd by dancing on stage together and giving advice about college life. For many students, freshman orientation is critical in smoothing the transition from high school to college, which can be jarring. USC Aiken's orientation gives students a chance to meet some of their future classmates and provides information on aspects of college life. "I think it's very important," said Kevin Nolan, USCA assistant director of student life. "This is where they sign up for their classes for the fall. It's a two-day eventit's a great opening for incoming students, so they can get their feet wet, relax a little bit and get good information." Classes at USC Aiken begin Aug. 23. Three more orientation services will be held throughout the summer. Turkey is taking possession of two F-35 aircraft this week, but US lawmakers may yet deny Ankara critical American technology needed to get the warplanes off the ground. There appears to be little Congress can do to stop Turkey from obtaining the two jets, the first of more than 100, as Lockheed Martin prepares to hand them over to Turkish pilots at a ceremony in Texas on Thursday. But US lawmakers still have considerable leverage as they consider pending defense legislation that seeks to hold up the sale amid concerns about Turkeys planned purchase of the S-400 missile-defense system from Russia and its imprisonment of a US pastor. A US Defense Department official told Al-Monitor that Turkey wont be able to take the jets home for a considerable period of time, requiring American support to run the F-35s computerized logistics system and navigate security protocols. That in turn could give lawmakers leverage to deny the use of crucial technology needed for Turkey to operate the aircraft if relations with the NATO ally continue to deteriorate. Language in the pending Senate bill would deny the transfer of title to Turkey until the Pentagon proposes a plan to remove Turkey from the F-35 construction program, a joint effort between seven nations. Turkey is contributing technology to the jet, including work on the planes central fuselage. Officials from the US State Department and Defense Department acknowledge that the physical transport to Turkey is more than a year away. A separate US defense official said Turkish pilots will begin flying the F-35s purchased in 2016 at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona this summer, training for one to two years per aircraft, while additional air crews and maintainers rotate in as more jets come off the production line. Turkey purchased two jets from a batch of fighters whose construction began in 2016, but the Pentagon remains in negotiations with Lockheed to buy the next lot. The push in Congress has sparked furious pushback from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government ahead of general elections Sunday. The Turkish government and media have repeatedly framed Thursdays rollout ceremony of the first couple of aircraft in Arizona as Turkey taking delivery of the F-35s despite mounting congressional opposition. There have been attempts in the US parliament regarding the F-35 delivery, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a TV interview June 19. Two fighters will be delivered to us on June 21, and there are also attempts [to block this delivery]. We cant sustain a healthy relationship as such. Cavusoglu went on to encourage closer cooperation between the two NATO allies, pointing to the US-Turkish agreement on pulling US-backed Kurdish fighters out of Syrias Manbij as a model. But even as his diplomats seek to play down the rift, Erdogan has been fueling congressional ire, most recently by publicly musing about jointly working with Russia to produce an even more advanced missile defense system, the S-500. But the yearlong lull between the delivery and transfer of the jets leaves time for US action. In addition to the pending defense bill, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also has the option to penalize Turkey under a 2017 law that calls for sanctions against purchasers of certain Russian military equipment, including the S-400. NATO and US officials have openly warned that Russia could snoop on sensitive American technology onboard the F-35 amid Turkeys tightening relationship with Moscow. This is a very tenuous situation, John Venable, a former Air Force colonel now with the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Al-Monitor. All you need is a hangar and Russian technicians going in and starting to dismantle it. A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted that the aircraft would be sent to Turkey after pilots train in the United States, but did not offer a timeline. Theres precedent for US sanctions derailing foreign military sales. In 1990, the George H.W. Bush administration canceled the sale of 18 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan after nuclear-related sanctions came into force, leaving the planes stranded in an Arizona boneyard. And Iran canceled $10 billion in long-standing orders for American military equipment, including F-16 jets, after the 1979 Revolution. Turkeys participation in the program could also be short-circuited by Erdogans recent purges of the military following the failed 2016 coup. According to an Al-Monitor analysis, Turkey dismissed 280 pilots based on alleged links to the plot, meaning it could take at least three years to get the Turkish air force back to pre-coup form. CAIRO The Egyptian House of Representatives approved a press and media bill June 10 and sent it to the State Council for review. The bill contains three separate draft laws to regulate the Supreme Council for the Press and the Media (SCPM), the National Press Authority (NPA) and the National Media Authority. However, parliament members, journalists and others have denounced the draft laws on the grounds that they grant wide powers to the governments SCPM and NPA and allow the blocking of personal accounts on social networking sites. On June 12, members of the parliaments 25-30 Alliance denounced Egypts media and press regulations and said that Articles 5, 10, 19 and 29 of the SCPM draft law contain vague language that could be interpreted in a way that violates both freedom of the press and the constitution. On June 11, four council members of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate issued a statement declaring their rejection of the draft laws. They said that the bills are a reflection of the will of some parties to control the national and private press. According to Articles 15 and 35 of the NPA draft law, the authority would directly manage Egypts press institutions and control the boards of directors and public assemblies of national newspapers, thus preventing institutions such as Al-Ahram and Al-Gomhuria from making any important decisions without the NPAs preapproval. The syndicate members said that Articles 4 and 5 of the SCPM draft law subvert press freedoms through vague wording concerning the distribution of hatred, incitement, threat to democracy and pornographic material, among other violations. Article 19 gives the SCPM the right to monitor and block personal social networking accounts that have more than 5,000 followers. Khalid al-Balashi, a member of the Journalists Syndicate, wrote in a June 9 Facebook post that Article 19 of the SCPM draft law aims to muzzle journalists through the wide powers it grants to the SCPM. Yasser Abdel Aziz, the office manager of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, told Al-Monitor that the draft law does have one positive aspect: filling the legislative vacuum surrounding the regulation of the press and the media since the passing of the press regulation law in 1996. But he also said there are concerns over the freedom of opinion and expression, as Article 19 of the SCPM draft law allows for the closure of personal social media accounts, blogs and websites and imposes penalties for publishing certain vaguely defined content at the SCPM's discretion. Meanwhile, NPA head Karam Gaber denied claims that the NPA would control press institutions. He told Al-Monitor that under the draft law, the boards of directors of these bodies would control the institutions actions and decisions. Six of these boards' 12 members would be elected while the other six would be appointed by the chairman. His association, he added, would not interfere in such choices, as its role is merely supervisory. Asked about claims that the law includes articles that restrict freedoms, Gaber said that the law forbids the pre-trial detention of journalists in press-related cases, and he stated that insults and defamation are criminal offenses, be they committed by press institutions or ordinary individuals. In such cases, he said, litigation is a constitutional right. Those criticizing the draft law should read it well before doing so, he added. Gaber stated that the draft law includes many aspects that benefit journalists and was passed with the aim of reforming and restructuring the press institutions, establishing administrative processes and regulating wages for journalists. The draft law also guarantees journalists can demand financial compensation when a publication folds and requires employment contracts to protect journalists' rights. Osama Heikal, the head of the parliaments Media, Culture and Antiquities Committee, told Al-Monitor that the draft law was issued in a bid to reform the work of the media and the press, and he added that it contains specific texts and articles on the freedom of the press and the media. It also specifically addresses the rights of the public, striking a balance between press and public freedoms. Heikal explained that Article 71 of the SCPM draft law provides for the establishment of a system for processing complaints. As for the closing of personal accounts on social networks, he said that this only applies to accounts that have more than 5,000 followers and that publish rumors and lies. Such accounts, he stated, would be treated as media outlets. He assured Al-Monitor that the legislation will not affect "personal opinions" expressed via such accounts. Heikal went on to say that the constitution was respected during the yearlong preparation of the draft law. He said its articles guarantee the freedom of the press and the Constitutional Court alone has the authority to rule otherwise. During the parliaments plenary session held June 10 to discuss the draft law, Ali Abdel Aal, speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives, said that he reviewed its penalties to make sure that they do not breach any international conventions on press freedom. He concluded that the draft law indeed guarantees the freedom of expression. CAIRO Even as the Egyptian military is expanding its business dealings in various sectors, the International Monetary Fund is warning that it's time for the government to pull back its reach and allow the private sector room to grow. The most recent expansion comes this week in the lucrative field of extracting minerals from black sand an industry expected to generate billions of dollars. The military-affiliated Egyptian Black Sand Company (EBSC) signed a memorandum of understanding with a leading Chinese company Weiyuan Minerals on June 18 in a bid to boost EBSC efficiency in extraction. The IMF has warned the government and not for the first time that military businesses pose unfair competition to the private sector. The military owns several companies in the sectors of supply commodities, agricultural reclamation, fish farming, livestock and construction. Some Egyptian media outlets and economists have also accused the state of favoring these businesses, which are exempt from customs and taxes. Their employees are compulsory recruits who receive a pittance as salaries, without any health or social insurance. Subir Lall, the head of the IMF mission to Egypt, told Al-Monitor that although Egypt's military economic activities "aren't particularly in contradiction with the IMF policy," it's up to the state to establish a "fast-growing economy whose main pillar [ought to be] the private sector rather than the public sector or the state. In fact, he said, the government should "reduce the states control in general, not specifically the military, over economic activities, in line with the agreed objectives of the economic reform plan. The IMF agreed June 12, 2016, to a $12 billion loan to support the government's economic reform plan. The loan is being delivered in four tranches over three years. The government said June 18 that it will receive the third payment, worth $2 billion, in late July. Lall explained to Al-Monitor the need for a strong private sector, especially in light of Egypts rapid population growth. The country should "aim to create 700,000 jobs a year," he said. "But given Egypts heavy debts, it's difficult for the state to expand to hire more workers. This is only feasible through the expansion of the private sector to lead the Egyptian economy and investment growth." The Egyptian Ministry of Manpower and Immigration said in December that the state provided 486,000 job opportunities to the domestic market through the Egyptian private sector. Lall said, Economic reform experiences in many developing countries show that excessive state intervention in the economic sector doesn't affect competition as [much as] some might claim." State-affiliated companies don't necessarily put private-sector firms out of business, but can intimidate them so they never emerge for fear of overwhelming competition "from the state and all its resources." The state has to encourage competition and remove any obstacles facing investors in acquiring lands and investments. It has also to work on increasing economic transparency by passing legislation to this effect, eliminating bureaucracy and developing infrastructure, which will help the private sector increase investment, develop the economy and create the required job opportunities," he added. The IMF did praise the military's efforts to develop infrastructure. David Lipton, the IMF's first deputy managing director, said during a May 8 symposium at the American University of Cairo Business School that military involvement in the economy has helped with such projects. Yet, he said, Egypt must reduce government investments in general in the agricultural and industrial sectors, giving more leeway to the private sector to invest in these areas. Previous experiences of developing countries show that pinpointing and removing obstacles while increasing transparency can protect the Egyptian market from [acute] shortage of some products, which always prompts the state to intervene to fill that deficit, Lall concluded. In a December 2016 speech, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the armed forces' participation in the economy aimed to help the poor in the face of high prices resulting from the depreciated Egyptian pound and the shortage of foreign currencies. During 2015 and 2016, those problems had caused a shortage of products such as baby formula and sugar, among other commodities. Farag Abdel Fattah, a Cairo University economics professor, doesn't agree with the IMFs vision about the roles of the state and the private sector. Abdel Fattah told Al-Monitor that the states presence in different economic fields, whether via the public sector projects or the military's businesses, is the only way to protect Egyptians from the greed of some businesspeople who seek to monopolize certain goods and services. Meanwhile, Mamdouh al-Wali, a former economic editor for Al-Ahram newspaper, sees many downsides to military intervention in the economy. The competition between the military businesses and the private sector isn't fair. This also prevents the military from focusing on its main mission, which is to defend the homeland, he said. Khaled al-Shafei, an economic adviser to several investment institutions, told Al-Monitor he supports allowing the private sector to expand and safeguarding fair competition between the private sector and the military. He noted, however, that the military can't withdraw from economic endeavors at this point because that would open the door to individuals to monopolize several areas. He stressed that military businesses will remain involved in the Egyptian economy until the economic system is reformed to prevent monopolies and protect consumers. Can Egypts hospitality sector help decrease the vast food waste in the country by reducing the size of plates by one-third? According to the Egyptian Food Bank, an initiative that aims to end hunger in the country by 2020, it can indeed create a major impact if more organizations in the industry adopt this as a general rule. Moez El Shohdi, the founder and CEO of the Egyptian Food Bank, told Al-Monitor that the bank has been working with the Egyptian Hotel Associations to train the staff in hotels and restaurants to save daily food loss from buffets, particularly during festivities and big events. The cooperation between the Egyptian Food Bank and the Egyptian Hotel Associations started in 2006, with the hospitality industry donating its surplus food to the people who need a meal, Shohdi said, adding, Hotels and restaurants that we work with have donated 15.5 million meals in 2014 alone. The food bank worked closely with hotels to convince them to reduce the size of their plates by one-third and help reduce food waste at buffet tables, Shohdi said, explaining that most buffet customers have the habit of piling their plates, only to have the remains thrown to the waste bin at the end of events. Once on the plate, the food is thrown away, but what remains on the buffet table can be recycled or donated. Alaa Mebed, the food safety and quality consultant at Sealed Air Corporation, told Al-Monitor that there is a need to educate the hospitality sector regarding storage, food supply and food safety as well. A very high percentage of food loss occurs in restaurants and hotels because there is no action plan for their businesses [on how to manage food loss and waste], he told Al-Monitor. The use of technology ensures that the surplus gets to the people in need quickly, before the food spoils. For this purpose, the Egyptian Food Bank has launched an application called Wasteless Egypt in 2017 to allow restaurants, hotels, markets and even individuals to donate their surplus food to charity organizations who would then ensure the food reaches people in need while still fresh and safe to eat. Reducing food waste in the hospitality industry is only one part of efforts to stop food waste in the country, with both the Egyptian public and private sectors joining efforts with the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Earlier this month, the Egyptian Food Bank, FAO and Egypts Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation have unveiled a food waste awareness campaign, which is part of a three-year program called Food Loss and Waste Reduction and Value Chain Development for Food Security that will continue until September. The awareness campaign, launched during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, made use of popular figures, such as Egyptian chef Wesam Masoud, to extend the message on food saving. Masoud told Al-Monitor that Egyptians usually waste a lot of food in festivities such as Ramadan or religious holidays. He called on both chefs and ordinary citizens not to waste food. According to the FAO, food loss and waste in Egypt is particularly high when dealing with produce; loss occurs in all stages, from harvesting to transport. Then more food gets wasted in the markets before it even reaches the customers. Hisham Allam, the supervisor of the Central Administration of External Agricultural Relations, said that part of the three-year program was to ensure that crops were not wasted while still in the field due to faulty harvesting methods. FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture have been working with Egyptian farmers on cultivating tomatoes and grapes in Nubria city in Sharqia governorate in northern Egypt. The project helps farmers cultivate high-quality produce and reduce loss and waste during harvesting and transportation, Allam said. Just like the hospitality business, farmers can also benefit from technology to reduce their loss. Waleed Khalil, the founder of Fakahany, an online portal that provides fresh vegetables and fruits to customers, said Egypt still needs to introduce an integrated system that takes produce from farm to the customers while maintaining its freshness and high quality. Khalil added, "In Egypt, there is a lot to be done with transportation methods and storage systems. Most of the big supermarkets are still wasting 20% of the produce because they cannot store it well. The loss is not simply on produce. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, 25% of rice grain is lost after it is harvested and 12-15% of wheat production is lost due to pests, incorrect storage and bad transportation. With only days left before landmark elections in Turkey, pressure is intensifying on the one party that could swing the outcome, the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP). More than 50 party members and canvassers were detained in separate early morning raids in the eastern province of Erzurum, the southeastern province of Sirnak and in the western provinces of Bursa and Izmir, the opposition daily Evrensel reported. Among those detained were senior figures from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the HDPs sister organization in the mainly Kurdish southeastern region. In Bursa, four of the HDPs ballot box monitors were also detained. The legal grounds are unclear but the political motive is plain, HDP officials say: It's to torpedo the partys efforts to campaign and secure the minimum 10% of the national vote required to win seats in the parliament. Should the pro-Kurdish bloc, which commands the affection of a swelling number of non-Kurds, breach the 10% barrier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogans ruling Justice and Development party would lose its parliamentary majority. Although Erdogans long coveted executive presidency that will formalize his sweeping powers and scrap the premiership will come into effect after the June 24 polls, a parliament controlled by the opposition could make the strong mans life harder. For instance, as veteran Turkey analyst Alan Makovsky observed in a policy brief for the Center for American Progress, Parliament will still have the authority to overturn presidential decrees and the president is not allowed to overturn by decree legislation that was passed by Parliament. Moreover, the president is not allowed to issue decrees in areas that the constitution reserves for parliamentary legislation, for example declaration of war or permission for foreign troops to enter Turkish territory. None of this matters so long as the AKP retains control of the legislature, so it will stop at nothing to ensure it does. Today, the Supreme Election Council passed a new measure that counts as valid envelopes containing ballots without formal stamps from the election officials in charge of ballot boxes at polling stations. The move follows an earlier change in rules that counts unstamped ballots as valid as well. HDP officials charge that these changes combined with the presence of security forces at polling stations are calculated to skew the results in the governments favor. The playing field is already uneven: The HDP's presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas is in prison facing a slew of flimsy terror charges and is having to conduct his campaign with the help of his wife and social media accounts run by his adviser. Although the former human rights lawyer has not been convicted, Erdogan continues to label him a terrorist at public rallies. Some 56 DBP mayors who would otherwise join in the electoral effort are also behind bars on similar charges, among them Gultan Kisanak, the intrepid co-mayor of the Kurds informal capital, Diyarbakir, and one of the Kurdish movements most powerful orators. Meanwhile, hardly a day passes without an HDP office being vandalized or coming under armed attack. The assaults took a deadly turn when three HDP supporters from the Senyasar family were killed in a firefight in the southeastern town of Suruc on June 14. Eyewitnesses say the brawl erupted when AKP lawmaker Ibrahim Halil Yildiz and his armed men tried to force their way into a shop run by the men, demanding their votes. Halils brother was shot dead and the violence continued in the local hospital where the lawmakers supporters killed the injured Senyasar brothers and their father. The pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya news agency published what it said were the results of an autopsy today revealing that the brothers had been sprayed with a total of 23 bullets in the hospital. The father died as a result of injuries inflicted with sharp objects. Eyewitnesses told a team of HDP officials who conducted their own inquiry that Yildiz men had attacked him with shards of glass. Ozturk Turkdogan, the president of Turkeys Human Rights Association, which will release its findings on Suruc in the coming days, told Al-Monitor, What is most shocking of all is that the violence unfolded in full view of the local governor, the Turkish minister of agriculture [Ahmet Esref Fakibaba] and dozens of policemen present in the hospital yard. Turkdogan said, I know Fakibaba tried to calm the situation and departed the scene when he saw he was powerless. But what of the police? The HDP claims security cameras were ripped out of the hospitals walls before the killings. Turkdogan said his information corroborated its version of events. The government has blamed the affair on the HDP and outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party militants. Presidential adviser Saadet Oruc an ethnic Kurd insisted in a column in the pro-government daily Sabah, The HDP and its supporters play the role of victims only to attract international attention. And Kurds who do not support the HDP are considered traitors. There are countless cases of assassinations of Kurdish politicians who do not support the HDP. But Erdogan appeared to change his tune today during a campaign rally in Suruc. He extended his condolences to all the victims of the bloodbath, saying: "The matter is being investigated by our security forces and prosecutors. The truth will be uncovered and those responsible held accountable before justice." Hoping that the United States is serious about directly confronting the Islamic Republic, Iranian Kurdish opposition groups are maneuvering to become an essential part of a new White House policy of weakening and ultimately overthrowing the government in Tehran. Mustafa Hijri, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), visited Washington June 11-17 to discuss the situation in Iran with State Department officials, congressmen and think tank experts. While it is not uncommon for Iranian opposition figures to meet with US officials and speak at forums in Washington, the sheer number of meetings at various think tanks signals renewed US interest with Kurdish rebel groups that are fighting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the mountains of the Kurdish region in western Iran. Moreover, Al-Monitor has learned that while he has previously met with officials from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the KDPI leader this time saw the head of the Iran section at the State Department. In this vein, Fouad Beygizadeh, the KDPI representative in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, told Al-Monitor that he is unaware of any secret meetings or further details about the congressmen reported to have met with Hijri. Unlike previous meetings in which mostly human rights issues were discussed, the latest meetings were about some important political matters that affect Iran and the role of the KDPI. The American officials wanted to understand the demands of the Kurdish people, a statement on the KDPIs official website said, referring to Hijris visit to the US State Department on June 15. Of further note, the London Center for Policy Research, a foreign policy think tank in New York that is reported to have influenced President Donald Trump's view of the Middle East in general and the Islamic Republic in particular on June 13 invited Hijri and another Kurdish rebel leader to discuss the situation in Iran. "We need to take decisive action, but the question is how? By talking to the Kurdish leaders who are heading the opposition in Iran, we should try to implement change in the leadership of this country," Eli M. Gold, the senior vice president of the London Center, told Kurdistan24 at the June 13 event. The London Center, which holds regular meetings on Kurdish independence, does not call for direct American interventions like that in Afghanistan or Iraq, but instead pushes for a defense arrangement where nations with similar points of view come together and provide military assets that are necessary for stabilization. Against this backdrop, Iranian Kurdish opposition groups appear to promote themselves as ideal partners, as they have considerable military assets in the form of armed fighters and human intelligence inside Iran. "We as Kurds of Iran are the most united opposition force. We are trying to make friends and partners in order to have a critical role in changing the Islamic Republic of Irans regime, Hijri told Kurdistan24. Abdullah Mohtadi of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan who attended the June 13 event alongside Hijri echoed the same message and stated that regime change was discussed in the meetings that he and Hijri held in Washington, including at venues such as the Hudson Institute and the neoconservative Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Before becoming national security adviser, John Bolton in August 2017 published a white paper in which he publicly urged the Trump administration to pressure Iran by withdrawing from the nuclear deal and fomenting unrest inside the country. The document, titled Iran Nuclear Deal Exit Strategy, includes a call for the United States to announce support for Kurdish national aspirations, including Kurds in Iran, Iraq and Syria, as well as provide assistance to Balochis, Khuzestan Arabs, Kurds and others, underscoring that confronting Iran should be the administrations highest diplomatic priority, commanding all necessary time, attention and resources. The Iranian Kurdish rebel leaders trip to Washington came immediately after a number of clashes near the Iran-Iraq border between KDPI fighters and the IRGC, despite repeated pledges by the Iraqi Kurdish authorities to prevent such attacks. The IRGC said that seven counter-revolutionaries were killed and wounded in these clashes, while the KDPI claimed that its fighters killed nine IRGC personnel and wounded 18 others in Siakew near Oshnavieh in Irans West Azerbaijan province. The IRGC fought many of its initial battles against Kurdish militants in the 1980s, and it appears to have since developed a particular phobia of these groups, viewing them as an existential threat. Indeed, almost the entire top brass of the IRGC fought battles against Kurdish militants in the years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian Kurdish groups still have thousands of peshmerga fighters based in camps in Iraqi Kurdistan to the displeasure of the ruling parties in Iraqs Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Tensions are running high since KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in January pledged that his government would not allow its territory to be used by Iranian Kurdish opposition groups including the KDPI to launch attacks inside Iran. Barzanis move came as the KRG succumbed to Iranian economic and political pressure following its independence referendum last September. Given Irans long border with Iraqi Kurdistan, officials in Tehran have repeatedly warned that the latter could be used by Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States to foment unrest in Iran. In this vein, Ali Akbar Velayati, a foreign policy adviser to Irans supreme leader, notably said on Feb. 7, If the Iraqi Kurdistan referendum was successful, today Israeli tanks would be deployed at Kermanshahs borders. Following the recent clashes, an Iranian delegation from the consulate in Erbil officially protested to the KRG on June 11 and reminded the Iraqi Kurds that Iran reserves the right to strike at the center of the threat, meaning KDPI bases. But the KDPI aware of the KRGs pledges to Iran has seemingly come up with a new way of carrying out attacks inside Iran without leaving a trail that could be traced back to its camps in Iraqi Kurdistan. "We have told the KRG to provide a shred of evidence that a single peshmerga from us has been deployed from the camps in here," Beygizadeh told Al-Monitor. The KDPI has over the past two years come back to life after a decadeslong hiatus of its armed attacks inside Iran, introducing a new form of reinvigorated struggle by providing basic military training and arms to its secret members inside Iran to launch small-scale, but regular, attacks. On top of that, the KDPI has deployed a number of peshmerga units along the border with Iran, in the Sidakan area in Erbil province, where guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party are also involved in deadly clashes with Turkish commandos. In fact, as Hijri was traveling to Washington, a group of around two dozen young male and female Kurds who had joined the KDPI in recent months were reported to have completed their initial military training in the mountains and were declared to be ready for battle. Several Kurdish residents on both sides of the border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan told Al-Monitor that the IRGC is constructing large networks of dirt roads to reach inaccessible mountain peaks to fortify positions and move troops more easily. These residents said that while in the past roaming around the border area was relatively easy for locals, it is becoming more dangerous as more outposts are being set up. Iran has come under increasing pressure internationally since Trump took office in 2017, and especially since the US president withdrew from the nuclear deal last month. With the Islamic Republic increasingly involved in proxy wars against the United States and its regional allies, Iranian Kurdish militants are hoping they will now be brought to the fore as Washington moves to take the battle inside Iran. In this vein, groups such as the KDPI say theyre ready to once again directly confront the Islamic Republic. For the last seven years that I have been here, the Iranian Kurdish opposition groups were not in the news; the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds were, Salah Bayaziddi, the Komala Party representative in Washington who accompanied Mohtadi and Hijri in their recent meetings, told Al-Monitor. We believe this is a new chapter and want to prepare for it so we can be part of it. Although Israeli politicians are pressing the military to adopt harsh measures against Gaza for the incendiary kites being dispatched into Israel, the army is displaying more responsibility, being careful to avoid an escalation that could result in all-out war. The south is going up in flames, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said in a June 19 interview with the Ynet website. Those who launch incendiary balloons or kites should face the same fate as those who launch rockets. I'm certain the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will act with determination against Hamas. Her comments reflect the position of her party, HaBayit HaYehudi, as well as other politicians deep frustration with the inability of one of the worlds most advanced armies to respond effectively to the kite attacks. According to data presented June 14 to the Knessets Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the airborne firebombs from Gaza have set off 412 fires in Israel, incinerating 25,000 dunams (6,180 acres) of crops, with damage estimated at 7 million shekels ($1.92 million) at a minimum. While a military response to the kites would presumably be more expensive, the damage cannot be measured by a monetary value alone. The smoke spiraling up from the Gaza border communities in recent weeks probably has implications for residents health, especially babies and those with breathing difficulties. The damage to the environment and wildlife is significant. Border residents, under constant threat of rocket attacks, are now also choking on smoke and suffering other attendant damage, paying a price for their leaders' procrastination in resolving the problems surrounding the closure Israel has imposed on Gaza. Successive Israeli governments have dragged their feet for 11 years, hoping the problem would somehow resolve itself. Military doctrine formulated by the IDF, one of the worlds strongest and best-armed militaries, is lacking when it comes to the mass protests organized by Hamas since March 30 along the border fence as well as to the burning kite campaign. While Israel deployed ground and air forces, supplemented by snipers, to ward off breaches of the border fence by demonstrators, only the air force can provide a response of sorts to the kites. Either way, the situation is complex. However one looks at it, a sophisticated fighter jet sent to deal with a weaponized piece of paper presents the army with obstacles and challenges that it has likely never encountered. With ministers in the Security Cabinet demanding that the army deal with the kites as they would with a Qassam rocket, the military leadership has tried to explain that snipers deployed in observation posts along the border cannot detect the devices dispatched from deep within the enclave. As a result, it is not possible to use warning shots to pre-emptively scatter potential kite flyers. Therefore, the only way to intercept the kites is with targeted tank or canon shells or with the type of airborne systems used to strike rocket launchers, a method that would likely kill or injure many of the kite flyers and drag Israel into a widespread military operation in Gaza. The current approach involves the intensive deployment of drones, at a density reminiscent of major military campaigns, to detect the dispatchers and fire warning shots from the air at Hamas positions or empty cars likely a more expensive proposition than the 7 million shekels in fire damage to Israeli farmers. Confronting a kite with a fighter jet is reminiscent of the embarrassment the IDF experienced in the first intifada, which broke out in 1987 and came to be known as the stone intifada. Despite the impressive arsenal with which the IDF had vanquished Arab armies in previous wars, it had a hard time dealing with the hail of rocks that rained down on Israeli troops. Now Gazans are talking about a tiyara intifada tiyara in Arabic being an airplane, and tiyara waraqia being a paper airplane, or a kite. Most ministers at the Security Cabinet meeting held June 18 demanded that the IDF revise its policy and treat the dispatchers of the fiery kites as they would rocket launchers. In other words, the ministers want the IDF to shoot at the Palestinian dispatchers the minute they are detected, while the army argues that most of them are young men, youths and even boys, and that killing or maiming them would have a detrimental effect on the image of the IDF and Israel. So far, the policy of restraint and warning shots has not deterred the kite flyers, and the number of daily blazes continues to increase. On the night of June 19-20, probably as a result of political pressure, the IDF intensified its response and struck at Hamas targets in Gaza to remind the organizations leaders that Israel will exact a price for every fire ignited by a kite. Will this deter Hamas? Highly unlikely. A Hamas source speaking on condition of anonymity told Al-Monitor that the leadership was surprised by the kites effectiveness in Gazas campaign to end the Israeli siege. The source said the flying of kites was begun as a local initiative by young Palestinians during the border protests dubbed the Great Return March. When it transpired that the kites were causing extensive damage, attracting international news coverage and affecting international public opinion, Hamas decided to exploit the effect of the paper planes fully. The source said the border protests will continue, albeit while attracting a smaller number of residents. People are getting tired of the demonstrations, sensing that they have served their purpose and that now it is the turn of the kites. That is why for now, Hamas will only turn out limited numbers of protesters, while letting the young people drive the Israelis crazy with fire, said the source. The extensive IDF airstrikes June 19-20 elicited a barrage of dozens of rockets and shells fired at Israeli communities the exact scenario predicted by the military shortly before the escalation into which it was pushed unwillingly. Hamas leaders, high on the smell of Israeli crops set ablaze by the kites, risk finding themselves in an all-out war with Israel, which will no longer be childs play. By Ruth Anderah. The jailed ADF Leader Jamil Mukulu advocates have threatened to apply to the International Crimes Division of the High Court to dismiss charges against their client and 35 others if the DPP is not ready with his evidence by July 20th 2018. The lawyers led by Caleb Alaka, are concerned that their clients right to a speedy and fair trial is curtailed given the many years they have spent on remand in different detention centers. Presiding Judge Eva Luswata also reminded the DPPs representative Thomas Jatiko, of her earlier order giving them a time frame within which to disclosed its intended evidence to the accused persons, but all they come back with are unnecessary excuses. The Judge has noted that she will not tolerate this laxity from the Prosecution and sounded a serious warning them to respect her orders. However the DPP maintains that his evidence against the accused persons is ready on file but before they can pass it on to the defense Lawyers they need court to issue an order blocking them from disclosing it to the public given its sensitivity. Mukulu and the group are linked to the famous murder of college students at Kichwamba Techinical institute in 1998, the spate of Muslim clerics murders that swept the country between 2015 -2016 and the murder of 2 police officers at Bugiri police station in Busoga. Mukulu is further said to have launched a rebellion against government in which he is alleged to have terrorized people in the Rwenzori region in Western Uganda before he established a base in the forests of DR. Congo. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza have sought care at a military field hospital set up by Morocco that opened its doors June 12. The facility's goal is primarily to assist with medical care for Palestinians injured during the Great Return March in light of the medicine shortages and lack of resources at local hospitals. The medical equipment arrived on June 8 as part of an aid convoy led by Ahmed Tazi, Moroccos ambassador to Egypt. Also arriving were 165 Moroccan physicians, nurses and media personnel, along with 56 tons of foodstuffs, which were delivered to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, and 25 tons of emergency medicines, which were distributed among Gazan hospitals. In a May 27 statement, Moroccos Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation expressed its intent to set up a surgical field hospital in Gaza at the behest of King Mohammed VI to ease the health care crisis stemming from the Great Return March, in which 127 Palestinians were killed and 14,700 wounded, according to figures released June 8 by Gazas Ministry of Health. The protest march began March 30, Land Day, to call attention to the Palestinians' dispossession and to demand that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to the cities and villages from which they or their families were displaced in 1948. Upon arriving at the Rafah border crossing, Tazi told the press, The Moroccan humanitarian aid transported to the Gaza Strip via Egypt was carried in 17 planes. He explained that the convoy included a field hospital, a team of doctors and a group of technicians tasked with management duties. Moroccan chief physician Ahmed Abu Naim, also a colonel, told Al-Monitor that the hospitals medical staff consists of 13 doctors, 21 nurses and administrative and logistics staff. He added that the field hospital, typically configured to accommodate 30 beds, can be expanded to fit up to 60 when needed. Abu Naim indicated that the hospital processed 1,200 cases on its first day of operation and has dedicated sections for orthopedic, ocular, gastrointestinal and vascular surgery as well as for otolaryngology and obstetrics and gynecology. He added, The field hospital is equipped with a lab for medical and radiological exams in addition to an emergency room. At the hospital, Al-Monitor spoke with Gaza City resident Ali Saeedi, who was admitted to a hospital with gunshot wounds to his leg inflicted by Israeli soldiers on May 14 during the Great Return March. I was transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital for treatment after being wounded, Saeedi recounted. I had to wait three days for my surgery due to the mass influx of wounded. I was then asked to leave the hospital only six hours after the surgery. Saeedi was visiting the field hospital for his follow-up examination, to make sure the procedure had been successful. Postoperative appointments are either unavailable or delayed at Gaza's hospitals due to the hospitals being ill-equipped and overburdened with patients. Moukhles Abu Daqqa, from Khan Yunis, came to the field hospital to get antibiotics against infection. Four days earlier, he had had a third surgery for a forearm fracture caused by Israeli gunfire at the Great Return March. Abu Daqqa told Al-Monitor, Doctors have requested that I purchase the necessary antibiotics at a pharmacy after each of the surgeries I have undergone because of antibiotic shortages in hospitals. There are times that I cant afford to pay, because I'm unemployed. This is why I came to the Moroccan hospital to obtain the medicine. He said that the Moroccans provided excellent service, which included X-rays to assess how his arm is healing. I wish all of the wounded in the march could get such health care service, which is free, he said. Ashraf al-Qudra, the spokesman for Gaza's Ministry of Health, told Al-Monitor that the Moroccan hospital's biggest service is filling the gap in medicines and beds. He added, Nearly 15,000 cases of injuries were handled during the Great Return March, but shortages, such as an insufficient number of hospital beds, have forced us to send home hundreds of wounded after providing them with preliminary health care in order to make room for others. Qudra noted that march casualties exceeded all expectations as well as all local hospitals capacities. He indicated that 51% of the cases were live ammunition injuries: 4.5% to the abdomen and pelvis, 6.9% to the head and neck, 13% to the upper limbs and 62.3% to the lower limbs. In addition, there are 43 victims with amputations, including 37 lower-limb amputee victims and six upper-limb amputee victims. Ashraf Abu Mahadi, the director-general of International Cooperation at Gaza's Ministry of Health, told Al-Monitor, The Moroccan hospital was set up following the ministrys repeated calls to save the day in the health sector in the Gaza Strip. He said that the Ministry of Health and the Moroccans had agreed to the hospital being set up in the city of Zahraa, in central Gaza, so as not to overly burden patients at a distance by requiring them to travel significantly farther than others. Abu Mahadi said that Morocco is the only party, Arab and non-Arab, that has felt compelled to assist Gaza with health care support. He called for additional field hospitals to keep down the death rate given the large number of wounded and the limited capacities of local hospitals. Abu Mahadi said the ministry will continue to communicate with Arab and other countries and international health institutions to try to obtain assistance through the dispatch of specialized medical teams and facilities to Gaza, noting that they would also lessen the need for the severely wounded to travel long distances to be treated in Jordan or Egypt or elsewhere abroad. Abu Naim said the Moroccan field hospital will continue to operate until Moroccan officials order a halt to the mission. High-level representatives of the three countries involved in Syria talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana Russia, Iran and Turkey have taken part in a two-day session in Geneva this week dedicated to the political resolution of the Syrian conflict. The delegates discussed with the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, the formation of the Syrian Constitutional Committee. The countries had reached an agreement to form the committee in January during the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi. Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putins special envoy for Syria, summed it up this way: Moscow expects the last stage of discussion on the committee to take place in mid-July, during a separate meeting in Geneva. Lavrentiev also mentioned that Moscow and Ankara have been in constant contact over Kurdish participation in the constitutional committee, in which the Kurds will eventually be represented. The Kurds will take part in the Syrian Constitutional Committee anyway," Lavrentiev said. "Their representatives will be included in every faction: opposition groups, the governments delegation and civil society. We ask everyone to abstain from dividing the Kurds into pro-Turkish, pro-Russian or PYD [Democratic Union Party] and YPG [People's Protection Units] categories, the latter of which is viewed negatively in Ankara. In his efforts to revive the stalled Geneva talks, de Mistura spent the last month in numerous consultations. On June 6, he visited Istanbul, where he met with Turkish government officials, as well as Syrian opposition leaders from the Syrian High Negotiations Committee and National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. On June 9, he visited Tehran, and on June 11, he visited Egypt. The constitutional committee, which should generate and propose ideas for the countrys new constitution, will consist of 150 members. Of the 150 members,100 will represent the government and moderate or internal opposition, and 50 will represent the so-called external opposition. De Mistura, however, would like the committee to be limited to no more than 50 members total. Moreover, UN talks with ambassadors of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are scheduled for June 25 in Geneva. It is clear that de Mistura is attempting to bridge opposing sides of the conflict under the UN flag. According to Lavrentiev, Russia is ready to consider reasonable proposals from the United States, Germany and other countries in that "camp." Many Russian experts privately agree that Syrian President Bashar al-Assads decision, made during his visit to Sochi in May, to send a part of the delegation to the constitutional committee can be seen as a compromise. Syrian regime officials have previously said the creation of the constitutional committee should be officially approved by Assad and that Damascus will not accept any committee formed without the decision of Syrian government. However, it is not certain whether this compromise is actually that extensive. Damascus has already presented its own list of 50 delegates, in which members of the Baath Party and the Syrian Peoples Congress have a majority. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem reacted negatively to the news, though he previously said, The government should comprise the majority of the [constitutional] committee, and every decision should be made unanimously. Naser al-Hariri, the head of the Syrian High Negotiations Committee who boycotted the negotiations in Sochi, said that since the list is still being composed, no particular names or information about the committee should be discussed before their official presentation. The Russian delegation held negotiations in Geneva with three Syrian dissident movements that participated in the Sochi congress, represented by: Qadri Jamil, leader of the so-called Moscow platform; Ali Jarba, brother of Ahmed Jarba of Syrias Tomorrow Movement; and Haytham Manna of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change. Jarba, as well as the Moscow opposition platform, claimed their places in the constitutional committee and sent their lists to de Mistura. Meanwhile, they await the publication of the list made by the Syrian Negotiation Commission, the joint institution created after the Riyadh II opposition conference. Syrias Tomorrow Movement the Cairo-based opposition political party had already mediated talks between Russia and opposition factions. The talks were dedicated to reaching additional agreements on the eastern Ghouta and northern Homs de-escalation zones, which have virtually ceased to function. Moreover, the movement sent 53 of its delegates to the congress in Sochi. Yet the movements militants the Syrian Elite Forces fight autonomously in the eastern part of the country. The troops are not included in the Syrian Democratic Forces, and they have even fought Kurdish groups several times. However, Yahya al-Aridi, the spokesman for the opposition delegation, spoke out against opposition participation in Geneva talks. He said that when some dissident parties claim they will go to Geneva, it actually means that Russia can define the opposition at its own discretion." According to Aridi, everything happening now in northern and southern Syria is evidence that various outside forces are expropriating Syrian land and turning away from people suffering under the system of tyranny. Ahmad Toma, the head of Syrian oppositions delegation in Astana, said Turkey is the only guarantor eligible to present the list of dissident delegates. He added that the intentions of some other opposition parties to send the list of names directly to de Mistura is a manipulation. That said, a member of the Cairo platform dismissed the idea that the oppositions list should pass through the hands of the Turkish guarantor, emphasizing that no one should be allowed to interfere with the constitution of Syria. In turn, Randa Kassis, the leader of the Astana platform of the Syrian opposition, which is loyal to the Syrian government, dubbed the presentation of the list a childish daydream, claiming that such a move was designed to expel her faction from the committee. It is not clear how long it will take to form the committee and to discuss the final project of the constitution. More importantly, it is not clear whether the UN and the countries traditionally supporting the opposition even approve of these processes, as the committee may predominantly be made up of regime delegates and members of tamed opposition parties that have typically been loyal to the government. Any stalling of the negotiations whether in the form of actual or made-up arguments about Syria's constitution is beneficial to Moscow and Damascus. Every action imposing the cease-fire, creating the interim government, holding free and fair elections formally follows UN Resolution 2254 and the Geneva Communique of June 2012, precisely defining a plan toward resolution. However, the reason behind the moves is actually being shrouded: Damascus gets more time to suppress the remnants of the opposition in the de-escalation zones, and inclusion of the puppet dissidents into the Geneva format supplies the regime with additional internal and external legitimization. The project of the constitution, as proposed by Russia within the Astana format, was quite abstract from the beginning, providing merely a rough sketch of a future political system. Although Moscow immediately emphasized that the project was designed for inter-Syrian discussion, it is clearly aimed at preserving the current Syrian regime, for Russias benefit. Further actions on the ground, particularly the elimination of two de-escalation zones, confirmed that a project of this type will be inevitably used as a foundation for further actions. These actions can make it seem like there is stability in Syria, but the question is, for how long? Since a deadly explosion rocked Baghdads Sadr City area June 6, there's been a lot of talk about getting armed factions to turn over their weapons to the Iraqi government, but it remains to be seen how successful such a campaign would be. The blast, which occurred when illegally stored weapons and ammunition detonated, killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 100. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called for an urgent investigation into the explosion. Muqtada al-Sadr, a nationalist Shiite cleric and head of the Sadrist movement whose family is Sadr City's namesake addressed the incident June 8. He stressed that he had given orders to search for the fugitive responsible, though some of his opponents alleged the weapons, which had been stored in a mosque, were owned by Sadr's own Peace Companies militia. Sadr also called for the government to launch a national disarmament campaign, and he volunteered his militia to be the first to turn over its weapons. Shortly after that, on June 12, Sadrs Sairoon Alliance made a surprise announcement that it was forming an alliance with the pro-Iran Fatah Alliance. No single party won enough votes in the May 12 elections for the majority necessary to form the new government. Combining the groups' votes has expedited that goal, Sadr said in a joint press conference with Fatah bloc leader Hadi Al-Amiri. Sadr had been warning that civil war in Iraq was imminent unless a new government could be formed quickly. These developments indicate that Sadr is trying to exploit the blast to gain points politically and with the public. He was swift to forge the biggest alliance to be able to create the next government. He was also keen to closely follow up on the explosion's repercussions in his movements areas of influence, to maintain popularity among his followers. The day after the blast, Sadr said he would seek to hand over those accused of storing weapons to the security authorities, and he called on the government to disarm all armed factions, including the Peace Companies the Sadrist movements military wing and seize weapons that are not in the hands of the state to demilitarize Sadr City. Everyone should obey orders, not obstruct the project and hand in their weapons without any discussion, because the blood of Iraqis is more precious than anything else, he said. A source in the Sadrist movement who refused to be named told Al-Monitor the movement's members had been ordered not to talk about the disarmament initiative while negotiations were underway to form the largest parliamentary bloc. The Iraqi Interior Ministry praised the Sadr initiative to disarm in a June 8 statement. Sadr's call for disarming military factions isn't new, and he also called earlier this year for dismantling the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which includes other Shiite armed factions. Previously, however, Sadr hadn't offered to go first by disarming his own movement, probably for fear of taking this step solo and weakening his movement's political position. Mohammed al-Rubaie, a member of Asaib Ahl al-Haq's political bureau, told Al-Monitor that Sadrs initiative "was very welcomed, as it is a step forward to end the phenomenon of illegal arms. The Political Parties Law prohibits any political party from owning an armed faction. There is also the PMU law [of 2016] that integrated all [the PMU's] armed factions within the Iraqi army. The disarmament laws already exist; they need implementation, he added. The current government is weak and unable to seize all weapons from the different cities. The Political Parties Law, which was approved in 2015, was designed to ban every armed party from participating in politics. But the law remains shelved, and the Independent Electoral Commission has yet to reject any political party because it has weapons. It's unlikely that the current government, which has been putting off implementing the laws, will take action to seize illegal weapons and limit them to the hands of security forces. This government is almost a caretaker government. The most important question for the next four years, however, is how to deal with illegal weapons outside the scope of the state, especially since the political slates that won the most votes in the May 12 elections are made up of the leaders of armed factions the Sairoon Alliance and Fatah bloc the two groups that are forging an alliance in an attempt to create the next government. Will these factions actually hand over the PMU weapons, implementing Sadrs initiative, or will they protect their weapons in parliament and the government? The sun-parched west Anatolian plain is not the likeliest of settings for the realization of a 20-year-old plan for a gas pipeline linking the gas-rich countries of the Caspian with European markets. But it was here that the presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan formally commissioned the first delivery stage of the 1,850-kilometer (1,149-mile) Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) in the process realizing the European Union's long-held dream of the Southern Gas Corridor. A dedicated pipeline link connecting the gas-rich states of the Caspian basin with the gas-hungry markets of Western Europe provides much-needed competition to the Russian gas on which the continent is increasingly dependent. At full capacity, TANAP which is being developed by a consortium led by Azerbaijan state oil company Socar together with Turkey's state gas importer Botas and UK oil giant BP will deliver 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year (cu m/yr) to consumers in Turkey and across Europe, making Azerbaijan one of Europes main gas suppliers and Turkey a major transit route. Speaking at the ceremony for the commissioning of the first stage, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev reminded the 1,000-plus dignitaries present of the speed with which the project has been realized, having been proposed only in 2011 following a decade of talks that saw rival projects fall by the wayside. "When other projects failed, Turkey and Azerbaijan decided we will do this together, and we succeeded creating TANAP to bring Azeri gas to European markets," Aliyev said. Sentiments were echoed by Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "When TANAP was first announced, many called it a dream. But we have proved them wrong," Erdogan said, promising that the line will make its first gas delivery to Europe in June 2019. That promise of TANAP bringing Caspian gas to European markets to compete with Russian imports continues to attract strong support from Brussels. In February this year, EU Vice President for Energy Maros Sefcovic said, "It [TANAP] has a strategic importance for European energy security. We all stand to gain from this 'bridge' between the EU market and the Caspian region." In March, the EU's own financing vehicle, the European Investment Bank, signed off on 932 million euros ($1.15 billion) in loans for the TANAP to ensure its timely completion. Construction of the 31 billion cu m/yr capacity TANAP pipeline itself is progressing on schedule. The first delivery stage, commissioned by Presidents Aliyev and Erdogan, will start delivering up to 6 billion cu m/yr of Azeri gas to Turkey this month. Construction of the second phase, which will carry an additional 10 billion cu m/yr of Azeri gas to the Turkey Greece border, is, as stated by Erdogan, on target for completion by next June. However, plans for the first delivery of gas to Europe next year are already under threat. The next phase of the Southern Gas Corridor the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which will carry gas delivered by TANAP through Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic to Italy, from where the gas can be transited to gas-hungry consumers in Central and Northern Europe is facing serious delays. Construction of the overland sections of the TAP, which is being developed by a consortium led by Socar and BP, is nearing completion. But work on the final 105-kilometer (65-mile) section across the Adriatic has yet to start and is facing further delay thanks to Italy's newly elected, Euro-skeptic coalition government, whose Environment Minister Sergio Costa has dubbed the TAP project "pointless" and launched a formal review. Without approval from Italy, the final section of the TAP and the Southern Gas Corridor will not be laid, threatening a $40 billion chain of investments that stretches from Azerbaijan's BP-operated Shah Deniz gas field, through pipelines in Azerbaijan and Georgia, and across Turkey, Greece and Albania with the TANAP and the TAP, to the Italian coast where the receiving station for the TAP is already under construction. "Either the Italian government has to change its mind or a new export route has to be found," says independent Caspian energy analyst John Roberts. Other export options do exist. Existing gas transit lines through the Balkans could be repurposed, and with the addition of planned "interconnectors," they could allow Azeri gas from the TANAP to be transited to markets in Southeast and Eastern Europe. Also in attendance at the TANAP commissioning ceremony were Presidents Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine and Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, both of whom expressed their country's readiness to buy Azeri gas transited through the TANAP. That is not an interest stemming from any altruistic motive but rather the need to access alternatives to gas from Russia, which currently has a monopoly on supply to both countries. In the case of Ukraine, the need is somewhat urgent, with Moscow which in 2014 illegally annexed the Ukrainian province of Crimea continuing to use gas supplies as a means of applying pressure on its neighbor. In April, Russian gas exporter Gazprom announced that it would drastically cut gas transit through Ukraine, potentially leaving Kiev with a major energy shortage. "We have seen how energy can be abused by Moscow to further its own domestic and foreign agendas and to pressure its neighbors," complained Poroshenko. Italian intransigence could yet prove to be Kiev's salvation. Even if Italy relents and allows the TAP to be completed, the TANAP has 15 billion cu m/yr of spare capacity that could be used to carry gas to the Balkans and beyond. Nothing is ever so straightforward in the complex world of gas transit, however, and Gazprom also has designs on using those existing Balkan transit lines. Moscow wants to use them to carry gas from its new TurkStream gas pipeline currently being laid across the Black Sea to Turkey, a line designed solely with the aim of bypassing Ukraine and pressuring Kiev to toe Moscows line. Gaining access to those lines would require permission from Ankara, which as a close ally of Azerbaijan and a major sponsor of the TANAP looks certain to find its loyalties divided. Turkey goes to the polls on June 24 for parliamentary and presidential elections, though Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party appear less than certain to emerge victors. Whoever does emerge as the victor will need to choose wisely. The Department of Defense is investing $1 million in a device developed in Alabama to diagnose infection sources in remote places like military battlefields. If it works, researchers say it could also be used from schools to airports and beyond. GeneCapture, a resident associate company at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, said today it has received two-year small business technology funding. The company is working on a "gene signature matching platform" to screen for hundreds of disease-causing germs in less than an hour. The platform could also be used in places such as schools, urgent care clinics, doctor's offices, nursing homes, veterinary clinics, cruise ships and airports, the company said. "It has been a dream of mine to bring this technology to market so that critical diagnostic decisions can be made quickly, which will save lives," said Dr. Krishnan Chittur, chemical engineering professor emeritus at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and co-founder of GeneCapture. The original discovery was patented at UAH and exclusively licensed to GeneCapture. The technology works by using a probe to capture the "signature" of the germs, Chittur said. An optical scan identifies which germ is present in about 45 minutes. "It's a completely new technique that would have been impossible without the advances in genetics and genomics discoveries of the last decade," he said. "That is one of the reasons we are located at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology the research that's happening here is cutting-edge." GeneCapture is also collaborating on the contract with Birmingham-based Southern Research, a nonprofit research organization. The former Birmingham News production building at 2200 4th Ave. North recently sold for $1.5 million. The buyer Birmingham-based News Properties LLC plans to transform the 97,000-square-foot building into a Class-A, self-storage facility. The Birmingham Design Review Committee approved the concept in February. Birchfield Penuel & Associates is the architect. Christy Roddy and William Ledbetter of Cushman & Wakefield/ EGS Commercial Real Estate represented the seller, Advance Local Media LCC, the parent company of Alabama Media Group. Eddie Greenhalgh, first vice president of investments, for Marcus & Millichap's Birmingham office represented the seller. "As a Birmingham native we are excited to be a part of the continued revitalization of downtown Birmingham. We look forward to providing first class service in this self-storage project for the business community and the growing residential population in the city center," Brent Fields, one of the owners of News Properties LCC, said in a statement. The former news production building was built in 1982 on 1.60 acres. Alabama Media Group moved the printing of the Birmingham News to Atlanta in January 2017. Greenhalgh said the conversion of the building to self-storage represents a wider revitalization of Birmingham's downtown area. Hyundai and Audi today have announced a multi-year patent cross-licensing agreement to develop fuel cell electric vehicles. The pact, which extends to Hyundai-affiliate Kia and Audi's parent company Volkswagen, involves sharing already-developed fuel cell technology between the two companies. Audi will also be able to take full advantage of Hyundai's FCEV parts supply chain, according to the companies. Hyundai, which mass produces fuel cell vehicles, has been offering SUV-Class fuel cell SUVs since 2013, and currently sells them in 18 countries around the world. In addition, the pact will affect Hyundai Mobis, the Hyundai Motor Group electric vehicle components manufacturer, and is expected to dramatically increase production in South Korea of powertrain fuel cell complete modules per year. Neither side has disclosed the length of the agreement. Drones that inventory. Augmented reality glasses giving instructions to workers. Artificial intelligence solutions. More efficient lunch breaks. Those are a few of the ideas pitched tonight at Mercedes-Benz's Innovation Challenge, a startup competition staged this evening at the Vance plant's training center. Mercedes-Benz opened its doors to firms from around the world to dream up solutions to challenges on the factory floor. And engineers and innovators came back this evening with their own ideas. Teams were split into startup companies and student & professional groups. Cash prizes will be awarded to winners of the challenge. It was a unique opportunity, said Rahul Chipalkatty, the founder and CEO of Southie, a Boston-based company. Southie came with a pitch on how to deploy robots in logistics centers for smaller, more specialized tasks that may be needed for short periods of time. MBUSI Innovation Challenge 7 Gallery: MBUSI Innovation Challenge At a booth close by was Benjamin Federmann, the CEO of Germany's doks. He came with Inventairy, an autonomous drone that takes factory inventory using sensors, barcode and temperature scanners. It took a team of 10 people to develop Inventairy. Those who milled between the tables and sampled food also got to try on augmented reality goggles from Vital Enterprises, a San Francisco-based company. CEO Ash Eldritch said the equipment can overlay instructions for employees wearing the visor, as well as assist in training. Eldritch said his company has been working with this technology for about five years, but an opportunity to pitch to a customer as big as Mercedes-Benz was big. "There are so many places where this can be utilized," he said. "When we first started out with companies, you would get a lot of blank looks. Now there's a more clear idea of the uses of this technology." About 100 people investigated the pitch competition when Mercedes-Benz opened it up in April. Some even toured the Vance plant and talked with those who worked there about some areas needing solutions. The teams were eventually winnowed down to nine. MBUSI President Jason Hoff said the company decided to take a different approach this time in tackling problem areas around the plant. The idea was to turn lose minds that aren't normally engaged in automotive manufacturing and see what happened. "This year, (the IT department) came forward and said there's a lot of great companies out there with really cool ideas. Let's present our challenges and see what comes back. It's a new approach for us," Hoff said. "We purposely left the challenges pretty vague and the rest is up to them." Not all the pitches dealt with high-tech manufacturing either. Two Ravens, of Birmingham, came up with a pitch to make the 30-minute lunch break more efficient and satisfying. Lindsay Sutton said the company thought a problem impacting the plant's 4,000 employees at a vital point in their everyday routine would be rewarding. As one curious employee came up to inquire, the Two Ravens group mentioned their pitch had to do with lunch challenges. "I'm very familiar with that," he said, laughing. A professor will soon direct an episode of the popular drama series "Queen Sugar." Rachel Raimist , a professor of journalism and creative media at UA, will shoot the episode in New Orleans this month. Created by "Selma" and "A Wrinkle in Time" director Ava DuVernay, the series follows the life of three siblings, who move to Louisiana to claim an inheritance from their recently departed father, an 800-acre sugarcane farm in Louisiana. Oprah Winfrey serves as executive producer on the show, which airs on her OWN network. Directing the episode will place Raimist in the Directors Guild of America. The series has featured all women directors over its three seasons. "I have made independent films and documentaries, but for a long time I thought that breaking in to television might not be possible," Raimist said, according to a UA release. "DuVernay has been intentional about giving opportunities to first-time television directors from legendary independent film directors like Julie Dash, Cheryl Dunye and Patricia Cardoso to new directors with recent festival wins and folks like me who don't fit into either of these categories." Raimist will direct episode 311, called "Your Passages Have Been Paid." "Queen Sugar" won two NAACP Image Awards in 2017, including outstanding drama series and outstanding writing in a dramatic series. Watch the trailer for season three below: Could a complaint written by United Methodists on the west coast get U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions kicked out of the United Methodist church in Alabama where he's a member? Probably not, even according to those making the complaint. "I think that's highly unlikely," said the Rev. Richenda Fairhurst, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Ashland, Oregon, who worked with University of Puget Sound Chaplain David Wright on the complaint against Sessions. "It's a very unlikely outcome of a complaint like this." Technically, it's possible. After all, Sessions is being accused by fellow church members of child abuse for promoting a policy that separates immigrant children from their families when they are detained for illegal entry at the U.S. border. "After an extremely long and thorough process it is theoretically possible a person could be removed from a United Methodist Church," said William Lawrence, professor emeritus of American church history at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. "To my knowledge, in the 50 years the United Methodist Church has existed, no complaint against a lay person has ever reached that point." A formal complaint has been filed. "We have received a complaint related to Jeff Sessions but no charges have been filed," said Mary Catherine Phillips, director of communications for the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. "The United Methodist Book of Discipline specifically outlines the handling of any official complaint against a church member and we will be following that protocol. Details on any complaint, whether it relates to clergy or lay, are confidential so we would not be able to comment further at this time." The complaint will be forwarded to Ashland Place United Methodist Church in Mobile, where Sessions is a member. It could result in Sessions' pastor having a talk with him, telling him that some members of the church think he's guilty of child abuse. "The complaint will be adjudicated in the local church," Lawrence said. "It may be no satisfactory resolution can be achieved." The pastor could involve a district superintendent who oversees churches in the area and could decide to appoint a committee to investigate allegations, Lawrence said. Wright, Fairhurst and others were outraged by Sessions quoting the Bible, Romans 13, which calls for Christians to obey the law, as justification for his policy on separating immigrant families at the border. "The use of Romans 13 came up," Fairhurst said. "This seems to be a harmful idea loose in the world that the Bible accepts harm to children if the state does it. I'm afraid it might be construed as truth and people might believe it. It's wrong. There was a real desire to make clear that's not Methodist doctrine, it's not a Christian understanding of that scripture. At the time I added my name to the letter, I was glad people could hear an alternative point of view in case people really believe that Methodists should be harming children." Bringing an official church complaint was a way of communicating that to Sessions, she said. More than 600 people signed on to the complaint. "I was a little unsure at first," Fairhurst said. "You can use the Book of Discipline (the United Methodist book of policy and church law) for harm just as you can use the Bible for harm." The intent was promoting conversation, she said. "As the letter developed, the spirit of the letter was a pastoral response, that we are all children of God," Fairhurst said. She said she other signatories realize the complaint could be construed as political. "That is a way some people will take this - that was not my intent,to make the letter a political tool," Fairhurst said. "The intent was pastoral, not political." Calling out a government official in his church is an unusual step, she said. "Mr. Sessions is in a really unique and difficult position," she said. "The idea was we could call for a pastoral response, reach out in love, and initiate a dialogue. We were not sure how to respond to this madness. Our communities are divided. How can we sit down and talk and say, 'Hey we're hurting each other. We're justifying harm to children.' The depth of that harm really is concerning. It's raising a red flag of something's gone really wrong. When harm starts happening, that's a really big flag. Harm has been happening. We can't hurt each other. It's worth an outreach. If our conversations can move us away from harm to children, that will be good. That would be better, more Christ-like. I would like the harm to stop. Where is Christ in this? We need a heart change here. We got really off track. That's what I'm hoping for. So much is at stake here. God is watching." Sessions could easily sidestep answering the church legal complaint by resigning from the United Methodist Church. "He could do that," Fairhurst said. "I would be really sad." By Ruth Anderah. Lawyers representing Mukono municipality Member of Parliament Betty Nambooze Bakireke have petitioned the Human Rights commission seeking for her immediate release. According to their petition they want Uganda Human Rights commission to invoke the powers enshrined in article 53 [2] of the constitution to order for immediate release so that she can travel to India for specialized medical treatment. Her lawyers from Lukwago and Company advocates say their client was scheduled to travel to India for a medical review and specialized treatment upon recommendation by the physician in the same facility who operated on her spinal cord. Its alleged that on Saturday June 16thNambooze was transferred to Kiruddu Hospital where she is currently hospitalized and lacks adequate facilities to address her health challenges. Namboze is still confined as police officers have been deployed at her ward to maintain 24-hour surveillance and restrict her movements. Related Stories.. Nambooze re-summoned in connection with Abirigas assassination UPC condemn Mp Namboozes arrest by Lou Gathany for AL.com There are multiple ways to generate electrical power; one of them, the power of water has been harnessed as a source of energy for thousands of years. In the 1930's TVA built several dams to make use of the mighty Tennessee River to power eastern Tennessee and north Alabama. Construction of the Guntersville Dam began in 1935 and was completed in 1939. The dam is 94 feet high and stretches 3,979 feet across the Tennessee River. It has four generating turbines with a capacity of producing 124 megawatts. Guntersville Reservoir has almost 890 miles of shoreline and 67,900 acres of water surface. The media and others were recently offered an opportunity to experience guided tours in anticipation of making such tours available again. "Our primary goals are flood control, recreation, and power generation," explained TVA Southwest Hyrdro Senior Manager Kevin York, "We're happy to have members of the public in today for what we're calling the Built for the People Tour across TVA." "It gives us an opportunity to teach about the history of TVA as well as an opportunity to see our facility." The Guntersville Dam is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On tour were the four large power producing turbines. The tour also included a walk out on the spillway. It also covered what TVA does in the area it serves - from its history to present day. "Power is secondary to what we provide to the community," York explained, "What we prevent is flood damage every year across the Valley. This is huge for this area and across the TVA system." The dam was designed to be a cool educational space with open access to the public. The powerful turbines demonstrate engineering feats developed long before the advances of the age of computers. According to TVA spokeswoman Malinda Hunter "The reason we're doing this pilot program is because we want to demonstrate that there is interest in the public to tour the dams and see the facilities". If the public expresses interest in restarting the tours, Guntersville Dam will be a cool space for the public to visit once again. To learn more about the Guntersville Dam and future tours here are some links... Info on Guntersville Dam can be found at: https://www.tva.com/Energy/Our-Power-System/Hydroelectric/Guntersville-Reservoir Here is link to info on dam tours: https://www.tva.com/Take-a-Tour-Inside-a-Dam Birmingham didn't make the shortlist of cities in the running to host the Democratic National Convention in 2020, according to reports. It turns out, though, the Magic City didn't even enter the race, according to the mayor's office. Rick Journey, director of communications for Mayor Randall Woodfin, said the city submitted a letter of interest after being invited by the Democratic Party to bid to host the 2020 convention, but the city never submitted a bid. This is surprising since national media outlets reported in May that Birmingham was one of eight cities that submitted responses to the Democrats. "We were honored to receive the encouragement from (Democratic Party) Chairman Tom Perez and Deputy Chairman Rep. Keith Ellison to submit a proposal for Birmingham to host the DNC in 2020," Journey said in an email. "After a closer look, we recognized the huge amount of resources needed to prepare the city to be competitive in the selection process, and successful if we were to be selected as the host. "At this time, we have determined that we must keep our focus first and foremost on our priorities to the people of Birmingham through neighborhood revitalization, workforce development and business growth," he said. Politico reported on Wednesday that Houston, Miami Beach, Milwaukee and Denver are the finalists to host the convention. The convention is set for July 13-16, 2020. In March, Birmingham was invited to bid to host the 2020 convention, which could attract more than 35,000 visitors to the city. The invitation came as a letter addressed to Woodfin from the Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez. Though Birmingham didn't meet the hotel room and convention space requirement, it appeared the mayor was going to have staff submit a bid. "We are very excited that the Democratic National Committee has recognized the City of Birmingham as an attractive, possible site for the 2020 Democratic National Convention," Woodfin told AL.com in April. "Such recognition shows how much progress our city is making when we receive these kinds of unsolicited invitations." The mayor said the application process would be handled by internal staff unlike in 2014 when the city hired a group to submit a bid package to host the 2016 DNC. According to the Democratic Party, a host city must have 17,000 to 18,000 hotel rooms and 1,000 luxury suites within 30 minutes of the arena. There are about 18,000 hotel rooms combined in Jefferson and Shelby counties, according to the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau. The counties fall short, though, on luxury suites. The DNC also noted the desire for 650,000 square feet of "usable space" in an arena and convention hall. The Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex has 350,000 square feet. Legacy Arena has seating for 17,654. The Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex completed another big step towards making the downtown stadium a reality. The bond issue to finance the $300 million expansion of the BJCC including the construction of a downtown stadium received quality grades from rating agencies Moody's and Standard and Poor's. The bonds will likely hit the market to be sold the week following the Fourth of July holiday, said Rush Rice, of Rice Advisory Group, BJCC's financial advisor. Tad Snider, executive director of the BJCC, said he is very happy with the ratings. "We expected a lot and these are right inline with what we expected," he said. Construction on the $174 million downtown stadium is projected to start by the end of the year and be open in 2021. The stadium is a part of a $300 million BJCC expansion project, which is being funded by the BJCC, Birmingham, Jefferson County, UAB and corporate partners and a 3-percent tax on car leases and rentals in Jefferson County. The bond issue includes fives series of bonds named: A, B, C, D and E. They are divided based on the sources of repayment. Snider said A, B and C will be repaid by different revenue streams from the BJCC while D is being paid by Birmingham and E by Jefferson County. Bonds are given a grade to indicate their quality and help investors determine their credit risk. Bonds are rated from C to AAA. The higher the rating the less risk for investors. Here are the ratings of the BJCC bonds: Standard & Poor's: 2018-A: AA- 2018-B: A+ 2018-C: A+ 2018-D: AA (Birmingham) 2018-E: AA (Jefferson County) Moody's 2018-A: Aa3 2018-B: A1 2018-C: A1 2018-D: Aa2 (Birmingham) 2018-E: A3 (Jefferson County) All of the bonds are stable, Rice said. In the two weeks before the bonds are sold, they will be promoted and pre-marketed to fund managers, he said. The bonds will be priced in one day, and the executive committee of the BJCC board will have to convene to approve the pricing. In April, the BJCC board of directors selected four firms to serve as the underwriters for the bonds. Raymond James and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. are to serve as the co-senior managers and Loop Capital Markets and Securities Capital Corp. to serve as managers. The book running manager is Raymond James. Underwriters purchase the bonds and then resell them to the public or other investors. A Hoover teen was killed Tuesday night in what authorities described as a tragic gun accident in Chambers County. Authorities identified the victim as Barry "Trey" Anderson. He was 19. Chambers County Sheriff Sid Lockhart said deputies were dispatched about 8:36 p.m. to County Road 176 on a report of a gunshot wound. Once on the scene, they found Anderson lying in the Five Points community roadway with a gunshot wound to the lower abdomen. He was initially conscious and was going to be life-flighted to East Alabama Medical Center, but then went into cardiac arrest and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He was pronounced dead upon arrival by Lee County Coroner Bill Harris. Authorities said the incident location was on a remote dirt road and Anderson was with several friends and his girlfriend. It appears, Harris said, that Anderson was playing with a gun and dropped it, causing it to discharge. A man headed to Alabama is in jail this morning after police found more than 130 pounds of marijuana in his car. On Monday around 3:30 p.m., a deputy from the Bienville Parish Sheriff's Department in Louisiana stopped a Toyota van on Interstate 20, after the deputy saw the van driving 86 miles per hour in a 70 miles per hour zone. According to a post on the department's Facebook page, when the officer stopped the van he "immediately smelled a strong odor of raw marijuana coming from inside." Kao Lao, who was driving the van, said he was driving to Alabama from his hometown of Sacramento. The deputy then found seven large garbage bags in the back of the van, which contained approximately 139 pounds of marijuana. According to the department, Lao has been charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and is being held in the Bienville Parish Jail under $1,000,000 bond. A Birmingham police lieutenant arrested on a charge of rape of a teen relative has submitted his resignation from the force. Lt. Pete Williston was released from the Jefferson County Jail about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, just over 24 hours after he was taken into custody after being discharged from UAB Hospital where he admitted for psychiatric evaluation amid suicide concerns. His attorney, Scott Morro, told AL.com that he was en route to deliver Williston's letter of resignation to Birmingham Assistant Police Chief Allen Treadway. "Pete is resigning from the police department because he, his family and the police department need healing,'' Morro said. "He is a man who needs healing and a man who is remorseful of his actions." "The allegations are very serious, but I haven't seen all of the allegations yet,'' Morro said. "We want the victim to know in no way, shape or form is anything her fault." Morris police on Friday obtained a first-degree rape warrant against Williston. Police Chief Mike Nazarchyk said the 24-year-old woman reported to the department on May 31 that she had been sexually abused by Williston from 2008 through 2011 when she was 14 years old. She is now 24. "After a thorough investigation, our findings were turned over to the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office,'' Nazarchyk said in a prepared statement. He said they notified Birmingham police of the charges against Williston, and he was placed on leave. Williston was admitted to UAB on Friday and discharged Monday afternoon. Birmingham police arrested him at the hospital and then took him to Birmingham police headquarters to sign paperwork and undergo questioning by Morris police detectives, Nazarchyk said. Williston, the Morris chief said, did not answer any questions. He was then brought out the back door of Birmingham headquarters in handcuffs where a patrol car had pulled up to the door. Williston exited the building with a coat over his head. He was then taken to the Jefferson County Jail where authorities began the booking process on the charge of rape by force. He was released on $50,000 bond. Aziz Sayyed, a former Alabama college student, was sentenced today to 15 years in federal prison for gathering bomb-making materials and planning to blow up a police building on behalf of the Islamic State group. Sayyed, 23, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a federal crime of attempting to provide material support or resources to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization. "I'm sorry about the path I've taken," Sayyed told U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon at today's sentencing. "I don't know what else to say, your honor." Federal prosecutors said Sayyed in 2017 met with a Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent, who he thought was a member of ISIS, and expressed his desire to assist the terrorist organization. "Would he have exploded a bomb? I don't think so, but I can't tell you that for sure," Defense attorney Bruce Gardner said after today's hearing. "The FBI, to their credit, came in at exactly the right time in their mission to protect us all." In addition to the 15-year sentence, Kallon ordered Sayyed to a lifetime of supervised released. He'll have to allow his probation officer to search his home, car, electronic devices and more, the judge said. If Sayyed has any kind of contact with a terrorist group, its propaganda or a person tied to such group, that could be considered a violation of his release. Sayyed is accused of gathering materials to make a triacetone triperoxide (TATP) bomb for use in a terror attack. He was arrested by Huntsville police on state charges in June 2017, two days after he met with the FBI agent. Gardner said the state charges are expected to be dropped. Sayyed watched propaganda videos from terrorist organizations, according to federal prosecutors. These videos showed ISIS forces committing bombings, executions and beheadings. Sayyed showed his support for the terrorist organization by singing ISIS chants, having an ISIS flag and saying the group was on the "right path," according to his 13-page plea deal. Sayyed admitted to discussing his aspirations to carry out an attack on Redstone Arsenal or on police stations with two different people. He went to a shooting range in north Alabama to learn how to operate certain firearms and practice shooting them. Sayyed is an American citizen and was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was living in Huntsville to attend Calhoun Community College. Sayyed's parents live in Kuwait, though he has an uncle who lives in Huntsville and works for NASA. "Considering the weight of the evidence and the type of activity Mr. Sayyed could have been prosecuted for, I'm extremely happy that we were able to work this out," Gardner said of the plea deal. "He's very sorry. Everybody wants a do-over and he'd sure like to have one of those. He realized he had gone to far, that he had broken the law, that he had potentially put a lot of peoples' lives in danger." Huntsville police are charging a man with multiple counts of capital murder in connection with the slayings of three people who were found dead on northside Tuesday afternoon. Rodney Geddes Rodney Shawn Geddes, 43, is being charged in connection with the killings of his ex-girlfriend and two teen girls, said Huntsville police Lt. Michael Johnson. Iris Koress Bynum, 42, was found dead along with the teens at a home on Knollbrook Drive in northwest Huntsville. The girls were identified as 16-year-old Xzariah Rice and 17-year-old Heaven Hines, said Madison County Coroner Tyler Berryhill. Their deaths bring the number of homicide victims to 13 in Huntsville so far in 2018. Police were called to 4008 Knollbrook Drive just before 3:30 p.m. by a concerned family member who found two bodies in the home, Johnson said. The relative had been calling the victims for hours but didn't get a response. Police have said the victims may have been dead for up to 12 hours before their bodies were found. The authorities haven't released details about cause of death. "During the initial investigation, it was uncovered that Geddes had been living in the home and had a relationship with Ms. Bynum," Johnson said in a news release. "They recently had separated." Geddes is being held in the Franklin County, Tennessee jail on unrelated charges. He was arrested while walking in the area of Interstate 24 around 9 p.m. Tuesday. Huntsville police are working to get capital murder warrants for his arrest and extradition back to Alabama. Updated at 4:31 p.m. with the names of the two teen girls. The Big Mules are stubborn. They don't always pull in the same direction. Big Mules, the yoke of history tells us, pull for themselves. The mules, who have long ruled Alabama, usually do their dirty work in dark board rooms and back rooms once filled with smoke but now fogged only by the air of entitlement. But not this week. Alabama Power Co., a king of the mules, pulled support from the Business Council of Alabama, a nouveau mule set up to do the bidding of bigger mules. In doing so APCO CEO Mark Crosswhite sent a blistering letter to BCA brass, complaining of everything from poor communication to becoming "a divisive force in our State." Regions Bank made its own exit, and so did PowerSouth. The BCA -- what used to be the state's most powerful business lobby -- was left holding the shreds of its clout. It is widely believed other dominant Alabama businesses -- including Blue Cross and Blue Shield -- will follow suit. Is it just a fat cat spat, or a not-so-civil war between the powers that wanna-be and the power that's always on? Clearly, those companies wanted BCA President and CEO Billy Canary gone, and those desires were ignored. But why? It may take a little speculation, but some of the reasons for the breakup are obvious. The BCA - in many ways a creature of the Bob Riley, Mike Hubbard era - has stubbed its toes since Canary lost his bestie in the Legislature, Hubbard. Canary used to meet weekly in Hubbard's office to plow out the agenda they both wanted. Canary drooled all over himself from the witness stand in Hubbard's ethics trial, and it didn't do any good. Hubbard was convicted and sentenced to prison, and Canary has bumbled ever since. He set out to kill a popular autism insurance bill - using every disgusting means necessary - but tripped over his own failure to comprehend that legislators could choose compassion over Big Mule profit. He failed to deliver on gas tax legislation, which Big Mules love because it means lucrative road construction. He dissed some legislators by not inviting them to a BCA retreat. He supported bribed Rep. Oliver Robinson, and was flanks-deep in discouraging cleanup of the Superfund site in North Birmingham that doomed Robinson. That the accused bribers from Balch & Bingham and Drummond Co. go to trial next week should not be lost on anyone. But if you want to know what I think really steered this rocky relationship into a gulch, it's like everything else in Alabama politics these days. It starts with Hubbard, and it ends with Roy Moore. Or more precisely, with former Alabama AG Luther Strange. Strange, you recall, was AG during the Hubbard probe. He recused himself, stepping aside as his corruption chief, Matt Hart, pursued Hubbard like a Hagrid-sized honey badger. Canary wanted Hart off the case - like everybody else in Hubbard's camp. There was pressure and coercion and intimidation but, whatever else you think of Strange, he refused to call off his dog. The BCA never really backed Strange after that. Strange also stepped aside to let Hart and his unit look at former Gov. Robert Bentley. That went terribly wrong when Strange, during the investigation of Bentley, spoke to the governor seeking nomination to the U.S. Senate, to replace Jeff Sessions. He got the job, and Bentley ended up pleading guilty. And Hart took the plea. But the damage was done. Alabama saw Strange as a guy who pimped out his duty to get a better job. It chose the detestable Moore over Strange in the GOP primary, and that was the only reason Democrat Doug Jones could win. On top of that Sen. Richard Shelby - who has real ties to Big Mules and can actually do things that affect them - supported Strange and would not vote for Moore. No matter what you might think, Shelby is not out to pasture yet. He still has a kick. The BCA? It made the grave mistake of thinking power lies in its offices. It does not. It did not listen. It did not hear. It did not act and it did not understand ... Alabama. As history teaches, you can't out-stubborn a Big Mule. John Archibald is a columnist for Reckon by AL.com. His column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Write him at jarchibald@al.com. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama has become the latest major company to announce its withdrawal from the Business Council of Alabama. The BCA, meanwhile, said it plans to have a new president and CEO in place by the first of the year and hopes to restore its relationships with the companies that are leaving. Koko Mackin, vice president of corporate communications and community relations at Blue Cross, released this statement this morning: "Blue Cross has consistently participated at a high level of support of the BCA and its activities. At this time, the correct path for our company and our customers is to withdraw from the BCA while the organization considers its future path." Blue Cross follows Alabama Power, Regions Bank and PowerSouth as companies that are leaving the BCA because of a dissatisfaction with the organization's leadership under President and CEO Billy Canary. This afternoon, the BCA released a letter from BCA Chairman Perry Hand to Robin Stone, vice president of governmental affairs for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The letter notes that the insurance company has not been a BCA member since April because it stopped paying dues. Hand wrote that the BCA and Blue Cross and Blue Shield have worked well together and that the BCA is hopeful the relationship can be restored. The full text of the letter is at the end of this story. Hand also wrote that the BCA Executive Committee will meet on Thursday to approve details of a transition plan to have a new CEO installed no later than Jan. 1, 2019. "We will be appointing members of the selection committee, and their work is to commence immediately," Hand wrote. "This week's meeting is a culmination of many meetings that have been called in direct response to the concerns you have voiced." Hand also released a statement about all the defections by members this week: "We have worked diligently to address the concerns and issues raised by these companies; however, we could not in good conscience meet their time requirements because it would detrimental to our organization. The BCA is a statewide association representing the issues and concerns of nearly 4,000 businesses of all shapes, sizes and sectors - not just these companies. "While we are saddened to see these friends leave, we will continue our work to create a climate in Alabama for new and existing businesses to locate and expand, making our great state even greater for all its citizens. "Our door is always open should they choose to return, and we hope that one day they will." The BCA is an advocacy organization founded in 1985 that describes itself as " the voice for Alabama business." It has enjoyed influence in the Legislature and Alabama political circles. But Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite wrote that BCA's leadership had "needlessly alienated federal and state officials, failed to communicate with its own members, squandered our collective corporate goodwill, allowed its financial health to decline, and become a divisive force in our state." In response to Crosswhite, BCA Chairman Hand wrote that the BCA had "worked diligently to address the concerns and issues you have raised; however, we have not, in good conscience, been able to adhere to the deadline dates you have prescribed to our Executive Committee." Hand wrote that Crosswhite requested that the BCA replace Canary by May 1 and then by June 1. Canary has led the organization for about 15 years. Hand also wrote to Crosswhite that the BCA Executive Committee intends to have a new CEO in place by Jan. 1. In 2017, the BCA and Blue Cross and Blue Shield lost a high profile battle in the Legislature. Both organizations opposed a bill to require some insurance plans to cover therapy for autism. Advocates for the bill said the therapy was vital for many children with autism but prohibitively expensive for most parents if it was not covered by their insurance. After a strong lobbying push from parents who showed up in force at the State House, the Legislature eventually passed the bill overwhelmingly, with only one dissenting vote in the Senate and none in the House. Hand noted that lost battle in his letter to Stone. "In recent legislative sessions, we expended tremendous effort working alongside you and your team to prevent government-imposed health care mandates from being forced upon the business community," Hand wrote. "While we all were not successful in these efforts, we at BCA felt that our actions honored our long term relationship and our legislative agenda set by our Board of Directors." This story was updated at 3:35 p.m. to add statement and letter from BCA Chairman Perry Hand. This story was updated again at 4:16 p.m. to add information about the autism insurance bill. Business Council of Alabama letter to Blue Cross and Blue Shield by Mike Cason on Scribd By Shamim Nateebwa. snateebwa@ug.nationmedia.com Police have dismissed media reports pinning it for allegedly blocking Mukono municipality MP Betty Nambooze from traveling abroad for further treatment. Speaking at the Human rights commission dialogue on Tuesday, The police head of human Rights AIGP Erasmus Twaruhukwa said they have not yet received any communication from the legislator or even her lawyers regarding her intention to travel abroad for further treatment. We have never gotten any submission showing that Nambooze needs to be taken abroad for treatment but we actually hear rumors and as police we do not work on hearsay, said Mr. Twaruhukwa. He meanwhile justified why police has had Ms. Nambooze and other suspects at large in detention for more than 48 hours. Sometimes we keep suspects beyond 48 hours because of the prolonged investigations and we release them on bond if we fail to substantially conclude our investigations, added Mr. Twaruhukwa. Speaking from the same dialogue, the Human rights lawyer Ladislous Rwakafuuzi urged police to seek permission from lawyers before keeping suspects in custody for over 48 hours adding that the constitution should in same regarded not be amended to remove this rule. On Friday Last week police arrested Betty Nambooze from her home and has since been detained at Nagagalama police and after was taken to Kiruddu hospital after her condition deteriorated. Her lawyers led by the Kampala lord mayor Erias Lukwago yesterday petitioned the Uganda Human Rights commission seeking powers to invoke article 53(2) of the constitution to order for her immediate release so that she can travel for further medical review. The Commissions chairperson Mr.Meddy Kaggwa said they are going to investigate Ms Nambozes case before they can come with any further action. we are going to look into the into the document written by Namboozes lawyers seeking for her release to go for further treatment and we shall after come up with our side, noted Mr. Kaggwa. The dialogue that attracted different stakeholders among them Police, army and civil society organizations was aimed at enhancing the state of accountability and ending all kinds of impunity and human rights violations. Mr Kaggwa said the commission intends to have talks with all organizations to see that they take accountability in preserving human rights while doing their work adding that police will be their point of emphasis since it has new leadership. The police force has now new leadership and we shall put our focus there to see how they can perform better to end violation of human rights, added Mr. Kaggwa. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey's decision whether to commit state finances to restarting Amtrak services to Mobile is "extremely important" to ongoing statewide efforts for restoring passenger rail elsewhere, rail advocates say. "It would anchor any passenger rail service we expand into Alabama," said Greg White, an Alabama representative on the 21-member Southern Rail Commission. "The north-south corridor to Birmingham and to Huntsville. It's also the first step in getting service into the Florida Panhandle. If we don't get service to Mobile, those opportunities in the future go away." Ivey has until Wednesday to decide if the state will make a $5.3 million commitment over three years for the Amtrak restart in Mobile, connecting to New Orleans. The renewed route would include two Amtrak trains running daily from New Orleans to Mobile with stops in Mississippi towns - Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula. The project is the first phase of restoring the Gulf Coast rail line, which stopped serving Amtrak trains after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005. Future phases include extending the train east through the Port of Mobile to Atmore and into Florida. But restarting passenger rail through Mobile, advocates say, is important in moving forward a restarting of the former Gulf Breeze line, which Amtrak traveled from Mobile to Birmingham until 1995. A $200,000 analysis of linking Birmingham to Montgomery was completed in 2013. The study showed that costs to restore the route ranged from $120 million for the most basic alternative projects to more than $2 billion for an option that would include building new tracks. A second study is under way and it looks at linking Montgomery to Mobile. Robert Smith, director of planning with the city of Montgomery, said his office is working with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs in administering the study. A $140,000 contract, given out to Atlanta-based Aecom, will explore a host of issues as it assesses the prospect of adding passenger rail to the CSX freight line. "It will study the overall feasibility, the ridership analysis, the revenue analysis and how much it would cost in capital and operating costs," said Smith. The study is being paid for with $70,000 in federal money, $20,000 from the rail commission, $20,000 from the city of Montgomery and $30,000 from Montgomery County, Smith said. The city of Mobile declined to participate. "That old Gulf Breeze train ran from Birmingham to Montgomery and to Mobile and stopped off at smaller cities between Montgomery and Mobile," Smith said. "We've all been without that particular service since 1995. The feasibility study is something to look at the return of that type of service through the middle of the state of Alabama." Smith said that a decision to proceed with the Gulf Coast line forward is crucial in advancing the north-south projects. "If the Gulf Coast route connects New Orleans to Mobile and they have a leg to Atmore and it makes it way to Jacksonville, Florida, and if we had this coming from Birmingham to Montgomery to Mobile, then the major cities are connected," said Smith. Huntsville has also expressed interest in the past. Kelly Schmisher, the city of Huntsville's spokeswoman, said the city would welcome more talks about a passenger rail link with Birmingham. Said White: "That's still in the future. There is interest from officials north of Birmingham. I do think that will develop, but at this point, there is no official movement on that." Jerry Gehman, the governor's designee to the SRC, said that it's up to Ivey to decide the fate of the Gulf Coast route in Alabama. He said on Monday that if the governor doesn't act, the project is "dead for Alabama." But White said there is always the possibility for seeking funding in future years. The governor's decision on whether to commit state finances to the project is based on federal money that was set aside in the federal omnibus bill signed by President Donald Trump in early April. "I don't want to say it's now or never," said White. "There will be similar funding in the next cycle. If we miss the funding this week, it puts a damper on the Southern Rail Commission's efforts across the three states. But it doesn't slam the door on future opportunities. It complicates our efforts." Louisiana officials have already signed off on $10 million for their end of the project. Mississippi, with its four stops along the ling, will have to provide an estimated $20 million. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has not committed approximately $14 million of that portion for construction-related upgrades to the rail lines that run through Mississippi. An economic analysis completed by the University of Southern Mississippi's Trent Lott National Center shows Alabama experiencing a $11.9 million boost annually from a 1 percent increase in tourism related to passenger rail traffic. If the rise were to reach 20 percent, that would funnel $220.4 million into the state, according to the analysis. A felon with a string of robbery convictions against him was arrested and charged Tuesday accused of carjacking and kidnap. Vincent Paul Figaro is a primary suspect involved in the carjacking of a Mobile's woman's vehicle in the early hours of June 10. Rachel Corona said that a man approached her car as she was on her way from work at approximately 3:00 a.m. She was forced to jump from moving vehicle after Figaro allegedly took the wheel. Corona received bruises and scratches, while also becoming concussed, according to police reports. Figaro is also the suspect in a May 26th robbery and kidnapping case that allegedly saw a man forced into the trunk of his own vehicle. Police say that Figaro carjacked the man before forcing him to attempt to withdraw $1,000 from his bank account. After being unable to obtain that much money, Figaro is accused of taking the man's wallet, phone, and then forced him into his own trunk. Figaro then left the victim. After being arrested and charged, Figaro said "I know they got the wrong person. I'm going to get it straight when I get to court though." Figaro's criminal history goes back to 2008 when he received four concurrent 20 year sentences for Robbery 1st. Four other Robbery 1st charges were dropped as part of a plea deal. His new charges are for Robbery 1st and Kidnapping 1st. Heads up - literally - if you're in central Florida. The U.S. Navy is dropping live bombs in a national forest in Florida this week. The bombing began Monday from the Jacksonville Naval Air Station at its 450-acre Pinecastle Range Complex in Ocala National Forest, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The live bombs will be dropped from 9-11 a.m. each day with Navy jets back in the area in the afternoon and early evenings with inert bombings. The range is about 2 miles west of the Camp Ocala campgrounds. Ocala National Forest is located north of Orlando. According to the Sentinel, the range includes a main target area with mock military base in the middle of the Ocala Forest, complete with planes, tanks and other equipment. In addition to increased noise, residents are being warned the bombs could force wildlife onto roads. The Secret Service has been notified after actor Peter Fonda fired off a series of tweets Wednesday calling for 13-year-old Barron Trump to be ripped "from his mother's arms" and "put in a cage with pedophiles." "We should rip Barron Trump from his mother's arms and put him in a cage with pedophiles and see if his mother will stand up against the giant (profanity deleted) she is married to (sic). 90 million people in the street on the same weekend in the country. (profanity deleted)," Fonda wrote in the now-deleted message. The 78-year-old actor and brother of Jane Fonda unleashed a series of tweets in connection to the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy that includes separating children from their parents who are attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. Other tweets used vulgar terms to describe Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The Office of the First Lady confirmed to The Hill it had contacted the Secret Service over the comments, which spokesperson Stephanie Grisham described as "sick and irresponsible." Fonda's comments were quickly denounced online, including in a message from Barron's brother, Donald Trump Jr. I didnt think it was possible but @iamfonda found a way to be as disgusting as his sister Jane was when she stood with the enemy in Vietnam. Doesnt get more vile than wishing for a young boy to be raped by pedophiles. Theres a special place in hell... Cc: @SonyPictures Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 20, 2018 Trump Jr. included the address of Sony Pictures, which is slated to release the actor's film "Boundaries" on Friday. A representative for Fonda told Fox News the tweets were an effort to "make sure that (first lady) Melania and (Trump daughter) Ivanka communicate with the president the dire circumstances of separating mothers and young children." This is an opinion cartoon with a little extra commentary and stuff "But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come to me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 19:14, King James Version Our attorney general has been in the news a lot this week. Uh-oh. The creepy alarm should go off in your head every time a politician, especially an Alabama politician, hijacks a Bible verse to sugarcoat a heinous deed. The alarms were ringing in our ears this week when Alabama's own Jeff Sessions gleefully cherry-picked Romans 13 to justify taking children away from their parents at the border. "I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes," Sessions told a group of law enforcement officers. Bottom line from Romans 13: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." As far as the Trump/Sessions political child-baiting at the border, Kyle Whitmire lays it out in plain sight right here: The politics of hate and the sepsis of the soul Jeff Sessions' words and actions were bad enough to disturb his own people: Sessions' fellow Methodists file church charges claiming 'child abuse, immorality' against immigrants In an interview on Fox News, Sessions dismissed comparisons of the detention facilities for migrant children to Nazi concentration camps, arguing Nazis "were keeping the Jews from leaving the country." It's been a busy news week for our attorney general. Bless his cold little heart. Check out more cartoons by JD Crowe A new bill from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and a host of other GOP Senators is seeking to change the Trump policy of separating immigrant children from their parents. Cruz and 18 other Republicans introduced the Protect Kids and Parents Act on Tuesday. The measure comes amid growing outcry over the White House's "zero tolerance" policy for families that cross the U.S. border illegally, resulting in children and their parents being separated during detention. The bill would require that children detained at the border be kept with their families unless a welfare official determines the minor is a victim of neglect or abuse or there is evidence of human trafficking. The children and parents would be housed together in new family shelters, according to Cruz. "Over the past few weeks, Americans have been rightly horrified by the images and videos coming from our southern border, where tearful children are being pulled away from their mothers and fathers," Sen Cruz said. "There is no doubt that this must stop, immediately. "I hope that my Democratic colleagues can join with us to stop the crisis that is occurring at the border," Cruz added. The bill would provide for expedited processing of cases where immigrants arrive with children so that within 14 days those who meet the legal standards will be notified they can stay and the remainder will be returned to their home country with their families. It also calls for the number of federal immigration judges to be doubled, up to 750 from 375. Joining Cruz as co-sponsors were Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming; Roy Blount of Missouri; Mike Crapo of Idaho; Steve Daines of Montana; Joni Ernst of Iowa; Orrin Hatch of Utah; John Hoeven of North Dakota; Mike Lee of Utah; James Inhofe of Oklahoma; James Risch of Idaho; Pat Roberts of Kansas; Mike Rounds of South Dakota; Marco Rubio of Florida; Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Tim Scott of South Carolina; Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania; Roger Wicker of Mississippi; and Todd Young of Indiana. President Donald Trump's campaign manager is calling for the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. "Time to fire Sessions End the Mueller investigation," Brad Parscale wrote in a Tuesday tweet. Time to fire Sessions End the Mueller investigation You cant obstruct something that was phony against you The IG report gives @realDonaldTrump the truth to end it all. Brad Parscale (@parscale) June 19, 2018 Parscale's tweet refers to the Department of Justice Inspector General's report that indicated former FBI Director James Comey "deviated" standard procedures in handling the probe into ex-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the Department of Justice's Inspector General found. The findings come amid an investigation into possible Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election and allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign. Sessions, a former Alabama Senator, has recused himself from the investigation, drawing the ire of Trump. Parscale also blasted comments that then-Senator Sessions' backing during the campaign helped Trump win the White House. An unidentified woman yelled an expletive to President Donald Trump as he was arriving at the Capitol for an immigration meeting on Tuesday. Fox News reported the president was arriving for a meeting with House Republicans when a woman yelled "Mr. President, F*** You," across the rotunda. Trump had not passed the corridor at the time of the woman's outburst but walked across the area about 30 seconds later. It's not clear if the president heard the outburst. Fox reported the unidentified woman was likely an intern or staff member, as the incident occurred after public visiting hours. The outburst was caught on video by NBC and several others at the Capitol. (Warning: Some language may be offensive) LISTEN: As Pres Trumps entourage entered Speaker Ryans office in the Capitol, someone on the other side of the Capitol rotunda yelled: Mr. President, Fk you!! (He entered about 15 seconds later): pic.twitter.com/KHp16LYMoF Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) June 19, 2018 The outburst comes amid criticism of the Trump administration policy of separating immigrant children from their families that cross into the U.S. illegally. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also found herself the subject of protests Tuesday. The Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists posted a video showing members yelling at Nielsen as she dined at a local restaurant. "The irony isn't lost on us that this is a Mexican restaurant. Nielsen has led the program to tear apart familes (sic). We are here to tell her to put an end to separating families," the group said. Kombo Yannick is one of the many African asylum seekers braving the longer Latin America route to the US. Tijuana, Mexico Kombo Yannick, a 30-year-old pastor from Cameroon, waited in line with about 100 other asylum seekers at the US-Tijuana border on a chilly afternoon in late December. He and his wife had been in Tijuana for two days, and were speaking with an aid worker about where to find a bed for the night. My only goal is to find a way to cross the border, Yannick said, rubbing his gloved hands together to keep warm. We dont know exactly where we will go, we just have to wait, he told Al Jazeera. Yannick is one of the increasing number of African migrants and asylum seekers, as well as others from Asia and the Middle East, who have attempted to reach the US via Latin America over the last several years. He and his wife stood in a group of Cameroonian asylum seekers. Next to them, were those from Eritrea, Pakistan, and central Mexico, each speaking their native languages, their voices drowned out by the sound of roaring traffic from the nearby highway overpass. The line at the border can last for hours or even days, so many of those who wait camp out in tents, waiting for their turn for an interview with US Customs and Border Protection. Refugees and migrants wait at the El Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, hoping to enter the US [Walker Dawson/Al Jazeera] Due to the danger involved in crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Europe, many people from African countries are instead choosing to seek asylum in the US, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which also attributes the trend to the overall rise in global migration. Over the past several years, Mexico has seen a spike in asylum seekers from African countries, like Cameroon. The number of Cameroonian asylum seekers to Mexico increased from 23 in 2016 to 105 in 2017, according to data provided to Al Jazeera from UNHCR. The number of Cameroonians applying for asylum in the US has also increased by nearly 140 percent from less than 600 to more than 1,300 from 2012 to 2016, UNHCR said. {articleGUID} But, the number of Cameroonians who are granted asylum in the US has dropped steadily since 2007. According to UNHCR, this couldnt be attributed to any particular change in policy. Although the route from Africa to the US via Latin America is significantly longer and comes with risks, it is considered less dangerous than going by boat to Europe via the Mediterranean. As of June 6, more than 780 people died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea, en route to Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration. Yannicks journey: We saw corpses along the way Yannicks journey from Cameroon to Tijuana began in June 2017. He and his wife took a series of busses across West Africa, travelling more than 3,000km from Cameroon to Senegal. From there they flew to Ecuador, which many African migrants use as an entry point into the Americas because of its easy visa requirements for African nationalities. From Ecuador, they travelled north through Colombia to the Panamanian border. There, the most difficult part of their journey began. We saw corpses along the way, said Yannick of their week-long trek through the Darien Gap, between Colombia and Panama. Thats where you see people giving up and saying they cant continue. Yannick points out the path he took through Latin America to reach the United States [Walker Dawson/Al Jazeera] The Darien Gap is a lawless, roadless, wilderness where many Colombian rebel and neo-paramilitary groups roam freely. A few days into the Darien Gap crossing, bandits stripped Yannick and subjected him to a search. They believe you can hide money anywhere. They harass you, they shoot guns in the air, Yannick said. Once the couple arrived in Panama, Yannick got sick in an immigration camp where he and his wife and numerous other migrants and refugees from India and Africa were held. I was really sick, Yannick said of the illness he contracted. My family thought I would even die. {articleGUID} Immigration laws and enforcement in Latin America are typically lax, often granting migrants and refugees passes to cross on to the next country. However, Costa Rica passed immigration legislation in 2005, intending to stop those coming from Nicaragua. Yannick said they were interrogated persistently by Costa Rican immigration officials. In Nicaragua, Yannick was robbed again, having $1,200 and his phone taken. He and his wife were then detained by Nicaraguan immigration officials and deported back to Costa Rica. From there, Yannick paid a truck driver $800 to smuggle him and his wife from the Costa Rican border across Nicaragua to Honduras. Yannick and his wife spent about $10,000 in all, on their trip to reach the US. From Honduras, Yannick and his wife went by bus, through El Salvador and Guatemala, to the southern border with Mexico. When they arrived in the Mexican city of Tapachula, they were given a 20-day permit to cross the country. From there, they flew to Tijuana. They just kill you; thats why I ran away Compared with other countries in central Africa, Cameroon has enjoyed relative stability. {articleGUID} However, recent conflict between protesters and government forces has erupted in the countrys English-speaking regions. According to the UN, more than 20,000 Cameroonians have fled to Nigeria since the military cracked down on protesters in the Anglophone regions last year. The recent wave of protests, which initially started in November 2016 as a movement against what those in the Anglophone regions called the marginalisation of English speakers, has since grown into calls for independence. Last month, seven activists from the countrys Anglophone minority, including their leader, were convicted on charges related to rebellion and acts of terrorism. Amnesty International has accused the government of rights violations allegations the government denies. The human rights organisation also accuses armed separatists of attacking schools and teachers who are not participating in the protests. Yannick said he doesnt support protesters or the government. They dont even lock you up, he said, referring to government soldiers who accused him of being a protester before he decided to leave. They just kill you. Thats what happens. Thats why I ran away. Cameroonians are not the only Africans in Tijuana seeking asylum in the US. Berhe* is a 30-year-old doctor who fled persecution from an authoritarian government in Eritrea. He followed a similar path to Tijuana as Yannick. It has been 28 years the government is in power. Its called transitional government it has never been [transitioned] into a government, Berhe told Al Jazeera. In 2015, the UN estimated that people were fleeing Eritrea at a rate of about 5,000 people a month to escape what a United Nations Commission of Inquiry described as totalitarian practices by an administration that has been in power since 1993. People are getting arrested for nothing, there is no election, there is no democracy, and people are being persecuted for their political opinions, Berhe said. One major problem for Berhe was the countrys conscription service, which makes it compulsory for Eritreans to serve in the national service programme for an indefinite period of time. The UN defines this as forced labour. Once you are in there, you are not supposed to leave, Berhe said. According to Chris Boian, a spokesperson for UNHCR, the US has seen an increase in African asylum seekers taking the Latin American route. When you look at migration out of Africa towards the Americas, its really such a mixed flow of people. A lot of it really is driven by economics and looking for better income, Boian told Al Jazeera. The wait in the US Yannick hopes he will be able to earn a higher salary in the US to support his family in Cameroon. He and his wife crossed the US-Mexico border on Christmas day. They spent a week in a detention centre in San Ysidro and were then transferred in the middle of the night in an unmarked plane to the D Ray James Correctional Institution in Folkston, Georgia, which serves as a processing centre for ICE detainees. My eyes have seen people that are suffering. Kombo Yannick While being held in the detention centre, Yannick was separated from his wife, and wasnt allowed to make contact with the outside world. After two months, he was released on bail. Yannick will return to Folkston for his final court hearing sometime in the next few months. His wife was recently released from detention. My eyes have seen people that are suffering, Yannick said. My eyes have seen people dying. I feel like if I cant do something for them, then nobody will. *Name has been changed by Al Jazeera to protect the individuals identity. The UNHCR chief travels from Libya to Niger, where asylum seekers wait to be resettled in Europe or North America. Niamey, Niger In the early hours of Wednesday, 122 refugees, mostly nationals of Eritrea and Somalia, landed at Diori Hamani Airport in Niamey, Nigers capital. It is the UNs World Refugee Day, and Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, is on the same flight, leaving from Tripoli in Libya. These are emotional days, that I will never forget, Grandi told Al Jazeera by phone, while waiting to board. A few hours earlier, the refugees were still detained in one of Libyas more than 30 official migrants detention facilities, in the suburbs of Tripoli. In Niamey, 2,500km south of the Mediterranean coasts, these newly arrived refugees will be hosted in some of the 18 transit houses opened by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) from November 2017 onwards, together with an Italian NGO, Coopi. Here, in the sandy roads of the growing capital city of the second worlds poorest country, they will wait to be resettled to Europe or North America. Baptised as the Emergency Transit Mechanism, the programme aims at bringing to Niger the most vulnerable among 53,000 refugees registered by the UN in Libya in the last year. A total of 1,409 have reached Niamey, including the group which landed on June 20. In the same time, 173 have left to France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. The emergency programme is a good solution, says Grandi, but he admits that things are moving too slowly. In the midst of harsh political debates about migration in Europe, this flight wants to send a strong message to world leaders: solution for refugees are at hand, we only have to act. We knew it wouldn't work, but dying was better than living in Libya. Ammy, Eritrean refugee As one of the most recent cases to be evacuated from Libya to Niger, in late May 2018, 33-year-old Ammy, a mother who requested not to use her full name, has an entire notebook of stories to tell. She is Eritrean and as she arrives at the UNHCR hub in the Issa Beri central district, she holds the book tight in a plastic bag. I write every day, it helps me to overcome what Ive been through, she says. Three words recur in her speech, often interrupted by tears: store, beating and money. The stores, she explains, are houses or former industrial facilities where refugees are locked by traffickers. In 10 months, she went through more than a dozen. Every time, she and her companions were beaten, abused and asked for more money to continue the travel. The worst abuse took place from September 2017 onwards. We were in Sabratha when a fight between rival militias started, she says. Militiamen from a rival group stormed our store, destroyed everything and kidnapped us again. A pick-up truck packed with migrants runs on the route from Agadez to Libya [Giacomo Zandonini/Al Jazeera] For three weeks, she and other 200 Eritreans could only eat bread. Later, they were moved to Garabulli, east of Tripoli, and forced on a small inflatable boat. We knew it wouldnt work, but dying was better than living in Libya, she says. Still, with the first light of the day, a Libyan coastguard ship intercepted them. Men jumped [in the] sea, terrified to go back, she recounts. Ammys next stop was the Tajoura detention centre, on the outskirts of Tripoli a place marked by violence and darkness. We were 90 women in one room, and for three months we couldnt see the sun: the guards would only open the door once in a day, to let in a dish of pasta, one for every 10 of us. Beating, rape and extortion were commonplace. As a last resort, Ammy raised the idea of a hunger strike. They tried to force us to eat but we resisted, and asked to speak with the UNHCR. When this finally happened, conditions slightly improved. I was in Tajoura for another three months, violence continued but at least we could see the sunshine, and meet doctors. Male prisoners suffered the most. They were tortured with water, with sticks, not given food: they looked like dead men walking. I paid a total of about $4,000 for the trip from Eritrea to Libya, which was good. Others paid up to $10,000. Idriss Ousmane, Eritrean refugee One of these men is Idriss Ousmane not his real name to protect his family in Eritrea. A 24-year-old student of chemical engineering, Ousmane left Eritrea to avoid indefinite military service and continue education. While crossing the Sahara in early 2016, from Sudans capital Khartoum to Libya, 50 of his companions died of thirst. We had to move on, until our traffickers brought us to a huge detention centre in Brak Shati. Seventeen months later, Ousmane was sent to Tripoli. I paid a total of about $4,000 for the trip from Eritrea to Libya, which was good. Others paid up to $10,000. We left [for the] sea at dawn, 100 people on a dinghy. But after four hours, a Libyan military ship spotted us. He looks at a picture of the Sabratha, and recognises the patrol vessel donated to Tripoli by the Italian government in 2017, as a part of renewed agreements between the two countries He left for Niger in January, 2018. Here I can walk, I can smell the air, I am trying to forget my past, he says. But five months after his arrival, he wonders when and if hes ever going to leave. Grandi, who inaugurated a new UNHCR gathering and departure facility in Tripoli, with a capacity of 1,000 places, will visit Niamey and Agadez, in central Niger. Commenting on proposals to set up European Union (EU) centres to process asylum claims in African countries, supported by France and Italy, he says that Africa has enough problems to deal with, and theres a high-risk asylum seekers could be stuck in transit countries. The EU, he concludes, has all the capacities to manage this flow in a fair way, without putting the burden on [a] poorer region that already host many refugees. If Europe failed to manage in a proper way the so-called hotspots centres in the Greek islands, how can we expect it will work better in Chad or Niger? Bram Frouws, head of the Mixed Migration Center According to Bram Frouws, head of the Geneva-based Mixed Migration Center, the idea of processing asylum claims in transit countries such as Niger, Chad and Libya, is formally good, since we need to prevent people from taking dangerous routes through the Sahara and the sea. The problem, he says, is the implementation. If Europe failed to manage in a proper way the so-called hotspots centres in the Greek islands, how can we expect it will work better in Chad or Niger?. Apart from those considered as refugees, Frouws adds, theres a missing story in the debate over irregular migration. Many are job-seekers, and they actually find work in Europe, in tomato fields in the south of Italy for example. For these people, the only alternatives to traffickers are measures to introduce seasonal working visas and other forms of legal entry to the EU. As leaders of the bloc prepare to find a solution to the refugee crisis on June 28 and 29 at an EU summit in Brussels, Ammy can finally talk to her two teenagers daughters in Eritrea. I called them for the first time after 10 months, they thought I was dead. Russia sees itself as a superpower, not as Irans equal. This is what dictates its policies towards Iran. In an exclusive interview with Russias international broadcaster RT on May 31, Syrias President Bashar al-Assad tried to downplay Irans controversial military presence in Syria. We dont have Iranian troops [there]. We never hadwe have Iranian officers who work with the Syrian army for assistance, but they dont have troops [on the ground], he said. The remarks appeared to be a response to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who had stressed twice during the preceding week that all non-Syrian forces must withdraw from Syrias southern border with Israel. Lavrovs demand came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasised during a May 17 meeting with al-Assad in the Black Sea resort of Sochi that all foreign armed forces will be withdrawn from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Iranian and Hezbollah fighters have already started preparations to leave the Deraa and Quneitra regions in southern Syria. While Russia has consistently backed the Iran nuclear deal along with its European signatories, the mounting international pressure on Tehran over its regional activities has created a realpolitik opportunity for Moscow to warm up to Tel Aviv and ultimately win Washington. The key question is, to what extent will Putin be willing to sacrifice Iran for this purpose? {articleGUID} Moscow and Tehran developed close relations since the multilateral nuclear deal was concluded between the Islamic Republic and world powers in July 2015. Both sides have supported the Assad regime in the course of Syrias seven-year civil war and sought, along with Turkey, to find a political solution to the conflict independent of the Geneva process supported by the West. In an effort to consolidate bilateral ties and coordinate a unified policy on Syria and Yemen, Putin flew to Tehran in early November 2017 and met Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani. A few months later, on February 26, Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution pressuring Iran over its violation of a UN arms embargo on Yemen and provision of weapons to the Houthi rebels there. And, most recently, Russian energy minister Alexander Novak announced in April that Moscow was considering the use of national currencies in trade with Iran, instead of the US dollar or the euro. Persuaded by these and similar developments, many politicians and pundits alike have gone as far as to claim that Iran and Russia have moved beyond a tactical convergence of interests and entered a new phase of strategic partnership and evolving alliance. If history is any guide, however, such over-optimistic perceptions of Russian-Iranian alliance are wishful thinking. Russia as a self-perceived superpower views itself on a par with the United States, not the Islamic Republic, and is basically indignant at the Wests persistent refusal to treat it as such. Along these lines, the Kremlin has historically used Tehran as a counterweight or source of leverage to balance its relations with Western powers, particularly Washington. Today is no exception and Iran is likely to fall victim to the Russian desire for big power recognition and respect as soon as a strategic opportunity presents itself to Moscow. On January 8, 1995, Russias state contractor Atomstroyexport signed a contract with Irans Atomic Energy Organization to construct a 1000-megawatt light-water reactor at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, scheduled to be operational in 2001. Yet, Moscow dragged its feet on this to accommodate US demands for increasing pressure on Tehran, as Anton Khlopkov, a member of the advisory board for the Russian Security Council confirms. The commissioning started only a decade later, in September 2011, and the Iranians only managed to take operational control of the Bushehr power plant in September 2013. The costly delay also enabled Russias nuclear industry to stay afloat at a time of scarce funding, and Iran had to foot the bill. A similar politically motivated delay at Irans expense took place with respect to the delivery of Russian S-300 air defence missile systems. Tehran signed an 800-million-dollar contract with Moscow in 2007 for the purchase of the advanced surface-to-air missiles to protect its nuclear sites against the growing threat of Israeli and American air strikes. While Iran had already been slapped with three rounds of punitive United Nations Security Council resolutions (1696, 1737 and 1747) at the time of signature, the Kremlin flagged up international sanctions to justify postponing the delivery, once again using Tehran as a bargaining chip to secure its strategic interests with Washington. Moreover, UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme did not include the sales or transfer of conventional defensive weapons at the time. The air defence systems were ultimately dispatched to Iran in 2016, almost a decade after the purchase had originally been made. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, while Moscow was acting as Tehrans main purveyor of nuclear and conventional equipment during those years, it did not hesitate to vote in favour of all six resolutions passed at the UN Security Council against Iran, from UNSCR 1696 in July 2006 to UNSCR 1929 in June 2010. A similar pattern of behaviour seems to be emerging again today, as Russia is joining other Western powers to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic Republic over its activities in the Middle East. Simultaneously, it has thrown its weight behind the nuclear deal, which the Trump administration recently abandoned, to maintain leverage with both Tehran and Washington. The recent history clearly demonstrates that Russian-Iranian ties have been a dependent variable of Russian-American relations, and like it did in the past, the Kremlin will take advantage of Iran to further its bargaining position vis-a-vis the US. And to this end, Israels vast influence and lobbying power in Washington can serve as a useful catalyst. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. The US is being pushed to take action on Syrias southern front. Dynamics in the southern front in Syria have reached a tipping point. Russian-Israeli coordination is taking precedence over the ceasefire agreement that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin reached on the sidelines of the G20 summit last year. Iran and the United States are both facing increasing pressure in the area, while both the Syrian regime and the Syrian armed opposition are on alert over a potential clash to settle the question of who controls the southwest border areas. US ambivalent role on the southern front The US used to play a significant role on the southern front. The Amman-based US-led Military Operations Center (MOC) was providing training and weaponry to a number of Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups operating in southwest Syria between 2014 and 2016. The US and the FSA groups did not see eye to eye on whether the priority was to fight the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group or the Syrian regime. Ultimately, when Washington signed the ceasefire agreement with Moscow, it closed the supply lines to the southern front. Jordan sealed off its border with Syria after it was overwhelmed by the large number of refugees fleeing the Syrian war. Since then, the southern front became a low priority issue for the Trump administration compared with the high-level US diplomatic and military engagement on the northern front. {articleGUID} But the Russian-Israeli coordination, which has increased to unprecedented levels in recent weeks at the expense of both the US and Iran, has compelled the Trump administration to come back on the scene. It is currently trying to pressure Russia to fulfil its commitments from the July 2017 ceasefire. The negotiated plan reportedly trades the US vacating al-Tanf base for withdrawing Iranian forces and their backed militias from southwest Syria. Al-Tanf is located in the southern part of Homs governorate, on the border with Iraq and was used by US forces to train Syrian rebels in the past. The Syrian regime and its Iranian allies have hoped to take control of the area and the al-Waleed border crossing for a while in order to open the Baghdad-Damascus highway. The US offer to Russia includes keeping all Syrian and foreign militias 20 to 25km away from the Jordanian border, transferring the opposition fighters and their families to Idlib, reopening the Nasib border crossing (near Deraa city) with Jordan, and forming a joint US-Russian mechanism to oversee the agreement. The key US interlocutor, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Satterfield, is on his way out and will soon be replaced by David Schenker whose views on Syria are more aligned with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House National Security Adviser John Bolton. It is not clear whether this reported US offer will stand. Moreover, if the US does not vacate al-Tanf, Iran and the Syrian regime will most likely attempt to block any deal on the southern front. Two scenarios for the US Washington has a rather limited set of options. The first scenario would see the US taking a backseat and giving up all influence in southwest Syria in return for keeping Iran away from the Jordanian and Israeli borders. Russia will then exclusively dominate the rules of engagement in this area. Hence Israel will be able to blame only Moscow in case of any agreement violation. Washington will also leave once again the impression of giving up on allies, the FSA in this case, but US forces can instead focus their resources on protecting their assets in the friendlier environment of northeast Syria. The second scenario would see the Trump administration opting to revive its role in the southern front. US fighter jets or drones could target Syrian regime attempts to expand territorial control in Deraa and Quneitra provinces. The US could also re-open the supply lines via Jordan to the FSA groups, which would technically mean re-escalation of the Syrian civil war. The Pentagon wants to avoid both scenarios. Russia-Israeli coordination Putin is forcing the US hand in southwest Syria to somehow bring Washington back to the negotiation table. Moscow has sanctioned in the past few days the deployment of the Syrian armys Tiger Forces to the outskirts of Deraa. This caught the attention of the Trump administration. Pompeo spoke over the phone last Monday with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and Trump could potentially meet Putin ahead of the NATO summit in Brussels next month. Trump will most likely want to be involved in any Russian-Israeli deal in southwest Syria. The lack of US-Russian coordination has weakened Jordans position in Syria and compelled it to realign its interests with Israel. Both Jordan and Israel agree that Iran and its militias should stay away from the border and from the occupied Golan Heights. Amman is asking Moscow not to initiate a confrontation that could cause another wave of Syrian refugees into Jordan. The FSA might face the difficult decision between voluntarily surrendering the border crossing and its surrounding area to the regime or fighting for survival. The main contentious point between the concerned parties is whether Iranian forces and their militias are among the Syrian regime troops to deploy in Deraa. The hawkish Israeli defence minister denied that Iranians forces are disguised in Syrian uniform, which rather reflects the depth of the Russian-Israeli coordination. Moreover, Damascus is sending Israel via Moscow the necessary guarantees to restore the 1974 ceasefire line in the Golan Heights. But Israel is asking for full Iranian withdrawal from all of Syria at a time when there is a crack in the Russian-Iranian alliance. This Israeli demand is an attempt to start from a high negotiating point to have Russia enforce additional restrictions on Iranian movements in Syria. Despite the tense rhetoric on the ground, Moscow remains in full control of the reinforcements sent by the regime to the outskirts of Deraa. The Russian police is simultaneously supervising and protecting the regime forces as a guarantee for Israel and Jordan. The intermittent skirmishes that happened this week between the regime and the FSA were limited, with no Russian involvement. Both Washington and Moscow are pressuring their Syrian allies not to escalate. The Syrian regime deployment is meant to strengthen the Russian negotiation position and is restricted to the Jordanian border area only at this point, which means the Russian-Israeli agreement is yet to fully materialise No matter what scenarios might unfold, the US has two options to become relevant once again in southwest Syria: to confront or engage Moscow. Otherwise, the US might become a bargaining chip in a looming deal between the rest of the parties involved. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Four confirmed dead, 18 rescued after wooden ferry, reportedly operating illegally, sank off North Sumatra on Monday. Divers and an underwater drone have joined a fleet of rescue vessels in Indonesias search for at least 192 passengers missing, two days after an overcrowded wooden ferry sank in one of the worlds deepest volcanic lakes in Sumatra. Four were confirmed dead and 18 survivors were picked up from Toba Lake, but officials fear the death toll could be much higher. Authorities are still unable to confirm how many were on board when the vessel sank on Monday in bad weather, since it did not have a manifest. Earlier on Wednesday, the head of the local disaster agency, Mahler Tamba, told DPA news agency that a search and rescue party found an unidentified body on Wednesday morning. About 350 rescue personnel were involved in the search. It is possible many of the victims were still inside the sunken ferry, said North Sumatra province police chief Paulus Waterpau. Many survivors told authorities that less than half of them had jumped into the water before the boat sank, he told AP news agency. The boat was five times over its passenger capacity and equipped with only 45 life jackets, National Search and Rescue Agency chief Muhammad Syaugi told a news conference. Survivor Juwita Sumbayak, from Medan, said she had crossed the lake many times on the same boat but on Monday it was terribly overcrowded because of holidays for the end of the Muslim holy month. Weak enforcement of safety regulations are often blamed for ferry tragedies in Indonesia [AP] I jumped, I cried with fear In an interview with AP, a distraught Sumbayak wept uncontrollably and called out the names of her husband and children who she believed drowned inside the boat. She said that about 20 minutes into the journey, strong, high waves caused the ferry to list to the right and take on water, sparking a panic among passengers. It was then struck hard by more waves and an empty small wooden boat. The ferry seemed to shake, Sumbayak said, then suddenly capsized. Many passengers without a life jacket jumped into the deep lake, but others drowned with the boat, she said. I jumped, I cried with fear. She saw dozens of people in the water but nobody can help. Suwarni, whose 20-year-old son and his girlfriend were on the ferry, slammed the search and rescue operation as slow and insufficient. Millions of questions keep me from sleeping, she said between desperate sobs. What kind of government is this which cant protect their own people from unnecessary accidents? And after the accident, theyre not able to find the victims, Suwarni, who uses only one name, told AP. Mobile phone video released earlier in the week by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed the crew of another ferry attempting to rescue people struggling in the waters shortly after the sinking but being hampered by bad weather and rough waters. Lake Toba is the largest lake in Indonesia, and sits about 900 metres above sea level. Its cool climate and scenery make it a popular tourist destination, especially during the current Eid holiday season. Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, with weak enforcement of safety regulations often to blame. British Museum offers to loan stolen Benin Bronzes to Nigeria Curators from Europe and the United States are negotiating an agreement to set up a permanent exhibition in Nigeria of the Benin Bronzes looted by the British Army in 1897. Move by Asmara comes after Addis Ababa said it will comply with peace deal and withdraw from contested border regions. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said the East African country will dispatch a delegation to Addis Ababa to gauge current developments in the region following peace overtures from Ethiopias new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. We will send a delegation to [Addis Ababa] to gauge current developments directly and in depth as well as to chart out a plan for continuous future action, Isaias said on Wednesday during a speech in Eritrea. The events and developments that have unfolded in our region in general and in Ethiopia in particular in the recent period warrant appropriate attention, he added. Addis Ababa announced on June 5 that it will fully accept the terms of a peace agreement with Asmara in a major step towards calming deadly tensions with its decades-long rival. The agreement signed in 2000 ended a two-year war. The suffering on both sides is unspeakable because the peace process is deadlocked. This must change for the sake of our common good, Fitsum Arega, the chief of staff for the Ethiopian prime ministers office, said early this month. Ethiopia became landlocked in 1993 after Eritrea, which comprised the countrys entire Red Sea coast, voted to leave. But the neighbours were soon at war over the demarcation of their shared border, a conflict that would leave 80,000 people dead and degenerate into a stalemate. Hundreds would die in subsequent years in periodic border clashes after Ethiopias refusal to accept the ruling of an UN-backed boundary commission that divided up contested territory between the two countries. Germany and France call for joint EU immigration policy In the past few days, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has had to concede on immigration policy to her domestic CSU allies, promising a European solution. Set of controversial laws imposes jail terms on anybody seen to be aiding undocumented immigrants. The Hungarian parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would allow for the imprisonment of anybody aiding undocumented migrants, ignoring pleas from the European Union, the United Nations and numerous international organisations not to do so. The package of legislation called the Stop Soros bill, which targets rights groups and NGOs, criminalises the act of assisting migrants, allowing for the incarceration of individuals, or the banning of organisations. In addition to the bill, the parliament also passed a constitutional amendment stating that an alien population cannot be settled in Hungary. Following the passing of the laws on what also happens to be World Refugee Day, rights groups and international organisations decried the measures as draconian and a violation of fundamental human rights. Criminalising essential and legitimate human rights work is a brazen attack on people seeking safe haven from persecution and those who carry out admirable work to help them. It is a new low point in an intensifying crackdown on civil society and it is something we will resist every step of the way, Amnesty Internationals Europe director Gauri van Gulik said in a statement. Having swept the April general elections, Prime Minister Viktor Orbans Fidesz party holds a supermajority in parliament, assuring a smooth passage of the law. Wednesdays vote of the Stop Soros law saw 160 lawmakers vote in favour, with just 18 voting against. Can there be compromise in the migrant debate? No and there is no need for it, Orban said during a conference in Budapest over the weekend. We tolerate the fact that some [EU] member statesadmit migrants. This has and will have consequences including for us. Meanwhile, they should tolerate the fact that we do not wish to do so. The Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), two of Europes leading rights bodies, have criticised the new law for being arbitrary and vague. The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe had previously appealed to the Hungarian government to wait until Friday when it was expected to issue its opinion of the bill. The bill is unconstitutional and ignores EU values and principles, said Petra Bard, an expert on EU constitutional law and EU criminal justice and visiting professor of the Central European University (CEU), which was founded by democracy advocate and philanthropist George Soros, whom the bill is named after. The bill is very poorly drafting and there is no definition of who is an illegal immigrant. My suspicion is that part of the reason it is that so it can remain ambiguous, she said. Tax rise for NGOs On Tuesday, the finance ministry also introduced a proposed 25 percent tax to be paid by NGOs that assist immigrants, a provision that was previously on the Stop Soros bill but then later stripped. We need to introduce additional measures to protect Hungary from illegal migration, according to a statement issued by the ministry on Tuesday. The defense against illegal migration imposes a heavy burden on Hungarys budget, so it indirectly affects the Hungarian people, according to the statement. Therefore, the government proposes that as a manner of burden sharing, the organisations aiding migration should bear additional taxes. Orbans war on civil society actors and Soros in particular was well publicised during his campaign run ahead of the elections earlier this year. His Open Society Foundations was already forced out of Hungary last month amid increasing political pressure and a challenging legal environment, while the fate of CEU still hangs in the balance. Some of the departments will certainly have to move out but we still dont know which ones, said Bard, adding that it is possible the entire university may have to relocate to Vienna. For the NGOs now affected by Hungarys new laws, some have already said they would stay and fight them for as long as possible. We will continue to advocate for the European Commission as well as individual EU governments to step up their criticism on this, to work together somehow, and to prevent the impact of this law, said Todor Gardos, an Eastern Europe and Balkans researcher at Human Rights Watch. All the EU experts say the measure that he government has been pushing through over the last three years fundamentally violates the rights of the migrants and there should be a big action to against the government for breeching those rights. Set of controversial laws targeting NGOs will impose jail terms on anybody seen to be aiding undocumented immigrants. Budapest, Hungary The Hungarian parliament is set to vote on Wednesday on a set of controversial laws targeting NGOs that would impose jail terms on anybody seen to be aiding undocumented immigrants. Passage of the so-called Stop Soros set of laws, which was a key campaign promise by Prime Minister Viktor Orban during his successful re-election bid in Aprils general elections, is all but assured with his Fidesz party holding a supermajority in parliament. The laws have been universally condemned by human rights groups, members of the European Parliament and the United Nations as an attack on the fundamental human rights of both asylum-seekers and those who protect them. They also come despite requests from the Council of Europe to wait until after the Venice Commission, their panel of constitutional law and human rights experts, issues their opinion on the bill, which is expected on Friday. Wednesdays vote was confirmed by Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto during a news conference on Tuesday in which he also declared our parliamentary group will vote in favour of the proposal. {articleGUID} According to the latest version of the bill released last month, the government would be given the right to either jail or ban NGOs that support migration and are seen as a national security risk. Tax rise for NGOs On Tuesday, the finance ministry also introduced a proposed 25 percent tax to be paid by NGOs that assist immigrants, a provision that was previously stripped from the bill. We are seriously concerned that if these proposals are passed, their implementation could deprive refugees and asylum-seekers of vital aid and services. We also believe it to be having a detrimental impact on already inflamed public discourse and rising xenophobic attitudes, Charlie Yaxley, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told Al Jazeera. UNHCR is calling on the government of Hungary to withdraw the package of laws, as they would restrict the ability of NGOs and individuals to support refugees and asylum-seekers, Yaxley said. The legislation is nicknamed after Hungarian-born American billionaire George Soros who funds the Central European University and Open Society Foundations, the latter of which was forced out of Hungary last month amid increasing political pressure and a challenging legal environment. {articleGUID} With the passage of the law, in addition to the 25 percent immigration tax and other anticipated constitutional changes that may hinder the settlement of foreigners and freedom of speech, some believe that that Orban is finally willing to deliver on his long-standing rhetoric. We fear the legislation will be enacted with the purpose of using it against us and other civil society actors. It is no longer a PR exercise. They do want to criminalise NGOs and now it includes prison sentences and we are very worried, said Catrinel Motoc, a senior campaigner at Amnesty International. The situation of human rights in Hungary has been deteriorating for a number of years and has gone from bad to worse, she said. Others, meanwhile, said they would need to wait and see as the language in the draft bill is often unclear, potentially unconstitutional and may never make it past the courts. A lot will depend on implementation because a lot of the provisions are so vague. If they implement it as it appears to say in in the law and they start jailing people for providing information on immigration, that is crazy. We will have to see what the courts will say, said Zselyke Csaky, senior researcher on Central and Eastern Europe and a rule of law expert with Washington-based rights organisation Freedom House. {articleGUID} Orban, who has been in power since 2010, won the April elections with 49 percent of the vote, which secured Fidesz 134 of 199 seats in parliament. A successful vote today for Fidesz would make good on the nationalist leaders campaign pledge to make the Stop Soros laws a priority for the new term. Can there be compromise in the migrant debate? No and there is no need for it, Orban said during a conference in Budapest over the weekend. We tolerate the fact that some [EU] member states admit migrants. This has and will have consequences including for us. Meanwhile, they should tolerate the fact that we do not wish to do so. His anti-migrant stance has placed Orban at the front of the pack of increasingly hostile leaders in Central Europe that have grown increasingly unhappy with the progressive agenda of politicians close to Brussels. Production has seen a reduction by 450,000 barrels per day, plus 70 million cubic feet of natural gas. Libyas oil output has dropped by nearly half following clashes between rival groups in the countrys key oil export ports, the head of the National Oil Company said on Wednesday. Production has seen a reduction by 450,000 barrels per day, plus 70 million cubic feet of natural gas, equivalent to $33m in sales based on market prices, Mustafa Sanalla told AFP news agency. The Ras Lanuf and Al-Sidra terminals have been closed since last Thursday when armed groups attacked oil facilities held by forces loyal to renegade general Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya. Haftars self-styled Libyan National Army has since launched an offensive to push the militias out of the area, with the violence causing catastrophic damage, according to the state oil company. Sanalla said the clashes will ultimately result in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs, and billions in lost sales opportunities. On Monday, the NOC said fires caused by the clashes had destroyed two crude tanks, reducing storage capacity at the Ras Lanuf terminal by 400,000 barrels. Maintenance teams are still dealing with the aftermath of the blaze and are trying to ascertain the extent of the damage to the terminal, Sanalla said. Aside from oil infrastructure damaged by conflict, Sanalla said Libyan authorities were also struggling to conquer the shocking scale of fuel theft. The smugglers think they can operate with impunity to the extent that the country is losing more than $750 million a year through domestic fuel smuggling alone, he said. Libyas economy relies heavily on oil, with production at 1.6 million barrels a day under long-time Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. The 2011 uprising against Gaddafi saw production fall to about 20 percent of that level, before recovering to over one million barrels a day by the end of 2017. Those that seek to disrupt NOC operations and sequester facilities for their own gain should be seen for what they are criminals, Sanalla said. Libyan natural resources and oil and gas revenues must be a catalyst for reconstruction and national prosperity, not conflict, he added. Aquino accused of usurping legislative powers when he decided to reallocate $1.67bn in government funds in 2011. Former Philippine President Benigno Aquino has been indicted over his decision to reallocate $1.67bn in government funds to a programme later declared by the countrys top court as unconstitutional. Aquino is liable for the unlawful issuance of the funds for projects not approved by the Philippine Congress, the special prosecutors responsible for investigating government corruption said on Wednesday. The prosecutors said Aquino knowingly gave his approval to his budget secretary to withdraw the said government funds, contrary to law. The amount released was P72bn, which at that time was equivalent to about $1.67bn. The decision is a reversal of an earlier order clearing Aquino of the charge, which was challenged by a group of opposition legislators and activities. While Aquino is not accused of enriching himself using the funds, critics and political observers said he directed the government money to favoured Congress members and senators. At the time the funds were released, Aquino was trying to gather support from legislators to impeach the Supreme Court chief justice, who was later found guilty by the Senate for failure to properly declare his assets and liabilities. Aquino had insisted that the release of the funds was well-documented and allowed by law. But the Supreme Court declared in a 2014 decision that it was unconstitutional. Carlos Zarate, a member of Congress and petitioner, said his party welcomes the decision. He said Aquino and his budget secretary should not only be indicted for usurpation of legislative power but also for technical malversation and graft charges as both author and architect of the multibillion presidential pork barrel. In a statement published on ABS-CBN News Channel, Aquinos spokesman Abigail Valte said the former leader has yet to receive a copy of the decision. Were quite curious to study how the Office arrived at a reversal of its previous decision finding no liability on the part of former President Aquino. No trial date has been set for the case against Aquino. If convicted of the case, the former president could face the penalty of temporary special disqualification and imprisonment between six months and one day to six years. In July 2017, Aquino was also indicted of usurpation of authority for ordering a 2015 raid on a Muslim armed leader in the southern Philippines, which resulted in the death of 44 elite police officers. Aquino, who served as president from 2010 to 2016, has been credited with restoring political and economic stability in the Philippines and for signing a peace deal to try to end a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in Mindanao. More 2,000 families flee towns near Marawi affected by the latest fighting targeting Maute fighters in Lanao del Sur. More than 11,000 residents from the southern Philippine province of Lanao del Sur have been forced to flee their homes following fresh fighting between the military and the ISIL-linked Maute armed group. The provincial disaster agency was quoted on Wednesday as saying that 2,234 families have been affected in seven towns south of the city of Marawi, which was occupied by Maute and Abu Sayyaf fighters for five months in 2017. At least five fighters have been killed since the latest violence erupted on Sunday, when government troops launched an operation in an area believed to be the sanctuary of the groups new leader, Abu Dar. Abu Dar and dozens of Maute fighters, believed to be involved in the Marawi siege last year, had escaped from the city to establish a new camp in the neighbouring town of Tubaran. That camp has reportedly been captured by government forces, according to a military statement on Wednesday. Abu Dar is believed to be a former lieutenant of the Abu Sayyaf top commander Isnilon Hapilon, who was reported killed in October 2017 in Marawi. The Maute armed group is a band of fighters founded around 2012 by the Maute brothers, Omar and Abdullah Maute. Members of the group come from diverse backgrounds, including former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The group formed an alliance with the Abu Sayyaf and both pledged allegiance to ISIL, as the international group started to expand in Iraq and Syria in 2015. Both Maute brothers were reported killed in 2017 during the siege of Marawi. Abu Dars presence in the hinterlands of Tubaran, where he has many relatives, was confirmed last month when his men reportedly killed a village leader who resisted their plan to venture into town. The village leaders relatives notified the military about Abu Dars presence and helped troops hunt down the fighters, regional assembly representative Zia Adiong earlier told AP news agency. When he escaped Marawi, Abu Dar reportedly brought more than $577,000 in looted cash, which government officials said he could use for recruitment and rebuilding of the battered organisation. The Marawi siege, which began on May 23 last year, killed more than 1,100 people, mostly armed fighters, and displaced an estimated 600,000 residents in the city and neighbouring towns. Since the fighting ended in October 2017, an estimated 70 percent of the displaced Marawi residents are back in the city, although much of the university town remains in ruin. The fighting prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law in the entire island of Mindanao until the end of 2018. Sporadic military offensives continue against armed groups in other southern provinces. Exchange of Israeli air raids and Palestinian rockets over Gaza border has been one of most intense in recent weeks. Israeli jets have attacked 25 targets linked to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, after the group launched rockets and mortar shells at Israeli territory, the military said. Three Palestinians were lightly injured during the attacks in the early hours of Wednesday, residents said. The exchange was one of the most intense recent barrages of rocket fire and air strikes. No casualties were reported in Israel. Air raid sirens and Israeli phone warning applications sounded throughout the predawn hours. The Israeli military said 45 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israeli territory and said its Iron Dome anti-missile shield intercepted seven rockets. While Hamas praised the rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday, it did not take responsibility for them. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said it was time for new rules of engagement, where bombing is met with bombing. Its the Israeli occupation that started the escalation.The resistance has warned against continuing to target civilians, fishermen, farmers, and resistance positions. Its time to present new rules of engagement: bombing is met with bombing. Whoever began the escalation should be responsible for the consequences. The resistance is not interested in a new war at all, but we always want to defend the Palestinian people. The peaceful demonstrations in all forms will continue on the eastern border and the Palestinian resistance will be ready to protect Palestinian civilians and defend them. Palestinian rocket fire came hours after the Israeli military said it struck Hamas infrastructure in response to arson balloons launched from Gaza into Israel. Israel has carried out air raids in the Gaza Strip over the past few weeks, saying it was retaliating for Palestinians setting fire to Israeli land. In recent weeks, Palestinian protesters have used flaming objects attached to kites to set fire to agricultural land just over the border fence with Israel. {articleGUID} Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett in Jerusalem said that over the last few days, a number of incendiary kites and balloons [have been] flown from Gaza into Israeli territory. They (the kites) have lit dozens of fires. In response to that, weve seen some strikes from the Israeli air force on Hamas targets. Last night, that escalated with more than 45 rockets being fired from Gazan territory into southern Israel and areas bordering Gaza Strip. In response, [Israeli forces] struck 25 separate Hamas targets. At least 127 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops during mass demonstrations and 3,000 have been injured along the Gaza border since March 30. Israels tactics in confronting the weekly Friday protests have drawn international condemnation. The demonstrations have been staged by Palestinians demand the right to return to homes their families fled or were driven from following the founding of Israel 70 years ago. Around two million people live in Gaza, most of them stateless descendants of refugees from what is now Israel. The territory has been controlled by Hamas for more than a decade, during which it has fought three wars with Israel. Israel and Egypt maintain a blockade of the strip, citing security reasons, which has caused an economic crisis and collapse in living standards over the past decade. Saudi, UAE coalition forces claim control of Hudaida airport Yemeni army is blocking the road between Hudaida province and the capital, cutting Houthi supply lines and stopping reinforcements from getting through. Two South Sudanese leaders will meet on Wednesday for the first time since a peace deal broke down in 2016. South Sudans rebel leader Riek Machar arrived in Ethiopia for a meeting with President Salva Kiir, as part of talks to try to negotiate an end to a five-year civil war, a rebel spokesperson said. I can confirm to you that our chairman has arrived in Addis Ababa airport this morning, Lam Paul Gabriel said on Wednesday. Machar had been held under house arrest in South Africa since late 2016 after fleeing South Sudan. An Ethiopian government official also confirmed Machars arrival and said he would meet Ethiopias prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, before his talks with Kiir. Riek Machar has arrived, Meles Alem, foreign ministry spokesman, told Reuters news agency. Kiir and Machar are due to meet later on Wednesday. It will be the first between the two since a peace deal between the government and Machars rebel group fell apart in August 2016. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the civil war that broke out in late 2013 when troops loyal to Machar, the former vice president of South Sudan, launched a rebellion against the government. The United Nations and other organisations have accused all sides in the complex and multifaceted war of committing atrocities against civilians. Two South Sudanese leaders met for the first time since a peace deal broke down in 2016. South Sudans rebel leader Riek Machar met Wednesday with President Salva Kiir in Addis Ababa the first time in nearly two years as part of talks to try to negotiate an end to a five-year civil war, Ethiopias Prime Ministers chief of staff said on Twitter. The PM Abiy Ahmed hosted a private dinner to President Salva Kiir and Dr Rieck Machar together, Fitsum Arega said. Faced with the continued suffering in SouthSudan, Ethiopia simply cant stand by. With more work, a peaceful future is possible, Arega added. Kiir and Machar met individually with Abiy before the three sat down together, South Sudanese opposition party officials and western diplomats said. The Kiir and Machar meeting in Addis is the first between the two since a peace deal between the government and Machars rebel group fell apart in August 2016. Both leaders continued meeting into the night and were expected to continue discussions on Thursday. Activists have urged the two sides to reach a sustainable peace agreement. At this critical moment where our nationhood and our collective future is at stake, we remind you of your moral and political obligations to meaningfully reconcile with each other as well as with all other political leaders in our country South Sudan Civil Society Forum Ethiopia invited them for talks as pressure grows to end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and created Africas largest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Machar had been held under house arrest in South Africa since late 2016 after fleeing South Sudan. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the civil war that broke out in late 2013 when troops loyal to Machar, the former vice president of South Sudan, launched a rebellion against the government. The United Nations and other organisations have accused all sides in the complex and multifaceted war of committing atrocities against civilians. The oil-producing nation gained independence in 2011 from north Sudan but fighting broke out two years later. The story of a family torn apart by Trumps immigration policies US president has not only forcibly separated children from parents seeking asylum, but also tore apart families who have been living in country for years. Besieged civilians were indiscriminately attacked, and systematically denied food and medicine, UN investigators say. Forces loyal to Syrias government committed what amounted to crimes against humanity, including deliberately starving civilians, during the siege of Eastern Ghouta, UN investigators said on Wednesday. The five-year siege, on the outskirts of the capital, ended in April when Damascus regained control of the rebel enclave. Following the end of the longest running siege in modern history, the UN Commission of Inquiry [on Syria] has condemned this method of warfare in Syria as barbaric, the UN investigators said in a statement. The commission, tasked by the UN Human Rights Council in March to urgently investigate recent events in Eastern Ghouta, released a 23-page report filled with horrific details of civilian suffering. It is completely abhorrent that besieged civilians were indiscriminately attacked, and systematically denied food and medicine, commission head Paulo Pinheiro said. As pro-government forces dramatically escalated their campaign to recapture Eastern Ghouta between February and April this year, they used tactics that were largely unlawful in nature, the report said. The tactics aimed at punishing the inhabitants of Eastern Ghouta and forcing the population, collectively, to surrender or starve, it added. The report described thousands of desperate people holed up for months in squalid basements with dwindling food rations and few, if any, sanitation facilities as bombs and missiles rained down. According to the report certain acts perpetrated by pro-government forces, including the deliberate starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare, amount to the crime against humanity of inhumane acts causing serious mental and physical suffering. War crimes The investigators slammed the widespread use of sieges throughout Syrias seven-year conflict, which has killed more than 350,000 people. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian women, men and children countrywide have suffered for too long the perverse and long-lasting effects of this medieval form of warfare, the report said. The UNs Syria commission, set up in 2011 shortly after the civil war began, has repeatedly accused the warring parties of crimes. In its latest report, the commission also faulted armed opposition groups like Jaysh al-Islam, Ahrar al-Sham and Hayet Tahrir al-Sham for committing war crimes by launching indiscriminate attacks on Damascus, and killing and maiming hundreds of civilians. Through the entire duration of the siege, armed groups also regularly arbitrarily arrested and tortured civilians in Douma, including members of religious minority groups, repeatedly committing the war crimes of cruel treatment and torture, and outrages upon personal dignity UN Commission of Inquiry The investigators, who were never granted access to Syria, said they based the findings in their latest report on some 140 interviews conducted in person in the region and from Geneva. They also said they analysed photographs, video recordings, satellite imagery, and medical records, as well as reports from government and non-government sources. The report noted that about 140,000 people had been displaced from their homes when government forces declared Eastern Ghouta recaptured on April 14. Tens of thousands of them are still being unlawfully interned by government forces in managed sites throughout the Damascus region, the report said. Following local evacuation agreements, up to 50,000 civilians from Eastern Ghouta were displaced to Idlib and Aleppo governorates, it said. The attack comes days after Taliban said they would resume fighting despite Kabul extending Eid ceasefire by 10 days. Taliban fighters have killed 30 security forces in an ambush on two checkpoints in the western province of Badghis on Wednesday, the provincial governor told the Reuters news agency. The attack early on Wednesday comes days after the Taliban said they would resume fighting despite President Ashraf Ghani extending the Eid ceasefire by 10 days. The Taliban did not immediately comment on the attacks. Provincial Governor Abdul Qafoor Malikzai confirmed the deadly attack. Abdul Aziz Bek, head of the Badghis provincial council, said one military base was targeted, in the district of Balamerghab. Large numbers of Taliban came from several directions, Bek said. After hours of heavy fighting 30 Afghan security forces were killed and the Taliban captured the base. Fifteen Taliban were killed in other areas of the province overnight, he said, adding that the fighters prepared their attacks and did reconnaissance of the area during their ceasefire. Preconditions for peace talks The Talibans three-day ceasefire ended on Sunday. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for a blast in Nangarhar province that left at least 36 dead on June 17, bringing the death toll to more than 50 during the ceasefire period. In the statement on Sunday, the Taliban repeated their preconditions for peace talks, including that they would only negotiate directly with the US and that foreign forces should leave Afghanistan. Taliban has waged a bloody armed rebellion against Western-backed Afghan government since it was deposed by the US-led NATO forces in 2001. US president signs executive order ending child separation but says zero-tolerance prosecution policy will continue. US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that would keep families together after they get detained crossing the border illegally. The order was drafted by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in an effort to end what has become a major crisis for the Trump administration. Were going to have very strong borders but we are going to keep families together, the president said, adding that he doesnt like seeing children separated from their families. However, he also said that the zero tolerance policy on illegal immigration will continue. The order marks a dramatic departure for an administration that has been insisting, wrongly, that it has no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of the law and a court decision. Al Jazeeras White House correspondant Kimberly Halkett described the action as a tremendous reversal of policy but that the broader issue of immigration is still yet to be resolved. This is just a stop-gap measure to end the child separations, she said. Democrats and Republicans although they are both blaming each other have not resolved the broader issue of immigration reform that has been stymying this congress and law makers for about two decades or longer. Nielsen, the president and other officials have repeatedly said the only way to end the practice is for Congress to pass new legislation, though both Democrats and some Republicans have said the president could reverse it with a simple phone call. The news in recent days has been dominated by searing images of children held in cages at border facilities, as well as audio recordings of young children crying for their parents. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump blamed the Democrats for the impasse in Congress. Its the Democrats fault, they wont give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation, he tweeted. They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday detaining parents and children together [AFP] Senator Jeff Merkley said that the exeuctive action does not necessarily reflect a positive solution. Details yet to come, but @realDonaldTrumps solution to family separation sounds like handcuffs for all, he said in a post on Twitter. Locking up children and families in detention centers is unacceptable and un-American. Nicole AustinHillery, the US executive director at Human Rights Watch, agreed. [Republicans] in the Senate are now considering detaining families as a unit in response to the national outcry from tearing families apart, she said. This is not a solution just a change in how the damage is done. Homeland Security officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Its the Democrats fault, they wont give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation. They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something it never ends! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2018 Zero tolerance The administration recently put into place a zero tolerance policy in which all unlawful border crossings are referred for prosecution a process that moves adults to the custody of the US Marshals Service and sends many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the Obama administration, such families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation. The policy had led to a spike in family separations in recent weeks, with more than 2,300 minors were separated from their families at the border from May 5 through June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Nielsens action would not end the zero tolerance policy, but would aim to keep families together and ask the Department of Defense to help house the detained families. Nielsen is working with the other agencies, including the Justice Department, Health and Human Services and the law enforcement agencies within Homeland Security on the proposed changes. The aim is to legally work around a settlement that prevents the detention of families together for more than 20 days, or defy the order and force it back into court to argue for changes to settlement. The settlement of a class-action lawsuit set policies for the treatment and release of unaccompanied children who are caught at the border. The Flores settlement, named for a teenage girl who brought the case in the 1980s, requires the government to release children from custody and to their parents, adult relatives or other caretakers, in order of preference. If those options are exhausted, authorities must find the least restrictive setting for the child who arrived without parents. In 2015, a federal judge in Los Angeles expanded the terms of the settlement, ruling that it applies to children who are caught with their parents as well as to those who come to the US alone. Other recent rulings, upheld on appeal, affirm the childrens rights to a bond hearing and require better conditions at the Border Patrols short-term holding facilities. In 2016, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that child migrants who came to the border with parents and were held in custody must be released. The decision did not state parents must be released. Neither, though, did it require parents to be kept in detention, apart from their children. Four politically distinct parties form bloc to challenge Turkish president and his party in key polls. Istanbul, Turkey The upcoming key elections in Turkey will see an unlikely alliance between four opposition parties to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling party. The vote is the first time presidential and parliamentary polls will be held simultaneously, in line with the last years constitutional changes that will transform the countrys parliamentary system to an executive presidential one. The changes, which will largely enter into force after the June 24 polls, are set to hand the next president significant executive powers, abolish the prime ministry and remove the monitoring role of parliament, among other changes. Erdogan, hoping to keep his seat with its future increased powers, has entered the race in the face of a depreciating lira, strained relations with the West and criticism from rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch over what they call the deterioration of human rights and the rule of law in the country. {articleGUID} The oppositions newly-formed Nation Alliance includes main opposition centre-left Republican Peoples Party (CHP), the debuting right-wing Good Party (IYI) and ultraconservative Felicity Party (SP), with backing from the minor centre-right Democrat Party (DP). The opposition alliance is challenging Erdogans ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) which joined forces with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) to create the Peoples Alliance. Both alliances were established in line with recently introduced legislation that allows political parties to form election alliances in parliamentary polls. Such alliances were previously banned. According to the law passed by parliament on March 3, an officially formed bloc can jointly pass Turkeys unusually high 10 percent parliamentary election threshold. However, citizens will still vote for individual parties shown within their blocs on the ballots. The legislation is to help smaller parties enter parliament by joining forces with larger ones. Nation Alliance voters say the four parties have come together out of necessity and obligation [Umut Uras/Al Jazeera] Unexpected partners The sight of religiously ultraconservative SP with the secularist CHP of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of modern Turkey, would have been unimaginable in the past. {articleGUID} The SP represents a political movement that Erdogan and his AK Party broke away from at the beginning of the 2000s as they believed it was too traditional to appeal to the masses. Erdogan Toprak, an Istanbul MP for the CHP, believes voters do not care much about the identities or ideologies of political parties in the coming polls, because they have a different priority. Concerns voters carry about the future surpasses their political differences, be they nationalists, conservatives, leftists or anything else. And this is unprecedented, he told Al Jazeera. Voters from all parties in the bloc see it as a necessary sacrifice we had to make and they respect it. Concerns voters carry about the future surpasses their political differences, be they nationalists, conservatives, leftists or anything else. And this is unprecedented. Erdogan Toprak, MP of CHP The prospect of the Nation Alliance was first revealed with an unexpected and significant show of solidarity between the CHP and IYI Party, which was formed by the banned members of the MHP only months before the elections. After Erdogan called snap elections in April, discussions emerged over whether the IYI party was eligible to run or not. The debate was over a controversy around the date of its founding party congress, as parties must be founded at least six months before the election date in order to join the race. At this point, the CHP officially loaned IYI Party 15 MPs to ensure that it can be in the race, as parties with 20 deputies in parliament are automatically eligible to compete according to Turkish election law. Necessary alliance Supporters of the Nation Alliance say that the three parties are cooperating to get a higher number of seats in parliament and have a shot at defeating Erdogan in the presidential race before he gains executive presidential powers. Mesut Kosedagi, a member of the CHPs Istanbul branch, says the Nation Alliance is made up of people who are tired of the AK Party government and have come together to create an alternative to it. {articleGUID} The government has polarised the society to an extreme extent as us and them. Our alliance is a partnership of them, regardless of how different their political views are. Turkeys current situation has blurred ideological lines, the 35-year-old business owner told Al Jazeera while trying to attract voters for his party in a main Istanbul square. These political parties have come together partly out of necessity and obligation, but their bonding point is their support for the parliamentary system, against an executive presidential one. Osman Altmisdort, an IYI Party volunteer, agreed: All partners in the alliance are pro-democracy parties that believe in the parliamentary system. Thats where their paths cross. All of them want change. They want to change this government for the better, he told Al Jazeera, as he posed by a large IYI Party banner. IYI Party volunteer Altmisdort says all parties in the Nation Alliance believe in the parliamentary system [Umut Uras/Al Jazeera] Individual candidates Although the parties in the Nation Alliance are entering the parliamentary polls as a bloc, they will have individual candidates in the presidential polls and will support whoever faces Erdogan in the possible second round of the presidential elections. {articleGUID} The CHPs candidate, Muharrem Ince, is a fiery Erdogan critic and a social democrat who has a religious side that might attract more devout voters. His supporters say he has the image of an honest Turkish citizen who came from a poor family and worked hard to be successful. Meral Aksener, the IYI Party leader and presidential candidate, is a former interior minister popular with nationalist and right-wing voters. She successfully launched herself and her young party into popular right-wing politics. SP leader Temel Karamollaoglu is another presidential hopeful. A conservative Muslim, he has had a 40-year political career. Erdogan had been a member of the SP before he split off and founded the AK Party. Surveys suggest that Ince leads the votes among the opposition candidates, followed by Aksener. {articleGUID} All three politicians have promised to throw their weight behind each other if the polls go to a second round. They also pledged to reinstate a parliamentary system if they are elected, gradually giving up their executive presidential powers. Ender Tanyeri, a CHP volunteer campaigning in the central Istanbul district of Besiktas, said that he sees the coming elections as the last chance before Erdogan establishes, what he sees as one-man rule. I want to wake up to a Turkey without Erdogan, the 23-year-old student told Al Jazeera before he started explaining a voter about Inces election promises. AK Party officials have repeatedly criticised the opposition bloc for not having anything in common apart from being against Erdogan. These unrelated political parties have come together in one common ground, in being anti-Erdogan, Hayati Yazici, an AK Party deputy chairman, said on Wednesday, claiming that the partners in the Nation Alliance do not offer any real programmes. Follow Umut Uras on Twitter: @Um_uras UK: More than 450 patients died from opiate prescriptions New report says the institutionalised practice of prescribing opiates without medical justification led to the deaths. Leader of top US ally tells MPs that images of detained children are deeply disturbing and wrong. British Prime Minister Theresa May has spoken out against the US policy of separating migrant children from their parents in a rare rebuke of her countrys biggest ally. The Conservative Party leader told parliament that the images of children in cages were disturbing and that the UK did not approve of separating migrant families. The pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing. This is wrong, this is not something that we agree with, this is not the United Kingdoms approach, May told parliament. May had come under pressure from opposition MPs for her perceived silence in response to reports coming out of the US. Over the past two weeks, reports have emerged of US border guards forcibly removing children from their parents after they crossed the US-Mexico border. The leader of the opposition, the Labour Partys Jeremy Corbyn, condemned the US policy as immoral. Its tragic and shocking to see innocent children caged like animals at US migrant camps and to hear their cries of anguish after being forcibly separated from their parents, he wrote on Twitter, adding: Its immoral and goes against fundamental human rights we must always respect, no matter the situation. Mays comments came after France slammed the policy of separating children from their parents. It's tragic and shocking to see innocent children caged like animals at US migrant camps and to hear their cries of anguish after being forcibly separated from their parents. It's immoral and goes against fundamental human rights we must always respect, no matter the situation. Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 19, 2018 We do not share the same model of civilisation, clearly we dont share certain values, government spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux told French television. Trump has shown little sign of a change of direction despite both international and domestic criticism. On Tuesday, he doubled down on his position in a series of posts on Twitter. Democrats are the problem. They dont care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, he wrote. Zero tolerance In May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a zero tolerance approach towards migrants and refugees who cross the US southern border without documents, promising to prosecute those who did so. Part of that approach has been separating children from their parents who are detained. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman told reporters last week that 1,995 children had been separated from 1,940 adults who crossed the US border without documents between April 19 and May 31. President Trump campaigned on a platform of cutting off the flow of immigrants entering the US through Mexico and repeatedly characterised those coming through as potential rapists and criminals. US-Mexico border city divided over Trumps immigration stance Zero-tolerance policy on immigration has polarised residents living in the Texas city of Brownsville, home to one of three shelters across southern parts of the state housing children separated from their parents. The US is not alone in levelling criticism at the UN Human Rights Council over alleged abuses committed by its members. The US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has been roundly condemned by rights groups and was described as disappointing, if not really surprising by Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, made the announcement on Tuesday in Washington, DC, alongside US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. She cited chronic bias against Israel and hit out at the hypocritical and self-serving organisation. The move is the latest in an increasingly isolationist approach towards international institutions since US President Donald Trump took power. It comes little over a month after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal despite protests from its European allies and a year after the US withdrawal from the Paris agreement to combat climate change. Here we explain where the US criticism of the body stems from and what impact the decision is likely to have on its future. What does the UNHRC do? The UN body was established in 2006 with the aim of promoting and protecting human rights around the globe, as well as investigating alleged human rights violations. It is made up of 47 member states, which are selected by the UN General Assembly on a staggered basis each year for three-year-long terms. Members meet around three times a year to debate human rights issues and pass non-binding resolutions and recommendations by majority vote. {articleGUID} The council also carries out the Universal Periodic Review of all UN member states, which allows civil society groups to bring accusations of human rights violations in member states to the attention of the UN. Its recent investigations into human rights abuses include a fact-finding mission to Myanmar to investigate abuses against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority and establishing a commission to look into abuses taking place in Syria. In May, the UNHRC voted to send a probe to Gaza to investigate the killing of Palestinian protesters by the Israeli army. Why does the US have a problem with the UNHRC? The US problem with the body is twofold: the make-up of its membership and what it considers a disproportionate focus on allegations of human rights abuses committed by its ally, Israel. In 2006, when the council was established, then-US President George W Bush refused to join because the organisation included members accused by Washington of human rights violations. The country changed tack under the former Obama administration, but the ascent of Trump put Washingtons continued membership back under the spotlight. Israel thanks President Trump, Secretary Pompeo and Ambassador Haley for their courageous decision against the hypocrisy and the lies of the so-called UN Human Rights Council. Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) June 19, 2018 In 2017, Haley again argued that many of the councils members were in no position to be scrutinising the human rights violations of other countries. Membership of the body includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China, and several other countries that are widely and regularly condemned for human rights abuses by rights groups. What has the reaction been like? The EU said the decision by the US risks undermining the role of the US as a champion and supporter of democracy on the world stage, and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called the move regrettable. On the other hand, Israel praised the decision as courageous. The reaction among human rights groups and activists has been universally negative. Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch said that the US was attempting to discredit the council because of its regular criticism of Israels treatment of Palestinians. The US joins Iran, North Korea and Eritrea as the only countries that refuse to participate in the UN Human Rights Council's meetings and deliberations. https://t.co/kBep1Muh8P pic.twitter.com/3xByizXVX5 Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) June 20, 2018 For the Trump administration, its more important to defend Israel from criticism by the UN Human Rights Council than to defend human rights victims in Syria, North Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan, he wrote in a tweet, further condemning the Trump administrations one-dimensional human rights policy. His colleague at HRW, Andrew Stroehlein, said the US was turning its back not just on the UN, but on victims of human rights abuses around the world. Stroehlein said the UNHRC had its flaws, specifically the participation of persistent rights violators, such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, but added it had also worked towards holding human rights violators accountable. The US decision to leave the UNHRC is disappointing, given its past leadership on human rights at the council. This is yet another blow to intl efforts to protect rights at a time when they are under attack across the world (including in the US) UNA-UK (@UNAUK) June 19, 2018 It has initiated investigations into rights violations in Syria, Yemen, Burundi, Myanmar, and South Sudan, and addresses key topics such as migration, counterterrorism and protecting women, LGBT people, people with disabilities and others from violence and discrimination, he said. No international institution is perfect, many have serious flaws, but walking away wont fix them. Principled engagement might. On its Twitter account, Amnesty International posted a sarcastic list of 10 reasons why the US was right to leave the UNHRC, all of which were blank. The 15 officers who arrived at the prison in southern Yemen hid their faces behind head dresses, but their accents were clearly foreign from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They lined up the detainees and ordered them to undress and lie down. The officers then searched the anal cavity of each prisoner, claiming that they were looking for contraband mobile phones. The men screamed and wept. Those who resisted were threatened by barking dogs and beaten until they bled. Hundreds of detainees suffered similar sexual abuse during the event on March 10 at Beir Ahmed prison in the southern city of Aden, according to seven witnesses interviewed by the Associated Press news agency. Descriptions of the mass abuse offer a window into a world of rampant sexual torture and impunity in UAE-controlled prisons in Yemen. The UAE is a key United States ally whose secret prisons and widespread torture were exposed by an AP investigation last June. The news agency has since identified at least five prisons where security forces use sexual torture to brutalise and break inmates. The AP first asked the Pentagon about grave rights abuses committed by the UAE one year ago. But despite well-documented reports of torture reported by the AP, human rights groups and even the United Nations (UN), Marine Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesperson, said that the US has seen no evidence of detainee abuse in Yemen. {articleGUID} US forces are required to report credible allegations of detainee abuse, he said. We have received no credible allegations that would substantiate the allegations put forth in your line of question/story. US officials have acknowledged that American forces receive intelligence from UAE partners and have participated in interrogations in Yemen. But Rankine-Galloway said he could not comment on intelligence sharing with partners. Department of Defense personnel are expected to adhere to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct, he said. UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment. In Yemens three-year civil war, UAE forces that are purportedly fighting on behalf of Yemens government have overtaken wide swaths of territory, towns and cities in the south. They have swept up hundreds of men into a network of at least 18 hidden prisons on suspicion of being al-Qaeda or ISIL fighters. The prisoners are held without charges or trials. Witnesses said Yemeni guards working under the direction of Emirati officers have used various methods of sexual torture and humiliation. They raped detainees while other guards filmed the assaults. They electrocuted prisoners genitals or hung rocks from their testicles. They sexually violated others with wooden and steel poles. They strip you naked, then tie your hands to a steel pole from the right and the left so you are spread open in front of them. Then the sodomising starts, said one father of four. From inside the prison in Aden, detainees smuggled letters and drawings to the AP about the sexual abuse. The drawings were made on plastic plates with blue ink pen. {articleGUID} The artist told the AP that he was arrested last year and has been in three different prisons. They tortured me without even accusing me of anything. Sometimes I wish they would give me a charge so I can confess and end this pain, he said. The worst thing about it is that I wish for death every day and I cant find it. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of further abuse. The drawings show a man hanging naked from chains while he is being electrocuted, another inmate on the floor surrounded by snarling dogs as several people kick him, and graphic depictions of anal rape. Naked after beating, one Arabic caption says. Another drawing shows a mans rectum being forced open. This is how they search the prisoners, the caption reads. Of the five prisons where the AP found sexual torture, four are in Aden, according to three Yemeni security and military officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. One is at the Buriqa base the headquarters for the Emirati forces. A second is at the house of Shallal Shaye, the Aden security chief closely allied with the UAE, and a third is at a nightclub-turned-prison called Wadah. The fourth is at Beir Ahmed, where the March atrocities occurred. US personnel have been seen at the Buriqa base, along with Colombian mercenaries, according to two prisoners and two security officials. The detainees could not say whether the Americans, some of whom wear military uniforms, are members of the US government or mercenaries. In late 2014, Iran-backed Houthi rebels took over much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, and forced out the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The following March, direct international involvement in the conflict began, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and the UAE who remain active in Yemen today, executing a relentless air campaign in support of the Hadi government. It is the UAE that has taken the lead in southern Yemen. You are killing my dignity {articleGUID} The humiliation of the entire prison population in March may have been triggered by a series of hunger strikes among prisoners, who are held for months or years. At least 70 detainees were ordered to be released earlier this year by state prosecutors but most remain in detention. The Yemeni government has said that it has no control over the UAE-run prisons and Hadi has ordered an investigation into reports of torture. The incident in March began when soldiers opened cells at 8am, ordered all detainees out to the prison yard, then lined them up and forced them to stand under the sun till noon. When the Emirati force arrived, the detainees were blind-folded, handcuffed and led in groups or individually into a room where the Emiratis were present. The Emiratis told them to undress and lie down. The UAE officers then spread their legs open, touched their genitals and probed their rectums. You are killing my dignity, one prisoner was heard crying. A second screamed to the Emiratis, Did you come to liberate us or strip our clothes off? The Emiratis shouted back: This is our job! One prisoner said that when the Emiratis forced them to stand naked, all I could think of was Abu Ghraib referring to the prison outside Baghdad where US soldiers committed abuses against detainees during the Iraq war. They were searching for mobile phones inside our bodies, another witness told the AP. Do you believe this! How could anyone hide a phone in there? In the same city, at the UAE-run prison inside the Buriqa military base, two prisoners told the AP they think that American personnel in uniform must be aware of the torture either because they have heard screams or seen marks of torture. Prisoners said that they havent seen Americans directly involved in the abuse. Americans use Emiratis as gloves to do their dirty work, said one senior security official at the Riyan Prison in the city of Mukalla. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. Two other security officials, who were once close to the Emiratis, said that mercenaries including Americans are present at all the Emirati military camps and sites, including the prisons. Their mission is mainly to guard. The father of four said that sometimes the screaming from the beatings is so intense that he can feel his cell shake. Its beyond imagination, he said. Rape and blackmail {articleGUID} A former security chief who himself was involved in torturing detainees to extract confessions told the AP that rape is used as a way to force detainees to cooperate with the Emiratis in spying. In some cases, they rape the detainee, film him while raping, use it as a way to force him to work for them, he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, because of security concerns. Based on the AP investigation last year, the House of Representatives voted on May 24 to require Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to determine whether US military or intelligence personnel violated the law in interrogations of detainees in Yemen. The House adopted the measure as part of the 2019 defense authorisation bill. The amendment was sponsored by Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California. The Defense Department has to submit a report within 120 days to Congress. We hope for a clear answer, Khanna said. This is not the American way of doing business. The US provides arms worth billions of dollars in addition to logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi-led coalition. The US has also intensified its drone campaign against al-Qaeda and the ISIL group in Yemen. The Pentagon has said that American forces are helping UAE and Yemeni forces in driving al-Qaeda fighters from southern Yemeni cities. The war has left over 10,000 people dead, displaced millions, and pushed the already poor country to the edge of famine. Yet instead of restoring President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadis power in the southern Yemen regions liberated from the Houthis, Saudi Arabia kept him in Riyadh for more than a year. He was only allowed to return to Yemen Thursday at the beginning of an offensive led by the UAE to take control of the major port city of Hudaida, the key entry point for humanitarian aid. The UAEs control over southern Yemen, and the prisons, has left many Yemenis worried that innocent civilians are being pushed into the arms of the very people that Emirati forces claim they are fighting. In the prisons, they are committing the most brutal crimes, said a Yemeni commander currently in Riyadh. Joining ISIS and al-Qaeda became a way to take revenge for all the sexual abuses and sodomization. From here, the prisons, they are manufacturing ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS). He spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation from the Emiratis. Hunger strikes {articleGUID} One middle-aged man said he has been in prison since 2016, and has been moved across the network of secret prisons multiple times. He said he was interrogated 21 times, during which he was tortured with electricity, beatings, and attack dogs while he was blindfolded and chained. They beat me up with electric wires, with steel, an electric shock, or they take off the clothes except for the underwear and stomp on my body and face with their boots. The soldiers would carry you up in the air and dump you on the ground. The AP previously confirmed 18 detention sites, but he named 21, including 13 prisons and 8 military camps. Another prisoner gave the AP what he said were the real names of five Emirati torturers. UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment about the men. One of the most brutal torturers is Yemeni, a former prisoner called Awad al-Wahsh, who was arrested and tortured before agreeing to work with the Emiratis, four witnesses told the AP. His supervisor, Yosran al-Maqtari, could not be reached for comment. Al-Maqtari is Adens chief of anti-terrorism. Other torturers named by detainees are Emirati officers known to prisoners by their noms de guerre: Abu Udai, Abu Ismail, and Hitler. The prisoners who were sexually abused in March had tried to fight back. They had organised three hunger strikes to protest their treatment. They had launched a campaign with their families to get human rights groups to secure their release. Thats when the 15 Emirati officers showed up with their dogs. Governor Cuomo accuses Trump administration of violating the Constitutional rights of children and their parents. New York state plans to sue US President Donald Trump over his treatment of immigrant families along the US-Mexican border. The lawsuit was announced by Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, a long-time opponent of Donald Trump. The Trump administrations policy to tear apart families is a moral failing and a human tragedy, Cuomos statement said. We will not tolerate the Constitutional rights of children and their parents being violated by our federal government, the statement continued. On Twitter, Cuomo said at least 70 children are being held in detention centres in New York, a number expected to increase. The Trump administration's policy to tear apart families is a moral failing and a human tragedy. We will not tolerate the Constitutional rights of children and their parents being violated by our federal government. This heartless policy must end once and for all. Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 19, 2018 The state is basing its suit on a 1997 legal settlement in which basic standards were set for the treatment of children detained for immigration reasons. The suit alleges those standards are not being followed by Trump. US border agency, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has come under heavy criticism for its treatment of families at the US-Mexican border. Last week, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesman said that nearly 2,000 minors were separated from 1,940 adults who crossed the US border without documents between April 19 and May 31. Administration officials have claimed they are forced to break up the families to follow the law, but according to the Washington Post, These claims are false there are no statutes that mandate separating children from families at the border. {articleGUID} Critics point out that the administration can simply end the zero-tolerance approach. Rights groups accuse Trump of using the issue as a way to pressure Democrats into pushing through immigration reform legislation that includes funding for his border wall on the US-Mexico border. Trumps policy has been condemned by human rights groups and US politicians, both Democratic and Republican. Amnesty International has called the policy nothing short of torture. On Tuesday, audio from one of the camps where children are being held was released by ProPublica, a non-profit media organisation. Inside a detention center last week. Children separated from their parents wail and ask for help. A Border Patrol agent booms above the crying. Well, we have an orchestra here, he jokes. Whats missing is a conductor. Listen to the full audio here: https://t.co/FrqfILMSUP pic.twitter.com/3Htj4t7alB ProPublica (@propublica) June 18, 2018 In the seven-minute-long recording, children can be heard crying and asking for their parents. According to ProPublica, the clip was obtained from prominent civil rights lawyer Jennifer Harbury, who was given the audio by an unidentified individual who recorded the children in a detention centre. But heres what still fascinates me. When I bring up any fundamental issues with public pensions or cite shortfalls at the state or federal level (particularly, in regard to the latter, around Social Security), the immediate response is that those are benefits the government and taxpayers are contractually obligated to make. If higher taxes are required among the taxpayers providing the benefits to make good on those obligations, they argue, then so be it. Theyre entitled to those benefits. Over the years, Ive come to understand that government pensions are not a fun topic of conversation. Everyone knows someone else who is collecting a public pension, and I know many. The conversation tends to get very personal, and very fast. My observation of the fundamental problems inherent in the very concept of public pensions is often received as a personal attack against the person to whom Im speaking. Interestingly, this is not true in any practical estimation. In reality, a government pension is not even a little bit like a contractual obligation between individuals. But theres a reason that most Americans think otherwise. Lets take Social Security, for example. Ever since its inception, its been pitched to the American people that way. FDR argued, for example, that [y]our Social Security card shows you have an insurance account with the government federal old age and survivors insurance. This is a national insurance plan for all workers in commerce and industry [T]axes are like the premium on any other kind of insurance. You need look no further than the fine print in the Social Security Act itself to see why its nothing like any other kind of insurance. The Act states that the federal government has the right to alter, amend, or repeal any provision if the need calls for it. Any insurance company contracting with a customer would face some serious legal challenges due to such language in a contract. An insurance company, you see, is contractually bound to pay for the benefits that youve been promised for your premium payments. But once youve peered behind the curtain, you notice that you hold no such right to expected benefits with Social Security. This was later litigated and affirmed in Flemming v. Nestor in 1960. Just a couple of excerpts, though Id recommend reading the whole thing: The Social Security system may be accurately described as a form of social insurance, enacted pursuant to Congress power to spend money in the aid of the general welfare But each workers benefits, though flowing from the contributions he made to the nation economy while actively employed, are not dependent on the degree to which he was called upon to support the system by taxation. It is apparent that the noncontractual interest of an employee covered by the Act cannot be soundly analogized to that of the holder of an annuity, whose right to premium is bottomed on his contractual premium payments. Note the language used here. Your contributions were taxes paid to bolster the nations economy, not an insurance policy designed to ensure that you have a stated payment in the future. Its a noncontractual arrangement. Heres another important observation in the text: Integrated treatment of the manifold specific problems presented by the Social Security program demands more than a generalization. That program was designed to function into the indefinite future, and its specific provisions rest on predictions as to expected economic conditions which must inevitably prove less than wholly accurate, and on judgments and preferences as to the proper allocation of the nations resources which evolving and social conditions will of necessity in some degree modify. In other words, your Social Security benefit is a function of what the government needs in terms of its citizens resources and the evolving social conditions of the nation. You know taxes. Nothing more. Our government has outwardly promised Americans a contract with Social Security. But our government cannot issue contracts. It can only create laws. That is the fundamental flaw with Social Security. The government cannot enter into contracts which must be upheld for future generations, because in doing so, they would bind future legislatures and the future taxpayers they will represent. Pension funds (similarly in crisis mode from California to Maine) face these same headwinds in arguing that state or municipal pension benefits amount to some sort of contract that the government is obligated to pay. There is a case that has recently been undertaken and ruled upon by the First Circuit Court of Appeals which provides a bit of insight into this. Municipal firefighters and police officers unions in the City of Cranston filed suit against the State of Rhode Island for recent changes to their pension infrastructure, both in terms of contributions and benefits, for public employees as a response to recent state laws, with the plaintiffs arguing that the states curtailing of benefits for current employees (but not current pensioners) and demand for higher contributions among those employees amounts to a breach of contract. The First Court responded in a fairly harsh rebuke: A claim that a state statute creates a contract that binds future legislatures confronts a tropical-force headwind in the form of the unmistakability doctrine. Parker, 123 F.3d at 5. This doctrine precludes finding that a statute creates a binding contract absent a clear and unequivocal expression of intent by the legislature to so bind itself. Nat'l R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. Co., 470 U.S. 451, 46566 (1985). The doctrine recognizes that "the principal function of a legislature is not to make contracts, but to make laws that establish the policy of the state." Perhaps its important to note again that the Social Security Act goes out of its way to not bind itself to a contractually obligated benefit for contributors. This principle applies all the way down to state and municipal levels, for the simple fact that its obvious that government is not nimble enough to readily adapt to increasing longevities among beneficiaries, different contributions among the populace over time, and changing market dynamics. An insurance company can typically do these things, but only because it creates binding contracts with individuals which can be appraised ongoing in terms of premiums, liabilities, and market environments, and it can adjust its offerings to new policyholders on a daily basis, if need be. What is the purpose of observing this distinction? Its important to understand the nature of the relationship between the American government and its citizens. Public pensions, at the federal, state, or municipal level, are not insurance, as FDR described Americans right to the benefits of the program, but social insurance, as the above Court opinion relates. Insurance has a distinct definition. Social insurance is a made-up concept which, in no meaningful way, differs from the social safety net phrase that we often use to describe welfare programs, or social justice which is used to describe anything certain people may not like about our society. These programs are promised as entitlements, but function only to address the needs of the collective at the expense of individual producers. This is not meant to be an outright attack on Social Security or public pensions, though I would argue that they have been nefariously presented to the public and that they corrupt the very nature of limited government which should never have been predicated upon a government seizing wealth from one individual to pay another individual to provide anything other than a service from which a given body of taxpayers might benefit. That said, this relationship exists, and I have no aim to destroy the edifices previously erected, however shaky the foundations might be. But I suppose thats why it sticks in my craw so much. Im willing to meet in the middle, as the parties engaging in creation of a contract might do. I see no such willingness from the other side on this matter. If we expect these established edifices to continue in their existence, it should be understood that my ever-increasing contributions to the public coffers cannot be the only solution to the problems which I did not create. At the very least, calls to increase working taxpayers contributions should be readily met with the consideration of modest concessions by those who seek to collect from these programs. William Sullivan blogs at Political Palaver and can be followed on Twitter. The document confirms, for many of us, our worst fear: segments of our federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies are a clear and present existential danger to our republic. The title of the Office of the Inspector General's report last week is snoozily bureaucratic-sounding: "A Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election." Let's try to be as un-hindsight and objective as possible. I am not interested in re-litigating the 2016 presidential election (my guy won), but here's a "what if?" that should keep you up at night. Had Republicans and independents not outnumbered Democrats in crucial swing states, if we had lost 2016, how much of the contents of the I.G. report would we have known about? Today? Right now? How much would we have known about the weaponized depth and breadth of secrecy and corruption and disdain for Americans whose taxes paid for officials to hate us, on our dime, and label us "uneducated, lazy POS"? Zero that's how much. If Hillary Clinton were president, what would we have been talking about this past week? I'm not sure, but I'm certain we wouldn't be talking about this embarrassing and perhaps treasonous expose of members of our law enforcement and intelligence communities. To be clear: I do not question the integrity of the boots i.e., the agents. It's the suits who compromised the boots' abilities to do their jobs impartially. Is it possible that some FBI and DOJ officials could have walked off the job in remonstrance of Madame President? Sure; that would have given us some insight, but how much would have really been revealed? Not much, I suspect. The Democrat coup Revulsion for Trump and his deplorable supporters by Democrats and the DMIC (Democrat Media Industrial Complex) is, of course, nothing new. Truthfully, the fact that some within the FBI, including former director James Comey, felt this way isn't even what's most concerning. Even unelected bureaucrats are human, and bias is inherent in human nature. The extent, though, to which, for example, FBI agent Peter Strzok made it his teleological mission to undermine the will of the people and the Constitution he swore to uphold by promising to "stop" Trump from ever getting elected smacks of a trait some of the worst human beings to ever live have exhibited. Bias on steroids, mixed with an intense, addictive loathing of Trump and his voters, cherry-topped with a phony Russian collusion story, makes for one hell of a Molotov cocktail. The report's assessment that officials were not affected by bias is perhaps the most laughable statement ever uttered in the annals of American political history. The I.G.'s report nakedly exposes a direct attack on Americans who have done nothing wrong, as well as an equally disturbing coup of our national hallmark institutions of stability. We are a nation of laws, not of men. Some within Obama's FBI believed the opposite and did their jobs guided by that belief. Why? Because none believed for one millisecond that Donald Trump would ever be elected. They acted with cocksure impunity because they knew that Empress Clinton would keep the coup covered up and running smoothly forever. Have you noticed the deafening silence from Obama? Where's the outrage from the Tessio Republican establishment GOP? Most Americans don't yet grasp just how dangerous to our republic these Democrat cronies and quislings are. The DMIC continues, in perpetuity, its fetishized obsession with pornography actress heroines and has spent the last week regurgitating the debunked conspiracy theory that Comey cost Clinton the election. Don't count on the DMIC to channel its inner Woodward and Bernstein by addressing the threats posed to our nation and our future. There's good news Good can come from the revelations of the I.G. report. Exposure is the first step to conquering; had we lost in 2016, we'd never be able to stop this hydra, short of a military coup against the government. I didn't doubt the president whatsoever when he promised to weed out the intelligence and law enforcement agencies. This is, without question, though, a Herculean task with what could very well have a Sisyphean outcome. But neither we nor the president can sit idly by; I, admittedly, won't be satisfied until we have agency house-cleanings that make Nuremberg look like a private island vacation with unlimited multi-decade-aged oak wood bourbon Old Fashioneds. And let's remind ourselves that elections do, in fact, have consequences. There are so many among us who have been hopelessly swallowed up into the cult of Leninist Democrat progressive ideology that they see what Obama, Clinton, Comey, the FBI, etc. did as perfectly fine if they even know about it at all, since they mindlessly consume the DMIC like the sheeple they are. We need to outnumber Democrat voters every election cycle, to keep momentum going from 2016. Reliably red states no longer exist, so turnout-turnout-turnout is the name of the reform game. Clinton used a personal email and personally configured server: likely illegal. Comey used personal email: violation of DOJ policy (and can Congress please amend laws to prohibit any personal email use for official government correspondence, classified or not?). Obama claimed he found out about Clinton's server and private email from The New York Times: the I.G. confirmed he lied. He exchanged 20 emails with Clinton on her clintonemail.com account, and, according to the report, Comey the Cover-Upper referred to Obama as a "senior government official." The "it" in "it can't happen here" is happening now; it's been happening. Our Founders innately understood that the United States was much more likely to collapse from enemies within than from abroad. Our republic is only as strong as its weakest link. When Ben Franklin remarked that we were a republic, and not a monarchy, never forget the second half of his remark: if you can keep it. Rich Logis is the host of The Rich Logis Show and author of the upcoming book 10 Warning Signs Your Child Is Becoming a Democrat. Follow him at https://www.therichlogisshow.com. These are the last words of Mohammad Salas, who was executed by the Iranian regime authorities at dawn on June 18, 2018. I am innocent and I had to confess under the torture. Mohammad Salas was a 51-year-old bus driver from one of Irans largest Sufi communities, the Nemattolah Gonabadi. He was arrested on February 19, 2018 while taking part in a protest against Sufi repression which turned violent after regime security forces resorted to beatings and the use of live ammunition, water cannons, and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Accused of killing three policemen during the protests, Mohammad Salass attorney, Ms. Zaynab Taheri, stated several times that We have many documents indicating Mohammad Salas is innocent. The sole piece of evidence used to convict him was a confession that Mohammad Salas said was forcibly extracted after he was severely beaten by police officers. He later retracted his confession, but the Supreme Court rejected his request for a judicial review. In spite of an international campaign by human rights organizations, Amnesty International in particular, calling for Sala's sentence to be dropped, it appears that the Iranian authorities have been more interested in vengeance at any cost than in justice. Will Ramin Hossein Panahi be the next victim of the Iranian regime killing machine? The Iranian regime killing machine continues to take more lives. Ramin Hossein Panahis death penalty is politically motivated and he may be executed at any moment. Mr. Panahi was arrested in June last year for alleged membership of the Kurdish nationalist group Komala and was held in solitary confinement until January 2018. His family received no information about his fate or whereabouts for four months after his arrest. Ahmadi Niaz, Panahi's lawyer, stated that the Iranian authorities had mistreated Panahi in prison after his arrest while injured following controversial armed clashes last year in Sanandaj, capital of the Kurdistan province in Iran. International pressure along with an extensive campaign by Iranian social media users seem to have been behind the recent delay of his execution, which was scheduled to take place at Sanandaj prison before dawn on May 3. Amnesty Press announced on May 5, 2018 that Ramin Hossein Panahis death sentence violates international law as there is no evidence linking him to activities involving intentional killing. On June 18, 2018 UN human rights experts have made a new call to Iran to annul the death sentence imposed on Ramin Hossein Panahi. Ramin Hossein Panahi, has published an open letter to the public regarding the implementation of the death penalty, drawing on the history of Iran, from Constitutionalism to today, and stated that various governments regard such a penalty as the most fearsome tool for the elimination of dissents. This letter states: Taking the life of human beings by death penalty is one of the most ancient methods of punishment. Throughout the history of Irans legitimization, all central governments including the constitutional government (which could have ended in a democratic system) have adopted the death penalty as a tool to eliminate their oppositions. In the case of the current Iranian regime, execution is used primarily as a means to an end, to keep the disaffected citizens in check, a sharp reminder that dissidence and opposition will have dire consequences. While the regime has tried to sugarcoat their action and sell it to the rest of the world as religious retribution, on scratching the surface and going a little deeper, it is clear it is not just a mere form of punishment, but more an instrument for spreading fear among its citizens. Even in China, with a population 17 times larger than Iran, and a regime that is by far the worlds leading advocate of the death penalty, there is hardly any case of public hanging or juvenile execution. Iran is second only to China in its number of executions, and the majority who receive death sentences have been convicted of drug-related crimes, or opposition to the Iranian regime. Since becoming president, Donald Trump has withdrawn the nuclear agreement forged in 2015 between Iran and the world powers and repeatedly addressed the Islamic Republic as the greatest menace facing the Middle East. This is good news! Iran's clerical dictatorship is at an impasse, the product of years of steadfast perseverance of the people of the Iranian diaspora combined with the new horizon which has emerged through the uprisings in December and January inside the country. It is these ongoing and widespread protests in cities all around Iran, which have led to President Trump voicing his support for the people of Iran and their clear desire for change, that are going to answer the question of regime change by the Iranian resistance. Juan took the lead when he said he did not know about Chappaquiddick. Imagine a longtime TV journalist who does not know about Teddy Kennedy, the Lion of the Senate, driving off a bridge and leaving Mary Joe Kopechne to die in the submerged car. But Christopher Cuomo, a worthy challenger, may have surpassed Juan. Cuomo, the Freddo of the Cuomo family, tried to take on the brilliant and fearless Kellyanne Conway regarding the current Dem-media obsession with the enforcement of our border laws. The Dems and media are trying to divert attention from the I.G. report of the corrupt Comey investigation of Hillary, which is tied to the corrupt Mueller investigation. Ms. Conway does not back down from the Cuomo types. She should be attorney general. Ms. Conway tried to explain that we are enforcing the laws, which means we arrest those who cross illegally. This means that if the illegals have children with them, the arrest logically separates the children from the illegals who are arrested. This happens every day in every courtroom in the USA when a person is convicted and sent to prison. It results in separation of the parent from the child. For example, Paul Manafort was just separated from his family, even though he has not been convicted. He just had his bail revoked. Cuomo ranted the usual Dem-media talking points about the terrible, inhumane Trump. Ms. Conway calmly explained how the law, passed by Congress, operates. It is not that complicated. If one violates the law, then arrest and prosecution follow. She asked Cuomo what the Dem-media proposal is, to which he had no answer. Finally, Cuomo said, why don't you round up the jaywalkers? They make my life worse than illegal aliens. There you have it. Cuomo believes that jaywalkers are a bigger threat than illegal aliens. I vote for Christopher Freddo Cuomo. Mas estupido. That said, it bothers me to see the left, including many in the Catholic establishment, demonize the Trump administration for the situation involving the children of illegal aliens being temporarily separated from their parents. I admit to not having a passionate view on the immigration issue. I do think there needs to be reform, but I'm no Ann Coulter when it comes to the problem of illegal immigration. It all boils down to the morality of illegal immigration. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 2241): The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him. Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens. Thus, it's not accurate to assert or insinuate that Catholic teaching requires the promotion of "open borders" and immigration on demand. If you listen to some in the Catholic establishment, you might come away thinking that it does. Who constitutes the Catholic establishment? Here in the United States: many bishops, priests, religious, and lay chancery bureaucrats. The Catholic establishment is well connected to liberal politicians. Members of the Catholic establishment often get cushy jobs in various dioceses. The Catholic establishment largely protects the "lavender mafia" that constitutes a significant portion of the clergy. The vast majority of the Catholic establishment almost certainly voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, and Hillary Clinton in 2016, despite the candidates' rabid support of abortion on demand. In other words, liberal Democrat first, Catholic a distant second. In an email to me, Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life and a supporter of President Trump hits the nail on the head: The hypocrisy of the radical Left is on full display in their weeping and gnashing of teeth over the fate of the children and families of migrants. They start by being judgmental of the president, as if he doesn't care about children and families, and continue by throwing concern for the laws of our nation out the window. Then the hypocrites cry about children. Every day I look for their tears over the 3,000 children being ripped limb by limb out of the wombs of their mothers by abortion in legal clinics across the country that the Democrat Party wants us to pay for, and I listen for a cry of complaint about that but hear only silence. No doubt, many in the Catholic establishment are seething at President Trump for his stance on illegal immigration including, perhaps, Pope Francis. (Not that Ann Coulter is too thrilled with the president, either. Oh, well.) At least conservative Catholics like me can take solace in the pope recently comparing abortion to Nazi eugenics and reiterating Catholic teaching that "the only real families are those based on marriage between a man and a woman." I give credit where credit is due. Knife control: The lunacy escalates in UK Gun control hasn't done much to stop London's phenomenal murder rate, given that criminals are frequently stabbing their victims as a result. And London, as well as the adjacent rest of the U.K., has lots and lots of gun control. Instead of drawing the obvious cultural conclusions that murder is something that lurks in the hearts of depraved people, quite apart from their access to guns, and often is fueled by a credible non-fear of punishment (check), U.K. officials have doubled down on gun control and gone it one better: knife control. That includes a new measure just recently to force knife-makers to dull their blades in a bid to head off more murders. Kid you not, here it is, reported by the Daily Signal. The judge now wants rounded knives, just like children's scissors, to ensure that anyone running with one doesn't put his eye out. This should do wonders for London's swinging culinary scene, penalizing its chefs with child-style cutting instruments. And it won't work for the knife control cause, either. This actually is London's second round of knife control. The first was just pure knife control, targeting the carrying of a knife in London, a couple months ago, bruited about by London's leftist mayor, Sadiq Khan. It didn't work, so now they're going for child-style blades for everyone, changing the face of knives. As if London's richly abundant assaulters, burglars, and murderers won't change tactics on that front, too. It shows how unfit the left is to legislate social engineering measures to enact "change." They literally do not understand the problems of human nature and how to address them. Image credit: Olaf Simons via Wikimedia Commons, CC SA-BY 3.0. The child migrant crisis they have drummed up, with media cameras shamelessly exploiting the faces of crying children (they blank out unconsenting children's faces otherwise) separated from their parents, at first glance seems to be the magic bullet they've been looking for. For the left, it's finally springtime. After months in the political wilderness, followed by the crushed hopes for the great blue wave, leftists are finally getting a grip on an issue they can pin on President Trump: family separations among detained illegal border-crossers. They're going wild with this issue, and the press is running stories about it nonstop, complete with crying children to tug at the heartstrings. But there are signs it's getting to be too much for them, driving them to overplay their hand. Many Republicans, for instance, are caving on the real issue, which is border enforcement, hastily offering up new legislation that incentivizes more illegal border-crossing. Many are condemning the migrant separations and blaming Trump, too. It's a panicked response to polls showing public approval numbers dropping, and never mind that the issue itself is problematic, not quite what the left's narrative says it is, premised on laws enacted well before President Trump took office and enforced the same way by past presidents. Only Trump is getting the blame for a now saturation-coverage situation. Instead of fighting back, as Trump does, the Republicans are caving, and this emboldens the left. Yes, indeed this is what passes for springtime for the Trump-hating left. Signs are emerging that this euphoria on the other side is not going to last long. For one thing, Trump really is holding firm, and so is his Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen. For another, foreigners are thinking twice about coming here illegally, which is the point of border enforcement. (The left is upset about this.) Most important, the left is doing what it always does, which is overplaying its hand, going overboard, diving off the deep end, something that will guarantee a turnaround in public sentiment. Leftists are starting to do lunatic things, actually, and on multiple fronts. Start with this, spread by #OccupyWallStNY, making the rounds on Twitter: The Twitter account of Occupy Wall Street published a cartoon Monday promoting the murder of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. What To Do If You Encounter An ICE Agent pic.twitter.com/SsZKAa6DJi Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) June 19, 2018 The post features a CPR infographic altered to include instructions on how to kill ICE agents. Occupy Wall Street captioned the picture, "What To Do If You Encounter An ICE Agent." One of the instructions reads: "Grab the ICE agent from behind and push your knife into his chest with an upward thrust, breaking through his sternum." Seriously, did this really go out as a "public service announcement"? Even as "satire," which is what Occupy later claimed? Here is the offensive tweet, saved by a disgusted observer: What kind of a mind so much as thinks of such a thing, let alone puts all that creative energy into creating a sick, repulsive, violent cartoon graphic designed to fool people into thinking it's a government-produced "how-to" guide? What kind of mind is this? Only one so full of rage and unhinged hate that it can't see how repulsive its output is. The tweet has since been deleted, probably because the Twitter police knew how bad that made the left look, or more likely feared liability problems should one of the leftists reading it go act on it, but it's really amazing that this is the kind of unhinged thinking going on on the left side, staying on Twitter for hours, in the age when conservatives are banned and shadowbanned. Update: Here's a related item featuring Peter Fonda urging his fellow leftists to target the children of ICE agents in their schools. Then there are the leftist displays of raw rage. In this Fox News account here, a rabid leftist "intern" yelled the F-word to President Trump in the halls of Congress, and then a group of congressmen yelled at Trump until their veins were popping. Here is what Fox observed: First, as President Trump's entourage made its way to House Speaker Paul Ryan's office, a congressional intern yelled, "Mr. President, F--- you!" across the Capitol Rotunda. It was unclear whether Trump heard the remark. The incident occured [sic] after visiting hours. Then, several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) gathered outside Trump's meeting with senior Republican officials. When Trump emerged, the representatives heckled him until some were blue in the face, holding signs and screaming. Blue in the face? These people are becoming unglued. Voters don't like anyone who's blue in the face. It then descended into another of the left's specialties, mobbery, in the case of Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who was driven from a reportedly Mexican restaurant last night by the baying mobs of the Democratic Socialists of America. The latter proudly claimed the deed, so redolent of Castro's turba mobs targeting dissidents in one of their "repudiations" that happen over in their beloved Cuba. The left, of course, thinks that speaks well for it. Leftists were seen cheering on Twitter and playing the footage over and over of the "repudiation," amounting to what Tom Wolfe called "porno-violence," or the enjoyment of looped violent film footage. Once again, this kind of behavior designed to bludgeon Trump into submission won't win any voter hearts and minds for Democrats. There were some impressive instances of press misbehavior, too, driven by rabid sentiment from the reporters. Powerline's John Hinderaker has a good one on how some leftist employed by the New Yorker claimed she saw Nazi symbols in the military tattoo of a U.S. war veteran who had since become an ICE agent. It was pure garbage, but she was convinced he had to be a Nazi, because, well, anyone enforcing border law has to be a Nazi. The Nazi charge has been going around since the inauguration of President Trump, and now it's taken new momentum. Hinderaker observes: An obvious question is, what on God's green Earth would cause anyone to think that the vaguely cross-like symbol on Gaertner's elbow is a Nazi or white supremacist sign? Only a person far gone in hatred for ICE employees would leap to such an irrational conclusion. Part of the story, I think, is that the Left is hard up for white supremacists. Liberals talk about them all the time, but to the best of my knowledge, I have never met one. Have you? Liberals need to come up with someone other than Richard Spencer; hence the eagerness to libel a heroic ICE employee. Yelling "Nazi" didn't work for the left during Trump's inauguration, and now, with the economy booming and peace breaking out on the North Korean peninsula, it sure as heck isn't going to work. Then there were the bawlers. Don't forget the bawlers. Lefty TV host Lawrence O'Donnell was crying about the children on his broadcast, making a spectacle of himself to persuade voters to reject President Trump. Because he bawled. He was joined in that activity by the lizard-tough MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who bawled for the cameras, too. Why should Honduran toddlers get all the cry time? They want to join in. Is that going to persuade voters to abandon President Trump and support open borders? Quite likely, the opposite. It's hysteria. And an overplaying of one's hand. This is what the left has repeatedly done in its Wile-E.-Coyote quest to Get Trump. It's not going to work this time, either, but leftists sure are making a spectacle of themselves as they do it. Call it "Peak Left." The left's immigration fallacy Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and their Democratic supporters have argued that we must accept millions of immigrants from Latin America and the Middle East because it is the "American Way." While it is true that we are a country of immigrants, the current situation is different from anything we have faced in the past. Historically, immigrants did not arrive on our shores with the stated intention of destroying our values and our civilization. On the contrary, they wanted to become Americanized. They wanted to speak English and to "fit in." They wanted their children to be Americans not Italians or Irish or Germans. They could retain elements of their home culture, but their primary identification was American. And they expected to work hard to achieve that. They did not rely on entitlements and handouts from the government, because there weren't any. Instead of assimilating and adopting American values as past immigrants did, today's immigrants want to impose their values on us. They want us to assimilate. Millions of Spanish-speaking immigrants want to flaunt the flags of their native countries. They identify as Mexican or Salvadoran or Guatemalan. They expect everything to be translated for them into Spanish. They feel entitled to receive a treasure trove of benefits, while sending much of it back to the old country. There is great irony when immigrants from south of the border take American citizenship as their right. As soon as the Trump administration announced plans to deport illegals, the Mexican government reacted defensively. "I want to say clearly and emphatically," said Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray, "that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept provisions that one government unilaterally wants to impose on the other." One would think Mexico has liberal immigration laws. On the contrary, Mexico's draconian laws make ours seem indulgent. Mexico deems illegal immigration a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. Immigrants who are deported and attempt to re-enter can be jailed for up to ten years. Visa-violators can get six years. A Mexican who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner to live in Mexico can get five years. In fact, Mexico has deported more illegal aliens than we have. From January to December 2014, Mexico deported 107,199 Central American immigrants, while the U.S. deported 104,688 illegals. When a corrupt country like Mexico has the good sense to insist on the rule of law for its borders, why aren't we doing the same? Muslim immigration takes the problem one step farther. Muslim migrants want to supplant our democratic values with the murderous worldview of sharia. Wherever Islam gains a following, Muslims demand an end to human rights and the freedoms that are taken for granted in the West. All we have to do is look at what is happening right now in Europe. As a result of Muslim immigration in Europe, said British commentator Pat Condell, "our society is now measurably less safe and less civilized and the rights of women are effectively negotiable." We cannot expect people from the Stone-Age culture of the Middle East to be transported to New York or Chicago and automatically be assimilated. But that is the unreasonable expectation of the left. Millions of Muslim immigrants in France, Belgium, Germany, the U.K., Holland, and Sweden refuse to integrate or accept Western values. "The experience of Western European countries which have ghettos and excluded localities shows that the integration of the Muslim community is practically impossible," said Czech president Milos Zeman. "Those coming here have no intention of adapting to our lifestyle," agreed Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban. Under Obama, the U.S. lost sight of a basic truth in international relations: every country has the right to protect its culture and its borders. Trump's intention is plain. He wants to enforce our existing immigration laws for the sake of law and order and to protect the homeland from terrorist incursions. We are a country of laws. When one law can be broken without consequences, it encourages disrespect for all laws. The left, it seems, wants to suspend the rule of law when it suits the left's purpose. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the left supports mass immigration because the assumption is that most of the migrants will vote Democratic. "If Americans won't vote for Democrats, then we'll import people who will." Author and political commentator Monica Crowley reminds us that no foreigner has an inherent right to live in the U.S. When it comes to immigration, the needs of our citizens must come first. Washington's first responsibility is to Americans our government is under no legal or moral obligation to anyone else. Ed Brodow (USMC, retired) is author of the book Tyranny of the Minority: How The Left is Destroying America and CEO of Negotiation Boot Camp. A true "Renaissance Man," Ed has been a U.S. Marine Corps officer, Fortune 500 sales executive (IBM, Litton Industries), novelist, and Hollywood movie actor with starring roles opposite Jessica Lange, Ron Howard, and Christopher Reeve. The real agendas behind the 'separation of families' psy-ops meme For years decades, actually the Democrats have been facilitating the invasion of our country by millions of people who are from, as President Trump once reportedly described them, "s-hole countries." The constantly cited figure of "11 million illegal immigrants [sic]" is a joke. It has remained constant for more than a decade, while new waves of illegal immigrants arrive annually. There are more likely tens of millions of illegal aliens here. In California, according to the L.A. Times, July 8, 2015, non-Hispanic whites are now in the minority, having been outnumbered by Latinos, AKA "people of color." Little of this profound demographic shift is a result of legal immigration. This recent wave of immigrants, coming from poor countries with repressive backward regimes, as a rule do not believe in the laws and the importance and supremacy of the founding documents of this country, including the Constitution. Screen shot of Los Angeles Times article July 8, 2015. Our domestic politics is increasingly manipulated by, and now follows and reflects, this profound demographic shift. Soon, living in the United States will totally be like living in the s-hole countries of Mexico and Central America. (In 2017, the most powerful Democrat in the California legislature open borders activist and California state Senate president pro tem Kevin de Leon bragged that "'half his family' was in the country illegally, using false documents, and eligible for deportation." De Leon is now challenging fellow Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein from the left in the November election.) Many of the separated "migrant children," who are now being highlighted in the mainstream media as a story that might actually stick to President Trump, arrive without any experience, skills, or training to prepare them to live in a first-world country. As Breitbart reported on June 15 about a visit to the government facility in El Cajon, California, where migrant children are being housed: They are also given toiletries and lessons in hygiene literally how to flush a toilet, brush their teeth, and operate the shower, which some of the children may have never seen in their lives. Illegal immigrant "DREAMers." Source: Americans for Legal Immigration PAC. The agenda of the Democrats and open borders advocates is now to push to finish the job and to make open borders the legal, as opposed to only the de facto, status quo. The reason is simple: millions more illegals means millions of additional reliable votes for Democrats in their plan to make the United States a one-party socialist country like what they have achieved in the state of California in less than two decades as the result of the invasion of illegals there, most of whom can now vote. The additional and broader intention of the activists is to de-criminalize most crimes so the jails will be emptied of people of color, who constitute prison populations far out of proportion to their numbers because they disproportionately commit crimes, particularly crimes committed by people of one race against another. They have already started to do this in California and other states, with unpleasant consequences. This article on June 19 in The Federalist confirms the Democrats' intention to stop punishing crimes committed not only by illegals, but by all criminal "parents," especially ones who happen to be people of color. Source: Twitter. The Federalist reports that a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate the "Keep Families Together Act" endorsed by every Democrat in the U.S. Senate: ... would actually prevent federal law enforcement agencies almost anywhere inside the United States from arresting and detaining criminals who are parents having nothing to do with unlawfully crossing the border and seeking asylum. According to a 2005 fact sheet, "Women in Prison," by Amnesty International USA: An African American woman is eight times more likely than a European American woman is to be imprisoned. African American women make up nearly half of the nation's female prison population. According to a 2014 fact sheet by Rutgers University: More than 2.7 million children in the U.S. have an incarcerated parent. That is 1 in 28 children[.] ... One in 9 African American children (11.4%), 1 in 28 Hispanic children (3.5%), and 1 in 57 white children (1.8%) in the United States have an incarcerated parent. The left is now pushing the fake news meme that non-white minorities, especially American blacks, are locked up disproportionately because of a racist criminal justice system. The proposed solution? Go easier on prosecuting crimes committed by people of color and give criminals a "get out of prison free" card. In New York, Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently engineered restoring voting rights to convicted felons a partisan politically driven move that added 35,000 voters to the election rolls. (Cuomo is up for re-election in November.) On June 19, the Los Angeles Times reported in an article by Jaweed Kaleem that Austin, Texas, a progressive city, has declared itself the first "Freedom City" in Texas. The move is seen as a challenge to Texas's state law passed last year that forbids localities from declaring themselves "sanctuary cities." City Council members unanimously passed two resolutions last week that will restrict police attempts to question immigrants [sic] about their status and curtail arrests for nonviolent crimes. One of the new city resolutions requires officers who question immigrants [sic] about status to also say that their questions about immigration need not be answered. The other resolution directs police to avoid arrests for misdemeanors, including those for smoking marijuana, having drug paraphernalia, and taking part in petty theft crimes that city data shows frequently end in arrests of black and Latino residents. [Emphasis added.] While Austin is among the country's first so-called freedom cities, it's part of a wider movement around decriminalizing low-level offenses and decreasing arrests. According to Local Progress, a national network of progressive city officials, some council members in El Paso and Dallas are also considering "freedom city" proposals. "Poor people of color in our city are over-punished and over-incarcerated," said Greg Casar, an Austin City Councilman who pushed for the resolutions. "If people are being arrested less, we can also prevent people from being put in the deportation pipeline." As we have seen in recent years, law-breaking from the streets to the political suites no longer carries consequences for the preferred classes whether they are entrenched politicians, high-level Deep State bureaucrats, or illegal alien invaders. Just ask Kate Steinle's surviving relatives about that. Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran reporter and analyst of news on national politics, media, and popular culture. He is a frequent contributor to American Thinker. Follow Peter on Twitter at @pchowka. Would it be good for the economy or would it destroy our economy in the long run if: We see a lot of stories about how disastrous Trump's tariffs are. The criticisms involve the U.S. being in a global economy, the competition, and how hard such tariffs are on consumers and businesses. The main talking points are that there are more buyers than producers of steel, aluminum, and other products, so the tariffs are harmful to the economy. Somehow, the critics fail to recognize all the tariffs and taxes that other countries impose on U.S. products. I have a few questions to see how far this goes. Saudi Arabia and other oil producers around the world lowered the price of oil to $10 per barrel until other producers were put out of business, since 100% of us use crude products, and there are few people who actually produce them? Airbus were subsidized and kept lowering its price until it put Boeing out of business, since more people fly and buy planes than the people who work for Boeing? Brazil and other farm-producing countries lowered the price of beans to $5 a ton and $1 a ton for corn, until farmers elsewhere were bankrupted because 100% of us eat, and more companies and many more employees buy beans and corn than the number of farmers who produce them? A company from China, such as Alibaba, undercut Amazon and other retailers until they are out of business, because 100% of us are consumers and we would save money? How many goods-producing industries and occupations would have to be destroyed before the anti-tariff crowd would consider it a problem? If China and other countries are able to take over manufacturing from the United States because they are cheaper or subsidized, would they hesitate going after our service industries? The trade deficit is around $600 billion now, and that slows economic growth. At what point would the anti-tariff crowd be concerned? One trillion dollars $2 trillion? Maybe never, because, after all, there are more buyers of products than producers in all cases. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer says he supports the tariffs on China, but not on nations that are our friends. Is he such an economic illiterate that he doesn't understand that if you put tariffs only on China and don't put tariffs or quotas on our "friends," China will just launder its products through those "friends"? While Schumer and others oppose tariffs that may add less than 1% to the cost of a car, soda, or beer, they absolutely support an almost 90-year-old law that has oppressed taxpayers and minorities for that long, which is essentially a 20% tariff on government projects. The prevailing wage laws essentially take away competitive bidding and reduce the number of jobs and projects that taxpayers get for their hard-earned dollars. Here is one op-ed about it. Of course, the Democrats who support the 20% prevailing wage tariffs also support head, sugar, income, sales, property, gas, income, and many other taxes and fees. They support massive regulations, also. Each one of these taxes, fees, and regulations is essentially a tariff on U.S. consumers and companies, much more harmful than the tariffs Trump is proposing to level the international playing field. The Democrats who support all these taxes and regulations absolutely opposed Trump's tax reforms and tax cuts, which were also meant to make the U.S. more competitive. The Democrats operate as a cult, where the cult leaders, Pelosi and Schumer, refused to allow their members to support these reforms and cuts, despite their knowing that the cuts would help almost all companies and a significant majority of their constituents. Most journalists are also members of this cult, as they repeat the talking points of the cult leaders instead of telling the public the truth about the positive impact of the tax and regulatory cuts on the entire economy. So pardon me if I don't believe that Democrats, including journalists, give a rat's rear end about a 1% increase in the price of a car as they harp on about how such tariffs reduce the purchasing power of Americans. Michigan just repealed its prevailing wage laws and says it will save them $400 million per year. The state will save $400 million a year with its prevailing wage reform. Thank goodness we have Trump as president, because Hillary would have continued Obama's ambivalence about losing manufacturing jobs. I saw an article last week that said some Canadians are canceling vacations in the U.S and boycotting products because of the tariffs. I had no idea that our president was supposed to make sure that 100% of people in other countries, including Canada, are happy with our policies. Now I know! Heaven forbid that a president would ever think of the United States and its people first. I bet if Canadians want to go someplace warm or to Disneyland or Disney World, they come to the U.S. anyway. I also bet that most of the Canadians who are snowbirds continue to come to Florida and Arizona. I am pretty sure that some dairy farmers in the U.S might boycott Canadian vacations and products because of their tariffs. I wonder where those stories are. Image Credit: Giulia Forsythe via Flickr, CC SA-BY 1.0. Dozens of Christian and conservative groups have been similarly unfairly tarred by the SPLC as "hate groups," and it appears they will exact their own revenge on the organization. According to a report from Tyler O'Neill at PJ Media, up tto 60 mostly conservative organizations may sue the Southern Poverty Law Center for being included in the organization's list of "hate groups." The SPLC just settled a defamation suit for more than $3 million with Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz, whom the SPLC branded an "anti-Muslim extremist." The SPLC published its "Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists" in 2016, listing Nawaz for an ever-changing list of reasons. The left-wing group first falsely claimed Nawaz had called for "an outright ban on the niqab," or veil. This first charge disappeared from the website, and Quilliam accused the SPLC of "reverse engineering their justification to keep Maajid Nawaz on their list." The SPLC later justified attacking him because he visited a strip club for his bachelor party. Worse, the Islamist Muslim owner of the strip club who leaked the story to the press said he wanted to punish Nawaz for "being an atheist." The SPLC, Quilliam argued, was "acting like religious police." "I've memorized half of the Quran, I am a Muslim, I am born and raised a Muslim, I learned classical Arabic, I've spent time in prison," Nawaz declared last year, shortly after announcing his lawsuit. "You know who else lists heretics? The jihadists. We know what happens when you list heretics among Muslims in this way: They end up dead." The SPLC statement of apology was self-serving: "The Southern Poverty Law Center was wrong to include Maajid Nawaz and the Quilliam Foundation in our Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists," Cohen said. "Since we published the Field Guide, we have taken the time to do more research and have consulted with human rights advocates we respect." Coehn [sic] went on to even praise the man his organization had branded an "anti-Muslim extremist." "We've found that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have made valuable and important contributions to public discourse, including by promoting pluralism and condemning both anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamist extremism. Although we may have our differences with some of the positions that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have taken, they are most certainly not anti-Muslim extremists," he said. This has been the major complaint against the SPLC all along: that its agents are careless in applying the term "hate group." Besides, their definition of "hate" is absurdly narrow and includes disagreements over political issues. In fact, given the enormous power to damage the reputation of a group for being included on the "hate group" list, you would think they would have been more careful from the start: In the past few decades, however, the SPLC has begun marking mainstream groups as "hate groups" on par with the Ku Klux Klan. It has marked mainstream conservative groups as "hate groups" because they oppose same-sex marriage [sic], and last year, 47 nonprofit leaders denounced the SPLC's "hate list" in an open letter to the media. The SPLC has admitted that its "hate group" list is based on "opinion," and that it intends to "destroy these groups completely." So it's been about politics all along. As for other organizations defamed by the SPLC, they are lining up to go to court: Staver insisted that the settlement with Nawaz "will encourage further legal action." He suggested that the settlement "helps our lawsuit against GuideStar" and may encourage organizations that were considering suing the SPLC to actually file the paperwork. "There are probably about 60 organizations that we're talking to there's at least 60," Staver told PJ Media. He mentioned the group of 47 nonprofit leaders who denounced the SPLC last year, and said "that group has grown since then." Furthermore, many of the "hate groups" attacked by the SPLC do not encourage hate or violence, but merely disagree with the left-wing organization's political views. Many like the Family Research Council (FRC), the Ruth Institute, and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) merely stand for marriage as between one man and one woman. If you're worried that the SPLC doesn't have enough money to pay everyone for being defamed, don't be: If its balance sheet is any indication, Donald Trump's presidency has been very good for the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC's already impressive endowment grew a staggering 35 percent in fiscal year 2017 to more than $432 million. Including operating funds, total assets topped $477 million as of October 31, 2017. Total revenues and gains in fiscal 2017 exceeded $180 million, more than triple the organization's expenses for the year, of just under $60 million. The SPLC has long been considered a fundraising powerhouse, but 2017's take was mind boggling by any standard. Donations were up 164 percent over 2016: The group took in $132 million between November 2016 and October 2017, compared with $50 million in the preceding 12 months. While direct contributions produced the lion's share of the 2017 increase, a booming stock market led to astounding growth in the SPLC's investment portfolio. In fiscal 2016, unrealized gains came to less than $1 million; a year later they totaled nearly $45 million. The SPLC arrogantly took it upon itself to define "hate speech" and didn't care whose organization was being devastated by its accusations. It will now pay a large price for being sloppy and politically partisan. Will it make the SPLC's operators more careful in the future? For many groups, the damage has been done and is permanent. Whatever steps they take to rectify the situation will be too little and too late. First Grader Sarah Gomez-Lane of Virginia has been selected as the tenth winner among five finalists in Googles annual Google 4 Doodle competition, thanks to her dinosaur and paleontology-focused entry. The theme for this years contest required students to draw their inspiration. That means Gomez-Lane will have the opportunity to collaborate with Googles Doodle team on a variation of the design for use in place of the companys usual search page logo. The collaboration will take place over part of the summer and will result in a featured logo that is fully animated, breathing life into the artwork created by the student. This will be the first year to feature animation in the final Doodle and will be showcased some point later in the year. Moreover, the winner will be awarded $30,000 in college scholarship funding in addition to the $50,000 technology fund to be granted to her school. In addition to earning herself a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Gomez-Lane and other finalists were also awarded the latest of Googles top-of-the-line Chromebooks. As one of just a few Chromebooks compatible with a pressure sensitive stylus for drawing and writing, the Pixelbook Chromebook is a fitting prize for the company to parcel out with the competition. However, the other four finalists in the contest will also be awarded a $5,000 college scholarship and were able to meet with the Google Doodle team during their expenses-paid trip to Googles Mountain View Googleplex. Of course, the search giant also reached out to thank all of the participants who posted entries in the challenge and to encourage them to keep on dreaming. For Sarah Gomez-Lanes part, the first grader has reportedly said that she was surprised to have won the contest and that those taking part in future competitions put their focus on making the process fun. In the meantime, the next annual Doodle 4 Google is still several months away. The competition is ordinarily begun toward the beginning of the year, usually within the first three months and then running for approximately a month on average. That means there should be plenty of time for those who want to participate in the future to brush up on their art skills. Bose, responsible for a number of popular personal audio solutions has now announced availability for its latest pair of wireless earbuds, the Sleepbuds. However, unlike its other earphone and headphone solutions, the Sleepbuds are not designed to play music at all. That is, not in the traditional sense as while they are capable of playing sounds, they are not designed to stream or play audio tracks from a connected device. The reason being, is as their name suggests, Sleepbuds are more preoccupied with helping wearers get a better sleep at night. In the same way that many people already use earplugs in the bedroom to drown out sound, these earbuds are simply a sleeping aid. Albeit, one that also comes with some smarts to modernize the approach. In other words, they are not simply earplugs. For example, these earbuds do not make use of noise cancellation, but instead adopt what Bose refers to as noise-masking technology. As per the announcement, successfully masking noise is not just as simple as drowning out sounds or by increasing the volume of calming sounds to counteract against environmental noise at night. Instead, they have been specifically designed to patch over issues arising from existing solutions with ten pre-loaded sleeptracks. Which Bose explains mirror the frequencies of snoring, neighbors, dogs, traffic, and more. In spite of their lack of features, these are smart earbuds in the sense they come with a corresponding Sleep Android app which lets the wearer control the ear buds, adjust the settings, and even set an alarm for the morning. Likewise, as these are designed to be worn in the ear and all night, Bose states it has spent a lot of time on the design to ensure they are not just lightweight but comfortable. In addition, as these are a wireless solution they do come with a dedicated battery which the company states can run for up to sixteen hours before needing to be charged again. In terms of availability, the Bose Sleepbuds are set to become available to buy in the US and Canada starting from June 21, 2018. The ear buds will be available directly from Bose, as well as select retailers, and priced at $249 in the US. Bose also states its new sleeping tool is due to become available in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Mexico and Latin America later in the year. The market analysts at IDC have now reiterated a claim made earlier this year predicting that the AR and VR market is poised for growth through 2022. The estimate comes in spite of a relatively negative start to 2018, which saw shipments drop by no less than 30.5-percent year-over-year in the first quarter. That equates to approximately 1.2 million fewer VR or AR headsets over that timeframe. However, the earlier estimate was set at around 12.4 million units, which is a 48.5-percent annual increase over the course of 2018. Predicted growth leading through the year 2022 was set at around 68.9 million total units. The new estimate is more conservative, with expectations set at an increase of just 6-percent from the prior year for 2018 and a total of 65.9 million units. For VR, that growth is expected to be fueled by an increase in the availability of low-cost alternatives to PC-tethered experiences. Namely, the company points to headsets made by Facebooks Oculus division, such as the Oculus Go, and competing hardware offered by other firms. Although there are still problems to be solved with regard to display resolution and motion sickness, the more budget-friendly nature of those devices is speculated to spur the market forward. The incremental improvements made to those types of headsets in terms of convenience will compound on top of that draw to consumers. ARs growth is predicted to start somewhat slower but IDC points out that it is already becoming a mainstay in screened technology such as smartphones. Whats more, unscreened experiences like Lenovos Star Wars-branded AR experience are already gaining traction as well. A much wider market availability of headsets that dont require a smartphone should provide a boost to the market in 2019. That will be driven by innovations from companies such as Magic Leap and Microsoft, in addition to new competitors. In fact, the report suggests that between 2019 and 2021, growth could skyrocket into triple-digits. With regard to challenges, the new report highlights the importance of developers to the two platforms growth. The experiences created for each platform will be the primary reason for consumers to invest in the technology. As such, it will need to showcase the strengths and innovations brought by those at both the general consumer and business or enterprise levels. Sonys European arm has now confirmed Google Assistant support is arriving on select TV sets powered by Android TV in the UK. While this announcement is specific to the UK, this is only the start of things to come as the announcement also explains the UK represents the initial wave of what will be a more Europe-wide rollout for Google Assistant support. As a result, Sony has confirmed Google Assistant will also be heading to select TV sets in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. While Sony did not provide specifics on the time-frame for these other European countries, it did say the wider rollout will continue later in 2018. Coming back to the UK, Sony has explained the select TV models refers to the Sony AF8, as well as a few of the XF-line, including the XF75, XF80, XF85, and the XF90. Therefore, owners of any of these models should expect an update to arrive in due course which brings with it Google Assistant functionality. While the updates are said to be starting today, it may take a few days for it to arrive on an individual device with Sony stating it expects the UK update rollout to be complete before the end of June. No information was provided on whether certain models (from the confirmed list) are receiving the update before others, or whether all confirmed models are starting to receive the update today. As to be expected with Google Assistant functionality, once a TV set has received the update, TV owners will not only be able to use voice commands to navigate the TV interface, choose programs, and adjust aspects like the volume, but also use the Android TV system as a smart home hub. As the TV will then be compatible with the wide variety of Google Assistant-compatible smart home products allowing the owner to control those products by issuing commands to the TV. Making use of Google Assistant following the update will be as simple as holding down the mic button on the remote control while voicing a command. This represents the latest development in Android TVs Google Assistant support, which also saw Sonys US TV sets gaining their support in November. President Trump will meet a group of Capitol Hill lawmakers to discuss the issue of ZTE later today as tensions surrounding Chinas telecom company continue to rise in both the United States and the Far Eastern country. The meeting set to take place later today will include representatives from both the Senate and House, according to White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters who referred to this weeks anti-ZTE amendment as problematic, without clarifying on the matter. The lawmakers set to attend the meeting are yet to be named. The Shenzhen, Guangdong-based original equipment manufacturer has been making headlines for over two months now, having first been hit with a crippling denial order in April that saw the Commerce Department forbid American companies from providing it with any kind of technologies over a seven-year period. The ban issued over violations of stateside trade sanctions imposed against North Korea and Iran, as well as subsequent violations of their settlements, was replaced with another deal earlier this month as ZTE pledged to pay another $1 billion fine and agreed to a broad range of concessions, including major management changes and a board overhaul. While the new settlement effectively saved ZTE from certain bankruptcy, its Chairman Yin Yimin reportedly still referred to its conditions as disastrous for the firm, having apologized to the tech giants employees for the uncertainty that its past behavior caused. Earlier this week, the Senate voted to amend a must-pass annual defense bill with a clause that would reinstate the ban and prevent the federal government from purchasing any kind of equipment from either ZTE or Huawei, both of which have been publicly labeled as national security risks due to their close ties to Beijing despite denying such allegations for years. The Senates anti-ZTE push still has to a supermajority vote in the House or the President would be able to veto it otherwise, though doing so would effectively shut down the government due to the must-pass nature of the defense bill. EconomistWhile during the 1980-2016 period Catalonia maintained its economic influence always contributing around 19% of Spanish GDP and its relative position in terms of GDP per capita around 120% of the average what is there to complain about? After all, isn't its fiscal deficit offset by the trade surplus that it has with respect to the rest of Spain, as is often argued? Starting with this second question, it's helpful to once again explain that it is an inverse relationship: the existence of a fiscal deficit requires a trade surplus, since if someone produces for 100 and has 90 to spend and invest, it will have to sell abroad more than it buys. On the other hand, to have a trade surplus does not require a fiscal deficit, as we can see in the case of Germany, which has an enormous foreign trade surplus and no fiscal deficit with the rest of the world. Or Catalonia itself, which today obtains a good part of its surplus thanks to its transactions with the rest of the world. In any case, what a foreign surplus means is production that exceeds domestic demand: everything that isn't consumed or invested domestically is sold abroad. And this brings us to a second question. Without a fiscal deficit, Catalonias internal demand could be greater whether through more investments, which would favor economic growth, or with higher salaries and public spending, which would allow for greater social welfare. As to higher investments and its effects, we would need a counterfactual analysis to find out where we would be without a fiscal deficit ... though the spectacular growth of Madrid might give us a clue. As to the effects of higher public spending, we have enough data to calculate the high social cost caused by the under-financing of the Catalan administration. We have, for example, the European regional Social Progress Index, which was published for the first time in 2016 by the European Commission. Catalonia, which by per capita GDP occupied the 68th position among 272 European regions, dropped to the 163rd position in terms of social progress behind eleven Spanish autonomous regions, eight of which had lower GDP per capita! And given that the Social Progress Index is calculated from data related to education, health, housing, environment ... and up to fifty factors that in overwhelming majority depend of public financing, it is clear that the fiscal deficit is largely responsible for this low level of social progress in Catalonia, as it also is in the Balearic Islands. For the same reason, it's not surprising that regions which typically receive fiscal transfers have a higher level of social progress. The same is true of Navarre and the Basque Country, thanks to their unique financial status agreements, which have much higher social progress scores, as well as Madrid, where its supposed fiscal deficit is more than compensated for by the much higher investments received. On top of everything, low wages Indeed, the lack of public spending in Catalonia, very often offset by private investments, has increased social costs: private schools and healthcare, highway tolls .... At the same time, it is an obstacle to social cohesion, to the extent that insufficiently funded public services push a part of society towards private alternatives. In addition, the trade surplus caused by the fiscal deficit requires a competitiveness that leads to lower salaries than would normally correspond to our productivity. That is, not only do we have fewer resources available to redistribute, but pre-distribution is also worse, as measured in the percentage of salary with respect to GDP. We will expand on this question in the next article. In short, despite the fact that Catalonia has maintained economic influence and per capita GDP in relative terms, the current regional model has meant lower potential growth, as is made clear by the contrast with the Madrid region and its concentration of investment and spectacular growth. In addition, and most importantly, it has led to an enormous social cost that has fueled, more so than any flag-waving, a longing for radical change. The fact that this model also doesn't help less developed regions to edge closer to those which are more developed (that is, in addition to being unjust, it is inefficient) should be sufficient reason to completely reconsider the model. This will not happen via the so often praised ordinality, which assumes that the transfers will continue to be permanent as long as the community with greater GDP ends up receiving less funds; rather, it will happen by its replacement with convergence plans and, thus, by temporary and potentially reversible transfers. That is, that donors and recipients could one day exchange roles, as has happened in countries like Germany with the case of Bavaria, a former recipient and now a contributor. 6: Smugglers Notch State Park Flickr/heipei Rate attraction: 4 0 View Map In olden days, Burlington had only the narrow footpath to walk or let the trail of horses pass by. However, thanks to the Smugglers Notch State Park, tourist can explore out the majestic Bingham Falls along with the historic structure to enjoy. Relocated by the Civilian Conservation Corps, this place is worth to visit. Address: 6443 Mountain Rd, Stowe, VT 05672 Website: www.vtstateparks.com Also Read: 25 Best State Parks in the US 4: Mount Roberts Tramway Flickr/Ian D. Keating Rate attraction: 8 3 View Map Dont miss your opportunity to ride the aerial tram, it takes you right over the mountains and provides the best view of Juneau, by far. You can hop on board at the dock in downtown Juneau, taking you to the Mountain House, where tourists can have fun at various attractions, like the Chilkat Theater or go on a hike on any of the many trails around the surrounding mountains. Address: 490 S Franklin St, Juneau, AK 99801 Website: www.mountrobertstramway.com Fiona McLeod SC has been appointed as chair of the Accountability Round Table (ART). The barrister succeeds Tim Smith, the founding president of ART. The former Supreme Court judge co-founded the organisation in 2006 as a non-partisan group of citizens who are concerned about the erosion of honesty and integrity in the nations democracy. Its members include eminent academics, lawyers, politicians, and journalists. I am honoured to accept the office and to advance ARTs valuable work in scrutinising government accountability and integrity, McLeod said. Important steps are being taken in open government, but there is still much work to do to set up a federal anti-corruption body and ensure donations to political parties are transparent and not able to buy influence, to name just two pressing issues. SUV Audi is the last in line to do so, after it announced on Wednesday it will be working together with South Korean company Hyundai for the creation of new fuel cell technology.The goal is to make this alternative mean of propulsion a reality faster and cheaper than it would usually take. Hyundai has been researching this technology for some time now, and its willingness to share its discoveries with Audi will place the Volkswagen group on par with BMW and Daimler, both already producing fuel cell cars vor various purposes.The extent of the collaboration between the two carmaker has not been detailed, but Audi said the two companies would share patent cross-licensing.It's not clear what Hyundai would get out of this partnership, as it already has a working Nexo fuel cell. On the other hand, despite bragging that it has been working on fuel cell technology for the better part of the last 20 years, Audi so far it failed to launch a true production version of such a vehicle.The first Audi model to make use of the tech developed with Hyundai would be a full-sized SUV which the Germans say they would launch in the first part of the next decade. Its likely the SUV in question would be the hydrogen version of the e-tron that would be launched later this year.The fuel cell is the most systematic form of electric driving and thus a potent asset in our technology portfolio for the emission-free premium mobility of the future, said in a statement Peter Mertens, Audis head of development.On our FCEV roadmap, we are joining forces with strong partners such as Hyundai. For the breakthrough of this sustainable technology, cooperation is the smart way to leading innovations with attractive cost structures. Still, this kind of reasoning was lost on an Iranian on board a Qatar Airways flight, as the video below shows. The man got up from his seat right before takeoff and, armed with a plastic pouch or bag of some sort, proceeded to make a more or less honest buck.The problem was, as you can see, that he was supposed to be sitting down and wearing his seatbelt, and was holding up the flight by standing in the aisle. One female cabin crew is seen approaching him and trying to talk him into resuming his seat, to little success.I understand you, sir, but we're about to take off, she tells the man, as cited by the Daily Mail . He ignores her and continues to plead with his fellow passengers, two of whom are seen reaching over to place money in his pouch.The man eventually returns to his seat after more cabin crew members intervene. The flight registered a few minutes worth of delay, but the company is yet to address the incident in any way. No word either whether the man had actually bought a ticket or had somehow managed to slip on board unnoticed, thinking he could make good money here.The Mail says the plane was flying from Doha to Shiraz, with a one-way ticket on this route costing about $500 for a basic seat, with Qatar Airways. In other words, if youre a beggar on a plane, youre already richer than most beggars. If youre a beggar who flies Qatar Airways, youre pretty much set. From Autocar.co.uk : The three-door, Astra-based GTC has also fallen as SUV demand rises." A spokesman told the British motoring publication that the seven-year-old models business case is no longer viable.Having sold an estimated 40,000 examples across the Old Continent during this time, its safe to say the Astra GTC ends production on a sour note. The Zafira people carrier is dead too, having been replaced by the PSA-developed Grandland X.A brand spokesman told Autocar that the seven-seat Zafira Tourer, which has been on sale since 2011, was hit by a significant move away from MPVs and the growing popularity of SUVs. And with that, Opel and Vauxhall can now focus on whats in with the In Crowd. MPVs are biting the dust one after the other in Europe in particular because Generation X is old, leaving millennials to dictate the market.In addition to a three-row flagship utility vehicle confirmed to arrive by the end of the decade under the careful development of the PSA Group, Opel is also working on realigning the OPC division to the industrys current developments. To this effect, OPC (and Vauxhalls VXR) will be reinvented by means of electrification Speaking of the automakers electrified future, the all-new eCorsa is coming in 2020, one year after the sixth generation of the subcompact hatchback will hit dealership lots. Both variants will be manufactured at the Zaragoza plant in Spain. Now specialized in EMP2-based vehicles such as the Crossland X, the factory opened in 1982 and celebrated the 13-millionth vehicle produced in April 2018. EV Aiming to strengthen the industrial base in France, jumping on the EV bandwagon is the right thing to do. A considerable chunk of the one billion euros will go into the introduction of a new Alliance electric platform that will be manufactured in Douai. There, the company will open its second electric vehicle manufacturing site.Regarding the assembly plant in Flins, Renault confirmed that its doubling production capacity of the Zoe subcompact hatchback . This decision comes as a result of an increase of 44 percent in registrations in 2017. The automakers growth insales in Europe stands at 38 percent, boasting a 23.8-percent market share.Over in Cleon, the company will triple electric motor production capacities and introduce a new generation electric motor from 2021. This news comes days after Renault updated the Zoe to R110 specification , improving the output to 109 PS.The Maubeuge site in the Hauts-de-France region will be retooled to welcome the next generation of the Kangoo light commercial vehicle, including the Z.E. electric version . Last, but certainly not least, Renault previously announced that it would recruit around 5,000 people on permanent contracts in France between 2017 and 2019. An estimated 235 million euros will be spent on training the new workers."The acceleration of our investments in France for electric vehicles will increase the competitiveness and attractiveness of our French industrial sites, declared Carlos Ghosn , head honcho of all things Renault. Within the framework of its Drive the Future strategic plan and with the Alliance, Groupe Renault is giving itself the means to maintain its leadership in the electric vehicle market and to continue to develop new sustainable mobility solutions for all." Canadian lawmakers passed comprehensive marijuana legalization Tuesday, USA Today reports, making Canada the first wealthy nation in the world to fully legalize the drug. The details: The measure, expected to go into effect in September, gives adults the green light on marijuana possession, home growing, and sales. Meanwhile, the federal government will continue to oversee broad criminal violations, such as sales to minors, and licensing of producers, per Vox, but provincial governments will have the power to tighten local rules. Opinion polls suggest a tight race in Sundays Turkish elections, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces off against two opposition candidates. The winner will enter office with new presidential powers, granted by an April 2017 referendum. The big picture: The race has been an unfair one: Votes will be cast under a state of emergency, the government is censoring online content, and pro-Erdogan businessescontrol around 90% of the national media, which has covered Erdogan more often and more favorably than his opponents. Erdogan needs these advantages: he now represents the status quo in Turkey, and has few enticements to offer the electorate. The backstory: Erdogan entered Turkish politics in the 1970s, crusading against the establishment and branding himself a peoples politician. When he came to power in 2002, he promised to make Turkey freer and more equal. Although he has since delivered strong economic growth, his recent record has been more mixed: Erdogan ended discrimination against pious citizens, but then turned the table: The government now discriminates against those who dont identify with the conservative Sunni Islam he practices. He has extended the state of emergency set in the aftermath of a failed 2016 coup 7 times With Turkish democracy nosediving, Freedom House changed its classification last year to "Not Free." This is why, when he announced his election manifesto on June 7, he promised free cake and coffee rather than further liberties. Erdogan has now fully assumed the role of what he set out to fight the establishment that punishes and his brand is eroding. Once respected, Erdogan is now trolled on social media, especially by the younger half of Turkey's population, most of whom have known no other leader. The bottom line: Erdogan is not likely to take recent political indicators as a warning sign to change course. In fact, he will probably become even more authoritarian after Sunday, knowing that a majority of his citizens no longer support him and that when left to true democratic devices, Turkish society will vote him out. The bad news for Turkey is that the Erdogan miracle is over; the worse news is that there seems to be no escape from him. Soner Cagaptay is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the author of "The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey." Nearly five years into a civil war, the leaders of two warring factions in South Sudan met for talks in Ethiopia Wednesday, the AP reports. Why it matters: The talks were the first in two years, and come as fears of genocide and famine are rising. By the numbers: Over a quarter of the population has been displaced from their homes. ... So we have over 3.5 million people now outside of their homes and without means for sustenance, Katherine Almquist Knopf of National Defense University explained in a recent Council on Foreign Relations conference call. ... The situation is so bad, and the intent of the government as well as other armed actors but principally of the government of going after different ethnic communities, that weve had several very serious, very credible warnings of possible genocide unfolding in South Sudan. By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 87 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said June 20. Armenias armed forces were using heavy machine guns. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Sara Israfilbayova The average price in the car market of Baku was 30,208 manats ($17,700) in 2018. Nusret Ibrahimov, director general of the MBA Group consulting company and real estate expert told Trend that the average price in the car market grew by 11.4 percent compared to the previous month. He went on to say that 2,134 cars were put up for sale in the automobile market of Baku in May 2018. The portfolio of offers in the car market increased by 5.17 percent compared to the previous month. The majority of cars offered for sale -- 86.27 percent -- are cars with gasoline engine. The average price of cars of this category was 30,195 manats ($17,700). Diesel cars made up 13.73 percent of the proposals; the average price of such cars was 30,290 manats ($17,800). The share of cars with automatic transmission was 71.93 percent, with an average cost of 38,023 manats ($22,300). The share of cars with a manual transmission was 28.07 percent, with an average price of 10,180 manats. ($5,900), the expert noted. Ibrahimov further mentioned that the average mileage of cars in the market in May 2018 was almost 171,660 kilometers, with a decrease by 8.62 percent over the month, adding that the average age of cars was 12 years. The expert noted that the average annual wear of cars offered in the market was 6.66 percent. At the same time, the average annual wear of cars under five years of age was 8.09 percent, while from 5 to 10 years made up 7.16 percent and from 10 to 15 years was 5.82 percent, Ibrahimov concluded. Azerbaijan, which is currently working to develop its car manufacturing industry and encouraging interior purchases within the country, now is operating with different courtiers to develop its own automobile manufacturing market. Currently, the country plans to produce cars jointly with Iran and will soon launch manufacture of cars in the Neftchala Industrial District. The plant will operate on the basis of joint project of AzEuroCar LLC and Irans largest car manufacturer Iran Khodro. The opening of plant, that was originally scheduled to open in June, was rescheduled for August because of the cold winter causing delays in the process of construction. The plant with a capacity of about 10,000 cars per year initially will produce four Iranian car brands Dena, Runna, Soren and Samand. Production of some spare parts is planned in local factories. It is planned to make proposals to the plants. The production of spare parts will launch if the plants receive positive feedback from the Iranian company. A major Iranian automaker Iran Khodro and Azerbaijani company Azeurocar (subsidiary of AzerMash) signed an agreement on August 6, 2016 to establish a joint automobile plant in the Neftchala Industrial Zone. The total cost of the project is estimated at 24 million manats ($14.12 million). Azerbaijani company invested 75 percent in the factory, and the Iranian side covered 25 percent. The plant intends to cooperate with the Sumgayit Industrial Park and SOCARs new plant. Some 20 percent of the vehicles will be exported to CIS and Central Asian countries. The Azerbaijan-Iran automobile factory Khazar started production of the first cars in early April. The plant produces cars under the brand name of Khazar, and a number of models of Peugeot and Renault will also be assembled there. The annual capacity of the plant is about 10,000 cars. In the future the cars can be delivered to Ukraine, Russia and Central Asian countries. Azerbaijan imported 3,506 motor vehicles in January-March 2018, which is by 2.45 times more than the indicator of the same period of last year, according to the Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. The Committee reported that the largest number of vehicles imported to the country during the period accounted for motorcars and other motor vehicles for passenger transportation 3,158, an increase by 3.7 times. --- Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Sara Israfilbayova The city of Qingdao, Chinas Shandong Province, hosted an exhibition-fair of products imported to China from the countries represented in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Various products were put up for sale in member countries, as well as countries that have status of observer and a dialogue partner for the organization. The national stand, prepared by the Embassy of Azerbaijan, which is represented in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a dialogue partner, demonstrated the competitive export products produced in the country. Producers put on display mainly wine and alcoholic beverages, which attracted great interest of residents of Qingdao. Moreover, they held a presentation dedicated to the tourism potential of Azerbaijan, the development of this sector in the country, the activities of tourist centers operating in Baku and regions that meet modern standards. The presentation provided video-features about the tourism potential of Azerbaijan, the nomination of Baku for the World Expo-2025 exhibition, and the events of international importance organized in Azerbaijan. During the three days of the exhibition, these videos were constantly shown on a wide screen. The video-features about the exhibition-fair, prepared by the Chinese mass media, outlined Azerbaijans activity at the event and the countrys activities as a whole. Trade and economic contacts occupy a significant place in bilateral relations between China and Azerbaijan. The process of interaction between the two countries was marked by constant tendencies of expansion and strengthening of cooperation. The cooperation between China and Azerbaijan strongly contributes to the realization of the Great Silk road program. The Great Silk Road is a general name of a caravan road, which has been the main two-way trading bridge of East and West since the 3rd century BC up to now. The Great Silk Road starts in Japan and China stretches up to Europe cutting through India, Afghanistan, Iran, Central Asia, Caucasus, Asia Minor, Northern Africa including connecting Indian Ocean, Chinese sea, Japanese sea, Red sea, Caspian sea, Black sea, Azov sea and Mediterranean sea. China became Azerbaijans 4th largest trading partner in 2017. Customs data of Azerbaijan estimated bilateral trade at a record close to $1.3 billion in 2017, up 33 percent from the previous year. Exports of Azerbaijani goods amounted to $433.8 million (3.21 percent of total exports), while imports of Chinese products to Azerbaijan reached $854.5 million (9.73 percent of total imports). --- Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Rashid Shirinov Azerbaijan and Vietnam signed a protocol of the second meeting of the joint Intergovernmental Commission on economic, trade, scientific and technical cooperation in Baku on June 20. The protocol was signed by the Commissions co-chairs Azerbaijans Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov and Tran Tuan Anh, Vietnams Minister of Industry and Trade. The document covers cooperation in a number of areas, including trade, investment, energy, agriculture, transport, communications and high technologies. During the meeting, Shahbazov noted that Azerbaijan and Vietnam have a great potential for the development of cooperation, which should be fully used. The minister added that the countries intend to expand bilateral relations in various fields. Tran Tuan Anh, in turn, noted that Azerbaijan and Vietnam have the potential to develop cooperation in many areas. The trade turnover between the countries amounted to $101 million in 2017. The export of Azerbaijani goods to Vietnam accounted for $55 million, while the export of Vietnamese goods to Azerbaijan totaled $46 million. During the meeting, the sides also discussed the possibilities of cooperation in such areas as the use of new technologies in the oil and gas sector, the rational use of energy and the use of renewable energy sources. The diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Vietnam were established on September 23, 1992, and Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Vietnam in 2013. Trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $15.86 million in January-April 2018, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. The export of Azerbaijani products to Vietnam accounted for about $630,000. During the year, the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 65.2 percent. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Sara Israfilbayova Azerbaijan intends to increase the share of insurance fees in the countrys non-oil GDP. Executive Director of the Financial Markets Supervisory Authority of Azerbaijan (FIMSA) Ibrahim Alyshov made the remarks at the conference Insurance in Azerbaijan: New Prospects on June 20. He went on to say that the main goal is to bring the share of insurance fees in non-oil GDP to eight percent. Currently, this share is only 0.8 percent. Our strategic goal is to increase this figure to eight percent. In particular, by the end of 2018, we intend to increase the share of insurance fees to 1.4 percent, Alyshov said. Alyshov noted that according to the data, as of the end of May, insurance fees in Azerbaijan reached almost 351 million manats ($206 million), which is 46.1 percent more than in the same period last year. Thus, we can say that the insurance market of the country continues to grow. Out of the total amount of fees, 73 percent or 255.4 million manats ($150.23 million) fall on voluntary insurance, 27 percent or 95.4 million manats ($56.11 million) on compulsory insurance. I would like to note that life insurance takes a large share in the fees for voluntary insurance, the fees for which amounts to 138 million manats ($81.18 million), the Executive Director of the Chamber said. He noted that another task is to increase the share of the insurance sector assets in the total assets of the financial sector. In recent years, we have not been able to increase the share of insurance market assets in the total volume of financial assets. This figure does not exceed two percent. This year, it has again decreased slightly. Although at the end of last year the assets of the financial sector amounted to 1.76 billion manats ($1.03 billion), in the first five months of 2018 they decreased to 1.11 billion manats ($652.9 million), Alyshov said. Further he underlined that a new draft law on the promotion of agricultural insurance can be adopted before the end of the year, adding that the draft law has already been prepared and sent to the government. The draft law is fully ready and is under consideration. I hope very much that the Parliament of the country will approve the new law before the end of 2018, Alyshov stressed. At present, the law On assistance to and development of agriculture in Azerbaijan in force in Azerbaijan regulates state financing of agricultural insurance premiums. In addition to wheat, the list of crops insured at the expense of the state budget, includes barley, corn, sunflower, potatoes, sugar beet, etc. The average tariff for agricultural insurance in Azerbaijan is about 1,500 manats ($8,800) per year (five percent per hectare), despite the fact that the average profit per hectare of land is about 25,000 manats ($14,700) per year. FIMSA announced that, fees on the agricultural insurance market amounted to 1.56 million manats ($917,600) in 1Q2018, with payments of 282,900 manats. A large part of the fees and charges in this area fell on the insurance of livestock making up 947,700 manats ($166,400). In turn, Ziyad Samadzade, Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship stressed that Azerbaijan can significantly increase the fees for real estate insurance. According to our calculations, the modernization of the accounting system will increase the fees for real estate insurance by 200-300 million manats ($117.64-176.47 million). The share of fees from real estate insurance is 20 percent of the total fees in neighboring countries, said Samadzade. Voluntary and compulsory real estate insurance is in effect in Azerbaijan today. The fees for voluntary property insurance at the end of May amounted to 27.79 million manats, or $16.35 million, (7.9 percent of total fees), and on compulsory insurance was 12.17 million manats, or $7.16 million (3.5 percent of fees on the market). The conference Insurance in Azerbaijan: New Prospects started in Baku on June 20. Experts and insurers from Azerbaijan, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine, Romania, UAE and the Netherlands take part in the event. The conference participants will discuss macroeconomic trends and their impact on the insurance sector of the region, microinsurance and its prospects in Azerbaijan, digitalization and development of new drivers of growth of the insurance sector, experience of different countries in agricultural insurance and other issues. Currently, 21 insurance companies are implementing their activities in Azerbaijan. --- Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Laman Ismayilova "Azerkhalcha" Open Joint-Stock Company presents the ancient Azerbaijani carpets kept in the world's prestigious museums and personal collections. One of them is a lint-free carpet woven in 1870 in Bichanek village of Shahbuz region in Nakhchivan. The carpet was brought to Azerbaijan from a collection of carpets in Johannesburg, South Africa, Azerpress reported. This kind of lint-free carpet is also called "shadda", "serendaz" among the people. Patterns, symbols on the carpet, belonging to the Turkish tribes clearly express the outlook of people who lived in these lands, their attitude to nature, lifestyle and traditions. The main feature of the carpet is the selection of the camel caravans -- the main decorative element of Nakhchivan carpets. Research shows that lint and lint free carpets decorated with camel caravans are more often woven in Nakhchivan. These drawings reflect the traditional economic life of the people living in the region. The carpet is woven from naturally dyed threads. The distinctive feature is that carpets woven 140-150 years ago are rarely preserve. Open Joint-Stock Company "Azerkhalcha" was established under May 5, 2016 decree of Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan Republic. The Company is focused on production and export of carpets and carpet products, organization of sales both domestically and internationally, application of new technologies in the production of carpets and carpet products, modernization and productive usage of equipment and facilities, and implementation of other tasks related to the development of this field. Unique Azerbaijani carpets are well-known all over the world for their quality and high artistic value. Besides, amazing and fantastic carpets of Azerbaijan represent a real mystery, leading one inside the fairy tales full of majestic feelings. The Land of Fire has seven carpet producing regions including Baku, Shirvan, Guba, Tabriz, Karabakh, Ganja and Gazakh and each of them had its own technology, typical patterns and colors. Colorful Karabakh carpets, which are classified in four groups, represent a fabulous symphony of the most delicate shades of the amazing Karabakh nature. Karabakh carpets still retain their glory, featuring in many prestigious international auctions, estimated at tens of thousands of dollars. Samples of the Karabakh carpet weaving as cultural heritage of Azerbaijan, kept in major museums, including the Louvre, Hermitage, and adorn the Vatican and the White House. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Laman Ismayilova Azerbaijan's Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev met on June 19 with ISESCO Director General Abdulaziz bin Osman al-Tuveycri, who is on a visit to Azerbaijan to participate in the opening event in connection with the announcement of Nakhchivan city as the Capital of Islamic Culture in 2018, Azertag reported. During the meeting, Abulfaz Garayev spoke about the work done recently in the field of cooperation with ISESCO. The minister drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan is one of the members that differ in their position in this organization. That is the result of the activities carried out by Azerbaijani state, personally President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva in strengthening ties with the Islamic world, the country's integration into the Muslim world and culture. The Minister also informed on the work done in connection with the 6th Conference of Culture Ministers of OIC Member States, adopted in October 2009 in Baku, to announce the city of Nakhchivan as the "Capital of Islamic Culture" for 2018. According to the Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan of June 2, 2016, the Organizing Committee was established in connection with the declaration of Nakhchivan as the "Capital of Islamic Culture". At the meeting of the Organizing Committee held on November 25, 2016, the Action Plan was approved and its execution is carried out. Nakhchivan, one of the centuries-old cultural center of the world will be proclaimed Capital of Islamic Culture 2018 on June 20. The event will be attended by numerous authoritative guests, state officials, including the Secretary General of TURKSOY, the Ministers of Culture of Indonesia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Algeria, the Deputy Ministers of Culture of Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Qatar, as well as delegations of other countries. Garayev highlighted the importance of ISESCO's activity as a partner structure in the propaganda of this significant event on an international scale. Abdulaziz bin Osman al-Tuveycri stressed the cooperation between ISESCO and Azerbaijan, the exceptional role and support of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva in the development of these ties. Issues of mutual cooperation were discussed at the meeting. Azerbaijan's Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev also met with the Culture Minister of Uzbekistan Bakhtiyor Sayfullaev thje same day. At the meeting Garayev expressed gratitude to the guest for having agreed to take part in the forthcoming ceremony in Nakhchivan. He also stressed the sustainable development of mutual cultural ties between two countries. "Today we have entered a new stage of restoration and development of ties. We should continue cultural cooperation in a new format, ensure the further development of cultural ties between our friendly countries. The ancient historical roots that unite our peoples have always ensured the dynamic development of these relations, " he said. Uzbekistan's Culture Minister Bakhtiyor Sayfullaev voiced his satisfaction with participation in the event in connection with the announcement of Nakhchivan as the Capital of Islamic culture 2018. Uzbekistan is interested in building comprehensive relations with both international organizations and with neighboring states, in particular, Turkic-speaking countries. Bakhtiyor Sayfullaev stressed that his country also contributes to the development of these ties. Further, Abulfaz Garayev informed the guest about Azerbaijan's relations with international organizations, joint projects implemented with ISESCO and TURKSOY. Issues of development of bilateral cultural ties were discussed at the meeting. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Laman Ismayilova A spectacular concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was held in Lincoln Center in New York. The concert was organized by the National Music and Global Culture Society, whose founder and president is the renowned pianist, Honored Artist of Azerbaijan, laureate of international competitions, Professor Nargiz Aliyarova, Azertag reported. This was the first event held by this society, whose purpose is to spread the music of different peoples. "I am very glad that our first project is dedicated to Azerbaijani music. Our goal is to show the diversity and uniqueness of our music. The concert is attended not only by Azerbaijani musicians, but also by artists from different countries who perform national music and compositions of Azerbaijani composers," Aliyarova said. Famous jazz pianist Amina Figaro, tar player Jeffrey Werbock, magnificent baritone Nigel Smith, violinist Azer Damirov, pianist Vivien Fang Liu and Nargiz Aliyarova surprised the audience with their performance. The spectators gave musicians a storm of applause. Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) is the first secular democratic state in the Islamic world, as well as the first Muslim state where women received electoral rights. The ADR was established on May 28, 1918 with the goal of building an independent, free, and democratic republic. Mammad Amin Rasulzade, the brightest and most prominent political figure during those times and the ideological leader of the revolutionary nationalist movement in Azerbaijan, declared Azerbaijan's independence and adopted the Declaration of Independence. The measures implemented in the field of state construction, the creation of the National Army of Azerbaijan, the announcement of the Azerbaijani language as a state language, establishment of the national anthem, flag and coat of arms have opened a new glorious page in the history of Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, on April 28, 1920 ADR for a number of reasons ceased to exist. In 1991, after the restoration of its independence, the Azerbaijani people, following the ADR ideals, created a new independent state, developing and successful in all spheres of life. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Rashid Shirinov Former deputy defense minister Manvel Grigoryan, who was promoted as "national hero of Armenia, participated in a numerous war crimes such as the Khojaly genocide, looting of property of Azerbaijani residents during the occupation of Fuzuli and Jabrayil regions of Azerbaijan, torture and mass murder of prisoners of war, as well as taking hostage of civilians, their torture and murder, Spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend on June 18. He was commenting on the recent arrest of the former deputy defense minister of Armenia Manvel Grigoryan. In his interview in 2014 with the Armenian bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Grigoryan openly and proudly stated that he returned from the Karabakh war with hundreds of Azerbaijani hostages and forced them to work in his house, Hajiyev said. The spokesman added that Grigoryan, accused in this regard of violating the Geneva Conventions, contemptuously stated that he does not recognize the Geneva Conventions and is proud to be an Armenian. Unfortunately, the criminal case initiated against Grigoryan is limited only to economic crimes committed in Armenia. The crimes committed by him during the war, especially actions against hundreds of Azerbaijanis, whom Grigoryan, by his own admission, captured and took hostage, must be investigated, Hajiyev stressed. The spokesman expressed hope that international organizations for the protection of human rights, including the Council of Europe, will be active in this issue. Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on the country. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Rashid Shirinov The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains an obstacle to increasing stability and prosperity in the region, reads the reference material published on the website of the European Union on June 19. The EU noted that it firmly believes that the conflict needs an early political settlement in accordance with the principles and norms of international law. Since 2003, the EU Special Representative has been working to facilitate dialogue between the EU and the countries of the region, and to assist the EU in developing a comprehensive policy towards these countries, the reference material reads. The EU, including through its Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, supports and complements the efforts of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (France, Russia and the U.S.) to facilitate the resolution of the conflict, the statement says. The EU also noted that it promotes peace-building activities on both sides of the conflict. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict 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 regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Until now, Armenia controls fifth part of Azerbaijans territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Rashid Shirinov Russia will do its utmost to make a constructive contribution to the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said at a press conference on June 20. First, Russia is fully committed to its role as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. And secondly, Russia will do its utmost to make a constructive and effective contribution to the settlement of the existing crisis and the normalization of relations between these two countries, she said. This is our traditional position, and it is a very serious issue for us, Zakharova added. Russia, along with the U.S. and France, is a co-chair country of the OSCE Minsk Group established to broker peace to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. The two countries fought a lengthy war that ended with signing a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years. Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The Armenian Foreign Ministry has turned from the diplomatic mission into a herald of propaganda forces, which are looking for an excuse to damage Azerbaijans image, political analyst, professor of the Western Caspian University of Azerbaijan Fikret Sadikhov told Trend June 19. The Armenian Foreign Ministry has been engaged in various insinuations for a long time, trying to find out and distorting the statements of various foreign politicians and statesmen, he said. "Azerbaijan is a full member of the Council of Europe, Sadikhov added. Taking into account all the complexities and problems which in particular, are not in favor of Azerbaijan because sometimes they contradict the interests of our country, Baku continues to participate in all sessions of the organization and takes an active part in the discussion of all issues on the agenda." Therefore, it is silly for the Armenian Foreign Ministry to make such statements about the alleged consideration of the issue of depriving Azerbaijan of membership in the organization, he added. "I think that this is another stupidity of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, which, of course, would like to see such a situation, Sadikhov said. He added that such statements, which are disseminated by the press-service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, are absolutely unfounded and unverified. Earlier, the Armenian media quoted Tigran Balayan, spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, as saying that Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjrn Jagland allegedly voiced an initiative to cease Azerbaijan's membership in the Council of Europe. At the same time, Balayan stressed that the process is quite long-term but he did not disclose the process. In his turn, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend June 18 that Jagland always had a pro-Armenian stance and a biased attitude toward Azerbaijan. Hajiyev added that thanks to the spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the public learned about the things which everyone knew about Jagland on the sidelines of the organization. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Rashid Shirinov The Azerbaijani Army held a successful operation in Nakhchivan to liberate 11,000 hectares of land from Armenian occupation, Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov said at a press conference on June 20. He noted that the operation in Nakhchivan was very successful. Now the Azerbaijani Army also controls the road leading to Lachin. This is another our success, Hasanov said. The minister stressed that the goal is to prepare the army for real combat. Today, the Azerbaijani Army is able to liberate the occupied territories, he noted. As a result of successful actions, the village of Gunnut in Sharur region and strategic heights of Khunut (2,065 meters), Gizilgaya (1,683 meters) and Mehridag (1,869 meters), located around the village, came under the control of Azerbaijani units. Hasanov also observed the training involving the cadets of the Higher Military School named after Heydar Aliyev. The minister visited a shooting range in a center for training of snipers, where he observed the organization and practical execution of shooting. Hasanov also watched the training of motorized rifle, tank and artillery units. Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on the country. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend The new pipelines will provide Baku with an opportunity to increase the gas supply volumes to the foreign market, according to Russias Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Newspaper). "Azerbaijan has been recently pursuing the energy policy aimed at consolidating its role as an exporter of hydrocarbon resources in the European direction, the article said. The expansion of cooperation with Turkey facilitates this task. The implementation of new gas pipeline projects was launched as a result of the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey. The construction of these pipelines will increase the volumes of Azerbaijani gas supplies to the foreign market." In particular, the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which is part of the Southern Gas Corridor, envisaging the transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, can be considered as a pipeline project, which is of interest primarily for Azerbaijan and Turkey. "Baku has obtained a new export route for its gas, while Ankara has strengthened its role in gas supply to Europe," the article said. After TANAP and TAP pipelines, which form the Southern Gas Corridor, are constructed and reach the full capacity and after the implementation of the Turkish Stream project, Ankara will greatly strengthen its positions by becoming a key player in the supply of hydrocarbons from the Caspian Sea region to the European countries. "New pipelines will give Baku additional opportunities to increase the volumes of its gas supplies to the foreign market," the article said. Azerbaijans energy policy meets the interests of the EU, which sees the Caspian Sea energy resources as an alternative to Russias supplies. Moreover, the European Investment Bank approved a loan for the TAP construction in the amount of 1.5 billion euros, which also underscores the interest of European countries in the creation of new pipeline routes." Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev, Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko and Serbias President Aleksandar Vucic attended the inauguration ceremony of TANAP project in the city of Eskisehir, Turkey on June 12. The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project was held in Baku on May 29. The gas from Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline. TANAP together with Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages the transportation of gas from Shah Deniz field to Europe. The initial capacity of TANAP is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. About six billion cubic meters will be supplied to Turkey, and the rest to Europe. After completion of the TAP, the gas will reach Europe in early 2020. The share distribution in TANAP is as follows: Southern Gas Corridor CJSC - 51 percent, SOCAR Turkey Enerji - 7 percent, Botas - 30 percent, and BP - 12 percent. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend OPEC+ countries, who will meet in Vienna on June 22-23 to discuss easing oil output quotas, have so far failed to reach consensus on the issue, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar Alluaibi said upon his arrival to Vienna, TASS reports. "We have not considered the increase yet," the minister said, adding that the issue will be addressed during the meeting. He did not respond to a question of whether his country, the worlds second biggest oil producer, will support the proposed increase. According to earlier reports, Iran, Iraq and Venezuela oppose Russia and Saudi Arabias proposal to increase oil output. OPEC nations will meet in the Austrian capital on June 22. 11 non-member nations, including Russia, will join them the following day to discuss increasing oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov will visit Vienna on June 21-23 at the invitation of OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo, the Azerbaijani Energy Ministry said in a message June 19. The minister will take part in the 7th OPEC International Seminar "Petroleum cooperation for a sustainable future". The Azerbaijani minister is expected to deliver speech in the 5th session "The future of oil for the world economy". Moreover, Shahbazov is expected to attend the 9th meeting of the OPEC/Non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee. Shahbazov will take part in the fourth meeting of the ministers of OPEC and non-OPEC countries at the 174th meeting of the OPEC Council of Ministers on June 23, 2018. In December 2016, at a meeting of oil producers in Vienna, 11 non-OPEC member countries agreed to cut oil production by a total of 558,000 barrels a day. The agreement was concluded for the first half of 2017 and was extended until the end of the first quarter of 2018 at a meeting on May 25, 2017. At the recent OPEC meeting in Vienna, the agreement was again extended until the end of 2018. Azerbaijan supported the decision. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Kamila Aliyeva The private sector of Turkey can get involved in the transportation of Azerbaijani gas through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline, Turkish media outlets reported on June 20. The admission of Azerbaijani gas in Turkey is currently carried out by state-owned crude oil and natural gas pipelines and trading company -- Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation. The countrys private sector will be able to supply Azerbaijani gas through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline as early as 2021. Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline has been built to transport the gas produced in the Shah Deniz field located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to Georgia and Turkey. The pipeline is 980 km long and its diameter is 42 inches. The pipeline has the capacity to pump gas up to 20 billion cubic metres a year. At the official level, Botas has neither refuted nor confirmed this information. At present, Turkey imports gas from Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan. In addition, Ankara has signed agreements with Algeria and Nigeria for the supply of 4.4 billion and 1.2 billion cubic meters of liquefied gas per year, respectively. The inauguration ceremony of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project took place in the city of Eskisehir, Turkey on June 12. The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project was held in Baku on May 29. The gas from Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline. TANAP together with Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages the transportation of gas from Shah Deniz field to Europe. The initial capacity of TANAP is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. About six billion cubic meters will be supplied to Turkey, and the rest to Europe. After completion of the TAP, the gas will reach Europe in early 2020. The share distribution in TANAP is as follows: Southern Gas Corridor CJSC - 51 percent, SOCAR Turkey Enerji - 7 percent, Botas - 30 percent, and BP - 12 percent. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Kamila Aliyeva The European Union (EU) intends to allocate 5 million euros to Uzbekistan to assist the country's joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). The agreement was reached during the 13th meeting of the Subcommittee on Economy, Trade and Investment and the 15th meeting of the Uzbekistan-EU Cooperation Committee, which took place recently in Brussels, Belgium, Uzbek media outlets reported. As a result of the discussions the sides reached agreements on signing financial deals on grant projects Sustainable management of water resources in the Fergana Valley in the amount of 30 million euros and Development of the livestock sector in the amount of 15 million euros. In addition, preparation of projects for which the EU intends to allocate 5 million euros to assist the process of Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO will be completed before the year-end, the Uzbek State Committee for Investments said. The parties also agreed upon the allocation of 5 million euros from the EU side for the Development of employment skills in rural areas project, and granting 40 million euros to support the state budget expenditures in early 2019. The EU assistance program for Uzbekistan covers 2014-2020 and has a total budget of 168 million euros. To date, 25 projects have been implemented in Uzbekistan for a total amount of more than 100 million euros with EU assistance. As many as 15 national projects totaling 69.4 million euros cover the areas of economic and social development, education, water management and waste management, improving living conditions in rural areas, supporting entrepreneurship in remote areas and developing tourism. In addition, Uzbekistan receives EU assistance under 10 regional projects for a total of 33.6 million euros in education (Erasmus +), business and tourism development and other areas. Uzbekistan applied for membership in the World Trade Organization in 1994. To date, there have been three meetings of a working group consisting of members of the organization. The latest one was held in 2005. Since then, the process of Uzbekistan's accession has been passive and official authorities have not interacted with WTO members. During the trip to South Korea last year, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced the resumption of work on Uzbekistan's accession to the organization. In this process, the United States and South Korea should help the republic. Thus, Uzbekistan and Korea have already signed a special road map on this issue. The Korean side will help Uzbekistan by assessing the consequences of joining the organization, examining the national legislation in accordance with the requirements of the WTO agreements. The United States will also provide the necessary technical assistance in this process, including development of the necessary documents for submission to the WTO, holding of seminars and conferences. To date, Uzbekistan participates in the work of the organization as an observer state. The chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan, Adham Ikramov, noted in mid-May that Uzbekistan intends to join the WTO in 4-5 years. There are 164 members of the World Trade Organization. That's 84 percent of the 196 countries in the world. They enjoy the privileges that other member-countries give to them and the security that the trading rules provide. In return, they need to make commitments to open their markets and to abide by the rules those commitments were the result of the membership (or accession) negotiations. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh, who has traveled to Vienna to attend the OPEC summit this week, will return to Tehran on June 22, one day before the meeting is scheduled to conclude. According to a statement by Shana news agency, the Iranian oil minister will travel back to Iran from the Austrian city on Friday. The report said the minister's return to Iran one day before the OPEC summit comes to an end has nothing to do with the outcome of the meeting or a proposal to increase oil production thats backed by Saudi Arabia and Russia. The summit will be held in Vienna on June 22-23. The statement came after media reports said that the Iranian minister will leave Vienna earlier than the scheduled time as a sign of protest to Russia. OPEC and its allies could consider a production increase of as much as 1.5 million barrels a day, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday. That would be enough to offset the supply losses from Venezuela and Iran foreseen by the International Energy Agency. Saudi Arabia has been discussing different scenarios that would raise production by between 500,000 and 1 million barrels a day, according to people familiar with the matter. The alliance is also facing pressure from outside. US President Donald Trump has continued to criticize the OPEC on his Twitter account. Worried about the impact of gasoline prices on mid-term elections, the Trump administration is lobbying hard for a surge in production. Before his departure to Vienna on Wednesday, Zangeneh said that current problem in the oil market is the result of "political tension caused by the American president, not supply and demand imbalance". --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz A Beaumont man is in custody following a Wednesday morning store robbery. Derek Scott Marshall, 46, has been charged with two counts of aggravated robbery, evading arrest/detention, and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the Beaumont Police Department. Police said the man robbed the Jack in the Box, 7380 Texas 105, at gunpoint at about 1:48 a.m. Unable to access the safe, he took items from employees before leaving the scene. Officers caught him in a nearby field and recovered a handgun, the department said. A Jasper man accused of setting his grandmother's house on fire earlier this month has been charged with capital murder following the woman's death. Cedric Ramon McGill Jr, 26, was originally charged with felony arson on June 6. The charge was elevated this week to capital murder after his grandmother, Bertha McGill, died, according to the Jasper Police Department. Artwork inspired by Tropical Storm Harvey will be showcased this summer at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, the museum announced in a social media post. Beaumont native Amy Morris' "Submerged" exhibition will be on display from June 21 through September 26, according to the museum's schedule. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe An immigrant detainee held in the federal prison complex in Victorville, California has been diagnosed with chickenpox, according to a letter from the warden obtained by KPCC/LAist. "Measures are being taken to identify and contain inmate contacts who are at risk for getting chickenpox," the letter said. It was sent out midday Monday via email to over 800 prison staff members. The letter notes the varicella virus that causes chickenpox is highly contagious and "can be spread 1-2 days before the rash starts until all blisters are crusted over." The CDC reports the disease spreads "mainly by touching or breathing in the virus particles that come from chickenpox blisters, and possibly through tiny droplets from infected people that get into the air after they breathe or talk." It takes 10 to 21 days after exposure to develop chickenpox. It's not clear how many of the immigrant detainees were exposed. After prison medical staff confirmed the case of chickenpox, the immigrant detainee was isolated and "[t]he affected housing unit was secured and medical exams are being conducted for all inmates housed in the unit," the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement. "Additionally, a specialized cleaning of the housing unit and visiting room were also performed. Visitors are being advised of the situation at the front entrance to the facility." The statement added, "[a]ll ICE detainees were medically screened upon arrival... as part of the intake process." E-U Housing Unit is one of about 12 units that in the medium security facility where ICE has contracted with the Bureau of prisons to house up to 1,000 adult male immigrant detainees. The agreement was announced June 7, and marks the first time federal prisons were used to house immigrants in the U.S. on a large scale. An ICE spokesperson said the agency needed space in prisons "due to the current surge in illegal border crossings and implementation of the U.S. Department of Justice's zero-tolerance policy." The arrangement is initially scheduled to last 120 days, but is flexible up to a year. On Friday, members of the local prison guard union representing about 650 employees picketed across the street from the Victorville complex, calling attention to low staffing levels they argue could put guards and inmates in danger. Staffing in the medical unit, including doctors, nurses, and medical assistants was of particular concern to the members of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3969. The union's Vice President told KPCC/LAist they got only 48-hours notice from the warden before the first buses filled with migrants began arriving at the prison gates. The union was informed no new hires would bolster its ranks to help with the expanded mission to guard immigrants. Union representatives said their members were already stretched thin after months of a hiring freeze. In a June 8 blog post, union president John Kostelnik said the agreement to house 1,000 immigration detainees in Victorville "was not properly planned or processed. None of the agency representatives stood up and informed DOJ or ICE that we were not ready to accept this influx of inmates with the current staffing levels." The union has been raising red flags about low staffing levels for months. In September, Congressman Paul Cook made an official inquiry into the issue after a handful of inmate assaults on prison guards resulted in minor injuries. An ICE spokesperson said in an email, "ICE is closely monitoring the situation," and "ICE is confident in the care and oversight provided by the BOP and believes these are extremely safe and secure facilities for ICE detainees." The all-staff letter said Victorville prison employees who are pregnant or immunocompromised are encouraged to consult their doctor as soon as possible, and "pregnant women should avoid this housing unit for 21 days after the last chickenpox case on this unit is diagnosed." Today, most children in the United States are vaccinated against chickenpox. Deaths and hospitalization due to chickenpox plummeted in the U.S. after the vaccine became available in 1995. This story was updated at 4:45 p.m. with a statement from the Bureau of Prisons. News happens every day. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you and the community you live in. Now that we're part of KPCC, those stories (including this one you're on right now!) are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now. Here are seven updates on GI societies from the past week: The American Gastroenterological Association created an online resource for patients to consult when they're considering probiotic treatments. The AGA is concerned over the Department of Justice's recent decision to stop defending key ACA provisions in court. The AGA's Political Action Committee recognized Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., for their efforts to advance important legislation. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy launched a public awareness campaign centered on the link between chronic heartburn and esophageal adenocarcinoma. Sheila Crowe, MD, assessed the state of the AGA in remarks made at her final Digestive Disease Week as AGA Institute president, June 2 to June 5 in Washington, D.C. David Lieberman, MD, began his term as the 113th president of the AGA at the conclusion of Digestive Disease Week. Olympus Corp. donated approximately $3.2 million in medical equipment to the ASGE Foundation. A federal judge in Arizona sentenced 23-year-old Randall Tucker, also known as "Bitcoin Baron," to 20 months in prison for launching an attack that crippled the emergency communications system of the city of Madison, Wis. According to admissions made in accordance with his plea, Mr. Tucker carried out several attacks against numerous city websites, including one that shut down Madison's internet-connected emergency communication system, "causing delays and outages in the ability of emergency responders to connect to the 911 center and degrading the system used to automatically dispatch the closest unit to a medical, fire, or other emergency." The FBI's Milwaukee and Phoenix field offices assisted Arizona's Public Safety Department in the investigation, which identified Mr. Tucker as a suspect after he bragged about his attacks on social media. In addition to receiving a prison sentence, Mr. Tucker was ordered to pay over $69,300 in restitution to the victims of his attacks. The Massachusetts House has approved a measure that uses $247.5 million in assessments on insurers and $90 million on large hospitals to provide community hospitals with financial stability, reports State House News Service. The legislation, approved June 19 with primarily Democratic support, aims to help lower-cost community hospitals amid changing healthcare industry cost and reimbursement pressures. "It is our hope that over the three years of this bill, and the three years of support that these hospitals will get, the dynamic in healthcare will change," House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano said, according to the report. "And I'm not going to say we won't be here three years from now making adjustments on what healthcare looks like then, but we will at least know that we have done things to put these hospitals on a very strong and firm footing. And that's the focal point of the bill, probably the largest endeavor that we take under this bill and probably the most important thing that we can do in this bill." The support to community hospitals will be provided through grants, which will be based on patient acuity and patient mix, among other factors, reports State House News Service. The bill comes as state spending on MassHealth, which combines the Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, has increased. In addition to the assessments, the bill urges the Betsy Lehman Center, a state agency focused on safer healthcare, to provide lawmakers with medical insight to help them in making determinations about scope of practice changes for healthcare professionals, according to the report. Other components of the bill include creating telemedicine standards, as well as delegating task forces to further research various concerns, such as administrative costs. Additionally, the bill addresses surprise and out-of-network billing by giving authority to the state's Division of Insurance to examine whether there is unjustified pricing in provider contracts, and the state's Health Policy Commission the power "to require performance improvement plans with financial penalties for noncompliance attached," according to the report. A hospital would be able to use medical research as a defense for higher pricing. Moving forward, the bill will likely make it to a Senate conference committee that last year approved a different version of the legislation, according to the report. That Senate bill, the report states, calls for a rate floor for insurer payments to hospitals at 90 percent of the Massachusetts average. Lawmakers now have the option of agreeing on and passing a consensus bill before formal sessions end next month. Access the full State House News Service story here. Google parent company Alphabet and its many subsidiaries including Verily, Calico and Deepmind hold more than 150 patents in life sciences and operate a number of partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, but how has the tech giant been making an impact on healthcare? To find out, The Medical Futurist took a deep dive into Google's healthcare ambitions and drew conclusions and predictions about all of big tech's Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft moves into the healthcare arena. Here are five highlights: 1. Microsoft could take on AI. Microsoft launched a healthcare division based in its Cambridge research hub that is exploring health applications for AI in September 2017. 2. Apple could turn Siri into a medical chat bot. After Apple began its massive Apple Heart Study with Stanford (Calif.) Medicine, the FDA cleared the first medical device accessory for the Apple Watch Alivecor's Kardiaband. Shortly thereafter, the company began work on an advanced heart-monitoring feature for its smartwatch, and in January, Apple brought health records to users' iPhones. "After all these steps, is it so far-fetched to think that Apple might soon turn Siri into a medical chat bot that alerts you if something is wrong?" the report states. More recently, the company announced it is developing enhanced sensors to track Parkinson's disease via the Apple Watch. 3. Amazon could compete with pharma. Amazon has been operating a health team known as 1492 and recently snagged Boston-based Iora Health geriatrician Martin Levine, MD, who could be working on a number of 1492 projects. The e-commerce giant also weighed selling prescription drugs on its platform when it acquired numerous state pharmacy licenses, and analysts expected it could open drug stores in its Whole Foods stores. Others suggest Amazon could turn its artificial intelligence-powered digital assistant Alexa into a "digital doctor," Medical Futurist notes. 4. Amazon with its partners Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase could reduce healthcare costs. The trio announced its intent to form a joint healthcare company in January with the goal of cutting healthcare costs for their U.S. employees but has been vague as to how it will accomplish that. Atul Gawande, MD, a surgeon at Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, was selected to lead the company June 20. 5. Alphabet's diverse healthcare game plan shows it could tackle many aspects of the industry. Here are seven highlights on Alphabet's healthcare-centric efforts: Immediately after the abrupt resignation of Massena (N.Y.) Memorial Hospital CEO Robert Wolleben on June 18, town officials announced they plan to contract with another hospital to operate Massena Memorial as an interim step to forming a private nonprofit and having a health system take over the facility completely, according to the Watertown Daily Times. Mr. Wolleben told town officials he was stepping down as hospital CEO on the afternoon of June 18, and by the end of a regularly scheduled board meeting that evening, the hospital hired Ann Gilpin as the facility's interim leader. She previously served as president and CEO of Oswego (N.Y.) Health System. Massena Town Supervisor Steven D. O'Shaughnessy told the Watertown Daily Times Ms. Gilpin will serve as interim CEO for two months. "In the meantime, we're going to be seeking a management contract with another hospital to push us to privatization and possible affiliation," Mr. O'Shaughnessy said. "We want to make it a priority. We wanted it to be way before now. The management team will run the hospital and get it privatized and get it affiliated." The process of transitioning Massena Memorial from a municipal hospital to a private facility began a few years ago. In 2016, officials contacted 17 health systems to determine if they were interested in affiliating with Massena Memorial once the hospital privatizes. Hospital officials received six responses, five of which met the hospital's requirements for affiliation. Of those, two were chosen for further discussions, according to the report. The hospital will choose an affiliate once the asset transfer agreement between the town and the hospital is complete. The agreement determines which assets and liabilities carry over to the new organization, according to the report. More articles on leadership and management: Mercy in Iowa cuts 43 jobs as part of living center consolidation 3 of Nashville's 5 public health bureau chiefs quit in a month Hospital CEOs hold on to their jobs longer in these 17 states The American Medical Association is urging lawmakers and regulators to block CVS Health's proposed $69 billion acquisition of Aetna, the organization announced June 19. AMA President Barbara L. McAneny, MD, testified before the California Department of Insurance June 19 outlining the organization's position that the proposed acquisition "would likely substantially lessen competition in many healthcare markets, to the detriment of patients" and that the AMA is "convinced ... the proposed CVS-Aetna merger should be blocked." The organization has reportedly been investigating the proposed transaction since December 2017, and has concluded the deal would likely have anticompetitive effects on Medicare Part D, pharmacy benefit management services, health insurance, retail pharmacy and specialty pharmacy. The AMA also said June 19 it plans to file a post-hearing memorandum later this month outlining its concerns over the proposed deal. Prior to its June 19 announcement, the organization stayed relatively quiet on the proposed deal a move that stood in direct contrast to its very vocal opposition to the proposed Aetna-Humana merger in 2016, which ultimately failed. Plains, Ga. a small town with almost 700 residents and no practicing physician will see a new healthcare facility in its area thanks in part to former President Jimmy Carter, according to The Telegraph. Mr. Carter's advocacy reportedly led the Macon, Ga.-based Mercer University School of Medicine to open a primary care clinic in the area in July, Jean R. Sumner, MD, dean of the medical school, told the publication. Dr. Sumner said Mr. Carter called the university's president and discussed the need for better healthcare in Plains and "opened the door" for the clinic. The goal of the new healthcare facility is about "developing and refining a model that will work in rural communities," Dr. Sumner said, adding that the clinic will feature a physician and a nurse practitioner, and will help train Mercer medical students. The clinic the medical school's first rural primary care clinic, according to the report will also provide telemedicine services via the nonprofit organization Global Partnership for Telehealth. Rural healthcare has faced formidable challenges in recent years, particularly in Georgia. At least six rural hospitals across the state have closed since 2013, though two of them reopened as downsized facilities. Six of the state's 159 counties have no physician, 63 counties have no pediatrician, 66 counties have no general surgeon and 79 counties lack an OB-GYN provider, the report states. To access the full report, click here. Labor contract negotiations between unionized employees and hospitals are not always smooth. When both sides remain at odds over key issues, the result may be a strike. Here are notable strikes reported by Becker's Hospital Review this year: 1. Pennsylvania nurses strike, cite staffing concerns at Wilkes-Barre General Registered nurses at Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) General Hospital went on strike May 31, primarily over staffing. The nurses are represented by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. 2. UC hospital workers begin strike: 8 things to know Union workers from University of California hospitals and campuses went on strike amid contract negotiations. UC service workers, who are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, began a three-day strike May 7 over issues such as wages, healthcare premiums and job outsourcing. Members of the University Professional and Technical Employees-CWA and the California Nurses Association joined the walkout in support beginning May 8. 3. Pennsylvania hospitals block nurses from returning to work after strike Registered nurses at First Hospital, a private psychiatric facility in Kingston, Pa., and Moses Taylor Hospital, a 214-bed, acute care facility in Scranton, Pa., went on strike beginning April 25 amid contract negotiations. 4. Baystate Franklin nurses begin strike: 6 things to know Nurses at Greenfield, Mass.-based Baystate Franklin Medical Center began their 24-hour strike April 11 amid contract negotiations. Nurses have since ratified a contract with the hospital. The three-year agreement, which covers about 200 Baystate Franklin nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, addresses various patient care issues, including staffing. More articles on human capital and risk: Berkshire Medical Center, nurses reach agreement, avert strike Copley Hospital, nurses reach contract agreement California nurses move closer to strike The DeKalb County (Ga.) Police Department and Atlanta-based Grady Memorial Hospital started the United States Injury Prevention Partnership, which piloted the Cardiff Model for violence prediction and prevention in the Atlanta metropolitan area, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Cardiff Model was first coined by Jonathan Shepherd, PhD, a professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Cardiff University in Wales. In his work as a surgeon, Dr. Shepherd found only 23 percent of assaults treated in hospitals were reported to the authorities. In response, the Cardiff Model was developed by hospitals gathering basic anonymized information every time a victim of assault was admitted to the hospital. This information included the location of the assault, the time of day and the weapon involved but not the patient's identity. Law enforcement took this information and mapped out the data, projecting possible areas of violence to be patrolled further. Since the deployment of the Cardiff Model, the number of patients admitted to hospitals in Cardiff due to assault was halved between 2002 and 2013. Applying the Cardiff Model in the U.S. could prove to be beneficial. More than half of violent crimes in the U.S. go unreported, according to the Department of Justice. Emergency department nurses at Grady Memorial Hospital routinely collect anonymous data from admitted ED and trauma patients who have encountered violence in a public place. The Cardiff Model screening takes roughly 20 seconds. The results are then mapped to generate prevention strategies. The DeKalb County Police Department utilizes the data from the pilot run to deploy personnel to areas that are hotspots of activity. More articles on clinical leadership and infection control: Family: West Virginia hospital let us hold the wrong baby for 2 hours 9 things to consider with US Ebola prevention in hospitals Tribal chief's son identified as nurse who allegedly exposed 180+ Oklahoma hospital patients to HIV, hep C Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe The local news scene in Los Angeles is on fire this week.LAist returned to life, half a year after it was unceremoniously shut down by its previous owner.The L.A. Times is back under local control after billionaire health care entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong closed his deal to buy the paper (and the San Diego Union Tribune).And a slightly smaller local rag, the Long Beach Post, has a new owner and a renewed focus on hard-hitting, hyperlocal coverage. A handful of veteran journalists who quit the city's oldest paper, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, have joined the upstart publication. Columnist Tim Grobaty is one of them. He left the Long Beach Press-Telegram after 42 years to work at the Post."The mission is to cover Long Beach," he told KPCC's Take Two. "It's my city and it's been ignored too much."Grobaty isn't the only one who feels that way. Investment group Pacific6, backed by former Molina Healthcare CEO John Molina, bought the Long Beach Post, and Grobaty said it's Molina who's pushing the local focus.With nearly 500,000 residents, Long Beach is the seventh most populous city in California and Grobaty said it needs its own paper.Long Beach "has that whole 'shadow of L.A.' thing going for it. It needs to be paid attention to. Too much stuff has slipped through the cracks over the years because we didn't have the resources to cover it," he said. "We are getting there now."Reporters will cover local politics, Long Beach's City Council, sports, food and decaying tourist attraction The Queen Mary, which Grobaty says is soaking up a ton of money in repairs."We are all very excited," Grobaty said. "It's the biggest news organization I've worked for since the Press-Telegram started dwindling. We have about 15 people and more are coming." News happens every day. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you and the community you live in. Now that were part of KPCC, those stories (including this one youre on right now!) are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now. The son of Cherokee Nation's principal chief resigned from his nursing position at Tahlequah, Okla.-based W.W. Hastings Hospital last month after allegedly reusing a syringe and potentially exposing more than 180 patients to hepatitis C and HIV, according to ABC 8 Tulsa. Here are five things to know: 1. John Baker, RN, reportedly used the same vial of medication and syringe to inject more than one patient's IV bag, a spokesperson for Cherokee Nation Health Services, which operates the hospital, told the Cherokee Phoenix earlier this month. 2. W.W. Hastings Hospital CEO Brian Hail, RN, was informed of the infection control lapse April 29, according to the report. Following an initial review, officials determined Mr. Baker had been involved in the incident and subsequently reported him to the Oklahoma Board of Nursing. Mr. Baker resigned from the hospital May 1 and is no longer employed at Cherokee Nation or any of its entities, the report states. 3. In a statement obtained by ABC 8 Tulsa, Mr. Baker apologized to the affected patients and their families. "When I understood that I may not have been following proper procedures, I immediately began working with healthcare professionals to identify any mistakes that may have been made and cooperated in every possible way and then I resigned. I love caring for patients and would never knowingly put anyone at risk. ... As a follower of Jesus Christ, I believe that God offers us all grace and forgiveness and can redeem any situation for the good. God has certainly used this to teach me more humility. I have faith that God will use this situation to improve the care at Cherokee Health systems. Even though the chances of anyone ever being medically impacted by this are extremely remote, I've earnestly prayed night after night for all involved; I pray God's best for you all," Mr. Baker said. 4. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker has commissioned a panel to review the incident and improve medication procedures at the tribe's healthcare facilities. The panel will be led by Charles W. Grim, DDS, executive director of Cherokee Nation Health Services and the former director of the U.S. Indian Health Service. The elder Mr. Baker recused himself from the investigation. 5. The hospital is testing the more than 180 patients for possible exposure to HIV or hepatitis C. Mr. Hail said it is unlikely patients contracted any blood-borne pathogens, but recommended patients who were treated at the hospital between January and April of this year undergo testing, according to the report. To access the full report, click here. Life Spine is holding cadaveric labs highlighting its SImpact Sacroiliac Joint Fusion system. Here are four things to know: 1. On Aug. 18 and Nov. 10, the company will present the Physician's Ultimate Life Spine Experience cadaveric labs at its headquarters in Huntley, Ill. 2. Life Spine will also showcase its ProLift Expandable Spacer System at the North American Spine Society Meeting, Sept. 26 to Sept. 29, in Los Angeles. 3. The ProLift and SImpact fall within Life Spine's micro-invasive procedural solutions portfolio. 4. Both technologies include OSSEO-LOC Titanium Surface Treatment Technology, which is anosteophylic surface architecture intended to enhance boney on-growth. In its most recent report, MedPAC questioned whether any value from physician-owned distributorships was worth the risk of the potential for fraud and conflict of interest for the physicians involved. Here are five things to know: 1. Stark law, which governs provider self-interest influencing medical decisions, doesn't require the government to prove intent, as the anti-kickback statute does. MedPAC proposed a change. "The goal of any change to the Stark law would not be to ban PODs per se, but rather to prohibit physician self referral involving PODs." 2. The commission suggested revising Stark law to eliminate the "per unit of service" rule for PODs or making PODs an entity of DHS. Removing the "per unit of service" rule would eliminate the physician's ability to refer their patients for surgeries using the POD devices, barring exemption. 3. If PODs become a DHS entity, the physician with ownership stake in the POD would not be able to refer their patients for services that used the POD's device outside of exemptions. This would restructure how CMS defines DHS entities and may require additional accommodations. 4. MedPAC doesn't believe any proposed changes or limitations of POD use would inhibit medical device innovation, and the changes wouldn't stop physicians from making investments in companies developing new devices. However, Medicare would not pay for cases where surgeons used devices supplied by the company a referring physician has interest. 5. In regards to physician innovation, MedPAC stated, "the Commission believes physicians would still be able to profit from contributing significant intellectual capital to the development of medical devices if the use of PODs were limited. The Commission argues that a device is unlikely to be innovative if the only manner in which physicians profit from it is through using it themselves." 6. MedPAC encouraged POD and physician relationships become more transparent to help patients, payers and providers make the best decision possible. While CMS supports the Open Payments program, data released in January 2017 found eight PODs reported general physician payments and 16 reported physician ownership, showing a gap in reporting. The commission aims to have PODs identify as a POD when reporting to the Open Payments program. Johnson & Johnson unveiled its newest Johnson & Johnson Institute in Beijing, China, according to the Global Times. The opening comes on the heels of the Trump administrations' threat to impose $200 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese goods, according to The New York Times. Earlier in June, Trump proposed a 25 percent tariff proposal on nearly $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. Medical device and technology products many made by U.S. companies make up $5 billion of the imported goods facing tariffs. Here are five insights: 1. This is the third Johnson & Johnson Institute to open in China and the second in Beijing. 2. With the newest facility, J&J hopes to establish itself as a flagship in the Asia-Pacific region. 3. At the existing facilities, medical professionals are gaining experience through virtual reality simulations and live classes. In 2017, more than 14,000 professionals underwent training. 4. The Johnson & Johnson Institute recently launched a new global virtual reality training program to save costs while expanding education efforts to orthopedic surgeons. 5. "The significant disparities in professional healthcare education and training around the world means some patients and consumers are unable to benefit from the latest medical knowledge and expertise, said Sandra Humbles, J&J's vice president of global education solutions, according to the Global Times. Anthony Romeo, MD, joined Philadelphia-based Rothman Institute as chief of orthopedics for the practice's New York branch. "The addition of Dr. Romeo is a key pillar to our practice growth in New York," said Rothman Institute President Alexander Vaccaro, MD, PhD. "His international reputation as a clinician, his dedication to academic excellence and his unparalleled leadership will ensure Rothman Institute keeps our same values in our expansion markets of which our practice was built upon." Here are five things to know: 1. Prior to joining Rothman Institute, Dr. Romeo served as an orthopedic surgeon at Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center and section head of shoulder and elbow surgery at Rush. He was also the program director of the shoulder and elbow fellowship and served as co-team physician for the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls. 2. In his new role, Dr. Romeo will lead Rothman's expansion into New York, which began last year. He is actively seeing patients at Rothman's Marlton, N.J., location and plans to have offices in New York City and Westchester County this fall. 3. Throughout his career, Dr. Romeo has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles and 35 text book chapters. He also served a term as president of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons. 4. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Romeo has experience designating and developing innovative shoulder replacement systems treating arthritis. 5. Rothman Institute currently has 29 locations where surgeons practice evidence-based medicine to treat musculoskeletal patients. "This is a very exciting time in my career. My wife and I are excited to join the Rothman Institute family and I'm personally energized for the opportunity that awaits our practice expansion to New York both in the city and Westchester County," said Dr. Romeo. "There are plenty of opportunities ahead and I look forward to each and every one. The environment that Rothman Institute is creating for both physicians and staff is truly special and I'm honored to be a part of it." Newry construction and fit-out firm Mac-group has secured contracts worth more than 78m across the UK and Ireland in the last six months. And the contractor, which is led by founder and chief executive Paul McKenna, has said one of its biggest deals has been to carry out a mixed-use development for a major hotel in Liverpool. However, the company would not disclose the identity of the hotel operator. Mac-group now has offices in Newry, Dublin, London and Birmingham, and it employs 140 people. It's also in the middle of a recruitment drive to hire another 50 around the UK and Ireland. In Liverpool the firm will be building and fitting out a new 200-bed hotel with shops and office space. Closer to home, it's recently completed a refurbishment of the River House office block on Belfast's High Street. Mr McKenna said: "Our service offering includes construction and specialist fit out of commercial buildings and as a result we have won key greenfield and brownfield construction projects both here and in the UK." In the Republic, the firm is also building 110,000sq ft of new office space at the former IPC House on Shelbourne Road in Dublin. And it's involved in a 1 million square foot logistics hub for Mountpark Logistics EU in Baldonnell, south Dublin. Mac-group is involved in building the first phase of the 40m hub. "The Irish office market remains buoyant with take-up 19% above the five-year average in 2017," said Mr McKenna. "Dublin city centre continues to be an attractive location for many FDIs and we're seeing businesses upsizing into long-term lease properties. "Our existing order book is extremely healthy with a secured pipeline of work for 2018/19 which will help us to grow all aspects of the business, particularly in the UK fit-out and construction markets. We are well on track to achieving our forecast turnover of 185m for 2018." Earlier this year the firm announced it had recorded a 67% rise in revenues to 94m for the year to December 31, 2017. The growth had been driven by new projects in the Republic for multi-national clients such as Oracle, Jacobs and EY. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with Prince Louis (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Prince Louis of Cambridge's christening will take place next month, Kensington Palace has announced. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's youngest child will be baptised at the Chapel Royal at St James' Palace in London on July 9. The palace said: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to announce that the christening of Prince Louis will take place on Monday 9th July at The Chapel Royal, St James' Palace, London. "Prince Louis will be christened by The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby." The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to announce that the christening of Prince Louis will take place on Monday 9th July at The Chapel Royal, St Jamess Palace, London. Prince Louis will be christened by The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby. pic.twitter.com/aBGNYTMRri The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) June 20, 2018 Eight-week-old Louis, a younger brother to Prince George and Princess Charlotte, is fifth in line to the throne and a great-grandchild of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. George was also christened at the Chapel Royal, but Charlotte was baptised at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Sandringham. Louis was born at the private Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, on April 23, which is also St George's Day. He weighed 8lb 7oz. The baby prince will be welcomed into the Christian faith dressed in the same frilly, cream gown used for George and Charlotte. The robe is a replica of the intricate lace and satin dress made for Queen Victoria's eldest daughter in 1841. Christenings are a must for royal babies. The Queen is head of the Church of England and Louis' father William will one day take on this role when he becomes king. The baptism will be a private affair, lasting around 30 minutes. George's christening at the same venue in October 2013 was an intimate occasion, with only 23 guests attending. He was on his best behaviour, blowing bubbles beforehand and being quiet and peaceful afterwards. Charlotte's baptism in 2015 involved the Cambridge family walking to church past well-wishers. George held William's hand, while baby Charlotte was pushed by Kate in a vintage pram, previously used for two of the Queen's children. Prince Louis's godparents will be expected to be announced on the morning of the christening, with William and Kate again likely to choose mostly close friends for the role. Newlyweds the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are likely to attend the family celebration. Ahead of her wedding, Meghan was herself christened and confirmed in the Chapel Royal by the Archbishop, who also married the couple last month. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Middletons will also be expected to attend Louis' big day. Former Ireland rugby captain Brian ODriscoll and his wife Amy Huberman with Colin McIvor (centre), who directed Zoo A film about the rescue of a Belfast elephant during the Second World War is a tale of compassion and humanity, its leading actors have said. Zoo tells the story of a boy's friendship with the animal and efforts to keep it from being killed during the Blitz. It is based on a true story and premiered in Belfast yesterday. Dame Penelope Wilton plays Denise Austin, who brought baby elephant Sheila home from Belfast Zoo to keep her safe. As well as the danger from Luftwaffe bombs, the Ministry of Public Safety had ordered that animals should be shot if they escaped during the Blitz. She said: "It is a very humane story and it is a story of resilience and of these young people, who have the bravery in a grown-up world to fight for what they thought was right." In the film a boy named Tom becomes friends with the elephant after his father, the zoo's vet, goes off to fight in the war. He and his friends hide the elephant with the help of Dame Penelope's character. Tom is played by Art Parkinson, who said it was a story of compassion and humanity with its focus on animal welfare. He added: "These days you look around and see pollution everywhere and disrespect for the Earth. So as humans we can change the way we look at that." Dame Penelope said the film was about young people's relationships with each other and how they managed being adolescents during wartime. She added: "In the end all these disparate characters come together, plus Mrs Austin, and they achieve an amazing thing by hiding this elephant and they save its life." At one stage in the film she had a menagerie of animals living with her: hedgehogs, parrots, rabbits, weasels, mice and birds. She said: "You name it, I had it. Guinea pigs, everything." Expand Expand Previous Next Close Sheila the baby elephant inside a zookeepers back yard during the Second World War PA Sheila the baby elephant in Belfast PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sheila the baby elephant inside a zookeepers back yard during the Second World War She said it was a story of what happened to people who were not involved directly in warfare. "It was the fallout from that, the domestic side, how people managed when they were children and growing up." The scene of the shooting in 1988, and front of Belfast Telegraph at the time Aidan McAnespies father John, solicitor Darragh Mackin, cousin Brian Gormley and sister Margo leave after their meeting with the PPS in Belfast yesterday The DUP has said it is deeply concerned that a former soldier is facing prosecution for a controversial killing while many families of those murdered by paramilitaries are still awaiting justice. The Ulster Unionists called for justice to be "applied equally and fairly to all" following the decision to charge the ex-soldier over the killing of a Catholic man at an Army checkpoint. After re-examining the case, the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) yesterday announced its intention to prosecute a 48-year-old former Grenadier Guardsman for gross negligence manslaughter. Aidan McAnespie was shot in the back as he walked through a border security checkpoint in Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone, in February 1988. The 23-year-old was on his way to the local GAA pitch. His family claimed he had been deliberately targeted after a sustained campaign of harassment by soldiers. The decision to prosecute David Jonathan Holden follows a 30-year-campaign for justice by the McAnespies. Mr Holden insisted the shooting was an accident, claiming his hands were wet and his finger slipped on the trigger of his heavy machine gun. He was charged with manslaughter in 1988 but the case was later dropped. The PPS reviewed that decision after the case was referred to it by Attorney General John Larkin. DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said: "We are very disappointed that yet again it is a member of the armed forces facing prosecution when there are thousands of families across Northern Ireland whose loved ones were murdered by terrorists for whom the wait for justice has been far too long. Expand Close Aidan McAnespies father John, solicitor Darragh Mackin, cousin Brian Gormley and sister Margo leave after their meeting with the PPS in Belfast yesterday Photopress Belfast / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Aidan McAnespies father John, solicitor Darragh Mackin, cousin Brian Gormley and sister Margo leave after their meeting with the PPS in Belfast yesterday "This decision to prosecute a soldier gives lie to the claim by some that what we have is an even-handed process. "I see no evidence that the police and the PPS are currently active in pursuing the prosecution of those responsible for 90% of deaths in the Troubles." Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie said he had no issue with the PPS deciding to prosecute former soldiers "if that's where the evidence leads". But he stressed that exactly the same process must apply equally to everyone "including those who were involved in terrorism". "Evidence must be followed in all legacy cases - whether they involve soldiers, police, civilians, terrorists or politicians. This has been my clear stance from the very beginning but I am now becoming genuinely concerned that this seems only to apply to a small number of individuals and selective cases," he said. TUV leader Jim Allister said: "People are entitled to ask, given that the vast majority of killings during the Troubles were the result of terrorist murder, why we are seeing a seemingly endless procession of soldiers coming before the courts, while terrorists enjoy freedom. The imbalance is clear and nauseating." The Attorney General had asked the PPS to re-examine the circumstances of the case following a request by the family for a fresh inquest. He made the referral after reviewing the findings of a report into the shooting by the Historical Enquiries Team. It is understood the decision to prosecute hinged on the findings of a fresh ballistics report commissioned by the PPS. A PPS spokeswoman said: "Following careful consideration of all the evidence currently available in the case, and having received advice from senior counsel, it has been decided to prosecute a former soldier for the offence of gross negligence manslaughter. "The evidence includes further expert evidence in relation to the circumstances in which the general purpose machine gun was discharged, thereby resulting in the ricochet shot which killed Mr McAnespie." It is understood Mr Holden was informed of the prosecution decision by email yesterday. Formal papers will be served on his legal representatives in the coming weeks. The Irish Government conducted its own inquiry into the shooting which was headed by the then Deputy Garda Commissioner Eugene Crowley. While a government-approved summary of the report was given to the McAnespies in 2002, Dublin has declined to pass the entire document to them. Irish Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has claimed that disclosing the entire content of the Crowley Report would be a breach of trust with people who gave information. Paying tribute to the McAnespies for their 30-year campaign for justice, Sinn Fein MLA Linda Dillon said: "I am calling once again on the Irish Government to release the Crowley Report immediately so that as much information to assist with full disclosure for the case is made available. "Hopefully this will begin the process of closure for the family." Belfast City Council has signed off on giving 200,000 of ratepayers cash to community groups from a controversial 400k bonfire diversion fund. At an impromptu meeting of the council Strategic Policy and Resources committee on Wednesday, Sinn Fein and the DUP voted to press ahead with the allocations for Woodvale and the Feile. The meeting was restricted, so members of the press were not allowed to attend, however it is understood the cash will go towards to music events in July and August, respectively. When the decision was made to give 400,000 to community groups for educational activities associated with July and August bonfires months ago, Alliance, the UUP and the SDLP were outraged, calling the decision a political carve-up. Wednesdays meeting saw, as before, Sinn Fein, the DUP and the PUP vote in favour of the proposals, with Alliance, SDLP and the Ulster Unionists voting against. At Wednesdays meeting, which was called on Tuesday for an "urgent decision", the councils call-in mechanism was not employed, as in the previous 400k decision. The call-in allows other parties to question any decision and ask for it to be reviewed. Alliance councillor Emmet McDonough-Brown said Sinn Fein and the DUP had the opportunity to show they respected all ratepayers of Belfast and they blew it. He added his party will not be letting the matter go and plan to raise it with the Audit office next week. The Alliance Party again tried to block this move, wanting to see a fair process open to all installed within City Hall, he said. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close William Young used a drone to take this remarkable photo of the bonfire at Sandy Row. 11/07/2017 Sandy Row Photo: William Young Sandy Row Photo: William Young Roden Street Photo: William Young Shankill Photo: William Young The scene on Love Lane in Carrickfergus as the local community rebuild a bonfire after the original bonfire they build was burnt on Monday evening. Picture by Matt Mackey / presseye.com 10/07/2017 The scene on Love Lane in Carrickfergus as the local community rebuild a bonfire after the original bonfire they build was burnt on Monday evening. Picture by Matt Mackey / presseye.com 10/07/2017 The scene on Love Lane in Carrickfergus as the local community rebuild a bonfire after the original bonfire they build was burnt on Monday evening. Picture by Matt Mackey / presseye.com 10/07/2017 Pacemaker Press Belfast 11-07-2017: Final preparations takes place for the Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast .The bonfires will be lit in loyalist areas as part of Eleventh Night celebrations on Tuesday night. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 11-07-2017: Final preparations takes place for the Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast .The bonfires will be lit in loyalist areas as part of Eleventh Night celebrations on Tuesday night. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 11-07-2017: Final preparations take place for the Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast .The bonfires will be lit in loyalist areas as part of Eleventh Night celebrations on Tuesday night. Picture By: Arthur Allison. SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan posted this photo of one of his election posters on a bonfire and said he considers the action a hate crime. Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. [Photo: Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com] Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. [Photo: Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com] Masked men continue to build a bonfire at Inverary Playing Fields in Belfast. Police in Northern Ireland have warned their resources could be stretched amid growing fears of tension around the burning of Eleventh night bonfires. [Photo credit: Liam McBurney/PA Wire] PA Masked men continue to build a bonfire at Inverary Playing Fields in Belfast. [Photo: PA Wire 10/07/2017] PA A bonfire constructed across the road from a petrol station in Carrickfergus was set alight in the early hours of Tuesday morning. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp William Young used a drone to take this remarkable photo of the bonfire at Sandy Row. 11/07/2017 What is clear is that this plan between the DUP and Sinn Fein was decided and agreed long before any details about how the money would be spent were unveiled by their chosen organisations. This is not fair, especially while many other organisations never had the opportunity to be fairly considered." It is understood the money, 100,000 for each event, will go towards artists, stage management and other associated costs. It continues to amaze me that while the DUP and Sinn Fein remain incapable of working together at Stormont, when it comes to City Hall and the allocation of public money they manage to put all other differences aside to secure a common goal, Mr McDonough-Brown added. We must send a signal, this type of carve up is never okay and I would challenge every DUP and Sinn Fein member who signed up to this to explain exactly why they believe party politics must come before a fair process for all. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Two weeks ago, a defeated Antonio Villaraigosa conceded to frontrunner Gavin Newsom and pledged to support his fellow Democrat following Newsom's gubernatorial primary election win. On Tuesday, Villaraigosa joined Newsom at Homeboy Industries' Homegirl Cafe in Los Angeles and praised his formal rival as a leader who wants the best for California. It was the first time the two had met since Villaraigosa conceded and it marked the closing of the curtains on a brutal primary campaign. Over the course of about a dozen debates, the two high-profile Democrats had gone after each other's political record and performance to gain the upper hand in a crowded field. Their marriage infidelities also became an issue. In the end, despite his tenure as Los Angeles mayor and millions of dollars in financial support from charter school backers, Villaraigosa could not attract enough votes to overtake Republican John Cox, much less Newsom, who has advanced to the general election. Villaraigosa and Newsom are now trying to unite their party and ensure the successor to Gov. Jerry Brown, who is termed out, is a Democrat. Villaraigosa called Newsom "gracious," and said the political fights they had were not personal. "We want the best for our state," he said. For his part, Newsom dodged questions about whether Villaraigosa will have a role in his administration if he is elected. He said his focus right now is on Cox, especially since the governor's race has grabbed national attention. President Trump has endorsed Cox and is expected to campaign in California for the GOP businessman. PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton has said the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) is critical in the fight against crime after EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned the UK would be kicked out of the system after Brexit. Mr Hamilton said the removal of the system, which allows EU members to request the arrest and detention of criminals in other countries without extradition talks, could endanger the safety of communities in Northern Ireland. Read More The UK wants to stay part of the system when it leaves the EU next March and the loss of the EAW would have serious implications between Northern Ireland and the Republic, particularly in the fight against terrorism and organised crime. The Chief Constable said: "I have previously stated how important the EAW is to ensuring the safety of communities both in Northern Ireland and across Europe by providing for a quicker, efficient and dynamic response to crime and criminality. "For the PSNI, the EAW is particularly critical in our continued collaboration with An Garda Siochana and ensuring that the border cannot be used by criminals to evade prosecution. "We are working with the national working group led by the National Crime Agency and the National Police Chiefs Council to inform and support Government on these critical issues throughout the Brexit process." Mr Barnier said "facts have consequences" and the UK's decision to leave the EU and the single market meant things could not stay the way they are currently. He said: "The UK wants to maintain all the benefits of the current relationship, while leaving the EU regulatory, supervision, and application framework. They try to blame us for the consequences of their choice. "Once again, we will not be drawn into this blame game. "It would mean wasting time we don't have." Mr Barnier added that aside from the European Court of Justice, the arrest warrant was also underpinned by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and by the concept of EU citizenship. He added: "Today we know that the UK is not ready to accept the free movement of people, the jurisdiction of the court and the Charter of Fundamental Rights - for the charter, this was confirmed last week by the House of Commons. "This means that the UK cannot take part in the European Arrest Warrant." Alliance MLA and former Justice Minister David Ford said the European Arrest Warrant is critical to fighting crime in Ireland. "It's an essential component of north-south justice, being a crucial part of combating terrorism on both sides of the border," he said. "Alliance warned before the Brexit referendum of the dangers a result in favour of leaving the EU would bring regarding the future of the warrant and now we are seeing that play out. "As Justice Minister, I saw first-hand the way in which security co-operation was largely based on European legislation and we can't underestimate the effect the European Arrest Warrant has in tackling the challenges posed. "The Conservatives claim to be a party of law and order. "However, through their actions, they are putting in danger one of the key aspects of maintaining that law and order in Northern Ireland. "Our security cannot be risked in pursuit of Brexit." Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald has said Brexit is not a 'trojan horse' for a united Ireland / Credit: Sky News Sinn Fein do not see Brexit as a "Trojan horse" for a united Ireland, party president Mary Lou McDonald has said ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May. On Wednesday afternoon a delegation made up of Sinn Fein MPs Mickey Brady and Orfhlaith Begley, the party's Northern Ireland leader Michelle O'Neill, and Mrs McDonald will meet with the Prime Minister to discuss power-sharing at Stormont, legacy issues, and the impact of Brexit on the island of Ireland. Interviewed on Sky News, Mrs McDonald said her party was "not happy with Brexit full stop". "That needs to be deeply appreciated. Because Brexit is not of our making, we did not come up with Brexit," she said. "And by the way we dont regard Brexit as some kind of Trojan Horse to get us a united Ireland." The Sinn Fein leader said it was her view Northern Ireland was on course for "a referendum [on a united Ireland] and a big constitutional debate". "I have to tell you I would prefer that did not happen in the context of a chaotic disorderly Brexit. That doesnt suit us, it doesnt suit economic and social stability on the island of Ireland." She added: "Were not looking opportunistically at this scenario. Were looking at this in a clear headed way that says Brexit has been decided on - and I respect the right of the British people to take their decision, let me say that clearly - but people in the north of Ireland voted to remain." Mrs McDonald also hit out at the approach of Theresa May ahead of Brexit negotiations, saying the Prime Minister had engaged in "make-believe, nonsense and bluff" which had been "set aside quite appropriately by European negotiators". Wednesday's meeting between Sinn Fein representatives and the Prime Minister has been criticised by the DUP's leader in the Commons Nigel Dodds, calling the party a "glorified lobbyist". "They sit on the outside as spectators dependant on others to get decisions made. Meanwhile DUP MPs will be in the House of Commons using our votes to deliver more money for hospitals and schools and ensure we get the best deal for Northern Ireland as we exit the EU," he said. The meeting between Sinn Fein representatives and Theresa May will take place at 5pm at Westminster. Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 Counter protesters at A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 Counter protesters at A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Credit: Pacemaker A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker 09/06/2018 A rally at Belfast City hall on Saturday in support of Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. Pic Pacemaker An anti-racism rally will be held at Belfast City Hall this weekend in response to far-right demonstrations supporting English Defence League Tommy Robinson. People Before Profit leader Gerry Carroll has appealed to "all progressives" in the city to join a protest on Saturday that coincides with a UK Freedom March, celebrating the anniversary of the EU referendum result. It comes just two weeks after men were seen making Nazi salutes at a 'Free Tommy Robinson' rally in Belfast. "I am calling on all progressives, all people with a sense of humanity, all people who abhor racism and can't stand the sight of bigots intimidating and bullying minorities in our city with their hate and lies," Mr Carroll said. The West Belfast MLA has called on people to stand in solidarity with migrants - "especially Muslims" - as "organised groups of racists" take to the streets to "display their hate". On June 9 hundreds of Tommy Robinson supporters turned out to protest against the convicted mortgage fraudster being jailed for contempt of court. "These fascists claim to care about free speech and the plight of their dear leader," Mr Carroll said. He branded Robinson as a "professional hate-monger" who has become a figurehead for groups like Generation Identity, which he said bears "all the hallmarks of white supremacy". He also warned that "fascist" groups including Britain First were "desperate" to get a foothold here. Mr Carroll described the "vile abuse" which a small number of United Against Racism protesters were subject to less than a fortnight ago as "stomach churning". Expand Close Jailed: Tommy Robinson / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jailed: Tommy Robinson He claimed the "racist, sexist bile" was interspersed with "Nazi salutes from boneheaded thugs". Councillor Jolene Bunting, who helped organise the Free Tommy Robinson protest, was later accused of "bringing Nazis to Belfast". However last night, she condemned the salute. "It was completely out of order, but it was taken out of context," she claimed. "It was made in response to an insult in which the individual was called a Nazi." She also shrugged off Mr Carroll's "astounding" criticism and accused him of having a short memory. "These people are not fascists, racists or Nazis but fathers, mothers, daughters and sons who support freedom," she said. Belfast City Council is to consult on the next phase of the 400m regeneration project on the former Royal Exchange site in Belfast. Credit: Joe Laverty A campaign group has urged the public to have their say in the next phase of the 400m regeneration project on the former Royal Exchange site in Belfast. The move comes after the council granted approval to demolish several buildings on Royal Avenue to make way for the development earlier this month. Outline planning permission for the next phase of the project, however, is yet to be decided. Carried out in phases, the construction of the development will include: two hotels, the reintegration and refurbishment of seven listed buildings, three new public realm spaces and a 22-27 storey tower block. Concerns over the project were previously raised at City Hall by several councillors and campaign groups, such as Save Cathedral Quarter and Ulster Architectural Heritage, namely regarding the potential negative impact on heritage, arts and smaller businesses. Recent court cases and changes to the planning system in the past few years have left the decades-long trail of paperwork regarding the site an absolute mess, said Save CQs Mura Quigley, who wants the public to write to the council giving their views on the plans. Previously known as the Royal Exchange project, the site switched hands in January 2016 in an off-the-market deal between Castlebrooke and Cerberus Capital, the US firm who purchased Nama assets totalling almost 1.5bn in 2014. Expand Close Buildings in Royal Avenue are to be torn down to make way for the development. Credit: Joe Laverty / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Buildings in Royal Avenue are to be torn down to make way for the development. Credit: Joe Laverty Plans were first drawn up to develop the site in 2012, which were altered and resubmitted in 2016 when it was bought over to allow for a phased delivery. In the midst of all this, the planning system was completely overhauled and case law, as weve seen, is changing the goalposts every month, Ms Quigley said. You must consult with communities before applications of this scale go through and its a three-tiered system. But now with incinerator court case Stormonts Department for Infrastructure dont want planning applications coming their way because there is no minister in place to sign off on them. Its a mess. The overall site covers 12 acres of land in the North East Quarter of the city centre bound by Royal Avenue, Donegall Street, North Street, Lower Garfield Street and High Street. Construction for the proposed scheme is estimated to be around 250million, with the total investment reported to be close to 400million. Mura Quigley said during the pre-application community consultation phase last year the public was not given sufficient information about the development and everyone just became more confused. People were horrified when they found out what was exactly going on, but it was still very vague, she said. When you come in and put a wrecking ball to streets you lose the character and identity of the area." Ms Quigley pointed out that the planned retail units for the site will be a lot bigger than whats there now basically telling independent and small businesses youre not welcome here. Heritage was sacrificed in the 2012 planning application, with losing North Street Arcade now it has gone even further.," she said. "We have full streets getting demolished and a 27-storey tower block erected right next to the Assembly Rooms, one of the oldest parts of Belfast. We are not anti-development, we just want it done in the right way. For the public, now is the time to be heard at Belfast City Council. Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Racegoers watch jockeys at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. DAILY MIRROR HANDICAP CHASE Drumconnor Lad ridden by jockey Roger Loughran wins the 5th race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. DAILY MIRROR HANDICAP CHASE Graham Keys, owner of Drumconnor Lad with jockey Roger Loughran. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. DAILY MIRROR HANDICAP CHASE Drumconnor Lad ridden by jockey Roger Loughran wins the 5th race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. DAILY MIRROR HANDICAP CHASE Drumconnor Lad ridden by jockey Roger Loughran wins the 5th race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. DAILY MIRROR BEGINNERS CHASE General view of the 4th race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. DAILY MIRROR BEGINNERS CHASE Peace News, ridden by Davy Russell wins the 4th race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. DAILY MIRROR BEGINNERS CHASE Peace News, ridden by Davy Russell wins the 4th race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. DAILY MIRROR BEGINNERS CHASE Peace News, ridden by Davy Russell wins the 4th race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Pamela Ballantine and Caroline Todd pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Sinead Begley, Ellen McCann and Orla Nutley pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Kevin Dundass, Mary Dundass, Siobhan Ward and Francis Ward pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Gerald and Bridget Greene pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Lisa Stewart and Chris Brennan pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Donna McAuley and Daniel Kille pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Pauric McGurn, Terence Donnelly and Niall Moane pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Bernard Hargreaves, Geraldine Hargreaves, Peter Hart and Barbara Hart pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Paul and Belinda Johnston pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Maeve McCullagh and Aoife McConnell pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Seona McCann and guests pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Matthew Slevin, Monica McCaffrey and Mark McCaffrey pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. A racegoers enjoys the weather at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Emma Ward, Shannon Kennan and Emma Devlin pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Lalita Ossawy and Christine Ossawy pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Harley Semple, Claire Melville and Aoife Ramsay pictured at the County Down racecourse. Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Emma Best, Amie Mullan, Dearbhaile McClean, Aine Finey, Gemma Maguire Aoibhin McCool pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Eimear Doyle and Dervla Dolan pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Amy Kelly, Julie Bogan, Cora Marlow and Aoife Cathcart pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Catriona Graham, Kirsty Lavery, Mary Shannon, Roisin Rafferty, Caoimhe Conlon and Laoise McKenna pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Lauren McIvor and Carla Armstrong pictured at the County Down racecourse. Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Sarah-Jayne McGill and Ellen Moloney pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Sinead Begley, Ellen McCann and Orla Nutley pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 7th May 2018 - May Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse. Racegoers pictured at the County Down racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye The owner of Down Royal has vowed to continue horse racing at the venue when it evicts the current management. Dublin-based property outfit the Merrion Group bought the racecourse near Lisburn in 2005 for 6.1m and announced its intention last month to evict the current managers at the end of the year when their lease expires. This led to an outcry from the Down Royal Corporation of Horse Breeders, which has managed the grounds for more than 300 years. The current management team took over 13 years ago, and said it was best placed to guarantee the track's future success. DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson backed it to remain last month, but now says he is reassured racing will continue at Down Royal after meeting with the Merrion Group. The matter is due before a judge-led land tribunal this year, but it's feared the uncertainty until then will cause havoc with the racing schedule, which often requires events to be agreed 18 months in advance. Down Royal chairman and leading wine importer Jim Nicholson vowed yesterday that the management team would fight to stay on. The Merrion Group said it was very conscious of the long tradition of horse racing at Down Royal and the "justifiable affection" in which the venue was held. "It is our intention and ambition that horse racing will continue on the site, and in fact that the whole race day experience is enhanced," it said. "We have never looked at the possibility of using the Down Royal site for anything other than horse racing and other complementary activities." Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Emma Dunlewdy, Tina Long and Hannah Chambers pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Sheena Magee and Roisin Magee pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Frances Moylan and Aoife Lennon pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Sonya Murphy and Laura Joyce pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Kerry Campbell, Katherine McConville, Emma McConville and Laura Conway pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Jodie Clarke and Gail Johnston pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Emma McFarland and Lorraine Downey pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Louise Armstrong and Lynn Gourley pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. RACE 3 1:10 - TOALS BOOKMAKERS HUNTERS CHASE Gilgamboa beats Venitien De Mai in the third race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Racegoers pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Megan Farley and Lucy Montgomery pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Emma McFarland and Lorraine Downey pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. RACE 2 12:40 - ADAM & ANN ARMSTRONG MEMORIAL HANDICAP CHASE Rrainer of The Informer Seamus Fahey receives a presentation from sponsors Addison, Joshua and Rayanne Armstrong in the second race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. RACE 2 12:40 - ADAM & ANN ARMSTRONG MEMORIAL HANDICAP CHASE The Informer ridden by Sean Flanagan in the second race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Racegoers pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. RACE 2 12:40 - ADAM & ANN ARMSTRONG MEMORIAL HANDICAP CHASE The Informer ridden by Sean Flanagan in the second race. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. RACE 1 12:10 - IRISH STALLIONS FARMS EBF BEGINNERS CHASE Mary Nugent representing Gigginstown House Stud, owners of winning horse Sutton Manor, receives a trophy from Leah Beattie from Down Royal Racecourse. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Press Eye - Belfast - 26th December 2017 - Boxing Day Meeting at Down Royal Racecourse, Maze, Lisburn. Emma Dunlewdy, Tina Long and Hannah Chambers pictured at Down Royal. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Mr Donaldson said he had supported horse racing at Down Royal since he first became an MP and praised the role it had played in promoting Lisburn as a tourist destination. Speaking after the meeting with the Merrion Group, he said his "overriding concern" was that the local community around Down Royal was not negatively impacted and that horse racing continued. He said: "I accept there are no plans to abandon racing or to build houses on the site and I am reassured by that. "I will continue to work with all parties to promote Down Royal and to ensure that we maximise our tourist potential here in Lisburn." Mr Nicholson said the management team was working around the clock to make the best case to stay on and continue with its role. "We've a fantastic team, we're putting together a 2m plan for improvements if we get to stay, and we've been working 24-hour shifts to make sure the grounds are in top condition," he explained. "It's an enormous investment to run a race course, it takes a lot of time and money. "It's not an easy commercial business to run, which is why I think we're best placed as a non-profit organisation." He added there was no risk of the racing timetable being disrupted as the team would agree the next round of race meetings by September, and had no intention of "dropping the ball" while still in charge of the course. The Government must make sure a severely epileptic boy is not an unwitting victim of Northern Irelands constitutional crisis, the shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland has warned. Labours Tony Lloyd told MPs that many urgent decisions were now piling up in Northern Ireland as the voice of Stormont is silent. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley said she would bring forward legislation before the summer recess to put the Budget on a statutory footing for 2018-19 as she acknowledged that there were a number of matters that are pressing. Ms Bradley added that across Government we pressed to make sure that the case of Billy Caldwell was dealt with, with suitable respect and dignity for the little boy. Speaking in the @HouseofCommons, Home Secretary @sajidjavid has announced a review into the scheduling of cannabis for medicinal purposes. pic.twitter.com/iKNDUHdrK5 Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) June 19, 2018 Speaking during Northern Ireland questions in the Commons, Mr Lloyd said: Its not just Brexit, there are many urgent decisions that are now piling up in Northern Ireland, decisions that cant be made by civil servants, the High Court has decreed, cant be made by devolved minsters because there are none. The case of Billy Caldwell its urgent stuff for the Home Secretary to act here in England for her constituents and mine. What will she now do to make sure that Billy is not an unwitting victim of this constitutional crisis? Ms Bradley replied: The matter of the use of medicinal cannabis is of course a matter for the Home Office for the whole UK and thats why I welcome (Home Secretary Sajid Javids) decision to have a review into the use of medicinal cannabis and I want to assure him that during the whole of last week, officials from my department were in close contact with the health officials in Northern Ireland, and that across Government we pressed to make sure that the case of Billy Caldwell was dealt with, with suitable respect and dignity for the little boy. The announcement of the review on Tuesday came days after Mr Javid intervened to permit the use of cannabis oil to treat severely epileptic 12-year-old Billy, who had been admitted to hospital with seizures after supplies his mother had brought from Canada were confiscated at Heathrow. Billys mother Charlotte, of Castlederg in Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, described it as amazing news which she applauded. The European Arrest Warrant - which came into force in 2004 - was designed to remove much of the red tape and international brinkmanship from the extradition process. It allows for faster and simpler surrender procedures and an end to political involvement in extradition procedures, according to the European Commission. After its introduction, EU countries could no longer refuse to surrender their own citizens to another European Union country, if the citizen has committed a serious crime or is suspected of having committed such a crime in another EU country. The arrest warrant is valid throughout all EU member states. From 2010-16, the PSNI issued 50 EAWs, with only the Met and Greater Manchester Police issuing more. In that same period, the Irish Republic detained 195 people under an EAW, although only two for terrorism. The EAW is viewed as particularly useful in Ireland north and south, ending the long-running extradition battles of the past. Recently, it was used to detain Hungarian national Beres Szaboles (28) after he seriously injured a young women in a car crash in Ballynahinch in 2015. Before he was initially charged, Szaboles fled Northern Ireland but was detained in Copenhagen under a European Arrest Warrant. He will be sentenced next month. And earlier this year, a former INLA member wanted for a murder in Co Tyrone almost 20 years ago lost a legal challenge to being extradited from the Republic. The authorities here had been seeking the surrender of Francis Lanigan (53), originally from Belfast but with an address in west Dublin, for the murder of John Knocker, who was shot dead in Dungannon in 1998. In 2013, Lanigan was arrested on foot of an EAW at a Dublin gym where he was working as a barber. Before the EAW, extradition cases in Ireland were characterised by long-running legal and political battles. From 1973-97 the UK sought the extradition of 110 republican suspects from the Irish Republic, but just 42 were arrested and only eight were extradited. In March 1990, the Supreme Court of Ireland in Dublin blocked the extradition of Maze escapers James Pius Clarke and Dermot Finucane on the grounds they "would be probable targets for ill-treatment by prison staff" if they were returned to jail in Northern Ireland. In 1988, a UK request to have suspected IRA quartermaster Fr Patrick Ryan extradited from Belgium failed. He was later extradited to the Republic, but it refused to extradite Ryan to the UK - causing a rift between Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Taoiseach Charles Haughey. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe A sign marks the boundary of the Aliso Canyon storage facility (AFP / Jonathan Alcorn/ AFP / ) This article was most recently updated Oct. 16 Southern California Gas Co. is facing problems getting enough natural gas into the L.A. region. Those problems are increasing the risk of power outages this summer. Some of the issues have to do with the pipelines that bring gas in from out-of-state. One pipeline exploded. A couple need repairs. Another problem is storage. Specifically, the scarcity of storage. Since the Aliso Canyon gas leak of 2015 -- the largest-ever uncontrolled release of natural gas in U.S. history -- SoCal Gas has had limits on how much it could store underground at a depleted oil field near Porter Ranch. Those problems won't interfere with power production on a typical summer day, but during a heat wave, with air conditioners running all night, power plants could run short. So far, the disaster has cost SoCal Gas $1 billion, and that's before any of the more than 400 lawsuits involving some 48,000 plaintiffs have gone to court. THE LATEST LEGAL ACTION: FIREFIGHTERS SUE A group of 29 firefighters and some of their spouses sued Southern California Gas Company on Oct. 15 over health problems they say they sustained from exposure to gas well blowout. The complaint said SoCal Gas knowingly exposed them to benzene and other chemicals contained in natural gas, but did not warn them of potential health consequences. The plaintiffs said they were suffering from headaches, dizziness, skin rashes and even cancer. The day after the lawsuit was filed, the company said it had no comment because it hasn't been served with the complaint yet. The firefighters now join nearly 50,000 other plaintiffs who have sued SoCal Gas [more on that below.] During the leak's active stage, the firefighters were a consistent presence near the ruptured well during attempts to plug it. They drove around and responded to medical incidents and other emergencies in the Porter Ranch neighborhoods. And they slept at two fire stations within the gas-affected area. When the firefighters asked SoCal Gas to install air purifiers at their fire stations, Los Angeles County Health Department officials, observed by representatives from SoCal Gas, explained that there was no need for air purifiers because natural gas was supposedly not toxic. The company had been installing air purifiers in other Porter Ranch homes. WAIT. GO BACK. THIS HAS COST $1 BILLION? Yep. It took SoCal Gas months to seal over the leak and during that time they relocated about 8,000 families. Hotel and home-cleaning costs paid by the company make up a little over half the $1 billion spent so far by the company to deal with the disaster. Legal bills are expected to keep driving that cost up. In just the first six months of this year, SoCal Gas spent about $22 million dollars on litigation. Company officials say insurance will cover most of its billion-dollar disaster. But every quarterly report puts the company closer to its $1.4 billion insurance policy limit. Who picks up the tab after that is not yet clear. OK. Let's look at the current issues, the usage, and what's being done to reduce the risk of outages. FIRST: WHAT WAS IN THAT LEAK? Porter Ranch residents who live near the Aliso Canyon gas storage field have long wanted to know what chemicals they ingested living next door to that long-lasting leak. A deposition made public this week provides residents with new information about the level of cancer-causing benzene emitted from the ruptured gas well. Keep in mind, that leak went on for four months. The documents came out as part of a massive, 48,000-plaintiff litigation against SoCal Gas. In public statements, SoCal Gas had said only "trace levels" of benzene came from the gas field during the blowout. However, it was unclear to neighbors what that meant. In a deposition taken by plaintiff's attorneys, a SoCal Gas engineer said that level was 1 to 9 parts per million. Why does that matter? Well, the state's threshold for exposure to benzene is far smaller, just one part per billion. Thousands of residents have reported being sickened by the gas that released during the blowout. They reported symptoms like headaches, nose bleeds, rashes and more serious ailments. So evidence of higher levels of benzene validate their suspicions that more than just methane was emerging from the SoCal Gas well. "They have to get up there and they have to tell the truth," said Andrew Krowne, one of the plaintiffs suing the utility. He said he welcomes the new information and the way attorneys are pressing SoCal Gas employees for details. "The truth is, this is some nasty stuff and everybody was exposed to it," Krowne said. So what does SoCal Gas say about the revelation? Company spokeswoman Christine Detz says benzene gets diluted when the gas is released into the air. So she says it is inaccurate to portray the levels as excessive or harmful. Ok, that's the latest. Let's look at the impact that leak has had on wider gas supplies. THE REGION'S GAS SUPPLY, AT A GLANCE 17 electrical power generators in the Los Angeles Basin are facing a constricted supply of gas coming from out-of-state. Several SoCal Gas pipelines located north and east of the L.A. Basin are damaged and out of service. The main place that SoCal Gas stores its supply -- the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility in the Santa Susana foothills north of Porter Ranch -- is in limited operation following the disastrous 2015 gas leak and subsequent overhaul of its wells. SUMMER IN THE CITY (AND COUNTY) It's summer, when gas usage across L.A. tends to be low. But utilities that burn gas to produce electricity are still warning us to conserve power. That's because even though households tend to use less gas during summer, they use more electricity for air conditioning. When it's hot, electric power generators that burn natural gas use more to meet the demand of all those air conditioners staying on day and night. JUST GIVE ME THE NUMBERS With all the factors listed above, the bottom line is this: The daily gas supply being piped into the L.A. Basin this summer will be only about 2.7 to 3.3 billion cubic feet (depending on which pipelines remain out of service). The region's daily maximum gas demand during a hot spell is about 3.5 billion cubic feet. SO THERE'S A GAP Yes. And a shortfall is possible if gas is not available in storage to make up the gap. LIGHTS OUT During such times, state law allows SoCal Gas to shut off or reduce supplies to big power plants and other large gas customers. That would increase the chance of a power outage. OK, SO WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT IT? An aerial view of Aliso Canyon in 2015. (Maya Sugarman / KPCC) An immediate tactic that experts say could reduce the chance of a shortage is to increase the volume of gas stored underground at the Aliso Canyon Gas Storage Facility near Porter Ranch. And that's what the Energy Division of the California Public Utilities Commission recommended on Monday. The recommendation calls for giving SoCal Gas permission to store to 34 billion cubic feet at the Aliso Canyon facility. That's an increase from the current 26.4 billion cubic feet. HOW DOES THAT HELP REDUCE THE CHANCE OF SHORTAGES? The idea is to have enough gas stored underground to meet the region's peak gas demand on a streak of days that have extreme heat this summer without having to shut down gas-fired power plants. The situation could be worse during a cold streak this winter, when a gas shortage could mean homes and businesses are without enough for heat and cooking. More on that in a minute. WHY INCREASING THE STORAGE IS SO CONTROVERSIAL It's controversial because Aliso Canyon is where a gas well ruptured in late 2015, causing the nation's largest-ever uncontrolled release of natural gas. About 8,000 Porter Ranch households were evacuated outside the area while the leak was active. Some residents attribute ongoing illnesses to the incident. Porter Ranch resident Michelle Theriault takes part in a press conference in 2015. (Maya Sugarman / KPCC) SoCal Gas has been pushing to increase the amount of gas it can store ever since it re-opened the gas field for operations in July 2017. At that time, the California agency that regulates gas wells -- the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (aka DOGGR) -- said the gas field had been overhauled and could safely hold up to 68.6 billion cubic feet. But they were overruled by the CPUC, which regulates investor owned utilities. CPUC has held the field to 26.4 billion cubic feet while a study of the root cause of the gas well rupture is being done, and while another broader inquiry requested by the Legislature looks at whether gas storage operations at Aliso Canyon should be minimized or ended. HAVEN'T WE BEEN DOING A LOT TO CONSERVE GAS SINCE THAT DISASTER? Yes. These things: Big gas users, including the 17 gas-fired power plants serving the L.A. Basin have had to be far more careful to use only what they order in advance. Power utilities have pushed more conservation messages to their customers. The L.A. Department of Water and Power committed to buying more of its power outside the region during times when the local gas supply might be stressed. Other power utilities are also importing electricity. That costs more, and those costs may be passed along to customers, said attorney Norman Pedersen, who represents an industry group comprised of local power producers. Also, big utilities are doing more to increase the amount of power they can store. The California Public Utilities Commission ordered them to accelerate their research and acquisition of energy storage, for example, using huge batteries. There's also been a recommendation from a joint panel of state energy experts -- including the California Energy Commission, California Independent System Operator and CPUC -- that SoCal Gas consider importing liquefied natural gas from Mexico into the L.A. region. SO THAT TAKES CARE OF SUMMER. WHAT ABOUT WINTER? Early summer is prime time for SoCal Gas to refill its storage fields, including the big one at Aliso Canyon, because gas costs less. If the pipeline system is constricted due to outages, more is needed to fill daily needs and less remains to be put into storage. The Energy Division staff of the CPUC forecasts that the amount of gas that can be put into storage under the current limits would not be sufficient to meet the highest demand that is likely to come in an average winter, and "it would be woefully inadequate for a cold winter." The coldest days between November and March bring the highest demand for gas. Those cold days could require as much as 4.9 billion cubic feet of gas, which would leave the system short by up to 1.5 billion cubic feet. That extreme scenario assumes SoCal Gas would deliver what's in its pipeline and three smaller gas fields, but not withdrawing from Aliso Canyon. Similar warnings came in advance of the 2017-18 winter, but it turned out to be exceptionally warm, so very little gas was withdrawn from the Aliso storage field until a cold snap that came in February. During that period, though, gas supplies were scarce enough that it required power utilities to reduce what they used between Feb. 20 and. March 6. UPDATES: Oct. 16, 6:30 p.m.: This article was updated with information about the firefighters suing. August 7, 3:15 p.m.: This article updated with information about the cost of the disaster reaching $1 billion. July 12, 5:15 p.m.: This article was updated with information about levels of benzene in the gas leak. This article was originally published on June 20. This story is part of Elemental: Covering Sustainability, a multimedia collaboration between Cronkite News, Arizona PBS, KJZZ, KPCC, Rocky Mountain PBS and PBS SoCal. News happens every day. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you and the community you live in. Now that we're part of KPCC, those stories (including this one you're on right now!) are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now. The alleged head of an operation to transport nearly 250,000 worth of cocaine in a taxi must remain in custody, a High Court judge ruled today. Michael Anwyl, 31, was refused bail amid claims he had directed two other men who were in the car stopped near Nutts Corner, Co Antrim. Police carrying out surveillance discovered four kilos of the drug inside the vehicle on November 30 last year. Two co-accused travelling in the taxi were arrested at the scene. Anwyl, of Irwin Avenue in Limavady, Co Derry, was not with them at the time, but prosecutors claim he played a central role in the plot. Crown lawyer Conor Maguire told the court: "Police say this applicant is the head of this operation. "He was conducting the operation and if released he would carry on his drug-dealing activities." The consignment of cocaine seized has an estimated street value of between 160,000 to 240,000. Anwyl faces charges of possessing Class A drugs, and conspiring with the other two men to supply the cocaine. Bail was also opposed amid claims he could interfere with witnesses in the case. The prosecution contended that he could attempt to put pressure on his co-accused, who have already given accounts to police. Denying bail, Mr Justice Maguire pointed out that the other defendants have named Anwyl as being "the main man, the person in charge of the distribution of the cocaine in question". He also cited the potential damage illicit drugs can inflict on the community. Northern Irelands juvenile justice centre (JJC) is the envy of its neighbours in England and Wales, inspectors said. Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland praised effective management with a significant childcare ethos at the Woodlands facility in Bangor, Co Down, as well as considerable improvement over the last decade. But it expressed concern at the high proportion of Catholic boys inside and said it was still being used when no alternative accommodation was available for children with complex needs and challenging behaviour. It is a facility which has made steady progress despite funding and staffing reductions which have occurredBrendan McGuigan The watchdog said that represented inappropriate use of premises which costs around 8 million per year. Chief inspector of Criminal Justice Brendan McGuigan said: The JJC is without doubt, the jewel in the crown for the Youth Justice Agency (YJA) and Department of Justice (DoJ) and is a centre which is the envy of neighbouring jurisdictions. It is a facility which has made steady progress despite funding and staffing reductions which have occurred. Expand Close A motor work shop at Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A motor work shop at Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre (Niall Carson/PA) Many of the children aged up to 18 have suffered trauma and some may have special needs or mental health difficulties. Others have self-harmed or attempted to take their own lives. Some have not been to school for years and many had no father-figure to look up to. Spending cuts at Woodlands have focused on areas like improving staffing arrangements and avoided reducing frontline staff, Youth Justice Agency chief executive Declan McGeown said. Resources have been directed towards improved health and education provision as well as earlier intervention before custody becomes an inevitability for young people, he added. Expand Close Director Brian Ingram (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Director Brian Ingram (Niall Carson/PA) With the development of early intervention and diversionary programmes, fewer children are entering the criminal justice system. Only 15 were present when inspectors visited and the average is in the mid-20s. Mr McGuigan added: But for those young people who are required to be detained in a secure setting, the JJC provides an effective means of keeping them safe while delivering a progressive, child-centred regime. The inspection said the majority at the JJC were 16 to 17-year-old Catholic boys, many admitted multiple times. Mr McGuigan said: While the JJC does not have control over the children who are sent there, it was concerning that 76% of children admitted to the centre in 2016-17 were from a Catholic background an increase of 19% compared to the figures in 2013-14. Mr McGeown said it was hard to pinpoint why that was the case. Expand Close A cell at the centre (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A cell at the centre (Niall Carson/PA) We are in receiving mode but when we get them they are treated fairly and equitably. The chief inspector also expressed concern at the rise in the number of children admitted on a short-term basis, despite the issue being raised by his staff before. Yet this inspection found the JJC was still being used in this way. This situation must be addressed, particularly as 50% of children admitted to custody under Police And Criminal Evidence (PACE) proceedings were released within 24 hours. Woodlands is designated by law as a place of safety for young people, and its officials said it was better than leaving a child in a police custody cell all weekend. Inspectors recommended that civil servants across departments should should work together to create closer alignment between the JJC and the neighbouring Lakewood Secure Care Centre for children. Mr McGuigan added greater alignment could lead to further improvements in the care provided to the children and create an opportunity to share costs and secure better value for money as there are significant similarities between the two facilities in population, staffing levels and high costs. He said management had introduced arrangements for effective healthcare since it was unable to transfer provision to a trust, resulting in considerable improvement but did not offer a long-term solution. A Northern Ireland woman whose seven-year-old son was taken into care at birth has won a High Court battle over his proposed adoption. A judge rejected claims that she was unreasonably withholding consent to the long-term parenting plans. Sir Reg Weir acknowledged the love and security the boy has received from his foster family. But he stressed the strict legal test for the compulsory severing of a relationship between parent and child. "Only in exceptional circumstances and where motivated by an overriding requirement pertaining to the child's welfare - in short, where nothing else will do," he said. A newly published judgment set out how all five of the woman's children have been placed in foster care. She cannot be named to protect their identities. Allegations of substance misuse and social workers finding older siblings in bed wearing their school uniforms in an unkempt house were cited. Complaints were also made that the woman used underage babysitters and allowed young people to drink in her home - claims she denied. In July 2010 another child, then aged two, was brought to hospital with an unexplained limp, where x-rays showed a healing fracture. Investigations revealed that child, referred to as AL, had been left with a minder earlier that month while the woman went on holiday to Donegal with her other children. The childminder said she had noticed AL limping but was unable to contact the mother because her mobile phone could apparently receive no calls. She claimed not to know the mother very well, and to have been paid 100 to keep her child for a week. A year later the boy at the centre of the case was born and immediately made the subject of an interim care order. He has been looked after by foster parents who have provided an "excellent" home for him ever since, the court heard. The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust was seeking an order dispensing with the mother's consent to the proposed adoption. Proceedings were issued on the basis that her agreement was being unreasonable withheld. The mother accepted withholding consent, but denied it was unreasonable. She has given her backing to the placement and confirmed she has no intention of seeking to disrupt those arrangements. "I am confident that the foster carers will continue to appropriately love and care for the child and all the other children in their care, irrespective of their legal status," she stated. "The child is thriving and I am happy for this to remain the case." With the parties agreed that the boy should permanently remain with the foster family, Sir Reg had to determined the proper legal status - long-term fostering or adoption. In his ruling he pointed to a psychologist's report which recognised changes in the mother, including developed empathy for her children and admissions to mistakes for which she apologised. Emphasising the consent that the boy should remain with his foster family, the judge also noted the mother's love for her child has never been in question. "How can it be said that nothing else but freeing for adoption will do?" he asked. "How can it be said after all her work and progress, that having been denied any opportunity to demonstrate her ability to parent the child, that the withholding of her consent to the child's adoption was unreasonable?" Refusing the application, Sir Reg concluded: "In my view the Trust has entirely failed to discharge the high legal standard required of it before 'unreasonableness' could be found." The PSNI have launched an investigation after a pair of protected birds died after being poisoned in Co Down. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) NI and the PSNI have appealed for information after the pair of protected red kites died. A male bird was found in distress close to a known nest site in the Katesbridge area on April 24. A member of the public alerted RSPB NI but the bird died shortly afterwards. When the RSPB NI red kite project officer attended the scene, she found the female parent bird immobile on the nest she too was dead. A rescue mission was launched in an attempt to save three orphaned eggs found in the nest beneath the deceased mother. The bodies of the parent birds were collected and taken for toxicology testing by the PSNI. This has now revealed that both birds known as Blue 21 and Red 63 because of their identifying tags - died from Carbofuran poisoning. Red kites, along with all birds of prey, are protected in Northern Ireland under the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, as amended by the Wildlife and Natural Environment (NI) Act 2011. Carbofuran is a highly toxic pesticide which has been banned across the EU since 2001 due to its high toxicity towards wildlife and humans. Red kites mostly hunt within 2.5km of their nest site. The male bird brings food for the incubating female bird, so it is possible that the male bird found a poisoned bait such as a rabbit and likely brought this back to the nest to feed the female bird. The dead males first partner (Blue 13) also died by poisoning in 2014 in the same area. Under licence from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), the rescue operation ensured that the three eggs were fostered into two wild red kite nests, alongside other eggs, in the hope of saving them. In one of the nests two transferred eggs failed as they were found intact (unhatched) during a follow-up inspection. In the other nest - which hosted one adoptive egg alongside two other eggs - one chick was found on the nest. As there were no egg shell remains its unknown if the sole chick on this nest was from the donor egg. A nestcam was installed by RSPB NI to monitor this chick which was named Solo by RSPB NI red kite volunteers. This is the first time staff have been able to monitor behaviour and development as well as share the red kites early life with the public and schools participating in the RKites project, a funded red kite education and engagement project. A live stream on the nest is available to view at www.rspb.org.uk/niredkites Red kites were persecuted to extinction across the island of Ireland 200 years ago. A decade ago this summer, in 2008, the RSPB - along with project partners the Golden Eagle Trust and Welsh Kite Trust - began a reintroduction project that has been successful in encouraging the birds to breed here. Like all birds of prey in Northern Ireland, red kites are specially protected as a Schedule 1 species under The Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 (as amended). As a Schedule 1 bird, red kites are protected by special penalty and their nests are also provided with protection all year under Schedule A1. Those found guilty of persecution could be given a custodial sentence and/or fines of up to 5,000 per offence. Mark Thomas, Senior Investigations Officer at the RSPB, said: Carbofuran has a history of being used to kill birds of prey. Like all birds of prey, red kites are protected by law. There have been ten confirmed red kite persecution incidents recorded in this area in the last decade. This is not acceptable. We urge anyone with information about this incident to contact the police immediately on 101. Anyone with information can contact police on the non-emergency number 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. quoting reference number 802 of 24/4/18. The family of a young Co Tyrone man killed at an Army checkpoint in 1988 have welcomed a decision to prosecute a former soldier over his death. Aidan McAnespie (23) was shot as he made his way to the local GAA club in Aughnacloy in February of that year. Read More The Catholic, who it was claimed at the time had been the target of an ongoing campaign of harassment by soldiers, had just passed through a permanent vehicle checkpoint in the border town when he was struck by one of three shots fired from a machine gun. In the aftermath Grenadier Guard David Jonathan Holden (18) was charged with Mr McAnespie's manslaughter. He insisted he had accidentally fired his gun because his fingers were wet. The prosecution was later dropped and Holden was fined for negligent discharge of his weapon and medically discharged from the Army. The decision to halt proceedings was made based on the available evidence at the time, according to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS). Now the PPS has revealed that following a two-year review into its original decision - undertaken at the request of Northern Ireland Attorney General John Larkin in 2016 - Holden is to be charged with manslaughter by gross negligence. The development was hailed as a positive step forward towards achieving "truth and justice" by Mr Anespie's relatives at a Press conference yesterday at the office of KRW Law in Belfast. Expand Expand Previous Next Close The funeral of Aidan McAnespie passes through the checkpoint where he was shot in 1988 (Left to right) Aidan McAnespies aunt Margaret, Paul OConnor of the Pat Finucane Centre and niece Una McCabe after the British Government expressed deep regret over the death (Niall Carson/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The funeral of Aidan McAnespie passes through the checkpoint where he was shot in 1988 Brian Gormley, Mr Anespie's cousin, spoke on behalf of the family, while Mr Anespie's father John was supported by his daughter Margo and son Vincent, who described his late brother as an "ordinary lad who wanted to go about his ordinary everyday life", as their solicitor Darragh Mackin looked on. "We are glad that the soldier involved in the shooting of Aidan McAnespie is going to face justice in a court of law where further issues are going to be explored, so we welcome this decision," said Mr Gormley. Praising Mr McAnespie's late sister Eilis for bringing the case to the attention of the Historical Enquiries Team (HET), which carried out a review into the shooting a decade ago, Mr Gormley said it was thanks to her efforts as well as those of others that the shooting had not been "consigned to a dustbin". The HET probe concluded that the version of events given by the soldier was the "least likely" explanation of what happened that day "All those people played a part in this campaign in making sure that the truth hasn't been covered over," he said. "That the opportunity to (get) the truth about what happened is very much alive and we as a family are very much committed to actually getting to the bottom of what happened that day. "This is one further step." Expand Close Scene at Aughnacloy border where Aidan McAnespie was shot. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scene at Aughnacloy border where Aidan McAnespie was shot. The family also reiterated claims that Mr McAnespie had been the victim of ongoing abuse and harassment by members of the security forces in the lead-up to his death, something which his mother Elizabeth, who is now deceased, had tried to prevent. Mr Mackin also dismissed ongoing calls from some MPs that soldiers should be protected from future prosecutions. "The reality is that statute of limitations for soldiers is legally flawed and morally bankrupt," said the solicitor. "There can never be an acceptable situation were anybody is above the law." In a statement the PPS said the decision to prosecute Holden, who is now 48 and understood to be living in England, was taken after all available evidence had been carefully reviewed. "That evidence includes further expert evidence in relation to the circumstances in which the general purpose machine gun was discharged, thereby resulting in the ricochet shot which killed Mr McAnespie," it explained. The accused's first court appearance is expected to take place within the next three months. DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds has accused Sinn Fein of boycotting the Northern Ireland Executive, Assembly and the House of Commons. Mr Dodds said that the party were "failing their constituents". Read More He was speaking from Westminster ahead of a meeting between the Sinn Fein leadership and Prime Minister Theresa May. Party representatives including Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill will meet the PM to discuss a wide range of issues including restoring power-sharing, Brexit and conflict legacy issues. Mr Dodd's said that the party's abstentionist policy in Westminster and "boycott" of Stormont had left them as nothing more than a "glorified lobbyist". They sit on the outside as spectators dependant on others to get decisions made," the North Belfast MP said. "Meanwhile DUP MPs will be in the House of Commons using our votes to deliver more money for hospitals and schools and ensure we get the best deal for Northern Ireland as we exit the EU. "Rather than enter Stormont with nothing but their mandate, Sinn Fein would rather ask the Prime Minister and the Irish Government to organise a conference where no decisions can be taken. Its a talking shop. Northern Ireland people whether Catholic, Protestant, nationalist or unionist have witnessed enough talking. They want to see decisions made. A British Irish Imter-governmental Conference cannot deliver the outcomes people want." Mr Dodds called on Sinn Fein to return to Stormont to allow Northern Ireland to move forward. "The DUP has a proud record of delivery by securing an additional 1billion for everyone in Northern Ireland. That package is already helping our roads, hospitals, mental health services and schools," the DUP deputy leader said. Expand Close Gerry Adams with party colleagues Michelle ONeill, Mary Lou McDonald and Elisha McCallion outside Downing Street earlier this year PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gerry Adams with party colleagues Michelle ONeill, Mary Lou McDonald and Elisha McCallion outside Downing Street earlier this year "Sinn Feins blame game may seem attractive inside their organisation but to the people who need Ministers to make decisions in Northern Ireland their tactics are becoming exposed. "Its time for Sinn Fein to end their triple boycott. Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy responded to Mr Dodds' comments and said that the party wanted partners in Government who are committed to power-sharing, rights and respect. "Nigel Dodds shouldnt be surprised that Sinn Fein will challenge political opponents on their denial of rights to citizens in the North," the Newry and Armagh MLA said. "We will continue to do so because it is this denial which is preventing the restoration of a power-sharing executive and assembly in the North. "We need partners who will legislate for all and who are committed to genuine power sharing and embrace rights and respect. "Regrettably, the DUP remain more interested in facilitating the Tory Brexit than protecting the rights and livelihoods of people in the North." Emergency services at the scene outside the Palace of Westminster (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Police officers who confronted terrorists during the attacks at Westminster and London Bridge last year have been nominated for bravery awards. Those put forward for recognition at the annual Police Federation ceremony next month include Pc Keith Palmer, who lost his life during the Westminster terror attack when he was stabbed while on duty near the Houses of Parliament. During the London Bridge atrocity, when three attackers ploughed a van into pedestrians before stabbing people at Borough Market, fellow Metropolitan Police officer Pc Charlie Guenigault entered the fray while walking home. He had gone out with friends after his shift, and despite being unarmed, he ran towards the terrorists and was stabbed in the head, back and stomach. A group of officers from City of London Police are also nominated for giving first aid to victims as the event unfolded. Chairman of the Police Federation Calum Macleod said: "This year's awards are especially poignant as we reflect on two of the terrorist attacks which our country has suffered in the past year. "Hundreds of officers from the Metropolitan and City of London forces ran towards the unknown dangers they presented. "Several of them are included in our nominees, and Pc Keith Palmer - who is of course also nominated - tragically paid the ultimate price while protecting others." Other nominees confronted suspects armed with swords, axes or guns. A 34-year-old man has appeared in court charged with possession of explosives and assault rifles in Northern Ireland. Brian John Carron is also accused of having mobile phones and vehicles for use in terrorism between May 2010 and April 2011. He was detained in the Coalisland area of Co Tyrone on Tuesday morning. The arrest relates to the seizure of ammunition and weapons at a garage in the Mountjoy Road area of the town in 2011. Carron, from Colliers Lane in Coalisland, appeared in the dock at Dungannon Magistrates Court flanked by prison officers. There was a police presence in the courthouse and a handful of his supporters were in the courtroom. He was charged with possession of two mobile phones and four vehicles for use in terrorism. He was also accused of possession of explosives with the intent to endanger life. The charge said he had unlawfully and maliciously in his possession Semtex explosive, rocket propellant, eight detonators, home grenade initiators, glucose powder, component parts of an improvised rocket system, power units and improvised incendiary devices. The court was also told he was accused of possession of four AKM assault rifles, six loaded magazines and ammunition with intent to endanger life or damage property. A detective inspector said he could connect the accused to the charges, which all relate to 2010 and 2011. Carrons lawyer, Peter Corrigan from KRW Law, said DNA evidence in the case against his client was taken in 2011. The court was told the DNA was sent to testing laboratories in the UK but a connection to the offences was not established at that time. It went for further testing in the US in 2016. Following questioning from the solicitor, the detective confirmed that as a result of forensic advances a connection was made in April 2017. Mr Corrigan asked why, when the case was established last year, the defendant was not questioned about it until this week. He said he would make a bail application in a weeks time and the detective said that would be opposed. District Judge John Meehan remanded the accused in custody. As he was led away he was applauded by friends and family in the public gallery. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Scene of a 2015 police shooting in Los Feliz. (Photo by Brian Frank / KPCC ) UPDATED Sept. 30 After each police shooting, investigators flood the scene. They knock, door-by-door, hunting for witnesses. They mark each bullet's cavity and carefully estimate the flightpath. They collect and bag, swab and seal. They sit face-to-face with the officers involved and question them about the moment the situation turned deadly. Hundreds of pages of information can be amassed -- and immediately shut away from public view. I've spent most every working day for nearly three years reporting on police shootings and civil rights abuse claims in Southern California. I've found much of the information about officer conduct is often kept secret under California law, making it difficult to hold our law enforcement and elected officials accountable. But that is changing. On Aug. 31, the state legislature approved SB 1421, a bill that would open up some police records. Gov. Brown, who had until the end of September to act, signed the legislation into law on Sept. 30. It's considered a significant victory by advocates of more transparency and it marks a major change for a state that until now had been one of the most secretive in the nation when it came to police behavior. HOW WE GOT HERE It wasn't always like this in California. Coroner's inquests, sometimes televised, were once routine in L.A. County, offering the public direct access to the accounts of the officers involved in a fatal shooting as well as witnesses and evidence, according to the L.A. Times, which reported the last inquest in L.A. was held in 1981. Since then, access to information about police conduct of all kinds - from shootings to internal findings of misconduct -- has become shielded from public view. Denial sent by L.A. County Sheriff's Department after I requested information about the deputy shooting of Tennell Billups. These restrictions can make it difficult for families of individuals killed by law enforcement to learn what happened to their loved one. Take Katherine Wann, a mother in Yucaipa, who dialed 9-1-1 when her 23-year-old son, Ted Wann, began acting strangely. "He was on drugs," she said. "I needed help." It was late summer 2012, and Ted had been struggling with heroin addiction. When the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department arrived, Ted hid in nearby shed made from a shipping container. The next thing Wann remembers was law enforcement stringing up yellow police tape. Her son was dead. The description of events she got from officials left her unsatisfied. "I was so mad I called the district attorney," Wann said. "I said: 'I can't get any answers from anybody.'" According to a record from the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office, Deputy Marc Beitler found Ted hiding between piles of hay. The deputy shouted commands and a struggle ensued. The officer punched Ted and struck him with his steel baton. According to the report, Ted picked up a shovel, pointing toward the officer. The officer feared Ted would strike him, the D.A. report stated, and fired five bullets into the young man's body: his neck, shoulder, chest, top of the head and hand. "They can have it all, but you can't have any. That's wrong." Wann wanted answers about her son's death, but felt the department was more interested in protecting itself than figuring out what went wrong. Her son's shooting went under investigation, she said, and the department wouldn't let her see the police report. "They can have it all, but you can't have any," she said. "That's wrong." So she decided to file a civil lawsuit. She and her husband were middle class, a homemaker and a heavy equipment operator. They tapped their savings to get the case through discovery, in which records from the sheriff's investigation into the shooting can be drawn out and officers questioned about what happened. She gathered the courage to attend the deposition of the officer to "look him in the eye." "I was on a mission," Wann said. WHY UNCOVER POLICE SHOOTING TRENDS? Uncovering the information about police conduct is not simply about trying to expose officer wrongdoing. It's can just as easily illuminate the dangers officers face and give insight to help protect them as well as civilians. Our investigative efforts into police shootings began in 2015, not long after the police killing of Michael Brown lit a firestorm of protests. I joined a team of reporters who worked phones and pounded pavement to cover police shootings across Southern California: the death of an unarmed, mentally-ill man named Ezell Ford in South Los Angeles, 14-year-old Jesse Romero in Boyle Heights, the unarmed, homeless man Charly Keunang who was killed on Skid Row, and others. But lack of public information made it difficult to inform the public about police shooting patterns on a larger scale - insights that could point to potential systemic flaws and policy improvements. An excerpt from a records denial to KPCC from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. To get answers, we turned to the few records we could get our hands on: slim letters from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office from January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2014. We found: Of the 375 people shot by law enforcement across the county, a quarter of the people were unarmed. Medical examiner records showed officers fatally shot black people at triple the rate of whites and Latinos, relative to population. At least 41 people shot showed signs of mental illness. SPOTTING TRENDS CAN LEAD TO CHANGE One trend we noticed was deputies at sheriff's departments in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties shooting into moving cars. Shooting into a moving vehicle is inherently dangerous: the car could spin out of control and injure bystanders. If car was approaching them, experts concluded, officers would be better off moving out of the way. In fact, the LAPD had changed its policy to restrict shooting at moving cars after officers shot and killed a 13-year-old unarmed black boy, Devin Brown, in 2005. According The L.A. Times, the boy was backing a stolen Toyota Camry toward a police car and was shot by an officer seven times. Despite public outcry, the practice continued in nearby jurisdictions. In Los Angeles and San Bernardino, deputies were shooting unarmed motorists, according to district attorney records. Officers often said they feared the car would run them over and fired to stop the threat. In 2015, a San Bernardino sheriff's deputy in a helicopter shot a barrage of bullets into a car fleeing law enforcement on the 215 freeway. The car ultimately collided with a nearby vehicle - with family inside. Jose Villegas, the father of the family, told me the entire family suffered injuries. The risks, he said, should have been clear to law enforcement. "They need to change," Villegas said. "Change the tactic." The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said the officer opened fire from the helicopter to protect drivers on the freeway since the car was heading against traffic at high speed. "The deputies needed to protect the public and prevent injuries," department spokeswoman Deputy Olivia Bozek told The San Bernardino Sun following the incident. What happens when information is held up to public scrutiny? After our story about Los Angeles County aired, Sheriff Jim McDonnell thanked us for pointing it out. "It's certainly something I want to take a much closer look at,"McDonnell told KPCC's AirTalk in 2016. "There's universal agreement that it is not particularly effective." His department's policy has since changed, essentially banning shooting into moving vehicles unless another deadly weapon is present. WHY THEY FIGHT TO SHIELD POLICE RECORDS Ron Hernandez, president of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, a union, explained to me that closed police records ensure due process for officers accused of misconduct. Law enforcement groups argue these protections safeguard an officer's privacy and prevent a so-called "trial by media," in which unproven claims can taint an officer's reputation - or, they say, put officer safety at risk. "Nobody in law enforcement wants to hide some guy that is a bad cop," Hernandez told me earlier this year, adding that records can be drawn out in court while keeping away "witch hunts." In many other states, much more information is made available to the public about an officer's conduct, calling into question whether concerns about officer safety are overblown. Many of these states have measures in place to protect privacy and due process, making records involving unsubstantiated complaints or active investigations confidential, according analysis of state law done by our colleagues at WNYC. WNYC found 12 states generally allow police disciplinary records to be open public, including Alabama and Florida. Another 15 states allow for police disciplinary records to be available in some situations. California, home to more than 75,000 officers, wasn't among any of them. WHAT SB 1421 WILL DO Gov. Brown signed SB 1421 into law on Sept. 30, a few weeks after it passed the legislature. The legislation opens up records involving officer shootings, as well as incidents in which an officer's use of force resulted in death or in great bodily injury. The measure also requires the disclosure of records when a law enforcement or oversight agency has officially determined that an officer was guilty of dishonesty or had engaged "in sexual assault involving a member of the public." An agency can withhold information if it determines that "the public interest served by not disclosing the information clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure." If an incident sparked a criminal investigation, an agency could further delay disclosure if it determines that it "could reasonably be expected to interfere with" a future prosecution. Under previous law, California was one of the most "secretive states in the nation" when it comes to officer misconduct and uses of force, according to an analysis of the bill. It's a level of confidentiality that did not exist for other types of public employees nor for other professions that can affect life or liberty, such as doctors and lawyers. When it comes down to it, opening up information introduces unknown liability for law enforcement agencies, exposing them to costly lawsuits, putting the careers of officers found of misconduct on the line and embarrassing elected leaders. But it's the same information that can lead to change. "RELEASE EVERYTHING" Katherine Wann holds a photo of her son. (Photo by Frank Perez / For KPCC ) Wann, the mother in Yucaipa, eventually settled the case she brought against San Bernardino County for her son's death. She'd signed a protective order earlier in the lawsuit - common in such cases - promising not to make public records about the officer, including past training and conduct. Her attorney, Jorge Gonzalez, told me attorneys for law enforcement often try to expand the protective order to any document about the shooting, stamping "confidential" on sheet after sheet. "They do not want the public to know what really goes on," Gonzalez said. "It's at odds with what people see as justice." "If you believe in transparency, release everything: the good and the bad," he said. Eventually, Wann had learned enough to satisfy her curiosity. It brought a semblance of closure. They settled for $600,000, and the officer's deposition remains in the court file for the world to see. Wann came away with the belief that the officer could have made different choices after her son hid in the shed. What if officers had waited? Ted wasn't going anywhere, she thought. "It could have totally been prevented," Wann said. Katherine Wann's story was originally published as part of a reporting partnership between KPCC and The San Bernardino Sun. Beatriz Valenzuela contributed to that reporting. Reporting contributions from Aaron Mendelson and Frank Stoltze. UPDATES: Sept. 4: This article was updated to reflect the state legislature's approval of SB 1421. Sept. 30: This article was updated to include Gov. Brown signing SB 1421 into law. This article was originally published on June 20. Clarification: This article has been amended to note that the driver in the San Bernardino County helicopter shooting was driving against traffic at high speed. Investigative journalism matters. Here at LAist, we believe Angenelos deserve hard-hitting reporting that holds officials accountable and shines a needed light on our government and public institutions. Now that we're part of KPCC, those stories are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now. Vera Twomey at Westminster to call for a change in the UK law on medicinal cannabis (PA Wire) An Irish mother of an eight-year-old girl with drug resistance epilepsy has thrown her weight behind the fight for medical cannabis to be legalised in the UK. Vera Twomeys daughter Ava Barry is one of only seven people in the Irish Republic to be granted a licence to be prescribed cannabis oil, but she now wants all those suffering chronic conditions to have access to it. Ms Twomey, from the village of Aghabullogue in Co Cork, says the issue is bigger than borders after she was invited to address MPs in Westminster as the campaign to change the law in Britain gathers momentum. Expand Close Medical cannabis campaigner Vera Twomey travelled to Parliament in London to call for a change in the UK law (PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Medical cannabis campaigner Vera Twomey travelled to Parliament in London to call for a change in the UK law (PA) Earlier this week, Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced the UK Government would conduct a review of medical cannabis. It followed public outcry when a severely epileptic boy was admitted to hospital in a critical condition on Friday when his cannabis oil was confiscated at Heathrow. Billy Caldwell, 12, was rushed to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital having been free from seizures for almost a year when his mother Charlotte from Caslederg in County Tyrone began treating him with cannabis oil infused with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). While cannabis oil stripped of THC is widely available, THC-infused cannabis oil remains controversial because it is a psychoactive substance. Ms Twomey and her family lived in Holland for six months to gather clinical evidence on cannabis oil before the Irish Government would grant Ava a licence to use the medication, and she now wants people from Britain to have the same access to it that she has. Ms Twomey told the Press Association: Our daughter is now in a position where her seizures are completely under control, she is walking, shes speaking, shes going to school and the most important thing is shes free of pain and its huge a privilege to see her improve daily on medical cannabis. She added: This is not a national issue in any sense whether its Great Britain or Ireland. This is a global issue. Expand Close Vera Twomey speaks to Sinn Feins Michelle ONeil and Mary Lou McDonald at Westminster, (PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Vera Twomey speaks to Sinn Feins Michelle ONeil and Mary Lou McDonald at Westminster, (PA) There are thousands of people across the board in Ireland in chronic pain with things like cancer, epilepsy or multiple sclerosis that need this. So if there are thousands in Ireland there must be millions in Britain that should possibly have an option for this. She said she hoped the Irish Government could follow the example of the British Government as it plans a review of medical cannabis. Nobody is suggesting that medical cannabis will work for everybody but for certain people like my daughter who ran out of options, medical cannabis has saved her life, said Ms Twomey. She said she wanted medical cannabis to be one of the first options available to critically ill patients or those in chronic pain, not a last resort. Medical cannabis is one of the gentlest forms of medication my daughter is coherent, she has better appetite, better sleep, better balance and shes free of pain. Shes got a life and shes got a chance now, she said. When asked why there was such resistance to reform of the law, she said it was probably as much to do with pharmaceutical companies as politicians. Theres a lot of monetary value for people producing the pharmaceutical medications, she said. The problem with medical cannabis is that it works and thats probably a serious issue for pharmaceutical companies I think, because if medical cannabis can cure or ease your condition, well youre not going to need as many pharmaceutical medications. Ms Twomey said that before switching to medical cannabis, Ava had been on 15 different tablets a day including six anti-epileptic medications but was still suffering over 29 seizures a day. She said: The medication wasnt working, she was still having seizures, her brain was still being damaged but the pharmaceutical companies were obtaining the revenue from the tablets my daughter was taking. Now my medicine cupboard is almost empty and my daughter seizures are under control. Anybody in Great Britain that has a condition like Avas, they deserve that empty cupboard as well. They deserve the opportunity to have that life given back to them. Ms Twomey has been an active campaigner on the issue in Ireland for many years, and once set out to walk from Cork to Dublin to raise awareness of her daughters case. Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald said someone must be held to account for failures at Tusla (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Those responsible for damning failures within Irelands Child and Family Agency (Tusla) must be held accountable, Sinn Feins president has said. Mary Lou McDonald called for action as she clashed with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar following the publication of a report into Tusla by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). The HIQA report into how the agency manages allegations of child sexual abuse found it must take urgent action to address serious shortcomings. During leaders question in the Dail on Tuesday, Mr Varadkar said Children and Youth Affairs Minister Katherine Zappone will produce an action plan to address the issues raised. In order to change the culture in Tusla there first has to be accountabilityMary Lou McDonald But he did not directly address a question asked twice by Ms McDonald, that of whether anyone will be held accountable. Ms McDonald told Mr Varadkar that somebody must be held accountable for the damning failures at Tusla. We must also see accountability for the litany of failures contained in todays report. In order to change the culture in Tusla there first has to be accountability, she said. Mr Varadkar responded: While it (the report) does raise difficulties around recruiting social workers and retaining social workers, the report in black and white acknowledges there is abundant evidence of considerable financial investment by government and by the agency in staff recruitment. The minister is directed to produce an action plan as recommended by HIQA, setting out the steps to implement the recommendations together with clear time lines to do exactly this. She is also going to appoint an independent expert quality assurance and oversight group to drive and monitor implementation so that we know it happens. The group will publish regular updates on its work. The minister has also advised that in line with the HIQA report she is prioritising a number of major initiatives to reform the way between Tusla and the Garda deal with the start of allegations of child sex abuse, and to support Tuslas workforce needs by creating formal career path mechanisms for students and graduates. She will meet with the board of Tusla in the coming days. Mr Varadkar added: Its important to say that many of the actions needed to implement the reports findings were indeed already under way at the time the investigation started. The Taoiseach said that Tusla is set to get an extra 14 million this year, bringing its total funding up to 753 million. Sinn Feins Mary Lou McDonald outside the Palace of Westminster while in London where she is due to meet Prime Minister Theresa May for talks (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Sinn Fein leaders have accused the UK Government of playing a game of chicken over the question of the Irish border. Party president Mary Lou McDonald and vice-president Michelle ONeill were in London on Wednesday for a meeting with Theresa May on the key Brexit sticking point. Mrs McDonald said it is very clear that the Government is playing for time, running down the clock, and playing what we believe is a very, very dangerous game of brinkmanship. She said they heard nothing new from Mrs May in what she described as a frank meeting. Asked if there was anything positive to come out of the meeting, Mrs McDonald told reporters: No. We heard rhetoric which at this stage is well worn. Expand Close Sinn Feins Michelle ONeil and Mary Lou McDonald outside the Palace of Westminster (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sinn Feins Michelle ONeil and Mary Lou McDonald outside the Palace of Westminster (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Weve heard again the contradictory message of protecting Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement, no hardening of the border, but yet a determination to leave the single market and the customs union and to take the north with them. Mrs McDonald said everything they heard in the meeting adds to their worries, rather than relieving their concerns. The British now wish to leapfrog, set aside, disregard, the Irish question, to pursue their own interests in respect of a new relationship that they may wish to craft. That is very dangerous for Ireland. That is unacceptable, she said. Mrs McDonald said she expects Irish leaders and their EU partners will make that absolutely clear to Mrs May and the UK Government. Speaking earlier, Mrs McDonald said: We are here because Brexit poses a real and imminent danger to Irish interests both north and south. We are here because the British system so far has failed to come up with a credible proposal that would protect the Good Friday AgreementMary Lou McDonald, Sinn Fein president We are here because the British system so far has failed to come up with a credible proposal that would protect the Good Friday Agreement, that would prevent a hardening of the border and would protect citizens rights. Despite all of the rhetoric Theresa May has drawn a blank by way of response to those issues, so we believe that theres game playing, theres brinksmanship and that the Tory Government are playing a game of chicken with Brexit and with Ireland. We find that unacceptable, she said. Her comments come amid an ongoing impasse between the EU and UK on how to avoid a hard border post-Brexit. Both sides have agreed to include a so-called backstop option in the withdrawal treaty. The measure would commit the UK to align with an EU regulatory framework in the absence of a wider trade deal. But the shape of that fall-back remains a sticking point, with the EU dismissing the UK suggestion it should be a temporary arrangement, even if a broader agreement fails to materialise. Mrs McDonald reiterated Sinn Feins call for the Prime Minister to grant Northern Ireland special status, allowing it to remain in the customs union and the single market. Mrs McDonald added: The British Government know what the answer is. They know precisely what the answer is but theyre playing games and I think certainly patience has run out with that approach. Its dangerous, its reckless. During their visit to London the powersharing impasse was also on the agenda. The devolved executive led by Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists collapsed 18 months ago, leaving Northern Ireland effectively governed by the civil service. Both Mrs McDonald and Mrs ONeill blamed the stalemate between the Sinn Fein and the DUP on the Unionists coalition with the Tories since last summers general election. The DUP have gone into hiding they have a very toxic relationship under Theresa Mays wing, said Mrs McDonald. Mrs ONeill added: This political vacuum has been allowed because of this relationship and is all about trying to keep the Tories in power at the expense of government in the north of Ireland. Its not acceptable. The British Government need to step up and play their role as co-guarantors of our peace process. They need to step up and deliver rights that are available elsewhere to other citizens here whether that be marriage equality or language rights all things that are freely available across these islands but not to people in the north. We are being treated as this little backwater area where we cant get our rights and were being denied economic prosperity because of Brexit. Its just not a tolerable situation so thats the message we would bring loud and clear to Theresa May today. They (Sinn Fein) sit on the outside as spectators dependent on others to get decisions madeNigel Dodds, DUP deputy leader In a statement ahead of Wednesdays meeting, the DUP branded Sinn Fein glorified lobbyists because of their boycott of the executive, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the House of Commons. The DUPs deputy leader Nigel Dodds MP said: They sit on the outside as spectators dependent on others to get decisions made. Meanwhile, the DUP MPs will be in the House of Commons using our votes to deliver more money for hospitals and schools and ensure we get the best deal for Northern Ireland as we exit the EU. Sinn Feins blame game may seem attractive inside their organisation but to people who need ministers to make decisions in Northern Ireland their tactics are becoming exposed. Irelands premier has accused the UK of stalling progress in Brexit negotiations and warned of the consequences of not striking a deal on the border. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggested other countries will baulk at signing trade deals with the UK post-Brexit if Prime Minister Theresa May fails to honour commitments made to the EU on the Irish issue. Mr Varadkars comments came amid a stand-off over how to avoid a hard border on the island when the UK leaves the EU. Expand Close Traffic crossing the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (Brian Lawless/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Traffic crossing the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (Brian Lawless/PA) Both sides have agreed to include a so-called backstop option in the withdrawal treaty, which would commit the UK to align with an EU regulatory framework in the absence of a wider trade deal. But the shape of that fallback remains a sticking point, with the EU rejecting a UK contention that it should only be temporary, even if a broader agreement fails to materialise. Mr Varadkar urged the EU to continue to stand behind Ireland on the border issue. He made the remarks in Dublin ahead of a visit to the city by European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Thursday. How could anyone make a deal with a country that doesnt stand by its commitments?Leo Varadkar It is our view that we havent seen sufficient progress from the UK in the last couple of months, said the Taoiseach. We had a good political agreement in December. We had further progress in March where they accepted there had to be a backstop as part of the withdrawal agreement. But since then, quite frankly, progress has stalled, and what I want all of Europe to do is to continue to stand behind Ireland and say to the UK they have to honour the commitments they made. And you know the UK is a country thats talking about going global, talking about making trade deals all over the world. How could anyone make a deal with a country that doesnt stand by its commitments? Sebastian Trabucatti has been convicted over the death of Harrow pupil Archie Lloyd (PA) A club promoter has been spared jail despite being convicted of killing a public schoolboy with a single punch during a night out at a Greek resort. Harrow pupil Archie Lloyd was celebrating the end of his A-Level exams with friends in Malia when he was knocked to the ground on August 6 2015 by Sebastian Trabucatti. Three judges and four jurors took less than an hour to find the 25-year-old guilty of first degree manslaughter after a trial at the Court of First Instance in Heraklion on Tuesday. But after a short deliberation, judges decided he would be spared any immediate jail time and handed down a suspended four-year prison sentence. The range for the offence is normally five to 10 years, according to lawyers in the Crete capital. Expand Close Sebastian Trabucatti arrives at court in Heraklion, Crete (PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sebastian Trabucatti arrives at court in Heraklion, Crete (PA) Mr Lloyds parents James and Claire sat hand-in-hand as they waited for the verdict, supported by a large crowd of relatives, many of whom burst into tears as it was announced. They said later they were relieved his killer had finally been brought to justice. Trabucatti, of Haywards Heath, West Sussex, punched 18-year-old Mr Lloyd and pushed over his best friend Andy Hutchinson in the drunken row at 5am in the middle of a street off the towns main strip, the court heard. The group had exchanged insults which culminated in Mr Lloyd saying to Trabucatti one day you will work for me, before walking off. He was charged in 2015 and the year after a UK coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing at an inquest. In a statement released through their lawyers, Mr Lloyds family said: We have been waiting almost three years for the day when Archies attacker was brought to justice and we are relieved that this moment has finally come. Sebastian Trabucatti took our wonderful son, brother and friend away from us when he attacked him, shattering many lives as a result. While nothing will bring Archie back, we are pleased that he was found guilty of the first degree criminal offence of which he was accused. Dressed in a grey suit with a white shirt and a silver and blue striped tie, Trabucatti looked bewildered and cried during most of the proceedings as he sat hunched on a bench at the front of the court. It is the first time he has publicly answered questions about the incident, after refusing to attend the inquest. He ignored requests for a comment after the case ended. In court he denied being responsible for the death, claiming it was a slap and not a punch, and said: I never expected anything like this to ever happen. He and several other English witnesses gave evidence aided by an interpreter. Mr Lloyds father relayed the findings of the inquest as he answered questions on the stand, adding: The only person who saw how badly Archie was hurt was the defendant. The only person who saw the fall clearly was the defendant. Expand Close The court in Heraklion where the case was heard (PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The court in Heraklion where the case was heard (PA) Mr Lloyd, of Micheldever near Winchester, Hampshire, died on the penultimate day of his Interrail holiday after the assault occurred near the Cloud Nine nightclub where Trabucatti had worked. The month-long trip around Europe with four school friends came just after he turned 18 and finished his exams. Mr Hutchinson told how the group went to a club where they briefly met Trabucatti in a toilet and then to have a lap dance but he went outside to be sick and decided to leave. He told how Mr Lloyd caught up with him and they walked in the middle of the road to get a taxi when they clashed with Trabucatti, his girlfriend Faye Malcolm and another woman. They were all on quad bikes and were hooting at them to move out of the way on the narrow street. One moment of madness ended the life of a young man with so much potential and left his family distraughtFamily lawyer Kieran Mitchell Trabucatti pushed Mr Hutchinson to the ground and then punched Mr Lloyd in the face after telling the pair to apologise for shouting f*** off sluts, whores to the women. He also fell to the ground, hitting his head. Paramedics checked Mr Lloyd at the scene and gave him the all-clear before the group went back to a villa they had rented in nearby Sissi. Concerned he had not spoken since being hit and because he seemed drowsy, they got him into bed and tried to ring emergency services but could not get through. They woke a few hours later to find he had died. Pathologists determined he died after experiencing swelling on the brain and a haemorrhage. Mr Hutchinson said he did not see what happened after Mr Lloyds comment and afterwards heard a woman say you deserved that before seeing his friend lying on the ground. Wiping away tears, he told how Mr Lloyd was unresponsive for about 30 seconds before he squeezed his hand to indicate he was conscious, adding: He couldnt speak. A security guard was there, he indicated with his fist, the sign of a punch, so I assumed he had been punched. The familys lawyer, Kieran Mitchell of Slater and Gordon, said Mr Lloyd should have been on a harmless night out when his life was cut short He said: One moment of madness ended the life of a young man with so much potential and left his family distraught. It has been a long battle to get justice, but I am relieved that this has finally been achieved. Directly translated from Greek, Trabucattis charge is physical injury resulting in death. It is referred to as manslaughter in the first degree which involves the court establishing whether there was an intention to cause injury, but not kill, lawyers in Crete said. New technology that allows military commanders to communicate through a mobile phone app has been hailed a game changer by a senior British Army officer. The Dismounted Situational Awareness Tool has been tested, ahead of any potential wider pre-trials, by 1st The Queens Dragoon Guards (QDG), the Welsh Cavalry, based in Poland. Major Ben Parkyn, the officer commanding C Squadron of 1st The QDG, has been using the technology during their deployment as part of Natos Enhanced Forward Presence (ePF) and are the first in the British Army to do so. It is going to be a game changer, the 37-year-old from Shropshire told the Press Association. I think we will never get away from maps, and having to look people in the eye to understand intent, but the speed at which we can do that now is greatly enhanced. Expand Close The system has been temporarily tested by 1st The Queens Dragoon Guards during the Us-led Exercise Sabre Strike / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The system has been temporarily tested by 1st The Queens Dragoon Guards during the Us-led Exercise Sabre Strike Maj Parkyn said the Samsung mobile phones they have used are loaded with a series of programmes including the mission, intelligence and mapping app called Android Tactical Assault Kit (Atak). The device is mounted to each commander using a colour-appropriate contraption that flips down to reveal the screen as and when required. When the app and systems are fired up, it allows the user to share and post information, including their location, along with images, which can then be viewed by all those using it. If you see a minefield, or an IED, or a pocket of enemy, you can not only drop that on, you can take a photo of it, Maj Parkyn said. You could also then set a proximity alarm so if you get within 500 metres of something or a weapons range, or whatever it was, then it would ping on your system. The Americans we were testing with did not have the full-fat version, the better version and the updated kit, and they were looking at ours with envy - which, I can tell you, does not happen very oftenMajor Ben Parkyn Maj Parkyn said the technology has allowed the 1st QDG, which is a light cavalry regiment that specialises in reconnaissance, to be agile and light. The 1st QDG used the technology during the recent US-led Exercise Sabre Strike involving 18,000 troops and 19 countries across the region which ended last week. He described it as a long-awaited common system that has allowed the two countries to see each other, as well as providing the ability to send information and messages at speed, including to British Army headquarters. Maj Parkyn said: The Americans we were testing with did not have the full-fat version, the better version and the updated kit, and they were looking at ours with envy which, I can tell you, does not happen very often. Expand Close Major Ben Parkyn has said the Dismounted Situational Awareness Tool has speed up communication (Cpl Tom Evans/Crown copyright/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Major Ben Parkyn has said the Dismounted Situational Awareness Tool has speed up communication (Cpl Tom Evans/Crown copyright/PA) The Dismounted Situational Awareness Tool is a US government-produced piece of equipment, the Ministry of Defence said. UK testing comes under the Land Environment Tactical Communications Information System programme, which is leading a series of change projects to deliver modernised communications for deployments. Still in the development phase, Maj Parkyn said there have been tweaks to the system and that as new versions are released, they keep getting better. With soldiers using it encouraged to provide feedback, Maj Parkyn said this is taken into account as the next version is developed, making the soldiers feel bought into the project. He also highlighted how the younger personnel quickly got to grips with the technology, and made it their own. They were teaching the teachers within 24 hours they were sending overlays and mission packages and all sorts of clever wizardry stuff, Maj Parkyn added. A British Army spokesman confirmed 1st The QDG were equipped with the battlespace management application to allow improved communication between the US and UK. We are constantly testing and evaluating the latest cutting-edge equipment on the market and continue to work with our allies to assess innovative technology that will ensure our forces remain prepared for every eventuality in the field, he added. A photographic exhibition of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is to tour Scotland to raise awareness of their plight. Simon Murphys project is being supported by SCIAF and Justice and Peace Scotland and opened at St Andrews Cathedral in Glasgow on Wednesday, which is World Refugee Day. Almost 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Burma since last year amid reports of extreme violence and now live in poverty in giant refugee camps. Mr Murphy travelled to the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh in December to see SCIAFs work with Caritas Bangladesh. Expand Close The exhibition documenting life in the Kutubalong camp is touring Scotland (Simon Murphy/PA) simon murphy / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The exhibition documenting life in the Kutubalong camp is touring Scotland (Simon Murphy/PA) He said: The more attention that the plight of the Rohingya people receive can only be good as hopefully it might move all who see it to do what they can to help. Whenever I travel to places such as the Rohingya camp in Bangladesh I am filled with conflicting emotions. I feel deep sadness and helplessness for the people and the conditions that they have to live under. I feel guilt that I can return to the comfort of my home and family in Scotland but at the same time feel so grateful that my own children dont have to suffer like the hundreds of thousands of vulnerable young ones at the camp. Expand Close Nine-year-old Shahida in the reception centre for Rohingya refugees near Sabrang khai harbour (Simon Murphy/SCIAF) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Nine-year-old Shahida in the reception centre for Rohingya refugees near Sabrang khai harbour (Simon Murphy/SCIAF) I question my own role as a photographer and what difference can I really make? And then I reconfirm to myself what I know, that people can make a difference and that the images that I have made might strike a chord with someone, and even if they make a small difference, then that is something. I really hope that people can take a moment out of their busy schedules to visit the exhibition, and contemplate on how the suffering, the strength, the dignity and courage of others can transform our own outlooks and have a direct impact on how we lead our lives. The free exhibition will later visit Ayr, Dumfries and Edinburgh. Expand Close Shawkat Ara, 38, in the Kutubalong camp, Bangladesh (Simon Murphy/SCIAF) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Shawkat Ara, 38, in the Kutubalong camp, Bangladesh (Simon Murphy/SCIAF) SCIAF director Alistair Dutton said: Simon and I were in the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh together when he took these amazing photographs. He has an incredible ability to capture people with all their energy, emotion, hope and pain and these pictures powerfully reflect the men, women and children who saw unimaginable horrors as they fled their homes to escape the brutality of the army in the Myanmars Rakhine state along with more than 688,000 other Rohingya refugees. I encourage everyone to come and see his travelling exhibition. Simons pictures tell heartbreaking stories and give real insight into the nightmare the Rohingya people have been through. When you come face to face with his remarkable images it will be impossible not to be moved by them. Mr Johnson said various scenarios were being drawn up for Mr Trumps itinerary (PA) US President Donald Trump will meet the Queen during his visit to the UK next month, American ambassador Woody Johnson has said. Mr Johnson said various scenarios were being drawn up for Mr Trumps itinerary on his working visit on July 13, but they all involved seeing the monarch. His comments came as Mr Trump said he would sign an executive order to prevent US authorities from separating migrant families at the USAs southern border. The controversial policy, which has seen around 2,000 children taken away from their parents over a six-week period, was condemned by Theresa May as wrong and not something we agree with. Next months trip Mr Trumps first to the UK as president is not a state visit, so he would not necessarily be expected to see the Queen. But asked whether US plans involved a meeting with Her Majesty, Mr Johnson told Sky News: Yes. Yes, I mean he has to see the head of state. Putting his foot on the ground of British soil is Job One very, very important, very symbolic. Meeting Her Majesty is the most important thing, because she is head of state. Trump to meet Queen during working visit to UK https://t.co/3pnRNcdDh5 Sky News (@SkyNews) June 20, 2018 At Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons, Mrs May was urged to stand up to Mr Trump over the zero tolerance approach to migrants which has seen thousands of children separated from their families on the southern border over recent weeks. Mrs May said the nature of the special relationship with the United States meant when we disagree with what they are doing, we say so. She told MPs: The pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing. This is wrong, this is not something that we agree with. This is not the United Kingdoms approach. Indeed, when I was home secretary, I ended the routine detention of families with children. Expand Close Theresa May was challenged over Donald Trumps immigration policy by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford at PMQs (PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Theresa May was challenged over Donald Trumps immigration policy by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford at PMQs (PA) She was responding to questions from SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who said her answer was disappointing and we should all be unreservedly condemning the actions of Donald Trump. The Prime Minister told him: I clearly and wholly, unequivocally said that that was wrong. Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has previously denounced the policy which has seen more than 2,000 children divided from their families in six weeks on the southern US border as abhorrent and repulsive. It's tragic and shocking to see innocent children caged like animals at US migrant camps and to hear their cries of anguish after being forcibly separated from their parents. It's immoral and goes against fundamental human rights we must always respect, no matter the situation. Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 19, 2018 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was tragic and shocking to see the children held in cages at migrant camps as their parents were taken off for prosecution. Mr Trump is facing pressure from both sides of the political divide in Washington to end a zero-tolerance approach to illegal border crossings which requires adult migrants to be held in custody for prosecution, separated from their children. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Recreational marijuana sales will soon be legal in Long Beach. On Tuesday night, the city council voted to approve sales and regulate the local recreational pot industry. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia tweeted that he plans to sign it into law as soon as possible. The Long Beach City Council just voted to legalize recreational marijuana sales - when the law reaches my desk in the coming weeks, Ill sign it into law. Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) June 20, 2018 Though California voters approved the sale and use of adult recreational marijuana in 2016, Prop 64 gave local jurisdiction the final say on how to regulate it. News happens every day. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you and the community you live in. Now that we're part of KPCC, those stories (including this one you're on right now!) are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says the UK will remain in the UN Human Rights Council despite the withdrawal of the US (Stefan Rousseau/A) Boris Johnson has described the United States decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council as regrettable and says the UK is here to stay. Donald Trumps envoy to the United Nations announced the news of Americas withdrawal on Tuesday, calling it an organisation that is not worthy of its name. Nikki Haley said she had made it clear a year ago that the US would only stay in the council if essential reforms were achieved and said those calls had not been heeded. In response to the news, Mr Johnson admitted the world body was in need of reform, but stressed that Britains support for it remained steadfast. US decision to withdraw from the Human Rights Council is regrettable. Reform necessary, but UK is here to stay - @UNHumanRights crucial to holding states to account https://t.co/bhlFbm2h7o Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) June 19, 2018 He said: The United States decision to withdraw from the Human Rights Council is regrettable. Weve made no secret of the fact that the UK wants to see reform of the Human Rights Council, but we are committed to working to strengthen the council from within. The Foreign Secretary said the UK would continue to support and champion it, adding: It is the best tool the international community has to address impunity in an imperfect world and to advance many of our international goals. On Twitter, he said: US decision to withdraw from the Human Rights Council is regrettable. Reform necessary, but UK is here to stay @UNHumanRights crucial to holding states to account. Ms Haley announced the US withdrawal at the State Department alongside US secretary of state Mike Pompeo. She said the council had been given opportunity after opportunity to make changes, and accused it of having a chronic bias against Israel. She also decried the membership of countries such as China, Cuba and Venezuela that are themselves accused of rights violations, and said the body was a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights. Ms Haley added that the US would be willing to rejoin if the organisation does reform. The UN Human Rights Council was created in 2006 and aims to protect human rights around the world. The US joined in 2009 under Barack Obama. One of the men wrongfully detained in the Windrush scandal has returned to Jamaica to see his 90-year-old mother for the first time in a decade after finally getting his residence permit. Anthony Bryan, from London, was held by authorities twice and told he would be deported back to the Caribbean island he left in 1965 when he was eight. The painter and decorator said he feared being denied re-entry to the UK if he visited his mother in Jamaica, having learned her health was poor around the same time he felt the impact of the Governments hostile environment towards immigrants 2015. Expand Close Mr Bryan with his mother in Jamaica (Handout/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mr Bryan with his mother in Jamaica (Handout/PA) But the grandfather, speaking ahead of the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Windrush generation on Friday, told how he has made it to St Anns see his mother, Lucille Thompson. Mr Bryan, 61, said: I couldnt leave because I knew if I left I would have problems coming back. I was told my people had got stuck out here. You go out for a funeral or a wedding or things like that and you couldnt come back into England. I wanted to visit my mum, that was when she first came down not feeling good so imagine if she fell ill and dropped out before I came over. Its fortunate shes lasted until now. But, he said, he reached Jamaica on June 10 to an emotional scene with his mother in his first time outside the UK in 53 years. It was great. When I came she started crying, pulling on the heart strings, he said. Mr Bryan was presented on May 8 with his biometric residence permit live on Good Morning Britain, and the programme gave him plane tickets. Expand Close Lucille Thompson with her son (Handout/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lucille Thompson with her son (Handout/PA) He believes he only got his proof of residence because of the publicity surrounding the scandal. Thats the only way I see it because I had all the paperwork before and they were saying I didnt have no documents, I didnt have no status, and all along I did have all the paperwork, he said. Mr Bryan plans to spend two months with his mother before returning home to Edmonton, north London. He said he has reserved his judgment on Sajid Javid, who replaced Amber Rudd as Home Secretary in the wake of the scandal, despite getting his permit. Mr Bryans case was one of many highlighted when it emerged members of the Windrush generation were being deported, detained, denied healthcare, work and housing despite having a legal right to be in the UK. Having arrived as children, many assumed their citizenship was secured automatically and have struggled to prove their right to residence under tough conditions in the so-called hostile environment created under Theresa May when she was Home Secretary. Friday marks 70 years since the generation began when around 500 Caribbean migrants stepped off the Empire Windrush in Tilbury Docks. The generation and their descendants will be celebrated for their contributions, including helping repair post-war Britain. Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un inspect the honour guard at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) South Korea has urged North Korea to present a plan with concrete steps towards denuclearisation, raising the pressure on its leader Kim Jong Un as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Mr Kim and Mr Xi held a second day of talks at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, whose grounds Chinas official Xinhua News Agency described in unusually lyrical terms as being full of verdant greenery and splendid flowers, adding to what the propaganda outlet said was the close and friendly atmosphere of the talks. The pomp and circumstance looked geared towards showing off the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbours, along with Chinas important role in keeping North Korea on track. Expand Close Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) But it cast no new light on the main question that hangs over the previously reclusive North Korean leaders surge in diplomatic activity in recent months: What next steps, if any, will Mr Kim take to dismantle his countrys nuclear programme? At his summit with US President Donald Trump last week in Singapore, Mr Kim pledged to work towards denuclearisation in exchange for US security guarantees. The US and South Korea also suspended a major joint military exercise that was planned for August in what was seen as a major victory for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia. Chinese state media quoted Mr Xi as hailing the warming friendship with Mr Kim but included no mention of any specific discussions on making progress on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. Expand Close Kim Jong Un with Xi Jinping (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kim Jong Un with Xi Jinping (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) Mr Xi said China is pleased that the momentum for dialogue and easing of the situation on the Korean Peninsula has been effectively strengthened, according to Xinhua. In Seoul, South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged North Korea to present actionable plans on how it will scrap its nuclear programme, and for the United States to swiftly take unspecified corresponding measures. Its necessary for North Korea to present far more concrete denuclearisation plans, and I think its necessary for the United States to swiftly reciprocate by coming up with comprehensive measures, Mr Moon said. Mr Moons office said he made the remarks to Russian media ahead of his trip to Moscow later this week. Mr Moon, who has met with Mr Kim twice in recent months, said the North Korean leader is willing to give up his nuclear programme and focus on economic development if he is provided with a reliable security guarantee. Mr Moon described Mr Kim as forthright, careful and polite. China backs the Norths call for a phased and synchronous approach to denuclearisation, as opposed to Washingtons demand for an instant, total and irreversible end to the Norths nuclear programmes. Accompanied by an elaborate escort of motorcycles and black vehicles, Mr Kim left for Pyongyang later in the day, ending his third visit to China this year. Expand Close Police motorcycle escorts wait for Kim Jong Uns motorcade (Ng Han Guan/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Police motorcycle escorts wait for Kim Jong Uns motorcade (Ng Han Guan/AP) State television showed Mr Kim visiting an agricultural technology park and rail traffic control centre in Beijing, accompanied by Beijings top official Cai Qi. Mr Kims motorcade had earlier been seen leaving the North Korean embassy as police closed off major roads and intersections in central Beijing. Pedestrians watched the passing motorcade that included Mr Kims limousine a black Mercedes-Benz Maybach with gold emblems on the rear doors. A report by North Koreas official Korean Central News Agency said Mr Kim told Mr Xi at a welcoming banquet on Tuesday that North Korea-China ties are developing into unprecedentedly special relations. China has touted the prospects of more trade and investment if North Korea makes progress in talks on abandoning its nuclear weapons and long-range missile programmes. That could allow the lifting of UN Security Council economic sanctions that have hamstrung North Koreas foreign trade, although the US insists those measures can only be eased after the North shows it has ended its nuclear programmes. The US says China is in agreement on that point, although Chinese officials say sanctions should not be an end in themselves. Mr Kim was expected to have sought Chinas help with getting relief from the sanctions during his visit. Xinhuas report did not mention sanctions, but quoted Mr Kim as saying that the two countries are as close and friendly as family, and help each other. The United States has announced it is leaving the United Nations Human Rights Council, with Ambassador Nikki Haley calling it an organisation that is not worthy of its name. It was the latest withdrawal by the Trump administration from an international institution. Ms Haley, President Donald Trumps envoy to the UN, said the US had given the human rights body opportunity after opportunity to make changes. .@SecPompeo: The United States which leads the world in humanitarian assistance, and whose service members have sacrificed life and limb to free millions from oppression and tyranny -- will not take lectures form hypocritical bodies and institutions. pic.twitter.com/A93lHmVD4h Department of State (@StateDept) June 19, 2018 She lambasted the council for its chronic bias against Israel and lamented the fact that its membership includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights, Ms Haley said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing alongside Ms Haley at the State Department, said there was no doubt that the council once had a noble vision. Expand Close Benjamin Netanyahus office praised the decision (Joe Giddens/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Benjamin Netanyahus office praised the decision (Joe Giddens/PA) But today we need to be honest, Mr Pompeo said. The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights. The announcement came just a day after the UN human rights chief, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. But Ms Haley cited longstanding US complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. She had been threatening the pull-out since last year unless the council made changes advocated by the US. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded, Ms Haley said. Disappointing, if not really surprising, news. Given the state of #HumanRights in today's world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping backZeid Ra'ad al-Hussein Still, she suggested the decision need not be permanent, adding that if the council did adopt reforms, we would be happy to rejoin it. She said the withdrawal notwithstanding, the US would continue to defend human rights at the United Nations. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus office called the US decision courageous, calling it an unequivocal statement that enough is enough. The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the presidents America First policy. Although numerous officials have said repeatedly that America First does not mean America Alone, the administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses since it took office. Since January 2017, it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the UN educational and cultural organisation and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. .@antonioguterres would have much preferred for the US to remain in the Human Rights Council. The UN's Human Rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide. Full text: https://t.co/alyIvdpRKL UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) June 19, 2018 Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminium against key trading partners, recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital and moving the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv. Opposition to the decision from human rights advocates was swift. A group of 12 organisations including Save the Children, Freedom House and the United Nations Association-USA said there were legitimate concerns about the councils shortcomings but that none of them warranted a US exit. "Disappointing, if not really surprising, news. Given the state of #HumanRights in today's world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back" -- UN Human Rights Chief #Zeid following USA decision to withdraw from U.N. Human Rights Council.#StandUp4HumanRights UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) June 19, 2018 This decision is counterproductive to American national security and foreign policy interests and will make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world, the organisations said in a joint statement. Added Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch: All Trump seems to care about is defending Israel. On Twitter, Mr al-Hussein, the UN human rights chief, said it was Disappointing, if not really surprising, news. Given the state of #HumanRights in todays world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back. And the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank close to the Trump administration, defended the move, calling the council notably incurious about the human rights situations in some of the worlds most oppressive countries. Brett Schaefer, a senior fellow, pointed out that Mr Trump could have withdrawn immediately after taking office but instead gave the council 18 months to make changes. Ms Haley has been the driving force behind withdrawing from the human rights body, unprecedented in the 12-year history of the council. No country has ever dropped out voluntarily. Expand Close Donald Trumps administration says the UN Human Rights Council is biased against Israel (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Donald Trumps administration says the UN Human Rights Council is biased against Israel (Niall Carson/PA) Libya was kicked out seven years ago. The move could reinforce the perception that the Trump administration is seeking to advance Israels agenda on the world stage, just as it prepares to unveil its long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan despite Palestinian outrage over the embassy relocation. Mr Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting the Middle East this week as the White House works to lay the groundwork for unveiling the plan. Israel is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up for discussion at every council session, under Item 7 on the agenda. Item 7 on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories has been part of the councils regular business almost as long as it has existed. The European Union's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has intentionally or unintentionally greatly raised the stakes by declaring that the UK cannot remain as a member of the European Arrest Warranty scheme (EAW) after Brexit. He said "facts have consequences", and the UK's decision to leave the EU meant that the situation could not remain as it is now. Mr Barnier suggested it would not be "fair" for the UK to keep all the benefits of EU membership. However, the Chief Constable George Hamilton made it very clear that membership of the EAW is critical to his officers' continued collaboration with An Garda Siochana in ensuring that the border cannot be used by terrorists and other criminals to evade prosecution. He said that the removal of the system, which allows EU members to ask for the arrest and detention of criminals in other countries without joint extradition talks, could endanger the safety of people in Northern Ireland. The subject of extradition dogged relations between the UK and the Irish Republic in the late 1980s, and the Irish gained the reputation in some quarters, and not entirely undeserved, of being a safe haven for republican terrorists. When requests to return suspected terrorists to Northern Ireland were stalled by the courts in Dublin, the legal arguments against extradition did little to reassure the unionists that the Republic was on the same page as the authorities in the North. It is clear that criminality and terrorism is a transnational problem and that these terrorists and criminals are certainly no respecters of international boundaries. According to MI5, dissident republicans still pose a significant threat in Northern Ireland, and this is definitely not the time to remove from the Chief Constable such a vital counter-insurgency measure. It appears to some people that the EU may have set its face at making any UK exit from Europe as difficult as possible, but at their considerable peril they seem set on making things easier for terrorists and criminals at every turn. Mr Barnier would do well to recognise that in this case the "benefits of EU membership" to which he refers work both ways. The detailed negotiations are beyond the comprehension of most ordinary people, but it is they who will have to live with the outcome. A masked man holds a stone before throwing it at Indian security forces during a protest after Eid prayers in Srinagar, India, June 16, 2018. Indias central government took direct control of Indian Kashmir on Wednesday, a day after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled out of a state coalition ruling the region where troops have struggled to quell a decades-old uprising. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind approved a request sought Tuesday by Jammu and Kashmir state Gov. N.N. Vohra under provisions of its constitution that allow it to be placed under governors rule or direct control by the central government based in New Delhi for six months, officials said. This marked the fourth time in a decade that New Delhi has placed Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir as Indian-administered Kashmir is known under governors rule, in which the state assembly is dissolved or kept in suspended animation. BJP, the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cited a spike in regional violence as well as the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), its Kashmiri partner in the 3-year-old state-level coalition, as reasons for the move. PDPs policy toward extremist forces and militants had led to a spike in violence, radicalization among youths and worsening security situation in the state. Therefore BJP decided to pull out, Aijaz Hussian Rather, the vice president of BJP national youth wing, told BenarNews. The PDP was also keen to seek extension of the month-long truce, which was simply impractical. The terrorists took advantage of the truce to unleash more terror activities in the region and, ironically, PDP still wanted an extension, he said. The larger national interest was at stake and therefore BJP had no option but to pave the way for governors rule. More than two dozen suspected militants were killed along the Line of Control (LoC) in gunfights that took place amid anti-India protests during Ramadan, following the death of a protester who was allegedly crushed under a police vehicle on June 1 in Srinagar. LoC is the de facto border dividing Kashmir, a Himalayan region claimed by both India and Pakistan. On Tuesday, security forces killed three suspected militants in a gunfight in south Kashmir, authorities said. During the truce period from May 17 to June 17, more than 70 civilians and a dozen security personnel were injured in a series of grenade attacks by suspected militants. PDP leader resigns PDP holds 28 seats and BJP holds 25 in the 87-member state legislative assembly. The state coalition government, which was formed in March 2015, had vowed to make efforts to ensure peace in the violence-ravaged region where more than 70,000 people have been killed in a three-decade insurgency. Despite agreeing to govern together, the two parties differed on policies including a law that does not allow military personnel to face criminal prosecution in the region. BJP sought a hard-line approach in governing while PDP pushed for dialogue. After BJP withdrew its support for the PDP on Tuesday, PDP President and state Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti announced her resignation. She said the alliance had been cobbled together although this was against the sentiments of the people, according to the Associated Press. Our aim was reconciliation and dialogue, she said, adding that politicians had hoped the alliance with Modis party would help in bringing out the state from its situation of turmoil. Meanwhile, another PDP official called on BJP to establish a people-friendly policy in the region. People are reeling under violence for nearly three decades and there is a need to win their hearts to accomplish peace in the region, Tahir Sayeed, a PDP leader and media analyst in the former chief ministers office, told BenarNews. PDP will continue to pursue its agenda of reconciliation and dialogue to find an amicable settlement to the Kashmir issue, he said. The dispute over the region is the main source of tension between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. BJPs muscular policy will not help restore peace in the state but will aggravate the situation further, Sayeed said, adding that people were feeling relieved because of a month long-ceasefire during Ramadan, but BJP called it off. An already volatile situation Commenting on the dramatic developments in Indian Kashmir since Tuesday, a political analyst said he feared that the situation there could go from bad to worse under governors rule. As you know the situation is already volatile on the ground. To make matters worse, the authorities in Delhi may ask security forces to intensify operations against militants, which often lead to civilian killings and aggravates the situation further, Srinagar-based analyst Noor Baba told BenarNews. people will also feel the absence of an elected government as bureaucrats may become inaccessible to them, he said, adding that the only advantage the rule may have is that people might get rid of growing nepotism. As far as restoring lasting peace in Kashmir is concerned, it can be achieved only by means of a sustainable dialogue among India, Pakistan and representatives of Kashmiri people, Baba said. Locals offered mixed reactions. In the absence of elected representatives, people will face tough times to get their grievances addressed and works done in their respective areas. The only advantage they may have is that the governor may put a check on corruption, which was rampant under the coalition, Srinagar resident Tanveer Ahmad told BenarNews. However, security forces may now feel totally free to use excessive force against protesters and militants, which may further worsen the situation on the ground. Earlier, under some pressure from the PDP leadership, the forces exercised some restraint dealing with protesters or while launching anti-militancy operations. Sheikh Nazir from Baramulla disagreed. The ground situation may improve under governors rule as security forces may come under pressure to launch a full-scale operation against militants and stone pelters to restore peace in the region, Nazir told BenarNews, referring to anti-India protestors who throw rocks at Indian security forces. It may also help put a check on growing corruption that is badly affecting poor people and depriving deserving candidates of government jobs, he said. Freely accessible local news is vital. Please power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Arturo Palacios' L.A. Cycle Taco Tour is a nine-mile bicycle ride through Boyle Heights that comes with a side of local history. The idea was first conceived as a route in Hollywood, but Palacios soon thought better of it. "We want to show people the real side of Los Angeles, not the manicured side," he told KPCC's Lori Galarreta and Austin Cross when he took them on a special edition tour. "Doing my tours on bicycles allows us to go through places that nobody else could go through," he said. The L.A. Cycle Taco Tour rolls by Union Station. (Photo by Austin Cross/KPCC) Biking through Los Angeles gives you a different view of the city. When things pass by slower, you see and notice more. It all feels more personal. And that's what it's all about for Palacios. "On a bicycle, you slow down and you appreciate your community more," he said. Here are a few things Lori and Austin learned and ate on their ride. SERVING THE COMMUNITY FOR 48 YEARS Inside Zamora Brothers, located on East Cesar Chavez Avenue in Boyle Heights. (Photo by Lori Galarreta/KPCC) First stop, Zamora Brothers, located on East Cesar Chavez Avenue, just south of the 10 and 101 Freeway interchange. A staple in Boyle Heights, the family-owned eatery has been serving patrons for more than 45 years.is known for its carnitas, which is prepped in the style of Guanajuato cuisine. The business started as a carniceria, or meat shop, and was later converted into a restaurant, according to Palacios. Customers can still buy meat in bulk, as the shop sells trays of carnitas, barbacoa and more. Some of the offerings at Zamora Brothers in Boyle Heights. (Photo by Lori Galarreta/KPCC) HOME OF THE 'PIMPED-OUT TACO' The Monchies taco truck was next. It's been a stop on the taco tour since the beginning. Palacios clarified that Monchies does not mean "munchies," rather, it's a nickname for people named Ramon. When Palacios first saw the truck he noticed "something that didn't even look like a taco and I had to try one for myself ... I was blown away," he said. It was the memela, or as he nicknamed it, "the pimped-out taco." Take Two producer Lori Galarreta tries a Memela from the Monchies taco truck in Boyle Heights. (Photo by Austin Cross/KPCC) This particular memela is made in the Puebla style, where black beans are king, and it kind of looks like a pizza. The crowdpleaser creation, a favorite with vegetarians, sits on a handmade tortilla with avocado, black beans, house red sauce, California chilis and queso fresco. ROLLING WITH THE PUSHBACK Outsiders rolling through these communities and patronizing these types of taco shops has not been without criticism. "There are people out here who are against gentrification and they are known for heckling folks," Palacios said. "I think most of them are misinformed. I like to not heckle them back but kind of argue with them and ... point out the facts to what we're doing here" And what Palacios is trying to do is show another side of the city and communities he loves. He often has native-born Angelenos on his tour who challenge him to teach them something they don't know about L.A. Arturo Palacios, creator and guide of the L.A. Cycle Taco Tour, talks with Take Two producers about his tour. (Photo by Lori Galarreta/KPCC) "A lot of times, a lot Angelenos say...'I didn't know that about this community,' and that makes me feel good," said Palacios. And when tourists and out-of-towners ride along, Palacios said his mission is to change the perception they might have about the community. Editor's note: A version of this story was also on the radio. Listen to it here on KPCC's Take Two. News happens every day. Here at LAist, our goal is to cover the stories that matter to you and the community you live in. Now that we're part of KPCC, those stories (including this one you're on right now!) are made possible by generous people like you. Independent, local journalism isn't cheap, but with your support we can keep delivering it. Donate now. Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu (right), looks on during his bilateral meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis at the Shangri-la Dialogue, an annual defense and security forum in Singapore, June 3, 2018. The Malaysian government on Wednesday announced a review of its military presence in Saudi Arabia amid the Arab nations involvement in a protracted war in Yemen. Mohamad Sabu, Malaysias new defense minister, said the review was necessary because troops had been sent to the Middle East by the previous government to prepare for the evacuation of Malaysians from Yemen. Malaysia has never taken part in the operation against Yemen, which is a fellow Islamic country, Sabu said in a press release. Nevertheless, the presence of the Malaysian armed forces in Saudi Arabia indirectly entraps Malaysia in the Middle East conflict. Sabu did not release details on the number of troops in Saudi Arabia nor did he announce a timetable for possible changes. The government will make a decision in the near future on the subject after the revaluation is completed, he said. The statement confirmed the previous administrations claim that Malaysia was not involved in the Saudi-led coalition war in Yemen. The conflict escalated in March 2015 following a military operation led by Saudi Arabia in support of Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against rebels said to be backed by Iran. Last year, then-Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysias relationship with Saudi Arabia did not involve troop participation in any military offensives or operations, whether in Yemen, Syria or Iraq. His comments followed media reports citing an annual report by the U.N. sanctions monitor that investigated 10 coalition air strikes between March and October 2016 in Yemen. At least 292 civilians died, including about 100 women and children. The coalitions chief of joint operations told U.N. officials that officers from France, Malaysia and Britain were present at Saudi headquarters during the airstrikes. When we were there, the Saudi Arabia leadership gave our armed forces some lessons at headquarters. I dont think that is a problem, Hishammuddin said at the time. Our policy to stay within Saudi Arabian borders has not changed. The troop review follows an earlier decision by the new government to review the operation of a Saudi-supported counter-terrorism center. On May 22, Sabus first day on the job, he announced plans to review the King Salman Center for International Peace. Details need to be made clear: analyst International security analyst Mohamad Abu Bakar, meanwhile, urged the new government to dig deeper into the military presence in Saudi Arabia. We need to know how far we have gone with our troops presence in Saudi Arabia and in the Yemen issue and whether it can drag us further into conflicts in the Middle East, he told BenarNews. Just like the Saudi-backed counter-terrorism center in Malaysia, its good that Mohamad Sabu will have a relook at the defense cooperation with the Saudis. The analyst was referring to the King Salman Center, which is operating at its temporary office in Kuala Lumpur until the main building in Putrajaya is finished. The former head of Universiti Malayas Department of International and Strategic Studies said Sabu needed to get the details of the Malaysian militarys mission in Saudi Arabia. How many troops and equipment are involved, what kind of expertise do we share and how much this mission costs us? These arent clear, he said. Yemen is a very poor country but the Saudis keep bombing the country. Getting ourselves involved in the conflict can backfire, he said. Saudi connection Sabu was critical of Malaysias Saudi Arabia connections even before last months general election. He lambasted both the Malaysian armys presence there and the approval of the King Salman Center following Saudi monarch Salman Abdul Azizs visit to Kuala Lumpur last year. The previous administration had planned for the counter-violent extremism center to be located on a massive plot in Putrajaya, Malaysias federal administrative center. Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst at the KL-based Institute of Strategic and International Studies, said the new scrutiny would affect Malaysias relationship with Gulf nations. The new defense minister has previously said that we need to maintain a certain distance from Saudi Arabia, Shahriman told BenarNews. That, combined with the inevitable difficulties that Malaysian investigations into 1MDB will face in the Gulf states, means our relationship with Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be less cordial than it was before. The new government has reopened an investigation into the alleged theft of billions of dollars from state development fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad. That investigation could examine the involvement of Saudi oil company PetroSaudi in 1MDB. Communist rebels waging one of Asias longest-running insurgencies on Wednesday warned of intensified attacks against government targets in the Philippines, as a scheduled round of peace negotiations this month faltered. President Rodrigo Duterte, a self-declared socialist, has said that talks would only resume if Jose Maria Sison, leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), came home from self-exile in the Netherlands. Originally announced for June 28, the talks were to be hosted by the Norwegian government in Oslo, but Manila recently announced that they would not go ahead. On Wednesday, the New Peoples Army (NPA), the CPPs armed wing, said Dutertes condition to hold talks in the Philippines was totally unacceptable to the revolutionary forces. The NPA will surely frustrate the aims of the Duterte regime by waging extensive and intensive guerrilla warfare, the rebel group said in a statement. The condition was like insisting that peace talks be held in the territories under the political authority of the revolutionary forces something that Duterte will definitely not accept, the NPA said. The guerrillas accused the government of holding the talks hostage as Duterte consolidated his power amid increasing opposition to his administration that has overseen police-sanctioned killings in the name of a brutal anti-drugs campaign. Invitation to Sison still stands The NPA also accused the president of wanting to establish a fascist dictatorship and impose nationwide martial law. The NPA has been waging a rebellion that has killed tens of thousands in the Philippine countryside since 1969, making the insurgency one of the worlds longest and deadliest. Military estimates placed the NPA strength at more than 5,000 scattered in more than 60 guerrilla fronts nationwide. Duterte opened peace negotiations with the communists shortly after he took office in 2016. He freed top CPP officials and gave them safe-conduct passes to join talks in Europe, but he subsequently scrapped negotiations after the NPA continued with attacks in the countryside. He has said there would be no more talks during his term, but he later softened his stand saying that he was willing to meet personally with Sison. His chief assistant for the peace process, Jesus Dureza, however, announced that talks scheduled to resume later this month had been cancelled. He did not give any reason why, but he has travelled to Europe ostensibly to meet with CPP officials. Dutertes spokesman, Harry Roque, said Wednesday that the presidents invitation still stood and that troops were under orders to ensure Sisons safety and immunity from arrest. He assures Sisons security, even logistics support that the CPP-NPA would need during the peace talks, Roque told DZMM radio in Manila, transcripts of which were made available to reporters. And even if the talks produce nothing, he would personally take Sison to the airport, so he can leave the country, Roque said, referring to Duterte. He said Duterte was sincere in his offer, but also wanted the communists to reciprocate his offer by making true on their promise to silence their guns, stop targeting military installations while the talks were ongoing and cease from collecting so-called revolutionary taxes a euphemism for extortion. Top cadre caught Meanwhile, authorities said that Julio Llanes, one of the top communist leaders in the central Philippines, was arrested Wednesday. Llanes, a squad leader of the CPP-NPA, was caught in the central province of Capiz after four months of police intelligence monitoring, according to police Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao, regional police chief. Llanes, who was included in the defense department's list of most wanted terrorists, is wanted for spearheading an ambush early this year that left one soldier and two pro-government militiamen dead, police said. If anyone has news, give me a call at 843-565-3125 or e-mail me jmhood@homesc.com. I need news by Wednesday afternoon for the next weeks column. The rabbis called him the Weeping Prophet. They said he began wailing the moment he was born. When Michelangelo painted him on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he presented him in a posture of despair. He looks like a man who has wept so long he has no tears left to shed. His face is turned to one side, like a man who has been battered by many blows. His shoulders are hunched forward, weighed down by the sins of Judah. His eyes also are cast down, as if he can no longer bear to see Gods people suffer. His hand covers his mouth. Perhaps he has nothing left to say. His name was Jeremiah. His story begins like this: The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile. (Jeremiah 1:1-3) This introduction tells us a great deal about Jeremiah. He was a preachers son, for his father Hilkiah was a priest. He was born in the village of Anathoth, close enough to Jerusalem to see the city walls, but at the edge of the wilderness, where the land slopes down to the Dead Sea. He labored as Gods prophet for forty years or more, from 627 b.c. to some time after 586 b.c. Four decades is a long time to be a weeping prophet. Jeremiah lived when little Israel was tossed around by three great superpowers: Assyria to the north, Egypt to the south, and Babylon to the east. He served and suffered through the administrations of three kings: Josiah the reformer, Jehoiakim the despot, and Zedekiah the puppet. He was a prophet during the cold November winds of Judahs life as a nation, right up to the time Gods people were deported to Babylon. Jeremiah himself was exiled to Egypt, where he died. A Divine Call Jeremiahs sufferings began with a divine call: The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. (Jeremiah 1:4-5) God did wonderful things for Jeremiah before he was even born. He knew him. He formed him. He set him apart and appointed him as a prophet to the nations. He did all this long before Jeremiah drew his first breath or shed his first tear. The call of Jeremiah is rich in its doctrinal and practical content. Among its important teachings are the following: 1. God is the Lord of life. God formed Jeremiah in the womb. Jeremiah had biological parents, of course, but God himself fashioned him and knit him together in his mothers womb. Telling children who ask where babies come from that they come from God is good theology. And it is not bad science either. The Lord of life uses the natural processes he designed to plant human life in the womb. 2. A fetus is a person. A person is a human being, created in the image of God, living in relationship to God. This verse testifies that the personal relationship between God and his child takes place in the womb, or even earlier. Birth is not our beginning. Not even conception is our real beginning. In some ineffable way, God has a personal knowledge of the individual that precedes conception. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. This is the strong, intimate, Hebrew word for know that is also used to describe sexual intimacy between husband and wife. I knew you. What a beautiful thing for God to say to his children! I loved you and cared for you in eternity past. I made a personal commitment to you even before you were born. And what a beautiful thing for parents to say to their children: God knows you, God loves you, and God has entered into a personal relationship with you. This verse holds special comfort for mothers who have had miscarriages. It gives hope to parents who have lost children in infancy, and even for women who aborted their own babies. God knew your child, and he knows your child. 3. We do not choose God before God chooses us. If you want to know who you are, you have to know whose you are. For the Christian, the answer to that question is that you belong to Jesus Christ. When did Jeremiah start belonging to God? When did God choose him? The prophet was set apart before he was born. While Jeremiah was being carried around in his mothers womb, God was making preparations for his salvation and his ministry. To set something apart is to sanctify it or to dedicate it to holy service. Long before Jeremiah was born, God chose him and consecrated him for ministry. Given the intimacy of Gods knowledge of Jeremiah, it is appropriate for Jeremiah to address him with the title Sovereign Lord (Jeremiah 1:6). God is sovereign. He not only forms his people in the womb, he sets them apart for salvation from all eternity. Gods choice is not unique to Jeremiah; it is true for every believer. This is known as the doctrine of divine election. You did not choose me, Jesus said to his disciples, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit (John 15:16). Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight (Ephesians 1:3-4). This promise is for the whole church. Therefore, it is for the comfort of every Christian. God not only knows you, he chose you; and he did so long before you were ever conceived. Eugene Peterson offers these practical conclusions about Gods choice of Jeremiah: My identity does not begin when I begin to understand myself. There is something previous to what I think about myself, and it is what God thinks of me. That means that everything I think and feel is by nature a response, and the one to whom I respond is God. I never speak the first word. I never make the first move. Jeremiahs life didnt start with Jeremiah. Jeremiahs salvation didnt start with Jeremiah. Jeremiahs truth didnt start with Jeremiah. He entered the world in which the essential parts of his existence were already ancient history. So do we.1 4. Every Christian has a calling. There is a general call, of course, to believe in Jesus Christ. But everyone who believes in Christ also has a special calling to a particular sphere of obedience and ministry. Jeremiah was not just set apart for salvation, he was set apart for vocation. God had work for him to do. The prophet had a mission to accomplish and a message to deliver to his generation. Jeremiahs unique appointment was to be a prophet to the nations. God intended his ministry to be international in scope. Part of Jeremiahs job was to promise Gods grace to the nations, proclaiming, all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord (Jeremiah 3:17). But to be a prophet to the nations also includes announcing Gods judgment. By the time he reached the end of his ministry, Jeremiah had pronounced a divine sentence of judgment upon every nation from Ammon to Babylon. Just as all nations receive Gods sovereign grace, all nations are subject to Gods severe justice. Jeremiahs calling is not for everyone. The first chapter of Jeremiah is mainly about his call for his times, not your call for your times. But you do have a call. God not only knows you and chose you, he has a plan for your life. As F. B. Meyer so eloquently puts it, From the foot of the cross, where we are cradled in our second birth, to the brink of the river, where we lay down our armor, there is a path which he has prepared for us to walk in.2 Perhaps you are still trying to figure out what Gods plan is for you. Many Christians long to know what God is calling them to do. If you are not sure, there are at least two things you ought to do. The first is to do everything you already know God wants you to do. You cannot expect to be ready for Gods call, or even to recognize Gods call, unless you are obeying what God has already revealed to you. This includes the obvious things, such as spending time in prayer and Bible study, serving the people with whom you live, remaining active in the worship of the church, and being Gods witness in the world. Second, ask God to reveal his will for your life. If you ask, he has promised to answer. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him (James 1:5). A Dubious Candidate Jeremiah knew what God wanted him to do. Yet even after he received his divine call, he was still a dubious candidate: Ah, Sovereign Lord, he said, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child (Jeremiah 1:6). Jeremiah had two main objections to becoming a prophet: his lack of eloquence and his lack of experience. To paraphrase: Ahhh, wait a second, Lord, about this whole prophet-to-the-nations thing . . . It doesnt sound like that great an idea. Prophecy is not one of my spiritual gifts. As you know, I am getting a C in rhetoric at the synagogue. Besides, I am just a teenager. Was Jeremiah being modest or faithless? Was it right for him to object to Gods call or not? A good way to answer those questions is to compare Jeremiah with some other prophets. Later the Lord reaches out his hand and touches Jeremiahs mouth (Jeremiah 1:9). This reminds us of Isaiahs experience when he saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple (Isaiah 6:1). Isaiah had one or two doubts about his calling too, but his doubts were different. Isaiahs main problem was that he had a guilty conscience: Woe to me! I cried. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty (Isaiah 6:5Jeremiah 1:5). Isaiah did not doubt his ability, he doubted his integrity. When the seraph flew from the altar to touch Isaiahs lips with a live coal, he said: See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for (Isaiah 6:7). Isaiahs experience was somewhat different from Jeremiahs. When God touched Jeremiahs lips, it was not to take away his sins, it was to give him Gods words. What about the call of Moses? Was Jeremiahs call like the call of Moses? Jeremiahs objection sounds very much like the objection Moses made when God called him: O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue (Exodus 4:10). Unlike Isaiah, Moses doubted his competence rather than his righteousness. This was precisely Jeremiahs objection. He was not sure what to say or how to say it. He may have even been concerned about his foreign language skills, since God was calling him to an international ministry. Perhaps his grasp of Akkadian and Ugaritic was deficient. In any case, Jeremiah had his doubts about whether he could do the job. Jeremiahs doubts find an echo in J. R. R. Tolkiens novel The Fellowship of the Ring. A hobbit named Frodo has been chosen to make a long and dangerous quest to destroy the one ring of power, a quest he himself would not wish to choose. I am not made for perilous quests, cried Frodo. I wish I had never seen the Ring! Why did it come to me? Why was I chosen? The answer Frodo is given is similar to the one Gods prophets often receive: Such questions cannot be answered. . . . You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess; not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.3 When God gives his servants a clear calling, he does not accept any excuses. The Lord said to him [Moses], Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say (Exodus 4:11-12). God said much the same thing to Jeremiah. To put it plainly, he said, Dont give me that stuff! Do not say, I am only a child. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you (Jeremiah 1:7). Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, Now, I have put my words in your mouth (Jeremiah 1:9). God did not disqualify Jeremiah on the basis of his youth and inexperience. In fact, he treated him the same way he treated Moses. He did not deny the basis for the prophets objection. He did not argue with Jeremiah about his speaking credentials or quibble with him about his age. Jeremiah may have had reasonable doubts. But God exposed his false humility for what it really was: a lack of faith. Jeremiah had forgotten that God is not limited by human weakness. God himself possesses everything Jeremiah needs to answer his call. In fact, enabling weak tools to do strong jobs is Gods standard operating procedure. His entire work force is comprised of dubious candidates. When God calls someone to do a job, he gives him or her all the gifts needed to get the job done. With Gods calling comes Gods gifting. This does not mean that your gifts and abilities do not matter when you are trying to figure out what God wants you to do with your life. They do matter. If you do not know what God is calling you to do, take an honest look at the gifts he has given you. If necessary, ask others to help you figure out what your gifts are. But once you know what God has called you to do, trust him to equip you to do it. God equipped Jeremiah to be an international prophet in some amazing ways. He was a polymath, a great scholar, a man of prodigious learning. He was able to converse in the fields of politics, economics, comparative religion, geography, theology, botany, zoology, anthropology, military strategy, architecture, industry, agriculture, fine arts, and poetry.4 If God has actually called you to do a particular job, then he will do for you what he did for Jeremiah: He will give you everything you need to do that job. If you think you know what the Lord wants you to do with your life, get busy, trusting him to give you the grace to answer his call. A Dangerous Commission Once God had issued his divine call and dealt with his dubious candidate, he gave him a dangerous commission: You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you (Jeremiah 1:7-8). Frankly, that sounds a little ominous! God does not spell things out, but it is easy to tell that Jeremiahs job will be dangerous. Telling someone Do not be afraid is the kind of advice that tends to have the opposite effect than the one intended. The more people tell you not to be afraid, the more you start to wonder what you ought to be afraid of! It is like the king who sent one of his knights off to rescue his fair princess. Just as the knight rode away from the castle, and just as the drawbridge was closing behind him, the king yelled down from the ramparts, Dont be afraid of the dragon! Dragon? What dragon? You didnt say anything about dragons! Gods promise to rescue Jeremiah is also a bit worrisome. Rescued from what? The promise suggests that the prophet will fall into grave danger. God does not promise that Jeremiah has nothing to fear or that he will not need to be rescued. But he does command him not to be afraid, and he does promise to rescue him. The reason Jeremiah did not need to be afraid was that he had the promise of Gods presence. The Lord gave him the same promise he made to Moses, to Joshua, and to all his children: I will be with you. Once there was a man who understood the danger of the prophets commission and the comfort of Gods presence. He was an evangelist God used to bring renewal to the Colombian church during the 1980s and 1990s. Since he was an enemy of the drug cartels, his life was in constant danger, until he was finally gunned down by assassins. Yet shortly before he died, he said, I know that I am absolutely immortal until I have finished the work that God intends for me to do. Gods servants are indeed immortal until they have completed their service. Not only did Jeremiah have Gods presence at his side, he also had Gods words on his lips: Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, Now, I have put my words in your mouth (Jeremiah 1:9). This is another connection between Jeremiah and Moses. God promised that he would raise up a prophet for his people like Moses: I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him (Deuteronomy 18:18). Whenever Jeremiah spoke in Gods name, God was the one doing the talking. Who wrote the book of Jeremiah? From one point of view, it contains the words of Jeremiah, as the Scripture says: The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah (Jeremiah 1:1). From another point of view, however, these are the words of God himself: The word of the Lord came to him (v. 2). The Bible is never embarrassed to speak this way. There is a meaningful sense in which the words of Jeremiah are recorded in the pages of the Old Testament. The book of Jeremiah gives us a glimpse of the personality and experiences of the man, Jeremiah. But at the same time the Holy Spirit is the One who breathed out the words of the book of Jeremiah. Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). The book of Jeremiah is Gods words and Jeremiahs words. When we read them, we do not just see God through Jeremiahs lens; God speaks to us directly. The reason Jeremiah has authority over nations and kingdoms (Jeremiah 1:10) is that he is not speaking on his own behalf. God is sovereign over the nations, and he rules them by his Word. When prophets speak in his name they are mightier than kings. When preachers preach according to Gods Word they are mightier than presidents. Once when I was interviewed by a pastoral search committee, I was asked if I was easily intimidated. (The church was frequented by scholars and other learned individuals.) Would you feel comfortable preaching to so-and-so? I was asked. Before taking time to think about my answer, I blurted out, Yes, Id preach to the Queen of England. I think it was a good answer. God rules the nations of this world by his Word. Those who have been appointed to preach that Word have a spiritual authority over the nations. The Lord instructed Jeremiah to be a bold prophet, not because of his preaching ability or because of his age and experience, but because he was called to speak Gods own words. A Depressing Conclusion It was not always easy for Jeremiah to speak Gods words. His commission was not only dangerous, it was often depressing. We have already been given a clue that the book of Jeremiah does not have a happy ending. It ends with the people of Jerusalem being sent into exile. Thus the book of Jeremiah is a tragedy rather than a comedy. It is about the unraveling of a nation. It is the sad story of the decline of Gods people from faith to idolatry to exile. It is this decline that makes Jeremiah a prophet for post-Christian times. He lived in a time very much like our own, when people no longer think God matters for daily life. Public life is increasingly dominated by pagan ideas and rituals. Some people still meet their religious obligations, but they do so out of duty rather than devotion. The spiritual problems we face at the dawn of the twenty-first century were the same problems that Jeremiah found depressing 2,500 years ago. The discouragement of his ministry is evident from the verbs God uses to describe it: See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant (Jeremiah 1:10). The prophets job description includes six tasks, and four of them are negative. Two to one, his words to the nations will be words of judgment. To uproot is to dig up nations by the roots and turn them under. It is a word that Jeremiah uses more than all the other biblical writers combined, often to describe the uprooting of idols (e.g. Jeremiah 12:14-17). To tear down is to tear down a standing structure, like knocking down a city wall or toppling a tower. To destroy is another word for knocking things down. To overthrow is to demolish, to bring to complete ruin. Once the Lord uproots, tears down, destroys, and overthrows a nation, there is not much left. There is a great deal of that kind of judgment in the rest of Jeremiahs book. This verse is not only Jeremiahs job description, it is also a helpful plot-summary of his book. He lives in such evil days that judgment will outnumber grace two to one. But grace will have the last word. When the cities of evil have been torn down and plowed under, God will start afresh. He will begin a new work. He will build and he will plant. He will bring renewal out of demolition. This is Gods plan for the kingdoms of this world (cf. Jeremiah 18:7-10). He is the one who is in charge of the beginnings and endings of history. He is the one who uproots some nations and plants others. He is the one who tears down some kingdoms and rebuilds others. This is also Gods plan for salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days (John 2:19). The temple of Jesus body was uprooted and torn down from the cross. It was destroyed and overthrown to the grave. But God built and planted resurrection life into the body of Jesus Christ. Now God builds and plants that same resurrection power into the life of every believer. First the Holy Spirit uproots and tears down sin in your heart, and then he plants faith and builds obedience into your life. Like Jeremiah, you were a dubious candidate at the beginning. Yet God has known you from all eternity, and he has set you apart for new life in Christ. If God has done all that for you, will you go wherever he tells you to go, and say whatever he wants you to say, even if it turns out to be a dangerous commission? Notes 1. Eugene H. Peterson, Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at Its Best (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1983), p. 38. 2. F. B. Meyer, Jeremiah: Priest and Prophet, rev. ed. (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1993), p. 17. 3. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965), p. 70. 4. R. E. O. White, The Indomitable Prophet: A Biographical Commentary on Jeremiah (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992), pp. 4-5. Taken from Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope by Philip Graham Ryken. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.org. While the book of Jeremiah shared the last, desperate days of the Jerusalem the prophet loved, Lamentations expresses the cries of his heart. Yet they reveal more than the prophets griefthey are an attempt to reflect on the meaning of human suffering. Lamentations gives voice to the deepest agonies, with the hope that some comfort may come from crying out to God for mercy. Together the two books illustrate the eternal principle that man reaps what he sows. The 115 million grant, titled Autism Innovative Medicine Studies-2-Trials (AIMS-2-Trials), will increase our understanding of autism and help develop new therapies to improve health outcomes and quality of life for autistic people The largest research grant ever given for neurodevelopmental conditions has been awarded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative to an international consortium academically led by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at Kings College London. Trinity College Dublin forms part of the research consortium which includes 48 universities and research institutions, industry partners and autism charities. The 115 million grant, titled Autism Innovative Medicine Studies-2-Trials (AIMS-2-Trials), will increase our understanding of autism and help develop new therapies to improve health outcomes and quality of life for autistic people. AIMS-2-Trials brings together autistic people and their families, academic institutions, charities and pharmaceutical companies to study autism and provide an infrastructure for developing and testing new therapies. In line with the autism communitys priorities, the consortium will also focus on why some autistic people develop additional health problems that severely impact both quality and length of life. All autistic people are different which makes identifying and testing new therapies challenging. AIMS-2-Trials will take a precision medicine approach aimed at tailoring therapies to a persons biological profiles. Achieving this will require developing tests that can predict how a persons autism may progress throughout development and their likelihood of developing additional mental health problems. AIMS-2-Trials will create the first European clinical trials network for autism, as well as allowing for international collaborations with charities, government agencies and industry to rapidly determine if therapies are effective. Partnership with autistic people, their families and carers will be a crucial part of developing therapies that achieve the outcomes which matter most to autistic people. Researchers at Trinity College Dublin will contribute to the advancement of personalised approaches to therapies for Autism Spectrum Disorder. This project builds on our ongoing research investigating rare genetic changes that are associated with autism symptoms. In AIMS-2- Trials, Trinity researchers will focus on investigating individuals who carry deletions in genes specifically related to the structure and function of brain synapses (or brain cells). They aim to find biomarkers that can help identify specific biological pathways involved in brain development. The researchers will be engaging in a pan-European clinical trials network to investigate new therapies specifically targeting disabling symptoms and improving quality of life while also retaining unique autistic strengths. Through the Innovative Medicines Initiative, European Union funding matches in-kind contributions from autism charities and the pharmaceutical industry, with nearly 60 million provided by charities, and 2.5 million from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA). International Yoga Day: How To Lose Weight With Yoga Wellness oi-Neha Ghosh The word 'Yoga' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Yuj' which means the union of your individual consciousness and the universal consciousness. Yoga is known for healing the body and mind; it is also known for helping in weight loss. If you love doing yoga and is looking forward to lose weight, then this article will be beneficial for you. Yoga And Weight Loss Intense yoga exercises help you burn the most of calories, which aids in preventing weight gain. Practising power yoga daily helps you develop muscle tone and improve your metabolism. A study published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine found that yoga is a great way to help with weight loss, prevent weight gain, and reduce stress [1] . Yoga Poses For Weight Loss 1. Boat pose (Naukasana) In boat pose, your midriff becomes the base for balancing the body and if you are finding it difficult to lose the stubborn belly fat, this yoga asana will help you. Performing the boat pose yoga daily will let you achieve a toned abdomen, relieve stress and stimulate the intestines, kidneys, and prostate glands. Note: If you are suffering from insomnia, spinal injuries or hernia, do not try this yoga asana. How to do: Sit on the floor with your legs together in front of you. Bend your knees and lift your feet so that your thighs are at an angle to the floor, while your shins are parallel to the floor. Raise your arms in front of you in a way that they are parallel to the floor. Straighten your legs while keeping your torso lifted. Hold this pose for 30 seconds and repeat at least 5 times. 2. Plank pose (Dandasana) This pose allows you to support the body on your hands and keep the core intact. Doing plank pose strengthens and tones your arms, biceps and triceps. How to do: Sit on the floor with your hands several inches behind your hips and your fingers pointing forward. Bend your knees and your feet on the floor. Exhale and press your feet and hands down against the floor, and lift your hips upwards. Straighten your legs and slowly tilt your head back. Hold for 30 seconds and then sit back to normal position with an exhale. 3. Lion pose (Simhasana) If you have facial fat, this yoga asana will help tone the facial muscles. When you are in this pose sticking your tongue out, your facial muscles, the spine and thorax are also stretched. This will help to get rid of a double chin. People of any age can try this yoga asana. How to do: Kneel on the floor and cross your legs and sit. Press your palms firmly against your knees. Open the palms and splay your fingers like the sharpened claws. Inhale and open your mouth wide and stretch your tongue out, curling its tip down towards the chin. Open your eyes wide and exhale. 4. Dolphin pose (Ardha Pincha Mayurasana) In this pose, the arms become the base for balancing the entire upper body while you try to stay afloat. Performing dolphin pose yoga will strengthen and tone the arms, biceps, and triceps. Note: People having neck or shoulder injuries should avoid this yoga. How to do: Put your hands and knees on the floor. Your knees should be below your hips and your forearms on the floor with your shoulders directly above your wrists. Firmly press your palms and forearms on the floor. Exhale and lift your knees from the floor, keep it slightly bent. Keep your head down. Do this for 30 seconds and release your knees with an exhale. 5. Fish pose (Matsyasana) This yoga pose involves stretching the lower body such as the thighs, abdominal muscles, and hips. This yoga asana is all about twisting and pulling the lower body that aids in burning the extra fat that gets deposited in the most prominent places like the thighs and abdomen. How to do: Lie on the back on the floor with your knees bent slightly. Inhale, lift your pelvis slightly off the floor and slide your palms under your buttocks. Press your forearms and elbows firmly against the floor. Tilt your head back on the floor. Hold this position for 30 seconds and exhale. Note: Avoid the fish pose if you are menstruating, suffering from blood pressure or migraine. 6. Cobra pose (Bhujangasana) This yoga pose involves the upper body and stretches the abdominal muscles and helps in burning unwanted belly fat. Note: If you are pregnant or suffering from hernia, do not try this asana. How to do: Lie on your stomach, stretch your legs and spread your hands on the floor parallel with your shoulders. Inhale and lift your chest off the floor. Firm the shoulder blades against the back. Hold the pose for 30 seconds and exhale. 7. Garland pose (Malasana) This yoga is beneficial for those people who sit all day at the desk and accumulate fat in the lower part of the body. Garland pose will help in stretching the groins, thighs, and hip muscles and also enhance flexibility and tone the inner and outer thighs. Note: Avoid garland pose if you suffer from hip or knee pain. How to do: Squat on your legs and separate your legs slightly. Exhale and lean forward between your thighs. Press your elbows against your inner knees and bring your palms together. Stay in this position for 30 seconds to 1 minute and inhale. How Often Should You Practice Yoga To Lose Weight Intense yoga practice should be done for at least three to five times per week for one hour. If you don't have that much time, practice for 20 minutes. Also, if you are a beginner, start slowly and gradually to build your practice. Combine yoga with other low-intensity exercises like cycling, walking or swimming. View Article References [1] Bernstein, A. M., Bar, J., Ehrman, J. P., Golubic, M., & Roizen, M. F. (2014). Yoga in the management of overweight and obesity.American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine,8(1), 33-41. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/6/2018 (1215 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Not necessarily jobs for everyone To the person who put in the Sound Off that there are jobs out there, but most of the people are too lazy and dont want to work and that all the newcomers are hard workers, paying taxes, buying cars, renting, etc. Well, did you know that all these business get tax breaks from the federal and provincial governments? And when you apply for jobs now online there might be a lot of job openings, but it does not mean they are going to hire you, does it? There are people who have been looking for work for decades who now have to have their senior parents spend 65 per cent of their pension to look after them. So you better get your facts straight, buddy! Equal opportunity for all? In response to the Sound Off regarding the lack of jobs in Brandon and immigrants finding work. I am aware of situations where Canadians apply for jobs which are filled by immigrants. This is not to say that immigrants should not be hired ... only to suggest that there must be equal opportunity. This is happening in our city whether you wish to believe it or not. There goes the neighbourhood Is the long-awaited enjoyment of your backyard shattered by endless fits of profanities during the day and more of the same unending mayhem when you are trying to sleep at night? Is there a steady decline in the condition of your neighbouring property as doors, windows and gates are torn apart? Is there an endless stream of traffic hurtling by your abode? Well, congratulations, a group home has opened in your neighbourhood! Mayor Rick, take note! This is becoming an election issue! Review of how downtown fire handled is needed So now that they have discovered where the downtown fire started, we hope they catch those responsible. They also need to review actions of our fire department not as a point of blame, but in terms of improvement. It seems incredible that the fire spread as it did, considering the knowledge of current firefighting methods and the equipment available. I find it astounding that, to date, there has been no public announcement of a review of how this fire overwhelmed our Brandon fire department. We should all be concerned that it was not controlled. An objective review needs to be completed, for the future benefit and safety of our community. Killing with kindness If you stop on major roads like 13th Street to let people cross, you may feel you are doing a good thing, but what you are doing is very dangerous and illegal. Firstly, the car behind you or coming the other way may not see the person or know why you stopped and hit them. Secondly, you are teaching pedestrians its okay to walk in front of any vehicle and they may step in front of someone who does not stop. By Ann O'Loughlin A High Court judge has refused an application by AIB Mortgage Bank to revisit findings by her which it fears could raise doubt about some 17.8 billion interbank debt transfers made under a 2001 Act. The findings, made last July by Ms Justice Marie Baker in a case by AIBMB against Nadine Thompson, were that an 1887 Act required sufficient notice be served on Ms Thompson of the transfer of her loan from AIB to AIBMB but that was not done. Based on other findings there was an equitable assignment of the debt and it was actionable in equity, the judge held AIBMB was entitled to judgment against Ms Thompson, Rathdown Park, Terenure, Dublin, for 244,591 The transfer was among some 17.8 billion loan transfers made under a scheme provided for under Section 58 of the Asset Covered Securities Act 2001 and AIBMB later voiced concerns the judgment could raise doubt about transfers under the scheme. Final orders have yet to be made in Ms Thompsons case because the bank applied to the judge to revisit or amplify her finding the failure to provide express notice of the loan transfer amounted to breach of the Superior Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act 1887. It argued its application was in the public interest as the substantive judgment was liable to cause doubt on the legal effect of interbank transfers made under the scheme provided for under the 2001 Act. Its counsel Paul Gallagher SC submitted the judgment had potential to impact generally on the market in assets covered securities in an adverse way and may be relied on in other cases, leading to a degree of litigation chaos and legal uncertainty. AIBMB agreed to indemnify Ms Thompson, represented by Louis McEntagart SC, instructed by Tom Casey solicitor, for the costs of opposing its application. In her reserved judgment on Wednesday, Ms Justice Baker said the bank, for understandable reasons, was not appealing her decision it was entitled to judgment against Ms Thompson. Neither the bank nor Ms Thompson argued the principal judgment was incorrect in law and the banks real concern was whether Section 58 of the ACS Act offers a complete and separate statutory means by which a debt is assigned, she said. That argument could have been but was not litigated before her in this case and thus not addressed by her in her 2017 judgment. That judgment, she stressed, was therefore not a useful authority in relation to the Section 58 point. It was impermissible to re-open this case so the bank could advance its Section 58 argument now but such an argument could be made in another suitable case, she ruled. The banks true concern was her 2017 judgment may be relied on by borrowers in other cases where a loan book transfers under the 2001 Act. She considered, in a suitable case, if the provisions of the 2001 Act are opened and fully argued, the matter may be appropriately determined. Because there was nothing preventing any bank making that argument in another case, there was no public interest to be gained in revisiting her judgment, she ruled. It would be wrong to permit her judgment be revisited so as to ensure clarification for the purposes of later cases when she was not persuaded a suitable case could not arise in the future, she added. She also believed, were she to deliver a fresh judgment in this case, that could lead to legal uncertainty concerning the operation of Section 28 of the 1887 Act. If she granted the banks application, there would effectively be two judgments from her in the same case with the same result but with different reasoning, she added. By Padraig Hoare Apple boss Tim Cook took in some of Corks most famed landmarks yesterday before he officially opened a new extension at the tech giants Hollyhill campus. The CEO of the Cupertino, California-headquartered iPhone maker, worth more than $922bn (797bn), visited Corks English Market in the city centre before addressing staff at Hollyhill. Mr Cooks address was part of a ceremony that celebrated the firms diversity and included live performance by The Script. The Apple boss has been on a tour of his firms European bases in recent days, and also met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin before heading to Cork. Since 2012, Apple says it has invested nearly 220m to develop its Hollyhill campus on Corks northside, and has expanded again with a new building that provides space for 1,400 employees. The firm recently published a report where it affirmed Corks importance to its business, saying the citys employees play a critical role in product delivery and after-sales support. Cork is home to Apples support and service teams, known as AppleCare. They support Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa and provide support to customers via multiple channels including phone, email, and chat. In addition to the employees in Cork we have a large at-home advisor population providing technical support to customers from their homes across Ireland. Apple has been based in Cork for over 35 years and now directly employs 6,000 people throughout Ireland supporting all aspects of the business. Apples Irish team has doubled in size over the last five years and includes over 80 different nationalities. Apple is Corks largest private employer and we are proud that many of the team have been with us for decades, the company said. Apple, which is predicted by analysts to soon pass $1tn in market capitalisation, said Cork had its only wholly-owned manufacturing facility in the world, which provides configure-to-order iMacs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The firm said it has worked with 386 Irish suppliers and spent over 550m with companies in the last two years, supporting more than 25,000 jobs. It has 22,000 employees in 19 countries. The firms future Irish plans were scuppered last month as it said it would pull out of a planned data centre in Galway, in which it would have invested 850m. Delays in the planning process were blamed for the decision, which led to a wider discussion among political and business leaders about overhauling the planning system. By Katie Linsell and Dara Doyle Digicel, the mobile carrier company controlled by Denis OBrien, has told bondholders that its quarterly earnings dropped 10%. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) in the three months to the end of March dropped to $253m (219m) from the same period last year as the company altered tariffs and took a $3m hit from hurricanes, the company said in the presentation to bondholders. Full-year earnings dropped 2% to just over $1bn, according to an earnings release seen by Bloomberg News. Services revenues dropped 3%. Mr OBrien founded Digicel in 2001 and turned it into a mobile phone empire with customers spread from El Salvador to Vanuatu, financing the expansion partly with high-yield debt. The yield on the companys 2020 bonds rose to 21%, approaching the record high of 23% reached earlier this month, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Digicels operating cash flow decreased by 17% to $241m, due to lower EBITDA restructuring costs of $34m. The company had cash on hand, as of the end of March, totalling $155m. Last month Bloomberg reported that Digicel plans to cut debt through a mixture of earnings growth and so-called inorganic measures, with the company looking to reduce borrowings to about 5.7 times earnings in the fiscal year 2019 from around 6.7 times in the year-earlier period. - Bloomberg Ryanair has today welcomed confirmation from IATA that it remains Europe's favourite airline. The Irish carrier transported more customers than any other European airline, and had the most international customers. According to the World Airline Transport Statistics, Ryanair carried over 128 million customers in 2017, compared with Easyjet at 77 million, Lufthansa at 60 million and British Airways at 44 million. Ryanairs Kenny Jacobs said: IATA has once again confirmed that Ryanair remains Europes favourite airline and this report demonstrates that European consumers want the lowest fares and widest choice of routes. "This year, we will carry 139 million customers, while continuing to lower fares and grow our route network across Europe." - Digital Desk By Liam Heylin A Cork man who denied murdering his mother thinking he was setting her free from the cruelty of life was found guilty of murder today. Paul Horgan pleaded not guilty to the murder of his mother Marian, 60, at the family home at Murmont Avenue in Montenotte in Cork on November 24 2015. A jury of nine men and three women took just over one hour to reach a unanimous verdict of guilty. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy imposed the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment on Paul Horgan. The family wept and hugged each other in court and did not present any victim impact evidence. The accused gave no visible reaction to the verdict and life sentence. The 27-year-old had denied murdering his mother and in evidence today said he only intended to set her free from the cruelty of life. Paul Horgan said he could not remember the fatal incident but that during 12 months afterwards at the Central Mental Hospital thoughts were coming back to him. These thoughts included one that his intention was to set his mother free. Asked about this in the Central Criminal Court he said he had intended to set his father free afterwards and then himself. Asked what he meant by setting free, he replied that he was talking about the cruelty of life and that his life was cruel. Paul Horgan pleaded not guilty to the murder of his mother Marian, 60, at the family home at Murmont Avenue in Montenotte in Cork on November 24 2015. Paul Horgan got into the witness box to give evidence on the third and final day of his trial today and accepted that he killed his mother. "I wanted to set her free not that I meant to kill her," he testified. But Tom Creed, prosecution senior counsel, put it to him, In order to set her free you knew it was necessary for you to intend to kill her. He replied, "Yeah, I suppose so. Mr Creed repeated, In intending to set her free you intended to kill her. He replied, I suppose so. When it was put to him that it was an inescapable fact of the evidence that he had stabbed his mother he said, "I did not intend to kill her. I intended to set her free because life is so cruel. My own life was cruel too. I wanted to set her free. My mother did not deserve cruelty." Paul Horgan then added he had the same intention for his father and himself. Asked about the attack on his father he said yesterday, "Yeah, I am so sorry - I didn't mean it at all. I don't know how it happened." When Tim OLeary defence senior counsel referred him to some of the witness evidence and asked how he felt about that, the accused man replied, "Horrible - it is hard to listen to everything. But I don't remember it, like." Paul Horgan Mr Creed SC pointed out that while Paul Horgan was assessed in the Central Mental Hospital it was found that he was not suffering from a mental disorder. The defendant replied, I was not suffering from a serious mental disorder." However, Mr Creed disagreed and said, No, no, no, he said you were not suffering a mental disorder. Mr Creed said there was no psychiatric finding on which the defence could rely to claim diminished responsibility. "It was not like my thoughts were normal," Paul Horgan said. Mr Creed referred to the defendant killing his mother, then going upstairs to put on his runners and carry two knives out of the house to follow his father from the house. Paul Horgan said, "I was walking upstairs whistling a marching tune I was hearing." On the opening day of the trial Billy Horgan gave evidence of coming home from the local GAA club and seeing his son watching television and he told him not to stay up too late. The next morning he heard an argument downstairs between his son and wife and he went down to the kitchen after 7am. She was standing in the kitchen. She had her hands around her neck, a knife sticking out of her neck. She said, Help me. I put my arm around her. She fell to the floor." "I said, Look what you are after doing to your mother. He didnt say a word. He looked calm. He never said anything. He looked at me as if there was something wrong with me. He just smiled. He kept smiling. He struck me with something in the head. I ended up next to Marian on the floor. I dont know how long I was there. I came around. My head was stinging (he had seven wounds to his head). Paul slipped on the blood. I got up then. I felt I had to (leave). The next time I saw him. I looked behind me. He was there with two knives clicking them like that (gestured in the witness box). He was smiling at me. He kept walking down the footpath clicking the knives. I hit the knife out of his right hand. I dont know how I got the knife out of his left hand, Bill Horgan said. Neighbour Fergus ODonoghue was walking from his front door when he noticed two figures in the porch of the Horgan house. Then he saw that it was Paul Horgan holding his father in a head-lock. Mr ODonoghue intervened. Mr ODonoghue said Billy Horgan said to him, He killed Marian. Mr ODonoghue turned to the accused and said, What did you do? Paul replied, I killed her. The witness said, He appeared quite cool and calm at the time. He was shouting at his dad, you fat c**t. Paul kept trying to get past Mr ODonoghue to get at his dad and Mr ODonoghue had to wrestle him to the ground and hit him. Other men who arrived on the scene assisted. Garda Mark Durcan was on duty nearby and handcuffed Paul Horgan and arrested him. Questioned by Garda Mark Durcan who arrested him on the morning in question, Paul Horgan said he stayed up watching television for the night six or seven episodes of Family Guy and the Harry Potter film Deathly Hallows Part II. He said he could not remember arguing with his mother when she got up at around 7 a.m. but added that he did not think he would want to remember. Asked if he would often drink two bottles of wine he replied, When things are bad, things going through my head, freaking myself out because I cannot talk to women. That is all I think about... I was drinking to forget. The jury was also told that Billy Horgan did not bring an assault complaint against his son. With growing interest in healthy eating, the market for nutritious foods is on the rise and cheese is one of the categories increasingly being repositioned as a healthy... Read More By Tom Tuite A Dublin father is facing a jail sentence for neglecting his sons education after the teenager missed more than 300 days of school in just over two years. The man did not turn up for his hearing at Dublin District Court but was convicted in his absence. A warrant was issued and a date for sentence in September was set by Judge John Brennan who described the case as appalling. A parent could be fined up to 1,000 and jailed for a month if convicted of breaking the Education (Welfare) Act for not complying with an official warning about a childs school attendance. Under the Act, the minimum school leaving age was raised to 16 years or the completion of three years of post-primary education. The man, who had a history of failing to attend two previous hearings, was tried in his absence in a prosecution brought by Tusla, Child and Family Agency. The boys parents did not live together but had a shared custody arrangement, the court was told. The mother was fined 400 last year. A breakdown of the teens attendance was given by an education and welfare officer. In the 2015-2016 school year the boy was absent for 118 days out of a scheduled 167, the following year he missed 142 days out of 164 and in third year between September and the end of term in December 2017 the boy did not turn up on 65 days out of 73 days. He was not there on 325 days over the entire period and missed chunks of his curriculum. His secondary school principal told Judge Brennan the teenager entered first year in September 2015. Attendance became an issue after one month and became a real issue in November so much so his year head invited the parents to attend a meeting but no parents attended. A few months later, the court heard, the boy arrived at school and told staff he had taken a number of tablets. They were unable to get through to the parents when they tried to phone them. Staff brought the boy, who is now in his mid-teens, to hospital and remained with him for three to four hours until the mother arrived. The court heard that the father could not be contacted when attempts were made to ring him on the phone number he had provided. In cross-examination, the school head told the court the man had claimed he dropped his son off but he would not stay. The court also heard that the teenager had been staying at his fathers on days he was supposed to be going to school. The court also heard he failed to attend meetings offered by an education and welfare officer and the school found him uncontactable. A range of support was offered: a lunchtime club, extracurricular activities, psychotherapy, a reduced timetable, one-to-one tuition and a home-school liaison coordinator. It had been hoped this would help re-engage the boy in education but they were not availed of, the court heard. The school realised it was not working out and the boy was moved to an alternative to mainstream educational course in third year. The father was invited to engage in that process too but did not get involved, the court heard. The teen should have been sitting the Junior Cert exams this year but that was not possible because he has missed so much of his curriculum, the principal said adding that the boys social skills had also been negatively affected. The father was found guilty and Judge John Brennan heard the man, who is in his forties, had previous convictions for breaching a barring order, criminal damage as well as drugs and motoring offences. Judge Brennan said it was an appalling situation and a plethora of support services been offered. A custodial sentence was being considered, he told the man's barrister. By Ann O'Loughlin The president of the High Court has approved a further payment for a young girl with cerebral palsy, bringing to 3m total payments agreed to date under a settlement of her case over the circumstances of her birth at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. Ruary Martin, father of six year old Milagros Martin, told Mr Justice Peter Kelly it is "wrong" and a "legislative failure" that cases of catastrophically injured children like his daughter stil have to come before the courts. His daughter suffers from seizures and the latest bout of tests carried out on her for the purpose of assessments of her needs for this court hearing triggered a seizure, he said. He had no issue with counsel or the courts but he considered it was not appropriate and it was wrong that, due to "ongoing legislative failure", families have to keep returning to court for such stressful applications. Mr Martin had in 2015 called for the establishment of a duty of candour in such cases and for the then Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, to set "a real date" for such legislation. Mr Justice Kelly agreed it is a "horrible" situation and noted such assessments require a child to undergo a "battery" of tests by various medical specialists, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists among others. The "only good news" is the necessary legislation providing for payments to meet the life long care needs of catastrophically injured persons has been passed although not yet commenced, he said. Noting the legislation was introduced some seven years after it was recommended by a courts working group, the judge said he hoped it will be commenced before the case returns to court in five years time. He wished the family the best in the meantime, he added. The judge made the comments today when approving an application by Des O'Neill SC for a further interim payment of some 1.1m to meet the child's care needs until 2023. The settlement was reached followed a day long mediation between the sides. The 1.1m payment follows an earlier payment of 1.9m agreed under a 2015 settlement of the child's case against the HSE over the circumstances of her birth at the Drogheda hospital. As part of the settlement, the hospital apologised before the court in 2015 "sincerely and unambiguously" to the Martin family for the "deficits in care", saying "all staff regret the outcome of this tragic case". Through her father, of Clonard Court, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, the child sued the HSE alleging negligence in the circumstances of her birth at the hospital on December 11th 2011. It was claimed there was a failure to carry out a caesarean section within an appropriate period. It was further claimed, because the child's mother had a history of a prior caesarean section with her first child, there was a particular duty on medical staff in relation to future pregnancies and the mode of delivery. Liability was admitted in the case in 2014. By Ann O'Loughlin In the first case of its kind before an Irish court an interim payout of 1.8m has been made to a mother who sued after a hospital test for a genetic condition came back as normal but when the child was born she was found to have the rare condition and now needs 24-hour care. Before the test was done, the mother, the High Court heard, had resolved to exercise her constitutional right to travel to the UK to have the pregnancy terminated if the test came back as abnormal which meant the child had the debilitating genetic condition. This is the first wrongful birth case based upon the right to travel to succeed at the High Court. Oonah McCrann SC for the mother told the court that after the normal result back on the test, the parents had proceeded happily and joyfully with the pregnancy and they suffered enormous shock and grief when the baby was born and found to have the rare genetic condition with very significant and profound disability requiring 24-hour care. At the outset of the hearing, Mr Justice Kevin Cross made an order that nothing be published which would identify the mother and child. The mother had sued The Rotunda Hospital, Dublin and Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Dublin. Full liability in the case was only conceded by letter on June 13 last. The letter which was referred to in court stated: "In the particular circumstances of this case and in light of the outcome of the recent referendum repealing the 8th Amendment to the Constitution" it was conceding liability and withdrawing the public policy defence. Mr Justice Cross noting liability has been conceded said he accepted that but he would have thought the result of the referendum had nothing to do with it. Ms McCrann said very significant issues of law arose in the case and events outside of the Four Courts had overtaken matters. It was claimed the mother who is a carrier of a rare genetic condition was concerned for her unborn baby and attended with a genetic counsellor at Our Lady's Hospital and a special test was arranged at The Rotunda Hospital. It was claimed that Our Lady's Hospital was expressly on notice that should the test result be abnormal the woman and her husband had resolved she should exercise her constitutional right to travel to the UK to have her pregnancy terminated. The woman attended for the test and the mother was later informed by telephone the test results were normal. The purpose of the test it was claimed was so the mother would be aware whether her unborn baby suffered from the inherited rare genetic condition. The purpose of having the knowledge was so that the mother would be able to exercise an informed choice about the remainder of her pregnancy and the treatment including the possibility of travelling to another jurisdiction for a termination. The mother it was claimed was informed the test result was normal when in fact it was abnormal. She claimed her constitutional rights had been breached and in particular the right to determine what happens to her own body and whether or not she wished to carry a pregnancy to conclusion. She was, it was claimed deprived of the ability to gave an informed consent and to make an informed choice in respect of the continuance of her pregnancy. She had also alleged the right to determine whether or not giving birth to a child with such a genetic condition would be in the best interests of her family in respect of current members and any future children that might be born. The family, it was claimed now had the emotional physical and monetary cost of raising a severely handicapped child and the mother has to endure seeing her child live a life of suffering and of very poor quality and as a result claimed she suffered significant psychological upset and distress. Mr Justice Cross approved the interim payment of 1.8m for the next four years when the case will come back before the court to assess the child's future care needs. Afterwards, the solicitors firm which represented the mother Malcomson Law said it was the first wrongful birth case based upon the right to travel to come before the Irish courts. The case, the statement said, was also unique in the application of periodic payment order to such an event had not occurred in any jurisdiction worldwide. it said the family of the child are relieved his legal battle has been resolved in favour of their child. "The worry and concern as to what care facilities would be available for this child into the future and indeed after the death of the parents has now been alleviated, it said. It added: "It is a travesty that the issue of public policy relating to the entitlement to damages at all was maintained as an issue in the case up to a concession, some nine days before the case was due to commence ." It said litigation risk was maintained in the case by way of a public policy argument that created that created unnecessary worry and concern for the mother. "It is a relief that this action is resolved in such satisfactory terms for the family concerned considering the enormity of the personal calamity that exists in the context of care requirements.", it stated. The government is considering carbon taxes ahead of the Budget as it revealed further details today on the measures it plans to introduce as part of the Ireland 2040 environment plan. Around 22bn will be spent on the measures in the next decade, while new cars with tail pipes will be banned from sale by 2030. The Government's range of environmental measures as part of the Ireland 2040 plan come in the wake of yesterday's report that we're the second worst country in the EU for progress on climate change. The government plans to invest 22 billion euro in environmental measures over the next decade - that's one euro in every five of its capital expenditure. Mr Naughten was asked if an extra excise on diesel fuel is being considered: "We're reviewing a lot of different regulations at the moment that can act as an encouragement for people to change out of the traditional ways that have a negative impact on climate," he said. "As part of the ongoing process and preparation for the Budget, we are looking at carbon-related taxation measures." Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that the majority of the funding is based on the growth in the economy but they'll also have to look at introducing carbon tax to achieve the goals. This morning were talking about our Climate Action plans as part of Project #Ireland2040. We will invest 22bn in climate action over the next decade to help decarbonise our economy. pic.twitter.com/qtJnVpR0Gg Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) June 20, 2018 The government says the measures will help get Ireland back on track so we can meet our revised emissions targets for 2030 and 2050. Reacting to the Governments plan Green Party Councillor and Spokesperson on Climate Change, David Healy, said the plan is business as usual. Speaking today, he said that the Government still refuse to face the scale of the challenge facing Ireland, that a complete economic transition is needed, not tinkering around the edges of the economy. The Government has today re-announced measures in the National Development Plan addressing climate change. Those measures are welcome in themselves; however, they do not go far enough. They still don't get it that climate policy is about a fundamental transition of the economy, not an add on to business as usual. In the electricity generation sector, the Government has still failed to take the necessary decision to stop subsidising the burning of peat to generate electricity. Environmentalists and economists have united to criticise this perverse subsidy for decades, most recently in a scathing article by John Fitzgerald, Chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council. "But still we are stuck with a "co-firing" subsidy in the guise of renewables which actually guarantees higher emissions than if it wasn't in place, instead using the money to achieve a just transition for the communities and workers in the Midlands" Mr Healy went on to say that in the housing sector, the investment in retrofit is vital, and should be increased. "But the irony is that the Department of Housing has just completed a public consultation process on Building Regulations in which it proposes to continue to allow the installation of new fossil fuel heating systems. So while one Government department is spending billions to take them out, developers can still put fossil-based systems into new developments. On emissions Mr Helay said the fundamental change needed is to spend twice as much on public transport as on private motor transport. "We are still doing the opposite. The National Development Plan contains a long list of major road schemes which will lead to more traffic and more emissions. As a result the EPA and all other predictions are for transport emissions to keep rising rapidly. When it comes to agriculture, land use and forestry, it is business as usual. Today's report doesn't even mention the restoration of our bogs, to stop them continuing to emit carbon to the atmosphere. Its forestry policy is business as usual instead of the step change to large scale mixed continuous cover forestry and restoring which we require. The Government needs to realise that our climate challenge will not be met by tinkering around the edges of the policy changes required. - Digital Desk By Sarah-Jane Murphy Former Anglo Irish Bank CEO David Drumm has been jailed for six years for his role in a premeditated and planned multi-billion euro bank fraud scheme in 2008. Earlier this month, a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court returned unanimous verdicts of guilty on charges of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting, after just over ten and a half hours of deliberations. Today, Judge Karen O'Connor described Drumm as the driving force in Anglo and said he had engaged in grossly reprehensible behaviour while in a position of trust. David Drumm This court is not sentencing Mr Drumm for causing the financial crisis. Nor is this court sentencing Mr Drumm for the recession which occurred, she said. She said the fact the 7.2billion fraudulent scheme between Anglo and Irish Life & Permanent (ILP) didn't ultimately succeed was irrelevant, as the conspiracy could have caused significant loss. The judge noted it appeared no actual money had been lost. Judge O'Connor said that clearly Mr Drumm and his colleagues were working in difficult circumstances to protect the interest of Anglo Irish Bank. The bank was haemorrhaging money at the time and funding initiatives had disappeared. However, the motivation to keep the bank open is irrelevant. This was grossly reprehensible behaviour and it does not provide any excuse for fraud and dishonesty. It was the State's case that Drumm (51) conspired with Irish Life & Permanent's former CEO, Denis Casey, Anglo's former financial director Willie McAteer and former Head of Treasury at Anglo, John Bowe, among others, to carry out 7.2bn in fraudulent circular transactions in order to bolster the customer deposits figure on Anglo's balance sheet. The State also alleged that this 7.2bn was falsely accounted for as part of the bank's customer deposits in preliminary accounts published on December 3rd 2008, therefore misleading the market as to Anglo's true strength. Bowe (54) from Glasnevin, Dublin, McAteer (67) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary and Casey (58) from Raheny, Dublin were convicted in June 2016 on the conspiracy to defraud charges. In sentencing him to six years for conspiracy to defraud and false accounting, Judge O'Connor noted Drumm was a person of previous good character and had a supportive family. Drumm, dressed in a navy suit and open-collared blue shirt leaned back slightly in the dock as sentence was passed, but showed no visible reaction. The maximum prison sentence for conspiracy to defraud is unlimited, while the maximum jail term for false accounting is ten years. Judge O'Connor said Drumm had lost his reputation and his conviction would encroach on future employment. This is difficult for him on a personal level in circumstances where he was respected within the banking industry, she said. The judge also noted that Drumm had been the subject of much opprobrium and said this had been difficult for him and his family on a human level. She said the aggravating factors in the case were the nature of the offending, the abuse of position of trust within the bank and the fact that significant planning went into this 7.2billion fraud. Judge O'Connor said Drumm will get credit for the five months he spent in a US federal penitentiary before he ultimately consented to his extradition in March 2016. The former banking executive lived in Wellesley, Massachusetts, US for a number of years after the collapse of Anglo. Earlier, Detective Sergeant Michael McKenna confirmed to the court that he had no previous convictions. Drumm's lawyers told the court he had instructed them not to put forward any testimonials or character references. Brendan Grehan SC said that since his client became the chief executive of the Anglo Irish Bank his life had been an open book and he did not wish to have others exposed to further adverse publicity or loss of privacy. Mr Grehan said his client was married with two children, and had worked his way from humble beginnings to the dizzying heights of CEO in what was described as one of the world's best banks. He said Drumm was the fourth of eight children, whose father was a truck driver and mother was a hairdresser. Drumm, of Skerries, Co Dublin, was on bail throughout the 87-day trial, the third longest criminal trial in the history of the State, and his bail was continued after his conviction. He had pleaded not guilty to conspiring with former bank officials Denis Casey, William McAteer, John Bowe and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by dishonestly creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2 billion larger than they were. He had also pleaded not guilty to false accounting on December 3, 2008, by furnishing information to the market that Anglo's 2008 deposits were 7.2 billion larger than they were. Earlier: David Drumm jailed for six years for role in 7.2bn banking fraud By Sarah-Jane Murphy Former Anglo Irish Bank CEO David Drumm has been jailed for six years for his role in a multi-billion euro bank fraud scheme in 2008. Earlier this month, a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court returned unanimous verdicts of guilty on a charge of conspiracy to defraud and one of false accounting, after just over ten and a half hours of deliberations. Judge Karen O'Connor delivered the sentence shortly after 4pm this afternoon and said that any time already spent in custody should be taken into consideration. The maximum prison sentence for conspiracy to defraud is unlimited, while the maximum jail term for false accounting is ten years. Judge OConnor sentenced Mr Drumm to six years and ordered that he would get credit for the five months he had spent in a prison in Boston before being extradited to Ireland in March 2016. The judge said she felt "the appropriate headline figure is eight years imprisonment in relation to both counts", but imposed a six-year sentence after reflecting on mitigating factors. The former banking executive lived in Wellesley, Massachusetts, US for a number of years including after the collapse of Anglo. He was subject to lengthy extradition proceedings and was held in custody for five months in a US Federal Penitentiary before he ultimately consented to his extradition in March 2016. Drumm (51) of Skerries, Co. Dublin was on bail throughout the 87-day trial, the third longest criminal trial in the history of the State. His bail was continued after his conviction and he was present in court for the hearing this morning, dressed in a navy suit and an open-collared blue shirt. During this hearing, his lawyers told the court he had instructed them not to put forward any testimonials or character references. Brendan Grehan SC said that since his client became the chief executive of the Anglo Irish Bank his life had been an open book and he did not wish to have others exposed to further adverse publicity or loss of privacy. It was the State's case that Drumm conspired with Irish Life & Permanent's former CEO, Denis Casey, Anglo's former financial director Willie McAteer and former Head of Treasury at Anglo, John Bowe, among others, to carry out 7.2bn in fraudulent circular transactions in order to bolster the customer deposits figure on Anglo's balance sheet. The State also alleged that this 7.2bn was falsely accounted for as part of the bank's customer deposits in preliminary accounts published on December 3rd 2008, therefore misleading the market as to Anglo's true strength. Bowe (54) from Glasnevin, Dublin, McAteer (67) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary and Casey (58) from Raheny, Dublin were convicted in June 2016 on the conspiracy to defraud charges. David Drumm in happier times in 2006 Drumm, of Skerries, Co Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to conspiring with former bank officials Denis Casey, William McAteer, John Bowe and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by dishonestly creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2 billion larger than they were. He had also pleaded not guilty to false accounting on December 3, 2008, by furnishing information to the market that Anglo's 2008 deposits were 7.2 billion larger than they were. More to follow. Update 9.15pm: The director of MacGill Summer School has said that they are working to redress the gender imbalance in the MacGill 2018 programme. In a statement released this evening by Joe Mulholland, he said that they are working to include two new sessions in this year's programme. The move comes after the MacGill Summer School was criticised for the male-dominated panels scheduled to feature this year. Of 56 speakers listed to talk at this year's event, 12 of them are women. Mr Mulholland said that this falls short of "the very high standards for which MacGill has become known and which has led to audience growth year on year". He said that women are "without question" under-represented numerically on their panels "notwithstanding the strengths and high calibre of those women who accepted our invitation to contribute". "This is something we very much regret. In hindsight, it is reflective of an Ireland undergoing change, albeit slowly, and which still in 2018 has significant and widespread under-representation of women across many areas of public life. We are determined, in the short period remaining before MacGill 2018 commences, to do all that we can to redress this imbalance. To this end, we are working progressively to include in the programme two new sessions. "One will focus on the recent referendum on Repeal of the 8th Amendment. "The other session will be tasked with cutting to the very heart of why MacGill and other organisations and public forums in Ireland have not embraced effectively gender balancing. "To achieve this we need help and I would ask our audiences and particularly women to assist us in transforming MacGill 2018 by participating in the debates in Glenties which will help establish new foundations in our ongoing pursuit of building a better Ireland in the years ahead." Social Democrats TDs Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shortall. Photo: Leah Farrell/ RollingNews.ie. Earlier: Social Democrat TDs withdraw from MacGill Summer School over male-dominated panels The co-leaders of the Social Democrats are withdrawing from the MacGill Summer School over male-dominated panels. Of 56 speakers listed to talk at this year's event, 12 of them are women. Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shortall say they won't take part in panels at this years event unless significant changes are made. Both TDs said they were "surprised" by a comment by Joe Mulholland, director of MacGill Summer School, that it was hard to find people with the right aptitude. The assertion from @MacGillSummerSc that it's difficult to find people with the right aptitude is offensive to women says @CathMurphyTD - who has been invited to discuss dysfunctionality in Ireland - women must be part of discussions and solutions #MacGill2018 #NoCountryForWomen pic.twitter.com/cNtqlO6QCK Social Democrats (@SocDems) June 20, 2018 Speaking on Today with Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio 1 this morning, Ms Murphy said: "The comments that Joe Mulholland made that it's difficult to find women with the right aptitude is really quite offensive" "Women have to be an equal part of this narrative," she said. Mr Mulholland apologised on the same programme. He spoke of working to find other balances throughout the year, in terms of politcal and socio-economic politcial balances, and said he had "done his best". "That [aptitude] was a totally wrong term to use and I apolgise for that and I withdraw it... maybe the right qualifications or whatever, but it's sometimes difficult." He went on to say that the number of women on the programme does not represent the number of women invited. "I'd hate to have to abandon the school altogether," he said. The MacGill Summer School was founded in 1981. This year's speakers include Bertie Ahern, Stephen Donnelly, Micheal Martin, Mairead McGuinness, David Quinn and Vicky Phelan. For your delectation and delight, with no expense spared, the manel panel for @MacGillSummerSc 2018 full colour supplement. #MacGill2018. pic.twitter.com/xw0d8Gn0RT Peter Reid (@peterkinvara) June 18, 2018 You can listen to the full interview here: - Digital Desk By Sarah-Jane Murphy and Declan Brennan Former Anglo Irish bank CEO David Drumm who was convicted this month of taking part in a multi-billion euro fraud scheme in 2008 may be sentenced this afternoon after a hearing began this morning. An 87-day trial ended earlier this month when a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court returned unanimous verdicts of guilty on two charges of false accounting and conspiracy to defraud. It was the State's case that Drumm (51) had conspired with Irish Life & Permanent's former CEO, Denis Casey, Anglo's former financial director Willie McAteer and former Head of Treasury at Anglo, John Bowe and others, to carry out 7.2bn in fraudulent circular transactions in order to bolster the customer deposits figure on Anglo's balance sheet. The State also alleged that this 7.2bn was falsely accounted for as part of the bank's customer deposits in preliminary accounts published on December 3, 2008, therefore misleading the market as to Anglo's true strength. This morning, Detective Sergeant Michael McKenna gave evidence of the billion euro transactions which the State say were fraudulent and designed only to bolster the bank's balance sheet in September 2009. After hearing the prosecution evidence and defence submissions, Judge Karen O'Connor has adjourned the case to the afternoon. She said she will endeavour to bring matters to a conclusion then. Drumm, who was granted bail after his conviction, was present in court for the hearing this morning, dressed in a navy suit and an open-collared blue shirt. The former banking executive has an address in Skerries, Dublin but lived in Wellesley, Massachusetts, US for a number of years including after the collapse of Anglo. He was subject to lengthy extradition proceedings and was held in custody for five months in a US Federal Penitentiary before he ultimately consented to his extradition in March 2016. Bowe (54) from Glasnevin, Dublin, McAteer (67) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary and Casey (58) from Raheny, Dublin were convicted in June 2016 on the conspiracy to defraud charges. Judge Martin Nolan jailed Casey for two years and nine months after telling him that Anglo were the authors of the scheme but that he had behaved disgracefully and reprehensibly in co-operating with it. He jailed McAteer for three and a half years and imposed a two-year prison sentence on Bowe. The maximum sentence for the conspiracy to defraud charge is unlimited. The maximum sentence for the false accounting charge is ten years. During the 16-week trial, the state called 49 witnesses to give evidence regarding the transactions whereby Anglo lent money to Irish Life & Permanent (ILP) and ILP sent the money back, via their assurance firm Irish life Assurance, to Anglo. The scheme, described by the prosecution as a massive con, was accounted for so that deposits came from the assurance company and were treated as customer deposits, which are a better measure of a bank's strength than interbank loans. The prosecution argued that the objective of the conspiracy, in which the money moved at lightning speed, was to mislead anybody reading Anglo's accounts by artificially inflating the customer deposits number from 44bn to 51bn. An expert witness for the State, Dan Taylor of BDO accountants, testified that there was no commercial substance to the transactions, and described them as misleading and inaccurate. Lawyers for Drumm made a series of admissions on his behalf on the opening day of his trial, accepting the transactions as alleged took place, but disputing that they were fraudulent or dishonest. The prosecution said these so-called admissions were self-serving and not based on the facts of the case. The defence called no witnesses during the trial. Counsel for Drumm said he never set out to commit any kind of fraud, and togged out for Ireland when the Central Bank came to him during the international financial crisis and asked Irish banks to help each other out. Drumm's barristers said he did his best in good faith, in the unrivalled circumstances which arose during the recession. But the State said it was no defence that the financial market was under pressure and that Anglo was going down the tubes anyway at the time of the transactions. This does not exonerate those who acted to try to keep the bank limping on for another few days, Mary Rose Gearty SC, prosecuting, told the jury. She told the jurors that a recorded phone-call played in court between Drumm and his co-conspirators during which they discussed the money going around in a circle was clear, reliable and contemporaneous evidence that the men were discussing a criminal conspiracy. Counsel for the State said it was such a monumentally fraudulent scheme that it was hard to understand why it had not been called out by people in the bank. The prosecution argued that there was no evidence that the Central Bank or the Financial Regulator knew of the transactions before they happened and said even if they did, this was totally irrelevant to this trial. Drumm, of Skerries, Co Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to conspiring with former bank officials Denis Casey, William McAteer, John Bowe and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by dishonestly creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2 billion larger than they were. He had also pleaded not guilty to false accounting on December 3, 2008, by furnishing information to the market that Anglo's 2008 deposits were 7.2 billion larger than they were. The Environment Minister says the government will be introducing more charging points to get people to switch to electric cars. Denis Naughten has been outlining plans to make Ireland more environmentally friendly within the next decade which will involve a spend of 22bn. Corporate employees in Ireland are suffering from concerning levels of stress, anxiety and depression, a new report has found. The Vhi's Health Insights Report shows that women, people aged under 34 and workers in the tech sector are most concerned about their mental health. The report also identified a lack of resilience amongst younger workers, while employees across all age groups expressed deep dissatisfaction with their lives. Only 16% of those surveyed said that they were extremely satisfied with their lives while one in five people are extremely or very stressed. One-third of people surveyed said that the stress in their roles would cause them to consider moving jobs, and 78% of corporate employees believe mental health issues are of increasing concern. Commenting on the report, Professor Brendan Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin and part of Vhis Expert Group said: There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence suggesting that workplace stress is increasing. "The level of mental health issues identified is concerning and with many respondents stating they believe it will impact their health in the future, it is clearly a growing problem." "While we do acknowledge that the diagnostic thresholds are changing in society it is clear that stress is a serious and growing issue that needs to be urgently addressed. - Digital Desk An Irish immigration lawyer working in the states says America should not be celebrated here on July 4. It is in response to Donald Trump's clampdown on illegal immigration which has seen children torn away from their parents on the US/Mexico border. By Gordon Deegan A senior lawyer has hit out at the massive delay by the State in analysing technical evidence in child pornography cases. At Ennis Circuit Court, Brian McInerney BL was commenting in a case where his client, Ciaran Moore (41) has pleaded guilty to the possession of 531 child explicit images and 24 child explicit movies at his home address in the Tullyglass area of Shannon. The offences took place on October 31st and November 1st 2012. Addressing Judge Gerald Keys, Mr McInerney said: The dates on the indictment relate to almost six years ago and that, I just wish to point out at this stage, is through no fault of the accused. Mr McInerney said: That is because of the dearth of resources available to the Garda Siochana in what used to be known as the Computer Crime Unit and they have now have some exotic name attached to it." Experience has shown in this case and other cases that there is a massive delay on the part of the State conducting the analysis of this material." Mr McInerney requested that the residential address where the child porn material was discovered not be published as there are entirely innocent parties residing at that house. In reply, Judge Keys directed that the address not be published. Mr McInerney said that ahead of sentencing in the case later this year, he would ask for an extension of the legal aid cert to provide for a psychiatric report on Mr Moore. Counsel for the State, Lorcan Connolly BL said that there are four offences concerning a house in Shannon and a fifth count relating to a separate non-residential address at Tullyvarraga, Shannon. In the case, Mr Moore has pleaded guilty to possession of 158 explicit child images and 10 explicit child movies on a C Gate External Hard Drive on October 31st at a Shannon address. Mr Moore has also pleaded guilty to the possession of 269 child explicit images and eight child explicit home movies on a Dell XPS Laptop on October 31st 2012. Mr Moore has also pleaded guilty to the possession of three child explicit movies on a Toshiba External Hard Drive on October 31st 2012. In addition, at the same address and on the same date, Mr Moore pleaded guilty to having 104 child explicit images on a Western Digital External Hard Drive on October 31st 2012. In the fifth count that Mr Moore pleaded guilty to, he pleaded guilty to the possession of three child explicit movies on a Asus G743 Laptop at Tullyvarraga, Shannon on November 1st. Judge Keys remanded Mr Moore on bail to Ennis Circuit Court to October 1st to fix a date for sentence. By Sonya McLean Independent TD Michael Lowry has had a charge of delivering an incorrect income tax return for 2002 dropped. Eight charges in relation to Mr Lowry's company Garuda Ltd, filing corporation tax for 2002 and 2006 remain before the jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Judge Martin Nolan told the jury of three women and eight men that the first count on the indictment against Mr Lower has been withdrawn. He agreed with Michael O'Higgins SC, defending Mr Lowry, that following legal submission his team applied for a direction of not guilty and the State did not oppose our application. Judge Nolan told the jury that he would be directing them later to find Mr Lowry not guilty by direction against the charge. The withdrawn charge stated that on October 21, 2003, Mr Lowry knowingly or wilfully delivered to the Collector General an incorrect income tax return for the year 2002. It further stated that the said income tax return was incorrect insofar as it failed to reflect or account for the sum of Stg248,624.00 (372,000) which had been obtained by Michael Lowry from Garuda Limited and as such ought to have been declared as income, profit or gained earned by him during the said tax year. Earlier in the trial Henry Oliver, in the investigation unit of Revenue, told the jury that he looked into the 372,000 payment in August 2013 and assessed it as an emolument (a wage or salary) earned by Mr Lowry. He said on that basis he determined that Mr Lowry owed income tax on the figure and Garuda PAYE and PRSI on the sum. He assessed the total owed to Revenue, including penalties and fine, as being 1.1 million. Mr Lowry's defence team didn't accept that the 372,000 constituted an income but rather said the money was owed to the company as commission from Norpe. The jury heard that both Michael Lowry and Garuda Ltd successfully challenged the Revenue assessment before the appeals commission in April 2015. The assessment was reduced to nil meaning that neither Mr Lowry nor Garuda owed anything to Revenue. The jury heard Mr Lowry's testimony before the appeals commission in which he stated I refute the suggestion that I 'constructed this situation and that I made a profit from this transaction. It wasn't a salary to me or a payment to me. It was me calling in my director's loan at a time when I needed it, Mr Lowry told the appeals commission, referring to the fact that he said he had lent Garuda money in the past. The nub of the issue is it should have been recorded in 2002 when it wasn't. I can be accused of all sorts of things but the bottom line is it was a genuine mistake, he continued. The jury heard that Revenue was at a loss of 5,541 by Garuda not paying corporation tax on the 372,000 until 2006. A final figure of 29,000, including penalties and fines, was deemed due by Revenue and that this was paid by Mr Lowry's company, Garuda Ltd, in 2013. It is the State's case that Mr Lowry's company, Garuda Ltd, received 372,000 in commission from Norpe OY, a refrigeration company based in Finland, in August 2002. It is alleged that Mr Lowry arranged for this payment to be made to a third party, Kevin Phelan, residing in the Isle of Man, and therefore it didn't appear in the company accounts for that year. It is further alleged that the accounts were then falsified in 2007 to reflect that the payment was received in 2006. At the start of the trial Mr Lowry (64) of Glenreigh, Holycross, Co. Tipperary, pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four charges of filing incorrect tax returns on dates between August 2002 and August 2007 in relation to a sum of Stg 248,624 received by his company, Garuda Ltd and one charge in relation to failing to keep a proper set of accounts on dates between 28 August, 2002 and August 3, 2007. He further pleaded not guilty on behalf of Garuda Ltd to three similar charges in relation to the company's tax affairs and one charge of failing to keep a proper set of accounts on the same dates. By Sonya McLean Michael Lowry's political secretary has told a jury that in August 2002, the politician asked her to oversee a payment of Stg250,000 to an individual for money owed on a property deal. Aileen Dempsey told Michael O'Higgins SC, defending Mr Lowry, that she was an employee of the Independent TD for 30 years as his secretarial assistant and was paid by the Oireachtas. Earlier today Judge Martin Nolan told the jury that a charge of delivering an incorrect tax return for 2002 had been withdrawn. Eight charges in relation to Mr Lowry's company Garuda Ltd, filing corporation tax for 2002 and 2006 remain before the jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. It is the State's case that Mr Lowry's company, Garuda Ltd, received 372,000 in commission from Norpe OY, a refrigeration company based in Finland, in August 2002. It is alleged that Mr Lowry arranged for this payment to be made to a third party, Kevin Phelan, residing in the Isle of Man, and therefore it didn't appear in the company accounts for that year. It is further alleged that the accounts were then falsified in 2007 to reflect that the payment was received in 2006. At the start of the trial, Mr Lowry (64) of Glenreigh, Holycross, Co. Tipperary, pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four charges of filing incorrect tax returns on dates between August 2002 and August 2007 in relation to a sum of Stg 248,624 received by his company, Garuda Ltd and one charge in relation to failing to keep a proper set of accounts on dates between 28 August, 2002 and August 3, 2007. He further pleaded not guilty on behalf of Garuda Ltd to three similar charges in relation to the company's tax affairs and one charge of failing to keep a proper set of accounts on the same dates. In evidence this afternoon Mr Lowry's political secretary said she worked out of his company office, Garuda Ltd, who traded as Streamline Enterprises. Ms Aileen Dempsey said Mr Lowry was on extended leave in August 2002 when she got a phone call from Kevin Phelan who said he was due a payment from Mr Lowry in respect of a property deal. She said she knew Mr Phelan and had met him before. She said it took her a few days to get in contact with Mr Lowry; she relayed the message and he told her there was commission due to Garuda from a Finnish refrigeration company, Norpe OY. Ms Dempsey told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he instructed her to raise an invoice from Streamline Enterprises for that amount and told her to oversee the payment of this money to Mr Phelan. She said Mr Lowry told her he had cleared the transfer of the money to Mr Phelan with the CEO of Norpe OY. Ms Dempsey said she rang her contact in Norpe to enquire as to what the euro equivalent of Stg250,000 was so that when the invoice landed there wouldn't be a hiccup. She got a call back from Stella Lipponen in Norpe who told her that the invoice had to come from Kevin Phelan. I relayed that information to Mr Phelan. I told him that Michael had cleared the payment with the CEO in Norpe but an invoice had to come from him or his company in respect of the Stg250,000, Ms Dempsey said. She said she got a call from Norpe to say the payment had gone through and they faxed through a copy of the invoice they had relied on when issuing the payment. What did you do with the invoice? Mr O'Higgins asked. As far as I was concerned that was the end of the transaction. As I deal with queries and finalise them I put a line through them and put them in a storage box. That box is later taken down to a store, Ms Dempsey said. She said in January 2007, she got a call from Michael Lowry's accountant who said he would fax her through a letter that she was to type up on Streamline headed paper and get Mr Lowry to sign. Ms Dempsey said the letter was also dictated to her and she was informed it was an important letter. She said it was stressed to her that it had to say this was commission due to Garuda for the year end 2006. The letter, which was an exhibit in the case, was dated January 15, 2007 and addressed to Neale O'Hanlon, a partner in accounting firm BBT, the practice employed by the TD. It was signed by Mr Lowry. The letter said: I wish to advise that I issued an invoice to Norpe OY in respect of monies outstanding for commission due to Garuda Ltd. up to the end of 2006 to the value of 372,000. I obtained payment directly to myself of this amount. "As this is money properly due to the Company please ensure that it is returned and reflected in the Accounts with tax paid and set against my Director's loan. Ms Dempsey told Mr O'Higgins she didn't connect the 372,000 referred to with the Stg Stg250,000 from August 2002. She did as directed and gave the letter to Mr Lowry. He paid attention to it and he signed it, Ms Dempsey said. She said in August 2015, Michael Collins, Michael Lowry's solicitor, told her that Mr Lowry's and Garuda's appeal on a 1.1 million tax bill had been sucessful but the trial was still going ahead. He sat me down and explained to me the huge importance that there was no Streamline invoice to cover the figure in question. At some point it triggered with me that I could have had some involvement with it, Ms Demspey said. She said she went down to the store and spent a number of days searching for the invoice that had been faxed to her in August 2002. She found it and handed it to Mr Lowry. He read it and advised her to get it to Mr Collins immediately. Were you ever told that this transaction was not to be talked about? Mr O'Higgins asked Ms Dempsey. Absolutely not, she replied. Ms Dempsey agreed with Remy Farrell SC, prosecuting that it didn't occur to her, until the conversation with Mr Collins, that the transaction at issue in the trial was the one she had looked after in 2002. When I went looking for that document, I was hoping to find something else relating to another transaction. I didn't know it was the transaction until I found the invoice. When I saw the invoice I nearly died, Ms Demspey said. She agreed that even though Mr Lowry had instructed her to raise an invoice, no invoice was ever generated by her. She further agreed that she didn't tell Mr Lowry that she didn't send an invoice to Norpe. I was told to oversee the payment. The transaction went through and I oversaw it, Ms Dempsey replied. She accepted a suggestion from Mr Farrell that she didn't remember the faxed through invoice until Mr Collins spoke to her about in 2015. You didn't remember when it all kicked off. You didn't remember it when he was charged with criminal offences? It was the accountants who were dealing with, Ms Dempsey replied. Tech heavyweights from Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook to Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg joined a chorus of critics denouncing the Trump administration's policy of separating undocumented children from their families at the border. But it's unclear whether the industry has any real leverage to stop the practice. Top executives from Airbnb and file sharing company Box also denounced the separations, which started in April when the US decided to pursue criminal charges against people who attempt to cross the US-Mexico border without proper documents. More than 2,000 children have so far been taken from their parents and are being kept in detention facilities. "It's heartbreaking to see the images and hear the sounds of the kids. Kids are the most vulnerable people in any society. I think that what's happening is inhumane, it needs to stop," Apple's Cook said in Dublin on Tuesday, according to the Irish Times. Apple boss Tim Cook: "It needs to stop." Credit:Bloomberg Some, including Zuckerberg and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, implored their social-media followers to donate to legal and humanitarian groups that support the migrant families. Energy retailer Alinta is compensating thousands of its Victorian customers after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found it had advertised misleading electricity price discounts for power bills. Between December 2017 and February 2018, Alinta advertised its discounts and power bill savings as greater than other electricity retailers - but it compared these discounts to its competitors' undiscounted offers instead of similar deals. Alinta CEO Jeff Dimery: The company is reimbursing Victorian customers after its advertising for discounts was found to be misleading. Credit:Jeremy Piper Following complaints, Alinta will now provide backdated credits for affected customers from January through to July, and adjust its discount rates. ACCC acting chair Delia Rickard said this is the latest action taken to fight misleading energy discount offers, which have been seen as deliberately confusing customers. The Australian Human Rights Commission has launched a national inquiry into workplace sexual harassment, which will be a year-long, "in-depth examination" of the issue, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins said. In response to growing social pressure to address sexual harassment in the workplace, the Turnbull government ordered the AHRC to inquire into the causes and make recommendations to employers, Minister for Women Kelly ODwyer said. The government will contribute $500,000 towards the AHRC Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, which will run for 12 months and cost $900,000. Australian women have the right to be safe in their homes, in their communities and in their workplaces, Ms ODwyer said. Michelle Grattan will talk about her book Back on the Wool Track at Tuggeranong Homestead on June 24. Credit:Andrew Meares June 24: Political journalist Michelle Grattan will speak about her book Back on the Wool Track, retracing the journey of Charles Bean who in 1909 wrote a series of articles about the wool industry in western NSW. Tuggeranong Homestead, Johnson Drive, Richardson, 2pm. $20 entry includes Devonshire tea. Bookings essential: contact Jenny on 6231 4535 or robhorsfield@bigpond.com. June 23: The ACT Storytellers' Guild is presenting a Room in June, a warming evening of stories with music by the Canberra Harmony Chorus at 7pm at the St James Uniting Church Hall, Gillies Street, Curtin. Stories are suitable for adults and older children. Cost $15. includes refreshments. June 24: After a lifetime spent actively searching for happiness as well as studying it, communications executive and yogi Lisa Portolan shares valuable insights into how we made happiness a science and an industry but is "brand me" just a recipe for unhappiness? In conversation with Sheena Ireland. Her book, Happy As: Why the quest for happiness is making us miserable, is available now. At Muse, Kingston, from 3pm. Tickets: $12 (includes and complimentary glass of house wine or soft drink) June 25: That Poetry Thing features Canberra performance poet Tahi Atea, Sydney poet Michele Seminara and Nauru survivor and poet Ravi Nagaveeran. For this night only it will be at the Poseidon Room in the Hellenic Club in the City (13 Moore Street). $5 entry, shorter open mic. June 28: At 7pm at Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circuit Forrest, readings of poetry published in Recent Work Press by Jacqui Malins, Martin Dolan and Shane Strange. $10 entry, nibbles and wine included. July 2: Performance poet and writer Maddie Godfrey and poet and novelist Heather Taylor Johnson will be at That Poetry Thing, at Smith's Alternative, 76 Alinga St, Civic. $5 entry, open mic. July 4: Dunera Lives: A Visual History by Ken Inglis, Seumas Spark and Jay Winter with Carol Bunyan will be launched at the National Library Foyer at 6pm, Free but bookings essential on 6262 1424. If at first you don't succeed, blame it on the film critics. Such is the thinking behind a bizarre promo ad released by the producers of Gotti, John Travolta's new widely-lambasted gangster film. The film a biopic on the late Gambino mob boss John Gotti, starring Travolta as the infamous Teflon Don opened in the US this past weekend to a disastrous 0 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 28 critics' reviews. The silver Logie going under the hammer in Melbourne this week. The Logie Awards may have moved to the Gold Coast this year, but you can still pick up an actual Logie Award in Melbourne, if you fancy it. The 1970 silver Logie for Best Overseas Show, which was awarded to the classic hippie cop show The Mod Squad, is going up for auction this Thursday. You can expect to pay between $1,200 and $1,500 if you want to take home the TV award without having to actually be on television - which is cheaper than the travel and accommodation necessary to attend the Gold Coast ceremony anyway. Nora Merralls of Leonard Joel Auction House says the item is pretty special. The [Logies] has such a great history in Australia, very unique history. The Mod Squad holds a special place in that unique history: The shows star Michael Coel provided one of the Logies most infamous moments when he uttered a certain four letter word beginning with 's' during his drunken acceptance speech for their win for Best American Show in 1973. Nine host Karl Stefanovic has come out firing on behalf of his network's Logies broadcast, lashing out at local TV personalities who are snubbing the awards. Playing the heel on Wednesday morning's Today, Stefanovic took aim at actor Hugo Weaving and Today's breakfast competitors on Seven, Sunrise. "He's a disgrace," Stefanovic said of Weaving. In an interview this week, the actor labelled the Logies "a promotional tool for the TV channels themselves" and said he wouldn't be attending, despite being nominated for Most Outstanding Actor for his performance in the ABC's Seven Types of Ambiguity. "The Logies are recognition for the hard work of those who work in a great industry, an industry that entertains all Australians ... It survives and thrives on people like you promoting it, people's jobs depend on it," Stefanovic told Weaving, assuming he was at home watching. David Jones is taking a punt on shoes to secure its bricks-and-mortar future by building the country's largest footwear department. An artist's impression of the new shoe department at David Jones' Sydney store. On Wednesday, the department store unveiled its plans for the redeveloped seventh floor of its flagship Sydney store on Elizabeth Street, including standalone "mini stores" for luxury brands Chanel and Louis Vuitton. The new mega department is set to open in September. The brains at David Jones have been scouting the world's best department stores including the shoe department at Saks Fifth Avenue, which has its own postcode to create something that's a world-class tourist destination, chief executive David Thomas said at a breakfast briefing. I don't envy Meghan Markle right now. As she completes her circuit of "firsts" first outing with the Queen, first family wedding (other than her own), first state dinner the level of attention on what she chooses to wear shows no signs of abating. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at Ascot on Tuesday. Credit:AP So, where does a duchess look for style inspiration? In Meghan's case, it appears she's taking more than a few pages from the Princess Diana playbook. And, why not? More than 20 years after her death, Diana remains one of the biggest style icons of the modern era. Canberra Girls Grammar will launch an "international" search for its next principal after Anne Coutts advised the school board she will leave later this year. Her husband, Ian Coutts, was recently elected Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Bunbury, in Western Australia. Outgoing principal at Canberra Girls Grammar Anne Coutts began her career in molecular biology in the UK. Credit:Nick Burrows While Mrs Coutts said she was thrilled by his appointment, she was also very sad to leave the school. "I've enjoyed every minute of [my time here]. I didn't expect it to be quite so emotional," she said. King George Terrace would be closed to cars and become a light rail shared zone under the plan. Are you getting used to those freezing mornings yet? We're heading for a top of 14 degrees today but you might struggle to get out of bed with a low of minus 1 degrees. Early estimates have placed the cost of stage two of Canberra's light rail at between $1.3 billion and $1.6 billion. The first details about the Civic to Woden line were released, as the ACT government prepares to give evidence before a federal parliamentary committee probing the impact of the proposal on the Parliamentary Zone on Thursday. Plans for stage two include building a dedicated bridge in the centre of the existing Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and closing parts of King George Terrace to private vehicles. Katie Burgess has more. Canberrans pay more in tax, receive less in benefits Thankfully, we are edging closer to an end point and when concluded perhaps some of the billions saved as a result of closure can be channelled into longer-term sustainable refugee policies. Loading For nearly 20 years, these policies have been distorted by inaccuracies claimed by both Left and Right. On World Refugee Day, surely new policies can be workshopped across politics with a focus on humanitarian, economic and security outcomes. They are not mutually exclusive to constructive planning. Australia is an island nation and emerging attitudes appear to reflect its isolation. As the Lowy Institutes annual poll on attitudes towards foreign affairs this week reflected that a majority of Australians now believe the number of migrants is too high, countries taking in the majority of refugees, with hugely lower rates of economic wealth from us, tell a different story. With more than two-thirds of refugees from just five countries Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Somalia and Myanmar unsurprisingly the largest host nations include neighbours such as Turkey, Pakistan, Uganda and Bangladesh. Because we are politically contorted by a comparatively insignificant problem stemming from nearly two decades ago, when the world was different, those facing the latest waves of refugees are far more tolerant. An International Rescue Committee study shows 71 per cent of Kenyans support working rights for refugees and 94 per cent support the government providing services to them. Nearly three-quarters of Ugandans think refugees should be allowed to work in the country and 60 per cent believe they should move freely. In these countries, the inevitability of people movements is matched by an understanding that embracing refugees is sensible from a productivity perspective too. Renowned economist Apurva Sanghi, at the worlds first Ted Talk from Kakuma refugee camp earlier this month, gave dazzling insights into the benefits of a progressive refugee policy. He provided evidence that refugees have created more boom than gloom. Loading It is of no surprise. Visit a refugee camp or settlement and one will witness the instinct of residents to start business and trade. On the one hand it is truly astounding given they arrived with nothing, but on the other of no great surprise when realising they are from some of the worlds original trading nations. Change is happening in refugee policy in some places. From once just focusing on pity and crisis, there is emerging evidence of opportunity and partnership with refugees. Global organisations like UNHCR and IRC are working more effectively than ever with the private sector. New settlements such as Kalobeyei in north-western Kenya see collaboration between host communities, national governments, global businesses and NGOs. This will result in the creation of new towns with new jobs and industries for locals and new arrivals alike. Refugees are running banks in Ugandan settlements, growing crops in Kenyan camps and manufacturing clothes in Turkish facilities. Loading As we reflect on the global situation, including its inevitability and new approaches, Australia must reconsider how it deals with refugees again. We must set aside the Utopian desires as well as the draconian ideas of others. As we must continue to find solutions for peace in source countries such as Syria, which inevitably means consideration and even implementation of armed intervention, we must realise there is also a need to do other things. Malcolm Turnbull's task of retaining government at the next federal election got tougher on Wednesday, with electoral boundary changes in Victoria positioning Labor to pick up another three seats. The Australian Electoral Commission has created the new electorate of Fraser in the ALP's heartland, a seat which looks set to be snapped up by Labor leader Bill Shorten, and boundary changes to two marginal Liberal electorates have made them even harder for the government to defend. Labor leader Bill Shorten, pictured in question time on Wednesday, is tipped to make the switch to the new seat Fraser. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The creation of the Division of Fraser in Melbourne's north-west means Mr Shorten may switch to the new seat, notionally safe ALP territory, from his current neighbouring seat of Maribyrnong, which is tipped to turn marginal in the coming years. The federal seat of Batman in Melbournes inner-north has been renamed Cooper, to honour Indigenous rights activist William Cooper, and Melbourne Ports will be renamed Macnamara. Amid the rainbows and unicorns that dressed his online profiles, Wachira "Mario" Phetmang looked a world away from the grisly roadside setting where his body was dumped earlier this month. Bloodied, bound and gagged, wrapped in plastic and covered in a mattress protector, the 33-year-old's body was discovered along a bush embankment just metres from a major on-ramp near Sydney Olympic Park on June 6. Police have now confirmed he died from a blunt trauma injury, but his time of death remains unknown. The state's top homicide detective has conceded that the "unusual" circumstances in which the body was found suggest the involvement of more than one person and a potential group. A police pursuit over 85 kilometres at speeds of up to 150km/h on and off the Federal Highway in October last year has led to two years jail for the male driver. The pursuit only stopped because the car ran out of fuel. Goulburn Magistrate's Court. Credit:Gillian Lord Kane Edward Blackman, 26, of Evatt, appeared by audio-visual link in Goulburn Local Court on June 13 and pleaded guilty to driving a vehicle under the influence of drugs. He had previously been convicted, on December 6 last year, in Goulburn Local Court, on a charge of police pursuit, driving dangerously. Then there was a photograph, also posted online, of students wearing striped uniforms - reminiscent of the garb Jewish prisoners wore in the Nazi death camps during the Holocaust and emblazoned with the German word for Jew (Jude), while an individual posed behind them in Nazi uniform with a swastika visible on his arm. The celebration marked the end of semester. A number of students arrived at Wagga Waggas Black Swan Hotel wearing Ku Klux Klan gowns and hoods. They duly posted a photograph of themselves in that deeply offensive attire, together with a man in blackface holding a bowl of cotton - symbolic of the inhumane slave labour which black prisoners were forced to undertake after being abducted from Africa. A line was crossed last week when Charles Sturt University students turned up at a politically incorrect-themed party in costumes drawn from three of the most horrendous episodes in history. In 2005 Prince Harry third in line to the throne - caused widespread outrage when he arrived at a private fancy-dress party wearing a crude imitation of a German Army uniform, complete with swastika on his left sleeve, flashes on his collar and eagle insignia on his chest. The incident created headlines around the world, as well as appropriate criticism. The students at the Black Swan took Prince Harrys offensive idea to another level. While they are private citizens, by publicising their grotesque charades on social media, they turned them into a public spectacle and made them a public issue. They identified three of the darkest chapters of recorded history, each causing the persecution and death of vast numbers of innocents in the name of bigotry and vicious race hatred, and made fun of the victims, the survivors, and the current generation, whose forbears were directly harmed by those atrocities. A screenshot of an Instagram post showing party-goers dressed in KKK and blackface costumes. They crossed the line between being provocative and humorous a readily acceptable facet of a functioning democracy - to being deliberately offensive, and in so doing diminished the enormity of the crimes of the KKK, the Nazis and the slave-owners. The university has said it is rightly ashamed of the profoundly insensitive and hurtful conduct of its students and has committed itself to ensuring they make appropriate amends. But have the students expressed contrition or regret? Either they were remarkably unaware of the magnitude of the crimes against humanity which they were mocking, or they were aware but, again remarkably, simply didnt care. At best their ignorance was shameful, at worst their arrogance was appalling. A woman who had more than $200,000 of suspected drug money stashed around her bedroom has been given a fine and a good behaviour bond in a Sydney court. Katiusha Stepanyan, 28, pleaded guilty in February to one charge of dealing with proceeds of crime after police discovered the cash when they raided her North Ryde home in March 2017. Katiusha Stepanyan outside court earlier this year. Credit:Kate Geraghty Detectives had gone to the home on the morning of March 8 to serve a firearm prohibition order on her older brother Dimitri. They obtained a search warrant after finding "a number of items of interest" unrelated to him. During the search of the four-bedroom home, police found a mixture of $50 and $100 notes totalling $220,500 in Stepanyan's room. A 21-year-old man has been charged after a five-month-old baby boy was allegedly injured in Sydney's west during a domestic incident. Emergency services were called about 2.30pm on Wednesday to reports that a man was fighting with a woman at a home on Jersey Road in Hebersham, near Mount Druitt. Police were told that, during the fight, the man picked up a stroller, which had the baby inside, and threw it before leaving the property. Paramedics treated the boy at the scene for minor injuries before taking him to The Children's Hospital at Westmead. The man was arrested and taken to Mount Druitt police station where he was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Almost 550 jobs at Telstra's two call centres in Queensland are "in the firing line" according to the Community and Public Sector Union, after the company announced it would cut a quarter of its workforce in the next three years. CPSU assistant state secretary Amy Smith said up to 400 Townsville jobs and 140 Maryborough positions were at serious risk as the telecommunications company planned to cut 8000 jobs in order to "eliminate customer pain points and create all digital experiences". The job losses were announced on Wednesday as part of the Telstra2022 strategy. Credit:Fairfax Media - Joe Armao The move to all digital experiences wont just be bad for consumers, it means a significant number of these job losses will be in regional locations that have Telstra call centres, she said. The number one thing customers say to our members is that all they want when they have a problem with their Telstra service is to be able to ring an Australian call centre where a skilled person can help fix their problem. Two Brisbane massage parlours have been hit with more than $100,000 in penalties for failing to back-pay two massage therapists thousands of dollars. The operator of the Brisbane City Thai Massage and Day Spa and Heavenly Asian Massage parlours in Brisbane's CBD was penalised $97,000 in the Federal Circuit Court this week. The massage parlour operator was penalised for not back-paying two of its employees. The penalty comes after the company, Bishnu Laxmi Ganesha Trading Pty Ltd, admitted to failing to comply with a Fair Work Ombudsman notice requiring it to back-pay two massage therapists a total of $12,842. Former company owners Sean Pinnell and Sajana Paudel were also penalised $4625 and $10,600, respectively. A Sunshine Coast schoolboy has been airlifted to hospital with a "serious eye injury" after a mishap with a javelin on Wednesday morning. The teenager was carrying the javelin off the oval when the sharp end became caught in the ground causing the blunt end to flick into his eye, according to RACQ Lifeflight Rescue. The RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter landed on the school oval and collected the boy. Credit:RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Paramedics were initially called to Sunshine Beach State High School on Ben Lexcen Drive in Sunshine Beach about 11.25am and administered first-aid before calling for a helicopter. Malcolm Turnbull's task of retaining government at the next federal election got tougher on Wednesday with electoral boundary changes in Victoria positioning Labor to pick up another three seats in Parliament. The Australian Electoral Commission has created a seat in Labor heartland, which looks set to be snapped-up by leader Bill Shorten, and boundary changes to two marginal Liberal electorates have made them even harder to defend. The creation of the Division of Fraser in Melbourne's north-west increases the likelihood that Mr Shorten will switch to the new seat, notionally safe ALP territory, from his current neighbouring seat of Maribyrnong, which is tipped to turn marginal in the coming years. Labor leader Bill Shorten, pictured in question time on Wednesday, is tipped to make the switch to the new seat Fraser. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The federal seat of Batman in Melbournes inner-north has been renamed Cooper, to honour indigenous rights activist William Cooper and Melbourne Ports will be renamed Macnamara. It was meant to be one of the most exciting times of her life. Instead, for Melbourne mother Kate, the arrival of her first child was traumatic. Two days after she gave birth to her daughter at Mercy Hospital in Heidelberg, she was told she would have to be discharged. Her daughter Maya is now two but Kate is scared to have another baby, because of her traumatic first experience. Credit:Joe Armao Kate did not feel well enough to leave and had not seen a doctor since she had arrived on the ward. During her labour, a procedure called an episiotomy was performed on her, where the vagina is cut, without her consent or knowledge. New mothers are being sent home from hospital within 48 hours of giving birth in a push to free up beds, placing stress on families and putting them and their babies at increased risk. The final report from Victorias parliamentary inquiry into perinatal services was released on Wednesday morning, concluding that while most babies and their mothers receive high-quality care, there are still significant problems that needed addressing. Mothers and their babies are being sent home from hospital too early, an inquiry has found. Credit:Louise Kennerley Many women are not getting enough support after they are sent home with their babies, and subsequently struggling with breastfeeding and their mental health. Of concern is an increasing trend to discharge women early from hospital beds, even before their milk has arrived. WA police have extradited a 24-year-old man from South Australia to face charges over a fatal crash in 2016. The man was charged with careless driving causing death after the incident on December 23, 2016, where he was allegedly the driver of a Holden Colorado ute that left the Eyre Highway and crashed about 40km from the Balladonia Roadhouse. The passenger in the car a 21-year-old woman died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash and the man was originally due to appear in the Norseman Magistrates Court to face the charges on November 13 last year. However, when he failed to show up police issued a warrant for his arrest. The man was extradited from Port Augusta and is due to face Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday, June 20. Senator Lucy Gichuhis comment that its not that much money referring to her Senatorial salary neatly sums up a growing malaise within the political class in Australia, where outcomes are fast becoming skewed by the lure of a profitable post-political career. Public service, either through politics or the bureaucracy, is still an honourable profession, and we should not let it fall into disrepute in the public eye. The revolving door of public servants, politicians and lobbyists moving in and out of influential roles between the public and the private sectors goes a long way to undermining faith in our public institutions. Senator Lucy Gichuhi. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Andrew Robb is a case in point, with his rather quick move from the position of Trade Minister to a high-level consultancy with the Landbridge group, starting just days after the 2016 election. Even quicker off the mark was former Small Business Minister Bruce Billson, who commenced taking a salary from the Franchising Council of Australia, two months before he had even left the parliament. Ipswich councillors have again been asked to explain why they should not be sacked or suspended. Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe has issued a new show cause notice to the Ipswich City Council, under his newly expanded powers. Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe has made a statement on the future of the Ipswich City Council. Credit:AAP Local government reforms passed last month give Mr Hinchliffe more powers to sack councillors and mayors - and dissolve entire councils - "in the public interest". Mr Hinchliffe began moves to appoint an administrator at the council last month after mayor Andrew Antoniolli was charged with seven counts of fraud, and asked councillors to show cause as to why they should not be sacked within 21 days. Beijing: China and North Korea have strengthened their "strategic communication" and Beijing will support North Korea to make socialist economic reform, Chinese president Xi Jinping has told a gala banquet for Kim Jong-un. Exactly a week after Kim held an historic summit in Singapore with US President Donald Trump that drew the world's attention, strategic rival Beijing rolled out the red carpet for Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju. The couple were met by Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday evening. The North Korean supreme leader thanked Xi for his "heartwarming hospitality," and television cameras captured him waving to a group of cheering children. San Salvador: One of El Salvador's top diplomats on Wednesday described conditions at shelters for migrant children in the United States as "totally inadequate," blasted the Trump administration's family-separation policy and warned that migrants should seriously consider any decision to travel north. Blanca Orantes-Lopez poses for a photo with her 8-year-old son, Abel Alexander, during the monthlong journey from their hometown of Puerto La Libertad, El Salvador, to the United States-Mexico border. Credit:AP Liduvina Magarin, the deputy foreign minister in charge of Salvadorans abroad, said that the government had identified 93 of the roughly 2000 children separated from their parents by the Trump administration in recent weeks as Salvadoran, although she acknowledged the number could change. Magarin said that she was unaware of any cases where children or parents have been separated and then deported and that Salvadoran authorities are trying to reunite the families in the United States. A baby boy born on a suburban French train will receive free rides in Paris until he is 25, the train company said. The baby was born on an RER train in central Paris just after 11am on June 18, causing major delays on the A line network. The train driver, named as Raouf in an RER A blog post, said that, after stopping the train at Auber Station, he went immediately to the first carriage, but the woman had already given birth. He said two women were with the new mother, one supporting her and the other holding the baby, who was wrapped in a scarf. A group of protesters interrupted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday evening amid backlash over the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy on immigration. Members of the D.C. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America entered MXDC Cocina Mexicana, a glitzy restaurant near the White House, to confront Nielsen as her department faces scrutiny over a policy that has resulted in some children being separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border. "How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you're deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States?" protester Jesse Rabinowitz shouts in a video posted on Facebook appearing to show the incident. "We call on you to end family separation and abolish ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement]." Another protestor pointed out the irony of Neilsen enjoying a meal of Mexican food while enforcing a policy of detaining and deporting some Mexican asylum seekers. Washington: Bowing to pressure from anxious allies, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday ending the process of separating children from families after they are detained crossing the US border illegally. It was a dramatic turnaround for Trump, who has been lying in saying that his administration had no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of federal law and a court decision. The news in recent days has been dominated by searing images of children held in cages at border facilities, as well as audio recordings of young children crying for their parents - images that have sparked fury, and questions of morality and concern from Republicans about a negative impact on their races in November's midterm elections. Until Wednesday, the president, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other officials had repeatedly argued the only way to end the practice was for Congress to pass new legislation, while Democrats said he could do it with his signature alone. That's what he did on Wednesday. Latest News Mortgage Choice name to be maintained after merger Parent company to combine backend systems for broker under one brand name Revealed: The winners of the 2021 Australian Mortgage Awards All the action from the mortgage industry's biggest night 'Rentvesting' is often touted as offering the best of both worlds. You can live where you want in a rental property, while getting someone else to pay off the mortgage on your investment property. But new data from online mortgage marketplace HashChing has found that rentvesting is the most stressful situation for home owners, with 56% of rentvestors giving it a stress rating of 6 or higher, 10 being the highest stress rating.2 The independent survey also found that rentvestors were the most likely to refinance, with 49% thinking about refinancing their mortgages in the next 6-12 months. The latest industry research suggests that 24% of first-home buyers in New South Wales and 20% of first-home buyers in Victoria are rentvestors. Mandeep Sodhi, CEO and founder of HashChing, said much of the stress stemmed from borrowers under-estimating the costs and responsibilities of being a landlord. He said, Theres a lot more involved than just making sure your rent and mortgage is paid off every month. As a landlord, you need to factor in many additional and ongoing costs, from renovations, repairs and maintenance through to strata fees, land tax, landlord insurance and property manager fees. If the existing tenant leaves, youll also need to shoulder the entire mortgage payment, in addition to the rent youre already paying, until you find a new tenant. And that can sometimes take a few months. Its no wonder that most rentvestors are tearing their hair out." Sodhi emphasised the importance of speaking with a mortgage broker before treading down the rentvesting path. He added, Many of our customers have successfully used rentvesting to build up an impressive property portfolio, but its not a path for everyone. Its important to speak with an experienced mortgage broker ahead of time." Related stories: Mortgage group's "mortgage hell" billboard above CBA Housing affordability improves across Australia Latest News Mortgage Choice name to be maintained after merger Parent company to combine backend systems for broker under one brand name Revealed: The winners of the 2021 Australian Mortgage Awards All the action from the mortgage industry's biggest night Non-bank lender Pepper Money has unveiled a new broker toolkit to attendees at its annual Insights Roadshow. Devised as natural extension of the alternative lenders Brand Hand, introduced in 2013, its the latest broker channel investment from Pepper Money and comes in response to broker demand and market trends. Since we started the Pepper Money Roadshow the one consistent message that has come out from brokers is that they love dealing with us but dont know how to market to alternative lending customers, said country CEO, Mario Rehayem. The kit contains three tools: referral partner collateral, a customer satisfaction survey template and alternative lending content to help brokers create their own website landing page. Like any self-employed person, brokers are very good at what they do, which is sitting down with a customer, carrying out the preliminary assessment and finding the right product for that customer, Rehayem added. What people tend to do in self-employment is they can lack core business skill sets, whether that be in accounts, marketing, HR or operations. There are always a few who do exceptionally well and others who learn on the job as a self-employed person. These tools allow them to come up to speed quicker and get insights from the learnings we have applied to our own business in both the direct to consumer channel and broker channel. So its a bit of both, he continued. The Insights Roadshow, scheduled to welcome more than 2,000 brokers, has visited Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Sydney, and will conclude in Brisbane on 21 June. Related stories: NAB manager joins Pepper after 33 years Broker roadshow to share insight and new tools Pepper Group banks $1 billion RMBS issue Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC Hes a bone fide local hero! A Brighton Beach man received an award for his heroic rescue efforts following a car crash in Sheepshead Bay last month. Gary Danilov said he was overcome with joy when the 61st Precinct presented him with a certificate of recognition on June 13. I was overwhelmed, he said. I couldnt believe it. On May 27, two cars collided at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Avenue W, and Danilov acted swiftly and courageously when he assisted victims of the wreck, according to the local community board leader. He broke a window and pulled people out of the car, said Community Board 15 chairwoman Theresa Scavo. CB 15 and the 61st Precinct Community Council wanted to give Danilov the award to show appreciation for his brave and selfless act, she said. Hes definitely the type of guy you want in your neighborhood, said Scavo. We did it to say thank you. Capt. James King, commanding officer of the 61st Precinct presented him with the award at a ceremony attended by Danilovs family, Scavo, and others. Danilov, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, was with his family when he witnessed the crash, and immediately sprung into action, according to his wife. She said she was worried he would get hurt or even killed if the wreckage exploded, leaving her and their children alone. I was upset, what if he got blown up? said Marianna Danilov. This wasnt Danilov first brush with danger. In 2014, he was shot in a Bensonhurst Park during an argument, he said. His family is proud he now has some recognition for his selfless ways. He goes out of the way for people, his wife said. Its just his character. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC 62nd Precinct BensonhurstBath Beach Blade cut A lout cut a man with a box-cutter on the left elbow on Bay Parkway on June 10. The assault occurred at Shore Parkway around 11 pm, when the baddie pulled out the blade in an attempt to stop a fight, according to the report. After making the cut, he fled in a black car on Shore Parkway towards Gravesend, police said, adding that the victim drove to the hospital to receive treatment for a small laceration. Phoned an unknown friend A phony opened a cellphone account in June 2011 using the identification information of a Bay 34th Street resident, the man reported to police on June 11. The resident, who lives between Bath and Cropsey avenues, reported the identify theft to police around 10 am. Rent check swiped A lowlife stole a check worth more than $1,400 that a man mailed out of a 21st Avenue mailbox on Feb. 5, he reported to police on June 11. The man reported the theft to police around 10 am, adding that he mailed the rent check at the mailbox at Bay 25th Street and that the swindler changed the name and cashed it soon after. Caught with camera A pair of punks punched a man in the entryway of his 84th Street building on June 11, before stealing his camera, police said. The assault occurred in the vestibule of the building at 25th Avenue just before 2:30 pm, when the perps followed the man in, cops said. One then punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the floor, before grabbing his camera from his shoulder, police said, and the other followed suit, punching him twice more. They then fled on foot towards 24th Avenue, according to the report. Mystery money A thief stole $1,400 from a 23rd Avenue residents bank account on June 11. The theft occurred around 7:30 pm, and the resident lives at 86th Street, police said. Cashed out A swindler forged and cashed three checks for more than $2,600 that a woman mailed from an 86th Street mailbox on Jan. 18, she reported to police on June 12. The woman reported the theft around 4 pm, and said that she mailed the checks from the mailbox at 20th Avenue to pay for purchases she made in a store, but that the company soon after called her and told her they never received her payment. When she went to her bank to investigate, they told her two of the checks had been forged and one worth more than $2,000 had been cashed at an unknown location, according to the report. Ugly actions A pair of thieves stole makeup from an 86th Street store on June 10, an employee told police on June 12. The theft occurred just after 4 pm from the store at Bay 40th Street, and police do not know the value of items stolen. Biked it back A robber stole a mans 2013 black Harley Davidson motorcycle from its 80th Street parking spot on June 13. The crook stole the bike from its parking spot at Bay Parkway around 9 pm, police said, adding that the driver insisted he had the only set of keys. Found a window in A crook broke into a 78th Street apartment through a rear window on June 14, ransacking rooms and stealing unknown items before fleeing when the homeowner returned, police said. The break-in and theft occurred at the home between 19th and 20th avenues around 3:40 pm, according to the report. Police added that the thieves fled through and caused damage to the rear door when the homeowner returned, and fled in a white van down 78th Street towards 17th Street, where they turned and drove towards 78th Street. Business deal A thief stole more than $71,000 from the PayPal account of an 18th Avenue business on May 25, the business owner reported to police on June 14. The owner of the business between 77th and 78th streets reported the theft to police around noon, adding that she wasnt sure how the perp accessed the account or where he or she transferred the money. One-two-three punch Police arrested two men who allegedly worked with a third unknown man to push a man to the ground, punching and kicking him before stealing his cellphone on 17th Avenue on June 15. The alleged assault occurred between 76th and 77th streets just before 5:20 pm, when the man was walking to work, cops said. Triple steal A crook stole a 15th Avenue mans identity to open three cellphone accounts and purchase three iPhones on June 7, the victim reported to police on June 16. The victim, who lives at Bay Ridge Avenue, told police that he received a letter in the mail from the phone company showing the account in his name. He called the companys fraud department, whose reps told him about the scope of the identity theft, according to the report. Julianne McShane Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC This church is taking its charity to the streets literally. Leaders at a Park Slope house of worship and a local do-gooder installed an on-street cupboard outside the Prospect Avenue church that good Samaritans can stock with non-perishable foods and other household supplies for needy passersby to freely take. When you dont know how youll stretch that last dollar, and you pass by and see a can of tuna and some crackers, you can say, Lets just do that, said Park Sloper Emma Hare, who worked with clergy at St. John-St. Matthew-Emanuel Lutheran Church to create the curbside cabinet. The crimson-painted cubpboard outside the church at 283 Prospect Ave. between Fifth and Sixth avenues, called the Little Red Pantry, was inspired by a similarly stocked structure outside a Lutheran church in Arkansas, which many say created the countrys first free, self-serve pantry, according to Park Slope Rev. David Parsons, who with Hare built the cabinet outside his holy house. Parishioners and big-hearted Brooklynites such as Hare routinely stock the cupboard with canned and other long-lasting foods, as well as staple items including diapers, soap, and detergent often stopping by after trips to the grocery store, where they stock up on goods for their neighbors while shopping for themselves, Parsons said. I see people bringing things on their way home from work, or coming up the hill from the Associated Market around the corner, the reverend said. The idea is youll buy a little extra at the grocery store and bring it. Many pantry patrons are long-time locals who arrived in Park Slope before it gentrified into a neighborhood of stroller-pushing parents whose kids sip babyccinos, and now need a helping hand to make ends meet, according to Parsons. Theyre house rich, but not necessarily that able to care for themselves, and could use a little help, he said. But theres no lock on the cabinet that love built, and people can grab the items therein whether they truly need them or not, the reverend said. In a perfect world, every person that takes the food would be someone who really needs it, he said. But in reality, theres not going to be a sheriff standing by the pantry asking if people really need things. Anyone feeling generous can stock the pantry at any time, according to Parsons, who said if do-gooders arrive to find its shelves full, they can leave their donations just inside the churchs doors, or on its front steps if those are locked. Interested donors who cant make the trip can order and ship goods straight to the house of worship via the pantrys Amazon online wish list. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC 88th Precinct Fort GreeneClinton Hill No tip A villain punched a guy in the face and stole his wallet when he delivered food to his apartment on Fleet Walk on June 12, police said. The 34-year-old victim told cops he was making a delivery to the brutes apartment near Prince Street at about 9 pm when he got to the door and the malefactor opened it and socked him in the face, cutting his left eye. The baddie then swiped the victims wallet, cash, Samsung cellphone, and Mexico identification card, according to authorities. Five against one Some good-for-nothings attacked a guy inside a Fulton Street fast-food restaurant on June 14, police said. Police found the 23-year-old victim bleeding from the left side of his face after responding to a call about an emotionally disturbed person inside the eatery near Washington Avenue at about 11:15 am, where about five or six scoundrels assaulted him. Paramedics took the victim to Methodist Hospital in stable condition after he said the goons slashed him in the face, according to authorities. Et tu, Brute? A lout stabbed a guy in the head and chest on Fulton Street on June 15, police said. The 29-year-old victim told police he had gotten into an argument with the villain near Flatbush Avenue at about 4:30 pm when the lawbreaker started stabbing him in the head, chest, ribs, and eye, and then fled, according to authorities. Bye, bye, bicycle Some jerk stole a womans bike from her Classon Avenue apartment on June 10, police said. The 33-year-old victim told cops he had left his Garry Fisher two-wheeler behind a gate near Fulton Street a little before 9 pm and when he returned a few minutes later, it was gone, according to authorities. Cashed out A punk swiped a cash register from a Fulton Street diner on June 16, police said. The crook broke into the restaurant near St. James Place at about 2:30 am by pushing open the locked back door and fled on a bike with the cash register, $450, and an iPod, according to authorities. Julianne Cuba After manufacturing, selling fashion concepts and supplying material to global fashion brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, USPA and several others, Arvind Ltd is eyeing to grow its own brand under the Arvind umbrella from the current Rs 4 billion to 10 billion in the next 4-5 years. The key growth driver, according to Susheel Kaul, the companys CEO of Lifestyle fabrics for the knits and wovens division, will come in from fabrics as well as the ready to wear segment which it came up with just a couple of months back. The mother brand Arvind should be chalking the ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Amidst intense nation-wide debate on US' immigration policy, software giant has backed a proposed legislative move that calls for elimination of per-country limit on Green Card and also sought an increase in its numbers. In a blog post on Tuesday, Brad Smith, Microsoft's president and chief legal officer, said the company supports pending legislations to overhaul the US citizenship policy. Prominent among the pending legislations are provisions that eliminate unfair per-country limits for employment-based green cards by incorporating the bipartisan Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, led by Congressman Kevin Yoder. This would have a positive impact for our employees and our company by helping to ease the lengthy green card backlog that otherwise would cause some of our colleagues to wait for more than 20 years for their visa, simply because of the country of their birth, Smith said. Microsoft, he said, supports the increase of the number of employment-based green cards to reduce the backlog and recognise the needs of the modern economy for the world's top talent. The existing employment-based green card limits have not been updated for nearly 30 years. Improvements are long overdue, he said. Smith also supported the proposed legislation that provides a path to permanent residence and citizenship for individuals eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and said that it would provide welcome clarity and a path for eventual citizenship for "our employees" and thousands of other young individuals who are seeking to contribute to this country. This legislation would provide a permanent legislative solution, which and its business coalitions have been seeking for the past year, he said. While we would not endorse every provision in the bill relating to increased security, we recognise that stronger security is needed. There are parts of the border with Mexico where more US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are needed and other security provisions should be improved, Smith said. Noting that the newly introduced bill the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018 (HR 6136) is better, he, however, said it needs to be improved in significant ways, including ending the changes it instituted in April to separate children from their families at the border. Describing as "a company of immigrants in a nation of immigrants", Smith said majority of its employees grew up in the United States. He further added, "Like most Americans, most of us have ancestors that came from someplace else. Microsoft also has employees who have moved here from over 120 countries, including lawful permanent residents, high-skilled immigrants on the path to become a green card holders, and Dreamers. This has made Microsoft something akin to 'the United Nations of Software'. India will soon review a plan to sell a stake in Air India, Minister said, weeks after the government found no takers for the beleaguered national carrier. The government is committed that Air India remains an independent, globally-competitive and a highly-successful airline, Minister of State for told a conference on Wednesday. However, the process for selling 76 per cent stake in the airline is over now, he added. The government had announced the plan in March to divest a 76 per cent stake in Air India along with complete divestment of low-cost arm and a 50 per cent stake in Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd and offload about $5.1 billion of its debt, but prospective buyers stayed away, with some citing onerous terms as a reason for their lack of interest. ALSO READ: Flight of fantasy on Air India On Tuesday, a top official had said the government has for now dropped plans to sell majority stake in Air India as it may not be the right time to privatise the loss-making flag carrier in an election year. After assuming charge as the head of the government on Wednesday, Governor N N Vohra held meetings with top civil administration and police officials at the Civil Secretariat here. "Immediately after receiving of India's approval, Governor N N Vohra issued the Proclamation to impose Governor's Rule in the State under section 92 of the Constitution of today," a Raj Bhawan spokesman said. The Governor held discussions with Chief Secretary B B Vyas and identified the major tasks which shall require to be dealt with on a strict time-bound basis, beginning from Wednesday. #JammuAndKashmir: Governor of Jammu & Kashmir NN Vohra holds a meeting with senior administration officers & security forces in Srinagar. pic.twitter.com/lXxV1eZEXu ANI (@ANI) June 20, 2018 He was accorded a ceremonial welcome and guard of honour by a police contingent as he arrived at the Civil Secretariat to take charge of the administration. Vohra later chaired a meeting of top officials -- both from civil administration and police -- to gear up the state administrative machinery to function with speed, efficiency and accountability. Governor's Rule was necessitated in the state following resignation by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in the wake of BJP pulling out of the coalition government. Subramanian will step down within the next two months, after nearly four years in the role. His tenure with the government, extended last year, was to run till May 2019. A few days ago Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian met me over video-conferencing. He informed me that he would like to go back to the US on account of pressing family ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Taliban militants killed 30 Afghan soldiers and captured a military base in the western province of Badghis on Wednesday, the provincial governor said, their first major attack since a ceasefire for the Eid al-Fitr holiday. The three-day Taliban ceasefire ended on Sunday. Provincial governor Abdul Qafoor Malikzai said the Taliban attacked two security posts in the early hours. Abdul Aziz Bek, head of the Badghis provincial council, said one military base was targeted, in the district of Bala Murghab. "Large numbers of Taliban came from several directions," Bek ... Ford Motor Co executives on Tuesday said the automaker will renovate and revamp Michigan Central Station, Detroit's infamous blighted landmark, turning it into offices for up to 5,000 tech workers and software engineers focused on self-driving vehicles and ancillary technologies and services. Speaking to a large crowd outside the grand, yet dilapidated 18-story Michigan Central Station, Ford family scion and the automaker's executive chairman, Bill Ford, recalled how the railway station, opened in 1914, brought countless thousands of immigrants to Detroit during its heyday, ... ministers arrived in Vienna on Wednesday for crunch talks on whether to reverse a landmark pact curbing oil output, with Iran pushing back against Saudi and Russian calls to ramp up production again. The upcoming June 22-23 meetings of and non- energy ministers are set to be the most contentious in a while, with several countries bristling at the thought of reversing a deal that has been in place for 18 months and helped lift to multi-year highs. Resistance is being led by Iran, deeply wary of any move by regional rival Saudi Arabia that could push down at a time when Tehran faces renewed sanctions following US President Donald Trump's decision to quit its nuclear deal, which is likely to impact the country's oil exports. However, Riyadh, which cheered Washington's exit from the nuclear deal, is under pressure from its US ally to boost output as Trump hopes to keep pump prices low ahead of November's mid-term elections. "You're dealing with a very political situation," analyst Amrita Sen of Energy Aspects told AFP. Upon arriving at his Vienna hotel, Iran's oil minister said his country wouldn't back down, and lashed out at Trump for trying to politicise OPEC. "I don't believe in this meeting we can reach agreement," Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters. He said Trump was partly to blame for the higher oil prices, saying the US leader had "created difficulty for the oil market" by imposing sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. "And now he expects OPEC to change something for better prices," Zanganeh said. "This is not fair... OPEC is not part of the Department of Energy of the United States." President on Tuesday came face to face with furious Democratic lawmakers who launched a loud and very rare protest of the American leader over his controversial immigration policies. After huddling for 45 minutes with fellow Republicans to discuss immigration, Trump exited a meeting room only to be shouted at by a handful of House Democrats angry over the thousands of children who have been separated from their parents as they cross into the country. ALSO READ: 52 Indians held in Oregon amid US immigration crackdown "Quit separating the kids, they're separating the children!" congressman Juan Vargas, a Democrat from southern California, yelled to Trump, as he held up a sign that read "Families belong together." "Mr President, don't you have kids? Don't you have kids Mr President?" Vargas continued, as Trump waved and made his exit along with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. "How would you like it if they separated your kids?" Another lawmaker shouted: "We won't go away!" US lawmakers are known to occasionally express disapproval or frustration to a commander in chief -- especially behind closed doors -- when he comes to Capitol Hill. But it is highly unusual that opposition lawmakers will stage such a dramatic, loud and public protest just feet from the president in the halls of the historic ALSO READ: White House defends immigration policy on separating children amid backlash Passions have been running high in recent days, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers, faith leaders, former first ladies and others up in arms over the family separations at the The has defended the policy of mandatory arrests of all people crossing the border illegally, which prompts separation of children from their parents as their case awaits adjudication. Even with fellow Republicans demanding the separations be stopped, Trump doubled down on the policy early Tuesday, saying: "When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away. The leader of Britain's Liberal Democrat party, Vince Cable, on Wednesday blamed British Prime Minister Theresa May's rigidity for India's exclusion from a list of countries offered easier norms. Cable, a former business minister in the Conservative-led coalition government who has campaigned for students to be left out of the government's annual migration targets, branded the latest move a "retrograde step" that could damage bilateral relations. "The government will have to show flexibility on this issue it's Theresa May's rigidity which is reflected in this announcement," Cable said at the opening of a two-day UK-India Leadership Conclave at Latimer in Buckinghamshire, near London. "It's a very retrograde step to exclude India from the countries that would benefit from a more liberal visa regime and it demonstrates that government's continued obsession with immigration as an issue," he said. In reference to the UK government linking the decision to leave India out of a list of 25 countries, including China, from where students can benefit from a more streamlined university application process with the issue of illegal migrants from India, he added: "Allegations that India and visitors have misused the system is an enormous roadblock in the way of having some kind of a special trade relationship." "If this remains the dominant theme with Britain's relationship with India, then chances of getting some kind of special deal are negligible." YK Sinha, Indian High Commissioner to the UK, also questioned this link between freer mobility of students and professionals with the UK government's claim that there are nearly 100,000 illegal migrants currently in the UK. "I am sure there are many (visa overstayers) but where did this figure 100,000 come from," he questioned, pointing to the UK Home Office's own analysis from 2016/2017 indicating that 337,180 visas were issued to Indians of which 97 per cent of them went back to India. "Our cooperation with the UK on this subject is very robust. Obviously once they (overstayers) are established to be Indians, they will be taken back. We have made that abundantly clear. But what is important is that we need to move away from this debate," he said. Stressing that it is important not to focus too much on the issue of visas and immigration, he added: "This is an important aspect but it's certainly not the only defining point in our relationship. "When we talk about freer movement of people, we are not talking about unrestricted movement of people." His comments come in the wake of UK secretary of state for trade, Liam Fox, saying that easier norms remain part of ongoing discussions with the Indian government over taking back its illegal migrants. At the heart lies a controversial memorandum of understanding (MoU) on returns, which remains pending between the two countries due to concerns in India over the timelines available to check a migrant's antecedents. Manoj Ladwa, Founder & CEO of India Inc. the organiser of the UK-India Leadership Conclave as part of the ongoing UK-India Week said: UK-India Week is, of course, about celebrating the winning partnership between the UK and India but it's certainly not about papering over the cracks in the relationship. "There should be no misconception that talented young Indians are desperately queueing to cross the seas to come to the UK. We are in a global race for the very best talent from around the world and Britain should be doing everything it can to attract them." The UK-India Leadership Conclave, now in its fifth year, is part of a week-long series of events themed around "Global Britain meets Global India", organised by UK-based media house India Inc. to initiate dialogue and celebrate the bilateral relationship. The first-ever UK-India Week opened with a launch ceremony in London's Taj Hotel on Monday and will culminate with the second annual UK-India Awards on Friday. The withdrew from the Human Rights Council today, condemning the "hypocrisy" of its members and its alleged "unrelenting bias" against The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, came to to announce the decision alongside Donald Trump's top diplomat, Secretary of State Both insisted the would remain a leading champion of human rights, but for many, the decision will reflect Trump's general hostility to the world body and to multilateral diplomacy in general. The announcement came after the top UN human rights official criticised for separating migrant children from their parents who are seeking asylum after crossing into the country from But Haley and Pompeo stressed the decision had been made after a long year of efforts to shame the council into reform and to remove member states that themselves commit abuses. "These reforms were needed in order to make the council a serious advocate for human rights," Haley said. "For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded." The Geneva-based body was established in 2006 to promote and protect human rights worldwide, but its pronouncements and reports have often clashed with US priorities. In particular, the council's focus on Israeli behavior towards Palestinians in the territory it occupies on the and in has infuriated But, as Haley stressed, Washington also believes it comes up short on criticizing even flagrant abuses by US opponents like and "Countries have colluded with each other to undermine the current method of selecting members," Pompeo said. "And the council's continued and well-documented bias against is unconscionable," he said. "Since its creation, the council has adopted more resolutions condemning than against the rest of the world combined." Haley, who issued a warning a year ago that Washington would make good on its threat to leave the council if reforms were not carried through, used even starker language. "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. UN Secretary-General said he regretted Washington's decision, adding: "The UN's human rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide." On Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein -- a Jordanian -- had rebuked Trump over the US practice of splitting up migrant families detained on the Mexican border. "The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable," he said. Bullion traders are waiting with bated breath for the bearish trend in gold to silver ratio to resume during which silver outperforms gold. They expect the gold to silver ratio to fall to 72 and then to 68 before it starts rising again. However, international experts suggest headwind for silver before it outperforms gold. During the recent rout in base metals, following the trade war triggered by the US, ratio punters were proved wrong and silver price fell sharply compared to gold. As a result, the ratio of gold to silver price has also seen some increase in the last few days. Gold and ... Arvind Subramanian, who stepped down as Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) on Wednesday, hailed Union Minister Arun Jaitley as "a dream boss." This came after Jaitley, in a Facebook post, heaped praises upon Arvind for his contribution to the economy. "I am profoundly grateful by the generous words of Minister Arun Jaitley. I had a dream boss," Subramanian told media here. Earlier in the day, Jaitley, in a Facebook post, wrote that Subramanian's decision to step down was due to "pressing family commitments". In this regard, he said, "I am expecting a grandchild in September. That's a compelling reason to go back into the old life that I used to lead researching, writing, teaching and reflecting above all. It's been the best job that I have ever had and this will be the best one I will ever have. It's been fabulous three-and-a-half to four years for me. I will go back with the happiest memories of this tenure in terms of all that we were able to do. I will always be committed to serving the country at all times in the future. It's an emotional time for me." On a question about former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's negative views on the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Arvind said that anyone in a public office will have to gear up to face consequences on any decision taken. "If you are in the public office, you have to be both prepared for forthright and be willing to take whatever the fallout or the consequences from that. Whether I have been validated or I have been successfully able to navigate this (GST), it's for all of you to judge. It's very encouraging what all is happening in the GST revenues not just for the Centre, but also for the states. GST was one of the things I had privilege getting closely associated with. It's wonderful to see this major policy reform hopefully turning out to be very positive going forward," he said. Earlier in the day, Jaitley heaped praise on Subramanian over social media. "Arvind's interaction with the Government in the Ministry of Finance, Prime Minister's Office and with other Departments was both formal and informal. His instantaneous communications with his interlocutors had increased his effectiveness. The Chief Economic Advisor's job had multi-facets to it. He is not a spokesman of the Government. He is an Advisor who has to analyse and thinks several steps ahead. It is a unique responsibility with the freedom to the work that he enjoys. Arvind functioned within these parameters and concentrated on the challenges to the economy." Responding to the Facebook Post, Subramanian thanked Jaitley for the "extraordinarily generous words", while describing the post of the chief economic advisor as the "most rewarding, fulfilling and exciting." "Profoundly grateful & humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister @arunjaitley announcing my decision to return-for personal reasons-to researching & writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had," Subramanian wrote on Twitter. Subramanian, whose term was to end on October 16 last year, was given a year's extension by the Centre. The principal author of the annual Economic Survey, Subramanian took over as the CEA on October 16, 2014, owing to a vacancy post the appointment of Raghuram Rajan as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor in September 2013. On a related note, Subramanian said "no firm date has yet been fixed" regarding his last day in office. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Pune Police has arrested four officials of Bank of Maharashtra for wrongful disbursement of money to a Pune based builder, D.S Kulkarni. Chief Managing Director of Bank of Maharashtra (BoM), Ravindra Marathe, Executive Director BoM, Rajendra Gupta, Zonal Manager BoM, Nityanand Deshpande and ex Chief Managing Director Sushil Muhnoot were amongst the names arrested. As per the sources, the accused officials allegedly conspired with Kulkarni's company D.S Kulkarni Developers (DSKDL), and had been siphoning money under the garb of a loan. Chartered Accountant of DSKDL, Sunil Ghatpande and Rajiv Newaskar, vice president of the Engineering Department of the DSKDL have also been arrested. The accused have been sent to police custody till 27 June. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday demanded resignation of Congress leader Digvijay Singh from the party over his 'Hindu terrorism' statement. "We demand Congress leader Digvijay Singh should be sacked from the Party. You (Digvijay Singh) pointed finger at millions of Hindus, denigrated them and called them terrorists," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said while addressing a press conference in Delhi. Further hitting out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Patra questioned, "Why do you take Hindus for granted Rahul Gandhi?" Earlier this week, Singh raked up a controversy by saying that all Hindu-religion terrorists who had been caught in the past were connected to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in some way. Later, Singh clarified that he has always used the term "Sanghi terrorism" and never "Hindu terrorism. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Wednesday took a potshot at the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and People's Democratic Party (PDP) alliance and said that the BJP has destroyed the state "economically, socially and politically." Congress leader and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad's statement comes a day after the BJP pulled out of PDP alliance in the state. "Three-and-a-half years ago on March 15, there was an unethical alliance formed between BJP and PDP. During the Vidhan Sabha elections in 2014, BJP abused PDP while doing publicity for itself. And in the Valley, PDP with same intensity accused BJP. However, the two enemies ironically joined hands after the elections," Azad told media here. "While PDP betrayed the people of Kashmir, BJP, on the other hand, betrayed Jammu locals. Most of the recruitments happened during BJP rule. Earlier terrorists from Jammu and Kashmir were not much educated. However, now for the first time doctors, engineers, MA, Post Graduate and even PhD holders have left their jobs and taken training under different terrorist organisations. They have destroyed Jammu and Kashmir economically, socially and politically. Now there is only five percent tourism left in the Valley," he added. The Congress leader further went on to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi over rampant incidents of the ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir from across the border. "I still have those texts which were sent to people on behalf of Prime Minister Modi during the 2014 general elections wherein he asked the then (Congress) government why they are allowing ceasefire violations in the state and killings of our soldiers. PM Modi won the elections in the state and the country on the basis of issues in Kashmir," Azad added. "In last three-and-a-half years, the Centre has destroyed Kashmiriyat, they have buried humanity. The highest number of international ceasefire violations happened in Jammu, Kathua district and Samba district. It has never happened that so many houses near the Line of Control in Jammu borders have been destroyed. During the BJP rule, around 350 soldiers have died, around 325 civilians lost their lives and around 17,000 civilians got injured," Azad added. After receiving President Ram Nath Kovind's approval, state governor N.N. Vohra on June 20 issued the proclamation to impose Governor's Rule under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. The Governor's Rule was necessitated after Mehbooba Mufti resigned as the Chief Minister. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Kavinder Gupta on Wednesday said the Centre may appoint a new Governor in the state after the Amarnath yatra. Speaking to ANI, Gupta said, "It's a routine matter (appointing new Governor). The central government will see to it. The decision on this might be taken after Amarnath Yatra." The yatra, which starts on June 28, will continue for two months. Currently, N N Vohra, who was appointed as a governor in the state in June 2008 and was given a fresh term in 2013, is among the few governors appointed by the UPA government to have continued in his position in the BJP-led NDA dispensation. Gupta further stated that no new government will be formed anytime soon in Jammu and Kashmir. The (BJP) is working on something in connection with the ongoing issue in Jammu and Kashmir, the former deputy chief minister added. "I don't think a new government will be formed anytime soon. Uncertainties are there, but we are working on something and people will get to know about it," he said. Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind approved the imposition of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, with an immediate effect. On Tuesday, Governor Narinder Nath Vohra forwarded his report to the President of India for the imposition of Governor's Rule under Section 92 of the Constitution. This came after resigned as Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Minister following the BJP's exit from its alliance with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. Mufti said that the basic motive of the alliance was "reconciliation, dialogue with the people of Kashmir, promoting confidence-building measures and good relationships with Pakistan." The BJP's decision apparently came after its chief Amit Shah held a meeting with the party's Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet ministers. Citing examples of the growing acts of "terrorism, violence and radicalisation" in the state over the past few years, BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav, while addressing a press conference in the capital, said that the party was left with no other option but to discontinue its alliance with the PDP. The BJP and PDP formed a coalition government in 2015 after the state elections threw up a hung Assembly. However, both of them were ideologically divided on a variety of issues. The BJP had 25 seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, while the PDP had 28. This will be the fourth time in the past 10 years that a Governor's rule is imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader N. Ramchander Rao on Wednesday alleged that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) gave Rs. 15 lakh to the family of deceased Hyderabad Central University student Rohith Vemula on a condition that his brother should be converted to Islam religion. "We received the information that the IUML had given Rs 15 lakh to Rohith Vemula's family and on those terms, his brother was to be converted into Islam," Rao told ANI. Earlier today, BJP leader Piyush Goyal, while addressing a press conference, alleged that the IUML had offered Rohith's mother a sum of Rs 20 Lakh to malign the image of the BJP. "IUML made fake promises to provide them (Rohith Vemula's family) Rs 20 lakh and asked them to address their rallies and misrepresent the unfortunate incident and then not completed that promise. This is condemnable," Goyal said. However, Rohith's mother refuted the BJP's allegations and clarified that even though "it's true that the IUML promised to provide me with money, but they haven't used me for political gains." Rohith, a Dalit PhD scholar at the Hyderabad Central University, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a hostel room on January 17, 2016. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress Party on Wednesday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to gain attention by blaming the party and its President, Rahul Gandhi. This came after Union Minister and BJP leader Piyush Goyal accused Rahul Gandhi and the Congress of misusing Rohith Vemula's suicide incident for their political gains. "The BJP is just trying to defame him (Rahul Gandhi) in all possible ways they can. The popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hitting a new low each day. So, they are searching for unwanted issues through which they can gain more and more publicity," Congress leader Hanumantha Rao told ANI. Rao also refuted Goyal's allegations on the Congress President. "There were several issues that Rahul Gandhi wanted to raise after the death of Rohith Vemula. There is a difference between a suicide and a murder. He wanted the investigation to be done properly so that justice can be done. Rahul Gandhi never offered money to his family," he said. Earlier in the day, Goyal, while addressing a press conference, alleged that Rahul Gandhi had asked Vemula's family to attend public events and make statements against the BJP. The Railway Minister further asked Rahul to tender an apology for the same. Rohith, a PhD scholar at the Hyderabad Central University, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a hostel room on January 17, 2016. He was allegedly upset over the disciplinary action that was taken against him by the university. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has said there has been an unprecedented and inclusive development across his parliamentary constituency of Chandni Chowk. Giving an account of the developmental works and welfare measures initiated by him in Chandni Chowk in the four years of the NDA government, he listed the Rani Jhansi Flyover, the construction of 1675 multi-story flats for slum dwellers, the multilevel 2400-vehicle modern parking at Gandhi Maidan, Chandni Chowk, the state-of-the-art Power Grid station at Piragarhi as some of the major projects completed under his watch. He claimed that he had also been instrumental in setting up about 50 open gyms in parks, construction and modernisation of school buildings, installation of high-mast LED lights, providing passenger amenities in five railway stations, setting up multiple skill development centres, construction of community halls and development of three urban villages under SansadAdarsh Gram Yojana. "I have obtained sanction for another 237 projects, including 80 more open gyms, development of parks, high mast lights, repairing of roads, installation of tubewells, etc." said Dr. Harsh Vardhan. He said that the Rani Jhansi Flyover project had been held up a decade, and that it was only after a regular follow up with the Union Ministry of Urban Development and local bodies, that work on it had been revived and it is now expected to be commissioned by August end. The 1.6 km flyover from Filmistan Cinema to St. Stephens Hospital is critical to decongest important stretches in Old and Central Delhi - it will connect Central-East-West and North Delhi, bypassing the heavily congested Azad Market area. Parking is a major problem in the capital. Considering that there are several congested commercial areas in the constituency, the issue was taken up with the local authorities and now 13 Stack level parking stations and 7 Multilevel Parking stations on PPP Mode have been sanctioned. Stack Level 1. LNJP Hospital 2. Salimgarh Fort, Hanuman Sethu 3. Fatehpuri 4. Pratapnagar Metro Station 5. Mukherjee Nagar 6. NaniwalaBagh 7. BQ Block, Shalimar Bagh 8. BW Block Shalimar Bagh 9. BN Block Shalimar Bagh 10. NigambodhGhat Multilevel Parking 1. Shiva Market, Pitampura 2. Gandhi Maidan, Near Red Fort 3. Sant Nagar (Rani Bagh) 4. Idgah Road 5. U&V Block, Shalimar Bagh 6. AC Block, Shalimar Bagh 7. Madipur Metro Station Passenger facilities at Railway Stations There are five railway stations in Chandni Chowk Parliamentary Constituency - New Delhi, Old Delhi, Sarai Rohilla, Sadar Bazar and Shakur Basti. Several passenger amenities were implemented as a result of regular interactions with the Ministry of Railways - New Delhi (i) Renovation of waiting room at an expenditure of Rs. 9.0 crores (ii) Construction of a new waiting room (iii) Installation of 16 new escalators (iv) WiFi facility at New Delhi station (v) Installation of 16 water coolers (vi) Installation of 6 automatic ticket vending machine (vii) Set up a control room and 11 KV Electric Station for uninterrupted power supply Old Delhi Railway Station (i) Construction of facilitation counters, ticket booths, Waiting Hall on Hamilton Road, Kashmiri Gate side. (ii) Installation of six escalators is in progress (iii) Renovation of three Dormitories at a cost of Rs. 35 lakhs (iv) Reconstruction of Platform No. 16 at a cost of Rs. 1.7 crores (v) Setting up of automatic ticket vending machines, (vi) The station has been made Divyang-friendly Sarai Rohilla Station (i) Resurfacing of Platforms (ii) Steel benches at Waiting Hall (iii) Renovation of foot-overbridge (iv) Development of approach road from New Rohtak Road (v) Installation of lift (vi) Installation of Escalator (Under progress) SabziMandi Station Development of main entrance to the station and parking facilities Shakur Basti Railway Station Redevelopment of Shakur Basti Railway Station is complete Construction of additional blocks/renovation in schools As many as 18 school buildings were either renovated/or additional blocks constructed. Some of these projects are still in progress. These include: 1. Gujaranwala Town Primary School 2. Model Town-2 Primary School 3. Municipal Corporation Primary School, Lalitha Block, Shastri Nagar 4. Jhandewalan Kadam Sharif School 5. PaschimVihar Block A-5 PrathibhaVidyalaya 6. Ashok Vihar Phase-3 Municipal Corporation Primary School 7. Pitampura CP Block Primary School 8. Azadpur, Bhadola Village Primary School 9. Multan Nagar, PaschimVihar Municipal Corporation Primary School 10. Shalimar Bagh C&D Block School (In progress) 11. Foundation Stone for Hyderpur Municipal Corporation Girls Primary School 12. Inauguration of new Municipal Corporation Primary School at Block C-7, Keshavpuram 13. Inauguration of new building of Municipal Corporation Primary School at Prem Nagar, SadarPaharGanj Zone 14. Inauguration of new building of Municipal Corporation Primary School at Amarpuri, SadarPaharGanj Zone 15. Inauguration of new Municipal Corporation Primary School at A-4, PaschimVihar 16. Foundation Stone for Municipal Corporation Primary School at HU Block Pitampura 17. Foundation Stone for Municipal Corporation Primary School at AC Block, Shalimar Bagh 18. Inauguration of new block and swimming pool at Municipal Corporation Primary School, SP Block, Pitampura Library & Recreational Facilities The Minister has also been instrumental in the construction of a new building for Delhi Public Library's Ashok Vihar branch and he provided assistance for interior decoration. He has also sanctioned Rs. 15 lakh from MPLADS fund for a mobile library to be stationed outside Old Delhi Railway Station. Besides, a recreational centre for senior citizens was set up in CU Block of Pitampura. Community Centres As many as 12 community centres were constructed in the constituency: 1. MajnuKaTila 2. Azadpur MCD Colony 3. Idgah 4. Sahipur, Shalimar Bagh 5. VardhamanVatika, Trinagar 6. C-Block Shakurpur (Anandvas) 7. Ramgarh, Jahangirpuri 8. CD Block Shalimar Bagh (Under construction) 9. Captain Satish Marg, Rishi Nagar 10. BG-6 Block, PaschimVihar 11. Qutab Road 12. A-5 Block PaschimVihar Major Road Connectivity projects (1) East-West Corridor The proposal is for construction of a corridor from AnandVihar to Peeragarhi. It is being considered to connect from the intersection of Nizambuddin Bridge to Peeragarhi through Ring Road, ITO, DeenDayalUpadhyay Marg, New Delhi Railway Station, Ajmeri Gate, Deshbandhu Gupta Road, Old Rohtak Road, Anand Parbat Industrial Area, Zakira and Peeragarh (approximately 30 Kms). The proposal is to construct an elevated corridor connecting NH 24 to NH 10. (2) Consultant appointed for study of highway connecting Haiderpur Water Works to Premwadi Bridge. (3) Centre has allocated Rs. 34,100 crores for a third ring road, of which Rs. 6,000 crores will be utilised for development of NH-24. Development of Heritage Sites Two main heritage spots in the constituency are being developed in close coordination with the Heritage and Tourism Department of Delhi Government. These are Naini Lake in Model Town and Roshanara Park.Ministry of Culture has approved a proposal for development of RoshanaraBagh at an expense of Rs. 12 crores. A decision has also been taken for re-development of the Town Hall in Chandni Chowk into a heritage museum. Repair and refurbishing of KashmereDarwaza at Kashmere Gate and renovation of Archaeological Park at Sarai Pipalthala, were the other works done to preserve heritage sites in the constituency. Apart from these, several projects were implemented for face-lift of historical sites like Jama Masjid, QudsiaBagh and Shahjahanabad. Delhi Metro Development Dr Harsh Vardhan said, his efforts to speed up early implementation of Delhi Metro's Majlis Park-DurgabhaiDeshmukh South Campus Pink Line and ITO-Kashmere Gate section has paid off. Both the sections have since been opened for public. Peeragarhi Power Grid A state of the art technology 220 KV substation was set up with the help of Ministry of Power in Peeragarhi. It will be a landmark in strengthening the power transmission system in the North West Delhi. Adoption of Urban Villages Under the SansadAdarsh Gram Yojana, the minister had adopted Dhirpur Village during the first two years, where a comprehensive development plan was implemented, the highlights of which are as under: 1. Redevelopment of AmbedkarChaupal 2. Development of Coronation Park 3. Renovation of Municipal Corporation School at a cost of Rs. 1 crore 4. Development of cremation ground at a cost of Rs. 92.5 lakhs The second village he had adopted was Ghoga Village, where several development works were carried out using funds from MPLADs and with the help of Municipal Corporation of Delhi and DDA. 1. Distribution of 87 benches at main public places in the village 2. Redevelopment of parks at a cost of Rs. 53.35 lakhs 3. Ordered development of rainwater storage tank in the village. 4. Installation of semi High Mast LED lamps Currently, the minister said that he has adopted Singhola Village near Narela, where several development works are in progress. The proposals under consideration are, construction of a community centre, setting up of a school, beautification of the village pond and repair of roads. Redevelopment of Parks Dr. Harsh Vardhan said he has been instrumental in redeveloping as many as 67 parks across the constituency. Apart from these, three new parks are being developed at the following places: 1. Birla Mill Green Zone 2. Model Town 3. Redevelopment of DeendayalUpadhyay Park and NakshatraVatika (Completed) Open Gyms At the behest of Dr Harsh Vardhan44 Open Gyms were set up in parks throughout Chandni Chowk constituency. Apart from this, around 75 Gyms are planned to be set up during this year. 1. Indira Nagar Mahila Park 2. Sanjay Enclave, Adarsh Nagar 3. Rampura, Behind SDM Office 4. Kohat Enclave Park, Pitampura 5. Haidarpur Village 6. Beriwala Park, Ashok Vihar Phase 2 7. AB Block Park, LokVihar 8. Rose Garden Park, Trinagar 9. Sahib Singh Verma Park, Keshavpuram 10. AsokVihar Phase I, Behind E-67 Block 11. Ashok Vihar Phase I, Behind A-61 Block 12. Kamla Nagar D Block Park 13. Sandesh Vihar, Pitampura 14. Ismail Khan Park, GT Road 15. District Park, Shastri Nagar (56 Bhiga Park) 16. Bandarwala Park, Gulabibagh 17. SainikVihar, Pitampura 18. PaschimVihar District Park 19. Shalimar Bagh, Sheeshmahal Park 20. BrijVihar District Park, Pitampura 21. Shalimar Bagh, Motawala Park 22. AE Block, Shalimar Bagh 23. Sanjay Van, Pitampura 24. Ashok Park 25. Shakti Vihar, AnandVihar Park, Pitampura 26. ChandiwalaBagh, Ashok Vihar 27. Ashok Vihar, D-90, Phase I 28. BG-6 Park, PaschimVihar 29. Rajiv Gandhi Park, PaschimVihar 30. DDA Park, PaschimVihar (Behind B-3 Block) 31. Fountain Park in front of Crescent School, Pitampura 32. Maharaja Agrasen Park, ISBT 33. Keshavpura, Hathoda Ram Park 34. Keshavpuram B-2/B-3 Park 35. Kanhaiya Nagar, Narang Colony Park 36. A-Block Park, Ashok Vihar 37. D-Block Park, Kamla Nagar 38. AB Block, SaraswatiVihar 39. D-Block, SharadaNiketan 40. Kapil Vihar Park, Pitampura 41. Laxmibhai College, Ashok Vihar 42. Sushil Mohan Mahila Park, Opp. Old Delhi Railway Station 43. Picnic Hut, Savan Park 44. HU Block, DDA Park, Pitampura Medical Camps Dr. Harsh Vardhan said he has been organising many free medical camps in his constituency for poor and underprivileged. Free check-up for sight and hearing were carried out and lenses or hearing aids distributed free of cost at these camps. Besides, persons requiring cataract surgeries were referred to hospitals for free procedures. So far over 21,000 beneficiaries were examined and about 19,000 people were given free medicines. Free glasses were distributed to more than 12,000 persons, free hearing aids to over 900 people and cataract surgeriesarranged for 660 people. So far, 31 such free camps have been organised. Apart from these, seven camps were organised in association with Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. At these camps, aids like Tricycles, Wheel Chairs, Crutches, Hearing Machines, Folding Sticks, Braille Kits, MSID Kits etc worth Rs. 2.78 crore were distributed. In addition, motorized tricycles worth Rs. 16.48 lakhs were also distributed to needy. Skill Development Programme Five skill development centres were set up in Chandni Chowk constituency to train youth in different trades. 1. Jama Masjid 2. Anand Parbat 3. Rani Bagh 4. Paharganj 5. Netaji Subhash Place Clean India Under Prime Minister's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a number of modern public amenities were constructed, in close coordination with Municipal Corporation and other agencies. 1. Nabi Karim, Paharganj 2. Sangam Park 3. Lal Bagh 4. Outside Old Delhi Railway Station 5. MajnuKaTila 6. A-5 Block Market, PaschimVihar 7. Kishan Lal Sharma Park, North PaschimVihar 8. RUSU Block Pitampura 9. Rampura (near Mother Diary) 10. Ramnagar, Ashok Basti 11. 56 Bigha Park, Shastri Nagar 12. Yamuna Bazar, Hanuman Mandir (Marghatwale) 13. AngooriKhatta (near RamlilaMaidan) UjjwalaYojana Held camps at Wazirpur JJ Colony and Keshavapuramand distributed free cooking gas connections under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship programme "UjjwalaYojana". Jahan Jhuggi, WahanPakkaMakan Construction of 1675 multi-story flats is underway for relocation of people living in slum colonies. These include JailorwalaBagh and Ashok Vihar, where amenities like anganwadi, health centre, creche, community hall, PDS shop, etc. would also be provided. Surya Jyoti Solar lights developed by a research facility, with support from Department of Science & Technology have been installed inLalbagh clusters in Azadpur area. These are low cost and environment-friendly solar lighting device, which would prove to be a boon for the urban and rural households in the country that do not have reliable access to electricity. NitiAyog has now approved Surya Jyoti for installation all over India. GST After the introduction of GST by the government, traders and businessmen had a number of concerns/doubts. Dr Harsh Vardhanheld several interactions with them and taken up their concerns directly with Prime Minister and Finance Minister andas a result, 90% of their concerns were redressed. Post Offices Two post offices were set up in Rani Bagh and Rajdhani Enclave in North West Delhi. Waste Process Plant Set up a plant, using unique technology, for reprocessing of flower waste at NigambodhGhat into compost and other useful products. Other development/Welfare activities done during the last four years in nutshell are- 1. Forwarded 8,247 applications for old age pension/financial assistance to Social Welfare Department of the Delhi Government. 2. Facilitated assistance from Prime Minister's Relief Fund to 185 families for treatment or serious ailments. Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, the mobile application launched by him acts as an interface with people in his constituency. He said, a large number of requests were received through the mobile application, which were taken up with various agencies for resolution. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday credited farmers for their hard work in ensuring the country's food security, saying that farmers were essential for the survival of the population. Interacting with farmers via the Narendra Modi App (NaMo App) Prime Minister Modi expressed optimism about using a digital platform to address farmers from over 600 districts in India. Adding that the farmers are always left on their own, and not much is done to ensure their development, Prime Minister Modi said, "There is a need for technological innovation in order to help the farmers. Keeping this in mind, our government has been trying to ensure their development. In order to ensure that the farmers receive right price for their products, the government has tried to remove the middlemen from the system and bring the produce directly to the consumers." The Prime Minister reiterated his government's commitment of striving to double farmer's income by 2022, adding that assistance was being provided to all the farmers. Prime Minister Modi interacted with farmers from Karnataka, Sikkim, West Bengal and Maharashtra among other parts of the country on the achievements and challenges of farming. Listing out key areas where the government is working to help the farmers' progress, Prime Minister Modi said, "There should be the right price for the produce. We also need to ensure that the grains are not destroyed and also that there are alternative sources of income." The Prime Minister informed the farmers that agriculture saw a rapid growth in the last three years. "We approved a sum of over Rs. 2 lakh crore in the Union Budget. There is a record production of grains, fruits, vegetables and milk in the country today. With the blue revolution, the fisheries sector has seen a 26 percent rise. The animal husbandry sector has also seen a 24 percent rise," Prime Minister Modi said. He further added that for the farmers of the country to get fair prices of crops, the Centre has decided that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for notified crops will be declared at least 1.5 times of their cost. Underlining the rise in agricultural production, Prime Minister Modi said, "In the year 2017-18, food grain production was more than 280 million tonnes, while the average production from 2010 to 2014 was 250 million tons. Similarly, in the area of pulses, 10.5 percent of the average production and horticulture area has registered an increase of 15 percent. The Prime Minister struck a chord with the farmers saying, "We strive to help farmers at every step in the whole process of cultivation, i.e. before sowing, after sowing and after harvesting." Prime Minister Modi further added that his government started e-NAM, an online platform, to ensure that the farmers are not duped and that they get the right price for their produce, ensuring that the middlemen are not able to snatch the profits of the farmers. He recalled that earlier farmers used to stand in long queues for buying fertilisers, adding that now neem-coated urea was available to all the farmers in the country. Pitching farmers to adopt the drip irrigation system, Prime Minister Modi continued, "I always encourage farmers to adopt drip irrigation system. This would help in reducing the burden that our farmers have to face in irrigating their cropland. Per drop, more crops should be our motto." He further underlined that under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PM Agricultural Irrigation Scheme), 99 irrigation projects have been completed across the country so far. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said that the imposition of Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir will not interrupt the operations against terrorists. General Rawat's response came after President Ram Nath Kovind approved the imposition of Governor's Rule in the state with immediate effect earlier in the day. He told ANI, "We only stopped our operations during Ramzan. But, we saw what happened. The imposing of Governor's Rule will not affect our operations. Our operations will go on like they used to. We don't face any political interference." After receiving President Kovind's approval, state governor N.N. Vohra on Wednesday issued the Proclamation to impose Governor's Rule under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. The Governor's Rule was necessitated after Mehbooba Mufti resigned as Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Minister, following the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) exit from its alliance with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the state on Tuesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Japan held talks on counter-terrorism, maritime security, and peacekeeping operations among other issues during the fifth 2 plus 2 vice-ministerial level dialogue. "Both sides reviewed the entire gamut of India-Japan relations and discussed issues having overlapping foreign policy and security dimensions of India-Japan cooperation and consultations," a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday read. "Both sides reaffirmed their common desire to build on the strong foundations of bilateral cooperation and exchanges in order to forge a relationship of mutual benefit. In this context, both sides discussed measures to strengthen cooperation in fields such as counter-terrorism, maritime security, defence equipment and technology, peacekeeping operations," the statement added. The meeting was co-chaired on the Indian side by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and from the Japanese side by Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeo Mori and Vice-Minister of Defence for International Affairs Ro Manabe. The Dialogue was held in a "friendly" and "forward-looking" manner, in keeping with the India-Japan 'Special Strategic and Global Partnership'. Both sides agreed to synergise Japan's 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy' and India's 'Act East Policy' and to work together towards common goals of free and open sea as well as stability and prosperity of the region. They also discussed the issue of North Korea and the South Asian situations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A commander-level meeting took place on Wednesday between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district. Both countries discussed instances of ceasefire violations and cross-border firing. Earlier, the Home Ministry had announced that the security personnel would halt operations against terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir during the holy month of Ramzan. During the Ramzan season, Kashmir had responded well to the Centre's announcement of non-initiation of combat operations (NICO) as peace prevailed. But there has been no let-up in ceasefire violations at the LoC, and sporadic incidents of terrorist striking security forces continued. On a related note, three terrorists were killed on Tuesday in an encounter with the security forces that took place in Tral town. This came three days after veteran journalist and editor of Rising Kashmir newspaper Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead by terrorists in Press Colony in Srinagar. The same day, the bullet-ridden body of Army jawan, Aurangzeb, who was abducted by terrorists from Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, was recovered from Gusoo area. These incidents had drawn a huge outrage in the Valley with many calling it an 'act of cowardice'. Meanwhile, Governor's rule has been imposed in Jammu and Kashmir after Mehbooba Mufti resigned post the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) withdrawal from the alliance with the People's Democratic Party in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Deceased Hyderabad Central University student Rohith Vemula's mother Radhika refuted the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) allegations of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) attempting to convert her second son, Raju. "We are Buddhists, but daughter-in-law (wife of Raju) is a Muslim. However, BJP's allegation that IUML is trying to convert my second son Raju to Islam is false. BJP people can lie about anything. They and RSS are anti-Dalit and anti-Muslim," she told ANI. Radhika further claimed that she would support any party that opposes the BJP. "It is wrong to say political parties are using me. I will go to any party to oppose BJP, as it is the killer of my son. They have no right to speak of me, my son or my family," she added. Responding to allegations leveled by the BJP on Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Radhika said she had faith in the latter, who has assured her that, a 'Rohit Act' would be introduced when he comes to power. Earlier in the day, the BJP hit out at the IUML and Congress for misusing Rohith Vemula's suicide incident for their political gains. Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Piyush Goyal said that the IUML had offered Rohith's mother Radhika a sum of Rs 20 Lakh to malign the image of the BJP. "IUML made fake promises to provide them (Rohith Vemula's family) Rs 20 lakh and asked them to address their rallies and misrepresent the unfortunate incident and then not completed that promise. This is condemnable," Goyal said. Meanwhile, another BJP leader, N. Ramchander Rao, alleged that the IUML gave Rs. 15 lakh to the family of Rohith Vemula on a condition that his brother should be converted to Islam religion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Arun Jaitley penned a Facebook post for outgoing Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, thanking him for his contributions to the Indian economy. In the post, Jaitley said he would miss Subramanian's "dynamism, energy, intellectual ability and ideas." "He would walk into my room - at times several times a day, addressing me as "Minister" to give either the good news or otherwise. Needless to say, his departure will be missed by me. But I know that his heart is very much here. I am sure he will keep sending advice and analysis wherever he is," he said. Earlier in the day, Jaitley announced that Subramanian has asked to step down before the end of his term as Chief Economic Advisor. "Few days ago Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian met me over video conferencing. He informed me that he would like to go back to the United States on account of pressing family commitments. His reasons were personal but extremely important to him. He left me with no option but to agree with him. On the expiry of his three-year term, I had requested him to continue for some more time. Even at that stage, he told me that he was torn between family commitment and his current job which he considered the best and most fulfilling he has ever done," he said. Jaitley further noted that Subramanian's Economic Surveys, presented prior to the Union Budget every year, were treated by several independent critics as one of the best ever produced. "The Economic Survey today is a basic teaching material all over India. He thought ahead and, therefore, came out with futuristic ideas on rationalisation of removal of "subsidies for the rich", universal basic income, climate change, from "socialism without entry and capitalism without exit" and the four C's that he had historically paralysed decision making. He conducted the first online course on Indian economy for the benefits of students and teachers across the country," he elaborated. Jaitley also lauded Subramanian for building a strong team of both "insiders" and "outsiders" in the Economic Division of the Ministry. "Arvind's interaction with the Government in the Ministry of Finance, Prime Minister's Office and with other Departments was both formal and informal. His instantaneous communications with his interlocutors had increased his effectiveness. The Chief Economic Advisor's job had multi-facets to it. He is not a spokesman of the Government. He is an Advisor who has to analyse and thinks several steps ahead. It is a unique responsibility with the freedom to the work that he enjoys. Arvind functioned within these parameters and concentrated on the challenges to the economy," he added. Subramanian, whose term was to end on October 16 last year, was given an extension of a year by the Ministry of Finance. Apart from the Economic Survey, Subramanian is known for conceptualising the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile), a database for availing public benefits. He was also responsible for the creation of the government's online education platform "Swayam", which became one of the most followed courses in India. Subramanian will be returning to the United States, owing to personal commitments. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan on Wednesday held a meeting with Election Commission (EC) officials in Delhi for the registration of his political party Makkal Needhi Maiam. "The EC had sought certain queries regarding our party. We have furnished all those details today. EC has said that very soon, the recognition to the party will be given," Hassan told media. Haasan had launched Makkal Needhi Maiam, which translates to 'People's Justice Centre', on February 21 to contest in Tamil Nadu's next assembly elections. Hassan may also meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Hassan met Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday in the capital. Speaking to media after the meeting, Hassan said, "It was a formal courtesy meeting. We spoke about Tamil Nadu " Earlier in the day, Hassan visited Election Commission office in Delhi for the registration of his party Makkal Needhi Maiam. "The EC had sought certain queries regarding our party. We have furnished all those details today. The EC has said that very soon, the recognition to the party will be given," Hassan said after meeting with Election Commission. Later in the evening, Hassan is also likely to meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Hassan founded the party this year on February 21 to contest in Tamil Nadu's next assembly elections. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's wife Begum Kulsoom's vital organs have now been functioning normally. After being put on life support, Kulsoom even opened her eyes once. On Tuesday, the doctors treating her at Harley Street Clinic in London, told Sharif that her wife was highly critical. Sharif family and the five-member board of doctors discussed Kulsoom's condition and decided that she would not be taken off the ventilator for now. The doctors asked Nawaz to wait for another review of her condition, the timeline of which has not been given at the moment, as per Geo News. The doctors informed Nawaz, Maryam and Shehbaz Sharif that Kulsoom's condition has neither deteriorated nor improved since June 14, when she was shifted to intensive care, after suffering a cardiac arrest. She was then sedated, put on life support and is undergoing treatment. The same day, Sharif with his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, had reached London. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on June 17 arrived in London to see his ailing sister-in-law. Following the advice by the doctors, Nawaz and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz had delayed their return to Pakistan. According to Nawaz's son Hussain, Kulsoom will be on the ventilator for an indefinite period. Kulsoom Nawaz has undergone multiple surgeries from August 2017, after she was diagnosed with throat cancer (lymphoma). Her condition began to deteriorate in April this year, after which she was moved to London for treatment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB) arrested seven people including Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Chairman of an autonomous district council in Chandel district, Lutkhosei Zou, with drugs valued at over Rs 27 crore on Wednesday. The seizures include 4.595kg of heroin, 28kg of World is Yours (WY) tablets and Rs 57.18 lakh and old currency notes worth Rs. 95,000. The team also recovered one 0.32 NPB Pistol with 21 rounds, one SBBL Rifle, two gun license books and eight bank passbooks. The other seven persons arrested have been identified as Esther Vungheinuam, Mung Zou Aric, Teresa Ngaite Nengboi, Lawrence Zou, Minlal Mate, Sio Jamthang Mate and Mt Jamkhohao, public relations officer of the council chairman. Lutkhosei got elected as the Indian Congress (INC) candidate last year and later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the council in Chandel. Upon disclosure of Thangminlun Zou, he led the police team to his house at Langol Game Village where he had hidden two suitcases purportedly packed with illegal contraband drugs. There he pulled out two large suitcases from the ceiling containing huge amounts of heroin powder packed in soap cases, plastic bags and World is Yours (WY) Amphetamine tablets. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Following his elevation to the rank of a cabinet minister in the Madhya Pradesh (MP) government, Swami Akhileshwaranand on Wednesday appealed to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to form a cow ministry in the state. He was of the opinion that if there could be a cow secretariat in Rajasthan, a ministry for happiness in MP, then a cow ministry should be constituted in the state for the welfare of the state. He said that the formation of the ministry will attract even more budget into the state and that he wanted the cow to be removed from the category of animal. Speaking to ANI, he said that he had previously spoken to Chief Minister Chouhan regarding this matter. "He (the chief minister) told me that he will restore all the cow-houses, and there will be no shortage of funds, there just needs to be the willpower and commitment towards the cause. Now I am even more hopeful as he was made the chairman of Agriculture and MGNREGA committee," Akhileshwaranand told ANI. "The state gets 15000 Cr under the scheme. I asked them how much they spend, they told me they could hardly spend half of it. So I asked them why was there this lapse, you are a part of the Cow Protection Board, provide me with a budget of 1000 Cr, I have a strong willpower for my cause, they told me I was not making any unconstitutional demand, they will back me," he added. On June 13, the MP government had elevated Akhileshwaranand, formerly the state's Cow Protection Board chairperson, to the rank of a Cabinet minister. He was earlier given Minister of State (MoS) rank. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) To deepen the footprint of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), a delegation visited Nepal on June 12-14. The PHDCCI delegation was lead by Anil Khaitan, President - and among the other delegates were, Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General; Ambassador K.V. Rajan, Convener - PHDCCI Ambassadors' Economic Forum & India-Nepal Centre. PHDCCI delegation met with K. P. Sharma Oli, Prime Minister, Nepal - and discussed about the ways for promoting priority sectors in Nepal and bringing investment for supporting the identified sectors. Prime Minister Oli had commended the efforts of PHDCCI - and assured for full support for the proposed deliberations to enhance the economic co-operation between India and Nepal. The visiting PHDCCI delegation to Nepal had a purposeful meeting with India's ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri and other members of Mission at the Indian embassy, Kathmandu. The delegation had roundtable meetings with its institutional partners - Management Association of Nepal (MAN), Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC). The meetings had created a framework for joint programmes and India-Nepal Centre's works in India and Nepal. MAN, CNI and NCC had assured for supporting the India-Nepal Centre institutionally and making it a formidable platform - for bilateral economic cooperation. The delegation also had a meeting with Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Investment Board of Nepal (IBN). With the latter, the delegation had a detailed interaction on the crucial points that determine the investment prospect in Nepal. IBN CEO Maha Prasad Adhikari had presented before the delegation, the opportunities Nepal is offering and how IBN will be facilitating the entry of new businesses in country. The visit was concluded in meeting with Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nepal. The Minister was apprised about the PHDCCI's newly formed India-Nepal Centre and further plans and action, on which, he hailed the works being done by PHDCCI for Nepal and committed for full support on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal. As the institutional cooperation between the two countries have been equally profound and shaped through the finer elements of bilateral relations, the businesses in both sides have had thrived a lot on same. To celebrate and further accentuate it, PHDCCI in collaboration with its institutional partners in Nepal aim to continue the ongoing efforts for strengthening further the economic co-operation between India and Nepal. Remarkably, India-Nepal Centre is the lone institutional initiative from any industry association in India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the fourth International Yoga Day Celebrations in Dehradun tomorrow. Prime Minister Modi will join thousands of volunteers, performing Yoga asanas in the lawns of Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, located in the lap of the Himalayas. Meanwhile, preparations are underway at the Forest Research Institute for tomorrow's celebration. A series of Yoga related events are being organised across the world to mark the occasion. The Prime Minister had earlier participated in Yoga celebrations at Rajpath in New Delhi in 2015, the Capitol Complex in Chandigarh in 2016, and the Ramabai Ambedkar Sabha Sthal in Lucknow in 2017. Greeting Yoga enthusiasts across the world on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that Yoga is one of the most precious gifts given by the ancient Indian sages to humankind. "Yoga is not just a set of exercises that keeps the body fit. It is a passport to health assurance, a key to fitness and wellness. Nor is Yoga only what you practice in the morning. Doing your day-to-day activities with diligence and complete awareness is a form of Yoga as well," the Prime Minister said. "In a world of excess, Yoga promises restraint and balance. In a world suffering from mental stress, Yoga promises calm. In a distracted world, Yoga helps focus. In a world of fear, Yoga promises hope, strength and courage," he added. In the run-up to International Yoga Day, the Prime Minister has also taken to social media to share the intricacies of various Yoga Asanas. He has also shared pictures of people performing Yoga, at various locations across the world. International Yoga Day is celebrated annually on 21 June since its inception in 2015. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday seized Megha Hotel, in Lucknow's Charbagh area for not having necessary fire safety equipments. The police were reviewing the area in the wake of recent fire incident that took place at two hotels in Charbagh. Six people were killed and five injured after a major fire broke out at SSJ International and Virat Hotels in Charbagh on June 19. Earlier today, the police filed an FIR against the owners and workers of the two hotels case under Sections 285,337,338 and 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan stressed on the need for responsible pricing of fuel at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) seminar on Wednesday. "It is high time to move to responsible pricing, one that balances the interests of both the producer and consumer. We also need to move to transparent and flexible markets for both oil and gas," he said while addressing the gathering here. Pradhan further sought for the intervention of OPEC members to ensure sustainable fuel price. "Crude prices are creating stress throughout the global economy. It is giving pain to us in India. The global economic outlook already has threats from trade wars. My fear is that his will lead to energy poverty in many parts of the World," he said. Prior to the meeting, Pradhan had said that India, being a consumer country, has been consistently appealing for lower fuel prices at previous OPEC meetings. "Being a consuming country, we always expect a reasonable fuel price. India is consistent on this issue for the last few years and we'll repeat our appeal in the seminar. They're taking us seriously. Four years back, they were just listening to us. In an era of consumerism, India will have its own voice," he told ANI. Pradhan is currently on a two-day visit to Vienna to attend the 7th OPEC International Seminar at the Imperial Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria, under the theme - 'Petroleum - cooperation for a sustainable future'. The seminar will provide fresh impetus to key petroleum industry issues and challenges, helping to enhance existing avenues of dialogue and cooperation, while stimulating new ones. It will feature presentations by officials from energy and oil ministries, executives from oil companies and financial firms, and other representatives from international organizations and research institutions. The meeting will seek to reinforce OPEC's longstanding commitment to strive towards a secure and stable market in support of a healthy global economy. It will also highlight the need for continuing promotion of cooperation and dialogue with all oil industry stakeholders, including producers and consumers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday approved the imposition of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, with an immediate effect. Yesterday, Governor Narinder Nath Vohra forwarded his report to the President of India for the imposition of Governor's Rule under Section 92 of the Constitution. This came after Mehbooba Mufti resigned as Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Minister following the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) exit from its alliance with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. She added that the basic motive of the alliance was "reconciliation, dialogue with the people of Kashmir, promoting confidence-building measures and good relationships with Pakistan." The BJP's decision apparently came after its chief Amit Shah held a meeting with the party's Jammu and Kashmir cabinet ministers. Citing examples of the growing acts of "terrorism, violence and radicalisation" in the state over the past few years, BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav, while addressing a press conference in the capital, said that the party was left with no other option, but to discontinue its alliance with the PDP. The BJP and PDP formed a coalition government in 2015 after the state elections threw up a hung assembly. However, both of them were ideologically divided on a variety of issues. The BJP had 25 seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, while the PDP had 28. This will be the fourth time in the last 10 years that a Governor's rule is imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has officially decided to not file charges against American actor Scott Baio, saying in an evaluation that the statute of limitations had expired. Baio's former 'Charles in Charge' co-star, Nicole Eggert, had filed a police report against him in February, claiming that he sexually assaulted her while she was a teenager and working with him in the 1980s sitcom, reported the Hollywood Reporter. Scott had however rebuffed all the allegations and said that he and Eggert were in a consensual relationship when she was of legal age. Baio's Spokesperson, Brian Glicklich, referred to an interview that Eggert had given years ago where she said that working with Baio in 'Charles in Charge' was fun and that she would be happy to work with him again. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday hit out at the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Congress for misusing Rohit Vemula's suicide incident for their political gains. Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Piyush Goyal said that the IUML had offered Rohit's mother Radhika a sum of Rs 20 Lakh to malign the image of the BJP. "IUML made fake promises to provide them (Rohith Vemula's family) Rs 20 lakh and asked them to address their rallies and misrepresent the unfortunate incident and then not completed that promise. This is condemnable," Goyal said. He further slammed the IUML for giving a political angle to the death of the Hyderabad Central University student and exploiting his mother's grief for some "very low level of politics". "I was shocked after reading Rohith Vemula's mother's statement. For how long will some opposition parties continue these lowly deeds for petty political gains? The family is not financially stable and fake assurance of money was provided to a distressed mother for political purposes," he added. Rohith's mother had reportedly said that the IUML took them to Kerala and made them participate in a big meeting where the party promised that it would sanction Rs 20 lakh and construct a house for them but nothing happened. Goyal further alleged that Congress president Rahul Gandhi also asked Vemula's family to attend public events and make statements against the BJP. Goyal also asked Rahul to tender an apology for the same. Rohit, a PhD scholar at the Hyderabad Central University, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a hostel room on January 17, 2016. He was allegedly upset over disciplinary action taken against him by the university. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid a thaw in inter-Korean relations, a delegation from a South Korean civic group will visit North Korea this week to discuss exchanges in various sectors. The unification ministry had endorsed the request from the group devoted to starting the first-ever inter-Korean summit, held on June 15, 2000. The 15-member delegation on June 20 left for China's Shenyang and will take a flight for Pyongyang. Till Saturday, they are scheduled to stay in Pyongyang, Yonhap reported. This is the first time that a civic group is visiting the North, since the South Korean President Moon Jae-in assumed office in May 2017. The two Koreas had pushed to hold joint events to mark the 18th anniversary of the first summit, but decided not to have them this year due to time restraints. This comes after the two summits held between Kim Jong-un and Moon in April and May. In 2008, joint events like this were held to mark the anniversary at Mount Kumgang on North Korea's east coast. On April 27, North and South Korea agreed to sign a peace treaty formally later this year, ending a 65-year-old long war between them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Bullet Man" Sanjeev Sinha flew from Tokyo specially to speak on CII organized Railways Industry Forum which was concluded today at New Delhi in presence of Hon'ble Minister of Finance, Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs Piyush Goyal and other dignitaries. Sinha emphasized on a holistic model for the economy with "safety, trust and speed all as important and integral part of a healthy and efficient system" as envisaged by Japan for the Mumbai Ahmedabad Bullet Train. Sinha pointed out that the lack of safety and trust in a society not just affects the quality of life but also has a direct cost to the economy. Sinha, the first IIT graduate from the Barmer district of Rajasthan and now a 21 years prominent resident of Japan, gave an example of Japanese economy where the mutual trust in the society makes the economic transactions much faster and easier. People have a piece of mind and trust in the system, while the system also trusts the people and hence both prosper together. The trains and stations are equipped with high quality expensive equipment like large touch screen information systems, nice cushy seats and high-tech toilets with automatic washing features, without any fear of vandalizing or damage by misuse. Sinha, having been advisor to Japanese city governments on urban development, explained the model of railway stations in Japan as convenient and efficient mini-cities where shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, office buildings, residential buildings, hospitals, kindergartens and educational institutes are all connected to the station in a convenient manner so that each and every component benefits from the footfalls (customers/visitors) of the others and the public gets an extremely safe, convenient and economically efficient quality of life. "The trust among the different components of the large infrastructure system and the development authorities is very helpful in planning such holistic regions where the low cost and long-term funding from Japan can be a big catalyst and solution to many problems as well," Sinha added. Sinha as the president of India Japan Partnership Fund is also working on creating holistic funding and technology models for such wholesome economic development combining different components like infrastructure, manufacturing, service industry and human resource development where each component benefits from others and makes the total eco-system much more feasible and economically profitable. Sinha mentioned that there is a very good funding appetite from Japan for such holistic models with a long-term perspective on economy and society with a desire to strengthen India Japan Partnership. A prominent resident of Japan for 21 years, Sinha was born in the desert town of Barmer in Rajasthan and was the first from the region to go to the prestigious IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) after his high school. Completing his integrated masters in Physics with distinction and working in Indian conglomerate Godrej, Sinha came to Japan to join GenTech for R&D in Artificial Intelligence in 1996 leading to the creation of Mobileye in Israel as one of the leaders in Automated Driving Systems of today. Acquiring another master's degree in finance, Sinha built a career in Finance industry working with Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Securities, UBS and then as Chief Country Representative in Japan for Tata Asset Management and Tata Realty and Infra, raising around a billion USD from Japanese investors. Along the way Sinha built and headed many new platforms for India Japan collaboration as Founding President IIT Alumni Association Japan, Founding President TiE Tokyo, Founding President Sun and Sands Group and others. Promoting bilateral relations, Sinha has been a regular commentator on national TV, columnist on newspapers like Nikkei and Asahi, frequent speaker at top industry bodies like Keizaidoyukai and chambers of commerce, served as an Advisor to Nagareyama City and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) and as a Visiting Faculty to University of Tokyo and International University of Japan. Sinha is also an Advisor to renowned Kyoto University, on the Board of Management of Indus University and Editorial Board Member of METI affiliated publication Japan Spotlight for many years. Over the two decades, Sinha has been promoting bilateral interactions among the industrialists, Ministers/Members of Parliaments, bureaucrats and academicians between the two countries with specific work on DMIC, Ahmedabad-Mumbai Shinkansen, Andhra Pradesh New Capital project, Kyoto-Kashi collaboration, IIT Gandhinagar collaboration with JAIST and Japanese support of about 400 million USD for IIT Hyderabad among others. For continued wide-ranging collaboration, Sinha is leading a India-Japan Collaboration Fund and a holistic collaboration platform as President of India Japan Partnership Group, President of India Japan Partnership Fund, Research Institute of Next General AI, Japan India Finance Research Institute, Director of Japan India Global Infrastructure Research Institute, Japan China India Bio Sciences Research Institute, Kyoto Kashi Co., Fuji Tiger Advisors, MD to Kuni Umi Asset Management, Advisor to Buddha Raj Education and Linkites Infotech and President of Sun and Sands Group. Sinha is also an early stage promoter and advisor for the 18 billion USD high speed rail project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai with focus on holistic regional economic development. Sinha has authored four books in Japanese (www.SanjeevSinha.com) "Amazing India" by Shincho, "India-Japan Partnership" by Kodansha, "Amazing India Business" by Nikkei and "Indian Way of Karma and Jugaad" by Shuwa. The books were launched at the Parliamentarians' Building of Japan with promoters including Mori Yoshiro former Prime Minister of Japan, Ishii Kenchii Cabinet Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan, the concerned ministry for Shinkansen and related Urban Development, Shiozaki Yasuhisa Cabinet Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, Kishida Fumio Cabinet Minister of Foreign Affairs and Hayashi Yoshimasa, Cabinet Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Agriculture previously, including 25 other prominent members of parliaments, corporate executives like Suzuki Osamu Chairman Suzuki Motors and academicians from Japan. From India, Suresh Prabhu, now Minister of Commerce and Industry, Ashish Chauhan CEO and MD BSE, Dr. Rajiv Kumar Member of the Board of Reserve Bank of India and now Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, Baba Kalyani Chairman Bharat Forge and Co-Chair India-Japan Leader's Forum and RC Bhargawa Chairman Maruti Suzuki were among other promoters of the books. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which has now become one of the most important stops on the annual road to the Oscars, is all set to run from January 30 to February 9, 2019. The Hollywood Reporter quoted Roger Durling, the fest's executive director, as saying, "It's extraordinary and a cause for celebration that SBIFF is heading into its 34th edition. We love that after this past difficult year, Santa Barbara is anxiously ready to welcome once again more world-class filmmakers." The fest is best known for its full-evening tributes to artists during the Oscar voting period. The 2019 event will be held at sites throughout Santa Barbara, including the historic Arlington Theatre and the Riviera Theatre. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senators have voted to lift almost a century-old prohibition on cannabis, making it convenient for Canadians to legally purchase and consume recreational marijuana by mid September. The federal government's bill legalising recreational marijuana was passed on Tuesday by a vote of 52-29, paving the way for a fully legal cannabis market within eight to 12 weeks. "I'm feeling just great. We've just witnessed a historic vote for Canada. The end of 90 years of prohibition. Transformative social policy, I think. A brave move on the part of the government," CBC quoted Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, as saying. Meanwhile, Canadian Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said the provinces will need two to three months to implement the new legalised cannabis regime. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed satisfaction talking about the bill and tweeted, "It's been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate. #PromiseKept," Canada is the first industrialised country to legalise cannabis nationwide. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday met the family of Rifleman Aurangzeb, who was abducted and later killed by terrorists in Pulwama's Gusoo. The Defence Minister met the family of the deceased at his residence in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch. Talking to media, Sitharaman said Aurangzeb and his family stands out as an inspiration for the entire nation. "I came to meet martyr's family. I have spent some time here. One message I can take back from here is that here's a family, here's a martyr, who stands out as an inspiration for the entire nation," she said. Her visit comes two days after Army Chief General Bipin Rawat also met the family of Aurangzeb. After Aurangzeb's demise, his family had made an emotional appeal to the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government to eliminate militancy from the state. Aurangzeb was abducted from Pulwama by terrorists and later his bullet-ridden body was recovered on June 14. The deceased Army man was proceeding towards his home on account of the festival of Eid, when he was abducted in broad daylight from a vehicle. After his abduction, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had launched a massive manhunt. Aurangzeb belonged to 44 Rashtriya Rifles, and was posted in Shopian district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Matt Porterfield's Baltimore-set drama 'Sollers Point', received the top jury prize for an American independent feature at the 7th annual Champs-Elysees Film Festival, reported the Hollywood Reporter. The film was released in the U.S. by Oscilloscope Laboratories last month. Starring McCaul Lombardi, Jim Belushi and Zazie Beetz, the film revolves around a 24-year-old drug dealer who is newly released from prison and living with his father under house arrest in Baltimore. The drug dealer struggles to re-establish himself in a community scarred by unemployment, neglect, and segregation. Meanwhile, Yen Tan's '1985' nabbed the audience and student jury award which is about a young gay man returning to his conservative Texas town. The Champs-Elysees fest, set in a handful of movie houses on Paris' most famous boulevard highlights independent films from the U.S. and France. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister, Ambassador Enna Park, today expressed confidence that the peace initiative, initiated by President Moon Jae-in, will succeed eventually and bring peace and stability to the tense Korean Peninsula. Delivering the keynote address at a seminar on "Development of Peace and Prosperity for the Korea India Strategic Partnership" at Observer Research Foundation, Amb. Park said the historic initiative would bring about a "fundamental change" and end seven decades of hostility and instability in the Korean peninsula. "It is not an easy one, but a rocky one, facing many challenges. But our government's determined efforts will bring about fundamental change," she said adding, "We believe it will come through eventually". The day-long conference in New Delhi on the different facets of the strategic partnership between India and the Republic of Korea was organised by ORF in association with the Institute of East and West Studies at the Yonsei University and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea (ROK). Ambassador Park, referring to the poem written by Rabindra Nath Tagore in 1929 on Korea, titled "The Lam of the East", sought the support of India and the world community to "lighten the lamp for peace and prosperity" in the Korean Peninsula and Asia. "Let us begin a new chapter of peace and prosperity by following the bold journey for peace, initiated by President Moon," she said. Emphasising on the need for deeper coordination between Koreans and Indians, Amb. Park hailed the India-ROK security relationship as catalyst for peace and prosperity in Asia. Ambassador Park said President Moon would discuss with Prime Minister Modi the vision for a dynamic future of peace and stability in the region, when he visits India next month. Korea's Ambassador to India, Shin Bongkil, emphasised the need for familiarising people about the shining legacy of our historic relations and reignite the "lost emotional connect" with the people. Talking about the "connect", he described about how the princess of Ayodhya, Suriratna, travelled to his country in 0050 AD to marry the King Kim there. He also talked about the Buddhist connections, Tagore's poem on Korea as well as the fact that both Korea and India share the same date for Independence Day. Praising the peace initiative of President Moon, ORF Chairman Sunjoy Joshi said South Korea has emerged as a force committed to bringing peace and prosperity not just to the Peninsula but to the Indo-Pacific that is our common maritime domain. "President Moon's Southern Policy has therefore been a logical corollary of his peace initiatives and with that we can foresee the relationship between India and Korea flower and spread into multiple new dimensions," Joshi pointed out. He said in an uncertain world where not just multi-lateral arrangements, but close groups such as G-7 formed to cement the international trade order seem to lack the will to forge a common agenda on anything, Asian powers such as South Korea and India have ever greater reason to step out and take the destiny of their continent in their own hands. "The inherent synergy between President Moon's Southward policy and India's Act East policy is only too obvious," Joshi said. The seminar had sessions on 'Role and contribution of two the two countries for the regional order ( and security)', 'Bilateral economic cooperation for win-win prosperity (economy and industry)', ' ties by having heart to heart relationship (public diplomacy)', besides the inaugural and closing sessions. Scholars as well as former diplomats, including former ambassadors, presented papers and took part in the discussions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday called on President of European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels. "The two leaders exchanged views on progress made on the understandings reached during the last India-EU Summit in 2017. India and EU are strategic and natural partners with common values," the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Raveesh Kumar tweeted. Swaraj also met President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani here. Two of the world's largest democracies held excellent discussions on enhancing cooperation across different sectors, including parliamentary exchanges, Kumar tweeted. The external affairs minister arrived in Brussels on Wednesday on the last leg of her week-long four-nation tour. EAM will hold wide ranging discussions with the EU leadership to strengthen India-EU strategic partnership and will meet her Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders to further solidify the bilateral ties. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj discussed the expansion of bilateral trade and investment between India and Luxembourg with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel on Wednesday. Swaraj, who arrived at Luxembourg in the third leg of her four-nation tour on Tuesday, held informal talk with Prime Minister Bettel and later took part in a discussion with other members of the Luxembourg council. The two leaders also focused on developing people-to-people relations. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted, "Business starts early! EAM @SushmaSwaraj had a warm meeting with the Prime Minister of #Luxembourg Xavier Bettel, a friend of India. Discussions focused on expanding cooperation in trade & investment, space, digital India and people-to-people relationship". Swaraj also met Grand Duke of Luxembourg Henri Albert Gabriel Felix Marie Guillaume, with whom she discussed the strengthening of 70 years of old diplomatic relationship between the two countries and impart an upward trajectory to their bilateral ties, Kumar said. She also had a productive meeting with Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn. The two leaders "discussed cooperation in trade and investment, steel and space, and exchanged views on strengthening India-EU relations," according to Kumar. Swaraj's visit to Luxembourg comes when it is celebrating 70 years of its diplomatic relations with India. The External Affairs Minister arrived here for a two-day visit from France, where she met the top French leadership and addressed the Indian diaspora. Earlier, she had visited Italy. Swaraj has now arrived in Belgium for the last leg of her official tour. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to "keep families together" amid the massive backlash over his administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the US-Mexico border. "We're signing an executive order. I consider it to be a very important executive order. It's about keeping families together, while at the same time being sure we have a very powerful, very strong border," CNN quoted Trump, as saying. "The border is just as tough. But we do want to keep families together. We are keeping the family together," he said in the Oval Office where he was joined by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Vice President Mike Pence. The order dictates other agencies, including the Pentagon, to take steps to find places to house family units. The details of the executive order were worked out between the White House, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security; the report quoted an anonymous source, as saying. This comes barely a day after when the US president defended his policy of separating children from their families who have been illegally crossing the southern US-Mexico border, saying, to prosecute parents for illicit entry, "you have to take the children away." "I don't want children taken away from parents. When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally - which should happen - you have to take the children away," CNN quoted Trump, as saying. He delivered his remarks at the National Federation of Independent Businesses 75th Anniversary Celebration. Nearly 2,000 children were taken away from their parents in a six-week period in April and May under the new Trump administration policy, according to several media reports. Mexico's foreign minister has called the US policy "cruel and inhuman". Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new "zero-tolerance" policy on the border in April to prosecute immigrants for entering the country illegally. By virtue of this policy, families who crossed together illegally would in some cases be separated, prompting a sweeping outcry from Democrats and immigration advocates. Parents have since been arrested and placed in quick federal court proceedings near the border, while children are placed in shelters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has announced that the United States is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, alleging the 47-member council of "political bias." "For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias. Human rights abusers continue to serve on, and be elected to, the council," CNN reported quoting Haley, as saying from the State Department, where she was accompanied by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. "The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape its scrutiny, and the council continues politicizing scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in its ranks," she added. The announcement came barely a day after the UNHRC condemned the Trump administration for its policy of separating children from the families at the US-Mexico border. Haley threw a couple of other adjectives at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, calling it "hypocritical" and "self-serving" organization. "I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments. On the contrary, we take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. The Trump administration has already pulled the US out of several enormous international organisations and deals, including the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal, as well as the UN's educational and cultural organizations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United States President Donald Trump defended his policy of separating children from their families who have been illegally crossing the southern US-Mexico border, saying, to prosecute parents for illicit entry, "you have to take the children away." "I don't want children taken away from parents. When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally - which should happen - you have to take the children away," CNN quoted Trump, as saying. He delivered his remarks at the National Federation of Independent Businesses 75th Anniversary Celebration. "They are fake. They are helping these smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe," he added. The Trump administration's immigration policy is facing a backlash from both Democrats and Republicans, who call it inhuman to separate the minors from their families during immigration. Nearly 2,000 children were taken away from their parents in a six-week period in April and May under the new Trump administration policy, according to several media reports. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new "zero-tolerance" policy on the border in April to prosecute immigrants for entering the country illegally. By virtue of this policy, families who crossed together illegally would in some cases be separated, prompting a sweeping outcry from Democrats and immigration advocates. Parents have since been arrested and placed in quick federal court proceedings near the border, while children are placed in shelters. Mexico's foreign minister has called the US policy "cruel and inhuman". Trump has repeatedly blamed the Democrats for the situation. "Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change! This is why we need more Republicans elected in November. Democrats are good at only three things, High, High Crime and Obstruction. Sad!" Trump tweeted on Saturday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) president and preacher Zakir Naik challenging Investigation Agency (NIA) charge sheet filed against him. The court also did not entertain his request to issue directions to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to revoke suspension of his passport. The Bombay High Court observed that relief can't be given to Naik as he has not cooperated with the investigating agencies, and is a proclaimed offender. Earlier in March, the Indian government sought Naik's extradition from Malaysia accusing him of inciting youth to take up jihad. At present, India is waiting for Malaysia's response on the extradition of Naik. There were reports that Naik had been given permanent residency in Malaysia. Earlier in 2017, the NIA filed a charge sheet against Naik in a special court in Mumbai. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On 7th August, 2017, the Competition Commission of India (Commission) received a notice from Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (Bayer) in relation to its proposed acquisition of Monsanto Company (Monsanto). Bayer, the acquirer, is a German stock corporation and is a life sciences company with competencies in the areas of health care and agriculture. The activities of Bayer are carried out in three main divisions viz. pharmaceuticals, consumer health, and crop sciences. Monsanto is a global supplier of agricultural products like seeds, biotechnology traits, and herbicides. Based on its investigation, the Commission was of the opinion that the proposed combination is likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in some markets in India but the same could be addressed by way of modifications to the proposed combination. Accordingly, the Commission approved the proposed combination under Section 31(7) of the Competition Act, 2002, subject to the following remedies to be implemented by the parties: i. Divestment of the following businesses of Bayer to an independent entity, which meets the parameters prescribed in the order of the Commission: Glufosinate ammonium (a non-selective herbicide); Crop traits of cotton and corn; and Hybrid seeds of vegetables ii. Divestment of the shareholding of Monsanto in Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company Limited (26%), to an independent entity, which meets the parameters prescribed in the order of the Commission. iii. In addition to the above divestiture, Bayer is also bound by the following commitments for a period of 7 (seven) years from the closing of the Bayer/Monsanto transaction, iv. The resultant entity of the combination (Combined Entity) would follow a policy of broad based, non-exclusive licensing of Genetically Modified (GM) as well as non-GM traits currently commercialized in India or to be introduced in India in the future, on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND Terms); v. The Combined Entity would follow a policy of non-exclusive licensing of non-selective herbicides and / or their active ingredient(s) in case of launch of new GM / non-GM traits in India that restrict agricultural producers including farmers to use specific non-selective herbicide(s) being supplied only by the parties, on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory basis; vi. Combined entity would allow Indian users / potential licensees to access the following on FRAND Terms: (a) existing Indian agro-climatic data owned and used by the Combined Entity for its digital applications commercialized in India; (b) commercialized digital farming platform(s) of the Combined Entity for supplying/selling agricultural inputs to agricultural producers in India; and (c) digital farming applications of the Combined Entity, commercialized in India, on subscription basis. This remedy shall operate for a period of 7 years from the commencement of commercialization of digital farming product(s) or digital farming platform(s), subject to a total period of 10 years from the closing of the combination. vii. Combined Entity would also grant access to Indian agro-climatic data, free of charge to Government of India and its institution(s), to be used exclusively for creating a public good in India. viii. Combined Entity is barred from offering its clients, farmers, distribution channels and/or its commercial partners, two or more products as bundle which may potentially have the effect of exclusion of any competitor. ix. Combined Entity is further barred from imposing, directly or indirectly, commercial dealings capable of causing exclusivity in the sales channel for supply of agricultural products. The Commission further ensured in its order, that in case the Combined Entity offers better commercial terms to a new licensee for any of the above licenses, then it would be bound to offer, within 60 days, such similar terms to all existing licensees. Bayer is also directed to disclose, on its Indian websites, all contact details to facilitate the implementation of remedies ordered by the Commission. The remedies ordered by the Commission will strengthen the agricultural input suppliers in India, by enabling innovation and launch of new products for the benefit of the farmers. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Government has set up a Chief Ministers Subgroup to Coordinate Policy Approaches for Agriculture and MGNREGS with the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh as the Convener and CMs of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Sikkim along with the Member NITI Aayog, Shri Ramesh Chand as its members. The move comes in the backdrop of the vision of the Prime Minister towards Doubling Farmers' Income by 2022 which requires a multi-dimensional and inclusive approach. It comes close on the heels of the unanimous decision taken at the 4th meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog on 17 June. During the deliberations it was suggested to come out with approaches with special emphasis on pre-sowing and post-harvest interventions using MGNREGS, for creating durable assets that double incomes of farmers and reduce agrarian distress. The Prime Minister nominated the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to convene a Sub-Group of seven Chief Ministers for coordinated policy approach on the Agriculture Sector and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Subsequently the Chief Ministers Sub-Group has been constituted with the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh as its Convener. The Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Sikkim, and Shri Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog, have been named has Members of the Sub-Group. The Sub-Group will be serviced by the NITI Aayog. Terms of Reference of the Sub-Group has tentatively been assigned as follows: (i) To suggest a wider choice of State specific interventions both for pre-sowing and post-harvest to further improve the thrust on incomes, water conservation and waste to wealth. (ii) To align works under MGNREGS fully to the requirements of achieving the goal of Doubling Farmers' Income by 2022. This will improve thrust on Water Conservation, individual Beneficiary Schemes, Construction of Rural Haats, Vermi-Composting etc. (iii) To make recommendations on interventions of MGNREGS that can facilitate reduction of agrarian distress including work availability, wage rates, seasonality etc. (iv) To explore the possibilities of MGNREGS as a livelihood resource for development and diversification of livelihoods of small and marginal farmers specially belonging to SC/ST households. (v) To suggest ways of aligning MGNREGS and its livelihood thrust with women Self Help Groups (SHGs), producer Groups, and Producer Companies to enable a better use of resources for livelihood. (vi) To explore successful convergence of program resources across Departments to ensure optimal fund utilization, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. The Sub-Group will submit its report within three months from its date of constitution. The first meeting of the Sub-Group is expected to be held within the next month, as per the convenience of the Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Cipla announced that it has received final approval for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Efavirenz Tablets 600mg from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA). Cipla's Efavirenz Tablets 600mg is AB-rated generic therapeutic equivalent version of Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company's, Sustiva. It is indicated in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection in adults and in pediatric patients at least 3 months old and weighing at least 3.5 kg. According to IQVIA (IMS Health), Sustiva and its generic equivalents had US sales of approximately $105 million for the 12-month period ended April 2018. The product is available for shipping immediately. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2018. Infosys announced that it has strengthened its footprint in France by establishing a Digital Center of Excellence in Marseille. The move is part of Infosys' efforts to bring its digital offerings to companies in France as they navigate the next stage in their business journey. In addition, the center will also deliver on a strategic seven-year partnership with CMA CGM Group the world leading container shipping organisation. This partnership was announced in September 2017 to simplify and transform the group's IT applications and improve customer service experience. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2018. Wheels India said that the board of directors of the company may consider issue of bonus shares in its board meeting scheduled to be held on 22 June 2018. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2018. Kansai Nerolac Paints said that the company has entered into Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) to acquire 55% of the paid-up equity share capital of RAK Paints, Bangladesh for a total consideration of Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) 57.26 crore (approximately Rs 45.81 crore). The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2018. MPS through its wholly-owned subsidiary company, MPS Interactive Systems, has completed the acquisition of Tata Interactive Systems. MPS has now invested in the right issue of MPS Interactive Systems and has allotted equity and preference shares at par aggregating to Rs 43.99 crore. Post the allotment of shares, MPS Interactive Systems has now become wholly-owned material subsidiary of MPS. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2018. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Central Water Commission (CWC), India's apex technical organization in the field of Water Resources, has entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Google. CWC would use state-of-the-art advances made by Google in the in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and geo spatial mapping for effective management of water resources particularly in the field of flood forecasting and dissemination of flood related information to the masses widely using the dissemination platforms developed by Google. This initiative is likely to help crisis management agencies to deal extreme hydrological events in a better manner. Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari has expressed hope that collaboration with Google will help in effective flood management in India. Under this Agreement, CWC and Google will share technical expertise in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, geospatial mapping and analysis of hydrological observation data to collaborate on (i) improving flood prediction systems, which will help provide location-targeted, actionable flood warnings, (ii) high priority research project utilizing Google Earth Engine to help visualize and improve flood management and (iii) a cultural project to build online exhibitions on the Rivers of India . The Ministry had earlier launched an ambitious programme 'National Hydrology Project' (NHP) during the year 2016-17. NHP is a World Bank assisted central sector scheme with pan India coverage. The objective of National Hydrology Project is to improve the extent, quality, and accessibility of water resources information, decision support system for floods and basin level resource assessment/planning and to strengthen the capacity of targeted water resources professionals and management institutions in India. The initiative on flood forecasting is likely to meet the much awaited demand of the inhabitants of the flood prone areas for inundation warnings with sufficient lead time. Till 2016, CWC was disseminating flood levels with maximum lead time of one day. During the flood season of 2017, CWC resorted to rainfall based modelling and issued flood advisories on trial basis with 3 days lead time. Under collaborative arrangement, Google would use high resolution Digital Elevation Model and vast computational resources and its expertise in the field of Artificial Intelligence to generate flood inundation maps utilising the level forecast input provided by CWC. The information in the form of likely extent and depth of inundation would be disseminated with a lead time of up to 3 days. For the flood season of 2018, inundation forecasting would be done on trial basis and the same would be up scaled in near future. The collaborative arrangement is likely to result in saving of crore of rupees which otherwise would have to be spent by the government on acquiring high resolution DEM, high end computational resources and developing dissemination platforms widely used by the masses. This would enable the Government as well as disaster management organisations to identify well in advance the locations and population, which are at risk from floods and require warnings and information. This collaborative initiative is expected to be a milestone in flood management and in mitigating the flood losses. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sharda Cropchem rose 2.95% to Rs 397.40 at 10:53 IST on BSE after the company scheduled a board meeting on 25 June 2018 to consider fund raising. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2018. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 134.74 points or 0.38% at 35,421.48. On the BSE, 3,971 shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 77,000 shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 402 and a low of Rs 388.50 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 510.40 on 3 July 2017. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 360 on 23 March 2018. The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 90.22 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. A meeting of the board of directors of Sharda Cropchem is scheduled to be held on 25 June 2018 to further consider fund raising by way of issuance of equity shares or equity linked securities such as warrants, convertible securities, global depository receipt or American depository receipts or foreign currency convertible bonds including but not limited to through preferential issue and / or qualified institutions placement or through any other permissible mode and / or combination thereof. Sharda Cropchem's consolidated net profit rose 14.76% to Rs 113.25 crore on 28.46% growth in total income to Rs 766.21 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017. Sharda Cropchem is a global crop protection chemical company largely operating across Europe, NAFTA and Latin America across fungicides, herbicides and insecticides. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tripura Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma on Wednesday said 2,133 seats in Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samity and Gram Panchayat were vacant, as the CPI-M blamed the resignations on threats by the BJP and IPFT cadres. Communists Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MLA Sudhan Das told the Assembly that after the BJP-IPFT alliance got a majority in the February Assembly polls, thousands of attacks were unleashed on Left leaders and members by the ruling parties, resulting in the resignations. In reply, Varma said: "Around 2,133 seats of three-tier local bodies - Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samity and Gram Panchayat - were lying vacant. "No specific complaint was submitted to me that any elected representative of these three local bodies has resigned following any intimidation," Varma said in the House, which witnessed noisy scenes and heated arguments on the issue. Das said: "Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and other ministers are aware about some of the specific threats and intimidation to the elected representatives. "Elected Chairman and members of some municipal councils had to resign after the BJP and IPFT cadres threatened them." He said that there was no state in India where elected representatives of local bodies were forced to resign after the political change over of governance. Meanwhile, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)-IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura) government on Tuesday introduced a bill in the Assembly to provide an alternative mechanism for payments from the Gram Panchayat funds for completed works. "All orders for payment from the Gram Panchayat Fund shall be signed jointly by the in-charge Panchayat Secretaries and and Block Development Officers concerned, till the time the new Pradhan or Upa-Pradhan are elected through due legal process, so that the development works are not hampered," said Varma, who is in charge of Rural Development (Panchayat) Department. --IANS sc/him/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Accusing the BJP of setting Jammu and on "a fire of anarchy and radicalization" in its three years coalition rule with PDP, the Congress on Wednesday sought to know from it and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to what plans they had for bringing normalcy and peace back to the state. "The BJP, in its pursuit of power and political opportunism, in the past three years, disrupted the ongoing constructive engagement with the people of the state and has imperiled the security situation, setting the state of Jammu and on a fire of anarchy, radicalization, malgovernance and corruption," Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni said in a statement. Terming the coming together of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and People's Democratic Party (PDP) to form a coalition government in the state in 2015 as "Faustian deal", the Congress stressed that the BJP and PDP share "equal blame" for undoing all the progress towards normalcy achieved during the United Progressive Alliance government. "It is a relief that the opportunistic coalition has collapsed. The BJP has floundered to protect our borders. Rising cross border infiltration, a six fold increase in daily ceasefire violations along the LOC and International border, besides displacement of thousands of people, unprecedented terror attacks on our security installations (Pampore, Uri, Pathankot, Sunjwan) killing of our jawans and civilians, rising incidents of stone pelting, radicalisation of youth and burning of schools, have marred the years of the BJP-PDP government," the statement said. It said that the failure of the BJP-PDP government was evident by the "lowest-ever" voter turnout of 7 per cent in the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-poll. "The directionless, agenda-less and clueless policy of the Modi government has left the people of Jammu and in complete despair and this is a grave national concern. "How does Prime Minister Modi propose to ensure peace and normalcy in the state? What is the economic roadmap for inclusion and progress for the people of Jammu and Kashmir? How does the Central Government propose to prevent the radicalization of J&K's youth?" the Congress asked. The party also demanded to know as to how does the Modi government propose to engage with various sections of the state "in order to win their hearts and minds". "We caution the Modi government to correct its flawed approach and work for rebuilding the trust and restoration of normalcy in the state," it said. --IANS mak/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hinting at a tie-up with the Congress-NCP, Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Wednesday said his party will set up an umbrella organization of all deprived sections of society to defeat the BJP in the 2019 general and Maharashtra electionsand urged and "all progressive and like-minded opposition parties" to join it. Ambedkar, the grandson of the Indian Constitution's Architect B.R. Ambedkar, indicated for the first time that the BBM would be ready to join hands with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party in a broad front comprising other backward groups and minorities in the country. On the proposed front comprising backward castes and communities, he said all parties are welcome to join it. "The new platform will provide an equal opportunity to all deprived communities who have currently no representation in any political party. We will put up candidates from various small, backward, ethnic communities or tribals or other groups to bring them to the political mainstream," Ambedkar told media persons here. For instance, he said people of the Dhangar, Mali, OBCs and Muslim communities would get two seats each, for which he urged all other political parties also to cooperate and support them. Towards this objective, Ambedkar said he would launch a tour of all districts in Maharashtra from June 27 to urge participation and endorsement of all such deprived organisations and groups in the state. He said that there is a huge resentment among the masses vis-a-vis the ruling BJP and the Congress is being talked about as an alternative, but the people are also looking at other options. During his Pune visit, Ambedkar also met prominent literary and political personalities to discuss the proposed alliance of all deprived sections of society and soliciting the support of other progressive and like-minded forces. --IANS qn/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Milan, June 20 (IANS/AKI) Italy's anti-migrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini will be "a welcome guest" at a 'multi-ethnic' street party in the central Sempione park here this weekend, City Mayor Giuseppe Sala said on Wednesday. "If he wants to come, he will certainly be a welcome guest," he said at a conference on Milan's poorer, outlying areas. Sala said he had not "directly" invited Salvini to the open-air event in the Sempione park on Saturday, which 5,000 people are due to attend, including Milan's Archbishop Mario Delpini. Each person at the street party is being asked to bring along food from their childhood and to share it with others, telling them about the memories the dish brings back. "The event aims to offer a model of what integration should be about - not rhetoric but actions and gestures, not a rowdy debate but tackling issues calmly," Sala said. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With devotees from across the country and abroad thronging the historic Kamakhya temple here for the annual Ambubachi mela, the temple authorities are gearing up to play host to lakhs while police has beefed up security. The festival begins on Friday evening and will continue till Tuesday. The temple authorities will close the main door of the sanctum sanctorum on Friday to lock the Mother Goddess in for her annual menstrual period. The temple will reopen on Tuesday morning and the lakhs of devotees will be allowed to visit and worship the Goddess. During this period, the Hindus do not worship and farmers do not plough their land. The Assam Tourism Development Corp (ATDC) is making all out efforts to make it a colourful festival to attract more tourists than just the religious and spiritual ones and has drawn up elaborate plans to promote state's tourism through the festival. ATDC Chairman Jayanta Malla Baruah said Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will inaugurate the festival at Sonaram school playground at Bharalumukh, adding that over 50 religious gurus including the heads of ethnic communities of the region will be present. "We are planning to promote religious integration through the festival. Gurus of different sects including the 13 different akharas, heads of Vaishnavite Satras in Assam, religious preacher of Khasi, Bodo, Jaintia, Karbi Mising and other communities will be present," he said. "While there will be free bus services to the temple, we are also organising free health check up, medical facilities, drinking water facilities, roadside assistance and others." Police has also drawn up plans to ensure security and safety to all. Guwahati Police Commissioner Hiren Nath said that adequate measures have been taken to ensure security during the festival, adding that over 400 CCTV cameras have been installed and control rooms set up to assist the police. He said child rescue booths have also been set up in the temple and adjoining areas and helpline numbers activated to check the problem of missing children. "The volunteers of some NGOs have also been engaged to help the police and security forces personnel during the festival," he said. --IANS ah/him/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a sudden development, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) here arrested Ravindra P. Marathe, the Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of Maharashtra, in a case of Rs 30 billion fraudulent loans extended to Pune's DSK Group, an official said here on Wednesday. The has also arrested the bank's Executive Director Rajendra K. Gupta, Zonal Manager Nityanand Deshpande from Ahmedabad and former CMD Sushil Muhnot from Jaipur. The 83-year-old Pune-headquartered is ranked among the major public sector banks in India. The bank's present Chairman and Managing Director Ravindra Marathe, Executive Director Rajendra Gupta, Zonal Manager Nityanand Deshpande, bank's former CMD Sushil Muhnot, Kulkarni's CA Sunil Ghatpande, and vice president Rajiv Newaskar of the engineering department of Kulkarni's firm, D S Kulkarni Developers Ltd (DSKDL), were arrested, the official added. While Deshpande was arrested from Ahmedabad, Muhnot was picked up from Jaipur. All others were arrested from Pune, the police said. They were booked under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act. In May, the city police had filed a 37,000-page charge-sheet against Kulkarni and his wife in the case. "As part of our probe into the cheating case against Kulkarni, it came to light that these bank officials colluded with DSKDL by misusing their powers and authority with dishonest and fraudulent intention to sanction and disburse the amount under the garb of a loan," said Sudhir Hiremath, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber and Economic Offences). All the accused are being produced in the court today, he said. Marathe has been arrested for allegedly misusing his powers to sanction huge amounts of loans to shell According to the investigators, the bank executive and officials colluded with the DSK Group "with dishonest and fraudulent intentions to sanction and disburse the amount of the bank (BoM)" under the garb of loans and the money was later siphoned off. All the arrested accused have been charged under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and other laws pertaining to cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust. The Pune-based mega group's owners D.S. Kulkarni and his wife Hemanti were arrested in February on charges of cheating over 4,000 investors of over Rs 11.5 billon and diverting bank loans of nearly Rs 29 billion. As a follow-up in the case, last month, the Maharashtra government had ordered attachment of more than 120 properties, 275 bank accounts and four dozen vehicles belonging to the owners and the company invoking the provisions of Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors Act, 1999. China on Wednesday was mum on its envoy's proposal that Beijing, New Delhi and Islamabad engage in a trilateral meet, an idea India has already shot down. The Foreign Ministry neither backed nor distanced itself from Chinese envoy to India Luo Zhaohui's suggestion, which India thinks was made in his personal capacity. "Both India and Pakistan are China's neighbours and friends. We are willing to conduct relations with all our neighbours including Pakistan and India to strengthen our cooperation for better development and stability in the region," ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said. "We also hope India and Pakistan can strengthen their dialogue to improve their mutual trust and bilateral relations. This is in the interest of the regional countries," Geng said. Asked if Luo's remarks in Delhi were China's official position, Geng said: "What I have just said is China's official position." On Monday, at a seminar organised by the Chinese Embassy in Delhi, Luo said that India, China and Pakistan should engage in a joint dialogue. "Security cooperation is one of the three pillars of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation). Some Indian friends suggested that India, China and Pakistan may have some kind of trilateral summit on the sidelines of SCO. So, if China, Russia and Mongolia can have a trilateral summit, then why not India, China and Pakistan," he asked while addressing the gathering, an assortment of China-watchers and specialists from the strategic community in the Capital. "May be not now, but in the future, that is the great idea. It will help to resolve bilateral issues and help to maintain peace and tranquility," he told reporters later. India was quick to reject the proposal, with its Foreign Ministry spokesperson saying the suggestion might have been Luo's personal opinion. "We have seen reports on comments made by the Chinese Ambassador in this matter. We have not received any such suggestion from the Chinese government. We consider the statement as the personal opinion of the Ambassador," the Ministry of External Affairs said. India says its dispute with Pakistan is purely bilateral and there is no scope for any third country's involvement in the matter. China has never officially stated that it is willing to broker peace between India and Pakistan over disputed Kashmir. Beijing is Pakistan's ally and the key route of its Belt and Road project goes through the same disputed Kashmir held by Islamabad and claimed by New Delhi. --IANS gsh/soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP on Wednesday accused the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) of using the family of Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula for political motives. "I was anxious after reading Rohith Vemula's mother's statement. For how long will some opposition parties continue playing over it? The family is financially unstable and fake assurance of money was made to a distressed mother for political purposes," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Piyush Goyal told reporters here. "In her statement, Radhika Vemula said IUML made false promises of providing a sum of Rs 20 lakh and asked her to address their rallies and misrepresent the unfortunate incident," Goyal claimed. He said she was asked to travel to Kerala and address the rallies for the IUML. Rohith Vemula, a PhD student at Hyderabad University, committed suicide in the campus on January 17, 2016. His suicide triggered a massive row as the opposition parties described it as a case of atrocities against Dalits. Lashing out at the IUML leaders, the BJP leader said: "According to his mother, the IUML gave them two cheques of Rs 2.5 lakh, out of which one bounced." Targeting Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Goyal said, "I received information that even Congress President took Vemula's family to stages and asked them to make statements." "Rahul Gandhi should apologise for doing petty politics," he said. --IANS bns-aks/qd/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) German auto component maker Bosch would invest Rs 1,700 crore in India over the next three years, a top company official said on Wednesday. "To meet the rising demand in the Indian market and expand its strong role in our global network, we will invest Rs 1,700 crore over the next three years," Bosch Group Chairman and Chief Executive Volkmar Denner told reporters here. A major part of the fresh investment will be used to expand the company's smart campus here and modernize its manufacturing facilities in the Indian sub-continent. The 66-year-old Bosch has 18 manufacturing sites and 7 development and application centres across the country, with 31,000 employees, including 18,000 research and development (R&D) associates. Besides three plants in Bengaluru, the company's other production sites are at Chakan near Pune and Nashik in Maharashtra, Jaipur and Chennai and other states in the country. Of the group's consolidated revenue of Rs 19,204 crore, Rs 13,790 crore was generated by third parties, while its flagship company (Bosch Ltd) contributed Rs 10,842 crore in fiscal 2017-18. "We will integrate our mobility services and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India, as we are committed to address its transition to Bharat Stage (BS)-VI from April 2020 from BS-IV currently," said Denner. Main contributors for the company's growth are the automotive industry, which holds opportunities for diesel technology, electro-mobility and connected mobility and government initiatives for connected manufacturing and connected cities "With a projected 7.7 percent GDP-growth in fiscal 2018-19 and a similar level for the coming years, we expect the Indian economy to continue with momentum," said Denner. As India aims to achieve BS-VI from April 2020 and adopt electro-mobility solutions built for local conditions, the company offers technology to support both initiatives. "We believe the internal combustion engine will continue to be the mainstream solution for freight and commercial vehicles," noted Denner. The company views co-existence of fossil fuel engines and electrification with hybridization as an interim solution. "Hybrid technology will be a vital contributor towards the electrification goal in the country due to its stop-start driving patterns and road congestion. In light of that, fleet operators and smaller vehicles are poised to adopt electrification as soon as feasible options are available in the market," Denner said. As India is one of Bosch's locations for AI, with two other at Sunnyvale in the US and Renningen in Germany, its AI centre in Bengaluru will play a key role as most of the products in the near future will be linked to AI, he added. --IANS fb/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer AG, subject to conditions designed to remove anti-competitive effects from the deal, the government announced on Wednesday. A Corporate Affairs Ministry statement here said that the CCI acted on a notice received from German healthcare major Bayer in relation to its proposed acquisition of American agrochemicals giant Monsanto. The conditions include divestment of Bayer's glufosinate ammonium, crop traits of cotton and corn, and hybrid seeds of vegetables businesses to an independent entity, and divestment of shareholding of Monsanto in Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company to an independent entity. Besides, Bayer is also required to comply with non-exclusive licensing of GM as well as non-GM traits currently commercialized in India, or to be introduced in India in the future, on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms for seven years. The combined entity has to follow a policy of non-exclusive licensing of non-selective herbicides, or their active ingredients, in cases of launch of new GM or non-GM traits in India. The CCI also put conditions for the combined entity to allow Indian users to access existing Indian agro-climatic data on FRAND terms. --IANS bc/him/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With a UN body elevating Bangladesh from being a least developed country (LDC) to that of a developing country earlier this year, Bangladeshi High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali on Wednesday said that cooperation between his country and India in the areas of connectivity, trade and commerce, and energy will mutually benefit both sides. Addressing a Track 1.5 dialogue on "Bangladesh's Graduation from LDC: New Frontiers and Horizons of India-Bangladesh Economic Engagement" organised by the Bangladesh High Commission and industry body Ficci here, Ali said that Bangladesh's "biggest neighbour and trusted friend" India emerging as a global power with strong economic growth coupled with scientific and technological advancement offers his country "enormous opportunity" to further its own economic development. On March 15, the UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP) announced that Bangladesh had met the three graduation criteria - Gross National Income (GNI), Human Asset Index (HAI) and Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) - required for the elevation for the first time . The country of 160 million people met the three criteria by the end of the financial year 2016-17. While Bangladesh's GNI per capita stood at $1,620 against the threshold of $1,230 or above, its HNI was 72.8 against the target of of 66 or above and EVI was 24.8 against the target of 32 or below. Ali said that cooperation between India and Bangladesh is expanding in a number of areas like security, energy, connectivity, trade and commerce, culture and people-to-people contact. "In view of Bangladesh's recent significant achievement, I believe there is enormous scope to combine our synergies particularly in the areas of connectivity, trade and commerce and energy, which will bring mutual benefit for both the countries as well as for the region," he said. "Connectivity offers a game-changing opportunity for India and Bangladesh which would bring about unprecedented benefit for us as well as for the region." The High Commissioner said that both India and Bangladesh are working to restore road, rail and coastal shipping links that existed in the pre-Partition period. "At the same time, new land ports and better infrastructure are built to facilitate better trade," he said. Stating that Bangladesh figures prominently in India's Act East Policy, Ali said that both countries are working to strengthen sub-regional cooperation within Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Northeast India under the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicle Agreement as well as strengthening inter-regional cooperation with Southeast Asia through the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Bimstec comprises seven countries lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The main objective of Bimstec is technical and economic cooperation among South Asian and Southeast Asian countries along the rim of the Bay of Bengal. The Asean regional bloc comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Ali said that the BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement would come into operation soon with Bangladesh, India and Nepal having ratified the agreement and Bhutan also to join soon. He also stressed on greater economic integration and said that his country is happy that its trade and commerce with India is increasing. "Bangladesh has offered three Special Economic Zones for Indian investors and we seek substantial investment from Indian investors in these three Indian Economic Zones in Bangladesh, namely Mongla, Bheramara and Mirsarai to broaden our exportable base," the High Commissioner said. "We hope that this would lead to expansion of Bangladesh's exports to India and thus create a balanced trade and commercial bilateral ties." According to figures provided by the External Affairs Ministry, bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has grown steadily over the last decade with India's exports to Bangladesh in the period July 2016-March 2017 standing at $ 4.489 billion and imports from Bangladesh during financial year 2016-17 at $672.40 million. The High Commissioner also urged Indian investors to take advantage of Bangladesh's competent labour costs and the country's closer proximity to the markets of Northeast India. Describing cooperation in the energy sector as "the hallmark of our renewed engagements", he said that there are rich opportunities for joint ventures between the two countries as well as in the region. "With our graduation from LDC to developing country, energy demand and consumption will rise," Ali said. "Unfortunately, there is no substantial amount of hydro-carbon resources in the region and to fulfill the increasing demand, we have to develop thermal, hydro-electric, gas and nuclear energy as our sources of energy in the region." Stating that the countries of the region need to devise how fruitfully they can help each other in these sectors to ensure their energy security, the High Commissioner said: "India can play a big role in expanding the energy cooperation in the region." --IANS ab/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The EU will launch a raft of retaliatory tariffs against the US exports on June 22 in response to American tariffs imposed on EU steel and aluminium earlier this month, a top official said. American exports such as blue jeans, motorbikes and bourbon whiskey will be targeted, said EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom. However, she said the bloc "did not want to be in this position", the BBC reported. "The unilateral and unjustified decision of the US to impose steel and aluminium tariffs on the EU means that we are left with no other choice," she said. Malmstrom called the EU response "proportionate" and in line with World Trade Organization rules and said that they would be removed if Washington removed its metal tariffs. EU steel and aluminium exports now facing US tariffs are worth a total of 6.4 billion euros. Brussels drew up the list of products in March when US President Donald Trump initially proposed the 25 per cent tariffs on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminium, hitting Canada, Mexico and other close US allies. The EU's move came amid an intensifying row over trade between the US and its partners. On Tuesday, Trump threatened to impose duties on an additional $200 billion of Chinese goods after hitting $50 billion of products with tariffs. He said the 10 per cent duties would come into effect if China "refuses to change its practices". However, Beijing accused Washington of "blackmail" and said it would "fight back firmly", raising fears of a full-blown trade war. Trump announced plans for tariffs on foreign steel and aluminium in March, justifying them on national security grounds. He argued that global over-supply of steel and aluminium, driven by China, threatened American steel and aluminium producers, vital to the US. Since Trump's announcement, South Korea, Argentina, Australia and Brazil agreed to put limits on the volume of metals they can ship to the US in lieu of tariffs. However, Canada earlier announced that it will impose retaliatory tariffs on 9.5 billion worth of US exports from July 1. And Mexico put tariffs on American products ranging from steel to pork and bourbon two weeks ago. --IANS and/soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP General Secretary on Wednesday said the decision of pulling out of the ruling coalition with the PDP in was a "difficult thing to digest" for him but it was taken in the "larger interest" of people of the state and India. "I was one of the persons involved in bringing this alliance together. I worked for 40 days with (PDP leader) Haseeb Drabu on building this agenda agreement. It was very difficult thing for me to digest when I was communicated that I should take this step now," Madhav told CNN-News18 channel. The BJP on Tuesday suddenly exited the coalition it had formed with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015, prompting Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to resign and Governor's rule imposed with Governor putting the state assembly in animated suspension. Madhav also revealed that there was "enough progress" in bringing the Hurriyat leadership to the negotiating table. "I won't say beyond that but the developments in the last two weeks have pushed us back to square one," he said. About the strains in the BJP-PDP alliance, Madhav said that political activists in the Valley were not playing any role (towards normalisation) even after suspension of operations by the security forces. "And then the insistence (by PDP) that you talk to Pakistan, extend suspension of operations even after broad daylight killing of journalist Shujaat Bukhari, we felt there was a growing mismatch and for us the larger interest of the state and integrity (are more important)," he said. Asked why Mehbooba Mufti -- who was taken by surprise -- was not intimated in advance of the BJP's decision to pull out as per the coalition dharma, he said he tried to contact her but "could not reach her". "I did try to reach out to her before we actually sent out the fax message to the Governor. We could not talk before we sent out the fax. But it is not breaking any coalition dharma. We came together, we decided to part ways and sent this message to the Governor," said Madhav, who is party in-charge of Responding to Mehbooba Mufti's statement that a "muscular policy" cannot work in Jammu and Kashmir, he said that her political approach was different from that of the BJP's. "We disagree with her on the usage of this term (muscular policy). Innocent policemen being killed, a journalist like Shujaat Bukhari being killed and not controlling all this -- if this is the soft approach, I am sorry we don't want that kind of a soft approach," he said. Asked if the Ramadan ceasefire did not go down well with the people of Jammu, the core voter group of the BJP, Madhav said, "It's not about the people of Jammu. When innocents get killed, when policemen get killed, when regular attacks happen on army and CRPF convoys and security forces are seen as to be not doing anything in retaliation, naturally, a bad impression is created in the rest of the country." He said that the "risk" of suspending the operations was taken as a "goodwill gesture" but there was no reciprocation from the other side. Actress Eva Longoria has given birth to her first child, a son she has named Santiago Enrique. The actress and her husband Jose 'Pepe' Baston shared the news exclusively with HOLA! USA. They confirmed the pregnancy in December, reports dailymail.co.uk. Longoria told fans that Santiago Enrique Baston arrived on Tuesday and is a "beautiful blessing". Sharing a photograph of Longoria cuddling her newborn son, the couple said: "We are so grateful for this beautiful blessing." Longoria first met Jose through a mutual friend in 2013. They married two years ago. --IANS sug/rb/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Setting up farmer-producer organisations can be the biggest weapon against poverty, said experts at a panel discussion on 'Making markets work for the poor' hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) here. "Farmer-producer organisations can help farmers increase their income and provide them better access to services. Dairy like cooperatives are coming up in the country," said International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Director for South Asia Pramod K. Joshi. He said the current government has given a new lease of life to such organisations by promoting its formation and by offering the farmers incentives to become members. Poultry, 80 per cent in the organised sector, grew 12 per cent annually last decade, he said. Self-Employed Women's Association's (SEWA) Social Security Team Director Mirai Chatterjee said: "Basic building block is organisation. It increases the collective strength, bargaining power and helps gain access to resources which no individual can alone do." More than 270 million Indians still live on less than two dollars a day and millions more are in a state of near-poverty, one health emergency or crop failure away from destitution, BMGF said in a report, adding that systemic poverty presents the greatest barrier to equal opportunity. "The foundation believes in 'All lives have equal value' and there is a continuous reduction in child mortality, infant mortality, tuberculosis, polio and the likes. But all lives do not have equal opportunity," said BMGF Executive Director Rodger Voorhies. The BMGF's Global Growth and Opportunity division is a response to this, he said, adding that it is designed to redesign financial, technological, infrastructural and social systems so they provide equal opportunities to all. It works in four areas: agricultural development, financial services for the poor, water, sanitation and hygiene, and gender equality. "No country has been able to come out of poverty without addressing problems and working on advancements in the agricultural sector," said Voorhies. Better collection of data, access to services and new technologies can increase farmers' productivity, he added. KaliedoFin Co-Founder Sucharita Mukherjee said: "Procuring documents and letters from the poor to authenticate them was a cumbersome process. Aadhaar has made a big difference. Technology is making things possible but lot of businesses are still to adapt." Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign, Drinking Water and Sanitation Secretary Parameswaran Iyer said: "There is 90 per cent usage of toilets reflecting success in behavioural change. This is important for security and dignity of women, health impact and the huge savings each family does by way of reduction in doctor visits and medicines." He said that while they have 10 months to completely make India open defecation free (ODF), the government is coordinating with states and districts to keep it sustainable, i.e. ODFS (ODF-Sustainable), and plans to take it beyond that with ODF+ (ODF-Plus), which would also look into solid and liquid waste management. --IANS mgu/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least five people were injured after a reported minor explosion at a Tube station in north London, police said on Tuesday. Two have been taken to hospital as three others were treated for minor injuries at the scene at Southgate station, according to London Ambulance Service, Xinhua news agency reported. The station is about eight miles from central London. The incident was not terror related and officers are still working to establish the cause of the blast, said the police. They, however, believe the blast was caused by a battery short circuit. Witnesses reported an acrid and rubber burning smell in the air and people lying on the ground shortly after the explosion. The incident came as officers investigated a suspicious package, and there were no reports of serious injuries, according to the police. "Officers remain at #Southgate tube station. Enquires are ongoing to establish the cause of a reported minor explosion at 19:03 hours," the Metropolitan Police tweeted. Police, an ambulance, fire arms and dog units were seen at the station which remains closed now. E (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Green activist Claude Alvares, whose petition in the Supreme Court led to the shutdown of Goa's mining industry, was on Wednesday summoned by officers of the Panaji Town Police Station in connection with an FIR filed against him. The FIR was registered last month for symbolically locking the offices of the State Mines and Geology department in the state capital. Alvares has now moved for anticipatory bail. "We have summoned Alvares in connection with the FIR filed by the State Mines and Geology Director for locking the main door of the department's head office," Police Inspector Siddhant Shirodkar told reporters here. On May 12, Alvares, who co-heads NGO Goa Foundation, had symbolically locked the office premise of the Goa Mines and Geology department in the capital city, accusing department officials of turning a blind eye towards alleged theft of iron ore by mining companies, despite directions of the Supreme Court of India, which scrapped 88 mining leases in February this year. Following a petition by Alvares, ore extraction in all 88 operational mines in Goa was stopped by the apex court, bringing the multi-billion industry to a grinding halt. --IANS maya/qd/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Himachal Pradesh Congress legislator Bambar Thakur's minor son was taken into custody on Wednesday along with his three friends in a drug case, police said. The vehicle in which they were travelling is owned by the former legislator. Superintendent of Police Gurdev Sharma told reporters that the vehicle, on specific input, was intercepted in Mandi town and 500 gram of charas was seized from it. All four have been taken into custody under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. --IANS vg/qd/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ahead of the launch of its first India store here, Swedish home furnishings company IKEA on Wednesday held a workshop to give insights into how it builds its product range for children. The session 'Living with children' provided a sneak peek into IKEA India's plans for its children's range. The workshop by Mia Olsson Tuner, IKEA India's Country Communication and Design Manager, gave an overview into what to expect from IKEA's children product range, India inspired and customized collections, innovative solutions like secret storage, scale down furniture, and global best sellers. On the occasion, products like Duktig, Minnen and Sundvik were on display at The Hej Home, IKEA's experience centre. Mia also spoke about 'Play Report' a research study on the role of play which IKEA brings out every year, according to a statement by the company. "We do home visits in key markets to look at play from both a child and an adult's perspective and to understand what motivates and hinders play, as well as how people across cultures think about play. "Besides these play visits, we talk to futurologists, child psychologists, teachers, play experts and online communities to understand play. So, there is a whole of research that goes behind the scenes to arrive at how IKEA builds its furniture combinations, toys and storage solutions for children," said Mia. At the India stores, first of which will open soon in Hyderabad, IKEA will bring in bestsellers like the SLA, KT collection, furniture range designed for kids aged eight and upwards that can be changed to as per the children's needs. IKEA will also offer the KLA, MMIG collection at Hyderabad which is aimed at new born babies, with soft towels, quilt covers, blanket and baby care mats. The Hyderabad store will also house the iconic 'Smaland', a supervised children's area with a forest-themed playscape where parents can leave their children with caretakers while they shop. "We will have different home set-ups at the store, which parents and their kids can choose from or create their own set-ups. The children's furniture will have safety features like wall fasteners. All the products will be built from safe materials using only chemicals we need and have anti-dirt, anti-slip surfaces," added Mia. --IANS ms/him/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India on Wednesday urged the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel to move to responsible pricing of oil and gas, saying the current prices are posing a threat to fragile world economic growth. Addressing an OPEC seminar here, Indian Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said global trade practices in the hydrocarbons sector are not contributing to energy access and affordability to all. "It is high time to move to responsible pricing, one that balances the interests of both the producer and consumer. We also need to move to transparent and flexible markets for both oil and gas. "We often see global trade practices in the field of oil and gas which are not contributing to energy access and affordability and become a hindrance to sustainability. Price of oil and gas have become subject to vagaries of geopolitics," he said. Noting that high oil prices hit economic development of many countries, Pradhan said that the fragile world economic growth will be at threat if oil prices continue at these levels. "My fear is this will lead to energy poverty in many parts of the world," he said. Pradhan pointed out that crude prices have gone beyond the threshold which can be sustained by the world. "These prices are creating stress throughout global economy, as it is giving pain to us in India. The already fragile world economic growth will be at threat if oil prices persist at these levels," he said. "Political conditions, sometimes internal and sometimes external, result in reduced output of some countries. We expect from OPEC and its members a commitment to step in to more than fill the gap to ensure sustainable prices. "It is in the interests of producers that other economies keep growing steadily and rapidly so as to ensure growing energy markets for themselves. This is the key to energy sustainability. OPEC as the predominant supplier has the responsibility to maintain supply equilibrium," he added. Pradhan is in Vienna over June 20-21 to participate in the OPEC international seminar and will discuss these key issues with OPEC Secretary General Sanusi Barkindo and ministers from the 13-nation cartel. OPEC and non-OPEC countries are also expected to decide on extending the output cuts, which, along with the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, have helped push up crude prices. The OPEC meeting comes at a crucial time when global crude oil prices are at the highest since the peak of 2014 at over $75 a barrel. --IANS bc-vd/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's soft power and its new global outreach became apparent after the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 responded positively to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's suggestion that June 21 every year be commemorated worldwide as International Yoga Day. The date was recommended by Modi since it marks the longest day in the northern hemisphere. Many believe that it marks the day that Lord Shiva -- one of the Hindu Trinity -- began imparting yoga to his followers and became its first guru. Adopted in December 2015 in New York, the draft resolution had a record-breaking 177 co-sponsors, including the US and China. What is soft power? India is a repository of an astounding wealth of living patterns and modes of heritage. With about 1,400 dialects and 18 officially recognised languages, several religions, various styles of art, architecture, literature, music and dance, and several lifestyle patterns, the country is the largest democracy with a seamless picture of diversity and unity, perhaps unparalleled anywhere in the world. India's living cultural heritage has been shaped by centuries of adaptation, re-creation and co-existence. The country's intangible cultural heritage finds expression in the ideas, practices, beliefs and values shared by communities across centuries. It forms a part of its collective memory. Yoga was added to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in December 2016. The international impact of India's soft power was felt long before the term found place in popular parlance in the 21st century. What is new is its strategic reorientation by Modi, who combined new elements of soft power to re-position India in the international community. In a strategic context, its five pillars are Samman (dignity), Samvaad (dialogue), Samriddhi (shared prosperity), Suraksha (regional and global security), and Sanskriti evam Sabhayata (cultural and civilisational links). Cleverly crafted, this new mantra represents a fundamental challenge to China's quest for leadership in this area. India's political values have now been embedded in a larger geopolitical context. Modi's message is India can become a "viswaguru", or world teacher. Cultural diplomacy and soft power have emerged as forces to connect and build bilateral relations and heal ruptures created by history and politics. Unfortunately, there are some in India's neighbourhood, notably Pakistan, who remain apprehensive of cultural connectivity across states and frontiers. The process, however, is unstoppable. The internet, the social networking sites, Bollywood, and now yoga, have contributed to the cultural connectivity across borders. There are many in Pakistan who are trying to revive, re-establish and reinvent their past socio-cultural connectivity with India. Ultimately, culture and soft power remain powerful mechanisms to enable antagonistic states to overcome years of mutual mistrust and push forward the process of regional integration. The process is not new. Immediately after World War II, school children from France and Germany were sent on exchange programmes to learn about each other's culture, language and customs. The result today is striking. Within the European Union, the strongest partnership remains the Franco-German one. This year's celebrations of International Yoga Day are eagerly awaited by the diplomatic community in Delhi. On June 21, 2017, The Ministry of External Affairs organised a special yoga session for 100 diplomats. The Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Ambassadors and diplomats enthusiastically participated by practicing asanas and pranayams, giving a unique flavour to the event. "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" remains the first precursor of global citizenship as it is understood today -- the concept that all individuals are collectively responsible for each other and their shared future. Ultimately, this "international binding" through International Yoga Day represents India's new global narrative. It could be as important to its quest for great power status as her candidature for permanent membership of the Security Council. (Bhaswati Mukherjee is a former Indian Ambassador to UNESCO. The article is in special arrangement with South Asia Monitor) --IANS bhaswati/tb/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, June 20 (IANS/AKI) Italy's President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday called on European Union and other countries to show unity and solidarity in their response to the refugee crisis and its causes. "The international community must act with shared, far-sighted policy choices to manage a phenomenon that involves the whole world," he said in a statement to mark World Refugee Day. "The European Union, in particular, must be capable of intervening together, not just handing the responsibility of dealing with the emergency to countries of first arrival," the statement added. Besides handling the current migrant influx, the bloc needs to roll out policies aimed at dealing with the political, economic, social and climate-related causes of migration "which fuel so many sad stories", Mattarella said. "In asking the international community and the EU to make strides in this area, Italy is complying with international law guaranteeing shelter to those in need of international protection." --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, June 21 (IANS/AKI) The Italian government has voiced support for the landmark nuclear deal reached by seven countries and Iran in 2015, saying it was crucial for international security, an official statement said on Wednesday. It announced its stand during a visit by senior Iranian diplomat Seyed Kamal Kharrazi here on Tuesday, when the former Iranian Foreign Minister and current President of the country's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations met Italy's Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi, the Foreign Ministry statement said. "During the cordial talks, Minister Moavero reaffirmed the European Union's position in full support of the agreement on Iran's nuclear programme. The agreement is key to the global non-proliferation regime and represents a success to preserve for the security of the region in the interest of the whole international community," it said. During his meeting with Kharrazi, Moavero reaffirmed Italy's interest in continuing dialogue with Tehran and the two top diplomats "took stock of the main regional issues," the Foreign Ministry said. After US President Donald Trump said in May he was withdrawing from the nuclear accord, Iran said it would remain in the deal, which tightly restricted its nuclear ambitions for a decade or more in return for ending the sanctions that had crippled its economy. Trump's announcement drew strong opposition from European leaders and a rare rebuke from his predecessor Barack Obama, who said the US withdrawal from the deal - which took over two years to negotiate - made the world a less safe place. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Italy's Osteria Francescana was proclaimed Tuesday as the best eatery on the planet during the World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards ceremony at Bilbao's Euskalduna palace. Most of the names of the top five were familiar, though the order shifted from previous years. Osteria, under the direction of head chef Massimo Bottura, came first in 2016, but fell to second last year, reports Efe. Spain's El Celler de Can Roca - which took the third spot last year - won second this time around, while France's Mirazur climbed from fourth to third. Osteria Francescana made an appearance on comedian Aziz Ansari's Master of None Netflix series in 2017. --IANS nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Kamal Haasan, who has floated a new political party Makkal Needhi Maiam, on Wednesday met Congress President Rahul Gandhi and discussed the political situation in Tamil Nadu. "Enjoyed meeting Kamal Haasan in Delhi today. We discussed a wide range of issues concerning our two parties, including the political situation in Tamil Nadu," Gandhi said in a tweet later. Haasan responded through a tweet and thanked Gandhi for his inputs. "Thank you Rahul Gandhiji for the time and inputs. Hope our conversation was useful to you as well," he said. The meeting that lasted nearly an hour took place at Gandhi's residence. "We did discuss but not the way you think," Haasan told reporters after the meeting which he initially described as a courtesy call. To a question whether an alliance between his party and the Congress in Tamil Nadu was discussed, he said: "We did not discuss that." Earlier in the day, Haasan met Election Commission officials and expressed confidence that the process of registration of his political party will be done in around a week's time. --IANS ps/vsc/him/ (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Kamal Haasan, who has floated Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), on Wednesday met Election Commission officials and expressed confidence that the process of registration of his political party will be done in around a week's time. "It was a normal process. They asked some questions and we gave them the answers. There was no big objection," he told reporters after the meeting. Asked when the process of the registration would be over, Kamal said: "It will come to a logical conclusion very soon. They (officials) said they would decide in a week or 10 days." He said he had not asked for an election symbol as that would be decided later. --IANS mak-vsc/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Kamal Haasan on Wednesday slammed the Tamil Nadu government for arresting people protesting against the eight-lane green corridor between Chennai and Salem. "To treat anyone talking about environment as a crime is not acceptable. This concern should be there among all," he told reporters when asked about his views on the raging controversy over the proposed expressway connecting the two cities. The Tamil Nadu police has been accused of indiscriminate and arbitrary arrests of people and activists protesting against the project on the ground that thousands of hectares of land of agriculturists and others would be acquired, leaving them in the lurch. --IANS mak-vsc/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Scores of migrant Kashmiri Pandits arrived at Mata Kheer Bhawani Shrine in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district on Wednesday to attend an annual festival, officials said. Despite speculation that a lesser number of Kashmiri Pandits would come to attend the Kheer Bhawani Mela in Tullamulla town this year, they kept their tryst with Mata Ragnya. Scenes of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood were witnessed in Tullamulla where some local Muslim residents came out to greet their Hindu brothers. Kashmiri Pandits started arriving here on Wednesday in buses from Delhi and Jammu. Some of them used their private vehicles to attend the Mela and pray for peace and prosperity at the shrine. The holiest Kashmiri Pandit shrine in Kashmir Valley, Kheer Bhawani temple is dedicated to Hindu deity Mata Ragnya, who according to Hindu beliefs came to Kashmir from Sri Lanka during the rule of Ravana. It is said that displeased with the licentious and vicious life of Ravana, the deity asked Lord Hanuman to shift her image to Tullamulla village in Kashmir. The shrine, situated around 24 km from Srinagar, houses a spring which is considered sacred by Kashmiri Pandits. The Pandits believe the colour of the spring water on the annual Mela foretells the state of events in Kashmir during the year. Authorities have made adequate arrangements for the security and lodging of Pandits. Most of the devotees prefer to stay at shrine for the night to engage in extended prayers. Contingents of police and paramilitary force have been placed on the route for the security of devotees. --IANS sq/pgh/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who ended his nine-day long sit-in at Lt. Governor Anil Baijal's office on Tuesday, cancelled all his scheduled meetings on Wednesday as he was not feeling well. Kejriwal, a diabetic, was suffering from high sugar levels for the past few days. The Aam Aadmi Party leader will leave for Bengaluru on Thursday to undergo a 10-day naturopathy treatment for diabetes, party sources said. He has been to Bengaluru for the naturopathy treatment earlier also. "His trip was already planned. He was to go to Bengaluru, but the unplanned sit-in came in between. So he will go now," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told the media. --IANS nks/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man wanted for murder and carrying a prize money of Rs 25,000 on his head has been arrested in Ghaziabad, police said on Wednesday. Vishal was arrested on Tuesday night from Vaishali area. Vishal was wanted for the murder of a minor Aayush. While two criminals involved in the abduction-cum-murder were taken into custody, Vishal gave the slip. Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said a police patrol spotted Vishal near Vaishali bridge. They also seized the deceased's mobile telephone from him. He was produced before a court which sent him to judicial custody, said Krishna. --IANS sps/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi's estranged wife Jashodaben on Wednesday expressed her shock over Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel's statement in a leading Gujarati daily that Modi was unmarried. "I am surprised over Anandiben telling the press that Narendra bhai was not married (to her). He has himself mentioned in his declaration while filing papers for Lok Sabha elections in 2004 that he is married and mentioned my name in it," Jashodaben read out a statement in a video shot from her brother Ashok Modi's mobile phone. Jashodaben added: "It is very unbecoming of a well educated woman (Anandiben, former Chief Minister of Gujarat) to speak like this of a teacher (Jashodaben). Not only this, her conduct has tarnished the image of the Prime Minister of India. He is very respectable for me, he is Ram for me." Speaking to IANS from their hometown Unjha in north Gujarat, her brother Ashok Modi confirmed that it was indeed Jashodaben talking in the video. "We didn't believe this when Anandiben's statement came on social media... But this appeared on the front page of leading paper Divya Bhaskar on June 19. Now this could not be wrong. "This is why we decided to issue a rejoinder. We together recorded a written statement that Jashodaben read out from our home cell phone," he added. --IANS desai/mr/soni (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal and China on Wednesday signed eight agreements worth $2.4 billion on the second day of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli's visit. These agreements were reached between the two governments and private sectors where Chinese investors will put money on developing hydroelectricity, water resources, cement factories and fruit cultivation and farming. The signing ceremony took place at the Nepal Embassy here. Additional memorandum of understandings will be signed on Thursday after delegation-level talks between Oli and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang. Oli, who arrived here on Monday on his five-day-visit, will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This is Oli's first official visit to China after returning to power in February and second foreign trip after India. --IANS giri/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) NASA plans to install on the International Space Station (ISS) an instrument that will measure the temperature of plants from space, enabling researchers to determine plant water use and to study how drought conditions affect plant health. The instrument, called ECOSTRESS, or ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometre Experiment on Space Station, will hitch a ride to the space station on a SpaceX cargo resupply mission scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June 29, NASA said on Tuesday. Plants draw in water from the soil, and as they are heated by the Sun, the water is released through pores on the plants' leaves through a process called transpiration. This cools the plant down, much as sweating does in humans. However, if there is not enough water available to the plants, they close their pores to conserve water, causing their temperatures to rise. Plants use those same pores to take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for photosynthesis -- the process they use to turn carbon dioxide and water into the sugar they use as food. If they continue to experience insufficient water availability, or "water stress," they eventually starve or overheat, and die. The data from ECOSTRESS will show these changes in plants' temperatures, providing insight into their health and water use while there is still time for water managers to correct agricultural water imbalances. "When a plant is so stressed that it turns brown, its often too late for it to recover," said Simon Hook, ECOSTRESS principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "But measuring the temperature of the plant lets you see that a plant is stressed before it reaches that point," Hook said. These temperature measurements are also considered an early indicator of potential droughts. When plants in a given area start showing signs of water stress through elevated temperature, an agricultural drought is likely underway. Having these data in advance gives the agricultural community a chance to prepare and/or respond accordingly, NASA said. "ECOSTRESS will allow us to monitor rapid changes in crop stress at the field level, enabling earlier and more accurate estimates of how yields will be impacted," said Martha Anderson, an ECOSTRESS science team member with the US Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland. --IANS gb/soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Wednesday said it will not tie up with any party in Andhra Pradesh for the state assembly polls and general elections next year. People of the state were not happy with the ruling dispensation (Telegu Desam Party) on the issue of special status, said Congress in charge for Andhra Pradesh Oommen Chandy after meeting party President Rahul Gandhi. "The BJP and the TDP cheated the people of Andhra Pradesh on the issue of special status to the state. We have no intention to have alliance with any of the parties. Our alliance is only with the people of the state," Chandy told reporters. Gandhi has said the Congress would decide on the special status to the state on the first day of its rule if the United Progressive Alliance comes to power, he said. Chandy also said people of the state were "very upset" on issues of GST and farmers. --IANS spk/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than 5 million Afghan refugees have returned to their militancy-plagued country over the past 16 years, a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) statement said here on Wednesday. The statement was issued to commemorate World Refugee Day which falls on June 20 annually, reports Xinhua news agency. On Tuesday, Afghan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Affairs Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi said that nearly 6 million Afghans were still living as refugees, with nearly 2.5 million in Pakistan and almost the same number in Iran while the remaining were in other countries. Since this January, some 332,000 Afghan refugees have returned from Iran and Pakistan, Balkhi added. However, the UNHCR said in the statement that a "lack of access to services including education and health, adequate housing and land remain key critical challenges for returnees to rebuild their lives" in their homeland. It also urged the Afghan government and the international community to back the livelihood of the returnees, offer them economic opportunities, basic services and include them in political and social structures. --IANS ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The number of displaced people around the world has increased to over 68 million, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has said. "The number of displaced people is alarming and not good. The number has reached 68.5 million around the world because of the intensification of conflicts, violence and wars, constantly forcing people out of their troubled countries," Grandi told a press conference here after a two-day visit to inspect immigrants centres and camps. The UN official pointed out that 58 per cent of the displaced were from poor and developing countries, adding that the number of migrants reaching Europe during the first half of this year has decreased. "Countries that host the largest number of refugees, especially those that do not have adequate resources to shoulder the costs of hosting them, should get help and cooperation in sharing the burden under joint international efforts," he said, adding that closing borders and ports is "not a solution to the risk of rising immigration flows". Italian authorities closed its ports earlier this month and refused to receive a ship belonging to an international organisation with 600 immigrants on board, who were rescued in the Mediterranean. Spain agreed to receive these immigrants. Grandi said international pledges to resettle 25,000 illegal migrants from Libya were "moving slowly". Libya is a preferred point of departure for illegal immigrants crossing the Mediterranean towards Europe. --IANS ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for deciding to establish an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Madurai district. In a letter to Modi, Palaniswami said: "On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu and me, I thank you, Sir, for selecting the establishment of a new AIIMS at Thoppur in Madurai district." He said the state government would provide all necessary support to the Central government to facilitate the early commencement of work. --IANS vj/ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Goa's BJP unit has said that Vasudev Parab, holder of a government-allotted industrial plot in the coastal state where a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) raid unearthed a ketamine manufacturing racket, was not involved in its trade. "Parab does not have one per cent, even 0.1 per cent involvement in it. He has not committed a crime. The only crime he has committed is that he had put the plot on rent without informing the IDC (Industrial Development Corporation). This is his only crime. We have full faith in Vasudev Parab, that he is not involved in such things and he will not be involved in such things in the future," state Bharatiya Janata Party President Vinay Tendulkar said on Tuesday. Tendulkar's remarks comes two days after Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar ruled out a state government probe into the ketamine or date-rape drug manufacturing racket, which DRI has claimed as one of the biggest ever raids on drug manufacturing operations, which the enforcement agency has ever undertaken. Last week while responding to allegations of favouritism made by the Congress, BJP spokespersons said that Parab had no links with the party. However, Parab is an office bearer of BJP's North Goa district unit. Tendulkar also said, that Parab's only violation was that he had rented the industrial plot allotted to him by the Goa Industrial Development Corporation to a third-party, which is against the rules. After giving out the plot on rent, Parab earned Rs 75,000 per month and had no inkling about what was going on, he added. Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Corporation issued a show cause notice to Parab. The Congress has urged Parrikar to launch an independent probe into the case, while also accusing the BJP of trying to shield manufacturers of the date-rape drug. In a three-day operation code-named 'Operation Vitamin', the DRI last week, busted an internrational drug syndicate, seizing 308 kg ketamine, two tonnes of raw material at various sites in Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, arresting 10 persons including two from the UK and one from Vietnam. Nearly 100 kg of ketamine and raw material used to manufacture the drug was also found at Parab's industrial unit, which was used by an NRI Jimi Sandhu. Used as a tranquiliser for veterinary purposes, ketamine is a common party drug and is known for its hallucinating effects. --IANS maya/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A policeman was shot dead on Wednesday in Bihar's Gaya district, police said. Guddu Sharma of the Bihar Military Police (BMP) was shot dead in broad day light near Madarpur village when he was on his way to join duty in Bodh Gaya. "Motorcycle-borne criminals fired five bullets in his chest and he died on the spot," a district police official said. Angry over the killing, residents blocked roads to demand the arrest of the assailants. On Tuesday, a Right to Information (RTI) activist, Rajender Singh, was shot dead in East Champaran district. --IANS ik/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after a Punjab Forest Department officer was critically injured and five others also received serious injuries in an attack by goons of the illegal sand mafia, state Forest Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot said on Wednesday that department officials would be provided weapons. "The Forest Department will arm its employees with weapons for the security of forest areas. A policy in this regard would be prepared and sent to the cabinet for approval," he said. Block Officer Devinder Singh received critical head injuries and had to undergo surgery at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here on Tuesday after he and other officials were attacked brutally by goons of the sand mafia. Another forest employee, Karnail Singh, was admitted in hospital with skull fracture and other serious injuries. The attack took place early on Tuesday in Seonk area of Mohali district, around 10 km from here. "The incident which happened at village Seonk is quite unfortunate and the perpetrators would not be spared. Attacks by the sand mafia on the Forest Department employees are being taken with utmost seriousness and in future the departmental employees would be provided weapons," the minister said. The minister said that four people who were allegedly involved in the attack have been arrested. --IANS js/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP on Wednesday hit out at Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh for his "sanghi terror" remarks and demanded that party President Rahul Gandhi should sack him. "Digvijaya Singh called Hindus terrorists and pointed finger at millions of Hindus, denigrated them and called them terrorists. Why do you take Hindus for granted, Rahul Gandhi? We don't want apology, we want Digvijaya to be sacked," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters here. "Had Digvijaya Singh used this language against any other religion, would Rahul have spared him? Of course not. Sack him. You suspended Mani Shankar Aiyer during political campaign but now when polls are nearing, we demand suspension and sacking of Digvijaya Singh," he added. Digvijaya Singh had on Monday said that all Hindu terrorists caught in the past have had been associated somehow with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). "All Hindu terrorists who have ever been caught have association with RSS in some way or the other. Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, was also part of RSS. So, this ideology is spreading hatred, hatred breeds violence, and from violence is bred terrorism," he said. Taking his remarks seriously, Patra said it was not a small matter. "He is a senior leader of Congress. Madhya Pradesh elections are around the corner. Congress has started policy of appeasement and policy of attacking Hindus just before Madhya Pradesh polls. This should not be seen as a stand-alone statement but a core agenda of Congress," he said. Hitting out at Gandhi, he said that Gandhi is obsessed with the RSS and sees an RSS hand for everything that happens in the world. "You must stop this. Rahul Gandhi has been reprimanded by court as well but he is not improving from doing the of appeasement," he said claiming that Pakistan is getting benefited with such statements. "With these statements of Congress, Pakistan gets benefit. We object to Congress and Rahul Gandhi's obsession with Pakistan. Rahul Gandhi's party is giving a platform to Pakistan," he said. --IANS bns/vd (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and yoga guru Baba Ramdev will practice yoga in Kota along with around 2 lakh people on the International Yoga Day on Thursday. The Chief Minister on Wednesday appealed to the people of the state to practice yoga to keep their mind, body and soul healthy and happy and make it a part of their lives. In her message, she said that yoga practice helps people connect with nature, ensuring their happiness. "Yoga works on a sole objective of keeping a healthy heart in a healthy body. It is a practice which has been followed in India since years and it is with the untiring efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that yoga has crossed the borders to be accepted by the world." Baba Ramdev spoke to the media in Kota, saying that the "shiksha nagri" will turn into a "yoga nagri" when more than two lakh people practice yoga, and that many world records will be made in Kota on Thursday. --IANS arc/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) iStock/Thinkstock(BRIDGEWATER, Mass.) -- A Massachusetts woman is opening up about how she managed to fight off a convicted rapist who attacked her over the weekend and tried to force her into his car. The woman, who asked not to be identified, spoke out Wednesday in an interview with ABC's Good Morning America, offering exclusive details on how she mustered up the strength to fight off the man who assaulted her early Sunday morning. The terrifying ordeal unfolded while she was out for a routine jog at around 7:30 a.m. Sunday in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, about 33 miles south of Boston, when a man pulled his SUV over, ran toward her and tried to drag her into his vehicle. A surveillance camera captured the terrifying ordeal on video as the 37-year-old woman kicked and screamed as she tried to escape from the attackers grip. "I was able to fight and kind of flip him to the ground," the woman said, but she fell to the ground, as well. "I don't wanna go into too many details because some of it is tough for me to talk about, but he was grabbing at me." "I just kept kicking back behind me. I was not even sure if I was making contact with him," she added. Afraid for her life, she said she screamed "Help me" repeatedly and as loud as she could, knowing that the situation could end badly if the attacker got a better grip on her. "I was just trying to prevent him from getting a further hold of me and getting to a point where he could either assault me or pick me up and get me into the vehicle," she said. "I knew if that happened, I was in a really bad place." She managed to break away when the assailant stumbled a bit, fell to the ground and ran back to his car, according to the surveillance video. Police arrested 57-year-old Gordon Lyons, a convicted rapist, in connection with the attack after he allegedly fled at high speed and crashed his vehicle. The woman said shes thankful to be alive. Her attack recalls other high-profile assaults in recent years. A similar story unfolded in Queens, New York, on Aug. 2, 2016, when 30-year-old Karina Vetrano was fatally strangled while jogging alone with her dog. Chanel Lewis, 20, was arrested in February for second-degree murder, a little over six months after Vetrano's death. Another woman, Vanessa Marcotte, 27, was murdered less than a week later while jogging near her mothers home in Leominster, Massachusetts. Police charged Angelo Colon-Ortiz, 31, with assault with intent to rape and aggravated assault and battery in connection to her case, citing DNA from under her nails and witness accounts, according to local reports. Colon-Ortiz pleaded not guilty. Officials with the Bridgewater Police Department commended the woman from Sunday's video for refusing to be a victim. "She also had the presence of mind to take a picture to help law enforcement catch the perpetrator," a spokesperson for the department told Good Morning America. The woman, who described herself as an avid runner, said she was afraid the entire time, but she would not let her fear paralyze her. "I'm not gonna say I wasn't afraid," she said. "But it was kind of a moment of, yeah, some fear, but also this -- Im not gonna let this happen. This is not how my story ends." She praised the police department and her "hero" neighbor, 84-year-old Donald Prohovich, who yelled at the attacker and intervened when he realized what was happening. "I cannot tell you how grateful I am. That is a brave man and a man that cared," the woman said. Lyons, the man accused in the attack, was charged on Tuesday in court, where he attempted to hide his face with a sheet. He pleaded not guilty. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Actress Rakul Preet, who last featured in Neeraj Pandey's "Aiyaary", says 50 per cent of the shoot of her forthcoming urban romantic comedy film with Ajay Devgn, is complete. During an interaction with the media on the sidelines of the Femina Miss India grand finale here on Tuesday, Rakul said: "Right now in the Hindi film industry, I am working on a film with Ajay Devgn sir. It is an urban rom-com and it is being produced by Luv Ranjan sir. "We are 50 per cent through the film, so the audience will be able to see the film really soon and then I have bunch of south Indian films. I am working on three Tamil films and one Telugu film." The Ajay-starrer also features Tabu in a pivotal role and it will focus on modern-day urban relationships in a quirky way. The film, slated to release around Dussehra in October, is being shot extensively in Himachal Pradesh and London. It is being directed by editor-turned-director Akiv Ali and co-produced by T-Series and Luv Films. --IANS iv/rb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Interpol will soon issue a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against diamond jeweller Nirav Modi, who is one of the accused in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank fraud, officials said on Wednesday. A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official said that "we have expedited the process to issue a RCN against Nirav Modi" as it has been known that he travelled to multiple countries between February 10 and March 31 on revoked Indian passport. The official said that the Interpol is likely to issue the RCN within a week. The CBI officials said that a June 5 letter, shared by Britain, revealed that the fugitive businessman travelled from US' John F. Kennedy International Airport to Britain's Heathrow Airport on February 10, from Frank Pais Airport in Cuba to Heathrow on February 15, from Heathrow to Hong Kong International Airport on March 15, from there back to Heathrow on March 28 and from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle Airport in France on March 31. On June 11, the CBI approached the Interpol to issue a RCN against Nirav Modi. On June 13, it again approached the Interpol to issue a RCN against Nirav Modi's brother Nishal, who is a Belgian national, and his executive Subhash Parab. The CBI sent the request to the Interpol after it filed the first chargesheet naming Nirav Modi, Nishal and Parab beside 18 others in a special court in Mumbai on May 14. The CBI filed three FIRs between January and March to probe the PNB fraud. Most of the accused are common to these cases. The fraud was committed during 2011-17 by illegally issuing Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs). In its first chargesheet, the CBI alleged that Nirav Modi, through his companies, siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 6,498.20 crore using fraudulent LoUs issued from PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai. Meanwhile, his uncle Mehul Choksi allegedly swindled Rs 7,080.86 crore. Nirav Modi left the country along with his family in the first week of January, weeks before the scam was reported to the CBI. His wife Ami, a US citizen, left on January 6 and Choksi on January 4. --IANS aks/him/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor-director Scott Baio will not be charged with sexual assault after his former "Charles in Charge" co-star Nicole Eggert accused him in January of molesting her for years. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office declined to press charges against the 57-year-old. "The applicable statute of limitations to the crimes alleged by the victim have expired. Thus, the case is declined," the District Attorney cited in a charge evaluation sheet obtained by people.com Eggert tweeted: "Wait for it... Dismissed on Statutes of Limitation... Never because of lack of evidence. Case closed molester Scott Baio." "Dismissed due to Statute of Limitation Gu(i)lty. Period," Eggert added. Baio has repeatedly denied her claims, calling them "100 (per cent) lies." "Why would I have a concern over something I didn't do?" he said on "Good Morning America". "Rather than take your case to social media, where people tend to beat up people like me, why not do it through the proper channels? You put up allegations like that, and it becomes like wildfire," he added. Baio said they were never alone together on the set. "I don't know if you've ever been on a sitcom set, but on any given day - on every day, especially 'Charles in Charge', which was like a picnic every day, it was one of my favourite jobs I've ever done - there's teachers, parents, family, crew, producers, my dad. So how any of this could have happened is absolutely impossible," he said. Eggert, 46, alleged on Twitter in late January that Baio had molested her from the age of 14 to 17. Generally, in California, prosecution of a sexual assault offence has to begin within 10 years of the alleged incident. --IANS nv/rb/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the government will not tolerate terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir any more and that operations will be launched to flush out militants. He added that restoration of peace in the strife-torn state was on top of the agenda for the Modi government. Singh, the Lok Sabha MP from Lucknow, also reiterated the Modi government's resolve to ensure a complete end to terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking on the sidelines of an event at a private hospital here, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader also warned terrorist groups against any misadventure and said that security forces were prepared to foil any such attempt. The Minister's statement came a day after the BJP ended its alliance with and pulled out of the PDP-led government in Jammu and Kashmir, citing growing incidences of terrorism. --IANS md/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump has aggressively defended his policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexico border, accusing the migrants of "infesting" the country, media reports said. In a tweet on Tuesday, Trump used language evoking images of pests, not human beings, when describing migrants approaching the US border and blaming the Democrats for the problem, reports CNN. "Democrats are the problem," he wrote. "They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our country... They can't win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters! Later at a small business event here on Tuesday, Trump declared that he had no choice but to remove children from their parents at the border. "We want a great country. We want a country with heart. But when people come up, they have to know they can't get in," he said. "Otherwise it's never going to stop." He also declared that the US needed to be secured, whether or not that seems politically palatable. "You have to stand for something and you have to stand for safety and security of our country. We can't let people pour in," he said. "Maybe it's politically correct or maybe it's not. We've got to stop separation of the families, but politically correct or not, we have a country that needs security, that needs safety, that has to be protected." Trump has repeatedly defended his immigration crackdown, reports The Washington Post. But images of young children housed in metal cages have set off a nationwide outcry that has reached the White House. At least 2,000 children have been separated from their parents this year as a result of the administration's policy. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also defended the administration's controversial policy along with Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, who gave a forceful explanation of the actions, arguing that it had no choice, reports The New York Times. "Parents who entered illegally are by definition criminals," Nielsen said on Tuesday. "By entering our country illegally, often in dangerous circumstances, illegal immigrants have put their children at risk." House Republicans are planning to vote on two immigration measures this week. --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was heckled by activists here while she was eating at a Mexican restaurant as the outcry over Trump administration's controversial policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the Mexican border mounts. Nielsen was taunted by a group of demonstrators who chanted "shame!" and noted the irony of her dining at the Mexican restaurant near the White House on Tuesday night, the BBC reported. Her security detail kept the demonstrators from approaching too near her table at the restaurant. Nielsen, responsible for implementing President Donald Trump's efforts to axe immigration, could be seen ignoring the protesters and did not appear to respond to them, reports said. The Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America group claimed responsibility for the protest against her. "How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you're deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people that come here seeking asylum in the US?" one person shouted in the video posted by the group. "If kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace," the demonstrators shouted. They then played an audio clip of Central American children crying after they were separated from their parents at the border. "How does that make you feel? Do you hear the babies crying?" a demonstrator asked. "How do you sleep at night? Aren't you a mother, too?" one of them asked. Nielsen eventually left the restaurant while accompanied by an entourage and later tweeted: "I will work tirelessly until our broken immigration system is fixed, our borders are secure and families can stay together." Trump had earlier praised Nielsen, saying that she "did a fabulous job" defending the policy. Meanwhile, a group of US lawmakers were on Tuesday denied entry to a detention centre in Homestead, Florida, according to officials. "This is an absolute outrage," said Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, standing outside the facility. This is not the first time lawmakers have been turned away from visiting migrant shelters, which now contain nearly 12,000 children, according to government figures. --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain at the White House. After arriving at the South Portico on Tuesday afternoon, the couples posed for a photo and then, reports USA Today. "It's a great honour to have the King and Queen of Spain," the President said in the Oval Office. "It's a beautiful country. We were in Spain not so long ago and we love it. "Our relationship has been outstanding over the years... Excellent trade relationship, military relationship. Just about everything you can have. So we love Spain," Trump added. This is the 50-year-old King's first meeting with Trump and his second visit to the White House since he took over the throne in 2014 after the abdication of his father, King Juan Carlos I. The Spanish royals wrapped up a five-day goodwill visit to the US that included stops in San Antonio and New Orleans to celebrate those cities' 300-year-old ties to Spain. "This is a great end to a perfect trip," the USA Today quoted the King as saying. "We appreciate very much our common history, our heritage. So many years that we share ... So many issues of common interest... As well as there is one basic common issue, which is our value for democracy." On Tuesday, the Spanish royal couple also had meetings at the World Bank. --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The 'Udaan' programme to provide skills training to the educated unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir, has received a "very good response" from the people there, said Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Anant Kumar Hegde on Wednesday. "A scheme named Udaan is going on in Kashmir. The state government, Home Ministry and our Ministry are jointly working towards implementing it. "So far it has received a very good response from the people there," Hegde told the reporters in the sidelines of a session on 'Human Resources Development for Socio-Economic Development' here. Asked about his Ministry's initiative to upskill the unemployed youth of Kashmir, who are getting involved in criminal activities like throwing stones at the Indian armed forces personnel, the minister said the Udaan scheme is uniquely designed for the youths of Kashmir to bring them back to the mainstream. "It is a unique scheme for Jammu and Kashmir. It is primarily for the youths and also the people who surrender to the administration there. They are given skills training for one or two years during their rehabilitation programme," Hedge added. However, the minister refused to comment on the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir after the Bharatiya Janata Party pulled out of ruling coalition with the Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday, stating it can be best answered by the Home Ministry. Udaan is a special industry initiative for Jammu and Kashmir in the nature of partnership between the corporates of India and Home Affairs Ministry and implemented by National Skill Development Corp. It aims to cover 40,000 youth over a period of five years and Rs 750 crore has been earmarked for its implementation. --IANS mgr/ssp/him/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Striking a blow against the UN Human Rights Council's credibility, the US is withdrawing from the "hypocritical" organisation, US Permanent Representative Nikki Haley has announced. "For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias," Haley said on Tuesday. UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein last week asked the Council, whose credibility has been questioned in stark terms by India and now the US, to set up a commission of inquiry into alleged abuses in Kashmir. "The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape scrutiny, and the council continues politicising and scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in their ranks," Haley said. The US is an elected member of the Council with its term running till the end of next year. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also denounced it saying: "The Human Rights Council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those who have committed no offence. A mere look around the world today demonstrates that the council has failed in its stated objectives. "When they seek to infringe on our national sovereignty, we will not be silent," he added. India's criticism of Zeid's report recommending the Council probe also made the same point. "The report violates India's sovereignty and territorial integrity," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said last week. "It is fallacious, tendentious and motivated. We question the intent in bringing out such a report," he added. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's reaction was muted. His spokesman Stephane Dujarric said he "would have much preferred for the US to remain in the Human Rights Council" as it "plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide". Pompeo said that while the US supports in principle multilateral bodies working to protect human rights, "when organisations undermine our national interests and our allies, we will not be complicit". Zeid criticised President Donald Trump's administration this week for enforcing the requirement to separate children from parents who are facing possible prosecution for entering the US illegally. The 47 members of the Council are elected to three-year terms by the General Assembly with regional representation without regard to their human rights records. The current membership includes Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China and Venezuela. The main focus of Washington's ire was the Council's criticism of Israel, which Pompeo said was an "unconscionable" sign of bias. Haley said she had tried for more than a year to reform the Council with her team reaching out to 125 countries but failed because the efforts were undermined by Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt among others. "Our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. The Human Rights High Commissioner works often in tandem with the Council, though both are independent. Zeid's term ends at the end of this year and his successor will have to be appointed by Guterres with the approval of the General Assembly. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in) --IANS al/pgh/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Joining the growing chorus against the Donald Trump administration's policy of enforcing separation of children from parents at the US-Mexico border, CEOs of prominent tech giants in the US have called for a change. Google CEO Sundar Pichai urged the government to find a "more humane" solution. "The stories and images of families being separated at the border are gut-wrenching. Urging our government to work together to find a better, more humane way that is reflective of our values as a nation," Pichai tweeted on Tuesday. Pichai is not alone in coming out openly against the border separation of families. In a letter to all the employees on Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella termed the new policy implemented on the border as "simply cruel and abusive", adding that Microsoft was "standing for change". "Like many of you, I am appalled at the abhorrent policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the southern border of the US. As both a parent and an immigrant, this issue touches me personally," Nadella wrote. "I consider myself a product of two amazing and uniquely American things -- American technology reaching me where I was growing up that allowed me to dream the dream and an enlightened immigration policy that then allowed me to live that dream. My story would not have been possible anywhere else," he said. Microsoft is not working with the US government on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border, he said. Microsoft faced criticism over its contract with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -- the agency that is behind the forced separation of children from parents at the US-Mexico border. "Our current cloud engagement with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is supporting legacy mail, calendar, messaging and document management workloads," Nadella stressed. According to a report in The Irish Times on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the separations were "inhumane and need to stop". "It's heartbreaking to see the images and hear the sounds of the kids. Kids are the most vulnerable people in any society. I think that what's happening is inhumane. It needs to stop," Cook was quoted as saying. In a Facebook post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "we need to stop this policy right now", The Verge reported on Tuesday. --IANS gb/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra on Wednesday placed the state Assembly under suspended animation. After the imposition of Governor's rule, Vohra exercised his powers under the Constitution. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had demanded the dissolution of the Assembly so that the process of holding early elections in the state could be started. On Tuesday, the BJP suddenly withdrew its support to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and pulled out of the ruling PDP-BJP coalition, causing the government to collapse. After all major political parties including the PDP, National Conference and the BJP said they would not explore the possibility of forming an elected government in the state, Abdullah said horse trading could not be ruled out unless the Assembly was dissolved. In the 87-member Assembly, the PDP has 28 seats, the Bharaiya Janata Party 25, National Conference 15, Congress 12, CPI-M 1, Peoples Conference 2 and Peoples Democratic Front 1. There are also three independent MLAs. --IANS sq/mr/him (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Air Indias austerity drive has now started to draw hilarious responses from employees. Frustrated by the delay in payment of salaries and allowances, a commander of Air India shot off a dire note to the management. In an email, he wrote that he had been forced to sell his laptop and iPad due to financial constraints. The pilot further mentioned that not having a laptop has impacted his professional knowledge and ended the letter with a warning that the management would be held responsible for any deficiency or safety lapse on his part. Hope Air India took notice. May the best ... The BJP on Tuesday pulled out of the ruling combine with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ending the alliance's 27 - month -old government. The move might seem sudden but tension in the alliance had been building over a long period of time. Only this year, BJP and PDP had taken opposite stands in several different issues. Here are the major issues that divided the two parties this year: Kathua rape The brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old tribal girl in Kuthua was the latest flashpoint in the troubled alliance. Along with the state, the incident had ... BJP's decision to pull out of the ruling coalition with the PDP was seen by political parties in Jammu and Kashmir as an attempt to gain "lost ground" ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as commoners attached their hopes with the governor's rule to restore peace and ensure the development of the state. A group of Congress supporters burst crackers, distributed sweets and danced on a road in Jammu to express their joy over the sudden political development. "BJP was feeling that the earth beneath its feet was fast skidding and hence pulled out of the PDP-led government with an eye on the upcoming parliamentary elections," Panthers Party chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh said. He said the people of the state, particularly in Jammu region which gave 25 Assembly seats and two parliamentary seats to the BJP, were very angry with the party over its "one after another surrender before the pro-separatist PDP agenda to remain in power". He said the casualties suffered by border residents and security personnel in ceasefire violations in Jammu region were the highest in the past four years. "It was a decision to benefit the party and not the people. They are trying to hoodwink commoners but the anger of people against the party has reached its peak and they will face the music and will be held accountable." Singh said it would have been better had they pulled out of the coalition after the conclusion of the upcoming Amarnath Yatra. "The yatra is going to start next week which is a major challenge given the prevailing law and order situation in the valley. Pulling out at this juncture makes it amply clear that they escaped without facing the challenge," he said. Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said the PDP-BJP government collapsed under its own weight. "BJP was under intense pressure from the entire nation because of its failure to deal with Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan as was promised by it prior to coming to the power at the Centre. In order to save political space, the BJP withdrew support but not before pushing the state into a crisis," he said. He said it was expected that the government will not last long because both the parties had compromised their election manifesto. "The PDP-BJP government brought the situation in Kashmir to the level of 1990 and it is now very difficult to retrieve it from there. All the gains made over the years have been reversed. They had no other option because of the recent killings and the outrage in the country against it," he said. NPP supremo Bhim Singh termed the BJP move a "stunt to save its face on the level" and said this is going to be the "Waterloo" for both PDP and BJP in the state. Singh, however, congratulated PDP for "giving a loaf in power to the state BJP leaders from Jammu" and exposing their commitment towards the welfare of the people of Jammu region. Rajiv Chuni, chairman of SOS International, an organisation of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir refugees, said the people of Jammu are very happy with the collapse of this government. "It was an unholy alliance and just want to come to power in the state. Both parties were having different opinions on same issues," he said. He claimed the people of the state suffered a lot because of their ideological divide. "The biggest sufferers were the people of Jammu because of discrimination which was at its worst and not even seen in the past six decades." The terrorists have spread to hitherto peaceful areas and a recent grenade attack at the Jammu bus stand was an eye-opener. "It is a welcome decision though it came very late. The people of Jammu were not happy with this alliance because both the parties were pulling in opposite directions and created more confusion among the people rather than addressing the issues," Govind Jamwal, a shopkeeper said. He said people are looking forward towards the governor's rule and expect things to move fast to help restore peace and normalcy in the valley and ensure the development of all the three regions. At Parade Ground, Congress supporters assembled on Tuesday evening and distributed sweets, danced, and burst crackers to celebrate the fall of the government. "The policies of this government deteriorated the situation. We were against the ceasefire from day one but nobody listened to us. Stone-pelters were released and their cases were withdrawn," he said. However, Parvinder Singh said he was shocked to know that the BJP had pulled out of the coalition. "They were running the government smoothly and faced every challenge united. The ceasefire was a good move to open up ways for the resumption of dialogue to help restore peace in the state," he said, adding that the state witnessed good pace of developmental activities over the past three years. Ankur Sharma said it is a good decision and "we are looking forward towards the governor's rule and we are sure that the growing militancy will be curbed and the Amarnath Yatra ends peacefully." A Bajrang Dal leader also welcomed the BJP decision and termed it as a "good news for the people of Jammu". "People were very angry with BJP and had not it pulled out from this coalition, it would have lost whatever support had left for it," he said. Four people who allegedly cheated people of several lakhs of rupees by posing as police and customs officials were arrested here today, police said. Acting on information, a police team nabbed M Vijay Kumar, his brother M Ravi Kumar, P N Ravindra and A Satyanarayana. The four, in the age group of 52-57, indulged in cheating innocent people by pretending as Police and Customs officials and even as journalists, a release from Hyderabad Police said. The accused allegedly cheated people by promising to get them gold and electronic items at cheaper rates compared to the market price and also under the guise of offering jobs in TV channels, it said. Seven cases have been registered against them in different police stations in Hyderabad, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after ending their dharna at the LG's office, the AAP government ministers today held a series of meetings with IAS officers, who continued their "silent" protest over the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, however, did not go to his office at the Delhi Secretariat due to health issues. He is likely to leave for Bengaluru tomorrow to join a ten-day naturopathy course to control his blood sugar level, officials at the CM's office said. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told reporters that the government had started work. "The work is going on a fast pace. All the IAS officers attended meetings called by the ministers," he said. Sisodia, who is incharge of the Education Department, announced the introduction of "happiness curriculum" for students of Delhi government schools from July, after a review meeting with officials. The ministers tweeted pictures of meetings held by them and claimed that all the officials concerned were present there. Jain, incharge of Urban Development, Health and PWD departments, held meetings with officials. Environment Minister Imran Hussain also held meetings with senior officers on status of air pollution, review of landfill sites and other matters. Flood Control Department Minister Gopal Rai also reviewed desilting of drains prior to the monsoon, along with officials of his department. The officials of Delhi government continued with their silent protest that had started after the alleged assault on the chief secretary by AAP legislators at Kejriwal's residence on February 19. The IAS AGMUT Association tweeted pictures of the protest by officers, saying, "#DelhiChiefSecretary 5 minute silent protests continue on." Kejriwal along with his Cabinet colleagues Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai sat on dharna at the office of Lt Governor Anil Baijal on June 11, demanding his intervention to end IAS officers "strike". The impasse involving AAP government on one hand and Lt Governor Anil Baijal and bureaucrats on the other, was broken after Kejriwal assured the officers of "safety", calling them as family. The IAS officers who denied on being "strike" responded by attending meetings called by ministers. Baijal had yesterday written to Kejriwal asking him to meet the IAS officers "urgently" to address their concerns. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reaching out to farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today showcased his government's "unprecedented" work in the agriculture sector, including doubling of the budget to Rs 2.12 lakh crore. Modi also reiterated that his government is working to double farm income by 2022. Continuing his outreach programme of direct interaction with beneficiaries of his pet schemes, Modi spoke to farmers from over 600 districts via video-conferencing, highlighting the government interventions right from seeds to market that is aimed at addressing farm distress. The government, through an extensive and balanced policy, is aiming to provide inputs like quality seeds, fertilisers, water and electricity as well as markets for increasing farmers' income, he said. "We have decided to double farmers income by 2022... When I talked about doubling of farmers income, there were many people who made fun that this is not possible and difficult. They created an atmosphere of doom. But we decided as I had full faith in farmers," Modi said. To achieve this target, he said the four cornerstones of the government policy are cutting input cost, fair price for the crop, preventing post-harvest losses and creating alternate sources of income. Modi said in the Budget for 2018-19 fiscal, the government announced that the minimum support price (MSP) for all crops will be fixed at least 1.5 times the cost of production. He also listed out all the costs that will be included while fixing the MSP. "The budget allocation for the agriculture sector in 5 years of the previous government was Rs 1.21 lakh crore. This has been increased to Rs 2.12 lakh crore during 2014-19, which is almost double. This clearly reflects our commitment to farmers welfare," Modi said. Stating that there has been "unprecedented development" in the farm sector during the last four years, the Prime Minister highlighted that foodgrains production in the country touched an all-time high of 280 million tonnes during 2017-18 crop year as against an average production of 250 million tonnes during 2010-14. There has also been bumper production of fruits, vegetables and milk, he said, adding that pulses production has increased by an average 10.5 per cent. Production of fish and milk grew by 26 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively. Egg output has risen by 25 per cent. "Our effort is to provide farmers assistance at all stage of agriculture -- at the time of sowing, after sowing and at the time of harvesting," he said, adding the policy interventions are being planned to help farmers right from seeds to markets. First, soil health cards are being provided to help farmers better understand soil nutrient status of his/her holding and advice them on the dosage of fertilisers. Thereafter, loans are being made available to farmers to help them procure good quality seeds, he said, adding neem coating of urea has ensured that black-marketing of the crop nutrient is stopped and farmers get it without any problem. To ensure farmers get the right price for their crops, Modi said an online platform e-NAM has been started to eliminate middlemen. As many as 22,000 rural markets are also being linked to wholesale mandis. The government is also giving special attention to allied sectors like fisheries, dairy and bee-keeping to boost farmers income, he added. The Prime Minister said farmers should get full credit for ensuring the country's food security but rued that "from the beginning, farmers were left to fend for themselves" which resulted in their shrinking prosperity. Modi highlighted the various initiatives launched by the government in the last four years such as soil health cards, new crop insurance scheme, irrigation programme and e-NAM, among others. Under Prime Minister Krishi Sinchaee Yojna, Modi said about 100 projects are being completed so that water reaches all agriculture fields. The government is promoting drip irrigation to achieve "per drop more crop" and reduce input cost. Modi said farmers can increase their income by value-addition of farm produce. The Prime Minister highlighted that more than 500 farmer producers organisations have been established in the last four years which help farmers in getting more sales realisation with lower input costs. These FPOs have been exempted from income tax. Talking about the new crop insurance scheme, Modi said farmers were not getting any claim under the previous scheme. "We have reduced premium and scope of insurance has been widened," he said, adding that this has helped in increasing the insurance coverage by 60-65 per cent. Modi said the government has provided soil health cards to 12.5 crore farmers in the last four years, helping farmers to boost yields and cut input cost. Interacting with farmers from the North-East, he said 21 lakh hectares have been brought under organic farming as against 7 lakh hectares in 2013-14. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after his mother accused him and his brother of forcing her out of house, Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Ajay Singh today said she had become a "puppet in the hands of unscrupulous elements" in the family. "It is a sad day for any family when personal matters are dragged into open...Worse, when the enemy lurks within and the motivation for public posturing is purely political," the Congress leader told reporters at his residence here. Saroj Kumari (83), the mother of Abhimanyu Singh and Ajay Singh and the wife of Congress stalwart late Arjun Singh, yesterday filed a complaint in a magistrate's court here against her sons. "For my mother, I have a simple message. Free yourself from the clutches of people who tutor and terrorise you in the name of love and concern. Let us sit together and resolve matters without the indignity of a public trial," he said. "My mother is old, not helpless, and far from destitute. Following the demise of my father, she has stubbornly refused my offer of a home with us in Bhopal. Instead, she has chosen to become a puppet in the hands of unscrupulous elements within the family," Singh claimed. Without naming anyone, he said they have fomented trouble and widened the rift. "I have made several attempts to reach out to her and offered her any assistance she might require, only to be rebuffed with stony silence and refusal to sort out contentious issues without third party intervention," he said. "Out of respect for the memory of my departed father, and the legacy he so painstakingly created, I shall refrain from elaborating any further," the Congress leader said. The allegations made by his mother in her court complaint were "pernicious fabrications", Singh added. Saroj Kumari yesterday filed a complaint alleging that her sons Abhimanyu Singh and Ajay Singh were harassing her and had forced her out of the family house in Bhopal. The complaint, filed in the magistrate's court here under the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act, will be heard on July 19. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed as "height of cheap behaviour" Ajay Singh's claim yesterday that the BJP government was behind the dispute. The Congress leader had alleged that the dispute in his family was the outcome of "BJPs conspiracy". "How can Singh blame the government saying it has done something because of which his mother turned against him? This is the height of cheap behaviour ("ghatiyapan")," Chouhan told reporters. He advised the Congress leader to reach out to his mother and bring her back home. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after his mother accused him and his brother of forcing her out of house, Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Ajay Singh today said she had become a "puppet in the hands of unscrupulous elements" in the family. Late in the evening, BJP leaders approached the governor, demanding that Singh be sacked as the Leader of Opposition. "It is a sad day for any family when personal matters are dragged into open...Worse, when the enemy lurks within and the motivation for public posturing is purely political," the Congress leader told reporters at his residence here. Saroj Kumari (83), the mother of Abhimanyu Singh and Ajay Singh and the wife of Congress stalwart late Arjun Singh, yesterday filed a complaint in a magistrate's court here against her sons. "For my mother, I have a simple message. Free yourself from the clutches of people who tutor and terrorise you in the name of love and concern. Let us sit together and resolve matters without the indignity of a public trial," he said. "My mother is old, not helpless, and far from destitute. Following the demise of my father, she has stubbornly refused my offer of a home with us in Bhopal. Instead, she has chosen to become a puppet in the hands of unscrupulous elements within the family," Singh claimed. Without naming anyone, he said they have fomented trouble and widened the rift. "I have made several attempts to reach out to her and offered her any assistance she might require, only to be rebuffed with stony silence and refusal to sort out contentious issues without third party intervention," he said. "Out of respect for the memory of my departed father, and the legacy he so painstakingly created, I shall refrain from elaborating any further," the Congress leader said. The allegations made by his mother in her court complaint were "pernicious fabrications", Singh added. Saroj Kumari yesterday filed a complaint alleging that her sons Abhimanyu Singh and Ajay Singh were harassing her and had forced her out of the family house in Bhopal. The complaint, filed in the magistrate's court here under the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act, will be heard on July 19. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed as "height of cheap behaviour" Ajay Singh's claim yesterday that the BJP government was behind the dispute. The Congress leader had alleged that the dispute in his family was the outcome of "BJPs conspiracy". "How can Singh blame the government saying it has done something because of which his mother turned against him? This is the height of cheap behaviour ("ghatiyapan")," Chouhan told reporters. He advised the Congress leader to reach out to his mother and bring her back home. Late in the evening, the state BJP petitioned governor Anandiben Patel, seeking that Ajay Singh should sacked as the Leader of Opposition of the state Assembly. BJP leader Prabhat Jha and Bhopal MP Alok Sanjar handed over a memorandum to this effect to Patel's ADC Vinayak Verma, as the governor was out of town. "Singh's ill-treatment to his mother, who herself had complained to the court about the domestic violence she faced, is unbecoming of the LoP," Jha said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The country is all geared up to roll out yoga mats tomorrow to mark the fourth International Day of Yoga (IDY), with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to lead 55,000 enthusiasts in performing asanas in Dehradun. Yoga sessions will be held across the world to mark the day, picked by the United Nations to celebrate the ancient Indian practice that has spread across the globe. Indian missions abroad are also coordinating activities, officials said, to mark the UN day for which the country had lobbied hard. Five thousand yoga events will be held in India, an AYUSH ministry official said. Eight events are planned in New Delhi alone with the main one at Rajpath, where Modi showcased a series of asanas on the first Yoga Day in 2015. The biggest show in the country this time will be on the lawns of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in the lap of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand's capital Dehradun. Yoga is not just a set of exercises that keeps the body fit. It is a passport to health assurance, a key to fitness and wellness. Nor is yoga only what you practise in the morning, a statement quoting Modi said. Doing your day-to-day activities with diligence and complete awareness is a form of yoga as well, it said Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Uma Bharti, Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Shankar Prasad will be in Lucknow, Nagpur, Chennai, Rudraprayag, Hajipur and Patna respectively for Yoga Day, a BJP functionary said. Among other ministers, Ananth Kumar will be in Bengaluru, J P Nadda in Shimla, Narendra Singh Tomar in Gwalior, Piyush Goyal in Noida and Prakash Javadekar in Mumbai. Around 50,000 yoga enthusiasts including women personnel from paramilitary forces like BSF, CRPF and CISF will participate in an event at Delhi's Red Fort organised by the Brahma Kumaris. The AYUSH Ministry has launched mobile app Yoga Locator' to help people find a yoga session. The Women and Child Development Ministry is promoting #YogaFor9to5, a contest to generate awareness on the benefits of yoga for women at workplace. In Dehradun, there is a massive deployment of security personnel in and around the Forest Research Institute, building up over the last few days. Nashik-based yoga promoter Vishwas Mandalik and the Yoga Institute in Mumbai have been selected for this year's prime minister's award for outstanding contribution in the field. The selection was done from among 186 nominations received under different categories. In Lucknow, All India Muslim Personal Law Board said yoga should not be used as a political tool or linked to a particular community. "Islam lays special emphasis on physical fitness and considers things related to fitness as good. Yoga as an exercise is good, but it should not be made compulsory which may not be acceptable to people of other religions, spokesman told PTI. "The most important thing is that yoga should not be used as a political tool. But sadly this practice is going on," Sajjad Nomani said. Last year, the main Yoga Day function was in Lucknow. In 2015, the yoga event on New Delhi's Rajpath made it to the Guinness World Records with 35,985 participants performing asanas at one venue and 84 nationalities being part of it. The United Nations General Assembly in December 2014 had declared that June 21 would be observed as International Day of Yoga every year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An inspection panel of the World Bank, whose help was sought by Andhra Pradesh for select infrastructure to construct the capital,Amaravati,would make a recommendation by July whether a probe is warranted on charges of possible threat to livelihood and environment,among others. According to a World Bank official, the Centre and Andhra Pradesh government have requested the Bank to finance select infrastructure works in Amaravati, the proposed new capital city of the state. The World Bank is preparing a loan of USD 300 million for the project, to be co-financed by a USD 200 million loan from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Some residents in the vicinity of the proposed city had written to the panel on May 25 2017, alleging harm related to their livelihood, environment, food security, and resettlement "due to the World Bank's non-compliance with its environmental and social standards in preparation of the proposed project." A World Bank spokesperson told PTI in an email reply that the panel was considering the request, but has deferred its recommendation to the Board of Executive Directors on whether an investigation was warranted. This was done after the WB management proposed additional actions designed to review and address concerns raised in the request, he said, adding that the Panel was expected to return to the Board with a new recommendation by July 2018. The proposed Amaravati Sustainable Capital City Development Project (ASCCDP) is expected to fund a 145-km priority road-grid and key flood mitigation works in the area. The ASCCDP will support wider and equitable sharing of benefits from the development of the new city with a range of stakeholders, especially vulnerable groups and women. It will also upgrade infrastructure in some of the 24 villages of the region to help integrate them into the capital area. The proposed project will also finance a program of support aimed at helping set up robust urban governance institutions for the new capital city. The official said any two or more project affected people who believe they have been or may be harmed because the Bank had not complied with operational policies and procedures in preparation or implementation of a World Bank-financed project can request the panel to review their concern. He said the Panel's mandate is to examine the Bank's compliance with its own policies, and not the activities of the borrowing government. There was no time limit for an investigation which can take several months.Project activities are however not halted by an investigation," he said. The panel had visited Amaravati in September to look into complaints it received from some 'farmers', who also alleged they were forced to part with land and also claimed harm from a land pooling scheme being used to assemble land required for the city, as well as from other project activities. On September 27, 2017, the Panel submitted its Report and Recommendation to the World Bank Board of Executive Directors that recommended carrying out a probe into alleged issues of harm and related potential non-compliance withBank policies, especially on involuntary resettlement. But in December 2017, the Panel deferred its decision on whether a probe was warranted by six months after the bank management submitted an addendum with clarifications,an update on project preparation and additional actions to 'complement and clarify' the actions presented in its July 21, 2017, response in order to fully address the requesters' concerns. The Andhra Pradesh government has so far pooled over 33,000 acres from farmers for construction of the new capital under different categories of agreements. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eyeing 2019 general elections, Maharashtra dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar today announced a new front and hinted at his willingness to join hands with "progressive" parties if they are ready to field 10 nominees from Muslim, NT, and OBC communities. Ambedkar, the grandson of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar who heads Bharip Bahujan Maha Sangh, said more than 50 organisations in Maharashtra think that they are "deprived" and are ready to fight the polls under the aegis of "Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi". "In the run-up to the elections, we have formed this new front and ready to join hands with parties with progressive ideology if they are ready to field 10 candidates from Nomadic Tribes, Small OBC and Muslim community. "If they are ready to accept our terms and conditions, we are ready to join hands with such parties," said Ambedkar while addressing a press conference here. He specifically mentioned giving tickets to candidates from Dhangar (shepherd) community and Mali, an OBC caste. When asked whether he will join hands with the Congress and the NCP, the Dalit leader said the front's doors are open to all the progressive parties that are ready toaccept our conditions. "If the (front's) terms are conditions are not accepted by such progressive parties, we will fight all 48 seats on our own," he said. Ambedkar, however, said NCP chief Sharad Pawar's few steps were not progressive and asked the NCP to improve on that part. He said all the deprived and under-privileged classes in the country are coming together against the BJP. "All these communities have great anger against the BJP but they will not go with the Congress either. They are looking for some alternative and we are giving them that alternative," he said. Against the backdrop of the January 1 Bhima Koregaon violence and arrests of some people with alleged Maoist links in connection with the Elgar Parishad and his name reportedly cropping up in some internal documents seized from an accused, Ambedkar said, "it is a complete political vendetta against me". "Since I am galvanising the deprived and underprivileged class, they are trying to target me. P B Sawant andB GKolse Patil are retired judges so police will not touch them. Since I am a common man, they are trying to target me but I will slap a notice on police if they call me for inquiry in the case," he said. Ambedkar, Sawant and Kolse-Patil were present at the Elgar Parishad, held at Shaniwarwada on December 31 last year. It is alleged that some speakers had made provocative speeches at the event that led to the caste clashes in Bhima-Koregaon the next day. Raising questions over the seizure of alleged documents, he said the whole case is going to backfire on police. He alleged that police have deviated from the core case. Talking about the killings of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi, and journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, Ambedkar said police know the identity of the masterminds. "Just because they are connected to the ruling parties, they are not arresting them. Sensing the changing winds of politics and power, police have arrested one person but they are not touching the main perpetrator," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On a day Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian announced to step down, RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagaran Manch said the next economic consultant should be one who believes in Indian ethos and values, and is not obsessed with FDI or is on sabbatical. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) alleged that Subramanian lacked an understanding of the country and "ignored" farmers. "Subramanian lacked knowledge about India, he was obsessed with only Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and ignored the most important aspect of our economy -- agriculture and farmers," SJM co-convener Ashwani Mahajan told PTI. "Like former vice-chairman of Niti Aayog Arvind Panagariya, he was also speaking the language of 'Washington Consensus'. His agenda and purpose was not clear," said Mahajan, who has been critical of Subramanian on various policies. The Washington Consensus is a set of economic policy reform package promoted for crisis-wrecked developing countries, by Washington-based institutions -- the IMF, World Bank and the United States Department of the Treasury. "We need someone who believes in Indian ethos, our values... our people. The government should appoint such a person," the SJM co-convener said. Mahajan, in a tweet, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to see to it that the next CEA is one who has "faith in farmers, workers and entrepreneurs of Bharat and is not on sabbatical." Earlier in the day, Union Minister Arun Jaitley, in a Facebook post, announced that Subramanian will quit his job. Jaitley, who had requested Subramanian to continue for some more time after his term expired in October last year, also thanked him for his contributions. The minister also said that he will miss Subramanian's dynamism, energy, intellectual ability and ideas and credited the economist for various policy initiatives. Subramanian was appointed as the CEA to the finance ministry on October 16, 2014 for a period of three years. In 2017, his term was extended for a year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Around 1.25 crore people, including over 8,000 differently-abled and over 4,000 pregnant women, will take part in the International Yoga Day events to be organised across Gujarat tomorrow, a state minister said today. Ahmedabad district administration is gearing up to break the world record of maximum number of differently-abled people doing 'silent Yoga' together, Minister of State for Education Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said. "Around 750 to 1,200 differently-abled people will perform 'silent Yoga' by wearing headphones connected to bluetooth in an attempt to break the previously-held world record of 350 participants," he said. The state-level Yoga Day programme will be held in Ahmedabad, in which Union Minister of State for Law and Justice P P Chaudhary will take part, a government release said. Along with Chaudhary, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Governor O P Kohli, Gujarat High Court Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy, senior judge M R Shah, Rajasthan High Court Justice K S Jhaveri will also perform yoga at that event, it added. "Around 1.25 crore people will participate in the Yoga celebrations across the state, which will include 4,082 pregnant women and 8,732 divyangs," Chudasama was quoted as saying in the release. The state-level programme will be steered by Patanjali Yogpeeth. Various organisations like The Art of Living, Prajapita Brahmakumari and Swaminarayan will take part in it, he said. Yoga programmes will be held at total 43,377 centres across the state, Chudasama added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 10 subsistence miners were killed when a mine dump collapsed in Zambia's second-largest city and copperbelt mining hub Kitwe today, police said. "So far we have retrieved 10 dead bodies and seven bodies of those injured," said Copperbelt province police commissioner Charity Katanga. Operations to retrieve bodies at the dump known locally as Black Mountain were ongoing, she added. Zambia has some of the world's largest copper reserves. The metal accounts for 80 per cent of the country's export earnings. High levels of unemployment have forced people to resort to illegal mining. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State Bank of India's Managing Director was today appointed as the MD and of Bank for a temporary period of three months, according to an official order. He has been appointed in place of incumbent Mahesh Kumar Jain who was recently named Deputy Governor of the (RBI). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Sriram as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Bank for a temporary period of three months with effect from Jain's demitting office, the order issued by the Personnel Ministry said. Sriram has been working as the MD (Corporate and Global Banking) in since July 2014. He had been Managing Director of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur. Sriram joined the government-run bank in 1981 as a Probationary Officer. During over three-decade-long career, he held several positions and also had a stint at SBI's Singapore office. His appointment signals the government's efforts to ensure that the bank does not remain headless after Jain's appointment in the central bank. Bank's gross bad loans stood at Rs 555.88 billion, up from Rs 447.53 billion in March 31, 2017, according to the bank's latest report. The (CBI) is probing a Rs 600-crore loan fraud case involving IDBI Bank. The federal probe agency had recently examined the bank's documents related to its loan exposure to the companies of former Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran. "Sicario: Day of the Soldado" star Benicio Del Toro says if Puerto Rico citizens will not have a right to vote in the US, the situation in the disaster-prone country will not change. The 51-year-old actor said Puerto Rico, which is an unincorporated US territory was slowly recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Maria last September but he wanted to see the government take more initiative, USA Today reported. "They're getting back to normal. I was there about two weeks ago. Everything is getting back to normal, it's taking a while. "The bottom line is, every American citizen that lives in Puerto Rico, if they don't get a right to vote or to have representation in Congress, nothing is really going to change," Del Toro said on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert". Puerto Ricans are American citizens and may traverse freely between the island and the mainland, the territory does not have a vote in the US Congress. They have one non-voting member of the House of Representatives called a Resident Commissioner. When Colbert asked Del Toro if he would want to take a political plunge, the actor said "Not at all. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat today stressed the need to ensure social equality and harmony by instilling feelings of affection and affinity among people. Bhagwat addressed the concluding programme of the two-day Chintan Shivir (brainstorming camp) organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram at Nimora near here. The theme of the programme was 'Bharat ki Janjatiyo ki Asmita and Astitva' (Pride and Existence of Scheduled Tribes of India). "Change in the society is a natural process, but we all should make efforts towards ensuring social equality and harmony by instilling feelings of affection and affinity in society," Bhagwat was quoted as saying by the programme's media in-charge Ashutosh Mandavi. Tribal communities have always given importance to environment protection, Bhagwat added. RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshistressed the need for nurturing women and youth leadership in the tribal communities, Mandavi said. Various issues including implementation of government schemes, rural society and environment and ensuring benefits of government schemes for tribal youths were discussed today, he said. Discussions were held on the Panchayats (Extension of Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) and its implementation, Forest Rights Act and development of tribal communities yesterday, the first day of the camp, he said. This was Bhagwat's second visit this year to Chhattisgarh, where Assembly polls are due by year-end. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today said that the BJP government had broken the vicious circle of corruption in the state with the help of e-Governance. "Our government has successfully broken the vicious circle of corruption, that prevailed from top to bottom under the previous regimes, with the introduction of e-Governance," Khattar told a gathering at the Intellectual Meet in Panchkula. The chief minister said the state's people have accepted that the present government is "corruption-free". He said his government resolved to root out corruption from all levels after it took reins of the state. The BJP came to power in Haryana after securing a majority in the October 2014 Assembly elections. Khattar said various e-initiatives had been taken to ensure that the benefits of welfare schemes reach people without hindrance and to minimize human interface. He said his government had adopted a fair and transparent recruitment system to reduce the scope of discretion in job interviews. The chief minister accused the previous Congress government of playing with the future of lakhs of contractual employees. They framed the regularisation policy to accommodate their favourites, which was constitutionally incorrect, Khattar claimed. As a result, the high court recently scrapped the regularization policy of 2014, he said. Khattar said his government was making regular appointments through state recruitment agencies - Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) and Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC). The chief minister asserted his government did not believe in playing "caste politics" and was working for the welfare of all sections of the society without any discrimination. He described Haryana's 2.5 crore people as his family and said his government was working with the same spirit. Khattar said under the BJP, Haryana had improved its ease of doing business rankings from 14 in 2015 to number one this year. The chief minister exhorted the intelligentsia present on the occasion to apprise the people of the achievements of the state and central governments. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress today asked the central government when it would ensure a congenial atmosphere for elections to take place in Jammu and Kashmir and elect a government of the people in the state. The Congress also accused the BJP of radicalisation and said it cannot shun and run away from owning the responsibility of creating this mess and back-stabbing the people of Jammu and Kashmir. "The directionless, agenda-less and clueless policy of the Modi government has left the people of Jammu and Kashmir in complete despair and this is a grave national concern. "How does Prime Minister Modi propose to ensure peace and normalcy in the state? When will the ceasefire violations by Pakistan and terror attacks on our soil stop? What is the economic roadmap for inclusion and progress for the people of J&K?" asked Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. The Congress said both the BJP and the PDP should take the responsibility for the present situation in the state. "We have asked that by when the security scenario will be able to change and by when an atmosphere will be created by the Government of India and the Governor in Jammu and Kashmir so that elections can be held. "So both Governor and Government of India will have to ensure that the security scenario be changed and law and order is maintained so that we can have elections, so that we do not have elections like we had in Parliament when there was seven per cent voting. We would like definitely a government of the people representing the state," he said. He said the Congress is extremely concerned and pained by the developments in Jammu and Kashmir. "We caution the Modi government to correct its flawed approach and work for rebuilding the trust and restoration of normalcy in the state," he said. Asked about the Congress's stand on elections in the state, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said, "Who wins or loses elections in Jammu and Kashmir, we do not care. We want peace and stability to be restored in the state." Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir Study Group formed by the Congress to monitor the situation in the trouble-torn state, held its meeting at the instance of the Congress president and reviewed the situation in the state after the imposition of Governor's rule after the BJP withdrew support to the PDP. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh chairs the group. Former home minister P Chidamabaram, Azad, Ambika Soni and state party chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir are its members. Congress general secretary in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, Ambika Soni, said that without trying to win over the minds and hearts of all sections of people in the state, elections cannot be held there. "For the simple reason of satisfying their lust for power to form government in Jammu and Kashmir, they have made the people of Jammu and Kashmir go through so much misery and torture," she told reporters. "How does the Modi government propose to engage with various sections of the state in order to win their hearts and minds?" she asked, adding that how it plans to ensure peace and development in all the three regions of the state. Azad said the people of India and Congress party shall be watching very closely BJP's actions and the forthcoming developments in the state and shall never forgive nor forget how the BJP government is responsible for pushing Jammu and Kashmir into "complete darkness". "Our only interest is that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir improves and terrorism ends there and peace prevails. We want that the youth who are taking to guns should shun them and take pen in their hands instead and tourism and employment opportunities are created and a peaceful atmosphere is created," he said. Azad also accused the BJP of killing the economy of Kashmir and said they cannot escape from this accountability. He alleged the BJP won elections mainly based on ending the Kashmir issue, but they ended the lives of Kashmiris, after BJP and PDP formed an "unethical" alliance. Soni said the PDP-BJP government survived for this long only due to their hunger for power. Within a couple of months all their development promises were thrown into backburner and even basic needs have remained unfulfilled, she said. "Being a national party, it was the BJP's responsibility to engage and build a trust with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and establish a roadmap for societal inclusion and development of all its three regions," according to a statement. Ghulam Ahmed Mir said mainstream opposition parties in the state offered complete support to both the parties to solve the Kashmir issue, but that was another lie by BJP and PDP. The erosion of stability in J&K was expected ever since PDP and BJP formed the government, he said, adding that they "betrayed" their own respective voters by allying with each other. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here today granted bail to BJP leader S Ve Shekher, against whom a case was filed for sharing a Facebook post allegedly containing derogatory references to women journalists and the media. Chennai Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Malarvizhi granted bail to the actor-turned-politician, when his plea came up for hearing, with a direction to him to appear before the court on July 18. Apprehending arrest in the case, Shekher had moved the Madras High Court, seeking anticipatory bail. The court had on May 10 dismissed it and sharply rebuked him, saying that when a celebrity like him forwards such messages, it sends a wrong message to society. The actor then moved the Supreme Court, which on June 1 refused to grant advance bail and directed him to surrender before a judicial magistrate in court in Chennai and seek regular bail there. On May 22, the apex court had granted interim protection from arrest till June 1 to Shekher and sought a reply from the state government, challenging the May 10 court order. It had directed that no coercive action be taken against him till then. On June 12, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Chennai, rejected the charge sheet filed by police against Shekher and summoned him to appear before it on June 20. An FIR was registered against Shekher by the cyber crime cell for alleged offences under various sections of the IPC, including insult intended to provoke breach of peace, gesture and words intended to insult the modesty of a woman and under provisions of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act. He had claimed in his plea that he was not the author of the Facebook post and was not aware about its contents when he forwarded it after receiving it from a person named Tirumalai Sa. He had also said that he had removed the post after he came to know about its content. He had claimed in the high court that the case was lodged against him by making baseless allegations and there was not an iota of truth in these. He had also said there was no intention on his part to defame or hurt anyone. Journalists had condemned and staged protests against Shekher for the post, which he had later deleted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special court trying cases against public representatives today acquitted a Telangana BJP MLA and two others in connection with a 2010 case against them for staging a dharna in front of the party office. The BJP floor leader in the Telangana Assembly G Kishan Reddy and others had staged a one-day dharna in protest against the "indifferent" attitude of the undivided Andhra Pradesh government of the Congress on reimbursement of scholarships to Scheduled Castes, backward classes and minorities, after which a case was filed by the police. Kishan and two others were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 341 (wrongful restraint) for holding the dharna, the MLA's counsel Prabhakar Reddy said. The court acquitted Kishan, who represents Amberpet Assembly constituency here, and two others, of the charges, he said. According to the Reddy, this is the first judgement by a special fast track court (in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh) set up on the direction of the Supreme Court for speedy trial of cases against lawmakers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An MP and an MLA of the BJP today said they would give Rs 2.1 million to any person who kills the militants responsible for shooting dead army jawan Aurangzeb, who was abducted and later killed in Jammu and Kashmir's district. BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh tweeted a screenshot of a message from him and Delhi MLA Manjinder S Sirsa which said they would give Rs 2.1 million to the person who kills the militants responsible for killing The tweet was written in Hindi and was signed jointly by them. The rifleman, who was 'buddy' of a company commander, was abducted by militants at Kalampora in last week when he was on his way home in Rajouri district for Eid celebrations. He was later shot dead by the militants. belonged to 4 Light Infantry and was posted at the 44 Rashtriya Rifles camp at Shadimarg in Shopian. The killing of had angered and every Indian wants to eradicate the of terrorism, Singh said in the same message. Union Minister Babul Supriyo today staged a protest, along with Delhi BJP leaders and workers, at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) office here against the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal. The Delhi unit of the BJP has organised a weeklong protest at TMC office here, in protest against "violence" against party workers in West Bengal. "Sacrifice of Trilochan Mahato...will not go in vein and soon we will be able to liberate Bengal from the misgovernance of Mamata Banerjee," Supriyo, the BJP MP from Asansol, said in a statement. Mahato was killed in Purulia in West Bengal after the panchayat election last month. BJP's national secretary Tarun Chugh accused the Mamata Banerjee government of targeting Dalits who supported the BJP in her state. West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma and Delhi BJP general secretary Ravinder Gupta, along with many other leaders and workers, participated in the demonstration. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Citing the BJP's reasoning in quitting the Jammu and Kashmir government, the Congress today demanded dismissal of the BJP government in Chhattisgarh over "deteriorating" law and order situation and imposition of President's rule. "The BJP withdrew support to the PDP government after three years of rule, citing that the security mechanism has collapsed. The BJP also cited violation of the fundamental rights of the people in Jammu and Kashmir," Chhattisgarh Congress president Bhupesh Baghel said while addressing a press conference. He said going by the BJP's own logic the Raman Singh government should have been dismissed long ago. "If these were the reasons to withdraw support and impose Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir, then the BJP government should have been dismissed long ago in Chhattisgarh where law and order situation has worsened in comparison to several other states," Baghel alleged. He said Chhattisgath is a fit case for imposition of President's rule as a large number of security personnel have been martyred against Maoists in the last ten years. "The menace of Naxalism has spread to 15 districts in Chhattisgarh were innocent tribals are bearing the brunt of Maoist violence," the Congress leader said. Jhiram valley naxal attack of May 2013 in which top leadership of the state Congress was killed was the biggest incident of "political murder" in the entire world but it was not being probed, he alleged. Baghel alleged that public representatives and political activists of the opposition were on the target of the state government. Congress MLA Dhanendra Sahu alleged that the condition of farmers was pathetic in Chhattisgarh. He alleged that over 1500 cultivators have committed suicide in the last two-and-half year in the state. "There is scarcity of fertilisers and paddy seeds in the state while low quality fertilisers and seeds are being supplied to farmers," he added. The Congress leaders further alleged that the safety of women was under threat as 27,000 women were reported to be missing in the state and that six cases of rape are being reported every day. They demanded that President's rule be imposed in the state. Chhattisgarh is going to polls later this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP today accused the Opposition of deceiving and exploiting the sentiments of the mother of Rohith Vemula, a scholar whose suicide in 2016 had sparked a major political row, for petty political gains and also sought apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi over this. Union Minister Piyush Goyal cited reports that Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula had accused Indian Union Muslim League, a Kerala-based party, of not giving her the promised Rs 20 lakh to attend political rallies where false allegations against the BJP were levelled. "How long opposition parties will continue with such abhorrent tactics for petty political gains. The condition of the family (Vemula) was not good and she was promised money for political reasons so that she could share stage with opposition leaders and level allegations," he told a press conference. Baseless and wrong allegations were levelled, Goyal said. He said Rahul Gandhi had also shared staged with her and claimed that it should be found out what allurements were offered to her. "The Congress president should apologise," he said, claiming that opposition parties have been unmasked for their politics based on lies. The BJP condemns this low level of politics and political misuse of such an incident, Goyal said referring to the suicide. "People will not forget these parties," he said. Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at University of Hyderabad, had committed suicide in the campus on January 17, 2016. Opposition parties had blamed Vemula's alleged harassment by groups affiliated to the BJP and the RSS for his suicide, and had launched protests against the saffron party. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Brazil's Supreme Court has acquitted the head of the once-dominant leftist Workers' Party of charges of corruption and money laundering. Gleisi Hoffmann, a senator, is the latest in a long string of high-ranking politicians, including many from the Workers' Party, caught up in Brazil's sprawling "Car Wash" corruption probe. Her husband Paulo Bernardo, a former planning and communications minister, stood trial at the Supreme Court as part of the same case against Hoffmann. He, too, was found not guilty. Prosecutors accused the couple of receiving a million reais in 2010, or $568,000 at the time, embezzled from state oil company Petrobras. The money from the company was allegedly used in a campaign slush fund. Investigators have uncovered a huge web of corruption centered on Petrobras, with the company handing out inflated contracts to Brazilian companies in exchange for bribes, many of which went into politicians' pockets. Hoffmann's acquittal was a sweet win for the battered party which led Brazil between 2003 and 2016 under presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. Lula, who founded the Workers' Party, was imprisoned in April after being convicted of corruption. Rousseff is out of politics, having been impeached and removed from office in 2016. Hoffmann, who took over the party leadership in June 2017, said in a statement before the verdict that she had been "unjustly accused, with no evidence. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lankan prison authorities' decision to make a firebrand convict monk wear a prison uniform has caused a stir with the Buddhist groups protesting across the country. Galagodatte Gnanasara was ordered to be jailed last week for six months sentence for threatening a woman in court premises. Gnanasara who headed the extremist Buddhist nationalist group Bodu Bala Sena (Forces of Buddhist Power) was charged of carrying out threats against the Muslim minority and for contempt of court. Some Buddhist groups have raised a cry over Gnanasara's arrest. A scholar monk representing one of the Buddhist monk sects wrote to the Justice Minister Thalatha Atukorale crying foul over prison authorities' action to "disrobe" Gnanasara. Atukorale in her response has said that all are equal before the law and anyone sentenced to jail must obey the provisions in the Prisons Act. Buddhist monks groups held street protests at different parts of the country calling for President Maithripala Sirisena's attention to grant the monk a presidential pardon and release him. Gnanasara led anti-Muslim minority hatred during the former regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Muslims accused the then government of protecting him. With the change of the regime Gnanasara's high handed action came in for accountability. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A farmers' body along with the Congress party in Gujarat will hold a "referendum" among cultivators affected by the land acquisition for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project. The organisation further plans to submit views of farmers in Parliaments of India and Japan. The land acquisition for the project is facing opposition from farmers in Gujarat, with villagers not allowing the measurement survey to take place in many places. Farmer leaders are demanding that acquisition take place under the Central law and not the state act. The BJP-ruled state has diluted certain provisions of the 2013 land acquisition act passed under the UPA government by making amendments like doing away with the mandatory social impact assessment and consent of a majority of farmers. Land acquisition for the bullet train project is being carried out under this amended state act of 2016. A campaign, titled 'Khedut Sampark Abhiyan', has been planned over the issue for four days from June 22, starting from the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad and covering 192 villages affected by the bullet train project. The Gujarat Khedut Samaj, a trust working for the state's farmers, will organise the outreach drive together with the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee to consult farmers affected by the bullet train and various other projects, the organisation said in a press release. "The first such outreach drive is meant to ascertain views of farmers on land acquisition in the context of the anti-farmer state amendment brought about by the Gujarat government in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013," it said. The campaign is intended to promote a dialogue with farmers who have been, or are going to be affected by the multi-state projects such as bullet train, dedicated freight corridor, Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway, the expansion of National Highways and existing railway lines, it said. "In the process, farmers of 192 villages affected by the bullet train project, and cultivators of more than 100 other villages affected by other multi-state projects will be approached collectively," it said. In all, 16 meetings will be held for a period of four days in clusters with farmers from several villages, on the bullet train route covering all the respective districts, the organisation said. "The sampark abhiyan will be followed by a referendum among all farmers who are going to be affected by the bullet train project and their views will be submitted before Parliaments of India and Japan," it added. When contacted, Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the party was supporting this programme. "We are not against the bullet train project, but at the way in which the state government is acquiring land from farmers. We want to ensure that the project does not hurt the interests of the state's farmers," he said. The amendment to the Land Acquisition Act was against the farmers' interests, Doshi said. The Gujarat Khedut Samaj has also alleged that guidelines laid down by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for land acquisition are being flouted by officials engaged in the process. The guidelines of the agency, which will provide soft loans for project, seek proper consultation with stake holders and assessment of social and environmental impact for acquisition, it said. Activists opposing the process had recently written to JICA intimating it about the manner in which its guidelines were being allegedly flouted in the acquisition process. In several villages, locals have not allowed teams to to enter their land for survey. Land from farmers across eight districts of Gujarat will be needed to be acquired for the ambitious Rs 1.16 lakh crore project, the foundation stone for which was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in September 2017. The bullet train will run between Ahmedabad and Mumbai covering a distance of 508 km. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian will be leaving the finance ministry after nearly 4 years because of "pressing family commitments" and return to the US, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said today. Subramanian was appointed as CEA to the finance ministry on October 16, 2014 for a period of three years. In 2017, his term was extended for a year. "Few days ago Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian met me over video conferencing. He informed me that he would like to go back to the United States on account of pressing family commitments. His reasons were personal but extremely important for him. He left me with no option but to agree with him," Jaitley wrote in a Facebook post. The minister, however, did not say as to when Subramanian will relinquish the office. "Profoundly grateful & humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister @arunjaitley announcing my decision to return-for personal reasons-to researching & writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had. Many many to thank," Subramanian tweeted minutes after Jaitley's Facebook post. Subramanian was the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Global Development in the US before joining the Ministry. Jaitley further said that on expiry of Subramanian's three year term in October last year, he had requested him to continue for some more time. "Even at that stage he told me that he was torn between family commitment and his current job which he considered the best and most fulfilling he has ever done," the minister said. Jaitley, who was the finance minister before undergoing a kidney transplant surgery in mid-May, also thanked Subramanian for his contribution to macro economic management of Indian economy. "Personally I will miss his dynamism, energy, intellectual ability and ideas. He would walk into my room - at times several times a day, addressing me as Minister to give either the good or otherwise. Needless to say his departure will be missed by me. But I know that his heart is very much here. I am sure he will keep sending advice and analysis wherever he is," he wrote. Jaitley said that Subramanian's early diagnosis of the twin balance-sheet had led the government to adopt the macro-economic strategy of higher public investment in the Budget of 2015-16. "He conceptualised JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile) as a data base for availing public benefits. He contributed to the debate of federalism by conceptualising that the Indian federalism has not merely to be cooperative but also competitive. He came out with newer ideas, policy reforms in the sectors of clothing, fertilisers, kerosene, power and pulses," Jaitley said. Recalling his contribution on formulating the Revenue Neutral Rate, Jaitley said "it was of great use in forging a consensus which led to the constitution amendment enabling the GST. He participated in every meeting of GST, gave his independent views and was heard in rapt attention by almost every Finance Minister". Subramanian, the minister added, elevated the quality of the analysis and the presentation of ideas for public deliberation in his four "Economic Surveys". "His documents for four years was treated by several independent critics as one of the best ever produced... The Economic Survey today is a basic teaching material all over India," Jaitley noted. During his tenure, Subramanian came out with futuristic ideas on rationalisation of removal of "subsidies for the rich", universal basic income, climate change, and the four C's -- courts, CAG, CVC and CBI -- that had historically paralysed decision making. He also conducted the first online course on Indian economy for the benefits of students and teachers across the country. Besides, he launched the government's online education platform 'Swayam', which became one of the most followed courses in India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said that the Centre wants terrorism to end and peace to prevail in Kashmir. "Our only aim is that terrorism should end and peace should prevail in Kashmir and our government will work keeping this in mind," he told reporters here. He was responding to a question about BJP pulling out of its over three-year-old ruling coalition with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir. In a surprise announcement yesterday, the BJP said it was withdrawing support to its alliance partner PDP, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the chief minister. The BJP said it had become "untenable" for the party to continue in the alliance government. Jammu and Kashmir was today placed under Governor's rule. This is the fourth time in the last decade that the state has been put under Governor's rule. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Charity Commissioner of Maharashtra has appealed to the Ganesh mandals to bear the educational expenses of children from economically weaker sections of the society. "I held a meeting with the Ganesh mandals here yesterday, wherein I appealed to them to bear the educational expenses of students from economically weaker sections. There are large number of students from the farming community as well," Shivkumar Dige, Charity Commissioner of Maharashtra told PTI today. "Similar appeals will be made in every district by the district-level officials of the Charity Commissionerate. This should benefit at least 300 students in every district in the state," he said. When asked about the potential beneficiaries, Dige said, "Students of families who hold marginal agricultural land, BPL families and peasants among others will benefit from this." In case any Ganesh mandal evinces interest, the students will have to apply to the district-level officials and the beneficiaries will be finalised after the scrutiny of the applications, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An independent MLA and his supporters allegedly clashed with police in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund district, an official said today. MLA Vimal Chopra, eight police personnel including two officials, and others were injured in the clash that occurred last night when the politician and his supporters were trying to gherao Kotwali police station over alleged manhandling of the MLA's supporter by police. "An FIR has been registered against Vimal Chopra and his supporters over a violent clash with police when they were trying to gherao Kotwali police station last night," Mahasamund Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh told PTI. As per preliminary information, a police team on night patrolling duty had warned Chopra's supporter Ankit Lunia (27) against beating up some minor youths in Mini Stadium area after a minor dispute, he said. "However, the MLA alleged that a police sub inspector (SI), who was part of the police team, manhandled Lunia and slapped him," the SP said. Later, the MLA, who represents Mahasamund seat, and his supporters tried to gherao the Kotwali police station demanding action against the SI, following which police personnel resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse the mob, the SP said. "In the scuffle, eight police personnel, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and a woman SI, sustained injuries," he said, adding that Chopra and some of his supporters were also injured in the incident. Cross FIRs have been registered in the matter with both the parties accusing each other of assault, he said, adding that further investigation is underway. Demanding action against the police officials, the MLA claimed that the police personnel had thrashed Lunia without any reason following which he and his supporters were protesting in front of the police station. "Instead of taking action that guilty police official, the personnel at the police station used baton against them. At least 40 people injured in the police action. They are undergoing treatment at a local hospital," he claimed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) on Wednesday distanced itself from its envoy's comments on the idea of trilateral cooperation between India, and under the aegis of the SCO, but underlined the importance of strengthening of dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad to improve mutual trust. Chinese Ambassador to Luo Zhaohui on Monday endorsed the idea of trilateral cooperation between India, and under the aegis of the (SCO), saying it could "in the future" help resolve bilateral issues between New Delhi and Islamabad and help maintain peace. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, when asked about Luo's comments, said both and are China's friends and neighbours. "We are willing to conduct relations with all our neighbours including Pakistan and to strengthen our cooperation for better development and stability in this region. "We also hope India, Pakistan can strengthen their dialogue to improve mutual trust in their bilateral relations. This is in the interest of the regional countries," he said. Asked whether China is distancing from Luo's remarks, Geng said "what I said represents the official position of the Chinese side". He also declined to answer a question on the Chinese Embassy erasing envoy's comments from the transcript posted on the website. The Chinese envoy to India had also said that bilateral ties between India and China can't take the strain of another Dokalam episode and emphasised the need to find a "mutually acceptable solution" on the boundary issue through a meeting of Special Representatives. Luo said "some Indian friends" had suggested trilateral cooperation comprising India, China and Pakistan under the aegis of the SCO, which was a "very constructive idea". "Security cooperation is one of the three pillars of the Some Indian friends suggested that China, India and Pakistan may have some kind of trilateral cooperation under the SCO," he said in his keynote address on 'Beyond Wuhan: How Far and Fast can China-India Relations Go' at an event organised by the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi. Responding to a question on whether a trilateral meet between the Asian neighbours will help in solving the India-Pakistan dispute, he said he personally considers it "a good and constructive idea". This is the second time China shied away from backing Luo. In May 2017, Lou offered to rename the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to accommodate India's concerns at a meeting a New Delhi. His comments on the issue was subsequently removed from the transcript posted on the website of the Chinese embassy apparently following objections from Pakistan. The Chinese envoy's remarks came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain exchanged pleasantries following a press conference by the leaders of the in Qingdao last week. Reacting to Luo's remarks about a possible trilateral summit, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi said matters related to India-Pakistan ties are "purely bilateral in nature" and have "no scope for involvement of any third party". In response to queries on the comments made by Luo, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: "We have seen reports on comments made by the Chinese ambassador in this matter. We have not received any such suggestion from the Chinese government. "We consider the statement as the personal opinion of the ambassador. Matters related to India-Pakistan relations are purely bilateral in nature and have no scope for involvement of any third country. China and Nepal today signed eight agreements for developing major infrastructure projects in the land-locked Himalayan nation to further deepen bilateral ties, media reports said. China has been investing heavily in Nepal in the last few years to enhance the connectivity and infrastructure. Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, who arrived here yesterday on his first official visit to China since his re-election, witnessed the signing of the agreements at the Embassy of Nepal here. The agreements were signed between the government and private companies of Nepal and China to develop hydropower projects, cement industries, and establish highland food parks, The Himalayan Times reported in Kathmandu. An agreement was signed between the Investment Board of Government of Nepal and Huaxin Cement Narayani Pvt Ltd under which the Chinese firm has pledged Rs 14.4 billion (USD 130 million) of FDI to generate 3,000 metric tonnes of cement per day, the report said. Another MoU was signed to prepare a detailed feasibility study on Eastern Tarai Irrigation System in the Biring, Kamala and Kankai rivers, it said. The two countries agreed on establishing the highland food park for varieties of fruits and vegetables with an investment of over USD 46 million, the report said. They also agreed for the development of 164 MW Nepal Kaligandaki Gorge Hydropower Project which would be developed in BOOT (Build, Own, Operate, Transfer) model, it said. Furthermore, an agreement was signed for the construction of 40.27 MW Siuri Nyadi Hydropower Plant Project in EPCF (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Finance) model, the report said. An agreement between Nepal Pashmina Industries Association and One Belt One Road International Trade Platform of CIC Mutual Trade Investment Company was signed for the sale of Nepali pashmina in China, the report said. The purchase order from China would be between 200,000 to 500,000 pieces every year, it said. A separate MoU on Framework Agreement for Cooperation in Marsyangdi Cascade Hydropower Project of 600 MW was also signed, it said. The two sides also agreed for the Construction of 75 MW Trishuli Galchhi Hydropower Project in EPCF Model, the report added. During his six-day visit, Prime Minister Oli is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang and address a Nepal-China Business Forum and think-tanks in Beijing. Oli's visit comes after his trip to India soon after his election as Prime Minister and followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's return visit to Kathmandu. Oli, during his brief tenure in 2016 widened China-Nepal ties by signing the transit trade treaty with China to reduce the dependence of his land-locked country on India at the height of Madhesis agitation and sought expansion of road links through Tibet besides extension of China's railway to Nepal through the Himalayas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China is ready to strengthen cooperation with landlocked Nepal in infrastructure connectivity and trade and investment under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping said here today while meeting with Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli. China and Nepal signed eight agreements for developing major infrastructure projects in the Himalayan nation to further deepen bilateral ties, media reports said. China has been investing heavily in Nepal in the last few years to enhance connectivity and infrastructure. "China stands ready to strengthen cooperation with Nepal in infrastructure connectivity, post-disaster reconstruction, trade and investment under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative," Xi was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua agency. Xi said China is committed to keep intact the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nepal, the Kathmandu Post reported. During the meeting, Xi expressed gratitude towards Nepal for maintaining the 'One China' policy and not allowing anti-China activities on Nepalese territory, it said. Oli, who arrived here yesterday on his first official visit to China since his re-election, witnessed the signing of the agreements at the Nepal Embassy. The agreements were signed between the governments and private companies of Nepal and China to develop hydropower projects, cement industries, and establish highland food parks, the Himalayan Times reported in Kathmandu. An agreement was signed between the Investment Board of Government of Nepal and Huaxin Cement Narayani Pvt Ltd under which the Chinese firm has pledged Nepalese Rs 14.4 billion (USD 130 million) of FDI to generate 3,000 metric tonnes of cement per day, the report said. Another MoU was signed to prepare a detailed feasibility study on Eastern Tarai Irrigation System in the Biring, Kamala and Kankai rivers, it said adding the two countries agreed on establishing the highland food park for varieties of fruits and vegetables with an investment of over USD 46 million, it said. They also agreed for the development of 164 MW Nepal Kaligandaki Gorge Hydropower Project which would be developed on BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) model. Furthermore, an agreement was signed for the construction of 40.27 MW Siuri Nyadi Hydropower Plant Project in EPCF (Engineering-Procurement-Construction-Finance) model, the report said. An agreement between Nepal Pashmina Industries Association and One Belt One Road International Trade Platform of CIC Mutual Trade Investment Company was signed for the sale of Nepali pashmina in China, it said, adding the purchase order from China would be between 200,000 to 500,000 pieces every year. A separate MoU on Framework Agreement for Cooperation in Marsyangdi Cascade Hydropower Project of 600 MW was also signed. The two sides also agreed for the Construction of 75 MW Trishuli Galchhi Hydropower Project in EPCF Model, the report added. During his six-day visit, Oli is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang and address a Nepal-China Business Forum and think-tanks in Beijing. Oli's visit comes after his trip to India soon after his reelection as prime minister which was followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's return visit to Kathmandu. During his brief tenure in 2016, Oli widened China-Nepal ties by signing the transit trade treaty with China to reduce the dependence of his landlocked country on India at the height of the Madhesi agitation and had sought expansion of road links through Tibet besides extension of China's railway to Nepal through the Himalayas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress and the NCP leaders today held a meeting in Mumbai to discuss the floor strategy to be adopted by the Opposition in the monsoon session of the state legislature beginning in Nagpur on July 4. In a break from convention, the monsoon session will be held in Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra, instead in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Ashok Chavan has asked the party's legislature wing to corner the BJP-led NDA government on floor of the House by aggressively raising the issues concerning the common people. He was speaking at a meeting of the coordination committee of the Congress Legislature Party. Chavan said the state government has failed on all fronts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Against the backdrop of recent incidents of alleged atrocities on Dalits in various parts of Gujarat, state DGP Shivanand Jha today directed police officers to visit 'sensitive' villages to understand the ground situation and resolve the problems of the community. In a communication sent to all the senior officers including district superintendents of police and police commissioners of various cities, Jha asked them to plan 'village visits' during the next three months to understand the problems of Dalits and resolve them on the spot. Jha said such visits are needed in the present time as several incidents of Dalit atrocities have surfaced in different districts of the state. All those villages where such conflicts between communities were reported in the past or (where) there exists a possibility of conflicts in future, should be considered as 'sensitive villages', as per the communication. Villages or areas in cities that had witnessed communal conflicts in the past should also be considered as 'sensitive' and visits should be planned accordingly, according to the DGP. During this drive, to be started immediately, designated police officers of each district should visit areas having concentrated Dalit population and try to understand their problems and solve them immediately, the DGP ordered. Apart from solving problems, police officers should also try to build a cohesive atmosphere by holding joint meetings. Officers are also required to sensitise other communities about dalits and their issues, it said. Police officers are required to prepare a comprehensive report about their visits and send it to the concerned district SP or police commissioner who in turn are required to send it to the DGP after three months. The DGP's order came a week after a 13-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly beaten up by Rajput youths in Bahucharaji town of Mehsana district for wearing a pair of 'Mojdi', a type of leather shoes. Last month, a group of Rajputs had clashed with Dalits in Dholka town in Ahmedabad district over a Dalit man's decision to add 'Sinh' suffix to his name. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Dalit organisation in Haryana has alleged that people from the community in Hisar district's Bhatla village are being socially boycotted by members of the upper castes and have threatened to convert to Buddhism. During a recent protest at the Hansi mini-secretariat, they had demanded strict action in the matter. The community has been facing social boycott since July last year, and police officials and members of the village's 'Bhaichara Samiti' (peace committee) have not helped in resolving the issue, Bhatla Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (BDSS) president Balwan Singh claimed. Due to the social boycott in the village, people are being forced to sell their animals and they are being deprived of employment, Raj Kumar, a Dalit, said. Even the water and power supply in the Dalit locality is being interrupted for the last three months, he claimed. Ajay Bhatla, who had filed a petition in this regard, said that on the direction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, a commissioner visited the village to prepare a report, but officials gave him "wrong information". However, officials concerned and the police have denied the charge. Dalit activist Jai Bhagwan Bhatla said, "Dalits are living in fear. They cannot stay in the village in such conditions and would migrate to another place." "They will also adopt Buddhism in the near future due to the continued social boycott and anti-Dalit policies of administration," he said. However, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Hansi, Narender Singh denied the allegations and claimed that there was no social boycott of Dalits by the upper castes in Bhatla. The officer said a commissioner appointed on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had visited the village recently. He will submit his report to the court in this regard, he said. Earlier this month, as many as 120 Dalits from Haryana's Jind district converted to Buddhism over non-fulfilment of their demands. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dennis Quaid has been roped in to play former US President Ronald Reagan in a new biopic. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor will play the title role in the film, currently dubbed as "Reagan", which will explore the ex-POTUS' life from boyhood through his presidency of both the US and the Screen Actors Guild. Sean McNamara will direct the biopic from a script by Howie Klausner and Jonas McCord. The feature is based on two biographies from author Paul Kengor. Quaid said he is excited to play the "multifaceted human being" that Reagan was. "Reagan was a fascinating human being and this movie captures his humanity. We're making a movie for Republicans and Democrats alike since Reagan transcends politics. I can't wait to get started," the actor said. Talking about choosing Quaid for the role, Joseph said, "Dennis was always our first choice. He's one of the great actors of our time." The movie is being produced by Mark Joseph, who met 50 of the former president's friends, confidantes and cabinet members, including his pastor and the surgeon who saved his life after he was shot. It is also expected to explore Reagan's time as governor of California, his role in the destruction of the Berlin Wall and his final days dealing with Alzheimer's disease. It will also delve a bit into John Hinckley Jr, whose obsession with actor Jodie Foster led to his attempted assassination of the Republican president in 1981. David Henrie, best known for playing teen Justin Russo in the children's show "Wizards of Waverly Place", will essay the role of a young Reagan. The film also stars Jon Voight. Edwin Meese, who worked for Reagan for a few decades, ultimately rising to US attorney general, is an unofficial adviser on the movie. The shooting is expected to begin this autumn. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The deteriorating law-and-order situation in Jammu and Kashmir was the main reason for the BJP to pull out from the government and pave way for Governor's rule to ensure restoration of peace and normalcy, state party chief Ravinder Raina today said. He said the decision was not abrupt and was taken after three month long deliberations in the larger interest of the nation. "The main issue was the fast deteriorating law and order situation in the valley. The only alternative was governor's rule because there will be a single line administration," he said. "There might be political compulsions for parties in handling such a tough situation but during governor's rule, we are of the opinion that anti-terror operations and operations against anti-social elements will easily be carried out," he added. Raina, who was flanked by several top BJP leaders including former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta, said restoration of law and order is the need of the hour. He said the army was given a free hand in the last three years which resulted in the elimination of 619 terrorists. As many as 23 Pakistani terrorists were also neutralised by the forces during the Ramzan ceasefire, which was part of many initiatives taken to restore peace in Kashmir, he added. He denied any behind the decision to pull out from the government and said it was done in the interest of the nation. Raina said the government was not able to carry out the anti-terror operations as the BJP wanted. "We wanted terrorist- free Kashmir to allow people to live their lives with honour and dignity and without any fear," he said. Referring to the suspension of operations during Ramzan, he said Pakistan responded to the initiative by activating the entire International border and parts of Line of Control on the same day the Centre announced it. Infiltrators were pushed and innocents were targeted including a renowned journalist who was killed in the broad daylight. The Jammu bus stand was attacked with a grenade while army jawan sepoy Choudhary Aurangzeb was shot dead after abduction," he said defending the BJP's decision. He also referred to the killing of police officers including DSP Mohammad Ayoub Pandit, who was lynched by a mob at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar last year. Asked whether the army will be given free hand to deal with the situation under governor's rule, Raina said the army always enjoyed free hand and is fully capable to deal with any challenge. He also denied that the BJP was not waiting for any opportunity. "We believe nation stands first and tricolour is our priority. The BJP is not for power. Had it been our aim, there were still three more years left to govern the state," he said. In response to another question whether it was a mistake on the part of the BJP to ally with the PDP, Raina said his party tried its best to form a government on its own but fell short of its mission 44 plus seats. He said the BJP faced some difficulty in implementing developmental projects as some ministries were not with the party. On National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah's demand for dissolution of the assembly due to the apprehension of horse trading, he said, It is his personal view. Those who indulge in such practice speak such things. The BJP never talks about it and we don't have this motive." He avoided answering questions on Article 370 which gives special status to the state. Asked about Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's statement that her party acted according to its agenda and ensured protection of Article 370, ceasefire and withdrawal of cases against stone-pelters, Gupta said nothing was possible without the support of BJP. "We supported the PDP in restoration of normalcy. We felt that some ministries including the home ministry (which was under chief minister) failed to take tough decisions and demonstrated soft approach and registered FIRs against the security personnel," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump will meet Queen Elizabeth II during his first official UK visit next month. Originally, Trump was invited for a full state visit but after an outcry, it was downgraded to a working visit. Trump faced criticism after it was reported that he had questioned planned changes to immigration rules and asking colleagues why the US had to welcome arrivals from "shithole countries". The US ambassador to the UK has told Sky that a meeting with the Queen had been scheduled in. Trump will be visiting Britain for the first time since becoming President on July 13. Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson was asked whether the President's itinerary would include seeing the Queen. "Yes, yes, I mean he has to see the head of state. Putting his foot on British soil, it's job one, it's very important, very symbolic," he replied. "Meeting Her Majesty is the most important thing, because she's the head of state, and from then on, it'll be what the President wants to do," Johnson said. Speculation has been growing that Trump's visit would include meeting the Queen after it emerged Windsor Castle could be closed to the public on the day of his visit. However, Buckingham Palace have yet to confirm whether it is true. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Economic Offences Wing of Pune police today arrested six persons, including the serving and a former CMD of the Bank of Maharashtra in a cheating case lodged against city-based real estate developer D S Kulkarni and his wife, an official said today. The bank's present Chairman and Managing Director Ravindra Marathe, Executive Director Rajendra Gupta, Zonal Manager Nityanand Deshpande, bank's former CMD Sushil Muhnot, Kulkarni's CA Sunil Ghatpande, and vice president Rajiv Newaskar of the engineering department of Kulkarni's firm, D S Kulkarni Developers Ltd (DSKDL), were arrested, the official added. While Deshpande was arrested from Ahmedabad, Muhnot was picked up from Jaipur. All others were arrested from Pune, the police said. They were booked under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act. "As part of our probe into the cheating case against Kulkarni, it came to light that these bank officials colluded with DSKDL by misusing their powers and authority with dishonest and fraudulent intention to sanction and disburse the amount under the garb of a loan," said Sudhir Hiremath, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber and Economic Offences). All the accused are being produced in the court today, he said. In May, the city police had filed a 37,000-page charge-sheet against Kulkarni and his wife in the case. As per the charge-sheet, the total scam is worth Rs 2,043.18 crore wherein the accused floated nine different firms to siphon off the funds collected from 33,000 investors and fixed-deposit holders who were promised good returns on their FDs. Of the total scam amount, the deposit and loan fraud is to the tune of Rs 1,083.7 crore, banking and non-financial institutions-related fraud of Rs 711.36 crore, debentures fraud of Rs 111.35 crore and fraud related to Phursungi land purchase of Rs 136.77 crore, the EOW officials had said. The police were probing the role of these bank officials for allegedly sanctioning loans to the builder without following due diligence. According to the complaint filed with the EOW by one of the depositors, investors put in lakhs of rupees in a fixed-deposit scheme of the DSK Developers, but they neither received the interest nor the principal amount. The EoW had booked the Kulkarnis under various sections of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act along with IPC sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention). The developer and his wife were arrested from Delhi on February 17 this year by Pune police. With today's arrest, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to 12. Kulkarni's son Shirish's pre-arrest bail application was rejected by the Supreme Court on June 19 and he is likely to be arrested in the case, the police said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place for the International Yoga Day celebration at Rajpath tomorrow, a senior Delhi Police officer said. More than 500 police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed to keep an eye on suspicious elements. There will be 78 door frame metal detectors (DFMD) points for entry where visitors will be scanned, he added. The country is all geared up to roll out yoga mats to mark the fourth International Day of Yoga, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to lead about 55,000 enthusiasts in performing asanas in Dehradun tomorrow. The yoga event at Rajpath will be attended by Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, Delhi L-G Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi. The Delhi Traffic Police has issued an advisory asking motorists to avoid Rafi Marg, Janpath, Man Singh Road, Maulana Azad Road, Rajpath (between Vijay Cheok and Man Singh crossing), Krishna Menon Marg, K Kam Raj Marg and Rajender Prasad Road till 10 am tomorrow. The advisory asked motorists to take alternate routes -- Ring Road, Mathura Road, Bhairon Marg, Subarmaniyam Bharti Marg, Rajesh Pilot Marg, Dr Abdul Kalam Road, Tuglak Road, Mother Teresa Crescent Marg to travel from south to north and vice-versa, and from east to west and vice-versa. In Delhi, eight events have been planned in the national capital with the main celebration being held in the Connaught Place. The centrepiece of the first yoga day celebration in 2015 was New Delhi's Rajpath, with the event making it to the Guinness World Records with 35,985 participants performing asanas at one venue and 84 nationalities being part of it. The United Nations General Assembly in December 2014 had declared that June 21 would be observed as International Day of Yoga every year, a move for which India had lobbied hard. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria and Jose Antonio Baston have become proud parents to their first child - a baby boy. The 43-year-old actor gave birth to the little one at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center here, HOLA! USA reported. They have named their son Santiago Enrique Baston. "We are so grateful for this beautiful blessing," Longoria and Baston, 50, told the magazine. The couple recently celebrated their two year anniversary on May 21. A rep for Longoria had confirmed her pregnancy in December last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court today dismissed an appeal from five NIA detenues seeking bail in a case related to the detection of an explosive device under the car of Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy in 2014. A division bench of Justice M Venugopal and Justice P N Prakash dismissed the plea that also sought quashing of an order of the special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases detaining them in connection with the case. The bench said, "Under section 43-D of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, read with CrPc section 167, the maximum period of detention is 90 days." It said, "However, the proviso to section 43(2) states that the period of 90 days can be extended to a period of 180 days, if the court is satisfied that the report of the public prosecutor indicates the progress of the investigation and the specific reasons for the detention of the accused."Under Section 43(2) of the UAP Act, Parliament empowered the public prosecutor to file a report seeking extension, since it is considered that the public prosecutor, being an officer of the court and a public functionary, would have without bias assessed the necessity for seeking extension of time for completing the investigation, the bench said. In this case, the 90-day period was to expire on July 8, 2014 for the accused Thiruselvam, Kaviarasan and Kalailingam and on August 6, 2014 for the accused Karthik and John Martin, the bench said. But, much before the expiry of the period, the public prosecutor filed the report under section 43-D (2)(b) of the UAP Act on May 30, 2014 itself and on July 4, 2014, a 'docket' order was passed on the report by the special judge in Puducherry, the bench said. Further, the investigation was completed and charge sheet filed on September 30, 2014, well within the extended period of 180 days from the first remand of the accused, the bench said. "Thereafter, the accused were remanded under CrPc section 309...," it said. Counsel M Radhakrishnan and Sankarasubbu, appearing on behalf of the petitioners while referring to an order passed by the division bench of Madras High Court, which granted bail to one of the co-accused in the case, said the five accused were also entitled for bail. In this case, the remand of the accused was extended by a docket order by the magistrate and no judicial order was passed by the magistrate, the bench said. The division bench, while stating the failure of the judge to pass a formal judicial order of extension of remand on the application of the prosecution, said default bail was not the remedy. The five accused were arrested in connection with a case in which an explosive device was detected beneath the parked car of Narayanasamy, then a Union Minister, on January 29, 2014 and the case was transferred to Puducherry CB-CID. The case was transferred to the NIA on January 31 the same year and re-registered following central government orders. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan, who has been reiterating that extremists are present in Tamil Nadu, today urged Chief Minister K Palaniswami to act tough against them to save the state from an impending 'big threat.' The senior BJP leader said he has been warning of the presence of extremist elements in the state for the past one year and a half and "even during the regime of (late Chief Minister J) Jayalalithaa."Referring to the reports in a section of vernacular media, he claimed Maoists, naxalites and their sympathisers were present in the state and called for stringent actions against them. "I am confident naxalites, Maoists, Muslim extremists and extremist groups who promote secessionism in the name of Tamil have infiltrated many groups. There is a chance that they could have infiltrated the media also," he said. "Therefore, if Tamil Nadu government doesn't act swiftly, the people of the state will face a big threat," he told reporters at the airport here. The media should especially 'expose' such persons and help save democracy, he added. Hitting out at Chief Minister Palaniswami, he said if the former cannot act against such extremists, there was "no point" for him to continue in power. "The Chief Minister should use all his powers to control the extremists. If (he) can't do so, there is no point (for him) in ruling (the state)," he said. To a question on the state witnessing many protests, including the latest anti-Salem expressway agitations, he said it should be noted whether they were mere protests or "were being held with some kind of a conspiracy." He alleged that extremists had carried out an "experiment" during the massive pro-jallikattu protests here last year and said the government should have acted against them then itself. A government should only protect the people of the state and not the extremists, he added. Earlier, he told reporters in Madurai that work on All India Institute of Medical Science would begin shortly at Thoppur in Madurai district, following clearance given by the Union health and family welfare ministry. "The setting up of AIIMS in Madurai will be a big boon for the people of southern districts," he said. Meanwhile, District Collector Veeraraghava Rao said about 200 acres of land to set up the institute would be handed over to the Central government for AIIMS, once the Government Order was issued in this regard. The government would provide all that was required for AIIMS, including power and water supply, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Manisha Koirala has found poetry in everyday mundaneness of the world - the sunrise, the grass, the shining stars - and feels more appreciative of life today with every breath she takes. She was diagnosed with the ovarian cancer in 2012 which she successfully overcame. Though difficult, Manisha says the phase, where the fear of losing everything loomed large, left her completely changed. "When I was at the brink of losing it all - with my health crisis - that made me appreciate life. For me, everyday is a blessing. I look at things which I ignored earlier. I enjoy sunrise, being barefoot on the grass, the stars in the sky, the breeze on your face or the ruffle of the leaves. I feel blessed to be alive," Manisha told PTI. The actor says she is "at a relaxed and excited space" in her career and life, with her heart being more "compassionate, understanding and focused". While she feels grateful and blessed to still get good work, she is also thrilled to get feedback for her performances. "When you get good reviews for your work, it's reassuring. You wonder 'even after 80 plus movies?' and I say yes. It's always nice to hear good feedback," she said. The 47-year-old actor has Sanjay Dutt biopic up for release and was recently seen in the Netflix anthology "Lust Stories". In "Sanju", Manisha will be seen playing Dutt's mother, Nargis. The actor says she had to undergo several "look tests" and credits director Rajkumar Hirani for doing "excellent" ground work. "I had a very good director and the team was so good, half of my battle was won there. When you work with good directors, it's easier because they've already done the ground work, research. We did a lot of look tests, watched documentaries, read books. I tried to bring out what we could." Manisha is also thrilled that her short film with Dibakar Banerjee in "Lust Stories" has won people over. The actor says she was not sure initially about the project. "I had seen Dibakar's previous works and I loved his short in 'Bombay Talkies'. I knew he would make a sensible film. Personally speaking, I wanted to do it differently. But he had a vision. While rehearsing I understood where he was going. I didn't agree somewhere with him but then in the end it all turned out very well." "Sanju" features Ranbir Kapoor in the lead and also stars Paresh Rawal, Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza and Anushka Sharma. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A magisterial inquiry has been ordered and two persons arrested by Lucknow Police today in connection with the fire incident at two hotels here which claimed five lives. A major fire broke out at two hotels in the busy area of the city yesterday morning, killing five people and critically injuring four. The fire broke out at a hotel in the Charbagh area near the railway station here at around 6 AM and spread to an adjacent hotel. "We have arrested two persons -- Pankaj and Rajkumar. One of them was a manager in a hotel, while the other was a security guard on duty when the accident took place. Yesterday in the FIR, the owners, managers and guards on duty of both hotels were named," Superintendent of Police (Lucknow West) Vikas Chand Tripathi told PTI. Pankaj was the supervisor on duty at Hotel Virat, while Rajkumar was the guard on duty at SSJ International at the time of the incident, police said. An official of Lucknow district administration said, "The deceased have been identified as Mehar (one-and-half year-old) from Kanpur, Santosh Mane (35) from Pune, Priyansh Sharma (40) from Aligarh, Ganesh Prasad (45) from Patna and an unidentified woman." District Magistrate of Lucknow Kaushal Raj Sharma said, "A magisterial inquiry has been set up for the Charbagh hotel fire incident. The city magistrate will conduct inquiry into the reasons of the incident and submit report in a month. "Teams will be made in two days comprising the additional city magistrate, circle officer, municipal corporation, Lucknow Development Authority and Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration. The team will conduct inspection and inquiry will be done vis-a-vis following buildings - hotels, restaurants, bars and nursing homes," he said. He said the team will find whether the buildings were made according to plan and had no objection certificate from LMC and LDA, and whether they had the permissible electric load, which is required to run their whole complex or not. ADG Lucknow zone has been directed to inquire into the incident, Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar said. DIG (law and order) Praveen Kumar had said yesterday that the map of one of the hotels was not approved, while there was no staff to handle fire fighting equipment in the neighbouring hotel. Cases have been registered against owners of both hotels under various sections of the IPC, he had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The first batch of the Kailash Mansarovar yatris comprising 31 pilgrims and two liaison officers successfully crossed over to China from the Nathu-La border route in Sikkim today, officials said. This is also the first batch of yatris though the Nathu-La route after the pilgrimage was stopped following the Dokalam standoff last year. India and China had agreed in April to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through the route. Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh had in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha had said the yatra for 2018 though Nathu-La would take place between June and September. The special secretary to tourism and civil aviation department, Namrata Thapa and some other officials were present at Nathu-La during the crossing over of the yatris to China, an information and public relations department release said. Earlier, the yatris had spent two days at 15th mile at Sherathang in Sikkim for acclimatization. They will return here on July 1 after paying obeisance to Lord Shiva at Mount Kailash. They will disperse for their respective destinations from the next day, the release added. The route via Nathu-La is in addition to the older route via Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand, the only route earlier that was badly damaged in the 2013 floods. Both the routes are operational but the new route via Nathu-La is shorter, safer and more comfortable. The yatra via Nathu-La began in 2015. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The first batch of Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrims crossed over to Tibet through the17,500 feet high Lipulekh pass this morning, an official said. The first batch had reached Gunji Base camp by trekking 33 km from Mangti, the last motorable station in two days. Dharchula SDM RK Pandey said one member of the 58-memberbatch Ram Dayal Mali fromRajasthan had to return from Gunji after he was found unfit by ITBP doctors atthe medical camp there on June 18. According to ITBP sources, the batch left for Lipulekh pass at3 am and crossed over at 7.50 am. The second batch of pilgrims that has reached Gunji by IAF helicopters is on way to Nabhi Dhang, the official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) France is keen to become India's top strategic partner in Europe and wants to strengthen the country's economic presence in India, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has said. Drian met with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here yesterday and the two leaders held in-depth and constructive discussions on full range of bilateral relationship including cooperation in the civil nuclear sector. "India is one of our foremost partners in Asia, and reciprocally, I am convinced that France has the vocation of becoming India's top strategic partner in Europe," he said in a statement. "I would like to recall first of all the excellent quality and vitality of our strategic partnership. This year we are celebrating 20 years of this partnership; 20 years is the age at which maturity is affirmed, and we must continue fostering its development," he said. India and France are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their Strategic Partnership. "Our relations are already substantial and rich, as illustrated by the commitments made in March. "I would like to especially mention our cooperation in the Indian Ocean, whose value can be gauged in terms of the increasing importance that France intends to accord to the Indo-Pacific region," Drian said. The Minister said that he could also mention France's cooperation in the field of space, which is a good example of the technological power and the capacity to innovate together. Drian said that he discussed with Swaraj the civil nuclear cooperation between India and France. An important phase was crossed last March when President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundations of an industrial agreement aimed at setting up six European Pressurised Water nuclear reactors (EPR)s by French energy giant EDF (Electricite de France) in Jaitapur, Maharashtra, he said. "We must now give ourselves the means to conclude the negotiations in the coming months, and, if possible, by the end of this year," Drian said. "Our partnership is also a peoples' partnership, a 'partnership of hearts'. "When we encourage mobility, exchanges of students, academics and tourists, when we organise the shoots of Indian films in France and the distribution of French films in India, when we support language learning, we weave strong ties between our two peoples, ties geared to the future and based on enhancing mutual knowledge," the minister said. Drian said that he would like the India-France bilateral trade, which almost touched the 9-billion-USD mark in 2017, to continue growing. The two leaders also discussed the Iran nuclear agreement and the denuclearisaton of the Korean Peninsula. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The blood samples of Geeta, a hearing and speech impaired Indian woman who returned from Pakistan in 2015, have been sent to a Hyderabad lab for a fresh DNA test, officials said today. The development comes when government efforts to trace Geeta's biological parents have yielded no result so far. The Indore district administration has sent Geeta's blood samples to Hyderabad's Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) on orders of the ministry of external affairs, a Madhya Pradesh government official, who did not wish to be named, told PTI Bhasha. Since Geeta's return in October 2015, more than 10 families from different parts of India have claimed that she is their missing daughter. But none of these claims could be verified in the DNA tests. The official said the blood samples of all those who came to Indore claiming to be Geeta's parents were sent to a Delhi laboratory by the district administration to be matched with hers. Geeta's DNA sample has been kept secure at the Delhi laboratory. The government is also trying to find a suitable match for Geeta. A fortnight ago, Geeta met six suitors from different parts of the country but she did not agree marry any of them. These suitors were chosen from among those who had responded to a Facebook advert put out in this regard. Geeta is currently staying in a shelter home run by an NGO, Mook Badhir Sangathan, under the supervision of the state's social justice and disabled persons welfare department. She was found by Pakistan Rangers on the Samjhauta Express at Lahore railway station when she was around seven years old. Karachi-based Edhi Foundation looked after her while she was in Pakistan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Tunisian man arrested in Germany in possession of the deadly poison ricin and bomb-making material was planning a biological attack, the national police chief said today. "Very concrete preparations had been made for an act with a ... biological bomb, which is a first for Germany," Holger Muench, head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, told public broadcaster ARD. German police commandos on June 12 stormed the Cologne apartment of the 29-year-old Tunisian migrant identified only as Sief Allah H. and discovered "toxic substances" that turned out to be ricin. Produced by processing castor beans, ricin is 6,000 times more lethal than cyanide and has no known antidote. German weekly Der Spiegel has reported the man was thought to have been following instructions disseminated by the Islamic State group on how to build a bomb containing ricin. Prosecutors have charged that he was "strongly suspected of intentionally manufacturing biological weapons" but it remained unclear whether he was actively plotting an attack. Muench said "we became aware of this person a few months ago, and then evidence emerged pointing to links to the so-called Islamic State". The case was an example of "good cooperation between security authorities, nationally and internationally", he said. Bild daily has reported Germany received a tip-off from the CIA based on the suspect's online purchases. During the raid, said Muench, "we found a large number of castor seeds from which to make it (ricin), as well as the utensils you need to make an explosive device". "Which concrete target he had in mind we don't know yet ... and the question of possible accomplices also remains open," said Muench. Prosecutors say Sief Allah H. started buying the equipment and ingredients to make ricin in mid-May -- including an online purchase of "a thousand castor seeds and an electric coffee grinder". He succeeded in manufacturing the toxin earlier this month. The case comes less than a month after French authorities said they had foiled a terror attack possibly involving the use of ricin. Two brothers of Egyptian origin were arrested. Germany remains on high alert after several deadly attacks claimed by the IS group, including a 2016 truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market by Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri that claimed 12 lives. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir was brought under Governor's rule today and the state Assembly put under suspended animation, a day after the PDP-BJP government collapsed with the BJP ending the three-year-old alliance with the regional party. As Governor N N Vohra held multiple meetings in Srinagar during which security measures were discussed, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said the ongoing military operations in the Valley against terrorists would continue as earlier. Governor's rule in the state is unlikely to have any impact on ongoing military operations, he told reporters in New Delhi. It is for the fourth time that the sensitive border state was placed under Central rule in the last one decade--all under the tenure of Vohra, who was made the Governor in June 2008. This is the eighth time in the last four decades that the state was put under Governor's rule. "The President has approved imposition of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect." a Union Home Ministry spokesman said in New Delhi in the morning. An official gazette notification issued in Srinagar said the Governor Vohra has put Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly under suspended animation. The six-year term of the current Assembly ends in March, 2021. Separately, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Centre wants terrorism to end and peace to prevail in Kashmir. "Our only aim is that terrorism should end and peace should prevail in Kashmir and our government will work keeping this in mind," he told reporters in Lucknow. Singh was responding to a question about BJP's dramatic decision to pull out of the coalition with the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP. Mehbooba submitted her resignation after the BJP withdrew support. Vohra had last night recommended imposition of Governor's rule in a report sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan around the time when President Ram Nath Kovind, who is on an overseas trip, was onboard his special aircraft. The contents of the Governor's report were immediately sent to Suriname where the president was scheduled to land at 6.30 pm (3 am IST). The president after perusing the report gave his assent and the same was sent to the Union Home Ministry by 6 am (IST) following which the process of promulgating Governor's rule was prepared and sent to Srinagar. "Immediately after receiving the President of India's approval, Governor N N Vohra issued the proclamation to impose Governor's rule in the state under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir today," a Raj Bhavan spokesman said in Srinagar. After assuming charge as the head of the state administration, Vohra held meetings with top civil administration and police officials at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar. The Governor held discussions with Chief Secretary B B Vyas and identified the major tasks which shall require to be dealt with on a strict time-bound basis, beginning from today. He was earlier accorded a ceremonial welcome and guard of honour by a police contingent as he arrived at the Civil Secretariat to take charge of the administration. Vohra chaired a meeting of top officials -- both from civil administration and police -- to gear up the state administrative machinery to function with speed, efficiency and accountability. The break-up of the PDP-BJP coalition triggered celebrations in parts of the Valley, even as some people expressed apprehension that Governor's rule might lead to lack of transparency and worsen the situation in the state. In several areas of Kashmir, including Srinagar, Kupwara and Pahalgam, people burst firecrackers after the broke out. "This alliance was unholy. The PDP should not have joined hands with the BJP in the first place. But better late than never. We are happy that this alliance has ended," said Faizan Mir, a resident of Srinagar. However, some people felt that an elected government was any day better than the Governor's rule. "A democratically elected government is much better any day than the Governor's rule which essentially means New Delhi's direct rule in the state where now they will have absolute control over the administration and the security apparatus. "They can do anything now in the absence of a government which otherwise could built pressure on them on certain issues," said Feroz Ahmad Bhat, a resident of central Kashmir's Ganderbal. Security preparations for the annual Amarnath yatra also figured during the meetings held by the Governor. Security forces have already been asked to maintain "highest level of alertness" and "synergy," police said. The two-month long pilgrimage to the 3,880 metre high cave shrine of Amarnath will commence on June 28. As speculation mounted over what could be the exact reason for the BJP to walk out of the alliance, BJP state president Ravinder Raina said deteriorating law and order situation was the main reason so that Governor's rule can be imposed to ensure restoration of peace and normalcy in the state. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav yesterday cited the "larger national interest...the deteriorating security situation" for the party's pullout. National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah called for immediate dissolution of the state Legislative Assembly and holding of fresh elections in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) was placed under Governor's rule on Wednesday and the state Assembly kept in suspended animation, as Governor reviewed security measures and brought in former top cop Vijay Kumar, a counter-insurgency specialist, as one of his two advisers. A day after the PDP-BJP government collapsed after the BJP snapped its three-year-old alliance with the regional party citing "larger interest" and "deteriorating security situation", a Union spokesman said in the morning that President Ram Nath Kovind has approved the imposition of Governor's rule in the border state with immediate effect. As Vohra held multiple meetings in Srinagar, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said the ongoing military operations in the Valley against terrorists would continue as earlier. Governor's rule in the state is unlikely to have any impact on ongoing military operations, he told reporters in New Delhi. According to an official communique, Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer B V R Subrahmanyam was appointed as the Chief Secretary of the state in place of B B Vyas, who along with K Vijay Kumar, a former IPS officer and an anti-naxal expert, was named adviser to Governor Vohra. Kumar's experience ranges from jungle warfare and security detail to counter-insurgency. The names of advisers were cleared by the Union after the state was put under the Governor's rule. Kumar, a 1975 batch IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, had earlier served in the Kashmir valley as Inspector General of BSF in 1998-2001 when the border guarding force was actively involved in the counter-militancy operations. Kumar, 65, had shot to fame when he headed the Special Task Force (STF) for a long time and strategised operations that culminated in the elimination of the dreaded forest brigand Veerappan after an encounter in Tamil Nadu in October 2004. He was later appointed as Director General of world's largest paramilitary force -- CRPF-- after naxals killed 75 personnel in Dantewada in 2010. It is for the fourth time that J&K was placed under Central rule in the last one decade--all under the tenure of Vohra, who was made the Governor in June 2008. This is the eighth time in the last four decades that the state was kept under Governor's rule. "Immediately after receiving President of India's approval, Governor issued the proclamation to impose Governor's Rule in the state under section 92 of the Constitution of today," a Raj Bhawan spokesman said in Srinagar. The Governor also placed the legislative assembly in suspended animation till the proclamation of Governor's rule is revoked or varied by a subsequent proclamation, according to a gazette notification. The six-year term of the current Assembly ends in March 2021. As part of the Governor's meetings, Northern Army commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh called on Vohra and discussed the security situation in the state. The Governor and the Army commander discussed certain issues about the need for very close coordination in security management in the Valley, particularly keeping in view the need to prevent collateral damage in counter-terrorist operations, the Raj Bhavan spokesman said. Separately, Union Home Minister said the Centre wants terrorism to end and peace to prevail in Kashmir. "Our only aim is that terrorism should end and peace should prevail in Kashmir and our government will work keeping this in mind," he told reporters in Lucknow. Vohra had last night recommended imposition of Governor's rule in a report sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan around the time when President Ram Nath Kovind, who is on an overseas trip, was onboard his special aircraft. The contents of the Governor's report were immediately sent to Suriname where the president was scheduled to land at 6.30 pm (3 am IST). The president after perusing the report gave his assent and the same was sent to the Union by 6 am (IST) following which the process of promulgating Governor's rule was initiated and a communication sent to Srinagar. After assuming charge as the head of the state administration, Vohra held meetings with top civil administration and police officials at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar. Security preparations for the annual Amarnath yatra also figured during the meetings held by the Governor. The two-month-long pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre high cave shrine of Amarnath commences on June 28. The break-up of the PDP-BJP coalition triggered celebrations in parts of the Valley, even as some people expressed apprehension that Governor's rule might lead to lack of transparency and worsen the situation in the state. In several areas of Kashmir, including Srinagar, Kupwara and Pahalgam, people burst firecrackers after the news broke out. "This alliance was unholy. The PDP should not have joined hands with the BJP in the first place. But better late than never. We are happy that this alliance has ended," said Faizan Mir, a resident of Srinagar. However, some people felt that an elected government was any day better than the Governor's rule. Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah called for the immediate dissolution of the state Legislative Assembly and holding of fresh elections in the state. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government is looking at ways to build new airports after factoring in lesser availability of land for such infrastructure projects, amid growing air traffic, according to the civil aviation ministry. To meet the rising demand, the government plans to invest around Rs 1 lakh crore for the development of airport infrastructure. "The ministry in consultation with experts within India and outside are finding out ways of creating new airports with less availability of land," Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said today. However, he did not provide specific details on the proposal. According to Prabhu, the ministry is working with state governments to be a partner so that land can be provided by them and infrastructure by the central government for greenfield airports. Presenting the civil aviation ministry's four year report, Prabhu and his deputy Jayant Sinha said passenger trips have gone up from 10 crore four years ago to 20 crore now. Air traffic movement grew over 20 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 but airport infrastructure has been unable to match the growing air traffic and number of aircraft, Prabhu said, terming it a "challenge". On airfares, Prabhu said the prices have come down on a relative basis in the last four years. Fares have been impacted by rising fuel costs, he said, adding, "fares have come down, but of course that is a relative term because with fuel cost going up". Among other initiatives, Prabhu said the ministry is framing a cargo policy and suggested that airspace could be utilised at night for cargo traffic as commercial flight movement would be less. The minister said that efforts are being made for aircraft manufacturing in India. "This is a Make in India programme because if India needs to buy thousand planes in next few years time only for passengers and then cargo, Make in India makes a commercial sense," he noted. During his recent visit to the Airbus facility in France, Prabhu had suggested to officials there to explore the possibility of manufacturing planes in India. The ministry is also examining a proposal to start intra-city helicopter services. According to Prabhu, an event would be hosted in September in India that would bring together stakeholders in the aviation industry from the world over. Sinha, on the other hand talking about UDAN scheme, said that 31 airports have become operational because of the scheme and orders have been placed for 100 turboprop aircraft. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister RK Singh today said the government will bring single solar bid of 1 lakh MW, which would also include storage and solar equipment manufacturing components. "The biggest (renewable energy) tender was floated in Spain. We brought out single tender of 10,000 MW which would be opened in July. Now (we) will bring out a bid (tender) of one lakh MW which would also include solar manufacturing and storage (output)," Singh said while addressing at a function here. Talking about India's renewable energy programme, he said the country will overachieve the renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022 and eventually have 225 GW. He said that India has already set up 70 GW of renewable energy capacity and about 12.5 GW is under implementation whereas bids have been received for 25.5 GW of clean energy capacities. India is making rapid strides in the field of renewable energy and we will overshoot the target of 175 GW renewable energy by 2022. Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh said. He was speaking as the chief guest at the inauguration of 1500 kWP capacity solar plant developed by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) at the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib. Lauding this noble initiative by the DSGMC, Singh said that this would inspire other institutions to go green and become conscious. He said that 20 cities in India are ranked among the most polluted in the world and there is an urgent need to reduce fossil fuel use so that we leave a better world for our children. The minister reiterated the government's commitment to bring electricity to every household by December 31, 2018. Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri and Minister Harsh Vardhan were among the dignitaries present at the occasion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India today told the Trump administration that the GSP would enhance India's development and the pace of economic reforms, urging it not to withdraw the south Asian country from the US' trade preference programme. "India, being a beneficiary developing country, the GSP benefits are integral and geared to enhance its development and the pace of economic reforms," Puneet Roy Kundal, Minister Commerce at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC, told members of USTR's GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee. The US' Generalized System of Preferences program (GSP) provides for the preferential treatment of designated articles when imported from beneficiary developing countries. A self-initiated review by the USTR focuses on whether India is meeting the US criteria for a GSP beneficiary country, and particularly whether India provides "equitable and reasonable" market access to products from the US. The products on which India receives GSP benefits belong to sectors which employ thousands of men and women, especially in the rural areas through micro, small and medium enterprises, the senior Indian diplomat told the committee. Kundal urged the USTR to retain the GSP beneficiary status to India. "Picking out India along with a few GSP benefitting countries, for potential withdrawal of tariff preferences on the ground that India does not provide the US 'equitable and reasonable access' to its market would be inconsistent with the non-discrimination and non-reciprocal obligations under Enabling Clause," he said. Noting that a predominant share of the GSP beneficiary items exported from India are intermediaries and semi-manufactured goods, Kundal said the provision of GSP benefits to these products enables availability of cost effective and price competitive inputs to the US downstream industry. "This is helping the US industries to maintain their domestic and export competitiveness," he argued. Kundal said the rules governing the GSP under the WTO contained in the 1979 Decision on Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries (Enabling Clause) envisage non-discriminatory and non-reciprocal grant of tariff benefits. The USTR has accepted two petitions related to the same criterion. The petitions filed by the US dairy industry and the US medical device industry requested a review of India's GSP benefits, given India's alleged trade barriers affecting the US exports in these sectors. "In respect of export of dairy products from the US to India, the issue is not of market access but certification given high religious, cultural and moral sensitivities. India provides unimpeded market access to dairy products from all countries, and there are exports of these products into India," Kundal said. He said India was a progressive nation and envisages that its citizens are provided with equitable and affordable access to essential medicines and medical devices. The emphasis is on providing good quality, affordable and comprehensive healthcare to all the citizens. These values have also been enshrined in the National Health Policy, 2017, he added. Kundal denied that India has undertaken any "unnecessary or discriminatory" measures or steps to reduce access of US medical devices industry to the Indian market. "Nevertheless, to address the concerns of the stakeholders, the government think-tank NITI Aayog placed a concept note on trade margin rationalisation model for public comments and which ultimately would address the concerns," he told the USTR's GSP subcommittee. Review of the tariff preferences accorded under the criteria set out in Section 502(c)(4) of the Trade Act and any consequent action thereof would create irreparable damage for India's exports to the US and such an action will also be contrary to the objective enshrined in Section 501 of the Trade Act of 1974 and enabling provisions of the WTO, Kundal said in his oral submission. In his testimony, he argued that "dilution of GSP benefits to India would be discriminatory, arbitrary and detrimental to the development, finance and trade needs of India - a vast and diverse developing country with unique challenges". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Apparent cross-voting by Congress councillors today helped the BJP wrest five district panchayats from the opposition party in Gujarat in elections held for the posts of presidents and vice presidents. Elections to the posts of presidents and vice presidents of over 200 taluka panchayats and 31 district panchayats were held today across Gujarat. Local bodies in Gujarat elect new heads midway through their five-year term. Before today's elections, the Congress was holding 23 of 31 district panchayats. With the BJP wresting Ahmedabad, Patan, Bhavnagar, Mahisagar and Dahod district panchayats, the Congress' tally now stood at 18. The Congress, which had won these local bodies in 2015, accused the ruling BJP of using money power to "buy" its elected members. However, the BJP claimed the Congress lost due to "infighting" in that party. Gujarat unit Congress president Amit Chavda alleged the BJP had paid Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2 crore to each Congress councillor for cross-voting. "Toady's results clearly show that the BJP has used its money power to snatch power from Congress in five district panchayats. The BJP has paid Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2 crore to these members for switching loyalty during elections. The BJP has misused the government machinery," Chavda alleged. He alleged that some councillors of the Congress were "blackmailed" by the BJP to make them switch side while some were offered "huge money". "Though the BJP has tried hard to snatch almost half of the panchayats ruled by us, they could snatch only five. It shows that Congress workers are still united," Chavda told reporters. Hitting back, Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani said the members of the Congress voted in favour of BJP nominees because they were "fed up with the Congress leadership". "Though Congress councillors wanted to serve people, party's senior leadership was not allowing them to do so. That is the reason for the Congress' defeat in these bodies. The Congress lost because of infighting and over-confidence," Vaghani told reporters in Gandhinagar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police in Pakistan said gunmen today opened fire on a police officer's car in the northwestern city of Quetta, killing his minor son and uncle and injuring the officer critically. Officer Abdul Qayum says fellow officer Abdul Samad came under attack in the suburban area of Nawa Kili when returning home after purchasing food for breakfast. Qayum said attackers escaped on motorcycles. He said the boy and uncle died at a hospital and Samad is in critical condition. The attack came hours after counter-terrorism police killed four 'terrorists' in an overnight raid in the Terameel area. Three officers were wounded in the firefight. Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province, which is the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baloch separatists. Islamic militants also operate in the region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Calcutta High Court today allowed construction of a building by the Defence Ministry, which had been stalled by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the state government on security reasons as it was coming up next to the Alipore Correctional Home here. Justice Debangshu Basak allowed construction of the building on a land belonging to the Defence Estates, which was stopped two years ago. The KMC and the West Bengal government decided to halt the construction in 2016 after the state inspector general (correctional homes) sent a letter to the government. He claimed the building could pose security threat to the Alipore Correctional Home housing hundreds of convicts and undertrials, as it was coming up near a wall of the Home. The Defence ministry moved the high court this year challenging the decision to stop construction of the building. Advocate General of West Bengal Kishore Dutta told the court that the state government was not informed about construction of the building. He claimed the Defence ministry may choose not to inform the local authorities on issues relating to confidentiality, but otherwise ought to inform them about construction activities. Appearing for the ministry, Additional Solicitor General Kaushik Chanda told the court that the Government Building Act 1899 provides for exemption from the operation of municipal building laws certain buildings and lands which are the property, or in the occupation of the Government and situated within the limits of a municipality. Hearing both the parties, the court allowed the construction activity of the building to continue at Belvedere Road in Alipore area in south Kolkata. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court today dropped a contempt proceeding against some Union Health Ministry officials for their failure to comply with its order to fix by December 31, 2017 the location for an upcoming AIIMS in the state. A Madurai bench of the high court dropped the proceeding after a Central government counsel informed the court that the Centre has already notified the state government about its decision to set up AIIMS at Thoppur near here. The bench of justices C T Selvam and A M Basheer Ahamed was hearing a plea by one K K Ramesh for initiating contempt proceeding against the Union Health Ministry officials. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a relief to rebel AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran, the Madras High Court today upheld his election from the R K Nagar assembly constituency. Justice G Jaichandran dismissed an election petition filed by an independent candidate, M L Ravi seeking the court's order to declare Dhinakaran's election as "null and void." Rejecting the plea, the judge said "this court finds that the averments put forth in the election petition lacks material facts to form triable issues..." The reading of the petition and the affidavit annexed to it does not make out any specific material fact which "specifically attributes to Dhinakaran any corrupt practice," the judge said. Citing a Supreme Court order, the judge said he(Dhinakaran) should not be dragged to contest and "defend vague allegations based on reports of social media and press without any substantive and corroborative materials." "Election petition rejected," the judge said. Dhinakaran had won the RK Nagar bypoll held in December last as an independent candidate on a 'pressure cooker' symbol. He defeated AIADMK's E Madhusudhanan by over 40,000 votes, dealing a blow to the ruling camp headed by Chief Minister K Palaniswami. The byelection was held to fill the vacancy caused by death of then sitting member and former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016. Dhinakaran subsequently launched his party -- Amma Munnetra Kazhagam, in March this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Odisha continues to reel under heatwave condition with seven towns recording temperatures above 40 degree Celsius today, the Met department said. In view of the intense heatwave condition across the state, Odisha government has issued an advisory asking labourers to refrain from outdoor work during afternoon, said Labour Minister Sushant Singh. "The labourers have been restricted from working outdoors between 11 am and 3 pm to prevent cases of sunstroke," the minister said. Angul was the hottest place in the state today at 41.9 degree Celsius while the other towns which recorded temperatures above 40 degree Celsius are Chandbali (40.2), Baripada (40.4), Bolangir (40), Titlagarh (41), and Sambalpur (40.1). The state capital Bhubaneswar, which sizzled at 42.3 degree Celsius yesterday, today recorded a temperature at 39.6 degree Celsius due to thundershower last evening. India Meteorological Departments (IMD) regional office in Bhubaneswar in its latest report said that heatwave condition was likely to prevail at one or two places in the districts of Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, Bolangir, Sonepur, Angul and Boudh. The Met office also said that the weather may change and there may be some respite from the heat with monsoon rain likely on June 23 and 24. Meanwhile, Deputy Special Relief Commissioner, Pravat Ranjam Mohapatra told reporters here that seven persons had died of sun stroke in the state in April this year. A total of 45 cases of suspected sun stroke deaths were reported this summer, out of which seven cases of April have been confirmed as heat stroke deaths, he said. Mohapatra said: "Inquiry into the remaining 38 cases is pending due to a delay in getting post-mortem reports. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Heavy monsoon rains lashed Goa today throwing normal life out of gear in many parts of the coastal state. The Meteorological department has predicted "heavy to very heavy spells" of rainfall in the next two days in Goa. As the heavy downpour continued since last night, streets in Panaji got flooded this morning resulting in traffic jams. Some houses in low lying areas of the capital city were also inundated. In the neighbouring Mapusa town, located about 10 km from here, the main market area was waterlogged since morning. In the Margao city also the low lying areas were flooded, affecting the movement of vehicles and pedestrians. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning of heavy rainfall for next two days, and advised people to stay indoors and not venture outside much. "In view of the intense rainfall forecast, people are advised to abstain from outdoor activities as much as possible during the period of the rain," the MeT department at Goa said in a press note issued here today. According to IMD, a widespread moderate rainfall activity with "heavy to very heavy spells" was very likely over South Konkan and Goa. "The maximum intensity of rainfall is expected from today to June 22. Extremely heavy rainfall is very likely over isolated places of North and South Goa districts today and tomorrow," it said. The MeT department has also warned the fishermen against venturing in the sea owing to the rough weather. "Winds will be westerly to south westerly at a speed of 40 to 45 km per hour temporarily reaching to 50 km per hour in a gust or squall," it said. "Fishermen are advised not to go out in the sea during the next 24 hours," the weatherman added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India today questioned the UK linking its exclusion of Indian students from a list of countries offered easier visa norms to New Delhi's refusal to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the return of illegal migrants. Earlier this week, Britain's Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox said the reason India had been excluded from a newly-expanded list of countries from where overseas students can benefit from a more streamlined UK university application process was because the unresolved issue of Indian "overstayers". "Indian students have not been included in the liberalised Tier 4 (student) visas. Now, we could say that's linked to an MoU not being signed on illegal returns but I want to tell everyone that our cooperation with the UK on this subject is very robust," said Y K Sinha, Indian High Commissioner to the UK, questioning this link between freer mobility of students and professionals with the UK government's claim that there are nearly 100,000 illegal migrants from India currently in the UK. "I am sure there are many (visa overstayers) but where did this figure 100,000 come from," he questioned, pointing to the UK Home Office's own analysis from 2016/2017 indicating that 337,180 visas were issued to Indians of which 97 per cent of them went back to India. "In fact last year, if I have the statistics right, a large number of people who were actually sent back who were overstayers who were illegals," he said. "Obviously once they (overstayers) are established to be Indians, they will be taken back. We have made that abundantly clear. But what is important is that we need to move away from this debate," he said at the ongoing of a two-day UK-India Leadership Conclave at Latimer in Buckinghamshire, near London. Stressing that it is important not to focus too much on the issue of visas and immigration, he added: "This is an important aspect but it's certainly not the only defining point in our relationship. "When we talk about freer movement of people, we are not talking about unrestricted movement of people... Let's be practical about this. Who are the inheritors of this relationship. This legacy? It's the youth and unless we can involve the youth in this relationship I'm afraid we won't be able to have that sort of vested interest in the next generation in this relationship." Easier student visa norms remain part of ongoing discussions with the Indian government over taking back its illegal migrants. At the heart lies a controversial MoU on returns, which remains pending between the two countries due to concerns in India over the timelines available to check a migrant's antecedents, according to senior Indian officials. The Indian Cabinet had approved the so-called MoU on returns to facilitate the deportation of alleged illegal Indian immigrants in the UK to India and vice-versa days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Britain to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in mid-April. The agreement was touted as the centrepiece of the nearly 25 MoUs to be signed between the two countries during the Indian PM's UK visit. However, India reportedly backed out of signing the pact at the last-minute due to reservations expressed by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) about Indian agencies being given only 15 days to verify the background of an undocumented migrant. The UK government has sought to dissociate the issue of student visas from the MoU on returns. A British High Commission spokesperson said: "Indian students will experience no change as a result of this announcement there is no limit on the number of genuine Indian students who can come to study in the UK, and the fact that last year saw a 30 per cent increase in Tier 4 visas issued to Indian students is proof that the current system allows for strong growth in this area." "This (Tier 4 changes) was a routine review of the Appendix H list conducted by the Home Office which is regularly updated due to the fact that countries' risk profiles change over time. Analysis of objective data has shown that India remains below the level required to consider a change at the current time. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India today signed three memoranda of understanding with three top UK academic institutions to facilitate meaningful exploration and early adoption of 5G technology. The MOUs were signed between representatives of King's College, University of Surrey, University of Bristol and Vipin Tyagi, Executive Director of C-DOT, a government-owned body engaged in research and development in the field of telecommunications in India. The agreements were signed at the India House in presence of India's minister of state for communications Manoj Sinha and High Commissioner to the UK Y K Sinha. "It is a win-win situation for both C-DOT and the three universities. The Government of India is fully committed to ensuring that we march in step with the world, and be among the leaders to accelerate the exploration, adoption, and full-scale deployment of 5G technology for the benefit of our citizens," Sinha said after the signing ceremony. "The signing of these agreements with premier academic institutions in the UK is an important milestone for us. We expect this strong partnership to produce accelerated outcomes that benefit both our great countries," he told reporters. The focus of the engagement between C-DOT and the universities will be to set up use-case labs to explore new scenarios for 5G, promote awareness and understanding of 5G, support the creation of 5G test beds, conduct field trials and evolve solutions for the Indian context. 5G is the next step from the currently deployed 4G telecom technologies in the world. In addition to drastically improving speeds for broadband users, it is expected to have a significant impact on new verticals such as transport, smart cities, health, manufacturing, railways, public safety and power, an official release said. Key technologies such as Massive MIMO, millimetre Wave (mmWave), Narrowband IoT, Cloud-RAN are expected to improve speeds more than ten-folds, along with providing for centralization of key resources to reduce cost and improve ease of operations. Application of innovation such as Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deployment of Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) will change the nature of telecom networks by allowing for a much larger number of devices to be connected and managed in a 5G network. With the MOUs signed, C-DOT will get access to leading experts and labs associated technologies in the UK universities. The UK universities will be able to participate in the on-going establishment of 5G test beds in India which can inter-work with the test-beds in the UK. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eminent Indian-American surgeon, writer and public health innovator Atul Gawande has been named as the of a new US employee health care company, a joint venture between Amazon, and JPMorgan Chase, the three American majors announced today. Gawande, 52, will take over as the Chief Executive Officer of the company from July 9. The new company will be headquartered in Boston and will operate as an independent entity that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints. Gawande said he was "thrilled" to be named the of the health care initiative. "I have devoted my public health career to building scalable solutions for better health care delivery that are saving lives, reducing suffering and eliminating wasteful spending both in the US and across the world," he said. "Now I have the backing of these remarkable organisations to pursue this mission with even greater impact for more than a million people, and in doing so incubate better models of care for all. This work will take time but must be done. The system is broken, and better is possible," he said. Gawande practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital and is Professor at the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. He is founding executive director of the health systems innovation center, Ariadne Labs and is also is a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. Gawande has written four bestsellers: Complications, Better, The Checklist Manifesto, and Being Mortal and has received numerous awards for his contributions to science and health care. Chairman and said talent and dedication were manifest among many professionals the trio interviewed. "All felt that better care can be delivered and that rising costs can be checked. Jamie, Jeff and I are confident that we have found in Atul the leader who will get this important job done," he said. Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon said in a statement that as employers and as leaders, addressing health care was one of the most important things that can be done for employees and their families, as well as for the communities. "Together, we have the talent and resources to make things better, and it is our responsibility to do so. We're so grateful for the countless statements of support and offers to help and participate, and we're so fortunate to have attracted such an extraordinary leader and innovator as Atul," he said. "We said at the outset that the degree of difficulty is high and success is going to require an expert's knowledge, a beginner's mind, and a long-term orientation," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of "Atul embodies all three, and we're starting strong as we move forward in this challenging and worthwhile endeavour," he said. Buffet, Dimon and Bezos had announced the partnership in January to tackle rising health-care costs. A leading Indian-origin academic has gone strike against tutoring students from King's College London after its staff members allegedly refused to address her as "Doctor". Priyamvada Gopal, a Cambridge University fellow specialising in post-colonial literature, described the incident as part of "consistently racist aggression and profiling" from porters at King's College. She declared on Twitter, after the incident on Monday, how she told one of the porters: "Please address me as Dr Gopal", to which he responded: "I don't care who you are." The 50-year-old academic said it was not just a case of her arrogantly insisting on her proper title being used instead of the term "madam", but that the term was being used mockingly and dismissively. "He then launched into a tirade about how people treat him. I am sorry but my brown body isn't taking the hit for that. He'd never talk like this to actual white men who behave badly," she said on Twitter. Gopal declared, "with deep regret", that she had finally decided "on my behalf and of other people of colour at Cambridge University" to refuse to supervise any students at King's College. She added: "Enough is enough of the consistently racist profiling and aggression by porters", adding that "hundreds of stories abound over the years...If you can't be polite to me at the gate, I can't do any work for you." According to 'The Times', students at King's College have reportedly collected evidence from others. Sarah Jilani, a mixed-race Ph.D student at the college, said the porters' behaviour was unacceptable. "Not shocked, sadly. My parents visited recently and my (brown) father was stopped and asked if 'you sir' was 'with them' (me & my white) mother," she said. In Oxford, student newspaper 'Cherwell' identified 14 incidents of "racial profiling" by porters, where non-white students were stopped and asked for identity card repeatedly while white friends were ignored. King's College said that it had investigated the matter and found "no wrongdoing on the part of our staff". "We categorically deny that the incident referred to was in any way racist. King's College is a rich and diverse community, and take the wellbeing of its students and staff extremely seriously," a spokesperson said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indonesian officials say 166 people are missing from a ferry sinking at a popular lake on Sumatra, a much higher number than previously believed. The boat didn't have a passenger manifest and disaster officials have several times raised the number of people it was carrying as distraught relatives who rushed to Lake Toba in northern Sumatra provided information. Yesterday, officials said 94 people were missing and expected the number to rise. Only 18 people were rescued and one death confirmed in the immediate response to the tragedy on Monday evening. An Associated Press reporter on Wednesday morning saw rescuers transferring a body to an ambulance onshore. Grief-stricken relatives urged officials to speed up the search effort. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today urged the Centre to direct the Water Resources Ministry to instruct the Cauvery Water Management Authority to convene its meeting on sharing of Cauvery water with Karnataka. Palaniswami, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, quoting reports, said the Karnataka government had requested the Centre to 'defer' the operation of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee. The Chief Minister of Karnataka is also reported to have stated that it was also advisable to place the "scheme" before the two Houses of Parliament and raised other issues for consideration, he said. "It is evident that Karnataka has scant regard for the orders of Supreme Court and seeks to re-open the adjudicated dispute which attained finality by the judgement of apex court," he said. Palaniswami said the concerns raised by Karnataka were already settled by the apex court in its order on February 16 and May 18, 2018 respectively. The request by his counterpart to "defer" the operation of CWMA was another 'ploy' not to comply with the orders of the apex court, he said. "It is also an attempt to re-open the already adjudicated dispute which is not permissible," Palaniswami said. Palaniswami alleged that Karnataka during the last six years failed to ensure timely release of Cauvery water following which Tamil Nadu suffered 'severely'. Tamil Nadu farmers have a legitimate expectation that the CWMA primarily mandated to implement the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the judgment of Supreme Court on February 16 "will ensure regulated release of water by Karnataka at Billingundulu," he said. Any further delay in CWMA becoming fully operational would be a violation of the apex court order, he said, adding, it would seriously prejudice the interests of the farmers of Tamil Nadu. Palaniswami requested Modi to direct the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation to issue instructions to CWMA to immediately convene its meeting so that Tamil Nadu could get its due share of water as per the orders in force. A defiant Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had said yesterday he was prepared to nominate the state's representatives on the CWMA but not before the concerns raised by him were addressed, a day after he pitched for parliamentary approval to set up the Authority. Political parties in Tamil Nadu reacted sharply to Kumaraswamy's remarks on the issue, accusing him of trying to "sow seeds for a new problem and confusion" and attempting to score "a few political brownie points. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Iraqi police surrounded the Baghdad headquarters of the pro-Iran Hezbollah Brigades militia today, after an armed clash with law enforcement left three people wounded, an interior ministry source said. The Hezbollah Brigades, part of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary units that fought the Islamic State group in Iraq, is also fighting on the side of Bashar al-Assad in Syria independent of the authorities in Baghdad. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today said the goal of his government is to double the income of the farmers by 2022. Work is going on to provide better road, irrigation and power facilities to the villagers, Das said at a programme in Gagi village on the outskirts of Ranchi. "Our goal is to bring prosperity in the lives of farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target to double the income of farmers by 2022. The Jharkhand government is working towards achieving this goal," an official release quoted Das as saying. "A loan of Rs 1500 crore has been taken for the purpose of constructing road to connect villages. This will create 15,000 km of roads," he said. Similarly, 2000 ponds are being renovated this year to increase irrigation facilities, Das said adding that 6 lakh small ponds were dug in the state last year. He also said work is underway to improve the power system and by December, there will be electricity in every household of Jharkhand. Stating that due to intermediaries and brokers, farmers do not get the right price of produce, Das said technology is being promoted to get rid of brokers. "Farmers can know the price of the product in other markets with the help of mobile phones. Cold storages are being opened in blocks," the chief minister said. After the Jharkhand Land Acquisition Amendment bill would turn into an Act, people would get compensation in eight months at the most, he said adding that they would not have to wait for two-three years as they had to do earlier. "But some anti-development people are spreading lies about the bill for political reasons," the chief minister said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan today met Election Commission officials here in connection with the registration of his party Makkal Needhi Maiam, and also discussed the political situation in Tamil Nadu with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. After the meeting with the poll panel officials, he told reporters that he expected his party, which was launched in February, would get registered soon. "I came here for a formal meeting. They (EC) asked certain questions. They are not having any major objection," he said. To a query, 63-year-old Haasan said the EC officials told him that his party's registration would be done soon. He, however, said the officials did not specify any time frame for it. Asked about the party's symbol, he said there has been no decision on it yet and the issue will be first discussed within the party before approaching the EC. Later, Haasan had a meeting with Gandhi. "Enjoyed meeting @ikamalhaasan in Delhi today. We discussed a wide range of issues concerning our two parties, including the political situation in Tamil Nadu," the Congress president tweeted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference said today that dialogue, internally as well as externally, was imperative for the resolution of political issue in Kashmir as it could not be addressed through operational and military means. "Dialogue, internally as well as externally, is imperative and the political issue in Kashmir as well as the ensuing crisis cannot be resolved through operational and military means," National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said in a statement here after a meeting of the party's core group. The meeting was called by Omar to discuss the prevailing situation and recent developments in the state. Jammu and Kashmir was today placed under Governor's rule for the fourth time in the last one decade after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner PDP, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the chief minister yesterday. The NC leader said there should be zero-tolerance for human rights violations and the fundamental rights of the people should be upheld at all costs. "The foremost concern should be to provide relief to the people of the state through a reconciliatory rather than confrontational approach and to work towards creating a peaceful, positive atmosphere in the state," he added. Omar said Mehbooba Mufti's government would be remembered for its "ruthless, anti-people legacy that fuelled alienation in the Valley through its iron-fist approach" to deal with widespread disenchantment and disillusionment that was stoked by the PDP's glaring ideological U-turn to remain in power. He said the PDP's approach to deal with recurring crises in the Valley was "an approach of denial, persecution and insensitivity evidenced by her silence on glaring human-rights violations" where youths were used as human shields and mowed down by vehicles in stark contrast to the hollow rhetoric of the former chief minister. Omar said his party has sought the dissolution of the state assembly to thwart attempts and plans of horse-trading as this would result in further erosion in the credibility of the democratic process and institutions in the state. He reiterated the party's stand that it would neither seek support nor offer support for government formation in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is likely to fly to Bengaluru tomorrow to join a 10-day naturopathy course, officials said. According to officials at the CM office, Kejriwal has not been keeping well after ending the nine-day long sit-in at Lt Governor's office. During the protest, his blood sugar levels had increased and even insulin injections were not working on him. "He is likely to leave for Bengaluru tomorrow to join a 10-day naturopathy course to control his sugar levels," the officials said. The chief minister had attended the naturopathy treatment in Bengaluru in the past for chronic cough problem. He was due to attend the course there last month itself, the officials said. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the sugar levels were "troubling" Kejriwal and he had a prior programme to join the naturopathy course. However, Kejriwal's visit to Bengaluru will delay his meeting with IAS officers. The L-G had yesterday wrote to Kejriwal asking him to meet the IAS officers "urgently" to address their concerns. The IAS Association had yesterday said that they were awaiting a formal communication for a meeting with Kejriwal. "In the context of CM's assurance, we await formal communication for a meeting with him in the Delhi Secretariat. We reiterate that we continue to be at work," IAS AGUMUT Association had tweeted. During the sit-in at the L-G office, Kejriwal had assured IAS officers of their "safety", calling them as part of a family. The IAS officers had been boycotting meeting with ministers since the alleged attack on chief secretary Anshu Prakash at Kejriwal's residence in February. They had gone public to express their apprehensions about safety. After which, Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues had started the sit-in June 11, demanding a direction by the L-G to IAS officers to end their "strike". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : The Kerala government today informed the Centre that it was prepared to take over the loss making Public sector Hindustan Newsprint Ltd at Velloor in Kottayam district. A letter in this regard was sent to Union Heavy Industries minister Anant Geete by State Industries minister A C Moideen. The move comes in the wake of the Centre's plans to place the company for auction and a transaction advisor being appointed for the purpose, the minister said in the letter. He said the state was keen to discuss the issue with the Centre before any further steps were taken on the matter. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had written to the Centre on the matter several times and the state assembly had also unanimously passed a resolution to take over HNL.However there had so far been no favourable response from the Centre, he said. "It was the neglect and liberalisation policy of the Centre which pushed the company into a loss making unit", the minister alleged. Though HNL had been running at a loss for the last five years, it had not received any financial help from the Union government or the parent company-- Hindustan Paper Corporation, the letter stated. In order to help HNL, Kerala has supplied raw material at cheaper rates, absorbing the losses, the minister said. The state government had also decided to take over the loss making Palakkad based Instrumentation Ltd. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) L&T Finance Ltd, a subsidiary of L&T Finance Holdings Ltd, today said it is hopeful of clocking at least 30 per cent growth in the 2018-19 fiscal in its mainstay micro loans business catering to the rural sector. "Micro loans are a significant part of our loan book. The industry is back to 30-40 per cent growth in this category. We should better that," Sunil Prabhune, CEO, Rural Business, L&T Finance Holdings, told reporters here. The company today opened its 1,000th "meeting centre" or micro finance branch in Kolkata. It has around 6 lakh micro loan customers in West Bengal. L&T Finance also rolled out an app to facilitate instant loan disbursements for customers including those in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. The company is keen to tap the new geographies it has recently entered, such as Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Tripura, Prabhune said. "About 40 per cent of our customers are new to credit, which means that potential in the market is most certainly there," he said. The NBFC is also eyeing the rural markets of Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh for growth. Prabhune said the company was not facing any challenges regarding loan repayments, although there was an "episodic" impact on business post demonetisation. As of March 31, the micro loans book of L&T Finance stood at Rs 7,549 crore, with a customer base of nearly 38.2 lakh women across 57,500 villages. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Sri Lankan government today appealed for details of people who went missing during the country's three-decade civil war after a list of such persons was published by an international rights group. Last month, the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) listed about 280 names of enforced disappearances which included at least 29 children. ITJP called it the largest single group of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka's history with hundreds of people disappearing at the same time and place with multiple eye witnesses both inside and outside the country. The number has since been increased to 351 and all of them have been described as those "who are alleged to have disappeared while in the custody of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in May 2009" when the civil war ended with the defeat of the LTTE militant group. The foreign ministry said the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) is the permanent and independent entity in Sri Lanka that is vested with the tasks of searching and tracing of missing persons and clarifying the circumstances in which such persons went missing, and their fate, making recommendations to relevant authorities towards reducing the incidents of missing persons, protecting the rights and interests of missing persons and their relatives, and identifying proper avenues of redress to which such missing people or their relatives may have recourse. Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urges and encourages anyone in Sri Lanka or overseas to kindly share with the Office on Missing Persons," it said. The OMP became operational in May and have toured the former conflict zones in the north and east to meet with relatives of the missing. The OMP was one of the institutions which the UN Human Rights Council recommended to be set up through three successive resolutions which urged for independent international mechanisms to probe alleged human rights abuses blamed on both Sri Lankan government troops and the LTTE. The opposition has accused the OMP of targeting security forces who had fought the LTTE during the brutal separatist conflict. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A magisterial inquiry has been ordered and two persons arrested by Lucknow Police today in connection with the fire incident at two hotels here which claimed five lives. Lucknow district administration officials also said that four hotels including the two hotels, which had caught fire, have been sealed. City magistrate Vivek Srivastava said: "Four hotels including the two hotels, which had caught fire yesterday have been sealed in a drive undertaken today. The erring hotels were unable to present NOC (no objection certificate) pertaining to fire safety and other documents such as registration papers." A major fire broke out at the two hotels in the busy area of the city yesterday morning, killing five people and critically injuring four. The fire broke out at a hotel in the Charbagh area near the railway station here at a around 6 AM and spread to an adjacent hotel. "We have arrested two persons. One of them was a manager in a hotel, while the other was a security guard on duty when the accident took place. Yesterday in the FIR, the owners, managers and guards on duty of both hotels were named," Superintendent of Police (Lucknow West) Vikas Chand Tripathi told PTI. While one was the supervisor on duty at Hotel Virat, the other was the guard on duty at SSJ International at the time of the incident, police said. The deceased have been identified as Mehar (one-and-half year-old) from Kanpur, Santosh Mane (35) from Pune, Priyansh Sharma (40) from Aligarh, Ganesh Prasad (45) from Patna and an unidentified woman, an official of Lucknow district administration said: District Magistrate of Lucknow Kaushal Raj Sharma said a magisterial inquiry has been ordered for the Charbagh hotel fire incident to look into the reasons of the incident and submit report in a month. Teams will be constituted in two days comprising the additional city magistrate, circle officer, municipal corporation, Lucknow Development Authority and Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration, he said They will conduct inspection and inquiry at the buildings , hotels, restaurants, bars and nursing homes, he added. He said the teams will see if the buildings were made according to plan and had no objection certificate from LMC and LDA, and whether they had the permissible electric load required to run their whole complex. DIG (law and order) Praveen Kumar had said yesterday that the map of one of the hotels was not approved, while there was no staff to handle fire fighting equipment in the neighbouring hotel. Cases have been registered against owners of both hotels under various sections of the IPC, he had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will expand his Cabinet after monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature is concluded, state BJP president Raosaheb Danve said today. "There will be a cabinet expansion, but, after the monsoon session (of the state legislature)," Danve told PTI. In a departure from convention, the monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature will be held in Nagpur instead of Mumbai from July 4 to July 20. Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra, hosts the winter session of the state legislature every year while monsoon and budget sessions are held in Mumbai. When asked about possible inductions into the cabinet, Danve said the BJP's core committee will hold a meeting after the session and finalise the names. "Nothing can be said about the names of the inductees at this juncture," he said. Senior BJP leader and Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had recently said that names of new ministers would be finalised after holding talks with allies of the BJP. Maharashtra had 39 ministers and Ministers of State. However, after the demise of agriculture minister Pandurang Fundkar, the number has come down to 38. The ruling BJP has the maximum number of ministers, followed by its bickering ally Shiv Sena. Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) both have one berth each. The state cabinet can accommodate a maximum of 42 ministers (as per the constitutional upper limit of 15 per cent of the number of MLAs). Maharashtra has total 288 MLAs. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) When a government hospital in Maharashtra informed family members of a 50-year-old patient of his death and handed them his body, they were crestfallen. It was only after the body was brought to the home of the "deceased" Avinash Dadasaheb Bagwade that family members realised it wasn't his. Enquiries with the Sangli civil hospital authorities revealed that it was indeed not the body of Bagwade, who in fact, was alive and responding to treatment in the hospital. A hospital official said the reason for this mix-up would be probed. "We will submit a probe report in the next 48 hours and action will be taken against those involved," the hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Subodh Ugane said. The hospital also failed to identify the person whose body was handed over to the Bagwade family after conducting the post-mortem. The incident took place at the government hospital, where Bagwade was admitted for liver ailment. Yesterday, his relatives received a call from the hospital informing that he was dead. Some relatives arrived at the hospital and accepted the body, a hospital official said. "However, one relative was not convinced that it was Bagwade's body. He spoke to the hospital authorities who asked the family to collect the body and leave the premises," he said. As the body was being taken into Bagwade's house at Tasgaon, about 25 km from Sangli, many relatives felt that it was not his body. Some family members then removed the cloth covering it and realised that some other person's body was given to them. They rushed back to Sangli to find that Bagwade was very much in the hospital and responding to treatment. Meanwhile, nobody has come forward to claim the body, the official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maharashtra government today decided to add an additional clause to the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act to check the sale of civic body's land at concessional rates. The decision was taken at the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here. It was decided at the meeting that the government would add an additional clause to the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act's existing clause 79(d) for not allowing civic land to be given away at concessional rates. "The properties of the civic body can be given away at market prices or more and not at lower rates," an official in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said. In the meeting, the government also decided to enact a new law for the effective and transparent management of the Shri Shaneshwar Devasthan at Shingnapur, located near the famed temple town of Shirdi, in Ahmednagar district. The new law will also enable improved facilities for the devotees, the official said. The shrine at the renowned temple, dedicated to Lord Shani, who personifies the planet Saturn in Hindu belief, is located at a short distance from Shirdi in western Maharashtra. The religious place, popularly known as the Shani Shingnapur temple, had been in two years ago when a group of activists launched a campaign to allow women to enter the sanctum sanctorum, breaking the tradition of allowing entry only to men. The temple trustees later decided to facilitate unrestricted entry of women into the temple, following a directive of the Bombay High Court. In another decision, the cabinet approved a proposal to link 145 agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) to the eNAM, the portal of the National Agriculture Market. The pan-India electronic trading portal networks the existing APMCs to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. The NAM portal provides a single window service for all APMC-related information and services. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat urged soldiers with disability to maintain mental perseverance despite the odds to excel in life. While speaking at a seminar on mental and physical issues of disabled soldiers, Rawat exhorted them to take psychiatric treatment to overcome the mental trauma faced after disability. "If you can maintain your mental perseverance then you can do anything," Rawat said, assuring the disabled soldiers that the Army will always be there for them. Lt Gen Bipin Puri, the Director General of the Armed Forces Medical Service, said the Artificial Limb Centre in Pune currently caters to the needs of the disabled soldiers, and five more such centres will be established in other parts of the country starting this year. With the establishment of these five new centres, disabled soldiers from other parts of the country would not have to travel to Pune, Puri added. On the occasion, Rawat recalled Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, saying the legendary solider kept his sense of humour alive even after being critically injured with seven bullets during the World War II. "When the surgeon asked him what had happened to him, Manekshaw replied that he had been kicked by a donkey." "The surgeon said if his sense of humour was intact despite taking seven bullets, then he will survive and rise to many a higher rank." Rawat said. Manekshaw went on to head the Indian Army and was its chief during the India-Pakistan war in 1971. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Margadarsi Chit Fund has achieved a business turnover of Rs 10,204 crore in fiscal 2017-18 and has set a target to achieve Rs 20,000 crore turnover by 2025, its Managing Director Sailaja Kiron said here today. "We have done turnover of Rs 10,204 crore in FY 2017-18. For current fiscal (2018-19) the company has set a target of Rs 10,800 crore turnover and is hopeful of exceeding Rs 11,000 crore," Sailaja told reporters here. The company, established in 1962 with its first branch in Himyatnagar here, now has 105 branches in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Asked if the company planned to foray into the banking sector, she said "No...Maybe we will think about an NBFC...and not a bank. We are just contemplating on it (NBFC) and it is in the initial stage. Nothing has been formalised." To a query on Goods and Services Tax on chit funds,Sailaja said the chit fund industry has been seeking its complete removal and added that the levy of 12 per cent was too high. "It would be much better if GST is removed. It will be a boon to our subscribers. We definitely want it removed. They treated us badly...others (financial institutions) don't have GST on their interest and incomes. Representations have been given to the government and we will continue to pursue", she said. The company has chit values starting from Rs 50,000 to Rs 80 lakh and is contemplating commencing Rs one crore chits in the future, Sailaja said, adding that they planned to set up five to six more branches this year. "We want to remain a South India based company,"she said. She said the average return on chit investment was six to eight per cent per annum, depending on the chit group. "Enrollments are scrutinised very thoroughly to ensure our default rate is very low and our recovery is 99 per cent," Sailaja added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Veteran director Martin Scorsese will be conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Rome Film Fest. The announcement was made by director Antonio Monda and Laura Delli Colli, the head of the Fondazione Cinema per Roma, the festival organisers said in a statement. Italian director Paolo Taviani will present the award to Scorsese, who is best known for modern American classics such as "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", "Goodfellas", "The Aviator" and "The Departed". "I am extremely honored to bestow the Lifetime Achievement Award to a Cinema Master," Monda said. "I am thrilled and moved to celebrate Martin Scorsese, not only as a great director but also for his extraordinary and priceless contribution to the rediscovery of great classic movies and, most of all, of Italian Cinema," he added. Scorsese has long had ties to Italy as his grandparents on both sides had emigrated to the United States from Palermo, Sicily. His 2002 film "Gangs of New York", featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis, was shot in Rome's famed Cinecitta studios. The 13th edition of the famed film festival will run from October 18-28. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Defence Secretary James Mattis has attended a joint meeting of India caucuses of both the House of Representatives and the Senate during which measures to enhance defence ties between the two countries were discussed. This is one of the few occasions of a joint bipartisan meeting of the two caucuses and a rare occasion that it was attended by the defence secretary. "Great to have SECDEF Mattis join the bipartisan House and Senate India Caucus meeting, Congressman Don Bacon tweeted after the meeting. India has the largest country-specific caucus in the House of Representatives. It is also the only country-specific caucus in the Senate. The Senate India Caucus is co-chaired by Senators John Cornyn and Mark Warner. The House India Caucus is co-chaired by Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and George Holding. This is one of the few occasions of a joint bipartisan meeting of the two caucuses and a rare occasion that it was attended by the Defense Secretary. The attendance of Mattis, who is pushing for a string defence ties with India, comes ahead of the inaugural 2+2 meeting of Indian and US defence and foreign ministers. "There has never been a moment where our strategic and economic interests were more aligned between our two countries than today. A stronger partnership helps both the US and India, tweeted Congressman Bacon, who represents Nebraska's Second Congressional District in the US House of Representatives. "As co-founder and co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, we met today with US Secretary of Defence James Mattis as part of a bicameral India Caucus discussion on security cooperation and mutual defense interests, Cornyn said in a tweet. "Great hearing from SecDef Mattis at today's Senate India Caucus meeting important insights on the vital role of the US-India relationship to our national security in the Pacific region and at home, Senator Warner said. We discussed efforts to enhance US-India defense cooperation, Congressman Pete Olson tweeted. The meeting comes at a time when India faces the risk of US sanctions because of a new legislation which restricts countries from buying significant military equipment from Russia. Mattis has sought exemption for several countries including India. In the past several weeks, top officials of the Trump administration has argued against any sanctions against India under CAATSA or Countering America's Adversaries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Militants fired upon a security forces' vehicle near Gallandar on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway today,injuring a policeman. The ultras fired upon a police vehicle of the 7th Battalion IRP in Pampore area of the city, a police official said, adding a policeman suffered injuries in the attack. The injured has been taken to a hospital, the official said, adding a hunt has been launched to nab the attackers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her 25-year-old uncle in a village in Vidisha district today, police said. The accused was arrested under various sections of the IPC and the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, said superintendent of police Vinit Kapoor. According to police, the accused allegedly abducted the girl from outside her house in Ganj Basoda village. "Villagers spotted the girl lying behind a school, following which they alerted the police," the SP said. The accused was arrested after the girl named him during investigation. The victim was sent to the government hospital in Ganj Basoda for medical examination, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress in Maharashtra today said the state child rights panel's notice to party president Rahul Gandhi for 'disclosing' the identity of two minor boys, who were victims of an assault, as a bid to divert the attention from the main issue pertaining to the deprived sections. A video purportedly showing the two minor boys being stripped and beaten up for swimming in a well of a farmer in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district had gone viral last week. Gandhi had tweeted about the incident, tagging the video and blaming the BJP and the RSS for "rising atrocities" against backward classes. As per law, the identity of minor victims cannot be disclosed. The video of the incident had gone viral on social media much before Gandhi's tweet on it and even television channels had aired the clip, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan told reporters here, defending the party president. "The notice issued by the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights to Gandhi is a means to divert attention from the main issue of deprived sections of the society being targetted," he alleged. The Congress will seek a legal opinion in the matter and clarify its future course of action, he said. Chavan claimed that since the BJP came to power, the atrocities on Dalits, backward classes and deprived sections of the society were on the rise. "The fresh incident is the case of two teenagers from a backward community being beaten up for bathing in a well in Jalgaon district. Authorities are not taking action in the case. If we raise our voice against this and demand immediate action, what is wrong in this?," he asked. Taking cognisance of a complaint filed by a Mumbai resident, Amol Jadhav, the child rights panel had yesterday issued a show cause notice to Gandhi and Twitter for disclosing the identity of the two minor Dalit boys. The commission sought a reply from both as to why action should not be taken against them under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar had yesterday demanded that Gandhi withdraw the video from his twitter handle. The commission has sought Gandhi's reply within 10 days. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here tonight to take part in the main International Yoga Day event to be held here tomorrow. The prime minister was accorded a warm welcome by Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Assembly Speaker Premchand Aggarwal, state BJP president Ajay Bhatt, Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh and DGP Anil Raturi at the Jollygrant airport. The prime minister will spend the night at Raj Bhawan. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat posted a blog earlier in the day to thank the prime minister for choosing Uttarakhand to host the event, saying it will establish the state's identity as the land of yoga and give a boost to tourism which will generate fresh job opportunities. Modi will join thousands of volunteers performing yoga asanas in Dehradun to mark the 4th International Yoga Day tomorrow while many Union ministers will join similar events across the country. The exercise in Dehradun will be held in the picturesque lawns of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in the lap of the Himalayas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The monsoon session for both Houses in bicameral legislature of Bihar will commence on July 20 and conclude on July 26, the state cabinet decided at its meeting here today. "The upcoming session will have five working days. Official legislative business will take place on July 23 and July 24 while the first supplementary budget for the current financial year will be tabled on July 25," Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat Department, Upendra Nath Pandey, said after the cabinet meeting. The proposed schedule will be sent to the Governor for his approval, he said. Another meeting also decided to increase the monthly allowances paid to surrendered Maoists for acquiring vocational skills during their rehabilitation period from Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000, Pandey said. The one-time assistance of Rs 2.5 lakh, paid to the surrendered Maoists who were members of politburo, central committee, regional committee or state committee of their respective outfits, has also been raised to Rs 5 lakh, he said. The amount paid to lower ranking cadres has been hiked from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh. The cabinet gave its nod for expenditure of Rs 1228.83 crore towards acquisition of land for constructing about 865 kms of road in five naxal-infested districts of Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Jamui, Banka and Aurangabad, Pandey said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking a swipe at faction-ridden Congress in Madhya Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) today dared the party to pick a leader against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the assembly polls, due later this year. "Our mascot for in Madhya Pradesh assembly polls is Shivraj Singh Chouahn. I ask the Congress to pick a chief ministerial candidate against Shivraj if the party is united and efficient," Madhya Pradesh BJYM president Abhilash Pandey told reporters here. BJYM is the youth wing of the BJP. Pandey is leading a motorbikes' rally in 110 assembly constituencies across 37 districts where the BJP had either won or lost by a margin of 5,000 votes in 2013 polls. Taking potshot at state Congress chief Kamal Nath, he said, "Kamal Nath is not a state-level leader, but a leader of Chhindwara (his parliamentary constituency). While Shivraj is the son of a farmer, Kamal Nath represents industrialists". Responding to a query on growing activities of quota leader Hardik Patel in Madhya Pradesh, Pandey said the Congress lost in Gujarat due to the "help" extended by Hardik. "If he supports the Congress in MP as well, we will defeat them again," he said. Pandey said the reservation matter is pending before court. "We respect judiciary. Our government protects the rights of all sections of the society," he said. Pandey said the BJP would consider "winnability factor" while allotting tickets for the polls and will not allow nepotism. "Being a son of a politician is not a boon or bane. The BJP will take into account winnability factor while selecting candidates," Pandey said while responding to a query on speculations that sons of many BJP leaders might get tickets. The 4000-km motorbikes rally started on June 15 from Agar Malwa district and would culminate on July 3 in Chhindwara district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Muscat-bound Air India flight via Mumbai carrying 176 passengers onboard from Ahmedabad made an emergency landing at the city airport due to the hydraulic leakage, an airline spokesperson said. All the passengers are safe and will be flying to their destination in another aircraft, he added. "Full emergency was declared at 2015 hrs for AI 985 arriving from Ahmadabad due to hydraulic failure," a Mumbai airport official said. The flight landed safely at 2036 hrs, the official added. Confirming the incident, the Air India spokesperson said the pilot of the Airbus A321 sought emergency landing due to the mid-aid hydraulic leakage. There were 176 passengers onboard apart from the crew, he said adding the aircraft is being changed for the onward flight. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Agriculture experts and economists will deliberate upon an agricultural trade policy and transfer of technology from labs to land at a conference in Pune tomorrow that will be inaugurated by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. Former Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will also attend the two-day conference. The deliberations on agriculture at the conference will result in practical recommendations to fine tune existing policies and programmes to enhance farmers' income, the vice-president's office said in a statement. The vice president will also attend the two-day National Consultation on Making Agriculture Sustainable and Profitable', which is being organised by the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA). Naidu, as Vice-President is chairman of the institute. The concept paper prepared by IIPA for the event, refers to the need for further improving policies and programmes to transform farmers' lives. Experts and agri-economists at the conference will deliberate upon creating an enabling policy framework, agricultural trade policy, transfer of technology from labs to land and agricultural credit and insurance, it added. The conference on farm sector issues is the second in the Swarajya to Surajya' series of national consultations initiated by the IIPA on the behest of vice president. The first one on Strengthening of Local Self Governments' was held in March this year in Hyderabad. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister for Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh, agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan, economist Ashok Gulati, farm scientists, representatives of farmers unions, CII, FICCI and other stakeholders will also attend the event. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Telecom giant Airtel today said it had never agreed to the "outrageous" request from a subscriber for a non-Muslim customer service representative and vowed to "stay innocent and bereft of religious consideration". While Airtel came out with a strongly worded statement defending its actions, it emerged from Twitter timelines that Lucknow-based Pooja Singh had been contacted by Airtel representative Gaganjot in a routine manner in less than 10 minutes of Shoaib responding to her complaints of poor service. Gaganjot messaged her once on her public timelines on Twitter and thrice through private direct message (DM) offering assistance to resolve her complaint, all before she tweeted seeking a "Hindu representative" as she had "no faith in his (Shoaib's) work ethics". According to her twitter timelines, Pooja Singh complained of poor service at 12.09 pm on June 18, which was responded to by Shoaib at 12.18 pm. Within minutes, Gaganjot responded to Pooja at 12.34 pm saying: "Hi let me check that out for you. I don't want to keep you waiting another minute! Please DM your 10 digit DTH ID along with your contact number via the link here, and we will connect with you to assist. Thank you, Gaganjot." Airtel sources said Gaganjot may have contacted Pooja in routine manner as Shoaib may have been handling different customers. This was well before Pooja made the outrageous request. Even after being contacted by Gaganjot, Pooja, whose Twitter handle declares her as a management professional, a "Proud Indian" and a "Proud Hindu", at 2.59 pm wrote: "Dear Shoaib, as you're a Muslim and I have no faith in your working ethics because Kuran may have a different version for customer service, thus requesting you to assign a Hindu representative for my request. Thanks (sic)." This message was responded to by Gaganjot at 3.25 pm saying: "Hi Pooja! As discussed, please let me know what time framework best for you so we can talk. Further, please share an alternate number so that I can assist you further with this. Thank you."Pooja, whose followers seem to have grown from over 10,500 to 15,100 since the controversy broke, was unreachable for comments. She did not even respond to a Twitter post seeking a response on the issue. Airtel in a statement today said what has been reported of the company not standing up to bigotry is "mostly, untrue and factually incorrect." Shoaib and Gaganjot, it said, followed a dutiful course in their regular work. "When a customer writes in and one advisor is busy, the query gets assigned to the next available advisor automatically. Which is exactly what happened with Shoaib and Gaganjot." Airtel said a customer made "an outrageous request of preferring to talk to someone of a particular religious identity" but the two service executives continued to dedicatedly work towards ensuring a solution to the complaint. "The fact that Shoaib wasn't logged in and that Gaganjot took up the case got read as 'bowing down to bigotry'. The fact that Gaganjot didn't check his colleague's religious identity before taking up the case got read as 'heeding to a discriminatory request'." "We did not and we repeat, we DID NOT change the advisor because of the unfathomable request from the said customer," the firm said. "At Airtel, we never have and never will succumb to differentiating on the basis of religion, ethnicity or caste." Stating that it will continue to train its representatives to see the world without the filters of bias, Airtel said it will "strongly resist" attempts to check religious identities of its service representatives before attending to complaints. "We promise you that we will try our best to let them stay innocent and bereft of religious considerations," it said. Pooja has been retweeting tweets supporting her. "I am overwhelmed with the kind of support I got from you all and really thankful to you from bottom of my heart. What I said was my personal choice as per my past experience and it was not a publicity stunt by anyway," she said in a statement posted on her Twitter account yesterday. She also received a lot of hate tweets for her bigotry. To this, she responded: "I simply made a request to change representative from Muslim to Hindu as my experience in past was not good and that's my right as well. After that, the kind of abuses I'm facing are beyond imagination and that in itself proves that I was right at very first place. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) MIT scientists have developed a system that allows humans to control robots using brainwaves and simple hand gestures, preventing machines from committing errors in real time. By monitoring brain activity, the system can detect in real time if a person notices an error as a robot does a task. Using an interface that measures muscle activity, the person can then make hand gestures to scroll through and select the correct option for the robot to execute. The team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)'s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) in the US demonstrated the system on a task in which a robot moves a power drill to one of three possible targets on the body of a mock plane. They showed that the system works on users it has never interacted with before, meaning that organisations could deploy it in real-world settings without needing to train it on users. "This work combining EEG and EMG feedback enables natural human-robot interactions for a broader set of applications than we've been able to do before using only EEG feedback," said CSAIL director Daniela Rus, who supervised the work. "By including muscle feedback, we can use gestures to command the robot spatially, with much more nuance and specificity," said Rus. In previous research, systems could generally only recognise brain signals when people trained themselves to "think" in very specific but arbitrary ways and when the system was trained on such signals. For instance, a human operator might have to look at different light displays that correspond to different robot tasks during a training session. Such approaches are difficult for people to handle reliably, especially if they work in fields like construction or navigation that already require intense concentration. Meanwhile, the team harnessed the power of brain signals called "error-related potentials" (ErrPs), which researchers have found to naturally occur when people notice mistakes. "What's great about this approach is that there's no need to train users to think in a prescribed way. The machine adapts to you, and not the other way around," said Joseph DelPreto, a PhD candidate at CSAIL. For the project the team used "Baxter", a humanoid robot from Rethink Robotics. With human supervision, the robot went from choosing the correct target 70 percent of the time to more than 97 percent of the time. To create the system the team harnessed the power of electroencephalography (EEG) for brain activity and electromyography (EMG) for muscle activity, putting a series of electrodes on the users' scalp and forearm. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The NHRC has issued notices to the Centre and the governments of Rajasthan and Haryana over reported "massive deforestation" in the Aravalli hills "causing dust storms" in the national capital region. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in a statement said, "Reportedly, the open forest cover in the Aravalli hills has decreased in the last three decades while the scrub has increased by 5.7 per cent, making it almost barren without any moisture in the air." The NHRC has issued notices to the chief secretaries of the governments of Rajasthan and Haryana as well as the secretary of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and sought their response in six weeks. "The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports that massive deforestation in Aravalli hills for business interests in Rajasthan and Haryana is the root cause behind the increasing dust storms and air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region during the past several days creating health concerns," the statement said. The Commission has observed that the gravity of the issue demands "proactive and effective measures" by the authorities concerned to stop deforestation and degradation of the famed hill range. Heavy vegetation can prevent the situation from further deterioration and create a green barrier against the sand storm, it said. Accordingly, the notices have been issued in order to know the steps being taken or proposed to be taken by them on the matter. The media reports have quoted the findings of studies conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India and the Amity School of Earth and Environmental Sciences as well as several other experts in this regard, the rights panel said. According to them, the Aravalli range, extending over 690 km from Palampur in Gujarat to Delhi through Rajasthan and Haryana, has stood strong against the advancement of the Thar desert for more than three billion years, it said. "If its degradation is not checked, the day is not far when its desertification will badly affect a host of ecosystem, including rain, ground water level, control of temperature, trapping of dust and pollutants, and habitat for hundreds of flora and fauna," the NHRC statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Niti Aayog's proposed meeting on Friday with the officials of Jammu and Kashmir government and NGOs has been postponed in view of the imposition of Governor's rule in the state, a senior official said. The meeting, which was to be coordinated by the Social Welfare Department of the Jammu and Kashmir government in Srinagar, is likely be postponed to a convenient date in July. Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant was scheduled to lead the Niti Aayog delegation, which among other things was also supposed to discuss the developmental activities in the Aayog's two identified aspirational districts Baramulla and Kupwara. Jammu and Kashmir was on Wednesday placed under Governor's rule for the fourth time in the last one decade after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner PDP, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the chief minister. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for his support in last week's groundbreaking summit with President Donald Trump, the North's official media reported today. Kim is in Beijing on his third visit to China this year, underscoring the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbors. A report by the Korean Central Agency said Kim expressed his gratitude to Xi in a meeting on Tuesday, during which Xi "gave high appreciation and extended heartfelt congratulations" to Kim over the summit. KCNA said that during a banquet hosted by Xi, Kim also said Pyongyang and Beijing are seeing their ties develop into "unprecedentedly special relations." At the summit with Trump in Singapore, Kim pledged to work toward denuclearization in exchange for U.S. security guarantees. The US and South Korea suspended a major joint military exercise that was planned in August in what was seen as a major victory for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia. There was no official word on Kim's activities on Wednesday, although South Korea's Yonhap agency said his motorcade was seen at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing. China has pressed North Korea to adopt economic reforms and has touted the prospects of increased trade and investment if Pyongyang makes progress in talks on abandoning its nuclear weapons and long-range missile programs. That could allow the lifting of U.N. Security Council economic sanctions that have brought about a plunge in the North's foreign trade, although the U.S. insists easing of sanctions can only come after Pyongyang shows it has ended its nuclear programs. The U.S. says China is in agreement on that point, although Chinese officials have repeatedly stated that sanctions should not be considered an end to their own. Chinese media reported that in the Tuesday talks, Xi told Kim that he hopes Pyongyang and Washington can fully implement the summit outcomes and that China would "as always play a constructive role" in that process. The U.S. has long looked to China to use its influence with North Korea to bring it to negotiations, but the visit comes as ties between Beijing and Washington are being tested by a major trade dispute. Kim is expected to return to Pyongyang today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A worker was killed and another injured in a blast while handling explosive material at a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory in Pune's Hinjawadi area, an official said today. The incident took place at the High Energy Material Research Laboratory (HEMRL), a premier unit of the DRDO, yesterday afternoon. A contract worker Laxmikant Sonawane (26) was killed in the explosion, while Yogesh Kirtikar was injured, the police said. The workers were cutting and dividing an explosive material into samples when it exploded, a senior HEMRL official said. Both were rushed to a hospital, where Sonawane was declared brought dead, he said, adding that Kirtikar was discharged after treatment. The official claimed that the laboratory adheres to all the safety guidelines and the workers are highly trained in handling explosive substances. An investigation will be conducted into the incident by a high-level committee, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Government colleges in Punjab will have an online attendance system from the next academic session, an official statement said today. Besides, an audit of the colleges will be introduced to streamline higher system in the state. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Punjab Minister for Higher Razia Sultana with the principals of government colleges, the official release said. "To streamline the higher system in Punjab, all government colleges will adopt online admissions criteria from next academic session. Each college will be required to submit a monthly progress report of its academic and other activities," an official spokesman said. "No Principal will have any power to relax attendance of any student. Necessary directions in this regard will be issued soon by the government. Attendance of students will be marked online from the next academic session," the spokesman said. He said that various issues related to raising standard of higher education in Punjab were discussed at length in the meeting. It was decided to lift academic activities and action plan for the next year, online admissions, ensuring maximum attendance of students, faculty development, status of NAAC accreditation, introduction of academic audit, subject combination in under graduate courses, best practices in colleges, motivational lecture series by eminent personalities and status of libraries. The spokesman further said it was decided that all teachers of the colleges would have to undergo one week orientation/refresher course every year to enhance their knowledge and teaching methodologies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today urged the Centre to withdraw its appeal in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the award of compensation to those arrested and detained in the Jodhpur prison following the 'Operation Bluestar' in 1984. Singh appealed to the central government to pay, without further delay, half the compensation amount of Rs 4.5 crore that was awarded by the District and Sessions Court of Amritsar in April last year, according to an official release. In a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the chief minister said the central government's appeal against the compensation, which the court had held to be jointly payable by the central and state governments, had evoked a strong reaction amongst the Sikh community. It was further likely to lead to a sense of alienation and perceived injustice among the community, the chief minister said. A total of 375 people were arrested and detained in Jodhpur jail after the 'Operation Bluestar', and were later released in three batches, between March 1989 and July 1991. Of these, 224 detainees had appealed for compensation in the lower court, alleging "wrongful detention and torture" but they failed to get any relief from the court in 2011. However, 40 of the detainees went in appeal to the District & Sessions Court, Amritsar, and were awarded Rs four lakh each as compensation with six per cent interest (from the date of filing of the appeal to payment of compensation) in April last year. The total compensation, including interest, worked out to Rs 4.5 crore approximately, the chief minister said. The court had held the central and the state governments as jointly liable for payment of the compensation, and although the Punjab government had given an undertaking to the court to pay half the amount, the Union Government had moved an appeal in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the order, the chief minister said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hospitality firm on Wednesday said it has forayed in China as part of its overseas expansion plans. China is the company's third overseas market, after its successful venture into and Nepal, where it has grown multi-fold, said in a statement. Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal said, "After our successful overseas expansion and operations in and Nepal, we are thrilled to offer OYO hotels hassle-free and standardised stay experience to guests in China." The country's tourism industry is on the cusp of booming and flourishing wherein it enjoys a strong influx of both domestic and international tourists, he added. "The expansion is in line with our mission of creating beautiful living spaces by empowering hotel owners to become better hospitality players while ensuring an end-to-end controlled experience for our guests," Agarwal said. The launch will provide an affordable and trusted stay option for both Indian and international tourists, business travellers and local city-dwellers, he added. The company has started operations in 26 cities in China including Hangzhou, Xian, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Kunming, among others. The company will be working towards transforming the region's hospitality industry by introducing its strong hotel brand and operating solutions for ensuring a seamless experience for both guests and asset partners while generating job opportunities for locals in smaller tier provinces, OYO said. The break-up of the PDP-BJP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir sparked celebrations in parts of the Valley, even as some people expressed apprehension that Governor's rule might lead to lack of transparency and worsen the situation in the state. The BJP pulled out of the alliance with the PDP yesterday, following which Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti tendered her resignation. Governor's rule was imposed in the state this morning. In several areas of Kashmir, including Srinagar, Kupwara and Pahalgam, people burst firecrackers after the broke out. "This alliance was unholy. The PDP should not have joined hands with the BJP in the first place. But better late than never. We are happy that this alliance has ended," Faizan Mir, a resident of Srinagar, said. Mudassir Nazir, a businessman, described the PDP-BJP alliance as a coalition of north and south poles as the their ideologies are in stark contrast. "Their ideologies are totally opposite. The BJP has its own interests and does not care about the people of Kashmir. They were totally opposite to what PDP stands for and hence, the people were suffering," he said. The businessman also accused the coalition government of being corrupt and hoped for a clean and transparent administration under Governor N N Vohra. "There would be no ministers now and no lust for power or money. I am sure the Governor will be able to give a clean, transparent and corruption-free administration. We have seen this in the past," he said. The celebrations over the end of the alliance were reported from south Kashmir -- the PDP's bastion -- as well. Speaking over phone from Pahalgam, Hameed-ullah Wani, a PDP supporter, said the people wanted to get rid of the alliance right from day one. "We never appreciated the PDP for joining hands with the BJP. This was their biggest blunder and they will pay for it. We are happy that it is over as this alliance caused agony and suffering to the people of the state, especially in the Valley. "However, it would have been better if the PDP would have ditched the BJP rather than what happened," he said. However, some people felt that an elected government was any day better than the Governor's rule. "A democratically elected government is much better any day than the Governor's rule which essentially means New Delhi's direct rule in the state where now they will have absolute control over the administration and the security apparatus. "They can do anything now in the absence of a government which otherwise could built pressure on them on certain issues," Feroz Ahmad Bhat, a resident of central Kashmir's Ganderbal said. Bhat's views were echoed by Sheikh Tanveer, a resident of uptown Srinagar. Tanveer said when a government is in place, people can take their grievances to their representatives and hold them accountable, which is not the case in Governor's rule. "Whether you like it or not, you cannot do anything about it (Governor's rule). That is the major difference. You can hold the government responsible, your representatives and ministers are reachable and they listen to you because they have a constituency which the Governor does not have," he said. Tanveer said it would have been better if the regional parties the PDP and the National Conference would come together with the support of the Congress to cobble up a coalition government. "The regional party government acts as a buffer in states like Jammu and Kashmir. I wish the PDP and the NC would have come together rather than having this unholy coalition or the Governor's rule," he said. He expressed apprehensions over the situation worsening in the days to come. "I think it (situation) will worsen. There was some calm because of the ceasefire and then the government had some control over how to deal with the situation. Now, the forces will have a free hand," he said. The Governor's rule, which has been imposed in Jammu and Kashmir for the eighth time, was necessitated in the state after chief minister Mehbooba resigned yesterday following BJP pulling out from the over three-year-old coalition. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a fresh attack on the BJP, NCP chief Sharad Pawar today said any move to alter the Constitution would meet with stiff resistance from the common people. Pawar recalled that former prime minister Indira Gandhi was "taught a lesson" by the people (in the 1977 elections) for imposition of Emergency in 1975. Referring to Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde's remarks, the veteran politician alleged that changing the constitution was the policy of the ruling BJP. "People will destroy those who attempt to change the constitution. The NCP will fight the battle to remove the ruling dispensation from power. The fight is not easy but we will fight it till the end," the NCP chief said while addressing a party meeting on "Save Constitution". He said former prime minister Indira Gandhi had worked hard for upliftment of the poor and improved India's prestige at the global level during her tenure. "However, due to peculiar circumstances, she imposed Emergency in the country. However, the common man taught her a lesson...Not only did her government lose the elections but she herself lost her Parliamentary seat," recalled Pawar who was with the Congress before floating the NCP in year 1999. Emergency, considered as the darkest chapter in Indian democracy, was imposed by Gandhi on June 25-26, 1975. It was lifted 21 months later. Pawar alleged that atrocities on deprived sections, minorities, women and backward classes have risen in the last four years. "There are many incidents of mob lynching but the accused are roaming free. The ruling dispensation doesn't believe in the constitution," the former Union minister said. Pawar also referred to then RSS chief M S Golwalkar's book "Bunch of Thoughts" which he said had termed the constitution "cumbersome and heterogeneous". "Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome and heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various constitutions of western countries. It has absolutely nothing which can be called our own," Pawar said quoting the book. Referring to the remarks made by Anant Kumar Hegde, the Minister of State for Skill Development, Pawar said it was the BJP's policy to change the constitution. Hegde had reportedly said last year that "We are here to change the Constitution and we'll change it." He later apologised after his remarks invited widescale condemnation. "Even when union minister Anant Kumar Hegde says that his government's aim was to change the constitution, the government says it was his personal view and there was no such move. There can be no personal view of a union minister. This (changing the constitution) is the BJP's policy. The BJP just wants to test the mood of the people by making such comments," Pawar said. Appealing to his party workers to be wary of the BJP, Pawar said, "Women, backward classes, deprived sections of the society, tribals, minorities will be worst affected if the constitution is changed". Since the defeat of the BJP in bypolls last month, Pawar has intensified his attack on the Narendra Modi government. He had appealed to like-minded parties to come together to defeat the BJP in 2019 polls and volunteered to play the role of a unifier. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the security of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been beefed up following reports of Maoists planning an attack on him. "We do not know who is planning what, and at what stage the plans are. We need to take all precautions. I have already set up a committee to review the prime minister's security and it is going to be a continuous process. After we received certain inputs, we tightened his security further," he said. In an interview to 'The Week' magazine, Singh said Modi had not said anything about any threat to him. "... but, as home minister, I have taken the initiative to beef up his security. He is the prime minister of the country and it is our responsibility to take care of his security." A letter allegedly found in the house of one of the five people arrested for "links" with the banned CPI (Maoist) talked about the ultras mulling "another Rajiv Gandhi incident". Responding to a question about the internal security situation in India, the minister said as far as the northeast insurgency was concerned, the security problem was normalised and there was a 95 per cent improvement. As far as left wing extremism (LWE) was concerned, there was a 55-60 per cent improvement, he said, adding that 75 per cent of the problem was concentrated in only ten districts. To a question on the alleged growing sense of alienation among minorities, Singh said no one could be allowed to discriminate on the basis of caste, sect or religion. "The kind of tolerance India has shown when it comes to religion, I don't think exists anywhere else in the world... Our policy is justice to all, and appeasement of none. The BJP also has the support of the minorities," he said. Responding to a question on the alleged rise in intolerance and assertion of majoritarianism, Singh said though there had been a few incidents of lynching, "it is not as if too many incidents have happened in such a big country. These have happened in the past as well". He said law and order was a state subject and the Centre issued advisories to states from time to time to act very strictly in such cases. "We have asked state governments to take such incidents very seriously." On the issue of the long-delayed Naga Accord, the home minister said he was confident that it would see the light of the day. "Our effort is to reach a final solution and we cannot rule out the possibility of a final accord before the Lok Sabha elections," he said. He also rejected suggestions that the government was trying to impose Hindi, saying India was a multilingual country and "we cannot impose anything". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join thousands of volunteers performing yoga asanas in Uttarakhand's Dehradun to mark the 4th International Yoga Day tomorrow. The event will be held in the picturesque lawns of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in the lap of the Himalayas. A series of yoga related events are also being organised across the world to mark the occasion. Greeting yoga enthusiasts across the world on the occasion, the prime minister said that this exercise is one of the most precious gifts given by the ancient Indian sages to humankind. Yoga is not just a set of exercises that keeps the body fit. It is a passport to health assurance, a key to fitness and wellness. Nor is Yoga only what you practice in the morning. Doing your day-to-day activities with diligence and complete awareness is a form of Yoga as well, a statement quoting Modi said. In a world of excess, yoga promises restraint and balance. In a world suffering from mental stress, it promises calm. In a distracted world, it helps focus. In a world of fear, it promises hope, strength and courage, the statement added. The prime minister also took to social media to share the intricacies of various yoga asanas. He shared pictures of people performing the exercise at various locations across the world. Modi had earlier participated in yoga celebrations at Rajpath in New Delhi in 2015, the Capitol Complex in Chandigarh in 2016, and the Ramabai Ambedkar Sabha Sthal in Lucknow in 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Meghalaya police today confirmed Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma's claim that recent violent protests in Shillong was "sponsored," saying that they have also identified some instigators behind the protests. The picturesque town of Shillong, also called "Scotland of the East" was rattled by violent protests for five days in early June after an assault of a bus handyman and two others at local Punjabi Lane on May 31, leading to imposition of indefinite curfew and shutdown of internet. The clashes between local Khasis and Sikhs were fuelled by fake of the bus handyman's death over social media. The Army and para-military forces had to be deployed to control the violence which had badly affected tourism in Meghalaya. "We have been able to identify some of the instigators behind the June first week agitation," East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police Davis Marak told PTI. The instigators have been identified on basis of probe and also on statements of the people arrested for being involved in clashes in the hill town, the SP said. He said further investigation was on and show-cause notices would be issued to the identified instigators. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma earlier had claimed that the protests were "sponsored" through cash-funding and alcohol supply to the agitators after the May 31 incident. Over 70 stone-pelters were arrested, 20 of whom were released later on bail with strict direction to cooperate with the police in investigation, the SP said. The SP said more protesters are likely to be arrested in due course of time based on video evidences of their participation in the attack on the police. The protesters have been booked under various sections of the Meghalaya Maintenance of Public Order (MMPO) Act among others for which they will have to compensate for the losses of both public and private properties. At least seven police vehicles and three CCTV units installed at Motphran area were damaged during the protest besides arson attacks on private vehicles, he said. The PWD, the municipal board and other departments are also assessing the damages suffered by footpaths and railings at Motphran area, he said, adding that the total losses incurred will run into several crores. Though there have been reports of fresh clashes, night curfew is still in force in the entire city as precautionary measure, senior district officials said. Mobile internet services were restored on Monday last in seven districts of Khasi-Jaintia Hills region, that includes capital Shillong, in view of the improved law and order situation. The state Home department had re-imposed suspension of mobile internet services on June 16 in the region on a police report, fearing serious law and order problem having potential threats to the public safety. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pope Francis and British Prime Minister Theresa May today led global condemnation against the Trump administration's controversial policy of separating children from migrant parents at America's border with Mexico. Pictures of dozens of children sleeping in cages and audio of children crying for their parents have emerged in recent days, triggering widespread criticism. It comes after a "zero-tolerance" crackdown on illegal immigration was brought in by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions. US immigration officials say 2,342 children were separated from 2,206 parents between May 5 and June 9. Reacting to the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, Pope Francis said he supported US Catholic bishops who said it was "immoral" and "contrary to our Catholic values." "I am on the side of the bishops' conference," Francis said. Prime Minister May said holding children "in what appear to be cages [is] deeply disturbing" and "wrong". Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the US practice of separating migrant children from parents caught crossing the US-Mexico border illegally is "wrong." "What's going on in the United States is wrong," he told reporters. "I can't imagine what the families living through this are enduring. Obviously this is not the way we do things in Canada," Trudeau said. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray Caso said the practice was "cruel and inhuman", and clearly violated human rights. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who in the past has praised Trump's policy of curbing immigration, told French TV that she disagreed with splitting children from parents. The Republican-controlled Congress is under pressure to change President Trump's policy. Republicans are also scrambling to draft a new immigration bill to address the growing outcry. President Trump told a group of House Republicans he would back any bill they passed, a White House spokesman said. The president made clear that separating parents and children was "certainly not an attractive thing and does look bad", Representative Tom Cole said. However, Trump insists it is necessary to stop illegal border crossings. On Tuesday, he said: "When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally - which should happen - you have to take the children away." Under the "zero-tolerance" approach unveiled in May, all undocumented border crossers are criminally charged and jailed. Migrant children cannot be held with their parents, and are kept in separate facilities maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under previous US administrations, undocumented immigrants caught crossing the border for the first time tended to be issued with court summonses. But the Trump administration points out that most of those migrants never showed up for court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP president Amit Shah today blamed "pressure groups" in Jammu and Kashmir for stalling his party's efforts for an equitable growth in all three regions of the state and cited worsening law and order situation in the Valley for its decision to walk out of the PDP-led government. In his first comments following the break-up of the PDP-BJP alliance yesterday, he also claimed that the decision to withdraw support was not taken keeping in mind the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. If that was the case, then it would have been done six months later, Shah said told Zee in an interview. He said that there was little development on the efforts to provide relief and rehabilitation to Kashmiri Pandits and those who had arrived in the state from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, among other issues, despite funds being sent to the state government. "But these things did not see progress. How long we could have waited. I don't think that Mehbooba Mufti's intentions were not there but various kinds of pressure groups had cropped up who broke the dream of a balanced development," the BJP chief said. "The balance in development which should have been there among the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh did not happen and there was also this (worsening) law and order situation," he said, citing the reasons behind his party's decision. He defended the BJP's decision to join hands with the PDP in 2015, saying the fractured mandate did not give any other option. Not doing an experiment thinking that it will not succeed is not progressive politics, he said. People were happy when the BJP joined hands with the PDP to form the government and they are happy now over the decision to withdraw support, he said. The BJP's stand on Kashmir remains what it always was but the alliance was formed on the agenda of development, he said. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, a key leader behind the alliance, said there was a feeling that "between the larger national interest and local political interest, our partner is weighing more on the local side. That's where we had to take a call". "For a national party like the BJP, which is committed to national integrity and sovereignty, we had to take a stand. Having said that, together we tried to do many good things for the state," he told News18. Madhav said that the BJP tried its best to maintain the alliance and ensure that the government lasts its full term. "That's the reason why many of us were not fully on board when the prime minister and the home minister decided to suspend operations on the request of Mehbooba Mufti. We said, fair enough, let us give that also a chance," he said. But innocent policemen were being killed and there were attacks in cities and towns where no terrorist dared to enter earlier, Madhav said. "We felt that there was a need for a strong government and a strong control over the situation. That's when we took this decision," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dawoodi Bohra community today launched Project Rise, an ambitious food assistance programme undertaken in partnership with Fight Hunger Foundation, which is a part of the Action Against Hunger global network. A statement issued by Dawoodi Bohra community here said the project aims to contribute towards alleviating hunger in some of the poorest parts of India and significantly raise health and nutrition levels of children suffering from severe malnutrition. "Project Rise will begin by supporting families in Mokhada in Palghar district of Maharashtra and suburban Govandi, immediately impacting the lives of impoverished families and creating healthier future," the statement said. "Both the areas- Mokhada and Govandi- are known to be impoverished and mainly dominated by the people suffering from very low level of living standards," it added. Sadiq Jamaludin of the Project Rise said the project will focus resources on combating malnutrition, with the primary aim of ensuring healthy futures for children. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : Real estate consulting firm CBRE- South Asia is to hold its 11th 'PropFair' here from June 29. The three-day property fair is expected to draw over 60 builders showcasing more than 300 projects, a press release from the company said. The company, which completes 20 years of presence in Chennai this year, is organising the fair for buyers looking to invest in properties across the city, the release said. "In line with our celebration of 20 years, our commitment to the market is further reinforced with the 11th edition of the fair", CBRE head of Residential Services, India, Rajat Johar said in the press release. "This (fair) will bring together the best of industry leaders under one platform and offer the best residential projects under one roof", he said. The city witnessed growth of apartment units from 38,000 units in 2007 to more than 1.95 lakh units in 2017, the release said. The infrastructure and policy initiatives by the government was expected to give a boost and augment housing demand in the region, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Punjab forest department has decided to arm its staff after six officers were allegedly attacked by a sand mining mafia on Monday. We have decided to provide weapons to our staff because it is impossible to guard without weapons," Forest Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot said here today. The minister said four men have been arrested for the attack. The officers were attacked by five to seven assailants with sticks and sharp-edged weapons on Monday night when they intercepted a tractor-trolley near Seonk village in Mohali. Block forest range officer Devinder Singh and forest guard Karnail Singh were admitted at Chandigarh's PGIMER hospital. Devinder Singh's condition was stated to be "very critical". He suffered multiple skull fractures, doctors said. The four others escaped with minor injuries. The minister said a proposal to provide arms to the forest department staff will be put before the state Cabinet. "Whoever is behind this attack, even if belongs to a political outfit including the Congress, will not be spared," Dharamsot said. However, he accused the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP regime of supporting the sand mafia in the state. But SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal charged that the current Congress government was refusing to rein in the mafia. Satpreet Singh Satti, Satwinder Singh, Jagjit Singh and Inderjit Singh have been booked for attempt to murder and a tractor-trolley and a car recovered from them, the minister said. Dharamsot said the state government will provide financial assistance of Rs 50,000 each to the two critically injured and Rs 21,000 each to the other four. The department will also honour them with bravery awards and two additional increments. Sukhbir Singh Badal today condemned the attack on the forest officers, saying it proved that the state had descended into "jungle raj". "The sand mafia has become so bold that it is ready to murder government officials coming in the way of its illegal operations," the SAD president said in a statement. He said the SAD will now approach Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore and urge him to direct the state to take action against the sand mafia. The party will also take up the issue of environmental damage caused by illegal mining, including changes to the course of Sutlej river and erosion of cultivable land. Badal said the Congress "greed" to take over sand mining operations came to light when as many as 17 mines being bagged by family members and associates of Congress legislators on the basis of single bids. He listed other incidents of violence in the recent past against officials trying to stop illegal mining, including an attack on mining department general manager T S Sekhon. Badal said the clout enjoyed by the sand mafia was such that no concrete action was taken even after Chief Minister Amarinder Singh tweeted about illegal mining on the Satluj riverbed after a recent helicopter survey. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rahul Gandhi today met Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh and discussed ways to strengthen the party in the state where it currently has no legislator. Among those who were present during the meeting with the Congress president included AICC general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs Oommen Chandy and state PCC chief Raghuveera Reddy. Chandy later said Gandhi interacted with 25 party leaders from Andhra Pradesh and also had one to one meetings with all leaders and got their views. "We discussed the problems of the state. Congress party in Andhra Pradesh has already started the process to strengthen the party in the state. The party leaders also gave their suggestions to strengthen the party in the state. We prepared an action plan for next four months to strengthen the party i.e., from PCC level to the booth level re-organisation. We have finalised the programme," he told reporters later. The former Kerala chief minister said he will go to every district and spend a day. He said in the first phase he will visit eight districts and spend another five days in the second phase. Asked about the party aligning with other parties, he said, "There is no question of Congress party having any alliance with any other party in the state. Party will be organised and strengthened from top to bottom i.e., booth level. This is our fourth months' action plan and programme." "We have decided that our alliance is with the people of the State only. Congress party's alliance is only with the people of Andhra Pradesh," he said. Chandy said in the Vijaywada meeting, the Congress leaders raised and discussed the important issue of special category status to the State of Andhra Pradesh, which was promised and announced by the then Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh at the floor of the House on February 20, 2014 when the AP Organization Act was discussed. The special category status will be given to Andhra Pradesh for five years. It was a very categorical and specific assurance but BJP had then raised the questions, he said. "When BJP came to power they behaved just opposite to that demand. They have not even honoured the promised assurance. This is a cheating to the people of Andhra Pradesh by BJP. TDP was part of NDA alliance but nothing happened. Now they are opposing BJP and NDA but what happened for three and half years. Both BJP and TDP cheated the people of Andhra Pradesh. Jagan's party also did not do anything," Chandy said. He said Gandhi told the party leaders clearly that if UPA came to power, special status will be given to Andhra Pradesh and the file will be signed on the first day. Earlier Gandhi also met Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Working President of Telangana Congresss, Revanth Reddy and leaders from Telangana. The Congress chief also met a delegation of Kisan-Khet Mazdoor Congress from Karnataka Congress. He separately held another meeting with Kamal Hassan after he formed a party of his own in Tamil Nadu. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A sum of Rs 12.38 lakh at an ATM in Assam's Tinsukia district, has been found in tatters and the culprits are reportedly a colony of rats which nibbled away the currency notes. The bizarre incident came to light at a State Bank of India (SBI) ATM in Laipuli area of the Tinsukia town last week. The ATM had developed some technical problems and was lying unused for three weeks. When technicians came to repair the machine last Thursday, they found shredded notes of different denominations, including Rs 2,000 and Rs 500, inside it. Following a formal complaint by the bank authorities, the police launched an investigation and found rats in the ATM. Today, police ruled out any foul play in the damage of currency notes worth Rs 12.38 lakh in the ATM, and said that a colony of rats was responsible for the shredding of the banknotes. Pointing out that currency notes worth Rs 17.10 lakh at the ATM was untouched, the police ruled out any foul play or sabotage and asked the bank authorities to take suitable measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. An SBI spokesperson said an internal inquiry into the incident has been. Among other things, it would be probed, how the ATM, managed by a Guwahati-based third-party vendor, was laying unrepaired for over three weeks. The inquiry will also look into how the cash, usually kept in sealed cabinet, were exposed to rats, the spokesperson said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today requested the Centre to revise its stand against setting up an integrated steel plant in Kadapa district, even as two TDP leaders began an indefinite fast in that town, demanding that it be set up. The Chief Minister in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also requested the Centre to file a revised affidavit in the Supreme Court in this regard. "It is learnt that the Ministry of Steel has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court that the project is not economically feasible. It appears that the said affidavit was filed based on the initial report of SAIL. Considering the circumstances and the latest feasibility report of MECON, the Government of India may take necessary action for establishment of an integrated steel plant and consider to file a revised affidavit immediately," Naidu said. Naidu said that if the project materialises, it would make the backward Rayalaseema region of the state economically prosperous. The Chief Minister also reminded the Prime Minister of a memorandum he personally submitted on January 12, seeking implementation of the assurance related to the steel plant in Kadapa, as provided in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. "There is a statutory duty on the part of the Government of India to fulfill the assurance as stated in the Act," the Chief Minister noted. In Kadapa, TDP MP C M Ramesh launched an indefinite fast along with a state legislative council member, demanding that the Centre immediately set up the plant in the district as per provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council member M Ravindranatha Reddy too joined the MP in the fast. Both leaders hail from Kadapa district. Ramesh, the party's Rajya Sabha MP,had written to Modi on Monday, saying he would be "constrained to undertake an indefinite fast" if immediate steps were not taken to set up the plant. He wrote the letter five days after the Centre, citing a Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) feasibility report, told the Supreme Court that it was not "financially viable" to construct a steel plant at Kadapa. The MP alleged that the Centre was blocking setting up of the plant, saying it was not viable and vowed to continue the protest till the Centre conceded the demand. As per Schedule 13 of the Reorganisation Act, "SAIL shall, within six months from the appointed day, examine the feasibility of establishing an integrated steel plant in YSR (Kadapa) district of the successor state of Andhra Pradesh." Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has reportedly said that the Centre had never said it was against setting up of the steel plant. BJP MLC Somu Veerraju alleged that TDP was trying to oliticise the issue and maintained that the Centre was ready to set up the plant. A formal announcement in this regard would be made soon, he added. The proposed steel plant is emerging as another point of contention between the Centre and the TDP, which had in March pulled out of the NDA government over its refusal to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Around 62,000 group C or clerical staffers of the railways may soon get pay and privileges equivalent to those of group B employees, as the has initiated the process of granting them promotion. While those getting the group upgrade will get a raise of around Rs 200, they will be additionally entitled to cars, houses, peons and all the perks associated with being a government babu, if they get 'gazetted officer' status. A railway official said that around 62,000 employees are expected to benefit from the move. The order issued on June 12 states that the mandate of the committee will be to examine in detail the issue of granting "Group B status (gazetted/non-gazetted)to various existing Group C posts of Indian Railways (including repercussions and modalities)". It further said that the committee, consisting of executive directors from the pay commission and the Establishment and Transformation branches of the board as members, has to consult various stakeholders and submit its report in a month's time. However, All India Railwaymen's Federation General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra expressed apprehension that the railways would make these posts non-gazetted and deny the employees additional pay and perks. "The doesn't want to do this and over the years they have only come up with excuses to say that how can we provide houses and other perks. But we kept saying that it is not about the perks, it is about giving an employee his due. "I fear that they will make all these posts non-gazetted and avoid giving them any benefits that come with being a gazetted officer. The numbers are not that huge from an all India perspective - around 35,000 employees in the Rs 4,600 pay grade will come under the purview of the committee," Mishra said. The number will come to around 62,000 if one includes those in the Rs 4,200 pay grade as well, he said. Non-gazetted personnel in the Group B grade are senior employees, but they do not enjoy the perks and allowances associated with the gazetted officers in the grade. These include officers in the nine railway services. "We don't want our men to just have the title of an officer but have no powers or privileges in reality," said Mishra, who is going to depose before the committee to highlight their demands. Currently, the transporter has around 10,000 gazetted officers. A 65-year-old person, said to be an RTI activist, was shot dead by unidentified persons in East Champaran district, police said today. Rajendra Singh, a resident of Rajpur village was returning from Kutchery in Motihari late last night when unidentified persons sprayed bullets on him and he died while being taken to a hospital, station house officer (SHO) of Piprakothi police station, Abhishek Ranjam Kumar said. The police said Singh's wife has lodged an FIR blaming the killing of her husband on a property dispute. "An FIR has been lodged by the wife of the deceased Brijeshwari Devi wherein she has accused her husband's brother and nephew Satyendra Singh and Sudhanshu Singh respectively, a former mukhiya Subhash Yadav, and two others Ajay Singh and Pramod Singh of hatching a conspiracy to eliminate Rajendra Singh", the SHO said. The complainant has alleged that her husband's brother had been eyeing their property since long and used to even coax them to part with the same since the couple had only three daughters and no son, the SHO said. "All the accused are currently absconding. An intensive search has been started to nab them", the SHO added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia today voiced surprise at the United States' decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council, accusing Washington of "gross cynicism" and "disregard" for the world body. "The US has once again brought a powerful blow to its own human rights reputation by demonstrating its disregard for the UN and its bodies," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing in Moscow. She charged the US with "stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the existence of serious human rights problems at home while at the same time trying to shape the council under its own interests". She also criticised the US for "imposing a specific American understanding of human rights on other countries". Zakharova said the withdrawal was "unexpected" for Moscow although "a precedent was already set with UNESCO", the UN's Paris-based cultural body that Washington left in October last year. "The UN Human Rights Council has worked effectively without the US in the past and we hope that it will continue to do so," she said. Washington withdrew yesterday, condemning the "hypocrisy" of council members and an alleged "unrelenting bias" against Israel. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, went to Washington to announce the decision alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The announcement came after the top UN human rights official criticised Washington for separating migrant children from their parents who are seeking asylum after arrival from Mexico. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia says that the US exit from the United Nations' Human Rights Council reflects Washington's unilateralist approach to global affairs. The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, announced the pullout yesterday, criticising the council for "its chronic bias against Israel" and pointing out that it includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Congo. Russia's UN mission responded in a statement that the US had tried but failed to turn the Council into an "obedient instrument for advancing their interests and punishing the countries it dislikes." It added that the US criticism of the council for failing to make changes advocated by Washington appears "cynical." The Russian mission described the council as a "key international platform for cooperation in protecting human rights. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia today expressed alarm over US President Donald Trump's call for the United States to dominate space exploration and his plan to create a separate branch of the military called a Space Force. Russian foreign ministry Maria Zakharova said at a briefing that Russia "noted the US president's instructions... to separate space forces from the air force," saying "the most alarming thing about this is the aim of his instructions, namely to ensure (US) domination in space." Trump on Monday said at a speech in the White House that "America will always be the first in space" and "we don't want China and Russia and other countries leading us." He also called for the Pentagon to create a new "Space Force" that would become the sixth branch of the American military, although this requires Congressional approval to take effect. Zakharova warned that the US is "nurturing plans to bring out weapons into space with the aim of possibly staging military action there." "This is not based on guesswork, this is understanding the realities," she insisted. US military build-up in space "especially after the appearance of weapons there, would have a destabilising effect on strategic stability and international security," Zakharova warned. Russia takes a "diametrically opposite position" that space must be used for "peaceful aims," she said. While Russia has a branch of the military called "space forces," their activities are "purely defensive," she stressed. Space research is one of the few areas where Russia and the US continue international cooperation. Both NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are crew members on the International Space Station and the orbiting laboratory is reliant on space launches from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Korea today said India can play an "important role" in working towards lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula as it urged New Delhi to persuade Pyongyang to recalculate its strategy to change its course to denuclearisation. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Enna Park, also said that South Korean President Moon Jae-in is slated to visit India early next month, and during his summit with Prime Minister Modi, the two leaders will link their own initiates -- Moon's New Southern Policy and Modi's Act East Policy. Her remarks assume significance as during the historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last week in Singapore, the latter had pledged to work towards "complete denuclearisation" in return for security guarantees from the US. "It was a historic meeting, the US-North Korea leader-level talks, and they started to build trust for each other, started negotiations and set the tone. We should not lose this historic momentum and work together to make the peace initiative a success," she told reporters on the sidelines of an event here. Asked what role did Seoul see for India in this bid for lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula, she said, India's role is important, because "we seek full support" from whole international community, including India. "India as the largest democracy plays quite an influential role in forming international opinion. And, if international opinion supports peace initiative of South Korea, it will back up our initiative very effectively. "And, so we want India to continue to persuade North Korea to recalculate its strategy to make a decision to change its course to denuclearisation," Park said. India had welcomed the United States-Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) Summit as a "positive development", saying it has "always supported all efforts to bring about peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and diplomacy". Asked about India's engagement with North Korea, especially in the context of it having its embassy in Pyongyang and visit of Minister of State for External Affairs General V K Singh to that country, Park said, "Such engagement from the Indian side is very much positive." In the first high-level visit to North Korea from India in two decades, Singh visited Pyongyang last month where he held talks with several leaders including Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on key issues and raised New Delhi's concerns over nuclear proliferation. Earlier in her keynote address at a seminar on 'Development of Peace and Prosperity for the Korea India Strategic Partnership' at Observer Research Foundation here, Park, also the Ambassador for Public Diplomacy, said, "Our government has started a bold journey towards peace process in Korean Peninsula. We ask for your (India's) wisdom and full support again." "But the journey we have taken is a long one and it is not an easy one. It is rocky and there are challenges but we are very determined in pursuing peace in the Korean peninsula. People should live on the Peninsula which is free from any threat of nuclear war. And, we are confident that we can achieve it with full support and concerted efforts from the international community," she said. Asked if South Korea could think of joining the 'Quad' (a multilateral platform comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia), she said, "Maybe in the future, but right now our military assets are focusing on our security in the peninsula, because our security in the peninsula is still very vulnerable." On ease of doing business in India, Park said, "We have about 700 (South Korean) companies in India and they have found opportunities to do business. Indian economy is complimentary to our economy." "Foreign companies need fair access to the market and they want to see less regulation, so that is what the Indian government is doing to make the business environment more favourable, friendly to foreign companies. There are problems... the speed is slow, but it is on the right track," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Despite being the largest exporter of cotton yarn, India's share has dipped to around 26 per cent in 2017 from 30 per cent in 2015 for various reasons, including withdrawal of incentives, chairman of Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) Ujwal Lahoti said today. Exports have stagnated in the last two years, whereas Vietnam has become the second largest cotton yarn exporters in the world with a marketshare of 20 per cent in 2017, Lahoti told reporters here. Attributing the dip to the absence of a level-playing field, high transaction cost and lower rate of export benefits, he said the fall in demand was mostly because of China. China was shifting its yarn production to Vietnam, which has become a conversion centre for Chinese cotton, following rise in labour cost, he said. India exported 603 million kgs of cotton yarn to China in 2013-14, which fell by half to 315 million kgs in 2017-18, while Vietnam's exports to China increased from 287 million kgs to 718 million kgs during the period, Lahoti said. China is importing from India only to bridge the gap in demand from supplies from its domestic spinners and imports from Vietnam, he said. However the drop in exports to China was to some extent compensated by the increase in exports to Bangladesh, Turkey, Portugal, Pakistan and Egypt, he said. Stating that Indian cotton yarn attracted 3 per cent to five per cent import duty in China, supplies from Vietnam did not attract any such tariff, Lahoti urged the union commerce ministry to get zero duty benefits for Indian cotton yarn by initiating talks through fora such as APTA (Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement) and RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership). "If the tariff is corrected, our exports will get a boost," Lahoti added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Separatists have filed a petition with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) demanding the establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry to conduct a comprehensive investigation into alleged human rights violations in Kashmir. The petition, filed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mohammad Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has listed a number of instances of alleged human rights violations claiming these necessitate the establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry. Referring to a recent UN report on human rights situation in Kashmir, the separatists leader said, "It is on the ground of the established facts in the UN report that we approach you with the appeal that you exercise your good offices to persuade the members of the Council to help establish the Commission on Kashmir." The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights last week released its first-ever report on alleged human rights violation in Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and demanded an international probe into it, evoking a sharp reaction from India which termed the document as "fallacious and motivated". New Delhi also lodged a strong protest with the United Nations, saying the government was "deeply concerned that individual prejudices are being allowed to undermine the credibility of a UN institution". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP president Amit Shah will arrive in Jammu on June 23 to review the party's preparations for the Lok Sabha election due next year, a senior party leader said today. It will be Shah's first visit to Jammu and Kashmir after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner PDP, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the chief minister yesterday. The state has been placed under Governor's rule. Shah is arriving here to pay homage to the founder member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh Shyama Prasad Mookherjee on his martyrdom day. He will check preparedness of the state unit of the party for the upcoming parliamentary election, state BJP president Ravinder Raina told reporters here. Raina, who was flanked by senior party leaders including former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta, said Shah would chair the election committee meeting of the party to discuss the issues for the next election. A large public rally will be organised in front of Brahmin Sabha Parade Road which will be addressed by Shah. People in large numbers are likely to attend the meeting as there is huge appreciation in the masses on the sacrifice of the government made by the BJP in the interest of nation, he said. The BJP is observing June 23 as Mookerjee's Balidan Diwas' and the party workers would resolve to follow the path shown by him and dedicate themselves for the cause of nation and be ready and prepared for any sacrifice, Raina said. The party is ready and prepared to face elections whenever the process will be initiated as it believes that real power lies with the voters and leaders are to serve the masses and nation, he said. Raina said the party stood by all its commitment made to the people while in power and when the time came for decision for national interest, it didn't blink for a moment before taking decision to resign from the government. He said security forces have free hand to deal with the worsening security situation in the state and to bring about the change towards peace. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today visited the family of the soldier who was abducted and killed by terrorists two days ahead of Eid last week and described him as an inspiration to the nation, as she reviewed security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Accompanied by senior army officers and Poonch District Development Commissioner Mohammad Aijaz Asad, Sitharaman braved rain and walked half-a- kilometre from the last motorable road to reach the remote hamlet of Salani in the border district to express her condolences to the family of slain soldier Aurangzeb, officials said. I have come here to meet the martyr's family," the defence minister told reporters after meeting the family, including Aurangzeb's father, himself a former Army man who reiterated his resolve to sacrifice his all to safeguard the integrity and sovereignty of the country. Here is a family, here is a martyr, who to me and I am sure to the whole nation, stands out as an inspiration. And that is the message I am carrying from here, she added. Aurangzeb, who was posted with the44 Rashtriya Rifles, was on his way home to celebrate Eid when terrorists abducted him from south Kashmir on June 14 and killed him the same day. He had boarded a private vehicle for Shopian, from where he was supposed to go to Rajouri district. The terrorists intercepted the vehicle as it approached Kalampora and abducted the jawan. His bullet-riddled body was found at Gussu village, about 10 km from Kalampora, in Pulwama district. Army Public Relations Officer Colonel N N Joshi said the minister handed over a welfare cheque of Rs 5 lakhs to the bereaved family. During her interaction with the family of the brave heart, she reiterated the heroism of the valiant soldier, which will continue to motivate the young generation for times to come, the spokesman said. He said Sitharaman visited forward areas and was briefed by General Officer Commanding of Ace of Spades Division on the prevailing security situation and steps being undertaken to maintain vigil on the Line of Control and maintain peace in the hinterland. The defence minister, during her visit to forward areas, also interacted with the soldiers and complimented them for their exemplary devotion towards maintaining sanctity of the Line of Control and giving befitting response to inimical forces, Col Joshi said. The official said Sitharaman assured all possible assistance to the family of slain Rifleman Aurangzeb. The minister's visit to the bereaved family came two days after Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat spent over 30 minutes with his parents. Earlier, Aurangzeb's family had made an emotional appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Army and the Jammu and Kashmir government to eliminate militancy from the state and avenge his death. My son has laid down his life for the country. He was a brave soldier. I and my sons will also sacrifice (ourselves) for the nation. We want goons to be wiped out, Mohammad Hanief, Aurangzeb's father and a former sepoy of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Yet another prosecution witness in the case of alleged fake encounters of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati turned hostile today, taking the total number of such witnesses to 71. Rakesh Adhikari, a 'panch witness' (a witness testifying to the search and seizures made by the police at crime scenes) was declared hostile by CBI judge S J Sharma after he retracted a part of his statement, given to the CBI in 2010. In his statement to the CBI, he had said the police, which had probed the case initially, had shown him the site along the Dhavdi river in Gujarat where the body of Kausar Bi, Shaikh's wife, was allegedly burnt. He had further purportedly told the CBI that the police had measured the place and videographed the entire crime scene inspection process. Adhikari, while deposing before the CBI court today denied seeing any video shooting of the crime scene, and said he had only signed a statement handed to him by the CBI officers without reading it. At this, Adhikari was declared hostile by the CBI counsel. Shaikh, a suspected gangster, was killed in an alleged fake encounter by Gujarat Police in November 2005. His wife Kausar Bi was also allegedly killed. Prajapati, an aide of Shaikh who was said to be a witness to the encounter, was allegedly killed by police at Chapri village in Gujarat's Banaskantha district later in December 2006. Of the 38 people charged by the CBI for the alleged fake encounters, 15 have been discharged by the trial court in Mumbai. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Korea's president today urged Pyongyang to show a plan for concrete steps toward denuclearisation, raising the pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his visit to Beijing to discuss the outcome of his summit with President Donald Trump. Kim is in Beijing on his third visit to China this year, underscoring the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbours. A report by the Korean Central Agency said Kim expressed his gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping when they met yesterday. KCNA said that during a banquet hosted by Xi, Kim also said Pyongyang and Beijing are seeing their ties develop into "unprecedentedly special relations." At the summit with Trump in Singapore, Kim pledged to work toward denuclearisation in exchange for US security guarantees. The US and South Korea suspended a major joint military exercise that was planned in August in what was seen as a major victory for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia. In Seoul, South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged North Korea to present "far more concrete" plans on how to scrap its nuclear program and the United States to take unspecified corresponding measures swiftly. "It's necessary for North Korea to present far more concrete denuclearisation plans, and I think it's necessary for the United States to swiftly reciprocate by coming up with comprehensive measures," Moon said. Moon's office said he made the remarks to Russian media ahead of his trip to Moscow later this week. Moon, who met with Kim twice in recent months, said the North Korean leader is willing to give up his nuclear programme and focus on economic development if he's provided with a reliable security guarantee. Moon described Kim as "forthright," ''careful" and "polite." South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Seoul was monitoring Kim's "newfound diplomatic activism" and the outcome of his meetings in China. "China has an important role to play on issues of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula," Kang said, adding that South Korea expects discussions in Beijing to help move forward the process of denuclearisation. China 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 programmes. There was no official word on Kim's activities today, although South Korea's Yonhap agency said his motorcade was seen at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing. He was expected to return to Pyongyang later in the day. China has encouraged Kim's shift toward economic development and has touted the prospects of more trade and investment if Pyongyang makes progress in talks on abandoning its nuclear weapons and long-range missile programmes. That could allow the lifting of UN Security Council economic sanctions that have caused a plunge in the North's foreign trade, although the US insists easing of sanctions can only come after Pyongyang shows it has ended its nuclear programmes. The US says China is in agreement on that point, although Chinese officials have repeatedly stated that sanctions should not be considered an end to their own. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The services of B V R Subrahmanyam, a senior IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre, have been placed at the disposal of the government, according to an official communique. The 55-year-old bureaucrat, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, is likely to be appointed as the chief secretary in the government in place of incumbent B B Vyas, officials said on Wednesday. Subrahmanyam is at present the additional chief secretary (Home) in Chhattisgarh. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved placing the services of Subrahmanyam, a 1987-batch IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre, at the disposal of the government, the communique issued by the Personnel Ministry said. Vyas was last month given a one-year extension in service, beyond May 31, 2018, as the chief secretary of the state. The Personnel Ministry has also amended the service rules to provide extension to Vyas beyond 60 years of age of superannuation. Until the new rule came into force, the state chief secretary retired on attaining the age of 60 years. Vyas, who was due to superannuate in November last year, was given two extensions of three months each until May-end, to remain the chief secretary. The extension was given apparently on the request of Mehbooba Mufti, who resigned as the chief minister on Tuesday after the BJP pulled out its support to her party, the PDP. Sources said Vyas may be appointed as an advisor to Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra. Subrahmanyam, considered an expert in internal security matters, has served as private secretary to former prime minister Manmohan Singh during 2004-2008. He worked with the World Bank during June 2008 and September 2011 before joining again the Manmohan Singh-led PMO in March 2012. Subrahmanyam was in the PMO after Narendra Modi became the prime minister in May 2014. He stayed in the PMO until March 2015 and then moved to his cadre state Chhattisgarh. On Wednesday, the state of Jammu and Kashmir was put under the Governor's rule. A 10ft-high bronze statue of a Sikh soldier honouring the community's "unmeasurable" contribution during the First World War will be installed in the UK's West Midlands to commemorate 100 years since the end of the conflict. The Lions of the Great War monument, which will be installed in November in Smethwick, West Midlands, will honour the South Asian service personnel who fought for Britain, BBC reported. Sandwell Council called it a "striking tribute" to the community. The statue, depicting a Sikh serviceman carrying a rifle, will stand on a 6ft granite plinth with inscriptions that name the regiments in which South Asian soldiers served. It will pay tribute to the thousands of troops from India who fought and died for Britain between 1914 and 1918. More than 83,000 turbaned Sikh soldiers gave their lives and more than 1,00,000 were injured during the two world wars. President of the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Smethwick, which is covering the cost of the statue, Jatinder Singh said: "These men volunteered to serve and fought to defend the freedoms we enjoy today. "The memorial will ensure that this part is never forgotten." The statute's sculptor Luke Perry said he is "incredibly proud" of the work. "I am incredibly proud to be working on a sculpture that is, at its heart, a statement of gratitude for the actions of a people who gave their lives for our independence when they had not yet achieved their own," Perry said. "It will be a striking and permanent marker of the richness of our community and that those who have been under-celebrated are finally getting the recognition they deserve." The statue will sit between High Street and Tollhouse Way in a newly created paved public space, including seating and lighting, it said. Sandwell Council leader Steve Eling, said: "I am very proud that Smethwick is paying such a striking tribute to the very important role played by South Asian service personnel during times of conflict." The council said the statue will be installed in time for Armistice Day in November, the report said. Preet Kaur Gill MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs, said the statue will recognise an "integral part of Sandwell's rich history". In 2015, a national memorial to Sikh soldiers who fought during World War One was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. According to official records, despite making up only 2% of the Indian population when the First World War broke out, Sikhs accounted for more than 20% of the Indian Army's manpower. Sikh soldiers from Punjab and surrounding States saw action in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, most notably on the Western Front and at Gallipoli. On the Western Front, Sikhs fought and died alongside their British, Indian and Commonwealth counterparts. Their contribution was essential to the war effort and of the 22 Military Crosses awarded to Indian soldiers, 14 went to Sikhs. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Scores of Kashmiri Pandit migrants, who have assembled here for the annual Kheerbhawani fair, said today that successive governments at the Centre as well as in the state had failed to rehabilitate them in the valley and only used their cause for political gains. A group of Kashmiri Pandits appealed to Muslim brethren to lead the way for their return to the valley. "For the last 28 years, the governments in the state as well as at the Centre have only assured us of our return and rehabilitation, but have done nothing. They have failed to do so, Satish Mahaldar, a Kashmiri Pandit, said here. Mahaldar said the community had only been used as a political slogan. We have nothing to do with But, till today, Kashmiri Pandits have been used only as a political slogan. Someone pulls us in one direction and the other in different direction for their benefits, he said. He said while Kashmiri Pandits were destroyed after leaving the valley, the Muslim population also suffered. If Kashmiri Pandits have been destroyed, Kashmiri Muslims have seen worse. Our Kashmiriyat has been destroyed and there have been attacks on it regularly, he said. Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits prayed at the famous temple of Ragnya Devi here in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district as the annual Kheerbhawani Mela was celebrated today amidst chanting of religious hymns and sound of temple bells. The fair -- a symbol of Hindu-Muslim amity -- passed off peacefully as the government had made elaborate security arrangements for the devotees who throng the temple from many states of the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today called on Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel and discussed ways to expand bilateral cooperation in trade and investment, space and people-to-people relationship. Swaraj, who arrived in Luxembourg on the third leg of her four-nation tour yesterday, became the first external affairs minister from India to visit the European country. During the call on, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues including enhancing bilateral and India-EU trade and investment ties, digital and space cooperation, fintech and diaspora contribution, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. She also made a courtesy call on Grand Duke of Luxembourg Henri Albert Gabriel Felix Marie Guillaume and exchanged views to further strengthen 70 years old diplomatic relationship between India and Luxembourg, and impart an upward trajectory to our bilateral ties, Kumar said. Swaraj then had a productive meeting with Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn. The two leaders discussed cooperation in trade and investment, steel and space, and exchanged views on strengthening India-EU relations, Kumar said. The two ministers undertook a complete review of India-Luxembourg political bilateral relations. They also had extensive discussions on regional and multilateral issues, the statement said. Trade and investment are the bedrocks of India-Luxembourg ties. The Luxembourg headquartered European Investment Bank recently opened its South Asia Regional Office in New Delhi. A number of Indian companies are also listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, the statement said. India and Luxembourg are currently celebrating 70 years of establishment of their diplomatic relations. Swaraj arrived in Luxembourg for a two-day visit from France where she met the top French leadership and addressed the Indian diaspora. Earlier, she had visited Italy. On the last leg of her four-nation tour, Swaraj arrived today in Belgium. During her stay in Belgium, Swaraj will hold wide ranging discussions with the EU leadership to strengthen India-EU strategic partnership and will meet her Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders to further solidify bilateral ties. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today held talks with President of European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani in Brussels on the leg of her four-nation tour. Swaraj arrived in Belgium today from Luxembourg on the last leg of her four-nation tour. Earlier, she had visited France and Italy. "EAM Sushma Swaraj called on President of European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. The two leaders exchanged views on progress made on the understandings reached during the last India-EU Summit in 2017," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet. India and the EU are strategic and natural partners with common values, he said. Earlier Swaraj called on Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel and discussed ways to expand bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, fintech and digital and space sectors. "EAM Sushma Swaraj called on Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament in Brussels. Excellent discussions between two of the world's largest democracies to enhance cooperation across different sectors, including parliamentary exchanges," Kumar said in another tweet. During her stay in Belgium from June 20-23, Swaraj will hold wide ranging discussions with the EU leadership to strengthen India-EU strategic partnership and will meet her Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders to further solidify bilateral ties. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tata Steel has started despatch of Ferro Chrome branded as Tata Tiscrome from its ferro chrome plant located in Gopalpur Industrial Park in Odisha's Ganjam district. The recently commissioned first green field ferro-chrome plant of Tata Steel achieved a major milestone with the first ever despatch of ferro chrome from the plant getting flagged off on June 18, a company release said. Chanakya Chaudhary, vice president, Raw Materials, Tata Steel and Arun Misra vice president, Project Gopalpur, Tata Steel and MD, TSSEZ flagged off the despatch. The first despatches were made to Tata Steel's distributors in North and West India. To mark this special occasion, both the distributors extended support of Rs 5 lakh each to "Daughters of Charity Mary Villa Home", an old age home in Ganjam district, it said. As part of the anchor investment in Tata Steel's Gopalpur Industrial Park, the Ferro-chrome plant has an installed capacity of 55,000 tonne per annum (TPA). It is a unique environment-friendly plant with state-of-the-art pollution control equipment and technology such as the ETP (Effluent Treatment Plant) and STP (Sewage Treatment Plant). It has 100 per cent water harvesting facility that caters to most of the water needs of the plant. It has an indigenously built semi-closed hybrid furnace, which is first of its kind in India and components procured from all over the world to maintain high standards of quality and safety. Also, it is the first plant in India to use briquetting method of chrome ore fines agglomeration with ore proportionating facility, it said. It has factory stuffing yard inside the plant premises which has concept to directly dispatch to customers through containers QA Checked, weighed, sealed & customs clearance at site. Besides the plant at Gopalpur, Tata Steel has three other Ferro-alloys plants in Odisha - a 65,000 TPA plant at Bamnipal in Keonjhar district, 55,000 ferro Manganese plant in Joda and one at Athagarh in Cuttack district of 55,000 TPA capacity under the management of its 100 per cent subsidiary TS Alloys, the release added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Telangana government would set up a steel plant in the state, a project which has been mentioned in the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Act, even if the Centre did not cooperate, state Industries Minister K T Rama Rao said today. "Even if the Centre does not cooperate, 100 per cent the Telangana government will build the steel plant under Singareni (state-run miner Singareni Collieries) and TSMDC. We will give 10,000-15,000 jobs there. That is our commitment," he told reporters here. The state government on June 18 constituted a committee of officials to examine the issue of setting up an Integrated Steel Plant in Khammam district. The establishment of a steel plant in Telangana is an issue mentioned in the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Act. The main opposition Congress and others have recently held protests in support of setting up of the steel plant in the Khammam region following reports that the Centre was not favourably inclined to execute it. The minister was speaking after inspecting Hyderabad Metro Rail works on the 16-km stretch between Ameerpet and LB Nagar, part of the first phase. It would be ready for operations by the end of July, he said. The patronage to the Hyderabad Metro Rail had been good (with an average 80,000 travellers every day) since the first stretch was inagurated seven months ago, he said adding there were no major complaint over the operations, Rao said. The 30-km long first leg of the Hyderabad Metro rail, inaugurated in Novemeber last year between Miyapur and Nagole, has 24 stations. Electric charging infrastructure would be set up at the metro stations to promote electric vehicles, Rao said. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) of second phase of metro project was expected to be ready by July, the minister said. The vision was to link the Hyderabad international airport from all corners of the city through the metro rail, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir had continued with their activities during Ramzan, necessitating suspension of the ceasefire by the Centre, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said here today. Governor's rule in the state is unlikely to have any impact on ongoing military operations, the Army chief said. Operations in the Valley would continue as earlier, Rawat told reporters on the sidelines of an event here. "Operations were being carried out earlier as well. Then we saw a phase of suspension of operations because we wanted people to get a chance to offer their prayers during Ramzan without any kind of problem. Despite that, terrorists continued with their activity, which is why the suspension of operations was cancelled," he said. Action that was being taken earlier would continue, Rawat asserted. Referring to the imposition of Governor's rule in the state after the BJP pulled out of its alliance with the PDP, he said, "We don't think there will be any impact. We don't have an kind of political interference." There has, he said, never been any kind of restriction on the force on how it should conduct its work. The security forces have very strict rules of engagement and "take action" in accordance with them, Rawat said. The ceasefire announced by the Centre for the month of Ramzan was revoked on Sunday. Aurangzeb, an Army jawan, was killed by terrorists and journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead two days ahead of Eid. Today, Jammu and Kashmir was placed under Governor's rule for the fourth time in the last one decade after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as chief minister. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Thandie Newton has revealed that she received equal pay for the hit HBO show "Westworld", thanks to Time's Up movement. The 45-year-old actor said at the Cannes Lions that she had to "have a big swallow of resentment" when she found out how much more her male co-stars earned on the show, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "When I first discovered how much they were offering it made me realise 'oh my God, men have been paid so much more.' I had to have a big swallow of resentment," Newton said. "I gave it half an hour and then felt grateful. Every year I go into a new production or a new season of 'Westworld' and I don't think to ask for more, I just feel so grateful to be working. But we need to expect more for ourselves," she added. Newton, who has often criticised the Time's Up movement in the past, said such campaigns advocating gender equality in the industries are starting to make a difference. "HBO, to a degree, they were pressured into it. But we need pressure, we need to disrupt. It is not wicked thing to do, it's part of change and growth. It's another word for encouragement. So that pressure has worked," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three siblings born in Pakistan but staying in Nizamabad district of Telangana since 2004 have been granted Indian citizenship by the Indian government. The three Pakistani nationals- Mohammed Sanan, Mohammed Ruman and Mohammed Saif in the age group of 20-27, were handed over the Indian citizenship certificates by the Nizamabad Revenue Divisional Officer yesterday in the presence of their mother, a district administration official said. Their mother, who hails from Nizamabad, had married a Pakistani national, a distant relative, in 1988 and had migrated to Pakistan, the official said. According to the official, following differences, the couple divorced in 2004 and the woman returned to Nizamabad the same year. Since then her children were staying along with her on extended long term visa. The official said as per rules, any foreigner can apply for Indian citizenship after residing in the country for seven years. The woman had applied for Indian citizenship for her three children in 2016. After scrutiny, the files were forwarded to the state government which sent it to the Minstry of Home Affairs. The Centre cleared their applications recently and granted them Indian citizenship. The citizenship certificates were handed over to the trio yesterday, the official said. The eldest among the three has completed BTech, officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Traditionally, yoga as a form of exercise involves physical and spiritual disciplines to promote wellness. With quiet ambience, clean air and perhaps some meditative chants, yoga is practised almost like a ritual. However, in the four years since June 21 began to be celebrated as the International Day of Yoga, the form of exercise has been reinterpreted time and again to make the erstwhile meditative experience more contemoprary and "fun". Alternative forms of yoga -- beer yoga, dog yoga or 'Doga', artistic yoga, aerial yoga, goat yoga and acroyoga among others have caught on since 2015. Kavita Das Vasak, who owns Delhi-based 'The Yoga Chakra', says people's curiosity has contributed significantly to the growing popularity of aerial yoga. "Aerial Yoga adds a fun aspect to yoga. People are apprehensive because it is different but they are also curious," she said. Aerial yoga involves defying gravity and practising the postures in air with supporting equipments. "It is more challenging because you are off the ground. The benefit is that all your muscles are engaged and your entire body is working out, so weight loss is quicker," Vasak told PTI. Dog Yoga lets you work out with your favourite pal -- your pet. Nandita Sikka, head psychologist at Pawsome Pet Wellness that offers Doga sessions in Delhi said the exercise allows people to bond with their pets while working out. AcroYoga, or acrobatic yoga brings to the table a combination of acrobatics, yoga and thai massage. A young alternative format that emerged about 10 years ago, AcroYoga has become a trend among Delhiites in the last couple of years, Anuraag Tiwari from The Delhi Rock, a city-based institution, said. According to Allena Humtsoe, a certified Level 1 AcroVinyasa instructor in the city, the emergence of these alternative forms can be credited to the "static" nature of the conventional practice. AcroVinyasa combines the traditional vinayasa yoga and the modern inversion training. "Yoga might seem static, so you try other ways and do it as long as you benefit from it. It is not dilution of yoga but a union by adding more things to it," Humtsoe said. However, institutions and instructors imparting classical yoga lessons see the alternative forms as merely a fad, and warned against the negative health impacts they might have. Harshit Mann from the Isha foundation said these trends were a bounce-off from the west, often practised without an understanding of the body and energy. "There are ways of doing yoga wrong...they only take the physical element... the spiritual element is missing. It has become a fashion and it lacks the essence of yoga," he said. Mann who is going to preside over a hatha-yoga session at The Roseate here tomorrow, also added that yoga done wrong could lead to severe health problems like nerve damage and brain haemorrhage. Nivedita Joshi from the Indian Heritage Society, who also conducts yoga classes at the Iyengar Yoga Centre Yogakshema here, feels the newer practises are a result of a "lack of knowledge". "The new ways are diluting Yoga. They are a misinterpretation... which makes them a joke that can have disastrous results," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A transwoman teacher has alleged that she was "humiliated" by two reputed schools in the city during job interviews. Hiranmay Dey, who underwent a sex-reassignment surgery in the middle of last year to become Suchitra Dey, said one of the private schools asked about her chances of conception and the other wanted to know the reasons behind her transformation. Dey, who has a double Masters in English and geography, claimed she had been teaching for the past 10 years at private school, where the students and her colleagues "love" and "respect" her. "I appeared for the interviews because I wanted to do give a fillip to my career. At one of the interviews, minutes after I objected to the questions that were being asked, I was told that I won't get through," she said. A member of a LGBT forum in West Bengal, Dey has written to West Bengal Human Rights Commission, seeking its intervention in the matter. "I wish the human rights commission takes measures to stop the discrimination of transgender people at job interviews. I am waiting for a response," she said. A spokesperson at Transgender Development Board in West Bengal, said the matter would be taken up for discussion. "Dey has informed us about her experiences. We will take up the issue and decide what steps can be taken to prevent similar incidents in future." The Supreme Court had recognised transgenders as a 'third gender' in 2014. Earlier, they had to write 'male' or 'female' against their gender. The principals of the two schools, when approached by PTI, denied that any such interview was conducted by them. "We haven't received any CV from a teacher bearing either the name Hiranmoy or Suchitra. There had been no such interviews either. And we have no reservations against any third gender person," one of the principals said. At the other school, too, the authorities refuted Dey's allegations and said they had no record of any such interview. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) is yet to take a call on whom to support in the election to the post of Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, a key party leader said today. Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu yesterday set in motion the process for the election, holding talks on the issue with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar. Neither the BJP nor the Congress has the required number to win the election for the post, which will fall vacant on July 2 with the retirement of P J Kurien. Talks are on among the opposition parties to wrest the post, while the BJP has said that it would field its candidate but favours a consensus. Some opposition parties are of the view that the post should go to a non-BJP, non-Congress party leader and some of them are in touch with the Congress for its support to the proposal. When asked whether the ruling party in Telangana would go with the BJP or back the opposition candidate, TRS Floor Leader in the Lok Sabha A P Jithender Reddy told PTI, "We have not taken a decision so far." The TRS has six Rajya Sabha members. In the 245-member Rajya Sabha, a candidate requires 122 votes to win the election for deputy chairman. The BJP has 67 members, and the Congress has 51 members in the Upper House of Parliament. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump ordered an end to the separation of migrant children from their parents on the US border today, reversing a tough policy under heavy pressure from his fellow Republicans, Democrats and the international community. The spectacular about-face comes after more than 2,300 children were stripped from their parents and adult relatives after illegally crossing the border since May 5 and placed in tent camps and other facilities, with no way to contact their relatives. Pictures and accounts of the separations sparked outrage and a rebellion among Republicans in Trump's own party, as well as international accusation that the US was committing human rights violations. "What we have done today is we are keeping families together," Trump said as he signed the executive order. "I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated." Trump said that even with the change, border enforcement will be "equally tough, if not tougher." For weeks, Trump had insisted he was bound by the law to split the children from their parents and that only Congress could resolve the problem -- before he radically shifted gears. "We want security for our country," Trump said. "And we will have that -- at the same time, we have compassion, we want to keep families together." The order says the Department of Homeland Security -- and not the Justice and Health and Human Services Departments, as under previous policy -- would have continuing responsibility for the families. It also suggests the government intends to hold the families indefinitely by challenging an existing statute, the 1997 Flores Settlement, that places a 20-day limit on how long children, along or with their parents, can be detained. That move could lead to new legal battles for the administration. Trump said there was a need to remain tough to prevent crime. "We still have to maintain toughness, or our country will be overrun by people, by crime, by all of the things that we don't stand for and we don't want," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Thane court has sentenced two Bangladeshi couples to two years' imprisonment for staying illegally in India. Assistant sessions judge Ms S A Sinha convicted the four Bangladeshi nationals last week on charges under the Foreigners Act and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on them. According to the prosecution, the police raided a hutment colony in the Mira Road area of Thane district on December 28 last year after getting a tip-off. The police arrested the four people -- Uttam Golap Sikandar, 27, MauUttamSikandar, 24, AllauddinGaniMalik, 40, andMuslimaAllauddinMalik, 38 -- from there. The prosecution further said the accused admitted that they were Bangladeshi nationals but failed to produce a valid proof of their identification and residence. The accused told the police that they did petty works to earn their livelihood. After hearing both the sides, the judge said it appears from the record that all the accused are poor people and they entered the country because of their bad financial condition and unemployment. They did daily wage jobs in India, she noted. Hence, while imposing the punishment on them, it is necessarytoshowleniency, the judge observed. Therefore, consideringthe situation, the judge sentenced them to two years imprisonment each, and said it is required to give a message to the society and prospective criminals that crime never goes unpunished. The court also directed the authorities concerned to take necessarystepstodeport theaccused to their country on the completion of their sentence. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister Theresa May today survived a brewing rebellion within her own Conservative party ranks to win a crucial Brexit vote in Parliament. The vote over Parliament's role in the event of a no-deal Brexit agreement in the House of Commons went in favour of the UK government by 319 votes to 303. It came after ministers agreed the Speaker would be able to decide if MPs had the power to amend a motion on what to do if there is no agreement with the European Union (EU). The government has been at loggerheads with the House of Lords in the long-running row over what happens if the UK cannot reach a deal with the EU, or if MPs reject whatever deal the government agrees with the EU on Brexit day March 29, 2019. Changes to the EU Withdrawal Bill put forward by the Lords would give MPs a greater say in these scenarios. The Commons vote had been expected to be tight, with a chunk of Tory MPs agreeing with the Lords' position. Opposition Labour was still urging its MPs to support the Lords' amendment, describing it as the "last chance" for Parliament to guard against "a no-deal Brexit" which it says would damage the economy. But the government stressed giving Parliament the power to intervene in negotiations would bind May's hands in the talks. The Conservatives do not have a majority in the House of Commons, and ministers were hoping Tory MPs unhappy at what has been offered so far do not decide to rebel and vote with the Opposition. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Unichem Laboratories today said it has entered into a settlement pact with pharma major Eli Lilly & Company and ICOS Corporation for resolving their patent litigation regarding generic tadalafil used for treating erectile dysfunction. The patent litigation was in the US District Court for New Jersey, Unichem said. The company "has entered into a settlement agreement with Eli Lilly & Company and ICOS Corporation to resolve their patent litigation in the US District Court for District of New Jersey regarding Unichem's Abbreviated New Drug Application for generic tadalafil (CialisB)," it said in a BSE filing. Under the agreement, Unichem expects to launch its generic tadalafil product in the US on or not before March 26, 2019 under certain circumstances, the company said. It however did not provide any details about the 'certain circumstances'. Shares of Unichem Laboratories were trading at Rs 247.60 per scrip on BSE, up 4.54 per cent from previous close. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Minister O P Soni today asserted untreated sewage of the cities will not be let into rivers and strict action will be taken against municipal corporations responsible for allowing polluted water into rivers. Soni presided over a meeting of the high-powered committee constituted by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to suggest measures for cleaning rivers in the state. He said major sources of the pollution in the rivers were municipal sewage and industrial effluent. The committee which has been entrusted with the task to suggest ways to ensure supply of clean potable water discussed the issue of sewerage and other toxic water to save rivers and other natural resources, according to an official release. Soni informed that 19 towns are located in the catchment area of the river Sutlej. In these towns, 33 sewage treatment plants are required to be installed, out of which 31 STPs have been installed and two are yet to be installed. He said result of 16 sampling points set up by the Punjab Pollution Control Board between upstream of Nangal to downstream of Hussainiwala shows that the water quality of river Sutlej deteriorated due to discharge of untreated/partial treated sewage and industrial effluent mainly of Ludhiana and Jalandhar cities. He said the quality of water at upstream of Nangal can be used for outdoor bathing and at downstream of Kiratpur Sahib, the water quality gets impaired up to upstream of Budha Nullah. He said water quality of downstream of confluence of Budha Nullah with river Sutlej deteriorated due to discharge of untreated/partially treated sewage and industrial effluents of Ludhiana. The water of this quality can be used for irrigation, industrial cooling etc. The minister said that the water of Ravi river is safe for fish and other aquatic animals. He said that one sewage treatment plant has been started in Amritsar and another would be ready in one and a half months. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Trump administration today appeared to be dismissive of a third-party's role in resolving the Kashmir dispute and reiterated that it is for India and Pakistan to determine any discussion on the issue. The administration's response came in the wake of Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui's suggestion of a trilateral cooperation between India, China and Pakistan under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). "Our policy on Kashmir has not changed. We believe the pace, scope and character of any discussion on Kashmir is for the two sides to determine," a State Department Spokesperson told PTI. Zhaohui on Monday endorsed the idea of trilateral cooperation between India, China and Pakistan under the aegis of the SCO, saying it could "in the future" help resolve bilateral issues between New Delhi and Islamabad and help maintain peace. The Chinese envoy's remarks came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain exchanged pleasantries following a press conference by the leaders of the SCO in Qingdao last week. However, China today distanced itself from its envoy's comments saying both India and Pakistan are China's friends and neighbours. Pakistani leaders have repeatedly sought the US intervention in resolving the Kashmir dispute, but India has maintained that there is no room for third party mediation. The State Department, however, refrained from making any comment on a recent report on Kashmir by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Last week, the UN released its first-ever report on alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), and demanded an international probe into it, evoking a sharp reaction from India which termed the document as "fallacious and motivated". "We are aware of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' report," the spokesperson said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan has not taken "sustained or decisive" steps against terror safe havens as expected by the US, a top American diplomat has said, nearly a year after President Donald Trump unveiled his South Asia strategy accusing Islamabad of harbouring terrorists. Alice G Wells, Senior Bureau Official for South and Central Asian Affairs said despite some positive indicators, the US has not yet seen Pakistan taking the sustained or decisive steps that it would have expected to see ten months after the announcement of the South Asia strategy, including "arresting or expelling Taliban elements who will not come to the negotiating table." Wells, who is scheduled to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee today, said in her prepared statement ahead of her hearing that "Pakistan is on notice that we expect its unequivocal cooperation ending sanctuaries that the Taliban have enjoyed since the remnants of their toppled regime fled into Pakistan in 2001. The US, she said, is engaging with all of Afghanistan's neighbours and near neighbours to build regional support for the Afghan government's peace vision and discourage spoilers. Unveiling his new South Asia strategy in August last year, Trump had accused Pakistan of giving "safe haven to agents of chaos, violence, and terror," and said the time had come "for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilisation, order, and to peace". Trump had also sought a major role for India in bringing peace in Afghanistan. The House Foreign Affairs Committee has convened a hearing on US Policy Toward Afghanistan. During the hearing, Wells said Pakistan has an important role to play and has legitimate interests that it wants to ensure are met during any peace process. The dialogue that we have with Pakistan seeks to address those concerns while also encouraging additional concrete support for Afghan peace efforts, she said. For example, with US support, Pakistan and Afghanistan entered into a constructive dialogue to develop the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS), an initiative to which we have given our full support, the US diplomat said. Wells said all of Afghanistan's neighbours from Iran and Russia, to India, China, and the Central Asian states have repeatedly stated their support for an Afghan peace process. "All of these countries feel a strong stake in Afghanistan's future security and stability. They all would benefit from a political settlement in Afghanistan, which would help to reduce the terrorist and narcotics threat to their own citizens and also bolster regional economic cooperation," she noted. In a statement ahead of the hearing, Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said a stable and secure Afghanistan is in the interest of the US. "Achieving this requires a credible US military presence and an equally strong diplomatic strategy. This hearing will look at the administration's policy toward Afghanistan, particularly in light of upcoming elections, the challenges regional actors pose to Afghanistan and efforts to counter violent extremism, Royce said. In her prepared testimony, Wells said the administration's conditions-based South Asia Strategy ensures the Taliban cannot win on the battlefield. "But it recognises that a resolution to the conflict will be through a negotiated political settlement. Our desired outcomes for any peace process are clear and have not changed. The Taliban must renounce violence, break ties with al-Qaeda, and accept the Afghan Constitution including its protections for women and minorities, she said. According to Wells, after more than 16 years of war, there is a real opportunity this year to start an Afghan peace process that could lead to a durable settlement of the conflict. "Such a settlement would help secure vital US interests and ultimately reduce the costs associated with America's long-term engagement in Afghanistan," she said. "The basis for our cautious optimism starts with the Afghan government, which under President (Ashraf) Ghani's strong leadership is doing everything possible to signal its openness to a dialogue with the Taliban, she said. In February, Ghani had invited the Taliban to enter into a peace process without preconditions an unprecedented gesture by the Afghan government. "More recently, President Ghani took another unprecedented step and announced a temporary ceasefire in offensive operations against the Taliban for the week surrounding the Eid holidays," Wells said. "The Taliban responded with a three-day ceasefire. This was the first national ceasefire in the last 17 years of the Afghan conflict, and the national outpouring of relief and joy this past weekend was unlike anything Afghanistan has seen in many years, Wells observed in her written testimony." According to Wells, recently, there have been signs that the Taliban's Pakistan-based leaders are debating the merits of joining a peace process. However, the group has not responded to President Ghani's offer of unconditional talks. We are pursuing a multi-track strategy to make clear to the Taliban that negotiations are their best option. The strategy has a number of distinct lines of effort quite apart from the military effort, she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President on Wednesday claimed that America has rebuilt China which has been taking out $500 billion a year from the US, a day after he threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, escalating a trade war between the world's two largest economies. The move followed tariffs applied last week on $50 billion in Chinese imports to the US. China responded by saying it would hit 659 US products worth $50 billion. "You see what's happening with China. We have no choice. This should have been done many years ago. China has been taking out $500 billion a year out of our country and rebuilding China," Trump said in his address to the National Federation of Independent Businesses. "I always say, 'We have rebuilt China'. They've taken so much. It's time, folks. It's time," Trump said. Trump, pursuing his 'America First' policy, has been insisting that China has been unfairly benefitting from a massive trade imbalance with the US, now estimated to be $376 billion. During the 2016 election campaign, he had promised to use tariffs to cut the US trade deficits. The White House said that if China goes through with its promise to retaliate against the US tariffs announced last week, the United States will impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Trump said he has taken steps to provide a level-playing field to American businesses. "American businesses now are on a level-playing field with your competitors from other countries who have so many advantages, including subsidy by governments," he said. The President said that he had ordered US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to identify the second tranche of goods imported from China for tariffs of 10 per cent. Trump said after the legal process is complete, these tariffs worth $200 billion will go into effect if China refuses to change its practices. The US, the world's largest economy, has a trade deficit of almost $500 billion with China, the world's second-largest economy. A trade spat between the top two economies of the world began in April with Trump imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US from China, which also retaliated by imposing additional tariffs worth about $three billion on 128 US products. The US withdrew today from the UN Human Rights Council and condemned its "shameless hypocrisy" in absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those committing no offence, saying America will not take lectures from hypocritical institutions. The decision to pull the US out of the UN Human Rights Council was announced by US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley who also criticised the council for a "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel". She claimed that human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the council. The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape scrutiny, and the council continues politicising and scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in their ranks, she said. "Therefore, as we said we would do a year ago if we did not see any progress, the United States is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council," Haley said. In doing so, Haley made it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from human rights commitments. "On the contrary, we take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. Haley also criticised the council for a "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel," citing a series of resolutions highlighting alleged abuses by the Israeli government of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged that the council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those who have committed no offence. "We have no doubt that there was once a noble vision for this council. But today, we need to be honest the Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights," Pompeo told reporters at a joint media appearance with Haley. "Worse than that, the Human Rights Council has become an exercise in shameless hypocrisy with many of the world's worst human rights abuses going ignored and some of the world's most serious offenders sitting on the council itself," he said. A mere look around the world today demonstrates that the council has failed in its stated objectives, he said. "Its membership includes authoritarian governments with unambiguous and abhorrent human rights records, such as China, Cuba and Venezuela," Pompeo said. "The US -- which leads the world in humanitarian assistance and whose service members have sacrificed lives and limb to free millions from oppression and tyranny -- will not take lectures from hypocritical bodies and institution as Americans selflessly give their blood and treasure to help the defenceless, he said. Top American lawmakers welcomed the move. Applauding the decision, Senator Marco Rubio said that it is a travesty that countries such as Venezuela, China, and Cuba would even be considered for membership on this council. "Governments that persecute people of faith, imprison dissidents, repress free speech and violate others' basic human rights have no business participating in an international body purportedly committed to ending human rights abuses," he said. Rubio said he is gravely concerned that US security partners such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt also continue to fall in this category. "I implore them to fundamentally improve their human rights practices. "If the UN Human Rights Council wants to maintain any shred of credibility, basic respect for and protection of human rights must be a prerequisite for membership and the council must end its hostility toward Israel. Until that is the case, the US should have nothing to do with this broken institution," Rubio said. However, the opposition Democratic party opposed the move. "The United States should be leading the world on human rights, not retreating into isolation and separating young children from their families," said Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Tom Perez. Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon welcomed the announcement by the US. "The Human Rights Council has long been the foe of those who truly care about human rights around the world. The US has proven, yet again, its commitment to truth and justice and their unwillingness to allow the blind hatred of Israel in international institutions to stand unchallenged," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vishwas Mandalik from Nasik and the Yoga Institute in Mumbai have been selected as the recipients of the prime minister's award for outstanding contribution for promotion and development of yoga. The selection was done from among 186 nominations received under different categories. Two panels were constituted -- a screening committee (for preliminary evaluation) and an evaluation committee (jury) -- so that a transparent process was followed in finalising the awards. Nomination for the awards were invited through open advertisement. The screening committee chaired by secretary (AYUSH) shortlisted some of the applications. The jury chaired by the cabinet secretary, with the additional principal secretary to the prime minister, the foreign secretary, secretary (AYUSH) and some experts as members, examined the recommendations of the screening committee. "After considering all relevant facts and other inputs, the jury recommended that the award for the current year be given to Vishwas Mandalik in Nasik (in the category Individual National) and the Yoga Institute in Mumbai (in the category Organisation National)," an official statement from AYUSH Ministry said. The award for 2017 was won by Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune. Vishwas Mandalik acquired knowledge of Patanjali and Hatha Yoga, Bhagwad Gita and Upnishad by study and research of ancient scriptures. In 1978, he set up first branch of Yoga Vidya Dham, and as of today there are 160 centres in India. He established an institute called Yoga Vidhya Gurukul in 1983 for yoga education. He wrote 42 books and developed 300 CDs to cover various training courses. The Yoga Institute, established in 1918 by Yogendraji, completed its 100 years serving the society. It produced more than 50,000 yoga teachers and had over 500 publications to its credit. The institute contributed to the promotion and development of holistic yoga for over 10 decades, serving all sections of the society. The winners would be felicitated with of a trophy, certificate and a cash award each. The value of each cash award was Rs 25 lakh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The telecom department has received legal opinion on the issue of raising demand for dues pertaining to Vodafone, ahead of the proposed mega-merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular in the Indian market, according to a senior government official. The legal opinion had been sought by DoT (Department of Telecom) recently as some of the demands for arrears are sub judice. The dues pertain to one-time spectrum charges on administratively-allotted radiowaves (that is, not allocated via auction) to Vodafone, which is in the process of combining its operations in India with Idea Cellular. "Based on the legal opinion, the matter will be examined," the official said. The details of the legal opinion could not be ascertained. had, last month, said that the clearances related to the mega merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular are being expedited and that it "should get done" in the timeframe of June outlined by the two companies. Idea and Vodafone have decided to combine their operations to create the country's largest telecom operator worth over $23 billion, with a 35 per cent market share. Earlier this month, Idea Cellular had announced that the telecom department has approved raising the foreign direct investment limit in the company to 100 per cent, putting its merger deal with Vodafone in the last leg of regulatory clearance. "Idea Cellular has received approval on its application to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit in the company to 100 per cent, from the current 67.5 per cent, from the Department of Telecom (DoT) today," Idea had said in a statement on June 4. The approval is for total foreign investment up to 100 per cent in Idea Cellular Ltd, and total indirect FDI in its relevant subsidiaries Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd and Idea Cellular Infrastructure Services Ltd, it had said. The FDI approval came as a major milestone in the merger process of Vodafone India with Idea Cellular, and follows other statutory approvals received from Sebi, NSE, BSE, CCI and NCLT Mumbai and NCLT Ahmedabad. Vodafone will own 45.1 per cent in the combined entity, while Aditya Birla Group would have 26 per cent and Idea shareholders 28.9 per cent. The merged entity would be known as 'Vodafone Idea Ltd'. After assuming charge as the head of the Jammu and Kashmir government today, Governor N N Vohra held meetings with top civil administration and police officials at the Civil Secretariat here. "Immediately after receiving President of India's approval, Governor N N Vohra issued the Proclamation to impose Governor's Rule in the State under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir today," a Raj Bhawan spokesman said. Vohra also placed the legislative assembly in suspended animation till the proclamation of Governor's Rule is revoked or varied by a subsequent proclamation. He held discussions with Chief Secretary B B Vyas and identified the major tasks which shall require to be dealt with on a strict time-bound basis, beginning from today. Later in the evening, Chhattisgarh-cadre IAS officer B V R Subrahmanyam was appointed as the chief secretary replacing Vyas. Vohra also reviewed a wide range of security management issues with top security officials. While reiterating the importance of maintaining constant surveillance the ground situation, the governor directed officials that immediate action must be taken on reports received from any quarters regarding any problem arising from security management. In this context, he asked representatives of all the security forces and agencies to identify all existing gaps and ensure coordinated action on the ground for providing prompt and strong counter-terror responses on all fronts. He also reviewed security-related issues in connection with the Amarnath Yatra which is scheduled to commence on June 28. Vohra earlier was accorded a ceremonial welcome and guard of honour by a police contingent as he arrived at the Civil Secretariat to take charge of the administration. He later chaired a meeting of top officials -- both from civil administration and police -- to gear up the state administrative machinery to function with speed, efficiency and accountability. Governor's Rule was necessitated in the state following resignation by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in the wake of BJP pulling out of the coalition government. Vohra directed administrative secretaries and the DGP to ensure that all government functionaries attended office punctually and their presence was daily monitored through the bio-metric attendance system. The administrative secretaries shall personally review and ensure prompt and efficient delivery of various public services to the people of the state; complaints regarding delays, irregularities and corruption must be dealt with most sternly and those responsible should be proceeded against without any fear or favour, he told the officers. He asked the administrative secretaries to send him reports regarding the latest progress of Prime Minister's Development Programme 2015. The governor also sought the latest status on the construction of bunkers in villages located along the International Border and Line of Control; timely payment of relief to the victims of border firing; status of preparations for holding panchayat and municipal elections and position regarding stocking and supply of food and other essential commodities by Food and Civil Supplies Department. Vohra asked the Chief Secretary to forward by tomorrow department-wise lists of all pending cases with remarks regarding the reasons for delay. Meanwhile, Northern Army commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, called on the governor and discussed the security situation in the state. The Governor and the Army commander discussed issues regarding the need for very close coordination in security management in the Valley, particularly keeping in view the need to ensure against co-lateral damage in counter-terrorist operations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Economic Adviser has decided to quit the job, with close to a year of his tenure remaining, and return to the US for "very compelling reasons" -- the second high profile exit in less than a year after then NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya. He said he would leave the office within the next two months even though his contractual term was co-terminus with the government. Subramanian was appointed as CEA, finance ministry, on October 16, 2014, for a 3-year term and was given an extension last year. "My departure from this job for entirely personal reasons. It is no secret that we are expecting our first grandchild in the early September. That's a very compelling reason that takes us back to old life of that used to lead of researching, writing, teaching and reflecting above all," he said. Subramanian's official contract was till May 2019. My statement on the announcement of my departure from the job of CEA. pic.twitter.com/4slYcujugO (@arvindsubraman) June 20, 2018 "The first person I mentioned this to was the Prime Minister after consulting Mr (Arun) Jaitley," he said while expressing that this was the best job he ever had and probably ever will. Earlier in the day Union Minister announced that Subramanian will be leaving the after nearly 4 years because of "pressing family commitments" and return to the US. Asked about his last date in the office, he said, "in terms of date, the hard deadline is early September, when the baby is going to arrive. We haven't exactly finalised. It would be over the next month or two. No firm date as yet has been fixed." ALSO READ: Full text: In FB post, Jaitley says CEA Arvind Subramanian has resigned To a question on his future plans, he said, it will be revealed in the next few days. "You will get to know what I am exactly, I will be going in the next few days. I can not reveal that right now for obvious reasons. Whatever has to be done has to go through formal channel but in few days you will get to know what I will do in the next year at least," he said. "I am profoundly grateful and humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister announcing my decision to return-for personal reasons-to researching and writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had," he said Subramanian is the second key economic policy adviser to quit the job mid-way to return to the US. Previously, the then NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya had quit in August 2017, nearly two-year before his term was to end. Incidentally, both were handpicked after BJP government came to power in May 2014 and cited personal reasons for quitting the job ahead of tenure. ALSO READ: Arvind Subramanian resigns as CEA to Modi govt, Jaitley announces in blog When asked about his successor, he said the process would start soon and 'competence, competence, competence,' that's what the government believes in and that's what the government should follow while choosing his successor. On the unfinished agenda, he said, he would like to see the office of CEA in every state. "One thing which I wish we could have done... there was a lot of demand for creating the office of CEA in a number of states, a number of chief ministers were keen to have something like this and I wish I had more bandwidth, time and energy to kind of do this in the states as well. I hope it will happen going forward," he said. On the recent talks of India aiming at touching double-digit growth rate, he said it should certainly aspire for this. Subramanian said, "It helps on so many fronts. To achieve double digit growth, you need two things, you need favourable external environment, which is not the case and you need to do a lot of domestic policy hard work at home. "I think government has begun to do the latter but I think economic environment has deteriorated. So maybe task becomes more challenging. I would never say double-digit growth is beyond the reach of India. We can but you would need both need external environment and ongoing sustained policy reform at home." On global trade wars and growing protectionism, the CEA said, "I do think we need to think about what measures we need to take to cushion any adverse fallout. I think trade war will not happen internationally but if it does we have to find appropriate responses in terms of domestic policies as well." When asked if he would be willing to take up an assignment in the future in India, he said, he is always committed to serving the country. On the Goods and Services Tax, he said many of the exempted sectors should come under this as broader the base of better it is. It is for the Council to take a call, he added. On his proposal of setting up a bad bank two-and-a-half years ago to deal with bad loans, he said, "I was very passionate about that but the NCLT process offers a legal framework for resolving this bad bank might not have been able to do. I am very happy in this instance that an alternative idea gained traction and resolution process is moving well." With regard to the Universal Basic Income proposed by him in the Economic Survey of 2016-17, he said, it didn't happen but it became a part of the policy discussion. "The idea has been around. We just brought it in the more prominence. All policies will have to navigate through challenging times," he said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has assured the parents of the two men lynched in Karbi Anglong that he would request the chief justice of the Gauhati high court to fast track the trial, an official release said here today. Nilotpal Das (29) and Abhijeet Nath (30) were on June 8 pulled out of their vehicle at Panjuri in Karbi Anglong district and beaten to death by a group of irate villagers, who suspected them to be child-lifters. The victims' fathers, Ajit Kumar Nath and Gopal Chandra Das, called on the chief minister yesterday evening and submitted a petition demanding maximum punishment for the culprits. They also demanded constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) for expeditious investigation in the case, the release said. The chief minister told them that the SIT had already been constituted under a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and acting swiftly, the Assam police had nabbed all the accused within a short period of time, it said. A total of 64 people, including the prime accused, have been arrested in connection with the case. Sonowal assured the victims' parents that he had directed the police to consult an expert criminal lawyer to prepare the charge sheet to ensure that no loopholes remain for the accused to escape. The chief minister is personally monitoring the progress of the case as the crime has tarnished Assam's image, the release said. Niloptal, a sound engineer, and Abhijeet, a businessman, were returning from a picnic spot near the Kangthilangso waterfalls when they were lynched by a mob following rumours on the social media. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman along with her associates was arrested for allegedly trying to kill a man for eyeing her daughter in outer Delhi's Aman Vihar area, police said today. The arrested accused were identified as Beena, Lal Bahadur and Amit, all residents of Prem Nagar-III. On June 18, the police were informed that a man, who had suffered injury and cuts on his throat was lying near the Prem Nagar area. The police reached the spot and found the injured lying unconscious near a railway track and instantly shifted him to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangol Puri. A case was registered at Aman Vihar police station and the police started the investigation. A team of policemen thoroughly studied the crime scene and the locals were contacted to know the sequence of the incident. The injured, one Bhagwan Singh, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, on gaining consciousness, disclosed that his throat was cut by the accused and her son. The police immediately arrested the accused persons. Sustained interrogations disclosed that the motive of the crime was personal enmity. Singh, apparently, had an eye on the daughter of the accused and on the day of the incident, he had come to their house despite repeated directions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mobile chipset maker UNISOC today said it is working with a number of telecom operators in India, including Reliance Jio, to bring more affordable handsets for the consumers. "Three years ago, we started the cooperation with Reliance Jio. We co-designed this concept with Reliance to launch 4G VoLTE smart feature phone. "Our ultimate goal is to offer a very good user experience to end users in India (at) relatively low cost. To cooperate with operators is a very important goal of our strategy," UNISOC CEO Adam Zeng told reporters here. He added that in China too, UNISOC (formerly Spreadtrum Communications) works closely with the three major carriers there. "In India, Reliance and other carriers are our strategic partners. We are going to support them to keep offering better user experience to Indian consumers at relatively low cost," he said. The company has launched two new chipsets - SC9832E and SC9863 - that have been designed to enable a more seamless user experience for machine learning and augmented reality/virtual reality related applications. Zeng said the company is in discussions with various handset makers, both Indian and international, to integrate these new chipsets in mobile phones. These chipsets are expected to be used in handsets priced under USD 190 (about Rs 13,000) that may start rolling out by August-end, he added. "India is a very important market for us and we are focussed on helping the Indian handset makers bring in products with better features. We are confident that these new additions to our extensive portfolio will be well-received in the market," he said. Zeng said the company is looking at strengthening its presence in the Indian market. The company, which has about 100 employees in India, including in R&D roles, spends about USD 10 million annually here. "We are committed to the Indian market and to strengthening our position here. We will invest in various areas, including marketing and building our team here," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Officials were busy today ensuring everything was in place on the Forest Research Institute campus here which is hosting the country's main International Yoga Day event. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go through the asanas on the FRI campus tomorrow, leading an estimated 50,000 enthusiasts, against the backdrop of a British-era building. He likely to stay there from 6.45 am to 7.45 am, performing yoga and addressing people. Security was tightened all over the city ahead of his visit beginning tonight. Modi will spend the night in Raj Bhawan's presidential suite, officials here said. There was massive deployment of security personnel in and around the FRI, and along the route of the prime minister's convoy, Dehradun District Magistrate S A Murugesan said. The FRI campus spread over 500 hectares was kept closed for visitors for two days, he said. The entire place was spruced up. He said 50,100 mats have been spread at the venue for the participants. ADG (Law and Order) Ashok Kumar said nearly 3,000 security personnel have been deployed and there are 63 CCTV cameras at the venue to keep an eye on 60 gates. The traffic in the city will be diverted to ensure that there are no snarls. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat wrote a blog today to welcome the prime minister and thank him for selecting the city to host the main Yoga Day event. He said this will boost tourism in Uttarakhand and give the state an identity as the land of yoga. "Uttarakhand is the place in whose caves and caverns the ancient sages meditated and invented yoga, a holistic science of physical and spiritual well-being, he wrote. There has been a flurry of activity in Dehradun over the past few days. Roads have been repaired with their potholes filled up, a fresh coat of asphalt laid on them and the dividers painted afresh. Yoga walks' were held in the city, including one led by the chief minister in which his cabinet colleagues participated. Director General of Police Anil Raturi led another such yoga promotion drive to draw people to tomorrow's event. Leading a 'Walk for Yoga' in the city, the chief minister appealed to people to make yoga an integral part of their lives. He said a healthy India cannot be imagined without yoga becoming part of every Indian's daily routine. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Yoga should not be used as a political tool or linked to a particular community, top Muslim bodies said today on the eve of International Day for Yoga. The organisations also said that Yoga should be seen as form of exercise and not through the prism of religion. "Islam lays special emphasis on physical fitness and considers things related to fitness as good. Yoga as an exercise is good, but it should not be made compulsory which may not be acceptable to people of other religions. "The most important thing is that Yoga should not be used as a political tool. But, sadly this practice is going on," All India Muslim Personal Law Board spokesman Sajjad Nomani told PTI here. He also said that people of every religion and section of society should be encouraged to celebrate Yoga Day tomorrow. "It is unfair to force upon someone any particular exercise. There should be no dispute vis-a-vis Yoga. People of every religion and section of the society should be encouraged to celebrate International Yoga Day. "It is important that Yoga should be perceived as a rahmat (mercy) and not a 'zahmat' (worry)," the spokesman said. The All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) was of the view that Yoga should not be linked to a community. "Yoga should not be seen as something linked to a particular community. It is related to the body only. People who have the habit of seeing Yoga through the prism of religion, actually want to see humanity in a sick state of affairs," AISPLB spokesperson Yasoob Abbas said. He said several Islamic nations celebrate International Day for Yoga and people participate happily in events. On Muslims generally having objections to chanting of mantras during different Yoga asanas, Abbas said, "There is no doubt that Muslims worship Allah alone. But, Islam is not that weak that it will break at the slightest instance and moreover, Yoga is not a God. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Manoj KumarNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian is standing down after serving for nearly four years and would return to the United States, the finance minister said on Wednesday."He would like to go back to the United States on account of pressing family commitments," Arun Jaitley said in a Facebook post. "He left me with no option but to agree with him."Subramanian, 59, joined as the chief economic adviser on Oct. 16, 2014 for a three-year term, which was later extended by a year.The Indian-born, Oxford-educated economist was picked by Prime Minister ... India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer and importer, on Wednesday urged OPEC nations to fill a supply gap and ensure sustainable oil prices as politics affect the output of some producers. The world faces likely lower oil exports from Iran, OPEC's third-biggest producer, after US President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear accord with a vow to renew sanctions against Tehran. India is Iran's biggest oil client after China. "Political conditions, sometimes internal and sometimes external, result in reduced output of some countries. We expect from ... LONDON (Reuters) - A row over how much say Britain's parliament should have over the Brexit process is set to reach its conclusion on Wednesday as lawmakers finalise the wording of the laws that will end the country's membership of the European Union next year.After more than 250 hours of debate, one major issue remains. Prime Minister Theresa May's government has promised to give parliament a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal it negotiates with Brussels, but what does that actually mean? On the table are two similar technical definitions of what that promise means: one proposed by the ... By Christopher JohnsonLONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday, supported by a drop in U.S. commercial crude inventories and the loss of storage capacity in Libya, with investors cautious ahead of a biannual meeting of OPEC exporters to decide production policy.Benchmark Brent crude was up 50 cents at $75.58 a barrel by 0835 GMT. U.S. light crude was 50 cents higher at $65.57.U.S. crude inventories fell by 3 million barrels to 430.6 million barrels in the week to June 15, according to an American Petroleum Institute report on Tuesday. Traders said a drop in Libyan supplies due to the ... Posted Wednesday, June 20, 2018 3:00 am Several races will be on the ballot for Webster County voters during the August primary election. Among the county seats on the ballot is the Webster County Associate Circuit Judge, a position held by Kenneth F. Ken Thompson, D-Marshfield, who is retiring from public service and will not seek a four-year term of office. Two Republican candidates running for the seat are Cynthia Black and David (Chuck) Replogle. Black is a longtime Marshfield attorney and former Webster County prosecutor, serving from 2003 to 2006. She also serves as co-chair for the Marshfield Rotary Clubs Dont Meth With Us program, which educates children about the dangers of drug use. Replogle has been the Marshfield city attorney for the past 12 years. He was past president of the Marshfield Area Community Foundation and is currently serving on the GRO Marshfield committee. Both candidates were present at the Democratic Party of Webster County meeting on June 12, where they talked about why they want to run for circuit judge. Black spoke on the tough decisions judges have to make and how she has dealt with difficult cases over the years while practicing law. She used an example of a case where an individual brought in her child, who was being abused by the other father. I have unfortunately had to deal with cases like this, said Black. When I was a prosecuting attorney, I put record numbers of people in prison in Webster County for committing crimes like this. I would now like to take the next step and I would like to be your judge. I think I would make a good judge because of my experience with cases like these and other crimes. There is not an area of law that I have not practiced in. Replogle talked about his hope to create a safe environment for families to grow and his experience in law, handling a variety of matters, such as civil litigation and probate cases. He also mentioned his experience as city attorney. I have had the privilege of representing the City of Seymour and Diggins. I represent the Marshfield School District. The diversity of experience and knowledge makes me uniquely suited to serve the people of Webster County as circuit judge, said Replogle. This is my first run in politics and I am a rookie. I am learning as I go, but I do enjoy the opportunity to speak to so many people." MUMBAI (Reuters) - The police arrested the chief executive and an executive director of state-run Bank of Maharashtra on Wednesday, accusing them of misusing their authority in making loans to a property developer.Bank of Maharashtra Chief Executive Officer Ravindra Marathe and an executive director, Rajendra Gupta, were among six people arrested, police said.Among the others arrested were Sushil Muhnot, a former chairman and managing director of the bank, a manager at the bank, and a chartered accountant and an employee of D.S. Kulkarni Developers Ltd (DSKDL), police said."Bank officers ... MUMBAI (Reuters) - The police arrested the chief executive and an executive director of state-run Bank of Maharashtra on Wednesday, accusing them of misusing their authority in making loans to a property developer.Authorities have stepped up scrutiny of the state banking sector after a more than $2 billion fraud unearthed in Punjab National Bank, the second-largest state-run lender, this year.Bank of Maharashtra Chief Executive Officer Ravindra Marathe and an executive director, Rajendra Gupta, were among six people arrested, police said.Among the rest are Sushil Muhnot, a former chairman and ... Telecom giant Airtel today said it had never agreed to the "outrageous" request from a subscriber for a non-Muslim customer service representative and vowed to "stay innocent and bereft of religious consideration". While Airtel came out with a strongly worded statement defending its actions, it emerged from Twitter timelines that Lucknow-based Pooja Singh had been contacted by Airtel representative Gaganjot in a routine manner in less than 10 minutes of Shoaib responding to her complaints of poor service. Gaganjot messaged her once on her public timelines on Twitter and thrice through private direct message (DM) offering assistance to resolve her complaint, all before she tweeted seeking a "Hindu representative" as she had "no faith in his (Shoaib's) work ethics". According to her twitter timelines, Pooja Singh complained of poor service at 12.09 pm on June 18, which was responded to by Shoaib at 12.18 pm. Within minutes, Gaganjot responded to Pooja at 12.34 pm saying: "Hi let me check that out for you. I don't want to keep you waiting another minute! Please DM your 10 digit DTH ID along with your contact number via the link here, and we will connect with you to assist. Thank you, Gaganjot." Airtel sources said Gaganjot may have contacted Pooja in routine manner as Shoaib may have been handling different customers. This was well before Pooja made the outrageous request. Even after being contacted by Gaganjot, Pooja, whose Twitter handle declares her as a management professional, a "Proud Indian" and a "Proud Hindu", at 2.59 pm wrote: "Dear Shoaib, as you're a Muslim and I have no faith in your working ethics because Kuran may have a different version for customer service, thus requesting you to assign a Hindu representative for my request. Thanks. (sic)" This message was responded to by Gaganjot at 3.25 pm saying: "Hi Pooja! As discussed, please let me know what time framework best for you so we can talk. Further, please share an alternate number so that I can assist you further with this. Thank you." Pooja, whose followers seem to have grown from over 10,500 to 15,100 since the controversy broke, was unreachable for comments. She did not even respond to a Twitter post seeking a response on the issue. Airtel in a statement today said what has been reported of the company not standing up to bigotry is "mostly, untrue and factually incorrect." Shoaib and Gaganjot, it said, followed a dutiful course in their regular work. "When a customer writes in and one advisor is busy, the query gets assigned to the next available advisor automatically. Which is exactly what happened with Shoaib and Gaganjot." Airtel said a customer made "an outrageous request of preferring to talk to someone of a particular religious identity" but the two service executives continued to dedicatedly work towards ensuring a solution to the complaint. "The fact that Shoaib wasn't logged in and that Gaganjot took up the case got read as 'bowing down to bigotry'. The fact that Gaganjot didn't check his colleague's religious identity before taking up the case got read as 'heeding to a discriminatory request'." "We did not and we repeat, we DID NOT change the advisor because of the unfathomable request from the said customer," the firm said. "At Airtel, we never have and never will succumb to differentiating on the basis of religion, ethnicity or caste." Stating that it will continue to train its representatives to see the world without the filters of bias, Airtel said it will "strongly resist" attempts to check religious identities of its service representatives before attending to complaints. "We promise you that we will try our best to let them stay innocent and bereft of religious considerations," it said. Pooja has been retweeting tweets supporting her. "I am overwhelmed with the kind of support I got from you all and really thankful to you from bottom of my heart. What I said was my personal choice as per my past experience and it was not a publicity stunt by anyway," she said in a statement posted on her Twitter account yesterday. She also received a lot of hate tweets for her bigotry. To this, she responded: "I simply made a request to change representative from Muslim to Hindu as my experience in past was not good and that's my right as well. After that, the kind of abuses I'm facing are beyond imagination and that in itself proves that I was right at very first place." Can India become a $10 trillion economy by 2030? Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg is the latest to join a long line of believers, including Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, and Rana Kapoor, MD and CEO, YES Bank. Addressing the 6th Growth Net Summit, convened by Ananta Centre, Confederation of Indian Industry and Smadja & Smadja earlier this week, Garg said, "It is a plausible aspiration for India to become a $10 trillion economy by 2030". He reportedly added that a "sustained" average growth of 8% coupled with an assumed devaluation of Indian rupee vis-a-vis US dollar by a rupee per year would likely take India to the stated target. Given the depreciating rupee, the outflow of portfolio investments and the high oil prices, experts have voiced concerns that the current account deficit (CAD) might rise in the current fiscal. CAD, which is the difference between the inflow and outflow of foreign exchange, jumped to $48.7 billion, or 1.9% of GDP, in 2017-18, up from 0.6% in the previous fiscal. However, according to Garg, CAD at even 2-2.5% won't be "a problem" for India. "If there is stability, in the current year capital account [inflows] should be good enough to take care and we may not worry even if it [CAD] reaches 2.5%," he said at a CII event, adding, "Last year, we had $160 billion of trade deficit, $82 billion services surplus and $70 billion remittances. In a way, we are pretty much in balance. But if oil goes up, this balance gets disturbed and the capital account funds it." The price of Indian basket of crude surged from $66 a barrel in April to around $74 a barrel at present. Asked about monetary policy tightening by the United States, Garg said India can afford to be "less edgy and concerned" than it was during Taper Tantrum in 2013. "In the last couple of years of monetary easing, you did not see flood of capital flows coming into emerging markets, including India. Unlike what happened in 2007. There is a confidence that the emerging market economies will do well," he explained. While maintaining that the government needs to be "very careful and watch out" for the situation, he claimed that the country is now "at a place where we can manage without having the consequences of what we saw in Taper Tantrum". He added that India has a number of other instruments to tackle the situation. "We have not called upon them to use so far. Last time we came out with NRE (non-resident external) deposit. We are sitting on reserves which are highest ever at $415 billion," he said. On managing fiscal deficit, Garg said the government has worked in a very prudent and sound manner. India would shortly achieve the targeted 3% fiscal deficit level and it will be more permanent and sustainable in nature. On August 15, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM), almost half of the states would not be part of it. So far 20 states have agreed to implement the scheme which is being termed 'Modicare' on the lines of 'Obamacare' of the US. But only 12-15 states will launch the scheme that day as the others are not prepared to roll it out on time, says Dr Vinod K Paul, the chief architect of the scheme who is also a member of Niti Aayog. States like UP and Bihar may take another 6 months or longer to launch Ayushman Bharat. As for the states that are ready, patients will be able to walk into empanelled hospitals on the first day and receive cashless treatment upto Rs 5 lakh per annum for each family. Southern states such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka which already have health insurance schemes in place are far better prepared to introduce Ayushman Bharat. In fact, the Centre is initially using Telangana's technology backbone to launch NHPM. Announced in the 2018 Budget, the AB-NHPM was touted as the 'world's largest government funded health care programme'. While it might take a while, with participation at both the Centre and state levels, and a cover for 10.74 crore families, the scheme is set to meet expectations eventually. As per the scheme, states will devise their own modes and adequate funds will be provided, though the ratio will differ from state to state. For most states, funding will be shared in the ratio of 60:40 with Centre contributing the majority. The North Eastern states, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and J&K, will however, enjoy 90:10 funding ratio. Each state will need to create an apex body that will implement and monitor the scheme. The Centre's funding will be to this apex body. States like Telangana, MP, Assam, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh and 8 others have opted for the trust model where the bills will be reimbursed directly by the government. Twelve states are expected to adopt the insurance model, where the government will pay an amount to an insurance company that in turn will pay the hospitals. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and 6 others, for instance, have chosen the 'mixed mode implementation'. The government will also implement standard treatment guidelines to ensure that every patient receives quality treatment and nothing substandard. To make sure this is followed through, each empanelled hospital will have an 'Ayushman Mitra' to assist patients with the procedure. Moreover, there will be regular auditing and monitoring to keep the treatment meted out in check as well as a redressal mechanism will be in place. While it might appear otherwise, private hospital chains have no reason to complain. Private hospitals could get up to 40 per cent higher rates for a procedure over rates prescribed by National Health Protection Scheme (NHPM) or Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), provided they meet the following conditions: + 10% for NABH accredited hospitals + 10% for hospitals providing PG courses + 10% for hospital in 115 backward districts + 10% if state offers additional top-up Additionally, keeping in mind a key demand of the RSS and SJM, government insurance companies will be preferred over private or international players. States where government-owned insurance companies such as Life Insurance Corporation of India; General Insurance Corporation of India; National Insurance; Oriental Insurance; New India Assurance and United India Insurance will be allowed to match the bids of the private insurers. If they do agree to match the bids put forth by private insurance firms, the business will be divided 50:50 between them. The government has been reaching out to beneficiaries since April this year through Panchayats and Gram Sabhas. Beneficiaries are being selected on the basis of the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) data of 2011. Initially, beneficiaries would be identified through their mobile numbers before a unique ID is issued. Total outlay of the scheme in terms of the premium to be paid by the government to insurance firms will be discovered when firms bid for the business. Cost to government is not known yet but it expected to be much higher than Rs 12,000 crore that has been estimated so far. The second innings of Bharat-22 ETF, Narendra Modi government's key divestment initiative, started on a strong note on the first day of the further fund offer with anchor investors putting in bids 3.44 times of their allocated portion to the tune of Rs 5,163 crore. The Modi government is eyeing to raise up to Rs 8,400 crore via this ETF issue to attain the ambitious target of raising Rs 72,500 crore through disinvestment in the current fiscal. On Tuesday, the government launched the FFO of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), comprising shares of 22 companies. The issue received subscriptions from investors such as mutual funds houses, foreign portfolio investors (FPI), insurance and retirement funds. The FFO opens for retail and other institutional investors today and will close on June 22. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company is managing the launch of Bharat 22 ETF FFO which is being offered at 2.5% discount to all the investor categories. Secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Atanu Chakraborty said, "The Bharat-22 FFO is another opportunity for the investors to participate in the India growth story as represented by the industry leading stocks of the ETF." As much as 25 per cent of total issue size, or Rs 1,500 crore, was reserved for anchor investors who put in bids worth about Rs 5,163 crore, ICICI Prudential AMC said. "We are happy to see the continued support received from anchor investors towards the FFO... Now, we look forward to active participation from non-anchor investor category, over the next three days, whereby one has the opportunity to own some of the jewels of Corporate India at a discounted price," ICICI Prudential AMC MD and CEO Nimesh Shah said. The ETF comprises leading companies from the private sector having an exposure of 39 per cent to the fund while the rest are public sector firms. The state-owned companies or PSUs that are part of the new Bharat ETF-22 include ONGC, IOC, SBI, BPCL, Coal India and Nalco. The other central public sector enterprises on the list are Bharat Electronics, Engineers India, NBCC, NTPC, NHPC, SJVNL, GAIL, PGCIL and NLC India. Only three public sector banks-SBI, Indian Bank and Bank of Baroda- figure in the Bharat-22 index. The fund consists of stocks from six sectors such as capital goods, finance, oil & gas, power, FMCG and metal, metal products and mining. In November last year, the government launched the Bharat 22 ETF Bharat 22 which received subscriptions worth Rs 31,817 crore of which the government decided to retain Rs 14,500 crore and return the rest to subscribers. A discount of 3 per cent was offered to all categories of investors. The fund comprising 22 firms was listed on the bourses with over 3 percent gains on November 28, 2017. The ETF saw huge interest from anchor investors with portion reserved for them getting subscribed six times to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore on the opening day. The government has set an ambitious target of raising Rs 72,500 crore for disinvestment in the current fiscal. Of this, Rs 46,500 crore is to be raised through minority stake sale in PSU and Rs 15,000 crore from strategic sale. Another Rs 11,000 crore is to come from listing of insurance companies. Prior to the launch of Bharat-22 ETF, which has a diversified portfolio, the government had floated the CPSE ETF comprising stocks of 10 bluechip PSUs - ONGC, Coal India, IOC, GAIL (India), Oil India, PFC, Bharat Electronics, REC, Engineers India and Container Corporation of India. Through the CPSE ETF, the government had raised Rs 11,500 crore in three tranches - Rs 3,000 crore from the first tranche in March 2014, Rs 6,000 crore from the second tranche in January 2017 and Rs 2,500 crore from the third tranche in March 2017. PTI SP JD ANS Volkswagen suspended Audi boss Rupert Stadler and announced an interim replacement on Tuesday, seeking to steady its most profitable business after German authorities arrested Stadler as part of an emissions probe. Audi said Stadler, 55, had requested to temporarily step down from his position, and named sales executive Abraham Schot as an interim replacement with immediate effect, confirming an earlier Reuters story. Stadler's arrest has thrown Volkswagen (VW) back into turmoil almost three years after it admitted to using illegal software to cheat U.S. emissions tests on diesel engines. Analysts said the arrest raised questions about whether Europe's biggest carmaker had done enough to reform in the wake of the crisis, and that it threatened a delicate truce among the group's powerful stakeholders, who had previously clashed about whether Stadler should remain in power. Schot joined the VW group in 2011 after having worked as president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Italia. He has been Audi board member for sales and marketing since last September. Munich prosecutors arrested Stadler at his home in Ingolstadt in the early hours of Monday, saying they saw a risk he could try to suppress evidence. Prosecutors tapped his phone, a person familiar with the investigation told Reuters. He remains remanded in custody in Augsburg, but has not been charged with a crime. VW and Audi said on Monday that Stadler was presumed innocent unless proven otherwise. Last week, Munich prosecutors said they were investigating Stadler for suspected fraud and false advertising and for his alleged role in helping to bring cars equipped with illegal software on to the European market. VW has set aside around $30 billion to cover the cost of fines, vehicle refits and lawsuits arising from its "dieselgate" scandal, and is spending billions more on electric vehicles to try to rebuild its reputation. VW has for years said only lower-level managers knew of the emissions cheating. However, U.S. authorities filed criminal charges against former VW boss Martin Winterkorn earlier this year, and German prosecutors continue to investigate. The technique of using software to detect a pollution test procedure, and to increase the effectiveness of emissions filters to mask pollution levels during tests, was first developed at Audi. "In designing the defeat device, VW engineers borrowed the original concept of the dual-mode, emissions cycle-beating software from Audi," VW said in its plea agreement with U.S. authorities in January 2017, in which the company agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine to reach a settlement with U.S. regulators. Stadler has been under fire from the media, politicians and VW's powerful trade unions for his handling of the scandal, but he survived a management reshuffle announced in August thanks to backing from the Piech and Porsche families that control VW. Peter Mosch, deputy chairman on Audi's supervisory board and head of its works council, said labour representatives had backed a move to appoint Schot as interim CEO to ensure that Audi's business did not suffer from the leadership crisis. "For the employees it is now important that the interim CEO returns the company to calmer waters, drives the (diesel) investigation and brings it to a conclusion, but mostly keeps the day-to-day business in view," he said in a statement. At 1415 GMT, VW shares were down 3 percent at 151.48 euros, extending Monday's decline. State Bank of India's Managing Director B Sriram was today appointed as the MD and CEO of IDBI Bank for a temporary period of three months, according to an official order. He has been appointed in place of incumbent Mahesh Kumar Jain who was recently named Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Sriram as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IDBI Bank for a temporary period of three months with effect from Jain's demitting office, the order issued by the Personnel Ministry said. Sriram has been working as the MD (Corporate and Global Banking) in SBI since July 2014. He had been Managing Director of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur. Sriram joined the government-run bank in 1981 as a Probationary Officer. During over three-decade-long career, he held several positions and also had a stint at SBI's Singapore office. His appointment signals the government's efforts to ensure that the bank does not remain headless after Jain's appointment in the central bank. IDBI Bank's gross bad loans stood at Rs 55,588 crore, up from Rs 44,753 crore in March 31, 2017, according to the bank's latest report. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing a Rs 600-crore loan fraud case involving IDBI Bank. The federal probe agency had recently examined the bank's documents related to its loan exposure to the companies of former Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran. What Punjab National Bank's CEO Sunil Mehta had called a "small turmoil" two months ago has blown into a nightmare of epic proportions for the bank. The $2 billion fraud perpetuated by diamantaire Nirav Modi led to PNB posting the biggest quarterly loss in India's banking history last month. Making matters worse, the bank's own internal probe has reportedly revealed that the lapses that caused the drawn-out fraud go far beyond a few rogue employees. According to Reuters, a 162-page internal report, produced by four senior PNB officials tasked with probing the fraud, lays out how failings by 54 PNB officials allowed the fraud to be perpetrated. These officials range from clerks to foreign exchange managers, and auditors to heads of regional offices, and eight among them have already been charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the roles they played. Significantly, the report revealed that one of the reasons the fraud escaped detection for around seven years was because of lapses within some of the bank's critical areas at its New Delhi headquarters, such as its credit review and international banking units. "There was enough evidence to suggest failures," said the report, adding, "It was observed that blatant system violations/unethical practices/dereliction of responsibilities led bank to such a catastrophe." Earlier this year, PNB discovered that some officials at its Brady House branch in Mumbai, including former deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty, repeatedly issued fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoU) worth Rs 6,498 crore to Modi's companies without following the processes and without securing collateral. A LoU is a guarantee by the issuing bank to the receiving bank and the companies that it would undertake to pay a certain amount of money on a specific date. Using those guarantees, companies controlled by Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi received credit from banks overseas to fraudulently fund their businesses, PNB alleged. The reason the scam escaped detection for so long is that Shetty issued the guarantees by using a messaging system called SWIFT, without recording the transactions in the bank's core banking software - something he was supposed to do since the two systems were not integrated. Between March 2011 and May 2017, when he retired, Shetty authorized more than 1200 fraudulent LoUs, the probe found. It also revealed that the bank's international banking department and the IT division had delayed the integration work. They had also not complied with central bank advisories in 2016 calling for a comprehensive audit of SWIFT systems in use. Indeed, a recent CBI chargesheet accused the bank's former MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian and her top officials of failing to prevent the fraud despite having prior knowledge of how LoUs can be used to cheat banks. That's because Ananthasubramanian was heading PNB when Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Chandigarh, reported a LoU fraud in 2016 with a similar modus operandi to the PNB fraud. The RBI had then issued various guidelines and circulars, including about integrating the systems, in order to prevent a repeat. However, PNB allegedly failed to implement them in entirety. In addition, the PNB investigators said that the fraud could have been detected had the branch followed internal rules and conducted the basic daily SWIFT reconciliation that required logs of transactions on the global payments network to be manually checked against the bank's internal system. "Only one activity would have nailed the whole act at the incipient stage," said the probe report, adding that it was it is "incomprehensible" that the branch staff did not notice the fraud being committed. The probe found several other problems at the branch. As a mid-level employee, Shetty should have been able to approve transactions of up to Rs 25 lakh, without sign-off from more senior officials. But he had been given unlimited approval powers, the PNB investigators said, without explaining how this happened. Then, shortly before his retirement, Shetty used his personal Yahoo e-mail address to send 22 e-mails to reconcile large forex transactions involving the Modi group. The use of personal e-mail was "overlooked" by the bank's treasury department, the report said. It added that under PNB policy, no officer should remain in the same office for more than three years, but Shetty retired after serving in Brady House for seven years. Three transfer orders were issued for him during his tenure, but he was never moved. Signs that audit practices at Brady House were weak were, in fact, flagged by the branch itself, according to two internal PNB memos reviewed by Reuters. In March 2012, the branch had flagged off that nearly 50% of the observations posed in its annual inspection report - mainly auditor queries - remained "un-replied/unattended to by respective concerned officers", calling it a "critical situation". Then, four years later, the branch's assistant general manager issued an internal memo saying around 18 observations - including five described as zero-tolerance level issues - were pending. This memo was signed by 10 bank officers, including Shetty. Damningly, such lapses were not limited to the Brady House branch. According to the agency, protocol dictates that the daily reconciliation reports should travel up the chain to PNB's headquarters in New Delhi. Along the way, they would be signed off by the Brady House branch head and sent each month to a Mumbai city regional office that would issue all-clear certificates for the branches it controls. But the probe report revealed that despite receiving just two monthly reports from the Brady House branch last year instead of 12, the regional office signed off on a "false" compliance certificate, signalling a clean bill of health for the branch. Moreover, despite a massive missing paper trail, none of the senior inspection officers - who conducted 10 visits between 2010 and 2017 to the branch - reported anything "adverse". Here's another red-flag missed by the Mumbai city regional office that the probe report highlighted. The Brady House branch's import and export transactions in the 12 months to March 2017 stood at $3.3 billion, 50% higher than recorded two years prior thanks to the dealings with Modi & Co. "The exceptional growth should have been noticed," the report said. According to the agency, this probe report, along with dozens of pages of annexed bank records and internal e-mails, was presented by PNB officials to the bank's fraud risk management arm on April 5. It is also part of the evidence submitted by the CBI in court but the report's findings are being made public only now. Ironically, the damning conclusions of the report stand in contrast to the lack of regulatory action taken by the authorities since the fraud was reported. No penalty has been imposed on PNB as a result of the fraud and there has been no senior management shake-up. Posted Tuesday, June 19, 2018 2:53 pm Were it not for my late brother Russell, I might have never discovered the West of folklore, fantasy and cinema. But thanks to Russells decision to study printmaking in Albuquerque, N.M., and his four decades as a noted Southwest artist, I have been into the West. If youve never been, you should go. Its not as far you might think. I didnt realize until my first trip to visit Russell just how near we were to the history and landscape of the West. I knew every gunfight in Western television shows and movies had its foundations in Springfield with the July 1865 showdown between James Butler Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt on the town square. Though little evidence remains of that iconic gunfight, just a little farther west the landscape is rife with Western lore. Oklahoma offers a plethora of reminders of our Western heritage with place names like Pawhuska, Pawnee, Ponca City, Chickasha, Arapaho and Cheyenne. But, what first enchanted me on trips into the West was simply the West itself the broad vistas that stretched out before me on that long highway into the setting sun. I recall the hazy outline of hills beyond the Canadian River, the tablelands of the high plains of Texas, the arroyos and mesas of New Mexico and the snow-capped peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. I was fascinated not only by the panorama, but the minutia, as well a solitary windmill over a stock tank in the Osage Hills, crumbling adobe and remnants of a coyote fence corral in New Mexico, a ghost town along an old railroad bed and cemetery with tilted, bleached headstones marking the eternal repose of men and women whose voices once echoed in desert canyons. It was all so different from what I knew. We didnt take vacations when I was a boy. We were dairy farmers. We didnt go anywhere that wouldnt have us back home in time for evening milkings. We didnt know anything but Ozarks landcapes. But, we had National Geographic magazines and a television. I knew all about the West, or thought I did. But, I didnt know it was just out our back door. I didnt imagine I could go there. I was 30 years old before I discovered I could. As always, younger brother Russell was way ahead of me. He ventured into the West while still in college, and it changed his life. New Mexico is aptly called The Land of Enchantment. Russell lived under her spell for nigh 40 years camping and hiking in her mountains, fishing her trout streams and immortalizing the landscape he loved in hundreds of drawings, paintings, prints and pastels. More than simply live in the West technically the Southwest in New Mexico Russell became rooted in her mountains and streams, drawing his spiritual sustenance from sunsets in the Jemez and the music of the meandering Rio San Antonio. Russell was the West. Im just someone who simply discovered he could go there and subsequently return to the comfort and shelter of the Ozarks. My love of the West includes a healthy portion of respect, as well as awe. I recall seeing a big, solitary ranch house on a remote, grassy knoll in the Texas Panhandle and thinking how lonely and challenging life there must have been. They were hardy folk, those early Westerners. My treks West have taken me down miles of unpaved roads along the Cimmaron Cuttoff, across the Turkey Track Ranch in Texas to visit Adobe Walls, to the site of Custers massacre of peaceful Cheyenne camped on the Washita in Oklahoma, to the heart of Charlie Goodnights cattle empire in Palo Duro Canyon, to the grave of Kit Carson in Taos, to the jail that couldnt hold Billy the Kid in Lincoln, N.M., and dozens of other historic locations. I hope to visit many more before I ride into my last sunset, but were it not for my brothers more adventurous spirit, I might never been into the West at all. So, to mark the 68th anniversary of his June 24, 1950, birthday, I just wanted to say, Thanks, Russell. You did much more than just paint the West. You showed me how to get there. Copyright James E. Hamilton 2018 Jim Hamilton is a freelance writer in Buffalo. Contact him at jhamilton000@centurytel.net. ISME, the Irish SME Association today released its quarterly Bank Watch survey for the second quarter of 2018. The survey was conducted in the second week of June, covering the three months of March, April and May. There were 504 SME owner manager respondents. The results show a significant increase in refusal rates, increasing from 24% to 36%. Demand for credit remains on par with the first quarter of 2018 at 31%. Waiting time from decision to drawdown increased from 6 to 8 weeks. The Association has voiced its concern at the high refusal rates, the length of time its taking for SMEs to access finance, and calls for banks to promote the SBCI funds. Fifty four perecent stated that banks are making it more difficult to access finance and 4% of businesses have had their debt sold by their lender. The report shows that 67% states that the Government is having either a negative or no impact on SME lending, an increase from 55% on the previous quarter. Speaking today, ISME CEO, Neil McDonnell said, "Todays Results are unsatisfactory; to see an increase of 12% in refusal rates is disappointing after consecutive decreases. Without sufficient access to finance many SMEs will struggle. One member has reported to us that their bank (apillar bank) has sold their overdraft to a vulture fund. This is a first. We understand that our banks are still repairing their balance sheets, but they must consider the viability of their customers as they do so." He added, "It's unacceptable to have businesses waiting on average 8 weeks from decision to drawdown. This type of delay is starving already cash-strapped SMEs. On top of the delays and refusal rates, Irish SMEs are paying more interest on their loans.It costs on average 5% for an Irish SME to borrow 250,000 from a bank,compared with only 3.3% across most of Europe." Source: www.businessworld.ie The new Malaysian prime minister said his government wont discriminate against Chinese companies who help the countrys economy, singling out Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as a model investor. Mr. Jack Mas idea, Alibabas idea, is what we want. He wants to train Malaysians, he wants Malaysians to do business, he wants to urge Malaysians to market in China thats fine, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told the South China Morning Post in an interview published Wednesday. Ma is the founder of Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba. Mahathir, who returned to power last month after a 15-year hiatus in a stunning victory that saw Malaysias first change of ruling party since independence in 1957, has unnerved Chinese investors by saying his administration would review mega-projects, mostly those from China, which were approved by the previous government. Projects coming under scrutiny include one by Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd., which is building a sprawling, $100 billion complex of high-end residences and hotels in the state of Johor, bordering Singapore; and the $13.8 billion East Coast Rail Link being built by China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. and financed by the Export-Import Bank of China. Mahathirs remarks came on the heels of Alibabas opening of its first office in the countrys capital, Kuala Lumpur, this week. Ma, who attended the opening, said the companys foray in Malaysia aims to digitize local partners, empower small businesses and encourage young people to go global. Alibaba has poured over $100 million into Malaysia since last year to build a logistics hub and a cloud computing center. Mahathir told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that Malaysia welcomes foreign investments as long as they bring in capital and technology, set up plants, and employ Malaysians. But the country will gain nothing if such projects translate to huge borrowing, or if the contractors import Chinese workers and Chinese materials into Malaysia. The 92-year-old prime minister also stressed that Southeast Asias third-largest economy doesnt welcome large numbers of immigrants or foreign companies buying plots of land to build high-end residences that locals cant afford. The other thing is that they develop whole cities, very sophisticated, very expensive cities, which Malaysians cannot buy. So they are going to bring foreigners to live in those cities, he said. No country in the world will accept a lot of immigrants coming into the country. Contact reporter Jason Tan (jasontan@caixin.com) news, crime Police surveillance of David Harold Eastman when investigating the killing of Canberra's police chief crossed the line and became harassment, his lawyers told the jury in his murder trial on Wednesday. After more than a day hearing from prosecutors who allege Mr Eastman, 73, shot Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester in his car on January 10, 1989, it was the turn of his barristers to begin mounting a defence. They raised the spectre of Mafia involvement in the killing, in a move that again caused the trial to be briefly closed to the public. Barrister George Georgiou SC said the former public servant made a "full and vigorous denial of the charge of murder". He said Mr Eastman also denied saying that he wanted to kill Mr Winchester, denied buying a Ruger 10/22 rifle from Louis Klarenbeek, and denied trying to sell that rifle to Denis Reid. Other threats allegedly made by Mr Eastman about police before Mr Winchester's death were - if said - expressions of frustration, he said. "It is disputed and it is in issue that they reflected a murderous intent," Mr Georgiou said. The trial earlier heard allegations Mr Eastman wanted to kill the "bastard police" and that he told his doctor they should be taught a lesson. Even if they were said [the words] 'police should be taught a lesson' fall far short of demonstrating an intention to kill Mr Winchester." Prosecutors earlier in the trial alleged police bugs hidden in Mr Eastman's flat caught him after the shooting whispering "He was the first man I ever killed" and "I had to kill him sitting down". Mr Georgiou said the jury members would need to decide for themselves if the covertly recorded mutterings of Mr Eastman were in fact confessions. The potential for error is high is when it comes to interpreting what is on those tapes," Mr Georgiou said. The silk also asked the jury to consider the tapes in the context of Mr Eastman's life at the time and his admitted "unhappy dealings" with police. "The surveillance crossed the line and became harassment to Mr Eastman," the defence barrister told the jury. Mr Georgiou also challenged the Crown's theory about Mr Eastman's motive to kill Mr Winchester. The Crown had pointed to a hatred of police and fear that a potential criminal conviction over an altercation with a neighbour would have stopped him returning to the public service. "The prosecution theory is strongly disputed. The alleged motive is strongly disputed," he said. Such a theory ignores Mr Eastman's history of pursuing his rights." Mr Georgiou challenged whether a conviction meant Mr Eastman would never return to work. Even the meeting with Mr Winchester in a bid to have the charge dropped was not the "end of the line", he said, as the senior police officer had informed Mr Eastman it was a question for the Director of Public Prosecutions. There was no issue Mr Eastman was keen to return to the public service, nor that he had a strong sense of grievance, Mr Georgiou told the jury. But he reminded them Mr Eastman had in December 1988 been ruled fit to return, albeit with restrictions. The extent the restrictions on his return would hinder Mr Eastman getting a job was unknown, the barrister said, but it was strongly in dispute that they were "significant". The court was again closed briefly as Mr Georgiou raised the spectre of Mafia involvement in the killing during his hour-long opening address. It had closed briefly on Tuesday when the prosecution premptively rebutted the suggestion. "As a matter of logic, if Mr Eastman did not kill Mr Winchester someone else did," Mr Georgiou said when the court reopened to the public and media on Wednesday. "The defence does not have to prove who it was, however, on this case there is evidence that points to a reasonable possibility that Mr Winchester was killed by someone involved with, associated with or recruited by the Mafia." After the defence opening, prosecutors began a process of tendering documentary evidence on Mr Eastman's dealings with the public service. The trial continues. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/7af458b2-32d5-4396-aa61-87d3692fba69/r0_218_4070_2518_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, latest-news Telstra staff working in Canberra are in the dark about their futures after the telco announced it would slash 8000 jobs nationally over the next three years. The company's shares plunged more than 5.5 per cent to a seven-year low in early trade on Tuesday on the back of Telstra chief executive Andrew Penn's announcement of a drastic cost-cutting plan, which will see the company shed about a quarter of its workers across the country. Asked how many of those affected were in the ACT, a Telstra spokeswoman would not answer and referred The Canberra Times to an Australian Securities Exchange market release and a press conference in which Mr Penn announced the job cuts. Neither provided a breakdown on where the affected workers were based. Communication Workers Union NSW/ACT state secretary Alex Jansen said he understood that Telstra employed between 200 and 300 people in the ACT, including call centre workers, linespeople and technical staff. He said Telstra's lack of communication with its workers meant those staff now faced a nervous wait to find out if their jobs were in the firing line. "All this has done for the workers is make their lives more stressful, because no one knows where these cuts are going to be," Mr Jansen said. "All we were told [before the announcement], even last week when there was a meeting with Telstra, is that there was a big announcement coming. "The first we heard about what was happening was on the news." Mr Jansen said the union would push for answers from Telstra on behalf of its NSW and ACT members. "I think [Telstra staff] have been on edge for years because they have been constantly shedding staff and utilising contractors and outsourcing," he said. "We're not happy and we'll be making that clear to Telstra." UnionsACT secretary Alex White said Telstra had "ruthlessly betrayed" its workers and their families. "The decision by Telstra management to prioritise corporate profits over their workers and customers demonstrates the abject failure of privatisation," he said. The ACT community generally, as well as Telstra employees and customers will be poorer because Telstra management has put profits and bonuses over people." Announcing the cuts as part of a strategy dubbed "Telstra 2022", Telstra said it would increase its cost-cutting target from $1 billion to $2.5 billion over the next four years. Between two and four layers of middle management layers would be eliminated, the company said. While 8000 jobs will go nationwide, Telstra said 1500 new roles would be created in software engineering and information and cyber-security. "We understand the impact this will have on our employees and once we make decisions on specific changes, we are committed to talking to impacted staff first and ensuring we support them through this period," Mr Penn said in an ASX market release. "The rate and pace of change in our industry is increasingly driven by technological innovation and competition. "In this environment, traditional companies that do not respond are most at risk." /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/502aa923-a2d2-4817-9a2e-5ab9ad917f0d/r0_294_5568_3440_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg Irans powerful Revolutionary Guards Tuesday slammed calls from within the country urging for talks with the United States in the style of negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang over the complete denuclearization of North Korea in exchange of US security guaranties. A group of activists and politicians from reformist and moderate camps, Saturday, welcomed the June 12 talks in Singapore between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the complete denuclearization of North Korea, Reuters reports. The activists and politicians in a statement called on Tehran to follow the same path with no preconditions with a view to ending decades of antagonism dating back to the Iranian 1979 Islamic revolution. A 2015 nuclear deal signed in the Obama era between Iran and world powers thawed ties between the Islamic Republic and the United States but President Trump early last month tore the deal over claims that it failed to address Irans ballistic missile program and cut off its regional influence. The pro-US-Iran talks advocates want authorities to heed President Trumps demand on Irans ballistic missile program. The call was swiftly brushed aside Tuesday by Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Revolutionary Guards. Jafari, according to local Tasnim news agency, called the talks advocates traitors and anti-revolutionaries. The North Korean leader was a revolutionary but a communist, not an Islamic leader. That is why he surrendered, but we will not do the same, Jafari was quoted by pro-regime Fars news agency as saying. news, latest-news Malcolm Turnbull's task of retaining government at the next federal election got tougher on Wednesday with electoral boundary changes in Victoria positioning Labor to pick up another three seats in Parliament. The Australian Electoral Commission has created a seat in Labor heartland, which looks set to be snapped-up by leader Bill Shorten, and boundary changes to two marginal Liberal electorates have made them even harder to defend. The creation of the Division of Fraser in Melbourne's north-west increases the likelihood that Mr Shorten will switch to the new seat, notionally safe ALP territory, from his current neighbouring seat of Maribyrnong, which is tipped to turn marginal in the coming years. The federal seat of Batman in Melbournes inner-north has been renamed Cooper, to honour indigenous rights activist William Cooper and Melbourne Ports will be renamed Macnamara. But a proposal to rename the seat of Corangamite after swimming teacher May Cox was rejected by the commission. Corangamite will keep its name but is now more likely to get a new MP with changes to its boundaries making it harder for the Liberals' Sarah Henderson to retain. Changes to the Liberal-held seat of Dunkley in Melbournes south-east have also tipped it towards ALP. On the upside for the Coalition government, the statewide redistribution bolsters the Liberal lead in the seat of Chisholm in Melbourne's east and puts Melbourne Ports, to be renamed Macnamara, within striking distance. Some of the most vocal objections to renaming Corangamite came from Ms Henderson, who feared she would be teased if her electorate was renamed Cox. The name of Batman has become controversial in recent years because of the alleged involvement of John Batman, for whom the seat was named, in massacres of Indigenous Australians in Tasmania. William Cooper, a secretary of the Australian Aborigines League, campaigned for direct representation in Parliament, enfranchisement, land rights and federal control of Aboriginal affairs. More to come /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/e62ec1da-781c-4054-9074-422b676c1227/r0_204_3982_2454_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg The Israeli air force launched Tuesday dozens of missiles on around 25 targets belonging to Hamas in the Gaza enclave over claims that the Islamist movement launched 50 projectiles against Israeli towns. The Israeli defense forces said fighter jets were deployed over Gaza where at least 25 military facilities belonging to Hamas were targeted. The targets are located in north and south of the enclave undergoing 11 years of Israeli blockade. The defense forces have blamed Hamas for being responsible for the launch of close to 50 projectiles including balloons as well as incendiary kites into Israeli towns. On Tuesday, three Israeli air strikes hit three targets in Gaza after Palestinians flew numerous incendiary kites and balloons into southern Israel, sparking approximately 20 brush fires, according to Israeli officials. Israel has recently stepped up its dealings with Hamas and other Palestinian groups following the death of over 130 Palestinians killed in protests against the Jewish state. The highest death toll (62 people) of the protest which begun mid-March was recorded on May 14; coinciding with the inauguration of the US embassy in the disputed city of Jerusalem. Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has released an employment notification calling out aspirants to apply for the post of Director in Systems and Operations. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 219150. The last date to apply for the government job is July 19, 2018. Indian Railways Recruitment 2018: RVNL Is Hiring Managers CMRL Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Director Organisation Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) Educational Qualification Engineering and MBA Experience 25 years Job Responsibilities Planning, bidding documents, execution and commissioning Skills Required Managerial skills Job Location Chennai Salary Scale INR 219150 Industry Railways Application Start Date June 19, 2018 Application End Date July 19, 2018 Maximum Age Limit: 58 years Also Read: East Central Railway Recruitment 2018 For Specialist Doctors How To Apply For CMRL Recruitment 2018 In order to apply for CMRL Recruitment 2018, follow these steps: Step 1: Log on to the CMRL official website. Step 2: Read the public notice on the pop-up menu and close it. Step 3: Hover over CAREERS tab and select JOB NOTIFICATIONS. Step 4: The list of notifications will be displayed on the screen. Click on the link that reads, EMPLOYMENT NOTIFICATION No.CMRL/HR/06/2018. Step 5: The detailed advertisement will be displayed on the screen. Read the details carefully. Step 6: Scroll down to the bottom of the screen to find the application form. Step 7: Save it to your computer and take a printout of it. Step 8: Enter your details in the fields provided on the application form. Step 9: Cover it in an envelope and send it to CMRL. CMRL Recruitment 2018 Application Format And Mailing Address Superscribe on the envelope, "Application for the post of Director" and send it to: General Manager (HR), Chennai Metro Rail Limited, Admin Building, CMRL Depot, Poonamallee High Road, Koyambedu, Chennai - 600107. Click here to read the detailed official notification. Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) has released an employment notification calling out aspirants to apply for the post of Chief Chemist. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 75700. The last date to apply for the government job is June 30, 2018. UPSC Recruitment 2018 For 20 Consultants GPSC Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Chief Chemist Organisation Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) Educational Qualification PhD in organic chemistry Experience Desirable Skills Required Analytical sills Job Location Gujarat Salary Scale INR 37400 to INR 75700 Industry Civil services Application Start Date June 15, 2018 Application End Date June 30, 2018 Maximum Age Limit 47 years Application Fees INR 100 Also Read: PPSC Recruitment 2018 For Various Posts How To Apply For GPSC Recruitment 2018 In order to apply for GPSC Recruitment 2018, follow these steps: Step 1: Log on to the GPSC official website. Step 2: Select GPSC from the drop-down list box. Step 3: Click the Apply button against the link for the post of Chief Chemist. Step 4: The brief details of the post will be displayed on the screen. Click Apply Now. Step 5: Click on the New Registration button. Step 6: The list of instructions will be displayed on the screen. Read them carefully and click I Agree. Step 7: The registration form will be displayed on the screen. Enter your details in the fields provided. Step 8: Upload your photo and signature. Step 9: Click on the Yes option-box to agree to the declaration. Step 10: Click on Save and complete the registration process. Click here to read the detailed official notification. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has released an employment notification calling out aspirants to apply for the post of Zonal Doctor. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. The maximum age limit to apply is 65 years. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 3250 per month. The last date to apply for the government job is July 2, 2018. GPSC Recruitment 2018 For Chief Chemist: Earn Up To INR 75700! HAL Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Zonal Doctor Organisation Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Educational Qualification MBBS Experience 5 years Skills Required Clinical judgement Job Location Lucknow Salary Scale INR 3250 per month Industry Medicine Application Start Date June 18, 2018 Application End Date July 2, 2018 GAIL Recruitment 2018 For Doctors How To Apply For HAL Recruitment 2018 In order to apply for HAL Recruitment 2018, follow these steps: Step 1: Log on to the HAL official website. Step 2: Click on the CAREERS tab. Step 3: The list of recruitments will be displayed on the screen. Click on the link that reads, Detailed Advertisement for Engagement of Zonal Doctor for Alambagh Area of Lucknow for HAL , Accessories Division, Lucknow. Step 4: The detailed advertisement will be displayed on the screen. Read the details carefully. Step 5: Scroll down to the bottom of the screen to find the application form. Step 6: Save it to your computer and take a printout of it. Step 7: Enter your details in the application form. Step 8: Send the applications to HAL. HAL Recruitment 2018 Application Format And Mailing Address Superscribe on the envelope, "Application for the post of Zonal Doctor" and send it to: Manager (HR), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Accessories Division, Lucknow - 226016. Click here to read the detailed official notification. The Indian Navy has released an employment notification calling out aspirants to apply for various posts such as Permanent Commission (PC) Officers in Executive (GS) branch; Short Service Commission (SSC) Officers in Executive and Technical branches. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government jobs here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 212400 per month. The last date to apply for the government job is July 31, 2018. SSC Recruitment 2018 For Accountants Indian Navy Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Permanent Commission (PC) officers in Executive (GS) branch; Short Service Commission (SSC) officers in Executive and Technical branches Organisation Indian Navy Educational Qualification BE/BTech Experience Desirable Skills Required Physical fitness and standards Job Location India Salary Scale INR 56000 to INR 212400 per month Industry Navy Application Start Date June 30, 2018 Application End Date July 31, 2018 Age Limit: The candidates must be born between July 2, 1995 and July 5, 1998 Also Read: DRDO Recruitment 2018 For Scientists: Apply Before July 7, 2018! How To Apply For Indian Navy Recruitment 2018 In order to apply for Indian Navy Recruitment 2018, follow these steps: Step 1: Log on to the Indian Navy official website. Step 2: Click on the link that reads, Apply Online. Step 3: It will take you to the registration page. Click on the Register button. Step 4: Choose to apply with or without aadhar. Step 5: Enter your details in the fields provided. Step 6: Upload alternative ID proof. Step 7: Enter the captcha code. Step 8: Click Save and follow the subsequent pages to complete the application process. Click here to read the detailed official notification. In the past 10 years, the percentage of women who use intrauterine devices in the United States has leapt from less than 1 percent to nearly 20 percent. But at the international level, those figures are much lower. Paul Blumenthal, MD, MPH, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the School of Medicine, focuses much of his work on family planning in developing countries, many of which do not have broad access to long-acting contraception. Blumenthals latest paper, published in collaboration with Population Services International, describes the implementation of a new device used to insert IUDs in women immediately after they give birth, and he hopes it will help health care professionals in developing countries provide broader access to long-acting contraceptives. The idea behind Blumenthals postpartum IUD inserter, which comes with the IUD packaged inside it, is to simplify and streamline the process of providing women with birth control. In a clinical trial with 500 participants, health care providers in India used either Blumenthals IUD inserter or the traditional forceps method to place the contraceptive, comparing their efficacy, ease and safety. A paper detailing the clinical trial was published online May 8 in Contraception. Blumenthal is the senior author. Blumenthals goal is to bring simple, affordable contraception to the masses particularly in developing countries. Establishing the inserters legitimacy in this trial, Blumenthal said, is a step in that direction. Recently, he spoke with science writer Hanae Armitage about the details of this work, the drivers behind it and how he hopes to see it pan out on an international scale. Q: What motivated your team to create this device? Why opt to support IUD usage as opposed to a different contraceptive option? Blumenthal: IUDs are an excellent method of contraception, and thats increasingly recognized by both providers and patients around the world. Theyre extremely effective. Theyre a forgettable form of contraception that is, theyre inserted and they dont need tending to or replacement for somewhere between five and 12 years, which also makes them very cost-effective. In a postpartum setting, there are actually a lot of serendipities that make it an optimal time for IUD insertion. Since the woman has just delivered her baby, both she and her provider are already in the same place at the same time; no one has to make a special trip to have the IUD inserted. Studies have shown that, among women who want an IUD for contraception, the number of individuals who have an IUD one year after delivering a baby are higher if the woman gets the IUD postpartum, rather than if they wait to have it inserted later. So, we thought if we can make this convenient, simple and intuitive, then maybe we could reduce barriers for providers, who could then have better access to providing postpartum IUDs. Furthermore, in some developing countries, the special forceps often recommended to insert IUDs right after birth can be hard to come by. With the dedicated inserter, the IUD is already packaged in the instrument, and its just a grab-and-go process. Q: Why did you decide to conduct this study in India and how did the health care providers react to your new device? Blumenthal: India has one of the most well-developed programs for postpartum IUDs. For example, in obstetrics and gynecology, physicians are required to learn how to insert IUDs postpartum because the Indian government and the community of OB-GYNs in India feel that its an important part of provision of contraception. So, we thought, OK, if youre going to do a lot of something, then why wouldnt you have something specifically designed to do it? One analogy we often use is, if youre going press garlic, you dont smash it with a hammer, you want to use a garlic press. Its the same idea here: We want to make it precise, and we want to simplify the process. When we introduced the inserter, in general the feedback was very positive. Most who used the inserter said that it was easy to use. Now, they also said that it was easy to use the traditional forceps but that doesnt take away from the success of the inserter. This study is a win for broad dissemination of the tool in India. And now, its even been approved by the Drug Controller General of India for broad public and private use. Q: With the Drug Controller General of India's approval for commercial use, how will you scale up the process in India, and do you plan to bring this option to women in other developing countries as well? Blumenthal: Were working with a third-party company called Pregna International. Theyre based in India, and they manufacture IUDs used in programs worldwide. Now with commercial approval, Pregna can market this inserter to the public and private sector in India and reach potentially millions of women. At the same time, other nongovernmental organizations that are working in the family planning area can also recommend this to their programs in India, and that will likely enhance the public-sector programs as well. Currently, the IUD inserter is under review by the United Nations Family Planning Assistance Program, and we hope that this publication will serve to help the UNFPA in its deliberation. Hopefully, that will allow for prequalification of the device, so that it can be used in UNFPA publicly-funded programs that reach other developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Q: Do you have plans to integrate the device into developed countries like the United States, too? Blumenthal: We dont have plans at present, specifically because Pregna doesnt market its IUDs in the U.S. For a company like Pregna, its likely too costly to have their device approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which requires a significant amount of capital to achieve. However, Im sure that Pregna would be open to working with a U.S. company or any other company to adapt the technology of this relatively simple inserter to IUDs that are very similar. Q: Are you working on other projects that likewise empower contraceptive options? Blumenthal: Were always working on these kinds of projects. One of our family planning fellows is looking at a unique combination of an emergency contraceptive product and another available drug in the U.S. to see if its possible to make an on-demand contraception. So for example, if a woman has intercourse infrequently, she may not feel like she needs to take a pill every day, or might not need to have an IUD, but she may want to have a contraception method she can use when she wants. So, theoretically, a woman could take this pill once during the course of a cycle, at any time during the cycle, and that would effectively act as contraception. Our tagline here could really be simplicity and precision. We want to empower women with options, access and the ability to choose whats right for their lives and body, at the exact time that they want it. Stella Chibueze (right), a community drug distributor in the village next to Orjis, talks to Onyekaozuru Ibezim about the diseases the drugs treat. Health education is an essential part of mass drug distribution. After providing the medication, Orji makes notes about who was treated and when, so no community members are missed. Kate Orji, a longtime volunteer in southern Nigeria, heads out into her community to distribute medications to treat river blindness and lymphatic filariasis. (All photos: The Carter Center/R. McDowell, except where noted) Kate Orji grabs a tall measuring stick and large black plastic bag before heading across her front yard and through the gate of her familys compound. Its midday in this southern Nigeria community, and the air is hot and sticky. Orji knocks on her neighbors door and explains why shes here, unpacking her bag to reveal two logbooks, a flipbook, two drug bottles, a spoon, and a pen. I have been a CDD since 1995, she said proudly. A CDD is a community-directed distributor, meaning she provides drug treatments to her neighbors in Umudurudu village to prevent disease. She has given immunizations in her community for a long time, and in recent years added river blindness and lymphatic filariasis treatments on behalf of The Carter Center. The modest contents of her plastic bag are the only tools Orji needs to halt these two parasitic diseases. Targeting river blindness, the drug Mectizan (donated by Merck & Co., USA) kills the parasite larvae in the human body, preventing blindness and skin disease in infected people and stopping transmission of the parasite to others. When taken in combination with Mectizan, albendazole prevents lymphatic filariasis, a devastating disease that often causes grotesque swelling in legs and genitalia. Orji visits 86 nearby households twice a year to distribute the drugs, measuring people with the tall stick to ensure they receive the correct dose. Her long tenure as a CDD exemplifies one of the benefits of women in the position: they tend to be more stable and reliable than men, who sometimes leave their communities in search of work or other opportunities. A recent study by the University of Jos in Nigeria suggested that recruiting more women as CDDs would be beneficial because they also are better at mobilizing their fellow community members into action. Nigeria already has more female CDDs than males in the South. Of the approximately 70,000 CDDs in the nine Nigerian states where The Carter Center works, 57 percent are women. In Imo state, Orji is surrounded by other women fighting disease. Stella Chibueze is the CDD for Umukogu village, the community next to Orjis. Like Orji, Chibueze has held the role since the mid-1990s. She serves 50 households. Orji and Chibueze regularly see Juliana Onwumere, a young woman who coordinates the neglected tropical disease program for the district where they live. And Onwumeres supervisor is Dr. Stella Olumba, a woman who leads the neglected tropical disease program for Imo state. But womens empowerment is not what Orji thinks about as she heads from house to house, scooping out pills with a plastic spoon. Peoples eyes get clearer after taking the drug, she said of Mectizan. I like my community to be healthy. Photo: The Canadian Press Ryan Hoag, his wife Wiyani Prayetno and their infant daughter in Tokyo. A Vancouver lawyer says five B.C. families are stuck in Japan, unable to return due to a bureaucratic impasse. Alex Stojicevic represents all of the families who travelled to Japan to pick up their newly adopted babies, and he says they can't come home because the federal government has refused to issue visas for the children. He says the issue appears to be a change in American policy around adoptions from Japan, which has led to the Canadian government seeking an opinion from the Japanese ministry of justice. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ryan Hoag of Coquitlam says he spent a month in Japan with his wife and new daughter before he had to leave them behind earlier this month and return to work, placing the family in an "untenable" situation. He says the Canadian government has a moral and ethical responsibility to take care of its citizens in such situations and should issue the visas without further delay. Photo: Twitter A boat that went down off Vancouver Island has been found, but police say the search continues for three missing fishermen. RCMP say in a news release that an underwater dive team has recovered the vessel from waters near Tofino, B.C., after it sank early Friday morning. Police have said there were five people aboard the six-metre tin boat that went down without a mayday call. One person was rescued from the water while another swam to shore. Mounties say the vessel is being held for investigation. A search for the missing men has been scaled back and RCMP say strong tidal currents in the area have made search efforts difficult. Photo: The Canadian Press James Oler leaves court in Cranbrook, last year. A special prosecutor is set to ask B.C.'s Court of Appeal to overturn the acquittal of a former leader of a polygamous community who was found not guilty of taking a girl across the border for a sexual purpose. Crown-appointed prosecutor Peter Wilson is expected to ask the court at a hearing that begins today to either convict James Oler or order a new trial in the man's case. A B.C. Supreme Court judge found Oler not guilty in February 2017, concluding the Crown failed to prove the man crossed the border in 2004 with a 15-year-old girl who later married a member of a polygamous sect in the United States. Oler a former leader in the religious community in Bountiful didn't have a lawyer at the trial, so an impartial adviser was appointed to assist the court and provide balance. The same trial resulted in the conviction of estranged husband and wife Brandon and Gail Blackmore, who were found guilty of taking a 13-year-old girl into the U.S. to marry polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs. In a separate case, a B.C. Supreme Court judge found Oler guilty of polygamy last July for marrying five women and he'll be sentenced in that case next week. When the first man was being created: "Let us make man in our image. after our likeness ... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them." (Genesis 1:26-27) This does not mean that the first of the human race had exactly the same physical nature as the angels, for the angels were made to live for ever. Adam and Eve were not made never-dying: they did sin, and they suffered death as the punishment for it. That is why the whole human race has been dying ever since. Psalm 8 is a Psalm in which the creation of the earth is extolled. Here we are told that man's position is lower than the angels: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? ... For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour." (Psalm 8:4,5) The New Testament quotes this passage, and tells us that mankind - including the Lord Jesus himself - was made a little lower than the angels, "for the suffering of death" (Hebrews 2:9). Angels do not die, but men and women do. Even Jesus, the Son of God, was a mortal man, but has now received the glory and honour which was his due when, as he said after his resurrection, "all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18). Oman government plans mineral railway network ICR Newsroom By 20 June 2018 The government of Oman is planning a mineral railway network for the transportation of raw material for the domestic cement industry and for export. According to media, Oman Rail, a subsidiary of Asyad Group the governments transportation and logistics flagship has been assigned the task of putting together a public-private partnership (PPP) framework that will arrange the financing, execution, operation and management of this ambitious national economic initiative. The proposed venture envisions the transportation of an estimated 30Mta of mineral commodities from massive limestone and gypsum reserves located in Wusta and Dhofar governorates to processing clusters in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Duqm or for export via Duqm Port. Connectivity is planned from Duqm Port to Shuwaimiyah and Manji, and potentially to Thamrait locations in Dhofar Governorate that host prolific non-metallic mineral reserves. Published under South Sudans rebel leader Riek Machar arrived in Ethiopia this Wednesday for a meeting with South Sudans President Salva Kiir. This is the first time the rebel leader returns to Ethiopia since a peace deal broke down in 2016. He had been held under house arrest in South Africa since late 2016 after fleeing South Sudan. Machar is expected to meet Ethiopias Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, before his talks with President Salva Kiir later on Wednesday. Many South Sudanese welcomed the talks and expressed optimism at the prospect of peace in the country after a 5-year civil war. Talks in Ethiopia to revive South Sudans failed 2015 peace pact and end the countrys civil war broke up last month without a deal. South Sudan plunged into war in December 2013, barely two years after independence from Sudan, after a disagreement between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar deteriorated into a military confrontation. A ceasefire signed last December broke down within hours. Tens of thousands have been killed in the fighting between troops loyal to Kiir and forces loyal to Machar. The United Nations has accused all sides of committing atrocities against civilians. Will Peru's market pick-up persist? ICR Newsroom By 22 June 2018 The Peruvian cement market continues to return an improved performance when compared with last year, according to the latest data published by Asocem, the countrys cement association. Between January and May 2018, domestic demand increased by three per cent YoY to 3.837Mt as Peru rebuilds its damaged infrastructure following El Nino. The advancing market conditions are welcome news for the countrys cement producers as the second quarter of 2018 appears to provide more sustained growth after a tepid 2017 and 1Q18. In the first five months of 2018, they have been able to increase output levels to 3.956Mt of cement, up 2.1 per cent, and 3.244Mt of clinker, up 6.8 per cent, when compared with the 5M17, lifting hopes for a sustainable market recovery and strengthening company results. In 1Q18 Unacem reported a 53 per cent fall in net profit to PEN157m as its sales slipped 0.6 per cent YoY to 1.199Mt. However, the company benefitted from a higher price realisation and saw its revenues increase by 1.1 per cent and its EBITDA by 15 per cent YoY. Cementos Pacasmayos cement, concrete and blocks sales advanced by 7.8 per cent to PEN315.3m in 1Q18 from PEN279.5m in 1Q17. Net income increased by 37.3 per cent to PEN29.8m. Pacasmayo registered a very solid performance in the first quarter of 2018, as we benefitted from an improved demand environment, allowing for operational efficiencies which resulted in strong margins. While we are seeing the positive effects of a stronger cement market, Pacasmayos results this quarter do not fully incorporate the benefits related to rebuilding our countrys damaged infrastructure after the Coastal El Nino, which we expect to see in the months ahead, said the company in its report. Demand for the companys products was particularly strong in the northern part of the country, where the companys Piura plant increased its production by 24 per cent. Expanding industry The upturn in the market has raised expectations and some cement producers are planning capacity increases. Inversiones en Cemento (Invercem) plans the construction of production facilities in Pisco and Ayacucho, said its founder, Victor de la Torre. The Pisco works is expected to have a capacity of 0.22Mta while in Ayacucho, the company will add 0.45Mta of capacity. Futhermore, Invercem is also to invest US$18m into a 0.22Mta in Salaverry, Trujillo, where it currently runs a packing plant, reportedly importing cement from Anhui Conch Cement Co and HeidelbergCement. Mr De la Torre concluded equipment contracts in Spain at the end of May with installation scheduled for August. Currently only present in the north of Peru, the company plans to expand across the country. In addition, a 0.5Mta expansion is currently under construction at Caliza Cemento Incas Chosica works while the company has also announced an extra 0.5Mta at Piura. Cal Y Cemento Sur is also expanding its Cesur plant by 0.33Mta of grinding capacity. Price war looming? However, the building of additional capacity and new entrants, particularly in the north of the country, has raised concerns about increased competition for existing players and the potential of a price war. At the end of May, the price of a bag of cement stood around PEN25 but Pacasmayo reduced its Mochica brand by PEN3/bag. Invercems CEM I product from Salaverry reported a price of PEN17.50/bag. Meanwhile, looking ahead, the prospects remain positive with Perus central bank (BCR) expecting a five per cent rise in GDP for the second quarter. This economic growth and infrastructure works can be envisaged as a sound basis for sustained market expansion. Published under The Supreme Court decided not to rule on gerrymandering on June 19, sending two redistricting cases back down to lower courts. That court sent Gill v. Whitford, a Wisconsin case, back for litigation on a district-by-district, rather than statewide, basis, Slate reports. Justices also considered preliminary relief improper in Benisek v. Lamone, a Maryland case. Gerrymandering gets complicated, so lets break down how it works. What is gerrymandering? Gerrymandering refers to drawing an election map along lines that favor one party over another. In 2004, the Supreme Court disagreed on whether to refuse a legislative map organized that way, according to Slate. At that time, Justice Anthony Kennedy declared that courts might have some say. Partisan gerrymandering threatens voters First Amendment rights, in that it impacts how their vote counts. However, Kennedy also decided that the courts would need reliable, manageable, and consistent judicial standards to determine what constitutes that infringement. What happened in these cases? As The Daily Beast explains, The plaintiffs in Gill v. Whitford figured out that the map tilts 60% vs 47%. However, individual politicians draw cross-party votes, too. In order to refute the impact of that, the Gill team cited a new statistic called the efficiency gap. As its creator explains it in The New Republic, the efficiency gap measures the difference between the parties respective wasted votes in an election, divided by the total number of votes cast. A large efficiency gap, in turn, shows a more damaging gerrymander. Put simply, an efficiency gap of 7% or larger can mean the majority party also retains power indefinitely. That obviously disenfranchises voters from the minority party. Why did the courts decide not to decide? The Supreme Courts conservative members came out as very skeptical of the efficiency gap and its math. Chief Justice Roberts even called it sociological gobbledgygook, saying, in effect, that he didnt believe it. It all really came down to who gerrymandering hurts. As the court decided, no one can challenge the map as a whole. An individual citizen can only argue on behalf of their individual rights. the Court said, no one can challenge the map as a whole individual citizens may only challenge their individual districts, arguing that their individual votes have been diluted. As Roberts put it, [This] is a case about group political interests, not individual legal rights. But this court is not responsible for vindicating generalized partisan preferences. The courts constitutionally prescribed role is to vindicate the individual rights of the people appearing before it. In Gill, the group of voters who sued Wisconsin Republicans did not satisfactorily prove that gerrymandering impacted their specific rights. Instead, Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his majority opinion, they rested their case on a theory of statewide injury to Wisconsin Democrats. This statewide injury, Roberts explained, didnt give the plaintiffs enough standing for a suit. Other courts have disagreed Even though Roberts didnt agree with the efficiency gap argument, other statistical standards and technologies can show the same thing. A Washington Post op-ed explained that those new standards have affected other maps. In Pennsylvania, they persuaded the state Supreme Court to overturn its congressional map as a partisan gerrymander. A federal judge panel in North Carolina also came to a similar conclusion. This fall, as many as seven states plan to vote on ballot initiatives to instate independent redistricting commissions. Already, Arizona and California use independent bodies for line-drawing. Their maps rely on nonpartisan standards, instead. Maine has also enacted ranked choice voting. That revolutionary system allows a voter to choose a number of candidates, ranked by their most-favored to least-favored choice. Why does this matter? Citizen groups have stepped up and spoken out, to get the gerrymandered districts changed. More and more, state election interest has grown. That comes on the heels of President Donald Trumps historic upset, and a number of other deeply contentious races since. What we have seen in the special elections is a significant spike in the interest, engagement, spending and energy by the liberal Democrats and progressive movement, Matt Walter told The New York Times. The president of the Republican State Leadership Committee said voter energy appears higher than ever. The spending is real. The organizational prowess is real. And the energy is real. Gerrymandered legislatures nationwide have a real effect on the districts they oversee. Most recently, they have advocated for voter ID bills, impacted voting rolls, and even limited early voting. In closely divided states like New Hampshire and North Dakota, that reach goes even deeper. Where U.S. Senate races can swing by just a few hundred votes, Republican lawmakers have passed voter restrictions. Those can, in turn, make it harder for Democratic populations to cast ballots. It all comes down to measuring the impact The issue in these two most recent Supreme Court cases comes down to jurisdiction. As The Daily Beast explains, the justices essentially punted the cases to lower courts for a lack of just that. The Chief Justices opinion said that the opinion of the court rests on the understanding that we lack jurisdiction to decide this case, much less to draw speculative and advisory conclusions regarding others. The reasoning of this court with respect to the disposition of this case is set forth in this opinion and none other. In other words, lower courts will now have to decide how much gerrymandering constitutes injury to individual voters. Pretty much everyone on both sides of the aisle agrees that too much partisan gerrymandering registers as unconstitutional. But right now, no one knows exactly where to draw the line. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Its a well-known fact that North Korea has committed human rights atrocities under Kim Jong Un. Human rights groups called on Donald Trump to bring up Kims crimes against humanity when he met with the brutal North Korean dictator in Singapore. However, Trump did little to call attention to Kims human rights violations. And now, North Korea has rejected allegations by the top U.N. human rights official that human rights abuses persist. Heres what you need to know about those allegations and how North Korea has responded. 1. A U.N. official said that North Koreas human rights violations havent changed According to Reuters, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that in remotely monitoring North Korea, his office found little change in the countrys longstanding, grave, and systematic violations of human rights. He told the Human Rights Council, The people of the DPRK risk their lives and their dignity for the exercise of their fundamental human rights, including seeking to leave the country and communicating with individuals abroad. 2. Zeid recommended making human rights a part of peace talks Zeid went on to call on North Korea to engage with his office and with the U.N. human rights investigator on the country, whose mandate Pyongyang has yet to recognize. He also recommended making human rights a part of peace talks with North Korea, noting that making human rights part of peace talks contributes to meaningful and sustainable peace in the long-term. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the U.N. rights investigator for North Korea, has repeatedly called on the U.S. and other nations to put human rights on the agenda of their talks with North Korea. Ojea Quintana says that that would make progress toward denuclearization sustainable. 3. Donald Trump doesnt seem particularly likely to do so According to Reuters, Ojea Quintana also voiced dismay that human rights issues hadnt featured more prominently during the summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. Apart from Trump saying that he had raised the return of soldiersremains and the fate of Japanese abductees, there was no sign that the need for North Korea to improve its rights record would become part of the negotiations, he said, according to Reuters. Even more worrying were Trumps remarks that he was inclined to not focus on the past, but only on the future, he added. 4. North Korea dismissed the U.N.s claims as fabricated Choe Myong Nam, a deputy permanent representative for North Korea in Geneva, told the U.N. Council that Zeids remarks were based on unconfirmed information fabricated and spread by forces hostile to DPRK. Choe said that North Korea rejects the politicisation, selectivity, and double standards as well as groundless allegations and prejudices. Choe also denounced the U.N.s highly politicized anti-DPRK resolutions. 5. But Kims human rights abuses are real Reuters notes that in a landmark 2014 report, U.N. investigators estimated that Kim Jong Uns regime holds 80,000 to 120,000 in prison camps. The report documented torture and other human rights violations. And the report also said that those violations could amount to crimes against humanity. The New York Times notes that according to the report, Kims crimes entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation. 6. North Korea operates a network of prison gulags In North Korea, many people live in fear. That fear is reinforced by what the Times characterizes as a ruthless police state. The Kim regime arrests people accused of political crimes, and sentences them to prison camps without trials. Prisoners families dont know where they are. And the prisoners themselves face starvation, forced labor, torture, and rape. The government denies their reproductive rights through forced abortions and infanticide. Public executions are common, and hundreds of thousands of political prisoners have died in the camps over the past 50 years. Additionally, North Korea operates a separate network of prisons for those accused of regular crimes, with both short-term and long-term sentences. 7. Kim has executed his enemies and members of his family Kim Jong Un assumed power in 2011, taking over from his father. Since then, he has consolidated his power through executions, according to The New York Times. In his first six years at the head of North Koreas government, he ordered the executions of at least 340 people. He has executed officials for showing disrespectful posture or falling asleep in a meeting. Kim has also executed an uncle and an estranged brother, the latter whom he killed with a chemical warfare agent. 8. North Korea indoctrinates its citizens Another notable human rights violation that happens under Kim involves the indoctrination of North Korean citizens. According to the U.N. report, the regime operates an all-encompassing indoctrination machine that takes root from childhood to propagate an official personality cult and to manufacture absolute obedience. Independent thought is discouraged, and propaganda glorifying the state and inciting hatred toward official enemies like Japan and the United States is ubiquitous. Christians are prohibited from practicing their religion, which the regime views as a threat. 9. The regime uses deliberate starvation The regime also uses a tactic called deliberate starvation, according to the Times. 2 to 3 million North Koreans died in a famine in the 1990s. At the time, North Korea used food to enforce political loyalty. It prioritized the distribution of food according to who was most useful to the nations political system. And recently, the regime has culled the population of its prison camps by starving prisoners. Hunger and malnutrition persist among the general population. And people still die of starvation under Kim Jong Un. Read more: Kim Jong Un Sips Hennessy While the North Korean People Starve Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! The United States has decided to pull out of the U.N. Human Rights Council, following a statement from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. That move comes just one day after that body criticized President Donald Trumps zero-tolerance immigration policy that separates parents from their children at the Southern border. However, the reason why the U.S. will separate from the council doesnt have the basis casual observers might think. Pompeo and Haley announced the departure to the State Department on June 19, according to TIME. While this marks the first time a country has voluntarily left, the U.S. also has not always participated. The U.S. only joined under Barack Obama Currently, 47 countries serve in the Human Rights Council. The U.N.s General Assembly elects them, after allocating a specific number of seats for each area of the globe. Members serve for three-year terms and can serve only two terms in a row. According to The UN Dispatch, then U.N. ambassador John Bolton successfully lobbied against the George W. Bush administration joining at the councils creation in 2005. After the 2008 elections, the United States opted to join under Obama. At that time, it concluded that the U.S. could better advance its interests from inside the council. Evidence also supports that statement. A 2017 report by the Council on Foreign Relations examined the councils work in years in which the United States served and those when it didnt. In all, the U.S. did advance its interests internationally better in years when it participated. The U.S. pulling out could appear mostly symbolic TIME notes that, because of term limits, the U.S. leaving now might look mostly like posturing. The current term on the council ends next year. At that time, the U.S. could revert to an observer, like other countries that dont also hold membership. Observer countries can speak out when they see rights abuses, but they cant vote on them. Trumps America First, policy takes a unique view of the complex web of U.S. treaties and alliances, NPR explains. Because his business background informs his worldview, the president sees these partnerships as financial burdens instead of assets. This latest move falls right in line with his bombastic, and often shortsighted foreign policy strategies. How leaving the council aligns with Trumps strategy The president holds a long record of making moves that raise eyebrows in foreign policy circles. Most recently, Trump has taken Canada to task over tariffs. He also called out NATO over defense costs, and decided to halt joint military exercises with South Korea. All of those rest on the almighty dollar, with very little eye toward diplomacy. Numerous officials have repeatedly reassured the public that America First does not mean America Alone, but Trump doesnt seem to take that same view. It has also withdrawn from a number of accords and agreements that dont have a direct financial line. Since Jan. 2017, the U.S. has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the U.N. educational and cultural organizations and backed off of the Iran nuclear deal. Those moves, together with tariffs and moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv, have all drawn criticism. 1 countrys interests may have spurred the withdrawal According to The Washington Post, Haley actually first threatened to pull out of the council in 2o17. She cited longstanding U.S. complaints that the 47-member council appears biased against Israel. The ambassador then denounced the council as a forum for politics, hypocrisy and evasion. She also accused member countries Venezuela, Cuba, China, Burundi, and Saudi Arabia of failing to fulfill their duties to uphold the highest standards of human rights, while emphasizing what she considered its anti-Israel bias. As we have said numerous times, the U.N. Human Rights Council must be reformed to ensure it has the ability to realize its important mission, the State Department said. At its best, the HRC calls out human rights violators and encourages positive action. However, all too frequently it fails to address critical situations for political reasons and undermines its own credibility, it added. The U.S. leaving has its critics The U.N. council isnt the only one that undermines its own credibility. Some experts fear withdrawing will only add fuel to the perception that the Trump administration remains too interested in Israels agenda. Previously, Haleys office has also pressured the council not to publish a U.N. database of companies operating in West Bank settlements. That alleged blacklist could drive companies away, Israel says, and further detract from its presence in the West Bank. The Trump administrations withdrawal is a sad reflection of its one-dimensional human rights policy: Defending Israeli abuses from criticism takes precedence above all else, Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, told TIME. All Trump seems to care about is defending Israel, he said. If the U.S. leaves, it will also abdicate its right to weigh in on human rights abuses elsewhere. The U.S. concern over Israel does not come totally unfounded, however. Israels rights record holds a permanent spot on the council agenda, UN Watch points out. Item 7 on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories has remained part of the councils regular business almost as long as that body has existed. Heres 1 country that really benefits And leaving the council comes with other consequences, too. The U.S. leaving could also ease pressure on China, The Washington Post notes. Historically, the U.S. has stood up against China, the only country to do so. As China continues to grow more diplomatically assertive, the council needs the U.S. to exercise its strength against its abuses. Leaving that body, or even stepping away from the voting body, could give China freer reign. As in the past, many experts suggest that Trumps foreign policy appears shortsighted in this instance. By withdrawing from the council, we lose our leverage and allow the councils bad actors to follow their worst impulses unchecked including running roughshod over Israel, Democrat representative Eliot L. Engel told The Washington Post. However, this administrations approach when it sees a problem is to take the United States off the field, he added. That undermines our standing in the world and allows our adversaries to fill the void. Leaving the council makes a statement both on its treatment of Israel and, perhaps unintentionally, its criticism of the zero-tolerance immigration policy. However, it also says something important about the U.S. leaderships interests in human rights, worldwide. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! The good news is that President Donald Trump finally met with Kim Jong Un at the very least, it gives us the sense that nuclear war is less likely in the short term. The bad news is that the results of the summit are somewhat vague. Trump said that Kim had reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearization, but he added few details about what Kim would actually do to back up his pledge. Donald Trumps behavior during the summit broke protocol of course which might be a good or bad thing. Click through to see what Trump did and form your own opinion. 1. He returned a military salute to a North Korean three-star general When Trump reached out to shake the hand of the minister of the Peoples Armed Forces, the minister saluted him instead, according to Yahoo. Next, Trump saluted him back, but and the general reached out to shake hands. The awkward moment ended in the two shaking hands. The White House defended Trumps decision to salute the minister. Its a common courtesy when a military official from another government salutes, that you return that, said presidential spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders. 2. Some raised eyebrows when Trump saluted the minister Because the U.S. and North Korea are technically still at war, some did not support Trump saluting the minister, according to Yahoo. I have never seen an American president salute an officer of another military, let alone a military that acts as a brutal enforcer of human slavery and awful prison camps in a gulag across its nation, said James Stavridis, a retired top NATO commander. It was a mistake. 3. Trump ignored his briefing According to CNN, Trump was briefed on protocol prior to the meeting. He was told not to salute military officers from other countries. But Trump often ignores protocol, as we all have seen. The White House, however, feels what the president did was part of the broader goal that day, which was to show Kim and his entourage respect. 4. There is no set rule on how American presidents should meet foreign leaders There isnt a hard and fast rule about how American presidents should meet foreign leaders, according to Yahoo. And Donald Trump criticized Barack Obama during the 2012 presidential campaign for bowing to the Saudi king. @BarackObama bowed to the Saudi King in public yet the Dems are questioning @MittRomneys diplomatic skills, tweeted Trump. Obama also took some heat in 2014 when he stepped off Marine One in New York and saluted with a coffee cup in his hand. The latte salute, even got its own hashtag on Twitter. 5. He did a live interview after the summit Trumps break with decades of protocol didnt occur during the summit, but soon after, according to the Virginian Pilot. He ventured out to the executive mansions North Lawn and conducted a live interview with Fox News. Trump took a half-hour of questions from a Fox anchor and another half-hour of questions from White House correspondents. During the interview he mentioned that his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un averted nuclear war. 6. He showed Kim inside the presidential limo President Trumps historic nuclear disarmament summit with Kim Jung Un involved a lunch at the opulent Capella resort in Singapore. After lunch, Trump showed the North Korean leader the inside of the presidential limo, nicknamed The Beast, according to Yahoo. Sure, the limo is impressive. The Cadillac has eight-inch-thick doors, can survive a roadside bomb, and has an oxygen system in case of a chemical attack. But when is the last time a president invited someone to see the inside of the presidential limo? Um, never? 7. Trump pulled this move, too President Trump got what he wanted, but he also gave Kim something he has wanted for a long time, according to Yahoo. Trump promised to end at least for now the annual American-South Korean military exercises. The break with protocol? Trump didnt let Seoul know in advance. And that has both Democrats and Republicans worried, because the South is a key ally in the area. Read more: The Dangerous World Leaders Donald Trump Deeply Admires Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Federal prosecutors have charged a new suspect in the WikiLeaks breach, known as Vault 7. The former software engineer, Joshua Schulte, now stands accused for his involvement in what the CIA considers one of the worst losses of classified documents in the agencys history. According to The New York Times, government investigators have long suspected he provided WikiLeaks with a stolen archive of documents. However, they did not initially charge him with that crime. WikiLeaks first began to post the stolen CIA documents in 2016. The breach then set off a huge manhunt to identify the individuals behind it. The American public should be deeply troubled by any WikiLeaks disclosure designed to damage the intelligence communitys ability to protect America against terrorists and other adversaries, the CIA said, in a statement. The breach reveals security concerns However, despite the scale of the breach, it didnt really affect most Americans. Nicholas Weaver, a researcher at the International Computer Science Institute, said WikiLeaks initially exaggerated the danger to civil liberties from the CIA hacking tools. He explained that those actually intended to target only small numbers of high-priority targets. The expert called the Vault 7 tools creative but not really special and designed for very targeted espionage. He said we should really worry about the possibility of the leak, not what it contained. That proves a failure in heightened security imposed after Edward Snowden shared hundreds of thousands of classified National Security Agency documents. The NSA carries out most of the governments cyberespionage. However, the CIA does employ some hackers. The leaked Vault 7 documents came from the agencys Engineering Development Group and included descriptions and instructions for the use of agency hacking tools. However, only a small amount of actual code came out. Somebody managed to walk out with a huge amount of secret data from a CIA facility, Weaver told The New York Times. He also considered identifying the leaker very reassuring. Who is Schulte? According to his family and his LinkedIn page, Schulte started out as an intern at the NSA while working on a bachelors degree in computer engineering. He then moved on to the CIAs Engineering Development Group. There, he helped design the hacking tools used by its Center for Cyber Intelligence. He left the agency in November 2016, to work for Bloomberg L.P. as a software engineer. When the WikiLeaks first released its documents, FBI agents searched Schultes apartment. The New York Times reports that they stopped him from leaving the country and took his passport. The search warrant application said they suspected Schulte of distribution of national defense information. Agents also told the court they retrieved NSA and CIA paperwork, as well as electronics. Instead of charging him for the WikiLeaks breach, prosecutors initially booked Schulte for possessing child pornography. Agents found 10,000 illicit images on a server he created as a business in 2009, as an undergraduate. After violating the terms of his parole, the courts remanded Schulte to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. What did he do? His family and friends call Schulte something of a scapegoat, The New York Times explained. As the evidence is flushed out, it will become clear that Mr. Schulte is hardly the villain the government makes him out to be, his public defender, Sabrina P. Shroff said. The newest indictment accuses him of repeatedly violating the Espionage Act. According to federal court documents, Schulte illegally obtained classified information in 2016 and then provided it to WikiLeaks, which posted it online. Prosecutors also charged him with transmitting malicious computer code and improperly gaining access to a government computer system. He allegedly granted himself access to it and tried to conceal his movements. He also stands accused of copyright infringement. The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, also faces charges. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also called arresting Assange a priority for the Justice Department. Assange, who calls himself a journalist, could use that charge to make prosecution more difficult. While Schulte remains in custody, Assange continues to live in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. He fled there in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape accusations. Last year, Sweden also announced it no longer intended to extradite him. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Marijuana policy in New York City will continue getting more lenient under Mayor Bill de Blasio. In May 2018, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said his office would stop prosecuting cases involving possession or consumption of the drug. That same month, de Blasio called on the New York Police Department (NYPD) to stop arresting people for smoking weed or possessing small amounts. However, you could still get thrown in jail if youre caught with a joint anywhere in New York. Those days will soon end. As of September 1, anyone the NYPD catches smoking marijuana on a New York street will get only a summons and small fine. De Blasio made the announcement June 19 with Police Commissioner James ONeill at his side. Heres everything you need to know about the new policy, including who will get arrested if caught with weed beginning September 1. 1. Smokers face a $100 fine and a court appearance. As the NYPD reminded everyone on Twitter, the new policy doesnt mean New York has a new law in place. Smoking marijuana remains illegal In New York. However, cops will not be cuffing people and taking them off for fingerprinting when they see them lighting up in town. Instead, anyone in possession of weed will receive a summons and a $100 fine, CBS reported. Later, they will need to make a court appearance. 2. These people could still go to jail for smoking weed. The new policy applies to people with no criminal record. Mayor de Blasio and NYPD officials stressed that some people will still end up in jail for marijuana-related crimes. They include: Anyone on probation or parole People with a warrant out for their arrest Anyone without identification People caught behind the wheel of a car or otherwise representing a public safety risk Anyone with a documented history of violence Basically, if your record is clean and you have ID on you, you wont go to jail. Anyone else might. 3. It could save 10,000 arrests in 2019 and beyond. Regardless of your opinion on the legalization of marijuana, you probably agree the NYPD has bigger concerns than people smoking weed on the street. (For example, the departments anti-terrorism squad would rank much higher on the list.) With this policy in place, New York cops can avoid making several thousand arrests for marijuana offenses.Next year, we think at least 10,000 fewer New Yorkers will be arrested under this new policy, de Blasio told the media. 4. NYPD racial profiling was a factor here. Looking at the data, its clear New York Citys current policy affected minorities disproportionately. Of the nearly 17,000 marijuana possession arrests in the city in 2017, 86% were people of color. The ongoing arrest and criminal prosecution of predominantly black and brown New Yorkers for smoking marijuana serves neither [justice nor safety], Vance said in May. Today is a day where we take a step into the future, we take a step towards fairness, we take a step towards greater safety, de Blasio said when he announced the policy on June 19. 5. New Yorkers had some priceless reactions. After repeating the announcement on his @NYCMayor account, de Blasio encountered the usual Twitter jokesters. Predictably, one even suggested a start time for the policy to begin. On the state level, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker will recommend legalizing marijuana in the coming months, CBS reported. Andrew Cuomo, who faces a primary challenge from Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon in 2018, will likely accept that recommendation. For her part, Nixon saw the latest news as part of Cuomos swinging left in an election year. Its been over two months since I announced my intent to legalize marijuana as governor, and only now has Cuomo taken a similar stance. # TheCynthiaEffect, she tweeted. With the primary election set for September 13, it could be a wild few weeks outside Nixon campaign headquarters. Botswanas government on Tuesday notified the World Trade Organization and its trading partners of a suspected outbreak of foot and mouth disease in cattle in one of its districts. Officials from Botswanas Veterinary Services found five animals with signs of the disease in Ngamiland in the north of the country, an area bordering Namibia and Zimbabwe. The disease outbreak has no impact on exports to the European Union, officials said. Botswana has been supplying small quantities of chilled and frozen beef to the EU, and especially to the UK, for many years. Last year the EU has signed a trade pact with six southern African countries including Botswana. The pact is known as the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Due to the outbreak, the slaughter and movement of all cloven hoofed animals and their fresh products within and out of the district are suspended until further notice, the government said, adding that vaccinations had begun. The foot and mouth infection is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease affecting hoofed animals. Outbreaks of the disease are a usual occurrence in the country where cattle ranching is one of the mainstays of the economy, after diamond mining. Everybody is upset about Donald Trumps choice to separate many undocumented immigrant parents from their children after they cross the border into the United States. But as some critics have pointed out, immigrant families arent the only ones whom authorities are routinely separating. As Bloomberg reports, Its horrible to forcibly separate lawbreaking parents from their young children, but we do that to American citizens, too. According to a 2010 study, an estimated 1.1 million men and 120,000 women in U.S. jails and prisons have children under the age of 17. Those separations are not only traumatic for the children but can also perpetuate cycles of low achievement and even criminal behavior. Heres what you need to know. Separating families is particularly problematic for female prisoners Bloomberg explains that separating prisoners from their families is especially problematic for female prisoners and their children. From 1991 to 2007, the number of American children with a mother in prison more than doubled. In fact, it rose 131%. But about two-thirds of the women in state prisons are there for nonviolent offenses. And 60% of those women have children under the age of 18. A quarter of the prisoners children are under the age of 4, and 41% of the women in state prison have more than one child. These women could move from prison to house arrest Interestingly enough, Bloomberg has an idea for solving the problems posed by separating female prisoners from their young children. Lets take one-tenth of those women and move them from prison to house arrest, combined with electronic monitoring, the publication explains. If that works and violent crime doesnt rise then another tenth of the women could get the same arrangement. Bloomberg reports that if the plan works and is used to reduce the female prison population, the same idea could be applied to the male population, though violent offenses would be a bigger problem with that population. In prison, few women get regular visits with their children In some cases under the model that Bloomberg proposes, the court could rule that the mother wouldnt get full custody of her child or children. But many children would likely benefit. And even visitation rights could help. As the publication explains, only 14.6% of mothers in state prisons reported getting person visits with a child once a month or more. (The same number is just 12.3% for fathers.) Families get separated at the time of parents arrest Families of lawbreaking American citizens get separated not only in the case of long-term incarceration but also when parents, especially mothers, are arrested. Many are immediately forced away from their children, according to Bloomberg. And while theyre sometimes given to the other parent or to a grandparent, sometimes that doesnt happen, either. They sometimes go to shelters, and an estimated 11% of the children of imprisoned mothers end up in foster care. They are also at risk of becoming homeless, according to The Times-Picayune, or one day becoming incarcerated themselves. The arrest can throw struggling families into a downward spiral As The Times-Picayune reports, the arrest of a parent who cant afford bail can throw a struggling family into a downward spiral, even when the mother or father is eventually found not-guilty. The policy perpetuates a cycle of crime and poverty. And as the publication notes, At another level, these parents often face lengthy sentences for nonviolent, drug-related offenses, typically under the repeat offender law. Even a short period of pretrial detention can mean the loss of employment, housing, child custody, and access to healthcare. Some women are already raising their babies in jail Interestingly enough, Bloomberg points out that there are a few programs that enable women to raise their babies while in jail, avoiding the problem of separating them altogether. The benefits of those programs reportedly include a reduction in recidivism as compared to mothers who are separated from their babies. The babies also get checkups they might not have gotten if they lived elsewhere. And they are less likely to be anxious, depressed, or withdrawn than if they were separated from their mothers at birth. Read more: The Frightening Things That Happen to Your Body When You Go to Prison Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! If youre retiring soon or already retired, you might be concerned about how youll spend your time. Retirement can lead to a slowdown in your social life, so its important to look for ways to stay connected. One way you can enrich your retirement is by volunteering. Here are the organizations that are the best places for retirees to volunteer. Senior Corps If youre looking for a way to not only help but also form social connections, consider becoming a foster grandparent. Senior Corps, a division of Corporation for National and Community Service, has a Foster Grandparents program that gives retirees an opportunity to mentor children and youth. The program is open to those 55 years of age and older. Foster Grandparents volunteer an average of 20 hours per week in schools, child care centers, hospitals, drug treatment centers, and correctional institutions. Next: Lend a hand to seniors in need. Senior Companions Another volunteer program offered by Senior Corps is a program called Senior Companions. This is a volunteer opportunity targeted to seniors age 55 and over. Senior Companions provide aid and friendship to adults who have trouble with activities such as paying bills or grocery shopping. The program is a way for older adults to remain at home instead of moving to a nursing home. Volunteers provide a break for caregivers by running errands and keeping clients company. Senior Companions are expected to help an average of two to four clients for 15 to 40 hours each week. Next: Get some fresh air and make a difference. National Park Service Being retired doesnt mean you have to stay inside all day. One great way to give back and get some fresh air is to volunteer for National Park Service. These positions also come with a few perks. Among the benefits are meals and a stipend. In addition, volunteers who work at least 250 hours are eligible to receive an annual pass (a value of $80) allowing free access to all federal recreation sites. Next: Healing others with music. Musicians on Call Musicians On Call sends volunteer musicians to hospitals throughout the United States. Volunteers perform in patients rooms as well as common spaces within the hospital where other patients and families can enjoy the performance. Volunteers perform through voice, a musical instrument, or a combination of the two. You dont have to be a musician to volunteer with Musicians on Call. You can also participate by becoming a volunteer guide. As a guide youll be responsible for escorting musicians to patients rooms. Next: Help boost literacy skills. AARP Foundation Experience Corps The AARP Foundation Experience Corps is for those age 50 and older who want to dedicate their time to helping children improve their reading skills. According to AARPs website, there are roughly 2,000 trained volunteers working in more than 20 cities and serving more than 30,000 elementary schools each year. The organization found students who work with Experience Corps volunteers see as much as a 60% improvement in critical literacy skills compared to those in their age group. Volunteers are expected to donate an average of six to 15 hours each week during the school year. Next: Become a different kind of scholar. Road Scholar Road Scholar provides service learning trips for those who want to volunteer while they travel. As a volunteer, you have the option of participating in activities such assisting with a community water and sanitation project in Nicaragua, volunteering at the Navajo Nation Schools in Arizona, preserving national parks of the Potomac River, and teaching English in India. Next: See the world while helping others. Global Volunteers Another volunteer program that provides service learning opportunities is Global Volunteers. The organization describes its program as a community service project with a purpose. There are several opportunities for volunteer abroad and all ages and backgrounds are welcome. Projects include providing healthcare, childcare, computer literacy, and nutrition education. Next: You dont have to be fresh out of college to pitch in. Peace Corps The Peace Corps isnt just for young people. The organization doesnt have an age limit, and it actively seeks volunteers who are age 50 or older. Depending on the type of volunteer work you choose, your service can last anywhere from three months to two years. Volunteers can choose which country they want to serve, and the type of work performed. However, do know that if you have certain health conditions you might not be eligible to serve. Next: Older volunteers are welcome. Retired and Senior Volunteer Program An additional volunteer program offered by Senior Corps is a program called RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program). RSVP, which is for those age 55 and older, allows participants to share the knowledge they have gained during their lifetime. Volunteer opportunities include organizing neighborhood watch programs, tutoring and mentoring youth, renovating homes, and assisting natural disaster victims. Next: Provide shelter for families in need. Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity helps those in need of shelter build and renovate housing. Many of the organizations retired volunteers participate through its RV Care-A-Vanners program. This program allows anyone who travels by recreational vehicle to volunteer at different home-building sites during their travels. Experience is not required. Author Mary Vanderveld spoke about her experience with the program in an article for the Retirement and Good Living website. Volunteers do more than help build and renovate homes. They also have the option of getting trained to be Master Safety Trainers, so they can help train people at other Habitat for Humanity sites on recent safety regulations. RV Care-A-Vanners can also join the desk staff and help with program management. Next: Make a difference in a childs life. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Big Brothers Big Sisters of America gives volunteers an opportunity to mentor youth who need an adult role model. There are several programs to choose from. Volunteers have a choice of working with community-based programs, children of military families, school-based programs, and children with incarcerated parents. Next: These organizations need plenty of help. Your local hospital Local hospitals have many opportunities for retirees to give back to their community. Although medical experience is not required this is a great fit for someone who used to work in the medical field. Some areas where hospitals need help include administrative support, patient greeters, and pastoral care. You can find out more about your local hospitals volunteer program by calling the main number or conducting a search on its website. Next: These people desperately need a hot meal and a friendly smile. Meals on Wheels The goal of Meals on Wheels is to provide nutritious meals to homebound seniors. Roughly 10 million seniors in the United States are facing the threat of hunger, according to the organization. Volunteers across the country deliver meals each day to these older Americans in need. If youre unable to participate in meal delivery, you also have the option of joining the organizations letter-writing program. Next: This organization depends on volunteers. American Red Cross The American Red Cross relies heavily on help from volunteers. These volunteers do roughly 90% of the organizations humanitarian work. Some of the roles filled by Red Cross volunteers include assistance with first aid, disaster education, disaster services, administrative support, babysitting instruction, and help with fundraising and marketing. Next: This is the perfect place for bookworms. Public library If youre a bibliophile, consider volunteering at your local public library. There are plenty of ways to help. Some of the services local libraries need assistance with are teaching English a second language, as well as reading, writing, and computer instruction. Other services local libraries need are community ambassadors and assistance with activities such as chess instruction and summer lunch programs. Next: You dont have to dread tax time. Internal Revenue Service If youre interested in helping others with their taxes, this volunteer opportunity is for you. The IRS allows interested volunteers to help with their Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly programs. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance participants receive training to assist low-to-moderate income families who need help preparing their tax returns. Volunteers for the Tax Counseling for the Elderly program help those age 60 and older. Follow The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! The recent immigration controversyabout the administrations decision to separate children from their parents at the borderhas ended, at least for now, with President Trumps promise of an executive order to end the practice. His decision was clearly due to the near universal outcry against the policy. It was a rare moment for Christians, as believers of all stripes were united on this one point of public policy. When Jim Wallis and Franklin Graham, and nearly everyone in between, condemn the administrations policy, its practically a miracle. And for this, we should be grateful. It stands in contrast to the usual order of things, but it might be an opportunity to examine some of our assumptions about entering the public square to pursue justice in the name of Jesus Christ. We do well to remember that first and foremost, our job in this life is to help people see and comprehend the love and power of Jesus Christ. Standing with a unified front on a particular issue goes a long way in that regard. But we also have to figure out how to help people see Jesus when we dont agree. To reiterate what Christians of nearly all stripes have agreed on lately: We found it deeply troubling that so many children were needlessly separated from their parents at the border, and we along with so many others called for an immediate halt to this practice. Where We Stand Furthermore, we believe that a zero-tolerance policy on any issue is not likely to produce justice; rather it will only exacerbate injustice. The most recent example in US history is the zero-tolerance policy both white and black leaders championed against crime and drug use in the 1980s and 90s, with good intentions. This has resulted in the US having the largest prison population in the world today, with many inmates suffering unjust prison sentences. A zero-tolerance policy at the border will only lump the deserving and the undeserving into the same pile, with injustice for many. On this, most Christians seem to agree. Christianity Todays position is more expansive, of course, and this is where Christians begin to part ways. For years weve championed a more generous and open immigration policy. Recent conflicts across the globe have multiplied the number of refugees exponentially, and this sad reality has only prompted us to double down on this commitment. We take this stand first and foremost based on our reading of Scripture, the main theme being the call to love our neighbor, which we believe includes the neighbor knocking on the national door. For that particular neighbor comes poor, afflicted, afraid, and confused. To us, the first act of love toward these neighbors is welcome. The second act is to determine with both compassion and justice whether they should or should not be permitted to migrate to the US. Some Self-Examination Admittedly, were stepping away from clear biblical teaching to matters of prudential judgment at this point. Nevertheless, we believe our judgments are informed by biblical teachings on mercy, justice, grace, and the image of God. We believe that those who cross the border illegallythat is, not at designated ports of entryare not necessarily criminals. In our view, most who take that route do so because they are desperate to save their lives and that of their children. As such, these ought to be treated as those seeking asylum, and thus granted the rights and privileges we grant anyone seeking asylum until their case is adjudicated. Whenever Christians enter the public square, on one side of the immigration debate or the other, there will be a combination of biblical and prudential rationale that motivates their views. Yet we at CT do not assume all the Bible and all the wisdom falls on one side of any complex political issue. Even when we disagree with them, we acknowledge that those who want to restrict immigration argue biblically and prudentially as well. We just happen to believe that the biblical principles and prudential reasons we marshal take priority given the need, the state of our economy, and the massive resources available in the US, among many other prudential factors. In short, we believe America is strong and dynamic enough to absorb and assimilate many more immigrants than we have been welcoming for decades. And we believe that the courage, perseverance, initiative, and hope that carries immigrants to our shores will only strengthen the American character. Article continues below When believers of all stripes can take stands together in the public square, that is a great witness. But so often, its difficult to know with absolute certainty what prudential steps are required to fulfill a biblical mandate. And so on many important issues, Christians have different views. Its perhaps why Jesus didnt say that the world will recognize him when we take the right stands together. Instead he says, By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35). It seems to us that the first step in loving those with whom we disagree is to take the trouble to listen, really listen, to what they believe and why. Unfortunately, our witness to the truth and love of Jesus at other times has been compromised in the public square. We have rehearsed this problem many times in our pages. When we are rude and hostile to one another, we signal that we love only some neighbors. More to the point: We love our political allies but not so much our brothers and sisters who take a different view. It seems to us that the first step in loving those with whom we disagree is to take the trouble to listen, really listen, to what they believe and why. In this respect, we each might ask ourselves some pointed questions, like: Those who favor more immigration: Dont those who insist on the rule of law have a point? Who wants to live in a society in which people are encouraged to have a cavalier attitude toward the legal system? Or, Those who wish to restrict immigration might ask themselves if their concern for the welfare of their local communities or the nation should always trump the welfare of desperate people at our borders. And so on. Even when we disagree with those who differ from us, we can enter the debate recognizing that they too bring something true and right to the discussion. It may even result in us finding some powerful points of agreement. Unfortunately today, most days it is almost unimaginable to an unbelieving world that what was said of the early Christians could be said of us: The church father Tertullian imagined pagans looking at Christians and saying, Look ... how they love one another how they are ready to die for each other. We need the very believers who do not see things our way. When it comes to political solutions to complex problems, we see in a mirror dimly. Were not calling for a live and let live approach, the lazy everybody has their own truth and why cant we all get along? Its our duty to carefully read Scripture and prayerfully think through issues, and come to firm convictions. That often means well come to different conclusions. But we need the very believers who do not see things our way. When it comes to political solutions to complex problems, we see in a mirror dimly. Even when we have to end up disagreeing about the best way forward, its rare that charitable listening doesnt help us see more clearly. And well sometimes find, surprisingly enough, that we agree on more than we had imagined. And when we cant agree, we can continue the debate until events and Providence reveal a larger truth we can both see clearly. And maybe, along the way, an unbelieving world will see us striving for justice, living mercifully with one another, and walking humbly with our Lordand they just may recognize him for who he is. Mark Galli is editor in chief of Christianity Today. The great beauty of the Christian narrative is redemption, and redemption shines powerfully through Ericka Andersens Leaving Cloud 9: The True Story of a Life Resurrected from the Ashes of Poverty, Trauma, and Mental Illness. In its pages, Andersen chronicles the tumultuous upbringing of her husband, Rick Sylvestera sordid tale of neglect, home instability, drug abuse, and the kind of fending for oneself that hints of Oliver Twist. Rick and his sister, Jenny, are shuffled between their poverty-stricken, drug-addicted mother, Sylvia, and their grandparents, who felt them a colossal inconvenience. One Christmas Eve in Colorado, the struggling family faced homelessness. Sylvia parked outside a bar as Rick and Jenny shivered beneath a blanket. As Andersen describes the scene, The numbnessboth from the cold and the emotionsbegan to settle over them like the blanket. Their mother brought a man back into the car, drove to a dilapidated motel, took him inside for half an hour while leaving the car running outside, and then summoned her children inside after the man left. They had a home that Christmasa dank motel secured through a quick sexual encounter. When his mother attempted suicide after an assault from a violent man, a young Rick called 911. This wasnt the first time Sylvia pulled a stunt like this, Andersen explains. She was prone to attempting suicide. . . . This was Rick and Jennys normal. They didnt even know how to be scared anymore, because when scary things happened, numbness took over. This numbness typifies an unstable childhood. And the research doesnt paint a pretty picture of adult children of neglect and trauma. ... 1 You have reached the end of this Article Preview You have reached the end of this Article Preview To continue reading, subscribe now. Subscribers have full digital access. Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here. EASA Grants Georgias GEO SKY Authorization By Tea Mariamidze The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), a body of the European Union which carries out certification, regulation, standardization and monitoring, has granted Georgias cargo airline, GEO SKY an authorization.Georgian Civil Aviation Agency reports that on the basis of authorization, the carrier is entitled to operate in EASA member 28 European Union and 4 countries of the European Association for Free Trade.The agency noted that the EU safety authorization for foreign air operators (PART-TCO) confirms the full compliance of airline operator with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and EU standards, underlining the safety and supervision of international safety standards.The permit is valid until the operator meets the PART-TCO regulation standards or the state issuing of the Airborne Operator's Certificate (Georgia) does not cancel the relevant certificate.GEO SKY employs Georgian pilots, engineering and technical personnel. EASA's Air Safety Security will facilitate the company to operate on the European aviation market and promote the airline's further development, the agency added.GEO SKY is the third local airline to receive such a license, which means the company meets international operational and safety standards.In 2016, EASA authorized Georgian Airways and TCA.Beginning 2016, EASA's authorized permit is mandatory for any non-EU country operator willing to fly to the territory of the European Union.Before a newly developed aircraft comes into operation, it must obtain a type certificate from the responsible aviation regulatory authority. Since 2003, EASA is responsible for the certification of aircraft in the EU and for some European non-EU Countries. The certificate certifies that the type of aircraft meets the safety requirements set by the European Union.The 4 steps of the type-certification process:1. Technical Familiarization and Certification Basis2. Establishment of the Certification Program3. Compliance demonstration4. Technical closure and issue of approval In 2020, we were the church on our heels. A global pandemic shut down much of our world. But the church has been on the move since it was birthed; it will continue to be on the move until God makes all things new. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment I don't remember the last time a biblical citation generated so many headlines. Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sought to defend the Trump administration's immigration policies, especially with regard to separating families. At one point, he stated, "I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes." His citation set off a firestorm of debate in the culture and among Christians. My purpose today is not to discuss the multitude of ways Romans 13 has been interpreted through history. Rather, it is to consider the larger question: When should Christians obey or disobey the government? Obeying the state God's word consistently calls us to obey and support our governing authorities. Paul urged that "supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions" (1 Timothy 2:1-2). His instruction to Christians living in Rome was clear: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment" (Romans 13:1-2). The apostle then stated that "the authorities are ministers of God" (v. 6) and urged his readers: "Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed" (v. 7). Peter added: "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good" (1 Peter 2:13-14). It would seem clear, then, that Christians are to submit to the authority of the government, seeing its exercise of power as God's will for us. However, there's more to the story. Choosing civil disobedience In Acts 4, Peter and John were ordered to stop preaching the gospel by the Sanhedrin, the highest authority in Judaism. Their response: "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard" (vv. 19-20). After Peter was arrested again for preaching the gospel, he was again bold in his civil disobedience: "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). His faithfulness to God led to his martyrdom by Rome. Paul suffered a similar fate: imprisonment (2 Timothy 4:6) and execution. And so, two apostles who counseled Christians to obey the state were executed because they would not obey the state. Theirs are not the only such stories in Scripture. In Daniel 3, the Babylonian king erected a golden image and required all people to worship it. The Jewish exiles Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego testified before the idolatrous king: "We will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up" (v. 18). You know what happened to them. Three chapters later, Daniel refused to pray to the Persian king and was thrown into the lions' den as a result. In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. noted: "One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." He agreed with St. Augustine, who claimed that "an unjust law is no law at all." John R. W. Stott was one of the most respected evangelical theologians of the twentieth century. In his commentary on Romans 13, he asks: "Granted that the authority of the rulers is derived from God, what happens if they abuse it, if they reverse their God-given duty, commending those who do evil and punishing those who do good? Does the requirement to submit still stand in such a morally perverse situation? No. The principle is clear. We are to submit right up to the point where obedience to the state would entail disobedience to God. But if the state commands what God forbids, or forbids what God commands, then our plain Christian duty is to resist, not to submit, to disobey the state in order to obey God." Citizens of two countries You and I are citizens of two countries. We live in a secular nation with secular leaders we are to support and obey. But we also live in a spiritual society with an omnipotent King whose authority is supreme (Psalm 2:10-11). Jesus taught us to "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:21). But when we are forced to choose, we must obey our highest authority. Peter encouraged us to "show proper respect to everyone." What does this entail? "Love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor" (1 Peter 2:17 NIV). We are to love each other, and we are to honor our secular leaders. But we are to fear only God. On October 3, 1789, President George Washington issued the first formal proclamation of Thanksgiving in the United States. He stated: "It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor." Let's do our duty today. Originally posted at Denison Forum. home World Jerusalem churches appeal to Netanyahu to block bill that restricts land sales Three major churches in Jerusalem have urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to block a legislation that would allow the government to expropriate church properties. The leaders of the Armenian, Greek Orthodox and Catholic churches in Jerusalem have claimed that the cabinet is advancing the bill that seeks to nationalize church properties that are being used as housing and sold to private entrepreneurs. MK Rachel Azaria, who introduced the legislation, claimed that it was aimed at protecting the residents who live on the properties. The letter a signed by Greek Orthodox leader Patriarch Theophilos III; Armenian Apostolic Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian; and Roman Catholic Fr. Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land a accused the cabinet of failing to comply with an agreement reached between the government and churches after the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was shut down in protest of the legislation. "This bill was one of the main reasons for the recent crisis that developed between the Christian community in the Holy Land and the State of Israel... in flagrant breach of the Status Quo, brought us to order the closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as an act of protest," the church leaders said in the letter, as reported by The Jerusalem Post. "We strongly believe that this bill constitutes a systematic and unprecedented attack against the Christians of the Land and violates the most basic rights, thus trampling on the delicate fabric of relations between the Christian community and the State of Israel for decades," they continued. The church leaders urged Netanyahu "to act quickly and decisively to block the bill whose unilateral promotion will compel the Churches to reciprocate." Azaria denied the claims made by the heads of the churches and noted that a separate bill has been introduced on Monday to protect the rights of people residing on properties that were once owned by churches. The lawmaker insisted that the cabinet has "no intention in advancing a bill that discriminates the churches." She further noted that the bill does not target churches, but was aimed at helping thousands of residents who are in danger of losing their homes due to the demands of developers. The church leaders decided to shut down the Church of the Holy Sepulcher after the Jerusalem municipality started collecting taxes on church property while lawmakers considered a legislation that would allow government to expropriate church property. Israeli authorities suspended the collection of taxes and the advancement of the bill in response to the protest. The church leaders claimed that no dialogue has taken place with a special committee appointed by the government to deal with the issue since the agreement in February. Best preacher in town? LST to host Sermon of the Year Tomorrow evening will see the finals of the Sermon of the Year competition at London School of Theology (LST). Run by LST and Preach Magazine, the competition is aimed at encouraging good preaching from a range of voices. Entrants were asked to submit written scripts on the theme 'Be set free' and the top four will deliver their sermons in front of a live audience. The event will feature on the BBC's The One Show. The sermons will be judged by Antony Billington, head of theology at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, Anne Calver, assistant minister at Stanmore Baptist Church, Krish Kandiah, founder and director of the charity Home for Good and a vice-president of Tearfund, and Chloe Lynch, lecturer in practical theology at LST. The finalists are Corinne Broughton, a first year theology student who will preach on 'Time to be free'; Rebecca Coatsworth, a copywriter for a Christian charity, who will preach on 'Connecting to God'; Lydia Lee, a former primary school teacher who will preach on 'Why are you afraid?'; and Esther Longe, a Methodist deacon, who will preach on 'Caught in adultery'. LST principal Rev Dr Calvin Samuel will be hosting the competition at the LST campus in Northwood from 7pm. Free tickets are still available here. Preach magazine is a quarterly publication available in print or digital format. Each issue includes features, reviews, resources and opinion pieces, all designed to encourage and support preachers. Methodists round on Jeff Sessions accusing him of breaching church teaching More than 600 Methodists have rounded on US attorney general Jeff Sessions accusing him of child abuse and immorality over his role in the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy that has led to children being separated from their parents. A formal denominational complaint signed by United Methodist clergy and lay people accused Sessions, who is a Methodist, of 'dissemination of doctrines contrary to the standards of doctrine of the United Methodist Church'. It lays down four charges against Sessionss. The first three child abuse, immorality and racial discrimination are in reference to the border policy and the last regarding the dissemination of doctrines against Methodism comes after he defended separating children from parents citing Romans 13. The letter formally sets in motion a disciplinary process that could, if unresolved, go before a church trial. Under the harshest punishment a person's church membership could be removed but it could also include lesser punishments like losing the ability to hold office or teach Sunday school. The letter read: 'While we are reticent to bring a formal complaint against a layperson, Mr Sessions' unique combination of tremendous social/political power, his leading role as a Sunday School teacher and former delegate to General Conference, and the severe and ongoing impact of certain of his public, professional actions demand that we, as his siblings in the United Methodist denomination, call for some degree of accountability.' Dave Wright, an ordained United Methodist elder and chaplain at the University of Puget Sound, was behind the letter and told RNS: 'My ideal outcome is that his pastors in church leadership who know him will speak with him, and that in those conversations he will be challenged to think through the level of harm he is causing and have a change of heart which is about as Methodist as you can get.' The letter, which was sent to RNS, says the attorney general's 'actions and the harm he is causing to immigrants, migrants, refugees, and asylees [sic] calls for his church to step into a process to directly engage with him as a part of our community.' 'While other individuals and areas of the federal government are implicated in each of these examples, Mr Sessions as a long-term United Methodist in a tremendously powerful, public position is particularly accountable to us, his church,' it continues. 'He is ours, and we are his. As his denomination, we have an ethical obligation to speak boldly when one of our members is engaged in causing significant harm in matters contrary to the Discipline on the global stage.' The extraordinary intervention by members of the Methodist Church is just the latest in a series of appalled reactions from Christian denominations at the White House's policy. The shift towards a 'zero tolerance' approach announced by Sessions means that those suspected of being illegal immigrants now face criminal charges. As it is illegal to detain children, they are separated from their parents and held in juvenile centres, often in large cages. US Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday that 2,342 children had been separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9. The separations began after Sessions announced in April that all immigrants apprehended while crossing the US-Mexico border illegally should be criminally prosecuted. Parents who are referred by border agents for prosecution are held in federal jails, while their children are moved into border shelter facilities under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a Department of Health and Human Services agency. Refugee children: living in limbo between two worlds Children are always among the most vulnerable in any humanitarian emergency. This is especially true in the world's largest refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh home to 886,000 people from Myanmar, more than half of whom are children. As a humanitarian aid worker focused on child protection, I recently served in the camps for several months. My days were unnerving, filled with images I won't soon forget. Young girls told me about their fears of being attacked while using the unlit latrines at night. Many adolescent girls and women are unable or unwilling to leave their shelters even during the day due to harassment and abuse. Their fears are rooted in being or knowing gender-based violence survivors. Boys face dangers, too. I saw adolescents cut and bruised, some shoeless returning from collecting firewood in the forest, where they encounter snakes and other wild animals. They hoist heavy bushels onto their shoulders for the long walk back, ever afraid of getting lost in the labyrinth of pathways in the overcrowded camps. These children have survived or witnessed horrific violence. More than 200,000 need psychosocial support, according to the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG). In the camps, children tell us that they live in constant fear of being assaulted or separated from their families. They face health risks, too. Without adequate access to safe water and sanitation facilities, they are vulnerable to diseases such as diphtheria and acute watery diarrhea. Many suffer from malnutrition; thousands are engaged in child labour. All are deprived of a formal education. Such dangers and threats are not new to these children and their families. The international community describes the Rohingya people as one of the world's most persecuted minorities. Their rights have been consistently violated for decades, leading to the mass exodus of 700,000 people from Myanmar beginning in August 2017. Today, they live in limbo between two worlds. They are denied citizenship and recognition at home in Myanmar, and are not officially recognised as refugees in Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention. However, it has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This means that all children in Bangladesh, regardless of origin, are afforded equal rights. Yet birth registration for refugee children born in the camps 60 a day on average is currently on hold. Some are excluded based on legal status or the origin of their parents. Without identity cards, these children face a lifetime of proving who they are. If they are lost or separated outside the camps, family tracing and reunification will be difficult. And without legal documents, they are easy prey for traffickers and vulnerable to illegal child marriages. To protect the future of these children, the government should be urged to restart birth registration for those born in the camps. Children also need immediate access to education. While some educational activities are ongoing in the camps, an estimated 530,00 refugee children age 3-17 years are missing out on formal education. Government restrictions prevent any formal or non-formal education programmes from being offered to the refugees, and girls face additional obstacles in accessing education, including cultural and traditional constraints. Informal education can only go so far. It cannot adequately build children's resilience to enable them to reach their full potential. Children want to be in school, as they and their caregivers told me repeatedly. There is a clear link between increased access to education and child protection. Quality education in times of crises helps prevent all forms of discrimination and gender-based violence, and bring girls and boys closer to realising their equal rights. When G7 leaders met earlier this month in Canada, their agenda included advancing the education of women and girls, and the ongoing crisis in Myanmar. Canada, along with the European Union, Germany, Japan, the UK and the World Bank, announced an investment of 2.2 billion, marking a fundamental shift toward improving access and reducing barriers to quality education worldwide. The announcement represents the single largest investment in education for women and girls in crisis and conflict situations. To ensure that refugee children in Cox's Bazar benefit from this incredible generosity, I hope that the G7 members will encourage the Government of Bangladesh to allow all children in the camps to access formal education. Education for displaced children in crises makes a life-long difference. I've seen the fruits of this. When I returned home from Bangladesh, I watched the documentary I Am Rohingya: A Genocide in Four Acts. The film follows a group of Rohingya youth former refugees now living in Canada who are enrolled in post-secondary studies as they re-enact their flight from violence in Myanmar and Bangladesh. The documentary crystalises the power of education to change lives. These adolescents created a platform to share their stories and advocate for the hundreds of thousands of children in those two countries still caught between two worlds. On World Refugee Day, let us honour the courage and tenacity of these Rohingya youth and the 65 million refugees worldwide, opening our hearts, minds and communities to them. Vanessa Saraiva is a child protection technical specialist with World Vision. To donate, or find out more about World Vision's Myanmar-Bangladesh Refugee Crisis appeal, click here Scottish Christian teens 'terrified' to face deportation back to Pakistan Two Scottish Christian teenagers have said they are 'terrified' of being deported after facing death threats because of their faith. Somer, 15, and Areeb Umeed Bakhsh, 13, have lived in Glasgow for six years after fleeing Pakistan in 2012 after two Christians were gunned down in the city of Faisalabad in 2010. The boys' father, now an elder at Possilpark Parish in the Church of Scotland, said those responsible for the attack knew where he lived and wanted to kill him. The 50-year-old said four of his friends have been killed by Islamist extremists and his sister-in-law's brother is serving life in jail because of Pakistan's blasphemy law, which carries the death penalty. However the family's appeals for asylum have repeatedly been rejected by the British government. Speaking on World Refugee Day the 15-year-old Somer said: 'I love Scotland and I do not want to go back to Pakistan. 'The thought of it terrifies me and it is very stressful to even imagine going back there. 'I wouldn't have a future and I can't even read or write Urdu. I want to live here in Scotland, it is my country and my home.' Areeb, 13, added: 'I am so happy living in Scotland and I am scared to go back to Pakistan. 'I am really afraid and I can't imagine living a normal life there. 'I am so happy living here, I am getting the right education and our lives are not under threat. I have spent most of my life in Glasgow and consider myself a Scottish boy. 'I do not know anything about Pakistan or the language.' Paul Sweeney, MP for Glasgow North-East, is urging immigration minister Caroline Nokes to extend their permission to stay while the Home Office examines their case. 'I have met the family and was disturbed to learn that they are at risk of deportation to Pakistan where they have already faced discrimination and very real death threats for their Christian beliefs,' he said. 'This family have already contributed a huge amount to our local community of Possilpark in Glasgow through the parish church and are exactly the sort of people that our country should be welcoming with open arms, not casting out to a dangerous future. 'It is shocking that a highly skilled and motivated family like this have been kept in limbo for so long, unable to work or even drive a car.' He added: 'They are in every respect naturalised Scottish boys, having lived here for more than six years now and quite apart from the dangers they would face, it would be inhumane to deport them to a country they have barely any memory or knowledge of.' Ugandan bishops pledge to boycott Welby's landmark Lambeth Conference 2020 Ugandan bishops will boycott the archbishop of Canterbury's Lambeth Conference in 2020. The 10-yearly meeting is an opportunity to bring the 80 million worldwide Anglican Communion together. But deep divides exist between the 42 provinces, particularly over approaches to same-sex relationships. The archbishop of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali, who leads one of the most conservative churches in the Communion confirmed on Tuesday Ugandan bishops would refuse to attend. 'As a house of bishops, because things have not changed we will not attend Lambeth 2020,' he said addressing a meeting of GAFCON a traditionalist group of Anglicans in Jerusalem. 'Unless godly order is restored within the Anglican Communion, we shall not attend other meetings invited by Canterbury,' he said. Churches from the more socially conservative global south object to the stances of the Episcopal Church in the US and the Scottish Episcopal Church, which permit gay marriages. GAFCON has backed splinter groups such as the Anglican Church in North America, Anglican Mission in England and the new Anglican Church in Brazil, which have set themselves up as rival bodies to the official Anglican church in each country. The body are trying to redefine the traditional Anglican authorities of the Church of England and the archbishop of Canterbury who is officially seen as the 'first among equals'. In a keynote address the archbishop of All Nigeria, Nicholas Okoh, said: 'We do not accept that the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury necessarily defines Anglican identity and belonging. Canterbury occupies a privileged position in the spread of the gospel around the world. She should not distort the gospel in order to take away offence, for the gospel without offence is an empty gospel.' He criticised the pledge pushed by Welby to 'walk together' in a communique from Anglican Communion primates in a meeting last year that both Ntagali and Okoh refused to attend. 'If we walk together with those who deny the orthodox faith in word or deed, we have agreed that orthodoxy is optional,' he said. 'But "good disagreement" is like a slow acting solvent which gradually dissolves the convictions of the orthodox, while all the time they still think that they hold to the apostolic faith. We must be ready to challenge the denial of the gospel wherever it is manifested in word or deed.' In direct criticisms of the West and the Church of England in particular he said: 'Tragically, the gospel has virtually been lost in the nations of the West because the churches have lost the essence of the gospel.' Introducing the masters of French mid-century design From Prouve to Le Corbusier, a quick guide to the leading figures in French mid-century design, illustrated with covetable pieces offered at Christies 1 Jean Prouve One of Frances best-known architects and designers, Jean Prouve might never have become so had it not been for his familys crippling bankruptcy, which forced him to abandon his studies at 15 and become a metalworkers apprentice. He founded his own workshop in 1924, at the age of 23, and established his factory in 1947. Prouves designs were notable for their revolutionary approach to material, drawing upon industrial technology without compromising on aesthetic. Classic pieces include works in lightweight, folded sheet metal such as a 1950s aluminium wardrobe originally created for hospitals and sanatoriums, balancing the needs of hygiene, strength and security with a sleek, modern style. Prouve is also known for his chairs with triangular back legs, constructed to bear the greatest portion of their users weight. 2 Charlotte Perriand Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999), Table basse, circa 1958. H 35 x l 112.5 x P 42.5 cm / 13 x 4 x 16 in. Estimate: 12,000-15,000. Offered in Design on 21 May 2019 at Christies in Paris A frequent collaborator with Jean Prouve who produced the metallic elements of her furnishings in his Nancy ateliers Charlotte Perriand came to be recognised as one of the most significant French designers of the 20th century. Concentrating on the development of affordable, functional furniture, she was convinced of the power of good design, declaring, The extension of the art of dwelling is the art of living. Her ascent to popularity followed a stuttering start: in 1927, Le Corbusier rejected her application to work in his studio, famously retorting, We dont embroider cushions here. Undeterred, Perriand carried on, attracting the attention of Le Corbusiers partner Pierre Jeanneret, who persuaded the previously scathing designer to reconsider. Perriand was hired, and her collaborations with Le Corbusier resulted in some of the eras most iconic designs, including the LC4 chaise longue. 3 Alexandre Noll Sculptor Alexandre Noll (1890-1970) worked almost exclusively in wood, and his creations often blurred the line between furniture and art. He first dabbled in the material through wood engravings in his twenties. In 1920, he left his job at a bank to pursue his craft, first creating small household objects and then larger furniture, eventually retailing his designs in 1943. While many of his contemporaries were embracing new industrial techniques and mass production, Noll personally selected his materials and handmade each unique piece. His favourite types of wood included ebony, beech, sycamore and pear. As a designer, Noll paid little attention to trends, preferring to let the material guide his designs it was the shape of the wood that inspired him, his daughter Odile Noll explains. Collectors of Nolls work include the renowned courtier Wolfgang Joop, as well as institutions like the Musee Nationale d'Art Moderne in Paris. 4 Georges Jouve Georges Jouve (1910-1964), Table basse, circa 1958. Painted metal, glazed ceramic and cement. H 41 x L 104 x P 43 cm / 16 x 41 x 17 in. Estimate: 35,000-50,000. This lot is offered in Design on 21 May 2019 at Christies in Paris Georges Jouve (191064), one of the most important French ceramicists of the 20th century, had a background in sculpture, art history and theatre design. He encountered ceramics by chance, when he was hiding out World War II in a potters village in the south of France. There, he became so inspired by traditional ceramic crafts and techniques that he opened his own studio in 1944, after his return to Paris. Jouves creations range from functional furniture to decorative household objects and abstract sculpture. He made individual objects such as pitchers, vases and bowls, and also incorporated ceramics to other materials, such as for table tops, lamp bases and mirror frames. The designer favoured curving organic shapes over the angularm mass-produced aesthetic. His best-known pieces are in simple, bold colours such as matte black, white and bright orange, yellow or red. 5 Serge Mouille Famed lighting designer Serge Mouille (1922-1988) had a passion for metal work since he was 13 years old, when he trained as a silversmith at the Ecole des Arts Appliques in Paris. After the Second World War, he opened his own studio making metal chandeliers, handrails and wall sconces. It was not until almost a decade later, in 1953, that Mouille began to design lighting fixtures, after receiving a commission from designer Jacques Adnet to create a floor lamp for the Compagnie des Arts Francais. The request sparked an interest in lighting design that lasted the rest of Mouilles life. It was during this decade that he created his most iconic series of minimalist, black metal lamps known collectively as Serie Noir. From 196264, he designed the short-lived Totem series, considered among his rarest works. Thereafter, Mouille abandoned design to concentrate on his teaching career. 6 Jean Royere Jean Royere (1902-1981), a pair of Relax armchairs, 1947. Each: H 100.5 x L 85.5 x P 94 cm (39 x 33 x 37 in). Estimate: 40,000-60,000. Offered in Design on 21 May 2019 at Christies in Paris From 1931 to 1972, Jean Royere was one of the leading figures of French design. Countering the prevailing strict lines of the period with whimsy and colour, he developed a new and daring decorative grammar that emphasised sensuality and imagination over tradition. In 1947, Royere designed a coffee table for his mother's Paris apartment. The first of the biomorphic pieces for which he would become famous, the Flaque design evolved over time. While early versions featured opaline and marble tops supported by perforated shield-shaped legs, Royere exhibited a more mature example of the model at the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs in 1954, sheathed in straw marquetry with inlaid celestial stars. Today the table has become a signature piece in Royeres oeuvre, and his fresh design aesthetic continues to captivate. 7 Le Corbusier Swiss-born architect and painter Charles-Edouard Jeanneret adopted the pseudonym Le Corbusier in 1920, three years after moving to Paris from his hometown in northwest Switzerland. In 1922, he founded a studio with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, later hiring designer Charlotte Perriand. Together, the trio championed industrial materials, mass production and new technology, with Le Corbusier at the helm declaring, a house is a machine for living in. Preservationists expressed dismay and frustration Wednesday over the possibility that the Kirby Mansion one of the few historic estates still standing in the downtown area could be torn down. The house could be preserved with other uses on the rest of the property, David Bush, executive director of Preservation Houston, said. With the right developer and the right architect, you could do something different. The future of the 1920s English-style manor is in peril as a buyer seeks to purchase the historic property, according to people familiar with the sale. Preservationists fear the two-story red brick estate at 2000 Smith, developed just before the Great Depression, could become the latest of the citys dwindling supply of historic and architecturally significant properties to vanish. Its fair to say the building is potentially in danger, said Minnette Boesel, a longtime preservation advocate who chairs the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission. Preservation Houston sent an email to its members Wednesday informing them of the threat. Reliable sources indicate the historic house is under contract and that the new owner does not intend to retain the building, the email read. Preservation Houston has been working behind the scenes to promote the restoration and repurposing of the historic property. After hearing rumors that the building could be sold, Boesel and two other preservationists met last week with the property owner, an attorney named Philip Azar, who offices in the mansion, to discuss options for maintaining the building. The property is eligible for multiple historic designations from the local to the federal level as well as tax credits that could help finance its rehabilitation. Boesel said their message to Azar was: We are here. You have been a major steward of this property and we thank you very much. We hope you will sell to a willing buyer that will keep the property, and we stand here ready to support you in any manner we can. Azar confirmed the meeting to the Chronicle but would not say if the building was under contract to be sold. He did not make any further comment. It has been on the market previously. In 2015, Houston venture capitalist Dennis Murphree briefly contracted with the owner to buy the building and renovate the mansion as part of a larger development that included a high-rise. We love the Kirby Mansion and tried to restore and redevelop the site but the financing markets just werent ready for a development in Houston at that time, Murphree said this week. We decided to drop the project and still hope for someone else to make that block what it can be. A San Antonio developer recently had hoped to acquire the property and build a hotel next to the mansion. The process of securing financing for the project slowed the progress, and unfortunately, as I understand it, their clock ran out, said John Cryer, board member emeritus with Houston architecture firm Page, which was working with that developer. Bush noted that the area is expected to change dramatically in the coming years as Texas Department of Transportation plans to re-route Interstate 45, removing the Pierce Elevated segment, as part of the plan. Ultimately, that stretch could become an elevated, linear park. That neighborhood is going to have a completely different dynamic and the Kirby mansion is a signature property there, Bush said. The nearly 18,000-square-foot building is just south of the Pierce Elevated, the section of Interstate 45 that separates downtown from Midtown. The site is bounded by Brazos, Pierce, Smith and Gray. It was constructed for John Henry Kirby, a lawyer, lumberman and entrepreneur from East Texas who emerged at the turn of the 20th century as Houston's first tycoon, according to Stephen Fox's AIA Houston Architectural Guide. Kirby and his family had lived on the site in a Victorian home since 1897, but later remodeled and added onto the house. A second addition was designed by architect James Ruskin Bailey, resulting in the 36-room Tudor Revival-style building, according to Preservation Houston. Kirby died in 1940 and the house was sold in 1947. For the next three decades, it was housed the Houston-Harris County Red Cross. It has been used as office space since the late 1970s. Deborah Keyser, board president of Preservation Houston, stressed the importance of saving Houstons oldest structures. I think you turn over every rock to hold it dear for the city because Houstons so young and we dont have many places of significance like that, she said. Most of the other historic homes in the area have been demolished, said R.W. McKinney, who runs an organization that gives bus tours of historic parts of Houston. Its probably the last of Houstons great castles, McKinney said. Nancy Sarnoff covers real estate and development for the Houston Chronicle. She also hosts Looped In, a weekly podcast all about all things Houston real estate. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and follow Nancy on Twitter and Facebook. She can be reached at nancy.sarnoff@chron.com. Dinosaurs have become a big part of Frazier's Ornamental & Architectural Concrete in more ways than one. Since the 1950s, Frazier's has sold architectural concrete and decorative ornaments. The business moved to the corner of U.S. 290 and Texas 6 in Hempstead in 2000 and made its dinosaur ornaments a prominent fixture. Giant brontosauruses, velociraptors, and multiple tyrannosaurus can be seen outside on the business' 8 acres and within its giant facility. The dinosaurs, which cost anywhere from $100 for a small egg to $1,800 for a large velociraptor, are made from high-grade resin, owner Billy Frazier, 74, told Chron.com Tuesday. A FAMILY BUSINESS: Frazier's Ornamental & Architectural Concrete a landmark Around the release of "Jurassic World" in 2015, Frazier saw dinosaur sales jump 20 percent. "The grandparents are our best customers, coming into shop for their grand kids," Frazier added. "We've been waiting for this movie to come out because of the excitement the kids have when they come in. We have a lot of adults that come in that are quite dedicated to the world of dinosaurs." Aside from their dinosaur ornaments, Frazier's is perhaps best known for its architectural concrete that includes benches and bird baths. "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" is due out in theaters June 22. Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @fernalfonso. The biggest U.S. shale region will have to shut wells within four months because there arent enough pipelines to get the oil to customers, the head of one of the industrys largest producers said. The worsening bottleneck in the Permian region that straddles west Texas and New Mexico offers an unexpected fillip to OPEC and other oil producers outside the U.S., whove seen rampant production from Americas shale producers grab market share. "We will reach capacity in the next 3 to 4 months," Scott Sheffield, the chairman of Pioneer Natural Resources Co. said in an interview at an OPEC conference in Vienna. "Some companies will have to shut in production, some companies will move rigs away, and some companies will be able to continue growing because they have firm transportation." His comments are the strongest indication yet that the growth in the red-hot shale region is about to slow down soon due to a lack of pipeline capacity. The problem has grown so bad that oil companies have been forced to load crude on to trucks and drive it hundreds of miles to pipelines in other parts of the state. The Permian is growing at 800,0000 barrels a day annually and production currently stands at 3.3 million barrels a day, said Sheffield, who first drilled wells in the region in 1979 and is considered one of the architects of the shale revolution. Total pipeline capacity is 3.6 million barrels, so the region will reach capacity in the next three to four months and the bottleneck isnt likely to ease for at least a year, he added. Permian production could remain flat for the next year because of pipeline restraints, Sheffield told a session of the OPEC conference. "The market has been assuming a straight line production growth from the US but infrastructure constraints mean thats clearly not going to be the case," said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd. "At a time when outages are rising the US is not going to fill the gap either." The lack of pipeline capacity will continue to cause severe dislocation in U.S. oil markets, Sheffield said. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude at Midland in the Permian is likely to trade at a $25-a-barrel discount to price at the industrys hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, he said. The Permian region is accounting for nearly half of the growth in U.S. oil production. America pumped almost 10.5 million barrels a day in March, up 1.4 million barrels a day from a year, according to government data. The annual growth rate is larger than the production of OPEC nations such as Libya. The warning about shut-ins comes as some small companies move oil rigs away from the Permian into other shale basins that still have pipeline capacity. Oil services companies have also started to reduce the number of fracking crews they offer to drillers. Pipelines are being built to get more oil out of the Permian, but shipments are likely to be constrained until at least 2019, Sheffield said. 2018 Bloomberg L.P. The Texas oil boom and the higher crude prices that have driven it could take hits after OPEC meets in Vienna Friday, as the strengthening alliance between Saudi Arabia and Russia pushes the cartel to lift production caps and increase output. The Saudis are seeking to undo, or at least relax, an agreement reached in late 2016 between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other major producer to curb production by a combined 1.8 million barrels a day in an effort to drain a worldwide oil glut and lift prices. The strategy has largely worked and now Saudi Arabia, which bore the brunt of the production cuts, is looking to cash in on the higher prices it helped create. Several Houston restaurants were told their food wasn't safe for humans. At a Chinese fast food restaurant, six pounds of raw shrimp was condemned because it had been held at improper temperature overnight. The Houston health department says temperature control for safety foods must be held at 51 F or below or at 135 F or above. FOOD NEWS: Houston Restaurant Weeks set for Aug. 1 to Sept. 3 About 32 pounds of salmon, mozzarella cheese, stuffed crab, cooked sausage and dumpling was condemned from another Chinese restaurant. Inspectors said it had been held at temperatures above 41 F for more than four hours. MUST SEE: Where to get the best fried chicken in Houston according to Yelp! Some restaurants also had issues with bugs and rodents. Inspectors said they saw a live roach on a food preparation table in the sushi area of a Japanese restaurant. Before you head out for your next meal, be sure to check the slideshow above for this week's list of restaurants with violations (June 12- 19). During health inspections, inspectors distribute violations that carry a weight between 1 and 25, increasing in severity. The term "demerit" is used by city health inspectors to describe the weighted value assigned to each violation. The Houston Chronicle obtained the results of routine health inspections throughout the city and tallied each restaurant's demerits for a comprehensive list of violations. To view inspection reports online or learn more about food inspections, visit the health department website. Houston police arrested a man Tuesday accused of sneaking into a woman's bathroom and "peeping" on a teenage girl while she was using the public restroom at a fast food restaurant in late March. According to authorities Aris Vallejo, 23, was arrested and charged with voyeurism. Houston officers said in March, the 13-year-old girl was in the drive through of a McDonald's in the 8900 block of Clearwood Drive when she told her mother that she needed to use the restroom, according to Harris County court records. The 13-year-old ran inside the McDonald's and entered a stall. Once inside, she heard someone enter the stall next her. According to court documents, she told police that she noticed the feet of the person underneath the stall and that she began to feel uncomfortable. That's when she looked up and observed someone holding iPhone taking pictures, according to county documents. The girl quickly covered herself, and then the person ran out of the bathroom. The young girl alerted her mother and management. Surveillance footage from the McDonald's showed a man follow the girl into the bathroom with a phone in hand. After the identity of the suspect was obtained, police officers met with Vallejo at his mother's residence. Vallejo was not arrested at the time, but he admitted to police officers that he was the man at the McDonald's, and he also acknowledged that he "had a problem." Vallejo told officers he followed the girl but only used his photo to peep, not to take photos. Investigators confirmed that he did not take any pictures and suffered from voyeurism. As of Tuesday afternoon, Vallejo was out on bond. If convicted of voyeurism, he faces up to two years in jail. Dear Abby: I met the love of my life eight months ago. Everything about our relationship is perfect. We both love our families, fine food, games and, most importantly, each other. We met at an antique store and now have a extensive stamp collection together. Wanting this joy to last forever, I proposed to her. I couldnt imagine a happier life for both of us, until I discovered that she is already engaged. Her mother informed me that she had accepted a proposal from a close friend of ours months ago. At first I was devastated, but now I understand the situation. She felt obligated to accept his proposal, yet I know she will only find true happiness by marrying me. How do I go about bringing this up to her? Im very nonconfrontational, and dont want her to feel awkward or uncomfortable. Should I tell her what I know or wait for her to come to me? Please help. In Love But Confused Dear In Love: Something is definitely wrong with this picture. Sometimes confrontation is healthy. Dont waste another moment waiting for the girl to level with you. Tell her what her mother told you and ask if it is true. If it is, she needs to explain. Although you may be ready to settle down and get married, she may not be emotionally mature enough to marry either one of you. Dear Abby: Today, June 21 the first day of summer is the annual ASK Day (Asking Saves Kids). Children are out of school and visiting other peoples homes. This is a moment to remind parents to ask if there are guns in these homes and if theyre stored safely out of kids reach. Will you help us get the word out about our campaign? Prevention saves lives, and were grateful for your consideration. Bettina Lanyi, Asst. Director Of Partnerships, Brady Campaign Dear Bettina: Im pleased to spread the word. Readers, the ASK Campaign is a collaboration between the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Its goal is to ensure kids safety by encouraging parents to ASK if there is an unlocked gun in the homes where their children play. For more information, I encourage you to visit askingsaveskids.org. There you will find various resources, including tips for parents and others on how to bring up the sometimes-awkward topic of safe storage. There also are brochures and flyers in English and Spanish, and suggestions about how to work with groups in your community to bring public awareness to the ASK program. Dear Abby: My investment adviser got married four months ago. He and his wife have invited me to a celebration of their marriage. It is not a formal affair, but an evening BBQ at their condo rooftop. Should I bring a gift? And if so, what would be appropriate for an investment adviser? Betty in Florida Dear Betty: A token gift would be thoughtful. Something they could use at one time or another might be a nice picture frame for their home. Be sure to include a thoughtful note with it, wishing them a lifetime of happiness together. DearAbby.com Dear Abby P.O. Box 69440 Los Angeles, CA 90069 Andrews McMeel Syndication Today is Thursday, June 21, the 172nd day of 2018. There are 193 days left in the year. Summer begins at 6:07 a.m. Eastern time. Todays highlight in history: On June 21, 1788, the United States Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it. On this date: 1377: King Edward III died after ruling England for 50 years; he was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II. 1834: Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine. 1932: Heavyweight Max Schmeling lost a title fight rematch in New York by decision to Jack Sharkey, prompting Schmelings manager, Joe Jacobs, to exclaim: We was robbed! 1942: German forces led by Generaloberst (Colonel General) Erwin Rommel captured the Libyan city of Tobruk during World War II. (Rommel was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal; Tobruk was retaken by the Allies in November 1942.) An Imperial Japanese submarine fired shells at Fort Stevens on the Oregon coast, causing little damage. 1943: Army nurse Lt. Edith Greenwood became the first woman to receive the Soldiers Medal for showing heroism during a fire at a military hospital in Yuma, Ariz. 1948: The Republican national convention opened in Philadelphia. (The delegates ended up choosing Thomas E. Dewey to be their presidential nominee.) 1963: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was chosen during a conclave of his fellow cardinals to succeed the late Pope John XXIII; the new pope took the name Paul VI. 1964: Civil rights workers Michael H. Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James E. Chaney were slain in Philadelphia, Miss.; their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later. (Forty-one years later on this date in 2005, Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, was found guilty of manslaughter; he was sentenced to 60 years in prison, where he died in January 2018.) 1977: Menachem Begin of the Likud bloc became Israels sixth prime minister. 1982: A jury in Washington, D.C. found John Hinckley Jr. not guilty by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Ronald Reagan and three other men. 1988: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a comedy fantasy starring Bob Hoskins that combined live action and legendary animated cartoon characters, premiered in New York. 1989: A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest was protected by the First Amendment. 2008: The ferry Princess of the Stars, carrying more than 800 people, capsized as Typhoon Fengshen battered the Philippines; only some four dozen people survived. Scott Kalitta died when his Funny Car burst into flames and crashed at the end of the track during the final round of qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey. 2013: A one-page criminal complaint unsealed in federal court accused former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden of espionage and theft of government property in the NSA surveillance case. President Barack Obama nominated James Comey, a top Bush-era Justice official, to head the FBI, succeeding Robert Mueller. The Food Network said it was dropping Paula Deen, barely an hour after the celebrity cook posted the first of two videotaped apologies online begging forgiveness from fans and critics troubled by her admission to having used racial slurs in the past. 2017: A man armed with a knife wounded a police officer at Flint International Airport in Michigan; a Tunisian-born Canadian resident has been charged in the attack. Edmontons Connor McDavid won the Hart Trophy as the NHLs most valuable player at the leagues postseason awards show in Las Vegas. The notoriously hard-to-get-into Indian Lodge at Davis Mountains State Park is officially accepting reservations after finally completing months of expensive renovations. According to a press release by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), the famous Texas hotel renovated more than 35 rooms along with the exterior, which included replastering the historic and standard rooms, installing new HVAC systems, new roofing, and repainting the lodge's exterior. MUST SEE: Texas national parks worth a road trip The lodge was built in the 1930s and resembles a multilevel pueblo village, according to the TPWD website. Some of the activities guests can enjoy while at the Indian Lodge include swimming in a pool with a mountain view, dining, hiking or biking the many trails of the park, or even visiting some of the locations at the nearby town of Fort Davis. Take a look through the gallery above to see other fun things to do at Texas parks. Daniela Sternitzky-Di Napoli is a digital producer. You can follow her on twitter at @Dani_DiNapoli. Crude rose the most in more than a week as OPEC ministers worked behind closed doors to heal a rift over unprecedented production limits. Futures closed 1.8 percent higher in New York, the biggest one-day gain since June 7. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih and his Iranian counterpart, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, indicated the petroleum powerhouses are moving closer to agreement on the fate of supply caps that tamed a worldwide glut and lifted oil prices. "The market continues to see-saw over uncertainty surrounding what the producers are really going to do at the meeting this week," said Gene McGillian, a market research manager at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. Prices also rose on the strength of a U.S. government report that showed a plunge in American crude inventories last week that was more than double the average estimate from 12 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. In Vienna, Al-Falih told reporters that "of course" there will be an agreement after the cartel meets on June 22. Zanganeh said he was "optimistic" about reaching an accord, a remark that appeared to fly in the face of comments Tuesday that suggested a deal was unlikely. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery, which expired Wednesday, rose $1.15 to settle at $66.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The more-active August contract added 81 cents to end the session at $65.71. Brent futures for August settlement fell 34 cents to settle at $74.74 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. The global benchmark traded at a $9.03 premium to WTI for the same month. Mixed Report In the U.S., crude stockpiles plunged by 5.91 million barrels last week while gasoline inventories rose by 3.28 million barrels, according to Energy Information Administration data released on Wednesday. Nationwide refinery utilization rates are at historically high levels, above the average of 2013-2017. Refiners are producing plenty of gasoline and the question remains whether summer demand will be strong enough to whittle down supply levels. "The report was a bit mixed -- a stronger decline in oil inventories, but that was partially offset by a bit of a surprise increase in gasoline inventories," said Rob Thummel, managing director at Tortoise, which handles $16 billion in energy-related assets. "A lot of this data is playing second fiddle to anything that comes out of OPEC at this point and the meeting that's coming up." Other oil-market news: Gasoline futures fell 0.7 percent to settle at $2.0235 a gallon. As many of its rivals struggle to move oil from the Permian Basin to the Gulf Coast in search of higher prices, Occidental Petroleum Corp. is sitting pretty at a time when pipeline space is at a premium. OPEC was said to plan a meeting in September at which the cartel will review the state of the market, according to a delegate. 2018 Bloomberg L.P. OPEC officials meeting in Vienna raced to salvage an oil-production deal on Wednesday after Iran said it was likely to reject any agreement that raised output from the group. With two days before OPEC ministers formally meet in Vienna to decide on policy, delegates were in closed-door talks to find a way to boost production and ease consumer anxiety about high oil prices. Making his first comments after arriving in Vienna, Saudi Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih said "of course" therell be a deal this week. Iran publicly rejected the idea of a formal output increase late on Tuesday, although the following day the countrys oil minister hinted at one possible route to an agreement. OPEC has a long tradition of last-minute deals, often after phone calls between head of state. One way of resolving the situation would be for all participants in the oil-production cuts to stop exceeding their targets, meaning countries that have been making additional curbs would restore output, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in Vienna. That solution would add very few real barrels to the market, however, because many under-producers, especially Venezuela, are unable to add barrels. Another OPEC delegate said on Wednesday that an eventual deal could involve a small increase at this meeting, followed by further discussion in September with a view to adding more output at the end of the year if the market demands it. The talks, held as OPEC hosted an international energy conference gathering hundreds of officials, executives and investors, will shape oil prices for months to come, affecting anything from energy stocks to currencies of petroleum exporting countries. "OPEC is listening to consumers, Bob Dudley, the chief executive of BP Plc, said on the sidelines of the OPEC conference in Vienna. "They pay attention to consumer nations." Oil prices surged nearly 75 percent, touching $80 a barrel, after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Mexico agreed to cut production by 1.8 million barrels a day in late 2016. Benchmark Brent crude has slipped back, trading near $75 on Wednesday, as those countries discussed easing their curbs. Saudi Arabia, under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, wants to unwind some of the cuts by engineering a moderate supply boost in the second half of the year. Russia is pushing for a larger quota increase of 1.5 million barrels a day, although the details of its proposal suggest a smaller volume of extra oil would actually flow into the market. Yet Iran has so far rejected any increase, including one compromise mooted in private by some OPEC officials for a 300,000-to-600,000 barrel-a-day hike in the second half of the year. Theres no need, Zanganeh said on Tuesday, surrounded by dozens of reporters and television crews. Trumps involvement makes it difficult for Tehran to accept compromise. The U.S. president has tweeted twice in the last two months complaining about high oil prices and accusing OPEC of being at it again. The tweets have irritated several OPEC countries, notably Iran. OPEC is an independent organization, not an organization to receive instruction from President Trump, Zanganeh said. OPEC is not part of the Department of Energy of the United States. OPEC takes its decisions by unanimity, so an Iranian veto would leave Saudi Arabia with only the option of assembling a coalition of willing countries to bypass Tehrans opposition. Riyadh could also act unilaterally boosting output, as it did in 2011 after a meeting ended in acrimony without a deal. Saudi Arabia will try to reach consensus, but if that fails I think that Riyadh wont be constrained and they will put the barrels in the market that they deem appropriate, said Helima Croft, chief commodities strategist at RBC Capital Markets LLC. To contact the reporters on this story: Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net;Nayla Razzouk in Dubai at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net;Salma El Wardany in Cairo at selwardany@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net 2018 Bloomberg L.P. Fry Design Ltd / Getty Images Dallas-based Texas Coastal Energy Company and its chief executive officer committed federal securities fraud by lying to investors and misappropriating $2.6 million of their money, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday. The SEC's Fort Worth Regional Office officially filed charges in federal court in Dallas against TCEC and CEO Jefferey Gordon for using high-pressure tactics, deceptive sales pitches and false and misleading offering materials to raise cash for allegedly drilling oil and gas wells in Rush County, Kansas and Schleicher County, Texas. John Downes/Getty Images/Flickr RM Royal Dutch Shell said Wednesday it is selling its stakes in two North Sea oilfield projects offshore of Norway for $556 million. The sales are part of Shell's $30 billion divestment program, which is nearly completed. The selloff effort was launched after Shell acquired British gas giant BG Group. There is no open acreage in all of Houston that is more iconic and treasured than Memorial Park, a crown jewel in Houston's attractions. After the devastating drought of 2011 killed tens of thousands of the park's trees, it became apparent that a new master plan was needed for the entire 1,500-acre tract, and the 4 million visitors who enjoy it every year. A complete re-envisioning has taken place under the guidance of famed landscape architect firm Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW), incorporating extensive public and stakeholder input as well as expertise from a broad coalition of collaborators, including ecologists, soil scientists, and arborists. The NBW-designed master plan, which was led by Principal Thomas Woltz and Senior Associate Jeff Aten, balances ecological restoration with new features that reveal and celebrate the many cultural events that have shaped the park. By closely listening to the land and the greater community, NBW, alongside Memorial Park Conservancy and many collaborators, have created an ecologically and socially resilient plan for the future of this important and beloved park. Completed park projects over the next decade will improve Houston's mobility, connectivity, economic vitality, and resiliency. Hundreds of acres of currently inaccessible parkland will become accessible, and barriers that isolate and segregate the park will be replaced with bridges and access points to the park. A signature land bridge, featuring a restored prairie ecology and trails, will create a cohesive park experience while providing safe passage for humans and wildlife over the park's dividing thoroughfare. In tribute to Memorial Park's original use as a WWI training camp, NBW has proposed a living memorial of regimentally planted trees. At over 90 acres, this living memorial will recall the spacing of the original layout of Camp Logan - a poetic representation of the camp. For more information, visit memorialparkconservancy.org. Klein school district leaders are trying to figure out how to cut more than $30 million from the districts budget after an election requesting a 9-cent tax increase failed on Saturday. In a statement released Tuesday afternoon from Superintendent Bret Champion, he said that while the election result was disappointing, the district has to move forward in their vision with fewer resources and a slimmer budget. Champion explained the districts situation Tuesday in a YouTube post. According to the districts press release, the board will be working on the contingency framework, which could include finding additional revenue, making cuts in non-payroll areas and assessing staff benefits as well as non-campus personnel. The framework could also include reductions in central office administration and campus personnel, but Champion said the district is aiming to both keep cuts as far away from students as possible and minimize current employee reduction. With more details to be released next week, the clock is ticking: the district is to finalize their 2018-19 budget on Aug. 27. Only 6 percent of potential Klein ISD voters turned out for the election: something that state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, attributed to bad timing. It is preposterously bad public policy to spend taxpayer money to hold special election in the dog days of summer that almost always have low voter turnout. This result shows both voter fatigue and voter pocketbook concerns, Bettencourt said in a press release Monday. In the community, a local Facebook-organized group titled Its OK to Vote NO, Klein ISD that was petitioning voters to deny the increase wrote on their Facebook page that taking the time to vote against the increase was worth it. Even more, the Austin-based group Empower Texans, a conservative PAC and nonprofit that promotes free market principles, also criticized the process and the increase, which would have given $28.8 million to the district in local and state aid. In an Empower Texans news article, writer Charles Blain stated that the district gave little advance notice to the public by holding an election only about a month after bringing it up for consideration. Blain also urged voters to vote against the increase. Voters in the district should take this opportunity to oppose the districts unnecessary spending and mounting debt, Blain wrote. Nevertheless, Klein officials have pledged to keep students at the center of every decision. Comedians have a long history of recording their best comedy sets in the Bayou City and Gabriel Iglesias is poised to be the next one. Later this year, the actor and comic will tape his next Netflix special in Houston at the Toyota Center. CHECK ONE-TWO: Explore Houston's favorite live music venues His "One Show Fits All" batch of material will be recorded Sept. 13-14 and that means that, according to the venue's website, cellphone use will be strictly prohibited. This will be Iglesias' second special for the streaming service following "I'm Sorry For What I Said When I Was Hungry" released in 2016. Tickets for the two September shows go on sale Friday, June 22, at 10 a.m. at the Toyota Center website. Other comedians have chosen Houston as a place to host their specials. It February 1960, Bob Newhart recorded his "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart" in Houston at the Tidelands Club in the Tidelands Motor Hotel at 6500 South Main. The venue is long-gone but the album was placed in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in 2007. HOUSTON HISTORY: Bob Newhart had one-of-a-kind Grammy album After Newhart's turn, noted names like Louis CK, Mitch Hedberg and Ron White would record some of their best sets of material at the departed Laff Stop on West Gray for posterity. Sam Kinison's "Live From Hell" disc was recorded at the old Comedy Workshop and released just a year after he died in a car accident. Comedian Tig Notaro's new comedy special, "Happy to Be Here," was recorded in late December at the Heights Theater. It premiered on Netflix back in May. Houston rapper-turned-comic Chingo Bling filmed his "They Can't Deport Us All" comedy special at the historic venue. It was released last summer on Netflix. Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. It was a sweet weekend for Sweet Paris Creperie & Cafe as it celebrated its grand opening in La Centerra at Cinco Ranch with a ribbon cutting ceremony and tres delicieux cuisine. Representatives from the Houston Food Bank attended to announce their partnership with Sweet Paris in the Eat Here, Feed There program. For each crepe sold with the Houston Food Bank logo, Sweet Paris will donate 33 cents to provide one school meal to a child in need. The Little City That Could, a story about Katy and its residents helping each other in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, is a finalist in the Readers Digest contest Nicest Places in America. The story is by Trish Johnson, a longtime Katy resident who has written for local newspapers, including as a freelancer for the Houston Chronicle. The Readers Digest website says that the story is named a finalist because: Katy exemplifies the amazing way the people of Southeast Texas responded to Hurricane Harvey, by doing everything they could to help one other, leaving nobody behind. REPORT: 20 best suburbs in Houston area named I think we just did what Katy has always done, said Mayor Chuck Brawner in Johnsons story. We all just got together and helped each other out. There are so many great stories coming out of what was a terrible situation, but Im not surprised. Katy has always been populated by people who care about one another. Daily voting is open to the community through 6 p.m. July 7 to select a contest winner. Voters will decide which community will be named "Nicest Place in America" and featured on Good Morning America and as a cover story in the November issue of Reader's Digest. Johnson learned of her finalist status early the week of June 17. I was really over the moon that Katy was going to get the recognition she deserves, she said. The residents of Katy are extraordinary for their friendliness and willingness to help. Im glad theyre getting the recognition. She learned of the contest after reading a Readers Digest article in a doctors waiting room. As I was reading last years entries, it occurred to me how Katy had pulled together during Hurricane Harvey, she said. We always pull together. Katys that kind of city. Im amazed at how Katy always turns out for people in dire straits. Just get the word out and Katy shows up. STRIKING PHOTOS: What's a Texas town without a Dairy Queen? It was three days before the deadline. She worked day and night reaching out to interview people for the story and submitted the story just under the deadline. She was pleased that Readers Digest editors went to the trouble of contacting those people themselves as part and parcel of confirming her story. Calling herself a military brat who didnt really have a hometown until she moved to the Katy area in 1979, she said, I adopted Katy as my hometown. Last years search for the Nicest Places in America drew 300 entries from across the United States. Readers Digest published 200 of them on its website and then chose 10 finalists. Gallatin, Tenn., was the 2017 winner. This year, the search drew 450 nominations. The 10 finalists were announced June 19. The finalists in the 2018 Readers Digest search for places where trust and civility are winning and everyone is treated with dignity and respect are: Bothell, WA: Where an unlikely friendship sparked a movement of kindness in a town where its a way of life. Ellijay, GA: Where folks are making room to welcome newcomers into their friendly small town. Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, MD: Where an oasis of essential services is helping revitalize a troubled city. Kalamazoo, MI: Where investments are made in the community that help overcome challenges big and small. Katy, TX: Where Hurricane Harvey met its match in heroic kindness. Life Moves Yoga in Killeen, TX: Where those who have been wounded by war regain their balance. Mower County, MN: Where the concept of pay it forward meets Minnesota nice to amazing results. North Evergreen Street in Burbank, CA: Where the big city gives way to neighborhood that thinks its a small town. North Riverside, IL: Where being kind to neighbors is part of the towns DNA they even wrote a book on the topic. Yassins Falafel House in Knoxville, TN: Where a Syrian refugee is making the biggest difference in his new home. This years contest judges are Robin Roberts, co-anchor of ABCs Good Morning America; Bruce Kelley, chief contest officer for Readers Digest; Geri Weis-Corbley, who launched the Good News Network in 1997; Paige Brown, 62nd mayor of the Readers Digest 2017 Nicest Place in America, Gallatin, Tennessee; Emilie Starr, co-host BYU TVs Random Acts; and Randy Taran, founder/CEO Project Happiness. karen.zurawski@chron.com Fort Bend ISD trustees and district staff headed to a school board meeting were confronted by dozens of upset parents protesting outside the district administration building Monday, June 18. Trustees have been challenged to maintain their composure for weeks as scores of unhappy parents flocked to board meetings and town hall-style gatherings to watch and weigh in as administrators, consultants and members of a steering committee worked to gather input from the community and then prepare recommendations for a not-yet-approved school bond proposal expected to go before voters next November. BUDGET TROUBLES: School districts feel crushing effects According to agenda documents, the bond package could total as much as $1.7 billion. In the weeks leading up to the meeting, hundreds of parents grew increasingly upset, calling, emailing and lobbying trustees before meetings after consultant Scott Leopold of the firm Creative Strategies proposed closing several older neighborhood elementary schools and consolidating students into a newer school to save money. Trustees rejected the recommendation and ultimately voted to include funds to re-build Lakeview, Sugar Mill and Meadows elementary schools to avoid re-zoning students away from schools near their homes. Now, parents and residents from the Riverstone development near Sugar Land gathered outside the meeting holding signs urging trustees to not to reverse the board's decision last May to include more than $14 million to expand Fort Settlement Middle School. Parents told trustees their children had been re-zoned in years past and opposed repeated re-zoning. CEMETERY WORK SITE: Number of graves continues to grow in Fort Bend However, the issue was complicated for trustees because inside the meeting, a group of parents spoke in favor of reversing the May vote, many often near tears as they described how Fort Settlement was already overcrowded. Security was a concern for many parents who spoke during public comment. "It already takes 20 minutes to clear the school at the end of the day," said Jenna Ross, parent of four Fort Bend ISD students, two of which she told trustees attend Fort Settlement. "How long will it take to clear in case of an emergence with 300 additional seats?" Flawed campus capacity data discovered During public comment, it was revealed capacity data for Fort Settlement Middle School had been found to be flawed. The mistake was discovered just hours before the meeting after a parent questioned administrators how another middle school with the same design had a higher enrollment capacity. Trustees were informed of the mistake less than three hours before the meeting via an email from Superintendent Charles Dupre. "This bad data reporting has caused a tremendous amount of instability and stress in the community," Riverstone parent Mimi Chan told trustees and described how her daughter had been bullied by other students at Fort Settlement over the re-zoning issue. Chan said the re-zoning issue was also creating division within the community. "Is this how we spend our tax payers' money? On consultants who can't give us updated data analysis? (Trustees) should be very upset and question this unreliable data." Resident Tammy Moreno also voiced concerns that Fort Settlement wasn't the only campus where capacity was being reported incorrectly. "I have fairly grave and very real concerns about our kids and the bond," she told trustees. "I don't think the board should vote on a bond package to bring to the public unless all capacity data is audited. As long as there are looking questions about the data, you are creating an environment for communities-within-communities infighting." According to Dupre's email, consultants from Jacobs had walked Fort Settlement Middle School and other campuses while creating a facility plan for the 2014 school bond. At that time, seven classrooms were being used by district administrators who were later moved to another location. The capacity study for Fort Settlement and many other campuses had not been updated since that time and administrators had neglected to update reports when the staffers re-located several years ago. As the board had approved a $14 million classroom addition last May based on flawed data, trustees found themselves in tense situation. Several said capacity data for all the district's campuses should now be audited. "This (inaccuracy) put me in a very difficult situation," trustee K.P. George said. "This is a failure on our side and we need to make sure that the numbers are accurate." Trustees approve re-zoning students The acceptable enrollment for a campus is between 80 percent and 120 percent to avoid having students re-zoned to a different campus, according to board policy. With enrollment now nearing policy limits, administrators had proposed including money for land and construction of a new high school in the Sienna Plantation subdivision. Trustee Addie Heyliger pointed out enrollment at several east side high schools was below 80 percent and could accommodate Ridge Point students. "It doesn't look like we need another school to me right now," Heyliger said. At the May meeting, trustees approved re-zoning Ridge Point students to Hightower High School beginning in the 2019-20 school year. Heylinger said the board should also consider re-zoning students from Elkins, Dulles, Marshall, Willowridge and other east side schools as well to help re-balance enrollment between overcrowded and underutilized campuses. Trustees agreed another Sienna high school would not be built for six years most likely. Trustee Grayle James asked if the bond proposal could be changed later on if re-districting and programing options created an enrollment shift. "What happens if we change our minds?" she asked. According to board president Jason Burdine, trustees can later decide not to build the high school if they agree it is not needed. The bond money allocated for the high school could not be spent on other projects but it would remain unused, he said after the meeting. Trustee ultimately voted unanimously to approve funding for land and construction in the bond package. Trustees then discussed the issue of re-zoning Riverstone students. K.P. George said since the corrected capacity numbers showed Fort Settlement was within the board policy limits, there should be no re-zoning and plans for the classroom addition should be put aside. Trustees agreed to reverse their vote to include a classroom addition. But, the rest of the board disagree with K.P. George and favored re-zoning Riverstone students in the future. Trustees again voiced concerns consultants and administrators had not provided accurate capacity numbers, not only for Fort Settlement Middle School but possible other schools as well. As an example, trustee Dave Rosenthal said he had talked with students from Ridge Point High School who complained the campus was very crowded, despite reports from consultants that the campus was not at full capacity last year. "I do think we need to audit these numbers," Rosenthal said. "I'm very concerned." Rosenthal again voiced concerns the capacity numbers weren't accurate during discussion related to re-zoning students from Fort Settlement to Fort Colony Middle School. "The report says Fort Settlement is at 116 percent; that tells it's probably already over 120 percent," he said. Rosenthal argued the board policy was only a guideline to be considered in emergency situations. "Those guidelines are set for when you don't have any options. We have options," he said. "Why wouldn't you re-zone when you have a chance (between campuses with) 116 percent enrollment to a campus with 78 percent? Why wouldn't you do it if the two schools are in the same area and are equally as good? My kids went to First Colony," Rosenthal said and pointed out Dupre and several trustees had children who attended First Colony. "I don't want to hear how it is not a good school. That's not true." At that point, Several Riverstone parents in the audience became upset and began talking. Board president Jason Burdine told the crowd to be quiet. "Hey, excuse me!" Rosenthal said, yelling toward parents. "It also follows the steering committee recommendation. It costs us nothing and the kids have a better shot at a better education." During public comment, one parent questioned why trustees would approve extra money for the bond to re-build older neighborhood schools, such as Lake View and Meadows Elementary Schools to avoid re-zoning but weren't consistent in terms of re-zoning Riverstone students. Trustee Kristin Tassin address the question said she supported re-zoning Riverstone students. "Master-planned communities are not neighborhoods; they're master-planned communities," she said. "So, we cannot fit an entire master-planned community into one middle school or one high school. There are just times when kids have to be re-zoned." In terms of being consistent, Tassin pointed out trustees had voted to re-zone students from Ridge Point High School in Sienna Plantation master-planned community to Hightower High School, which was not a popular decision. "Are the Sienna parents here happy about the re-zoning?" she asked and looked around the board room. Trustees voted six-to-one to approve re-zoning students from Fort Settlement to First Colony and agree to evaluate the enrollment next February. Trustee K.P. George was the lone vote of opposition. Trustees are expected to vote to finalize a November school bond election at the Aug. 13. Board meeting. knix@hcnonline.com VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis stepped into a growing controversy over President Donald Trump's immigration policies, criticizing the separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexican border and saying that "populism" and "creating psychosis" are not the way to resolve migration problems, according to an interview published Wednesday. Speaking to Reuters news agency, the pope said, "It's not easy, but populism is not the solution." He strongly backed U.S. Catholic bishops, who have described as "immoral" the Trump administration's policy of discouraging illegal immigration by separating children from their parents at the border. U.S. authorities have sought to implement Trump's "zero-tolerance" policy on illegal immigration by criminally prosecuting all migrants caught crossing the border without authorization. That has meant jailing adults and sending their children to government shelters. So far, about 2,000 children have been separated from their parents, prompting an outcry at home and abroad. POINT OF VIEW: What life inside migrant internment camps looks like In the interview Sunday night, the pope also took aim at Italy's new populist government, which has been cracking down on asylum seekers attempting dangerous crossings by boat from Africa. "I believe that you cannot reject people who arrive," Francis said, according to Reuters. "You have to receive them, help them, look after them, accompany them and then see where to put them, but throughout all of Europe." He added: "Some governments are working on it, and people have to be settled in the best possible way, but creating psychosis is not the cure. Populism does not resolve things. What resolves things is acceptance, study, prudence." Last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced the Trump administration's "immoral" separation of families and called the crackdown on migrants a "right-to-life" issue. One bishop attending the biannual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, reportedly suggested "canonical penalties" for Catholics involved in implementing the Trump policies. In a statement, the conference condemned the "continued use of family separation at the U.S./Mexico border as an implementation of the Administration's zero tolerance policy." It added: "Our government has the discretion in our laws to ensure that young children are not separated from their parents and exposed to irreparable harm and trauma. Families are the foundational element of our society and they must be able to stay together." SENATOR'S ACTION: Ted Cruz introducing legislation to keep migrant families together In his interview with Reuters, the pope said, "I am on the side of the bishops' conference." He also warned that aging societies in Europe face "a great demographic winter" without more immigrants. He predicted that Europe "will become empty" if immigration is cut off. The pope spoke as Trump's policy continued to draw condemnation across U.S. society and around the world. British Prime Minister Theresa May, answering questions Wednesday before Parliament, told lawmakers: "The pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing. This is wrong. This is not something we agree with." A Labour Party lawmaker, Gavin Shuker, noted that Trump is scheduled to visit Britain next month and asked what it would take for May to rescind the invitation. "President Trump has locked up 2,000 little children in cages and is refusing to release them unless he's allowed to build a wall. He's quit the U.N. Human Rights Council, praised [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un's treatment of his own people, turned away Muslims. What does this man have to do to have the invitation . . . revoked? May replied that the visit would go ahead but that "when we disagree with the United States, we tell them so." Her comments added the voice of America's closest ally to criticism expressed Tuesday by the governments of Mexico, El Salvador and France, as well as the secretary general of the United Nations. Even Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, weighed in Wednesday, denouncing the "complete maliciousness" of separating migrant children from parents. "Seeing the images of the crime of separating thousands of children from their mothers in America makes a person exasperated," Khamenei, the top Shiite religious and political authority in Iran, said on his website. Pope Francis has placed the issues facing migrants and refugees at the center of his papacy, urging countries to be welcoming even as that message faces the head winds of nationalism and border closures in the United States and across Europe. Last year, Francis said it was important that migrants and refugees be offered a "dignified initial accommodation" and that migrants' rights be respected "independent of their legal status." LACKING SUPPORT: Congress struggles to end family separations at border The pope took his first official trip outside Rome to a small Italian island, with the goal of bringing attention to the deadly journey taken by migrants across the Mediterranean. He has also advocated for the acceptance of migrants while visiting countries such as Poland that have closed their doors. His frequent denunciation of anti-immigration politics has put him at odds with some of Europe's hard-liners, including Italy's powerful interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who has made a point of approvingly referencing not Francis but his more conservative predecessor, Benedict XVI. Still, the Argentine-born pope, 81, remains very popular with U.S. Catholics, according to research conducted earlier this year by the Pew Research Service, with 84 percent saying they have a favorable opinion of him. Among voters who are Republican or lean to the right, however, 55 percent see Francis as too liberal. "The pope's voice really strikes a deep chord with many people, all over the world," Michael Czerny, the Vatican's undersecretary for migrants and refugees, said in an interview. "So, when people hear the pope standing up for these people, there is a lot of sympathy. The trouble is, it's a complex reality, and there are people who are fearful, and those fears can be whipped up - and they have been. It's important that he speaks on behalf of people who are otherwise voiceless. Czerny said that in the case of the separation of children and families, the pope's stance came from "basic humanity and sheer common sense." Czerny added: "I don't think you have to dig deep into religious tradition - though I can't imagine any religious tradition that would condone this. It's not a question of dogma. It a question of humanity." --- Branigin reported from Washington. The Washington Post's Karla Adam in London contributed to this report. The News in Brief By Mariam Chanishvili 13th day of Hunger Strike against Law Enforcers in Chiatura Three young men continue the hunger strike against the local top law enforcers in the countrys Chiatura region, in the west of Georgia. Today is the 13th day of the hunger strike against the police chief Lasha Chkhitunidze and his deputy Mikheil Gigauri, who are suppressing the youth and stir provocations, as the protesters say. Members of the Human Rights Education and the Monitoring Center NGO are also protesting against the local top police officials. The rally participants told human rights defenders on May 26 that the law enforcers verbally and physically abused up to 10 young people, followed by a conflict provoked by police. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia says that some of the rally participants were earlier detained for disobedience to police and petty hooliganism. Rehabilitation of Central Gudiashvili Square in Tbilisi Underway The Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze visited the rehabilitation works on Gudiashvili square on Saturday along with the Mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze and thanked the City Hall for the ongoing repair works. He noted that this project will contribute to the maintenance of the cultural heritage of the city. "Rehabilitation of Old Tbilisi is very important in order to maintain cultural heritage, as well as for the overall development of the city. I would like to express my gratitude to the Mayor of the city, Kakha Kaladze and to Tbilisi City Hall for conducting this very significant project," said Kobakhidze. Restoring Gudiashvili Square is a part of the larger state project aimed at developing old parts of Tbilisi. Juneteenth also known as Freedom Day is celebrated on June 19 and marks the day the abolition of slavery in Texas was announced in 1865 along with the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans throughout the Confederate states. In honor of the historic day, President Donald Trump gave a statement commemorating the 153rd anniversary of the day slavery ended in the Lone Star State. Detail of Facebook fundraising with photo by John Moore/GettyImages / Detail of Facebook fundraising with photo by John Moore/GettyImages A campaign to reunite immigrant children with their parents in Texas after being separated by President Donald Trump administrations zero tolerance policy has become the largest ever single fundraising effort using the Facebook platform, surpassing the $10 million mark in just five days. The fundraiser, called Reunite an immigrant parent with their child: Fundraiser for RAICES, has collected over 10 million dollars in five days as of Wednesday, with donations from more than 250,000 contributors. The funds go to The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or RAICES, one of the largest non-profit immigration legal services in Texas headquartered in San Antonio with offices in several cities. Thanks is inadequate for the work these funds will make possible. We know it will change lives this is such a profound rejection of the cruel policies of this administration, according to a statement issued by RAICES on Facebook. RAICES said the money will be used to pay immigration bonds necessary to get parents out of detention and reunited with their children while awaiting court proceedings, as well as to ensure legal representation for children in Texas' immigration courts. The Facebook fundraiser was started by Charlotte and Dave Willner, a couple from Silicon Valley, with the goal to raise $1,500 to post a bond for just a parent separated from their children. By Monday, however, the drive had already passed the two million mark. This is the largest single fundraiser to date using Facebook Fundraisers platform, confirmed a spokesperson from Facebook. Details provided by the social media giant indicate that this campaign has been raising money at a rate of $4,000 per minute with average donations of $50. Other massive campaigns done with the same platform raised more funds but through multiple fundraisers instead of from a single enterprise like in the RAICES case. One of the most successful multi-fundraising efforst in the history of Facebook was driven by hundreds of members of this social media community to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, collectively taking in $20 million dollars. Regardless of political party, so many of us are distraught over children being separated from their parents at the border, said Charlotte and Dave Willner in a statement. When we all come together in community efforts like this, we can find an antidote to the feelings of helplessness. This is just the start though, and donating is the easy part, so our hope is that people continue to be hungry for information and get involved. Facebook said that the growth of this fundraiser has been totally organic without the help of being boosted across the social media platform. The company said they can only boost content coming from Pages, which are for verified brands, public figures and nonprofit organizations. FB profiles pages, like the Willner couple, dont have that ability, which highlights the impressive reach of their campaign. Other top recent fundraising campaigns on Facebook are "Fundraiser in Norway for Doctors Without Borders," collecting $2 million, and the Gaza Emergency Appeal, with $1.7 million. olivia.tallet@chron.com Twitter.com/oliviaptallet Four masked men are on the run after firing shots at a hotel security guard while stealing an ATM early Wednesday in west Houston. Shots rang out around 2:15 a.m. after the security guard tried to stop the men as they walked to the Four Points by Sheraton hotel, on the West Sam Houston Parkway and Katy Freeway. The former manager of a Crosby-area Dennys was in tears Wednesday as she told a jury how she tried to stop a late-night beating that led to a young customers death. Mercedes Romero, who was in her first week working at that location, testified in the murder trial of 42-year-old Terry Thompson that she tried to rally male employees to get him off the customer as the two men grappled in the parking lot. Thompson is on trial for the murder of John Hernandez, a 24 year-old auto glass technician, who lost consciousness during the fight that began after 11 p.m. in May 2017. He died at an area hospital three days later. Two men were fighting, one was on the bottom, said Romero, as she wiped her eyes. One man was on top, beating him with a closed fist. Romero was the final witness in the prosecutions case against Thompson. The fight made national headlines after protests flared up last year after bystander cellphone video was published. Thompson, a railroad worker, is married to a former Harris County Deputy Sheriff who helped him detain Hernandez. After Romero testified, the prosecution rested its case after six days of testimony. Members of Thompsons defense team said they would decide Thursday if they were going to call defense witnesses or rest their case and make final arguments to the jury. Jury to be sequestered State District Judge Kelli Johnson told the jurors to bring suitcases to court Thursday because if they are still deliberating when the courthouse closes for the evening, they will be sequestered at a local hotel. Sequestering a jury is rare in Harris County and happens only in death penalty cases and high-profile media cases. Procedurally, it happens when one side wants jurors sequestered, although it was not disclosed whether the defense or the prosecution requested it. The judge will also have to decide whether jurors will decide guilt or innocence on the murder charges, or have a range of lesser offenses to consider, like criminally negligent homicide or manslaughter. Defense attorney Scot Courtney told the judge in court that he did not want a range, saying basically the jurors would only have to decide if Thompson was guilty, or innocent, of murder. That election is unusual because defense attorneys typically ask for jurors to be able to consider a range of lesser offenses. Thompsons wife, Chauna Thompson, who arrived at the restaurant during the altercation, was fired from her job as a deputy and also faces a charge of murder. She is accused of helping to hold Hernandez down. Her trial is scheduled for October. Testimony ended Wednesday with jurors hearing Romero describe her futile efforts to stop the fight. I was scared, she said. It was very ugly and Ive never seen anything like that. She testified she tried to get Thompson off Hernandez, first by shouting at him, then by getting other employees to separate the two. I said, Let him go! Let him go! Romero testified. And he said, No, he punched me first. Managers testimony The defense has maintained that Hernandez, who had a blood alcohol level of .204, was intoxicated and urinating in the parking lot without shielding himself when Thompson arrived with his teenage daughter and two of her friends. Thompson confronted Hernandez about exposing himself and, according to the defense, Hernandez punched Thompson in the left eye, starting the fight that resulted in his death. Hernandez had driven to the restaurant with his common-law wife and their 4-year-old daughter after a day of playing soccer and watching a championship game with friends. Romero said she called authorities while watching the fight. I had the feeling one was going to get killed, she said recounting how she watched Hernandez try to struggle out of a chokehold. After Hernandez lost consciousness, Romero said, the Thompsons flipped him on to his back and started CPR. His face was pale, Romero said in tears. His lips were blue. She testified after hours-long cross-examination of Dr. William Smock, an emergency medicine specialist who is the physician for the Louisville Police Department. Smock told the jury Hernandezs death was from a combination of the restriction of his airway, a lack of blood flow to the brain, as well as his inability to breathe while he was pinned to the ground. Hernandez was taken to a hospital from the Dennys restaurant, and died three days later after he was removed from life support. He was fighting for his life, Smock testified about reports that Hernandez continued to fight while being pinned down in a chokehold. You will do whatever you can to breathe. You are trying to survive. brian.rogers@chron.com The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday identified the 20-year-old man who was allegedly killed, set on fire in a North Side apartment and then found dead by firefighters responding to the blaze. Jared Vargas had been missing for three days prior to being discovered Monday in the apartment unit in the 7900 block of Jones Maltsberger Road. The medical examiner's office listed his cause of death as homicidal violence but declined to detail exactly how he was killed. Ernesto Esquivel-Garcia, 20, has been charged with murder, arson and abuse of a corpse in connection to Vargas's death. RELATED: Suspect accused of killing man, burning his body in North Side apartment was on ICE detainer The official identification of Vargas marks the end of a days-long desperate and increasingly worrying search by his family. "The whole situation is a nightmare," said Gene Vargas, the victim's father. Police have released few details in the case, only saying they charged Esquivel-Garcia in Vargas's death after questioning him. But witnesses told mySA.com that sometime over the weekend Esquivel-Garcia collected all his possessions from the apartment the body was found in and moved them to a vacant apartment directly above the unit he leased. "The neighbors told me they had seen him carrying the furniture upstairs and questioned why he was moving," Vargas' aunt, Kim Chepey said. "They said he told them there was a problem with his apartment, and management had told him to move, but [management] said they had at no time spoken with him about moving apartments." On Monday night, after Esquivel-Garcia allegedly set fire to Vargas's body, witnesses said they saw him upstairs, feigning ignorance as he mingled with other neighbors watching the firefighters extinguish the blaze. Police confirmed the apartment Vargas was found in appeared vacant. Police later rounded up several witnesses, including Esquivel-Garcia, and interviewed them at police headquarters. It's unclear exactly what evidence police acquired against Esquivel-Garcia during the interviews. RELATED: San Antonio man accused in fatal 2015 stabbing was victim's lover He's being held in the jail on an immigration detainer, meaning he was possibly in the country without documentation at the time of the alleged killing. It was not clear Tuesday whether he had retained an attorney to represent him in the case. ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda could not confirm any details regarding Esquivel-Garcia's nationality. Vargas was last seen around 4 p.m. Saturday leaving his job at Bowl & Barrel at The Rim, where he had worked with Esquivel-Garcia for a brief time, according to Gene Vargas, 52. Matthew Schmertz, a spokesman for Bowl & Barrel, declined to answer questions about Vargas's and Esquivel-Garcia's employment, citing the ongoing police investigation. "We are holding [Vargas] and his family foremost in our thoughts," Schmertz said. Gene Vargas said he had tried to call his son Sunday morning to set up a Father's Day outing, but was never able to get hold of him. His ex-wife, Lori, said she hadn't heard from him either. "From there on, it took a different turn," he said. "It went from 'Where is he?', 'Why isn't he answering his phone?', to being very concerned and scared." The family researched Vargas's phone history online, as his call records were stored through the family's phone plan. They discovered his last call had been to 911, and that it originated from the address on Jones Maltsberger. After a quick search of the area, they found his car at the apartment complex. The last character of his license plate had been covered in white out, and there were obscure drawings taped to the window, one of which was an eye of providence, a pyramid with an eye atop like on a dollar bill, with the phrase "Real Siempre" and several apparent roman numerals written underneath. "We have no clue," said Gene Vargas. "Jared didn't draw. It doesn't make any sense. That's not him. He likes to keep his car clean, looking nice. It very obviously wasn't him." READ ALSO: 2 dead, 2 critically injured in wreck on far Northeast Side The family notified the authorities about their discovery and then staked out the apartment complex, waiting for any sign of Vargas. On Sunday, around 5 p.m., Chepey and a few other family members left the apartments to get food. "We were gone for one hour," she said, eyes moistening. While they were gone, Esquivel-Garcia allegedly set fire to Vargas's corpse. When Chepey and the family returned to the apartments, they saw the firefighters and knew something had gone terribly wrong. They learned a body had been discovered, but it wasn't until Wednesday, when Vargas was positively identified, that their worst fears had come true. Now, they're struggling to make sense of the violence that befell Vargas, who was a student at Northwest Vista College with plans to study cybersecurity at UTSA. "Jared was very, very affable, very sociable, very outgoing," said Gene Vargas. "He had lots of dreams, a very ambitious individual. He was a loving person. His circle of friends was large. He was well liked. He was an all-around great character." Through tears, Chepey emphasized that her family's grief and frustration was made worse by the possibility that they lost a relative to an undocumented immigrant. "He never should have been here. He never should've been allowed to get an apartment or get a job. And he shouldn't have been allowed to take someone's life," she said. But Gene Vargas had simpler regrets, wishing only that he could've had breakfast or lunch with his son, one last time, on Father's Day. "Unfortunately, that didn't happen," he said. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns Houston is one of three cities still in the running to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention after party officials cut the list of potential sites in half. Mayor Sylvester Turner kicked off Wednesday's regular city council meeting with the announcement, noting that Milwaukee, Denver and the Miami area were the other remaining finalists. By the end of the meeting, however, he said Denver had withdrawn its bid, leaving Houston as one of three finalists. Amber Miller, a spokeswoman for the city of Denver, confirmed that her city had withdraw its bid due to scheduling conflicts. "Our chances have gotten exponentially better," Turner said. "I'm excited about the proposal we submitted." READ MORE: Council passes resolution supporting Houston bid for 2020 DNC The council earlier this month passed a resolution affirming that Houston's safety and logistics services will be marshaled sufficiently to support the gathering if Houston is chosen as the host city. Initial proposals were due last Friday, the mayor said. City officials said if Houston is chosen to host the event, a committee will be formed to raise private dollars to help pay for it, revenues that will be used in part to reimburse the city for its share of the costs, as was done after last year's Super Bowl; the Houston Rockets, the memo adds, have agreed to provide the Toyota Center as the official Convention site. Cities culled from the list were Atlanta, Birmingham, New York City and San Francisco. Houston previously hosted the 1992 Republican convention at the Astrodome, as well as the 1928 Democratic convention. READ MORE: Houston seriously considering bid for 2020 Democratic National Convention Turner said he also wants to bid on hosting the 2024 Republic National Convention when the time comes. "It's all about marketing and selling the city of Houston," the mayor said. The Harris County Democratic Party cheered the news in a statement: "Democrats are energized and we know 'It All Starts Here' because Harris County is ground zero for turning Texas blue and when we flip the state, the country comes with us." mike.morris@chron.com twitter.com/mmorris011 AUSTIN Gov. Greg Abbott announced an emergency special election to replace state Sen. Carlo Uresti for July 31 after the San Antonio politician resigned following his conviction in federal court. Early voting will begin on Monday, July 16 to fill the seat for Texas state Senate District 19. Uresti announced his resignation Monday, four months after he was found guilty on 11 felony charges in a San Antonio federal court. Uresti was convicted of defrauding investors during his involvement in the oil fracking company FourWinds Logistics. The company collapsed in 2015. Abbott said Urestis criminal conviction has already left District 19 without adequate representation for over a year. He said it was necessary to fill Urestis seat well ahead of the 2019 legislative session. With the 86th Legislative Session approaching, and ongoing interim legislative committee hearings, it is imperative to fill this vacancy to ensure that Senate District No. 19 is fully represented as soon as possible, Abbott said in a statement. Candidates who wish to have their names placed on the special election ballot have until Monday, June 25 to file applications with the Secretary of State. Urestis term was set to end in January 2021. His resignation takes effect this Thursday, the 21st anniversary of his first election to state office. He is expected to be sentenced next Tuesday. Ambassador of Belarus I.Paluyan met with Chairman of the National Assembly of Ecuador 20-06-2018 On June 19, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Ecuador, Igar Paluyan, held a meeting with the Chairman of the National Assembly (unicameral Parliament) of Ecuador, Elizabeth Cabezas. The sides discussed the possibilities of activation of inter-parliamentary cooperation between two countries, exchange of visits of the Belarusian and Ecuadorian legislators delegations, intensification of practical cooperation within the framework of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Latin American Parliament (Belarus has the observer status in PARLATINO). Particular attention was paid to the creation in the National Assembly of Ecuador of the inter-parliamentary cooperation group with the National Assembly of Belarus in the near future. print version On the way to becoming customer centric, data driven and digitally transformed, a surprising percentage of companies are still inefficient. Thats the conclusion of a recent Forrester Research report: Refocus Process Automation To Rescue Your Digital Transformation. Understandably, many companies have focused their digital transformation efforts on customer engagement; sales and marketing; and other revenue generators, while cost centers such as HR continue using repetitive, time-consuming tasks to get things done. But over the next two years, Forrester predicts that companies will seek out ways to improve business processes company-wide, and put more emphasis on digital transformation than they do on driving down costs. Whereas past waves of innovation might have been carried out by teams of developers hand-coding native applications, today a shortage of skilled developers, coupled with rising overhead, has many CIOs looking at options such as low-code and no-code platforms. Though once spurned as more of a lightweight approach to software development, low-code and no-code platforms have matured. And the use of drag-and-drop and graphic-centric development environments make them a compelling choice for less experienced developers, or business analysts responsible for optimizing operations. Following are three companies that have benefited greatly from this development: Greater efficiency, less paperwork through enterprise content management FPI Management oversees multifamily properties in more than a dozen states, with one-third of its business focused on affordable housing. Since the Federal agencies that FPI interacts with didnt have an electronic application solution, completing the process was often extremely paper-driven. What FPI needed was a workflow process that could streamline the process, enabling applicants to submit their documents securely and route them directly to the auditors. FPIs solution was AODocs, a cloud-based document management platform compatible with Google Drive, which brings much needed gains in automation and efficiency. Now, auditors can key-in correction codes to indicate when particular items are missing from an application packet. At the same time, the ability to auto-generate invoices has eliminated 70 hours worth of auditing work each month. IT Director Kristin Hernandez anticipates that AODocs could also help track the processes that the company uses to generate monthly financials. Financial management solution adds up to shorter closing times, deeper insights Legacy Healthcare Services needed an accounting software solution that could keep up with its rapid growth and day-to-day requirements for running more than 250 outpatient clinics across 11 states. With the companys previous accounting software, every month the accounting team had to create 300 different financial statements by hand or in Excel. Plus the inability to create a general ledger made it especially challenging to generate financial reports. Since moving to Sage Intacct, a cloud-based financial management software solution, the team has trimmed the amount of time it took to close the books each month by 60%. And financial reports can be generated in minutes instead of days. Intaccts open architecture has also made it easy to connect with the companys payment automation and expense and time reporting solutions. Collaboration, continued growth, more cheese with web-based project management For more than 30 years, Cypress Grove Chevre has operated its goat farm and creamery in Humboldt County, California. And as demand for its award-winning Chevre cheese grew, so did the size of Cypress Groves staff and operations. After using on-premise software for many years, the company needed a web-based solution that was more accessible, collaborative, and easy to use. Moving to Smartsheet helped the companys employees more effectively manage operations, facility maintenance, and cheese making; helped the executive team oversee projects and the companys overall strategy; and made it easier for employees to work together across departments and locations. And Smartsheets integration with Google Apps made it much easier for remote employees to access data, forms, and other files. Cypress Grove marketing manager Jason Baxter says that the collective power of Smartsheet and Google Apps reinforced [Cypress Groves] corporate philosophy of keeping it simple, being efficient in everything we do, and promoting personal responsibility. In a recent survey of its CIO jury, TechRepublic found that more than one-third are using low-code or no-code platforms such as Smartsheet to meet their needs, while others have it on their short list for future adoption. Read more: 4 Tips to Accelerate Adoption of SaaS Permanent Representative of Belarus V.Rybakov meets Executive Director of UNICEF On 18 June, 2018 a working meeting between the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the United Nations, Valentin Rybakov, and the Executive Director of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore, was held at UNICEF Headquarters in New York. H.Fore became the seventh executive director of UNICEF on January 1, 2018. From 2007 to 2009, she served as administrator of the US Agency for International Development and Director of External Aid for the United States. The interlocutors exchanged views on the current issues of protecting the rights and interests of children, as well as discussed the problems of complex challenges facing the world community in the field of sustainable progress in protecting children around the world. print version Just when you thought you had millennials figured out, along comes Generation Z. But how exactly do they differ from millennials if at all? What does this next generation of tech-savvy, socially aware and entrepreneurial workers want? How can you attract, hire and retain them? New research from culture, compensation and career monitoring site Comparably set out to answer those questions by gathering data between March 2016 and April 2018. The study divided the millennial generation into three groups: older millennials, those between 31 and 35 years old; young millennials, between ages 26 and 30; and Generation Z, those workers aged 18 to 25. All three groups have one very important thing in common: They exist in a world where tech jobs are in great demand and in which technology shapes almost every facet of their lives, especially Generation Z, says Jason Nazar, founder and CEO of Comparably. "Gen Z is the generation that was born using the internet and grew up with all the conveniences of modern technology and social media, from the iPhone to Netflix to Instagram," Nazar says. "As a result, they're whip smart, quick, and savvy. In my years of experience hiring both Gen Z and younger millennials, they are the most confident, socially aware, and entrepreneurial generation of our time, he says. They prefer face-to-face more than you might think That leads to a common misconception about Gen Z: Theyre somewhat anti-social and prefer to communicate through their phones or via technology. Thats not entirely true, according to the Gen Z & Millennials Collide @ Work report, from Future Workplace, an HR executive network and research firm, and HR services and staffing company Randstad U.S.A. The research, conducted by Morar Consulting across 10 global markets (U.S., U.K., Germany, Mexico, Poland, Argentina, India, China, Canada and South Africa) between June 22 and July 11, 2016, asked 4,066 respondents in two separate age groups (1,965 Gen Z members; 22 years of age and 2,101 Millennials; aged 23 to 34) about their preparation for work, as well as expectations and experiences of their workplaces. The research showed that, despite popular beliefs, when asked to rank their preferred method of professional communication, Gen Z would prefer communicating with co-workers and managers in-person rather than by email or by phone. Generation Z and millennials want to be able to use any and all technology tools to enable every aspect of their lives, from work to personal, scheduling, planning social events. But when it comes to the nitty-gritty of talking about their careers and really getting down to work, driving their career, they want to have conversations face-to-face, says Jim Link, chief human resources officer of Randstad U.S.A. They want flexibility While both Gen Z and millennials prefer a technology-enabled workplace with greater social media integration, 41 percent of Gen Z say they prefer to work in corporate offices, according to the research. A remote-only work environment is just not on their wish list. What is important to these generations is flexibility, which topped the list for the first time ever as the most important employee benefit above healthcare, perks, benefits, they want flexibility, Link says. Despite this tipping point toward workplace flexibility among the younger members of the workforce, only one-third of respondents companies offer it (34 percent). Travel, too, is of major importance to these generations, according to the Future Workplace survey. While 71 percent of global Gen Z and millennials have only worked in one country thus far in their careers, 56 percent aspire to work in more than one country in the future. Those wanting to work in more than one country are more likely to say their companies are performing well financially or have better employee satisfaction scores, according to the research. They want pay transparency and equity The Comparably research shows that Gen Z workers in senior developer roles are paid an average of $115,000 annually; nothing to sneeze at. Still, half of Gen Z respondents believe theyre not fairly compensated. That could explain why, when asked what their first priority would be if they were promoted to a high-level leadership role, 27 percent of Gen Z respondents said they would increase employee pay. They were the only age group to choose this as their No. 1 priority; all other millennials and older generations alike were more interested in bettering the teams vision/strategy, according to the research. Generation Z workers also are more likely to willingly disclose their salaries. When asked whether theyd share their salary information with their coworkers, 35 percent of Gen Z and 32 percent of young millennials said they would be very likely or somewhat likely to do so. Just 24 percent of older millennials said the same. Older generations were least likely to say they would be transparent with their coworkers about salary, according to the Comparably research. They want work-life balance but not kids Salary aside, Generation Z is almost evenly split between desiring work-life balance (29 percent) and career advancement opportunity (26 percent), as their next top priorities. Thirty-seven percent of older millennials say work-life balance is most important to them in a job after salary, the research showed. The research also revealed that more than half of respondents in all the millennial age groups believe that having kids is detrimental to a successful career. Millennials were the first generation to grow up in an all-digital age and to really understand how technology could blur the boundaries between work and home; many times they saw their parents working their fingers to the bone and overly stressed about work, Link says. With the advent of technology, they understand that you dont need to be chained to a desk in order to accomplish tasks, work and collaborate and complete projects, says Link. Millennials and Generation Z see less of a segregation between work and life theyre more about balancing that and making it seamless so work gets done anywhere, anytime; without sacrificing either one. But they do seem to enjoy coming to the office for communication and collaboration, when they can, he says. Theyre entrepreneurial The Comparably research reveals that nearly half, or 45 percent of Generation Z respondents, say they would like to start their own business in the next five years; perhaps thats because they, more than any other age group, is concerned about the impact automation will have on their job prospects. Forty-one percent of Generation Z respondents to Comparablys survey say they believe robots will take over their jobs in the next ten years. Theyre socially conscious Diversity, inclusion and belonging should be core values of your organization and can impact your ability to attract and retain an entire generation of talent, not just talent from underrepresented groups, says Pranam Lipinski, co-founder and CEO of campus recruiting startup Door of Clubs. In a recent Door of Clubs survey, 5,000 students were asked their opinions about whats important to them as they enter the workforce. The No. 1 cause Generation Z cares about in the workplace? Equality. When youre talking about retention and Gen Z specifically, the No. 1 factor in trusting an employer is equality and how equality-minded they are, Lipinski says. Generation Z grew up under President Obama and all the progress that was made, socially. So, they prioritize equality very highly; its built into their DNA. They are not going to accept anything less. They care very deeply about seeing women and people of color in leadership positions, he says. This next generation of talent also values authentic relationships in the workplace and wants to facilitate a sense of trust with those they work for and with, he says. Because of this, if members of this generation dont see people of color and women in leadership roles, they arent going to believe that the company is serious about their diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives, and thats a major strike against them. They wont want to work there, or theyll leave, Lipinski says. Thus, companies need to double down on D&I programs, as well as mentorship and leadership opportunities, Lipinski says, and make sure D&I is top of mind for every employee. All of these factors impact engagement, morale, and an employees likeliness to stay with an organization, he says. These issues matter so much to GenZ and its concerning that companies dont recognize this, Lipinski says. You know theyre researching your company before they even apply, so to go onto an organizations leadership page and see that, even if they dont have equal representation, not one executive bio mentions diversity and inclusion is just mind-boggling, he says. They thrive on communication and collaboration What does all this mean for organizations trying to lure and retain talent, especially from the younger generations? Its not about flashy perks, or billion-dollar campuses, its about flexibility and the ability to hone communication skills, foster growth and career development, says Dan Schawbel, research director at Future Workplace, and author of Promote Yourself and Me 2.0. What all this really tells us is that communication is really important. And millennials and Gen Z are very focused on how to make the workplace better for everyone, regardless of age. The workplace should be flexible and tech-enabled, and should accommodate and embrace all sorts of people, personalities and work styles, Schawbel says. Thats great news for organizations, Link adds, because it means businesses arent looking at a major overhaul of facilities, benefits and perks, but rather more manageable tweaks to the way they grow and develop their people, processes and policies with an eye toward facilitating increased communication and collaboration. Whether it is in a corporate office, at home or in a coffee shop, Gen Z workers prefer collaborative work environments. In fact, our study found that global Gen Z workers named co-workers who like to collaborate as the type of worker who would help them do their best work, second only to co-workers who work as hard as they do. Furthermore, more than half (54 percent) of Gen Z respondents said the people they work with is the top workplace attribute that enables them to do their best work. Companies seeking to be an employer of choice must leverage the collaborative revolution taking place and provide the technology, tools and processes that facilitate and encourage it, Link says. The takeaway from our latest Comparably study is that these young professionals demand transparency, fair pay, and work-life balance in the workplace more than any other generation. They're also willing to work hard for it because they've set a clear career path for themselves at a young age," Nazar says. This is my debut blog for my new IDG blog, Building the Future Together. I believe it will take all of us men, women and transgender, young and old, from every neighborhood from Detroit to Orange County and every village from Africa to China to build a digital future that is inclusive for us all. Our tremendous dilemma We exist in a digital world. From shopping and buying food to banking and managing our finances to education and more, our lives increasingly exist in a digital world supported by technology. If we dont ensure there is a diverse workforce building today, we risk living in an even more exclusive world tomorrow. While most people agree with this notion, the reality is there are fewer women in tech today than ever before. After peaking in 1991 at 36 percent, the rate of women in computing roles has been on the decline. Women make up just 25 percent of computing roles today. Women leave tech at double the rate of men and Harvard Business Journal estimates more than half of women in tech will leave over time due to hostile work environments. And fewer young women are choosing to pursue careers in tech. Just 11% of teenage girls plan to pursue STEM careers, by at least one estimate. This creates a tremendous dilemma that faces us right now, today, at this very moment. Its the culture, stupid There are many reasons cited for this decline from the lack of qualified minority candidates in the pipeline, which is highly disputed, to poor education but the most cited and supported is the culture of tech. The culture in tech changes about every 10 years. As an example, consider the last 3-4 decades. In the 1980s, the entry of the PC into the home created a culture focused on video games and weird science. And because these PCs were marketed to boys and men, we saw fewer women seeking computer science degrees in the early 1990s. The 1990s and early 2000s brought the Internet, which led to one of the biggest bubbles in tech. This created millionaires and billionaires. Tech was now seen as a place to go to get rich. Over the last 10 years, young white men what some call super geniuses have been largely sensationalized and associated with tech. The idea of the $1b unicorn has created a level intensity in tech that we havent seen before, an intensity that a male engineering manager at Uber told me sometimes allows leadership teams to compromise their ethics and what many women have told me doesnt feel like an inclusive and productive way to innovate. But how do we begin to understand macro industry culture, what is it today and how do we shape it for the future? Building culture within our own companies and communities is challenging enough. What happens when we try to shift an entire industrys culture? I believe we begin and can be successful in changing culture through understanding the micro experiences the stories of the people working in tech every day. Story changes culture The power of story is sometimes overlooked or taken for granted due to the deluge of social media and content in the information age. It can also be dismissed as talk, not action. But it is exactly in this world of data and information overload that engaging story can rise above the clutter and overwhelm to connect and engage. And both history and modern-day references make it clear that story is a powerful way to change behavior and incite action. Consider historical evidence such as Homers Odyssey and the Iliad. Historian JE Lendon says that the emphasis on conquering cities by trickery are mirrored in the Greek battle strategy that followed, underscoring the impact of story not only on the mind but also on cultural behaviors and norms. Story can result in action and behavioral change, because when it connects on an emotional, visceral level, it creates empathy. Psychologists at Princeton have even mapped brain patterns in storytellers and the people listening to story and have demonstrated that the same areas of the brain the insula light up at the same times, during emotional arcs in the story, leading to understanding and sensitivity. Ohio State University psychologist Lisa Libby found when people identify with a protagonist in a story, they may take similar action. In one of her studies, when the protagonist stepped up to vote in the face of adversity, the consumers of the story were found to be more likely to vote later on. This is action, and this is behavioral change, which begins to change culture. And when we consider even more recent works in literature and filmmaking, we quickly see for ourselves the link between story and culture shifts. Middlesex (2002), began to reframe the conversation about transgenders through the personal account of Cal (or Callie). Crash (2004) reframed the very sensitive nuances of race in America. It allowed people to take a look at themselves and their own unconscious bias in a way that was uncomfortable but started to change the narrative about race. In our world, the world of tech, we see the power of story from women such as Ellen Pao and Susan Fowler, Sarah Lacey and Sheryl Sandberg. And increasingly, the power of story is coming from every day women in tech. Hundreds, if not thousands of them. When stories are shared, women speak up and say hey, #metoo. And others show up and say hey, what can I do? After interviewing hundreds of women and men over the last year for The Chasing Grace Project, I realize more than ever the power of story to incite action and change behavior. For every young woman that approaches me after a screening or talk, to every man that asks me where they can learn more, I know that change is coming. But we cant stop now. If we stop sharing our stories or allow ourselves to be silenced, we could see an even worse decline in the number of women in tech. The future depends on us to keep going. With its recent acquisition of Level 3 Communications, CenturyLink is around a $24 billion communications and managed-services powerhouse, with approximately 450,000 miles of fiber and customers in more than 60 countries worldwide. However, many enterprises may still think of them as just a telecom company. Given CenturyLink was an initial VMware Cloud Verified partner, there is clearly much more. We spoke with Michael Joffe, Senior Director of Product Management at CenturyLink, about the relevance of this VMware designation. Over the past decade, weve been making strategic acquisitions to bring together a powerful portfolio of managed services offerings. One of the most exciting recent additions to that portfolio is the CenturyLink private cloud built on top of VMware Cloud Foundation, says Joffe. With our acquisition of Level 3 Communications that closed last November, were the second largest U.S. communications provider to global enterprise customers, and now we can take that backbone and layer any infrastructure components on top, creating a bridge from on-premises to hybrid cloud for businesses of all sizes, says Joffe. CenturyLink has provided VMware network services for years, including providing the network for the popular VMworld conferences. What does Joffe see as the key benefits of bringing VMware and CenturyLink together? Years of synergy. We leverage best of breed, and weve standardized on VMware at CenturyLink. Offering a single source approach, we can offer users on-premises, in datacenter or with co-location. We can manage their entire VMware environment for them, or just those pieces they want to get off their plate, says Joffe. If youre an enterprise company looking for resiliency between your offices and the data center, we can deploy different networking products to deliver the best experience and lowest latency. Since we own the network, there are cost benefits in sourcing multiple products/services from us, he adds. We asked Joffe what about CenturyLink would surprise IT decision makers. Id say its not just the major services, but all the accoutrements we have to go along with them, says Joffe. The multi-cloud aspect of our offering, which allows us to manage your clouds in VMware, Azure, AWS, gives true flexibility in moving workloads from private to public clouds, and its still surprising to many users. But when you consider the long history between CenturyLink and VMware, and combine that with the power of our network, we really have a unique set of capabilities that we can offer companies around the globe. Read more about VMware and CenturyLink. New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced this week that he will refuse to deploy National Guard troops to assist in border controlthough no one asked him to, and no one is ever likely to ask. Cuomo is a master of the political non sequiturlast month, he promised to send a Dunkirk-style small-boat flotilla against offshore oil rigs that dont existand hes also pretty good at twisting the English language to serve his interests. In this, he is not uniquehence the rhetorical riot generated by the Trump administrations so-called family separation policiesbut the governors National Guard posturing is at once over the top and instructive. In the face of the federal governments inhumane treatment of immigrant families, New York will not deploy National Guard to the border, Cuomo announced Monday. We will not be complicit in this ongoing human tragedy. Well, again, nobody asked. But the Guard diversion is a useful tool, deflecting attention from the fundamental dishonesty of the governors full statement. That is, the federal government is treating no one inhumanely; the families involved are not so much immigrants as they are economic migrants with no inherent right of entry into the United Statesand to the extent that there is an ongoing human tragedy on the border, responsibility for it resides with those attempting to enter the county illegally. It is true that Americans love children. The Clinton administration discovered that in 2000, when it sent heavily armed immigration agents storming into a Florida home to remove a screaming seven-year-old boy. The reaction was furious. That same instinct underlies the current controversy, as well as the politicized reaction to it. Just as most people dont want bad things to happen to children, even fewer want to be perceived as agents of harm, and not just to children. Thats why disingenuous rhetoric such as Cuomos can be such an effective tool. Indeed, not since the homelessness crisis blossomed a generation ago to constrain honest discussions of substance addiction, disintegrating families, deinstitutionalization, and an explosion of common vagrancy has artful rhetoric so successfully obscured facts, law, and sound public policy. Then (as now) it was deemed judgmentala grave sinto censure personal choices or behavior. The problem, advocates and the media insisted, was lack of a home, and it was up to government to provide one. Since then, billions have been spent on housing and other programs, to no discernible long-term positive effectand it is still all but impossible to have a serious public discussion about the addled, the addicted, and the socially dysfunctional. Fast forward to Americas southern border, whereadvocates and the media contendchildren routinely are ripped from their mothers arms, shunted off to cages, and pretty much traumatized for the rest of their lives. Once again, facts and context are optional; politically opportunistic rhetoric drives what little debate is allowed, and meretricious politicians like Cuomo get away with simply making stuff up. Never mind that the policies now at issue date at least to the Obama administration, even if the circumstances have changed. Or that the alternative to separation is a choice between jailing the children with their illegal-alien parents, or allowing those parents free passage into the country. That last point, of course, is the fundamental element in the debate: is America to have control of its borders, or not? Once again, euphemism obscures the issues; when illegal alien morphed into undocumented immigrant in the popular lexicon, the debate was largely over. After all, immigrants are American iconsisnt that where we all came from?whereas illegals are a nettlesome law-enforcement problem. And as was the case with the socially dysfunctional, if you label problems as something other than what they are, you can ignore the issues they raise. Meanwhile, is there a more delightful attention-deflector in America discourse than the word undocumented? Every other country on the planet requires passports, entry papers, work permits, and the like, but on Americas southern borders, just tell the immigration agents that you left your documents in your other suit, and everything is cool. Or so the advocates, and especially the media, would have it. But illegal alien is precisely the correct term because it speaks directly to the debates core issue: territorial integrity, the basis for national sovereignty. Without that, there can be no meaningful rule of lawand without that, every place becomes a sanctuary city, and eventually an MS-13 gang war. So lets lay it out in simple terms: Americans have the right, if not the duty, to lock their doors to keep their persons and property safe. Why shouldnt the nation, too? Senator Ted Cruz has advanced a humane proposal to let detained parents stay with their children while their cases are adjudicated, but opponents of the administrations border policy are arguing for blanket immunity from the democratically legislated consequences of blatantly illegal conduct. Theres no other honest way to put itnot that honest debate seems to matter. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killing, by Phyllis Chesler (New English Review Press, 348 pp., $28.75) Phyllis Chesler pioneered the study of violence against women in the late 1960s, concentrating on women living in North America and Europe. By 2003, she was writing about honor killings, based on newspaper accounts, Internet sources, interviews, and memoirs. She then embarked on a series of equally pioneering, meticulously researched, academic studies of honor killings in the West, but also in the Middle East and South Asia. These studies and over 90 articles on the same subject are collected for the first time in A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killing. Chesler carefully distinguishes honor killings from plain and psychopathic homicides, serial killings, crimes of passion, revenge killings, and domestic violence. An honor killing is the murder of girls and women by their families because of supposedly disgraceful acts perceived to have brought public shame. Honor killings are a family collaboration and even considered by their perpetrators to be legally justifiable acts of self-defense, because the murdered girls dishonor is regarded as an aggressive act against their families. It demands a response. In her second of four in-depth studies first published in The Middle East Quarterly, Chesler looked at 172 incidents and 230 honor-killing victims. She gathered most of her information from English-language media around the world. There were 100 victims murdered for honor in the West, including 33 in North America and 67 in Europe, Chesler found. There were 130 additional victims in the Muslim world. Most of the perpetrators were Muslims, as were their victims, and most of the victims were women. Indeed, while Sikhs and Hindus do commit such murders, the honor killings in her study, both those in the West and in the rest of the world, are mainly Muslim-on-Muslim crimes. It is a measure of her intellectual integrity that Chesler goes where the data lead. Thus, her conclusion, based on the empirical evidence, is that the origin of honor killings probably resides in shame-and-honor tribalism, not necessarily in a particular religion. And she holds each religionIslam, Hinduism, and Sikhismresponsible for failing to abolish, or trying to abolish, honor killing or femicide. But can Islam itself really have nothing to do with honor killings, even though Muslims have perpetuated the majority of such murders in the West? Yes, honor killings have also been found in various societies in the Balkans, the southern Mediterranean (Sicily, for example), and in India, but could these cultures not have learned from Islam, since they were all under Islamic domination for centuries? Further, how does one disentangle the supposed tribal components of honor killing from the religious ones? Surely, for example, Pakistani culture, saturated with Islama religion that undoubtedly treats women as inferiorcould only develop a deeply misogynistic society that makes honor killing possible. Religious authorities do not condemn honor killings in Pakistan, a fact that makes hope of abolition remote. The attitudes that make honor-killing possible are derived directly from Islamic teachings and are further reinforced by them. Muslim nations make similar arguments about cliterectomy and other anti-modern practices. Chesler has put her scholarship to good use by submitting affidavits about honor killing in court cases where girls or women, in flight from being honor killed, were seeking political asylum or emancipation from their families. She has rendered a great service in presenting the fruit of her sober research, which should be the starting point of any attempts to deal with this barbaric custom, whether Islamic or merely tribal. Chesler has contributed, and not for the first time, to the amelioration of the suffering of countless women. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images Audio Transcript Seth Barron: Welcome back to 10 Blocks. This is Seth Baron, associate editor of City Journal. President Trump has shaken up the world's stage, especially on the topic of trade. Trump has alternated between advocating return to protectionism and tariffs and demanding that all developed nations eliminate all barriers to trade. Styling himself as the consummate deal maker, President Trump has certainly sent our trading partners on their heels with his unusual negotiating tactics. What is the real story on trade and what should we expect? I'm joined now by Milton Ezrati, a contributor to City Journal. Milton is a nationally regarded economist whos had a successful career in the financial industry. Retiring as the chief economist for investment manager Lord Abbott in 2015, he now serves as chief economist for Vested. Milton is the author of Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live. He writes frequently for City Journal and has published in a wide variety of other publications as well. Thanks for joining us today, Milton. Milton Ezrati: It's a pleasure to be here. Seth Barron: Well, in two recent CJ articles for City Journal, Why China Can't Afford a Trade War and Trump's Tariff Gambit, you laid out the current landscape of trade from the American perspective, and you made an interesting point about China. You said that China is somewhat vulnerable. How so? I always think of China as being the gorilla that we can't escape. Milton Ezrati: Well in some respects it is. It's a manufacturing powerhouse, and the United States buys a lot from China. I pointed to the vulnerability because China needs trade much more than the United States. In fact, its whole economic growth model is based on producing a manufacturing surplus for sale to the world, and the United States is a big chunk of the world. So they produce an enormous surplus of goods, whether it's concrete reinforcement bars, jet engines, team logo t-shirts, an iPad, an iPhone, assemblies. They need someone to buy them. They're useless to the Chinese unless they have a buyer, and the buyer is outside the country. So they are very much dependent on trade. They do not have a balanced economy, and in that respect, I said China needs the trade more than the United States. That's not to say the United States wouldn't suffer horribly in a trade war, but China is in a more vulnerable position because otherwise you just have things rusting in yards or piling up and becoming a storage problem. Seth Barron: What percentage of the Chinese economy is export based? Milton Ezrati: More than 20 percent of the Chinese economy is export based, and actually, I would suggest that it's actually higher than that. That's the standard calculation for gross domestic product, but the Chinese assemble a great deal. They import a great deal and turn around and sell it. And that number, that 20 percent, only captures the value-added, which is really very small. When you talk about jobs, when you talk about stability of their economy, it's a much larger percentage, although you can't measure that so readily. Seth Barron: Now, China operates as kind of a command economy, right? Or its centralized more than the United States, correct? Milton Ezrati: It's a communist country. It's planned. Seth Barron: So I mean they've done things like build a dozen cities just out of thin air. Why couldn't they, say if they stopped exporting, just concentrate on building up a domestic infrastructure or domestic markets? Milton Ezrati: Well they could, I suppose. But it would drive them into tremendous debt, and China already has an enormous debt overhang. If you're building and there is no one buying, and if you're going to try to jumpstart your economy by doing these major public works projects or building factories that produce for no buyers, they have to go for quite a period with no income. That means debt. China already has a huge outstanding debt: some of it private, some of it public, and some of it state-owned enterprises, and it's sort of a hybrid classification. So if they want to fill the gap from exports by building more empty cities and more train links to nowhere, that's going to bring them more debt and make them more vulnerable, ultimately. Seth Barron: I've heard a lot, and I believe President Trump has alluded to this, that American companies, to do business in China, like high tech companies, are required to partner with Chinese companies and essentially turn over all of their trade secrets or their patents. To what extent is this technology transfer? Is this a real problem? Milton Ezrati: It is. Its not only a problem. That is the legal side of it. The Chinese also deal in industrial espionage, and I imagine other kinds of espionage as well. And it's not just U.S. companies. It's European companies and Japanese companies, and they want to get into that market either to sell their products or to take advantage of the relatively inexpensive labor. They are forced to do this, and they transfer the technology to China. Seth Barron: So what can the United States do about that? Milton Ezrati: Well there's not much we can do except to deny them the access, and I guess Trump is trying to do that with his tariff. Although it's a particularly clumsy way to go ahead, and I don't want to pile onto Trump, everyone calls him clumsy, but in this case I have to agree with them. It's kind of a clumsy way, or definitely a clumsy way to do it. We have been trying very hard to pressure the Chinese through these tariffs and other means to protect our intellectual property. It's very hard with the Chinese, but I would add that the Chinese put themselves at a disadvantage trying to get technology this way because it means that they're waiting for us for the next app. They've set themselves up to depend on us and the Japanese and the Europeans, and I suppose other countries that develop their own technology. They have set themselves up to wait for us for the next app, and of course that puts them always a little bit behind because by the time it's being applied in firm, it's already passe, and there's something else coming down the road. So again, the Chinese development model has put them at a position where they are dependent on us for their inputs or for their revenue, and I'm not suggesting the Chinese are weak, but they are vulnerable in a way that we are not. Seth Barron: So what is the state of Chinese R&D? Do they spend a lot on research and development, and where is that going? Will they, at some point, surpass us or match us in terms of biotech, nanotech? Milton Ezrati: They are spending a great deal, and they're trying to build on what they get from us, either in these transfers or outright theft. They are not stupid. They are moving ahead. This brings us to another problem with the Chinese command economy is that they move in a centralized direction. In March, the Chinese, at the party conference, they said their goal, and they listed the kinds of areas they were going to be in: smart cars, jet engines, biotech. It was all a list of the headlines from today. That means that they are already behind the curve because the headlines of today are not the things people will be working on in 10 years. So I'm not suggesting that the Chinese won't be able to make tremendous technological strides. They certainly have in space and certainly missile technology they have as well. But they are again following, their whole model is to follow us, maybe build on what they can get from us, and perhaps do some of their own research. But the vulnerability here is that it's completely centralized, so they're not moving in many directions at once. One of the glories of our system, and I say our I don't mean the U.S., I mean the capitalist system or the market-based system, is people are moving in dozens of directions, thousands of directions at once, most of which will fail. But we are going to tap the future that way. If you concentrate and build all these empty cities to pick a physical manifestation of what happens when you centralize, you're likely to miss the mark and create a great deal of waste in the interim. Seth Barron: I see. They're like a giant ship that takes forever to turn I guess. Milton Ezrati: Well they are, and they can only go in one direction at once. Whereas if you want to draw the ship analogy, you could say that the United States particularly, and Europe to some extent in technology, is a fleet of smaller ships all trying different routes, all trying different means to get from one place to another. Seth Barron: Now China has set a goal for itself: Made in China 2025. What is that, and what are they trying to do? Milton Ezrati: Well it is effectively this attitude of becoming an even bigger manufacturing giant than they are. It tends to be a little more high-tech. So China made their initial strides and economic growth by building cheap toys, some of them toxic at one time, and now they're trying to be a little more value-added, a little more high tech, and that's what concerns. This speech at the party conference talked about biotech to some extent, it talked about jet engines, it talked about hybrids, it talked about self-driving cars, and green technology, which china desperately needs. Those sorts of things, as I mentioned, are in the headlines today. That's where they're going. So if there's somebody working in some place in Austin, Texas, or Silicon Valley or downtown Manhattan on a new application that will revolutionize the way we think about things, the Chinese will be behind the curve because they're picking up today's headlines. Seth Barron: I'd like to ask you just a little bit about debt. I've always heard this joke, like if you owe someone a thousand dollars, you're in trouble, but if you owe someone a million dollars or a billion dollars or a trillion dollars, they're in trouble. Well we owe China one or two trillion dollars, but who's in trouble? What can they do with that? I mean, are we reliant on them or they reliant on us? Milton Ezrati: Well, they're reliant on us to pay them back. Now if the Chinese want to punish us, and everyone tells me, and I hear this over and over again in various conferences, What if they sell the debt? Well, what if they sell the debt? There will be a buyer. The yields will go up. In other words, the United States will have to pay more to place the money, but it's not like they're going to sell the debt and we have to pay them back. They can't demand payment before the contract says, The United States pays them on the debt. If they sell it, they have to sell it to someone else to be rid of it. They can't come and say give us back our money. We may have to pay a higher interest rate. The United States now is actually paying, as a portion of the budget, almost a record-low amount to support the debt. Of course it would strain our budget. We'd have to pay more interest ultimately. Thats all the Chinese can do. The Russians have already begun to sell U.S. government debt, probably because it's not as good an investment as they thought. The Chinese could do the same. It would burden us. It would marginally increase the strain on the U.S. budget to pay that interest to someone else. The person that bought the debt at a lower price, that is a higher rate of interest than the Chinese did. They would take a great loss in the process. Seth Barron: The Chinese would? Milton Ezrati: Yes, the Chinese would. Seth Barron: Oh. Let's go to the other side of the world now. Well the G7 conference, which just broke up last week or two weeks ago, left everyone with the impression that Trump had just torn up the so-called post-war order. Now you said some very provocative things about the post-war order in your piece. Can you elaborate on what you think about the post-war order and what it means? Milton Ezrati: Well there is no post-war order. There are a lot of people, a lot of our trading partners, who have said that you're going back on the post-war order that the United States built. I think there was a headline in the New York Times that said that Trump upends the post-war trade order. There have been at least two post-war trade orders. Shortly after the Second World War, in fact for decades after the Second World War, the United States pushed for widespread trade reduction, universal trade reduction. Under the general agreement to terrorism trade, which is the precursor for today's World Trade Organization, Washington effectively forced other nations, used its economic heft to force other nations, to reduce tariffs and to reduce trade restrictions universally across the board. The last of these was the Doha round. They were called rounds, these negotiations. The Doha round, which failed early in this century, but really that post war ordered died in the 1980s when the United States and Europe in particular started to move toward what are called PTAs, or preferential trade agreements. And these are what NAFTA is and the European Union is, and the trans-pacific partnership wanted to be. They do seem to make trade freer, but it's only for the signatories. For the people outside these agreements, sometimes when they're done, the tariffs or the barriers get higher. The European Union is a perfect example. They have tremendous barriers for agricultural goods that the United States has been trying to break into you for years. That wasn't always true. But when the European Union formed its proprietary trade agreement, or refined it, they kept U.S. agricultural products out. NAFTA, for instance, which everyone talks about, is a great free trade agreement. It's great for Canada, the United States, and Mexico. We have free trade. The rest of the world is excluded, and they do not get the same rights. They do not get the same preferences. So as the world moved from this universal approach that was done actively under the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and even Johnson administrations, it moved in the 80s toward these preferential trade agreements. The old order died, and we have a new order. Now Trump seems to be playing on both sides. Forgive me; this is a big subject for me. I get excited about it. Trump seems to be moving on both sides. He talks about wanting to play the preferential agreement but get the United States a better deal, which is the renegotiation and NAFTA, and the talk about the trans-pacific partnership as a bad deal. There's that, but when he left the conference he did say a throwaway item. He said, I want to reduce tariffs and trade protection; I want to reduce trade barriers and subsidies across the board, around the world, everywhere. This was a hint that his real objective, or at least one of his objectives, and who knows where he really wants to go, is to go back to the original trade order that the United States pushed. I don't know where he's going, he doesn't confide in me. I don't think he confides in anybody. He might not even confide to the man in the mirror, but he doesn't confide in me. But he certainly has upended the status quo, but there is no post-war trade order to upend. It's been upended. Seth Barron: Okay, but in terms of the tariffs that exist, Trump said, well we have a terrible position visa v the other members of the G7. And everyone in the media, or many people in the media, said he's lying, he's misrepresenting things. But what is the status of our, I mean you said we have free trade with Canada, but then it seems like well when it comes to dairy products there are exceptions. In your piece for us, you went through the different levels of trade and so forth between the different countries. I wonder if you could elaborate on that. Milton Ezrati: Well Canada is an example, and this was actually put in the original NAFTA agreement. There are quotas effectively. Canada will take so much dairy into Canada, U.S. dairy into Canada, and when we get above a certain amount, then the tariffs skyrocket. That was written into the preferential trade agreement, and Trump may be referring to that. My summary on this is that both parties are right. When the Europeans and the Canadians say, well you have a lot of tariffs too, the United States has outrageous tariffs on sugar and other commodities, they're correct. And when we say to them, you have tariffs on your precious commodities, we're correct. We tend to be a little more selective in terms of when we describe ourselves, and they, when they describe themselves. So yes, there are tremendous tariffs built into this. Every country tries to tilt the tray, the playing field, for a favored industry. And Trump is right, and they're right. And he's not wrong in what he points to, but he's very selective. Seth Barron: Well looking at both the G7 and China, people are talking about the possibility of a trade war. Do you think we're going to have a trade war and what would that mean? Milton Ezrati: Well I'm hoping we don't have a trade war. I don't think we are because that's just too unthinkable. If we get into a trade war it could be devastating for the global economy. I don't think anybody in the G7 or the Chinese or President Trump wants a trade war, and I think everyone is well aware this would be devastating. Some countries would do better than others. I compared the United States with China. The United States actually is better positioned than most in a trade war, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't hurt us terribly. We would have a recession, and if Mr. Trump is listening, it would it would reflect badly on your electoral chances if we had a trade war. So I'm hoping we don't have a trade war. What worries me is not that people are aiming at a trade war, not that Trump is a lunatic and wants trade war, not that the Chinese want a trade war, they certainly don't. They know how vulnerable they are. My fear is that like military confrontations, these things can take on a life of their own and go to where no one wants to go. That's the fear in this environment. Trump and all the other people who say they're going to retaliate are playing a very dangerous game, and Trump, yes, he started this game. Seth Barron: Wow. Well that was an illuminating conversation. We would love to hear your comments about today's episode on Twitter, @City Journal with #TenBlocks. If you like our show and want to hear more, please leave ratings and reviews on iTunes. Thanks for listening, and thanks Milton for joining us. Milton Ezrati: It's a pleasure to be here THE WASHINGTON POST killed my story over a retweeted criticism. They told me I couldnt pitch them for six months. Then they told me I might have an agenda against the paper. Then they went silent. Seven weeks later, when they learned I was writing about the incident for CJR, they told me they were terribly sorry; it should never have happened. In the pantheon of freelance horror stories, its hardly the most egregious. In my privileged position, I pushed back, I leaned in, I secured a commission and got my apology. Still, what does this say about the precarious state of freelance life? To freelance is to put up with almost unending ignominy. Editors disappear for months after commissioning a piece. Some string writers along with endless questions and demands for more reporting, only to kill the story upon delivery. I did not get paid for more than a year by one prominent news magazine. Once, I waited 18 months to get paid a $500 honorarium for a 3,000-word reported story. These, of course, pale in comparison to the lack of protections facing fixers, translators and freelancers in in dangerous situations. But they are not meaningless. They affect how we work, what we can deliver and, ultimately, what stories can be told. The story that I pitched was not an important story. Spiking it has little impact. Creating an atmosphere that silences critics on issues of race and tone, though that serves no one. ICYMI: The story BuzzFeed, The New York Times and more didnt want to publish In mid-April, I pitched a story about river terns to The Washington Post. The tern, which is endangered, is slowly returning to the Mekongs waterways in Cambodia, but its survival is threatened by hydropower dams. To report the story, my Cambodian translator and I camped on a remote island for three days and traveled for two. Id received a grant that covered reporting costs, but placing the story proved to be difficult. All freelancers have stories like thispieces that seem like sure shots but never quite land. When I tried The Washington Post, a foreign editor wrote back quickly. He offered me $500 and asked for 1,000 words. Fifty cents a word is good in this business; no one covers expenses. At the time, I breathed a sigh of relief. Before I could start writing he sent a second email, entitled Your Twitter. It seemed to be dashed off from his iPhone. Weeks earlier I had applauded a Twitter thread pointing out flaws in a Post story. The editor asked if I could explain myself. Sign up for CJR 's daily email The thread, written by Dene-Hern Chen, a colleague and friend who has reported in the region for seven years, underscored questions many Southeast Asia correspondents have grappled with for years. How to cover Chinas rise in Cambodia, how to report a complex geopolitical issue with nuance, how to avoid racism or orientalism in our writing. In a few spare, pointed sentences, she highlighted how such reporting can fall short. She did not name the author of the Post story, nor did she linger upon the paper. I retweeted it with the words good thread. I was not alone. Among the dozens who retweeted and liked the thread were Southeast Asia scholars, Cambodian observers, and journalists who write for The New York Times, Reuters and, yes, The Washington Post. RELATED: BuzzFeed and other publications have been quoting restaurant workers but they arent who they appear to be I told the editor I thought the tweets opened an important discussion and highlighted one perspective. I pointed out that I did not write the tweet. He thanked me for my candor and said the Post would not be taking my story. The paper could not take such writers who supported strong condemnation of its work. In six months timeif all went quietly, I presumeI could pitch them again. At a certain level, only journalists can really be watchdogs for other journalists. An ordinary reader might not pick up on inaccuracies or problems with tone and angle. This may well be why Twitter is full of these sorts of rejoinders. Thousands of journalists picking apart thousands of stories. Some pushing back, others staying silent. Editors hanging in the background, apparently, deciding whether to learn from the criticism or whether to attack. I replied to the editor with a letter of protest, copying three other senior editors. Ive burned a bridge, I thought. Might as well burn it well. I argued for a journalists right to free expression and said this short-term blacklisting seemed coercive. I defended Chens position. I asked what policy I broke. The paper needed to be extremely careful, the editor explained, though she understood how this could be frustrating to someone who, she admitted, appeared to be a legitimate journalist. Our job, in this freelance system, is to stay silent. We protect ourselves with whisper networks of correspondents who quietly tell one another which editors to avoid, what publications to steer clear from. At the end of the day, no one wants to be the one to raise a voice. The stakes are too high; the scales too tipped. I didnt get a response. I assume they did not reply because they didnt have a good answer. Perhaps they were counting on me, as the freelancer, to keep my mouth shut. Two weeks on, I sent a follow-up asking which policy I broke. An editor at the Posts Talent Network, responsible for vetting freelancers, replied. The commissioning editor disappeared from the CCs. An acerbic criticism, explained the editor, could be proof of an agenda, a la Project Veritas. How could the Post know I was a real journalist? The paper needed to be extremely careful, the editor explained, though she understood how this could be frustrating to someone who, she admitted, appeared to be a legitimate journalist. What is the measure of legitimacy? Of worth? I have written for The Economist, Newsweek, Al Jazeera. In the weeks in which I was waiting for a reply, I had one story published in Time and another in HuffPost. I spent nearly a decade building up a career reporting and editing abroad. Ive won journalism prizes and grants. None of this is hidden. But at the end of the day, it seemed to be insufficient. My colleague criticized an article. I retweeted that criticism. The writer and her editors were legitimate, worthy of internal defense and the backing of a powerful organization. Our value, as freelancers, decidedly lower. That was the final word until weeks later, when I reached out to the Post saying I would be writing this piece and asking for comment. Suddenly, the response was quick, and courteous. The original foreign editor emailed to say they would be in touch and to thank me for my patience. A managing editor reached out to set up a phone call. When we spoke by Skype, the editor, Cameron Barr, was unfailingly polite and apologetic. I think we overreacted to your retweet, Barr told me straight away. I want to apologize for that, I think it was a misstep. Barr said the paper would entertain my pitches without delay, and that there wasnt any social media policy per se apart from expecting professional conduct. Even though there were some intemperate comments in that retweet, there were also some substantive criticisms of our work. And were not the kind of organization that wants to react like that, that wants to react harshly to someone who engages them in substantive criticism of what we do. They did not offer to take back the killed story, or to pay a kill fee, and I did not ask. I got the apology. Thats something, no? There is privilege in being able to kick up a stink like this and get an apology. If I were a younger journalist, or a minority, or more financially or professionally precarious, then my calculations may well have been different. I wonder about other freelancers who maybe have had a similar thing happen to them at the Post and would never think to respond or push back in any way, I told Barr. He said he did not know of other cases. I believe him, but I am also fairly certain if there were no mention of this article there would never have been an internal discussion, an apology, an admission that Denes thread may well have made some valid points. And now that thats been proffered, my airing of dirty laundry becomes poor taste. So you push back, as a freelancer, when you can. You know though that there is likely some cost. ICYMI: Vice shows how not to treat freelancers Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Abby Seiff is an award-winning freelance journalist with a decade of experience reporting and editing in Asia. Her writing and photography have appeared in Newsweek, Time, The Associated Press, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, and more. Prior to becoming a freelancer, she served as an editor for several years at The Cambodia Daily and The Phnom Penh Post. Given the presidents repeated attacks on the media, its not surprising to see the Trump administration pushing back on almost all aspects of the traditional relationship with the press. But what was surprising to many journalists on Tuesday was how quickly The New York Times seemed to accede to the demands of the White House around a recent interview with policy adviser Stephen Miller, the man responsible for the administrations aggressive stance on separating immigrant families and running what amount to child internment camps. Michael Barbaro, the host of the newspapers podcast, The Daily, said at the beginning of the broadcast Tuesday that he would be talking with a reporter about the recent story on Trumps border policies, but wouldnt be using audio of the interview with Miller, because the White House objected. Immediately, the questions started flying: Wasnt this an on-the-record interview? (Yes, it was.) So why would it matter whether the Times quoted Millers words in a text article or used the audio of those words on a podcast, or both? RELATED: DOJ seizes New York Times reporters phone and email records That question hung in the air until the papers PR department released a statement saying: We conducted an extended White House interview with Stephen Miller for a weekend story about the Trump administrations border policy. After the original story was published, producers of The Daily planned to talk with the reporter and use audio excerpts from the Miller interview. White House officials objected, saying that they had not agreed to a podcast interview. While Millers comments were on the record, we realized that the ground rules for the original interview were not clear, and so we made a decision not to run the audio. This explanation was not received warmly. New York Times Caves To White House On Stephen Miller Interview, blared a headline from HuffPost. Others bombarded the paper on Twitter. Come on, @nytimes, said one such criticism. Release the on-the-record audio of the Stephen Miller interview. It is news, it is fit to print, and we deserve to hear it. Are you journalists or jellyfish? If you need backbone, maybe borrow some from The Washington Post. Sarah Kenzior said the decision implied that its more important to NYT to placate white supremacists than to speak the truth about the abuse of children. The Times declined to elaborate to CJR on the statement it made. Others pointed out that Trump has not exactly been friendly towards the Timesin fact, he has repeatedly singled the newspaper out as the failing New York Times and accused it of being fake news. Given that, why would the Times be so eager to agree to the White Houses demands, especially when the interview was clearly on the record? Perhaps because the paper is worried about losing access to the Trump administration, and so is willing to eat a little crow. Is that a deal worth making? At this point, its speculation. If the Times still had a public editor, that might make an interesting column, but the paper killed the job last year. Sign up for CJR 's daily email ICYMI: Former NYT editor Jill Abramson has some criticism for the way the papers reporters use Twitter Heres more on the Times and its controversial decision: Appropriate : Contrary to much of the criticism of the Times , media writer Erik Wemple of The Washington Post said in a column that he understood why they made the decision, writing that granting some deference to a White House headed by a serial liar doesnt feel, or look, too good. But it embodies a level of caution appropriate for a news organization such as the Times . : Contrary to much of the criticism of the , media writer Erik Wemple of said in a column that he understood why they made the decision, writing that granting some deference to a White House headed by a serial liar doesnt feel, or look, too good. But it embodies a level of caution appropriate for a news organization such as the . Trade-offs : Nate Silver, who runs FiveThirtyEight, said on Twitter that the choice to agree to the administrations demand was a rather explicit acknowledgement by the NYT that its willing to make sacrifices to preserve its access to senior people within the White House. Is that access worth it? Maybethey get a lot of scoops! But lets not pretend there arent trade-offs. : Nate Silver, who runs FiveThirtyEight, said on Twitter that the choice to agree to the administrations demand was a rather explicit acknowledgement by the NYT that its willing to make sacrifices to preserve its access to senior people within the White House. Is that access worth it? Maybethey get a lot of scoops! But lets not pretend there arent trade-offs. Not about access : Julie Davis, the reporter who did the Miller interview, said, I get the objections to what appears to be an after-the-fact revocation of an on-the-record agreement w Miller, but understand that @shearm & I never requested a podcast interview or permission to use audio. She said the Times is not in the business of misrepresenting ourselves to sources in the WH or anywhere else. Its not about access or anything other than that. : Julie Davis, the reporter who did the Miller interview, said, I get the objections to what appears to be an after-the-fact revocation of an on-the-record agreement w Miller, but understand that @shearm & I never requested a podcast interview or permission to use audio. She said the is not in the business of misrepresenting ourselves to sources in the WH or anywhere else. Its not about access or anything other than that. Discomfort : Michael Calderone, senior media reporter at Politico, said in a tweet that he has had conversations where he recorded the audio for accuracy rather than broadcast, and he could see holding back the Miller audio if it specifically violated a source agreement. But the decision to hold back a clearly newsworthy recording is because it makes the White House uncomfortable? : Michael Calderone, senior media reporter at Politico, said in a tweet that he has had conversations where he recorded the audio for accuracy rather than broadcast, and he could see holding back the Miller audio if it specifically violated a source agreement. But the decision to hold back a clearly newsworthy recording is because it makes the White House uncomfortable? Mistake: Murdoch Davis, a veteran Canadian newspaper editor and publisher, said the Times decision to withhold the audio of the interview was a mistake. Its 2018. NYT isnt just print media, he said on Twitter. Use of anything gathered in reporting facts, quotes, photos, audio, video cant be subject to a newsmakers (or his bosses) subsequent misgivings. This is weak @nytimes deference to authority. Other notable stories: Steve Levitan, the co-creator of the ABC hit TV show Modern Family , said that he plans to leave Fox Studio at the end of his contract because of the right-wing sentiments expressed daily on the Fox News network (both are owned by Murdoch-controlled 21st Century Fox). Fox Studio has been a wonderful home for most of my career, he said. I have no problem with fact-based conservatism, but @FoxNews 23-hour-a-day support of the NRA, conspiracy theories and Trumps lies gets harder to swallow every day. , said that he plans to leave Fox Studio at the end of his contract because of the right-wing sentiments expressed daily on the Fox News network (both are owned by Murdoch-controlled 21st Century Fox). Fox Studio has been a wonderful home for most of my career, he said. I have no problem with fact-based conservatism, but @FoxNews 23-hour-a-day support of the NRA, conspiracy theories and Trumps lies gets harder to swallow every day. A survey of college students done by the Knight Foundation and Gallup found a majority of students say that diversity and inclusion are more important than protecting free speech. About 56 percent of those surveyed said free speech was important, and 52 percent said diversity and inclusion were important, but when forced to choose just one, 53 percent chose diversity and inclusion over free speech. Sarah OHagan and Rikha Sharma Rani, from the Fuller Project for International Reporting write for CJR about mainstream media coverage of immigration for three weeks in 2018 and found that articles talked about conflict and crisis but almost never quoted women. This is striking in part, they said, because women and girls make up at least half of the immigrant population in the US. Senior editors and journalists have published an open letter to the global newspaper organization WAN-IFRA, after a series of incidents at the groups conference in Portugal earlier this month raised the issue of sexism and sexual harassment in the industry. We are done pandering to the egos of change-resistant influential men in the hope that our gentle lead will eventually encourage them to join us on a meander toward gender equality in the news business, the letter says. Seth MacFarlane, creator of the animated series Family Guy , has donated $2 million to NPR and $500,000 to Los Angeles NPR affiliate KPCC. The donations came just a few days after the comedian and producer expressed outrage on Twitter at a suggestion from Fox News host Tucker Carlson that viewers should discount anything they see or hear from any media outlet other than Fox. , has donated $2 million to NPR and $500,000 to Los Angeles NPR affiliate KPCC. The donations came just a few days after the comedian and producer expressed outrage on Twitter at a suggestion from Fox News host Tucker Carlson that viewers should discount anything they see or hear from any media outlet other than Fox. New York Times CEO Mark Thompson said in a speech at the annual advertising shindig in Cannes that the publishers relationship with Google is genuinely quite creative [and] positive, and that Twitter is becoming an exciting and interesting platform again. Facebook, however, we have found to be very difficult, he said. In particular, Thompson mentioned the companys recent decision to put promoted news stories into a searchable public archive of political advertising. ICYMI: 11 images that show how the Trump administration is failing at photography Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Mathew Ingram is CJRs chief digital writer. Previously, he was a senior writer with Fortune magazine. He has written about the intersection between media and technology since the earliest days of the commercial internet. His writing has been published in the Washington Post and the Financial Times as well as by Reuters and Bloomberg. Lying, cheating and charming, spying and scamming his way through the world with a warm smile on his face and a gun tucked in his back pocket, Henry Greenberg or whatever his name is; he uses at least four was born in Russia. But the sun and the swindles brought him to South Florida, which is now the backdrop for the latest chapter in the seemingly endless controversy over who may have have ripped off whom in the 2016 presidential election. Greenberg, who has left a trail of arrests halfway around the world, is the mystery man at the center of the newest report of contact between Donald Trump's 2016 campaign staff and shadowy Russians. Greenberg stands accused by Trump associates of trying to peddle derogatory information about Hillary Clinton to Trump's organization for a cool $2 million. But if it's true, was Greenberg part of a Russian government attempt to tilt the scales of the election in Trump's favor? Or a sinister undercover shill for the FBI, trying to lure Trump's lieutenants into an illegal act for which they could be prosecuted? Or just a run-of-the-mill Russian con man trying to make a quick freelance score for himself? The strange and captivating tale of Greenberg came to light over the weekend in The Washington Post. The Post reported that two former senior Trump campaign advisors who had previously told a congressional committee that they didn't recall talking to any Russians during the campaign both changed their testimony. They said they now remembered having fleeting contact "a matter of minutes," one said with Greenberg, who wanted to sell them political dirt on Clinton. The two former advisors Roger Stone, who now runs a Fort Lauderdale political consulting company, and Michael Caputo, co-owner of the Miami Beach-based public relations company Zeppelin Communications said they originally dismissed Greenberg as "crazy" and a "waste of time" and promptly forgot about him. They didn't mention him when they were questioned under oath by the House Intelligence Committee as part of the burgeoning number of Washington investigations of possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. But in April, according to Caputo, as his attorney grilled him in preparation for questioning by the Senate Intelligence Committee as well as FBI agents working for special counsel Robert Mueller, Caputo suddenly remembered the encounter. Greenberg had allegedly reached out to Caputo's business partner with the offer of information, after which Caputo asked Stone to take the meeting. His memory allegedly refreshed, Caputo told both the Senate investigators and the FBI about Greenberg but was surprised that the FBI agents already seemed more familiar with the subject. Read the rest by clicking here. THREE WEEKS AGO, a devastating flood swept through sleepy Ellicott City, Maryland, shaking up the lives of residents and business owners and pouring them out for the world to see. Trapped in the flood, my instinctive responseas a part-time journalist and full-time millennial scumwas to document the scene. I took video of the waist-deep water magically held at bay by a thin apartment building door, and photographed the cars unlucky enough to be caught in the pull of the worlds largest draining bathtub. I was holed up in a strangers empty apartment, looking at the river that used to be my street, when I was contacted by a production associate at Good Morning America via Twitter. With the determination of a fixer trying to get me on the last helicopter out of Saigon, he wrote that a woman named Christina would call me on Skype for a video interview. Id agreed to talk, but as the lights flickered and then died in the apartment, I replied that I needed to conserve my prehistoric iPhones battery. The producer reassured me that two minutes is all they would needa sort of apologetic, conversational sherpa-ing that Ive done before, to lead a reluctant subject to an interview. ICYMI: New York Times under fire for interview Requests from local news affiliates had come almost immediately after I posted my footage online. Many asked permission to use my photos and video footage, and for the most part I agreed. The Twitter account I primarily use to goof around with friends or maybe share a Vulture article Id written began showing up in news articles from NBC and CNN to AccuWeather and The New York Times. When Fox News asked on Twitter, I half-mindedly replied, No, fuck off, a response which, for me, went viral. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project Anyone but Fox News can use my photo or video Max Robinson (@DieRobinsonDie) May 27, 2018 Naturally, Fox ended up using my video anyway, as part of a compilation I explicitly did not agree to. When pressed by the photography blog PetaPixel, a Fox News spokesman defended the decision and explained that they had licensed my footage from the Associated Press. Fox News eventually deleted tweets showing both the video and their initial request to me. I took note a week later when Fox uploaded a segment entitled Why climate change has run its course to its official YouTube channel, and felt steadier in my response. In the days that followed the flood, I answered phone calls or Facebook messages from reporters and media-types, asking me to recount what happened and politely requesting that I distill fuzzy memories and unsure feelings down to a handy quote. I tried to answer as many as possible. At a certain point, however, you hit a wall. The background radiation that stays with you after a traumatic event sticks around for hours, days, weeks. Its a struggle to answer questions like What were you thinking at that time? and How high would you say the water got?to say nothing of offering whatever deep thoughts on the economic and political fate of your town. ICYMI: Reporter for The Atlantic has extreme experience with Facebooks reps As the mental fog lifts and I start to divide portions of my life into pre-flood and post-floodas I start thinking about things other than where my car is, or where I am going to live for the next few monthsI find myself troubled by my position in media coverage of the floods. I know that the folks riding news desks and navigating the latest national tragedy all have bosses to satisfy and bills to pay. But there doesnt appear to be a guidebook for potential sources confronted with a sudden swell of media requests. Nor do all reporters work with the same understanding of best practices when engaging with a source in crisis, be it from a natural disaster, a shooting, or another horrific event. Despite our best efforts as journalists, we report on the messy details of peoples lives as outsiders looking in. We typically dont consider that getting such details wrong could have massive ramifications for a storys subject or their family. LESS THAN A YEAR AGO, I was a beat reporter for ALM, a legal-news outlet based in Manhattan. I pressed attorneys for details on car accident cases and medical malpractice settlements. I left repeated voicemails and sweet-talked receptionists Yojimbo-style, pitting lawyer against lawyer for the important facts at hand. I used to joke that I was an ambulance-chaser chaser. I bugged working professionals who usually lacked an emotional stake in some of the worst days of peoples lives; still, the machine I was a part of could be ghoulish. In college, I worked at the now-insolvent Baltimore City Paper, first as an intern and later as an editorial assistant and freelance writer. As an intern, I helped clean up Murder Inka weekly accounting of every homicide in Baltimore City and a response to a problem without an easy solution. Major details of city killings were elusive and often went completely underreported, says Anna Ditkoff, my former boss and the projects creator. I checked facts and edited parts of the column, which felt like important and vital work. I also recall making a fumbling and awkward phone call to the relative of a murder victim while trying to fact-check a few elusive details. Ditkoff says she did not usually speak to the relatives of murder victims directly, but the times she did were often critical learning experiences that shaped subsequent coverage. When we first started, we included arrest histories, she says. A family member of a victim reached out to me at our office to explain why that was biased and inaccurate. It could make someone look like a criminal when they were actually the victim of police bias. This anecdote is important: Despite our best efforts as journalists, we report on the messy details of peoples lives as outsiders looking in. We typically dont consider that getting such details wrong could have massive ramifications for a storys subject or their family. Just as Ditkoffs interactions with sources refined her approach over time, I know that my experiences as a reporter invested me in the concepts I covered, from criminal justice reform to legal advocacy. Speaking about my experiences with the flood has had the same effect; Im certainly better prepared to champion policy that recognizes the very real threats posed by climate change. My experience as a source, however, leaves me with doubts as to whether reporters give sufficient deference to those close to trauma. Im looking at all these places Ive frequented the last three years and theres TV reporters talking about how itll take years to rebuild, like its this far away bombed out city. They were talking about the future, but I knew by the time that future came theyd be long gone. IN A COFFEE SHOP roughly two miles from the mud-covered ruin of Ellicott Citys Main Street, I spoke with local reporter Libby Solomon, a reporter for the Baltimore Sun Media Group and a resident of Ellicott City since 2015. I had no intention of reporting on it, says Solomon, but I looked out my kitchen window, and theres a flood. Solomon currently writes for the Towson Times; Ellicott City isnt even her beat these days. But she lived in the city during the last flood in 2016, and recalls feeling so completely helpless. When the flood waters once again rolled in, she knew she had to take action as a reporter. Being literally above [the scene] and knowing I personally was safe, telling people what was going on, was one thing I could do, she says. Earlier this month, as she walked down Main Street with a host of other reporters, Solomon grappled with the surreality of the situation. Im looking at all these places Ive frequented the last three years and theres TV reporters talking about how itll take years to rebuild, like its this far away bombed out city, she says. It was weird because they were talking about the future, but I knew by the time that future came theyd be long gone. There are people for whom such incidents amount to more than articles, something to be filed and then moved on from. At critical moments, those needs collide with the need for reporters, who are also susceptible to trauma, to cover a crisis without turning away. When we lie to ourselves about objectivity, we overlook that truly great journalism is so often grounded in justicewhether legal, ethical, or karmic. We also risk disregarding the humanity of those people caught in harms way. When I see or talk to my neighbors, the anxiety and grief hanging in the air is palpablesomething Environmental Health News recently covered. Its as if my entire town has collectively staggered away from a bad car accident, and local news crews are on the scene to grill us on the color of the car that hit us. Reverend Anjel Scarborough, the tough-as-nails pastor heading up the disaster recovery efforts at the local Episcopalian church, posted a public list of media protocols directed at reportersin order to balance the mental and spiritual health needs of our community in the aftermath of this flood. The churchs impromptu press release is impressively articulate and almost saintly in its patient wording. It assures members of the press covering the flood that they are doing important workthis will be a long term effort and we dont want the community to forget uswhile asking them in so many words to cool it. Its an inarguably clear request from a citys residents to help soothe pain, and a plea for journalists not to strip-mine and sell it. ICYMI: Why reporting on refugee crises requires empathy Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Max Robinson is a social media coordinator and freelance film critic and journalist. His work has appeared in the Baltimore Beat, Vulture, CityLab, and Baltimore City Paper. Nebraska lawmakers may have cleared the way for companies to test self-driving vehicles with a law passed earlier this year, but dont expect a large number to hit the streets anytime soon. Although industry officials say Nebraska has positioned itself well to embrace the technology, getting it fully launched will likely take longer than the public expects even in states with friendly laws. Motorists headed out to visit Grand Island from Lincoln arent going to be sharing the road with driverless trucks anytime soon, said Kent Grisham, president of the Nebraska Trucking Association. They are coming someday, but theres still a lot to be worked out. Lawmakers and Gov. Pete Ricketts approved a measure in April that allows autonomous vehicles to operate on public roads as long as the vehicle includes safety features, follows state road rules and is properly insured. Supporters said the law would place Nebraska among the leading contenders to serve as a testing ground for such vehicles. Grisham said many industry officials believe it will take several years, if not decades before fully automated trucks are cruising down public roads. Most of the problems are technological, such as getting trucks to navigate a road where lane markers are covered by snow or steer through congested Omaha traffic. Its also unclear how driverless trucks will interact with local law enforcement or inspectors who try to stop them to ensure theyre safe, Grisham said. He said he wasnt aware of any efforts to lure companies to Nebraska and hasnt heard from any that are interested in using the state as a testing ground. Nebraska would be a good testing site because of its long, flat stretches of road and variable weather, he said. There are 1,000 questions we have to answer, things we take for granted with drivers, he said. Officials in Lincoln had initially planned to launch a driverless shuttle service to carry passengers between downtown Lincoln, the Haymarket District and the University of Nebraska-Lincolns main campus, but a city spokeswoman said the project was delayed and wont arrive in Lincoln for at least another few weeks. City officials now expect to run smaller-scale tests on the University of Nebraska-Lincolns Innovation Campus to work out any possible kinks. Mayor Chris Beutler said the project places Lincoln and the state at the forefront of innovation that could serve as a national model for the future of transportation in America. The shift toward self-driving cars and trucks is likely to happen gradually as more of their functions become automated, said John Lindsay, a lobbyist for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Lindsay said the new Nebraska law is broad enough to allow the technology to adapt. People might have to change their mindset, he said. Autonomous vehicles arent just this thing where you have a prototype and then, all of a sudden, you have a product hit the market. Some semi-autonomous vehicles are already on Nebraska roads, albeit on a smaller scale. Brevan Jorgenson, of Omaha, converted his 2016 Honda Civic into a self-driving car over the course of about six weeks. Jorgenson, an information technology consultant, can operate his car in self-driving mode. He said he would prefer to see the technology remain unregulated. Although technology has advanced dramatically in the two years since he upgraded his car, Jorgenson said the public may have unrealistic expectations. People seem to think that if we went to 100 percent self-driving cars, there would be no more accidents, he said. But there will be still be tires that pop, wheels that fall off, and deer. Accidents are a fact of life. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Delaware Couple Arrested for $100,000 Insurance Fraud Diliana Legeros and Joseph Aubourg, of Milford, Delaware, were indicted by a Delaware Grand Jury on June 4th for insurance fraud, then arrested after turning themselves in to Capital Police on June 11th. The defendants were processed, arraigned, and released on $1,000 unsecured bond each. An investigation conducted by the Delaware Department of Insurance found that the defendants filed insurance claims for injuries from an automobile accident in New Jersey, which never occurred. On November 16, 2016, Diliana Legros, Aubourgs wife, reported an accident claim to their auto insurance company. The defendants claimed that on November 12, 2016, Legros, her husband Joseph Aubourg, and two of their children, were traveling from New Jersey back to Delaware when a Mini Cooper with New York tags merged into their lane and struck their vehicle. Legros and Aubourg reported that the driver of the Mini Cooper failed to stop. However, they were able to secure the Mini Coopers license plate number. Despite securing the tag number, neither defendant notified the police. All claimed injuries and were treated by a chiropractor located in Milford, as well as other medical professionals. Upon inspection of the reported striking vehicle and interviews of the vehicle owner, investigators were able to provide evidence which proved that the accident had never occurred. As a result of the false claims the insurance provider was billed over $100,000 in medical bills. The company had paid out over $55,000 related to this claim. New York Doctor Claims He Examined Patients While on Vacation in Iceland A central New York orthopedic surgeon was sentenced this month for running an ongoing scheme that defrauded the workers compensation system by nearly $87,000, according to an announcement by New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott. Dr. Gregory B. Shankman, of Clinton, was sentenced in Oneida County Court today for his previous guilty plea to two counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the Second Degree. At sentencing, Shankman surrendered his license to practice medicine and paid full restitution of $86,896. He was sentenced to a one year conditional discharge. An investigation by Inspector General Leahy Scott found Shankman, who maintained offices on Genesee Street in Utica, defrauded the workers comp system by certifying he was overseeing claimant medical exams at his Utica office when he was instead traveling in western New York, out of state, and even out of the country. On multiple occasions, based on the investigation, Shankman was performing workers comp medical examinations in offices across upstate and western New York regions while also billing for examinations conducted simultaneously at his Utica office, where he was required to be under State law. This former doctor enriched himself by practicing fraud instead of medicine, said Inspector General Leahy Scott. His criminal acts enabled him to travel extensively and vacation abroad while shunning the most basic requirements of his job. The investigation found that Shankman was not in his Utica offices on more than 150 separate days between January 2015 and August 2017 while certifying he was at the office each of those days overseeing multiple workers comp exams. On many of the days when he indicated he was performing exams at his offices in Utica, he was in fact performing other exams in offices near Buffalo, was out of State, and even traveling in Iceland in the spring of 2016. As such, Shankman systematically submitted false bills for medical services rendered by a workers compensation medical provider to the State Insurance Fund, the County of Oneida and other insurance carriers, third party administrators, and self-insured entities. Inspector General Leahy Scott thanked Oneida County District Attorney Scott D. McNamara and his office for assisting with the investigation and for prosecuting this matter. In 2017, nearly 72,000 wildfires burned more than 10 million acres nationwide, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. It cost $2.4 billion to fight them. In Arizona last year, more than 2,300 wildfires scorched nearly 430,000 acres, and the prediction for fires this season is above average, the agency reported. An Arizona State University team has come up with a way to use artificial intelligence to detect wildfires before they grow to catastrophic intensity, and the project has a shot at winning a $100,000 prize from Microsoft next month. The project, called Prometheus, which came in fourth place in the national Microsoft Imagination Cup competition in May, was created by three students: Murong He and Facundo Santiago, who both received masters degrees in business analytics from the W. P. Carey School of Business last month, and David Azcona, a PhD student at Dublin City University who spent the last year at ASU on a Fulbright fellowship. The three students invented a software program that analyzes data from a surveillance drone. The drone flies about 100 meters high, taking images of the ground and scrutinizing them to accurately pinpoint whether theres an early-stage wildfire. If there is, the software sends the coordinates to a fast-response fire-fighting group. Its very difficult to teach the computer to detect fire, Santiago said. Instead of writing an algorithm, we are submitting a lot of images This is a fire, this is a fire, this is not a fire. Were pointing out, The fire is here, so please learn it and come up with the rules to classify it correctly. We are pushing the complexity of the logic needed to detect the image to the computer. Current technology uses thermal-imaging devices on drones to find hot spots in remote areas, but that is less reliable in Arizona and other areas of the West where temperatures often exceed 100 degrees. Experiencing a wildfire is terrifying, as He knows. She was living in San Diego last year when wildfires forced her family to flee their neighborhood. Thousands of people fled to evacuation sites like Qualcomm (now SDCCU) Stadium, and some of my classmates even lost their homes, she said. We stayed with a family friend and ended up being OK, but it was definitely a traumatic experience. When Santiago was telling us about his project using drones to detect soil quality, another series of California wildfires was on the news, so we thought it might be a good idea to apply the same technology in that setting. They had only a few days to pull Prometheus together, and then it came down to almost the last minute their project was entered five minutes before the deadline, partly because the complicated software took so long to upload. From the 4,000 projects submitted online, 12 were selected to pitch at the national competition in San Francisco in May. Two days before their presentation, the ASU team practiced with their drone at Golden Gate Park, using photographs of fires on the ground to stimulate the software to detect a fire, so they could show the judges. During the pitch, Azcona flew the drone outside the windows on a patio for the judges to see. We definitely felt like the underdogs at some points, He said. However, after we had pitched our project and before the final results were announced, we received a lot of great feedback from the audience, so the final results werent super surprising. Besides winning a spot in the international competition in July, the team won $4,000 for fourth place and a $1,000 prize for being the best artificial intelligence project. Santiago said that the pitch audience was surprised to learn that nothing like Prometheus exists right now. We said, If you think there is some techie solution out there that is protecting these areas, there isnt,' Santiago said. NASA is using satellite images to map the whole world, but that will be five to 10 years down the line, Azcona said. That will be a real-time solution to map fires, but its super expensive. The most common method of detecting fires now is human observation, particularly in remote areas, where people stand in watch towers and scan the area using binoculars, Santiago said. Thanks to feedback from firefighters, the team integrated red-flag alerts from the National Weather Service into the software. Those warnings flag areas with fire-conducive conditions such as high winds and low humidity, so the Prometheus drone can be deployed more strategically. The drone they used cost about $1,000, Santiago said, and any drone with autopilot capability would work. Ironically, the low-tech fire-detection method could eventually be used to make Prometheus more efficient. Currently, drones can only operate for about half an hour on battery power. But fire-fighting agencies could use the watchtowers as drone-charging stations, allowing the devices to operate remotely for longer periods. The team members went their separate ways for a few weeks Azcona has returned to Ireland, Santiago is leaving soon for his native Argentina and He is working as a data analyst for EdPlus, the unit at ASU that creates technology and includes ASU Online. But they will reunite in Seattle on July 22 for the international competition and a chance to win the grand prize. The team hopes to sell Prometheus as a subscription service at some point, although its an open-source project, Santiago said. If you follow the instructions, anyone can grab the code and make it happen, he said. Source: ASU AKRON, Ohio - Akronites could soon see the city's first new housing development built in the 21st Century. "It's a pretty big step forward for the city and the biggest development in the core of the city," said Akron Planning Director Jason Segedy. Akron Planning Commission recently approved conditional use for the development called the Crossings at Auldfarm. Of the five-member Planning Commission, Tina Boyes, Ken Jones and Julie Ann Sweet-Buntin voted in favor, with Teresa LeGrair and Renee Greene opposed. The city issued a request for proposals for the 51-house development, which is planned to occupy about seven city-owned acres northwest of Diagonal Road and south of Copley Road. The city specified it wanted homes - not townhouses or apartments there. "Single family homes are a better fit for this site," Segedy said. "There's an underserved market for that." The city wants to increase Akron's population from about 200,000 to 250,000 by 2050 and new construction factors into that plan. According to Segedy, the allotment could attract Akronites who want to live in new dwellings back to the city, and it could draw residents new to Akron. The city also owns about 1,400 vacant lots where homes could be built as in-fill. Northeast Ohio builder Knez Homes was awarded the project, in part because of its expertise in urban in-fill development and its knowledge of the region. Knez will work with K. Hovnanian Homes of Ohio. "Akron is a unique and wonderful place," said Bill Sanderson, Knez vice president of land acquisition and development. "Every place in Northeast Ohio has a different kind of flavor so we keep our ears open and our mouths shut and hear what the flavor is and go to that." Knez Homes works extensively in the Cleveland area, building homes in Ohio City, Duck Island, Circle North, Lakewood, Midtown and the Detroit Shoreway. "We like to think we've developed a niche focus and a business plan that works," Sanderson, said. "There are not that many competitors that do what we do." The company is also planning to build new homes in Highland Square in Akron, as Millennials and Baby Boomers are leading a trend toward urban living in walkable neighborhoods, he said. "People aren't buying big houses on big lots like they used to," he said. "We really believe in bringing new homes to customers who want to live in really cool in-fill neighborhoods. It's challenging and very rewarding, and we enjoy being a part of it." Houses in the Crossings at Auldfarm will have smaller lots than standard city lots, ranging from 46- to 56-feet wide and 67- to 85-feet long, with some lots rectangular. One and a half and two-story plans will be available ranging in size from 1,200- to 2,600-square feet. The allotment will be designed to blend with surrounding Akron neighborhoods, according to Knez. Sale price of the houses will range from $179,500 to $279,900, with the cumulative value of the finished development about $12 million, the company said. Some Akron residents living in the vicinity of the proposed development voiced concerns about the density of the development and the sale price, which they consider high. The houses will be built close together on small lots, which was the style when many of Akron's older neighborhoods were constructed, Segedy said. The city worked with the developers to design the streets, utilities and lighting to ensure they're safe and meet the need of the development. A new storm sewer system will also be constructed. "They're nontraditional lots, like in the 1900s," he said. "It's a good experiment for the city to think about going back to the future." The houses are appropriately priced when labor and new material costs are considered, and they won't require any maintenance, Segedy said. What's more, with the residential property tax abatement the city launched last year, people who buy houses at the Crossings at Auldfarm could save about $75,000 in taxes over the 15 years the abatement would be in effect, he said. Legislation on the new development will go before Akron City Council Monday, July 9. Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. SUMMIT COUNTY, Ohio - Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro and Summit County Council on Monday passed legislation to approve and authorize Shapiro to execute the 2018 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnership Program Action Plan. The county expects to receive $966,416 in CDBG funding to help with housing, infrastructure, senior services, rehabilitation and business assistance for low-to-moderate income households. It also expects to receive $440,372 in HOME funding, which helps low-income residents with affordable housing. Both are U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development programs. "The 2018 CDBG and HOME Investment Partnership Program Action Plan provides federal funding for a variety of projects throughout Summit County that will enhance quality of life for many of our residents," said Shapiro in a news release. "These types of programs work to strengthen our community by providing individuals and families with more secure living environments as well as educational programs and public services. As the county receives significantly less CDBG funding than in years past, there is always a strong focus on how to best use the funds in an intentional and effective manner." Projects funded by the 2018 Action Plan include: Fair Housing Contact Service for public service Shelter Care Inc. for public service Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad for public service City of Green for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) School House project Village of Lakemore for a storm sewer at Third and Front streets City of Tallmadge for minor home repair and modifications Septic/Sewer Replacement for housing activity City of Macedonia for senior center improvements City of Hudson for the PASCO ADA building renovation Soap Box Derby for education ABIA for education for summer camp Battered Women's Shelter for public service Revolving Loan Fund for economic development Minor Home Repair Program for minor home repair and modifications Activity Delivery Costs for the Department of Development to monitor and assist projects Administration (20 percent cap) for Department of Development administration Affordable Housing Activities HOME Administration Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. BRECKSVILLE, Ohio -- An Independence developer will pay the city $5 million over 15 years to redevelop the former U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital site at the northwest corner of Brecksville and Miller roads. DiGeronimo Development LLC will give the city $1 million upfront. The firm will pay the remainder of the money gradually over time, as it completes the development. City Council approved the agreement -- which includes a development plan showing the layout of buildings and a development schedule -- with DiGeronimo Tuesday night (June 19). "It took quite a bit of negotiating to get to where we got to, but we did," Law Director David Matty told council during a pre-meeting caucus. Matty urged council to approve the agreement Tuesday, because businesses hoping to locate in the new development were "knocking on the door." Under the agreement, DiGeronimo will build a multiple-use development that can include stores, restaurants, apartments, hotels, hospitals, manufacturing plants, offices and laboratories on the VA site, which measures 103 acres. According to the development plan, 18 smaller buildings -- including possible offices, homes, stores and hotels, along with two parking areas -- would be clustered close to Miller, on the southern portion of the site. Another 10 or 11 buildings -- including offices and possible corporate headquarters, along with one parking area -- are planned for the northern section of the site. The remainder of the land is labeled "early phase park" and-or "potential future development." Before redevelopment starts, DiGeronimo will demolish all existing buildings on the VA site, a process expected to last through October 2019, but which cannot take more than two years, under the contract. The developer will bear all demolition and environmental remediation costs. The development will occur in nine phases, taking a total of no more than 15 years, although it's projected that DiGeronimo will finish the project in 2029. The city has determined that only 85 acres are developable, due to possible wetlands on the site and the need for storm-water detention basins and-or retention ponds. The city will transfer ownership of the land in each phase, as development occurs, to DiGeronimo. The developer can then either keep, lease or sell the land. Both the building layout and construction schedule are subject to change, if all parties agree, due to changes in market conditions or other unforeseeable circumstances. "Each plan brought forth, any use of the land, must be approved by the (Brecksville City Improvement Corp.) and City Council," Mayor Jerry Hruby told council Tuesday night. After DiGeronimo's initial $1 million payment, the firm will pay the city $47,000 for each acre it develops over time, for a total of nearly $4 million. If it's determined that fewer than 85 acres are developable, the price for each acre shall rise until the total amount paid to the city is $5 million. DiGeronimo shall not pay the city more than that. In addition, DiGeronimo will pay the city $150,00 in 2018, and up to $100,000 in both 2019 and 2020, for "reimbursable expenses," including legal fees and the city's cost of hiring a "construction consultant" for the project. In subsequent years, the amount of reimbursable expenses allowed will be based on what was paid in previous years. DiGeronimo is responsible for maintenance, safety and security of the site, as well as utilities, from the start of the project. The project will also include adding a northbound exit ramp off Interstate 77 at Miller Road and a southbound freeway entrance ramp at Miller. Now, the 77-Miller interchange has only a northbound freeway entrance ramp and a southbound exit. The agreement doesn't say who would pay for the ramps, only that all parties will "work collaboratively and use reasonable, good-faith efforts" to expand the interchange within five years. The agreement also states that the city and developer will try to obtain "funding, grants, subsidies or other incentives" for certain aspects of the overall project. Also, council will consider tax-increment financing for some or all of the project. Under a TIF agreement, the developer would use new property taxes generated from the development on infrastructure improvements, including new road construction. In a Tuesday night press release, Hruby said the deal to acquire the VA land took years of negotiations. "This deal commits the DiGeronimo Cos. and the city to work together to create a place that our residents will be proud of and allows the city to use its financial resources in a fiscally prudent fashion," Hruby said in the press release. CLEVELAND, Ohio - A plan to charge shuttle and limousine services a fee for each drop-off and pickup at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport cleared a key vote Wednesday, setting the plan up for enactment in July. City Council's Transportation Committee voted 3-2 to support the plan, which airport leaders say could raise as much as $1.8 million a year to help pay operational costs at Hopkins. Airport Director Robert Kennedy said that revenue will help keep the airport competitive, particularly over the next few years as it develops a new master plan that could recommend major improvements be made. "Most important to me is how this sets us up for the future," Kennedy said told committee members Wednesday. "This legislation helps us prepare for our investments in the future." The plan likely will be considered by the full council on July 18. What's the plan? Airport officials want to collect a $4 fee from off-site parking operators, hotel shuttles and limousine companies for each drop-off and pickup they make. Uber and Lyft drivers and taxis already pay the fee. Off-site shuttles -- for Park Place, Park 'N Fly, hotels, limos and other companies - now pay $550 a year for each vehicle they use to pick up and drop off passengers, regardless of how many trips are made or how many passengers are carried. Patrick Keenan, a spokesman for Americab, spoke in support of the fee Wednesday, saying that extending it to limos and shuttles would help level the playing field among ride providers. Rideshare services and taxis account for 63 percent of the passengers at Hopkins but contribute about 95 percent of the total revenue the airport collects from ride providers. The airport would begin collecting the fee in January 2019. That's a change from the original proposal, which would have enacted the fee immediately. Airport leaders suggested delaying collection after shuttle and limo operators complained the new fee would hurt their businesses. By delaying collection, those companies will have time to factor the fee into their budgets, Pat Singleton, the airport's chief of business development and management told the committee. What's the reaction? The airlines at Hopkins and the Greater Cleveland Partnership have expressed support, but shuttle and limo operators have complained about the fee increasing their costs. After 137 pickups and drop-offs, the cumulative charges from the $4 fee would exceed $550 that the shuttle and limo operators now pay. At a previous hearing, Steve Qua, owner of Company Car & Limousine in Cleveland, estimated that after one month, his company would accumulate enough fees to exceed the annual per-vehicle charge. Limo operators also objected to no longer being able to drop off passengers at curbside on the departure level in front of the airport, causing their customers some inconvenience. The airport now intends to allow for drop-offs at the south end of the terminal near a baggage claim area. The airlines have praised the plan, saying it would help keep their costs under control and keep Hopkins competitive with other airports. Hopkins' operations are financed, in part, through the airport's independent sources of revenue, such as parking fees and concession and advertising agreements for use of signs at the airport. The airlines, though, make up any shortfall between those revenues and operating costs. That amounts to about $90 million a year that the airlines pay toward operations, Kennedy said. Marty McGann of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the region's chamber of commerce, said GCP "stands in strong support" of the proposal. What happens next? City Council only meets once a month during the summer. Its next meeting is July 18. The legislation is expected to be reviewed by council's Committee of the Whole that day and could then be approved by the full council at its meeting. CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Legislation to establish a citywide Community Reinvestment Area may undergo further refinement before a council vote is cast for final approval. The proposed CRA ordinance was introduced on first reading Monday to "provide incentives that encourage development in areas that have not enjoyed reinvestment from remodeling or new construction." This plan would replace the eight CRA's previously established in various parts of the city, but incorporate them into an overall configuration assigning different values of tax breaks for new construction around town. Qualifying projects could include renovations, once a set of proposed criteria is met, varying by census tract. And even with the series of color-coded maps, Councilman Jason Stein said he finds the CRA plan difficult to follow -- a view shared by other city officials. "I think that when we roll it out to the public, we need to make sure it's user-friendly and easy to follow," Stein said prior to the first reading on Monday. City Economic Development Director Tim Boland agreed, but pointed out that the current form is based on "boiler-plate language" from the Ohio Development Services Agency, which has to approve the measure as well. "Once we get it in place, there will be much simpler and more plainspoken guidelines put forth to our residents," Boland said. Stein has also questioned why Cleveland Heights uses a "tiered" approach to the CRA, given the fact that University Heights has also introduced citywide legislation that could offer blanket 100 percent property tax exemptions for 15 years on any investment of $25,000 or more. Councilman Kahlil Seren believes that the housing stock in University Heights is more uniform than the wider range seen in Cleveland Heights. In turn, census tracts provide the best basis for determining the amount of tax break that is assigned to the amount of investment, rather than overburdening staff by going block-by-block or house-by-house. "We're still giving the most assistance to the areas that need it the most," Mayor Carol Roe said. Stein countered that there are significant areas around Noble and Taylor roads that do not qualify for the full tax exemption, but instead a formula such as 12 years at 75 percent. While the city's census tracts show better housing stock in those areas, Stein asked about establishing a maximum CRA exemption zone across the north end of town to the borders of East Cleveland and South Euclid. "This was the area that experienced the greatest decline in housing values, the highest number of foreclosures and the most demolitions," Stein said. "(Otherwise,) we may be providing incentive to move to University Heights." City Manager Tanisha Briley noted that when the city proposed a CRA for the since-scrapped Turkey Ridge town home project in 2014, state officials at the time denied it, arguing that it did not qualify as "blight." And since last September, Boland noted that the city has been working "each step of the way with the state," which has been supportive of the plan. "When you look at what we're proposing, it's all supported by data," Briley said. Councilwoman Cheryl Stephens formally introduced the legislation Monday as a "long-overdue" measure, but added that "every time we look at it, we see another nuance that elaborated or improved upon." In other tax- and development-related business on Monday, resident Garry Kanter took the city to task on its recent Request for Qualifications and Proposals (RFP/RFQ's) on the Meadowbrook & Lee site. Last week, the city heard two proposals for mixed-use development on the one-acre site, out of four plans that were submitted, including one from Kanter that called for keeping it green space. During the June 19 public comment portion of the council meeting, Kanter argued that the economic benefits offered by both developers are "grossly exaggerated to the point of fantasy" in order to qualify for tax abatements, with one team requesting 30 years of them. He also cited the findings of a 2012 geotechnical subsurface exploration report with soil borings that found "unsuitable fill materials" from 3-to-13 feet down. This could require complete removal and replacement of the existing soil, or the use of expensive pilings to support a multi-story building on the site. "Our proposed green space will bring as much to the city as these preposterous proposals," Kanter said. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The pilot who died along with his family and two friends in a December 2016 crash into Lake Erie was awake for 17 hours before the flight, the National Transportation and Safety Board found. The NTSB on Wednesday released a factual report into the Dec. 29, 2016 crash that left pilot John Fleming, along with his wife, Sue, sons Jack and Andrew, and neighbors Brian and Megan Casey, dead. The report did not conclude exactly what caused the Cessna 525 Citation to quickly lose altitude over Lake Erie just seconds after it took off from Burke Lakefront Airport headed for Columbus about 10:30 p.m. But it did find that the plane's warning system sounded several alerts about the plane's altitude, flying angle and speed in the moments before the crash, according to the report. Fleming flew the plane from the Ohio State University Airport to Cleveland earlier in the day and the group attended a Cleveland Cavaliers game that night. Megan Casey, 19, of Powell, Ohio, and her father, Brian Casey and his 19-year-old daughter, Megan, were neighbors of the Flemings. John Fleming, 46, was the President and CEO of Ohio's Superior Beverage Group. He spent 30 years with the company after graduating from Wake Forest University in 1993, according to a family statement shortly after the crash. The report shows that the plane's voice recorder, which was found in Lake Erie several days after the crash, picked up "a sound similar to a decrease in engine power" just after takeoff. In the seconds that followed, the plane's enhanced ground proximity warning system sounded an excessive bank angle warning, a "sink rate" warning and seven "pull-up warnings" before the plane vanished from the radar, the report says. The voice recorder also picked up Fleming saying "614 sierra bravo" twice to the air traffic controller, but the report found that he must not have pushed in the talk button on his radio because the air traffic controller never received the messages. Authorities searched Lake Erie for remains of the victims and debris of the plane for weeks after the crash. Body parts of only three of the crash victims have been recovered-- the pilot, John Fleming, 45, of Dublin, his 15-year-old son Jack, and a family friend, Brian Casey, 50. The bodies of Fleming's wife Sue, their 14-year-old son Andrew and Casey's 19-year-old daughter Megan, were not found after authorities searched the lake for three weeks. Part of Jack Flemings body washed up on the shores of Lake Erie in Willowick on June 21. A fisherman in Pennsylvania found a leg that was later determined to belong to one of the victims on July 22 while fishing near the Elk Creek Access in Lake City, some 80 miles away from the plane crash site. @elizabethrkoh Airboat operators carrying passengers on their boats will soon have more stringent requirements to pilot their vessels, after a deadly crash that killed a University of Miami graduate last year. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved new course requirements Tuesday, following the passage of a law that directed the agency to set new regulations for commercial airboat operators earlier this year. The legislation, named for 22-year-old victim Ellie Goldenberg, requires airboat operators to complete a more comprehensive training course and pass an exam to pilot the powerful boats, which are popular with tourists in the Everglades. In the last several years, commercial airboat tours have had little official oversight, with no required licenses for operators or specific safety classes. Though airboat operators are currently required to complete a general eight-hour boating safety course, no background checks are required and no education specific to airboating is mandated. The flat-bottomed boats, propelled by powerful airplane-like engines, do need to be registered with the FWC and have basic features like a muffler for the engines sound. But insurance is often not required and airboat operators have been otherwise unregulated. A Miami New Times analysis found more than 75 accidents involving private and commercial airboats in the last three years, with at least seven deaths and more than 100 injuries. The rule approved by the Fish and Wildlife Commission Tuesday will require operators to be certified in CPR and first aid, subject to a fine. Anyone operating an airboat with passengers must also take a course with at least 24 hours of instruction, including 8 hours of classroom time and 14 hours on the water. Courses will be required to cover several topics, including state and federal boating requirements, navigation rules, environmental concerns, ecosystem awareness and the causes and prevention of airboat accidents. Airboat operators will also have to pass a final exam of at least 50 questions, and course instructors will have their own standards too: at least 120 hours of experience operating an airboat in the last three years and no felony convictions in the last five years. Public safety is important to the FWC, and with the Legislatures guidance, this new rule provides additional requirements for airboat operator courses which will improve safety measures for passengers aboard an airboat for hire, commission chairman Bo Rivard said in a statement. The law behind the new rules was approved during this year's legislative session after Goldenberg, a recent theater graduate at the University of Miami, was killed during an Everglades airboat tour last May. The 22-year-old died the day after she received her diploma when, during the tour her family took to celebrate, the craft flipped over and trapped her underneath. The other passengers on the boat and the operator survived. Blood tests showed the airboat operator, Steven George Gagne, had high levels of THC, the active compound in marijuana. But Gagne was not charged with a crime after prosecutors said they were unable to definitively prove Gagne was piloting recklessly. Among the obstacles in charging Gagne was the fact Florida law does not set a standard for how much THC can be considered operating a vehicle or vessel under the influence. Goldenberg's death spurred her family to push for legislation in Tallahassee that would tighten requirements in airboating. The bill, which was nicknamed Ellies Law, directed the FWC to set stronger standards for airboat operators and for required courses before they can pilot the crafts. The rules will go into effect by Jul. 1, 2019. Goldenberg's father, David, said the rules were a "step in the right direction" but insufficient in addressing his daughter's death. He said he intends to return to lawmakers next year to increase the penalties for violating the new boating requirements to make sure the law "has some teeth." An earlier version of the legislation made violating the new regulations a more severe second-degree misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to 60 days, though it was amended down to a more lenient penalty. "A misdemeanor means nothing it's not even a slap on the wrist," he said. He said he also intends to advocate for a law punishing drug use among operators: "Just because there's no marijuana law in Florida yet is not a good enough reason," he said. Gagne "walked off scot free and he killed my daughter." Photo: The airboat that crashed last year in the Everglades, killing recent University of Miami graduate Ellie Goldenberg. [Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office] AKRON, Ohio -- A Sheffield Lake man who bought an AK-47 from an undercover FBI agent with the purpose of supporting the Islamic State terrorist group was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in federal prison. Amir Al-Ghazi, 41, received the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi in Akron after reaching an agreement with federal prosecutors to admit to charges and cooperate with the government. The agreement led Al-Ghazi to take the stand in March against a North Carolina man in another terrorism case. Al-Ghazi remained shackled in his orange jail jumpsuit for the hearing. He acknowledged the crime and said all of his actions since have been for something of an atonement. He said that he wanted to prove to the judge that he had sworn off his previously-held extremist views for good. "My speech was violent at the time and I can do nothing but apologize for that," he said. Lioi said the help Al-Ghazi provided to authorities "speaks volumes" about his path to atonement. Al-Ghazi has a lengthy criminal history on drug-related offenses in Cuyahoga County. He changed his name from Robert McCollum and said he converted to Islam while in prison. The FBI started monitoring Al-Ghazi several years ago after he posted extremist remarks on his Facebook page, according to court filings. He pledged his support to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, on social media websites in 2014, around the time the terrorist group was gaining power in the Middle East. Al-Ghazi spoke of carrying out terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and said he would "cut off the head of his non-Muslim son if necessary" to show he was a true believer, officials said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Shepherd said Al-Ghazi took "concrete steps" to act on his beliefs. "This wasn't just talk he was engaged in, your honor," Shepherd said. Al-Ghazi tried for months to buy an assault weapon to use as a "prop" in propaganda videos, Shepherd said. However, chats Al-Ghazi had with informants also showed that he tried to recruit a "squad" for U.S.-based attacks, the prosecutor explained. He finally succeeded, or so he thought, in June 2015, when he paid $400 to an undercover FBI agent in North Olmsted. He pleaded guilty in March 2016 to attempting to provide material support to ISIS, as well as weapons charges. Al-Ghazi has said his path to supporting ISIS was fueled by anger and drug abuse and that he frequently posted "crazy messages on Twitter" to get a rise out of people. With family members looking on, he reiterated that he has sworn off the ideology to which ISIS supporters subscribe. He said he learned those views from a fellow prison inmate, and he held those views even though he never finished studying. When he was released, he sought out additional information from people but never received a response. Instead, he continued down a path that led his views in an ever-more-radical direction. Lawrence Whitney, Al-Ghazi's attorney, said his client was now "trying to get to heaven the right way." He said he believes his client was on the right path. Following his arrest, Al-Ghazi gave information to agents about an online conversation he had with a man who later turned out to be Erick Jamal Hendricks. Hendricks' plan was to create a cell of people in the U.S. to carry out ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks, authorities say. Hendricks was arrested in August 2016. Al-Ghazi testified against him in March, detailing their conversation about supporting ISIS and the Muslim faith. He never met Hendricks in person and only knew through his online handles. A jury convicted Hendricks in March on charges of conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization for trying to create a terror cell in the U.S. He has not yet been sentenced but faces up to 30 years in federal prison. Shepherd said of Al-Ghazi that "there's a lot of bad, but he's taken some steps to show the good." Upon release from prison, Al-Ghazi will remain on parole for eight years. If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Wednesday's crime and courts comments section. UPDATED/CORRECTED CARTOON: The above cartoon was updated and corrected to reflect that the crying 2-year-old Honduran migrant girl shown was detained with her Mother at the border, but not separated, under President Trump's 'zero-tolerance' policy, for which she has come to symbolize the suffering of innocent children caught up in it. The government has acknowledged separating some 2,000 migrant children from their families. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- President Trump has already established that he's a bully, a draft dodger,a pathological liar, a conman, a misogynist, a racist, a bigot and a xenophobe. And now he's proven himself to be an unapologetic child abuser and human rights violator with a staff full of child abusers and human rights violators, including Chief Advisor and author of the family separation policy, Stephen Miller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Chief of Staff John Kelly and DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Separating innocent infants, toddlers, and children from their parents and placing them in caged human kennels, qualifies as child endangerment, as child abuse. Referring to innocent infants, toddlers, and children from Latin America, as an infestation, as Trump did Tuesday, is racist and child abuse. The Trump administration using captive infants, toddlers and children as political pawns, as bargaining chips to gain congressional funding for a border wall, is child abuse. Trump thinks we're stupid. During the presidential campaign, Trump joked that he could shoot someone on New York's Fifth Ave and not lose any voters. He now seems believe he can endanger thousands of children, mentally abuse them, then blame it on Congress and Democrats and the American people will be stupid enough to buy it. Over 2,000 children have been separated from their parents and caged for one reason only . The Trump administration chose, at their discretion, to implement a zero tolerance immigration policy. The law the administration has referenced, gives them the discretion not to separate families. Previous administrations kept families together and released them into the community with ankle bracelets as they awaited for their cases to proceed through the courts. Stephen Miller and John Kelly are already on the record as describing the family separation as Trump administration policy. Because it's a matter of Trump policy, and not mandated by the law, Trump can end the family separation immediately if he really wanted to. That's how you know that when he says he opposes separating families he's lying. Crossing the border is misdemeanor offense. Contrary to what the Trump administration has you believe, when you get a speeding ticket or are arrested for a misdemeanor, you don't have your kids taken away from you for weeks, months, years or permanently. Kelly admitted the administration wants the family separations as an immigration deterrent. The objective of Trump, Miller, Sessions and Kelly,is to make seeking to enter the U.S. a greater danger to those seeking asylum than the drug gangs they are fleeing in their home countries. The gangs that have tortured, killed, raped or threatened their family members, the gangs who exist as the result of the insatiable U.S. drug demand. In addition to attempting to deter immigration, Trump has come to believe caging alien children will motivate his base to turnout for the midterm elections. Among those who have convinced Trump that caging kids is midterm winner, are Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon. Miller is the staff fascist who authored and pushed Trump's family separation policy, with Sessions implementing it. Miller had also helped author and orchestrate Trump's botched Travel Bans. The immorality and poor planning of Miller's family separation has resulted in a self-imposed crisis for the Trump administration. It has further stressed the already stressed immigration/border security system. Trump, Miller and Bannon are miscalculating the midterms and why Trump won the election. Trump's base didn't win him the election. Independent voters and disaffected Democrats who didn't like Hillary, pushed Trump over the top to victory. Instead of keeping those Independents and Democrats on board, and keeping Democrats voters at home, Trump has done more to turn them off and motivate Democrats to turnout against him The majority of Americans oppose the Trump-Miller family separation policy. And that was even before the damaging audio tape for one of the Trump kid kennels came out. Kirstjen Nielsen heckled out of a Mexican restaurant. On the family separation issue, Trump and Miller are showing they are as tone deaf as Kristjen Nielsen. After repeatedly lying to the American Public at Monday's White House press briefing, Nielsen had the audacity to try and have dinner at a Mexican restaurant. She and her dinner partner left after she was heckled in the restaurant by protesters chanting " Kirstjen Nielsen you're a villain locking up innocent children" and "Shame on Trump, Shame on Nielsen." She had it coming after blatantly lying during the press briefing, including falsely claiming she had visited one of Trump's kid kennels, when she had not. Another Trump associate deserving a public shaming is Corey Lewandowsky. Trump's former campaign manager now works for Mike Pence's PAC. After a DNC strategist mentioned on Fox News that a Down Syndrome child was taken from their mother, Lewandowsky cut in replying "Wonk, wonk." Tuesday, Trump met with members of Congress about two immigration plans. Instead of scrambling to cobble together an immigration plan to end the immoral Trump policy the president could end with a phone call, Congress should be preparing to impeach the most vile,immoral, unfit, undemocratic, corrupt, fraudulent president in U.S. history. If the Republican cowards currently leading Congress had backbones, they would have met with Trump and told him that if he did not end his family separation policy immediately, they would immediately begin impeachment proceedings against him. At the very least, when Trump went to talk to McConnell and Ryan about immigration, they should have handed him a phone, and told him they would not begin any conversation with him until he called off his family separation policy. Pundits have mentioned in the past how long it will take to undo the damage done by some of Trump's cabinet secretaries, like Scott Pruitt. The damage done to the psychological development of the thousands of kids Trump has caged may never be undone. Children who survived Nazi concentration camps have said one aspect of their horrific ordeal they have never recovered from is the separation from their parents. Trump now has something else in common with Kim Jong Un, they are both repugnant human rights abusers. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Michigan is trying to lure Clevelanders to visit with a summer staple: ice cream. Representatives from Pure Michigan, the official tourism and travel site for Michigan, are giving out free ice cream in Public Square Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The group will give out the treats while supplies last. Temperatures should be in the 70s. The forecast looks clear of rain if you feel like walking over. In case you're wondering where you've head the name Pure Michigan before, it's probably from their numerous television commercials and billboards. Along with the ice cream, people who stop by can grab a copy of Pure Michigan's travel magazine. CLEVELAND, Ohio - The business-partner duo behind 111 Bistro in Medina aren't just opening a second restaurant in Cleveland. They are planting roots. Anthony Scolaro and Meghan Pender, who have been working for two months to revamp the former Bac Asian space, will formally open Trio in Tremont on Thursday, June 21. The "o" in the Trio logo is a tree, with leafy branches reaching outward and strong healthy roots growing deep. They couldn't have found a more appropriate logo. "It's the tree of life, where your roots grow, our foundations from kitchen to service to drinks," Scolaro said. "It helps us remember to do what we do well." With 111 Bistro as solid training ground, what they aim to do is Modern American. "We're not in one wheelhouse or another," he said. "It's more ingredient-driven." That means expect seasonal mushrooms on the menu and summer fish like halibut and walleye. Wagyu steak will be offered, along with small plates and vegetarian options. Pasta and sauces will be made from scratch: Goat cheese agnolotti, black-garlic carbonara and Arugula vegan pasta, which has "a cool green color and a different flavor profile," Scolaro said. About 20 or so tables fill the space, with two televisions at each corner of the subway-tiled bar. A handful of books and art adorn a few shelves, including the wonderfully comprehensive and accessible 500-page tome, "Pasta." Taps will pour beer from Masthead Brewing Co. of Cleveland, Founders Brewing Co. of Michigan and Victory Brewing Co. of Pennsylvania, and the wine list will be similar to 111 Bistro. The restaurant sits close to Grumpy's Cafe and Tremont Food Market. Lava Lounge is adjacent behind them. "We're near Lincoln Park; the foot traffic is awesome," Scolaro said. "It feels like a neighborhood." That quiet Cleveland neighborhood - aligned with old churches, comfortable bars, small homes, galleries and businesses of all types - also represents the culinary big leagues. "Not a lot of people know who we are," Scolaro said. "Rocco (Whalen), Fahrenheit, Dante (Boccuzzi), Zack Bruell - they're around, they're household names. We want to put our name in the ring and hang with the big boys." He doesn't want to imitate; he wants Trio to have its own identity. "You hope to delineate yourself, to find yourself," Scolaro said. For Scolaro - who grew up wanting to emulate Karen Small of The Flying Fig - the dream to run a restaurant in Tremont also means he and Pender trust in their staff. "Without having the people in place we have at 111, this would not have been a possibility," he said. One of those workers is Anthony DiPetta, a bar manager who has been with Scolaro and Pender since 111 Bistro opened four years ago. It's almost exactly to the day; they wanted to time Trio's opening to the anniversary. That makes it the right time - and place - to open. As Pender's tattoo near her left shoulder says, "mis en place." Or, "everything in its place." Previous coverage About Trio It's at 2661 W. 14th St., in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood. It's at the T-intersection with Auburn Avenue. Hours: 3-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 3-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, closed Sunday. Happy hour will 3-6 p.m. There is a patio. Parking is mostly street. LYNDHURST, Ohio -- OVI, Mayfield Road: At 6:45 p.m. June 11, a man who later identified himself to police as an off-duty police officer, reported that he was waiting at a stoplight next to another driver, a Willoughby man, 26, when the Willoughby man got out of his car and approached the man's car. The man, believing the Willoughby man to be drunk, notified police and detained the suspect. The caller also told police that the Willoughby man's car had struck a curb as he drove. The suspect was charged with OVI and his car towed. The suspect's father picked up his son, who posted bond and was released. Criminal mischief, Mayfield Road: At 9:10 p.m. June 17, a woman reported that a male driving in a car alongside her car while heading east on Mayfield Road threw a firecracker at her car. The cars were in South Euclid at the time of the incident. The woman told Lyndhurst police that the suspect's car went on to turn onto Clubside Road in Lyndhurst. Police checked Clubside Road and other nearby streets, but were unable to locate the suspect's car. Domestic violence, Edsal Road: At 10:35 p.m. June 16, a caller reported that her ex-husband had come to her home and broken down the door of her 11-year-old son's bedroom, then grabbed the boy by the neck. When police arrived, the man was gone. Police gave the boy comfort toys and are investigating the matter. Possession of marijuana, Mayfield Road: At 11:05 p.m. June 14, police stopped a car after its driver made a wide turn that caused the car to cross the center line. During the stop, officers found that the driver, a Euclid man, 35, possessed marijuana. Welfare check, Richmond Road: At 8:30 p.m. June 14, a caller reported seeing a man stumbling as he walked down the street. Police spoke with the man, 52, of Lyndhurst. It was not determined whether or not the man was drunk. The incident was reported to the man's probation officer. Theft, Cedar Road: At 7:45 p.m. June 12, an employee of Starbucks, 24663 Cedar Road, reported that a woman, a frequent customer at the store, had stolen money from the tip jar, then left the premises. Police were unable to locate the woman. Officers instructed Starbucks employees to call police if the woman returns. Suspicion, Brainard Road: At 12:55 p.m. June 12, a caller reported that a man sitting in his car in the parking lot of Brainard Park, near the splash park, 1840 Brainard Road, told his daughter that she "looked nice." Police spoke with the man in the car, 44, of Cleveland. The man said he did not believe the girl was too young for him to make a comment toward her. The police report did not state the age of the girl, who was overseeing two younger children at the time of the incident. Police told the man to keep his comments to himself. The man asked police to contact the complainant and apologize on his behalf. Drug abuse, Corliss Road: At 12:50 p.m. June 11, a caller reported that an SUV containing five men was parked in the street. The caller believed those in the SUV were smoking marijuana. One of the vehicle's occupants, 21, was found to be wanted on a South Euclid police warrant. The man was turned over to the South Euclid Police Department, while the other men were not charged. Fictitious plates, Richmond Road: At 10:30 a.m. June 11, police stopped an SUV for showing fictitious and expired plates. The driver, a Cleveland woman, 32, was found to be wanted on a Garfield Heights police warrant. The woman was cited for the license plate offenses and turned over to the Garfield Heights Police Department. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. CANTON, Ohio -- A former teacher at McKinley High School was sentenced Monday to 30 days in jail after admitting she had sex with three students, reports say. Tiffany Eichler, 36, also will spend 30 half-days in a non-jail reporting program, the Canton Repository reports. She will be on probation for three years, must undergo counseling, and will serve 300 hours of community service. She also was fined $1,000 and must pay counseling costs for victims. Her teaching license was revoked and she must register as a Tier III sex offender, WJW Channel 8 reports. In May, Eichler, who was a physical education teacher, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual battery, according to WEWS Channel 5. She had sex with three students in February, two 18 years old and one 17 years old. If Eichler violates her probation, she could be sentenced to prison for five years, the Repository reports. To comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments page. KENT, Ohio -- Rev. Todd Davidson, Cleveland civic leader and pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, is the newest member of Kent State's Board of Trustees. Davidson was appointed to the board by Gov. John Kasich to fill a spot left open by Lawrence Pollock. He is one of nine voting members of the board. He moved to Lyndhurst in 2012 to lead Antioch. Since then, Davidson has been a voice on Cleveland's civic matters. He served on the Shaker Heights School Board and is part of a panel aiming to bring Say Yes to Education, which would make college tuition free at some institutions for graduates of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Davidson is on the board for Community Connectors, a Kasich initiative which funds mentoring programs in Ohio schools. To receive a grant from Community Connectors' $10-million pool, a faith-based organization must be part of the group applying. Davidson has a doctorate in educational policy, planning and leadership from the College of William & Mary. He's served as an assistant professor and adjunct professor at various universities. WAYNE TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A fire Tuesday destroyed two barns at a central Ohio hog farm, killing an estimated 5,000 pigs, according to reports. The Fayette County Sheriff's Department tells ABC 6 that the fire was reported at about 1 p.m. at Straathoff Swine Farm. WCMH Channel 4 reports the intense heat and smoke made it difficult for firefighters to get inside the barns. According to the Columbus Dispatch, one firefighter was treated at a hospital for an injured arm. Firefighters from several departments and five counties responded to blaze, which was not brought under control until 6 p.m. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Wayne Township is about 45 miles southwest of Columbus. To comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments page. SALEM, Ohio -- ICE arrested more than 100 undocumented immigrants Tuesday afternoon at a Northeast Ohio-based meat packing plant. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's and Homeland Security agents executed a search warrant about 4 p.m. at the Fresh Mark, a meat processing plant, and arrested more than 100 employees for immigration violations, according to an ICE news release. The employees were arrested at the meat supplier's Salem location. Search warrants were also executed for documents at the Fresh Mark's two locations in Massillon on Cloverleaf Street and South way Street, authorities said. Investigators searched a fourth location in the 1600 block of Harmont Avenue North East in Canton, officials said. Investigators said Fresh Mark hired undocumented immigrants at its processing and packaging plants, and many of them were using fake identities belonging to U.S. citizens, according to a statement from Homeland Security. Agents have been investigating Fresh Mark for a year, officials said. "Unlawful employment is one of the key magnets drawing illegal aliens across our borders," Homeland Security special agent Steve Francis said in a press release statement. "Businesses who knowingly harbor and hire illegal aliens as a business model must be held accountable for their actions." The 100 people who were arrested will be held in facilities in Michigan and Ohio as they await removal proceedings, authorities said. Some of the employees may be released on humanitarian grounds, such as health concerns or the well-being of family members. Agents were seen late Tuesday night escorting people from three white buses to inside of an ICE facility in Brooklyn Heights to be processed. Dozens of boxes and file cabinets were being unloaded from a midsize Uhaul in the building's parking lot. Veronica Dahlberg, executive director of Latino advocacy group HOLA Ohio, said majority of the people arrested were from Guatemala. "Don't let anybody tell you this is about enforcing the law," she said. "This is about decimating the Latino community." Relatives of those arrested in Tuesday's raid can call the 24-hour detainee locator number to ask questions about the deportation process. The hotline is available in English or Spanish and is at 888-351-4024. Buses carrying at least 100 people who were arrested were in the parking lot of a ICE facility in Brooklyn Heights following a Tuesday afternoon raid. To comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments page. WASHINGTON, D. C. - Days after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Ohio's process for removing inactive voters from its rolls, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on Wednesday introduced a bill that would make that process illegal. Brown - who served as Ohio's chief election official in the 1980s - said his SAVE VOTERS Act would amend the National Voter Registration Act to clarify that states can't use someone's failure to vote or respond to a state notice as a reason to target them for removal from active voter rolls. The law's goal is to protect voters from voter "purges" that pose serious consequences for those who may be serving overseas, sick, traveling, homeless or otherwise unable to vote on Election Day, Brown's office said. A statement from Brown said the bill would restore voters' rights and "uphold the integrity of our election process. Special interests already have too much influence in government. We need to make it easier, not harder, for Ohioans to vote and make their voices heard." Under Ohio's current policy, failure to cast a ballot for two years triggers a process where notices are repeatedly sent to voters whose registration is flagged. Registration is canceled if there's no response to the notices, no votes are cast during the next four years and the voter's address isn't updated. Organizations that challenged the policy said it disproportionately disenfranchises low-income voters and voters of color, creating another hurdle to people who already have trouble voting. They contended it was illegal under federal laws that ban using voter inactivity as a reason to remove someone from the rolls. A 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling written by Justice Samuel Alito upheld Ohio's policy. It said that Ohio actually removes voters from the rolls because they've changed residence. Repeated failure to vote and failure to return notices is merely evidence that they've moved, the decision said. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted - who are this year's Republican nominees for Ohio governor and lieutenant governor - had argued before the court that Ohio's process is needed to remove dead people from the voting rolls and resolve the cases of voters who have multiple registrations. The bill that Brown introduced Wednesday with Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the latest skirmish in a nationwide partisan war over ballot access. Republicans say voter rolls need scrutiny to prevent fraud and promote ballot integrity, while Democrats insist the efforts are meant to reduce turnout from Democratic-leaning groups such as racial minorities. An analysis by Reuters found Ohio's policy favors Republicans in the state's largest metropolitan areas by removing voters from the rolls in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods at roughly twice the rate as in Republican neighborhoods. Even though Klobuchar is the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate committee that oversees federal elections, the bill the pair introduced is unlikely to gain traction in a legislative body controlled by Republicans. But it will add yet another battle front to the ballot access war, and give Brown another issue to rally Democrats around as he seeks reelection in November. A statement from Husted said that Brown's proposal, as presented, would result in the names of "hundreds of thousands of deceased voters and individuals who no longer live in Ohio bloating the voter rolls and compromising the integrity of our elections." Husted said that when Brown served as a state legislator, he twice voted in favor of legislation to remove voters after just four years of inactivity. The provisions enacted through those bills - which were far more restrictive than the current process - were then enforced by Brown himself while serving two-terms as Secretary of State, said Husted. "But Senator Brown doesn't want you to know about that," Husted's statement said. "He just wants you to think that for the past 24 years, Democrat and Republican secretaries of state in Ohio have been frivolously removing voters from the rolls - and that's false. The fact is Ohio's process has been in place for nearly a quarter century and includes more time - and more efforts to keep registered voters on the rolls - than anything Sherrod Brown ever thought up, voted for, or enforced during his time in Columbus." Brown said Husted was wrong. His office said Brown voted for a bill as a state legislator that would have ended all voter purging in Ohio. When Ohio voters later passed a constitutional amendment that required purges of voters who hadn't cast ballots in a consecutive four year period, Brown supported measures that required voters to be notified before their registrations were purged, and that clarified voters shouldn't be purged if they updated their registrations, even if they didn't vote, Brown's office said. As a U.S. Congressman, Brown said he co-authored "motor voter" law provisions that made it easier for more people to register to vote and was an original co-sponsor of the National Voter Registration Act, which made it against federal law to purge voters for not voting and superseded Ohio's constitutional requirement. Brown said that Ohio's current voter purging practices "are not where this country should be and where this country was before this crowd took over." Former Congresswoman Gwen Graham. As Gwen Graham's campaign for governor continues to rack up financial contributors, one of her top money-makers stands out. It's not her father, Bob Graham, the former governor and senator who's given a quarter-million dollars. Nor is it his old college fraternity brother, a Winter Park developer who's poured in $150,000. It's actually a Lynn Haven contractor who's been fined nearly $2 million by state and federal authorities for various environmental violations. James D. Finch, owner of Phoenix Construction Services outside Panama City, has given $290,000 to her campaign so far, making him the second-biggest donor to her campaign. (The top giver is easily Emily's List, the organization giving loads of money to "pro-choice Democratic women" across the country.) Over the decades, he's been cited multiple times, none bigger than in 2009, when the Florida Department of Environmental Protection levied a $1.7 fine for environmental permit violations. Here's what happened, according to Politifact: Finch, a former NASCAR team owner, has given to Republicans and Democrats over the years, but he's chosen to side with centrist Democrats as of late. He gave more than $200,000 to then-Democrat Charlie Crist's run for governor four years ago, and got called out by Republicans for flying Crist around in his private plane. They dubbed him a "serial polluter" in campaign commercials. Check out the extensive Politifact piece on Finch's record here. Finch didn't respond to a request for comment left with his company, Phoenix Construction. But a year ago, he told Politico that he thought Graham did a good job during her two years in Congress, citing her 2015 vote in support of the Keystone XL pipeline. Since that quote, he's poured another $240,000 into her campaign. Graham's campaign isn't embarrassed by it, though. "Yep, Finch has contributed. He obviously admires Gwen's leadership," campaign spokesman Matt Harringer said. "So does the Environmental Defense Fund, which has also given to Gwen and the more than 20,000 individual supporters who have also contributed to Gwen." The environmental nonprofit gave $1,000 this month, Harringer said. NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- City Council last night (June 19) approved an ordinance establishing regulations related to short-term residential rentals. "This makes it illegal to have a transient tenant in a non-owner-occupied property," said Ward 3 City Councilman Paul Schumann, who as the Building, Zoning & Development Committee chairman sponsored the ordinance. "We're not outlawing an owner-occupant -- somebody who lives at the house -- to rent a room out with Airbnb or to rent their house out to Airbnb if they go on vacation and they want to have somebody stay in their home," he said. "Now, you can't own a rental property and use it as a hotel. That's what we're looking to stop." While an Airbnb New Year's Eve weekend party in Seven Hills involving hundreds of people cast a shadow on short-term residential rentals earlier this year, Schumann said North Olmsted had its own issue on Warrington Drive. "An owner is using the house like a hotel, renting out rooms in the house so they've got transient -- which basically means less than 30 days -- tenants coming in and staying for a couple of days," Schumann said. "This is a residential neighborhood, and it's a disruption. There are extra cars parked on the lot and the sidewalk. There have been cars parked on the street at night, which we don't allow," he said. The councilman stressed that there's a distinct difference between the above scenario and a homeowner operating a bed-and-breakfast. "If it was an owner-occupied property and somebody wanted to rent a room out, we don't have a problem with that," Schumann said. "That's not what we're going after here. "We don't pass legislation based on one person or one incident or one property. This is more like we're looking at it being the tip of the iceberg, and we want to stop this before it becomes a thing. We're not persecuting any one particular property owner here," he said. After the Seven Hills incident, Schumann said City Council members did discuss short-term residential rentals, but no legislation was pursued. "At the time, we were really surprised anybody would do it in North Olmsted," Schumann said. "We've got a lot of hotels here, and we're a community of neighborhoods. We didn't expect this. We're not a tourist destination or anything like that. This kind of snuck up on us. "Then we had several of the residents who live around the house come to council a couple of meetings ago. They made everybody aware they were upset about this. It's been a very disruptive thing in their neighborhood. It's full of young families with kids. It's people they don't know staying at the house, and the property owner isn't there, so there's no oversight," Schumann said. City Law Director Michael R. Gareau Jr. added, "This is an opportunity to ensure that our neighborhoods remain peaceful and safe for the people who choose to invest in them and further choose to call them home. "I suspect that a home with a revolving door of strangers is not what most North Olmsted residents, or residents in most communities, would want to live next to," he said. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio company whose Republican owner spent more than a year in prison following a campaign finance probe has organized employees and suppliers in a retaliatory effort to bring down two prominent Democrats, The Associated Press has learned. An explosive memo posted online lays out The Justice Association LLC's strategy for an investigation, lawsuit and ad campaign targeting U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and former U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach, the Democratic nominee for attorney general. It calls them "chief culprits" in a vast effort by Democrats to unjustly prosecute Republican-owned companies under former President Barack Obama. The month-old association is offering "rewards" of up to $100,000 for any supporting evidence it could use to request a grand jury investigation by Republican U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, the Republican gubernatorial nominee. The evidence also would be folded into a class-action racketeering lawsuit against the Obama-era Justice Department, alleging it politicized prosecutions. Suarez Corp. Industries is behind the effort. Its CEO, Benjamin Suarez, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for witness tampering in a 2014 investigation by Dettelbach's office and the FBI. He was acquitted of seven additional charges. The company's chief financial officer, Michael Giorgio, was sentenced to 27 months for campaign finance fraud. The Suarez probe centered on campaign contributions made by employees, relatives and others to the 2012 campaigns of Republican Josh Mandel, Brown's then-Senate challenger, and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, Brown's current rival. Suarez had sought the politicians' help in fighting a California consumer practices complaint. Neither candidate was implicated. The Justice Association effort was formed to seek restitution for financial impacts the company ties in part to the prosecution, including 800 Suarez job losses and 2,000 job losses at Suarez suppliers, the memo says. Suarez Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection in August. The memo also describes a massive political advertising campaign on "all media channels across Ohio, on TV, radio, the internet, newspapers and other media." It wasn't immediately clear how The Justice Association could mount such a campaign without a political action committee. Suarez's company launched the association's website in February, records show, about a month after Renacci entered the Senate race. The association was incorporated in May. It shares an address with Suarez Corporation Industries and its executive director, Jennifer Werner, has a Suarez phone number. She didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. Suarez, who describes his company as a multi-channel marketing and manufacturing business, said in an email Wednesday that "our association is not associated with any candidate running for office." The memo is laced with personal attacks on people who Suarez alleges acted illegally or unethically during his prosecution. It calls Dettelbach's then-first assistant, Carole Rendon, "Crazy Carole" and says she has "major mental problems, in part due to a complex because she is very short in stature." It says Judge Patricia Gaughan is "incompetent, cruel" and "enjoys human suffering." Rendon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Gaughan's office said ethics restrictions prevented her from commenting. Dettelbach, who faces Republican Auditor Dave Yost this fall, said he was not surprised that Suarez would go after him. "I have heard it all before. It comes with the job," he said in a statement. "When you hold powerful people accountable, sometimes they come after you." Mike Tobin, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cleveland, declined to comment -- but Dettelbach defended the operation, calling the memo's comments against a federal judge and career prosecutors "misplaced, untrue and unfair." Besides alleging "a politically motivated, false and malicious prosecution" of Suarez, the memo shed new light on Suarez's political activities during the 2000s election. It says two political action committees Suarez formed in the early 2000s -- the US Citizens Association and Empowered Citizens Network -- began running hundreds of thousands of dollars of advertising against Democrats in 2003. "Their ads used the advanced and effective advertising methods of Suarez Corporation Industries, which are considered to be the best in the nation," the memo says. US Citizens Association ran full-page ads in the Canton Repository and other area newspapers in 2009 opposing then-U.S. Rep. John Boccieri, a Democrat, and favoring Renacci. Boccieri lost his seat and the memo says Renacci credited the ads for his election. According to the memo, "Benjamin Suarez was informed by several high ranking members of the Ohio Republican Party that the Democrats were livid and Suarez and his company were marked for punishment." Boccieri said the memo seemed to validate "serious concerns" he had at the time that Renacci and Suarez were coordinating attack ads against him. "In the fog of war of these political battles, we just didn't know where it was coming from," he said. Brown campaign spokesman Preston Maddock said, "Congressman Renacci owes Ohioans answers about his long association with Suarez and if he continues to benefit from their relationship as this letter suggests." A spokeswoman for Renacci's campaign flatly rejected that claim, saying it's another example of Ohio Democrats "recycling the same false attacks" since Renacci first ran for office. "We had no idea this group existed until we read about it in your story," Leslie Shedd, senior communications adviser for Renacci's campaign, told The Associated Press. "For Brown's campaign to claim there is a 'long association' is not just misleading -- it's an outright lie." COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Supreme Court has sided with the state and against Toledo in a lawsuit challenging a 2015 traffic camera law. But the ruling is unlikely to have any effect on red-light and speed enforcement camera programs across the state. In a unanimous opinion, the high court determined a Toledo court could not block a 2015 law because it had not been found unconstitutional and the judicial branch cannot prevent the legislative branch from enacting laws. "The court's function in reviewing legislative enactments is limited to interpreting the meaning of statutory provisions and determining whether they are in accord with the federal and state Constitutions," Justice Sharon L. Kennedy wrote for the court. The ruling means Toledo and others can move forward with directly challenging the constitutionality of the law, said Kent Scarrett, executive director of the Ohio Municipal League. "The decision won't have any practical effect on how the court decides on the law going forward and it won't affect municipalities getting back into the game," Scarrett said. The city of Toledo sued the state in 2015 over a package of new restrictions on traffic cameras intended to reduce their use, including requiring an officer be present and that municipalities run a safety study before implementing cameras. The Lucas County Common Pleas Court found the law unconstitutional and blocked its enforcement. The Supreme Court last year sided with Toledo and other cities and struck down several of those restrictions. But while the decision was being appealed, the state legislature passed a new law that required local governments to report compliance with the new restrictions and, if not complying, report the revenue collected from camera-issued tickets. The state tax commissioner was then to deduct that amount from the entity's local government fund allocation. Toledo asked the court to also block implementation of the new law, since it had already ruled the underlying law unconstitutional. The court did, finding the state in contempt of its previous order, and an appellate court affirmed the decision. Attorneys for the state argued the court's action was premature and the city needed to first file a complaint against the new law. The Supreme Court sided with the state and vacated the lower courts' contempt order and the injunction. Attorneys for Toledo argued the law tying compliance to state funding would punish cities for not complying with the restrictions ruled unconstitutional, and the General Assembly violated the court's order blocking enforcement of those restrictions. Toledo Law Director Dale Emch said the city will file a new lawsuit directly challenging the state funding provision. "Our only recourse now is to file this suit to defend the right of our elected officials to do what they think is best in the city of Toledo under home rule authority," Emch said. Lawmakers have already come up with a new way to thwart camera programs by making them money-losing operations. Municipalities say the cameras increase safety without deploying more expensive police officers. Critics say the programs are abused as a revenue generator for local governments. A bill pending in the Ohio Senate would still tie local government fund money to camera ticket revenues but apply it to every entity operating a camera program. UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A moment of silence was held at the start of Monday's City Council meeting in memory of Andrea Battle Sims, the wife of Councilman Steven Sims, who died after a long fight with cancer on June 8. Steven Sims, who was not in attendance at the meeting, sent out an email Monday telling of his wife's passing and of the establishment of a memorial scholarship fund in her name at her alma mater, Spelman College, from which she graduated in 1978. Before the moment of silence, Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan said of Andrea Sims, "She was 61 and touched more hearts in 61 years than most of us can hope to do in 100." Andrea Sims was a 22-year breast cancer survivor who, for the past three years, fought pancreatic cancer. "Her cancer experiences drove a lot of what she did as a person," Steven Sims wrote in his letter, "but the blessing was Andrea had cancer, but cancer did not have her. "With kindness, a buoyant, positive, cheerful spirit and generosity as her hallmarks, Andrea's enduring attitude was, 'I do believe that you can be healed, and believing is part of the battle." "She is quoted as having said, 'If you believe, you can be healed -- act like it.'" She was a member of the American Cancer Society and a board member for Beachwood's The Gathering Place, which offers support and services to those dealing with cancer and their families. Sims and her fight against cancer were featured in a 2016 cleveland.com article. Steven Sims said his wife was a "lifelong learner and strong believer in education." She was an expert in information technology and worked during her career for companies such as AT&T, Bell Laboratories, Progressive Insurance, National City Bank and the Cleveland Municipal School District. "Andrea was a beautiful, smart and accomplished woman who will be remembered for her warm smile, kind heart, supportive generosity and remarkable spirit of love, life and compassion," Steven Sims wrote of his wife of 34 years and the mother of their son Kellen. "She cherished life, had tremendous tenacity, strong fighting spirit and lived each day to its fullest in love and charity." Speaking about the scholarship, Sims wrote, "We are asking that you please consider an inaugural donation to help ensure other deserving young women of color can follow in Andrea's footsteps of scholarship and service. "No amount is too small to donate, and you don't need to have known Andrea to make a donation. You only need to care about providing support to young women of color that want a chance to achieve." Those wishing to make a donation to the Andrea B. Sims, C' 78 Scholarship can do so by visiting this gofundme.com page. Checks can also be sent to Spelman College, payable to the Andrea B. Sims, C' 78 Scholarship, to the attention of Namia Porter Sparks, Office of Advancement, Spelman College, Spelman Lane Box 1551, Atlanta, Ga. 30314. UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Domestic violence, Farland Road: At 4:30 p.m. June 13, police were dispatched to a home where a mother and her son, 12, were involved in a domestic incident. It was learned that the boy had threatened his mother with a knife while the two were at the boy's grandmother's house. The boy was arrested, charged with domestic violence and taken to the Cuyahoga County detention facility. Warrant arrest, Warrensville Center Road: At 11:35 a.m. June 11, police stopped a car due to a traffic violation. It was subsequently learned that the driver, a Cleveland Heights woman, 25, was driving with a suspended license and was wanted on a Cleveland Heights police felony warrant. The woman was cited for the traffic offense and for driving under suspension, then turned over to the Cleveland Heights Police Department. Animal at large, Meadowbrook Boulevard: At 8:50 a.m. June 12, police cited a University Heights woman, 30, after her dog ran at a person and physically attacked two dogs, injuring one of the animals. The woman was cited for allowing her dog to run at large. Missing persons, Fairmount Boulevard: At 1:40 p.m. June 12, it was reported that two girls, one 13, of Lake County, and the other, 17, of Ottawa County, both of whom are clients at Bellefaire JCB, 22001 Fairmount Blvd., had run away from the facility. Police, after being unable to find the teens, put out a bulletin for other police departments to be on the lookout for the girls. Theft, Cedar Road: At 10:30 p.m. June 13, police were called to Target, 14070 Cedar Road, where loss prevention was detaining a Cleveland Heights man, 19, who had stolen merchandise. Police charged the man with theft. Curfew, Cedar Road: Just before 3 a.m. June 14, police spotted two boys, ages 16 and 17, riding bicycles in a Cedar Road parking lot. The boys said they got the bikes from friends in East Cleveland and that they were returning from that city to their homes in Warrensville Heights. The bikes were entered into police property and the boys driven to their homes. Fraud, Warrensville Center Road: At 12:40 p.m. June 14, a resident reported that her credit/debit card had been used fraudulently at a Huntington Bank location in Cleveland, costing her $807. Grand theft, Jackson Boulevard: At 7:05 a.m. June 15, a man woke to find his car, valued at $9,000, stolen from his driveway. At 1:30 p.m. the same day, police spotted the car parked on Grosvenor Road in Cleveland Heights. The car was towed to the University Heights Police Department station for processing. Driving under suspension, Silsby Road: At 12:35 a.m. June 16, police stopped a car driven by a man who was known to have a suspended license. The University Heights man, 37, was cited for driving under suspension and his car impounded. Loud noise, South Green Road: At 10:20 a.m. June 17, police were dispatched to a residence where loud music was coming from a resident's car. After the resident, a woman, 52, did not respond to numerous requests by police to turn down the music, she was cited for unnecessary noise. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. Jack Shreve, a long-time champion of the rights of Florida consumers in cases involving telephone and utility companies, died June 12. He was 85. Shreve served two terms in the state House as a Democrat from 1970 to 1974, representing Brevard County. After he left the Legislature, he ran the Office of Public Counsel for a quarter of a century, acting as the people's lawyer on behalf of consumers in utility rate-increase cases. The post was created during an energy crisis in 1974. "I love the job, and I've been at it for 25 years," Shreve said in a Times story when he retired in 2003. "A lot of people retire to try to get away from work, but I don't feel that way. But it's probably time for me to go." Tall and courtly with an easy smile, Shreve had a low-key demeanor and avoided confrontation, and won praise for getting results. "Shreve has survived not by being a bomb-throwing publicity hound, but a mild-mannered compromiser," Times columnist Howard Troxler wrote in 2003. "His demeanor is Jimmy Stewart-ish, or sometimes Columbo." As the Times reported, Shreve negotiated many rate-case settlements with electric utilities and phone companies including a 1994 agreement in which Southern Bell, as BellSouth was then known, agreed to reduce rates by $300 million a year. "When they (utilities) file, they know they're going to have to deal with him," Bill Newton of the Florida Consumer Action Network told the newspaper. "So that's kept things reasonable." Shreve later returned to state government as special counsel and consumer advocate in 2007, working for Gov. Charlie Crist. A native of Crestview, he was a U.S. Navy fighter pilot and later was a helicopter pilot in the Navy reserves while attending law school at the University of Florida. At UF, he was a track champion, president of the prestigious Florida Blue Key and a classmate of Lawton Chiles, who served three terms in the U.S. Senate and two terms as governor. Shreve also served as Cocoa city attorney, assistant state attorney and general counsel for the Florida Department of State. @alextdaugherty Bill Nelson didn't show up for work on Tuesday, but he likely won't get dinged for it. The Democratic senator fighting for reelection against Republican Gov. Rick Scott was 1,100 miles away from Washington, sweating in front of the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children after being denied entry to the facility with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Dozens of news cameras surrounded him. "This is not a good day for our country, where a U.S. Senator and a U.S. Congresswoman have been turned away from a federal facility because the Trump administration does not want us to check on the welfare and care of the children inside, children who have been taken from their moms and dads," Nelson said. The moment has marked the most media exposure Nelson has secured during his Senate campaign so far. His face was plastered on front pages across the state and across evening newscasts, while his opponent, Gov. Rick Scott, saw his latest trip to Puerto Rico relegated to second-fiddle status. The Trump administration's decision to separate immigrant children from their families after they attempt to cross the border illegally has turned into a political firestorm in Miami-Dade, where the presence of three facilities that house unaccompanied minors and children that were separated from their parents is the physical embodiment of a White House policy that is widely condemned throughout the country. And it has given Democrats a chance to go on offense to blame the Republican Party for standing by as the Trump administration loses of nearly 6,000 children. It puts Republicans, including members fighting for reelection, in a tough spot. Miami Rep. Rep. Carlos Curbelo has blamed the Trump administration for the situation in Homestead, which lies within his Miami-to-Key West congressional district, as he works with the Trump administration to stitch together support for an all-GOP compromise immigration bill in Washington. "I do think that anytime a Member of Congress shows up at one of these facilities, they should be granted access," Curbelo said Wednesday morning. "It's the Congress that funds all of these government departments, and the administration should welcome members into these facilities to make sure they know exactly what is going on there so we can explain it to our constituents." But even as Curbelo said that he would fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions for implementing the policy and asked him to stop it immediately, Democrats excoriated him. Read more here. Colorado Sun Prominent Denver Post journalists, who recently left the embattled newspaper amid a battle with its hedge fund owners, are forming a start-up that's embracing one of the hottest trends in technology: blockchain. The Colorado Sun is launching as a reporter-owned, ad-free publication in partnership with Civil, a New York-based media company that's applying cryptoeconomics to journalism. The online paper is sending out its inaugural newsletter, the Sunriser, on Wednesday afternoon, and the full site will be up and running in the coming months. Blockchain has thus far largely been applied to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum, which are tracked on an electronic ledger and not subject to the rules of central banks. But tech entrepreneurs have been pursuing all sorts of other uses for blockchain, from storing medical records to managing music distribution, and any number of projects that require housing digital data and transactions. Civil said it is experimenting with blockchain in the news business and has plans to launch its own cryptocurrency, a token that would be used for accessing content, rewarding newsrooms for good reporting or even challenging the quality of work. "We are all about doing great local journalism, and we think this is the best model for doing that, said Larry Ryckman, a former senior editor of The Denver Post who is now editor of the Colorado Sun. "It is new and unproven, but we are willing to take a chance." Hedge fund vs. newspaper Ryckman has assembled a team of eight former Post employees who left the paper in the last few months after a round of layoffs that cut about one-third of the newsroom. The Sun will be one of Civil's "First Fleet" of up to 30 newsrooms, alongside publications like Cannabis Wire, focused on marijuana, and Documented, which covers immigration in New York City. Civil says it's aiming to create "a vast ecosystem of journalists, citizens and developers building products and services dedicated to powering sustainable journalism throughout the world." The Post remains mired in a public battle between the paper's staff and its owner, the hedge fund Alden Global Capital. Since Alden bought the Post in 2011, the firm has cut about 75 percent of the paper's employees, forced a move out of its headquarters and established paywalls on digital content. Some reporters and editors have even claimed Alden, by way of parent company Digital First Media, was censoring content. Elizabeth Hernandez and Noelle Phillips, both reporters at the Denver Post, protest outside of the Lipstick Building in Manhattan. CNBC | Chloe Aiello Those accusations surfaced around the time Ryckman and Colorado Sun senior editor Dana Coffman left in May. More broadly, Alden's actions elicited cries from staff members that the hedge fund is more concerned about profit than journalism and prompted a discussion about whether hedge funds should be in the business of newspaper ownership at all. "For us, it became clear the old models didn't work for us," Ryckman said. He described that model as "working for corporate overlords and having an ad system that emphasized clicks over quality." While the old journalism model that relies on circulation and ad revenue is struggling to survive, Civil's version is new and unproven. The start-up aims to leverage the blockchain to create journalism free from the limitations posed by ad-supported news sites. Civil's founders, including CEO Matthew Iles, operations lead Lillian Ruiz, and communications lead Matt Coolidge, are setting out to create a platform for blockchain-based newsrooms that can be owned by the journalists. Here's how it works: The technology at the core of the Civil publishing platform is ethereum, an open-source distributed computing platform, based on blockchain. Stakeholders will be able to use CVL tokens, a cryptocurrency debuting soon, to access stories and incentivize reporters by paying more for quality work. A limited amount of CVL tokens will be issued to stakeholders like distributors and consumers of news. Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Canada's upper house of parliament on Tuesday approved a revised bill to legalize recreational marijuana, setting the stage for the country to become the first Group of Seven nation to legalize cannabis. The Senate voted 52-29 in favor of the revised bill from the elected House of Commons, paving the way for a fully legal cannabis market within eight to 12 weeks. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals had made legalizing recreational use of marijuana part of their successful 2015 election campaign, arguing the new law would keep pot out of the hands of underage users and reduce related crime. "It's been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate," Trudeau said in a tweet. @JustinTrudeau tweet: It's been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate. #PromiseKept 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. Canadian marijuana companies like Canopy Growth, Aphria, Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF and Aurora Cannabis have been at the center of investor frenzy surrounding attempts to legalize marijuana for recreational use nationwide. Legalization has already been delayed from the government's initially planned July launch. While production of cannabis is regulated by the federal government, provinces and cities have more powers over retail sales either through private or government-owned stores. "I'm feeling just great," CBC News quoted Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, as saying. "The end of 90 years of prohibition. Transformative social policy, I think. A brave move on the part of the government." Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of J.P. Morgan, has become one the latest business leaders to speak up against President Donald Trump's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border with Mexico. In an internal memo seen by CNBC, Dimon referred employees to a statement by Business Roundtable which called separating children from their parents a "cruel" practice that's "contrary to American values." The Business Roundtable is an association of CEOs from major U.S. companies. Dimon currently heads the group. "I strongly agree" with the statement, he wrote, adding that his "heart goes out to the impacted families." Dimon also called for a comprehensive immigration reform. "We need to fix our immigration problems it's tearing apart our body politic and damaging our economy ... Fixing these issues will clearly boost the economy and help companies like ours hire great talent, but more importantly, it will reflect our American and core human values of fairness, decency and mutual respect," he said. The Trump administration's policy has been met with widespread criticism from not only Democrats, but members of his own party and international organizations. North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping came to an understanding on issues that were discussed at a summit between the two leaders, including denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the North's state media said on Wednesday. Kim and Xi assessed the historic meeting Kim had with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last week and exchanged opinions on ways to resolve the issue of denuclearization, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The North Korean leader also promised during a meeting with Xi in Beijing to cooperate with Chinese officials to secure "true peace" in the process of "opening a new future" on the Korean peninsula, it said. Kim's two-day visit to Beijing will end later on Wednesday, according to state media from China and North Korea. It follows his Singapore summit, where Kim and Trump reaffirmed a commitment to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Trump surprised officials in South Korea and the United States after that meeting by saying he would end "provocative" joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. The United States and South Korea said on Tuesday they had agreed to suspend a joint military exercise scheduled for August, although decisions regarding subsequent drills have not yet been made. South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb said Wednesday it was temporarily suspending deposit and withdrawal services after about $30 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen. The Seoul-based operator said on Twitter that the stolen coins would be covered from Bithumb's own reserves and that all users' assets are being transferred to safer "cold wallet." Tweet 1: [Notice for the temporary suspension of the deposits] Due to the increasing safety issues, we are changing our wallet system. Please do not deposit until we notify. *All deposits are not deposited into your wallet until all changes are completed. Tweet 2: [Notice for the suspension of all deposit and withdrawal service] We checked that some of cryptocurrencies valued about $30,000,000 was stolen. Those stolen cryptocurrencies will be covered from Bithumb and all of assets are being transferring to cold wallet. Tweet 3: *All deposit and withdrawal service will be stopped to make sure the security. We will keep notice you of the restart of the service. We apologize for your inconvenience and thanks for your understanding. The exchange did not say when it would restart its deposit and withdrawal services. Bitcoin fell from about $6,718.35 to as low as $6,561.79, following the tweets from Bithumb, according to CoinDesk's bitcoin price index. The price then started recovering and at 10:03 a.m. HK/SIN, bitcoin traded at $6,614.46. Such a move is relatively staid for the regularly volatile asset. CoinDesk data also showed that the price of ethereum fell from levels near $535 to as low as $521.07 before recovering slightly. South Korea is a major cryptocurrency trading center and Bithumb is one of the busiest virtual coin exchanges. Earlier this month, a relatively small South Korean exchange, Coinrail, tweeted that it had been hacked, and noted that lesser-known cryptocurrencies such as Pundi X were among those affected. Some observers suggested that news affected bitcoin and sent the price on the Coindesk index to its lowest in two months. Still, given the relative size of Coinrail, that claim proved inconclusive. That said, the decline also coincided with a broader crypto sell-off that followed a Wall Street Journal report that said U.S. regulators were investigating potential price manipulation at four major cryptocurrency exchanges. Bitcoi, and ethereum then received a boost after a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission official said that neither of those crypto assets are securities. At the same time, the SEC also said that many, but not all, initial coin offerings could be securities and would come under the regulatory control of the SEC and relevant securities laws. CNBC's Evelyn Cheng and Reuters contributed to this report. "Judging from how this went, I have some optimism that this could actually get done. It will be difficult," Curbelo said Tuesday evening as House Republican leaders were set to gauge support for the immigration bills. The president told the GOP caucus that he supports its efforts to pass either of the two immigration bills the House will consider this week, Republican lawmakers said to reporters following the meeting. Trump signaled he would support a measure crafted as a compromise between centrist and conservative Republicans without explicitly endorsing the legislation, according to Reps. Ryan Costello, R-Pa., and Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla. But he reportedly spent much of his time during Capitol Hill remarks ostensibly about immigration policy riffing on topics such as trade, the Russia investigation and the primary election defeat of incumbent GOP Rep. Mark Sanford. President Donald Trump urged House Republicans to pass an immigration bill Tuesday as an uproar over his policy of separating migrant children from parents engulfs his administration. Trump's visit to the Capitol came during one of the most politically fraught moments of his presidency, as he faces bipartisan backlash over his administration's decision to split up families crossing U.S. borders illegally. Even as lawmakers rightfully note he could end the policy today, the president has pushed for Congress to pass a bill that would end the practice while also enacting his strict border security proposals. Trump has shown no willingness to stop the practice himself. The GOP compromise bill officially unveiled Tuesday would fund Trump's proposed border wall, create a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, end the diversity visa "lottery" program in favor of what the GOP calls a merit-based visa pool and seek to end the separation of migrant children and parents. Following the meeting, the White House said Trump supports the legislation. He told members that "I'm with you 100 percent," according to deputy press secretary Raj Shah. On Friday, Trump created confusion by saying he would not back the "more moderate" immigration measure. Shah walked back the president's statement hours later. Still, it is unclear whether the bill can win enough support to pass the House, and it faces a tough path to getting through the Senate. Some of the GOP's rightmost flank has objected to offering a path to citizenship for the young immigrants. Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the conservative House Freedom Caucus, would not say Tuesday evening whether his group would support the bill, according to NBC News. Costello told reporters that Trump's support "should be helpful" to Republicans' effort to pass the bill. Immigration dominated Trump's day: He spent much of an afternoon speech to a small business association riffing about immigration and suggesting he could push for changes to the House GOP legislation. He apparently did not mention changes Tuesday evening. Leaving the meeting in the Capitol, he faced sign-wielding House Democrats who yelled and chanted in urging the president to end the family separation policy himself. Tweet: A group of House Democrats with signs reading "Families belong together" confronted Pres. Trump as he left the U.S. Capitol after meeting with House Republicans. "We won't go away!" Rep. Adriano Espaillat shouted at the president. Though immigration was top of mind for lawmakers, Trump reportedly strayed from the topic early and often during his remarks to Republicans. Curbelo noted that Trump's comments "did wander a bit." Trump made the room fall silent when he mockingly said he wanted to "congratulate" Sanford on his primary race, according to Politico. The South Carolina Republican, an occasional Trump critic, lost a primary this month to a challenger who criticized him for not doing enough to help the president. The president called Sanford "nasty," the news outlet reported. The representative was not in the room. For his part, Sanford told Charleston's The Post and Courier that Trump's decision to "shoot at a guy you've already shot and killed, is perplexing and unfortunate." The politician told the newspaper he never meant for his policy disagreements with Trump to be regarded as personal insults, but "somehow he takes it personally and responds personally." Trump also told Republicans not to worry about escalating tensions with major trade partners such as China, according to Politico. A series of tariffs, threats and retaliatory broadsides between Washington and Beijing have raised fears about damage to the world's two largest economies and contributed to stock markets broadly falling this week. Trump told Republicans that trade isn't "tricky," according to the news outlet. Aside from those topics, Trump touched on the Republican tax law, the probe into Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 election and his push to get North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions, according to reports. Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three "tender age" shelters in South Texas, The Associated Press has learned. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday. Since the White House announced its zero tolerance policy in early May, more than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, resulting in a new influx of young children requiring government care. The government has faced withering critiques over images of some of the children in cages inside U.S. Border Patrol processing stations. Decades after the nation's child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is standing up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents. "The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it," said Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. "Toddlers are being detained." Bellor said shelters follow strict procedures surrounding who can gain access to the children in order to protect their safety, but that means information about their welfare can be limited. By law, child migrants traveling alone must be sent to facilities run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within three days of being detained. The agency then is responsible for placing the children in shelters or foster homes until they are united with a relative or sponsor in the community as they await immigration court hearings. But U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' announcement last month that the government would criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the U.S.-Mexico border illegally has led to the breakup of migrant families and sent a new group of hundreds of young children into the government's care. The United Nations, some Democratic and Republican lawmakers and religious groups have sharply criticized the policy, calling it inhumane. Not so, said Steven Wagner, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services. "We have specialized facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs and tender age children as we define as under 13 would fall into that category," he said. "They're not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and they're staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs particularly of the younger children." Until now, however, it's been unknown where they are. "In general we do not identify the locations of permanent unaccompanied alien children program facilities," said agency spokesman Kenneth Wolfe. The three centers in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville have been rapidly repurposed to serve needs of children including some under 5. A fourth, planned for Houston, would house up to 240 children in a warehouse previously used for people displaced by Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. Turner said he met with officials from Austin-based Southwest Key Programs, the contractor that operates some of the child shelters, to ask them to reconsider their plans. A spokeswoman for Southwest Key didn't immediately reply to an email seeking comment. "And so there comes a point in time we draw a line and for me, the line is with these children," said Turner during a news conference Tuesday. On a practical level, the zero tolerance policy has overwhelmed the federal agency charged with caring for the new influx of children who tend to be much younger than teens who typically have been traveling to the U.S. alone. Indeed some recent detainees are infants, taken from their mothers. Doctors and lawyers who have visited the shelters said the facilities were fine, clean and safe, but the kids who have no idea where their parents are were hysterical, crying and acting out. "The shelters aren't the problem, it's taking kids from their parents that's the problem," said South Texas pediatrician Marsha Griffin who has visited many. Alicia Lieberman, who runs the Early Trauma Treatment Network at University of California, San Francisco, said decades of study show early separations can cause permanent emotional damage. "Children are biologically programmed to grow best in the care of a parent figure. When that bond is broken through long and unexpected separations with no set timeline for reunion, children respond at the deepest physiological and emotional levels," she said. "Their fear triggers a flood of stress hormones that disrupt neural circuits in the brain, create high levels of anxiety, make them more susceptible to physical and emotional illness, and damage their capacity to manage their emotions, trust people, and focus their attention on age-appropriate activities." Days after Sessions announced the zero-tolerance policy, the government issued a call for proposals from shelter and foster care providers to provide services for the new influx of children taken from their families after journeying from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. As children are separated from their families, law enforcement agents reclassify them from members of family units to "unaccompanied alien children." Federal officials said Tuesday that since May, they have separated 2,342 children from their families, rendering them unaccompanied minors in the government's care. While Mexico is still the most common country of origin for families arrested at the border, in the last eight months Honduras has become the fastest-growing category as compared to fiscal year 2017. During a press briefing Tuesday, reporters repeatedly asked for an age breakdown of the children who have been taken. Officials from both law enforcement and Health and Human Services said they didn't know how many children were under 5, under 2, or even so little they're non-verbal. "The facilities that they have for the most part are not licensed for tender age children," said Michelle Brane, director of migrant rights at the Women's Refugee Commission, who met with a 4-year-old girl in diapers in a McAllen warehouse where Border Patrol temporarily holds migrant families. "There is no model for how you house tons of little children in cots institutionally in our country. We don't do orphanages, our child welfare has recognized that is an inappropriate setting for little children." So now, the government has to try to hire more caregivers. The recent call for proposals by the federal government's Office of Refugee Resettlement said it was seeking applicants who can provide services for a diverse population "of all ages and genders, as well as pregnant and parenting teens." Even the policy surrounding what age to take away a baby is inconsistent. Customs and Border Protection field chiefs over all nine southwest border districts can use their discretion over how young is too young, officials said. And while Health and Human Services defines "tender age" typically as 12 and under, Customs and Border Protection has at times defined it as 5 and under. For 30 years, Los Fresnos, Texas-based International Education Services ran emergency shelters and foster care programs for younger children and pregnant teens who arrived in the U.S. as unaccompanied minors. At least one resident sued for the right to have an abortion in a high-profile case last March. For reasons the agency did not explain, three months ago the government's refugee resettlement office said it was ending their funding to the program and transferred all children to other facilities. This came weeks before the administration began its "zero tolerance" policy, prompting a surge in "tender age" migrant children needing shelter. In recent days, members of Congress have been visiting the shelters and processing centers, or watching news report about them, bearing witness to the growing chaos. In a letter sent to Sessions on Tuesday, a dozen Republican senators said separating families isn't consistent with American values and ordinary human decency. On Tuesday, a Guatemalan mother who hasn't seen her 7-year-old son since he was taken from her a month ago sued the Trump administration. Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia was released from custody while her asylum case is pending and thinks her son, Darwin, might be in a shelter in Arizona. "I only got to talk to him once and he sounded so sad. My son never used to sound like that, he was such a dynamic boy," Mejia-Mejia said as she wept. "I call and call and no one will tell me where he is." Dara Khosrowshahi Drew Angerer | Getty Images In June 2017 Uber's board of directors unanimously approved a set of recommendations presented by former U.S. Attorney Eric Holder to dramatically revamp the ridesharing giant's troubled management and culture. Last February the company was hit with widespread allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination; a lawsuit by Google's Waymo self-driving car program accusing Uber of stealing trade secrets; a video showing Kalanick berating an Uber driver, an investigation by the Justice Dept. for using a program to evade law enforcement so it could operate in cities where it was banned. And so much more. In March 2017 Uber retained Eric Holder and Tammy Albarran, partners at the law firm Covington & Burling, to perform a thorough and objective review of the company's workplace environment. The investigation came after Susan Fowler, a former engineer at Uber Technologies, published a blog post on Feb. 19 detailing allegations of harassment, discrimination and retaliation during her employment and the ineffectiveness of the company's then-existing policies and procedures. Shortly after, an examination of 215 staff complaints led to the firing of more than 20 Uber employees. The 13-page "Holder Report" suggested widespread changes to Uber's senior leadership, including paring down founder and CEO Travis Kalanick's role. (A few days later, on June 13, Kalanick announced that he would be taking a leave of absence to grieve the loss of his mother, who had died as a result of injuries sustained in a boating accident, and to allow the embattled company to focus on improving its corporate culture.) Uber's headquarters in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Among other things, the report also advocated for limiting alcohol during workdays and company events; prohibiting intimate relationships between employees and bosses'; establishing key metrics to which senior leaders would be held accountable; increasing the profile of Uber's head of diversity and inclusion; restructuring its board of directors to include independent board seats, along with an oversight committee to instill and enhance a culture of ethical business practices; broadening its training and human resources teams; providing an effective complaint process; establishing an employee diversity board and regularly publishing its diversity statistics. Now, one year later, Uber's new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, is looking to take the company public in 2019. But he still has a ways to go with respect to rebuilding the brand, improving the overall product, instilling diversity and building out his management team. That includes hiring a chief financial officer, he said. Uber's progress one year later Responding to the report, Uber hired Bo Young Lee to be its first-ever chief diversity and inclusion officer. Lee's executive appointment is the third under Khosrowshahi. Only three months in her new role, she is taking her position very seriously, overseeing diversity and inclusion strategies, such as diversity hiring, training and employee support groups. Speaking at CNBC's @Work event on Wednesday in New York City, Lee said, "We did go through quite a bit of trauma last year as an organization, and I always try to remind people that Uber is made up of 18,000 people and there are thousands of people within Uber who are change agents right now, who want to see us become a a better organization and to live the true vision that we want to be. We were Uber 1.0 and we don't want that anymore. We want to be Uber 2.0." Bo Young Lee, Uber Adam Jeffery | CNBC A lot of building inclusion into the culture is less about the mind and the data and more about the heart and the stories and the connections. U.S. airlines, including American and United on Wednesday asked the federal government not to use their flights to transport children who were separated from their families under a controversial immigration policy. The airlines responded after a public outcry over the separations of children from their parents and reports that claimed some of the children were transported on U.S. flights. More than 2,300 migrant children were separated from their parents at the U.S-Mexico border from May 5 and June 9, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that he said would keep migrant families together if the adult members are detained after trying to enter the U.S. illegally. But the policy that Trump has appeared to backed away from put the spotlight on U.S. airlines, which are regularly contracted by the U.S. government. The Houston Chronicle published on Tuesday an adapted Facebook post by Hunt Palmquist, whose bio said he is a Dallas-based flight attendant for a major U.S. carrier. He said that "little children whose faces were full of fear, confusion, sadness and exhaustion left me somewhat traumatized as it occurred to me a few weeks later that I might as well have been a collaborator in their transport. "I will immediately remove myself from the trip due to the nature of this unconscionable act by my government and my employer's complicity," he wrote. Another Facebook post that said it was passed along from a flight attendant said more than a dozen migrant children appeared to have been recently transported on an overnight flight from Phoenix to Miami. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tyler Houlton, in a tweet called it "unfortunate" that the airlines "no longer want to partner with the brave men and women of DHS to protect the traveling public, combat human trafficking, and to swiftly reunite unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with their families." Buckling to a false media narrative only exacerbates the problems at our border and puts more children at risk from traffickers. We wish the airlines would instead choose to be part of the solution. American Airlines said it had "no knowledge" the federal government used the airline to transport migrant children who were separated from their parents under the immigration policy but asked the government to "immediately refrain" from using the airline for that purpose. "We have no desire to be associated with separating families, or worse, to profit from it," American said in a statement. "We have every expectation the government will comply with our request and we thank them for doing so." The carrier said it has carried refugees for nonprofits and the government. United CEO Oscar Munoz said the airline has not seen any evidence that these children separated from their parents were flown on United's planes, but the airline said it told the government it "should not" transport migrant children who were separated from their parents on its flights. "Our company's shared purpose is to connect people and unite the world," Munoz said in a statement. "This policy and its impact on thousands of children is in deep conflict with that mission and we want no part of it." The immigration policy has shaken some airline crew members, as well. "This national discussion and response is being felt on the planes and discussed among crews. Some are struggling with the question of participating in a process that they feel deeply is immoral," said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, the labor union that represents flight attendants at United Airlines, Alaska Airlines and others. "Airlines are often a first point of contact for any public debate on these issues because all of society passes through our aircraft," Nelson said. Privately-held, low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines also asked the U.S. government not to use its planes to fly children separated from their parents under the policy and that it is not aware if its planes have been used for that purpose. Southwest Airlines said it "does not have evidence" that it sold tickets that were used to transport detained children and said it doesn't want to be involved in that business. Spirit Airlines said it will not "knowingly participate in transporting migrant children away from their parents. Delta Air Lines said that the policy of separating migrant families "do not align with Delta's core values" and it applauded the Trump for signing the executive order that aims to end the practice. Jack Ma may be seen today as an e-commerce visionary, but the billionaire businessman has revealed that he was first inspired to build his empire by the dreams of another Asian icon: Malaysia's current prime minister. The Alibaba founder told reporters on Monday of how Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's plans to turn Malaysia's capital into a high-tech business center had driven him to launch a digital business aimed at similarly revolutionizing China's tech scene. Ma said the idea had dawned on him 20 years ago when he read in a newspaper about Mahathir's "Multimedia Super Corridor," or MSC part of an agenda to modernize the country. "My inspiration came from the MSC," Ma said on a visit to Putrajaya, a city just outside of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. "I started my business in 1995. [I] started the China Pages the first internet company in China and I was wondering where to go," recalled Ma. "[I was wondering] how internet, how this kind of technology, digital technology can empower society, empower people." Rep. Jay Fant, R- Jacksonville. [SCOTT KEELER | Tampa Bay Times] State Rep. Jay Fant is dropping out of the attorney general's race to try to become the state's financial regulator, leading the office that shut down his family's bank six years ago. In a Tuesday evening announcement, the Jacksonville Republican said that he wanted to become commissioner of the Office of Financial Regulation, which oversees banks, check-cashing stores and payday loan shops. That was the same institution that blamed Fant for the failure of the First Guaranty Bank and Trust, founded by Fant's grandfather in 1947. At one point, it was Jacksonville's oldest bank. But under Fant's leadership, the bank engaged in risky loans, some of which state regulators said violated banking regulations. When the Great Recession hit, the bank was crushed. "The bank's financial deterioration is a direct result of poor loan underwriting and a lack of sound lending department controls," OFR examiners wrote in 2009. "The board and executive management are responsible for the resulting deterioration as they failed to institute sound policies and procedures and appropriately oversee credit practices." That report also said Fant accepted the blame. "Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Julian E. Fant III acknowledged the board's responsibility for the condition of the bank. Chairman Fant acknowledged that in hindsight he did not appreciate the gravity of the concerns raised in prior examinations," examiners wrote. But on Tuesday, Fant blamed "wayward government policy" for the bank's failure: "I was running a small community bank during the Great Recession and Florida real estate crisis," he said in a statement. "Our company, like all banks and financial firms, suffered tremendously. The federal government intervened by passing a massive bank bailout that helped the largest banks and left the small community banks out in the cold. 64 banks in Florida alone, including ours, went out of business. Wall Street won. Main Street lost." Fant would be replacing outgoing Commissioner Drew Breakspear, who was pressured to resign by CFO Jimmy Patronis, who complained that Breakspear was not being responsive to people in the industry. On Tuesday, Fant told Politico, which first reported his announcement, that he wants to instill a "servants culture" in the office. He's going up against 22 applicants, including Linda Charity, who twice led the office in an interim role. In April, Charity defended Fant's role in the banking failure, telling the Herald/Times that "people just walked away from their loans." The Florida Cabinet, made up of Patronis, Gov. Rick Scott, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Attorney General Pam Bondi, could pick a replacement as early as next week. Fant's chances are likely better than they were in the attorney general's race, where he was falling behind in fundraising. And one of his opponents, Ashley Moody, was already endorsed by Bondi. Herald/Times staff writer William March contributed to this report. Zoe, Elmo and The Count at the Sesame Workshop's 16th Annual Benefit Gala at Cipriani in New York City in May. Apple will partner with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit media organization behind "Sesame Street," to create children's programming for the tech giant's new streaming service. "Sesame Street" is not part of the agreement, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The new content will include live-action, animated and puppet series. This is Apple's latest push into original content, and its first foray into children's programming. The report comes only a week after Apple announced a multiyear deal with Oprah Winfrey. That deal beat out competing bids, likely by Amazon and Netflix, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Sesame Workshop made waves in 2015 when they struck a deal with HBO to air "Sesame Street," a longtime staple of public television, on the premium cable network. Sesame Workshop did not immediately respond to request for comment. CNBC's Michelle Castillo contributed to this report. The newly combined AT&T-Time Warner is looking to reinvent advertising but to do so, it needs to buy more technology, AT&T Advertising and Analytics CEO Brian Lesser told CNBC on Wednesday. Lesser, who spoke on "Squawk Box" from the Cannes Lions advertising and marketing festival in France, dodged questions about a Wall Street Journal report that AT&T is in talks to buy ad tech firm AppNexus in what could be a $1.6 billion deal. AppNexus is backed by WPP, where Lesser used to work as CEO of the ad giant's GroupM media unit. Lesser is also a former AppNexus board member. "There's lots of rumors that come up at Cannes," said Lesser, though he did say "we need more tech" in order to build AT&T's $2 billion ad business "into something more significant." Lesser echoed what AT&T Chairman and CEO told CNBC on Friday, a day after closing the $85.4 billion Time Warner acquisition. Stephenson said the company expects in coming weeks to make smaller acquisitions to enable its ad platform goals. "The world needs advertising more than ever. We just need to make it more relevant and make matter for consumers," Lesser said. "Everybody still hates advertising when it interrupts the content. It's our job to reduce the load on consumers, make it a better experience." Lesser described technology that AT&T has to keep viewers more engaged. "Imagine you're watching content [on TV] and instead of interrupting ... with a traditional commercial break we can show an icon on the screen that indicates to you that there might be a mixed-reality experience [on mobile] where you can get more information about the car you just saw or the dress you just saw." Taking ads completely out of the picture with a Netflix-type paid subscription model is not sustainable, Lesser said. "Subscription video on demand is a great service and consumers love it. But you can't possibly pay for all the content that's being produced now through a subscription." Hulu offers a hybrid paid model, one subscription tier that's completely ad-free and a less expensive tier with "limited commercials." Amazon, the other streaming juggernaut, offers its video and music services free to subscribers of Prime, which includes free, faster deliveries for purchases on the e-commerce side. It looks like AT&T has begun its buying spree on the heels of a favorable ruling in the Time Warner antitrust case. The company's top executives have said the telecom giant would pursue several smaller deals to round out its new media- and advertising-heavy strategy. After completing the firm's $85.4 billion purchase of Time Warner, CEO Randall Stephenson told CNBC, "You should expect some smaller, not like Time Warner, but some smaller M&A in the coming weeks to demonstrate our commitment" to ad-supported business models. Several news outlets now report AT&T is eyeing deals with advertising tech firm AppNexus and with streaming company Otter Media. Separations of families increased under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, which aims to prosecute all adults illegally crossing U.S. borders, including asylum seekers. The administration separated 1,995 children from 1,940 adults from April 19 to May 31 after zero tolerance was announced, according to the Department of Homeland Security. During Obama's presidency, immigration advocates criticized him for the number of deportations his administration oversaw and its detention of families together. However, the U.S. did not have a widespread family separation policy during Obama's presidency. Read the full statement from Obama here: "Today is World Refugee Day. If you've been fortunate enough to have been born in America, imagine for a moment if circumstance had placed you somewhere else. Imagine if you'd been born in a country where you grew up fearing for your life, and eventually the lives of your children. A place where you finally found yourself so desperate to flee persecution, violence, and suffering that you'd be willing to travel thousands of miles under cover of darkness, enduring dangerous conditions, propelled forward by that very human impulse to create for our kids a better life. That's the reality for so many of the families whose plights we see and heart-rending cries we hear. And to watch those families broken apart in real time puts to us a very simple question: are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents' arms, or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together? Do we look away, or do we choose to see something of ourselves and our children? Our ability to imagine ourselves in the shoes of others, to say 'there but for the grace of God go I,' is part of what makes us human. And to find a way to welcome the refugee and the immigrant to be big enough and wise enough to uphold our laws and honor our values at the same time is part of what makes us American. After all, almost all of us were strangers once, too. Whether our families crossed the Atlantic, the Pacific, or the Rio Grande, we're only here because this country welcomed them in, and taught them that to be an American is about something more than what we look like, how our last names sound, or the way we worship. To be an American is to have a shared commitment to an ideal that all of us are created equal, and all of us deserve the chance to become something better. That's the legacy our parents and grandparents and generations before created for us, and it's something we have to protect for the generations to come. But we have to do more than say 'this isn't who we are.' We have to prove it through our policies, our laws, our actions, and our votes." Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein does not own bitcoin, but he did not rule out Tuesday the cryptocurrency having a future. During a talk at the The Economic Club of New York, the banker struck an optimistic tone on bitcoin. He explained how the world moved from gold to fiat currencies that we have today backed by government. Using that example, he said he could see a world where a cryptocurrency could exist. "If you could go through that fiat currency where they say this is worth what it's worth because I, the government, says it is, why couldn't you have a consensus currency?" Blankfein said. "And so it's not for me, I don't do it, I own no bitcoin. Goldman Sachs as far as I know... has no bitcoin, but if it does work out, I could give you the historical path why that could have happened." Blankfein has been more open than some on Wall Street about bitcoin. For example, J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon famously shot down the cryptocurrrency calling it a "fraud." Blankfein said that he does not want to dismiss it. "I'm not in this school of saying... because it's uncomfortable with me, because it's unfamiliar, this can't happen, that's too arrogant," Blankfein said. Goldman Sachs has started a cryptocurrency trading desk and recently made its first hire. Experts expect other banks could follow. But bitcoin has often been criticized for being a speculative bubble after hitting a record high price of nearly $20,000 last year and since falling to below $7,000. It has also not displayed the characteristics of an actual currency. For example, transaction times and fees are extremely high. Kristo Kaarmann, CEO of money transfer start-up TransferWise, said in a recent CNBC interview that the Egyptian pound is more useful than bitcoin. Still, many advocates are still hopeful that bitcoin could become mainstream. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently said he believes bitcoin will become the single global currency. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told CNBC in a recent interview that he hopes this will happen too. Dr. Atul Gawande, the newly selected CEO of the Amazon, J.P. Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway joint health-care venture, was once given $20,000 by Warren Buffett's longtime investing partner Charlie Munger. Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, made that revelation on CNBC's "Squawk Box" back in 2010. At the time, Buffett said that Munger wrote a check after Gawande published an article in The New Yorker on high U.S. medical costs. "[Munger] never met him, never had any correspondence with it," Buffett told CNBC's Becky Quick in March 2010. "[Munger] just mailed it to The New Yorker and he said, `This article is so useful socially,' he says, 'Just give this as a gift to the to Dr. Gawande.'" The article that caught Munger's eye was a 2009 story, "The Cost Conundrum." Gawande, who has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1998, explored why two different towns in Texas that had similar demographics had huge variances in their health-care spending. He found the primary cause for the extreme costs in one town was "across-the-board overuse of medicine." "Americans like to believe that, with most things, more is better. But research suggests that where medicine is concerned it may actually be worse," Gawande wrote in The New Yorker article. "Spending on doctors, hospitals, drugs, and the like now consumes more than one of every six dollars we earn." He continued, "The financial burden has damaged the global competitiveness of American businesses and bankrupted millions of families, even those with insurance." According to the Huffington Post, Gawande did not take the money from Munger and instead accepted it as a donation to the Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he practices as a surgeon. CNBC has reached out to Gawande for comment. Gawande will officially begin in his new role with the Amazon, J.P. Morgan and Berkshire venture next month, the three companies announced on Wednesday. He will not give up his positions at Harvard or Brigham and Women's Hospital and will keep writing, including for The New Yorker. The U.S. trade dispute with China, in a roundabout way, could determine how successful the U.S. will be in sanctioning Iran's oil this time around and that uncertainty is also playing out at OPEC. In the tit-for-tat tariff war with the U.S., China said last week it would put tariffs on U.S. oil imports. The U.S. is not a major oil exporter, but it has been growing exports and is exporting about 2 million barrels a day of crude. About 300,000 barrels of that heads to China each day, and China could stop those purchases depending on how the trade dispute develops with the U.S., according to Scott Sheffield, executive chairman of Pioneer National Resources. At the same time, China is a major player, and as the biggest importer of crude it could tilt the world scales in determining how much Iranian crude will be taken off the world market. Analysts expect buyers of Iranian crude in Europe and places such as Japan and South Korea to slow down or stop buying Iranian supply before the end of the year. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, meanwhile, sees a need to return oil to the market because of Iran and other outages, including the steady decline in Venezuelan output, but its members are squabbling among themselves over how much oil to return to the market, and that decision is critical to OPEC's deal of cooperation with Russia and other producers who meet on Saturday. OPEC's discussions of how much oil to return to the market are also key to its agreement with Russia and other producers, but there is disagreement. Saudi Arabia is believed to want to return 500,00 to 600,000 barrels to the market, but Iran objects to increasing output. Russia's energy minister has said Russia would like to return 1.5 million barrels a day just for the third quarter and take measure of the market after that. Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources Adam Jeffery | CNBC "If OPEC doesn't do something, I think we will see a $100 oil price," Sheffield said. He was speaking to CNBC on the sidelines of an OPEC seminar, a two-day event in Vienna including global industry leaders ahead of Friday's OPEC ministerial meeting. Sheffield said China and India remain the two wild cards when it comes to Iran, though India's state bank has warned about curbing financing for Indian refiners buying Iranian crude. China could curb, maintain or even increase its purchases of Iranian oil. China had a system for purchasing Iranian crude with a separate entity and payment system that did not engage with the U.S. banking system the last time sanctions were imposed on Iran, and analysts say it could use that method again to buy Iranian imports that would most likely come to it at a discount. Oil customers have been scrambling to replace Iranian barrels because of the financial restrictions President Donald Trump has put on companies that would deal with Iran. That shifting of oil supply is an issue at the heart of debate at this week's OPEC meeting. "OPEC doesn't know if 200,000 or a million barrels of Iranian oil will be off the market," said Sheffield. Iran exports about 2.4 million barrels a day, and analysts expect the U.S. sanctions to remove about 500,000 from the world market by the end of the year. The last time the U.S. and other nations sanctioned Iran, about 1.2 million barrels a day were taken off the market. Sheffield said there would be other buyers for any U.S. crude that China does not take. This week's headlines from OPEC have focused on the fiery comments of Iran Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, who has been blasting Trump for politicizing oil when he blamed OPEC for high prices and reinstated sanctions on Iran. "The real responsibility for oil prices being high lies with the president of the United States," Zanganeh told the seminar. He said oil prices have risen since Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal. Trump has twice blamed OPEC for high prices on Twitter. Protesters confronted Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over the separation of an estimated 2,000 migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The confrontation came at a Mexican restaurant in Washington. In an 11-minute video posted by the Democratic Socialists of America, protesters can be heard criticizing Nielsen, who has served as a public face of the Trump administration's migrant family separation policy since appearing at a press briefing on Monday to defend it. "That's her, that's her," one protester can be heard saying Tuesday night at the start of the video. "Secretary Nielsen, how dare you spend your evening here eating dinner as you are complicit in the separation and deportation of over 10,000 children separated from their parents," another protester announced at the restaurant, MXDC Cocina Mexicana. "How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you are deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people seeking asylum here in the United States?" The group did not say how it knew Nielsen would be at the restaurant. Nielsen has come under fire for her role enforcing the White House's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which has resulted in the child separations from their families. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen speaks during a news briefing at the White House on Monday, June 18, 2018 in Washington, DC. Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images Numbers released by the Department of Health and Human Services show that almost 12,000 children are being cared for under the government's unaccompanied alien children program. More than 2,000 of those children have been separated from their parents since May. "Shame, shame, shame, shame," the protesters chanted. "If kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace." Nielsen does not say anything during the video. Nielsen's spokesperson posted on Twitter after the encounter that the secretary had "heard from a small group of protestors who share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border." Spokesperson tweet. Nielsen "encourages all - including this group - who want to see an immigration system that works, contributes to our economy, protects our security, & reflects our values reach out to Members & seek their support to close immigration loopholes that made our system a mess," he wrote. Escalating calls to end the separations Skeptics have questioned whether the trio's grand project can actually change the system or whether it will become just the latest failed attempt by employers to lower health-care costs. Many have tried unsuccessfully over the years on their own or through other alliances. Those firms tapped Gawande on Wednesday to head the as-yet-unnamed health company. J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon , Amazon Chief Jeff Bezos and Berkshire leader Warren Buffett announced the venture in January. Despite that, the surgeon and Harvard professor soon will lead the most anticipated health-care company, a joint venture between three corporate titans: J.P. Morgan , Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway . Dr. Atul Gawande writes and speaks about health care a lot. But he hasn't actually spent nearly as much time changing it. Some have praised Gawande as one of the most brilliant minds in health care. Others, however, have questioned whether he has enough management experience to lead the venture. "It's a strange pick," said Craig Garthwaite, director of the Health Enterprise Management Program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. "I have a lot of respect for him. He's a great physician who can run a hospital. But does he know how to run a (pharmacy benefits manager), deal with pharmaceutical companies and the business side of health care? I don't see any evidence of that." Buffett, Dimon and Bezos haven't said much about what they're seeking to do other than broadly lowering costs. It's a topic Gawande has written extensively about. As a staff writer at The New Yorker, he's penned articles about why costs are so high and how more and more expensive medical care doesn't mean better outcomes. He profiled McAllen, Texas, one of the most expensive health-care markets in a 2009 New Yorker piece, "The Cost Conundrum." He determined the primary cause was "across-the-board overuse of medicine." "This is a disturbing and perhaps surprising diagnosis," Gawande wrote. "Americans like to believe that, with most things, more is better. But research suggests that where medicine is concerned it may actually be worse." These ideas alone have won him praise, though. Buffett's longtime investing partner Charlie Munger gave him $20,000 after reading the piece, Buffett told CNBC in 2010. Gawande founded Ariadne Labs, a partnership between Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospital focused on innovation in health systems, in 2012 which has provided him with management experience. He'll transition to chairman from executive director when he starts his new role on July 9. The trio says the new company will be different from traditional ones because it will be "free from profit-making incentives and constraints." Ash Shehata, a principal at KPMG's health care and life sciences practice, said choosing Gawande signals the Buffett, Bezos and Dimon trio is thinking about strategy before execution. "I do think it's an interesting position because they're starting at a much higher level of strategy by selecting (Gawande) than somebody coming from the operational side of the industry," he said. "So instead of starting at 25,000 feet, they're starting at 50,000 feet." They'll now need to balance the management team with people who can execute the vision, he said, whatever that may be. (Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Gawande's start date.) @joeflech Amid growing backlash against President Donald Trump's policy to separate immigrant children from their parents including uproar over an immigrant children center in their own backyard Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert are joining a group of other U.S. mayors on a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border to protest at shelters housing unaccompanied migrant children. The nonpartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors is paying to fly the mayors out to Tornillo, Texas, to join Stephen K. Benjamin, mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, to tour the tent city that has been erected to house children of immigrants. Benjamin is president of the national mayor's group, which passed a resolution condemning the policy. The mayors of Los Angeles; Augusta, Georgia; Gary, Indiana and Rochester Hills, Michigan, are among the other municipal leaders who will attend. Suarez said Benjamin called him Tuesday to ask him to join him and other U.S. mayors on the trip. "Hopefully, they will give us access," Suarez said Tuesday evening. "The images we are seeing are very troublesome and appalling." Suarez, a Republican, echoed bipartisan calls to end the separation of children from their parents. "It's contrary to our core values as a country," he said. As Suarez prepared for the trip, controversy continued to swell in his own county Tuesday as U.S Sen. Bill Nelson and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz were blocked from entering a Homestead shelter housing as many as 1,000 immigrant children. The mayor, who will return to Miami late Thursday, said he attempted to arrange a visit to the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children but was told he wouldn't be allowed. Twenty-First Century Fox's board is set to decide on Wednesday whether to entertain Comcast's $65 billion cash bid for the New York-based media company or stick with its roughly $52 billion all-stock offer from Walt Disney, people familiar with the matter said. Disney and Comcast are battling to win Fox's movie and television studios at a time when legacy media and distribution companies are looking to expand to better compete with younger media firms like Netflix that sell their content directly to viewers. Fox's international assets such as Star India appeal to both Disney and Comcast, which want to expand their global presence. While Fox's board has yet to make a decision, analysts and industry dealmakers widely expect Fox to say that Comcast's bid could potentially lead to a better deal for its shareholders. If it does, Fox would then be allowed to negotiate with Comcast and take a closer look at its offer. This would be the time for Fox to learn more about Comcast's commitments when it comes to regulatory approval, for example. "Let the ping-pong tournament begin, as Comcast won't let Fox brush off its all-cash premium offer without a fight," Macquarie analyst Amy Yong said in a research note last week. Once Fox engages in talks with Comcast, it will then have to determine if the offer is definitively a superior deal for Fox shareholders, compared with its agreement with Disney. This will be the first step that could lead to a bidding war as Disney will then have five business days to put a revised offer on the table, according to its merger agreement. Disney could sweeten its all-stock bid with cash, given its strong balance sheet and the potential boost to earnings per share, according to the people familiar with the matter. Technically, Fox could also rebuff Comcast's bid on Wednesday, but that is unlikely, said Morningstar analyst Allan Nichols. "Because of the liabilities of the board I don't think they can outright say no to Comcast's offer. You at least need to do some kind of review process," he said. General Mills' venture arm, 301 Inc., has invested in the parent company of juice and shot company GoodBelly Probiotics, the companies will announce later Wednesday. NextFoods, the Boulder, Colorado-based parent of GoodBelly, is raising $12 million in funding in a new round led by 301, with additional capital coming from existing investors, including Emil Capital Partners. NextFoods was founded in 2007 by Todd Beckman and Steve Demos, who founded WhiteWave Foods, the owner of Silk plant-based milk. The companies would not comment as to whether the investment included a path to an outright acquisition, as can sometimes be part of such deals. The investment comes as GoodBelly looks to expand beyond beverages into snacks such as bars or other products. For General Mills and its venture arm, the deal furthers its presence in the probiotic space while leaning on its experience managing brands such as Nature Valley Bars and Annie's Homegrown snacks. "This is a significant area we believe is going to grow rapidly," said John Haugen, vice president and general manager of 301. GoodBelly has already partnered with General Mills to license its name for bars. There is likely to be further product expansion down the road. "We have a whole wave of innovation in the pipeline," said Alan Murray, GoodBelly CEO. The two did not specify which new categories they may expand into, but General Mills has an ample foothold in the yogurt category. The Yoplait owner has been looking to revive its yogurt business and earlier this week announced a new low-sugar ultra-filtered product aimed at competing with the rise of similar yogurts such as Siggi's. Meantime, the investment comes as gut-health products such as fermented kombucha drinks increasingly appeal to today's health-focused generation. Molson Coors announced earlier this month it acquired Clearly Kombucha, and PepsiCo two years ago announced its acquisition of KeVita, a sparkling probiotic drink. General Mills created its venture arm in an effort to keep its ear close to the ground on new products, as many of its legacy brands have fallen out of favor with today's health-focused generation. As part of efforts to reorient its portfolio, it acquired organic food company Annie's in 2014 and premium pet food company Blue Buffalo Pet Products earlier this year. Whipstitch Capital served as financial advisor on the NextFoods deal. German auto makers are proposing an end to the European Union's 10 percent import tax on U.S.-made cars, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The newspaper reported that Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, has been in talks recently with the chief executives of German car makers BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler, where they pitched the idea of ending car tariffs between the U.S. and the EU. During these talks, the executives said they would be in favor of scrapping these levies as part of a broader deal encompassing industrial goods, the Journal said. There is a catch, however. Europe also wants a 25 percent tax on imported pickup trucks, SUVs and big vans scrapped, according to the report. That tax has been in place since the Johnson administration and scrapping it could alienate U.S. auto workers, a key constituency for President Donald Trump. While petroleum-producing countries are being buoyed by higher global oil prices, the big consumers are taking a hit especially India, whose energy appetite is growing, its oil minister said at the Vienna OPEC summit Wednesday. "We are a primary consumer country, our import is very huge our appetite is growing, and in future we are (a) major consumer," Dharmendra Pradhan, India's petroleum and natural gas minister, told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick. India is the world's third-largest oil consumer. The country of 1.3 billion, and its sizable middle class, is rapidly growing and thus seeing its energy needs increase so the increased oil prices of the last several months have become a serious burden for its economy. "We are a very, very price sensitive country. This kind of high price is pinching our economy. We appreciate market forces should operate, but the price should be responsible and reasonable," Pradhan said. "This is the scenario. We should get preferential treatment. We should get good terms." The minister lamented OPEC's "Asian premium" the extra charge that the cartel charges Asian buyers like China and India when selling them oil. India and China's oil ministers have in previous months agreed to work together to voice their opposition to the policy and pen a strategy for achieving lower prices. India sources about 86 percent of its crude oil and 75 percent of its natural gas from OPEC countries. But gone are the days when there was one sole source of energy, the minister said, arguing that more "reasonable" oil prices are beneficial for both consumers and producers. "Renewable energy is coming in a big way. Technology, innovation, all those things are pushing," he said, arguing that long-term high oil prices will push consumers toward alternative options. The 14 nations of OPEC are convened in Vienna, Austria, this week where they will attempt to reach an agreement on oil production levels for the next 18 months, but consensus is not particularly likely. Leading producers like Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC member Russia are pushing for output hikes, while countries with little ability to pump more including Iran, Iraq and Venezuela staunchly oppose any change in the current policy. CNBC's Patti Dom contributed to this report. Inside the Rio Grande Valley Sector's Centralized Processing Center in McAllen, TX Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection When President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he would sign an executive order stopping the separation of families at the U.S.-Mexico border, he acknowledged that it was a far cry from a comprehensive immigration fix. "I'll be doing something that's somewhat preemptive, but ultimately will be matched by legislation," Trump told reporters at the White House. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' hard-line "zero tolerance" directive in April to prosecute all cases of illegal entry into the U.S., in concert with existing law, has led to the separation of some 2,000 migrant children from their families between April 19 and the end of May, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The policy has roiled Washington, enraged Democrats and opened up a rift between the White House and many Republicans. It has also prompted a heated bout of finger-pointing, as administration officials and some lawmakers claimed that the other governmental branch was the only one capable of solving the problem. As Capitol Hill continues to wrestle over a legislative solution, immigration experts offered their own thoughts about reforming U.S. immigration policy in the short- and long-term. Rescind zero tolerance The predominant view among immigration experts is that the situation on the border can be improved immediately by rescinding Sessions' zero tolerance policy. "The immediate thing they could do is roll back the April memo from Sessions," said Theresa Cardinal Brown, director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The executive order signed Wednesday was intended to keep families together without sacrificing the policy to prosecute all illegal entrants over the border. "We are going to have very strong borders, but we are going to keep the families together," Trump said. Hiroshi Motomura, a professor of law at UCLA specializing in immigration, agreed with Brown that Sessions' April memorandum should be removed. "The administration adopted this policy. They can change their mind" on zero tolerance, Motomura said. "There's nothing in the law that requires the administration to do this." Andrew Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, said one of the main problems with the current system is that the Department of Health and Human Services has "neither the capacity nor ability" to take custody of children who have been separated from their parents. Failing a full repeal of zero tolerance, Motomura said the Trump administration could improve the situation by releasing some detained immigrants on bond, as he says happened in certain cases under the Obama administration. "The number of cases where people abscond is lower than some have said," Motomura added. That's unlikely to be considered a viable option for Trump, who has been a leading critic of so-called "catch and release" practices in which immigrants are released pending trial. To be sure, some experts agree with the administration's view that to prosecute all immigrants illegally crossing the border is a necessary step to uphold the law. "Illegal entry is a crime. Anyone who comes here illegally is subject to being prosecuted," Arthur said. More aid, not less While arrests at the southern border fell dramatically in fiscal year 2017, the makeup of arriving migrants now includes a much larger proportion of families and children than it has in the past. The Trump administration has said existing U.S. laws provide a perverse incentive for traffickers and smugglers to bring children to the border. Brown, of the Bipartisan Policy Center, had a different fix in mind to address the same problem: hiring more judges. She said that there are far too few immigration judges tackling far too many cases, which leads to a backlog that can leave immigrants waiting for years. "We'd be much better figuring out how we can process these cases much more quickly," she said. Leon Rodriguez, who directed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the Homeland Security Department during President Barack Obama's second term, said that the "real issue" encouraging immigration to the U.S. has to do with the conditions of the countries people are fleeing. "Let's look at Honduras insanely high homicide rate, large gang rates, complete inability of civil authority," Rodriguez said. "Until that shifts, we're still going to see migration," he said. "I don't care how high the wall is, I don't care who we separate. History has taught that over and over and over again." He pointed to Mexico as an example of a country whose rates of U.S. migration declined as its economy grew. While the raw number of Mexican immigrants to the U.S. remains the highest, it fell 6 percent from 2007 to 2015, according to Pew Research Center. Meanwhile, those coming from Central American countries reportedly outpaced growth from any other region in the same time period. Providing more assistance to these countries could help stem the flow of illegal immigration by eliminating the need for their populations to seek a better life elsewhere, Rodriguez said. It's an argument that may not resonate with Trump, who on Tuesday said he wants to cut off foreign aid to countries that "abuse" the United States. "I just don't think enforcement is a real solution," Rodriguez said. "It's somewhere between a placebo and a band-aid." WATCH: Trump urges GOP to pass immigration bill After the Trump administration attacked Canada's prime minister over trade policy, dissident Sen. Jeff Flake beseeched fellow Republicans: "This is not who we are. This cannot be our party." With similar language, other Republicans objected to President Donald Trump's hard-line policies separating children from their illegal immigrant parents. Yet before Trump backed down through executive order today, the GOP Congress had not blocked him on either front despite worldwide condemnation layered on top of financial market turmoil over trade. The reason is one Republicans like Flake won't find reassuring. Within the GOP, "who we are" is not "who we were." In 1986, when Flake graduated from college, conservative icon Ronald Reagan dominated American politics. That year, the Republican president negotiated the free trade agreement with Canada that eventually became NAFTA, and joined Congress to enact a bipartisan overhaul of America's immigration system. Since then, the composition of both parties has substantially changed. For Democrats, that brought an infusion of non-whites, whites with college degrees, and younger voters; for Republicans, surging numbers of less-educated, evangelical and older whites. Pew Research Center has charted trends in party identification over the last generation. From a distance, little appears to have changed: In 1992, self-described Democrats outnumbered Republicans by seven percentage points, the same edge they held 25 years later. But up close, the data show how different those Republicans and Democrats are. In 1992, when Bill Clinton won the presidency, whites represented 9 in 10 voters; by 2016, when Hillary Clinton lost it, whites were 7 in 10. That growing non-white constituency Asian, Latino and African-American swelled Democratic ranks. One big chunk of white voters moved to join them. In 1994, just 38 percent of white college graduates called themselves Democrats; by 2017, Pew reported, a 53-percent majority did. Republicans compensated by attracting more whites without college degrees. That long-term trend accelerated after Barack Obama became the nation's first African-American president. In 2008, as Obama sought the White House, non-college whites split evenly between the two parties. By 2017, Pew found, they tilted strongly toward Republicans, 56 percent to 37 percent. An overlapping Obama-era shift occurred among older voters. In 2008, members of the "Silent Generation" born between 1925 and 1945 leaned slightly toward Democrats, 48 percent to 41 percent; by 2017, Silent Generation voters spoke for Republicans by a margin of 52 percent to 43 percent. Republicans turned an eight-percentage-point 2008 deficit among white Catholics into a 14-percentage-point Republican advantage. The large GOP edge among white evangelicals (64 percent to 28 percent in 2008) grew even larger (77 percent to 18 percent in 2017). Trump did not create those trends. He won the Republican nomination, and then the White House, by capitalizing on them. That explains his insistence on policies old-school Republicans find offensive, and the refusal of Congress to intercede. Both advance the priorities of the Republicans who remain most loyal to him, and rule party primaries. Dubbed "American Preservationists" by Cato Institute analyst Emily Ekins in a June 2017 study, Trump's original core constituency have relatively low levels of education and income. They fear the loss of Social Security and Medicare benefits. They dislike free-trade deals, think of "real Americans" as native-born Christians, feel more negatively toward minorities than other Americans do and complain of discrimination against whites. They oppose both legal and illegal immigration. Their attitudes match Trump's pledge to protect existing old-age benefits, his talk of shredding trade deals, his declaration that "Christmas is back," his attacks on African American athletes protesting racial injustice and his border crackdown. Other GOP leaders, to the extent they disagree, fear defying them. Their congressional majorities are at risk. In a Quinnipiac University poll released today, Democrats lead among blacks for the House by a margin of 76 percentage points, among Hispanics by 27 percentage points, and among white college graduates by 10 percentage points. Yet Republicans remain competitive overall for holding the House. They trail Democrats by 6-percentage-point spread 49 percent to 43 percent thanks in part to virtually splitting the vote among voters over age 50. What powers GOP hopes most, however, is their lopsided 59 percent to 32 percent lead among whites who haven't graduated from college. For purposes of elections this November, that is who Republicans are. When it was announced in 2013 that Angela Ahrendts would leave her long-time role as chief executive of Burberry to run Apple's stores, the fashion label's shares went down 5.5 percent. Today, Ahrendts admitted to doubts about the job opportunity at Apple. "It was funny I fought joining Apple, because I thought I had the greatest job on the planet and we were flying, and life was incredible but it was the culture that we had built and the values of the team at Burberry that was so brilliant. (But Apple CEO) Tim (Cook) kept saying 'trust me, trust me'," she said, addressing an audience at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France on Wednesday. But the draw of Apple's stores convinced her to accept the role as senior vice president of retail. "You guys have been to Apple stores, you feel that energy and the values at Apple of the store teams and the loyalty and the tenure. The company's values are aligned with my values and when you have that (you think) 'let's go.'" Ahrendts added that she was brought up to be herself. "I was raised to use your instincts. My parents would say, what are your God given gifts, what do you love to do, and my dad was an avid reader and he would always say to thyself be true, and be your authentic self. Be who you are. I don't care how old I am, I don't ever want to forget where I came from," she told the audience. Diversity and inclusion are hot topics at the Cannes Lions event this year. Asked by colleague Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing communications, what advice she would have for young women starting their careers, Ahrendts said they should listen to their gut. "To young girls: to thyself be true. And use your instincts, and don't let anybody ever tell you that you can't, you shouldn't ... Not in this day and age." At first blush, 48-year-old rapper Jay-Z and 87-year-old investor Warren Buffett may seem like opposites: Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, grew up during the 1970s in public housing in Brooklyn, New York. Buffett was raised in the '30s in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of a stockbroker and congressman. Carter is an artist and Buffett loves numbers. And yet, the pair have more in common than their outrageous success (Carter's net worth is estimated to be more than $900 million and Buffett's tops $81 billion). The two share a mindset that they say has been critical in business: long-term thinking. "It's the discipline not to get caught up in the moment," Carter told Forbes in a 2010 joint interview with Buffett. There's always "the hot thing of the moment," Carter explained. In music, it's "a hot, electro sound, or the hot auto-tune voice or the hot whatever's new and exciting," he said. In Buffett's world, it could be whatever stock is up. "People tend to make emotional decisions based on that," Carter told Forbes. "They don't stick with what they know, you know, 'This is who I am. This is what I do.' They jump on this next hot thing. "People fall in love with shiny things." But being shortsighted isn't the way to build lasting success, say the pair. "What you need is emotional stability," Buffett told Forbes during the interview with Carter. "You have to be able to think independently, and when you come to a conclusion you have to really not care what other people say. Just follow the facts and your reasoning." For Carter, who released album "Everything Is Love" with Beyonce on June 16, "It's just having the discipline, and the confidence in who I am," he told Forbes. "If I go into a studio and find my truth of the moment, there are a number of people in the world who can relate to what I'm saying, and are going to buy into what I'm doing. Not because it's the new thing of the moment, but because it's genuine emotion." With Buffett, it's evident in his "buy and hold" investing style. "If you aren't willing to own a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes," Buffett wrote in his 1996 letter to shareholders for Berkshire Hathaway. "The money is made in investments by investing," Buffett told CNBC in 2016, "and by owning good companies for long periods of time. If [investors] buy good companies, buy them over time, they're going to do fine 10, 20, 30 years from now." It's true that Buffett has missed out on investing in buzzy companies that later turned out to be winners, like Amazon and Google ("The problem is when I think something will be a miracle, I tend not to bet on it," he said at the Berkshire Hathaway 2018 annual shareholder meeting in May). But big picture, Berkshire Hathaway has performed enormously: Its rising market value generated a 20.9 percent annual return from 1965 to 2017. In that time, the S&P 500 returned only 9.9 percent. "It never bothered me if people disagreed with what I thought," Buffet told Forbes, "as long as I felt I knew the facts." Don't miss: Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban met for lunch at Dairy Queen here's what happened Like this story? Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube! More than 100 protestors demonstrated outside the federal courthouse where a federal judge will hear arguments over the U.S. Justice Department's request to block three California laws that extend protections to people in the country illegally, Wednesday, June 20, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. A U.S. judge raised doubts Wednesday about the Trump administration's claim that California sought to intentionally obstruct against enforcement of federal immigration laws. U.S. District Judge John Mendez made the comments during a hearing in Sacramento on the federal government's request to halt three of California's so-called sanctuary laws. The hearing lasted more than six hours and ended with no formal decision on the government's request for a preliminary injunction. The judge said he planned to issue a written opinion on the preliminary injunction as soon as possible. During the hearing, Mendez said he wasn't convinced California lawmakers had passed the sanctuary statutes to hinder federal immigration enforcement efforts. The federal government is seeking to block three of the state's sanctuary laws, including one that applies to federal detention facilities where immigrants are being held. Hundreds of protesters were outside the federal courthouse in Sacramento on Wednesday as the judge heard arguments. Chad Readler, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney, told Mendez it was clear that the state had passed the sanctuary laws last year to halt immigration enforcement. But the judge, a 2007 appointee of President George W. Bush, responded: "I'm not that clear and that convinced." Mendez said he took the passage of the sanctuary laws as a sign the state didn't want to participate in the U.S. government's immigration policies. California is home to about 25 percent of the nation's undocumented population. Angela Chan, the policy director at the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, said the judge during the hearing seemed to be leaning toward the view that "you can't mandate state cooperation. It was the heart of what was driving a lot of his questions." The federal government claims the sanctuary laws in California "have interfered, and will continue to interfere, with federal law enforcement efforts," including activities involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Even so, there have been more than 650 arrests since March in California of undocumented immigrants. Attorneys for California have contended that the sanctuary policies help build trust, and they support relations between police agencies and immigrant communities. Wednesday's hearing came as President Donald Trump faced widespread criticism from Democrats and some Republicans for the administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, including its recent practice of separating children from migrant families. On Wednesday, Trump reversed himself and signed an executive order allowing detained migrant parents to remain with their children. Among the protesters outside the federal courthouse Wednesday were critics of the administration's policy of separating migrant families and Trump's border wall. Some held up signs that read "Keep Families Together" and "Family Separation is UnAmerican." There were also pro-Trump supporters outside the courthouse. In March, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against California's sanctuary laws, including challenging state Senate Bill 54, formally known as the California Values Act, that went into effect in January. That law bars local authorities from asking about the immigration status of people during routine interactions or participating in federal enforcement actions. Wednesday's hearing also was for arguments in California's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. "California's laws work in concert not conflict with federal laws and are fully constitutional," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement last month in announcing the motion to dismiss the federal lawsuit. Added Becerra, "The 10th Amendment of the Constitution gives the people of California, not the Trump administration, the power to decide how we will provide for the public safety and general welfare of our state. The federal government has no grounds to intrude on California's constitutional authority to enact laws designed to protect its people." Critics of SB 54 contend it jeopardizes public safety because it made it tougher to get incarcerated immigrants once they are released from jails to the custody of federal immigration agents. They say it can result in violent criminals getting released back into communities. The administration's motion for preliminary injunction involves SB 54 as well as two other state sanctuary laws, including Assembly Bill 450, or the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, that went into effect in January and limits the ability of employers to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Becerra has warned businesses they could face fines of $10,000 for violating the AB 450. AB 450 requires employers to notify all employees of inspections of their employment records by U.S. immigration agencies within 72 hours of receiving notice of a federal audit. It also bars businesses from providing immigration agents access to a workplace without a warrant and requires a subpoena for federal agents to access employment records. Critics contend AB 450 can be confusing for employers and also has scared away workers. The state's Chamber of Commerce last year came out opposing the legislation and said it "puts employers in a no-win situation between federal immigration enforcement and state enforcement." "The statute really puts the employer between a rock and a hard place," the judge said Wednesday. However, state attorneys pointed out there are places in the federal statute that allows businesses to cooperate without violating the state law. The government's request for a preliminary injunction only applies to three of 25 provisions of SB 54 law. It applies to the sharing of release dates for incarcerated immigrants, sharing of home and work addresses, as well as allowing the transfer of inmates into the custody of U.S. immigration authorities. There's also Assembly Bill 103, dubbed the Detention Review law, which took effect in June 2017. It imposes limits on local jurisdictions establishing, modifying or renewing contracts involving locked detention facilities used to house or detain noncitizens for purposes of civil immigration custody. It also applies to federal detention facilities where undocumented immigrants are being held. During the hearing, Readler said states have no place being involved as inspector of federal facilities such as those housing immigrants. In recent months, there's been a backlash over the sanctuary policies from local jurisdictions up and down the state. Some of the same local jurisdictions have filed briefs in support of the Trump administration's lawsuit against the state. Several counties including San Diego, Orange and Tuolumne as well as more than two dozen cities have come out against sanctuary laws. Last month, Trump invited a group of local officials from California fighting the state's sanctuary policies to a White House roundtable on immigration. Some of the same local jurisdictions in California also have filed friend of the court briefs in support of the Trump administration's lawsuit against the state. California also has at least two dozen cities and counties that have filed briefs supporting the state's side. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The TV ads are set to air in the Washington, D.C., area while radio will be broadcasted on national and conservative talk radio programs across the country starting Monday. "To keep growing, we must keep trading," the ad says. "Tariffs are not the answer. Tell Washington: Support Freedom. Oppose Tariffs." Freedom Partners, an organization that's part of the influential Koch network, is launching a six-figure television and radio ad campaign that will target the import tariffs being implemented by the Trump administration. The ads will also call on Congress to embrace free trade and not follow the course of the current White House trade policies. The political network funded by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch are unveiling their first phase of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign against President Donald Trump 's tariffs. Freedom Partners, along with two other Koch network groups Americans for Prosperity and the Libre Initiative are sending a letter to Congress on Wednesday asking them to support the Global Trade Accountability Act, a bill sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. The legislation requires Congress to review and approve any tariffs that are proposed by the executive branch. "Tariffs are taxes that make Americans poorer. They raise our cost of living and force higher expenses on our businesses. Just consider the working families paying much more for a new washing machine or the locker manufacturer that now must consider outsourcing U.S. jobs overseas," James Davis, vice president of Freedom Partners, said in a statement. "These ads are an important part of our overall campaign, which also includes significant plans for grassroots mobilization and public education," he added. The announcement of the first phase of the Koch network campaign comes two days after Trump ordered the United States Trade Representative to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for additional tariffs at a rate of 10 percent. On Monday, the White House said the new trade barriers will go into effect "if China refuses to change its practices, and also if it insists on going forward with the new tariffs that it has recently announced." Previously, the administration had announced a 25 percent tariff on up to $50 billion of Chinese products. China President Xi Jinping responded with a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion of U.S. goods. Allies also haven't fared well under the Trump tariff policies. Canada, Mexico and the European Union were recently hit with a 25 percent tariff on steel goods and 10 percent on aluminum products. Canada has retaliated with equal trade levies while Mexico has imposed tariffs against a variety of U.S. exports valued at $3 billion. The E.U. is moving ahead with a response. It has said it could slap trade duties on products from Harley Davidson motorcycles to jeans. @newsbysmiley @brendamedinar U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz were denied access Tuesday to a Homestead facility where as many as 1,000 unaccompanied immigrant children are being held. Nelson and Wasserman Schultz, both Democrats, tried to enter the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children a day after Wasserman Schultz announced that she'd learned Health and Human Services had transferred hundreds of children to the South Miami-Dade site. The center, which HHS says is only temporary, held unaccompanied minors during the Obama administration. "The company running this facility told us we would be welcomed to tour the facility," Nelson said on Twitter. "HHS then denied us entry and said that they need 'two weeks notice' to allow us inside. Thats ridiculous and its clear this administration is hiding something." It remains unclear just what role the Homestead facility is playing in the new and controversial immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump. The center may be housing children who entered the country without parents, or housing them after authorities took them from their parents after the family entered the United States illegally, or a mix of both. An HHS spokesman has declined to clarify. The facility closed last year amid a sharp decline in illegal border crossings under Trump, easing the flow of unaccompanied minors needing housing. Washington reopened the facility earlier this year without public notice, and the new population of minors did not receive media attention until Wasserman Schultz disclosed it during an event Monday. Read more here. When ex-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski heard the story of a 10-year-old migrant girl with Down Syndrome reportedly separated from her parents, he responded during a Fox News appearance with a sarcastic "wah wah," drawing venom from critics. He returned to Fox on Wednesday and doubled down, denying that he had mocked the young girl herself and claiming he was only responding to "a liberal Democrat National Committee activist" who was telling the story. The other panelist during the interview was "doing nothing but politicizing the issue of making an example of one particular child," Lewandowski said. Asked if he owed an apology for his remark, Lewandowski said, "An apology? I owe an apology to the children whose parents are putting them in a position that is forcing them to be separated." He added: "The law is very clear: When parents commit crimes by coming into this country, regardless of who their children are, they are separated because we are a nation of laws." On Tuesday, Lewandowski went on Fox News to discuss the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy implemented by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. That policy, which directs authorities to prosecute all instances of illegal border crossings, has resulted in some 2,000 children being separated from their families at the border. Earlier Tuesday, a Mexican official had said one of those children was a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome though the Homeland Security Department later said the separation was "not a result of zero tolerance" because the girl's mother was being held as a witness in a smuggling incident. When the Fox panelist, Zac Petkanas, mentioned that story, Lewandowski responded with a much-criticized "Wah wah." In the follow-up interview on Wednesday, Lewandowski denied that his remark was directed at the girl referenced by Petkanas. "I don't know the young girl that Zac referenced. I was mocking Zac," he said. He also cited examples of Americans killed by illegal immigrants on U.S. soil and criticized the media for not discussing this "during the Obama administration." Despite being fired from the Trump campaign in 2016, Lewandowski appears to have regained the president's approval. During an April rally in Michigan, President Donald Trump called Lewandowski on stage and praised him for not being a "pushover" or a "patsy." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Wednesday he is throwing his considerable support for Democratic candidates in hopes of winning back the House from Republican control in the midterm elections. The billionaire, an independent, plans to spend as much as $80 million on the effort, according to The New York Times, which cited several of his advisors. The party needs to win 23 seats in November to win control of the House. "I've never thought that the public is well-served when one party is entirely out of power, and I think the past year and half has been evidence of that," Bloomberg said in a statement. Bloomberg advisor Howard Wolfson, a 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign aide and a former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is overseeing the effort. "We will make sure that voters in November remember which members of Congress allowed the President to separate children from their parents," Wolfson wrote in a post on Twitter Wednesday. Wolfson tweet Wolfson could not immediately be reached for comment. That staggering total would put Bloomberg in the very top echelons of political spending. No donor has contributed more than $30 million so far to outside groups in the 2018 cycle, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets, a watchdog group. In 2014, Bloomberg spent $28 million, according to OpenSecrets, with 95 percent of that sum going to Democrats. "Republicans in Congress have had almost two years to prove they could govern responsibly. They failed," Bloomberg said. He went on to say that Republicans have failed to "reach across the aisle to craft bipartisan solutions," citing guns, climate change, jobs, immigration, health care and infrastructure. The 76-year-old Bloomberg has at times been a member of both the Republican and Democratic parties, and has been discussed as a possible candidate for president. He has been an opponent of President Donald Trump and addressed the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Bloomberg's full statement. Microsoft on Wednesday said it has acquired Bonsai, a small artificial intelligence start-up. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Microsoft has increasingly bet on AI and has sought to commercialize ideas its own researchers come up with, a strategy also employed by Amazon, Google and other big technology companies. By buying Bonsai, Microsoft gains a product that has picked up some business use to help with the push. Bonsai's software draws on a trendy approach called reinforcement learning, which involves training systems to yield better outcomes through trial and error. After experts highlight important areas in the data and train an AI model, it can be incorporated into corporate applications. The system can be deployed atop Microsoft's Azure public cloud. Microsoft will "make sure it's running great on Azure," Gurdeep Pall, the company's corporate vice president for business AI, told CNBC in an interview. Bonsai was founded in 2014 and has around 42 employees, with offices in Seattle and Berkeley, California. It had raised $13.6 million in venture funding, according to Crunchbase, from firms such as ABB Technology Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Samsung, Siemens and Microsoft's own corporate venture arm, which currently goes by the name M12. Bonsai CEO Mark Hammond worked for Microsoft in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Hammond said Bonsai has engaged with companies dealing in oil, ventilation systems, robotics and cars. In an engagement with Siemens it was able to automate a previously manual process and make it happen 30 times faster, he said. Microsoft bought another small AI company, Maluuba, in early 2017. A year before that it bought start-up SwiftKey, which has relied on AI to boost the capabilities of mobile virtual keyboard applications. Microsoft chief Satya Nadella condemned the Trump administration's new zero-tolerance policy on illegal border crossings and called the separation of immigrant children from their families "abhorrent." The CEO, who is himself an immigrant from India, shared an email that he said he sent to all Microsoft employees. In that message, Nadella said the new policy implemented by the administration was "simply cruel and abusive." "Like many of you, I am appalled at the abhorrent policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the southern border of the U.S. As both a parent and an immigrant, this issue touches me personally," he wrote. "We are standing for change," he added later in the email. Nadella directed readers of his message to a blog post from Brad Smith, the tech giant's president and chief legal officer, which said that Congress needed to address the DREAMers and those affected by the green card backlog. The post also said the United States needs improved security at the border and called for elected officials to "remember the fundamental decency and humanitarian spirit that defines us as a people and a nation." Nadella also clarified that Microsoft was not working with the U.S. government on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border. "Our current cloud engagement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is supporting legacy mail, calendar, messaging and document management workloads," he said. Microsoft on Monday faced criticism about its work with ICE as the agency came under fire. Some discovered a blog post detailing Microsoft's work with ICE and questioned the tech company's relationship with the agency. But then part of the blog post was deleted, Buzzfeed reported. Microsoft returned the deleted section and suggested its deletion was a mistake. The tech company first published details about its work with ICE in January to promote the fact a part of Microsoft's Azure public cloud gained the approval necessary for certain government contracts. Nadella is the latest name to join a chorus of business leaders who have spoken up against the Trump administration's immigration policy, including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and J.P. Morgan chief Jamie Dimon. The zero-tolerance policy on illegal border crossings has led to a spike in prosecutions and family separations. The policy's hard-line stance drew condemnation from long-time critics of President Donald Trump. But some of his reliable allies in the media and politics have also voiced their concerns for the thousands of children taken from their parents. Lawmakers and activists have rightfully noted that Trump could end the policy of separation today, but the president has pushed for Congress to pass a bill that would end the policy while also enacting strict border security proposals. Read Satya Nadella's email to Microsoft employees below: Below is an e-mail I sent to all Microsoft employees today sharing my views on U.S. immigration policy. This is an incredibly important topic and one I care deeply about. Team, Like many of you, I am appalled at the abhorrent policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the southern border of the U.S. As both a parent and an immigrant, this issue touches me personally. I consider myself a product of two amazing and uniquely American things American technology reaching me where I was growing up that allowed me to dream the dream and an enlightened immigration policy that then allowed me to live that dream. My story would not have been possible anywhere else. This new policy implemented on the border is simply cruel and abusive, and we are standing for change. Today Brad detailed our company's position on this issue, as well as the immigration legislation currently being considered in Congress, and I encourage you to read his blog post . I want to be clear: Microsoft is not working with the U.S. government on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border. Our current cloud engagement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is supporting legacy mail, calendar, messaging and document management workloads. Microsoft has a long history of taking a principled approach to how we live up to our mission of empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more with technology platforms and tools, while also standing up for our enduring values and ethics. Any engagement with any government has been and will be guided by our ethics and principles. We will continue to have this dialogue both within our company and with our stakeholders outside. The immigration policy of this country is one of our greatest competitive advantages, and this is something we must preserve and promote. America is a nation of immigrants, and we're able to attract people from around the world to contribute to our economy, our communities and our companies. We are also a beacon of hope for those who need it the most. This is what makes America stronger. We will always stand for immigration policies that preserve every person's dignity and human rights. That means standing with every immigrant who works at Microsoft and standing for change in the inhumane treatment of children at the U.S. border today. Satya CNBC's Jordan Novet and Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report. French energy giant Total has yet to permanently pull out of Iran following the renewal of U.S. sanctions, but CEO Patrick Pouyanne on Wednesday sounded a pessimistic note about his company's prospects in the country. Total positioned itself to develop a portion of the world's largest natural gas field after the 2015 Iran nuclear deal lifted punishing sanctions on the Iranian economy. However, the company is now preparing to abandon the Persian Gulf project unless the U.S. government issues the company a sanctions waiver. That would protect Total from so-called secondary sanctions, which the United States can use to punish foreign companies that engage in prohibited activity with Iran. Washington gave firms 90 to 180 days to wind down their business in the country after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal last month. "There's not a single international company like Total who can work in any country with secondary sanctions. I don't have the right. It's just the reality of the world," Pouyanne told CNBC at an OPEC seminar in Vienna. Pouyanne acknowledged that his position probably does not sit well with Europe's leaders. The European Union has attempted to salvage the nuclear deal by passing measures aimed at protecting the bloc's firms that have business dealings in Iran. But Pouyanne told CNBC he must be pragmatic and face reality. "The reality is that the capital of the world today is in the hands of the U.S.," he said. "Is it right that in this world the U.S. [is] using that ... to impose some rules for other countries? That's a debate." Secondary sanctions are particularly perilous for multinationals like Total. Engaging in sanctioned activity with Iran could prompt the American government to cut Total off from the massive U.S. financial system and force the firm to wind down its operations in the States. "The U.S. could decide that I could not have access to any U.S. financing," Pouyanne said. "It's impossible, let me be clear, to run an international company like Total without having access to U.S. financing or to U.S. shareholding." Total says U.S. banks are involved in about 90 percent of the company's financing operations, while American investors account for more than 30 percent of its shareholding. The company has more than $10 billion deployed in U.S. operations. By comparison, Total spent less than 40 million euros, or roughly $46 million, on its project developing the massive South Pars natural gas field in Iranian waters. UAE's Oil Minister Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei arrives at his hotel ahead of a meeting of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna, Austria, June 19, 2018. Heinz-Peter Bader | Reuters Oil-producing nations appeared to inch closer to an output agreement in Vienna on Wednesday, even as geopolitical tensions and competing interests threatened to fracture an alliance of crude exporters. Energy ministers are gathering in the Austrian capital this week to determine the future of OPEC's 18-month-old agreement with Russia and other producers to limit oil output. The strategy has shrunk a global crude glut, but with oil prices recently hitting 3-year highs, the producers are trying to reach consensus on easing the output caps to prevent the market from overheating. Saudi Arabia and Russia, both of which have the ability to increase production, are pushing for a substantial output hike. Meanwhile, countries without spare capacity including Iraq, Iran and Venezuela began the week lobbying to keep the supply limits in place. There seems to be a consensus around finessing this situation to get more oil on the market, but also to enable Iran in particular to save face and abide the deal until the end of the year. John Kilduff Again Capital founding partner The rift has stoked speculation that this year could see a repeat of OPEC's disastrous June 2011 gathering, which ended without an agreement. But after a day of comments from oil ministers, analysts said there was more optimism that the cartel would reach a deal before it meets officially on Friday. Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Markit and a closely followed OPEC watcher, said he believes the prospects of reaching an agreement had improved since Tuesday. "They appear to be on their way to a new deal that's going to put more oil on the market," he told CNBC. On Tuesday, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said he doubted OPEC could reach a deal this week. He also railed against Saudi ally President Donald Trump, saying American sanctions on OPEC members Iran and Venezuela had sent oil prices higher. But on Wednesday evening, Zanganeh told CNBC that he was feeling "very good" about OPEC's production levels. Zanganeh indicated earlier on Wednesday that Iran could accept a modest supply hike, noting that some producers were voluntarily pumping below quotas they agreed to at the end of 2016, Reuters reported. "That is a 180 in tone and demeanor from yesterday. In fact, the mood tonight was entirely upbeat," said Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets. "I think we've gone from disaster to a happy story." Croft said the change in tone shows that Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih put his diplomatic skills to the test in one-on-one discussions with fellow OPEC members. Falih did not address the summit as originally planned on Wednesday, but he was at Vienna's Hofburg Palace, where industry sources believe he held bilateral talks during the day. OPEC sources and Oman's oil minister also suggested that OPEC would seek to address overcompliance with the deal, according to Reuters. The accord aims to keep 1.8 million barrels a day off the market, but output has fallen even further. That could mean leaving the agreement in place, but increasing output slightly so that producers like Saudi Arabia are no longer overshooting their quotas. "There seems to be a consensus around finessing this situation to get more oil on the market, but also to enable Iran in particular to save face and abide the deal until the end of the year," said John Kilduff, founding partner at energy hedge fund Again Capital. Croft said that strategy could provide a way to hold all the countries together, but it comes with challenges. The alliance members must decide how to account for falling output in countries like Venezuela, Angola and Mexico, Croft said. Those involuntary declines have played a major role in the group removing more barrels than it originally intended. OPEC will also have to consider the impending loss of Iran's exports once U.S. sanctions begin to bite later this year, she added. That may entail meeting again in a few months to reassess the market. While Russia suggested increasing output by 1.5 million barrels per day, Nigerian Oil Minister Emmanuel Kachikwu told CNBC he would not support a hike above 300,000 bpd. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia is struggling to convince some of the world's largest oil producers over the need to increase oil output ahead of a key meeting on Friday. The Middle-East-dominated oil cartel is not scheduled to make a decision over production policy until later this week, although the gathering of OPEC and other exporters in Vienna, Austria, is already shaping up to be one of the most contentious meetings in years. Saudi Arabia and Russia the largest non-OPEC crude producer are both pushing for members to loosen supply controls. This comes at time of heightened pressure from President Donald Trump, who has publicly complained the group is to blame for crude prices recently soaring to multi-year highs. Nonetheless, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told reporters Tuesday that OPEC members are likely to leave the Austrian capital this week without agreeing on a path forward for their 18-month policy of limiting oil output. Instead, Zanganeh accused Trump of using oil as a political "weapon" and said the U.S. president had created difficulty for the energy market by imposing sanctions against Iran and Venezuela. American Media, the publisher of the National Enquirer, was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors for records related to a $150,000 payment made to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. The subpoena is part of a criminal investigation of President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, the Journal reported Wednesday. Cohen, who has not been charged, is currently involved in court proceedings over the raft of materials seized from his properties in raids by federal agents in April. American Media made the payment to McDougal in exchange for the rights to her story alleging she had an affair with Trump more than a decade earlier. The publisher never ran the story, in a practice reportedly known within the industry as "catch and kill." The White House has denied Trump had sex with McDougal. Lawyers for Cohen did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment. A spokesman for Keith Davidson, who was the ex-model's lawyer at the time of the payment, did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. The newspaper, citing other people familiar with the matter, reported that investigators are looking into any potential efforts by Cohen to quash damaging information about Trump during his presidential campaign. Those potential efforts could include whether he coordinated with the publisher in the deal with McDougal, according to the Journal. People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the prosecutors want to know if American Media's payment violated the law, including campaign finance laws. In a statement emailed to CNBC, American Media said: "American Media Inc., has, and will continue to, comply with any and all requests that do not jeopardize or violate its protected sources or materials pursuant to our first amendment rights." McDougal was freed from her contract in April after suing American Media, alleging the company misled her about the terms of the contract. McDougal's lawyer Davidson also represented porn star Stormy Daniels at the time she was paid $130,000 by Cohen for her silence about her own alleged affair with Trump. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is suing Trump and Cohen to void that nondisclosure agreement, which she signed shortly before the 2016 election. The White House has also denied Daniels' allegations of a tryst with Trump. Daniels is also suing Davidson and Cohen in a separate suit, accusing them of colluding to protect Trump. Davidson's spokesman called the lawsuit "outrageously frivolous." Cohen's attorney in that lawsuit called Daniels' litigation a "publicity stunt." --CNBC's Ryan Ruggiero contributed to this report. Read the full report on The Wall Street Journal's website. In the wake of President Donald Trump's move to impose steel and aluminum tariffs, Raytheon's CEO said Wednesday that the defense company is largely isolated from the trade disputes. "In terms of steel tariffs and aluminum tariffs, most of the steel and aluminum products that we buy are from U.S. companies so we are not impacted by that," Raytheon Chief Executive Thomas Kennedy told CNBC's Morgan Brennan in an exclusive interview. Raytheon, the third-largest U.S. defense company, behind Lockheed Martin and Boeing, is the world's top manufacturer of guided missiles and a leader in missile defense systems. "We do not sell any products to China so we are not impacted by any of these tariff issues," Kennedy said in reference to the tit-for-tat tariffs between the world's two largest economies. Last week, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a list of 1,102 Chinese imports worth about $50 billion that are targeted for tariffs starting July 6. China responded with its own list of 545 U.S. imports worth roughly $34 billion that will be subject to a 25 percent tariff also beginning July 6. On Tuesday, Trump directed the U.S. trade representative to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for an additional 10 percent tariff. China's Commerce Ministry said that the U.S. "has initiated a trade war" and that Beijing will protect its interests. And while the defense giant doesn't sell to China, Kennedy maintains that other countries will continue to buy U.S. defense systems despite trade disputes. "It turns out that the reason why these countries are buying our products is to protect their sovereignty and the freedom of their citizens," Kennedy began. "If you go to Europe, you'll find that all of these European nations are now increasing the percentage of GDP that they're putting into defense systems," he said, explaining that European nations are "concerned about Russia and what they did in Crimea." "If you go to the Middle East, the big concern there is deterrence against Iran," Kennedy said adding that customers in the Asia-Pacific region are concerned with China and being able to protect their sovereignty." Analysts, however, worry that future U.S. defense contracts with allied partners will indeed be caught in the crosshairs. Remy Nathan, vice president for international affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association, told CNBC in a prior interview that "oftentimes trade is political and security cooperation is political and the two intertwine." "When we are enjoying good trade relations with other countries we have positive foreign relations, positive security cooperation, and they are oftentimes more interested in purchasing U.S. defense equipment and working with our military," Nathan said. "The opposite is also true." Similarly, Stephen Biddle, adjunct senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues the tariffs will undermine America's ability to leverage allies to support U.S. interests. "The U.S. grand strategy for multiple generations has been premised on the idea that we are going to collaborate with rich and powerful allies that our enemy doesn't have and that this will advance American national security in a variety of ways," Biddle told CNBC. "The allies in question are precisely the ones that we are now engaged in these trade disputes with." Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross straightens his papers during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on tariffs, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 20, 2018 in Washington. Senate Republicans and Democrats both criticized Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Wednesday over what they called a confusing and damaging Trump administration process of imposing tariffs. Appearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Ross defended the White House's measures targeting steel and aluminum imports due to what it deems national security concerns. In a rare move, the policy has united most lawmakers against the president, On Wednesday, senators from both parties drilled into Ross over the tariffs on metals and separate actions targeting Chinese imports. Lawmakers broadly questioned the administration's trade actions, which have prompted retaliation from major trading partners such as China, the European Union and Canada. Many raised concerns about costs passed on to manufacturers and consumers by higher-priced metals. "These tariffs do not support U.S. national security," Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said of the metals tariffs. "Instead, they harm American manufacturers, damage our economy, hurt American consumers and disrupt our relationship with long-term allies while giving China a free pass." Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, focused on potential damage to the agricultural industry from retaliatory Chinese tariffs on American crops. The third-ranking GOP senator said the conflict with China "seems to be escalating out of control fairly quickly" as the world's two largest economies announce a series of broadsides. "I'm increasingly concerned that the tariffs, both those in place and those that have been proposed, are going to hurt American consumers and our domestic businesses, especially in the agricultural sector, far more than they're going to persuade the Chinese to change their unfair trade practices," Thune said. The hearing comes as duties imposed by Washington and Beijing have raised fears about potential economic harm and contributed to stock markets broadly falling early this week. The actions have strained relations between President Donald Trump and world leaders such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron. Ross defended the administration's actions, saying he believes they will deter allegedly unfair trade practices that Trump pledged to end. He also brushed off senators' concerns about a sloppy process of implementing the metals tariffs and hearing requests to exclude certain products from the measures. Lawmakers raised fears about the Commerce Department picking winners and losers in the U.S. economy. "This administration is standing up for American families, American businesses and American workers by taking action to reduce imports that threaten our national security," the Commerce secretary said. The White House also has made "no decision" on whether to recommend tariffs on automobiles and auto parts on national security grounds, Ross added. Several senators urged him not to impose the measures, arguing the actions would pass on even more costs to consumers. Many senators said they agreed with the Trump administration's moves to crack down on alleged Chinese theft of intellectual property or modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement. However, several lawmakers questioned why steel from ally Canada is a national security threat. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., repeatedly questioned what threat Canada posed. Ross said the administration did not "directly" or "individually" accuse Canada of imperiling Americans, but said it was part of a "global solution." Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said he did not accept that justification. Toomey is one of the GOP senators advocating for legislation to limit the administration's ability to impose tariffs on a national security basis. "I wish we would stop invoking national security because that's not what this is about. This is about economic nationalism and an economic policy of managing trade," the senator said. Lawmakers on the panel repeatedly questioned the implementation of the tariffs. The committee's ranking member, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the moves "seem more like knee-jerk impulses than any kind of carefully thought out strategy." "[The administration's] most obvious accomplishment on trade so far is sowing a lot of chaos that has united allies and China against us," the senator said. Much of the criticism focused specifically on the flood of requests to exclude certain products from the steel and aluminum imports. Senators have called for a swifter resolution to the process and more transparency about what the administration is choosing to exclude and why. Ross said Wednesday that the Commerce Department has issued determinations on 98 requests, granting 42 and denying 56. The Commerce secretary noted that "we'll be accelerating" the process. An animated Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who is up for re-election this year, accused Ross of picking "winners and losers" in a "chaotic and frankly incompetent" way. Lawmakers also repeatedly asked if the Trump administration had started a trade war. He echoed the president in saying "we've been at a trade war forever." The difference in the effects of Guatemala's Fuego volcano and Hawaii's Kilauea volcano are striking. By Margo Kissell, university news and communications Jessica McCarty (left) takes leaf area index measurements on Kilauea in 2017. As volcanoes in Hawaii and Guatemala simultaneously spew lava and belch toxic plumes of ash, experts at Miami University focus on the impact to humans and ecology in the surrounding area. There are a number of hazards in Hawaii right now that are above and beyond what most people think of when they see all these amazing pictures of the lava flows and lava fountaining, said Elisabeth Liz Widom, the Janet & Elliot Baines Professor and chair of the department of geology and environmental earth science. Widom just returned from a conference in Spain, where about 100 volcanologists discussed volcanic hazards while Hawaiis Kilauea was grabbing headlines for lava bombs and unusual blue flames rising from the lava due to the presence of methane gas. Her Miami colleague, Jessica McCarty, an assistant professor of geography, is part of a NASA project analyzing the effects of volcanic gas and thermal emissions from Kilauea on the surrounding landscape. McCartys research focuses on vegetation, human communities, and impacts of landscape change on biodiversity, including the wild nene (Branta sandvicensis) geese, Hawaiis official bird, which live on the lava fields. Both Widom and McCarty have been to Kilauea. Widom studied lavas from Kilauea for her senior thesis research in 1983-1984 and went there in 1991 as a gift to herself after earning her doctorate. McCarty spent eight weeks there last year for NASA-funded research prior to joining Miami. She was part of a team collecting plant measurements for a large digital library documenting a spectrum of 173 plant samples on Kilauea. In a symbolic gesture embracing the culture and ancient Hawaiian legend, Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes, McCarty made an offering of flowers, mangoes and a bottle of bourbon from her home state of Kentucky. Volcanoes are one place you will find geographers, geologists, atmospheric scientists anyone who does natural science because they are kind of our primordial laboratories, she said. Striking differences in lava, toxic ash Differences between Hawaiis Kilauea and Guatemalas Fuego are striking. While there have been no deaths from Kilauea four weeks after the May 3 eruption, Fuego already has claimed dozens of lives since it began erupting Sunday. Fuegos pyroclastic flows hot clouds of gas and ash that are difficult to outrun are why its been so deadly, said Kendall Hauer (Miami Ph.D. 95), director of Miamis Karl E. Limper Geology Museum located on the first floor of Shideler Hall. Kilaueas lava has a low viscosity so its easily flowing lava with not that much gas in it, he explained. In Guatemala, its sort of the opposite. You have a very thick, sticky lava or magma before it erupts that is supercharged with gas. That causes the pressure to build within the magma chamber. Its like taking a cap off a soda bottle youve shaken, he said. It just shoots out and it shatters the magma into billions of little pieces that then becomes the ash. While volcanic ash has been a problem in both places, Hawaiis lava entering the ocean also has produced an additional threat: the creation of hydrochloric acid vapor that is corrosive and toxic to breathe, Widom noted. Liz Widom (center) and colleagues at a volcano in Mexico. Guatemala and Hawaii also have experienced the destruction of homes and other buildings. Three people had to be airlifted to safety in Hawaii after lava threatened and they became trapped in an isolated area. Although reports have people in Guatemala heeding the warning, Widom said there has been growing concern about people in general not evacuating when they are told to leave. Thats a problem globally that volcanologists worry about how to communicate with the public and how to deal with different cultures and try to understand what are the reasons they wont leave, and how to communicate with them the hazards of staying, she said. Widom has taken graduate students as well as some undergraduate students to volcanoes around the world, including in Mexico and Madagascar, to conduct research. Research focuses on ecological impact This summer, McCarty hopes to work with a Miami undergraduate or graduate student to continue studying the impact on the ecology of Kilauea. The spectral library captured the state of vegetation pre-eruption, which will provide valuable information going forward. We will be able to type the vegetation that was destroyed by this eruption down to the species because we have the spectral response of individual species, she said. Scientists will be able to see what eventually takes root again. The ohia lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), known for its fiery red flower, has adapted to its environment and been known to grow on the basalt rock. Its aerial roots can replant atop hardened lava flows, she said. That comes after hundreds and thousands of years of adapting to living on an active volcano. Island biogeography is an amazing trip into watching evolution in progress, said McCarty, who previously worked as a research engineer/scientist at Michigan Tech Research Institute. Kilauea also is forming some kipukas where the lava doesnt hit. These become preserved areas for plants and animals in the lava field, particularly used by the nene, an endangered species. Kipukas are essentially evolutionary petri dishes, she said. Curious and want to know more? Follow McCarty on Twitter @jmccarty_geo. Ask a Geologist: Kendall Hauer will gladly answer questions about anything having to do with geology. Email your questions to him at hauerkl@MiamiOH.edu. Getty Images Silicon Valley may be the world's leading hotbed of innovation and genius, but it struggles with diversity and unconscious bias. Culture wars at shareholders' meetings and recent lawsuits against tech titans such as Google and YouTube over its lack of diverse hiring practices highlight the festering problem. Left untreated, this may be the Achilles' heel that topples the technology industry's supremacy as an entrepreneurial center of excellence. That's because having a diverse workforce is a competitive advantage that drives productivity and profits as companies sell their products and services to a broad population. Lack of diversity in Silicon Valley is an old story. Nineteen years ago civil rights leader Jesse Jackson first launched a campaign to encourage the region's tech companies to hire black and Latino workers. At the time, he was accused of "terrorism" by Scott McNealy, the co-founder of early Silicon Valley giant Sun Microsystems. Tech leaders may have changed their tune in the intervening decades all the top CEOs today loudly proclaim a commitment to "diversity and inclusion" but in other ways not much has changed in almost two decades. A study released in May by the National Urban League sparked criticism of the tech industry. It revealed that at companies like Uber, Twitter, Google and Facebook, fewer than 3 percent of tech workers identify as black. Recognizing the issue three and a half years ago, a former women's rights lawyer in San Francisco, Joelle Emerson, founded Paradigm, a diversity consulting shop that has become a go-to advisor for tech unicorns, including Airbnb, Pinterest, Slack, Udacity and a slew of Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industries, from retail to banking. By taking a data-driven approach, she struck a chord with tech companies. Paradigms CEO Joelle Emerson is an advocate for diversity and inclusion. Source: Paradigm For each client, Emerson said Paradigm spends several weeks gathering quantitative and qualitative data and observing people practices, from recruiting and hiring to performance evaluation and promotions. The goal: to develop a comprehensive diversity and inclusion strategy. Then it analyzes a company's HR data and uses algorithms to determine where it has missed opportunities to add more underrepresented groups to its workforce. With this analysis in hand, it can identify barriers and give clients metrics for measuring impact. Emerson and her team also embed themselves in the recruiting process to evaluate the colleges their clients target and even review the wording of job postings. As she explains, many tech heavyweights, such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Yahoo, have woken up and are starting to improve the representation of women, minorities and other diverse groups but change is slow. "They realize there is no silver bullet," said Emerson. "But they can no longer afford to keep a culture that isn't all inclusive." To address the problem, they have introduced training programs to raise awareness about unconscious bias and improved transparency reporting. Many are also eliminating "white boarding" a type of tech interview that asks candidates to scribble out computer-science concepts from the hiring process. The numbers are telling. Apple's most recent diversity report, out in November 2017, highlighted an interesting fact: Underrepresented minorities employed at the company grew from just 19 percent in 2014 to 23 percent in 2017. While the tech giant claims that 50 percent of its new hires in the United States this year were from historically underrepresented groups in tech, the results mirror the industry at large. The numbers for all employees break down as follows: 21 percent of Apple employees are Asian, 9 percent are black, 13 percent are Hispanic, and 3 percent are multiracial. Some 54 percent are white. Women make up only 23 percent of workers in tech roles and 32 percent of employees overall, according to Apple. Google found similar results in its diversity report: In 2017, Google's overall workforce was 56 percent white, 35 percent Asian, 4 percent Hispanic, 2 percent black and less than 1 percent American Indian or Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Google was contacted to go over its diversity efforts but did not respond to CNBC for comment. A fierce talent war is making diversity a must When some well-regarded health-tech entrepreneurs decided to start a venture dubbed Ooda Health, they had their pick of venture capital firms. So they made an unusual step of narrowing it down to investors at firms with strong female leadership. That's a small group, since only about 8 percent of partners at venture firms are women. And many of them do not have a background in health and technology. After a months-long process, co-founders Seth Cohen, Giovanni Colella and Annie Lamont, an investor who also led Ooda's $2 million seed round, opted for Emily Melton, a health investor from the venture firm DFJ, to lead the first institutional round. Among other qualifications, Melton is involved in an initiative called All Raise, which aims to increase the number of women in the senior ranks of venture capital. Melton told CNBC she heard about the venture through the grapevine and was impressed with the team. So she reached out to Colella, a doctor whom Melton has known since her early days in venture; Colella previously sold a patient-doctor communications start-up, RelayHealth, to medical distributor McKesson. Cohen and Colella hail from Castlight Health, which went public in 2014. Ooda hasn't shared many specifics about its plans, but the founders said they're hoping to rework the broken health-care payment system. It is honing in on the billions of waste that racks up when money shifts from insurers to health providers, including doctors. The founding team is looking to use its connections in the industry to reform this system of payment, starting off by paying doctors much more quickly than usual after they see a patient. "There's so much opportunity through economies of scale and efficiencies to fix health care, which I see as a social and moral imperative," Melton said. Cohen agreed that the mission is big, explaining that the founding team came together to "go into battle and do something compelling." Along with DFJ, the company also received an investment from Lamont's fund, Oak HC/FT, as well as from some insurer customers, including Blue Shield of California. The company has now raised a total of $32.5 million. Ooda's investors agree that the company's decision sends a powerful message, but that they ultimately came on board because they see a strong investment opportunity at a time when insurers are looking for new models, consumers are increasingly paying health expenses out of pocket and large employers are fed up with the status quo. Both agree that diversity in venture could improve when entrepreneurs care about the issue and when they have the power to insist on it in their funding partners. Lamont, who also invested Castlight and in other health-tech successes like Athenahealth, said she hopes other entrepreneurs will follow suit. "In some ways, [Cohen and Colella] have the luxury of doing this," said Lamont. "But I certainly think it sends a message, and I feel like the industry is sitting up and taking notice." Following the Wednesday announcement of sweeping corporate changes that are set to go into effect over the next few years, Australian telecommunications company Telstra's stock fell to 7-year lows. Speaking with CNBC's "Capital Connection," the company's CEO, Andrew Penn, said the changes which will include 8,000 job cuts were needed because the company is "at a tipping point." "The telco industry is going through a very challenging and dynamic period right now, but at the same time, demand for telecommunication products and services has never been greater," Penn said. While that is a global phenomenon, Penn said the issue was particularly acute in Australia due to the roll out of the country's government-owned monopoly broadband network. As part of its large-scale changes, the company plans to create a standalone business unit, called Telstra InfraCo, that will include Telstra's fixed network infrastructure. With consumers today frustrated with the complexity of products and services offered by telecommunications firms, Telstra needs to make short-term "tough economic decisions" in order to secure its future, he added. "We have to leave behind about 500 million (Australian dollars) worth of changes that we've previously received," Penn said, "but we believe that's the right decision and we're also going to radically simplify our products and services." Tesla is suing a former employee for allegedly illegally exporting gigabytes of confidential data, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Nevada. The electric car maker said it is only beginning to understand all of former process technician Martin Tripp's allegedly illegal activity. The suit said, Tripp "has thus far admitted to writing software that hacked Tesla's manufacturing operating system ('MOS') and to transferring several gigabytes of Tesla data to outside entities." The data include "dozens of confidential photographs and a video of Tesla's manufacturing systems." In addition to that, Tesla alleges Tripp wrote computer code to periodically export Tesla's data to people outside the company. Furthermore, the suit alleges that Tripp made false statements to the media. "For example, Tripp claimed that punctured battery cells had been used in certain Model 3 vehicles even though no punctured cells were ever used in vehicles, batteries or otherwise," the suit said. "Tripp also vastly exaggerated the true amount and value of 'scrap' material that Tesla generated during the manufacturing process, and falsely claimed that Tesla was delayed in bringing new manufacturing equipment online." Bipartisan uproar over the Trump administration's policy of splitting families will follow the president to Minnesota, a state that features several competitive midterm races. A strong performance in the state would boost Republicans or Democrats as they battle for Congress. The winning party will have better control over the direction of Trump's policies such as immigration. The president this week has clearly established his crackdown on illegal immigration as a priority ahead of November's critical elections. During a speech Tuesday, a fiery Trump showed no willingness to halt the practice , then urged House Republicans to take action instead . The president holds a rally in Duluth following days of defiance about his administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents. Trump backed down on Wednesday afternoon, signing an executive order that aims to halt the practice shortly before he left for Minnesota. President Donald Trump heads to key midterm election state Minnesota on Wednesday trailed by one of the biggest crises of his presidency. In November, Minnesota will elect a governor and two senators, due to the resignation of Democratic Sen. Al Franken over sexual misconduct accusations. Nonpartisan analysts consider four House seats two each held by Democrats and Republicans as toss-ups. Minnesota as a whole is hardly Trump country, as Democrats have carried it for decades in presidential elections. However, Democrat Hillary Clinton won the state by fewer than 2 percentage points in 2016. That made the state more appealing to Republicans for both 2018 and Trump's re-election bid in 2020. Trump will speak at 6:30 p.m. local time in the 8th District, a broad area in northeastern Minnesota represented by Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan. The seat is one of the GOP's top House targets. Trump won the district by about 15 percentage points in 2016 and Nolan will not run for re-election. The family separation issue has reached that race. The leading Republican contender for the seat, former law enforcement official Pete Stauber, has called the policy "absolutely heartbreaking," according to a local news report. At least five candidates are running for the Democratic nomination for the seat. Mining, which Trump promised to revive in 2016 by lifting regulations on the industry, is a major political issue in the region. Minnesota's primary elections take place in August. Elsewhere, Minnesota's 1st District, where Democratic Rep. Tim Walz will not run for re-election, is considered competitive. Trump could have a major influence on that race, as the area in the southern part of the state has a heavy farming presence. China has responded to the president's tariffs on Chinese products with retaliatory measures targeting crops such as soybeans. The other Minnesota House races considered competitive are the 2nd District, held by GOP Rep. Jason Lewis, and the 3rd District, represented by Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen. Republicans aim to stop Democrats from flipping the 23 GOP-held seats they need in November to take a House majority. Statewide, Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith face elections this year. The broadly popular Klobuchar is a heavy favorite to win her third term. Multiple Republicans including state Rep. Jim Newberger hope to run against her. Smith, Minnesota's former lieutenant governor, only started serving in January following her appointment to fill Franken's seat. Though Democrats appear to have an advantage in Minnesota statewide races, Smith has a tougher path to staying in the Senate than Klobuchar does. Several GOP candidates also aim to challenge Smith, and state Sen. Karin Housley has led the fundraising race so far. Republicans hope to keep or expand their 51 to 49 seat majority in the Senate. In recent days, Trump has repeatedly contended that he needs more GOP senators in the chamber to pass his immigration agenda. Currently, Republicans need to win over at least nine Democrats to get the 60 votes needed to pass immigration legislation. President Donald Trump's attempt to politicize the oil market should be castigated by OPEC, according to Iran's energy minister. The U.S. president has sought to publicly intervene in OPEC's policymaking ahead of a key meeting for the 14-member oil cartel on Friday, complaining in a pair of tweets that the Middle-East-dominated group is to blame for crude prices recently soaring to multi-year highs. "Oil is not a weapon it is not a political tool to be used against some countries, producers or consumers," Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told reporters on Tuesday in Vienna, Austria where OPEC and non-OPEC producers, including Russia, are due to meet this week. "OPEC is not a political organization and I believe it is necessary for OPEC to support this idea that the market should be depoliticized and condemn any use of oil as a weapon or as a tool against some countries," he added. Trump, perhaps wary of the average U.S. gasoline price hovering near $3 a gallon, has sought to hold OPEC accountable for a recent upswing in oil prices. However, Zanganeh said it was Trump who had created difficulty for the oil market by imposing sanctions against Iran and Venezuela yet he now expects OPEC to deal with the consequences by pumping more. "President Trump thinks that [he] can order OPEC and instruct to OPEC to do something It's not fair, I think, and OPEC is not a part of the Department of Energy of the United States," Zanganeh said. An RNC official confirmed to CNBC the departure of Cohen, the third scandal-related resignation of a top GOP fundraising official this year. The official said Cohen, whose resignation had been accepted by Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, "has been inactive on the committee for several months." He also cited in that resignation email the distraction from a separate inquiry by special counsel Robert Mueller , who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and possible Trump campaign collusion with that meddling. Cohen quit as the Republican National Committee's deputy finance chairman in part because it "simply is impossible" to give that post "full time attention and dedication" as he faces a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in New York, he said in an email obtained by ABC News. Cohen, in the same email obtained by ABC News, also called out the Trump administration for instituting a policy of separating children from parents who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. "As the son of a Polish holocaust survivor, the images and sounds of this family separation policy is heart-wrenching," Cohen wrote. "While I strongly support measures that will secure our porous borders, children should never be used as bargaining chips." Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that he says would keep immigrant families together if they are detained after crossing the Mexico border. Cohen's criticism of the president's policy is striking. He has been known as a hardcore Trump loyalist. But in recent weeks, speculation has grown that Cohen will agree to cooperate with federal investigators and possibly give them information about Trump in a bid to limit his legal exposure. CNN reported Wednesday that Cohen has let friends know he is prepared to turn over information about Trump to prosecutors. "He knows a lot of things about the President and he's not averse to talking in the right situation," a Cohen friend told CNN. "If they want information on Trump, he's willing to give it." Another friend quoted by the news site said, Cohen "feels let down by [Trump] and isolated by him." Cohen did not return a request for comment from CNBC. Venture capitalist Elliott Broidy resigned as deputy finance chairman of the RNC in April. His departure came shortly after The Wall Street Journal revealed that Broidy, who is married, had agreed to pay a Playboy Playmate $1.6 million after she claimed to have been impregnated by him. Sources have told CNBC that Cohen was paid $250,000 for negotiating and handling that deal for Broidy. In February, the RNC's then-national finance chairman, casino mogul Steve Wynn, resigned after a Journal report revealed that he had been accused of sexual misconduct. Cohen, 51, is being investigated by prosecutors in New York for a variety of business-related dealings, as well as a $130,000 hush money payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before Election Day 2016. Daniels says the payment was made to keep her quiet about an affair she had with Trump a decade before. Files related to Daniels were among the documents seized April 9 by FBI agents during a raid on Cohen's apartment and office, as a well as on a hotel room where he and his family were staying during renovations of their residence. The White House has denied the president had sex with the actress. Cohen, who has not been charged, reportedly has hired a new criminal defense lawyer, Guy Petrillo, to represent him as prosecutors continue their probe. Petrillo previously served as chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the same division now investigating Cohen. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that he says will keep migrant families together during detention on the U.S.-Mexico border. The president backed down from his administration's policy of splitting migrant families, which for days the White House insisted could only end through congressional action. Facing a nationwide uproar and bipartisan calls to at least temporarily end the practice, the president said he "didn't like the sight or feeling of families being separated." Trump said he will not end the administration's "zero tolerance" policy of criminally prosecuting every adult who crosses U.S. borders illegally, including those seeking asylum. The White House also will keep pressure on Congress to pass legislation that meets Trump's goals of halting the separation practice, funding his proposed border wall and limiting legal immigration. "We're keeping families together and this will solve that problem. At the same time we are keeping a very powerful border and there continues to be a zero tolerance," Trump told reporters before he signed the order. It was not immediately clear Wednesday what would happen to the children already separated from their parents. The order did not appear to address how the government would go about reuniting families. Reuters later reported that House Republicans briefed on the order by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen worried the measure would not prevent family separations during detentions longer than 20 days. President Donald Trump addresses a meeting of the National Space Council in the East Room of the White House in Washington, June 18, 2018. U.S. President Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers on Tuesday he would back either of the immigration bills making their way through the House of Representatives, as the outcry grew over his administration's separation of immigrant parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border. Representative Mark Meadows said Trump told Republican members of the House at a meeting on Capitol Hill that they needed to get something done on immigration "right away." In the meeting, Trump said separating families was "certainly not an attractive thing and does look bad," added Representative Tom Cole. Congressional Republicans have been scrambling to craft legislation as videos of youngsters in cages and an audiotape of wailing children have sparked anger at home from groups ranging from clergy to influential business leaders, as well as condemnation abroad. A Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll released on Tuesday showed fewer than one in three American adults supporting the policy. The June 16-19 poll found that 28 percent of people polled supported the policy, while 57 percent opposed it and the remaining 15 percent said they did not know. Trump, who has made a tough stance on immigration a centerpiece of his presidency, has staunchly defended his administration's actions. He has cast blame for the family separations on Democrats, although his fellow Republicans control both chambers in Congress and his own administration implemented the current policy of strict adherence to immigration laws. The president has sought to link an end to the family separations to passage of a wider bill on immigration, which would include funding for his long-sought border wall with Mexico, prompting Democrats to accuse him of using children as hostages. "In his remarks, he endorsed both House immigration bills that build the wall, close legal loopholes, cancel the visa lottery, curb chain migration, and solve the border crisis and family separation issue by allowing for family detention and removal," White House spokesman Raj Shah said of Trump. An unidentified person yelled an obscenity at the president before he entered the meeting. Earlier on Tuesday, the president tried again to blame Democrats for what he called "loopholes" in the law that require families detained for entering the country illegally either to be separated or released. "These are crippling loopholes that cause family separation, which we don't want," he said in remarks to the National Federation of Independent Business, adding he wanted Congress to give him the legal authority to detain and deport families together. It goes on to describe practices through which China "seeks to access the crown jewels of American technology and intellectual property ." China "has experienced rapid economic growth to become the world's second largest economy while modernizing its industrial base and moving up the global value chain. However, much of this growth has been achieved in significant part through aggressive acts, policies, and practices that fall outside of global norms and rules (collectively, 'economic aggression')," the White House report said in its opening. The 35-page report titled "How China's Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World" came a day after President Donald Trump threatened to slap additional tariffs on goods from China, setting off market turmoil. The Trump administration ratcheted up its criticism of China in a report released by the White House on Tuesday detailing its claims of "economic aggression" by the Asian giant. Chinese acts of "economic aggression," according to the report, include physical and cyber-enabled theft of technologies and intellectual property, evading U.S. export control laws, counterfeiting, piracy and reverse engineering. Of note, the report also says there is a risk that Beijing would "seek to manipulate or pressure" any of the more than 300,000 Chinese nationals annually attending U.S. universities or working at important American institutions. The White House said those Chinese nationals could become "non-traditional information collectors that serve Beijing's military and strategic ambitions." The report also lists a "wide range of coercive and intrusive regulatory gambits to force the transfer of foreign technologies and [intellectual property] to Chinese competitors, often in exchange for access to the vast Chinese market." Those policies include foreign ownership restrictions, strict administrative approvals and licensing requirements, discriminatory patent and other intellectual property rights restrictions. "Given the size of China's economy, the demonstrable extent of its market-distorting policies, and China's stated intent to dominate the industries of the future, China's acts, policies, and practices of economic aggression now targeting the technologies and [intellectual property] of the world threaten not only the U.S. economy but also the global innovation system as a whole," the report concluded. The trade dispute between the world's two largest economies escalated after Trump said in a statement late Monday that he had requested the United States Trade Representative to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for additional tariffs at a rate of 10 percent. Beijing responded by saying China will protect its interests and it is prepared to fight back. That comes after the U.S. on Friday announced that it would impose a 25 percent tariff on up to $50 billion of Chinese products. CNBC's Nyshka Chandran contributed to this story. Les lunettes de marque ne sont pas ce qui manque dans les commerces. Il y en a de toutes les sortes dont les lunettes de [] As Williams-Sonoma's business shifted from selling via catalogs to selling online, the furniture and kitchenware retailer remained consistently adamant about one thing: its stores. "Even Amazon believes that they should have some real spaces," Laura Alber, the company's president and CEO, told CNBC on Wednesday. "When you go in a store and it's wonderful, it helps you make the purchase." Scores of retailers are parsing how to enter the age of e-commerce, with many shuttering stores and building out their digital capabilities and others adopting pop-up shop formats to skirt the high real estate costs often associated with brick-and-mortar retail. Many industry experts saw Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods as a way for the e-commerce giant to preserve an on-the-ground retail presence, among other advantages. But for Williams-Sonoma, which Alber said benefited from its time as a catalog-focused seller, a multichannel solution seems to be its secret sauce. "We see our best customers cross-channel," Alber told "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer in an interview. "There's a lot of people just online, there's a lot of people just focused on big stores. We are focused on both because we know that's how you shop." Headquartered in San Francisco, the Pottery Barn and West Elm parent has also reaped the benefits of its proximity to Silicon Valley, the CEO said. Between Williams-Sonoma's big data projects which help the company see what customers like and predict what they might buy next its 3D room-planning technology and its online advertising initiatives, Silicon Valley provides valuable resources and insights for Alber's team. "We are constantly down there, talking to Google, talking to Facebook, doing testing with them. And because we have seven brands, we can try something [at one of them] before we roll it across the brands. It's really, really interesting and fun," Alber told Cramer. One key opportunity Alber sees is with online video advertising, especially on YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet's Google, but also on Facebook and Williams-Sonoma's own website. "We're testing all sorts of things" including partnering with bloggers, emailing videos to customers and hopping aboard the wildly popular recipe-video trend using Williams-Sonoma appliances, Alber said. "Customers love the movement. They love learning how to do things," she said. "And with our Williams-Sonoma brand, we have such an opportunity. Our recipes are one of our most clicked things on our site and they're out, of course, all over the internet. And it's such an example of bringing the brand to life and helping the customer with our products really celebrate." Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire [] Types of obituaries The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries family obituaries and life stories. A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories. The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form Anti-Brexit Tories warned they could face deselection over revolt Prime Minister says she wont back down over meaningful vote Daily Telegraph The Tory MPs set to defy the Government The Times Rebels not trying to collapse Mays administration The Guardian Grieve says he wouldnt mind pushing back UKs exit date The Sun as whips appeal to Labour Brexiteers as crucial vote comes down to the wire Anti-Brexit Tories are facing a grassroots revolt after threatening to side with Labour in a crunch Commons vote today. A band of diehard Tory Remainers were refusing to back down last night over a Commons vote designed to give Parliament the final say over Brexit. But the group of around a dozen MPs were facing calls from senior figures in their own constituencies to back the Prime Minister over her pledge to deliver on the referendum result. Some have been warned they could even face deselection if they rebel today. Downing Street described the rebels demands as unacceptable, and warned they would undermine the chances of Theresa May securing a good Brexit deal. Daily Mail Ministers have privately appealed to Labours Brexiteer MPs to defy Jeremy Corbyn and help them to see off their own pro-European backbench rebellion on the governments Brexit bill. Tory whips are said to have given up persuading up to a dozen of their own MPs not to vote in favour of an amendment that would give parliament a decisive say on what happens in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Instead they are concentrating their efforts on encouraging Labour MPs in Leave-voting areas to defy their own whip and vote with the government. One Labour source claimed that MPs were being promised that the Tories would go easy in future elections on those who supported them. The Times Government poised for victory in showdown Daily Express Cabinet ministers unite with Leavers to urge May to face rebellion down Daily Telegraph EU prepares to speed up no deal plans FT More: Gove to be quizzed on Brexit by MSPs The Scotsman GCHQ boss says EU will suffer without a Brexit security deal The Times Verhofstadt attacks EU-27 over treatment of British citizens Daily Telegraph PSNI chief says EU extradition system is vital Belfast Telegraph >Today: ToryDiary: Grieve is right. The logic of a Government defeat today leads to a change of leadership and a general election Daniel Finkelstein: Rebels may pave the way to hard Brexit Leave voters would rather give up Northern Ireland than Brexit Lord Ashcroft, Daily Telegraph Single market in goods comes at a price for Britain Charles Grant, FT We must let May get on, there will be a reckoning if she fails Philip Johnston, Daily Telegraph I think that the more meaningful the parliamentary vote, the greater the chance we will leave without any deal and the more leverage will be handed to supporters of a hard Brexit. I think the conventional view the this prevents no deal and favours soft Brexit view makes three errors. It ignores the interests and powers of the other countries in the EU. It is naive about the position of the Labour Party. And it underestimates the strength and will of the supporters of a hard Brexit. Dominic Grieve, the Conservative MP leading the charge for the meaningful vote, is a person of integrity with whom I usually agree, advancing an idea it is hard not to sympathise with. But I think he is wrong about the practical consequences. The Times Editorial: May should call out the EUs intransigence on security The Times Meaningful vote is key to stopping no deal FT The rebels must not be allowed to destroy Brexit The Sun >Yesterday: Ministers halt Chinese takeover of defence firm Cabinet ministers have blocked a Chinese takeover of a British defence company, risking enraging Beijing, amid fears that sharing sensitive information could put British and American air troops in danger. Greg Clark, Business Secretary is thought to have intervened earlier this week to prevent a Chinese business giant from purchasing Northern Aerospace Limited. It was about to be bought by a subsidiary of Chinese firm Shaanxi Ligeance Mineral Resources. But, defence sources raised concerns the sale would give the Chinese government access to military design plans. The decision was based on advice from Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, Mr Williamsons team has confirmed. Mr Clark took urgent action on national security grounds, the Defence Secretarys office said. Daily Express May silent over US migrant policy Mrs May would raise the issue with Mr Trump, the spokesman replied only that Britains own policy was humane and we believe that we have a humane system. The Times Haley pulls US out of UN Human Rights Council Daily Mail Theresa May declined to criticise President Trump directly for immigration policies that have led to children being separated from their parents at the US border and kept in cages. Whereas many Tory and Labour politicians readily criticised Mr Trump, Mrs May, who will welcome the US president to Britain in less than a month, was more reluctant. Asked if the prime minister thought that it was acceptable to cage children, her spokesman said: I would point you to the UKs own immigration policy. It does not apply these measures and does not intend to do so. The welfare and safeguarding of children is at the heart of our immigration policy. We do not separate child refugee or asylum seekers from their families. When asked if Analysis: How Trumps policy is testing the special relationship Sam Coates, The Times The great US-UK conservative divide Jeremy Warner, Daily Telegraph >Today: Philippa Stroud in Comment: The refugee crisis is the humanitarian issue of our time Hundreds of thousands may face higher taxes to fund NHS boost Ministers have been told that freezing the tax-free allowance at 12,500 and the point at which the higher rate kicks in at 50,000 would raise billions of pounds from 2020. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies said this would raises taxes on everyone earning over 12,500 and drag an extra 400,000 people into the 40p income tax band in just two years. That could take the total number paying higher rates of income tax above five million for the first time undermining Tory claims to be a low-tax party. The tax burden facing families is already at its highest level for half a century but looks set to become even more punishing as ministers pump extra funds into the NHS. Theresa May has warned that taxes will rise to fund an increase in spending on the NHS worth nearly 400million a week by 2023. Daily Mail Chancellor ordered NHS chief to back funding plan The Guardian Hammond aims to make wealthy pay lions share of new levies The Sun Comment: We must tackle the public health crisis caused by air pollution Andy Street, Times Red Box Britains medicines regime urgently needs reform Erik Nordkamp, FT >Yesterday: James Fraynes column: The NHS spending announcement should be a medium-term winner for the Conservatives as both Javid and Health Services boss reject calls to legalise cannabis T Home Secretary announces review into medical use The Guardian Legalisation by stealth as police turn a blind eye The Times NHS boss warns of addiction risk Daily Mail Canada to reap $400 million marijuana tax The Times he head of the NHS and the Home Secretary have both rejected calls to legalise cannabis, warning doing so would introduce new risks for young people. Simon Stevens and Sajid Javid slapped down calls made by former Conservative leader Lord Hague to look again at the law as the Home Office announced a review of cannabis for medicinal use. But it came as a group of Tory MPs, campaigners and academics publicly called for a Royal commission to consider legalising the drug amid claims banning it had led to stronger, more damaging forms of the drug. Earlier in the week ministers gave ground after the mother of 12 year-old Billy Caldwell pleaded for him to be allowed to use cannabis oil to help with his epilepsy. Daily Telegraph Comment: The war on cannabis has failed utterly William Hague, Daily Telegraph Hague brings some sanity to the fight against cannabis Janet Street-Porter, Daily Mail Hunt and Javid take on May the procrastinator Quentin Letts, Daily Mail >Yesterday: ToryDiary: No pothead is an island Hancock urges schools to crack down on mobile phones Mobile phones should be banned at the school gates, the Culture Secretary declared last night. Matt Hancock said he admired head teachers who took a firm approach by banning them. He urged other schools to follow suit. The Tory minister said over-exposure to the internet was making childrens lives more difficult and affecting concentration in class. The evidence is that banning phones in schools works, he said, writing in the Daily Telegraph He said growing up with social media was complicating childrens relationships with their contemporaries while encouraging bullying to go beyond the school gates. Daily Mail Labour MP blasts Facebook for dodging questions Daily Mail Editorial: Schools should set tighter boundaries Daily Telegraph People should learn to love new local homes, says Brokenshire L Labour abandons support for a third runway ocal people should learn to love new homes and not oppose them, says Housing secretary. Communities should not see new homes as a burden but as a rejuvenation, James Brokenshire says today. Mr Brokenshire will say he backs a Policy Exchange report out today which says that every council should produce a design and style guide in consultation with local residents so that new homes are sympathetically designed. Polling published today by Policy Exchange found that 77 per cent of respondents agree that cost is too often an excuse for badly designed, soulless new developments. Half of people surveyed felt that new modern homes are built as cheaply as possible to maximise profit for the developer. Daily Telegraph Labour will drop its formal support for a third runway at Heathrow today in a significant U-turn that leaves the plan on a knife edge. The party will announce that the 14 billion scheme fails to meet the four key tests it established as a condition for parliamentary support. It said that an analysis of the governments national policy statement, the legislation that will pave the way for a third runway, showed that it failed to satisfy any of its targets on carbon dioxide emissions, noise, benefits to all regions and ultimate deliverability. The decision comes days before MPs are finally due to have a vote on the national policy statement in parliament next Monday. However, in a sign of the split in the party on Heathrow, Labour confirmed that it would give its MPs a free vote. There is strong support for a third runway from Jeremy Corbyns union allies, including Len McCluskeys Unite. The Times Johnson set to miss airport showdown The Sun as Corbyn endorses another railway strike Passengers set to be hit by more cancellation misery The Times Northern Rail pays surplus driver to sit idle to please unions The Sun Jeremy Corbyn today endorsed another strike on the railways despite continued chaos triggered by the timetable shambles that has been running for weeks. The Labour leader expressed solidarity with RMT workers who walked-out today, worsening further chaos facing passengers on Northern rail. The strike, part of a long-running dispute over driver-only trains, is due to continue until Saturday. It has added further cancellations to the beleaguered Northern network, one of the worst hit franchises by the failed new timetable that rolled out on May 20. Mr Corbyn said today: Solidarity with RMT Union Northern Rail workers on strike over threats to remove guards and conductors, affecting passenger safety. Weve seen crisis after crisis in Northern Rail. It must be brought into public hands, and run for passengers and staff, not private profit.' Daily Mail. Editorial: Its positively ungrateful to complain about Britains railways The Times Confusion over McDonnells productivity plan A Labour government would task the Bank of England with improving Britains productivity growth under plans announced by John McDonnell today. The shadow chancellor will set out proposals for the party to sign an accord with the Bank at the start of a Labour government setting out how each will work to grow the UKs output per hour. Confusion reigned last night about the details after Labour endorsed a target of 3 per cent productivity growth but would not clarify the timeframe. It remains unclear if the target is annual or spans a five-year parliament. Mr McDonnells spokesman said the proposal, a recommendation made by the left-wing economist Graham Turner, was under consultation and that more details would be revealed today. The Times Opposition vow to boost Bank of Englands role FT Comment: Labour will provide UK with the investment revolution it needs John McDonnell, The Guardian >Yesterday: Jeremy Lefroy MP in Comment: Why we will need a new development bank post-Brexit Scottish Nationalists threaten more stunts News in Brief: Another win for Javid, leadership frontrunner Alastair Benn, Reaction Mays ministers make the decisions whilst she prevaricates Isabel Hardman, The Spectator Brussels is watching Westminster, hoping that MPs back the Lords Ashley Fox MEP, Brexit Central Wanted: a Tory candidate who gets London Barnaby Towns, City AM Beware the hysteria over addictive games like Fortnite Madeline Grant, CapX The SNPs Westminster leader Ian Blackford has vowed to stage further protests in the House of Commons after being ejected from Prime Ministers Questions following a row with Speaker John Bercow last week. Mr Blackford staged the protest after he moaned the SNP were given insufficient time to debate Brexit issues relating to devolution. He was followed out of the chamber by his SNP colleagues in a major disruption to PMQs, with the MPs accusing the Government of carrying out a power grab He refused to clarify how and when the SNP would stage a further protests against the Government, but stated they would conducted in a dignified manner. Daily Express Ben Roback is Head of Trade and International Policy at Cicero Group and a member of the US Embassys Young Leaders UK programme. We are well versed in the practice of political shocks erupting on a daily basis by now. Some barely last a days news cycle, whereas others stick, and cause the administration a lasting headache that risks reputational damage amongst voters. The imprisonment of children in cages on Americas southern border will remain at the forefront of the political agenda for some time to come. This is not an accident, but an image created by design In an era of fake news and of feelings usurping facts, it is important to begin by stating the truth. Contrary to the claims of those inside and closest to the White House, this policy is not a legacy of the previous administration. Jeff Sessions announced the zero tolerance policy in April as part of a move to prosecute adults who illegally cross the border with the full force of the law. Donald Trump has made his feelings on border force and immigration crystal clear, saying in a speech yesterday: The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. Like any Republican president, he is seeking to project an image of strength on national security; being tough on crime has rarely done a Republican damage in an election. The working theory goes that separating children from their parents will be enough to disincentivise migration flows on the Mexican border. In the long-term, that remains to be seen. In the short-term, it has prompted outrage on humanitarian grounds. The scenes playing out on Americas southern border with Mexico risk becoming the most damaging indictment of the Trump presidency so far depending on your political inclination. The Republican base which is so staunchly loyal to their president shows no sign of wavering over an issue that candidate Trump was persistently vocal about. Once again, should we really be surprised that Trump has shown consistency between his candidacy and presidency? The President and his allies have re-adopted the same inflammatory language they deployed in the campaign to describe immigrants and violent gangs such as MS-13, despite extremely limited proven links between the two. On Tuesday, the President tweeted that immigrants would pour into and infest the United States, a day after Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary of Homeland Security, referred to a flood of immigrants facing the US at its Southern border. Laura Ingraham, a Fox News host and one of the presidents principal cheerleaders, mocked the child detention centres as little more than summer camps. Footage from inside the centres prove her mockery was entirely unfit for a nationwide audience. How the world reacted Global condemnation has unsurprisingly been forthcoming, with the likes of Angela Merkel of Germany forgetting that international opposition is exactly what this President thrives on. Creating a siege mentality helps prove his commitment to his domestic audience. A sharp reminder of America First. At home, Theresa May has come under fresh pressure to distance herself from the President. Tom Tugendhat has spoken from the Conservative back benches, arguing that the US is better than this. For Downing Street, a direct rebuke is effectively impossible with Trumps visit to the UK due to take place in only three weeks time. Jeremy Corbyn will scarcely be able to believe his luck. On the global stage, the Office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations Human Rights Council expressed deep concern that the zero-tolerance policy put in place along the US-Mexico border has led to people caught entering the country irregularly being subjected to criminal prosecution and having their children including extremely young children -taken away from them as a result. The Trump administration responded by officially withdrawing the US from the Human Rights Council. Congress reacts by ramping up pressure on the White House There is absolutely no sign whatsoever of regret from the White House, with little expectation that the administration will soften its policy any time soon. This explains why Ivanka Trump has sought to distance herself from the latest scenes at the border, with her team telling CNN she would talk to any member of Congress to help find a legislative solution to the issue. The first daughter must need reminding that a legislative solution is not required to reverse a proposal implemented solely by the Executive, and which the Executive has the power to reverse. The trade-off for the White House is simple stop the family separation policy in exchange for a Bill that fully funds the border wall. More than a dozen Republican senators are pressuring the administration to reverse course while Congress considers legislation, with every single Democrat opposed to the zero-tolerance policy. Even on an issue as emotive as this, there is little sign that a bipartisan bill could receive 60 votes in the senate. An insight into the 2018 and 2020 Republican playbook The rhetoric deployed by the president and his allies gives the clearest insight yet on what is in the Republican playbook for the crucial November midterms and the presidential election in 2020 and it has nothing to do with Paul Ryans tax cuts, the traditional campaign favourite of a fiscally-focussed Republican Party that now seems entirely replaced by President Trumps firebrand racial politics. That Trumps comments yesterday about immigration endangering all of our children were made in a speech to the National Federation of Independent Businesses is proof of the new Republican priorities. Philippa Stroud is CEO of the Legatum Institute and co-author of their latest report into refugees, Global People Movements. It is nearly three years since the death of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose death focused the worlds attention on the refugee crisis. The images of his tiny body, washed up on a Turkish beach, rightly shocked and appalled us all. Yet in the period since his untimely death, there is little sign to suggest we are any closer to addressing either the causes or the consequences of the crisis, with the conflict in Syria continuing unabated. The impact of those images were every bit as powerful as Michael Buerks unforgettable coverage of Ethiopias famine during the late 1980s, which galvanised a generation, mobilising everyone from our politicians to our musicians to act. It is time for us to accept that the refugee crisis requires every bit as urgent a response: it is the humanitarian issue of our time. Today, we mark UN World Refugee Day. We are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record, as individuals seek to create their own pathways from poverty to prosperity. For far too many, these are journeys not of opportunity but of necessity. Chronic instability and economic stagnation in many countries have seen millions risk their liberty and their lives to seek a brighter future elsewhere for themselves and their families. People undertaking these so-called irregular journeys are remarkably vulnerable. They are likely to face exploitation at the hands of human traffickers, who generate more than $150 billion in illegal profits each year. Worse still, they may find themselves trapped in a world of modern slavery and sexual exploitation from which they are unable to escape. They are unprotected, accumulate debt, and have no legal recourse. This phenomenon requires an urgent response. We live in a world in which nearly 20 people are forcibly displaced every minute as a result of conflict or persecution, according to the UNHCR. However, we must first improve our understanding of the issue, looking beyond the rhetoric to uncover the facts. Although migration has been a feature of political debate in West European states, their share of immigrants as a percent of their native-born population is considerably smaller than elsewhere, whilst most migrant journeys take place within the region of origin. The lowest income countries host about 30 per cent of the global total of refugees. Of the 66 million people globally who have been forcibly displaced, approximately 40.3 million are displaced within their own countries. To date, we lack the data to form an accurate appraisal of the motivations behind these extraordinary journeys, and the risks faced by those undertaking them. One figure illustrates this perhaps better than any other: the fact that the number of identified victims of human trafficking could represent less than one per cent of the true number. Furthermore, existing distinctions between refugee, migrant and trafficking victim do not appear to reflect the complexity of these irregular journeys, as people take on differing statuses at different moments of what is invariably a long and traumatic road. Consequently, we are struggling to see the issues with clarity, and to respond with compassion. By its very nature, this is an international issue, with no single, simple solution. It is therefore imperative that we work together, to identify the key trends, and to debate and shape an effective policy response. It is essential that we remember a simple truth: that behind every statistic is an individual. For each and every one of them, these journeys are motivated by a simple desire we can all identify with: to build a life where we can fulfil our potential, free from the threat of conflict, oppression, poverty and hunger. We must remember that all people, regardless of whether they feature in migration, refugee or trafficking statistic have the potential to be contributors to society. Each life kept on hold in a refugee camp, devalued through slavery or forced prostitution, or lost in transit is a human tragedy. We owe it to those undertaking these journeys and to ourselves to give this urgent issue the attention it deserves. Many words can be used to describe Dominic Grieve, but spinmeister certainly isnt among them. He is a very old-fashioned politician a QC, model of propriety and the son of an MP himself who was formed in the pre-Blair age. So when he said last weekend that we could collapse the Government, he was calling the consequences of todays vote as he sees them. If Theresa May agrees with him on any point, it is on this one. We cannot accept the amendment on meaningful vote agreed in the Lords, her spokesman said yesterday, adding that it would allow parliament to direct government on its approach to exiting the EU, binding the prime ministers hands and making it harder to secure a good deal for the UK. Making it harder is a euphemism. Views differ on the consequences of MPs trying to run the negotiation with the EU themselves, rather than hold Ministers to account for their handling of it. Some think that this would make stopping Brexit likely, as the natural pro-Remain majority in the Commons asserts itself. Others believe that it would make a no deal Brexit happen, since the Government and the Commons wont be able to come to agreement, and time is too short to prevent or postpone leaving the EU. But either way, there is no disagreement about the main consequence of a Government defeat on the Grieve amendment today. If it is passed, May will lose what control of the Governments side of the negotiation she now has. Consequently, the EU side of the table will have no reason to come to terms with her. It will simply be able to sit back, wait for Commons control to kick in, watch the ensuing confusion, and hold out a solution that MPs comprehensively rejected last week EEA membership. It is not beyond imagination that, as the Commons thrashes in a quicksand of incoherence, EU negotiators make a dramatic offer to call off Brexit altogether, in the expectation that a broken-spirited Parliament bends to their will. The logic of events suggests that Theresa May would be gone before that point. A majority of Tory members already want her out before 2022. It is very hard indeed to find a Conservative MP who disagrees in private. Not rated by Tory Brexiteers, and now not trusted by hardline Remainers either, a defeat today would lose her the little room for manoeuvre that she has already, in a Commons in which her party has no majority. And not just on Brexit. Yesterday, Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt ignored her reservations about a full review of legalising the use of cannabis for medical purpose, and the Home Secretary announced one anyway. Philip Hammond says that the extra NHS spending is a one-off. Try telling that to Gavin Williamson, who wants more money for defence, and has the Commons backing to get it. Or to Javid, currently the master of all he surveys within the Government, who wants more cash for the police. Or to James Brokenshire, who has Conservative local authorities knocking on his door. Or to Damian Hinds, who can remind Downing Street of the damage that protesting heads, other teachers and parents did to the Tory vote a year ago. On the economy, on Commons votes on almost everything that quicksand would swallow May up. But a change of leadership would leave the fundamentals unaltered. A Prime Minister Gove or Hunt or Javid or Johnson would go to the Commons to find the numbers exactly as May left them. On Brexit, the clock would still be ticking and the talks would have been suspended since, during a leadership election, there would be no-one for the EU to negotiate with. The drumbeat of Project Fear would quicken to a frenzy. The only coherent solution would be for the new leader to seek a general election which, notwithstanding the Fixed Terms Parliament, he or she could doubtless find a way to, as May did last summer. So we come to the vice which Grieves amendment, if successful, will apply to the Conservative Partys vitals. Tory MPs have no real confidence in May, but a replacement would offer no respite. They dont want a general election, but a paralysed Government and Parliament would make one all but unavoidable long before 2022. And voters take their cue on snap elections from Brenda from Bristol. The danger for the Conservatives would be punishment in consequence. A poll would also pose a terrible question to Ministers: why didnt you prepare for a No Deal Brexit next March? The British people dont want Prime Minister Corbyn. But could voters in this circumstance be blamed for concluding that there was no alternative but to roll the dice and give him a chance? True, logic isnt everything in politics. Sometimes it is very little at all. Maybe if Grieves amendment is passed today, the Government will limp on until 2022. Do unhappy Conservative MPs really want to chance it? Less than a day will pass before we all find out. Robots and automation are creating more jobs in Asia than they destroy, according to a report from the Asia Development Bank (ADB). ADB analysis of a dozen Asian economies between 2005 and 2015 found rising demand more than compensated for jobs lost to automation. The adoption of robotics and other connected systems stimulated higher productivity and economic growth, creating 134 million new jobs, compared with the 101 million lost to new technologies. "Rising demand offsets job displacement driven by automation," said the ADB report. "New technologies allow a given output to be produced by fewer workers. While some workers are displaced, improved productivity and lower prices often spur higher demand. Increased demand may even expand the number of jobs in factories that automate part of their production process. "Moreover, the productivity benefits of new technology in one industry lower production costs in downstream industries through input/output channels, contributing to increased demand and employment across industries. An increase in demand and production in one industry heightens demand for upstream industries as well." A bankers dozen The banks data shows rising demand more than compensating for jobs displaced by technology. Using productivity as a broad measure of technological advance, ADBs input/output analysis of 12 economies in Asia found technology-driven increased productivity would have brought a 66% decrease in employment, equal to 101 million jobs per annum had output remained the same. However, concurrently higher demand for goods and services related to increased output and technology changes more than offset this with an associated 88% increase in employment, which is equal to 134 million jobs per annum. Robotics, AI, and the Internet of Things (IoT) also create new companies, industries, and jobs, added the bank. In addition, the greater complexity of modern production and growing demand for new personal services in healthcare, education, finance, and others areas, are countervailing forces against technology-related unemployment, as they create new jobs. "New types of jobs have emerged to handle new technologies," the report explained. "A detailed analysis of occupation titles in India, Malaysia, and the Philippines found that 43 to 57% of new job titles that have emerged in the past 10 years are in information and communication technology (ICT). A large share of new job titles emerged in one of Indias fastest growing occupation categories: craft and related workers. This was driven mainly by the different types of specialized technicians needed to work with computer-controlled machines. Such trends will continue." The non-routine hotspot The report indicated demand will grow the most for non-routine cognitive, social, and ICT tasks."Jobs requiring routine and manual tasks will be less in demand. This is suggested by analysis of five economies in developing Asia showing that, over the past decade, annual expansion of employment in jobs intensive in non-routine cognitive tasks, social interactions, and the use of ICT, was 2.6 percentage points faster than total employment. Average real wages for these non-routine jobs increased faster than for routine and manual jobs." However, the bank acknowledged that technological advances threaten jobs as well as fuel productivity and demand. "Emerging technologies such as robotics, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, will help drive future prosperity, yet they also pose challenges for workers," said the ADB report. "The apparel and footwear industries, for example, are experimenting with completely automated production," the report added. "Similarly, it is becoming technically feasible to automate more complex service tasks, such as customer support. These developments have raised concern that automation could cause widespread job loss, slow wage growth, and worsen income inequality in developed and developing economies alike. Some studies indicate that over half of the jobs in some economies in developing Asia are at risk." Reasons to be cheerful That said, the bank said there are reasons for optimism, despite the threat to many lower-skilled or routine jobs. Technologies often automate only some tasks, but not the whole job. "Automation targets mainly routine tasks, such as soldering components onto a circuit board repeatedly on an assembly line, which is both routine and manual, or counting and dispensing cash in a bank, which is routine and cognitive. "While task automation may displace some types of jobs, in other cases it restructures the job such that machines handle only the routine tasks, freeing up workers to focus on more complex tasks. The introduction of ATMs, for example, changes the job for bank tellers to one of customer relationship management." Job automation goes ahead where it is both technically and economically feasible. Data on industrial robots in Asia shows the two largest users are the electrical/electronics industry and automobile manufacturers, each accounting in 2015 for 39% of total robot use; together, they account for only 13.4% of total manufacturing employment. By contrast, producers of textiles, apparel, leather goods, and food and beverages together accounted in the same year for only 1.4% of robot usage, but 31.4% of manufacturing employment. "This pattern reflects both technological and economic feasibility," the report said. "More technological sophistication is required to give a robot the dexterity to stitch cloth, for example, than to handle large metal parts." At the same time, low pay in apparel and footwear is a disincentive to automation: it is often cheaper to employ human beings, suggests the bank. "In 12 economies in developing Asia that account for 90% of employment in the region, an estimated 40% of manufacturing and service jobs entail mostly routine tasks, either manual or cognitive. However, many of these jobs are unlikely to be lost. Some will be restructured instead, and automating others will not be technically or economically feasible." Nevertheless, automation will hurt workers in routine and manual jobs, the report admitted. "New jobs will appear, but they may require skills that such workers do not possess. Further, as firms and industries adjust to new ways of producing and distributing goods and services, the resulting disruptions along existing supply chains may cause unemployment. In addition to more job losses, routine and manual workers will likely experience lower wage growth, worsening income inequality." Thinking on their feet Even some routine cognitive jobs may be displaced. The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is a case in point, said the ADB. "Industry experts estimate that, in 2016, 47% of BPO workers in the Philippines worked at process-driven tasks requiring little abstract thinking. With the advent of new technologies, such jobs are likely to decline as a share of all BPO jobs. There will be new opportunities driven by greater demand for more complex BPO services, which can expand along with technologies. But they will require more specialized training. Workers employed as medical transcriptionists, for example, may lose their jobs to increasingly sophisticated software able to recognize voice, text, and image signals." In general, workers with weaker foundational skills could find themselves left behind, concludes the bank. Foundational skills-those that are best learned at school, encompassing basic reading, writing, and numeracy as well as digital literacy and teamwork abilities. These will help support the transition into jobs that require higher intensity of non-routine and cognitive tasks."Without adequate skills development or retraining, workers with weaker foundational skills face hurdles in seizing the opportunities that new technologies provide," the report said. Chris Middleton is the editor of Internet of Business (IoB), a CFE Media content partner. This article originally appeared here. Edited by Chris Vavra, production editor, Control Engineering, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com. ONLINE extra See additional stories about the IIoT linked below. 100% Website graduation.yourmoments.com uses latest and advanced technologies like: Asp.Net. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of 42486 bytes (41.49 kb uncompressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2020-10-23, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. 100% Website tourism-mauritius.mu uses latest and advanced technologies. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of 2052 bytes (2.00 kb uncompressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-08-03, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. CORNWALL, Ontario The Nijmegen March is held annually in the Netherlands. It starts every year on the third Tuesday of July and is the largest multiple day marching event in the world. The 50 000 participants each year are mostly civilians, but militaries from around the world also enter teams into the march. The Canadian Armed Forces have been participating in the Nijmegen March since 1952. This year, they are sending 14 teams comprised of over 200 personnel. Each team consists of 11 personnel, including 1 medic and 1 person who has previously participated in the march. The SD&G Highlanders have been selected as one of those teams, to celebrate the units 150th anniversary. The SD&G Highlanders have already begun training for the Nijmegen March. The Canadian Armed Forces requires interested members to complete at least 500km of training marches, although typically the average soldier will complete over 700km of training prior to departing. The march itself will be 40km a day for 4 days for a total of 160km. Over the next several months the SD&G Highlanders will be training up to 4 times a week, working from 5km to 40km marches. The unit will be more and more visible in the community as we prepare for Nijmegen. The 4-day march in the Netherlands has been taking place since 1909, having started as a Dutch military training exercise. It has been permanently stationed in Nijmegen since 1916 and has taken place every year except during the two World Wars. Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands, and is characterized by a combination of Roman ruins, 14th century architecture and post-war additions which serve as a reminder of the destruction the city endured during WWII. Each day of the march starts in Nijmegen and is named after the biggest town that it goes through. Tuesday is the day of Elst, Wednesday the day of Wijchen, Thursday the day of Groesbeek and Friday the day of Cuijk. Successful participants receive a Dutch decoration (the Cross for the Four Day Marches) and gladioli, a sword shaped plant that is associated with ancient gladiators. As the SD&G Highlanders well know, Canada and the Netherlands have a very special friendship. Over a 9-month period during 1944 and 1945, a Canadian-led coalition made up of mostly Canadians, but also Polish, Belgian, American, British and Dutch resistance fighters liberated The Netherlands from the Germans. Dutch citizens, who were facing starvation, saw the Canadians not only as liberators but saviours. 7 600 Canadians died liberating The Netherlands, including 11 SD&G Highlanders who died liberating the town of Leesten. In 2005, the town of Leesten honoured their sacrifice by naming 11 streets after the fallen Glens. During the third day of the marches the SD&G Highlanders team will have the chance to go to a Canadian War cemetery in Groesbeek which houses 2 500 graves and pay tribute to our fallen soldiers. We are looking forward to renewing our friendship with the Dutch people during this years Nijmegen March. As the Dutch say, Death or gladioli! CORNWALL, Ontario Moving steel at the gym gets heavy when a world of competitors and spectators come to watch, and that is what happened this Saturday. Weight trainers from around the globe came to Quest in Cornwall to partake in the International Powerlifting Associations competition, an event designed to test the will and might of the strongest individuals. Organizer Yael Benyair with the IPA said in an interview It is just being better than I was yesterday, being stronger. Its not a fashion statement, its about competing with yourself. Yael is a competitor as well and can lift close to 500 pounds. Over 100 people came to spectate close to 50 competitors as they do bench presses, squats and deadlifts that reach an easy 900 pounds. CORNWALL, Ontario Canadas newest Canadian Coast Guard helicopter will be stopping at the Cornwall Regional Airport for Fathers Day on Sunday, June 17. The event, organized by the Cornwall Flying Club, runs from 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday and gives Fathers and their families a chance to experience flight in both fixed, and rotar-wing aircraft. Based in Parry Sound, Ontario, the new Bell 429 helicopter is a crucial component for delivering Canadian Coast Guard services and maintaining public safety, said Department of Fisheries spokesperson Carol Launderville in a release to the media. CCG helicopters are a workhorse of the waterways, flying to remote sites to support construction and maintenance of CCG communication sites, oil pollution response, ice monitoring and support to Government of Canada science programs. Pilot Gary Ertel invites all aviation enthusiasts to come by to say hello and have a close-up look at CG 434, Launderville went on to say. This visit from the Coast Guard is subject to operational requirements. OTTAWA, Ontario The Senate passed legislation on Tuesday, June 19 that will legalize marijuana in Canada. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Oct. 17, 2018 will be the official day that recreational marijuana becomes legal. The Ottawa University Heart Institute however warns in a press release that when it comes to the love muscle, it is still unknown what damage marijuana might do. There is existing evidence that marijuana use may lead to quicker onset of exercise-induced angina during a stress test among people with heart disease. This suggests another reason why it is not a good idea to use marijuana, said Robert Reid, PhD. Reid, who is a behavioural scientist with the Ottawa Heart Institute also noted that marijuana could be dangerous for those with an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, because it activates the sympathetic nervous system According to the Heart Institute, marijuana increases heart rate and blood pressure. if smoked, marijuana reduces the capacity of your blood to transport oxygen throughout the body and both these factors increase strain on the heart muscle. The Heart Institute also warned about a possible connection between marijuana and depression. We really dont know whether marijuana causes depression, said Dr. Andrew Pipe, an MD with the Heart Institute. Or whether people who are depressed use marijuana at least in part as an effort to self-medicate. Either way, it underscores yet another area where more research is needed. Dr. Reid and Dr. Pipe recommend patients consult their physicians about the effects regular marijuana use could have on their bodies. Based on what evidence there is, as well as common sense, trying this newly legal drug should be approached with caution and that, if you must, then dont smoke it, said both Dr. Pipe and Dr. Reid. CORNWALL, Ontario The City of Cornwall organized an open house on Wednesday, June 20 to discuss the update to their 2007 Waterfront Master Plan. thinc design, a Toronto based urban design and landscape architecture company has been hired by the City as consultants on the project and were on hand at the open house to get feedback and answer questions. Michael Tocher, a partner with thinc design said that this meeting was one of the first steps in their process of recommending a new masterplan to the City of Cornwall. We were really impressed with how great the waterfront network is, said Tocher. We feel it is a great waterfront trail system and we want to preserve and enhance that. Much of the 16km waterfront is currently owned by the federal government, who announced their intentions earlier this year to sell all of their waterfront holdings in Cornwall. Rachel Parkin, a representative of Transport Canada, which currently owns the lands, told Cornwall City Council in April that the government was under no-obligation to give the City first right of refusal when selling the lands. In other words, the government will sell the land to the entity that gives them the first, best reasonable offer. Tocher said that so far, they would recommend to Council that the City preserve public space along the waterfront. Most waterfronts dont have what Cornwall has, he said. You really want to preserve and protect that system of public spaces. Thats what waterfront is for, public space. There is a real movement in urban planning to preserve public spaces, Tocher went on to say. It is about finding appropriate places for development. Bill Beattie, a 12-year member of Cornwalls Waterfront Committee was at the open house on Wednesday afternoon and gave some of his thoughts on the future of the waterfront in Cornwall in an interview with Seaway News. Im of the opinion that the government should be giving it (the land) back to the City of Cornwall, he said. Obviously what a developer would want to do is build on it. In 2017, C.H. Clement Construction announced a plan to build condos along the waterfront around Marina 200, a plan that would have encroached on the bike path and the Legion Ball Park. People should get along with people, said Beattie. But if anyone tries to move those ball diamonds they are in for a good fight. Those ballparks are the nicest ballparks in Eastern Ontario and it would be a shame to interfere with that. thinc design will be holding its next open house in November and hopes to present their draft of the new Waterfront Master Plan to Council in the Spring of 2019. CORNWALL, Ontario A 17-year-old Cornwall youth was arrested on June 19, 2018 and charged with assault cause bodily harm, assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and breach of recognizance for possessing a weapon. It is alleged during an argument on June 19, 2018, the youth assaulted her boyfriend with a knife, causing him to seek medical attention for his injuries. Police were contacted and an investigation ensued. During the investigation, police located the youth. She was taken into custody, charged accordingly and held for a bail hearing. Her name was not released as per provision of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. CALLS FOR SERVICE There were 60 calls for service in the City of Cornwall in the last 24 hours (8 a.m. the previous day to 8 a.m. the day of the release). To see whats happening in your neighbourhood visit our Crime Plot Map. CCPS reserves the right not to post all calls for service in order to protect the identity of the victims. Data analytics system developer Teradata has sued SAP charging the giant software developer with trade secret misappropriation, copyright infringement and antitrust violations. In a complaint filed Wednesday Teradata charges that SAP "lured Teradata into a purported joint venture in order to gain access to Teradata's valuable intellectual property" and used the technology to develop the SAP HANA database. Teradata said it is seeking an injunction "barring SAP's illegal conduct," unspecified monetary damages and "all other legal and equitable relief available under law and which the court may deem proper," the company said in a statement. [Related: The 2018 Big Data 100] The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against SAP SE, SAP America Inc. and SAP labs LLC. SAP issued a statement saying: "SAP was surprised to learn of the complaint filed by Teradata earlier today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Although SAP generally does not comment on pending litigation, SAP may issue a statement, if appropriate, after it has had an opportunity to review the complaint." Teradata, founded in 1979 and now based in San Diego, was a pioneer in the enterprise data analytics and data warehousing industry. The company's product portfolio today includes the Teradata Analytics Platform and Teradata Database software, IntelliCloud analytics cloud service, IntelliBase hardware, and a range of analytical applications. The company was acquired by NCR Corp. in 1991 and then spun-off as a separate company in 2007. SAP HANA is an in-memory relational database system that SAP launched in 2010. The database has since become the foundation for much of the company's software in recent years including the S/4HANA line of ERP applications, which debuted in 2015, and the C/4HANA line of CRM and front office applications that the company launched earlier this month at the Sapphire Now conference and show. "As set forth in the complaint, Teradata is alleging that SAP has engaged in a decade-long campaign of anti-competitive behavior, to the detriment of the parties' customers and Teradata alike," Teradata said in the statement announcing the lawsuit. "SAP lured Teradata into a purported joint venture in order to gain access to Teradatas valuable intellectual property. SAP's purpose for the joint venture was to steal Teradata's trade secrets, developed over the course of four decades, and use them to quickly develop and introduce a competing though inferior product, SAP HANA," the Teradata statement said. "Upon release of SAP HANA, SAP promptly terminated the joint venture, and SAP is now attempting to coerce its customers into using HANA only, to the exclusion of Teradata." In the statement, Teradata said the companies formed the joint venture in 2008 and then terminated it when it released the HANA product. Teradata said SAP's use of its "powerful position in Enterprise Resource Planning applications" to "gain entrance to and quickly grab market share" in the enterprise data warehouse market constituted a "campaign of anticompetitive conduct directed at Teradata." The company said SAP has been "forcing its customers to adopt HANA in exchange for upgrading their ERP applications," a practice the company said cuts Teradata out of customer sales. The statement also charged that SAP "has begun significantly restricting Teradata's ability to access customers' SAP-derived data." IT distribution powerhouse Synnex Corp. is in talks to acquire Cincinnati-based Convergys Corp., according to reports. The move would combine Synnexs international reach with Convergys Corp.s call center capabilities. Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter, said on Tuesday that there was no guarantee that the two companies would come to an agreement. Word of the deal caused stock prices in both companies to rise in after-hours trading on Tuesday, however Convergys shares were trading lower early Wednesday morning. [Related story: Synnex President And CEO Kevin Murai Retires; COO Dennis Polk To Assume Distributor's Top Exec Role] Convergys was spun off from Cincinnati Bell Inc. and became a separate, publicly traded company in 1998. The company reported 10 percent lower earnings in the first quarter of this year, on revenue of $674 million, which the company blamed on headwinds from two of its leading customers. The company also said it also expected to lose money in the second quarter. In January, CEO Andrea Ayers, who had been with Convergys since 2012, announced she was leaving the company. Synnex, meanwhile, has been booming. The company has climbed the Fortune 500 ranks, moving up 43 spots in the last two years, while revenue last year grew 21.2 percent to $17 billion while profits also rose 28.2 percent to $301 million In January the company announced that Kevin Murai, the long-time president and CEO would retire, while Dennis Polk, the companys COO since 2006, would take over leadership. Murai led Synnex's $830 million acquisition of Westcon Americas last June. Representatives from both Convergys and Synnex did not respond to requests for comment by press time. Accenture opened its newest Cyber Fusion Center near Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, building on the companys promise to provide clients with the best minds and most advanced technology to defend against data breaches and cyberattacks. The new office in Arlington, Va. merges market research, threat operatives that test clients' defenses called FusionX cyberattack simulation services; threat intelligence known as iDefense, which seeks out emerging security risks; as well as security consultants, in one location. We put them all on a couple floors in D.C. and what I want them to do is be creative and collaborate across all those groups so that we can improve security, while we research the security conditions in the marketplace, Kelly Bissell, managing director of global security for Accenture, told CRN. We chose Washington, D.C. for a couple of reasons. It has the highest concentration of heavy cyber talent in the U.S. It also has some key universities we want to team with around innovation and R&D, so those two things, and a couple others made it the ideal place. Accenture said the new office will be linked with the companys other cyber fusion centers in Bangalore, India; Prague; and Tel Aviv, Israel. We have people all around the world, Bissell said. As soon as a person in one country finds a cyber threat, there is a network effect where were able to learn and leverage that information across the globe. Bissell said Accentures security business which has grown to 5,800 employees is expected to add another 1,000 in D.C. alone. In the fusion centers, Accenture works with clients to help them predict cyberattacks and test cyber defenses with a sparring-partner approach that replicates real-world cyberattacks. When Accenture launched its fusion center in Israel in June 2016, Omar Abbosh, Accenture's chief strategy officer, told CRN that his companys security brand is falling short of expectations. Bissell said that is no longer the case. Our brand today is light years ahead of what it was just two years ago, he said. Bissell said what makes the fusion centers unique is its ability to find a needle in a stack of needles and determine which of them is a threat. It's not only finding the next malware, he said. It's determining, what is its target? What damage could they do and how can the client put up controls to be safe around that? Bissell said. So where many companies find the next malware and give the IT answer, were giving them the business risk answer I think clients are very happy, elated, even that were doing this. Paris-based consulting and IT solution provider Capgemini Group is on a buying spree. On Wednesday, the company announced that it had acquired Adaptive Lab, a London-based digital design studio that helps businesses adjust to new technology as well as shifts in customer behavior. The terms of the purchased were not disclosed, and Capgemini did not respond to requests for comment. Adaptive Labs digital first, experience design led approach enables organizations to redefine their businesses and embrace disruptive technologies quickly for competitive advantage, Cyril Garcia, head of digital services and member of the group executive committee at Capgemini said in a statement. Adaptive Labs track record of working with marquee clients on high stakes projects is impressive and totally complementary to our digital services portfolio. Founded in 2009, Adaptive Lab said it identifies business opportunities for its clients by creating a plan based on customer data, testing and evolving that plan, and then scaling it for a competitive edge. The companys employs 50 designers, developers, and strategists. Adaptive Lab has been focused in financial services and telecommunications. Top clients include Santander, Standard Life, and Vodafone. The company recently worked with mobile phone provider Three which operates in Hong Kong, Macau, Austria, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom -- to launch Smarty," which refunds customers for unused data at the end of every month; with Vodafone, Adaptive Lab developed an app for V-Auto by Vodafone," an innovative consumer product that helps car owners become safer, better drivers, track their vehicle location and alert authorities in the event of a serious accident. Since we founded Adaptive Lab over ($100 billion in) tech startups have been created in industries ranging from financial services to retail, James Haycock, Managing Director and Founder, Adaptive Lab said in a statement. To compete in these fast-moving markets, companies need to completely rethink how they approach growth. Our vision is to bring design, business and technology skills together in small, collaborative teams to help our clients do just that. Adpative Lab is the latest of several recent acquisitions for Capgemini, which is No. 6 on the 2018 CRN Solution Provider 500. Earlier this month, it announced plans to buy, Leidos Cyber -- the security division of the Fortune 500 defense contractor Leidos Holdings. In February, they said they planned to buy LiquidHub, a provider of digital transformation services, in a move to expand both its own digital transformation capabilities and its reach into the U.S. market. In September 2017, Capgemini announced plans to acquire Chicago-based Lyons Consulting Group to meet the digital customer experience needs of its global customers. That followed Capgemini's March 2017 acquisition of European Salesforce Commerce Cloud dynamo Itelios, as well as its January 2016 purchase of European Salesforce specialist Oinio. Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri Tuesday said the company is backing up its big bet on the intelligent edge revolution with a $4 billion investment over the next four years. "We will accelerate our investment in R & D to advance and innovate new (intelligent edge) products, services and consumption models across a number of domains including connectivity, security, edge computing, automation, machine learning and AI," said Neri in his first Discover keynote address since taking the helm on Feb. 1. "It will be an edge that is intelligent and cloud enabled." Neri called the investment a sign of HPE's commitment to the "incredible" intelligent edge future. The Edge acceleration comes with Neri- a passionate advocate of disruptive innovation driving HPE forward as the sole company uniquely positioned to help customers fundamentally transform their businesses with the groundswell of data that remains untapped at the edge. "With this investment we are accelerating our ability to innovate even faster," he told thousands of HPE customers gathered for the keynote session at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas. "Instead of today when 94 percent of the data at the edge is untapped or lost we will help customers use all of it. This is a new world and this is a necessary indispensable next step. You should think of us as a new company purposely crafted for the future designed to help you win." Today, customers are throwing away too much of their data because they don't have the capability to "extract and refine every bit of that data and turn it into economic value with insights and actions," said Neri. "That is the opportunity." The edge is where technology is put into action by connecting people and things to data securely, said Neri. "Experiences can be personalized, timely, relevant and enriched by context," he said. "It employs artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation to continuously learn, predict and adapt to the changes and needs in real time." HPE is "uniquely positioned to drive this next revolution," said Neri. "I believe we are ideally suited for it. Our focus is to enable all our partners and customers to take advantage of this phenomenal opportunity. This is the mission at Hewlett Packard Enterprise." Neri said he is certain that the "rise of the intelligent edge" is the next "great market transition" destined to transform how business is done in the years ahead. "At HPE we will lead this transition," he said. "We saw the trend coming early on. We are making the big bets with Aruba and other investments and we are not slowing down." One of those big bets is the formal launch Tuesday of Aruba's Software Defined Branch (SD-Brand) solution- which is aimed at helping customer refashion branch networks with cloud managed SD-WAN. "Having an SD-Branch solution enabled by SD-WAN is a critical step to support new experiences to accelerate service deployments and accelerate time to value," said Neri. The SD Branch innovation is aimed at driving new experiences that traditional branch networks are simply unable to provide for customers, said Neri. "Traditional branch networks can't really keep up with increasing demands, the explosion of the data and the apps," he said. The enterprise of the future will be "edge centric, cloud enabled and data driven," said Neri."Those that can act with speed and agility on that continuous stream of insight and knowledge will win. That is why our strategy is to accelerate your enterprise from edge to cloud, helping connect all your data, all your edges, all your clouds everywhere." Neri laid out a compelling vison of how the edge centric, cloud enabled, data driven strategy will advance how people live and work in a new era of smart cities and autonomous vehichles. And he singled out HPE's partnership with Ford Motor Co. to help reinvent Ford for the intelligent edge era. "Ford has built and transformed America once before," said Neri. "Now they are on the forefront of defining our future yet again and HPE intends to enable it with our technology." Ford Motor Co. CIO Jeff Lemmer told Discover attendees that compute at the edge with artificial intelligence and internet of things will bring new capabilities to customers that were unimaginable before. By the end of 2019, Ford will have 100 percent of its fleet vehicles in the US and China connected with the capability to provide insights to fleet customers in areas such as fuel economy and emissions."These are things that they would never look to us as a traditional automotive company to provide for them," said Lemmer. "This is just the start." The edge compute capabilities will help those fleet customers bring new services to their business, said Lemmer. "It starts with that human centric approach," he said. "This isn't about technology for technology's sake. It is about how do we make sure we are understanding what that customer wants and continually evolving. That is really accelerating at a very fast pace." HPE's high performance compute platforms are allowing Ford to get insights from data at a fast pace, said Lemmer. What's more, he said, Ford is working with HPE to provide public cloud like capabilities to its private cloud. "Like most companies, we are going to be a hybrid cloud," said Lemmer. "We will run things internally within our private clouds and we will burst externally to external clouds. This is another core area that we are really leveraging HPE to bring that to life." [Related: CRN Exclusive: HPE CEO Neri On The Intelligent Edge Opportunity, Innovation And Growing Up In Argentina] John Barker, co-founder and CEO of Versatile, an HPE Platinum partner and one of Aruba's top partners, said Neri's vision is spot on with the demand for secure edge applications that deliver new experiences for customers. Versatile, in fact, is seeing the intelligent edge opportunity come to life through its Versatile Healthcare Solutions business. "The promise for delivering healthcare is at the edge," said Barker. "A lot of the infrastructure there has not been invested as heavily as it should be and now we have applications, products and technologies to make it happen." Barker said he sees Aruba's SD-Branch offering as a game changer at the edge. "It solves a lot of problems around accessibility and security of applications and the end user experience," he said. "In healthcare there are going to be compensation models related to patient experience." Barker said Neri's vision around the explosion of data and applications at the edge represents a compelling opportunity for partners. "That edge market is exploding," he said. "Customers need a lot of help there. There is a lot of service opportunities there. It's a great growth area for us." HPE and Aruba have both strong innovation engines that are paying off for partners, said Barker. "We see a terrific opportunity to grow our business going forward with HPE and Aruba," he said. Dan Molina, chief technology officer at San Diego-based Nth Generation Computing, one of HPE's top enterprise partners and No. 354 on the CRN SP500, said he is seeing strong sales traction with centered on the HPE edge computing vision. "You can see the world is headed in that direction," he said. "A lot of the functionality and services are going to require very fast response times. You have to do that compute on the edge. You can not have the right user experience if you are going back to a central data center or the cloud. HPE is well ahead of competitors in this market." Rich Baldwin, chief strategy officer at Nth Generation Computing, said Neri is passionate about technology and is putting his money where his mouth is with the edge opportunity. "I think Antonio is making a big get that is going to pay big dividends for customers and partners," he said. Microsoft is looking to bolster its position in the race for artificial-intelligence breakthroughs with the announcement Wednesday of a deal to acquire Bonsai, a startup focused on creating methods for training autonomous systems. Berkeley, Calif.-based Bonsai provides a faster way to build the "brains" necessary for robotics and other autonomous systems. The startup brings a "novel approach using machine teaching that abstracts the low-level mechanics of machine learning," wrote Gurdeep Pall, Microsoft corporate vice president for business AI, in a blog post. [Related: Microsoft CEO Nadella: We Are 'A Clear Leader' In Cloud Security And Beating The Competition At AI Services] Ultimately, Bonsai enables subject matter experts to "specify and train autonomous systems to accomplish tasks," regardless of their aptitude in AI, Pall wrote. Bonsai's platform includes "unique machine-teaching innovations, automated model generation and management, a host of APIs and SDKs for simulator integration, as well as pre-built support for leading simulations all packaged in one end-to-end platform," Pall wrote. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft did not disclose terms of the acquisition agreement. Microsoft's venture capital arm, M12, already held a stake in Bonsai in connection with an investment announced in May 2017. Bonsai was founded in 2014. Recent achievements from Bonsai have included a new benchmark for programming industrial control systemswhich "performed 45 times faster than a comparable approach from Googles DeepMind" at training a simulated robotic armas well as teaching Siemens subject matter experts to auto-calibrate a computer numerical control machine "30 times faster than the traditional approach," Pall said in the blog post. "What I find exciting is that Bonsai has achieved some remarkable breakthroughs with their approach that will have a profound impact on AI development," Pall wrote. Reed Wiedower, CTO of Washington, D.C.-based New Signature, said in an email that there are two big reasons for Microsoft partners to applaud the planned acquisition of Bonsai. The first is that Bonsai's value proposition to partners is to make it quicker to build machine-learning systems, where "the principal is that you break a complex task into a set of easier tasks for training purposes," Wiedower said. This enables partners with limited resources to "more quickly come up with a way to solve a problem than previously allowed," Wiedower said. "Right now, the entire industry is suffering from a severe shortage of experts in machine learning, and this will make that problem much less relevant." The other big benefit to partners, he said, is that Bonsai has industry-specific solutions for verticals including energy, manufacturing and supply chain. "As Microsoft itself starts to take on a more industry-specific leaning in the field sales organization, the ability to provide value to these specific verticals is a key value proposition of working within the Bonsai environment," Wiedower said. "In contrast to the value proposition for organizations who rapidly adopt Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365, based on the strength of their broad capabilities, most of the value within Azure is specific to the industries in which it is deployed." Having specific industry solutions "pre-baked" to solve certain types of problems, Wiedower said, "allows partners to enter an organization and provide value much more quickly." The acquisition agreement for Bonsai follows notable comments about AI by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in April. Nadella contended at the time that the software giant is pulling away from competitors in artificial intelligence, with "advanced" AI for detecting security threats and a greater number of AI services "than any other cloud provider." The move is also the latest in a recent string of acquisition deals for Microsoft that have ranged from the blockbuster agreement to acquire open source code repository GitHub, in a deal valued at $7.5 billion, in early June, to the acquisition of social learning startup Flipgrid this week. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is standing tall as the "rock of Gibraltar" for partners with a winning product and services portfolio in a market filled with turmoil from competitors, said HPE Chief Sales Officer Phil Davis. "We always have been and always will be committed to the channel," said Davis, the hard-charging worldwide sales chief who has ratcheted up the competitive fire in the belly of the HPE and partner sales forces. "That's a big, big statement with all the churn and turmoil going on in the market. Partners love that Rock of Gibraltar stability." Davis has not been shy about pointing out the stark contrast between HPE and its competitors with regard to partnering commitment and product/services portfolio clarity. Most recently, Davis pointed to Dell EMC's storage product road map "rationalization" versus the "clarity" of the HPE "intelligent storage portfolio" with "predictive, cloud-ready and timeless solutions." [RELATED: 2018 HPE Discover Coverage] That kind of sales leadership has brought high praise from partners happy to see HPE's more aggressive sales charge. "It's great to see Phil Davis calling on customers to compare the HPE storage road map to the Dell road map," said Raymond Tuchman, CEO of Experis Technology Group, a fast-growing Potomac, Md.-based HPE private cloud powerhouse. "Davis has good reason to make that comparison. HPE has the best product portfolio in the business right now." HPE has, indeed, picked up the pace on its innovation charge in the past several months with a major Nimble all-flash product refresh with a storage efficiency guarantee, advances in SimpliVity, and the recent acquisition of software-defined networking fabric provider Plexxi. That product and services portfolio combined with HPE's 70-year legacy of partner commitment and profitability is driving double-digit sales growth for HPE and its partners. "HPE is winning out in the marketplace," said Davis. "That's important because the partners want to be with the companies that are growing and going in the right direction." HPE's year-over-year storage sales, powered by its 100 percent channel Nimble all-flash portfolio, were up 24 percent in the most recent quarter. In addition, HPE's intelligent edge sales, which includes its Aruba wireless networking business, were up 17 percent. Davis, who has been meeting with partners around the globe, said the HPE "momentum" in the channel is palpable. "Partners like stability, predictability and to know how they make money and fit into the strategy," he said. "HPE is viewed as the best company in IT to partner with. There is a lot of excitement from partners who want to do more with us." HPE's next-generation software-defined composable infrastructure strategy and GreenLake Flex Capacity model are resonating with the company's partners and with customers. "When you have got the hardware, software and services that people want, it sure is a lot easier to be in sales than to be explaining why you don't have this or why that doesn't work or why you are cutting your portfolio," Davis said. HPE's portfolio with Nimble, SimpliVity, Synergy, OneView and OneSphere is flat out driving the ability for partners to make more money than with competitive offerings, said Davis. "Partner Ready is consistently voted the best partner program in the industry," he said. "That is critical. This all has to start with how we continue to help partners be profitable with our portfolio." Davis pledged that HPE is committed to continuing to make it "easier and more lucrative" for partners to participate in fast-growth opportunities. "As we continue to move forward this year and next year, we will continue to be doubling down on compensation for our partners around some of the growth parts of the portfolio," he said. Davis said that he is a firm believer in compensation that is aligned with customer benefits, with software-defined being a prime example. "Software-defined is good for customers and good for HPE so we are going to make sure it is good for our partners as well," he said. HPE's compensation commitment to partners is front and center with the breakthrough GreenLake Flex Capacity pay-per-use consumption model, said Davis. "We view the channel as a critical expansion of our own internal services capability," he said. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Wednesday took a big leap forward in powering the intelligent edge with the ability to run unmodified enterprise applications from the likes of Microsoft and SAP on HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems. Microsoft's Azure Stack cloud and SAP's in memory HANA ERP software are among the enterprise applications that can now run at the edge, opening the door for customers to drive real-time insights and actions from the vast amount of data in mission critical edge environments like oil rigs, energy grids and factories. The other applications that HPE said can now run unmodified at the edge are: PTC's ThingWorx industrial IoT platform, Citrix's XenApp virtualization software and SparkCognition's SparkPredict cognitive machine for predictive analytics. [RELATED: 2018 HPE Discover Coverage] Dr. Tom Bradicich, vice president and general manager, IoT and converged edge systems for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, said the ability to bring "enterprise class" applications to the edge and combine them with industrial systems is a massive opportunity for partners. "We are bringing the capability to run unmodified data class applications at the edge... no one has done that before," said Bradicich. "This is not low power processing cores, not low performance gateways, not routers and switches that try to run apps. We are bringing enterprise class, cloud class, data center grade technology to the edge. We are unleashing the power of data center software to the edge. This is extremely profound. This opens up a new total addressable market for partners." Many customers, in fact, are demanding the ability to run enterprise class applications at the edge. Bradicich pointed to the case of an oil and industrial company that up until now was unable to run a critical enterprise class application at the edge. "The customer didn't want a cloud connection because of security issues and bandwidth costs," he said. "Because of the Edgeline converged edge system the customer can now run that software at the edge." For software vendors, the Edgeline systems are taking enterprise class applications that have been "trapped" in the cloud or data center and allowing them to run at the edge. "This is a re-return on investment for software providers and solution providers," said Bradicich. "Solution providers that have been selling software in the data center and in the cloud can now sell those enterprise applications on the edge.We have created a third place where enterprise-grade software can run." HPE also announced the HPE Edgeline Extended Storage Adapter option kit, adding up to 48 terabytes of software-defined storage to HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems. That provides the horsepower to run artificial intelligence (AI), video analytics or databases at the edge. HPE has worked with Microsoft, SAP, Citrix, PTC and SparkCognition to certify their enterprise software for the Edgeline systems. "We have opened up a new market for software vendors," Bradicich said. "It used to be just the data center and the cloud. Now we have opened up a new place for them to sell their software." Customers are demanding the ability to run enterprise software at the edge because of the much faster response times required for sophisticated applications, said Bradicich. "How soon do you want to know that your turbine is about to catch on fire or your autonomous vehichle is about to hit an object?" asked Bradicich."Wouldn't you like to know that quickly?" Some customers have so much data at the edge they do not have the bandwidth to go to the cloud, said Bradicich. Security issues are also driving more customers to run applications at the edge, said Bradicich. "When you send all the data from the edge to the cloud, be it an oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico or a crop field in Ohio, it is vulnerable to hostile breaches," he said. "If you keep it at the edge, it is safer. Don't you think it is impossible for me to get hit by a car if I never leave my home? If the data doesn't leave the edge it is inherently less vulnerable to attacks across the network." Rich Baldwin, chief strategy officer at San Diego-based Nth Generation Computing, one of HPE's top enterprise partners, No. 354 on the CRN SP500, said the Edgeline solutions are a big leap forward in the HPE intelligent edge sales offensive. "HPE is far ahead of competitors at the edge," he said. "HPE has had the Edgeline systems on the market for a a number of years and they are refining it. The move to the edge is inevitable. There is so much data at the edge and you need to be able to quickly compute it. By putting the compute power at the edge, HPE is powering real-time analytics so customers can quickly make decisions." Dan Molina, chief technology officer at Nth Generation Computing, said HPE is driving actionable insights on the massive amount of data at the edge -- that up until now has gone untapped. "HPE is bringing AI and machine learning to the edge to help organizations make decisions a lot faster than before," he said. Leading ship design outfit Tillberg Design of Sweden announced it has welcomed a number of new partners, as well as brought on a new strategic business partner. The company has grown dramatically over the last few years, according to a statement, going from 10 employees to over 100, cementing its leadership in the cruise ship design world. In a post from the company, Fredrik Johansson (Owner & Executive Project Director) said: "We are delighted to announce that we, as a first step, have included the following colleagues as Partners and shareholders in TDoS: Stefan Nilsson (CEO), Goran Ydstrand (Chairman), Anders Rasmussen (Project Director), Helena Sawelin (Project Director), Daniel Nerhagen (Project Director) and Carl Lesvoix (Graphics Director)." The company also announced it has formed a partnership with Swedish investment company AB Max Sievert, which enters the deal with a long-term vision. The current owners of Tillberg Design of Sweden: Karin Falk, Michal Jackiewicz and Fredrik Johansson will all remain in their current positions and as significant owners and will together with the new partners own half of the company and AB Max Sievert the other half, according to a statement. Johansson said: We are extremely excited about all this, and about the future potential of our common business. We look forward to serving all our clients even better in the future! Saga Cruises today announced the Saga Sapphire will leave its fleet, with the last cruise heading to Norway on a "Musical Norway" sailing in spring of 2020. "For Saga Sapphires last foray to the Norwegian fjords, were cruising off the beaten track for an in-depth exploration of this countrys beautiful fjords, mountains and villages," the company said. The 10-night cruise leaves from Dover on April 11, 2020, and offers live jazz performances onboard while sailing 2,376 nautical miles through the Norwegian fjords. Sailing roundtrip from Dover, calls include Alesund, Trondheim, Geiranger, Ulvik and Haugesund, along with four days at sea. The Sapphire leaving Saga's fleet complete's the British company's fleet renewal program. The Pearl II will depart the Saga fleet in early 2019, making way for the Spirit of Discovery, a 1,000-guest newbuiild that joins the fleet in summer 2019. As the Sapphire leaves in early 2020, the Spirit of Adventure, a second newbuild, joins the fleet in summer 2020. Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line announced it is eliminating single supplement fees on all sailings in an Oceanview stateroom on both of its vessels, the Grand Celebration and Grand Classica. With solo travel on the rise, we knew we needed to implement a program for this segment of independent cruisers to make Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line accessible to all, shared Oneil Khosa, CEO of Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line. We are thrilled to be able to offer an incredible value to guests of all ages seeking a solo vacation and give them the opportunity to travel at any date of their choosing without having to break the bank. While other cruise lines often charge double occupancy rates for a single person to cruise alone in a stateroom, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Lines solo traveler rates with no single supplement fees are innovative for the industry, the company said. Oceanview staterooms with no single supplement are available on all cruises, every day of the week, with rates beginning at $149 per person. With a welcome reception exclusively for all solo travelers, there is also the opportunity to meet similar cruisers and even make plans to experience some of the cruise together, the company said, in a prepared statement. Bahamas Paradise Cruise Lines Grand Classica and Grand Celebration offer daily departures from the Port of Palm Beach. / MILFORD - An employee who was fired from the Golden Corral, returned later in the day and threatened to shoot up the place, police said. According to Officer Joseph Dempsey, the incident happened around closing time - at 10 p.m. Saturday - at the Turnpike Square restaurant. The Board of Examiners for Nursing disciplined five nurses Wednesday, but dropped its charges against an Ansonia nurse because he is now serving 60 years in prison for an unrelated felony murder. The nursing boards charges were dropped against Jermaine V. Richards, a former licensed practical nurse from Ansonia, because he was convicted in March of the felony murder of his ex-girlfriend, an Eastern Connecticut State University student in 2013. Since Richards nursing license lapsed in 2016 and he is now serving a long sentence for murdering Alyssiah Wiley, 20, of West Haven, the prosecution of administrative charges against him is unnecessary, an attorney for the state Department of Public Health told the board. In charges unrelated to the murder, Richards had been accused of being involved in a fight with a visitor in the home of one of his patients. In June 2017, the board revoked his nursing license because of the fight and after concluding that he slept while on duty at a patients home. A month later, the board vacated the revocation because Richards had asked for a continuance. In addition to dropping its charges against Richards, the board suspended the license of Linda S. Greenhill, a registered nurse from Ansonia, who has been accused of abusing morphine, Demerol and Dilaudid to excess from April 2017 to March 2018 while working as a registered nurse at Griffin Hospital in Derby, the statement of charges against her said. She has also been accused of stealing those drugs from the hospital and falsifying controlled substance records, the statement said. The board rejected a reprimand on the RN license of Gregory Coyle of Ansonia, who in 2017, while working for All About You Home Care Services, failed to appear for scheduled home care visits for a patient and failed to administer medication to the patient, a consent order he signed said. He also falsified medication records, the order said. Coyle has completed courses in documentation standards, ethics and patient rights. In signing the order, Coyle chose not to contest the charges while admitting no wrongdoing. Board members said they would like to see Coyle receive at least a two-year probation with other restrictions, so the case is likely to come back before the board at a future meeting. This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team ( www.c-hit.org ) A 25-year-old Shelton man has been arrested on various federal drug charges related to the illegal distribution of counterfeit drugs. John H. Durham, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, said the charges stem from an ongoing statewide initiative targeting narcotics dealers who distribute heroin, fentanyl or opioids that cause death or serious injury to users. After his arrest Tuesday, Kamil Golebiowski appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah A. L. Merriam in New Haven and was ordered detained As alleged in the criminal complaint, on July 9, 2017, the Seymour Police Department and emergency medical personnel responded to a report of a suspected overdose at a residence in Seymour. At the residence, medical personnel pronounced a 29-year-old male deceased. Investigators seized drug and non-drug evidence from the scene, including the victims cell phone. The state Chief Medical Examiner determined the victims cause of death to be acute intoxication due to the combined effects of cocaine, etizolam, fentanyl, flubromazolam and heroin. The complaint alleges that analysis of the victims cell phone identified two individuals who purchased heroin and what they believed to be Xanax pills for the victim shortly before the victim died. Golebiowski was subsequently identified as a source of supply for Xanax pills. It is further alleged that, between August 2017 and May 2018, investigators made multiple controlled purchase of Xanax pills from Golebiowski. Analysis of the pills revealed that they were counterfeit. In early June 2018, investigators intercepted two packages mailed from Canada and addressed to Golebiowski. The packages contained approximately 1,400 counterfeit Xanax pills. The complaint charges Golebiowski with possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, a controlled substance; possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, a counterfeit substance; conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and use of a telecommunications facility in the distribution of narcotics. DERBY-City hall is collecting jars of jelly and marshmallow cream for the St. Vincent DePaul Food Bank. The jars can be brought to City/Town Clerk Marc Garofalos office in city hall, 1 Elizabeth Street or directly to the St. Vincent DePaul Food Bank, 237 Roosevelt Drive. Last month city hall employees collected more than 100 boxes of tea and crackers for the food bank. Garofalo said St. Vincent DePaul is also in need of volunteers to work at least one morning or afternoon each week at the food bank or their adjacent thrift shop. Interested volunteers may call 203-734-7577. , With interest in cannabis starting to peak in the mainstream media, there is even more opportunity for cannabis brands that live on the periphery to break through and become widely known names. Here are six things marketers should keep top of mind as they seek unpaid ways to elevate their brand from an outsider to a nationally recognized player. Related: 4 Innovative Ways to Get Media Coverage Educate about the plant and business While the mainstream media is certainly more conversant in cannabis today than they were just a few years ago, most reporters and publications are still in learning mode, constantly seeking new voices, new opinions, and new insights as they educate themselves and their audience on the cannabis plant and industry. Cannabis brands should be playing to this in their PR strategy. When pitching yourself, think education-first. Position your brand as an educational asset that reporters can lean on in their quest to learn more about the legal cannabis business. This includes everything from industry trends to human interest stories. Related: Your Startup's Most Important Investment Is Customer Education Offer plenty of backup The media just loves a good statistic or data point. It gives stories weight and makes them topical. The more information you can deliver to the press with data that backs up your opinion, the better your chances of landing mainstream coverage for your brand. Its one thing to have an opinion, but its entirely another thing to have an opinion that can be backed up with concrete data. Bonus points if the stats you can deliver are proprietary and can be sourced back to your company (or product). It's about people, not product In many industries, PR is all about pushing product--free samples, product reviews, mailings, and demos. This rule generally doesnt apply to cannabis. The arms race in cannabis media right now is for people, not products. The media wants to see faces, hear voices, and meet people who can stake their claim as the king of cannabis in their respective sectors. When planning your go-to-market strategy, focus on the people and the personalities that best represent your brand and more clearly tell your story. The relationships that your people will build with the mainstream media will be infinitely more valuable in the long-run than anything your product can offer in the short-run. Related: Getting Your Face Out There Might Be the Best Business Investment You Can Make Need for speed Todays media cycle is more frenetic, unpredictable, and fast-paced than its ever been before. And with so many different variables impacting the cannabis landscape every day--domestic and international markets, federal and state legislation, the employment and jobs environment, the public and private economic markets, and so on--the news cycle moves at a faster pace than almost any other sector. Make this need for speed a core part of your PR strategy. Show media types that you are a reliable and responsive resource, no matter how fast their turnaround time. If you do this well enough times, you will be their go-to source for most cannabis stories. Not a bad place to be! Think national, know local It may seem counterintuitive, but to garner national PR interest for your brand, you need to understand whats happening at a local level. If you look at the largest and most influential national media outlets, theyre covering local cannabis trends with as much interest as theyre covering national trends. What are Colorado dispensaries doing compared to California ones? How is the jobs environment in cannabis in Nevada versus Massachusetts? Whats the next move for New York State? If you have your sights set on becoming a national brand, you should really understand whats happening in your own backyard. That means everything from consumer trends, retail trends, customer case studies, and economic impact data should be in your back pocket, ready to be offered up to the national press. Content is king As far as cannabis coverage right now, its a sellers market. The media is clamoring for stories to satisfy their audiences quest for information. In many cannabis sectors, the demand for quality content from mainstream media outlets exceeds the supply, which creates a great opportunity for cannabis brands to produce content on their own and shop it to mainstream media outlets for syndication. Everything from bylines, thought leadership content, tastefully designed data charts and so on, are fair game right now to shop around to many mainstream media outlets. Dont be afraid to spend some time and money creating your own content machine if youre a cannabis brand. If the content is strong chances are youll be able to find a home for it. Related: Is Your Content King or Just The Court Jester? Related: 6 Secrets to Getting Media Coverage for Your Cannabis Brand Do These Things Before Opening Your Doors for Business The 3 Tasks You Should Do After Sending Out a Marketing Campaign Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved BABBITT, Minn. - President Donald Trump was due in a few days, but Tim Pawlenty was not ready to say if he would share the stage in Duluth on Wednesday with his party's leader. He's never been to a Trump rally. Does he even want to go? He was noncommittal. "Yeah, I've been to a lot of these rallies over the years, and they're always fun and interesting," he said in an interview a few days ago, with the agreeability that defined his two terms as governor and his short-lived 2012 presidential campaign. Pawlenty is hoping to revive his political career this year with a triumphant return to the Minnesota statehouse. But like many Republican veterans, he is struggling to navigate a party that has been completely transformed since the last time he hit the campaign trail, and he is hoping that his brand of electoral magic still works. When Pawlenty left office eight years ago and began running for president, he was a "Sam's Club" Republican, a wholesome representation of the Midwest. The signature moment of his short-lived presidential campaign came when he was ridiculed for his reluctance to attack one of his rivals, Mitt Romney. Today, the party whose favor he's seeking prefers its politicians to speak in strong terms, and to embrace the populist agenda of a bombastic president. And its voters demand complete loyalty to Trump, which most candidates have accommodated by flipping their positions or giving the president a pass for uncivil behavior, such as bragging on video about groping women. Pawlenty has declined to go that far, both by dint of personality and political need. At 57, he is facing a primary challenge from the party's pro-Trump wing, and also a general election in a closely divided state whose politics demand balance. His approach has been to embrace Trump enough to placate him and his supporters, but not so much that he scares away the voters who don't like the president. In 2016 Pawlenty, then running a Wall Street lobbying group based in Washington, D.C., called Trump "unfit" and "unhinged" after the release of the Access Hollywood video. But he also said he voted for Trump - an absentee vote cast before the video came out in late October. "Like most Republicans, and many other people, I agree with what he's trying to do, many, if not all, of his policy initiatives," Pawlenty said in an interview last week in Hutchinson, a small town about an hour west of Minneapolis where he was speaking to a group of local business leaders. "Not all of them, but many of them. But I don't agree with his behavior in all instances, or his language. And that's where most people in the Republican Party have landed." Not Boni Bieniek, 62, a former Democrat who is now an avid Trump fan and chairwoman of the Republican Party of Lake County, on the north shore of Lake Superior. "I don't like Tim Pawlenty," Bieniek said. "We expected things from Democrats that they didn't do. We expected things from Republicans that they were going to do that they didn't do. And it becomes a whitewash, just a blend - no differentiating between the two parties." Persuading Republicans who love Trump to nominate him in the Aug. 14 primary is only the first of Pawlenty's challenges this year. The second comes in the general election, when he must also appeal to moderates and independents to win. Because of the electoral power and increasingly liberal lean of the Twin Cities and their suburbs, Pawlenty can't win the state with Republicans alone. Bieniek is supporting Pawlenty's GOP opponent, Jeff Johnson, a Hennepin County, Minnesota, commissioner who has fallen short in two prior statewide campaigns. Johnson won the party's nomination for governor at a convention at the beginning of June that Pawlenty chose to skip. The party nomination does not always predict a primary win; Johnson is not well known, and he raised only $169,000 to Pawlenty's $1.7 million this year through the end of May, according to finance reports. But he is embracing Trump in a way Pawlenty is not, and he is doing his best to encourage the president to weigh in on his behalf. Trump will have a chance to pick a side on Wednesday, when he is scheduled to appear in Duluth with Pete Stauber, a 52-year-old local business owner and retired police officer who is running for Congress. Democrat Rick Nolan is leaving the seat to run for lieutenant governor, and Republicans view it as one of their top pickup opportunities. In the area Trump will visit, the major industry is iron mining, and residents cheer the president's threats of a trade war with China over steel. Trump enjoys soaring popularity across Minnesota's rural and industrial northern tier. The Iron Range used to be solidly Democratic territory, in part because of the historic sway of the mining unions. Not anymore; Trump's popularity here is one major reason he came within less than two points of winning the state. "I like everything about him," said Jan Nicholas, 78, of Babbitt, a tiny Iron Range crossroads about two hours north of Duluth with a grocery store, a lumber yard and a giant monument of iron ore along Central Boulevard. "Sometimes I get a little ticked when he goes on and on and on," she said of Trump. "But he has made a change in the world. I think he's a godsend." Nicholas, whose late husband was a miner for 30 years, spent Saturday at a local parade in honor of Peter Mitchell, a 19th-century miner credited with discovering taconite, a type of iron ore, in the surrounding hills. Like other Babbitt residents huddled in a drizzle under party tents, drinking beer from plastic cups and watching a parade of politicians and giant mining machines, Nicholas said she appreciated Trump's promise to revive manufacturing in the United States. She resents "tree-huggers" and what she sees as the overregulation of mining and fishing in the nearby wilderness. She wants job growth in a sparse town where the average high school graduating class size has fallen from about 150 in the mid-1980s, when her daughter Renee graduated, to about 20 today. If Trump were to say something nice about Johnson on Wednesday, "then I'd vote for him," she said of Pawlenty's opponent. Many of Pawlenty's defenders, including a number of local party leaders, side with him because they see him as better able to beat a Democrat in the fall. Ted Lovdahl, the GOP chairman in the congressional district the president will visit, is a huge Trump fan. But he is also unapologetic about his preference for Pawlenty - even though he was not supposed to admit it because Johnson had earned the official GOP backing. "I want to win in November, and Tim is the one who can win," said Lovdahl, a beef cattle farmer and logger who lives in Effie, Minnesota, a town of about 100 people two hours northeast of Duluth. "We have to win." Pawlenty will not easily replicate Trump's performance in northern Minnesota. Nor is it a given that he will repeat his own statewide successes when he ran for governor in 2002 and 2006. In those days, Pawlenty performed well in the suburbs - winning his own Dakota County, southeast of the Twin Cities, by 21 points in 2002. In 2016, that county's mix of inner and outer suburbs swung dramatically the other way, delivering Hillary Clinton a four-point victory. That challenge helps explain much of Pawlenty's pragmatic message this year - to cut taxes but increase school funding, particularly vocational education, and to lower health costs. It also helps explain why Pawlenty's opponents, in both parties, are decrying the education cuts he oversaw as governor a decade ago - and criticizing his six-year stint as chief executive of the Financial Services Roundtable, a major lobbying organization for banks, which paid Pawlenty $2.7 million in 2016, according to Internal Revenue Service filings. Pawlenty is following a more conservative GOP playbook on the issue of immigration, blaming "political correctness" for what he contends is the proliferation of undocumented immigrants receiving public benefits. On health care, his pitch is more nuanced; he promises to lower costs for consumers with "market-based solutions" and a "shared savings model" but offers few other details. Pawlenty's wiggle with Trump may feel familiar to voters who watched him struggle to take a stand on health care during his short presidential campaign in 2012. Ahead of a GOP presidential debate in New Hampshire in 2011, Pawlenty made headlines by accusing the eventual Republican nominee, Romney, of supporting "ObamneyCare" - an attempt to conflate the health-care plan Romney pushed as governor of Massachusetts with then-President Obama's Affordable Care Act. But during the debate, Pawlenty demurred when asked to explain the term that he had used just that morning in a Fox News interview. His performance that night earned him a public rebuke from a viewer who was still in the early stages of contemplating his own presidential plans. "Now, the problem with Pawlenty, he's trying to be a tough guy," Trump said on "Fox & Friends" the next morning. "I see his clips today on your show; he's trying to be a tough guy, but he's not. You know, you can't be something that you're not, but hey, he's trying." When he ran for governor in the 2000s, Pawlenty talked about his roots in nearby South St. Paul, Minnesota: the meatpacking industry that used to drive the economy, his father's job as a truck driver, the fact that he was the first in his family to attend college. The power of that biography may have been diluted by his tenure as CEO, and it could fade further if the election becomes a referendum on Trump. So far, many voters say it's simply too soon to know whom they'll support. "I still like Tim Pawlenty," Republican Paul Welsh, 76, a retired pilot for the Air Force and American Airlines, said while he was picking up a coffee on Sunday in Apple Valley, a Dakota County community with miles-long stretches of suburban shopping and the ever-present sound of jetliners landing at the nearby Minneapolis airport. "But this campaign in Minnesota hasn't really taken shape yet." Jared Barker, a baggage handler for Delta Air Lines and lifelong Republican working on his laptop at the same coffee shop, used to like what he described as Pawlenty's libertarianism and opposition to "big spending." Now, given Pawlenty's work on behalf of banks and his embrace of Trump, he's less sure. "He speaks in a soft manner. He comes across as a normal guy," Barker said. "But at the same time, he seems above it all. To me, he's a career politician." President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to keep immigrant families together, reversing his insistence that only Congress could end his policy of separating children from parents who are caught illegally crossing the U.S. border with Mexico. Trump announced his decision Wednesday during a meeting at the White House with lawmakers as global condemnation of the family separation policy intensified and the backlash in Congress grew. He didn't immediately elaborate on the order. "We want to keep families together," Trump said, "At the same time we have to be strong on the border." He added that otherwise "the country is going to be over-run by millions of people." His declaration marks a turnabout after the president and top administration officials spent days arguing that the policy was rooted in law and that it was up to Congress to pass legislation to change it. Trump also demanded that such legislation include funding for a border wall and curbs on legal immigration. Trump backed down as House Republicans hit a stalemate on the broader immigration legislation and the Senate was still in negotiations on a narrowly focused bill to keep families together. The furor over the family separations and the chaotic White House response are engulfing Republicans less than five months before November elections that will determine whether the GOP remains in control of Congress. The issue has drowned the GOP's preferred campaign message about a booming economy on the week of the six-month anniversary of the Trump tax cuts and brought harrowing footage of wailing toddlers to American living rooms. Trump's own wife was among those urging him to reverse course. First lady Melania Trump encouraged Trump to act on his own if Congress wasn't able to, a White House official said. Trump's daughter, Ivanka, also spoke with the president several times to express her concerns, said another person familiar with the matter. Polls show the public is overwhelmingly opposed to separating children from their parents, though a majority of Republicans support the approach. Perhaps more important, 70 percent of women disapprove, according to a Quinnipiac University poll taken June 14-17, with female suburban voters considered crucial in deciding control of Congress this fall. The uproar prompted rare displays of defiance to Trump from some congressional Republicans. Ohio Rep. Steve Stivers, head of House GOP campaign arm, was among those who called on Trump to end the policy. "I don't even know how it plays in the midterms, I just know that it's something that as a dad my heart goes out to these families," Stivers said. "There's lots of ways to do it and I'm not picky but I'd like to see us try to preserve families while we also uphold the law." Rep. Peter King of New York said the administration's zero-tolerance policy is a self-inflicted wound for his party. "We control the place," the New York Republican said of Washington. "I mean I understand the logic of it. But in practicality it's unfair." International criticism also was mounting. Pope Francis Wednesday condemned the Trump family separation policy as "immoral" and "contrary to our Catholic values" while British Prime Minister Theresa May called it "deeply disturbing" and "wrong." The White House doubled down on its insistence on congressional action on Monday with Trump and Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen ardently arguing that border security enforcement agents had no alternative to breaking up migrant families under the law. Neither Democrat Barack Obama nor Republican George W. Bush pursued a policy of separating children from their parents for illegal border crossings. While Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been a prime advocate of the separation policy -- arguing that it serves as a deterrent to illegal immigration -- the Justice Department he leads is preparing the fine points of an executive order to meet the president's new stance, according to a person familiar with negotiations over the issue. Both Sessions and Nielsen were at the Capitol Wednesday to meet with House Republicans. Republican Rep. Joe Barton of Texas said Sessions didn't explain Trump's sudden change on the policy. The House was set to vote on two immigration bills on Thursday, a version favored by conservatives and a compromise measure worked out between GOP leaders and more moderate Republican lawmakers. Both, to varying degrees, would have fulfilled Trump's priorities on immigration, but neither has enough support to get even a majority of Republicans on board. Moderate Republicans facing reelection in swing districts won't vote for the conservative version of the legislation. The compromise they worked out doesn't have enough support to pass either, according to several Republican lawmakers. Democrats were excluded from the negotiations and oppose major portions of both bills. "We're still short," Florida Representative Dennis Ross said. That is despite Trump telling lawmakers Tuesday night that he would sign either bill. Almost the whole Freedom Caucus, three dozen of the most conservative Republicans, told the GOP vote-counting team last night that they oppose the compromise bill. Even Will Hurd, a more moderate Republican from Texas, said he doesn't know if he'll vote for the compromise bill. He said he's concerned about over-use of the "a 4th century technology" like a border wall and the decrease in legal immigration while companies are scrambling to find workers in a tight labor market. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise gave the White House a list of lawmakers he believes Trump will personally need to work with to get them to support the immigration legislation, according to a GOP aide with knowledge of the meeting, who declined to share names on that list. About two dozen House members went to the White House for a meeting on the bill. - - - Bloomberg's Toluse Olorunnipa, Billy House, Sahil Kapur, Arit John, Laura Litvan and Jennifer Jacobs contributed. Raising capital for a startup isnt easy. I should know. Ive been on these quests and have sat on opposite sides of many fundraising conversations. Before becoming an entrepreneur, I was a venture capital investor whose job it was to judge whether a startup was investable. For years, I made decisions about the work and dreams of other entrepreneurs. Today, as the CEO of a five-year-old fintech startup, Im the one trying to convince investors to invest in my dream. We have been successful in raising capital, but it certainly required persistence. Ive gotten used to hearing the word no. In fact, this is the most important lesson I learned from my careers as a VC investor and a startup founder: The journey of entrepreneurship is a journey of nos. Ive already lost count of the times investors told me no. But as the Journey song says, "Dont stop believing." A no from an investor doesnt have to be the final word on your dream, especially if you really believe in what youre trying to build. My own journey as an investor-turned-entrepreneur yielded some key insights about getting funded. Its about timing, location and market sentiment. When we started fundraising for BlueVine, it was disconcerting to discover one of the reasons we got rejected: me. Some investors simply didnt think I had enough operating experience to build a company. "Eyals just too green," some of them said. That may sound strange to those who associate venture-backed startups with Evan Spiegel, Mark Zuckerberg, and even Bill Gates, young (and very green) hotshots in their early 20s. They launched small companies that turned into corporate behemoths, all backed by some of the most prestigious investors in the venture world. Thats certainly a common narrative in Silicon Valley. But thats not necessarily the case in other places like Israel, where my team and I did our first round of fundraising. There investors look closely at your track record. So where youre doing your fundraising is important. Related: In 2018, Investors Will Look Outside Silicon Valley for the Next Big Startup Industry sector is also key with respect to the entrepreneurs operating experience . For example, Silicon Valley-based investors have been more open to making bets on younger first-time entrepreneurs in the consumer space, on the Zuckerbergs and Spiegels of the world. But thats not the case in other areas such as fintech and enterprise software where experienced operators and even repeat entrepreneurs gain more attention from VC investors. Thats evident in the recent fundraising successes of serial entrepreneurs such as Mike Cagney, the founder and ex-CEO of Sofi, and Renaud Laplanche, the founder and ex-CEO of Lending Club, who easily found backing to launch new fintech startups. Theyve done it before, and investors believe they can do it again. There are other reasons for rejection which have nothing to do with you. Timing is one of them. An investor may have just closed several deals, and may lack any appetite for a new one, no matter how great the idea. Investors also prefer to invest in hot markets. If your sector is out of favor (like lending was after the Lending Club scandal), it may be harder to sell your vision. Its about chemistry. Sometimes, the reason for getting rejected may be personal. Your ability to woo an investor could be a matter of chemistry and rapport, your ability to connect on a personal level. Its like dating in a way. Your vision may make sense and may even be strong. But if theres no spark between you and the investor, it reduces your chance of getting funded. Related: 5 Things Startup Investors Look for Before Investing There are certain traits that every investor wants to see in an entrepreneur, of course. They are drawn to entrepreneurs who are smart, confident and charismatic. These traits are important because they could also be signs of a successful entrepreneur. An entrepreneur who makes a good strong impression on an investor will likely make a good impression on employees, partners and potential customers. Its a numbers game. While VC investors are constantly on the hunt for the next big idea, their basic inclination when meeting with an entrepreneur is to find reasons not to do a deal -- to say no. They will instinctively have their guard up when they meet you, and they will look for holes in your proposal to justify walking away. Theres a reason for this. Investors are presented with and look into thousands of opportunities every year. But they can only fund a handful of them. So remember that finding an investor for your startup is a numbers game. The cards are stacked against you even before you make your pitch. So you also need to talk to many investors. And another point to remember is this: you may get dozens of nos, but you only need one yes to get the deal done. Its about showing deep expertise. As I noted, many investors will likely put a premium on your experience in deciding whether or not youre "investable." Now, you cant tout experience you dont have. But you can somewhat compensate for lack of experience by demonstrating deep expertise in your market and technology, and so on. The best way to accomplish this is by immersing yourself in the industry or the space in which you hope to compete, learning as much as you can about it. You need to become an amateur expert. I did this by reading books and researching online as much as I could about invoice factoring, before pitching to any investors. But you must go beyond just secondary research. It must become clear to the investor that you did not acquire your knowledge and your expertise by just surfing the web. I became much more knowledgeable in my space by also interviewing experts and potential customers, even speaking with competitors. I attended industry conferences and did a lot of networking. Related: Build the Network Necessary for Your Startup to Succeed Having experienced co-founders when youre not experienced also helps. In my case, I had veteran technologist Nir Klar, my co-founder and our chief technology officer. BlueVine was his third startup as CTO. So even though I was a green CEO, I was working with people who had a lot of experience. The whole team was not green. This is important to know: in the beginning, when your startup has yet to gain real traction, investors are essentially investing in people, that is in you and your team. Demonstrating both a passion for the startup you plan to build and deep understanding of the space in which you hope to build it helps convince investors youre trying to woo that you are, indeed, investable. Related: Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Republicans, struggling with the mounting crisis created by the administration's new family separation policy, are planning to vote this week on two competing immigration bills. So Tuesday, President Donald Trump went to Capitol Hill to sort out this whole mess and lead his party to a solution on an issue that has divided the country for years. Or maybe not. The Washington Post reported: "President Trump implored anxious House Republicans to fix the nation's immigration system but did not offer a clear path forward amid the growing uproar over his administration's decision to separate migrant families at the border. "Huddling with the GOP at the Capitol on Tuesday evening, Trump stopped short of giving a full-throated endorsement to immigration legislation meant to unite the moderate and conservative wings of the House Republican conference. " 'He didn't really tell us what bill to vote for,' said Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., saying Trump laid out his main principles on immigration and told Republicans he 'wanted to take care of the kids' - a reference to the unfolding family separation crisis." According to multiple reports, Trump also rambled on about his poll numbers, North Korea and the tax cut, and took time to insult Rep. Mark Sanford, who recently lost a primary to a more Trumpian opponent. The master negotiator strikes again. What's happening right now is that the horrifying images of children being torn from their parents' arms have spurred House Republicans to take one more shot at broad immigration reform. But they're going to fail, just as they have so many times before. Some quick background: Republicans are supposed to vote tomorrow on two competing bills. One, a hard-line measure sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, would significantly reduce legal immigration, beef up border security, require employers to use the E-Verify system to verify the citizenship of employees (it's currently voluntary) and give the "dreamers" a temporary legal status but not citizenship. The other, a slightly less severe measure supported by the House leadership, would also restrict legal immigration, but wouldn't require E-Verify and provides a path to citizenship for dreamers. So why do I say this is going to fail? Here are the reasons: They can't agree amongst themselves. Since Democrats aren't going to support either of these bills, Republicans have a small margin for error, and they're confronting a problem they've always had: Their few remaining moderates are skittish about the harsher approach, while their conservatives don't want anything that they think is "amnesty" for anyone, including dreamers. Everyone acknowledges that the Goodlatte bill doesn't have the votes to pass, and it looks as though the compromise bill - which, we should note, is still very harsh - will also lose enough hard-liners to fall short. As far as they're concerned, doing nothing is a viable option. As much as Republicans say they hate the current immigration system, they've shown time and again that they're perfectly happy to shake their fists at it but leave it in place. If the alternative is voting for a bill that a far-right primary challenger will say is amnesty, many of them would rather do nothing. They've seen how people such as Sen. Marco Rubio got punished for trying to achieve comprehensive immigration reform that included a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and they don't want to put themselves at risk. The president won't help them. Just in the past week, Trump has gone from saying that he won't support the compromise bill to saying that he supports both bills; as one Republican said after yesterday's meeting, "He made comments like 'I'm behind it 1,000 percent,' but what is 'it'?" Members of Congress have learned that Trump simply can't be trusted to keep to a single position from one day to the next. So if you were one of them, would you stick your neck out on the theory that the president had your back? The Senate won't pass either of these bills anyway. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that he doesn't have any intention of bringing up a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year, and it's almost impossible to see how even the compromise bill - which, to repeat, is still extremely harsh - could get the votes of nine Democrats, which is what it would need to reach 60 votes and overcome a filibuster. The only incentive is to deal with the family separation crisis and leave it at that. Every day brings more horrifying stories and images of the children who are being separated from their families at the border as a result of the administration's "zero tolerance" policy. Trump claims that he hates doing it (which no one believes) and that it's the fault of imaginary laws passed by Democrats (which is just false). So there's a solution: pass a narrow bill dealing just with this issue. There are already bills circulating from both Democrats and Republicans to do just that. Passing one of them could handle the Republicans' immediate political problem without creating other problems for them with their own base, so that's the path they're most likely to choose. Then they'll go home and tell their constituents that the immigration system is a mess and we absolutely have to do something about it. One of these days. A former president/CEO, who embezzled more than $1 million that led to the closure of a Hawaiian credit union and a loss of more than $2 million to NCUAs insurance fund, was sentenced last week to seven years in federal prison. U.S. District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson in Honolulu also ordered Allennie Naeole to pay $1,055,188 in restitution and four years of supervised release following her prison term. Naeole, the former CEO of the $3.1 million First Hawaiian Homes Federal Credit Union in Hoolehua, on the island of Molokai, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to embezzle credit union funds and aggravated identity theft in February. Janell Purdy, who worked as a customer service representative and teller, also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to embezzle credit union funds earlier this year. Her sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. Believe it or not but a Kenyan politician has turned down the opportunity to live in a Sh40 Million house. Busia County Governor Sospeter Ojaamong has shut down a proposal to build him an official residence in Bugengi. The palatial home has been factored in the Countys 2018-2019 budget. Another Sh40 Million has also been set aside for the construction of an official residence for county assembly speaker Bernard Wamalwa. While turning down the proposal, Ojaamong said that his priority is development projects. The money will be channelled to development. Construction of the governor and speakers residences will be expunged from the budget. We will continue staying in our current homes, said Ojaamong. The governor called on MCAs to prioritise projects suggested by area residents during public participation. Let us look into the projects our people want and ensure they are captured in our budget so that implementation can be easy, said Ojaamong, adding, I challenge MCAs to go through the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) to understand what locals want. Ojaamong further cautioned against corruption adding that he had suspended a number of county officials implicated in the vice. We will work closely with investigative authorities to arrest and prosecute individuals implicated in corruption, he said. Two people were injured Thursday in an accident on Kingwood Road Two recent "developments" are worth looking at. Priyanka Chopra's repentance for the "Hindu terror" link in Quantico. And Parshuram Waghmare's execution and admittance of terror, killing Gauri Lankesh, in the name of defending the Hindu religion. The term "Hindu terror" is getting pulled in opposite directions, putting execution and denial in a tight relationship. What stands out is the refusal of this term to come into wide currency. Even the so-called "pseudo-seculars" really pushing hard for it seem unsure in fact, the Congress is not sure if the term can be justifiably used at all. She's so sorry...but why blame Priyanka Chopra for apologising? Hasn't it always been natural to deny Hindu terror? Facts or instances of such "terror" prove less efficacious in the face of a narrative which refuses to accept "Hindu" or "saffron terror" as a fully stabilised term. This denial cannot always be seen as a sinister move to defend Hindutva violence, but, I would argue, often follows from the nature of the beast at hand. Thankfully, Waghmare's revelations to the Special Investigation Team (SIT), supposing these are true, provide us key insights. First, notice the expected response. Reports say Waghmare has told the SIT that he killed Gauri Lankesh since she was apparently a threat to the Hindu religion. He did not kill her for money, but in order to save his religion. Ok, typical of a right wing Hindu fanatic, you would say. But you want to notice the other details Waghmare reportedly provides. He reveals that none of the accomplices in the murder plan apparently knew each other from before. Waghmare was driven on a bike to Bengaluru by a stranger. Then, he stayed in the room of a guy whom he did not know. Then, he was shifted to another room and taken for a recce to Lankesh's residence then, reportedly later, he actually shot and killed Lankesh. Each contact, each link in the chain is anonymous, unknown, unnamed to the other. But, more crucially, the one who pulls the trigger seems to not personally know his accomplices. A report says, "Waghmore said he didnt know who the three men (his accomplices) were. 'Asking such a question is taboo', he was quoted as saying". This is then a terror network in which each individual operates without knowing the others what is called the "need-to-know basis". A terror network that never was: Waghmere has claimed he didn't know his target. Neither did he know his accomplices. So, you get a network which is not a "network", or rather an internally differentiated network - all very cleverly done! That is why, for the police, these are: "an underground group of radicals, one among many, who despite having links with various fringe right-wing outfits, appeared to operate on their own, and lured drifters (like Waghmare) and goaded them to commit crimes after systematically indoctrinating them". "Drifters executing the murder", "operating on their own", means that even when caught, even when exposed, the entire network, particularly its ideological instigators, will never be revealed. More crucial is the claim Waghmare made that he did not know the identity of the person he was killing. Gauri Lankesh was just a "target", unnamed and anonymous, "the one" who must not live anymore if the Hindu religion was to be saved! So, it is not that the murderer looks up, Googles his target before killing and is personally convinced about her "crime" in the Hindutva logbook. Not at all. But a fair question: he must have known something to agree to pull the trigger on Lankesh? Really? A 'plot to destroy' Hindu religion: At least 27 people, including Girish Karnad, are there in the hit list What he knows and is convinced about is that there is a threat to the Hindu religion and nation, that there are sinister people and entire gangs and modules, actively planning and conspiring against "we Hindus". Hence, it is not just Lankesh but at least 27 people in the Hindutva "hit list" including Girish Karnad all of whom apparently form this "plot" to destroy the Hindu religion. Add to this, Jignesh Mevani, Umar Khalid and many anti-BJP voices who are getting threat calls. And alongside, if you believe Atul Kochchar, the celebrity chef, this campaign against Hindus is being executed over the last 2,000 years and is only gathering strength! Guess who cooked up a storm! Celeb chef Atul Kochchar tweeted Hindus were being 'terrorised' over the last 2,000 years Then there are media channels who will oppose the killing of Gauri Lankesh, but will constantly spin stories about how Hindus cannot celebrate Durga Puja in Mamata Banerjee's Bengal even as Muslims freely celebrate their Moharram. This is the way they want to expose "Lutyens media", by secretly pushing for the theory of this plot. The idea of "the plot against Hindus" and an active conspiracy is planted everywhere it becomes the air we breathe. And this is the air Waghmare breathed, and he clearly breathed tons of it. It is then easy to induct "drifters" to carry out the murder, keeping the real movers and shakers, who keep spouting anti-Muslim venom, safe, outside of culpability and criminal intent. Celebrity chefs, ministers and demagogues can keep donning their respectability and innocence, even as "unfortunate incidents" keep happening. This is a macabre division of labour. Most likely, the ongoing police investigation will definitively end with the "drifters" as both executor and mastermind, much before it starts identifying the real masterminds who infuse hatred and communal polarisation. This shows in a microcosm the internal working of Modi's Hindutva, or of what Arun Shourie would call a "decentralised emergency" or "a pyramidal mafia state" and pseudo-seculars call "fascism". This means that "Hindu terror" will continue to appear as a marginal phenomenon something supposedly carried out by unaccountable drifters and "fringe groups". It is always fading away before it ever appears with any clarity, always overshadowed and made invisible by the stereotype of the "peace-loving Hindu". There is also a broader point to be made here. Islam and Christianity have historically foregrounded the use of violence in their crusades, holy wars and jihads. Unlike these religions, terror or violence mostly works in Hinduism through the violence of what Ambedkar called "Hindu social ideology", the caste system. Not satisfied with "ideological violence", Hindutva leaders now want to step into direct violence. They however carry over the caste divides that now get reflected in the macabre division of labour. I am reminded of the caste break-up of those convicted after the Gujarat 2002 riots, where the Dalits were disproportionately convicted even as the bigger saffron conspirators mostly went scot-free. Anand Teltumbde calls this "damning the Dalits for the Bania-Brahmin crimes in Gujarat". So, not to blame Priyanka Chopra alone for, in the way it operates, "Hindu terror" cleverly generates its own deniability, its own strategic invisibility. It is, in fact, most "natural" to deny it, making it both violent and uniquely sinister. All this allows a creeping fascism to exist within the "normal" functioning of democracy. Terror and denial, rule of law and its unapologetic violation can coexist in an eerily rhyming see-saw. Hence, the pogrom of Sikhs in 1984 could be quickly forgotten to then move onto normalcy, regular elections and what not; till, say, 2002 Gujarat, and then to normalcy again the hide and seek continues... And all the while "Hindu terror" appears elusive, always receding, untrue perhaps this elusiveness and denial is the very condition for maintaining the facade of Indian democracy as endowed with some minimum credibility and respectability. Otherwise all of it will appear junk, a big lie. Also read: Quantico is not the problem. The reality of 'Hindu terrorism' is One of the outstanding triumphs of Prime Minister Narendra Modis foreign policy is International Yoga Day. Wherever I go in the world, I find this event gathering traction, generating enthusiasm, and inspiring support from the local community. Global appeal This year, on the eve of its worldwide celebration on June 21, I am in Austin, the capital of the "Lone Star" state of Texas. International Yoga Day was celebrated there on Saturday, June 16, 2018, on the lawns of the majestic and stately Capitol, a beautiful 19th-century renaissance revival style building in red "sunset" granite. Coincidentally, but not surprisingly given how things go with us, it also coincided with the celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr in India. The Texas celebrations were organised by the Indian Consulate General in Houston, led by Dr Anupam Ray, a physician-turned-IFS (1994 batch), in association with dozens of local sponsors and collaborators. For those in India who are not aware, yoga practitioners in the US exceed some 20 millions, easily over 10 per cent of exercise-capable members of the population. This is startling if impressive number exceeds, percentage wise, figures in India, the home and place of origin of this ancient art and science of well-being. Not long after assuming office, PM Modi made a spirited pitch for International Yoga Day in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2014. Not only did he speak in Hindi, as Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials had been forewarned, but his speech itself was not available till the morning of the day it was delivered. There was little prior warning let alone preparation for his historic push for Yoga. Addressing the UNGA, Modi said, By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can also help us deal with climate change. He appealed to the member nations to support his call for an an International Yoga Day. Modis proposal took not just the UN, but also the MEA by surprise. In fact, there was no prior "file" on this; it was totally new idea. Seema Sirohi, who wrote an early report, declared Yoga as foreign policy is indeed unique. However, to get the United Nations to approve International Yoga Day was by no means easy. Since 1980, UNGA rules require such proposals to be passed only if they were of priority concern to all or the majority of countries and should contribute to the development of international cooperation in solving global problems. In fact, it seemed by all counts, a rather uphill battle. How did we succeed? Ambassador Asoke Mukerji, then Indias permanent representative to the United Nations, played a crucial role. Mukerji, I am proud to say, was my teacher at St Stephens College. When I joined BA (Hons) in English in 1977, it was already rumoured that he was sure to clear the Civil Services, which did happen the following year. I remember him conducting the introductions of our batch in the Senior Combination Room (SCR). Smart diplomacy We had been through many self-introduction, particularly during our "ragging" fortnight. So fed up with the predictably tedious answers proffered, I said something, which much to my chagrin today, was as outrageous as it was silly. I remember how Mukerji neither ridiculed nor dismissed me. Rather, he deflected my provocation ever so gently that it passed almost unnoticed. I knew then that we had in our midst an outstanding diplomat in the making. After successful stints in Belgrade and Washington, Mukerji became the consul general of India in Soviet Central Asia in 1990. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, he helped shape Indias foreign policy with newly independent Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Then he served as a trade negotiator in WTO and Indias Deputy Ambassador to Russia, before becoming Indias deputy high commissioner in Britain. But International Yoga Day was perhaps his greatest triumph. Health challenge Aided by a small team, Mukerji achieved the near-impossible. Early support of China, followed by the United States, Russia, France, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan helped enormously. A huge diplomatic coup was securing the support of 48 out of the 56 Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) group of states, including Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Indonesia. Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Brunei, and, of course, Pakistan went against the resolution. Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, as well as countries with a large Indian diaspora in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Caribbean, all supported the resolution. In our own region, Sri Lanka and Nepal were enthusiastic, as were Afghanistan, Bhutan and Myanmar. Finally, on December 11, 2014, the UNGA adopted the resolution, with 177 out of 193 countries in favour, just 75 days after it was proposed by Modi. Mukerji attributes this astounding success to Indias inclusive diplomacy. What is more, there were abstentions, but no vote was cast against the resolution. Since its first global celebrations on June 21, 2015, the International Yoga Day has gone from strength to strength, proving desi naysayers wrong. Those who wonder at the PMs recent health challenge, which has gone viral, would do well to see its direct link to the idea of the International Yoga Day at the inception of his tenure. International Yoga Day has made all Indians proud. Let us use this occasion to salute not only our PM, but all the teachers and practitioners of yoga the world over. (Courtesy of Mail Today) Also read: Yoga is not as Hindu as it is believed to be. There's Muslim influence in it, too Grandmothers, some say they are like angels in training. Others say that if youre having a bad day, call your grandma. That joyous relationship between grandmas and their grandchildren is taking Kenyan social media by storm as showcased by a comedian, Brayo Sammy. Brayo Sammy has been sharing videos of some of the moments spent with his grandmother and the duo is fast becoming an internet sensation. In one clip, Brayo is seen asking Shosh to pronounce the hip-hop phrase skrrrraa, which is popular with the current crop of American rappers such as Desiigner, Migos and co. But the video that has catapulted the hilarious duo to fame shows the granny attempting to pronounce gospel deejay Samuel Murayas stage name, DJ Mo. The DJ, who was impressed by the video alongside most Kenyans, reposted the video by Brayo and now wants to meet the shosh. I love this. When you have such grandsons hauzeeki haraka. I want to meet that Cucu, posted DJ Mo. Well without further ado, meet everyones favorite person on social media. 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(U.K.), Newage Machine Tools Ltd., OOO Cummins, Petbow Limited, Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) B.V., Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) Ltd., Power Group International Ltd., Quickstart Energy Projects SpA, Shanghai Cummins Trade Co. Ltd., TOO Cummins, Taiwan Cummins Sales & Services Co. Ltd., Worldwide Partner CV Member LLC, Wuxi Cummins Turbo Technologies Co. Ltd., Wuxi New Energy Automotive Technologies Co. Ltd., and ZED Connect Inc.. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG provides commercial real estate and public investment finance products. Its commercial real estate financing activities include financing instruments, such as financing investment projects, development finance, cross-border portfolio financing, investment bridge finance facilities, standby/backup facilities, and derivatives. The company primarily finances offices, retail, and logistic real estate companies, as well as residential properties targeting real estate companies, institutional investors, real estate funds, and medium-sized and regionally orientated clients. It is also involved in the public investment financing activities, such as financing for public sector facilities, municipal and residential buildings, utilities, infrastructure, medical and geriatric care facilities, and administration and insurance facilities. In addition, the company operates a digital platform for public sector borrowers and institutional investors under the CAPVERIANT name. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG has offices in four locations in Eschborn, DAsseldorf, Hamburg, and Berlin in Germany; and five locations in London, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm, and New York City. The company was formerly known as Hypo Real Estate Bank AG and changed its name to Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG in June 2009. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG is headquartered in Garching, Germany. Read More 5 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Great Portland Estates in the last year. There are currently 3 hold ratings and 2 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "hold" Great Portland Estates stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in GPEAF, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares. View analyst ratings for Great Portland Estates or view top-rated stocks. Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has backed President Uhurus directive for lifestyle audit on all public officers. Speaking during the opening of the new party headquarters in Karen, Nairobi, the NASA co-principal asked MPs to pass new legislation to actualise Uhurus directive. Kalonzo noted that the law as constituted does not allow for a lifestyle audit even though public officers are required to declare their wealth every two years. He said a lifestyle audit would ensure no one escapes scrutiny including the president, his deputy or any other top state officer. Once the framework is in place, we call for the involvement of a reputable international audit firm to work closely with Kenyan agencies to get to the bottom of this unprecedented theft of public resources. 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. Spectris plc manufactures and sells measuring instruments and controls worldwide. The company provides products and services, which enable customers to determine structure, composition, quantity, and quality of particles and materials during their research and product development processes, when assessing materials before production, or during the manufacturing process; various range of life science services; products for measurement and control of temperature, humidity, pressure, strain, force, flow, level, pH, and conductivity; and data acquisition, electric heating, and custom-engineered products. It also supplies test, measurement, and analysis equipment, software, and services for product design optimization and manufacturing control; and designs and manufactures tooling and monitoring system for installation and acquisition services, data processing services, 24/7 monitoring, and advanced analytics consulting. In addition, the company offers various industrial automation products, including IIoT controllers and gateways, data acquisition and protocol converters, human machine interface operator displays and panel meters, visualisation software products, proportionalA-integralA-derivative controllers, remote terminal units, input/output products, and signal conditioners and sensors; and industrial networking products, which include ethernet switches, wired and wireless routers, and network and device management software products. Further, it provides on-line and off-line measurement and control solutions for the dimensional monitoring of diameter, ovality, wall thickness, eccentricity, length and speed, and other parameters; particle measuring systems; and supplies gas analysis solutions and various related product and services. The company was formerly known as Fairey Aviation Company Ltd. and changed its name to Spectris plc in May 2001. Spectris plc was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Egham, the United Kingdom. Read More Seaspan Shipyards (Seaspan) celebrated the start of construction on the first Joint Support Ship (JSS) for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) last week. The steel cutting ceremony held at Vancouver Shipyards is a significant milestone for Seaspan, the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) and Canadas shipbuilding industry. With the start of construction on JSS, Seaspan is leading the way in rebuilding Canadas shipbuilding industry. In addition, start of construction ensures that Seaspan will see the continued growth of Vancouver Shipyards workforce while mitigating any possible downturn in production. Seaspan Shipyards (Seaspan) celebrated the start of construction on the first Joint Support Ship (JSS) for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) last week. The steel cutting ceremony held at Vancouver Shipyards is a significant milestone for Seaspan, the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) and Canadas shipbuilding industry. With the start of construction on JSS, Seaspan is leading the way in rebuilding Canadas shipbuilding industry. In addition, start of construction ensures that Seaspan will see the continued growth of Vancouver Shipyards workforce while mitigating any possible downturn in production. (TKMS images) Todays start of construction ceremony is important not only for our company and customer, but also for Canadas shipbuilding industry and the thousands of hardworking women and men it employs, said Brian Carter, President & CEO of Seaspan Shipyards. Cutting steel on the first Joint Support Ship for the Royal Canadian Navy is yet another demonstration of how shipbuilding is back in Canada and our company is proud to be leading the way. With the start of construction on JSS, Seaspan will ensure that continuous production is realized on its work as Canadas non-combat shipbuilder. At its peak, work on JSS will contribute towards sustaining an estimated 1,000 jobs for tradespeople and approximately 300 office staff at Vancouver Shipyards. In addition, Seaspans work on JSS will leverage its broader Canadian supply chain and support the continued growth of Canadas shipbuilding and marine industries. Alion Canada is proud of our role in the design development and integration to support Seaspan's work building Canada's next generation of non-combat vessels under the National Shipbuilding Strategy, said Bruce Samuelsen, Chief Operating Officer Alion Science and Technology President Alion Canada. The opportunities associated with the Joint Support Ships will ensure that Canada's domestic ship design, engineering, and shipbuilding industries continue to grow and provide long-term, well-paid jobs. At over 173 metres in length and with a design displacement of nearly 20,000 tonnes, JSS will be among the largest ships built on Canadas West Coast once complete. JSS will support the RCNs work at home and abroad for both defence and humanitarian missions. These ships will deliver fuel and other vital supplies to vessels at sea, offer modern medical and dental facilities, and providing support for helicopter operations and equipment repair. To be built to the highest standard and with modern equipment, propulsion redundancy, a 30+ year life expectancy and the ability to stand in harms way if required, JSS represents a complete solution to the operational needs of Canadas Navy. As a Canadian company in business for more than 40 years and an employer on the West Coast, we are a proud participant in Canadas National Shipbuilding Strategy, said Jim Longo, Founder & President of Ideal Welders. With our work for Seaspan, our company is realizing growth: we have increased our workforce by thirty per cent, invested in training, purchased productivity increasing equipment, and doubled the size of our facilities so that we can respond to the needs of a modern shipbuilding industry. We are excited to be part of this next phase in the National Shipbuilding Strategy. Canadas shipbuilding industry has been rebuilt thanks to the NSS and it is delivering on the promise of ships built in Canada by Canadians. To date, Seaspan has $600M in committed contracts and engaged approximately 500 Canadian firms thanks to its NSS-related work alone. Construction on JSS will contribute to the continued growth of Canadas shipbuilding and marine industry. JSS Overview: The future Her Majestys Canadian Ships (HMCS) Protecteur and Preserver are multi-role vessels that will provide an important auxiliary function to the RCN. They increase the range and endurance of naval task groups by permitting the vessels to remain at sea for long periods of time without needing to return to port for replenishment. They represent crucial elements of Canadas blue-water naval capabilities and will allow the RCN to participate in operations with allies on military and humanitarian missions. These vessels are designed and built to carry provisions like food, water, fuel and ammunition for other vessels, provide support ashore, and are a home base for helicopter maintenance and operations. With its enhanced defensive capabilities and a crew of 239 personnel, the JSS can also support the RCN in high threat environments ensuring our continued safety and security at home and abroad. General: Builder: Seaspan Shipyards Owner: Royal Canadian Navy Future Names of Ships: Her Majestys Canadian Ships (HMCS) Protecteur and Preserver Dimensions: Length Overall: 173.7 m Breadth: 24.0 m Design Waterline/ Draft: 7.4 m Design Displacement: 19,648 t Power and Performance: Max Speed: 20 knots Cruising Speed: 15 knots Propulsion Power: 2 x 7200kW Sprint Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides various wireless and wireline communications products and services to consumers, businesses, government subscribers, and resellers in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. It operates in two segments, Wireless and Wireline. The Wireless segment offers wireless data communication services, including mobile productivity applications, such as Internet access, messaging, and email services; wireless photo and video offerings; location-based capabilities comprising asset and fleet management, dispatch services, and navigation tools; and mobile entertainment applications. It also provides wireless voice communications services that include local and long-distance wireless voice services, as well as voicemail, call waiting, three-way calling, caller identification, and call forwarding services. In addition, this segment offers voice and data services internationally through roaming arrangements; and customized wireless services to large companies and government agencies, as well as sells handsets, tablets, and hotspots. The Wireline segment provides wireline voice and data communications, which comprises domestic and international data communications using various protocols, including multiprotocol label switching technologies, Internet protocol (IP), managed network services, Voice over IP, session initiated protocol, and traditional voice services to other communications companies and targeted business subscribers. Sprint Corporation offers its services under the Sprint, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Assurance Wireless brands. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. Sprint Corporation is a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc., ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics. Genworth Financial, Inc. is a financial services company, which engages in the provision of insurance, wealth management, investment and financial solutions. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Mortgage Insurance, Australia Mortgage Insurance, U.S. Life Insurance, and Runoff. The U.S. Mortgage Insurance segment offers mortgage insurance products predominantly insuring prime-based, individually underwritten residential mortgage loans. The Australia Mortgage Insurance segment offers flow mortgage insurance and selectively provides bulk mortgage insurance that aids in the sale of mortgages to the capital markets and helps lenders manage capital and risk. The U.S. Life Insurance segment offers long-term care insurance products as well as service traditional life insurance and fixed annuity products in the United States. The Runoff segment includes the results of non-strategic products which are no longer actively sold but continue to service its existing blocks of business. Its non-strategic products primarily include variable annuity, variable life insurance, institutional, corporate-owned life insurance and other accident and health insurance products. The company was fo Read More The Canadian Forces have awarded Rheinmetall an important follow-on contract. The Canadian Navy plans to expand the MASS countermeasure systems installed on its Halifax-class frigates. The order is worth about CAD20 million (12 million). MASS (Multi Ammunition Softkill System) is an automated decoy system that protects surface combatants from advanced anti-ship missiles. The Canadian Forces have awarded Rheinmetall an important follow-on contract. The Canadian Navy plans to expand the MASS countermeasure systems installed on its Halifax-class frigates. The order is worth about CAD20 million (12 million). MASS (Multi Ammunition Softkill System) is an automated decoy system that protects surface combatants from advanced anti-ship missiles. MASS and the accompanying special ammunition is a decoy-launching system developed at Rheinmetalls Fronau plant, specifically designed to counter the threat from anti-ship missiles. Scheduled to run for four years (2018-2022), the project will be carried out in close cooperation between Rheinmetalls Fronau plant in Bavaria and Rheinmetall Canada Inc. in Quebec. The Canadian procurement authorities have given a green light to the project, with 6 million each to go to Fronau and Rheinmetall Canada. During the course of the upgrade, the twin-launcher systems already installed on Canadas Halifax-class frigates will be transformed into triple launcher systems. The necessary subassemblies and individual parts for the MASS systems will first be shipped to Rheinmetall Canada, where they will be assembled and commissioned prior to being installed onboard. Back in 2009, Canada contracted with Rheinmetall to equip its twelve Halifax-class frigates with MASS. The Canadian forces also ordered the accompanying Omnitrap and MASS-Dueras decoy ammunition from Rheinmetall. MASS and the accompanying special ammunition is a decoy-launching system developed at Rheinmetalls Fronau plant, specifically designed to counter the threat from anti-ship missiles. It can be installed in surface combatants of all types, integrated into existing command and weapon engagement systems or operated as a standalone system. The navies of thirteen nations now deploy a total of 224 MASS launchers to protect their ships primarily from radar-guided anti-ship missiles but also from infrared threats and rocket-propelled grenades in asymmetric threat scenarios. Rheinmetall recently unveiled two technical advances that confirm once again the products operational versatility. MASS OCR (standing for offboard corner reflector) uses a special radar signature to replicate the silhouette of the ship at a safe standoff, reliably luring the latest generation of anti-ship missiles away from their intended target. Equipped with its own special sensor unit, the MASS standalone version is ideal for modernizing major surface combatants and smaller craft. The system is capable of quickly detecting a missile threat, radar and laser target markers or a laser rangefinder measurement, and then taking the necessary action to thwart it fully automatically. The countermeasures initiated by the system generate a decoy target, which the incoming missile then interprets to be a higher-value asset, ultimately causing the projectile to veer off course. MASS initiates these countermeasures autonomously, taking into account wind and the ships navigation data as well as information concerning the nature of the threat. This important order underscores once again Rheinmetalls preeminent role in the field of force protection, while simultaneously expanding MASSs global market lead. The Boeing Co. is an aerospace company, which engages in the manufacture of commercial jetliners and defense, space and security systems. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space and Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital. The Commercial Airplanes segment includes the development, production, and market of commercial jet aircraft and provides fleet support services, principally to the commercial airline industry worldwide. The Defense, Space and Security segment refers to the research, development, production and modification of manned and unmanned military aircraft and weapons systems for global strike, including fighter and combat rotorcraft aircraft and missile systems; global mobility, including tanker, rotorcraft and tilt-rotor aircraft; and airborne surveillance and reconnaissance, including command and control, battle management and airborne anti-submarine aircraft. The Global Services segment provides services to commercial and defense customers. The Boeing Capital segment seeks to ensure that Boeing customers have the financing they need to buy and take delivery of their Boeing product and manages overall financing exposure. T Read More Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS (KONGSBERG) has entered into contract with the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency worth 220M NOK for a cooperation agreement on the Naval Strike Missile (NSM). Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS (KONGSBERG) has entered into contract with the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency worth 220M NOK for a cooperation agreement on the Naval Strike Missile (NSM). Kongsberg picture showing an NSM being launched. The Norwegian Government announced February 2017 the Strategic Cooperation with Germany for acquisition of new submarines, where Germany intends to acquire NSM for their Navy. Norway and Germany will cooperate in a long-term evolution of the NSM for their vessels. This contract is the first phase in this cooperation and has a duration of one year. This contract is an important milestone in a long-term Norwegian-German cooperation on missiles. The NSM is a product of the unique triangle cooperation developed between the defense industry, FFI and the Armed Forces, says Eirik Lie, President Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS. About NSM The NSM is a fifth generation anti-sip missile, developed by KONGSBERG for the Norwegian Navy. NSM reached Initial Operational Capability on the new Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen Class frigates and the new Norwegian Skjold Class corvettes in 2012. It is also fielded by the Polish Navy (coastal defense batteries) and has been selected by the navies of Malaysia and Germany. NSM was also selected a few weeks ago as the winner of the U.S. Navy Over-The-Horizon Weapon System (OTH WS) competition. Hans Kongelf, Vice President of Missile Systems at Kongsberg previously told Navy Recognition that the main strength of the NSM are: - Defense penetration capabilities thanks to its stealth, extremely low sea-skimming flight profile and high G maneuvers. - Target recognition: Each NSM is fitted with a library of ship profiles to recognize each ship classes. - NSM is available today, it is in production, fielded by the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Polish Navy and selected by the Royal Malaysian Navy and German Navy The following companies are subsidiares of Quest Diagnostics: AmeriPath, AmeriPath Cincinnati Inc. (OH), AmeriPath Cleveland Inc. (OH), AmeriPath Consolidated Labs Inc. (FL), AmeriPath Florida LLC (DE), AmeriPath Hospital Services Florida LLC (DE), AmeriPath Inc. (DE), AmeriPath Indianapolis PC (IN), AmeriPath Kentucky Inc. (KY), AmeriPath Lubbock 5.01(A) Corporation (TX), AmeriPath New York LLC (DE), AmeriPath Texas Inc. (DE), AmeriPath Tucson Inc. (AZ), American Medical Laboratories, American Medical Laboratories Incorporated (DE), Associated Clinical Laboratories L.P. (PA), Associated Clinical Laboratories of Pennsylvania L.L.C. (PA), Athena Diagnostics, Athena Diagnostics Inc. (DE), Blueprint Genetics, Blueprint Genetics FZ-LLC (UAE), Blueprint Genetics Inc. (DE), Blueprint Genetics Oy (Finland), California Laboratory Associates, Cape Cod Healthcare - Business, Celera, ClearPoint Diagnostic, Clearpoint Diagnostic Laboratories LLC (TX), Cleveland HeartLab, Cleveland HeartLab Inc. (DE), Clinical Laboratory Partners, Colorado Pathology Consultants P.C. (CO), ConVerge Diagnostic Services, Consolidated DermPath Inc. (DE), DFW 5.01(a) Corporation (TX), DGXWMT JV LLC (DE), Dermatopathology of Wisconsin S.C. (WI), Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma LLC (OK), Diagnostic Pathology Services Inc. (OK), Diagnostic Reference Services Inc. (MD), ExamOne Canada Inc. (New Brunswick), ExamOne LLC (DE), ExamOne World Wide Inc. (PA), ExamOne World Wide of NJ Inc. (NJ), Focus Diagnostics, HemoCue, Hoffman M.D. Associated Pathologists Chartered (NV), Institute for Dermatopathology Inc. (PA), Isabella Street Urban Renewal LLC (NJ), Kailash B. Sharma M.D. Inc. (GA), Kilpatrick Pathology P.A. (NC), LabOne, LabOne LLC (MO), LabOne of Ohio Inc. (DE), Laboratorio de Analisis Biomedicos S.A. (Mexico), Lancet Labs, MACL, Med Fusion LLC (TX), Med fusion, MedPlus, Mid America Clinical Laboratories LLC (IN), Nomad Massachusetts Inc. (MA), Nuclear Medicine and Pathology Associates (GA), Ocmulgee Medical Pathology Association Inc. (GA), Pathology Building Partnership (MD) (gen. ptnrshp.), PeaceHealth Laboratories, PhenoPath Laboratories, PhenoPath Laboratories PLLC (WA), Q Squared Solutions Holdings LLC (DE), Q Squared Solutions Holdings Limited (UK), Quest Diagnostics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. (China), Quest Diagnostics Brasil Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics Domestic Holder LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics HTAS India Private Limited (India), Quest Diagnostics Health & Wellness LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Holdings Incorporated (DE), Quest Diagnostics Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (MD), Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NV), Quest Diagnostics India Private Limited (India), Quest Diagnostics Infectious Disease Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics International Holdings Limited (UK), Quest Diagnostics International LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Investments LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Ireland Limited (Ireland), Quest Diagnostics LLC (CT), Quest Diagnostics LLC (IL), Quest Diagnostics LLC (MA), Quest Diagnostics Massachusetts LLC (MA), Quest Diagnostics Mexico Holding Company Trust (Mexico), Quest Diagnostics Mexico S de RL de CV (Mexico), Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute (CA), Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute Inc. (VA), Quest Diagnostics Receivables Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics Subsidiary Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics TB LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Terracotta LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Venture LLC (PA), Quest Diagnostics Ventures LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics do Brasil Ltda. (Brazil), Quest Diagnostics of Pennsylvania Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics of Puerto Rico Inc. (PR), Quest HealthConnect LLC (CA), ReproSource, Reprosource Fertility Diagnostics Inc. (MA), Solstas Lab Partners, Sonora Quest Laboratories LLC (AZ), Specialty Laboratories Inc. (CA), Summit Health, UMass Memorial Medical Center - Anatomic Pathology Outreach Laboratory Business, Unilab Corporation, and Unilab Corporation (DE). GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiary, provides trading services and solutions to retail, institutional, and futures service customers worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Retail and Futures. It specializes in over-the-counter (OTC) and exchange-traded markets. The company offers access to a range of financial products, including spot foreign exchange (forex) and precious metals trading; and spread bets and contracts for differences on currencies, commodities, indices, individual equities, bonds, options, and interest rate products, as well as OTC options on forex. It provides services to retail customers through FOREX.com and Cityindex.com, as well as through brokers and white label partners. The company offers execution and risk management services for exchange-traded futures and futures options on the United States and European futures and options exchanges; and online trading services. GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey. Read More GlaxoSmithKline Plc is a healthcare company, which engages in the research, development, and manufacture of pharmaceutical medicines, vaccines, and consumer healthcare products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceuticals; Pharmaceuticals R&D; Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare. The Pharmaceuticals segment focuses on developing medicines in respiratory and infectious diseases, oncology, and immuno-inflammation. The Pharmaceuticals R&D segment focuses on science related to the immune system, the use of human genetics and advanced technologies, and is driven by the multiplier effect of Science x Technology x Culture. The Vaccines segment produces pediatric and adult vaccines to prevent a range of infectious diseases including, hepatitis A and B, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, measles, mumps and rubella, polio, typhoid, influenza, and bacterial meningitis. The Consumer Healthcare segment develops and markets brands in the oral health, pain relief, respiratory, nutrition and gastro intestinal, and skin health categories. The company was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Middlesex, the United Kingdom. Read More NCI Building Systems, Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets metal products for the nonresidential construction industry in North America. It operates in four segments: Engineered Building Systems, Metal Components, Insulated Metal Panels, and Metal Coil Coating. The Engineered Building Systems segment offers engineered structural members and panels; and self-storage building systems under the Metallic, Mid-West Steel, A & S, All American, Mesco, Star, Ceco, Robertson, Garco, Heritage, and SteelBuilding.com brands to builders, general contractors, developers, and end users directly, as well as through private label companies. The Metal Components segment provides metal roof and wall systems, metal partitions, metal trims, doors, and other related accessories for use in new construction, and repair and retrofit applications; roll-up doors; and interior and exterior walk doors under the MBCI, American Building Components, Eco-ficient, Metal Depots, and Doors and Buildings Components brands to manufacturers, contractors, subcontractors, distributors, lumberyards, cooperative buying groups, and other customers. The Insulated Metal Panels segment offers insulated metal panels for architectural, commercial, industrial, and cold storage end-market applications under the Metl-Span and CENTRIA brands. The Metal Coil Coating segment engages in cleaning, treating, and painting flat-rolled metals in coil form, as well as in slitting and/or embossing the metal, before the metal is fabricated for use by industrial users. It also cleans, treats, and coats heavy and light gauge metal coils for use in construction products, heating and air conditioning systems, water heaters, lighting fixtures, ceiling grids, office furniture, appliances, and other products; and provides toll coating and painted metal package services under the Metal Coaters and Metal Prep brands. NCI Building Systems, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Read More IMI plc, a specialist engineering company, designs, manufactures, and services engineered products worldwide. The company operates through three divisions: IMI Precision Engineering, IMI Critical Engineering, and IMI Hydronic Engineering. The IMI Precision Engineering division develops motion and fluid control technologies for industrial automation, commercial vehicle, life sciences, energy, and rail applications. This division offers actuators, air preparation products, pressure switches, and fittings; pneumatic, hydraulic, electric, and vacuum motion solutions; solenoid valves, angle-seat valves, motorized valves, NAMUR valves, and systems for dust filters; miniature fluid control solutions; precise and accurate syringes, syringe pumps, and rotary valves; and high-pressure control valves, nuclear valves, and pressure transmitters, as well as hydraulic solutions. It provides its products under the Norgren, Bimba, Buschjost, FAS, Herion, Kloehn, Maxseal, and Thompson Valves brands. The IMI Critical Engineering division offers flow control solutions, such as specialized valves and actuators to the fossil power, oil and gas, petrochemical, nuclear, marine, and pharmaceutical markets under the IMI Bopp & Reuther, IMI CCI, IMI Fluid Kinetics, IMI InterAtiva, IMI NH, IMI Orton, IMI PBM, IMI Remosa, IMI STI, IMI TH Jansen, IMI Truflo Marine, IMI Truflo Rona, IMI Truflo Italy IMI Z&J, and IMI Zikesch brands. The IMI Hydronic Engineering division provides products for hydronic distribution systems, which deliver heating and cooling systems to the residential and commercial building sectors. This segment offers balancing and control solutions, thermostatic control and pressurization systems, dirt and air separators, and pressure step degassers under the IMI Pneumatex, IMI TA, IMI Flow Design, IMI Heimeier, and IMI Aero-Dynamiek brands. The company was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Birmingham, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of CVS Health: @Credentials Inc., ACS ACQCO CORP., ADMINCO Inc., AE Fourteen Incorporated, AHP Holdings Inc., AMC - Tennessee LLC, APS Acquisition LLC, ASCO HealthCare LLC, ASI Wings LLC, AUSHC Holdings Inc., Accendo Insurance Company, Accordant Health Services L.L.C., Active Health Management Inc., Administrative Enterprises Inc., AdvancePCS SpecialtyRx LLC, AdvanceRx.com L.L.C., Advanced Care Scripts Inc., Aetna, Aetna (Beijing) Enterprise Management Services Co. Ltd., Aetna (Shanghai) Enterprise Services Co. Ltd., Aetna ACO Holdings Inc., Aetna Asset Advisors LLC, Aetna Behavioral Health LLC, Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health of California Inc., Aetna Better Health of Florida Inc., Aetna Better Health of Kansas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Better Health of Missouri LLC, Aetna Better Health of Nevada Inc., Aetna Better Health of North Carolina Inc., Aetna Better Health of Oklahoma Inc., Aetna Better Health of Texas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Washington Inc., Aetna Capital Management LLC, Aetna Card Solutions LLC, Aetna Corporate Services LLC, Aetna Dental Inc., Aetna Dental of California Inc., Aetna Financial Holdings LLC, Aetna Florida Inc., Aetna Global Benefits (Asia Pacific) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bahamas) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bermuda) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Europe) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Middle East) LLC, Aetna Global Benefits (Singapore) PTE. LTD., Aetna Global Benefits (UK) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits Limited (DIFC UAE), Aetna Global Holdings Limited, Aetna Health Holdings LLC, Aetna Health Inc., Aetna Health Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Aetna Health Insurance Company, Aetna Health Insurance Company of Europe DAC, Aetna Health Management LLC, Aetna Health and Life Insurance Company, Aetna Health of California Inc., Aetna Health of Iowa Inc., Aetna Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Health of Ohio Inc., Aetna Health of Utah Inc., Aetna HealthAssurance Pennsylvania Inc., Aetna Holdco (UK) Limited, Aetna Holdings (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Inc., Aetna Insurance (Hong Kong) Limite, Aetna Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Aetna Insurance Company Limited, Aetna Integrated Informatics Inc., Aetna International Inc., Aetna Ireland Inc., Aetna Korea Ltd., Aetna Life & Casualty (Bermuda) Ltd., Aetna Life Assignment Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company, Aetna Medicaid Administrators LLC, Aetna Multi-Strategy 1099 Fund LLC, Aetna Network Services LLC, Aetna Partners Diversified Fund LLC, Aetna Pharmacy Management Services LLC, Aetna Resources LLC, Aetna Risk Assurance Company of Connecticut Inc., Aetna Rx Home Delivery LLC, Aetna Services (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Aetna Student Health Agency Inc., Aetna Ventures LLC, Aetna Workers Comp Access LLC, Alabama CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Alaska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, American Continental Insurance Company, American Drug Stores Delaware L.L.C., American Health Holding Inc., Arbor Drugs, Arizona CVS Stores L.L.C., Arkansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Badger Acquisition LLC, Badger Acquisition of Kentucky LLC, Badger Acquisition of Minnesota LLC, Badger Acquisition of Ohio LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Company, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Plan Inc., Beauty Holdings L.L.C., Best Care LTC Acquisition Company LLC, Busse CVS L.L.C., CCI Foreign S.a R.L. (R.C.S. Luxembourg), CCRx Holdings LLC, CCRx of North Carolina LLC, CHP Acquisition LLC, CP Acquisition LLC, CVS 2948 Henderson L.L.C., CVS 3268 Gilbert L.L.C., CVS 3745 Peoria L.L.C., CVS AL Distribution L.L.C., CVS AOC Corporation, CVS AOC Services L.L.C., CVS Albany L.L.C., CVS Bellmore Avenue L.L.C., CVS Care Concierge LLC, CVS Caremark Advanced Technology Pharmacy L.L.C., CVS Caremark Indemnity Ltd., CVS Caremark Part D Services L.L.C., CVS Caremark TN SUTA LLC, CVS Foreign Inc., CVS Gilbert 3272 L.L.C., CVS Health Solutions LLC, CVS Indiana L.L.C., CVS International L.L.C., CVS Kidney Care Advanced Technologies LLC, CVS Kidney Care Health Services LLC, CVS Kidney Care Home Dialysis LLC, CVS Kidney Care LLC, CVS Manchester NH L.L.C., CVS Media Exchange LLC, CVS Michigan L.L.C., CVS Orlando FL Distribution L.L.C., CVS PA Distribution L.L.C., CVS PR Center Inc., CVS Pharmacy Inc., CVS RS Arizona L.L.C., CVS Rx Services Inc., CVS SC Distribution L.L.C., CVS State Capital L.L.C., CVS TN Distribution L.L.C., CVS Transportation L.L.C., CVS Vero FL Distribution L.L.C., Campos Medical Pharmacy LLC, Canal Place LLC, Care Pharmaceutical Services LP, CareCenter Pharmacy L.L.C., Carefree Insurance Services Inc., Caremark Arizona Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Arizona Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark California Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Florida Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Florida Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Hawaii Mail Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Hawaii Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark IPA L.L.C., Caremark Illinois Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Illinois Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Irving Resource Center LLC, Caremark Kansas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark L.L.C., Caremark Logistics LLC, Caremark Louisiana Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Maryland Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Massachusetts Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Michigan Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Minnesota Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark New Jersey Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark North Carolina Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ohio Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Pennsylvania Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark PhC L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Redlands Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Repack LLC, Caremark Rx L.L.C., Caremark Tennessee Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ulysses Holding Corp., Caremark Washington Specialty Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Alabama Mail Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Health L.L.C., CaremarkPCS L.L.C., Central Rx Services LLC, Claims Administration Corp., Cofinity Inc., Compscript LLC, Connecticut CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Continental Life Insurance Company of Brentwood Tennessee, Continuing Care Rx LLC, Coram Alternate Site Services Inc., Coram Clinical Trials Inc., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Alabama, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater D.C., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater New York, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Indiana, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Massachusetts, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Mississippi, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Nevada, Coram Healthcare Corporation of North Texas, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Northern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Utah, Coram LLC, Coram Rx LLC, Coram Specialty Infusion, Coram Specialty Infusion Services L.L.C., Coventry Consumer Advantage Inc., Coventry Health Care National Accounts Inc., Coventry Health Care National Network Inc., Coventry Health Care Workers Compensation Inc., Coventry Health Care of Illinois Inc., Coventry Health Care of Kansas Inc., Coventry Health Care of Missouri Inc., Coventry Health Care of Nebraska Inc., Coventry Health Care of Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Care of West Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Plan of Florida Inc., Coventry Health and Life Insurance Company, Coventry HealthCare Management Corporation, Coventry Prescription Management Services Inc., Coventry Rehabilitation Services Inc., Coventry Transplant Network Inc., D & R Pharmaceutical Services LLC, D.A.W. LLC, Delaware CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Delaware Physicians Care Incorporated, Digital eHealth LLC, District of Columbia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., E.T.B. INC., Echo Merger Sub Inc., Eckerd Corporation of Florida Inc., Employee Assistance Services LLC, Enloe Drugs LLC, Enterprise Patient Safety Organization LLC, EntrustRX, Evergreen Pharmaceutical LLC, Evergreen Pharmaceutical of California Inc., Express Pharmacy Services of PA L.L.C., FOCUS HealthCare Management Inc., First Health Group Corp., First Health Life & Health Insurance Company, First Script Network Services Inc., Florida Health Plan Administrators LLC, Garfield Beach CVS L.L.C., Generation Health L.L.C., Geneva Woods Health Services LLC, Geneva Woods LTC Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Management LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Alaska LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Washington LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Wyoming LLC, Geneva Woods Retail Pharmacy LLC, Georgia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., German Dobson CVS L.L.C., Goodhealth Worldwide (Asia) Limited, Goodhealth Worldwide (Global) Limited, Goodyear CVS L.L.C., Grand St. Paul CVS L.L.C., Grandview Pharmacy LLC, Group Dental Service Inc., Group Dental Service of Maryland Inc., Health Care Management Co. Ltd., Health Data & Management Solutions Inc., Health Re Inc., Health and Human Resource Center Inc., HealthAssuance Pennsylvania Inc., Healthagen LLC, Highland Park CVS L.L.C., Holiday CVS L.L.C., Home Care Pharmacy LLC, Home Pharmacy Services LLC, Hook-SupeRx L.L.C., Horizon Behavioral Services LLC, Idaho CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., IlliniCare Health, Indian Health Organisation Private Limited, Innovation Health Holdings LLC, Innovation Health Insurance Company, Innovation Health Plan Inc., Interlock Pharmacy Systems LLC, Iowa CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., JHC Acquisition LLC, Kansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Kentucky CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., LCPS Acquisition LLC, Langsam Health Services LLC, Lo-Med Prescription Services LLC, Lobos Acquisition LLC, Longs Drug Stores, Longs Drug Stores California L.L.C., Louisiana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., MHHP Acquisition Company LLC, MHNet Life and Health Insurance Company, MHNet Specialty Services LLC, MHNet of Florida Inc., Managed Care Coordinators Inc., Managed Healthcare LLC, Martin Health Services LLC, Maryland CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Med World Acquisition Corp., Medical Arts Health Care LLC, Medical Examinations of New York P.C., Melville Realty Company Inc., MemberHealth LLC, Mental Health Associates Inc., Mental Health Network of New York IPA Inc., Meritain Health Inc., Merwin Long Term Care LLC, MetraComp Inc., Minor Health Enterprise Co Ltd., MinuteClinic, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Alabama L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Arizona LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Florida LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Georgia LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Hawaii L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Illinois LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Kentucky L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Louisiana L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Maine L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Maryland LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Massachusetts LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Nebraska L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of New Hampshire L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of New Mexico L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Ohio LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Oklahoma LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Oregon LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Pennsylvania LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Rhode Island LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of South Carolina L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Texas LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Utah L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Virginia LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Washington LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Wisconsin L.L.C., MinuteClinic L.L.C., MinuteClinic Online Diagnostic Services LLC, MinuteClinic Physician Practice of Texas, MinuteClinic Telehealth Services LLC, Mississippi CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Missouri CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Montana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NCS Healthcare LLC, NCS Healthcare of Illinois LLC, NCS Healthcare of Iowa LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kansas LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kentucky Inc. (Oh, NCS Healthcare of Montana LLC, NCS Healthcare of New Mexico LLC, NCS Healthcare of Ohio LLC, NCS Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, NCS Healthcare of Tennessee LLC, NCS Healthcare of Wisconsin LLC, NIV Acquisition LLC, Navarro Discount Pharmacy, Nebraska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NeighborCare Holdings Inc., NeighborCare Inc., NeighborCare Pharmacy Services Inc., NeighborCare Services Corporation, NeighborCare of Indiana LLC, NeighborCare of Virginia LLC, New Jersey CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Niagara Re Inc., North Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., North Shore Pharmacy Services LLC, NovoLogix LLC, OCR Services LLC, Ocean Acquisition Sub L.L.C., Ohio CVS Stores L.L.C., Oklahoma CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Omnicare, Omnicare Holding Company, Omnicare Inc., Omnicare Indiana Partnership Holding Company LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania East LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania West LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of the Great Plains Holding LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy and Supply Services LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of Tennessee LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of the Midwest LLC, Omnicare Property Management LLC, Omnicare of Nebraska LLC, Omnicare of Nevada LLC, Omnicare of New York LLC, Oregon CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., PE Holdings LLC, PHPSNE Parent Corporation, PP Acquisition Company LLC, PRN Pharmaceutical Services LP, PT Aetna Management Consulting, Pamplona Saude e Beleza LTDA, Part D Holding Company L.L.C., PayFlex Holdings Inc., PayFlex Systems USA Inc., Pennsylvania CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Performax Inc., Pharmacy Associates of Glenn Falls LLC, Pharmacy Consultants LLC, Phoenix Data Solutions LLC, Precision Benefit Services Inc., Prime Net Inc., ProCare Pharmacy Direct L.L.C., ProCare Pharmacy L.L.C., Prodigy Health Group Inc., Professional Risk Management Inc., Pt. Aetna Global Benefits Indonesia, Puerto Rico CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Red Oak Sourcing LLC, Resources for Living LLC, Rhode Island CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Roeschens Healthcare LLC, RxAmerica, Schaller Anderson Medical Administrators Incorporated, Scrip World LLC, Sheffield Avenue CVS L.L.C., Shore Pharmaceutical Providers LLC, Silverscript Insurance Company, Soma Intimates, South Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., South Wabash CVS L.L.C., Specialized Pharmacy Services LLC, Spinnaker Bidco Limited, Spinnaker Topco Limited, Stadtlander Drug Company, Stadtlander Pharmacy, Sterling Healthcare Services LLC, Superior Care Pharmacy LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Administrative Services LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, T2 Medical Inc., TCPI Acquisition LLC, TargetPharmacy, Tennessee CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Company, Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Texas Health + Aetna Health Plan Inc., The Vasquez Group Inc., Thomas Phoenix CVS L.L.C., Three Forks Apothecary LLC, U.S Healthcare Holdings LLC, U.S. Healthcare Properties Inc., UAC Holding Inc., UC Acquisition LLC, UNI-Care Health Services of Maine LLC, Universal American - Medicare Part D Business, Utah CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., VAPS Acquisition Company LLC, Value Health Care Services LLC, Vermont CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virtual Home Healthcare L.L.C., Warm Springs Road CVS L.L.C., Washington CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Washington Lamb CVS L.L.C., Weber Medical Systems LLC, Wellpartner LLC, West Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Westhaven Services Co LLC, Williamson Drug Company LLC, Wisconsin CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Woodward Detroit CVS L.L.C., Work and Family Benefits Inc., ZS Acquisition Company LLC, Zinc Health Services LLC, Zinc Health Ventures LLC, bSwift LLC, and iTriage LLC. Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, credit cards, and other financial services to personal and small business customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt capital market services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and financial institutions. The Insurance and Wealth segment offers life, home, and car insurance products; and pension, investment, and wealth management products and services. It also provides digital and mobile banking, and telephone services, as well as advisory services for savings, investments, and planning for retirement. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, IWeb, and Agricultural Mortgage Corporation brands. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of American International Group: AGC Life Insurance Company, AIG APAC HOLDINGS PTE. LTD., AIG Advisors S.r.l., AIG Aerospace Insurance Services Inc., AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd., AIG Asset Management (Europe) Limited, AIG Asset Management (U.S.) LLC, AIG Assurance Company, AIG Australia Limited, AIG Brazil Holding I LLC, AIG CIS Investments LLC, AIG Canada Holdings Inc., AIG Capital Corporation, AIG Capital Services Inc., AIG Claims Inc., AIG Egypt Insurance Company S.A.E., AIG Employee Services Inc., AIG Europe (Services) Limited, AIG Europe Holdings S.a.rl., AIG Europe S.A., AIG Federal Savings Bank, AIG Financial Products Corp., AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd., AIG Global Asset Management Holdings Corp., AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., AIG Global Reinsurance Operations, AIG Holdings Europe Limited, AIG Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, AIG Insurance Company China Limited, AIG Insurance Company JSC, AIG Insurance Company of Canada, AIG Insurance Company-Puerto Rico, AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited, AIG Insurance Limited, AIG Insurance Management Services Inc., AIG Insurance New Zealand Limited, AIG International Holdings GmbH, AIG Investments UK Limited, AIG Israel Insurance Company Ltd, AIG Japan Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha, AIG Kenya Insurance Company Limited, AIG Korea Inc., AIG Latin America I.I., AIG Latin America Investments S.L., AIG Lebanon SAL, AIG Life Holdings Inc., AIG Life Insurance Company (Switzerland) Ltd, AIG Life Limited, AIG Life South Africa Limited, AIG Life of Bermuda Ltd., AIG MEA Holdings Limited, AIG MEA Limited, AIG Malaysia Insurance Berhad, AIG Markets Inc., AIG Matched Funding Corp., AIG PC Global Services Inc., AIG Philippines Insurance Inc., AIG Property Casualty Company, AIG Property Casualty Inc., AIG Property Casualty International LLC, AIG Property Casualty U.S. Inc., AIG Re-Takaful (L) Berhad, AIG Resseguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., AIG Shared Services Corporation, AIG South Africa Limited, AIG Specialty Insurance Company, AIG Technologies Inc., AIG Travel Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., AIG Travel Assist Inc., AIG Travel Assist Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., AIG Travel EMEA Limited, AIG Travel Inc., AIG Uganda Limited, AIG Vietnam Insurance Company Limited, AIG WarrantyGuard Inc., AIG-FP Pinestead Holdings Corp., AIG-Metropolitana Cia. de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A., AIGGRE EOLA LLC, AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund I GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I LP, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund II GP LLC, AIU Insurance Company, AM Holdings LLC, Ageas Protect, AlphaCat Managers Ltd., American General Corporation, American General Life Insurance Company, American Home Assurance Co. Ltd., American Home Assurance Company, American Home Assurance Company Escritorio de Representacao no Brasil Ltda., American International Group Inc., American International Group UK Limited, American International Overseas Association, American International Overseas Limited, American International Realty Corp., American International Reinsurance Company Ltd., American International Underwriters del Ecuador-Holding S.A., American Security Life Insurance Company Limited, Arthur J. Glatfelter Agency Inc., Avondhu Limited, Blackboard Customer Care Insurance Services LLC, Blackboard Insurance Company, Blackboard Services LLC, Blackboard Specialty Insurance Company, Blackboard U.S. Holdings Inc., Chartis Takaful Enaya B.S.C. (c), Commerce and Industry Insurance Company, Crop Risk Services Inc., Eaglestone Reinsurance Company, Ellipse, Fortitude Group Holdings LLC, Fortitude Life & Annuity Solutions Inc., Fortitude Reinsurance Company Ltd., Franklin Life Insurance Company, Fuji Fire and Marine, Glatfelter Insurance Group, Globe and Rutgers Insurance Group, Grand Isle SAC Limited, Granite State Insurance Company, Group Risk Services Limited, Group Risk Technologies Limited, Illinois National Insurance Co., Jefferson Eola Venture LLC, Johannesburg Insurance Holdings (Proprietary) Limited, Laya Healthcare Limited, Lexington Insurance Company, MG Reinsurance Limited, Mt. Mansfield Company Inc., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh Pa., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Vermont, New Hampshire Insurance Company, PT AIG Insurance Indonesia, Pine Street Real Estate Holdings Corp., Private Joint-Stock Company AIG Ukraine Insurance Company, Risk Specialists Companies Insurance Agency Inc., SA Affordable Housing LLC, SAFG Retirement Services Inc., Service Net Warranty LLC, Stratford Insurance Company, SunAmerica Affordable Housing Partners Inc., SunAmerica Asset Management LLC, Talbot Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Ltd., Thai CIT Holding Company Limited, The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York, The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company, Travel Guard, Travel Guard Group Canada Inc./Groupe Garde Voyage du Canada Inc., Travel Guard Group Inc., Tudor Insurance Company, VALIC Financial Advisors Inc., Valic Retirement Services Company, Validus Holdings, Validus Holdings (UK) Ltd., Validus Holdings Ltd., Validus Reinsurance (Switzerland) Ltd, Validus Reinsurance Ltd., Validus Ventures Ltd., Volunteer Firemen's Insurance Services Inc., Western World Insurance Company, and Western World Insurance Group Inc.. The following companies are subsidiares of Banco Santander: 2 & 3 Triton Limited, A & L CF (Guernsey) Limited (f), A & L CF June (2) Limited, A & L CF June (3) Limited, A & L CF March (5) Limited, A & L CF September (4) Limited, AFB SAM Holdings S.L., ALIL Services Limited (b), AN (123) Limited, ANITCO Limited, Abbey Business Services (India) Private Limited, Abbey Covered Bonds (LM) Limited, Abbey National, Abbey National Beta Investments Limited, Abbey National Business Office Equipment Leasing Limited, Abbey National International Limited, Abbey National Nominees Limited, Abbey National PLP (UK) Limited, Abbey National Property Investments, Abbey National Treasury Services Investments Limited, Abbey National Treasury Services Overseas Holdings, Abbey National UK Investments, Abbey Stockbrokers (Nominees) Limited, Abbey Stockbrokers Limited, Ablasa Participaciones S.L., Administracion de Bancos Latinoamericanos Santander S.L., Aduro S.A., Aevis Europa S.L., Afisa S.A., Albert., Aljardi SGPS Lda., Alliance & Leicester, Alliance & Leicester Cash Solutions Limited, Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank Limited, Alliance & Leicester Investments (Derivatives) Limited, Alliance & Leicester Investments (No.2) Limited, Alliance & Leicester Investments Limited, Alliance & Leicester Limited, Alliance & Leicester Personal Finance Limited, Altamira Santander Real Estate S.A., Alternative Leasing FIL, Amazonia Trade Limited, Amherst Pierpont, Andaluza de Inversiones S.A., Aquanima Brasil Ltda., Aquanima Chile S.A., Aquanima Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Aquanima S.A., Arcaz - Sociedade Imobiliaria Portuguesa Lda., Argenline S.A. (b), Asto Digital Limited, Athena Corporation Limited, Atual - Fundo de Invest Multimercado Credito Privado Investimento no Exterior, Atual Servicos de Recuperacao de Creditos e Meios Digitais S.A., Autodescuento S.L., Autohaus24 GmbH, Auttar HUT Processamento de Dados Ltda., Aviacion Antares A.I.E., Aviacion Britanica A.I.E., Aviacion Centaurus A.I.E., Aviacion Comillas S.L. Unipersonal, Aviacion Intercontinental A.I.E., Aviacion Laredo S.L., Aviacion Oyambre S.L. Unipersonal, Aviacion Real A.I.E., Aviacion Santillana S.L., Aviacion Suances S.L., Aviacion Triton A.I.E., Aymore Credito Financiamento e Investimento S.A., BEN Beneficios e Servicos S.A., BRS Investments S.A., BZW Bank, Banca PSA Italia S.p.A., Banco Bandepe S.A., Banco Madesant - Sociedade Unipessoal S.A., Banco PSA Finance Brasil S.A., Banco Popular, Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A., Banco Santander (Mexico) S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico como Fiduciaria del Fideicomiso 100740, Banco Santander (Mexico) S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico como Fiduciaria del Fideicomiso 2002114, Banco Santander (Mexico) S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico como Fiduciaria del Fideicomiso GFSSLPT, Banco Santander - Chile, Banco Santander Consumer Portugal S.A., Banco Santander International, Banco Santander International SA, Banco Santander Mexico S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Banco Santander Peru S.A., Banco Santander Rio S.A., Banco Santander S.A., Banco Santander Totta S.A., Banco Santander de Negocios Colombia S.A., Banco de Albacete S.A., Bansa Santander S.A., CCAP Auto Lease Ltd., Canyon Multifamily Impact Fund IV LLC, Capital Street Delaware LP, Capital Street Holdings LLC, Capital Street REIT Holdings LLC, Capital Street S.A., Carfax (Guernsey) Limited (f), Carfinco Financial Group, Carfinco Financial Group Inc., Carfinco Inc., Casa de Bolsa Santander S.A. de C.V. Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Cater Allen Holdings Limited, Cater Allen International Limited, Cater Allen Limited, Cater Allen Lloyd's Holdings Limited, Cater Allen Syndicate Management Limited, Centro de Capacitacion Santander A.C., Certidesa S.L., Chrysler Capital Auto Funding I LLC, Chrysler Capital Auto Funding II LLC, Chrysler Capital Auto Receivables LLC, Chrysler Capital Master Auto Receivables Funding 2 LLC, Chrysler Capital Master Auto Receivables Funding 4 LLC, Chrysler Capital Master Auto Receivables Funding LLC, Cobranza Amigable S.A.P.I. de C.V., Community Development and Affordable Housing Fund LLC (g), Compagnie Generale de Credit Aux Particuliers - Credipar S.A., Compagnie Pour la Location de Vehicules - CLV, Comunidad Laboral Trabajando Argentina S.A., Comunidad Laboral Trabajando Iberica S.L. Unipersonal en liquidacion (b), Consulteam Consultores de Gestao Lda., Consumer Lending Receivables LLC, Crawfall S.A. (b), Cantabra de Inversiones S.A., Cantabro Catalana de Inversiones S.A., Darep Designated Activity Company, Decarome S.A.P.I. de C.V., Deva Capital Advisory Company S.L., Deva Capital Holding Company S.L., Deva Capital Investment Company S.L., Deva Capital Management Company S.L., Deva Capital Servicer Company S.L., Digital Procurement Holdings N.V., Diners Club Spain S.A., Direccion Estratega S.C., Dirgenfin S.L. en liquidacion (b), Ebury, El Corte Ingles, Elavon Mexico, Electrolyser S.A. de C.V., Entidad de Desarrollo a la Pequena y Micro Empresa Santander Consumo Peru S.A., Erestone S.A.S., Esfera Fidelidade S.A., Evidence Previdencia S.A., Financeira El Corte Ingles Portugal S.F.C. S.A., Financiera El Corte Ingles E.F.C. S.A., Finsantusa S.L. Unipersonal, First National Motor Business Limited, First National Motor Contracts Limited, First National Motor Facilities Limited, First National Motor Finance Limited, First National Motor Leasing Limited, First National Motor plc, First National Tricity Finance Limited, Fondos Santander S.A. Administradora de Fondos de Inversion (en liquidacion) (b), Fortensky Trading Ltd., Fosse Funding (No.1) Limited, Fosse Master Issuer plc, Fosse Trustee (UK) Limited, GTS El Centro Equity Holdings LLC, GTS El Centro Project Holdings LLC, Gamma Sociedade Financeira de Titularizacao de Creditos S.A., Gesban Mexico Servicios Administrativos Globales S.A. de C.V., Gesban Santander Servicios Profesionales Contables Limitada, Gesban Servicios Administrativos Globales S.L., Gesban UK Limited, Gestion de Instalaciones Fotovoltaicas S.L. Unipersonal, Gestion de Inversiones JILT S.A., Gestora de Procesos S.A. en liquidacion (b), Getnet Adquirencia e Servicos para Meios de Pagamento S.A., Global Vosgos S.L. Unipersonal, Grupo Empresarial Santander S.L., Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico S.A. de C.V., Grupo Financiero Santander SAB de CV, Guaranty Car S.A. Unipersonal, HQ Mobile Limited, Hispamer Renting S.A. Unipersonal, Holbah II Limited, Holbah Santander S.L. Unipersonal, Holmes Funding Limited, Holmes Master Issuer plc, Holmes Trustees Limited, Hyundai Capital Bank Europe GmbH, Iberica de Compras Corporativas S.L., Independence Community Bank Corp., Insurance Funding Solutions Limited, Interfinance Holanda B.V., Inversiones Capital Global S.A. Unipersonal, Inversiones Maritimas del Mediterraneo S.A., Isla de los Buques S.A., Klare Corredora de Seguros S.A., Landcompany 2020 S.L., Langton Funding (No.1) Limited, Langton Mortgages Trustee (UK) Limited, Langton Securities (2008-1) plc, Langton Securities (2010-1) PLC, Langton Securities (2010-2) PLC, Laparanza S.A., Liquidity Limited, Luri 1 S.A. en liquidacion (b) (e), Luri 6 S.A. Unipersonal, Master Red Europa S.L., Mata Alta S.L., Merciver S.L., Mercury TFS, Mercury Trade Finance Solutions S.A. de C.V., Mercury Trade Finance Solutions S.L., Mercury Trade Finance Solutions S.p.A., Moneybit S.L., Mortgage Engine Limited, Motor 2016-1 PLC, Motor 2017-1 PLC, Mouro Capital I LP, Multiplica SpA, NW Services CO., Naviera Mirambel S.L., Naviera Trans Gas A.I.E., Naviera Trans Iron S.L., Naviera Trans Ore A.I.E., Naviera Trans Wind S.L. (b), Naviera Transcantabrica S.L., Naviera Transchem S.L. Unipersonal, NeoAuto S.A.C., Norbest AS, Novimovest Fundo de Investimento Imobiliario, Open Bank Argentina S.A., Open Bank S.A., Open Digital Market S.L., Open Digital Services S.L., Operadora de Carteras Gamma S.A.P.I. de C.V., Optimal Investment Services SA, Optimal Multiadvisors Ireland Plc / Optimal Strategic US Equity Ireland Euro Fund, Optimal Multiadvisors Ireland Plc / Optimal Strategic US Equity Ireland US Dollar Fund, PBE Companies LLC, PECOH Limited, PI Distribuidora de Titulos e Valores Mobiliarios S.A., PSA Bank Deutschland GmbH, PSA Banque France, PSA Finance UK Limited, PSA Financial Services Nederland B.V., PSA Financial Services Spain E.F.C. S.A., PSA Renting Italia S.p.A., PagoFX Europe S.A., PagoFX HoldCo S.L., PagoFX UK Ltd, PagoNxt Merchant Solutions S.L., PagoNxt S.L., Parasant SA, Patagon.com, Pereda Gestion S.A., Pingham International S.A., Popular Spain Holding de Inversiones S.L.U., Portal Universia Argentina S.A., Portal Universia Portugal Prestacao de Servicos de Informatica S.A., Prime 16 Fundo de Investimentos Imobiliario, Punta Lima LLC, Punta Lima Wind Farm LLC, Retop S.A., Return Capital Servicos de Recuperacao de Creditos S.A., Return Gestao de Recursos S.A., Riobank International (Uruguay) SAIFE (b), Rojo Entretenimento S.A., SAM Asset Management S.A. de C.V. Sociedad Operadora de Fondos de Inversion, SAM Investment Holdings S.L., SAM UK Investment Holdings Limited (b), SANB Promotora de Vendas e Cobranca Ltda., SCF Eastside Locks GP Limited, SDMX Superdigital S.A. de C.V., SMPS Merchant Platform Solutions Mexico S.A de C.V, Sancap Investimentos e Participacoes S.A., Santander (CF Trustee Property Nominee) Limited, Santander (UK) Group Pension Schemes Trustees Limited, Santander Ahorro Inmobiliario 1 S.A., Santander Ahorro Inmobiliario 2 S.A., Santander Alternatives SICAV RAIF, Santander Asesorias Financieras Limitada, Santander Asset Finance (December) Limited, Santander Asset Finance plc, Santander Asset Management - S.G.O.I.C. S.A., Santander Asset Management Chile S.A., Santander Asset Management LLC, Santander Asset Management Luxembourg S.A., Santander Asset Management S.A. Administradora General de Fondos, Santander Asset Management S.A. S.G.I.I.C., Santander Asset Management UK Holdings Limited, Santander Asset Management UK Limited, Santander Back-Offices Globales Mayoristas S.A., Santander Banca de Inversion Colombia S.A.S., Santander Bank & Trust Ltd., Santander Bank National Association, Santander Bank Polska S.A., Santander Brasil Administradora de Consorcio Ltda., Santander Brasil Gestao de Recursos Ltda., Santander Brasil Tecnologia S.A., Santander Capital Desarrollo SGEIC S.A. Unipersonal, Santander Capital Structuring S.A. de C.V., Santander Capitalizacao S.A., Santander Cards Ireland Limited, Santander Cards Limited, Santander Cards UK Limited, Santander Chile Holding S.A., Santander Consulting (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Santander Consumer (UK) plc, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2013-B2 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2013-B3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L4 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L5 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-B1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-L2 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-L3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-B1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-L1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-L2 LLC, Santander Consumer Bank, Santander Consumer Bank AG, Santander Consumer Bank GmbH, Santander Consumer Bank S.A., Santander Consumer Bank S.p.A., Santander Consumer Banque S.A., Santander Consumer Credit Services Limited, Santander Consumer Finance Benelux B.V., Santander Consumer Finance Global Services S.L., Santander Consumer Finance Oy, Santander Consumer Finance S.A., Santander Consumer Finance Schweiz AG, Santander Consumer Financial Solutions Sp. z o.o., Santander Consumer Finanse Sp. z o.o. (b), Santander Consumer Holding Austria GmbH, Santander Consumer Holding GmbH, Santander Consumer International Puerto Rico LLC, Santander Consumer Leasing GmbH, Santander Consumer Mediacion Operador de Banca-Seguros Vinculado S.L., Santander Consumer Multirent Sp. z o.o., Santander Consumer Operations Services GmbH, Santander Consumer Receivables 10 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 11 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 3 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 7 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables Funding LLC, Santander Consumer Renting S.L., Santander Consumer S.A., Santander Consumer S.A.S., Santander Consumer Services GmbH, Santander Consumer Services S.A., Santander Consumer Technology Services GmbH, Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc., Santander Consumer USA Inc., Santander Consumo S.A. de C.V. S.O.F.O.M. E.R. Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Santander Corredora de Seguros Limitada, Santander Corredores de Bolsa Limitada, Santander Corretora de Cambio e Valores Mobiliarios S.A., Santander Corretora de Seguros Investimentos e Servicos S.A., Santander Customer Voice S.A., Santander Digital Assets S.L., Santander Drive Auto Receivables LLC, Santander Equity Investments Limited, Santander Espana Merchant Services Entidad de Pago S.L. Unipersonal, Santander Espana Servicios Legales y de Cumplimiento S.L., Santander Estates Limited, Santander F24 S.A., Santander Facility Management Espana S.L., Santander Factoring S.A., Santander Factoring Sp. z o.o., Santander Factoring y Confirming S.A. E.F.C., Santander Finance 2012-1 LLC, Santander Financial Exchanges Limited, Santander Financial Services Inc., Santander Financial Services plc, Santander Finanse Sp. z o.o., Santander Fintech Holdings S.L., Santander Fintech Limited, Santander Fundo de Investimento SBAC Referenciado di Credito Privado, Santander Gestion de Recaudacion y Cobranzas Ltda., Santander Global Consumer Finance Limited, Santander Global Facilities S.A. de C.V., Santander Global Facilities S.L., Santander Global Operations S.A., Santander Global Services S.A. (b), Santander Global Sport S.A., Santander Global Technology Brasil Ltda., Santander Global Technology Chile Limitada, Santander Global Technology S.L., Santander Global Trade Platform Solutions S.L., Santander Guarantee Company, Santander Holding Imobiliaria S.A., Santander Holding Internacional S.A., Santander Holdings USA Inc., Santander ISA Managers Limited, Santander Inclusion Financiera S.A. de C.V. S.O.F.O.M. E.R. Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Santander Insurance Agency U.S. LLC, Santander Insurance Services UK Limited, Santander Intermediacion Correduria de Seguros S.A., Santander International Products Plc. (d), Santander Inversiones S.A., Santander Investment Bank Limited, Santander Investment Chile Limitada, Santander Investment I S.A., Santander Investment S.A., Santander Investment Securities Inc., Santander Investments GP 1 S.a.r.l., Santander Inwestycje Sp. z o.o., Santander Lease S.A. E.F.C., Santander Leasing LLC, Santander Leasing S.A., Santander Leasing S.A. Arrendamento Mercantil, Santander Lending Limited, Santander Mediacion Operador de Banca-Seguros Vinculado S.A., Santander Merchant Platform Operations S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Services S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions Mexico S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions S.A., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions Uruguay S.A., Santander Merchant Platform SolucoesTecnologicas Brasil Ltda., Santander Merchant S.A., Santander Mortgage Holdings Limited, Santander Paraty Qif PLC, Santander Pensiones S.A. E.G.F.P., Santander Pensoes - Sociedade Gestora de Fundos de Pensoes S.A., Santander Private Banking Gestion S.A. S.G.I.I.C., Santander Private Banking UK Limited, Santander Private Banking s.p.a. in Liquidazione (b), Santander Private Real Estate Advisory & Management S.A., Santander Private Real Estate Advisory S.A., Santander Real Estate S.A., Santander Retail Auto Lease Funding LLC, Santander Rio Asset Management Gerente de Fondos Comunes de Inversion S.A., Santander Rio Trust S.A., Santander Rio Valores S.A., Santander S.A. Sociedad Securitizadora, Santander Secretariat Services Limited, Santander Securities LLC, Santander Seguros y Reaseguros Compania Aseguradora S.A., Santander Servicios Corporativos S.A. de C.V., Santander Servicios Especializados S.A. de C.V., Santander Technology USA LLC, Santander Tecnologia e Inovacao Ltda., Santander Tecnologia Argentina S.A., Santander Tecnologia Espana S.L.U., Santander Tecnologia Mexico S.A. de C.V., Santander Totta SGPS S.A., Santander Totta Seguros Companhia de Seguros de Vida S.A., Santander Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A., Santander Trade Services Limited, Santander UK Group Holdings plc, Santander UK Investments, Santander UK Operations Limited, Santander UK Plc, Santander UK Technology Limited, Santander Wealth Management International SA, Santander de Titulizacion S.G.F.T. S.A., Santusa Holding S.L., Services and Promotions Delaware Corp., Services and Promotions Miami LLC, Servicio de Alarmas Controladas por Ordenador S.A., Servicios de Cobranza Recuperacion y Seguimiento S.A. De C.V., Sheppards Moneybrokers Limited, Shiloh III Wind Project LLC, Sociedad Integral de Valoraciones Automatizadas S.A., Sociedad Operadora de Tarjetas de Pago Santander Getnet Chile S.A., Socur S.A., Sol Orchard Imperial 1 LLC, Solarlaser Limited, Sovereign Community Development Company, Sovereign Delaware Investment Corporation, Sovereign Lease Holdings LLC, Sovereign REIT Holdings Inc., Sovereign Spirit Limited (f), Sterrebeeck B.V., Suleyado 2003 S.L. Unipersonal, Summer Empreendimentos Ltda., Super Pagamentos e Administracao de Meios Eletronicos S.A., Superdigital Argentina S.A.U., Superdigital Colombia S.A.S., Superdigital Holding Company S.L., Superdigital Peru S.A.C., Suzuki Servicios Financieros S.L., Swesant SA, TIMFin S.p.A., TOPSAM S.A de C.V., Taxagest Sociedade Gestora de Participacoes Sociais S.A., Teatinos Siglo XXI Inversiones S.A., The Alliance & Leicester Corporation Limited, The Best Specialty Coffee S.L. Unipersonal, Time Retail Finance Limited (b), Tonopah Solar I LLC, Toque Fale Servicos de Telemarketing Ltda., Tornquist Asesores de Seguros S.A. (b), Totta (Ireland) PLC, Totta Urbe - Empresa de Administracao e Construcoes S.A., Trabajando.com Mexico S.A. de C.V. en liquidacion (b), Trabajando.com Peru S.A.C., Trans Rotor Limited (b), Transolver Finance EFC S.A., Tresmares Growth Fund Santander SCR S.A., Tresmares Santander Direct Lending SICC S.A., Tuttle and Son Limited, Universia Brasil S.A., Universia Chile S.A., Universia Colombia S.A.S., Universia Espana Red de Universidades S.A., Universia Holding S.L., Universia Mexico S.A. de C.V., Universia Peru S.A., Universia Uruguay S.A., Uro Property Holdings SOCIMI S.A., WIM Servicios Corporativos S.A. de C.V., WTW Shipping Designated Activity Company, Wallcesa S.A., Wave Holdco S.L., Waypoint Insurance Group Inc., and Wirecard (Technological Assets). Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (PCS) is a fertilizer producer producing a range of primary crop nutrients, such as potash, nitrogen and phosphate. The Company operates through three segments: potash, nitrogen and phosphate. As of December 31, 2016, it owned and operated five potash operations in Saskatchewan and owned one in New Brunswick. Its nitrogen operations involve the production of nitrogen fertilizers and nitrogen feed and industrial products, including ammonia, urea, nitrogen solutions, ammonium nitrate and nitric acid. It has nitrogen facilities in Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio and Trinidad. Its phosphate operations include the manufacture and sale of solid and liquid phosphate fertilizers, phosphate feed and industrial acid, which is used in food products and industrial processes. It has phosphate mines and mineral processing plant complexes in Florida and North Carolina. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had four phosphate feed plants in the United States. Read More Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. provides marine transportation, oil production, storage, long-distance towing and offshore installation, and maintenance and safety services for the oil industry. It operates in six segments: Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO); Shuttle Tanker; Floating Storage and Off-Take (FSO); Unit for Maintenance and Safety (UMS); Towage and Offshore Installation Vessels; and Conventional Tanker. The company serves customers in offshore oil regions of the North Sea, Brazil, and the East Coast of Canada. As at December 31, 2018, it had a fleet of 35 shuttle tankers, 2 chartered-in vessels, 1 HiLoad dynamic positioning unit, 8 FPSO units, 6 FSO units, 10 long-distance towage and offshore installation vessels, 1 UMS, and 2 chartered-in conventional oil tankers. Teekay Offshore GP L.L.C. serves as the general partner of Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda. Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. is a subsidiary of Brookfield TK TOLP L.P. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc.. The following companies are subsidiares of UnitedHealth Group: 1031387 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, 1070715 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, 1st Avenue Pharmacy Inc., 310 Canyon Medical, 310 Canyon Medical LLC, 4C MSO LLC, 4C Medical Group PLC, 5995 Minnetonka LLC, ABCO International Holdings LLC, ACN Group IPA of New York, ACN Group IPA of New York Inc., ACN Group of California, ACN Group of California Inc., AHJV, AHJV MSO, AHN Accontable Care Organization LLC, AHN Central Services LLC, AHN Target Holdings LLC, AMIL International, AMIL International S.a.r.l., APS Assistencia Personalizada a Saude Ltda., ARC Infusion, ASC Holdings of New Jersey LLC, ASC Network LLC, ASI Global, ASI Global LLC, Access Administrators Inc., Access HealthSource Administrators Inc., Access HealthSource Inc., Access I.V., Administradora Clinica La Colina S.A.S., Administradora Country S.A., Administradora Medica Centromed S.A., Advanced Care, Advanced Care Pharmacy, Advanced Pharma Inc., Advanced Surgery Center of Clifton LLC, Advanced Surgical Hospital LLC, Advantage Care Network Inc., Advocate Condell Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Advocate Sherman Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Advocate Southwest Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Advocate-SCA Partners LLC, Alere Health, Alere Health Improvement Company, Alere Healthcare of Illinois, Alere Wellbeing, Alere Wellology, Alere of New York, Aliansalud Entidad Promotora de Salud S.A., All Savers Insurance Company, All Savers Life Insurance Company of California, Alliance Surgical Center LLC, Aloha Surgical Center LLC, Ambient Healthcare, Ambient Healthcare Inc., Ambient Healthcare of Central Florida, Ambient Healthcare of Georgia, Ambient Healthcare of Northeast Florida, Ambient Healthcare of S. Florida, Ambient Healthcare of West Florida, Ambient Holdings, Ambient Holdings Inc., Ambient Nursing Services, AmeriChoice, AmeriChoice Corporation, AmeriChoice Health Services, AmeriChoice of Connecticut, AmeriChoice of New Jersey, AmeriChoice of New Jersey Inc., American Health Network of Indiana Care Organization LLC, American Health Network of Indiana II LLC, American Health Network of Indiana LLC, American Health Network of Ohio Care Organization LLC, American Health Network of Ohio II LLC, American Health Network of Ohio LLC, Amico Saude Ltda., Amil, Amil Assistencia Medica Internacional S.A., Amil Lifesciences Participacoes Ltda., Antelope Valley Surgery Center L.P., Analisis Clinicos ML S.A.C., Apothecary Holdings Inc., Apothecary Shop of Phoenix Inc., AppleCare Medical Management, AppleCare Medical Management LLC, Aquitania Chilean Holding SpA, Arise Physician Group, Arizona Physicians IPA, Arizona Physicians IPA Inc., AssuranceRx, AssuranceRx LLC, Athens ASC Holdings LLC, Audax Health Solutions, Audax Health Solutions LLC, Austin Center for Outpatient Surgery L.P., Avella Patient Access Program Inc., Avella Specialty Pharmacy, Avella of Austin Inc., Avella of Columbus Inc., Avella of Deer Valley Inc., Avella of Denver Inc., Avella of Gilbert Inc., Avella of Las Vegas II Inc., Avella of Orlando Inc., Avella of Phoenix III Inc., Avella of Sacramento Inc., Avella of Scottsdale Inc., Avella of St. Louis Inc., Avella of Tampa LLC, Avella of Tucson II Inc., Avella of Tucson Inc., Aveta Arizona, Aveta Health Solutions Inc., Aveta Inc., Aveta Kansas City, Aveta Tennessee, AxelaCare Health Solutions, AxelaCare Intermediate Holdings, AxelaCare Intermediate Holdings LLC, AxelaCare LLC, B.R.A.S.S. Partnership in Commendam, Banmedica Colombia SpA, Banmedica Internacional SpA, Banmedica S.A., Beach Surgical Holdings III LLC, Behavioral Healthcare Options, Behavioral Healthcare Options Inc., Belleville Surgical Center Ltd. an Illinois Limited Partnership, Benefit Administration for the Self Employed L.L.C., Benefitter Insurance Solutions Inc., Birmingham Outpatient Surgical Center LLC, Blackstone Valley Surgicare GP LLC, Blue Ridge GP LLC, Bordeaux (Barbados) Holdings I SRL, Bordeaux (Barbados) Holdings II SRL, Bordeaux (Barbados) Holdings III SRL, Bordeaux Holding SpA, Bordeaux International Holdings Inc., Bordeaux UK Holdings I Limited, Bordeaux UK Holdings II Limited, Bordeaux UK Holdings III Limited, Bosque Medical Center Ltda., Brandon Ambulatory Surgery Center LC, BriovaRx, BriovaRx, BriovaRx Infusion Services, BriovaRx Infusion Services 102 LLC, BriovaRx Infusion Services 200 Inc., BriovaRx Infusion Services 204 Inc., BriovaRx Infusion Services 209 Inc., BriovaRx Infusion Services 305 LLC, BriovaRx Infusion Services 402 LLC, BriovaRx Infusion Services Inc., BriovaRx Specialty LLC, BriovaRx of California, BriovaRx of California Inc., BriovaRx of Florida, BriovaRx of Florida Inc., BriovaRx of Georgia, BriovaRx of Georgia LLC, BriovaRx of Hawaii, BriovaRx of Indiana, BriovaRx of Louisiana, BriovaRx of Louisiana L.L.C., BriovaRx of Maine, BriovaRx of Maine Inc., BriovaRx of Massachusetts, BriovaRx of Massachusetts LLC, BriovaRx of Nevada, BriovaRx of New York, BriovaRx of New York Inc., BriovaRx of Texas, BriovaRx of Texas Inc., CDC Holdings Colombia S.A.S., CLISA Clinica de Santo Antonio S.A., CMO Centro Medico de Oftalmologia S/S Ltda., CMS Central de Manipulacao e Servicos Farmaceuticos S.A., CNIC Health Solutions Inc., COI Participacoes S.A., COI Clinicas Oncologicas Integradas S.A., Cabin Enterprises LLC, Cabin Holdings LLC, California MedTrans Network IPA LLC, California MedTrans Network MSO LLC, California Medical Group Insurance Company Risk Retention Group, Camp Hill-SCA Centers LLC, Capital City Medical Group L.L.C., Cardio Management, Cardio Management Inc., Care Improvement Plus Group Management, Care Improvement Plus Group Management LLC, Care Improvement Plus South Central Insurance Company, Care Improvement Plus Wisconsin Insurance Company, Care Improvement Plus of Texas Insurance Company, Casa de Saude Santa Therezinha Ltda., Casa de Saude Santa Therezinha S.A., Castle Rock SurgiCenter LLC, Catalyst360, Catalyst360 LLC, Catamaran Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Catamaran Health Solutions, Catamaran Holdings I, Catamaran IPA III, Catamaran Mail, Catamaran PBM of Illinois II, Catamaran PBM of Puerto Rico, Catamaran PD of Pennsylvania, Catamaran PD of Puerto Rico, Catamaran Rebate Management, Catamaran S.a.r.l., Catamaran Senior Services, Catamaran of Pennsylvania, Cedar Park Surgery Center LLC, Cemed Care - Empressa de Atendimento Clinico Geral Ltda., Cemed Care Empresa de Atendimento Clinico Geral Ltda., Central Indiana Care Organization LLC, Central Ohio Care Organization LLC, Central de Compras SpA, CentriHealth Corporation, CentriHealth UK Limited, CentrifyHealth LLC, Centro Medico Hospitalar Pitangueiras Ltda., Centro Medico Odontologico Americano S.A.C., Centro Medico PJ Ltda., Centro de Entrenamiento en Reanimacion y Prevencion Limitada (CERP), Centro de Servicios Compartidos Banmedica S.A., Centromed Quilpue S.A., Centros Medicos y Dentales Multimed Ltda., Centurion Casualty Company, Channel Islands Surgicenter L.P., Channel Islands Surgicenter Properties LLC, Charleston Surgery Properties LLC, Charlotte-SC LLC, Childrens Surgery Center LLC, ChinaGate (Hong Kong) Limited, ChinaGate Company Limited, Citrus Regional Surgery Center L.P., Clinica Oftalmologica Danilo de Castro Sociedade Simples, Clinical Partners of Colorado Springs LLC, Clinica Alameda S.A., Clinica Bio Bio S.A., Clinica Ciudad del Mar S.A., Clinica Davila y Servicios Medicos S.A., Clinica Medico Cirurgica de Santa Tecla S.A., Clinica San Borja (La Esperanza del Peru S.A.), Clinica San Felipe S.A., Clinica Santa Maria S.A., Clinica Sanchez Ferrer S.A., Clinica Vespucio S.A., Clinica del Country S.A., Coachella Valley Physicians of PrimeCare, Coachella Valley Physicians of PrimeCare Inc., Coalition For Advanced Pharmacy Services, Coalition for Advanced Pharmacy Services Inc., Coastal Physicians Management Inc., Collaborative Care Holdings, Collaborative Care Holdings LLC, Collaborative Care Services, Collaborative Care Services Inc., Collaborative Care Solutions, Collaborative Realty, Collaborative Realty LLC, Colmedica Medicina Prepagada, Colonial Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Colorado Innovative Physician Solutions Inc., Colorado Springs Surgery Center Ltd., Comfort Care Transportation, Comfort Care Transportation LLC, Commonwealth Administrators, Connecticut Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Connecticut Surgery Properties LLC, Connecticut Surgical Center LLC, Connextions, Connextions HCI, Constructora e Inmobiliaria Magapoq S.A., Consumer Wellness Solutions Inc., Country Scan Ltda., Crescent Drug Corp., Cypress Care, Cypress Care Inc., DBP Services of New York IPA, DBP Services of New York IPA Inc., DTC Surgery Center LLC, DWIC of Tampa Bay, DWIC of Tampa Bay Inc., DaVita Magan Management Inc., Danbury Surgical Center L.P., Day-Op Surgery Consulting Company, Day-Op Surgery Consulting Company LLC, Definity Health, Dental Benefit Providers, Dental Benefit Providers Inc., Dental Benefit Providers of California, Dental Benefit Providers of California Inc., Dental Benefit Providers of Illinois, Dental Benefit Providers of Illinois Inc., Derry Surgical Center LLC, Diagnostico Ecotomografico Centromed Ltda., Diasnostico por Imagenes Centromed Ltda., Dilab Medicina Nuclear Ltda., Diplomat Pharmacy, Distance Learning Network, Distance Learning Network Inc., Doctor + S.A.C., Dry Creek Surgery Center LLC, Dublin Surgery Center LLC, Duncan Printing Services, Duncan Printing Services LLC, E Street Endoscopy LLC, ELG FZE, EP Campus I, EP Campus I LLC, East Brunswick Surgery Center LLC, Electronic Network Systems, Electronic Network Systems Inc., Elual Participacoes S.A., Empire Physician Management Company, Empire Physician Management Company LLC, Employers Health Choice PPO Inc., Empremedica S. A., Endoscopy Center Affiliates Inc., Enterprise Life Insurance Company, Equian, Equian LLC, Equian Parent Corp., Esho Empresa de Servicos Hospitalares S.A., Etho Empresa de Tecnologia Hospitalar Ltda., Evercare Collaborative Solutions, Evercare Collaborative Solutions Inc., Everett MSO Inc., Excellion Servicos Biomedicos Ltda., Excellion Servicos Biomedicos S.A., Excelsior Insurance Brokerage Inc., Executive Health Resources, Executive Health Resources Inc., Executive Surgery Center LLC, Eye Clinic Oftalmologia Clinico Cirurgica e Diagnostico Ltda., FMG Holdings, FMG Holdings LLC, FOR HEALTH OF ARIZONA, Family Health Care Services, Family Home Hospice, Family Home Hospice Inc., First Rx Specialty & Mail Services, Florida MedTrans Network LLC, Florida MedTrans Network MSO LLC, For Health, For Health Inc., For Health of Arizona Inc., Fortified Provider Network Inc., Fortify Technologies Asia LLC, Fortify Technologies LLC, Foundation Financial Services Inc., Franklin Surgical Center LLC, Freedom Life Insurance Company of America, Freeway Surgicenter of Houston LLC, Frontier MEDEX Limited, Frontier Medex Tanzania Limited, FrontierMEDEX, FrontierMEDEX (RMS), FrontierMEDEX (RMS) Inc., FrontierMEDEX Government Services, FrontierMEDEX Government Services LLC, FrontierMEDEX Inc., FrontierMEDEX Kenya Limited, FrontierMEDEX US, FrontierMEDEX US Inc., Fundacion Banmedica, GRANTS PASS SURGERY CENTER LLC, Gadsden Surgery Center LLC, Gadsden Surgery Center Ltd., Gainesville Surgery Center L.P., Gainesville Surgery Properties LLC, Genoa, Genoa Healthcare Inc., Genoa Healthcare LLC, Genoa QoL Wholesale LLC, Genoa Technology (Canada) Inc., Genoa Technology Inc., Genoa Telepsychiatry Inc., Genoa of Arkansas LLC, Glenwood Surgical Center L.P., Glenwood-SC Inc., Golden Outlook, Golden Outlook Inc., Golden Rule Financial Corporation, Golden Rule Insurance Company, Golden Triangle Surgicenter L.P., Grapevine Finance LLC, Greater Hartford ASC LLC, Grove Place Surgery Center L.L.C., Guardian Health Systems Limited Partnership, H&W Indemnity (SPC), H&W Indemnity (SPC) Ltd., H.I. Investments Holding Company LLC, HCP ACO California LLC, HCP ACO Nevada LLC, HCentive Technology India Private Limited, HMI NewCo LLC, Harken Health Insurance Company, Hayes-Strub LLC, Health Business Systems, Health Care-ONE Insurance Agency Inc., Health Inventures Employment Solutions LLC, Health Inventures LLC, Health Net Insurance of New York, Health Net Services (Bermuda) Ltd., Health Plan of Nevada, Health Plan of Nevada Inc., Health Technology Analysts Pty Limited, HealthAllies, HealthAllies Inc., HealthCare Partners ASC-LB LLC, HealthCare Partners Management Services California LLC, HealthCare Partners RE LLC, HealthFirst IPA Inc., HealthMarkets Group Inc., HealthMarkets Inc., HealthMarkets Insurance Agency Inc., HealthMarkets LLC, HealthMarkets NewCo Inc., HealthMarkets Services Inc., HealthSCOPE Holdings Inc., HealthScope Benefits Inc., Healthcare Partners Plan of Nevada Inc., Healthcare Solutions Inc., Heartland Heart and Vascular LLC, Help S.A., Help Service S.A., Highlands Ranch Healthcare, Highlands Ranch Healthcare LLC, Home Care I.V. of Bend, Home Infusion With Heart, Home Medical S.A., Hospice Inspiris Holdings, Hospice Inspiris Holdings Inc., Hospitais Associados de Pernambuco Ltda., Hospital Alvorada de Taguatinga Ltda., Hospital Ana Costa S.A., Hospital Maternidade Promater Ltda., Hospital Samaritano de Sao Paulo Ltda., Hospital Santa Helena S.A., Hospital de Clinicas de Jacarepagua Ltda., Humedica, Humedica Inc., Hygeia Corporation, Hygeia Corporation (Canada), Hygeia Corporation (DE), Hygeia Corporation (Ontario), INOV8 Surgical at Memorial City LLC, INSPIRIS of New York IPA, INSPIRIS of New York Management, INSPIRIS of New York Management Inc., INSPIRIS of Texas Physician Group, IRX Financing I LLC, Illinois Independent Care Network, Imed Star Servicos de Desempenho Organizacional Ltda., Impel Consulting Experts, Impel Consulting Experts L.L.C., Impel Management Services L.L.C., Indian River Surgery Center Ltd., Indian River Surgery Properties LLC, Indiana Care Organization LLC, Infusource, Ingram & Associates, Ingram & Associates LLC, Inmobiliaria Apoquindo 3001 S.A., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo 3600 Ltda., Inmobiliaria Apoquindo S.A., Inmobiliaria Clinica Santa Maria S.A., Inmobiliaria Vinamed Ltda., Inmobiliaria e Inversiones Alameda S.A., Inspiris, Inspiris Inc., Inspiris Services Company, Inspiris of Tennessee, Instituto do Radium de Cammpinas Ltda, International Psychological Services Pty Limited, Inversiones Clinicas Santa Maria S.A., Isapre Banmedica S.A., Isapre Vida Tres S.A., Johnston Surgicare L.P., Joliet Surgery Center Limited Partnership, LHI, Laboratorio ROE S.A., Laboratorios Medicos Amed Quilpue S.A., LifePrint Health, LifePrint Health Inc., LifeStyles Marketing Group Inc., LifeWell Ltd. Co., Lifeprint Accountable Care Organization, Lifeprint Accountable Care Organization LLC, Lifeprint East, Lifeprint East Inc., Logistics Health Inc., Lotten-Eyes Oftalmologia Clinica e Cirurgica Ltda., Louisville S.C. Ltd., Louisville-SC Properties Inc., Loyola Ambulatory Surgery Center at Oakbrook Inc., Lusiadas - Parcerias Cascais S.A., Lusiadas A.C.E., Lusiadas S.A., Lusiadas SGPS S.A., MAMSI Insurance Resources, MAMSI Life and Health Insurance Company, MD Ops, MD Ops Inc., MD-Individual Practice Association, MD-Individual Practice Association Inc., ME AHS UC LLC, MEDEX Insurance Services, MEDEX Insurance Services Inc., MGH/SCA LLC, MHC Real Estate Holdings, MHC Real Estate Holdings LLC, MIAMI SURGERY CENTER LLC, MSLA Management LLC, MXMD Centros De Cancer, Mamoeco Mamografia e Ecografia Centro de Diagnostico, Managed Physical Network, Managed Physical Network Inc., March Holdings, March Holdings Inc., March Vision Care, March Vision Care Inc., Marin Surgery Holdings Inc., Maryland Ambulatory Centers, Maryland-SCA Centers LLC, Massachusetts Assurance Company Ltd. PIC, Massachusetts Avenue Surgery Center LLC, Mat-Rx Development, Mat-Rx Fort Worth GP, MedExpress Development, MedExpress Development LLC, MedExpress Urgent Care Alabama LLC, MedExpress Urgent Care Inc. - Ohio, MedExpress Urgent Care Maine Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care New Hampshire Inc., MedExpress Urgent Care of Boynton Beach, MedExpress Urgent Care of Boynton Beach LLC, MedSynergies, MedSynergies LLC, MedSynergies North Texas, Medalliance Net Ltda, Medalliance Net Ltda., Medica Health Plans of Florida, Medica Health Plans of Florida Inc., Medica HealthCare Plans, Medica HealthCare Plans Inc., Medical Clinic of North Texas PLLC, Medical Hilfe S.A., Medical Preparatory School of Allied Health, Medical Support Los Angeles Inc., Medical Surgical Centers of America Inc., Medical Transportation Services, Medical Transportation Services LLC, Medication Management Systems Inc., Melbourne Surgery Center LLC, Memorial City Holdings LLC, Memorial City Partners LLC, Memphis-SC LLC, Memphis-SP LLC, Mesquite Liberty LLC, Metro I Stone Management, Metropolitan Medical Partners LLC, Metropolitan Medical Transportation IPA LLC, Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, Midwest Center for Day Surgery LLC, Mile High SurgiCenter LLC, Mississippi Surgery Holdings LLC, Mississippi Surgical Center Limited Partnership, Mobile Medical Professionals, Modern Medical Inc., Monarch Management Services, Monarch Management Services Inc., Montgomery Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Mountain View Medical Group LLC, Mt. Pleasant Surgery Center L.P., Multiangio Ltda., Muskogee Surgical Investors LLC, Mustang Razorback Holdings, Mustang Razorback Holdings Inc., My Wellness Solutions LLC, NAMM Holdings, NAMM Holdings Inc., NSC Fayetteville LLC, NSC Greensboro LLC, NSC Lancaster LLC, NSC Seattle Inc., NSC Upland LLC, Nashville-SCA Surgery Centers Inc., National Foundation Life Insurance Company, National MedTrans LLC, National Pacific Dental, National Pacific Dental Inc., National Surgery Centers LLC, Neighborhood Health Partnership, Neighborhood Health Partnership Inc., Netwerkes, Netwerkes LLC, Nevada Medical Services LLC, Nevada Pacific Dental, New Orleans Regional Physician Hospital Organization L.L.C., New West Physicians Inc., Newton Holdings LLC, North American Medical Management - Illinois, North American Medical Management California, North American Medical Management California Inc., North Puget Sound Center for Sleep Disorders LLC, North Puget Sound Oncology Equipment Leasing Company LLC, Northern Nevada Health Network, Northern Nevada Health Network Inc., Northern Rockies Surgicenter Inc., Northwest Surgicare LLC, Northwest Surgicare Ltd., Nutritional/Parenteral Home Care, Nutritional/Parenteral Home Care of Huntsville, OC Cardiology Practice Partners LLC, OSB Tecnologia e Servicos de Suporte Ltda., Omesa S.A., OmniClaim LLC, Oncocare S.A.C., OneNet PPO, OneNet PPO LLC, Optimum Choice, Optimum Choice Inc., Optum, Optum Bank, Optum Bank Inc., Optum Biometrics, Optum Biometrics Inc., Optum Care Inc., Optum Care Services Company, Optum Clinical Services, Optum Clinics Holdings, Optum Clinics Holdings Inc., Optum Clinics Intermediate Holdings, Optum Clinics Intermediate Holdings Inc., Optum Digital Health Holdings LLC, Optum Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Global Finance (Ireland) Unlimited Company, Optum Global Solutions (India) Private Limited, Optum Global Solutions (Philippines), Optum Global Solutions (Philippines) Inc., Optum Global Solutions International B.V., Optum Government Solutions, Optum Government Solutions Inc., Optum Growth Partners LLC, Optum Health & Technology (Australia) Pty Ltd, Optum Health & Technology (Hong Kong) Limited, Optum Health & Technology (India) Private Limited, Optum Health & Technology (Singapore) Pte. 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Valley National Bancorp is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Lending; Commercial Lending; Investment Management; and Corporate and Other Adjustments. The Consumer Lending segment consists of residential mortgage loans, automobile loans and home equity loans, as well as wealth management and insurance services. The Commercial Lending segment includes the floating rate and adjustable rate commercial and industrial loans as well as fixed rate owner occupied and commercial real estate loans. The Investment Management segment refers to investments in various types of securities and interest-bearing deposits with other banks. The Corporate and Other Adjustments segment represents the income and expense items not directly attributable to a specific segment. The company was founded on November 12, 1982 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Read More The Bank of Nova Scotia provides various banking products and services in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, the Caribbean and Central America, and internationally. It operates through Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Banking and Markets, and Global Wealth Management segments. The company offers financial advice and solutions, and day-to-day banking products, including debit and credit cards, chequing and saving accounts, investments, mortgages, loans, and insurance to individuals; and business banking solutions comprising lending, deposit, cash management, and trade finance solutions to small businesses and commercial customers, including automotive financing solutions to dealers and their customers. It also provides wealth management advice and solutions, including online brokerage, mobile investment, full-service brokerage, trust, private banking, and private investment counsel services; and retail mutual funds, exchange traded funds, liquid alternative funds, and institutional funds. In addition, the company offers international banking services for retail, corporate, and commercial customers; and lending and transaction, investment banking advisory, and capital markets access services to corporate customers. Further, it provides Internet, mobile, and telephone banking services. The company operates a network of 952 branches and approximately 3,540 automated banking machines in Canada; and approximately 1,400 branches, 5,200 ATMs, and 22 contact centers internationally. The Bank of Nova Scotia was founded in 1832 and is headquartered in Halifax, Canada. Read More Wall Street analysts have given Gafisa 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 Gafisa wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys. View MarketBeat's top stock picks here. Taliban fighters killed around 30 Afghan security forces in multiple attacks in western Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday, the deadliest clashes since the militant group ended its ceasefire. Militants stormed at least two bases belonging to government forces in Badghis province overnight and ambushed a convoy of reinforcements. Officials said the group may have used the three-day truce, that ended Sunday, to plan the attacks. "More than half of the fatalities came from the ambush and roadside bomb blasts that hit a reinforcement convoy," provincial governor Abdul Qhafoor Malikzai told AFP. The other soldiers and police were killed when militants raided their bases, Qhafoor added. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a WhatsApp message to journalists. Provincial council chief Abdul Aziz Bek confirmed the death toll and accused the Taliban of taking advantage of the suspension in fighting to do reconnaissance in the area. "During the ceasefire the Taliban had sent informants to collect information about the bases and plan the attack," he told AFP. Badghis governor spokesman Jamshid Shahabi told AFP that 15 Taliban fighters were also killed and 21 wounded in the attacks on two bases in Bala Murghab district. The defence ministry issued a statement saying fighting in the area continued as the Taliban faced "stiff resistance" from Afghan security forces. Further reinforcements had been deployed, the statement said. It appeared to be the deadliest fighting since the Taliban returned to the battlefield on Monday after refusing a government request to extend their unprecedented three-day ceasefire. - Year-long truce offer - President Ashraf Ghani announced over the weekend that the government's eight-day ceasefire, which had been scheduled to expire on Tuesday, would be prolonged for another 10 days. The first formal nationwide ceasefire since the 2001 US-led invasion had sparked extraordinary scenes of Taliban fighters, security forces and civilians happily celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday together. But the jubilation appeared to alarm Taliban leaders, who on Sunday ordered their fighters to stay at their posts or in areas under their control. The Taliban hailed the truce as a success and a demonstration of their "full control" over their fighters. The government's move to extend its ceasefire with the Taliban may buy Ghani more time to work out how to keep the momentum going. His February offer of peace talks with the Taliban, considered to be one of the most comprehensive plans ever offered by an Afghan government, was ignored by the militants, who went on to launch their annual spring offensive. The insurgents have repeatedly demanded direct dialogue with the United States, which Washington has refused, and the withdrawal of foreign troops. Ghani said Tuesday he was prepared to extend the ceasefire to a year "if the Taliban accepts it", according to a video of a meeting between the president and a group of peace marchers who arrived in the capital on Monday. The government's ceasefire does not extend to the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks in the eastern province of Nangarhar over the weekend that marred an otherwise peaceful Eid holiday. AFP 23:22 The cash payments were made personally by V Mulgundto the AICC, the department alleged. 'Rs 3 crore were personally delivered by Mulgund to AICC office on January 1, 2017. On January 9, another Rs 2 crore was delivered. These unaccounted monies were delivered on the direction of Shivakumar and Sunil Kumar Sharma, another accused,' it said. In the complaint, a copy of which is available with PTI, the I-T department has accused Shivakumar and Sharma of transporting huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through 'hawala' channels with help of three other accused. 'As per the facts and analysis of the evidences, it is clear that accused number 1 (Shivakumar) has set up an extensive network of persons and premises across Delhi and Bangalore in order to transport and utilise unaccounted cash,' the department said. Other accused are Sachin Narayan, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and N Rajendra, it said. According to the I-T department, Narayan is a business partner ofShivakumar and Sharma is the proprietor of Sharma Transports,which runs a fleet of luxury and passenger buses and provides transport services to various concerns and individuals on rental basis. Haumanthaiah is an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, allegedly responsible for storing and handling unaccounted cash of Shivakumar in Delhi, it said in the complaint. Rajendra is a caretaker of Karnataka Bhavan and works for Sharma, besides looking after immovable properties of Shivakumar and Sharma, it said. The I-T department alleged that all five accused conspired to evade tax. 'The analysis of evidences shows that the minister has set up an extensive network of persons and premises across Delhi and Bangalore in order to transport and utilise unaccounted cash,' it said. He was involved in organised tax evasion as part of conspiracy by engaging others, the department said. -- PTI Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar paid unaccounted money to the All India Congress Committee, the Income Tax Department has claimed in a complaint filed before the Special Court for Economic Offences in Bengaluru. Lucy Maud Montgomery scrimped and saved to study at Dalhousie College, starting classes in what is now the Forrest Building in the fall of 1895. The woman who was to become one of Canadas most well-known authors had a thirst for knowledge; she came to Dal excited to learn and to perfect her emerging and considerable writing talent. Now, the Faculty of Health has formally recognized this connection with a plaque in the lobby of the historic Forrest Building. Adalia Wambolt and Dr. Cheryl Hubley-Kozey, dean of the Faculty of Health (Acting) unveil the plaque commemorating Lucy Maud Montgomerys time in the Forrest Building. On Monday, June 18, Dr. Gail Tomblin Murphy, director of the School of Nursing, and Dr. Cheryl Hubley-Kozey, dean of the Faculty of Health (Acting), welcomed guests who braved the rain to hear about the beloved authors time spent at Dal. Those insights came from special guest Kate Scarth, chair in L.M. Montgomery Studies and Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture at UPEI. Guests also met Adalia Wambolt, a 12-year-old actor who portrayed Anne Shirley. She was accompanied by her mother, Dalhousie alumna Jocelyn Burke (BSc 93, Diploma, Dental Hygiene 95). Kate Scarth, Chair in L.M. Montgomery Studies at UPEI and Dal alumna, chats with Adalia Wambolt as Anne Shirley. How Dalhousie College became Redmond College Dr. Scarth, a Dal grad (BA English), said Montgomery looked fondly upon her time at Dalhousie, highly valuing the chance to further her studies even though she could only afford to attend Dalhousie for one year. Montgomery fictionalized Dalhousie as Redmond College in her novel Anne of the Island, and Halifax became known as the city of Kingsport. It can be fun detective work going through the novel and trying to place Halifax landmarks, said Dr. Scarth. Although the famed writers time at Dal was short, she created through her character, Anne Shirley, the support for educational pursuits that she herself was unable to find. To attend Dalhousie, Montgomery had to go against popular opinion back home, as her grandfather and the neighbours in her rural community did not believe in women being educated, Dr. Scarth said, noting that Anne was able to return to Green Gables with her full Bachelor of Arts degree. Dr. Scarth said that despite common attitudes at the time, Dalhousie itself was a welcoming place for women. Post-secondary education was a rare attainment for women back then, but Dal took an inclusive position actively advertising to attract female students. Montgomerys connection to Dalhousie is now formally recognized with a plaque in the lobby of the Forrest Building, near the staircase where she once travelled on her way to and from the classes she loved. Quick Facts Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel on Wednesday outlined its network expansion blueprint for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for 2018-19, entailing addition of over 15,000 new mobile sites and over 3,000 km of optic fibre. New Delhi: Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel on Wednesday outlined its network expansion blueprint for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for 2018-19, entailing addition of over 15,000 new mobile sites and over 3,000 km of optic fibre. The plan -- which is part of its network expansion programme, 'Project LEAP', will bolster data capacities and taking services deeper into rural and unconnected areas. It translates into "addition of 1 new site per hour" to Airtel's network in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, a company release said. Last year, over 10,000 new sites were deployed in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, extending Airtel's mobile broadband footprint to over 85 per cent of the population in the two states, the Airtel statement added. Less than a year after banks and post offices were asked to set up Aadhaar facility on their premises, as many as 18,000 centres have come up for enrolment and updation of the biometric ID at such locations, UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey has said. New Delhi: Less than a year after banks and post offices were asked to set up Aadhaar facility on their premises, as many as 18,000 centres have come up for enrolment and updation of the biometric ID at such locations, UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey has said. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had in July last year asked private as well as public sector banks to set up Aadhaar facility in at least one out of 10 branches. "Aadhaar centres are being set up in banks and post offices. So far, about 18,000 centres have been set up in their premises and in the remaining places also, centres will be set up," Pandey told PTI. Overall, about 26,000 centres are slated to come up at banks and post offices. The 'Bank Aadhaar Kendras' are being set up with a view to making the Aadhaar verification process of bank accounts convenient for people and to ensure that the enrolment takes place in a secure and supervised environment. About 10,000 branches of private and public sector banks have set up Aadhaar enrolment and updation centres on their premises, compared to over 13,800 branches that need to do so. "About 8,000 such centres have come up in post offices out of 13,000 that are targeted," Pandey pointed out. The UIDAI Chief declined to specify the timeline for achieving the targets set, but emphasised that the process of establishing the remaining centres is underway. "The fact is that in the last few months they have set up as many as 18,000 centres...banks and post offices have worked very hard for this. In order to bolster security and confidence of people, Aadhaar centres are being shifted to this credible environment where people can get quality service in a secure manner," he said. Offering a major breather to banks about a fortnight back, the UIDAI had reduced by half, the daily minimum Aadhaar enrolment or updation targets for the stipulated bank branches. It said that the bank premises with Aadhaar facility will have to ensure at least eight enrolments or updations in each branch daily from July 1, 2018 - a bar that will be raised to a minimum of 12 transactions per day per branch from October 1, and to 16 from January 1, 2019 onwards. The banks were, so far, facing a target of logging 16 daily enrolments or updations in each of these branches. India has already signed contracts to ship 5,00,000 bales (85,000 tonnes) of their new season harvest to China, officials said last week, in rare advance deals. Mumbai/Beijing: Indias cotton shipments to China could grow five-fold to 5 million bales (8,50,000 tonnes) in the next crop year as exporters rack up orders amid a trade war that is forcing the worlds top consumer to look for other sources of supply. The US, the worlds biggest exporter of the fibre, has cornered the bulk of Chinese imports for at least a decade. But Chinas decision to impose a 25 per cent import tax from July 6 on US farm commodities, including on cotton, in retaliation for tariffs enacted by the administration of US President Donald Trump will allow India to grab a bigger share of the Chinese market. In the last few weeks we are getting good inquiries from China for the new season crop, said Arun Sekhsaria, MD of D.D. Cotton, an exporter that earlier this month sold cotton to China for shipments in November and December. If the 25 per cent duty stays there as announced, then India could export 5 million bales to China, he said. India has already signed contracts to ship 5,00,000 bales (85,000 tonnes) of their new season harvest to China, officials said last week, in rare advance deals. In response to US tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods, Beijing slapped import taxes on cotton, as well as on other commodities and products from the US, even as its own state reserves of the fibre are depleting. Everybody is worried about the trade war nowadays so everyone is switching from the US to other origins, said a Chinese trader. Once the worlds top cotton importer, China has seen its imports shrink from more than 5 million tonnes in 2011/12 to around 1 million tonnes last year, mainly due to efforts to reduce its state stockpiles. But, as the inventories work down, China has begun allowing more imports. Last week, China approved 8,00,000 tonnes of additional cotton import quotas for 2018, the first time it has given any additional quota in five years. China is set to return as a major cotton importer, taking 10 million to 15 million bales (2 million to 3 million tonnes) a year by 2019/20, compared with 5 million bales this year, according to Tim Bourgois, head of the cotton platform at Louis Dreyfus Company. Chinese demand is huge. This is an opportunity for India to raise exports, said Atul Ganatra, president of the Cotton Association of India. Strong demand from China could help lift Indias overall exports to as much as 10 million bales in 2018/19, highest in five years, as demand from traditional buyers like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Pakistan also remains healthy, said Ganatra. Neetu Kapoor is all set to ring in her birthday on July 8 among her family in the beautiful city of Paris, notes DNA. A source told the daily, Rishi is in charge of all the arrangements. He will personally look into everything, including the birthday itinerary. The report states that Neetu will leave for London on June 30, a day after son Ranbir Kapoors Sanju releases. She will vacation with her daughter Riddhima, her son-in-law Bharat and her granddaughter, Samara, for five days, post which she will be joined by Rishi and Ranbir in Paris. Ranbir, who is shooting for Brahmastra in Bulgaria, will join her from there. Now the question arises that will Alia Bhatt also be part of the celebrations? There seems to be high possibility considering how soon the actress has become so close to the Kapoors. Also, Paris is quite a romantic place, so maybe it could call for double celebrations with Ranbir and Alias engagement too? Considering how fast their relationship has evolved, even more than what Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif were 'Black Panther' is the eighteenth film released by Marvel Studios for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Los Angeles: 'Black Panther' roared at this year's MTV Movie and TV Awards as the film went on to bag top honours, including Best Movie, while 'Stranger Things' was adjudged the Best Show at the ceremony. The Ryan Coogler-directed film also won three other big awards - including Best Performance in a Movie and Best Hero for Chadwick Boseman's performance as T'Challa/ Black Panther. Micheal B Jordan's portrayal as Erik Killmonger in the film won him the title of Best Villain. The Best Movie award was presented by Lady Gaga, who made a surprise appearance at the show. She then announced the award would go to 'Black Panther'. Boseman, Jordan and Winston Duke (M'Baku) came on to the stage to accept the award. "Thank you all for investing in not just a beautiful story, but investing in a continued conversation in what this industry and what this culture could achieve - and what we all can aspire to be," Duke said. Boseman dedicated his Best Hero award to real-life "true hero", James Shaw Jr, an American man known for disarming a gunman during the Nashville Waffle House shooting in Antioch, Tennessee and saving lives. With three trophies, 'Stranger Things' emerged second biggest winner. Actor Millie Bobby Brown from the Netflix series won the award for Best Performance in a Show. Her co-star Noah Schnapp scored the win for the Most Frightened Performance. Brown, who could not attend the show due to a broken kneecap, addressed the audience through a pretaped video message in which she made a powerful speech against bullying. "I was taught, if you don't have anything nice to say, just don't say it. There should be no space in this world for bullying, and I'm not going to tolerate it and neither should any you. If you need a reminder of how well you are and to rise above the hate, message me on Instagram," she said. The actor's remarks come days after she quit social media due to online bullying. For a second consecutive year, both categories were gender-neutral. The Best Fight win was scored by 'Wonder Woman' for the scene in which Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman faces off against German soldiers in the battlefield. Lady Gaga's 'Gaga: Five Foot Two' won the laurel for the Best Music Documentary. "I love you little monsters so much! And, Happy Pride Month! I just have one problem, I recently found out that I am actually five-foot-three and three quarters I am so, so sorry, but thank you so much," she said in her acceptance speech. 'Master of None' co-writer-actor Lena Waithe accepted the Trailblazer Award, who dedicated the honour to the 1990 documentary 'Paris Is Burning' that introduced her to trailblazers such as Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, Angie Xtravaganza and Willi Ninja. 'Avengers: Infinity War' star Chris Pratt received the Generation Award and spoke to the next generation as their "elder" and then went on to offer his 'Nine Rules from Chris Pratt, Generation Award Winner'. The show was hosted by Tiffany Haddish, who made history by becoming the first African American to have headlined the event. She also took home the prize for Best Comedic Performance for 'Girls Trip'. The cast of 'It' received the award for Best Onscreen Team. Madelaine Petsch from 'Riverdale' bagged the Scene Stealer award for her portrayal as Cheryl Blossom in the show. The Best Kiss award was shared by Nick Robinson and Keiynan Lonsdale for 'Love, Simon' film. 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' was adjudged the Best Reality Series/Franchise and mother-daughter duo Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian were present to collect the award. Popular actress Suhasini is going to play Sabitha Indra Reddy in Yatra, a biopic on the late YS Rajasekhar Reddy directed by Mahi of Anando Brahma fame. YSR, who started his 1500-kilometere long walk from Chevella in Ranga Reddy district, had admitted several times that Sabitha was like his own sister and even began his walk only after she tied a rakhi to him. After he came to power, he made Sabitha the Home Minister, which was the first time a woman held that post in Andhra Pradesh. Director Mahi feels that Suhasini is the right person for the role. Its an important role in the film, says a source. Rao Ramesh is playing K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao while Sachin Kedekar also has an important role. Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, arrives at the parade ring with Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, in a horse drawn carriage on the first day of the Royal Ascot horse race meeting in Ascot. (Photo: AP) The Duchess of Sussex made a dazzling debut at the Royal Ascot looking every bit as pretty as Audrey Hepburn from My Fair Lady. Markle was seen sporting a bespoke white dress by Givenchy (her wedding designer), with a black and white hat by Philip Treacy. It seemed that Markle had given a modern twist to a famous outfit from the Hollywood musical. In My Fair Lady, Cockney flower-seller Eliza Doolittle played by Audrey Hepburn wears a frilly white gown with black and white bows and matching hat as she accompanies Professor Henry Higgins to Ascot while he attempts to teach her to speak properly. Former actress Meghan, 36, wore 1,350 yellow gold and diamond stud earrings by Birks, a black belt and black stilettos as she rode in the Queens carriage procession. Prince Harry and Markle received rapturous welcome and later presented a winners trophy to jockey Frankie Dettori, who kissed her hand. Inside the winners enclosure, Meghan who pinned her royal enclosure badge to her bag rather than her dress could be seen getting on famously with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, who was resplendent in gold Dior and another Philip Treacy hat. According to one royal insider Charles already adores his new daughter-in-law. They have struck up a great rapport and he already has a real soft spot for her, they said. Meghan made another friend in the form of the Queens bloodstock and racing adviser, John Warren, who has known Harry since he was baby. New analysis reveals modern medicine could not have helped save Senator Robert F Kennedy from a gunshot wound to the head that killed him 50 years ago, the Daily Mail reported. Kennedy was shot by 24-year-old Sirhan Sirhan. The incident happened at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California on June 5, 1968. It took the ambulance 45 minutes to arrive and take him to the Good Samaritan Hospital. 26 hours later he passed away. He had suffered "extensive injury to the right cerebellum and right occipital cortex", the report revealed. Scientists from Duke University re-examined Kennedy's injuries to find out whether today's treatments could have helped and found it still would have failed. Fragments of bullet were lodged in several places in Kennedy's brain tissue. "Despite numerous advances in imaging, anesthesia, and surgical technique over the last 50 years, damage to the brainstem and its associated blood vessels continues to be a devastating and catastrophic injury," study co-author Dr Shivanand Lad told the Daily Mail. Co-author, Dr Jordan Komisarow told the Daily Mail: "By all accounts an aggressive and valiant effort was made to save the senator's life. Unfortunately, a similar injury would likely also be fatal, or severely debilitating, in 2018." Any kind of gunshot wounds are about 90% fatal. New Delhi: Turns out, chimps, orangutans, lemurs, and other cuddle primates are in a serious peril. According to a joint study conducted by the German Primate Center and Deutsches Primatenzentrum (DPZ), many of our closest relatives are under serious threat, as the human population spread to all corners of the earth. Primates are fascinating. They are intelligent, live in complex societies and are a vital part of the ecosystem. Lemurs, lorises, galagos, tarsiers, monkeys and apes are our closest biological relatives and just like them, humans are also primates. An international team of leading primate researchers, including Christian Roos, has analysed and evaluated the situation of many endangered non-human primate species in Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In their study, the researchers investigated the influence of human activities on wild primate populations. The destruction of natural forests and their conversion into agricultural land, threatens many species who thereby lose their habitat. However, hunting and the bush meat trade also lead to a massive and rapid decline of many populations. A simulation of agricultural land expansion by the end of the century showed a decline of up to 78 percent in the distribution areas of many primate species. In their study, the scientists asked for immediate measures to protect the endangered primate species and supply recommendations for the long-term conservation of primates and to avert primate extinction. Primates live in tropical and subtropical areas and are mainly found in regions of Africa, South America, Madagascar and Asia. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) currently lists 439 species. 65 percent (286) of these are located in the four countries Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Around 60 percent of them are threatened by extinction. Particularly dire is the situation in Indonesia and Madagascar, where 90 percent of primate population declined and more than three-quarters of species are endangered. In a comprehensive literature review, the authors of the study analyzed the major threat factors for primates in four countries. In Brazil, Madagascar and Indonesia the increasing destruction of their habitats is a stressor for the animals. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the bush meat trade is the biggest threat. In addition, primates are sold illegally as pets or used in traditional medicine. Poverty, the lack of education, food insecurity, political instability and corruption further encourage the depletion of natural resources in the countries concerned and make it more difficult to protect the animals. The destruction of the natural environment through deforestation, the expansion of agricultural land and infrastructure development to transport goods has become a major problem," said Christian Roos, the co-author of the study. "The main contributors of this development are the industrial nations. There is a high demand for raw materials such as soy, palm oil, rubber, hardwood or fossil fuel. The four primate-rich countries cover 50 percent of these export goods to China, India, the US and Europe." The scientists combined data from the United Nations and World Bank databases to simulate the estimated spread of agricultural land in the four countries until the turn of the century. Assuming a worst-case scenario, the researchers were able to predict a decline in the geographical range of the primate populations. Accordingly, by the year 2100, 78 percent of the primate habitats in Brazil, 72 percent in Indonesia, 62 percent in Madagascar and 32 percent in the Congo could have disappeared. At the same time, the authors investigated the size and distribution of protected areas. Their estimates show that Brazil and Madagascar have around 38 percent, Indonesia 17 percent, and The Democratic Republic of Congo 14 percent of primate habitats in protected areas. The majority of the distribution areas are without protection status and primates are therefore under threat. The authors called for the extension of protected areas, the reforestation of forests and the planting of corridors as important measures to preserve primate populations. In addition, the local population must be made aware of the precarious situation. Governments, scientists, conservation organizations and economists need to work together to promote sustainable, organic farming while preserving traditional lifestyles. In addition, the governments of the countries concerned should work harder to combat illegal hunting, forest destruction and primate trade. "Primates are like canaries in a coal mine", said Roos. "They are invaluable for tropical biodiversity as they are vital for the regeneration of forests and stable ecosystems. Their extinction will serve as an alarm bell for humans and an indication that these habitats will become unusable in the long run". The study appears in the journal Peer Journal 2018. Clarity of thought and action will add life to living and thats the motto of yoga. Meditation helps one to be kind and generous. It was a unique and first-of-its-kind yoga event in Hyderabad, with yoga sessions being held in the open air, under the moonlight. The event kicked off with a yoga demonstration by kids, followed by several rounds of yoga. (Round 1) AcroYoga blends the wisdom of yoga, the dynamic power of acrobatics, and the loving kindness of healing arts. It cultivates trust, playfulness and community. It brings play back into our lives. (Round 2) Warm up session Living up to the theme of Yoga under the Moon, the Chandra Namaskar provides strength training, flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, agility, and co-ordination. (Round 3) Partner Yoga Experts believe that the best way to live is when the mind and heart work as one. Today we are living, but there is no life in it, there are only confused minds. Clarity of thought and action will add life to living and thats the motto of yoga. Partner yoga can also help us lighten up and invite a sense of playfulness into asana practice. (Round 4) Meditation The monkey minds are asked to stay calm with a peaceful session of meditation. Meditation helps one to be kind, generous and keep working without any expectations because whatever goes around, comes around. (Round 5) Savasana Where participants let go of their problems, surrender themselves to their mats and relax. As expert Sakina Kapadia says, If you can breathe, you can practice yoga and use it as a preventive medicine for body, mind and soul. She loves to connect asana practice to real life and incorporates a lot of philosophy into her teachings. Sail around the world in 245 days with Viking Cruises. (Photo: Pixabay) Washington: There's going to be an around-the-world sailing lasting 245 days. Viking Cruises, which is planning to set a new record for a continuous world voyage, will kick-start its trip from London on August 31, 2019, on the 930-passenger 'Viking Sun,' USA Today reported. With stops at 113 ports in 59 countries, the ship will visit every continent except Antarctica. The cruise will start with a trans-Atlantic crossing that includes stops in Iceland, Greenland and Canada. The voyage will resume with visits to ports along the east coast of the USA and in Bermuda and the Caribbean before travelling down and around South America. From South America, 'Sun' will move up the west coast of Central America and the USA before crossing the Pacific to French Polynesia, New Zealand and Australia. From Australia, the ship will set sail to Asia for stops in Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore, Sri Lanka and India. The trip will end with a passage through Suez Canal to the Mediterranean stopping at various countries like Italy, Tunisia, Spain and Portugal and back to the United Kingdom. The fares for the trip on the 'Viking Sun' will start at $92,990 per person (63,55,401.55 INR). Airtel has come out with a stark and detailed response to the controversy over its response to a womans request for a Hindu customer service representative. A day after Twitter went berserk following an outrageous request from a user, asking for a telecom representative to be changed based on his religious affiliation; Airtel has come out with a stark and detailed response to the controversy over its response to a womans request for a Hindu customer service representative. Read More: Woman asks for 'Hindu' representative from Airtel, Twitter divided Airtel, today, gave out a detailed statement regarding its stand on Twitter today titled, Did Airtel Really Bow Down to a Discriminatory Request? Maybe You Should Read This". The response has since then been retweeted by Omar Abdullah, one of the many who had called out the telecom giant on its bigotry. To be fair its only appropriate that I tweet this as well - the response from Airtel. As theyve said maybe you should read this so maybe you should. https://t.co/FMb58ZqKD6 Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) June 20, 2018 Author Rickie Khosla too took to Facebook with Airtels reply, saying that despite everything he would stick with the Telecom giant as a customer. "For us, Monday was simply a case of two dedicated professionals, Shoaib and Gaganjot, following a dutiful course in their regular work shift...The idea is to minimize the time taken to resolve any customer query. So when a customer writes in and one advisor is busy, the query gets assigned to the next available advisor automatically. Which is exactly what happened with Shoaib and Gaganjot," is what Airtel wrote. Did Airtel really bow down to a discriminatory request? Maybe you should read this. pic.twitter.com/Mr7b8Pgrci airtel India (@airtelindia) June 20, 2018 Mondays Twitter war saw a woman, Pooja Singh, whose Twitter handle declares her to be a management professional and a Proud Indian and a Proud Hindu posted on Twitter that she did not want to interact with a customer resolution officer as he was a Muslim. In response to this tweet, a man named Gaganjot took the conversation forward, leading many to accuse the company of not standing up to 'bigotry.' The exchange that went on back and forth saw people putting forward their views for and against both parties. Referring to the woman's request as "outrageous and unfathomable" in its latest statement Airtel said: "We are still trying to wrap our head around how one colleague responding on behalf of another is being misconstrued as our 'acceptance of discrimination'. We did not and we repeat, DID NOT change the advisor because of the unfathomable request from said customer. At Airtel, we never have and never will succumb to differentiating on the basis of religion, ethnicity of caste." Airtel further posted, that it was because Shoaib wasn't logged in that Gaganjot took up the case but it was seen as bowing down to bigotry. "While Shoaib and Gaganjot went about working on this case they learnt a harsh lesson. That their religious identity matters. That they should check identities before taking up the responsibility of a service request. Maybe from here on, they will. However, we will resist that. Strongly." Airtel further posted their training manuals will never carry instructions to pause and check ones identity before serving a query. Keeping their letter open-ended, Airtel responded that while Gaganjot, Shoaib and others continue to respond to customer queries, it is up to customers to decide what impression the episode has left on their minds. Notably, Airtel signed off with Official Airtel Spokesperson, adding that the name has been withheld so people can read it free of religious and caste overtones. A psychiatry professor Dr Richard Gallagher says that he has heard demons speak in ancient Greek, Latin, Chinese, Spanish and French and says theyre wildly smart and manipulative. The voices and the languages come out of people, he says, but theyre not actually human. According to Dr Gallagher, demonic possession exists and he has seen it firsthand. Speaking to DailyMail.com, Dr Gallagher says they are fallen angels. Theyre extremely bright; theyre much brighter than humans. Theyve been around for millenia so they speak all languages. Dr Gallagher is extremely guarded about his own details, saying only that he has a family and siblings he estimates hes treated 25,000 patients over the years. Not one who walked through his door was actually possessed. Instead, according to him, he has seen cases of possession and oppression and involves demons harassing an individual rather than taking control of them. The first case he saw involved a victim of oppression, a Hispanic housewife and mother from the American West who was being assailed by demons. Dr Gallagher reminisces that she and her husband both swore she would be lying in bed and all of a sudden, she would have the feeling of being assaulted by evil spirits, and bruises would appear on her body. Defining possession, he says, a possession happens when an evil spirit controls that person, takes them over whereas with oppression (people use different terms for it, some people use the term vexation) that indicates an attack by an evil spirit on an individual, but the evil spirit cant or doesnt take over their personality. He further adds that the most common cause for either is that someone has turned evil or to the occult. Paradoxically, according to him, its often when they try to get away from that that the demonic world feels they have a hold on that person. That person may have actually even promised themselves to Satan or some kind of evil, and then they, in a sense, theyre getting punished for trying to move out of that. Thats the most common reason people get attacked. As for his first encounter, he believes the woman was attacked because demons did not like the good work she was doing. Before that first case and his relationship with exorcists and the demonic world he says he was unaware of the intricacies of possession and oppression. Dr Gallagher says demons exhibit extraordinary powers such as personal knowledge and near clairvoyance. On one occasion, a demon told him how his mother had died ovarian cancer. That evil spirit also knew how 15 other peoples parents died, too. It wasn't just me. On another occasion, a demon told him exactly what a priest was wearing though the clergyman was nowhere near Dr Gallagher and the possessed person speaking. In a different case, Gallagher was also personally addressed. Fans of its "ultralight" buds say they appreciate the calming effects without the heavy buzz of traditional marijuana. (Photo: File) Technically, the fragrant marijuana buds on offer at a new Paris boutique are not meant to be smoked, as the friendly staff and disclaimers remind clients -- brewing the herb in hot water is advised, as is adding it to food. "Smoking is bad for you," a smiling young salesman tells a customer. But judging by the 45-minute wait to get inside the Cofyshop near the Republique square on a recent afternoon, not to mention the smoking paraphernalia behind the counter, that certainly seems to be the goal. France is one of Europe's biggest users of cannabis, with an estimated 22 percent of people aged 15 to 34 partaking at least once in 2016, according to the latest data available. A recent French poll showed 51 percent in favour of limited legalisation, reflecting a growing trend toward more relaxed rules in Europe and the United States. Despite an easing of penalties under President Emmanuel Macron, however, government officials show no appetite for allowing recreational use. But Joaquim Lousquy, who opened Cofyshop in early June, and other boutiques across France think they have found a loophole for letting people light up. Lousquy claims his range of buds have less than 0.2 of THC, the psychotropic compound that gets people high -- below the limit set for French growers of marijuana or hemp for industrial uses. Instead the plants contain cannabidiol, or CBD, a compound which is used for medical marijuana use and which is authorised in France. "I use the oil because it's a good pain-killer, and you don't get addicted," an elderly woman said while waiting in line -- before the doorman escorted her straight inside. CBD oil had sold out earlier in the day, so most clients were choosing among three or four different strains of potent-smelling weed -- the popular Swiss Cheese was priced at 30 euros for a 2.3-gram bag ($35 for just under one-tenth of an ounce). - 'Smell that!' - Unlike the coffeeshops in marijuana-friendly Amsterdam, no coffee is served and no smoking is allowed at Cofyshop. Fans of its "ultralight" buds as well as cannabis resin say they appreciate the calming effects without the heavy buzz of traditional marijuana. "Smell that, it's fantastic!" said a 37-year-old dentist at a boutique on the hip Rue Oberkampf in Paris, who said he smokes a joint or two every now and then, mainly on the weekends. He said he liked the CBD products because they give "that little magic buzz from when I would smoke when I was young," since they are not as strong "and have fewer psychotropic effects". Bechir Bouderbala of the cannabis advocacy group NORML said the market was also benefiting from "the growth of the 'well-being' industry, with higher quality products coming from Switzerland". But despite the claim the sales are legal, an official in France's anti-drug task force Mildeca said only the seeds and fibres of marijuana plants can be legally sold -- not the flowers, regardless of the purported levels of THC. And no police officer would be able to tell if a person smoking a zero-THC joint wasn't getting high on traditional weed. - 'Laws a bit hazy' - Yet even Health Minister Agnes Buzyn admitted on Sunday that "the laws regarding this 0.2 percent can be a bit hazy". Paris prosecutors have opened an inquiry into Cofyshop, whose sales are cash-only. It is not the first time Lousquy, the store's owner and a serial entrepreneur, has courted controversy. In February he opened a Paris "brothel" of silicone dolls, drawing the ire of women's groups and some local lawmakers who accused him of encouraging rape, though police investigated and found no grounds to shut it down. The surge of CBD boutiques comes as calls for legalisation gain ground, with Canadian lawmakers voting this week to allow marijuana use, which would make it the first G7 nation to do so. In January, Macron's government also announced it would scrap potential prison sentences and heavy fines in favour of on-the-spot penalties of 150 to 200 euros. But officials have said they will clarify French laws. Within a few months, Buzyn said of Cofyshop, "I think they will have been shut down." "Ultralight" marijuana containing less than 0.2 percent of the pyschotropic compound THC for sale at a shop in Annoeullin, northern France. The incident took place in the village of Badamallhar in Chhattarpur district late on Monday night. (Representational image) (Photo: AFP) Bhopal: A Dalit groom was barred from riding horse by members of some upper caste families in a village in Madhya Pradesh, leading to tension in the area, police said on Tuesday. However, the local administration as well as the police acted promptly to bring the situation under control. The incident took place in the village of Badamallhar in Chhattarpur district late on Monday night. According to the police, the groom, Ashok Ahirwar, was going in a procession by riding a horse as per custom of his society, to brides house in the village for their wedding. Two members of a Thakur family in the village however allegedly asked him to get down the horse and walk to the girls house. They became violent when the members in the bridegroom party resisted their attempt to bar the groom from riding horse, leading to alleged scuffle between them. Police sources said women members of the upper caste family came out and allegedly started pelting stones at the bridegroom party. According to sources, four youth identified as Mansoor, Jilani, Abid and Salman, were found assaulting a woman sexually in the compound near Indira Nagar colony around midnight. (Representational Images) Hyderabad: A daily-wage worker was allegedly raped by four youths, all in their early twenties, inside the premises of a Government Junior College in Kalwakurthy town on Monday midnight. they awer later arrested. The local residents, who had taken it upon themselves to guard the premise in an effort to curb the nuisance recurring there, heard her cries and rushed to her rescue, but the four fled the scene leaving behind their two-wheelers, a senior police official said, adding that they were later nabbed. During interrogation, the accused claimed that only two of them raped the woman. According to sources, four youth identified as Mansoor, Jilani, Abid and Salman, were found assaulting a woman sexually in the compound near Indira Nagar colony around midnight. The woman, a daily wage worker, was returning to her house in Kalwakurthy town last night when the four men came on two bikes and dragged her to the compound. District collector E. Sreedhar and SP Sunpreet Singh visited the spot and assured the people that all possible support would be extended to the victim, as she was a mother of two and had nobody to look after the family after her husbands death eight years ago. Mr. Singh further added that apart from the relevant sections pertaining to rape and sexual assault, Preventive Detention Act would also be imposed on the four individuals, he said, adding that the woman had been sent for medical tests. A woman takes holy dip along with her children at Patalaganga in Srisailam to mark the Krishna Pushkaralu. (Photo: File/DC) Kurnool: Due to poor water quality in Pushkarini at Srisailam, devout pilgrims who come from all across the country have not been performing sacred ablutions here. Instances of pilgrims developing skin diseases, rashes and digestive disorders is not uncommon here. There is a stand-off between Srisailam Devastanam and Kanchi Kama-koti Guest House from where drain water has been copiously filling up the Pushkarini. A temple official said that due to its proximity, the Kanchi property was letting out its drain into the Pushkarini, a fact that was denied over the years. Kanchi property maintains that the dirty water comes due to a spring that has a bad source. But the temple officials said that there is no truth in this. A representation has been given to endowments minister K.E. Krishna Murthy to address the issue on a war footing. The temple executive officer is confident that a solution could be worked out with the active support of the government. Water has a major role in Hindu rituals. After performing darshan, one has to take a dip in the holy Pushkarini to absolve himself of the sins, accor-ding to Hindu philosophy. A pilgrim said Pushkarini at Srisailam is a nightmare as one cannot afford to be a willing carrier of the germs and the sludge bacteria. Now pilgrims go down all the way to the Pathalaganga to take a dip in the Krishna river. A pilgrim said taking bath at Pathalaganga is also fraught with physical challenges for the aged and the infirm. Mumbai: The children accept me with all humility, says Suchitra Dey. A teacher with an experience of 10 years, Hiranmay Dey decided to undergo a Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) last year to become Suchitra Dey. Her troubles were just starting. Even though the Supreme Court in 2014 recognised transgenders as a 'third gender', the discrimination in society is still rampant. A teacher at St Andrews Public School, Thakurpukur, Suchitra Dey, a double Masters in English and Geography, shockingly reveals about the questions posed on her about her breasts, sexuality and ability to give birth during interviews at various Kolkata schools. Not only that, she was even asked to wear male clothes by a school since her gender, according to her birth certificate was that of a man. "A male principal asked me whether I can conceive a child after intercourse, says 30-year-old Suchitra Dey. Not only this, Dey reveals that instead of asking her about her qualifications, one school principal thought it more prudent to ask her if her breasts were real. Suchitra says that principals from various schools, have time and again, humiliated her, rather than focus on her credentials as a teacher. The discriminations I have faced, or face, have all been meted out by respectable educated middle-aged men and women who seem not to be able to overcome their societal prejudices, says Dey adding that they represent a certain type of middle-aged conservative mentality who cannot come to terms with the fact that someone from the third gender is trying to be so mainstream. You have gone against the nature of God, she reveals as what many have accused her of. The transgender community is often at the receiving end of stigma and exploitation, often thrown out of their homes, and society for being different. Coming from a lower-middle class background, Dey reveals that her life has always been fraught with struggles. Having lost her father at a tender age, it has been her mum and she against the world, who have, by large, been against her. I have a Double MA and B.Ed degree and I am the burning example of discrimination, she says, adding, What about those who are less fortunate, will they never get a voice? We are the marginalised of the marginalised, and it is time this stops. Suchitra Dey, who is also an active member of the LGBT forums in West Bengal, has written to the West Bengal Human Rights Commission seeking intervention in the matter. She wrote, I couldnt handle the humiliation anymore. The things I have been asked by authorities at reputed schools of Kolkata shows the kind of mindset people still hold about our community. If someone like me, who is educated and experienced, has to face this then imagine the plight of those who dont have the opportunity to go to school, or the ones who have been ostracised. However, Dey is not without hope. While the so-called educated seem to have shunned her at large, she finds solace in the youngsters she teaches. Their parents may have certain hidden reservations; however, if the children accept me as a good teacher, nothing else matters. They are without prejudice. To them whoever loves them matter, nothing else. Rahul Gandhi hit out at the government after Union Minister Arun Jaitley announced that Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian was leaving the Finance Ministry. (Photo: File/ANI) New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the central government, claiming that the brightest were fleeing the "sinking ship" as the "invisible hand" of the RSS was steering it into rocks. In a veiled dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party president alleged that he was "fast asleep" and described the situation as crazy. He hit out at the government after Union Minister Arun Jaitley announced that Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian was leaving the Finance Ministry. Also Read: CEA Arvind Subramanian quits before term, back to US to be with family Gandhi took a dig at the Union minister for breaking the news on Facebook and questioned whether Jaitley, who held the finance portfolio before undergoing a kidney transplant surgery in mid-May, continued to be the finance minister. "Ex? FM is locked in his room, breaking news on Facebook. BJP treasurer has the keys to the Indian economy," he tweeted. "The brightest flee the sinking ship, as the invisible hand of the RSS steers it onto the rocks. Meanwhile, Captain DeMo is fast asleep. It's crazy out there!," he claimed. New Delhi: After serving as Chief Economic Advisor for four years, Arvind Subramanian will return to the United States, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said today. He would like to go back to the United States on account of pressing family commitments. His reasons were personal but extremely important for him. He left me with no option but to agree with him, Jaitley said in a Facebook post. Arvind Subramanian joined as the Chief Economic Advisor on October 16, 2014 for a period of three years, which was extended after Jaitley requested him to continue for some more time. In his Facebook post, the Union Minister said he will personally miss Arvind Subramanian's dynamism, energy, intellectual ability and ideas. "He would walk into my room at times several times a day, addressing me as Minister to give either the good news or otherwise. Needless to say his departure will be missed by me. But I know that his heart is very much here. I am sure he will keep sending advice and analysis wherever he is," Jaitley added. Jaitley also credited Subramanian for conceptualising "JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile) as a data base for availing public benefits." He said that Subramanians interaction with the government, Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and with other Departments was both formal and informal and his instantaneous communications with interlocutors had increased his effectiveness. Responding to Jaitley's post, Subramanian took to Twitter and thanked him. "Profoundly grateful and humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister Arun Jaitley announcing my decision to return-for personal reasons-to researching and writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had," he tweeted. Profoundly grateful & humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister @arunjaitley announcing my decision to return-for personal reasons-to researching & writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had. Many many to thank:https://t.co/kwsRqDrMTB arvind subramanian (@arvindsubraman) June 20, 2018 Arvind Subramanian, 59, a senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, took over as the Chief Economic Advisor in 2014 when his predecessor Raghuram Rajan became the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) Governor. Subramanian did his graduation in Economics from Delhis St Stephens College and got an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Ahmedabad. He received his doctorate from the Oxford University, UK. A former economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Subramanian was named as one of the worlds top 100 global thinkers by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2011. Bengaluru: The Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) stocked up at the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) plant at Somasundarapalya in HSR Layout caught fire last week triggering panic among area residents. They warned that over 10 tonnes of RDF stocked at the plant is a ticking bomb and if the situation is not contained, the entire area would go up in flames as RDF is highly inflammable. The struggle to shut down the plant has been going on for the past few years and in the run-up to the state assembly election, MLA Satish Reddy had promised to shut down the plant on May 16, a day after the counting got over, the residents said. Mr Kamesh Rastogi, a member of KHHSP, said, We have seen fumes three times in the last two weeks and the condition at the KCDC plant is pathetic. The authorities have ignored our pleas. The fuel is highly inflammable and if it catches fire, the whole area will be ablaze in no time. He said that during their meeting with BBMP Commissioner Maheshwar Rao, they came to know that he had been wrongly informed by his officers that the RDF had been removed from the plant premises. But the residents showed him a video of a mountain of RDF. A senior BBMP official told Deccan Chronicle that they are working on containing the stench emanating from the plant, but it is not possible to shut it down. A resident lamented that after the election, there is no sign of either the MP or the MLA, who had promised to close the plant. Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said that he had the best job and 'also the best job I will ever have'. (Photo: File/ANI) New Delhi: Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian on Wednesday said he has not yet decided on the exact date of leaving the finance ministry, but it will be in a month or two. Earlier in the day, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said that Subramanian will be leaving the ministry after nearly 4 years because of "pressing family commitments" and return to the US. Speaking to reporters, Subramanian said that he had the best job and "also the best job I will ever have". "I will go back with best of memories. I will always be committed to serving the country at all times in future," he said, adding that in Jaitley he had a "dream boss". Subramanian was appointed as CEA to the finance ministry on October 16, 2014, for a period of three years. In 2017, his term was extended for a year. When asked when he would be leaving, he said the exact date has not yet been decided. "I would be leaving in a month or two," Subramanian said, adding that he was expecting a grandchild in September. The process of finding his successor will start soon, he said. In his blog, Jaitley said that a few days ago Subramanian had met him over video conferencing and informed that he would like to go back to the United States on account of pressing family commitments. Also Read: CEA Arvind Subramanian quits before term, back to US to be with family "His reasons were personal but extremely important for him. He left me with no option but to agree with him," Jaitley wrote in a Facebook post. During his tenure, Subramanian came out with futuristic ideas on rationalisation of removal of "subsidies for the rich", universal basic income, climate change, and the four C's -- courts, CAG, CVC and CBI which had historically paralysed decision making. He also conducted the first online course on Indian economy for the benefits of students and teachers across the country. Besides, Subramanian launched the government's online education platform 'Swayam', which became one of the most followed courses in India. Yoga guru Baba Ramdev's reaction came after another case of rape and fraud surfaced against a self-styled godman. (Photo: File) Kota: Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev opined that self-styled godmen or 'Babas' involved in illegal activities should be hanged to death for violating the limits of their work. "Whoever violates those limits should not only be sent to jail, but should be hanged till death. There should not be any compromise on this," Baba Ramdev told media in Kota. The Yoga guru further stated that donning saffron-coloured clothes is not the only criteria for being a religious leader. "Every profession has its own limitation. There is a protocol for every job; same is with the babas. Just by donning saffron clothes, one cannot be called a baba. It is all about character," he added. Baba Ramdev's reaction came after another case of rape and fraud surfaced against a self-styled godman. Daati Maharaj, a self-styled godman, has been accused of raping a disciple inside Shani Dham two years ago. The case has been transferred to the Delhi Police's Crime Branch. Hyderabad: Making it clear that it is a mandate on the part of the state government to provide Resettlement & Rehabilitation to the artisans and agriculture labourers who have been affected with land acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act 2013, the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Telangana government to place the information before it with regard to the relief provided to the affected families in Palamuru Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Scheme and Kaleswaram Lift Irrigation Project. A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice J. Uma Devi was dealing with a PIL by Mahbubnagar District Palamoori Migrant Labour Union represented by its president P. Narayana Swami seeking to declare the action of the state government in not identifying effectively the project affected families as illegal. Mr Shashi Kiran, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that the state government has acquired thousands of acres of agriculture lands for both the projects, but it has not extending the benefits of Rehabilitation and Resettlement to the affected families other than land owners. He submitted that as per the Act 2013, the government has to constitute the special committees to identify the affected families, but so far it has not constituted the committees and the authorities have completed the identification of the affected families for the name sake. The authorities claimed that there are only 112 affected people in one mandal though they had acquired more than 20,000 acres for the scheme. The bench told the counsel to identify at least 10 to 15 families from the each mandal and place list before the court so that it could question the authorities. Bengaluru: Noted Urdu poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar on Wednesday sought immediate arrest of Karnataka cleric Tanveer Peera Hashim for his controversial remark that cows would be slaughtered during Bakrid, saying the comment was "irresponsible and outrageous." "Secularism doesn't mean ignoring or tolerating minority communalism. This irresponsible and outrageous cleric Tanveer Hashim should immediately be arrested for trying to create communal tension in Bengaluru," Akhtar tweeted. Secularism doesnt mean ignoring or tolerating minority communalism . This irresponsible and outrageous cleric Tanveer Hashim should immediately be arrested for trying to create communal tension in Bengaluru . Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) June 19, 2018 The cleric kicked up a controversy with his remarks made in the presence of state minister Shivanand Patil during his sermons on the occasion of Ramzan prayer at Vijayapura in north Karnataka a few days ago. The remarks sparked a row as cow slaughter is banned in Karnataka. Tanveer Hashim is the head of Hashim Pir Dargah at Vijayapura, a popular Muslim shrine. The video of his purported remarks has gone viral. The minister chose to remain quiet after Hashim made the controversial remarks. "Let me bring to your notice, in two months time there will be Bakrid. In the name of cow, this satan (devil) will do a mischief. I am telling you (the minister) this beforehand so as to ensure that with the cow another sacrifice does not happen," Hashim said in his speech in Urdu. Condemning Hashim's remark, BJP Spokesperson S Prakash told news agency PTI that it is a "pragmatic counter remark" made by Akhtar and the coalition JD(S)-Congress government should wake up and book a case against the cleric immediately. The government has a very partisan attitude towards communal speeches made by minority clerics or people, he alleged. Prakash also questioned the "double standards" of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government, asking why it should have different yardsticks for party MLA and former union minister Basavaraj Patil Yatnal and Hashim. "Both JD(S) and Congress call themselves secularists. Why are they silent? When the government can book a case against Basavaraj Patil Yatnal, why not the cleric? Why these double standards? It is certainly questionable," he said. RSS ideologue Ratan Sharda said he does not expect any action from the Congress when in the past they haven't been able to stop Mani Shankar Aiyar from making controversial remarks. "When they could not stop Mani Shankar Aiyar from making useless comments, so how can we expect them to take action against the minister (Patil) and the cleric? They will never do it," he said. The cleric's remarks came days after a purported video of Yatnal asking corporators to work only for Hindus, who voted for him, and not for Muslims, went viral on social media. 'The programme is nothing but a photo-op by BJP stalwarts with only the prominent people,' Mayawati said in a statement in Lucknow. (Photo: File) Lucknow: BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday ridiculed the BJP's "Sampark for Samarthan" programme, dubbing it as nothing but a photo-op with the high and the mighty. Mayawati's criticism for the ruling BJP "Contact for Support" campaign comes on a day when the party broke its alliance with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir. The programme is meant to reach out to political allies - as well as prominent people - ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. "The programme is nothing but a photo-op by BJP stalwarts with only the prominent people," she said in a statement in Lucknow. While launching the programme recently, the Bharatiya Janata Party had said it planned to reach out to one lakh personalities from various fields and explain to them the achievements of the NDA government ahead of the 2019 polls. Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party said such a programme was an insult to the poor. "It amounts to insulting the poor, the farmers, the labourers and the villagers who constitute the real India," she said, adding that the BJP government does not worry for them. As part of the BJP outreach, senior party leaders are meeting people who can influence the public. These include film stars, sportspersons and religious leaders. BJP president Amit Shah has also met allies Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena under the programme. Mayawati also slammed the Centre for not curtailing the price of petrol and diesel, describing it as its "anti-poor, anti-people policy". Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman went to the remote hamlet of Salani border to express her condolences to the family of Aurangzeb. (Photo: Twitter/ANI) Srinagar: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday met the family of slain Army jawan Aurangzeb in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district. The Union Minister described the soldier as an inspiration for the nation. Sitharaman went to the remote hamlet of Salani border to express her condolences to the family of Aurangzeb, who was kidnapped and killed by terrorists in Pulwama in south Kashmir on June 14. Speaking to reporters after meeting the martyrs family, including his father, Sitharaman said, I came here to meet the martyr's family. The Defence Minister added, One message I can take back from here is that here is a family, here is a martyr, who stands out as an inspiration for the entire nation," news agency ANI reported. Earlier this week, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat met Aurangzebs family in Salani village and assured them that his supreme sacrifice would not go in vain. Also Read: Army Chief Bipin Rawat visits soldier Aurangzeb's family in Poonch Rifleman Aurangzeb of 44, Rashtriya Rifles, was on his way home to celebrate Eid when he was abducted by the terrorists from south Kashmir on June 14. He was killed the same day. His bullet-riddled body was found at Gussu village, about 10 km from Kalampora, in Pulwama district. In an emotional appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Army and the J&K government to eliminate militancy from the state after his sons brutal killing, Aurangzeb's father, Mohammad Hanief said, My son has laid down his life for the country. He was a brave soldier. I and my sons will also sacrifice (ourselves) for the nation. We want goons to be wiped out." He also gave the Centre and the Army 72-hours deadline to avenge his sons killing. I give PM Modi 72 hours to avenge my son's death or else we are ready to take revenge on our own, he said. 'I issued notices to Gandhi and Twitter as they have disclosed the identity of victims,' Ghuge, who had filed the complaint told PTI. (Photo: File) Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights on Tuesday issued a notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Twitter for 'disclosing' the identity of two minor boys, victims of assault. Amol Jadhav, a city resident, had filed a complaint against Gandhi and Twitter. President of the commission Pravin Ghuge said he has sought a reply from both as to why action should not be taken against them under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. As per the law, identity of minor victims can not be disclosed. The commission has sought the reply within 10 days. "I issued notices to Gandhi and Twitter as they have disclosed the identity of victims," Ghuge told PTI. A video purportedly showing two minor boys being stripped and beaten up for swimming in a well belonging to a farmer in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra had gone viral last week. Also Read: BJP, RSS spread poisonous politics of hatred: Rahul Gandhi Gandhi had tweeted about the incident tagging the video, and blamed the BJP and RSS for rising atrocities against backward classes. Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam dismissed the notice, calling it nonsensical. "The notice is nothing but bakwaas (nonsense). The notice should have been sent to the Maharashtra chief minister who has failed to protect the rights and dignity of children. Rahul Gandhi simply highlighted this sorry state of affairs," he said. Speaking at the launch of a handbook on 'Legal processes for police in respect of crime against children' in New Delhi, Gandhi asserted that her ministry has taken several steps to fight crime against women and children. (Photo: PTI | File) New Delhi: The specially-designed rape investigation kits should be made available in all police stations of the country immediately, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said on Tuesday. The kits are designed to carry out immediate medical investigation and aid in furnishing evidence in sexual assault and rape cases. Each kit has a set of test tubes and bottles and costs Rs 200 to Rs 300. Its contents and specifications have been finalised, an official at the Ministry of Women and Child Development said, adding that these could be subsequently bought by state governments independently. The official said the first lot of such kits was procured by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) and it has already started imparting forensic training to officials. Speaking at the launch of a handbook on 'Legal processes for police in respect of crime against children' in New Delhi, Gandhi asserted that her ministry has taken several steps to fight crime against women and children. "We looked at the loopholes. The first ones we found were in the forensic department. We just have the forensic ability for 1,500 people. We used the Nirbhaya fund and with the help of the Ministry of Home Affairs, we are building five new forensic laboratories that will increase the capacity from 1,500 to 20,000," she said. The Union minister said all police stations should have the rape investigation kits. "At times the forensic laboratories receive compromised evidence, that is why there is a need to distribute the rape investigation kits in every police station," she said. Maneka Gandhi added that once such kits are distributed, training is given to police officials in forensics and the capacity of forensic laboratories is increased. It will help in solving the sexual assault cases much faster, she said. The handbook was brought out by the Bureau of Police Research and Development in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Chennai: Madras High Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on an appeal filed by Nalini Chidambaram in Saradha scam case challenging the order of a single judge of the high court. When the appeal came up for hearing before the division bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and Anand Venkatesh on Tuesday, the bench said Nalini need not appear till the pronouncement of the orders on appeal before Enforcement Directorate. Nalini has been directed to appear before ED at Kolkata on Wednesday. Senior counsel KTS Tulsi has appeared on behalf of Nalini Chidambaram and Additional Solicitor General G. Rajagopalan assisted by G. Hema, special public prosecutor for Enforcement Directorate. KTS Tulsi submitted that section 160 of Cr.Pc applies to all women and it did not distinguish as described by single judge justice S.M. Subramaniam in his order earlier. The petitioner being a woman need not appear before the authorities in Kolkata. Therefore, Section 160 of Cr.Pc is inconsistent with Prevention of Money Laundry Act and it would apply in this case, KTS Tulsi said. Senior counsel also said that it is purely political vendetta as no other advocates who appeared in the Saradha scam case were summoned and only Nalini Chidambaram was directed to appear before the ED. Additional solicitor general G. Rajagopalan submitted that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 has to read in holistic manner. Sections 52, 50(2) (3) and 71 of the Act have the overriding effect and makes it clear that section 160 of Cr.Pc is not applicable under PMLA. Nalini has not been arrayed as accused or witness. She is being called only to explain the documents submitted by her legal representative in person, he added. Adding to the long list of confessionals come the recent allegations of sexual harassment in Indian Institute of Bombay (IIT-B). (Photo: PTI | File) Mumbai: A senior student of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay has been charged with sexually harassing a junior male student of the premiere college and faces disciplinary action but not expulsion. An anonymous post has been put up on a Facebook page called IIT-Bombay Diaries Confessions detailing the nature of the harassment. (Photo: Facebook | IIT Bombay Confession page) (Photo: Facebook | IIT Bombay Confession page) (Photo: Facebook | IIT Bombay Confession page) An official from the institute, Dean of Student Affairs Soumyo Mukherji, has confirmed that he received five complaints against the senior student, including the first victim who put up the Facebook post. Complaints started pouring in from March this year. According to the very specific complaint, a senior student has been touching male students inappropriately and making them feel uncomfortable in hostel rooms. An official from the institute, Dean of Student Affairs Soumyo Mukherji, said that five anonymous complaints had been received by the institute against a student in March this year. The officials said, "There is zero tolerance of such actions in IIT Bombay. The problem with the complaints and complainants is that it is coming from a third party, which might have twisted some facts into something else. The other issue is that we have only received five complaints and the number fifteen that is being stated in the media has not been confirmed yet." A Disciplinary Action Committee was set up immediately to look into the matter. Three of the five complainants had deposed before the committee and swift action was taken. Some disciplinary action was taken against the student against whom the complaints had been received but there wasnt enough circumstantial evidence to expel him, the Dean said. When this correspondent got in touch with the faculty, they too confirmed of having received the complaint in early March with action being taken on March 21. The meeting was held for 8 hours and the accused was asked to step down from the various positions he was holding during his tenure. The screenshots that are being shared with media isn't from the earlier case and to investigate new complaint we need time and of course, justice will be given, the source added. (Photo: Screenshots shared by students of IIT-Bombay) (Photo: Screenshots shared by students of IIT-Bombay) After the student graduated, the complaints gathered momentum on social media with alleged victims posting about molestations at the hands of the student on a social media page, IIT Bombay Diaries-Confessions. Thereafter other students came out with similar complaints of molestation on the social media page against more than one student. This senior student is a former student of IIT-B, as per the administration. Mukherji said, This student has completed his graduation from IIT-B and is currently not studying in the institute. We initiated an investigation and took action in March. Now, we have again received complaints but we cannot take any action based on anonymous complaints. We want students to come ahead and mention their names and give a deposition. They should not fear if they have not done anything wrong. Without proper redressal mechanisms that ensure quick action, many freshers choose to not complain fearing for their safety and also to ensure that their much-coveted admission does not go in vain. Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri said formation of cow ministry will attract even more budget into Madhya Pradesh and that he wanted the cow to be removed from the category of animal. (Photo: ANI) Bhopal: Following his elevation to the rank of a cabinet minister in the Madhya Pradesh government, Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri on Wednesday appealed to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to form a cow ministry in the state. He was of the opinion that if there could be a cow secretariat in Rajasthan, a ministry for happiness in MP, then a cow ministry should be constituted in the state for the welfare of the state. He said that the formation of the ministry will attract even more budget into the state and that he wanted the cow to be removed from the category of animal. Speaking to ANI, he said that he had previously spoken to Chief Minister Chouhan regarding this matter. "He (the chief minister) told me that he will restore all the cow-houses, and there will be no shortage of funds, there just needs to be the willpower and commitment towards the cause. Now I am even more hopeful as he was made the chairman of National Agriculture and MGNREGA committee," Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri told ANI. "The state gets 15,000 crore under the scheme. I asked them how much they spend, they told me they could hardly spend half of it. So I asked them why was there this lapse, you are a part of the Cow Protection Board, provide me with a budget of 1,000 crore, I have a strong willpower for my cause, they told me I was not making any unconstitutional demand, they will back me," he added. On June 13, the MP government had elevated Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri, formerly the state's Cow Protection Board chairperson, to the rank of a Cabinet minister. He was earlier given Minister of State (MoS) rank. Hyderabad: Despite going on strike and carrying out a dharna every day, the nurses, sanitation workers and security in 21 hospitals in the state have not received their salaries for two months. A total of 3,000 agitated employees are protesting as the delays are following a pattern that they are not able to handle. Mr Narsimha M, General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress explained, There is only one contractor dispensing money to more than 3,000 employees in the health department. The contractor handles five major hospitals Osmania General Hospital, Gandhi Hospital, Koti Maternity Hospital, MNJ Cancer Hospital, Niloufer Hospital and other area hospitals in the state. We had a strike for four days at a stretch but there was no response from the government. There is a peculiar pattern to the payments being made. At a stretch, for three to four months, salaries are paid regularly. Then, there is a gap of two to three months when salaries are withheld. Then we do a dharna or go on a strike, after which the payment is released. This is becoming a regular pattern. The Union has approached the director of Medical Education Dr Ramesh Reddy asking for his intervention to release the payments. Meanwhile, the contractor Agile Security Private Limited has stated that payments are not released to them every month by the government and that is causing the delay. The union has also approached Health Minister, Mr Laxma Reddy but it has not helped in expediting the payments. Claiming this, the police and Army officials said that the fighting between holed up militants and the security forces broke out after the later laid siege to Nazneen Pora village of Tral on receiving inputs about the presence of militants. (Representational Image) Srinagar: All the three militants trapped in a private house after the security forces launched a cordon and search operation in a remote village in Tral area of Jammu and Kashmirs southern Pulwama district on Tuesday have been killed in an ensuing gunfight. Claiming this, the police and Army officials said that the fighting between holed up militants and the security forces broke out after the later laid siege to Nazneen Pora village of Tral on receiving inputs about the presence of militants. This was the third cordon and search operation launched by the security forces in the Valley after the Centre announced on Sunday not to extend the conditional ceasefire beyond Muslim fasting month of Ramzan and instead resume counterinsurgency operations in the State. No casualties were reported during two other operations carried out on Monday. However, two more gunmen believed to be part of a large group of infiltrators were killed in a firefight raging in the woods of northern Bandipore district for the past twelve days, raising the toll to five including four militants and one Army jawan. The officials said that it was a joint operation of the Army, the J&K polices counterinsurgency Special Operation Group (SOG) and the CRPF launched at Nazneen Pora earlier during the day on Tuesday. They added that four Army jawans and a CRPF officer were injured in the clash. A report from Tral said that the security forces in their final assault against the holed up militants blew up the house using explosives. Later the corpses of three men were retrieved from under the debris. The officials said that their identities are being ascertained. Massive protests by locals broke out in the area during the encounter. In a statement issued late Tuesday night, the police said that the slain militants have been identified as Adil, Danish and Qasim. The third militant identified as Qasim is believed to be a Pakistani. They were affiliated with proscribed organization Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), the statement said. It added, It is learnt that they were the top commanders of JeM involved in a series of terror attacks on the civilians and the security establishments in recent times. Most of the jail inmates have been convicted of serious crimes like murder, loot and rape while others are undertrials. Lucknow: As many as 448 prisoners lodged in Saharanpur jail have pledged to give up their criminal lives and start afresh as yoga instructors once they come out of jail. These inmates have started learning Yoga under the guidance of yoga guru Bharat Bhushan and attend classes every day in the morning. The guru not only teaches them yoga but also explains to them in detail the benefits of various asanas. Most of the jail inmates have been convicted of serious crimes like murder, loot and rape while others are undertrials. Jail superintendent Dr Viresh Raj Sharma said, I spoke to the inmates and asked them if they wanted to learn yoga. All of them agreed but some still seemed worried. When I asked them about their problem, they said they would have no life once they left the jail. They know that the stigma of being in jail will get them no job. I explained to them that if they master yoga, they can take classes or even open their own yoga schools and this excited them.Interestingly, the jail staff members and their families have also joined the yoga classes and the number of participants, at times, swells to over one thousand. In Lucknow jail, a similar camp has been started and the yoga instructor here is Krishnanand Dwiwedi, a murder convict. Farmers in the age group of 18 to 59 years are eligible for the scheme. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: Farmers in Telangana state seeking to avail of the state governments Rs 5 lakh free life insurance cover are facing a peculiar problem. Farmers in the age group of 18 to 59 years are eligible for the scheme. The date of birth is taken from the Aadhaar card. However, Aadhaar cards were issued with only the year of birth in the beginning to lakhs of people. For such farmers, the government has prescribed a common date of birth as July 1. A large number of farmers deliberately increased their age on Aadhaar to avail the Aasara government pension of Rs 1,000 per month which is available to those above 65 years of age. These farmers are now ineligible to claim free life insurance. Staff from the agriculture department has been conducting enumeration of eligible farmers for the free insurance scheme by visiting all the villages. They found that 20 per cent of farmers cannot claim the insurance because of the age factor. Farmers have told the officials that their date of birth was increased on Aadhaar to meet the Aasara pension eligibility criterion. But this is not something the officials can do anything about. Changing information on Aadhaar cards involves a long process for which suitable documents need to be submitted, which the farmers lack. Principal secretary in the agriculture department C. Parthasarathy said, Its not possible for us to make corrections on Aadhaar. Farmers should apply to UIDAI with necessary documents in support of their age. But most of the farmers in villages and agency areas are illiterates and do not have any documents. As per the directions of the state government, we have to go by DoB on Aadhaar. For those who have only year of birth on Aadhaar, the government has prescribed July 1 as the date of birth. Their age will be calculated for free insurance scheme based on that. The government entered into an MoU with LIC to implement the scheme. LIC has given a commitment to settle the insurance claims within 15 days of the death of the farmer. The nominee recommended by the farmer will get Rs 5 lakh in case of his death. For accidents, Rs 2 lakh compensation will be given. MALAPPURAM: The gas pipeline project of the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has made big strides in Malappuram district during the past few months overcoming the years of resistance from the public. The pipe-laying works are in the final stages. Of the 58.5-km stretch that passes through the district, 32 km has already been completed. Nine different units are busy with the work across the district. The pipe-welding for 42 km has also been completed. The district administration has distributed a compensation of Rs 15 crore to the land owners for the loss of agricultural crops in the acquired land. The administration said in a press release that the compensation for the land would be distributed on a war-footing after the completion of the remaining works in the district. The compensation would be determined as per the market value of the land, which has been fixed at 10 times the renewed fare value. The land owners having only 10 cents of land or below will be provided an additional fixed compensation of Rs 5 lakh. The 58.54-km leg of the 310-km Kochi-Managlore pipeline in Malappuram passes through 14 villages across Valanchery, Edayur, Irimbliyam, Marakkara, Ponmala, Kodur, Pookottur, Pulpatta, Kavanoor, Areekode and Keezhuparamba panchayats and Malappuram and Manjeri municipalities. The GAIL has acquired the land with 20-metre width along the stretch. The pipes are being laid in 10-metre area and the remaining 10-metre-wide land will be allowed for cultivation. Due to the public protest during the past five years, the project was stalled in the district. Due to the governments efforts last year, the GAIL could begin the works in November. It is expected to be commissioned in October this year. The freeze on new AYUSH colleges comes at a time when education standards have undergone a series of changes most of which are yet to be put into practice in colleges in the country. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: A two-year freeze (for academic years 2019-20 and 2020-21) on new medical colleges of the alternative medical system AYUSH will not help this traditional system which had slowly started gaining acceptance. The freeze on new AYUSH colleges comes at a time when education standards have undergone a series of changes most of which are yet to be put into practice in colleges in the country. There are 250 AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) colleges in the country and the plan was to start new colleges in every district. But this will not happen due to the freeze. Dr Mallu Prasad, member from Telangana of the Central Council of Indian Medicine says the order has come as a blow to the system as by closing the doors to new colleges there will not be the desired improvements. Those colleges that are substandard and are not following the norms must be isolated and improved. By implementing the changes, recruiting faculty and improving standards. Education committee chairman of CCIM and former member, Dr S Sarang Pani, explained that there are three layers of teaching faculty. The government has done away with professors. In the 14 subjects that are taught in the colleges, the professor is required only for one subject. This has proved detrimental to students to pursue post graduation. This has been a jolt for the system and such orders do not work towards strengthening it, he observed. While CCIM members agree that there are some substandard colleges that must be improved, putting a freeze on new colleges will not help to further that cause. A senior official of AYUSH, on condition of anonymity, said, The biggest drawback for the alternative system is that the support from the state government is not as required. In Telangana there is 50 per cent less faculty in all AYUSH colleges. The posts have not been filled for the last 10 years. The state also has to support the system but that is not happening. The budget for AYUSH was increased by the government and there has been an increase in practitioners too. Union minister of state for AYUSH, Shripad Naik, said in the Lok Sabha that in the past two years there has been an increase of five per cent. These numbers show that there is an interest and it must be further encouraged and scientifically carried out. President Ram Nath Kovind has approved imposition of Governors rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect. (Photo: File | PTI) New Delhi/ Srinagar/Raipur: Jammu and Kashmir was on placed under Governors rule for the fourth time in the last one decade after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner PDP, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the Chief Minister. A home ministry spokesman said, The President has approved imposition of Governors rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect. Meanwhile, additional chief secretary (home) of Chhattisgarh B.V.R. Subramanyam, known as hard taskmaster, has been sent on deputation to Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect. Mr Subramanyam who had a long stint in the PMO, both during the present NDA government and earlier Manmohan Singh regime, had played a key role in devising the fight to finish battle against the three-decade-old Leftwing insurgency in Chhattisgarh. Hyderabad: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured Secunderabad Cantonment Board representatives that the remaining roads will be reopened soon in accordance with the laws, and that she was closely watching the issue, She was speaking to elected members of the SCB who met her along with MP Ch. Malla Reddy to discuss issues pertaining to the SCB. Board vice-president J. Rama Krishna said the delegation had received a nod for most of its proposals. Regarding the joint survey of closed roads by the Local Military Authority (LMA) and SCB members, Mr Rama Krishna said, As the Army official concerned is on leave, we could not hold it. We will still try for that. Mr Victor Das, committee member of Holy Trinity Church, said, We have been suffering a lot because of the road closure. Though the defence minister gave orders on May 20, the LMA has not reopened the roads. We doubt whether the roads will be opened at all. Apart from road closures, the major issues that the SCB members discussed with Ms Sitharaman were building bye-laws, protection of defence land parcels from encroachment, transfer policies and exchange of defence land which are occupied by slum dwellers with the state government. The delegation also brought up the notice of reclassifying B4 and B3 lands, the Smart Cantonment project, amending of rules to allow construction on C category lands and Swacch Bharat. The board members told Ms Sitharaman that the building bye-laws were more than 80 years old and not suited to modern needs. There is a demand from residents to revise bye-laws to bring them in consonance with modern urban requirements. The board had approved the revised bye-laws in October 2017 and sent proposals for approval. All clarifications have been provided, the delegation told the minister. Board members requested Ms Sitharaman to allot Rs 50 crore to the SCB for this financial year as pending service charges. The Army owes SCB Rs 466 crore on account of service charges. Not all Central government schemes are implemented in cantonment limits. The SCB representatives made another proposal on implementation of national development schemes and policies for the residents of cantonment boards. C K Mathivanan disputed the Governments claim that BSNL did not earn profits and said this was because of the Central governments policy decision. Tiruchy: The National Federation of Telecom Employees have appealed to the Union Government to again categorically declare all the 2.5 lakh BSNL (public sector telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) employees as Government servants, said Federations national vice-president C K Mathivanan. He told newsmen at Tiruchy on Tuesday that once the telecom staff were declared as BSNL employees, the consequence was that for the last nine nine years, they have been denied bonus, pay hike and other benefits. He disputed the Governments claim that BSNL did not earn profits and said this was because of the Central governments policy decision. He said that there were 66,000 telecom towers of the BSNL across the country and government was attempting to privatise these towers. If the Government went ahead with that plan, the federation would launch a nationwide agitation, warned Mr Mathivanan. He also took strong exception to PM Narendra Modi for allegedly acting as a 'brand ambassador' for the private Jio network, but would not do such a thing for BSNL. Mr Mathivanan said once there were 114 employees per 1,000 telephones and now it has come down to six staff per 1,000 telephones. Due to this skewed ratio, the services of BSNL have been severely affected of late, he added. As the United States trade dispute with China escalates into a full-blown trade war, Beijing has hit back at plans by US President Donald Trump to launch another round of tariffs worth a further US$200 billion on Chinese imports. Those could take a long and painful trade fight. Technology companies such as Apple have complained about infringement of their innovations while increasingly depending on foreign labor to manufacture their products, issues the US has worked unevenly with China to resolve. On a call with reporters, Peter Navarro, a White House trade adviser on Tuesday said, "China has more to lose going forward". The U.S. imported $505 billion of goods from China past year and exported about $130 billion, leaving a 2017 trade deficit of $376 billion, according to U.S. government figures. Derek Scissors, a China scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank, said that means China will soon run out of imports of U.S. goods on which to impose retaliatory tariffs. Neither side has yet imposed tariffs on the other in their growing dispute over technology and the US trade gap; the first round is to take effect on July 6. U.S. officials will hold a press conference on the decision to impose further tariffs on China this morning. "This latest action by China clearly indicates its determination to keep the United States at a permanent and unfair disadvantage, which is reflected in our massive $376 billion trade imbalance in goods". It was followed by construction equipment maker Caterpillar, which dropped 2.8 percent. Monday's announcement came days after Beijing announced tariffs on $50 billion worth of United States goods in a tit-for-tat response to those finalized by Trump earlier Friday. The United States and China have the world's biggest trading relationship but official ties are increasingly strained over complaints Beijing's technology development tactics hurt American companies. In a statement issued Tuesday, China's commerce ministry criticized Trump's latest move as nothing more than "extreme pressure and blackmail" that "deviates from the consensus reached by both sides" during multiple talks. "If the U.S. loses its senses and publishes a new list, China will be forced to take comprehensive measures that are both strong in quantity and gravity and will fight back", it read. "If they thought that they could buy us off cheap with a few extra products sold and allow them to continue to steal our intellectual property and crown jewels, that was a miscalculation", Navarro said, referring to now-abandoned talks in which Beijing had offered to purchase more USA products. Trump's proposed new duties, as with the initial tariffs, alarmed the US business community. "This is just what we predicted: A tit-for-tat trade war has erupted and American families are caught in the middle", said Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation. The tit-for-tat moves could start to meaningfully slow USA growth, economists warn. The U.S. imported $505 billion of goods from China previous year. A punitive duty the Trump administration applied to lumber imports from Canada has raised the price of a new home by $9,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders. "While the White House is chasing some imaginary trade deficit, it will have very real consequences for the 1.3 million men and women of our industry". Hong Kong-listed shares in Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE dived 24.8 percent after USA senators voted to reimpose a seven-year ban on United States high-tech chip sales to the company. On Friday, Trump said he was pushing ahead with a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese products, prompting Beijing to respond in kind. And as Mr Trump increases the range of goods subject to tariffs it becomes harder for American importers and consumers to avoid the cost by finding alternative suppliers. U.S. politics may restrain Trump. Many in the Republican Party, who are more instinctively in favour of free trade, don't think this is the right way to tackle problems with China. Hyderabad: Telangana state BJP president Dr K. Laxman on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and partys national president Amit Shah will steer his party to a stunning victory in Telangana in 2019 elections. Dr Laxman said the BJP will contest all the Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in TS independently without entering into any poll alliance with any party and emerge victorious in 2019 polls. During a media interaction here, Dr Laxman said Mr Shah would visit the state in mid-July and hold meeting with party leaders and activists from booth level to state-level to strengthen party and devise party's strategy for TS in the 2019 polls. Dr Laxman said he will take up BJP Jana Chaitanya Yatra from June 23 to July 7 covering all nine old districts of Telangana to highlight the achieves of Mr Modi and expose the failures of TRS government in the past four years. The Modi-Amit Shah duo will create magic in Telangana in 2019 polls. They have ensured party's victory in 20 states and they have now set focus on Telugu states. The partys victory march in south India already started with the BJP bagging majority seats in recent Karnataka Assembly elections though it's a different issue that some opportunistic post-poll alliances were formed to deny power to the BJP against the wishes of people, Dr Laxman remarked. Shujaat Bukhari was among the most informed and least exultant Kashmiri journalists I have met. He let his incorrigible smile and straight reporting do the talking. He was shot dead on Thursday evening outside the Srinagar office of the Rising Kashmir newspaper, of which he was editor. There is predictable confusion about who may have killed him together with his two security guards. As is known to happen in the tense and fractious city that Srinagar has become, there will be more whispers than clear pointers to the crime. There was a time not too long ago when journalists from Delhi would visit Srinagar and put their arms around their brave and courageous Kashmiri colleagues. The last four years have seen an equaliser of sorts. The shooting of Gauri Lankesh by suspected Hindutva killers underscored an atmosphere of terror and insecurity that the more upright Indian journalists in particular have been feeling quite palpably. The once invincible Barkha Dutt has been speaking of efforts to silence her by stopping TV entrepreneurs from hiring her. In a way, the best journalists are now working on news portals because their supposedly mainstream newspapers and TV channels will not be allowed to hire them. Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand, who exposed perhaps the worst crimes of the Gujarat pogroms, are facing legal cases and jail threats. Rana Ayyub, a courageous young woman, very reluctantly shares the mental torture she suffers from unspeakable palpable threats for her work in exposing the high and mighty in the field of communal violence. Anchor Ravish Kumar has worries about his family, but refuses to stand down as perhaps the boldest anchor in India today. What is happening with the Pakistani media is so identical that it is tempting to believe that tormentors on both sides perhaps exchange notes. All these fine journalists standing their ground on both sides are people who can be considered the most self-assured holders of free opinions and sharers of information and knowledge. But, like Shujaat Bukhari and Gauri Lankesh, they are all extremely vulnerable to galloping intolerance. The main players in the troubled strife-torn Kashmir Valley are India and Pakistan. Both have vehemently condemned Bukharis murder. Which reminds me of some of the better-known mysteries of our times. There was a film called No One Killed Jessica about a lovely girl who was shot dead at a party in Delhi. It was probably based on the storyline from Ayodhya: no one demolished the Babri mosque! The Pakistani equivalent would be: no one killed Benazir Bhutto. Two or three images come to my mind as it scans the canvas of memories and possibilities for clues. The murder took place on the day the UN Human Rights commission brought out its first-ever report on the abuses in Kashmir on both sides of the border. The murder thus became the story rather than the damning rights report, which incidentally was strongly rejected by India. There are factors that point to one direction and then to the other. Bukharis brother is a minister in the Mehbooba Mufti government of which the BJP is an ally. This fact can create one kind of narrative. But Bukharis newspaper was highlighting reports that pointed to an opposite reality. Take the story of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old tribal Muslim girl in Jammu in January this year. Right-wing Hindus have actively rallied in support of the accused. A report in Bukharis paper on April 4 nailed the lie that she was killed by someone in a land feud. Strands of hair found in a temple where eight-year-old Asifa Bano was held captive before being strangulated after rape have matched with the victims (Asifa) hair on DNA analysis, Rising Kashmir reported in the first week of April. Official sources said that the crime branch, probing the rape-and-murder, had found hair strands from Devistan temple in Hiranagar after one of the accused revealed during interrogation that Asifa was held captive inside the temple. The crime site was searched and the hair strands were found and sent to forensic laboratory (FSL) New Delhi. The report confirmed that they were that of Asifa, the sources said. Whose side was Bukhari on, according to his report? Lets also read a report Bukhari wrote on May 25. Veteran journalist and peace activist Om Thanvi shared it as the last one from the Kashmiri journalist in his email account. The report raises the prospect of the stalled Saarc summit being revived in Islamabad with Indias participation. Everyone knows who would oppose the move. Bukhari began the report by critiquing PM Narendra Modi for not addressing the Kashmir issue politically during his May 20 visit to Srinagar. He is preparing the ground to see that the Saarc summit takes place and instead of rhetoric, he might prefer peace to be sold to the electorate. Relations with Nepal and Maldives are also indicating towards this thread. In order to get Pakistan on board for a successful Saarc, it is imperative to cool down tempers in and on Kashmir. In this backdrop next few months will be interesting to watch. Sadly, Shujaat Bukhari will not be around with his notebook to jot down his astute reading of a complex and forbidding reality. By arrangement with Dawn The basic issue that guides Delhi to the brink in recent times tends to be interpreted as a personality problem. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, also leader of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Legislative Assembly, is a confrontationist. So, after a fashion, is the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. And they dont like each other. Mr Kejriwal might have got away with it but for the fact that both chieftains occupy the same administrative and geographical territory. Mix that potent potion with the poison of the uncertain constitutional status of Delhi, and what you get is the present stymied situation. Which goes like this: the AAP has been staging a dharna in the office of the lieutenant-governor, Mr Anil Baijal, who is the representative of the government at the Centre and answerable to the President. The BJP holds a counter-dharna in the chief ministers office. The administrative officers (the IAS and those of other services) are uncooperative. Which means life goes on, though it is not clear why or how. The issues have been simmering ever since the AAP came to power in 2015. Mr Kejriwal is not a man who likes to be ignored. And he is loath to play second fiddle to anyone. If the BJP gives him what he considers to be his due, it is entirely possible that he will join hands with the saffron party without much thought lost on the political morals involved. And he would justify it with reasonable-sounding arguments against the Congress Party, which too he has alienated. Perhaps Mr Kejriwal thinks that since his party had won 67 of the 70 Assembly seats all on his own, the Congress should be lining up at his door. In effect, Mr Kejriwal has to take on both parties. He has in fact united the main Opposition party with the ruling BJP against him. This makes his life difficult, and pushes him into a situation where he ends up acting not as a chief minister, but as the chief disgruntled officer. This is not such a bad thing as one might assume. Mr Kejriwal has made a successful political career out of disgruntlement. But the personalities aside, there is a problem regarding Delhis status as an administrative unit. This might have been largely academic had the main players been not so vindictive and demanding. Last year, the BJP-led Centre challenged the Arvind Kejriwal governments submission in the Supreme Court on the issue of supremacy in administering the national capital territory. The Supreme Court evaded the issue altogether and said Delhi enjoyed a special status among the Union territories under the Constitution, but that did not make it a full-fledged state. The Centre had argued that the Constitution was silent on awarding co-extensive executive and legislative powers to the Delhi government. The case spun on an earlier verdict by the Delhi high court which stated that the lieutenant-governor was the administrative head of the national capital. The AAPs position was that it was the elected government and that as the direct representatives of the people, the chief minister should be calling the shots. In effect, this leaves Mr Kejriwal only in charge of the daily operations of administrative matters in certain areas. For all his faults, Mr Kejriwal is a clever politician. He knows that Delhi is a constitutional grey area. Sometime in 2019, or possibly early in the following year, Delhi will see the next Assembly elections. Mr Kejriwal is certain to play up his administrative problems and tell voters how his government had been held back from delivering on its promises because of the Centre, and the lack of powers of the Kejriwal ministry. He is likely to make the elections a constitutional issue, which lifts him from the position of a mere disgruntled man to that of a freedom fighter of a kind. This strategy might well pay dividends. Mr Kejriwal is excellent at playing the victim card, as the underdog. The recent dharnas and morchas in the nations capital have caught the imagination of the people. This is because the average Indian the aam aadmi is as disgruntled as Mr Kejriwal, and would like to see a change in a change in the power equations. Mr Kejriwals antics will gratify him. Which is the reason why Mr Kejriwal may well win the elections again. The Congress Party, which has stayed aloof from the AAP agitation, has not yet seen through this game. A recent tweet by Rahul Gandhi apportions blame equally between the BJP and the AAP. Mr Kejriwal may win the next Delhi Assembly elections. But like a classic rebel, he would still not know what to do with the power that he manages to win. Power is a tiger Mr Modi is good at riding it. Mr Kejriwal could learn some lessons from his enemy. Trump announced last year that the U.S. will pull out of the accord negotiated by his predecessor unless he can get a better deal. German Chancellor Angela Merkel took aim Tuesday at U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the Paris accord, calling the move very regrettable at a time when the overwhelming majority of countries worldwide are trying to limit global warming. We know climate change isnt a matter of faith, she told an international climate meeting in Berlin. Its a fact. Trump announced last year that the U.S. will pull out of the accord negotiated by his predecessor unless he can get a better deal. Merkel said Germany remains committed to the Paris climate accord fighting global warming but acknowledged that the country still needs to do more to curb emissions, particularly in the transport sector, if it wants to meet its own goals. The long-time German leader urged the 178 countries that have ratified the 2015 Paris accord to agree by the end of the year on a rulebook for its implementation. The German government stands fully behind the Paris climate accord, because ambitious climate policies dont just help limit the worst consequences of climate change , they also offer chances for innovation and therefore growth and prosperity worldwide, she said. Germany, the strongest economy in the 28-nation European Union, was once a leader in the fight against climate change but has fallen behind in recent years. Officials predict that Germany will miss its goal of cutting emissions by 2020 by a wide margin. We in Germany have to admit that we need to get better, said Merkel, adding that the biggest worry was the countrys transport sector, which has seen emissions rise slightly compared to 1990. The talks in Berlin, attended by ministers from some 30 countries, are part of a series of meetings preparing for Decembers global climate summit in Poland. Mateusz Morawiecki, Polands prime minister, told ministers that the summits host city of Katowice, a former center of heavy industry and coal mining, would be a showcase for the economic shift that is needed to prevent climate change. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Verizon was the first major carrier to declare it would end sales of such data to brokers that then provide it to others. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have pledged to stop providing information on US phone owners locations to data brokers, stepping back from a business practice that has drawn criticism for endangering privacy. The data has apparently allowed outside companies to pinpoint the location of wireless devices without their owners knowledge or consent. Verizon said that about 75 companies have been obtaining its customer data from two little-known California-based brokers that Verizon supplies directly LocationSmart and Zumigo. Verizon was the first major carrier to declare it would end sales of such data to brokers that then provide it to others. It did so in a June 15 letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has been probing the phone location-tracking market. AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint followed suit Tuesday after The Associated Press reported the Verizon move. None of the carriers said they are getting out of the business of selling location data. The carriers together have more than 300 million US subscribers. Verizon Chief Privacy Officer Karen Zacharia said the company would be careful not to disrupt beneficial services such as fraud prevention and emergency roadside assistance. In an email to the AP, AT&T spokesman Jim Greer cited similar reasons for cutting off the intermediaries as soon as practical. Last month, Wyden revealed abuses in the lucrative but loosely regulated field involving Securus Technologies, whose contract Verizon says was approved only for the location tracking of outside mobile phones called by prison inmates. Verizon notified LocationSmart and Zumigo, both privately held, that it intends to terminate their ability to access and use our customers location data as soon as possible, Zacharia wrote. Location data from Verizon and other carriers make it possible to identify the whereabouts of nearly any phone in the US within seconds. Popular commercial uses for the information include keeping tabs on packages, vehicles and employees; bank fraud prevention; and targeted marketing offers. The cutoff wont affect users ability to share locations directly with apps and other services. Rather, it deals with the practice of providing data to third parties with whom users have no direct contact. Wyden wrote all four major US wireless carriers on May 8 after learning about a web portal that let law officers track Americans locations without proper oversight. A former sheriff in Missouri has been accused of using Securus data for unauthorised surveillance of a judge, a sheriff and state highway patrol officers. Days later, a Carnegie Mellon University security researcher discovered a security flaw in LocationSmarts website that could have allowed any reasonably sophisticated hacker to secretly track almost any phone in the US or Canada. Wyden asked the carriers to identify which third parties have been acquiring carrier location data and to provide details such as any third-party sharing of location data without customer consent. His office shared the companies responses with The AP. None of the four carriers named any third parties, with two exceptions. One was Securus, which all four carriers have since cut off. The other was 3CInteractive, the reseller that supplied Securus. Verizon did the responsible thing and promptly announced it was cutting these companies off, Wyden said in a statement, referring to the aggregators as shady middlemen. The big concern was that this was probably the tip of the iceberg, said Laura Moy, deputy director of the Georgetown Center on Privacy and Technology. She said Verizons move indicates that it cannot actually police this process, that it doesnt have the ability. Nor can the other carriers, she said. None of the four carriers responded to questions from the AP on whether they plan to sell location data directly instead of relying on the two California companies and, if so, how. AT&T and T-Mobile, No. 2 and 3 in customers, said in letters to Wyden they only allow authorized third parties to access customer location data if the affected customers have given consent or if it is required by law for instance, a court order. Verizon said the same. Sprint said account holders must generally be notified if the data is to be used so they can decide whether they consent. T-Mobile has offered to buy Sprint for $26.5 billion. The carriers left most of Wydens questions unanswered such as how many of their customers had been affected by location sharing they never agreed to. Gigi Sohn, a former top advisor at the Federal Communications Commission in the Obama administration, said Verizon has lately proven itself a shining example on privacy. I think they understand that bad privacy practices are bad for business, she said. Moy said Verizon may have been motivated by a $1.4 million FCC fine for an earlier episode in which the company quietly tracked its wireless customers online travels with a supercookie for at least 22 months beginning in December 2012. The company subsequently signed a consent order with the FCC promising to restrict that tracking to customers who affirmatively agreed to it. The case also spurred FCC rules that would have required carriers to obtain consent for selling their customers wireless location data. But the GOP-led Congress quashed those rules last year. Analysts say its difficult to gauge the size of the location-tracking aggregation market. On its website, LocationSmart claims it is the No. 1 location-as-a-service provider with data from every top-tier US wireless carrier and more than 200 enterprise customers. Zumigo appears oriented to the financial sector and lists Intel, Wells Fargo and Capital One among investors. In a statement, LocationSmart said it respects user privacy, doesnt provide access to location information without user consent and doesnt warehouse data or track user location histories. The CEO of Zumigo, Chirag Bakshi, said his 7-year-old company provides location data to less than a half dozen big banks and financial institutions for fraud prevention. He said Zumigo does not let its customers resell the location data and hopes to renegotiate with the carriers. Analyst Rich Mogull of Arizona-based Securosis said telecom providers track and sell location data as a matter of course. A wide range of other businesses such as Google also assiduously compile location datasets on consumers. We are all tracked, all the time, primarily for marketing purposes, by such a large number of companies Im not sure I would even know where to start the math, said Mogull. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. ICT and the recent addition of IoT have started transforming the agriculture industry and helping farmers to improve their crops productivity and yield. (Representative image: Pexels) Making agriculture a sustainable livelihood for millions of Indian farmers calls for a serious thought and deliberation. NITI Aayogs plan to double the farmers income by 2022 stressed upon giving focus to irrigation and quality seeds. However, there is more that can be done by integrating technology in routine agricultural operations. IoT forms an integral part of the next generation of Indian agriculture. Farmers in many parts of India are largely dependent on climate-related such as a good monsoon for their harvest which has a huge impact on their profits. Sujay Ojha, Advisor to Weather Risk Management Services Pvt. Ltd feels that with uncertainties around rainfall, it has been a constant battle with nature to produce quality yields in a good quantity that will help their income and survival. Seasoned farmers used farming history and their expertise to battle this uncertainty. They were able to predict what plant will grow and how much water was needed based on the weather condition to continue farming successfully. Generations of farmers have followed this wisdom that has been passed on to them. However, they were somewhat unprepared for was the climatic change in the global warming and the effect it has on farming. ICT and the recent addition of IoT have started transforming the agriculture industry and helping farmers to improve their crops productivity and yield. Simple factors such as knowing the soil type, when to farm, understanding weather and rainfall forecast, being ready to manage pests with preventive measures can lead to a profitable year of harvest. When one of these factors is overlooked, farmers may encounter adverse effects on the harvest yields. These new-age digital tools can bring in positive intervention into farming practices. A tool like My Farm Info helps farmers understand their farm better. MyFarmInfo.com is an agriculture information system to help farmer maximize their income by providing them ways to increase their yield and help them get the best price for their produce. Farmers can input their farm details in this software tool on top of GIS interface and enter their farm details. They can look at the farm layout and locate it online using this tool. They will able be able to add new farms and get a complete report on how to improve their farm income by getting optimum NPK application, nutrition information and optimal mandi for the crop. Some of the reports the tool provides are Crop Scheduler Scheduling is an important aspect of crop production. Accurate schedules are required to grow crops to marketable size at the right time of year. Poor scheduling may cause growers to experience less productive yield. There are several factors that can influence crop productivity. To successfully schedule a crop, farmers have to work backwards from the day they would like to market their crop and then decide on the date of seed sowing. With the help of My Farm Info tool, it is possible to keep track of all stages of crop life cycle. Farmers will receive messages according to the schedule regarding their upcoming crop stages. Weather forecasts and disease alerts will also be sent through SMS. Flood Risk Another important factor that affects crop productivity is the risk of the farm getting flooded. This could be because of rainfall or due to improper irrigation management. My farm info helps in checking if the farm is susceptible to floods using 10 years of historical data. Farmers with that knowledge can work on preventive measures and reduce the chance of flooding. Wind Risk Management Another external factor that could affect the crops is wind. Exposure of growing plants to wind results in dwarfing due to desiccation of plant tissue and will thereby reduce its growth. The wind also increases crop water requirements. The Wind Risk page in My Farm Info helps farmers to find the impact of flood and the wind on their produce. Adapting to Change The agricultural industry is fast growing and will always have changes. There will also be a set of risks for the produce. Farmers who want to be successful have to be willing to change, adapt to technology and move to smart farming. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The Indian detainees pointed out that the other non-immigrant prisoners get far more time out of cells. (Representational Image) Washington: A group of 52 Indians, mostly Sikhs, has been held at a detention centre in the US State of Oregon for being part of a large contingent of illegal immigrants seeking asylum, an American lawmaker has said. The Indians form the largest group of detainees in the total 123 illegal immigrants being held at a facility in Sheridan. The detention centre was recently visited by a group of Democratic lawmakers from the Oregon State, who later told the media about the alleged inhuman condition of the illegal immigrants. The immigrants are seeking asylum in the US. The detainees from India are the largest group of detainees being held in Sheridan, wrote Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici on her blog post. She along with several other Democratic lawmakers from the State visited the detention centre Saturday. "Through our Punjabi translator, we learned that these men were planning to request asylum because they faced severe religious persecution in India. Most are Sikh or Christian. Instead they were incarcerated in a federal prison," she said. "They said they came to the United States for religious freedom, but they felt as if they were 'going crazy' because they are being confined in small cells for up to 22 hours a day," the Congresswoman said. The Indian detainees pointed out that the other non-immigrant prisoners get far more time out of cells, she said. Most of the detainees at the federal facility are asking for asylum because they experienced violence or persecution in their home countries, Bonamici said. Several had travelled to the border with a wife and a child or children; none knew where their family members are, she said. "This is a shameful hour in US history. I don't care what your stance on immigration is, no one should favour ripping children out of their parents' arms ...." Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer told reporters after visiting the detention center. He alleged that President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have doubled down on their anti-immigrant, xenophobic agenda with the administration's new "zero tolerance" policy on immigration. "The administration is criminalising families who are fleeing abuse and violence and separating children as ICE detains or deports their parents," he said in a statement. According to the local daily 'The Oregonian', of the total detainees, 52 have identified themselves as Sikhs or Christians from India. They alleged that they fled from their country because of religious persecution from the Hindu majority. The Indians told the delegation that their Hindi and Punjabi translators were the first outsiders they've been able to talk to since they were imprisoned weeks ago, the daily reported. The Congressional delegation included Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden. "As the child of parents whose families found refuge in America from the terrors of Nazi Germany, I strongly believe Donald Trump's cruel and callous treatment of human beings seeking asylum flies in the face of America's core humanitarian values," Wyden said. "Trump's choice of zero tolerance for the refugees we met today and for the others imprisoned around the country this Father's Day weekend makes zero sense and shows zero understanding of American values. "What I saw and heard today highlights the urgency of reversing Trump's mean, dangerous and damaging actions - returning America to our unique role as a beacon of hope that welcomed our immigrant ancestors and creating the future we want for our children," he said. These 123 detainees are among the more than 1,600 people that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is holding in federal prisons across the US as it enforces Trump's "zero-tolerance policy" on immigration, the lawmakers said in a joint statement. The men come from 16 different countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, China, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, India, Mauritania, Nepal, Peru and Russia, as well as from Congo and Eritrea, it said. The Congressional delegation was told that those detainees are being held upwards for 23 hours a day with three men bunked in each cell. The prison does not have the resources to house ICE detainees alongside pre-trial inmates who are normally held in the facility. The delegation was also told that incompatibility between BOP and ICE telephone systems was preventing ICE detainees at the BOP facility from accessing legal services. According to lawmakers, the detainees described stress as they sit in cells day after day without knowing when they will get a hearing, or get a lawyer, or what comes next. "Several men had been separated from their children, and experienced the added stress of not knowing what happened to their families. Under Trump's 'zero-tolerance policy', the men's children were taken away at the border - one man said an ICE official told him, 'it's not my choice; the decision came from above' - and the fathers still don't have any information about their location, condition or well-being," the lawmakers said. Canada is following the lead of Uruguay in allowing a nationwide, legal marijuana market, although each Canadian province is working up its own rules for pot sales. (Photo: File) Toronto: Canadas Senate gave final passage Tuesday to the federal governments bill to legalize cannabis, though Canadians will have to wait at least a couple of months to legally buy marijuana as their country becomes the second in the world to make pot legal nationwide. Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government had hoped to make pot legal by July 1, but the government has said provincial and territorial governments will need eight to 12 weeks following Senate passage and royal assent to prepare for retail sales. Trudeaus government is expected to decide a date that would legalize it in early or mid-September. Its been too easy for our kids to get marijuana and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate, Trudeau tweeted. Canada is following the lead of Uruguay in allowing a nationwide, legal marijuana market, although each Canadian province is working up its own rules for pot sales. The federal government and the provinces also still need to publish regulations that will govern the cannabis trade. The bill passed in the Senate by a vote of 52-29. We have seen in the Senate tonight a historic vote that ends 90 years of prohibition of cannabis in this country, 90 years of needless criminalization, 90 years of a just-say-no approach to drugs that hasnt worked, said independent Sen. Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the upper house. Canada is the largest developed country to end a nationwide prohibition on marijuana use. In the neighboring U.S., nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana. California, home to one in eight Americans, launched the United States biggest legal marijuana marketplace on Jan. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould tweeted that it was a historic milestone for progressive policy in Canada as we shift our approach to cannabis Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor tweeted she was thrilled that the Senate approved the bill. Were on the cusp of a sensible, responsible and equitable cannabis policy, she said. The Canadian government largely followed the advice of a marijuana task force headed by former Liberal Health Minister Anne McLellan as well as the advice of former Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, who is the parliamentary secretary to the justice minister. The task force recommended adults be allowed to carry up to 30 grams of pot and grow up to four plants. It also said marijuana should not be sold in the same location as alcohol or tobacco. The most controversial aspect of Canadas move to legalize marijuana nationwide has been setting the minimum age for use at 18 or 19, depending on the province. That is lower than in U.S. states that have embraced legalization. Advocates argued that putting the limit at 21 would encourage a black market and drive youths into the hands of criminals. But some health experts have worried that the lower age will encourage use of a substance that can have long-term consequences on still-maturing brains. Conservative senators remained staunchly opposed to legalization. Were going to have all those involved in illegal marijuana peddling right now becoming large corporation, Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos said. When you normalize the use of marijuana and youre a young person and you had certain reservations because of the simple fact that it was illegal, theres, I believe, a propensity to have somebody be more inclined to use it. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley in Washington DC on Wednesday. (Photo:AFP) Washington: The United States is leaving the United Nations Human Rights Council, which Ambassador Nikki Haley called an organisation that is not worthy of its name. Its the latest withdrawal by the Trump administration from an international institution. Ms Haley said on Tuesday the US had given the human rights body opportunity after opportunity to make changes. She lambasted the council for its chronic bias against Israel and lamented the fact that its membership incl-udes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights, Ms Haley said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing alon-gside Ms Haley at the State Department, said there was no doubt that the council once had a noble vision. But today we need to be honest, Pompeo said. The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights. The announcement came just a day after the UN human rights chief, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. But Haley cited longstanding US complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. She had been threatening the pull-out since last year unless the council made changes advocated by the US. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded, Ms Haley said. Still, she suggested the decision need not be permanent, adding that if the council did adopt reforms, we would be happy to rejoin it. She said the withdrawal notwithstanding, the US would continue to defend human rights at the United Nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office called the US decision courageous, calling it an unequivocal statement that enough is enough. The United States' current term on the council ends next year. United Nations: Over 7,000 people from India filed applications for asylum in the US last year, according to a report by the UN refugee agency which said America was the largest recipient of new asylum requests in 2017. The UN Refugee Agency said in its annual Global Trends report that 68.5 million people globally were displaced as of the end of 2017. Among them were 16.2 million people who became displaced during 2017 itself, either for the first time or repeatedly - indicating a huge number of people on the move and equivalent to 44,500 people being displaced each day, or a person becoming displaced every two seconds. Wars, other violence, and persecution drove worldwide forced displacement to a new high in 2017 for the fifth year in a row, led by the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan's war, and the flight into Bangladesh from Myanmar of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees. Overwhelmingly it is developing countries that are most affected, it said. In the US, the trend of increasing asylum claims from people originating from the north of Central America also continued. Salvadorans made up the largest nationality of applicants with 49,500 claims, almost half again as much as the 33,600 submitted in 2016. Asylum claims from Venezuelans increased by 63 per cent to 29,900, reflecting the challenging conditions in the country. Other nationalities from which there were more than 5,000 claims in 2017 were Mexico (26,100), China (17,400), Haiti (8,600) and India (7,400). Altogether claims were received from nationals from 168 countries, the report said. According to the report, there were 197,146 refugees at the end of 2017 in India and 10,519 asylum seekers with pending cases. There are about 40,391 asylum seekers from India at the end of last year, the report said. It added that for the first time since 2013, Syria was not the most common country of origin for new asylum-seekers. The highest number of asylum claims filed by individuals were from nationals of Afghanistan who submitted 124,900 claims in 80 different countries. As in 2016, Turkey received the most claims with 67,400 registered, replacing Germany, which received 16,400 claims compared with 127,000 in 2016. In contrast to 2016, Greece was the third most common recipient of claims from Afghans with 7,500, followed by France (6,600) and India (4,500). Refugees originating from Myanmar represented the fourth-largest population group by country of origin, more than doubling in number from less than half a million to 1.2 million by the end of 2017. The majority of refugees from Myanmar at the end of the year were hosted by Bangladesh (932,200). Other countries with sizable populations of Myanmar refugees were Thailand (100,000), Malaysia (98,000) and India (18,100). The report said that refugees who have fled their countries to escape conflict and persecution accounted for 25.4 million of the 68.5 million. This is 2.9 million more than in 2016, also the biggest increase UNHCR has seen in a single year. Asylum-seekers, who were still awaiting the outcome of their claims to refugee status as of 31 December 2017, meanwhile rose by around 300,000 to 3.1 million. People displaced inside their own country accounted for 40 million of the total, slightly fewer than the 40.3 million in 2016. "We are at a watershed, where success in managing forced displacement globally requires a new and far more comprehensive approach so that countries and communities aren't left dealing with this alone," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. "But there is reason for some hope. Fourteen countries are already pioneering a new blueprint for responding to refugee situations and in a matter of months a new Global Compact on Refugees will be ready for adoption by the United Nations General Assembly." No one immediately claimed the attack, but it was likely carried out by the Islamic State group, which was not included in the cease-fire and has clashed with the Taliban in the past. A pair of major suicide bombings in the Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan have killed at least 54 people and wounded in excess of 100 others over the weekend. The United Nations Assistance Mission In Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a June 16 statement that it "commends" the Afghan government and the Taliban "for honoring the cease-fires" and "welcomes" Ghani's announcement on extending the truce beyond Eid. People attend the funeral of the victims who were killed a day earlier in a suicide bomb attack in Rodat district. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. The peace march, believed to be the first of its kind in Afghanistan, emerged from a sit-in protest and hunger strike in Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern province of Helmand which is a Taliban stronghold. It was the first formal nationwide ceasefire since 2001 when United States military forces moved into the war-torn nation and ousted the Taliban from power. Ghani had committed "a grave mistake" by allowing Taliban fighters into government-controlled areas, said Amarullah Saleh, former head of the National Directorate of Security. But it was clear that not everyone in the Taliban approved of the bonhomie between their fighters and security forces. In a statement released to media Sunday, the insurgent group said field commanders have been asked to ban Taliban fighters from participating in ceasefire-related celebrations to deter "the enemy" from misusing the events to harm Afghans. Last week, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani declared a unilateral truce after 2,000 religious leaders said that the war in Afghanistan was "illegitimate" and then extended the measure on Saturday for a yet-to-be-determined period. "Peace talks by necessity would include a discussion of the role of worldwide actors and forces". Hundreds of Afghan peace marchers arrived exhausted in the capital, Kabul, on Monday after spending the fasting month of Ramadan crossing the sun-baked, war-torn country, much of it under Taliban control. The Taliban had agreed to a truce, but only for the first three days of Eid al-Fitr, which started Friday, promising not to attack Afghan soldiers or police. In the western province of Herat, the police chief met Taliban officials for a conversation. Despite more aggressive military operations against the Taliban under a new approach adopted by U.S. President Donald Trump previous year, the Taliban still holds large swaths of the country. India and Luxembourg are celebrating 70 years of establishment of their diplomatic relations. (Photo: @MEAIndia/Twitter) Luxembourg City: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on June 20 called on Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel and discussed ways to expand bilateral cooperation in trade and investment, space, digital India and people-to-people relationship. Swaraj, who arrived in Luxembourg on the third leg of her four-nation tour on Tuesday, became the first external affairs minister from India to visit the European country. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted: "Business starts early! EAM @SushmaSwaraj had a warm meeting with the Prime Minister of #Luxembourg Xavier Bettel, a friend of India. Discussions focused on expanding cooperation in trade & investment, space, digital India and people-to-people relationship". She also made a courtesy call on Grand Duke of Luxembourg Henri Albert Gabriel Felix Marie Guillaume and exchanged views to further strengthen 70 years old diplomatic relationship between India and Luxembourg, and impart an upward trajectory to our bilateral ties, Kumar said. Swaraj then had a productive meeting with Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn. The two leaders discussed cooperation in trade and investment, steel and space, and exchanged views on strengthening India-EU relations, Kumar said. India and Luxembourg are celebrating 70 years of establishment of their diplomatic relations. Swaraj arrived in Luxembourg for a two-day visit from France where she met the top French leadership and addressed the Indian diaspora at a reception organised in her honour. Earlier, she had visited Italy on the first leg of her tour. On the last leg of her tour, Swaraj will visit Belgium from June 20-23. To meet the rising demand in the Indian market, Automotive components major Bosch on Wednesday said that it will invest Rs 1,700 crore in India over the next three years. Bosch has been investing heavily in India. Chairman of the board of management of the Bosch Group Volkmar Denner said the Adugodi location is being revamped from a manufacturing facility into a technology hub. "Over the past three years, we have invested more than Rs 370 crore to create this smart campus (in Adugodi) which is home to 3,650 of our 18,000 engineers in India," Denner said, adding, additional investments of Rs 600 crore are planned for further expansion of Adugodi. In 2017, the Bosch Group registered total sales of around 2 billion euros (approximately Rs 15,784 crore) in the Indian market this is a solid double-digit sales growth of 15.4% in euro terms. Denner sees a promising future for the automotive market in India. "India continues to offer promising opportunities for our business and our broad product range. According to the latest global data, India has overtaken Germany to become the fourth largest automotive market in the world. Automobile sales in Asias third largest economy, including passenger and commercial vehicles, grew by 9.5% last year," Denner said. In terms of new business, last year, Bosch set up an artificial intelligence centre in Bengaluru, and its newly established Connected Mobility Solutions division is active in India too. Apart from Bengaluru, there are two other AI centres- Sunnyvale, California and Renningen, Germany. It is also planning a fourth location in China. "We apply AI to optimise processes in manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain management, and to enable intelligent services. In India, Bosch has also recently set up the Robert Bosch Center for Data Science and AI at IIT Madras with annual funding of Rs 4 crore (0.5 million euros) for the next five years. This centre will set a precedent in the way big data is used to improve problem-solving capabilities in the industrial domain," he informed. In the future, artificial intelligence will be a key component of Bosch products. "All our products will either possess that intelligence themselves, or AI will have played a key role in their development or manufacture," he said. Talking about electrification, he said that Bosch believes in electric future. On the Indian government's vision to make the country an all-electric vehicle market by 2031, Denner opined that the time frame is short and that for electric vehicles on road, there is a need to empower electrical grid and charging infrastructure for all vehicles. "Electrification in India is expected to gain momentum via fleet operators, for which the prerequisite is shared and connected mobility. We believe it will take off much more rapidly in small-vehicle segments," he added. Seeking to pin down the Congress as "anti-Hindu", the BJP on Wednesday took umbrage at senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh's remarks about "Sangh terror" and demanded his ouster from the party. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra referred to previous statements by Congress leaders from P Chidambaram to Sushilkumar Shinde and its past and current presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to claim that the Congress was acting against the interests of Hindus. "We demand Congress leader Digvijay Singh should be sacked from the party. You (Digvijay Singh) pointed finger at millions of Hindus, denigrated them and called them terrorists. Why do you take Hindus for granted, Rahul Gandhi?" Patra told reporters. Singh has said that he never used the term 'Hindu terrorism' or saffron terrorism but always referred it to as "Sangh" terrorism. "No terror activity can be linked to religion because no religion supports terrorism...Those accused in the Malegaon, Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid bomb blasts were influenced by Sangh ideology. RSS spreads violence, hatred and propagates terrorism...All Hindu terrorists who were caught have links with RSS. Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, was also an RSS functionary. Their ideology spreads hatred, rears violence and from violence, breeds terrorism," he has said. Patra said, "had Singh used this language against any other religion, would Rahul have spared him? BJP takes this seriously. This is no small matter." Referring to previous statements by Congress leaders on "saffron terror", Patra said Pakistan is getting benefited when Congress leaders issue such statements. "With these statements of the Congress, Pakistan gets benefit. The Congress is giving a platform to Pakistan. They are doing things that is helping Pakistan build its narrative," he said. Singh's statements came at a time the country was mourning the killings of soldier Aurangazeb and journalist Shujaat Bukhari in which Pakistan's hand is seen, Patra says. Patra said Rahul is obsessed with the RSS and sees an RSS hand for everything that happens in the world. "You must stop this. Rahul Gandhi has been reprimanded by court as well but he is doing the politics of appeasement," he added. Governors rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir with President Ram Nath Kovind giving his approval to Governor N N Vohras recommendation even as the government initiated a process to augment the Kashmir administration with the appointment of two advisors. This is the eighth time that Governors Rule is being imposed in the troubled state in the last four decades. The President has approved the imposition of Governors rule in J&K with immediate effect, a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) spokesperson said. Kovind, who is on a three-nation tour, signed the file after he reached Suriname. Vohra had forwarded his recommendation to the President through the MHA on Tuesday soon after the BJP withdrew support to PDP government. Sources said the Governors report was immediately sent to Suriname where the President was scheduled to land at 6.30 pm (3 am IST). The file was returned to the MHA at around 6 am, which then initiated the process of promulgating Governors rule in the state. The MHA made public the announcement at around 7.45 am. Two advisors present Chief Secretary B B Vyas and former IPS officer Vijay Kumar, who recently retired as Senior Security Advisor to the Union Home Ministry to the Governor were appointed to aid him in the administration of the volatile state. Augmenting the Kashmir administration, senior IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre B V R Subrahmanyam has been transferred to the Jammu and Kashmir government. Subrahmanyam, who hails from Andhra Pradesh and is presently additional chief secretary (Home) in Chhattisgarh, was also appointed as the chief secretary to succeed Vyas, who was last month given a one-year extension in service. The BJP had demanded Governors Rule in the state after accusing its former alliance partner of failing to arrest growing radicalisation, violence and discrimination of Jammu and Ladhak regions. Under Governors rule, anti-militant operations are expected to get a boost. Sources said forces have been given specific instructions to hit hard at militants, especially in their strongholds in south Kashmir. The security establishment is also gearing up for further confrontation at the borders as it anticipates ceasefire violations by Pakistan. We will retaliate if Pakistan indulges any misadventure, a senior official said. Renowned music composer A R Rahman has been appointed as the Brand Ambassador of the Sikkim government, an official notification said. Rahman will promote and project the state's achievements nationally and globally, the notification issued by the Chief Secretary A K Srivastava said. Sikkim, with its natural and pristine beauty, has over the last two decades emerged as a world famous eco-tourism destination, besides attaining a distinct identity as the first fully organic farming state of the country, it said on Monday. The state government had earlier this year made Rahman its Brand Ambassador of tourism and business. Transport Minister D C Thammanna on Wednesday said that the government was unlikely to hike bus fares presently. Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Thammanna said that the Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) had proposed nearly 15% hike in bus fares. There is such a proposal. But I am yet to discuss the matter with the chief minister. But for the present, the thinking is to not introduce the hike. We are leaning towards cutting down on our expenditure and increasing our revenues -- without hikes. I have stalled it for the moment, given that this is still a new government. Though I am personally not keen on effecting the hike, a final decision will be taken after my discussions with the chief minister, he added. The United States withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday, condemning the "hypocrisy" of its members and its alleged "unrelenting bias" against Israel. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, came to Washington to announce the decision alongside President Donald Trump's top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Both insisted the United States would remain a leading champion of human rights. The announcement came after the top UN human rights official criticised Washington for separating migrant children from their parents who are seeking asylum after crossing into the country from Mexico. But Haley and Pompeo stressed the decision had been made after a long year of efforts to shame the council into reform and to remove member states that themselves commit abuses. "These reforms were needed in order to make the council a serious advocate for human rights," Haley said. "For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded." The Geneva-based body was established in 2006 to promote and protect human rights worldwide, but its pronouncements and reports have often clashed with US priorities. In particular, the council's focus on Israeli behaviour towards Palestinians in the territory it occupies on the West Bank and in Gaza has infuriated Washington. But, as Haley stressed, Washington also believes it comes up short on criticising even flagrant abuses by US opponents like Venezuela and Cuba. "Countries have colluded with each other to undermine the current method of selecting members," Pompeo said. "And the council's continued and well-documented bias against Israel is unconscionable," he said. "Since its creation, the council has adopted more resolutions condemning Israel than against the rest of the world combined." Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US move, branding the council "a biased, hostile, anti-Israel organisation that has betrayed its mission of protecting human rights." Haley, who issued a warning a year ago that Washington would make good on its threat to leave the council if reforms were not carried through, used even starker language. "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regretted the US decision, adding: "The UN's human rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide." On Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein -- a Jordanian -- had rebuked Trump over the US practice of splitting up migrant families detained on the Mexican border. "The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable," he said. Independent watchdog Human Rights Watch criticised the move, warning Washington's absence at the council would put the onus on other governments to address the world's most serious rights problems. "The Trump administration's withdrawal is a sad reflection of its one-dimensional human rights policy: defending Israeli abuses from criticism takes precedence above all else," executive director Kenneth Roth said. "The UN Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel." US criticism stems from the fact that Israel is the only country that has a dedicated agenda item at council meetings, one defended in particular by the Arab bloc of countries. Known as "Item 7", this items means that Israel's treatment of the Palestinians comes under scrutiny at each of three annual sessions. The United States refused to join the body when it was created in 2006, when George W Bush was in the White House and his ambassador to the UN was John Bolton -- now Trump's UN-skeptic national security advisor. After Barack Obama came to power, Washington joined the council in 2009. But when Trump took office, he adopted a hostile approach to world governance, leading Washington to quit the UN cultural agency Unesco, cut UN funding and planning to leave the Paris climate agreement. With her granddaughter sleeping inside, Phillips never screamed. I asked her was there anything she wanted me to post with this update and this was her response: 'Just let everyone know that I'm over whelmed at everyone's help and the bobcat didn't scare me, but the idea of surgery does! She continued: "It caught me slightly on my face, but I got him before he could do much damage there". Phillips went back inside to get her phone, then when she stepped back outside, there was a bobcat waiting for her. "As soon as it took the first step, I was in trouble and I knew it", she explained to CBS 46. "I thought, 'Not today.' There was no way I was going to die", said the 46-year-old woman named DeDe Phillips. "My neighbor's dog was barking and it drew my attention", Phillips told the Athens Banner-Herald. While it's devastating that Philips must live with the scars and trauma from this attack, it is likely that she will be regarded as a hero in her community for a long time to come, which makes the bumper sticker she was placing at the time all the more accurate. When she returned outside to take a picture, she encountered the animal. She was reluctant to call for help because her 5-year-old granddaughter was in the house. "I wasn't dying today", said Dede Phillips. The next day, she found out the big cat was rabid. Shortly after, her son also arrived at the scene with a gun and a knife. Her son arrived before police with a handgun but Phillips felt she was too close to the bobcat to shoot it. Unfortunately, bringing down the bobcat was only half the battle for Phillips. Her hands, however, stayed clenched around the bobcat's motionless neck - Phillips wasn't sure if the animal was really dead. Phillips was taken to the hospital, where she was treated for cuts and gashes, as well as broken fingers. It happened June 7th when Hart County deputies responded to reports of a woman calling for help. But, worst of all, she must get a painful and expensive series of shots to ensure she doesn't contract rabies from the bobcat. A heated exchange erupted after interior minister Matteo Salvini told more foreign NGOs operating migrant rescue ships in the Mediterranean they could not dock in Italian ports. The Aquarius rescued the migrants off Libya's coast the previous weekend but Italy's new populist government and Malta both refused to let it dock, accusing each other of failing to meet their humanitarian and European Union commitments. The remaining migrants arrived on an Italian coastguard ship, the Dattilo, and an Italian navy vessel, the Orione. However, 42 migrants rescued this week by a USA ship off Libya before being transferred to an Italian coastguard vessel already carrying 500 migrants would be allowed to land in Italy, media reported in Rome on Sunday. On Valencia's quayside, 1,000 red cross workers were on hand to greet the migrants as they stepped off the ship. The 270 migrants on board soon began to disembark after medical staff had made a preliminary inspection. Two countries will "work together" to handle the arrival, Spain's deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo said. "No human being is illegal", Sy added. Doctors Without Borders tweeted a photo of one of its team telling the people on board what they could expect. The over 600 rescued people, with some having been transferred from the Aquarius to two Italian ships, arrived Sunday in the port of Valencia, east of Spain, after having been stranded in the Mediterranean Sea for over a week. In total so far, there were 31 different nationalities represented, with the largest numbers of people coming from the Sudan, Algeria, Eritrea and Nigeria, according to Spanish authorities. "The awful stories that we hear from people who come out of Libya is gut-wrenching", he said. Most are adult men and women, including seven pregnancies. Spain's coast guard rescued nearly 1,000 people on Friday and Saturday. Valencian local government officials said none of the people who arrived on the first boat showed signs of serious illness, but many had suffered from crowded conditions and high temperatures in recent days. France, which chided Italy for turning away the Aquarius, has offered to take in any passengers who qualify for asylum and want to go there. Meanwhile, several hundred more migrants were aboard an Italian coast guard vessel off Sicily on Sunday. Most Spaniards support the idea of welcoming and helping to integrate refugees, pollsters say, allowing Sanchez, a Socialist, to offer migrant-friendly policies to voters who feel previous governments did not do enough. SALT LAKE CITY Utah Rep. John Curtis said he had a chance to tell President Donald Trump at the end of his meeting with House Republicans Tuesday that Utahns want immigrant families to be able to stay together at the border. Curtis said he had a moment with the president, "to look him in the eye, shake his hand" and let him know what his constituents have been saying about the administration's zero tolerance policy that is separating children from their parents. "I said, 'It's all about families and it's very important to keep families together in Utah,'" Curtis, the newest member of the state's all-GOP congressional delegation, said after the closed-door meeting in the U.S. Capitol. Trump agreed and acknowledged "many people felt that way," said Curtis, who delivered a similar message to other members of the administration. "I just wanted to make sure they heard from me personally how important this was to Utah." His exchange with the president comes as Republicans and Democrats, as well as many organizations including churches, have condemned the recently implemented policy that has left anguished children crying out for their parents as they are separated at the border. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a statement issued Monday that forced separations are harmful to families and encouraged "national leaders to take swift action to correct this situation and seek for rational, compassionate solutions." Trump, who has repeatedly blamed Democrats for the impact of the administration's policy requiring that border crossing offenses be aggressively prosecuted, was "very positive" about a resolution in his meeting with House Republicans, Curtis said. The president "was very clear" that he would sign a compromise immigration bill that also deals with border security and the adults who were brought into the country as children illegally, the congressman said. He said he believed Trump would follow through on ending family separations "if we give him the tools that he needed." The bill could come up for a vote in the House as soon as Thursday, Curtis said. Utah Rep. Chris Stewart also said the president wanted to see the bill passed. "I think the president clearly understands that this is something we need to fix," Stewart said, calling the family separation issue "far more complicated than most people want to hear." He said he believes Trump will "enthusiastically support the bill" that now includes a provision to keep families together in detention facilities while parents await action on asylum requests or charges they have crossed the border illegally. Stewart said his proposed amendment to the bill to allow for ankle monitors for adults detained at the border who want to avoid being separated from their children is still being considered but could end up being seen as unnecessary. His Democratic opponent, Shireen Ghorbani, said she supports the proposal, but Jan Garbett, the United Utah Party candidate in the 2nd District, said Tuesday it's "a terrible idea" and called the administration's family separation policy "cruel." Utah Rep. Rob Bishop said passing the bill, which also includes his provision providing better access to federal lands for border patrol agents, "is the right thing to do." He said "compassion and security do not have to be separate issues." Utah Rep. Mia Love, who pushed to add language to the compromise bill to address family separations, said in a prepared statement, "We are one step closer to fixing our broken immigration system." She called splitting up families at the border "a heartbreaking example of why Congress needs to take immediate action," but stopped short of calling the president's policy "horrible," as she did Monday. As the House readies for a vote, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch and 12 other GOP senators are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to suspend the policy of separating immigrant families at the border while Congress works on a solution. "Although enforcing our immigration laws is an essential responsibility of the federal government, it must be done in a way that is consistent with our values and ordinary human decency," their letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions states. Sent Tuesday, the letter says that while there are "multiple contributing causes" to the current family separation crisis, the Justice Department's recent institution of a zero tolerance policy is the immediate cause. "We support the administration's efforts to enforce our immigration laws, but we cannot support implementation of a policy that results in the categorical forced separation of minor children from their parents," the letter says. It asks Sessions to halt the new policy "while Congress works out a solution that enables faster processing of individuals who enter our country illegally without requiring the forced, inhumane separation of children from their parents." The letter concludes by saying the senators who signed it "believe a reasonable path forward can be found that accommodates the need to enforce our laws while holding true to other, equally essential values." The letter was not signed by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. Lee spokesman Conn Carroll said that's because the senator "believes a legislative solution is needed for this problem." He said Lee is working closely with Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz "on a bill that would keep migrant families together while their asylum cases are adjudicated." Joining Hatch were Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker of Tennessee, John Boozman of Arkansas, Dean Heller of Nevada, Cory Gardner of Colorado, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rob Portman of Ohio. Hatch, who circulated the letter among his GOP Senate colleagues, said earlier the way the separation is "being handled right now isn't acceptable. It's not American. I think we've got to try to keep families together and do whatever it takes to keep them together." The letter went to Sessions, rather than to the president, because the "attorney general has taken the lead on implementing the policy and has been the public face of the change," Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock said. Hatch is a staunch supporter of the president. The Justice Department oversees immigration enforcement for the administration, Whitlock said, "and it was their interpretation of the law that established the zero tolerance policy." That policy has led to the separation of nearly 2,000 children from family members seeking asylum or caught entering the United States illegally at the southern border between April 19 and May 31, according to a recent government report. Hatch feels that several hundred more families would likely be separated at the border in the time it will take Congress to pass a bill, Whitlock said, adding that the senator "believes that is simply unacceptable." WASHINGTON For years, Marc Brackett, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, has been asking people especially teens how they feel. In one survey of more than 22,000 high schoolers, 75 percent of the responses were negative, while only 2 percent were neutral. Tired, bored, stressed thats how high school students feel, Brackett said Friday during the annual Mental Health America conference in Washington, D.C. How many of you feel thats a recipe for mental health, innovation, creativity, achieving purpose and passion and having your dreams come true? Todays schools are increasingly filled with anxious, depressed students and teachers on the verge of burnout and breakdown, say Brackett and other experts, leading many districts and educational associations to list mental health as their number one concern. Schools are the de facto pediatric mental health associations in this country," said Chelsea Prax, senior associate of the American Federation of Teachers Children's Health, Safety and Well-Being Program. "All of us need to ask ourselves if were comfortable with that. Where kids are Experts know that 1 in 5 youth experience mental illness and that half of lifelong mental illnesses begin by age 14. School psychologist Christina Ramirez sees those struggles every day in her Chicago-area high school. In the last three school years, shes seen the number of hospitalizations for mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, substance abuse and anorexia jump from 24 to 39 to 63 and that was just through February of this year. Some of these problems stem from, or mask, early childhood trauma, whether through abuse, neglect or household dysfunction, like having a parent die or get divorced, seeing neighborhood violence, living with someone on drugs or simply scraping by financially, among others. These adverse childhood experiences or ACEs, can have life-long impacts, and the more ACEs a child has, the higher the risk emotional and behavioral problems, said Christina Bethell, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. For preschoolers who have already dealt with something traumatic, 18 percent had a hard time making and keeping friends, compared with 10 percent of kids who had no ACEs. Even one ACE makes it harder for kids to calm down, control their temper, stay focused and finish tasks, compared to kids who havent experienced an adverse event, Bethell said. By ages 6 and 7 years old, more than three-quarters of kids with zero ACEs are definitely engaged in school, compared to just 58 percent of kids with one ACE, according to her research. Where can we impact these childrens lives and adolescents lives the most? asks Sarah Davidon, research director of Mental Health Colorado. Davidon and her team kept coming back to schools, and recently released a "School Mental Health Toolkit," filled with evidenced-based programs and best practices to help schools feel better equipped to help students. Impact on teachers Despite listing mental health as a top concern, fewer than 1 in 5 school officials said their school was prepared to meet those needs, according to a 2015 survey by the American Federation of Teachers, a labor union group. Its not that schools arent trying theres a growing push to teach social-emotional learning but its often a patchwork approach, or dependent on a handful of energetic teachers, rather than fully incorporated into the curriculum, experts say. Which means many teachers know theyre on the front lines of childrens mental health treatment, but lack the training, resources, pay and connections to do what theyd like to do for children, Prax said. Because of this, a large majority of educators say their work is always or often stressful double the rate of other workers. And more than half of teachers reported they are less enthusiastic about their job now than when they started, according to the survey. Prax has even heard from teachers who admit theyre considering leaving the classroom and becoming a psychologist, because thats what my kids need more than what I do. When Yales Brackett asked teachers to describe how they feel at work, their top word was "frustrated." In essence, our education system is killing our teachers, he said. We have to really think about carefully, what are we doing to support our nations teachers, so they take better care of themselves? Prax recommends teachers get more robust training not just 60 minutes once a year on depression, but in-depth, nuanced discussions about a host of mental health challenges. Prax also encourages that any mental health initiative in school includes teachers too folks who are facing the burden of other peoples not-so-wellness, she said. Working toward wellness Instead of getting stuck on the distressing numbers, Bethell likes to focus on flourishing, or the idea that kids can be resilient amid their difficulties, and that history is not destiny, she says. When Bethell and other experts study children, they can identify flourishing through three main categories: motivation, resilience and attention. Kids who are flourishing are curious, they can use skills to remain calm in the face of daily challenges, and when they start something, they can finish it. If kids can develop those skills no matter what their ACEs are they'll be OK, she says. In fact, kids with ACEs who can stay calm in the face of stress are three times more likely to be in school than their ACEs-peers who have no resilience training. And the biggest way to build that resilience is by developing healthy relationships, especially with parents. How we connect is really a public health issue, she says. When parents sit down for meals with their child, read to them, meet their childrens friends and participate in family activities, kids do better. In fact, 64 percent of kids who share ideas very well with parents demonstrate resilience, and even for kids with two or more ACEs, 49 percent of healthy talkers are still resilient, according to Bethells research. Its a good story, she said. It means theres a lot of hope. Prax's favorite mental health screening tool is the question How many people love you? The higher the number, the better off a student tends to be. Brackett said he got into the work because of an uncle who loved him, listened to his 13-year-old feelings, reminded him that emotions were not permanent and offered him strategies. To help other kids do the same, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence developed the RULER program, to help students recognize, understand, label, express and regulate emotions. And this means getting very specific, even granular with how we describe our feelings, Brackett says. Anger is not just anger, theres peeved, irritated, then angry, he said. Same thing goes for our anxiety family. Think about that, are you uncomfortable, nervous, anxious, panicked? Even sadness becomes more nuanced as feelings of "down," "sad," "disappointed," "hopeless" or "despairing." Brackett asked the audience to imagine the benefits if students were taught to seek help when feeling disappointed, rather than waiting until the dark end of despair. Through helps like the MoodMeter app, kids increase their emotional vocabulary, and as their emotional intelligence goes up, a host of negative behaviors go down, including aggression, hyperactivity, substance abuse, social deviance and anxiety and depression, said Brackett. Everyone needs to learn about these skills, he said. If we dont know how were feeling, if we cant label our feelings, how do we know how to support (someone)? VIENNA Iran lashed out Tuesday against U.S. President Donald Trump's call on OPEC to increase oil production and limit global energy prices, saying the cartel "is not an American organization." The OPEC oil ministers began arriving in Vienna on Tuesday ahead of their official meeting Friday, when they will also confer with Russia, a non-OPEC country that since late 2016 has cooperated with the cartel to limit production. Analysts expect the group to consider an increase in production of about 1 million barrels a day, ending the output cut agreed on in 2016. The cut has since then pushed up the price of crude oil by about 50 percent. The U.S. benchmark in May hit its highest level in three and half years, at $72.35 a barrel. That prompted Trump to call on OPEC to cut production, tweeting in April and again this month that "OPEC is at it again" by allowing oil prices to rise. Iran's oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, said upon arriving in Vienna that "OPEC is not an organization to receive the instruction from President Trump and follow it." Underscoring how difficult the discussion about a production increase will be, Zanganeh said that Trump's comments have cast doubt on the prospect of a deal. "Every decision in OPEC needs the unanimity and I don't believe in this meeting we can reach agreement," he said, adding the issue "has been politicized by President Trump." Experts like Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets U.K., note that the price of oil is high not only because of OPEC and Russia's agreement to limit output, but also because of Trump's policies, including a decision to reinstall sanctions on Iran. That crimped the country's ability to export crude, limiting supply and pushing up global prices. The U.S. sanctions on Iran also mean that if OPEC agrees on an increase in output as a group, Iran will be one of the countries to lose out, as it will not be able to export as much as it would like. By contrast, Saudi Arabia, the cartel's biggest producer and a fierce regional rival to Iran, could have the room to increase output more and make more money to make up for the shortfall in countries like Iran. So an OPEC deal to increase output could also influence the balance of power in the Middle East. Iraq's oil minister, Jabbar Ali Hussein Al-Luiebi, sounded more optimistic about a deal, saying "we are after the stabilization of the market." Ultimately, Hewson says, the 14 countries in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are likely to agree on a production increase. "There is an element of self-preservation in seeking to do this, as while most oil producers prefer higher prices they will also want to avoid a scenario where prices reach a level where demand drops off sharply, thus triggering a global slowdown, as well as accelerating the push for renewable (energy)," he said. SALT LAKE CITY Cynicism, that hardiest of weeds on the soul, requires only an example or two to take root, and then it feeds well on mere suspicions. And right now, some members of the new board overseeing the Utah Inland Port Authority, including outgoing House Speaker Greg Hughes, are, to put it delicately, weed food. The board was supposed to hold its first public meeting Monday, but everything fell apart rather quickly because some board members had yet to fill out conflict-of-interest disclosures. One of these was Hughes, a developer in his day job, who said the language was too ambiguous. "You want to be careful not to subscribe, under penalty of perjury, with language that I think right now there could be legal interpretations in different ways," he told the Deseret News. I've been around long enough to know you don't need many attorneys in a room to get several interpretations on just about anything. But the court of public opinion is not so, to borrow the same word, ambiguous. And if I've learned anything over more than 30 years of writing for a newspaper, it is that people are quick to be suspicious of the motives of politicians. It's not an irrational fear. Through the years, I've been acquainted with a few politicians who seemed pure enough on the outside, but who were secretly finding ways to ingratiate themselves through public service. A few, not many. I still believe most politicians have honorable desires to serve the public. I count that as one of the pleasant realities I have discovered. But even for these, the mere perception of corruption can be devastating. No wonder one of the most common reader comments I receive concerns worries that some developer in the Legislature is looking to profit from a public project. "What a sweetheart deal for a few developers and their political allies in the Legislature and in Draper city government," said one after I wrote about the ultimately successful effort to move the state prison out of Draper. He or she had nothing specific to back those suspicions, but perception and reality are close cousins in politics. That's why I applauded the state for setting up strict conflict-of-interest rules for a board it established to oversee the future of the prison site. Anyone who owns property within 5 miles of it, other than a residence, or who has a relative with property within a half-mile of it, would be barred from holding a board position. That sounds straightforward to me; no ambiguity there. But now that much the same language has been applied to the port authority board, it has become suddenly ambiguous. I know what many regular folks out there believe. It goes something like this: Either you own property within 5 miles of the inland port's jurisdiction or you don't. Either you have a family member who owns interest in property within a half-mile of the port's jurisdiction, or you dont. Either you or a family member owns interest in, or is employed by or affiliated with, a company that will profit from the authority, or not. And if you do? Well, the wording wasn't too ambiguous for Sen. Don Ipson, R-St. George. The Senate president appointed him to the board, but he resigned because he owns land within 5 miles of the authority's boundaries. You don't need to be a political scientist to understand that political cynicism is a factor in low voter turnout and a general distrust of government. But if you were, you'd know several studies have been done on the subject. One, from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and published in the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, found a definite correlation between low voter turnout and a perception of corruption. In other words, the mere perception is bad for democracy. Why else is this important? Because if it succeeds, the port authority will be around for a long time, and its importance to the local economy will grow. The public must have complete trust in it. Not only this board, but also future boards will need to be above reproach. Hughes told the Deseret News he and others might have conflicts, the way the law that established the board is written. For the good of everyone, he ought to explain that with a little less ambiguity. High-tech employers looking at Utah, take note: Thirty-nine percent of Utah eighth-graders are proficient in math, but in Massachusetts, 50 percent are proficient. For those who are math challenged, this means that in Utah, slightly more than one-third of the students are good at math, while in Massachusetts, half are good at math. (By the way, Massachusetts has twice Utah's number of ethnic-minority students.) Is it any wonder that Massachusetts leads the nation in its percentage of high-tech employees? Intriguingly, in 1992, the states were about the same. So what happened? That year, Massachusetts decided to get serious about funding education. They now have the smallest classes and the best-paid teachers in the U.S. Maybe when Utah gets serious, our kids can catch up with their Massachusetts peers. Meanwhile, high-tech employers will be watching, you can bet on that. Breck England Bountiful SALT LAKE CITY The Utah State Board of Regents will contract with an outside consultant for a comprehensive review of tuition and student aid policies as related to resident and nonresident students. "We need to consider, that given our own capacity issues, we need to consider in our Utah System of Higher Education what is the right mix of resident students and nonresidents," David Buhler, commissioner of higher education, told state lawmakers Tuesday. Buhler, addressing the Legislatures Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, said anticipated enrollment growth from residents will translate into capacity issues for state colleges and universities. According to 2017 enrollment projections, more than 61,000 students are expected to be added to state campuses over the next 10 years. Full-time equivalent enrollment at the state's eight public colleges and universities was 126,930 last fall. There will also be impacts "as we get more successful in outreaching to those populations that are not likely currently to go to college and succeed in college, which we need to do to have a robust workforce in our state and help their quality of life as individuals," he said. Buhler also reported that the regents in May approved a policy change that calls on Utah college and universities to increase the use of tuition waivers to assist "impecunious" resident students. They are defined as Utah residents "whose demonstrated lack of financial resources presents a significant barrier to accessing higher education or completing a higher education," according to regents policy. The policy change dovetails with the board's long-term objectives of affordable participation, timely completion and innovative discovery. SALT LAKE CITY There's no shortage of spark in the primary race for Utah's 1st Congressional District, where two Democrats are battling each other for the chance to take on incumbent Rob Bishop this November. Lee Castillo and Kurt Weiland are not only miles apart geographically Castillo lives in Layton and Weiland hails from Bountiful but both have vastly different backgrounds. Castillo, 40, is a social worker for the Utah State Hospital, working in county jails with inmates to help restore their mental competency. Weiland, 72, is a retired Army major and paratrooper who owns a consulting business teaching leadership and communication workshops for corporate clients. Both, however, say the current presidential administration motivated them to run for Congress. "We as a nation have gone down the rabbit hole. All the old models have been turned on their heads," Weiland said. "I've got to do something." Castillo said he saw a need for change. "I felt a calling. I prayed. I felt there was a need for some challenge and a need to give voice to those I already serve." Both men are affable and engaging, but the race has not been without an ugly side. The two were in a confrontation at the Davis County Democratic Party Convention on April 14 in which the police were called but no charges arose. Castillo said Weiland put his hand on his arm during a dispute over a campaign sign. The two traded harsh words and have not completely moved on from the exchange. For now, however, they are concentrating on the chance to best GOP incumbent Bishop from the seat he has held since 2003. Both men assert Bishop is out of touch with his constituents and making political moves contrary to the wishes of voters, including supporting the administration's move to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments. Castillo, a single Hispanic father of an adopted 17-year-old son, said he is part of the community that feels disenfranchised from Washington politics. "I am part of that disenfranchised group in Davis County. There are huge pockets of minorities who have felt disenfranchised," he said. " We have had lots of voter registration events where people are planning to vote for the first time." His campaign slogan is "Utah is for Everybody." Weiland said the party asked him to run like it did two years ago when he challenged Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, for his seat in the Utah House of Representative. "It was a good experience. We gained more votes for Democrats than ever in the history of the district, but still got crushed like a bug." Weiland said a cornerstone of his campaign is accessibility. "I see one of the critical issues of the campaign as access to government," he said. "Those who represent you must listen to you, must spend time with you and get to know you." Both men favor banning bump stocks that allow guns to fire faster, and Weiland said he is in favor of eliminating large capacity magazines. Weiland insists gun violence should be solved before it ever gets to that stage. Schools need to hire more counselors so isolated or angry students are identified and receive help, he added. Although he personally would ban assault weapons, Castillo said his views take a back seat because that is not how Utahns feel. "My feelings for that get set aside. There are gun manufacturers in my district and that is how they make their money," he said. He does favor universal background checks and finding a way to establish a system that would flag bulk purchases. "We need to make it harder for someone who wants to do harm to harm to our community," Castillo said. Castillo is a political newcomer with a long history of volunteer work, including with the Utah Pride Center, the Volunteers of America Homeless Youth Resource Center, the Road Home and Meals on Wheels. "It is what wakes me up in the morning. It is what keeps me alive, the ability to serve." He's also earned the endorsement of a dozen Democratic caucuses, including the Hispanic, disability and progressive. Weiland and Castillo both support single-payer universal health care. Castillo stresses immigration reform is a must. "There has to be a logical, attainable pathway to citizenship," Castillo said. Both men say they support the medical cannabis initiative but don't favor legalizing recreational use of the drug. Weiland wants to bring his leadership and communication skills to Congress and vows to have monthly town halls to reach out to residents in the 1st District. Castillo says his youth keeps him connected to the community through his service. "I belive that everybody deserves to be respected and has to have an opportunity to have health care, to thrive, to have access to education, and to be able to function in the community without discrimination and equality as well." At a May debate in Provo, Castillo said he would make history by becoming the first openly gay Hispanic Utahn to serve in Congress. The primary is June 26. At the convention, Castillo earned 53 percent of the delegates votes to Weiland's 47 percent. SALT LAKE CITY The inaugural Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Chairs at the University of Utah were announced Tuesday, a distinction that recognizes health sciences faculty for excellence in research, clinical care and career progression. The inaugural six chairs, honored at a luncheon at the U.'s Alumni House, include professors with appointments in dentistry, psychiatry, population health sciences, biomedical informatics, pulmonary medicine and obstetrics/gynecology. Each received a wooden chair, commemorative medal and funding to advance knowledge and improve care in their respective fields. There will be a total 12 chairs, with the remaining six to be appointed next summer. The appointments are for five years and can be renewed once up to five years. The chairs were funded by a $22.5 million gift from the Huntsman family. They honor the late Jon M. Huntsman Sr., who was an industrialist, philanthropist and founder of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. He died Feb. 2. Karen Huntsman, chairwoman of the Huntsman Family Foundation, said the family's steadfast commitment to cancer research, treatment and patient care is well-known. "With that commitment is a vision to advance a broad array of health and medical research and clinical work at the University of Utah," she said in a statement. Wyatt Rory Hume, the U.'s associate vice president for academic affairs and education, University of Utah Health, said the tradition of awarding academic chairs dates back to 16th century England "when chairs, as we know them, were a luxury for many people." When a learned person was bestowed the rank of professor by a king or bishop, "the professor also received an actual chair one with arms, back and legs like these as a symbol of their professional status," said Hume, referring to the wooden chairs presented to each of the inaugural chairs. Being selected a faculty chair is the highest honor bestowed upon a university faculty member, he said. U. President Ruth V. Watkins said the Huntsman family's commitment to the U. "is profound and these chairs are yet another testament to their dedication to advancing health research, education and compassionate care." The first Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Chairs are: Dr. Nathan G. Adams, assistant professor, School of Dentistry adjunct professor in otolaryngology. Dr. Lowry A. Bushnell, assistant professor of psychiatry. Angela Fagerlin, professor and chairwoman, Department of Population Health Sciences. Wendy W. Chapman, chairwoman, Department of Biomedical Informatics. Dr. Robert Paine III, chief of the Division of Respiratory, Critical Care and Occupational Pulmonary Medicine. Dr. Howard T. Sharp, professor, division chief and vice chairman for clinical affairs, Department of General Obstetrics and Gynecology. Peter Huntsman, CEO of the Huntsman Family Foundation, said the family's hope and expectation of the endowed chairs "is that five years from now, 10 years from now, that we're able to look back that we'll be absolutely amazed at what they've done, that we've seen the arc and curve of creativity. "The university, in its most basic form, should be an incubator of ideas and solutions and the resolution for problems of society, particularly around health care at the University of Utah. I hope that when we look at where we are in the world of dentistry or psychiatric care or population health, any of these sort of areas, we're going to be in a vastly different place five or 10 years from now." Chapman, a nationally renowned scholar and researcher in the field of biomedical informatics, said she is considering using the funding tied to the chair "in ways to support some students making new discoveries, partly for education. I'm thinking about maybe women and minorities, the pipeline getting into the field of informatics and helping students do research in this area." The gift of the endowed chairs was announced by Jon Huntsman Sr. last fall when the university and the Huntsman family jointly announced a new memorandum of understanding been the U. and the Huntsman Cancer Foundation. The memorandum of understanding, which addresses the governance and finances of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, was negotiated in the wake of simmering tensions between the parties that turned into a roiling public dispute following the sudden termination of Huntsman Cancer Institute CEO Mary Beckerle. Two on-campus protests from institute faculty, students and cancer patients followed the firing. Jon Huntsman Sr. called for the ouster of then-U. President David Pershing and then-Senior Vice President of Health Sciences Vivian Lee, who fired Beckerle. Beckerle was quickly reinstated and Lee resigned from her administrative position. Pershing moved up the timetable of his planned retirement as president but remained in the position until Watkins, who was appointed in January, assumed the presidency in April. Under the agreement, Beckerle reports directly to the U. president and the university was to pay the Huntsman Cancer Institute $68 million to clear up a funding dispute. Lee's successor has not yet been appointed, but the field has been winnowed to three finalists. SALT LAKE CITY About 800,000 acre-feet of water is serving the residential, commercial and institutional needs of Utah for 3 million people. The statewide average consumption in those categories per person, per day? The number is 242 gallons per person per day, excluding agricultural operations, Rachel Shilton, with the Utah Division of Water Resources, told members of the Natural Resources, Agricultural and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee Tuesday. State water regulators are wrangling a bucket full of water challenges in the nation's second-most arid state. Scrutiny comes, too, from a pair of legislative audits that blasted the state's water accounting methods. As Rep. Doug Sager, R-Tooele, said Tuesday: "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." The state had an independent review of its water data use from 2015 that came up with a number of recommendations, including the need to meter secondary water use. As a result of that data review, the state developed a new interactive tool called the Utah Open Water Data Portal, which allows residents to drill down on water use by county and individual river basins. The portal, launched this month, includes a county-by-county analysis of gallons per capita per day usage, with insight about what makes that particular area unique. Shilton, who is the division's river basin planning section manner, said Rich County's numbers are off the charts sitting at 1,240 gallons of water per person per day. The numbers are based on population figures that don't count part-time residents. And Rich County along with other areas in the state has a high number of vacation homes that skew water use. The state is continuing its quest to become more water savvy and more exacting in requirements governing public water delivery systems as residents grow increasingly conscious over water use. "I think we've seen a lot of great progress," said Jim Behunin, audit supervisor with the Office of the Legislative Auditor General. Water regulators are working with specific providers to shore up leaking systems with losses conservatively estimated in the 15 percent range of total consumption. Behunin said Spanish Fork found its water loss in the 33 to 34 percent range and has worked since to bring those numbers down into the teens. It's probable, he added, that more water could be saved by plugging those leaks than ever might be saved through conservation practices. Last year, a lawmaker proposed a phased-in requirement of secondary water metering, but the hefty price tag of $240 million doomed it prospects, at least for now. Lawmakers said secondary water metering is a must for the state moving forward. "When you measure secondary water you save secondary water," said Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab. The committee also dove into an extended discussion on drinking water capacity requirements on individual systems which also came under scrutiny in a legislative audit. Behunin said in many instances the capacity requirements were too high, leading providers to tie up extra water they didn't need through the acquisition of water rights. Legislation subsequently provided greater flexibility to abandon the one-size-fits-all standard. The state Division of Drinking Water has been working with providers to beef up reporting requirements with the state as well. Correction:An earlier version incorrectly attributed a statement about drinking water capacity requirements to Marie Owens, director of the Utah Division of Drinking Water. That statement was made by auditor Jim Behunin. WEST JORDAN A teen accused of raping and attempting to kill a 50-year-old woman out jogging in a Sandy park was bound over for trial Tuesday. Testifying during the preliminary hearing in juvenile court, the woman described how the teen lured her to stop on the trail by saying he needed help. She did all she could to fight him as he dragged her out of sight and "overpowered" her. Before the teen's strangle-hold on her throat pushed her to unconsciousness, the woman said a grim thought came to her mind. "I cannot believe that this is how it ends for me," she recalled thinking. "And I remember the last thought before I blanked out, it really happened quickly I remember thinking, 'How long will it take for them to find me?'" The boy, 16, faces charges of attempted aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, three counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of aggravated robbery, all first-degree felonies. Third District Juvenile Judge Renee Jimenez bound the case over for trial on all six charges Tuesday. Listening to witnesses' testimonies Tuesday, the 16-year-old sat slouched, his head down, often fidgeting with a pencil or the chair next to him. The Deseret News has chosen at this time not to identify the teen. Before the woman took the stand, reporters were barred from the courtroom while family members among others were allowed to enter. An audio recording of her testimony was permitted, but Jimenez ordered the recording itself not be published or broadcast. According to the recording of the woman's testimony, the boy, who was 15 at the time, asked to borrow her phone as she was jogging on a trail in Dimple Dell Regional Park. "It seemed like he needed help, so I stopped," she said. Once she realized the boy wasn't actually using her phone and she tried to get it back, he dragged her into a ravine where he started beating her, she said. "How do you explain being on a bike path running one second, and now somebody's punching you, hitting you? I was just, I was in such shock that someone was hitting me like that. I could not believe, especially a male person, hitting a woman like that," she said. The woman said that at first she fought back and tried to get away, but he "overpowered" her. The boy got "more and more angry," she said, and the attack "got worse by the second." He then told her, "You will die today," she recalled. "I thought, 'Okay. This is really bad. This can't be happening. So I remember squeaking out I just said, 'I will do whatever you want' to get him to stop," she said. He then pulled her pants down and began to sexually assault and strangle her, she testified. "I was trying so desperately to breathe," she said. When she tried to get away, the teen dragged her back into the ravine, hitting her with what she believes was a glass bottle. Another time, he tried to shove a shard of glass into her eye. And each escape attempt brought her further away from the bike path and people, she said. And then he finally stopped, she said. He looked at her and said, "I can't believe I did this," according to the woman. "I believe, for me, that it was some kind of divine intervention," she said. "I just said, 'It's okay. It's okay. I forgive you. I forgive you. Please believe me. I forgive you.' And he was finally calm," the woman recalled. Then, she felt prompted to run. Travis Jones, a witness who was in the area at the time, described hearing "blood-curdling screams" and seeing the woman try to run up the trail in apparent distress. Jones said seeing her trying to run reminded him of a nightmare when you can't get your legs to move fast enough. She was holding her shirt down, Jones said, and appeared to be missing pants. When she got closer, Jones said he could see marking and bruising around her eyes, and her hair was "a mess." "It looked like she'd been beat up to me," he stated. In his testimony, Sandy Police Detective Matthew Crook described how police used surveillance camera footage and still photographs from that day from two TRAX stations and a train that matched the suspect's description, leading them to the then-15 year old. A resource officer at the boy's school recognized the boy in the photos and contacted police. Clothes found at the boy's house matched the clothes worn by the attacker, Crook said, and investigators found blond hair the color of the woman's on them. He also presented forensic evidence in the case, including DNA results from the woman's rape kit that matched the teen. In his closing statement, defense attorney Owen Stewart asked the judge to throw out the attempted aggravated murder charge. She did not. "I don't think the strangulation rose to that level. This wasn't an attempt to murder her," Stewart said. Prosecutor Coral Sanchez-Rose disagreed. Though the boy changed his mind and the woman ultimately survived, that doesn't negate his actions, she argued. "Here is an individual who has already strangled the victim twice, to the point once where she loses consciousness, and yet he strangles her again. And when he lets up, when he has her in a chokehold and she can't breathe he lets up to unleash on her in a different manner," Sanchez-Rose said. The boy will remain in a juvenile detention facility as prosecutors seek to transfer the case to the adult system. A hearing to schedule those proceedings is set for next Tuesday. Those who have experienced sexual abuse or assault can be connected to trained advocates through Utah's statewide 24-hour Rape and Sexual Assault Crisis Line at 888-421-1100. A Texas sheriff's deputy was being held Monday on a charge of "super aggravated sexual assault" of a 4-year-old girl after authorities say her mother, an undocumented immigrant, was being blackmailed to stay silent about the abuse - or face deportation. The Bexar sheriff called the case "heartbreaking, disturbing, disgusting and infuriating all at the same time". Salazar said that Nunez had family ties to the woman and her daughter, but that their relationship is unclear. Nunez, 47, is accused of inappropriately touching the girl - who is related to him - at her residence on a number of occasions for several months, possibly as long as two years. Her mother, an undocumented immigrant, came forward, even after that relative threatened her with deportation if she told authorities, Salazar said. He is charged with super aggravated sexual assault, a charge applied when the victim is less than six years old. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 25 years in prison, according to Salazar. The victim's mother took the child to a fire department to report the abuse this weekend after the child made a cry for help. "That's always a concern in the undocumented community", Salazar said. Given the nature of the crime, Sheriff Salazar urges undocumented immigrant victims to speak up regardless of their status. It's unknown whether there are additional victims, but it appears that Salazar and the investigators believe that there could be more people out there who have been placed in a similarly awful situation. The identities of the child and her mother were not released by law enforcement. The deputy was put on paid administrative leave for ten days. "My objective is to separate this person from the agency as soon as possible", Salazar said. Sheriff Salazar said his department is petitioning to give the mother protected status while the case is pending. SALT LAKE CITY Poll results released indicate 57 percent of Utahns definitively believe Dreamers "should be allowed to stay in the country," while 16 percent believe they "must be deported." The Utah Policy poll, conducted May 15 through May 25 by Dan Jones & Associates and released Tuesday, asked respondents "should so-called Dreamers be allowed to stay in the country, or should they be deported?" Eighteen percent of respondents "said some other solution should be found" and 9 percent were undecided, Utah Policy reported. What an "other solution" might look like, or whether such an option was described to respondents, was not clear. Utah Policy's report on the poll didn't indicate whether any questions were asked specifically about a path to citizenship for Dreamers. The released results come amid intensifying talks in Congress on new immigration legislation, which could potentially include a compromise that provides some statutory protections for Dreamers. The term "Dreamers" is used to refer to recipients of a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The program was instituted in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama to provide legal residency for certain undocumented immigrants who had arrived in the United States by June of that year or earlier when they were 15 or younger, giving them the ability to work in the country legally if they meet certain criteria such as a clean criminal record. President Donald Trump's administration announced last fall it would be rescinding DACA with a six-month phaseout, calling the program an unconstitutional overstep of presidential power. DACA remains valid for now, after its revocation was successfully challenged in federal courts, though legal fights over its legitimacy are still ongoing and uncertainty remains over recipients' long-term legal status in the country. Of Democrats surveyed in the Utah Policy poll, 90 percent favored Dreamers staying in the country and 1 percent supported deportation. Thirty-eight percent of Republican respondents wanted Dreamers to stay, while 24 percent wanted deportation. Among self-identified political independents, 70 percent supported Dreamers staying in the country and 12 percent favored deportation. The survey found 49 percent of LDS Church member respondents who self-identified as "very active" are in favor of Dreamers staying in the United States, with 17 percent of that group supporting deportation. Of Protestants who were surveyed, 53 percent indicated Dreamers "should be allowed to stay in the country," with 19 percent in support of deportation. Eighty percent of Catholics surveyed favored Dreamers staying in the country, and 13 percent wanted deportation. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Surveyors interviewed 615 likely Utah voters. PROVO An Eagle Mountain man who faced 50 counts of sexually abusing children between two cases has pleaded guilty to some of the counts. Johnathon Damion Nixon, 32, already a registered a sex offender, pleaded guilty Tuesday in 4th District Court to three counts of sodomy on a child and three counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, both first-degree felonies. In exchange for his guilty pleas, multiple other counts of sodomy of a child, aggravated sexual abuse of a child and lewdness involving a child were dismissed. Nixon is scheduled to be sentenced on both cases on Aug. 7. Nixon was arrested in May for investigation of a few counts of sexually abusing children. But after he was arrested, he told investigators that he wanted to confess to "multiple sex offenses" against children, according to a jail booking statement. Police were able to identify at least three victims dating back to 2014, all young girls under the age of 10. In December 2015, Nixon was convicted on one count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a third-degree felony. That conviction required him to register as a sex offender in Utah. PROVO A high-ranking LDS Church leader insisted Wednesday that religious identity deserves the same legal and social protections being afforded to racial, gender and sexual identities. "Too often, secular elites and government officials focus so much on certain favored identities, such as race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, that they miss the importance of religion as a profound source of identity," said Elder L. Whitney Clayton, senior president of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Just as society has increasingly understood that other identities should not be hid from the public view, society also must recognize the same for religious identity," he added. Elder Clayton received a standing ovation from 443 people in the Pardoe Theater at Brigham Young University's Harris Fine Arts Center after he delivered the opening keynote address for "Religious Freedom and the Common Good," the annual religious freedom review sponsored by the the school's International Center for Law and Religion Studies. He expressed concern that some Americans now consider religious beliefs "quaint anachronisms" that society should discard or a simple choice that people should set aside. "This view is profoundly naive," Elder Clayton said. "It fails to account for the fact that for tens of millions of Americans, faith and religious conviction are the most powerful and defining sources of personal and family identity in their lives. Their faith is marrow to the very bones of who and what they are. The failure to understand this (discounts) the importance of religious freedom to allow people to live out their core identity in dignity and peace." He also said he was alarmed that some are pressing people of faith to abandon their beliefs or keep them to themselves. "One cannot check religious identity at the church or synagogue exit or the door of one's home any more than one can check their race or ethnicity. Religious identity cannot be compartmentalized and stuffed into a box labeled 'private.'" Wednesday's conference sessions included workshops on religious freedom issues facing Muslims, communicating about the issue with millennials and Religious Freedom 101 for journalists. Another breakout session featured attorneys from different faiths describing recent legal developments. They reviewed more than two dozen recent and pending cases, including one of a woman ordered by police to stop praying in her own home. They also expressed deep concern about the recent Canadian ruling that a Christian law school could not keep its certification and enforce its religious beliefs on marriage. "If this path continues, then we will see things like what we saw in Canada, which is basically people being told, 'You're not allowed to participate in government, hold a bar license, hold a medical license, be a counselor, a social worker'" unless you conform, said Walter Weber, senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice. Elder Clayton spoke with emotion about two of his ancestors, 19th-century pioneers whose sacrifices on the Mormon Trail west forged what he called a unique LDS identity. He said that identity shapes the church's efforts to inspire respect for "a human dignity that requires appropriate accommodation for the many ways human identity finds expression." He said referring to religious belief as a simple choice demeans it and makes it harder for believers and nonbelievers to connect. "My point is that misconstruing religious faith as a mere choice or preference, as something that can be adopted and discarded at will, radically misconceives the nature of religion in the lives of millions of faithful people. ... It reduces a way of life and a state of being to a pastime. It takes an identity that for millions is vastly more important and profound than race, color, ethnic origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, profession, wealth and so on and dismisses it as trivial or something to grow out of, like a childhood belief in Santa Claus." Elder Clayton practiced law for 23 years before he became an LDS general authority in 2001. He joined the Presidency of the Seventy in 2008. He became the group's senior president in 2015. "If you have concluded that certain favored classes deserve special legal protections and accommodations but that people of faith do not because they have chosen their beliefs and can just as easily unchoose them, I would ask you to reconsider," he said. "If you believe public and private institutions should credit the dignitary claims of racial, ethnic, gender and sexual minorities, then please consider that many of the same reasons for doing so apply with equal or greater force to the dignitary claims of religious believers. If you believe that taking constitutional and human rights seriously requires social respect and legal safeguards for people to live out their core identities openly as equal participants in our communities and nation, then I hope that same conviction also extends to religious people and their core beliefs." Elder Clayton said his ancestors experiences of persecution, including living under an extermination order, created a sensitivity of legal infringements on the rights of others. He said the LDS Churchs approach to legal rights differs from some other Christian faiths. The LDS Church has openly supported LGBT rights in employment and housing. For example, it backed the 2015 passsage of a Utah bill that was hailed as a historic compromise that provided new protections for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people while reaffirming religious rights. "I believe that no democratic government that claims to value personal dignity and human rights can ignore the moral imperative to respect the fundamental right to freely, openly and peacefully exercise one's religion," Elder Clayton said. He said people on all sides have hard work to do to find common ground and "generous, even loving accommodations for those whose beliefs, personal needs and lives are different from our own." There will be challenges and tense moments along the way, he said, but added he hoped the secular and religious Americans will "have big enough hearts, broad enough minds and strong enough wills to forge hard the compromises that will allow all of us, whatever our identities, to live together in dignity, respect and peace." SALT LAKE CITY Several dozen Utah legislators and county commissioners will meet Friday with Trump administration officials in Washington for what House Speaker Greg Hughes says is more than a photo op. "We're not all going to be chumming up with the president and hanging out with him all day and eating Burger King or McDonald's and cheeseburgers," Hughes, R-Draper, told House Republicans on Wednesday. "It's not going to be like an intimate setting, but I promise you it will be better than you're thinking in terms of policy, substance and the work we can actually get accomplished when we go there." Hughes said past presidential administrations typically worked directly with governors, but under President Donald Trump, the White House is reaching down to state lawmakers and county leaders. "This administration wants to work with us more closely than that," he said. Most of the Utahns attending the meeting are Republicans, though a handful of Democrats are going for what Hughes said is not a party exercise. Idaho also is sending a contingent to the meeting. Officials pay their own way to attend. Hughes, who met with the Trump administration on transportation in February, said GOP state lawmakers are well-prepared to talk about federalism, states rights and other issues with Cabinet members and agency heads. "These are not just photo ops. It's not just cool to be inside the compound. These are going to be working meetings," he said. Utah also is hosting a reception Thursday night to which Hughes has invited administration officials, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas. SALT LAKE CITY Members of Utah's all-Republican congressional delegation welcomed President Donald Trump's decision Wednesday to sign an executive order to keep immigrant families detained at the border from being separated. "We all understand how important it is to enforce our immigration laws, but we also all agree that separating children from their parents is not the right course of action," Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch said in a prepared statement. The title of the news release from Hatch's office gives him credit for "successfully calling for family separation pause." The executive order is an about-face for Trump, who has blamed Democrats for forcing the separations. Hatch said he appreciated "the president's willingness to listen to us on this issue." Tuesday, Hatch and a dozen other GOP senators asked U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to stop the separations while Congress works on the issue. In their letter to Sessions, the senators said the administration's new zero tolerance policy for border offenses is the immediate cause of the border crisis that has been widely condemned, including by Utah Democrats at a news conference Wednesday. "Although enforcing our immigration laws is an essential responsiblity of the federal government, it must be done in a way that is consistent with our values and ordinary human decency," the letter stated. Hatch is a co-sponsor of two bills in the Senate that mandate immigrant families must be kept together and provide resources to prioritize their cases, including additional immigration judges. Utah Rep. Mia Love, who had called the policy "horrible" earlier this week, issued a statement saying she applauded "the president's willingness to change the unjust practice of separating families at the border. But this effort can't stop there." The executive order comes the day after Trump met behind closed doors with U.S. House Republicans on the issue. A vote on a compromise bill that includes a provision on family separations backed by Love could come Thursday. Utah Rep. John Curtis, who was able to tell Trump after that meeting "how important it is to Utah that we keep families together," said in a statement he was pleased with the president's action. Trump "has taken executive action to ensure that we show compassion and reflect American values, while also enforcing our nation's immigration laws," Curtis said, adding he remains "strongly committed" to a legislative solution. Congressional action is needed "to solve this problem the right way," Utah Rep. Rob Bishop said in a statement. He said he stands "ready to pass legislation that will enhance border security and give due respect to the family unit." Utah Sen. Mike Lee said in a statement, "Ending the separation of migrant families who cross the border illegally is a step in the right direction," but the change must be made permanent by Congress. Lee said legislation must be passed "to make sure the federal government has the proper authority and funding to house migrant families" and the "resources needed for a swift and fair asylum adjudication process." Utah Rep. Chris Stewart said he was "pleased that the president recognizes that this is a problem that needs to be solved today." Stewart said Congress needs "to eliminate the separation of immigrant families for good and move meaningful legislation that addresses other immigration issues as well. The president's executive order blames inaction by Congress for the separations resulting from the administration's zero tolerance policy that requires immigrants seeking asylum or caught crossing the border illegally to be held. "It is unfortunate that Congress' failure to act and court orders have put the administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law," the order states. The executive order was signed by Trump as a group of about 50 Utah Democrats gathered on the steps of the state Capitol to protest the federal government's treatment of children taken from their parents. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said the president's action "is absolutely a step in the right direction." But he said it should not have taken an uproar from throughout the country to resolve "such a fundamental issue." At the protest downtown, where many carried "Families Belong Together" signs in English and Spanish, Gill, whose family came to the United States from India when he was a child, said, "This is not who we are. These are not our ideals." Utah Democratic Party Chairwoman Daisy Thomas, who attended the rally with her baby, said the executive order doesn't address the administration's policy of detaining immigrants trying to enter the United States. "Putting families in cages is still putting people in cages," she said. "If he could have signed this executive order while I was speaking, he could have signed it six weeks ago when we were learning of this." Last year, Google announced a new verification measure for apps to confirm that they have come from the Play Store. Now, the company has commenced implementing the new feature and all Android Application Packages (APKs) will now come appended with a small amount of metadata that verifies that the app was distributed via Google Play. This small yet significant step will basically ensure that an app is authentic and has passed Googles Play Store rules. With the help of the added metadata, the Play Store will also be able to verify if an app was installed after being shared offline and add it to the users Play Library. This means that the apps download numbers, which are currently affected due to offline installs, will be somewhat more accurate. James Bender, Product Manager of Google Play, explains in a blog post that a verified app will also receive updates once its added to the users Library and when possible. Bender adds,No action is needed by developers or by those who use your app or game. We're adjusting Google Play's maximum APK size to take into account the small metadata addition, which is inserted into the APK Signing Block. In addition to improving the integrity of Google Play's mobile app ecosystem, this metadata will also present new distribution opportunities for developers and help more people keep their apps up to date. Google is right when it says that peer-to-peer application sharing is prominent in countries where either data rates are high or not available. India is definitely one of those countries and this move by the company will give people more confidence while installing an app as the app authentication is carried out offline. However, we dont know if appending the app verification metadata will also help with app piracy or with modified apps that are usually downloaded via third-party. The Nokia X6 that was recently launched in China has been much anticipated in the global markets. Now, based on a poll ran by Juho Sarvikas and a report on its Bluetooth certification indicates the phone will go global. The Nokia X6 is the companys first stab at a display-notch. Considering HMD Global is just two years old, things are moving pretty fast for the company. The Nokia 7 Plus with an 18:9 display was announced early this year and quickly after, Nokia adopted the notch in the Nokia X6. HMD Globals Chief of Product Juho Sarvikas ran a poll on Twitter asking if people wanted to see the Nokia X6 launched outside China. The result of the poll was a resounding yes and Sarvikas promised the device will be sold outside the Chinese market in the coming months. Later, Nokiapoweruser found the phone listed in Bluetooth certification websites and two versions of the Nokia X6 with model numbers TA-1083 and TA-1116 might be launched globally. The same TA-1116 model was spotted online in Russian and Taiwanese websites before the phones unveiling in Moscow indicating the two countries are on the list of markets where the Nokia X6 will be launched. The report also comes quickly after the Nokia 5.1 received Bluetooth certification, so the two devices might launch together, as has been the case with earlier Nokia launches ever since the brand was acquired by HMD Global. The Nokia X6 touts a 5.8-inch Full HD+ display with the controversial notch and 19:9 aspect ratio. That allows the display to take up 80.3 percent of the body. The phone has a 16+5-megapixel dual camera lens by Zeiss optics. On the front is an 16-megpaixel shooter. Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage which can expanded via a microSD card. The UI is based on Android Oreo and it is likely that the phone will launch with stock Android with Android One certification. There is a 3060mAh battery with fast charging support. Morris Chang: A banquet that marks the conclusion of an era Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (TSIA) recently hosted a banquet to bid farewell to Morris Chang following his retirement. The guests there - including leaders in the tech industries and government officials - were all eager to hear the "commander in chief" (that's the nickname of the former TSMC chairman) share his years of experiences in the semiconductor industry. Chang said the first transistor was invented in 1947, which was an early form of semiconductor device. In 1952, Texas Instrument (TI) and Motorola acquired the patent from Bell Labs for several hundred thousand dollars, marking the start of the world's semiconductor industry. It has been six decades since Chang entered the semiconductor business in 1955. He had the chance of meeting many high-tech pioneers, such as Gordon Moore. Chang witnessed the rise of the global semiconductor industry and he was a champion of Taiwan's semiconductor industry. Taiwan's semiconductor business kicked off with the RCA project in 1975. However, early-stage developments only included government-sponsored small-scale trial or experimental projects until the establishment of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in 1987, the first major investment deal. By that time, Samsung, under the leadership of Kun-Hee Lee, had already stepped up the development of Korea's semiconductor industry in 1983 with full support from government. Lee invited Chang, Acer founder Stan Shih and others to visit Samsung's semiconductor foundry in 1989, showing off the fact that his company had already established itself as a leading provider of memory chips at that time. The guests from Taiwan were not frustrated and went on to help create a golden era for Taiwan's semiconductor industry. The industry leaders of Chang's generation helped Taiwan expand into worldwide markets, and overtake countries such as Japan, Germany, France and Britain in many aspects. I wasn't involved in building Taiwan's the semiconductor industry, but had the chance of being a witness to the end of an era at the banquet. I got to know Chang in 1995 when I was at Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute, a division of Institute for Information Industry (III). At the time, TSMC had been around for only seven to eight years and Chang often attended seminars we organized - always sitting in the front row A few years later I founded Digitimes, and Chang was among its major investors - which also included Stan Shih, Matthew Miau, and Ken Tai. Chang also on Digitimes' board of directors for the first two terms. It was Chang's personal investment made with the goal to establish an independent and professional data service provider. Already well known around the globe at that time, TSMC consistently advised that investments associated with integrated device manufacturers (IDM) would be too risky and IC design startups should stay focused and invest their capital on core technology research. It was also a critical time when TSMC's foundry service was taking shape. Business executives must be both modest and confident It is critical for a business to have influence in the industry. TSMC has always been able to stay on top of industry dynamics and lead a business model centered on itself at a global scale. This is made possible through the vision and confidence of the company's leaders and a great inspiration to many business operators. At the farewell dinner, I was seated at the same table with TSMC CFO Lora Ho. Ho revealed that In the 19 years she had worked alongside Chang, Chang had reiterated on several occasions that business executives should be modest and confident - modest when listening to people's opinions and confident when making decisions. He believes all characteristics can be developed but only when you have a soul can you make profound influence. Chang is a man with dreams and beliefs, a creative leader refusing to go with the flow and a professional executive upholding core values and ethics. At the first Digitimes board meeting, he said, "If you can't do something different. I'm not willing to give you any of my money." He was actually asking for a valid reason to invest in Digitimes as Taiwan already had a great number of media services. He always demonstrated his commitment to advancing the interests of Taiwan. I think this may be his way of showing gratitude for Kwoh-Ting Li - architect of Taiwan's economic transformation who invited Chang to bring his know-how and vision back home. Rational, professional, focused and goal-oriented Rational, professional, focused and goal-oriented are the words I would use to describe Chang in view of his accomplishments in the three decades of career and the role he has played in history. Chang is not a sentimental person but a rational business executive. In a meeting, he would not hesitate to ask those who have nothing to do with the issue at hand to leave. Sparing someone's feelings is never his concern when he interacts with people professionally. In his 30 years with TSMC, his leadership has helped the company achieve great success with a US$200 billion market capitalization, in the same class as Intel. I remember when Texas Instrument Taiwan celebrated its 20th anniversary, Chang was invited to give a speech. He said, "Intel is the world's No. 1 semiconductor company, followed by TI and TSMC. The latter two combined cannot compare to Intel. Can we ever beat Intel?" TSMC achieved that goal in 2017. Sharp-minded Chang has the courage to invest in cutting-edge technologies. He exhibits extraordinary confidence, not aggressiveness, in his business decisions. He leads the trend rather than follow it. Chang has stayed focused on his core business for all his life. He has never misused his power to invest in upstream or downstream businesses. Since he returned to Taiwan, his only focus has always been foundry service and the success he is able to achieve has wowed the world. TSMC has always aimed high. It is able to grab a 56% market share as it competes with heavyweights in the semiconductor manufacturing sector. TSMC has taken Taiwan to a new height. The company accounts for 3.5% of Taiwan's GDP, pays high salaries to a staff of 48,000 employees, enjoys a 50% gross profit margin, takes a more than 50% market share, allocates US$10 billion in annual capital expenditure and records a market capitalization exceeding US$200 billion. Each one of these represents an admirable achievement. TSMC has allocated US$10.8 billion out of its US$32.1 billion annual revenue for capital expenditure. There are very few companies in the world able to maintain long-term success with such a high ratio of capital expenditure. The key is that TSMC's investments can keep generating returns in the long run. TSMC divides its business into three focus areas - advanced technologies, main growth drivers and mature technologies. It competes for orders from world-leading customers with advanced technologies including 16/14nm and 7nm processes, for example, Apple's application processors, Qualcomm's communication chips and crypto mining machines with low energy consumption. For older process nodes, TSMC maintains dominant market leadership that is not to be underestimated amid an IoT era with diverse opportunities. What kind of leader do we need? When the world is keen on pushing process technologies toward 7nm and 5nm nodes, TSMC also provides all-inclusive services. According to Chang, as long as Moore's Law continues to apply, Taiwan can stay 6-7 years ahead of China. The commander in chief's insight and vision wraps up this period in semiconductor development and encourages Taiwan to keep pressing forward. TSMC's new CEO and TSIA chairman CC Wei, in bidding farewell, said humorously that Chang was still reviewing work as usual days before his retirement and he still had to report to Chang in trepidation as always. As Chang bows out, we will usher in a new era - the IoT era, extending from the times of PC and handsets. In the past, Taiwan competed with capitalist countries Japan and Korea; but going forward, Taiwan faces a new rival that speaks the same language and shares a common cultural root a new China, looking to disrupt the global business model with its state capitalism. Chang remarked, "I open the window and I don't see any red tide" - a reference to China. Chang sees the world as an arena where players compete for chances to excel. The battleground is not the narrow strip of water between Taiwan and China but the vast Pacific Ocean. The semiconductor industry where world-class players abound leaves no chance for opportunists with no soul but offers plenty of opportunities for leaders insisting on core values. Chang could very well have said nothing about the gap between Taiwan and China. However, with six decades of expertise, he chose to offer advice as to how Taiwan can maintain its leading edge. For this, we are forever grateful. Good-bye Morris! (Editor's note: Colley Hwang is president of Digitimes.) TSMC founder Morris Chang Photo: Digitimes file photo Edge AI solutions provider Kneron aspires to become innovation leader Taiwan's edge AI solutions provider Kneron has recently completed its series A1 financing of US$18 million led by Horizons Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, making it the first Taiwan semiconductor firm to have ever received investment from the business magnate. Kneron founder and CEO Albert Liu said that his company is confident of becoming the next company to lead the industry in innovation. He stressed that Kneron's vision is to apply AI technologies to improve human life, which complies with Horizons Ventures' goals of bettering people's daily life by investing in many disruptive companies including Skype, Facebook, Siri and DeepMind. Over the past 10 years, the venture capital firm has invested in over 80 tech startups, mostly in the US and Israel. Liu said that with this new round of funding, Kneron will accelerate its product development and collaboration with strategic partners to carry out vertical industrial applications, focusing on smart home, smart surveillance and smartphones. He added that a breakthrough 3D AI solution will be launched in the second half of 2018. Liu indicated that Kneron, founded in 2015, provides edge AI solutions, including AI processor NPU (neural processing unit) and visual recognition software, to help customers develop products more quickly. He furthered that the AI NPU provides high computing performance with low power consumption. Liu stressed that Kneron offers innovative edge AI solutions by moving part of the AI computing power from the cloud to edge devices to perform real-time AI recognition, inference and analysis without connecting to the cloud, so as to better safeguard the confidentiality of related data for users. Kneron CEO Albert Liu Photo: Vega Chiu, Digitimes, June 2018 What comes to mind when you think of Canberra? Vast expanses of grass and cement? Legal fireworks? Kevin 07? Old mate Turnbull? Things you stopped caring about when you turned 12 (or never cared about in the first place), no doubt. Legal porn is also a thing, although the allure of sex is hardly a drawcard to the region, census data showing that promiscuity in Canberra is quite low. Which is why its lucky its home to some of the coolest hotels around. Dig in to see where politicians rest their weary headson your dime. Ovolo Nishi NewActon Nishi, 25 Edinburgh Ave, Canberra Design takes centre stage at the Japanese-inspired hotel, making it a must-stay for anyone who is into art or architecture. The Ovolo Nishi puts you in the heart of Canberras gallery scene, so you can wander through the various quirky events often happening nearby. If you dont feel like leaving the precinct, you can wander down the Grand Stair to the Palace Cinema for a movie, to the Nishi Gallery to take in an exhibition or across the road to the National Film and Sound Archive to check out the art deco architecture and watch one of their film screenings. The concierge can also rustle up some of the hotels Good Speed bikes for guests to explore on, which is a nice way to pass a Canberra afternoon. Hotel Realm 18 National Circuit, Canberra Bubble baths, complimentary chocolates and huge pillows await you Hotel Realm. Especially if youre lucky enough to stay in the Upper House Suite. This room boasts a massive plush king sized bed, a massive view, and a plasma TV. Beautiful wooden partitions break up the architecturally designed space which features a gas fireplace, balcony, motorised block-out blinds and the most epic spa bath you will ever experience. Located an easy 2.5 hour drive from the M5 Sydney, passing by the Southern Highlands, the nations Capital is truly a hidden gem worth finding. As told by Realms Group Marketing Manager, Martina Males, New life flows through the city with swanky new restaurants and bars, internationally recognised hotels and an impressive art collection at the National Gallery of Australia. The local produce is another attraction. From Piallago Estates award winning bacon, to wines from the Poaches Trail including Clonakilla (and Silo Bakery which was recognised by the New York Times), each and every culinary taste is catered to. QT Canberra 133 Russell St, Melbourne Described as an eclectic mix of design and art, style and luxury with a touch of quirk, Canberras QT Hotel has earnt a reputation for a slightly cheeky and unorthodox brand of hospitality, which carries through in the hotels meticulous attention to detail, industrial-styled spaces, laneway speakeasy and rooftop bar perfect for business travellers and romantic weekenders alike. Avenue Hotel 80 Northbourne Ave, Canberra If checking out Parliament House and Canberras museums is on your agenda while in the city, book yourself into Avenue Hotel. Lush rooms with modern furnishings, spa suites and a stylish European steakhouse inspired gastro-pub serving up delicious paddock-to-plate delicacies during your stay, Avenue Hotel is for those who want a little taste of luxury. Little National Hotel 21 National Circuit, Barton If youre exploring Canberra on a budget, Little National Hotel provides affordable and effortlessly chic accommodation. Located just a stones throw from previously listed Hotel Realm, Little National offers 120 rooms that are small on space but big on character and sophistication. Its all about the business, conference and leisure guest who demands smart luxury and a spot-on location without going broke. Hotel Kurrajong Canberra 8 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 Located 1 kilometre from Old Parliament House and Capital Hill, Hotel Kurrajong Canberra is a heritage-listed property with a cafe, restaurant and 100MB of free WiFi per day, per room. Not bad. All rooms have a private bathroom, TV with cable channels, minibar and an in-room safe. What it lacks in avant-garde flair Hotel Kurrajong makes up for in space for events (it can cater for 12 to 200 people) and relaxed atmosphere. Boardroom and meeting facilities are also available and include LCD TVs. RELATED: The Coolest Melbourne Hotels To Stay & Play Chope, who has a history of blocking private members' bills, later said he did not object to the content of the law, just the way it was introduced. "Upskirting is an invasion of privacy which leaves victims feeling degraded and distressed", May tweeted Friday. But he says he'd support moves to make upskirting illegal if it was introduced by the Conservative government. He was heckled with cries of "shame!" as he deployed his oft-used tactic of opposing backbench private members' bills by simply shouting an objection moments after the Bill was called. And so, despite Chopes's intervention, upskirting should soon become illegal in Britain. Gina Martin, an upskirting victim whose petition to criminalise the act won her a legion of celebrity supporters and political backing, said the decision left her extremely upset but that she remained positive. He said: "The Government supported today's Bill on "up-skirting". May's spokesman said the government will now adopt the bill, ensuring it is guaranteed time for debate. The veteran politician, who was knighted this year, did not explain his reasoning publicly and was not immediately available to Reuters for comment. "I was really cross on Friday and I thought a more gentle protest might be to make something", said artist Ms Rees, who used three pairs of trousers to adorn Sir Christopher's office in Christchurch. She said: "We knew this was a risk but I now stand with powerful, passionate women and men behind me, and I am confident that (junior minister) Lucy Frazer is committed to, and will, close this gap in the law". The first time Ms Rees put bunting up - after Sir Christopher blocked the ban on Friday - it was removed. "I remain positive, though". The move comes after a Tory MP who blocked the progress of a backbench Bill to ban the practice of surreptitiously taking photos of underwear had his parliamentary office adorned with knickers. "If a detailed bill is put before the house and it hasn't had any debate then as a matter of principle, I block it without looking into the details of the bill because as a matter of principle, I don't believe we should pass legislation which hasn't been scrutinized", he told LBC Radio, a London-based national talk radio station. Mrs May's spokesman said: "Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the House of Commons, said Wera Hobhouse had championed legislation to address this issue and brought it before parliament". It is not specifically banned in England and Wales, although it can be prosecuted under public decency or harassment laws. The proposed law would have meant that someone taking a photo up a woman's skirt without her consent could face up to two years in prison. BSNL set to meet target date for global launch of 5G services State-run telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is expected to roll out ultra high-speed fifth generation or 5G telecom services in India as and when such services are launched globally. BSNL is working with multinational vendors such as Nokia, Coriant and ZTE on a 5G technology roadmap and aims to unveil services both enterprise as well as consumer by 2020. BSNL had, in September last year, roped in US-based packet optical and mobile routing solutions company Coriant to study and deploy 5G-based industrial internet applications in India. BSNL will launch 5G services the same day as their launch globally, BSNL chief general manager Anil Jain said. The state-run telco, which made a belated adoption of 3G and 4G technologies, however, has decided not to miss the 5G bus, Jain said while speaking at the Mobile Device Summit 2018, hosted by industry body The Mobile Association (TMA). Vipin Tyagi, executive director, Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), called for proactive collaboration among all stakeholders to develop a robust end-to-end 5G mobile ecosystem. TMA, meanwhile, pointed out that much like the infrastructure and ecosystem for 5G services, the availability of 5G-enabled smartphones is equally important. In February this year, BSNL signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding) to collaborate on creating a 5G test bed with Japans NTT Advance Technology Corporation and its India partner Virgo Corporation . In March 2017, Finish gear company Nokia entered into an arrangement with BSNL to leverage its global experience in 5G-related industry initiatives focusing on software defined network (SDN) and multi-access edge computing. Earlier, BSNL chairman Anupam Shrivastava said the collaboration with US-based packet optical and mobile routing solutions company Coriant was aimed at studying and deploying 5G-based industrial internet applications for enterprise customers. He said BSNLs partnership with Coriant was based on technological information sharing especially in the areas such as waste management, healthcare and education. BSNL has already sought airwaves in the premium 700 MHz band from the Department of Telecom (DoT) for launching 5G, besides 4G services. Recently, a DoT panel said that airwaves in the 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz, 24 GHz and 28 GHz bands can be made immediately available for the 5G service. UK audit regulator finds KPMG's audit quality `unacceptable Britains accounting regulator Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has called for an overhaul of KPMGs audit work in the UK, which it said, is of an unacceptable standard, fuelling calls to reform the industry, including dismantling the Big Four accounting firms. The FRC said auditors at KPMG dont challenge management enough, arent sufficiently sceptical and are inconsistent in their execution of audits, pointing to an unprecedented decline in audit quality. The regulator noted that the decline in quality has been more evident over the last five years, adding, is unacceptable and reflects badly on efforts by previous leadership to improve the work. This is further evidence that problems at KPMG are profoundly systemic, said Atul Shah, professor of accounting and finance at the University of Suffolk. They are a profit-maximising business rather than a professional firm with standards of independence, character and integrity. To reform the Big Four we must address these cultural problems and conflicts of interest. The FRC had earlier pulled up PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG for misconduct on past audits and fined both. The Big Fours business model tends to overlap accounting with management consulting, tax advice, information technology and many other services that have conflicting claims on their primary business. The Big Four firms are breeding grounds for future finance directors and corporate leaders, Shah said. If that breeding is culturally deficient you can imagine how far the cancer spreads. The increased scrutiny comes amidst calls for competition authorities to consider a breakup of the businesses of the `Big Four accounting firms in a way that do not overlap. A parliamentary report last month criticised KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC, along with banks and other advisers, for poor oversight of Carillion Plc, a collapsed British firm that constructed and managed government projects. KPMG is disappointed its audit-quality score has declined and is acting to resolve the issue, Michelle Hinchliffe, head of audit at the firm since 2017, said in a statement on Tuesday. The firm has begun work to ensure the highest standards of consistency and rigor are applied across all of our audits, she said. This includes ensuring senior candidates for promotion spend time at the companys Audit Centre of Excellence. The audit work appraised by the FRC dates principally from 2016, she said. The regulator said it will increase the number of KPMG audits it inspects in the current financial year by 25 per cent after a review of 16 audits carried out on firms in the FTSE 350 index found that half required some or significant improvement. The FRC this month fined PwC 6.5 million ($8.6 million) and severely reprimanded the firm for misconduct related to two 2014 audits. KPMG was fined 3.15 million pounds over a 2013 audit. Cement-less fly ash binder makes concrete 'green' Rice University engineers have developed a composite binder made primarily of fly ash, a byproduct of coal-fired power plants, that can replace Portland cement in concrete. The material is cementless and environmentally friendly, according to Rice materials scientist Rouzbeh Shahsavari, who developed it with graduate student Sung Hoon Hwang. Fly ash binder does not require the high-temperature processing of Portland cement, yet tests showed it has the same compressive strength after seven days of curing. It also requires only a small fraction of the sodium-based activation chemicals used to harden Portland cement. The results are reported in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society. More than 20 billion tons of concrete are produced around the world every year in a manufacturing process that contributes 5 to 10 per cent of carbon dioxide to global emissions, surpassed only by transportation and energy as the largest producers of the greenhouse gas. Manufacturers often use a small amount of silicon- and aluminum-rich fly ash as a supplement to Portland cement in concrete. "The industry typically mixes 5 to 20 per cent fly ash into cement to make it green, but a significant portion of the mix is still cement," says Shahsavari, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and of materials science and nanoengineering. Previous attempts to entirely replace Portland cement with a fly ash compound required large amounts of expensive sodium-based activators that negate the environmental benefits, he said. "And in the end it was more expensive than cement," he says. The researchers used Taguchi analysis, a statistical method developed to narrow the large phase space -- all the possible states of a chemical composition, followed by computational optimisation to identify the best mixing strategies. This greatly improved the structural and mechanical qualities of the synthesised composites, Shahsavari said, and led to an optimal balance of calcium-rich fly ash, nanosilica and calcium oxide with less than 5 percent of a sodium-based activator. "A majority of past works focused on so-called type F fly ash, which is derived from burning anthracite or bituminous coals in power plants and has low calcium content," Shahsavari says. "But globally, there are significant sources of lower grade coal such as lignite or sub-bituminous coals. Burning them results in high-calcium, or type C, fly ash, which has been more difficult to activate. "Our work provides a viable path for efficient and cost-effective activation of this type of high-calcium fly ash, paving the path for the environmentally responsible manufacture of concrete. Future work will assess such properties as long-term behavior, shrinkage and durability." Shahsavari suggested the same strategy could be used to turn other industrial waste, such as blast furnace slag and rice hulls, into environmentally friendly cementitious materials without the use of cement. Bukhari killing: J&K papers leave edit space blank; militants want bandh All the major newspapers in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday left the space for editorial comment blank in protest against the murder of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari in Srinagar last week. The editorial spaces of English dailies such as Greater Kashmir, Kashmir Times, Kashmir Reader and Bukharis Rising Kashmir as well as Urdu newspapers such as Tamili Irshad and the Daily Aftab were blank. The newspapers in the state hit the stands today after a two-day holiday ahead of Eid. Meanwhile, separatist leaders have called for a complete shutdown in Kashmir on Thursday against the killings of Bukhari as well as civilians gunned down by security forces in the past few days. The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), an amalgamation of separatist groups, said in a statement today that there had been a sudden spike in civilian killings since the eve of Eid. It also demanded an international probe into Bukhari's killing. "Joint Resistance Leadership has called for a complete strike on Thursday against the continued civilian killings in the valley, which has witnessed a sudden spike since the eve of Eid as three young boys have been brutally gunned down by the Indian forces while the fourth is struggling for life at SKIMS," the statement said. The decision to leave editorial spaces blank was taken after the Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG) met on Monday evening immediately after the Eid vacations. The editorial is the heart of a newspaper. Since our voices have been silent since the murder, we decided to show our protest. There was a proposal of suspending publication for a day but newspapers are the voice of the people, so we decided to publish without editorial to make our point, said KEG spokesperson Shafat Kira. The killing was also condemned by the Press Club of India and various press clubs across the country, including those of Mumbai and Chandigarh. Journalists in Srinagar also organised a silent march on Monday to express anguish over the killing, joined by scores of ordinary people. Editors, correspondents, photojournalists and journalism students walked hand in hand with tapes covering their mouths from Press Enclave to city centre Lal Chowk to protest what they called was an assault on the freedom of expression. Militant organizations like Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba condemned the killings and blamed Indian agencies for the murder. Rising Kashmir editor-in-chief Shujaat Bukhari, 50, was assassinated by three men outside his office at press colony in Srinagar on 14 June. His two personal security officers were also killed in the attack. See: He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. ( Noted journalist Shujaat Bukhari shot dead in Kashmir ). Bukhari also edited the papers Buland Kashmir and Sangermal, besides being bureau chief of the respected national English daily The Hindu. Jammu and Kashmir Police blamed the attack on terrorists and released pictures of four persons and have arrested one. The only man arrested in connection with the murder after being captured on cameras stealing the pistol of one of the slain security guards has not provided any clues yet and may not be connected to the three main suspects. Rising Kashmirs Tuesday edition has multiple stories on the murder of its chief editor. The paper also expressed gratitude to its readers for the support and sympathy offered to the publication. You left all too sudden but you will always be our leading light with your professional conviction and exemplary courage. We wont be cowed down by the cowards who snatched you from us. We will uphold your principle of telling the truth howsoever unpleasant it may be. Rest in peace! the paper had said in its tribute to Bukhari on 15 June. Every week I say to myself Im not going to have a bash at the government Im nearly boring myself at this stage but then I see something so outrageous that I cant resist. Heres a couple of figures for you that led to me getting royally pissed off on Friday morning after listening to the RTE News: 707,000 people on waiting lists for hospital procedures; 30,000 phantom homes that were allegedly built by this government but dont actually exist; and 200m. needed for back pay for hospital consultants. What can I say? Actually, I was going to start by saying our health services are Third World but then I considered that a bit unfair to the Third World. 707,000 people waiting for treatment in 2018 is ridiculous. The system really is a total shambles. And the now de rigueur claim by every health minister including this one, Simon Harris, coming into the job that s/he is going to sort it all out once and for all really is wearing thin. If you are Joe or Josephine Bloggs and dont have private health insurance you can wait for years to see about your hip replacement or whatever. You can be in agony, but youll have to wait your turn. But if you, Joe or Josephine, have private health insurance Eureka! You skip right to the top of the queue. No months or years on waiting lists for you. In this iniquitous system, priority is not necessarily based on need but on the ability to pay. So much for a Christian approach. Scandalous And whats even more corrupt is that these private patients often go to a publicly funded hospital, get seen by a publicly paid consultant and get their procedure done in a building and with equipment bought and paid for by the tax payer. The knock-on effect, of course, is obvious the more private patients get treated the fewer public patients get seen. Its scandalous. I had to laugh when Sean ORourke introduced his RTE radio programme on Friday last by remarking that the government had been including halting sites, mobile homes, retirement homes, holiday villages even farm buildings as proof they were addressing the housing crisis. Sean O'Rourke, RTE Now its been discovered that the statistics are totally flawed, that 30,000 homes that were said to have been built to address our soaring homelessness problem dont actually exist. Seemingly, the method used to compile the figures was based on electricity installations by the ESB, and no one thought to ask if a byre could be counted as a home. How incompetent is that? And now to jump to another topic our little country has to find 200 million in back pay for our consultants. Hard to believe, isnt it? Hardly the most hard-done-by group in the country in terms of remuneration, are they? Im not knocking them but have you been to a consultant lately? Bet you came out 150 or so lighter after your visit. By way of contrast, young teachers and nurses who got totally screwed during the economic crisis are way down the list, seemingly, in terms of pay restoration. In recent times the narrative from the government has been to play the card that none of this is their fault, that it is sorting out the mess inherited from the last administration. Thats clearly ridiculous. The party has been in power long enough now that pointing the finger at Fianna Fail or Sinn Fein a party that has never been in power in the Republic doesnt wash. What makes all this so interesting is that the chances of an election coming real soon are increasing at a rapid rate. Fianna Fail is having massive rumbling amongst the rank and file, people totally pissed off with seeing Leo and the lads soar in the polls while they, who are keeping the current coalition in power, are falling behind. Its only a matter of time before they decide to pull the plug. Indeed if they decide to support a proposed Sinn Fein motion it might not happen - in regard to a vote of no confidence in Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, we could be at the polls real soon. And Sinn Fein are more than happy with how things are going. Why wouldnt they be? In Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle ONeill they have a brand new image which is increasingly attractive to middle Ireland in a way Adams and McGuinness never were. Bring it on! THEY'RE AT IT AGAIN Remember before the economic crisis when the newspapers used to have big pull-out property supplements. Someone back in the day called it property porn, which I thought pretty apt. Well, they are at it again. I got the Irish Independent one day last week and there it was, a glossy 24-page full colour presentation of houses around Dublin that no one will be able to afford. Im not a housing expert but it seems to be we have learned little from the last crash. AND FINALLY I have come to the conclusion the more educated we get the less we know. Just recently I watched President Trumps press secretary host a conference where she gave fake news a whole new meaning. And if you ever watch any of the Israeli press people after they have shot dead any Gods number of unarmed Palestinians youll only feel sympathy for the poor IDF soldiers who had to shoot women and children; they were only defending themselves and their country. Over the years I have shared news items that were later found to be either inaccurate or misleading or, even worse, downright untrue. These days I am a lot more selective, though Ill still believe anything anyone tells me about Trump on the basis that even if it is a lie itll soon prove true. A 59-year-old man who contested a charge of assaulting a Polish man who had called to the wrong house for a decorating job, had the case against him dismissed at Dundalk District Court last week. Paul McKeown of Mooretown, Dromiskin told Judge John Coughlan he couldnt read the business card that was produced by the man when he confronted him and he had told him to F*** away off. The complainant in the case, speaking through an interpreter told the court he had knocked at the door of the house, but got no answer and as he was going back to his van, someone came out the side door of the building. He said he told him who he was and the name of the woman he was looking for who had hired him to work. The witness said after each question the man asked, he got more and more angry and he became aggressive. He said he told the man there was mix-up about the address and got into his van, but said the defendant was shouting constantly and was up close to him face to face and tried to grab his phone from his hand. The Defence solicitor said his client lives 200 yards down a lane, and the complainant who has little English could not explain to him who h was, and he was concerned for his well-being and ushered him away. He added the defendant has never been in trouble before, and described it as an unjustified prosecution. Insp. Martin Beggy said that when questioned the accused had denied any knowledge of the incident taking place. Mr. McKeown told the court the complainant had asked for a woman, and if she was in and he had asked the decorator what he wanted her for. He said the man then produced a card, but he told the court he had no glasses on him to read it. He added I said what the f*** are you doing at my house? and that he had told him to get the *** away from it. Judge John Coughlan, in dismissing the case, said I think this is a misunderstanding between two people over a lack of English. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Specialist Dilip Patel, left, and Glenn Carell works at their post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, June 15, 2018. President Donald Trump said he would impose trade tariffs on $50 billion on Chinese goods. Beijing appeared to be trying to minimise the effect on its own economy by picking USA products that can be replaced by imports from other suppliers such as Brazil or Australia. The decision by the Trump Administration to launch a trade war between the world's two largest economies will contribute to the already growing tensions and danger of military conflict in the Asia-Pacific region. CGTN's Owen Fairclough in Washington and Zou Yun in Beijing report. Meantime, The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a list of 1,102 Chinese imports that will be subject to additional duties. On Friday, the U.S. imposed additional tariffs of 25 per cent on import of Chinese goods worth $ 50 billion, of which tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products will be charged from July 6, while the remaining $ 16 billion worth of Chinese products will undergo further review in a public notice and comment process. "So I thought what he did on China is right", Schumer said. The Chinese government said it was disappointed in US President Donald Trump's decision to slap a 25 per cent tariff on some $50 billion Chinese goods, but said it was going to continue multilateral, anti-protectionist trade policies. President Trump has also said that if China retaliated - which they now have - he would target another $100 billion of Chinese exports. There are two separate lists of US products. The first products that will be affected are soy seeds, maize, rice, wheat, sorghum, beef, pork, chicken, fish, dairy, nuts, vegetables, vehicles and aquatic products, with a set value of 34,000 Million dollars. They include agricultural products and automobiles. His comments came as a number of Democrats appeared to back Trump's announcement on tariffs, while some Republicans remained skeptical about the issue. Trade analysts say it would be wiser for the United States to enlist its allies to challenge China's drive to grab technology, rather than go it alone with unilateral tariffs. Anti-monopoly regulators are believed to have delayed announcing a decision on the United States tech giant Qualcomm's proposed acquisition of the semiconductor maker NXP in part due to the tariff conflict. The Chinese announcement is the latest volley in a trade dispute between China and the USA that has been escalating for months. "The Chinese side firmly opposes that". Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made similar remarks Friday night, saying China does not want a trade war. China will bark back. "All economic and trade outcomes of previous talks will now lose effect", Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency quoted the spokesperson on Friday. They also said that waging a trade war "undermines the world trade order". It also called on other countries to "take collective action" against this "outdated and backwards behavior". Still, these tariffs will impose higher costs on USA companies that use the equipment. On 18 June, IHE Delft was pleased to welcome delegates from nine Asian countries to hear about the Institutes work in relation to Integrated Flood Risk Management, which is the theme of the Asia-Netherlands Learning Week 2018. Sponsored by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and organized by the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), this annual event allows organizations from the Dutch water sector to share knowledge and experience on a different aspect of water management. The learning week is in its sixth edition and will again include many meetings with experts as here seen during the 4th edition in 2015. Flood risk management The delegates have the opportunity to attend meetings and go on excursions to learn about the experiences of the Netherlands in coping with water issues inherent to the country, and approaches and initiatives of the Asian Development Bank and IHE Delft. This year, a number of IHE Delft staff described their approach to integrated flood risk management and demonstrated practical examples by means of case studies. Group visits There will be plenty of time for the delegates to focus on the water challenges of their own country, facilitated and advised by staff from IHE Delft. The programme also includes many group visits to Dutch water institutes and special locations in the field of flood prevention, water treatment and water management. The week culminates with each working group presenting the key lessons they had learned, an action plan and follow-up activities once they return home. This news item was originally published on the website of IHE Delft. Read also on this website Graduation Day 2018: 138 water professionals receive their MSc degree at IHE Delft, 30 April 2018 Learning Alliance identifies pilot for green coastal protection in Kendari Bay, Indonesia, 27 February 2015 Unesco-IHE and Asian Development Bank start 3rd water learning week in Delft, the Netherlands, 18 June 2014 More information IHE Delft Delft, the Netherlands +31 15 2152321 www.un-ihe.org Netherlands Water Partnership The Hague, the Netherlands +31 70 304 3700 www.nwp.nl Asian Development Bank Manila, Philippines +63 2 6324444 www.adb.org/sectors/water Instantly delete email threats for Office 365 With the free app, 365 Threat Monitor, scan all emails as they reach your users' mailboxes to detect ransomware, phishing and spam. Get real-time phone alerts + security breach updates and delete threats instantly with just one click. Download now! United States-based providers of e-commerce resources, including cloud services, must release foreign-held customer information to law enforcement agencies under a new law enacted in March. Providers have strongly objected to releasing customer information residing outside the U.S. for fear of violating the privacy laws of other countries. In a legal filing, the providers noted a potential "staggering" loss of international customers who no longer would trust the providers to protect their privacy. The document cites the positive trade balance of US$18 billion for U.S.-based cloud service providers in 2015. As the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, or CLOUD Act, was enacted, a dispute between Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice over the release of foreign-held customer data was playing out in the U.S. Supreme Court. Microsoft had challenged the basis of a 2013 DoJ warrant for customer information residing at a data facility in Ireland. The DoJ sought the information in connection with a criminal drug investigation. Since the CLOUD Act addressed the major issue in dispute between DoJ and Microsoft, the Supreme Court agreed to a request by both parties and mooted the case. DoJ Targets Microsoft in New Warrant The Justice Department quickly resumed its case against Microsoft under the CLOUD Act. DoJ asserted that the Act clearly provides U.S. law enforcement agencies with the ability to seek customer information related to criminal investigations when that data resides at a facility outside the U.S. DoJ argued that the CLOUD Act demolishes the legal basis for Microsoft's past refusal to comply with its request for the information, and issued a new warrant to the company. "The government is now unquestionably entitled to disclose foreign-stored data under the Stored Communications Act (SCA)," DoJ said in a petition to dismiss the Supreme Court case. DoJ and Microsoft had different views on the reach of the SCA, which led to the original court case. The CLOUD Act removed the SCA ambiguity by stating that U.S. law now would cover customer information that is "located within or outside of the United States." The CLOUD Act applies to any "electronic communication service or remote computing service," and it requires providers to "preserve, backup, or disclose the contents of a wire or electronic communication and any record or other information pertaining to a customer or subscriber." The data must be within a provider's "possession, custody, or control." Microsoft Is Not Rolling Over Microsoft may be contemplating a rejection of the new DoJ warrant, however. While the company no longer can use the international location argument to reject the DoJ request, it has indicated there may be another legal means to challenge the department under the international "comity" provisions of the CLOUD Act. "We did not sue our own government four times and devote energy to these issues over four sometimes long years to stop showing resolve now," said Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer at Microsoft. The Act allows some leeway for companies to refuse to comply with law enforcement requests for information located outside the U.S., he contended. Broadly speaking, the comity provision allows companies to ask a court to cancel -- in legal terms to "quash" -- a warrant for information if the situation would interfere with the terms of any reciprocal agreement between the U.S. government and another country over such data protection. Courts then would have to find that the release of sought-after information would compromise the comity of any country-to-country agreement. In the event there was no specific bilateral agreement, the CLOUD Act would allow companies to challenge a warrant based on the "common law" concept of comity, according to Microsoft. In its petition for dismissal of the Supreme Court case, the company argued that it would evaluate its options under the CLOUD Act regarding the new DoJ warrant. However, Smith's commentary highlighting the value of bilateral agreements and the use of common law protections in lieu of such agreements appears to indicate that a challenge to DoJ on the comity issue is an option. "The CLOUD Act both creates the foundation for a new generation of international agreements and preserves rights of cloud service providers like Microsoft to protect privacy rights until such agreements are in place. Each of these aspects is critical," Smith said. Microsoft did not respond to multiple requests to comment for this story. Questions About Comity The only problem with Microsoft using the comity argument associated with country-to-country agreements is that currently there aren't any such accords, according to a commentary by DLA Piper attorneys Ilana Hope Eisenstein, Jim Halpert and Lindsay R. Barnes. "As of yet, no CLOUD Act agreements have been established, and thus providers have no present recourse under this procedure," they wrote. That presents another legal hurdle, as there are no rulings by courts related to use of the procedure. "Comity analysis only comes into play if the data the government seeks resides in a country with whom the U.S. already has the kind of bilateral executive agreement contemplated under the CLOUD Act," Eisenstein told the E-Commerce Times. "Only after the U.S. starts to make these agreements with other countries and the courts have an opportunity to interpret the CLOUD Act will we start to see what that comity analysis looks like," she pointed out. "Both before and after the CLOUD Act, providers could raise common law comity concerns, if and when a disclosure order puts the provider in the middle of conflicting legal obligations," noted Jennifer Daskal, associate professor at American University Washington College of Law. "Microsoft has never claimed that any such explicit conflict existed, so it seems strange that it would raise the issue now," she told the E-Commerce Times. "That said, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect at the end of May," said Daskal. "Once in place, that could provide a source of conflict if the data is located within the EU. I would think, however, that courts would -- and should -- look unfavorably on any delay tactic that dragged this out until the end of May and then claimed conflict there," she observed. "There are, of course, other independent reasons why Microsoft might object that have nothing to do with the location of the data or foreign law -- that could possibly provide a separate reason for their further evaluation," Daskal said, "although I don't have any knowledge as to what those objections might be." John K. Higgins has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2009. His main areas of focus are U.S. government technology issues such as IT contracting, cybersecurity, privacy, cloud technology, big data and e-commerce regulation. As a freelance journalist and career business writer, he has written for numerous publications, including The Corps Report and Business Week. Email John. Instantly delete email threats with 365 Threat Monitor With 365 Threat Monitor, scan all emails as they reach your users' mailboxes to detect ransomware, phishing and spam. Get real-time phone alerts, real-time security breach updates and delete threats instantly with just one click - for free! Learn More. Newsletters are one of the primary means of communicating with both existing and potential customers. For small e-commerce business owners, however, putting together a regular newsletter may seem daunting. Is it worth your time and effort? In short, yes -- and following are some reasons you should consider taking the leap. Communicate With Customers Since e-commerce businesses often don't have the opportunity to see their customers face-to-face, sending out an email newsletter is one way to open up a channel of regular communication. Newsletters can inform customers about new products and provide helpful information they can use in their daily lives. "It's important to connect with customers at multiple points, and email is a great way to reach a range of people," said Margaret Hamner, senior marketing manager for email marketing at MailChimp. "It's effective, efficient, and easy to personalize based on specific target audiences," she told the E-Commerce Times. Enhance Loyalty It might seem that creating and sending out a newsletter would involve spending more time and energy than you have, taking valuable resources away from sales and marketing. In fact, newsletters can be a valuable part of your overall sales and marketing strategy. In the long run, they actually can save time -- while building your customers' sense of loyalty to your brand. "Email marketing is a great way to gain customers' loyalty," noted Isabel Courbat, co-owner of Mailpro. "It's a great tool to keep customers happy and informed," she told the E-Commerce Times. "Companies save a lot of time doing email campaigns, since sending emails takes very little time, giving employees more flexibility at work." Establish Your Authority Perhaps one of the most important benefits of a newsletter is that it keeps you and your company at the forefront of your customers' minds. "A newsletter can help to position you as an expert or your brand as a useful resource when you regularly offer content of value to the people on your list," remarked consultant Sharon Ernst. "When you regularly show up in the in-box, you help to remind people you're there," she told the E-Commerce Times. Visibility is key to influencing potential customers' purchasing decisions. "A newsletter is an excellent way to stay in touch with your customers and be top-of-mind so that when they're ready to make a purchase, your business is the one they choose," suggested copywriter Susan Greene. "The visibility your newsletter provides will ultimately lead to increased sales," she told the E-Commerce Times. You never know, after all, when your marketing efforts will lead to a sale. Newsletters can help clinch the deal. "Maybe they weren't ready to buy before, but now they are, and lo and behold, there's a newsletter from you in their in-box reminding them about you and your brand," said Ernst. "Or maybe someone has asked them for a product recommendation and your email is there as a reminder about your business, so they might be likely to recommend yours instead of another brand," she added. Build Your Brand When designing and putting together a newsletter, it's important to consider how it will contribute to your brand's identity. When done right, there will be a kind of seamlessness between all the materials you create to promote your brand. "Every newsletter should have a polished, professional feel that maintains the personality and relatability of your brand," advised MailChimp's Hamner. "It doesn't require extensive training or expensive tools to accomplish this. Focus on copy that clearly conveys the customer benefit, and use the devices you already own to take photos." Over time, you'll want to evaluate how your newsletter is working, and whether it's serving the needs of both your customers and your brand. "It's important to measure engagement and interests to help determine what content resonates most with your audience," said Hamner. "This can be done by organizing content topics into different blocks and linking out to additional information like a certain product, landing page, or article on your blog," she suggested. "Then, the click-through engagement information on specific interests can be easily collected to help determine what content to send to specific customers in the future." Develop Personal Relationships One way to avoid the direct-to-trash fate of some email newsletters is to personalize them. When you address customers directly and offer information that's tailored to them, your newsletter will seem less like mass marketing and more like a personal, curated communique. "People love to receive personalized newsletters," said Mailpro's Courbat. "It is a great way to show your customers you care about each one of them. Also, personalizing your newsletter increases your chances of not falling into spam folders." It can be in your interest as well as in the customers' interest, in other words, to make the effort to tailor your newsletters to particular individuals and groups. "In-boxes can be filled with a lot of noise, so messages with a personal touch stand out," Hamner pointed out. "Differentiate and segment your subscribers as much as possible to ensure you're sending messages that resonate with different audiences on your list." Vivian Wagner has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2008. Her main areas of focus are technology, business, CRM, e-commerce, privacy, security, arts, culture and diversity. She has extensive experience reporting on business and technology for a variety of outlets, including The Atlantic, The Establishment and O, The Oprah Magazine. She holds a PhD in English with a specialty in modern American literature and culture. She received a first-place feature reporting award from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. Email Vivian. Instantly delete email threats with 365 Threat Monitor With 365 Threat Monitor, scan all emails as they reach your users' mailboxes to detect ransomware, phishing and spam. Get real-time phone alerts, real-time security breach updates and delete threats instantly with just one click - for free! Learn More. Cisco has reduced the poaching of endangered rhinos in Africa by a whopping 96 percent. This success comes at a time when kids appear to be increasingly at risk from rogue school shooters and the United States government seems deadlocked on gun control. Guns kill rhinos as well, but the focus of Cisco's tech is on catching the poachers who kill around 1,000 endangered rhinos a year, rather than on taking away their weapons of choice. Where implemented, the solution has all but eliminated the problem. The rhino problem in Africa presents logistics issues that are relevant to the U.S. border problem. In both cases, the goal is to keep unauthorized people out, but because the borders are so extensive, the cost of staffing to protect them is problematic. Technology is a force multiplier, though, and I believe a solution similar to the one Cisco and Dimension Data developed to protect the rhino population could be used to provide better protection for schools and the U.S. border. I'll share some thoughts on the application of technology to improve problem-solving and then close with my product of the week: my latest favorite laptop. Applying Enterprise Security Solutions to World Problems One of the fascinating aspects of Cisco's efforts to protect endangered species is that the methods used aren't far removed from how we now protect against electronic intrusions. It used to be that we relied largely on firewalls and perimeter protection to keep our enterprises safe. However, as firewalls became more porous and attackers more creative, we accepted that walls wouldn't work by themselves and moved to assuming attackers would get in. That shifted our efforts from perimeter protection toward in-depth protection, with emphasis on monitoring activity inside the enterprise. As a result, we can identify and eliminate attacks, whether internally or externally sourced, more effectively. Once you can effectively isolate potentially harmful behavior from normal behavior, you can target attackers and more likely catch them in the act -- before they can do much damage or steal much data. Granted, these defense in-depth methods have required a massive increase in the creation and application of artificial intelligence and instrumentation to get to scale. Once developed, though, the methods have broad applications outside of site security. For instance... Saving the Rhinos The issue with any form of animal protection in Africa is that there is a vast expanse of land but very little funding for people to patrol it effectively. Borders are hundreds of miles long, making a perimeter defense problematic (and no one is going to build Africa a wall). If you could identify the threat location in time, resources could be concentrated to deal with it. To accomplish that, it was necessary to shift the goal away from the near-impossible task of securing a massive site, and toward rapid threat identification. A variety of instruments and sensors can be used for site monitoring. Networked vibration sensors, motion sensors, cameras and microphones can monitor massive areas with relatively low staffing. For instance, gunshots can be triangulated rapidly using a relatively modest number of sensors. Drones then can be used to locate poachers, so that resources can be sent in to arrest them. At some future point, it might be possible to automate arrests using robots and drones, further reducing the need for human staff, along with the related risks. While this approach doesn't prevent poachers from getting in, it does identify them once they are present and tracks them inside. Even if the poachers make a kill, it is nearly impossible for them to get out with it. Cisco's initial effort has been so successful that the company is replicating it through a program called "Connected Conservation." The goal is to protect endangered species on land and water around the world. The hope is that once the technology is in place, it will eradicate most forms of poaching for things like rhino horns and elephant tusks. Preventing School Shootings Addressing the problem of school safety in large part seems to revolve around arguments limiting access to guns. However, schools face a variety of risks that often are far more prevalent than gun violence. Illegal drugs, children seized or abused by adults or other children, suicides, and bullying are but a few of the issues making schools unsafe. Applying the same kind of monitoring and artificial intelligence to schools should offer similar benefits to those derived from the fight against poachers, without excessively impacting privacy. Schools already are heavy users of security cameras. Adding more microphones and overlaying the solutions with artificial intelligence, so that likely threats could be identified more quickly, probably would have a greater near-term impact than attempts to eliminate guns. Even if guns were in use, being able to triangulate the shooter would allow on-site security resources and arriving law enforcement to isolate and eliminate the threat more rapidly. It also would allow the school to notify classrooms regarding lockdown or escape protocols more effectively, reducing the potential for hostage-taking, and getting kids out of harm's way. Once in place, the AI could flag bullying behavior, spot violence, abuse or harassment, regardless of their form, and potentially identify people that could become future threats due to unusual behavior. With similar technology, we could make schools far safer than they now. Border Wall The same could be said of the U.S. borders. For a fraction of the cost of a border wall, we could have a massive increase in our ability to monitor the border, identify those crossing illegally, and more effectively target those wishing to do the country harm (arms and drug smugglers). With facial recognition software, we could scan for repeat offenders, known national criminals and gang members, enabling law enforcement to prioritize their capture. Compared to walls, which can be flown over or dug under, technological defense in-depth solutions would be vastly harder to overcome. Coupled with fast-response drones and potentially robotics, these types of solutions could cover huge areas, protecting the borders far more effectively than a static wall ever could. Wrapping Up: Better, Faster, Cheaper, Safer What Cisco highlights with its rhino-protection efforts in Africa is that enterprise security methods can be applied to physical security problems with amazing results. These same methods could be used to protect our schools and borders for a fraction of the cost and aggravation of gun control laws and physical walls. Approaches that are better, faster, cheaper -- and that lead to safer -- are what technology is famous for. What Cisco demonstrated in Africa could have similar success in schools and help secure our borders. Maybe it is time to use something we are good at to solve the nation's problems rather than just argue about them. The U.S. is the world leader in technology. Perhaps it is technology that we need to tap to solve some of our bigger problems. Technology can keep us safer -- we just need to use it properly. AMD -- along with Dell, HP and Lenovo -- has rolled out a series of Ryzen-powered laptops and desktop machines. Given how badly Intel has been behaving of late, a lot of folks have been looking at AMD alternatives but not finding many that were that compelling -- up to now. That changed last week. I was particularly taken by HP's offerings, which range from 13.3 inches to nearly 16 inches. The one I consider the best balance of size, performance and price is the HP EliteBook 735 G5. HP EliteBook 735 G5 HP has been going after Apple aggressively of late, and its designs showcase that effort. Looking as though they were carved out of aluminum complete with ports and stunning displays, HP's new laptops are a showcase for its One Life product strategy. "One Life" means that you aren't an employee or a consumer but both -- and in a laptop you want what you want, when you want it. That means attractive designs and full security features. HP currently leads the segment with security features, including features that prevent your BIOS from being compromised, keep your critical security features running, and make sure a hostile website can't infect you. One unique feature is HP Sure View, which provides an optional integrated privacy screen so the person next to you can't see your work or watch the movie you are watching. It is my view that every laptop should have this, and HP largely stands alone right now. Like a lot of folks, I no longer trust Intel. I mean if the firm's own CEO doesn't believe it is a good investment, then neither should I. Thankfully, a number of strong AMD alternative products have entered the market all of a sudden, with the HP EliteBook 735 G5 moving to the top. That is enough to make it my product of the week. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network. Rob Enderle has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2003. His areas of interest include AI, autonomous driving, drones, personal technology, emerging technology, regulation, litigation, M&E, and technology in politics. He has an MBA in human resources, marketing and computer science. He is also a certified management accountant. Enderle currently is president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group, a consultancy that serves the technology industry. He formerly served as a senior research fellow at Giga Information Group and Forrester. Email Rob. TEMPE Swedish homeware giant IKEA has debuted a take-back initiative which, if extended across its global network of stores, could extend the lifecycles of a vast quantity of home textiles. The initial phase of this trial will give customers at the firms Tempe branch the opportunity to rent a vehicle for free in order to return IKEA furniture to the store before receiving a voucher. Colorado joined 12 other states and the District of Columbia in adopting California's stricter vehicle emissions standards Tuesday, The Denver Post reported. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper issued an executive order calling on the state to adopt low-emissions vehicle standards by 2025 and to begin drafting the standards in time to start implementing them by the end of 2018. Hickenlooper said in a statement that the move would help reduce air pollution, which poses a greater risk at Colorado's high altitudes, and be in line with the state's commitment to fighting climate change. "Our communities, farms and wilderness areas are susceptible to air pollution and a changing climate," his order said. "It's critical for Coloradans' health and Colorado's future that we meet these challenges head-on," The Associated Press reported. Colorado's move is necessitated by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt's announcement in April that the agency would reduce national emissions standards through 2025. California has a waiver under the Clean Air Act to adopt stricter emissions standards than the rest of the country, and other states can choose to adopt them as well. But during the Obama era, the national government's standards were strict enough that California and the other states following its lead were willing to accept them, meaning that automakers only had to make cars for one national set of standards. Pruitt's decision changed that. Now, Colorado is invoking the Clean Air Act to adopt California's standards as well, saying it will help the state to meet its 2030 target for lowering greenhouse gas emissions, The Denver Post reported. The move makes Colorado one of the few non-coastal states to adopt California's rules. Both New Mexico and Arizona took on the California standards, but later reversed their decisions, according to The Denver Post. "This is really daring on the governor's part to put a mountain state in the mix of the coastal states," CEO and president of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association Tim Jackson told The Denver Post. "It has never been tried and I'm not sure how much it will cost consumers." Jackson said he was concerned that Colorado was allowing another state, that tested air quality under different conditions, to set its standards, but environmental activists applauded the decision. "Adopting clean-car standards means fewer bad-air days and a better quality of life for citizens across our state," Environment Colorado Director Garrett Garner-Wells told The Denver Post. This isn't the first time that Colorado has stepped up to represent non-coastal states in the fight against climate change. Two Colorado counties and the city of Boulder became the first inland municipalities to sue oil companies for damages incurred by rising temperatures in April. International police organization INTERPOL celebrated on Wednesday the results of a massive global crackdown against wildlife crime in nearly 100 countries. The month-long "Operation Thunderstorm" took place in May and involved the cooperation of law enforcement and conservation agencies from 92 countries, resulting in 1,974 seizures worth millions of dollars. Seizures to date include: 43 tonnes of wild meat (including bear, elephant, crocodile, whale and zebra) 1.3 tonnes of raw and processed elephant ivory 27,000 reptiles (including 869 alligators/crocodiles, 9,590 turtles and 10,000 snakes) Almost 4,000 birds, including pelicans, ostriches, parrots and owls Several tonnes of wood and timber 48 live primates 14 big cats (tiger, lion, leopard and jaguar) The carcasses of seven bears, including two polar bears The sting also resulted in eight tonnes of pangolin scales seized worldwide, including almost four tonnes by Vietnamese maritime authorities on board a ship arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Additionally, Canadian authorities intercepted a container holding 18 tonnes of eel meat arriving from Asia. "The results are spectacular," Sheldon Jordan, Canada's director general of wildlife enforcement, said. Jordan noted that global wildlife crime is worth about $150 billion annually, and is the fourth largest black market after the illegal drug trade, counterfeiting and human trafficking. INTERPOL's operation also identified some 1,400 suspects, triggering arrests and investigations worldwide, the agency said. Those arrested include two flight attendants in Los Angeles for attempting to smuggle live spotted turtles to Asia in their personal baggage, as well as a man in Israel who was arrested after posting a hunting photograph on social media, which led to a raid in his home and the seizure of fox, jackal, mongoose bodies and other wildlife items. The suspect was also engaged in people smuggling and illegal employment, a follow-up investigation revealed. "Operation Thunderstorm has seen significant seizures at global level, showing how coordinated global operations can maximize impact," said INTERPOL Secretary General Jurgen Stock in a statement. "By revealing how wildlife trafficking groups use the same routes as criminals involved in other crime areasoften hand in hand with tax evasion, corruption, money laundering and violent crimeOperation Thunderstorm sends a clear message to wildlife criminals that the world's law enforcement community is homing in on them," Stock added. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who has spent his first 15 months opening public lands to oil and gas drilling, has been linked to a development project with Halliburton chairman David Lesar, POLITICO reported Tuesday. Lesar is backing a real estate development in Zinke's hometown of Whitefish, Montana and receiving help from a foundation started by Zinke and currently run by his wife, Lola. Lola Zinke has agreed in writing to allow the Lesar-funded development, which would convert an industrial area into a hotel and shops, to build a parking lot on land donated to the Zinke's foundation for a Veteran's Peace Park, which has remained undeveloped for nearly 10 years. The Zinkes also own land across from the development that stands to increase in value, real estate agents told POLITICO. The development would also include a microbrewery, a project for which Zinke has spent five years lobbying town officials. Whitefish city planner David Taylor told POLITICO that the developers would allow the Zinkes to own and run the microbrewery, though the developers themselves said nothing had been decided. "The sad fact is that this is just the latest example of Zinke attempting to personally benefit from a resource that should benefit the public," Whitefish conservation group the Western Values Project Executive Director Chris Saeger told The Associated Press. The Western Values Project has called for an investigation into Zinke's offer of the land, donated for a park, to private interests and has asked Zinke to recuse himself from any future arrangements the Department of the Interior (DOI) makes with Halliburton. Halliburton is the largest oil services company in the U.S., and ethics experts told POLITICO any deal between the company and the Zinkes presents a conflict of interest, since Halliburton stands to benefit from DOI plans announced under Zinke to open public lands to fossil fuel interests, such as the decision to open U.S. coasts to offshore oil drilling. POLITICO highlighted the DOI's move under Zinke to loosen Obama-era fracking restrictions on federal lands after lobbying by Halliburton, one of the world's largest fracking companies. DOI is also responsible for drilling and pipeline safety standards Marilyn Glynn, acting director of the Office of Government Ethics under President George W. Bush, also thought the development deal meant that Zinke should now remove himself from any decisions that could impact Halliburton. "In a previous administration, whether Bush or Obama, you'd never run across something like this," she told POLITICO. Zinke claimed he had resigned from the foundation that owns the park land after becoming secretary, but the foundation's annual report, which he says is a mistake, lists him as an officer, while his wife is president and his daughter is treasurer. Public Citizen federal ethics law specialist Craig Holman said even his wife and daughter's involvement in the deal is enough to trigger conflict of interest rules that require executive branch officials to remove themselves from decisions impacting groups with which they or their close relatives have a financial relationship. "Entering this type of business relationship could very clearly open the doors [of government] to business interests that have stakes before the office holder," Holman told POLITICO. "Clearly, any substantial development project next to the vacant lot owned by Zinke's foundation would significantly boost the value of the lot. The conflict-of-interest statute would be invoked if even the nonprofit on which Zinke or his spouse serves as an officer, as either paid or unpaid officers, derives a financial benefit." Both insisted the United States would remain a leading champion of human rights but, for many, the decision will reflect Trump's general hostility to the world body and to multilateral diplomacy in general. Britain has urged the UN Human Rights Council to reform its treatment of Israel, joining the United States in demanding an end to the body's alleged bias against the country. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley are scheduled to talk about the Human Rights Council later Tuesday in remarks at the State Department. The decision to leave the 47-nation body was more definitive than the lesser option of staying on as a nonvoting observer. While previous U.S. administrations have criticized Item 7, President Donald Trump's government has raised the prospect of quitting the council unless it is scrapped. The Jewish Leadership Council tweeted: "We welcome the Foreign Secretary's statement at the Human Rights Council that its permanent agenda item on Israel is "disproportionate and damaging to the cause of peace". The decision, should it come to pass, would occur after months of talks between the USA and other member countries, with the US critical of agenda items singling out Israel for condemnation over its treatment of Palestinians. During the council's latest session, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN's high commissioner for human rights, launched an attack on the Trump administration's policy of separating families trying to cross the southwest border illegally, calling the practice "unconscionable". The US joined the body only in 2009 under President Barack Obama. A U.S. pullout might also be largely symbolic: The United States' current term on the council ends next year, when it could revert to the observer status held by other countries that are not members. All other 192 United Nations member states are considered together under a separate item, if they are discussed at all. Haley cited the membership of numerous countries accused of human rights abuses and a "clear bias" against Israel. The U.S., as at other United Nations organizations, is Israel's biggest defender. Nevertheless, the move will add to concerns that the United States is, under Trump, retreating from its leading position as an worldwide advocate for human rights. The Trump administration's irritation with the council makeup and its agenda has been telegraphed with drumbeat regularity by Haley. Haley said a year ago that Washington was reviewing its membership of the Human Rights Council, and called for reform and elimination of a "chronic anti-Israel bias". Other than the name change from "Commission" to "Council", the other big difference was that when the Commission ended in 2006, its members included China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia, and when the General Assembly elected the members of the new Council, they chose China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Schools face ongoing challenges in helping to ensure that all children have access to a high-quality education. However, a closer look at todays schools reveals a disturbing demographic trend that shows little indication of slowing down: increasing numbers of vulnerable children. Although a number of childrens circumstances can fall into the vulnerable category, those who are mired in chronic poverty, homeless, facing untreated mental-health issues, or part of the foster-care system are among the most vulnerable in our schools and society today. Consider that the National Center for Children in Poverty estimates that roughly 15 million children1 in 5live in poverty , and a disproportionate number of these youths are African-American, Latino, or Native American. The Child Mind Institute finds that close to 17 million children have mental-health issues , many of which are never addressed. The National Center on Family Homelessness reports that 2.5 million children experience homelessness every year in this country . And the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has tracked an increase in the number of children in foster care over the past several years, which rose to 437,500 by the end of the fiscal year of 2016. To state the obvious, growing numbers of children face arduous circumstances before ever entering school. Although many courageous and dedicated teachers, staff, and leaders work tirelessly in these schools, the reality is painfully clear: Most schools are ill-equipped and underprepared to understand, let alone address, the depth, breadth, complexity, and seriousness of the challenges that many students face daily. Driverless cars and trips to Mars are well within our reach. Why can't we find ways to house, feed, care for, educate, and support all children?" It is difficult to inspire children when they are hungry. Childrens ability to concentrate on learning is compromised when complex trauma has been a staple in their lives. They are hard-pressed to think about homework when they do not know where they will sleep at night. School personnel cannot be blamed for students test scores not improving when chronic violence, despair, and hopelessness are on full display every day for many young people. So what is our response? How do we help those most in dire need? To respond to the complex needs of vulnerable populations, everyoneeducators, policymakers, and communitiescan start with a three-pronged approach: 1) Acknowledge the complexity of contemporary circumstances. The first step to supporting children in vulnerable circumstances has to be recognizing the complexity of these challenges. Issues tied to inequality, poverty, racism, and sexism remain very much enmeshed in our nations fabric, despite the apparent progress we have made. To that end, we need to realize that complicated problems are not solved with simplistic approaches or mundane how tos. We all must recognize the all-too-clear connections between race and poverty, between gender and exclusion, and between immigration and opportunity. We must recognize the dearth of affordable housing in many cities at a time when landlords and property owners continue to accrue unprecedented wealthand how this disparity has grave implications for students struggling with housing insecurity. As a responsible society, we must also understand the relationship between mental health and substance abuse. The unacceptable numbers of children who are abused, neglected, or under the auspice of child welfare services often can be traced back to the deep pain, frustration, despair, suffering, marginalization, and desperation of their parents. A close look at many childrens circumstances reveals high levels of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and mental-health challenges for adults who care for them. These are complex problems that are compounded by the complicity, indifference, ignorance, or carelessness by many adults. We must do better. 2) Build a robust multidisciplinary, solutions-oriented approach. An irony of todays circumstances is that our expertise and knowledge about how to address and solve difficult problems has never been higher. Researchers continue to make new discoveries and innovation in science continues to amaze the mind. Driverless cars and trips to Mars are well within our reach. Why cant we find ways to house, feed, care for, educate, and support all children? We have not yet developed a consistent, evidence-based mechanism to work across disciplines to support our most precarious populations. The complexity of todays problems demands we do so. Issues that children face have critical connections not only to education, but also public policy, law, medicine, social welfare, and mental health. However, academics and advocates often fall painfully short in creating the partnerships that allow sustainable, cross-discipline collaborations to address multifaceted problems. Take, for example, a child who struggles academically, suffers from food and housing insecurity, has undiagnosed mental-health and learning problems, and also has a parent or caregiver facing severe financial challenges. Yet, the teacher of that vulnerable child never talks to the mental-health advocate. The childs therapist rarely engages the social worker, and the social worker seldom shares ideas and insights with a pediatrician. The pediatrician, in turn, does not know the student has an IEP, which requires regular monitoring. Our inability or unwillingness to talk, think, plan, research, and problem solve across fields only compounds the disconnect. We must popularize trans-disciplinary approaches to our efforts to support vulnerable populations. 3) Develop the moral conviction to support our vulnerable youth. Finally, everyone can and must play a role in sustaining the moral conviction to respond to our most vulnerable student populations. Elected officials must work in sync with social service agencies to ensure bureaucracy and lack of information does not impede families access to desperately needed assistance. Community-based organizations must work with educational institutions to offer needed supports. Faith-based organizations can connect to philanthropic organizations to seek additional funding to help struggling families. A society will only be as prosperous as its young. At a time of growing marginalization of many of our youths, the time to act is now. Our future could be in peril if we do not act swiftly, boldly, and courageously. Employment lawyer Britta Redmann is a specialist for agile working in companies. 'New Work' is not really thought through without 'New Pay', she says. What is the New Pay debate about? Markt&Technik: Ms Redmann, what is 'New Pay' to you? Britta Redmann: It's not a fixed term, but comes from the New Work movement, in which cooperation is rethought: Agility, collaborative platforms, compatibility of work, and family, personal responsibility and self-determination of the individual employee in the company. It is a matter of shaping cooperation constructively. The questions in this context are: Are the current remuneration systems actually suitable for New Work? What (new) incentives or bonuses do I need if we have a different cooperation? What is fair in this sense? But to talk about this is still a taboo in this country. Since New Work is about togetherness, transparency, and communication, the topic of salary cannot be ignored here. For me as an employment lawyer, it is important that we have clear rules. Firstly, that new design lines are within the legal framework, and secondly that they are set up in such a way that they avoid conflict, without endless interpretation and discussion. Markt & Technik Britta Redmann: New Pay must be within the legal framework, there is no minimum wage shortfall, also no New Pay only for a certain group. If I want to establish that, I have to respect the principle of equality: So equal pay for all who are subject to the same common principles of pay. Has New Pay even reached the companies yet? This varies. In startups, new rules are easier to implement because you can practically start from the green field and think about them from the ground up: What should our remuneration system look like? This is part of the founding process. But I have also noticed the discussions in established IT and other agile companies because I conducted interviews for my book Das agile Unternehmen (The Agile Company). Agility has a lot to do with cooperation. The team is in the foreground and responsible for things like further training, personnel development, selection processes, and, within this framework, actually also for the salary. Some have already developed and tried out operating systems according to their own criteria and set up new bonus systems. And not all were start-ups. But in traditional industry? Look at the latest results of collective bargaining in the metal and electrical industry: IG Metall and the employers' associations are very interested in the topic of New Work and have created innovative collective bargaining law. And New Pay also has to do with how the value of money and time has changed in relation to each other. It is about simultaneously achieving what is actually important to people (and employees) in their respective phases of life and to companies in their respective market positions and competitive situations. It is also about having more self-determined time and at the same time achieving greater competitiveness for companies. That was the new thing about the metalworkers' contracts in February. Because New Work requires satisfied employees, but also strong companies. The aim was to create a framework that companies could design for themselves in their individual situation and not only for the classic standard tariff increase. What's right for us operationally is always the core question - even in larger companies and groups. So, in your opinion, the collective wage agreement of the metalworkers in Baden-Wurttemberg was a considerable success? Yes, that was new! It is impressive that this framework now exists and that the parties have a more versatile framework to work with. Otherwise it was always more a matter of pay increases and one-off payments. In contrast, this time we have a context of time and money. Who changes a compensation system? If you ask HR managers in our industry about the willingness of engineers to change, they always say that the overall package must be right. Has money lost a part of its value and issues such as agile working, home office, and compatibility have moved up? I think so, yes. Pay is still an important factor, but the key question today is to what extent candidates get their very subjective needs satisfied. The need for more self-determination is there: When do I work, where do I work? It is about individual working time models that enable flexible home office or short breaks and that can be mapped with agile work. Responsibility is shared by both the team and the individual. In traditional companies, this is still the responsibility of the boss or the individual manager. A company is not just made up of engineers. What about the receptionist? What salary is fair for this position and how is that measured? In friendliness, in efficiency? I would like to answer this question with a counter-question: What is important for the company and what does it want to achieve? How does an employee contribute to the company's success and what is this performance worth to me? I believe that our previous, number-driven understanding of performance no longer quite fits current and even more so future requirements. Performance is still largely evaluated by counting, measuring, weighing and by a specific integration of activities into pay grades. The fact is that companies must be able to change quickly and adapt to new things. This applies in particular to the employees who work in these companies. Everything that helps to promote this change competence has a competitive component and is good! Who is changing a compensation system towards New Pay, a common round table with employees? It's not one-sided. A contractual entitlement to remuneration can only be changed by mutual agreement and contractually by both parties of the employment contract. And if company or collective wage systems apply to the company, e.g., works agreements or collective bargaining agreements, these can also only be changed by the contracting parties - works council and employer and/or trade union and employers' associations - or rather only they have the right to conclude contracts. So yes, it can only be done together. And turning an existing remuneration system from right to left is also a big task. This usually doesn't even work that way. Do you have a few examples of companies that are already tackling this? I have described some of them in my book, but in established companies change is a very gradual proceess. Yet, the topic is an emotional trigger. Many people are worried about this, even if it is not yet being tackled openly everywhere. Recently we organized a barcamp for customers about #NewPay: There were a lot of traditional companies there. Why? Because candidates ask for it and work models and collaboration are changing. The 5-hour day with full wage compensation from the company Digital Enabler from Paderborn went through the press like a wave: also a form of New Pay? Yes, absolutely. The basis was an agreement, they considered together and looked for and tried out an individual entrepreneurial solution. Successful. Overall, time is valuable and an important commodity for both entrepreneurs and employees. They're both vying for it. But it has to fit in operationally, all groups have to be included. The flexibility I want to offer cannot solely be cushioned by the company, but must be balanced in a team. And when we talk about more personal responsibility for employees, this includes self-organizing teams and corresponding processes and structures. Because the work volume has to be done! Now salary is a hygiene factor. Is New Pay therefore more relevant for the highly paid above a certain income limit? Very important: New Pay has to be within the legal framework, there is no minimum wage shortfall, also no New Pay only for a certain group in a company. If I want to establish this, I must respect the principle of equal treatment. In other words, equal pay for all those who are subject to the same jointly defined remuneration principles. Is the unconditional basic income also a kind of New Pay? That would be more of a state story, New Pay at the social level with an impact on taxes and the welfare state. New Pay on a large scale, so to speak. I would also like to raise the subject of holidays: There are already over 100 companies in Germany offering unlimited paid holidays. Inconceivable? What does this have to do with New Pay and how does it actually look legally? Just as different, individual working time models can be agreed on, individual holiday periods can also be agreed on. The Federal Holidays Act only stipulates a minimum framework that must not be undershot. An extension of the vacation days beyond the legal requirement is quite permissible and is lived already by the often usual 30 vacation days instead of the legal 20-day rule with a 5-day week. And of course this can be expanded even further. As with working hours based on trust, trust leave can also be agreed here, which in principle is no different. It is just that this contractually agreed leave of trust cannot be unilaterally changed again. In principle, the same applies here as to the remuneration agreement: it is only possible together. And even if I have not made a clear contractual arrangement for vacation and simply tolerate an unpaid, unlimited vacation as an employer at least three times in a row, then a corresponding commitment may have been created, which can no longer be changed unilaterally. So: if you want to grant unpaid leave or tolerate it in silence, you take the flexibility of a different holiday arrangement in the future, should it be necessary for your company to do so. (Interview: Corinne Schindlbeck) An ideal solution for Britta Redmann takes people with her: Together with companies, the lawyer and organizational developer develops their creative scope and potential and supports them in the development and expansion of corporate change. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Das konnte Sie auch interessieren Verwandte Artikel elektroniknet The future of Qualcomm's proposed acquisition of NXP Semiconductors remains unclear. Referring to three persons close to the talks, news agency Reuters said that the antitrust authorities had not approved the deal, although the Hong Kong-based newspaper "South China Morning Post" reported otherwise. Sources said they were not aware of Chinese approval and that the business would indeed become more complicated after China announced that it would take retaliatory measures against new US tariffs on Chinese imports worth 50 billion dollars. Qualcomm said on June 15 that it had also extended its cash offer to acquire NXP Semiconductors by one week, and that the offer is now due to expire on June 22 as it continues to await China's approval of the transaction. China remains the final obstacle to the planned acquisition, which was first agreed in October 2016. The transaction has received the approval of eight of the nine global regulatory authorities. Qualcomm has been trying to get the deal through in recent weeks, but the problem has been made worse by a deterioration in relations between China and the US. Apart from the tensions in the US, Chinese regulators are also concerned about the potential impact of the transaction on Chinese companies operating in the semiconductor market. The situation had eased slightly in the meantime after the two countries had reached an agreement to resume ZTE's business activities after a crippling US import ban. Qualcomm was reportedly "cautiously optimistic" that China would agree to the deal after ZTE received a postponement from the US. Last night, however, the US Senate decided by a large majority to maintain the sanctions against ZTE, which include a ban on the supply of Qualcomm chips. President Trump's agreement on the ZTE case is therefore more than ever in jeopardy, and a boycott of the telecommunications company Huawei has also been decided. Details about the Senate decision can be found in this article. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Das konnte Sie auch interessieren Verwandte Artikel QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies GmbH, NXP Semiconductor Netherlands B.V., NXP Semiconductors Germany High school considering mobile phone ban Castle Rushen High School One of the Island's secondary schools is considering a ban on mobile phones. Education Minister Graham Cregeen revealed in this month's sitting of Tynwald that Castle Rushen High School is assessing whether to restrict the devices for Key Stage 3 students. Mr Cregeen was asked whether his Department has thought about banning mobiles, but he insists each school is free to set its own policy on mobiles. Castle Rushen has recently been seeking views from governors, teachers, parents and pupils about a ban on mobiles for pupils in the first three years of high school. Chrissy Teigen is following in Gwyneth Paltrow's footsteps. The model and cookbook author snapped a pic while getting a vagina steam treatment. A Tough Beauty Regime Teigen, who is known for being brutally honest on Instagram, took to the site on Monday, June 18 to share a pic of her midway through the treatment. "Face mask / heat pad / vagina steam no I don't know if any of this works but it can't hurt right? *vagina dissolves*," she captioned the post. Vagina steams are hugely popular in Hollywood, and Goop founder Paltrow supports this beauty regimen. Jada Pinkett Smith recently extolled the virtues of a good steam. "When I tell you my yoni is like a 16-year-old, I'm not kidding ... I'm talking about the outside. It looks like a little beautiful peach," she told her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones, on the latest episode of her Facebook talk show series Red Table Talk. However, San Francisco-based OB/GYN and writer Jennifer Gunter advised against following in the footsteps of Teigen, Paltrow, and Pinkett Smith. "A vagina does not need to be detoxed. Ever. The vagina is a self-cleaning oven. That is why we have good bacteria," she explained back in 2016. Keeping It Real Always Lip Sync Battle host Teigen has been serving up even more realness on social media since the birth of her second child, Miles, with husband John Legend back in May. She hasn't been shy about sharing all the nitty gritty details of postpartum life with fans, including the mesh underwear she had to wear following Miles's birth. Teigen also tweeted about how much nicer it was not to have ripped herself open in the process. The 32-year-old proudly showed off her son on Instagram Tuesday, sharing a photo of him fast asleep wearing a blue onesie and a white NASA beanie. Teigen joked about her "space baby," with NASA even replying to let her know how much they liked his hat. In keeping with her standing as the queen of social media, Teigen shared the news of Miles's birth online. She posted a pic to Instagram shortly after, to introduce the baby to the world and confirm his musically-inclined name. She and Legend also have a 2-year-old daughter, Luna. Both children were born via IVF, which the happy couple has been very open about. Miles may be just barely a month old, but he's already an astronaut in training and a socially conscious do-gooder. On President Trump's 72nd birthday, Teigen, Legend, Luna, and Miles all donated $72,000 each to the American Civil Liberties Union. Tristan Thompson braves a potentially frosty Kardashian-Jenner welcome in California. He also posts about his baby daughter, True, online for the very first time. Making His Feelings Known Thompson's little girl with Khloe Kardashian was born on April 12, just days after a massive cheating scandal rocked the couple, putting their future in jeopardy. Kardashian has given fans tons of looks at her little lady, sharing her cuteness all over social media. However, her baby daddy hadn't posted anything at all until now. Father's Day found him finally posting about True on Instagram. Thompson shared a pic of him wearing a gold chain with her name on it, along with another chain emblazoned with Prince, the name of his son with blogger Jordan Craig. "My Prince and Princess. I love you guys so much!!!" he wrote, including the requisite emojis for both. To be fair to Thompson, he doesn't post about either of his kids on social media. He did discuss baby True on a recent episode of podcast Road Trippin'. "I think with a girl, you're just so much more emotionally like... 'True, it's gonna be OK. You know, we're right here. Daddy's here to feed you. It's me! Look, yeah!' It's way different, but it's fun, though. It changes you," he noted at the time. Putting On A United Front Kardashian is back in L.A. with her extended family, bringing her daughter along for their first visit. It was unclear whether Thompson had accompanied them, but the couple was spotted out together earlier this week. The two were getting dinner at Nobu in Malibu, alongside Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner and her long-time partner Corey Gamble. They later headed to the Peppermint Club to party with Kendall Jenner. The couple was spotted at a McDonald's drive-thru in Woodland Hills on Tuesday, June 19. According to PEOPLE, a hash brown from the popular fast food emporium is the first thing Kardashian ate after giving birth in April. Neither she nor Thompson has commented publicly on the cheating allegations against him. A source confirmed they're in a good place and are working on their relationship going forward. "Khloe's super family focused and wants to keep her family together. ... Tristan's been supportive and helping out when he can," the insider advised. Kardashian's decision to stay with Thompson did not go down well with her extended family, but she apparently remains nonplussed about their position. "She still thinks she's making the best choice for her and True. She doesn't need her family's approval and will keep doing her thing," revealed a source. The happy parents received a warm welcome in California, with balloons and cookies emblazoned with True's face waiting for them. There's been speculation that Kardashian was preparing to return home to Calabasas, even her mother confirmed that she was set to move back shortly. Whether this trip is a flying visit or permanent one remains to be seen. Victoria's Secret Angel Candice Swanepoel welcomes her second child with fiance Hermann Nicoli. The model posted a picture of her baby on Instagram. Counting Their Blessings Swanepoel gave birth to her second son in Brazil earlier this week. She gave fans a little glimpse at her new baby via her Instagram Stories, posting a shot of the little guy's tiny hand with "blessed" written across it. "Thank you so much for all the well wishes. Our little man was born this morning at home and he couldn't be more perfect," she wrote on Instagram. At the start of the week, the Victoria's Secret model revealed on social media that their new bundle of joy would be arriving any minute now, and that she couldn't wait to meet him -- and to see her toes again. "Hoping to meet our newest addition soon!" she captioned the pic, which showed her sizeable bump in all its glory. Swanepoel was comfy in unbuttoned, ripped jeans and a white bra top. Next to hear was 1-year-old son Anaca. Keeping It Natural Always The South African model has been spending the past few months in Brazil with her family, all of whom are from there, while waiting for the baby to arrive. Swanepoel first announced she was expecting in December, again on Instagram with a pic of her holding her bump, and a cheeky caption about Christmas arriving early. The announcement came just a matter of weeks after she joined the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Shanghai. Fans were shocked to learn the supermodel was pregnant while strutting down the runway in revealing lingerie. She has been sharing intimate looks at her growing bump with fans online, as well as her pretty maternity style, even proudly posing naked. Swanepoel confirmed the baby's gender by posting a video of Anaca, who was born in October 2016, kissing her belly with the caption "my boys." The Victoria's Secret angel told PEOPLE that she believes more women should deliver babies naturally. Swanepoel is a big proponent of natural births. "I think society has made women afraid of giving [birth naturally], but it's totally doable if you prepare yourself in the right way. I was actually surprised how quickly the body can go back. We're amazing creatures," she explained, referencing her impressive post-baby figure last time around. Swanepoel's other baby, her sustainable swimwear line Tropic of C., launched in February. The 14-piece collection includes minimalist one-pieces and retro-inspired bikinis, in keeping with the model's personal style. Fiji PM urges public-private climate pushback in 'frightening new era' The Prime Minister of Fiji has urged national governments to issue green bonds and form their own green banks, in an impassioned speech to drive greater public-private cooperation on climate finance. To access this article please sign-in below or register for a free one-month trial. A displaced Yemeni woman from Hodeida comforts a child in their shelter at a make-shift camp for displaced people in the northern district of Yemen's Hajjah province on 19 June, 2018. "With the participation and support of the Emirati armed forces, the joint Yemeni resistance (army) entered Hodeida airport", the UAE state news agency WAM tweeted. "The expectation that Malaysian troops will be required to carry out humanitarian work is absurd as Malaysia is part of the Saudi-led coalition that is causing the war and humanitarian disaster, described as the world's worst by the UN Secretary General", he said in a statement here today. "What have we done for all of this?" "There is death and destruction everywhere in this city". A senior United Nations humanitarian official told Reuters a leading determinant in arriving at that estimate was the risk of a cholera outbreak. Taking the airport is essential as the coalition of Arab countries promised a quick assault on the city of Hodeidah in order for civilians to continue receiving aid. "Hodeidah port is operating as normal and the movement of ships is normal", Malki said. But the Houthis were well dug into Hodeidah as it constitutes the key supply line to territory they control including Sanaa. He said that the seizure of the port from the Houthi militants is aimed at "tipping the scales in favour of reaching a political solution and reigniting the momentum in the stalled United Nations negotiations by increasing the efficiency of the port and ensuring that disbursement of aid will no longer be controlled and abused". He made no comment. But Senior Houthi official Dhaifullah Shami said on Twitter that Griffiths had "failed to achieve his goal and left Sanaa disappointed, without obtaining concessions". A member of the Houthis' ruling politburo, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, denied the talks with Griffiths had focused on handing over Hodeidah "because this request is unrealistic". "During all his visits, the envoy has discussed a comprehensive political solution that addresses ... all fronts and not only Hodeidah", he told Reuters by telephone. The coalition intervened in Yemen's war in 2015 to try and unseat the Houthis, restore the internationally recognized Yemeni government in exile and thwart what Riyadh and Abu Dhabi see as Iran's expansionism in the region. Around 22 million people are in need of aid, with 8.4 million of them on the brink of starvation, according to the UN. They say their movement reflects a popular revolt against state corruption and foreign meddling. An active field of research, laser optical trapping works to control the movement and position of particles of different sizes and shapes. The ability to move small particles in a precise and controlled manner is important to both basic and applied science. For example, the ability to control the movement of single atoms can be used to realize quantum computing, and the research also contributes to the study of biological specimens and pollutants. Now scientists at Tel Aviv University have harnessed a 2,300-year-old water displacement technology to develop a novel laser beam that traps and moves particles in specific directions. "We have created a light beam that looks and acts like Archimedes' screw," says Dr. Alon Bahabad of the Physical Optics Laboratory at TAU's School of Electrical Engineering. "Instead of traveling in a straight line like regular laser beams, our beam consists of two helical strands, akin to the shape of DNA, and we can use this beam to move very small particles. The rotation of the beam determines the direction in which the particles, whose size ranges between tens of nanometers to about 10 microns, are conveyed." The study, published in the journal Optica, was conducted by Dr. Bahabad's students Barak Hadad, Sahar Froim and Yaniv Eliezer in collaboration with Dr. Yael Roichman at TAU's School of Chemistry and her students Harel Bagar and Tamir Admon. From water to light Archimedes, a Greek scientist who lived in the 3rd century B.C., is credited with inventing one of the first effective water pumps: a broad-threaded screw, bent around an axis encased by a cylinder or a tube. "A major challenge in laser optical trapping is how to move particles toward a light source," Dr. Bahabad says. "This is a problem because particles tend to move with the flow of light, or are pushed 'downstream,' so to speak. Our objective was to generate an upstream movement of trapped particles to create a 'tractor beam.' We've done just this by referring to an ancient idea." Archimedes demonstrated that the rotation of a mechanical screw displaces water along the axis of the screw, against the pull of gravity. "We have devised an elegant tractor beam based on this simple idea," Dr. Bahabad says. "The movement of trapped particles in our case depends on the rotation of the beam. If you rotate it one way, the particles are pushed downstream. Rotate it the other way, and they are pulled upstream." A standing wave Dr. Bahabad and his team combined different light beams to create an interference pattern called a standing wave. Such interference patterns are characterized by alternating bright and dark areas. Particles within the beams were trapped by air movement near the particles due to heat deposited by the laser beam. "When the particle is in a bright area of the beam, it gets hot and is pushed away by air molecules toward darker regions," says Dr. Bahabad. "When we rotate the beam, the dark areas move and carry the trapped particles with them. This is how a vending machine that has a screw for moving snacks operates. "We believe our discovery can find uses in biology, materials sciences, spectroscopy or any field that requires monitoring different materials or biological samples." ### American Friends of Tel Aviv University supports Israel's most influential, comprehensive and sought-after center of higher learning, Tel Aviv University (TAU). TAU is recognized and celebrated internationally for creating an innovative, entrepreneurial culture on campus that generates inventions, startups and economic development in Israel. TAU is ranked ninth in the world, and first in Israel, for producing start-up founders of billion-dollar companies, an achievement that surpassed several Ivy League universities. To date, 2,500 US patents have been filed by Tel Aviv University researchers -- ranking TAU #1 in Israel, #10 outside of the US and #43 in the world. Considering a broader range of responses to candidate drugs Researchers at the Karolinska Institute were using a proteomic screen to determine the mechanism by which cancer drug candidates killed cells when they realized a potential flaw in the standard experimental design. Amir Ata Saei and colleagues usually treated adherent cancer cells with a compound, then rinsed away any cells that detached and measured how the proteome had changed in cells that survived. But, the researchers reasoned, the dying cells were responding the most strongly to the experimental drug. Shouldn't their responses be examined? In a study published in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, the researchers compared proteomes of cultured cancer cells that had survived and that had not after being treated with various drug candidates. Using drugs with known targets, they found that taking dying cells into consideration improved the accuracy of target identification. To their surprise, the researchers also found that some proteins were upregulated in all detached and dying cells, regardless of the drug they used. They propose that these proteins, which had not been linked to cell death before, may be cellular decision makers and promising chemotherapeutic targets. Doi: 10.1074/mcp.RA118.000610 How soy resists salt How will crops cope with rising sea levels and increasing salt in the water table as the climate changes? In a recent study in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, researchers at Hangzhou Normal University studied the response of soybeans to salt stress. Salt disrupts mitochondria and increases the reactive oxygen species in the plant cells. Therefore, increasing production of antioxidant molecules like flavonoids may protect the plant. By combining phosphoproteomics and metabolomics, Erxu Pi and colleagues described a salt-stress signaling pathway in soybean roots that increases flavonoid synthesis and improves salt tolerance. DOI: 10.1074/mcp.RA117.000417 Monitoring longitudinal proteomics studies Nothing is more frustrating than being forced to throw out data. After taking the time to prepare samples, take measurements and analyze them, a researcher may realize that there was a problem with an instrument that compromised the results. With luck, the realization happens early--but work still needs to be repeated. In long-running clinical proteomics studies, sometimes the realization doesn't occur until all of the data are pooled, and the cost can be high. In a paper in press in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, now available online, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory working on a longitudinal study of the development of diabetes announce that they have developed a tool that can tell in real time whether the quality of spectra has dropped. Bryan Stanfill and colleagues developed an algorithm that considers statistical features of mass spectrometry data to make a constantly adjusted model for comparison to a baseline of known high-quality data. By intentionally manipulating the instrument-- for example, by changing an ion lens setting--they showed that the algorithm could identify times when the instrument needed to be recalibrated. The software also helped to flag points when cleaning and maintenance the researchers hadn't planned for were required. The software, called QC-ART, is freely available on the software sharing site GitHub. DOI: 10.1074/mcp.RA118.000648 ### Obesity is an increasing global health problem associated with several comorbidities and a high risk of mortality. A wide spectrum of interventions has been proposed for weight management in clinical settings, but most are effective only in the short term, since it is common for patients with obesity to gradually regain the weight lost. This unfavourable outcome continues to stimulate researchers to search for an effective long-lasting treatment for obesity. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known for the capacity to self-renew and differentiate into multiple lineages and are widely regarded as powerful candidates for a number of therapeutic applications, such as tissue repair and immune-based disorders. MSCs have also recently received increasing attention as a potential novel therapeutic option for the treatment of obesity because they are a major source of adipocyte generation. In this view, a group of investigators from the Faculty of Heath Sciences at Beirut Arab University (BAU, Beirut, Lebanon) and their colleagues from the Department of Eating and Weight Disorders from Villa Garda Hospital in Garda, Italy conducted a systematic review, with the aim to summarize findings regarding the effect of Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (AD-MSCs) on obesity and related comorbidities from the animal model in vivo, in order to establish their viability to justify their use in clinical trials for a human therapy. Of the 578 articles retrieved, seven studies, met the inclusion criteria, and showed a strong evidence on the positive effect of AD-MSCs in obesity treatment in terms of body weight, glucose metabolism homeostasis, lipid profiles, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and systemic inflammation. The principle investigator in this study, Dr Marwan El Ghoch MD, comments..."despite the progress that has been made over the past decade in the development of MSC- based products for the treatment of different diseases in humans, such as degenerative arthritis, post-acute myocardial infarction, and Graft versus Host Disease in clinical settings, surprisingly no human studies have been conducted on the use of MSCs in obesity." He adds, "our systematic review clearly evidence that the beneficial effects of AD-MSCs transplantation on obesity and related diseases are well documented in animal models". However, El Ghoch underlines that "these finding should be interpreted with caution before jumping to conclusions. First of all, studies in animals do not predict with sufficient certainty what will happen in humans. In fact around 30 % of animal studies progress to the level of human randomized trials, and only 10 % of the interventions are subsequently approved for use in patients. Second, we should keep in mind that obesity is multi-factor disease that involves in its maintenance not only biological factors but also cognitive, behavioural and environmental factors. Last but not least, it is noteworthy to mention that in the absence of human studies on our topic, we were unable to ascertain the clinical utility and safety of AD-MSCs for patients with obesity". Dr El Ghoch concludes that despite the promising beneficial effects of AD-MSCs transplantation on obesity in terms of weight loss and obesity-related diseases, which appear well documented in animal models, further well-designed studies should be performed in the future to understand the mechanism of action and to overcome some methodological limitations, such as sample size and the risk of bias evidenced in in our systematic review, before going forward to assess AD-MSCs transplantation as a potential strategy for obesity management in humans. ### Reference: Saleh F, Itani L, Calugi S, Dalle Grave R, El Ghoch M* (2018). Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in the Treatment of Obesity: A Systematic Review of longitudinal studides on Preclinical Evidence. Current Stem Cell Research & Therapy. DOI: 10.2174/1574888X13666180515160008 The percentage of multiracial congregations in the United States has nearly doubled, with about one in five American congregants attending a place of worship that is racially mixed, according to a Baylor University study. While Catholic churches remain more likely to be multiracial -- about one in four -- a growing number of Protestant churches are multiracial, the study found. The percentage of Protestant churches that are multiracial tripled, from 4 percent in 1998 to 12 percent in 2012, the most recent year for which data are available. In addition, more African-Americans are in the pulpits and pews of U.S. multiracial churches than in the past, according to the study. Multiracial congregations are places of worship in which less than 80 percent of participants are of the same race or ethnicity. "Congregations are looking more like their neighborhoods racially and ethnically, but they still lag behind," said lead author Kevin D. Dougherty, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences. "The average congregation was eight times less diverse racially than its neighborhood in 1998 and four times less diverse in 2012." "More congregations seem to be growing more attentive to the changing demographics outside their doors, and as U.S. society continues to diversify by race and ethnicity, congregations' ability to adapt to those changes will grow in importance," said co-author Michael O. Emerson, Ph.D., provost of North Park University in Chicago. For the study, Dougherty and Emerson analyzed data from the National Congregations Study, a nationally representative survey conducted in 1998, 2006-2007 and 2012, with a cumulative sample of 4,071 congregations. The study by Dougherty and Emerson -- "The Changing Complexion of American Congregations" -- is published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. The study found that: One-third of U.S. congregations were composed entirely of one race in 2012, down from nearly half of U.S. congregations in 1998. Multiracial congregations constituted 12 percent of all U.S. congregations in 2012, up from 6 percent in 1998. The percentage of Americans worshipping in multiracial congregations climbed to 18 percent in 2012, up from 13 percent in 1998. Mainline Protestant and Evangelical Protestant churches have become more common in the count of multiracial congregations, but Catholic churches continue to show higher percentages of multiracial congregations. One in four Catholic churches was multiracial in 2012. While whites are the head ministers in more than two-thirds (70 percent) of multiracial congregations, the percentage of those led by black clergy has risen to 17 percent, up from fewer than 5 percent in 1998. Blacks have replaced Latinos as the most likely group to worship with whites. In the typical multiracial congregation, the percentage of black members rose to nearly a quarter in 2012, up from 16 percent in 1998. Meanwhile, Latinos in multiracial congregations dropped from 22 percent in 1998 to 13 percent in 2012. The percentage of immigrants in multiracial congregations decreased from over 5 percent in 1998 to under 3 percent in 2012. Previous research shows that congregations have adopted varying ways to encourage racial diversity, among them integrating music genres, using more participatory worship, hosting small groups to foster interracial networks and creating programs to address racial or ethnic issues. Churches with shorter histories are more likely to have diversity, and change is harder to bring about in long-established congregations. The new study by Dougherty and Emerson concluded that the complexion of American congregations is indeed changing -- and the authors see benefits for American society. "During a several-year period of heightened racial tensions, the growth of multiracial congregations is a dramatic development," Emerson said. "Such congregations are places of significantly increased cross-racial friendships and cross-racial common experiences." ### Does the arrival of asylum seekers lead to a deterioration in the economic performance and public finances of the European countries that host them? The answer is no, according to economists from the CNRS, Clermont-Auvergne University, and Paris-Nanterre University (1), who have estimated a dynamic statistical model based on thirty years of data from fifteen countries in Western Europe. On the contrary, the economic impact tends to be positive as a proportion of the asylum seekers become permanent residents. This study is published in Science Advances on June 20, 2018. -- Over a million people claimed asylum in one of the European Union countries in 2015, making it a record year. What is the economic and fiscal impact of these migration flows? This study is not the first to consider this question (2), but the method it uses is new. Traditional approaches mainly adopt an accountancy approach: they compare the taxes paid by the immigrants with the public transfers paid to them, but do not take into account the economic interactions (3). The researchers used a statistical model introduced by Christopher Sims, who in 2011 was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Widely used to evaluate the effects of economic policies, this model lets the statistical data speak for themselves by imposing very few assumptions. The macroeconomic data and data on migration flows come from Eurostat and the OECD and concern 15 countries in Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The researchers distinguished the flows of asylum seekers from flows of other migrants. They evaluated the latter flows on the basis of net migration, which does not take into account asylum seekers. The flows of asylum seekers are made up of people who have a legal right to reside in the host country while their application is processed; the host country will consider them to be residents only if their asylum application is granted. During the period studied (1985-2015), Western Europe experienced a significant increase in the flows of asylum seekers following the wars in the Balkans between 1991 and 1999 and, after 2011, in the wake of the Arab Springs and the conflict in Syria. At the same time, flows of migrants, particularly EU nationals, have increased after the EU's expansion eastwards in 2004. These events provide numerous opportunities to test the consequences of an unforeseen increase in migration flows on GDP per capita, the unemployment rate, and public finances. The researchers show that an increase in the flow of permanent migrants (i.e., not asylum seekers) at a given date produces positive effects up to four years after that date: GDP per capita increases, the unemployment rate falls, and additional public expenditure is more than compensated by the increase in tax revenues. In the case of asylum seekers, no negative effect is observed and the effect becomes positive after three to five years, when a proportion of asylum seekers obtain asylum and join the category of permanent migrants. According to these results, it is unlikely that the ongoing migration crisis is a burden for European countries; on the contrary, it could be an economic opportunity. ### Notes: (1) Hippolyte d'Albis, CNRS researcher at the Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques laboratory (CNRS/EHESS/ENS Paris/Ecole des Ponts ParisTech/Inra/Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University), Ekrame Boubtane, lecturer at Clermont-Auvergne University, at the Centre d'etudes et de recherches sur le developpement international (CNRS/Clermont-Auvergne University), and Dramane Coulibaly, lecturer at Paris-Nanterre University, at the EconomiX laboratory (CNRS/Paris-Nanterre University). (2) The previous studies focused on permanent immigration (i.e., not asylum seekers). Some of these studies have shown positive economic consequences of immigration, and others negative effects. (3) To take an example, the increase in public expenditure may revive economic activity, and, as a consequence, increase tax revenues. PITTSBURGH--A new computational tool will potentially help geneticists to better understand what makes a human a human, or how to differentiate species in general, by providing more detailed comparative information about genome function. In a report published online today by the journal Cell Systems, researchers led by Jian Ma, associate professor of computational biology at Carnegie Mellon University, describe a new model for performing comparative analyses of genome function across multiple species. Such analysis may provide insights into not only evolution, but also human disease. The research team, including scientists from the University of Virginia, Florida State University and the University of Connecticut, developed the Phylogenetic Hidden Markov Gaussian Processes model, or Phylo-HMGP, to analyze functional genomic data. They used the model to analyze a new dataset for DNA replication timing across five primate species, including human. Genetic differences in protein-coding genes alone cannot account for the dramatic variation between species, so scientists increasingly focus on differences in gene regulation -- mechanisms that control how and to what degree genes are activated. "The differences among primate species may be mostly in the noncoding regions of the genome, the regulatory elements, not the genes themselves," Ma explained. High-throughput technologies produce a large amount of functional genomic data, which should help scientists better understand how genomes evolved. Ma said Phylo-HMGP addresses what might be called the "Starbucks problem" in these multi-species analyses. Just as coffee vendors tend to sell drinks in small, medium and large sizes, analysis tools typically characterize functional genomic data as low, medium or high. "With Phylo-HMGP, we can look at each functional genomic value as a continuous signal -- showing the actual activity level, rather than just a rough level estimate," said Yang Yang, a Ph.D. student in CMU's Computational Biology Department and first author of the study. "In this way, we're able to fully utilize the data that have been gathered." The researchers applied the model to an analysis of DNA replication timing, the order in which segments of DNA are replicated, which can vary from species to species. They did so for a dataset including humans, chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons and green monkeys that was generated in collaboration with David M. Gilbert of Florida State University and Rachel J. O'Neill of the University of Connecticut. "We demonstrated that we could use Phylo-HMGP to discover genomic regions with distinct evolutionary patterns of replication timing," Ma said. Their research provides a framework for applying the model to reveal genomic regions with functions that are similar across species and those that are varied, or dynamic, between species. Analyses of dynamic regions in functional genomic datasets not only can improve understanding of evolution, but also may have implications for certain types of species-specific diseases, he added. ### Other research team members include Yang Zhang, a research associate in the Computational Biology Department; Quanquan Gu of the University of Virginia; Takayo Sasaki of Florida State; and Julianna Crivello of the University of Connecticut. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation supported this research. A copy of the research paper is available at DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2018.05.022. Spring is coming earlier to parts of the Arctic, and so are some migratory birds. But researchers have yet to get a clear picture of how climate change is transforming tundra life. That's starting to change as automated tools for tracking birds and other animals in remote places come online, giving researchers an earful of clues about how wildlife is adapting to hotter temperatures and more erratic weather. In a new study in Science Advances, researchers at Columbia University describe a way to quickly sift through thousands of hours of field recordings to estimate when songbirds reached their breeding grounds on Alaska's North Slope. They trained an algorithm on a subset of the data to pick out bird song from wind, trucks and other noise, and estimate, from the amount of time the birds spent singing and calling each day, when they had arrived en masse. The researchers also turned the algorithm loose on their data with no training to see if it could pick out bird songs on its own and approximate an arrival date. In both cases, the computer's estimates closely matched what human observers had noted in the field. Their unsupervised machine learning method could potentially be extended to any dataset of animal vocalizations. "Our methods could be retooled to detect the arrival of birds and other vocal animals in highly seasonal habitats," said the study's lead author, Ruth Oliver, a graduate student at Columbia. "This could allow us to track largescale changes in how animals are responding to climate change." Though relatively simple, these tools could speed up the analysis of acoustic datasets packed with biodiversity information valuable to conservationists and others, says Andrew Farnsworth, a researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who was not involved in the study. "An archive of acoustic recordings tells you how biodiversity is changing over time," he said. "Understanding the dynamics of songbird arrival and breeding timing is the doorway to thinking about climate change and how temperature, weather and snowfall are affecting various species." Songbirds are notoriously difficult to track in the wild. Their migrations span thousands of miles and their bodies are too small to tag with GPS receivers. In a novel approach, Natalie Boelman, an ecologist at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and her colleagues set out microphones in the foothills of Alaska's Brooks Range to eavesdrop on two particular species that fly in each spring to mate and raise their young: white-crowned sparrows and Lapland longspurs. Starting in 2010, the team recorded for five seasons at regular intervals from early May through July. The hoped to pin down when the birds were arriving and if the species mix would shift as plants favoring warmer temperatures expand their range. White-crowned sparrows prefer woody shrubs, and Lapland longspurs, open grasslands. With shrubs expected to dominate the area by 2050, sparrows could end up pushing out longspurs and other tundra-adapted birds. In the next phase of their research, the team hopes to develop the tool further to distinguish between sparrows and longspurs, among other species, to spot population-level trends. Species-specific identification is a complex problem that other researchers are trying to crack. At Cornell, Farnsworth and his colleagues are using deep learning tools in a project called BirdVox to classify recordings of migratory bird calls at night, when there's less competing noise to filter out. Wildlife Acoustics, a company near Boston, is building low-cost field recorders and developing software to track the comings and goings of birds, as well as frogs, bats, and whales, by the sounds they make. "We want to know what species are present when humans are not," says Farnsworth. "We're trying to teach the machine to classify sound the way the human brain does." The longer the data set, the greater chance that a climate change signal will pop out. For Boelman, five years proved too short in a region known for big year-to-year swings in weather and temperature, which appear to be growing more extreme with climate change. In a recent study in Oecologia based on observational data, the team reported that both sparrows and longspurs appeared to time their arrival and breeding to local conditions; when a late spring delayed snowmelt by 10 days in 2013, the birds arrived 3 to 6 days later than usual, and hatched their young 4 to 10 days later. "However, it's still unclear how songbirds will cope if spring comes even earlier or later than it did during our study period," said Boelman. "Species also time their migration and breeding with day length, which isn't shifting with climate change. Species whose migratory response is hard-wired to day length alone may not adapt as well to a changing environment." ### Study: Eavesdropping on the Arctic: Automated bioacoustics reveal dynamics in songbird breeding phenology. Other authors are Dan Ellis, Columbia Engineering; Helen Chmura, Jesse Krause, Jonathan Pereze and John Wingfield, University of California at Davis; Shannan Sweet, Cornell University; and Laura Gough, Towson University. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs and Graduate Research Fellow Programs; a $200,000 grant from Columbia's Data Science Institute; and NASA's Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment. Scientist contacts: Natalie Boelman nboelman@ldeo.columbia.edu Ruth Oliver ryo2101@columbia.edu Dan Ellis dpwe@ee.columbia.edu Media contact: Kim Martineau klm32@columbia.edu 646-717-0134 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is Columbia University's home for Earth science research. Its scientists develop fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution and future of the natural world, from the planet's deepest interior to the outer reaches of its atmosphere, on every continent and in every ocean, providing a rational basis for the difficult choices facing humanity. http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu | @LamontEarth The Earth Institute, Columbia University mobilizes the sciences, education and public policy to achieve a sustainable earth. http://www.earth.columbia.edu. An international team of scientists have developed a new way to screen for age-related cognitive decline at home using a test which asks people to detect sounds and flashes on their laptop or phone. Developed by researchers from Switzerland and the UK2, the study shows that the simple, cost-effective test may be used to help improve early diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and provide interventions as early as possible. This is particularly relevant given that MCI can develop into Alzheimer's disease in 30 to 50 percent of people. The research, which included UK researchers Dr Trudi Edginton from City, University of London and Dr Alison Eardley from the University of Westminster, also sheds new light on our understanding of how the brains of older individuals process information from the different senses. The study is published in Scientific Reports. There are currently no diagnostic blood tests like those for diabetes for MCI, and instead the existing diagnosis involves lengthy neuropsychological assessments with tests of cognitive control and memory, along with questions about daily activities and mood. These costly tests require training, often take a lot of patient and clinician time, and can be impacted by factors such as the individual's IQ, socio-economic status and even the testers themselves. As a result, with an ageing global population, and an around 50 million people estimated to be living with dementia worldwide, there is an urgent need for such a test. As part of the study, the 123 participants were simply asked to press a button whenever they saw a flash of light or heard a sound. At times, the flashes or sounds were presented alone, but at other times the two appeared simultaneously. The participants included 51 healthy young adults, 49 healthy older adults and 23 older MCI adults. The researchers, who were led by Professor Micah Murray from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, then extracted two measures about each person's performance: 1) whether they were faster at detecting flashes or sound, and 2) the extent to which they benefited from detecting an auditory-visual event versus either flashes or sounds. Dr Paul Matusz from the University of Lausanne explained that by using just these two measures, the team could accurately tell if a person was diagnosed with MCI using standard clinical tests. Professor Murray, Professor of Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences at the University Hospital Centre and University of Lausanne, said: "We are particularly excited about this work because it shows how very simple tests can help clinical practice by reaching a wider population, at a lower cost. We are happy that our findings clarify the link between our vision and hearing and their role in supporting memory (dys-)function; it becomes increasingly clear that how preserved our cognitive skills are as we age depends on how intact our senses are. This importantly extends our similar existing findings in school-age children." Dr Alison Eardley, a psychologist at the University of Westminster (London, UK), explained the impetus for the study: "The current tools used for assessing abnormal ageing are by no means unanimously supported or even sufficient on their own. Not a single existing assessment instrument currently provides an unequivocal diagnosis. The choice of the primary diagnostic tool itself continues to be a topic of a heated debate." Dr Trudi Edginton, a cognitive neuroscientist and clinical psychologist at City, University of London (London, UK), said: "Our findings open the exciting possibility that a simple perceptual task could be a valuable complementary screening and assessment tool for MCI. However, the test we introduced should not yet be considered as a substitute or replacement for tests currently used in clinical practice. The team is now designing new ways to validate this new screening tool and exploring the role of neurotransmitter systems in age-related and pathological changes in sensory and cognitive functions to inform early diagnosis and potential treatment options." ### Multidisciplinary review yields a psychological and social model to better understand contributing factors and triggers, and provides a framework for prevention, according to European Psychiatry Philadelphia, June 20, 2018 - A study published in European Psychiatry reports on factors underlying the current rise in radical conversions among European youth. Compared to previous groups such as Al-Qaida, ETA, or Hamas, which have been studied in the past, today's radical groups are smaller, less hierarchical, and are mainly composed of young, homegrown individuals. This review delves into the profiles of today's European adolescents and young adults who have embraced the cause of radical Islamism and looks into the role that psychiatry can play in dealing with this issue. This study presents two major findings: there are no specific psychological or social pathology profiles that are unique to the radicalized youth; and similarities do exist between the psychological manifestations of adolescence and the factors that make individuals vulnerable to the radicalization process. "Studies with empirical data are limited and radicalization criteria vary from one study to another," explained lead investigator, Nicolas Campelo, MS, Service de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Hopital Pitie-Salpetriere, Paris, France. "Therefore, it was important to better define radicalization, look more carefully at the population examined, and focus on the growing incidence of the radicalization phenomenon. Taking these parameters into account is critical for preventing radicalization more effectively in the future." The study focused on adolescents and young adults in Western Europe who have embraced the cause of radical Islamism since 2010. Twenty-two key studies published in the fields of psychology, sociology, medicine, education, and anthropology were identified using databases including PubMed and PsycINFO, as well as MIVILUDES, a database produced by a French government agency with responsibility for monitoring groups perceived to constitute a threat to public order or that violate French law. "Our comprehensive review of leading multidisciplinary research suggests that adolescent psychopathology plays a role in the radicalization process," noted Mr. Campelo, "although there is no unique profile, and psychotic disorders are rare among this population." The study details the dynamic of how adolescent mechanisms and radical influences can dovetail in vulnerable individuals: "The turbulence and personal uncertainty that characterizes an adolescent's experience, when combined with triggering events, can leave them more open to extremist groups and ideology. The sense of purpose, belonging, and moral certainty of these groups may at first ease the discomfort of separation and individuation conflicts that often occur at this stage of life," explained Mr. Campelo. Using the multiple risk factors found in the research they reviewed, the investigators developed a comprehensive three-level model to explain the phenomenon of radicalization among young Europeans (Individual, Micro-Environmental, and Macro-Environmental), with a view towards guiding the development of more effective prevention programs. In addition to adolescence itself, risk factors can include a psychiatric condition, psychological vulnerability, abandonment issues, perceived injustice, and personal uncertainty. The three-level model offers a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to bring together the different fields working together in the fight against the radicalization phenomena. According to Mr. Campelo, "One single field of knowledge inevitably provides an incomplete panorama and cannot account for the complexity of this phenomenon. Prevention of radicalization should consider each level of risk factors to develop the most tailored and effective interventions." Despite the rarity of psychotic disorders found among the radicalized youth, the similarities between psychopathological manifestations of adolescence and mechanisms at stake during the radicalization process underline the specific role of mental health professionals. Mr. Campelo and his co-investigators suggest that mental health professionals can effectively intervene to help young people to understand the meaning of radical commitment and the personal needs it serves. These professionals can also become involved in deradicalization programs by offering adolescent minds a way out of the radical commitment. The investigators recommend additional research, in particular in females and in non-Muslim communities to better understand the phenomenon and to propose recommendations for prevention and treatment. ### Non-locality, Einstein's ''spooky action at a distance'', has already been observed between quantum objects separated by more than one kilometer. This achievement is not a surprise - recent years have seen a major advancement in the quest for non-local systems. In their Physical Review Letters publication, researchers from the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw present a novel and versatile method for creating and detecting such correlations in a many-body system of ultra-cold atoms. Quantum mechanics was formulated in the first half of the twentieth century. Its predictions have been confirmed in a number of experiments and applications ranging from computer chips to lasers used in medicine. ''Though the quantum theory is commonly accepted, some of its aspects are still controversial. For instance, states in superposition are described as if they were in many places at once. This has no counterpart in the classical world and is difficult to interpret. The entanglement - quantum correlation between physical objects - also cannot be compared with everyday life experience'', explains Jan Chwedenczuk (Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw). For many researchers the most relevant aspect of quantum mechanics, at least from the philosophical point of view, is the non-locality. We are used to accepting that the behavior of physical objects is determined by what is happening in their vicinity. We would find it hard to accept that events taking place in distant galaxies could infinitely quickly influence what is on our planet. Meanwhile, quantum theory allows for such non-local phenomena. Imagine a pair of shoes, two boxes and a random number generator - the shoes are distributed among the boxes according to the result of the draw. Afterwards, one box is sent to Mars, while the other remains on Earth. Before we open the boxes, we would say that if the left shoe is on Earth, the other is on Mars and vice versa. In the classical realm, one of these possibilities is determined at the moment of the generation of a random number. Quantum mechanics describes this situation in such a way as if both possibilities existed simultaneously. Moreover, local manipulations of one of the boxes will immediately affect the other, no matter how distant they are. We say that quantum mechanics is a non-local theory. Only after the measurement is made and the boxes are opened, the state of each shoe gets determined. The above example serves merely as an illustration - such subtle effects are observed at the atomic scale. Nevertheless, the mere possibility of ''steering'' one system with the other, without any direct interaction, drove Einstein and his coworkers to write a paper under a much-telling title: ''Can quantum-mechanical description of physical reality be considered complete?''. Nearly 30 years later, a Northern Irish physicist John Bell proved that indeed the predictions of quantum mechanics contradict the postulates of ''local realism'', which assumes that objects have well-determined properties (realism) and their behavior is influenced by what is happening in the vicinity (locality). Bell gave a prescription for detecting the non-locality in simple physical systems. This method is now called ''the Bell inequalities''. In their recent publication Tomasz Wasak and Jan Chwedenczuk considered a complex many-body quantum system, showed that it reveals non-local properties and finally gave an experimentally useful method for detecting such correlations. The system is a Bose-Einstein condensate of helium atoms, illuminated with two counter-propagating laser beams. In such configuration, helium atoms collide and scatter into opposite directions, forming a non-local pair. ''The scattered atoms are the analog of the pair of shoes. Similarly to this example, one can manipulate each atom locally and perform measurements to find out if the non-locality is indeed present in this system'' - says Jan Chwedenczuk. ### This research was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the National Science Center. Physics and Astronomy first appeared at the University of Warsaw in 1816, under the then Faculty of Philosophy. In 1825 the Astronomical Observatory was established. Currently, the Faculty of Physics' Institutes include Experimental Physics, Theoretical Physics, Geophysics, Department of Mathematical Methods and an Astronomical Observatory. Research covers almost all areas of modern physics, on scales from the quantum to the cosmological. The Faculty's research and teaching staff includes ca. 200 university teachers, of which 88 are employees with the title of professor. The Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, is attended by ca. 1000 students and more than 170 doctoral students. SCIENTIFIC PAPERS: ''Bell Inequality, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Steering, and Quantum Metrology with Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates'' Tomasz Wasak, Jan Chwedenczuk Physical Review Letters Volume 120, p. 140406 - 6th of April 2018 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.140406 CONTACTS: Dr. Jan Chwedenczuk Institute of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw tel. +48 22 5532922 email: jan.chwedenczuk@fuw.edu.pl RELATED LINKS: http://www.fuw.edu.pl/ Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw. http://www.fuw.edu.pl/informacje-prasowe.html Press office of the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw. IMAGES: FUW180620b_fot01.jpg http://www.fuw.edu.pl/press/images/2018/FUW180620b_fot01.jpg The scattering scheme shown with the optical lattice formed by the two counter-propagating laser beams. The gas is represented by a black dot and atoms scatter into the separate regions A and B, which correspond to the two distant shoe boxes. (Source: UW Physics) Get a price in less than 24 hours Fill out the form below. One of our domain experts will have a price to you within 24 business hours. The University of Haifa (Israel) and two teams from the IMDEA Networks Institute have developed an innovative autonomous system, SYMBIOSIS, to monitor real-time schools of fish. This system, which combines optical and acoustic technologies, will be environmentally friendly and will provide reliable information about the condition of marine fish stocks, something that at the moment is practically impossible to achieve without investing enormous resources. The SYMBIOSIS system integrates acoustic and optical technologies without human intervention. The system is the product of an international scientific initiative under the EU's Horizon 2020 program. Real-time monitoring of schools of fish will inform the development of fishing policy and lead to enhanced protection of the marine environment. An international scientific initiative under the auspices of the European Union's Horizon 2020, project SYMBIOSIS is developing an autonomous system to identify schools of fish, including information about their size and movements in deep waters. The University of Haifa is leading the project, while two teams from IMDEA Networks Institute in Madrid are contributing to the development effort. The SYMBIOSIS system integrates acoustic and optical technologies that require no human intervention, and will be able to transmit real-time warnings to coastal stations. These data will contribute to the formulation of ocean fishing policies and to enhanced protection of the marine environment. "The system will be environmentally friendly, not only in its operation which will be non-invasive and won't impact the marine ecosystem, but more importantly because it will provide reliable information about the condition of marine fish stocks. At present, it's virtually impossible to collect such information without investing enormous resources. Using the latest optical and acoustic technology, we hope to change attitudes towards marine resources", explained Dr. Roee Diamant of the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa, who is coordinating the initiative. The development of fishing technology since the twentieth century has resulted in the growing realization that fishing is one of the most serious problems facing marine ecosystems. According to some estimates, if over-fishing is not brought under control, the world's fish stocks may collapse by 2048. Global fishing authorities are hoping to curb over-fishing with new regulations and enforcement based on fish stocks. But, there are very few methods presently available for real-time monitoring of those stocks. Most involve surface boats attempting to locate schools of fish using sonars. According to Dr. Diamant, these methods require considerable resources and personnel to monitor and interpret the sonar findings. Consequently, they have limited viability in cost-benefit terms. Also, the use of sonar usually limits the search for fish stocks to narrow areas (those beneath the ship doing the sampling), impairing any subsequent decision-making. The limited statistics provided by this random and short-term sampling of the marine environment mean the process is prone to numerous sampling errors. Combining optical and acoustic technologies, the SYMBIOSIS system will monitor the marine environment, and in particular the size of the fish stock, within a radius of one kilometer. It works on an entirely autonomous basis, collecting underwater data over long periods and transmitting this information to a coastal center. The research is focusing on the identification of six large fish species that are in especially high demand from the fishing industry: two species of tuna; scad (a species of mackerel; Trachurus mediterraneus); Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus); mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus); and swordfish (Xiphias gladius). This will provide authorities with concrete and actionable information. The solution has a processing chain that begins with the acoustic discovery and classification of fish, based on their typical speed and movement characteristics. Acoustic sensors also measure the size of the fish and the total biomass of the fish in the area. Once the acoustic system identifies one of the six selected species, it activates the optical system, which features several cameras and sophisticated data processing with various image identification algorithms using deep learning. When the optical system confirms the identification of one of the six selected species, it transmits the information via underwater acoustic communications, and then by radio communications to a coastal station. IMDEA Networks' researchers are focused on the design of an efficient fish localization system, and on the visual recognition of the selected fish species. The two teams from the Madrid-based research institute are the Ubiquitous Wireless Networks laboratory led by Dr. Paolo Casari, IMDEA PI and Scientific Manager for the project; and the Global Computing Group led by Dr. Antonio Fernandez Anta. "Using acoustics to localize specific fish species is very challenging"; said Dr. Casari. "Firstly, the acoustic processing chain has to incorporate cost-effective components, and it needs to be highly energy-efficient. The signal processing algorithms deployed in the acoustic fish identification system have to strike a good tradeoff between complexity and accuracy. On top of this, the underwater environment contains many background acoustic noise sources and reflectors, and the signals from fish around the SYMBIOSIS system will be much weaker than acoustic interference coming from the environment. The algorithms need to be robust enough to cope with these shortcomings." "For optics, the marine environment is characterized by low visibility and elements in the water volume that distorts the image. The big challenge is to secure good detection performances and to minimize false alarms. This needs to happen autonomously in a deep-sea environment, where there's practically no possibility of human intervention," continues Dr. Diamant. "The optical classification of fish species has its own particular challenges, too. There are very few pre-classified images available with which to train the deep-learning classifier. And many of the images that are available were taken under very different visibility conditions to those the system will encounter. In SYMBIOSIS, we are dealing with this uncertainty by leveraging public databases of fish pictures, many of them provided by scuba divers and underwater photographers. To address the lack of a large image dataset, we are starting with pre-trained neural networks for object recognition, and we'll add more images from SYMBIOSIS test environments once we enter the experimental phase of the project," concludes Dr. Fernandez Anta. SYMBIOSIS was selected for funding by the European Commission's research and innovation programme, Horizon2020. Four institutions are participating in the SYMBIOSIS project: the University of Haifa, Israel (coordinator); IMDEA Networks Institute in Madrid, Spain; Wireless & More company from Italy and EvoLogics Gmbh from Germany. The project includes the development of innovative discovery and classification algorithms, the application of dedicated hardware, and the completion of a large number of marine trials. As part of the project, a prototype is being developed including a system of acoustic sensors, a network of cameras, sophisticated processing units, and an energy unit permitting autonomous activity. The goal of the project is to sample the performances of the prototype system in three different marine environments: shallow Mediterranean, deep Mediterranean, and a tropical environment in the Canary Islands. The project will run until November 2020, and will offer novel solutions to the distributed and large-scale monitoring of the underwater environment, with a positive impact on marine biology research, conservation, and policy making for fisheries in Europe and worldwide. ### In-Cell-Art (ICA), a biotechnology company specialized in nanocarrier technologies, BioNet-Asia (BNA), an innovative vaccine developer, and the research team led by Dr. Anavaj Sakuntabhai at the Functional Genetics of Infectious Diseases Unit, Institut Pasteur Paris France, (GFMI-IP), announce today the promising development of Nanotaxi formulated DNA vaccine to induce strong immune response against dengue virus. Under this collaboration, ICA, thanks to Nanotaxi designed to unlock the promise of nucleic acids to treat diseases, and Dr. Sakuntabhai, with his expertise on genetic susceptibility to mosquito-borne infection, created a single component pentavalent dengue-Zika vaccine preventing antibody-dependent enhancement phenomenon. This project has been selected to be funded by the Scientific Council of the Southeast Asia-Europe Joint Funding Scheme and was praised for its vision and expert team. A monovalent DNA/Nanotaxi vaccine was tested in the first instance for the evaluation of immune response against various epitopes of dengue virus. For low-dose and mono- or multivalent vaccine design, the delivery method uses Nanotaxi, which can deliver genetic material directly into the cytosol to increase dramatically gene expression and elicit very strong innate immune responses. Under this collaborative effort, and with the financial supports from Agence Nationale de la Recherche - France (ANR), Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences (TCELS), ICA, BNA, Institut Pasteur Cambodia, and Chulalongkorn university (Thailand), will continue the candidate development to optimize antigen compositions to induce broadly cross-reactive immune responses for Zika and dengue viruses while preventing antibody-dependent enhancement phenomenon by a patented approach. Bruno Pitard, a founder of In-Cell-Art, says "This is an important first milestone to realize a highly polyvalent vaccination strategy which can overcome the issues of genetic variation and antigenic diversity in dengue and Zika viruses. Our Nanotaxi technology can deliver many DNA variants at once. This allows us to develop a single injection, which contains a set of diverse antigens that vary in key positions to induce immune responses with unprecedented breadth and potency." Dr. Sakuntabhai, Principal Investigator of the project says "With the challenge of protecting people against dengue virus, we certainly need a next generation dengue vaccine, which could protect people from the antibody-dependent enhancement phenomenon. We use a combination of highly innovative approaches, which are based on conserved regions of T cell epitopes among the 4 serotypes of dengue virus, and Zika virus." Professor Dr. Suchinda Malaivijitnond, Director of the National Primate Research Center of Thailand-Chulalongkorn University, said "We are very grateful to be in the supporting part of this exciting, state of the art project which brings together scientists and researchers from across continents and among academic and private sectors. As we look forward to the challenges of vaccine development, we can be assured that together we can play a part in driving both academic and economic advancement for these vaccines development, not only for Thailand but for the world. With these special collaborations, I believe that we are steping closer to improve the health and quality of life for all". Dr. Pham Hong Thai, Chief Executive Officer of BioNet-Asia, said: "We are delighted to collaborate with the Pasteur Institute, In-Cell-Art and the other members of this exciting project. Given BioNet's previous experience on dengue vaccine development, we are confident that this vaccine candidate has the potential to circumvent the limitations of current dengue vaccine development approaches, and this unique collaboration is a step closer to bring an effective vaccine for those in need". Dr. Nares Damrongchai, Chief Executive Officer of TCELS, said: "This is one of the first projects selected for funding by Southeast Asia-Europe Joint Funding Scheme. We are confident in the competency of these finest Thai-French partners, and we are committed to support them in finding a new way to control dengue transmission and contribute to global health". ### About the Functional Genetics of Infectious Diseases Unit, Institut Pasteur, (GFMI) The GFMI unit is an internationally recognized research laboratory at the Institut Pasteur, headed by Dr Anavaj Sakuntabhai. They have significant experience as coordinators of international projects such as the European FP7 project on Dengue Framework for Resisting Epidemics in Europe (DENFREE). They combine epidemiology, immunology and human genetics in order to identify key factors determining dengue transmission and dengue epidemics and develop new tools and strategies for controlling dengue transmission. About the Institut Pasteur and the Institut Pasteur International Network The Institut Pasteur, a private foundation with officially recognized charitable status set up by Louis Pasteur in 1887 and inaugurated on November 14th, 1888, has been, for the past 130 years, an internationally renowned center for biomedical research with a network of 33 institutes worldwide. In the pursuit of its mission to prevent and fight against diseases in France and throughout the world, the Institut Pasteur operates in four main areas: scientific and medical research, public health and health monitoring, teaching, and business development and technology transfer. More than 2,500 people work on its Paris campus. The Institut Pasteur is a globally recognized leader in infectious diseases, microbiology, and immunology. Its 130 units also focus their research on certain cancers, genetic and neurodegenerative diseases, genomics and developmental biology. This research aims to expand our knowledge of living organisms in a bid to lay the foundation for new prevention strategies and novel therapeutics. Since its inception, 10 Institut Pasteur scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine, including two in 2008 for the 1983 discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS. http://www.pasteur.fr/en About In-Cell-Art In-Cell-Art (ICA), which is headquartered in Nantes (France) is a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the preclinical and pharmaceutical development of nanocarriers named Nanotaxi for macromolecular drugs. Its founder and research team, which includes a Nobel Laureate, have designed new classes of vectors that are organized on a nanometric scale, which enables them to cross the cell barrier efficiently and safely. ICA Nanotaxi technology displays unique properties for development of: DNA Vaccines ICA614 Nanotaxi, an innovative DNA synthetic formulation, offers unique efficient and industrial features such as the dramatic enhancement of the immunogenicity of plasmid DNA-encoding tumors or pathogen-derived antigens, a reduction in the dose of plasmid DNA, as well as an excellent safety profile. ICA614 Nanotaxi represents a crucial step in DNA vaccine development, and GMP fill/finish of ICA614 Nanotaxi, as well as regulatory-enabling GLP safety evaluation of ICA614 Nanotaxi alone HEPAVAC (Hepatocellular vaccine candidate) have been achieved successfully. mRNA Vaccines Some other ICA Nanotaxi are also being assessed in $33.1 million RN-ARMORVAX consortium, co-funded by US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The consortium would validate the new application of ICA Nanotaxi for mRNA-based vaccines for infectious diseases in collaboration with CureVac and Sanofi-Pasteur. mRNA Replacement Therapies Some other ICA Nanotaxi are also developed to improve the limited efficacy and stability of mRNA therapeutics, leading to the dramatic increase in therapeutic protein expression without DNA-encoded gene. In-Cell-Art is a privately held company, which was founded in 2005, laureate in 2012 and 2013 of the Fast 50 Deloitte award. It is a member of the Atlanpole Biotherapies high-tech cluster of biotechnology companies in western France. About BioNet-Asia BioNet-Asia Co., Ltd is a vaccine company with fully integrated operations from research to manufacturing and distribution. For the last 15 years, the company has been focusing on biotech innovation and global market access. BioNet has successfully built many partnerships leading to the supply of hundred millions of doses of vaccines every year worldwide, and it has been granted approval in Thailand for the first recombinant acellular pertussis vaccines presented as a monovalent aP and as a combined TdaP vaccine for booster indication in adolescents and adults. A transformative gift of $10 million from the Irving Ludmer Family Foundation in support of the Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics & Mental Health will expand the Centre's internationally renowned role in brain research and establish a Global Brain Consortium of leading research institutions. The consortium will focus on sharing research methodologies and results, with the goal of accelerating the finding of novel and ground-breaking solutions to mental health and neurodegenerative diseases. The $10-million Ludmer Centre Heritage Fund will also support the Ludmer Centre's mandate to advance a big-data approach to brain research, and to boost the work of emerging young researchers at the Centre. The gift brings the Ludmer Family Foundation's total support of the Ludmer Centre to $18 million. "We would like to thank the Ludmer Family Foundation for their continued support and for this exceptional gift," said Suzanne Fortier, McGill's Principal and Vice-Chancellor. "The Ludmer Centre Heritage Fund will help expedite results for patients by facilitating collaboration between our researchers and other leading scientists and institutions, and allowing health care providers to put clinical innovations into practice more quickly." The Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics & Mental Health was established in 2013 as a partnership between the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro), the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, and the Jewish General Hospital's Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders through innovative research. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, in any given year, one in five Canadians will experience a mental health problem or illness. "For 30 years, we've been building one of the largest neuroscience infrastructures in the world at McGill," said Alan Evans, one of three co-directors of the Ludmer Centre. Evans is a James McGill Professor in Neurology and Neurosurgery at The Neuro, the holder of the Victor Dahdeleh Chair in Neurosciences, and scientific director of both the Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform and McGill's Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives initiative, which seeks to advance understanding of how the individual brain functions in health and disease and is supported by $84 million in funding from the Government of Canada, and $18 million from the Government of Quebec. "The Global Brain Consortium will use the principles and practices of open science, which have been developed at The Neuro, to assemble complementary expertise from around the world in addressing the big questions in neuroscience." Open science is a means to expand the impact of research by sharing it with a global community to accelerate the pace of neuroscience discovery. Ludmer Centre Heritage Fund to boost open science research and attract up-and-coming researchers To bring the Global Brain Consortium to life, next fall the Ludmer Centre will create a steering committee of five to eight top global experts who cover a complementary set of scientific domains. They will lead the design and organization of an international workshop in spring 2019. "Today the world is ready to do things for those struggling with mental health and neurodegenerative disorders. There isn't a family that hasn't been touched by this issue," said Irving Ludmer, BEng'57, president of the Irving Ludmer Family Foundation, and a long-time supporter of McGill. "Through our philanthropy, my family and I want to help broaden input to the Ludmer Centre and also share its research with scientists around the world who are working toward the same goals. The power of computers is growing exponentially and the Ludmer Centre has the tools and expertise to leverage that potential for the benefit of patients - today, and tomorrow." The Ludmer Centre's directors are leading scientists in their respective fields. A scientific director at the Centre and a world authority on epigenetics and mental health, Michael Meaney is a James McGill Professor in Psychiatry, director of the Sackler Program for Epigenetics & Psychobiology, a senior researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and a thematic lead for Healthy Brains for Health Lives. "The Ludmer gift will support the development of young scientists working at the interface of 'big data,' neuroscience and mental health," said Meaney. "It is a unique enterprise with considerable potential for innovation at the international level." An expert in quantitative-life-sciences statistics, Celia Greenwood, also a scientific director at the Ludmer, is a senior scientist at the Lady Davis Institute. At McGill, she's a professor in the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology, jointly appointed to Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health, and graduate program director of the new Quantitative Life Sciences PhD program. "This gift will allow us to build strong collaborative research teams with constant input from many perspectives to ensure the work is realistic, grounded, necessary and innovative," said Greenwood. "The creative, risk-taking ideas of young researchers will be supported through the Ludmer Family Foundation gift, allowing these ideas to be tested and to develop." The Ludmer Centre is attracting up-and-coming researchers working in areas like Alzheimer's disease, maternal mental health and depression. These researchers include Rosemary Bagot, PhD'11, a William Dawson Scholar and assistant professor in Psychology. At Bagot's multidisciplinary Behavioural Neurogenomics Laboratory, researchers look at the mechanisms and nature of susceptibility to depression, including the role of stress. "As scientists we're enormously privileged that we're doing a job we love," said Bagot, who joined the Ludmer Centre in 2016. "But we also have a responsibility to do that well and to share the insights that we gain so that we can make a bigger impact." ### About McGill University Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, McGill is a leading Canadian post-secondary institution. It has two campuses, 10 faculties, 12 professional schools, 300 programs of study and almost 41,000 students, including more than 9,700 graduate students. McGill attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,000 international students making up 30% per cent of the student body. Over half of McGill students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 20% of our students who say French is their mother tongue. http://www.mcgill.ca About the Ludmer Centre The Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics & Mental Health, with the promising potentials of big-data research, envisages a future where mental illnesses, cognitive disorders and learning disabilities are significantly reduced through preventive strategies and their diagnoses, which, based on biological metrics, lead to more effective, individually-tailored treatment approaches. Our mission is to establish the Ludmer Centre as a global centre of excellence and an incubator for neuroinformatics, genetics and epigenetics (big data) research and training, thereby, increasing multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary big-data mental-health research to advance the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders: mental illnesses, cognitive disorders and learning disabilities. Look into one's eye and you might be able to see their soul. Or at least you can see signs of a stroke or diabetes. By looking at the blood vessels in the eyes, doctors can tell a lot about a person's health. This can be done using fundus photography, which has been around for almost two centuries and is the standard imaging tool used by ophthalmologists. However, for many, especially the poor, traveling to a clinic is not practical. Researchers at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), in partnership with scientists at the University of Tokyo, have devised a new fundus camera small enough to fit on a smartphone that could get around this problem. The study was described at the 2018 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits this month. NAIST Professor Jun Ohta is researching the interface of photonic materials and biomedical treatments for the eye. "We study photonic devices for biomedical uses. One of our goals is retinal prosthesis to restore vision. We work on highly sensitive imaging sensors for diagnostics of the eye," he said. When taking a photo of the fundus, the camera must align itself with the path of light that travels through the retina to the back of the eye. The eye, however, makes regular and rapid movements, constantly changing this path. To resolve this problem, the new camera described at the symposium achieves 1000 images/s. Another challenge when imaging the fundus is the wavelengths of light detected by the camera. To take a clear fundus image, a strong flush light must be introduced inside an eye through a pupil because it is completely dark inside the eye. For this second problem, the researchers modified CMOS cameras. The cameras use microelectronics technology to acquire color images by using three kinds of invisible light or near infrared light. The new module was developed on a miniaturized sensor and incorporates three near infrared filters. These filters acquire three signals that can be given a red, green and blue value to generate a color photograph of the eye while using near infrared light that is not sensed. Importantly, at 2.3 mm2 in size, the module is small enough to be mounted on a smartphone without compromising the power necessary for capturing highly detailed images with which a user can take a fundus image by him/herself. Ohta imagines a future where patients can be diagnosed with nothing more than the phone in their pocket. "People may be able to take a picture of their eye by themselves and know the status of their health from the fundus image. This could open the door for a personal healthcare system using fundus images. In addition, they could send it to a doctor over the internet. For people in countries like Japan perhaps, visiting an ophthalmologist is not difficult. However, in many countries, it is a real privilege. I want to see our technology improve people's health globally," he said. ### This research has been supported by the ACCEL project (Research Director: Professor Masatoshi Ishikawa, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo) from Japan Science and Technology Agency. Resource Title: Next-generation Fundus Camera with Full Color Image Acquisition in 0-lx Visible Light by 1.12-micron Square Pixel, 4K, 30-fps BSI CMOS Image Sensor with Advanced NIR Multi-spectral Imaging System Authors: Hirofumi Sumi, Hironari Takehara, Shunsuke Miyazaki, Daiki Shirahige, Kiyotaka Sasagawa, Takashi Tokuda, Yoshihiro Watanabe, Norimasa Kishi, Jun Ohta & Masatoshi Ishikawa Publication: 2018 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits Information about Prof. Ohta lab can be found at the following website: http://mswebs.naist.jp/LABs/pdslab/index-e.html An international team of researchers has discovered evidence of 27 previously unknown viruses in bees. The finding could help scientists design strategies to prevent the spread of viral pathogens among these important pollinators. "Populations of bees around the world are declining, and viruses are known to contribute to these declines," said David Galbraith, research scientist at Bristol Myers Squibb and a recent Penn State graduate. "Despite the importance of bees as pollinators of flowering plants in agricultural and natural landscapes and the importance of viruses to bee health, our understanding of bee viruses is surprisingly limited." To investigate viruses in bees, the team collected samples of DNA and RNA, which is responsible for the synthesis of proteins, from 12 bee species in nine countries across the world. Next, they developed a novel high-throughput sequencing technique that efficiently detected both previously identified and 27 never-seen-before viruses belonging to at least six new families in a single experiment. The results appear in the June 11, 2018, issue of Scientific Reports. "Typically, researchers would have to develop labor-intensive molecular assays to test for the presence of specific viruses," said Zachary Fuller, postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University and a recent Penn State graduate. "With our method, they can sequence all the viruses present in a sample without having any prior knowledge about what might be there." Fuller noted that because the cost of high-throughput sequencing continues to decrease, the team's approach provides an inexpensive and efficient technique for other researchers to identify additional unknown viruses in bee populations around the world. "Although our study nearly doubles the number of described bee-associated viruses, there are undoubtedly many more viruses yet to be uncovered, both in well-studied regions and in understudied countries," he said. Among the new viruses the team identified was one that is similar to a virus that infects plants. "It is possible that bees may acquire viruses from plants, and could then spread these viruses to other plants, posing a risk to agricultural crops," said Christina Grozinger, distinguished professor of entomology and director of the Center for Pollinator Research at Penn State. "We need to do more experiments to see if the viruses are actively infecting the bees -- because the viruses could be on the pollen they eat, but not directly infecting the bees -- and then determine if they are having negative effects on the bees and crops. Some viruses may not cause symptoms or only cause symptoms if the bees are stressed in other ways." Beyond identifying the new viruses, the team also found that some of the viruses exist in multiple bee species -- such as in honey bees and in bumble bees -- suggesting that these viruses may freely circulate within different bee populations. "This finding highlights the importance of monitoring bee populations brought into the United States due to the potential for these species to transmit viruses to local pollinator populations," said Galbraith. "We have identified several novel viruses that can now be used in screening processes to monitor bee health across the world." According to Galbraith, the study represents the largest effort to identify novel pathogens in global bee samples and greatly expands our understanding of the diversity of viruses found in bee communities around the world. "Our protocol has provided a foundation for future studies to continue to identify novel pathogens that infect global bee populations using an inexpensive method for the detection of novel viruses," he said. ### The National Geographic Society and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service supported this research. Other authors on the paper include David Galbraith, Allyson Ray, Maryann Frazier, J. Francisco Iturralde Martinez, Harland Patch, Cristina Rosa, Joyce Sakamoto, Scott Stanley, Anthony Vaudo, and Christina Grozinger, Penn State; Zachary Fuller, Columbia University; Axel Brockmann, National Centre for Biological Sciences, India; Mary Gikungu, National Museums of Kenya; Karen Kapheim, Utah State University and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama; Jeffrey Kerby, Dartmouth College; Sarah Kocher, Princeton University; Oleksiy Losyev, National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine; and Elliud Muli, International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Kenya. In terms of the attention that graphene has been received in the past decade, no single material is comparable. As the interest and enthusiasm in graphene research continue, it calls for critical examination on the reliability and durability of graphene-enabled applications; the mechanics of graphene hence becomes essential to address related issues. In practice, defects resulted from thermodynamics or introduced by fabrication, naturally or artificially, play the pivotal role in the mechanical behaviors of graphene. More importantly, high strength is just one aspect of graphene's magnificent mechanical properties: Its one-atom thin nature leads to ultra-low bending rigidity and gives rise to rich morphology and is crucial for morphology control. In a new review article published in the Beijing-based National Science Review, scientists at the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China and the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA present the latest theoretical advances in nanomechanics of graphene. Co-authors Yujie Wei and Ronggui Yang summarized the current advances on the mechanics of defects in graphene, and the theory to capture the out-of-plane deformation. They reviewed the structure-mechanical property relationship in graphene, in terms of its elasticity, strength, bending, and wrinkling, with or without the influence of imperfections. These scientists likewise outline some challenges and the potential research directions on nanomechanics of graphene. "The intrinsic strength of monolayer graphene is about 100 GPa, at least two orders of magnitude greater than most engineering materials. The strong material is also soft in nature: graphene can be easily bent to form rich three-dimensional morphology under either mechanical or even thermal undulation. Such striking characteristics render graphene of potential applications ranging from nanoscale systems to macroscopic composite materials." "Due to thermodynamics, large area graphene is also defective. The thermally activated defects are generally of low energy level, like point vacancy and 5-7-7-5 rings, and 5-8-5 rings. Large ones include grain boundaries and free edges. The mechanics of those typical defects in graphene and their influence on the strength are the central tasks to address the structure - mechanical property relationship of graphene." When the strain energy resulted from thermal mismatch is large enough to overcome their adhesion, the graphene layer buckles to form wrinkles, relaxes its in-plane compression at the expenses of interfacial energy due to delamination and bending energy in wrinkles. The wrinkles can form during both the growth and the transfer process which are very hard to release. The wrinkling of graphene could be described using the continuum theory for thin elastic sheets. They state. "For graphene grown or transferred to a substrate, wrinkling of the ultra-thin member may occur during the competition of bending and decohesion. Both features are of importance as the morphology strongly affect the performance of such graphene sheet. A precise prediction on the morphology and its manipulations relies on an accurate description of the vdW interaction between graphene and the substrate, which is far from being reached and is desired for the commonly known fact that the accuracy of an atomistic simulation is by far no better than the potential one uses." the scientists forecast. "Since graphene is thought to be the strongest among all known materials, it is desirable to use such low-dimensional carbon structures as building blocks to realize three-dimensional (3-D) engineering materials and structures which may inherit their superb properties. In reality, the scale-up leads to a substantial degradation of properties that we desire to retain. The huge gap originates from the dissimilar bonding characteristics between carbon atoms within graphene or CNTs and the architected 3-D engineering materials: The intra-structure bonding is covalent in nature, while van der Waals bonding dominates between different layers/tubes or with other materials," they add. "To fully utilize the amazing mechanical properties of graphene in engineering application of graphene, there remain many challenges to be addressed. It is unfortunate while lots of researchers focus on the bright side of graphene, the mechanics people are more concerned about the reliability and durability of the material in engineering practice which stand out one material from its competitors." ### See the article: Yujie Wei and Ronggui Yang Nanomechanics of grapheme Natl Sci Rev 2018; doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwy067 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwy067 The National Science Review is the first comprehensive scholarly journal released in English in China that is aimed at linking the country's rapidly advancing community of scientists with the global frontiers of science and technology. The journal also aims to shine a worldwide spotlight on scientific research advances across China. High altitude is a particularly challenging environment - the terrain is physically challenging and the land has a relatively poor crop yield, so food can be sparse. Most importantly, oxygen levels are lower meaning that conversion of food into energy in an individual's body is not very efficient and leads to relatively limited energy available for growth. In new research published today in the journal Royal Society Open Science, an international team of scientists examine how high altitude and the associated limited available energy affects the growth of long bones in Himalayan populations. By measuring the limbs of people of similar ancestry from high altitude and low altitude regions, the team found that those living at high altitude had significantly shorter lower arm segments. However, compared to people living at low altitude, the length of the upper arm and hand were relatively the same. According to lead author Stephanie Payne of the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, "Our findings are really interesting as they show that the human body prioritises which segments to grow when there is limited energy available for growth, such as at high altitude. This comes at the expense of other segments, for example the lower arm. The body may prioritise full growth of the hand because it is essential for manual dexterity, whilst the length of the upper arm is particularly important for strength." "We're really grateful to the Himalayan Sherpa populations who participated in the study. We measured and examined over 250 individuals and then compared our findings to genetically similar Tibetan groups living in the lowlands of Nepal." "Our research actually mirrors evidence previously found in Andean populations. Our study demonstrates a similar pattern of growth prioritisation across the limb segments." But, as Payne can attest to, there are many challenges associated with conducting research at high altitude. In addition to undertaking the so-called "most dangerous flight in the world" from Kathmandu to Lukla airport, a two day trek at c. 3500m above sea level left Payne, a National Geographic young explorer, suffering from altitude sickness. "We used Namche Bazaar on the Everest Trail as our base to conduct the study with the local population. It was an incredible experience with yaks carrying our anthropometric equipment through the mountain passes. It is not an easy journey, but thanks to the dedicated team, including my research assistant Oliver Melvill, we were able to collect the valuable data and obtain a suitable sample size." Whilst this pattern of differential limb segment growth is interesting, scientists are still uncertain of the biological mechanism behind it. Further research is required to determine whether it might be related to temperature changes down the limb during growth, altered blood flow down the limb, or differences in nutrient delivery between limb segments, or another unknown mechanism. ### New research suggests that if people perceive the rise of vegetarianism as a threat to their way of life they are more likely to care less for some animals. Researchers from the University of Kent in the UK and Brock University in Canada studied the impact of human supremacy beliefs and vegetarianism on whether people feel moral concern for animals, ranging from those normally considered to be pets, such as cats and dogs, through to those reared for eating, such as pigs and cows, and wild animals. Moral obligation towards animals varies widely as a function of how an animal is perceived, its functional role in society, and its relationship with humans. The vast majority of respondents (90%) felt morally obliged to show concern for the welfare and interests of dogs (a companion animal), but only 51% felt the same about pigs (a food animal). The study, involving participants in the US, found that both human supremacy beliefs and a perceived vegetarianism threat are important in explaining why some people morally exclude animals. The results demonstrated that stronger human supremacy beliefs and vegetarianism threat predicted the inclusion of fewer animals in individuals' moral circles over a reasonably large time interval. More specifically, human supremacy beliefs predicted moral exclusion of all animal categories under investigation. That is, the stronger the dominance beliefs the more likely appealing (e.g., chimps) and unappealing (e.g., snakes) wild animals, companion animals (e.g., dogs), and food animals (e.g., pigs) would be morally excluded. However, the effects of vegetarianism threat were more specific and only emerged for certain animal categories. Stronger vegetarianism threat predicted lesser moral inclusion of food animals, but not of companion animals and unappealing animals. ### Longitudinal Effects of Human Supremacy Beliefs and Vegetarianism Threat on Moral Exclusion (vs. Inclusion) of Animals (Ana Leite, Kristof Dhont - University of Kent; Gordon Hodson - Brock University, Canada) is published in the journal European Journal of Social Psychology. See: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.2497 For more information or interview requests contact Martin Herrema at the University of Kent Press Office. Tel: 01227 816768Email: M.J.Herrema@kent.ac.uk News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent Notes to editors 1. The study saw 219 people take part in two waves of a 16-month longitudinal online study. All the participants were in the US, with 76 per cent reporting as meat eaters. The researchers investigated, for the first time, how the role of ideologically motivated beliefs relate to human-animal relations in predicting moral exclusion of distinct animal categories over time. 2. Established in 1965, the University of Kent - the UK's European university - now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome. It has been ranked 22nd in the Guardian University Guide 2018 and 25th in the Complete University Guide 2018, and in June 2017 was awarded a gold rating, the highest, in the UK Government's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, it is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016. Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality. In the National Student Survey 2016, Kent achieved the fourth highest score for overall student satisfaction, out of all publicly funded, multi-faculty universities. Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium (http://www.kent.ac.uk/about/partnerships/eastern-arc.html). The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals. Kent has received two Queen's Anniversary prizes for Higher and Further Education. Researchers have revealed that malignant melanoma can reprogram their protein synthesis machinery and become addicted to a new family of enzymes that modify transfer RNAs during acquired resistance A team of researchers led by Dr Pierre Close, WELBIO researcher at the ULiege GIGA Institute and Dr Francesca Rapino has uncovered a new therapeutic opportunity in the treatment of malignant melanoma that acquired resistance to targeted therapies. In collaboration with researchers from VIB, they have revealed that malignant melanoma can reprogram their protein synthesis machinery and become addicted to a new family of enzymes that modify transfer RNAs during acquired resistance. Strikingly, the inhibition of these molecules synergies with targeted therapies to produce a strong anti-tumoral effect. These new findings, published in Nature, will be key in the development of improved diagnostic tools and melanoma treatment. Resistance to therapy is the principal limitation of current treatment of aggressive cancers such as malignant melanoma. Insurgence of resistance relates to the capability of tumor cells to circumvent the stress induced by the treatment. In order to survive, cancer cells develop a series of adaptation mechanisms through rewiring fundamental processes. Among those, reprogramming of mRNA translation favors the expression of proteins essential for tumor development. The lab of Dr. Close has been studying the contribution of wobble tRNA modification in cancer development through regulation of selective mRNA translation for a few years now, uncovering their central role in tumor initiation and metastatic potential. Modification of certain tRNA molecules at the wobble position regulates selective mRNA translation and impact on protein expression. The GIGA-ULiege team discovered that melanoma that carry the BRAF(V600E) mutation - found in more than 50% of the melanoma patients - are addicted to enzymes modifying wobble uridine tRNAs (U34-tRNA). Francesca Rapino, post-doctoral researcher in Dr Close's lab: "Our research showed that wobble uridine tRNA modification enzymes are upregulated in melanoma clinical samples and very lowly expressed in melanocytes, the normal melanin-producing cells. Strikingly, inhibition of this family of enzymes led to a very strong and specific cell death in BRAF(V600E) melanoma, but had no effect on melanocytes. This very specific effect led us to postulate that these enzymes may play an important role in melanoma development." Growing melanoma tumors adapt their metabolism and use glucose (sugar) as source of energy. The scientists from the University of Liege demonstrated that U34-tRNA enzymes are key for the expression of proteins involved in glucose metabolism. Pierre Close (WELBIO, ULiege): "Using melanoma patients derived samples, we found that U34-tRNA enzymes are essential to sustain glucose metabolism. Therefore, the inhibition of these enzymes prevents glucose metabolism in melanoma cells, and limits their energy income. As a consequence, the growth and survival of melanoma cells is strongly reduced after inhibition of U34-tRNA enzymes. Strikingly, we discovered that acquired resistance to targeted therapy, which strongly limits the clinical benefit of the treatment of malignant melanoma, is prevented by the inhibition of U34-tRNA enzymes. In other words, the inhibition of these enzymes synergizes with targeted therapies to block malignant melanoma growth." This work revealed the clinical potential of U34-tRNA enzymes inhibition for the treatment of human malignant melanoma, a disease that remains extremely difficult to treat. Further research will be necessary to firmly establish the real clinical benefit of this approach and to develop therapeutic tools that could achieve this goal. ### Is your iPad being a literal pain in the neck? The answer is likely yes -- especially if you're a young adult or a woman. "iPad neck" -- persistent pain in the neck and upper shoulders caused by slouching or bending into extreme positions while using tablet computers -- is a growing problem among Americans, according to a new UNLV study. Findings, released last week in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science, show: The condition is more prevalent among young adults than older adults. Women were 2.059 times more likely to experience musculoskeletal symptoms during iPad use than men. Those with a history of neck and shoulder pain reported experiencing more neck and shoulder symptoms during tablet computer use. UNLV physical therapy professor Szu-Ping Lee, lead author of the study, said the results concern him, especially given the growing popularity of tablet computers, e-book readers, and other connected devices for personal, school, and business purposes. "Such high prevalence of neck and shoulder symptoms, especially among the younger populations, presents a substantial burden to society," he said. "We were able to quantify exactly how frequent those problems are and what common factors contribute to them," Lee said. The top risk factor was surprising. "Theoretically, the more hours you spend bent over an iPad, the more neck and shoulder pain you experience -- but what we found is that time is not the most important risk factor. Rather, it's gender and specific postures." UNLV -- in conjunction with researchers from hospitals and physical therapy centers across Southern Nevada -- conducted a survey of 412 public university students, staff, faculty, and alumni (135 men and 275 women) who are touchscreen tablet computer users about their device usage habits and neck/shoulder complaints. (No word on how many of those surveyed completed the questionnaire on an iPad.) The most frequently reported symptoms were stiffness, soreness, or aching pain in the neck, upper back/shoulder, arms/hands, or head. Most (55 percent) reported moderate discomfort, but 10 percent said their symptoms were severe and 15 percent said it affected their sleep. Postures that led to pain included those that cause the tablet user to "slump" over and gaze downward: Sitting without back support (This increased odds of pain by over two times) Sitting with the device in the lap Sitting in a chair with the tablet placed on a flat desk surface Flexing the neck forward for long periods of time can put pressure on the spine, causing neck and shoulder muscle strain and pain. Researchers found that the group of university students, staff, and alumni they studied reported a higher prevalence of neck and shoulder pain than the general population -- likely attributed to posture and sedentary behavior commonly observed among people in a university setting. Researchers noted that students especially are less likely to have a dedicated work space while on the go so might sit in uncomfortable postures such as slouched cross-legged on the floor when studying on their tablet computers. Still, only 46 percent of respondents said they'd stop using the device when experiencing discomfort. Regarding gender differences, 70 percent of female respondents reported experiencing symptoms compared to just under 30 percent of men. Interestingly, women were also more likely (77 percent) to use their tablets while sitting on the floor than men (23 percent). The pain disparity among genders might be explained by size and movement differences. According to the researchers, women's tendency to have lower muscle strength and smaller stature (for example: shorter arms and narrow shoulders) might lead them to assume extreme neck and shoulder postures while typing. Preventing iPad Neck Lee offered these tips: Sit with in a chair with back support. "And perhaps that's something for building planners to think about: Installing benches or other chairs without back support invites people to crunch down with iPads in their laps, contributing to posture-related pain problems," Lee said. Use a posture reminder device. Also known as "posture trainers" or "posture coaches," these small, wearable devices adhere directly to the skin or clip on to clothing and beep to let you know when you're slouching. Take a stand. Place your iPad on a stand (rather than a flat surface) and attach a keyboard in order to achieve a more upright posture when using your tablet. Exercise to strengthen neck and shoulder muscles. This is particularly important for women who experience neck and shoulder pain. "Using these electronic devices is becoming a part of our modern lives," Lee said. "In order to reduce the risk of developing long-term neck and shoulder problems, we need to think about how technology like tablet computer affects human ergonomics and posture." ### LOGAN, UTAH, USA -- Utah State University is among 33 institutions nationwide selected to join the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Inclusive Excellence initiative. USU joins 24 other schools, chosen in 2017 during the initiative's inaugural year, committed to engaging all students in science, regardless of background. All 57 institutions will each receive $1 million in grant support over five years, while working with HHMI and its partner, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, to engage in the process of culture change. Utah State was selected based on its proposal to initiate Mentoring and Encouraging Student Academic Success (MESAS). This program will build on the university's efforts to encourage students who are interested in transferring to USU's main campus in Logan from USU Eastern, Blanding, a two-year campus in remote, southeastern Utah. More than 70 percent of the Blanding campus student body is Native American, while Native students make up 0.3 percent of the Logan campus. As part of the HHMI initiative, Utah State has also committed $50,000 per year to the MESAS program, for the duration of the five-year grant period. In a separate initiative, USU is committed to the establishment of a Native American Living Learning Community on its Logan campus. "Utah State University is grateful for this opportunity to initiate the MESAS program," says USU President Noelle Cockett. "This initiative builds on years of the university's commitment to encouraging underrepresented groups to pursue degrees in the natural sciences and other STEM disciplines." USU's Native American Summer Mentorship Program, initiated five years ago, laid the groundwork for the MESAS program. Among the program's features has been an annual, month-long program in which 20-25 Blanding scholars stay in Logan, participate in research and learn about STEM degree opportunities. A significant percentage of the program's student participants have transferred to Logan to pursue four-year degrees. "Through our Native American Summer Mentorship Program, USU has been very successful in attracting students from the Blanding Campus to Logan to pursue four-year degrees in STEM majors," says USU Biology professor Al Savitzy, who was a founder of the program and will serve as MESAS program director. "The award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes' Inclusive Excellence Program will help the university provide academic and social support for those students when they transfer to Logan, and it will help us build a more welcoming environment for them." Savitzky says MESAS will support Blanding students transferring to Logan through an integrated program of student advocacy, improved residential life on campus and cultural competency training of faculty and staff on the Logan campus. "At the same time, we will institute curricular reforms at the Blanding campus, to provide student preparation for baccalaureate programs in the natural sciences and to support greater involvement of Logan science faculty with Blanding students," he says. According to the National Science Board, Native Americans, as a percentage of their representation in the U.S. population, are underrepresented by as much as two-thirds in the nation's graduate STEM programs. "With our multiple campuses, Utah State is in a unique position to foster greater Native American representation in STEM fields and serve as a model for other institutions," Savitzky says. ### It is not just her ability to laugh at her sickness and a close encounter with death that makes Pooran Issar Singh (86) the oldest speaker at the Cannes Lions 2018. There is so much more to this vibrant lady, who walked on the stage at Cannes on Tuesday afternoon, dressed in a bright peach dress--her lipstick, nail paint and blush intact-- she appeared to be in love with life and death. My claim to fame is that I am alive, said the star of Medulla communications campaign The Last Laugh (a video which won many accolades last year for its ingenuity) while addressing a hall full of global audiences. Taking her to the world stage are Amit Akali, CCO and Praful Akali, Founder & MD, Medulla Communications, the agency that created the award winning video that made you laugh and shed a tear at the same time. In conversation with the brothers at Cannes, the lady was in mood for another laugh. When I visited the local consulate for my visa, the officer concerned asked me if I was really born in 1931. They were so pleasantly surprised that they started clapping. But I stopped them and said, clap if I come back alive, says Singh breaking into a laughter. She continued to crack jokes about her illness and age for the 20 minutes she spent on the stage along with Akali brother. So at the airport when they were calling a taxi, I said why call for a taxi, call an ambulance. When I was coming here people asked me, are you excited? Is your heart beating faster? To whom I said fast or slow as long as it is beating its fine, jokes Singh. Born in 1931, Singh was the first lady to independently practice taxation in India back when all the judges and lawyers were all men. She says she survived this world of men for 60 years. About a year and a half back, at the age of 85, Singh contracted dengue and was put on ventilator. Doctors gave up, almost and asked her relatives to come over to meet her one last time. However, 15 days later, she was off of the ventilator, breathing on her own. Her heart works only 20 per cent of its capacity but her will power works at a 120 per cent, said Amit Akali. Talking about Medulla, Praful Akali said that although they have been amongst the top three agencies in health category in the last three years, creativity is what makes health advertising most powerful. It is life changing creativity. The brothers who were joined on stage by Heather Bresch, CEO, Mylan on Experiments with Life Changing Creativity dedicated the session to all terminally ill patients who were part of this initiative but are no more alive to join the stage. The duo, Amit and Praful, tell us why the session was a crowd puller this year. The Idea behind the Campaign In India talking about death is a taboo, anyone talking about death and there will be three people asking him to be quiet. To the extent that even doctors dont talk about death with the patients. So half of the patients being treated for cancer in India, doctors dont tell patients about the disease even while treating it because they dont talk about death. And because they dont talk about death, they cannot talk about palliative care. The Action Plan We took terminally ill people and made them do stand-up comedy and make fun about their illness and death. This demonstrates that palliative care helps you get comfortable with death. And the result was massive. Death became a mass topic. People began to start talking about death and palliative care. They realised that if patients can face death by laughing at it, we can at least talk about death. No sooner than doctors started to talk about Palliative care to patients and the entire perspective changed across the country. Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India) After initially slumping this morning the Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate was able to mount a recovery this afternoon following some upbeat UK economic data. Pound (GBP) Exchange Rate Steadies Following Sharp Rebound in Industrial Orders The Pound (GBP) found its feet again against the Australian Dollar (AUD) this afternoon as markets welcomed the UKs latest industrial trends data. According to data published by the Confederation for British Industry (CBI), UK manufacturers saw a strong recovery in order volumes in the three months to June, with this months industrial trends index rocketing up from -3 to 13, easily outpacing forecasts of a modest rebound to 1. This saw orders strike their highest levels since the start of the year, helping to bolster optimism that the UKs manufacturing sector will have picked up the pace at the end of the second quarter. While this was positive news for the UK economy, analysts warned that there remain some sizable risks facing manufacturers, with both Brexit and increases trade protectionism in the US potentially dragging on growth in the future. Tom Crotty, Group Director of Ineos and Chair of CBI Manufacturing Council, said: Improvements in order books and strong output growth are good news for UK manufacturers, particularly after the slowdown that we had seen since the beginning of the year. But uncertainty remains elevated, from both Brexit and anti-global trade rhetoric. It is becoming increasingly important for the Government to provide more clarity to UK businesses so that they can better compete at home and globally. However this comes amid a backdrop of rising Brexit uncertainty, which continues to drag on the GBP exchange rate. Markets remain cautious today ahead of a key Brexit vote in the House of Commons later today, which will see MPs debate the amendments made to the governments EU Withdrawal bill by the House of Lords on Monday. An unfavourable outcome for the government is likely to unsettle the Pound as it not only increases the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, but could also undermine Theresa Mays position as Prime Minister, stoking fears of a possible leadership challenge. Australian Dollar (AUD) Exchange Rate Volatile as Trade Concerns Continue Meanwhile the Australian Dollar (AUD) continues to fluctuate today as ongoing trade anxiety weighs on market sentiment. The Aussie advanced earlier in the session as China appeared to attempt to defuse trade tensions with the US, with Peoples Bank of China governor Yi Gang calling for calm. However this conflicted with comments from other officials in China, with some threatening that China was ready to retaliate should the US press forward with another $200bn worth of tariffs against US goods. Chinas Ministry of Commerce warned: If the United States loses its senses and publishes such a list, China will have to take comprehensive quantitative and qualitative measures and retaliate forcefully. GBP/AUD Exchange Rate Forecast: BoE Policy Meeting in Spotlight Looking ahead, movement in the GBP/AUD exchange rate in the latter half of the week is expected to be dominated by the Bank of Englands latest rate decision on Thursday. While no policy changes are expected as a result of this months meeting, there is likely to be a lot of focus placed on the banks forward guidance as investors look to gauge whether the bank could target a rate hike in the second half on 2018. Economists currently place the odds of an August rate hike at around 50-50, with even the slight hint of a hawkish outlook from the bank tipping it in favour of a hike and possibly strengthening the Pound. Meanwhile the Reserve Bank of Australias (RBA) Philip Lowe is set to speak on a policy panel at the ECB forum later today, potentially prompting some movement in the Australian Dollar should he touch upon the banks monetary policy. I cant believe it ! Application was lodged on 03/06/18 and granted on 18/06/18. The 5-10 month global processing times let me to believe it would be August before I heard anything. Although im sure very few people have gone through immigration more than once for the same thing, I used an immigration agent and it *seemed* pretty painless, im unsure if thats the general idea anyway but it definitely felt like i was in good hands. FYI and i hope im not breaking forum rules, I used a Sydney based company called Migration Made Simple (migrationmadesimple.com.au) and Simon was excellent at managing documentation ahead of time and messaging and calling on whatsapp at times that were convenient for us both. I cant wait to tie up my affairs at this end and get to my new home in Sydney and settle into work and life! btw- for anyone interested as I had previously searched the forums and not found much in the way of 457 and DUI. I was convicted of drink driving in 2017 and had just finished a 12 month ban in Feb 2018, the visa was lodged in March 2018. This seemed to have little impact on my application; I completed a declaration form and detailed how im an absolute dumbass and its out of character for me and ive never been in trouble before, and my lawyer wrote an official letter on letterheaded paper explaining that I received the minimum ban and fine possible, and that i was remorseful and co-operative throughout. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. The leaders of ten EU countries including Germany and France will hold crisis talks on migration in Brussels on Sunday to try to find answers ahead of a major summit next week. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker called the meeting at the last minute as the issue causes fresh divisions in Europe, three years after the bloc faced its biggest migration crisis since World War II. German Chancellor Angela Merkels government coalition is under threat from the issue and there has also been a row over a boatload of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean who were turned away by Italys new right-wing government. Hungary meanwhile passed a law on Wednesday criminalising aid groups that help migrants. I am convening an informal working meeting on migration and asylum issues in Brussels on Sunday, in order to work with a group of Heads of State or Government of Member States interested in finding European solutions ahead of the upcoming #EUCO (European Council), Juncker said on Twitter Wednesday. Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Belgian premier Charles Michel have all confirmed their attendance, officials said. The leaders of frontline states Italy and Greece will also be involved, as well as Austria and Bulgaria, who are the incoming and outgoing holders of the EUs rotating six-month presidency, European sources told AFP. War of words All 28 European Union leaders are due at their full summit next Thursday to discuss plans to overhaul the blocs asylum system, which has been under severe pressure since the migration crisis exploded in 2015. Among new ideas, the EU is considering setting up disembarkation platforms outside the bloc to process migrants, according to draft summit conclusions seen by AFP. But even as numbers crossing the Mediterranean have dropped since then, efforts to reach a consensus have been thrown into turmoil by fresh developments in Europe as countries disagree over who should host new arrivals. Last weeks row over the fate of more than 600 migrants on the Aquarius rescue boat helped thrust the migrant issue back to the top of the EU agenda. Italy refused to let the vessel dock at its ports, sparking a war of words with Malta and prompting Macron to accuse Rome of cynicism and irresponsibility. Meanwhile after allowing more than one million asylum seekers into Germany since 2015, sparking a strong domestic backlash against immigration, Merkel is now fighting for her political future. Her hardline Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Monday gave her a two-week ultimatum to reach EU deals with Italy and Greece to allow Germany to turn back asylum seekers who previously registered in another member country. Macron jumped to the aid of Merkel, his core European partner, saying as they met on Tuesday that he agreed that EU countries must be able to turn back at their borders all asylum seekers who previously registered in another member country, usually their Mediterranean first port of call. US President Donald Trump himself facing an outcry at home over the separation of migrant children from their parents also laid into Merkel, claiming that immigration was driving up crime in Germany. Officials said he was completely mistaken. The United States received more asylum requests than any other developed nation in 2017, overtaking Germany, the OECD said in a report published Wednesday. Catastrophe Austrias Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Wednesday raised the spectre of a catastrophe similar to the events of 2015 if Europe does not agree a common response. Kurzs comments came as he and his ministers held a special joint session in the Austrian city of Linz with their Bavarian counterparts from the German CSU party, including Seehofer. Kurz has said he intends to make migration a key theme when Austria takes up the EUs rotating presidency at the beginning of July and will meet four central European leaders in Budapest on Thursday. Among them is Hungarys hardline Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the driving force behind the law passed by parliament on Wednesday to criminalise NGOs that help migrants. burs-dk/arp/bmm Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Wednesday raised the spectre of a 'catastrophe' similar to the events of 2015 if Europe does not agree a common response on migration. Kurzs comments came as he and his ministers held a special joint session in the Austrian city of Linz with their Bavarian counterparts from the German CSU party, which is currently locked in a battle over migration policy within the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. We cant wait until we have a catastrophe like the one in 2015, Kurz said, referring to the migrant crisis of 2015-16, which saw more than 150,000 people seek asylum in Austria, a country of 8.7 million. A row over migration policy in Germany between Merkel and her CSU interior minister Horst Seehofer has shaken the stability of the government in Berlin. Kurz insisted he didnt want to take sides in an internal German debate but welcomed the fact that immigration was once again being discussed by EU leaders ahead of a summit later this month. If the discussion in Germany has an upside, its that theres now a new dynamic on the European level, and that theres now a bigger chance that we finally see action in the EU, Kurz said. Without naming Merkel he also aimed a shot across her bows by making clear what he thought were the results of her decision to welcome refugees to Germany in 2015. Those who opened the borders in 2015 are responsible for the fact that we have border controls between Austria and Bavaria, between Austria and Hungary, between Austria and Italy, and that the situation could get even worse, he said. Kurz, who hails from the centre-right Peoples Party (OeVP) went into coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) after an election last year in which both parties made a clampdown on immigration a central theme. Common conviction Kurz was foreign minister under the previous government and often boasts of his actions to close the Balkan route for migrants in 2016. The head of Bavarias state government, Markus Soeder, emphasised that Munich and Vienna have a common conviction and position on the issue. Kurz has said he intends to make migration a key theme when Austria takes up the EUs rotating presidency at the beginning of July and has been busy seeking allies for his stance. Last week he announced that Seehofer, Austrias interior minister Herbert Kickl and Italys new interior minister Matteo Salvini from the xenophobic Northern League had formed an axis of the willing to combat illegal immigration. On Thursday Kurz will go to Budapest to attend a meeting of leaders from the four central European Visegrad states Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic who have traditionally supported hardline policies on migration. A mini-summit of EU countries most affected by migration will consider boosting external border controls and stopping migrants from moving around the bloc to seek asylum, German media reported Wednesday. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is hosting Sundays crisis talks in Brussels on the issue that divides the EU and has sparked a political crisis for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Aside from her, the leaders of France, Italy, Spain, Malta, Greece, Austria and Bulgaria have been invited to the working meeting that comes days before a full EU summit, European sources told AFP. German newspapers Handelsblatt and Sueddeutsche reported they had obtained a first draft of a declaration being worked on that outlined sweeping new proposals. In it, Juncker proposes turning the EU agency Frontex into a true EU border police with up to 10,000 officers by the end of 2020, and expanding the powers of the European asylum agency to handle cases. The draft also suggests tough steps against so-called secondary migrations, where asylum-seekers move on within the bloc from their arrival country to launch new requests for safe haven. According to the draft proposal, member states should oblige asylum seekers under penalty of punishment not to leave the arrival country and enforce this with controls at bus and train stations and airports. According to the German-language version, the draft states that there is no right to freely choose the member state in which to file an asylum application, reported Handelsblatt. No unilateral measures The issue lies at the heart of the row between Merkel and her Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who has vowed to order border police to reject such cases by early July unless Merkel reaches an EU deal first. With the conflict spelling a potential coalition crisis, Merkel is now fighting for her political life in a row that has simmered since she decided in 2015 to allow in a migrant influx that topped one million. Juncker agreed to host Sundays meeting at Merkels request in talks with her and French President Emmanuel Macron Tuesday, said the Sueddeutsche, adding that Belgium and the Netherlands were also on the guest list. In the draft paper, Juncker also proposes turning the EU asylum agency Easo into a fully fledged asylum authority that can independently examine and decide on applications at the EUs external borders. All 28 EU leaders are due at their full summit next Thursday to discuss plans to overhaul asylum rules. The issue of migration has flared again in Europe following a row over a boatload of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean who were turned away by Italys new right-wing government this month. The draft statement warns that unilateral, uncoordinated measures would not only be less effective, they would also severely damage the process of European integration. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Wednesday a plan for reform of the 19-nation eurozone agreed by Paris and Berlin this week was "encouraging" although "vague". The recent document produced by France and Germany is to be welcomed, its an encouraging step and its an important step, Draghi told a central banking conference in Portugal. While vague on detail, its the first time we are having a proposal by governments to overhaul the bloc, he added in comments livestreamed on the ECB website. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and French President Emmanuel Macron met outside Berlin Tuesday, agreeing a slate of reform ideas between the two nations that form the EUs traditional motor. Macron said the budget plan agreed Tuesday would fund investment in the bloc, and go towards helping poorer members, allowing the eurozone to respond to the divergences between our economies. Other reforms targeted by Berlin and Paris are expanding the remit of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) the firefighter for eurozone countries with serious debt problems harmonising corporate taxes in the bloc and introducing a digital tax by the end of 2018. Likely anticipating tough negotiations with other eurozone governments at a Brussels summit next week, the two leaders left open details including the size, sources of funding and management of the planned budget. When (a proposal) is too detailed, that can be counter-productive, noted Macron. Much work needed Draghi agreed Wednesday that the important thing is that not necessarily a specific instrument is being designed, presented and defined, but its an approach, its a sense that in the future we have to work to deepen the monetary union. ECB chiefs have long called for politicians to do their part in shoring up the eurozone against economic shocks. Action by governments would take some of the pressure off the Frankfurt institution, widely credited with saving the single currency with massive interventions in the wake of the financial crisis. Nevertheless, political weakness in Paris and reluctance among Germans to stump up for other countries they see as less thrifty meant the political stars remained unaligned for years. We had proposals by the (European) Commission, we had proposals in the famous five presidents report issued by the European institutions including the ECB in 2015, Draghi noted, but they were not governments proposals. Much work will be needed to hammer the budget into shape, Draghi warned, adding that eurozone reform was vital to withstand any future downturn. We cannot disentangle what will be the policy response in front of a so far hypothetical big recession in the euro area from the question of the reform, of the deepening of the monetary union, he said. Germany and France pushed Sunday for new solutions to the migration crisis as bickering among European Union leaders left boats carrying hundreds of African migrants adrift at sea. Sixteen of the EUs 28 leaders held emergency talks in Brussels to find a way forward despite a longstanding deadlock over who should take in migrants and refugees who land in Italy and other European countries. Hundreds of people fleeing conflict and persecution at home are caught in the midst of a worsening row over how to deal with the influx against a backdrop of mass drownings in the Mediterranean in recent years. Italy, a country on the frontline of the crisis, has turned away rescue vessels, with its new populist government demanding greater solidarity from reluctant fellow EU states. One boat, the Lifeline, remained in limbo on Sunday with 239 Africans aboard, including pregnant women and children, with Malta and Italy refusing to take it in, after the Aquarius suffered a similar fate until it was allowed to dock in Spain. Italys far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini bluntly told foreign charities on Sunday to stop rescuing migrants off Libya, where one group said 1,000 people were on boats in distress. He accused them of abetting people smugglers. But the German operators of the Lifeline hit out at Salvini for referring to its passengers as a consignment of human flesh. Dear Matteo Salvini, we have no meat on board, but humans, it said in a statement. The plight of the stranded migrants lent a sense of urgency to the meeting in Brussels, which was riven with divisions and snubbed by countries taking a hardline on the issue. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to forge ahead with like-minded leaders on ways to reduce migrant flows and share responsibility for those who land on Europes shores. Merkel, who is scrambling to prevent a mutiny in her government over migration, admitted there were still some differences but also a great deal of common ground. Limited deals Macron pointed to the sharp drop in Mediterranean crossings since 2015 as proof that the crisis is now mainly political, fuelled by the rise of anti-immigration populists. Italy has accused him of arrogance and placed the responsibility for saving migrants in the Mediterranean squarely at the feet of Libya, much of which is lawless. Officials warn that a new surge of migrants could trigger the collapse of free travel within the EU, its signature achievement. Our top priority, if we want to save free movement within the Schengen area, is to ensure real, strict controls of the EUs external borders, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said. Sundays meeting paves the way for a full EU summit on Thursday and Friday. Merkel however downplayed the likelihood of an overall solution to the migration problem, suggesting bilateral or trilateral agreements for mutual benefit instead. Macron urged a European solution, whether that is cooperation among 28 or among several countries that decide to move forward together. Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which have refused to take in refugees from overstretched countries such as Italy and Greece, boycotted the Brussels meeting. Macron has infuriated Italy by accusing it of irresponsibility for turning away migrant vessels and denouncing the leprosy of rising populism. Italy has in turn accused France of hypocrisy, noting that Paris keeps pushing migrants back across their shared border. Under the EUs so-called Dublin rules, asylum-seekers must be processed in the country where they first arrive, usually Italy, Greece and Spain. EU leaders last December had set the end of June as a deadline to establish a permanent mechanism to distribute asylum-seekers throughout the bloc but an agreement has proved elusive. Europes refugee camp France and Spain have called for asylum-seekers to be kept in closed centres until their claims are processed a proposal that Rome fears would turn Italy into a refugee camp for all of Europe. The issue has raised tensions in Germany, where Merkel is trying to placate a coalition ally opposed to taking in more migrants. Her hardline Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has given her until the end of June to find a European deal to curb new arrivals. If that fails, he has vowed to order border police to turn back migrants, which means many will likely have to return to Italy. In a counter-proposal, Italy on Sunday called for migrant protection centres to be set up in several EU countries to relieve overcrowding in its facilities and also demanded more aid for African countries that fight human trafficking. EU leaders also discussed measures to strengthen the external borders an issue on which there is consensus and roposals for centres in countries outside the bloc to separate genuine war refugees from economic migrants. Cooperation deals with Turkey and Libya have sharply cut the flow of migrants to Europe since a 2015 peak of over one million. French advertising giant JCDecaux said Tuesday it has reached a deal to acquire Australia's APN Outdoor, a leader in the billboard publicity market, for 714 million euros ($835 million). Under the terms of the agreement, JCDecaux will pay Aus$6.70 (4.24 euros, $4.96) in cash for each APN Outdoor share, up from Aus$6.52 in its previous offer on June 20. This acquisition is a significant milestone in JCDecauxs history in Australia, which is the 7th largest advertising market worldwide, where we have been growing organically since 2000, Jean-Charles Decaux, Co-Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement. APN Outdoor is very complementary to our existing street furniture assets and through this acquisition, JCDecaux will be attractively positioned to provide a compelling proposition to compete more effectively in the Australian media market. He said the company is also delighted to enter New Zealand, a fast-growing market. JCDecaux, which offers advertising space on billboards, bus stops and trains around the world, said it entered the Australian market before the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. Through a subsidiary, it also operates bicycle rental services in cities around the world. APN Outdoor in 2017 posted an annual turnover of Aus$342.9 million, a four percent rise on 2016. hma/ef/wdb/je German Chancellor Angela Merkel's hardline allies on Wednesday took aim at her backing for a new eurozone budget, opening up another front after an attack against her on immigration. Merkels Bavarian sister party CSU had on Monday already given her an ultimatum to curb migrant arrivals or risk pitching Germany into a political crisis that could rattle Europe. But it now also takes issue with an agreement announced Tuesday by Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron to set up a common budget for the eurozone which will fund investments in poorer member states. We were always very sceptical about a eurozone budget. Simply because its a form of additional budget, Bavarias state premier Markus Soeder told Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Is it separate from the German legislature? Does it mean that the fundamental stability of the euro will be challenged? All that must be clarified, said Soeder. The CSU will call a coalition panel to examine the issue, he added. Interior minister Horst Seehofer, also from the CSU, added: Unfortunately, there were no discussions with us on this topic in advance, so we should not be now surprised that many questions and interpretations are emerging. Germans are deeply opposed to any transfer union that sees their taxes flowing to eurozone laggards. Merkel herself had initially appeared lukewarm to the idea of a budget for the bloc. But she has since offered a key concession in backing Macrons call for such a fund, even though she has said that the total sum should be in the low tens of billions range far less than what Paris had hoped for. Neither Merkel nor Macron at a Tuesday summit mentioned a figure for the budget or how it would be funded, saying only that details would be determined by the eurozones 19 members. Deep rift The CSUs attack on the eurozone reform proposal came in a week already marked by a deep rift between the Bavarian party and Merkel over her liberal refugee policy that allowed more than a million asylum seekers to enter Germany since 2015. Merkels decision has proven divisive, and voters in Septembers elections handed her her poorest score ever and gave seats for the first time to the far-right anti-Islam AfD. Several high-profile crimes by migrants including a deadly 2016 Christmas market attack by a failed Tunisian asylum seeker have also fuelled public anger. While Merkel won international accolades for her generosity towards migrants, she is now weaker than ever at home over her refugee policy. She is now battling to save her coalition after Interior Minister Horst Seehofer of the CSU gave her a fortnight to find a European deal to curb new arrivals by a June 28-29 EU summit, failing which he vowed to order border police to turn back migrants. If Seehofer makes good on his threat, Merkel could be forced to sack him, thereby triggering the collapse of her coalition. Dont mix finance and asylum Coming to Merkels rescue on the explosive issue, Macron on Tuesday said that Paris and Berlin had agreed to seek an EU deal to send back migrants registered elsewhere in the bloc. Soeder, speaking in Linz after holding talks with Austrias Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, quickly claimed credit for the development. With Bavarias clear position, Berlin would not have moved as quickly, he said. At the same time, he warned Merkel against mixing European finance and asylum policies by offering European partners financial incentives in exchange for cooperation on migrants. They are two different areas. There must be a clear principle of the rule of law, he added in Linz on the Danube river. Soeders suggestion that Macron had backed Merkel in exchange for the eurozone budget was however firmly rejected by her spokesman Steffen Seibert. Separately, the Social Democratic Party, the third party in Merkels uneasy coalition, also spoke up in her defence. Soeders daily sorties defy reality, SPD deputy chairman Thorsten Schaefer-Guembel told national news agency DPA, noting that the coalition had signed off on an investment budget for the eurozone in their negotiations three months ago. No one can help it if Mr Soeder was napping in the coalition negotiations, he said. The Security Council is considering a French-drafted resolution that would extend the peacekeeping mission in Mali, considered the UN's deadliest, for a year but demand progress in peace efforts, according to the draft seen Wednesday by AFP. The 15,000-strong MINUSMA force has lost 104 peacekeepers since it began in 2013, including nine killed so far this year, despite a peace deal signed by the government and armed groups three years ago. The council is scheduled to vote next week on the measure that expresses a sense of impatience over the persistent delays in implementing the peace deal and threatens to impose sanctions on parties who block peace efforts. The draft resolution directs Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to keep the mission concept under review, suggesting that the council could consider a major overhaul of MINUSMA if violence continues. Malis government signed a peace agreement with coalitions of armed groups in June 2015 to end the fighting, but insurgents remain active, including in the central part of the African country. Islamist extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the desert in northern Mali in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013. A UN panel of experts warned in a report to the council in March that insecurity continues to rage in the country, with widespread trafficking of migrants, drugs and weapons. The draft resolution circulated to the council late Tuesday would keep MINUSMAs troop level at 13,289 and police at 1,920 until June 2019. It requests that Guterres step up deployment of military assets such as helicopters and other logistical support that the mission badly needs to cover the large territory. With presidential elections to be held in Mali next month, the measure calls for an inclusive, free, fair, transparent, credible vote. Guterres will report to the council every three months on the crisis and present a transition plan with a view to a possible long-term exit strategy for the mission, according to the draft. Backed by France, Mali and four other countries have set up a regional force to fight jihadists in the Sahel but the so-called G5 force has been deploying slowly and struggling with funding. The council is expected to vote on the draft resolution on June 28. Privacy Settings This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience. Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left. You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit. NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using. The Minister of Planning and Infrastructure has admitted the Montijo airport project is in a mess. Stating that the government is in negotiations with the French-owned airports concession holder, Vinci Group, Pedro Marques hopes these will be concluded later this year which can be anything from tomorrow until December 31st. The minister says there are two key problems: the urgent need for the new airport and the fact that when ANA was privatised, nobody thought to ensure it was commissioned to build the new airport as part of the deal. As for timings, This is far behind schedule, in the sense that the new airport has been under discussion in Portugal for decades. Today we know that this airport is reaching its limits, and therefore we started this process very late, we must move very fast and it has to be an urgent and at the same time sustainable solution that allows for a significant growth of passenger transport. ANA has already stated that a speedy build would still take three years and is in no hurry at all to take the pressure off Lisbons Humberto Delgado airport where the company reports good profits. According to the minister, ANA, only had the right to present a proposal to the government for the construction of a second Lisbon airport and is under no obligation to build that airport. Thus, admits Marques, the government is in a poor negotiating position, but we are doing everything to fully ensure the public interest, to ensure that we quickly have a new airport infrastructure in the Lisbon area. algarvedailynews.com The above content produced by swissinfo.ch is not intended for commercial use and may not be republished by third parties either wholly or in part. An alleged Russian crime boss wanted over a string of contract killings was extradited to Moscow from Austria on Wednesday after losing a long-running legal battle, Russia's interior ministry said. Aslan Gagiyev, nicknamed Dzhako, was flown to Russia escorted by police and prison officers, interior ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said, after Austrias highest court court last year rejected his appeal against extradition. Kommersant business daily reported that Gagiyev was flown out on a regular Aeroflot flight. The 47-year-old, who fled abroad in 2013, is accused of organising a criminal gang, banditry, murder, weapons trafficking and embezzlement, Volk said. He will be held in custody in Moscow. Interpol posted a wanted picture of a heavy-set unsmiling man with receding hair and dark eyes. Russia has accused Gagiyevs gang of murdering 60 people including the mayor of the city of Vladikavkaz in the region of North Ossetia, which borders Chechnya in the North Caucasus, as well as the regions former deputy premier. Both men were shot in their cars in 2008. Gagiyev is accused of involvement in dozens of contract killings including of law enforcement chiefs, top officials and well-known businessmen, Volk said. The Investigative Committee, which probes serious crime and is in charge of his case, said his gang committed killings in Moscow, Moscow region and North Ossetia. The gangs victims included the heads of two Russian banks, Kommmersant reported. At least 22 of the gang members have already been convicted, with some receiving life sentences, the Investigative Committee said. Gagiyev was arrested at Viennas main train station in January 2015 on an international arrest warrant. But Austria initially put his extradition to Russia on ice because of concerns about how he would be treated there and he was freed after paying 100,000 euros bail in February 2016. He was then taken back into custody in September last year, however, after his appeal was rejected. Gagiev denied wrongdoing and said Russias attempt to have him extradited was politically motivated. He also claimed to suffer from acute fear of flying but experts found he was putting this on. With dark humour, Kommersant headlined its story on his extradition: Aslan Gagiyev has been cured of his fear of flying. Paul McCartney on Wednesday announced his first album in five years, "Egypt Station," which he described as a kind of musical travelogue with each song exploring a new area. The Beatles legend said that Egypt Station would come out on September 7 and released two initial tracks, a peppy pop song called Come on to Me and the ballad I Dont Know. The album appears to have little explicit connection to Egypt, with McCartney saying that he took a liking to the turn of phrase Egypt Station, the title of one of the rocker turned artists paintings. It reminded me of the album albums we used to make, McCartney said in a statement. Egypt Station starts off at the station on the first song and then each song is like a different station. So it gave us some idea to base all the songs around that, he said. I think of it as a dream location that the music emanates from. McCartney recorded the album in Los Angeles and Britain with Greg Kurstin, the in-demand US producer best known for co-writing Adeles mega-hit Hello. The statement said that the album was designed with a travelogue vibe, starting and ending with instrumental tracks surrounding songs that form a kaleidoscopic journey through myriad musical locales and eras. The album is his first since 2013s New, on which Macca rocked out with a range of younger producers and fresh sounds. The first two tracks of Egypt Station, by contrast, mark a return to a more classic McCartney. Come on to Me tells a tale of playful flirtation Before you grab coat, Ill try to be discrete, McCartney promises with a mid-tempo rock guitar chorus before touches of organs, strings and a closing sitar. I Dont Know is driven by piano over a steady pop rhythm section as McCartney questions himself and whether he can comfort a lover. McCartney is one of two living members of the Fab Four and last year appeared on the latest solo album of the other one, Ringo Starr. McCartney, who turned 76 on Monday, has shown a burst of energy in recent years that included an extensive global tour throughout 2016 and 2017. But he told Rolling Stone magazine two years ago that it would be unimaginable and unseemly to keep performing when he is 80. British Prime Minster Theresa May on Wednesday said images from the United States of migrant children being held in cages were "deeply disturbing" and that she would press President Donald Trump on the issue. On what we have seen in the United States, pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing this is wrong, she told MPs. May said she would raise the issue with Trump when the pair meet in Britain next month. When we disagree with the United States we tell them so, she told MPs. But we also have some key shared interests with the United States in the security and defence field and on other areas as well. And it is right that we are able to sit down and discuss those with the president. Trump told Republican lawmakers Tuesday he backed their efforts to craft an immigration solution that ends the politically toxic practice of separating illegal migrant families on the US-Mexico border. British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday said images from the United States of migrant children kept in cages were "deeply disturbing" and that she would press President Donald Trump on the issue. On what we have seen in the United States, pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing this is wrong, she told MPs. May said she would raise the issue with Trump when the pair meet in Britain next month. When we disagree with the United States we tell them so, she told MPs. But we also have some key shared interests with the United States in the security and defence field and on other areas as well. And it is right that we are able to sit down and discuss those with the president. Trump told Republican lawmakers Tuesday he backed their efforts to craft an immigration solution that ends the politically toxic practice of separating families on the US-Mexico border. May appeared to criticise the practice, saying that when she was interior minister: I ended the routine detention of families with children. Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyns spokesman said the US policy was immoral, a fundamental abuse of human rights. Were in favour of dialogue with international leaders but the soft pedalling on these abuses of human rights and its not restricted to this issue by the Trump administration has achieved nothing. The prime minister has been a frequent critic and the relationship between the two appears to have soured after May became the first world leader to visit Trumps White House last February. She spoke out against his travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, his decisions to leave the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal as well as his imposition of trade tariffs. Relations between the pair were further strained in November after Trump re-tweeted anti-Muslim videos posted by a British far-right group. From: Joyce L. Gioia, CMC, CSP -- The Herman Group Austin , TX Wednesday, June 20, 2018 The Herman Trend Alert June 20, 2018 Saving Dogs The Herman Trend Alert June 20, 2018 Saving Dogs Years ago, when our author Joyce Gioia spoke at a meeting of The American Boarding Kennels Association, the favorite dog treat was dried pigs' ears. The problem was that that though dogs were crazy for them, pigs' ears were not very healthy---low in digestibility and high in fat. Now, years later, dogs have a new favorite treat, Bully Sticks. Bully Sticks are actually healthy for dogs Bully Sticks are "healthy, 100 percent digestible, baked beef muscle treats that most dogs love"---with none of the downside that pigs' ears had. Plus, the sticks are actually healthy for our furry friends. They promote dental and gum health, deliver added protein and vitamins, contribute to a shiny, healthy coat, support strong muscle tone, and even improve brain function. However, in spite of the fact that, they are very healthy for our beloved canines, there was a big problem: once the dogs had chewed them down to the last inch and a half, the sticks became choking hazards or even worse they could cause bowel blockages. Enter Bully Buddy Bully Buddy from Bow Wow Labs is a brilliant, durable, easy-to-use device that will save dogs' lives by eliminating the possibility of dogs getting to the final chunk. The device has a heavy-duty rubber adjustable collar surrounding a secure clamp that has a tough inner grip. The collar twists to secure the Bully Stick in place. The device so tightly secures bully sticks that it is veterinarian-vetted. To see the Bully Buddy in action, visit the video on their website. Not in stores, however you can find it on Kickstarter Yesterday (June 19th), Bow Wow Labs launched a Kickstarter campaign that not only offers you the chance to get a Bully Buddy for your pet, but even gives you the opportunity to support dogs in your local animal shelter----that's my favorite part of their Kickstarter Campaign. One of the most innovative Kickstarter campaigns we've ever seen And the folks at Bow Wow Labs really got creative with their offerings: A 30-minute webinar: "How to Make Your Dog a Social Media Sensation" ($250USD or more) Five or more Bully Buddies and 50 Bully Sticks packed for you to take to your local shelter ($300USD or more) Naming rights for the Bully Buddy I for small dogs or the Bully Buddy II for larger dogs (Starting at $2500 USD) An innovative business model Though you won't find Bully Buddies in stores, you can become a member of club and receive the product for your favorite "pet kid" on a regular basis. Support them on Kickstarter to be on their mailing list. Just more evidence Almost 20 years now, we started talking about the places in our hearts and our homes occupied by "out furry children". Our forecast is that this club will do well and that this product will be the first of many from Bow Wow Labs. To find Bow Wow Labs' Bully Buddy on Kickstarter, visit here. Copyright 1998-2018 by The Herman Group, Inc. -- reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: From "The Herman Trend Alert," by Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurist. 336-210-3548 or http://www.hermangroup.com. To sign up, visit http://www.HermanTrendAlert.com. The Herman Trend Alert is a trademark of The Herman Group, Inc." The Herman Group is a firm of Strategic Business Futurists concentrating on workforce and workplace issues. We forecast the future and advise clients regarding relevant trends and how those trends may affect their lives. Applying our expertise as Certified Management Consultants, we advise corporate leaders regarding employee retention and organizational development to help them build workforce stability. We help organizations become Employers of Choice. We also work with Employer of Choice, Inc. to formally recognize employers that meet the stringent standards dictated by the labor marketplace. As authors of management books and as active professional speakers, we inform and inspire people to make a positive difference in the world of work. You did really get the ball rolling with our retention presentation, overall we have seen a move in the right direction with our turnover. In practice since 1980, we have served a wide variety of clients throughout the United States and in other countries. Our global affiliates assist us in sharing our expertise and advice with clients internationally. Our team of professional consultants and trainers is supported by an administrative staff that gets things done. We also have consultants certified to deliver our programs in your local area. Delivering to both small and large groups across 100 industries, The Herman Group has provided over 2,500 educational and informative keynote speeches and training seminars worldwide. Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, we travel extensively to meet the needs of our clients. We can always be reached through the support team in our office at (800) 227-3566. Overseas callers may reach us through 336-210-3547. Should you have any questions after touring our website, please call or e-mail us at info@hermangroup.com. Get started now on improving the stability and performance of your workforce and increase your chances for success in the future. Chinas response has been swift and predictable: When the Trump administration on Monday threatened to expand tariffs to include some $200 billion in Chinese goods, Asias economic powerhouse promised swift retaliation should that occur. When the U.S. announced tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods on Friday, China countered with measures that will affect a wide range of American imports, including many energy and petrochemical products. But Chinas list excluded one notable commodity: liquefied natural gas. Analysts expect it will remain that way, even as the trade war escalates. China, they say, cant afford to jeopardize shipments of U.S. LNG as it works to reduce dangerous smog levels in its major cities by curbing emissions and reducing its reliance on coal. The country, as a result, is relying more heavily on imports of cleaner-burning natural gas, which is which is scarcer than coal throughout Asia. Research firm Wood Mackenzie noted that U.S. LNG accounted for 4 percent of Chinas demand last year as it overtook South Korea as the worlds second-largest LNG importer. The firm expects that figure to grow as the domestic exports ramp up and China accelerates its transition to natural gas. LNG is clearly seen as an essential good by the Chinese government, Nicholas Browne, the companys head of Asia-Pacific gas and LNG, said. In the event of an escalation, LNG is likely to remain outside the bounds of any additional tariffs. Thats good news for companies including Cheniere Energy, which is building an LNG export plant in Portland along the Corpus Christi Ship Channel. Cheniere this year struck deals with state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. to ship 1.2 million tons of LNG a year under contracts that extend through 2043. Cheniere was the first to export U.S. LNG in 2016 from its terminal in Sabine Pass, Louisiana. Other LNG companies are eyeing China. NextDecade LNG, based in The Woodlands, announced on Monday it has hired a senior vice president for LNG marketing for China and Southeast Asia. The company, which is now building an export terminal in Brownsville, earlier this year opened offices in Singapore and Beijing. The Port of Corpus Christi on Tuesday approved borrowing $217 million to finance major improvements, including deepening the ports ship channel, as it prepares to become a major hub for crude oil exports. The port commission said it will sell bonds to raise $102 million for its channel expansion project and another $115 million for other upgrades, particularly a terminal that can handle the largest oil tankers, known as very large crude carriers or VLCCs. Port officials are counting on the federal government to fund about two-thirds of cost of the channel expansion, estimated at $327 million. The expansion project would make the channel 530 feet wide and 54 feet deep, big enough to fully load larger crude oil tankers. Today, the largest tankers, including the 1 million barrel Suezmax and 2 million barrel VLCCs, are only able to partially load in the port, finishing the loading in the Gulf of Mexico. The federal government so far has committed $36 million of the $225 million the port is seeking for the channel project,. Sean Strawbridge, the Port of Corpus Christis CEO, said he wants to complete the channel project by 2021, when the old bridge that crosses the mouth of the port is scheduled to be demolished to make way for a taller bridge that would allow larger ships to pass underneath it. The new bridge is estimated to cost $1 billion, with funding coming from state and federal governments. Strawbridge said the port exports 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day, about half of all Gulf Coast exports. Those exports are expected to grow once pipelines are completed in the next few years to carry millions of barrels of oil from the Permian Basin in West Texas. For Gulf Coast ports, including Beaumont, Corpus Christi and Houston, the question is whether they can be ready when the crude starts flowing through those pipes, said John Coleman, a senior research analyst for North American crude markets at the consultancy Wood Mackenzie. The key consideration for all of these export hubs now is trying to stay ahead of those volumes that are coming in their direction in coming years and make sure that the infrastructure is in place to make sure theres not bottlenecks as youre trying to export all this crude, Coleman said. Coleman said the ability to load VLCCs in Corpus Christi will give the port a substantial advantage over Beaumont and Houston to attract export volume. Two other VLCC-capable projects in the ports region are the Ingleside Energy Center Terminal, undertaken by the Houston independent oil company Occidental Petroleum, and the South Texas Gateway Terminal, developed by the Houston pipeline and storage company Buckeye Partners. Occidentals Ingleside terminal has already hosted a VLCC to test which improvements would need to be made. Jesse Thompson, senior business economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said the nation is producing so much oil recently hitting 10.9 million a day that U.S. refineries cant handle it all, leaving few other options but to export it. The refinery petrochemical complexes down here can only absorb so much of that flow, said Thompson, so the rest of it has got to go on boats. Rye Druzin is a San Antonio Express-News energy reporter. Read more of his stories here. | rdruzin@express-news.net | Twitter: @druz_journo President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to keep immigrant families together, reversing his insistence that only Congress could end his policy of separating children from parents who are caught illegally crossing the U.S. border with Mexico. Trump announced his decision Wednesday during a meeting at the White House with lawmakers as global condemnation of the family separation policy intensified and the backlash in Congress grew. He didn't immediately elaborate on the order. "We want to keep families together," Trump said, "At the same time we have to be strong on the border." He added that otherwise "the country is going to be over-run by millions of people." Now Playing: In a sudden reversal, President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that he says will keep together immigrant families who have been detained at the U.S. border Video: Time His declaration marks a turnabout after the president and top administration officials spent days arguing that the policy was rooted in law and that it was up to Congress to pass legislation to change it. Trump also demanded that such legislation include funding for a border wall and curbs on legal immigration. Trump backed down as House Republicans hit a stalemate on the broader immigration legislation and the Senate was still in negotiations on a narrowly focused bill to keep families together. The furor over the family separations and the chaotic White House response are engulfing Republicans less than five months before November elections that will determine whether the GOP remains in control of Congress. The issue has drowned the GOP's preferred campaign message about a booming economy on the week of the six-month anniversary of the Trump tax cuts and brought harrowing footage of wailing toddlers to American living rooms. Trump's own wife was among those urging him to reverse course. First lady Melania Trump encouraged Trump to act on his own if Congress wasn't able to, a White House official said. Trump's daughter, Ivanka, also spoke with the president several times to express her concerns, said another person familiar with the matter. Polls show the public is overwhelmingly opposed to separating children from their parents, though a majority of Republicans support the approach. Perhaps more important, 70 percent of women disapprove, according to a Quinnipiac University poll taken June 14-17, with female suburban voters considered crucial in deciding control of Congress this fall. The uproar prompted rare displays of defiance to Trump from some congressional Republicans. Ohio Rep. Steve Stivers, head of House GOP campaign arm, was among those who called on Trump to end the policy. "I don't even know how it plays in the midterms, I just know that it's something that as a dad my heart goes out to these families," Stivers said. "There's lots of ways to do it and I'm not picky but I'd like to see us try to preserve families while we also uphold the law." Rep. Peter King of New York said the administration's zero-tolerance policy is a self-inflicted wound for his party. "We control the place," the New York Republican said of Washington. "I mean I understand the logic of it. But in practicality it's unfair." International criticism also was mounting. Pope Francis Wednesday condemned the Trump family separation policy as "immoral" and "contrary to our Catholic values" while British Prime Minister Theresa May called it "deeply disturbing" and "wrong." The White House doubled down on its insistence on congressional action on Monday with Trump and Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen ardently arguing that border security enforcement agents had no alternative to breaking up migrant families under the law. Neither Democrat Barack Obama nor Republican George W. Bush pursued a policy of separating children from their parents for illegal border crossings. While Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been a prime advocate of the separation policy -- arguing that it serves as a deterrent to illegal immigration -- the Justice Department he leads is preparing the fine points of an executive order to meet the president's new stance, according to a person familiar with negotiations over the issue. Both Sessions and Nielsen were at the Capitol Wednesday to meet with House Republicans. Republican Rep. Joe Barton of Texas said Sessions didn't explain Trump's sudden change on the policy. The House was set to vote on two immigration bills on Thursday, a version favored by conservatives and a compromise measure worked out between GOP leaders and more moderate Republican lawmakers. Both, to varying degrees, would have fulfilled Trump's priorities on immigration, but neither has enough support to get even a majority of Republicans on board. Moderate Republicans facing reelection in swing districts won't vote for the conservative version of the legislation. The compromise they worked out doesn't have enough support to pass either, according to several Republican lawmakers. Democrats were excluded from the negotiations and oppose major portions of both bills. "We're still short," Florida Representative Dennis Ross said. That is despite Trump telling lawmakers Tuesday night that he would sign either bill. Almost the whole Freedom Caucus, three dozen of the most conservative Republicans, told the GOP vote-counting team last night that they oppose the compromise bill. Even Will Hurd, a more moderate Republican from Texas, said he doesn't know if he'll vote for the compromise bill. He said he's concerned about over-use of the "a 4th century technology" like a border wall and the decrease in legal immigration while companies are scrambling to find workers in a tight labor market. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise gave the White House a list of lawmakers he believes Trump will personally need to work with to get them to support the immigration legislation, according to a GOP aide with knowledge of the meeting, who declined to share names on that list. About two dozen House members went to the White House for a meeting on the bill. - - - Bloomberg's Toluse Olorunnipa, Billy House, Sahil Kapur, Arit John, Laura Litvan and Jennifer Jacobs contributed. From California to Texas, Colorado to Tennessee and even north to Canada, people reacted to the U.S. policy of separating immigrants from their children by opening their wallets this week donating millions of dollars online to a San Antonio-based legal defense group. Spearheaded by a California couple whose initial goal was a modest $1,500, a Facebook fundraiser raised about $6.4 million in less than a week for RAICES, a nonprofit agency that provides legal aid to immigrants and refugees and runs a small shelter here. RAICES own fundraising efforts, powered by the Action Network, an online mobilization tool, had raised nearly $2.5 million for its immigrant bond fund and had surpassed its initial goal of $819,000 for its fund to represent unaccompanied children from Mexico and Central America. It was not immediately clear whether that was part of the Facebook fund but if it was a wholly separate effort, as it appeared, the total was more than $9.5 million by Tuesday evening. The organizations small staff did not return requests for comment made by phone, email and Twitter. One official at RAICES it stands for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services told USA Today on Monday that the donations have absolutely blown us away. Jennifer Hixon, RAICES director of education, outreach and development, told the paper that the nonprofit plans to speak about its plans for the funds Wednesday. RELATED: Immigration march in El Paso part of growing protests against immigrant family separations Weve rapidly reached out to other organizations doing complementary work in Texas to set up a network to cover all the federal courts, develop a database with all separated families, and a pro bono referral network to ensure representation for every family, said Hixon, who also runs RAICES shelter and handles volunteers. This feels outrageously ambitious, she added, but we kind of feel like this is the moment to do the big things. The donations have been part of a crescendo of criticism against the Trump administrations attempt to deter illegal immigration by routinely prosecuting undocumented border crossers as criminals, rather than treating the cases as civil misdemeanors. Most are now jailed, requiring they be separated from children accompanying them. The agency needs additional attorneys and staff compassionate, sincere people with expertise as well as support systems, said Maria Antonietta Berriozabal, a former San Antonio city councilwoman and founder of the activist Pro Immigrant Coalition. Berriozabal said she was thrilled with the spike in fundraising but not altogether surprised. People have heard the crying of the children and people have seen their faces, Berriozabal said. People have seen the pain on parents faces and people want to do something. RELATED: At a border immigration shelter: a room of infants; teen immigrants giving birth The responses by donors she has read on Facebook indicate their feelings of helplessness in the face of inhumane policies but also illustrate the nations compassion, she added. Everyone prays, but thats not enough, Berriozabal said. Local activists are planning a Vigil for Humanity at 6 p.m. Sunday in front of San Fernando Cathedral, she said. Kate Mendez, who works for a social service agency in Greenville, South Carolina, was among those waiting to participate in a RAICES webinar for volunteers Tuesday that hadnt materialized half an hour after its scheduled start as of 1:30 p.m. She wanted to help and had hoped to get a firsthand account of what was happening on the ground on the structural level, Mendez said, calling the family separations barbaric at worst, not thoughtful at best. The USA Today story called the Facebook fundraising for RAICES the largest single fundraiser ever on the site. It reportedly got contributions from the social media networks founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and its top executive, Sheryl Sandberg. Initiated by Charlotte and Dave Willner, a Silicon Valley couple, on Saturday morning, it had already received $5 million from more than 125,000 individuals by early Tuesday and showed no signs of stopping, Charlotte Willner said through a spokeswoman. The average donation was about $50. RAICES own campaign, called RAICES Family Reunification and Bond Fund: FREE Our Families, explained the immediate legal needs of those immigrants separated from their children after apprehension. Parents separated from their children at the border (and other immigrants placed in detention) cant get released from ICE custody to reunite with their families until they pay the full amount of their immigration bond, its website said. Bonds are set at a minimum of $1,500, and are usually in the range of $5,000 to $10,000, even for asylum seekers without any criminal history. Unlike in the criminal system, bail bond companies either do not help people in immigration proceedings or impose very strict requirements, like private ankle monitors (which families have to pay to rent). RAICES online discussion board for its Families Together: Pro Bono and Post Release Project continued to get supportive comments from people nationwide and beyond. Late Tuesday, it received this note: Im a retired Florida family lawyer and retired family court judge now living in Vancouver, Canada. I am willing to help however I can and am willing to travel. I am at your service. Elaine Ayala is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | eayala@express-news.net | Twitter: @ElaineAyala Former Harlandale ISD board member Joshua Cerna was sentenced Tuesday to a year in a halfway house and ordered to pay more than $40,000 in connection with an FBI investigation into millions of dollars in rigged insurance contracts at other area school districts and at the now-defunct Bexar Metropolitan Water District. Cerna, 44, pleaded guilty in September 2016 to a charge of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, admitting he helped corrupt the insurance company selection process at San Antonio, Edgewood and South San Antonio Independent School Districts. He admitted that with insurance broker Sam Mullen of the Mullen Group, Cerna and insurance consultant William Haff who advised the districts about group insurance coverage forged a conspiracy that lasted from 2007 through 2015. Cerna turned FBI informant after he was confronted in 2014. Cerna asked U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez for leniency, reminding the judge that he admitted his wrongdoing early on and helped the FBI gather video and audio-recorded evidence. Cerna also said that he recently spoke with his 11 and 13-year-old sons in an effort to teach them theres consequences for ones conduct. As a family, were going to fail, Cerna said. Were going to fail one another. Were going to fail our faith. Cerna could have faced a sentence similar to the 37 months in federal prison the judge handed to Mullen in April. But because of Cernas help in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Roomberg proposed a sentence of eight months of incarceration. They corrupted the contracting process of four different government agencies, Roomberg said. Its always been our position that if youve been convicted of public corruption, you have to go to jail. Cernas lawyer, Chris Gober, asked for a sentence that includes halfway house or house arrest so he could continue to work in his undisclosed new job. Gober told the judge Cerna could pay for the costs and a fine, if need be. The judge ordered Cerna to a halfway house so he can continue working, and to pay the $29,280 cost of housing him there. The judge also fined Cerna $10,000. Cerna must also serve two years of federal supervision after his release from the halfway house. A veteran of local politics, Cerna served 11 years on the Harlandale school board. He also worked as a vice president of government relations at the Mullen Group and used his connections to help bring more business to Mullen and his then-wife, Diane, the chief executive officer. The only way that we would be able to get into any school district was to be able to directly have a relationship with the decisionmakers the school board, the trustees, Cerna testified at a bribery trial in December for former SAISD board trustee Olga Hernandez, who was acquitted. Cerna testified that the relationships sometimes involved campaign contributions, or even gratuities. Their goal was to push districts to buy insurance products that would get the Mullen Group greater returns on commissions, Cerna said. The FBI spent more than seven years investigating the Mullen Group and its contracts at various school districts, and Hernandez was the only school official to be charged. She was accused of accepting several gratuities from the Mullen Group that helped influence her vote, and the feds also alleged she swayed fellow trustees to support the Mullen Group. But in a rarity for federal court, jurors acquitted Hernandez of all charges several months after she had resigned her seat. Haff awaits sentencing. Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland Projections that the San Antonio area will be heating up by almost 2 degrees over the next 30 years means that San Antonians could be looking at a future of alternating periods of drought and heavy rain. Newly released data from the Associated Press and the National Weather Service show that local temperatures have already increased by an average of just over 1 degree Fahrenheit in the last 30 years compared with the average temperature of the first 60 years of the 20th century. The study also found that the San Antonio area is continuing to get warmer at a rate of 0.06 degree per year leading to the projected overall increase of 1.86 degrees in the next 30 years. RELATED: Bexar puts 90-day burn ban in effect If that holds true, the yearly average temperature for the South Central region, which includes San Antonio, would be 71.65 degrees in 2048, as compared with an average yearly temperature of 69.78 degrees over the past 30 years. The study looked at temperature changes for all of the regions in the United States, of which only the Central Panhandle region of Alaska has experienced a cooling trend since 1988. But the warming trend is not the only consequence of climate change. The uptick in heat would also lead to a corresponding increase in periods of drought and heavy rain in Texas, according to John Nielsen-Gammon, the states climatologist. The combo of more intense rain and higher temperatures means youve got longer and more severe dry spells, he said. Soil moisture is projected to decrease across Texas also. Since 2005, the San Antonio area has seen three major droughts. RELATED: San Antonio moves to Stage 2 outdoor watering limits Kerry Cook, UT-Austin professor of geological sciences, explained that an increase in the rate that water evaporates might have contributed to past droughts and could lead to future extreme dry periods interspersed with intensely wet periods. For every 2 degrees Fahrenheit increase, were going to get a 7 percent increase in evaporation, she said. Thats measurable in the lab. With more water being added to the atmosphere, that means more rain coming back to ground. For global warming, that can translate to a 7 percent intensification of precipitation, she said. Cook said she and other climate scientists can model that escalation in certain events, citing Hurricane Harvey as an example. We can decrease the carbon dioxide back to pre-industrial values and look at the difference it made in the storm, she said. While nobody would say Hurricane Harvey was caused by climate change, it was certainly modified by having increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, most scientists are projecting that climate change will mean less precipitation overall, although theres not a full consensus on that yet, according to Cook and Nielsen-Gammon. But any precipitation changes from global warming will hurt drier areas more than wetter ones, both Cook and Nielsen-Gammon said. Using renewable energy sources that already exist, along with continuing to develop methods of capturing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere can slow down the warming and precipitation trends, Cook said. But changing the climate, whether its warming through carbon dioxide emissions or trying to reverse that change, is an arduous process that takes a long time to see a tangible impact, both scientists emphasized. Any changes we make now wont have much effect over the next couple decades, Nielsen-Gammon said. The climate change we see now is the consequence of whats been happening over the last couple of decades. But just because we cant reverse the changes (now), doesnt mean we cant decrease their magnitude. Forgotten in the furor over the Trump administrations zero-tolerance policy that has separated about 2,400 children from their parents are two large South Texas detention centers that continue to hold immigrant women and their children, in apparent contradiction of that policy. The South Texas Family Residential Center, which opened in December 2014 in Dilley, 74 miles southwest of San Antonio, has the capacity to house 2,400 women and children. Converted from a former oil field camp, the Dilley center was created by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deal with the surge of families that crossed into South Texas starting in 2013. It has served since then as the largest immigrant detention center in the country. That same year, a second detention center was opened in Karnes City, 66 miles south of San Antonio, with a capacity of 1,158 again, for mothers and children only. With a combined capacity of more than 3,000 beds, they comprise the only large family detention centers in the country. Most families in the centers are seeking asylum in the U.S. as they flee gang and domestic violence in their home countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, advocates said. ICE officials couldnt immediately confirm the number of women and children currently being held in the two centers, or whether the zero-tolerance policy has had any effect on their operation. Both facilities are run by private prison companies and cant hold children for longer than 20 days, according to a federal court ruling. President Donald Trumps reversal Wednesday of his family separation policy compels authorities to now detain parents who are charged with illegal entry with their children as they apply for asylum. He directed the Pentagon to identify existing facilities that could house families, or build new ones. The Dilley and Karnes centers were not mentioned in the presidents executive order. Trump also instructed the attorney general to ask a federal court in California to modify the existing settlement that set the 20-day limit on holding immigrant children. Katy Murdza, advocate coordinator with the Dilley Pro Bono Project, said the center today holds about 2,000 mothers and children, 400 short of the capacity. She said shes worried the 20-day rule might be lifted. Just in three weeks, we see children here not getting adequate medical care, she said. We see kids getting sick, not eating right. We see them regressing behaviorally. If that time gets extended even longer, its going to be a huge problem. Were really concerned this is going to extend the amount of time families spend in detention. Family detention is not a good solution for the asylum-granting system, she said nor is it cost effective. It costs $340 a night per person to keep someone in a detention center, versus $5 a day to have them living in the community and working with a caseworker, according to the National Immigrant Justice Center. The latter program, discontinued recently, was proven effective in getting asylum seekers to court, she said. Families on average stay at Dilley for three weeks, she said, and almost all of them pass their initial credible fear interview to seek asylum, meaning a judge believes they could be persecuted in their countries. Theyre released with notices to appear in court. Fewer than 1 percent of them are deported. Murzda said advocates also are worried about Attorney General Jeff Sessions announcement last week that domestic violence no longer would be considered grounds for granting asylum. Many of our clients main claims for asylum is domestic violence, she said. Both Dilly and Karnes have been a focal point for criticism since they opened, with critics arguing they house women and children in prisonlike conditions, echoing the current outrage over youths being kept in cages in a McAllen detention processing center. Last year, the census in both centers dropped as the number of people being detained at the border declined, with only a few hundred residents between them for a time. The reason for the decline included migrants fears of enforcement under the Trump administration, activists said. A 2017 report by the homeland security inspector general gave both family detention centers mostly good marks. Immigration activists had argued that neither center provided adequate medical care and that staff lacked services for families that speak languages other than Spanish. The report found health care at the centers was readily available when inspectors visited in 2016, but one one of the two facilities the report didnt identify which lacked a pediatrician, even though ICEs contract with the private operator mandated one. The report found detention center staff had been trained on reporting sexual abuse, no language translation difficulties existed and the child detainees were being cared for appropriately. Both family centers previously had some problems. In 2015, medical staff at the Dilley mistakenly gave adult doses of the hepatitis A vaccine to about 250 children. (There were no reports of injuries.) The next year, a mother from El Salvador reportedly suffered repeat epileptic seizures at the same facility. In 2014, women detainees at the Karnes center alleged that staff sexually assaulted or harassed them in front of their children. Sara Ramey, an immigration attorney and executive director of the Migrant Center for Human Rights, works with adult clients detained at the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, close to the Dilley center. The Pearsall center has a capacity of 1,900 adults, and many of the detainees are parents whove been separated from their children because of the zero-tolerance policy. She said one of her recent clients was a mother who was reunited with her child after she was released from the Pearsall facility about a week ago She told me the dorm she stayed was just full of mothers 60 or 70 whod been separated from their children, she said. Its just so sad. Ramey said her clients represent a mix of those seeking asylum from Central America and Africa, and that she gets about 12 new clients each week. Parents at the family detention centers get their applications for asylum processed more quickly usually within seven to 10 days because of the legal ruling to release their children within three weeks. Adults at the Pearsall facility can wait up to two months to have their asylum claim processed, with no guarantee theyll be successful. Theres been a recent dramatic increase in interior apprehensions, versus immigrants being arrested at the border for illegally crossing into the country, Ramey said. I had a client in Wimberley who had her child torn away from her for not completely stopping at a traffic light, she said. Some of the children separated from parents have ended up in San Antonio, at the St. PJs Childrens Home, said Antonio Fernandez, head of Catholic Charities in San Antonio. The residential program, which houses kids 17 and younger, now is home to more than 80 so-called unaccompanied youths, some 22 of them recently taken from their parents at the border. We used to get just one or two a month, but since April its a lot more, he said. The children are given access to two telephone calls per week, to try and locate their parents. Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | mstoeltje@express-news.net | Twitter: @mstoeltje Homeownership is down. Incomes arent keeping up with mortgages and rent. A housing crisis is looming. But Mayor Ron Nirenberg thinks San Antonio can reverse the negative trends and deflect a full-fledged crisis. On Wednesday, the task force he created nearly a year ago will brief the City Council on some of the 300 recommendations its developed in 10 months of drilling down into every facet of housing issues that face San Antonians. The Mayors Housing Policy Task Force a five-member body led by Lourdes Castro-Ramirez, the former CEO of the San Antonio Housing Authority who became principal deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Housing Department under Secretary Julian Castro will make sweeping recommendations targeting everything from disparate bureaucracies that make it harder to build affordable housing to gentrification and displacement, and the lack of funding to systematically address the issues faced by residents here. Nirenberg points to a number of other U.S. cities that are in a housing crisis and says one is headed here, but San Antonio can still prevent it. Skyrocketing rents and home prices in San Antonio drive up property taxes and have made it to where the average family can no longer afford the average home, he said. This issue impacts everyone and we can avoid becoming the next crisis city with these recommendations. Related: Mayor, some council members say housing a priority Led by Castro-Ramirez, the task force also includes former Councilwoman Maria Antonietta Berriozabal, Pape-Dawson Engineering owner Gene Dawson, banker Noah Garcia and architect Jim Bailey. Castro-Ramirez will brief the council Wednesday on a number of data points that paint a stark portrait of the increasing pressure points around housing. Now, one-third of all residents are spending 30 percent or more of their income on rent or mortgage. The federal government and the housing task force define affordable housing as costing less than 30 percent of the household income, Castro-Ramirez said. Exceeding that threshold, she said, creates budget pressures on providing basic necessities, owning a vehicle or paying for other transportation, and taking care of basic health care needs. Meanwhile, homeownership continues to trend down. In 2012, homeowners comprised 61 percent of San Antonios residential population. By the end of 2017, that had dropped to 54 percent. We are losing homeowners, and we also know that as we create more jobs in our city, housing supply has not kept up, so families are choosing to buy or live outside the city limits, Castro-Ramirez said. And the effect of that is were losing economic power, or the economic investment of families choosing to stay in San Antonio. Some of the task force recommendations will require public approval or a substantial outlay of political capital by the mayor and council. Among the recommendations are an amendment to the City Charter stripping away the current prohibition of using bonds for affordable housing, creating a dedicated revenue source, perhaps from the General Fund, and developing a 10-year financial plan for affordable housing in San Antonio. Related: San Antonio home prices reach a new high The task force is also calling for a substantial recasting of policies that have increased the cost of development and driven up the cost of housing. Recommendations include removing regulatory barriers to affordable housing from the citys Unified Development Code, and exempting affordable-housing developments from impact fees assessed by the San Antonio Water System. Nirenberg has long prioritized affordable housing in the foundation of his administration and scoffed at the notion that government has no place in addressing housing issues. It is absolutely a free market issue, and the housing market for better or for worse is stimulated, created, and sometimes obstructed by the regulatory forces at play between the public and the private sector, he said. One of the strongest areas of recommendations in the Mayors Housing Policy Task Force is how we can remove barriers to the production of homes affordable to San Antonians. Theres a clear supply and demand problem in San Antonio, he said, as theres a limited supply of homes affordable to the average family here, and theres a disproportionate number of families needing affordable housing. The task force will also recommend the immediate implementation of tax-appraisal protection measures, such as tax exemptions and preservation districts. The body will also suggest a number of ways to combat gentrification, including creating a fund to reduce the impacts of displacement driven by skyrocketing property values, which lead to ballooning tax bills. We need to act to remove those barriers. We also know that San Antonio is revitalizing, the mayor said. Were making strategic improvements to our community and in some cases, those various improvements, needed for years, are artificially raising peoples property values. The task force will also recommend adding an executive-level position to the city managers office, creating a position dedicated to coordinating housing issues here. Within the push for a coordinated housing system, the task force will suggest the creation of a One-Stop Housing Center, where residents could seek help. The potential for a major housing crisis in San Antonio should be something that everyone living here cares about, Nirenberg said. Because if we dont have affordable housing, it influences everything else in our economy, he said. We need to have strong economic development, jobs being created, a transportation system that moves people sustainably and a housing market that working families can actually afford. Josh Baugh is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jbaugh@express-news.net | Twitter: @jbaugh Before he was a convicted felon and a disgraced politician, Carlos Uresti was a great story. A proud former Marine; a self-made politician who twice beat the odds to pull off major election upsets; a blue-collar son of the South Side who put himself through law school and made it to the Texas Senate. From the safe distance where most of his constituents observed his career, Urestis biography looked inspiring. Things only got messy at close range. Uresti always has been a scrappy hustler with a fetish for glamour. Someone who sold himself as a common man but hungered to live above his means, if necessary like a high roller. His hustler mentality took him far. Ultimately it took him too far. That point was underlined Monday when Uresti announced his resignation from the state Senate a week before he is scheduled to be sentenced on 11 felony counts of fraud and bribery, involving his connection with FourWinds Logistics, a now-defunct frac-sand company. Uresti faces a likely sentence of eight to 12 years on those convictions and awaits trial on separate allegations that he split $850,000 in bribe payments with a county judge in Reeves County to help a West Texas businessman secure a medical-services contract for a correctional facility. He could end up owing $3 million in restitution to his victims. His wife has filed for divorce. His scandals have tarnished the family name to such an extent that his brother, Tomas, got voted out of the state House in March for the simple sin of being a Uresti. That doesnt even take into account the disturbing allegations, reported last December by the Daily Beast, of multiple incidents of sexual misconduct by Uresti, including sticking his tongue down the throat of a Capitol reporter and telling a female political consultant that he could tell she was wearing a thong. Growing up in the small town of Lytle (and later the South Side of San Antonio), Uresti knew what it meant to struggle. His father, Alberto, drove big rigs across the country, while his mother, Rachel, stayed home and tried to feed Carlos and his seven siblings. At the same time, the young Carlos had memorable brushes with Hollywood. When The Getaway filmed in San Antonio in 1972, his dad served as the chauffeur for the films star, Steve McQueen. Carlos served as an extra during the filming of The Great Waldo Pepper and got to meet Robert Redford. He also witnessed the filming of the cult horror film, Race With the Devil. He never lost his youthful obsession with show business. A fanatical devotee of The Godfather film saga, he turned his law office into something of a shrine to its star, Al Pacino. He hosted an annual Night in Monte Carlos fundraiser, prowling the casino tables in a white suit coat like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. He even signed on as chief operations officer for El Mundo Productions, a local film company whose greatest accomplishment was producing the pilot for a mega-cheesy telenovela about the lingerie business called Alamo Heights SA. The FourWinds trial exposed how Uresti, in recent years, had overextended himself in his attempts to live like the mogul he wanted to be. He moved into a $2 million Helotes home. He bought a $77,000 Porsche. He put himself under great financial stress. It was a situation rife with the potential for disaster. Uresti defenders privately argue that Uresti simply isnt smart enough to have masterminded a FourWinds Ponzi scheme. Its an insulting defense, but its about the best hes got right now. In light of all his problems, its easy to forget what Uresti accomplished during his 21 years in the Legislature. His commitment to combatting child abuse, in particular, was real and sustained. He co-sponsored a 2009 bill signed into law by then-Gov. Rick Perry that created a task force to develop a strategic plan to address child abuse. He fought for a requirement that dental insurance be included with health coverage in child support orders. He worked hard for veterans and pushed to make Texas A&M-San Antonios current South Side campus a reality. Urestis earliest political mentor had been Frank Tejeda, a congressman who shared Urestis South Side roots and background in the Marines. When Tejeda succumbed to cancer in 1997, Uresti launched his own political career with a failed but energetic special-election campaign for his old heros congressional seat. Urestis admirers saw him as the next Frank Tejeda, but something went awry along the way. Alberto Uresti often told Carlos and his siblings that they must never forget where they came from. It was a valuable piece of advice that Uresti didnt always heed. Gilbert Garcia is a San Antonio Express-News columnist. Read more of his stories here. | ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470 WASHINGTON - San Antonio Republican Will Hurd was the first elected official to look inside the Trump administrations new tent city in Tornillo for unaccompanied youths caught crossing the border illegally, and he didnt like what he saw. Hurd recognized the presidents immigration policy could cost him his job, and the re-election of other GOP members of Congress in tight races. "We shouldn't be doing this, the two-term congressman said after his tour on Friday. In the land of the free and the home of the brave you shouldn't be using kids as part of our deterrence strategy." Hurds trip - Tornillo sits squarely in his West Texas district - put him in the vortex of a public outcry over President Donald Trumps zero tolerance policy of separating children from their parents while they are detained to face court proceedings in the U.S. MORE TO DO: Houston advocates say Trump reversal on immigrant children not enough Facing a maelstrom of global criticism and rifts within his own party, Trump announced Wednesday that he was signing an executive order ending family separations, though not the mass criminal prosecutions of border crossers and asylum seekers. "We're going to have strong, very strong borders, but we're going to keep the families together, Trump said as he signed the order. I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated." For Texas Republicans, particularly those like Hurd facing strong challenges in the November midterm elections, Trumps unusual about-face could blunt what has become both a political and humanitarian crisis. But even if the decision dampens the media images of crying children - previously defended for the deterrent effect - Republicans now are betting that voters will back Trumps policy of prosecuting nearly everyone who crosses the border illegally, regardless of family circumstances. Its a dicey situation, Texas GOP strategist Matt Mackowiak said of the family separations. The optics are not sustainable for Republicans. That said, if youre going to try to get Trump to support catch-and-release, thats a non-starter too. The internal GOP divisions are likely to linger. Some critics of Trumps border policy, including Hurd, have questioned whether its acceptable to detain entire families for indefinite periods of time - the likely outcome of continuing Trumps zero-tolerance on the border. Hurds maneuvers through the family separation crisis highlight the political risks Republican lawmakers still face as the immigration debate comes to a head in a pair of votes Thursday addressing family detention and young immigrants. Under fire from Democrats in a heavily Latino district that spans 800 miles of the Mexican border, Hurd was among the first GOP lawmakers to break with Trump on the family separation policy, an election-year gambit that put other potentially vulnerable Republicans on the edge. Another top Democratic target, Houston Republican John Culberson, also has been forced to navigate the increasingly fraught politics of family separations, the latest flashpoint in the long congressional impasse on immigration. Its very unfortunate for these children that their parents chose to break the law, but young children should not be separated from their parents, Culberson said. WHERE ARE THE KIDS? Immigrant children separated at border end up at Texas shelters, foster homes Analysts say its not rocket science. The images of kids being pulled away from their parents and forced into cages along the Mexican border figured to be an enduring liability for GOP lawmakers in suburban districts like those represented by Hurd, Culberson and Dallas Republican Pete Sessions. Since the White House said the law left them little choice, congressional Republicans have been scrambling to find legislative proposals that would end the scenes that even immigration hard-liners like Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz have called heartbreaking. Many Texas Republicans have remained publicly silent. But those facing election in competitive districts rushed to offer public expressions of sympathy for the children, even as they stand with Trump to varying degrees on border security and maintaining the rule of law. Hurd, a moderate Republican who has been critical of Trumps demand for a border wall, stood out for his early condemnation of the family separation policy. His aggressive posture on the border crisis also raised his profile on national television, building on a centrist image he cultivated as a leading figures in a bipartisan push to protect young immigrants brought into the country illegally as children. But the deadlock on so-called Dreamers has opened Hurd to criticism that his gestures of political independence are empty. Its time for action, said his Democratic challenger, Gina Ortiz Jones. He has the chance to pass legislation to stop locking immigrant children in cages and finally ending family separation, not just talk about it on cable news. Culberson, who has worked with the Trump administration to fight federal funding for immigrant-friendly sanctuary cities, also has sought to thread the needle on family separation by seeking a legislative fix for family detention that would not end Trumps zero-tolerance policy. Im committed to finding a solution that preserves the respect for the rule of law and secures our borders while being compassionate to these young children, he said. Culberson too has been in the cross-hairs of Democrats, who have been buoyed by widespread criticism of the family separations by a host of civic and religious groups, including conservative evangelical icon Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. The pressure has been amplified by outside groups like Equity Forward, an abortion-rights group that sponsored a poll this week showing widespread opposition to separating families in Culbersons Harris County district, mirroring public opinion polls nationwide. Separating children from their families is inhumane, cruel and horrible - but you dont have to take our word for it, thats how Congressman Culbersons own constituents describe this policy, said Mary Alice Carter, executive director of Equity Forward. While calling for compassion, Culberson has broadly agreed with Trumps insistence that Congress find a permanent fix for a series of laws and court rulings that limit how long the Department of Homeland Security can hold children whose parents face legal immigration proceedings. CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE: Greyhound is pulled into immigration uproar Trumps executive order - a retreat from his position that he lacked the authority to do so - will require Homeland Security officials to keep families together while they go through expedited court proceedings. Legal challenges are expected from both sides of the immigration debate. Some Republicans described it as a band-aid solution pending action on a more permanent legislative solution, including bills proposed by Cruz and Texas U.S. Sens. John Cornyn that would mandate a unification policy for immigrant families detained at the border. Whether the memories of the separated children eventually fade could ultimately depend on whether the administration and Republican-led Congress can change the narrative and make a dent in the root cause of the crisis. In large part this is a narrative that dominated the news because obviously it tugged at all our heart strings, Cornyn said. To me, having unaccompanied children come from Central America up through Mexico in the hands of cartels and human traffickers only to be deposited on our front doorstep is a humanitarian crisis just as serious as the separation of families. Kevin.Diaz@chron.com Recently while at my sons home, I had a chance to go through Khizr Khans book on the Constitution (This Is Our Constitution: Discover America with a Gold Star Father). Its a very good book; unfortunately, a study of our Constitution with its 26 amendments is incomplete without trying to understand how our government currently works. Over the years, Congress and the Supreme Court have altered different articles in the document with laws and rulings. Thus if one searches the document for tariffs, he/she will find that Congress in Article 3, Section 8, Clause 1 is the branch that has the power regulate commerce with foreign nations. But in 1928, the unruly houses of Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which enacted broad tariffs and worsened the Great Depression. This ultimately resulted in Congress transferring this power to the president and upsetting the balance of powers the framers intended. This is not the only incidence of the executive branch getting extra weight in governance. Most of our recent occupants of the White House have acted with restraint when exercising their added powers; however, we are currently experiencing abuses of these powers that are dangerous to us and the entire world. Laws can be changed to reinstate the proper balance. Katherine Hess Limits of caring Re: So why should I care about that? Larry P. Johnson, Another View, June 2: Mr. Johnson has stated an enigma: So many of us Americans live in a bubble, insulated from the hardships and realities faced by our neighbors. We dont want to know about their pain or their problems. If our neighbors problems are only temporary, they are not in the least bit mysterious, puzzling or difficult to understand. Newspapers and TV news are full of reporting that describes the hardships and tragic realities faced by our neighbors. So, why is it that we dont seem to know about their pain or their problems? A painful reality is that we live in a society dependent on government programs that insulate us from those hardships and those tragic realities. A likely reason we dont become involved is our reliance on the governments ability to tax us for the funding needed to temporarily change things until our neighbors are back on their feet. Just like the devastating 1936 Johnstown Flood, when the government levied a temporary sales tax earmarked to help the victims and the community to recover. And the recovery worked; the victims and the town have totally recovered. But 82 years later, the sales tax is still in effect and escalating even through the floods victims are no longer alive. The lesson should be obvious government funding to help our neighbors get back on their feet no matter how temporary the funding may seem, never is. The poor are always better off in a nation with the most rich than in a nation with the fewest rich. Robert C. Wilmore Treat root causes Like medicine in this country, immigration policy and the application of that policy, more often than not, treat the symptoms and not the cause. Recently, medicine has at least attempted to address the cause of chronic conditions out of the dire need for cost control. But immigration, in almost all of its forms, has yet to meet its reckoning in this regard. To address the need for immigration, one must realistically look at the source of the cause to reduce the symptoms. One attempt to address the cause was the North American Free Trade Agreement. But the idea of free trade alone led to resentment and repercussions. For example, when American manufacturing moved to Mexico, it eliminated good-paying jobs in the U.S. But here again, we were merely treating the symptoms; NAFTA did not address the cause. The roots are within the countries where political dissent is quashed and governments refuse to address the needs of their people. The founding and the practice of American democracy should stand as an example in the minds of those fleeing these countries. Without the courage to address the causes, the cycle repeats itself with each generation. World organizations such as NATO and the like, combined with diplomatic action and the will of the people, can implement democratic ideals within these countries. The discombobulation of immigrant policy here at home may be at least partially mitigated. The resolution of immigration problems is imperative. Jerry Kempe Fix your countries It is the immigrant parents fault, and the children are the ones who suffer. They are breaking our laws and have been advised about the consequences. We fought for our independence from Mexico and England when these countries were much more powerful than us; why dont they band together and fight for justice in their own country? Of course, it is much easier to run across, seek political asylum and get all the benefits at the expense of the American taxpayers. Stop blaming President Donald Trump and the GOP. The Democrats just want the vote; they dont care about the people. We have to start somewhere to stop the flow of people breaking our laws. Tillie Hamilton Guns dangerous The newspaper recently reported on the death of an off-duty Border Patrol agent, Javier Vega, in 2014. As tragic as his death was at the hand of someone attempting to rob him, if Vega had not had his weapon and attempted to draw it to exchange gunfire, he may have lost only property, not his life. And there was a recent report of an off-duty FBI agent who accidentally dropped his firearm while dancing, shooting another dancer when the gun discharged after hitting the floor. Guns are dangerous. Charles A. Schmidt WASHINGTON General Dynamics, whose Electric Boat subsidiary in Groton is the nations premier maker of submarines, has surfaced as a facilitator in aiding unaccompanied minors illegally crossing the US-Mexico border, including children caught up in President Trumps zero tolerance policy of separating families. Regularly ranked among the nations top five defense contractors, General Dynamics in recent decades has expanded into government services including work with the Department of Health & Human Services unit that cares for the 2,000 or so children taken from their parents under the Trump initiative. Now, corporate-responsibility advocates are calling on social media followers to register protests with General Dynamics CEO, Phebe Novakovic. Any company profiting from this administrations brutal policy is going to have it heightened, like it or not, said Shannon Coulter, head of #Grabyourwallet, which calls for consumer product boycotts of companies complicit in what it views as injustices. Coulter acknowledged a boycott of General Dynamics big-ticket items is not practical. What were looking for is how can we appeal to these (CEOs) as human beings, she said. The ask is not to break contracts. Thats not realistic. The ask is for them to do what they can do to end this policy. Under mounting pressure, General Dynamics Information Technology, the corporate sub-unit under contract to the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), issued a statement Tuesday stating it has no role in the family separation policy, nor a role in the construction or operation of detention facilities. But the company said it has worked with ORR since 2000, doing casework to help ensure special needs of unaccompanied children are met. On Twitter, the company attempted to clear the air by listing what we do and what we dont do. Among the items underneath the heading what we dont do, the company said: Determine which children are under care of HHS/ORR. That means General Dynamics has no control over whether its caseworkers minister to minors who arrive unaccompanied or younger children taken from their parents under zero tolerance. Electric Boat is a major player in Connecticuts substantial network of defense industries, which includes helicopter-maker Sikorsky and jet-engine-maker Pratt & Whitney. With new contracts to produce submarines well into this century, Electric Boat is expected to pump about $86 billion into the state economy. It employs 11,500 building Virginia-class attack submarine and planning for the Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine for launch by the late 2020s. Every American, including all corporate leaders, should strongly and clearly speak out and stand up against this inhumane and immoral policy, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Businesses share this moral responsibility regardless of the specific services or product they provide. I encourage companies to follow the Chamber of Commerce and others in calling for an end to the Trump Administrations despicable, unlawful policy of tearing children away from their parents. National outcry Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, Democratic lawmakers have turned zero-tolerance into a political crusade. They are calling the policy child abuse because it has split apart more than 2,000 immigrant families and relegated small children to detention centers. With a national outcry from churches, business groups and even some GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the Trump administration is standing its ground and refusing to budge. Trump took a late-afternoon trip to rally Republican support in a closed-door meeting at the U.S. Capitol. But the family-separation crisis all but drowned out the normal back-and-forth over immigration, overshadowing what was to be House consideration of two immigration bills this week. House Republicans are offering up two immigration bills, which include provisions to build a border wall and provide a pathway to citizenship for youthful DREAMers. But it is unlikely that either pieces of legislation will pass with opposition Democrats sensing GOP political vulnerability over the heart-wrenching photos and soundbites from the border region. The first bill would provide a pathway to citizenship for young immigrant DREAMers, allowing them to apply for a green card after five years living in the United States. It would modify, but not stop, Trumps zero-tolerance policy that holds illegal immigrants in detention centers. It would also provide $25 million in funding for a border wall between the United States and Mexico a provision Democratic lawmakers have been wary of since it was first mentioned by Trump. The new provision would mostly detain children and parents in the same place to address Democratic lawmakers outcry about the policy ripping immigrant families apart. Camila Bortolleto, a DACA recipient from Danbury and head of CT Students for a Dream, said: "Ever since the Trump administration killed DACA last year, our community has been living under a cloud of fear and uncertainty, with our futures hanging in the balance with deadline after deadline. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said Republicans are rewriting their measure because theyre feeling the heat from the other side. Nonetheless, he said its unlikely that any Democratic lawmaker would vote for either of the bills they still include funding for Trumps wall. They didnt even try, Himes said. In neither bill did they work with Democrats. I would be surprised if either of the bills passes. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., said the immigration bills wont fix a broken immigration system or prevent child-family separation under Trumps policy. I will continue to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform including legislative proposals that put an end to the systematic separation of immigrant families, Esty said. Vulnerable children should never be used as political bargaining chips. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said the House bills are shameful because Republican lawmakers are trying to pass legislation that limits legal immigration and access to asylum at the same time Trumps policy is separating children and families at the border. These bills double down on the Presidents border wall a waste of billions of taxpayer dollars, she said. Congressional Republicans should join Democrats at the table to fix our nations broken immigration system. dan@hearstdc.com; Sarah.roach@chron.com STAMFORD Early detection is the key when it comes to battling most cancers. But with colorectal cancer, early detection of cancerous precursors could actually prevent cancer from developing, a local surgeon said this week. Its one of the reasons the American Cancer Society (ACS) recently lowered the recommended screening age for those at average risk for colon cancer from 50 to 45. For a few years weve been seeing colon cancer in younger and younger patients, said Dr. Shahzad Zafar, a colorectal surgeon at Stamford Hospital. So, the focus shifted to what we can do to increase the screening for those people and really benefit them. Because up until now the screening recommendations targeted individuals 50 years or older, which means we could end up missing some patients. Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the United States, according to the ACS, which estimates more than 97,000 new cases of colon cancer and more than 43,000 new cases of rectal cancer will be diagnosed this year. Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in men and women in the U.S., and ACS estimates 2018 will bring more than 50,000 such deaths this year. Zafar said colon cancer takes time to develop and typically follows numerous warning signs, making it one that could easily be prevented if patients get screened regularly. It is a totally preventable cancer, he said. Colon cancer develops from an adenoma, which is a benign polyp that over the course of a number of years becomes the carcinoma, which is the cancer, he added. So, there is time to detect the polyps and remove them before they become cancer. In essence, you can prevent colon cancer if people get the colonoscopy on time and follow through with continued screening. The ACS decision came after looking closely at evidence that new cases of colorectal cancer are occurring at an increasing rate among younger adults, the organization said in a statement. A beginning screening at the age of 45 for adults of average risk will result in more lives saved from colorectal cancer. The ACS describes average-risk individuals as those who do not have: A personal history of colorectal cancer or certain types of polyps Those who do not have a family history of colon colorectal cancer Those who do not have a personal history of inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis or Crohns disease Those who do not have a confirmed or suspected hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome, such as familial adenomatous polyposis or Lynch syndrome And those who do not have a personal history of having radiation to the abdomen or pelvic area to treat a prior cancer. The most obvious sign that something is wrong, Zafar said, is bloody stool or rectal bleeding. One of the most important things for people to know is if you see blood when you go to the bathroom, or have blood coming from your rectum, that is a very ominous sign that you should not ignore, regardless of your age, he said. That is a sign that you need to go and see a doctor and get worked up. Though a colonoscopy is considered the gold standard for colon cancer screening, the ACS said there are a number of tests a patient can undergo, including stool tests, DNA-based testing or a CAT scan. Any test is better than no test, Zafar said. However, Zafar said the colonoscopy is best route. The colonoscopy is the best test because its not just diagnostic, its also therapeutic. You can visualize the entire area, you find any polyps that may be there and you can remove them at the same time, he said. Most people with colon cancer are asymptomatic during the early stages of disease, meaning they have no symptoms and no way of knowing they have cancer, he said. That is why changing the screening age from 50 to 45 is so important, because a lot of those who develop the cancer at a younger age will actually have no symptoms, and if theyre waiting until 50 or 51 to get tested, we are likely to miss that window where we can either prevent it or catch it at an early stage. Zafar said he believes a lot of patients will benefit from getting colon cancer screenings done earlier. Those considered high-risk patients might require screenings earlier than age 45 and doctors may recommend more frequent screenings or specific types of testing, the ASC said. Im glad (the ACS) did this, he said. It was something that was long overdue, because we do see a lot of patients with colon cancer at a younger age and now we can finally get those people the screening they need. So, I think its going to help people. FAIRFIELD The towns state delegation had a chance Wednesday morning to talk about what they were most of proud of from the recent session, and what they see as priorities. The chance came at a breakfast sponsored by the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce and CBIA. The fact that the General Assembly adopted a bi-partisan budget was a point of pride for the delegation state Sen. Tony Hwang, R-28, state Rep. Brenda Kupchick, R-132, state Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, D-133, and state Rep. Laura Devlin, R-134. I think the biggest thing we do every year is the budget, McCarthy said. This year, I think the fact that we were able to pass a bi-partisan budget is really important. Devlin said there is no doubt that having a greater balance between the two political parties led to the ability to pass that budget, and have actual discussions on different aspects of the state spending plan. Thats how we were able to stop a slew of proposed taxes, Devin said. For Kupchick, who owns a heating and plumbing business with her husband, focusing on the needs of small businesses has been important to her. She said she formed a small business advisory council that meets about every six weeks. Connecticut is a difficult place to run a business, Kupchick said, it just is. She said the states financial picture is a deterrent to businesses coming to Connecticut. Theyre afraid theyre going to be hit with some kind of new thing, Kupchick said. Thats a big challenge. Hwang noted they would be back in Hartford next week for a special session, in an attempt to override the governors veto of a program that could grant tax credits to business owners for apprenticeship programs. It was unanimous in the House and the Senate, Hwang said, but vetoed over the loss of $650,000 out of the tax coffers from the credits. It was another example of the legislative body working on a bipartisan basis. Devlin said shed like to see the budget process itself changed, so the legislature first determines what money it has available to spend, and then decides where to spend the money. Now, she said, it is the other way around. On the topic of transportation, Vahey said they were able to spare major cuts to bus service in the state. While she said it was likely that those at the Chamber breakfast take buses to and from work, many of their employees rely on buses. We have to fund transportation, she said. Hwang said the state may have 200 projects, but those projects are not prioritized. A lack of priorities, he said, leads to a bus way being funded in another part of the state, rather than century-old walk bridges on Fairfield Countys train lines. We have the highest gas tax in the country, Hwang said. Where is that tax money going? We have to be respectful of the people we represent, and not simply do the partys bidding. greilly@ctpost.com; 203-842-2585 A study to help farmers protect their barley against Ramularia Leaf Spot is among four projects to benefit from a total of almost 100,000 in new grants. The Mains of Loirston Charitable Trust has awarded the grants to four projects from Scotland's Rural College (SRUC). Among other recipients include the annual Winter Wheat Challenge, which has been awarded a further two years worth of funding, while an Aberdeen-based study into using a rye/vetch cover crop to improve crop utilisation has also been awarded a grant. A further award from the Trust will fund new research to help farmers create Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies. This research will also be based in Aberdeen. Established by the late Alexander Williams Allan, the Aberdeen-based Trust awards grants to advance the science and practice of agriculture across Scotland. Professor Fiona Burnett, head of Crop and Soil systems at SRUC said the generous funding for specific crop projects will benefit the North East of Scotland. It is such a diverse geographical area and has specific needs, I dont think that funding from a general UK or European trust would be as easily accessible for projects like these, Professor Burnett said. She added: We have been able to do studies, such as the Winter Wheat Challenge, where students are able to get practical experience, and most of the time that would be too impractical or expensive for funding. The Mains of Loirston Trust has ties to the North East and it really is a perfect niche for researchers trying to develop that region. Projects Rye/vetch study to improve crop utilisation (Dr John Baddeley) 19,637 Winter Wheat Challenge (Alex Hilton and Scott Murray) 23,574 Fungicides and Integrated Pest Management (Dr Henry Creissen) 37,833 Ramularia Leaf Spot (Dr Neil Havis) 18,684 A 15-year-old boy has contracted a very rare case of cowpox infection after feeding livestock on a farm on the Wrexham-Cheshire border. Cowpox was a lot more common in the 18th century, when far more people tended to livestock on a regular basis. The historical disease is now rarely seen in humans or animals. But the teenager has surprised the medical world after contracting the disease, which hasn't been seen in Wales in more than a decade. He contracted the viral disease, which presented as lesions on his hands and later to his arms and feet, after feeding calves. According to the boy's mother who spoke to the BBC, she said that the calves nibbled on his hands causing them to become grazed. He was diagnosed with the rare disease at the Countess of Chester Hospital. It is the first reported human case of cowpox in Wales for more than a decade.https://t.co/fPFtNbmtC1 BBC Wales News (@BBCWalesNews) June 16, 2018 Speaking to the BBC, the boy's doctor said: "I think the boy and his family were quite bemused when we told them. I don't think they expected that to be the diagnosis:" "I think it was very itchy for him but it wasn't particularly painful. "We have to inform other colleagues about rare cases and, if it's something that's going to be re-emerging, public health professionals need to be alerted. "We don't really see cowpox anymore - it's one of those diseases that went away." The disease was first observed in dairymaids centuries ago, who touched the udders of infected cows and consequently developed the signature lesions on their hands. A group to progress rural development in Scotland will launch tomorrow at the Royal Highland Show. The Princes Countryside Fund, set up in 2010 by Prince Charles, will launch the Rural Development Group Scotland to support growth by bringing together rural businesses. This group will share expertise, support regional centred activity and help generate associated support and funding to ensure sustainable initiatives. Charities and organisations represented include Business in The Community Scotland, The Princes Foundation, The Princes Countryside Fund and the North Highland Initiative. Claire Saunders, Director of The Princes Countryside Fund said today represents a "time of great change" in agriculture. "It is important to ensure that we all have a joined up approach to the significant challenges ahead," Ms Saunders said. "With a number of successful organisations already concerned with supporting the rural and agricultural sector so positively in Scotland we wanted to make sure that we optimised and focused the efforts of HRHs organisations to maximise our impact in key areas." The Princes Countryside Fund will continue to run the Princes Farm Resilience Programme in Caithness and Skye this autumn following groups in Dumfries and Arran this year. The Fund also has an ongoing programme of grants to many rural organisations. Recent beneficiaries of the Funds grant programme have included The Scottish Island Abattoirs Association, Cafe Connect, Falklands Stewardship Trust Fife, Rural Housing Scotland and Nourish Scotland. Government allows butchers to enter UK on temporary visas Pig industry says it is 'relieved' at the measure The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike. We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve. 2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning -- 4 WEEKS FREE DIGITAL AND PRINT ACCESS. We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover. We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come. John Abraham believes action heroes are the biggest movie stars and the actor said Bollywood needs to come up with more such icons. The 45-year-old actor, who was last seen in action thriller 'Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran', also praised Tiger Shroff for his dedication to the genre. "I think the biggest stars are action heroes. Look at Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dwayne Johnson. Action stars will always be evergreen. In our country, apart from me, there is Tiger Shroff who is doing great action. At the moment, two of us are doing action films. We both have different styles. There is a place for more action heroes but there are only two of us," John said. The actor has action films such as 'Dhoom', 'Force' and 'Dishoom' to his credit. He is grateful to the audience for accepting him in this avatar. "The expectations excite me and I seek to do crazy action sequences. It is a positive responsibility on me. I wanted to be an action hero. There are some heroes who like dancing and I like fighting, lifting people and breaking bones. I enjoy it." John has a string of action films lined up for release, starting with 'Satyameva Jayate'. The film is scheduled to release on August 15. Next up are 'Romeo Akbar Walter' and 'Batla House'. But the actor said doing films in the genre is not a 'conscious decision'. "It is just that all these films are coming at the same time. What I am missing right now in my life is doing a comedy and I love doing it. I am a big fan of Anees Bazmee, I like David Dhawan also... I loved working with Rohit Dhawan," he added. Talking about his Independence Day release, John said it is great to reteam with his 'Shootout in Wadala' co-star Manoj Bajpayee. "In 'Shootout at Wadala', our characters came from a criminal background. But in 'Satyameva Jayate', the film is about a cop and a killer... Whatever the audience has yearned for they will get to see it all now," he said. The actor said he recently started shooting for director Robbie Grewal's 'Romeo Akbar Walter' and the filming is expected to be completed by August end. "It is one of the most intriguing subjects I have heard. It is the most challenging film I have done in the recent past," he said. John will then start work on 'Batla House', loosely based on the fierce encounter that took place in September 2008 between a group of terrorists and the police in a flat in Batla House, a locality in Delhi's Jamia Nagar. In 'Batla House', John will play the role of police officer Sanjeev Kumar Yadav. He said he will meet Yadav to prepare for his role. Race 3: Salman Khan says NO to Boney Kapoor because of Arjun Kapoor; Find out why | FilmiBeat There were reports that superstar Salman Khan will be a part of Boney Kapoor's No Entry 2 and Wanted 2. But the actor made things clear at a recent promotional event by saying, ''There is no No Entry or Wanted sequel happening. I am doing Bharat, Dabangg 3 and Sher Khan. I am waiting for the Kick 2 script to be finalised. Then there is a dance film with Remo D'Souza and one with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He will narrate the script to me soon." As per a report in Deccan Chronicle, Salman Khan does not want to work with Boney Kapoor because of his son Arjun Kapoor. It was said that Arjun Kapoor had an affair with Salman's former sister-in-law Malaika Arora. And Salman will never forgive Arjun for his wrong doing. Salman Will Not Forgive Arjun The report stated. ''Sordid rumours regarding a relationship between Arjun and Salman's former sister-in-law Malaika Arora have been doing the rounds for a while now. And though Salman has tried to ignore even the reports brought to him by friends, he seems to have finally reached his breaking point.'' Salman Can Not Ignore This A source revealed, "Salman cannot ignore anyone who tries to break up his family. Arjun definitely poses a hurdle in his otherwise warm relationship with Boney Kapoor.'' Boney Gave Salman Wanted ''Many believe that Wanted was the film that gave Salman's career a much-needed boost after a series of flops delivered between 2005 and 2007. '' No One Does Anyone Favours In Bollywood Friends of the actor say, "It was Salman's extended guest appearance in No Entry that brought Boney's production house out of the red, so the two are quits. No one does anyone favours in this business." What Boney Kapoor Has To Say When a leading daily contacted Boney Kapoor, the producer said, 'You have already heard it from Salman Khan, so you should go with his word. I don't want to comment on this further.'' Also Read: Funny Race 3 Memes! SRK, Ranbir Kapoor & Abhishek Bachchan TROLL Salman Khan In Their Style! Ranbir Drops A Major Hint Recently while speaking to Republic World, Ranbir revealed, "Shamshera is a wonderful action, thriller, adventure movie set in 1800. It's about a Daaku tribe and their fight for justice from the British for getting what they deserve back." Ranbir As An Action Hero When asked earlier why he took up a film like Shamshera, the actor said, "Shamshera is exactly the film I was looking for. While growing up watching Hindi commercial cinema, I had an image of what a film hero should be doing." Shamshera Is Something Out Of His Comfort Zone The actor added, " Shamshera allows me to do everything that I had imagined and it's a very exciting project for me. Karan is going to take me completely out of my comfort zone and I'm looking forward to this challenge." It Will Be Ranbir Kapoor vs Sanjay Dutt The former will be essaying the role of the main antagonist in the film. Explaining his decision about casting Dutt as the villain, filmmaker Karan Malhotra said, "Shamshera is a highly ferocious and fearless character in the film. Therefore his nemesis, the villain had to be even more fierce and monumental in every aspect. Who's better than Sanjay Sir to give us that impact on screen." Vaani Kapoor To Add A Sizzling Tadka To The Film The actress who was last seen in Befikre will be essaying the role of Ranbir's love interest in the film and is a very important collaborator in his character's journey. She will be portraying the most desirable and sought after travelling performer from heartland India. Janani Is A Kamal Haasan Fan Janani is a die-hard fan of Kamal and considers him to be the most charming man in the world. In fact, she had once said that she would love to take him on a date. "I think he's the most charming man ever. And I wish I were a little older or he a little younger. And I wouldn't mind breaking my curfew to have a conversation with him," she had told a website that being on his show might just turn out to be a dream come true for her! She Dropped Her Surname During her initial years in the industry, she used the name 'Janani Iyer'. However, last year, she decided to drop her surname and this decision created some buzz amongst her fans. While talking about the decision, she had said there was no 'specific reason' for dropping her surname. Janani Was Once Linked With Atharvaa A few years ago, rumours of Janani being in a relationship with Atharvaa had created quite a buzz in the film industry. However, these rumours died down after the actress made it clear that there was no truth behind them. She Is Not A 'Creature Of The Night' Unlike her contemporaries, Janani refrains from attending big parties and prefers socialising over a cup of coffee. Last year, she had revealed that she stays with her parents and prefers returning home after wrapping up work. The Decision Of Nadigar Sangam According to a report by The News Minute, the top stars of the Tamil film industry decided to skip the event adhering to the decision of Nadigar Singam, the association of Tamil movie artists, to boycott the event. The Reason Behind The Boycott At the same time, the report also suggests that the association asked to skip the award event since Filmfare denied to pay the donation amount stipulated by the Nadigar Sangam. The Response From Nadigar Sangam The report has also quoted the Nadigar Sangham as saying "In the past, there have been several film related functions, award ceremonies, dance programmes and television programmes in which actors have participated and many have performed in such functions. However, in recent times, such functions have taken a commercial twist, and are conducted as a means to generate huge revenues for such organising entities. Considering the above, it had been officially resolved in Nadigar Sangam special meeting that actors should participate only in functions in which they are paid, or only in functions where the organising entities contribute donations to Nadigar Sangam and Tamil Film Producer Council." I sincerely thank @NayantharaU @Karthi_Offl #simbu @khushsundar n other friends for understanding the associations sentiments n policy n not attending da award function though they wer winners.big thanks. Dis iniatitive is jus to generate money for our senior artistes pension gb Vishal (@VishalKOfficial) June 18, 2018 Vishal's Message To The Celebrities Meanwhile, Vishal took to the microblogging site to thank Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Simbu, Karthi, Khushbu and others who stood by the decision of the association. He also added that this new initiative is to generate money for the pension scheme of senior artists. Drashti Dhami Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka actress, Drashti Dhami looked simple yet gorgeous in a white one-shoulder gown. Sharing the picture, the actress wrote, "Gold awards !!! Red Carpet !!! .Clothes @mandirawirkhq .Make up @santosh_makeupartist . Hair @zulekha333 . Special thanks to @anusoru for helping me last min " - (sic) Arshi Khan Bigg Boss 11's controversial contestant Arshi Khan arrived in style at the awards ceremony. She looked stunning in grey colour dress. Sharing the picture, Arshi wrote, "Gold awards." - (sic) (Image Source: Instagram) Rakhi Sawant Arshi's friend and controversial queen of television industry, Rakhi Sawant too, attended the event. The actress also shared a few pictures from the red carpet. Surbhi Jyoti & Pearl V Puri Tagged as the best couple from Naagin 3, Pearl V Puri and Surbhi Jyoti arrived together at the event. While Pearl looked dapper in a black suit, Surbhi looked stunning in a off white colour gown. Krystle D Souza Krystle D Souza looked stylish in a light blue gown with floral designs. Apparently, the actress performed a 90's act on stage. The actress had also shared a picture in which she was seen in an uber cool outfit. She performed to the song, Say Shava Shava'. Prince & Yuvika Television's most adorable couple, Prince Narula and Yuvika Choudhary, who will soon be tying knot, arrived together at the event. The lovebirds chose to wear black colour outfits. Sriti & Mouni The best buddies Sriti Jha and Mouni Roy were spotted twinning in their golden outfits at the red carpet, looking all glamorous. And we can't decide who is looking prettier! Hina Khan Hina Khan just raised the hotness quotient at the red carpet with her killer look and we can't keep calm! She is called a fashionista for a reason. Vivian Dsena We can't take our eyes off from Shakti-Astitva Ke Ehsas Ki actor, Vivian Dsena. The actor looked handsome in a blue suit. Anita Hassanandani We wonder how she manages to look gorgeous every time! Our Naagin 3 actress, Vish aka Anita Hassanandani looked beautiful in a black dress. Kamya Punjabi Kamya Punjabi is one of the hottest mommies of the telly town and this picture is one solid proof! Kamya looks every bit gorgeous as she arrives at the awards night in a white sari. Regulatory News: Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN: PSH) (NA: PSH) today released an email sent from Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. to its investors. The text of the email is set forth below: Dear Pershing Square Investor, In August 2017, we disclosed our investment in ADP, which we acquired at an average price of $105 per share. Over the last ten months, the stock price has increased to approximately $139 per share, generating a total shareholder return including dividends of approximately 35%.1 In light of ADP's conservative balance sheet, we structured a substantial portion of our investment using deep-in-the-money options, which has caused our actual return on investment to be substantially greater than the stock's return over the same period. Since the inception of our investment, we have actively engaged with the Company and its shareholders to help drive long-term shareholder value. As a result of the proxy contest, ADP made commitments to shareholders to accelerate revenue growth, bolster its competitive position in its Enterprise segment, and improve efficiency and margins. Last week, ADP hosted its first Analyst Day since 2015, highlighting for shareholders its improved business trajectory and revised outlook. At the Analyst Day, the company committed to achieving 7% to 9% revenue growth and pre-tax operating margins of 23% to 25% by FY2021. These projections represent substantial increases to management's prior guidance. The new margin targets imply annual earnings-per-share growth of 16% to 19% over the next three fiscal years, with a FY 2021 earnings target of approximately $7 per share, a 75% increase over ADP's annual EPS of ~$4 at the time of our initial investment. The large increase in projected earnings reflects substantial business progress as well as favorable exogenous factors, namely tax reform and rising interest rates. We view management's commitment to achieve ~$7 of EPS in FY 2021 as a constructive step and a strong indicator of potential future value creation. In addition to its improved financial outlook, ADP highlighted its Next-Gen HCM platforms, including its Next-Gen Enterprise platform (which is being piloted with several clients), as well as several other new product offerings with the potential to solidify ADP's leadership position in the HCM industry including big data and analytics modules, a leading gig economy workforce management platform, and digital payments capabilities. We believe there continues to be a significant opportunity for ADP to exceed the new FY2021 ~$7 guidance, and for future accelerated progress thereafter. ADP's forecasts for FY 2021 call for Employer Services ("ES") operational revenue growth (excluding float income) of only ~5% (~4% for cloud-based U.S. HCM solutions) despite higher industry-wide growth. While ES operational margins are expected to improve by 400 to 800 basis points from ~19% to 23% to 27%, we believe ADP's new earnings guidance is conservative, as achieving its projected results will continue to leave ample headroom for growth and margins in the ES division. ADP's EPS Target of ~$7 by FY2021 Does Not Include the Positive Effects of Other Improvements Already Underway ADP management has built "buffers" into its current estimates for guidance. This is made apparent by comparing the result obtained from using the midpoint estimate of each of the discrete drivers of margin expansion provided by ADP in its guidance bridge to calculate pre-tax margins. Doing so, results in margins at the high end of management guidance, 100 basis points more than the midpoint estimate. Furthermore, using the high end of the ranges for each of these margin drivers implies 160 basis points greater margins than the high end of ADP's stated guidance range, which suggest that management's high-end margin estimates are overly conservative. Further evidence of the conservative nature of ADP's projections is that they that do not account for the following: Improved Profits in the ES Mid-Market Business. ADP's targets assume only a modest improvement in growth and profitability in its mid-market business, which has recently completed the migration to one product platform. The migration of all mid-market clients onto one platform should drive substantially greater client retention, accelerated bookings growth, and improved efficiency due to the benefits of simplification and greater scale. For reference, ADP's downmarket ("SMB") segment experienced a doubling of profitability and accelerated revenue growth following its platform migration. The mid-market migration should show similar relative benefits over time. ADP's targets assume only a modest improvement in growth and profitability in its mid-market business, which has recently completed the migration to one product platform. The migration of all mid-market clients onto one platform should drive substantially greater client retention, accelerated bookings growth, and improved efficiency due to the benefits of simplification and greater scale. For reference, ADP's downmarket ("SMB") segment experienced a doubling of profitability and accelerated revenue growth following its platform migration. The mid-market migration should show similar relative benefits over time. Improved Profits in the Enterprise Segment. ADP's targets appear to assume little if any improvement in the profitability and growth of its large company Enterprise segment despite the expected launch of a modern, best-in-class product offering in FY 2020, which should contribute to improved growth and increased earnings as ADP harvests the benefits of its Enterprise platform migration. ADP's targets appear to assume little if any improvement in the profitability and growth of its large company Enterprise segment despite the expected launch of a modern, best-in-class product offering in FY 2020, which should contribute to improved growth and increased earnings as ADP harvests the benefits of its Enterprise platform migration. Greater Savings from its Early Retirement Program ("ERP") . ADP's targets continue to be predicated on its previously assumed ~35% participation rate in the Early Retirement Program. At the Analyst Day, management stated that the realized rate on its ERP was substantially higher than expected at more than 60%. At this higher participation rate, the program should drive about $215 million of aggregate savings. While the company has suggested that it may have to "backfill" some of these positions as a result of the higher-than-expected take rate, we believe these new hires would come at substantially lower cost than the long-tenured employees who they would replace. . ADP's targets continue to be predicated on its previously assumed ~35% participation rate in the Early Retirement Program. At the Analyst Day, management stated that the realized rate on its ERP was substantially higher than expected at more than 60%. At this higher participation rate, the program should drive about $215 million of aggregate savings. While the company has suggested that it may have to "backfill" some of these positions as a result of the higher-than-expected take rate, we believe these new hires would come at substantially lower cost than the long-tenured employees who they would replace. Increased Efficiency and Cost Savings with Consolidation of Service Centers. ADP's targets do not appear to contemplate a broadening of the Service Alignment Initiative. The completion of the first phase of this initiative will reduce the service footprint from 110 to 48 locations. Given the success of this program to date (higher client satisfaction and lower costs), we believe the Company will broaden this program over time as it continues to align its service delivery model around its newer strategic service centers. Material Cost Savings with New Back-End Engines . ADP is in the process of replacing certain legacy "back-end" payroll and tax engines which we believe account for the majority of ADP's $400 million of annual maintenance R&D expense. The launch of these new systems should not only substantially reduce maintenance expenditures, but also allow for significant operational enhancements and efficiency. While the launch of these new systems will likely come toward the end of the guidance period, it should lead to additional margin and operational improvements thereafter. . ADP is in the process of replacing certain legacy "back-end" payroll and tax engines which we believe account for the majority of ADP's $400 million of annual maintenance R&D expense. The launch of these new systems should not only substantially reduce maintenance expenditures, but also allow for significant operational enhancements and efficiency. While the launch of these new systems will likely come toward the end of the guidance period, it should lead to additional margin and operational improvements thereafter. Potential for Additional Savings through Corporate Restructuring. ADP's targets do not contemplate a broader corporate restructuring of Employer Services ("ES"). ADP continues to have separate headquarters for each of its ES sub-segments and other overlapping functions which we expect will ultimately be consolidated. ADP's targets do not contemplate a broader corporate restructuring of Employer Services ("ES"). ADP continues to have separate headquarters for each of its ES sub-segments and other overlapping functions which we expect will ultimately be consolidated. Potential Profit Improvement in the International Business . ADP's targets appear not to contemplate any meaningful improvement in its International business, which has a lower margin than its domestic business. The roll-out of ADP's Next Gen payroll engine will allow ADP to expand international growth and margins as it ultimately migrates toward one global payroll engine (vs. discrete country-specific payroll engines). ADP may also replicate U.S. profit improvement programs (namely the Service Alignment Initiative and/or the Early Retirement Program) internationally. . ADP's targets appear not to contemplate any meaningful improvement in its International business, which has a lower margin than its domestic business. The roll-out of ADP's Next Gen payroll engine will allow ADP to expand international growth and margins as it ultimately migrates toward one global payroll engine (vs. discrete country-specific payroll engines). ADP may also replicate U.S. profit improvement programs (namely the Service Alignment Initiative and/or the Early Retirement Program) internationally. Potential Profit from Recent Acquisitions and Innovation. ADP's forecasts do not appear to include any meaningful impact from certain new product offerings including big data and analytics, gig economy functionality, and digital payments. ADP's recent acquisitions (WorkMarket and Wisely) should be additive to revenues, and eventually accretive to operating margins. ADP's forecasts do not appear to include any meaningful impact from certain new product offerings including big data and analytics, gig economy functionality, and digital payments. ADP's recent acquisitions (WorkMarket and Wisely) should be additive to revenues, and eventually accretive to operating margins. Potential Benefits from Further Share Buybacks and Constant Leverage. ADP's forecasts assume a ~1% reduction in shares outstanding per annum, below the pace of its recent buyback program. ADP's forecasts also assume no additional debt. In light of substantial recent and projected increases in earnings and cash flow, the maintenance of a constant leverage ratio should allow for a more rapid share count reduction than is reflected in current guidance. ADP's forecasts assume a ~1% reduction in shares outstanding per annum, below the pace of its recent buyback program. ADP's forecasts also assume no additional debt. In light of substantial recent and projected increases in earnings and cash flow, the maintenance of a constant leverage ratio should allow for a more rapid share count reduction than is reflected in current guidance. Potential Benefits from Future M&A Activity. ADP's forecasts include the use of cash for prospective M&A, but do not include any prospective financial impact from M&A. In light of the above factors, we believe it is highly probable that ADP outperforms the high end of its guidance. Furthermore, we believe there is a clear path to continued profit improvement beyond the three-year forecast period, which should drive multi-year EPS growth beyond FY2021, and a long-term premium valuation for ADP's stock. In sum, we continue to view ADP as undervalued given the long-term runway for high-teens earnings growth. ADP has been our largest investment in the portfolio since our original investment in the company. As the stock price has increased in recent months, it has grown to be an even larger position as a percentage of Pershing Square Holdings' and the private funds' portfolio. While we have and will continue to manage the size of the position in these funds by selling stock and options in light of its increased size, we expect to continue to be a large, long-term and engaged shareholder. As a special purpose vehicle, Pershing Square VI has maintained its original investment in ADP, and has added to its position using cash generated from quarterly dividends paid by ADP. Organizational Update Brian Welch, who, along with Charles Korn, led the research effort on ADP, will be leaving Pershing Square effective June 30th. Brian is a highly talented investment analyst and a high-quality individual. We have been able to recruit analysts of Brian's quality because Pershing Square is an interesting and fun place to work, and also because of the successful track record of analysts who have left the firm to pursue other entrepreneurial ventures. I expect that Brian will similarly pursue a more entrepreneurial course when he determines his next venture. We wish him great success. Brian does not cover any other investment in the portfolio other than ADP, which will continue to be overseen by myself, Charles Korn, and Ben Hakim. Please contact the Investor Relations team if you have any further questions. Sincerely, William A. Ackman Disclaimer The information contained herein ("Information") is based on publicly available information about Automatic Data Processing, Inc. ("ADP" or the "Company"), which has not been independently verified by Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. ("Pershing Square"). Pershing Square recognizes that there may be confidential or otherwise non-public information in the possession of ADP or others that could lead ADP or others to disagree with Pershing Square's conclusions. This letter and the Information discussed are not a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell any securities. The analyses provided may include certain forward-looking statements, estimates and projections prepared with respect to, among other things, general economic and market conditions, changes in management, actions of ADP and its subsidiaries or competitors, the ability to implement business strategies and plans and pursue business opportunities in the human capital management (HCM) industry. Such forward-looking statements, estimates, and projections reflect various assumptions by Pershing Square concerning anticipated results that are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies and have been included solely for illustrative purposes, including those risks and uncertainties detailed in the continuous disclosure and other filings of ADP with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") at www.sec.gov. No representations, express or implied, are made as to the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking statements, estimates or projections or with respect to any other materials herein. Actual results may vary materially from the estimates and projected results contained herein. The Information is made available exclusively by Pershing Square and not by or on behalf of ADP or its affiliates or subsidiaries or any other person. While certain funds managed by Pershing Square and its affiliates have invested in common shares of, and/or derivatives referencing, ADP, Pershing Square is not an affiliate of ADP and neither Pershing Square nor its principals or representatives are authorized to disseminate any information for or on behalf of ADP, and nor do we purport to do so. Pershing Square manages funds that are in the business of trading buying and selling securities and financial instruments. It is possible that there will be developments in the future that cause Pershing Square to change its position regarding ADP. Pershing Square may buy, sell, cover or otherwise change the form of its investment in ADP for any reason. Pershing Square hereby disclaims any duty to provide any updates or changes to the analyses contained herein including, without limitation, the manner or type of any Pershing Square investment. The Information does not purport to include all information that may be material with respect to ADP or any other matter. Thus, shareholders, investors, and others should conduct their own independent investigation and analysis of ADP and the Information. Except where otherwise indicated, the Information speaks as of the date hereof. This letter is neither an offer to purchase or sell nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities of any investment funds managed by Pershing Square, ADP or any other person. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. All investments involve risk including the loss of principal. It should not be assumed that any of the transactions or investment discussed herein were or will prove to be profitable, or that the investment recommendations or decisions we make in the future will be profitable or will equal the investment performance of the investment discussed herein. The performance of ADP's share price is provided for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered a proxy for the performance of the position in Pershing Square funds' portfolio or the future returns of the Pershing Square funds. Average price per ADP share at inception of the position is determined using a methodology that takes into account not only the cost of outright purchases of stock (typically over a period of time) but also a per share cost of the notional shares underlying certain derivative instruments acquired by Pershing Square to build a long position. "Average price" reflects the average cost of the position that has been built over time as of the "announcement date" which is the date the position was first made public. The average cost has been calculated based on the following methodology: (a) the cost of outright purchase of shares of common stock is the price paid for the shares on the date of acquisition divided by the number of shares purchased; (b) the cost of an equity forward is the reference price of the forward on the date of acquisition divided by the number of underlying shares; and (c) the cost of call options at the time of announcement is calculated based on the reference price of the call option divided by a number of underlying shares on the date of acquisition adjusted for the theoretical delta of such options but not adjusted for the premium paid for such options. Over time, the amortization of premium will negatively affect performance. About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN: PSH) (NA: PSH) is an investment holding company structured as a closed-ended fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies. 1 Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. All investments involve risk including the loss of principal. Please see the additional disclaimers and notes to performance at the end of this letter for a description of calculation methodologies related to derivatives and other matters. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619006504/en/ Contacts: Media Maitland Seda Ambartsumian/Sam Turvey +44 20 7379 5151, Media-pershingsquareholdings@maitland.co.uk A type of highly malignant brain tumour contains a large number of cells involved in the formation of new blood vessels, helping it proliferate and spread. (Copyright: Juan Gaertner via 123rf) Selangor, Malaysia, June 20, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - A type of highly malignant brain tumour contains a large number of cells involved in the formation of new blood vessels, helping it proliferate and spread. Targeting these cells could hinder tumour growth, according to new research published in the Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology.Astrocytomas are tumours that can be found in the brain and spinal cord and originate from a type of cell, called an astrocyte, whose main function is to insulate and to provide structure for nerve fibres. They are the most common type of tumour that originates in the brain. There are four grades of astrocytomas, ranging from least to most aggressive. Grade IV astrocytomas are highly invasive and are almost always fatal. Lower grade astrocytomas are typically found in younger people while higher grade tumours are more often found in older adults.Astrocytomas depend on new blood vessel formation to grow and spread. Researchers in Malaysia wanted to know how the numbers of 'endothelial progenitor cells' (EPCs), which play a role in new vessel formation, changed with increasing grades of astrocytoma. EPCs represent a variety of cell types that circulate in the blood and adhere to the inner linings of blood vessels.The team of scientists examined brain tissue from 22 astrocytoma patients at the Hospital of University Sains Malaysia. They found that the numbers of endothelial progenitor cells were higher in the tumours than they were in surrounding healthy tissue. They also found that the numbers of these cells inside tumour tissue increased with age and higher tumour grade.Previous research has shown that patients with grades III and IV astrocytomas who underwent radiotherapy or chemotherapy demonstrated a reduction in the numbers of circulating EPCs. People with grades III and IV astocytomas who didn't undergo treatment had higher numbers of circulating EPCs than healthy people.Other studies have also shown that significantly reducing EPCs led to impaired and delayed growth in tumours followed by a reduction in the numbers of blood vessels feeding them.The researchers conclude that their findings suggest that drugs targeting new blood vessel formation given in appropriate doses according to age and tumour grade could prevent astrocytoma growth.For more information, contactPriscilla DasSchool of Medical Sciences,Universiti Sains MalaysiaEmail: daspriscilla@yahoo.com; pd12_psk038@student.usm.myAbout Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology (JST)Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology (JST) is published by Universiti Putra Malaysia in English and is open to authors around the world regardless of nationality. Currently, it is published twice a year in January and July. Other Pertanika series include Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science (JTAS), and Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities (JSSH). Website: http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology aims to provide a forum for high quality research related to science and engineering research. Areas relevant to the scope of the journal include: bioinformatics, bioscience, biotechnology and bio-molecular sciences, chemistry, computer science, ecology, engineering, engineering design, environmental control and management, mathematics and statistics, medicine and health sciences, nanotechnology, physics, safety and emergency management, and related fields of study.Research paper: https://bit.ly/2trEA3NFor more information about the journal, contact:The Chief Executive Editor (UPM Journals)Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (R&I)IDEA Tower 2, UPM-MDTC Technology CentreUniversiti Putra Malaysia43400 Serdang, SelangorMalaysia.Phone: +603 8947 1622 | +6016 217 4050Email: nayan@upm.myDistributed for Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology by ResearchSEA.Source: Pertanika JournalCopyright 2018 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. COLMINA Overview COLMINA Ready Program Certification Flow Fujitsu Limited Public and Investor Relations Tel: +81-3-3215-5259 URL: www.fujitsu.com/global/news/contacts/ TOKYO, June 20, 2018 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu today announced the establishment of the COLMINA Ready Program, a certification regime for Fujitsu Manufacturing Industry Solution COLMINA, a "digital place" connecting an array of manufacturing information, from design to production to maintenance, within the manufacturing industry. The program has begun full-scale operation in June. The COLMINA Ready Program is a scheme to certify that edge products, including various devices and sensors, gateways, and software deployed to manufacturing facility IoT systems, have been verified as compatible, or not, with COLMINA. By combining products certified as compatible under this program with COLMINA, customers can create high quality IoT systems within a short time frame, as they will be able to quickly build systems that collect manufacturing and operating data from production facilities. Going forward, Fujitsu will continue to further strengthen its collaboration with partners in order to develop new services using IoT data and business application data through the operation of this program.BackgroundThere has been an increasing trend toward the use of digital technology, particularly IoT, in creating innovation and enhancing competitiveness in the manufacturing industry. By offering COLMINA, Fujitsu has created a place where a great variety of manufacturing information can be connected, supporting the construction of IoT systems that link data from production facilities with business application data to provide features such as failure detection and visualization of production status. At the same time, it is necessary to collect data from a variety of equipment and devices in order to use actual production facility information, and the time and effort required for the development and testing of such systems had become an issue.http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_FujitsuCOLMINAOverview.jpgCOLMINA OverviewProgram SummaryThe COLMINA Ready Program checks the ability of edge products for IoT systems in manufacturing facilities, including sensors, gateways, and software, to connect to COLMINA, and certifies that verification has been done. Fujitsu uses a specially prepared testing environment and COLMINA specification documents for the verification, connecting the product being tested with COLMINA and evaluating the data. With the support of Fujitsu technicians in completing a series of tasks, the verification process can be finished in a few weeks to a month, after which the certification information will be posted on a website.http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_FujitsuCOLMINAReadyProgram.jpgCOLMINA Ready Program Certification FlowProgram Benefits for CustomersBy combining certified products with COLMINA, customers are able to create high quality IoT systems, quickly building systems to collect manufacturing and equipment operational information from production facilities while limiting the amount of time and effort spent on development and testing.Future PlansFujitsu will expand the number of certified products through this system, with a target of certifying a total of 200 product lines by the end of fiscal 2020. In addition, using COLMINA, Fujitsu will create new services using business data and data collected from production facilities, and further enhance its collaboration with various partners.Comment from Schneider Electric Japan Holdings Ltd.As part of our Pro-face brand of programmable controller displays (human machine interfaces referred to as HMIs), we aim to make HMIs as well as their BLUE runtime software capable of serving as an operational display for automated equipment and devices. At the same time, we aim to enable the software to safely and easily collect operational technology (OT) information and convey it to a cloud server as an edge terminal. By participating in Fujitsu's COLMINA Ready Program, we expect that it will now be possible to collect the diverse information obtained through BLUE, with communication drivers to over 800 types of manufacturing facilities, both in Japan and elsewhere, and utilize it in Fujitsu's abundant visualization solutions using HMI.About Fujitsu LtdFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 155,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.5 trillion yen (US$40 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.* Please see this press release, with images, at:http://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/Source: Fujitsu LtdContact:Copyright 2018 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. NEC Seiichiro Toda s-toda@cj.jp.nec.com +81-3-3798-6511 TOKYO, June 20, 2018 - (JCN Newswire) - NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) today announced the establishment of NEC X, Inc. in Santa Clara, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, in order to capitalize on the region's startup ecosystem and accelerate the development of new business based on the strengths of NEC's Central Research Laboratories technologies. Osamu Fujikawa, senior vice president with NEC and head of the company's Business Innovation Unit, is slated to become the CEO of NEC X as it begins operations in July 2018.NEC X will leverage the ecosystem of NEC's talent and technologies in order to promote commercialization through open innovation. The new company will cultivate competitive technologies and human resources that possess an entrepreneurial spirit and make important contributions to NEC's creation of new social value.NEC has a wide range of original and world leading technologies that have sprung from the company's global research centers. Until now, these have primarily been used for product development and commercialization within the company.NEC X will encourage the participation of startups and venture capital firms endowed with the innovative business ideas of Silicon Valley, as well as receive support in the creation of new business from accelerator companies, while joining an ecosystem of new business development. These initiatives will result in the creation of an "outbound style" of business that actively provides state-of-the-art technology and new business ideas.As one of the new company's first initiatives, NEC X will begin implementing the "NEC Accelerator Program" in July 2018 in order to launch the first startups in early 2019. This program is being created and promoted together with Singularity University(1), a leading provider of incubator and accelerator programs in Silicon Valley."We are delighted to hear that NEC is increasing their investment in the United States," said William Hagerty, U.S. Ambassador to Japan. "They, like so many other companies, have recognized that the U.S. market presents unparalleled opportunities for business development, and that now is the best time ever to expand their corporate footprint in America. We wish NEC every success with its latest venture.""We established Singularity University to educate individuals and organizations about exponential thinking and technologies, to empower visionary leaders with an abundant mindset and to build strong communities," said Rob Nail, CEO and Associate Founder, Singularity University. "NEC X will catapult NEC forward to serve partners and customers in ways previously unimaginable. Singularity University is humbled and thankful to NEC for their partnership.""NEC is now accelerating the monetization of its competitive technologies by creating diverse alliances as part of the 'strengthening of business development capabilities' in the 'restructuring of execution capabilities' that are outlined in the Mid-term Management Plan 2020(2) that NEC announced in January 2018," said Osamu Fujikawa, Senior Vice President, NEC Corporation. "The establishment of NEC X is an important advancement in this process, following the founding of dotData, Inc.(3) earlier this year."For more information on NEC X, please see the following link:http://nec-x.com/(1) Singularity Universityhttps://su.org/(2) NEC establishes "Mid-term Management Plan 2020"https://www.nec.com/en/press/201801/global_20180130_02.html(3) Disrupting data science with artificial intelligence NEC establishes a startup in Silicon Valley for automating data analyticshttps://www.nec.com/en/press/201804/global_20180426_01.htmlAbout NEC CorporationNEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.Based on its Mid-term Management Plan 2015, the NEC Group globally provides "Solutions for Society" that promote the safety, security, efficiency and equality of society. Under the company's corporate message of "Orchestrating a brighter world," NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, please visit http://www.nec.com/en/global/about/solutionsforsociety/message.html.Source: NEC CorporationContact:Copyright 2018 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. Newcomer takes number one spot in UK Chief Executives Across Diverse Industries Honoured in the UK, U.S., Canada, France and Germany LONDON, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Glassdoor, one of the world's largest job and recruiting sites, today announced the winners of its annual Employees' Choice Awards, honouring the Top CEOs in 2018 across parts of Europe and in North America. Unlike any other workplace award, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback by completing a company review about their CEO's leadership, along with insight into their job, work environment and employer over the past year. This year, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards for the Top CEOs feature six distinct company categories across the U.S., Canada, UK, France and Germany. In the UK, Glassdoor has revealed the 50 Top CEOs (honouring CEOs at employers with 1,000 or more employees). The ten Top CEOs in 2018 in the UK are: Sky Betting & Gaming's Richard Flint (99 percent approval) Microsoft's Satya Nadella (99 percent approval) Capital One's Richard D. Fairbank (98 percent approval) Salesforce's Marc Benioff (98 percent approval) Kantar Worldpanel's Tim Kidd (98 percent approval) Rentokil Initial's Andy Ransom (98 percent approval) Royal London 's Phil Loney (97 percent approval) Resource Solutions' Oliver Harris (97 percent approval) Metro Bank's Craig Donaldson (97 percent approval) Taylor Wimpey 's Peter Redfern (97 percent approval) "Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day. I congratulate all of this year's winners on this significant achievement," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees. The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work." Glassdoor's 50 Top CEOs in 2018 list features winning chief executives across diverse industries spanning technology, consulting, finance and more. Sky Betting & Gaming's Richard Flint (No. 1, 99 percent approval) is among 22 CEOs debuting as a Top CEO, along with Capital One's Richard D. Fairbank (No. 3, 98 percent approval), Kantar Worldpanel's Tim Kidd (No. 5, 98 percent approval) and Taylor Wimpey's Peter Redfern (No. 10, 97 percent approval). Of the six women CEOs who make the top 50, the three highest rated are wagamama's Jane Holbrook (No. 26, 93 percent approval), Alexander Mann Solutions' Rosaleen Blair (No. 33, 92 percent approval) and Enterprise's Pamela M. Nicholson (No. 38, 92 percent approval). This year, there are 15 CEOs who are recognised by employees in multiple countries, including only one CEO who has made five lists - Microsoft's Satya Nadella (U.S. Large, Canada, UK, France, Germany) - and one who has made four lists - SAP's Bill McDermott (U.S. Large, UK, Canada, Germany). When employees submit reviews about their employer on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experience, including sentiment around their CEO's leadership, in addition to rating workplace attributes like senior management, among others. Specifically, when rating their CEO on Glassdoor, employees are asked to report whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the performance of their CEO. Among the more than 770,000 employers reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 69 percent. Employees' Choice Award winners for the 2018 Top CEOs in the UK are determined using Glassdoor's proprietary algorithm, taking into account the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews shared by UK-based employees between 2 May, 2017 and 1 May, 2018. At a minimum, employers considered must have received at least 35 company reviews, including at least 35 CEO approval ratings and at least 35 senior management ratings, during the eligibility period. For reporting simplicity, CEO approval ratings are displayed as whole numbers, though calculations extend beyond the thousandth decimal place to determine final rank order. Complete award methodology can be found and downloaded here: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/List/about-employees-choice-awards.htm. SEE THE 2018 WINNERS: All winning CEOs across this year's six categories can be found by visiting: 100 Top CEOs - U.S. 50 Top CEOs at small & medium companies - U.S. 25 Top CEOs - Canada 50 Top CEOs - UK 10 Top CEOs - France 10 Top CEOs - Germany WHAT MAKES A GREAT CEO?: According to a study from Glassdoor Economic Research, highly rated CEOs are statistically linked to companies with great cultures. Among measures of company culture, the biggest driver of high CEO approval ratings is employee satisfaction with senior leadership. The study also reveals a strong link between CEO approval rating and financial performance. CEO INTERVIEWS + EMPLOYEE COMMENTARY: Glassdoor is showcasing interviews with winning CEOs, revealing best practices into how they lead, fun facts about their journey to the top and insights into what makes them tick in and out of work. To access these interviews with winning CEOs at Sky Betting & Gaming and Capital One, please email pr@glassdoor.com. Employee commentary about winning CEOs, their senior management team and company culture are also available upon request. About Glassdoor Glassdoor combines all the latest jobs with millions of reviews and insights to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for 770,000 companies located in more than 190 countries. For more information, visit glassdoor.com. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc. Photo- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/707875/CEOs_01.jpg Logo- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/449764/Glassdoor_Logo.jpg BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 2:00 am ET Wednesday, Destatis will release German producer prices for May. The index is seen at 0.4 percent on month, down from a 0.5 percent rise in April. Ahead of the data, the euro traded mixed against its major rivals. While the euro dropped against the pound and the greenback, it rose against the franc. Against the yen, it held steady. The euro was worth 1.1576 against the greenback, 127.58 against the yen, 1.1532 against the franc and 0.8792 against the pound as of 1:55 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Protest TODAY! Wed., June 20th 11:30 am ET UN "UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe is putting himself above the mission of ending AIDS by running a costly PR campaign to keep his post despite calls for him to step down," says AHF. Civil society advocates will protest today in New York City outside the United Nations headquarters calling for action on the leadership crisis at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) following a botched investigation of sexual harassment allegations against the agency's senior leadership. In conjunction with the demonstration, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) appealed in an open letter to the US Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Nikki Haley, to put pressure on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to resolve the protracted scandal by dismissing UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe. WHAT: UNAIDS PROTEST at UN 11:30 a.m. ET Advocates to demand UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe resign or be removed from his position over his handling of botched investigation of sexual harassment allegations against the agency's senior leadership. WHEN: WEDNESDAY, June 20th 2018 11:30 a.m. ET WHERE: in front of: United Nations Headquarters 420 E. 42nd St., NY, NY 10017 WHO: Terri Ford, Chief of Global Policy Advocacy for AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) John Hassell, National Director of Advocacy for AHF Denys Nazarov, Director of Global Policy Communication for AHF And 20 to 30 advocates protesting B-ROLL: 20-30 advocates with placards, whistles banners, 3ft world globe balloons MEDIA CONTACTS: Denys Nazarov, AHF (323) 533-9842cellor John Hassell, AHF (202) 774-4854 cell Women's rights groups worldwide have intensified calls for Sidibe's resignation or dismissal since news broke of his attempts to cover up sexual harassment allegations against his former deputy and interfering with the subsequent investigation. Since then, he has doubled down on his efforts to remain in his position by threatening UNAIDS staff from coming forward with future claims of abuse and mounted a costly PR campaign to garner public support. "Reform is needed throughout the UN, but the situation at UNAIDS has come to a breaking point," said Terri Ford, Chief of Global Policy Advocacy for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "It requires a special kind of trust from people-and especially from women, who are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS around the world-for the UNAIDS mission to succeed. Secretary-General Guterres needs to start rebuilding the reputation of UNAIDS and bring this scandal to a close by appointing a new executive director and initiating comprehensive reforms of the program with independent oversight." The New York demonstration is the latest in a series of similar actions that have been conducted in major cities over recent weeks. The UNAIDS scandal has received significant coverage from mainstream media including CNN, The Guardian, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Daily Mail and others. Other UNAIDS donor countries such as the UK and the Netherlands have also been requested to intervene amidst the inaction of the current UN administration. "The United States is the largest donor to UNAIDS, and its Executive Director is using taxpayer funds to run an expensive publicity campaign to save his own skin-when that money should be going towards public health programs," said John Hassell, National Director of Advocacy for AHF. "UNAIDS is supposed to be the global leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS, yet its entire mission is being undermined due to the unacceptable actions of Michel Sidibe. It began with him mishandling sexual abuse allegations and has continued on a downward spiral ever since." Pictures are available on request. About AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 920,000 people in 39 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005453/en/ Contacts: AIDS Healthcare Foundation Ged Kenslea, Senior Director, Communications (323) 791-5526 gedk@aidshealth.org or Denys Nazarov, Director of Global Policy Communication (323) 533-9842 or John Hassell, National Director of Advocacy (202) 774-4854 TELGTE, Germany, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The smart discounter Takko Fashion (the "Group"), one of the most successful discounters in the European fashion sector, with close to 1,900 stores in 17 countries in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, today announces its results for Q1 2018/2019 (February 2018 to April 2018). From February 2018 to April 2018 Takko Fashion increased its net revenue by 3.3 per cent from the same period last year, to 249.0 million euros. Like-for-like revenue also increased by 2.5 per cent compared to the same period last year. This is an excellent result for the smart discounter, especially considering the negative effects that the poor spring weather had on the textile market. The adjusted EBITDA amounted to 19.9 million euros in the period February 2018 to April 2018. Along with increased cash used in investing activities from 2.7 million to 5.9 million euros, Takko Fashion showed a positive operative cash flow of 6 million euros. Since the start of fiscal year 2018/2019 Takko Fashion has opened 17 stores, and now operates a total of 1,878 stores at the end of the first quarter. The smart discounter Takko Fashion plans to expand its network of stores to over 2,000 locations in the fiscal year 2019/2020. At the beginning of the year, Takko Fashion celebrated its market debut in France, where the smart discounter is now represented with four stores. "Our stores are being received wonderfully, so we're starting with the rollout now and plan to open another seven to ten stores this business year," reports Co-CEO Alexander Mattschull. Another current project of the smart discounter is the insourcing of e-commerce warehousing. Takko Fashion realizes synergies through this and combines online deliveries with store supplies. A new store concept has almost been fully implemented. For example, the entrance statement was redesigned, and children's fashion was given more space in the entrance area. The start of the new business year 2018/2019 and the positive developments clearly show that the smart discounter is on the right strategic path to continue its run of success. "We're still picking up speed and will continue with the positive development of Takko Fashion," says Co-CEO Alexander Mattschull. Disclaimer The press release contains estimates of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors largely out of the control of Takko Fashion S.a r.l., Takko Luxembourg 2 S.C.A. and is affiliated companies (the "Group"), which are hard to predict and which may result in the actual developments differing from the development explicitly or implicitly presented in this press release. Any liability of the Group concerning the information contained in this press release is expressly ruled out (including for direct or indirect damages or subsequent damages). This press release (or parts thereof) or the fact of its publication constitute neither the foundation nor a relationship of confidentiality for formation of a contract that render an acceptance of obligations or an investment decision. No company in the Group is obligated to update or assess the press release, including the statements referring to the future or any other information therein, except due to new knowledge, future events or other reasons. This press release may not be published, issued or distributed in regions in which this constitutes a violation of law, nor brought or sent to such jurisdictions. Investor information: investor.relations@takko.de +49(0)2504-923438 Press information: presse@takko.de +49(0)2504-923592 Arriving in Amsterdam next week on the 27-28 June, the second annual AI Expo Europe event will be co-hosted with two co-located events covering the IoT and Blockchain ecosystem; IoT Tech Expo Blockchain Expo. With over 9,000 top-level attendees already registered including CTO's, CDO's, Heads of Innovation Technology, IT Directors, Developers, Start-Up's, VC's, OEM's across a range of industries including but not limited to; Marketing, Automotive, HR Recruitment, Finance, Insurance, Government, Public Sector, Retail, Industrial, Healthcare, Education, Cyber Security and Developer platforms. The AI Expo will showcase the most cutting-edge technologies from more than 300 exhibitors and provide insight from over 300 speakers sharing their unparalleled industry knowledge, real-life experiences, valuable case studies dedicated Q&A sessions. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005048/en/ Leading female AI expert speakers to arrive in Amsterdam next week. (27-28th June) (Photo: Business Wire) Hear from 10 female leading Artificial Intelligence speakers The AI Expo Europe will feature ten leading female speakers across the finance, retail, travel, energy and consulting industries. The AI Expo actively support women working in artificial intelligence and IoT roles as they believe it is important to achieve a gender balance within the technology sector. Find out who the female speakers are and what to expect from them at the show below: Carla Jesus, Senior Product Owner, Adidas Carla implemented the first 'adiBot', find out how during the Chatbot panel in the AI and the Consumer conference track on 28 th June. Carla implemented the first 'adiBot', find out how during the Chatbot panel in the AI and the Consumer conference track on 28 June. Alejandra Leon, Global Segment Architect, Communications and Brand, Shell find out how Shell our developing an AI strategy for Enterprise within the AI in the Enterprise conference track on the 27 th June. find out how Shell our developing an AI strategy for Enterprise within the AI in the Enterprise conference track on the 27 June. Violeta Misheva, Data Scientist, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Learn how ABM AMRO are experimenting with Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to provide better services to their clients within Data Analytics for AI IoT conference track on the 27 th June. Learn how ABM AMRO are experimenting with Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to provide better services to their clients within Data Analytics for AI IoT conference track on the 27 June. Marrit Kuin, Global Digital Innovation Manager, Royal FrieslandCampina. Explore how the Dutch multinational dairy company is using Artificial Intelligence to innovate and serve their customers better within the AI and the Consumer conference track on 28 th June. Explore how the Dutch multinational dairy company is using Artificial Intelligence to innovate and serve their customers better within the AI and the Consumer conference track on 28 June. Allison Kang, VP, Content Curator, Spokesperson, BPU Holdings will present how decentralized AI comes into the healthcare industry during the healthcare panel within the AI and the Consumer conference track on 28 th June. will present how decentralized AI comes into the healthcare industry during the healthcare panel within the AI and the Consumer conference track on 28 June. Martine Van Der Lee, Director Social Media, KLM. Meet BB (short for Blue Bot), KLM's service bot who can book tickets for you on messenger or help you pack your bag using Google Assistant. BB aims to assist all customers throughout their entire journey. Join Martine within the AI and the Consumer conference track on 28 th June. KLM's service bot who can book tickets for you on messenger or help you pack your bag using Google Assistant. BB aims to assist all customers throughout their entire journey. Join Martine within the AI and the Consumer conference track on 28 June. Paige Leuschner, Research Analyst, Navigant Research, will be chairing the Data Analytics for AI IoT conference track on the 27 th June. She will be sharing the latest research on AI techniques and strategies during her opening remarks. Data Analytics for AI IoT conference track on the 27 June. She will be sharing the latest research on AI techniques and strategies during her opening remarks. Miriam Huijser, Co-Founder Chief Research Officer at Aiir Innovations, an innovative Dutch start-up that focuses on accelerating the visual inspection of aircraft engines by automatically analysing video footage from inside the engine. Hear how this is done within the AI Technologies conference track on the 28 th June. an innovative Dutch start-up that focuses on accelerating the visual inspection of aircraft engines by automatically analysing video footage from inside the engine. Hear how this is done within the AI Technologies conference track on the 28 June. Britta Muzyk-Tikovsky, Managing Director, Capscovil, an innovation agency and boutique publisher. Britta will be moderating the revolutionising of customer experiences through AI panel within the AI and the Consumer conference track on 28 th June. an innovation agency and boutique publisher. Britta will be moderating the revolutionising of customer experiences through AI panel within the AI and the Consumer conference track on 28 June. Jo Hill, Director Market Intelligence, Data and Analysis, Financial Conduct Authority. Jo will be presenting how artificial intelligence and machine learning is impacting the financial services sector within the AI in the Enterprise conference track on the 27th June. Start-up Innovation Incubator Zone Co-located Exhibition The event will host a dedicated start-up incubator zone where you can see the latest AI IoT technologies and innovations in action, in addition to the vast exhibition of 300+ companies who will be showcasing their products and services within the field of AI, IoT Blockchain. Expect to see demos and booths from Microsoft, IBM, PTC, Kore, Hercules, Thales, Rutronik, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, BPU Holdings, Start-up Amsterdam, ML6, Bottos, Ortec Data Science, Adani, NTR Labs, Prosper BI and many more. Start-ups within the incubator zone include Aiir Innovations, Botsquad, IoTify, Porter, 3D Universum, Zazu, 904 Labs, Innovation in Motion, Blockhearts, Mind Trace, Sightcorp, Ticketless, Effect.AI, Sodaq, Amberscript, Go Data Driven, BrainCreators, Media Distillery, Clockworks and Serket. In addition, attendees can join speakers from Aiir Innovations, Sightcorp and BrainCreators within the AI Technologies track on day 2 (28th June) as they explore innovative, artificial intelligence techniques and case studies. Attendees can visit the exhibition for free and will also have access to the free AI conference tracks: Data Analytics for AI IoT AI Technologies Ebay Case study: Machine Learning for Computational Advertising Find out how the world's largest Global marketplace leverages Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to create better experiences for its customers, both buyers and sellers. Learn from Or Levi, Senior Data Scientist at Ebay at 16.40 on the 27th June within the AI in the Enterprise track. Think predictive analytics for personalisation and recommendations Learn the top 5 Critical Success Factors for Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with leading Energy provider As RPA is already disrupting the finance industry, hear how it will affect the energy industry next from Engie's programme director, Martin Ruane. Engie already use a digital workforce to process BACs and payments, getting rid of human processing errors. Find out how to successfully implement automation techniques within your business on the 27th June within the AI in the Enterprise conference track. Exclusive networking opportunities including dedicated party tool Following the first day of the event, speakers, sponsors, press, ultimate, gold and expo plus attendees are invited to attend an evening of networking. Attendees can discuss the topics from the conferences and build relationships with like-minded companies and individuals. The Boat House will host the official networking party and the inaugural Blockchain Awards Ceremony, The Blocks, from 6 till midnight. The networking party is sponsored by Coinweb, the provider of a common platform and a simple user experience, making crypto as easy as email. The official networking app for the AI, IoT Blockchain Expo launched last week on the App Store and Google Play. The official app networking tool allows you to plan your 2 days at the Expo with ease. It provides the opportunity for all our paid delegates, speakers, exhibitors sponsors to connect pre-event, share knowledge, engage in discussions pre-plan meetings with those you are looking to connect with during the show. Free pass holders can download and access the app for conference agendas but won't be able to access the exclusive networking features. The app lists the agendas for all conference tracks, all exhibitors and where you can find them and a calendar to help you schedule your two days at the show. To register for your networking (Ultimate/ Gold/ Expo Plus) pass, click here. Or click here to register for your Free Expo Pass to the Europe 2018 event on the 27 28 June in Amsterdam. You can find out more about the World Series 2018 and register for each event here: AI Expo Europe 27-28th June 2018, RAI, Amsterdam AI Expo North America 28-29th November 2018, Santa Clara, Silicon Valley AI Expo Global 25-26th April 2019, Olympia Grand, London Notes for Editors: Cityline: Amsterdam/The Netherlands About AI Expo The AI Expo World Series (https://www.ai-expo.net/) hosts top level content and discussion, introducing and exploring the latest innovations and strategies in the AI arena. It brings together key industries including Enterprise, Consumer, Digital Transformation, Marketing, Automotive, HR Recruitment, Finance, Insurance, Government, Public Sector, Retail, Industrial, Healthcare, Education, Cyber Security and Developer platforms. For speaking, sponsorship, exhibitor and media partner enquiries please contact the team at enquiries@ai-expo.net or call on +44 (0) 117 980 9020. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005048/en/ Contacts: AI Expo Anna Fry, Marketing Executive +44117 980 9020 anna@ai-expo.net Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2018) - Para Resources Inc. (TSXV: PBR) (WKN: A14YF1) (OTC Pink: PRSRF) (the "Company" or "Para") is pleased to announce that Requests for Proposal ("RFP") have been sent out to seven qualified contract mining bidders for the mining contract at the Company's Gold Road Mine in Northwest Arizona. The RFPs requested that bidders provide pricing and terms for mining and extracting 500 TPD in a combination of shrinkage stopping and Alimak mining methods as described in the recently published PEA by RPMGlobal dated May 3, 2018, and entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report, Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Gold Road Mine, Arizona, USA" (filed on SEDAR on May 4, 2018). The RFP also asked bidders to propose value engineered alternatives based on their preference and experience. Bids are expected by the end of July 2018. Ian Harris, Para's President, states, "This is an important step for the Gold Road Mine as we move forward with our plan to start-up mining operations in October of this year. The ramp up plan contemplates initial production of 250 TPD growing to 500 TPD in early 2019. In parallel, we are also receiving quotations for the construction of a new shaft for extraction of mined material and waste, which will dramatically reduce extraction costs over the current method of hauling up the 2-mile long decline." Harris further states, "All of the needed permits for operating the Gold Road Mine are in place, and once a successful bidder is selected, we will move immediately to complete contracts and begin the mobilization process. We are currently recruiting senior staff at Gold Road and expect to have the operations team in place within the coming months." ABOUT PARA RESOURCES: Para is a junior producing gold mining company. Para owns approximately 80% of the El Limon project, in Colombia, which, in addition to its current underground operation, is purchasing mineralized rock mined by small artisanal miners working on the Company's property. The El Limon and OTU properties also have exploration and development upside. The Company also owns 88% of the Gold Road Mine in the Oatman District of Arizona. RPM Global recently produced an NI 43-101 Technical Report and PEA, establishing a Mineral Resource estimate and a good economic outlook for the Gold Road Mine. Production at Gold Road is expected to commence in October 2018. Para will continue to take advantage of current market conditions to acquire and develop additional highly economic, near-term production assets that have strong exploration and development upside. Cautionary Notes: This press release contains forward-looking information under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved." All information contained in this news release, other than statements of current and historical fact, is forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Para to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to those risks described in the public documents of Para filed on SEDAR from time to time. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made. Although management of Para has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Para does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Para's readers should also review the risks and uncertainties sections of Para's annual and interim MD&As. On behalf of the Board of Directors "C. Geoffrey Hampson" _________________________ C. Geoffrey Hampson, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Director For further information, please contact Andrea Laird Telephone: +1-604-259-0302 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. MILAN, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Persian Idea provides an innovative vision of fashion which has the aim to open up the dialogue between Iran and the international fashion system and whose focus centres around three main themes: a lifestyle approach to fashion; the empowerment of young talents; the comittment towards an eco-sustainable dimension. A new project which starts from Italy. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/708488/Javad_Sedghamiz.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/708487/Persian_Idea_2019.jpg ) Persian Idea - an innovative Iran-based ecosystem for the development of the fashion system - was presented by CEO Dr. Sedghamiz during a press conference just held in Milan. During the speech he presented Persian Idea's development project, whose aim is to open up new collaborations between Iran and the international fashion system and that - as first country to kickstar its project - has chosen Italy. Three main values charachterize Persian Idea: an approach to fashion which is wide and involves the whole lifestyle dimension; the empowerment of young talents combined with a new vision of creativity which becomes a mean to overcome gender divisions, to bring back to the center the human dimension of the Human being; and, finally, the commitment towards the eco-sustainability. Persian Idea started its path from Italy: after the debut in Florence - where Pitti Uomo 94 was the occasion to present the 2019 spring-summer collection - the brand plans to open in 2019 a showroom in Milan, which will be followed by an opening in Paris. The company, whose headquarter is based in Teheran, controls directly the whole fashion chain, from creation to production and promotion, and it is based upon highly innovative technologies able to protect the enviroment and to abolish wastes. The company - led by the enterpreneur Javad Sedghamiz - plans to become a priviledged representative for the dialogue between fashion from Iran and international fashion, on both directions. A project which sees Italy as a special partner. "After what we achieved in Florence, we are proud to present our new project in Milan. In which, alongside with gathering most talented designers of our country and presenting their spectacular work within the Persian Idea brand, it pursues three objectives. Firstly, we aim to respect the culture of our country along with using it as our main inspiration. Secondly, we plan to start new projects which are inclusive toward the countries that we share borders with. Finally, thanks to our researches and studies, offer specialized consultancies to those foreign brands that plans to export their products in our country. Now we intend to invest in Italy and - in order to present our best - we plan to open a showroom in Milan, which will be followed by an opening in Paris, in both menswear and womenswear." Persian Idea Mode ArTech,Iran-based private company founded at the beginning of 2018, is a leader ecosystem in the activities of design, training and media for the fashion industry. It manages all the phases of the fashion chain, from creativity to production, through its specific divisions: design studio, the innovatively equipped office which gathers the most talented Iranian and international designers and is made up of two design departments, one sampe-making and one 3D department; the public relations, media & event planning area, the Educational Center, the Reaserch & Develpoment hub; and, finally the directly controlled showroom and Art Gallery. Persian Idea: www.persianidea.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2018) - Dunnedin Ventures Inc. (TSXV: DVI) (the "Company") today announced drilling has recommenced at its 100% owned Kahuna diamond project, Nunavut. Drill crews and equipment have been mobilized and drilling of high-priority kimberlite targets is underway. The Company will be drilling approximately 30 targets in June and July 2018. These are mainly located on the northern half of the property, which was not drilled during the first phase of drilling in April 2018. Chris Taylor, Dunnedin's CEO said, "The northern project area hosts a dense concentration of kimberlite occurrences and has the most abundant high-quality diamond indicator mineral (DIM) chemistry recovered from our till sampling programs to date. Over 30 historic drill-confirmed kimberlites are known in this area, including approximately 12 kimberlite pipes and a number of kimberlite dikes, the largest of which is the highly diamondiferous Kahuna dike. We have excellent DIM results in the northern project area that correlate to kimberlite pipe-style geophysical targets and will drill as many as possible between now and mid-July." Figure 1: Commercial-sized rough diamonds collected by Dunnedin from the Kahuna kimberlite in the northern project area as reported on February 8, 2017. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3803/35371_a1529465811173_21.jpg In addition to a large number of pipe targets the northern project area hosts the Kahuna kimberlite dike which contains a significant diamond resource that remains open to expansion along strike and at depth. It has been drilled to shallow depths of generally less than 80 metres across approximately 4 kilometres of strike, and contains an Inferred Resource of 3,189,000 carats of diamonds (+0.85 mm) from 3,066,000 tonnes of rock, with a bulk sample grade of 1.04 carats per tonne (news release of January 26, 2015). Figure 2: Drill targets to be tested during June and July 2018 To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3803/35371_a1529465812142_70.jpg Details of the Drill Program The Company is using the same Rotary Air Blast (RAB) drill rig employed during the April drill program to test the maximum number of targets. RAB drilling is faster and less expensive than comparable drill techniques, and will allow the Company to rapidly confirm: 1) Whether kimberlite is present at each target, 2) The size of each kimberlite occurrence, and 3) In conjunction with lab results, whether the kimberlite is diamond-bearing. While many of the identified kimberlite targets are expected to be at or nearly exposed at surface, several of the targets to be tested in June and July are covered by 10-20-metre-thick glacial sediment and are thus not directly exposed. In addition to directly testing kimberlite targets, the RAB drill will also collect DIMs from these sediments. The concentration of DIMs at each drill site will inform the Company regarding proximity to nearby diamond-bearing kimberlite sources, thereby enhancing the Company's surface-based till sampling results. This information will be used during follow-up drill programs to vector into covered diamondiferous kimberlites that remain undrilled during the current phase of work. The current RAB drilling is expected to reach depths of 50 to 100 metres, with the goal of collecting up to 250 kilograms of material from each new kimberlite. The material will be analyzed for microdiamond content and results are expected to be received from the lab approximately 8-10 weeks after the drill campaign concludes. Kimberlites that prove to be significantly diamondiferous will be further drill-tested to determine geometry and to obtain mini-bulk samples that will allow the Company to construct diamond curves characterizing the grades and size distributions of diamonds from each target. The Company is currently awaiting diamond results from kimberlitic material collected during the first phase of drilling in April. Jeff Ward, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this release. For further information please contact Mr. Knox Henderson, Investor Relations, at 604-551-2360 or khenderson@dunnedinventures.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors Dunnedin Ventures Inc. Chris Taylor Chief Executive Officer About the Kahuna Project Dunnedin Ventures Inc. (TSXV: DVI) is a Vancouver-based company whose primary asset is the 100% owned, advanced-stage Kahuna Diamond Project in Nunavut which hosts a high-grade, near surface inferred diamond resource and numerous kimberlite pipe targets. The Company holds diamond interest in 1,664 km2 of mineral tenure located 26 kilometers northeast of Rankin Inlet and adjacent to Agnico Eagle's Meliadine gold mine. To define and prioritize kimberlite pipe targets Dunnedin has evaluated an extensive historic data set and recovered diamonds and indicator minerals from a series of kimberlite and till samples over three seasons of field work. Working with advisor and shareholder Dr. Chuck Fipke, the Company has used the same till sampling and mineral screening protocols employed during Dr. Fipke's discovery of Canada's first diamond mine at Ekati, N.W.T., but improved by over 20 years of additional diamond data and experience. The Kahuna Diamond Project has an Inferred Resource Estimate of 3,987,000 tonnes at an average grade of 1.01 carats per tonne, totalling over 4 million carats of diamonds (+0.85 mm) (see news release dated March 31, 2015). The largest diamond recovered from the property to date is a 5.43 carat stone from the Kahuna dike which was a piece of a larger diamond that had been broken during the sample preparation process and was reconstructed as having an original size of 13.42 carats. Dunnedin is backed by a world-renown team of diamond experts with decades of combined experience in Arctic exploration and capital market strength. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE, Belgium, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- VIVES, a long-standing investor in iTeos Therapeutics, participated in the Series B EUR64 million fundraise. The lead and new investor, the American fund MPM Capital, will allow the UCL spin-off to develop several immune-oncology drug candidates, of which two will enter clinical testing in the coming 12 months VIVES, one of the largest European University investment funds, announced an oversubscribed Series B fundraising of 64 million by iTeos Therapeutics, a spin-off from the de Duve Institute of UCL and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research with a highly innovative, next-generation immuno-oncology pipeline. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/708532/Prof_Benoit_Van_den_Eynde_and_Michel_Detheux.jpg ) MPM Capital (United States) led the consortium of investors, which included additional new investors HBM Partners (Switzerland), 6 Dimensions Capital (China) and Curative Ventures (United States). VIVES Louvain Technology Fund and other existing Belgian investors - Fund+, SRIW and SFPI-FPIM, also participated in the fundraising. The funds will enable iTeos Therapeutics to advance several promising best-in-class immuno-oncology programs toward clinical investigation. The strong financing also supports the Belgium-based company's expansion into new U.S.-based offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The field of cancer immunotherapy has moved forward significantly in recent years as a number of medicines and vaccines have entered the market that harness the immune response to treat cancer more safely, effectively and sustainably. Therapeutic applications of these treatments are however limited because tumors develop mechanisms that allow them to evade the immune system. The mission of iTeos is precisely to develop immunomodulatory drugs to defeat immunosuppression. "We brought toiTeos our expertise in the creation of innovative spin-offs since the early stages of academic research in the early 2000s, until the creation of the company in 2011," says Philippe Durieux, CEO of VIVES. "We were among the first shareholders because iTeos'assets are exceptional, along with its anchor with the UCL and the scientists of the renowned Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the proven experience of management, an impressive syndicate of experienced investors and their respective networks, etc. This Round B funding event is among the biggest in Europe for a biopharmaceutical company. We have chosen to participate in this new round of funding because the product portfolio is promising and will potentially really cure the cancer." "We are grateful to all those who believed in our potential from the very beginning, and continue to follow us, as well as to our new investors. This new round validates our leadership in the field of immuno-oncology and will allow us to pursue our strategy based on the discovery and development of new drugs," commented Michel Detheux, co-founder and CEO of iTeos . "This fundraising is one of the largest ever realized in Europe for a university spin-off," said the rector of UCL Vincent Blondel. The fight against cancer is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. I am pleased to see that the academic world can put its expertise to the benefit of this cause. And this thanks to the VIVES Fund, which links researchers to the needs of society. "This exceptional fundraising illustrates the key role of the University and its related seed fund, VIVES fund, in the development of new technologies responding to the societal challenges," adds Bruno van Lierde, Chairman of the Board of Directors. Sopartec SA, technology transfer company of UCL and managing company of the VIVES Fund. About VIVES VIVES Louvain Technology Fund is a technology investment fund that invests in spin-offs of the University of Louvain (UCL) and start-ups both in Belgium as in neighboring countries. VIVES II is funded to the tune of 43 million euros by a dozen of Belgian and European investors such as the European Investment Fund(FEI), SFPI-FPIM, BNP Paribas, BPI France, ING Belgium, Sofina, AXA Belgium, Belfius, IRD (France), Nivelinvest, Region of Brussels capital and Sopartec (UCL). VIVES has invested in 17 companies which, together, brought together more than 230 million euros through public and private funding. VIVES has already made two exits. About ITeos Therapeutics SA Custom suite in Andaz London Liverpool Street hotel to benefit (RED)'s fight against AIDS The Andaz brand announced today its latest collaboration with (RED) the AIDS organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver the launch of a custom suite at Andaz London Liverpool Street personally designed by Sir Terence Conran, founder of acclaimed architecture and interior design firm, Conran and Partners. The (ANDAZ)RED Suite is available to book beginning June 22, 2018, with a portion of each booking going directly to support (RED)'s fight to end AIDS. Development of the 900 square foot suite (80 square meters) follows a larger renovation of the hotel's 267 guestrooms in 2017, completed by the team at Conran and Partners. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005096/en/ (ANDAZ)RED suite at Andaz London Liverpool Street. (Photo: Business Wire) "Bringing in the local neighborhood and culture to the guest experience through design and experiences is what the Andaz brand is all about," said Heather Geisler, vice president, global brands and field marketing for Hyatt. "Launching the (ANDAZ)RED Suite in London not only celebrates our continued collaboration with (RED) but also gives us an opportunity to bring to life the city's rich art history and storied culture through Sir Terence Conran's inspired design." "We're thrilled to offer the (ANDAZ)RED Suite-one we see as an experience all its own," said Andaz London Liverpool Street General Manager, Otto Steenbeek. "It's been an honor working with Sir Terence Conran to create this expertly curated space reflecting the spirit of East London, while giving our guests an opportunity to benefit the lives of others through their travels." The Andaz brand launched 11 years ago with Andaz London Liverpool Street. Leveraging the hotel's largest suite, the design includes custom-made cabinets, bedside and dressing tables, Eames and Karusselli lounge chairs (Sir Terence's favorite seating) and a replica of the coffee table Sir Terence designed for his own home. "The Great Eastern Hotel, as this hotel was once known, was my first big hotel project, so it has been a dream for me to be involved with the building once again," said Sir Terence Conran. "I am proud to have collaborated with the Andaz brand and (RED) on a suite design that will give guests a great deal of pleasure while doing a great deal of good in the world. Through carefully curated and commissioned artwork and photography by local artists, we injected the vibrant and creative vibe of East London into the suite and mixed in contemporary hotel design with a domestic feel." The room layout was adjusted to create a living and dining area as well as a separate bedroom, while introducing finishes and furniture to distinctly set it apart from both other hotel experiences in the area and the recently redesigned Andaz rooms. The suite's bathroom includes black Dornbracht brassware and basins by Laufen. It also houses a double vanity unit in marble, a freestanding Laufen bath and heated floors. The room design also references (RED) with one of the Karuselli chairs upholstered in red leather, a bright magenta sofa, and red glass bedside lamps. "After the success of our first (ANDAZ)RED Suite designed by Jonathan Adler at Andaz West Hollywood, we were excited to bring this experience to international travelers and show them that staying at a hotel can now be both personally rewarding and a powerful force in changing people's lives," said Deb Dugan, (RED)'s CEO. "Collaborating with the Andaz brand once again felt like a natural next step in our approach of engaging and giving back to local communities worldwide." The suite will also feature portraits by British portrait and fashion photographer Rankin. Each portrait tells the story of how (RED) funds were put to work on the ground, showcasing mothers and children in Africa who have thrived because of the (RED) funds from partners like the Andaz brand. A special cabinet designed by Sir Terence contains a selection of (RED) products available for purchase ranging from $19-$315 (14-300). With each purchase, guests will provide an additional donation to (RED). The selection currently includes: (BEATS)RED Beats Pill+, (ALESSI)RED Anna G Corkscrew, (S'WELL)RED bottle, (LE CREUSET)RED Salt and Pepper Mill, and a (VESPA)RED helmet and mug. As part of the first collaboration of its kind between a hotel brand and (RED), this suite is the latest in a series of activations since 2017, including the first-ever (ANDAZ)RED Suite at Andaz West Hollywood designed by Jonathan Adler; (ANDAZ)RED Cabanas at five Andaz properties worldwide; and a breakfast promotion at Andaz properties in North America to raise funds for (RED)'s fight. For more information about Andaz London Liverpool Street and its (ANDAZ)RED Suite, please visit: Hyatt.com/AndazRED The term "Hyatt" is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and /or one or more of its affiliates. About Andaz Global in scale while local in perspective, Andaz hotels weave the sights, sounds and tastes of their surroundings into each property for an experience that truly immerses guests in the eclectic culture of each local destination. Through personalized, unscripted service, Andaz hotels create a barrier-free environment where guests are encouraged to explore their personal sense of style and become inspired by the spirit of the culture around them. Seventeen Andaz hotels are currently open: Andaz 5th Avenue and Andaz Wall Street in New York, Andaz San Diego, Andaz West Hollywood, Andaz Napa, Andaz Scottsdale Resort and Spa, Andaz Savannah, Andaz Maui at Wailea, Andaz Ottawa Byward Market, Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya, Andaz Peninsula Papagayo in Costa Rica, Andaz London Liverpool Street, Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht, Andaz Singapore, Andaz Delhi, Andaz Xintiandi in Shanghai, and Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills. For more information, please visit andaz.com. Follow @Andaz on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and tag photos with WhenInAndaz. About (RED) (RED) was founded in 2006 to engage businesses and people in the fight against AIDS. (RED) partners with the world's most iconic brands that contribute proceeds from (RED)-branded goods and services to the Global Fund. (RED) Proud Partners include: Amazon, Apple, Bank of America, Beats by Dr. Dre, Belvedere, Claro, The Coca-Cola Company, MCM, Salesforce, SAP, Starbucks and Telcel. (RED) Special Edition partners include: aden+anais, Alessi, ALEX AND ANI, Andaz, Baxter of California, Bombas, Fatboy USA, Fully, Girl Skateboards, Le Creuset, Nickelodeon, Mophie, S'well, Wanderlust and Vespa. To date, (RED) has generated more than $500 million for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to support HIV/AIDS grants in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. 100 percent of that money goes to work on the ground no overhead is taken. Global Fund grants that (RED) supports have impacted more than 110 million people with prevention, treatment, counseling, HIV testing and care services. About Conran and Partners Conran and Partners are a collaborative design studio working across Architecture and Interiors. Based in London, they were founded by Sir Terence Conran over thirty years ago, the practice works across all sectors specializing in residential and hospitality design. Conran and Partners redesigned the 267 guest rooms at Andaz London Liverpool Street which opened in 2017 in the first major overhaul of the rooms since unveiling their original design for the hotel twenty years ago when Andaz was known as the 'Great Eastern Hotel'. Conran and Partners have designed the interiors for some of the world's most prestigious destination restaurants, such as London's Royal Exchange, Skylon and Bluebird, as well as the acclaimed Hong Kong Club in Hong Kong, Gustavinos in New York and German Gymnasium in London's Kings Cross. The practice is well established in Asia having designed many iconic projects such as Roppongi Hills Residences, Futako Tamagawa, Niki Club, Hotel Icon and the Mandarin Oriental Bar Grill HK. Most recently the practice completed the 288 rooms of the QO Hotel in Amsterdam which opened earlier this year and the interior design of The House Hotel and Residence in Istanbul, an innovative mixed-use development comprising 51 hotel rooms and 155 residences with shared communal facilities. They are currently working on the full interior design scope for two new Park Hyatt Hotel projects in Jakarta and Auckland, which include F+B and spa facilities. Conran and Partners are also responsible for the 226-room PURO Krakow Kazmierz Hotel in Poland which opens this summer. www.conranandpartners.com @WeAreConran View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005096/en/ Contacts: Gloria Kennett Hyatt gloria.kennett@hyatt.com 312-780-5506 LTE for IoT chipmaker Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS) announced that Korean telecommunications device maker, Aprotech, has adopted its Monarch LTE-M/NB-IoT chip technology to develop new LTE IoT devices for worldwide markets, beginning first with Korea. The first device to come to market under the Sequans/Aprotech agreement will be an IoT kids and pets tracker that Aprotech is designing for operators in Asia. For this, Aprotech is using Sequans' CLOE (connecting and locating objects everywhere) IoT tracker platform, which integrates Sequans' Monarch technology with the GNSS technology of STMicroelectronics, for best-in-class location accuracy. "Sequans is the leader in LTE for IoT technology and we selected Sequans because of the best-in-class power consumption they've demonstrated in both the Monarch chip and the CLOE platform," said YongNam Jung, CEO, Aprotech. "We were also impressed with Sequans' worldwide single SKU capability and their success in getting Monarch certified with leading operators worldwide-this is very important to our global deployment strategy." "Aprotech has quickly become a valued supplier to leading companies in Asia, and we are excited that new Aprotech IoT devices based on Sequans' Monarch are coming to market," said Danny Kedar, VP of Sequans IoT Business Unit. "We are sure that our Monarch, the most highly optimized LTE-M/NB-IoT chip in the world with Single-SKU, worldwide deployment capability, will help Aprotech deliver new devices quickly in Korea and Japan and other parts of the world." Sequans' Monarch LTE Cat M1/NB1 Platform is the world's most highly optimized LTE-M/NB-IoT chip. It provides full support for power saving mode (PSM) and extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) to enable the long battery life needed by many IoT use cases, and it provides the enhanced coverage modes defined in the standard that extend coverage for deep-indoor and remote deployments. Monarch comprises baseband, RF, power management, and RAM, integrated into a single, tiny 6.5 x 8.5 mm package. Monarch also supports advanced features such as programmable RF filtering for global band support in a Single-SKU, and proprietary dynamic power management technology enabling rock-bottom low power consumption of 1 micro amp for long battery life. CLOE is a turnkey IoT tracker solution for OEMs and ODMs. CLOE integrates LTE with GNSS, a power management unit (PMU), memories and a microcontroller in a very small 30 x 40 mm package. CLOE is intelligently engineered to address multiple tracking applications with best-in-class battery life, location accuracy, reachability, mobility, and reporting periodicity. Designed with separated GNSS, LTE-M, and application domain power systems, CLOE allows its GNSS subsystem to continue to track while other domains are shut down, allowing rock-bottom power consumption. Sequans will be present at MWC Shanghai, June 27-29. Sequans' CEO, Georges Karam, will be speaking at the GSMA Mobile IoT Summit on June 28. To set up a private meeting, please contact us at events@sequans.com. Forward-Looking Statements About Aprotech Established in 1996, Aprotech specializes in the manufacture and development of telecommunications devices. Aprotech is a trusted supplier to leading companies, including Korea Telecom, Samsung Electronics and LG Ericsson. Aprotech delivers more than 100,000 units per month to countries in Europe and Asia. Aprotech products are CE- and FCC-certified and are delivered with two-year warranties. Please visit http://aprotech.co.kr/ About Sequans Communications Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS) is a leading provider of single-mode 4G LTE semiconductor solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and a wide range of broadband data devices. Founded in 2003, Sequans has developed and delivered seven generations of 4G technology and its chips are certified and shipping in 4G networks around the world. Today, Sequans offers two LTE product lines: StreamrichLTE, optimized for broadband devices, including CPE, mobile and portable routers, and high-performance IoT devices; and StreamliteLTE, optimized for lower data rate and narrowband IoT devices, including wearables, trackers, and sensors. Sequans is based in Paris, France with additional offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. Visit Sequans online at www.sequans.com; www.facebook.com/sequans; www.twitter.com/sequans View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005229/en/ Contacts: Sequans Communications S.A. Media relations: Kimberly Tassin, +1-425-736-0569 Kimberly@sequans.com or Investor relations: Claudia Gatlin, +1-212-830-9080 claudia@sequans.com New Experience Browser and Data Science Workbench provide digital business leaders with unprecedented AI transparency, extensibility control RichRelevance, the global leader in Experience Personalisation, today announced RichRelevance Xen AI, the next generation of open and explainable artificial intelligence (AI) focused on experience personalisation. The culmination of more than ten years of AI and machine learning innovation, Xen AI delivers several breakthrough capabilities that allow digital leaders to perfectly blend human expertise and machine intelligence to deliver differentiated experiences at global scale with confidence and control. "Xen AI delivers on our vision to help companies grow their business by turning every digital interaction into a personalized, memorable experience," said Carl Theobald, president and CEO of RichRelevance. "This is one of the most important and exciting launches in our company history and reinforces our commitment to continuous innovation. With Xen AI, our clients now have the world's most transparent, impactful personalisation available in the market today." RichRelevance Xen AI: Shining a Light on Your Business AI augmentation, the combination of human and artificial intelligence where both complement each other, is expected to create $2.9 trillion of business value by 2021 (Gartner, 2017). However, most personalisation AI solutions today are "black box" architected for automation, not augmentation and do not provide visibility into how they arrived at a particular outcome. These black box solutions tend to be simplistic, and do not meet the needs of enterprises who require business controls, visibility and extensibility in order to achieve the best outcomes from AI. Xen AI opens the black box with the debut of the industry-first Experience Browser, Data Science Workbench and Experience Optimizer to provide transparency in decisioning, extensibility of algorithms and a balance of automation and business control. Xen AI features more than 300 strategies to help business leaders detect and respond to unlimited digital signals in real time, using a full spectrum of algorithms and multi-context AI to deliver mass personalisation at scale. The Experience Browser: Unprecedented AI Transparency An industry first, the Experience Browser provides business users instant visibility into the performance that Xen AI is driving, and full transparency about why and how this optimal experience was chosen for a given individual. Unlike traditional tools, the innovative Experience Browser UI overlays right on top of customers' websites providing valuable insights in context with where the personalized experiences are being displayed. The intuitive visual overlay allows the user to audit AI decisions with a single click, including profile, recommendation summary, segment, rules, and strategy evaluation. Key features include: Inspect dynamic segments user graph for individuals based on their behavior Visibility into strategies that drive every decision on every placement Rule selection evaluation segment, context, type, etc. Overall placement performance attribution, views, clicks, revenue, etc. Deep links to Experience Insights for drill down real-time reporting and analytics Content performance rankings and more Business users can make adjustments and changes based on insight on the user graph data available to the AI, as well as easily identify outdated, broken or ineffectual rules that are getting in the way of business outcomes and the overall customer experience. Xen AI also features the industry-leading Experience Optimizer, which leverages predictive strategies to dynamically assemble individualized experiences in real-time, while providing transparency in its decisioning. The Experience Optimizer continuously tests and determines the best-performing strategies for a given individual and context, while limiting AI decisioning with guardrails, i.e. business and brand rules as defined by business users. This balance of transparency and manual controls in Xen AI enables customers to automate the mundane and bring back creativity into business. "The Experience Browser enables us to easily understand how AI works without needing a data scientist to decode it," said Allan Bo Christiansen, Digital Business Developer at ATEA. "With just a few clicks we can understand purchase intent drivers, analyze segments, have insight as to why certain strategies were picked instead of others and proactively manage our customer experience across the entire journey. We're able to make educated decisions and take action in real time based on data not just instincts." The Data Science Workbench: Unprecedented AI Extensibility With the new Data Science Workbench, RichRelevance provides a full lifecycle management system that allows data scientists and marketing technologists to deploy, test and iterate their own experience personalisation insights and strategies. The Data Science Workbench (DSW) enables RichRelevance clients and partners to leverage and extend their own data science, bring in data from any source, and incorporate custom models and strategies. DSW Modules include: Model Builder: Leverage RichRelevance's big data store of user behavior to create new models, micro-segmented decisioning, business rules that combine marketing and commerce domains Model Importer: Bring offline analysis to life online; improve the testing and explainability of existing algorithms by bringing a client's own work into Xen AI Strategy Publisher: Leverage one of the world's most advanced AI stacks to deploy and run strategies at scale "RichRelevance's new Data Science Workbench helps us leverage our data and insights to easily build strategies that are unique to our business without requiring a sophisticated data science team," said Donna Holt, Senior Product Manager -Ecommerce at Office Depot. "Together with RichRelevance, we've been able to deploy custom algorithms that drive even greater customer engagement, satisfaction and revenues." About RichRelevance RichRelevance is the global leader in experience personalisation, driving digital growth and brand loyalty for more than 200 of the world's largest B2C and B2B brands and retailers. RichRelevance leverages advanced AI technologies to bridge the experience gap between marketing and commerce to help digital marketing leaders stage memorable experiences that speak to individuals at scale, in real time, and across the customer lifecycle. Headquartered in San Francisco, RichRelevance serves clients in 42 countries from 9 offices around the globe. For more information, visit www.richrelevance.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005480/en/ Contacts: Rich Relevance Sam Faulkner RichRelevance@threepipe.co.uk 02070252702 Metals Creek also Announces $200,000 Private Placement Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2018) - Metals Creek Resources Corp. (TSXV: MEK) (Metals Creek or the company) is pleased to announce that the company has completed a due diligence visit to the 10 Patented mining claims (The Patents) in Garrison Township, approximately 35 kms north-northeast of Kirkland Lake, Ontario. The patents are contiguous with Osisko Mining to the west, south and east and contiguous with Kirkland Lake Gold to the north. (See Map on the company's website). During the due diligence, representatives of the company collected 16 selective rock grab samples that were submitted for gold analysis. Assay results range from 7 parts per billion (ppb) gold up to 6280 ppb gold, with 62.5% of the samples returning in excess of 1 g/t (gram per tonne) gold. (see chart below). Mineralization was traced for 307m, consisting of 1-15% disseminated pyrite with local galena and chalcopyrite. The host rock is strongly albitized mafic volcanics with associated quartz veining and stockwork. Sample Number Gold in ppb GAR18-01 4600 GAR18-02 2650 GAR18-03 1520 GAR18-04 2900 GAR18-05 6280 GAR18-06 7 GAR18-07 421 GAR18-08 2280 GAR18-09 190 GAR18-10 918 GAR18-11 798 GAR18-12 1190 GAR18-13 3500 GAR18-14 505 GAR18-15 4690 GAR18-16 3830 Metals Creek can earn a 100% interest in the patents by making cash payments totaling $310,000 over a period of 4 years following the execution of the LOI. The vendors will retain a 2% NSR which the Company can purchase 1% for $1 million. This agreement is subject to a 30 day due diligence period by the company. Alexander (Sandy) Stares states, "The due diligence visit clearly confirms gold mineralization on the Garrison patents. Metals Creek is actively planning a grid for the purpose of conducting a ground geophysical survey over the area and followed by detailed mapping and prospecting with the intention of prioritizing targets for diamond drilling." The surface grab samples mentioned in this release are selective by nature and are unlikely to represent average grades of the property. In conjunction with the work program planned for the Garrison Property, the company announces a private placement to cover costs associated with the planned work. The company is offering, by private placement, of up to 1 million non flow-through units at a price of $0.05 per unit, and up to 2.5 million flow-through units at a price of $0.06 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds up to $200,000. Each non-flow through unit issued in the private placement will consist of one common share and one common share purchase warrant, each warrant entitling the holder to acquire one common share at an exercise price of $0.10 for a period of 24 months following the issuance date. Each flow-through unit issued in the private placement will consist of one common share and one half of one common share purchase warrant, each whole warrant entitling the holder to acquire one common share at an exercise price of $0.10 for a period of 24 months following the issuance date. Arm's length third parties assisting in the private placement will be entitled to cash commission equal to 6% of gross proceeds raised and broker warrants equal to 8% of placed securities (each broker warrant entitling the holder to acquire one common share of the Corporation for $0.10 for a period of 24 months following the issuance date of the units). The above mentioned private placement is subject to exchange approval. About Metals Creek Resources Corp. Metals Creek Resources Corp. is a junior exploration company incorporated under the laws of the Province of Ontario, is a reporting issuer in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, and has its common shares listed for trading on the Exchange under the symbol "MEK." Metals Creek has earned a 50% interest in the Ogden Gold Property, including the former Naybob Gold mine, located 6 km south of Timmins, Ontario, and has an 8 km strike length of the prolific Porcupine-Destor Fault (P-DF) that stretches between Timmins, Ontario, and Val d'Or, Quebec. Metals Creek also has an option agreement with Quadro Resources on Metals Creeks and Benton Resources Staghorn Gold Project in Newfoundland, as well as two option agreements with Anaconda Mining Inc. on Metals Creek's Jacksons Arm and Tilt Cove Properties also in Newfoundland. The company also has an option agreement on its Clarks Brook property with Sokoman Iron Corp. and is engaged in the identification, acquisition, exploration and development of other mineral resource properties, and presently has mining interests in Ontario, Yukon and Newfoundland and Labrador, including the recently acquired Great Brehat project on the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. Additional information concerning the Corporation is contained in documents filed by the Corporation with securities regulators, available under its profile at www.sedar.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Alexander (Sandy) Stares, President and CEO Metals Creek Resources Corp telephone: (709)-256-6060 fax: (709)-256-6061 email: astares@metalscreek.com MetalsCreek.com Twitter.com/MetalsCreekRes Facebook.com/MetalsCreek Infiniti Research, a world-renowned market intelligence solutions provider, has announced the completion of their latest list blog on the top five digital trends shaping the future of the mining industry This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005647/en/ 5 Digital Trends to Keep Track of in the Mining Industry. (Graphic: Business Wire) For companies operating in the mining industry, the past decade has been a roller-coaster ride. Commodity prices have seen both historic highs and lows, and operational realities have shifted permanently in the face of the digital revolution. This year too, the mining industry is anticipated to observe an array of changes. In the metals and mining industry, digitalization will be a power that changes the nature of companies and their interface with employees, communities, government and the environment at every step of the value chain. The mining industry players that encourage digital trends, can expect a more nimble and lucrative business, with better decision-making and increased employee empowerment. In one of our latest blogs, Infiniti has listed the top five digital trends shaping the future of the mining industry. "Digitalization can improve safety, health, and environmental impact when designed and implemented in the right manner," says an industry expert from Infiniti To know more about the scope of our engagement, speak to an expert Top digital trends shaping the future of the mining industry: Artificial intelligence: This trend is expected to be the next big step in the mining industry's digital transformation and is one of the most popular trends in the mining industry. Artificial intelligence is mostly concerned with smart computers that can undertake procedures and react like human beings. It can help mining companies attain greater metallurgical accuracy by finding promising drilling targets. Predictive modeling of ore-bodies and blast hole drill data can lead to more exact drilling targets, optimal blast, drill patterns, and enhanced ore fragmentation. This trend is expected to be the next big step in the mining industry's digital transformation and is one of the most popular trends in the mining industry. Artificial intelligence is mostly concerned with smart computers that can undertake procedures and react like human beings. It can help mining companies attain greater metallurgical accuracy by finding promising drilling targets. Predictive modeling of ore-bodies and blast hole drill data can lead to more exact drilling targets, optimal blast, drill patterns, and enhanced ore fragmentation. AR and VR: Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies are quickly becoming digital trends that are crucial tools for mine training, planning, and safety in the mining industry. AR overlaps interactive 3D visual images atop the physical world, while VR substitutes the real world with a replicated one. VR has the skill to create reliable scenarios by submerging users in realistic mining conditions to support training in operations, health, and safety. This technology can prove helpful in slowing down blast sequences to a portion of its real-time speed, letting engineers advance both blast and drill rates by simulating different patterns. To know more about this engagement , speak to an expert Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies are quickly becoming digital trends that are crucial tools for mine training, planning, and safety in the mining industry. AR overlaps interactive 3D visual images atop the physical world, while VR substitutes the real world with a replicated one. VR has the skill to create reliable scenarios by submerging users in realistic mining conditions to support training in operations, health, and safety. This technology can prove helpful in slowing down blast sequences to a portion of its real-time speed, letting engineers advance both blast and drill rates by simulating different patterns. , Predictive analytics and data integration: Organizations in the mining industry use the data available to them with the help of digital trends like predictive analytics. Data on the state and performance of equipment can be linked remotely with analytics, thus, predicting failures before they occur. Digital trends and continued innovations and advances in GPS, mobile broadband, sensor technology, and data storage through cloud computing will help quickly improve the productivity of the connected mine. Organizations in the mining industry use the data available to them with the help of digital trends like predictive analytics. Data on the state and performance of equipment can be linked remotely with analytics, thus, predicting failures before they occur. Digital trends and continued innovations and advances in GPS, mobile broadband, sensor technology, and data storage through cloud computing will help quickly improve the productivity of the connected mine. Request a proposal, to know more about the top five digital trends shaping the future of the mining industry Infiniti Research is a global market intelligence company offering strategic insights to help look beyond market disruptions, study competitive activity, and develop intelligent business strategies. Listed below are the top five digital trends shaping the future of the mining industry. View the complete list of the top five digital trends shaping the future of the mining industry: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/thoughts/5-digital-trends-mining-industry/2 About Infiniti Research Established in 2003, Infiniti Research is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. With 15+ years of experience and offices across three continents, Infiniti Research has been instrumental in providing a complete range of competitive intelligence, strategy, and research services for over 550 companies across the globe. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005647/en/ Contacts: Infiniti Research Anirban Choudhury Marketing Consultant US: +1 844 778 0600 UK: +44 203 893 3400 hello@infinitiresearch.com https://www.infinitiresearch.com/contact-us VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Body and Mind Inc. (CSE: BAMM) (CSE: BAMM.CN) (US OTC: BMMJ), (the "Company" or "BAM") is pleased to provide a progress report on its Phase II cultivation expansion in Las Vegas, Nevada. Additionally, the company announces a strategic engagement to advance the Ohio dispensary opportunity and expand Body and Mind product offerings. Phase II expansion of the Nevada facility is nearing completion with the addition of three new flower rooms, an additional trim area, dry-room and expanded packaging area. The company will add approximately 40% more high pressure sodium lights to the facility and almost all interior construction and electrical work has been completed. All required external power was specified, permitted and installed last year and interior electrical permitting is anticipated by mid-July 2018. The ventilation and cooling will be controlled and monitored by a new facility-wide system which includes multiple sensors and proprietary feedback loops throughout all cultivation areas. In addition to adding more cultivation space, the Company has completed the installation of an automated watering system and is in the process of adding carbon dioxide delivery, monitoring and control systems throughout the facility. Once final facility upgrades have been inspected by the State of Nevada, the company will proceed to move clones into the newly constructed space. Increased revenues from the new grow spaces are anticipated to be realized approximately 18 weeks from the completion date of Phase II through a full growing and production cycle. Robert Hasman, Director of BAM, commented, "We've been focused on creating and supplying top quality cannabis and our award-winning genetics and products have been widely popular with the rapidly expanding recreational market. Our Phase II expansion had relatively low capital costs of approx. USD $500,000 and has proceeded both on time and on budget. We anticipate the expansion will allow us to cost effectively increase cultivation within our current facility by roughly 40% while continuing to deliver quality cannabis products." The company has experienced strong demand for flower, extract and edible products. In an effort to meet this demand, the Company has promoted Tanya Reyes as Kitchen Chef. "Tanya's passion for creating outstanding products combined with her experience as a commercial confectionary chef and past work with top tier food companies has been a huge asset to Body and Mind," stated Robert Hasman, Director of Body and Mind. Cannabis sales in Nevada posted the largest monthly sales ever in March 2018 with over USD $41 Million in retail sales across the state. Limited licences in Nevada have prevented the market from being flooded with product and Body and Mind continues to have strong distribution and shelf space throughout Nevada. In Ohio, the NMG Ohio partnership ("NMG Ohio"), of which BAM owns 30%, has engaged Rachel Rivera as an operational consultant for medical cannabis dispensary operations in Lorain county, northeastern Ohio. "Rachel was a pioneer in the Nevada medical cannabis market and brings significant experience in cannabis dispensary operations to our group." stated Robert Hasman, Director of Body and Mind. NMG Ohio is in the process of working with applicable state and local authorities to progress the medical cannabis dispensary license. NMG Ohio will provide progress updates regarding the dispensary license on its new website www.northohiodispensary.com . Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. About Body and Mind Body and Mind is a publicly traded company investing in high quality medical and recreational cannabis cultivation and production. Our wholly owned Nevada subsidiary was awarded one of the first medical marijuana cultivation licences and holds cultivation and production licences. Body and Mind products include dried flower, edibles, topicals, extracts as well as GPEN Gio cartridges. Body and Mind marijuana strains have won numerous awards including the Las Vegas Hempfest Cup 2016, High Times Top Ten, the NorCal Secret Cup and the Emerald Cup. Body and Mind continues to expand operations in Nevada and Ohio and is constantly reviewing accretive expansion opportunities. For more information please visit our web site at www.bammarijuana.com Notice regarding Forward Looking Statements:This news release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including the inability of the Company to obtain shareholder and exchange approval, or to raise additional equity as well as the various risk factors discussed in the Company's disclosure documents, which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. Body and Mind Inc. undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law or the Canadian Securities Exchange. We seek safe harbour. 20 June 2018 Magnolia Petroleum Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: MAGP / Sector: Oil & Gas Magnolia Petroleum plc ('Magnolia' or 'the Company') Proposed Disposal of Oklahoma Assets and Issue of Equity Magnolia Petroleum plc, the US focused oil and gas exploration and production company announces it has signed a non-binding agreement with Western Energy Development ('WED') for the sale of 13 wells in Oklahoma for a consideration of $500,000. The disposal is in line with the Company's debt reduction programme. Together with the proposed disposal of the North Dakota assets, both of which are subject to shareholder consent and completion, the board estimates that the proceeds will be sufficient to satisfy the outstanding US$2 million balance of the reserve-based lending facility ('the Lending Facility') of its wholly owned operating subsidiary, Magnolia Petroleum, Inc. ('Magnolia Inc'). As detailed in the Company's announcement of 7 June 2018, the Company embarked on a debt reduction programme in response to the Bank's decision not to extend the Lending Facility and its requirement that the full outstanding amount be repaid or refinanced by 9 July 2018. As previously advised, the Bank has placed restrictions on the Company's bank account until the Lending Facility is repaid. In the meantime, the Company is carefully managing its working capital which is severely constrained. While the disposal of the North Dakota and Oklahoma assets, subject to shareholder consent, is expected to repay the lending facility in full and release the restrictions on the Company's bank account, it is likely that the Company will continue to need to carefully manage its working capital in the short term until the costs of the disposal and related legal work have been received. It should be noted that the sale of the North Dakota and Oklahoma assets will materially reduce the Company's revenue and further disposals may be required to provide additional working capital. In order to assist the Company with costs to allow for the disposal and to provide a modest amount of additional working capital, the Company has raised 26,950 by way of subscription for 7,700,000 new ordinary shares at 0.35p per share ('Subscription Shares'). WED has agreed to participate in the subscription for 3,500,000 new ordinary shares which will increase its interest in the Company to approximately 26.1 per cent. Murray Street Investments LLC has subscribed for 4,200,000 new ordinary shares, representing 9.86 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital. As WED holds more than 10 per cent. of the Company's ordinary shares, the subscription and the disposal, subject to shareholder consent, constitute related party transactions. The Directors consider, having consulted with its nominated adviser, Cairn Financial Advisers LLP, that the terms of the transactions are fair and reasonable insofar as its shareholders are concerned. The Proposed Disposal is conditional on the granting of approval of the Board's asset disposal programme at the Company's general meeting which is to be held at 15:30 p.m. BST (09:30 a.m. local time) on 22 June 2018 at the offices of Pray Walker P.C., 100 West Fifth Street, Suite 900, Tulsa, OK 74103, USA ('the General Meeting'). The Company reminds shareholders that, in the event that the Lending Facility is not repaid or refinanced, it is expected that either the Bank will repossess and sell assets to pay off the debt, which is likely to be at a lower value for Shareholders than the Company could achieve, or the Directors will be required to commence Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings with respect to Magnolia Inc. This would also likely lead to a loss of control of the debt reduction programme and reduced value being achieved by the Company for its portfolio of wells. In this scenario, shareholders are unlikely to receive any value for the Company's portfolio of wells with all proceeds of sales being used to settle creditors and the costs of the Chapter 11 proceedings. Issue of Equity The Subscription Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the Company's existing issued ordinary shares. Application will be made for the admission of the Subscription Shares to trading on AIM and it is expected that admission will occur and that dealings will commence at 8.00 a.m. on or around 26 June 2018. For the purposes of the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules, the Company announces that, following the issue of the Subscription Shares, the Company will have 42,606,992 ordinary shares in issue. The Company has no ordinary shares held in treasury. The total number of voting rights in the Company will therefore be 42,606,992. This figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules. This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014. * * ENDS * * For further information on Magnolia Petroleum Plc visit http://www.magnoliapetroleum.com/ or contact the following: Goldman Sachs Joins NEA to Propel NGINX Leadership in Microservices Delivery, a $32 Billion Total Addressable Market Opportunity NGINX, Inc., the company based on the popular open source project and offering a suite of technologies designed to develop and deliver modern applications, has raised $43 million in Series C funding led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity (GS Growth), a platform within Goldman Sachs' Merchant Banking Division. NGINX has experienced tremendous growth and customer traction, including adoption by more than 30% of the Fortune 50. With this latest round, NGINX will accelerate its mission to help enterprises on their journey to microservices a modern approach to application development. The Series C brings NGINX's total funding to $103 million. "As a former IT executive, I've seen what it takes to manage enterprise applications at scale. We took a hard look at many of the emerging vendors helping enterprises scale and modernize their applications. We invested in NGINX for three key reasons," says David Campbell, a Managing Director in Goldman Sachs' Merchant Banking Division who will join the NGINX board of directors as part of the investment. "First, NGINX is a globally recognized technology leader with a pervasive footprint and adoption by more than half of the busiest websites in the world. Secondly, we believe NGINX's open source approach and participation in the Linux ecosystem gives them unique advantage over the traditional proprietary appliance business models. And critically, the NGINX management team has the proven experience it takes to execute and gain commercial traction." Digital transformation is fueling disruption across every major industry, as enterprises must leverage new technologies, adopt innovative business models, and deliver superior customer experiences in order to maintain competitive advantage. According to Gartner Research, forty-seven percent of CEOs said they are being challenged by the board of directors to make progress in digital business. Yet Gartner goes on to predict that by 2023, while 90% of current applications will still be in use, most will have received insufficient modernization investment. Application modernization is imperative to achieving successful digital outcomes and drives increased enterprise adoption of microservices architecture to complement legacy applications and support evolving application demands. NGINX is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this opportunity and help enterprises at each step of the modernization journey a market projected to reach $32.01 billion by 2023 and growing at more than 16% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). "We're excited to welcome Goldman Sachs as we believe they're the right partner to support us in driving adoption of the NGINX Application Platform and extending our leadership in microservices enablement," said Gus Robertson, CEO of NGINX. "In the last 18 months, NGINX has introduced six new technologies to the platform to accelerate the modernization of our customers' application infrastructure. Goldman Sachs brings real world experience managing mission critical applications (both legacy and new), which will help us further accelerate our platform vision." As one of the most successful open source projects in the world, NGINX has evolved from a single project into an application delivery platform that includes a suite of eight open source and commercial software solutions. In its first four years, the company has: Captured 400 million websites globally, which is one-third of all websites. This includes two-thirds of the 10,000 busiest and most demanding sites. Grown to more than 1,500 customers. Three of the five largest global banks, three of the five largest US retails, and five of the 10 largest technology companies trust NGINX. Achieved 100 percent year-over-year growth for four straight years. NGINX is focused on maintaining a similar trajectory. NGINX will use the new funding to: Advance its product roadmap NGINX will enhance its Kubernetes Ingress controller, Istio service mesh, and API gateway solutions. NGINX will also introduce a commercial version of Unit, a dynamic web and application server, and Controller, a centralized monitoring and management tool. Expand the breadth and depth of its partner ecosystem NGINX will expand existing partnerships in the microservices ecosystem, including platform providers AWS, Docker, Google Cloud, IBM, Microsoft Azure, Red Hat and VMware and solution providers Datadog, New Relic, Okta, Ping Identity and Splunk. Accelerate global expansion NGINX will introduce a new, global channel program and open additional offices to meet increasing demand, particularly in the APAC region. About NGINX, Inc. NGINX, Inc. is the company behind the popular open source project trusted by more than 400 million sites. We offer a suite of technologies for developing and delivering modern applications. The NGINX Application Platform enables enterprises undergoing digital transformation to modernize legacy, monolithic applications as well as deliver new, microservices-based applications. Companies like Netflix, Starbucks, and McDonalds rely on NGINX to reduce costs, improve resiliency, and speed innovation. NGINX investors include: Blue Cloud Ventures, e.ventures, Index Ventures, Goldman Sachs, MSD Capital, NEA, Runa Capital, and Telstra Ventures. We are headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with our EMEA head office in Cork, Ireland and APAC head office in Singapore. Learn more at https://www.nginx.com/ or join the conversation by following @nginx on Twitter. About Goldman Sachs Growth Equity Founded in 1869, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division (MBD) is the primary center for Goldman Sachs' long term principal investing activity. With nine offices across seven countries, MBD is one of the leading private equity investors in the world. Since 1986, the group has invested approximately $180 billion of levered capital across a number of geographies, industries and transaction types. Within MBD, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity (GS Growth) is a dedicated platform for venture capital and growth equity investments in leading companies that have built innovative technology or processes to transform their industries. Since 1994, GS Growth has partnered with more than 200 companies and invested more than $5 billion of capital across sectors including technology, software, media, healthcare IT, and business and information services. GS Growth seeks to partner with strong management teams to help companies achieve product, customer and geographic expansion. For more information about GS Growth, please visit: www.gs.com/gsgrowth. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005421/en/ Contacts: NGINX, Inc. Steven MacDonnell, 415-544-7209 NGINX@pancomm.com Longtail-1 well encounters approximately 256 feet of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone Discovery is in southeast portion of Stabroek Block, near Turbot discovery Adding third drillship to accelerate exploration of high value prospects Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) today announced an eighth oil discovery offshore Guyana at the Longtail-1 exploration well, creating the potential for additional resource development in the southeast area of the Stabroek Block. The well encountered approximately 256 feet (78 meters) of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoir. The well was safely drilled to 18,057 feet (5,504 meters) depth in 6,365 feet (1,940 meters) of water. The Stena Carron drillship began drilling on May 25, 2018. The Longtail-1 well is located approximately 5 miles west of the Turbot-1 well and follows previous world-class discoveries on the Stabroek Block at Liza, Payara, Liza Deep, Snoek, Turbot, Ranger and Pacora. Longtail drilling results are under evaluation; however, the combined gross recoverable resources of Turbot and Longtail are estimated to exceed 500 million barrels of oil equivalent. CEO John Hess said: "We are very pleased with this eighth significant oil discovery, which reaffirms the remarkable exploration potential of the Stabroek Block." Following completion of the Longtail-1 well, the Stena Carron drillship will move to drill the Hammerhead-1 well located approximately 9 miles southwest of the Liza discovery. The operator plans to add a third drillship that will operate in parallel to the Stena Carron to explore the Block's numerous high value prospects. Liza Development Advances The Liza Phase 1 development offshore Guyana, sanctioned last June, continues to rapidly progress. Development drilling began in May, laying the foundation for production start-up in early 2020. Liza Phase 1 will consist of 17 wells connected to a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel designed to produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day. Construction of the FPSO and subsea equipment is under way. The second phase of the Liza development will utilize a second FPSO with gross production capacity of approximately 220,000 barrels of oil per day, with start-up expected by mid 2022. A third phase of development is planned to closely follow Liza Phase 2 and is expected to bring gross production to more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day by late 2023. Co-venture partners ExxonMobil, Hess and Nexen are focused on enabling Guyanese workforce and supplier development and working with government to support the growth and success of its economy, both in the energy and non-energy sectors. In 2017, ExxonMobil, Hess and Nexen together spent $24 million with more than 300 local suppliers and opened the Centre for Local Business Development in Georgetown, Guyana to promote the establishment and growth of local businesses. The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers). Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds a 45 percent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds a 30 percent interest and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Limited holds a 25 percent interest. Hess Corporation is a leading global independent energy company engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. More information on Hess Corporation is available at http://www.hess.com. Cautionary Statements This news release contains projections and other forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These projections and statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance. No assurances can be given, however, that these events will occur or that these projections will be achieved, and actual results could differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risk factors. A discussion of these risk factors is included in the company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We use certain terms in this release relating to resources other than proved reserves, such as unproved reserves or resources. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure relating to proved reserves in Hess' Form 10-K, File No. 1-1204, available from Hess Corporation, 1185 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10036 c/o Corporate Secretary and on our website at www.hess.com You can also obtain this form from the SEC on the EDGAR system. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005717/en/ Contacts: Hess Corporation Investor: Jay Wilson, 212-536-8940 jrwilson@hess.com or Media: Lorrie Hecker, 212-536-8250 lhecker@hess.com Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2018) - Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV: MGM) (OTCQB: MGMLF) (FSE: M3G) ("Maple Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to report AGM results and provide a brief corporate update. The following directors were elected to the board to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders of the Company or until their successors are duly appointed or elected. NOMINEE VOTES FOR % FOR VOTES WITHHELD % WITHHELD David W. Broughton 35,982,457 99.48 186,388 0.52 Sean Charland 36,060,847 99.7 107,998 0.3 Jay Chmelauskas 36,020,107 99.59 148,738 0.41 B. Matthew Hornor 36,018,867 99.59 149,978 0.41 Pierre Lebel 36,023,975 99.6 148,870 0.4 Janine North 35,998,005 99.53 170,840 0.47 Maurice Tagami 36,069,378 99.72 99,467 0.28 In addition, shareholders at the AGM approved the Company's stock option plan and the appointment of the Company's auditors. Corporate Update Maple Gold is in the process of implementing a number of cost-cutting measures given the current market environment. The Company will provide an update on cost reductions in the coming weeks. Maple Gold expects to report additional drill results from the Douay Gold Project shortly. The Company has experienced longer than anticipated turnaround times on assay results to-date, but expects a steady flow of assay results throughout June and July as additional results are received and interpreted. Maple Gold's President and CEO, Matthew Hornor, stated: "The market conditions and current Maple Gold share price have both softened recently, but we remain very optimistic about creating shareholder value going forward. The Douay Gold Project hosts a significant gold resource in one of the world's premier mining jurisdictions with excellent infrastructure and exploration upside. We've been very pleased with the discovery of new gold zones and early returns from the recently completed drill program. We still have a significant number of assays to report through June and July and remain on track to complete an updated resource estimate toward year's end." Hornor added: "The Company recently attracted local institutional investors from Quebec approximately two months ago and we continue to have ongoing discussions with other major institutions and mining companies that recognize the opportunity to create meaningful long-term value at Douay." Qualified Person The scientific and technical data contained in this press release was reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Fred Speidel, M. Sc, P. Geo., Vice-President Exploration, of Maple Gold. Mr. Speidel is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Speidel has verified the data related to the exploration information disclosed in this news release through his direct participation in the work. Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) Maple Gold implements strict Quality Assurance ("QA") and Quality Control ("QC") protocols at Douay covering the planning and placing of drill holes in the field; drilling and retrieving the NQ-sized drill core; drill-hole surveying; core transport to the Douay Camp; core logging by qualified personnel; sampling and bagging of core for analysis; transport of core from site to the analytical laboratory; sample preparation for assaying; and analysis, recording and final statistical vetting of results. For a complete description of protocols, please visit the Company's QA/QC page on the website at: http://maplegoldmines.com/index.php/en/projects/qa-qc-qp-statement About Maple Gold Maple Gold is an advanced gold exploration company focused on defining a district-scale gold project in one of the world's premier mining jurisdictions. The Company's 377 km Douay Gold Project is located along the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt in northern Quebec, Canada. The Project has an established gold resource that remains open in multiple directions, with excellent infrastructure and several large scale operating mines within this prolific mining district. Maple Gold has now completed a significant winter drill campaign to expand on the known Resource Areas and test new discovery targets within the Company's 55 km of strike along the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone. For more information please visit www.maplegoldmines.com. ON BEHALF OF MAPLE GOLD MINES LTD. "Matthew Hornor" B. Matthew Hornor, President & CEO For Further Information Please Contact: Mr. Joness Lang VP, Corporate Development Office: +1 416.306.8124 Email: jlang@maplegoldmines.com NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE. Forward Looking Statements: This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada, including statements about the prospective mineral potential of the Porphyry Zone, the potential for significant mineralization from other drilling in the referenced drill program and the completion of the drill program. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding timing and completion of the private placement. When used herein, words such as "anticipate", "will", "intend" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on certain estimates, expectations, analysis and opinions that management believed reasonable at the time they were made or in certain cases, on third party expert opinions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, and uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual events, results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future events, results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Maple Gold Mines Ltd.'s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company's website at www.maplegoldmines.com. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2018) - Palamina Corp. (TSXV: PA) has completed further staking to expand its five 100% owned, district-scale gold projects in the Puno Orogenic Gold Belt ("POGB") located in southeastern Peru. The POGB is one of the least explored known orogenic gold belts. Palamina's projects in the POGB now cover over 77,000 hectares. All projects have been ground-truthed by artisanal, small-scale and informal miners who are generally limited to mining gold from the top 100 metres below surface. No previous systematic exploration programs have been carried out on Palamina's gold projects. The Company has used recent geochemical and prospecting results to direct to staking over potential extensions to existing gold mineralized zones. Andrew Thomson, President of Palamina, stated, "Palamina has expanded its land holdings by applying for an additional ~25,000 hectares to cover structures along strike from known gold occurrences. Staking took into account Palamina's upcoming heli-borne geophysical program and geochemical results from recent sampling programs. The 3,000 line kilometre airborne survey will cover Palamina's Coasa, Gaban and Cori gold projects. Currently Palamina has two prospecting teams in the field primarily sampling and mapping on its Coasa gold project to better understand the gold potential within and surrounding the Phusca shear zone which spans the property." In June 2018, additional mining rights were made available for staking by the Peruvian government. At Coasa, increased staking was carried out to secure a total of 16,400 hectares, including areas on strike from anomalous gold occurrences within and in association with the Phusca shear zone. At Bendi, pursuant to recent follow-up field visits, the mining application rights now cover 18,900 hectares. Palamina has increased its mining rights to 19,300 hectares at Gaban and 17,600 hectares at Cori to cover structural extensions along strike from small-scale hard rock gold mining operations. These new application areas are to be included within the area to be flown by the heli-borne geophysical survey in order to assist in the identification of prospective structures that are masked by organic cover. Once processed results from the heli-borne study are received, follow-up surface exploration will be designed to identify and locate gold bearing quartz veins within or in close association with the identified regional shear zones. Heli-borne magnetic study results are expected by mid-August 2018. Figure 1: Palamina's five expanded district scale gold projects in the Puno Orogenic Gold Belt To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4727/35359_35359_a1529441692666_45.jpg Mr. Donald McIver, M,Sc Exploration and Economic Geology, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM), as well as the Society of Economic Geologists (FSEG), is Vice President Exploration for Palamina Corp. He is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and he has reviewed the geological and technical contents of this press release. About Palamina Corp. Palamina has acquired the application and mining rights to five gold projects in southeastern Peru in the Puno Orogenic Gold Belt (POGB), one copper-gold project in the coastal I.O.C.G. belt in southern Peru and holds 100% interest in one exploration project in Mexico. Palamina's Peruvian based exploration team have a cumulative 35 years' experience in the POGB and are supported by a board of directors and advisors who are proven mine finders, deal makers and financiers. Palamina has 29,621,381 shares outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol PA. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Andrew Thomson, President Phone: (416) 987-0722 or visit www.palamina.com This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the use of proceeds of the Offering and the Company's future business plans. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law. A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company appears in the Company's continuous disclosure filings, which are available at www.sedar.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2018) - Cornerstone Metals Inc. (TSXV: CCC) (OTCQB: CCCCF) (FSE: 1PY) ("Cornerstone" or the "Company") is pleased to announce additional preliminary results of metallurgical test work being conducted on its Carlin Vanadium Project in Nevada. The third round of testing has achieved vanadium extraction levels of 95.5%. "Our testing has very quickly moved the needle from the low 80's, which were strong, to outstanding numbers, far exceeding even our metallurgists' expectations," said Cornerstone President and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Cowley. "These numbers show a clear sign of a major technical breakthrough for our project." Test work continues on a sample composite generated from an 18.9 metre drill core intercept from the Company's recent diamond drilling verification program on the deposit. The latest results employed a roast/leach/pressure oxidation approach. Ongoing test work will continue to optimize various parameters with the aim of developing a conceptual flowsheet. Once a conceptual flowsheet has been defined, tests will be run across the deposit on a full range of samples. The tests to date have been conducted to demonstrate potential recoveries. At this stage, there is no suggestion that these tests demonstrate economic viability. Metallurgical test work continues at Sherritt Technologies in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, the leader in the development and commercialization of pressure hydrometallurgical processes. Sherritt is a one-stop shop that has a proven track record of developing projects from concept-to-operation with a skilled and experienced team, including process and equipment specialists. The Carlin Vanadium deposit is considered one of the largest, highest grade primary vanadium deposits in North America (USGS Professional Paper 1802 Critical Mineral Resources of the United States-Economic and Environmental Geology and Prospects for Future Supply dated December 18, 2017). Vanadium's Growing Importance for Steel Manufacturing and the Energy Sector Vanadium is growing in importance for key industrial manufacturing sectors, most notably steel and renewable energy. Today, more than 85 percent of the world's vanadium is used in steel manufacturing applications. Its importance to the energy sector is also growing rapidly with more than 10 percent of vanadium production used in energy storage where its substantial cost and performance benefits make it an alternative choice to lithium ion in several areas. Vanadium pentoxide flake prices have risen over the last 2.5 years from under US$3/lb to US$15.7/lb today. About Cornerstone Metals Inc. Cornerstone Metals has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Carlin Vanadium Project located in Elko County, 22km by road (14 miles) from the town of Carlin, Nevada. The project is comprised of 72 contiguous unpatented mineral claims totaling 461 hectares (1,140 acres). The Carlin Vanadium Project hosts the Carlin Vanadium Deposit which is flat to shallow dipping and at shallow depths, commonly between 0-60m (0-200 ft) below surface. ON BEHALF OF CORNERSTONE METALS INC. per: "Paul Cowley" CEO & President (604) 340-7711 pcowley@cornerstonemetals.ca Technical disclosure in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul Cowley, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and President and CEO of the Company. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking information Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking" statements. These statements relate to future events or the Company's future performance and include the Company's ability to meet the conditions required to exercise in full its option to acquire the Carlin Vanadium project and with respect to current and planned drill programs, the results of exploration programs, metallurgical test work, and changes in mineral resources. All such statements involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to vary from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, they should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and they will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions on the date of this news release, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities regulations. Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2018) - FluroTech Ltd. (TSXV: TEST) ("FluroTech" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the hiring of Derek Clark as Executive Commercialization Consultant. Derek is responsible for driving the commercialization of the Company's first product line, CompleTest, developing the go-to-market strategy and building out the commercial team at FluroTech. Derek will also advise the Executive Leadership Team at FluroTech on company strategy as the Company commercializes its technology for roadside testing, industrial testing and bio-marking over the next several quarters. "With the expected legalization of the Canadian recreational cannabis market and the changing international laws towards medical and recreational cannabis, FluroTech is positioned to capture global market share in cannabis quality control and potency optimization, roadside impairment testing, industrial impairment testing and seed to sale bio-marking," commented Danny Dalla-Longa, CEO of FluroTech. "Derek's experience and expertise will ensure the Company successfully launches in all four product categories in a timely manner amongst a growing global market." Derek brings twenty years of leadership in sales, marketing and commercialization expertise. Derek was most recently the Chief Commercial Officer for GE Canada, where he worked across multiple industries driving growth and commercial intensity across multiple business units. Derek brings deep domain expertise in the marketing and sales of instrumentation in several industry verticals including oil & gas, utilities and healthcare. Derek has an exceptional track record in successfully leading large complex deals, driving execution and operational rigor, and building strategic customer relationships. About FluroTech (TSXV: TEST) FluroTech is a technology and marketing company whose core business is focused on the commercialization of new technologies in the cannabis industry. FluroTech's proprietary spectroscopy-based technology allows for the testing and identification of organic and inorganic compounds contained within biological samples derived from cannabis plants. Using the technology that was developed at the University of Calgary in conjunction with the University of Alberta, FluroTech has developed a two-part solution comprising an instrument called the CompleTest and consumable testing kits. To learn more, visit www.FluroTech.com and watch our video. Contact Information FluroTech Ltd. Alistair Ross Technology Centre Suite 111, 3553-31 Street NW Calgary, AB T2L 2K7 info@flurotech.com Danny Dalla-Longa Chief Executive Officer 403.680.0644 danny@flurotech.com Prit Singh IR - Thesis Capital Inc. 905.510.7636 psingh@thesiscapital.ca FluroTech Ltd. logo Cannot view this image? Visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5928/35367_FluroTech logo_resize.jpg Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information generally refers to information about an issuer's business, capital, or operations that is prospective in nature, and includes future-oriented financial information about the issuer's prospective financial performance or financial position. The forward-looking information in this news release includes disclosure about the future performance of the Company. The Company made certain material assumptions, including but not limited to prevailing market conditions and general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties to develop the forward-looking information in this news release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results may vary from the forward-looking information in this news release due to certain material risk factors. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, adverse market conditions and regulatory and other risks associated with the medical cannabis industry in general. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material risk factors and assumptions is not exhaustive. The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information in this news release, unless it is required to do so under Canadian securities legislation. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this release. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES PALM BEACH, Florida, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MarketNewsUpdates.com News Commentary Vanadium is used to produce high-strength steel and chemical catalysts, but much of the future demand excitement stems from its role in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) as industry experts believe there's a revolution coming in vanadium redox flow batteries. Vanadium prices have risen by more than 400% over the past 24 months exceeding US$15 per pound V2O5. The global All Vanadium Redox Flow Battery market is valued at million US$ in 2017 and will reach million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of during 2018-2025. Steel applications also accounts for impressive percentages of total consumption as high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels are by far the largest market for vanadium and consumption in this application has benefited from increasingly stringent building requirements, particularly in China, which has resulted in the use of larger quantities of vanadium-bearing rebar. Active mining companies in the markets today include: Cornerstone Metals Inc. (TSX-V: CCC) (OTC: CCCCF), Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE: UUUU) (TSX: EFR), Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE: UEC), Denison Mines Corp. (NYSE: DNN) (TSX: DML), Alexco Resource Corp. (NYSE: AXU) (TSX: AXR). Cornerstone Metals Inc. (TSX-V: CCC) (OTCQB: CCCCF) BREAKING NEWS: Cornerstone Metals is pleased to announce additional preliminary results of metallurgical test work being conducted on its Carlin Vanadium Project in Nevada. The third round of testing has achieved vanadium extraction levels of 95.5%. "Our testing has very quickly moved the needle from the low 80's, which were strong, to outstanding numbers, far exceeding even our metallurgists' expectations," said Cornerstone President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Cowley. "These numbers show a clear sign of a major technical breakthrough for our project." Test work continues on a sample composite generated from an 18.9 metre drill core intercept from the Company's recent diamond drilling verification program on the deposit. The latest results employed a roast/leach/pressure oxidation approach. Ongoing test work will continue to optimize various parameters with the aim of developing a conceptual flowsheet. Once a conceptual flowsheet has been defined, tests will be run across the deposit on a full range of samples. The tests to date have been conducted to demonstrate potential recoveries. At this stage, there is no suggestion that these tests demonstrate economic viability. Metallurgical test work continues at Sherritt Technologies in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, the leader in the development and commercialization of pressure hydrometallurgical processes. Sherritt is a one-stop shop that has a proven track record of developing projects from concept-to-operation with a skilled and experienced team, including process and equipment specialists. The Carlin Vanadium deposit is considered one of the largest, highest grade primary vanadium deposits in North America (USGS Professional Paper 1802 Critical Mineral Resources of the United States-Economic and Environmental Geology and Prospects for Future Supply dated December 18, 2017). Read this and more news for Cornerstone Metalsat: http://www.marketnewsupdates.com/news/ccc.html In other industry developments in the markets: Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE: UUUU) (TSX: EFR.TO), a leading producer of uranium and vanadium in the United States, is pleased to announce the Company is set to join the broad-market Russell 3000 Index at the conclusion of the Russell U.S. Indexes annual reconstitution, effective after the U.S. market opens on June 25, 2018, according to a preliminary list of additions posted June 15, 2018. Energy Fuels is a leading integrated US-based uranium mining company, supplying U3O8 to major nuclear utilities. Its corporate offices are in Denver, Colorado, and all of its assets and employees are in the western United States. The Company also produces vanadium as a by-product of its uranium production from certain of its mines on the Colorado Plateau, as market conditions warrant. Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE: UEC) recently was pleased to report, in accordance with NYSE American requirements, the filing of the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the nine months ended April 30, 2018 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Uranium Energy Corp is a U.S.-based uranium mining and exploration company. The Company's fully-licensed Hobson Processing Facility is central to all of its projects in South Texas, including the Palangana ISR mine, the permitted Goliad ISR project and the development-stage Burke Hollow ISR project. In Wyoming, UEC controls the permitted Reno Creek ISR project. Denison Mines Corp. (TSX: DML.TO) (NYSE: DNN) announced this month summer 2018 drilling plans, and report assay results from the winter 2018 drilling program, for the Company's 63.3% owned Wheeler River project in northern Saskatchewan. The summer 2018 diamond drilling program for Wheeler River is scheduled to commence this week and is expected to include approximately 20,500 metres in 28 drill holes. Denison is a uranium exploration and development company with interests focused in the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. Alexco Resource Corp. (NYSE: AXU) (TSX: AXR.TO) announced this week that its wholly owned subsidiary, Alexco Environmental Group Holdings Inc. ("AEG"), has acquired Contango Strategies Ltd. ("Contango"), a private company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, for consideration of $1,388,000 comprising $971,600 in cash and 237,999 common shares of Alexco at a deemed value of $416,400 . The common shares were valued at $1 .75 per share using a 20 day volume weighted average price per share. Payment will be in two tranches with $1,018,000 (comprising $601,600 in cash paid on closing and $416,400 in Alexco common shares to be issued upon receipt of all requisite regulatory approvals) and the remaining $370,000 cash payment to be made on the first anniversary of the transaction closing. Alexco Resource Corp. holds the historical high grade Keno Hill Silver District located in Canada'sYukon Territory. Employing a unique business model, Alexco also provides mine-related environmental services, remediation technologies and reclamation and mine closure services to both government and industry clients through the Alexco Environmental Group, its wholly-owned environmental services division. DISCLAIMER: MarketNewsUpdates.com (MNU) is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. MNU is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. MNU and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. MNU's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. MNU is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed MNU has been compensated forty four hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press release issued by Cornerstone Metals Inc.. by a non affiliated third party. MNU HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE. This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and MNU undertakes no obligation to update such statements. Contact Information: Media Contact email: info@marketnewsupdates.com +1(561)325-8757 WARSAW, Poland, June 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a report by People's Daily on June 20, the 12th Global Dairy Congress, a remarkable event for dairy industry, was held in Warsaw, Poland between 19 June and 21 June (local time). As Asia's leading brand for infant milk power on the globe, Feihe dairy is among the finalists in the World Dairy Innovation Awards, and has become the first internationally recognized infant milk powder brand for its formula, process and technology. And as the globally first and the only guest speaker in this year for infant milk powder producers, Feihe dairy was invited to attend the meeting and gave a speech titled To Build A Community With Shared Future In Global Dairy Industry, and has won the attention of international community on China dairy industry. Based on its own development experience, Feihe dairy put forward "the Three Innovations", i.e. innovation on industrial mode, innovation on technology research and development and innovation on collaborative manner, offered "the Chinese Vision" to world dairy industry and proposed the development strategy of building a community with shared future in dairy industry. Mr. Richard Hall, Chairman of the Global Dairy Congress, said infant milk powder is the most researched product category in dairy products. The invitation to Feihe dairy to represent infant milk powder producers is based both on the uniqueness of infant milk powder category and the innovation capacities of China milk powder producers that have amazed the Organizing Committee as well as the more beautiful expectation of Feihe dairy to advance the innovative development of global dairy industry. Founded in 1962, Feihe dairy is one of the earliest milk powder producers in China. Over these 56 years, Feihe dairy has been focusing on developing milk power for the physical characteristics of Chinese people and made a lot of research on the characteristics and needs of Chinese babies, and led the industry to innovate several technologies, formulas and processes for improving the adaptation of milk powder to Chinese babies. The outstanding performance of Feihe dairy has enlightened the world on the leading innovation capacities of China dairy industry, and facilitated a faster and steadier pace of going global for China dairy industry. Studio City, California--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2018) - Petroteq Energy Inc. (TSXV: PQE) (OTC Pink: PQEFF) (FSE: PQCF) ("Petroteq" or the "Company"), a company focused on the development and implementation of proprietary technologies for the energy industry, is pleased to announce a new initiative to expand size and scope of its Advisory Board. Petroteq's Advisory Board provides guidance and insight to the management team on the Company's strategic initiatives and go forward strategy relating to operational, public & government relations and financing activities associated with the Company's heavy oil extraction facility located at the Asphalt Ridge near Vernal, Utah. "With the recent initiation of production at our facility, we have a backlog of interest from partners around the world for which a visit to an operating facility was the logical next step," stated Alex Blyumkin, Executive Chairman of Petroteq. "Our plan is to add experienced energy entrepreneurs and executives to our ranks to handle the inquiries we have been fielding, as well as develop new opportunities that will help the Company grow." In keeping with this initiative the Company is pleased to announce that experienced entrepreneur, Heriberto "Eddie" Gonzalez, has agreed to join Petroteq's Advisory Board. Mr. Gonzalez has demonstrated the ability to create growth opportunities as well as manage corporate activities for shareholder benefit in the energy and other industries in both public and private companies. He is currently Managing Director of Mayan Energy Limited, a London AIM listed issuer. Mr. Gonzalez's background includes start-up, turn around and growth of multiple companies with a consistent track record of value creation and achieving successful exits for investors. As a native Spanish speaker with cross border business experience, Mr. Gonzalez will aim to provide significant contacts and relationships beneficial to potential opportunities and partners in Mexico, Central and South America. David Sealock, CEO of Petroteq commented, "We are excited to have Eddie on our team. He brings multiple skill sets that will benefit the Company in terms of identification, development and execution of potential business opportunities. His proven willingness to go to bat for Petroteq is a positive indicator for great things to come from this appointment." About Petroteq Energy Inc. Petroteq is a fully integrated oil and gas company focused on the development and implementation of a new proprietary technology for oil extraction. The Company has an environmentally safe and sustainable technology for the extraction of heavy oils from oil sands, oil shale deposits and shallow oil deposits. Petroteq is engaged in the development and implementation of its patented environmentally friendly heavy oil processing and extraction technologies. Our proprietary process produces zero greenhouse gas, zero waste and requires no high temperatures. Petroteq is currently focused on developing its oil sands resources and expanding production capacity at its Asphalt Ridge heavy oil extraction facility located near Vernal, Utah. The Company also owns a minority stake in an exploration and production play located in southwest Texas held by Accord GR Energy Inc. In addition, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary PetroBLOQ, LLC, is seeking to develop the first blockchain based platform created exclusively for the supply chain needs of the oil & gas sector. For more information, visit www.Petroteq.energy and PetroBLOQ.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. and Canadian securities laws. Words such as "may," "would," "could," "should," "potential," "will," "seek," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company, including the Company's plans for its Advisory Board,Mr. Gonzalez's providing significant contacts and relationships and the Company successfully developing block chain technology for the oil and gas industry, are intended to identify forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that there is no certainty that it will be commercially viable for the Company to produce any portion of its resources.All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, based on information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information, including: the Company identifying willing participants for its Advisory Board and PetroBLOQ successfully developing and implementing a blockchain-based supply chain management system. While forward-looking statements are based on data, assumptions and analyses that the Company believes are reasonable under the circumstances, whether actual results, performance or developments will meet the Company's expectations and predictions depends on a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results, performance and financial condition of the Company to differ materially from its expectations. Certain of the "risk factors" that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation: uncertainties inherent in the estimation of resources including whether any reserves will ever be attributed to the Company's properties; PetroBLOQ not having the expertise and/or funds necessary to develop and implement a blockchain-based supply chain management system; PetroBLOQ not being able to develop the blockchain technology or other applications to completion; blockchain technology not being adopted by the oil and gas industry; changes in laws or regulations; the ability to implement business strategies or to pursue business opportunities, whether for economic or other reasons; status of the world oil markets, oil prices and price volatility; oil pricing; state of capital markets and ability by the Company to raise capital; litigation; the commercial and economic viability of the Company's oil sands hydrocarbon extraction technology, the SWEPT technology, the S-BRPT technology, and other proprietary technologies developed or licensed by the Company or by Accord GR Energy Inc., which are of experimental nature and have not been used at full capacity for an extended period of time; reliance on suppliers, contractors, consultants and key personnel; the ability of the Company and Accord GR Energy Inc. to maintain their respective mineral lease holdings; potential failure of the Company's business plans or model; the nature of oil and gas production and oil sands mining, extraction and production; uncertainties in exploration and drilling for oil, gas and other hydrocarbon-bearing substances; unanticipated costs and expenses, availability of financing and other capital; potential damage to or destruction of property, loss of life and environmental damage; risks associated with compliance with environmental protection laws and regulations; uninsurable or uninsured risks; potential conflicts of interest of officers and directors; and other general economic, market and business conditions and factors, including the risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's disclosure documents, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CONTACTS: Petroteq Energy Inc. Alex Blyumkin Executive Chairman & Founder (800) 979-1897 David Sealock Chief Executive Officer (403) 561-9882 investors@petroteq.energy Joining Data Intensity's leadership team is Chris Vercelli (CSO) and Karl Stubellis (CFO) BEDFORD, Massachusetts, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Intensity brings on board two new members of its leadership team - a new Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Already established as the leading independent provider of mission-critical application services, Data Intensity are committed to becoming the next generation Managed Service Provider supporting customers in their digital transformations. Tony Sumpster, CEO of Data Intensity stated: "To support us in that journey, I am pleased to welcome Chris Vercelli and Karl Stubelis to the team. Their long industry experience is of utmost value to our organization and their contributions are going to play a major role in shaping a bright future for Data Intensity." Chris Vercelli - Chief Sales Officer Chris Vercelli joins Data Intensity as the new CSO. Chris has held sales leadership positions within the software technology space, specifically within the areas of cloud automation, enterprise software and mobility. Most recently, Chris was CSO for Automic Software, an EQT company, with offices in Vienna, Seattle, London & Paris. Automic was acquired by CA Technologies in January 2017. Prior to Automic, Chris was with IPSoft the Intelligent Automation company, where he was super focused on new logo sales. Before that, Chris worked at BMC Software, building and developing the company's workload automation global sales team. Chris has held sales leadership positions at BMC Software, CA Technologies Inc., Cybermation, Legato Systems & IBM Tivoli. Upon joining Data Intensity, Chris commented: "I am very confident that the leadership team and the entire Data Intensity employee base is poised to take the next step in our evolution to be the leader in our segment of the market. The passion, and commitment from all facets of the business is very impressive." Karl Stubelis - Chief Financial Officer Karl Stubelis joins Data Intensity as the new CFO. Paul Hausback previously acted as interim CFO, brilliantly leading the Accounting, Finance and Contract Administration teams, whilst the company searched for a long-term leader. Paul will be staying with Data Intensity for the next few months to continue to advise the teams as needed, whilst Karl settles in. Karl has held a variety of operational and financial leadership roles over the past 30 years, in a range of industries and in companies of all different sizes. Before joining Data Intensity, Karl served as senior vice president and CFO/COO at a SaaS based healthcare company Arcadia, and prior to that he was CFO of $1B healthcare company, athenahealth, leading all aspects of finance for this publicly-traded, multi-national company. Karl was also Vice President, Corporate Controller, and Chief Accounting Officer at global marketing and consulting firm SapientNitro Corporation. "I am really excited to have recently joined DI. It is a fantastic company with a great story thus far, and I wanted to be part of its next chapter," Karl remarked. "Tony and the team have positioned the company to achieve rapid growth over the next few years and I felt I needed to be part of that by both learning new things, as well as bringing my experiences to help that progression." Data Intensity welcomes both Chris and Karl to the company and look forward to what the future will bring with two new members of the leadership team. Learn who else is part of Data Intensity's Leadership Team by visiting www.dataintensity.com today. About Data Intensity Data Intensity is the largest independent multi-cloud services provider focused on managing mission critical applications and services in a hybrid cloud world. Our purpose-built solutions and services focus on the lifecycle Design, Implementation, Support and Operation of technologies and platforms that power our customers' business processes. Customers choose us - and stay with us - because working with Data Intensity allows them to focus on their critical business needs while we focus on their applications and multi cloud investments to drive faster time to value. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/543413/Data_Intensity_Logo.jpg HKTDC Director of Research Nicholas Kwan (centre), HKTDC Assistant Principal Economist (Global Research) Louis Chan (L) and HKTDC Economist Doris Fung (R) today announce the HKTDC Export Index for the second quarter of 2018 and discuss the latest global market outlook. HKTDC's Communication and Public Affairs Department Angel Tang, Tel: +852 2584 4544, Email: angel.hc.tang@hktdc.org Beatrice Lam, Tel: +852 2584 4049, Email: beatrice.hy.lam@hktdc.org HONG KONG, June 20, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - The HKTDC Export Index for the second quarter of 2018 (2Q18) climbed to a 29-quarter high and indicated positive sentiment among local exporters for the first time in 12 months, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) announced today. The 2Q18 reading stood at 54.1, up from 49.4 in 1Q18. The results suggest that Hong Kong exports are likely to sustain their growth momentum over the near term. However, exporters' optimism is laced with caution, given the current trade issues between the Chinese mainland and the United States. HKTDC economists forecast Hong Kong exports to grow six per cent in 2018.The HKTDC Export Index monitors the current export performance of Hong Kong traders and gauges their near-term prospects. Readings above and below 50 indicate positive and negative sentiment respectively.Among major sectors, the indices for electronics and machinery performed exceptionally well, reaching 55.2 and 54.9 respectively in 2Q18, their highest levels since early 2013. Toys continued its uptrend seen in the last two quarters, rising to 53.2. Clothing, while staying in contractionary territory, also showed signs of improvement in 2Q18 with a 17-quarter high reading of 43.6. Meanwhile, prospects appeared relatively less strong for timepieces (49) and jewellery (41.3), which posted lower readings than in 1Q18."Overall, Hong Kong exporters have shown a strong reversal in sentiment," HKTDC Director of Research Nicholas Kwan said at today's press conference. "Despite the mixed performances across sectors, exporters were generally positive about the outlook for major export markets."Further confirming the improving overall export sentiment, the Trade Value Index (54.6), Procurement Index (57.3) and Employment Index (53.2) all stayed above the watershed of 50.Exporters cautiously optimistic about global marketsThe European Union returned into expansionary territory for the first time since 2011, outperforming other major markets with the highest reading of 54 in 2Q18, up from 49.1 in 1Q18. Close behind was the Chinese mainland, with its reading rising further to a 29-quarter high of 53.8. Similarly, exporters showed strong confidence in the Japan (51.3) and US (51.2) markets, with both indices at their highest in recent years.HKTDC Economist Doris Fung noted that exporters' optimism was laced with caution, given the current trade issues between China and the US. The 2Q18 survey revealed that about half of the respondents (55.4%) remained confident that the trade dispute would not have any impact on their exports, whereas 35.8 per cent expected it to have a slightly negative impact.According to the survey results, any impact of the Sino-US trade friction has yet to materialise. More than 70 per cent of respondents (77.4%) said the dispute has not affected their exports so far, while about one-fifth of the exporters believed they would have achieved better performances if the trade dispute had not occurred.Continued export growth in early 2018Meanwhile, Hong Kong's total exports grew by 9.3 per cent year-on-year in the Jan-April 2018 period, following an eight per cent growth for the whole of 2017. As regards traditional markets, exports to the US (+8.5%) and EU (+10.2%) increased strongly while the growth of exports to Japan (+5.3%) moderated in the first four months of 2018."Following a strong rebound in 2017, Hong Kong's total exports continued to perform well in the first four months of 2018 given the solid and broad-based recovery in the world economy. Both private consumption and business investment in developed markets have continued to support growth," Ms Fung noted.Georgia: a potential trading partnerIn view of the new business opportunities arising from the Belt and Road Initiative, Georgia, an economy in the Caucasian region of Eurasia participating in the Initiative, is becoming more important as Hong Kong's potential trading partner, according to a recent HKTDC Research study. Louis Chan, Assistant Principal Economist (Global Research), HKTDC, said Georgia, with its strategic location at the crossroads between China and Europe and its being an open, business-friendly country in the region, can bring business opportunities for Hong Kong."Georgia's GDP [gross domestic product] has grown at an average annual rate of almost six per cent in the past two decades, thanks to its business-friendly environment, liberal trade policy as well as low corruption and crime rates," said Mr Chan. The country has free trade agreements (FTAs) with the Chinese mainland (effective since 1 Jan 2018), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members, European Union (EU) countries and Turkey, while it also enjoys Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) preferential treatment by Canada, Japan and the US. Mr Chan added that with the upcoming conclusion of a Hong Kong-Georgia FTA, the country would present further opportunities for Hong Kong businesses as an export market and a logistics hub.In 2017, the CIS, EU, and Turkey accounted for 75 per cent of Georgia's trade, while the Chinese mainland was fast gaining a foothold, accounting for 9.2 per cent of its imports and 7.6 per cent of its exports, according to statistics from the National Statistics Office of Georgia.During a recent trip to Georgia, HKTDC Research found that the country's four-point reform plan -- which covers mainly energy, roads, agriculture and municipal and regional infrastructure -- is key to its transformation from a transit hub into a logistics and industrial centre, which will in turn support the development of start-ups and start-up financing mechanisms. The Anaklia Deep Sea Port construction, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway project and the expansion of the country's East-West highway are some of the milestones of Georgia's international connectivity enhancement efforts."Businesses in the country are ready to export their unique fashion items, food and wine. Hong Kong businesses are advised to capitalise on Georgia's potential as a trading partner and an investment destination," said Mr Chan.ReferenceHKTDC Research website: http://research.hktdc.com/2018 Mid-Year Export Review: https://bit.ly/2K178rQHong Kong Export Index 2Q18: https://bit.ly/2yqIsYrPhoto Download: https://bit.ly/2takmMsAbout HKTDCEstablished in 1966, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body dedicated to creating opportunities for Hong Kong's businesses. With more than 40 offices globally, including 13 on the Chinese mainland, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China, Asia and the world. With more than 50 years of experience, the HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in international markets, while providing business insights and information via trade publications, research reports and digital channels including the media room. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Google+, Twitter @hktdc, LinkedIn.- Google+: https://plus.google.com/+hktdc- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hktdc- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hong-kong-trade-development-councilSource: HKTDCContact:Copyright 2018 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. HONG KONG, June 20, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mrs Carrie Lam, called on French businesses to take on the unique business opportunities arising from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area (the Bay Area) at a seminar jointly organised by Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao governments in Paris today (June 20).The "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area" seminar was the latest joint promotion bid by the three places to promote business opportunities in the Bay Area development. Apart from Mrs Lam, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau, Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Nicholas Yang, and Director-General of Investment Promotion, Mr Stephen Phillips, also attended.The event began with addresses by Mrs Lam, Vice Governor of the People's Government of Guangdong Province, Mr Ouyang Weimin, and President of Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute of the Macao Special Administrative Region, Mr Jackson Chang, followed by brief remarks by Charge d'Affaires a.i., Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in France, Mr Wu Xiaojun.Mrs Lam told the seminar that President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping in his report to the 19th CPC National Congress mentioned that the Central Government will continue to support Hong Kong and Macao in integrating their own development into the overall development of the country, and priority will be given to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area. She said that the 'One Country Two Systems' allows Hong Kong to cooperate with other cities within the Bay Area while playing its unique functions in terms of independent judiciary, status as the international financial and trade centre and the world's freest and most competitive economy, quality professional services and talent pools, plus free flow of capital and information, amongst other things.Meanwhile, enhanced connectivity with the imminent Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link would add to the flow of people and goods within the Bay Area, putting it on par with some of the renowned bay areas in the world.She added that Hong Kong's strong research and development capacity when combined with Shenzhen's advanced manufacturing creates good synergy conducive to the Bay Area's goal to become a significant innovation and technology hub. The latest policy announced by the Central Government to allow universities and research institutions in Hong Kong and Macao to bid for funding to undertake central fiscal science and technology projects, demonstrated the country's determination in boosting innovation development.Mrs Lam said that Hong Kong is putting focus on driving innovation and technology, citing the 87-hectare Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park project at Lok Ma Chau Loop and the recent change of the listing rules by Hong Kong Stock Exchanges to attract new economy enterprises and biotech companies without income yet to list in Hong Kong.Mr Ouyang said that the Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Bay Area was signed on 1 July 2017 under the President witness. In March this year, the President told the province to capitalize the opportunities from the Bay Area by working closely with Hong Kong and Macao, in order to create a world-class bay area and an integrated world city. He added that Guangdong as the biggest provincial economy in China plays a key role as the world manufacturing base and the technology education centre in Southern part of the country. It strives to offer investors the best regulated environment with the most efficient service and the lowest cost of doing business. He called for global stakeholders like France to take part in the Bay Area plan, amid the province's three-prong approach aiming to lift bilateral trade, innovation and technology cooperation and enhancing exchanges with France.Mr Chang said that France is a major trading partner of Macao. In 2017, the trade volume between France and Macao reached 720 million US dollars. French imports to Macao mainly included cosmetics, food, leather products and wine. He added that with the deepening of the Belt and Road construction and the forthcoming opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the continuous optimization of the business environment at Macao will bring more growth opportunities to investors at home and abroad, and will significantly assist French companies entering the mainland market. He appealed French companies to make use of the Macao platform to expand their businesses.Other speakers at the seminar included the Executive Vice President, International Operations, Schneider Electric, Mr Luc Remont; Group Senior Executive Vice President, SUEZ, Mr Bertrand Camus; President and Founder, SURYS, Mr Hugues Souparis and President of CGN Europe Energy, Mr Lu Wei.About InvestHKInvestHK is the department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government established in 2000 to attract foreign direct investment and support overseas and Mainland businesses to set up or expand in Hong Kong. It provides free advice and customised services to help businesses succeed in Hong Kong's vibrant economy. For more information, please visit www.investhk.gov.hk.Note to editors:The "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area" refers to the PRC government's scheme to link the cities of Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing into an integrated economic and business hub.Photo https://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_investhk180620.jpgThe Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam (fourth left), called on French businesses to take advantage of the unique business opportunities arising from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area at a seminar jointly held by the Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao governments in Paris today (June 20, Paris time). Pictured are (from left) the President and Founder, Surys, Mr Hugues Souparis; the Group Senior Executive Vice President, SUEZ, Mr Bertrand Camus; the President of the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute of the Macao Special Administrative Region, Mr Jackson Chang; Mrs Lam; the Vice Governor of Guangdong Province, Mr Ouyang Weimin; the Charge d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in France, Mr Wu Xiaojun; the Executive Vice President, International Operations, Schneider Electric, Mr Luc Remont; and the President of CGN Europe Energy, Mr Lu Wei.Source: InvestHKCopyright 2018 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2018) - Oracle Energy Corp. (TSXV: OEC) (FSE: O2EN) ("Oracle" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results of the annual general meeting held June 12, 2018. All matters presented to our shareholders were overwhelmingly approved including the reappointment of Darrell McKenna, Art Green, Nasim Tyab, James Ladner and Peter Francis to the board of directors (the "Board"). In accordance with Oracle's shift away from Africa and its new focus on the Texas Eagle Ford play, as described in the June 19 press release, Oracle has made changes to its organization. Messrs. Howard Jeter and Cyril Odu were not re-nominated to the Board. Peter Francis has resigned, effective June 15, from the Board and from his role as CEO. Messrs. Martin Yeo and Des Norris, who were serving as Planning Manager and Geoscience Manager respectively, have left the company. Oracle is grateful to Ambassador Jeter, Cyril, Peter, Martin and Des for their contributions. The Board now consists of 4 members: Darrell McKenna, Chairman; Nasim Tyab; Art Green and James Ladner. Oracle expects that there will be additional appointments to the Board as the Eagle Ford project develops. Darrell McKenna, in addition to his role as Chairman will assume the role of CEO. Art Green is Producing Manager. Nasim Tyab is Capital Markets Strategist. Mark Forster will continue in his role as interim CFO. Additional senior appointments will be made as the deals announced in the June 19 release close. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. Darrell McKenna, Chairman About Oracle Energy Corp. Oracle Energy Corp. is an international oil and gas exploration and development company. For more information on Oracle Energy Visit www.OracleEnergy.com Phone: 604.558.0976 info@oracleenergy.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the 'safe harbour' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Rabat hosted Tuesday the launching conference of the European Union External Investment Plan (EIP) in Morocco that will pave the way to a better business environment and foster economic development. The EIP launching conference in Morocco was attended by Michael Kohler, European Commission Director for Neighbourhood South, and Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance, Mohamed Boussaid. The European Union is strongly committed to supporting Morocco in building a sound, inclusive and sustainable economy, said the European Commission in a press release issued in Brussels. Launched in September 2017 to help boost investment in partner countries in Africa and the European Neighbourhood, the EIP will now encourage investments that promote an inclusive growth, job creation and sustainable development also in Morocco, the press release said. Commissioner for Enlargement Negotiations and European Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn commented: The European External Investment Plan will help leverage significant private funds into key sectors of Moroccos economy. The plan will in turn empower local entrepreneurs and create jobs in the country. This new and innovative approach will also help carry out big sustainable development projects, which otherwise would not have been possible at all or would have been significantly smaller. According to the European Commission, under the EIP, the new European Fund for Sustainable Development will make available 4.1 billion in grants destined to support sustainable development in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the European Neighbourhood, as well as allowing public and private operators to leverage each others strengths. The EUs EIP will also provide technical assistance to help improve the quality of projects and mobilize investment from financial institutions, public institutions and private investors. An additional assistance will be given to public authorities to foster a more favorable overall business environment through better policy making and legislation, in dialogue with the private sector. The conference brought together national authorities, private sector companies, International Financial Institutions and other stakeholders to discuss investment opportunities and ways to overcome remaining barriers in accessing funds. Between 2014 and 2017, the EU has allocated 807 million in bilateral assistance to Morocco. EUs support focuses mainly on equitable access to social services, democratic governance, the rule of law and mobility, as well as employability and sustainable and inclusive growth. Complementary support for capacity development and civil society is also provided. The EIP encourages private investors to contribute to sustainable development in countries outside of Europe. It integrates a new generation of financial instruments namely guarantees, risk sharing instruments, as well as the blending of grants and loans into the more traditional forms of assistance such as grants. It also includes a guarantee mechanism to crowd in private investments, where viable business proposals meet social needs, and where limited public funds can attract private money. Overall, about 44 billion are expected to be mobilized under the EIP from 2017 until 2020 for Africa and the European Neighborhood. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2018) - Alliance Growers Corp. (CSE: ACG) (FSE: 1LA) (WKN: A2DFYX) (OTC: ALGWF) ("Alliance Growers" or the "Company") is pleased to report the application of a license in Alberta and the launch of the Company's Seed to Sale Cannabis marketing campaign through an array of marketing activities and awareness services in association with various media partners to increase market exposure. The Company has initiated a comprehensive media and marketing campaign to create market awareness for Alliance Growers, through various communication initiatives, including roadshows providing in-person introductions for the Company with institutional and retail brokers in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, as well as other financial capitals. This cross-Canada roadshow commences this week in Montreal and continues the following week in Toronto and in July, Calgary, Alberta. Alliance Growers will be raising awareness through media distribution on National TV, radio, and multiple online channels to provide the financial community with an introduction to the Company's Seed to Sale Cannabis business strategy. Alliance Growers has created a vertically integrated company starting with the production of genetically perfect, disease free plantlets from the Cannabis Biotech Complex. This includes providing the plantlets required for the production of 99% pure CBD oil derived from the Dana Strain in a joint commercial hemp operation with Pharmagreen. Additionally, future ACMPR production through BioCannaTech, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary in Quebec, and other ACMPR investments will provide flower at wholesale or cost for Cannabis CBD oil extraction. The addition of Spyder Vapes Inc., an established, upscale, 'high-end with competitive prices' retail store chain for distribution of products produced from the Dana strain and from Cannabis CBD oil will give Alliance Growers and its group of companies a significant advantage in cost and margin compared to competitors. The Management of Alliance Growers is pleased with the latest announcement in marijuana legislation with the passing in the Senate of the federal government's bill legalizing recreational marijuana by a vote of 52-29, paving the way for a fully legal cannabis market within an estimated 8 to 12 weeks. Now that the bill has passed, it's up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet to choose the actual date when the legalization of recreational marijuana becomes law of the land. Bill C-45 comes with a provisional buffer period of 8 to 12 weeks to give provinces time to prepare for sales of recreational marijuana. The announcement is very timely for Alliance Growers with its recent announcement to acquire Spyder Vapes and with the planned expansion of Spyder Vapes into Alberta in the near term, and the expansion into British Colombia to follow. Dennis Petke, President and CEO of Alliance Growers commented: "Alliance Growers continues to make tremendous progress on many fronts of it's business plan. We anticipate breaking ground very soon on the Cannabis Biotech Complex and we have secured future production of flower in Quebec with the BiocannaTech facility. The recent acquisition of Spyder Vapes, Alliance Growers retail arm, gives Alliance Growers a true Seed (plantlet) to Sale company that we are proud and excited to introduce to the investment community." About Alliance Growers Corp. Alliance Growers is a diversified cannabis company driven by the Company's 'Four Pillars' Organization Plan - Cannabis Biotech Complex, Strategic ACMPR Investments, CBD Oil Supply and Distribution, and Research and Technology. Alliance Growers is working with WFS Pharmagreen Inc. advancing a new business partnership, to jointly develop and operate a 58,000-square foot facility, to be the first of its kind in Western Canada to house a DNA Botany lab, extraction facility and Tissue Culture Plantlet Production facility to service the Cannabis market and agriculture market in general. The proposed Cannabis Biotech Complex will grow Cannabis plantlets using proprietary tissue culture propagation, specifically the "Chibafreen Invitro Plant Production System", which assures consistent composition and purity of each plantlet for the growers. Alliance Growers recently announced that it will acquire established Ontario based retailer Spyder Vapes Inc. This is the first step in the development of a true vertically integrated Seed to Sale business for Alliance Growers. About Spyder Vapes Inc. Founded in 2014 by entrepreneur Dan Pelchovitz, Spyder Vapes is an established chain of three high-end vape stores in Ontario. The Spyder brand is defined by its high-quality proprietary line of e-juice, liquids and exclusive retail deals, dispensed in uniquely designed stores creating the optimal customer experience. Revenues for the initial two stores totalled $733,000 for the year ending January 31, 2018. The third store opened in December 2017. Spyder Vapes is currently sourcing retail locations throughout Alberta and British Columbia where it seeks to establish a presence and apply for cannabis retail licences pursuant to recently announced provincial legislation. The additional retail locations will allow Spyder Vapes to leverage its retail and brand-building expertise, to offer customers quality cannabis products and, more specifically proprietary CBD products from Alliance Growers as legislation permits. Spyder Vapes' existing revenues and potential growth in the vape business will strengthen its ability to pursue opportunities in the soon to be launched recreational cannabis marketplace. Spyder Vapes' retail and distribution focus is an ideal fit for Alliance Growers' mission to build a diversified global cannabis company focused not on where the market is today, but where it is going. Spyder Vapes neatly fits into Alliance Growers' emerging network of interests in licenced cannabis growers, cannabidiol (CBD) oil extractors, new agricultural technologies, and its own Cannabis Biotech Complex. Spyder Vapes, as the retail arm for Alliance Growers, will create a true Seed (plantlet farm) to Sale (retail stores) business for the Company and its customers. For additional information, please visit Spyder Vapes' website at www.spydervapes.com. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.alliancegrowers.com or the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. If you would like to be added to Alliance Growers' news distribution list, please send your email address to newsletter@alliancegrowers.com. For more information contact: Dennis Petke CEO, President and Director Tel: 778-331-4266 DennisPetke@alliancegrowers.com Rob Grace Communications Consultant Tel: 778-998-5431 RobDGrace@gmail.com FOLLOW US: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. More particularly and without limitation, the news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating to Company's corporate strategy. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by management of the Company, including, without limitation, the Company's ability to carry out its business plan. Although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information since no assurance can be given that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to identify and complete additional suitable acquisitions to further the Company's growth as well as risks associated with the medical marijuana industry in general, such as operational risks in development and production delays or changes in plans with respect to development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of the capital markets; the uncertainty of receiving the required licenses, production, costs and expenses; health, safety and environmental risks; marketing and transportation; loss of markets; environmental risks; competition; incorrect assessment of the value of the potential market; ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources; failure to obtain required regulatory and other approvals and changes in legislation, including but not limited to tax laws and regulated regulations. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, timelines and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws or the Canadian Securities Exchange. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. STOCKHOLM, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Electrolux will set a provision of approximately MSEK 550, in connection to a previously communicated investigation by the French Competition Authority. The provision will affect the Group's operating profit in the second quarter of 2018. The French Competition Authority (FCA) has, as previously communicated, issued a Statement of Objections alleging that Electrolux and other appliance manufacturers acted in breach of antitrust rules in France during the period September 2006 to April 2009. Electrolux is cooperating fully with the FCA. Electrolux has previously announced that the outcome of this investigation may have a material impact on Electrolux financial result and cash flow. At this stage of the investigation by the FCA, Electrolux is now in accordance with accounting principles setting this provision for a fine related to the investigation. The final amount will only be known at the end of the procedure. The provision will be reported as a non-recurring item in the results for the second quarter of 2018, affecting the business area Major Appliances Europe, Middle East and Africa. The Q2 interim report will be published on July 18, 2018. As previously communicated the FCA is also conducting another investigation affecting Electrolux. Read more here. The company has not yet been informed of any conclusions regarding this investigation. For further information, contact Daniel Frykholm, Electrolux Press Hotline, +46 8 657 65 07. This is information that AB Electrolux is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 1900 CET on June 20, 2018. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/electrolux/r/electrolux-sets-provision-related-to-competition-authority-investigation-in-france,c2554530 The following files are available for download: SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase have appointed Dr. Atul Gawande as Chief Executive Officer of their newly-formed company to address U.S. employee healthcare. The new company will be headquartered in Boston and will operate as an independent entity that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints. The newly formed employee initiative is aimed to improve health care for the three companies' more than a million combined U.S. employees and also at the same time make it more cost-effective. 'We said at the outset that the degree of difficulty is high and success is going to require an expert's knowledge, a beginner's mind, and a long-term orientation,' Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said in the Wednesday release. 'Atul embodies all three, and we're starting strong as we move forward in this challenging and worthwhile endeavor.' 'I'm thrilled to be named CEO of this healthcare initiative,' said Atul, 'I have devoted my public health career to building scalable solutions for better healthcare delivery that are saving lives, reducing suffering, and eliminating wasteful spending both in the US and across the world. Now I have the backing of these remarkable organizations to pursue this mission with even greater impact for more than a million people, and in doing so incubate better models of care for all. This work will take time but must be done. The system is broken, and better is possible.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices were slightly lower Wednesday after Federal Reserve leader Jerome Powell said there is 'rising' concern from business leaders about trade tensions. 'If you ask, is it in the forecast yet or the outlook? The answer is no. You don't see it in the performance of the economy and we don't have any way to know how to put it into the outlook just yet,' he said. Also, President Donald Trump has directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for additional tariffs at a rate of 10 percent. August gold settles at $1,274.50/oz, down $4.10, or 0.3%, the lowest settlement in 2018. the National Association of Realtors released a report showing an unexpected decrease in existing home sales in the month of May. NAR said existing home sales fell by 0.4 percent to an annual rate of 5.43 million in May after plunging by 2.7 percent to a downwardly revised 5.45 million in April. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Latest media releases UBS Asset Management and PGGM partner on impact measurement framework for food security New York 20 Jun 2018, 21:28 Media Releases Global Research collaboration with Wageningen University & Research and Harvard University aims to develop methodology for listed equities New York, 21 June 2018 - UBS Asset Management (https://www.ubs.com/us/en/asset-management.html) ('UBS-AM') today announced the launch of a sponsored research project with Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands and Harvard University, to develop an impact measurement framework and methodology that tackles food security, the United Nation's (UN) second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). The aim of the research is to build scalable models that can be applied to global listed equities of companies that sell technologies that can improve agriculture yields and access to nutritious food. The development of the framework is in partnership between pension fund manager PGGM and UBS Asset Management. UBS-AM initiated the research project two and a half years ago, after its Sustainable Investment team were selected by PGGM to manage a 1.5 billion mandate of listed impact equities. UBS-AM's approach leverages academic expertise to develop impact measurement methodologies for four impact categories including climate change and air pollution, access to clean water, health and food security. The impact metrics are aligned with those suggested for the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals. "Our client PFZW, the pension fund for the Dutch healthcare sector, selected food security as one of its priority areas for investments in solutions with real world impact. With a world population approaching 9 billion in 2030, it is pretty evident that providing food to every person poses a great challenge, especially if we consider aspects of nutritional quality, access to food, and resource productivity," said Piet Klop, senior adviser of responsible investment at PGGM. "In order to tackle such a complex issue, we partner with the best in the finance and academic community to develop a replicable, science-based methodology for measuring impact on food security. We are still in the early days, but are happy to lead the charge and hope to demonstrate that mainstream investors can deliver both market-rate returns and measureable impact." WUR, a leading university in the Netherlands that focuses specifically on the theme of healthy food and living environment, will research the link between technologies produced by listed companies and agriculture yields in different parts of the world. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is building models that link access to nutritious food by deprived communities. "Wageningen and Harvard's research will focus on just four food security related metrics," said Dr. Dinah A. Koehler, executive director in the Global Sustainable Equities team at UBS Asset Management. "Building these models is challenging given the complexity of our global food system. Based upon our experience building impact models for climate change and water, we believe we have established a solid foundation for building out our impact measurement framework." In conjunction with UBS-AM, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has been working on developing impact models for climate change and air pollution, health, and food security. Harvard Chan School is a global leader in air pollution modelling and public health impacts dating back to seminal work in the 1980s, and has developed interdisciplinary models to assess the social and environmental impacts of climate change. In addition, City University of New York (CUNY) was contracted by UBS-AM to develop the impact models for water scarcity, leveraging their ground-breaking global water risk models. Media contacts UBS Asset Management Sheryl Lee Sheryl.Lee@ubs.com (https://www.ubs.com/bin/ubs/mailaddr?OsLhNeIrUyUlRBGlXeCeKTCuPbWsSBLcSoRm) T: +1 212 713 2423 Notes to Editors About UBS UBS provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as private clients in Switzerland. UBS' strategy is centered on our leading global wealth management business and our premier universal bank in Switzerland, enhanced by Asset Management and the Investment Bank. The bank focuses on businesses that have a strong competitive position in their targeted markets, are capital efficient, and have an attractive long-term structural growth or profitability outlook. UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in 52 countries, with about 34% of its employees working in the Americas, 34% in Switzerland, 18% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 14% in Asia Pacific. UBS Group AG employs approximately 61,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). www.ubs.com/asset-management (http://www.ubs.com/asset-management) About PGGM PGGM is a cooperative Dutch pension fund service provider. Institutional clients are offered: asset management, pension fund management, policy advice and management support. On December 31, 2017 PGGM had EUR 218 billion in assets under management and was administrating pensions of 3 million participants. Around 725,000 workers in the Dutch healthcare are connected to PGGM&CO, our members organization. Either alone or together with strategic partners, PGGM develops future solutions by linking together pension, care, housing and work. www.pggm.nl (http://www.pggm.nl/) About Wageningen University & Research Wageningen University & Research is a collaboration between Wageningen University and the Wageningen Research foundation. The mission of Wageningen University & Research is 'To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life'. Over 6,500 employees and 12,000 students from more than hundred countries work everywhere around the world in the domain of healthy food and living environment for governments and the business community-at-large. The strength of Wageningen University & Research lies in its ability to join the forces of specialised research institutes (https://www.wur.nl/en/Expertise-Services/Research-Institutes.htm) and the university (https://www.wur.nl/en/wageningen-university.htm). It also lies in the combined efforts of the various fields of natural and social sciences. This union of expertise leads to scientific breakthroughs that can quickly be put into practice and be incorporated into education. This is the Wageningen Approach. The scientific quality of Wageningen University & Research is affirmed by the prominent position we occupy in international rankings and citation indexes. About Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/) brings together dedicated experts from many disciplines to educate new generations of global health leaders and produce powerful ideas that improve the lives and health of people everywhere. As a community of leading scientists, educators, and students, we work together to take innovative ideas from the laboratory to people's lives-not only making scientific breakthroughs, but also working to change individual behaviors, public policies, and health care practices. Each year, more than 400 faculty members at Harvard Chan School teach 1,000-plus full-time students from around the world and train thousands more through online and executive education courses. Founded in 1913 as the Harvard-MIT School of Health Officers, the School is recognized as America's oldest professional training program in public health. Disclaimer For marketing and information purposes by UBS. This document and its contents have not been reviewed by, delivered to or registered with any regulatory or other relevant authority in any jurisdiction. No representations are made with respect to the eligibility of any recipients of this document to acquire interests in securities or benefit from any services under the laws of any jurisdiction. You are advised to exercise caution in relation to this document. The information in this document does not constitute advice and does not take into consideration your investment objectives, legal, financial or tax situation or particular needs in any other respect. Before investing in a product or subscribe to any services please read the latest prospectus and/or the terms and conditions carefully and thoroughly. Units of UBS funds may not be eligible for sale in all jurisdictions or to certain categories of investors and may not be offered, sold or delivered in the United States. The information mentioned herein is not intended to be construed as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any securities or related financial instruments or to subscribe to any services. 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While these forward-looking statements represent our judgments and future expectations concerning the development of our business, a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors could cause actual developments and results to differ materially from our expectations. For professional clients / qualified investors only. The information and opinions contained in this document have been compiled or arrived at based upon information obtained from sources believed to be reliable and in good faith, but is not guaranteed as being accurate, nor is it a complete statement or summary of the securities, markets or developments referred to in the document. UBS AG and / or other members of the UBS Group may have a position in and may make a purchase and / or sale of any of the securities or other financial instruments mentioned in this document. UBS 2018. The key symbol and UBS are among the registered and unregistered trademarks of UBS. All rights reserved. Airtel's letter leaves it to the reader to decide if the telecom company gave in to the 'discriminatory request' After reports in the media and being slammed on Twitter for giving in to the 'discriminatory request' by a subscriber, Airtel has issued a clarification stating that what was reported was 'mostly untrue and factually incorrect'. The letter leaves it to the reader to decide if the telecom company gave in to the 'discriminatory request'. Airtel also refrained from putting out the name of its official spokesperson so that the letter it issued could be read 'free of religous and caste overtones'. Did Airtel really bow down to a discriminatory request? Maybe you should read this. pic.twitter.com/Mr7b8Pgrci airtel India (@airtelindia) June 20, 2018 The incident that the telecom company is referring to that landed it in a Twitter controversy on Monday (18 June) evening was after a woman posted that she did not want to interact with a customer resolution officer as he was a Muslim. In response to this tweet, a man named Gaganjot took the conversation forward, leading many to accuse the company of not standing up to 'bigotry.' Following the conversation, many people expressed outrage, saying that they wanted to quit their Airtel connection. Speaking to Firstpost, an Airtel spokesperson then said, "The first tweet (posted by Shoaib) was a standard response. As per procedure, if a customer is not happy with a resolution officer, another person takes over. We are not pandering to anyone's religious biases." Subramainan's three-year term in office, which was to end on 16 October 2017, was extended by one year, by the then finance minister Arun Jaitley said last September. In a surprise development, the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) to the Government of India, Arvind Subramanian, has resigned from his post. In a farewell note posted on Facebook (FB), union minister Arun Jaitley reminisced about his association with the Oxford graduate. Subramanian quit owing to family commitments, Jaitley said in his FB post. "Few days ago Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian met me over video conferencing. He informed me that he would like to go back to the United States on account of pressing family commitments," Jaitley said, adding that Subramanian's reasons were "personal but extremely important" to him. "He left me with no option but to agree with him." The CEA's three-year term in office, which was to end on 16 October 2017, was extended by one year last September. Subramanian, a former economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), had originally planned to return to his family in the US at the end of three years, reported the Mint. The Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute of International Economics was on leave from the institute for public service. He took over as the CEA to the Indian government on 16 October, 2014 succeeding Raghuram Rajan. The post of CEA was lying vacant for over a year after Rajan left the finance ministry to join the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as governor in September 2013. Subramanian is also the author of two books, India's Turn: Understanding the Economic Transformation and Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China's Economic Dominance. That apart, he has co-authored Who Needs to Open the Capital Account? In 2011, Foreign Policy magazine named him as one of the world's top 100 global thinkers. Union Minister Arun Jaitley said that Arvind Subramanian will be leaving the ministry after nearly 4 years because of 'pressing family commitments' Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian, who has put in his papers, said he has not yet decided on the exact date of leaving the finance ministry, but that it will be in a month or two. The CEA, who spoke to reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday, said that he had the best job and "also the best job [he] will ever have". "I will go back with best of memories. I will always be committed to serving the country at all times in future," he said, adding that in union minister Arun Jaitley he had a "dream boss". When asked as to when he would be leaving, he said the exact date has not yet been decided. "I would be leaving in a month or two," Subramanian said, adding that he is expecting a grand child in September. The process of finding his successor will start soon, he said. Subramanian also put out a statement announcing his departure, in which he thanked his team. Furthermore, he said that he will leave with the satisfaction of having been a part of the effort to elevate the quality of economic analysis and its articulation, all via five economic surveys. My statement on the announcement of my departure from the job of CEA. pic.twitter.com/4slYcujugO arvind subramanian (@arvindsubraman) June 20, 2018 Earlier in the day, Jaitley said that Subramanian will be leaving the ministry after nearly four years because of "pressing family commitments", and will return to the US. In his blog, Jaitley said that a few days ago Subramanian spoke to him over video conferencing and informed that he would like to go back to the United States on account of pressing family commitments. "His reasons were personal but extremely important for him. He left me with no option but to agree with him," Jaitley wrote in a Facebook post. During his tenure, Subramanian pushed out futuristic ideas on rationalisation of removal of "subsidies for the rich", universal basic income, climate change, and the four C's -- the courts, the CAG, the CVC and the CBI that had historically paralysed decision making. He also conducted the first online course on the Indian economy for the benefits of students and teachers across the country. That apart, he rolled out the government's online education platform 'Swayam', which became one of the most followed courses in India. In 2017, Subramanian's term was extended for a year. He was appointed as the CEA on 16 October, 2014 for a period of three years. With inputs from PTI A delegation of the Royal Armed Forces recently visited the Ankara-based Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters to negotiate the purchase of T-129 attack helicopters, the much coveted aircraft by international air forces. According to FAR-Maroc, a website specializing in defense issues, senior officers of the Royal Armed Forces have just made a trip to Turkey to negotiate the acquisition of these combat helicopters, that were recently used by Turkey in the battle of Afrine in Syria, under the codename olive branch. The acquisition of these helicopters will strengthen the FARs deterrent capacity and enrich their fleet consisting mainly of reconnaissance and combat helicopters Gazelle, Bell 205 and Belle 206, Chinooks and Predator drones (USA) and Eads Harfang (EU), FAR-Maroc stated. According to the website, several international armies showed interest in purchasing the Turkish aircraft, including the Pakistani air force, which placed in 2018 an order for 30 T-129 attack helicopters. The T129, developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries with partner AgustaWestland, is a twin-engine, tandem seat, multi-role, all-weather attack helicopter. The aircraft is designed for advanced attack and reconnaissance in hot and high environments and rough geography in both day and night conditions. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said the Big Four auditors - which also include PwC, EY and Deloitte - must act swiftly to reverse the decline in this years audit inspection results if they are to hit targets set by the watchdog. London: KPMG, one of the worlds Big Four accounting firms, has shown an unacceptable deterioration in how it audits top British firms and will be first to undergo special supervision, Britains accounting watchdog said on Monday. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said the Big Four auditors - which also include PwC, EY and Deloitte - must act swiftly to reverse the decline in this years audit inspection results if they are to hit targets set by the watchdog. It singled out KPMG, however. There has been an unacceptable deterioration in quality at one firm, KPMG, the FRC said in a statement. Fifty percent of KPMGs FTSE 350 audits required more than just limited improvements, compared to 35 percent in the previous year. The decline reflects badly on action taken by the previous leadership, which was replaced during 2017, and not just on the performance of front line teams, the FRC said. Our key concern is the extent of challenge of management and exercise of professional scepticism by audit teams ... and more generally the inconsistent execution of audits within the firm. Increased scrutiny of KPMG will involve the FRC inspecting 25 percent more audits done by the firm in the 2018/19 financial year, the first time the FRC has taken such action. Michelle Hinchliffe, head of audit at KPMG since October 2017, said she was disappointed with the FRC findings and that steps taken in previous years have not resulted in improvements to audit quality. She said the findings mainly cover the time before KPMGs new audit quality transformation programme began last October. We cannot and will not be satisfied with these results and, as a firm, we are already working to put this right, Hinchliffe said. KPMG was already being investigated by the FRC over its audit of Carillion, the outsourcing company whose collapse has triggered a call from lawmakers to break up the Big Four accounting firms. They said the FRC was timid, piling pressure on the watchdog to crack the whip. Banking audits The FRC inspected a sample of audits from the eight leading accounting firms for the 2017/18 financial year. They showed that 72 percent required no more than limited improvements, down from 78 percent in the previous period. Among the FTSE 350 leading listed companies, 73 percent required only limited improvements, down from 81 percent in the previous year. Across the Big Four, the fall in quality is due to a number of factors, including a failure to challenge management and show appropriate scepticism across their audits, poorer results for audits of banks, the FRC said. The FRC said the audits of the other four accounting firms examined, BDO, Grant Thornton, Mazars and Moore Stephens, showed general improvements in quality, the FRC said. The green light given by auditors to accounts of banks just months before taxpayers had to rescue them in the financial crisis triggered a reform of the sector. Two of the four key findings on EY related to bank audits. EY said it would focus on how banks account for souring loans and conduct provisions. The FRC said Mazars should also continue to improve the audit of banks loan loss provisions. Mazars said it would focus on improving the quality of bank audits. At a time when public trust in business and in audit is in the spotlight, the Big Four must improve the quality of their audits and do so quickly, FRC Chief Executive Stephen Haddrill said. They must address urgently several factors that are vital to audit, including the level of challenge and scepticism by auditors, in particular in their bank audits. A government-ordered review of the FRC is underway to see if it needs more powers to bring bad auditors to book. By Devika Krishna Kumar and Ayenat Mersie NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil markets are bracing for a reshuffle of global trade flows as China threatens to impose tit-for-tat tariffs on imports of U.S. energy products, including crude. China, which has bought an average 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) of U.S By Devika Krishna Kumar and Ayenat Mersie NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil markets are bracing for a reshuffle of global trade flows as China threatens to impose tit-for-tat tariffs on imports of U.S. energy products, including crude. China, which has bought an average 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) of U.S. crude oil this year, is threatening to place a 25 percent tariff on various U.S. commodity exports, including crude oil, although it is so far unclear when such a measure would come in place. The decision came in response to U.S. President Donald Trump saying he was pushing ahead with hefty tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports. And it triggered an aggressive response by Trump, who on Monday threatened to slap a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods in addition to the import duties previously announced. The tariffs could restrict the flow of U.S. barrels going to China - a business now worth almost $1 billion per month About 14 million barrels of U.S. crude are set to arrive in China in July, which would be the highest monthly figure on record, according to Thomson Reuters flows data. An import duty would make U.S. oil less competitive than other crudes, almost certainly resulting in a sharp fall of Chinese purchases, forcing U.S. oil firms to find other buyers. In the first three months of this year, U.S. crude made up around 5 percent of China's total crude imports, according to Chinese customs data. [O/CHINA1] "It'll take the (U.S. oil) industry a few months to find new outlets," said Scott Shelton, a broker at ICAP in Durham, adding that U.S. crude flows to Europe and the Mediterranean will likely pick up. Outside China, however, WTI remains near a $10 per barrel discount to Brent . Graphic on U.S. vs international oil prices - https://tmsnrt.rs/2I91r9f Many traders expect this discount to widen further should the flow of U.S. oil to China slow, meaning that other producers would have to deal with high volumes of cheap American oil becoming available in other big markets, including Europe. China, in turn, is likely to replace the U.S. oil with increased purchases from top suppliers Russia and Saudi Arabia. Saudi and Russia are already pushing for an increase in production at a meeting of The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) this week. "I think it would create a carousel affect where China then buys more alternate grades and other importers buy more U.S. grades," a U.S.-based trader with a global merchant said. TRAPPED BARRELS? The United States, where oil production has risen by almost a third in the last two years to a weekly record of 10.9 million bpd , relies heavily on exports to maintain market balance. Billions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects are currently underway to facilitate exports further, with China at the centre of export growth forecasts. "Port of Corpus Christi is at the gateway to global markets and certainly to China ... at the end of the day, we are all looking at the long game, which is, we will be selling more energy to China," said Sean Strawbridge, chief executive of the Port of Corpus Christi Authority in Texas. "I'm sure the political headwinds will subside so we're not being deterred today, we're not losing our focus on continuing to develop the needed infrastructure." Exports surged to an unprecedented 1.76 million bpd in April from 1.67 million bpd in March. Graphic on U.S. crude oil exports to China - https://tmsnrt.rs/2loiKuk European countries, including Italy and the Netherlands, accounted for the bulk of the increase in April U.S. crude exports. Some traders expect U.S. barrels to get trapped if the dispute between the world's two biggest economies turns into a fully blown trade war, which in turn would force own the price of U.S. crude even further. "There is going to be a sales lull that will keep these barrels trapped and the widening of the spread that we see will persist and get worse before it gets better," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. For China, the world's biggest importer of crude oil, relatively higher Brent prices means oil would become more expensive. [CRU/WAF] This would put Chinese refiners at a disadvantage, said John Coleman, senior analyst of North American crude markets at Wood Mackenzie. As the trade dispute between Washington and Beijing heats up, the world's top oil producers are set to gather in Vienna, Austria, on June 22 to set global output strategy. Producer group OPEC, which is effectively led by Saudi Arabia, has been withholding supplies since 2017 to prop up prices together with non-OPEC members like top producer Russia. Russia and Saudi Arabia are both pushing for an increase in output to make up for losses in supplies in Venezuela as well as looming U.S. sanctions against Iran. Russia's flagship Urals crude oil is one of the grades preferred by China's independent refiners, known as teapots. Middle East flows to Asian countries such as India have also picked up over the past two months as Brent's premium over the Dubai benchmark has widened. Middle East light grades such as Murban, therefore, would now have an even easier time finding a home in China, traders said. Overall, however, traders do not expect serious supply shortfalls to result from Chinese crude tariffs against the United States. "The world's an awfully big place, consuming an awful lot of oil, so you may not have it that much harder for to go elsewhere," said Spencer Dale, chief economist at oil major BP. "You may see some differences in ... oil flows (but) I don't see it, at the moment, as a source of major disruption ... Some of that oil which would've been supplied by U.S. into China will go elsewhere," he added. (Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Ayenat Mersie in NEW YORK; Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein and Florence Tan in SINGAPORE, Olga Yagova in MOSCOW and Amanda Cooper in LONDON; editing by David Evans and Diane Craft) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Twenty-one fishermen from Tamil Nadu who went to Iran for jobs are in trouble, with no pay and little food. A fishermen's welfare body urged the government to take steps for their safe return. Nagercoil: 21 fishermen from Tamil Nadu who went to Iran for jobs are in dire straits, with no pay and little food. Their travel documents have been impounded by their employer, a fishermen's welfare body said on Wednesday, and urged the government to take steps for their safe return. They belong to Kanyakumari, Tuticorin, and Tirunelveli districts. They had gone to Iran to take up fishing on a "share in income" arrangement with a firm, International Fishermen Development Trust president P Justin Antony said. "The fishermen went to a location near Bandar Abbas in Iran about a year ago after paying a huge sum in India to agents who assured them of a lucrative income," Antony. He said the victims decided to go abroad as fishing was not so remunerative back home. However, they were not paid for about six months, and their passports and other travel documents were taken away by the firm, he alleged. "This has put them in a very difficult situation and they are struggling to meet even basic needs like food. The kin of the fishermen have requested the district authorities to take steps for their safe return," he said. A Kanyakumari district official said eight of the fishermen are from the district, and steps are underway to bring all the 21 fisherfolk back. "The process is on. All authorities concerned are being notified to help bring our fishermen back home, the official said. Antony said the Centre should work with countries like Iran, where Indian fishermen take up assignments, to ensure they are covered by the labour laws of the nations of their employment. Noting that such agreements will help fishermen, he said the Indian embassies should hold a 'grievance day meet' with them periodically to address their problems. Kashmiriyat was destroyed in the last three and half years' rule of BJP, said Ghulam Nabi Azad about the government's militant operations in Kashmir. A day after BJP snapped their alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir and promised intensified action against militancy in the state, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad made an allegation saying that anti-terror operations in the Kashmir Valley under the BJP government have resulted in more civilian deaths than of militants. On Wednesday, CNN-News18 quoted Azad as saying, "They take action against 4 terrorists and also kill 20 civilians. Their action is more against civilians than terrorists. For instance, they killed 13 civilians in Pulwama and just one terrorist," Azad said in an interview. "No civilians were killed during the UPA government." #EXCLUSIVE -- They (BJP) take action against 4 terrorists & also kill 20 civilians. Their action is more against civilians than terrorists. The major reason behind situation in the valley is because Modi govt talks about action. Seems they always want to use gun: GN Azad, Cong pic.twitter.com/HuTI3bIOLF News18 (@CNNnews18) June 20, 2018 He also said that 'Operation All-Out', which was a joint offensive launched by Indian security forces in 2017 to flush out militants and terrorists from Kashmir, was just another name for a "full-fledged" massacre. Saying that it will be an all-out operation, clearly shows that they plan to conduct a massacre. They did not say that they want to resolve the issue through talks. Even America and North Korea solved their difference through dialogue," Azad said. The major reason behind the condition of Kashmir is that from the day PM Modi came to power, he has always talked about action. It seems he always wants to use the gun. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister has held that a "muscular approach" against terrorism is not the solution to bringing peace in the state. BJP on Tuesday pulled out of its alliance with PDP blaming its alliance partner for not being able to control the situation in Kashmir. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav made the surprise announcement on Tuesday and said, It has become untenable for the BJP to continue the alliance with PDP. Keeping in mind that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and in order to control the prevailing situation in the state, we have decided that the reins of power in the state be handed over to the governor. The senior Congress leader further alleged that the idea of Kashmir has been destroyed. CNN-News18 quoted Azad as saying, Kashmiriyat was destroyed in the last three and half years' rule of BJP." Jammu and Kashmir saw a 64 percent rise in terror incidents over 3 years to 2017, providing some perspective to BJP's decision to end its alliance with PDP. By Chaitanya Mallapur Mumbai: There was a 64 percent rise in terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir over three years to 2017, providing some perspective to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decision to call off its three-year alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Over 800 terror incidents have been reported in the state over the three years ending 2017 up from 208 in 2015 to 342 in 2017 according to an IndiaSpend analysis of government data. As many as 744 people died in these three years: 471 terrorists, 201 security forces and 72 civilians, the data show. It was amidst this scenario eight months ago that Union home minister Rajnath Singh said the situation in the conflict-ridden state was "improving". "I don't want to claim that everything is completely fine but things are improving, this I can say with firm belief," Singh had said on 11 September, 2017. The state saw the most terror incidents in 2017 since 2010, which saw 488 incidents. Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the fewest terror incidents (170) over the last 28 years in 2013. Since then, incidents have more than doubled over the last four years to 2017. The PDP and the BJP formed a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir in March 2015. Since then, armed encounters between militants and security forces have increased by 53 percent over the preceding three years, IndiaSpend reported on 18 May. In 247 encounters recorded from 2015 to 2017, 439 militants (including 156 Kashmiris) and 200 government forces (including 109 army personnel) were killed. The rift between the two parties widened following the central government's decision to resume anti-terror operations in the state after Ramzan, NDTV reported on 19 June. "We have taken a decision, it is untenable for BJP to continue in alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, hence we are withdrawing," Ram Madhav, BJP national general secretary, said. We have taken a decision, it is untenable for BJP to continue in alliance with PDP in Jammu & Kashmir, hence we are withdrawing: Ram Madhav, BJP pic.twitter.com/NWsmr7Io9e ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2018 Terrorism, violence and radicalisation have risen and fundamental rights of the citizens are under danger in the Valley. #ShujaatBukhari's killing is an example: Ram Madhav, BJP pic.twitter.com/0T0HLurWVu ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2018 Keeping in mind larger interest of India's security and integrity, fact is that J&K is an integral part of India, in order to bring control over the situation prevailing in the state we have decided that the reigns of power in the state be handed over to the Governor: Ram Madhav pic.twitter.com/RauqGYtAQn ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2018 The withdrawal of support by the BJP led to the resignation by chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. "I am not shocked," Mufti said on the withdrawal of BJP from the alliance. "We didn't do this alliance for power. This alliance had a bigger motive - unilateral ceasefire, PM's visit to Pakistan, withdrawal of cases against 11,000 youth." With the chief minister resigning, the state is likely to be under Governor's Rule. This is the eighth time Governor's Rule is being imposed on the state. The PDP won 28 of 87 seats in the 2014 state Assembly elections with the BJP coming second with 25. By quitting the government, the BJP is now in power in 19 of 29 states. Jammu and Kashmir saw most terror incidents in 1995 The state saw the most terror incidents (5,938) in 1995 in which 1,332 terrorists were killed and 1,031 civilians and 237 security forces lost their lives. In 2001, the state saw most (2,020) terrorist deaths and maximum security forces (536) lost their lives. Source: Lok Sabha 1; 2 Note: The data in Parliamentary Standing Committee report on terror incidents in J&K from 1990 to 12 March, 2017 do not tally with the total given in the table. We have sent an email to the ministry of home affairs on 18 June, requesting clarification on the data. We will update the copy as soon as we receive any response. We have used data from 1990 to 2016 from the parliamentary report, and data for 2017 from a Lok Sabha reply dated 13 March. More than 70,000 terror incidents have been reported in Jammu and Kashmir over the last 28 years ending 2017, in which 22,143 terrorists were killed and 13,976 civilians and 5,123 soldiers lost their lives. The state was rocked by a series of killings last week: Journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead on 13 June, and rifleman Aurangzeb Khan of the Indian Army was kidnapped and killed on 14 June. The United Nations released a report on 14 June, alleging violations of human rights and abuses by India in Jammu and Kashmir. The central government had called for a Ramzan ceasefire on 16 May, asking the security forces not to launch anti-terror operations during the period in a move to reduce violence and tension in the state. However, 60 terror incidents and 39 deaths including six civilians, nine security personnel and 24 terrorists were reported in the state during the ceasefire, Deccan Herald reported on 17 June. No respite from stone-pelting As many as 39 incidents were reported during the first 16 days of Ramzan in May 2018 as against 195 incidents last year, Hindustan Times reported on 6 June. Between January and April this year, 245 incidents of stone pelting on central reserve police force were reported, in which 71 security personnel were injured. As many as 4,799 stone pelting incidents were reported in Jammu and Kashmir between 2015 and 2017, IndiaSpend reported on 18 May. Over 4,000 first information reports against 14,315 stone pelters have been registered during the last three years in the state, according to this reply to the Jammu and Kashmir legislative council on 7 February. Comments have been coming in from political leaders on the sudden withdrawal of the BJP from the coalition government. I have told Governor that since no party has the mandate to form government, he will have to impose Governor rule in the state: Omar Abdullah, National Conference on BJP called off alliance with PDP in #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/Tln9psdQC1 ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2018 Whatever has happened is good. People of J&K will get some relief. They (BJP) ruined Kashmir & have now pulled out, maximum number of civilian & army men died during these 3 years. That question does not arise (on forming alliance with PDP): GN Azad, Congress pic.twitter.com/rcfVelHdnT ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2018 We tried our best to run the govt with BJP. This had to happen. This is a surprise for us because we did not have any indication about their decision: Rafi Ahmad Mir, PDP Spokesperson on BJP pulling out of an alliance with PDP in #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/6laodyNY97 ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2018 The author is an analyst with IndiaSpend. The collapse of the BJP-PDP government in Jammu and Kashmir has brought the troubled state's political turbulence to the fore. The collapse of the BJP-PDP government in Jammu and Kashmir has brought the troubled state's political turbulence to the fore. The state's uncertain future has been linked with larger political narrative in an election season, giving rise to a deluge of debates that runs the risk of masking a deeper crisis one that concerns the Valley's security situation. It is calamitous and in need of urgent and decisive intervention. BJP's pullout has created a political vacuum but it is the right decision that should have been taken much sooner. The civilian administration under the ruling coalition was so fraught with conflicting currents that it was making it easier for Pakistan and its deep state to execute its subversive activities. In the hands of Governor NN Vohra, a seasoned administrator with a decade of experience in dealing with Kashmir (he has also served as a government interlocutor), the focus should shift from the political tamasha to the perilous situation in the Valley, where the secessionist movement is riding pillion on Islamist radicalism. Action is needed on multiple fronts but it must be prioritised and cannot be bulldozed through. One of the first tasks facing Vohra is to reestablish the state's writ over the Valley. It has spread so thin under the hands of an administration that put political survival ahead of its primary responsibilities that ordinary Kashmiris, who want nothing more than a semblance of peace to carry on with their lives, saw more security in siding with terrorists whose writ run stronger. Reversing this trend will be difficult and slow but achievable if the security forces are given a free hand. What the forces need is a direct line of command that is insured from ground-level political interference. One of the biggest impediments to bringing stability in the Valley was internal. In their pursuit of intelligence-gathering, flushing out terrorists, launching combat operations and going after the terror financing network, the forces had to overcome considerable resistance from the political establishment. "The PDP cadre has a strong component of Jamat-e-Islami, the pro-Pakistan socio-political organization whose armed offshoot is the Hizbul Mujahideen terror group," write Aarti Tikoo Singh and M Saleem Pandit in The Times of India. It naturally interpreted the search-and-cordon operations as an assault on its constituency and struggled to contain the repercussions. Non-initiation of combat operations (NICO), that eventually led to the coalition's demise, was a PDP demand that BJP acceded to. Quoting a senior central official, Bharti Jain writes in another article in The Times of India that the J&K police, which was actively involved in these operations, "was allegedly being forced by local politicians to adopt a soft approach towards separatists (and) can now be expected to act more independently." A similar sentiment was expressed by top cop SP Vaid, who told NDTV that it is "much easier" to work under governor's rule. In an interview, the DGP of Jammu and Kashmir Police said: "Operations will continue. Only thing was in between, during this (ceasefire) period, the operations were stopped. They were going on earlier also, but we will intensify these operations in the days to come. And it would be, I think, much easier to work." With the Centre taking over the reins of the state, there should be a greater synchronization between political and strategic will. This should, in turn, facilitate a tougher security policy consisting of domination operations and relentless search-and-cordon offensives. There is an urgent need for resumption of these operations because the terrorists have been able to regroup and reorganise, utilizing the breather offered by NICO. As Vaid told NDTV during the interview, "The orders were to maintain high-alert in the camps so that if camps were attacked, we are able to retaliate effectively. But, one could not launch operations even when there was specific intelligence about the presence of terrorists. So, that obviously was an advantageous to the terrorists." To an extent, the divorce allows both BJP and PDP to lick their wounds and go back to nursing their radically different constituencies. For the BJP, nothing is more important than to see a peaceful and uneventful Amarnath Yatra. Freed of coalition compulsions, it may now order the forces to launch proactive operations to sanitize the pilgrimage route and prevent a recurrence of 2017. There have been inputs of an impending terror attack and the Centre cannot afford to take any chances. As Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd) writes in The Tribune, to sanitise and throw a security perimeter around the Amarnath Yatra route, there needs to be "preparation through relentless domination operations. Such domination involves sanitisation of the upper reaches from Pahalgam which does not affect the population. It is the second element of sanitisation, from Ramban, on to Anantnag and Pahalgam, which involves densely populated areas that have been in the throes of militancy" COAS Bipin Rawat has reiterated that operations will continue and governor's rule won't be an impediment to their strategy. We only stopped our operations during Ramzan. But, we saw what happened. The imposing of Governor's rule will not affect our operations. Our operations will go on like they used to. We don't face any political interference: General Bipin Rawat, Army chief pic.twitter.com/aOv0saHNE4 ANI (@ANI) June 20, 2018 The army chief had made it clear on earlier occasions that "azaadi" is a mirage that Kashmiri youth should best avoid running after because it will never materialise. This isn't arrogance of power but a realist statement made in all honesty. The 21st century world has lesser and lesser appetite for an armed resistance or intifada to achieve political goals. India isn't a repressive state such as Pakistan or China where insurgencies are silently crushed but even so, beyond a point, it cannot allow its sovereignty to be taken hostage by a terrorist movement that is fueled and funded by an Islamist state to satisfy its vengeance. The violent movement for a separate Kashmir carved out of India falls between the twin stools of terrorism and a neighbour's expansionism, and therefore, it shall never have any moral legitimacy. Conversely, fatigue against terrorism and a nation's inalienable right to safeguard its sovereignty are impulses that find greater takers. Regardless of politically biased UN reports that no one takes seriously, India enjoys both moral and legal right in battling the insurgency movement, and this makes all the difference. The final area where collapse of the coalition is likely to have a positive effect is the terror financing networks. Pakistan is pumping in a lot of money through different conduits and simultaneously trying to engineer socio-political changes. In its chargesheet in a terror funding case, the National Investigation Agency has related how a "triangular nexus" is at work involving the "terrorists, the Hurriyat and the Pakistan establishment". These "three vertices are ostensibly patronising the Kashmir students in order to prepare a generation of doctors and technocrats in Kashmir who will have leanings towards Pakistan. An important part of this network is the group of influential Kashmiris who have deep political ties with the establishment and Pakistani deep state such as businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali. For instance, a Hurriyat leader was quoted as saying by Aasha Khosa in her 2017 piece for Governance Now how the outfit is being funded by the ISI. I was getting about Rs 8-10 lakh per month. The money would come from the ISI and was delivered to me in cash by Zahoor, he said. This is also the reason why "talks" with the Hurriyat carries little sense. There is an urgent need to dismantle these networks, and strangle the source of terror funding, failing which terrorism will remain a festering sore. Political will is the first step in that direction. Let's hope the die has been cast at long last. Former chief minister Omar Abdullah had demanded the dissolution of the Assembly so that the process of holding early elections in Jammu and Kashmir could be started. Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir governor NN Vohra on Wednesday placed the state Assembly under suspended animation. After the imposition of Governor's Rule, Vohra exercised his powers under the Constitution. Former chief minister Omar Abdullah had demanded the dissolution of the Assembly so that the process of holding early elections in the state could be started. On Tuesday, the BJP suddenly withdrew its support to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and pulled out of the ruling PDP-BJP coalition, causing the government to collapse. All major political parties including the PDP, National Conference and the BJP said they would not explore the possibility of forming an elected government in the state. Abdullah said horse trading could not be ruled out unless the Assembly was dissolved. In the 87-member Assembly, the PDP has 28 seats, while 25 seats are with BJP, 15 with National Conference, 12 with Congress, one with CPM, two with Peoples Conference and one with Peoples Democratic Front. There are also three independent MLAs. The Bombay High Court criticised the BMC for granting blanket permissions to Mumbai's electricity companies, railways and the Airports Authority of India to trim trees. The High Court of Bombay on Wednesday asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to reconsider granting blanket permissions to trim trees in areas under its jurisdiction. While hearing a petition filed by activist Zoru Bhathena, the court reacted sharply to the petitioner's observation that last month, officers of the tree authority had gone on a hacking spree across Mumbai, reported the Hindustan Times. Commenting on the BMC's practice to grant blanket permissions to electricity companies, railways and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to trim trees, the division bench of justices Abhay Oka and Riyaz Chagla said, "You cannot grant such blanket permissions." "Who will decide if the branch (sought to be cut) poses a danger or not?" the judges asked the counsel for the BMC, senior advocate Anil Sakhare. "Suppose in a given case, all branches of a tree are cut, it will be the virtual destruction of the entire tree. Somebody must apply their mind." In response, Sakhare said: "Before authorities do the work, they have to inform us. There is scrutiny available." He also argued that the civic body can exercise its power under Section 383 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888. He added that the Electricity Act and the AAI Act gave the two organisations the right to trim trees. The bench was annoyed because permissions were granted to trim trees in all areas that fall under the civic body's jurisdiction and not just for specific areas. The activist's petition has sought orders to restrain the BMC's tree department and contractors from cutting and damaging any tree without obtaining permission from the Tree Authority of Mumbai or the municipal commissioner of the corporation as per provisions of law, reported The Indian Express. The bench has scheduled the next hearing for Friday. The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) issued the admit card for the 63rd Common Combined competitive preliminary examination on Tuesday and candidates can download it on bpsc.bih.nic.in. The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) issued the admit card for the 63rd Common Combined competitive preliminary examination on Tuesday and candidates can download it on bpsc.bih.nic.in. The last date to download the e-admit cards is 29 June, 2018. The BPSC preliminary examination will be conducted on 1 July, 2018, between 12 pm to 2 pm across 271 examination centres in 19 district headquarters of Bihar, Hindustan Times reported. There will be 150 questions from general studies in the paper. It is mandatory for candidates to bring the admit card to the examination centre and students must note that there is no provision for sending the admit cards through postal system, The Times of India reported. Steps to download BPSC prelims admit card 2018 1) Go to the BPSC's official website bpsc.bih.nic.in 2) Click on the link to apply online, provided in the LHS of the page 3) Click on the link for 'BPSC online application' 4) Fill all the details like username, password and after entering the captcha code click login 5) Now on the new page, click on 'Download Admit Card' 6) View and download your Admit Card 7) Keep a printout for future use Answer scripts of candidates who took the Class 10 exam conducted by Bihar School Examination Board this year, went missing from a school in Gopalaganj. Thousands of answer sheets of candidates who took the Class 10th examinations conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) this year have gone missing from the strong room of SS Balika Inter School in Gopalaganj on Tuesday, BSEB officials said. The results were scheduled to be declared on 20 June but a bag containing 200 answer sheets kept post evaluation went missing from the school. The authorities have registered a complaint and investigations are underway, reported News18. The declaration of results for Class 10th has now been deferred to 26 June, the BSEB said in a statement. Results for Bihar Class 10 Matric Result 2018 or BSEB Class 10 result will be declared on its official website biharboard.ac.in. The principal of the SS Balika Inter School in Gopalaganj was summoned by the BSEB and later detained by the police for interrogation. The latest episode has further tarnished BSEB's image, which had drawn widespread condemnation in the wake of the "toppers scam" when non-deserving students were declared top rankers in Arts and Science streams due to materialistic considerations in 2016. "Pramod Kumar Srivastava, principal of SS Girls' Senior Secondary High School, registered an FIR on Sunday stating that over 200 bags, containing more than 40,000 answer scripts evaluated at the premises and kept thereafter in the strong room, were missing," SHO of police station in Gopalganj, Ravi Kumar, told PTI over the phone. The SHO said that in the FIR, Srivastava had named some non-teaching staff who had been entrusted with manning the school building. BSEB chairman Anand Kishor said, "Srivastava was called to the board headquarters for questioning. He was later detained by the police for further questioning." The BSEB later issued a press note stating that the district magistrate and superintendent of police of Gopalganj have been directed to ensure recovery of the barcoded and evaluated answer scripts, identify the culprits and take action against them as per law". The Bihar board also announced that the results would now be declared on 26 June but claimed that disappearance of the answer scripts will have "no effect on the overall results nor on preparation of the list of top-ranking students". "All evaluation centres have provided the BSEB headquarters with award sheets stating the marks awarded to each candidate. Hence, we are already in possession of the respective scores of even those candidates whose answer scripts have gone missing," the BSEB release said. With inputs from PTI Canada is now the Great Green North. Photo: Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images Canada on Tuesday became just the second nation in the world to legalize recreational marijuana when the Senate passed the Cannabis Act by a 5229 vote. The countrys marijuana marketplace is expected to open for business in September. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau celebrated the vote in a tweet that said, Its been too easy for our kids to get marijuana and for criminals to reap the profits. Its been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate. #PromiseKept Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 20, 2018 The new law, which comes five years after Uruguay became the first country to legalize weed, will allow adults over 18 to carry as much as 30 grams of marijuana in public and cultivate up to four plants in their homes. Much of the other regulations will be left up to provincial governments, which will also be allowed to manage and sell marijuana themselves. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) is expected to declare the results for Class 10th board examinations at 4.30 pm on 26 June. Students can check the result on biharboard.ac.in. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has released the results for Class 10th board examinations at 4.30 pm on 26 June. Students can check the result on the official board website, biharboard.ac.in. Students can also check their results at News18Bihar.com. The board had announced the Class 12th results on 6 June. The Bihar board Class 10th results were initially scheduled to be released on 10 May whereas the HSC +2 results were scheduled to be released on 12 May. The Class 10th result was then postponed to 20 May and Class 12th result postponed to 18 May. A total of 17,70,42 lakh students sat for the BSEB Class 10th exams and 12,07,986 students appeared for the BSEB Class 12th board exam in 2018. The Class 10th exams were held from 21 to 28 February, while the Class 12th exams were held from 6 to 16 February. Here is how Class 10th and Class 12th students can respectively check their results: - Go to the board's official website: biharboard.ac.in. - Click on the link displayed on the site for Class 10th results. - Enter your roll number and other details and press submit. - Take a printout of your results for future reference. NDTV reported that this year, the Bihar board used bar-coded answer sheets instead of the normal ones to avoid cheating and other unfair practices. The board had also introduced 50 percent objective questions for which students were provided with a different OMR sheet. Officials have completed evaluating the answer sheets and are now decoding the same, the report adds. According to a report in DNA, the BSEB conducts Annual Secondary School Examinations every year in the month of February/March and Supplementary School Examination in the month of August/September on the basis of course/syllabus as prescribed by the state government. As has been observed over the course of the past few weeks, the dates and times of result announcements have been frequently changed around. The information above has not been independently verified. However, this article will continue to be updated to reflect official updates as and when they come in. Chhattisgarh additional chief secretary (Home) BVR Subrahmanyam is tipped to be the chief secretary of J&K, where Governor's Rule was imposed on Tuesday. Chhattisgarh additional chief secretary (Home) BVR Subrahmanyam's two stints at the Prime Miniter's Office, during Manmohan Singh's and Narendra Modi's tenures as prime ministers, and his experience in the state's home department have been instrumental in getting him transferred to the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir. He is tipped to be the chief secretary of the state, where Governor's Rule was imposed on Tuesday. BVR, as he is popularly known in bureaucratic circles and among his friends, is a 1987-batch IAS officer with a mechanical engineering background, and belongs to Andhra Pradesh. Considering his effective handling of issues related to the Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh, the Centre has posted him in Jammu and Kashmir, which is reeling under a severe internal security crisis at the moment, due to Pakistan-backed terrorism. According to highly placed sources in the Chhattisgarh government, Subrahmanyam, both as the principal secretary and then as ACS, home department, played an effective role in coordinating with central paramilitary forces and state police in tackling Naxalism in the Maoist-hotbed Bastar. "In the last three years, there has been a decline in Maoist incidents in Bastar. Unlike in the past, the number of casualties in a single Maoist attack, except the one that occurred in Burkapal, has come down. Subrahmanyam had been at the helm of affairs and had an excellent liaison with security forces. Things could have been worst in this Maoist belt, but his active participation, planning and execution as ACS (Home) helped a lot in containing the insurgency," an official based in one of the districts in Bastar division told Firstpost, on condition of anonymity. The importance of this Chhattisgarh-cadre officer can also be judged from a reply given by Manmohan to Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, when the latter requested the former prime minister to relieve Subrahmanyam from the Centre so that he could serve in Chhattisgarh, his parent cadre. It's part of bureaucracy folklore that Raman wrote to Manmohan to relieve Subrahmanyam so that the latter could serve his home cadre. The prime minister had replied that he needed 'an officer with experience to deal with sensitive matters and who also enjoyed his trust and confidence'. Considered close to Modi, Subrahmanyam worked with both Manmohan and Modi with equal ease and earned their confidence. He was amongst Manmohan's most trusted men like C Rangarajan, Shivshankar Menon, TKA Nair and Pulok Chatterji. Subrahmanyam, 57, had worked in the PMO as private secretary to Manmohan for over four years during the UPA-I government. His second stint, as joint secretary in the South Block (PMO), began in March 2012 and continued till March 2015. He worked almost for a year as joint secretary under Modi, till he moved to Chhattisgarh. Subrahmanyam, who also earned a management degree from London Business School, also had a stint in between as a senior advisor to the World Bank in Washington DC. Known as a 'no-nonsense man', Subrahmanyam, who also held the additional charge of jail and transport in Chhattisgarh, ensured that buses and public transport were not on the move during operations against Maoists in any particular area. According to Chhattisgarh Police sources, he ensured these safeguards so as to avoid casualties during operations against Maoists. Coordination between central security forces and the state police has often been considered as a bottleneck during operations against Maoists in Naxal-infested states. Subrahmanyam, instead of delegating from his office, used to be on-field to monitor implementation of policies and their progress. He also initiated the Bastar Development Plan, which ensured fast-tracked construction of roads in conflict areas. Today, the smooth blacktop roads across Bastar are considered to be an important factor in pushing the Maoists on the back-foot. "Subrahmanyam, during meetings on security issues, always emphasised on coordination and cooperation between central forces and state police. As a result, things have improved during operations, especially due to his field visits in high-risk areas," a central security force official in Chhattisgarh said. It was during his tenure as head of the state's home department that Chhattisgarh Police adopted an offensive strategy against the Maoists, unlike in the past, when the forces used to act defensively. "Keeping the rich experience and calibre of the ACS in mind, who also enjoys a good reputation, the Appointments Committee found him eligible for Jammu and Kashmir's top post. Under Governor's Rule, the coordination with the Indian Army and security forces is of prime importance and plays a crucial role. Given his experience in conflict zone administration in Chhattisgarh, we're sure he'll do well in the state," Ramesh Nayyar, a Raipur-based veteran journalist added. Subrahmanyam has been asked by the Centre to take charge in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect. He could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts. The Congress in Maharashtra today said the state child rights panel's notice to party president Rahul Gandhi for 'disclosing' the identity of two minor boys, who were victims of an assault, as a bid to divert the attention from the main issue pertaining to the deprived sections. Mumbai: The Congress in Maharashtra today said the state child rights panel's notice to party president Rahul Gandhi for 'disclosing' the identity of two minor boys, who were victims of an assault, as a bid to divert the attention from the main issue pertaining to the deprived sections. A video purportedly showing the two minor boys being stripped and beaten up for swimming in a well of a farmer in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district had gone viral last week. Gandhi had tweeted about the incident, tagging the video and blaming the BJP and the RSS for "rising atrocities" against backward classes. As per law, the identity of minor victims cannot be disclosed. The video of the incident had gone viral on social media much before Gandhi's tweet on it and even television channels had aired the clip, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan told reporters here, defending the party president. "The notice issued by the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights to Gandhi is a means to divert attention from the main issue of deprived sections of the society being targetted," he alleged. The Congress will seek a legal opinion in the matter and clarify its future course of action, he said. Chavan claimed that since the BJP came to power, the atrocities on Dalits, backward classes and deprived sections of the society were on the rise. "The fresh incident is the case of two teenagers from a backward community being beaten up for bathing in a well in Jalgaon district. Authorities are not taking action in the case. If we raise our voice against this and demand immediate action, what is wrong in this?," he asked. Taking cognisance of a complaint filed by a Mumbai resident, Amol Jadhav, the child rights panel had on Tuesday issued a show cause notice to Gandhi and Twitter for disclosing the identity of the two minor Dalit boys. The commission sought a reply from both as to why action should not be taken against them under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar had on Tuesday demanded that Gandhi withdraw the video from his twitter handle. The commission has sought Gandhi's reply within 10 days. Tamil Nadu government said the much-anticipated AIIMS facility announced for the state by Centre will come up near Madurai at an estimated Rs 1,500 crore. Chennai: Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday said the much-anticipated All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) facility announced for the state by the Centre will come up near Madurai at an estimated Rs 1,500 crore. Chief Minister K Palaniswami thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for selecting Thoppur for this purpose. "The 750-bed modern facility will be set up at Thoppur near Madurai at an estimated Rs 1,500 crore," Palaniswami told reporters in Chennai, adding, it will also have 100 MBBS seats. The AIIMS facility was announced for Tamil Nadu in the Union Budget 2015-2016 but had faced some delays over the location of the facility, with demands being made by various sections for it to be set up in their respective districts. Palaniswami recalled that a central team had earlier visited five locations, including those at Madurai, Erode and Pudukottai districts, before zeroing in on Thoppur. Assuring all support from the Tamil Nadu government in the establishment of the proposed AIIMS, he thanked Modi for allocating such a facility to the state. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Palaniswami said the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was very keen that an institution of the stature of AIIMS was established and made functional in Tamil Nadu. She was keen on ensuring Tamil Nadu got such a facility "as it would substantially augment the facilities in the state for providing quality medical education, research and also ensure high-end tertiary level healthcare in the public sector to benefit the poor and middle classes of the state," he said. Palaniswami said he has directed state Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, Principal Health Secretary, J Radhakrishnan and other senior officials to provide all necessary support to the Central government so as to facilitate early commencement of work. There will not be normalcy after Governor's rule is imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. There will be further repression, Asaduddin Owaisi said. Hyderabad: The Bhartiya Janta Party's (BJP) decision to pull out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led Jammu and Kashmir government and the expected imposition of Governor's rule won't bring normalcy in the state, Asaduddin Owaisi, chief of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) said on Tuesday. "There will not be normalcy after Governor's rule is imposed. There will be further repression. The BJP's actual agenda is to scrap Article 370. No Kashmiri will approve of it," Owaisi told reporters in Hyderabad. He said he had no sympathies for Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who resigned after the BJP's announcement, and he saw no political future for her and the PDP in the Kashmir Valley. Owaisi alleged that the BJP took the decision to pull out after it realized that it is losing ground in Jammu. Arguing that the BJP could not run away from the responsibility as it was sharing power and had a Deputy Chief Minister and ministers, he said BJP was more responsible than PDP for the situation in the state as it failed to deliver, failed to provide governance, stop terror attacks on Army camps and check cross-border terrorism. He also said that the BJP, as a partner in the government, made no serious attempt for a dialogue and no step was taken to fulfil the promises made in the agenda of the alliance. Owaisi said BJP's main aim was to repeal Article 370. "The assassination of Shujaat Bukhari was a monumental tragedy and unfortunately it is being used and exploited to fulfil a policy which was started two years ago," he said. Recalling that both BJP and PDP had termed formation of the coalition government a meeting of North and South Poles, he said, "The people of the country want to know what happened to the so-called meeting." Claiming that the ceasefire (of Ramazan) had resulted in the beginning of political activity on the ground, Owaisi said the BJP owes an explanation to the nation why it announced a ceasefire in a hurry and why it did not extend it. It is for the fourth time that Jammu and Kashmir was placed under Central rule in the last one decade all under the tenure of Vohra, who was made the Governor in June 2008. New Delhi/Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir was placed under Governor's rule on Wednesday and the state Assembly kept in suspended animation, as Governor NN Vohra reviewed security measures and brought in former top cop Vijay Kumar, a counter-insurgency specialist, as one of his two advisers. A day after the PDP-BJP government collapsed after the BJP snapped its three-year-old alliance with the regional party citing "larger national interest" and "deteriorating security situation", a Union Home Ministry spokesman said in the morning that President Ram Nath Kovind has approved imposition of Governor's rule in the border state with immediate effect. As Vohra held multiple meetings in Srinagar, army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said the ongoing military operations in the Valley against terrorists would continue as earlier. Governor's rule in the state is unlikely to have any impact on ongoing military operations, he told reporters in New Delhi. According to an official communique, Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer BVR Subrahmanyam was appointed as the Chief Secretary of the state in place of BB Vyas, who along with K Vijay Kumar, a former IPS officer and an anti-naxal expert, were named advisers to Governor Vohra. Kumar's experience ranges from jungle warfare and security detail to counter-insurgency. The names of advisers were cleared by the Union Home Ministry after the state was put under the Governor's rule. Kumar, a 1975 batch IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, had earlier served in the Kashmir valley as Inspector General of BSF in 1998-2001 when the border guarding force was actively involved in the counter-militancy operations. Kumar, 65, had shot to fame when he headed the Special Task Force (STF) for a long time and strategised operations that culminated in the elimination of the dreaded forest brigand Veerappan after an encounter in Tamil Nadu in October 2004. He was later appointed as Director General of world's largest paramilitary force CRPF after naxals killed 75 personnel in Dantewada in 2010. It is for the fourth time that Jammu and Kashmir was placed under Central rule in the last one decade all under the tenure of Vohra, who was made the Governor in June 2008. This is the eighth time in the last four decades that the state was kept under Governor's rule. "Immediately after receiving President of India's approval, Governor NN Vohra issued the proclamation to impose Governor's Rule in the state under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir today," a Raj Bhawan spokesman said in Srinagar. The Governor also placed the legislative assembly in suspended animation till the proclamation of Governor's rule is revoked or varied by a subsequent proclamation, according to a gazette notification. The six-year term of the current Assembly ends in March, 2021. As part of the Governor's meetings, Northern Army commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh called on Vohra and discussed the security situation in the state. The Governor and the army commander discussed certain issues about the need for very close coordination in security management in the Valley, particularly keeping in view the need to prevent collateral damage in counter-terrorist operations, the Raj Bhavan spokesman said. Separately, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Centre wants terrorism to end and peace to prevail in Kashmir. "Our only aim is that terrorism should end and peace should prevail in Kashmir and our government will work keeping this in mind," he told reporters in Lucknow. Vohra had last night recommended imposition of Governor's rule in a report sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan around the time when President Ram Nath Kovind, who is on an overseas trip, was onboard his special aircraft. The contents of the Governor's report were immediately sent to Suriname where the president was scheduled to land at 6.30 pm (3 am IST). The president after perusing the report gave his assent and the same was sent to the Union Home Ministry by 6 am (IST) following which the process of promulgating Governor's rule was initiated and a communication sent to Srinagar. After assuming charge as the head of the state administration, Vohra held meetings with top civil administration and police officials at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar. Security preparations for the annual Amarnath yatra also figured during the meetings held by the Governor. The two-month long pilgrimage to the 3,880 metre high cave shrine of Amarnath commences on June 28. The break-up of the PDP-BJP coalition triggered celebrations in parts of the Valley, even as some people expressed apprehension that Governor's rule might lead to lack of transparency and worsen the situation in the state. In several areas of Kashmir, including Srinagar, Kupwara and Pahalgam, people burst firecrackers after the news broke out. "This alliance was unholy. The PDP should not have joined hands with the BJP in the first place. But better late than never. We are happy that this alliance has ended," said Faizan Mir, a resident of Srinagar. However, some people felt that an elected government was any day better than the Governor's rule. National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah called for immediate dissolution of the state Legislative Assembly and holding of fresh elections in the state. A home ministry spokesman said 'the president has approved imposition of Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect.' New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir was on Wednesday placed under Governor's Rule for the fourth time in the last one decade after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner PDP, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the chief minister. A home ministry spokesman said "the president has approved imposition of Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect." The political developments of Jammu and Kashmir continued to dominate the night as President Ram Nath Kovind was in mid-air when Governor NN Vohra sent his report to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The details of the governor's report were immediately sent to Suriname, where the president was scheduled to land at 6.30 pm(3 am IST) on his maiden visit. "After concluding his consultations with all the major political parties, the governor has forwarded his report to the president for imposition of Governor's Rule under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir," a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said on Tuesday night in Srinagar. The president after pursuing the report gave his assent and the same was sent to the Union home ministry by 6 am IST following which a process of promulgating Governor's Rule was prepared and sent to Srinagar. This is the eighth time in last four decades that the state has been put under Governor's Rule and fourth during the tenure of Vohra since 2008. The BJP stunned Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday afternoon after they pulled out of the over three-year-old ruling coalition with the PDP in the state and called for Governor's Rule. BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav made this announcement that the party was withdrawing support to the coalition government which had been wracked by bitter political feuds and worsening security challenges. "It has become untenable for the BJP to continue in the alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir," Madhav had said on Tuesday. Governor's Rule was imposed in the state for the first time during the tenure of Vohra for 174 days after the PDP withdrew support to Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Congress-PDP coalition government in 2008. The PDP withdrew support to the government on 28 June, 2008 following widespread protests during the Amarnath land row agitation that pitted Hindu-dominated Jammu region against the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley. The central rule came to an end on 5 January, 2009 after National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the youngest chief minister of the state. Governor's Rule was imposed in the state for the second time during his tenure after the assembly election results on 23 December, 2014 threw up a hung assembly with no party or combination of parties able to stake claim for government formation and Omar Abdullah, the caretaker chief minister, asking to be relieved from the duties with immediate effect on 7 January. The central rule ended after the PDP and the BJP stitched an alliance paving the way for the return of Mufti Sayeed as chief minister on 1 March, 2015. Last time the state was put under the central rule on 8 January, 2016 after allies the PDP and the BJP deferred the government formation process following the death of Mufti Sayeed. It came to an end after Mehbooba Mufti was sworn in as the chief minister on 4 April, 2016. Click here to follow LIVE updates on PDP-BJP alliance end Against the backdrop of recent incidents of alleged atrocities on Dalits in various parts of Gujarat, state DGP Shivanand Jha on Wednesday directed police officers to visit 'sensitive' villages to understand the ground situation and resolve the problems of the community. Ahmedabad: Against the backdrop of recent incidents of alleged atrocities on Dalits in various parts of Gujarat, state DGP Shivanand Jha on Wednesday directed police officers to visit 'sensitive' villages to understand the ground situation and resolve the problems of the community. In a communication sent to all the senior officers including district superintendents of police and police commissioners of various cities, Jha asked them to plan 'village visits' during the next three months to understand the problems of Dalits and resolve them on the spot. Jha said such visits are needed in the present time as several incidents of Dalit atrocities have surfaced in different districts of the state. All those villages where such conflicts between communities were reported in the past or (where) there exists a possibility of conflicts in future, should be considered as 'sensitive villages', as per the communication. Villages or areas in cities that had witnessed communal conflicts in the past should also be considered as 'sensitive' and visits should be planned accordingly, according to the DGP. During this drive, to be started immediately, designated police officers of each district should visit areas having concentrated Dalit population and try to understand their problems and solve them immediately, the DGP ordered. Apart from solving problems, police officers should also try to build a cohesive atmosphere by holding joint meetings. Officers are also required to sensitise other communities about dalits and their issues, it said. Police officers are required to prepare a comprehensive report about their visits and send it to the concerned district SP or police commissioner who in turn are required to send it to the DGP after three months. The DGP's order came a week after a 13-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly beaten up by Rajput youths in Bahucharaji town of Mehsana district for wearing a pair of 'Mojdi', a type of leather shoes. Last month, a group of Rajputs had clashed with Dalits in Dholka town in Ahmedabad district over a Dalit man's decision to add 'Sinh' suffix to his name. The Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBOSE) is expected to soon release the revaluation results for Class 10th March board examinations 2018 on hpbose.org. The Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBOSE) is expected to soon release the revaluation results for Class 10th March board examinations 2018 on hpbose.org. The board has already declared the HPBOSE Class 12th Revaluation March 2018 Results for both regular and SOS candidates. The results for Class 12th students was released by the board on 11 June 2018. The HPBOSE 10th Results 2018 were declared by the board on 3 May, 2018 for regular candidates and on 8 May for SOS students. The students then had an opportunity to apply for revaluation post the declaration of the results. HPBOSE Class 10th Results 2018 Revaluation: Here is how to check your revised score - Visit the official website hpbose.org - Go to the results page on the website - On the new window that opens, click on the results link - Check score and download it for future reference The Art of the Squeal. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images In the last 24 hours, Michael Cohen has leaked word that he is willing to give federal investigators sensitive information about Donald Trump and, also, that he would really appreciate it if the president paid his legal fees. Last week, CNN reported that Trumps former fixer had told friends and family members that he was prepared to cooperate with the authorities investigating his business dealings, alleged campaign-finance violations, and potential ties to Russian interference in the 2016 election. On Wednesday, Cohens anonymous friends got a bit more specific about his intention. He knows a lot of things about the president and hes not averse to talking in the right situation, one of Cohens New York associates told CNN. If they want information on Trump, hes willing to give it. Another friend of Cohens told the network that his cooperation will ultimately depend on the severity of the charges brought against him. If federal investigators bring an indictment thats less serious than expected, Cohen would be inclined to simply plead guilty (note: Cohen ostensibly believes that the April raids of his office, house, and hotel room likely uncovered evidence that he has committed serious crimes). As of last week, Cohen had not met with prosecutors and it remains unclear whether either side is currently seeking such a meeting. Anyhow, while some of Cohens allies were telling CNN that hes ready to snitch on Trump, others were telling The Wall Street Journal that the president should really consider paying Michaels legal bills: Mr. Cohen has frequently told associates in recent months he is frustrated that the president hasnt offered to pay his legal fees, which he has said are bankrupting him, according to one of the people. He has said he feels that Mr. Trump owes him after his years of loyalty to the former real-estate developer, whom he served for nearly a decade at the Trump Organization. The Trump campaign has already spent nearly $230,000 on Cohens legal expenses related to the special counsels investigation into Russian interference. But it has not shelled out for the probe into Cohens business dealings some of which happen to involve both Donald Trump and alleged money-launderers. According to the New York Times Maggie Haberman, the Trump family feels like its being shaken down while Cohens allies say that the Trump family is being short-sighted. Cohens newly hired lawyer, Guy Petrillo, once led the Manhattan U.S. Attorneys criminal division the very office that is currently scrutinizing Cohens finances. Petrillos connection to federal prosecutors could facilitate a cooperation agreement or help Cohen go toe to toe with the U.S. Attorneys office. It all depends on what the Feds have on Cohen, and how much Trump is prepared to give him. The country is all geared up to mark the fourth International Day of Yoga (IDY), with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to lead about 55,000 enthusiasts in performing asanas in Dehradun on Thursday. Here is the schedule of where different ministers will be performing yoga on Thursday's occasion. The country is all geared up to mark the fourth International Day of Yoga (IDY), with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to lead about 55,000 enthusiasts in performing asanas in Dehradun on Thursday. Besides celebration in various districts and states which are being organised by state governments in coordination with NGOs, the Union ministers will go to different venues, inside the national capital and outside to lead yoga events. Here is the schedule of where different ministers will be performing yoga on Thursday's occasion: Vice president Venkaiah Naidu will lead the Yoga Day programme at Bandra Reclamation Sealin Promenade in Mumbai on Thursday morning. The event is being organised by Spandan Art, an NG run by BJP's city unit chief Ashish Shelar. Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar will also take part in similar events at two places in Mumbai. While Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh will observe an event in Lucknow where around 2,000 central armed police forces (CAPFs) personnel will participate, transport minister Nitin Gadkari will celebrate the occasion in Nagpur. Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and yoga guru Baba Ramdev will practice yoga in Kota along with around 2 lakh people on the International Yoga Day on Thursday. The chief minister on Wednesday appealed to the people of the state to practice yoga to keep their mind, body and soul healthy and happy and make it a part of their lives. In her message, she said that yoga practice helps people connect with nature, ensuring their happiness. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj will celebrate the International Day of Yoga at an event to be held in the European Parliament on Thursday in the presence of EP President Antonio Tajani, it was announced on Tuesday. Shri Shri Ravishankar will lead a session on yoga at that event. Earlier, ahead of the fourth Yoga Day celebrations on 21 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said yoga makes people better individuals in thought, action, knowledge and devotion. He also said that yoga is not just a set of exercises that keep the body fit, it is a "passport" to health assurance and a key to fitness and wellness. "About 5,000 events will be held across the country to mark International Day for Yoga (IDY)," a senior AYUSH ministry official said. Here's the official schedule of the Cabinet ministers and where they would be practising yoga. In Dehradun, elaborate security arrangements have been put in place with commandos and paramilitary forces deployed to ensure no untoward incidents take place while in Delhi, eight events have been planned in the national capital with the main event being held in Connaught Place. The centrepiece of the first IDY celebration on 21 June, 2015 was New Delhi's Rajpath, with the event making it to the Guinness World Records with 35,985 participants performing asanas at one venue and 84 nationalities being part of it. Last year, the main function was at Lucknow. The United Nations General Assembly in December 2014 had declared that 21 June would be observed as International Day of Yoga every year, a move for which India had lobbied hard. With inputs from agencies At a review meeting today, Jammu and Kashmir governor NN Vohra ordered officials to amp up security during the Amarnath Yatra. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir NN Vohra on Wednesday directed the top brass of security forces to ramp up anti-militancy operations in the state during the Amarnath Yatra, which will go on for 60 days starting 28 June. Convoys of pilgrims will pass through militancy hotbed south Kashmir, where the youth often take to the streets in large numbers to foil anti-militancy operations. Vohra gave the order at the review meeting he held with the top brass of security forces. Senior officials from the civic administration also attended the meeting at Raj Bhawan on Wednesday afternoon. The governor convened the review meeting immediately after discussing the overall security situation in the Valley with state chief secretary BB Vyas, officials said. Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police SP Vaid said anti-militancy operations will be "carried out based on intelligence inputs", and that they will go on even during the Amarnath Yatra. A top government official said that Vohra had earlier held a meeting with the administrative secretaries of various departments at the Secretariat and asked them to improve their functioning. Officials said that during the review meeting, they had also discussed the role various departments could play to ensure that the Amarnath Yatra progresses smoothly. The meetings were held hours after Vohra issued the proclamation to impose Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir after President of India Ram Nath Kovind approved it. On Tuesday evening, the Jammu and Kashmir governor received a letter from Bharatiya Janata Party state president, Ravinder Raina, and former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta on the BJP withdrawing from the coalition government and ending its alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which subsequently led Mehbooba Mufti to resign as chief minister. After these developments, he submitted a report to the president, seeking to impose Governor's Rule in the state under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. At a meeting on 23 May, Vohra, as chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, had directed authorities to ensure that adequate security arrangements are put in place for the Hindu pilgrimage, as the pilgrims pass through the highly volatile Anantnag and Pulwama regions in south Kashmir. At the meeting on Wednesday, they made note of the rise in militancy in the state, officials said. On Tuesday, the BJP had accused Mehbooba of being unable to handle the security situation in the state and being soft on stone-pelters. It cited this as one of its reasons to break its alliance with the PDP and seeking Governor's Rule. According to data from the Ministry of Home Affairs, militant attacks rose manyfold after the PDP-BJP coalition came to power in March 2015. The figures show that 208 militant attacks were reported in 2015, 322 in 2016 and 342 in 2017. The figure stood at 64 till March end this year. The data shows that 108 militants were killed in 2015, 150 in 2016 and 213 in 2017, while the casualties on the side of Indian security forces stood at 39, 82 and 80 the same years. Till 15 March this year, 20 militants were killed and 15 troops were killed. Militants had rejected the government's offer of "non-initiation of combat operations" in Jammu and Kashmir, which home minister Rajnath Singh had announced it at the onset of Ramzan, and continued targetting security forces and various locations in the state during the holy month. Officials said the yatra will proceed from Jammu to Srinagar amid tight security, and authorities will deploy adequate forces along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway as well as at the Baltal base camp in Sonmarg and Nunwan base camp in Pahalgam. Metal detectors will also be installed, and the routes pilgrims will follow will be monitored by closed-circuit television cameras, sources said. Access control gates will be installed at various places, officials added, and the route of the Yatra will be patrolled by the police and troops of the Central Reserve Police Force. Besides the rise in militancy in the Valley, security is being heightened for the Amarnath Yatra also keeping in mind the July 2017 attack on the pilgrims. One policeman was killed and another injured when militants fired upon a security forces' vehicle at Sempora on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on Wednesday, media reports said. One policeman was killed and another injured when militants fired upon a security forces' vehicle at Sempora on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on Wednesday. The ultras targeted the vehicle of the 7th Battalion IRP and fired indiscriminately, a police official said. He said further details of the incident are awaited. On Tuesday, an army jawan was injured in an encounter in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. The gunfight took place in the Nazneenpora Hyuna village of Tral township after which massive clashes broke out in the area around the encounter as locals started pelting stones at the security forces. Reinforcements from the police were sent to control the situation on the outer periphery. On 16 June, two civilians were killed in separate incidents of clashes with security forces in south Kashmir in two days as stone-pelters intensified their agitation, the police said. With inputs from PTI The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights on Tuesday issued a notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Twitter for 'disclosing' the identity of two minor boys, victims of assault. Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights on Tuesday issued a notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Twitter for 'disclosing' the identity of two minor boys, victims of assault. Amol Jadhav, a city resident, had filed a complaint against Gandhi and Twitter. President of the commission Pravin Ghuge said he has sought a reply from both as to why action should not be taken against them under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. As per the law, identity of minor victims can not be disclosed. The commission has sought the reply within 10 days. "I issued notices to Gandhi and Twitter as they have disclosed the identity of victims," Ghuge told PTI. A video purportedly showing two minor boys being stripped and beaten up for swimming in a well belonging to a farmer in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra had gone viral last week. Gandhi had tweeted about the incident tagging the video, and blamed the BJP and RSS for rising atrocities against backward classes. Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam dismissed the notice, calling it nonsensical. "The notice is nothing but bakwaas (nonsense). The notice should have been sent to the Maharashtra chief minister who has failed to protect the rights and dignity of children. Rahul Gandhi simply highlighted this sorry state of affairs," he said. The Provisional State Merit List of NEET UG 2018 has been released by DMER. The list is now available on dmer.org. Maharashtra state Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) released its first merit list for admission to Health Science courses through NEET UG 2018 at dmer.org. Candidates who have opted for the 85 percent state quota can check their name on the provisional merit list provided on the official website dmer.org. In the provisional merit list, 59,597 students have been included and students up till 12,69,893 rank in NEET UG 2018 exam have been included in the list, reported News18. Candidates who have made it to the list must appear for the document certification process which begins on Thursday at the centres mentioned below and will conclude on 25 June, next week. 1. Grant Govt Medical College, Byculla, Mumbai 2. RA Podar, Ayurvedic College, Worli, Mumbai 3. BJ Govt Medical College, Sasoon Hospital, Pune 4. Govt Medical College, Hanuman Nagar, Nagpur 5. Govt Ayurvedic College, Raje Raghuji Nagar, Nagpur 6. Govt Medical College, Ghati Hospital, Aurangabad 7. Govt Ayurvedic College, Vazirabad, Nanded 8. Govt Ayurvedic College, Tuljapur Road, Osmanabad Document Verification for NRI candidates will be organised at Grant Govt Medical College, Byculla, Mumbai only. Candidates can download the provisional merit list here. DMER Maharashtra will release a revised merit list for NEET 2018 Counseling after the Document Verification. The candidate must bring the following documents for the verification process: - Admit card of NEET UG 2018 - Copy of Online Application Form (Latest) filled on www.mahacet.org & www.dmer.org - NEET-UG 2018 Mark sheet - Nationality certificate issued by District Magistrate/Additional District Magistrate or Metropolitan Magistrate - (Competent Authority for issue of such certificate)/ valid Indian passport /School Leaving Certificate of HSC/12th Std indicating the nationality of the candidate as'Indian'. - Domicile Certificate issued by District Magistrate/Metropolitan Magistrate/ Addl. District Magistrate or Competent Authority for issue of such certificate. - HSC (or equivalent) examination marksheet - SSC (or equivalent) passing certificate (for Date of Birth) - Aadhaar Card - Medical fitness certificate (Annexure - H) The candidates should also get the following documents, if applicable: - Caste Certificate - Caste Validity Certificate - Non Creamy layer Certificate valid upto 31/03/2019 (For VJ, NT1, NT2, NT3 & OBC including SBC) - D1/D2/D3: Ex-servicemen Certificate /actual service certificate - D1/D2 : Domicile of Maharashtra Certificate of Defence person - D3: Transfer certificate - MKB: Disputed area certificate, Mother tongue certificate, SSC/HSC from MKB area. - HA: Parent Domicile certificate, SSC/HSC of a candidate from the hilly areas - For Person with disability (PWD) Candidates - Medical Fitness Certificate of Authorized Medical Board. The JK Jain Commission is of the view that the protesters at Bahi Parshwanath in Mandsaur were provoked by political leaders but at the time of the agitation no leader was present there and anti-social elements present on the scene took control of the situation. Mandsaur will never forget the sixth day of the 10-day protest that started on 1 June last year when hundreds of farmers took to the streets demanding remunerative prices for produce and a waiver on farm loans. It was on that day that violence erupted on the streets of Mandsaur and six farmers from the Patidar community fell prey to gunshots. The families of the victims allege that the police administration fired these gunshots. The justice (retd) JK Jain Committee was instituted to submit a report to the Madhya Pradesh government. The report, which was to be tabled in the state Assembly in its Monsoon Session by the Madhya Pradesh government, has already been leaked to the media. A copy of the report is with Firstpost and it describes the killings as nitaant avashayak and nyay sangat which translate, respectively, to necessary and justifiable. The JK Jain Commission is of the view that the protesters at Bahi Parshwanath in Mandsaur were provoked by political leaders but at the time of the agitation no leader was present there and anti-social elements present on the scene took control of the situation. It stated that a departmental inquiry is going on against the then collector Swatantra Kumar Singh, the then superintendent of police Om Prakash Tripathi and the SP city Sai Krishna. The report elaborates that in the backdrop of the tense conditions that developed, the district administration issued a brief that two companies of the Vishesh Sashastra Bal (special armed force) be put on duty and a letter was sent by the district administration asking for 500 tear gas cells. The report states that internet service providers were asked to shut services from 2 June to prevent rumours from spreading and that the district magistrate requested that Neemuch police be given more personnel. The incident explained point by point in the report is that some agitators clambered atop the roof of the police station and broke into the quarters of female constable Jyoti, causing physical damage and starting a fire. The document states that police station officer Anil Kumar Singh sought permission from his senior officers for firing tear gas shells on agitators and then fired 16 rounds of them. When he saw that this didnt deter the mob, he took permission for lathi charge. As per the report, this too didn't deter the agitators from raging ahead and breaking into the police station's record room and attempting to burn it down. After this, the report states, the station officer sought a written permission from senior officials to fire gunshots and an ultimatum was issued by the station officer after which the firing party was given an order to 'fire up in the air'. The report also mentions that constable Prakash fired four rounds, constable Akhilesh fired nine rounds, and constable Veer Bahadur fired three rounds, constable Hari Om fired three rounds and constable Nandlal one round. Now, the point number 26 goes on to state the names of three of the peasants who were killed in the firing Chainram, Satyanarayan and Abhishek Patidar. If the firing was in the air, then how did these people die? Point number 21 of the report states that CCTV cameras and computers were damaged by the agitators. But Prafull Patidar, a farmer from the region, who was present at the protest, has a different story to share. He told Firstpost that Abhishek Patidar (one of the victims) and his brother Madhusudan Patidar were crossing over to the Piplya Mandi police station side and were fired at because the police suspected they were approaching the police station to burn it down. If the allegation of the police were to be true, he asked why it did not release CCTV camera footage. Kaluram Patidar, older brother of slain Kanhaiyalal Patidar (another one of the six farmers who was killed) said that his FIR was not registered in the Narayangarh police station close to his house. Gunwant Patidar, the zila upadhyaksh of Mandsaur, added that on the same day these men died, the minister for home affairs in the state Bhupendra Singh had gone on record and made a statement that the farmers died while clashing amidst themselves. It was after this that the families of victims decided to have the post-mortems videographed. He told Firstpost that there were three cameras placed inside the district hospital and alleged that the video footage was destroyed by the police administration. "The families of victims hired local videographers for this, then what happened to the evidence?" Gunwant further alleged that CCTV footage of Hotel MP at Bahi Parshwanath was tampered with and mobile phones of some boys present on the spot were confiscated and returned later. He told Firstpost that there were three cameras placed inside the district hospital. Abhinav Dhanodkar, who is arguing on the behalf of the farmers in the Indore High Court, alleged that the video evidence hadnt been submitted to the commission. In conversation with Firstpost, he said that he has refused to appear in the final stages of the case because of the lack of evidence being presented from the other side. "Their (the governments) version of the story is that one jawan was injured and the police fired in self-defence. Aside from statements made by the collector, the SP and other witnesses who were injured, theres nothing else to substantiate this claim," said Dhanodkar alleging that hand-written copies of permissions look forged as though they were prepared later. The document lists the reasons why advocate Abhinav Dhanodkar refused to argue the matter due to lack of documentation supplied by the other side and the lack of legal support offered by the JK Jain Commission. Mahesh Patidar, one of the petitioners on behalf of the victims of the Mandsaur firings of June 2017, said that the farmers decided to file a petition in the Indore High Court against the refusal of local police stations to register their FIRs regarding the Mandsaur firings. Another lawyer Anand Mohan Mathur, who is fighting the case on behalf of the the families of the slain farmers also slammed the JK Jain Commission report and termed it anti-farmer and pro-government. "The authorities made written submissions of over 1,000 pages, of which 200-300 pages constituted affidavits and witnesses statements. Was it possible for the commission to finish talking to the farmers in one day? The commission could ask for two months time from the government to file report, then why didnt it seek more time to complete hearing of both sides?" the 91-year-old lawyer said in a statement which he shared with Firstpost. "IPC Section 202 entails that intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform shall earn him or her imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both. The existing IPC sections have failed in case of the Mandsaur incident," said Mahesh. He also asked why the National Human Rights Commission hasnt intervened, demanding fast-tracking of justice, or just justice? The leaked sections of the report that is to be tabled by the Madhya Pradesh Cabinet are causing anxiety among the farmers who expect nothing less than justice from the state government at least in what happens to be an election year. A video of the lynching in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur surfaced on Tuesday, in which people can be heard calling it 'punishment for cow slaughter'. A 45-year-old Muslim man was lynched and another injured, on Monday, allegedly over rumours of cow slaughter in Hapur district's Bajhera Khurd village in Uttar Pradesh. According to the Hindustan Times, eyewitnesses said villagers from Madhpura Mustafabad had spotted the victims Qasim, who was killed, and Shamiuddin and a mob soon gathered. "Shamiuddin had gone to Madhpura to get fodder for cattle, and Qasim met him there. It is possible that my brother was attacked because he was spotted with Qasim, who is a cattle trader," Shamiuddin's brother Mohammad Yaseen told HT at Dev Nandini Hospital in Hapur. A mob gathered at a farm after an announcement was made at a local place of worship in Bajhera Khurd that smugglers were stealing cows and slaughtering them, The Hindu reported. A video of the purported incident surfaced on Tuesday, in which unidentified voices can be heard justifying the attack, calling it "punishment for cow slaughter", reported The Times of India. As news of the attack spread, tensions between the communities escalated, and senior police officers were deployed to the area to prevent clashes. The district police has registered a case against two dozen people, News18 reported. The Hapur superintendent of police, Sankalp Sharma, rejected the claim that rumours of cow slaughter had led to the incident. They claimed that the attack took place because of an accident caused by road rage. "The victim's family has given us a written complaint, saying that the beating and the fight was triggered after a motorbike hit some people," he was quoted as saying by The Hindu. "This has nothing to do with cow slaughter rumours. The police is investigating the matter, and we will take strict action against the culprits." These agreements were reached between the two governments and private sectors where Chinese investors will put money on developing hydroelectricity, water resources, cement factories and fruit cultivation and farming. Beijing: Nepal and China on Wednesday signed eight agreements worth $2.4 billion on the second day of prime minister KP Sharma Oli's visit. These agreements were reached between the two governments and private sectors where Chinese investors will put money on developing hydroelectricity, water resources, cement factories and fruit cultivation and farming. The signing ceremony took place at the Nepal Embassy here. Additional memorandum of understandings will be signed on Thursday after delegation-level talks between Oli and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang. Oli, who arrived here on Monday on his five-day-visit, will meet Chinese president Xi Jinping on Tuesday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This is Oli's first official visit to China after returning to power in February and second foreign trip after India. Nirmala Sitharaman's visit to the family of slain Indian Army soldier Aurangzeb in Kashmir comes with a touch of irony, given BJP's ideological leanings. At the outset, Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her ilk should stop calling soldiers who lose their lives in action 'martyrs'. They are not 'martyrs' and no service officer or soldier finds any solace or grace in this politically-motivated label. By historical definition, a martyr is someone who dies for his largely religious beliefs, usually as a result of persecution. Soldiers are killed in action or lose their lives in the line of duty. Joan of Arc, Socrates, Bhagat Singh, Nathan Hale, Thomas Beckett... they were martyrs, just to name a few. Soldiers are killed. Soldiers are slain. That is the language of the armed forces and their culture. Even Aurangzeb, the jawan who was kidnapped and brutally murdered by militants recently in the Kashmir Valley, was a victim of his uniform and a casualty of conflict, not a martyr. That he deserves a soldier's funeral and the Last Post Ceremony goes without saying, for in his death is represented the grief of his company, his comrades in arms, his command and the army of which he was an integral member. The visit by Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat and the defence minister to the family of the slain soldier is the right thing to do, although as far as the BJP is concerned, there is a touch of irony in the visit by its political bigwigs. This is one Aurangzeb to whom they had to pay adequate honour. Having made so much of a noise over changing Aurangzeb Road in Delhi to Dr Abdul Kalam Marg and the iconic Mughal Serai station to Deen Dayal Upadhaya in an effort to eliminate the legacies of the past with reference to the cruel emperor, it must have been awkward to now salute someone with the same name for having served his nation and given up his life. If it wasn't such a sad occasion it would have been wry in its paradox. The anti-Mughal tirade has been an ongoing war. BJP MLA Sangeet Som even roped in the Taj Mahal and wanted history to be rewritten, a demand that defies logic because once rewritten it isn't history any longer. A Firstpost report indicated that even textbooks are erasing the pages dedicated to the Mughal era and fiddling with the facts. The BJP website even compares the Mughal viciousness to the Holocaust. The danger lies not so much in a pointless exercise, of waging war on an enemy that does not exist and has no relevance to modern India, but in giving licence to change history whether the good, the bad or the ugly. When it is dictated as a lie just to feel good about it, we are in dicey territory. When does it stop and when does the deception take away with it the lessons we must learn from the past so that they are not repeated in the future. You cannot sanitise what has happened. There is this old proverb; those that do not learn from the mistakes of the past risk repeating them tomorrow. If the past is made into a lie, these mistakes will be amplified and new ones added. Perhaps, in a very small way, this Indian Army soldier's death issued a tiny warning that it doesn't matter what you are called if your heart is in the right place. That if you have to choose your battles, make them worthy of the nation. As he did. Not waste time in inanities. Aurangzeb was abducted on 14 June when he was on his way home in Rajouri district for Eid celebrations. His body was found by a team of police and Army about 10 km away from Kalampora in Pulwama district. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited the family of slain army jawan Aurangzeb in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Wednesday. "I have come to spend some time with the family of the martyr and the message I am carrying back is that the soldier stands out as an inspiration for the entire country," the minister told media persons. I came to meet martyr's family. I have spent some time here. One message I can take back from here is that here's a family, here's a martyr, who stands out as an inspiration for entire nation: Defence Min Nirmala Sitharaman after meeting family of Sepoy Aurangzeb in J&K's Poonch pic.twitter.com/JinODmb64n ANI (@ANI) June 20, 2018 The slain soldier's father had also served in the army. The visit came two days after Chief of Army Staff Bipin Rawal met Aurangzeb's family in Salani village and assured them that his "supreme sacrifice" would not go in vain, a report in The Indian Express said. Aurangzeb was abducted on 14 June when he was on his way home for Eid celebrations. His body was found by a team of police and army about 10 kilometres away from Kalampora in Pulwama district. He was shot in the head and the neck. A video released by the militant group that abducted Aurangzeb showed him acknowledging that he was a soldier of the Indian Army and had participated in anti-militancy operations in south Kashmir. The slain rifleman was laid to rest with full state honours on 15 June. Aurangzeb's father Mohammad Hanif said he wanted the government to "eliminate militancy". "My son has abided by his pledge, he has kept his promise. He sacrificed himself for the nation and came back to me. I request the central and state governments to eliminate militancy," Hanif was quoted as saying by ANI. With inputs from IANS Such uncivilized behavior. Photo: Handout/Getty Images Kirstjen Nielsen has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent days. Before the Trump administrations policy of separating children from their parents at the border gained national attention, she was a less well-known Cabinet member, and she reportedly considered resigning after President Trump berated her at a meeting for failing to secure the border. As a veteran of the George W. Bush administration, she was viewed with distrust, and some Trump officials were reportedly hoping to use the border crisis to scapegoat and fire her. Then at Mondays White House press briefing, Nielsen offered cold, technical responses on children being ripped away from their parents, and claimed falsely that only Congress can fix the issue. CNN reports that members of the Trump administration were impressed: The unenviable task seems to have paid off for Nielsen internally. The Presidents praise was echoed throughout the halls of the West Wing this week when multiple officials lauded Nielsen for a job well done after she sparred with reporters during the particularly tense White House briefing Monday, two people familiar with the reaction told CNN. Outside the administration, however, Nielsen became the face of one of the Trump administrations biggest and most heartless crises so far. Apparently Nielsen did not anticipate this or she was trying to double down on her tone-deaf performance because she opted to have dinner at MXDC Cocina Mexicana, a popular Mexican restaurant near the White House, on Tuesday night. Inside, Nielsen was confronted by protesters from the group Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America. While Secret Service agents prevented the demonstrators from approaching Nielsen and her companion, they were able to stand in the restaurant and heckle Nielsen about the family separation policy. Video shows this went on for at least ten minutes, as Nielsen looked at her phone and didnt acknowledge the activists. She was in the corner on her phone, just staring at her phone. Not engaging at all, witness Erica Olmstead told the Daily News. She said some other patrons were noticeably ambivalent about the scene, but others joined in, clapping and chanting at Nielsen. Were in downtown DC disrupting DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsens dinner at MXDC. The irony isnt lost on us that this is... Posted by Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America on Tuesday, June 19, 2018 We will not stand by and let Secretary Nielsen dine in peace, while she is directing her employees to tear little girls away from their mothers and crying boys away from their fathers at our border, Margaret McLaughlin, a member of Metro D.C. DSAs steering committee, said in a statement. Secretary Nielsen and everyone else who has carried out these brutal and cold-blooded orders to rip apart families should never be allowed to eat and drink in public again. Slates Osita Nwanevu said Nielsen quickly called it a night: DHS Secretary Nielsen just got driven out of a Mexican restaurant here on 14th Street by activists. DSA, I believe. pic.twitter.com/lTKutryXBO Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) June 20, 2018 While the video shows Nielsen ignoring the protesters, DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton tweeted out a statement that made it sound like she engaged with them. Houlton also reiterated the false suggestion that only Congress, not the president, can stop the separation of migrant families. While having a work dinner tonight, the Secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protestors who share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border. Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS) June 20, 2018 .@SecNielsen encourages all - including this group - who want to see an immigration system that works, contributes to our economy, protects our security, & reflects our values reach out to Members & seek their support to close immigration loopholes that made our system a mess. Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS) June 20, 2018 The Secretary has been working with Members of Congress for months in search of a solution and she will continue to do so this week. Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS) June 20, 2018 Nielsen had reportedly clashed privately with Trump over her opposition to implementing a policy that would tear families apart. But aside from having her dinner disrupted, abandoning her convictions seems to be working out nicely for her. Just a fortnight before his tenure was supposed to end, Parakala Prabhakar resigned from the post of Advisor (Communications) to the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati: Just a fortnight before his tenure was supposed to end, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's husband Parakala Prabhakar on Tuesday resigned from the post of Advisor (Communications) to the Government of Andhra Pradesh. "My continuation as advisor should not cast dark clouds on your sincerity in the fight against the Centre for the states rights. The government's credibility also should not suffer because of me," Prabhakar said in his two-page resignation letter forwarded to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday afternoon. Prabhakar, as advisor, was in effect the Chief Public Relations Officer to the Chief Minister. Opposition parties, including the YSR Congress, had questioned the chief minister's sincerity in his fight with the Centre over the special category status and other issues with Prabhakar continuing as government advisor. "I was pained that even the Leader of Opposition YS Jaganmohan Reddy sought to cast aspersions on you because of me. Attributing political motives and accusing you of resorting to behind the screen deals only expose the mindset of the Opposition leader," Prabhakar said. "When I broached the issue with you on Monday night, you rejected my move. But my conscience strongly made me decide to quit, against your wishes. Please accept my resignation forthwith," Prabhakar added. Prabhakar was appointed Advisor (Communications) in July 2014 for a two-year term. His tenure was later extended for two more years and it was supposed to end on 4 July. The government and the BJP should address the underlying issues thrown up in the wake of Rohith's death. The latest narrative around Radhika Vemula should be seen in its proper perspective. Radhika, the mother of Rohith Vemula, has acknowledged that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) provided her financial help. In fact, many political parties offered her family financial assistance. But the attempt to paint her as someone paid to speak against the ruling BJP is aimed at maligning the Dalit upsurge over Rohith's death. A similar strategy has been hatched to malign Dalits in Bhima Koregaon by alleging links with urban Maoists. At a time when Dalit unrest is proving to be costly for the Narendra Modi dispensation, a calculated campaign is underway in mainstream and on social media to dismiss recurring Dalit protests as 'anti-national' or paid acts at the behest of the Opposition. This is nothing but a disservice to the Dalit movement which is a reaction to Hindutva upsurge. In fact, from the beginning, all kinds of narratives were spread to discredit the massive upsurge over the tragic death of Rohith, a University of Hyderabad research scholar who alleged discrimination on the basis of caste. Instead of a honest, soul-searching and a credible inquiry to identify the root of the problem, all kinds of reports questioning Rohith's Dalit identity were put in the public domain. This continued using the official machinery even as Radhika repeatedly dismissed such reports as fabrications intended to divert the attention of the nation from the Dalit unrest following her son's suicide. Kantilal Dande, collector of Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, where Rohith's family hails from, purportedly confirmed in a report to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) that Rohith was indeed a Dalit. But the Justice (retired) AK Roopanwal Commission observed that Rohith was not a Dalit despite this being beyond its brief. The commission was constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to probe the circumstances leading to Rohith's suicide, not his caste identity. In fact, NCSC chairman PL Punia reiterated that all records and his investigations proved that Rohith was a Dalit. In a judgment dealing the rights of children born out of inter-caste marriages, a Supreme Court bench comprising justices Aftab Alam and RP Desai held that the determination of the caste of such a child was essentially a question of fact to be decided on the basis of evidence in each case. The child can claim the mothers caste if he or she is brought up by the mother as a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. It is a fact that Radhika, who belongs to the Mala community (a Dalit sub-caste), separated from her husband who is a Vadera (Other Backward Classes), and brought up her children including Rohith in a Dalit colony. The NCSC is a constitutional body created to protect the interests of Dalits. Notwithstanding its pronouncements, people in power continue to push the narrative that Rohit wasn't a Dalit. But can they deny he was a research scholar who was suspended and forced to commit suicide? How does it matter whether he was a Dalit? Justice should have been done through an impartial probe. However, BJP leader and the Union minister Piyush Goyal attacked the Opposition for giving a political angle to Rohith's death and exploiting Radhika's grief for some "very low-level politics". Radhika, speaking to ANI, said even though "it's true that the IUML promised to provide me with money, they haven't used me for political gain. It was my wish to speak against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and if needed I will speak again at any of their meetings." In a democracy, political parties respond to situations they think will be politically advantageous. Thus, many Opposition parties plunged into the movement to bring Rohith justice. But that does not in any way undermine the credentials of the movement. Instead of accusing its political rivals of reaping political mileage from a tragedy, the government should introspect on why it failed to adequately respond to the concerns of casteism on campuses triggered by Rohith's death. Instead, the student wing of BJP parivar has engaged in direct confrontation with the Dalit activism on university campuses. The government and the ruling party has been firmly behind the sections of university administration accused of creating the situation that purportedly forced Rohith to commit suicide. While Goyal further stated that Opposition's dirty politics were exposed by Radhika, she never said so. Reports emerged of Radhika referring to IUML's "unfulfilled promises" but she later denied saying that. Even assuming that the earlier reports are true, Radhika was only referring to the IUML. But the Union minister and BJP spokespersons were quick to point fingers at all the Opposition parties. And they seemed to forget that while in Opposition, the BJP behaved no differently. In the rough and tumble of politics, parties leave no issue untouched be it a death or dharna to counter their political rivals. So what's new about this instance? However, by accusing Opposition parties of using Radhika for their own gain, the BJP and its media allies are also insulting someone seeking justice for her son. The political controversy cannot make us oblivious to the issues thrown up by Rohith's death. Apart from being offensive, a narrative to malign the Dalit movement can prove politically disastrous for the ruling dispensation. The government and the BJP should instead address the underlying issues thrown up in the wake of Rohith's death. Politics cannot cloud genuine issues of social justice. Swami Akhileshwaranand, who was elevated to a cabinet minister last week, has asked chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to create a cow ministry. Swami Akhileshwaranand, Madhya Pradesh's cow protection board chairman who was elevated to a cabinet minister last week, has asked chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to create a cow ministry. Akhileshwaranand said that the chief minister will inspire future generations if the cows in the state were looked after in the same way that "Chouhan looked after cattle at his home", reported NDTV. He added that a cow ministry will help create a "golden Madhya Pradesh". According to the report, Akhileshwaranand said that if Rajasthan could have a 'directorate of gauseva' and if Chouhan could create a 'happiness department', a cow ministry was also feasible. He also said that the classification of cows under the animal husbandry department along with other animals should end and cows should instead come under the domain of a cow ministry. The Madhya Pradesh government had elevated Akhileshwaranand to the cabinet rank, reportedly after he expressed displeasure on being appointed to a Narmada conservation panel along with some "controversial" religious figures in April. He had said that nothing much should be read into the government granting him the cabinet rank as he deserved it by virtue of being the chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Cow Protection Board (MPCPB). However, Akhileshwaranand had acknowledged that he was not comfortable when he was appointed to the Narmada conservation panel. "I was uneasy when I was picked for the Narmada conservation panel with some other people. In 2016, I was made the chairman of the MPCPB. By virtue of that post, I should have been given the cabinet rank but that did not happen," he had said. With inputs from PTI Three children died and at least 40 people were hospitalised due to suspected food poisoning after they had a meal at a house-warming party in Maharashtra's Raigad district. Mumbai: Three children died and at least 40 people were hospitalised due to suspected food poisoning after they had a meal at a function in Maharashtra's Raigad district, the police said on Tuesday. A person, identified as Subhash Mane, had organised a house-warming party at Mahad village in Khalapur area on Monday evening, Raigad Superintendent of Police Anil Paraskar said. After having dinner at his place, some of the guests complained of uneasiness and started vomiting. They were taken to a local hospital, he said. But later, more than 50 people, including children, arrived at the hospital with the same complaint. Some of them were even unconscious, another police official said. As their health condition deteriorated, all the victims were shifted to various hospitals in Raigad, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai, he said. Three children Kalyani Shingude (7), Rishikesh Shinde (12) and Pragati Shinde (13) were declared dead before admission in one of the hospitals, the police official said. Nearly 40 people, including children, were still being treated in 11 hospitals. Of them five are stated to be in a critical condition, he said. "We have registered a case and will send the samples of the food served at the dinner to a forensic science laboratory and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for analysis," the official said. A Thane court gives two years' imprisonment to two Bangladeshi couples for illegally staying in India. Assistant sessions judge SA Sinha said the accused needed to be shown leniency due to their poor monetary conditions. Maharashtra: A Thane court has sentenced two Bangladeshi couples to two years' imprisonment for staying illegally in India. Assistant sessions judge SA Sinha convicted the four Bangladeshi nationals previous week under the Foreigners Act and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of them. The police raided a hutment colony in the Mira Road area of Thane district on December 28 last year after getting a tip-off, according to the prosecution. They arrested Uttam Golap Sikandar (27) Mau Uttam Sikandar (24), Allauddin Gani Malik (40) and Muslima Allauddin Malik (38) from there. The prosecution said the accused admitted that they were Bangladeshi nationals, but failed to produce valid proof of their identity and residence. The accused told the police that they did petty jobs to earn their livelihood. After hearing both the sides, the judge said it appeared from the record that all the accused are poor people and they entered the country because of their bad financial condition and unemployment. They did daily wage jobs in India, she noted. Hence, while imposing the punishment on them, it is necessary to show leniency, the judge observed. Therefore, considering the situation, the judge sentenced them to two years imprisonment each, and said it is required to give a message to the society and prospective criminals that crime never goes unpunished. The court also directed authorities concerned to take necessary steps to deport the accused to their country on the completion of their sentence. The UK government has directly linked the exclusion of Indian students from a list of countries offered easier visa norms to India's refusal to sign a MoU on the return of illegal migrants. London: The UK government has directly linked the exclusion of Indian students from a list of countries offered easier visa norms to India's refusal to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the return of illegal migrants. Britain's Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox, said the reason India had been excluded from a newly-expanded list of countries from where overseas students can benefit from a more streamlined UK university application process was because the issue of Indian overstayers remained unresolved. This is a constant conversation we need to have with India. There is always a demand for easier norms, but we cannot look at that without addressing the issue of overstayers, Fox said on the sidelines of the launch of UK-India Week in London on Monday. On being asked if India's refusal to sign the MoU relating to illegal migrants had resulted in India's exclusion from an expanded list of countries covering the likes of China, the Maldives, Mexico and Bahrain, the minister said it was important to ensure that all issues are looked at on balance. Our relationship with India is long-term and not just related to trade, he said, dismissing the notion that the move could damage the prospect of a post-Brexit trade deal between the two countries. The Indian Cabinet had approved the so-called MoU on returns to facilitate the deportation of alleged illegal Indian immigrants in the UK to India and vice-versa days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Britain to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in mid-April. The agreement was touted as the centrepiece of the nearly 25 MoUs to be signed between the two countries during the Indian prime minister's UK visit. However, India reportedly backed out of signing the pact at the last-minute due to reservations expressed by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) about Indian agencies being given only 15 days to verify the background of an undocumented migrant. We are in favour of smooth and legal migration and discourage all kinds of illegal migration, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju had said after he initialled the MoU during a UK visit in January. The issue has since been caught up in political wrangles, with the Indian government insisting the timelines being offered for the verification of the alleged visa overstayers from India are not feasible to determine whether they are from India or elsewhere in the sub-continent. Senior Indian officials have admitted that the issue has strained the bilateral relationship, which has now resulted in India being excluded from tier 4 overseas student visa relaxations unveiled by the UK Home Office last week. The move triggered outrage among Indian student groups in Britain and other leading figures within the bilateral space, including some branding it an insult to India by including non-democratic countries on the list but excluding the world's largest democracy. Addressing the UK-India Week launch, Indian High Commissioner here YK Sinha, said it was important that free movement of people remains at the heart of future ties because it is the students and youth who sustain the bilateral relationship. Indian students contribute immensely, not just to the economy of this country but in terms of their expertise. International students are the best soft power tool that the UK has, Sinha said. Ours is a free country and we believe in the free movement of people. Each country has its own requirements and is free to decide its own immigration policies, but we need to look at the larger picture, he said, describing the visa policy as a question of demand and supply. The UK needs more doctors, we will give you those doctors. But we do need them back home too; so once they acquire the expertise within the NHS [National Health Service], please send them back, he added. Indian-origin House of Lords peer and investment banker Jitesh Gadhia welcomed the UK government's tier 2 visa relaxation for doctors and other professionals from countries like India. Alas, that doesn't yet apply to tier 4 visas for Indian students, but I am sure there is some work to do there... There is sincere hope in India that Britain will become more flexible and receptive to its suggestions once it is outside the European Union (EU), Gadhia noted in his speech at the launch of UK-India Week. The week-long set of events, organised by UK-based media house India Inc, are aimed at bringing together senior figures in the UK with their counterparts from India in an attempt to enhance the bilateral relationship. In a major crackdown against a syndicate, 49 people were arrested for allegedly aiding cheating through hi-tech devices such as spy-mics, and placing 'solvers' impersonating the aspirants. Lucknow: Making innovative use of a popular multi-purpose sealant, a recently busted syndicate hoodwinked the biometric attendance system at the Uttar Pradesh Police constable recruitment examination, but in the process sealed its own fate. The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday arrested 22 people in Meerut, Inspector General STF Amitabh Yash told PTI, taking the total number of arrests during the two-day exam to 49. "In a major crackdown against the syndicate, 27 people were arrested yesterday for allegedly aiding cheating through hi-tech devices such as spy-mics, and placing "solvers" impersonating the aspirants," officials said. The STF arrested 11 people from Gorakhpur and six persons from Allahabad on Tuesday. Another three were arrested from Allahabad by the district police. The officials added that seven people were arrested from Faizabad by the district police later on Tuesday. The two-day Uttar Pradesh Police constable recruitment examination began 19 June at 860 centres in 56 districts to fill 41,520 posts. "During interrogation, Kaushal Patel, who was arrested from Allahabad, admitted that they used to take contracts for helping candidates to clear the examinations," a Uttar Pradesh STF spokesperson said. "The accused used to take advance payment from the candidates and the rest of the money was paid through post-dated cheques. They also used to keep the original ID proofs and admit cards of the candidates. "To bypass the biometric attendance, the syndicate used to take the fingerprints of the left and right thumbs of the candidates on M-seal, which was sent to a laboratory in Kolkata for making a gelatin cover of fingertip, which was in turn worn by the 'solvers' (impersonating aspirants)," he said. "After this, the impersonator would appear in the examination instead of the original candidate, and mark his attendance through the biometric system," the spokesperson said. Around 20 units of the multi-purpose sealant were seized from the possession of the arrested persons, he said. On whether such a technique was used for the first time, the STF spokesperson, quoting the accused, said, "Attempts to bypass the biometric attendance system were made earlier as well. But the attempts were quashed by the STF". Senior Superintendent of Police (Allahabad) Nitin Tiwari said a spy microphone along with a hearing device were seized during a raid yesterday. A case has been registered against the accused at Naini police station (Allahabad) and Cantonment police station (Gorakhpur) under various sections of the IPC and IT Act, the STF said. The state government had taken the help of the STF and local intelligence to curb the activities of the copying mafia during the state board exams earlier in 2018. The mafia usually takes contracts guaranteeing success in Class 10 and 12 board exams. Impersonators are made to appear in examinations in place of real candidates. The exam centres where copying can be facilitated easily are also earmarked. To counter the practice, CCTV cameras have been installed at all examination centres. The state is also planning to make Aadhaar compulsory for students filling forms for the board exams from 2019. West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh threatened Trinamool leaders with violence and said that leaders would soon be either jailed or killed in encounters West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders would soon be either jailed or killed in encounters, according to several media reports. West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh openly warns TMC of violence, says BJP will retaliate with bullets if their party workers were troubled pic.twitter.com/hFGuP29YFB TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 20, 2018 Ghosh, the state party president, was addressing workers in the north Bengal's Jalpaiguri district. "A lot of TMC leaders are flexing muscles and threatening our workers. Either they will go to jail or there will be direct encounters," Ghosh said, according to a report in The Indian Express. "We are counting the bullets which killed our workers. Just like the way Gabbar Singh said kitni goliya hain (how many bullets are there), the day will soon come when we will count the bullets as well as the bodies. We have not signed a bond where it is written that we will offer them rasgullas if they beat us up. According to a report in Financial Express, Ghosh also took a jibe at TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, who is known as Kesto: We have burst the bubble of Kesto in Birbhum. We will do the same thing elsewhere. No bullet or gun will be able to stop us. We have come here to warn them not to attack our workers. Otherwise we will beat them in such a way that there will be no place left in their bodies to tie bandages." Ghosh was in Jalpaiguri district to protest against the alleged killings of his workers in Purulia, reported NDTV. The TMC condemned his remarks and called it hate speech, according to the report. India Today reported that a case has been registered against Ghose and he has been booked under sections 143, 186, 188 and 506 of Indian Penal Code. This isn't the first time Ghosh has landed himself in controversy. Ahead of 2018 panchayat elections, he said that the fight for the local body elections would not end at polling stations and that he would take the fight to crematoriums, according to a report in News18. NDTV reported that Ghosh had to apologise to chief minister Mamata Banerjee in 2016 after he said the BJP could drag her by her hair and throw her out for opposing demonetisation. Ghosh, also addressing a meet of party workers at Birbhum in 2016 where clashes over a Facebook post by a student occurred said whoever raises slogans of 'Pakistan zindabad' will be beheaded, according to the report. In Rebel Sultans, Manu S Pillai traces the history of the Deccan from the end of the 13th century to the dawn of the 18th, punctuated by tales of drama, betrayal and murder Editor's note: The Deccan, miles away from the empire of the Mughals, was eyed with envy by rulers such as Aurangzeb, so much so that it is said to have contributed to his downfall. Its kingdoms had much to offer; in their courts were Persians and Marathas, in their ranks were African nobles, and in their treasuries were gold and fortunes. In Rebel Sultans, Manu S Pillai traces the history of the Deccan from the end of the 13th century to the dawn of the 18th. He tells the story of the Vijayanagar empire, the court of the Bahmani kings, and the Rebel sultans punctuated by drama, betrayal and murder. The book features characters such as Malik Ambar, Chand Bibi and Krishnadeva Raya, and is published by Juggernaut Books. *** The hero of the Deccan had skin the colour of coal. Emperors snarled at him from afar, while enemies at home rattled in fear when he marched into their neighbourhoods. Many were those who despised him, but many more still were the masses who discerned in him a champion. His story was certainly unusual, though he was neither the first of his people to serve in the Deccan, nor extraordinary in his antecedents. And yet he emerged as the strongest of them all, reigning indeed as king in all but name. He has a stern Roman face, wrote one traveller, and is tall and strong of stature though his white glassy eyes, it was added, do not become him. His charities were legendary, as was the valour of the men who pledged themselves to his service. When at last he died, not on the battlefield but secure in a formidable fortress, the Mughals admitted that this enemy was an able man. In warfare, in command, in sound judgment, and in administration he had no rival or equal... He kept down the turbulent spirits of [the Deccan], and maintained his exalted position to the end of his life, and closed his career in honour. History, the obituary concludes, records no other instance of an Abyssinian slave arriving at such eminence. It was high praise, coming as it did from the imperial court, where two generations of emperors revealed nothing but spite for the man called Malik Ambar. The Deccan, as we know, had long attracted foreigners to its shores, offering them wealth and a future in these eastern lands. Persians arrived, as did Arabs and Central Asians. Some graduated to princely ranks, while others soared to gratifying aristocratic heights. But among the legions of men absorbed by the Bahmanis and their heirs were also Africans who came primarily from the land we now call Ethiopia. And they too would thrive in the Deccan far above the stations where they began their lives. Some were associated with tales of treachery Mahmud Gawans confidant, who struck his seal on the forgery that delivered him his death warrant, was a habshi (an African) as was his executioner. When Yusuf Adil Shah died, one of the regents who ruled in the name of his son was a black man from Ethiopia the latter was stabbed to death for displacing Westerners and favouring the Sunni faith. When years later Chand Bibi was imprisoned, her liberator who briefly stood at the forefront in Bijapur was a habshi, as was the man Ibrahim Adil Shah II rejected after eight years of living under his guard. In Ahmadnagar, during the wars of succession in the 1590s, one ruler, whose reign lasted less than a year, found himself without support from his nobles because his mother was a negress, though when Chand Bibi was besieged by the Mughals, the man who led Bijapurs and Golcondas troops to her rescue was also a habshi called Suhail Khan. And many years later, on the eve of the final Mughal conquest of the Deccan, in Bijapur once again would rise a habshi exercising as a short-lived vizier the full and tragic authority of power. The habshis had almost all of them begun their careers as slaves. And there certainly was a thriving market for men from Ethiopia in the courts and demesnes of the east. Writing as early as the 14th century, Ibn Batuta reports how habshis were guarantors of safety for ships sailing in the Indian Ocean, with such fearsome reputations that let there be but one of them on a ship and it will be avoided by... pirates. Centuries later a Portuguese missionary noted how all the country of Arabia, Persia, Egypt, and Greece are full of slaves who made for great warriors. In India too, this was true. The favour and affection shown by Raziya Sultan in the 1230s to Jamal al-Din Yakut, an Abyssinian warrior, provoked a rebellion and contributed to her brutal murder in Delhi at the close of that decade. At the end of the 14th century, a habshi servant of the Delhi Sultans had established a near-sovereign state in Jaunpur, in present-day Uttar Pradesh, which sustained itself till 1479. Firoz Shah Bahmani in the early 15th century had habshis in his harem, while in that same century a 1487 coup by Africans in the court of the ruler of Bengal led to the rise of a short-lived Habshi Dynasty hundreds of miles away, on the other side of the Indian subcontinent. The exquisite Siddi Saiyyed Mosque in Ahmedabad was built by a habshi in 1572, and generations later the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb would appoint the African lord of the fortress of Janjira his naval commander, allocating to him an annual grant of 400,000 rupees to maintain the imperial fleet. In the old quarter of Delhi there is even an area by the name of Phatak Habash Khan, named, evidently, after a habshi courtier who bid farewell to the Deccan, embracing the cause of the Mughal emperor. While these are episodes that stand out, where Africans from humble origins arrived at positions of honour and power (and sometimes infamy), the beginning of their journeys on this path were never happy. The habshis were often taken as children and sold at a price to be transported abroad. Ethiopia, at the time, was called Abyssinia in the trading world, and the very word habshi is a derivation denoting the origins of these slaves. Malik Ambar, too, emerged from this commercial exchange of human goods. Born around 1548 into the Oromo tribe, he was captured as a boy and sold to an Arab for 20 gold ducats. In Baghdad he passed, temporarily, into the hands of another owner, who then sold him to the man who would bring him to India and to his destiny. It was this master who educated him, though by now he had renounced his name, Chapu, and converted to Islam. Whether he assumed a Muslim identity at the time as an act of genuine faith or simply as a practical matter of assimilation is not known. But it certainly helped him in his life ahead, to share faith with the powerful kings and noblemen of the east, in whose service lay his ascent. Around 1571, now in his early 20s, Ambar, as he was known, arrived in the Deccan where his long-time master sold him to the peshwa (chief minister) of Ahmadnagar. The sale itself was not unusual though his master had brought him up, the bottom-line was never in dispute: Ambar was property and not an heir or son. However, the man who had just purchased the slave must have opened Ambars eyes to a world of possibilities, for the peshwa was himself black and had arrived in the Deccan under similar circumstances. He would, in due course, be assassinated, but to Ambar it must have been clear that in India it was possible to rise beyond slavery and to come into great power and wealth he himself was merely one of a thousand habshis the peshwa possessed. Rebel Sultans by Manu S Pillai is published by Juggernaut Books Aruna Roy unveiled her latest book titled 'The RTI Story: Power to the People' with former Central Information Commissioner, Shailesh Gandhi in Mumbai. In an amber lit, cosy space at the G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture in Mumbai, RTI activist and author Aruna Roy unveiled her latest book titled 'The RTI Story: Power to the People' along with activist and former Central Information Commissioner, Shailesh Gandhi. The book launch was a partnership between Literature Live! which is a platform for literary events and Roli Books, the publishers. Wrapped in an eco-friendly bag, the book was unveiled by the activists to a packed room and an enthusiastic audience. The book contains accounts of a long journey and the struggles which the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) and the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) faced to campaign for the right to information and a transparent democracy in practice. Retired IAS officer and diplomat Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who has penned the foreword, also mentions the constant risks faced by people who dare to speak out. After the unveiling, both the activists were invited on stage for a conversation about India's biggest people's participatory movement which resulted in the formation of a rights-based law that is the Right to Information Act of 2005. Shailesh Gandhi told the audience the book rightly conveys the origin and shaping of the RTI movement. Gandhi quizzed Roy about how the movement began and Roy recounted the time when members of the MKSS started a dharna in a small town in Rajasthan, Beawar. MKSS was fighting for minimum wages for labourers who were told that they did not exist on the records, in spite of working for eight hours. She recalled how small Dalit farmers realised the futility of hunger strikes and the urgency of demanding records which would remove the 'liars' tag they'd been labelled with. "Due to the movement, they began to understand where the fault lines are or more accurately, where to pinch the system. All the stories and experiences in the book have come from living and being with the people. We were fighting for the records to come out. That's how the concept of RTI was born," stressed Roy. When asked about the significance of Beawar in the RTI movement, Roy lit up and described how the town got together and joined the campaign against corruption and the right to information. In 1995, after the government failed to give access to bills, vouchers and photocopies despite assurances by chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the campaigners gave the government a whole year to make good on its promises. But when government still failed to do so, the campaign moved with a huge rally to Beawar's market place, where a dharna began. "For the 40 days that we sat there, the whole city got together with us. People gave us keys to their homes, we collected cash in small amounts, the dharamshalas opened so there was access to bathrooms, the grocery sellers would give us vegetables and somebody would buy us water. But the story I like best is, the female member of the local corporation who came to me and said, 'You better win this and achieve right to information. Hum toh satta khele hai, par mera paisa tumhare upar hai!'" Roy finished as the audience burst into laughter. When probed about the key players in shaping the RTI Act, Roy stated how the principles were shaped by the struggle but the law was drafted by legal experts. She recounted how the first draft was made in the IAS academy where she was invited by NC Saxena and Harsh Mander, after which the rough draft was presented to the press council. Roy also mentioned the involvement of activists, journalists, trade unions and other campaigners who were approached for comments on the RTI draft document. Gandhi asked Roy about the present state of the law, and she replied with an analogy of a Sufi dervish's ascetic dance where the dancers spin with one arm pointed at earth and the other at the sky. "RTI is kind of like that, it links the lowest common denominator with the idea of democracy. It helps to understand governance and educates citizen's on how to make the government function." But she also went to say how the systematic interference with our country's institutions by the current government is worrisome and the silence from the citizens about accepting such opaque and secretive functioning even more so. "What are we afraid of? It is as though out of 100 people, there are two bullies and 98 people are silent because everyone thinks everyone else is a bully!" she exclaimed. Towards the end of the conversation between Gandhi and Roy, she explained how independence and transparency in various Commissions is paramount for democracy. The duo then opened the floor for questions from the audience. Roy pointed out how fighting to protect the Constitution is must and expressed admiration for BR Ambedkar's foresight about how there'd be divisiveness at every level unless the weaker sections of society were protected. In her parting note, she urged young people to look at issues in depth and marvelled at India's efforts to maintain democracy. "India has got democracy to work against all tides, and our rights-based laws have drawn global attention," she said. "We have no need to look at numbers, after all only 70 people started the Dandi March with Gandhi and it became a nationwide movement!" A Mission Police Dept. officer (L), and a U.S. Border Patrol agent take Central American asylum seekers into custody near McAllen, Texas on June 12, 2018. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images As the uproar over the Trump administrations new policy of separating children from their families at the border has grown in recent days, the government has not been forthcoming about where the children are, or how theyre being cared for. Thats particularly true of the youngest children. While previously, immigration officials did not need to care for large numbers of lone babies and toddlers, now children incapable of crossing the border on their own are being turned into unaccompanied alien children when theyre taken from their parents. It's been really hard to get information about "tender age" children from the Department of Health and Human Services. Reporters asked multiple questions on a press call today. I've been asking for days, following up, asking other questions and I'm sure others have too. Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) June 20, 2018 There have been anecdotal reports about the younger children Democratic lawmakers described seeing an eight-month-old baby in one facility, and a teen girl claimed she and her cellmates were changing the diapers of a preschooler they didnt know but the few images the government has released were from shelters for older boys. The AP revealed on Tuesday night that the youngest children taken from their parents after crossing the border are being held in tender age shelters in South Texas. There are at least three of these facilities in operation, and the government is planning to open a fourth that can hold up to 240 young children in a Houston warehouse that previously housed people displaced by Hurricane Harvey. Local officials have spoken out against opening the new facility, which has already drawn protests. Doctors and lawyers who have been inside the shelters described seeing playrooms full of crying preschoolers. They say the facilities are clean and safe, but that isnt the point. The shelters arent the problem, its taking kids from their parents thats the problem, said pediatrician Marsha Griffin, who has visited many of the South Texas facilities. Earlier this week Dr. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the Trump administrations family separation policy amounts to child abuse. After touring one facility for small children, Kraft told CNN that the stress of being ripped from a parent and put in a shelter disrupts young childrens brain architecture, inhibiting their development. I cant describe to you the room I was in with the toddlers, Kraft said. Normally toddlers are rambunctious and running around. We had one child just screaming and crying, and the others were really silent. And this is not normal activity or brain development with these children. Steven Wagner, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services, denied that what the government is doing to the children is inhumane. We have specialized facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs and tender age children as we define as under 13 would fall into that category, he said. Theyre not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and theyre staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs particularly of the younger children. However, Trump officials havent been consistent on the definition of tender age. The federal government said that as of Monday, they had 11,785 migrant children in custody, and were housing them in 100 shelters located in 17 states. That includes more than 2,300 children who were taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border since the start of May. But on Tuesday, officials from law enforcement and Health and Human Services said they couldnt give journalists a breakdown of how many of those children are under 5, under 2, or infants, because they dont know. Agustin Arbulu, executive director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, said in a statement on Tuesday that extremely young children are being sent to the state. We have received reports and are very concerned that the children arriving here are much younger than those who have been transported here in the past, he said. Some of the children are infants as young as three months of age and are completely unable to advocate for themselves. On press call Tues, CBP was vague on minimum age for separations. Said it was up to field chiefs in each region along the border but that general practice has been not to separate under the age of 5. Mounting evidence suggests at least some regions are separating younger kids. Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) June 20, 2018 On a call with reporters today, HHS officials repeatedly used the term tender age to refer to children under 5 years old. As the mother of a two year old, the idea that anyone would remove a child under 5 from their mother is difficult for me to comprehend. https://t.co/2K5r5EbXJj Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) June 20, 2018 Michelle Brane, director of the migrant rights and justice program at the Womens Refugee Commission, also challenged the claim that the facilities meet state licensing standards for young children, noting that no one is trained to care for a room full of traumatized toddlers. The facilities that they have for the most part are not licensed for tender-age children, Brane told the AP. There is no model for how you house tons of little children in cots institutionally in our country. We dont do orphanages, our child welfare has recognized that is an inappropriate setting for little children. The situation is even more horrific because its unclear how migrant parents and children will be reunited and its possible some of them will never see each other again. White House officials have stressed that the separation is only temporary White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp claimed on Fox News that families are only apart for five to ten days but John Sandweg, who was acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 2013 to 2014, said separations can be permanent. Sandweg told NBC News that parents can move quickly from detention to deportation, while children are processed more slowly because theyre a lower priority. You could easily end up in a situation where the gap between a parents deportation and a childs deportation is years, he said. Back in their home country, parents without access to legal representation, or a good understanding of U.S. immigration laws, can struggle to locate their children. If left in state custody long enough, those children are put up for adoption. You could be creating thousands of immigrant orphans in the U.S. that one day could become eligible for citizenship when they are adopted, Sandweg explained. Its another example of how the Trump administrations family separation policy isnt even accomplishing its stated goals its just stunningly cruel. Congress said Arvind Subramanian's resignation has not come as a surprise as all 'financial experts' in Narendra Modi government are fed up. New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday said the resignation of Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has not come as a surprise as all 'financial experts' in the Narendra Modi government are fed up of its 'colossal economic mismanagement' and are stepping down. Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala cited examples of ex-Niti Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya and former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan in this regard. "'Financial experts' of Modi government are completely fed up by its colossal economic mismanagement, tepid economic reforms and financial anarchy," he said on Twitter. 'Financial Experts' of Modi Govt are completely fed up by its Colossal Economic Mismanagement, Tepid Economic Reforms & Financial Anarchy. CEA, Arvind Subramanian's resignation after the stepping down of Niti Aayog's Arvind Panagriya & RBI Gov Raghuram Rajan comes as no suprise! Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) June 20, 2018 "Subramanian's resignation after the stepping down of Niti Aayog's Panagriya and RBI governor Rajan comes as no surprise!" he said. Subramanian will be leaving the finance ministry after nearly four years because of "pressing family commitments" and return to the US," Union minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday. He was appointed as the CEA to the finance ministry on 16 October, 2014, for a period of three years. In 2017, his term was extended by a year. "A few days ago, Subramanian met me over video conferencing. He informed me that he would like to go back to the United States on account of pressing family commitments. His reasons were personal but extremely important to him. He left me with no option but to agree with him," Jaitley wrote in a Facebook post. The minister, however, did not say as to when Subramanian will relinquish the office. "Profoundly grateful and humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Jaitley, announcing my decision to return - for personal reasons - to researching & writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had. Many many to thank," Subramanian tweeted minutes after Jaitley's post. The Shiv Sena on Tuesday wondered if the BJP's decision to part ways with alliance partner PDP in Jammu and Kashmir was taken to avoid 'uneasy questions' over the violence in the state ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Tuesday wondered if the BJP's decision to part ways with alliance partner PDP in Jammu and Kashmir was taken to avoid "uneasy questions" over the violence in the state ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Dubbing the saffron party's decision a "political move", Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the coming together of the PDP-BJP to form the government in the state was "unnatural and unholy". He said Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had opposed the tie-up, calling it an "anti-national" alliance. "Uddhav ji's words have been proved correct today," he said. "The BJP-PDP had cut a deal to gain power. Our soldiers had to pay a big price for this. The incidents of our soldiers' martyrdom went up ever since the coalition formed the government," Raut said. "If the BJP took this decision to avoid answering these issues in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, I think it is a political decision," he added. The BJP on Tuesday pulled out of its alliance with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, saying it has become impossible to continue in the government in view of the growing radicalism and terrorism in the state. The decision was taken after consulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said in Delhi. In the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections held in 2015, the BJP won 25 seats and the PDP 28, in the 87-member House. The architect of the BJP-PDP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, Haseeb Drabu along with Ram Madhav, was involved in stitching together the alliance between the two parties. He must be having a light hearted laugh, the government did not even last for three months after him being shunted out. On a rainy April day in 2015, while addressing his maiden press conference in Jammu as the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed credited the first time legislator and economist Haseeb Drabu for "showing us dreams". After all, among a series of political and economic proposals aimed at changing the destiny of the turmoil wracked state, the BJP had agreed in the 'Agenda of the Alliance' document to pursue a dialogue on Kashmir. But that was not meant to be. With Mufti's demise in 2016 and Drabu's unceremonious ouster earlier this year, the "dreams" suffered major blips. Now, with the BJP pulling the rug from beneath Mehbooba Mufti's feet, it has collapsed altogether, like a house of cards, plunging Jammu and Kashmir into a political crisis that could not have come at a worse time. The architect of the alliance, Drabu along with BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, was involved in stitching together the alliance between the two parties. He must be having a light hearted laugh, the government did not even last for three months after him being shunted out. Since Mehbooba took over as the chief minister after Mufti passed away in January 2016, Drabu was not in her good books. But he was the only politician in PDP who knew how to keep the alliance intact and his personal rapport with Madhav kept the alliance boat sailing in difficult waters for three years. "Mehbooba did not realise this Drabu was not just an able administrator, but a skilled politician when it came to keeping this alliance intact," Gul Mohammed Wani, a professor of political science at Kashmir University. "People like Drabu with in-an-out knowledge about this alliapnce could have played an important role keeping it alive, despite disagreements." Tensions in the Valley are rising with fresh civilian killings taking place almost every day since the Union Home Ministry suspended the unilateral ceasefire. The resumption of cordon and search operations by security forces on a wild chase of militants is likely to provoke more anger on the streets. This doesn't bode well for the state torn apart by violence, especially in the past two years. But Peoples Democratic Party leaders say the decision to pull the plug on the alliance and surprising Mehbooba is aimed at 2019 general elections. BJP, however, is ready to sacrifice its electoral base in Jammu where its MLA's are facing anti-incumbency for the re-election. "I don't think any leader could have stopped this from happening because the BJP had made their mind to deceive the people of Jammu and Kashmir," PDP leader and former minister for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs Muhammad Ashraf Mir told Firpsost. "Drabu Sahib is an important leader of party, but it was Mehbbobaji's decision which he and everyone accepted." The BJP's decision to pullout seems to have taken shape after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's failed attempt to offer a dialogue with Hurriyat and Pakistan during his visit in May. The friction among alliance partners started after Modi left for Delhi, sources have said. The PDP was pushing for extending the unilateral ceasefire, and initiating dialogue with Pakistan and Hurriyat leadership in the Valley. The BJP disagreed. "The PDP had failed to control the situation in Kashmir and was insisting on talking to anti-social elements who are responsible for the crisis," BJP general sectary Ashok Kaul, said. On Drabu, Kaul said he was an important PDP leader, even when it came to this alliance, "but it's PDP's internal matter." "But he was an important leader when it came to this alliance." PDP's loss is BJP's gain The BJP will most likely sell the 'dismissal' of Mehbooba government as an illustration of Modi's muscular approach towards separatists and their sympathisers in Jammu and Kashmir. It will also tap into the 'alienation' among voters of BJP in Jammu who felt the party was pandering to the wishes and desires under Mehbooba. "Most importantly, the fall of the government has given a free hand to the Centre to directly deal with the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Borders have heated up manifold and the bloodshed continues in the Valley where militancy is at all time high since 2007. It is going to be an uphill task to run the state smoothly," Professor Noor A Baba, dean of Social Sciences at the Central University of Kashmir said. On the other hand, the decision of the BJP has orphaned the PDP which was banking on Modi to set things right in Jammu and Kashmir. Not only did the party betray its voters by entering into the wedlock with the BJP, against which the PDP had sought mandate, it also 'compromised' its "self-rule" doctrine by wrongly visualising the statesmanship of Vajpayee in Modi. Keeping the PDP flock together In absence of the PDP founder, Mehbooba's party is staring at a crisis. The events of the past two years have eroded whatever little credibility mainstream players enjoy in Kashmir, the blame for which can be placed squarely on PDP. That the normalisation of death and destruction, the epidemic of dead eyes, the use of wanton force, all this and much more happened under the party's watch, is something that people will remember for years to come. "Forget our leaders, even the party workers are unable to connect with people on ground today due to surging militancy. South Kashmir used to be PDP stronghold. Today, it has become a graveyard of our reputation. We sought votes to keep BJP out of power and ended up joining hands with them. How should we justify this betrayal," a senior PDP leader told Firstpost, wishing anonymity. But perhaps the biggest challenge for Mehbooba would be to keep her flock together till the state comes out of the impending political crisis. Factionalism has marred the PDP since it ascended to power in 2015 and there are talks already of a third front headed by Sajad Lone and backed by the BJP emerging in the state in time to contest the next state assembly elections. Click here for LIVE updates on Jammu and Kashmir political crisis A day after the BJP pulled out from the alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav said that there was nothing opportunistic about leaving the alliance. Auto refresh feeds President Ram Nath Kovind has given his approval for the imposition of Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect, sources from home ministry said. "I am not shocked as this alliance was never for power. PDP never believes in power politics and we worked for the people," she told reporters after an hour-long meeting with her ministers and party workers at her residence. The Bharatiya Janata Party ended the three-year-old uneasy alliance with Mehbooba Mufti's PDP in Jammu and Kashmir citing rising security concerns. PDP chief and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti, however, raised the bogey of Article 370 and unilateral ceasefire, saying muscular security policy will not work in the state and reconciliation is the key. Vohra is reluctant to continue as governor after his term ends. However, officials in the state administration want him to continue, since they have worked with him for a long time and know his style of functioning and administration. Moreover, New Delhi would also want to avoid appointing a fresh face in the state because it could disrupt the smooth functioning of the administration. Why Governor Vohra may get an extension despite not being keen on it The BJP, both at the state and central levels, did not falter on the basic principles of effective governance, as is evidenced by successful counter-terrorism operations and raids by NIA. The political cost did not stop BJP from forming the government in the first place. The central leadership of the BJP made it clear at that time that there could be a government through an alliance between opposing ideologies, as long as the promise of good governance is preserved. Later, Governor had a meeting with Omar Abdullah, who stated that there was no alternative to Governors Rule and elections. After concluding his consultations with all the major political parties, the governor forwarded his report to the President for the imposition of Governors Rule under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. Governor Vohra received a letter by fax, jointly signed by state BJP president Ravinder Raina and BJP legislature party leader Kavinder Gupta to withdraw BJPs support to the coalition government. Thereafter, Mehbooba Mufti tendered her resignation as the chief minister. The Governor asked her to continue in office till alternative arrangements were made, a spokesperson told Firstpost. The Appointments Committe of the Cabinet reassigned Additional Chief Secretary (Home) in Chattisgarh government BVR Subrahmanyam has been posted to Jammu and Kashmir as the state goes under Governors rule. "I don't think a new government will be formed anytime soon. Uncertainties are there, but we are working on something and people will get to know about it," said former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Kavinder Gupta. Subrahmanyam was transferred to Jammu and Kashmir upon the recommendations of the Appointment Committee of the Union Cabinet. According to media reports, the IAS officer of the 1987 cadre is likely to take up role of chief secretary in Jammu and Kashmir, however, there is no official release to indicate exactly what role he will be playing. The central government has transferred BVR Subrahmanyam to Jammu and Kashmir, just hours after President Ram Nath Kovind approved the imposition of Governor's Rule in the state. According to reports, BVR Subrahmanyam the Chhattisgarh additional chief secretary who has been transferred to Jammu and Kashmir is likely to be one of the key advisors of Governor NN Vohra. He had joined the PMO as private secretary under former prime minister Manmohan Singh. "On 23 June, we will honour SP Mukherjee in Jammu," Jammu and Kashmir BJP MLA Ravinder Raina said during a press conference. "We aim to strengthen the nationalism which received a boost in the Valley because of Mukherjee," he said. According to India Today, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav has told BJP workers in Jammu and Kashmir to prepare for November election in state. This comes hours after Governor's Rule was imposed in state following Mehbooba Mufti's resignation as the chief minister. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah is currently chairing an important meeting in Srinagar with party leaders, according to reports. Abdullah had said on Tuesday that the election in Jammu and Kashmir should be held at the earliest after the resignation of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. Taking to Twitter, Nayeema wrote: I am now free woman freedom at last. The development came a day after BJP pulled out of the coalition with PDP and paved way for the Governors Rule. To gear up the state administrative machinery to function with speed, efficiency, and accountability, the governor is speaking to senior officers of the civil, police, forest and other departments on Wednesday. This meeting shall be followed by a security review meeting at the Raj Bhavan in the afternoon, the spokesman said. Governor NN Vohra held discussions with Chief Secretary BB Vyas on Wednesday and identified the major tasks which shall require to be dealt with on a strict time bound basis, beginning from Wednesday, a spokesperson said. Immediately after receiving presidents approval, Governor NN Vohra issued the proclamation to impose Governors Rule in the State under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, said an official statement. He claimed that the policemen and journalists were "being killed" in the Valley because of Mehbooba Mufti government's "soft approach". "We dont want that soft approach," he said. "I myself put in a lot of effort... but some alliances work and some dont," he added. Mufti had become the chief minister after her father and the death of the then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Day after the BJP pulled out from the alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav said that there was nothing opportunistic about leaving the alliance. "It was not an opportunistic alliance. (Mehbooba) Mufti described it as the coming together of the North and South poles... We tried our best to maintain this alliance and ensure that the government lasts its full term," he said in an interview to CNN-News18 . "BJP wanted to compromise (on various issues). Look at Mufti's stand in Rasana issue (Kathua rape). Mufti was the only hurdle in Centre's wishes like changing Article 370, erasing Article 35-A. This strong stand forced the BJP to pull out of alliance," he said. Day after Mehbooba Mufti tendered her resignation over the split of the BJP-PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, senior PDP leader Khurshid Alam slammed the saffron party. "Mehbooba Mufti took a strong stand for the government. That stand compelled the BJP and Government of India to reconsider their support," he told Firstpost. The meeting was called by Vohra, who is ruling the State fourth timer since his appointment in 2008, after the President of India placed Jammu and Kashmir under Governors rule after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner PDP, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the chief minister. Hours after taking over the reins of the state of Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra cancelled all the orders issued by the government departments on the last day (19 June) including the release of funds to be kept in abeyance. Reports said Vohra directed authorities that issue of SSA Teachers, who have been protesting from last few months on the streets, would be resolved immediately and the SRO-43 cases to be expedited. The reports also said regularisation of Casual Workers/Daily Rated Workers etc to be expedited under SRO-520. He claimed that the policemen and journalists were "being killed" in the Valley because of Mehbooba Mufti government's "soft approach". "We dont want that soft approach," he said. "I myself put in a lot of effort... but some alliances work and some dont," he added. Mufti had become the chief minister after her father and the death of the then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Day after the BJP pulled out from the alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav said that there was nothing opportunistic about leaving the alliance. "It was not an opportunistic alliance. (Mehbooba) Mufti described it as the coming together of the North and South poles... We tried our best to maintain this alliance and ensure that the government lasts its full term," he said in an interview to CNN-News18 . Two important army officials have publicly shared different views on the current political situation in Jammu and Kashmir. According to former chief of army staff General Bikram Singh, the BJP breaking up with PDP will have a direct impact on the security situation on the ground. However, Indian Army chief Bipin Rawat said that the imposition of Governors Rule will not affect the operations. "BJP wanted to compromise (on various issues). Look at Mufti's stand in Rasana issue (Kathua rape). Mufti was the only hurdle in Centre's wishes like changing Article 370, erasing Article 35-A. This strong stand forced the BJP to pull out of alliance," he said. Day after Mehbooba Mufti tendered her resignation over the split of the BJP-PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, senior PDP leader Khurshid Alam slammed the saffron party. "Mehbooba Mufti took a strong stand for the government. That stand compelled the BJP and Government of India to reconsider their support," he told Firstpost. Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that the imposition of Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir will not interrupt the operations against terrorists Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/RdkPU5lEK6 pic.twitter.com/sWdv4soZNf The meeting was called by Vohra, who is ruling the State fourth timer since his appointment in 2008, after the President of India placed Jammu and Kashmir under Governors rule after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner PDP, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as the chief minister. Hours after taking over the reins of the state of Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra cancelled all the orders issued by the government departments on the last day (19 June) including the release of funds to be kept in abeyance. Reports said Vohra directed authorities that issue of SSA Teachers, who have been protesting from last few months on the streets, would be resolved immediately and the SRO-43 cases to be expedited. The reports also said regularisation of Casual Workers/Daily Rated Workers etc to be expedited under SRO-520. He said the army was given a free hand in the last three years which resulted in the elimination of 619 terrorists. As many as 23 Pakistani terrorists were also neutralised by the forces during the Ramzan ceasefire, which was part of many initiatives taken to restore peace in Kashmir, he added. PTI Raina, who was flanked by several top BJP leaders including former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta, said restoration of law and order is the need of the hour. "There might be political compulsions for parties in handling such a tough situation but during governor's rule, we are of the opinion that anti-terror operations and operations against anti-social elements will easily be carried out," he added. "The main issue was the fast deteriorating law and order situation in the valley. The only alternative was governor's rule because there will be a single line administration," he said. He said the decision was not abrupt and was taken after three month long deliberations in the larger interest of the nation. The deteriorating law-and-order situation in Jammu and Kashmir was the main reason for the BJP to pull out from the government and pave way for governor's rule to ensure restoration of peace and normalcy, state party chief Ravinder Raina said. BJP-PDP end alliance in Jammu and Kashmir Latest Updates: A day after the BJP pulled out from the alliance with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav said that there was nothing opportunistic about leaving the alliance. "We tried our best to maintain this alliance and ensure that the government lasts its full term," he said in an interview. General Bipin Rawat says that the imposition of Governor's Rule will not affect anti-terrorist operations. Omar Abdullah denied reports of him meeting PDP MLAs after talks with his party leaders. Hours after taking over the reins of the state of Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra cancelled all the orders issued by the government departments on the last day (19 June) including the release of funds to be kept in abeyance. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah is currently chairing an important meeting in Srinagar with party leaders, according to reports. Abdullah had said on Tuesday that the election in Jammu and Kashmir should be held at the earliest after the resignation of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav has told BJP workers in Jammu and Kashmir to prep for November polls, according to reports. Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet has transferred former PMO (Prime Minister's Office) private secretary BVR Subrahmanyam from Chhattisgarh to assist Governor Vohra. Hours after President Ram Nath Kovind approved Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir, former deputy chief minister Kavindra Gupta said that new government won't be formed anytime soon. "I don't think a new government will be formed anytime soon. Uncertainties are there, but we are working on something and people will get to know about it," former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta was quoted as saying by ANI. Governor NN Vohra will address the senior administration officers and security forces at 11:45 am in Srinagar on Wednesday. When in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir Ram Madhav announced the break-up of BJP-PDP alliance in the state, two people who had no idea of what was happening included Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. According to The Telegraph, moments after the BJP announcement, Rajnath left his office and went to his official residence. Senior home ministry officials said that they felt Rajnath had so far been unaware of the impending decision. The report quoted officials from the ministry, who on condition of anonymity, said, "Forget about us, it seems even Rajnathji was not in the loop. Rajnath Singh is the official second-in-command in the government, but only on paper." President Ram Nath Kovind has given his approval for the imposition of Governor's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect, sources from home ministry said. Governor Narinder Nath Vohra had forwarded his report to the President for the imposition of Governor's Rule under Section 92 of the Constitution on Tuesday. PDP chief and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti raised the bogey of Article 370 and unilateral ceasefire, saying muscular security policy will not work in the state and reconciliation is the key. "I am not shocked as this alliance was never for power. PDP never believes in power politics and we worked for the people," she told reporters after an hour-long meeting with her ministers and party workers at her residence. Mehbooba maintained that Jammu and Kashmir was not an enemy territory as being perceived by a few. "We had always said muscular security policy will not work in J-K, reconciliation is key," she said. She began her press conference by raising Article 370, under which the state enjoys a special status, and said "...we have safeguarded Article 370 and 35-A (of the Constitution) and we will continue to do that". "We have been able to withdraw 11,000 cases against the stone pelters," she said while listing her side of the story after the BJP pulled out of its alliance with the PDP in the state. She also mentioned about the unilateral ceasefire during Ramazan announced by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lahore in 2015. Mehbooba, who submitted her resignation to the governor this evening , said her party will continue to strive for dialogue and reconciliation in the state. "I have told the governor we will not go into any other alliance," she said. Mehbooba said her party, PDP, had entered into an alliance with the BJP with the aim of achieving the bigger objective of reconciliation and dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir which will bring out the people of the state from the present situation of turmoil. "Although this was against the sentiments of the people, we entered into the alliance with the BJP after giving it a deep thought. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed entered into the alliance with a bigger vision thinking that BJP is a big party and the Prime Minister has got a huge mandate. We joined hands with the party ruling at the Centre with the aim that it will help in bringing out the state from its situation of turmoil. It took us several months to chalk out the agenda of alliance which was aimed at reconciliation and dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir," she said. Mehbooba said her party's objective was reconciliation in Jammu and Kashmir through dialogue, confidence building measures and good relations with Pakistan. "That is why we had a unilateral ceasefire which had given relief to the people here. People had expressed satisfaction after many years. However, it was not appropriately responded to by the other side and there was an attempt somewhere from the other side to end the ceasefire, which happened," she said. Mehbooba said there was no alternative to the healing touch policy of the PDP. "We believe that there is no alternative to the PDP's healing touch agenda under which talks should be held with Pakistan, people of Jammu and Kashmir, more and more routes (across the Line of Control) should be opened," she added. In an apparent report card of her government, Mehbooba said there were apprehensions with regard to special status of Jammu and Kashmir following the PDP's alliance with the BJP. "The biggest apprehension in the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially the people in the valley, was about the status of Article 370, (which guarantees) special status of the state. We defended Article 35-A and Article 370 in the court," she said. She said her government also worked towards maintaining the integrity of the state. "After BJP come to power, there was a sense of insecurity among the minorities in Jammu region. There was the Rasaana (Kathua rape and murder) case and cow vigilante case...the government took a stand. We made all efforts to ensure that Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh stay united," she said. Mehbooba said despite facing difficulties at the ground level, the PDP workers supported the government. "We have tried our best for dialogue and reconciliation and in future also we will continue to make efforts in this regard," she added. "We did not enter into this alliance for power. Had it been for power, that time Omar (Abdullah) and Congress had offered us support. This alliance was for a bigger objective -- unilateral ceasefire, PM's visit to Pakistan, withdrawal of cases against 11,000 youths, dialogue offer from Home Minister. This was the bigger objective, not power politics," she added. Click here for more updates on PDP-BJP end of alliance The alliance between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) was never something which one would call a natural alliance. The alliance between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) was never something which one would term as a natural alliance. It only came about in the first place due to the statesmanship of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed from the PDP and the central leadership of the BJP. The unfortunate demise of the senior Mufti in the initial days of the alliance dealt a massive blow to the long term sustainability of the alliance. Mehbooba Mufti started throwing tantrums at the BJP immediately after the death of her father. Since then, the alliance has only been an unwanted compromise for both the parties. This was evident by the 88-day governors rule in the state, when Mehbooba refused to take oath. The alliance for the BJP naturally turned sour, because it had been at the political cost of its Jammu voter base. The state of Jammu and Kashmir, unlike any other state in India, comprises three distinct demographic regions Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh. These are as different from each other as being three entirely different regions in their own right. This was evident from the electoral performance of political parties in these regions. The BJP, for instance, couldnt win a single seat in Kashmir Valley but was the best performer in the Jammu region. An alliance in the face of an anomaly like this would naturally have political costs for both the alliance partners. Such political cost was much more for the BJP, simply because of the virtue of the fact that the BJP was the junior partner in the alliance. The PDP, being the larger party, with its own chief minister, could simply do more for its voter base in Kashmir. At the same time, the Hindu voter base of the BJP in Jammu has been brewing with anger since the inception of the alliance, not principally, but because of the functioning of the PDP-dominated government. Moreover, actually successful counter-terrorism operations by the BJP-led central government have also had political costs for the PDP. For instance, the killing of Burhan Wani, who was a dreaded and a wanted terrorist, came at a political cost for the PDP. The history of the PDP must be contextualised, wherein it has always been soft towards the separatist sentiment in the Valley. The central government agencies like the ED and NIA also cracked down upon the Hurriyat leadership in the aftermath of demonetisation. The arrest of Altaf Shah, the son-in-law of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and several others by the NIA did not go down well with the PDP leadership. The political cost emanating from these developments were only natural for the PDP. It has to be mentioned, that the BJP, both at the state and central levels, did not faulter on the basic principles of effective governance, as is evidenced by succesful counter-terrorism operations and raids by NIA. The political cost did not stop the BJP from forming the government in the first place. The central leadership of the BJP made it clear at that time that there could be a government through an alliance between opposing ideologies, as long as the promise of good governance is preserved. Presently, the already unsustainable alliance had come to collapse because of the never-ending spree of violence in the Kashmir Valley. It seems that Mehbooba Mufti completely stopped paying heed to its junior ally when it came to containing violence and radicalism, and hence, the BJP had to take the route of Governors Rule. It is interesting to note that the press conference of the BJP talked about the feasibility of governors rule in the state. Perhaps Governors Rule was the last resort to make sure there is an effective clamp down upon the violence in the state. This is also expected because the next election would only happen with the Lok Sabha polls and would be in the best interests of the BJP. The author is a Senior Fellow with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay, Mumbai. He tweets @raghavwrong Photo: Courtesy of the retailers At this point, the Fjallraven backpack has been around long enough that its reached almost icon status like a Filson shoulder bag, or a Baggu duck bag, or a Longchamp tote. The Swedish brand also makes other types of bags (Dopp kits, duffel bags), and a whole bunch of them are on sale, up to 40 percent off, at the moment. We rounded up our favorites perfect for get-out-of-town season below. get the strategist newsletter Actually good deals, smart shopping advice, and exclusive discounts. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best womens jeans, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, ultra-flattering pants, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission. On Digvijaya Singh's remarks on Hindu terror and the RSS, BJP leader Vishwas Sarang said the Congress always made caste-based statements. Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh has drawn severe criticism for his comments on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindu terror. On Monday, he accused the RSS of promoting terrorism in the country, and that all Hindu terrorists caught in the past have been associated with the Sangh. "All Hindu terrorists who have ever been caught have an association with the RSS in some way or the other," he said. "Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, was also part of the RSS." According to the The Economic Times, he reinforced his stand on "Sangh terror", and said, "Bomb blasts were executed by people influenced by Sanghi ideology, be it the Malegaon blast, Mecca Masjid blast, or the blast on Samjhauta express or Dargah Sharif." Although Singh faced major backlash for his comments, he did get support from senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who said his statement needed to be seen in the right context. "Ideologically, Digvijaya Singh has very strong views. He has opposed minority extremism and said that every kind of extremism is bad. We must contextualise what he said rather than generalise it and think he is saying it against one community or organisation," Khurshid said, according to the report. A few members of the Congress, however, were not pleased with the current head of the Congress Coordination Committee and his comments. The Times of India quoted an unidentified party leader as saying: "The party is devastated by Digvijaya's comments. He has come up with such statements when there are a hundred reasons for the BJP to lose the next election." BJP members also took this as an opportunity to criticise the Congress. Party leader Vishwas Sarang said: "The Congress always makes caste-based remarks, and Digvijaya's statements are part of the party's political game plan. Congress President Rahul Gandhi has assigned Digvijaya to instigate caste-based politics in MP ahead of the elections. Rahul himself went to Italy to meet separatist forces." BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also criticised the senior Congress leader for "pointing fingers at millions of Hindus, denigrating them and calling them terrorists", The Indian Express reported. Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Prabhat Jha discredited Singh and said that even the Congress does not take him seriously. "The Congress has relieved Digvijaya Singh of all responsibilities in the state to avoid internal conflicts. His attacks on the RSS and BJP carry no weight, and the public knows why Digvijaya stirs up controversial remarks ahead of the elections. The BJP has never taken him seriously, and now neither will the Congress," he said, according to The Times of India. Speaking to ANI, former undersecretary to the minister of home affairs, RVS Mani, said: "I've said this earlier, too, that there was no official information on Hindu terror till 2010. Even after that, there was no such thing. I've written a book that clearly states how Digvijay Singh laid the foundation of Hindu terror and spread it... In the name of Hindu terror, he saved real terrorists using government resources. Arif Qasmani, the accused in the Samjhauta Express blast, had escaped. In the Mecca Masjid blast case, Bilal escaped. I don't know his political agenda, but there's no Hindu terror." In the normal course, elections for a new Assembly would only fall due at the beginning of 2021, since the Jammu and Kashmir state Assembly has a term of six years. Governor's Rule, which was invoked in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday morning, is likely to last for at least a year unless the same coalition of the PDP and the BJP emerges in the next few months with a different leader. Covert efforts are said to have been made over the past couple of years to wean some PDP MLAs away from the leadership of Mehbooba Mufti. Two prominent party leaders are also said to have been in close touch with the ruling party at the Centre. One objective of this putative ginger group could be to change the leader of the PDP in the Assembly so that a different chief minister could be installed at the head of the same coalition. The anti-defection law in the state which has different legal provisions from those applicable in the rest of the country does not allow for a split in a legislative party. So, the only way to effect a change is to elect a new leader. For a new chief minister to be installed at the head of a renewed PDP-BJP coalition, a majority of the 28-member PDP legislative party would have to elect a new leader. According to the grapevine, only half-a-dozen MLAs of the party have so far been willing to go along with a change in leadership. It is possible that efforts to wean more MLAs away might become easier now that Mehbooba does not control power over the state government. Disturbed conditions Speculation spread in Srinagar over a rumour that four PDP MLAs, including some very influential ones, had met National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Wednesday morning. Omar, however, denied that. It is possible that Omar's call for the dissolution of the current house was made with the possibility of horse-trading in mind. He made the statement a couple of hours after the BJP withdrew support to the Mehbooba-led state government on Tuesday. Omar also called for elections to be held soon. That, however, might prove a tall order. The situation, particularly in south Kashmir, is so disturbed that it has been impossible to hold the by-election for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat. The seat has been vacant since October 2016, when Mehbooba resigned from it, after becoming the chief minister. The by-election was slated for 12 April 2017, but was postponed after terrible violence at polling booths, particularly in Budgam district, during polling for the Srinagar by-election on 9 April, three days earlier. Eight persons were killed that day. There would have been much worse violence in south Kashmir, where Anantnag is located if the by-election had been held. Especially since the Centre is directly responsible now for the state, the government at the Centre cannot afford to risk that kind of violence in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, which are due by May next year. In that light, Governors Rule will probably be extended by another six months after the first six-month period ends in December this year. Elections could possibly be held simultaneously for a new Assembly and for the Valleys three Lok Sabha seats, perhaps a couple of weeks after the rest of the Lok Sabha elections are held. That would allow the paramilitary forces that will be deployed for the conduct of elections across the country to be redeployed intensively for the elections in the state. Six-year term In the normal course, elections for a new Assembly would only fall due at the beginning of 2021, since the Jammu and Kashmir state Assembly has a term of six years. The current Assemblys life began in March 2015, when the PDP-BJP coalition took office. Negotiations for their 'agenda for alliance' took three months following the elections, the results of which were announced on 24 December 2014. Bad move Attempts to manipulate party leadership would be seen as undermining the public will. It would be unpopular in both the Valley and the Jammu division. Ironically, Governors Rule has repeatedly proved more popular with people at large in Kashmir than several elected governments have. This was true in 1986, and each time current governor NN Vohra has directly administered the state in 2008, 2005 and 2006. Even in the 1990s, Governors Rule before 1996 turned out to be better for people at large than the period from 1997 on till the end of the 1990s. There can be no doubt that violence will increase in the near future. That was going to happen in any case, but a more cohesive relationship between the administration and the forces might lead to a less steep slide. In Chhattisgarh, where the BJP has enjoyed a 15-year rule, the party is faced with a double whammy of anti-incumbency and a likely pre-poll Congress-BSP alliance. Bilaspur: With Chhattisgarh Assembly elections due at the end of the year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pulling out all stops to maintain its winning streak in the central Indian state. In just a fortnight, a series of road shows and rallies have been held in Chhattisgarh by prime minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh, party bigwigs such as Amit Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. In Chhattisgarh, where the BJP has enjoyed a 15-year rule, the party is faced with a double whammy of anti-incumbency and a likely pre-poll Congress-BSP alliance. The BJP plans to ride to victory on the development plank, with chief minister Raman Singh carrying out a 'Vikas Yatra' this month to highlight developmental works carried out by his government as well as to lay foundation stone for more projects. The BJP is hoping its development agenda will help woo tribals in Maoist-affected Bastar region, which has 12 Assembly seats where the party was able to win only four seats in the last Assembly elections. The BJP has won Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh with a very narrow margin and is not taking any chances, especially after the drubbing it received earlier this year in bypolls held in its bastions Gorakhpur and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP's performance was also dismal in bypolls held on 28 May, with the party winning just three out of four Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats. In Karnataka Assembly elections, BJP was ousted by Congress-JD(S) alliance. A good performance in Chhattisgarh, which goes to polls along with Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan later this year, is crucial for the BJP just ahead of 2019 general elections. Challenges ahead Of the 90 Assembly seats in Chhattisgarh, the BJP has 49 seats, while Congress holds 39. One seat is with the BSP and another is held by an Independent MLA. While the Congress and the BSP are in talks to form a pre-poll alliance, former chief minister and ex-Congressman Ajit Jogi entering the fray with Janata Congress Chhattisgarh might also upset BJPs calculations. The BJP should not underestimate Jogi, who is backed by three former Congress MLAs (Amit Jogi, Siyaram Kaushik and RK Rai) shown the door by the party. Jogi has a following among the populace. A crowd of nearly 1.25 lakh people gathered at Raipur to listen to him on his 72nd birthday where he urged people to support him. Senior journalist and political analyst Alok Putul said, "In the last Assembly elections, chief minister Raman Singh formed the government by winning 10 more seats than the Congress. These include nine constituencies where Dalit voters hold sway. In these constituencies, Jogi had been working against the Congress and making it easier for the BJP to make inroads. Now that Jogi has his own party, it will be tough for the BJP to capture these seats. Jogi will definitely emerge as a source of trouble for the BJP." The BSP will also fight hard to retain its lone seat in the state Assembly. BSP supremo Mayawati sent five leaders to act as election in-charge in Chhattisgarh and to work towards strengthening the party. Battleground Bastar It is in Maoist-hit Bastar that BJP is eyeing boosting its seat tally. Of the 12 Assembly seats in Bastar, Congress occupies eight. Modi has focused on Bastar in two of his tours while Raman kicked off the 'Lok Suraj Abhiyaan' and the 'Vikas Yatra' from Bastar division. Congress president Rahul Gandhi also held rallies in Bastar. He set up a special team to prepare a report card of Congress MLAs from eight seats. Congress is also eyeing 20 Assembly seats in Raipur division, 15 of which are occupied by the BJP, while the Congress has four. One seat is held by an Independent candidate. Anti-Incumbency factor Besides its opponents, the BJP will also have to battle anti-incumbency. The BJP will also find it hard to fight allegations of corruption. The alleged PDS (public distribution system) scam, under which poor quality food was distributed to people, also tainted the image of the BJP government. Opposition Congress has alleged that the scam was to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore. The Supreme Court is also investigating alleged irregularities in the purchase of the Augusta helicopter for VIP use in 2006-2007. Moreover, the Congress party alleged that chief minister's son Abhishek Singh was named in the Panama Papers scandal. The party claimed that an address mentioned in the leaked documents was that of the chief minister, against Abhishek's name. Abhishek is a Member of Parliament from Rajnandgaon. The Congress said that Raman's yatras were an attempt to take the focus away from real issues like corruption. State Congress president and MLA Bhupesh Baghel said, "If the BJP government has done development in 15 years, then why is it talking about it by organising yatras? Raman's government is surrounded by scams. It is sure to lose this time." Moreover, to further counter BJP's election strategy, Congress has also launched a campaign called 'Vikas Khojo' in the state. Campaigning by Congress is in full swing in the state with Baghel consistently making his presence felt among voters from Bastar to Surguja. Three main leaders of the party, Baghel, TS Singhdeo and Charandas Mahant have been interacting with voters, conducting meetings and organising rallies. The BJP, however, said that Congress does not pose a threat to it. Dharamlal Kaushik, president of BJP in Chhattisgarh, said, "Congress was once a national party but it is now a regional party. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it is hanging on to other parties. It is no threat to us. We will form the government for the fourth time as well. We will win 65 seats this time." Neeraj Agrawal is a Bilaspur-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters NN Vohra is reluctant to continue as Jammu and Kashmir governor after his term ends. However, officials in the state administration want him to continue, since they have worked with him for a long time and know his style of functioning and administration Who will be the new governor of Jammu and Kashmir? The incumbent governor Narendra Nath Vohra's second term ends on 28 June, and there is no clarity whether he would be granted another five-year term or be replaced by someone else. However, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling off the alliance with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Governor's Rule being imposed in the state, Vohra remains in pole position to oversee the administration. Vohra, 82, was appointed governor in June 2008, replacing controversial former army General (Retired) SK Sinha during the Amarnath land row agitation. Sources said the names of former army chief General (Retd) Dalbir Singh Suhag and the Centre's interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma were also being discussed by the Union home ministry. Sources said Vohra is reluctant to continue as governor after his term ends. However, officials in the state administration want him to continue, since they have worked with him for a long time and know his style of functioning and administration. Moreover, New Delhi would also want to avoid appointing a fresh face in the state because it could disrupt the smooth functioning of the administration. In the 10 years he has been governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Vohra has worked with four chief ministers: Ghulam Nabi Azad, Omar Abdullah, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti, and all four have been full of praise for the octogenarian. Omar Abdullah said Vohra has proved to be an able administrator, but added that no political party in a democracy would believe in the demise of an elected government. Before being appointed Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Vohra was the Centre's interlocutor on the Kashmir issue in 2003, and had held talks with mainstream and separatist leaders of the Valley. Even when the state was under Governor's Rule in the past, Vohra had proved himself an able administrator, and was even able to change the way the bureaucracy in the state functioned. Vohra, who served as principal secretary to then prime minister IK Gujral and as Union home secretary and defence secretary, had recently apprised New Delhi about his wish to not seek a fresh tenure, but was asked to continue. With Governor's Rule in place in the state, Mehbooba Mufti is a free person. In her first press conference after stepping down as chief minister, she warned the Centre that a muscular policy will not work in Jammu and Kashmir. Analysts said that Mehbooba would not be held responsible if the situation were to deteriorate further, but being a street-smart politician, she would want to give time to the governor. While they also argue that any deterioration of the situation would prove Mehbooba's point that a muscular policy would only boomerang on the administration if the situation is to improve, it may prove Vohra's administrative acumen. During his previous tenure, in 2008, Vohra's administration wasn't free of controversy. Large-scale civilian deaths took place in the aftermath of the Amarnath land agitation, when the PDP pulled out of a Congress government. In 2017, in a bizarre 16-page order titled 'Social Media Usage Policy for Government Employees' issued by the state's general administration department, new "guidelines" were written into law by Governor NN Vohra, specifying how over 4.8 lakh government employees in the state must behave on social media. The order warned the employees against "engaging in discussions on social media by way of tweets, status updates, posts or blogs which are political in nature" or on "contentious issues violative of applicable service conduct rules, which have the potential to create governance or law and order issues or are seen to propagate anything which is anti-social, anti-national or illegal". With BJP's popularity graph going down, there's a belief in Kashmir that the party wanted to break the coalition to build a narrative ahead of the 2019 elections. Analysts say the BJP would like to have an iron fist policy on Kashmir in order to convey voters across the country that the party's policy in Jammu and Kashmir is best for the country. The challenge ahead of Vohra is not only to provide good governance, but also to stop the killings and to prove that things can work in Kashmir without an iron fist policy. On Monday evening, when Jammu and Kashmir's BJP leaders and MLAs were asked to report to New Delhi between 7.30 and 7.45 am on Tuesday, they had little idea as to what was transpiring On Monday evening, when Jammu and Kashmir's BJP leaders and MLAs were asked to report to New Delhi between 7.30 and 7.45 am on Tuesday and advised accordingly to book early morning flights to the National Capital for a meeting with the party high command, they had little idea as to what was transpiring and were only told that the party leadership wanted to discuss strategy ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But what has surprised many in the Valley is a newspaper report stating that the two most important people when it comes to Kashmir Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the Centre's special representative to Jammu and Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma were kept in the dark about the party's decision to pull out of its alliance in the state. So did National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and BJP chief Amit Shah seal the fate of Mehbooba Mufti in an early morning meeting in New Delhi? Most mistook the early morning meeting between Shah and Doval as being related to Amarnath Yatra preparedness. But now it is clear that before coming to a conclusion on ending the alliance, Shah wanted to have firsthand knowledge of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, noted Sanjay Singh, political editor of Firstpost. Sharma was in fact in Srinagar and meet Mehbooba for a detailed discussion on the situation in the state. By afternoon, when he was asked for his reactions on the BJP's decision to pull out of the alliance, he was taken back. "I have no idea about this and the decision of the Central government. I came to know through TV news; I don't want to comment on this," Sharma said in Srinagar. It was after meeting Doval that Shah met the BJP state leaders and apprised them of the party's decision to break the alliance. The Telegraph said after his party's decision, the home minister drove to home, while two officials said "they felt Rajnath had so far been unaware of the impending decision". National Conference working president Omar Abdullah tweeted, "If this story is true & @HMOIndia didnt know about the impending demise of the BJP-PDP alliance then the fact that it caught me & my colleagues by surprise is really no big deal." Rajnath was seen as the only trusted leader in the Central government by the PDP, whose leaders felt he actually listened to them. In fact, in the first week of June, he was welcomed by a roaring crowd of over 5,000 sportspersons at Srinagar's SK Indoor Stadium, where he said, "I see a new dawn emerging from the state." It was he who had announced the suspension of combat operations in the Valley and was deeply involved in the state's affairs. He was tasked to hold a meeting of key officials to take the suspension of counterinsurgency operations forward, but the spurt in violence towards the end of Ramzan and the killing of Shujaat Bukhari changed everything. At his official residence, Rajnath held a meeting with the home secretary Rajiv Gauba, IB chief Rajiv Jain and special secretary in the home ministry Rina Mitra on the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Doval too was present, The Telegraph noted. "Rajnath was concerned about the situation in Kashmir. He was personally in touch with the PDP leaders to see to it that the government headed by Mehbooba was being run smoothly. He was the only Central minister who had started to appreciate the necessity of adopting the politics of compassion in Kashmir over a muscular approach this resulted in the suspension of operations," a senior PDP leader said. With his political bosses out of picture, Director-General of Police SP Vaid also hinted that the PDP was getting in the way of carrying out counterinsurgency operations in the Kashmir Valley. "The operations will continue and it will much easier to work now," he said. The home minister, despite wanting the valley rid of militants and secessionist forces, wanted to approach the problem in a different and moderate approach. "That his own government kept him in dark illustrates the kind of politics that has poisoned our country where there is no space for moderation," the PDP leader said. Under Governor's Rule, the forces are likely to be given a free hand to deal with the prevailing crisis, paving the way for more bloodshed on the streets. "I have just seen the newspaper report about Rajnathji," PDP leader Rafi Mir said, "It proves Mehboobaji's point that New Delhi wants to rule Kashmir with an iron hand and there is no space for voices of moderation and sanity." Newspapers in Jammu and Kashmir focused on Mehbooba Mufti saying she had expected the end to the BJP-PDP alliance. The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday withdrew from the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, breaking its alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party. With Mehbooba Muftis resignation as chief minister minutes after the BJP went public with its decision, speculation was rife that the state would come under Governor's Rule once again. All that speculation was on point, as President of India Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday approved bringing Jammu and Kashmir under Central rule. Not only did several leading newspapers in the Valley predict this, they also seem unsurprised by the BJP-PDP alliance ending. Mehbooba expecting the end of the alliance, the number of times Governor's Rule was imposed in the state and what finally led the BJP-PDP coalition to break were the focus of the front pages of dailies in Kashmir. Leading with the headline "BJP waves bye to PDP from New Delhi", Greater Kashmir referred to the press conference held by Ram Madhav, the BJP's national general secretary and Jammu and Kashmir in-charge, in New Delhi to announce his party's decision to snap its ties with the PDP. "The party's official line, however, revolves around the recent happenings including the noted journalist Shujaat Bukhari's assassination and also the abduction and murder of an Indian Army soldier past week, the daily wrote. Greater Kashmir also reported that the BJP had been planning the split "for quite some time, but the move concretised after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Kashmir on May 20". "The PDP actually fell out of BJP's favour after it started insisting that the ceasefire should be extended beyond Eid and a dialogue process started simultaneously with Pakistan and separatist leadership here," it quoted sources as saying, effectively confirming the trigger that most quarters suspected. The Kashmir Monitor went with a straight and blunt headline: "BJP dumps PDP". It highlighted what many would find ironic, coming from a BJP leader. "Madhav, interestingly, said the decision was made since the 'fundamental rights of citizens including right to life and free speech are in danger'". The newspaper also played up Mehbooba's telling statement that the saffron party's "muscular policy" would not work in Jammu and Kashmir. With a clever play on words, Kashmir Observer brought to focus what many believe was what finally led to the BJP-PDP breakaway. The self-explanatory headline "BJP CEASES Alliance In J&K, FIRES PDP" indicated that the Centre's decision to not extend the suspension of anti-terror operations in the state, and the PDP's evident disappointment in the decision, was the final straw that led to the fall of the government. The Kashmir Observer also published a column on the number of times Governor's Rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. "I wish she (Mehbooba) had listened to me and left with dignity instead of having the rug pulled from under her feet," former chief minister Omar Abdullah said after the BJP said it was breaking the alliance. Kashmir Reader went with his statement, leading with a headline that read: "BJP pulls the rug, Mehbooba govt falls". "It will be the fourth time that the state will be placed under Central rule during NN Vohra's tenure as governor," the newspaper wrote. It also led with Mehbooba's statement that "unilateral ceasefire" was the "bigger motive" of the alliance, and that she was not surprised by the BJP's decision soon after it ended the 'non-initiation of combat operations' in Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir Times chose to lead with Mehbooba's resignation, instead of Madhav's press conference. It wrote that both Mehbooba and Kavinder Gupta, the Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief, had responded in the negative after Vohra asked both parties whether they wished to "explore alternative alliances". "BJP divorces PDP" was Rising Kashmir's screaming headline. This newspaper, too, highlighted that the PDP had been in favour of extended the suspension of anti-terror operations, "but there were contrary statements coming from the other side". The assassination of the chief editor of Rising Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari, was one of the reasons, Madhav said, that pushed the BJP to pull out of the coalition government. He blamed the PDP for failing to improve the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, also mentioning the abduction and murder of Indian Army rifleman Aurangzeb to drive home his point. Daily Excelsior chose to lead with the reasons Madhav listed were behind the BJP's decision. "Madhav rakes up spurt in terror, radicalization, discrimination as reason". It also highlighted what many others did not, that all political parties had refused to form an alternative government. The lukewarm stories in the Kashmir newspapers and their straightforward reporting indicate that the state and its critics had expected this government to fall apart, more than the state already seemed to have in the past two years. National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Wednesday called for immediate dissolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. Srinagar: National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Wednesday called for immediate dissolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and holding of fresh elections in the state. In a surprise move, the BJP on Tuesday pulled out of the three-year-old ruling coalition with the PDP in the state that was placed under governor's rule on Wednesday morning. "The J&K state assembly should be dissolved immediately & fresh elections should take place as soon as appropriate. The former DCM has admitted that BJP can't be trusted not to horsetrade for Govt formation (sic)," Omar tweeted. The former chief minister was reacting to BJP leader and former deputy chief minister (DCM) Kavinder Gupta's reported statement that his party was "working on something". "I don't think a new government will be formed anytime soon. Uncertainties are there, but we are working on something and people will get to know about it," Gupta had reportedly said. The NC leader claimed that Gupta's statement hinted at the BJP's attempts to break other parties to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir. "What do you mean 'we are working on something'? The only 'something' would be to break other parties & make up the numbers to form a BJP Govt. Has the former DCM inadvertently spilled the beans?" Omar asked on Twitter. On a news report about Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh not being kept in the loop about the BJP's decision to pull out of the government, Omar tweeted, "If this story is true & @HMOIndia didn't know about the impending demise of the BJPDP alliance then the fact that it caught me & my colleagues by surprise is really no big deal." Tripura Assembly on Wednesday witnessed heated debate over the absence of the leader of the Opposition Manik Sarkar prompting a walkout by the entire Opposition. Agartala: Tripura Assembly on Wednesday witnessed heated debate over the absence of the leader of the Opposition Manik Sarkar prompting a walkout by the entire Opposition. Shortly after question hour, BJP legislator Dilip Das raised the issue of Sarkar's absence in the important Budget Session saying the newcomers could have learnt a lot from the former chief minister who had ruled the state for twenty years. "Unfortunately, he did not turn up to the House. He entered the Assembly after playing of the national anthem on Tuesday," he said. Veteran CPM MLA Badal Chowdhury replied, "Manik Sarkar went to Panisagar in Unakoti district where a party leader Tapas Sutradhar was brutally killed by unknown assailants on Monday night." Before Chowdhury could end his reply, BJP MLA Biswabandhu Sen said the issue had been rightly pointed out by Das. "The Opposition leader entered the House after playing of the national anthem on Wednesday. It shows his intention. Practically, the CPM is anti-national," he alleged. Chowdhury said, "you people cant wipe out CPM by branding it as anti-national. We are a political party and working for the people. Besides, the Leader of the Opposition is not bound to inform Speaker Rebati Mohan Das as he has gone there for a brief period." BJP MLA Autul Debbarma said that in the telephone directory prepared by the Assembly secretariat where names and phone numbers were given by all members expect Manik Sarkar. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath citing 'precedent of the House said he (Manik Sarkar) should inform the Speaker about his visit to Panisagar or elsewhere leading to a war of words between the two sides. Former Speaker and CPM member Ramendra Chandra Debnath said there was no such precedent. "He went to Panisagar to meet the bereaved family in the hours of crisis and the visit is short. If a legislator goes for an entire session, he or she is supposed to inform the Speaker," he said. But the debate continued and the Health Minister Sudip Roy Barman said that Manik Sarkar did not reveal his family background even if it was irrelevant here triggering anger among the opposition legislators. At 12.40 pm, angry Opposition members walked out of the House alleging that it was a deliberate attempt to attack Sarkar. Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday held a press conference in Delhi to hit out at the opposition for giving a political angle to Dalit student Rohit Vemula's death and exploiting his mother's grief for some 'very low level of politics'. Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday held a press conference in Delhi to hit out at the Opposition for giving a political angle to the death of Hyderabad Central University student Rohith Vemula and exploiting his mother's grief for some "very low level of politics". Goyal said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) condemns all such types of attempts to make a political issue out of a sad incident and that Rahul Gandhi should apologise for this. "I was anxious after reading Rohith's mother's statement. Until when will Opposition parties continue politics over it? The family is not financially stable and fake assurance of money was provided to a distressed mother for political purposes. I received information that even Congress president Rahul Gandhi took Rohith's family to various stages (at rallies) and asked them to make statements. His intention should be exposed and it should be checked whether money was offered to the family for doing so. Rahul should apologise for doing petty politics on a pillar of lies," Goyal said. However, Vemula's mother spoke to ANI and clarified that even though "it's true that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) promised to provide me with money, but they haven't used me for political gains. It was my wish to speak against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and if needed I will speak again in any of their meeting. The IUML had sent us two cheques of Rs 2.5 lakh out of which one has bounced. We informed them and they said they will directly provide us money so that we can buy a house," she said. According to a report in The Indian Express, Rohith's mother Radhika Vemula had on Monday alleged that even though the family had been promised a house by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), there was no progress on the promise. According to The News Minute's report, she said that the party took them to Kerala and made them participate in a big meeting where the party promised that it would sanction Rs 20 lakh and construct a house for the Vemulas and a site was also identified at Koppuravuru, located between Vijayawada and Guntur, to build the house but nothing happened. Radhika then slammed the IUML for using her as a political pawn. She alleged that the IUML gained good political strength because they had projected her as one of the main guests attending their meetings, The News Minute reported. In such a context, how can use they make promises and use it for political gain? she remarked. Radhika also claimed that one of the two cheques given to her by the party had bounced, forcing her to make several trips to the bank, the report states. Reacting to the report, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted, This is saddening! Politics over the dead. Installments yet to be paid. It seems while some were eyeing for gains over an unfortunate Suicide, Truth was the biggest looser! Goyal, in his press conference, spoke of these charges by Radhika and said that the Opposition's 'dirty politics' has been exposed by her. "It is deplorable action by the political parties", he said. The Indian Union Muslim League made false promises to Rohith's family so that they can address the party's rallies and then they can misrepresent the unfortunate incident. This is condemnable, Goyal said. However, according to media reports the IUML had on Tuesday termed the cheque bounce incident as a clerical mistake. IUML leader MK Muneer told ANI that the party would stick to its words. If the IUML has given its word, we will stick to it. I heard the news that a cheque of Rs 20 lakh that was given to Rohith's mother, bounced. This has not come to the notice of any of our leaders yet," Muneer said. But later on Tuesday, Radhika denied claiming that the cheque given by IUML had bounced. She instead said that the report was spreading misinformation. She was quoted by News18 as saying: No cheque bounced, it was rejected due to an error. I have no problem with them (IUML). They have given me an advance of Rs five lakh for land and promised me Rs 10 lakh more after Ramzan. I will campaign for anyone who is against the BJP. The article is spreading wrong things. But Goyal on Wednesday alleged that efforts were made to pressurise the mother to retract her statement and more money was being offered to her in lieu of it. Rohith, a Dalit student, committed suicide in January 2016 which had triggered a nationwide protest given his backward class status. However, the one-man judicial commission set up to probe the circumstances that lead to Vemula's suicide had submitted its report stating that his act was due to 'personal frustration', not discrimination. Simple things, from overzealous supporters of former Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura to his overt and covert activities, raised the suspicion of President Museveni and other generals that he could have been mobilising for the ultimate seat. Different people in both police and the army have told The Observer that the former blue-eyed boy of the president sealed his own fate. When his supporters appeared at Makindye Magistrates Court, some of them had posters reading Kale for president. That was not by mistake, said an official. Then there were powerful headlines of some people proclaiming to protect him at all costs. This gave credence to intelligence reports that were suspicious of his deeds. Gen Kale Kayihura As counter-intelligence reports flew in, The Observer learnt, the general conclusion pointed to the possibility of Kayihura mobilising for a post-Museveni era, one official said. The dossiers presented to Museveni indicated that while Kayihura projected a hardman exterior, and appeared unquestioningly loyal to the president as he cracked down on the opposition, he was quietly doing quite the opposite. Kayihura was arrested last week and locked up at Makindye military barracks. No charges have been preferred against him although New Vision, a government paper, has reported that he could be charged with the murder of former AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi. While the president was unsettled by the increasing crime in the past few months, this alone could not have led to the firing of Kayihura. He believed this crime could be sorted with Kale in charge until intelligence reports pointed to other areas, said one leader close to both Kayihura and Museveni. At one point, Kayihura had become so self-involved, he went into a full blown war with senior police officers, cutting many off from his top level meetings and critical decisions. This narrative was corroborated by two senior officials in the police force we interviewed in March. They both recounted how he had become deeply suspicious of all his senior officers. The paranoia played out publicly at Katabi in Entebbe, as the IGP met the community over the Wakiso women murders rampant in the area. This reporter looked on as Kayihuras guards seeking to relieve himself asked one of the assistant inspector generals of police present to keep an eye on Kayihuras chair. The officer refused and told the guard to carry it with him. He did. On Monday, the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) called for a judicial inquiry into the police crimes under Kayihuras leadership and other aspects including recruitments, reshuffles, and deployment. The 13 years of suffering and shooting of some people by some police officers during the regime should be investigated, said MP Semujju Nganda, FDC spokesperson. POWER & MONEY Among generals in active service, Kayihura seemed second to Museveni in terms of power, money, influence and name recognition. Kayihura once described Museveni as his hero in an interview with The Observer in 2014. He publicly professed his love for the president, beyond the mere fact that he was his boss. He [Museveni] is one of my heroes, Kayihura told Observer. Years later, the president returned the favour, referring to Kayihura as a good NRM cadre. In 2001 after the Justice Julia Sebutinde-led probe unearthed shocking dirt, underhand dealings, incompetence, and corruption within the force and recommended radical measures, Museveni swiftly appointed Gen Katumba Wamala, a distinguished officer, to lead the clean-up. Wamala came in at a particularly tricky time, when Musevenis post-revolution popularity was dwindling and the opposition, especially Musevenis former bush-war medic Dr Kizza Besigye, were gaining ground. Wamalas tenure was not one which included cracking down on regime opponents. Little wonder then that Wamalas police was starved of resources, to the extent that he turned to the public to solicit some money to purchase patrol pick-up trucks. Despite its weaknesses, the force then was still loved by the civilians. That is why they could contribute, one official told us. In 2005, Kayihura, a former military assistant to the president, emerged. He was ready to do his boss bidding, particularly to clampdown on resentment from the public. From Mbale to Masaka to Kampala, the force became ruthless, reports of people shot and killed during protests were rife. This ruthlessness ensured resources flew in Kayihuras direction with the forces budget growing to Shs 580 billion last year. This money did not necessarily improve the welfare of the individual officers, said another official on Sunday. On top of money, Kayihura gained trust and freedom to do whatever he needed. He recruited with abandon, bringing the men and women under arms from 10,000 to about 50,000 in the police force. And he would move these men and huge military style equipment at will in the name of cracking down on opposition functionarieswithout notifying the principal (Museveni). The same wouldnt be said of the armys Chief of Defence Forces. Kayihura recruited at will. Total loyalty to the IGP and ability to carry out his will came first. That is how it is believed known criminals infiltrated the forces rank and file. Museveni referred to that infiltration at the vigil held for AIGP Felix Kaweesi. The Uganda Police Act says the inspector general may, on the advice of the police council and in consultation with the minister, make standing orders in respect of the force regarding, among other things the constitution, organisation, structure, ranks, responsibilities and command in the force. This also includes the enlistment, training, and promotions. It is alleged that Kayihura rarely consulted. He concentrated power into his hands. Through his so-called crime preventers, he built a political force. Police funds bought food for ordinary folks wherever Kayihura would be visiting. The man was on the way to becoming an accomplished populist. New laws, including the Public Order Management Act (POMA) 2013 gave him more powers. This law meant that no political player apart from the president could hold a rally without Kayihuras say so He kept his officers constantly unsettled; announcing weekly reshuffles without notifying anyone else. He recruited thugs into thug formations like the notorious Kiboko Squad to crush opposition dissent. Prostitutes, boda boda riders and hawkers also became part of his growing army. You could not believe that someone would be innocently selling second-hand necklaces and shavers but when he is an informant and part of the Kayihura gang, said one police officer. These people were paid using police money. Then, when they got confident enough they started running protection rackets of their own and started earning their own money allegedly passing part of it up the ladder. It is alleged that Boda Boda 2010, an organisation that was led by Kayihuras functionary, the notorious Abdallah Kitatta, collected more than Shs 1 billion a year. Kitattas gang abused police influence to arrest and torture riders and other civilians who failed to pay monthly dues to the association. In January 2018, Julius Odwe, the former deputy inspector general of police, told The Observer that many of these criminals masqueraded as police officers, causing mayhem in the public. In the run-up to 2016 general election, Kayihura spear-headed the training of what he said were 11 million crime preventers to fight crime. Yet as intelligence reports showed, this was not just about fighting crime but also allegedly the former police boss way of consolidating power. The resources available to him created an impression that if not nipped in the bud, the president was risking tackling him too little too late. Col Fred Bogere, a bush war historical, told The Observer yesterday that while the army chief can move troops depending on how many and the distance they are travelling, it is not very often unless there is war. This is different from police, which is an active force. He said it is important to move forces and do reshuffle more often and the IGP may consult others. Bogere said that, however, Kayihura over did it and it could have partly contributed to the insecurity in the country. Just when an officer is starting to get used to the new place, getting vital contacts, they are moved, Bogere said. Discounting the serious allegations being made about the former police chief, Col Bogere said Kayihuras problem was neglect of duty. He said that he ought to have made sure the ills that happened under his watch were not done, like the illegal repatriation of South Sudan and Rwanda political asylum seekers and refugees. Bogere said Kayihura should have been made to stay at home. He is a cadre and not capable of destroying the president. Remember when [Brig Noble] Mayombo died, Museveni said NRM had only two cadres that one had died and Kayihura was the only remaining. SUCCESSION DEBATE Others, however, look into the post-Museveni era to try to understand how and why this second cadre unravelled so spectacularly. There is quiet consensus that Museveni, who has been in power for 33 years, will not be here forever. So, whoever plays their cards well could succeed him especially now that there is no clear and public transition plan. The trick, we have been told, is to appear to work for the principal but also assert oneself. Kayihura told reporters in December at Katabi in Entebbe that he had personally ordered the special forces attack on Parliament in the run-up to the chaotic sessions, which saw the removal of Article 102 (b) that capped the presidential age to 75 from the constitution. He had to look tough and extra loyal at that time, said one official, especially after reports linked him to wanting the presidency. As violent crime, including murders of high profile increased, the President started to speak uneasily about Kayihura. Suddenly, Kayihura also spoke publicly that even if he was fired, it would not end crime and the spate of killings that were happening in the country. Even if you fire me, as long as you dont address the root causes of crime, it will not end, he told a gathering in Kampala last year. At the start of March, the inevitable happened and Kayihura was fired completing his breath-taking fall from the pinnacle of power. The Bharatiya Janata Party pulling out of its partnership with the Peoples Democratic Party in Kashmir is just the latest example of the troubles within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulling out of its partnership with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir is just the latest example of the troubles within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). From Jammu and Kashmir to Maharashtra, and from Andhra Pradesh to Bihar, the saffron party has had multiple showdowns with its many political allies. Indeed, BJP president Amit Shah has been on a mission to reach out to allies who have been critical or expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which the government has functioned. To try and strengthen the party's position ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shah met Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on 6 June purportedly to mollify the latter and convince him to support the BJP in the future. The Sena has been one of the BJP's oldest allies, but the two have clashed repeatedly over the past few years and have been described as "uneasy allies". The latest flashpoint occurred in May over the contentious Nanar refinery project, a 15,000-acre undertaking planned in Nanar village of Ratnagiri district in coastal Konkan region, around 350 kilometres from Mumbai. A miffed Shiv Sena repeatedly hit out at the BJP for what it called a high-handed attitude of the NDA towards its smaller allies. The relationship had deteriorated to the point where the Sena described it as "post-divorce" in a recent editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana. "Though the state government is running on Sena's support, it is living a post-divorce life. The Maharashtra government is one of the best examples of how to be together, clearly under coercion, and maintain the 'alliance' even when there is no correspondence with each other," it said. Party leader Sanjay Raut, who pens the editorials, likened the project to the Ram Temple being destroyed in Ayodhya and a temple of Ravana being erected in its place. Raut also accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of reneging on his promise that the Nanar project would not continue if locals were opposed to it. "Gujaratis and Marwaris are buying up land in and around Nanar," he said, adding, "The dust of confusion is everywhere in the state. The government has lost itself in the dust." In November, ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections, the Sena had snubbed the BJP by declaring they would contest between 50 and 60 seats on their own. Andhra Pradesh: Telugu Desam Party In March, Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu quit the Union Cabinet and put the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance on notice. The TDP also withdrew two ministers from the Cabinet after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rejected the 'special status' category for Andhra Pradesh. Naidu, addressing a press conference in the aftermath of Jaitley's declaration, said he was hurt by the declaration, and said the Centre's unilateral approach made this decision "inevitable". "We have decided to pull out of the Union government because the Centre has failed to meet the demands of the TDP on special status for Andhra Pradesh which was promised at the time of bifurcation, and other demands relating to state's finances," Naidu had told the media after holding consultations with party colleagues. However, one can argue that the saffron party ought to have seen it coming. In January, Naidu had said, "We are pursuing friendly relations with the BJP due to the coalition dharma, but if they don't want an alliance, we are ready to chart our own course." Bihar: Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party, Rashtirya Lok Samata Party According to a report in Livemint, there seem to be signs of a crisis brewing in Bihar as well, with most of the BJP allies led by Janata Dal (United) joining hands against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to demand a greater share of seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. "Nitish Kumar had reached out to Union minister Upendra Kushwaha a few days ago and the two leaders had a detailed conversation about the functioning of the NDA and how the BJP is not giving importance to its allies in Bihar," said a senior Patna-based JD(U) leader on condition of anonymity, according to the report. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar parting ways with the Mahagathbandhan and returning to the NDA fold seems to have made the BJP's smaller partners nervous. According to a report in Hindustan Times, Hindustani Awami Morcha-Secular (HAM-S) president Jitan Ram Manjhi cut ties with NDA and joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led alliance in Bihar. The Manjhi-led party had demanded that the NDA give one seat to its candidate out of the six Rajya Sabha seats during the Bihar elections. After Manjhi's exit from the NDA, Rashtirya Lok Samata Party national general secretary Abhyanand Suman warned the BJP that smaller parties had concerns about their fate in the coalition, according to a report in News18. "The onus of accommodating and listening our demands is now on the BJP and not the JD(U). Nitish Kumar is a late entrant. When he left the BJP in 2013, we continued our support to them. The BJP leadership must understand this, he said. With inputs from agencies Follow all updates from Jammu and Kashmir here The RK Nagar bypoll was fraught with allegations of impropriety, and TTV Dhinakaran and the Opposition camps were all accusing each other of bribing voters. The Madras High Court has held that TTV Dhinakran's victory in the RK Nagar Assembly byelection held last year was legal and that no evidence of malpractices or bribery was detected. The verdict comes as a big breather for Dhinakaran, less than a week after the high court had returned a split verdict regarding the disqualification of 18 MLAs who owe him allegiance. It's also a critical verdict because the RK Nagar bypoll was fraught with allegations of impropriety, and Opposition camps were accusing each other of bribing voters. In fact, Election Commission had even cancelled the polling once after saying there was evidence pointing towards large-scale bribery at play. The high court's Wednesday verdict clearing Dhinakaran's name and holding that his victory was clean would refute several of these charges. Dhinakaran, the nephew of VK Sasikala, a close aide of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, is the lone Independent MLA in the 234-member House. He was expelled from the party by chief minister K Palaniswami, following which 18 MLAs who owe their allegiance to him also quit the party. The high court's verdict, in that case, will pave the way for a decision on whether there would be further byelections to these seats or not. Allegations of bribery and poll rigging, however, are unlikely to disappear. Even after Dhinakaran had secured victory, he is unable to stop the flow of allegations from his many rivals in Tamil Nadu's congested political scene. Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan too has spoken out against Dhinakaran, saying money power was behind the victory. "RK Nagar bypoll is a big stain on Tamil Nadu politics; it is a big stain on Indian democracy. I won't call this purchased win even a scam.... this is a daylight crime," Haasan had alleged earlier this year. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday took a fresh swipe at ally BJP, saying it came to power at the Centre by 'spreading lies'. Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday took a fresh swipe at ally BJP, saying it came to power at the Centre by "spreading lies". Addressing Sena workers at the 52nd foundation day of the party in suburban Goregaon, Thackeray said the BJP spread "lies" ahead of the 2014 general elections and made false promises to people to win the mandate. Shiv Sena runs the government in Maharashtra in alliance with the BJP, but their ties have remain fraught. They recently fought bypolls in Maharashtra separately. Mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his foreign tours, Thackeray said, "Modi will soon start tours to other planets." He also hit out at the BJP's decision to withdraw support to the PDP-led government in Jammu and Kashmir. "Did you need three years and the sacrifice of 600 jawans to realise that this government was useless?" Thackeray said, questioning the decision to announce ceasefire during Ramzan. If terrorism had nothing to do with religion, why such ceasefire was announced, he asked. "Does Pakistan follow a similar policy during Ganpati festival or Dussera?" the Sena chief asked. Commenting further on the BJP's break-up with the PDP, he said: "When a similar divorce took place with us (ahead of the 2014 assembly polls in Maharashtra), you did not take so much time." Sena and BJP fought the assembly elections separately, but formed alliance after the results were declared. "We never gave up on our Hindutva ideology. If we lose power, we will regain it. But will never back down on Hindutva. "The government with which you broke up today had not announced the ceasefire. It was announced by the Centre," he said. Referring to the solider who was abducted and killed by terrorists, he said: "Aurangzeb was going home for Eid, but was killed by terrorists. And you announce ceasefire for such people (terrorists)." "You have broken up with PDP, now you can crush Pakistan. We will hail you (if you manage to do it)," he said. "I have reiterated several times that we are not in favour of cow slaughter. But our Hindutva is not restricted to saving cows. Aurangzeb may be a Muslim but he accepted death instead of surrendering to terrorists. To offer him tributes is (also) part of my Hindutva," Thackeray said. The Sena chief also opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of the Centre. Earlier in the day, his party supported the Asom Gana Parishad's stand on the issue. "If the BJP is pushing for this bill, Shiv Sena MPs will oppose it. Why should we add more issues to worry about when we already have many. Why can't similar bill be presented for Kashmir?" he said. The Sena chief averred that the next chief minister of Maharashtra would be from his party. "General elections may be held in December, hence the monsoon session of Maharashtra legislature is being held in Nagpur (instead of Mumbai, as is the custom). If there are some schemes for Vidarbha, then Shiv Sena will support it," he said. Thackeray also slammed NCP chief Sharad Pawar, saying he was dividing Marathi people. Pawar recently stirred up controversy at a function when he said his party should prefer the 'Paagote' such as the one used by social reformer Jyotirao Phule, and not the 'Puneri Pagdi' associated with Brahmin scholars. "Wearing a pagdi does not make you Lokmanya (Tilak) or Phule... You have aversion to Tilak's pagdi but you wear a special fur cap for iftar," Thackeray said. tech2 News Staff It has been known for some time that Apple has plans to add three new iPhones to its 2018 lineup. As has been reported earlier, out of the three, two will have OLED screens while the third one will have a 6.1-inch LCD panel. Now a new report has indicated on exactly how many iPhones Apple is looking to order this year. As per Korean website, Thebell, Apple might require 45 million shipments of the larger 6.5-inch OLED iPhone and 25 million shipments for the smaller 5.84-inch OLED iPhone. The expected shipment for the cheaper 6.1-inch LCD iPhone could hit 30 million shipments, as per the report. Last it was reported that Apple's sales might rely more on the LCD iPhone as compared to the OLED iPhones. This could have been because Apple had to reportedly tell Samsung on cutting down manufacturing OLED panels as the iPhone X sales failed to match the required expectations. The ginormous price tag of the device might have played a big hand in this. However, as per the report, Apple has held off on ordering a lot of LCD panels as reports have indicated a growing interest towards the flagship 6.5-inch OLED iPhone. If these reports prove to be false and sales start dwindling, Japan Display, from whom Apple is getting the LCD panels, will ramp up productions to meet the demand. We recommend you take this information with a pinch of salt as the source may not be a reliable one. However, we shall keep you apprised of the latest news as it comes. Reuters A sophisticated hacking campaign launched from computers in China burrowed deeply into satellite operators, defence contractors and telecommunications companies in the United States and southeast Asia, security researchers at Symantec Corp said on Tuesday. Symantec said the effort appeared to be driven by national espionage goals, such as the interception of military and civilian communications. Such interception capabilities are rare but not unheard of, and the researchers could not say what communications, if any, were taken. More disturbingly, in this case, the hackers infected computers that controlled the satellites, so that they could have changed the positions of the orbiting devices and disrupted data traffic, Symantec said. Disruption to satellites could leave civilian as well as military installations subject to huge (real world) disruptions, said Vikram Thakur, technical director at Symantec. We are extremely dependent on their functionality. Satellites are critical to phone and some internet links as well as mapping and positioning data. Symantec, based in Mountain View, California, described its findings to Reuters exclusively ahead of a planned public release. It said the hackers had been removed from infected systems. Symantec said it has already shared technical information about the hack with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security, along with public defence agencies in Asia and other security companies. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment. Thakur said Symantec detected the misuse of common software tools at client sites in January, leading to the campaigns discovery at unnamed targets. He attributed the effort to a group that Symantec calls Thrip, which may be called different names by other companies. Thrip was active from 2013 on and then vanished from the radar for about a year until the last campaign started a year ago. In that period, it developed new tools and began using more widely available administrative and criminal programs, Thakur said. Other security analysts have also recently tied sophisticated attacks to Chinese groups that had been out of sight for awhile, and there could be overlap. FireEye Inc in March said that a group it called Temp.Periscope reappeared last summer and went after defence companies and shippers. FireEye had no immediate comment on the new episode. It was unclear how Thrip gained entry to the latest systems. In the past, it depended on trick emails that had infected attachments or led recipients to malicious links. This time, it did not infect most user computers, instead of moving among servers, making detection harder. Following its customary stance, Symantec did not directly blame the Chinese government for the hack. It said the hackers launched their campaign from three computers on the mainland. In theory, those machines could have been compromised by someone elsewhere. Symantec provides the most widely used paid security software for consumers and an array of higher-end software and services for companies and public agencies. tech2 News Staff Microsoft in a statement on 18 June, said that they were dismayed by the forcible separation of children from their families at the border. The company also denied working on any project with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency causing the separation. However, according to a report by The New York Times, more than 100 people of the companys staff have signed an open letter to CEO Satya Nadella, requesting the company to stop working with ICE. Caroline O'Donovan, a BuzzFeed reporter, tweeted an image of the letter, demanding the company to "cancel its contracts" with ICE, as well as those with clients who support the law enforcement agency's work. Click here to download the full letter. Here's the text of the letter Microsoft employees sent Satya Nadella regarding the ICE contract, which @sheeraf reports over 100 people have signed https://t.co/ltLaIiyvJh pic.twitter.com/FmppcYD6OI Caroline O'Donovan (@ceodonovan) June 19, 2018 Further, the letter read that, "We believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits." According to the letter, ICE has a $19.4 million contract with Microsoft to use its cloud computing service Azure, for data processing and machine learning. However, the company already reiterated it was not working with ICE, but letter speaks differently. The employees want all the deals canceled, because, nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents, according to the Department of Homeland Security. On 19 June, Apple CEO Tim Cook too criticized the Trump administration for separating families, and called the action inhumane and heartbreaking. tech2 News Staff President Donald Trump's policy of separating children from their parents who are arrested at the border has received, understandably a lot of hate and negative attention. According to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border in April and May. A lot of prominent CEO's like Satya Nadella, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg and others have raised their voices pressurising the US government to put an end to Trump's border separation policy. Microsofts CEO Satya Nadella received a lot of flak over the company's contract with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which is the agency that's behind the forced separation of children from their parents. "Microsoft is not working with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or US Customs and Border Protection on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border," stated Microsoft on 18 June. Later a report in The New York Times stated that the company's staff had signed an open letter to CEO Satya Nadella, asking the company to end its operations with ICE. On 19 June, Apple's CEO, Tim Cook called the policy 'inhumane and heartbreaking'. He even criticised the Trump government for even executing such an action. According to a report in the Irish Times, Cook said that it was heartbreaking to see the images and hear the sounds of these kids and that this needs to stop. He also said that he, "always felt everyone should be treated with dignity and respect and that In this case, thats not happening. A lot of other CEO's took to social media platforms, like Mark Zuckerberg who, in a Facebook post said, "We need to stop this policy right now." Other tech company CEO's took to Twitter, with Twitter's CEO, Jack Dorsey tweeting, followed by Google's CEO Sundar Pichai, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Lyft CEO John Zimmer and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman. Do everything it takes to #KeepFamilesTogether. What are the highest impact ways to help? jack (@jack) June 19, 2018 The stories and images of families being separated at the border are gut-wrenching. Urging our government to work together to find a better, more humane way that is reflective of our values as a nation. #keepfamiliestogether Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) June 19, 2018 Regardless of your politics, it's heartbreaking to see what's happening to families at the border. Here are some ways you can help: https://t.co/IFVG6g8AKO Susan Wojcicki (@SusanWojcicki) June 19, 2018 As a father, a citizen and an immigrant myself, the stories coming from our border break my heart. Families are the backbone of society. A policy that pulls them apart rather than building them up is immoral and just plain wrong. #KeepFamiliesTogether https://t.co/g2Cu40zvcX dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) June 19, 2018 But unapologetically the US President feels otherwise If you dont have Borders, you dont have a Country! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2018 Also, it was reported that on 19 June the US government left the United Nations Human Rights Council. tech2 News Staff Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized the Trump administrations policy that is separating children from their parents at the United States-Mexico border. He has called the action inhumane and heartbreaking. Tim Cook in Dublin on 19 June, according to a report by The Irish Times said that the company plans to work with people in the US government to have a constructive voice on this issue. Microsoft too, in a statement on 18 June, said that they were dismayed by the forcible separation of children from their families at the border. The company also denied working on any project with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency causing the separation. Its heartbreaking to see the images and hear the sounds of the kids. Kids are the most vulnerable people in any society. I think that whats happening is inhumane. It needs to stop, Cook told The Irish Times. He also said that, the company had always felt everyone should be treated with dignity and respect and that In this case, thats not happening. From April through May, nearly 2,000 children were separated from their parents, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Cook has, in the past spoken to Trump on a number of issues, like the decision to pull out of the Paris climate record. Reuters The United States wants to send robotic explorers to the moon as soon as next year as a preparatory step toward sending astronauts there for the first time since 1972, a NASA official said 18 June. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is planning a series of lunar missions beginning next year aimed at developing the capacity for a return to the moon, said Cheryl Warner, a spokeswoman for NASAs Human Exploration Directorate. NASA will work with private companies, which have not yet been chosen, on the missions, Warner said in a phone interview. US president Donald Trump in December signed a directive that he said would enable astronauts to return to the moon and eventually lead a mission to Mars. Last month he ordered the government to review regulations on commercial space flights. Americans first landed on the moon in 1969, reaching a goal set by former president John F. Kennedy in 1961 and capping a decade-long space race between Washington and Moscow. Since then, US efforts to explore beyond the Earths orbit have largely focused on remote spacecraft that do not have human crew members, though American presidents have repeatedly raised the idea of sending human explorers back to the moon or further. President George W. Bush in 2004 said humans would return to the moon by 2020. His successor, president Barack Obama, said in 2016 the United States would send humans to Mars by the 2030s. Agence France-Presse Russia on Wednesday expressed alarm over US president Donald Trump's call for the United States to dominate space exploration and his plan to create a separate branch of the military called a Space Force. Russian foreign ministry Maria Zakharova said at a briefing that Russia "noted the US president's instructions... to separate space forces from the air force," saying "the most alarming thing about this news is the aim of his instructions, namely to ensure (US) domination in space." Trump on Monday said at a speech in the White House that "America will always be the first in space" and "we don't want China and Russia and other countries leading us." He also called for the Pentagon to create a new "Space Force" that would become the sixth branch of the American military, although this requires Congressional approval to take effect. Zakharova warned that the US is "nurturing plans to bring out weapons into space with the aim of possibly staging military action there." "This is not based on guesswork, this is understanding the realities," she insisted. US military build-up in space "especially after the appearance of weapons there, would have a destabilising effect on strategic stability and international security," Zakharova warned. Russia takes a "diametrically opposite position" that space must be used for "peaceful aims," she said. While Russia has a branch of the military called "space forces," their activities are "purely defensive," she stressed. Space research is one of the few areas where Russia and the US continue international cooperation. Both NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are crew members on the International Space Station and the orbiting laboratory is reliant on space launches from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome. It is about 36 years since the mining of copper at Kilembe Mines in Kasese district ended. But up to now residents still suffer the consequences of pollution. A recently released research shows that high levels of metal concentrates including copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc and arsenic remain present in agricultural soils and public water sources. Researchers from Makerere University believe that the minerals are causing danger not only to the community but livestock and environment. Diseases like cancer and ulcers in the area are attributed to the pollution that was caused by the mining. Dr Abraham Mwesigye, an environmental toxicologist at the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, found that the mining in western Uganda from 1956 to 1982 left over 15 mountains of waste containing cupriferous and cobaltiferous pyrite dumped within a mountain river valley. According to the researcher, the waste water was not treated to remove heavy metal, thus exposing the environment to contamination. Untreated water has found itself into water bodies like Lake George and River Nyamwamba, the main water sources in Kasese and areas around Mpondwe. Mwesigye released his damning report on June 7 and explained that samples collected from soil, water, foods, forage, sediments and toe nails from local volunteers were analysed at the school of biosciences, Nottingham University, UK. They found high levels of copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc, arsenic and lead in the soils, water sources, house dust and river sediments. Beans, yams, cassava, sweet potatoes, maize, ground nuts, bananas and amaranthus vegetables appeared to be accumulating the metals beyond acceptable thresholds for human consumption. The report further indicates the source of contamination as mine tailings and underground mine water. Aluminum, copper and iron were more abundant in public water sources, he said. The food crops and forage grown in these areas contains significantly higher concentrations of copper, cobalt, zinc, possibly taken up during growth and accumulated in the foods, which could lead to consumption of the same elements by local people, he said. We [carried out] tests on human nails from Kilembe area and it confirmed that children ignorantly play in dangerous areas that expose them more than adults to the mine metals, especially copper, cobalt and nickel. Effects on man The consumption of food contaminated with metals can cause cancer, gastro-intestinal complications, a decrease of immunological defenses, physical and mental disabilities and retardation. The large amounts of soil metals could affect soil productivity. Drinking water is contaminated mainly with cobalt, iron, aluminum and manganese, which exposes the people to heavy metal poisoning. The dust in peoples homes and public buildings especially along the River Nyamwamba valley and downhill of tailing sites could be inhaled or accidentally ingested. With forage containing large amounts of copper and zinc, these elements could affect animal health and the quality of milk and beef produced in the Kilembe area. What to do Mwesigye suggested that there should be enforcement of proper waste storage and disposal protocols, and the local people living in contaminated environments should be sensitised about the dangers, so that they make informed decisions. Also, there is need for construction of containment all around Kilembe tailing sites and land filling to safeguard the soil. There is urgent need to treat Kilembe mine underground water before it is discharged into River Nyamwamba; need for remediation activities for soils along River Nyamwamba, he added. Blue fish In October 22, 2008, The Observer carried a story about Lake Georges strange greenish-blue fish. Fishermen at one of the landing sites discovered a strange blue fish, which was suspected to have absorbed excess copper. However, the local authority then responded that there was no research done to prove this claim, noting that the abnormality may have another cause, such as disease. The then General Manager of Kilembe Mines, Fred Kyakonye Weraga, said that the coloured water discharged from the mines into the lake is green algae, which results from excess mineral nutrients in the water, a phenomenon known as eutrophication. This phenomenon is also known to be damaging to the sustainability of the fisheries sector. Weraga claimed that copper, being a sulfide does not dissolve in water. He admitted that Kilembe Mines has not done anything to stop solid waste which was extracted from the copper tunnels, being dumped along the nearby valley. With many homes having been built using sand from the contaminated River Nyamwambaa, there is urgent need for the environment stakeholders to plan and implement mitigation programmes. The option of resettling people living in contaminated areas could also be explored. alfredodcho@gmail.com The Associated Press The US federal government is considering another attempt to drop legal protections for gray wolves across the lower 48 states, reopening a lengthy battle over the predator species. The US Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday told The Associated Press it has begun a science-based review of the status of the wolf, which presently is covered by the Endangered Species Act in most of the nation and cannot be killed unless threatening human life. If the agency decides to begin the process of removing of the wolf from the endangered species list, it will publish a proposal by the end of the year. "Any proposal will follow a robust, transparent and open public process that will provide opportunity for public comment," the service said in a statement to the AP. The government first proposed revoking the wolf's protected status in 2013, but backed off after federal courts struck down its plan for "delisting" the species in the western Great Lakes region. Long despised by farmers and ranchers, wolves were shot, trapped and poisoned out of existence in most of the US by the mid-20th century. Since securing protection in the 1970s, they have bounced back in parts of the country. They total about 3,800 in the western Great Lakes states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Other established populations are in the Northern Rockies, where they are no longer listed as endangered, and the Pacific Northwest. Federal regulators contend they've recovered sufficiently for their designation as endangered to be removed and management responsibilities handed over to the states. Environmental groups say it's too early for that, as wolves still haven't returned to most of their historical range. "Time and again the courts have told the service that wolves need further recovery before their protections can be removed," said Collette Adkins, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "But the agency is dead set on appeasing special interests who want to kill these amazing animals." Members of Congress have tried numerous times to strip wolves of legal protection. Another bill to do so is pending in the US House. Some of the Indians detained in the US under Trump's immigration policy identified themselves as Sikhs and Christians fleeing persecution by the Hindu majority in India. Under the Donald Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy, 52 Indians have been detained in the United States. According to the Hindustan Times, the Indians are being held in a federal detention centre in Oregon, Washington, where they were transferred as part of a larger group of 123 people held for allegedly crossing into the US illegally through the Mexico border weeks ago. According to a local news daily The Oregonian, four members of Oregon's congressional delegation all Democrats visited the detention facility. Some of the Indians identified themselves as Sikhs and Christians who claimed they were fleeing persecution by the Hindu majority in India. The migrants told the Oregon politicians that they are kept locked up for 22 to 23 hours a day, three in a cell, and it has been difficult for them to talk to a lawyer. Those with families said they had no idea where their wives or children were, and they fear they will be deported and separated from them forever. The new policy of the Trump administration, which came into effect in May, sought to maximise federal prosecutions of migrants caught trying to enter the US illegally. As a result, a higher number of adults are being put behind bars and their children are being separated from them. The Trump administration insists that the family separations are required under the law. The US president called for arresting anyone who comes into the country illegally. "If you don't have borders, you don't have a country!... Be smart America," he said. Since Attorney-General Jeff Sessions announced the policy in May, nearly 2,000 children have been taken away from their parents. Church groups and human rights advocates have sharply criticised the policy, calling it inhumane. At least 30 soldiers were killed when Taliban fighters targeted two checkpoints in western Badghis province in Afghanistan on Wednesday. At least 30 soldiers were killed when Taliban fighters targeted two checkpoints in western Badghis province in Afghanistan on Wednesday, according to officials. Abdul Aziz Beg, head of the provincial council in Badghis, said Taliban fighters first attacked the checkpoints and then ambushed arriving reinforcements in Bala Murghab district. He said the attack started Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday morning. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban are active in Badghis and have repeatedly claimed attacks against Afghan security forces there. The Taliban had observed a ceasefire over the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday last weekend but rejected the government's request for an extension. Large numbers of Taliban came from several directions, Beg said. After hours of heavy fighting 30 Afghan security forces were killed and the Taliban captured the base. Fifteen Taliban were killed in other areas of the province overnight, he said, adding that the militants prepared their attacks and did reconnaissance of the area during their ceasefire. Naqibullah Amini, spokesman for the Badghis police, confirmed the death of 30 soldiers and said the Taliban killed four soldiers in separate attacks on security checkpoints in the same district. The Taliban are fighting to oust US-led NATO forces combined and defeat Ashraf Ghanis US-backed government to restore sharia, or Islamic law, after their ouster by US-led forces in 2001. This was the Taliban's first ceasefire since then. Earlier in February, Ghani offered the militants peace talks "without preconditions" and recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group if they respected the rule of law. With inputs from agencies By Elizabeth Piper and William James LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May faces a showdown with rebels in her Conservative party on Wednesday after refusing to accept demands for parliament to have a 'meaningful vote' on Brexit that could stop Britain crashing out of the European Union with no deal. She will ask the lower House of Commons to pass her Brexit blueprint, or EU withdrawal bill By Elizabeth Piper and William James LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May faces a showdown with rebels in her Conservative party on Wednesday after refusing to accept demands for parliament to have a "meaningful vote" on Brexit that could stop Britain crashing out of the European Union with no deal. She will ask the lower House of Commons to pass her Brexit blueprint, or EU withdrawal bill. This legislation will prepare Britain for a divorce next March that will end its more than four-decade-old trading and political partnership with the rest of Europe. May, who leads a minority government, won a similar vote last week in the lower house but only after offering to reach a compromise with the rebels which subsequently fell through. The upper chamber, the House of Lords, then backed an amendment to the law on Monday that would give parliament a bigger say. She risks defeat if just a handful of Conservatives vote against her proposal -- to offer parliament a statement setting out what she will do if she fails to negotiate an agreement with the EU, or if lawmakers reject any deal she returns with from Brussels. Some lawmakers say May's proposal would not give parliament any control. They will back a competing amendment by pro-EU Conservative Dominic Grieve which he says will steer Britain away from the "extraordinary crisis" of leaving without a deal. The main opposition Labour Party has called on lawmakers to vote against the government and support Grieve's proposal. "This is the last chance for parliament to secure a meaningful vote and protect jobs and the economy from a no deal Brexit," said Keir Starmer, Labour's Brexit policy chief. "This vote is not about stopping Brexit or tying the hands of UK negotiators. It is about making sure parliament has a truly meaningful say on the terms of the final Brexit deal." The vote is a taste of what is to come for May. She needs to drive several bills through parliament preparing Britain for life outside the bloc. Some lawmakers want to keep the closest possible ties to the EU and will try in the coming months to flex their muscles on other issues, such as future trade arrangements. After losing her majority in an ill-judged election last year, May has struggled to get laws through parliament, often preferring to delay votes to avoid the risk of defeat. On Tuesday, Grieve said he did not "want to collapse the government at all". But his stance on the meaningful vote has garnered support from other Conservative lawmakers and will test May's authority. May's spokesman said she would not back down, and that the prime minister hoped lawmakers would support her proposal. Andrew Bridgen, a pro-Brexit Conservative, said it was time to have what he called "a fight we've got to have". But some of the rebels said they were determined to vote against their government. "Parliament must have a meaningful vote in the event of a no deal Brexit," pro-EU Conservative lawmaker Heidi Allen said on Twitter. "Parliament wants it, our economy needs it and my constituents have asked for it. I will represent them." (editing by David Stamp) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Canadas Senate gave final passage on Tuesday to the federal governments bill to legalize cannabis, though Canadians will have to wait at least a couple of months to legally buy marijuana as their country becomes the second in the world to make pot legal nationwide. Toronto: Canadas Senate gave final passage on Tuesday to the federal governments bill to legalize cannabis, though Canadians will have to wait at least a couple of months to legally buy marijuana as their country becomes the second in the world to make pot legal nationwide. Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government had hoped to make pot legal by 1 July, but the government has said provincial and territorial governments will need eight to 12 weeks following Senate passage and royal assent to prepare for retail sales. Trudeaus government is expected to decide a date that would legalize it in early or mid-September. Its been too easy for our kids to get marijuana and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate, Trudeau tweeted. Canada is following the lead of Uruguay in allowing a nationwide, legal marijuana market, although each Canadian province is working up its own rules for pot sales. The federal government and the provinces also still need to publish regulations that will govern the cannabis trade. The bill passed in the Senate by a vote of 52-29. We have seen in the Senate tonight a historic vote that ends 90 years of prohibition of cannabis in this country, 90 years of needless criminalization, 90 years of a just-say-no approach to drugs that hasnt worked, said independent Sen. Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the upper house. Canada is the largest developed country to end a nationwide prohibition on marijuana use. In the neighboring US, nine states and the District of Columbia have legalised marijuana. California, home to one in eight Americans, launched the United States biggest legal marijuana marketplace on Jan. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould tweeted that it was a historic milestone for progressive policy in Canada as we shift our approach to cannabis. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor tweeted she was thrilled that the Senate approved the bill. Were on the cusp of a sensible, responsible and equitable cannabis policy, she said. The Canadian government largely followed the advice of a marijuana task force headed by former Liberal Health Minister Anne McLellan as well as the advice of former Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, who is the parliamentary secretary to the justice minister. The task force recommended adults be allowed to carry up to 30 grams of pot and grow up to four plants. It also said marijuana should not be sold in the same location as alcohol or tobacco. The most controversial aspect of Canadas move to legalize marijuana nationwide has been setting the minimum age for use at 18 or 19, depending on the province. That is lower than in US states that have embraced legalization. Advocates argued that putting the limit at 21 would encourage a black market and drive youths into the hands of criminals. But some health experts have worried that the lower age will encourage use of a substance that can have long-term consequences on still-maturing brains. Conservative senators remained staunchly opposed to legalization. Were going to have all those involved in illegal marijuana peddling right now becoming large corporation, Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos said. When you normalize the use of marijuana and youre a young person and you had certain reservations because of the simple fact that it was illegal, theres, I believe, a propensity to have somebody be more inclined to use it. President Donald Trump today came face to face with furious Democratic lawmakers who launched a loud and very rare US Capitol protest of the American leader over his controversial immigration policies. Washington: President Donald Trump today came face to face with furious Democratic lawmakers who launched a loud and very rare US Capitol protest of the American leader over his controversial immigration policies. After huddling for 45 minutes with fellow Republicans to discuss immigration, Trump exited a meeting room only to be shouted at by a handful of House Democrats angry over the thousands of children who have been separated from their parents as they cross into the country. "Quit separating the kids, they're separating the children!" congressman Juan Vargas, a Democrat from southern California, yelled to Trump, as he helps up a sign that read "Families belong together." "Mr. President, don't you have kids? Don't you have kids Mr. President?" Vargas continued, as Trump waved and made his exit along with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. "How would you like it if they separated your kids?" Another lawmaker shouted: "We won't go away!" US lawmakers are known to occasionally express disapproval or frustration to a commander in chief especially behind closed doors when he comes to Capitol Hill. But it is highly unusual that opposition lawmakers will stage such a dramatic, loud and public protest just feet from the president in the halls of the historic US Capitol. Passions have been running high in recent days, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers, faith leaders, former first ladies and others up in arms over the family separations at the US-Mexico border. The Trump administration has defended the policy of mandatory arrests of all people crossing the border illegally, which prompts separation of children from their parents as their case awaits adjudication. Even with fellow Republicans demanding the separations be stopped, Trump doubled down on the policy early Tuesday, saying: "When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away." By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Europe should stop exploiting Africa and invest in ways that benefit the continent more, including by sharing mineral wealth more equitably, Pope Francis said. 'We must invest in Africa, but invest in an orderly way and create employment, not go there to exploit it,' he told Reuters in a wide-ranging interview, while discussing the migration of Africans to Europe By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Europe should stop exploiting Africa and invest in ways that benefit the continent more, including by sharing mineral wealth more equitably, Pope Francis said. "We must invest in Africa, but invest in an orderly way and create employment, not go there to exploit it," he told Reuters in a wide-ranging interview, while discussing the migration of Africans to Europe. "When a country grants independence to an African country it is from the ground up - but the subsoil is not independent. And then people (outside Africa) complain about hungry Africans coming here. There are injustices there!" Touching on the reasons for hunger in Africa, the pope said that "in our collective unconscious there is something inside us that says Africa must be exploited." His comments follow moves in some African countries to win more generous terms from international mining companies. In Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, the government has enacted a new mining code that is designed to earn extra money for the state from copper, cobalt and gold produced there. Mining companies say the government should reconsider the law in order to respect exemptions that were granted by its predecessor. The pope said Europe needed to focus on education and investment in Africa if it wanted to stem the flow of migrants, which is also an increasingly divisive issue in Italy, where the new governing coalition is taking a hard line. "And there's a problem," he added. "We send people back to those who have sent them here. They end up in the jails of traffickers." The pope then showed Reuters graphic photographs that he said showed victims of human trafficking who had been tortured and killed in an unspecified location in Africa. (Writing by Mike Collett-White, Editing by Timothy Heritage) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. (Reuters) - Over 2,300 children were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9 under the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday, and immigration advocates and legal experts say there is no clear system in place to reunite them. (Reuters) - Over 2,300 children were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9 under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday, and immigration advocates and legal experts say there is no clear system in place to reunite them. The policy directs border officials to refer for prosecution all immigrants apprehended while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Parents who are no longer detained "are entitled to get their kids back through a documented process," U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said. When are children and parents separated? Immigrants arrested near the southwestern border are taken to processing centres where officials refer some to federal court to be prosecuted under the U.S. criminal entry statute. Parents referred for prosecution are transferred into U.S. Marshals custody and separated from their children. Immigrants charged with the misdemeanour crime of illegal entry often plead guilty in group hearings and receive a sentence of a few days in prison or "time served," at which point they are transferred back to a processing facility and quickly deported unless they claim a "credible fear" of returning to their home country. Meanwhile, their children are transferred into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, which manages facilities that care for minors. There are 100 sites scattered across 17 states and they can be on the other side of the country from their parents. Children get their own case in immigration court and are entitled to a full hearing by an immigration judge, a process that can take months. How can parents contact their children? U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it has posted information in all facilities at which parents are detained for over 72 hours, advising them to call a hotline for assistance in finding their child. The agency said it will work together with ORR to locate separated children, verify the relationship and set up regular communication and removal coordination if necessary. There are two hotlines, one run by ICE and one by ORR. Advocates say the wait times on these calls can be upwards of 30 minutes and parents are required to call back when a child cannot immediately be located. How can the parents be reunited with their children? ICE said it "will make every effort to reunite the child with the parent" once the parent's case has been adjudicated. If the parent is being deported, ICE said it will work with ORR to reunite them with their child at the time of deportation and with the consulate representing their country to assist the parent with obtaining a travel document for the child. In some cases, the parent may decide they want their child to stay in the United States to pursue their own asylum claim, or the child may themselves choose to seek asylum. In other cases, children may ask to return to their home countries to be reunited with their parents. Advocates said the reunification process is ad hoc. Anthony Enriquez, director of the unaccompanied minors program for Catholic Charities Community Services in New York said there was no systematic effort in place to ensure the children and their parents are reunited. "I go to court to tell the judges this under oath," Enriquez said. "There's no process." He said reunification relies on individual government officials who go above and beyond their duties to help the families reunite or a lawyer from a non-governmental legal organization doing that work. Robert Carey, who ran the Office for Refugee Resettlement under President Barack Obama said he would be surprised if systems were in place for reunifying families as the new zero tolerance policy was put in place quickly and "it takes time to coordinate across multiple agencies." Have parents been deported without their children? Immigration attorneys say there have been many cases of parents deported without their children. The advocacy group Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) said of the 40 case referrals involving family separation they have received since July 2017 through their child migrant return and reintegration project, 32 involved parents deported before their children and 15 of those cases involved children who were five years old or younger. In some cases, parents are deported before finding their children in ORR custody, said Lisa Frydman, a KIND attorney. "We've had other cases where the child goes to ORR and they do not know where parent is, and the parent doesnt know where child is," Frydman said. Some children remain in the United States months after their parents are being deported, she said. Parents who have been deported back to countries such as Guatemala and Honduras without their children are reaching out to local organizations asking for help locating them. (Reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco, Reade Levinson in New York and Yeganeh Torbati in Washington; editing by Grant McCool) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The Democratic governors of Colorado and New York and the Republican governors of Maryland and Massachusetts all said they would not send members of their state's National Guard units for border duty. Washington: Four US states are refusing to deploy National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border, amid a growing outcry over the controversial decision by President Donald Trump's administration to separate the children of illegal migrants from their parents. The Democratic governors of Colorado and New York and the Republican governors of Maryland and Massachusetts all said they would not send members of their state's National Guard units for border duty."We will not be complicit in this ongoing human tragedy," New York governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said today. "In the face of the federal government's inhumane treatment of immigrant families, New York will not deploy National Guard to the border," Cuomo said on Twitter. In the face of the federal governments inhumane treatment of immigrant families, New York will not deploy National Guard to the border. We will not be complicit in this ongoing human tragedy. pic.twitter.com/a2tTzjNisR Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 18, 2018 Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, said he will not send any National Guard resources to the border "until this policy of separating children from their families has been rescinded." Hogan said he had ordered a four-member helicopter crew which had been stationed in the border state of New Mexico to "immediately return" home. "Immigration enforcement efforts should focus on criminals, not separating innocent children from their families," Hogan said. John Hickenlooper, the Democratic governor of Colorado, signed an executive order yesterday that forbids the use of state resources "for the purpose of separating any child from his or her parent or legal guardian," a practice he called "cruel and un-American." Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican, said the policy was "cruel and inhumane," and a National Guard helicopter crew which had been scheduled to go to the border later this month would not be deployed."They're not going to the border," Baker told reporters. The Trump administration is facing condemnation at home and abroad for the separations, the product of a "zero-tolerance" policy on undocumented migrants. US officials say more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents or guardians since early May, when the "zero-tolerance" policy was announced. President Donald Trump has accused Democrats of causing the crisis by blocking immigration reform legislation."If you don't have Borders, you don't have a Country!" the Republican president tweeted today. Trump announced plans in April to send thousands of National Guard troops to the border, where they could remain until his promised wall is constructed. He had been in contact with radical Islamists and had tried twice last year to travel via Turkey to Syria, 'presumably to the 'Islamic State'' bases there, they said in a statement. German police said Wednesday they had foiled a biological attack with last week's arrest of a Tunisian suspected jihadist in possession of the deadly poison ricin and bomb-making material. "Very concrete preparations had been made for an act with a ... biological bomb, which is a first for Germany," said Holger Muench, head of the BKA Federal Criminal Police Office. German police commandos on 12 June stormed the Cologne apartment of the 29-year-old Tunisian identified only as Sief Allah H and discovered "toxic substances" that turned out to be ricin. Produced by processing castor beans, ricin is lethal in minute doses if swallowed, inhaled or injected and 6,000 times more potent than cyanide, with no known antidote. Muench said, speaking to German public radio, that "we became aware of this person a few months ago, and then evidence emerged pointing to links to the so-called Islamic State". The Tunisian man, who has been charged with possession of weapons of war and planning a serious act of violence against the state, was thought to have followed instructions on making a ricin bomb disseminated online by the IS. "There are instructions on how to do this, including by Islamist organisations, on the internet, and this person was obviously guided by that," Muench said. Prosecutors have said he was "strongly suspected of intentionally manufacturing biological weapons" but they reiterated Wednesday they still lacked concrete indications or details of an attack plan. Seeds, coffee grinder The head of the BND foreign intelligence service, Hans-Georg Maassen, said that a "very likely" attack had been prevented thanks to "cooperation between security service at the national and international level," news agency DPA reported. Bild daily has reported Germany received a warning from the CIA based on the suspect's online purchases. The domestic intelligence service BfV said it also received a tip-off over a telephone hotline about the Tunisian, who is married to a German woman who recently converted to Islam, DPA reported. During the police raid, said Muench, "we found a large number of castor seeds from which to make (ricin), as well as the utensils you need to make an explosive device". "Which concrete target he had in mind we don't know yet ... and the question of possible accomplices also remains open." Prosecutors say Sief Allah H started buying the equipment and ingredients to make ricin in mid-May including online purchases of thousands of "castor seeds and an electric coffee grinder". Police had found over 3,000 castor seeds and 84 milligrams of ricin, as well as 950 grams of pyrotechnic powder, two bottles of flammable liquid, wires soldered to light bulbs and 240 metal balls. He had been in contact with radical Islamists and had tried twice last year to travel via Turkey to Syria, "presumably to the 'Islamic State'" bases there, they said in a statement. The case comes after French authorities in mid-May said they had foiled an attack possibly involving ricin with the arrest of a 20-year-old Egyptian man. Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said it would have been committed "with explosives or ricin, this very powerful poison", and that the suspect "had tutorials that showed how to make ricin-based poisons". The Egyptian man was tracked down through a pro-jihadist social media account, a source close to the investigation said. 'Radicalised persons' Germany remains on high alert after several deadly attacks claimed by the Islamic State group, including a 2016 truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market by Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri that claimed 12 lives. Other attacks by radicalised Islamists saw a 26-year-old Palestinian stab six people, killing one, in Hamburg last year, and a 17-year-old Afghan with an axe attack five train passengers in Munich before police shot him dead in 2016. Muench said security services are now more worried about the threat of radicalised individuals, including 770 persons considered by police as potentially violent, than an organised large-scale attack. After the defeat of major IS bastions in Syria, he said, "we now consider a major attack like we saw in Paris and Brussels not entirely unlikely, but less likely because the so-called Islamic State has been weakened quite substantially." "But we have a large number of radicalised persons and we need to keep an eye on them". Rose Nabatanzi (R) showing a morphine bottle to Janet Nabadda Breast cancer is one of the most widespread cancers amongst women in the world. Janet Nabadda, 68, a resident of Rwanyi village, Masaka was diagnosed with breast cancer at Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) in 2015. She has been unwell since 1990. It has now damaged half of her right breast. Nabadda says it started with high blood pressure when she was 18 years old and carrying her first pregnancy in 1968. In 1990, small wounds spontaneously emerged on her right nipple. They were not painful, so she ignored them. According to Rose Nabatanzi , the in-charge of Kitovu Mobile Medical Centre, Nabadda wasted a lot of time with traditional healers. By the time she went to UCI, not much could be done about her cancer since it was in an advanced stage. She also refused her breast to be cut off; an operation usually performed to either arrest or mitigate the diseases progression. Nabaddas breast is now shrinking as the cancer progresses. She was advised to go for radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment at UCI in Mulago hospital, but she also refused fearing that her breast could be cut off. Then doctors at UCI advised her to be enrolled on morphine treatment to reduce the severe pain. Nabatanzi says Nabadda began taking morphine in 2015 and is able to do some simple work at home. Nabadda says the morphine reduced the burning sensation in her body. I take it twice a day and when it gets finished and I miss taking it for a few days, the heat and pain returns, she said. Nabatanzi says breast cancer is caused by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the breast. Risk factors include; taking too much alcohol and a family history of breast cancer. Other causes remain unclear. Nabatanzi advocates for continued sensitisation of the public about the dangers of breast cancer and when to go for treatment to avoid reaching hospitals when the cancer is in its advanced stages. She says most patients currently on palliative care are cancer patients. Between January and June this year, they have registered 156 new patients and of these 80 per cent are cancers without HIV. At the end of the year, they expect about 350 registered patients on palliative care. We give most of these cancer patients morphine to reduce pain following a World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation. In May only, we administered 63 patients on morphine. We give them morphine green and red, but sometimes morphine red is out of stock from the Joint Medical Stores where they get it, she says. She says common side effects of morphine include constipation but patients are told how to manage it. The patients, who need radiotherapy and chemotherapy, are referred to UCI but the biggest challenge is the prohibitive cost of the treatment. ARVs Another patient, Vincent Luyinda Kafeero, 31, of Kikoni, Misaali, Masaka is battling skin cancer, which has damaged all his fingers and feet. According to Nabatanzi, skin cancer is common in people living with HIV, especially people with HIV drug resistance. Luyinda, a mason, is very weak at home with hundreds of morphine empty bottles, which he keeps to prove to the doctors that he uses the drug daily. He says as he was building, when he hit his finger with a harmer, got a wound which wasnt given much attention, but later developed into cancer. When I went to Uganda Care, Masaka Regional hospital in 2015, I was tested HIV positive and they also diagnosed me with cancer. Since then, I have been getting morphine treatment at Kitovu Mobile Medical Centre, he says. Luyindas sister Paulina Namugerwa says her brothers cancer worsened when he stopped taking ARVs for some time, due to insufficient food and also because he didnt want his partner to know his HIV status. We also spent much time with traditional doctors, thinking he was bewitched with the skin infection known as cellulitis (ettalo). The witchdoctors conned us of a lot of money and by the time we reached hospital, the cancer was in an advanced stage and the doctors couldnt do much. He is now kept on morphine to reduce pain, she says. Ettalo causes painful swelling usually in the limbs. Nabatanzi says since Kitovu Mobile Medical Centre started in 1987, they have been taking care of HIV patients by visiting them in their homes in Greater Masaka sub-region, to counsel and provide treatment. Most patients we visit have skin cancer, uncontrolled diarrhoea and other stressing HIV conditions. However, most women have cervical cancer, but they come late to hospitals when the cancer is in its advanced stages, since they treat it as syphilis, she says. Fr Joseph Lukwago 73, a priest at Villa Maria Catholic parish was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2016, but they couldnt operate on him because it was in advanced stages. When they examined me, they found I have cancer in my bones. I have been on morphine treatment, which has decreased the pain and Im now feeling ok. At UCI, they give me an injection every after three weeks to reduce pain, he says. It is not known exactly what causes prostate cancer, although a number of things can increase your risk of developing the condition. These include: age. Most cases are diagnosed in men over 50 years. According to the US National Library of Medicine website, morphine is considered the gold standard for relieving pain and is currently one of the most effective drugs available clinically for the management of severe pain associated with cancer. zuraneetah2015@gmail.com While Khamenei's tweet was one among 24,000 replies on Trump's tweet, it was also a reminder how countries now interact with each other online in full public glare, perhaps seeking to please their most vocal political bases domestically. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday slammed Donald Trump for the United States' 'cruel' anti-immigration policy on Twitter. "Separating thousands of children from their mothers is a big concern. One cannot watch with a sound state of mind these children crying on TV. How can they commit such a crime, separating children from mothers for a cruel policy? Now, that's who they are," Khameini wrote on Twitter even as Trump lambasted the 'fake news media' for "not mentioning the safety and security of our Country when talking about illegal immigration". This isn't the first time Khamenei seemed to be mocking Trump on social media. On 12 May, a picture of Khamenei reading a Persian-language edition of Michael Wolff's book Fire and Fury, which claims that life in Donald Trump's White House is chaotic, was posted on his Instagram feed, leading to raised eyebrows. This occurred days after ties between the US and Iran took a significant turn for the worse, the BBC reported. Trump, that week, pulled the US out of a multi-country deal that suspended sanctions on Iran while limiting its nuclear activities, calling it "defective at its core", and placed more sanctions on Tehran. Iran responded with frustration, but it appeared to be engaging in a more off-the-cuff manner, the BBC reported. Trump described the book as "fiction" and Wolff as a "fraud" when it was released in January. The book, which raised doubts over Trump's mental health, was described as a "bombshell" by commentators. The book claimed Trump pursued his friends' wives and that his daughter Ivanka would mock his hairstyle behind his back. Other countries have also got in on the act. On 3 June, the Israel embassy responded to a scathing tweet from Khamenei describing it as 'cancerous tumour' with a Mean Girls meme: Our stance against Israel is the same stance we have always taken. #Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen. 7/31/91#GreatReturnMarch Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 3, 2018 Russia Embassy in UK too, stepped onto the Gif diplomacy bandwagon in wake of a bitter diplomatic war between the two countries. The right time to recall the full title of Stanley Kubricks Dr Strangelove: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb? pic.twitter.com/HIrtuYl2HE Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 18, 2017 The temperature of relations drops to , but we are not afraid of cold weather. pic.twitter.com/mand9YyoaE Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 14, 2018 In 2013, when president Hassan Rouhani was keen on negotiating the Iran nuclear deal soon after being elected, Israel hit out at its rival country by creating a parody LinkedIn account for Rouhani. Israel's US embassy officials described Rouhani as follows: "Im a career politician, expert public relations professional, leading international salesman and longtime advocate of nuclear proliferation." The fake message also said: "Since my election as president of Iran in 2013, I developed and have executed an unprecedented PR campaign for the government of Iran. Through a series of statements, tweets, op-eds and smiles I have rebranded the human-rights suppressing, Ayatollah-led regime as moderate and a source of hope among the international community." The aggressive posturing by countries on social media has brought foreign policy fights to Twitter. While it helps administrations cater to their base, it has appeared to skew public discourse on sensitive bilateral relationships and redefined how nations converse with each other, at least publicly. However, such acidic tweets and social media trolling stands in complete contrast with the ancient form of letter-diplomacy which kept nations engaged even at the lowest points in their diplomatic ties. More recently, its use was witnessed ahead of the crucial US-North Korea summit. North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol was spotted on 1 June bearing a letter for president Donald Trump from Kim Jong-un, The Associated Press reported. Opportunities abound in the digital world for immediacy in communications, as everyone knows and Trump demonstrates with every tweet. Also, the telephone has been around for a very long time. But still there's a whiff of the Pony Express, Western Union and the flourish of quill pens in diplomacy. "Some of it is the ceremony," said Princeton presidential historian Julian E. Zelizer. "There is a drama to delivering a letter that I think still serves the purpose of two countries slowly trying to work things out." And letters can be a useful medium for tempestuous leaders like these two, he said. "It's a way to contain emotions. Some of the coldness of the letter can be good in diplomacy." Even in the past, then US president Barack Obama and Khamenei famously exchanged secret letters in 2014, in the run-up to the nuclear deal negotiations. There was a reason why nations kept back-channel diplomacy away from media attention and public view, once upon a time. Major diplomatic actions are often communicated on paper, even now, for the sake of formality and posterity. That's especially true for messages between countries that do not have close ties and thus aren't used to communicating with each other regularly through more informal means. With inputs from agencies By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's parliament on Wednesday approved a package of bills that criminalises some help given to illegal immigrants, defying the European Union and human rights groups. The legislation narrows the scope for action by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), making their workers liable for jail terms for helping migrants to seek asylum when they are not entitled to it. By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's parliament on Wednesday approved a package of bills that criminalises some help given to illegal immigrants, defying the European Union and human rights groups. The legislation narrows the scope for action by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), making their workers liable for jail terms for helping migrants to seek asylum when they are not entitled to it. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has led eastern European opposition to EU quotas that aim to distribute asylum seekers around the bloc, criticising the open-door policy that German Chancellor Angela Merkel proclaimed at the height of the European migrant crisis in 2015. Orban's right-wing Fidesz party tightened its grip on parliament in April elections after campaigning on an anti-immigration platform. Fidesz also demonised Hungarian-born U.S. billionaire George Soros and the liberal NGOs he backs, naming the new legislation the "STOP Soros" law. Orban accuses Soros of encouraging mass immigration to undermine Europe, a charge he denies. "The Hungarian people rightfully expect the government to use all means necessary to combat illegal immigration and the activities that aid it," Interior Minister Sandor Pinter wrote in a justification attached to the draft legislation. "The STOP Soros package of bills serves that goal, making the organisation of illegal immigration a criminal offence. We want to use the bills to stop Hungary from becoming a country of immigrants," he said. Parliament, where Fidesz has a two-thirds majority, also passed on Wednesday a constitutional amendment stating that an "alien population" cannot be settled in Hungary - a swipe at Brussels over its quota plan. Germany's Europe minister Michael Roth expressed regret that Hungary had not waited for the Venice Commission, an expert body, to issue a report on the issue along with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "We share the concerns of the Venice Commission regarding the criminalisation of the activities of non-governmental organisations in the area of refugee aid," he said. TOUGH STANCE IS VOTE-WINNER Immigration has become a major concern for voters across the EU, helping to propel anti-migrant parties into power in Italy and Austria and threatening to fracture Merkel's three-month-old coalition in Germany. Orban has played on Hungarians' memories of large numbers of mostly Muslim migrants fleeing war and poverty who surged into the country in the summer of 2015. Most moved on to wealthier western European countries, but Orban has branded the migrants a threat to Europe's Christian civilisation and built a border fence along Hungary's southern borders to deter more from coming. Hungarian statistics show 3,555 refugees living in Hungary, a country of 10 million, as of April. Only 342 people were registered as asylum seekers in the first four months of this year, mostly from the Middle East, and 279 were approved. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a rights group, said on Wednesday the narrowing definition of who counts as a refugee essentially means nobody entering Hungary by land would be entitled to such treatment. "Instead of giving protection against persecution, the Hungarian government has decided to join the ranks of the persecutors," Helsinki Committee Co-Chair Marta Pardavi said. The Orban government expects possible legal action by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, over the new law. The Venice Commission had asked Hungary to refrain from approving the new law until its report is published. Orban has also tightened state control over the media, major business sectors and the courts since taking power in 2010. Parliament also agreed on Wednesday to set up a new judicial branch for administrative cases that critics say may increase political influence over judges. Another change narrowed the right to free expression and assembly. (Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Gareth Jones and David Stamp) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The fresh hostilities came with tensions high in Gaza after mass protests and clashes broke out along the border on 30 March. Jerusalem: Israeli fighter jets hit 25 targets in the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian territory, the army said. Around 30 projectiles, including rockets, were fired overnight from Gaza towards Israel, the Israeli army said in a statement. The fresh hostilities came with tensions high in Gaza after mass protests and clashes broke out along the border on 30 March. At least 132 Palestinians have been killed. There have been no Israeli fatalities. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and other international stakeholders have warned that Gaza is close to the brink of war. "The Hamas terror organisation targeted Israeli civilians throughout the night with a severe rocket attack and is dragging the Gaza Strip and its civilians down a deteriorating path," the Israeli army said. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008 and observe a tense ceasefire that is regularly shaken by hostile acts. Kim Jong-un is in Beijing on his third visit to China in 2018, underscoring the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbors. Beijing: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un thanked Chinese president Xi Jinping for his support in last week's groundbreaking summit with President Donald Trump, the North's official media reported on Wednesday. Kim is in Beijing on his third visit to China in 2018, underscoring the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbors. A report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim expressed his gratitude to Xi in a meeting on Tuesday, during which Xi "gave high appreciation and extended heartfelt congratulations" to Kim over the Singapore summit. KCNA said that during a banquet hosted by Xi, Kim also said Pyongyang and Beijing are seeing their ties develop into "unprecedentedly special relations". At the summit with Trump in Singapore, Kim pledged to work toward denuclearisation in exchange for US security guarantees. The US and South Korea suspended a major joint military exercise that was planned in August in what was seen as a major victory for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia. There was no official word on Kim's activities on Wednesday, although South Korea's Yonhap news agency said his motorcade was seen at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing. China has pressed North Korea to adopt economic reforms and has touted the prospects of increased trade and investment if Pyongyang makes progress in talks on abandoning its nuclear weapons and long-range missile programs. That could allow the lifting of UN Security Council economic sanctions that have brought about a plunge in the North's foreign trade, although the US insists easing of sanctions can only come after Pyongyang shows it has ended its nuclear programs. The US says China is in agreement on that point, although Chinese officials have repeatedly stated that sanctions should not be considered an end to their own. Chinese media reported that in the Tuesday talks, Xi told Kim that he hopes Pyongyang and Washington can fully implement the summit outcomes and that China would "as always play a constructive role" in that process. The US has long looked to China to use its influence with North Korea to bring it to negotiations, but the visit comes as ties between Beijing and Washington are being tested by a major trade dispute. Kim is expected to return to Pyongyang on Wednesday. By Paul Carrel and Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - The leaders of Germany and France agreed on Tuesday to create a budget for the euro zone and hailed a 'new chapter' for the currency union, but they left the details to be worked out later with other members of the 19-country bloc. By Paul Carrel and Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - The leaders of Germany and France agreed on Tuesday to create a budget for the euro zone and hailed a "new chapter" for the currency union, but they left the details to be worked out later with other members of the 19-country bloc. Their meeting, to prepare for an EU summit on June 28-29, had been dubbed a "moment of truth" for bilateral relations by France's finance minister, as Paris has pressed Berlin for months to agree reforms to crisis-proof the bloc. After meeting at Chancellor Angela Merkel's Meseberg retreat outside Berlin, she and France's Emmanuel Macron agreed the new budget would be charged with boosting the bloc's economic competitiveness. Macron said it would be operational by 2021, but their plans lacked further detail. "We are opening a new chapter," Merkel said after the talks, which produced an eight-page declaration entitled: 'Renewing Europe's promises of security and prosperity'. Merkel said the budget would be used to strengthen economic convergence within the euro zone, which was almost torn apart by a multi-year debt crisis that took hold in 2009. "We know that an economic and monetary union can only remain intact if economic policies converge," she said, adding that euro zone reform was the toughest issue in the talks, which also touched on European foreign and defence policy and immigration. French President Macron, who last September laid out a sweeping vision for euro zone reform and spoke of "rebuilding Europe", was forced to defend the agreement when pressed by journalists. "It will be a real budget, with annual revenues and spending," he said. "This is a political commitment we make together which will require technical work at the ministerial level by the end of the year, and then indispensable treaty change the year after." The two leaders had decided to focus on broad issues to leave more room for negotiations with the other 17 euro members, Macron said - a scenario that leaves scope for the plans to be watered down. National contributions and European resources would be used to fund the budget, the leaders said in the declaration. Macron said its size and details on its financing would be hammered out by ministers before the end of the year. While Europe's economy has picked up and there is no immediate sign of financial stress, many analysts say reforms are needed to protect the single currency. "EXISTENTIAL CHALLENGES" Merkel said she was optimistic her government and parliament would back the proposed reforms. However, her political capital is being eroded by a row with her Bavarian allies, who have given the chancellor two weeks to find a European solution to their immigration dispute. The row threatens to scupper Merkel's three-month-old coalition and limits her capacity for agreeing to far-reaching euro zone reforms, of which many in her conservative bloc are sceptical. Keen not to increase burdens on German taxpayers, Merkel has indicated she would prefer a euro zone budget in the "tens of billions" rather than Macron's idea of hundreds of billions of euros for investments. Noting in their declaration that "the EU faces existential challenges", the leaders agreed to set up a European border police and to create a European asylum office. But they failed to deliver any big-bang reforms, and soft-pedalled on the idea of a European insurance scheme (EDIS) for bank deposits. "Everything depends on the details that are not yet known," Guntram Wolff, director of the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, said of the reform plans. "But without finishing the banking union, the euro area will remain fragile," he told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Marine Pennetier, Michael Rose and Leigh Thomas in Paris; editing by John Stonestreet) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Mexico strongly condemned US President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday for its policy of separating immigrant children and parents detained after crossing the US-Mexican border, calling it 'inhuman'. Mexico City: Mexico strongly condemned US President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday for its policy of separating immigrant children and parents detained after crossing the US-Mexican border, calling it "inhuman". "In the name of the Mexican government and people, I want to express our most categorical and energetic condemnation of this cruel and inhuman policy," Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told a press conference. "We call on the United States government, at the highest level, to reconsider this policy and give priority to the well being and rights of these boys and girls, regardless of their nationality and immigration status." The Trump administration faces a growing swell of condemnation at home and abroad for the separations, the product of a "zero-tolerance" policy on undocumented migrants. The United Nations, international rights groups, Christian evangelicals, the pope, former US first ladies and prominent figures in the president's own Republican party have all criticised the policy. Guatemala expressed its "concern" Tuesday over the policy and its effects. US officials say more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents or guardians since early May, when the "zero-tolerance" policy was announced. Lawmakers who visited minors in detention in Texas and California have described crying children held in cage-like conditions behind chain-link fencing, with no idea when they will see their parents again. A defiant Trump has vowed to prevent the United States from becoming a "migrant camp" and accused the opposition Democratic party of causing the crisis by blocking immigration reform legislation. The vast majority of separated families come from Central America, where brutal gangs have made their countries among the most violent in the world. Around one percent of the detained children are Mexican, said Videgaray. By Charlotte Greenfield WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was admitted to hospital in Auckland early on Thursday morning for the birth of her first child. By Charlotte Greenfield WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was admitted to hospital in Auckland early on Thursday morning for the birth of her first child. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was now acting prime minister and would run the country for the next six weeks while Ardern took maternity leave according to a previously published agreement, her office said in a statement. Ardern arrived at the country's largest public hospital at 5:50 am local time with her partner Clarke Gayford, her spokesman said. Ardern, 37, took office as New Zealand's third female prime minister last year and announced in January that she was expecting a baby with Gayford, a television fishing show presenter. Auckland District Hospital declined to comment. Just a handful of elected leaders worldwide have given birth while in office, notably Benazir Bhutto, who had her son in 1990 while Prime Minister of Pakistan. Peters - a colourful political veteran and head of the populist New Zealand First party - had already taken over some of Ardern's duties in recent days, including running cabinet meetings in the capital of Wellington while she stayed close to home in Auckland. Ardern has said there would be little disruption during her time off as she would stay in regular contact with Peters and involved in major decisions. Ardern has continued to work right up until the birth, with her partner posting on social media on Wednesday afternoon a photo of her poring over official documents from home with the hashtag "#stillwaiting". (Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; editing by John Stonestreet) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Three more people died, raising the toll to 173 in Nicaragua since unrest began two months ago. Protesters have taken to the streets demanding the resignation of President Daniel Ortega. Managua: Three people were shot dead in the city of Masaya as security forces and allied groups tried to regain control of the area, a human rights group reported on Wednesday, the two-month anniversary of political unrest that has shaken Nicaragua. Alvaro Leiva, director of the Nicaraguan Pro-Human Rights Association, said 40 people were also wounded in the clashes in Masaya that came a day after talks on finding a solution to the country's crisis were again suspended. "In the face of this excessive attack involving incomparable forces, the citizens are putting up a physical resistance within their means because they have to protect their lives," Leiva said. Beginning early in the morning, forces allied with President Daniel Ortega's government moved to dismantle roadblocks maintained by protesters for over three weeks between Managua and Masaya, which is about 15 miles southeast of the capital. They accused the demonstrators of having "kidnapped" the city. Video images broadcast by local television showed police and allied groups shooting toward people at the roadblocks, and later barricades and tree trunks were removed by heavy machinery. More than 170 people have died since 19 April amid a heavy-handed crackdown on protests that have broadened to demand Ortega's exit. The Roman Catholic Church has tried to moderate negotiations on restoring peace, but the talks broke down again this week after the government refused to allow international observers to arrive and verify the human rights situation, as had been previously agreed. "The people of Masaya have demonstrated their heroism in the darkest pages of Nicaragua's history," Luis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS), tweeted on Wednesday. He condemned "all manner of attacks" that threaten the lives and safety of the public. The latest violence coincided with the arrival in Nicaragua of Washington's ambassador to the OAS. The US Embassy said in a statement that Carlos Trujillo planned to meet with Ortega and opposition representatives "to see firsthand the reality of what is happening in Nicaragua." Boko Haram fighters killed nine soldiers and wounded two others in northeast Nigeria, according to military sources. The incident comes just days after 43 civilians died in deadly suicide bombings. Nigeria: Boko Haram fighters killed nine soldiers and wounded two others in northeast Nigeria, according to military sources. The incident comes just days after 43 civilians died in deadly suicide bombings. Both attacks came as the government urges those displaced by the conflict to return to their homes across the war-torn region. The government claims that the jihadists are on the verge of defeat. Troops from the 242 battalion Nigerian Army stationed at Gajiram came under attack on Monday afternoon. Gajiram is some 80 kilometres north of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. The Borno state police initially said its officers and soldiers had "engaged the terrorists and promptly repelled the attack". "There was no casualty on the side of the police," it added. But military communications said nine soldiers were classified as KIA killed in action, while two others were WIA wounded in action. Locals said they had seen around 10 to 12 Boko Haram fighters being loaded into vehicles but it was not clear how many were dead or injured. There was no immediate official response from army spokesman Brigadier General Texas Chukwu. Gajiram has been attacked before during the Islamist insurgency, which left at least 20,000 people dead and displaced more than two million since it began in 2009. In February 2017, seven soldiers were killed in an attack on military positions. Fighters loyal to the Islamic State-backed faction headed by Abu Musab Al-Barnawi were blamed. Barnawi split from the faction following long-time Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in mid-2016 in opposition to his indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Shekau has used suicide bombers against civilian "soft" targets such as camps for the displaced, mosques, markets, and bus stations. Barnawi in contrast has vowed to hit only "hard" targets such as the military and police. On Saturday, six young girls strapped with explosives were blamed for blasts that killed 43 in Damboa, some 90 kilometres southwest of Maiduguri. More than 90,000 internally displaced people live in Damboa, the UN said on Saturday; 18,000 of them live in five camps. The global organization said humanitarian access outside the town remained "limited due to ongoing hostilities and lack of safety assurances". SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping came to an understanding on issues that were discussed at a summit between the two leaders, including denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the North's state media said on Wednesday. Kim and Xi assessed the historic meeting Kim had with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last week and exchanged opinions on ways to resolve the issue of denuclearisation, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping came to an understanding on issues that were discussed at a summit between the two leaders, including denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the North's state media said on Wednesday. Kim and Xi assessed the historic meeting Kim had with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last week and exchanged opinions on ways to resolve the issue of denuclearisation, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The North Korean leader also promised during a meeting with Xi in Beijing to cooperate with Chinese officials to secure "true peace" in the process of "opening a new future" on the Korean peninsula, it said. Kim's two-day visit to Beijing will end later on Wednesday, according to state media from China and North Korea. It follows his Singapore summit, where Kim and Trump reaffirmed a commitment to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. Trump surprised officials in South Korea and the United States after that meeting by saying he would end "provocative" joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. The United States and South Korea said on Tuesday they had agreed to suspend a joint military exercise scheduled for August, although decisions regarding subsequent drills have not yet been made. Kim is on his third visit to China this year. Xi offered high praise to the North Korean leader on Tuesday for the "positive outcome" of last week's summit. KCNA also reported that Xi said relations between China and North Korea had entered a new level of development since Kim's first visit in March and that the agreements made between the two leaders were being carried out "one-by-one". Kim also told Xi he was willing to bolster the bilateral friendship and cooperation, it said. It was expected that Kim would visit Beijing to brief Xi on his summit with Trump, which included Pyongyang agreeing to hand over the remains of troops missing from the 1950-53 Korean War. Two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday North Korea could start that process within the next few days. (Reporting by Christine Kim; Additional reporting by Joori Roh in SEOUL and Idrees Ali in WASHINGTON; Editing by James Dalgleish and Paul Tait) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. 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They are here to canvass votes for their parliamentary candidate, Eunice Namatende. At the same time, the popular Kyadondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine), alongside the Democratic Party leadership, is campaigning for Justice Forum (Jeema) president, Asuman Basalirwa. SULAIMAN KAKAIRE writes about how the Bugiri election is developing into another contest between FDC and the Kyagulanyi effect. Two days to the nomination of candidates, Basalirwa was busy discussing plans for his nomination day rally with his taskforce when he recieved a call. Bobi Wine and Kizza Besigye A key person in the taskforce told The Observer that: Our constituency being a municipality you have to think cosmopolitan while designing your message. So, we were here thinking of how to do it. Should we have stellar performances or have a cocktail of urban politicians filling up the speech menu. All these options were being weighed in a measured way. On the line was Bobi Wine, a musician of national renown, and a veritable crowd puller in his own right. The singing politician was requesting a postponement. It was to the effect that we should not have our nomination as slated on Monday (June 4). Why? That very day he was going to do his end of semester examinations at law school [International University of East Africa]. Obviously, we had to push our nomination to the following day, a source who participated in the meeting said. Such is the pulling power Bobi Wine wields the sort of power whose potency the FDC first tested in the 2017 by-election, which he swept by a landslide in Kyadondo East. Henceforth, the musician-turned-politician has repeatedly cast himself as the future of Ugandas majority youth population, a position which seems to relegate Besigye & Co as relics of a fast-fading era. The FDC candidate, Eunice Namatende, got wind of this development and, with her team, started to think about how to counter the Bobi Wine factor. Sources say they decided to line-up a bevy of artistes of their own. However, a few hours to the nomination day on June 5, FDC president, Patrick Oboi Amuriat arrived from Kampala and announced that Dr Kizza Besigye, founding father and party luminary, would be joining them. Basalirwa has worked with Besigye and other opposition leaders in the most trying of times. His decision to engage in Bugiri has, however, further upset that relationship. The Jeema/FDC/Besigye association was first rocked by Basalirwas controversial decision to support former premier Amama Mbabazi for president in the 2016 presidential run, disrupting Besigyes profile as the opposition candidate. With Bobi Wine swinging from his corner, Besigye was leaving nothing to chance for the Jeema boss. Dr Besigyes change of plan was because he was due to travel out of the country. We changed our plans and everything that had been conceptualised for the last few days. In fact, we had to bring the nomination forward, Namatende said in an interview. Before nomination it [Besigyes support] was not clear based on his past relationship with Asumanbut the moment he mentioned to me that this election is not about Eunice but a fight against FDC. It became clear what kind of fight we are engaged in. The campaign tone was set Basalirwas nomination rally was held at Hindocha primary school while Namatende settled for Bugiri Taxi Park. Namatende should ordinarily have drawn more people given her rallys location, but Bobi Wine-Basalirwa were received by a massive crowd defying previous Besigye-Namatende showings in the municipality. During the 2016 elections, Namatende laid claim to having got around 4,000 votes compared to Basalirwas claim of 1,044 votes in Bugiri Town Council now upgraded to the new municipality. Besigye himself got 3,781(45.62%) votes out of 8,288 valid votes cast against President Musevenis 4,281 (51.65%). Godfrey Mugoya, a voter here, said that the way the events unfolded on nomination day and given how things are shaping up, one can gain an insight into voter behaviour in this area. There is no other person who has had a bigger crowd than that of Dr Besigye on most of the occasions he has held rallies in the municipality, Mugoya said. In fact, in the last election, Namatende had more votes than Basalirwa at the polling stations that currently make up the new municipality. Perhaps, this is a signal that this election could be decided by factors different from those that decided the previous elections. In full agreement with Mugoya, Lydia Namayengo, an election observer with Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda, notes that there are many factors defining this election but the most visible include individual merit, religion, age limit, intra-party fights, especially on the part of the NRM, which has two candidates, the official one and Siraji Lyavala-Samanya, Namayengo said. However, all these factors have been overshadowed by the Besigye-Bobi Wine competition. You cannot ignore the Kyagulanyi effect in this election. There are many youthful voters in this municipality, who are influenced and moved by his political messaging since it appeals to their age and aspirations. Those are the things they are sharing with us, she said. Clan warfare And so, the Bugiri campaign is more than just a local election. Quite tellingly, Besigye, Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, Betty Nambooze (Mukono municipality MP) and former Jeema leader, Hajji Hussein Kyanjo had tried to pretend otherwise when they addressed a recent press conference at Fairway Hotel in Kampala, but the cat is out and about. I dont know how they pushed the honourable Kyanjo [former Makindye West MP] to that press conference. It was in a way helping them manage the humiliation they faced at the nomination day, Basalirwa says. It is quietly becoming clear to everyone that some people have been threatened by the Kyagulanyi effect and in trying to manage it are baying for our blood. Other opposition sources say that this rivalry was on public display during the Jinja East by-election. Besigyes group was concerned about Bobi Wines role in the campaign. Whereas at first Paul Mwirus taskforce had chosen Bobi Wine to head his campaigns, at the intervention of the FDC party headquarters, he was dropped and replaced by Kira municipality MP, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the insider reveals. The story goes that in one incident some people were unhappy that Bobi Wine spoke at one of the rallies after Besigye had said his piece granting him some form of special status. Namatende, like Paul Mwiru, is known to support Besigyes nemesis in the FDC, Maj. Gen Mugisha Muntu. Divided we fall Speaking to The Observer at the weekend, FDCs Abdu Katuntu, who represents the neighbouring Bugweri county in parliament, said that it is unfortunate they failed to agree on a joint candidate. The way events are unfolding in Bugiri municipality the opposition vote is going to be split, which ultimately could work in favour of our common enemy [NRM]. Perhaps, Katuntus fears are not unfounded. Despite the Bobi Wine magic, Jeema seems thin around the constituency. Basalirwa is actually relying partly on local FDC networks. Wilson Wagwabi, the FDC chairperson in the municipality and other leaders like Dick Mukuve (chair womens league); Karim Muyindi (chairperson of Western Division); Aswin-Bin-Amir Tifugwamukazi (chairperson for PWD); Fred Kyozira (Naluwerere) and Habib Mwase (Butambula Central) are working with the Jeema man. But Namatende says she is unmoved. They told us that they are looking for money from Basalirwas camp but they will vote for me. I am okay with the way things are. For people like Mukuve [who competed against Namatende in the previous election] we talked to her and she was diffused, she said. NRM pains Under normal circumstances, the ruling National Resistance Movements John Francis Oketcho should have benefited from a divided opposition. However, he is facing his own demons. Hajji Siraji Lyavala, who lost in the NRM primaries, disputed the result and went rogue. He got nominated as an independent, and his supporters say that if the situation demands, they will back the strongest opposition candidate. Depending on how things go we shall support Namatende or Basalirwa, we cannot allow a person who [cheated] us to represent us, said one of Lyavalas campaign coordinators. It is said that NRM secretary general Justine Lumumba preferred Lyavala, yet the partys electoral commission boss, Dr Tanga Odoi, was always for Oketcho. Odoi and Lumumba have a particular dislike for each other. In previous elections, the ruling party contained its internal strife. For instance, in 2016, despite the NRM vote being split between flag bearer, Gaster Kyawa Mugoya (current MP for Bukooli North) and Stephen Bakka Mugabi, Mugoya still won with 19,877 votes. Mugabi got 16,568 votes. Basalirwa got 2,942 votes and FDCs Charles Masinde 1,001. But Namayengo also says that this election, like other recent ones, will be about national politics; the divisive politics of the presidential age limit constitutional amendment and the place of third way politics represented by Bobi Wine and his appeal to young voters. This place was opposed to it [age-limit bill] but their MP voted to the contrary. So, they are likely to penalise the ruling party for that. Then things like social service delivery in this place, she said. This election is beyond parties and that has been reflected in the previous result. You have also to understand that this is a Muslim dominant municipality and voters have started to get divided between Muslim candidates [Basalirwa or Lyavala] and Catholic candidate [Namatende]. skakaire@observer.ug According to the UN report, there were 1,97,146 refugees in end 2017 in India and 10,519 asylum-seekers with pending cases. United Nations: More than 7,000 people from India applied for asylum in the United States last year, according to a report by the United Nations refugee agency, which said America was the largest recipient of new asylum requests in 2017. The UN refugee agency said in its annual Global Trends report that 68.5 million people globally were displaced till end 2017. Among them were 16.2 million people who were displaced in 2017 itself, either for the first time or repeatedly indicating a huge number of people on the move and equivalent to 44,500 people being displaced each day, or a person becoming displaced every two seconds. Wars, other forms of violence and persecution forced displacement worldwide to a new high in 2017 for the fifth year in a row, led by the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the war in South Sudan and the flight into Bangladesh from Myanmar of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees. Overwhelmingly, it is developing countries that are most affected, the report said. In the US, the trend of increasing asylum claims from people from the north of Central America also continued. Salvadorans made up the largest nationality of applicants with 49,500 claims, almost half as much as the 33,600 submitted in 2016. Asylum claims from Venezuelans increased by 63 percent to 29,900, reflecting the challenging conditions in the country. Other nationalities from which there were more than 5,000 claims in 2017 were Mexico (26,100), China (17,400), Haiti (8,600) and India (7,400). Altogether, refugees from 168 countries applied for asylum, the report said. According to the UN report, there were 1,97,146 refugees in end 2017 in India and 10,519 asylum-seekers with pending cases. There were about 40,391 asylum-seekers from India at the end of last year, the report said, adding that for the first time since 2013, Syria was not the most common country of origin for new asylum-seekers. The highest number of applicants for asylum were from Afghanistan, who submitted 124,900 claims in 80 different countries. As in 2016, Turkey received the most claims with 67,400 registered, replacing Germany, which received 16,400 claims compared with 1,27,000 in 2016. In contrast to 2016, Greece was the third most common recipient of claims from Afghans with 7,500, followed by France (6,600) and India (4,500). Refugees originating from Myanmar represented the fourth-largest population group by country of origin, more than doubling in number from less than half a million to 1.2 million by the end of 2017. Bangladesh hosted the majority of refugees from Myanmar (932,200) at the end of the year. Other countries with sizable populations of Myanmar refugees were Thailand (100,000), Malaysia (98,000) and India (18,100). The report said that refugees who fled their countries to escape conflict and persecution accounted for 25.4 million of the 68.5 million. This is 2.9 million more than in 2016, also the biggest increase the UN High Council for Refugees has seen in a single year. Asylum-seekers still awaiting the outcome of their claims to refugee status till 31 December, 2017, rose by around 3,00,000 to 3.1 million. People displaced in their own country accounted for 40 million of the total, marginally fewer than the 40.3 million in 2016. "We are at a watershed, where success in managing forced displacement globally requires a new and far more comprehensive approach so that countries and communities are not left dealing with this alone, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. "But there is reason for some hope. Fourteen countries are already pioneering a new blueprint for responding to refugee situations, and in a matter of months, a new Global Compact on Refugees will be ready for adoption by the UN General Assembly." Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has penned a blog post addressing the country's immigration policy and uploaded it on his LinkedIn page The US administration's policy of separating children from their families at border detention centres has drawn international criticism, with several persons even comparing them to the concentration camps used during World War II. In the midst of this, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has penned a letter addressed to all the company's employees and uploaded it on his LinkedIn page. Here's the full text of Nadella's letter: Team, Like many of you, I am appalled at the abhorrent policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the southern border of the U.S. As both a parent and an immigrant, this issue touches me personally. I consider myself a product of two amazing and uniquely American things American technology reaching me where I was growing up that allowed me to dream the dream and an enlightened immigration policy that then allowed me to live that dream. My story would not have been possible anywhere else. This new policy implemented on the border is simply cruel and abusive, and we are standing for change. Today Brad detailed our companys position on this issue, as well as the immigration legislation currently being considered in Congress, and I encourage you to read his blog post. I want to be clear: Microsoft is not working with the U.S. government on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border. Our current cloud engagement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is supporting legacy mail, calendar, messaging and document management workloads. Microsoft has a long history of taking a principled approach to how we live up to our mission of empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more with technology platforms and tools, while also standing up for our enduring values and ethics. Any engagement with any government has been and will be guided by our ethics and principles. We will continue to have this dialogue both within our company and with our stakeholders outside. The immigration policy of this country is one of our greatest competitive advantages, and this is something we must preserve and promote. America is a nation of immigrants, and were able to attract people from around the world to contribute to our economy, our communities and our companies. We are also a beacon of hope for those who need it the most. This is what makes America stronger. We will always stand for immigration policies that preserve every persons dignity and human rights. That means standing with every immigrant who works at Microsoft and standing for change in the inhumane treatment of children at the U.S. border today. Satya The text above has been taken directly from Nadella's LinkedIn post and hasn't been edited by Firstpost for either content or style. South Korea's president on Wednesday urged Pyongyang to show a plan for concrete steps toward denuclearisation, raising the pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his visit to Beijing to discuss the outcome of his summit with president Donald Trump. Beijing: South Korea's president on Wednesday urged Pyongyang to show a plan for concrete steps toward denuclearisation, raising the pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his visit to Beijing to discuss the outcome of his summit with president Donald Trump. Kim is in Beijing on his third visit to China this year, underscoring the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbours. A report by the Korean Central News Agency said Kim expressed his gratitude to Chinese president Xi Jinping when they met yesterday. KCNA said that during a banquet hosted by Xi, Kim also said Pyongyang and Beijing are seeing their ties develop into "unprecedentedly special relations." At the summit with Trump in Singapore, Kim pledged to work toward denuclearisation in exchange for US security guarantees. The US and South Korea suspended a major joint military exercise that was planned in August in what was seen as a major victory for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia. In Seoul, South Korean president Moon Jae-in urged North Korea to present "far more concrete" plans on how to scrap its nuclear program and the United States to take unspecified corresponding measures swiftly. "It's necessary for North Korea to present far more concrete denuclearisation plans, and I think it's necessary for the United States to swiftly reciprocate by coming up with comprehensive measures," Moon said. Moon's office said he made the remarks to Russian media ahead of his trip to Moscow later this week. Moon, who met with Kim twice in recent months, said the North Korean leader is willing to give up his nuclear programme and focus on economic development if he's provided with a reliable security guarantee. Moon described Kim as "forthright," ''careful" and "polite." South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Seoul was monitoring Kim's "newfound diplomatic activism" and the outcome of his meetings in China. "China has an important role to play on issues of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula," Kang said, adding that South Korea expects discussions in Beijing to help move forward the process of denuclearisation. China backs the North's call for a "phased and synchronous" approach to denuclearisation, as opposed to Washington's demand for an instant, total and irreversible end to the North's nuclear programmes. There was no official word on Kim's activities today, although South Korea's Yonhap news agency said his motorcade was seen at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing. He was expected to return to Pyongyang later in the day. China has encouraged Kim's shift toward economic development and has touted the prospects of more trade and investment if Pyongyang makes progress in talks on abandoning its nuclear weapons and long-range missile programmes. That could allow the lifting of UN Security Council economic sanctions that have caused a plunge in the North's foreign trade, although the US insists easing of sanctions can only come after Pyongyang shows it has ended its nuclear programmes. The US says China is in agreement on that point, although Chinese officials have repeatedly stated that sanctions should not be considered an end to their own. BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Four members of east Libyan security forces were killed in the city of Derna on Wednesday by a suicide bomber bearing a white flag as he drove towards a group of soldiers, a military spokesman said. Ahmed al-Mismari, a spokesman for Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), said the bomber detonated explosives packed into the white Chevrolet when he got close, having approached the troops in central Derna asking to leave the combat zone BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Four members of east Libyan security forces were killed in the city of Derna on Wednesday by a suicide bomber bearing a white flag as he drove towards a group of soldiers, a military spokesman said. Ahmed al-Mismari, a spokesman for Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), said the bomber detonated explosives packed into the white Chevrolet when he got close, having approached the troops in central Derna asking to leave the combat zone. The LNA is fighting to take Derna, the last city in eastern Libya outside its control, after launching a ground offensive against a coalition of local forces and Islamist militants last month. Clashes continued in central Derna on Wednesday around the neighbourhood of Al-Maghar, where the LNA's opponents are holed up, residents said. They also said that water supplies and cooking gas had been restored in areas that the LNA has taken. Water, power, food and medical supplies had been largely cut off as the LNA offensive got under way. The United Nations has repeatedly warned about the impact of the fighting on Derna's population of around 125,000. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Aidan Lewis; editing by John Stonestreet) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. BERLIN (Reuters) - A 29-year-old Tunisian arrested last week on suspicion of producing the lethal toxic ricin was in contact with radical Islamists, and twice tried unsuccessfully to reach Islamic State in Syria, Germany's top federal prosecutor said on Wednesday. Peter Frank, head of the GBA Federal Prosecutor's Office, told broadcaster SWR that the man, Sief Allah H., was not currently believed to have been a member of Islamic State, but was deeply involved with the Islamist scene. 'He was deeply anchored in the Islamist spectrum and was in contract with people from this spectrum,' Frank told the broadcaster BERLIN (Reuters) - A 29-year-old Tunisian arrested last week on suspicion of producing the lethal toxic ricin was in contact with radical Islamists, and twice tried unsuccessfully to reach Islamic State in Syria, Germany's top federal prosecutor said on Wednesday. Peter Frank, head of the GBA Federal Prosecutor's Office, told broadcaster SWR that the man, Sief Allah H., was not currently believed to have been a member of Islamic State, but was deeply involved with the Islamist scene. "He was deeply anchored in the Islamist spectrum and was in contract with people from this spectrum," Frank told the broadcaster. The man was arrested in Cologne on suspicion of planning an Islamist-motivated attack and building a "biological weapon" with ricin, a poison found in castor beans. The GBA on Wednesday said 3,150 grains of ricin - all ordered via the Internet - were seized during a search of the suspect's home, along with 84.3 mg of prepared ricin. German broadcaster ARD said even one ricin grain could be deadly for a child. No comment was immediately available from prosecutors on the significance of the amount of ricin found. The number of ricin grains found were triple the amount initially reported by GBA. Frank said the evidence at the scene indicated that the suspect was considering building an explosive device, but no possible target or timetable had been determined. It was the first time Germany had dealt with a possible attack with a biological weapon, Frank said, although Islamist militants had discussed such an attack for some time in their communications. "Islamist terrorists have repeatedly promoted diverse instructions, including for production of ricin from ricin grains, on their advertising channels," Frank told SWR. The case has fanned concerns about a possible Islamist attack using the lethal toxin after a similar case in France last month. A source in Germany's BfV domestic intelligence service said Islamists could stage such an attack in Germany at any time. Islamic State militants had experimented with ricin in the past and had also manufactured it, the source said. Holger Muench, president of the Federal Criminal Office, told the broadcaster RBB-Inforadio in a separate interview that the Tunisian suspect had manufactured ricin and objects were found in searches that could be used to make a bomb. GBA said the investigation showed the suspect had been in touch with people from the "radical Islamist" community, but investigators were still trying to determine if those people were themselves members of a militant group. It said investigators also found 250 metal bearings, two bottles of acetone nail polish remover, wires and 950 grams of a grey powder that contained aluminium and explosive materials from fireworks. (Reporting by Thorsten Severin and Andrea Shalal; Writing by Michelle Martin and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Alison Williams) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The United States received more asylum requests than any other developed nation in 2017, overtaking Germany, OECD said in a report. Paris: The United States facing massive controversy over immigration received more asylum requests than any other developed nation in 2017, overtaking Germany, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report published on Wednesday. Asylum requests went up by 26 percent in the US to 330,000 last year, the OECD said in its annual International Migration Outlook. Germany, which had topped the ranking since 2013, meanwhile saw a 73 percent drop in applications to 198,000 as the massive influx to Europe across the Mediterranean has slowed, the report said. The report was released as President Donald Trump faces a cacophony of criticism over his administration's practice of separating migrant children from their parents on the US-Mexico border. "The refugee crisis has heightened concerns in the public opinion about the potential benefits of migration," the OECD's labour director Stefano Scarpetta wrote in the report. If countries want to work together better on migration and protect refugees, "these concerns must be addressed." Trump has promised a "zero tolerance" approach to immigration, vowing that America will not become a "migrant camp". But the policy of separating families has sparked a huge uproar, with Democrats who have visited detention facilities describing crying children held in cage-like conditions. The United Nations (UN) has slammed the separation practice as unconscionable, while Amnesty International blasted it as "nothing short of torture." Jobs needed for young men In Europe, which has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants arrive on flimsy boats since 2015, the OECD warned that governments needed to find jobs for young refugees or risk fuelling anti-immigrant sentiment over their failure to integrate. Young men with little education make up a disproportionate number of the roughly four million people who have claimed asylum in Europe since 2014, the Paris-based rich nations' club said. While it stressed the influx has so far had relatively little impact on locals' chances of getting a job, it said countries like Germany and Sweden, which have taken in particularly large numbers, could see a rise in unemployment. In Germany, it predicted migrants could swell the number of unemployed by about six percent by the end of 2020, which would bring the unemployment rate up around half a percentage point. The warning comes as tensions over migration have returned to the fore in European politics, not least in Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel's interior minister is calling for a tougher approach. The OECD said the swelling numbers of young men looking for manual work could create pressure in countries like Germany as they compete for jobs with unemployed locals. In both Austria and Germany their arrival could grow this segment of the labour market by up to 15 percent by the end of 2020. "Young, low-educated men are over-represented among refugees," the report said. "Since this population group is already vulnerable in most host countries, well-targeted measures are needed to provide them with adequate support," it added. "Further deterioration of employment outcomes in this group could negatively affect the public perception of the impact of refugees on the economy." It called for "policy support for low-educated men in general" to help them win jobs as well as "effective integration measures specifically for recently arrived refugees". Unemployment has been falling for years in Germany, with fewer out of work in May than at any time since reunification in 1990 though many who recently arrived as refugees are yet to join the labour market, undergoing job training or language classes. The report noted governments are increasingly turning their attention to how to integrate those who stay as arrivals drop, with asylum claims falling 46 percent last year to 650,000 from 1.2 million in 2016. Yet European states are still feuding over how to handle arrivals themselves, as shown by Italy and Malta's recent refusal to take in the 630 migrants on board the Aquarius rescue ship. As part of the 2018 Trump administration's family separation policy, nearly 2,000 minors were separated from their parents while trying to illegally cross the US-Mexico border and placed in detention centers. While US president Donald Trump remained defiantly unapologetic about his administration's border-protection policies in the face of rising national outrage over the forced separation of migrant children from their parents, Wikipedia has added "this shameful chapter of American history" to its list of concentration camps. The new addition to the page titled "List of concentration and internment camps", says: "As part of the 2018 Trump administration's family separation policy, nearly 2,000 minors were separated from their parents while trying to illegally cross the US-Mexico border and placed in detention centers. Rolling Stone likened these centers to "prisons" while The Houston Chronicle reported that a movement swelled online to call them "concentration camps." Similarly, former First Lady of the United States Laura Bush compared the images of the centers to US Japanese internment camps during the Second World War. 16 out of 34 of the centers located in Texas had previously been cited by Texas officials for more than 150 health violations. The former head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Sandweg, was critical of child separation telling NBC News, "You could easily end up in a situation where the gap between a parents deportation and a childs deportation is years." The Wikipedia page on list of concentration and internment camps has catalogued history's worst incidents, which includes gulags of the Soviet Union, the British militarys South African camps during the Boer War, and Americas internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The latest addition has started a string of debate on the page, among the editors of the online encyclopaedia whether the addition of the new is appropriate. "People crossing the border ports of entry are doing so against US law, and their imprisonment is legal, though morally and ethically bankrupt. Our laws also say that children cannot be imprisoned. Therefore, the children must be held somewhere for processing and release to a guardian." "But this not a concentration camp and should not be in this list. The existing article on Trump administration family separation policy sufficient covers this situation without further politicizing it by associating them with Nazism." "No comparison with extermination camps or the Holocaust is being made here. But this is a list of concentration and internment camps, and these are very clearly internment camps. For children. In America. In 2018. For shame." The detention centres along the US-Mexico border currently has hundreds of migrant children who have been separated from their parents in the last six weeks. From 19 April to 31 May, nearly 2,000 children were separated from the migrants' families while trying to seek asylum in the US by crossing the border, TIME reported quoting officials. But the situation, as horrifying as it may already seem, could get worse a senior official with the Department of Health and Human Services told The Washington Examiner that 11,500 children were already being held in detention centres, and the number could rise to 30,000 by August. Prior procedure had limited prosecution for many family entrants, in part because regulations prohibit detaining children with their parents since the children are not charged with a crime and the parents are. The policy change was meant to deter unlawful crossings and Attorney-General Jeff Sessions issued a warning last month to those entering the US illegally that their children "inevitably for a period of time might be in different conditions". The current holding areas have drawn widespread attention after journalists gained access to one site Sunday. At a McAllen, Texas detention centre, hundreds of immigrant children wait in a series of cages created by metal fencing. One cage had 20 children inside. Scattered about are bottles of water, bags of chips and large foil sheets intended to serve as blankets. With inputs from agencies Washington's withdrawal from the UN human rights body is the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Washington/United Nations: The United States withdrew from a "hypocritical and self-serving" United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday over what it called chronic bias against Israel, a move activists warned would make advancing human rights globally even more difficult. Standing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting US' efforts to reform the council. She also criticized countries which shared US values and encouraged Washington to remain, but "were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo." Washington's withdrawal is the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It also comes as the United States faces intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein on Monday called on Washington to halt its "unconscionable" policy. "Look at the Council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights," said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of Congo. She did not mention Saudi Arabia, which rights groups pushed to be suspended in 2016 over killings of civilians in the Yemen war. Among reforms the United States had pushed for was to make it easier to kick out member states with egregious rights records. Currently a two-thirds majority vote by the 193-member UN General Assembly is needed to suspend a member state. Haley also said the "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights." Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US decision. The United States has long shielded its ally Israel at the United Nations. In citing what it says is bias against Israel, the Trump administration could further fuel Palestinian arguments that Washington cannot be a neutral mediator as it prepares to roll out a West Asia peace plan. Washington also relocated its embassy to Jerusalem after recognising it as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of US policy. The United States is half-way through a three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if it was not overhauled. 'Misguided policy' Rights groups have criticized the Trump administration for not making human rights a priority in its foreign policy. Critics say this sends a message that the administration turns a blind eye to human rights abuses in some parts of the world. "Given the state of human rights in today's world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back," Zeid said after Haley announced the US withdrawal. Reuters reported last week that talks on reforming the council had failed to meet Washington's demands, suggesting the Trump administration would quit. "The Human Rights Council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those that committed no offence," Pompeo said. Diplomats have said the US withdrawal could bolster countries such as Cuba, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan, which resist what they see as UN interference in sovereign issues. Haley said the withdrawal "is not a retreat from our human rights commitments." Twelve rights and aid groups, including Human Rights First, Save the Children and CARE, warned Pompeo the US withdrawal would "make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world." Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program, said Trump's "misguided policy of isolationism only harms American interests." The EU said Washington's decision "risks undermining the role of the US as a champion and supporter of democracy on the world stage". British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was regrettable and that the council was the "best tool the international community has to address impunity." First member to withdraw The Human Rights Council meets three times a year to examine human rights violations worldwide. It has mandated independent investigators to look at situations including Syria, North Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan. Its resolutions are not legally binding but carry moral authority. When the Council was created in 2006, US president George W Bush's administration shunned the body. Under President Barack Obama the United States was elected for a maximum two consecutive terms on the council by the UN General Assembly. After a year off, Washington was re-elected in 2016 for its current third term. UN officials said the United States would be the first member to withdraw from the council. Haley said a year ago that Washington was reviewing its membership. The body has a permanent standing agenda item on suspected violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories that Washington wanted removed. The council in May voted to probe killings in Gaza and accused Israel of using excessive force. The United States and Australia cast the only "no" votes. "The UN Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel," said Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth. The US Senate on Tuesday passed with an overwhelming majority a $ 716 billion defence bill which among other things seeks to strengthen ties with America's 'Major Defence Partner' India. Washington: The US Senate on Tuesday passed with an overwhelming majority a $716 billion defence bill which among other things seeks to strengthen ties with America's 'Major Defence Partner' India. The US recognised India as a "Major Defence Partner" in 2016, a designation that allows India to buy more advanced and sensitive technologies from America at par with that of its closest allies and partners, and ensures enduring cooperation into the future. The National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2019, passed by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote of 85-10, is named in the honour of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, who is battling cancer for the past several months. "This legislation continues our reform agenda and helps better position the Department of Defence and the joint force to implement the National Defence Strategy by continuing to restore readiness, rebuild capacity and modernise capabilities," McCain said. The House has already passed the bill. The two different versions of the bill now heads for a conference between the Senate and the House. Once the joint committee agrees on an identical version, they would have to be voted by the House and the Senate again before being sent to the White House for US President Donald Trump's assent. The Senate version of the bill authorises $5.2 billion for the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund, USD 350 million in Coalition Support Funds to reimburse certain nations for support provided to or in connection with US military operations and authorises USD 300 million to train and equip the vetted Syrian opposition to counter the ISIS terror group. The bill "expresses the sense of the Senate that the US should strengthen and enhance its major defence partnership with India". It also expresses the sense of the Senate that if Turkey purchases the S-400 air defence system from Russia, the President should impose sanctions against Turkey under the Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act. The Senate bill authorises $ 500 million for US-Israel missile defence cooperation and up to $ 50 million for US-Israel counter-tunnel cooperation. In what is being described could be a major clash between the Congress and the White House, the Senate as part of NDAA-2019, reinstated trade restrictions on ZTE. "Importantly, this legislation would also ensure that neither ZTE nor Huawei will be eligible for government contracts in the future. "To further prioritise our national security, I also supported the inclusion of a bipartisan CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) bill similar to what we passed in the Banking Committee to ensure that foreign investments in the US do not pose a national security risk," Senator Mark Warner said. The bill also allows a pilot programme for testing machine-based inspections in place of humans to determine the authenticity and security of microelectronic parts in weapons systems a necessary ability in an era of Chinese-made knockoffs and counterfeits. "No country has been more aggressive than China in going after American technology in sectors like aviation, robotics, new energy vehicles, and others where the US has established ourselves as a global leader. "Our bipartisan bill will give CFIUS and our export control agencies the tools they need to ensure that these types of investments don't slip through the cracks," said Senator Sherrod Brown. The NDAA also calls out China for illegally creating and fortifying islands in the South China Sea for military purposes and modernises the Committee on Foreign Investment to address national security concerns and stop China from trying to steal sensitive technology from US companies. "The NDAA counters Russia's growing aggression and influence across Eastern Europe by directing a study on permanently stationing US forces in Poland and conducting a study on Russia's malign influence around the world," said Senator Jim Inhofe. US' pullout from the UN Human Rights Council prompted reactions from countries like Israel, China, and several rights groups and activists. The United States on Tuesday announced it is leaving the United Nations' Human Rights Council (UNHRC). UN ambassador Nikki Haley called the body "an organisation that is not worthy of its name", said the US had given it "opportunity after opportunity" to make changes and criticised the council for "its chronic bias against Israel". "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. The announcement came just a day after the UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein denounced the Donald Trump administration for separating children from their immigrant parents. Haley has been threatening to leave the council since 2017 unless it made changes advocated by the US. 'An unequivocal statement that enough is enough,' Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the announcement and thanked Trump, Pompeo, and Haley for "their courageous decision against the hypocrisy and the lies of the so-called UN Human Rights Council". Instead of dealing with regimes that systematically violate human rights, the UNHRC obsessively focuses on Israel, the one genuine democracy in the Middle East. Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) June 19, 2018 Netanyahu said, "The US decision to leave this prejudiced body is an unequivocal statement that enough is enough." Israel has been the subject of more council resolutions than any other country in the world by far, and it is the only country to have its rights record examined at every session of the council, which meets three times each year. 'US' image as defender of human rights on verge of collapse' China expressed regret over the decision with State media saying the image of the United States as a defender of rights was on the verge of collapse. China expresses regret at the US decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular briefing. "China will continue, working with all sides, to make its contribution to the healthy development of human rights around the world via constructive dialogue and cooperation. Asked about US criticism of Chinas record, Geng said the United States was ignoring the facts and that anyone who was without prejudice could see the enormous progress China had made on human rights. The official publication of Chinas top anti-graft watchdog said in a commentary on Wednesday the US decision to leave the council has put the American peoples boastful image of being a defender of human rights on the verge of collapse. It said that the separation of immigrant families on the US-Mexico border showed the hypocrisy of the United States and that it cannot and should not criticise other countries rights record. Human rights have long been a source of tension between the worlds two largest economies, especially since 1989, when the United States imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijings Tiananmen Square. At least two countries at the council are bound to face effects of the withdrawal: China and Israel. The US, as at other UN organisations, is Israel's biggest defender. At the rights council, the United States has recently been the most unabashed critic of rights abuses in China. 'US exit reflects its unilateralist approach' Russia said the exit reflects Washington's unilateralist approach to global affairs. Russia's UN mission released a statement saying the US had tried but failed to turn the council into an "obedient instrument for advancing their interests and punishing the countries it dislikes." It added that the US criticism of the council for failing to make changes advocated by Washington appears "cynical." The Russian mission described the council as a "key international platform for cooperation in protecting human rights." 'Pull-out risks undermining US' role' The Trump administration's decision to pull the United States out of the UN-backed Human Rights Council "risks undermining the role of the US as a champion and supporter of democracy on the world stage", said the European Union (EU). EU spokeswoman Maia Kocijancic says the 28-member bloc remains "steadfastly and reliably committed" to the 47-country Geneva body. The EU said that the United States has "always been at the forefront" of protection of human rights and has been a "strong partner" of the bloc at the council. It said it shares the aim to make the council "more efficient," noting this year's 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration was championed in part by former US first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. 'Would've preferred US to stay' UN chief Antonio Guterres defended the UNHRC and said he would have much preferred for the US to stay in the body. Guterres said the council was a part of the UNs overall human rights architecture, which plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide. The secretary-general would have much preferred for the United States to remain in the Human Rights Council, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. A group of 12 organisations including Save the Children, Freedom House and the United Nations Association-USA said there were "legitimate concerns" about the council's shortcomings but that none of them warranted a US exit. "This decision is counterproductive to American national security and foreign policy interests and will make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world," the organisations said in a joint statement. Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program, said Trump's "misguided policy of isolationism only harms American interests." Amnesty International voiced their disagreement with the US' decision on Twitter: Ten good reasons for the #US to leave the UN Human Rights Council. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. (there are none) AmnestyInternational (@amnesty) June 19, 2018 Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said: "All Trump seems to care about is defending Israel." The Trump-Netanyahu strategy: since you can't get the UN Human Rights Council to stop criticizing Israel (and it shouldn't), US withdraws to try to discredit it. But Trump trying to discredit anyone on rights is, sadly, laughable. https://t.co/0DKSXB32fb pic.twitter.com/MB5cDeshwL Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) June 20, 2018 The United States has opted out of the Human Rights Council before: The George W Bush administration chose not to seek its membership when the council was created in 2006. The US joined the body only under then president Barack Obama in 2009. With inputs from agencies The lack of security for persons and their property, targeting life and land in Uganda are a major public concern. The recent killing of Hon. Ibrahim Abiriga, a high profile victim, gunned down heinously with his family member, demonstrated that no one is safe. Over the years, we have witnessed heinous crimes, ranging from the killing of Muslim clerics, kidnaps; killing of vulnerable young women whose bodies are dumped along Entebbe Road, killing minority (gays), and so forth. Most of the murders do not make headlines obviously. However, this escalating state of insecurity is unacceptable. For all these deaths, the population has become alarmed and lives in fear, distrust and apathy to a system that draws its legitimacy by coercing civilians. Communities are suffering because the social capital that once bound them together, has eroded amidst this spate of insecurity. Moreover, over the years, Uganda Police has demonstrated that its criminal investigation department is not only incompetent but highly corrupted. In fact, the root cause of insecurity in Uganda seems to lie in the pervasive corruption that has eaten the social and cultural fabric of society. Corruption as a product of bad governance has compromised the fundamental foundation of commitment to accountability, and pursuit of equality in society. Corruption challenges the legitimacy of this regime and its commitment to develop Uganda. As such, public faith in criminal investigation has collapsed. When people within the power nexus, and those with unfettered access to power, realize that they are safeguarded by an infinite system, they stop at nothing in abusing that power. The criminalization and politicization of the Uganda Police was meticulously achieved under former Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura, on the pretext of creating an environment of lifelong presidency. This is a major source of insecurity because people no longer see a material chance to hold this regime accountable. This low perception and trust are reiterated by Police never actually arresting the right suspects, since the Police is itself complicit in these crimes. Criminal investigations are compromised by unnecessary moribund arrests and forced confessions under severe and inhumane torture. Mostly, police victims who are unable to secure competent lawyers, face incarceration for crimes they never committed. The Police story is convoluted and treacherous to those who suffer an abortion of justice. Succinct public accountability for crimes is key in restoring public trust towards national security. The high crime rate discourages investments and tourism, and sets the country on a path to anxiety. As such, it deprives Ugandans of employment opportunities and stifles the ability for a leap forward, socially and economically. Additionally, rampant land grabs and forced displacements such as those in Amuru district, create an increasingly desperate population that may turn to crime. Moreover, crime is taking on a new format, targeting civilians, opposition actors and public servants to seemingly political assassinations. The death of a Ugandan should not be reduced to a statistic or singular act. Every life matters. For every person who is killed, the impact on their families remains monumental. mordust_26@yahoo.ca The writer stays in Canada By Oswaldo Rivas MASAYA, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Nicaraguan police and masked gunmen clashed with anti-government protesters on Tuesday, leaving at least six dead following the suspension of peace talks to quell two months of deadly demonstrations, a human rights group said. By Oswaldo Rivas MASAYA, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Nicaraguan police and masked gunmen clashed with anti-government protesters on Tuesday, leaving at least six dead following the suspension of peace talks to quell two months of deadly demonstrations, a human rights group said. Youths armed with homemade mortars and slings fired off projectiles from behind brick barricades in the southern city of Masaya, video footage taken by Reuters showed. Protesters there have kept a police station under siege for over two weeks in defiance of President Daniel Ortega. Alvaro Leiva, a spokesman for Nicaraguan human rights group ANPDH, said at least 34 people had been injured in Masaya and six killed. Police declined to comment. In a video provided to Reuters by Leiva, a woman standing over the body of a man on the ground calls out for help to a line of police officers in riot gear who stand nearby, unmoving. "Help me," she screams. "He is not a dog." Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video. Nicaragua has been convulsed by unrest since Ortega in April proposed cutting pension benefits to cover a social security shortfall. The plan, later dropped, triggered demonstrations that turned fatal and led to demands for his resignation. Since then, at least 174 people have been killed in clashes between pro-Ortega forces and demonstrators, rights groups say. Representatives of civil society organizations have called for early elections to end the impasse, but they broke off talks with the government on Monday until Ortega sent an invitation for international observers to enter the Central American country. Juan Sebastian Chamorro, a leader of the main civic alliance seeking to broker agreement with the government, said there was no point in holding further talks about early elections "while people are being killed in the street." The U.S. government on Monday urged Nicaragua to stage early elections to end the violence, and Carlos Trujillo, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, (OAS) was due to arrive in Managua on Tuesday. Trujillo is scheduled to hold meetings to take stock of the situation ahead of an OAS permanent council special session on Nicaragua on Friday. (Additional reporting by Alonso Soto in Managua; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. On June 19, Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate the World Sickle Cell Day under the theme Break the Silence, Lets Care. This day is dedicated to promoting public knowledge and raise awareness about the sickle cell disease, while highlighting the challenges faced by the people living with the condition. Sickle cell disease causes progressive organ damage and episodes of severe pain and acute illness. These episodes result from the sticky and stiff red blood cells which clog tiny blood vessels. In Africa, Uganda has the fifth highest sickle cell burden. Sadly, the majority of our population is not aware of this. The ministry of Health indicated that 13.5 per cent of our population carries this condition. Currently about 25,000 babies are born, with sickle cell disease every year. Up to 80 per cent of those born will die before their fifth birthday without proper medical care. The prevalence of the condition varies by region and district. Being a carrier means that a person has a chance of having a child with sickle cell, if they have a baby with another carrier. Such unions continue to add to the sickle cell burden in Uganda. This means that everyone has a responsibility to know their sickle cell status. Couples should be encouraged to take a sickle cell test. Knowing your sickle cell type and making a conscious decision when choosing a partner can result in a sickle cell disease-free society. Persons with sickle cell traits should have counseling in order to better understand this. In a recent study conducted by the Uganda Sickle Cell Rescue Foundation and researchers from Clarke International University, 68.7 per cent of people interviewed said they cannot marry a person with sickle cell disease. Sickle Cell disease is not contagious. A person cannot get it through sex or interacting with someone who has it. This stigma is also fueled by labeling people with sickle cell as sicklers. We know from the developed world that newborn screening, penicillin prophylaxis, and comprehensive care are associated with a 70 per cent reduction in early deaths from sickle cell disease. However, these are yet to be effectively replicated in Uganda. The ministry of Health has already rolled out newborn screening in high burden areas, but uptake is still low. As parents, its our responsibility to request a sickle cell test when our babies have been born. Early diagnosis and treatment saves lives. After newborn screening, comprehensive care is required to be able to holistically manage and care for people living with sickle cell. However, this is still a challenge across the country because the numbers of specialized sickle cell clinics is still low. As organizations working in the sickle cell space, we need to work with the ministry of Health to support the establishment of sickle cell clinics in a sustainable manner. The ministry of Health, with a team of researchers from Makerere University, shared results from a Hydroxyurea study, where they highlighted that this drug is safe in Uganda. However, that drug is not yet supplied by the Government and the market cost is very prohibitive. As we commemorate this day, we need to remind the government of the need to avail hydroxyurea to thousands of Ugandans living with the sickle cell disease. Every child deserves a chance to have a productive life. Early diagnosis with prescribed medical care can offer that possibility. As we commemorate this World Sickle Cell day, let us show some compassion to people living with sickle cell. Let us all avoid the stigma and discrimination. Above all, let us all take a sickle cell test today. tkksharif@gmail.com. The writer is a person living with Sickle Cell disease and is the Executive Director of Uganda Sickle Cell Rescue Foundation The man who shot at President Milton Obote at Lugogo Indoor Stadium in 1969 could not stand the trauma of his action. It was his personal weakness a failure to fully transform into a good killer and not the agility of the state pursuing him that gave him away. For close to two months after the shooting, Mohammed Sebadduka ably eluded capture. Despite escaping capture, he was not free. The experience that he had shot and gravely wounded someone haunted him to destruction. It caused him insomnia, and when he was able to sleep, he suffered nightmares. Even learning that his victim had fully recovered from his wounds never gave him piece of mind. In the end, he sought the services of a witchdoctor for therapy, who instead gave him away to the authorities. Being a radical Kabaka Yekka enthusiast, semi-trained Sebadduka failed to become the long-awaited hero who would liberate Buganda from the blood sucker of Milton Obote, who had two years earlier assaulted the Kabaka. That he summoned the courage to take out Obote is a statement of his bravery and ambition. That he failed to deliver a killer shot is a statement of his poor training or lack of it. That he suffered immense psychological trauma after the entire incident, ending in his arrest is not a statement of his amateurism, but one about the complexity of killing and murder. Taking a life so violently and gruesomely is a specialised feat. Like several branches of medicine which involve entering into and exposing human flesh and blood, murder/assassinations require specialised training and experience. Bullets run through bodies with utmost aggression and violence. They jerk and tear through the body, wreaking havoc on soft and hard tissues. Head shots rip the skull apart, oozing blood and exposing shattering brain matter. Bones break, exposing that ugly sight of marrow mixed with blood. The body is forced into unnatural shapes. Joints are forced into opposite directions. The sight of blood, marrow and open flesh is sordid. Witnessing these images live and being fully aware that this ruin is a work of your own hands could be deeply devastating, even to the most hardened of criminals. Sometimes, even infantrymen and women are traumatised to self-immolation. Studies show that mental illness is one of the major causes of suicide among veterans returning from war. My point is this: To murder so wantonly and gruesomely, mostly apolitical women, former AIGP Felix Kaweesi, amiable MP Ibrahim Abiriga, Justice Joan Kagezi, innocent Muslim scholars and clerics and keep ones piece of mind; to shoot so meticulously without missing their target, requires great training and experience. Soldiers are trained for years before acquiring the dexterity and deftness that they so often display. Besides the training, most precision killers such as hitmen and assassins have to be constantly high on weed or live bizarre lifestyles. Stories abound that most of the 1986 NRA hitmen and assassins and arsonists, for years after the war, managed to sustain a semblance of equanimity only by infecting themselves with daily weed concoctions. Against the above, it is idiocy to believe that ordinary criminals, Muslim radicals, or the ghostly Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have the sophistication to execute the murders ongoing in Uganda. If indeed these murders were committed by ordinary semi-trained criminals, they would have been discovered a long time ago. Like the man who shot at President Obote, they would have exposed themselves, for no ordinary mortal can handle the aftermath of an assassination. Do not be fooled, even iron-bar hitmen are not ordinary criminals. Our history is replete with incidences of the state functionaries unleashing insecurity as a method of governmentality. As the arrest of former IGP Kale Kayihura and accusations against him take shape, the complexity involved in taking a life and the aftermath, is more reason to believe that our tormentors could not come from anywhere else other than the mainstream security establishment in the country. They are the only ones with the requisite know-how. Not every idiot can kill and leave with it. The author is a PhD fellow at Makerere Institute of Social Research. I was holed-up in my ancestral village in Bubulo visiting my parents, away from messy Kampala and the vicissitudes of breaking news. I kept my cell phone off most of the time. But then a BBC producer in Kampala got through. The Kayihura drama, she started. I almost wondered if Ugandas former defacto deputy president had formed a drama group and was planning a big stage performance in Kampala! Kale Kayihura served the Museveni regime with remarkable distinction. Musevenis leitmotif of securing himself in power and continuing to run Uganda as a personal fief, was the primary task Kayihura vigorously executed. And he did so with unrivalled tenacity since taking the helm of security in 2005. In his pivotal role for the regime, Kale amassed unprecedented power for the office of the Inspector General of Police. He received a free latitude so as to fully and faithfully serve the master. But the same powerful position he occupied and the enormity of power he wielded, made him inordinately vulnerable and highly resented within circles of palace politics and at the institution he headed. In the scramble to please the master and demonstrate his outstanding role, Kayihura openly insisted he was the lead security person and all other agencies had to work under him! In this, of course, he was not referring to the security of Ugandans and their property but securing the master in power. In 2010, in the wake of terrorist attacks in Kampala, he publically feuded with the Chieftaincy of Military of Intelligence, then commanded by Maj Gen James Mugira over handling suspects; engaged in open altercation with Gen David Sejusa, then coordinator of intelligence services, and most recently literally had a public quarrel with the now sacked security minister Lt Gen HenryTumukunde. But power is a double-edged sword. The more Kayihura became powerful, the more he was doomed to fall with a big bang. Someone close to the ruling palace, once told me Kayihura had antagonised way too many and run roughshod, that he would be on his own from the very day he got sacked. We knew his partisanship all too well, and the fact that his remit in police was to make it the frontal tool for regime survival. This column repeatedly underlined the damage done to the police as a law and order institution at the altar of serving the narrow agenda of a one-man rule. Officers known to stick to the professional creed and who insisted on remaining loyal to the cause of working for the public good, not the private needs of the rulers were side-lined. Senior officers like Julius Odwee, with a distinguished track-record and high-level professional competences, either opted for early retirement or simply stayed around quietly. In came the politically overzealous-type, who took command positions at district and regional levels and occupied critical positions at headquarters. Many had been recruited without regard to merit but on account of ethnicity and political connection. They lacked basic professional experience and a proper grasp of police work. The upshot was a police force whose top command make-up looked decidedly partisan and highly ethnicised. Kale on his part scoffed at critics who he thought did not appreciate his earnest determination to modernise the force and especially his pet subject of community policing, which he sought to activate via a dubious if criminal scheme of crime preventers. As it turns out, quite predictably, the demands of securing the regime necessarily looped in criminal conduct and runaway individual gross misconduct. In some ways, the police under Kayihura took the tenor of privatised use of the state coercive arsenal for personal aggrandisement. Ascending to higher service ranks was not predicated on professionalism and meritorious training but on blind loyalty, supplication and ethnicity. Many who ascended and became so powerful, including the few that are currently incarcerated or alleged to be subjects of investigation, received personal rewards for rendering personal, if illegal, service to Kale who had to meet the needs of the master in state house. Those individual officers in turn felt they too could get away with the criminal use of their positions and the police uniform and rank to pursue wealth and rushed enrichment. The whole Kayihura drama remains mysterious, for there was scarcely anything new that suddenly came to the attention of the master, for him to pull the plug on Kale in March and, worse still, move on him in a manner that has bewildered the public. He had only recently reappointed his man and defended his record. An eerie signal appeared earlier though, when a small coterie of Kales boys including the notorious Abdallah Kittata, was slang into the track of detention, which the master Kale too has now trudged. Is it palace politics especially since Kale was known to be in the bad books of a very powerful member of the rulers, or was it matters of a neighbouring country? We may never know the full truth. What we cant avoid seeing though is the perils of roguish politics. All those who engage in it either as servants or masters, beneficiaries or benefactors one way or the other, end in tragedy. moses.khisa@gmail.com The author is an assistant professor of political science at North Carolina State University. The Yogi Adityanath government on Tuesday approved the proposal to allow Patanjali Ayurveda Pvt Ltd to transfer its land to its subsidiary company for setting up a Rs 6,000-crore mega food park in Greater Noida along the Yamuna Expressway. The clearance will enable the Baba Ramdev-led company to meet the Centre's June 30 deadline to complete the acquisition of land, for the final approval to set up the food park. Talking to India Today TV after the cabinet meeting the minister for industrial development Satish Mahana said "the issue with Patanjali has been resolved and now Baba Ramdev is free to develop his food and herbal park in accordance with his plans." Patanjali can also lease out 20 acres of land to other companies for commercial activities. The permission had earlier been withheld as the infrastructure and industrial development policy of 2012, under which land had been allocated to Patanjali along the Yamuna Expressway in 2016, did not allow for land to be subleased. The proposal has now been cleared by the state cabinet. Earlier the Yogi government was hesitant to include the name of Food and Herbal Park and was not allowing Patanjali Ayurveda to lease 20 acres of land for commercial purpose. However, Baba Ramdev's pressure worked as he had threatened to pull out from UP. A day after the group had threatened to cancel the project, BJP president Amit Shah met Ramdev under the party's 'Sampark for Samarthan' campaign and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had called up Ramdev and Patanjali Group CEO Acharya Balakrishna personally to assure them of all possible co-operation. Along with its request for transfer of land to its subsidiary company, Patanjali had also asked for a government subsidy of Rs 150 crore for setting up the food park although the subsidiary company had no land in its name. The Centre had extended the deadline for the approval of the food park project by 15 days till June 30 so that Patanjali Ayurved could get more time to meet the required eligibility criteria such as acquisition of land, for the final clearance to go ahead with the project. Patanjali plans to invest up to Rs 6,000 crore to set up a plant over 425 acres of land along the Yamuna Expressway through its subsidiary company Patanjali Food and Herbal Park. The conditions that were to be complied with include acquisition and transfer of land in the name of Patanjali Ayurved's subsidiary. Patanjali wanted to transfer 91 acres of this land to its subsidiary, Patanjali Food and Herbal Park Noida Pvt Ltd, for setting up a mega food park. The firm had been given the ministry's in-principle approval in January for the food park. But the company had to meet four to five conditions, including submission of land and bank loan papers. Patanjali was given also given a one-month extension till end of June by the ministry to get the requisite clearances to start the project. Patanjali had said that its mega food park would produce goods worth Rs 25,000 crore annually once it started running at full capacity. The project is expected to create 10,000 direct jobs. Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian has announced his intention to relinquish his post and return to the United States. The economist had stepped into Raghuram Rajan's shoes after he took over as RBI Governor. Subramanian took on the job on October 16, 2014, after the post had been lying vacant for over a year. Though his three-year term ended last October, the government had extended his appointment by one year. In a Facebook post titled 'Thank you Arvind', Union Minister Arun Jaitley today disclosed that the CEA will be leaving the finance ministry because of "pressing family commitments". According to the minister, Subramanian informed him of his decision on a video call a few days ago. "His reasons were personal but extremely important for him. He left me with no option but to agree with him," Jaitley wrote in the post, adding that Subramanian had felt "torn" between family commitments and his current "fulfilling" job even when the first extension had been offered. Jaitley, who was the Finance Minister before temporarily relinquishing his portfolio to recuperate from a kidney transplant, also spoke highly of Subramanian's contribution over the years. "His early diagnosis of the twin balance-sheet had led us to adopt the macro-economic strategy of higher public investment in the Budget of 2015-16. He conceptualised JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile) as a data base for availing public benefits... He came out with newer ideas, policy reforms in the sectors of clothing, fertilizers, kerosene, power and pulses. His report on the Revenue Neutral Rate was of great use in forging a consensus which led to the constitution amendment enabling the GST," said Jaitley. The minister further said that the four "Economic Surveys" that Subramanian had presented were "treated by several independent critics as one of the best ever produced", the latest one getting "about 15 million visitors" from 117 countries. "He conducted the first online course on Indian economy for the benefits of students and teachers across the country. He launched the Government's online education platform "Swayam", which became one of the most followed courses in India," added Jaitley, concluding by saying that Subramanian's departure "will be missed". In response, Subramanian took to Twitter to thank Jaitley. "Profoundly grateful & humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister @arunjaitley announcing my decision to return - for personal reasons - to researching & writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had. Many many to thank," Subramanian tweeted. He is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington and has reported been on leave from the institute during the time he has served as the CEA. With PTI inputs Euronews publishes yet another article about Georgian National Ballet - GeorgianJournal Amazon Mobile Accessories Fest: Buy power banks, Bluetooth headsets and more starting Rs. 99 Features oi-Harish Kumar Amazon is hosting the Mobile Accessories Fest. During the sale period, you can avail considerable discount on a slew of mobile accessories such as power banks, cases, covers, Bluetooth headsets, screen protectors, cables and chargers for your smartphone. SEE ALSO: Amazon Samsung Days Sale: Offers on Galaxy Note8, Galaxy A8 Plus, Galaxy J4, A6 Plus and more To avail the offer, you need add the products you have chosen to buy to your cart. Now, choose a shipping address and make payment to avail the discount on the necessary accessories for your smartphone. If you are in need of any accessory such as the ones mentioned above for your smartphone, then you shouldn't miss out on the sale happening on Amazon India. SEE ALSO: Great iPhone Exchange Offers on Flipkart: iPhone X, iPhone 8, 8 Plus, 7 Plus and more Do remember that the retailer has not revealed any time limit until when this offer will go on, so you might have to hurry up to grab the discount before the sale is over. Take a look at the deals from the list given below. Power Banks - Starting Rs 499 Get power banks from a slew of brands such as Intex, Ambrane, Lapguard, Xiaomi, iVOOMi, Lenovo and more starting Rs. 499. Latest mobile cases starting Rs. 99 Protect your smartphone with attractive cases and covers starting as low as Rs. 99. Bluetooth Headsets starting Rs. 899 There is a wide range of Bluetooth headsets from Apple Airpod to the ones from homegrown brands on Amazon starting Rs. 899. Best screen protectors for your new smartphone starting Rs. 99 Get a screen protector, be it a tempered glass protector or a normal screen guard from Rs. 99. Cables starting Rs. 99 You can get charging cables for your smartphone starting from just Rs. 99 during the sale. Chargers starting Rs. 229 There are wireless chargers, car chargers, and more available from Rs. 299 on Amazon. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Sacred Games India's first 4K TV series to be release on Netflix News oi-Karan Netflix is bringing up an array of the show this monsoon, out of which it's going to broadcast India's Original series which is also going to be India's first 4K television series called Sacred Games. Netflix is bringing up an array of the show this monsoon, out of which it's going to broadcast India's Original series which is also going to be India's first 4K television series. The Netflix series is called 'Sacred Games'. The series is based on a book written by Vikram Chandra. 'Sacred Games' is a story of friendship and betrayal, redemption, violence and the characters' intertwined lives, set against the backdrop of an astonishing modern city and its dark side. If these aren't reasons enough, there are more to get you pumped about the series, and we assure you, it'll be worth your while. 'Sacred Games' is going to be the first Indian television series to be shot on the 4K. Yes, 4K! All this to make those heart-racing, jaw-clenching action-packed moments, alive on the screen. Chances you'll never miss a clue when the chase beings, thanks to 4K stellar screen clarity. In the series the best of Indian talent is coming all together. The Sacred Games has cased Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap, Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Radhika Apte. All the characters are playing their own important role in the series and the story is coming from the heart of modern-day Mumbai. With this series Netflix takes you on a thrilling journey with crisply told stories through workshops it conducts for the writers of their originals. Sartaj Singh is the protagonists of the story which will be played by Saif Ali Khan. He will embark on his adventures to save the city. 'Sacred Games' is your go-to show, to binge uninterrupted! Just make sure you download episodes before leaving home or stream on your mobile using data saver mode. The first Netflix India Original releasing on July 6. Meanwhile, it is also released in 190 countries, that too, all at once breaking all barriers of language and culture. Netflix algorithm knows which members are fans of crime, action, thriller shows, and will show them Sacred Games at just the moment when they're ready for the next binge. It means that a crime series lover in Miami can follow Radhika Apte's Anjali Mathur at the same time as a member in Mumbai. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Xiaomi Mi MAX 3 live images leaked online with an iPhone X like camera News oi-Vivek Xiaomi Mi Max 3 has an iPhone X like dual camera stack Xiaomi has launched a wide range of smartphones in the year 2018 and now the company might also launch the all-new Xiaomi Mi MAX 3 in the coming weeks. Recently, the smartphone was listed on Geekbench with complete tech specifications and now the actual images of the smartphone have been leaked online. Design In term of design, the smartphone looks like a stretched Xiaomi Mi 6X, which was recently launched in China and also expected to launch in India as the Xiaomi Mi A2. The smartphone has a full metal unibody design, unlike the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro, the smartphone does not have a plastic antenna band on the top and bottom of the smartphone. The smartphone also has a dual camera setup at the back with a fingerprint scanner. On the front, the smartphone has an 18:9 aspect ratio display with narrow bezels on all four sides of the smartphone. The smartphone has a notch-less design with a display which offers rounded corners. The leaked images are in gold and rose gold color with a display offering white bezels on the front. Similarly, the company might also launch the Xiaomi Mi MAX 3 in Black color as well. Leaked Specifications According to TENAA, the smartphone has a 6.99-inch IPS LCD display with an FHD+ (2160 x 1080px) IPS LCD screen protected by 2.5D curved tempered glass on the top. The display resolution is similar to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro. As this phone has more screen real-estate, the smartphone will have less than 400 ppi. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by an Octa-core chipset with 1.8 GHz (might be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636) with either 3/4/6 GB of RAM and 32/64/128 GB of onboard storage with a micro SD card for additional storage expansion. In terms of optics, the smartphone has a 12 MP RGB shooter (with 1.4-micron pixel size) and a secondary camera for portrait shots. There is an 8 MP front-facing selfie camera, which is expected to offer face unlock and other AI features. The smartphone has a massive 5400 mAh sealed battery with a USB type C port with Qualcomm Quick charge 3.0 capability along with a dedicated 3.5 mm headphone jack. The smartphone runs on the latest Android 8.1 Oreo OS with custom MIUI 9.5 OS and just like other Xiaomi smartphones, the Xiaomi Mi MAX 3 is eligible to receive MIUI 10 software update in the future. Conclusion Overall the Xiaomi Mi MAX 3 seems like a great upgrade over the Mi MAX 2. All these specifications will make into the smartphone, as TENAA never goes wrong. But, the company is yet to make an announcement regarding the launch event in China and India. Finally, going by the specs, the entry-level model will cost at least Rs 15,000 and the high-end variant with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage is expected to cost upwards of Rs 20,000. Source Best Mobiles in India Google will soon fix the Google Home and Chromecast bug which reveals a users location News oi-Sandeep Sarkar The bug makes use of the location obtained by the nearby Wi-Fi networks using a Google Home or Chromecast in order to track a user's location Google Home and the Chromecast are surely among the best products which Google has released in the recent times. Both the products are used by a wide range of consumers and are among the successful products launched by the tech giant. However, it seems that like all the other IoT devices both these devices have also some security-related issues. As per some reports, it is being hinted that there could be a major privacy breach in both of the devices. It is being reported that there is a bug in the Google Home and the Chromecast that allows the websites to collect user data location precisely. The bug was first reported by a researcher Craig Young at the security firm Tripwire. According to him, the bug works by exploiting a loophole in the Google's system to look for a list of nearby wireless networks along with the Google's precise geo-location lookup services. The bug makes use of the location obtained by the nearby Wi-Fi networks using a Google Home or Chromecast in order to track a user's location using a malicious website. The fact which is more concerning is that these devices hardly need any authentication, which any third party could use to access a user's personal address in very less time. According to security reporter Brain Krebs, this is the way how Google's geolocation data gives the third party the ability to "determine a user's location within a few feet" which is different from a user's standard IP-based geolocation, he further added that: It is common for websites to keep a record of the numeric Internet Protocol (IP) address of all visitors, and those addresses can be used in combination with online geolocation tools to glean information about each visitor's hometown or region. But this type of location information is often quite imprecise. In many cases, IP geolocation offers only a general idea of where the IP address may be based geographically. This is typically not the case with Google's geolocation data, which includes comprehensive maps of wireless network names around the world, linking each individual Wi-Fi network to a corresponding physical location. Armed with this data, Google can very often determine a user's location to within a few feet (particularly in densely populated areas), by triangulating the user between several nearby mapped Wi-Fi access points. Google, on the other hand, has acknowledged the bug and is assuring that it will be rolling out a fix soon which is expected in the middle of July. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications We did not bow down to a discriminatory request: Bharti Airtel News oi-Priyanka According to Airtel, that its representative was doing their job and trying to resolve the issue. India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said that it did not bow down to a discriminatory request. "For us, Monday was simply a case of two dedicated professionals, Shoaib and Gaganjot, following a dutiful course in their regular work shift...The idea is to minimize the time taken to resolve any customer query. So when a customer writes in and one advisor is busy, the query gets assigned to the next available advisor automatically. Which is exactly what happened with Shoaib and Gaganjot," Airtel said in its Twitter post on Wednesday. The letter comes after when telco is facing a lot of criticism on social platforms after it accepted or bending down to an outrageous demand by a customer to assign a Hindu representative for her request. Airtel said: "We are still trying to wrap our head around how one colleague responding on behalf of another is misconstrued as our 'acceptance of discrimination'. We did not and we repeat DID NOT change the advisor because of the unfathomable request from the said customer." At Airtel, we never have and never will succumb to differentiating on the basis of religion, ethnicity or caste," the company said in a statement, adding that the world was watching and reading into the incident "from a different lens", the telco further said. According to Airtel, that its representative was doing their job and trying to resolve the issue. "While Shoaib and Gaganjot went about working on this case they learned a harsh lesson. That their religious identity matters. That they should check identities before taking up the responsibility of a service request," Airtel added. Source Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications As part of its crackdown on black money, the Modi government has been on an overdrive when it comes to identifying shell companies in the past couple of years. In 2017-18, the Registrar of Companies (RoCs) had struck off around 2.26 lakh companies for failing to file financial statements for the previous two fiscals or more. "For the second drive to be launched during 2018-19, 2,25,910 companies have been further identified for being struck off [the registry]," a finance ministry statement had said earlier this month. But identification is only a part of the battle, as the RoC is now finding out. Officials in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) told The Business Standard that the government has not been able to trace the Permanent Account Numbers (PANs) of 80,000 companies from the first lot. This, they added, is hampering investigations. "Banks were asked to furnish the transaction data of these shell companies. But they did not respond despite multiple reminders. Banks have told us that without PAN card details, it was not possible to track these companies," a source told the daily. The report added that the government, so far, has transaction details of only 73,000 companies. These companies deposited Rs 240 billion at the time of demonetisation. The Task Force on shell companies - constituted in February 2017, three months after demonetisation - has already identified 16,537 confirmed shell companies among them. The MCA, earlier this month, also disclosed that another 16,739 companies had been identified on the basis of 100 per cent common directorships with the confirmed shell companies. The Task Force now has 80,670 companies on its 'Suspect List', which has been drawn up by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) using certain red flag indicators. With a second list already identified in the efforts to clean up the registry, more shell companies are expected to be unmasked. Citing a source, the daily added that out of the 1.1 million companies registered with the RoC, it is possible that only around 500,000 would be fully operative. The report added that in a recent communication to the MCA, the income-tax department had asked the RoC to re-activate companies with tax liabilities and pending cases. The taxman reportedly also wants the ministry to inform them before striking companies off the registry. In a letter to the principal chief commissioner of Income Tax in March, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Sushil Chandra had called for fast-track prosecution proceedings in cases where the settlement commission had rejected entry operators who claimed advantages of long-term capital gains. The report added that the department has ordered officers to file cases against the dormant companies before the National Company Law Tribunal by the end of this month. The noose is certainly fast tightening around shell companies. With PTI inputs The initial public offer of railways consultancy firm RITES opens today with the government eyeing about Rs 466 crore via sale of 12% stake or 2.52 crore equity shares. The Miniratna firm, which is a leading player in the transport consultancy and engineering sector, will be the first state-owned company to hit the IPO market in the current fiscal. The RITES stock is available at a price band of Rs 180-185 per share. The RITES IPO closes on June 22. The paid-up share capital of RITES currently stands at Rs 200 crore. The government holds 100 per cent stake in the company. The shares are available in a market lot of 80. Around 2.52 crore equity shares of Rs 10 (face value) are being offered for sale. The book running lead managers for the issue are Elara Capital (India) Ltd, IDBI Capital Markets & Securities Ltd, IDFC Bank Ltd and SBI Capital Markets Ltd. Discount of Rs 6 per share is being offered to retail investors and employees. 12 lakh shares in the issue will be offered to employees. The government has set a target of raising Rs 80,000 crore through PSU disinvestment in the current fiscal. This is lower than Rs 1.03 lakh crore raised in last fiscal. Strong order book & financial performance: The firm's revenue from operations has increased at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.60% from Rs 1,012.68 crore in the financial year 2015 to Rs 1,353.35 crore in the financial year 2017, and its profit after tax has increased at a CAGR of 7.63% from Rs 3,12.21 crore in financial year 2015 to Rs 3,61.66 crore in the Financial Year 2017. On standalone basis, the firm has an order book of Rs 4,818.67 crore as on March 31, 2018 which includes 353 ongoing projects of value over Rs 10 million each. The firm is bringing the issue at price to earnings multiple of approximately 11 on annualized 9MFY18 earnings per share at price band of Rs 180-185/share. The firm being the preferred consultancy organization agency of the Government of India including the Indian Railways has a healthy order book with strong and diversified clientele base across sectors. Looking after valuations we find issue to be reasonably priced. Hence, we recommend "Subscribe" on issue. Arihant Capital: 3.5 stars The company has no direct domestic competition; however a few companies offer some competition in certain segments. There are no comparable listed companies in India engaged in the similar line of business as this company; hence comparison with industry peers is not applicable. The company has negligible borrowings. The aim is to maintain a similar level of debt in the next 3-5 years. The component of debt is restricted only to the energy business. Over the years, the company has followed a trend where its revenue is always higher in the last two quarters of the year as compared to the previous two. A similar trend is expected to continue in the coming years. This trend is mainly because of exports. The company expects a growth in the following businesses in the coming years. 1. Energy 2. Turnkey Projects 3. Over the years, the consulting business has been the main contributor of revenue (roughly 60-70%), and this business enjoys has a high profit margin The issue has been offered at a price band of Rs 180-185 per equity share. At the upper price band of Rs 185, the stock is available at price-to-earnings multiple of 13.5 (attractively priced) to its FY18 annualized EPS of Rs 13.54. There are no comparable listed companies in India engaged in the same line of business and hence the threat of competitors is low. Considering these factors, we have a "3.5 star" rating for the issue. Angel Broking: Subscribe RITES' order book stood at Rs 4,800 crore as of March 2018 (3.5 times of FY17 top-line). The company receives orders on nomination/single tender basis on regular intervals from its clients such as national government, governmental instrumentalities and public sector enterprises. In terms of valuations, pre-issue PE works out to 12 times of annualized FY18 EPS `17 (at the upper end of the issue price band), which is reasonably priced considering (a) 3.5 times of order book with execution capability and experienced management (b) Maintaining the return on equity level in the range of 17-18% (c) Diversified client base (d) Increasing opportunity of revenue from Railways due to new investment in electrification and infrastructure. Given that the RITES is a preferred consultant of Indian Railways along with other government authorities with exposure in international operation and fair valuation of issue, we recommend SUBSCRIBE to issue. The Jeep Compass 'Bedrock' edition has been launched in India for Rs 17.53 lakh. FCA India, which manufactures the Jeep Compass in its Ranjangaon facility near Pune announced the launch of the 'Bedrock' variant of the car. This particular model is launched to commemorate 25,000 sales of the Jeep Compass. The car will be a limited edition model and will come in the 'Sport' version. It will feature the 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel engine which will produce 173 PS of power and a peak torque of 350Nm. The car will have a 6-speed manual transmission in two-wheel drive configuration. The car will have features like - a reverse parking camera, side step for ingress, 16-inch gloss black alloy wheels, mirror covers, Bedrock-branded seat covers, black roof rails, Bedrock decals, premium mats and the Bedrock monogram. The Jeep Compass has been a successful SUV in India with great customer response. The car has been appreciated especially for its great build quality and drivability. The Ranjangaon plant is also one of the Global manufacturing and export hubs of FCA. Over 8000 Jeep Compass SUVs have been exported to international destinations like Japan, Australia, the UK and Ireland. President and Managing Director of FCA India, Mr. Kevin Flynn said, "We are proud of what we have achieved with the Jeep Compass in less than one year of it being in the market. With the Jeep Compass, FCA India has secured its best sales within a 12-month period, in the last 10 years. We are celebrating our 25,000 sales milestone with Indian customers by giving them the Jeep Compass Bedrock Limited Edition." Flynn also added, "The Jeep brand has gained a considerable amount of recognition in India and we thank our customers who have placed their faith in our brand and products so far. The FCA team has been working tirelessly to strengthen that faith by providing them with a top notch after-sales service experience, which is backed by our Mopar promise. " FCA India currently has 65 sales and service outlets and it claims to increase the count to 70 this year. The Jeep Compass 'Bedrock' Edition will be available in three colours - Vocal White, Minimal Grey and Exotica Red. BJP quit ruling coalition in IHK NEW DELHI: Indias Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) quit the ruling coalition in India-held Jammu and Kashmir state on Tuesday and called for federal control over the disputed region, citing a deterioration in security that could herald a new crackdown. The Hindu nationalist BJP had entered into an unlikely alliance with a regional party after an inconclusive election in 2014 to govern the region where Indian forces have struggled to quell a freedom movement for decades. It has become untenable for the BJP to continue in the alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Madhav, party general secretary, told reporters. He said the security situation in the region had worsened and it should be put under governors rule, or direct rule from New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a general election in 2014, vowing to end the movement in Kashmir but militant violence has worsened in recent months. Last week, India rejected a UN report that accused it of having used excessive force in the disputed region to kill and wound civilians since 2016. The United Nations also called for an international inquiry into accusations of human rights violations. Direct rule by the central government would give the BJP a free hand to control the state ahead of a general election that must be called within a year. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, of the regional Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said she had resigned and that her party would not seek the support of other parties to restore a majority. A muscular policy will not work here, she told reporters. The BJP has long favoured a tough approach to quell the movement, while the PDP had advocated a softer touch to address the grievances in the region where tens of people have been killed since an armed campaign began in 1989. More than 130 people have died in escalating violence in Kashmir this year. Last week, gunmen shot dead a prominent newspaper editor in Srinagar who had been a strong advocate of peace in the region. Basically, keeping in mind the larger national interest of Indias integrity and security, in order to bring control over the situation prevailing in the state, we have decided that it is time the reins of power be handed over to the state governor, Madhav said. The states governor, a figurehead who is appointed by New Delhi, will rule the disputed region until fresh elections are held or a new coalition is formed. The decision to quit the coalition government would allow the BJP to act tough on Kashmir before a general election next year in which Modi would seek a second term in office, analysts said. What it (BJP) will do between now and elections is increase its political rhetoric against the separatists in Kashmir, said Manoj Joshi from the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation. It will be political rhetoric of how the BJP will save the situation in the northern region of the state, he said. The decision means the BJP controls one less state. But it will still govern 18 of Indias 29 states outright or in coalitions. The PDP has long demanded the removal of a draconian law that gives Indian forces sweeping powers to search, enter property and shoot on sight. The BJP says the law is needed to curb militants fighting for Kashmirs independence or for its merger with Pakistan. PPP to create employment opportunities for jobless people: Asif Zardari NAWABSHAH: Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians (PPP-P) president Asif Ali Zardari, has said that every family without a member in government service would be given the chance to have at least one member in state service if his party came to power again in the next general elections. He was speaking to delegations of traders and other notables of Nawabshah who called on him at his residence, Zardari House, here on Tuesday. He said PPP would create employment opportunities for a maximum number of jobless people. Mr Zardari said that agriculture was the backbone of the national economy and, as such, its uplift was of utmost importance. He said farmers and peasants would be provided all essential resources on a priority basis to ensure a boost to the agricultural sector. He noted that the country was facing an acute shortage of water at the moment. To overcome it, dams should be built so that water could be conserved, he said. Its the need of the hour, he added. He held the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government responsible for the multiple crises being faced by the country, saying that its flawed policies had totally ruined the national economy. He said the PML-N government put the masses in a tight spot by resorting to raising fuel prices on a monthly basis. Speaking about development works in Shaheed Benazirabad (previously Nawabshah) district, Mr Zardari said that [a future] PPP government in Sindh would focus more on health, education, communication and development which would bring about a rapid change in this part of the province. We will also work on a project of generating electricity with sewage, he told the delegations. The PPP supremo further said that sugar mills and other industrial units functioning in Nawabshah would be shifted outside the city under a plan to transform it into a model city. He stressed that the general elections must be held on time. Former leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah, who is contesting on NA-206 Sukkur seat, on Tuesday rebutted his opponents claim that he and his party had practically done nothing for the uplift of Sukkur division. Speaking to party workers at an Eid Milan gathering in Rohri late on Monday evening, Mr Shah said it was he who had actively worked for the strengthening of one of the vital protective bunds, the Ali Wahan bund, near Rohri after it had sustained considerable damage during the 2010 super floods. Had it not been strengthened, the situation may have led to a disaster, he said, adding that he and many of his party colleagues had to spend several sleepless nights to ensure timely and proper completion of the work. The repair work had been continuing day and night, he recalled. No one of those levelling such allegations against me and the PPP were seen anywhere in those difficult days, he said. Mr Shah specially mentioned the Sukkur bypass scheme and said it was approved back in 1989 but later shelved by the PML-N government. We revived it after coming to power and executed it, he said, and added that Sukkur city might have remained a small city of narrow lanes disconnected from several other cities had the scheme not been executed. People would have the only option of boats as the transport means to travel to and from Sukkur till today in the absence of this bypass, he said. Mr Shah also rejected as ridiculous his opponents allegation of land grabbing against him, and said he would withdraw from the elections if such an allegation against him or any of his family members was proved. Rather, we acted as defenders of state-owned lands ... we retrieved such properties worth over Rs9 billion from encroachers in Sukkur and protected them from being grabbed again, he added. PTI reviewed most of the petitions against the decisions of award tickets: Fawad Chaudhry ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership spent a busy day on Tuesday finalising the candidates for the remaining constituencies and reviewing the complaints submitted by party workers against the award of tickets to controversial persons and turncoats in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In another development, the PTI, which had previously called for changing the top bureaucrats and heads of a number of institutions, has now asked caretaker Prime Minister retired Justice Nasirul Mulk to change KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra for allegedly interfering in political affairs in the province. Talking to media men, PTI information secretary Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the party had already reviewed most of the petitions it had received against the decisions of the parliamentary board to award tickets in some constituencies and also made decisions on them. He disclosed that the party had changed candidates in some constituencies. He, however, said the PTI would announce the names of all its candidates on Thursday (tomorrow). Mr Chaudhry expressed the hope that with the announcement of the final list, all the controversies would be resolved. When his attention was drawn to the fact that a sizeable number of party activists were still holding a protest sit-in outside the Banigala residence of Imran Khan, he said that it was not possible to satisfy each and every person in the party. Another senior party leader Ishaq Khakwani, when contacted, claimed that most of the complaints were not of serious nature. There was no pertinent point of dissent or anything concrete in the complaints, he said, adding that in most of these petitions, the complainants had claimed tickets merely on the basis of their long association with the party. He, however, admitted there were a few genuine complaints which, according to him, had been resolved. In reply to a question, Mr Khakwani, who himself is a candidate for a National Assembly seat from Vehari in southern Punjab, said that the party leadership had preferred clean and experienced people during selection of the candidates. He admitted that the party had given tickets to some of the political opportunists, but defended the act by stating that election is a game of having electables. Responding to a question about resentment in the partys Gujrat chapter over the leaderships decision of having a seat adjustment with the PML-Q, he claimed that those against this adjustment were in a minority. Meanwhile, PTI chairman Imran Khan has written a letter to the caretaker prime minster, asking him to remove the KP governor and all the bureaucrats appointed by the previous PPP and PML-N governments in Sindh and Punjab. In his letter, a copy of which is released to the media, Mr Khan has drawn the attention of the prime minister to the questionable role being played by the KP governor who continues to hold financial administrative power over the area that was Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and who was the secretary general of the PML-N. As he continues to intervene in the political affairs of that area especially through controlling the financial purse strings and as he continues to play a partisan role in the policies of the entire KP, especially in what was Fata, he should be removed immediately. Otherwise, a big question mark will be cast over elections being held in that area, the PTI chief writes in the letter. Similarly, he alleges that the partisan bureaucrats are actively threatening the holding of fair and free elections by covertly seeking to influence the outcome. Mr Khan says that the district administrations in Sindh and Punjab continue to be filled with the PPP and PML-N appointees and they are ensuring that there is no level-playing field for all political parties in the upcoming elections in their provinces. GREENWICH Greenwich High School senior Michelle Woo was leaving an AP exam recently when she looked down at her phone to find an email most people never see. She had been named a 2018 U.S. Presidential Scholar, one of 161 across the country recognized with one of the nations most distinguished honors for high school students. It was pretty surprising, said the 17-year-old. I didnt think that I would get it. Woo joins just one other Connecticut winner Cole Marcuccio, of Canton in this years group of honorees. Most students are chosen based on their high ACT and SAT scores, but some are named for exceptional talent in the arts or accomplishments in career and technical education fields. On June 24, she said shell be honored to represent Greenwich and the state as she receives her U.S. Presidential Scholars medallion at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Her mom and dad, Julie and Henry Woo, and her younger sister Melissa will be there to cheer her on. While Woo was surprised with the recognition, its safe to say others might not be. The honors student, who moved to Greenwich from Stamford not long before kindergarten, has been making an academic splash on the regional and national scene for years. In January, she and three other Greenwich High students were recognized for their outstanding science research by the prestigious Regeneron Science Talent Search, the countrys oldest science and math competition for seniors. She received $2,000 for the honor and helped contribute to an $8,000 award for her high school. Her work with an electrode that reduces carbon dioxide into a useful biofuel a project she polished in her honors science research class has won several awards, including a silver medal in the GENIUS International Olympiad. In her junior year, she was a national semifinalist in the USA Biology Olympiad and runner-up for the Kemper Human Rights Foundation essay contest. In 10th grade she was a regional finalist for the National Chemistry Olympiad. Woo has spent two summers as a research intern at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and teaches Cos Cob Elementary School students about science as president of the STEM Explorers Club. As if that werent enough, shes co-founder and co-president of the GHS Girls Who Code Club and lead developer on the clubs Under My Wing app, winner of the Best in Nation Award in the Verizon Innovative Learning App Challenge. Available on Google Play, the app addresses sexual assault risks by giving users quick communication features to contact friends and the police in an unsafe situation. As girls heading off to college, her club hoped to create a tool that would increase safety. Were targeting women as our community, she said of the apps audience. Were getting some interest. What drives Woo to go the extra mile? I have an interest and desire to do something outside of pure classroom learning, said the soon-to-be Princeton University student. I like to apply what Im learning to the world around me. When shes not studying, volunteering or tutoring, you can usually find Woo on the ice, where shes a nationally competitive solo dance skater. She recently received U.S. Figure Skatings Graduating Seniors Gold Award. And in her downtime? I like playing ping pong with my family, she said with a laugh. TORONTO - Canada's Senate on Tuesday passed the federal government's historic bill legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, clearing the way for the country to become the first advanced industrialized nation to legalize the drug nationwide and fulfilling a major campaign promise of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 52 to 29, with two abstentions, lifting a prohibition on the recreational use of marijuana that has been in place since 1923. The law will not take effect until it receives royal assent - a final ceremonial stage of the legislative process - and the government sets a date for legalization. On Wednesday, Trudeau announced that marijuana would be legal on Oct. 17. He had hoped to make cannabis legal by July 1, but Canada's provinces and territories said they needed eight to 12 weeks to make final preparations before they would be able to sell cannabis to consumers. Trudeau heralded the vote in a tweet, saying, "It's been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that." Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, who sponsored the legislation, tweeted that the Senate vote was a "historic milestone for progressive policy in Canada." The law makes Canada the second country after Uruguay to have a nationwide, legal market for marijuana. It grants the federal government the power to license and regulate a restricted group of cannabis growers but gives Canada's 10 provinces and three territories the discretion to decide how to sell and distribute the drug. Some, like Ontario, will sell it at a small number of state-run stores operated by the provincial alcohol monopoly. Others, like Newfoundland and Labrador, will sell it to consumers at select grocery stores. The legislation sets the minimum age for purchase at 18 and allows for the personal possession of up to 30 grams for dried cannabis, with rules on edibles to come later. Those caught selling marijuana to a minor could face stiff penalties of up to 14 years in jail. Like tobacco, producers trying to market their product face strict advertising rules. Cannabis can only be sold in plain packaging that is a single, uniform color and free of flashy graphics or images. Canadians spent more than 5.7 billion Canadian dollars on marijuana in 2017, with the majority of it for recreational use, according to a Statistics Canada report released in January. That makes cannabis a multibillion-dollar industry that is larger than the tobacco industry and as large as the beer industry. Bill Morneau, Canada's finance minister, said that he expects the government to rake in nearly 300 million Canadian dollars from the taxes on legalized cannabis. The provincial and federal governments will split the excise tax revenue 75-25 for the first two years after legalization. One of Trudeau's first major policy pledges as leader of the Liberal Party was to legalize marijuana, a promise that become a central pillar of his party's 2015 federal election campaign. When his government introduced Bill C-45 in April 2017, its backers framed it as an effort to discourage consumption among youth, while also crushing the illegal market. In a news conference after the legislation was introduced, Bill Blair, a former Toronto police chief who was an architect of the legislation, said, "Criminal prohibition has failed to protect our kids and our communities." And while public opinion polls show Canadians have widely supported legalization, introducing the legislation was the easy part for Trudeau's government. The bill has been the subject of more than a year of fractious debate and games of legislative ping-pong between the Senate and lawmakers in Canada's lower house of Parliament. Conflict between the two groups flared last week when lawmakers rejected 13 amendments that the Senate added to the bill, including a contentious one over whether provinces could ban home cultivation. The Senate eventually deferred to the government's position of allowing Canadians to grow up to four marijuana plants in their home. Even after Tuesday's vote, the government is left with a long to-do list. A second piece of legislation that would change impaired driving laws and give police new powers to carry out roadside intoxication tests has not yet been passed. Questions remain, too, over whether to grant amnesty for past marijuana convictions and over how strictly police forces should crack down on growing cannabis at home. The legalization of marijuana in Canada has implications for cross-border relations with the United States. Under the law, it will remain illegal for Canadians to take cannabis across the border into the United States, just as it will remain a criminal offense for Americans to bring cannabis into Canada. Leonard Saunders, an American immigration lawyer in Washington state, testified before a Senate committee that Canadians could be denied entry to the United States even after cannabis is legalized because it is still considered illegal at the federal level in the United States. "I see a wall on the northern border," he said, adding that Canadians could face more scrutiny at the border if they admit to having smoked cannabis. But Ralph Goodale, Canada's public safety minister, told the Senate that his message to Americans is that "this should not be an issue." "It becomes an issue if you make it one, but there's no need to make it one because the border rules have not changed," he said. SAN SALVADOR, El Savador - One of El Salvador's top diplomats on Wednesday described conditions at shelters for migrant children in the United States as "totally inadequate," blasted the Trump administration's family-separation policy and warned that migrants should seriously consider any decision to travel north. Liduvina Magarin, the deputy foreign minister in charge of Salvadorans abroad, said that the government had identified 93 of the roughly 2,000 children separated from their parents by the Trump administration in recent weeks as Salvadoran, although she acknowledged the number could change. Magarin said that she was unaware of any cases where children or parents have been separated and then deported and that Salvadoran authorities are trying to reunite the families in the United States. Latin American countries such as Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador had come out strongly this week in opposition to President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, which is aimed at prosecuting more migrants for crossing the border illegally and in the process had separated children from their parents. The bulk of the separated children came from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, official say. Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said earlier this week that he "respected" Trump's policy. On Tuesday, Guatemala changed course and joined the other countries in rejecting family separation. After coming under intense pressure, Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to end family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border. Magarin, the Salvadoran official, said that U.S. authorities had made no official communication to her government about the separated children, adding that the authorities' information had been gathered by Salvadoran diplomats following up on individual cases. She added that 71 of the 93 Salvadoran children identified by the government are 12 or younger. "It's unfortunate that they are sacrificing the youngest, who are not the ones who make the decision to migrate," Magarin said at a news conference. Magarin, who has recently visited shelters for migrant children in the United States, criticized the conditions in them, without providing details. She also urged Salvadorans to weigh the risks of the journey to the United States. "Even though we know that it's a right and we respect that, putting at risk children is a decision that also infringes in a way on the rights of the children once they find themselves in situations" such as being kept in U.S. government holding centers, she said. Central American officials planned to travel to Mexico later this week to discuss a regional response to the issue. --- The Washington Post's Joshua Partlow reported from Mexico City. 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Pinerachet No More Trump Adios Macri, hasta nunca La Marioneta se desinfla Asi o mas cinico Almugre Mexico en 1794 Mas arrastrado imposible Hasta cuando! La pura verdad Solidaridad con Palestina Serie Capitalismo Espejismos de la clase trabajadora Asi es! Comerciantes o delincuentes No pasaran! Asi es la vida USA HOY 01/01/1959 La avaricia no tiene limites AYUDA HUMANITARIA? Chile Hoy Asi son las cosas Mapa Electoral de Venezuela Patagonia argentina? Un aniversario mas del mayor genocidio de la Humanidad Retrato del franquismo en Espana Visca Catalunya! El Chulo de Madrid Cuando la policia se roba la democracia Una imagen dice mas que mil palabras La purita verdad Asi gobierna la maldita burguesia Mi pobre clase media Como Chavez nadie Comparte La Colmena via twitter Twittear Programa de la MUD Asi o mas clarito Por que Trump no ataco Corea del Norte? Hace 15 anos Por que la OEA no se pronuncio? Una verguenza nacional La luz que nos guia La Union Europea Premio Nobel de la Paz? Feudalismo ayer y hoy Obama, el mentiroso Curiosa coincidencia Un mundo de cerdos No es extrano? La Marioneta Los ricos protestan, los pobres celebran MARICORI Y OBAMA Cuantas muertes este ano? 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Por culpa de Chavez Cerveza Polar Algun dia Colombia volvera a la ideologia de Bolivar Translate LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares? Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano... Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos: Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias. Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera. No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje. En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio. Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida. Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella. Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal. Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista. Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen. Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che? Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio. Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora. Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo. Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo. Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania. No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar. Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga. Alguna duda? Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia. OZ1 OZ2 OZ3 OZ4 Homenaje a Jason Galarraga La Victoria de Samotracia Odalisca Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008 La Sierra Nevada de Merida Nuestro precioso Churum Meru Homenaje a Picasso Autoretrato Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola? La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar. Mi profesion? Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos. Sal en la Coca Cola? A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar. De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla: Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido) azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa) Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas Mucha Cafeina Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja. Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos. Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja. En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero). Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma. La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate. Bebidas Light? Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal. Publicado por loretahur En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina: 1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias. 2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina. 3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard. 4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos. 5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla. 6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos. Ahora... sobre la margarina: 1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) . 2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias. 3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno). 4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer. 5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna. 6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo. 7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina. Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas: * No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo). * No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!! No a la guerra, Si a la Paz Misterios de la ciencia... Los costos de la guerra medicos y capitalismo... Capitalismo... medicos (2) Quien educa a nuestros hijos? Los Medios... Sin Palabras... Chistes feministas - Cual es el problema, Eva? - Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas. - Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas... - Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti. - Que es un hombre? - Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente. - Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente. - Cual es el truco?. - Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion. - Cual? - Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer. Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas? Porque todos son unos cerdos Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas? Porque todos son unos cerdos Ellas... Ellas (2)... Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1 Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije: -Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro. Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria. Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre? -Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa! VENGANZA NUMERO 2 Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris. A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita: - Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!! Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta. La mujer paso quince dias en Francia. El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla. Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es: - Y amor me trajiste mi francesita?? - Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina. VENGANZA NUMERO 3 El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion. - No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo. - Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz. Te quiero confesar algo. - Esta bien, esta bien. Habla! - He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga. - Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!! machismo y cibernetica Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston. -Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad. El simio hace la sena de OK. -Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?. El simio hace la sena de OK. -Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide. -Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!. .Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti. Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos. Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco. Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas Gol !!!! Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso! Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy! As members of Greenwich High School's Class of 2018 celebrate the completion of their high school career, the next challenge is just around the corner: college. When summer turns to fall later a couple of months from now, 196 colleges across the country will welcome members of Greenwich High's most recent graduating class. Of those 196 schools, the University of Connecticut will welcome the most Greenwich grads, taking in 64 of the senior class' 620 members. Huawei is one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world and thus needs to become less reliant hardware produced outside the company. The in-house production should help bring the cost of devices down and maybe try to compete with Qualcomm's dominance in the mobile market. The latest news about an upcoming Kirin SoC might change all that. And no, we are not talking about the Kirin 980. With its newest HiSilicon 970 chipset, the company gets closer to Qualcomm's top-shelf chips, but still, the Kirin 970 isn't on par with the Snapdragon 845 in terms of raw performance, although it brought world's first AI chip on board. Sources say that the still unannounced Kirin 980 will finally be able to compete with Qualcomm's flagship chipset thanks to the advanced 7nm manufacturing process from TSMC, which would probably be the key selling point of the rumored Mate 20. And if that doesn't seem too far-fetched, just wait until you hear what the Kirin 1020 is capable of. According to inside sources, the Chinese giant is readying to launch an even more powerful Kirin 1020 chip that should offer double the performance of the Kirin 970. Unfortunately, no other specifics were disclosed but the source claims that once the first 5G network launches, Huawei will be ready with the Kirin 1020's mass production and the chipset will appear on company's devices soon after. Source (in Chinese) Oppo K9 Pro will get a new color variant on October 20 Oppo Find X goes official with a pop-up slider with three cameras Motorola One Power pictured with slim bezels and a notch The Chinese telecommunications gear manufacturer ZTE might be in trouble after all. The company assumed it is in the clear after an initial deal to pay fines, replace its board of directors and hire a contractor to oversee company operations, but the US Congress thought otherwise. US Senators voted on Monday in favor of a sweeping defense policy bill that includes killing the agreement between US President Donald Trump and the ZTE administration. Reuters reported that both Republicans and Democrats expressed security concerns about two Chinese companies - ZTE and Huawei. The former agreed to pay $1 billion in penalties and put the rest in an escrow account as part of the settlement, reached earlier this month. The ban is currently prohibiting ZTE to purchase components from US manufacturers, including chipsets from San Diego-based Qualcomm. According to Reuters, Trump is expected to lobby in front of the House Republicans and meet with senators on Wednesday. Blocking ZTE of purchasing from US companies might put the company on the verge of bankruptcy. Smartphone-wise that mean both ZTE and nubia brands might have to fold up. The future of the upcoming nubia Z18 flagship is also unclear, even if the phone already appeared in live photos two weeks ago. Via Published on 2018/06/20 | Source Added episode 8 captures for the Korean drama "Miss Hammurabi" (2018) Advertisement Directed by Kwak Jeong-hwan Written by Moon Yoo-suk Network : jTBC With Go Ara, Kim Myung-soo, Sung Dong-il, Ryu Deok-hwan, Lee Elijah, Lee Tae-sung,... 16 episodes - Mon, Tue 23:00 Synopsis A legal drama centering around judge Im Ba-reun, a top-notch judge who has no interest in success. Rather, he strictly follows what he believes is right. Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/05/21 More Press release Although the news on trade negotiations might sound grim, Angela Hofmann, deputy director of Farmers for Free Trade, told Montana Farm Bureau members at their summer conference, held June 12-14 in Fairmont Hot Springs, that negotiations are part of the process and urged farmers and ranchers to speak up and make their voices heard about how trade tariffs impact them. Trade negotiations are very complex. They include buying and selling, being a reliable partner and fixing whats needs to be fixed. Farmers need certainty and open markets to make ends meet, Hofmann said. She pointed out that although North American Free Trade Agreement had been good for many ag commodities, it needed to be modernized. NAFTA needs new rules. It makes sense to negotiate, she said. For example, when NAFTA was signed into law in 1993, we didnt have the e-commerce like we have today. Weve been in a good trade relationship with Canada and Mexico, but there are some things that need to be resolved. The U.S shipped $17.9 billion of ag products to Mexico and $20.5 billion to Canada in 2016. During her talk 2018 Trade Insights, Hofmann said Canada, China and Japan are top U.S. trade partners with Japan, Belgium, Mexico and Taiwan being the next tier. She said that due to the recent steel tariff, prices are expected to rise on farm supplies and equipment, from fence posts to tractors. However, there are ways to get an exemption from price increases in agriculture if you are being impacted. The intention of using the steel tariffs was not to hurt ag producers, so there are ways that farmers, ranchers and others in the ag industry can be exempt from the price increases. As for the latest retaliation lists as of last week, including pork, cranberries, potatoes, orange juice and even Levi jeans, there is a reason for those commodities to be selected. Our trade partners have become tricky. If you look at the retaliation list, they are trying to hit the commodities in ag voter districts, such as retaliating against Kentucky bourbon in Sen. Mitch McConnells state, said Hofmann. She noted that Montana has had a long and good relationship with many of its trade partners, which bodes well for Montana beef and wheat. Weve gotten through difficult times in trade before, but Montanans got smarter and opened new markets after the Asian financial crisis, she said. We have decades of working on a trade relationship with the Chinese. Montana exported $129 million in products to China in 2017. We have a great product with Montana beef and we need to compete. Were here for the long term. Hofmann told more than 200 farmers and ranchers attending the conference that the best thing they can do is talk to their congressmen and to the Trump administration about how tariffs directly hurt them on their farms. It could take a while but we need to keep trading. I believe improved trade negotiations will get done and hope nothing will derail the process. The U.S. is talking with the negotiators right now, so dont miss your opportunity to speak up, she concluded. A Havre man was announced as the winner of an original painting in a raffle that raised funds to help a young local child fighting a rare immune disease. Steve McLain won the painting named Finnley, of a Hereford cow, that Corey Stremcha painted and donated to be raffled off to benefit 3-year-old Finnley Grace Foster, who is in Seattle being treated for severe combined immune deficiency. The painting had been on display at Triple Dog Brewing Co., where the drawing was held Sunday. Stermchas mother, Lorna Stremcha, said her son doesnt know the Fosters, but felt compelled to he... MSU News Service BOZEMAN The Montana State University College of Agriculture is seeking nominations for its outstanding agricultural leader award to honor during its 2018 Celebrate Agriculture event, set for Nov. 9-10 on the MSU campus. The annual award honors people who have exhibited abundant leadership in Montana public service as an agricultural producer, industry advocate, agribusiness leader or as a friend of agriculture. The award is part of the colleges annual Celebrate Agriculture event, and awardees will be celebrated during the colleges Harvest Breakfast on Saturd... Senator urges people to keep pushing for Amtrak ticket agents Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said Tuesday that people need to keep an eye on long-distance passenger rail service if they want to keep it. There is folks back here that dont think Amtrak should get any subsidies and they, in fact, want to close down the Empire Builder, Tester said from Washington in a telephone press conference. During the call, Tester, who faces Republican Montana Auditor Matt Rosendale, Libertarian Rick Breckenridge and Green Party Candidate Steve Kelly in the Senate election in November, talked Tuesday about his offices efforts with Amtrak and his understandi... CINCINNATIScientists at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine are studying how a small intracellular protein, Hsp20, may affect the efficacy of a common drug used to treat diabetes. The research is available online in the June 19 issue of the scholarly journal Cell Reports. We have investigated the functional role of Hsp20 in the heart for more than 15 years and found that this protein can provide protection against various stress condition-induced heart injuries, says Guo-Chang Fan, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Physiology. Fan says for the past three years he worked closely with Jiangtong Peng, PhD, a visiting scholar in his laboratory from Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei, China, to explore Hsp20s possible function in fat cells. Peng is the lead author of the research study. We created the global knockout of Hsp20 animal models and surprisingly observed that Hsp20-null animal models develop obesity without diabetes, says Fan, also a member of the UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute. More interestingly, Hsp20 promotes the degradation of the cellular target for thiazolidinedione (TZD), one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for diabetes, explains Diego Perez-Tilve, PhD, research assistant professor in the UC Department of Internal Medicine and a co-author of the research study. TZD works better in Hsp20-null animal models than in control wild-type animal models by improving the effect of insulin in the cells of fat tissue. Eliminating Hsp20 results in an increase in the anti-diabetic efficacy of TZD in animal models, says Perez-Tilve. Thus strategies aimed to block Hsp20 in fat cells may improve the effectiveness of TZD on diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic (long-lasting) disease that affects how your body turns food into energy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As a result of diabetes, the body either doesnt make enough insulin, which acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your bodys cells to use as energy, or cant use the insulin it makes as well as it should. About 30 million American adults have diabetes, according to the CDC. These studies are eminently mechanistic and would require pharmacological drug development to confirm the therapeutic value of inhibiting Hsp20 for the treatment of diabetes in humans, says Perez-Tilve. Nonetheless, they offer a proof of concept on how indirectly manipulating the target of TZDs may provide benefits to improve metabolic control. Additional co-authors on the research study from Fans laboratory include: Yutian Li and Kobina Essandoh, two PhD students; Xiaohong Wang, research scientist; Xingjiang Mu and Haitao Gu, two post-doc fellows; and Shan Deng, visiting scholar, in the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Physiology. Contributing authors from Perez-Tilves laboratory include: Jenna Holland, senior research assistant, and Emily Yates, principal research assistant in the Department of Internal Medicine. Other co-authors also from UC are Robert McNamara, PhD, professor in Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience; Anil Jegga, research associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics; and Takahisa Nakamura, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics. Kai Huang, professor at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, along with Jing Chen, research fellow at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, Boyu Wang of Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, NY, Tianqing Peng of Lawson Health Research Institute in London, UK and Tiemin Liu, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University in Shanghai, China, were also co-authors. The research study received funding from the University of Cincinnati, an American Heart Association Established Investigator Award (17EIA33400063) and the National Institutes of Health grants HL-087861 and GM-112930. University of Cincinnati Teriney Tobler teaches World Ark reporter Jason Woods how to make her famous strawberry jam. Teriney Tobler is the canning queen at The Root Cafe, a beloved restaurant in Little Rock, Arkansas, specializing in locally grown organic food. When summer comes along and fresh fruit and vegetables are in great abundance, Tobler is there to preserve that fresh taste of summer in the form of jams, jellies and pickles to be enjoyed year-round. Tobler has been canning at home for eight years, ever since her son was born and her family came to visit and take care of her. They canned fruit, veggies and meat and stocked her whole kitchen. I was fascinating from then forward, so I started dabbling, Tobler said. She started out with fruit she and her kids picked from farms during the summer and took off from there. I love making my own jams and jellies. I love knowing whats going into them versus buying them at the store. For the most part my kids eat only what I make and they love it. Since I can it, it lasts just as long as store-bought stuff. It has a fresher taste to it. And I like to jokingly say that it tastes better because it has lots of love in it! While Tobler concedes that making your own jam is probably more expensive and certainly more time consuming than buying at the store, she does it for the love of the craft. Regardless, it's about the process for me. For my home canning, my kids get to be a part of the process. We love going to the farms! Sometimes we are lucky and get to meet farmers and their kids. My kids love that. They ask questions about the fruit, they learn about different varieties and then they get to pick the fruit. When we bring the fruit home my kids are able to help clean the fruit and do some prep work. They watch and observe the process and lastly are able to enjoy the fruit of their labor. In addition my kids are slowing learning a dying craft. This is something that they hopefully will be able to use in their homes in the future. The Roots Lemon Strawberry Jam Ingredients: The most important ingredient. 5 cups fruit (about 2 quarts fully ripe strawberries) 1 box SURE-JELL Fruit Pectin 1 lemon cup lemon juice 7 cups of sugar Tools: Mason jars Funnel Jar lifter Lid lifter (Can be bought together as a kit) 1. Wash your jars with soap and water. 2. Fill the jars with water and place in a large pot also filled with water so that the water level is about even with the tops of the jars. 4. Sometimes they have gushy parts, and you can just cut those bad parts off. 5. You want to pulse it. You dont want to blend itI mean, you can if you want, but I prefer pulsed because its still a little chunky. 9. I like a bigger [grate] so you get chunkier pieces, because I like the distinct flavor when youre eating it. 11. You dont actually want to stir too much. I find it creates more of like a foam on your jamwhich for home canning, I dont care, I use every bit. My kids dont care that theres a foam. But for canning for The Root I want a real clean jam or jelly. 12. A full boil does not lay back down [when you stir]. It just keeps going and going even while youre stirring it. Be careful watching it, otherwise it will boil over. 13. It happens very quickly. I know they say a watched pot doesnt boil, but they are wrong! If youre not watching it, it can boil over really quickly so I prefer to pay attention. 16. Its really important to take care with this step, with the sterilizing and then removing them, because weve just removed bacteria and we want to keep them that way. We are ensuring that your jam that youve worked so hard for is going to keep. Because if you skip on these steps or compromise them, your jam could spoil. And thats no fun. And you could get botulism and die. That is not a fun part. But, seriously. 17. It tastes fine, its just a visual thing. You can add a little bit of butter to your mixture to reduce the amount of foam, but for The Root we dont add the butter to it. 19. Its always like a relieving point to me when Ive made a giant batch, and I get to the point where I can see that, and Im like Ah! It worked! I honestly think I do it every time even though Ive made tons. Its such a relief when I see that little ripple. 20. You want to make sure that it can seal properly, and if theres sticky strawberry on it, it will not. 21. Were still trying to keep everything sterilized. So you want to make sure youre not touching the undersides, the edges, but you can touch the top. When I put them in my pot, I always make sure I layer them, because theyre easier to pick up. Because if theyre all dumped in there, it ends up being a big clump and hard to separate. And this way it ensures Im not going to have to touch anything. 22. With the rings, you dont want to use all your muscle weight to tighten them. They call it the two-finger test: you basically just use two fingers [index and thumb], and thats as tight as you want to go. Because if you go too tight, you can have sealing issues. 26. Watch the tops of the cans. If they start to pop up, theyre bad. When you eat your jam and its all gone, which will happen, you can reuse the jars, you can reuse the rims, but you cannot reuse the lids. You can buy the lids separately. Teriney's Tips 3. Cover the pot and boil the jars for 10 minutes. 4. Wash your strawberries and trim the green off. 5. Process the strawberries by pulsing them in a food processor. You can also chop them up with a potato smasher if you dont have a food processor. 7. Measure 5 cups of the processed strawberries into a pot. 8. Add cup lemon juice. 9. Grate in the rind of 1 lemon. 10. Place mixture on stove and add pectin. 11. Bring the mixture to a boil and give it a gentle stir. 12. Let it come to a full boil and add 7 cups of sugar while stirring. 13. Bring to a rolling boil again and let it boil for 1 minute. Keep stirring gently during the this stage. 14. Turn the heat off on the jars. Pour some of the hot water in another pot to sterilize the lids. Clean the lids beforehand and cover them in this hot water to sterilize them. Do not boil the lids, because it will affect the plastic and compromise the seal at the end. Keep the jars covered in the pot so they stay warm. You dont want to add the hot jam to cold glass jars. 15. Turn the heat off the jam and remove everything from the stove. 16. Pull out the jars with a jar lifter. Be carefulthey are very hot! 17. If you dont want foam in your jam, skim the foam off the top. 18. Fill your jars with jam using a funnel and leave about a -inch space at the top. 19. As you get towards the bottom part of your batch you can see ripples in your jam where its started to cool and solidify. When you see the ripples, you know for sure it worked! 20. Carefully wipe the sticky off the outside of the jars with a wet paper towel. Be careful not to touch the inside of the jars. 21. Place lid tops on the top of the jars with a magnetic lid lifter. 22. Screw on the lid rings. The jars are still very hot, so use a towel to hold on to them. 23. Put the jars back in the big pot of hot water. Make sure that the jars are covered by at least an inch. 24. Bring to a boil, cover and let the jars of jam boil for 10 minutes. 25. Turn off heat and let jars sit for a minute before removing your jars of delicious jam with your jar lifter! Each jar will make a popping sound as they cool down and seal. You can also check to make sure they are sealed by looking at the top of the lidit should be a smooth surface with no raised bumps. 26. Wait 24 to 48 hours to open a fresh jar and enjoy! Your jam will last at least a year. Terineys Favorite Jam Teriney's peach jam. I love peaches because anytime I make peach jam for people they always tell me it reminds them of their grandmas jam. They say, Oh, I used to eat this with my grandma! This reminds me of my nanna, whatever, every time. And it is the first jam that goes. Because I make it at home, for myself and for my kids, and it is the first one that everyone eats. And Ive started adding liquor to some of them to spice it up, and they love it! Take peaches, boil water, drop them in boiling water for a little bit. Immediately transfer to cold water and the skin is supposed to peel off. That doesnt always work for me; sometimes I like to just peel it with a peeler. Cut it, pull out the pit, then process it in your food processor. Then go through the same process as you would with your strawberry or any other jam. Youre going to add your peaches, add your lemon, 5 cups peaches lemon, then add pectin, bring it to boil, add sugar, bring to boil for one minute, and then at the end you can add whatever flavors you want. Like at the end of mine I add liquor, because thats what I like. But Ive seen spiced, Ive seen ginger peach; theres all kinds of varieties that you can make. If Im adding something with a high alcohol content, Ill add it at the end so that flavor is still there and strong. After I pull it off the stove. But if you wanted like a vanilla, you could add your vanilla pod while its boiling. If its a liquid with high alcohol I add it at the end so that taste is still there, but if its like a spice or a vanilla, I add it while its cooking so that its really cooking into it." 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 A key witness in the Gareth Hutch murder case gave what a senior garda described as an "explosive statement" about the killing when she was interviewed at her home, a court heard. Detective Sergeant Enda O'Sullivan said the statement was "unbelievable" and his immediate priority had been to get the woman and her two teenage daughters to safety when he heard it. He was giving evidence at the Special Criminal Court in the trial of two men and a woman who are accused of murdering Mr Hutch in a north inner city flats complex car park. Murder Jonathan Keogh (32), along with his sister Regina Keogh (41) and Thomas Fox (31), have denied the murder of Mr Hutch on May 24, 2016. Mr Hutch (36), a nephew of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch, was shot dead outside Avondale House flats on North Cumberland Street. Expand Close Regina Keogh / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Regina Keogh It is the State's case Mr Keogh, of Gloucester Place, Dublin 1, threatened to kill Mr Hutch the evening before the shooting. It is alleged that Mr Fox, of Rutland Court, Dublin 1, and Ms Keogh, of Avondale House, were instrumental in planning the murder, and Mr Keogh and another man were the shooters. Det Sgt O'Sullivan, who gave evidence previously, was cross-examined by Sean Guerin SC, for Mr Keogh, about a statement given by Mary McDonnell of Avondale House. The court heard two suspects were seen on CCTV going to and leaving her flat on the morning of the murder. Expand Close Gareth Hutch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gareth Hutch Det Sgt O'Sullivan said one of the people was seen carrying a plastic bag with him on the way up and he believed the guns were in that bag. The court heard that on May 25, 2016, gardai searched Ms McDonnell's flat, which had been declared a crime scene. Det Sgt O'Sullivan said he was having a "general conversation" with Ms McDonnell about her family and the neighbourhood. "She told us where she likes to sit and she sees and hears everything from that spot on the couch beside the window," Det Sgt O'Sullivan said. This, he said, led to her talking about a fight between Gareth Hutch and Mr Keogh the night before the murder. She was asked to go back to Mountjoy Garda Station to make a statement but she declined and said she wanted to make the statement in her apartment. She was not a suspect at that stage, Det Sgt O'Sullivan said. Mr Guerin asked why he would not suspect someone who had "sheltered shooters" in her home and who "lied" to the gardai about what happened there. "If I had made that decision she would have been arrested at the time," Det Sgt O'Sullivan said. Mr Guerin said it was "incredible" that Det Sgt O'Sullivan would not have suspected her and that was evidence of "extraordinary gullibility" on his part. Det Sgt O'Sullivan said by the time she made her statement, "other matters overtook everything else" and his main priority was the safety of Ms McDonnell and her children. Safety At the end of her statement, she had disclosed "serious information" about the case and Det Sgt O'Sullivan had "immediate concerns" for their safety. He asked Ms McDonnell to travel to Mountjoy Garda Station because he wanted to transport her to a place of safety. "It was actually unbelievable the content of what she said. I struggled myself to believe it and wanted to verify it," Det Sgt O'Sullivan said. "It was an explosive statement, to say the least." In the "general conversation", he said, they had discussed another murder weeks earlier and how people were nervous in the area. The trial continues. Cloverhill Prison, where the criminal walked out last week A criminal who is on the run after escaping from a Dublin jail is suspected of carrying out a violent sex attack while at large. Detectives are investigating an alleged rape which occurred in the capital's south inner city on Monday night. A woman was targeted in her apartment during an ordeal in which she was threatened at knifepoint before a violent sex attack was allegedly carried out. The Herald can exclusively reveal that the on-the-run criminal, who fled from a Dublin jail last week, is being treated as the chief suspect in the horrific attack. A garda manhunt has been ongoing since the individual escaped from the prison complex prior to his court appearance. Remand Sittings were under way at the court building in Cloverhill, west Dublin, when the man, who was on remand at the jail, absconded from custody. On Monday night, gardai were called to an apartment on Cork Street, Dublin 8, after receiving reports of an alleged sexual attack. The incident occurred at around 10.50pm on Monday and is being investigated by detectives at Kevin Street Garda Station. The victim suffered extensive injuries to her ribs during the attack, and it is understood that she had to leap from a balcony to escape her attacker. Gardai believe that a knife was used during the alleged sex attack, and technical examinations of the scene have since been carried out. A suspect was quickly identified by gardai, and searches for the alleged attacker have been ongoing. However, despite extensive efforts by gardai, he has not yet been located and no arrests have yet been made. A source last night told the Herald: "Gardai at this stage are confident that they have identified the man responsible for the attack. "The places where he normally resides have been searched, but he has not yet been found. "The victim has a number of injuries, including to her ribs, and she is getting all the support available," the source said. The victim has given a detailed statement to investigators, and was taken to the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit at the Rotunda Hospital for treatment. The unit provides specialist treatment for women and men aged 14 years or older who have been subjected to rape or other sexual assault. Manhunt Gardai confirmed that an investigation was under way, and a spokeswoman told the Herald: "Gardai are investigating an incident which occurred in Cork Street on Monday night." Officers were also carrying out door-to-door enquiries as part of the investigation into the rape, and have been canvassing the area for potential witnesses to the crime. A manhunt for the fugitive individual has been under way ever since he fled from Cloverhill last week, and more gardai have been brought in to assist the search following this week's incident. A separate internal investigation is under way by the Irish Prison Service to determine the exact circumstances surrounding his escape from the secure facility. During the initial search operation after the man escaped, several gardai, including the Garda Air Support Unit, were brought in to assist. He was still at large last night, and despite being the subject of a significant garda operation, he has continued to update his social media account since his escape. Sources last night described the on-the-run individual as highly dangerous, and said that he had been involved in criminality since his teens. "He is unpredictable and clearly off the rails. "He is now being investigated for a serious crime while at large, and it is important that he is apprehended soon," the source said. A number of areas have been searched in South Dublin since his escape from prison, while gardai are now probing whether the fleeing criminal was staying in the south inner city before Monday night's sex attack. More than 21,500 worth of construction tools and equipment are stolen every day in Ireland. The rate of thefts soared by 35pc last year, with the impact of construction crime now even threatening the ability to deliver on ambitious house building targets. Of the 7.8m worth of items stolen from construction sites across Ireland last year, 6.3m was accounted for by high-value power tool thefts. Thefts from vehicles now make up 43pc of construction crime, of which there were 4,562 incidents reported last year. Dublin has been particularly badly hit by targeted construction thefts. Livelihood The warning came as gardai and the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) launched a special initiative to help workers and site managers protect property and avail of the free advice of garda crime prevention officers. CIF director Tom Parlon warned that a crime which deprived a construction worker of specialist tools essentially strips them of their livelihood and ability to work. "The thefts can range from 50 for a single tool right up to 50,000 for an expensive piece of machinery which is stolen for the black market overseas," he said. Mr Parlon said the CIF was working closely with gardai to make it as hard as possible for thieves to target construction sites and workers. "We are sending out the message to the 130,000 workers in the industry that if you secure it, you keep it," he added. Chief Supt Con Cadogan has urged workers to carefully mark or engrave their tools and equipment, to seek the free advice of crime prevention officers and to adhere to all site security recommendations. Gardai are monitoring car boot sales, online marketplaces and other outlets from which stolen tools can be disposed. "The message we want to get across is that a tool or a piece of machinery is no good to a thief if they can't sell it on," Chief Supt Cadogan said. "But we also want to make it as difficult as possible for them in the first place to attempt to steal it." Traveller, Tommy Doran, light and life missions pictured in a field where caravans have parked in Portmarnock The part-owner of a field in Portmarnock has insisted he never gave permission to a group of born-again Christian Travellers to take over the land. The Travellers - from France, Belgium, England and Ireland - say they are in Dublin on a mission to spread the word of the Lord. A French pastor, from Life and Light Missions, has travelled over for what will be a two-week retreat. They are understood to have agreed to vacate on July 1. Around 50 caravans arrived at the site on Monday night and the group managed to open the gate into the field. Born-again Christian Tommy Doran, who says he is an evangelist here, insisted they have an agreement with an owner to use the field. Trespassing The land is understood to be divided between four owners. However, part-owner Michael Halligan, who owns an acre, said they got through his gate and are currently residing on his land. Speaking to the Herald, Mr Halligan said: "They're trespassing on my area of the land. I can't speak for the others, there's 4.3 acres there and I have one acre. "There's more responsibility on me because the entrance is on my acre." Mr Doran denied they were trespassing and said they have an agreement to use the land for a couple of weeks. He denied they forcefully entered the land. "That would be very ungodly. It wouldn't be right if you broke someone's gate," he said. Mr Doran said the group preached worldwide and passed on a reading pamphlet. He also referenced John 3:3 when describing the preaching they do. "Jesus said unless one is born again, they will never see the Kingdom again," he said. It's understood that gardai are liaising with the group but are not investigating and are happy it is a temporary situation. However, Fingal County Council said it had been in touch with one of the land's owners and was currently assessing the situation. "Fingal County Council is aware of the encampment which has been created on privately-owned land at Blackwood Avenue, Portmarnock, over the past 24 hours," a statement from the county council read. "The land is owned by a group of individuals and Fingal County Council has been in contact with one of the owners to inform them of the processes open to them. "Fingal County Council's Planning Enforcement Section has also been alerted and the section is currently assessing the situation with a view to commencing enforcement action under the Planning Development Act 2000 (as amended)." Assurances Local Fianna Fail TD Darragh O'Brien told the Herald last night that he had been given assurances the situation would be temporary. "People were concerned initially because they thought it was permanent," he said. "They are here on a religious retreat and they will be making sure that the site is well kept during their stay." Mr O'Brien - who lives nearby - said he will be visiting the group later this week to say hello. Life and Light Missions have set up a large tent on the land, where they will be preaching over the coming weeks. Diabetes diagnosis leads to life changes for teenager During a trip to Hawaii this past Spring, Amber Wykstra noticed her 15 year-old son, Cooper, was drinking a lot of water. I mean a lot, she said. He was also using the bathroom more than usual and, even though he was exercising, Wykstra said she had noticed her son was losing weight a bit faster than normal. Wykstra's husband was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 12, so she started seeing red flags. When we arrived home from our red-eye flight, my husband did a blood test and found that his (Cooper's) sugar was critically high, she said. We immediately ... Black bears more likely to wander into yards this time of year This year's spotty acorn crop makes it more likely black bears could wander into yards near forests searching for food. What to do for that and more. Driving through the picturesque countryside in South Kashmir, where she was campaigning for the 2014 assembly elections, Mehbooba Mufti was clear about one thing. There is no question of allying with the BJP. We have nothing in common, she told me as she hopped in and out of the car. Each time she got out, she made sure to wear shades. Why do you wear dark glasses, I asked, wondering why she would not want eye contact with her constituents. The people throw toffees and Ive escaped being hurt, I remember her saying. The toffees soon turned to stones. The leader went from rally to rally, asking voters to come out and vote in larger numbers, because it was important to ensure that the BJP does not open its account in the Valley. Yet, once the results were announced, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in coalition talks with the very party it had sought to keep out of Kashmir. The once-gutsy woman politician, always quick to be with the families of those who lost their loved ones, must be given credit for creating the party from scratch. She had the political instinct to steer the party to electoral victory on more than one occasion, but her instinct failed her when it came to sharing power with the BJP. She had the chance to repair the damage after her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, died while in office, but she took centre stage, to be sworn in as the first woman chief minister of the state. The feisty street fighter swiftly moved from being a soft separatist to being what many in Kashmir called an ultranationalist. Mehbooba, who earned her political spurs advocating a withdrawal of the draconian armed forces special powers act and a soft border with Pakistan, soon saw her traditional stronghold of south Kashmir slip from under her feet. The first testimony came in the form of an extremely low turnout for her fathers burial. South Kashmir is now the new hotbed of militancy, the seismic zone that militant commander Burhan Wani operated out of; the area from where a maximum number of youth disappear into the mountains surrounding it, only to reappear on social media, gun in hand. The once-grounded politician had so completely withdrawn into a shell, after pellet wounds became the new leitmotif, she did not even heed political advice from within the party to consider walking out of the alliance with the BJP. When asked last year, by an aide why she didnt resign, she looked surprised, the aide said. She realised perhaps that it was already too late. Neither she nor her elected legislators were able to visit their constituencies, without the fear of an attack or a run-in with angry youth stone pelters. On each foray I made into South Kashmir after Wanis killing in 2016, I faced angry questions: Where is Mehbooba? Send her here. We want to ask her why she asked for our vote and then embraced the BJP. The ultranationalist braved insults and humiliation at the hands of her alliance partner who contradicted and questioned her on every move. She was berated for calling for a dialogue with the separatists and with Pakistan and the only time she had her way was after the outrage over the Kathua child rape-murder. That was the one time she secured the resignations of two BJP ministers who had taken part in a rally in defence of suspects in the crime. In the end, her allies beat her in the political game. The BJP pulled the plug on the alliance when she least expected it. They made a political move in the hope of salvaging themselves in Jammu from where they won 25 seats. Mehbooba has emerged as the biggest political loser. She was lonely at the top and stays lonely at the bottom. Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had the kitchen of the Lord Venkateshwara temple in Tirumala excavated last December as part of his search for ancient treasure, a former head priest of the religious monument alleged on Wednesday. AV Ramana Deekshitulu who was forced into retirement earlier this year was reacting to a legal notice served to him by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the organisation that manages the countrys richest temple. The TTD has claimed damages amounting to Rs 100 crore from the former head priest for levelling false allegations against the temple administration as well as the state government. Speaking to mediapersons, Deekshitulu demanded a CBI inquiry into his allegations of financial irregularities in the temple administration, disappearance of antique jewellery worth crores of rupees, and excavation of land under the temple kitchen (known as the Srivari Potu) in an attempt to unearth hidden treasures, among others. I will soon go to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and put forth my demand (for a probe by the central agency). If that does not happen, I will sit on a fast unto death starting July, he said, without giving a specific date. Deekshitulu also recalled the time when the Srivari Potu was shut down for nearly 25 days between December 8, 2017, and January 3, 2018, on the pretext of minor repair work. The work was allegedly taken up without his knowledge, although he happened to be the temples Agama consultant as well as its head priest. On December 20, I went to the kitchen area and looked inside, only to find that the entire floor had been dug up. It was almost as if an earthquake had occurred there. When I called up the executive officer, he said all he knew was that they were re-laying four slabs, he said. Deekshitulu then questioned the joint executive officer responsible for supervising the repair work, only to be told that it was being done as per the instructions of the chief minister and a madam. When I asked who the madam was and under what authority she could order repairs in the kitchen, the officer shouted at me. I still do not know who the madam is, he said. The retired head priest quoted old scriptures and inscriptions to state that treasures worth thousands of crores were hidden underground, of which the kitchen was the entry point. That is probably why the authorities dug up the kitchen floor, he said. He alleged that the 1,000-pillar mandapam (outdoor hall) in front of the main temple was also demolished in an attempt to unearth the hidden treasure. Let the government order a CBI inquiry into these allegations. If I am proved wrong, they can file a defamation case against me, said Deekshitulu. While the Chief Ministers Office could not be reached for its response, senior Telugu Desam Party leader Vemuri Ananda Surya dismissed Deekshitulus allegations. The former head priest is slinging mud at the chief minister only to get some media attention. He does not deserve to be in the service of Lord Venkateshwara as he is moving in the company of Christians. The person who arranged the press conference in Hyderabad was a Christian. The other day, Deekshitulu met Jagan who is also a Christian. How can he talk about Hindu dharma then? Surya, also the chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Brahmin Welfare Corporation, asked. Manisha Koirala has found poetry in everyday mundaneness of the world - the sunrise, the grass, the shining stars - and feels more appreciative of life today with every breath she takes. She was diagnosed with the ovarian cancer in 2012 which she successfully overcame. Though difficult, Manisha says the phase, where the fear of losing everything loomed large, left her completely changed. When I was at the brink of losing it all - with my health crisis - that made me appreciate life. For me, everyday is a blessing. I look at things which I ignored earlier. I enjoy sunrise, being barefoot on the grass, the stars in the sky, the breeze on your face or the ruffle of the leaves. I feel blessed to be alive, Manisha told PTI. The actor says she is at a relaxed and excited space in her career and life, with her heart being more compassionate, understanding and focused. While she feels grateful and blessed to still get good work, she is also thrilled to get feedback for her performances. When you get good reviews for your work, its reassuring. You wonder even after 80 plus movies? and I say yes. Its always nice to hear good feedback, she said. The 47-year-old actor has Sanjay Dutt biopic up for release and was recently seen in the Netflix anthology Lust Stories.In Sanju, Manisha will be seen playing Dutts mother, Nargis. The actor says she had to undergo several look tests and credits director Rajkumar Hirani for doing excellent ground work. I had a very good director and the team was so good, half of my battle was won there. When you work with good directors, its easier because theyve already done the ground work, research. We did a lot of look tests, watched documentaries, read books. I tried to bring out what we could. Manisha is also thrilled that her short film with Dibakar Banerjee in Lust Stories has won people over. The actor says she was not sure initially about the project. I had seen Dibakars previous works and I loved his short in Bombay Talkies. I knew he would make a sensible film. Personally speaking, I wanted to do it differently. But he had a vision. While rehearsing I understood where he was going. I didnt agree somewhere with him but then in the end it all turned out very well. Sanju features Ranbir Kapoor in the lead and also stars Paresh Rawal, Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza and Anushka Sharma. Follow @htshowbiz for more Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor, who is gearing up for his next film Sanju, is all set to celebrate the 60th birthday of his mom Neetu Kapoor in Paris, a DNA report claimed. Neetu turns 60 on July 8 and reports suggest the family is planning grand celebrations to mark the milestone in her life. Neetu Singh married Rishi in 1980 and became a Kapoor bahu at the age of 21. Neetu is fit and energetic and occasionally appears in films. Exercise is as important as brushing your teeth or taking a shower. My mother had a lot of health issues at the age of 50 high BP, diabetes and high cholesterol.We tend to imitate our parents, and then we say its genetic. If I imitate my mother, and eat and drink what she used to, Id suffer the same, she had earlier told HT. The tabloid quoted a source as saying, Rishi is in charge of all the arrangements. He will personally look into everything, including the birthday itinerary. It further said Neetu will first go to London after the release of Sanju and holiday with daughter Riddhima and her granddaughter, Samara, for a few days before they leave for Paris. Ranbir is likely to join the family in Paris. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Economic offences wing (EOW) of Pune Police on Wednesday arrested Ravindra Prabhakar Marathe, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bank of Maharashtra, along with five others in connection with the Rs 2,043 crore DS Kulkarni Developers Limited (DSKDL) fraud case. Besides Marathe, those arrested include the banks former chairman and MD Sushil Muhnoot from Jaipur; Rajendra Gupta, executive director and Nityanand Deshpande, the banks zonal manager, who was taken into custody from Ahmedabad. Also arrested were Sunil Ghatpande, DSKs chartered accountant and Rajiv Newaskar, DSK Groups vice-president of the engineering department. Marathe, Gupta, Newaskar and Ghatpande were produced before special judge RN Sardesai in Pune who remanded them in police custody till June 27. Muhnoot and Deshpande are on transit remand. All the accused have been booked by the Shivajinagar police station under Sections 120 (B) (conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), and others of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Besides, they have also been booked under Section 3 and 4 of the Maharashtra Protection of Investor Deposits Act, 1999. ACP Nilesh More, who is the investigating officer in the case, in his remand application before the court stated that Muhnoot, Gupta and Deshpande misused their positions in sanctioning huge loans to the DSK Group. The accused sanctioned an amount of Rs 100 crore for DSKDLs Dream City project through a consortium in the absence of any legal tie-up with the bank. The accused did not stop at the sanction, and went ahead with changing the original resolution of the loan sanction and issued directions seeking an immediate sanction and release of Rs 50 crore to the DSK Group, More said in his remand application. The bank officials have been accused of colluding with DS Kulkarni, Hemanti Kulkarni, Dhananjay Pachpor, Vinaykumar Badgandi, Shirish Kulkarni (DSKs son) and others to hatch a pre-planned conspiracy where the set rules and guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) were violated with impunity. The EOW maintained that the accused illegally sanctioned the loan and also shared kickbacks with each other. There is an urgent need to investigate the money trail and seize critical bank documents for further investigation, the remand application said. The remand application said that DSK Groups financial woes started in 2016 when it did not credit monthly payments to the group employees. Pravin Chavan, special public prosecutor, said that besides Bank of Maharashtra, State Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank and IDBI Bank had sanctioned loans to the DSK Group against false end use certificates prepared by Sunil Ghatpande, DSKs chartered accountant. These banks did not bother to check the end use certificates and the money was siphoned off to associates and sister concerns, Chavan said. India, the worlds third-largest oil consumer, expects a responsible approach from its suppliers as speculation mounts over whether OPEC and its allies will reach a deal to boost output at a meeting in Vienna this week. India welcomes a proposal made by top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia to gradually ease the groups supply curbs after prices rose to hit $80 a barrel last month, oil minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, said in an interview at the Austrian capital. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is heading into a contentious meeting on Friday, with Iran promising to block any decision to increase output. High prices are pinching our economy, pinching our country, Pradhan said. I think our supplying friends have taken notice of that. India believes that $55 to $60 a barrel is a reasonable price level for now, he said. Brent crude, the benchmark for more than half the worlds oil, was trading near $75 a barrel on Wednesday. India and China are considering teaming up to buy US supplies and counter OPECs dominance in the worlds biggest oil market. The two nations want to put pressure on the producer group to keep prices under control, an Indian government official said earlier this month. Separately, India also plans to seek exemptions to continue Iranian oil imports and make payments for purchases after America decided to reimpose sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Pradhan didnt say if India plans cuts in Iranian purchases. The nation, which relies on imports for almost 80% of its oil needs, is diversified in terms of supplies, with cargoes coming from the Middle East, Latin America and the US, he said. Due to our relationship with different stakeholders, were confident we dont have to face any situation of scarcity, Pradhan said. A group of 52 Indians, mostly Sikhs, has been held at a detention centre in the US State of Oregon for being part of a large contingent of illegal immigrants seeking asylum, an American lawmaker has said. The Indians form the largest group of detainees in the total 123 illegal immigrants being held at a facility in Sheridan. The detention centre was recently visited by a group of Democratic lawmakers from the Oregon State, who later told the media about the alleged inhuman condition of the illegal immigrants. The immigrants are seeking asylum in the US. Through our Punjabi translator, we learned that these men were planning to request asylum because they faced severe religious persecution in India. Most are Sikh or Christian. Instead they were incarcerated in a federal prison, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici said. They said they came to the United States for religious freedom, but they felt as if they were going crazy because they are being confined in small cells for up to 22 hours a day, the Congresswoman said. The Indian detainees pointed out that the other non-immigrant prisoners get far more time out of cells, she said. Most of the detainees at the federal facility are asking for asylum because they experienced violence or persecution in their home countries, Bonamici said. Several had travelled to the border with a wife and a child or children; none knew where their family members are, she said. This is a shameful hour in US history. I dont care what your stance on immigration is, no one should favour ripping children out of their parents arms .... Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer told reporters after visiting the detention centre. He alleged that President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have doubled down on their anti-immigrant, xenophobic agenda with the administrations new zero tolerance policy on immigration. The Uttarakhand high court recommended to the state government on Wednesday to frame a legislation on the lines of Himachal Pradeshs Hindu Public Religious Institutions & Charitable Endowments Act, 1984, to take over the management of temples, said Gopal K Verma, counsel of the petitioner in the case. A division bench of justices Lok Pal Singh and Rajiv Sharma made the recommendation while disposing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Anjali Bhargav in 2015. Verma said the petition had highlighted the issue of revenue, generated from organising an annual fair on a ground in front of the Naina Devi temple, going to a private society -- Ramsewak Sabha Neonatal -- instead of the state government. One of the Shakstipeeths, the temple is located on the banks of the Nainital lake. Verma said the petition pointed out that as the ground was a government land, the rent collected from shops/stalls set up during the fair in September should go to the government coffers. The court directed the district administration and Nainital municipality to organise the annual fair and deposit the revenue generated from the shops and stalls in the government treasury, Verma said. Expanding the scope of the PIL, the court recommended to the state government to take over the management of all the temples in Uttarakhand. According to the provisions of the Act in effect in Himachal Pradesh, the administration of all Hindu public religious institutions and charitable endowments shall be under the general superintendence and control of the commissioner. Superintendence and control shall include the power to pass orders to ensure that such institutions and endowments are properly administered, and their income is duly appropriated for the purposes for which they were founded or exist. What the HP Act says Under the Act notified in Himachal Pradesh, the authorities concerned have to prepare and maintain a register for every Hindu public religious institution and charitable endowment. The register has to list: -- the origin and history of the institution, the names of the past and present trustees -- particulars of the scheme of administration and of the scale of expenditure -- the name of all offices to which any salary, emolument or prerequisite is attached and the nature, time and conditions of service in each case -- the money, jewels, gold, silver, precious stones, vessels and utensils and other movables belonging to the institution, with their weights, details of the constituent elements and the estimated value thereof -- particulars of immovable properties and all other endowments of the institution and all title deeds and other documents -- details of constituent elements of and coloured photographs of the idols and other images in or connected with the institution, whether intended for worship or for being carried in processions -- particulars of ancient or historical records with their contents in brief The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the state government to use its might and remove all the encroachments and illegal constructions on footpaths and roads in Dehradun and Mussoorie within four weeks. A division bench of Justices Lok Pal Singh and Rajiv Sharma issued the directions to Dehradun municipal corporation, Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), and state functionaries concerned on Monday. The copy of the order was made available on Wednesday. The court issued the directions after treating a letter written by Manmohan Lakhera, a Dehradun-based journalist, as public interest litigation (PIL). Lakhera had in his letter highlighted how unsctuplous persons have encroached upon the public paths. After terming it into a PIL, the HC enlarged its scope. The HC directed the state functionaries to impose Section 144 of CrPC while removing the illegal structures built on government and municipal land, footpaths and streets. It also directed the Uttarakhand chief secretary to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the officials, during whose tenure such encroachments came up. The disciplinary proceedings shall be commenced for the imposition of major penalty. We authorize the chief secretaryto constitute the nodal agency to supervise the disciplinary proceedings to be initiated against the officials who were found remiss in the discharge of their statutory duties. It is made clear that no officer, be it of any rank, shall be spared. The axe should not fall on lower class employees alone, the order read. The court directed the authorities concerned, MDDA and the Dehradun Municipal Corporation to seal all the residential premises, including basements, which were being misused for commercial purposes, within three weeks. ..if the basement areas, which are meant for parking vehicles, are not used for parking purposes, the entire commercial building be sealed, the order said. Citing a report submitted to the HC, the bench noted that the shopkeepers are first allotted temporary structures. These people convert them into pucca structures and thereafter they encroach upon the government land. The shopkeepers, though allotted new shops, do not leave their old shops. The so called encroachment drives undertaken by the Nagar Nigam and the MDDA are mere eyewash. Regarding persons who have taken advantage of rehabilitation policies, but have not surrendered their shops at the old places, the court directed that their new leases be cancelled and the government should take over the shops and auction then in accordance with law. The HC directed the state government to carry out necessary amendments in the building bylaws of Dehradun Municipal Corporation and MDDA that no unauthorized construction is compounded to arrest the tendency of the people to raise illegal construction by paying meager compounding fee. The compounding of entire unauthorized construction is against rule of law, the HC noted in its order. Contacted, SS Chauhan, deputy advocate general said the contents of the order will be examined by the state government after which appropriate action will be taken. Other important directions of HC Stressing that unscrupulous people have been permitted by the officials to raise unauthorized construction on the bed and the banks of Rispana in Dehradun, the HC directed authorities concerned to restore river, which is an important tributary of the Ganga, within three months. The encroachment on both banks shall be removed within three months, the HC said. The court has also directed the director general of police to ensure that there are no traffic jams in Dehradun city to avoid wastage of precious time and inconvenience to the commuters and pedestrians. The HC ordered that secretary, public works department, shall be the nodal agency to implement the directions issued by the court, and in case of non-compliance, he would be personally liable for contempt as well as disciplinary proceedings. The entire State of Uttarakhand is in Zone 4-5 seismic activity. New buildings will be permitted to be constructed after receiving the report from the structural engineer, the HC said. Director, health services Uttarakhand, and CMO/health officer of Dehradun Municipal Corporation has been directed to submit day-to-day report to the registrar general of the HC about the cleanliness in Dehradun after visiting the spot every 24 hours. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is likely to travel to Bengaluru on Thursday for a 10-day naturopathy course, potentially delaying his sought-after meeting with IAS officers, PTI reported. According to officials, the chief ministers blood sugar level rose during his nine-day long protest at the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijals office during which he demanded Baijal to direct IAS officers to return to work. The Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government alleged that IAS officers had been boycotting meetings with ministers since February. At the time, the officers had raised issues with the government over an alleged attack on chief secretary Anshu Prakash at Kejriwals residence. He is likely to leave for Bengaluru tomorrow to join a 10-day naturopathy course to control his sugar levels, officials at the Chief ministers officer said. Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the sugar levels were troubling Kejriwal, which did not come under control despite taking insulin injections. The officials added that Kejriwal was scheduled to join the course last month itself; the chief minister had earlier undergone naturopathy treatment in Bengaluru for a chronic cough problem. The meeting with the IAS officers was agreed upon after Baijal on Tuesday wrote to Kejriwal asking him to meet with them urgently to address their concerns.Baijals communication came nine days after Kejriwal, along with Sisodia and cabinet ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai, camped at the L-Gs office seeking his direction in the matter. The IAS Association said they were awaiting a formal communication for a meeting with Kejriwal. On Monday, Kejriwal reached out to them assuring them of their safety and security. Ministers and civil servants of the Delhi government held at least 20 meetings in different groups at the Secretariat on Wednesday as the national capitals administration resumed functioning as usual after a four-month stand-off was resolved the previous day. Unease persisted in the bureaucracy as the government announced that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will go on 10 days leave, throwing into uncertainty a meeting civil servants had sought with him after avoiding interaction with ministers due to safety concerns that stemmed from an alleged attack on chief secretary Anshu Prakash by ruling Aam Aadmi Party legislators on February 19. The work boycott had triggered an unprecedented nine-day sit-in protest by the chief minister and some of his cabinet colleagues at the office of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, which ended on Tuesday. Kejriwal, along with his deputy Manish Sisodia, labour minister Gopal Rai and public works department minister Satyendar Jain, had on June 11 gone to meet Baijal but did not leave the office, pressing the LG to intervene and get the bureaucrats to call off the boycott. The impasse ended this week after Kejriwal made fresh appeals to the officials. But the bureaucrats asked him for a meeting to complete the rapprochement. Uncertainty looms over our meeting with the chief minister as he will be gone for 10 days, said the association of AGMUT cadre IAS officers. We we have heard that he is unwell, which is understandable. But, some clarity on when the meeting will be held would make officers feel they are cared for by the CM and ministers. Otherwise, the assurance given by him sounds hollow with him gone, it added. According to a spokesperson, Kejriwal will attend a cabinet meeting on Thursday before heading to Bengaluru for naturopathy treatment. On Wednesday, Kejriwal did not come to office as he suffered from fever and high blood sugar, which deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said was a consequence of the sit-in at the visitors room of the L-Gs office. CMs blood sugar level is high at 400. He was scheduled to go to Bengaluru two days after meeting the L-G on June 11. But that could not happen, Sisodia said. Kejriwal has diabetes. Other ministers, however, held a number of meetings. They included the education, power, home, urban development, industries, environment and labour departments, apart from the PWD. Officers Hindustan Times spoke to said they hope Kejriwal would call the meeting before he leaves on Thursday evening. The meeting with the CM was the condition on which the impasse ended. It should have been held today. We understand that his health might not be in good condition, but at least giving us the date and time would have served the purpose, a bureaucrat said on condition of anonymity. When asked about the issue, Sisodia did not give a clear answer. He only said the meeting will be held. In its second statement during Kejriwals protest, the L-G office on Tuesday had welcomed the chief ministers appeal to civil servants, but had also asked him to urgently hold a meeting with them at the Secretariat. Kejriwal and his team, however, have been demanding that Baijal convene the meeting as the services department, which is responsible for transfers of bureaucrats, is under him. Despite attending meetings with ministers, the bureaucrats on Wednesday continued to observe their five-minute silence at government offices as a mark of protest against the alleged assault on chief secretary Prakash. The atmosphere at the meetings, which I have attended today (Wednesday), was different from earlier. It was congenial and positive, another senior bureaucrat said. Kejriwals decision to go on leave was criticised by the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Vijender Gupta who alleged that the chief minister ended his dharna only to proceed for another holiday from work. Delhiites were expecting that their CM will now get down to business of solving their burning problems. But, in place of compensating for the lost time, he has gone on leave. People of Delhi are feeling cheated, Gupta said. Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place for the International Yoga Day celebration at Rajpath on Thursday, a senior Delhi Police officer said. More than 500 police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed to keep an eye on suspicious elements. There will be 78 door frame metal detectors (DFMD) points for entry where visitors will be scanned, he added. The country is all geared up to roll out yoga mats to mark the fourth International Day of Yoga, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to lead about 55,000 enthusiasts in performing asanas in Dehradun on Thursday. The yoga event at Rajpath will be attended by Union minister Harsh Vardhan, Delhi L-G Anil Baijal, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi. The Delhi Traffic Police has issued an advisory asking motorists to avoid Rafi Marg, Janpath, Man Singh Road, Maulana Azad Road, Rajpath (between Vijay Cheok and Man Singh crossing), Krishna Menon Marg, K Kam Raj Marg and Rajender Prasad Road till 10 am on Thursday. The advisory asked motorists to take alternate routes -- Ring Road, Mathura Road, Bhairon Marg, Subarmaniyam Bharti Marg, Rajesh Pilot Marg, Dr Abdul Kalam Road, Tuglak Road, Mother Teresa Crescent Marg to travel from south to north and vice-versa, and from east to west and vice-versa. In Delhi, eight events have been planned in the national capital with the main celebration being held in the Connaught Place. The centrepiece of the first yoga day celebration in 2015 was New Delhis Rajpath, with the event making it to the Guinness World Records with 35,985 participants performing asanas at one venue and 84 nationalities being part of it. The United Nations General Assembly in December 2014 had declared that June 21 would be observed as International Day of Yoga every year, a move for which India had lobbied hard. Britains Home Office one of the top four offices of state is considered the graveyard of several political careers, but when Sajid Javid, son of immigrants, was appointed the home secretary in April, there was much excitement and hope of change. To his credit, he has tried to distance himself from the set of policies put in place by his predecessor in the Home Office, Theresa May, who wanted to generate a hostile environment on immigration. But last Fridays changes to visa rules have added to the tensions, already beset by a web of visa-related issues, between New Delhi and London. Including China, and not India, in the list of countries whose citizens are allowed less rigorous visa applications has caused consternation. British ministers have often tried to explain away the more than 50% drop since 2010 in the number of Indian students going to study there to what they call a perception issue. Days before last weeks changes, Mr Javid himself attributed the row over international students to the same thing. The home offices exclusion of India from the list of countries which are not required to undergo tough visa applications has been described as an insult at a time when the May government cannot stop itself from repeating that India is crucial to the UKs economic future after it leaves the European Union in March 2019. India has already made it clear that freedom of movement of professionals and students would be a key issue in talks for a post-Brexit free trade pact. Ironically, it was Mr Javid who, as the culture secretary in 2015, had called for London jettisoning outdated perceptions about India. India, and Indian students, have moved on. If fewer Indian students consider Britain as the first-choice destination for higher studies, the latest changes are likely to add to the perception that the country is no longer a welcoming place; Canada, Australia, the US and even some European countries are seen as more welcoming. Indian students, officials and even British universities have often complained about the arduous visa application process and post-study rules. Students are part of the complex visa-related web currently at the top of the India-UK relationship, reflected in the April visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who refused to sign an MoU on the return of illegal migrants unless London extends to Indians the easier, cheaper and longer visa that London extends to Chinese citizens. The latest changes will harden postures in New Delhi. It may well be the case that one government department (Home Office) does not know what the other is projecting (an unabashed woo-India policy on trade), but if the Conservative government is to realise its dream of a global Britain after Brexit, it needs some joined-up thinking in Whitehall and Westminster. A group of Delhi University aspirants on Monday complained they were not able to submit answers online for the entrance examination for B.Ed course at a centre in west Delhi. On Monday, the university held entrance examination for its B.Ed course at various centres between 4pm and 6pm. However, students who appeared for the test at a centre in Rohini alleged that they were not able to submit their answers after taking the exam online. When you take an exam online, you have to finish it and submit it online. But on Monday, we were asked to not submit the answers as there was some technical problem in Delhi Universitys main website, said Charul, an applicant. Another student, who appeared for the exam, added that many of them were made to sit inside the examination hall till 8pm while officials tried to resolve the issue. The students were finally allowed to go after 8 pm. Students said they have also filed a police complaint in this matter. However, police said that they were unaware of any complaint. University officials said there was some technical glitch due to which answers were not being uploaded. However, they said the problem was resolved after university officials went to the centre and transferred the data to the system. There was a technical glitch due to which there were problems in syncing the system. But it was resolved and the data was later transferred to the main system, said Vinay Gupta, dean examination. Earlier, students faced problems in downloading admit cards for exams. Many students had turned up at the university to get a hard copy of their admit card. Universities and institutes across the country are going beyond listening to students and are making them stakeholders in designing and executing curriculums, allowing them to shape what they learn and how they learn it. From undergraduate to postgraduate courses across streams, institutes such as Mumbais SP Jain School of Global Management, Ramnarain Ruia College and Jai Hind college; the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati; the Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurugram are using input from students to decide what modules to add to courses and which new certificate programmes to offer. Students are now partners in decision-making here, says Gautam Biswas, director of IIT-Guwahati. They are either part of our curriculum validation panels or are asked to send in their feedback on the curriculums. This is helping improve the courses at large and is helping students get a more well-rounded education with an eye on greater employability. At our institute, students provide feedback through discussions with the quality assurance team that ensures curriculum and course content is relevant, says Anitha Ramanna Pathak, manager of quality assurance at SP Jain School of Global Management. It makes students more involved, they begin understanding the course better and it gives them a greater stake in what theyre studying. Stepping into the future With advancements in feedback technologies and increasing flexibility on the part of private institutes, such a give-and-take is easier and more fruitful. Institutes now want to know if a particular course is effective enough, if it serves the intended purpose, says Umashankar Venkatesh, director of the postgraduate programme in management (PGPM) and professor of marketing at Great Lakes. Having a discussion instead of written feedback helps us understand the students perspective better, adds Pathak. For instance, at SP Jain, postgraduate management students since, the last three terms, have been suggesting that the student boardroom, where they play CEOs and COOs, ends up having only few students participating. We now have a digital platform called Socrates, where the whole class can leave comments and respond to the hypothetical situations in real time, Pathak says. The system has been adopted for the postgraduate students, and will also be introduced at the undergraduate level, eventually. Elsewhere, colleges with increased autonomy are changing how they implement the feedback. At Ruia, they started taking feedback on all curriculums three years ago. We would hold discussions with student representatives, collate the responses and send them to the University Grants Commission (UGC), says Jessy Pius, coordinator of the colleges internal quality assurance cell and an assistant professor of botany. This took time, and didnt always yield results. Last year, the college got autonomy. As per UGC guidelines on autonomy, each department should have existing students on its board of studies, says Pius. This has made students active learners. And we are able to respond in kind. Sometimes, changes are incorporated as quickly as the next semester. A demand for research at the undergraduate level in the Science and Arts streams, for instance, has led to the inclusion of a paper on research methods in the second year and a research paper in the final year (from 2018-19). Jai Hind college has student representatives on the board of studies for the Bachelors in Management Studies (BMS) and Bachelors in Mass Media (BMM) programmes. The result has been tie-ups with industry partners for modules on data analysis, risk management and stock markets, says principal Ashok Wadia. Students also asked for certificate courses on forensic science and Indian heritage, which we introduced. Open-ended feedback can help add value to existing systems. After each semester, we fill in a form on how each subject was taught, says Tanuj Abrol, a PGPM student at Great Lakes. One component is on the weekly guest lectures. Students can suggest specific lecturers or industries they want people to come from. In a PGPM programme, everyone has some work experience, so this kind of feedback can expose the batch to diverse fields. Baby steps Students may not always know what to ask for. They may be overly influenced by trends such as social media marketing, for instance, says Biswas of IIT-G. One way of getting a better response is to ask them to refer to curricula of best international universities and come up with suggestions. Sometimes, they may go to an unfeasible extreme. Last year, postgraduate students from the science stream wanted an entire semester on projects only, says Pius of Ruia. We had to explain that some foundation concepts, some theory is essential. Usability of student feedback also depends on the stream. For our post-graduate programme in data analytics and data science, for instance, designing a curriculum needs a panel of experts from industry and experienced faculty, says Venkatesh. Student feedback, in that case, does not play a major role. We ask students for a feedback at the end of the course, which is then reviewed by professional bodies. Technical courses need to be tightly controlled, after all. Dressed in a pale yellow salwar kameez, Rehana Biwi aimlessly sits at the entrance of her hutment in Jogipur ward 7 in Mewat. Rehana quickly disappears inside the house when she sees her husband approaching. The 30-year-old Rohingya refugee moved to Mewat in 2012 after undertaking an arduous journey from Myanmar. Last year in June, she lost her child during delivery at the civil hospital in Nalhar. Last year, three cases of infant deaths were reported in Jogipur camp alone, as per residents. The lot of the refugees in other camps across Mewat, which is home to seven Rohingya settlements, is not good either. In April this year, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to file a report about the facilities that were being provided to Rohingya refugees in Delhi and Haryana. Responding to the apex Court, the government said Rohingya refugees were not being discriminated against and all health, sanitation, medical and educational facilities were being provided to them. In the run up to the World Refugee Day on June 20, HT visited seven camps spread across Mewat three in Chandeni, two in Nangli, one in Jogipur ward-7 and one in Punhana where 1294 refugees live, as per UNHCR. Chandeni camp 1 A short detour from the Gurgaon-alwar Road via vast swathes of empty fields leads to the village of Chandeni. More than 46 km away from Gurugram, Chandeni is home to three Rohingya camps. Most of the local residents identify the camps where baahar se aaye hue log (outsiders) live. Last month, a fire damaged 57 dwellings in Chandeni camp 1. A dead tree stands amid heaps of ash and dust where the camp once stood. I was in the mosque with muezzin sahib when I saw smoke emanating from somewhere. Fire had engulfed the camp. We couldnt do anything. By the time the fire tenders came, everything was over, says the imam of the mosque which was destroyed along with houses. Most refugees had been living in temporary tents provided by the district administration until a dust storm brought them down. The village panchayat has agreed to provide the land to rebuild their houses but the issue is mired in delays with another family from the village claiming the land. Mohd. Jawed, 34, was among those who lost all their belongings in the fire. I lost all the documents that established my identity in India. Three lakh in cash which I had saved over the years also perished. We didnt have any bank account. We dont know when the houses will be made again. It can take days or even months, says Jawed. Jawed and his wife are now trying to build a temporary hut before the monsoon sets in. This time we were thinking of celebrating Eid by using our savings. But, fate had this tragedy in store for us, says Jaweds wife Sabekun Nahar. Chandeni camp 2 Mohammad Hussain, 45, runs a small tea shop in the camp. Back home in Myanmar, he had a big shop. Hussain left Buthidaung in Myanmar in 2012. Buddhists nationalists started killing us. Our sons were dragged out of the house and women assaulted. They burnt down our houses, Hussain says. Hussains brother is in Bangladesh. He has no contact with him. We lost each other while trying to flee from Myanmar. There was chaos all around. I left in one boat, he took another one. An acquaintance who came from Bangladesh told me about my brother, he says. Hussain made a perilous journey from Myanmar to Bangladesh and then to Kolkata. He lived in Jammu for a few days after which he set out for Mewat. We were scared. We found that Muslims lived in Mewat and, therefore, we moved here, he says. The families in Chandeni 2 contribute to pay ?35,000 per year as rent for the plot of land where they have made their dwellings. We save a little to pay for the rent. Sometimes, it gets difficult since there are not enough work opportunities in Mewat. Most people look for odd jobs, says Hussain. At this point, the tungsten bulb that lights the hut goes out. The power is irregular and so is water supply, says Hussain as he passes a cup of tea to a local villager, Nisar Ahmad. Ahmad works in the local post office in Mewat. The court will decide the fate of the refugees but we have no issues with them. They are kind people. The area is safe for them but they have no work to do, says Ahmad. Children in this camp go to a nearby school in Ferozpur Namak. Rashida, 11, walks to her school every day. I like to study. Hindi is my favourite subject. I want to become a madam (teacher) when I grow up, says Rashida, who has been living in the camp for the past four years. Nur Begum, 50, has been living in the camp with her two sons, a daughter-inlaw and grand-children for the past four years. Cardboards supported by bamboo sticks and covered with black tarpaulin make up Nurs modest shanty. Nurs husband and one-year-old infant were killed in the violence which broke out in 2012 in her village in Buthidaung, Rakhine district. I cant forget that day. Dilbar was sleeping post asar (afternoon) namaz. Our roof was made of leaves which caught fire easily and fell on him. I woke him up and dragged him out. In the melee, I couldnt save my younger one. My elder son, Ramzan, was stabbed, mutters Nur in between sobs. Nurs 22-year-old son Dilbar Hussain, then an 18-year-old, sustained burns when a portion of the ceiling fell on him. Dilbar works as a labourer occasionally. Dilbars elder brother Ramzan isnt of much help since his injury makes it difficult for him to walk. Ramzan rues the limited work opportunities in Mewat. We had a huge bamboo house until our world was destroyed. There is no work here but we dont have a choice. My father was beheaded before my eyes, says Ramzan. I miss my country and would want to go back if there is a guarantee that equal rights will be given to the Rohingyas, he adds as an afterthought. Nur Begum sitting in the background aggressively moves her head signalling disapproval. We will never go back. Theres no way we are going to that place, no matter what happens. Kill us here if you have to, says Nur. Rohingya refugee children collect drinking water from a tap in the Chandeni Rohingya camp. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo) Chandeni camp-3 Nur Hassan moved to Mewat from Mathura six months ago. Soon after arriving in India, he, along with others was allegedly sold by middlemen as bonded labour and moved to Mathura. Someone in the rag-picking business took us there. We would collect garbage and half of our daily earnings would be taken by them. We were under debt and didnt know what to do. There was no place to live, no place where we could educate our children. The police drove us away one day, says Hassan. Hassan takes us on a tour of the camp to show the pathetic conditions. We have requested the UN to do something about the situation but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Our kids are falling sick. We do not have proper toilets, says Hassan. Besides toilets, lack of clean drinking water is a common problem across the camps. Residents shell out ?600 for a tanker of water every day. Water from the tanker is collected in a reservoir to be used for drinking and washing. The water is not clean. Rainwater gets mixed with the water. There are insects too but we dont have a choice, says Hassan. Hassans mother and siblings are in Myanmar. I call them after every 3-4 months but dont ask them anything about the conflict. They may land in trouble if someone gets to know about it, says Hassan. Jogipur Ward-7 Dressed in a tamain, a traditional Burmese wrap-around skirt, 30-year-old Asma is busy sewing an orange dress. Her feet are placed on the pedal of the sewing machine as her husband and mother sit behind her. Back in Burma, my husband used to operate a boat. We had two boats and lived in a pucca house, she says while remembering her time in Myanmar. She has a 14-year-old son named Fayazul Islam and 13-year-old daughter Kaheena Akhtar. Her son walks an hour every day to attend a school few kilometres away. Her daughter had studied till Class 3 before she dropped out. Mohammad Alam and some others are sitting outside since there is no power. Alam came to India via the Bangladesh border in 2014. On reaching India, he was allegedly attacked by some people in Balurghat, West Bengal. When Alam and his family resisted, they were handed over to the police. I stayed in the prison for five months 17 days. My child was taken away and put in another place. Somehow, I managed to call my brother who came to our help, says Alam. There are 90 families in the camp with 270 people, said Zaibul Alam, 26, who is the zimmedar (incharge) for Jogipur Ward 7 camp. However, as per UNHCR partner agency, there are 301 residents. Children in the camp used to go to the nearby Chaudhary Mohd. Yasin Khan Meo Senior secondary school till three months ago but had to drop out after the school became private. We barely earn enough to feed our children. How can we send them to school? We cannot afford the fees now, says Alam. Kavita Agarwal, principal of Chaudhary Mohd. Yasin Khan Meo Senior secondary school said refugee children had started dropping out of the school over the past few months. Earlier, around 40 refugee children would study in our school for as little as ?50. Now the school has become private. The Rohingya children started dropping out gradually and at present no Rohingya child studies here, says Agarwal. There are 90 families in the Jogiwar Ward 7 with 270 people. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo) Nangli Camp 1 and 2 Mohd Ayaz, 40, holds two white plastic packets as we follow him to his house. He has just returned from the neighborhood market. His son Mohd Suenoor greets him at the door. Ayaz lays down the packets on the sofa and unpacks them. He spreads out a navy-blue T-shirt, two pairs of jeans and a pair of shoes. Recollecting Eid festivities back home, Ayaz said, Back home, my mother and sister used to wake up at the crack of dawn and start cooking. We would offer namaz and make dua for the deceased. Over here, there is hardly any celebration. Our lives revolve around the everyday troubles of arranging for food and water. Noor Alam, 47, is the zimmedar (in charge) for Nangli 2 camp. The camp houses 90 families of 330 refugees. However as per UNHCR there are 326 of them. The camp has reported three fire incidents. Two-three months back, four houses in the camp had caught fire and a makeshift mosque was burnt down more than a year back. In another accident, a 60-year-old had died. Refugees here pay ?600 per tanker for drinking water. For bathing and washing, they use water from a well. There are no proper toilets. Earlier, a teacher from a non-profit organisation would come to teach the children in the camp. However, no teacher has been coming for the past one year, say residents. Despite being fearful of the circumstances back home, Alam hopes to go back one day. Who would want to leave ones own country? Even birds dont want to leave their houses. Back in Burma, I had a two-floor house. Who wants to stay in a house of plastic? asks Alam. Punhana camp Rehana Akhtar, a resident of the Rohingya refugee camp in Punhana village in Mewat, about 86 km away from Gurugram, complains about the lack of toilets and the consequent spread of diseases . There are insects all around due to which all the children are always falling sick, she said. Rehana doesnt have a toilet inside her home. She doesnt want her child to fall sick and goes out in the open to defecate. There are two makeshift toilets in the camp for men but none for women. Around 5 in the morning, she wakes up, wears her burqa and heads to the nearby forest. We are living in heat, dust, illness but still find India better than Burma. Shouldnt this make people realize how bad the situation in Burma is? she asks. Fatima, another resident, says her family left Myanmar to escape the violence. We were forced to leave Burma because of communal tensions. Buddhists told us that Burma was not our country and we didnt have any right to stay there. Over here, the plot owner wants us to leave the place. Where do we go? Our life is perennially in transit, says 17-year-old Fatima. Court intervention The Supreme Court on May 11 designated local sub-divisional magistrates as nodal officers to address concerns about healthcare, food, sanitation and education of Rohingya refugees living in camps in Haryana and Delhi. Refugee camps are spread across twothree sites in Mewat. Basic facilities like water, electricity and bedding are provided by the government, says Priti, who took charge as SDM of Mewat on June 4. She prefers to go by her first name only. We provided tents, mobile toilets and food for a few days in Chandeni camp 1 but they were destroyed in a fire. They have pucca toilets which were not working for some time but we got them fixed. Electricity and water facilities are available to residents in other camps as well, says Sher Singh, Naib Tehsildar of Nuh. Khurshid Rajaka, chairman of the Mewat Development Agency, a government welfare body constituted in 1980, says, These camps existed here before the current government came to power. They live on plots that have been given by villagers or some vacant plots. They manage their affairs themselves. The Haryana government is not providing any facilities in the camps Organisations that work for the welfare of the refugees say water and education are a major problem area. The Haryana government provided water tankers in the camps during the summers or the recently concluded Ramzan but not throughout the year. Its becoming difficult to get children enrolled in schools since the state government doesnt give admission without Aadhar card. As far as sanitation is concerned, the centres report submitted to the SC was silent on the issue of toilets. Refugees are not covered under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, says Ravi Hemadri, director of the Development and Justice Initiative, UNHCRS implementing partner in Haryana. Actor Daniella Pineda, who recently starred in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, has said that a dialogue revealing the sexuality of her character was cut from the film. The 31-year-old actor, who plays Zia Rodriguez, a paleo-veterinarian, in the film, told Build that the dialogue revealed her character to be a lesbian but it was taken out of the 130-minute film because it was running too long. I understood why they cut it - for sake of time. Its me and Chris Pratt and we are in a military vehicle with all of these mercenaries, Pineda said. US-Mexican actor Daniella Pineda attends the premiere of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. (AFP) I look at Chris and am like, Yeah. Square jaw. Good bone structure. Tall. Muscles. I dont date men, but if I did, it would be you. It would gross me out, but I would do it., she added. Pineda she felt bad that the dialogue was cut because it would have provided a little insight into my character. Follow @htshowbiz for more Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday said the much-anticipated All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) facility announced for the state by the Centre will come up near Madurai at an estimated Rs 1,500 crore. Chief minister K Palaniswami thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for selecting Thoppur for this purpose. The 750-bed (RPT) 750-bed modern facility will be set up at Thoppur near Madurai at an estimated Rs 1,500 crore, Palaniswami told reporters here, adding, it will also have 100 MBBS seats. The AIIMS facility was announced for Tamil Nadu in the Union Budget 2015-16 but had faced some delays over the location of the facility, with demands being made by various sections for it to be set up in their respective districts. Palaniswami recalled that a central team had earlier visited five locations, including those at Madurai, Erode and Pudukottai districts, before zeroing in on Thoppur. Assuring all support from the Tamil Nadu government in the establishment of the proposed AIIMS, he thanked Modi for allocating such a facility to the state. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Palaniswami said the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa was very keen that an institution of the stature of AIIMS was established and made functional in Tamil Nadu. She was keen on ensuring Tamil Nadu got such a facility as it would substantially augment the facilities in the state for providing quality medical education, research and also ensure high-end tertiary level healthcare in the public sector to benefit the poor and middle classes of the state, he said. Palaniswami said he has directed state health minister C Vijayabaskar, principal health secretary, J Radhakrishnan and other senior officials to provide all necessary support to the Central government so as to facilitate early commencement of work. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced a banner of revolt from within as more than a dozen councillors revolted against Shimla municipal corporation mayor Kusum Sadrate. Councillors demanded an immediate removal of the mayor on Tuesday. More than a dozen councillors demanded her resignation and submitted a dissent letter to education minister Suresh Bhardwaj, who is also a local legislator. Councillors alleged that mayor was functioning in arbitrary manner. We all are councillors from ruling party. Mayor is functioning in an arbitrary manner, Shalender Chauhan said, a BJP councillor from Sanjauli. In a 34-member house, BJP has 19 councillors and Congress 14 and one from Communist Party of India. It was in 2017 that the BJP wrested Shimla municipal corporation after a gap of 34 years. Kusum Sadarate, a councillor from Annandale ward, was elected mayor while Rakesh Sharma, was appointed her deputy. BJP had won 17 seats and Sharma who contested as independent candidate supported BJP, helping saffron party gain majority. Councillors complaint of slowed down development BJP councillors are ruing lack of developmental works in town. Developmental work has slowed down. We are accountable to people who have voted and supported us, said a woman councillor who requesting anonymity. Majority of councillors hailing from BJP are also resenting the municipal corporation failure to tackle water crises in Shimla that have adversely impacted tourism industry. Mayor Kusum Sadrate drew flax for the water crisis as she was away on a week-long study tour to China. Her absence during the water crisis led to angry protests on the streets and gave a tool to Congress to hit back at the BJP. Many BJP councillors had themselves organised a sit in to protest water shortage. Mayor denies allegations Shimla mayor Kusum Sadrate, who has a backing from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), denies allegations against her. Whatever is possible I am doing that for development of the town. I try and assist all the councillors. I am delivering whatever is possible, mayor Kusum Sadrate said. I have full support from the government as well as the organisation, she said. Opposition criticises BJP Communist Party of India (Marxist) has termed the BJP-led Shimla municipal corporation, which completed one year in office, a complete failure. Civic body has failed to perform its duties entrusted by the Constitution of India and should be dissolved, said CPI(M) state secretariat member and former Shimla mayor Sanjay Chauhan. The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday accused the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) of using the family of Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula for political gains. Vemulas mother Radhika, however, denied the charge. I was anxious after reading Rohith Vemulas mothers statement. For how long will some opposition parties continue playing politics over it? The family is financially unstable and fake assurance of money was made to a distressed mother for political purposes, BJP leader Piyush Goyal told reporters. In her statement, Radhika Vemula said IUML made false promises of providing a sum of Rs 20 lakh and asked her to address their rallies and misrepresent the unfortunate incident, Goyal claimed. He said she was asked to travel to Kerala and address the rallies for the IUML. Rohith Vemula, a PhD student at Hyderabad University, committed suicide on the campus on January 17, 2016. His suicide triggered a massive row as the opposition parties described it as a case of atrocities against Dalits. Lashing out at the IUML leaders, the BJP leader said: According to his mother, the IUML gave them two cheques of Rs 2.5 lakh, out of which one bounced. Targeting Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Goyal said, I received information that even Congress president took Vemulas family to stages and asked them to make statements. Rahul Gandhi should apologise for doing petty politics. Vemulas mother Radhika, however, denied that the IUML used them for political gains. Its true that IUML promised to provide me with money, but they havent used me for political gains. It was my wish to speak against PM (Narendra) Modi and if needed I will speak again in any of their meeting, ANI quoted Radhika saying. Radhika agreed the IUML had sent them two cheques of Rs 2.5 lakh, of which one bounced. We informed them and they said they will directly provide us money so that we can buy a house, said Radhika. Security forces are preparing to resume counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the government is set to mount pressure on the leadership of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, officials said on Wednesday, as Kashmir governor NN Vohra took charge of the state administration and put the assembly under suspended animation. As Jammu and Kashmir came under Governors Rule, a day after the states nearly 40-month-old coalition government collapsed, home minister Rajnath Singh said that the Centre will not tolerate terrorism any longer, after ending a month-long halt on counter-insurgency operations. Elimination of terrorism and restoration of peace in Kashmir is our biggest target, Singh said on a visit to Lucknow, a constituency he represents in the Lok Sabha. He warned militant groups against any misadventure. Our security forces are ready to foil any such activity, said Singh. President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to Governors Rule in the state on Wednesday, a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended its alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), forcing chief minister Mehbooba Muftis resignation. Governor Vohra made the recommendation in a report he sent to the home ministry on Tuesday night. On Sunday, the Centre ordered security forces to resume counter-insurgency operations in J&K, ending a month-long halt for the Islamic holy month of Ramzan. In New Delhi, Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat said security forces had to end the so-called unilateral ceasefire in the state because terrorists had kept up their attacks. Operations were being carried out earlier as well. Then we saw a phase of suspension of operations because we wanted people to get a chance to offer their prayers during Ramzan without any kind of problem. Despite that, terrorists continued with their activity, which is why the suspension of operations was cancelled, he said. General Rawat also said the change in the political scenario will not have any effect on security forces, who he said have never faced any restrictions on their work. We dont have any kind of political interference, Rawat said about Governors Rule. Security forces have strict rules of engagement and take action in accordance with them, Rawat said. Officials familiar with the developments have said the Centre will follow a hardline security-centric policy with the scaling up of counter-insurgency operations, especially in the four districts of South Kashmir Shopian, Kulgam, Anantnag and Pulwama that have become the hotbed of militancy in the last two years. Pressure is likely to mount on some leaders of the Hurriyat Conference. Officials in the federal counter-terror bureau National Investigation Agency said separatist leaders are likely to be questioned in connection with a suspected terror funding case. Investigation will gather pace in the next few days, said a home ministry official familiar with the matter, requesting anonymity. NIA chief YC Modi on Wednesday met Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba to discuss some of the administrative issues of the agency, including investigations pending in J&K.There is enough evidence on record to question some of the Hurriyat leaders in the terror funding probe. The agency is likely to call them for questioning in the case, said a second home ministry official familiar with the matter. Security for the Amarnath Yatra, the annual pilgrimage which starts later this month and passes through South Kashmir on its way to the cave shrine, was also a paramount concern when the government decided not to extend the halt on counter-insurgency operations. Ensuring a safe pilgrimage is also one of the immediate challenges faced by governor Vohra, who will oversee the states administration for a fourth time. Direct federal rule over Kashmir is called Governors Rule, and not Presidents Rule as other states, because J&K is governed by different constitutional provisions. The 82-year-old Vohras second term as governor ends on June 27 but he is likely to get an extension in light of the Amarnath Yatra, which begins on June 28. Vohra, a veteran civil servant, was appointed the states 12th governor in 2008. The then United Progressive Alliance government gave him a a five-year extension in 2013. Jammu and Kashmir right now cant afford to have a new governor who will need three to six months know the state, said a bureaucrat. Vohra held a series of meeting as he took charge.He held his first meeting with all the administrative secretaries and the senior-most police and forest service officers at the Civil Secretariat. He also met Lt Gen. Ranbir Singh, army commander, Northern Command.He reviewed security management issues relating to the state with senior civil, police, central police, army and intelligence. Meanwhile, the Centre appointed B V R Subramanyam as J&Ks new chief secretary. BB Vyas, former chief secretary of J&K, and Vijay Kumar, a former chief of the Central Reserve Police Force who has had stints in the Kashmir region as an officer of the Border Security Force, were appointed as advisors to Governor. Subrahmanyam has had two stints in the Prime Ministers Office. He served as private secretary to then PM Manmohan Singh in the UPA-1 regime and later again joined the PMO in 2011 as joint secretary. He remained in the PMO till March 2015. A woman asking her fraands to drink tea must have invariably popped up on your social media feed and now she all over the internet. Somvati Mahawar, who casually stares at the camera and utters the simple line, has become the queen of memes. Not only that, she is now being called the chai wali aunty by the internet peeps. Hello fraands chai pi lo ... Garam hai, she effortlessly says in the self-shot video, which first appeared on the internet in May. And, thats all it took for the chai wali aunty to get famous. Here is the clip, if you havent watched it already. There are now hundreds of memes and jokes inspired by Mahawars chai pi lo request floating on the internet. *Professor enters the classroom* Prof: Hello frndzzz Class: Chai pi lo#chaipilo #lamejok The Roov (@dhruv_joshi10) June 13, 2018 Slightly disappointed that nobody has opened a Tea Stall named "Chai Pi Lo Friends" yet. GRV (@MildlyClassic) June 6, 2018 Mumbai Police, famous for their cheeky tweets, kept their tradition alive by tapping on social medias viral content and turning into a lesson. Hello Fraaands! Helmet pehan lo... to have a Safe-Tea at home! the force tweeted on June 13. The tweet got over 3,200 shares and 8209 likes. Hello Fraaands! Helmet pehan lo... to have a Safe-Tea at home! #RoadSafeTEA pic.twitter.com/MoGTYzK8wU Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) June 13, 2018 Surprisingly, Mahawars fame is not limited to India. US-based Ben Stern posted a 10-second clip on Facebook on June 14, imitating Mahawars now famous line. The 33-year-olds spoof garnered over 1,500 likes and was shared more than 2,900 people on the social media site. Stern did not just stop at one video. The graduate of Columbia University and Yale Law School posted four more short clips, mocking Mahawar. Arvind Subramanian said on Wednesday that he was stepping down as the Union governments chief economic adviser (CEA) and would return to the United States to take care of pressing family commitments. Union minister Arun Jaitley first announced Subramanians departure on Wednesday in a Facebook post titled Thank you Arvind in which he lavished warm praise on the economist. His reasons were personal but extremely important for him. He left me with no option but to agree with him, Jaitley wrote. My departure from this job for entirely personal reasons. It is no secret that we are expecting our first grandchild in the early September. Thats a very compelling reason that takes us back to old life, said Subramanian. Subramanians departure makes him the third economist working with the government to go back to the US in the last two years, following in the footsteps of Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan in 2016 and Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya in 2017. Though he refused to divulge the exact date of his departure or the nature of his future commitments, the CEA said that he was always committed to serving the country in case another government role was offered to him. Subramanian, who has been on leave from the Peterson Institute for International Economics in the US where he is the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow, was appointed CEA on October 16, 2014 for a period of three year. His term was extended in 2017. On the expiry of the three years, I had requested him to continue for some more time. Even at that stage he told me that he was torn between family commitment and his current job which he considered the best and most fulfilling he has ever done, wrote Jaitley, who has been recuperating after a recent kidney transplant. Subramanian has pushed several new ideas, such as universal basic income (a stipend to be paid to everyone) and a state-backed bad bank that will take over distressed assets from commercial banks. He was closely associated with the Goods and Services Tax launched last year and also conceptualised the so-called JAM trinity (Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, Mobile) for direct transfer of public benefits. He is an Advisor who has to analyse and thinks several steps ahead. It is a unique responsibility with freedom to do the work that he enjoys. Arvind functioned within these parameters and concentrated on the challenges to the economy. His early diagnosis of the twin balance-sheet problem had led us to adopt the macroeconomic strategy of higher public investment in the Budget of 2015-16, Jaitley wrote in his blog. The twin balance-sheet problem refers to the ballooning of bad loans at state-owned banks and corporate debt that many companies are unable to repay after overextending themselves to expand rapidly in the years when the economy was booming. Commenting on his unfinished agenda Subramanian said: There was a lot of demand for creating the office of CEA in a number of states, a number of chief ministers were keen to have something like this and I wish I had more bandwidth, time and energy to kind of do this in the states as well. I hope it will happen going forward. The Congress party used Subramanians departure to take a swipe at the government. Financial Experts of Modi Govt are completely fed up by its Colossal Economic Mismanagement, Tepid Economic Reforms & Financial Anarchy. CEA, Arvind Subramanians resignation after the stepping down of Niti Aayogs Arvind Panagriya & RBI Gov Raghuram Rajan comes as no surprise! tweeted the Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. The brightest flee the sinking ship, as the invisible hand of the RSS steers it onto the rocks, said Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a tweet on Wednesday. To be sure, Subramanian attracted his share of controversy. He said last year that commenting on the beef ban would cost him his job. His strong criticism of the Reserve Bank of Indias stance on monetary policy, when it refused to reduce rates in May 2017, also attracted attention. The top-ranking official even found himself at the receiving end of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamys Twitter posts in the past. Before moving to New Delhi as the CEA, Subramanian had advised the Indian government in various capacities. He was also on the finance ministers expert group on the Group of 20. Jaitley ended his Facebook post thus: Personally I will miss his dynamism, energy, intellectual ability and ideas. He would walk into my room at times several times a day, addressing me as Minister to give either the good news or otherwise. Needless to say his departure will be missed by me. Subramanian reciprocated, calling Jaitley the dream boss.. Profoundly grateful & humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister @arunjaitley announcing my decision to return-for personal reasons-to researching & writing. CEA job most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting I have ever had. Many many to thank, Subramanian wrote in a tweet. The Congress leadership is exploring the possibility of a pre-poll or post-poll tie-up with perfume baron Badruddin Ajmals All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a political party active in Assam, with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The effort has run into strong resistance from a section of the Congress Assam unit, including former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who has a long history of rivalry with Ajmal. Ajmal was present at the Iftar party hosted by Congress president Rahul Gandhi last week. A pact with Ajmal is aimed at consolidating the Muslim vote in the state. But the flip side, according to observers, is that the BJP may use it to consolidate the Hindu vote. While a pre-poll tie-up with AIUDF may help consolidate the Muslim votes in Assam, which has 14 seats in the Lok Sabha, former CM Gogoi is believed to have thrown a spanner into the works. His rivalry with Ajmal goes back a long way. Gogoi, who met Congress president Rahul Gandhi last week, has maintained that Ajmals clout among Bengali-speaking minorities has considerably weakened and the Congress is stronger than it was in Assam, party members familiar with his stand said on condition of anonymity. So Gogoi has argued that there is no need to join hands with Ajmal, the leader cited above said. State Congress unit chief Ripun Bora is also backing Gogoi. Bora said on Wednesday, Any pact with AIUDF will be suicidal as it will help BJP to polarise the Hindu vote. In last assembly poll, he fielded candidates to defeat Congress and help the BJP. Apparent cross-voting by Congress councillors on Wednesday helped the BJP wrest five district panchayats from the opposition party in Gujarat in elections held for the posts of presidents and vice presidents. Elections to the posts of presidents and vice presidents of over 200 taluka panchayats and 31 district panchayats were held on Wednesday across Gujarat. Local bodies in Gujarat elect new heads midway through their five-year term. Before Wednesdays elections, the Congress was holding 23 of 31 district panchayats. With the BJP wresting Ahmedabad, Patan, Bhavnagar, Mahisagar and Dahod district panchayats, the Congress tally now stood at 18. The Congress, which had won these local bodies in 2015, accused the ruling BJP of using money power to buy its elected members. However, the BJP claimed the Congress lost due to infighting in that party. Gujarat unit Congress president Amit Chavda alleged the BJP had paid Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2 crore to each Congress councillor for cross-voting. Toadys results clearly show that the BJP has used its money power to snatch power from Congress in five district panchayats. The BJP has paid Rs 25 lakh to Rs 2 crore to these members for switching loyalty during elections. The BJP has misused the government machinery, Chavda alleged. He alleged that some councillors of the Congress were blackmailed by the BJP to make them switch side while some were offered huge money. Though the BJP has tried hard to snatch almost half of the panchayats ruled by us, they could snatch only five. It shows that Congress workers are still united, Chavda told reporters. Hitting back, Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani said the members of the Congress voted in favour of BJP nominees because they were fed up with the Congress leadership. Though Congress councillors wanted to serve people, partys senior leadership was not allowing them to do so. That is the reason for the Congress defeat in these bodies. The Congress lost because of infighting and over-confidence, Vaghani told reporters in Gandhinagar. Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday visited the family of rifleman Aurangzeb who was abducted and killed by militants in Jammu and Kashmir on June 15. Sitharaman arrived in Jammu earlier in the day and flew to the Mendhar area of Rajouri district where she met the bereaved family. I have come to spend some time with the family of the martyr and the message I am carrying back is that the martyred soldier stands out as an inspiration for the entire country, the minister told mediapersons in Jammu. The slain soldiers father has also served in the Army. Army chief General Bipin Rawat also visited the family on Monday. Aurangzeb was brutally killed in Pulwama district in the Kashmir Valley. He was on way to join his family on the occasion of Eid when the militants intercepted the private vehicle in which the soldier was travelling to Shopian town, from where he would take another vehicle for Poonch. A video released by the militant group that abducted Aurangzeb showed him bravely acknowledging that he was a soldier of the Indian Army and had participated in anti-militancy operations in south Kashmir. Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg Governor Narendra Nath Vohra will administer Jammu and Kashmir for the fourth time after the state came under central rule, but the emergence of local militancy make his latest assignment complicated than ever. In the past two years, this is the second time that the state will come under Governors rule with Vohra at the helm. In past three-four years, Kashmir has changed a lot. It will need special efforts to calm tempers. The space for mainstream parties have shrunk and local boys have joined militancy, said a mainstream political leader who knows Vohra closely. Now it remains to be seen how south Kashmir will behave. And if something happens like killing of civilians or any big incident happens, Governor Vohra and the Centre will also [sic] be responsible, said the politician, commenting about a region where militant violence has increased. Leaders of mainstream political parties have faith in Vohra and almost every top leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bharatiya Janata Party, National Conference and the Congress enjoy close ties with him. This is the fourth time Vohra is taking over affairs of the state. And this time its the most difficult assignment. Let us see how he uses his cards on the political and governance front, said the editor of a Srinagar-based newspaper. Also read: Centre to scale up operations against Kashmir militants as Governors rule imposed Vohra, a veteran civil servant who has held different posts in Jammu and Kashmir and the centre, was appointed the states 12th governor in 2008. Ghulam Nabi Azad, who headed an alliance government, resigned as chief minister after the PDP withdrew support in July 2008 in the backdrop of the Amarnath land controversy. The state came under central rule and Vohra replaced SK Sinha as governor. The state was under Governors rule from July 11, 2008 to January 5, 2009, when the National Conference and the Congress formed a government with NC leader Omar Abdullah as chief minister. Assembly elections in 2014 threw up a hung assembly and it took more three months before a government could be set up. Vohra again looked after the states affairs in this period. The United Progressive Alliance 1 government had given Vohra a five-year extension in 2013. Vohra, a Punjab cadre IAS officer, was appointed Punjabs home secretary when the state was passing through a turbulent phase after the Operation Bluestar, the military operation to remove Sikh militants from Amritsars Golden Temple. He played an important role in holding elections to the Punjab assembly in 1985. After serial bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993, Vohra was appointed Union Home Secretary (1993-94). In 2004, he acted as the special representative of the Centre for dialogue in Kashmir. Indias 150 poorest but mineral-rich districts could get a major facelift in the next one year, coinciding with the 2019 general elections, provided the state governments are able to spend over ~18,800 crore they have from mining companies under the district mining fund. The fund was created through an amendment in the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 by the National Development Alliance government, taking forward the idea first mooted by the United Progressive Alliance government when a new version of the mineral law was proposed. The Centre, through a notification in January 2015, had asked the states to set up a district mineral foundation trust to share mining revenue. For major minerals such as coal, bauxite, chromite, iron ore and manganese, the companies were required to share 10% to 30% of the royalty with the foundation. In case of minor minerals such as building stones, gravel and limestone, the state governments were given the power to decide the amount of royalty to be shared. In over two years, mineral-rich states such as Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, where half of the countrys economically and socially backward districts are located, contributed about 75% to the fund worth ~18,867 crore, which meant about one-fourth of total development funds for the mineral rich districts, till the first week of May. The money is to be utilised under the national scheme called Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra being monitored by the mines ministry. As per the guidelines, around 60% of the funds are to be used for big-ticket projects on drinking water, healthcare, education, environment and sanitation. The remaining can be used for providing energy access, watershed management and irrigation. However, the pace of spending the money has not been satisfactory. According to the mines ministry, projects worth ~8,579 crore have been approved but the expenditure till the first week of May was only 20%. The mines ministry is concerned about the slow pace of work. We have asked state governments to utilise money for two or three big schemes so that utilisation of the money improves and there is visible impact on the ground, said a senior mines ministry official familiar with the matter. The directive came after an analysis by the ministry showed that the states flush with funds were allocating the money to a large number of small projects. For instance, Chhattisgarh has started 51,686 projects, Odisha around 42,899 and Jharkhand 2,07,173 the majority of which is for declaring villages open defecation free (ODF). Mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar at a recent review meeting asked the state governments to ensure that around 60% of the funds should be used to improve the lives of people through drinking water supply, imparting skills to youth for jobs in the local industry and building new school and healthcare facilities. Following the direction, officials say, some districts such as Dhanbad, a highly polluted coal mining district in Jharkhand, has allocated 62.5% of its fund for clean drinking water. But the overall expenditure is about 20% of the money collected and the work from the fund is yet to start in the six districts of Garhwa, Khunti, Simdega, Jamtara, Dumka and Sahebganj, admit Jharkhand government officials familiar with the matter. Jharkhands mines director SI Minz said the funds are directly allocated to the districts and the deputy commissioners are accountable for the expenditure. We in the headquarters only receive the figures related to fund allocations and expenditures besides some details regarding work outlays, he added. In Odishas Kendujhar, the entire education budget has been used for the construction of additional classrooms. The state has also planned to build a medical college in Keonjhar and a flyover in Joda from the fund, but starting work on these projects is taking time. Just 11% of ~4,453 collected has been utilised till May this year. Odishas chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, who supervises the fund at the state level, said they expect the pace of the work to pick up as the detailed project report of most of the big-ticket projects under DMF have been cleared. Getting a source of water in rural pipe water supply project is tricky and takes up a lot of time, he said. Chhattisgarh has approved about 51,686 projects spread across sectors such as drinking water supply, environment preservation, pollution control, health and education, among others and 60% of ~2,746 crore generated has been used, which is a high among all states. Two Chhattisgarh districts Korba and Maoist-affected Dantewada stand out as they have the highest rate (about 85%) of completing the projects in a short span of time. States mining secretary Subodh Singh said: Our progress in using the DMF funds is best in the country and Chhattisgarh is a role model for many states. In election-bound Rajasthan, the government has not been able to utilise even 20% of the money collected. According to mines department, only 120 crore of the ~594 crore has been used so far. A secretary in the department said work was slow in almost all the 33 districts as district officials have failed to hold regular meetings on fund utilisation. According to a study done by the Centre for Science and Environment, the slow pace of fund utilisation was primarily because of least progress with respect to developing district management plans except for a few key mining districts in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of Centre for Science and Environment said: The district mining fund has huge potential to benefit poor locals in the mining areas. But the money is being spent without much scientific and contemplative planning. The districts need to identify the priority areas and ensure that the projects are completed in a time-bound manner. The mines ministry official quoted above said that the states have assured that all the ongoing projects will be completed by the end of the current financial year, which is March 2019, a month before the general elections. Voices of protest Rana Sengupta, managing trustee and CEO of the Rajasthan Mine Labour Protection Campaign Trust, said the government is only duplicating the fund spend. The different departments already had sufficient funds. The government is diverting funds for welfare of mining workers. He suggested that the government should set up a mine workers welfare board on the lines of the building and other construction workers board. This will benefit not only the mine workers but also ensure their votes to the government, he said. According to Haru Rajwar, a resident of Lodna in Dhanbad, the administration chalked out several toilets under the ODF scheme, but only a few are operational for want of water, he said. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha claimed that the money was being allocated to small projects to benefit the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) cadre, a charge denied by the ruling party. (With inputs from Debabrata Mohanty in Bhubaneswar, Ritesh Mishra in Raipur, Urvashi Dev Raval in Jaipur and Gautam Mazumdar in Ranchi) The announcement that Arvind Subramanian, Indias Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), is quitting for personal reasons to return to the United States has generated considerable attention. The CEA spoke to Prashant Jha about his time in government and the state of the economy: As you look back, what are the key highlights and the big regret you have from your tenure? There were some major highlights: the constitutional amendment on the GST (Goods and Services Tax), the early diagnosis of the twin balance sheet issue; pushing the ideas of stigmatised capitalism, carbon imperialism, universal basic income, bad banks and more. But I think presenting economic surveys and elevating the content, presentation and articulation of economic policy making would rank high. My regret is that there were lots of demands from states to replicate the office of the CEA. Four-five chief ministers had spoken to me about it and were keen. We were not able to do it. Do you think the economy is in a better or a worse shape compared to when you arrived? We did lots of reforms. But the global economic environment is a lot less favourable than it was when I first came in. That means we have to work hard to achieve the target of double-digit growth. Some experts cite demonetisation as the one big economic mistake the government committed during your tenure. Was it? Thats something I will let others answer. I would not like to comment on it. What is biggest thing India needs to do on the economic policy front, and one thing it must avoid? I think we need to crack the twin balance sheet problem. A lot of work has been done. But a lot of work needs to be done to overcome the problems emerging from stigmatised capitalism, and addressing the structural issues in the banking sector. What we must avoid is risking the hard-earned macroeconomic stability. You have been an academic all your life. What excited you the most about being in government and what frustrated you? I was excited all the time, 24x7 - whether it was the big policy issue of the day, the outreach, the surveys, even the lows, the opportunity to be able to closely communicate with the finance minister, Prime Ministers Office (PMO), Prime Minister. Every academic dreams of being in the world of policy making and this was incredible. And frustrating? One cannot expect everything you want to get done. Politicians have their own reasons for not doing things. And one has to understand that. Arun Jaitley wrote an exceptionally warm blog to announce your departure. How was your experience with him? It was an extraordinarily special relationship. The one thing about him is that he is very comfortable in his own skin. I had the liberty to say anything to him; I often went in to his room six times a day. He would allow you that space; he would listen; he was never defensive or edgy. It was based on shared trust and respect. He is a dream boss. There is speculation that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh affiliates wanted you out. I have no clue where this is coming from. This was a completely personal decision. I have been in discussion with Mr Jaitley and PMO on this for a few months. There is no conspiracy theory here. Indian economys biggest crisis remains jobs. What do we need to do? There is no magic wand. We need to focus on growth, investment, and exports. The jobs will follow. We have a window for this before technology squeezes the space for it. The Kerala police on Wednesday arrested a Gulf-returnee for allegedly cheating the Qatar royal family of Rs 5.60 crore by faking e-mail IDs of the royals. Police said they started investigation into the case with the help of the cyber wing after receiving a complaint from the Qatar Museum Authority on June 13. Within two days the account in which the amount was deposited was traced and frozen, a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity. Since then police were on look out for the account holder, Sunil Menon (47) from Thrissur, who went on hiding after his account was frozen. He will be produced in the court on Thursday. We were told that by faking e-mail IDs of members of the royal family, he had sent a mail to the museum asking them to deposit $7,60,000 ( Rs 5.60 crore) to a purported account of an American art firm as an advance for drawing a gold-framed portrait of the King, said Kodungalur police inspector Biju Kumar, who is probing the case. The museum authorities transferred the money into the account mentioned in the mail. As the delivery of the portrait was delayed, Qatar authorities reportedly made inquiries with the US firm only to find that they were cheated. Later Qatar IT authorities tracked the mail and account with the help of the service provider and traced the beneficiary to Kerala. Police said Menon worked in middle-east countries for many years as an auditor before switching over to online trading of paintings and artefacts. He returned to India last year after his business failed. During questioning, Menon told us he used a website (Emkei.cz) to breach the official site of the royal family and managed their IDs and other details. He also managed details of the US firm to fix the deal, the officer said. We are yet to find out whether more persons were involved in the cheating, he said. With the swindled money, he said, Menon purchased an SUV recently and gave Rs 20 lakh as soft loans to his relatives. The NHRC has issued notices to the Centre and the governments of Rajasthan and Haryana over reported massive deforestation in the Aravalli hills causing dust storms in the national capital region. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in a statement said, Reportedly, the open forest cover in the Aravalli hills has decreased in the last three decades while the scrub has increased by 5.7 per cent, making it almost barren without any moisture in the air. The NHRC has issued notices to the chief secretaries of the governments of Rajasthan and Haryana as well as the secretary of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and sought their response in six weeks. The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports that massive deforestation in Aravalli hills for business interests in Rajasthan and Haryana is the root cause behind the increasing dust storms and air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region during the past several days creating health concerns, the statement said. The Commission has observed that the gravity of the issue demands proactive and effective measures by the authorities concerned to stop deforestation and degradation of the famed hill range. Heavy vegetation can prevent the situation from further deterioration and create a green barrier against the sand storm, it said. Accordingly, the notices have been issued in order to know the steps being taken or proposed to be taken by them on the matter. The media reports have quoted the findings of studies conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India and the Amity School of Earth and Environmental Sciences as well as several other experts in this regard, the rights panel said. According to them, the Aravalli range, extending over 690 km from Palampur in Gujarat to Delhi through Rajasthan and Haryana, has stood strong against the advancement of the Thar desert for more than three billion years, it said. If its degradation is not checked, the day is not far when its desertification will badly affect a host of ecosystem, including rain, ground water level, control of temperature, trapping of dust and pollutants, and habitat for hundreds of flora and fauna, the NHRC statement said. With Jammu and Kashmir coming under governors rule, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is set to question the Valleys separatist leadership in connection with a terror funding probe, officials familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. In May last year, the NIA initiated the probe against unnamed leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella organisation of separatist groups, and leaders and associates of three terror outfits, Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) and Dukhtaran-e-Millat. The agency suspected them of receiving funding from LeT patron Hafiz Mohammed Saeed to fuel violence in the Valley. After an eight-month probe, the agency in January this year charged seven middle-rung separatists Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelanis son-in-law Altaf Ahmad Shah; media adviser and strategist of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (Mirwaiz Umar Farooq faction) Aftab Ahmad Shah; Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate; prominent Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali; and militant leaders Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and Syed Salahuddin. But the NIA didnt question the any of the top separatists in the case. There is enough evidence on record to question some of the Hurriyat leaders in the terror funding probe. The agency is likely to call them for questioning in the case, said a home ministry official familiar with the matter. NIA chief YC Modi on Wednesday met Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba to discuss some administrative issues ; the pending probes in Jammu and Kashmir also figured in their discussions, said ministry officials familiar with the matter. The NIA so far has taken over probe into 20 cases from Jammu and Kashmir. In eight cases among the 20 overall, the agency has also already filed its charge sheet and further investigation into the some of these cases is continuing. In 2018 alone, the NIA registered 10 cases from J&K, said one of the officials. Senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was not available for comment on the issue. After the registration of the first information report in the case last year, the Hurriyat leadership comprising Mirwaiz, Geelani and Yasin Malik had termed the NIA probe a witch hunt launched by the Indian state. The United Kingdom clarified that Indian students would face no change in the visa application even as New Delhi takes note of British decision to exclude Indian students from a new list of countries considered low risk in order to facilitate an easier visa application process to UK universities. Indian students will experience no change as a result of this announcement there is no limit on the number of genuine Indian students who can come to study in the UK. The fact that the year ending March 2018 saw a 30% increase in Tier 4 visas issued to Indian students is proof that the current system allows for strong growth in this area, said the spokesperson of British High Commission in New Delhi. On a question why Indian students were not part of the low risk category, the spokesperson said This was a routine review of the Appendix H list conducted by the Home Office, which is regularly updated due to the fact that countries risk profiles change over time. Analysis of objective data has shown that India remains below the level required to consider a change at the current time. In changes to its immigration policy tabled in Parliament on Friday, the UK Home Office announced a relaxation of the Tier 4 visa category for overseas students from around 25 countries. The list includes countries like the US, Canada and New Zealand, the Home Office added China, Bahrain and Serbia as countries from where students would face reduced checks. Commenting on the development, an Indian official said We have taken note of the recent announcements. We always maintained that the easy mobility of students and professionals are an important aspect of ties. Lord Karan Bilimoria, Indian-origin entrepreneur and President of the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) described the move of not including India in the low risk group as an insult to India and another example of Britains economically illiterate and hostile attitude. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead at least 50,000 enthusiasts on Thursday to mark the fourth edition of the International Yoga Day in the sprawling campus of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) Uttarakhand capital Dehradun. Officials were rushing to givefinal touches to the elaborate arrangements for security, healthcare and sanitation at the venue and leaving nothing to chance. The forest department also launched an intensive drive to look for snakes and monkeys in the institutes campus ahead of Modis visit. Dehraduns divisional forest officer (DFO) Rajeev Dhiman said the departments staff is scanning the area for the wild animals. The premier institute has a dense forest cover and its campus is spread across nearly 450 hectare with a plinth area of 2.5 hectare. It is well connected with that of the Mussoorie forest division and the Indian Military Academy (IMA) and Tons River form its boundary. It comes under the Dehradun forest division. Officials supervising the arrangements at the FRI ground said that on June 21 a fleet of buses will be pressed into service to provide transportation to people wishing to participate in the event. In fact, we appeal to them to use buses to reach FRI instead of using their own vehicles, chief secretary Utpal Kumar said. Kumar said yoga asanas approved under the Common Yoga Protocol (CYP) will be practised at the venue on International Yoga Day. Last year, Modi led the celebrations at Ramabai Ambedkar Sabha Sthal in Uttar Pradeshs capital Lucknow as thousands of people across the country struck various poses and talked about the benefits of the ancient physical and spiritual discipline during events to celebrate the day. The United Nations declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga in 2014 after Modi called for the day to be adopted as a global celebration of yoga, an ancient practice that began in India more than 5,000 years ago. Union home minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday the government will not tolerate terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir any more and launch operations to flush out militants from the strife-torn state, a day after the BJP pulled out of the Peoples Democratic Party-led government citing growing incidences of terrorism. Elimination of terrorism and restoration of peace in Kashmir is our biggest target, Singh said on the sidelines of an event at a private hospital in Lucknow. Singh, who is a Lok Sabha member from Lucknow, also warned terrorist groups against any misadventure. Our security forces are ready to foil any such activity, he said. Jammu and Kashmir was put under governors rule on Wednesday after the Bharatiya Janata Party ended its almost 40-month-old alliance with Mehbooba Muftis PDP, saying it had become impossible to continue in the government in view of the growing radicalism and terrorism in the state. The end of the coalition came two days after the Centre decided to resume counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir that had been suspended for a month for Ramzan. Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat said security forces had to end the unilateral ceasefire in the state because terrorists continued their attacks. Operations were being carried out earlier as well. Then we saw a phase of suspension of operations because we wanted people to get a chance to offer their prayers during Ramzan without any kind of problem. Despite that, terrorists continued with their activity, which is why the suspension of operations was cancelled, he said. Gen Rawat also said the change in the political scenario will not have any effect on security forces, who he said have never faced any restrictions on their work. We dont have any kind of political interference, Rawat said about governors rule. Security forces have strict rules of engagement and take action in accordance with them, Rawat said. Officials familiar with the developments have said the Centre will follow a hardline security-centric policy with the scaling up of counter-insurgency operations, especially in the four districts of south Kashmir Shopian, Kulgam, Anantnag and Pulwama that have become the hotbed of militancy in the last two years. Security for the Amarnath yatra was also a paramount concern when the government decided on Monday not to extend the month-long Ramzan halt on counter-insurgency operations. It was felt that without resuming operations against militants, the Amarnath yatra cannot be secured. Now, under the governors rule the security forces are expected to step up pressure against militants, said a home ministry official on the condition of anonymity. Ahead of the annual Amarnath yatra, security forces have been asked to maintain highest level of alertness and synergy, police said on Wednesday. The two-month long pilgrimage to the 3,880 metre high cave shrine of Amarnath will commence on June 28. All border police stations , posts and check-points have also been directed to be strengthened and activated to neutralize any attempt of infiltration by terrorists from across the International Border (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC), a police spokesman said. He said the directions were passed at a high level meeting chaired by inspector general of police, Jammu, SD Singh Jamwal on Tuesday evening and attended among others by senior police, army, paramilitary forces and state and central intelligence agencies. The meeting was convened to discuss and review security arrangements for the pilgrimage. All officers have been directed to maintain highest level of alertness and synergy among themselves and also to share intelligence on real time basis so that nefarious designs of anti-national elements and their mentors can be thwarted, the spokesman said. He said a detailed briefing was given by officers of intelligence agencies and army and police with regard to security arrangements to ensure smooth and peaceful conduct of the pilgrimage. Addressing the meeting, the IGP stressed the need to organise night patrolling on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway regularly and maintain close cooperation with all forces deployed in their area of jurisdiction. Singh asked senior superintendents of police to ensure adequate security in their respective districts, particularly at base camp Bhagwati Nagar, the spokesman said. The Jammu police chief stressed upon officers of border districts to lay joint check points and ensure patrolling on all probable infiltration routes. He also directed that all border police stations, posts and check-points should be strengthened and activated so as to neutralize any attempt of infiltration by terrorists from across the IB and the LoC. South Korea on Wednesday said India can play an important role in working towards lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula as it urged New Delhi to persuade Pyongyang to recalculate its strategy to change its course to denuclearisation. Deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Enna Park, also said that South Korean President Moon Jae-in is slated to visit India early next month, and during his summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two leaders will link their own initiates -- Moons New Southern Policy and Modis Act East Policy. Her remarks assume significance as during the historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last week in Singapore, the latter had pledged to work towards complete denuclearisation in return for security guarantees from the US. It was a historic meeting, the US-North Korea leader-level talks, and they started to build trust for each other, started negotiations and set the tone. We should not lose this historic momentum and work together to make the peace initiative a success, she told reporters on the sidelines of an event here. Asked what role did Seoul see for India in this bid for lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula, she said, Indias role is important, because we seek full support from whole international community, including India. India as the largest democracy plays quite an influential role in forming international opinion. And, if international opinion supports peace initiative of South Korea, it will back up our initiative very effectively. And, so we want India to continue to persuade North Korea to recalculate its strategy to make a decision to change its course to denuclearisation, Park said. India had welcomed the United States-Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) Summit as a positive development, saying it has always supported all efforts to bring about peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and diplomacy. Asked about Indias engagement with North Korea, especially in the context of it having its embassy in Pyongyang and visit of minister of state for External Affairs General V K Singh to that country, Park said, Such engagement from the Indian side is very much positive. In the first high-level visit to North Korea from India in two decades, Singh visited Pyongyang last month where he held talks with several leaders including foreign minister Ri Yong Ho on key issues and raised New Delhis concerns over nuclear proliferation. Earlier in her keynote address at a seminar on Development of Peace and Prosperity for the Korea India Strategic Partnership at Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, Park, also the Ambassador for Public Diplomacy, said, Our government has started a bold journey towards peace process in Korean Peninsula. We ask for your (Indias) wisdom and full support again. But the journey we have taken is a long one and it is not an easy one. It is rocky and there are challenges but we are very determined in pursuing peace in the Korean peninsula. People should live on the Peninsula which is free from any threat of nuclear war. And, we are confident that we can achieve it with full support and concerted efforts from the international community, she said. Asked if South Korea could think of joining the Quad (a multilateral platform comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia), she said, Maybe in the future, but right now our military assets are focusing on our security in the peninsula, because our security in the peninsula is still very vulnerable. On ease of doing business in India, Park said, We have about 700 (South Korean) companies in India and they have found opportunities to do business. Indian economy is complimentary to our economy. Foreign companies need fair access to the market and they want to see less regulation, so that is what the Indian government is doing to make the business environment more favourable, friendly to foreign companies. There are problems... the speed is slow, but it is on the right track, she said. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday called on Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel and discussed ways to expand bilateral cooperation in trade and investment, space and people-to-people relationship. Swaraj, who arrived in Luxembourg on the third leg of her four-nation tour on Tuesday, became the first external affairs minister from India to visit the European country. During the call on, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues including enhancing bilateral and India-EU trade and investment ties, digital and space cooperation, fintech and diaspora contribution, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. She also made a courtesy call on Grand Duke of Luxembourg Henri Albert Gabriel Felix Marie Guillaume and exchanged views to further strengthen 70 years old diplomatic relationship between India and Luxembourg, and impart an upward trajectory to our bilateral ties, Kumar said. Swaraj then had a productive meeting with Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn. The two leaders discussed cooperation in trade and investment, steel and space, and exchanged views on strengthening India-EU relations, Kumar said. The two ministers undertook a complete review of India-Luxembourg political bilateral relations. They also had extensive discussions on regional and multilateral issues, the statement said. Trade and investment are the bedrocks of India-Luxembourg ties. The Luxembourg headquartered European Investment Bank recently opened its South Asia Regional Office in New Delhi. A number of Indian companies are also listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, the statement said. India and Luxembourg are currently celebrating 70 years of establishment of their diplomatic relations. Swaraj arrived in Luxembourg for a two-day visit from France where she met the top French leadership and addressed the Indian diaspora. Earlier, she had visited Italy. On the last leg of her four-nation tour, Swaraj arrived in Belgium on Wednesday. During her stay in Belgium, Swaraj will hold wide ranging discussions with the EU leadership to strengthen India-EU strategic partnership and will meet her Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders to further solidify bilateral ties. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is proud of the reasons cited by the BJP to walk out of Jammu and Kashmirs ruling alliance and will present these issues as achievements to the people of Kashmir, party leaders said. The PDPs district president in Srinagar and member of the legislative council Mohammad Khurshid Alam said the reasons the BJP gave for pulling out of the alliance on Tuesday are worth hailing and that the party felt proud of such reasons. The reasons are demands made by Mehbooba Mufti for talks with Pakistan and separatists, withdrawal of the cases against the stone-pelters, implementation of the ceasefire on ground and measures to be taken for successful dialogue and reconciliation, the legislator said. He said that from protecting the state subject law to punishing the rapists of Kathua, Mehbooba served as a wall to protect people of Kashmir from the conspiracies being hatched far from the state. Other party leaders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they will go to the people soon and explain their position. In a democracy power lies with the people, we will go to the masses soon and clarify our stand. Let them accept our reasons or reject them. There is no other way, said a senior PDP leader from south Kashmir on condition of anonymity. We played sincere politics in the larger interest of people. Our cards are open. We tried to safeguard articles 370 and 35 A, pushed for dialogue and insisted that harsh policies wont work. Whatever the outcome, we stuck to our stand and will continue to do so, he said. The BJP pulled the plug on the nearly 40-month-old government, citing many reasons that included the rise of terrorism, violence and radicalism in Kashmir. BJP leaders insisted that the scale and intensity of security operations was not in sync with what the situation demanded, and that Ramza halt on security operations had been announced at Mehboobas instance. The internal and external dialogue including a push for talks with Pakistan was also a bone of contention between the two parties. The PDP, which won all of its 28 seats from the Valley, is facing mounting local anger even in its citadel of south Kashmir because of a spate of civilian deaths in clashes with security forces and injuries to thousands of young men and women because of the use of pellet guns during street protests since 2016. We tried to control the situation but not everything was in our hands. We managed to withdraw cases against 10,000 stone pelters, said another PDP leader on condition of anonymity. The partys chief spokesman Rafi Mir said that the PDP had tried to implement its core agenda despite lacking numbers. . Ram Madhav is a national general secretary of the BJP, who played a key role in stitching up an alliance between his party and the Peoples Democratic Party of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Madhav worked closely with Sayeed and then with his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed, steering the alliance through a difficult course between 2015 and now. He spoke to Prashant Jha and Kumar Uttam about the reasons that led to the break-up between the two parties and what is in store for Jammu & Kashmir: Edited excerpts: What was the immediate trigger behind Tuesdays decision to pull out of alliance with the PDP? In view of the developing situation in the valley, some thinking was going on for the last couple of months. This included handing over the state administration to the governor for some time. Security forces were also demanding. Politically, we felt the gap between the two parties approach towards J&K issues was widening. We hold larger national interests and concerns above everything. Being a regional party, regional political considerations were important in PDPs decision making. We felt that time has come for us to call it a day. Can you give specific instances where PDP presences in the government impeded security operations? We tried to convince our partner about a tough stand against terrorists, handling the over-ground operatives through strong legal means. Valley needed an active political engagement. Suspension of operation was a decision taken at the insistence of State government and Mehbooba Ji. Some of us were not very much in favour of it. However, there was a feeling that let us give it a chance. It was not out of weakness. It was a goodwill gesture. Such gesture needed some reciprocation from terrorists and separatists, and also some active political engagement. Neither happened. We saw the broad day-light murder of journalist Shujaat Bukhari. Terrorists exploited suspension of operation. The required political initiative did not happen. Are you accusing Mehbooba Mufti of being soft on security issues and not reaching out politically? She headed the unified command and the security forces largely have had their way. They were able to execute whatever operations they had planned. My larger point is about the much needed political activism. A message was constantly conveyed that we need soft approach, we do not want operations and we need to talk to Pakistan. We felt this will further vitiate the atmosphere. We noticed growing radicalization, growing attacks on the army and CRPF convoys in the last a couple of months. We felt it was time for us to hand over the administration to the governor for some time. You changed you ministers in the government one and a half month back. Between then and now, the suspension of operation and its return were major developments. Do you blame it for the fall of the PDP-BJP alliance? The recent reshuffle was thrust on us. Two ministers had to quit because of Kathua incident. We had to bring new people. Then we thought why not make bigger changes. Honestly speaking, we always thought or tried to see if we can run this government for its full term. But, there was a feeling in the past also, and in the last couple of months it further fortified, that it was becoming untenable to continue. Was the ceasefire decision a mistake? No. It was a goodwill gesture by the government. We did it out of strength not out of weakness. It is another thing that the opportunity was lost. It was not ceased by the other side - the separatist elements, the terrorists and the political establishment in the state. How strong were the electoral calculation and the pressure on you from Jammu region and the rest of the country to get out of the alliance? If pressure or electoral calculations were to be the reason, we would have done it long ago. We had tremendous pressure on number of occasion, whenever there was a big incident in the valley. Situation in the state was the only and only consideration behind Tuesday decision. BJP has a commitment to restoring peace, curbing terrorism in valley and also the larger political mission of national integrity. That is the only factor that played the role in yesterday decision. Never in our discussion with Prime Minister, Home Minister or the National Security Advisor, did any political consideration come up for any discussion. When you forged alliance with PDP, you said it will bridge the emotional gap between Jammu and Valley; and between Kashmir and the rest of the country. Looking back, do you feel it is also your failure? Not really. Why was that alliance formed? We are ideologically poles apart. Mufti (Mohammad Sayeed) Saheb used to describe us as the North and the South poles. Ideologies can be in black and white, but politics in a democracy has many shades, many colours. You have to manage this variety of colours. You can create a rainbow. By its very nature rainbows are short lived. Any alliance is difficult. Atal Bihari Vajpayee government fell in 1999, because J Jayalalithaa pulled out. We had no ideological differences with her. Alliances are formed with an objective, but it is always difficult to run alliances. The whole objective was to let us try and bridge it (the gap). We do not believe in political untouchability. We tried to give it a chance and to a great extent it worked. We could succeed in bringing development to different regions in the state. How can the BJP absolve itself of responsibilities about the worsening law and order situation when it was part of the government? This is a very silly question. If you take that as a technical question, then I will say home ministry is not with me. It a technical answer. Governments are essentially run by the head of the government. The head of the government was also holding the responsibility of security and in any case, and as the head of the unified command, she had her issues. But, Mehbooba has allowed security forces to operate, that is why in last three years we have been able to neutralise close to 600 terrorists. The PDP started taking a political stance of late, probably for political reasons. The BJP cant not be supporting a party for a soft approach that means raising issue of Pakistan again and again, or talking about muscular approach, getting Shujaat killed, getting army soldier, policemen and civilians killed. We felt that, probably because of the local political considerations, our partner has started taking a slightly different stance. That is when we felt it is not tenable. The mismatch is growing Was there a fear that Mehbooba might dump the BJP, and did you try to preempt such a situation by pulling out first? National integrity, interest of the nation and people of valley and the state entire were the only consideration for us. The PDP allied with the BJP despite the valley rejecting the BJP. Has the BJP weakened a pro-India force such as the PDP and strengthened the separatist forces by ending the alliance? I do not agree with the analysis that we have straightened the separatists. We wanted governor rule to ensure that the campaign against terrorist continue with further vigour. We had planned a four pronged approach for Kashmir. One, neutralise the terrorist to the last man. Two, tackle over ground network of terrorists through legal means. Three, approach all stakeholder through dialouge. Four, work for the development of state. All four dimensions are important. We would want the present administration and the governor to pursue. There is no way that separatists or terrorists will succeed in the Kashmir valley. BJPs is facing criticism about the point that dialouge has not happened and Mehbooba, too, blamed the centre for not doing enough. I dont think, Mehbooba said that. Let us give her the due. She, in fact, criticized others for not responding to the home ministers open appeal for talks, even with Hurriyat. Government has appointed a former DIB as interlocutor for Kashmir. He is continuing his work and will continue his work. I can tell you that there was some definite progress about talks with Hurriyats. Unfortunately, things suddenly deteriorated and Shujaats killing happened. I think there will be some stalemate for some time. Is the talk options on the table now? We never closed that option. Government is open to talking to all the sections. I dont think that position will change. Looking forward, are you looking at ramping up security operation? The four pronged approach that we put in place in the last couple of years in J&K will also continue under governors rule. How do you rate Mehbooba as a chief minister? Mehbooba is a senior politician. She understands politics very well. In the last two years, she understood the larger point of Indias national unity and national integrity also. Mehbooba is a senior and mature politician. Probably because she is a senior and mature politician, local political compulsions demands also weigh on her. Is the BJP keeping options open to form an alternate government? Right now the priority is that the governor rule should effectively work on the four pronged approach that we have taken. We will see what unfold in the coming months. Would you be now open to advancing your political agenda, such as article 370, and re-settlement of Kashmiri pundits, that you had kept in reserve because you were in an alliance? Even in the agenda of alliance, we stated very clearly that BJP has a commitment on the issue of article 370. Please remember, whenever we formed alliances, there were occasion, when we kept it in some kind of abeyance for some time. It happened in 1999. Will there be a push now that you are out of alliance? Our commitment to abrogation of 370 it is a political position that will never change. But the point here is who has the authority to actually take that decision its the parliament. Pending that, we can work together with other parties, in a pragmatic manner. Is it something you would like to advance in the next year, when you have such a majority in parliament? We dont. It requires a different kind of a majority. So it is not something you would push immediately? Right now the government is focusing on certain developmental issue. We will go to people on those. But our ideological commitment on issues like, 370, Ram Temple and Uniform Civil Code is an ideological question, which continues. The term of J&K governor, NN Vohra is ending. Will he be replaced? That is a decision that the home ministry and the PM will take What is the time frame you are looking at for the state to be under governor rule? The state has an active assembly, whose tenure is there for another two and half years now. Elections are due in the first quarters of 2021. We have to wait and watch whether to go for elections, or may be other parties come together after some time and want to form the government. I dont have any immediate answer to that question. Are you worried about the prospect of holding election in Kashmir? You have not been able to hold the by-election to Anantnag parliamentary seat. It is a personal view that I will certainly share. Not holding Anantnag elections was not a right decision. But Election Commission had its own reasons for not holding the election. It is up to the EC, whenever it decides, it can hold election there. Is the option of a cross-border strike on the table, in case there are terror attacks or the security situation deteriorates? These are decided by the Defence Ministry and PM. But we are all watching the political development in Pakistan also. Pakistan is heading for polls in next couple of months. What kind of a government comes in place in that country and what will be its approach to its relations with India these will decide the future of India-Pakistan relationship. How concerned are you about the security of Amamrnath Yatra? There was certainly increased free movement of terrorists in certain areas, particularly South Kashmir, because of the month long suspension of operation. Now the suspension of operation is over, forces have started acting tough against these elements. Next few days are very crucial. Yatra corridor needs to be sanitized. Forces will work hard to ensure that yatra passes off peacefully. I really dont see any danger for yatra. Yatra begins on June 28. The additional security forces required for the yatra have already reached Kashmir valley. You personally spent a lot of time building this alliance. Now that it has broken, do you regret it? Are you disappointed? I dont regret. This was a historic alliance. It will remain a historic alliance. In a democracy, you have to experiment and learn to live with parties that do not share your ideology. That is the beauty of the democracy. I feel sad that something that we put so much effort in has finally ended half way through. I would have ideally liked it to complete the full term. To that extent, yes, I feel sad. Would things have been different with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed? The first setback for the alliance was his sudden and early demise just 11 months after we had put things together. Had he lived longer, probably we would have succeeded in taking it forward. But, I dont blame Mehbooba ji either. She tried her best in last two years to make it work. Apart from one or two major issues, J&K did not see daily quarrels in this alliance like elsewhere. Kathua incident was the only flash-point. We tried to run it smoothly. But finally, we had to call it a day. While garlic farmers in Hadauti region of Rajasthan struggling to sell their produce at fair price, a war of words has broken out between former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and state agriculture minister Prabhulal Saini. On Tuesday, Gehlot in a series of tweets targeted Vasundhara Raje saying that even as they are busy in propaganda over farm loan waiver, the farmers in chief ministers home constituency are facing financial problems due to crash in prices of garlic and state governments failure to purchase it at fair price. Gehlot also said that five farmers have committed suicide in the region in the past two months but no governments representative has met the family members to offer condolences or relief. Reacting to his state, Saini said that Gehlot was a master in spreading rumours. The state government has taken a series of steps for farmers welfare. The Opposition has nothing better to do but to spread rumours, he said. Gehlot should reveal the quantity of crops purchased at minimum support price during his tenure. Why didnt his government intervene in 2012 when garlic prices had dropped to Rs 2 per kg, Saini said. He said during Gehlots regime (2008-2013), the quantity of garlic purchased under market intervention scheme (MIS) was one-tenth of what has been done by the BJP government. Earlier this month, former home minister in Gehlot government, Shanti Dhariwal had also targetted Saini and demanded his resignation after a farmer committed suicide in Bundi. As reported earlier, delay in purchase of garlic at fair price through MIS had hit farmers in Rajasthan who have been forced to sell the crop at throwaway prices. The garlic crop started arriving in the market in March, but prices crashed due to a bumper production this year. While the Union agriculture ministry had approved the Rajasthan governments request to purchase garlic at fair price on April 12, the implementation was delayed by about 15 days. Under the MIS, the government is buying garlic at Rs 3,257 per quintal from the farmers and the upper cap is 40 quintal per family. The entire system in online and RAJFED has targeted to purchase 1.54 metric tons of the produce against 7.12 lakh metric tons of production. Even after government intervention close to 6 lakh metric tonne of garlic will be sold at throwaway prices or remain unsold. The Hataudi region comprising Kota, Bundi, Jahawar and Baran, accounts for about 90% of the states production. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Narada sting operation looks set for a push, officers indicated after a series of meetings with the agencys special director Rakesh Asthana in Kolkata on Wednesday. The Narada sting is a politically sensitive case in which a dozen prominent leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress -- ministers Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, MPs Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Banerjee, Subhendu Adhikari, (late) Sultan Ahmed, Aparupa Poddar, Kolkata Corporation mayor Sovan Chatterjee, MLA Iqbal Ahmed and an IPS officer SMH Mirza -- were seen allegedly accepting cash from a man purportedly representing a company. The sting was aired just a month before the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal. Asthana refused to speak to the media after coming out of the CBI office at Nizam Palace in south Kolkata around 4 pm after a series of meetings that lasted for close to four hours in two phases. The CBI special director came to Kolkata on a two-day trip to take stock of the investigations into the Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund scams and the Narada sting operation case. Asthana not only perused the probe reports but also went through case diaries. Nearly 30 officers from different ranks of the CBI attended the meetings, said an official familiar with the development. On Wednesday, he held a separate meeting with the investigating officer of Narada case, Ranjit Kumar, where Asthana asked him for regular updates on this case to be sent to Delhi, said the officer requesting anonymity. While in case of Saradha and Rose Valley, the special director insisted on regular status reports, in case of Narada he made it clear that every progress, major and minor, should be immediately reported to the agency in New Delhi, the CBI official said. Officials said Asthana asked the Kolkata officers to complete the Narada probe and submit the charge sheet as early as possible. On Tuesday, Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee described the renewed activity of the CBI as an expected move in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election. Bengals ruling party leaders pointed out that despite the alleged scams, the number of seats they got in the assembly polls rose from 184 in 2011 to 211 in 2016 (in a house of 294 seats). BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said that since the CBI inquiry started following a Supreme Court order, such comments from Trinamool leaders constituted nothing but contempt of court. The Sarada scam that sunk about Rs 2,500 crore of depositors money involved a some prominent TMC leaders such as Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh, Srinjoy Bose, Bengal transport minister Madan Mitra, party vice-president Rajat Majumdar. Mitra also served a jail sentence of more than two years. The CBI is also conducting an investigation in the Rose Valley scam in which Rs 15,000 crore were raised from depositors. Trinamool MPs Sudip Bandopadhyay and Tapas Pal were arrested by the CBI in January 2017 in connection with the scam. The CBI took over investigation of the Saradha scam in May 2014, Rose Valley in 2016 and the Narada scam in May 2017. The new academic session at the University of Lucknow beginning from July 9 will see a number of new initiatives. In a first, the university is introducing semester system in undergraduate courses on the campus and in 166 degree colleges affiliated to it. This means, instead of just one annual examination in a year, candidates getting admission to BA, B Sc and B Com courses this year will take two exams in a year, said LU vice-chancellor Prof SP Singh in an interview. What are the benefits of semester system? The system would encourage students to attend classes regularly because they would have to take exams every six months. Top universities in the country give preference to candidates in post graduate courses who have studied under semester system. The semester system will be applicable only for new entrants. Those currently in second and third year , however, will continue with the usual mode of annual exams. The university has introduced semester system adhering to the guidelines of MHRD and UGC. Introduction of semester system was also one of the recommendations made by the NAAC committee. What changes are being effected in exam system? LU will unveil major examination reforms from the new session, with a semester system replacing the annual exams. The new session will see introduction of OMR sheet with multiple choice objective questions. The exam for odd semesters (first, third and fifth semester) will be on OMR and the exam for even semester will be descriptive. The university will prepare a question bank as well. When will semester exams be held? The odd semester exams will be held in November while even semester exams in March-April. How will you ensure students attend classes regularly? There will be division of marks (100) for each paper in 80:20 ratio 80 marks will be for the semester theory exam and 20 for continuous internal assessment. Out of 20 marks for internal assessment, 10 will be for project/extension activity including NCC, NSS or cultural aspects. Students involved in these activities will have to prepare and submit file in their respective departments. The file submitted will be hand written; 5 marks will be awarded for attendance and 5 marks for presentation.So, if a student remains irregular in classes, he is bound to miss out certain marks as semester system mandates for continuous evaluation of students. There has been sharp criticism over objective type questions. Your comments? Criticism of introduction of OMR-based objective questions by some teachers and principals is unfair because UGC NET, civil services exam and all other major competitive exams are based on objective type questions. The criticism is unfair. Any other changes at UG level? Yes. The semester system would start with Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) that allows students to choose interdisciplinary courses and skill oriented papers (even from other disciplines according to learning needs, interests and aptitude). It makes education broad-based and at par with global standards. How will you ensure teachers take regular classes? When the academic session begins from July, senior professors will be requested to take classes of first semester students as well. The university will send a circular requesting all senior professors to teach new entrants both at UG and PG level. Deans will be entrusted with the responsibilities to ensure senior professors take classes. How will you address shortage of teachers in the varsity and colleges? The university is in the process of filling up vacancies of teachers in important subjects like commerce, psychology, sociology, anthropology, chemistry, physics and others. The recruitment process of teachers will be completed by September-end. In degree colleges, the higher education commission is taking measures to fill up vacant posts of teachers. INCREDIBLES 2 Director: Brad Bird Voices: Craig Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L Jackson Rating: 4 / 5 The superhero family we all came to love 14 years ago is back, and Incredibles 2 is as funny and heartwarming as youd expect. The Parr family brawny Bob Parr aka Mr Incredible (voiced by Craig T Nelson), Helen aka Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), their children Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner), and toddler Jack-Jack (Samuel L Jackson) are fighting a villain named Underminer this time, who is of course out to destroy the city. They have help this time from a new entrant, telecom tycoon and adult fanboy Winston Deavor. The film dives right into larger-than-life action sequences that are likely to delight adults and kids alike. The Parrs are celebrating their superpowers in this one, not trying to hide them, which adds to the fun. Mom, in fact, has a new job celebrity advocate for superheroes leaving Dad to run the home. Theres some enjoyable slapstick as Bob takes a turn as a stay-at-home dad, and as Violets struggles through angsty school life and crushes. The Parrs are celebrating their superpowers in this one, rather than trying to hide them. Mom Helen aka Elastigirl is in fact a celebrity advocate for superheroes. Its all most enjoyable. Jack-Jack is the highlight of the film with what director Brad Bird described as the Swiss Army Knife of superpowers. He can generate fire, turn himself into a monster, clone himself and levitate, among other things - only some of which we got glimpses of in part one. We are also reunited with some classic characters; theres the sassy superhero costume designer, Edna; and a new villain who goes by Screenslaver. Writer and director Birds second turn with the story is a success, as is the fast-paced music by Michael Giacchino. Pixar works its magic, again. The animation studio has had more than a decade to perfect its brand of mushy, quirky, visually breathtaking tear-jerkers since the original film. Weve seen loneliness in Up and Wall-E; girl power in Brave; pop psychology in Inside Out; and families across borders in Coco. Superhero films have taken on lives of their own too. They make political statements (Black Panther; Wonder Woman), are irreverent (both Deadpools) or all-out extravagant (Avengers: Infinity War). Incredible 2 breaks little new ground but does a good job of representing the dysfunctional family next door. Expect to laugh, cry and go Awww a lot. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop The Dadar police have arrested a 29-year-old real estate agent for harassing a 27-year-old woman by calling her and sending her obscene messages. The woman blocked the mans number but he started sending her messages and video calls on Facebook. The accused, Satish Salunke was arrested following the womans complaint which said that she first received his call on May 30, 2018. The woman, an animation freelancer, said Salunke pretended to be a real estate agent asking if she wanted to buy or rent a flat. She denied having any such requirement and hung up on him. Later, the accused started sending messages on WhatsApp saying he liked her and wanted to be friends. Seeing her display photo of her and her husband, he started commenting on her relationship, a police officer said. The woman, who is three months pregnant, then informed her husband about the calls and messages she was getting from Salunke. She blocked him on her husbands advice. By then, Salunke had noticed her username on WhatsApp and using that, he found her on Facebook. He started sending her obscene photos on its messaging service, asking sexual favours. A case was registered at Dadar police station on 14 June under sections 354 (A) (D), 504, 506 (2) and 509 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 67 and 67 (A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. After the case was registered, we arrested Salunkhe within four days. He was produced in court and is now in police custody. We are investigating whether he has sent such vulgar and obscene messages to different women in the past, said Divakar Shelke, senior police inspector, Dadar police station. After being accorded the status of a planning authority, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) received 60 proposals within a month. Of these, Mhada has already given approvals to six proposals. The state government on May 23 accorded Mhada the status of planning authority. Among them, Trimurti Cooperative Housing society based in Kurla was given occupation certificate (OC) by Mhada. Other proposals that have been received include issuance of intimation of disapproval (IOD), no objection certificates (NOC) and approvals. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said the move to give Mhada the status of planning authority was to get over red-tapism and ensure speedy redevelopment of Mhada colonies. Vaishali Wagh, public relations officer (PRO), Mhada, said the housing body has got fabulous response in the past three weeks. We are seeing many pending proposals now being cleared and this ultimately means more affordable housing stock in the market, said Wagh. Mhada has 114 layouts spread across Mumbai. They are located in areas like Malad, Kalachowki, Goregaon, Bandra, Santacruz, Andheri, Borivli, Vikhroli, Chembur, Kurla and Dahisar. With hardly any land inventory left in its kitty, Mhada, which is the landlord of these plots, is seeking to exploit them to generate a handsome stock of affordable houses. We aim to generate at least six lakh houses in the market through this revamp process, she added. The move is aimed to fulfil the governments agenda of Housing for All by 2022. The move will curb red-tapism as it will allow Mhada to carry out its functions without running around to seek approvals from various authorities, such as state and central government departments or the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). With the special authority status, Mhada can be the planning authority and undertake responsibilities for basic amenities within the notified area. Comments and links to reports on science, and its applications. With elections less than a year away, Nationalist Congress party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar intensified his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he did little as the Gujarat chief minister to bring the 2002 riots under control. When communal riots took place, Modi was heading the state (Gujarat), now he is heading the country. Instead of taking stern action and punishing people communal riots were allowed to spread. My colleague and former MP, Ehsan Jafri was also murdered during the riots, Pawar said on Wednesday, Its time to think seriously about changing the regime. Pawar, addressing an event part of a movement called Save Constitution, Save Country organised by the womens wing of his party. He said both the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), its core organisation, wanted to change the Constitution as they did not believe in it. It is their policy to change the Indian Constitution. Right from Modi to all the other senior leaders of the BJP, follows the ideas of former RSS chief MS Golwalkar who didnt believe in our Constitution, he said. The clarification given by the BJP leaders on the issue is nothing but a farce. The NCP chief, who is known for his cordial relations with the BJP top brass (including the prime minister), extended unsolicited support to them to form the state government in 2014, when the BJP had failed to get a majority in the assembly elections. Pawar is now in serious talks with the Congress for a possible pre-poll alliance ahead of the upcoming polls. A special womens court on Tuesday framed charges against six jail staff for murder of Byculla jail inmate Manjula Shetye, in June 2017. All six pleaded not guilty. The court has charged the six jail staffers - jailer Manisha Pokharkar, and constables Bindu Naikade, Waseema Shaikh, Shital Shegaonkar, Surekha Gulve and Aarti Shingne for plotting and carrying out a criminal conspiracy, murder, criminal intimidation and destruction of murder evidence. The six have chosen to face the trial and denied all the allegations. The court will await submission of documents and evidence following which the trial will begin. As per the prosecution case, Shetye, a life convict, was allegedly assaulted by the staff of Byculla jail on June 23 last year. The police recorded the complaint of an inmate, who was an eyewitness, on June 25, 2017. Shetye was allegedly brutally assaulted by the jail staff because she had complained about missing eggs and loaves of bread from the morning ration. The probe was handed over to Mumbai crime branch following the uproar in the jail. The crime branch arrested the six staff on July 1. The prosecution alleged that prior to being arrested the accused had destroyed Shetyes clothes and also disposed of the wooden stick used by them to assault the victim. Further, they are charged for threatening the inmates, who were witnesses to the assault, with the same consequences if they revealed anything to the authorities. The Bandra police have registered a case of cheating against Farhan Azmi, son of Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi, and one more person. According to sources, the complainant, Kashif Khan, has accused the duo of taking 13.5 lakh for running an eatery in the city, but not using it for the cause. Reacting to the FIR, Farhan Azmi, a restauranter, said, I have been fighting several cases against him. This particular case which I got to know from Hindustan Times is also sub-judiced in Bombay high court. I have not been contacted by the police yet. I am getting to know about the case now. Police sources said Khan has alleged in his complaint that he had a deal of running an eatery in Mumbai with the accused, for which, he transferred the money to the other accuseds account. However, the work was not done with the money. Meanwhile, Azmi also said Khan has been threatening his wife, actress Ayesha Takia, that he will file cases against her. How can one man harass us in this way? I will take up the cases in court, he added. The police took the statement of the complainant on June 19. Police is investigating further. The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has registered a case against three partners of a construction firm for allegedly duping 60 families in Dahisar to the tune of 36 crore in the name of redeveloping their property. Sandeep Seth, Dharmesh Tanna and Amit Patil of the KT Group have been booked under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (Mofa), but no arrest has been made in the case so far. Seth however, was recently arrested by the Malad police in relation to a similar case. According to EOW sources, 73-year-old complainant Mahadev Panchal, a Dahisar resident, stated that the Borivli based developers had taken up the redevelopment work of their building Dahisar Ujjwal Co-operative Housing Society, in Kandarpada, in 2007. Sixty members of the housing society were promised homes in the redeveloped ground-plus-13-storey tower, while another building would be constructed on the same plot of which the apartments would be sellable. The redevelopment agreement was prepared and was registered as per the procedure. But the construction work of the project was stopped in October 2015, Panchal said. The redeveloped building was supposed to be ready in three years, but till date it is still under construction. When the residents raised the issue, the developers agreed to keep four to six flats in their Mehek Plaza building in Borivli (West) together worth 12crore, mortgaged with them for security. However, the three accused later sold those flats along with 39 flats from the Dhahisar sellable area worth 24 crore, thus cheating the original tenants of a total of 36 crore, Panchal alleged in the first information report (FIR). Sunil Khanolkar, one of the members of the society, said, We have given our 1 TDR (transfer of development rights) and 1 FSI to the developer to carry out construction on a 5,302 square-metre area, but he flouted the law and developed a total of 7,155 square-metre area and illegally sold the flats. We got to know this after we obtained details from a search report and submitted the same to the EOW. The 60 affected families are mostly of retired people, who get a monthly pension of around 10,000 to 15,000. One can imagine how we are managing to pay our monthly rent and manage other expanses in a city like Mumbai, Khanolkar said. The developers stopped giving us rent from July 1, 2016. We were the actual owners of the property. The developer developed houses on our property, made wrongful gains and left us homeless. We are forced to live on rent and are paying for it from our own pocket, Panchal said. The housing unit of EOW has booked the three builders under sections 409, 420 and 34 of IPC and 3, 4 and 13 of Mofa, and is in the process of collecting evidence. HT attempted to call and sms the developers to get their comment but they were unreachable. The second edition of the 100 Most Influential People in UK-India Relations is out and Im in it, said marketing guru and bon vivant bachelor, Suhel Seth, when we spoke to him in London yesterday. Every year, an exclusive list of key influencers that enrich and help strengthen UK-India relations gets released around this time; others included are Karan Billimoria and Shashi Tharoor, he said. Is Boris Johnson on the list, we enquired over the cracking line. It seemed that kind of list. No, Boris has not been included, said Seth, a bit more tersely than expected. The list, described as being compiled after painstaking research by India Inc.s expert editorial team includes influential people within business, politics, diplomacy, media, arts and culture, and coincides with UK India Week 18-22 June: Brexit Britain meets Global India, a series of stratospheric schmoozing opportunities in London, one more instance of the great Indo-Brit convergence that occurs all through the summer holidays. Of course, this is only a small engagement on Seths (described as marketing guru and author, in the lists brochure) packed London calendar. Im here till the end of the month, he said, enigmatically. Am watching Picasso at the Tate and Frida Kahlo at the V&A. THE PAST AND THE FUTURE Pradeep Guha in San Francisco. It might come as a shock to many, but there was a time when Pradeep Guha, publisher and marketing man extraordinaire, who has to his credit some of the biggest, most showy, star-spangled events in recent history, was a jhola-carrying, left-leaning activist in his Xaviers college days. How the transition from Trotsky to Chunky happened, our former colleague has promised to reveal at a later date, but currently on a study trip in San Francisco, Guha appears to be revelling in a brush with the counter-culture of his student days. Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco is where the hippie counter culture of the 60s originated, the smell of hash and liberty of the 70s still hangs heavy in the air!! he posted, this week, along with a picture of himself at the iconic locale. Guha is in America to study and understand the forces of exponential growth changing the course of history AI, robotics, genetic bio engineering, driverless cars, space as an alternative all this and more at an Executive Development program. The futuristic concerns of the world here are so piercingly different from the existential concerns that envelop us, day in and day out, back home, he said before flying to Cannes for an ad festival, to witness Piyush and Prasun Pandey receive the prestigious Cannes Lion of St Mark. STAR WIVES (LtoR) Gauri Khan; Krishna Raj Kapoor with Zarine Khan; Kiran Rao. The star wives of Bollywood are a breed apart and deserve an entire book about themselves. The most respected and admired of their generations, Krishna Raj Kapoor, wife of the late Raj Kapoor, and Zarine Khan, wife of Sanjay Khan, are portrayed in the picture. The one lady, who I most admire for her spirit and kindness towards all, whether rich or poor, posted Khan, about her elder peer, when the two had met for an Eid get-together. Her courage for living life through the highs n lows is exemplary. She is my perfect lady. May she keep smiling all her life is my sincere wish. Resilience, courage, grace and kindness are the most required trait for a star wife, it has long been believed; and Khan, too, has displayed this bushel in full. Star wives have to contend with all manner of challenges, not least of which are their husbands alleged link-ups with their attractive heroines on those interminably long outdoor shoots. Both Kapoor and Khan, besides demonstrating this quality many a times, are also celebrated for their hospitality and their famous dinners, with tables groaning with outstanding food. Who are the star wives who have carved a niche for themselves and demonstrated similar courage and grace amongst the current crop in the industry? Our bets are on Gauri Khan, Kiran Rao and Mira Rajput... MANY TO TANGO Participants who attended the tango session held at a SoBo hotel. Good to know that amidst all the hustle and bustle and big city stresses, there is a dedicated group of Mumbaiites, who come together often to pursue their passion for that graceful dance form of tango. And word comes in that last week, a SoBo hotel held a class for enthusiasts with an Argentine tutor called Gladys Fernandes. Amongst those who attended were expats like an American couple, who work for an NGO, along with a local physicist, an architect, a legal eagle, an erstwhile model and even a total beginner whod read about the workshop and signed up as a newbie; the oldest participant in his seventies and the youngest in their twenties! Whats more, after the workshop, there was a dinner organised for all those, who participated at the hotel, where the dancing went on till 1.30am... Nice! The Chembur police have arrested a 31-year-old man from West Bengal for uploading obscene pictures of his ex-girlfriend a 26-year-old bank manager on a social networking site. A case was registered in May 2018 on the basis of compliant lodged by the woman and the man was arrested last week. The arrested accused, Junior Stewart Guha, owns a hardware shop in West Bengal, while the complainant works as manager in a private bank and is a resident of Chembur. She has, in her statement to the police, alleged that she met Guha in December 2016 for the first time at a private hospital in Chembur, where their respective fathers had been admitted. They became friends, and later exchanged contact details. Both of them were in touch and the friendship soon turned into a relationship. The couple then visited Lonavla and Alibaug frequently, where Guha clicked intimate pictures of her twice, said a police officer. In 2017, the accused started doubting that the woman was cheating on him. To clear his doubts, she sent her mobile phone and two credit cards for him to check. Guha then used the credit cards to shop. The complainant also sent him Rs3.23 lakh cash as he pleaded for financial help, said the officer. They had decided to marry, but the girls parents were opposed to the alliance. In January 2018, after an argument, the accused, who had the mobile phone of the victim with him, uploaded her obscene pictures on Facebook and deleted the same in the morning. The girl started getting calls from her friends as the photographs were uploaded from her account, said a police officer. He repeated the same after a few days . Both times, Guha claims he committed the crime when he was angry, said the police officer. Eventually, the woman gave a written complaint to Chembur police and on the basis of her complaint an FIR was registered on May 12, 2018 under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act, 2000. The accused was taken in custody from Durgapada in West Bengal on June 13 and was produced in court on June 16 in Mumbai. He has been remanded in custody till June 22, said Jaywant Sankpal, police inspector, Chembur police station. Three days after a 28-year-old man was arrested by the Juhu police for allegedly cheating students, under the pretext of getting them admission, more students have come forward and registered cases against him. According to police sources, a student has now registered a case at Colaba police station. Ferin Patel, a former engineering student, was arrested by Juhu police on Friday for purportedly cheating two students from Pune and promising them admission in one of the top management colleges. During interrogation, it was revealed that Patel had cheated students from across the city. A boy has now registered a case at Colaba police station after the accused took five lakh rupees from him under the pretext of getting him admission at Jai Hind College. The case cropped up during interrogation. We have approached more students from Andheri and Kandivli to register cases at police stations in their jurisdiction, said a police officer. Sources said that a case has been registered at the national capital, too, after Juhu police informed the police there, about the accused cheating multiple people on the pretext of getting them jobs. Police is now confident that more complainants will come forward and register complaints. A businessman, who was cheated by the same accused, has also been approached by the police in Ahmedabad. Police sources said that Patel is a former student of Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering, which is a part of NMIMS. He joined the college in 2013-14, but did not complete his course. He has always been fascinated by high-end bikes, he added. Three days ahead of the enforcement of the plastic ban by the state government, the Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC) civic chief has created a squad of sanitary inspectors to crack down on retailers, dealers and commercial establishments that continue to use plastic bags. The PCMC also plans to promote usage of cloth and paper bags through various awareness-training sessions. Sanitary inspectors have been asked to be vigilant in the area and take action against those flouting the rules. Those caught flouting the rules once or twice will be fined and inspectors can file an FIR without giving any warning in advance if a person is caught a third time, said PCMC civic chief Ganesh Deshmukh. The civic body is authorised to levy a heavy penalty of 5,000 for first-time offenders. Cloth and paper bags are the alternative options, and we have been promoting the same through training sessions. Mahila Bachat gat (womens self-help groups) have been pulled in to make them and encourage others to use the same instead of plastic bags, he said. Since the last one and half month, the PCMC has been active against those flouting the plastic rules, but now that ban is going into effect on June 23, officials have been asked to be more vigilant. Other than encouraging the use of cloth and paper bags, PCMC is set to establish a centre to dispose of all types of plastic once the ban goes into effect and is expecting positive responses from residents. Vidisha Jain, 34, a resident of Kharghar, Sector 12 said, All four members of my family use either cloth or paper bags, and are also looking for other alternatives to replace plastic. We have even replaced the plastic bottles in the fridge with glass bottles. Ramachandra Iyer, 49, a resident of Vashi, Sector 9 commends the PCMC for taking strong action against traders, dealers, and residents. The plastic menace has been overwhelming and I hope that the ban will give much-needed relief and reduce the plastic pollution to an extent, he said. Graphic Blanket ban on plastic just days away Starting from March 23, the state has put an effective ban on all plastic products and the manufacture, usage, sale, transport, distribution, and storage of plastic in the state. Import of plastic bags and disposable products made out of plastic and thermocol (polystyrene) have also been banned. The government has given a two-month grace period to implement the blanket ban. The industry can take this time to come up with alternatives. List of banned items Products manufactured from plastic and thermocol such as disposable dishes or bowls, cups, plates, glasses, forks, spoons, containers, straws, non-woven polypropene bags, pouches all of which are commonly used for packaging food items, will no longer be permitted in the state Plastic items to be allowed Plastic used for packing medicines Compostable plastic bags used in nurseries for plants, agriculture, solid waste plastic bags for export purposes only Plastic used in wrapping the material at manufacturing stage to preserve an integral part Food-grade plastic bags not less than 50-micron thickness used for packaging items like milk Last week, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had proposed to bring down the fine on the usage of banned plastic items to 200 from the existing 5,000. However, on Tuesday officials from the state government said they are unsure if the civic body is authorised to reduce the fine, and thus, it is unlikely that citizens would be relieved from shelling out a higher fine when the ban is implemented from June 23. The proposal to reduce the fine is tabled before the law committee of the civic body. It will be then forwarded to the standing committee of the BMC. After getting a nod from the standing committee, the general body will take a final call on the proposal. Anil Diggikar, principal secretary of the state environment department said, I am unsure if the BMC can take a call on reducing the fine amount for offenders. Civic officials confirmed that offenders caught violating the ban will be charged 5,000 until the proposal to reduce the fine is finally approved by general body, which is no time soon. They said that the fine amount is impractical because of which they have proposed to reduce the penalty amount. Nidhi Choudhari, deputy municipal commissioner of BMC, said, Since every citizen will be fined for carrying the banned plastic, it is necessary that the fine amount is made reasonable. We have asked the law committee to reduce the fine amount to ensure that the ban is properly implemented. According to the BMC proposal, the fine amount ranges between 200 and 1000 for first time offenders. The civic body wants to vary the fine from citizens, milk and fruit vendors, general stores and malls and hotels. While it has been proposed that citizens should be fined 200, the fine amount for malls and hotels could be 1000. The state had issued a notification on March 23 this year, imposing a ban on purchase, sale, distribution and storage of single use disposal plastic. An extension of three months was given to implement the ban. A constable of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) was suspended on Tuesday after he was allegedly seen in a video molesting a woman at Kalyan station. The incident came to the fore after the video shot by a commuter went viral on social media. HT has not independently verified the authenticity of the video. Government Railway Police (GRP) officers are searching for the woman so that a case can be registered against the constable. According to a Kalyan GRP officer, the incident took place on June 18 night. The accused has been identified as Rajesh Jahangir, 33, and hails from Rajasthan. He got married nine months ago. The incident took place around 10pm, on platform number four of Kalyan station. The constable, seated beside the woman, is clearly seen touching her back. The woman does not raise any alarm, but he is spotted by commuters on the platform. They catch him, but none of them complained against him, said Dinkar Pringle, senior inspector, Kalyan GRP. When senior officials questioned the constable, he said he was sleeping and didnt realise that he touched the women. Though he claims he was sleeping during the incident, the video clearly shows him trying to touch the woman purposely. However, he has been suspended now. He will remain suspended till further investigation, said Pingle. 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Ravindra Medsingh, who is in his late fifties, was suspended in May 2014 after two rape cases were registered against him, has been dismissed from the force. Medsingh, who was last attached to the Riot Control Unit in local arms division, was booked in two cases of rape by the Azad Maidan and Dahisar police in 2014. In the first case, the survivor was a 22-year-old, who had told the cops that she met Medsingh in February 2005 when he was posted in the Bandra unit of the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC). He befriended her and allegedly raped her several times in hotels, promising to marry her. He also allegedly forced her to undergo abortion whenever she got pregnant. The other victim, a woman from Dahisar, met the officer in 2003 when he was posted at Dahisar police station. She had gone to the police station to file a complaint against her husband for domestic violence. Under the pretext of helping her, Medsingh befriended her and in March 2003, allegedly raped her at gunpoint in a car inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Following registration of criminal cases, the senior brass of the department ordered an inquiry on him and suspended him until they came to a decision. Recently, the commissioner of polices office issued an order, stating that Medsingh was found guilty of charges levelled against him. Medsingh was also handed over a copy of his dismissal order, an officer said. Medsingh could not be reached for a comment. Mumbai Police spokesperson DCP Deepak Devraj did not respond to phone calls and text messages. For art enthusiasts, history buffs and those looking to connect the two, a grand retrospective show of Sayed Haider Razas works will hold as many overlaps as surprises. Opening at Lower Parels Piramal Museum of Art this Sunday, SH Raza: Traversing Terrains includes 35 paintings spanning five decades of the artists work from the 1940s to the 1990s, rare photos and artefacts. Its also the first major retrospective of the iconic modernist since his death in 2016. The schedule WHAT: SH Raza: Traversing Terrains, a retrospective show of SH Razas works WHEN: June 24 to October 28, 11 am to 8 pm WHERE: Piramal Museum of Art, Peninsula Corporate Park, Lower Parel Entry is free The show traces the evolution of his art practice. Early works show expressionist landscapes of the cities that Raza lived in. Later paintings are more abstract. They blended his French training, western modernism and celebrated Indian iconography, ultimately leading him to his most famous motif, the Bindu as the centre of creation, which he began painting in the 1980s. When you think of Raza, the first thing that comes to your mind is the Bindu. We want to show the physical and intellectual journey he took to arrive at it, says Vaishnavi Ramanathan, curator and art historian at the museum, who has co-curated the exhibition with the museums director Ashvin E Rajagopalan. Early works reflect his time spent in Mumbai. Born in rural Madhya Pradesh, he arrived here in 1943, after being awarded a scholarship to attend Sir JJ School of Art. Watercolour works of bustling Princess Street and Bomanji Lane in Fort reflect his first brush with cosmopolitan life. He would paint on the spot, so his works were spontaneous; he wouldnt even mask the pencil lines, Ramanathan says. That way, he developed a visual language that captured the hustle and bustle of the city. Mumbai also became a city where he forged lifelong bonds with artists FN Souza, HA Gade and MF Husain. They eventually became the founding members of Bombay Progressive Artists Group. Letters the artist exchanged with his peers are part of the show, as is a painting by Walter Langhammer. The Austrian war emigre allowed Raza to work from his Nepean Sea Road studio and went on to mentor the artist. Another section explores Razas life in France from 1950s. He enrolled at Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, travelled across Europe and settled in Paris where exhibited his work until 2010 before returning to India. On display are the artists heavy oil paintings and letters sourced from Galerie Lara Vincy, which curated his first solo show in Europe in 1958. The show also features small-format works influenced by post-war American art foreshadowing his later miniature-style works from his travels across the country. Diary entries at the exhibition show how Raza meticulously catalogued his works and whom they were sold to. Most works are from the Piramal collection, but the archival images and other artefacts come from the Raza Foundation, the artist Krishen Khanna and Galerie Lara Vincy Archives. In this globalised world, artists are constantly probing about their identity, Ramanathan says. This is something Raza explored back then and realised how you can be Indian and international at the same time. He could see the world without losing his identity. Thats why he remains relevant today. Shiv Sena leaders on Wednesday met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and demanded an extension to submit suggestions and objections to the Development Plan and the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR). The reason: Sena leaders have called for a Marathi translation of DCPR; though the document is available in English. The last day to submit your concerns about DP and DCPR is June 21. DCPR refers to rules and regulation that will dictate developement of the city as per the two-decade vision outlined in DP. Continuing its combative mode, the Shiv Sena also criticised the state government for its alleged attempt to dilute the powers of the party-ruled Brihamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The urban development department, which controls the BMC, is headed by chief minister Fadnavis. The ties between Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have remained fractious. The Sena has opposed the state governments plan to open up salt pan land for development and give more floor space index (FSI) around Metro corridors. We met the CM and requested him to give an extension for receiving suggestions and objections. DP is available in Marathi. Similarly, DCPR should be made available in Marathi for the common man to read and understand it. Only then can a common man give some suggestions or objections, said Anil Parab, Sena spokesperson and member of legislative council. The Sena alleged that many suggestions made by its MLAs and corporators have not been incorporated in DP. Meanwhile, the state is likely extend the deadline for filing suggestions and objections to the excluded part (EP) of DP, which will apply to DCPR as well, said Nitin Kareer, principal secretary, urban development department. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackerays speech at the rally to mark the 52nd foundation day of the party on Tuesday, a year ahead of the 2019 state and general elections, sounded oft-repeated and cliched. While Thackeray mocked his ally, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he did not spell out his decision on the alliance. Aaditya, Thackerays son and head of the youth wing of the party, however, spoke of going solo. So instead of clarity over their role or vision for the upcoming elections, the message that the party cadre got was status quo. The Sena chief said the next chief minister will be from his party, a statement he has been making through the year since January, when he announced the decision to go solo in all upcoming elections. He also congratulated the BJP for ending its alliance with PDP in Kashmir, although terming it belated. The cadre realised the Sena will not walk out of power any time soon, but will play the role of opposition as and when need be. The takeaway from Thackerays speech was the party will wait-and-watch before announcing its plan. The message to political rivals and allies was not just the BJP, regional parties and opposition, too, want the Sena to join hands with them. Political observers said that facing a catch-22, Thackeray was indulging in politics of survival. The speech indicates the Sena will sit in the government until the elections are announced or a few months before the announcement. They will contest the polls independently as a U-turn may be difficult at this stage. A post-election tie-up with BJP is a distinct possibility. There is a dilemma in the party about the future, which showed in the speech, said Surendra Jondhale, political analyst. Sena leaders said given the political scenario in the country, the partys stance was fluid. In January, we passed a resolution that the party would go solo for elections solo. We can also take the resolution back. The question is whether BJP will give us a clear upper hand and the position of a big brother. We dont think that is possible, said a senior Sena leader. The overall sentiment is the party should take a call depending on the outcome of the next round of state Assembly elections that will be held by the end of the year. Four people three jewellers and a burglar were arrested in the last week of May for cheating people by promising them houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The accused duped 47 people from Thane, Navi Mumbai and Palghar of 47.2 lakh in the past two years. During investigation, police found that 37 cases were registered at 19 police stations. The accused were identified as Tukaram Lala Adsul, the burglar, and jewellers Narayansingh Dhansingh Kharwad alias Naresh, Rehmatsingh Bhorsingh Kharwad alias Ramesh and Karansingh Gangasingh Sisodiya, who is out on bail. Adsul would give the gold to jewellers to melt it. After receiving several complaints, Thane Police formed a team comprising local officers and personnel from anti-robbery cell to arrest the accused. D Swamy, deputy commissioner of police (Zone -1), said, We had been searching for the accused for the past several months. We have recovered gold, silver and cash worth 47.2 lakh from them. The first case was lodged at Kalwa police station in 2017 followed by Mumbra and Kalwa police stations. Probe is underway to find out if the accused are part of a bigger gang. Victimspeak Mamta Kale, a resident of Balkum, said they were fooled by Adsul who stole gold jewellery worth 63,500 from their house. In March, a man visited our house saying he was doing a survey for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and was shortlisting underprivileged candidates who could benefit from the scheme. He took our phone numbers. The next day he called us to TMC office to meet officials and fill forms. He kept checking for our location, while he waited outside our house, she added. After confirming that the Kales were far away, Adsul visited their home and told their son that he had come to collect a few documents on their behalf. He then gained access to the locker keys and stole the jewellery. We were given a gold plate of the same amount, as the accused had melted the jewellery. After we lodged a complaint, police told us that keep calling on the number the accused had given. Thats how we discovered his plot of burgling another house in Kalyan. We immediately informed the police and averted the break-in, Kale said. Chaitali Sonawane, 29, shared a similar story and did said the accused stole gold and cash worth 2.2 lakh from her house by fooling her daughter into giving him keys to the locker. Madhukar Pandey, joint commissioner of police, Thane, said, The accused Adsul lured people, mostly from economically weaker background, with the chance of securing a house under Prime Minister Awas Yojana. He has committed 47 break-ins in the past two years. BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies at a party event held in Sukulpur on Tuesday. While this is not the first time the disgruntled actor-turned-politician has targeted the party leadership, he never did it from a BJP platform before. Sinha also announced his intention to contest again from the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat in 2019, but did not specify the party he would represent. The BJP did not give me tickets; I took it on my own. And I will contest from Patna Sahib again, he told party workers at the meet. Sinha, who has been cozying up with opposition parties such as the RJD and Congress, is yet to disclose which one he will possibly team up with in 2019. He has even praised opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav, calling him a very mature leader. Yadav reciprocated the gesture at a recent iftar party. Chacha (Shatrughan Sinha) is with us, he said, giving rise to speculations that Sinha may be the RJD candidate for the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat in 2019. Speaking at the Sukulpur event, Sinha slammed the Modi government for causing the public great hardships through demonetisation and GST. He said the two initiatives proved to be neem ke upar karela (bittergourd over neem) for the people, rendering many of its young population jobless. Sources said many BJP leaders quietly slipped out of the venue after sensing the MPs rebellious tone. The two-time Lok Sabha MP has openly criticised the Modi government on several occasions, and even told off the BJP for making light of Congress chief Rahul Gandhis prime ministerial ambitions. By the way, the president of the oldest party has really matured in the last few years. He has been raising some pertinent questions that we are refusing to answer or even entertain, he said. He even took on the party leadership over the recent bypoll results, warning them against continuing on their path of arrogance, short temper and overconfidence. However, Sinha backed the BJPs decision to ditch the Mehbooba Mufti government in Jammu and Kashmir. Indias security is above all above religion, above politics, above everything else. Withdrawal of support to the ruling party in Kashmir... too little, too late but nonetheless, this decision certainly seems to be in favour of the people of Kashmir, he tweeted on Wednesday. The diarrhoea outbreak in Chandigarh showed no sign of abating as 30 more patients, a majority from Mauli Jagran, were examined at the Civil Hospital, Manimajra, on Tuesday. Over 141 people have been treated at the hospital since Sunday, Gaurav Aggarwal of the Chandigarh health department told Hindustan Times. On Tuesday, 29 fresh cases were received at the outpatient department, he added. According to Dr Arun Bansal, in charge of the hospital, Around 30 patients reported at the OPD. Patients were found lying in corridors of the hospitals emergency ward when HT visited. They have been coming in from the last three to four days complaining of abdominal pain, vomiting and loose motions. Some were unconscious, a doctor said. While adults are coping, children and the elderly people have had severe infection, he added. When asked if all the cases were are from Mauli Jagran, another doctor on duty said, In the morning around 10 people from Mauli Jagran were admitted to the hospital. Three to four patients were from Indira Colony, Manimajra. On the possibility of water contamination, Tanya Silvi,a patient from Mauli Jagran, said What came out of the taps looked like soap water. It had foam. Though she boiled the water before drinking it she and her son fell ill. Shahzad Ali of Indira Colony, too, said people in the area got water with foul odour at least once a month, but this time it kept stinking. However, 50 water samples collected during the morning and evening supply in the affected areas by the health wing of the municipal corporation (MC) were found fit for consumption. Blockage in internal sewer chambers in homes, which residents were duty bound to clean, could have created the problem, MC officials said. Meanwhile, city mayor Davesh Moudgil and MC Commissioner K K Yadav visited the Mauli Jagran area, stopping at the Civil Hospital on the way. The team also inspected the tube well from which water was supplied to the Mauli Jagran area, checking chlorine levels, the cover of the water tank which HT reported missing yesterday, and visited homes where diarrhoea cases had been reported. To contain the outbreak, workers of the public health wing of the MC have also in the last three days visited over 5,000 houses and detected 141 cases. About 1,000 ORS sachets (to prevent dehydration) and 2,000 chlorine tablets have been distributed. On Monday, 35 water samples were taken for hydrogen sulphide (a chemical hazard in natural gas production due to decay of organic material) test and 78 more samples were collected on Tuesday. While a number of patients complained that no fans or air-conditioners had been provided at the hospital, the hospital staff swung into action when the Chandigarh mayor came visiting. As sweepers quickly mopped the floors, guards asked attendants not to stand near the patients. Inputs from Hillary Victor The curriculum of Masters in English literature is one arena that has undergone such tectonic shifts that for the most part it does not even remotely meet the bare outsider expectations about it. From being preeminently a vehicle of dispersing colonial cultural hegemony to today transforming into a representational space preoccupied with recovering lost and powerless voices, it has indeed come a long way. It is a space built on the constant questioning of the rationale of the canon and further, in its enthusiasm to question the importance of texts, it has come down brutally on its own house. It could be deemed a dynamic and progressive space and to me, it represents what can be called the pulsating heart of humanities. One can see the inclusion of Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz in this light under the rubric of Texts in Translation. The paper allows students to have an intimate feel of literature in regional languages such as Bengali (Mahasweta Devi), Oriya (Fakir Mohan Senapati), Urdu (Faiz) and Hindi (Nirala) through translation. It is a space that an English literature student would otherwise never traverse. There is a definite attempt to break the classic elitist mould of an English literature graduate and to give the student a taste of important writings from within the country, ironing out language differences using the tool of translation. To bring an Urdu text into an English literature classroom, even though in translation, is a task that is at once delightful, difficult and always threatening to burst into the territory of the disastrous. What to begin with was full of trepidation is now a job I have come to exercise some semblance of control over. Eventually in these years, I can detect a pattern to the introduction of Faiz to a class of millennials. In Panjab University, we are prescribed the English translations of Faiz done by Agha Shahid Ali. But it is that one utterance of the title of the ghazal that gets them. No sooner do I utter the Urdu equivalent of Do not ask me for that love again in Urdu Mujh se pehli si mohabbat mere mahboob na maang than I am honoured with a moment of what is their total attention. There is a hint of fluttering smiles and shifting glances. I sense the weight of expectation. I have evoked an era that is distant yet not entirely unfamiliar. So I prime myself for the show and tell. They are taking in the dripping passion of the first three lines: Maine samjha tha ki tu hai to darakhsha hai hayaat/ I had thought that if you are mine this existence is gold Tera gham hai to gham-e-dahar ka jhagda kya hai /If I have this sorrow of love, does the sorrow of the world really matter? Teri soorat se hai aalam main bahaaron ko sabaat/In your face is an eternal spring, and by the time Faiz proclaims, Teri ankhon ke siva dunia mein rakhha kya hai, the class is agog. There is a wave of transcendental love. But the shock soon follows and the roller-coaster crashes on terra firma with the turnaround from love to social injustice gham-e-dahar or grief of the world. For a brief while, it is a bit of a task to shake them from a collective reverie to the injustices in the lanes and bylanes, the gallies and koochas that need redressal. It takes a lecture or two to establish the unexpected turning point of this ghazal, and the fact that, that turning point becomes the turning point in the history of the genre of ghazal itself. From a love song, no matter how exquisite, it becomes song of a revolution. What is unabated, however, is Faizs passion. By the time we sense the resignation of the lover in ab bhi dilkash hai tera husn magar kya keeje they too have found a meeting ground. They understand the sweep: the circle of romantic passion to disenchantment to a higher realisation, all in the matter of an hour. Every year this ghazal sets the tone for an adventure Im never fully prepared for, but grow to enjoy over the few lectures. Sensibility of another era, so gentle yet so full of conviction. From love to revolution and back. Thats Faiz for you and suitably given to the inscrutable poetic form of the ghazal. And thanks to Texts in Translation, even though mediated by the English language, we Shakespearewallahs do a classroom reading of what is perhaps one of the greatest ghazals of all times. sakoon.n.singh@gmail.com (The writer teaches English at a Chandigarh college) Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has urged the central government to withdraw its appeal in the Punjab and Haryana high court against the award of compensation to those arrested and detained in the Jodhpur prison following Operation Bluestar in June 1984. Amarinder has appealed to the central government to pay, without further delay, half the compensation amount of Rs 4.5 crores that was awarded by the district and sessions court of Amritsar in April last year. In a letter to Union home minister Rajnath Singh, the CM on Wednesday said the central governments appeal against the compensation, which the court had held to be jointly payable by the Union and state governments, had evoked a strong reaction among the Sikhs. It (non-payment) is further likely to lead to an avoidable sense of alienation and perceived injustice among the community, the CM warned. A total of 375 persons were arrested and detained in Jodhpur jail in the wake of Operation Bluestar, and were later released in three batches, between March 1989 and July 1991. Of these, 224 detainees had appealed for compensation in the lower court, alleging wrongful detention and torture, but they failed to get any relief from the court in 2011. However, 40 of the detainees went in appeal to the district and sessions court, and were awarded Rs 4 lakh each as compensation with 6% interest (from the date of filing of the appeal to payment of compensation) in April last year. The total compensation, including interest, worked out to Rs 4.5 crore approximately, the CM pointed out. The Punjab government had given an undertaking to the court to pay half the amount, but the Union government had moved an appeal in the HC, the CM further stated, seeking immediate steps by the Union minister to retract the appeal and contribute a 50% share. Ajith is all set to shed his trademark salt-and-pepper look for his upcoming film, Viswasam. The actor will have two different looks in the Siva directorial and all precautions are being taken to keep them under wraps. This secrecy has only increased the curiosity of fans. So, when a vernacular magazine, Anada Vikatan did a Viswasam special, fans assumed the picture featured in it to be Ajiths new look in the film and have been sharing it on social media. However, the still is from an old Ajith film. During Viswasams 30-day schedule in Hyderabad, the levels of secrecy were so high that fans were not allowed on the sets. What is clear though is that Ajith will portray two different looks. Initially, it was reported that parts of the film will be based in north Chennai, and accordingly Ajith is expected to have a thara local look in the film other than the one he has shot for during the Hyderabad schedule. In a media interaction, stunt choreographer Dhilip also revealed that there are five stunt sequences in the film, of which one has been shot in Hyderabads Ramoji Film City. He said, There are five fights in the film and they are different stylistically. We completed a comedy-based fight scene in the Hyderabad schedule, he said. Viswasam is expected to hit the screens for Diwali along with Thalapathy 62 and Suriyas NGK. However, after the delay in shoot, it is unclear if the filmmakers will be able to finish film in time. Nayanthara plays the female lead in this film which also stars Thambi Ramaiah, Yogi Babu, Robo Shankar, Madhumitha and others. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Guwahati : The flood situation in Assam has been slightly improved as flood situation in Brahmaputra valley receding after water levels of Brahmaputra river and its tributaries have been decreased, but situation still grim in three districts of Barak valley. The death toll in the devastating flood and landslides in the state has risen to 21 as six people drowned in flood waters in Karimganj and Cachar districts. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), four persons died in Karmganj district on Tuesday, while two in Cachar district. A population 5,64,074 in the districts of Nagaon, Hojai, Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi have been affected by the flood. Karimganj district is the worst hit with Barak and Kushiyara rivers maintained in rising trend and a total of 2,36,164 people affected in the district. On the other hand, a total of 2,20,658 people are affecting in Hailakandi district and 1,01,859 people in Cachar district. A total of 1,57,524 people mostly of the Barak valley districts have taken shelter at 236 relief camps set up by the district administration. The administration has also set up 221 numbers relief distribution centres. According to the ASDMA reports, 3890.50 hectares crop area had been washed away by the flood waters. On the other hand, the NDRF and SDRF teams on Tuesday had rescued 9250 persons in Karimganj and Cachar districts. Kapil Sharma returned to Mumbai on Tuesday night after being away for many weeks. The controversial comedian looked under the weather but his pet, an adorable furry dog, managed to bring a smile to Kapils face. The actor had left India days after his Twitter meltdown that ended with him filing cases against a journalist and his former producer Preeti Simoes. Kapil had made a brief appearance on Twitter a few days back when he had accepted that he had put on weight but was on his way to make positive changes to his lifestyle. He had also promised he would return on the screens soon. Chalo now good night .. trying to change my life style .. god bless all .. love u KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) June 7, 2018 Purani photo Hai KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) June 7, 2018 Mota.. but will reduce KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) June 7, 2018 On Tuesday night, Kapil was seen wearing a track suit with a white tee, as he posed for photos with his pet. Loved by many and an undisputed star on Indian TV till an unfortunate mid-air fight with fellow comedian Sunil Grover took sheen off him, Kapil had been on a dream success ride. However, he has been plagued by rumours of depression, alcohol addiction and unprofessional behaviour in the past. Kapil Sharma has reportedly battled depression, dealt with alcohol addiction and unprofessional behaviour for long now. (Viral Bhayani) Kapils cup of misery really began after he fought with Sunil Grover, on board a flight from Australia to Mumbai in March last year. Post that, many of his trust lieutenants quit his show. Reeling under the shock, reports of him cancelling shows of his very popular show, The Kapil Sharma Show, began doing the rounds. The channel had to eventually take the show off air in July. In April this year, Kapil returned to the small screen with a new show titled, Family Time With Kapil Sharma. The launch of the show was accompanied by news of cancelled shoots. Sources said that Kapil cancelled shoot with Rani Mukerji at the last minute. The new show, too, was soon cancelled after three episodes. Follow @htshowbiz for more Nearly 100 countries took part in a globe-spanning crackdown on the illegal wildlife trade, seizing tons of meat, ivory, pangolin scales and timber in a monthlong bust that exposed the international reach of traffickers, Interpol said Wednesday. Officials also confiscated thousands of live animals, including turtles in Malaysia and parrots in Mexico. Canada intercepted 18 tons of eel meat arriving from Asia. Those arrested included two flight attendants in Los Angeles and a man in Israel whose house was raided after he posted a hunting photograph on social media. Operation Thunderstorm, which followed similar stings in past years, yielded seizures worth millions of dollars during May, according to Interpol. The results are spectacular, said Sheldon Jordan, Canadas director general of wildlife enforcement. Acknowledging the magnitude of the problem, Jordan said global wildlife crime is worth about $150 billion annually and is fourth in value after the illegal drug trade, counterfeiting and human trafficking. Criminal syndicates that smuggle flora and fauna often take advantage of porous borders and corrupt officials, transporting illicit cargo at an industrial scale. In this photo taken on May 2018 in Mexico and provided by Interpol on Wednesday, June 20, 2018, a box of Agapornis parrots are intercepted by Mexican Police authorities. (AP) The Thunderstorm swoop included the confiscation of 8 tons of pangolin scales, half of which was found by Vietnamese authorities on a ship from Africa. Africas four species of pangolins are under increasing pressure from poachers because of the decimation of the four species in Asia, where pangolin scales are used in traditional medicine. A total of 43 tons of contraband meat including bear, elephant, crocodile, whale and zebra 1.3 tons of elephant ivory, 27,000 reptiles, about 4,000 birds, 48 live primates, 14 big cats and two polar bear carcasses were also seized. Several tons of wood and timber were also seized. China, the worlds largest ivory consumer, banned its domestic trade starting this year in what conservationists hope will relieve pressure on Africas besieged elephant populations. While some herds are recovering, a high rate of killing continues in many areas, such as Mozambiques Niassa reserve. In this photo taken in May 2018 in Ecuador and provided by Interpol on Wednesday, June 20, 2018, Ecuadorian police officers inspect a bird of prey. (AP) Some 1,400 suspects were identified worldwide in the Thunderstorm sting, which included police, customs and other agencies from 92 countries, Interpol said. Two flight attendants were arrested in Los Angeles carrying live spotted turtles to Asia in personal baggage, said Interpol. Both suspects have been charged with smuggling protected species. Participating nations were from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America. The Pacific nation of Vanuatu, which is not an Interpol member, took part. Officers searched cars, trucks, boats and containers, sometimes using sniffer dogs and X-ray scanners. The operation, Interpol Secretary General Juergen Stock said, showed that wildlife traffickers use the same routes as other criminals, often hand-in-hand with tax evasion, corruption, money laundering and violent crime. Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border to at least three tender age shelters in South Texas, The Associated Press has learned. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday. Since the White House announced its zero tolerance policy in early May, more than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the US-Mexico border, resulting in a new influx of young children requiring government care. The government has faced withering critiques over images of some of the children in cages inside US Border Patrol processing stations. Decades after the nations child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is starting up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents. The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it, said Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. Toddlers are being detained. Bellor said shelters follow strict procedures surrounding who can gain access to the children in order to protect their safety, but that means information about their welfare can be limited. By law, child migrants travelling alone must be sent to facilities run by the US Department of Health and Human Services within three days of being detained. The agency then is responsible for placing the children in shelters or foster homes until they are united with a relative or sponsor in the community as they await immigration court hearings. But US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announcement last month that the government would criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the US-Mexico border illegally has led to the breakup of migrant families and sent a new group of hundreds of young children into the governments care. A young girl rests on her mother's shoulder as they wait in line to enter the San Francisco office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on June 19. (AFP Photo) The United Nations, some Democratic and Republican lawmakers and religious groups have sharply criticized the policy, calling it inhumane. Not so, said Steven Wagner, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services. We have specialized facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs and tender age children as we define as under 13 would fall into that category, he said. Theyre not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and theyre staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs particularly of the younger children. Until now, however, its been unknown where they are. In general we do not identify the locations of permanent unaccompanied alien children program facilities, said agency spokesman Kenneth Wolfe. The three centers in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville have been rapidly repurposed to serve needs of children including some under 5. A fourth, planned for Houston, would house up to 240 children in a warehouse previously used for people displaced by Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. Turner said he met with officials from Austin-based Southwest Key Programs, the contractor that operates some of the child shelters, to ask them to reconsider their plans. A spokeswoman for Southwest Key didnt immediately reply to an email seeking comment. And so there comes a point in time we draw a line, and for me, the line is with these children, Turner said during a news conference Tuesday. On a practical level, the zero tolerance policy has overwhelmed the federal agency charged with caring for the new influx of children who tend to be much younger than teens who typically have been travelling to the US alone. Indeed some recent detainees are infants, taken from their mothers. The US-Mexico border is seen on June 19 in El Paso, Texas. (AFP Photo) Doctors and lawyers who have visited the shelters said the facilities were fine, clean and safe, but the kids who have no idea where their parents are were hysterical, crying and acting out. The shelters arent the problem, its taking kids from their parents thats the problem, said South Texas pediatrician Marsha Griffin who has visited many. Alicia Lieberman, who runs the Early Trauma Treatment Network at University of California, San Francisco, said decades of study show early separations can cause permanent emotional damage. Children are biologically programmed to grow best in the care of a parent figure. When that bond is broken through long and unexpected separations with no set timeline for reunion, children respond at the deepest physiological and emotional levels, she said. Their fear triggers a flood of stress hormones that disrupt neural circuits in the brain, create high levels of anxiety, make them more susceptible to physical and emotional illness, and damage their capacity to manage their emotions, trust people, and focus their attention on age-appropriate activities. Days after Sessions announced the zero-tolerance policy, the government issued a call for proposals from shelter and foster care providers to provide services for the new influx of children taken from their families after journeying from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. As children are separated from their families, law enforcement agents reclassify them from members of family units to unaccompanied alien children. Federal officials said Tuesday that since May, they have separated 2,342 children from their families, rendering them unaccompanied minors in the governments care. While Mexico is still the most common country of origin for families arrested at the border, in the last eight months Honduras has become the fastest-growing category as compared to fiscal year 2017. During a press briefing Tuesday, reporters repeatedly asked for an age breakdown of the children who have been taken. Officials from both law enforcement and Health and Human Services said they didnt know how many children were under 5, under 2, or even so little theyre non-verbal. The facilities that they have for the most part are not licensed for tender age children, said Michelle Brane, director of migrant rights at the Womens Refugee Commission, who met with a 4-year-old girl in diapers in a McAllen warehouse where Border Patrol temporarily holds migrant families. There is no model for how you house tons of little children in cots institutionally in our country. We dont do orphanages, our child welfare has recognized that is an inappropriate setting for little children. So now, the government has to try to hire more caregivers. Protesters hold signs during a demonstration outside of the San Francisco office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on June 19 in San Francisco, California. (AFP Photo) The recent call for proposals by the federal governments Office of Refugee Resettlement said it was seeking applicants who can provide services for a diverse population of all ages and genders, as well as pregnant and parenting teens. Even the policy surrounding what age to take away a baby is inconsistent. Customs and Border Protection field chiefs over all nine southwest border districts can use their discretion over how young is too young, officials said. And while Health and Human Services defines tender age typically as 12 and under, Customs and Border Protection has at times defined it as 5 and under. For 30 years, Los Fresnos, Texas-based International Education Services ran emergency shelters and foster care programs for younger children and pregnant teens who arrived in the US as unaccompanied minors. At least one resident sued for the right to have an abortion in a high-profile case last March. For reasons the agency did not explain, three months ago the governments refugee resettlement office said it was ending their funding to the program and transferred all children to other facilities. This came weeks before the administration began its zero tolerance policy, prompting a surge in tender age migrant children needing shelter. In recent days, members of Congress have been visiting the shelters and processing centers, or watching news report about them, bearing witness to the growing chaos. In a letter sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday, a dozen Republican senators said separating families isnt consistent with American values and ordinary human decency. On Tuesday, a Guatemalan mother who hasnt seen her 7-year-old son since he was taken from her a month ago sued the Trump administration. Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia was released from custody while her asylum case is pending and thinks her son, Darwin, might be in a shelter in Arizona. I only got to talk to him once and he sounded so sad. My son never used to sound like that, he was such a dynamic boy, Mejia-Mejia said as she wept. I call and call and no one will tell me where he is. Visitors to India usually return with many long-lasting memories but one recent addition to the list is the poor air quality in Delhi, as Liam Fox, secretary for international trade in the Theresa May government, made it known on Monday. The occasion was the launch of a UK-India Week with the theme Global Britain meets global India, attended by leading players in the relationship between the two countries, including India's high commissioner YK Sinha. Amid laudatory words about the UK-India relationship its history, people-to-people contacts and potential for increased trade Fox recalled his visit to Delhi in November 2016 with Prime Minister Theresa May, who led a large trade delegation. In his address that talked up the relationship and the prospects for trade as the UK leaves the European Union, Fox said: In 2016 I was delighted to attend the UK-India Tech Summit in Delhi along with the prime minister, although I cant say that I miss the air quality that we had in that particular time in Delhi. The remark evoked not a few laughs in the gathering at Taj Buckingham Gate, but some business representatives later claimed it was becoming increasingly difficult to work in and move with families to Delhi due to the poor air quality. I always put in some masks in my bag before taking the flight to Delhi, remarked a British businessman of Indian origin, as another recalled the dense smog visible on television screens when Prince Charles visited Delhi in November 2017. Divers and an underwater drone on Wednesday joined a fleet of rescue vessels in Indonesias search for at least 192 passengers missing two days after an overcrowded wooden ferry sank in one of the worlds deepest volcanic lakes in Sumatra. Authorities are unable to confirm how many were aboard when the vessel sank on Monday in bad weather, since it did not have a manifest. Four were confirmed dead and 18 survivors picked up, but officials fear the death toll could be much higher. Tearful relatives waiting for news gathered at the small port of Tigaras on Lake Toba. Search teams expect to find many more trapped victims once they know where the vessel came to rest in the lake, which is 1,500 feet deep. We have the coordinates from when it sank, but we need to verify them, said Budiawan, a search and rescue official. A team of 25 divers, including marines, was searching for the vessel, along with a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) that can operate up to a depth of 1,247 ft, he added. The first team of divers encountered poor visibility and freezing cold when it got to a depth of 164 ft, said Muhammad Syaugi, head of the national search and rescue agency. Rescue teams in boats carrying GPS devices, binoculars, life jackets and oxygen tanks for survivors, have found little on the lakes surface. Santika, 28, was in tears as she awaited news of her cousin and the latters fiance who were on the ferry, returning from a holiday before the couples wedding, planned for next week. Everything was ready (for their wedding), said Santika. Were disappointed because there were too many passengers for the (ships) capacity. The ferry should have been supervised, and checked if it was seaworthy or not. Dozens of angry relatives demanded answers from authorities as the search was called off for the night. Overloaded Transport minister Budi Karya said on Wednesday the boat was designed for 43 passengers and had 45 life jackets on board. The estimate of those missing shows the ferry was overloaded nearly five times above capacity. It was also carrying dozens of motorcycles, say officials and survivors. It was also missing a sailing permit, and the life jackets on board were not up to standard, Karya said. There were mistakes. The journey was illegal, Karya told a news conference in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. One survivor described panic among the passengers when high waves lashed the ferry and they started falling into the water as it keeled over. We were floating around for an hour in the middle of the lake before help arrived, said Riko Sahputra, who clutched a motorcycle helmet to stay afloat before a passing boat rescued him, news website Kompas said. Spread over 1,145 sq km, the tourist attraction of Lake Toba fills the caldera of a giant ancient volcano that erupted about 75,000 years ago in one of historys biggest eruptions. Weather conditions can quickly change on the picturesque lake, where a string of accidents has included a 1997 sinking that killed about 80 people. Ships in Indonesia often carry far more passengers and goods than they are designed for, flouting safety rules. Some critics of the forced separation of Latino children from their migrant parents say the practice is unprecedented. But its not the first time the US government has split up families, detained children or allowed others to do so. Throughout American history, during times of war and unrest, authorities have cited various reasons and laws to take children away from their parents. Here are some examples: Slavery Before abolition, children of black slaves were born into slavery and could be sold by owners at will. Black women could do little to stop the sale of children and often never saw them again after they were sent away. Owners also split apart parents who had no legal rights to prevent their sale. To resist, slave families regularly ran away together but faced harsh physical punishment, even death, if caught by slave hunters. Last week, both White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney Jeff Sessions cited the Bible in defending the policy of forced separation of Latino migrant children. Sessions referenced Romans 13, which urges readers to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order. The same passage was cited before the Civil War to justify slavery, to allow slave hunters to return runaway slaves to their owners and to pull slave children away from mothers. Native American boarding schools After the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, when the Army slaughtered 150 Lakota men, women and children in the last chapter of Americas long Indian wars, authorities forced Native American families to send their children to government- or church-run boarding schools. The objective, as Carlisle Indian Industrial School founder Capt. Richard H Pratt put it, was to kill the Indian in him and save the man. At 150 or so Indian schools around the country, officials made Native American children cut their hair and outlawed all Native American languages. They forced children to adopt Christianity and attempted to Americanize children by introducing them to white customs and white history. Native American children returned home almost unrecognisable to their parents. US President Donald Trump speaks at a National Space Council meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP File Photo) Still, some children resisted the boarding school experience by setting fires to buildings, running away or taking their own lives. Others continued to speak their native language in secret. Some Navajo code talkers, who used a code based on their native language to transmit messages in World War II, were products of military-style boarding schools as children. Poverty During the early 1900s, states sometimes pulled children from poor families and placed them in orphanages. But reformers in the 1920s and 1930s began promoting the idea that children should not be separated from their families, according to In the Shadow Of the Poorhouse: A Social History Of Welfare In America by Michael B. Katz. However, local and state authorities still used poverty as a reason to take children away from Native American and black families, McClain said. Sometimes the ordered separation came over concerns about a parents mental health. Malcolm X in his autobiography recalled welfare workers coming to take him and his siblings away as children from his struggling single mother after their father, an outspoken black preacher, was mysteriously murdered. The future civil rights leader lived in various foster homes and boarding houses. His mother, without her children, had a breakdown and was sent to a mental institution. Immigration During the Great Depression, local authorities in California and Texas participated in a mass deportation of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans whom they blamed for the economic downturn. Between 500,000 and 1 million Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans were pushed out of the country during the 1930s repatriation, as the removal is sometimes called. Some families hid children away from relatives in the US to prevent them from being sent to a foreign country they had never visited, according to Francisco Balderrama, a Chicano studies professor at California State University-Los Angeles and co-author of Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s. Many families felt they were being forced to separate from their children, who were US citizens. And many children, Balderrama said, never saw their parents again. Japanese internment camps Starting in 1942, when the US was at war with Japan, around 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were ordered by the US government into prison camps around the country. An estimated 30,000 were children. The 1999 documentary Children of the Camps highlighted the trauma children faced while being detained with their grief-stricken parents. Some older children waited to turn 18 so they could volunteer to fight for the US to prove their families loyalty despite not wanting to be separated from their parents. Diaries and later interviews show many of those who went into the military did so reluctantly. View of a temporary detention centre for illegal immigrant children and teenagers at Tornillo, Texas. (AFP Photo) Kiyoshi K Muranaga, whose family was interned at Granada Relocation Center in Colorado, joined the US Army but was killed in Italy. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton. The United States withdrew from a hypocritical and self-serving United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform, a move activists warned would make advancing human rights globally even more difficult. Standing with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting US efforts to reform the council. She also criticised countries which shared US values and encouraged Washington to remain, but were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo. Washingtons withdrawal is the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It also comes as the United States faces intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border. UN human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein on Monday called on Washington to halt its unconscionable policy. Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights, said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of Congo. She did not mention Saudi Arabia, which rights groups pushed to be suspended in 2016 over killings of civilians in the Yemen war. Among reforms the United States had pushed for was to make it easier to kick out member states with egregious rights records. Currently a two-thirds majority vote by the 193-member UN General Assembly is needed to suspend a member state. Haley also said the disproportionate focus and unending hostility towards Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the U.S. decision. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley delivers remarks to the press together with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (not pictured), announcing the US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council. (Reuters Photo) The United States has long shielded its ally Israel at the United Nations. In citing what it says is bias against Israel, the administration of President Donald Trump could further fuel Palestinian arguments that Washington cannot be a neutral mediator as it prepares to roll out a Middle East peace plan. Washington also relocated its embassy to Jerusalem after recognising it as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of US policy. The United States is half-way through a three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if it was not overhauled. Misguided policy Rights groups have criticised the Trump administration for not making human rights a priority in its foreign policy. Critics say this sends a message that the administration turns a blind eye to human rights abuses in some parts of the world. Given the state of human rights in todays world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back, Zeid said after Haley announced the US withdrawal. Reuters reported last week that talks on reforming the council had failed to meet Washingtons demands, suggesting the Trump administration would quit. The Human Rights Council enables abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence and falsely condemning those that committed no offence, Pompeo said. Diplomats have said the US withdrawal could bolster countries such as Cuba, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan, which resist what they see as UN interference in sovereign issues. Haley said the withdrawal is not a retreat from our human rights commitments. Twelve rights and aid groups, including Human Rights First, Save the Children and CARE, warned Pompeo the US withdrawal would make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world. Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Unions Human Rights Program, said Trumps misguided policy of isolationism only harms American interests. The EU said Washingtons decision risks undermining the role of the US as a champion and supporter of democracy on the world stage. British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said it was regrettable and that the council was the best tool the international community has to address impunity. First member to withdraw The Human Rights Council meets three times a year to examine human rights violations worldwide. It has mandated independent investigators to look at situations including Syria, North Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan. Its resolutions are not legally binding but carry moral authority. When the Council was created in 2006, US President George W Bushs administration shunned the body. Under President Barack Obama the United States was elected for a maximum two consecutive terms on the council by the UN General Assembly. After a year off, Washington was re-elected in 2016 for its current third term. UN officials said the United States would be the first member to withdraw from the council. Haley said a year ago that Washington was reviewing its membership. The body has a permanent standing agenda item on suspected violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories that Washington wanted removed. The council last month voted to probe killings in Gaza and accused Israel of using excessive force. The United States and Australia cast the only no votes. The UN Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel, said Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he plans to sign an executive order that will end the separation of children from families crossing into the United States illegally. Trump has been under mounting pressure to end the practice that has led to the separation of more than 2,300 children from their parents since it went into effect in May. The controversial practice, enforced by his administration as part of a zero tolerance policy on illegal immigration, has sparked outrage worldwide. Were looking to keep families together, Trump told reporters at a White House meeting on immigration with officials and Republican lawmakers. Very important. Were going to be signing an executive order. We have compassion, he added, but what he will be doing signing the order is somewhat pre-emptive which ultimately will be matched by legislation I am sure. Trump also continued to emphasise the need to maintain toughness or our country will be overrun by people, by crime, by all of the things that we dont stand for and that we dont want. The department of justice is working on a draft of the executive order which Trump said he planned to sign before leaving for a political rally in Minnesota state. Trump had thus far defended the practice of splitting migrant families while maintaining that he had hated it as much as anyone else. However, he has faced severe backlash. While leaving a meeting with Republicans on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, a group of Democratic lawmakers heckled him about the policy. Quit separating the children, Mr President, Juan Vargas, a member of the House of Representatives. Dont you have kids? And Capitol Hill police are reported to be looking for a young woman, possibly a congressional intern, who had yelled an expletive at Trump as he was walking in for the meeting. Mr President, f*** you, she had screamed. Tempers are flaring as outrage grows on both sides of the political divide over children being ripped from the arms of their parents and being confined to cage-like accommodations at federal detention centres, which has drawn comparisons to the World War 2-era internment of Japanese-descent families in the US. Others have called it Nazi-like and pure evil. Joaquin Castro, a congressman from Texas, tweeted after a visit to a detention centre that the youngest child he had seen separated from his family was eight months old and had been at the facility for more than a month. Another person under fire over the separation policy is homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. On Tuesday, about a dozen protesters heckled her as she ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington. A video posted on Facebook showed the protesters yelling: If kids dont eat in peace, you dont eat in peace. Nielsen paid her bill and left after about 15 minutes. Business leaders have also condemned the zero tolerance policy, with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying he is donating money to groups that provide legal advice and translation services for immigrant families at the border. Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted that the stories and images about separated families were gut-wrenching. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview the policy is inhumane and must stop. In a joint statement, the founders of Airbnb said separating kids from their families is heartless, cruel, immoral and counter to the American values of belonging. Conservative-leaning business lobby groups also weighed in. The Business Roundtable, which represents the CEOs of Walmart, General Motors, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase and Mastercard, called for an immediate end to the policy. Some of that concern has reached the White House as well. Trump told lawmakers at his Tuesday meeting that his daughter Ivanka had asked him if there was a way of stopping it. Republican leaders in the House of Representatives are trying to pull together a revised version of a broad immigration bill that will mandate keeping immigrant children in detention indefinitely, but housed with their parents. In the Senate, Republicans are backing a narrower bill that will allow detained families to stay together in custody while expediting hearings and possible deportation proceedings. Trump has said hes 1,000 percent behind both bills, but there is little clarity about what he will actually sign. As the condition of Kulsoom Nawaz, the wife of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, turned critical, an anti-corruption court in Islamabad granted the PMl-N leader and his daughter Maryam Nawaz a four-day exemption from an ongoing graft trial. The duo on Tuesday applied for a seven-day exemption from the hearings of the court as they are in London following Kulsoom Nawazs cardiac arrest. In November 2017, Kulsoom was diagnosed with blood and throat cancer and was shifted to London for treatment. Sharif and Maryam have made several trips to be with her. On June 15, Kulsoom suffered cardiac arrest and was placed on a ventilator. Judge Muhammad Bashir of the accountability or anti-corruption court said he would hear arguments regarding the petition after a short break. Maryams husband, Muhammad Safdar, requested the media outside the court to pray for Kulsoom. We face trials in life, but God gives us strength. Nawaz Sharif and his family are facing a difficult time right now. (Former military ruler Pervez) Musharraf exiled him, but he came back, he always does, Safdar said. In court, Sharifs counsel Khawaja Haris, who had earlier recused himself from the case, returned to continue representing him. His withdrawal application was not accepted by the court. Nepal and China on Wednesday signed eight agreements worth US$ 2.4 billion in Beijing during the second day of official visit of Prime Minister KP Oli to China. These agreements are reached between the two governments and private sectors of Nepal and China where Chinese investors will put the money on developing hydroelectricity, water resources, cement factory and fruit cultivation and farming. In the presence of PM Oli and visiting Nepal delegation, the signing ceremony was organised at Nepali Embassy in Beijing. According to the agreements, Huwasin Cement Company will set up a cement manufacturing plant in Nepal that will produce 3,000 metric tones cement on daily basis. This will establish at the cost of NRs 14.40 billion. The factory will provide jobs to 1000 people. Another agreement is about to prepare detailed project report of Eastern Tarai of Nepal. China Communication Construction Company will prepare the DPR of three rivers of eastern Tarai namely Biring, Kamala and Kankai. Similarly Chinese investors will put US $ 46 million for setting up a fruit industry in Nepal including fruit cultivation and farming. Other deals sealed during the visit are developing 164 MW Kali Gandaki George hydroelectricity project, 40.27 MW Siuri Nyadi hydro electricity project, another 600 MW hydroelectricity project at Marsyangdi River basin and 75 MW Trishuli Galchi hydroelectricity project were signed by the private sectors of Nepal and China worth US $ 2 billion. Similarly Chinas OBOR International Business Platform will purchase 200,000 to 500,000 pieces of Nepali pashmina mad by wool, from Nepal. Similarly there will be seperate MoUs and understandings between the two governments on Thursady after the delegation level talks between Oli and Chinese Premier , Li Keqiang. Meanwhile Oli who is in China visit is meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this afternoon in Beijing. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli adrresing a reception held in his honor by the Embassy of Nepal to China, in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo Courtesy: MOFA BEIJING: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said Nepal-China relations are embedded in the history of civilizations between the land where Shakyamuni Buddha was born and the birth place of Confucius. The teachings of tolerance, compassion, moderation and harmony are our common heritage, PM Oli added while giving a statement at a reception held in his honor by the Embassy of Nepal to China here on Tuesday. Informed by similar cultural norms and values, Nepal and China have always stood beside each other in the past, achieved successes and supported each other at times of difficulties, he said, adding that Nepal and China would therefore continue to work together in the future for common development and everlasting peace and prosperity in a spirit of mutual trust, friendship and understanding, and close co-operation and collaboration. PM Oli also shared the fond memories of his visit to China in 2016 as Prime Minister during which the leaders of Nepal and China agreed to elevate bilateral relations to a higher pedestal. According to him, the rapid and phenomenal advancement of transportation technology has brought profound changes in contemporary society. Transportation was the backbone of an economy, whether in developed or developing status, and is a vital public good today. In fact, economic growth and socio-economic transformation are not possible without an infrastructure base, particularly in transport and communications, he viewed. Similarly, PM Oli shared that the present government in Nepal has placed high priority on developing transport networks within and across the border. I believe railway connectivity, in particular, is of vital importance to a landlocked country in order to reduce transaction and transport transit costs, diversify international trade and transit, and promote tourism and service sectors of the economy. Therefore, with a view to improve connectivity and trade, Nepal and China agreed in principle to develop railway network, across the Himalayas, during my first visit to China in March 2016. According to him, Nepal was committed to taking forward this important initiative further and developing the cross-border railway infrastructure to mark a new era in Nepal-China friendship and bilateral co-operation. In addition to railways, Nepal and China are also committed to developing multidimensional connectivity networks of roadways, airways, communications, and energy, the PM added. While Nepal is one of the worlds most fascinating destinations in terms of cultural diversity, natural beauty and adventure tourism, China has emerged as the source of the largest number of outbound tourists worldwide, he argued. The PM further said both Nepal and China should rejuvenate the Southern Silk Road and further boost their economies for mutual benefit. We should revive such robust economic exchanges between us, and create opportunities for our peoples. Agriculture and industrial development through technology transfer are important areas for Nepal-China co-operation, which will create employment for the young people and rejuvenate rural livelihoods, he mentioned. Arguing that the resourcefulness, creativity and resilience of the Nepali people have received worldwide recognition and acclaim, PM Oli said, Nepal and China should work together to tap the reservoir of talents through mutual partnership and co-operation. He was of the view that developing clean energy for own use and possible exchange of the surplus power is one of the most potential sectors for Nepal-China co-operation. He called upon Chinese enterprises to take advantage of these vast investment openings by deploying their state-of-the-art technologies in power development for mutual benefits. Sharing the current situation about Nepal, the PM said leaving behind uncertainty and long drawn-out political transition, Nepal has now arrived at a critical juncture in its political and economic history. It was no ordinary feat that Nepal has peacefully and successfully accomplished the task of electing representatives to three tiers of government, and put in place a system of grassroots democracy. My dream of Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepalis is not just a dream but a mandate received from the people of Nepal, and we have no choice but to achieve it, within a stipulated time-frame, the PM reiterated. Taliban militants killed 30 members of the Afghan security forces in an ambush in the western province of Badghis on Wednesday, the provincial governor said, their first major attack since a ceasefire for the Eid al-Fitr holiday. The three-day Taliban ceasefire ended on Sunday. Provincial governor Abdul Qafoor Malikzai said the Taliban attacked two security posts in the early hours. Abdul Aziz Bek, head of the Badghis provincial council, said one military base was targeted, in the district of Bala. Large numbers of Taliban came from several directions, Bek said. The government also called a ceasefire for the holiday and Taliban fighters headed into cities across the country over the weekend as both sides celebrated the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The government extended its unilateral ceasefire, initially due to end on Wednesday, by 10 days. Already nervous about an impending clampdown on H-1B visas by the Trump administration, stock prices of Indian IT companies fell 9 points on Tuesday, the day before the annual budget, on news of a recent legislation moved in the US House of Representatives seeking to curb outsourcing. The bill, High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017, moved on January 24 by Zoe Lofgren, a Democratic member from California, is not expected to go much further in a chamber dominated by Republicans, one of whom, Darell Issa, has moved a competing legislation. The flurry of legislative activity comes in anticipation of impending action, through a possible executive order by President Donald Trump, overhauling the temporary visa programme that allows the US and US-based companies to hire 85,000 high-skilled foreign workers every year. The order, first reported by Bloomberg that saw a draft of it, will enjoin American companies to employ Americans first, and if they must look outward, they should grant priority to highly-paid positions. Our countrys immigration policies should be designed and implemented to serve, first and foremost, the US national interest, the draft read, reportedly. Visa programs for foreign workersshould be administered in a manner that protects the civil rights of American workers and current lawful residents, and that prioritises the protection of American workers our forgotten working people and the jobs they hold. The Indian IT industry is clearly nervous while it waits for the axe to fall, and any real or perceived threats roils the market as it did on Tuesday, when news of a legislation that has little or no chance of being enacted, drove down stocks of IT companies by 9 points. Shares of Tata Consultancy Services plunged by 5.46% to touch an intra-day low of Rs 2,206.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Infosys lost 4.57% to Rs 905, and Wipro went down by 4.11% to Rs 445.55. Tech Mahindra fell by 9.68% to Rs 426 and HCL Technologies declined by 6.25% to Rs 787.20. The Bombay Stock Exchanges IT index initially fell by 4.83% to touch an intra-day low of 9401.85, though it picked up to 9547.53 later in the day. The Bombay Stock Exchanges IT index initially fell by 4.83% to touch an intra-day low of 9401.85, though it picked up to 9547.53 later in the day. (REUTERS file) The external affairs ministry said Indias concerns related to H-1B visas had been conveyed to the US government. Indias interests, concerns have been conveyed both to the US administration and the US Congress at senior levels, ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. According to sources, Indian embassy officials in Washington met US officials and lawmakers very recently as the Trump administration was putting in place measures to control immigration. Trump and senior members of his team have been clear that H-1B, which the president has said he used himself in his businesses, is being abused by US firms to cut costs by outsourcing jobs to companies that bring in less expensive foreign workers, mostly from India. The Indian IT sector is heavily dependent on North America for its revenues. Around 60% of Indias software exports are made for North America, said Alka Dhingra, assistant general manager TeamLease Services. Its not clear yet though how much the Trump administration can achieve through the executive order, as the issue of H-1B is tied to the highly contentious immigration reform effort centered round the fate of 11 million undocumented immigrants and policing the border and Trumps wall. But Trump had said late last year in a video message that among his first tasks in office will be to direct the department of labour to investigate all abuses of visa programs that undercut the American worker. And in a highly publicised meeting with leaders of the US tech industry called the Tech Summit they discussed doing away with the lottery system through which companies are granted H-1B visas, as the demand far outstrips availability. The other proposal was to make the application fee prohibitively expensive. Indian IT companies such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS avail a large number of H-1B visas to send professionals to the US. L1visas a related category is given to employees of a firm when they are transferred to the US. In 2015, President Barack Obamas administration permitted spouses of H-1B visa-holders to get permission to work. It is estimated that nearly 86% of H-1B visas for computer-related jobs and 46.5 % for engineering positions are availed by Indians. The US issues 85,000 H-1B visas every year. British Prime Minster Theresa May on Wednesday said images from the United States of migrant children being held in cages were deeply disturbing and that she would press President Donald Trump on the issue. On what we have seen in the United States, pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing... this is wrong, she told MPs. May said she would raise the issue with Trump when the pair meet in Britain next month. When we disagree with the United States we tell them so, she told MPs. But we also have some key shared interests with the United States in the security and defence field and on other areas as well. And it is right that we are able to sit down and discuss those with the president. Trump told Republican lawmakers Tuesday he backed their efforts to craft an immigration solution that ends the politically toxic practice of separating illegal migrant families on the US-Mexico border. The United Nations Human Rights Council returned to business as usual Wednesday despite the US pulling out a day earlier. Russia blasted the American move, calling it boorish and saying the US inflicted a powerful blow to its human rights reputation. The UNs top rights body, based in Geneva, took up a discussion on summary executions and freedom of expression with the US seats unoccupied Wednesday. The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, announced the pullout Tuesday, criticizing the council for its chronic bias against Israel and pointing out that it includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and Congo. In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized what she described as Washingtons boorish cynicism in stubbornly refusing to recognize its own human rights problems while trying to tailor the council to its political interests. She told a briefing that Washington demonstrated disregard not only to the council but to the entire UN and its institutions. Russias UN mission said in a statement that the US exit from the Council reflected Washingtons unilateralist approach to global affairs. The Russian mission described the body as a key international platform for cooperation in protecting human rights. One Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said the US was notably absent from an informal back room meeting in Belarus that it might normally have attended. a..I am afraid I have no faith in astrology and certainly I should not like to fix up national programmes in accordance with the dictates of astrologers...a Jawaharlal Nehru (In a letter to Rajendra Prasad, who had objected to January 26, 1950 as the date for inaugurating the republic on astrological grounds. Page 77, Volume 2, Jawaharlal Nehru, A Biography, OUP, 1979) Can schools aided by government funds be opened for religious instruction? A cursory glance at the constitutional debates makes it abundantly clear that a majority of the members a despite their own religious inclination a were clearly of the opinion that schools, whose basic purpose was supposed to open minds of children and not to make them dumping ground of useless information, should never be opened up for any type of religious instruction. It was clear that they were seeing the perils of poisoning of the minds by religious frenzy in this part of the subcontinent, and were keen that future of independent India could be secured on secular grounds only. The insertion of article 28 (1) just goes to show the united resolve of our founding fathers which clearly states: aNo religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly maintained out of State Fundsa unless aestablished under any endowment or trust which requires that religious instruction shall be imparted in such institutiona . In fact, article 28 of the constitution makes it more explicit and does not leave any ambiguity as far its implementation is concerned. aNo person attending any educational institution recognised by the state or receiving aid out of state funds shall be required to take part in any religious instruction that may be imparted in such institution or to attend any religious worship that may be conducted in such institution or in any premises attached thereto unless such person or, if such person is a minor, his guardian has given his consent thereto cultural and educational rights.a It needs to be underlined that the expression religious instruction here has a restricted meaning. It conveys that teaching of customs, ways of worships, practices or rituals can not be allowed in educational institutions wholly maintained out of State funds. It is worth considering whether an educational institution could impose its will on the students vis-a-vis religious instruction under the name of moral teaching etc.? Perhaps drafting committee of the constitution was aware of this possibility, and had clearly stated that any such imposition is a breach of article 19 which says, aAll citizens shall have the right -(a) to freedom of speech and expression,a ; any such imposition is also a breach of article 25(1) which says, aSubject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all person are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.a The recent order of the Rajasthan government, where it has instructed that the government schools in the state will hold lectures of "Saints-Mahatmas" on every third Saturday of the month as an extra-curricular activity, seems to overlook these key provisions of the constitution. What is rather disturbing is that it has also not bothered to pay heed to another constitutional provision which includes, under fundamental duties, aTo develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reforma . (Sec V, article 51 A on Fundamental Duties), fully knowing that any such sermon by these "Saints-Mahatmas" would be a strong deterrent in development of the scientific temper. It is an interesting coincidence that this move by the Rajasthan government has come at a time when the apex court of the country has asked the government to clarify its stand on a similar matter. A petition has been filed in the SC by a man based in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, who has claimed that the Hindi prayers sung during the morning prayers in over 1,100 Kendriya Vidyalayas promote a particular religion and hence violate the Constitution. According to the petition, the Hindi prayers that include shlokas like asto ma sadgamaya and other prayers promote particular religious beliefs, and thus, parents of students from religious minorities, agnostics etc. might find them "constitutionally impermissible". The Supreme Court has termed it a serious issue and has issued a notice on the same. The response of the government is still awaited. 2. Anyone who has closely watched the trajectories of the governments led by the BJP at the Centre and different states would not feel surprised over these developments in Rajasthan. Time and again they have expressed their proximity not only to a particular religion, but have promoted issues, taken up moves, courted controversial sadhus [monks], which has had a serious impact on the secular fabric of the constitution. The public display of religiosity a which was unthinkable or rather muted till a few years ago a by people holding reins of power has become a new norm these days. Last few months have been a witness to the turmoil caused by the cases involving two high profile sadhus a Ram Rahim and Asaram Bapu a for their involvement in sexual assault of their followers and other black deeds, who were later convicted by the courts. There is enough documentary proof available to show how the saffrons did not shy away from showering their support on the two in the long-winding court battle, clearly with an eye on their mass following. It was no mere part of human error, rather a reflection of this attitude that a chapter on saints in a Class III textbook taught in Rajasthan schools, featured the rape accused self-styled godman Asaram Bapu as a great saint, more than two years after he was jailed for his act. It was noticed that he was sharing the space in the text book with Vivekananda, Shankaracharya, Mother Teresa and Ramakrishna Paramhans in the book. Not a long ago, India Today had published a report providing details about the changes being undertaken in the field of education: "Since 1st July 2015, yoga, pranayam, vande mataram, surya namaskar and meditation have been made compulsory at the time of school prayers; Saraswati Puja Worship has been made compulsory on every government and non-government schools on Basant Panchami; a school development committee has been formed in every school and its meeting is compulsory on every Amavasya (no moon day); Bhagwadgeeta has been made part of curriculum; and Geeta and Jail diary of Bhagat Singh have been made mandatory in schools. Books on Integral Humanism and Samajik Samarasta have been made part of school libraries." (Badalne Lagi Hai Shiksha, India Today 3rd August 2016, Page 21) One can see that apart from adding religious tinge to the education, efforts are on to popularise ideas/ideologues of the right wing in a subtle manner. Merely a few months before this order by the Rajasthan government, the MP government led by CM Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan had granted Minister of State (MoS) rank to five religious leaders, namely Baba Narmadanand, Baba Hariharanand, Computer Baba, Bhaiyyu Maharaj, and Pandit Yogendra Mahant in the state Cabinet. It needs be mentioned that Bhaiyyu Maharaj did not accept this proposal, who recently committed suicide because of stressa. It was evident that the immediate trigger to make these appointments was that the likes of Computer Baba had decided to take out Narmada Ghotala (scam) Rath Yatra, along with Yogendra Mahant, to expose an alleged scam, and to demand action against illegal sand mining a which they promptly dropped after this appointment. In this era of binary politics, it is possible to take out similar examples from the records of any other secular parties and show that what BJP or the governments led by it have been doing is nothing unusual. Any such claim or understanding which reduces the really ground-breaking developments in Indian politics merely as a political change would tend to miss the paradigm shift which is occurring (or has occurred) before our own eyes. In fact, in a write-up commenting on Prime Minister Modis first Nepal trip (August 2014), the author and well-known journalist Bharat Bhushan had put it rather bluntly: how a conscious attempt is on not only to legitimise Hindu rituals in the public sphere, but create a predominantly Hindutva public sphere that marginalises others". In his very first trip to Nepal, Modi had made a personal visit to Pashupatinath Temple, wearing a saffron kurta, saffron shawl and atwo strings of the holy rudraksha bead, and had symbolically presented 2,500 kg of yellow sandalwood to the temple authorities. He had performed a Rudra Abhishek a a ritual supposedly performed to please Lord Shiva. The author had raised an important question whether it should have been done as "a representative of a secular republic", and whether gifts worth more than Rs 4 crore perhaps given from the funds from public exchequer should have "been linked with Modis personal visit to the temple?" This is in contrast of the stand taken by the newly independent Indian state on the proposal for renovation of the Somnath Temple. When Sardar Patel and K M Munshi went to Mahatma Gandhi with the project, he blessed the idea but told them that people should contribute for the renovation and not the state. Jawaharlal Nehru distanced himself from the project. He reprimanded Munshi for writing to the Indian Embassy in Peking asking it to "send waters from the Hoang Ho, the Yangtse and the Pearl rivers, and also some twigs from the Tien Shan mountains" for the reconstruction of Somnath. There are innumerable other examples which show the conscious manner in which the leaders of the nascent republic took steps so that the state does not appear favourably disposed towards a particular religion, and to maintain separation between religion and state. We should never forget that founders of Constitution decided to move ahead on these lines in an atmosphere which had seen enough communal bloodletting and killing of innocents. Despite the challenges involved in the process, they resolved that if we do not ensure separation of religion and politics, similar bloodletting may occur again. The principled stand taken by Gandhi and Nehru on maintaining the separation, vis-a-vis Somnath Temple was merely a reflection of this greater concern. 3. Would it be possible for all those concerned citizens a who still believe in secular principles and values, and who are worried about the growing Hindutvaisation of the public sphere a to regain initiative so that unsurmountable obstacles on the long journey towards secularisation of society could be removed? This effectively means removal/exit of the asacreda from the functioning of state and society and its reconstitution on secular foundations. As of now, the battle looks difficult, but perhaps a beginning has to be made somewhere, lest the situation goes from bad to worse. Thus, while one strategises to challenge this move by the Rajasthan government a which clearly infringes on the constitutional principles and would act as an instrument to further close minds of the young students a one should not shy away from forming broadest possible alliance to do it. It is high time also to look inward, introspect the whole idea of secularism and introspect why there is a lack of social foundation for secularism in this country. During any conflict situation involving different communities, it becomes more evident. Question arises why more than 70 years after we embarked on a secular path, it has remained so weak. Perhaps it needs to be mentioned that there is still confusion or lack of consensus within the broader secular movement about what constitutes asecularisma. Should we see it as aSarv dharm sambhav (equality for all religions)a as popularised by Gandhi and his band of seculars, or should we look at it as aseparation of religion and politics? In fact, this confusion exists within the left also. Absence of clarity gets reflected in the strange formulation one witnessed after demolition of Babri mosque when a section of mainstream left tried to aappropriate Rama in its own waya by dividing Ram into areal Rama and aphoney Rama. For various reasons, serious thought could not be given to the whole process of secularisation also (aa process by which sectors of society and culture are removed from the domination of religious institutions and symbolsa a Peter Berger) in a country like India, and we remained focussed on maintaining or strengthening secularity of the state in a society which was not secular, but was based on exclusions of various kinds a may it be based on caste, gender, ethnicities etc. It is possible that most of us broadly concurred with the prevalent understanding then made much popular by the scholars like Peter Berger (The Sacred Canopy, 1967) which argued that the decline of religion was inevitable in modern industrialising society. It can be mentioned how this understanding flows out of what Meera Nanda calls a[e]nlightenment project which believed that as men and women begin to understand the underlying order of nature without involving God, they will learn to outgrow their faith in Goda (Page178, The God Market). One knows that the Indian constitution is based on this classical view of secularisation. Our confidence in the rationalisation of work process, removing all scope of divine intervention or magical action or the unfolding reality of aemancipation of the state from the sway of religious rationales for economic activity, law and politics which is universal characteristics of all modernising statesa(Nanda, Page 179) led us to a situation where whole world of culture and society was left the field open to various status quoist, reactionary interventions a may it be from the religious formations or from the likes of RSS or Jamaat which further helped desecularisation of the society. It was a manifestation of the situation within the society where one witnesses emphasis of the progressive/transformative movements on political-economic struggles and their neglect of intervention in social-cultural arena. Another limitation is that secularism was envisaged broadly in terms of an extension of anti-communal struggle which left many a afraternala struggles outside its purview. If secularism could be broadly construed (to quote Charles Taylor) as aemptying of religion from autonomous social spacesa, movements whose direct or indirect impact was on similar lines, were never considered as an essential part of the movement. For example, anti-caste or Dalit movement, movement against patriarchy and gender-based oppression, peopleas science movement, rationalist movement or movement of the exploited and oppressed for dignity and rights definitely bear the potential of limiting the role of religion in statecraft as well as society. But, there was no attempt to broaden the constituency of asecular movementa or integrate them in a larger framework. There could be many such points and the conversation should continue with a hope expressed in the Sanskrit couplet Wade Wade Jayate Tatvabodhah (Let us reach a sense of the world by this debate). ( First published in newsclick, https://newsclick.in/saints-schools) The Conversation, June 18, 2018 Chinese and Indian competition on their shared Himalayan border is more likely to create a slow-moving environmental catastrophe than a quick military or nuclear disaster. The Himalayan plateau plays a crucial role in Asia. It generates the monsoonal rains and seasonal ice-melts that feed rivers and deliver nutrients to South, Southeast and East Asia. Almost half the worldas population and 20% of its economy depend on these rivers, and they are already threatened by climate change. China and Indiaas competition for their headwaters increases this threat. Until the mid-20th century, the Himalayaas high altitude prevented its large-scale development and conserved its environment. But after the Republic of India and the Peopleas Republic of China were created in the late 1940s, these two new states began competing for high ground in the western and eastern Himalayas. They fought a war over their unresolved border in 1962, and have scuffled ever since. The most recent clash was in 2017, when China built a road into Doklam, an area claimed by Bhutan and protected by India. Tensions rose again last week when China unveiled a new mine in Lhunze, near the de facto border with Indiaas northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, east of Bhutan. The mine sits on a deposit of gold, silver and other precious metals worth up to $60 billion. Most analysis of the Sino-Indian border dispute has focused on the potential for another war between these two nuclear-armed neighbours. The environmental impacts of their continued entrenchment are rarely mentioned, despite the fact that they are significant and growing. The various tracts of the disputed Sino-Indian border are host to many new development projects Author provided All of this development along the border is built on the worldas third-largest ice-pack or in biodiversity hotspots. The region was militarised during the 1962 war, and has since been inundated by troops, roads, airports, barracks and hospitals. These have caused deforestation, landslides, and a if a study on troop movements on other glaciers is any guide a possibly even glacial retreat. The buildup of troops on the border has displaced local ethnic groups, and they have been encouraged to give up their land to make way for intensive farming. Animal habitats have decreased and clashes with tigers and snow leopards have increased. Population transfers and agricultural intensification have even heightened the risk that antibiotic-resistant superbugs and other toxic pollutants will seep into the worldas most diffused watershed. Of dams and mines During the past 20 years, first China and then India have increased this degradation by building large-scale mines and hydroelectric dams in this sensitive region. These projects have not been profitable or environmentally sound, but they have solidified state control by entrenching populations, upgrading transport networks, and integrating these fringes into national economies. The tightening of state control along the border has been further complicated by calls from the Tibetans and other ethnic groups for greater autonomy. Many of the projects have been developed within the transnational Brahmaputra River basin. This riveras headwaters are in China, but most of its catchment is in Arunachal Pradesh, which is controlled by India but claimed by China. It then flows through Assam and Bangladesh, where it joins the Ganges River. Some 630 million people live in the Ganges-Brahmaputra River catchment. China and Indiaas geopolitical resources rush threatens the safety of this entire river system. The new Lhunze mineas position among the Brahmaputraas headwaters is so precarious that its owner, Hua Yu Mining, was only allowed to mine there under strict environmental conditions. To its credit, Hua Yu has agreed to be a agreena miner, limiting emissions, water use and minimising agrassland disturbancea . But even if the company does not inadvertently leak acid and arsenic into the environment like other mines in Tibet, the mine is still liable to be damaged by the regionas frequent earthquakes. Any toxic leak from Lhunze will flow straight into the Brahmaputra and then into the lower Ganges. Advertisement On its side of the border, India has concentrated on dams rather than mines. Between 2000 and 2016, the Arunachal Pradesh government approved the construction of 153 dams, before realising that it had overextended itself. So far only one dam is complete, and all the other projects have stalled. One of these stalled dams is on the Subansiri River, the same river from which the Lhunze mine draws water. India is racing to build these dams without community consultation or environmental studies because it sees itself as competing with China for the regionas water. China has already built four dams in the upper Brahmaputra River basin. Indian strategists argue that they can stop China building more dams by building hydroelectric projects whose need for water will be recognised under international law. Given Chinaas dismissal of previous rulings by the International Court of Justice, and its recent refusal to share water-flow data with India after the Doklam incident (data that India needs to plan flood controls), this strategy seems unlikely to succeed. Even if it does, it is hard to see how building large hydropower projects in an earthquake-prone region will ultimately help India. It wonat stop China developing the borderland, and it could cause more problems than it solves. Advertisement To keep Asiaas major rivers flowing and relatively non-toxic, both nations need to stop competing and start collaborating. Their leaders understand that neither nation would win a nuclear war. Now they need to realise that no one will benefit from destroying a shared watershed. Ruth Gamble, David Myers Research Fellow, La Trobe University. Appointment 20 June 2018 MIAMI -- Karisma Hotels & Resorts , an award-winning luxury hotel collection which owns and manages properties in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe, is pleased to announce the promotion of Sasa Milojevic to President of Hotel Operations and CEO of the Mexico and Caribbean region. Milojevic brings a wealth of expertise to his new role along with a deep understanding of the company's key pillars through his tenure with Karisma Hotels & Resorts over the past decade. Sasa's wide range of experience at Karisma Hotels & Resorts has included managing all aspects of the company's existing properties' hotel and spa operations, assisting with hotel openings, implementing successful marketing programs and creating corporate communication strategies. In his new role as President of Hotel Operations, Sasa will oversee the operational side of all of Karisma's properties across each of its esteemed brands, including El Dorado Spa Resorts, Azul Beach Resorts, Generations Riviera Maya, Karisma Villas, Allure Hotels, Hidden Beach Resort, Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts, Sensatori Resorts, Sensimar Resorts, Karisma Hotels Adriatic and Margaritaville, an All-Inclusive Experience, by Karisma. He will also further excel the company's expansion plans by boosting and aligning efforts across regions. In his role as CEO of the Mexico and Caribbean region, he will be actively involved in all sales initiatives, as well as strategic and business development activities to generate new opportunities with investors and partners. Previously, Sasa was the Vice President of Hotel Operations for six years. He successfully increased revenue for Karisma and played an essential role planning and executing all business operations for the company's properties. Sasa began his career with Karisma in 2009, where he worked his way up and gained invaluable leadership experience by senior employees. Industry Update Appointment 20 June 2018 Paul Sacco Promoted EVP, president of global development. At RLH Corporation in Spokane - WA, USA RLH Corp. has promoted Paul Sacco to EVP, president of global development. In his new role, he will oversee all franchise growth efforts for RLH Corp. brands worldwide, with a focus on organic growth. He joined the company in September 2017. In his role, he oversaw development of the company's upscale brands, including 10 new franchise license agreements with hotels owned by affiliates of Inner Circle Investments; the company's first refreshed Signature hotel in San Francisco; and The Island by Hotel RL, the first resort destination for the brand, among many other key hotel signings. Prior to joining RLH Corp., Sacco was president and chief development officer at TPG Hotels & Resorts, and held senior development roles at Pyramid Hotel Group and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. RLH Corporation RLH Corporation is an innovative hotel company focused on the franchising of 8 brands at 1,000+ properties across North America. The brands include Hotel RL, Red Lion Hotels, Red Lion Inn & Suites, Signature and Signature Inn, GuestHouse, Americas Best Value Inn, Canadas Best Value Inn, and Knights Inn. more information Recent Appointments at RLH Tammy Oxentenko - Director of Sales and Marketing 17 September 2020 Tammy Oxentenko, a 7-year veteran of the hotel, has been awarded the title of Director of Sales & Marketing, following her leadership and contributions as Director of Sales. Tammy's accomplishments include leading her sales team to achieve record breaking numbers for the property including 112% of revenue growth on top of past peak performance, being named Manager of the Quarter and developing her staff for future career opportunities. read more Dani Boss - General Manager 17 September 2020 Dani Boss has been promoted to the position of General Manager, following her accomplishments as Director of Sales and Marketing for the Red Lion Hotel on the River. An 18- year veteran of the hotel, she has helped oversee the tremendous success of the Red Lion and its evolution into a premier riverfront convention hotel. read more Supplier News 20 June 2018 STOWE, VT -- Springer-Miller Systems (SMS), the leading provider of guest-centric hospitality and spa management systems is proud to announce the launch of their newest product and Point-of-Sale (POS) solution, Teres POS. Springer-Miller Systems brings over 30 years of hospitality expertise to the table with the launch of Teres POS. Teres provides a premium, guest-centric, point-of-sale solution for both food and beverage and retail operations at your luxury hotel, resort or casino. The product is built on a contemporary .NET Framework and a Microsoft SQL database. Teres delivers modern POS capabilities as well as integration with front desk and accounting departments. The intuitive design of Teres translates to improved speed and quality of service to the guest. Staff can easily access guest information and preferences through Teres POS as needed. When integrated with the SMS|Host PMS system, customers also gain the ability to post charges to any guest account, synchronize F&B totals through an end-of-day accounting function and zoom into POS check details directly from an SMS|Host guest folio. "Teres supports Springer-Miller's ongoing mission of being out of PA-DSS scope with respect to the Payment Card Industry security requirements for our PMS, Spa and POS solutions. Our customers are comforted knowing that their guest's data is protected as a result of our extensive security measures. Through our integration with Shift4, Teres POS payments are delivered using P2PE, tokenization and an EMV toolset," commented Liz Chidiac, SMS POS Product Manager. Whether operating a single retail outlet or food and beverage operation, busy bar or multiple dining outlets, Teres POS has flexible configuration options and comprehensive reporting capabilities. Teres POS is supported with hands-on training from the experienced SMS Professional Services team along with 24x7 access to in-house SMS Support Representatives. Please visit us at HITEC Booth #919 in Houston this week to learn more about Teres POS. About TERES POS and Springer-Miller Systems Teres POS elevates your guest experience by delivering a premium, guest-centric point-of-sale for food and beverage and retail operations at your luxury hotel, resort or casino. Springer-Miller Systems provides premier software solutions for the finest hotels, resorts and spas worldwide. Springer-Miller Systems offers the SMS|Host Hospitality Management System, the truly guest-centric and fully-integrated property management system, and SpaSoft, a dynamic activities management and scheduling software solution for luxury spas. Visit www.springermiller.com for more information. Teres is a trademark of Gary Jonas Computing Ltd. SMS|Host and SpaSoft are trademarks of Gary Jonas Computing Ltd. and are registered in the United States, Canada and other countries. About Shift4 Shift4, a leading developer of secure financial transaction processing software and services, provides Web-based, real-time enterprise payment solutions for leaders in the hospitality, retail, food services, auto rental and e-commerce markets. Through connectivity to every major processor, DOLLARS ON THE NET provides both high-speed and low-cost authorizations and settlements for credit, debit, check, and gift card transactions. DOLLARS ON THE NET includes the ability to access, review, and edit transactions prior to settlement and provides a searchable, 24-month transaction archive for reporting and chargeback defense. For more information, please contact our sales department at (800) 265-5795 or visit www.shift4.com. Supplier News 20 June 2018 Hoist Group Ireland, (HotSoft) the division of the Hoist Group servicing the Irish hospitality industry has today announced a strategic partnership with Revinate, the software as a service (SaaS) company that helps hotels transform guest data into revenue. Following the integration between Hoist Group's multi-awarded HotSoft Hotel Management Software and Revinate's marketing and guest feedback solutions, this partnership will bring lower costs, faster onboarding, and improved data quality to hoteliers using HotSoft. "Our partnership with Revinate will allow our users to put their PMS data to work through a seamless integration and a robust yet easy-to-use interface. We were particularly impressed with the segmentation capabilities of Revinate's world-class email marketing solution, and I am confident they will help our customers launch highly-effective, revenue-generating campaigns," said Anselm Molloy, Managing Director at Hoist Group Ireland. "With this partnership, we are thrilled to provide even better service to the Irish hospitality market," said Dan Hang, Chief Product Officer at Revinate. "This partnership is a natural fit as we are fully aligned with Hoist's vision. We both build innovative and easy-to-use solutions, designed specifically to make hoteliers more efficient and successful." Revinate provides its solutions to a broad range of Irish properties, including Osprey Hotel, Killashee Hotel & Spa, and Sandymount Hotel. About Hoist Group: Hoist Group is the complete hospitality partner for hotels. With more than 20 years of proven hospitality experience, Hoist Group is the market leader in innovative High-Speed Internet Access, Conference services, TV & Content solutions, PMS and back-office software as well as other guest-facing amenities. Hoist Group Ireland provide software solutions, support and IT integration to over 500 hospitality clients throughout Ireland & internationally, including many of Ireland's best known independent hotels and resorts. Offering personalised day to day operational support, Hoist Group Ireland is based in Kilkenny, headquartered in Sweden and have offices in a total of 18 countries in the EMEA region. Hoist Group has annual sales of around 150 MEUR and employs about 650 people. To learn more, please visit https://www.hoistgroup.com/ie/. Opinion Article 20 June 2018 We often hear of the General Manager who moves from Tucson to New York and finds her/himself completely lost the minute a union representative demands an audience. Worse yet, suppose your company promotes you, after 10 years in Seattle to Atlanta. Or from Provo to San Francisco. Advertisements I am asked a number of times a week "what is like to live" in Georgia, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, New Mexico and many more. It is our job to know not only the corporate culture of the potential placement but the local culture of the potential city. There is no such thing as "the United States" when it comes to leadership and upper management. Large corporations are well aware of it, hence the "Irish promotions" they generously issue when they are looking to get rid of someone. One of your General Managers has never worked in a large city, raised all four of his children in Podunk, and has a wife involved with the local Junior League. You happen to know he owns a home in a depressed market and is accordingly "under water". But the man is not your favorite, and obviously you cannot terminate him. So you reassign him to New York-a city that is far far away, culturally, from Podunk. My prediction is that he will not last or will his marriage. When "expats" started being shipped around the world by the initial Big Three (InterContinental, Hilton International and Sheraton) back in the late fifties, it did not matter much who was shipped where: the General Manager of a global hotel had basically NO contact with the local population and was mostly a figurehead. Whether they were Austrian, German, Swiss or Dutch, as long as their English was fluent, they had no need to speak any other language: you could be the GM of the Istanbul Hilton for 8 years without having to learn or utter one single word of Turkish. In Africa (Cameroon, Senegal, Congo, Rwanda, Togo) the GM and their family often did not leave the hotel compound for weeks on end, and then mostly to be taken to the airport for an R&R flight*. Those days are over: you do not assign a General Manager, for example, who is Jewish to Muslim countries any more than Taiwanese executives are assigned to China. ACT GLOBAL, BUT THINK LOCAL? We have heard this for a number of years now. Yet I believe it requires some debunking. Take Ramadan as the most visible example of a cultural phenomenon in a very large area of the world. If, as the General Manager of a luxury hotel in Egypt, Qatar, or Bahrain, you do not try to understand the hardship fasting in 100+-degree temperature imposes on your staff, then you just do NOT belong there. Unless you learn that when Balinese say "yes" they often mean "no", you will not get much accomplish there either. Dealing with ownership, however is where a high level of understanding and diplomacy belongs: to a Chinese owner, a white round plate is just a white round plate. He can purchase or have them made for $1 apiece. The problem is, for you, there is a huge difference between his $1 plate and the $42 Villeroy & Boch plate you specified for your fine dining restaurant. Avoid featuring an "all you can eat" buffet anywhere in your hotel: within minutes half of the food will be on the floor and fights could erupt over shrimp. Owners in the Middle East often are interested in building monuments to themselves: as an architect, do not spend too much energy proposing a streamlined, purely elegant building: they will have so many change orders until it morphs into "La Mamounia meets the Candy Spelling Mansion" you won't even know what hit you. Give them what they want in the first place. Last but not least, do not go around, as a General Manager, with inflexible staffing guides and productivity indexes: what is no big deal in Houston or Minneapolis is an impossible goal in Istanbul. ACT LOCAL, THINK GLOBAL *Until very recently (it still exists in the worst of hardship destinations) senior hotel management would receive, as part of their benefit package, a once-a-year or twice-a-year R&R gift from their employer: 4 days in a major destination of their choice, including flights, hotel and food. Suppose you ran a hotel in Borneo, your R&R would take you to Singapore. Were you to run a hotel in Guangzhou, it would be Hong Kong. Chief Keef might be making headlines recently for his on-going feud with Tekashi 6ix9ine and even getting shot at a couple weeks ago, but that hasn't deterred him from releasing new music. In fact, its been quite the opposite lately as the Glo Gang rapper has been flooding the internet with new music, and he doesnt look to be slowing down either. Following up his Glo Files Pt. 1 & 2 project and this months Ottopsy EP, the Chicago rapper decides to keep his foot on the gas and share another offering today called Part Ways, which hes been teasing for the past year on social media. Take a listen to the CB Mix-produced single and let us know what you think. Record available on iTunes. Quotable Lyrics: Killin' that beat, what you can't see? You know what it is, know what it may be Shoot blame the drugs, but I blame me (aye, aye) Look at my ring (aye, aye), what's my KD? (aye, aye) Keepin' them squares outta the tent (aye, aye) We spendin' new money (aye, aye) outta the rent (aye, aye) Make 200 bands aye, outta some lent (aye, aye) You talkin' real niggas aye, I'm up in the mix (aye, aye) She heard my voice (aye, aye) gimme the moist (aye, aye) Few modern rappers have endured commercial holding patterns as brutal as Jay Rock did between the years of 2005 and 2015, the former the year he was signed and the latter the year he released his sophomore album. Rock waited a full six years for his Top Dawg debut, Follow Me Home, to drop, during which even a 2008 single featuring Lil Wayne and will.i.am couldn't help it get off the ground. Following that experience of having an album ready years before the world heard it, he was clearly anxious to get a follow-up out, but that took another four years. The mere fact that Redemption has shown up less than three years after its predecessor, and without any delays, should be viewed as well... a redemption of Rock's rocky career arc. This whole process has aged the Watts native, and he was already jaded thanks to his involvement in gang activity before he got his recording gig going. He arrived at 90059 a much older soul than the tough-talking 26-year-old we heard on Follow Me Home, and following a near-fatal motorcycle crash, he sounds even more wizened on Redemption. Whether in the streets, in label boardrooms, or hospital bed, this man has seen some shit. Like most rappers who came up banging red or blue in L.A., Rock still uses gang life to serve as the foundation of his music, letting it inform his code of ethics and interpersonal politics. The widening difference between him and an artist like YG though, is that his experienced, measured tone can explain the realities of that environment to almost anyone. Where YG is brash, Jay Rock is clinical. Compare the former's "FDT" to this section from the latter's "ES Tales": Black lives matter, out here, no way Cops get promotions while the family gotta pray It's fucked up, can't explain, babies all in a dump truck It's all about that money mane, miss me with that Trump stuff Whether sharing his actual beliefs or adopting those he grew up around, Rock fully embodies a perspective from the inner city looking out, less celebrating his outlook than walking us through how he got there. It's a method that recalls one of rap's great storytellers, Scarface, who Rock has actually grown to sound like at times. He takes meaningful pauses between wordy bars on "For What it's Worth" and "Broke +-," he favors down-home piano instrumentals although he doesn't delve quite as far into trauma as the Houston OG, he's increasingly posing himself as a Wet Coast spiritual successor. Accompanying this increased maturity are far fewer neck-snapping beats than we heard on 90059, which are instead replaced by some that are more muted and in tune with where the rest of rap is right now. For every "Bloodiest," a RZA-style taste of samurai noir, there's a "Rotation 112th," a song that uses similar sounds but to much more pop-friendly ends. You don't usually think of an artist getting poppier as a sign of maturity, but on Redemption, Rock seems to have settled into a place in which he can play around with some modern sounds without losing his essence. It's like a dyed-in-the-wool '60s hippy deciding in 1977 that he can enjoy a few disco cuts in the club without being a sellout. Along with "Rotation 112th," both "Knock It Off" and the Jeremih-assisted "Tap Out" skew towards airier, more youthful spaces. But with the exception of the last one (a pretty straightforward bedroom jam), the tracks still find Rock decidedly in street mode, though being more playful with his delivery. Throughout Redemption, he does a great job of balancing propulsive, form-forward rapping with straight up bars. See the moment in "The Bloodiest" when he leaps out of a tightly-syncopated flow with a cathartic whoop, "Jay Rock and I'm back, bitch!" See the moment in "Broke +-" when he impossibly threads together the sentence, "The vision my pugilistic moves insisted food come from them tools he so choose to use." You usually have to choose between rappers when deciding whether you'd rather hear low calorie chest-beating or thought-provoking lyrical mazes. With Jay Rock, at this point in his career, you don't. Redemption contains a pretty well-rounded scope of emotions and moods, despite having no discernible thematic throughline. Honesty is one explanation for that, though I suspect that honest rap albums far outnumber well-rounded rap albums. Another possibility is a combination between experience and confidence, and it certainly seems like most rappers are dwarfed by Jay Rock in those departments. Maybe "King's Dead' was planned as a lead single for this album, but now that it's inseparable from the Black Panther soundtrack, it takes some gall to throw Future's squeaky Slick Rick and Juicy J interpolations right in the middle of an otherwise intensely personal album. In any other situation, I'd complain that it was included to boost streams, but A) Jay Rock pulls it off and B) his career's gone through the wringer; I can't hate on anything that'll make Jay Rock more successful. Less seamlessly included is "WIN," the boisterous second single, which is intended as a conclusion but feels more like a bonus track tacked on the end. Perhaps its celebratory tone is meant as an optimistic postscript to the internal struggles that precede it? Jay Rock is someone who everyone wants to see win, but also someone whose career has always been one tired-sounding project away from returning to obscurity. He will probably never eclipse Kendrick, ScHoolboy, and now SZA, as TDE's cash cows/critical darlings, but in crafting his second consecutive quietly-amazing album, he's at least proven that everyone responsible for stalling his career is a damn fool. The world deserves to hear him continue to grow into Watts' leading social and cultural critic. Wifisfuneral was ever so touched by XXXTentacion's passing that he went and got lyric tattoos in commemoration. The friends and former tour mates, shared many formative experience on their way up the hip hop ladder. The photographic evidence posted by outgenerationmusictv, blatantly shows Wifi sporting a broken heart and cursive letter tattoo making up the word Alone, a nod to XXX's trilogy of songs culminating in "Part 3" on his last album ?. Wifisfuneral has also retweeted a series of videos from concert stages the two shared in 2017. One particular evening remains a talking point, the XXX concert in which Wifi was knocked unconscious by a member of the crowd. Wifi has remained positive of his experience(s) with XXXTentacion, several of which have been reposted in memorandum. Here's is a second viewing of Wifisfuneral commemorative tattoos as seen in his most recent Instagram story. The meaning of "Alone" has its own inferences for Wifisfuneral. The trilogy, or the 3rd version in particular is believed to believed to be a compression of XXXTentacion's feelings towards ex-girlfriend Geneva Ayala, whom he mistreated. It is reported that Geneva was barred from attending XXX's vigil and had her flowers burned by the rapper's fans. R*I*P While many people mourn the death of XXXTENTACION, there's a lot of questions fans are looking for. The rapper was shot in broad daylight as he left a dealership. Shortly after he was shot, he was pronounced dead. At this point, it's unclear what the motivation was behind his murder or who did it. X's lawyer, David Bogenschutz, spoke out for the first time about his client's death. Everyone's still trying to reel the news of XXXTENTACION's death. It's been over 24 hours since the XXXTENTACION's death and there isn't much information pertaining to what happened. However, Bogenshutz believes the killing was a violent result of "a random robbery." "I think he went to the bank before it happened, Bogenschutz told Sun-Sentinel. I think the determination was that he wanted to buy a motorcycle. But [detectives] arent discounting any theory. There's been fan-made theories floating around on the internet today. However, Broward County Sheriff's Office are still looking for leads. They put a message out on Twitter that says "anonymous tips that lead to an arrest are eligible for a reward of up to $3000." Following X's death, South Florida rappers, Soldier Kidd and Soldier Jojo, were accused on social media of being involved in X's murder. Both rappers took to social media to deny the accusations (Bloomberg) -- In a private waterfront resort on the northern tip of Key Largo, nestled between tropical forest and the Caribbean, Eric Soulavy is marketing luxury for the age of climate change: Coastal homes that are all but hurricane proof. The Florida-based developer is finishing a three-story condominium project with overlapping defenses, a hydrological Fort Knox where prices start at $5 million for a four-bedroom apartment. The 27 concrete-encased units are perched 13 feet above ground with windows that can withstand 174 mile-per-hour winds. Flood pumps in the parking garage can push 20,000 gallons of water per hour 65 feet underground, fueled by a generator so large it required its own building. I come from the luxury world, Soulavy said on a recent afternoon, as he walked around the development in loafers and an exceedingly good tan. When youre dealing with these types of buyers, you cant underestimate anything. Architects and engineers are devising increasingly effective protections against extreme weather and not all of them as elaborate or costly as the Key Largo project. Theyre designing homes that can deflect hurricane winds, rise with the flood waters and survive wildfires. But those innovations have been slow to spread, remaining largely the preserve of homeowners who are very wealthy, unusually safety conscious or just plain quirky. Why We Expect More Havoc From Hurricanes Like Harvey: QuickTake It absolutely has not happened fast enough, Roy Wright, the former head of risk mitigation at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said about the adoption of more storm-resistant building techniques. Weve got to take the things that work, and do a whole lot more of it. Of the roughly 800,000 single-family houses built last year, the Census Bureau reports just eight percent had concrete frames one of the main ways architects and engineers toughen structures against extreme weather. Even more basic advances have been slow to get adopted. The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, an industry research group that Wright now heads, created a set of construction standards in 2008 called Fortified, which exceed the building code to certify at a minimum that a homes roof wont fly off or leak in a hurricane, regardless of its material. In 10 years, only 8,126 U.S. homes have achieved that designation. Watch: Who Pays The Bill When Mother Nature Strikes? Developers say that the market isnt asking for those things, said Jeremy Gregory, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology civil and environmental engineering researcher and director of the schools Concrete Sustainability Hub, dedicated to improving durability of buildings and infrastructure. Part of that is people not being aware that these are the types of things they can ask for. Last years record hurricanes and wildfires demonstrated the vulnerability of the countrys housing stock, damaging or destroying more than half a million homes from California to Puerto Rico. Those disasters also showed that Americans wont be deterred from building in vulnerable areas: Officials in Texas and California have already started issuing permits for new homes in the places hardest hit. That leaves the design and construction of U.S. homes as one of the main factors determining the human and economic cost of climate change. In response, architects have come up with almost as many ideas as there are types of disasters to defend against. How Science Links Climate Change to Irmas Wallop: QuickTake Q&A For homes in floodplains, architects in Ontario have proposed amphibious structures that are secured to the ground, but float up and down on guideposts in a flood. Where the greatest threat is wildfire, Seattle architecture firm Olson Kundig has tried pairing non-combustible materials such as concrete, glass and steel with strategically placed exterior sprinklers. Others have experimented with building shapes designed to deflect, rather than resist, hurricane-force winds. Deltec Homes Inc., a closely-held company in Asheville, North Carolina, builds houses with a distinctive circular shape and conical roof, which dissipate the force of the wind by routing it over and around the building. Paul Dowsett, with the Toronto firm Sustainable.to, tries to protect residents against a different type of hazard: electricity outages that often follow a major disaster. He uses insulation and orientation relative to the sun to keep powerless homes warm in the winter and cool in the summer, allowing families to stay put. Still others contend the way to protect homes against multiple hazards is to build them from concrete and they dont need to look like bomb shelters. Illya Azaroff, a New York City architect, designed a home to replace one that Superstorm Sandy destroyed in Breezy Point, Queens. The new building is nearly indistinguishable from surrounding homes, yet Azaroff said it can withstand hurricanes, floods, lighting strikes, heat waves, tornadoes, fires, and probably earthquakes. The home was constructed using insulating concrete form, which involves pouring concrete between stacked foam blocks. The resulting structure is far stronger than a typical wood frame, and about 15 percent more expensive, Azaroff said. Once the walls are covered with siding outside and gypsum board inside, its almost impossible to tell the difference. Any new ways of doing things take a long time to adopt, Azaroff said. There is a trepidation for the unknown. That aversion to change is especially true for the home-building industry. In a report last year, the McKinsey Global Institute found that while labor productivity in most parts of the economy has increased at least ten-fold since the 1950s, the productivity of construction remains stuck at the same level as 80 years ago. Single-family construction ranks near the bottom of the construction industry on that score. Chris Toomey, McKinseys vice president for major projects and an expert on infrastructure and real estate, said the housing industry is fragmented among small companies and contractors, which slows the rate at which new techniques get adopted. Incentives also play a role. A study released by the federal government in January found that exceeding local building codes has long-term financial benefits for the owners and residents of those homes, as well as the communities theyre in and even the banks that finance their mortgages. The people that benefit the least, however, are developers, who usually sell the new buildings after they are completed. The federal government has tried to push builders to adopt tougher standards. FEMA offers lower flood insurance premiums to communities that go beyond local building codes, and requires projects it funds to use the latest national model codes. But the agency said in a statement that building standards are primarily a local responsibility. Insurers, which faced more than five million claims from last years disasters, are trying to spur tougher standards through the Fortified designation. Wright, the former FEMA official who runs the institute, said it costs about $1,000 more, on average, to build a roof that will meet the groups minimum standards. That amounts to 0.3 percent of the average cost of a new home last year. Wright said his group has been working with local governments, roofing companies and builders to convince them to build to higher standards. And he said last years hurricanes helped bring homeowners around. There is a tipping point where people understand the disruptive nature of a storm on the life of their family, Wright said. It only takes one storm. To contact the author of this story: Christopher Flavelle in Washington at cflavelle@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman 2018 Bloomberg L.P. COALITION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN INDIA STATEMENT DEMANDING FABRICATED CASES AGAINST ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS PIYUSH MANUSH, MANSOOR ALI KHAN, VALARMATHI AND OTHERS MUST BE DROPPED AND THEY MUST IMMEDIATELY BE RELEASED FROM PRISON 19th June 2018 We strongly condemn the late night arrest (on 18th June 2018) by the Tamil Nadu police of Piyush Manush Sethia of Salem Citizensa Forum, Mansoor Ali Khan, an actor and Valarmathi, a student activist, and possibly others, who have been engaged in opposing a range of socially and environmentally destructive projects. Piyush is a widely respected social and environmental activist who has relentlessly worked to protect farms and forests, and also organized communities to revive tens of lakes and forest patches. Their arrests highlights once again the gross disregard the Tamil nadu police in particular, and the administration in general, has for peoplesa genuine interests, and for human rights and the environment. Piyushas politics is to organize and fight all forms of oppression: be it by the State, Caste based oppression, or by environmentally destructive corporate forces. He has mobilized communities in claiming their fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution of India, and is widely acknowledged for his civil disobedience efforts in exposing corrupt forces. In so doing, Piyush has exploited to the hilt his fundamental freedoms, particularly his Freedom to Express. His efforts have gained popular support and hurt anti-democratic and corrupt forces fundamentally. For engaging in such liberating politics, Piyush has been targeted time and again by vested interests and the police. In July 2016, the police picked him up for organizing protests against the Muluvadi Gate over-bridge in Salem, illegally detained him, then held him in solitary confinement and tortured him for days. Had Piyushas wife Monica Sethia not managed to secure his release on bail, the police would have done their worst on him. Undeterred by such assaults on his fundamental freedoms and on his body, and on the security of his family, Piyush has returned to fight more vigorously against oppressive forces, against corruption, against environmental destruction and against social ostracization of the Dalits. Arrested for questioning social devastation and environmental destruction: Piyushas arrest now is the direct outcome of his participation in a very popular resistance by farming and other impacted communities to the expansion of Salem airport and the building of a 8 lane (900 feet wide) 275 kms long Chennai-Salem expressway at an estimated cost of Rs. 10,000 crores[1]. The expressway project would require 2800 hectares of prime farmland, will cut through eight reserve forests (fragmenting forests and wildlife corridors), directly displace 32 human settlements[2], and permanently fragment and destroy the culture and economies of tens of villages and towns. There already are three roads connecting these two cities and they can be easily strengthened at a fraction of the cost of the proposed fourth road a the 8 lane expressway! This expressway cleared by Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways, Shipping and Water Resources Mr. Nitin Gadkari in February 2018 as a fast track project, has been rushed through into tendering for construction, even when land acquisition processes has not even been initiated. This access controlled expressway offers no benefit whatsoever to the tens of directly impacted villages and towns. In fact, this massive road will slap a swathe of environmentally brutal concrete across some of the finest farms irrigated by the Cauvery river, and will interfere directly with the flows of the river. While the need for this super-expensive project is in serious question, the Tamil Nadu and Union Governments have engaged in a high pitch media campaign to claim the massive displacement and devastation of farmers and pastoralists, and of riverine ecology and forests, is in fact adevelopmenta. A Project for the Super Rich by stealing from the poor and future generations: The Chennai-Salem Green Expressways and the Salem airport are part of a grand scheme of financialising pristine farmland and creating mega investment opportunities for the super-rich of India[3] - to make even more money for them. This handful of super rich control some of the biggest infrastructure firms in the country and play a major role in influencing the politics of this country. This expressway, and such other projects, are part of a schema intended at triggering financialisation of farmlands and village commons - by promoting a host of infrastructure facilities such as airports, Special Economic Zones, and asmart citiesa - that only serve in multiplying the money of the rich, displace thousands of sustainable jobs and livelihoods, and provide no benefit at all to the overall economy. Even so, these projects are touted as critically needed infrastructure, pushed through by governments without any review, and frequently end up in massive cost overruns and as economic dissaters. For example, the Lavasa[4] project near Mumbai, once touted as a major success, is now a financial and economic disaster after destroying fertile lands and water spreads. Similarly promoted as investment sinks are roads and ports along Indiaas fragile coastline, causing the widespread displacement of Indiaas fisherfolk. Such projects are not an outcome of democratic decision making and participatory planning overseen by District Planning Committees as is mandated in the Constitution of India (Art. 243ZD). Quite often pitched as a solution to Indiaas economic crisis and for lifting the poor out of poverty, these ainfrastructure and urban developmenta projects time and again have pushed the poor more into distress, widened socio-economic inequities and been at the base of draconian and undemocratic politics advancing systemic abuse of power and violation of rule of law. It is such destructive politics and developmental paradigm that Piyush Manush, a key participant in the Coalition for Environmental Justice in India, has worked to expose over decades and systematically. Stop Fabricating Cases against Human Rights Defenders: We strongly condemn the arrests by Tamil Nadu police of Piyush Manush of Salem Citizensa Forum, of actor Mansoor Ali Khan, student activist Valarmathi and possibly several others. From the FIR of the police, it is more than evident that the police have relied on hearsay and fabrication of aevidencea. The theatrical statement that is claimed to have been made by Khan - aIf the eight-lane project is implemented, then I will kill eight people and go to jaila , is clearly that a theatrical. He is not known to engaged in violence, nor is he part of any organisation that has engaged in violence. If anything, this statement is clearly an expression of his angst at how projects destructive of the people of India and her environment are being promoted by those in political power, and those who control those in power. If this constitutes grounds for Khanas arrest, then why arenat the jails of India overflowing with thousands of trolls who advocate communal and misogynist comments, and yet are followed by none less than Prime Minister Modi? Prima facie, the charges filed against Piyush Manush and Mansoor Ali Khan appear fake and fabricated. The FIR itself reveals that it is based on claims of a Village Accountant that Piyush Manush and Mansoor Ali Khan threatened them on 31st May 2018. If this were true, would it take the Village Accountant over three weeks to bring such athreatsa to the attention of the police? And are the Tamil Nadu police so incompetent that they could not respond with corrective action for over three weeks? The egregious abuse of police power is starkly evident. Such arrests of human rights defenders and democratic dissenters is a very serious crisis in our democratic polity, not only for the people of Tamilnadu, but for all of India. This has got to stop. If the Government has rationale backing such developments, then it needs to argue its case democratically, and not employ violence to suppress dissent. In any healthy administration, there will be zero tolerance for such blatant abuse of power as is repeatedly being experienced in Tamil Nadu. We are all Piyush. Piyush is not alone. Each and every one of the undersigned, and thousands and millions more who are not signatories to this statement, echo these concerns, and are with Piyush, Mansoor, Valarmathi and others who are being illegally imprisoned. Their arrests come even as the world is yet to come to terms with the 22nd May massacre by Tamil Nadu police sharp-shooters of 15 peaceful protestors demanding closure of toxic and illegally run infamous Vedantaas Sterlite Copper Smelter at Thoothukudi. This demonstrates the impunity with which the police are operating, and the comprehensive lack of administrative and political restraint on the police. Piyush, Mansoor and Valamathias arrests are only the most recent instance of the systemic and wanton engagement in abuse of police power. We condemn these actions in the strongest terms and demand that: 1. The false and fabricated cases filed against Piyush Manush, Mansoor Ali Khan and Valarmathi and others be dropped immediately causing their unconditional release. 2. The Tamilnadu government must constitute a Joint-Legislature Investigation into this incident and place the report on the floor of the Assembly with due dispatch. 3. Victims of such abuse of police power must be compensated, and those guilty of abuse of police power must be punished. 4. The entire justification for this expressway project and associated infrastructure like the Salem airport, such as Detailed Project Report, Due Diligence Report, Environmental and Social Impact Review Reports, Forest Impact Reports, Techno-Economic Viability Studies, etc., must be placed in public record, and be made comprehensively accessible in Tamil. 5. The Chennai-Salem Green Expressway must be subjected to review per procedures contained in Article 243ZD of the Constitution of India and other laws governing environmental and social impacts and participatory democratic planning. Leo F Saldanha, Environment Support Group Dunu Roy, Hazards Centre, New Delhi Ashok Chowdhury, All India Union of Forest Working People a AIUFWP, U.P. Ashish Kothari, Kalpavriksh, Pune Ravi Rebbapragada, SAMATA, Visakhapatnam Joe Athialy, Centre For Financial Accountability, New Delhi Maj. Gen. S. G. Vombatkere (Retd.), Mysore Himanshu Upadhya, Asst. Professor, Azim Premji University Nityanand Jayaraman, Activist and Writer, Chennai Mamata Dash, Activist, Delhi Shripad Dharmadhikary, Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, Pune. Bittu Sahgal, Sanctuary Asia Stan Thekaekara Mari Marcel Thekaekara Pooja Kumar, Chennai Solidarity Group Kshithij Urs, Action Aid, Bangalore Soumya Dutta, National Convener, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha Shalmali Guttal, Focus on Global South Ravindranath, RVC, Assam Anil Tharayath Varghese, Delhi Solidarity Group Ram Wangkheirakpam, Indigenous Perspectives, Manipur Suresh V, General Secretary, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties Aruna Rodrigues, Sunray Harvesters. Ananya Dasgupta, Independent consultant and legal researcher Ashok Shrimali, Secretary General, mines, minerals and People (mm&P) Vidya Dinker, INSAF, Karavali Karnataka Janabhivriddhi Vedike Willy, Indian Social Action Forum - INSAF Probir Banerjee, PondyCAN Meera Sanghamitra, National Alliance of Peoples Movements (NAPM) Suprabha Seshan, Restoration Ecologist and Environmental Educator, Ashoka Fellow Kavita Kuruganti, ASHA Manshi Asher, Himdhara Collective. Himachal Pradesh Tara Murali, Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG), Chennai New Trade Union Initiative Meera Sanghamitra and Vimal Bhai, National Alliance of Peoplesa Movement Dr Arati Chokshi, Bangalore EQUATIONS, Bangalore Ashwini Gudalur (Coalition for Environmental Justice in India a CEJI is comprised of progressive organisations and individuals from across India working every day in advancing environmental and social justice for all and securing and expanding fundamental freedoms.) If you wish to endorse this Statement which will be sent to the Tamil Nadu government, please send an email with your Name, Organisation and Place to socialmedia at esgindia.org Contact address: Environment Support Group, 1572, Ring Road, Banashankari II Stage, Bangalore 560070 Tel: 91-80-26713560-61 Email: leosaldanha[at]esgindia.org The Texas oil boom and the higher crude prices that have driven it could take hits after OPEC meets in Vienna Friday, as the strengthening alliance between Saudi Arabia and Russia pushes the cartel to lift production caps and increase output. The Saudis are seeking to undo, or at least relax, an agreement reached in late 2016 between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other major producer to curb production by a combined 1.8 million barrels a day in an effort to drain a worldwide oil glut and lift prices. The strategy has largely worked and now Saudi Arabia, which bore the brunt of the production cuts, is looking to cash in on the higher prices it helped create. But Fridays meeting threatens to be contentious as other OPEC nations, including Iran, Iraq and Venezuela, oppose any production increases, worried about replenishing the dwindling oil glut and undercutting prices. The Iranian oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, vowed Tuesday to reject any compromise that would increase output. What happens in Vienna is, of course, critical to the energy industry in Houston, Texas and the United States, which has benefited immensely from OPECs success in lifting crude prices. Since the OPEC accord was reached, the United States, led by West Texas Permian Basin, has driven the growth in global oil production, increasing daily output by nearly 25 percent to a record 10.9 million barrels a day, surpassing Saudi Arabia as the worlds second-biggest oil producer, and closing in on the leader, Russia. More Information There's a lot of moving pieces and it will be hard to keep supply and demand in check." That should mean more swings in oil prices, he said, but likely within a relatively healthy range to avoid any major booms or busts. Well-performing energy companies in Texas should manage fine, but those on the margins could suffer. "Overwhelmingly, you have an industry that's pretty healthy here (in Houston), but can you survive the volatility?" Nieboer said. See More Collapse RELATED: Permian will outpace all OPEC nations except Saudi Arabian The Saudi-Russian partnership is a direct result of shale drilling boom here, analysts said, as both countries look to counter surging production in the United States and hold onto market share. The U.S. is the big scary beast that continues to be a burr in their saddle, said Ian Nieboer, director and analyst with the RS Energy Group, a data and research firm. The combination of rising prices and record production has meant solid profits for Houstons energy companies, which, in turn, is boosting manufacturing, professional services and other sectors connected to oil and gas. Overall employment in the Houston area is growing at the fastest rate since 2014; over the past year, the Houston area has added nearly 90,000 jobs. Oil prices, however, have already retreated on prospect that OPEC and its allies will turn up the taps. U.S. prices, which climbed above $72 a barrel at the end of last month, have retreated to about $65. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose above $80 a barrel, but is now trading at about $75. Those prices are still high enough to provide healthy profits, but the question remains how far and how fast OPEC might lift the production caps. That issue has been complicated by several other factors, including the economic collapse in Venezuela that has vastly diminished the countrys oil production, the instability of another OPEC member, Libya, and the sanctions imposed on Iran by the Trump administration, which is keeping hundreds of thousands of barrels of Iranian oil off the market. And if these developments havent given Saudi Arabia and Russia enough leeway to increase production, then President Donald Trump wants to give them more. Trump recently blamed OPEC for oil prices that were pushing gasoline toward $3 a gallon, signaling the Saudis to open spigots, and further infuriating their hated regional rival Iran, which is unable to follow suit. This is the trickiest OPEC meeting in years, said Matt Reed, vice president at Foreign Reports, a consulting firm focused on Mideast oil politics. Theyre asking themselves how much oil needs to come back on the market, but that number is a moving target. Venezuela is bleeding out, sanctions loom over Iran, and Libya is a wild card again. While the Saudis and Russians are pushing to increase production by 1.5 million barrels daily, theyll likely settle for a compromise that would boost output by less than 1 million barrels a day, analysts said. More than ever, Saudi Arabia and Russia want to find the right balance between supply and demand. It could be a good thing. Both countries are allergic to low oil prices, Reed said of the Saudis and Russians. So theyll try to keep a floor under crude prices thats probably good enough for U.S. producers. RELATED: Big Oil back to raking in billions Analysts said any price above $60 should keep the U.S. oil and gas companies profitable. Pavel Molchanov, an energy analyst at Raymond James in Houston, said he doesnt expect the OPEC meeting to affect U.S. energy activity much because the production cut agreement was due to expire at the end of this year anyway. The Venezuelan crisis that is undermining production there shows no signs of abating, he said, and most smaller OPEC countries dont have the capacity to increase production much more. And even if OPEC and its partners lift the output caps, it will take some time for the drilling and production activity to pick back up. Oil fields arent like a light switch, Molchanov said. You dont turn on an oil field on Dec. 31 to get new production Jan. 1. jordan.blum@chron.com twitter.com/jdblum23 NRG Energy needed to generate more electricity for its customers in Texas, so it struck a deal five years ago to buy a natural gas power plant in Mississippi, haul the pieces to Bacliff in Galveston County and reassemble it. But by the time the plant was ready to fire up last year, wholesale power prices had plummeted. NRG, which had bet on rising demand and prices, tried to get out of the deal, refusing to pay $109 million it had promised for the plant, according to a lawsuit brought against NRG by the plants owner, Rockland Capital, a private equity firm in The Woodlands. The case settled recently under confidential terms, according to documents filed in state district court in Harris County, but Rocklands claim opened a window on the changes that have buffeted the merchant power industry in recent years and the shifting business focus of generating companies like NRG. Low natural gas prices and increasing amounts of low-cost wind energy have depressed wholesale electricity prices in Texas, battering earning in recent years. RELATED: NRG reports steep losses in 2017 That set the stage for the acquisition of two of Houstons biggest merchant power companies, Calpine by an investing group led by a New Jersey prive equity firm, and Dynegy, by the Dallas company Vistra Energy. NRG, meanwhile, has moved ahead with divesting some $4 billion in assets, including its renewable energy holdings, and focused on its higher-margin retail electricity business. NRG is the biggest seller of electricity in Texas and owns the retail companies Reliant, Green Mountain Energy, Pennywise Power and Cirro Energy. In the case of the Mississippi power plant, NRG balked when new transmission lines from North Texas were set to bring new supplies of electricity into the Houston market, adding more downward pressure on price. The Houston Import Project was approved by state regulators in 2015 and became operational earlier this year, despite the opposition of power generators that had benefited from transmission bottlenecks that sent wholesale prices spiking when demand soared on hot summer days. "Why build a $100 million plant when you wont even recover your investment?" asked Ed Hirs, energy economist at the University of Houston. NRG declined to comment, citing the confidentiality of the agreement with Rockland. Rockland officials did not return calls seeking comment. NRG signed the deal with Rockland in early 2013, a few months after the Texas Public Utility Commission voted to raise wholesale electricity prices by as much as 50 percent. Regulators hoped the extra profits would give power producers an incentive to build more plants to avoid rolling blackouts and provide enough power for the growing Texas economy. Power providers kicked off a building boom, including NRG which announced in late 2014 that it had it started construction on a new $150 million natural gas-fired electric plant near Houston with enough capacity to power 72,000 homes at peak demand. The 230-acre site would run six turbines that could be started quickly during peak times of energy demand. The Bacliff project the one owned by Rockland was expected to be ready in early 2016. RELATED: Forces combine to squeeze power companies But by that time, power prices in Texas had fallen to their lowest level in a decade and new transmission lines would be making their way to Houston. In the first quarter of 2016, the average price per megawatt was $17, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the electric grid for about 90 percent of Texas. Just four years earlier when NRG signed the contract with Rockland, the average price was about $25 per megawatt. When the plant from Mississippi was ready to go online last year, according to Rocklands court filings, NRG was selling not buying power plants as it struggled to right itself after reporting losses during each of the last three years, including $2.2 billion in red ink in 2017. In July, NRG rolled out what it called its "Transformation Plan," which promised to eliminate $13 billion of debt, cut costs and sell as much as $4 billion in assets including 6,000 megawatts of conventional generation (A megawatt is enough to power 200 Texas homes on a hot summer day). Among the assets to be jettisoned were wind and solar projects in which former CEO David Crane had invested. Crane was forced out of the job by large shareholders unhappy about the companys low returns. Rockland believed that NRGs decision to terminate the power plant deal was part of an effort to keep electricity supplies low and prices high, according to court filings, and asked Judge Larry Weiman to order NRG to turn over analyses, reports and other documents detailing the companys financial strategy. The case settled before Weiman could rule. NRGs chief CEO Mauricio Gutierrez said in a news release last summer that the transformation plan was a commitment to simplify and strengthen NRG to thrive in any market cycle. Investors liked it, immediately sending the stock price up more than 25 percent in value. The stock is trading near its 52-week high of $31.96 a share. As NRG shifts away from production, its pivoting to the retail side of the industry. Today, NRG earns twice as much revenue selling electricity to consumers and businesses than it does producing power from coal, natural gas, wind and nuclear generation, according to NRGs securities filings. NRG has headquarters in Houston and Princeton, N.J. RELATED: Electricity prices expected to skyrocket One way NRG is expanding its retail operations is by returning to renewables. NRG has teamed up with solar power producer California-based Cypress Creek Renewables to build three solar facilities in Texas to sell to NRGs commercial customers. Meanwhile, the newly rebuilt six-cylinder natural gas-fired plant, which sits on property owned by NRG, is idle. NRG never took custody of the plant, said NRG spokesman David Knox. Rockland isnt saying what will happen next, but theres a hint of whats to come in one of the companys court filings. About the only thing left, according to Rockland, is to dismantle the power plant and sell the turbines to another company. Arguments over money and politics are always worse when beer is involved. As tariffs and combative rhetoric entangle the United States in trade fights, a scuffle has broken out at home over the rising cost of the aluminum used to make cans for beer and other beverages. Beer-makers are frustrated over the way prices are set in the U.S. aluminum market and say those who produce and trade the metal are using President Donald Trumps tariffs as cover for artificially inflating its cost. They now want the government to investigate the methodology used to produce the Midwest Premium, an arcane figure that largely determines the cost of buying bulk aluminum in North America. Its become a device to artificially raise the price of aluminum for producers and traders, enriching them at the expense of users like ourselves, said Tim Weiner, senior global commodities risk manager for Molson Coors, which buys roughly 500 million pounds of aluminum a year as it churns out 12 billion cans of beer. The company, maker of Coors Light, Miller High Life and Milwaukees Best, could see its aluminum costs rise $40 million this year, he said. The price increase is comparatively small. An analysis by the Beer Institute, an industry trade group, pegged the cost at a penny a can, or about $350 million a year. But it is an opportunity for brewers to join the rush of industries bending the Trump administrations ear. The National Council of Textile Organizations, for example, is seeking tariffs on Chinese textiles. And Florida tomato growers want to make it easier to bring anti-dumping investigations and potential tariffs on seasonal produce from Mexico. In a letter to the Commerce Department last month, the Beer Institute argued that the Midwest Premium set by S&P Global Platts is subject to possible manipulation and urged the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to prevent and redress any anti-competitive conduct relating to the Midwest Premium. And on Monday, a bipartisan group of 31 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions urging the Justice Department to take action. We understand that purchasers of aluminum are encountering serious pricing irregularities and potential anti-competitive conduct by aluminum producers, merchants, traders, banks and others which we feel warrant investigation by the Department of Justice, said the letter, which was drafted by Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo. Between the start of the year and the end of last week, the premium was up more than 130 percent, to about $485 per metric ton an increase driven in large part by the 10 percent tariff the Trump administration has placed on aluminum imports. The premium is added to the global price set on the London Metal Exchange to reflect the unique factors that influence the cost of aluminum in North America: supply, demand, freight costs, handling fees and other costs including tariffs. S&P Global Platts calculates its snapshot of the Midwest Premium surveying buyers, sellers, traders and end users. The premium establishes the de facto market price, and is referenced in U.S. aluminum contracts signed by companies that make everything from auto body panels to electrical cables to beer cans. Platts says its prices accurately reflect a market roiled by the Trump administration push to restrict imports Canada alone accounts for more than half the aluminum brought into the country and sanctions set up in April against Rusal, the largest aluminum producer in Russia, where 9 percent of imports come from. Theyre responding to the pressure like the pressure of tariffs or the impact of sanctions, said Dave Ernsberger, global head of energy pricing and co-head of content at S&P Global Platts. Theres nothing thats a surprise or thats not transparent about what were doing here. Even if tariffs are driving the premium up, the brewers complain that they should not be hit so hard. Cans are made from roughly 70 percent recycled or scrap material, according to the Aluminum Association trade group, and such metal is not subject to the tariffs. The Midwest Premium is intended to apply only to new aluminum, Ernsberger said. If it is being applied to the scrap-heavy material the brewers are buying, he said they should take that up with their suppliers. Theres no rule anywhere saying that you have to use any price for anything, Ernsberger said. The brewers entreaties and others like them are a result of the administrations willingness to take aggressive actions on trade, in which industries see opportunity. They create powerful incentives for companies to petition the government to make sure theyre not the losers, said Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who specializes in trade. This is not completely unusual, but the scale of it is fairly unprecedented. There is some precedent for the brewers push. In 2014, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations examined the practices of Wall Street banks involved in the market for physical commodities. The committees report spotlighted Goldman Sachs which then owned a large aluminum warehousing operation and how long wait times for metal from the banks warehouses were accompanied by a surge in the Midwest Premium. Goldman Sachs, which denied affecting the price or supply of aluminum to consumers, subsequently sold its aluminum business. The Midwest Premium declined. Beer companies hope the government can help again. Youve heard the administration tell industries like ours that the tariff is necessary from a policy perspective, and that they really need folks like us to, sort of, take one for the team, said Jim McGreevy, chief executive officer of the Beer Institute. The Midwest Premium, he said, is an issue that we think the government could help us out on. Astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor and two colleagues from Germany and Russia blasted off to the International Space Station this month. But before the big trip, Aunon-Chancellor had another long trip: traveling about 6,800 miles to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The facility is the only place humans have been able to launch into space since the U.S.-based space shuttles were retired in 2011. But that will soon change. NASA plans to return manned space station launches to American soil. And the government agency is going to have help. NASA has paired with two companies - Boeing and SpaceX - to carry its crews into space. Now Playing: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried a communications satellite into orbit early Monday. The SES-12 satellite separated from the Falcon 9 rocket about 32 minutes after launch. (June 4) Video: Associated Press The companies are still working on the rockets, but they are aiming to take off at the end of the year. NASA has chosen four astronauts - all of whom have been to the space station - to fly on those missions. The astronauts will soon find out which two will go on which rocket, and they will begin special training. RECYCLED: SpaceX's latest upgrade aims to make rockets even more reusable Washington Post reporter Christian Davenport, who covers the space industry, talked with the four recently at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and asked them a few questions for KidsPost. So meet Robert Behnken, Eric Boe, Douglas Hurley and Sunita Williams. But stay tuned. We'll be checking in with them in the coming months as they prepare to take this new path to the International Space Station. --- ROBERT BEHNKEN Age: 47 Home town: St. Ann, Missouri. Family: Married to astronaut Megan McArthur, one child. Job before astronaut: Air Force mechanical engineer and flight test engineer. Space missions: Flight deck mission specialist on 2008 space shuttle mission and mission specialist on 2010 shuttle mission. ERIC BOE Age: 53 Home town: Atlanta, Georgia. Family: Married with two children. Job before astronaut: Air Force pilot and instructor. Space missions: Pilot on space shuttle missions in 2008 and 2011. DOUGLAS HURLEY Age: 51 Home town: Apalachin, New York. Family: Married to astronaut Karen Nyberg, one child. Job before astronaut: Marine Corps fighter pilot and test pilot. Space missions: Pilot on space shuttle missions in 2009 and 2011. Was on space station with record number of people (13) in 2009. SUNITA WILLIAMS Age: 52 Home town: Needham, Massachusetts. Family: Married. Job before astronaut: Navy helicopter pilot. Space missions: Flight engineer on space shuttle mission in 2006 and flight engineer and space station commander on Soyuz mission in 2012. Spent more than 322 days in space and more than 50 hours on spacewalks. ON MISSION: NASA astronauts will remain in space even if ISS is privatized Q: Do you remember Apollo or early space shuttle missions? Robert Behnken: I really have no memories of the Apollo program. ... I do remember the shuttle program pretty clearly. I do remember actually seeing a space shuttle make the transit across the country during a stopover at Scott Air Force Base, which was in Belleville, Illinois. I grew up (nearby) in St. Louis. ... My dad took me over there, and we used a telephoto lens on a camera to take some photos of a space shuttle and get to see it with my own eyes, which was a neat thing to do. Eric Boe: I was about 5 at the time when my parents came in and said, "Come watch this," and it was the moon landing in black and white. Sunita Williams: I was old enough to be in our basement with our black-and-white TV to see, you know, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon and thought, "Wow, that's really cool. That's amazing, spectacular." I was only 4 years old at the time but pretty, pretty amazing. Q: How are day-to-day things more difficult in space? Behnken: When you are in space, everything takes a different level of planning. It can be difficult to even find things that you've stuffed in a bag to do an activity with. And so whenever you march down a path in space where you think about I'm going to go do maintenance on this specific thing, I need a nice work area. I need a place to put all my stuff. I have to think about all those things before I even get started. Q: Most kids today don't remember shuttle launches. Why would the Boeing and SpaceX missions inspire them as the shuttle did in its day? Douglas Hurley: They can realize "maybe that's something I could do some day." By the time children of today are old enough to potentially be astronauts, who knows where we might be going? We might have a moon base by then. We may be already on our way to Mars. And you see with children all the time how excited they are about Mars and about the moon, and hopefully they'll be the ones that get to go do it. Boe: Being able to watch it live is always an amazing thing. ... For kids it's just one of those things that will inspire them and they'll be people just like I was when I was a little kid and I watched the moon landing. Dreaming about the opportunity . . . to go in space. Wiliams: I think that it will show people that we can do this again. You can come to Florida and see a launch. ... It's not like these grand plans from different countries like Russia and the United States. (Boeing and SpaceX) are companies that people are very used to seeing. ... I think it brings it a little bit closer to home that they are part of it. ... I really hope that these commercial crew launches really get people into the idea that they are part of space travel and space exploration. Q: What are you looking forward to most about returning to space in the space station? Behnken: You know I'm really looking forward to taking advantage again of the big open areas on board the space station. I do have some things that I don't want to share because I want to surprise my son with them, but I have some things that I want to do or have him see me do in those big areas on board the space station - you know flips and bubbles and eating M&M's like Pac-Man across the space station. I want to do all those things, but I want to do them just for my son. Boe: What I'm looking forward to most and returning to space is being in a completely different spaceship, so that'll be neat. ... And you know I've flown twice before. The first flight, (I) missed a lot of things just because you're busy doing your job . ... So second flight I picked up a lot of details. So I think the third flight not only will I get to see a new spaceship, but I'll appreciate just being able to pick up a lot of the things that I missed on the first two flights. Hurley: I think it's the sights (and) the smells looking out the cupola again. (The cupola is a large round window on the station that provides amazing views of Earth.) Hopefully this flight (I'll be) getting a little more time to actually do some of that stuff. I have no idea if that's the case, but I hope so. ... And then just being able to get this accomplished for the country. It's important. ... It has been pushing seven years now that we haven't had this launch capability in the United States. Q: Have you requested any changes or upgrades on the new spacecraft that you wish you'd had on shuttle or Soyuz? Williams: These new spacecraft have taken advantage of technology advances in the last 10, 20 years, and that's making these spacecraft smarter and probably safer and a little bit more automated, where the people inside don't have to be looking at every little thing. . . . So the situational awareness as well as the safety of these spacecraft I think is absolutely more than it was in the past, and that's because of technology advances in the last 20 years or so. So I'm thinking these spacecraft are going to be pretty awesome. GALVESTON For months, he was known only as Little Jacob, the young boy whose body washed ashore in Galveston. Naked, bruised and malnourished, he had no name and no family trying to find him. Few clues emerged of his life or death. But the mystery came to a close Wednesday with the announcement by law enforcement that Little Jacob was actually Jayden Alexander Lopez, an under-sized 4-year-old whose mother and her girlfriend have been charged in connection with his death. It was a long eight months for investigators, who combed through clues and tips to find the answers. "This was an appalling crime that made our hearts heavy," said Bryan Gaines, the supervisory senior resident agent at the FBI office in Texas City. "No one reported Jayden as missing. No one was looking for Jayden. Jayden had no advocate other than us. Somebody took a beautiful, innocent child and discarded him in the ocean like he was a piece of trash." EARLY HINTS: Boy whose body washed ashore on Galveston beach didn't drown, police say Now Playing: Breakthrough in case of "Little Jacob" discovered last year on Galveston Beach Video: Fox 26 Houston The boy's mother, Rebecca Rivera, 34, and Dania Amezquita Gomez, 31, described in court documents as Rivera's girlfriend, have been arrested on charges tampering with evidence with the intent to impair a human corpse. They remain in the Galveston County Jail, with Rivera being held on $250,000 bond. Gomez, who has an immigration hold, is being held under $100,000 bond. The Houston women traveled to Galveston the night before Jayden was found to dump his body in Galveston Bay, according to the FBI. He liked the beach, his mother later told investigators. EARLIER DEVELOPMENT: Police say boy whose body washed ashore on beach may have been abused A beach-goer spotted the boy's body on Oct. 20, 2017 along the water in the 700 block of Seawall Boulevard. But authorities couldn't match him to any missing children and there were no obvious signs of trauma on his body. In the weeks that followed, authorities offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information. Officials put up billboards from Texas to Kentucky and Louisiana and released a sketch of the boy's face. "There was no family, no friends, no outcry," said Galveston Police Chief Vernon Hale. "Nobody to claim this little boy." A small shrine that emerged atop the seawall near Seventh Street remained Wednesday, with an assortment of rain-soaked stuffed animals, toys, a deflated balloon, a jar of sand and a pumpkin with "Baby Doe" painted in green letters. A makeshift cross with stuffed animals draped on it was painted with a message, "You Mattered Little Guy." Autopsy results released earlier this year provided some clues. The boy didn't drown, investigators said. He'd been at sea for 12 to 48 hours before he was found, and he'd likely been dumped in the water near East Beach or the Houston Ship Channel. And he appeared to have been abused before his death. Though authorities did not provide details about the injuries, he had evidence of a broken thigh bone and other bruises. He was also extremely malnourished, weighing just 26 to 30 pounds about half the weight a normal boy his age should have been. Hundreds of tips poured in, but police struggled to solve the case. Investigators tried "all the old-school tricks," Hale said. But it wasn't until after authorities released a crime scene photo of the boy in January that they got a break in the case. In March, a caller to the FBI tipline said he believed Rivera was the boy's mother. He told authorities that the last time he'd seen Rivera in December, she had only one of her two children with her. That child looked "sickly" and "malnourished," and the couple said they'd been living in Chicago since October, returning to Houston only to attend a function. Around the same time, Rivera started telling friends her older child was with family, according to court filings. By April, investigators thought they'd identified an apartment where the couple might be staying in southwest Houston. They stopped by for a visit and knocked on the door but a woman inside refused to let them in, records show. Instead, someone fled out the back through a second-floor window. Rivera has a previous criminal record, a driving while intoxicated arrest in Fort Bend County from 2003 and another arrest in 2011, though no charges appear to have been filed. Admissions of abuse A few days later, man who held the lease on the apartment allowed investigators to go inside. When they entered, they found Rivera and Gomez in the front room with a 3-year-old boy. When asked about Jayden, Rivera said he had been kidnapped, according to court records. Gomez reiterated that claim under questioning, but later said she thought the boy was with Rivera's family. It wasn't until later that Gomez learned the boy was dead, when Rivera told her that her brother had notified her of the child's death, according to court records. In the weeks that followed, investigators used DNA testing to show Rivera was the boy's mother, and they used a toll booth photograph and video to show that Rivera's car with Rivera and Gomez believed to be inside had driven toward Galveston in the middle of the night within hours of the child's body being found on the beach. By May, investigators went back to talk to Gomez,, who by then was in federal immigration detention, and she admitted being in Rivera's car that night. She said she was too drunk to remember any details of what happened. Gomez was placed under arrest last week. On Tuesday, investigators returned to Rivera and she agreed to talk. She told investigators that Jayden had hit his head on the wall about two weeks before his death. She said she tried to clean the injury with alcohol. After the injury, she said the boy began acting differently and became a nuisance. She said his face swelled up, his health deteriorated and he complained of stomach aches. Rivera admitted striking the boy with "whatever I could find," including clothes hangers. Eventually, Rivera said that "she could tell it was the end" and that Jayden had died, according to court filings. Rivera and Gomez got up in the middle of the night and drove to Galveston, with the other boy in the car. They knew Jayden liked the beach, so they put his body in the water. Rivera said she didn't seek medical care for Jayden because she feared authorities would take away both kids, according to court records. Court records indicate abuse may have been a pattern in the boy's short life. A Department of Family and Protective Services investigator obtained records in July 2016 indicating that Jayden had been admitted to Texas Children's Hospital with a broken left thigh bone, which was later confirmed by the Galveston County Medical Examiner. Rivera was arrested and charged Tuesday, and her younger 3-year old boy has been placed in foster care, according to a spokeswoman with that agency. Authorities still haven't located the child's father. Justice at last At Wednesday's press conference, authorities praised the public's assistance in solving the case. "It was only with the public's assistance and prayers that we were able to make progress for Jayden," said Gaines, the FBI agent from Texas City. "We received hundreds of tips from citizens within Galveston County and across America. The surge in tips showed that the public wanted justice for this young boy as much as we did." Police Chief Hale said he was proud to be able to deliver news about the break in the "Little Jacob" case. Hale took over the police department in January and made the case a top priority. "When I arrived in January, my only goal quite honestly was not justice, but to give this baby a name," Hale said. Jeff Banks, with the FBI, said that the investigation is continuing and didn't rule out additional charges being filed. "We're still waiting on some evidence to come back," he said. "We're still waiting on some search warrants to come back, We'll take all that information, everything that we currently have, and try to determine the most appropriate charges and go from there." Banks, who was visibly exasperated at the lack of progress at a previous press conference about the case in January, said he is relieved that the boy has been identified. "This has been very tough on myself and every other person working on it," he said, "We've all worked very hard. A lot of time we've put into this and it's very rewarding to finally start getting some answers." Samantha Ketterer and Brooke A. Lewis contributed to this report. EL PASO More than 1,000 people marched on an immigrant processing center here Tuesday to demand an end to family separations, part of the growing wave of protests that have roiled the country and sent lawmakers in a frantic search for a solution to overturn the Trump administrations zero tolerance approach to illegal border crossers. Protesters here sought the immediate release of children and access to a tent city erected last week at the U.S. port of entry in the nearby border town of Tornillo that is housing around 200 immigrant teenage boys. The shelter has 360 beds and could expand to hold more children in the future, said state Rep. Mary Gonzalez, a Democrat from Clint. Our message is, free our children now, said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, which organized the rally. His words drew cheers and chants from the crowd. The group, along with elected officials, faith leaders and others, also expressed their disapproval of the separations in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. We cannot bear seeing parents, arrived at the country to seek asylum, torn from their children in a heartless attempt to enforce deterrence, the letter said. This is nothing more than inflicting trauma on children and parents at a massive and grotesque scale. We do not accept the subsequent mass incarceration of immigrant children, which follows from those separations, as a policy of our country. Federal authorities have removed more than 2,400 immigrant children from their parents and placed them in some 100 shelters around the country since Sessions announced the crackdown last month on illegal entry into the U.S. The children, including infants, are kept temporarily in shelters or placed with foster families while their parents are detained to faced criminal charges. Some children have been reunited with parents who have been allowed to seek asylum, a process that can take years to complete. The new policy to separate families reversed the more common practice of keeping immigrant families together in detention as they launched their asylum cases. In 2014, a surge to the border of Central American immigrants escaping violence in their countries prompted the government to open large family detention centers south of San Antonio. The South Texas Family Detention Center in Dilley, about 70 miles from San Antonio, is the largest of its kind in the country, with a capacity of 2,400 women and children. A second center, the Karnes County Residential Center, was converted four years ago to hold up to 1,158 migrant women and their children. Despite the longterm use of the immigrant detention centers, the administration has argued it has no legal authority to keep migrant families together in detention and continues to cast blame on Democrats for the current border crisis. Struggling to find an exit strategy amid the growing outrage of the family separations from across the political spectrum, from religious leaders and even the current and former first ladies, Senate Republicans vowed Tuesday to support legislation that would provide legal authority to detain parents and children together while their asylum claims are heard in the courts. The bill would also provide funding for more immigration judges to expedite asylum claims of families. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York rejected the GOP offer. He said President Trump could immediately use his executive authority to end the family separations. In Texas, meanwhile, state Rep. Cesar Blanco of El Paso, the chairman of the House Border Caucus, asked Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday to end border security operations by the state and cancel the recent deployment of state National Guard troops to the border while the family separation policy is in place. The El Paso demonstration Tuesday came two days after Texas political leaders led a Fathers Day protest outside the Tornillo facility. The rally included local residents and protestors who had traveled here from outside the state. They gathered at Edgemere Linear Park with signs that read, No more families torn apart and, Stop hurting children. The out-of-state participants included a contingent from New Mexico and a congressional candidate from New York. For protester Elva OHara, 55, of El Paso, seeing children detained struck her in a personal way. OHara said she and her three siblings were placed in a juvenile detention facility in California when she was 8, after their father killed their mother in front of them. Because of that experience, she said,she could identify with what the detained children were going through. The situation that these children are in now is extremely traumatizing and terrifying. They dont know where they are or whats going to happen to them, OHara said. And all they want is their mom or their dad. Nothing else. After marching a mile to the El Paso Processing Center, which also has a training and recruitment office for the Border Patrol, protesters gathered in front of its gates, holding up posters that spelled out CLOSED in large red letters. They led chants of shame and children need their families. A series of speakers criticized the family separations while Border Patrol officers on a nearby rooftop monitored the crowd and appeared to film and photograph the protest. Amber Ramirez, 25, a former immigration paralegal, said she wanted to help the families be reunited and influence change to the countrys immigration policies. Theyre not coming here for any other reason than to save their lives, she said. Additional protests of federal immigration policy are being planned throughout the country for June 30. Lauren Caruba is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | lcaruba@express-news.net | Twitter: @LaurenCaruba The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday identified the 20-year-old man who was allegedly killed, set on fire in a North Side apartment and then found dead by firefighters responding to the blaze. Jared Vargas had been missing for three days prior to being discovered Monday in the apartment unit in the 7900 block of Jones Maltsberger Road. The medical examiner's office listed his cause of death as homicidal violence but declined to detail exactly how he was killed. Ernesto Esquivel-Garcia, 20, has been charged with murder, arson and abuse of a corpse in connection to Vargas's death. RELATED: Suspect accused of killing man, burning his body in North Side apartment was on ICE detainer Now Playing: The Docket: Courts and crime reporter Elizabeth Zavala breaks down the most shocking trials in the San Antonio area. Listen to full episodes at expressnews.com/podcasts. Video: San Antonio Express-News The official identification of Vargas marks the end of a days-long desperate and increasingly worrying search by his family. "The whole situation is a nightmare," said Gene Vargas, the victim's father. Police have released few details in the case, only saying they charged Esquivel-Garcia in Vargas's death after questioning him. But witnesses told mySA.com that sometime over the weekend Esquivel-Garcia collected all his possessions from the apartment the body was found in and moved them to a vacant apartment directly above the unit he leased. "The neighbors told me they had seen him carrying the furniture upstairs and questioned why he was moving," Vargas' aunt, Kim Chepey said. "They said he told them there was a problem with his apartment, and management had told him to move, but [management] said they had at no time spoken with him about moving apartments." On Monday night, after Esquivel-Garcia allegedly set fire to Vargas's body, witnesses said they saw him upstairs, feigning ignorance as he mingled with other neighbors watching the firefighters extinguish the blaze. Police confirmed the apartment Vargas was found in appeared vacant. Police later rounded up several witnesses, including Esquivel-Garcia, and interviewed them at police headquarters. It's unclear exactly what evidence police acquired against Esquivel-Garcia during the interviews. RELATED: San Antonio man accused in fatal 2015 stabbing was victim's lover He's being held in the jail on an immigration detainer, meaning he was possibly in the country without documentation at the time of the alleged killing. It was not clear Tuesday whether he had retained an attorney to represent him in the case. ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda could not confirm any details regarding Esquivel-Garcia's nationality. Vargas was last seen around 4 p.m. Saturday leaving his job at Bowl & Barrel at The Rim, where he had worked with Esquivel-Garcia for a brief time, according to Gene Vargas, 52. Matthew Schmertz, a spokesman for Bowl & Barrel, declined to answer questions about Vargas's and Esquivel-Garcia's employment, citing the ongoing police investigation. "We are holding [Vargas] and his family foremost in our thoughts," Schmertz said. Gene Vargas said he had tried to call his son Sunday morning to set up a Father's Day outing, but was never able to get hold of him. His ex-wife, Lori, said she hadn't heard from him either. "From there on, it took a different turn," he said. "It went from 'Where is he?', 'Why isn't he answering his phone?', to being very concerned and scared." The family researched Vargas's phone history online, as his call records were stored through the family's phone plan. They discovered his last call had been to 911, and that it originated from the address on Jones Maltsberger. After a quick search of the area, they found his car at the apartment complex. The last character of his license plate had been covered in white out, and there were obscure drawings taped to the window, one of which was an eye of providence, a pyramid with an eye atop like on a dollar bill, with the phrase "Real Siempre" and several apparent roman numerals written underneath. "We have no clue," said Gene Vargas. "Jared didn't draw. It doesn't make any sense. That's not him. He likes to keep his car clean, looking nice. It very obviously wasn't him." READ ALSO: 2 dead, 2 critically injured in wreck on far Northeast Side The family notified the authorities about their discovery and then staked out the apartment complex, waiting for any sign of Vargas. On Sunday, around 5 p.m., Chepey and a few other family members left the apartments to get food. "We were gone for one hour," she said, eyes moistening. While they were gone, Esquivel-Garcia allegedly set fire to Vargas's corpse. When Chepey and the family returned to the apartments, they saw the firefighters and knew something had gone terribly wrong. They learned a body had been discovered, but it wasn't until Wednesday, when Vargas was positively identified, that their worst fears had come true. Now, they're struggling to make sense of the violence that befell Vargas, who was a student at Northwest Vista College with plans to study cybersecurity at UTSA. "Jared was very, very affable, very sociable, very outgoing," said Gene Vargas. "He had lots of dreams, a very ambitious individual. He was a loving person. His circle of friends was large. He was well liked. He was an all-around great character." Through tears, Chepey emphasized that her family's grief and frustration was made worse by the possibility that they lost a relative to an undocumented immigrant. "He never should have been here. He never should've been allowed to get an apartment or get a job. And he shouldn't have been allowed to take someone's life," she said. But Gene Vargas had simpler regrets, wishing only that he could've had breakfast or lunch with his son, one last time, on Father's Day. "Unfortunately, that didn't happen," he said. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns A proposal to hold 240 immigrant children separated from their parents after illegally crossing the nation's southern border at a former warehouse east of downtown Houston would make it the first residential center in the nation detaining small children without their relatives or other foster parents. Mayor Sylvester Turner joined numerous nonprofit, religious and political leaders Tuesday in denouncing the "unjust and immoral policy" that the Trump administration began enforcing in April, when a "zero tolerance" approach began driving up the number of children removed from their parents' care at the border. Turner said he respects the work that Southwest Key -- the nonprofit that would run the proposed center at 419 Emancipation Ave. -- has done in the past, noting that he worked with the group's leaders during his time in the Texas Legislature. But he asked them and the builders' owners to reconsider their plans. READ MORE: Turner says he will not be "an enabler" of plan to put immigrant kids at downtown Houston facility Southwest Key is paid more than $400 million to care for immigrant children in 27 shelters across Texas, Arizona and California, and currently houses more than 5,100 kids. The Austin-based nonprofit operates five shelters in the Houston area. The facilities originally were licensed to hold 719 children, but held 720 as of mid-May, thanks to a series of temporary variances that have allowed them to add 112 beds across the local shelters. Here is a map of those facilities: By law, the children of adults who cross the border illegally cannot be held in prison with them and are transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. That's where facilities such as the Southwest Key centers shown above come in. Children in the care of ORR typically have come to the country alone to find relatives and usually are between the ages of 10 and 17. Most were quickly released to family or other sponsors already in the country. EXPLAINER: Must immigrant parents, children be separated at the border? Until the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" crackdown, however, children as young as 18 months who arrive with their parents have been placed in government custody while the adults serve brief sentences for the misdemeanor crime of crossing the border illegally before going to immigrant detention centers, and in some cases being deported without their children. The surge in separations has overwhelmed the ORR, which now has more than 11,400 children in its care in about 100 shelters across the country that are almost full. The ORR has issued calls to agencies that run such facilities for the government to see if they can increase their capacity and are considering housing children in tent-like structures on military installations, including in Texas. Federal officials have opened a facility in Tornillo, a town on the Texas border, to house hundreds of children in air-conditioned tent-like structures. "I have no objection at all if, for example, Southwest Key was providing accommodations and care for the family as a whole. But it is unimaginable to me for an infant or a 1-year-old or a 3-year-old to be separated from his or her mom or father or family members, taken to another location, not knowing when they will be reunited," Mayor Turner said Tuesday. "So what I've said to Southwest Key is I do not want to be an enabler in this process. I do not want the city to participate in this process. I do not want our facilities and property owners to participate in this process. I'd ask Southwest Key to reconsider." STEPHEN CROWLEY/STF On Monday, the United Nations Human Rights office doubled down on condemning the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant families, calling the practice abusive, cruel and unconscionable. As the ongoing humanitarian crisis demands attention, the reactions by America's ruling party has splintered in the face of growing outrage. Want to talk about law and order at the border? Lets do it. Families escaping violence and war in their home countries have a right to apply for asylum at the U.S. border thats a law. It is a law federal officials have been caught undermining. EDITORIAL: Yet again, Texas has become home to internment camps EXPLAINER: Must immigrant parents, children be separated at the border? When families follow proper procedure, theyre supposed to be kept together. Jose Demar Fuentes approached a border checkpoint in California with his 1-year-old son, Mateo, as reported by PBS. Despite having proper identification for them both, the 30-year-old father was split from his son, whom immigration officials moved to a Texas facility more than 1,500 miles away. Some Customs and Border Protection agents have reportedly avoided the whole question by illegally turning away families asking for asylum. LAURA BUSH: Separating children from their parents at the border 'breaks my heart' Meanwhile, the U.S. checkpoints themselves present a humanitarian crisis. Theyre understaffed and overwhelmed, leaving parents with children standing in the blistering heat and sleeping on cardboard for days, and even weeks, to present themselves to U.S. inspectors. The U.S. government could better guarantee law and order by streamlining this process. President Obamas Central American Minors refugee program allowed people to apply for asylum while remaining in their own countries. Trump ordered it to be shuttered. There goes the law. The United States could also work with other nations to stabilize the ongoing criminal chaos and civil breakdown in Central America. Trump announced Tuesday he wants to cut off foreign aid to those nations. There goes the order. FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Sessions must make the moral choice So instead these refugees flee for their safety. Tens of thousands have gone to Costa Rica. Mexico, too, has accepted asylum applications by the thousands. But many try to aim further north, often hoping to meet with friends and family. They make their way to designated checkpoints at the U.S. border following routes routinely infested by cartel goons demanding bribes to pass. Not surprisingly, some opt for an alternative route: entering illegally across the river. For this crime of desperation, parents are branded criminals. In the world of zero-tolerance law and order, criminals should go to jail, and thousands of their children are ripped sometimes, forcibly from their arms. These immigrant criminals, have committed only a misdemeanor. For consistencys sake, we can put everybody with a lead foot in the criminal camp as well. In the state of Texas, every moving violation except for speeding, open container and texting while driving can result in an arrest. Imagine how many deadly accidents we could prevent on our freeways if law enforcement extended a zero-tolerance policy to Houstons daily commute. Imagine how overwhelmed our criminal justice system would be with reckless drivers. Imagine the outrage as parents spend time behind bars, unable to see or touch their children, for these misdemeanor offenses. Houstonians wouldnt put up with it. LISTEN: Children Who've Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border Yet we tolerate such an abusive policy for immigrants whose violation is born of an urgent desire far beyond that of rushing through traffic: Saving the lives of their children. In our streets, in criminal courts and in the world of drugs, our justice system is wisely moving away from a policy of zero tolerance. Harris County has become home to a vast spectrum of experimental policies, like pre-trial adjudication, STAR drug courts and courts for veterans. Talk to the judges and prosecutors, and theyll tell you that individualized discretion and treatment gets better results than zero tolerance. When he was a district court judge in Harris County, Ryan Patrick proudly touted his support for pre-trial services that could keep people out from behind bars. It is the sort of judicial discretion his predecessor as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas routinely enforced. Now Patrick is responsible for following a zero-tolerance policy that seems anathema to everything he once practiced everything Harris County knows can work. RELATED: Immigration fix for Salvadorans helps Texas Ah, but when it comes to refugees from Central America, we have a way of forgetting what works. We have a way of forgetting humanity, both theirs and ours. The president knows the law allows him to end this humanitarian crisis as quickly as he created it. He can halt the separation of families. He can craft creative solutions to help refugees navigate our legal code. He can join with other leaders to bring stability to Central America. Instead he chooses to follow a policy of splitting parents and children, hoping their cries will serve as a warning to others who mistook the Statue of Liberty as anything but a mere copper artifact. The president is willing to hurt those in our care and last we checked, thats neither lawful nor orderly. Whether its American, however, is a question only the people can answer, either with our action or with our silence. Once upon a time, before most countries had a dedicated civil service, the loyalty of state functionaries was secured in one way self-interest. Ancient empires sought to acquire territory in part because it allowed soldiers and commanders to loot. When countries began acquiring colonies, they empowered governors or trade companies to run them, each of whom took their cut. Thats how it has been for most of human history. In the last century or so, the United States has tried to cut back on that, with some success partly by emphasizing the idea that wielding power is a public service, and by the creation of an extensive bureaucracy that persists from year to year. But as the army of lobbyists that occupies every capital in the nation can attest, the first use of power for many people is still to make ones self rich. EDITORIAL: Forget swamps, Trump corruption creates a cesspool EDITORIAL: Remember the West disaster, because Pruitt doesn't Scott Pruitt, who as of this writing still leads the Environmental Protection Agency, understands this great truth. Pruitt, formerly the attorney general of Oklahoma, has amassed in his short time in office a wide-ranging and comic portfolio of petty grifts. The accepted way of getting rich in Washington is to play nice with special interests while in office and to go work for them after you leave. Thats what we call the revolving door. Pruitts behavior stands out because it is so audacious, so immodest, and because his schemes often stand to gain him very little money. He seems addicted simply to the feeling of exercising power. There are too many incidents to list here, but they range from the mundane taxpayer-funded first-class travel and private jets to the exceptionally bizarre. Pruitt uses EPA employees like errand boys: The Washington Post reports that he sent agency staff to secure a used mattress for Pruitt from a Trump hotel. But theres also his 24/7 security detail, which Pruitt had enlarged significantly for unclear reasons. When theyre not ferrying him around the country like an Imperial Guard, Pruitt has tasked his government-provided bodyguards with chores like picking up his dry cleaning, and, on one occasion, he is said to have directed agents to drive him to multiple locations in search of a particular lotion on offer at Ritz-Carlton hotels. EDITORIAL: The time has come for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to resign He's also instructed agency employees to find jobs for his family members, an on-the-nose violation of federal ethics law. In 2017, he had them to reach out to the head of Chick-fil-A in an attempt to procure a franchise agreement for his wife, and then instructed at least three EPA employees to help win a White House internship for his daughter. Pruitt was given a fiefdom, a cabinet agency, and intends to build his fortune from it. EPA employees told The New York Times that Pruitt expected a certain standard of living akin to wealthier Trump cabinet members, several of whom are millionaires many times over. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, one of the millionaires of whom Pruitt is said to be jealous, recently shorted the stock of a company he had an interest in the week after he was approached by a New York Times journalist with questions as part of an expose linking the company to Vladimir Putins judo partner and son-in-law. We can only be so mad at Pruitt hes doing what he was taught to do. In Oklahoma, he exhibited some of the same tendencies, and was never held accountable for it. Now that he has made it to the big leagues, hes going for broke. He may be fired, at some point yet again, we call for him to resign but hell have had fun while it lasted. EDITORIAL: A Gilded Age story of cowboys on strike Cynics have become fond of saying that the United States is experiencing a second Gilded Age, a return to a time when economic inequality and a complete lack of accountability for the rich andpowerful eroded public faith in the institutions of government and the institutions themselves. Pruitt has a message for those people: Theyre right. The head of a small federal agency you have likely never heard of quietly stepped down last month. But that agency, the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), manages the flow of a life-or-death resource - water - across the parched 1,954-mile boundary we share with Mexico. It does so as an equal partnership between the U.S. and Mexico, and avoids the saber rattling that marks water disputes in much of the rest of the world. And despite the torrent of abuse President Trump regularly rains down on the border and our southern neighbor, the IBWC has recently brokered a new set of innovative agreements to conserve this increasingly scarce resource. EDITORIAL: What happens to Texas when water is more valuable than oil? RELATED: Can Texas get desalination right? ALSO: Trump vs. AMLO: Whoever wins, Texas loses Trump must now name a new U.S. IBCW commissioner. The job may be obscure, but the stakes could not be higher. No issue better demonstrates our nations interdependence with Mexico than water. Nearly two-thirds of our common border is defined by waterways, including a 1,255-mile stretch of the Rio Grande and a 24-mile chunk of the Colorado River. A 1944 bilateral treaty obliges Mexico to feed a set volume of water into the Rio Grande from six tributaries south of the border. The U.S. must do the same for Mexico from the Colorado River, which winds through seven U.S. states before flowing through Mexico into the Gulf of California. The Colorado alone provides 5 trillion gallons of water annually to 40 million people and irrigates some of the worlds most productive agricultural lands in both countries. But growing populations and increasingly arid conditions threaten both of these river basins. The Rio Grande often runs dry in its middle stretches, and Mexico has failed to make its mandated water deliveries to the river in several recent drought years. The Colorados flow has shrunk nearly 13 percent since the 1944 treaty. Climate experts fear it could drop another 10 percent over the next 50 years. Except for a 2014 surge of water released for environmental purposes, hardly a drop from the Colorado ever reaches the Gulf of California. Fortunately for both countries, the IBWC has provided a binational framework for managing water for more than a century. Its original mandate was to manage transboundary waters and demarcate the border. A series of subsequent treaties have given its two commissioners, one from each country, extraordinary powers to negotiate water agreements, subject to final approval by both governments. The U.S. commissioner is an engineer appointed by the president. Faced with drought conditions that in other parts of the world would lead to conflict, the IBWC has instead steered the increasingly severe environmental crisis on our southern border toward cooperation. EDITORIAL: Who is dying at the border? Texas needs to know. Last September, the U.S. and Mexican commissioners signed a landmark agreement that capped a decade of talks aimed at stabilizing the Colorado River. It established new procedures for dealing with low water levels, plugging water leaks and restoring wetlands. Among the breakthrough provisions, Mexico agreed for the first time to share in the pain of water shortages on the Colorado; previously, it had always gotten the water due under the 1944 treaty, regardless of conditions. Progress has also been made along the Rio Grande, where delayed Mexican deliveries have infuriated Texas water users since the 1990s. Mexico paid back its most recent water debt early in 2016 and over the last nine months has exceeded its minimum required water deliveries to the Rio Grande. Given the historic mistrust that underlies our bilateral relations, and the more recent weight of presidential scorn, Mexicos cooperation on water issues is noteworthy. Sustaining it will not be easy. The recently departed U.S. commissioner, Edward Drusina, an Obama appointee, had a reputation for working closely and productively with his Mexican counterpart, key predictors of success in this job. But even he was not universally loved, especially in San Diego, where the IBWC faced charges of failing to prevent Tijuana sewage from flowing into San Diego Bay. Managing water on our southern border will only get more challenging and urgent as climate change takes its toll. Doing it through diplomacy and negotiation, rather than name-calling or bullying, has worked well for more than 100 years. Finding the right new IBWC commissioner will require the president to let competence triumph over campaign slogans, and to admit that when it comes to issues of consequence, we need Mexico as much as Mexico needs us. Kelly is a research scholar in Duke Universitys Sanford School of Public Policy, and a former U.S. diplomat who served in Mexico. Every minute, 20 people across the world leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. On World Refugee Day, and all year long, we have a responsibility to speak out and raise awareness for the 65 million people who have suffered forced displacement. Behind these numbers are individual persons and families. Their stories are unique, yet they do exhibit patterns including: threats and humiliation, neighbors or relatives killed in total indifference, and the physical journey and its accompanying uncertainties, and dangerous risks. The human cost of being a refugee is immense: jobs and homes lost, injuries and traumas, and years of missing education for children and youth. Because these stories rarely hit the front page, refugees along with migrants are often met with distrust, if not rejection. EDITORIAL: Forget law and order at the border. Trump wants pain. RELATED: I didn't want to leave my homeland, but Houston helped me heal ALSO: My parents came to Houston as refugees. Now I help keep their dream alive. But as two leaders with markedly different backgrounds and professions, weve been brought together by our shared commitment to stand up for all refugees, migrants and those seeking a better life for themselves and their families. It is our collective responsibility to make sure refugees have a pathway to success, through education and life-skills, and we believe the private sector must do more to take its social responsibility to heart. In 2016, the Western Union Foundation and the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI) joined forces to empower young women and men from South Sudan residing in Uganda at the Kiryandongo Settlement for refugees. South Sudan is the biggest and fastest growing new displacement emergency, with 1.4 million refugees and 1.9 million people internally displaced. We needed to start somewhere, engineering a program that could create waves today for a future of greater opportunities. At the settlement in Kiryandongo, 85 percent of its refugees are under 18. For the 60,000 refugees there, it is urgent that the future begin now. ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Separating families? Not in our backyard. RELATED: On this World Refugee Day, we must remember our neighbors The collaboration between WPDI and the Western Union Foundation has already supported more than 2,000 youth and women refugees by giving them access to education, vocational trainings life-skills and resources to initiate small businesses so they can enable positive change and contribute to their local community and, by extension, to humanity. The global scope of the challenges we face demands transparent discussions, cooperation and collaborative efforts between governments, NGOs and businesses. Through our collaboration, we have seen how powerful it is to connect to people, equip them with the tools they need to succeed, and empower them to give back. The private sector has the power to help bridge the gap between a humanitarian and economic response to the refugee crisis by enabling education that ultimately leads to longer-term economic development. As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres noted the root problems are war and hatred, not people who flee. We urge other leaders to join us in developing programs and providing sustainable aid that fosters actionable solutions to the global refugee crisis. Whitaker is an acclaimed, award-winning American actor, producer and director. As an activist, in 2012, he founded WPDI, which implements peace-building programs in conflict affected communities in the different regions of the world, including Africa, Latin America and the United States. He is the UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation and a member of the Advocacy Group of the United Nations for the Sustainable Development Goals. Ersek is president and CEO of Western Union. When Houston was announced as the most diverse city in America, I couldnt have been prouder of my hometown. As anyone who has lived in or visited Houston knows, its vibrancy and character are due in large part to its warm welcome of refugees and immigrants from around the world. These brave men, women and children, in turn, enrich their adopted community through their hard work, cultures and cuisines. With a record number of refugees in the world today, now is the time to continue to welcome refugees and support the work of Americas frontline partners like the United Nations. I should know. My parents fled Vietnam in 1978. With their lives and livelihoods left far behind in a war-torn country, they spent their days in a Malaysian refugee camp (where I was born) with no clear promise for the future. United Nations aid workers not only brought food and medicine to the camp when I was a sick newborn, but an acknowledgment that the world was aware of our suffering and was there to help. With the UNs help, the United States invited my parents to resettle. RELATED: On this World Refugee Day, we must remember our neighbors ALSO: Harvey gave Houstonians a refugee experience When they arrived in Houston in 1981, my parents seized the great opportunity given to them by the United States. I watched them endlessly work to provide for my brother and me, and, along the way, they learned English, bought a home and started several businesses. My parents now run two small businesses in Houston. My brother is a physician in the medical center, and I work for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Refugee Agency in Washington, D.C. Our story isnt unique. Across America, you can find refugees rebuilding their lives and contributing to the communities that welcomed them. These communities, in turn, benefit from this dedicated workforce. A recent Fiscal Policy Institute report found that refugees had a 7-15 percent lower turnover rate than the overall workforce. Additionally, multiple studies have found that refugees are net contributors to the U.S. economy, paying taxes and helping grow the economy. The benefits of resettlement go both ways for the individual who was granted sanctuary and for the community that welcomed them. BILL KING: When it comes to refugees, what do we believe? While some citizens have security concerns about letting refugees come to the United States, the fact is, America has the most comprehensive vetting process in place. Security is at the heart of the entire refugee resettlement program for both refugees and the communities that welcome them. Like my own parents, when families are forced to flee violence and war, they may not have the chance to bring their identifying documents. That is why we at UNHCR are deploying biometric systems in our operations. Being able to give refugees a digital identity ensures that we can continuously verify refugees over years or decades, and affords them protection while they are in a vulnerable situation. Beyond economic and policy considerations, America including Houston has a long and unwavering tradition of welcoming refugees to its shores. We are a constant beacon of light for those who have fled oppressive regimes while providing a model for other countries to follow. We are, in the words of President Reagan, a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all of the pilgrims from all of the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home. EDITORIAL: Trump should welcome Syrian refugees My family and I are among the lucky few to rebuild our lives in America, and we are forever grateful for those who helped us in our time of need: the UN aid workers who brought food and hope, the church families who helped us find our footing in the United States, and Houston, for giving my family a place to call home and a chance to live the American dream. UNHCR estimates that there are a record-breaking 66 million people uprooted by war and violence. On June 20, World Refugee Day, I ask my city to continue doing what it does best keeping its heart and mind open to those who are displaced and showing the United States and the world that part of the grit and resilience of Houston Strong is our citys commitment to embracing our refugee and immigrant communities. Lets continue to support refugees and the UN, here and around the world. Hinh is a Houstonian who works for UNHCR the UN Refugee Agency. We felt like the day we would finally be safe would never come. My family waited nearly six years in two refugee camps before being resettled in the United States from the Congo DRC in 2013. We were forced to leave everything behind after my father was jailed more than three times for his work as a human rights activist and for preaching for unity in the country. As with many refugees, I would have preferred to never be forced to leave my homeland. But we never had the option to stay, not if we wanted to live. When I close my eyes, I can still hear the cry of innocent children and women screaming for help and the smell of people burned alive in their houses. RELATED: On this World Refugee Day, we must remember our neighbors ALSO: Harvey gave Houstonians a refugee experience LAURA BUSH: Separating children from their parents at the border 'breaks my heart' After experiencing such traumas, I arrived in the United States with a new set of challenges. I had to choose between school and working to support my family. But the welcome we received from our new Houston community helped me overcome these hardships and begin healing from my past. I joined the International Ministries for the Propagation of the Gospel church, which allowed me to join their choir of praising and worship. This community made me realize how big God is, and the acceptance I got from my first employer made me feel like I can do anything. Five years later I work to help and inspire others like me who are seeking safety in Houston as a resettlement caseworker and a praise and worship leader. But on this World Refugee Day, my thoughts are with the millions barely surviving in refugee camps today people like me whose day of hope and chance to rebuild their lives may never come. Though communities like the one that welcomed me stand ready with open arms, only a trickle of refugees are arriving in the United States today. RELATED: Humanitarian spirit should greet refugees The fear, hate and xenophobia perpetuated by the executive orders and other anti-refugee policies do not reflect the America I know. The America I know is compassionate in its acceptance of those seeking shelter from some of the worst conflicts in history. I continue to believe in the importance of welcoming others for others have welcomed me. I seek, myself, to welcome other refugees who are new arrivals and raise my voice to support the rights of refugees through my work as a social worker. I believe in love and that no human being can close his eyes and refuse to see what the world greatest need is. And I have experienced firsthand the values America stands for: compassion, welcome and resilience. The United States is a country where anyone should be able to pursue the American Dream and live in safety. I urge our local leaders, state legislators and national policy makers to stand with refugees today and every day. Only then will we truly reflect the welcome our country stands for. Together, we can inspire welcome across the country and around the world. Alimasi is a resettlement caseworker and former refugee who resides in Houston. H-Town. Houston. Home of the Astros, 2017 MLB World Champs. A city known for its barbecue, queso, world-class medical centers, oil tycoons, art and Beyonce. There are many reasons for its 3 million residents to be proud to call Houston home. As a native Houstonian, the reason that makes me most proud is how many of our neighbors are resettled refugees from conflict zones across the globe. On this World Refugee Day, I think back to when I attended Houstons 2014 World Refugee Day celebration. The weather was typical for June: hot and humid. Hundreds of refugees patiently waited to enter the event, some by themselves, others with families. It was there that I first met the Jandalis, originally from Damascus, Syria. The two parents and their five young children had lived in Houston for a mere two weeks. For two long years prior, theyd survived in a refugee camp in Egypt. Their oldest daughter, Hepa, has severe special needs and their youngest, Miriam, was barely 3. We spent the full day together and began a friendship thats lasted to this day. That day gave me more than new friends; it gave me a deeper awareness of the challenges refugees face and the resilience they possess. The Jandali family fled Syria in 2012. In the dead of night, Mr. and Mrs. Jandali were forced to choose between leaving their home or exposing their five young children to imminent danger and potential death. With what little they could carry, they left Damascus, first becoming IDPs or Internationally Displaced Persons within Syria, then refugees in Egypt, and finally, three years later, residents of Houston. The conflict and violence that the Jandalis witnessed is unfathomable to many, but all too common amongst the global refugee population. Globally, more than 65 million civilians are displaced due to conflict, violence, persecution or human rights violations; 22.5 million qualify as refugees, the highest number in documented history, according to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. The majority of refugees come from active conflict zones, many from countries in which the United States military is currently engaged. Refugees relocating from conflict zones have witnessed the worst acts that humans can commit. Millions of refugee children, like the Jandalis, have grown up in a reality plagued by violence, destruction and death. Since World War II, the United States has historically remained the global leader in refugee resettlement, with an impressive proportion of refugees placed across Texas. According to the U.S. Department of State, Texas has traditionally accepted 10 percent of all resettled refugees nationwide, 30 percent of which were placed in Harris County. DOS reports that the city of Houston has resettled an average of 25 of every 1,000 refugees nationwide, more than any other U.S. city and, statistically, more than some nations. As the Houston Chronicle has reported, if Texas were a nation, it would rank fourth in the number of refugees resettled worldwide. Thats impressive, yall. Unfortunately, our era of openness and inclusivity appears to be changing. The past year saw an 80 percent decrease in settled refugees in across the state. The Refugee Services of Texas reported that 3,518 refugees were resettled between October 2016 and March 2017, but from October 2017 to March 2018, that number dropped by nearly 80 percent to only 736. This shift is not a surprise given the current administrations policy on refugees. In 2017, DOS cut refugee admittance rates by half. In addition, travel bans have made it difficult to place refugees in U.S. programs. As you read this, thousands of refugee families, predominantly women and children, wait in refugee camps across the globe for the chance of a better life. On this World Refugee Day, we need to remember our neighbors. The city of Houston and the state of Texas should take pride in being a global leader in refugee resettlement. Refugees like the Jandalis are vital members of our community and our treasured friends. Houstonians should be proud of our citys tradition of commitment to refugees and continue to welcome people into our diverse and thriving community. To all refugees who have joined our big-hearted, big-sky, Bayou City, I say: Welcome to Houston and welcome home. Raley is a foreign policy professional and the communications associate at the Center for Civilians in Conflict. She is based in Washington, D.C. The potential employee had found out about the job vacancy through her sister. Her mother had told her that the boss was trustworthy and a very good man. She then proceeded to contact him and set up a meeting in 19 November 2015. The employer personally picked her up and they made their way to the office. In court, she testified that there was no one else in the office when they arrived. After the interview, he showed her the computer software she would be using for the role. She said that he had sat beside her so that he could show her how to make entries in worker payroll timesheets. The accused then spoke to the victim about his personal life how he loved his wife and kids very much and how he was not looking for 'hot sex' like other men and told her that he would give her extra money, cosmetics and good clothes on top of her salary, said the prosecuting lawyer. My colleague was often held hostage, but why was he murdered? Journalist Shujaat Bukhari was dangerous to those who benefit from the conflict in Kashmir because of his moderate, solution-centric approach. Shujaat could not have a package posted to him if he was not notified of its arrival beforehand. He never opened unidentified letters. Far too often, bombs wrapped inside the packages had exploded, killing his colleagues or leaving them with lifelong injuries. It was in this type of environment, in the middle of the bloody Kashmir conflict that has gone on for decades, that journalist Shujaat Bukhari worked. We became friends fifteen years ago when we were studying in the United States. At that time, Bukhari was working for the independent Indian publication The Hindu. He was engaged in the same type of work I was - reporting on news and writing interviews, reportages and analyses. However, the conditions we worked in were staggeringly different. In Kashmir, split between India and Pakistan, the word deadline has a different ring to it than it does in Finland. Death could be lurking even on the most routine assignments. Threats to life, intimidation, assault, arrest and censorship have been part of the life of a typical local journalist, Bukhari wrote in a text published by the BBC two years ago, when violence had once again escalated to the killing of civilians. On thursday, the sad news arrived by text message. Three unidentified men had shot and killed Bukhari outside the offices of The Rising Kashmir, a newspaper he founded. Two of the Editor-in-Chiefs security guards were also killed in the attack. The police immediately began an investigation of the case. As this article is being written, one suspect has been arrested. Solving the murder and convicting those guilty is important. Globally, nine out of every ten murders of journalists go without a conviction. This means that, in practice, a journalist can be killed without consequence. Bukhari was one of Indias most appreciated and well-known journalists. His death was among the top news stories in India. Social media was flooded with condolences. The governments of India and Pakistan expressed their condolences to the family. Bukhari knew the risks of his work. He had narrowly survived an attack in the capital of Kashmir, Srinagar, in summer 2006. Soon after, he sent an e-mail expressing his relief. In it, he described how he had been kidnapped and put into a vehicle while being threatened with a gun on a weeknight in the centre of his hometown. On the other side of Srinagar, one of the kidnappers had tried to shoot him, but the gun jammed. The kidnappers fled. The death of a colleague had been so close that I mentioned Bukharis case in an article in Helsingin Sanomat 12 years ago. By then, Bukhari had already been kidnapped four times. Both sides of the conflict had tormented the independent journalist. He had been held hostage by both Islamist militants and Indian paramilitary forces. Even after these difficult experiences, he was able to report from the centre of the hatred between India and Pakistan analytically, yet with humanity. Bukhari could have chosen another path and left Kashmir with his family. But he wanted to live and work with his community because he was driven by a calling. He believed that free and responsible reporting would advance the peace process in Kashmir. He was particularly worried about the local youth radicalised by the conflict. "Are there no alternatives? Or do we have to force ourselves to be content with the idea that when you throw a stone, stage a protest or pick up a gun, the response is the same the bullet?" Bukhari asked and referred to the excessive force used by officials that only served to fuel the cycle of violence. He saw the solution in politics, not in guns. Bukhari also visited Finland and learned about the self-government model in use in Aland. The trip, organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, made an impression on him. Kashmiris could have hope if India and Pakistan would just give the population a bit more of their own space. That would require the countries to put an end to the pressure applied with military and armed groups, Bukhari thought. Shujaat Bukhari visited Finland in the mid-2000s upon the invitation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Among other things, he learned about the self-government model in Aland. In the image, Kaius Niemi hosts Bukhari at Sanomatalo in Helsinki. It is the irony of fate that the United Nations published the first-ever human rights report on Kashmir on the day of Bukharis murder. According to the report, the situation in India and Pakistan is untenable. It is a conflict that has robbed millions of their basic human rights, and continues to this day to inflict untold suffering, as stated by the United Nations human rights organisation. Bukhari organised peace conferences, where journalists on both sides of the border met one another for the first time. It was precisely for his moderate, solution-centric approach that Shujaat Bukhari was so very dangerous to those who benefit from the conflict. And it is for that reason that he will remain a role model of a brave and fair journalist for us, his colleagues. The author is the Editor-in-Chief of Helsingin Sanomat. Imperial Valley News Center Former Arkansas State Senator Sentenced to Prison for Wire Fraud, Money Laundering, and Bank Fraud Fort Smith, Arkansas - Former Arkansas State Senator Jake C. Files was sentenced to 18 months in prison for orchestrating a scheme to obtain approximately $46,500 in state government funds through fraudulent means and for obtaining approximately $56,700 in loan proceeds, also through fraudulent means. Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Duane A. Kees for the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement. Files, 46, of Fort Smith, Arkansas who represented Arkansass state legislative district No. 8 in the Arkansas State Senate until his resignation in January 2018 following his guilty plea in this matter, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge P. K. Holmes III of the Western District of Arkansas. Judge Holmes ordered Files to serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence as well as pay restitution in the amount of $83,903.77. Files was ordered to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service to begin serving his sentence on Aug. 2. Files pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering, and bank fraud on Jan. 29. According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, between August 2016 and December 2016, while serving in the Arkansas State Senate, Files used his senate office to obtain government money known as General Improvement Funds (GIF) through fraudulent means and for personal gain. Specifically, Files authorized and directed the Western Arkansas Economic Development District, which was responsible for administrating the GIF in Filess legislative district, to award a total of $46,500 in GIF money to the City of Fort Smith. To secure the release of the GIF money, Files prepared and submitted three fraudulent bids to the Western Arkansas Economic Development District. Files then instructed an associate to open a bank account under that persons name to conceal his role as the ultimate beneficiary of the GIF award. When a first installment of approximately $25,900 was wire transferred from the City of Fort Smith to the associates bank account, the associate withdrew approximately $11,900 of the funds in a cashiers check made payable to FFH Construction, Filess construction company, and the rest in cash. The associate then hand-delivered the check and the cash to Files who, in turn, deposited the check into his personal bank account. Files also admitted to submitting a materially false loan application in November 2016 in connection with a loan application for approximately $56,700 from First Western Bank. The FBI investigated the case. Trial Attorney Victor R. Salgado of the Criminal Divisions Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyra Jenner of the Western District of Arkansas prosecuted the case. Imperial Valley News Center Joshua Adam Schulte Charged with the Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Information and Other Offenses Relating to the Theft of Classified Material from the CIA Washington, DC - John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Geoffrey S. Berman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced today that Joshua Adam Schulte was charged in a 13-count Superseding Indictment (the Indictment) in connection with his alleged theft of classified national defense information from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the transmission of that material to an organization that purports to publicly disseminate classified, sensitive, and confidential information (Organization-1). The Indictment also charges Schulte with the receipt, possession, and transportation of child pornography, as well as criminal copyright infringement. Schulte, who is presently detained on the child pornography charges, will be arraigned by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty. Leaks of classified information pose a danger to the security of all Americans, said Assistant Attorney General Demers. It adds insult to injury when, as alleged here, the leaks come from former government officials in whom Americans placed their sacred trust. The National Security Division, alongside our partners in the Intelligence Community, will not waver in our commitment to pursue and hold accountable these officials, and I commend all those at the Department of Justice and the FBI who have worked diligently to investigate this matter and bring these charges. "Joshua Schulte, a former employee of the CIA, allegedly used his access at the agency to transmit classified material to an outside organization, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. During the course of this investigation, federal agents also discovered alleged child pornography in Schultes New York City residence. We and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting national security information and ensuring that those trusted to handle it honor their important responsibilities. Unlawful disclosure of classified intelligence can pose a grave threat to our national security, potentially endangering the safety of Americans. As alleged, Schulte utterly betrayed this nation and downright violated his victims. As an employee of the CIA, Schulte took an oath to protect this country, but he blatantly endangered it by the transmission of Classified Information. said Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. To further endanger those around him, Schulte allegedly received, possessed, and transmitted thousands of child pornographic photos and videos. In an effort to protect this nation against crimes such as these, the FBI's Counterintelligence Division in New York will continue to keep our mission at the forefront of our investigations in protecting the American public." According to the Indictment, other court filings, and statements made during court proceedings: On March 7, 2017, Organization-1 released on the Internet classified national defense material belonging to the CIA (the Classified Information). In 2016, Schulte, who was then employed by the CIA, stole the Classified Information from a computer network at the CIA and later transmitted it to Organization-1. Schulte also intentionally caused damage without authorization to a CIA computer system by granting himself unauthorized access to the system, deleting records of his activities, and denying others access to the system. Schulte subsequently made material false statements to FBI agents concerning his conduct at the CIA. Schulte was previously arrested on August 24, 2017, on charges relating to his receipt, possession, and transportation of approximately ten thousand images and videos of child pornography. In March 2017, members of the FBI had searched Schultes residence in New York, New York, pursuant to a search warrant and recovered, among other things, multiple computers, servers, and other portable electronic storage devices, including Schultes personal desktop computer (the Personal Computer). On the Personal Computer, FBI agents found an encrypted container (the Encrypted Container), which held over 10,000 images and videos of child pornography. The Encrypted Container with the child pornography files was identified by FBI computer scientists beneath three layers of password protection on the Personal Computer. Each layer, including the Encrypted Container, was unlocked using passwords previously used by Schulte on one of his cellphones. Moreover, FBI agents identified Internet chat logs in which Schulte and others discussed their receipt and distribution of child pornography. FBI agents also identified a series of Google searches conducted by Schulte in which he searched the Internet for child pornography. Schulte, 29, of New York, New York, is charged with one count each of (i) illegal gathering of national defense information, (ii) illegal transmission of lawfully possessed national defense information, (iii) illegal transmission of unlawfully possessed national defense information, (iv) unauthorized access to a computer to obtain classified information, (v) theft of Government property, (vi) unauthorized access of a computer to obtain information from a Department or Agency of the United States, (vii) causing transmission of a harmful computer program, information, code, or command, (viii) making material false statements to representatives of the FBI, (ix) obstruction of justice, (x) receipt of child pornography, (xi) possession of child pornography, (xii) transportation of child pornography, and (xiii) copyright infringement. A chart containing the charges and maximum penalties is below. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge. Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative efforts of the FBI. The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Offices Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sidhardha Kamaraju and Matthew Laroche are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Scott McCulloch of the National Security Divisions Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Imperial Valley News Center Execution of Mohammad Salas, Iranian Sufi Dervish Washington, DC - We condemn the Iranian governments execution of Mohammad Salas, a member of the long-persecuted Iranian Gonabadi Sufi Dervish community. According to reports, Mr. Salas was hanged this morning at Rajai Shahr Prison, the notorious jail recently designated by the Department of Treasury in connection with serious human rights abuses against persons in Iran. At least 300 Sufis demanding the release of one of their fellow faith members were unjustly arrested and remain behind bars following a clash with Iranian security forces in February. Reports indicate the Iranian regime has continued to crackdown on Sufis on account of their faith throughout the country since that time, including disturbing allegations of deaths in custody or from beatings at the hands of security forces. Mr. Salass rushed execution is the latest example of the Iranian regimes disregard for the human rights of its citizens. Mr. Salas, a 51-year old bus driver and the father of two children, was accused of killing three police officers during the February clashes. Mr. Salas was reportedly denied access to a lawyer before and during his trial, which has been described by international monitors as grossly unfair. Key defense witnesses who could have testified to the fact that Mr. Salas was already in custody at the time of the police officers deaths were dismissed. Mr. Salas and his supporters maintained his innocence throughout, stating he had been tortured into a forced confession. The application of the death penalty, without affording Mr. Salas the fair trial and appeal guarantees to which he was entitled, is a clear violation to Irans international human rights obligations. We call on our partners and allies around the world to join us in condemning the brutal and unjust execution of Mr. Salas at the hands of the Iranian regime. We call on Iranian authorities to release the hundreds of Sufis who remain imprisoned on account of their beliefs, including the leader of the Gonabadi Sufis, Dr. Noor Ali Tabandeh, 91, who has been under house arrest for at least the past four months and is in need of immediate medical care. The Iranian people deserve rule of law, transparent and accountable governance, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, not the callous impunity that continues to define the regime. Imperial Valley News Center 19 Organizations Nourishing Refugees Worldwide Des Moines, Iowa - While hunger transcends borders, severe food insecurity disproportionately impacts the 65.6 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, including refugees and internally displaced people. For the largest refugee crises - including Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Venezuela, and Myanmar - food is a matter of life in many refugee communities. However, the U.N. Refugee Agency and World Food Program stress that food aid rations are dramatically shrinking, in some cases by up to 50 percent. Cuts in food aid have extreme effects on refugee communities, as they try to cope by skipping meals, staying home from work, or selling family assets to avoid hunger and malnutrition. Reacting to the influx of starving refugees, internally displaced people, and other vulnerable migrants, many organizations are taking on the task of providing food. More than 900 organizations undertake programs on the ground to ensure refugees feel protected, secure, and safe. With short and long-term solutions to food shortages, lack of income, and struggling farms, many organizations have joined together to improve nutrition and empower communities to find their own solutions to hunger in refugee camps. To acknowledge the work of diverse, global networks for World Refugee Day, Food Tank brings you 19 organizations dedicated to helping refugees achieve food security on the ground. 1. Action Africa Help International Action Africa Help International supports refugees and internally displaced people in South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Beyond delivering food aid, Action Africa Help International commits to increase community capacity to improve food and income security through promotion of better farming and animal husbandry practices. With initiatives to adapt to climate change and improve market access for farmers, the Kenyan organization supported 6,025 farmers worldwide and helped feed 3,506 people in 2017. 2. Action Contre La Faim Action Contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger), a French organization, addresses problems in production, access, and income that cause hunger. With programs designed to help local market activity, micro-enterprise initiatives, and agricultural production, Action Contre La Faim responds to environmental and political disasters equipped to prevent hunger in both the short and long-term. The organization works with local populations to craft programs to help families regain food self-sufficiency. Every day, Action Contre La Faim distributes more than 83,000 meals to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh camps. 3. Afrique Secours et Assistance Afrique Secours et Assistance (Africa Relief and Assistance), an organization based in Cote dIvoire, provides necessary services and food aid to refugees from the Central African Republic. Each month, Afrique Secours et Assistance distributes financial assistance so that refugees can purchase the foods relevant to their needs. In 2016, almost 60 percent of their financial assistance provided food for refugees. Afrique Secours et Assistance also provides education and health services. 4. BRAC BRAC, an international organization founded in Bangladesh, seeks to empower people with programs in healthcare, agriculture, education, and more. BRAC currently mobilizes 1,300 staff members on the ground in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh. The organization has helped train and equip 620,000 farmers worldwide. In their care packages, BRAC sends clean and durable cookware to Rohingya refugees so that they can prepare healthy meals on a regular basis. 5. Compassiva Compassiva (Compassionate) is a Brazilian organization that seeks to serve refugees adjusting to life in Brazil with essential services and long-term bonds. Their Levando Ajuda Ao Refugiado (Taking Help to Refugees) program assists Syrian refugees adapt to Brazilian society by providing food, healthcare, and opportunities for social integration. 6. Cooperazione Internazionale Cooperazione Internazionale (International Cooperation) aims to end cycles of chronic food insecurity for refugees in 24 countries. By strengthening each communities own resilience, the Italian organization hopes to equip local populations with the tools necessary to sustainably and independently maintain their own nutrition: since 2016, Cooperazione Internazionale provided agricultural material and tools to women in 51 villages in Niger to bolster food security. Their recent projects in Central and East Africa have reached almost 2.2 million people. 7. Food for the Hungry Food for the Hungry started providing resources such as clean water and food to communities needing humanitarian aid in 1971. Working with local leaders, Food for the Hungry invites the refugees they serve to contribute sustainable solutions to improve food and nutrition security and enhance resiliency to shocks and livelihoods among vulnerable households. Currently, the American organization joins with the Integral Alliance and the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development in Lebanon to provide food, shelter, and essential services to Syrian refugees. 8. Friends of Refugees Friends of Refugees, an Australian organization, responds to humanitarian crises and need for aid in local communities with many services to improve livelihoods. The organization unites numerous organizations like Foodbank Victoria, Sathya Sai International Organization of Australia & PNG, and more to deliver food to people seeking asylum and refugees at risk of poverty and malnutrition. Friends of Refugees prides itself on delivering food that is healthy and culturally appropriate. 9. Good Neighbors International Good Neighbors International, a Korean organization provides food support to East and West African refugees in their programs to share agricultural techniques, implement water facility development projects and more to help these communities overcome their chronic food shortage problem. In emergencies and conflicts, Good Neighbors International implements long-term plans to help refugees transition from aid recipients to autonomous agents of their own economic progress. Their refugee support projects in Tanzania and Chad reached almost 100,000 people in 2016. In Tanzania, Good Neighbors International designed a common market for refugees and host communities to improve the variety of foods and enhance each refugees income earning ability. 10. Help Syrias Kids Help Syrias Kids, a New York based organization, helps refugees in a Ketermaya, Lebanon refugee camp to rebuild their lives and potential. According to the organization food is not plentiful or balanced, making the coping skills of the children and families living in a refugee camp even more challenging. Their projects aim to consistently provide food, basic services, and education to over 350 people, including 140 children. Help Syrias Kids focuses on meeting the needs of 58 Syrian refugee families with multiple deliveries of food packages, which include dry and canned goods, bread and dairy products, meat, fresh produce and other culturally relevant foods. 11. Islamic Relief Islamic Relief Worldwide is an international organization based in the United Kingdom that aims to empower local communities to overcome poverty with holistic programs. The organizations two seasonal projects, celebrating Ramadan and Eid al-Adha, assemble food parcels for communities in 35 countries experiencing conflict and famine. In 2016, Islamic Relief Worldwide fed over 949,000 people in Syria and 316,000 people in Yemen. 12. Khalsa Aid For 19 years, United Kingdom-based Khalsa Aid lead project Langar Aid, an initiative that supplies food to refugees fleeing natural disasters, wars, and conflicts. In May 2018, the organization initiated an emergency relief effort in the Democratic Republic of the Congo supplying four refugee camps with emergency food rations. Khalsa Aid also provided 5,000 Syrian refugee families in Lebanon with fresh food daily for Ramadan. 13. La 72, Hogar-Refugio para Personas Migrantes La 72, Hogar-Refugio para Personas Migrantes (The 72, Home-Shelter for Migrants) welcomes Latin American refugees traveling through Tenosique, Tabascoa town through which Salvadoran, Colombian, and Honduran vulnerable migrants and refugees often travel for two or more days without food. The Mexican organization offers meals all day, provides shelter, and offers necessary services to help migrants and refugees cope with their experiences. 14. Organization for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation Located in India and Sri Lanka, the Organization for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation seeks to facilitate transitions for Sri Lankan refugees returning after the civil war. Acknowledging that refugees often return to overgrown fields and poor access to income, the organization provides necessary inputs such as livestock (cattle, goats and poultry), paddy seeds, cashew plants, water pumps, delivery pipes, fencing materials, sprayers, fishing nets and gear, etc. to enable newly settled families to begin farming again. In 2016, Organization for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation repaired an irrigation system that enabled 95 families to resume their normal agriculture activities and grow food for themselves. 15. Questscope Questscope, based in Jordan, provides emergency relief to Syria, coordinating with the Syrian Society for Social Development. Since 2009, their network of 3,000 staff and volunteers supplied food to 100 communities of internally displaced people and refugees in Syria. Questscope also reaches over 500,000 people in refugee camps such as those in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen. 16. Sunrise-USA Founded in 2011 by Syrian-American professionals, Sunrise-USA provides humanitarian assistance to Syrians inside Syria and in neighboring countries. Entering heavy conflict regions, Sunrise-USA joins with volunteers on the ground to rapidly reach cities nearing starvation. Their Feed Them campaign reached over 20,000 families in Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, Hama, and Damascus. 17. Syrian Arab Red Crescent Syrian Arab Red Crescent, part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement network, coordinates food delivery on the ground. Cooperating with aid organizations such as the World Food Program and the UN Refugee Agency, Syrian Arab Red Crescent distributes emergency relief aid to local families. In April 2018, the organizations 12,000 volunteers delivered 103 trucks of humanitarian relief items and food parcels to six Syrian towns. 18. Syrian Society for Social Development The Syrian Society for Social Development reaches internally displaced people with education and empowerment services. In order to support vulnerable children and their learning, the Syrian Society for Social Development joins with partner organizations such as Questscope to supply food, counseling, protection, and free education. 19. Terre Des Hommes Terre Des Hommes (Land of Men), a Switzerland-based organization, envisions a world where all children enjoy their rights in situations of conflict and natural disasters. As part of its project in Syria, Terre Des Hommes joined with the Syrian Red Crescent Society to hand out essential food to internally displaced and vulnerable families. Terre Des Hommes expands emergency relief efforts for children to include individualized health care for children in Lebanon, Northern Iraq, and Jordan. Former IRS-CI Special Agent Convicted of Filing False Tax Returns, Theft of Government Money and Obstruction of Justice Sacramento, California - A former special agent for the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Division was convicted on June 15 after a jury in Sacramento, California found her guilty of filing false tax returns, obstruction of justice and stealing government money, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Departments Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Alex G. Tse for the Northern District of California. According to court documents and evidence introduced at trial, Alena Aleykina, who is also a Certified Public Accountant and holds a masters degree in business administration, filed six false tax returns: three personal tax returns for years 2009, 2010, and 2011 and three in the names of trusts she created for years 2010 and 2011. On her personal tax returns, Aleykina fraudulently claimed the head of household filing status, false dependents, and deductions for education expenses to which she was not entitled. On her trust tax returns, she failed to report rent she received from the tenants of her rental property and falsely claimed to be paying wages to her mother and her sister to care for her son and for her father. Additionally, Aleykina stole government funds and obstructed justice during the investigation. She stole from the IRSs Tuition Assistance Program by falsely claiming $4,000 in tuition reimbursement for classes that she did not take. When criminal investigators approached Aleykina to retrieve her government laptop, Aleykina lied to the agents about the location of the laptop and began deleting files from the computer after the agents left. The total loss to the government from Aleykinas conduct is more than $60,000. Sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 25 before Judge John A. Mendez. Aleykina faces a maximum statutory penalty of three years in prison for each false tax return count, 10 years in prison for theft of government funds, and 20 years in prison for obstruction of justice as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and Acting U.S. Attorney Tse thanked special agents of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and IRS-CI, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Frentzen and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Arthur Ewenczyk and Charles OReilly, who are prosecuting the case. Police Officer Convicted of Wrongful Arrest Providence, Kentucky - The Justice Department today announced that William Dukes, Jr., a former sergeant with the Providence, Kentucky, Police Department, was found guilty Friday in federal court on one count of willfully arresting a citizen without probable cause. After five days of trial, the jury convicted Dukes of arresting the victim, knowing that he did not have probable cause to believe that the victim had committed a crime, in violation of his 4th Amendment rights. The jury heard testimony that Dukes arrested the victim because the victim had called several law enforcement agencies seeking to file a complaint against him. The defendant was acquitted of another civil rights charge for violating the victims 1st Amendment rights and was also acquitted of an obstruction of justice charge. Police officers across the country have an important duty to protect and safeguard the rights of members of their communities, said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore. Dukes did not use that authority within the boundaries of the law when he violated the 4th Amendment rights of an individual, and his actions will not be tolerated. The men and women of Kentucky law enforcement represent the very best of our Commonwealth, stated U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman. But when they treat the rule of law as optional as did Mr. Dukes, they will be held responsible like any other citizen. Sentencing is set for Sept. 13. The statutory maximum on the charge is 120 months in prison. This case was investigated by the Louisville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Seth Hancock of the Western District of Kentucky, and Trial Attorney Zachary Dembo of the Civil Rights Divisions Criminal Section. Attorney General Sessions Delivers Remarks to the National Sheriffs Association Annual Conference New Orleans, Louisiana - Attorney General Sessions Delivers Remarks to the National Sheriffs Association Annual Conference: Thank you, Jonathan, for that kind introduction. And thank you for your friendship and for your leadership at the National Sheriffs Association. You are one of the most respected and effective leaders in Washington. I also want to recognize Sheriff Harold Eavenson, president of NSA. It is good to see you again. Thank you for your more than 30 years in law enforcement and service to the people of Texas, as well as your support for the Department of Justice. I should also mention Sheriff Bob Gualtieri from Floridahe is one of the Florida sheriffs who have worked out an agreement with ICE to help them deport criminal aliens out of the Sunshine State. I also want to thank Secretary Nielsen and Congressman Scalise for being here. It is an honor to be with you all once again. With more than 20,000 members and 75 years of history, the National Sheriffs Association is one of the largest and oldest law enforcement groups in America. Before I say anything else, I want to take a moment to remember Deputy Sheriff William Gentry who served for 13 years in the Highland County Sheriffs Office in Florida. Last month, he gave his life in the line of duty. His loss is a reminder that law enforcement faces danger each and every day. You put yourselves in harms way so that the rest of us can live in peace. You are the thin blue line between life and death, between safety and lawlessness. This is a difficult job, but when rules are fairly and consistently enforced, life is better for all particularly for our poor and minority communities. Most people obey the law. They just want to live their lives. Theyre not going to go out and commit violent crimes or felonies. As my former boss, President Reagan used to say, Most serious crimes are the work of a relatively small group of hardened criminals. That is just as true today as it was back then. Thats why weve got to be smart and fair about how we identify criminals and who we put behind bars and for how long. This association, Jonathan, and your leaders have studied these issues for years. Getting this issue right is extremely important. Lives are at stake. I want to call your attention to something important. A few weeks ago, the Department of Justices Bureau of Justice Statistics released a new report on the recidivism rate of inmates released from state prisons in 30 states. This is the longest-term study that BJS has ever done on recidivism and perhaps the largest. It was designed by the previous administration. The results are clear and very important. The results are of historic importance. The reality is grim indeed. The study found that 83 percent of 60,000 state prisoners released in 2005 were arrested again within nine years. Thats five out of every six. The study shows that two-thirds of those a full 68 percent were arrested within the first three years. Almost half were arrested within a year one year of being released. The study estimates that the 400,000 state prisoners released in 2005 were arrested nearly 2 million times during the nine-year period an average of five arrests each. Virtually none of these released prisoners were arrested merely for probation or parole violations: 99 percent of those arrested during the 9-year follow-up period were arrested for something other than a probation or parole violation. In many cases, former inmates were arrested for an offense at least as serious if not more so as the crime that got them in jail in the first place. It will not surprise you that this is often true for drug offenders. Many have thought that most drug offenders are young experimenters or persons who made a mistake. But the study shows a deeper concern. Seventy-seven percent of all released drug offenders were arrested for a non-drug crime within nine years. Presumably, many were arrested for drug crimes also. Importantly, nearly half of those arrests were for a violent crime. We cant give up. These are grim findings indeed. Understanding the reality of crime requires clear eyes. This study was a product of the previous administrations methodology. Indeed, the methods of information gathering and statistical analysis have been used for years. In fact, a comparable report was released under President Obama. This tells us that recidivism is no little matter. It is a fact of life that must be understood. But overall, the good news is that the professionals in law enforcement know what works in crime. Weve been studying this and working on this for 40 years. From 1964 to 1980, the overall violent crime rate tripled. Robbery tripled. Rape tripled. Aggravated assault nearly tripled. Murder doubled. And then, from 1991 to 2014, violent crime dropped by half. Murder dropped by half. So did aggravated assault. Rape decreased by more than a third, and robbery plummeted by nearly two-thirds. That wasnt a coincidence. Between that big rise in crime and that big decline in crime, President Reagan and the great Attorney General Ed Meese went to work. There was the elimination of parole, the Speedy Trial Act, the elimination of bail on appeal, increased bail for dangerous criminals before trial, the issuing of sentencing guidelines, and in certain cases, mandatory minimum sentences. We increased funding for the DEA, FBI, ATF, and federal prosecutors. And most states and cities followed Reagans lead. Professionalism and training dramatically increased in local law enforcement. These were the biggest changes in law enforcement since the founding of this country. These laws were critical to re-establishing public safety. When a criminal knows with certainty that he is facing hard time, he is a lot more willing to confess and cooperate with prosecutors. On the other hand, when the sentence is uncertain and up to the whims of the judge, criminals are a lot more willing to take a chance. Many of our cases in federal court involve quite significant offenders we worked with you to apprehend. The certainty of a significant and fixed sentence helps us get criminals to hand over their bosses, the kingpins and the cartel leadersand helps remove entire gangs and criminals from the street. Left unaddressed these organizations only get richer, stronger, more arrogant and violent placing whole neighborhoods in fear. Law enforcement officers understand that. Sheriff Eavenson and NSA have been critical allies in the fight to preserve mandatory minimums for a long timeand I want to thank you for your strong advocacy. Many doubt their value. Maybe this is obvious, but a recidivist cant hurt the community if he is incarcerated. A lot of people who would have committed crimes in the 1990s and 2000s didnt because they were locked up. Murders were cut in half after 1980. How many did not die or suffer because of the historic decline in crime? Look, our goal is not to fill up the prisons. Our goal is to reduce crime and to keep every American safe. We should not as a policy keep persons in prison longer than necessary. But clear and certain punishment does in fact make America safer. The day I was sworn in as Attorney General, President Trump sent me a clear order. And, let me tell you, Donald Trump knows how to give a clear order. He told me to reduce crime in America. Not to preside over ever-increasing crime. Take action and bring down crime. In 2015 and 2016 the overall violent crime rate went up by nearly seven percent. Robberies went up. Assaults went up nearly 10 percent. Rape went up by nearly 11 percent. Shockingly, murder increased by more than 20 percent. All after decades of decline. President Trump is having none of it. He said bring down crime. Make this country safe. Improved professionalism in all areas of law enforcement and some excellent legislation were major factors in the long crime decline. Congress helped us then and we need their help now. One of the most important laws that President Reagan signed into law was the Armed Career Criminal Act. Thats the law that requires a minimum 15- year sentence for felons caught with a firearm after their third robbery or burglary conviction. These are not so-called low-level, nonviolent drug offenders who are being picked on. These are criminals who have committed multiple serious offenses. In 2015after 30 years on the booksone critical line of the law was struck down by the Supreme Court as being too vague. But because of this impactful ruling, every federal prosecutor lost one of their most valuable tools and they ask me for help regularly. Just one example is Jeffrey Giddings of Oregon. He had more than 20 convictions since 1991. He was let out of jail after the Court ruling and only 18 days later shot a police officer and held two fast food employees hostage. He has now been sentenced to another 30 years in prison. And the last thing he did before being put back in jail was to lash out in a tirade of profanity at police. That officer should never have been shot. Jeffrey Giddings should have been behind bars. More than 1,400 criminalseach convicted of three felonieshave been let out of jail in the three years since the Court ruling. And so far, more than 600 have been arrested again. On average, these 600 criminals have been arrested three times since 2015. A majority of those who have been out of prison for two years have already been arrested again. Here in Louisiana, nearly half of the released ACCA offenders released because of this court ruling have already been rearrested or returned to federal custody. These numbers are staggering, but they are still likely an underrepresentation of these criminals illegal activity. Any sheriff in this room will tell you that criminals rarely get caught on their first offense. We can only imagine how many innocent people have been victimized. Releasing these hardened criminals into our communities before they serve their minimum term is not fair to crime victims. And it is not fair to law enforcement. You and your deputies shouldnt have to go into danger time and again to arrest the same people. In this noble calling, all of us in this room are leaders. The NSA is fulfilling its responsibility in this regard. We must communicate sound principles to our policy leaders and to the American people when it comes to reducing crime: A small number of people commit most of the crimes; Those who are jailed for crimes are very likely to commit more crimesoften escalating to violent crimesafter their release; and Congress and our legislatures must consider legislation that protects the public by ensuring that we incapacitate those criminals and deter others And so the point is this: we should always be looking for effective and proven ways to reduce recidivism, but we must also recognize that simply reducing sentences without reducing recidivism unfairly creates more victims. This Department of Justice under President Trump is committed to working with you to deliver justice for crime victims and consequences to criminals. We want to be a force multiplier for you. The President has ordered us to back the women and men in blue and to reduce crime in America. And thats what we intend to do. We embrace that mission and enforce the law with you. Id like to discuss one last thing when it comes to enforcing our laws before I leave you. There is an important conversation occurring in this country about whether we want to be a country of laws or whether we want to be a country without borders. It is one of the reasons the American people elected President Trump to end the lawlessness at our southern border. Importantly, some years ago, it was decided law enforcement might arrest some people who crossed the border illegally by themselves but anyone who brought a child with them would effectively be given immunity from prosecution. Word got out about this loophole with predictable results. The number of aliens illegally crossing with children between our ports of entry went from 14,000 to 75,000thats a 5-fold increasein just the last 4 years. This cannot continue. We do not want to separate children from their parents. We do not want adults to bring children into this country unlawfully, placing them at risk. But we do have a policy of prosecuting adults who flout our laws to come here illegally instead of waiting their turn or claiming asylum at any port of entry. We cannot and will not encourage people to bring children by giving them blanket immunity from our laws. After the policies of the last 8 years, we had hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied minors coming through our borders which has led to a resurgence of the violent MS-13 gang terrorizing high schools and even middle schools in Maryland and Long Island. Most of the children we are caring for came without adults. In total, HHS is spending over a billion taxpayer dollars a year caring for these minors. That is an enormous cost that we bear because we sent a message to those crossing illegally to bring children and avoid prosecution and deportation. This country is dedicated to caring for children. We have a generous, lawful system that admits over a million people a year with legal status. But when we ignore our laws at the border we obviously encourage hundreds of thousands of people a year to likewise ignore our laws and illegally enter our country, creating an enormous burden on our law enforcement, our schools, our hospitals, and social programs. President Trump has said this cannot continue. We do not want to separate parents from their children. If we build the wall, if we pass legislation to end the lawlessness, we wont face these terrible choices. We will have a system where those who need to apply for asylum can do so and those who want to come to this country will apply legally. The American people are generous people who want our laws enforced. That is what we intend to do, and we ask Congress to be our partners in this effort. Thank you again for having me here today. It is always an honor to speak to youthe front lines of our nations law enforcement. Because you and I know what works. Weve reduced crime in America before; we can do it again. And in this joint effort, you can be certain about this: we have your backs and you have our thanks. Ambassador Nathan A. Sales to Travel to Germany Washington, DC - Ambassador Nathan A. Sales, the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, will be in Germany June 19-21. In Berlin, he will engage in bilateral discussions with his German counterparts on shared counterterrorism issues, such as foreign terrorist fighters and terrorist travel. In Stuttgart, Ambassador Sales will have meetings at AFRICOM to discuss counterterrorism strategy as well as regional threats. Ongoing Violence in Nicaragua Washington, DC - The United States condemns the ongoing government-sponsored violence and intimidation campaign in Nicaragua, including the June 16 arson attack against the home and business of a family in Managua, killing six, and the further intimidation of the family during the wake. Attacks and threats against peaceful protestors and the general population are unacceptable, and must cease. We urge immediate and full implementation of the June 15 National Dialogue agreement on human rights. The United States is aware the Nicaraguan government has accepted another visit by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and recommends it begin immediately. We note the widespread call among Nicaraguans for early elections. The United States believes early elections represent a constructive way forward. Sudan: The Troika Condemns Continued Clashes in Jebel Marra, Darfur Washington, DC - The Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States) condemns the ongoing clashes between the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW) and Government of Sudan forces as well as inter-tribal violence in the Jebel Marra region of Darfur. The civilian population continues to bear the brunt of this unnecessary violence, which has led to the burning down of villages, causing high numbers of civilian injury and death, and the displacement of nearly 9,000 people. It is unacceptable that the Government of Sudan has repeatedly prevented the African Union/United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and humanitarian actors from accessing the areas of conflict and displaced populations. The Troika strongly urges the Government of Sudan to immediately provide unfettered access to both UNAMID and humanitarian actors. The SLA-AW leaderships refusal to engage with the peace process obstructs the achievement of sustainable peace in Darfur and unnecessarily prolongs civilian suffering. The Governments actions in military operations and its inaction in stopping the violence undermine efforts to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict. There can be no military solution to the conflict in Darfur and the international community should consider imposing sanctions against those who continue to act as spoilers. The Troika calls on all parties to the conflict to immediately cease all military engagement and hostilities, allow unfettered humanitarian access, and to meaningfully engage with the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) led peace process in order to reach a permanent ceasefire. Norway: the name of this Nordic kingdom conjures up images of fjords, pickled herring, and minimalist design. But did you know that Norway is also a prime location for budding startups and tech innovators? I traveled to the mountainous towns of Bergen and Voss Norway this month for the Startup Extreme conference: three days of networking, learning, and sport for founders and stakeholders in the Norwegian startup ecosystem. While there, I couldn't help but notice the energy and enthusiasm of the startups in attendance and the ample opportunities for funding and support available to them. Here are four reasons why Norway is the place to be for startup innovation. 1. Overwhelming Government Support One of the biggest reasons for Norway's bustling startup scene is the cushion provided by its social services. Erik Harstad, CEO of Nofense AS, an agtech startup, says that these services, like Universal Health Care and the Nordic welfare system, are what makes it easy for founders to get started. "We have great social security network so that failing isn't devastating," he explained. In addition to social services, the government possesses a staggering $1 trillion USD in assets in the world's largest sovereign wealth fund. This translates to huge stores of possible funding for new ventures. There's a push toward new innovation in the nation that originally built its wealth from rich deposits of oil and natural gas. "After realizing oil wouldn't keep Norway afloat forever," observes Wiral CMO Emilie Ose-Velle Aabakken, "the government has really stepped up their game supporting startups." One government initiative called Innovation Norway provides sustainability-focused startups with seed capital, training, and support for international expansion. They've recently launched The Explorer, a "Tinder for businesses" that connects startups with global buyers and other businesses who may want to form partnerships. "The funding scene in the Nordics and especially in Norway is in fact heating up." says Daniel Doderlein, founder of Auka, the first mobile payments app in Norway. "We lagged behind for several years according to the statistics for VC investments across Scandinavia. But, with several successful companies coming out of the Nordics, interest is growing fast." 2. Talented Engineers In addition to having lots of resources, Norway also has a wealth of talented engineers. Software engineers in Norway produce high-quality work, speak English, and provide good value because of the lower cost of living compared to Silicon Valley. Says Harstad, "Our engineers are as good as those in Silicon Valley, but come at quarter of the price." Norway even has its own version MIT in the former Norwegian University of Science and Technology, now the Microsoft Development Center Norway. A number of startups have already been acquired by major tech companies like Microsoft, Texas Instruments, and Google. Even the ubiquitous digital assistant Siri was co-founded by Norway native Dag Kittlaus. 3. Tight-Knit Community Norway is home to five million residents, which means that the startup community has and will remain relatively small. This allows the community to stay close and form friendships across industries. And, Aabakken says, the size of the community leads to valuable networking opportunities. "The luxury of a small startup community is that...you're never very far away from getting connected to the right people," she said. 4. A Focus on Sustainability Perhaps the most exciting part of Norwegian innovation is that it places a high value on sustainability. Last year, there were 78 investments in Norwegian tech companies totaling $100 million, according to Oslo's State of the City report. About 15 percent of those investments were focused on sustainability--the highest percentage among the Nordic countries. These include startups like Airtight, which aims to reduce air leakage from buildings, thus lowering energy consumption, or Sunbell, which produces solar lamps and battery chargers for the 1 billion world citizens without access to electricity. I made a dumb mistake after my United Airlines flight was delayed--a mistake that I now realize might have cost my wife and me roughly $1,400. And while I feel silly, my loss is your gain: I'm sharing my story so you won't make the same error. In short, if you're traveling to or from Europe, and your flight is delayed more than three hours, you're potentially entitled to roughly $700 in compensation under European law. Here's my story, the European law, and how to make sure that you don't make the same silly mistake I did. When in Rome (for 7 extra hours)... Our story begins just over three years ago, at the end of a 10-day vacation to Italy. It was a fantastic trip, with only one hitch: my wife and I were stuck in the airport for most of our last day in Rome, because our United Airlines flight home was delayed. We were supposed to take off at 9:55 a.m. for Newark, but the flight didn't leave until 4:48 p.m. due to a mechanical issue--almost a seven hour delay. (Shout out to FlightAware, which confirmed the exact times for me). That was in 2015. Last Saturday afternoon, my wife and I were reminiscing about the trip. "You know what?" I said. "I think it was three years ago today that we were stuck in Rome." "No," my wife corrected me. She'd posted on Instagram that day, and she'd just received of those "on this day" notifications on her phone. "It was three years ago yesterday." Okay. Fast forward maybe two hours later. I was on our couch, writing an article for Inc.com, flipping through Facebook--and I saw an ad for a company called AirHelp. I almost choked as I read it, given my conversation with my wife: Flight delay to/in Europe within the last 3 years? "According to EU regulations, when airlines cancel European flights, or delay them by more than 3 hours, they owe you $700 cash." Yes, I realized, we been on a flight from Europe that was delayed more than three hours! But, also ... it had now been three years and 1 day. Would the extra day matter? TLDR: Yes, it mattered I clicked the ad and filled out the intake form. Sure enough, my claim was flagged for having fallen just outside the three year window. This was no small error. Given that both my wife and I would have been eligible, we would have potentially been owed $1,400 or more. But, I'd had no idea at all about this whole situation until I saw the ad. Even more painful, it turns out my colleague Chris Matyszczyk wrote about AirHelp and the EU law back in March. As he pointed out, I now see, a vast majority of Americans never file claims because they don't know about the European law. Clearly, I should read my fellow Inc.com writers' work more closely. I asked United for comment. They didn't reply. I also reached out to AirHelp, which basically said that since I'd learned about all this a day too late, they couldn't help me. "You may have been able to successfully file a claim for compensation from the airline," if I'd been on time, the company's CEO, Henrik Zillmer, told me in an email. And, he also confirmed the gist of what I now understood: Due to an EU regulation called EC 261, "airlines must provide passengers affected by lengthy delays of more than three hours with compensation of up to $700 each, in addition to meals and drinks for all delays of more than two hours." The fine print Of course there's some really intense fine print to the European law. First, it's potentially a lot of money that airlines have to pay out, so they're not eager. And second, this is the European Union. Nothing is ever straightforward and simple. That said, AirHelp says it's helped more than 5 million passengers worldwide claim more than $369 million in compensation from airlines. They have a pretty comprehensive "Know Your Rights" section on their website. They also have a tool that will go through your email accounts, check your flight receipts, and determine if you were on a European flight that could qualify you for compensation. I'm not doing it myself. Since my Italy trip was my last trip to Europe, I know for sure there isn't some other delayed trip out there I'd forgotten about, that falls within the three year window. Elon Musk squeaked into the top 50 on Glassdoor's 2018 list of the 100 best CEOs, as rated by employees. He landed at No. 49 on the career website's list, with a 94 percent approval rating from his employees at the Hawthorne, California-based space exploration firm, SpaceX. Unsurprisingly, he didn't make the list for his other company, the Palo Alto, California-based electric car maker, Tesla. The entrepreneur moved to lay off 9 percent of his workers at Tesla earlier this month. Musk isn't the only controversial CEO to make the list. Coming in at No. 16 is Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who has come under fire in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the now-defunct political data firm harvested information from millions of Facebook users. Zuckerberg fell slightly in the rankings from the 2017 list, when he sat at No. 10. Glassdoor allows employees to indicate whether they approve of their company's CEO when they write a company review. The website weighs the quantity of approval ratings and the quality of reviews when determining the list. A 2016 report by Glassdoor found that factors such as high company profit, good company culture, and relatively lower CEO compensation all predict higher CEO approval ratings. Here are 2018's top 10 CEOs: 1. Eric Yuan, Zoom Video Communications, 99 percent approval rating Employees cite management that really cares about employees and a fun, vibrant office culture as their favorite parts of working for the videoconferencing company. The free food always lying around the office doesn't hurt. 2. Michael Mahoney, Boston Scientific, 99 percent approval rating ?Management's willingness to listen to employees' feedback has been a shining achievement. Workers are also hooked on the company's commitment to its mission: saving lives with its medical devices. 3. Daniel Springer, DocuSign, 99 percent approval rating DocuSign, which offers electronic signature software, provides a healthy work-life balance and competitive salary and benefits packages, say employees. 4. Lynsi Snyder, In-N-Out Burger, 99 perecent approval rating People who don't always associate the fast food industry with great work environments should talk to workers at this West Coast burger chain. Employees praise the friendly work atmosphere and good pay. 5. James Downing, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 98 percent approval rating Employees feel like the company truly wants them to succeed, in their personal and professional lives. They also feel empowered by the company's mission, helping treat children with life-threatening diseases. 6. Corey Schiller and Asher Raphael, Power Home Remodeling, 98 percent approval rating Workers love the multitude of opportunities for growth, including earnings. 7. Charles C. Butt, H-E-B, 98 percent approval rating Employees speak highly of the opportunities for advancement and the company's flexibility to let workers adjust their schedule to their life. This isn't a surprise for the Texas-based grocery store chain that played an integral role in helping communities affected by Hurricane Harvey. 8. Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn, 97 percent approval rating Weiner is the highest-ranking CEO from a social networking giant. His employees love the perks and benefits offered, which makes sense for a company whose business is employees themselves. 9. Colleen Wegman, Wegmans Food Markets, 97 percent approval rating Employees rave about benefits, flexibility, and a supportive culture at a grocery chain with one of the best brand reputations. Can you imagine a world without the App Store? Neither can most people, and apparently even the Supreme Court has its doubts, as demonstrated by its Monday decision to hear Apple Inc. v. Pepper, an antitrust case questioning whether Apple has monopolized the market for iPhone apps. This case not only harbors the possibility of clipping the Cupertino, California giant, but posits a potentially significant impact on both its consumers and other huge companies, like Amazon, that follow a similar business model. The crux of the case revolves around the argument made by plaintiffs Robert Pepper--an App Store customer--and fellow customers, that the 30 percent commission Apple charges its app developers coupled with the fact that the App Store is the only platform on which developers can sell iOS apps, has led to inflated prices for consumers. Essentially, developers must pay high fees--and consequently charge high prices for apps--because app makers have no other option if they want to reach Apple customers. If the court rules against Apple, it could lead to a huge shift in how the companies behind apps distribute their content. Apple's app distribution model could end up closer mimicking the way the Android app market functions. With Android, developers have more than one option for where to sell their apps: the Google Play Store, the Amazon Appstore, or F-Droid for open-source apps. As a result, apps could conceivably fetch lower prices, while maintaining margins for developers. Price flexibility is something app developers have advocated for during the decade since the App Store's launch. Two years ago, Apple responded to calls from developers and revamped the app store, but it didn't solve any of their fundamental issues. In May of this year, a group of app developers formed a union, asking for "sustainability in the App Store" through free trials of apps to entice consumers, and later on, a "more reasonable revenue cut and other community-driven, developer friendly changes." As my Inc.com colleague Aleanna Siacon reported yesterday, a rising chorus of tech CEOs, from Mark Zuckerberg to Tim Cook, have spoken out against the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant parents from their children at the border. But while lots of business leaders have condemned the abhorrent and inhumane policy, Uber's new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, just took extraordinary measures to help fight it. Like other CEOs, he took to social media to voice his outrage. As a father, a citizen and an immigrant myself, the stories coming from our border break my heart. Families are the backbone of society. A policy that pulls them apart rather than building them up is immoral and just plain wrong. #KeepFamiliesTogether https://t.co/g2Cu40zvcX -- dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) June 19, 2018 He also urged employees to donate and speak out, and even pledged $100,000 of company money to the fight, but in a memo to staff Khosrowshahi went a step further: Uber is sending its legal team to help legal aid groups working to reunite families. "Our Legal team is also reaching out to law firms with a strong commitment to pro bono work to explore immediate opportunities for Uber Legal to partner with them to help parents and children affected by these policies in any way we can," the company informed employees in the memo. Immigrants sticking together The move, as BI notes, isn't just an example of good corporate citizenship and basic decency in the face of humanitarian horror (though, first and foremost, it is that). It's also another savvy move by Khosrowshahi to improve the tarnished reputation the scandal-plagued company developed under its previous CEO, founder Travis Kalanick. A company that was once famous for sexism and pushing (if not sometimes outright breaking) the bounds of legality is now using its legal muscle to fight for victims rather than bully them. But there's another aspect of this move that's worth noting as well: Khosrowshahi isn't just a champion of immigrants fleeing violence; he is one himself. Khosrowshahi's family fled the brewing Iranian revolution in 1978, settling with an uncle in Tarrytown, New York. And that wasn't the last time the family found its life turned upside down by geopolitics. "My father had to go back to Iran to take care of his father when I was 13 and was detained for six years before returning. My mom was raising three kids without a dad," Khosrowshahi told BusinessWeek. No wonder he is so committed to keeping America open to immigrants in search of a better, safer life. He also knows from firsthand experience just how many extraordinary businesses have been started by refugees, and how integral immigrants are to the story of American entrepreneurship. Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen A History of the English-Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Iliad/Odyssey by Homer A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Finding the middle ground: Lord of the Rings grabs a spot (Wikimedia Commons/Jackie.lck) Guests on Desert Island Discs have been choosing their favourite records since Roy Plomley first came up with the format for the radio show in 1942. Not much has changed since then, although one major introduction was allowing the castaway to also pick a book the first one was actor Henry Kendall in 1951 (he chose Whos Who in the Theatre, which was also picked by Roy Plomley himself when Eamonn Andrews cast him away in 1958). Classic touch: Pride and Prejudice also makes the cut (PA) This is the list of the top 10 choices, which could be stretched to 11 if you include the general dictionary. It should arguably also include the complete Shakespeare and the bible which everybody is given, although various castaways have refused the bible (Michael Mansfield QC, David Walliams, opera director David McVicar, Tariq Ali and mountain climber Joe Simpson all wanted a bibleless existence). Showjumper Harvey Smith (1971) also refused to pick a book, explaining that he never read, while George Clooney (2003) selected War and Peace as there may not be toilet paper, and thats a huge book. Foreign correspondent Anthony Grey (1969) slightly bent the rules by asking for the book stall in Victoria station as his luxury. Aaron Hicklin, owner of the One Grand bookshop in Narrowsburg, New York, has taken the concept a stage further. He asks well-known writers, artists and creative minds to choose 10 books they would take to a desert island and then stocks his shelves accordingly (sometimes this causes problems he had some difficulty in tracking down Sir Thomas Brownes 1658 Urn Burial selected by artist Raymond Pettibon). As an example, here are novelist Jay McInerneys 10 desert island best: Desert Island Books: This shop puts a spin on the classic format (One Grand Books) Emma by Jane Austen Lost Illusions by Honore de Balzac Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Celine The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway Ulysses by James Joyce A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton The Code of the Woosters by PG Wodehouse Childrens books are not frequently picked on Desert Island Discs, but in 1993 the Reading and Language Information Centre at the University of Reading contacted various childrens authors asking them which books they would give to children aged 8-10 if they were marooned on a desert island. Shirley Hughes picked Fairy Tales of the British Isles and Treasure Island by RL Stevenson (the most popular choice overall), Anthony Browne went for Alices Adventures in Wonderland, and Michael Foreman for The Wind in the Willows. A Book of Book Lists by Alex Johnson, 7.99, British Library Publishing Tap here to buy Dir: Fatih Akin, 106 mins, starring Diane Kruger, Denis Moschitto, Numan Acar, Samia Muriel Chancrin, Johannes Krisch, Ulrich Tukur Fatih Akins intense and disturbing new feature In The Fade was inspired by a wave of neo-Nazi murders of immigrants carried out in Germany just over a decade ago. It has elements both of political thriller and of courtroom drama. Ultimately, though, Akin is far less interested in probing into the psychology of the racist killers than in exploring the impact of their actions on a single woman. Diane Kruger gives a searing, brilliantly observed performance as Katja, the wife and mother whose 37-year-old Turkish husband and six-year-old son die in a terrorist explosion. It is hard to portray bereavement on screen without resorting to melodramatic cliche. British director Nicolas Roeg managed it in Dont Look Now, depicting the moment the mother (played by Julie Christie) discovers her son has drowned in raw and terrifying fashion. Akin achieves something similar here too. In an extraordinary scene, Katja learns (as the police put it crudely) that her loved ones are no longer people they are body parts. She sinks to the ground at the news, utterly devastated. Her trauma and sense of loss are so extreme she cant even control her limbs. Much of the rest of the film concerns the investigation into who committed the murders, the trial, and Katjas search for vengeance. As the state authorities try to make sense of the carnage, their prejudices become apparent. Detectives speculate that the immigrant husband must have been killed because of his drug dealing. The defence lawyer (a supremely nasty and creepy performance from Johannes Krisch) attempts to destroy Katjas reputation and to tar the name of her murdered husband, as if he is the one in the docks. Links are established between the neo-Nazis in Germany and the extreme right-wing Golden Dawn movement in Greece. The Turkish grandparents show their malevolent side too. If youd taken better care, my grandson would still be alive, Katja is told by her mother-in-law. There are Hitchcock-style set-pieces in which Katja stalks the killers or has to flee in her car to safety when it briefly looks as if she will share her familys fate. These scenes are handled effectively enough but cant help seeming like an afterthought. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Whether the police or the courts do their jobs properly is almost an irrelevance. It wont bring Katjas husband and son back. Nor is there any satisfactory explanation for the killers crime or their seeming lack of remorse. Akin shoots the film in very fluid fashion, often using hand-held camera. (The films very showy overture, the build-up to a prison wedding, takes place in a single shot.) Its the simplest moments, though, which register the most strongly: Katja sleeping in her dead childs bed or gazing at the trampoline on which he used to play or watching old holiday videos. Kruger shows us the depth of the mothers grief as well as her rage, incomprehension and refusal to be consoled. 'In The Fade' hits UK cinemas on 22 June The day that Florence Welch got Always Lonely tattooed in blocky print on her left arm, she was not lonely at all. She had spent a blissful day traipsing around New York with a close friend, visiting book shops, savouring ice creams and coffee, feeling enamoured and alive with the citys possibilities. She wrote a poem about it, New York Poem (for Polly), which contained a line that became the title of the fourth Florence and the Machine album, High as Hope: Heady with pagan worship of water towers fire escapes, ever reaching high as hope. And yet there she was, in an East Village tattoo shop, getting that sad phrase inked on her body while her Polly looked on. Welch, the effervescent leader and songwriter of pop-rock band Florence and the Machine, has made a speciality of wringing joy from despair, so she did not think twice about exposing her loneliness. Florence Welch performing at BBC Radio 1s Biggest Weekend in Swansea recently (PA) (PA Wire/PA Images) I thought that I would just cement it, she says, because maybe if I just had it on there, I could own it somehow, make it a part of myself, or embrace that part that I find difficult. Welch, 31, is lately very ready to showcase her self-acceptance. Her New York poem is collected in Useless Magic, a book of her lyrics, poetry and drawings thats out in July. High as Hope, due on 29 June, is full of secrets she never thought she would share, let alone sing and dance about in front of fans. Even for an artist who makes anthems out of the confessional a painful breakup fuelled How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, the groups last album High as Hope represents a new openness, and a new confidence, for Welch. I made myself more vulnerable and made a step away from the metaphoric, she says on a recent afternoon at the Bowery Hotel. It created a creative bravery. I was like, its OK to put yourself out there. It was a path she had been on since 2015, with the No 1 How Big, but even then I still felt I had something to prove, she says. This one, I had a lot of joy in making it. She comes in jangling, but takes off her golden charm bracelets too noisy for an interview, she says, though their clink is all over the album. It was a very physical record, she says, very tactile. Really, the thrill of making a sound has never left me. The Bowery Hotel is her regular haunt, despite the fact that she once set fire to her room there. A votive candle lit up a wall; in her post-party haze, she did not even notice until the next morning. More alarming: her bar tab was higher than the bill for room damages. Welch stopped drinking a few years ago. It just opened up doors for me that I dont know how to shut, she says. High as Hope is the first album she has made from both a sober and emotionally uplifted place. Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Florence has definitely gone through a transformation, says her bandmate Isabella Summers, with whom Welch began playing music in her teens in south London, where she grew up. Summers, who plays keys in the group, went on to help produce and write some of Welchs early work, including the 2009 breakout Dog Days Are Over. The first time I really found my sound was working with another woman, working with Isa, Welch says. As a young artist, you can struggle to find your voice, and it takes a while to say no, I want it to be like this. Now, she adds: Im very OK with being in charge. Because I know that I know what Im doing. For this album, Welch took a producing credit for the first time. She spent six months just making demos, mostly on her own. Florence and the Machine headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2015 (Reuters) One of the most challenging songs was Hunger, the second single. Its opening line At 17, I started to starve myself is a reference to an eating disorder that Welch struggled with as a teenager. I never thought I would talk about it, she said. I didnt really talk about it with my mum until really recently. So to put it in a song its like, what am I doing? She worried that people would be angry with her for discussing it, and tried to convince herself to take the line out the rest of the lyrics deal more obliquely with emptiness. But the song was not as powerful without it. She thought about throwing the whole track off the album, but, she says, its at the heart of it. Her revelation stayed, and it helped her own understanding. It definitely was a release for me, she says. The songs sometimes have more clarity in them than I do about my life. Welch declines to go into greater detail about her eating disorder, for fear that others would model themselves after her. When I was in it, I was always, like, hunting for information, she says. I want to be responsible. Working with producer Emile Haynie (Lana Del Reys Born to Die), High as Hope centres, as always, on Welchs muscular, emotional voice, which can go from ecstatic to mournful in one lilt. The tracks build from piano and earnest percussion towards sometimes lavish instrumentation; the saxophonist Kamasi Washington did arrangements for French horn, tuba, flute and bass clarinet. Kamasi Washington, who composed brass and woodwind instrumentation for High as Hope (Press image) Washington, who also plays on the album, signed on quickly he had ideas the moment he heard the demos. The thing for me was trying to add without taking away what she had already put in there, he says. He called Welch a kindred spirit, comparing her to another of his collaborators, Kendrick Lamar, in the purity of her love for music and her freedom to follow where the tune goes in the studio. It was really cool, every time wed finish recording, wed go in the room and shed have all new vocal parts that shed created while we were recording the horn parts, he says. In a two-hour conversation, she laughs often and robustly. In the hotel lounge, she spills her secrets in a voice loud enough to demonstrate she does not care who else hears; she has the surprisingly rare ability, as an artist, to translate how her emotions and music intersect. You know, having an overactive mind and overthinking stuff, and being anxious ever since I was a kid, if I had a song that I could follow, everything would become very calm, she says. It was like this cocoon that I could go into. Almost as soon as she came on the scene, Welch became a fashion industry darling, but her ethereal look was nearly coincidence, says Tom Beard, a director and photographer who began shooting the musician when they were students at Camberwell College of Arts in south London in the mid-2000s, and continued to create her album covers. The first photos he took of her, at a festival, she wore a pink dress and elf ears; Summers, her bandmate, remembers this period as being full of glitter. Only after Beard and Welch checked out an exhibit of Pre-Raphaelite art at the Tate museum did she transition to her much-copied flowy boho goddess aesthetic, he says. For the tour after How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, Welch experimented with a more androgynous (for her) style, all angular suits. It was, she says, a reaction to her heartbreak: I was almost angry at the more vulnerable, feminine sides of myself, because they seemed weak. But it felt like a pose. Now, she says, as shes collapsing the boundaries between her on and offstage life, she wants to wear more real-world clothes even sleepwear. On this record, I was embracing the femininity, embracing the things I really liked, embracing that you can still be powerful and strong and scary in a pink nightie, she says. Welch has always been a dramatic performer: Germanys Hurricane Festival in 2010, after the release of her first album Lungs (Reuters) (KACPER PEMPEL/REUTERS) Beard, her friend since her earliest days as an artist, says she is now being more truthful than hes ever seen. Its the confidence of 12 years, he says. What shes putting out there is the Flo that I know and Ive always known. Listening to her record in the studio, he says that he welled up. When youre not holding anything back, no one can hurt you anymore, can they? he says. Whatever was hurting her, I can just hear it in her voice, how collected she is now. Shes comfortable with the person that she is. Her autumn tour for High as Hope is her biggest yet. At a preview show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last month, the stage heaved with flowers and moss and babys breath hung overhead, like clouds. Beforehand, she had joked that the tour could be called On Nightgowns and Spiritual Confusion, because thats what it is, Im in a nightgown being confused about things in a loud way. But when she walked onstage, de-accessorised and barefoot, in a shell-pink lingerie gown and lace-edged bed jacket, there were no doubts. She stalked the floor with the fervour of a preacher, raising her arms in exaltation and executing balletic spins. In the end, she made her way into the crowd, for a communion. Tell someone you dont know that you love them, she instructed. Make it awkward. In real life and in performance, Welch is looking for connection. I quite like the idea of putting really big, unanswerable spiritual questions in pop songs, she says. We can be together in this moment, and celebrate the not knowing, and perhaps feel closer to each other. We can jump up and down. If you just dance about it, you will feel better. High as Hope is released on 29 June The New York Times Italian clothing retailer Benetton is facing criticism for a recent advertising campaign that used photos of migrants being rescued in the Mediterranean. The two photos, which were taken during a rescue conducted by the French charity SOS Mediterranee that saved more than 630 people, were tweeted by the Benetton Twitter account with a United Colours of Benetton logo added. One photo, showing SOS Mediterranee staff handing out life-jackets to migrants on a boat filled to capacity off the coast of Libya, was credited to Kenny Karpov and SOS Mediterranee. Recommended Benetton calls on the Pope for inspiration as its sales tumble The other photo was credited to Italian news agency ANSA. In a statement released on Twitter, the charity expressed its shock over the use of their photos and condemned Benetton's use for commercial purposes. The statement reads: SOS Mediterranee is completely dissociated from this campaign showing a photograph taken while our teams were rescuing people in distress at sea during an operation conducted on June 9. SOS Mediterranee condemns the personal initiative of the photographer who provided this photograph. The photos were taken during a migrant rescue (Twitter/Benetton) The charity also stated that the dignity of survivors must be respected in all circumstances and the human tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean must never be used for commercial purposes. The clothing retailer tweeted the photos as part of an ad campaign (Twitter/Benetton) Among those outraged on social media was Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who criticised Benettons decision on Twitter, writing: Am I the only one to find this despicable? The migrants in the photos were among hundreds left stranded at sea after Italys government refused them entry before they were eventually taken to Spain. The 53-year-old fashion brand has been the target of backlash in the past for controversial advertising campaigns, including one featuring an AIDS patient and another which depicted a priest and an Egyptian imam kissing. Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Show all 7 1 /7 Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The Solidarity With Refugees group said Saturdays protest aimed to show our Government and the world that Britain is ready to welcome more refugees. Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis People march through central London as they take part in a protest rally organised by Solidarity with Refugees in a bid to urge the Government to take more action on the migrant crisis Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The protest comes days before world leaders meet to discuss crisis at UN General Assembly Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Demonstrators made their way from Park Lane to Parliament Square in London on Saturday afternoon Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Marchers chanted refugees are welcome here and waved banners reading no-one is illegal and lets help people Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The march was supported by charities and groups including the Red Cross, Asylum Aid, Save the Children, Hope Not Hate, Oxfam and the UN Refugee Agency Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis In the wake of Alans death, David Cameron pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK over the coming five years but there have been additional calls to re-home those who have already reached Europe, as well as asylum seekers coming from other conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan Rex Features The Independent has contacted Benetton for comment. The glories of old Havana are renowned, Unesco-listed and heavily protected by the fabulously-named Office of the City Historian although in the wet season, when masonry routinely drops from unmaintained balconies, the restoration effort doesnt always show. But theres plenty more in Cuba to see than elegantly-wasted colonial-era palaces. The 20th century is now being mined by architecturally-minded visitors, from art deco mansions to mid-century modern hotels and, more esoterically, Soviet-era mega bunkers that loom ominously over parts of Havana, like the 1985-vintage Russian Embassy in Miramar, by Peoples Architect Aleksandr Rochegov. The Malecon seawall stretches for 8km along the Havana coast (iStock) Being a conservation-minded place, arguments rage in Cuba about the balance between conserving the past and allowing the island nation to modernise. For us, meanwhile, its salutary to see a city where each successive architectural genre has been fossilised in time, from colonial to brutalismo, leading to a unique streetscape that Cuban architect Miguel Coyula has described as the last virgin city. Havana architecture is a beguiling blend of shabby and chic (iStock) Take the Riviera hotel, a 1959 confection of retro-gangster chic Rat Pack Rococo or Mafia Moderne if you will in the easterly end of the Malecon, where you will eat from the same plates that once served Sammy Davis Jr, or swim from Club Nautico, a beach club from the early 1950s designed in the shape of shells and one of the most charismatic pieces of distressed concrete to be seen. The serious completist can attempt to climb or brave the lifts of the 1967-vintage Edificio Giron and the 1956 Focsa building: still the tallest building in the country and encompassing an entire block with glowering intensity. Neo-classical edifices include the Lopez Serrano apartment block in 1932, and the Hotel Nacional de Cuba where the mojitos are served with an edge of glorious disdain. Picasso of Cuba Jose Fuster converted his own home into a vibrant art museum (Getty) All this reminds the viewer, in a serious of stylistic echoes, that Havana was the future once on several occasions. But one of the most pleasurable of all Havanas architectural sights is the most grass-rootsy: Fusterlandia, an enchanting Gaudiesque mosaic construction by artist Jose Fuster in east Havana, with all the magic realism you need after all that concrete futurism. Anyone with a penchant for avocados will know how frustrating it is when you buy one, only for it to go off before youve had a chance to enjoy its creamy goodness. One company now believes that its solved this particular predicament with an innovative solution. Apeel Sciences, a Californian company thats received backing from Bill Gates, has developed an edible coating that can reportedly make an avocado last twice as long as usual. On Tuesday, the Apeel avocados became available for consumers to purchase from Costco and Harps Food Stores across the US Midwest. Apeel Sciences has been developing its enterprising avocados for six years in an effort to reduce food waste. The coating is made from leftover plant skins and stems, and locks in an avocados moisture once it dries. While avocados being transported to supermarkets are refrigerated in transit, they then usually lose their freshness at a rapid pace once displayed on the shop floor. The new Gold Coast food scene Show all 7 1 /7 The new Gold Coast food scene The new Gold Coast food scene The bar at Miami Marketta Miami Marketta The new Gold Coast food scene Social Brew in Burleigh Heads is one of many new cafes that have opened up on the Gold Coast in recent years Sarah Reid The new Gold Coast food scene Rick Shores' deconstructed pavlova is pretty special Sarah Reid The new Gold Coast food scene Paddock Bakery packs out on weekends Paddock Bakery The new Gold Coast food scene Paddock Bakery is now a Gold Coast icon. Image credit Sarah Reid Sarah Reid The new Gold Coast food scene Karen Ingliss-Turner runs food tours across the Gold Coast Lightcapturer Photo Services The new Gold Coast food scene Creative cocktails at Room 81 bar Lightcapturer Photo Services Refrigeration has been used to increase produce quality during transportation and storage, but you lose the benefit of refrigeration when a fruit sits on a grocery store shelf or on a kitchen counter, James Rogers, CEO of Apeel Sciences, told Business Insider. With our technology, were able to dramatically reduce the rate that clock is ticking. Apeel Sciences has received at least $40m (30m) in venture capital from investors including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Recommended You can now buy vegan avocado gelato Some people have expressed their approval of the Apeel avocados on social media. Yes! Apeel is completely natural and plant-based which means Ill be buying a lot more avocados! one person wrote. Apeel Sciences hopes to also prolong other food products with its edible coating in the near future, including a range of fruits and vegetables. In December it was revealed that Marks & Spencer had started selling stoneless avocados with edible skin. The 50 best restaurants in the world for 2018 have been revealed, with Italys Osteria Francescana taking the top spot. Top restaurateurs from five continents descended on the city of Bilbao, Spain, for the awards ceremony last night. This isnt the first time Osteria Francescana, whose head chef is Massimo Bottura, has been crowned best restaurant in the world though - the restaurant, which is known for inventive reimaginings of Italian classics - also emerged on top in 2016. Second place for 2018 was awarded to El Celler de Can Roca, Spain, (up from third place last year) and third place was given to Mirazur, France (up from fourth). Last years winner, Eleven Madison Park, New York City, came in fourth. Not one British restaurant made the top 30, but Londons The Clove Club came in at 33, Lyles at 38 and The Ledbury at 42. Also noticeable was the lack of female chefs at the awards, which are known as the Oscars of the fine dining world. Of the top 50 restaurants, just four are headed up by women. In an attempt to address this, the organisers have an award specifically for the Worlds Best Female Chef, which this year was won by Clare Smyth of Core, Notting Hill. The award is controversial however, with many industry experts arguing having a gendered award is insulting. To separate [male from female chefs] for me is strange, but we dont see enough women coming through at the top and we need to do something about it, Smyth said when she was given her award earlier this year. I would love to see very soon that we dont need gender-specific awards because women will have recognition and there will be a balance in the industry. Hopefully well see plenty of women on the 50 Best list and there wont be a need for that award. Sadly that has not been the case this year. Here is the full list: Osteria Francescana (Modena, Italy) - Best restaurant in Europe El Celler de Can Roca (Girona, Spain) Mirazur (Menton, France) Eleven Madison Park (New York City) - Best restaurant in North America Gaggan (Bangkok) - Best restaurant in Asia Central (Lima, Peru) - Best restaurant in South America Maido (Lima, Peru) Arpege (Paris, France) Mugaritz (San Sebastian, Spain) Asador Etxebarri (Axpe, Spain) Quintonil (Mexico City, Mexico) Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, New York) Pujol (Mexico City, Mexico) Steirereck (Vienna, Austria) White Rabbit (Moscow, Russia) Piazza Duomo (Alba, Italy) Den (Tokyo, Japan) - Highest climber Disfrutar (Barcelona, Spain) - Highest new entry Geranium (Copenhagen) Attica (Melbourne, Australia) Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee (Paris, France) Narisawa (Tokyo, Japan) Le Calandre (Rubano, Italy) Ultraviolet (Shanghai, China) Cosme (New York City) Le Bernardin (New York City) Borago (Santiago, Chile) Odette (Singapore) - New entry Alleno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen (Paris, France) D.O.M. (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Arzak (San Sebastian, Spain) Tickets (Barcelona, Spain) The Clove Club (London, UK) Alinea (Chicago) Maaemo (Oslo, Norway) - New entry Reale (Castel Di Sangro, Italy) Restaurant Tim Raue (Berlin, Germany) Lyles (London) - New entry Astrid y Gaston (Lima, Peru) Septime (Paris, France) Nihonryori RyuGin (Tokyo, Japan) The Ledbury (London, UK) Azurmendi (Larrabetzu, Spain) - Sustainable restaurant award Mikla (Istanbul, Turkey) - New entry Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (London, UK) Saison (San Francisco) Schloss Schauenstein (Furstenau, Switzerland) - New entry Hisa Franko (Kobarid, Slovenia) - New entry Nahm (Bangkok, Thailand) Test Kitchen (Cape Town, South Africa) - Africas best restaurant We built this together, said Bottura upon collecting his top award. Im not going to disappoint you, Im going to show the world that chefs in 2018 are much more than the sum of their recipes if we stay together. An all-you-can-eat restaurant in China was forced to close after customers hefty appetites left them bankrupt - just two weeks after theyd started the new bargain promotion. The Chinese hot pot restaurant Jiamener, located in the city of Chengdu, began the all-you-can-eat promotion on June 1 hoping to lure customers to the restaurant, which had opened in December. Under the promotion conditions, customers could pay just 120 yuan (14, $19) for a membership card - which would entitle them to unlimited food for an entire month. Hot pot is a popular traditional Chinese casserole made of meat and vegetables, and typically covered with sliced potato. However, the problem arose when patrons began to share their membership cards with friends and family. At the height of the restaurants short-lived popularity, Jiamener was serving more than 500 customers a day - with people queueing for their free meals beginning at 8am and not leaving until after midnight, according to Chengdu Economic Daily. This unprecedented demand for food proved too much for the restaurant to afford, and after two weeks, the owners found themselves 500,000 yuan in debt (58,574, $77,000). Of the idea for the promotion, one of the owners said: We knew we would be losing money. We wanted to accumulate more loyal clients through this strategy. Since the restaurants closure, people on social media have pointed out the promotion was not the best idea - considering the popularity of hot pots. Hot potatoes: Skye Gyngell rediscovers the sweet, earthy nuttiness of early-crop spuds Show all 4 1 /4 Hot potatoes: Skye Gyngell rediscovers the sweet, earthy nuttiness of early-crop spuds Hot potatoes: Skye Gyngell rediscovers the sweet, earthy nuttiness of early-crop spuds 32683.bin Hot potatoes: Skye Gyngell rediscovers the sweet, earthy nuttiness of early-crop spuds 32682.bin Hot potatoes: Skye Gyngell rediscovers the sweet, earthy nuttiness of early-crop spuds 32684.bin Hot potatoes: Skye Gyngell rediscovers the sweet, earthy nuttiness of early-crop spuds 32685.bin You would not dare to play this kind of thinking in China, one person wrote. Another said: Never underestimate our Chinese appetite! Despite the unfortunate outcome, the owners dont blame the customers. Co-owner Su Jie, who hadnt slept for more than two to three hours during the crazy two weeks said: The uncivilised behaviour of the diners was secondary - the main problem was our poor management. More than 100 Microsoft employees have protested against the company's work with US immigration, following a "zero tolerance" policy that resulted in children being separated from their parents. The controversy surrounds a $19.4 million contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the use of Microsoft's cloud computing software by the US border agency. "We believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits," states the letter, which is addressed to company CEO Satya Nadella. "Therefore, we ask that Microsoft cancel its contracts with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately, including contracts with clients who support ICE. "We also call on Microsoft to draft, publicize and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Microsoft nor its contractors will work with clients who violate international human rights law." Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Show all 14 1 /14 Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Immigrant children, many of whom are separated form their parents, are housed in Texas' tent city Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented migrants ride on the top of a freight train referred to as the beast, or La Bestia Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A cage inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Texas Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy All new agents must complete a months-long training course at the New Mexico facility before assuming their posts at Border Patrol stations, mostly along the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence in the US Man looks through US-Mexico border fence into the US in Tijuana, Mexico Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence US Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the US-Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on in La Joya, Texas Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy US Border Patrol instructor yells at trainees after their initial arrival to the academy Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Memorial service in Guatemala Families attend a memorial service for two boys who were kidnapped and killed in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Crime drives emigration from Guatemala to the United States, as families seek refuge from the danger Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Arrests on the border Undocumented immigrants comfort each other after being caught by Border Patrol agents near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Detention holding facility A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the US Border Patrol Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican farm workers Mexican migrant workers harvest organic parsley at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Colorado Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican family in Arizona A Mexican immigrant family sits in the living room of their rented home in Tuscon, Arizona. The family that Arizona's new tough immigrant law had created a climate of fear in the immigrant community. Getty Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella responded by sending an email to all Microsoft employees, in which he called the policy of separating families "abhorrent," especially considering that he was an immigrant. "My story would not have been possible anywhere else," Mr Nadella said in the email, which he shared on LinkedIn. "This new policy implemented on the border is simply cruel and abusive, and we are standing for change." He went on to reiterate a blog posted by Microsoft president Brad Smith on Tuesday, 19 June, which denied Microsoft's involvement with the US government on any projects relating to splitting up families at the US-Mexico border. Microsoft is the latest technology giant to come under scrutiny for its partnerships with government agencies, following Google's Project Maven and "Microsoft is not working with [the US governemnt] on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border, and contrary to some speculation, we are not aware of Azure or Azure services being used for this purpose," a company statement read. Other tech leaders to speak out against the ICE policy include Apple's Tim Cook, who called the immigration policy "heartbreaking", and Google's Sundar Pichai. Recommended Facebook campaign to reunite immigrant families raises millions "The stories and images of families being separated at the border are gut-wrenching," Mr Pichai said on Twitter. "Urging our government to work together to find a better, more humane way that is reflective of our values as a nation." Online gambling firm 32Red has been handed a 2m fine for failing to protect a problem gambler and granting the customer VIP status. The Gambling Commission identified 22 incidents where the vulnerable customers behaviour should have raised red flags, including one where they told 32Red staff that they had spent too much money on gambling. The company allowed the customer to deposit 758,000 between 2014 and 2017 with no social responsibility or money laundering checks. Recommended Cutting FOBT stakes must be just the start of gambling industry reform Instead of providing the customer with help and advice, 32Red handed out free bonuses to encourage further play, the regulator said. The company also failed to check if the customer was able to afford the amount they were spending on gambling. The customer was able to deposit an average of 45,000 per month despite having a net salary of just 2,150. The customer gave 32red evidence claiming 13,000 per month income which the regulator said was not credible. The account was only reviewed when the customer won a seven-figure sum and then instantly replayed their winnings a warning sign for problem gambling. Richard Watson, executive director of the Gambling Commission, said: Instead of checking on the welfare of a customer displaying problem gambling behaviour, 32Red encouraged the customer to gamble more this is the exact opposite of what they are supposed to be doing. Operators must take action when they spot signs of problem gambling and should be carefully reviewing all the customers they are having a high level of contact with. Protecting consumers from gambling-related harm is a priority for us and where we see operators failing in their responsibility to keep their customers safe we will take tough action. Swedish-owned Kindred, which owns 32Red and is based in Malta, accepted the penalty and said it had implemented a behaviour-monitoring system. A spokesperson said: Kindred is working hard across all teams and brands to consolidate and improve business processes, making use of best practices from all areas of the business. As a company putting sustainability at the very core of its business strategy, Kindred remains committed to ensuring customers can enjoy gambling in a safe and secure environment. A Cambridge University academic has claimed she was subject to racist treatment from Kings College porters. Priyamvada Gopal said she would stop tutoring students at the institution in protest of being subject to consistently racist profiling and aggression by porters at the college over the years. Hundreds of stories abound over the years ... If you cant be polite to me at the gate, I cant do any work for you, the 50-year-old tweeted. The academic, who teaches in the Faculty of English at Cambridge, said she had repeatedly asked the porters to address her as Dr Gopal instead of madam in an incident which took place on Monday. I repeatedly asked them to address me as 'Dr Gopal' and repeatedly failed to get them, including the aggressive Head Porter to whom I attempt to complain to address me as anything other than 'madam. She claimed after saying please address me as Dr Gopal, a porter hit back by saying: I dont care who you are. Dr Gopal said she had received a message from a King's College BAME student who said the issue of racial profiling and unconscious bias at the King's gate is something we are aware of and are trying our absolute hardest to find some sort of resolution to this - we have collected testimonials of many other students and staff who have experienced horrible unfair treatment from the staff at the front of King's. 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 The academic, who has a strong interest in colonial and postcolonial literature and theory, said it was not just a case of her arrogantly insisting on her proper title being used rather than madam, but the fact the term was being used mockingly and dismissively. Dr Gopal, who has 20,000 Twitter followers, said it was with deep regret she had finally decided on my behalf and of other people of colour at Cambridge University to refuse to supervise any students at Kings College. My attempts to raise this with fellows and with its management verbally and in writing have failed to elicit any changes, she said. King's College told The Independent the incident was not in any way racist. We have investigated the incident and found no wrongdoing on the part of our staff, a spokesperson said. Every visitor was asked to show their card during the course of that day, as the College was closed to everyone except Kings members. Non-members such as Dr Gopal were asked to take alternatives routes, around the College. This was a matter of procedure, not discrimination. Kings College is a rich and diverse community, and take the wellbeing of its students and staff extremely seriously. We remain committed to being an inclusive and welcoming environment in which to work and study. We categorically deny that the incident referred to was in any way racist. A spokesperson for King's College said it had completed its investigation and cleared its porters. Michael Proctor, who is the Provost of Kings College, did speak to Dr Gopal. However, the account of the incident from her perspective was taken from the witness testimony from her Twitter," they said. Cambridge and Oxford have come under criticism for the small number of black students which are admitted each year. Last month, it was revealed more than one in four of Oxfords colleges failed to admit a single black British student each year between 2015 and 2017. Figures revealed several of the most prestigious colleges including Balliol, University and Magdalen each admitted two black British students as undergraduates during the three-year period. Students should not be allowed their mobile phones during school hours, the culture secretary has said. Matt Hancock suggested more headteachers should confiscate mobile phones from children at the start of the day, as he warned mobiles can have a real impact on students achievements. The minister is concerned social media use can expose children to risks including cyberbullying. Recommended France to bring in total ban on pupils using mobile phones in school Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Hancock questioned why young children needed phones at school in the first place. He said: There are a number of schools across the country that simply dont allow them. I believe that very young children dont need to have access to social media. They are children after all. They need to be able to develop their social skills in the real world first. Schools already have the freedom to ban or curb the use of mobile phones during the school day and Mr Hancock said there was evidence to suggest banning phones in schools worked. While it is up to individual schools to decide rather than government, I admire headteachers who do not allow mobiles to be used during the school day. I encourage more schools to follow their lead, he said. His comments come as a group of Tory MPs have urged for a ban on mobiles during the school day, saying there is evidence it can have a beneficial effect on pupils ability to learn. In a letter to the Telegraph, the seven politicians cited a 2015 study by the London School of Economics, writing: Where schools banned smartphones from the premises, or required them to be handed in at the start of the day, pupils chances of getting five good GCSEs increased by an average of two per cent. The improvement was even more marked for lower-achieving pupils. Results among pupils in the bottom quarter of achievement improved twice as much as the average. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 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 The group, which included Harborough MP Neil OBrien and Chichester MP Gillian Keegan, has urged the Department for Education to give clear guidance to schools about the evidence on attainment. A Department for Education spokesperson said: Headteachers already, of course, have the power to ban mobile phones in schools and we support their right to do so. We know that 95 per cent of schools already impose some kind of restriction on mobile phones use during the school day, with a substantial number banning them from the school premises altogether. The NHS celebrates its 72nd birthday on 5 July. Officially launched with the opening of Park Hospital in Manchester (now Trafford General) by the Labour health secretary, Aneurin Bevan, in 1948, this huge undertaking was designed to bring all UK healthcare providers together under one administrating organisation, offering cradle to the grave medical treatment for all - free at the point of delivery. Crucially, the health service would be funded entirely by tax contributions, meaning that people would pay for its upkeep according to their means. No one would be left behind, priced out of care or left at the mercy of insurance premiums. Prior to the creation of the NHS, healthcare in Britain presented a fragmented picture, administered by a patchwork of private and municipal schemes of wildly varying quality, with the charity sector stepping in to pick up the slack and all too reliant on philanthropy. A relic of the Victorian era hardly fit for purpose, the wealthy were well catered for but poverty and deprivation were rife among a working class excluded from fundamental necessities by exorbitant costs. Dr Benjamin Moore, a physician from Liverpool who founded the State Medical Association, is credited with coining the phrase National Health Service in his 1910 book The Dawn of the Health Age, which recommended a system of state medicine in which consultant physicians functioned like policemen, suppressing disease as officers tackle crime. An early gesture towards improving the lot of working people came when chancellor of the exchequer, David Lloyd George, introduced the National Insurance Act 1911, which saw the automatic deduction of a small amount of an employees weekly wages in exchange for access to medical care, for which registration with a doctor was required. During the First World War, the British Army demonstrated the value of organised medical care in its support for frontline soldiers injured in combat. Sir Bertrand Dawson was subsequently commissioned by the Liberal health minister, Christopher Addison, to chair a council advising on how a systematised health service might be implemented at a national level. The civil servant's forward-looking Interim Report on the Future Provision of Medical and Allied Services 1920 was published in May 1920. The insufficiency of organisation has become more apparent with the growth of knowledge, and with the increasing conviction that the best means of maintaining health and curing disease should be made available to all citizens, Lord Dawson concluded. The peer went on to outline a structure which would see patients treatment beginning in a doctors surgery before being continued at either a primary or secondary health centre, depending on whether preventative or more specialist care was required. Lord Dawsons committee stopped short of advocating free treatment, fearing such a measure would be too large a drain on the public purse. Sir Bertrands prescriptions were not enacted due to the subsequent fall of the Lloyd George government, but local authorities did assume responsibility for Poor Law hospitals under the Local Government Act 1929 at the end of the decade. The London County Council, for instance, took charge of 140 hospitals from the abolished Metropolitan Asylums Board. In the 1930s, the British Medical Association, the Hospitals Association and several think-tanks all produced reports calling for reform and arguing for greater co-operation between regional healthcare providers to ensure greater cohesion and efficiency. The Labour Party accepted Somerville Hastings resolution backing the establishment of a state medical service in 1932. Arguably the popularity of Dr AJ Cronins novel The Citadel (1937) had much greater influence, helping to open up the public debate about medical ethics. The book, inspired by its authors experiences as a GP caring for the coal mining communities of the South Wales Valleys, chronicled the injustice, poverty and silicosis Dr Cronin encountered in the town of Tredegar. The horrors and inequities detailed in the story I have personally witnessed. This is not an attack against individuals, but against a system, he explained. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the introduction of the state-run Emergency Hospital Service in 1939 gave a foretaste of things to come. Another founding influence was Sir William Beveridge, whose Social Insurance and Allied Services report of 1942 paved the path for the modern welfare state by identifying the five giants that needed to be slain before Britain could enjoy true social prosperity: want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. Though Sir William himself was no socialist, he believed relieving working people and businesses of healthcare and pension costs would advance the competitiveness of British industry and produce a healthier, happier workforce. Collective commitment to eradicating the social ailments he had diagnosed would bring rewards for all, he argued. Inspired by the Beveridge Report, the Conservative health secretary, Henry Willink, issued a white paper in 1944 at the height of the war proposing a framework for national health provision which contained several core principles of the NHS: services free at the point of use, financed by central taxation and open to everyone. Mr Willink was never given the chance to implement his plan, which provoked fiery opposition from fellow Tories, as Clement Attlees Labour Party stormed to victory in the 1945 general election, ousting victorious prime minister Sir Winston Churchill. Aneurin Bevan meeting a patient at Papworth Village Hospital (Getty) (Getty Images) Aneurin Bevan, Mr Attlees youngest Cabinet minister at 48, was appointed to pick up the baton from Mr Willink. Disagreeing with his predecessor about the ability of local authorities to run hospitals, Mr Bevan concluded: The only thing to do was to create an entirely new hospital service, to take over the voluntary hospitals, and to take over the local government hospitals and to organise them as a single hospital service. The National Health Service Act of 1946 received royal assent on 6 November, 1946, and the NHS was born. The Attlee administrations ambitions for democratic socialism and the welfare state, tackling Mr Beveridges five giants with fearlessness, daring and compassion, were symptomatic of an extraordinary moment of consensus and unity, perhaps unique in British history. NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Show all 25 1 /25 NHS in Crisis march: in pictures NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Protesters call on the government to reverse cuts to the NHS. Rex NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Demonstrators dressed as an undertaker and carrying a fake coffin. Getty Images NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Demonstrators gather on Gover Street in central London ahead of a march towards Downing Street to protest against underfunding and privatisation of the NHS and demand an end to the winter crisis in the health service. Rex NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Health workers and NHS campaigners march through London to a rally outside Downing Street. Rex NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Thousands of protesters marched during the demonstration organised by 'The People's Assembly Against Austerity' campaign group that called for better funding for the National Health Service (NHS) to end the 'winter crisis' in the national health care system. EPA NHS in Crisis march: in pictures A Boris Johnson impersonator lies in a makeshift hospital bed next to an effigy of Theresa May during a People's Assembly demonstration against the Conservative government's health policy. Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures A demonstrator in a mobility scooter carries a placard. Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Demonstrators take part in a emergency NHS 'Fix It Now' protest demanding an end to the funding crisis in the Health Service. Rex NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Demonstrators take part in pro-NHS march and protest towards Downing Street in Central London. EPA NHS in Crisis march: in pictures A protestor carries a placard featuring Britain's Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt. AFP/Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures The demonstration is focused on the current crisis in the National Health Service. Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Demonstrators hold placards and set off flares . Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures A demonstrator carries a cardboard skeleton wearing an ambulance uniform . Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Demonstrators hold placards during a People's Assembly demonstration against the Conservative government's health policy Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures The Government will be urged to provide more beds, staff and funds to ease the problems facing the service. PA NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Protestors gather calling for an end to the "crisis" in the NHS. AFP/Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth M joins people taking part in the march. PA NHS in Crisis march: in pictures A placard reading 'Nurses with fight for the NHS'. AFP/Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Protestors carry placards and shout slogans. AFP/Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures People march through central London. PA NHS in Crisis march: in pictures People take part in a march in London in support of the National Health Service. PA NHS in Crisis march: in pictures People hold up a sign in support of the National Health Service to demand an end to the "crisis" in the NHS. PA NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Protestors carry placards featuring Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and Britain's Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt. AFP/Getty NHS in Crisis march: in pictures People take part in a march in London in support of the National Health Service. PA NHS in Crisis march: in pictures Demonstrators carry placards . Getty The Spirit of 45, the national mood of optimism which swept post-war Britain following VE Day, indicated a sincere belief a better, fairer society could be built from the rubble of the Blitz. The Attlee governments successful bid to rake in funds for the welfare state by targeting rich business owners with tax increases redistributing the wealth it felt had been generated by workers in the first place - is hard to imagine being implemented without a fight in the current climate. But as Mr Bevan wrote in his 1952 book In Place of Fear: The collective principle asserts ... no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means. The delivery of knives and acid bought online to peoples homes will be banned under laws proposed by the government to tackle a nationwide rise in serious violence. The new Offensive Weapons Bill aims to make it harder for young people to purchase deadly weapons and make the possession of knuckle dusters, zombie knives and death stars illegal even in private. Sellers will be required by law to impose rigorous age verification measures to prove that anyone purchasing blades or corrosives is over 18, or face prosecution. The proposals would also make it a criminal offence to sell a minor a corrosive product, either online or offline, and to possess a corrosive substance in a public place. The Home Office said it had listened to concerns raised by police officers, who have struggled to stop people suspected of carrying acid and seize liquids for testing under current laws. Sajid Javid, the home secretary, said: It is totally wrong that young people are able to get their hands on dangerous weapons such as knives and harmful acids. That is why we are making the laws around this even tighter. Earlier this week I saw the great work our frontline officers do to keep our communities safe and I am determined to do everything I can to help them keep weapons off our streets. Amber Rudd claims no link between cuts to police and youth services and spike in violent crime The government said the law, which was first announced in April but delayed by Amber Rudds resignation, allows exemptions from the home delivery ban for bladed items that cannot cause serious injury, are made to order, are used for sport or are for historical re-enactments. Delivery companies transporting products to under-18s on behalf of sellers outside the UK would also be prosecuted under the proposals. It will be illegal to possess rapid-firing rifles and bump stock devices of the kind used to massacre 58 people in Las Vegas last year, with owners of prohibited items allowed compensation. Recommended Man jailed for 16 years for acid attack on cousins in car in London An existing law banning possessing offensive weapons in schools is also being expanded to cover other educational institutions. Violent crime has risen by 17 per cent across England and Wales over the past year, causing fierce debate over the underlying cause of a bloody wave of attacks. More than 70 people have been murdered in London alone, where officials vowed not to accept that this horrifying situation is the new normal. Steve OConnell, chair of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, said: We need to understand the reasons why our communities have become susceptible to this malign criminality. The new bill is part of the government response set out in its serious violence strategy, which was heavily criticised after leaks revealed that a Home Office document suggesting police budget cuts may have encouraged offenders was cut from the published version. The document attributed increasing violence to factors including changes to the drug market and incitement on social media, while critics have pointed to the loss of 20,000 police officers since 2010 and cuts to youth services and mental health provisions. On Tuesday, policing minister Nick Hurd told the Home Affairs Committee it was too simplistic to put the rise in violent crime down to a lack of police resources. The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Show all 21 1 /21 The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Oluwadamilolda Odeyingbo Oluwadamilolda Odeyingbo, 18, was killed in a fight in Chislehurst on 10 January 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Hasan Ozcan Hasan Ozcan, 19, was stabbed to death on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking on 3 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Sabri Chibani Sabri Chibani, 19, was stabbed fatally in the chest in Streatham on 11 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Promise Nkenda Lord Promise Nkenda, 17, was stabbed to death in Canning Town on 14 February 2018 Facebook The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Lewis Blackman Lewis Blackman, a 19-year-old rapper from Kentish Town, was stabbed to death in Kensington on 18 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Abdikarim Hassan Abdikarim Hassan, 17, was stabbed to death near his home in Camden's Peckwater estate on 20 March - less tahan two hours before another man was stabbed to death nearby Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Kelvin Odunuyi Kelvin Odunuyi, a 19-year-old rapper known as DipDat and Lampz, was shot dead in Wood Green on 8 March Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Lyndon Davis Lyndon Davis, 18, was chased down and stabbed to death in Chadwell Heath on 14 March Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Tanesha Melbourne-Blake Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Tottenham on 2 April PA The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Amaan Shakoor Amaan Shakoor, 16, was shot dead in Walthamstow on 2 April Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Israel Ogunsola Israel Ogunsola, 18, was stabbed to death in Hackney on 4 April Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, a 17-year-old rapper and aspiring architect, was shot dead in a Kennington Street on 5 May Handout The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Jordan Douherty Aspiring rapper Jordan Douherty died of his injuries outside a birthday party in Romford on 23 June Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Katrina Makunova Katrina Makunova, 17, was stabbed to death in Camberwell on 12 July 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Latwaan Griffiths 18-year-old Latwaan Griffiths was fatally stabbed on 25 July and died in hospital after being thrown off the back of a moped in Camberwell Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Guled Farah Guled Farah, 19, was shot in Walthamstow on 22 September Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Ethan Nedd-Bruce Ethan Nedd-Bruce, 18, died after he was shot outside a party at a flat in Greenwich, south-east London, on 22 October. He had also been stabbed, but the gunshot wound was the cause of death. Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Jay Hughes Jay Hughes, 15, died was fatally stabbed outside a chicken shop in Bellingham, south-east London, on 1 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Malcolm Mide-Madariola Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, was found suffering from a stab wound outside Clapham South Tube station on 2 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 John Ogunjobi John Ogunjobi, 16, died in front of his parents after he was stabbed in Greenleaf Close, Tulse Hill, on 5 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Aron Warren Aron Warren, 18, was found stabbed in a flat block in Greenwich on 8 December and died at the scene Metropolitan Police I think the context has changed, he added. The police system has been very stretched in recent years and in light of the evidence in front of us, we have taken steps to put more resources in the system 460m more this year, 1bn more than three years ago, and we intend to do something similar for the 2019-20 settlement. In a dramatic departure from his two predecessors, Mr Javid acknowledged that resources were an issue for struggling British police forces last month and vowed to fight for more cash in a government-wide spending review. Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the influential committee, raised concerns that across the board we are seeing more criminals getting away with it. She pointed at figures showing a drops in arrests, charges and summons for violent crime, robbery and sexual offences, which are all rising. Serious crime is starting to go back up and the number of crimes brought to justice is dropping, Ms Cooper said. It looks like the Home Office is not exercising its fundamental responsibility to keep people safe. Mr Hurd argued that the changing nature of crime and dramatic rise in the amount of evidence being examined from digital devices meant offences were taking longer to progress through the criminal justice system. He said that moped-enabled crimes were already falling, thanks to government and police initiatives, and vowed to help forces work more effectively. In the same session HM chief inspector of constabulary warned that criminals are adopting increasingly sophisticated tactics fuelled by their exploitation of modern technology. Sir Tom Winsor told MPs the complexity and volume of demand is the biggest challenge for police, after criticising technology companies for letting terrorists, paedophiles and organised criminals conceal their activities. The UK suffered more deaths caused by terror attacks than any other country in Europe in 2017, a report has found as security services thwart one plot a month. A total of 36 victims lost their lives in the Isis-inspired atrocities in Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge, and the far-right Finsbury Park attack. The UKs death toll was followed by 16 in Spain, five in Sweden, three in France, two in Finland and one in Germany, while more than 800 people were injured across the EU. The numbers in this report are not just statistics, said Europols executive director, Catherine De Bolle. We must never forget that behind every number, there is an innocent victim. It therefore goes without saying that supporting Member States to combat terrorism will remain a top priority for Europol." Europols annual terror threat report said Britain experienced the highest number of foiled and completed attacks, with the total standing at 107 including 88 incidents in Northern Ireland. Scotland Yard said 16 plots have been thwarted since March 2017, including four from the extreme right-wing. Finsbury Park terror attack: One year on The Europe-wide figure of 205 attempted and successful atrocities rocketed by 45 per cent from the previous year and officials have warned of the unprecedented pace of fresh plots. The UK also saw the highest number of terrorists 125 prosecuted and the number of arrests has continued to hit new records. Europols report noted that terrorists appeared to be increasingly targeting crowds of people to cause mass casualties and an emotional response, as well as symbols of authority or Western lifestyle, like Manchester Arena. The report said preparation and execution of atrocities has become less sophisticated and jihadist terrorists are often classed as lone actors, like Westminster attacker Khalid Masood, Manchester bomber Salman Abedi, Finsbury Park attacker Darren Osborne and Parsons Green bomber Ahmed Hassan. Most attackers in 2017 were home-grown, Europol said, and had been radicalised without joining Isis abroad or making concrete links to terrorist groups, while the number of people travelling to or returning from Syria has dropped sharply. Online propaganda and networking via social media are still essential means by which to recruit, radicalise and raise money, the report warned. The often rudimentary knowledge of Islam makes potential attackers vulnerable to influence and manipulation. Europol said that although the majority of Isis former territory in Syria and Iraq has been retaken, the losses do not imply a reduction of the threat of jihadist terrorism and it will continue to inspire attacks. The body also warned of a growing threat from the far-right as movements like the Europe-wide Generation Identity group gain strength, adding: The violent right-wing extremist spectrum is expanding, partly fuelled by fears of a perceived Islamisation of society and anxiety over migration. The report was released amid uncertainty over the UKs place in Europol after Brexit. It is the second-largest contributor to the bodys information systems and the British government wants its relationship to stay as close to the status quo as possible, but there are concerns about third-party access restrictions and other conditions in a proposed security treaty. London Bridge Terror Attack Show all 16 1 /16 London Bridge Terror Attack London Bridge Terror Attack Armed police on Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed Police talk to members of the public outside London Bridge Hospital as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police Officers outside the Barrowboy and Banker Public House on Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed Police talk to members of the public outside London Bridge Hospital as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed police on Borough High Street as police deal with a 'major incident' at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency services near the scene of the incident Screengrab London Bridge Terror Attack People run down Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency services arrive at the scene near Borough market at London Bridge Carl Court/Getty Images London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency personnel on London Bridge as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police sniffer dogs on London Bridge as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack A second helicopter lands on London Bridge as police are responding to three incidents in the capital, amid reports that a vehicle collided with pedestrians on London Bridge, Scotland Yard said. Officers are dealing with reports of stabbings in Borough Market, where armed officers attended and shots were fired. They are also at an incident in the Vauxhall area PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London REUTERS London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack A police officer escorts members of the public to safety at London Bridge Getty Images London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident near London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters Jeremy Fleming, the head of GCHQ, said British intelligence agencies would continue excellent relationships with their European counterparts. Speaking on Tuesday, he revealed GCHQ has helped foil terror attacks in at least four other European countries in the last year. European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said terrorism will continue to be a threat for the world, Europe, our citizens, our security and our way of life for the foreseeable future. The problem affects all of us equally, and we can only address it with collective action, unity of purpose, and above all trust, he added. A genuine and effective security union in Europe is the surest way to tighten the screws on terrorists until they no longer have space to commit their atrocities. The British government published its new counter-terrorism strategy this month and has proposed a series of legal changes to criminalise expressing an opinion supporting a terrorist group and repeatedly viewing terrorist material. Sajid Javid, the home secretary, said the provisions would allow police and MI5 to disrupt threats earlier, bring laws up to date for modern internet use and allow more effective investigations. But MPs and peers on the Joint Human Rights Committee questioned whether they could overstep the law and infringe on freedoms at a session on Wednesday. Max Hill QC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, said criminalising a statement that is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation lacks necessary safeguards. Sajid Javid makes a speech outlining an overhaul of UK counter-terror strategy (Reuters) He argued the existing offence of encouraging terrorism in an older law was sufficient and the change could cross a line. Corey Stoughton, the advocacy director at Liberty, warned of a chilling effect on public debate that could criminalise mere discussion about whether the 88 groups outlawed in Britain should be banned, Activity that was not criminal before will be criminal, she told the committee. There is a confusion between activity that might reasonably lead to a suspicion of criminality and terrorism, and activity that is itself criminal or terrorist. The committee also heard objections to the proposed criminalisation of viewing terrorist material three or more times online. Mr Hill said that although police and prosecutors were only likely to use the law to prove a pattern of behaviour in cases where no other offence could be proven, there was no timeframe or adequate safeguards. There is a risk that the mesh of the net is far too fine and catch far too many people, he added. I find a prison sentence of 15 years difficult to countenance when nothing is to be done with the material, it is not passed to a third party, and it is not being collected for a terrorist purpose. Journalists, academics and people with a reasonable excuse to view the material will be protected but Mr Hill questioned the fate of members of the public looking in curiosity, horror or disgust. Mr Javid previously denied criticism that the bill was Orwellian, saying it will be subject to full parliamentary debate as well as ongoing scrutiny by the intelligence and security and home affairs select committees, and indeed the courts. An army veteran on his way home from working at a gay bar in London stepped in to try and stop a violent homophobic attack on a bus that left one man unconscious. Lee Wardle, 40, who served in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland, was caught up in the attack after he heard a man shouting homophobic abuse into a telephone and asked him to stop. Mr Wardle, who works as a bartender at Halfway 2 Heaven in Trafalgar Square, said he heard the man having a really loud, obnoxious conversation using a lot of homophobic language, on the N87 as he travelled home towards Vauxhall. When he asked him to stop, the man tried to hit him, and then attacked another gay man, who was repeatedly punched and knocked unconscious, Mr Wardle told the Evening Standard. The Metropolitan Police have issued an appeal to find the suspect and released CCTV images of a black man with a shaved head and a goatee beard who was wearing a dark blue suit, black shoes and a grey scarf. Mr Wardle, who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and won a medal for service in Northern Ireland in 1997 and 1999, said he wants the suspect caught before he seriously hurts somebody. Footage taken by another passenger shows the scuffle on the bus with the suspect apparently shouting: Dont compare me to a gay man ever, and appearing to hit someone violently in the head before being wrestled further down the bus by Mr Wardle. The Met issued this CCTV image of the suspect and urged people to contact them if they recognise him (Met Police) The man was talking about having been to a gay club or bar, but he seemed to have gone there with the view to pick up women, Mr Wardle said. I think he said 'Faggots should be killed.' It was very distressing language." He said: "He didn't hit me, but he went for me and I warned him that it wasn't a good idea. I'm quite a tall guy. [The other man] was a smaller and easier target. He was punched repeatedly and eventually knocked out. He added: This guy needs educating. He can't think that he has got away with it. I refuse to let him think that he has got away with it." Mr Wardle said he stepped in because nine times out of 10, people don't stand up to this. He added: I have heard it all before, but I was concerned that there were other people on the bus. Usually in London no-one bats an eyelid. They would rather keep out of it, which is really sad. In a statement the Met said: The assault happened at around 4.15am on Sunday, 25 March on board a N87 bus on Wandsworth Road, SW8. Members of the public were seated on the top deck of the bus when they overheard the suspect sitting in front of them swearing and making homophobic remarks. When asked to refrain from making such remarks, the suspect then proceeded to assault three passengers on the bus. The suspect is described as a black man with a shaved head and goatee beard wearing a smart blue suit, black shoes and grey scarf. 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 Detective Constable Sarah Bunting of the Met's Road and Transport Policing Command said: This man is sought in connection with a homophobic assault on a bus. If you know who this man is, or may be able to assist us in our investigation, please call 101 and quote CAD 1045/25Mar18. The Met will not tolerate any form of hate crime and we strongly urge anyone who has been a victim of this sort of situation to call police and report it. The relatives of a man shot dead at a British Army checkpoint during The Troubles have said they hope for truth and justice following a decision to prosecute the soldier who killed him. Aidan McAnespie was killed in Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone, in February 1988, moments after he walked through a border security checkpoint on his way to a local Gaelic Athletic Association club. A bullet fired from some 300m away ricocheted off the road surface, striking the 23-year-old in the back. In 2009 the UK government said his death was a matter of deep regret. The English soldier who fired the shot, David Jonathan Holden, insisted it was an accident and claimed his hands were wet and that his finger slipped on the trigger of his machine gun. Mr Holden, who was 18 at the time, was charged with manslaughter in 1988 but the charge was later dropped. The Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has re-examined the case and on Tuesday announced its intention to prosecute the 48-year-old former Grenadier Guardsman for gross negligence manslaughter. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 16 October 2021 Boris Johnson, Sir Keir Starmer, Priti Patel and Lindsay Hoyle pay respects to Sir David Amess at Belfairs Methodist Church, in Leigh-on-Sea, the site of his death EPA UK news in pictures 15 October 2021 A person lays flowers at the scene near the Belfairs Methodist Church in Eastwood Road North, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, where Conservative MP Sir David Amess has died after he was stabbed several times at a constituency surgery. A man has been arrested and officers are not looking for anyone else PA 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 Mr McAnespies brother Vincent welcomed the decision and said the family had faced a brick wall in their 30-year campaign. Its truth and justice we want to get, he said. He was just an ordinary local lad from the community that just wanted to go about his ordinary everyday life. His cousin, Brian Gormley, said relatives were relieved the circumstances of the case were going to be examined in a court of law. The opportunity of actually getting to the truth of what happened in this case is still very much alive and we as a family are committed to pursuing that until we get to the very bottom of what happened that day, he said. This is one further step. Northern Irelands Attorney General John Larkin had asked the PPS to re-examine the circumstances of the case following a request by the family for a fresh inquest. Mr Larkin made the referral after reviewing the findings of a report into the shooting by the polices Historical Enquiries Team (HET). It is understood the decision to prosecute hinged on the findings of a fresh ballistics report commissioned by the PPS. Mr McAnespies relatives have claimed he had been harassed by soldiers as he passed through the checkpoint on previous occasions. Mr Gormley reflected on the familys long campaign for justice after the prosecution decision was announced. It is a poor reflection on our society that people have to campaign for 30 years to actually get what they are supposed to be obliged to get in the first place, he said. He said where evidence existed, prosecutions should be taken. Unfortunately most of this evidence has been widely available for 30 years, people have chosen not to act on it, he added. Thankfully we welcome the decision from the PPS this morning that eventually they are going to act on it. He said the legal move would not bring Mr McAnespie back. It will not replace Aidans life, it will not provide any sort of consolation to the family, but it may give some solace in terms of we are starting to get to the truth of what actually happened, he said. The familys solicitor Darragh Mackin said: Its a welcome decision that the PPS are now bringing the decision forward to prosecute. A PPS spokeswoman said: Following careful consideration of all the evidence currently available in the case, and having received advice from senior counsel it has been decided to prosecute a former soldier for the offence of gross negligence manslaughter. That evidence includes further expert evidence in relation to the circumstances in which the general purpose machine gun was discharged, thereby resulting in the ricochet shot which killed Mr McAnespie. It is understood the ex-soldier was informed of the prosecution decision by email on Tuesday morning. Formal papers will be served on his legal representatives in the coming weeks. However, Leo Docherty, the MP for Aldershot, called the decision madness and has launched a campaign to end similar prosecutions. The legal pursuit of soldiers and veterans is a national disgrace, he said. Aldershot is close to a major British Army garrison. The Irish government conducted its own inquiry into the incident a probe headed by then Deputy Garda Commissioner Eugene Crowley. While a government-approved summary of the report was given to the McAnespie family in 2002, its administration in Dublin has declined to pass the entire document to them. Irish Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has contended that disclosing the entire content of the Crowley inquiry would be a breach of trust with local community members who gave information. On Tuesday, Vincent McAnespie reiterated his call for the whole report to be released. Additional reporting by PA Donald Trump will meet the Queen when he visits Britain next month, the US ambassador to the UK has said. The presidents itinerary has not yet been finalised but will include a meeting with the monarch, Robert Wood Johnson told Sky News. Mr Trumps working trip to Britain on 13 July will be his first visit to the country since he was elected in 2016. It is not a formal visit at the invitation of the UKs head of state, so the pair would not necessarily have to meet. However, asked by Kay Burley if Mr Trump would see the Queen, the US ambassador said: Yes, yes, I mean he has to see the head of state. Putting his foot on British soil, its job one, its very important, very symbolic. Meeting Her Majesty is the most important thing, because shes the head of state, and from then on, itll be what the president wants to do. The pair are expected to meet at Windsor Castle, which is listed as closed to the public on 13 July. A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman declined to comment on the US ambassadors comments or whether the Queen would meet Mr Trump. The president is thought likely to avoid London during his flying visit, which seems certain to be greeted by huge protests. 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 On Wednesday Theresa May refused to cancel Mr Trumps visit amid growing anger over his administrations policy of separating migrant children from their parents and incarcerating them in cages at the US border. Bowing to growing pressure to speak out, the president condemned the practice as wrong and vowed to challenge him next month. When we disagree with the United States, we tell them so, she told MPs. But we also have key shared interests. It is right that we are able to sit down and discuss those with the president a president of a country with which we will continue to have a long-standing special relationship. Mr Trump had been due to visit the UK in February but cancelled the trip amid reports he was concerned about receiving a hostile reception. He claimed he had decided not to fly to Britain because he disapproved of the location of the new US embassy, which he had been scheduled to open. Nearly 80 years later, Pam Hobbs can still recall the day her older sister came home from school with a note that would alter their lives. All children in Leigh-on-Sea, the seaside village in south east England where Hobbs lived with her parents and six sisters, were to be evacuated that very weekend. Their schools were shut down immediately. The letter came on a Friday, Ms Hobbs, now 88, remembered in a recent interview with The Washington Post. We had to report to the school on a Sunday and bring some clothes with us. It was June 1940 about a year into the Second World War and the German army had advanced to Dunkirk, France, just across the Strait of Dover. An enemy invasion appeared imminent, Ms Hobbs would write in her memoir decades later. Ms Hobbs, then 10, was told to stuff her belongings into old burlap sandbags. She and her sister Iris, then 11-years-old, were placed on a train and spirited away to the English countryside. Young Pam and Iris Hobbs were just two of the millions of children in England who were evacuated from cities and towns during World War II, in what was dubbed Operation Pied Piper. The mass evacuations were intended to keep British children safe or safer, theoretically from German air raids, while their parents stayed behind to work and help out with war efforts. Operation Pied Piper started in earnest in the summer of 1939, with more than three million children removed from London and other cities in the first four days of evacuations alone. Photos from the evacuations show children lined up without their parents, clutching knapsacks or small backpacks, identified only by name tags hung around their necks. Children whisked to the countryside were supposed to be able to escape not only bombs but the psychological scars of war. However, former child evacuees and experts learned later that Operation Pied Piper had an unexpected side effect: The separations seemed to impart long-term trauma which was in many cases as severe as if they had stayed behind and faced the bombs. Decades later, Pam Hobbss voice still carries a hint of sadness when she speaks of being separated from her parents. Her mother didnt accompany the girls to the school that Sunday because she knew it would be too painful, Ms Hobbs said. Her father, a bricklayer, was tasked with dropping them off instead. He didnt say much, but wiped at his eyes. When he left, he said [to Iris], make sure you take your sister. She has to go where you go, Ms Hobbs said. I was very timid. I cried a lot. I blinked a lot. Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? Show all 21 1 /21 Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238504.bin GETTY IMAGES Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238659.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238660.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238658.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238506.bin GETTY IMAGES Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238483.bin Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238656.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238657.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238661.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238649.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238653.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238662.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238663.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238651.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238664.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238652.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238654.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238655.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238666.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238667.bin Getty Images Was the Second World War Britain's finest hour? 238505.bin Getty She and Iris were ultimately deposited in Derbyshire in central England, some 180 miles away from home, where they were shepherded into a one-room schoolhouse with about a dozen other children from the train. There, they lined up while prospective foster parents inspected them and picked who they wanted. Not all of the host families seemed thrilled about taking in a child, Ms Hobbs remembered - and the children who were better looking or who could help out with farm work were chosen first. If you had a bed, you took a child, Ms Hobbs said. They would point to a child, come out [and say], We want that one. My sister and I and a little boy were the last ones left. The sting of being passed over in that way was one of many unsettling memories from Operation Pied Piper which would linger with Ms Hobbs. In total, she lived with four different host families and wouldnt see her parents again for two years, she recounted in her 2002 memoir, Dont Forget to Write: The true story of an evacuee and her family. Some of my pretend parents loved me as if I was their own. One couple showed me what it was like to feel unwanted, to live with hostility and complete indifference to my welfare, and to be hungry, Ms Hobbs wrote. For me, the really sad aspect of this billet was that for the first time in my life I knew what it was like to be unwanted. It founded fears of being unloved and created a lack of self-confidence that stayed with me for years. MsHobbss experience was not unique. Later that year, the psychoanalyst Anna Freud began studying children at the Hampstead War Nurseries in London who had been evacuated to the countryside as well as children who had stayed behind in cities and towns with their parents and witnessed bombings. After 12 months, she concluded: London children ... were on the whole much less upset by bombing than by evacuation to the country as a protection against it. 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 There were a few caveats to Ms Freuds study, said Lee Jaffe, president-elect of the American Psychoanalytic Association. It was conducted in the 1940s, with a limited sample size, and relied largely on quotations and observations. But it was clear the child evacuees had not avoided the traumas of war as expected. What they observed over and over again was that the internal trauma of being sent to the calm countryside was resulting in significantly greater mental health issues and problems for these children, of various ages, than war, Mr Jaffe said. For children under two, the immediate reactions to separating were particularly violent, Ms Freud and Dorothy Burlingham wrote in their 1943 book, War and Children. One 17-month-old child reportedly repeated Mum, mum, mum, mum, mum... in a deep voice for at least three days after being taken from her mother: The child feels suddenly deserted by all the known persons in its world to whom it has learned to attach importance ... For several hours, or even for a day or two this psychological craving of the child, the hunger for its mother, may over-ride all bodily sensations. There are some children of this age who will refuse to eat or sleep. Very many of them will refuse to be handled or comforted by strangers. The children cling to some object or to some form of expression which means to them, at that moment, memory of the material presence of the mother. Mark D Smaller, a psychoanalyst from Michigan, said: That kind of research that was done by Anna Freud and their collaborators really confirmed what we sort of know in a sort of common-sense way. I really think its one of probably the first bits of research in terms of the long-term impact of this type of trauma on a childs life. Some of those impacts are higher risk of depression, anxiety, the inability to learn and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress, Mr Smaller said - especially if there isnt an early intervention after this kind of separation. And it wasnt just the younger children who were affected. I will tell you certainly the younger the child, the more significant the potential traumatic event can be, Mr Smaller said. But I want to underscore that even a child whos a preteen or adolescent is going to be traumatised by that kind of separation. The child evacuees from Operation Pied Piper suffered negative effects from these separations, even though they were done with their parents permission and the best of intentions, both Mr Jaffe and Mr Smaller noted. Thats what makes recent accounts of migrant families being forcibly separated at the US-Mexico border even more cruel, inhumane and harmful, their group said. Their concerns are echoed by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers and nearly 10,000 mental health professionals who have condemned the family separations. You dont forget these things, said Ms Hobbs. Though she now lives in Canada and it has been decades since her evacuation, news reports of migrant children being taken from their parents and placed in detention centres have dredged up painful memories for her, she said. I can readily imagine the terror of these youngsters, most of whom dont speak English, and probably have little idea of whats happening, Ms Hobbs said. Hamburgers and electronic games wont cut it. Every one of them will be asking, What did I do wrong? and the emotional scars will be everlasting. Washington Post Polish Egyptologist discovered... a secretary bird in the Temple of Hatshepsut The only depiction of a bird of prey - the secretary bird - known from ancient Egypt come from the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. They were discovered by an Egyptologist from the Polish Academy of Sciences, Dr. Filip Taterka. His findings have been confirmed by ornithologists specialising in this species. Bas-reliefs showing birds of the secretary bird species (Latin: Sagittarius serpentarius) are on one of the terraces of the Temple of Hatshepsut (approx. 1473 - 1458 BC) near Luxor in Upper Egypt. They come from the so-called Portico of Punt, where a great Pharaonic expedition to a distant African land is shown. Depicted on the walls are the gifts the Egyptians received from the local peoples. Among them are ebony, gold, aromatic resins, ivory, leopard skins, as well as animals - cheetahs, giraffes, leopards and a bird that remained mysterious until now. "It was long thought that a bird that was difficult to identify was a crane, because at this spot the ornament was in poor condition - only the rump is visible" - says Dr. Filip Taterka from the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences. During the analysis of the walls, Taterka noticed another, previously unknown depiction of the same bird, this time better preserved. The latter contained elements that turned out to be characteristic only of the secretary bird. On one of the blocks there is a large body with long legs, on the adjacent block - a head with a short, sharp beak and a distinct feathers protruding from its head. "The latter element indicates a secretary bird. My identification was confirmed by three ornithologists from South Africa, who specialize in secretary birds" - adds the Egyptologist. The secretary bird is a large bird of prey (about 1.2-1.5 m in length). It feeds on small rodents and snakes, which it kills with quick strokes of the legs and then swallows whole. The name of the secretary bird comes from long feathers on the head, which resemble feathers worn behind the ear by European scribes in the early modern era. "These are the only depictions of the secretary bird from the Pharaonic era. The secretary bird can therefore be called the rarest of all products brought to Egypt from Punt" - says the Egyptologist. Dr. Taterka explains that the exact location of the Punt land remains unknown - scientists argue over whether it was in Africa or on the Arabian Peninsula. According to the researcher, the discovery of the secretary bird sheds new light on this issue, because this bird lives only in Africa. "It is not without significance that today the secretary bird is the main element of the emblem of Sudan - perhaps the land of Punt should be sought in southern Sudan or neighbouring coastal regions" - he believes. The Egyptologist notes that although the secretary bird is shown twice on the walls, it is one and the same animal - once it is being offered as a gift for the king in Punt, and the second time - Hatshepsut inspects the received gifts in Egypt. The Temple of Hatshepsut, partially carved in rock, consists of three terraces connected by ramps and crowned with porticos. Polish archaeologists have been conducting research in the temple since 1961. Archaeologists, conservators and architects associated with the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw are working on the documentation and reconstruction of the temple. Over the years, members of the mission secured the ceilings and walls of the ancient temple, reconstructed the ornaments, cleaned the original preserved reliefs, which brought out the colours of the pigments they were covered with. Part of the Portico of Punt was reconstructed by researchers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Currently, Dr. Taterka is preparing a new publication on the reliefs. PAP - Science in Poland, Szymon Zdziebowski szz/ ekr/ kap/ tr. RL Tributes have been paid to three graffiti artists who died after being hit by a train in south London. Alberto Fresneda Carrasco, 19, Harrison Scott-Hood, 23, and Jack Gilbert, 23, are believed to have been on the tracks spraying artwork when they were struck near Loughborough Junction early on Monday morning. Relatives and members of the London street art scene said they were heartbroken by their deaths, while a local Conservative party chairman provoked outrage by describing the young men as common scum. Recommended Three men killed by a train at Loughborough Junction in London British Transport Police (BTP) said the three men were thought to have been hit by an out-of-service passenger train at 1am on Monday. Spray cans were found near their bodies, which were spotted near Brixton by a train driver more than six hours later. Mr Scott-Hood, from Muswell Hill, north London, was described as a beautiful artist and intelligent and wonderful boy by his parents Susie and Perry. We are completely heartbroken by the loss of our only son, they added. He was the love of our life, a kind and beautiful young man. Mr Carrasco, a Spanish-American man who lived in Hampstead, north London, had been due to begin studying graphic design at the London College of Communication (LCC) in September. His family said he left home at 5pm on Sunday and messaged at 10pm to say he would be home for dinner. Our concern grew after many hours without hearing from him. From early in the morning we learned of the accident in which three men had died in Brixton, but at first we did not establish the connection, said a family statement which spoke of their great pain at learning of the teenagers death. His absence has left a deep hole in the family, added Mr Carrascos mother Isabel, father Carlos and brothers Miguel, 21, and Julio, 14. Police said the family of Mr Gilbert, from Muswell Hill, had requested privacy at this time whilst they come to terms with their loss. 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 Detective Superintendent Gary Richardson, of BTP, said: We have a dedicated team working to establish how these young men came to be on the tracks in the early hours of yesterday morning. The initial evidence we have been able to gather indicates that the men may have been on the track for the purposes of spraying graffiti. We know the men were seen in the Brixton area of south London earlier on Sunday evening and we are working to trace their movements. Rail regulator the Office of Rail and Road has opened a preliminary investigation. Messages have been left to the three men on social media under pictures of their graffiti tags of Kbag, Lover and Trip. Many of the messages read rest in paint. Tributes were sprayed by other graffiti artists at Loughborough Junction, where flowers were also left at the stations gates. Frontline, a London graffiti website, set up an Instagram page for tributes to the trio. Members of the capitals street art scene also condemned Brian Cooke, chairman of the Beckenham Conservative Association, after he took aim at the BBC for describing the men killed as graffiti artists. Mr Cooke, a former Transport for London board member and mayor of Bromley, tweeted: They are no such thing they are common scum and criminals who cost the railway millions and keep fares high. He later appeared to be have deleted his Twitter account after being widely criticised. Julie Ireland, a former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Beckenham, described Mr Cookes tweet as despicable. She added: Is there a shred of humanity left in this man? Mr Cooke was last month suspended as local Conservative chairman after using obscene language towards former Lib Dem mayor of Bromley Ian Payne, who he called a two faced s**t and a shameful excuse for a Christian human being In a tweet, he later called for Lib Dems to be exterminated. The Home Office has been accused of covering up the true scale of the Windrush scandal after it emerged that British citizens from non-Caribbean countries have also been affected. The Independent revealed yesterday that dozens of people born in India, Pakistan and Ghana have been referred to the Windrush taskforce after being affected by the governments hostile environment immigration policy. But the government has still failed to reveal how many have been caught up in the crisis prompting politicians and campaigners to call on ministers to reveal a nationality breakdown of those affected. Virendra Sharma MP, chair of the Indo-British All-Party Parliamentary Group, said: The Windrush scandal cuts across all communities and reinforces the idea that Britain is unwelcoming to migrants. What is so shocking is that these migrants were invited here 40 years ago, have paid taxes, contributed to society and made a home here, but are now being told they dont belong. It isnt just Caribbean families being torn apart, but Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi too, all of them are British and should be welcome. That is why I have called on the Home Office today to release the details of the nationality breakdown of those referred to the Windrush taskforce. The government should not be allowed to cover this up. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), which has supported a number of Commonwealth citizens from countries other than the Caribbean, has also backed the demand. Chai Patel, policy director at the charity, said: From the beginning the government has attempted to paint a systemic failure of the hostile environment as a narrow issue affecting only a few people. Every passing day provides more evidence that problems are widespread. It is essential they are transparent and start to properly monitor their immigration system. It comes after it emerged that in dozens of cases of alleged discrimination, British citizens from Commonwealth nations outside the Caribbean who had been left stranded abroad or threatened with deportation prompting warnings that the Windrush fiasco was the tip of the iceberg. In one case, 73-year-old Indian grandmother Raj Rani Bhanote, who has lived in the UK for 55 years, was stranded in the US for four days after being blocked from boarding a plane back to Britain. In another, a 65-year-old Indian man who was born in Uganda and became a British protected person after fleeing persecution to the UK in 1972, has been told he cannot work due to issues with his immigration documents. Shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, said one of her constituents, of Ghanaian descent who has been in Britain for over 50 years, had recently contacted her after being threatened with deportation. 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 law to make sprinklers mandatory in all new social housing is to be taken forward by the Scottish government in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people. David Stewart, a Labour MSP, proposed a private members bill to make installing the systems compulsory and the Scottish housing minister, Kevin Stewart has vowed bring forward legislation on the issue. The proposal is backed by a consultation which showed overwhelming support for the legislation. It was also backed by more than 50 MSPs. If adopted, it would remove the existing height stipulation in Scottish law, which states all new residential buildings taller than 18m must be fitted with sprinklers. The move would bring all of Scotlands local authorities in line with Dundee, Angus and Fife councils, as well as Wales. Rules in England stipulate only buildings constructed since 2007 which rise above 30m are required to have sprinklers fitted. These regulations are the same in Northern Ireland. Nowhere in the UK is it compulsory to retroactively fit sprinklers in existing buildings. Grenfell Tower: One year on Kevin Stewart, the Scottish housing minister, said: I am very grateful to David Stewart for his work on bringing forward this important issue and gaining cross-party support for his proposal. I can confirm that the Scottish government will implement the aim of Mr Stewarts proposal and will bring forward legislation as soon as is practicable in this parliamentary session. This is an opportunity to further improve standards in our social housing and this work will be taken forward alongside the recommendations of the two reviews of building standards and fire safety which we will consult on later this summer. Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Show all 18 1 /18 Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Kitchen in flat 16 where the fire started Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began The kitchen from flat 16 ReutersGrenfell Tower Inquiry/Reuters Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began The kitchen from flat 16 PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Hallway in flat 16, leading to the kitchen where the fire started Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began The kitchen from flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began The kitchen from flat 16 PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Bedroom in flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Living room in flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Toilet in flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Living room in flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Bedroom 2 of flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/Reuters Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Bedroom in flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Bedroom 2 of flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/Reuters Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began The kitchen from flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Kitchen in flat 16 where the fire started Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Door to flat 16 from the lobby on floor 4 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Living room in flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Hallway in flat 16 Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA Mr Stewart added: Fire sprinklers have been proven time and time again to be effective in the fight against fire and I know that this move will save lives. The strong backing for the plans from the public, industry and across the Parliamentary Chamber has been so encouraging and I am delighted that the Scottish Government have seen the sense in these proposals and have decided to take them on. He said he hopes the new legislation will come into force as soon as possible and eventually all Scottish homes will be protected by this life-saving technology." A report by the London Assembly, which investigated fire safety in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, recommended sprinklers should be required by law in every residential building. Additional reporting by Press Association A man whose wife has been blocked from entering the UK has discovered his house was destroyed by a fire after it was turned into a cannabis farm by suspected illegal immigrants. The blaze left Michael Grieve, 47, on the verge of bankruptcy while he remains in Ireland with his wife after the Home Office refused to grant her a visa. The graphic designer's South African wife, Athena Grieve, was refused re-entry despite the couple being married in the UK less than two years ago. They have been residing in Ireland, where her passport was accepted, while they attempt to appeal the decision. Mr Grieve discovered his house in Northumberland had been destroyed by illegal drug farmers while he was forced to remain in the Republic of Ireland after the Home Office refused to grant his wife a visa (Michael Grieve) The chair of the Labour Party, Ian Lavery, who has been supporting the family, accused the Home Office of continually frustrating what he said should be a straight forward case, due to its over-zealous hostile immigration policies. The couple had made arrangements to let their house while they stayed in Ireland temporarily while they prepared Ms Grieve's settlement visa application for the UK. In March, they were told the police had discovered a cannabis farm at the property. Mr Grieve, who has an eight-year-old daughter in the UK, told The Independent he believed the government's immigration system was "not fit for purpose," and accused the Home Office of misusing the visa application system to prevent people of ethnic minorities from being in the UK, while illegal immigrants were able to commit crimes without consequence. Since our application, the Home Office have gone to extraordinary, unmistakeable and yet unfathomable lengths to prevent my wife from entering the country to be with myself and my daughter, he said. Michael Grieve and his wife Athena Grieve on their wedding day, with his eight-year-old daughter (Michael Grieve) "We have ploughed almost 3,000 into our application and wasted 15 months of our lives - all to no avail and with no valid reasoning forthcoming for our refusal. Meanwhile, criminal activity on the part of foreign drug farmers has led to a devastating fire at my once beautiful home. For this to be going on at the same time it's absolutely unfathomable to me - it is heart-breaking. Mr Lavery, who is the couples MP in Ashington, wrote a letter to the then home secretary, Amber Rudd, in April to bring attention to Mr Grieve's case, but has received no response. He told The Independent he had been disappointed by the situation and shocked to have received no response from the Home Office, accusing the department of continually frustrating what should be a straightforward process. Mr Grieve's living room before the fire (Michael Grieve) Mr Grieve's living room after the fire (Michael Grieve) Whilst the tragedy of the fire at the Grieves home should be blamed on nobody but the criminals who ultimately caused the devastation, the delays of the Home Office and the governments over-zealous hostile immigration policy has no doubt been a contributing factor to the ongoing misery and anguish of my constituent and his family, he said. Ms Grieve, 28, was denied by the Home Office on the grounds there would be no unjustifiably harsh consequences for her and her family if she were unable to re-enter the UK. She said: "All we ever wanted, and are still ever so eager for, is the chance for a normal family life. We worked hard, took risks and did everything we were told just to be together. To be refused entry to the UK together without any real justification is both baffling and heart-breaking. We just want to be able to hold our daughter again, together, and tell her how much we love her. Despite everything that has transpired, we are certain that real, positive change can happen if enough people are made aware of our story. Commenting on the cannabis farm, a Northumbria Police spokesperson said: At around 12.54am on Tuesday, March 13, police received a request for assistance at a house fire on First Row in Ashington. Police and the fire service attended the scene and the fire was extinguished. It was brought to the attention of police that a cannabis farm had been discovered at the property. It is believed that the fire could have been caused by an electrical fault relating to equipment used for the cannabis plants. Inquiries are ongoing to identify the offenders responsible. The Home Office said it could not comment on the specifics of Ms Grieve's case because the case was ongoing. A spokesperson said: All applications for settlement visas are carefully considered on their individual merits, in line with the immigration rules, and are based on evidence provided by the applicant." The UK is to forge stronger security links with Poland in the face of growing Russian aggression, the government has said. Foreign secretary Boris Johnson and defence secretary Gavin Williamson will meet counterparts Jacek Czaputowicz and Mariusz Blaszczak in Warsaw on Thursday to discuss increased defence and cyber co-operation. A project to support independent media in eastern Europe will also be set up in a bid to combat disinformation. Mr Johnson said: The UK and Poland are close friends and allies on a range of issues, including security, foreign policy, trade and culture. This meeting will help to solidify even further a relationship that is growing from strength to strength. Both countries take seriously the threats posed to independent media, to cyberspace and to our collective security. Thats why we will today agree to build on our co-operation in these areas, to counter together hostile threats to our two countries. The meeting comes after Russia waged a war of disinformation following the nerve-agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The ministers will discuss plans to increase collective defences against cyber-attacks from hostile actors and joint work on improving resilience to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear-related risks. Britain sent 150 troops to Poland in 2016 amid increased Russian aggression. 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 Poland and the UK face the same intensifying threats to our security, prosperity and way of life, said Mr Williamson. Our two countries are important European and Nato allies both committed to playing a leading role to keep our nations and continental Europe safe. As we implement the UK-Poland defence treaty our historic partnership grows ever closer to meet the evolving and complex threats that we share. The UK is hosting the Western Balkans Summit in London on 9 and 10 July. Brexit will have to be delayed unless a deal is struck by the end of the year because the European parliament will run out of time to vote on it, MPs have been told. Guy Verhofstadt, the parliaments Brexit coordinator, said it needed to begin scrutinising any agreement at least three months before exit day which is 29 March next year. Asked to give the deadline for a deal, he replied: Before the end of the year. That is the ultimate date, otherwise we cannot be assured to have a vote in plenary in March. Mr Verhofstadt said he remained optimistic of a deal in the autumn despite the UK and EU remaining far apart on key issues but warned: You cannot go beyond 2018. The comment came as the former Belgian prime minister dismissed both of the solutions put forward by Theresa May to solve the impasse over customs and the Irish border. On the prime ministers preferred customs partnership under which the UK would collect EU duties he said: No, we cannot outsource our competences on customs duties. That will not happen. And he warned the rival, technology-based max fac idea could bring the return of violence to Ireland, by requiring cameras and a border, calling it a dangerous step to do. Hopes of a Brexit deal by October have all but evaporated with the negotiations deadlocked over customs, Ireland and European court oversight. 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 Mr Verhofstadt refused to speculate on whether a failure to agree a deal by Decembers EU summit would trigger a request to extend the Article 50 deadline of March next year. It was not a good moment to speculate because that would take pressure away from those who have to deliver in October or November. Giving evidence to the Commons Brexit Committee, the EU parliaments negotiator also: * Branded the UKs plan for a one-year customs backstop to solve the Irish border issue not acceptable because it could not be time limited. * Dismissed David Daviss claim that the thrust of a future trade deal could be agreed by next March insisting it would take the whole transition period, until the end of 2020. * Insisted it was impossible for the UK to stay within the European arrest warrant arguing the best hope was an extradition agreement that retained its benefits as far as possible. * Expressed hope of a last-gasp UK change of mind to stay in the customs union and single market, saying: I think there is no opposition from the European side if that proposal comes to Brussels. * Said Brexit had opened our eyes in the European Union about the need for reform but denied that necessarily meant more integration, which the UK would have opposed. * Argued the UK should pursue an association agreement, along the lines of Ukraine, which does not require ratification by all EU nations but can take some time. Mr Verhofstadt also said the UK was not using its room of manoeuvre, even as an EU member, to tighten rules on immigration believed to be a key cause of the Brexit vote. Brexit secretary David Davis has offered a last minute olive branch to pro-EU rebels in a bid to secure victory in a critical vote on Theresa Mays EU withdrawal plans. The cabinet minister sent a letter to rebels outlining how parliament would under existing arrangements have an adequate role in scrutinising Brexit, after weeks in which a significant number of Tory MPs have demanded more of a say. But while some Conservative rebels seemed to have accepted Mr Daviss overture and announced that they would not rebel, others claimed his letter had little meaning. It comes moments before a crunch vote in the commons, which if lost could give parliament power over what happens in the event of no deal being agreed with the EU, seriously undermining Ms Mays authority. The on-going row relates to whether or not, in the case of no deal being agreed with the EU, MPs would be allowed to amend the governments plans either to approve or reject them, or in some circumstances to actually direct them. Rebels did look to have the numbers to defeat the government at the start of the week, but ministers launched an intense whipping exercise to pick some of the rebels off, and to convince pro-Brexit Labour MPs to back the government. In a final bid to try and secure the win on Wednesday, Mr Davis sent a letter to Tory MPs underlining how existing arrangements would mean that parliament would have power to amend the governments plans but that a decision on it would be the commons speakers, John Bercow. Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines The Sun, March 9 2016 This wholly false headline merited the first ruling by IPSO (the press regulator) under clause 1 of the revised Editor's Code of Practice. Clause 1 makes specific reference to newspapers printing "headlines not supported by the text" Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Mail, November 4 2016 In perhaps the most notorious front page of the past few years, the Mail derides the High Court judges who ruled that parliament must have a vote on whether to trigger article 50 and start the Brexit process Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Express, November 4 2016 In the Express' take on the same story, they manage to incorporate the Union Jack, allude to First World War propaganda, invoke memories of Churchill and, of course, state "Brexit means Brexit" Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines The Sun, March 29 2017 The Sun marked the day on which Mrs May triggered article 50 by projecting a huge and terrible pun on to the Cliffs of Dover Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines The Sun, April 4 2017 Referencing their notorious eurosceptic headline from 1990 (See: Up Yours Delors), the Sun stokes the flames of the brief Gibraltar dispute, a dispute in which Spain, the supposed aggressors, only joined to note that there was "no need for it" Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Mail, April 19 2017 This headline followed Mrs May's snap election announcement, which gave the Mail hope that dissenting opinions on Brexit would disappear Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Mail, December 14 2017 In recent months, the Mail has often forgone catchy headlines in favour of rambling rants, this is an early example aimed at Tory Brexit rebels Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Mail, January 31 2018 This headline (?) takes aim at the Lords over their repeated amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines The Sun, June 12 2018 On the day that the EU Withdrawal Bill is to be debated in the Commons, the Sun offers two choices to MPs, desperately including all conceivable imagery that might make Brits feel patriotic, which apparently includes the Loch Ness Monster Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Express, June 12 2018 On the same day, the Express lets MPs know what the consequences of the vote may be He wrote: The government recognises that it is open for ministers and members of the house of commons to table motions on and debate matters of concern and that, as is the convention, parliamentary time will be approved. Even Mr Davis himself, who last week blocked a more substantial compromise, has said privately that his new letter is not much of a concession. But for some rebels it indicated that there would be another opportunity after Wednesday to try and influence Ms Mays approach to Brexit. Ex-cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said that the letter was welcome and that she would now back the government. PMQs: Jeremy Corbyn says Theresa May's Brexit figures 'are so dodgy they belong on the side of a bus' Even lead rebel Dominic Grieve said that he appreciated the governments difficulties with dealing with the issue at hand, and said that the letter was assurance enough for him that parliaments role would not be overlooked. But other rebels were not convinced, with Anna Soubry suggesting that Mr Davis was simply dancing on the head of a pin. The whole row was sparked by the Lords last month passing a plan to give parliament power to direct Ms Mays actions if she failed to seal a Brexit deal later this year, meaning it would be unlikely she could take the UK out of Europe with no deal. Ms May was set to lose a vote on that plan in the Commons last Tuesday, which would have made it law, and had also rejected a compromise from Mr Grieve but in a last-minute move that saw her avoid a major defeat, she met pro-EU rebels and promised to bring forward her own compromise proposals. The MPs left the meeting believing parliament would at least be given power to approve or reject her approach in the event no deal is reached with the EU, but what was published earlier this week gave them no binding vote. With the issue back in the commons this week, whips were determined not to give more ground to avoid a defeat, with Mr Daviss letter constituting their final bid at a compromise. The critical vote on the issue will takes place on Wednesday afternoon. Theresa May has seen off a potentially catastrophic Commons defeat to her flagship Brexit bill after pro-EU rebels were persuaded to drop their opposition moments before a critical vote. Ministers had launched an intense whipping exercise earlier in the week to win over Tory rebels, as well as the small band of outspoken Labour Brexiteers. The row has been played out through amendments to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill - the government's key piece of Brexit legislation - which seeks to end the supremacy of EU law and transfer everything onto the domestic statute books in time for exit day. The bill has now entered the "ping-pong" phase, where it bounces between the Commons and the Lords until politicians are happy with it. Theresa May has sidestepped a major blow to her authority after Tory rebels backed away from inflicting an embarrassing Commons defeat on her Brexit plans. MPs voted by a majority of 16 to block a proposal that would have given parliament more power to direct the prime ministers approach in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The proposed amendment would have made the likelihood of a crashing out without an agreement far less likely. Brexiteers immediately seized on the result as a pivotal moment ensuring that a no-deal Brexit remains a distinct possibility, something they claim strengthens the governments hand in negotiations. The prime ministers victory means there will for now be no additional constraints on her from Westminster, as she seeks to secure an exit agreement from Brussels, adhering to the mantra that no deal is better than a bad deal. Earlier this week pro-EU rebels looked ready to defeat the government by forcing upon Ms May proposals that would have allowed parliament more control to approve or reject her plans or even direct them if she fails to agree a deal with Europe. But a sustained and apparently effective whipping operation, coupled with a last minute olive branch consisting of a statement of the governments understanding of parliaments role was enough to convince enough rebels not to go in for the kill. David Davis: 'By trying to head off a no-deal Brexit, you actually make it more likely' After the vote had taken place, commons speaker John Bercow announced that 319 MPs had backed the government and 303 had backed the rebel amendment, ostensibly bringing to an end what has been the toughest legislative battle of Ms Mays Brexit so far. The legislation subsequently returned to the Lords in the final stage of "parliamentary ping-pong", where it passed without a vote. Ms May described the passage of the bill as a "crucial step in delivering a smooth and orderly Brexit". Brexit secretary David Davis said the proposals would have hamstrung the UK in negotiations, arguing: There are plenty of voices on the European side of the negotiation that seek to punish us, lets be very clear, and to do us harm; who wish to present us an unambiguously bad deal, some to dissuade others from following us and others who would do so with the intention of reversing the referendum, of making us lose our nerve and rejoin the European Union. If it undermines the UKs ability to walk away, this amendment makes this outcome more likely. This is the paradox [for the rebels] in trying to head off no deal, you actually make no deal more likely. Earlier in the day government sources had begun to speak more optimistically of how that message was hitting home with rebels, while one backbencher who said he planned to vote against the government said whips had been partaking in the normal dark arts of Westminster buying rebels off, or threatening them into submission. Mr Davis also made another move to try and stave of the defeat, offering a last minute olive branch in the form of a letter to rebels, outlining how parliament would, under existing arrangements, have an adequate role in scrutinising Brexit and pointing out that speaker John Bercow would have a key role in deciding whether the Commons could amend government plans at a later date. The move was enough for some rebels including ex-cabinet minister Nicky Morgan who said the letter was welcome and that she would now back the government. Brexit so far: in pictures Show all 53 1 /53 Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson led the VoteLeave campaign PA Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson MP, Labour MP Gisela Stuart and UKIP MP Douglas Carswell address the people of Stafford in Market Square during the Vote Leave Brexit Battle Bus tour on 17 May 2016. Their lead line on the tour was: We send the EU 350 million a week, let's fund our NHS instead. Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Voting day A man shelters from the rain as he arrives at a polling station in London on 23 June 2016. Millions of Britons voted in the referendum on whether to stay in or leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Referendum results Leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage, reacts at the Leave EU referendum party at Millbank Tower in central London as results indicated that it was likely the UK would leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Protesting the result A young couple painted as EU flags and a man with a sign reading Im not leaving protest outside Downing Street against the voters decision to leave the EU on 24 June 2016 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures David Cameron resigns British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns on the steps of 10 Downing Street on 24 June 2016 after the results of the EU referendum were declared and the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Theresa May Becomes the new Conservative Party leader Theresa May receives a kiss from her husband Philip, after becoming the new Conservative Party leader on 11 July 2016. May became Prime Minister two days later and although she voted to remain in the referendum was keen to lead Britains Brexit talks after her only rival in the race to succeed David Cameron pulled out unexpectedly. May was left as the only contender standing after the withdrawal from the leadership race of Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be prime minister because she had children AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Lancaster House keynote speech on Brexit British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote speech on Brexit at Lancaster House in London on 17 January 2017. Where she spoke about her offer to introduce a transition period after the UK formally leaves the European Union in March 2019. Despite repeating the pro-Brexit mantra of no deal is better than a bad deal, the Prime Minister claimed she wanted a tone of trust between the negotiators and said Britain was leaving the EU but not Europe. She said there should be a clear double lock needed for the transitional period to make sure businesses had time to prepare for changes to their trading relationships with the EU Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Triggering of Article 50 British Prime Minister Theresa May in the cabinet, sitting below a painting of Britain's first Prime Minister Robert Walpole, signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk invoking Article 50 and the United Kingdom's intention to leave the EU on 29 March 2017 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Gibraltar nonsense Tensions have risen over Brexit negotiations for the Rock of Gibraltar. The European Council has said Gibraltar would be included in a trade deal between London and Brussels only with the agreement of Spain. While former Conservative leader Michael Howard claimed that Theresa May would be prepared to go to war to protect the territory. Spain's foreign minister stepped in only to assert that there was no need for the dispute Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Shock snap election Soon after triggering Article 50, Theresa May called on 18 April 2017 for a snap general election. The election would be on 8 June and it came as a shock move to many, with her reasoning to try to bolster her position before tough talks on leaving the EU AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Dissolution of Parliament for General Election Campaign Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement in Downing Street after returning from Buckingham Palace on 3 May 2017. The Prime Minister visited the Queen to ask for the dissolution of Parliament signalling the official start to the general election campaign Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Conservatives lose parliamentary majority An arrangement of British daily newspapers showing front page stories about the exit poll results of the snap general election. British Prime Minister Theresa May faced pressure to resign on 9 June 2017 after losing her parliamentary majority, plunging the country into uncertainty as Brexit talks loomed. The pound fell sharply amid fears the Conservative leader would be unable to form a government AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Labour gains Britains opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gives a tumbs up as he arrives at Labour headquarters in central London on 9 June 2017 after the snap general election results showed a hung parliament with Labour gains and the Conservatives losing their majority AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit negotiations begin Brexit Minister David Davis and European Commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations Michel Barnier address a press conference at the end of the first day of Brexit negotiations in Brussels on 19 June 2017 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May speaks in Florence British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks on 22 September 2017, in Florence. May sought to unlock Brexit talks after Brussels demanded more clarity on the crunch issues of budget payments and EU citizens' rights AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit insufficient progress German Chancellor Angela Merkel joins other EU leaders for a breakfast meeting during an EU summit in Brussels on 20 October 2017. The EU spoke about Brexit and announced that insufficient progress had been made AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures DUP derails settlement on the withdrawal part of Brexit DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds walks off after speaking to members of the media as a protester holding flags shouts after him outside the Houses of Parliament on 5 December 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to pull out of a deal with Brussels after the DUP said it would not accept terms which see Northern Ireland treated differently from the rest of the UK Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May suffers defeat over EU (Withdrawal) Bill Theresa May suffers defeat in parliament over EU (Withdrawal) Bill on 13 December 2017. The Government was defeated by Conservative rebels and Labour MPs in a vote on its key piece of Brexit legislation. MPs amended the EU (Withdrawal) Bill against Theresa May's will, guaranteeing Parliament a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal she agrees with Brussels. Ms May's whips applied pressure on Conservative rebels who remained defiant in the Commons throughout the day and in the end the Government was defeated by 309 votes to 305 Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit sufficient progress Britain's Prime minister Theresa May arrives to attend the first day of a European union summit in Brussels on 14 December 2017. European leaders discussed Brexit and announced there was finally sufficient progress at the end of the two days AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures The game moves to transition Brexit Secretary David Davis gives evidence on developments in European Union divorce talks to the Commons Exiting the EU Committee in Portcullis House, London, on 24 January 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures Trade deal is what May wants French President Emmanuel Macron gestures to Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May after they hold a press conference at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, on 18 January 2018. May and Macron agreed a new border security deal, through which the UK will pay more to France to stop migrants trying to reach British shores on 18 January 2018 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Transition period agreed The UK and EU agree terms for Brexit transition period on 19 March, 2018 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures No agreement on Irish border The EU and UK however failed to reach an agreement on the Irish border during the successful talks on other Brexit issues AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU attacks Mays fantasy strategy For months after the March deal is struck there is little significant progress in talks. One senior EU official tears into Britains fantasy negotiating strategy and accuses Theresa May of not even having a position on a variety of important issue Getty Brexit so far: in pictures UK releases Ireland plan Britain releases a new customs plan to solve the Northern Ireland border but Michel Barnier says it leaves unanswered questions and would not prevent a hard border EbS Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan agreed The cabinet agrees on a plan known as the "Chequers deal" on July 6 2018. The plan seeks regulatory alignment on goods and food, divergence on services, freedom from the European Courts of Justice and an end to free movement. Many were surprised that the hard Brexiteers of the cabinet would agree to this plan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan sparks resignations Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and numerous ministers resign in the days following the Chequers agreement Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Davis out, Raab in On 9 July, Dominic Raab replaces David Davis as Brexit Secretary. Raab is a keen Brexiteer and was a housing minister before taking over from Davis Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Barnier's "deal like no other" EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier claims on August 29 2018 that they are prepared to offer Britain a trade deal like no other, though he stressed that they will not divide or change the single market to accommodate Britain AP Brexit so far: in pictures "My deal or no deal" In an interview on Panorama on September 17, the Prime Minister insists that any Brexit deal will be offered to the EU on her terms. She asserts this amongst continued attacks on her approach to Brexit by Boris Johnson and the European Research Group, headed by Jacob Rees Mogg BBC/Jeff Overs Brexit so far: in pictures EU leaders reject Chequers Quite the blow was dealt to the Prime Minister at a EU leaders summit in Salzburg on September 20. European Council President Donald Tusk stated that the Chequers deal "will not work" Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures May demands respect Following the rejection of her Chequers plan the day before, the Prime Minister voiced her anger that the EU had dismissed it without offering an alternative. She stated that throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it." Getty Brexit so far: in pictures People's Vote march As the People's Vote campaign and The Independent's Final Say campaign gain traction, 700,000 people turn out in London to demand a final say on the UK's Brexit deal on October 20 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures More resignations As the Prime Minister settles on a Brexit deal, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab resigns along with Work and Pensions secretary Esther McVey and many other ministers Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Final Say petitions delivered to Downing Street People's Vote supporting MPs Chukka Umunna, Justine Greening and Caroline Lucas and The Independent editor Christian Broughton deliver over a million signatures in favour of a People's Vote to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on December 3 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures May delays vote On December 10, the Prime Minister delayed the vote on her Brexit deal as it was near certain not to pass through the Commons due to Tory rebels and lack of DUP support AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures No confidence motion Tory MPs triggered a confidence vote in the Prime Minister on December 12. She won by 200 votes to 117 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Commons rejects the deal Following the delay, the Prime Minister's deal was rejected in the Commons by a historic 230 votes AFP Brexit so far: in pictures Corbyn tables a no confidence motion Following the rejection of the Prime Minister's deal, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which the government won by a margin of 19 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Plan B The Prime Minister won the support of the commons to return to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop on January 29. In the same sitting, MPs also voted against a no-deal Brexit in a non-legally binding motion PA Brexit so far: in pictures EU council president savages Brexit campaigners who failed to plan for departure: Special place in hell There is a special place in hell for pro-Brexit campaigners who demanded Britain leave the EU without explaining how it should happen, Donald Tusk has said. The European Council president launched the scathing attack as he accused anti-EU campaigners of pushing for Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. Mr Tusk also dismissed suggestions that the EU could reopen negotiations over the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, dealing a blow to Theresa Mays hopes of securing fresh concessions as she tries to get her exit deal through parliament. Speaking in Brussels alongside Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Mr Tusk said: Ive been wondering what a special place in hell looks like for people who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. He also tweeted the accusation moments later Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU and UK announce talks to restart after Theresa May visits Brussels Both have agreed to restart Brexit talks to find a way through the deadlock in Westminster, following a visit by Theresa May to Brussels. In a joint statement the British government and European Commission said Ms May had had a robust but constructive meeting with president Jean-Claude Juncker, and that the pair would meet again before the end of the month. But the EU again refused to reopen the withdrawal agreement and its controversial backstop with any negotiations expected to focus on the future relationship between the UK and EU instead Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit strategy lost MPs voted down May's Brext plans, with a majority of 45. The prime minister did not appear in parliament to see another defeat PA Brexit so far: in pictures Labour and Conservative MPs resign and create the Independent Group Back row of Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, middle row of Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey and front row of Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Non-biding votes on amendments to Brexit motion On February 27 he house held a series of votes, unanimously calling for the UK and EU to guarantee citizens rights in a no-deal scenario AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Attorney General publishes legal advice A hammer blow for May as Geoffrey Cox said her renegotiated deal can still leave UK in backstop against its will. Mr Cox did say the prime ministers efforts had reduced the risk of the UK being trapped in the backstop indefinitely. MPs went on to vote against her deal by 391 to 242 UK Parliament/PA Brexit so far: in pictures No-deal off the table MPs rejected a no-deal Brexit by 43 votes on March 13, with cabinet ministers rebelling in another humiliating defeat for Theresa May. A day later they voted in favour of the prime minister seeking an extension to Article 50 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures House speaker bans May from third Commons vote on same Brexit deal John Bercow sensationally told Theresa May he would stop her making another attempt to pass her Brexit deal unless she has secured changes. The Speaker said a further meaningful vote would be ruled out of order if the motion was the same or substantially the same under an ancient convention to stop the government bullying parliament on issues MPs have rejected Parliament Live Brexit so far: in pictures May writes to Tusk The prime minister wrote to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, to ask for a three-month extension to give her more time to try to get her deal through parliament. However the European Commission advises the EU27 should offer a short extension to May 23 or a longer one meaning the UK would participate in European elections 10 Downing Street/AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures European Council summit Theresa Mays request to extend triggering Article 50 until the end of June was rejected by the EU, and instead offered a shorter time frame. She accepted the offer of a delay until May 22 if her withdrawal deal is approved by Parliament. If MPs rejected it for a third time, the EU said Britain must propose a new plan by April 12. Ms May said she will not support a long delay because it would mean Britain participating in elections for the European Parliament Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brussels confirms preparations for a no-deal Brexit are completed They warned that it is increasingly likely the UK will crash out. In a statement the European Commission (EC) said preparedness and contingency work, which the EC has been conducting since December 2017, was now finished. The announcement came days after EU leaders agreed to a request by Theresa May to extend the UKs Brexit date AFP Brexit so far: in pictures May resigns Reuters Even more critical was the intervention in the chamber from Dominic Grieve, who also announced he would now not rebel against the government, to cries of shame from Labour benches. The ex-attorney general admitted that he had been somewhat persuaded by the Tory whips argument that parliament should not tie the governments hands in negotiations, and also argued that Mr Daviss statement amounted to an obvious acknowledgement of the sovereignty of [parliament] over the executive in black and white language. But Tory Remainer Antoinette Sandbach said she would stick by the rebel amendment to provide a means of avoiding catastrophe if negotiations with Brussels break down. Not to have a process in place for what would happen should negotiations collapse would be irresponsible, she warned. Labour MP Naz Shah attends parliament in a wheelchair to vote in crunch debate on Brexit Conservative former minister Anna Soubry also rebelled, insisting that MPs power to reject the governments plans must be enshrined in statute, while senior Tory MP Sarah Wollaston said she was disappointed. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Davis of trying to sideline parliament when its voice is most needed. He added: Labour has long argued that parliament should have a proper role in the Brexit negotiations and a meaningful vote on the terms upon which we leave the European Union. We will continue to make that argument and press our case at every opportunity. PMQs: Jeremy Corbyn says Theresa May's Brexit figures 'are so dodgy they belong on the side of a bus' Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said the vote would strengthen Ms Mays hand at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on 28-29 June. Following the vote the North East Somerset MP, who heads the Tory backbench European Research Group, told Sky News: This means the prime minister goes to negotiations in June with full strength, with the ability to say the legislation to leave the EU, under EU law and UK law, is now fully in place. Fellow Brexiteer John Baron MP said: The government success ensures that a no deal outcome remains possible. This is important. Whilst most of us want a good trade deal, to have ruled out the no deal option would have guaranteed a worse outcome. The EU should take from this that we now mean business when negotiating. The whole row was sparked by the Lords last month passing a plan to give parliament power to direct Ms Mays actions if she failed to seal a Brexit deal later this year, meaning it would be unlikely she could take the UK out of Europe with no deal. Ms May was set to lose a vote on that plan in the Commons last Tuesday, which would have made it law, and had also rejected a compromise from Mr Grieve but in a last-minute move that saw her avoid a major defeat, she met pro-EU rebels and promised to bring forward her own compromise proposals. The MPs left the meeting believing parliament would at least be given power to approve or reject her approach in the event no deal is reached with the EU, but what was published earlier this week gave them no binding vote. With the issue back in the Commons this week, whips were determined not to give more ground to avoid a defeat, with Mr Daviss letter constituting their final bid at a compromise. Close PMQs: Jeremy Corbyn says Theresa May's Brexit figures 'are so dodgy they belong on the side of a bus' Theresa May has won a crunch Commons vote on a key area of Brexit policy after Tory rebels fell into line at the last minute. Pro-EU Conservatives had threatened to rebel to ensure parliament is given a greater say in the case of a no-deal Brexit, but their ringleader, Dominic Grieve, voted against his own amendment after declaring himself satisfied with the assurances he had been given by ministers. With the vote thought to be too close to call, MPs who were heavily pregnant were forced to traipse through the division lobbies. Others who have been ill, including Labour's Naz Shah, also had to drag themselves to the Commons after the government refused to honour a convention that unwell MPs can be counted in the Palace of Westminster car park. Earlier, Ms May clashed with Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs over her announcement of more funding for the NHS, with the Labour leader claiming the prime minister's figures were so dodgy they belong on the side of a bus. As it happened... Theresa May is facing a knife-edge vote in the Commons today over plans to give MPs a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal. Negotiations between rebels on the Tory backbenches are expected to go down to the wire as Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, also attempts to persuade his Leave-backing MPs not to vote with the government. What is it? The issue for debate in the Commons today is an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill the governments flagship Brexit legislation that aims to transpose EU law onto the UK statue book after Britain formally leaves the bloc in March 2019. What does the amendment aim to do? It says that if Parliament rejects the deal reached by the government then the Commons will vote on a ministers statement setting out the governments next steps. If no deal is reached by Ms May on the 21 January 2019 then a minister must also make a statement, outlining the governments plans to proceed. The Commons must also approve this. By implication, it would essentially mean that a no deal would be off the cards given there is no parliamentary majority for the option. Parliament could also use the amendment to appeal to the EU27 to seek an extension to the Article 50 process and extend the negotiations. The Institute for Government adds: "The clause also sets out specific deadlines for the Government for agreeing and legislating for the withdrawal agreement with the EU. If the government does not meet those deadlines, the amendment says that it "must follow any direction" approved by a resolution in the House of Commons and considered in the House of Lords. This gives the Commons not the Lords the power to decide the next steps for the government." Why is it in the Commons today? The Lords voted on Monday by a landslide majority of 119 to give MPs a meaningful vote. Through the system of parliamentary ping-pong, the legislation has now returned to the Commons and the vote later this afternoon is one of the last unresolved parliamentary hurdles of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill. According to the Institute for Government, so far, parliament has spent around 270 hours debating the bill. If the issue of the meaningful vote is resolved today then the bill will be able to move to its next stage and receive Royal Assent. Why is it up for debate? Defeat for Ms May would be seen as a major blow to her already fragile political authority so the Tory party has put in place in three-line whip, ordering its MPs to vote against the Lords amendment. Tensions also heightened on Sunday after Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, suggested the Conservative rebels could ultimately collapse the government if they disagree with the final outcome of the exit talks. Referring to the amendment in an interview broadcast on Sunday, the prime minister said: Parliament cannot tie the hands of government in negotiations. What happens if it fails? The government intends to offer parliament a vote if no deal is reached before the end of January, but, crucially, it will be a neutral motion and MPs will not be empowered to amend it and send the prime minister back to Brussels or request an extension of Article 50. Theresa May has condemned Donald Trumps policy of keeping migrant children in cages at the US border and vowed to challenge him when they meet next month. The prime minister bowed to growing pressure to speak out, condemning the practice as wrong and putting it on the agenda for the US presidents controversial visit to the UK. The pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing. This is wrong, this is not something that we agree with, she told MPs. This is not the United Kingdoms approach. Indeed, when I was home secretary, I ended the routine detention of families with children. But Ms May refused to cancel the visit, on 13 July, arguing that opposition MPs consistently put pressure on her to take the opportunity to confront Mr Trump on issues of concern. We do that, she said. When we disagree with the United States, we tell them so. But we also have key shared interests. It is right that we are able to sit down and discuss those with the president a president of a country with which we will continue to have a long-standing special relationship. The attack came, at prime ministers questions, 24 hours after Ms Mays spokesman had refused to criticise the policy of separating children from their parents at the US-Mexican border. The zero tolerance approach to illegal border crossings requires adult migrants to be held in custody, pending automatic prosecution away from their children. There has been growing worldwide horror over video footage showing the migrant children held in wire cages and sitting on concrete floors. 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 The deeply distressing controversy was raised by Ian Blackford, the SNPs Westminster leader, who said: Infants as young as 18 months are being caged like animals. Mr Blackford pointed out that a former head of US immigration had admitted that hundreds of these children [would] never to be reunited with their parents. Orphaned by the United States government. Is the prime minister still intending to roll out the red carpet for President Trump? he asked. In reply, Ms May said the caging of the children would be among a range of issues I will be discussing with President Trump. We are able to have those discussions so that, when we disagree with what they are doing, we say so, she said, defending the two-day visit. Former Labour leader Ed Miliband also asked Ms May about the UKs response amid surprise that Jeremy Corbyn failed to take the opportunity to do so. Mr Corbyn instead used all of his six questions to attack the prime minister over her unfunded pledge to hike NHS spending by 20bn a year by 2023-24. Mr Corbyn has previously described the separation policy as tragic and shocking, with more than 2,000 children divided from their families in just six weeks on the southern US border. The US has also provoked anger by announcing that it would withdraw from the UN human rights council. People who take upskirt pictures could face two years in prison and be added to the sex offenders register under a new bill being laid before parliament. Theresa May confirmed that a government bill to tackle upskirting will be introduced in the Commons on Thursday, allowing MPs to debate the issue before the summer recess. Ministers intervened to curb a major outcry after Conservative MP Christopher Chope blocked a backbench bill to ban the practice of taking surreptitious pictures up womens skirts and dresses because of his long-standing objection to the private members bill system. Recommended May to introduce new upskirting law after block by Tory MP Both his parliamentary and constituency offices were later festooned with underwear in protest. Speaking during prime ministers questions, Ms May said: Upskirting is a hideous invasion of privacy. It leaves victims feeling degraded and distressed. We will adopt this as a government bill. We will introduce the bill to the Commons this Thursday, with a second reading before the summer recess. But we are not stopping there. We will also ensure that the most serious offenders are added to the sex offenders register and victims should be in no doubt that their complaints will be taken seriously and perpetrators will be punished. Upskirting can be prosecuted through laws such as outraging public decency or harassment, but the new bill would make it a dedicated sexual offence. It carries a two-year prison sentence in Scotland, where it is a specific offence, and the government has already confirmed its support for a maximum sentence of two years for repeat offenders, bringing it in line with other voyeurism charges. The move comes after peers heard that men wearing kilts would also be protected by a new law. Speaking in the Lords, Baroness Vere of Norbiton said the ban would protect the bodily dignity of both men and women, which would include kilt upskirting. Sir Christopher, who was knighted in the New Years Honours list, insisted he was being scapegoated and he was merely acting on his long-held principle to oppose backbench bills when he blocked the upskirting bill, tabled by Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse. He said: The suggestion that I am some kind of pervert is a complete travesty of the truth. Its defamatory of my character and its very depressing some of my colleagues have been perpetuating that in the past 48 hours. The campaign has been led by Gina Martin, 26, who created a petition to make it a dedicated offence after someone took photos under her skirt at a music festival last year. Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines 10 show all Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines 1/ 10 The Sun, March 9 2016 This wholly false headline merited the first ruling by IPSO (the press regulator) under clause 1 of the revised Editors Code of Practice. Clause 1 makes specific reference to newspapers printing headlines not supported by the text 2/ 10 Daily Mail, November 4 2016 In perhaps the most notorious front page of the past few years, the Mail derides the High Court judges who ruled that parliament must have a vote on whether to trigger article 50 and start the Brexit process 3/ 10 Daily Express, November 4 2016 In the Express take on the same story, they manage to incorporate the Union Jack, allude to First World War propaganda, invoke memories of Churchill and, of course, state Brexit means Brexit 4/ 10 The Sun, March 29 2017 The Sun marked the day on which Mrs May triggered article 50 by projecting a huge and terrible pun on to the Cliffs of Dover 5/ 10 The Sun, April 4 2017 Referencing their notorious eurosceptic headline from 1990 (See: Up Yours Delors), the Sun stokes the flames of the brief Gibraltar dispute, a dispute in which Spain, the supposed aggressors, only joined to note that there was no need for it 6/ 10 Daily Mail, April 19 2017 This headline followed Mrs Mays snap election announcement, which gave the Mail hope that dissenting opinions on Brexit would disappear 7/ 10 Daily Mail, December 14 2017 In recent months, the Mail has often forgone catchy headlines in favour of rambling rants, this is an early example aimed at Tory Brexit rebels 8/ 10 Daily Mail, January 31 2018 This headline (?) takes aim at the Lords over their repeated amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill 9/ 10 The Sun, June 12 2018 On the day that the EU Withdrawal Bill is to be debated in the Commons, the Sun offers two choices to MPs, desperately including all conceivable imagery that might make Brits feel patriotic, which apparently includes the Loch Ness Monster 10/ 10 Daily Express, June 12 2018 On the same day, the Express lets MPs know what the consequences of the vote may be She said: This law change has happened because it was important to me and I realised it was important to so many of us. I kept going because I didnt want to brush it off again, and say this is just part of life. I kept going because we needed a change. Protesters heckled Donald Trumps homeland security secretary while she was eating at a Mexican restaurant as the outcry over a controversial policy of separating families at the Mexican border mounts. Kirstjen Nielsen was taunted by a group of demonstrators who chanted shame! and noted the irony of her dining at a Mexican restaurant in Washington DC on Tuesday night. Ms Nielsen, who is responsible for implementing Mr Trumps efforts to axe immigration, could be seen ignoring the protesters and did not appear to respond to them at all during an almost 11-minute clip. How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as youre deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people that come here seeking asylum in the United States? one person shouted in the video which was posted by the group Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America. If kids dont eat in peace, you dont eat in peace, the demonstrators shouted. We call on you to end family separation and abolish ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), another protester said. The demonstrators played an audio clip of Central American children crying after they were separated from their parents at the border. How does that make you feel? Do you hear the babies crying? a demonstrator asked. Ms Nielsen eventually left the restaurant while accompanied by an entourage. Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America, which claimed responsibility for the protest, released a statement from a member of its steering committee Margaret McLaughlin. We will not stand by and let Secretary Nielsen dine in peace, while she is directing her employees to tear little girls away from their mothers and crying boys away from their fathers at our border, she said. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty "Secretary Nielsen and everyone else who has carried out these brutal and cold-blooded orders to rip apart families should never be allowed to eat and drink in public again. "These barbarous acts must end and those at the helm must be held accountable. While Secretary Nielsens dinner may have been ruined, it is nothing compared to the horrors she has inflicted on innocent families." Ms Nielsen sought to defend the administrations policy in a speech on Monday remaining unremorseful about the actions of the administration. We will not apologise for the job we do, or for the job law enforcement does, for doing the job that the American people expect us to do, she said. According to the Department of Homeland Security, between 5 May and 9 June of this year more than 2,000 children were separated under the new zero tolerance policy. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the zero tolerance policy which refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. Since May, the Trump administration has charged every adult caught crossing the border illegally entering the US at the Mexican border with federal crimes, instead of referring those with children mainly to immigration courts in the way that former administrations did. On Sunday, Democratic legislators joined hundreds of protesters in New Jersey and Texas to demonstrate outside immigration detention facilities for young people. Ms Nielsen retweeted a message from the US president on Tuesday night, saying she had done a fabulous job at a news conference on Monday. She also tweeted she would work tirelessly until our broken immigration system is fixed, our borders are secure and families can stay together. Theyd had a plan: Elsa Johana Ortiz Enriquez packed up what little she had in Guatemala and travelled across Mexico with her eight-year-old son, Anthony. In a group, they rafted across the Rio Grande into Texas. From there, they intended to join her boyfriend, Edgar, whod found a construction job in the United States. Except it all went wrong. The Border Patrol was waiting as they made their way from the border 26 May, and soon mother and son were in a teeming detention center in southern Texas. The next part unfolded so swiftly that, even now, Ms Ortiz cannot grasp it: Anthony was sent to a shelter for migrant children. And she was put on a plane back to Guatemala. I am completely devastated, Ms Ortiz, 25, said in one of a series of video interviews last week from her family home in Guatemala. Her eyes swollen from weeping and her voice subdued, she said she had no idea when or how she would see her son again. As the US government continues to separate families as part of a stepped-up enforcement programme against those who cross the border illegally, authorities say that parents are not supposed to be deported without their children. But immigration lawyers say that has happened in several cases. And the separations can be traumatic for parents who now have no clear path to recovering their children. From our work on the border, we have seen a significant increase in the number of moms separated from their children, and many of them have reported they didnt even have a chance to say goodbye before the separation, said Laura Tuell, the global pro bono counsel at Jones Day, an international law firm providing assistance to refugees in Texas, whose lawyers spoke with Ms Ortiz. Some of the women we have encountered in detention at the border have reported facing pressure to deport voluntarily in order to be reunified with their children, she said. Critics say that Ms Ortizs saga is the latest indication that the administrations new enforcement strategy was rolled out without adequate planning. The processing and detention of migrant families can involve three Homeland Security agencies Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Citizenship and Immigration Services as well as the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. Poor coordination among them has made it hard to track children and parents once their paths diverge in the labyrinthine system. I cannot convey enough how much utter chaos there is, said Michelle Brane, director of migrant rights and justice at the Womens Refugee Commission, a research and advocacy organisation that monitors immigration issues. The government does not have a proper system in place to track families and coordinate. In some cases, parents and children have gone weeks without being able to communicate with one another and without knowing one others whereabouts. From 19 April to 31 May, a total of 1,995 children who arrived with 1,940 adults were separated from their parents, according to administration officials. Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Show all 14 1 /14 Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Immigrant children, many of whom are separated form their parents, are housed in Texas' tent city Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented migrants ride on the top of a freight train referred to as the beast, or La Bestia Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A cage inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Texas Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy All new agents must complete a months-long training course at the New Mexico facility before assuming their posts at Border Patrol stations, mostly along the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence in the US Man looks through US-Mexico border fence into the US in Tijuana, Mexico Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence US Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the US-Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on in La Joya, Texas Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy US Border Patrol instructor yells at trainees after their initial arrival to the academy Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Memorial service in Guatemala Families attend a memorial service for two boys who were kidnapped and killed in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Crime drives emigration from Guatemala to the United States, as families seek refuge from the danger Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Arrests on the border Undocumented immigrants comfort each other after being caught by Border Patrol agents near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Detention holding facility A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the US Border Patrol Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican farm workers Mexican migrant workers harvest organic parsley at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Colorado Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican family in Arizona A Mexican immigrant family sits in the living room of their rented home in Tuscon, Arizona. The family that Arizona's new tough immigrant law had created a climate of fear in the immigrant community. Getty Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the zero tolerance" policy officially in early May to stanch the flow of migrants, mainly from Central American countries like Guatemala. It calls for prosecuting nearly all of those who are found to have entered the United States illegally. Previously, most border-crossers who were caught would have faced deportation but not criminal charges, and would not have been separated from their children. Children whose parents have been arrested are transferred to the custody of the Health and Human Services Department, whose staff screens them, finds housing and remains responsible for them. From that point, migrant parents and children become separate legal cases in the maze of government bureaucracy, and keeping them linked has proved challenging. Different legal protections are afforded to juveniles and adults in the immigration system, and as a result, reuniting families can take months or longer, several legal experts said. In federal court, parents typically plead guilty to the misdemeanour offence of illegal entry. Many are then likely to accept expedited removal from the country, in the hope of being reunited quickly with their children. But children cannot be subject to expedited removal; they are automatically entitled to a full hearing before an immigration judge, and their cases take longer to resolve. Once the parent and child are apart, they are on separate legal tracks, said John Sandweg, who was acting director of ICE during the Obama administration. Reunification becomes particularly difficult when a parent is deported without the child and is no longer on US soil, Mr Sandweg said; in those cases, there is a very high risk that parents and children will be permanently separated. Immigration officials say parents are not supposed to be deported without their children, and if this occurs, parents have two options: They can have a family member who is living in the United States take sponsorship and custody of the child, or the child can be flown home and delivered into the custody of authorities in the parents home country and from there to the parent. Normally, an ICE spokeswoman said, the agency works with the Health and Human Services department to reunite the parent and child at the time of removal, and with the consulate to assist the parent with obtaining a travel document for the child. In any case, she said, the agency has procedures in place to make sure detained parents have either telephone or in-person contact with proceedings related to their child. A government hotline has been set up to help parents locate their children. A spokesman for Health and Human Services said that the department does not discuss individual cases of minors in its facilities. Ms Ortizs greatest fear is that she wont be able to return to the United States to claim custody of her son, and that without her intervention, he wont be returned to her. Ms Ortiz provided detailed accounts and documents that attest to her detention, criminal prosecution and separation from her son. The story of how the two of them came to be in the United States involves years of difficult single parenthood in Guatemala, with both economic setbacks and threats of violence from the rising lawlessness in her community. She gave birth to Anthony David Tobar Ortiz on 8 August 2009, in a village in the northeastern part of the country, she said, and his father abandoned them eight months later. I did whatever job I could to raise him, " said Ms Ortiz, who worked at a bakery and lived with her mother. A few years ago, Ms Ortiz fell in love with a good man, she said, who treated her son as his own child. The man, named Edgar, moved to the United States to work in construction and had been sending money to help support them. He asked that his last name not be disclosed because he fears repercussions from federal authorities. This year, Ms Ortiz, fearful of the thugs who were increasingly preying on people in her neighbourhood, decided it would be best to take her son and join Edgar in the United States. They made it to Texas safely, but shortly afterward, as they walked along a road, they were intercepted by border agents, arrested and taken to a station. Ms Ortiz said she was interviewed the next day by border officials, and that is when she was told her son would be separated from her. I begged, please dont do this, dont take him, she said. About an hour later, her sons name was called. Mother and son stood up, and over Ms Ortizs loud protests, Anthony was led away. A 12-year-old girl went with him. A few days later, Ms Ortiz said, she boarded a bus filled with migrants and was taken to a federal court in South Texas, where she pleaded guilty to illegal entry. Ms Ortiz was later transferred to another facility, in Laredo, Texas, where she was able to make telephone calls. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty She contacted Edgar to tell him that their plan had gone awry, and that she and her son had been arrested and then separated. She was crying desperately, Edgar recalled in a telephone interview. Ms Ortiz contacted a Guatemalan consular official, who was reassuring. He told me, if they deport you, you will go with your son, she said. I believed him. I believed that they would give me my son. By this time, it had been more than a week since she had seen Anthony, and she still had no idea where he was. At one point, an immigration officer handed her a handwritten note on a pink slip of paper with the words, Call Shelter Son and a telephone number. But before Ms Ortiz could get access to a phone to make the call, she said, another officer summoned her and several other women to inform them that they were booked on a deportation flight that was leaving shortly. What about Anthony? No one would listen, she said. Ms Ortiz recalled sobbing heavily as she reluctantly climbed the steps to the plane that would take her and dozens of other deported migrants back to Guatemala early in June. She said she was the last to board. Please dont put me on the plane, she remembered pleading over and over in Spanish. I cant go without my son. I was shaking, I could barely walk, Ms Ortiz recalled. She said that a US immigration officer escorting her across the tarmac was also in tears. She told me to talk to the boss when I got inside the plane, Ms Ortiz said. But he did not listen. I cried the entire flight, she said. When I arrived at the airport in Guatemala, I was almost fainting. They gave me a tranquilliser. She phoned Edgar from Guatemala the next day. She was devastated, destroyed, he recalled. Crying that the child was left behind. He reached out to a Jones Day attorney, who provided him with the government hotline number. After several attempts, Edgar got a woman on the line who asked for the boys name and date of birth. She told me he is fine he has clothes, shoes and his own bed, we are taking good care of him, Edgar recalled. Later that day, a caseworker from the shelter called the mobile number of the boys grandfather, Jose Ortiz, in Guatemala the only telephone number the boy had memorised. She put Anthony on the phone, and his grandfather said he seemed cheerful. He shared how he was learning English, playing games and being well treated, Ms Ortiz said. Finally, on Thursday, she got to speak to Anthony herself. She told him to be good. They joked about an imaginary character the clown who they always pretended slept between them in the bed they shared. But she said Anthony seemed worried about her. Mammy, are they treating you well in the house where you are at? Anthony asked. Yes, she said, knowing that he would not know not until the shelter workers told him, and she dreaded how hed respond when they did that the house was in Guatemala. The New York Times A Californian couple has raised more than $5m (3.8m) in three days to help reunite immigrant families who have been separated at the US border, after an outpouring of support from Facebook users. Charlotte and Dave Willner set up the fundraiser after they saw a viral photo of an anguished two-year-old Honduran girl looking up at her mother, who was being searched by a US Border Patrol agent in southern Texas. The couple have a two-year-old daughter of their own, and the image made them want to help the families being separated under the Trump administrations zero-tolerance immigration policy. On Saturday morning, they started a Facebook fundraising page for the Refugee and Immigrant Centre for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), a nonprofit organisation which provides low-cost legal defence services to immigrant and refugee families in Texas. The Willners set a modest goal of $1,500 (1,100). Three days later, it has garnered more than $5m (3.8m) from more than 130,000 people, stunning the staff at RAICES. Weve had moments of ecstasy and there have been a lot of tears in response to this outpouring of support, Jonathan Ryan, executive director of RAICES, said in a phone interview. But those moments of joy are curtailed by a realisation of great responsibility. The funds will go towards legal representation for immigrant children and parents in Texas, as well as towards paying parents bond so they can be released from detention centres and reunited with their children. The organisation which has about 50 lawyers on staff plans to go on a hiring spree and fund training for volunteer lawyers willing to travel to Texas to assist, Mr Ryan said. Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Show all 14 1 /14 Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Immigrant children, many of whom are separated form their parents, are housed in Texas' tent city Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented migrants ride on the top of a freight train referred to as the beast, or La Bestia Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A cage inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Texas Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy All new agents must complete a months-long training course at the New Mexico facility before assuming their posts at Border Patrol stations, mostly along the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence in the US Man looks through US-Mexico border fence into the US in Tijuana, Mexico Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence US Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the US-Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on in La Joya, Texas Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy US Border Patrol instructor yells at trainees after their initial arrival to the academy Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Memorial service in Guatemala Families attend a memorial service for two boys who were kidnapped and killed in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Crime drives emigration from Guatemala to the United States, as families seek refuge from the danger Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Arrests on the border Undocumented immigrants comfort each other after being caught by Border Patrol agents near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Detention holding facility A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the US Border Patrol Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican farm workers Mexican migrant workers harvest organic parsley at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Colorado Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican family in Arizona A Mexican immigrant family sits in the living room of their rented home in Tuscon, Arizona. The family that Arizona's new tough immigrant law had created a climate of fear in the immigrant community. Getty The Trump administration policy, which aims to criminally prosecute all immigrants crossing the border illegally, has resulted in nearly 2,000 children being taken away from their parents in six weeks. Public outcry over family separations at the border has risen in recent days as childrens experiences in custody have been documented. A recording of children calling out desperately for their parents after being separated from them was released Monday by ProPublica and was met with immediate outrage. Donald Trump has defended the policy by saying that people crossing the border could be murderers and thieves and so much else. Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of Homeland Security, said in a news briefing on Monday the only way the practice would change is through legislation in Congress, even though there is no law requiring that families be separated at the border. On Tuesday afternoon, the Facebook page called Reunite an immigrant parent with their child was receiving about $3,000 per minute, according to a spokeswoman for the Willners, who are both former Facebook employees. When we look at the faces of these children, we cant help but see our own childrens faces, Ms Willner told The Mercury News of San Jose, California. The Willners page is the largest single fundraiser in Facebooks history, said Roya Winner, a Facebook spokeswoman. Several broader campaigns made up of multiple fundraisers, like one created in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, have raised more. Other single fundraisers which have recently been highly successful include a Norwegian campaign for Doctors Without Borders, which garnered $2 million, and an effort to raise money for medical aid to Palestinians in Gaza, which raised $1.7m (1.3m). Photos of humanitarian crises have galvanised the public for decades, but internet fundraising platforms have enabled donations to stream in. In 2015, images of a 3-year-old Syrian Kurdish boy whose body had washed up on a beach in Turkey caused a spike in donations to humanitarian efforts addressing the Syrian civil war. The average number of daily donations to the Red Cross relief effort in Syria increased 100-fold in the week after the images were published compared with the week before. Mr Ryan said he did not yet know when the millions of dollars in donations would reach RAICES, but said it is already starting to deploy its lawyers to assist detained immigrants and their children. Costs for this kind of legal assistance can add up quickly, he said. Bond for a single detained immigrant can be set at $10,000 (7,600). Lawyers must locate the parents, travel to detention centres and meticulously prepare applications for asylum. These people need lawyers, Mr Ryan said. Beyond the punditry and politics, each person suffering from this policy has a huge legal case to begin to prepare for. The New York Times Barack Obama has issued a plea for compassion towards refugees as thousands of migrant children have been separated from their parents at Americas southern border. To watch those families broken apart in real time puts to us a very simple question: are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents arms, or are we a nation that values families, and works to keep them together? the former president wrote on Facebook. A zero tolerance crackdown by the Trump administration has broken apart immigrant families as the parents are placed into criminal proceedings, spurring global outrage and a bipartisan calls in Congress to rescind the policy. While Mr Obama did not directly reference the Trump administration, timing this post to World Refugee Day, his exhortation to treat immigrant families with kindness was a clear rebuke to his successors stringent stance. Imagine if you'd been born in a country where you grew up fearing for your life, and eventually the lives of your children. A place where you finally found yourself so desperate to flee persecution, violence, and suffering that you'd be willing to travel thousands of miles under cover of darkness, enduring dangerous conditions, propelled forward by that very human impulse to create for our kids a better life," Mr Obama wrote. It was a marked contrast in tone from Donald Trump, who typically speaks of immigrants in terms of crime and earlier this week decried migrants who infest America. Mr Obama has a mixed record on immigration, deporting a record number of people but also embracing a shift away from targeting people for deportation who had not committed crimes or had deep roots in America. Nancy Pelosi says majority of America and Republicans support protecting DREAMers His administrations approach to refugees differed dramatically from Mr Trumps. After the Syrian civil war displaced millions during Mr Obamas final years in office, the president announced in late 2016 that he would seek to take in 110,000 refugees. A year later, the Trump administration slashed the limit to 45,000 people. The administration has sought to block immigrants from a number of Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. Mr Trump and officials have characterised the asylum system as riddled with fraud. Donald Trump has told Republicans trying to pass immigration legislation he is behind them 1,000 per cent and that he would sign either of two bills they are working on, amid bipartisan and international outrage over the policy causing children to be separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border. Members of Congress are trying to fulfil the presidents demand for immigration reform while bringing an end to the controversy caused by his administrations zero tolerance stance toward migrants and asylum seekers entering the country without permission, all of whom, attorney general Jeff Sessions has said, will face criminal charges. Their children cannot legally be taken to jail, so are detained elsewhere. Images and recordings of very young children crying for their parents while housed in cages and sleeping under foil blankets have galvanised opposition to Mr Trumps policy, leading to protests including against homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who was disturbed by cries of Shame! as she ate at a Mexican restaurant on Tuesday. Some 2,300 children have been forcibly separated from their parents since May, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) figures showed. Toddlers are detained in so-called tender-age shelters, where lawyers and doctors described play rooms of crying pre-school age children in emotional distress. Recommended Trump campaign boss mocks disabled girl taken from family at border Steven Wagner, of the DHS, sought to defend the conditions in which the children were kept, saying: We have specialised facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs, and tender age children as we define as under 13 would fall into that category. Theyre not government facilities per se, and they have very well-trained clinicians, and those facilities meet state licensing standards for child welfare agencies, and theyre staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs particularly of the younger children. But at least one of the detention centres, in Brownsville, Texas, is inside a building that was previously a supermarket, US media reported. A poll suggested the policy was deeply unpopular with the American public, with just 28 per cent of those questioned between 16 and 19 June telling Reuters/Ipsos researchers they supported it. Pope Francis, in a pointed intervention on Wednesday, called it immoral and said that populism is not the answer to Americas immigration crisis. A string of state governors have refused to deploy National Guard resources to the border, with Charlie Baker, the Republican governor of Massachusetts, calling the separation policy cruel and inhuman. Mr Trump said on Tuesday he did not want to separate families but that his administrations hand had been forced by loopholes introduced by Democrats. Yet the policy has been repeatedly described by officials, including Mr Sessions and John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, as an intentional deterrent, and supporters of Mr Trump say he could end the separations. Senator Lindsey Graham has said the billionaire could stop this policy with a phone call. Mr Trump continued to blame his opponents for the policy on Tuesday and defended it using incendiary language. He tweeted: Democrats are the problem. They dont care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. On Wednesday he painted his approach as anti-crime, retreading familiar territory. He tweeted: The Fake News is not mentioning the safety and security of our Country when talking about illegal immigration. Our immigration laws are the weakest and worst anywhere in the world, and the Dems will do anything not to change them & to obstruct-want open borders which means crime! At the very start of his presidential campaign, Mr Trump attracted a storm of criticism for saying Mexico was sending rapists over the border. When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best, he said in June 2015. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. As candidate and president, he has long cited the predations of MS-13, a gang with roots in central America, as one reason for his tough approach to migration. 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 Republicans fear a voter backlash at Novembers mid-term elections if the separations issue is not solved. But even if they pass an immigration bill in the House it is likely to stall in the Senate, where Democrats oppose Mr Trumps hardline stance and, particularly, his desire for a border wall between the US and Mexico. On Tuesday, members of Congress met with the president to discuss how to move forward, and party leaders scrambled to draw up a revised version of their broader immigration plans that would keep children in detention longer than currently permitted but together with their families. The major change unveiled on Tuesday would relax rules limiting the amount of time children can be held to 20 days, and allow them to be detained indefinitely with their parents. Only one of the two Republican bills would create a path to citizenship for migrants brought to the US illegally as children the so-called dreamers. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals scheme is now being phased out and Mr Trump has called on Congress to create new protections for dreamers. Also on Tuesday, a paediatrician based in Colorado posted a Facebook message describing the trauma suffered by three young children separated from their parents, who she said had been detained by authorities. Screaming children heard crying for parents at US detention centre after being separated at border under Trump policy, in distressing audio recording Dr Tara Neubrand, of Denver, said: These children, in all cases, clung so tightly, and so completely, to their foster mothers, both in the emergency department and at home, that they were literally unable to be put down. They didnt explore the world, they were terrified that their world would be broken for a second time. Their trauma, and the direct effect it was having on their development, was obvious. One foster mother told me that she couldnt figure out how to bathe the little girl properly. Since she would scream every time she tried to leave her or put her down, she couldnt safely get her into the bathtub. These were experienced foster families. They understood and had dealt with traumatised children in the past. This was not new territory for them. What they hadnt dealt with was the complete lack of a timeline or plan for reconciliation. Trump administration officials have admitted they do not yet have a plan for bringing separated families back together. Mr Wagner, the DHS acting assistant secretary, said: Were still working through the experience of reunifying kids with their parents after adjudication [of their cases]. Dr Neubrand admitted she could not independently verify the information given to her by the foster parents. Additional reporting by agencies Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending the controversial policy of family separation at the US-Mexico border after days of public outrage and bipartisan criticism. In an apparent snub to Congressional Democrats, whom Mr Trump repeatedly, falsely blamed for the continuation of the policy, the executive order is titled "Affording Congress the Opportunity to Address Family Separation". The executive order, however, does not actually eliminate the underlying issue: Attorney General Jeff Sessions zero tolerance policy on immigration. The reversal comes after the controversial policy had led to more than 2,000 children to be separated from their families after they crossed the border illegally since last month. The parents have been charged with a crime, even those seeking asylum in the US, and children are unable to enter the US criminal justice system. With the new executive order, "family unity" will be maintained "where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources". The White House has not immediately responded to a request for comment on the matter, however the president told journalists during unscheduled remarks earlier in the day at a cabinet meeting: Were looking to keep families together. Very important. Were going to be signing an executive order. We are also going to count on Congress, obviously, but we are signing an executive order in a little while. He said he planned to act before leaving to Minnesota for a political rally this evening. He maintained though that the US will maintain toughness or our country will be overrun by people, by crime, by all of the things that we dont stand for and that we dont want. Mr Trump has referred to certain undocumented immigrants as animals in the past, saying he was only speaking of MS-13 gang members but critics took it to imply xenophobia. Trump's US immigration policy explained I think you have to understand, were keeping families together but we have to keep our borders strong. We will be overrun with crime and with people that should not be in our country, the president repeated. Vice President Mike Pence, also present at the Cabinet meeting, once again repeated a lie told by administration officials over and over again in the wake of public uproar over the family separation policy. Mr Pence said it was the law to separate children from families. However, there is no US immigration law or court precedent that compels the federal government to do so. The policy laid out in May 2018 by Mr Sessions essentially made seeking asylum which according to US law requires entry into the country first a crime. When parents are detained within the criminal justice system, it necessitates separating children from them. The dilemma is that if youre weak, if youre weak, which some people would like you to be, if youre really, really pathetically weak, the countrys going to be overrun with millions of people. And if youre strong, then you dont have any heart. Thats a tough dilemma. Perhaps I would rather be strong, but thats a tough dilemma, Mr Trump continued as a response to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham calling US immigration law a mess. Mr Trump has also been repeatedly, falsely blaming Democrats for the continuation of the policy and said that he wanted a wholesale change to US immigration policy not just a temporary solution - which would be to stop the active separation. The new executive order appears to be just that, however. During the Cabinet meeting he, as other administration officials have been doing for weeks, also conflated the issue of protecting unaccompanied minors from human trafficking with the separated children once again. The administration, through the forthcoming executive order and before, has the ability to unilaterally stop family separation. The president said during the Cabinet meeting that the administration is having a lot of problems with Democrats that dont want to vote for anything. They dont care about lack of security. They really would like to have open borders where anybody in the world can just flow in, including from the Middle East, from anybody anywhere they can just flow into our country. It was Mr Trump who said only days ago that he would not support a moderate bill proposed by his own partys member in the House because Democrats would not come to the negotiating table. The White House later said the president was confused and would support the legislation. "Under current law, we have only two policy options to respond to this massive crisis. We can either release all illegal immigrant families and minors who show up at the border from Central America or we can arrest the adults for the federal crime of illegal entry. Those are the only two options, totally open borders or criminal prosecution for law-breaking," Mr Trump had said before changing his mind and exercising the ability to change the Department of Justice policy he has had all along. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty While the administration of predecessor Barack Obama did detain undocumented immigrants, families were not separated in facilities, kept for a maximum of 20 days, and released pending their court or asylum hearings. What may have prompted Mr Trump sign the order was the massive public outcry after a series of audio, video, and reports of crying children in detention facilities begging to see their family members as well as the emotional trauma inflicted upon them. Coupled with public criticism from fellow Republicans, the Trump administration could have seen the public relations disaster's impact on the upcoming midterm elections in November 2018. Even First Lady Melania Trump issued a rare statement which implied she had pushed the president to keep families together. Her communications director Stephanie Grisham told CNN that Ms Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform. She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart. The House, where Republicans have a clear majority, are voting tomorrow on a bill that is labelled as a compromise between far right and moderate members of the GOP, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced just an hour before Mr Trump's reversal. The proposed bill is expected to also address the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme recipients, or so-called Dreamers who are allowed to stay in the country if they were brought in illegally when they were children, which makes its fate tenuous as with any immigration bill in this Congress. It costs more than double the amount to detain children separated from their families at the US-Mexico border in tent cities than keeping the whole family together, a new report has revealed. It costs $775 (586) per night, per child, to be detained in the new tent cities facilities, NBC News reported, citing Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials. It costs in the range of $265 to $298 (200-225) per person, per night to house families in established detention centres in Texas, the news outlet reported. At those prices, the additional cost to operate a 400-bed temporary structure for one month at capacity would be more than $5m (3.7m), it said. The average stay for separated kids is nearly two months. The higher costs for the newly-separated children are due to new construction of these tent cities, air conditioning for the facilities, certified medical workers, labour for the facilities, food, water, and other supplies which had to be procured quickly. Southwest Key, a charity which runs a children-only Casa Padre facility in Brownsville, Texas, responded to The Independent to confirm unaccompanied and separated children are housed there, but directed all other queries to the Office of Refugee Resettlement within HHS. However, no officials in HHS, the Department of Homeland Security, the White House have immediately responded to requests for comment. However, one HHS official told NBC News the agency is aggressively looking for potential sites to build more tent cities, where children are kept caged in and not allowed to contact their parents. The separation of families has become a controversial and emotional political issue particularly after Donald Trump falsely blamed Democrats for the policys continuation over the last few weeks. CNN political analyst Brian Karem presses White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on family separations at the US-Mexico border The policy can be stopped unilaterally by the Trump administration as there is nothing in US immigration law or court precedent which compels separation. Families are being separated because of the attorney general, Jeff Sessions zero tolerance policy, which means adults caught crossing the border without proper documents are arrested and detained after their first offence. It essentially makes seeking asylum which according to US law requires entry into the country first a crime. Many of these families are crossing the border from Central America, where they face rampant gang violence, gender-based violence, and poverty. However, there have been recent reports of at least 70 people seeking asylum from religious persecution in parts of South Asia who have been detained and separated. Children cannot enter the US criminal justice system and thus are taken from their parents. Theresa May condemns Trump's family separation policy and says she will challenge him on UK visit The administration has convoluted the issue of unaccompanied minors, children who crossed the border illegally without a parent or guardian, with the separated children. Overall, HHS said it is holding 12,000 children in immigration facilities who are considered unaccompanied minors. On Monday, the DHS secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, said keeping these children safe from human and sex traffickers was a priority for the government. However, it is not the reason for actively separating children as young as four months old or those with disabilities, now held in so-called tender age shelters for those aged 10 and younger. Stephen Miller, a White House aide, has also cited the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement as a reason family separation is an enforcement of US law. 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 Several experts have disagreed. Prerna Lal, an immigration lawyer and undocumented youth advocate, told The Independent the Flores is a settlement agreement brought about by years of litigation that sets standards for the care of migrant children. The court agreement calls on the government to release children to parents or sponsors as soon as possible and to keep them in the least restrictive setting. There is no exception to this agreement. It is the rule of law and the law of the US. The administration of Barack Obama kept families detained together and they were sued for their non-compliance with the settlement agreement, Ms Lal explained. The Trump Administration has decided to separate parents from children to dissuade parents from seeking asylum in the US and pursue criminal convictions against them. There have been numerous reports of separated children being traumatised by the policy from former employees of these facilities and audio clips of crying children, begging Border Patrol officers and staff to see a family member. Before the zero tolerance policy was initiated in April 2018, children and families were detained together. They stayed a maximum of 20 days in one of the established detention facilities and were then released with ankle monitors until a court hearing or released ahead of a hearing to determine the fate of their asylum application. Nearly 3,000 children have been separated from their families since last month. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly joked with Kim Jong-un about killing the North Korean leader during a meeting together earlier this year. During a conference last year, Mr Pompeo spoke about the possibility of regime change in North Korea, saying: The North Korean people I'm sure are lovely people and would love to see [Mr Kim] go. Mr Kim then confronted Mr Pompeo about his comments when he visited Pyongyang in April, according to a former staffer for the then-CIA director who spoke with Vanity Fair. Pompeo didnt flinch, the report said. The CIA director joked that he was still trying to kill him, this former staffer said, and both men laughed. Mr Pompeo had also previously warned of the potential consequences of ousting the North Korean leader. He said that removing Mr Kim would not be unadulterated good for America 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 Officials at the State Department declined to comment on-record about Mr Pompeos exchange with the North Korean leader. Not much is known publicly about what the two discussed prior to President Donald Trumps historic summit with Mr Kim earlier this month, when the two leaders vowed to work together to denuclearise the North Korean peninsula. The former CIA directors trip was seen as a big step in opening the lines of communication between North Korea and the US. For most of 2017, North Korea and Washington traded threats, with Pyongyang conducting missile and nuclear tests at an unprecedented rate, while Mr Trump hurled insults at Mr Kim in referring to him as Rocket Man in a number of tweets. New York has announced plans to sue the Trump administration over its zero tolerance immigration policy, which has resulted in the separation of nearly 2,000 migrant children from their families in recent weeks. Governor Andrew Cuomo directed three state agencies to sue the federal government on Tuesday, calling the policy a moral failing and a human tragedy. "We will not tolerate the Constitutional rights of children and their parents being violated by our federal government, Mr Cuomo said in a statement. New York will act and file suit to end this callous and deliberate attack on immigrant communities, and end this heartless policy once and for all." Earlier that same day, Mr Cuomo issued an open letter to Vice President Mike Pence, condemning the zero-tolerance policy that the administration enacted in April. Under the new policy, immigration officials are required to refer anyone caught crossing the border illegally for prosecution a process that inevitably results in parents being separated from any children they brought with them. At least 1,995 children were separated from their parents under the new policy between 19 April and 31 May, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Screaming children heard crying for parents at US detention centre after being separated at border under Trump policy, in distressing audio recording The White House has claimed it does not have a policy of separating families, and has instead blamed the separations on Congresss refusal to close loopholes in the immigration system. In a contentious press briefing on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said migrant parents were also to blame. Illegal entry is a crime, as determined by Congress, she told reporters. By entering our country illegally, often in dangerous circumstances, illegal immigrants are putting their children at risk. Human rights groups, religious organisations, and several UN officials have criticised the practice of separating family members at the border, with some likening it to child abuse. Mr Cuomos office on Tuesday accused the administration of callous and inhumane treatment of immigrant families. Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Show all 14 1 /14 Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Immigrant children, many of whom are separated form their parents, are housed in Texas' tent city Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented migrants ride on the top of a freight train referred to as the beast, or La Bestia Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A cage inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Texas Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy All new agents must complete a months-long training course at the New Mexico facility before assuming their posts at Border Patrol stations, mostly along the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence in the US Man looks through US-Mexico border fence into the US in Tijuana, Mexico Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence US Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the US-Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on in La Joya, Texas Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy US Border Patrol instructor yells at trainees after their initial arrival to the academy Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Memorial service in Guatemala Families attend a memorial service for two boys who were kidnapped and killed in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Crime drives emigration from Guatemala to the United States, as families seek refuge from the danger Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Arrests on the border Undocumented immigrants comfort each other after being caught by Border Patrol agents near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Detention holding facility A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the US Border Patrol Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican farm workers Mexican migrant workers harvest organic parsley at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Colorado Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican family in Arizona A Mexican immigrant family sits in the living room of their rented home in Tuscon, Arizona. The family that Arizona's new tough immigrant law had created a climate of fear in the immigrant community. Getty The governor accused the federal government of violating the constitutional rights of children and families, and of violating the terms of the Flores Settlement Agreement a 1997 pact that requires the government to quickly release all children who are apprehended crossing the border. The governor's office said it was aware of more than 70 immigrant children currently living in federal shelters in New York. Mr Cuomo also announced on Monday that New York would recall its National Guard troops from the US-Mexico border as long as the zero tolerance policy stood. Governors from Colorado and Massachusetts said they would do the same. Purposely separating children from their parents is immoral and un-American, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper said in a statement. He added: Immigration enforcement is a necessary function of our federal government, but it is beyond comprehension that the Trump administration is using these families as pawns to deter immigration. A Virginia jail holding Paul Manafort has said there are zero special privileges for Donald Trump's former campaign manager, as he awaits trial on a number of charges including money laundering and making false statements. Mr Manafort had his bail revoked by a judge last week, who cited new charges that Mr Manafort had allegedly tried to influence two government witnesses. Mr Manafort denies all the charges against him. The Northern Neck Regional Jail in rural Virginia was flooded with phone calls, according to superintendent Ted Hull, after Mr Manafort's name initially appeared on the jails website next to a unit titled VIP-1". I've probably gotten a dozen calls people saying, 'I want to know why he's in VIP! Mr Hull told NBC News. All that is is a name and number. It's a small, fully functional, self-contained cell unit for high-profile inmates. There's no special privileges for him, Mr Hull said. "There's nothing special about him beyond the notoriety of his particular situation". 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 Northern Neck, a 500-bed facility, has previously held a number of high-profile inmates. Michael Vick, an ex-NFL player, served time there after a dog-fighting conviction, with Mr Hull saying that Mr Manafort is currently in the same cell. The jail is also contracted by the federal government to occasionally hold inmates awaiting trials in U.S. District Courts. Mr Manafort is separated from the majority of inmates at Northern Neck, who typically reside in units with at least eight to 16 cells. Prior to his stay in jail, the 69-year-old was under house arrest ahead of the trials in both Virginia and Washington DC. The Virginia trial is expected to being in July, and the Washington trial in September. Until then, Mr Manafort will only be granted no contact visitation rights with his attorneys, separated by a glass wall, according to the jails rules for inmates. He can also rent a tablet device for $15 a month. President Donald Trump has backed down after widespread criticism of an immigration policy that split families at the US border, signing an executive order that will put a stop to the practice. The issue has plagued his administration after it was revealed that at least 2,000 children had been torn from their parents under a new zero tolerance immigration policy. Mr Trump said on Wednesday that the zero tolerance policy would continue, but that he didnt like the sight or the feeling of families being separated. The executive order, he said, was about keeping families together, while at the same time being sure that we have a very powerful, very strong border. Recommended Fundraiser to reunite immigrant families shatters Facebook record I think the word compassion comes into it, but its still equally as tough, if not tougher, Mr Trump added. The day before, he had accused immigrants of infesting the country, and declared the US would not be a refugee holding facility. Family separations have escalated under Mr Trumps new zero tolerance policy, which requires all adults caught crossing the border illegally to be referred for prosecution. Adult immigrants facing charges are housed separately from their children, resulting in the separation of parents from children reportedly as young as eight-months-old. Screaming children heard crying for parents at US detention centre after being separated at border under Trump policy, in distressing audio recording But the presidents new executive order states that the USs policy is to maintain family unity, except in cases where doing so would threaten a childs wellbeing. In the order, Mr Trump directed the secretary of homeland security to house those facing prosecution alongside their family members, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations. He ordered the secretary of defence to identify any existing facilities for housing immigrant families, and to build more if necessary. Mr Trump also directed the attorney general to request a modification of the Flores Settlement Agreement a 2015 court ruling that the administration has claimed bars them from housing families together. It was unclear how the new executive order will square with the ruling, which requires migrant children to be released quickly from detention, or detained in the least restrictive conditions possible. The president denied allegations that he was backing down from his strict stance on immigration, telling reporters at the signing that the southern border was just as tough as before. Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Show all 14 1 /14 Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Immigrant children, many of whom are separated form their parents, are housed in Texas' tent city Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented migrants ride on the top of a freight train referred to as the beast, or La Bestia Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A cage inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Texas Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy All new agents must complete a months-long training course at the New Mexico facility before assuming their posts at Border Patrol stations, mostly along the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence in the US Man looks through US-Mexico border fence into the US in Tijuana, Mexico Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence US Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the US-Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on in La Joya, Texas Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy US Border Patrol instructor yells at trainees after their initial arrival to the academy Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Memorial service in Guatemala Families attend a memorial service for two boys who were kidnapped and killed in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Crime drives emigration from Guatemala to the United States, as families seek refuge from the danger Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Arrests on the border Undocumented immigrants comfort each other after being caught by Border Patrol agents near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Detention holding facility A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the US Border Patrol Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican farm workers Mexican migrant workers harvest organic parsley at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Colorado Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican family in Arizona A Mexican immigrant family sits in the living room of their rented home in Tuscon, Arizona. The family that Arizona's new tough immigrant law had created a climate of fear in the immigrant community. Getty A spokesman for Health and Human Services, which oversees the resettlement of migrant children, told multiple outlets on Wednesday that the more than 2,000 children already separated from their parents would not be immediately reunited under the new order. Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), told the New York Times there would be no "grandfathering of existing cases". But another official later claimed Mr Wolfe had misspoken, saying the department was still "awaiting further guidance on the matter". "It is still very early," Brian Marriott, the senior communications director at ACF, said in a statement. "Our focus is on continuing to provide quality services and care to the minors...and reunifying minors with a relative or appropriate sponsor as we have done since HHS inherited the program." Still, immigrants' rights activists criticised the order, saying it did not address the larger issues concerning the zero tolerance policy. The executive order, they pointed out, only solved the problem of family separations by requiring parents and children to be detained together for an indefinite amount of time. Make no mistake this executive order is a betrayal of families fleeing violence and persecution, said Denise Bell, a refugee and migrant rights researcher at Amnesty International USA. Mothers, fathers, and children must not be held behind bars for prolonged periods for seeking safety. The order came after weeks of backlash, as video circulated of families being housed in large metal cages and children crying after being taken from their parents. The Associated Press reported the night before that the administration had set up three tender age shelters to house young children many under the age of 5. Then they wake up from their naps and again theyre crying for their mom, asking: Wheres my dad, said Chris Paulsey, the CEO of the largest agency handling young migrant children in the US. They absolutely need their parents right now. Human rights groups, religious organisations, and legislators across the political spectrum have called for the end of family separations. Several states pulled their National Guard troops from the US-Mexico border this week, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to sue the federal government. The Trump administration has blamed Congress for the separations, claiming they are the result of loopholes in federal immigration laws. Secretary of homeland security Kirstjen Neilsen also blamed immigrant parents for the problem, saying in a press briefing on Monday that by entering our country illegally, often in dangerous circumstances, illegal immigrants are putting their children at risk. Ms Neilsen was reportedly the driving force behind the executive order signed on Wednesday. The United States is set to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council, with the US ambassador to the UN calling the organisation a "protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias". Ambassador Nikki Haley said the withdrawal was not a retreat from the US's commitment to human rights, but called the 47-member, international council an organisation that is not worthy of its name". British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called the decision "regrettable" but said the UK was "here to stay". The US has long called for the body to reform, saying it allows members that have been accused human rights violations. Ms Haley pointed to the involvement of countries like China, Cuba and Venezuela in her speech on Tuesday. Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights, Ms Haley said. Ms Haley also accused the council of maintaining a disproportionate focus and unending hostility towards Israel" that shows it is "motivated by political bias, not by human rights". Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN human rights chief, called the announcement "disappointing, if not really surprising". "Given the state of human rights in today's world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back," he said in a statement. US ambassador to UN Nikki Haley lashes out at UN hypocrisy Washington's withdrawal is the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was signed with a number of other world powers. It also comes as the US faces intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border. Mr al-Hussein has called on Washington to halt the unconscionable policy. Diplomats have said the US's withdrawal from the council could bolster countries such as Cuba, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan, which resist what they see as UN interference in sovereign issues. Ms Haley, announcing the withdrawal at the State Department alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said that if the council does reform, the United States would be happy to rejoin. Twelve rights and aids groups, including Human Rights First, Save the Children and CARE, wrote to Mr Pompeo to warn the withdrawal would make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world". The US's absence will only compound the council's weaknesses, they wrote. Human rights attacks around the world Show all 10 1 /10 Human rights attacks around the world Human rights attacks around the world China Escalating crackdown against human rights activists including mass arrests of lawyers and a series of sweeping laws in the name of national security. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Egypt The arrest of thousands, including peaceful critics, in a ruthless crackdown in the name of national security, the prolonged detention of hundreds without charge or trial and the sentencing of hundreds of others to death. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Gambia Torture, enforced disappearances and the criminalisation of LGBTI people; and utter refusal to co-operate with the UN and regional human rights mechanisms on issues including freedom of expression, enforced disappearance and the death penalty. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Hungary Sealing off its borders to thousands of refugees in dire need; and obstructing collective regional attempts to help them. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Israel Maintaining its military blockade of Gaza and therefore collective punishment of the 1.8 million inhabitants there, as well as failing, like Palestine, to comply with a UN call to conduct credible investigations into war crimes committed during the 2014 Gaza conflict. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Kenya Extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and discrimination against refugees in its counter-terrorism operations; and attempts to undermine the International Criminal Court and its ability to pursue justice. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Pakistan The severe human rights failings of its response to the horrific Peshawar school massacre including its relentless use of the death penalty; and its policy on international NGOs giving authorities the power to monitor them and close them down if they are considered to be against the interests of the country. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Russia Repressive use of vague national security and anti-extremism legislation and its concerted attempts to silence civil society in the country; its shameful refusal to acknowledge civilian killings in Syria and its callous moves to block Security Council action on Syria. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Saudi Arabia Brutally cracking down on those who dared to advocate reform or criticise the authorities; and committing war crimes in the bombing campaign it has led in Yemen (pictured) while obstructing the establishment of a UN-led inquiry into violations by all sides in the conflict. Getty Images Human rights attacks around the world Syria Killing thousands of civilians in direct and indiscriminate attacks with barrel bombs and other weaponry and through acts of torture in detention; and enforcing lengthy sieges of civilian areas, blocking international aid from reaching starving civilians. Getty Images But the move was not a surprise to many diplomats, who made it clear last week that it would be a case of when, not if, the US withdrew. A State Department official told The Independent that the US wants a Human Rights Council that fulfils its purpose as the premier international focal point for human rights issues". Now, it appears to mean the US will advocate for that outside of the group rather from within. The official said that at its best the council compels violators to act towards positive action, however they noted that all too frequently, it fails to address critical situations for political reasons and undermines its own credibility. The human rights body was formed in 2006, but was shunned by the administration of President George W Bush. In 2009, President Barack Obama reversed that decision after taking office. The councils critical stance of Israel has long been a contentious issue for the US, Israels main ally. Ms Haley had said last year that Israel is the only country permanently on the bodys calendar," referring to an item that looks at suspected violations in the occupied Palestinian territories. Washington had called for it to be removed. Ms Haley also called for the council to vote on resolutions against Venezuela, Syria, Eritrea, Belarus, Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The United Nations General Assembly votes 128-9 to declare the United States' Jerusalem capital recognition 'null and void' The relationship between the Trump administration and the UN has appeared fractious for much of the US president's time in office. In December the US officially recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, prompting a vote of 128-9 in the general body to declare the unilateral decision null and void. Last month, the council voted to probe killings in Gaza and accused Israel of using excessive force in dealing with protests on the border. The United States and Australia cast the only no votes. The US has also sought to withdraw from the UN Scientific, Educational, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), citing anti-Israel bias. Anjali Dayal, an international security professor at Fordham University, previously told The Independent that although the move is not a surprise, the US is not without valid criticisms of the body. There are human rights abusers with seats on the Council, Ms Dayal explained. But, Ms Dayal argued the issue was not an unknown drawback of the council. Ms Haley knew this was a problem coming into office since activists, observer groups, and smaller nations have complained about differing regional processes that have allowed it to happen for years. But the US will have to be in the room in order to make any significant change to the council, she said. A sitting member of the Council has never dropped out in its 12-year history, though Libya was kicked out after a vote from the General Assembly in 2011. The Republican Partys leadership in Washington state is scrambling to distance itself from James Allsup, a self-proclaimed pro-European nationalist who won an uncontested election in the local Republican primaries. State law says Mr Allsup is already the certified winner of the election ending in August, since he went uncontested during the filing period to become a precinct committee officer (PCO) in Whitman County. If local officials have their way, however, the white nationalist who participated in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and later had his Twitter account suspended during a far-right purge by the platform wont be seated when his term begins in December. John Brabb, chairman of the Whitman County Republican Central Committee, told The Independent a board of review had been created to look at whether there are PCOs who do not represent the people and standards of the places in which they live. Its mostly driven by concern from the public, Mr Brabb continued. Were looking into whether there are bylaws already in place that can prevent someone from serving who doesnt follow our values and our constitution. It's commonplace for PCOs in Washington to secure seats in uncontested elections long before voters head to the polls. That is often the result of a lack in candidates signing up for vacant positions, according to Sue Lani Madsen, a former Republican PCO and party chairwoman in Lincoln County, Washington. All [Allsup] did was sign up, it takes five minutes online, she said. The problem county chairs often have is finding people to sign up for anything, so the last thing on their minds is trying to police anyone signing up to become a PCO. Nazi shouts "Hey n****" and fires gunshot at counter-protester in Charlottesville Mr Allsup, who did not respond to requests for comment, gained national notoriety as president of the Washington State College Republicans when photos of him attending a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville went viral. He stepped down from the position, but later announced that he had been re-elected last year. The group released a statement declaring the vote null and void by their chapter adviser and a university office. Mr Brabb said he remembered meeting with Mr Allsup when he was the head of the universitys Republican club, and didn't recall having any concerns with him at the time. As a PCO, the recent college graduate would gain entry-level experience in a position often considered to be a foundation of local politics. PCOs have minimal influence in state and local governments; perhaps their biggest power is having a say in filling vacant positions during their tenures in office. Mr Allsup recently explained this to the neo-Nazi group Identity Evropa, saying in an episode of their podcast, When the board is then deciding between, you know, the anti-white, pro-business, pro-migrant candidate, or the more perhaps implicitly pro-white, anti-immigration candidate, you have the opportunity to then be a convincing and, perhaps, deciding voice in that process. He has also repeatedly called on his online supporters to seek out positions in local offices. We cannot podcast, livestream, or tweet our way to victory, Mr Allsup said during an Identity Evropa conference last month. We can only change consciousness so much before we have to start changing the political infrastructure. The Republican Party is comprised largely of white, ageing, baby-boomers. And as baby-boomers age out, the positions they hold will become vacant all throughout society and somebody will have to fill them, he continued. Still, Republicans in Washington appear unlikely to welcome Mr Allsup or other white supremacists any time soon. Caleb Heimlich, chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, said in a statement the states GOP condemns identity politics, and any form of racism, in the strongest possible manner. It is antithetical to our core values and stands counter to our goal of getting Washington back on the right track. We condemned this hateful ideology before, we condemn it today, and will continue to condemn it in the future, the statement reads. 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 Grant Peterson, a Republican activist and former commissioner of Spokane County, Washington, also said in a statement Mr Allsup is not likely to be officially seated. If he believes in white supremacy, he cannot be counted as supporting the U.S. Constitution, the Washington constitution or the Republican platform, Mr Peterson said. If he doesnt support the goals of the party, his membership is at risk. If hes not a member, he cant serve as a PCO. Numerous other Republican officials in Washington have spoken out against Mr Allsup, including Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who said in a Facebook post she was disappointed by the appointment while calling on her constituents to to stand united against hatred. The review board will submit their findings prior to the GOPs county reorganisation meetings in December, and officials could end up producing bylaws during that time which prevent Allsup from serving. Theres precedent of that happening in numerous other counties throughout Washington, according to Ms Madsen. A couple counties beefed up their bylaws and created an after-the-fact vetting procedure due to the Ron Paul movement, as libertarians were trying to take control, and others have created membership criteria, she said. But if Allsup wanted to be a real knucklehead, he could sue the county for his spot ... Who knows what hell do. At pulpits across the country this weekend, pastors, priests, rabbis and imams gave impassioned sermons, fiercely denouncing the morality of the US government separating children from their parents at the US-Mexico border. But one major faith communitys response is more muted, and more conflicted: White evangelical Christians. Pastor Brent Gentzel, for instance, finds the images of families separated at the US-Mexico border wretched. For the past decade, his church in a Dallas exurb has poured resources into caring for the rapidly growing slice of the congregation who are undocumented, a mission important enough to First Baptist Church Kaufman that each spring Mr Gentzel and a group of local pastors travel with young congregants to Germany to volunteer with young Syrian refugees. Yet there will be no full-throated condemnation of the Trump administrations immigration policy from Mr Gentzel, who voted for the president, as did the vast majority of his congregants. For conservative Christians such as Mr Gentzel, the brutal headlines of children torn from hysterical parents are weighed against other concerns, chief among them what social conservatives call religious liberty regarding issues of marriage and abortion. There are years worth of pent-up frustration that this issue doesnt get dealt with. The hope that someone might finally establish that well be a nation of laws again is super appealing, even if the mouthpiece is nobodys favourite, Mr Gentzel said about the Trump administration. When someone raises a hand to say: We need to fix the legal side, theres a side that screams: Youre racist. And youre sitting up there in Connecticut, and, no offence, but you dont have a clue. His use of the word Connecticut signals perhaps the biggest driving force in conservative Christians attitude towards immigration: Culture war. A desire not to be on the same side as secular, socially liberal forces which to many are by far the biggest threat to America. White evangelicals who have been among Donald Trump's strongest supporters and who perhaps more than any other faith group have Mr Trumps ear share the denunciations of families being separated, but they see the issue as more nuanced, and they still view strong support of Mr Trump as important to their other aims. In a January Washington Post-ABC poll, 75 per cent of white evangelical Christians rated the federal crackdown on undocumented immigrants as positive, compared with 46 per cent of US adults overall, and 25 per cent of non-white Christians. The separations largely stem from a zero-tolerance policy of detaining adults who cross the border announced by the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, last month. Yet President Trump blamed the other party for his administrations policy, saying on Monday: I say very strongly, its the Democrats fault. More liberal faith groups have loudly criticised the Trump administration on this issue. A long list of denominations several historically black churches, Quakers, Muslim groups, mainline Protestant groups such as the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA), almost every major Jewish group have issued strong statements condemning the family separations. Many religious leaders took up the call in their sermons this week, some especially objecting to Mr Sessionss use of the Bible to defend the policy. Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Show all 14 1 /14 Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Immigrant children, many of whom are separated form their parents, are housed in Texas' tent city Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented migrants ride on the top of a freight train referred to as the beast, or La Bestia Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A cage inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Texas Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy All new agents must complete a months-long training course at the New Mexico facility before assuming their posts at Border Patrol stations, mostly along the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence in the US Man looks through US-Mexico border fence into the US in Tijuana, Mexico Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence US Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the US-Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on in La Joya, Texas Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy US Border Patrol instructor yells at trainees after their initial arrival to the academy Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Memorial service in Guatemala Families attend a memorial service for two boys who were kidnapped and killed in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Crime drives emigration from Guatemala to the United States, as families seek refuge from the danger Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Arrests on the border Undocumented immigrants comfort each other after being caught by Border Patrol agents near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Detention holding facility A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the US Border Patrol Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican farm workers Mexican migrant workers harvest organic parsley at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Colorado Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican family in Arizona A Mexican immigrant family sits in the living room of their rented home in Tuscon, Arizona. The family that Arizona's new tough immigrant law had created a climate of fear in the immigrant community. Getty Idaho Pastor Constance Day, for instance, told her mainline Lutheran congregation in Idaho Falls this Sunday: I dont really want to get political in church, but when politicians use our holy book to justify evil acts ... its appropriate for us to speak up and say that they are wrong ... Its not hard to find the many admonitions in the Bible about treating foreigners fairly, and loving neighbours as oneself. Its not hard to find the heart of the Bible, and the heart of God. Some of the top leaders of the US Catholic Church, which is split between Hispanic and white congregants and liberal and conservative voters, took a strong position. Catholic bishops called separating families immoral and floated the idea of holding prayer vigils in front of federal courthouses a tactic which has worked in opposing abortion clinics. When it comes to evangelical organisations, many are making similar statements. The National Association of Evangelicals, World Relief and other organisations wrote a letter to the president. The Southern Baptist Convention, the nations largest Protestant denomination, passed a resolution favouring a legal solution that considers a path to citizenship and calling for families to be kept together, as well as endorsing the importance of border security. Yet conservative Christians in the pews appear to be largely supportive of the administrations outlook and tactics on immigration. The nondenominational, unaffiliated part of American Christianity is growing larger, and the statements of institutional leaders no longer reflect the whole of the church. Some, like Mr Gentzel, badly want a solution to what he calls decades of this lawlessness that does have consequences, particularly in such a place as Kaufman. He said because they feared deportation, a family in his community refused to go to the police after their 12-year-old was raped by her uncle. Some congregants have children who are back home in Mexico, growing up without their parents, he said. Other religious conservatives see the sudden prominence of immigration in the news when problems have existed for decades as a Democratic scheme to slam President Trump, and are focused on shoring up support for a president they consider their ally in protecting what they see as the Christian character of America. David Lane, a political organiser who has a weekly newsletter to 100,000 conservative Christian pastors in his American Renewal Project, said his network is not talking much about immigration reform at the moment. They dont want immigrants hurt, but they want to secure the border. They are far more focused on what they see as a war for the Christian soul of America, he said. So even if conservatives in his sphere disagree with the White House policy of separating families, theyre not going to partner with more liberal or progressive voices. This is a battle for ideological supremacy, Mr Lane said. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Russell Moore, leader of the Southern Baptists policy arm, has denounced family separations. But Mr Moore, who was critical of Mr Trump throughout his campaign, is a figure derided by many Baptists, who see him as a traitor to the conservative cause. The immigration controversy is just the latest round in evangelicals internal civil war over moral issues. Some evangelical pastors lamented many in their pews arent focused on the immigration debate. They talked about their increasing efforts in the past couple of years to organise alongside conservative Latino pastors including large meetings of hundreds of clergy where they bonded on marriage and sexuality and abortion but parted on such issues as amnesty for the millions of undocumented Latinos who live in the United States. Netz Garcia, a Mexican-born evangelical pastor who runs a network of Latino pastors and hosts a daily radio show about family issues, said white evangelicals lack a sense of mercy. Seventy per cent of the people in his LA-area church are undocumented. Still, he works closely with white evangelical pastors on issues like religious freedom and abortion. He voted for Mr Trump as did other Latinos in his circles and will again if he has the chance. Immigration and the ability to stay in the United States even if you are forced back to a dangerous situation is not everything. You dont sell your soul to stay in America. If you have to choose between religious freedom and immigration, Id rather give my time in America for the sake of religious freedom. Our values are greater than our search for comfort. While conservative evangelicals say they want to find compromise on immigration, running beneath that openness is a lack of trust in critics of the administration, a sense that keeping together the Trump movement needs to come first. They point to one of evangelicals key goals in voting in Mr Trump, the appointment of a conservative Supreme Court justice and note that that justice, Neil Gorsuch, recently participated in the high courts decision in favour of a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Gary Miller, a longtime Southern Baptist pastor and author from Fort Worth, said he feels sceptical of what is really going on at immigration centres, which was informing his muted reaction. Are these detention centres or something more conducive to children whats really going on? he said. There is deep compassion for children, but there is also a deep concern for borders. Its just a shame that the word of God gets used like a cafeteria line as people from both sides try to lift a little of this and a little of that. Recommended The separation of parents and children at the US border is inhumane Franklin Graham, notably, blasted the policy, while other members of Mr Trumps informal evangelical advisory board have been pretty quiet about the family separations. Johnnie Moore, the groups unofficial spokesman, said Mr Sessions use of Scripture to justify the administrations recent zero-tolerance policy thats separated families was wrong. While Sessions may take the Bible seriously in this situation, he has demonstrated he is no theologian, Mr Moore wrote in an email to The Washington Post. In Seminary, we call this use of the Bible proof texting, which is to selectively use a part or portion of scripture to justify a point outside of its immediate or greater theological context. What most concerns me about the attorney general in this instance is that he doesnt seem to be wrestling at all. There seems to be no tension here for him. It is hugely alarming how easily he has been willing to separate these families, Mr Moore continued. Certainly there are some circumstances where it is appropriate to separate children from parents (violent crime, possible harm, neglect, etc.) but that isnt whats going on here. But like many conservative evangelicals, Mr Moore placed the blame on Congress for not yet enacting major new immigration laws, instead of on Mr Trump, the president Mr Moores group advises. Rob McCoy, an evangelical pastor in Thousand Oaks, California, who is also mayor pro tempore, said his church brought food and clothing to unaccompanied minors from Central America who were housed on nearby military bases under Barack Obama when he was president in 2014. Hes bothered by liberals suggestion evangelicals are callous about the reality of family separation. We dont want to break up a nuclear family, because we see the importance of that, he said. But theyre thrusting it on us. When we say: Close the borders and quit enticing folks, then were called xenophobes. We live here, and you have no idea of what our heart is about, but you label us. He doesnt want to hear from other people of faith about evangelicals moral obligations, he said. Hes sick of people ... telling us whats biblical. Its a joke. Its interesting how all of a sudden Americas become biblical, but we forget about marriage and abortion. The culture war, in other words, rages on. The Washington Post Detectives believe murdered rapper XXXTentacion may have been the victim of a random robbery, his lawyer has said. Attorney David Bogenschutz said investigators also told him the 20-year-old musician visited a bank shortly before he was shot at a South Florida motorbike dealership on Monday and may have withdrawn cash to make a purchase. XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was exiting the shop's parking lot in his luxury BMW electric car when the attack took place. No arrests have been made in connection with the killing. The Broward Sheriff's Office said deputies are searching for two suspects who fled in a dark SUV. Candles, a teddy bear and a large, signed sympathy card lined the front porch of the rappers home in Parkland, the same suburb of Fort Lauderdale where a gunman fatally shot 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February. On Tuesday afternoon, a steady stream of fans had placed candles, flowers and teddy bears on the pavement near where he was shot, and decorated the pavement with chalk art. He had some legal allegations before, but the last year he had only been a positive influence on people's lives, making hit Billboard songs, said Myles O'Hara, one of the young fans who descended on the neighbourhood to pay their respects. He has been a kind person. You could look at his face and smile and he was just a normal kid like us. His style is almost hard to explain. He had an angry tone. He meant everything he said, even the most simplistic words. It just came off his tongue like nothing. He was speaking his mind. The entertainer had been widely touted as a future superstar of the rap genre. In March, he secured number one album in the US with his second release ? and had a top 10 hit with Sad! in the same month. However, his career was also dogged by controversy and at the time of his death he was facing charges over accusations he beat up his pregnant ex-girlfriend. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty In an interview earlier this month with the Miami New Times, XXXTentacion described his upbringing, which included seeing his mother infrequently and being raised by friends, family and babysitters. His mother bought him clothes, phones and other gifts. He said he used violence so she would engage with him. In one video on social media, he said: If worse things come to worse, I f***ing die a tragic death or some s***, and I'm not able to see out my dreams, I at least want to know that the kids perceive my message and were able to make something of themselves. Additional reporting by AP At least 180 people are feared dead in a tourist ferry disaster in Indonesia, as authorities dramatically raised an estimate of the number of people missing. The wooden boat sank in the picturesque Lake Toba on Sumatra island on Monday evening, as the wind picked up and waters turned rough. Eighteen survivors were pulled from the water shortly afterwards. But divers and an underwater drone joined the search on Wednesday as officials released the new missing toll; three times the ferrys official capacity and up from around 130 previously, including many children. Were searching for 180 people, said Budiawan, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) in Medan. Recommended Indonesia raises alert for volcano on densely populated island of Java Rescuers are yet to find the wreckage of the boat itself and an ongoing search on the surface of the lake has so far come up with little. We have the coordinates from when it sank, but we need to verify it, Budiawan said. The search is expected to find many victims trapped in the vessel on the lake bed. Many survivors told authorities that less than half of them had jumped into the water before the boat sank, said north Sumatra province police chief Paulus Waterpau. A team of 25 divers, including marines, were searching for the vessel, along with a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV), though that can only operate up to a depth of 380 metres. Suwarni, whose 20-year-old son and his girlfriend were on the ferry, criticised the search and rescue operation as slow and insufficient. Millions of questions keep me from sleeping, she told the Associated Press between desperate sobs. Why is a boat for just 50 people allowed to be loaded with almost 200 people plus dozens of motorcycles? What kind of government is this that cant protect their own people from unnecessary accidents? And after the accident theyre not able to find the victims, she said. I beg help to everyone to quickly find my son and his girlfriend, even if their remains, please find my son, return him to me. Survivor Juwita Sumbayak, from Medan, said she had crossed the lake many times on the same boat but on Monday it was terribly overcrowded because of holidays for the end of Ramadan. She believes her husband and children drowned inside the boat. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty She said that about 20 minutes into the journey, strong high waves caused the ferry to list to the right and take on water, sparking a panic among passengers. Then it was smacked hard by more waves and a small, empty wooden boat. The ferry seemed to shake, Sumbayak said, then suddenly capsized. Many passengers without a life jacket jumped into the deep lake, but others drowned with the boat, she said. I jumped, I cried with fear. She saw dozens of people in the water but nobody can help. Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, with weak enforcement of safety regulations often to blame. The disaster has cast a tragic pall over the holidays marking the end of Ramadan, when tens of millions of Indonesians return to their hometowns. The lake is a popular tourism destination, although there has been no information yet on whether foreigners were among the missing. The vessel, overcrowded with passengers as well as dozens of motorbikes, didnt have a cargo document. The Foreign Office warns British travellers to Indonesia: Inter-island travel by boat or ferry can be dangerous as storms can appear quickly, vessels can be crowded and safety standards vary between providers. In 2016, the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency recorded 715 boat accidents (of which 14 were in Bali and Lombok), resulting in injuries and deaths. Worldwide, far more passengers die on ferries than on aircraft. The toll is particularly high in Asia, due to a lethal combination of high population, a multiplicity of sea and river routes and, on many routes, dubious safety standards. The London-based International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has become increasingly concerned about what it calls the unacceptable loss of lives on domestic ferries in Asia. Indonesias transport minister, Budi Karya, has said investigators would check whether the ferry had been equipped with life jackets and whether they had been used. Muhaimin, 61, said he had lost eight members of his family including two sons, their wives and children. My sons, my daughter-in-laws and my grandchildren have been the victims of greedy businessmen who just want to take advantage of the holiday season without thinking of peoples safety, he said. It would not happen if they follow the rules. But they made money over our misery. Additional reporting by agencies The European Union will hit back at Donald Trump by imposing 25 per cent import tariffs on a range of American products starting on Friday, Brussels has confirmed. The EU says the initial 2.8 billion (2.5bn) in charges are a response to the US decision to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminium imports. The move risks escalating the nascent trade war between the US and the rest of the world, with Mr Trump ramping up protectionism and other countries hitting back. Recommended The US has a point leaving the UN Human Rights Council We did not want to be in this position. However, the unilateral and unjustified decision of the US to impose steel and aluminium tariffs on the EU means that we are left with no other choice, Trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Wednesday. The rules of international trade, which we have developed over the years hand in hand with our American partners, cannot be violated without a reaction from our side. Our response is measured, proportionate and fully in line with WTO rules. Needless to say, if the US removes its tariffs, our measures will also be removed. We did not want to be in this position EU Trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom The bloc says it has another 3.6 billion in US products lined up for further tariffs if the WTO trade court, where it has lodged a dispute, finds in its favour. The combined tariffs will be levied on diverse products such as Bourbon whiskey, cranberry juice, motorcycles, and denim trousers as well as American metal exports. Mr Trump hit EU, Canadian and and Mexican metal producers with tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium at the start of June after a protracted battled over trade. The US president says the EU treats America very unfairly. He has also said he believed trade wars are good, and easy to win. Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst The EUs retaliatory tariffs are only taking effect now because under WTO rules the bloc had to wait to impose them. Relations between the US and the rest of the world sank further last week at the G7 summit in Canada after Mr Trump refused to endorse a joint communique by the leaders present. EU countries directly affected by the refugee crisis are to hold an emergency summit in Brussels this weekend as continent-wide political tensions escalate over the issue. Despite a sharp fall in the number of refugees and migrants travelling to Europe this year the issue of migration and asylum has climbed back onto the political agenda after far-right parties entered coalition governments in Austria and Italy. Representatives of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria and Bulgaria are expected to meet in the EUs de facto capital on Sunday. Recommended Trump attacks Angela Merkel for giving sanctuary to refugees German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron also met near Berlin on Tuesday night to agree a common approach on the issue. The weekend meetings timing is unusual because it comes days before all 28 of the EU leaders will again meet in Brussels at the quarterly European Council summit; migration is also on the agenda there, according to an indicative agenda published on Wednesday. Leaked plans seen by The Independent ahead of the summit show the European Council is considering plans for migrant processing centres in North Africa among other measures. Frances finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, warned this week that Europe is in a process of disintegration over the issue. We see states that are turning inward, trying to find national solutions to problems that require European solutions Bruno Le Maire, French finance minister We see states that are turning inward, trying to find national solutions to problems that require European solutions, he said. The meeting comes a week after Austrias conservative chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who is in coalition with the far right, said he wanted to form an anti-immigration axis at an EU level with Germany and Italy. Italys new far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini on Tuesday announced he wants to conduct a census of the Roma traveller population in Italy and deport those without Italian nationality. Last week he closed Italys ports to a refugee rescue ship with more than 600 people including children, pregnant women and those in need of medical attention on board. The vessel was forced to make a four-day voyage to Spain. Germany, which has been at the forefront of promoting a welcoming policy towards refugees under Angela Merkel, has also been engulfed in a domestic political row of its own. Ms Merkels own interior minister, Horst Seehofer, wants a new policy that would see Germany deny entry to migrants registered in other countries. However the chancellor reportedly wants any policy change to be coordinated at an EU level. Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily. Mr Seehofers conservative Christian Social Union, which has been closely allied with Ms Merkels centre-right Christian Democratic Union since 1949, faces Bavarian regional elections in the autumn and fears losing ground to the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, said on Wednesday: I am convening an informal working meeting on migration and asylum issues in Brussels on Sunday, in order to work with a group of heads of state or governments of member states interested in finding European solutions ahead of the upcoming European Council. The Vatican has recognised the term LGBT by using it in one of its official documents for the first time. A paper examining the Catholic Churchs relationship with young people, published on Tuesday, said some LGBT youth were looking to benefit from greater closeness and experience greater care by the church. The use of the term appears to mark a significant change in the Vaticans attitude towards gay Catholics, which it has previously described as people with homosexual inclinations and homosexuals. Grancis DeBernardo, executive director of the New Ways Ministry, which advocates equality for LGBT Catholics, welcomed the move, but said it did little to solve inequalities within the church. This change in language signals that church officials are beginning to understand that they have to treat LGBT people with simple respect by referring to them with more accurate terms, he said in a statement. While these developments are welcome changes in the churchs style of discourse, it must be noted that there is nothing in the new document which indicates that the Vatican is, as yet, willing to entertain changes in church policy on LGBT issues. The furthest they have gone is to indicate a willingness to work towards being a community open and welcoming towards all. This pastoral approach is important, but the churchs outreach cannot end there. The document, known as an instrumentum laboris, was released ahead of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, due to take place in October to discuss young people. The report acknowledged the churchs traditional teachings on issues such as homosexuality, were unpopular among younger generations. It also conceded the question of sexuality within the Catholic world needed to be discussed more openly and without prejudice. The Synods primary aim is to make the whole church aware of her important and not at all optional task of accompanying every young person, without exclusion, towards the joy of love, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri said at a press conference to introduce the document on Tuesday. 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 Despite the fact gay sex is still considered a sin by the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has made several statements suggesting he is accepting of LGBT people. In 2013, he became the first pontiff to use the word gay when discussing sexuality, later telling reporters he was not in a position to judge a gay person who seeks god. Last month, the Pope was reported to have told a gay man God made you like this and loves you like this and said his sexuality did not matter. Prisoners in Yemen, who are being held without trial, have said they are being subjected to mass sexual abuse from Emirati officers. Clandestine prisons are being run by the United Arab Emirates and smuggled letters and drawings from inmates have detailed the horrors they say are currently unfolding. Officers lined up detainees and ordered them to undress and lie down before searching their anal cavities, claiming that they were looking for contraband, according to the documents, obtained by the Associated Press. Those who resisted were threatened with barking dogs and beaten until they bled. Detainees have also reportedly been raped while other guards filmed the assaults. Their genitals have been electrocuted or rocks have been hung from their testicles. Guards sexually violated others with wooden and steel poles, the prisoners allege. "They strip you naked, then tie your hands to a steel pole from the right and the left so you are spread open in front of them. Then the sodomizing starts," said one father of four. In Yemen's three-year civil war, UAE forces, purportedly fighting on behalf of the Yemeni government, have overtaken wide swaths of territory, towns and cities in the south. They have swept up hundreds of men into a network of at least 18 hidden prisons on suspicion of being al-Qaeda or Isis militants. The prisoners are held without charges or trials. From inside the prison in Aden, detainees smuggled letters and drawings about the sexual abuse to the AP. The drawings were made on plastic plates with pen. One, an artist, said he had been detained for the last year and had been in three different prisons. "They tortured me without even accusing me of anything. Sometimes I wish they would give me a charge so I can confess and end this pain. "The worst thing about it is that I wish for death every day and I can't find it." Sexual torture and humiliation like this is happening at least five prisons in the country, detainees reported. The UAE is a key US ally and despite well-documented reports of torture, human rights groups and even the United Nations, Marine Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said the US had seen no evidence of detainee abuse in Yemen. "US forces are required to report credible allegations of detainee abuse," he said. "We have received no credible allegations that would substantiate the allegations put forth in your line of question/story." 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 US officials have acknowledged that American forces receive intelligence from UAE partners and have participated in interrogations in Yemen. But Mr Rankine-Galloway said he could not comment on intelligence sharing with partners. "Department of Defense personnel are expected to adhere to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct," he said. Labours Middle East Spokesperson, Fabian Hamilton MP, said: These are extremely serious and disturbing allegations. Saudi-led coalition forces, including the United States, must work with the UN to urgently investigate these allegations, as any form of torture or sexual abuse of prisoners is a clear violation of international law. If the allegations are proven to be true, those responsible must be held to account by the United Nations and the international community. UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment. Agencies contributed to this report New York is a city of hectic and exciting extremes: wind tunnel avenues and skyscrapers are cosied up to Sunday afternoon-type bars and cafes. The metropolis is a must-see for those who love culture, history, food and nightlife and its a delight for architectural devotees who simply enjoy pounding the miles of pavement in a grid-like structure that ensures getting lost isnt an option. And with Norwegian (norwegian.com) offering flights to New York from three UK airports from as little as 69 one way, theres even less excuse not to hope across the pond for a visit. What to do Walk the streets Recommended 10 of the best New York hotels One of the most enjoyable things to do is simply take a stroll and absorb the eclectic buildings as you go. Wear comfortable shoes as there is a lot of ground to cover, from the oldest buildings in the city near the Wall Street financial district to Chinatown, Little Italy, Tribeca and the West Village all are worth exploring. Be sure to walk up Fifth Avenue, from the Washington Square Arch at the bottom to the Plaza Hotel at the top. Youll see Central Park along the way; its especially beautiful in spring and autumn. Take a boat trip to the Statue of Liberty (Getty/iStock) (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Hit the river Indulge in a boat trip to the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. The pick-up point is Battery Park, and you can hop on and off the islands as you wish. Tickets (statuecruises.com) start at $18.50 (13) per adult. Make for the museums The American Museum of Natural History (amnh.org) is worth visiting for the dinosaur skeletons alone. It asks for a donation, rather than an entry fee. Open daily, 10am-5.45pm. For a more bite-sized cultural trips, the Museum of the City of New York (mcny.org) is on the opposite side of Central Park and offers fascinating insights into the citys history. Open daily, 10am-6pm; $18. The Tenement Museum (tenement.org) houses a derelict but carefully preserved building where hundreds of immigrants lived together in crammed quarters in the 20th century, and many of the inhabitants stories have been carefully documented. Buy a tour online at the Tenement Museum for $25. The Tenement Museum is a preserved building where hundreds of immigrants lived (Getty) (Getty Images) Find your muse The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org) is one of the finest galleries in the world, and the largest in the US. As well as the permanent collection, there are numerous temporary exhibitions; current highlights include Rodin, David Hockney and Michelangelo. Open 10am-5.30pm Mondays to Thursdays, 10am-9pm Fridays and Saturdays; entry is free but suggested donation is $25. Meanwhile the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA (moma.org), contains an evolving collection of almost 200,000 works of contemporary and modern art from artists such as Van Gogh, Picasso and Rothko, plus photography, film, design, and performance. Open 10.30am-5.30pm Mondays to Sundays and until 8pm on Fridays; entry $25. The Whitney (whitney.org), which recently moved to an impressive modern building in the meatpacking district, focuses on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Open Wednesday to Monday 10.30am-6pm; closed Tuesdays. MoMA has an extensive modern art collection (Getty) (Getty Images) The smaller Neue Galerie (neuegalerie.org) houses the original Woman In Gold painting by Gustav Klimt, and Cafe Sabarsky, a wonderfully old European-style cafe. Open 11am-6pm Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, closed Tuesday and Wednesday mornings; entry $20. The New York Public Library (nypl.org) on Fifth Avenue is sublime, boasting the famous Rose Main Reading Room. Sneak a look at Charles Dickens desk upstairs before it is moved back to London later this year. Open daily from 10am or 11am, except Sundays. Where to stay New York is infamously expensive, but there are a range of hotels to suit every budget if you know where to look. Recommended 10 of the luxury hotels in New York Millennial-favourite The Pod Hotel has funky colours, iPads in the communal room and roof decks. There are four locations around the city and Brooklyn. Doubles from $85, room only. The lobby is spectacular at The Row, although the rooms are fairly basic. Situated on Times Square, its a stones throw from Broadway and most of the theatres. Doubles from $67, room only. The trendy Pod Hotel has roof decks (Pod Hotel) If you fancy splashing out, The Bowery is a chic option situated in the trendy Lower East Side. Rooms have large windows and stylish communal lounges. Doubles from $335, room only. Find more hotels in New York Where to eat The Cornelia Street Cafe (corneliastreetcafe.com) in the heart of the West Village is perfect for brunch, lunch or dinner, offering delicious side dishes such as hummus drizzled with fruity balsamic vinegar. For $10, you can head down to the basement after your meal for a night of jazz. La Esquina (esquinanyc.com) has trendy decor, tasty Mexican food and friendly service. The setting at its flagship restaurant in Soho is also cool you have to walk through a quiet diner and go downstairs before being hit by the great music and an upbeat atmosphere. Buddakan featured in the Sex and the City film (Buddakan) New York demands you splash out on at least one meal. Buddakan (buddakannyc.com) recognisable to Sex and the City fans as the place where Big and Carrie hold their engagement dinner in the film serves mouth-watering Asian dishes and cocktails. Where to drink Enjoy a white Russian or an espresso martini 22 floors up at Westlight (thewilliamvale.com/dining/westlight), the rooftop bar at the William Vale hotel, which offers one of the best views of the Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn. Open daily, 4pm-12am. The midtown gem that is Monkey Bar (monkeybarnewyork.com) is an institution for jazz and beer. Enjoy the music, the artwork on the walls and the old New York-style lamps as you brush shoulders with the cool, Saturday-evening crowd. Open daily, 11.30am-1am. The Westlight bar has incredible views of the Manhattan skyline (Westlight) For a more laidback and cheaper vibe, head to Old Town Bar (oldtownbar.com) a stones throw from Union Square. It has all the classics a long bar, marble floor and cosy wooden booths. It serves excellent fries, too. No need to book but get there before the local, after-work crowd arrives. Open daily, 11.30am-1am. Where to shop Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan and check out the up-and-coming industrial chic architecture of Dumbo and the famous Brooklyn Flea market (brooklynflea.com) on Sundays (April through October). Then jump on a water taxi two stops north to Williamsburg. The small but lovely Artists & Fleas market (artistsandfleas.com), open 10am-7pm on weekends, is near the water on North 7th Street. While in the neighbourhood, check out the boutiques and shops on Williamsburgs Bedford Avenue. Brooklyn Flea market is worth a browse (Getty) (Getty Images) For vintage clothes shops, head to the East Village. At Nomad Vintage (nomadvintage.com) East 6th Street there are tribal frocks aplenty, while No Relation Vintage (norelationvintage.com) on 204 1st Avenue has a strong selection of shirts and denims. Fifth Avenue (visit5thavenue.com) is crammed with designer shops and the flagship Tiffany jewellery store, but a more compact and affordable shopping experience can be found at the new Westfield mall (westfield.com/westfieldworldtradecenter) under what used to be the World Trade Centre. Open daily, 10am-9pm. Architectural highlight If youre a fan of Edith Wharton or Henry James, head to East 4th Street. The 19th-century Merchants House Museum (merchantshouse.org) is the oldest, fully preserved townhouse in the city; it used to be owned by a prestigious New York family called the Tredwells. Open 12-5pm Friday to Monday, 12-8pm Thursday; entry $15. Head to the Rockefeller Centre for the best view of the Empire State Building (Getty) (Getty Images) New York Nuts and bolts Cheapest time to fly What currency do I need? New York uses US dollars. Should I tip? For eating, drinking, taxis and tour guides, tip between 15 and 20 per cent. Whats the time difference? New York is five hours behind and runs on East Coast Time (ET). Public transport A bus or subway ride costs $2.75 with a travel card. Water ferries are the same price for a one-way ticket. Whats the flight time from the UK? Most flights take around eight hours there and six hours back. Best view For the best view of the 1930s Empire State Building, head to the Rockefeller Centre (topoftherocknyc.com) at night, surrounded by the Hudson and the East River, it is even more spectacular. Tickets cost $34. Insider tip Many art galleries and museums offer extended late hours and free entry on the first Friday of every month. As soon as the EU referendum result was announced almost two years ago, Britains airlines urged immediate action to safeguard the open skies agreement in Europe. However, the key role of head of aviation EU exit negotiations has only just been advertised. No experience of the airline business is necessary. Air tickets typically go on sale almost a year ahead of departure. With no certainty about whether the current liberal aviation rules will continue after Brexit, airlines are selling flights from the UK to European Union airports which they may not be able to operate from 30 March 2019 onwards. In addition, the UK has yet to negotiate a post-Brexit deal on transatlantic flights which are presently governed by an EU-US treaty. Candidates for the new civil Service post, which carries a salary of up to 71,000, will lead on the overall negotiating position on aviation for the UK government. The successful candidate will: Establish, lead and manage the core aviation negotiating team. He or she is required to bring together views and perspectives of stakeholders to gain a wider picture of the landscape surrounding activities and policies, and ensure relevant issues relating to their activity/policy area are effectively fed into strategy and big picture considerations. Ryanairs chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, said: We have always said the UK government needs greater urgency on their Brexit plans and finding a replacement to open skies. The fact they are only advertising this role now merely highlights their complacency. The it will be alright on the night approach to Brexit will not work for UK businesses, UK consumers and the aviation and travel industries. Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines The Sun, March 9 2016 This wholly false headline merited the first ruling by IPSO (the press regulator) under clause 1 of the revised Editor's Code of Practice. Clause 1 makes specific reference to newspapers printing "headlines not supported by the text" Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Mail, November 4 2016 In perhaps the most notorious front page of the past few years, the Mail derides the High Court judges who ruled that parliament must have a vote on whether to trigger article 50 and start the Brexit process Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Express, November 4 2016 In the Express' take on the same story, they manage to incorporate the Union Jack, allude to First World War propaganda, invoke memories of Churchill and, of course, state "Brexit means Brexit" Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines The Sun, March 29 2017 The Sun marked the day on which Mrs May triggered article 50 by projecting a huge and terrible pun on to the Cliffs of Dover Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines The Sun, April 4 2017 Referencing their notorious eurosceptic headline from 1990 (See: Up Yours Delors), the Sun stokes the flames of the brief Gibraltar dispute, a dispute in which Spain, the supposed aggressors, only joined to note that there was "no need for it" Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Mail, April 19 2017 This headline followed Mrs May's snap election announcement, which gave the Mail hope that dissenting opinions on Brexit would disappear Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Mail, December 14 2017 In recent months, the Mail has often forgone catchy headlines in favour of rambling rants, this is an early example aimed at Tory Brexit rebels Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Mail, January 31 2018 This headline (?) takes aim at the Lords over their repeated amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines The Sun, June 12 2018 On the day that the EU Withdrawal Bill is to be debated in the Commons, the Sun offers two choices to MPs, desperately including all conceivable imagery that might make Brits feel patriotic, which apparently includes the Loch Ness Monster Brexit: 10 of the most ridiculous headlines Daily Express, June 12 2018 On the same day, the Express lets MPs know what the consequences of the vote may be The current open skies agreement covers the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA), which comprises the 28 EU countries plus Iceland, Norway and the Balkan nations that are not yet members of the European Union. An airline from any of these nations can fly any route it wishes within the ECAA, subject to slots being available. The leading market for Ryanair, which is Europes biggest budget carrier, is between Britain and the rest of the EU. Its rival, easyJet, has a busy network within continental Europe. The job advertisement was uncovered by Tom Parry, senior reporter for the travel trade journal TTG. Prospective applicants are told: Prior knowledge of airspace and the aviation sector is an advantage but not necessary. The government has repeatedly expressed its confidence that the freedom to fly will continue unabated after Brexit. Speaking to The Independent in October, the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said: Im hoping for a positive open skies arrangement with the European Union. A Department for Transport spokesperson said: Dedicated teams with many years of experience and expertise are already working on post-Brexit aviation. We are now are looking to supplement these existing teams with additional posts. Our EU exit plans are well developed and we are working closely with business and trade associations to provide the certainty they need to understand the challenges and opportunities they may face in the coming months and year. We look forward to continuing this work as we negotiate our future economic partnership with the EU. A Call Me By Your Name themed tour visiting the iconic locations in the Oscar nominated film released last year is being offered by the first LGBT tour operator in Italy, QUIIKY. The film follows the burgeoning romance between Oliver and Elio over a summer in a sleepy Italian backwater. Wild swimming, romantic bike rides and perpetual sunshine characterise this beautiful film which was primarily filmed throughout northern Italy. The nine-day tour includes eight nights accommodation, B&B, the services of a tour guide and car rental and takes in the cities and towns of Milan, Crema, Lake Garda, Verona, Venice and Bergamo. Those looking to recreate the ultimate holiday romance begin their tour in Milan, the city of fashion and home of Leonardo da Vinci. The first day ends with an aperitif in Porta Venezia, the citys LGBT district. Guests then travel to Crema, where they will see many of the films memorable locations, including Duomo Square. The itinerary includes a bicycle tour throughout Crema and Lodi, a cooking course, wine tasting and two nights at the Aqualux Hotel and spa. Dreamers, LGBT folks and film buffs alike can book a tour package from 2,000. Fans of the big screen can also explore other film-inspired tours. Roman Holiday Tours claims to take visitors around movie locations in Italy featured in the films Roman Holiday, Angels and Demons and La Grande Bellezza. And, in the year the controversial show celebrates its 20th birthday, Sex and the City fans can visit over 40 locations featured in the ground-breaking show by joining one of the many tours available throughout New York City. Those seeking something closer to home can check out the Harry Potter Studio Tour based in Watford, which was recently ranked number one in a survey of the best things to do in the UK. As airline bosses gather in Brussels to lambast the European Union over air-traffic control strikes, fears are growing that staffing issues in Barcelona may cause a collapse in operations. Spains air-traffic controllers union, USCA, has warned of not very promising prospects for normal operations in the peak months of July and August at the Barcelona area control centre. The centre controls the skies over Spain from the French border to eastern Andalucia, and also covers a large swathe of the Mediterranean including the Balearic islands. Key holiday airports in the area are Alicante, Barcelona, Girona, Ibiza, Menorca, Murcia, Palma, Reus and Valencia. Some flights to Almeria and Malaga could also be affected. In April, the union warned of un verano de colapso, a summer of collapse, at Barcelonas El Prat airport due to a shortage of supervisors in the control tower. Eighty-five per cent of the 300 air-traffic controllers based at the centre voted for a series of 24-hour strikes this summer. On 11 June the Barcelona-based union said it would not call strikes in June over the lack of personnel in the control centre. But it warned that current staffing levels are incompatible with the demands of ever-increasing air-traffic movements. Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Show all 14 1 /14 Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Guardian Glass Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Guardian Glass Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Guardian Glass Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Guardian Glass Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Guardian Glass Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Guardian Glass Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Jose Navarrete Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Jose Navarrete Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Jose Navarrete Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Jose Navarrete Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Jose Navarrete Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Jose Navarrete Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Jose Navarrete Glass Pavilion Andalusia, Spain Jose Navarrete Staff say they are overstretched due to a shortage of trained controllers, and are having to work extra shifts to cover as well as coping with irregular shift patterns. Barcelona airport is the seventh-busiest in Europe, just ahead of Gatwick. At Gatwick, a shortage of controllers in April led to the temporary closure of the runway. The Sussex airport described it as an isolated incident and said no repeat is anticipated during the summer. Michael OLeary, the chief executive of Ryanair, will today call for action to avoid the collapse of air-traffic control in Europe this summer as a result of rampant strike action. He will tell a meeting in Brussels that the European Union should limit the amount of damage that controllers strikes can cause to airline schedules. Mr OLeary will be joined by Willie Walsh, chief executive at IAG parent company of British Airways and Aer Lingus, and the Spanish airlines Iberia and Vueling. Last weekend around 20 air-traffic controllers in the Marseille area control centre stopped work for 48 hours, causing 417 cancellations that affected 70,000 passengers. Nationwide air-traffic control strikes in France, Italy and Greece have so far led to the cancellation of thousands of flights. Airlines not only lose revenue when flights are cancelled they also have a duty of care under European air passengers rights rules to provide meals and accommodation until travellers can be flown to their destination. Britains plan for a temporary customs backstop to solve the Irish border issue is not acceptable and any fall-back option cannot be time-limited, the European Parliaments chief Brexit co-ordinator has told MPs. Guy Verhofstadt said the Governments position that the backstop of continuing UK alignment with the EU customs union would cease by the end of 2021 if no other solution was found left him puzzled. Addressing MPs in London on Wednesday, the former Belgian prime minister said his understanding of a backstop was a permanent system that is there that you dont use, saying the EU would seek a deal over the key Brexit sticking point. He told MPs on the Exiting the European Union Committee: I have never seen a backstop that is used for one year and then it disappears. No, a backstop is a fall-back position that you have in your pocket and you hope that you have never to use it. That is a backstop, in my opinion. That (the temporary backstop) was not in the proposal of the UK Government. Im a little bit puzzled by the way the UK Government sees now that problem. Mr Verhofstadt was speaking at the first of two grillings by MPs in Westminster on Wednesday. He was due to face the Home Affairs Committee in the afternoon. On Tuesday, Brussels warned that serious differences remain over how to deal with the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit. Advances have been made in a number of areas, such as customs, VAT and nuclear waste regulation, chief negotiator Michel Barnier said, but a lot more work needs to be done to meet the October deadline. Mr Verhofstadt said that ending the backstop in 2021 would mean customs authorities would have to apply three different systems in three years, which was something to avoid absolutely. We will shortly be taking evidence from @guyverhofstadt, Brexit Coordinator and Chair of the Brexit Steering Group at the European Parliament. Here's a summary of what the session is likely to cover: https://t.co/M9zZJX00hR pic.twitter.com/gpPIi22Ydx Home Affairs Committee (@CommonsHomeAffs) June 20, 2018 He said he was looking forward to the Governments white paper, due to set out the position on leaving the EU. He added: I think that is it still possible to have for October/November an agreement on the political declaration. For that we need to speed up, certainly the negotiations in the coming months. Of the proposals for permanent arrangements on the Irish border being worked up by the UK Government, Mr Verhofstadt dismissed Theresa Mays favoured customs partnership as impossible, and said he was sceptical that the maximum facilitation scheme preferred by Boris Johnson could ever work. Max Fac would require scanners and cameras at the border, which was a dangerous thing to do and could cause a return to violence, he said. Mr Verhofstadt said that, while quitting the EU, the UK was seeking to retain enhanced involvement in EU structures and agencies like the European Arrest Warrant, Galileo and Euroatom, including some where it had previously negotiated an opt-out, telling the committee: That doesnt make sense. In the case of the exclusion of British companies from parts of the Galileo satnav programme, the EU was applying rules approved by the UK several years ago which restrict the involvement of non-EU countries, he said. The only way to maintain Britains level of involvement in Galileo would be to change the basic rules of the programme, he said, adding: I dont see for the moment any wish to open the regulation of the Galileo programme. Challenged over the EUs failure to offer concessions during talks, Mr Verhofstadt said: It is not a question of trade-offs. This is not a classical negotiation, we have to take a rules-based approach as described in the treaty. The difficulty of this negotiation is a little bit the lack of recognition from one side that this is a rules-based system and that we cant invent a relationship or partnership that goes against those rules. But committee member Jacob Rees-Mogg told him: It is a rules-based system when it suits the EU and amazingly flexible when it doesnt. The EU makes rules and it can make rules to suit circumstances if it chooses to, but by a voluntary decision it is choosing to say that its rules are sacrosanct, when in other areas it is much more flexible. The European Parliament is backing an association agreement to govern relations between the EU and UK after Brexit, similar to those already struck with countries including Ukraine. But Mr Verhofstadt insisted the framework was flexible and would allow the UK to wrap up elements like future economic and security relations inside a single agreement which is tailor-made for Britain and different from the Ukraine accord. Without an association arrangement, multiple agreements would be required, meaning we are going to be in ratification and uncertainty for more than a decade or even two decades, he warned. Mr Verhofstadt said he was hopeful that negotiations on the withdrawal agreement and a political declaration on the future relationship could be concluded by October or November. If this was achieved, he said it would be possible to finalise details of the EU-UK trade deal by the time the transition ends in December 2020, dismissing suggestions that the process could take years. But he said if talks drag on beyond the end of 2018, the European Parliament will not have time to ratify any agreement in time for the March 29 2019 date of Brexit, a process which will take around three months. Mr Verhofstadt told the committee: The worst scenario for both parties is no deal. The disruption that would create to the economy, not only on the continent but certainly in Britain, would be huge and that we have to avoid. The former Belgian prime minister said the Brexit vote appeared to have resulted in a reduced appetite for withdrawal in other member states, while fuelling interest in EU reform. Even the Five Star Movement and League parties in power in Italy now say it would be stupid to take their country out of the EU, he said. Irish entrepreneur Harry Crosbie, the man behind a string of iconic buildings in Dublins docklands, is set to build a new rock n roll hotel. Crosbie, who has now exited NAMA, is spearheading a major development at his Vicar Street site with a new hotel that includes a Rock and Room concept. It will give clients a package that includes tickets to shows at Vicar Street with a hotel room and meal. With Rock and Room, you can book a room in a 4-star hotel, which will have direct access to your seat at the venue. There will be a membership club on the top floor with a 7,000 sq. ft. bar looking out over the city with the same views as the Guinness Storehouse, Harry told the Sunday World. The Vicar Street venue is also to get a makeover, with the main stage being moved to introduce an extra 500 seats. Promoter Peter Aiken said: We will increase the range of talent we present and enhance the whole experience of attending a concert. Expand Close Harry Crosbie with Bono / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Harry Crosbie with Bono Crosbie has already put his stamp on the capital. He was part of the three man team who delivered the National Convention Centre and Spencer Dock Development, and he restored the Clarence Hotel with U2. He was also honoured with an OBE from the Queen of England for his work on the Royal Visit. Harry and his wife, Rita, are in discussions with a number of investors to co-fund and co-develop the site beside the new Guinness Quarter and Storehouse, which will transform this long neglected part of Dublin city. The team plan to work with Dublin City Council to create a green park at the rear of the site for the local community. The three large bronze bears from the Point will be donated to this park as a gift to the Liberties. Animal rights Group Compassion in World Farming Ireland is to target key ferry operators in their latest bid to halt live exports. The group is to target Niclas Martensson CEO of Stena Line and Eamonn Rothwell CEO of Irish Ferries Limited with a petition signed by 4,000 people. In the petition the Group call on Stena Line and Irish Ferries to stop what they describe as profiting from this inhumane industry by allowing their ferries to carry young calves and cattle destined for fattening and slaughter on the continent. The live export trade is generally seen in the farming community as vital in stimulating price competition and providing an alternative market outlet for farmers. Indeed the Minister for Agriculture, Michael has said the ongoing search for new third country markets is a priority for his Department, particularly in the context of Brexit. The Minister has said that his Department attaches the highest significance to animal welfare in the context of the live export trade. I have met all of the key players in the industry and emphasised to them the fact that its continued existence is contingent on their continued commitment to the highest standards. We are involved in the inspection of cattle as they are loaded for departure on boats and, from time to time, we send departmental officials to travel with those cattle to conduct informal inspections. We place an enormous emphasis on welfare because of the significance of the trade to the beef industry and, in particular, to Irish farmers, and we will continue to insist on the highest standards. It is important to note that our animal welfare standards do not simply meet the EU standard but are, in fact, higher than the minimum EU requirement. We place such a level of significance on it that we have higher standards than those required, he said recently. It comes as recent investigation by animal rights group Eyes on Animals on a number of transporters from different countries leaving Rosslare port. The journeys took place on March 13 when two teams from Eyes on Animals inspected calf trucks leaving Rosslare Port and heading to Cherbourg Port via the Stena Roll-on Roll-off ferry service. The Group claimed the ferry journey took 19 hours in total (including a 1.5 hour delay). It also said that at least six of the calf trucks that came off the Stena Carrier did not stop at the first available control post, to unload the calves as they should, according to the EU regulations. In the Dail, last week Minister Creed said in relation to the Irish trucks involved, a thorough investigation has taken place into the circumstances of the journeys undertaken. This was carried out in conjunction with the French authorities and penalties for non compliance were applied, he said. Farmer Daniel de Almeida poses for a photo on his farm in Planaltina, Brazil, March 21, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Karla Mendes Surveying a field of 50,000 green peppers, Daniel de Almeida proudly explains how he "produces" all the water needed by crops and livestock on his farm on the outskirts of Brasilia, a city about to end water rationing after a severe drought. De Almeida is one of 1,200 farmers across Brazil supported by a government-run programme that improves infrastructure on their land to boost groundwater and conserve water sources. When water rationing was introduced in Brazil's Federal District more than a year ago, de Almeida continued to water his crops and animals from a river source on his property. "Those who did not preserve the springs, restore native areas, replant or have a protected green area suffered in the drought," de Almeida said, adding that farmers were not permitted to draw water from the river. "But here, thank God, we went through the drought with water in abundance," de Almeida told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on his 70-acre (28-hectare) property in Planaltina, Federal District, as steers grazed behind him. World water supplies are under pressure as the planet warms and demand grows with the population, the United Nations says. About 16 percent of Brazil's 5,570 cities face water scarcity, data from the Ministry of National Integration shows. In the Federal District, where Brazil's capital Brasilia is located, water supplies will be restored to normal on June 15 - a date brought forward from December. The district has suffered water shortages caused by low rainfall, and compounded by rapid, unplanned urban growth. But an expanded system to supply water from the Bananal River and Paranoa Lake has plugged the gap, Governor Rodrigo Rollemberg said in May, announcing this week's end to rationing. By December, an additional 2,800 litres (740 gallons) of water per second will be provided to the Federal District's 3 million people, and the same amount to the surrounding state of Goias, according to Rollemberg. People's efforts to save water, cutting consumption by 12-13 percent, and changes to farm irrigation methods have also been key to ending water restrictions, Rollemberg said. "From now on we will use this precious good in a much more rational way," he said. WATER MANAGEMENT Global demand for water is expected to increase by nearly a third by 2050, when 5 billion people could be left with poor access to water, according to a U.N. report published in March. To avoid scarcity, it recommended "nature-based solutions" that use or mimic natural processes to boost water availability. Those include adapting farming practices so that soil retains more moisture and nutrients, harvesting rainwater, and conserving wetlands that capture runoff and decontaminate water. In Brazil, structural changes on farms to increase groundwater are vital as some 60 percent of the country's fresh water is used for crop and livestock production, according to national water agency ANA. Careless use of water by agribusiness can trigger negative environmental effects across a river basin - including reduced flow in streams and rivers, and water degradation - and stoke water-related disputes, the agency says. Investing in construction works to prevent erosion on rural properties, and treating effluents and sewage help preserve hydrological basins, says ANA, which runs a countrywide "water producer" programme. It encourages farmers to adopt good practices that preserve the environment and increase water supplies. ANA leads 57 water-production projects across Brazil, covering 400,000 hectares and benefiting some 35 million people. The actions it promotes range from constructing sandbars and small dams that channel and capture excess water, to reforesting rural properties. ANA has invested $11 million in the projects, while some $42 million has been injected by organisations that benefit from the resulting boost to water, including local governments and companies running water and sanitation services. PAID TO PROTECT Participating farmers like de Almeida who agree to carry out the interventions are paid a yearly allowance. The amount varies according to the modifications and preservation methods used to improve water supplies. The programme invests in practical measures on farms, including building terraces and ditches, adapting rural roads, rehabilitating springs, tree-planting and conserving forest. On de Almeida's property, the funding has enabled contour farming and terracing, as well as planting saplings in the area around the river source, where no economic activity is allowed. The programme also encourages farmers to adopt sustainable practices, such as agroforestry where trees are planted alongside crops. "We do a mixed cultivation of corn and grass," said de Almeida. "I plant corn to make silage, which feeds the animals in the dry season, and in the rainy season we have pasture." De Almeida's farm receives financial support from government-run water utility Caesb, which funds the Pipiripau river basin programme in Planaltina, one of the most important vegetable-producing areas in the Federal District. On another farm in Planaltina, some 34 miles (55 km) from Brasilia, the programme planted 8,000 native cerrado trees, a savanna-like ecosystem, in an area where cattle used to graze freely near a river source. "We noticed an increase in the amount of water infiltrating the soil. We also saw the water source being filled more every year," said farmer Thiago Kaiser. That inspired his family to plant 4,000 more trees, and grow another 4,000 saplings from seed. Caesb said building a closer relationship with farmers and supporting their water conservation efforts has helped limit the water crisis in the region. As a result of the programme in the Pipiripau basin, 360,000 seedlings have been planted, 134 km (83 miles) of roads improved, about 1,000 water retention basins built and some 200 others rehabilitated. The Federal District government has invested some 10 million Brazilian reais ($2.7 million) in the project since 2012, of which Caesb paid about 2 million reais to some 185 farmers. On de Almeida's farm, the improvements made under the project cost about 30,000 reais, the farmer said. "It's well worth it," he added. Development of offshore wind energy in Ireland is being stymied by a lack of renewable electricity support and grid access, the managing director of SSE Ireland, Stephen Wheeler has warned. UK-based SSE owns energy provider Airtricity. Mr Wheeler, inset, claimed that a lack of clear policy and regulatory signals in support of offshore wind energy risks sending a message that Ireland isn't open for business in relation to offshore wind projects. He was speaking ahead of the Energy Ireland conference at Croke Park in Dublin yesterday. "Ireland has one of the strongest offshore wind resources in the world, yet is one of the only countries in Northern Europe not developing offshore wind capacity. "This is due to the historic and continued lack of any standard support mechanism and grid access for offshore wind energy in Ireland," he said. He claimed that the "low-carbon revolution" needed by Ireland to meet international climate and energy targets can only be achieved offshore wind farms as the only renewable technology of scale. Mr Wheeler also said that there's also no grid connection policy for onshore wind energy. Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Denis Naughten insisted at the conference in that offshore renewable energy will play a "critical role in Ireland's clean energy future". He also said a Government decision is anticipated before the summer recess in relation to the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme. The scheme will be shaped by EU state aid guidelines which call for competition between developers. Ulster is likely to take longer than its Irish peers to clean up its balance sheet and meet the ECBs target bad-debt ratio of 5pc. Photo: PA Ulster Bank's interim chief executive insisted RBS has no plans to jettison the business and denied a looming 1.6bn loan portfolio sale of soured owner-occupier and buy-to-let mortgages is part of a wider strategy to prepare the lender "for the shop window". Appearing before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance yesterday, Paul Stanley said Ross McEwan, RBS's boss, had given a commitment to him that the UK banking giant has no plans to quit Ireland and stressed Ulster is viewed as a "core" part of the group. Mr Stanley also hosed down fears the incoming head of Ulster Bank, Jane Howard, a senior official at RBS who has spearheaded the closure of over a quarter of the Edinburgh-based bank's branches, will follow a similar vein in Ireland and ultimately oversee the disposal of the Irish business. While the bailed-out UK bank reaffirmed its commitment to Ulster as far back as 2014, Fine Gael Senator Kieran O'Donnell claimed rumours persisted about a possible sale and he questioned whether the reduction of non-performing loans was all part of an exercise to "ready the bank for the shop window". But Mr Stanley said RBS wants to see the bank grow. "That is the challenge that they put to me every day," he said. Ulster is likely to take longer than its Irish peers to clean up its balance sheet and meet the ECB's target bad-debt ratio of 5pc. A mass home loan sale of 6,500 troubled mortgages, which was launched last month and is likely to be completed by the end of the year, will cut its non-performing loans to 11pc of the total loan book from the current level of 17pc. Mr Stanley acknowledged the bank still has some distance before it can claim to have cast off the legacy of the crisis. He estimated it will take until 2020 for the bad debt pile to reduce to EU norms. Asked why the bank refused to write-off bad debts for struggling home owners but was willing to do so for vulture funds, who will snap up the loans for a fraction of their value, Mr Stanley argued the lender must avoid "moral hazard". He claimed the bank had decided not to make value judgments and countered that it was "unfair" for some customers to receive a reprieve and not others. Ulster has earmarked 3,600 owner-occupier mortgages that have fallen into deep arrears, for sale alongside 2,900 toxic buy-to-let loans, although the bank said the portfolio size may shrink if borrowers are able to enter into "sustainable" forbearance measures. The lender also came under fire for dragging its heels on the tracker mortgage debacle. Mr Stanley said 3,490 affected customers will receive compensation and redress by July. However the bank may take until early next year to tackle an additional 2,000 impacted borrowers. Unemployment figures have dropped to 5.3pc showing all jobs lost during the recession have been regained. The Central Statistics Office jobless figures provided via the latest Labour Force Survey, are the lowest in a decade. Total employment rose to 2.237 million in the first quarter of 2018, slighly above the Celtic Tiger high recorded in the final quarter of 2007. However, the CSO has stated that Ireland now has a larger population than in 2007 due to workers whove moved to the country. The figures show the economy has witnessed 23 consecutive quarters of jobs growth since 2012. The newly released figures revised statistics for unemployment from May - which went down to 5.3pc, from 5.8pc, the lowest level recorded since 2008. Full employment equals a jobless rate of around 5pc, according to Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), which this week said signs of overheating were starting to emerge in the Irish economy. The CSOs statistics, which replaces the Quarterly National Household Survey as the indicator of where the Irish labour market sits, show overall employment increased by 2.9pc or 62,100 in the year to the first quarter of 2018 Employment rose in 11 of the 14 sectors during the year with public administration which was up 11.8pc and construction 9.9pc seeing the largest annual increases. Employers group Ibec said the latest figures were additional evidence of the strong momentum in the economy but this in itself threw up further challenges. With the economy approaching full employment the biggest challenge facing the Irish labour market will be finding workers to fill vacancies, Ibec economist Alison Wrynn said. A Cathay Pacific aircraft at Dublin Airport. The airline commenced a route between Hong Kong and Dublin earlier this month Passenger traffic at Europe's airports is set to more than double by 2040 to 4.5 billion, according to the airports body ACI Europe. But it warned the fact that low-cost carriers are driving passenger growth "comes with significant pressure on aeronautical revenues" at airports, with 90pc of Europe's airports offering discounts to attract, retain and grow air traffic. Europe's airports handled 2.23 billion passengers last year, a record for the gateways. In the past five years, the number of passengers using airports in the region rose by 513 million, according to ACI Europe. So far this year, passenger numbers are up 6.9pc year-on-year in Europe. "That kind of growth comes with significant operational challenges and puts a lot of pressure on our staff and facilities," said Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe. He said that increasing congestion at Europe's airports is a major issue, but that quality of service for passengers has largely improved. Mr Jankovec added that the expected increase in passenger numbers by 2040 will come on the back of changing consumer behaviour precipitated by "ultra-mobile millennials and affluent and healthy retired baby boomers". Aircraft evolution will also enable more direct connectivity developments, while in-bound demand from emerging markets will also result in passenger growth, he predicted. "These new fundamentals are challenging the status of Europe as a mature aviation market," he said. "They are pointing to significant growth potential in the medium to long-term. The fact that last year EU airports alone were the largest contributors to global aviation growth along with Chinese airports is already reflective of that." But Mr Jankovec, speaking as ACI Europe held its annual congress in Brussels, warned that in the short-term downside risks including rising oil prices and trade wars "are testing the resilience of our growth dynamic". Dublin Airport is among the gateways experiencing strong growth, bolstered by improved economic activity and new routes to destinations such as Hong Kong, Beijing and Seattle. Last year, the airport handled almost 30 million passengers. A record 2.9 million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport in May, a 10pc increase over the same month last year. It was the 50th consecutive month of growth at the airport. So far this year, almost 11.6 million passengers have travelled through Dublin Airport, a 6pc increase compared to the first five months of 2017. Passenger numbers to and from continental Europe increased 12pc last month, to more than 1.5 million. Almost 871,000 passengers travelled to and from UK destinations in May, an increase of 3pc compared to May last year. Transatlantic traffic was 19pc higher last month at Dublin, at almost 383,000 passengers. Other international traffic, principally to the Middle East and Africa, increased by 23pc to more than 69,000 passengers Traders work on the floor of Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, Argentina. Photo: Reuters An escalating protectionist war between the United States and China extended a sell-off in European shares yesterday, with carmaker, mining and technology stocks in the eye of the storm. Europe's main equity benchmarks declined after US President Donald Trump warned Washington would impose a 10pc tariff on $200bn of Chinese goods after Beijing decided to raise tariffs on $50bn in US goods. "For now we are talking about the US and China, not Europe directly, but certainly overall it's a de-risking because global trade integrates everything," said Britta Weidenbach, head of European equities at DWS. Europe's companies are in general far more exposed to the global economy than US counterparts. Carmaker stocks were the biggest drag on stocks in Europe yesterday. "The automotive sector is one of the main sectors that could potentially be impacted by import tariffs," said Ms Weidenbach, adding that the impact on German carmakers may depend on how much of their production is US-based. "The devil is in the detail in the end, but certainly the discussions are not helpful for the sector," she added. Ireland's ISEQ Overall Index declined 0.25pc to 7,063.76. Decliners included building materials giant CRH, which has about half its business in the US. It shed 1.4pc to 31.31. Smurfit Kappa was 1.3pc lower at 34.44, while ferry group Irish Continental was down 3.7pc at 5.16. Gainers included embattled baked goods firm Aryzta, which soared 8.2pc in Dublin to 13.75. The UK's FTSE-100 slipped 0.36pc. Germany's DAX was down 1.2pc and France's CAC-40 was 1.1pc lower. An airplane passenger who was high on drink and drugs when he gave a Nazi salute and tried to grab an easyJet captain by the throat has been jailed for three months. Sentencing 51-year-old Paul Anthony Burgoyne at Antrim Magistrates Court, District Judge Nigel Broderick said incidents of passengers under the influence of drink or drugs and being abusive to air crews were "becoming all too prevalent". He added that despite an "eloquent" plea in mitigation, "I feel that this case does merit a custodial sentence". Judge Broderick also fined Burgoyne 500 and ordered him to pay 600 to the plane's captain, whose watch was broken in the incident. The judge added that the sentence "should serve as a warning to anyone else who engages in similar behaviour". Burgoyne was later bailed pending an appeal. At an earlier hearing Burgoyne, originally from Northern Ireland but now living at Temple Close, Shepshed, Loughborough, pleaded guilty to nine offences arising from the incident on February 11. They included four counts of common assault, including assaulting the captain of the flight; and damaging the captain's watch. He was also accused of using disorderly behaviour at Belfast International Airport; behaving in an abusive, insulting or threatening manner towards cabin crew; and recklessly endangering the safety of an aircraft. Outlining what happened during the incident, a prosecuting lawyer told the court Burgoyne was on an easyJet flight from Belfast to Birmingham when he was asked to raise the window blind for take-off. However, the lawyer said he then became aggressive and "made a Nazi salute saying 'all right, mein Fuhrer'", adding that the captain came down and deemed Burgoyne as "unfit to be on board". Burgoyne continued to be aggressive, shouting and swearing at the captain and crew, who felt he was "going to punch" them. "He tried to grab the captain by the throat but got him by the collar instead and broke his watch, which was worth 600," the lawyer told the court. Once ejected from the aircraft Burgoyne kicked the tug vehicle which was still attached to the plane and managed to get inside it, grabbing the steering wheel and a joystick. When removed from the vehicle, Burgoyne "squared up to another member of staff", still shouting and swearing before he was arrested by police. Defence counsel Neil Moore said it was clear from the reports that "alcohol, other illicit substances and fractious and toxic family relationships" led to the incident, which he described as "an explosion of anger". He conceded that "obviously, his behaviour on the plane is disgraceful". However he argued that unlike many other cases where planes, crew and passengers were endangered mid-air, such as passengers trying to open doors, "this happened on the tarmac". Mr Moore said Burgoyne "is a decent member of society who holds down a decent job", having left Northern Ireland "to build a new life". He said that he had expressed remorse and regret for what happened. "While there has to be an element of deterrence, when you look at the case law, this case is distinct and exceptional, fortunately for Mr Burgoyne, because it happened on the tarmac and not in the air," submitted Mr Moore. Jailing Burgoyne, Judge Broderick agreed that "there must be an element of deterrence". The judge added that despite Mr Moore's eloquent plea, his view was that the offences called for an immediate jail sentence. While Burgoyne was initially taken to the cells, he was freed on bail pending an appeal of the sentence. Seguin, TX (78155) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 47F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 47F. Winds light and variable. David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers ANGLO Irish Banks former CEO, David Drumm is due to be sentenced today after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting in a 7.2bn confidence trick on the markets during the 2008 financial crisis earlier this month. Mr Drumm arrived at the Criminal Courts of Justice at 8.25am this morning for his sentencing hearing. Earlier this month the jury delivered its verdict on both counts, after one of the longest-running criminal trials in the history of the State. At the time, Drumm, who had denied the charges, stared impassively but open-mouthed at the jury as the verdict was read out, but showed no other reaction. Expand Close David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers Judge Karen OConnor remanded him on bail for sentencing at a later date after his defence made a bail application on humanitarian grounds. The gardai had objected, saying they considered Drumm a flight risk. He faces an unlimited maximum potential jail term on one charge and 10 years in prison on the other. The three women and nine men of the jury reached their unanimous verdicts after deliberating for 10 hours and 32 minutes, following a trial that lasted 87 days. Expand Close David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers Drumm (51) had pleaded not guilty to conspiring to defraud by dishonestly creating the impression that Anglo's customer deposits were 7.2bn larger than they really were in September 2008. He conspired with Anglos former Finance Director Willie McAteer and head of Capital Markets John Bowe, as well as Irish Life and Permanents then-CEO, Denis Casey, and others. The case centred on a series of interbank deposits which circulated between Anglo and ILP. Drumm had also denied false accounting, by providing misleading information to the market. David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers ANGLO Irish Banks former CEO David Drumm made a huge error of judgement in his involvement in a 7.2bn conspiracy to defraud the markets during the 2008 financial crisis, a court heard. Drumm, who is due to be sentenced later today, was the driving force behind the interbank deal at the centre of the conspiracy, the lead investigating garda said. His defence barrister said Drumm was ready for sentencing today and accepted that it must be custodial. Brendan Grehan SC asked presiding judge Karen OConnor to take account of the fact the notoriety that Drumm was going to carry for the rest of his days. Expand Close David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers He put no character references or testimonials before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, which was told Drumms life was an open book. Drumms sentencing hearing was taking place this afternoon, after he was found guilty two weeks ago. Judge OConnor is expected to pass sentence later. A jury found Drumm guilty of both charges by unanimous verdict after a trial that lasted nearly five months, one of the longest in the history of the State. Expand Close David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers He had pleaded not guilty to conspiring to defraud by dishonestly creating the impression that Anglo's customer deposits were 7.2bn larger than they really were in September 2008. He plotted with Anglos former Finance Director Willie McAteer and head of Capital Markets John Bowe, as well as Irish Life and Permanents then-CEO, Denis Casey, and others. Drumm had also denied false accounting, by providing misleading information to the market in December 2008. Today, Detective Sergeant Michael McKenna of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said the investigation began in March 2009 and went on for a number of years. The gardai first had contact with Drumm in March 2010 and that continued sporadically but ceased in July 2013. In all, it was a nine year investigation with around 16 detectives involved full time at its peak. Mr Drumm was eventually charged on March 14, 2016 having been extradited from the US, where he had spent time in custody. Prosecutor Paul OHiggins led Det Sgt Michael McKenna through the background to the offences in 2008. That year, Anglo entered into a series of circular transactions with ILP, aimed at bolstering Anglos customer deposits figure on its year-end balance sheet, making Anglo look stronger than it really was. The deal involved Anglo placing cash with ILP, which then passed the money through its non-banking subsidiary Irish Life Assurance, back to Anglo. Because ILA was not a bank, Anglo was able to re-categorise the cash as having come from a corporate customer. This would be seen by the markets as a better source of funding than interbank lending. Drumm, the prosecution said, was the man who called the shots in Anglo at the time and authorised the deals. When the year end results had to be reported to the markets on December 3, Anglo included the 7.2bn in its total 51.5bn customer deposits figure, but did not link the two figures. Drumm was among the signatories. Det Sgt McKenna agreed with Mr OHiggins that at the time, Drumm was Chief Executive of Anglo and had been since the end of 2005, when Sean Fitzpatrick moved became Chairman. He had joined the bank in 1993 and was asked to head up Anglos US arm in 1998, where he lived before returning to Dublin. He had no previous convictions. He had left school 16 and did an accountancy apprenticeship with a firm before joining Anglo, where he worked his way up. Drumm was a family man with two children and himself came from a large family from Skerries, Det Sgt McKenna said. Mr OHiggins asked where Mr Drumm had come in relation to the operation and driving of the scheme. Mr Drumm was the driving force behind the initiative, he said. His involvement had continued right the way from March 2008 until September in that he chaired weekly meetings in his office and individually asked people to pursue transactions, particularly with ILP. There was evidence that he specifically asked Head of Treasury Matt Cullen to ask his counterpart in ILP, David Gantly, to increase the September transaction from 6bn to 7bn. There was evidence he was in contact directly with ILP's Denis Casey and they discussed the transactions with each other. Det Sgt McKenna said of the three co-conspirators sentenced in 2016, that McAteer was jailed for three and a half years, Bowe was sentenced to two years in prison and Casey was jailed for two years and nine months, with another portion suspended. Det Sgt McKenna said Drumm did fight his extradition initially but ultimately consented to being returned. Mr Grehan asked if Drumm had been a happy man returning and Det Sgt McKenna said he appeared to be relieved to be coming home at the time. Mr Grehan said the transactions happened at the height of the financial crisis after the Central Bank had asked Irish banks to help each other in what became known as the green jersey agenda. Although Drumm admitted authorising the transactions, the origin of the idea was shrouded in mystery, Mr Grehan said. "The idea of this being a legitimate form of balance sheet management, that has never been got to the bottom of, Mr Grehan said. Well we have got to the bottom of it now, Det Sgt McKenna said, to laughter in the court. Mr Grehan said there seemed to have been some awareness in the Financial Regulators office of the transaction in advance of September 2008. Not in terms of the specifics, Det Sgt McKenna said. The transactions were certified as true and fair by the external auditor, Ernst and Young, Mr Grehan said. Mr Grehan said Mr Drumm was the fourth of eight children. His father had been a truck driver who died at the age of 64, when Drumm was 26. His mother only recently retired as a hairdresser. Drumm had worked with a number of different accounting bodies after completing his Leaving Certificate and had been on the International Fund for Ireland for a short time. He joined Anglo at the age of 26. He was sent to the USA in 1998 and worked in the Boston area. He moved with his family and they put down roots, living there for seven years. When he returned to somewhat unexpectedly become CEO in 2005. He resigned on December 19, 2008 following revelations about chairmans loans at the bank. The family returned to Boston in June 2009, where they still had a home. He worked and lived there until he returned in 2016 on foot of the extradition. The case was already listed for trial in April last year and Drumm was ready to proceed at that stage but it did not go ahead then due to circumstances beyond everyones control, Mr Grehan continued. Drumm had always complied with bail conditions. Det Sgt McKenna agreed when Mr Grehan said this matter has been marked, not surprisingly, by a large amount of media coverage and interest. Mr OHiggins then told Judge OConnor that the maximum possible sentence for false accounting was 10 years, while the penalties in the conspiracy charge were at large because it was a common law offence. Drumm was ready for sentencing today and accepted that it must be custodial, Mr Grehan said. He had not put forward any testimonials or character references on his behalf. His life has effectively been an open book since he became Chief Executive, Mr Grehan said. Beyond that, he did not want to have his extended family, who had supported him throughout, exposed to any further loss of privacy. Drum had accepted that as CEO he authorised the transactions and took repsonisbility for thior execution in Anglo. With the benefit of hindsight he recognised it was a huge error of judgement on his part, he could not admit to having a subjective intention that he never had. He believed he was involved in balance sheet management with the tacit if not actual approval of the regulatory authorities. He accepted that it was not discussed in detail with the regulatory authorities but there seemed to have been an approach of laissez faire from that quarter. In terms of his motivation, it was assuredly to save the bank during the worst financial crisis in living memory. Sometimes it was easy to forget 10 years down the line just how chaotic it was for those who were trying to wrestle with decisions that had to be made, he said. Unlike most frauds, the transactions were not conducted in secret, there were lots of people involved in the funding initiatives and there was a huge spread of different transactions throughout the year. It had to be seen in the context that Anglo was facing annihilation. The transactions passed under the eyes of a lot of experienced professionals independent of Drumm and nobody raised a red flag. There was no evidence that anyone actually suffered any loss or made any gain. There was no evidence anyone was involved for personal gain, rather they were trying to save their institutions full stop. It turned out to be a futile attempt for Anglo. Mr Grehan said the transactions did not cause Anglos collapse and the bank was overexposed to development loans during the crisis. From humble beginnings he rose to the dizzying heights of Chief Executive of what was at one stage described as one of the best if not the best bank in the world to where he is today, facing sentence, Mr Grehan said. The sentence would reverberate not just in Ireland but abroad. Drumm now had very limited future options and accepted the court was restricted in its sentencing options. Mr Grehan said that as CEO, the case might be made that Drumm bore greater responsibility than others who had been sentenced. He had already spent five months in a US federal penitentiary and should recieve credit for that, Mr Grehan said. He asked the court to consider the totality of the hardship that had been visited on Drumm, and the notoriety that he was going to carry not just today and tomorrow but for the rest of his days. He asked the judge to be as lenient as she could in the circumstances. The judge said she would deliver sentence later. David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers ANGLO Irish Banks disgraced former CEO, David Drumm, has been jailed for six years for his part in a 7.2bn plot to defraud the markets during the 2008 financial crisis. Drumm (51) sat in the dock and showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down by Judge Karen OConnor at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court this afternoon. He was jailed for six years for both charges of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting, with credit for five months spent in custody in the US prior to his extradition here. Judge O'Connor said Drumms behaviour had been grossly reprehensible and a motivation to keep Anglo open during the crisis does not provide any excuse for fraud and dishonesty. Expand Close David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers A jury found Drumm guilty of both charges by unanimous verdict two weeks, ago after a trial that lasted nearly five months, one of the longest in the history of the State. He had pleaded not guilty to conspiring to defraud by dishonestly creating the impression that Anglo's customer deposits were 7.2bn larger than they really were in September 2008. He plotted with Anglos former Finance Director Willie McAteer and head of Capital Markets John Bowe, as well as Irish Life and Permanents then-CEO, Denis Casey, and others. The case centred on a series of interbank deposits which circulated between Anglo and ILP. Expand Close David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp David Drumm, former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive arrives at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his sentencing hearing. Picture: Damien Eagers Drumm had also denied false accounting, by providing misleading information to the market in December 2008. Judge OConnor said today there could be no dispute these had been challenging times and there was dysfunction in the markets. This court is not sentencing Mr Drumm for causing the financial crisis. Nor is this court sentencing Mr Drumm for the recession which occurred, she said. The offending did not cause Anglo Irish Bank to collapse and the court was sentencing Drumm only for the two specific offences. During the course of the trial, the jury was told Drumm that he accepted the factual matters regarding the mechanics of the September transactions, Judge OConnor said. However, he did not accept they were fraudulent or dishonest or that there was any dishonesty in their reporting, the judge said. The jury rejected these submissions and convicted Mr Drumm unanimously. A Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board, Drumm was in a position of trust in relation to the bank, its depositors, investors and lenders, she said. The public were entitled to trust the information published by a public limited company and to make decisions based on that information. In this case two blue chip publicly quoted companies conspired to manipulate the public accounts of Anglo Irish Bank. Mr Drumm along with others put together a dishonest scheme and engaged in transactions, designed to inflate deposits from a non-banking entity to Anglo Irish Bank. The transactions were without substance and provided no rea financial liquidity or funding, Judge OConnor continued. The fact that the scheme ultimately did not succeed is irrelevant. Mr Drumm was part of a conspiracy which potentially could have caused significant loss. From the evidence it is clear he was the driving force in Anglo Irish Bank and the person behind the funding initiatives being considered by the bank. He authorised the transactions, was at the helm of the bank, and clearly extremely hands-on in his position in the bank. The aggravating factors, she said, included the nature of the offences, being a dishonest and fraudulent scheme involving a conspiracy to the tune of 7.2 billion euro. Drumm held a position of trust, when he authorised, directed and was actively involved in this dishonest and fraudulent scheme. He was also actively involved in the furnishing of the information into the market. This offending was premeditated and planned, and in fact the evidence was that significant planning went into this fraud. Mitigating factors, she said, were that Mr Drumm is a person of previous good character, he has no previous convictions. He has a supportive family. He has lost his reputation which will encroach on any future employment opportunity. This is difficult for him on a personal level in circumstances where he was respected within the banking industry. He has been the subject of much opprobrium which no doubt has been difficult for Mr Drumm and his family on a human level. The most significant form of mitigation would be as a result of a guilty plea, which was now not available to him. While certain matters were admitted to by Mr Drumm, he did not accept that the transactions were fraudulent or dishonest or that there was any dishonesty in their reporting, she said. The motivation to keep the bank open is irrelevant. This was grossly reprehensible behaviour and it does not provide any excuse for fraud and dishonesty, Judge OConnor said. Similarly inaction, weakness and ineptitude on the part of the Financial regulatory authorities provides no excuse for a scheme of this nature. The jury were told that this was part of a green jersey agenda wherein Irish banks would help each other. Mutual assistance is a far cry from unlawful acts. There was no evidence in this case that the Central Bank or the Financial Regulator directed criminality. The public has to be able to trust its banks, citizens place their trust in a bank, allow banks to manage their money and need to be able to believe and make decisions on foot of the information published by their banks. Referring to the lower sentences imposed on his co-conspirators Willie McAteer and John Bowe, who were jailed for three and a half years and two years respectively, the judge said they were subordinates to Drumm, who held a more senior position and was a more influential figure. He had a leadership role, she said. Judge OConnor added that there had been no suggestion that Mr Drumm or the other conspirators made any personal financial gain as a result of tis offending. The appropriate "headline figure" for sentencing was eight years, she said, and this was reduced to six with mitigation. Drumm leaned back slightly in his seat in the dock, but did not react otherwise. Wearing a dark suit and open-necked blue shirt, he was seen arriving alone at the Criminal Courts of Justice at around 8.20am this morning, more than two hours early for the sentencing hearing. After submissions from the prosecution and defence earlier, Mr Drumm sat in the afternoon reading a book, "We chose to speak of War and Strife" by John Simpson, while waiting for the judge to consider the sentence Several jurors were present in the public gallery during the sentencing. Earlier at the hearing, Detective Sergeant Michael McKenna of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said the nine-year investigation began in March 2009. Prosecutor Paul OHiggins led Det Sgt McKenna through the background to the offences in 2008. That year, Anglo entered into a series of circular transactions with ILP, aimed at bolstering Anglos customer deposits figure on its year-end balance sheet, making Anglo look stronger than it really was. The deal involved Anglo placing cash with ILP, which then passed the money through its non-banking subsidiary Irish Life Assurance, back to Anglo. Because ILA was not a bank, Anglo was able to re-categorise the cash as having come from a corporate customer. This would be seen by the markets as a better source of funding than interbank lending. Drumm, the prosecution said, was the man who called the shots in Anglo at the time and authorised the deals. When the year end results had to be reported to the markets on December 3, Anglo included the 7.2bn in its total 51.5bn customer deposits figure, but did not link the two figures. Drumm was among the signatories. Mr Drumm was the driving force behind the initiative, Det Sgt McKenna said. His involvement had continued right the way from March 2008 until September in that he chaired weekly meetings in his office and individually asked people to pursue transactions, particularly with ILP. There was evidence that he specifically asked Head of Treasury Matt Cullen to ask his counterpart in ILP, David Gantly, to increase the September transaction from 6bn to 7bn. There was evidence he was in contact directly with ILP's Denis Casey and they discussed the transactions with each other. Det Sgt McKenna said of the three co-conspirators sentenced in 2016, that McAteer was jailed for three and a half years, Bowe was sentenced to two years in prison and Casey was jailed for two years and nine months, with another portion suspended. Mr Grehan said the transactions happened at the height of the financial crisis after the Central Bank had asked Irish banks to help each other in what became known as the green jersey agenda. Although Drumm admitted authorising the transactions, the origin of the idea was shrouded in mystery, Mr Grehan said. "The idea of this being a legitimate form of balance sheet management, that has never been got to the bottom of, Mr Grehan said. Well we have got to the bottom of it now, Det Sgt McKenna said, to laughter in the court. Mr Grehan said there seemed to have been some awareness in the Financial Regulators office of the transaction in advance of September 2008. Not in terms of the specifics, Det Sgt McKenna said. The transactions were certified as true and fair by the external auditor, Ernst and Young, Mr Grehan said. Mr Grehan said Mr Drumm was the fourth of eight children. His father had been a truck driver who died at the age of 64. His mother only recently retired as a hairdresser. Drumm had worked with a number of different accounting bodies after completing his Leaving Certificate and joined Anglo in 1993 at the age of 26. He was sent to the USA in 1998, moved with his family to Boston and they put down roots, living there for seven years. He returned to somewhat unexpectedly become CEO in 2005. Drumm resigned on December 19, 2008 following revelations about chairmans loans at the bank. The family returned to Boston in June 2009, where they still had a home. He worked and lived there until he returned in 2016, when he was extradited. He initially fought that and spend five months in a US federal penitentiary. Ultimately, he consented to returning to Ireland to face trial. Drumm had always complied with bail conditions. Det Sgt McKenna agreed when Mr Grehan said this matter has been marked, not surprisingly, by a large amount of media coverage and interest. Drumm was ready for sentencing today and accepted that it must be custodial, Mr Grehan said. He had not put forward any testimonials or character references on his behalf. His life has effectively been an open book since he became Chief Executive, Mr Grehan said. He did not want to have his extended family, who had supported him throughout, exposed to any further loss of privacy and collateral damage. Drumm had accepted that as CEO he authorised the transactions and took responsibility for their execution in Anglo. With the benefit of hindsight he recognised it was a huge error of judgement on his part, he could not admit to having a subjective intention that he never had. He believed he was involved in balance sheet management with the tacit if not actual approval of the regulatory authorities. He accepted that it was not discussed in detail with the regulatory authorities but there seemed to have been an approach of laissez faire from that quarter. In terms of his motivation, it was assuredly to save the bank during the worst financial crisis in living memory. Sometimes it was easy to forget 10 years down the line just how chaotic it was for those who were trying to wrestle with decisions that had to be made, he said. Unlike most frauds, the transactions were not conducted in secret, there were lots of people involved in the funding initiatives and there was a huge spread of different transactions throughout the year. It had to be seen in the context that Anglo was facing annihilation. The transactions passed under the eyes of a lot of experienced professionals independent of Drumm and nobody raised a red flag. There was no evidence that anyone actually suffered any loss or made any gain. There was no evidence anyone was involved for personal gain, rather they were trying to save their institutions full stop. From humble beginnings he rose to the dizzying heights of Chief Executive of what was at one stage described as one of the best if not the best bank in the world to where he is today, facing sentence, Mr Grehan said. The sentence would reverberate not just in Ireland but further afield. Drumm now had very limited future options and accepted the court was restricted in its sentencing options. Mr Grehan said that as CEO, the case might be made that Drumm bore greater responsibility than others who had been sentenced. He should receive credit for time spent in custody in the US, Mr Grehan said. He asked the court to consider the totality of the hardship that had been visited on Drumm, and the notoriety that he was going to carry not just today and tomorrow but for the rest of his days. A man who wrote letters apparently bragging about his involvement in the murder of Melanie McCarthy McNamara has had his conviction for murdering the innocent 16-year-old upheld on appeal. Daniel McDonnell (23) of Brookview Lawns in Tallaght had pleaded not guilty to the murder of the Ms McNamara at Brookview Way in Tallaght on February 8th 2012 The Central Criminal Court heard that Melanie was shot in the head as she sat in a car with her boyfriend and his friend in Tallaght on the date in question. The trial heard that a stolen black Hyundai Santa Fe had pulled up alongside the car in which Melanie was sitting in the back seat. A shot was discharged from the Hyundai and Melanie was hit in the head. McDonnell was one of two men arrested on suspicion of murder the following week. He maintained his right to silence in more than 20 Garda interviews but daubed incriminating graffiti on his cell wall that included: 2 in the head. The b**ch is dead ha ha A few weeks later, while detained in St Patricks Institution, McDonnell continued to brag about his involvement, according to the prosecution, this time in two letters. Expand Close Daniel McDonnell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Daniel McDonnell The first one, addressed to his cousin, included the lines: This war ain't stopping. Take my word for it. Close-range head shots. That's what I'm going for. If I get High Court bail I swear on my whole family, them four will be in the ground Little did he know I had a loaded 12-guage. Left his b**ch all over the Sunday World front page. In the second letter, to his former girlfriend, he wrote: That other thing wouldnt have happened if Id known she was in the car. It was meant for that other smell bag. He wont get away with bullying my Ma. The then 19-year-old was unanimously found guilty by a jury after over four hours of deliberations and given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Paul Carney on January 24, 2014. McDonnell moved to appeal his conviction in April principally over the reliability of the letters. However, dismissing his appeal today, the Court of Appeal found McDonnells trial to have been fair and the jurys verdict safe. McDonnells barrister, Bernard Condon SC, said the prosecution's case turned on the two letters, without which, he said, there wouldnt have been a prosecution. The only other supporting evidence was the graffiti he daubed on his cell wall. Mr Condon said the letters should not have been admissible and further that, on their own, they did not meet the threshold for the case to go to a jury. He said the letters were written by a 17-year-old on 23-hour lock-up, who had been on drugs since the age of 11, with a catalogue of personal circumstances which lead him to be the type of person who might be a fantasist. In a case where there was no other evidence, Mr Condon said the letters were not the sort of material that could safely give rise to a conviction for murder. Mr Condon listed a number of matters which ought not to have permitted the jury to consider the letters. These included McDonnells age and maturity and the circumstances in which he wrote the letter - he had been on 23-hour lock-up in a single cell for 10 days; His history of drug use since the age of 11; His level of education and emotional maturity; His ability to process information: His susceptibility to suggestibility; His poor self image and desire for attention and notoriety; The lack of other supporting evidence linking him to the crime and the lack of safeguards around how the letters were written (it wasnt video recorded). Giving judgment in the three-judge court, Mr Justice Alan Mahon said close examination of the trial judges brief ruling on the issue suggests that the trial judge was fully conscious of his judicial role and how it differed to that of the jury. He explained why he considered the letters to be reliable and expressed his belief that the letters were written by McDonnell knowing they would be read by prison authorities. Mr Justice Mahon said the trial judges decision was clearly not made off the cuff in the absence of a considered analysis. The trial judges task was to determine if the letters had been written by McDonnell was the product of his own unfettered mind and were matters which he intended to state at the time. Issues as to truthfulness were matters properly left to the jury. Ideally, Mr Justice Mahon said, the trial judges ruling might have been more detailed and his reasoning given greater explanation. However, the trial judges ruling on the reliability of the letters was correct and open to him, the court held. Further grounds of appeal in relation to the seizure of the letters were also dismissed. Mr Justice Mahon, who sat with President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice John Edwards, said the court was satisfied that McDonnells trial was fair was the verdict safe. Mr Condon indicated to the court that he wished to make submissions as to the severity of McDonnells sentence notwithstanding the mandatory imposition of a life sentence for murder. Mr Condon said he wished to make submissions on whether a life sentence is appropriate for a minor. A sentence appeal hearing will take place at a later date. Patrick Nevin, who yesterday pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape and sexual assault. Photo: Collins A serial sexual predator is facing up to life in prison after raping one woman and sexually assaulting two others he met on Tinder. Patrick Nevin (36) carried out the three attacks in the space of 11 days in July 2014. The sex attacks took place when Nevin, a computer programmer and former UCD student, had arranged to meet up with the women after first talking to them online. In each case, Nevin picked the woman up in his car on a date and attacked them after driving to a secluded spot. The father of two has been registered as a sex offender. One of his victims, an English language student, previously told a trial that Nevin seemed "nice" and "friendly" when they connected on Tinder, but after arranging to meet for a coffee he turned into a "monster" before sexually assaulting her. Nevin pleaded guilty before the Central Criminal Court yesterday to the rape of a woman at Bellewstown, Co Meath, on July 12, 2014. A jury had been sworn in and the trial was due to begin, but Nevin changed his plea to guilty at the eleventh hour. He further admitted to sexually assaulting a second woman at an unknown location in Co Meath on July 16, 2014. He had been due to face trial on that charge in October. The defendant, with a most recent address in Dun Laoghaire, south Dublin, was remanded in custody until the end of July for sentencing. Defence barrister Patrick McGrath SC asked the court to order a report from a forensic psychiatrist for the sentence hearing. Wearing a white Hollister T-shirt, dark blue jeans and black bomber jacket, Nevin stood in the dock when the charges were put to him. He replied "guilty" to both counts when they were read out to him. His father was in court to support him. Offences Nevin's guilty pleas mean he can now be identified as he has no further trials pending. His guilty pleas followed a significant ruling by Judge Eileen Creedon on Monday to allow details of his other offences to be made known to the jury in the rape trial, which was due to take place this week. The jury was told yesterday that no trial would now take place because Nevin had pleaded guilty. Following his guilty pleas yesterday, Nevin can now be identified as the man found guilty before the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last November of sexually assaulting a Brazilian student at the UCD campus at Belfield on July 23, 2014. During the eight-day trial last November, the woman testified that she arranged to meet Nevin after communicating with him on Tinder and WhatsApp. He picked her up in Dublin city centre and drove them to UCD, where he had studied for four years. She didn't know where she was. She said he parked his car near a green area with trees and nobody around. She started to feel scared because "we had said we are going for a coffee". He turned the car engine off and she heard the car doors locking. She said he became very aggressive. "He was looking like a monster. He was calling me bad names and trying to touch me. I tried to take his hands away, and I couldn't. "The only word I could say to him, 'stop, stop, I want my house, stop, stop,'" she said. She said he didn't stop. She said he put his hand on her knee and pulled her dress up to her thigh. He held her arm and her breast was exposed. During a struggle, she hit him with her elbow and he punched her head, she said. She managed to unlock the car door and get out. She said he drove off leaving her there and a dog walker helped her get a taxi home. Nevin had denied the sexual assault, claiming the woman "freaked out" and "started crying" when he tried to kiss her. He also told gardai he believed they were "hooking up" for sex. Nevin is due to be sentenced on July 26 for the Co Meath attacks. He is due to be sentenced before the courts on Friday on the UCD assault. Patrick Nevin, who yesterday pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape and sexual assault. Photo: Collins A quick glance at Patrick Nevin's Tinder profile suggests a man who loved his body art, and kept himself fit. He came from a dysfunctional background and was put into the care of his father aged just four years old, but he appeared to have successfully rehabilitated himself and he went on to UCD to complete a four-year degree in computer technology. He had a number of relationships, and was able to hold down a good job in computers. He also had two children and was a responsible parent. But dig a little deeper, and there were troubling signs about the young man's behaviour. Yesterday, the serial sexual predator discovered he is now facing up to life in prison after raping one woman and sexually assaulting two others he met on Tinder. The 36-year-old carried out the three attacks in the space of 11 days in July 2014. Expand Close Patrick Nevin outside court in 2001 when he was jailed for seven years for an attack on his girlfriend in which he killed her two dogs. Picture: Courtpix / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Patrick Nevin outside court in 2001 when he was jailed for seven years for an attack on his girlfriend in which he killed her two dogs. Picture: Courtpix The sex attacks took place when Nevin, a computer programmer and former UCD student, had arranged to meet up with the women after first talking to them online. In each case, Nevin picked the woman up in his car on a date and attacked them after driving to a secluded spot. The father of two has now been registered as a sex offender. At an hearing earlier this year, a court heard that Nevin had a previous conviction for rape from Denmark. He was a minor in 1999 when he was convicted of rape and aggravated rape. During another sentence hearing, this time for possession of a stungun, a court heard Nevin had become heavily involved in the Danish justice system after his father moved there to live with a woman. The court was told that Nevin's parents had a troubled relationship and he was put into the care of his father at the age of four and had lost contact with his mother. His father was unable to manage him in Denmark. When he turned 18, the Danish authorities deported Nevin back to Ireland, where he went to live with a grandmother. In 2001, he was jailed for seven years after he killed his then girlfriend's two dogs with a bannister rail, and threatened to kill her. Nevin, who was just 20 years old at the time, asked his then girlfriend how she would like to die - either by choking or stabbing. He subjected her to a terrifying ordeal of choking, hitting her with a brick, kicking her in the head, punching her, and spitting in her face. The court heard that the louder the woman shouted for help, the more Nevin hit her. Nevin also pulled a tuft of hair from her head and dragged her to the bedroom where he kicked her several times in the head and spat in her face. He said several times that she was going to die - and refused to call an ambulance because she "wouldn't need one". In an attempt to calm Nevin down, his then girlfriend even offered to have sex with him. She then fell into a state of unconsciousness and later woke up to find Nevin walking around the room with his head in his hands. He tried to stab himself before falling asleep and she managed to get out of the house where she stopped a taxi driver. She was taken to hospital where she was treated for a fractured skull and serious cuts and bruises to her face. It was while he was serving the seven-year sentence that Nevin did an Open University course in maths and went on to complete a degree in computer technology at UCD. Very fair, and providing a challenge to all levels of students was how teacher Kenneth O'Dea described the Leaving Certificate chemistry higher-level paper. Mr O'Dea, an ASTI subject representative and teacher at Presentation College, Athenry, Co Galway, said question one, on water titration, "would almost have been expected" and made for a good start to the paper. He said question five, on mass spectrometry, was another topic that had been tipped. Mr O'Dea said for the very good students the question on benzene provided a challenge, but was "very fair". He described the ordinary-level paper as "very fair" and students with good general knowledge of chemistry would have thought it "very nice". Tara Lyons, a teacher at Dublin's Institute of Education, said the higher level paper had "clear questions that required short, but precise answers". A topic familiar to all candidates - the post-Leaving Cert holiday - featured in the Spanish listening comprehension. Mark Walshe, an ASTI subject representative and teacher at St Finian's Community College, Swords, Dublin, said there had been a stimulating variety of topics in the aural. In the ordinary-level written paper, he said candidates who kept an eye on current affairs may have appreciated the question on President Michael D Higgins's trip to South America. Mr Walshe said higher level "required attention to detail, as it always does". Students would have had to use different tenses to express what they wanted to say. They also had to show some creativity in writing about the importance of travel, or life is an adventure. Primary schools are dealing with very young children with serious mental health difficulties including self-harming and suicidal thoughts, according to a new study. The findings have sparked calls for the urgent establishment of a nationwide primary schools' counselling service to provide professional back-up to principals and teachers dealing with pupils in distress. Family issues and relationship breakdowns were cited as the most common underlying causes for distress in children. Up to a quarter of school principals also reported the occurrence of a "critical" incident in their school, varying from a bomb scare to suicide to murder. The study was led by Dr Rosaleen McElvaney of Dublin City University's School of Nursing and Human Sciences, and was funded by St Patrick's Mental Health Services. It was conducted among primary school principals and counsellors dealing with children from 4-13 years of age throughout Ireland between August 2016 and November 2017. Four in 10 principals responded to the online questionnaire and 10 counsellors who are currently providing counselling to primary school children were interviewed. The five most common issues reported by principals as causing children mental distress were general family issues (36pc), behaviour-related problems (18pc), anxiety (13pc), separation/divorce/marital breakdown (6pc), and academic concerns (5pc). According to the principals, family breakdown and a chaotic home life sometimes left young children upset or refusing to attend school. Principals also reported feeling ill-equipped to respond to the complexity of children's needs and the burden now sees a third of schools providing on-site counselling on an ad-hoc basis. Dr McElvaney said principals could not turn a blind eye to what they were being confronted with on a daily basis and there appeared to be an incredible burden on them to find funding to help children And, she said, teachers were really struggling to help children. "We know that addressing children's psychological difficulties enhances their learning experience, but the extent and range of difficulties that children are presenting with in school needs urgent attention, not only to improve their educational chances but to help them deal with their emotional struggles." Paul Gilligan, CEO for St Patrick's Mental Health Services, said research suggested that one in three Irish children younger than 13 experienced mental health difficulties. "This report shows that mental health supports in school are vital. Now, more than ever, children are dealing with complex and challenging issues which have a significant effect on their well-being. "Our experiences as children shape who we are as adults and it is throughout childhood that we develop our emotional capabilities. "The provision of early intervention at primary level has the capacity to shape the emotional well-being of an entire generation." Making cancer warnings on alcohol products mandatory would also mean a legal requirement for similar labels on bacon, the Portuguese government claims. It insists that such warnings would also have to be replicated on processed meat, very hot drinks and oral contraceptives. The Portuguese government has set out to scupper plans for a major clampdown on the sale of alcohol in Ireland. The Irish Independent has seen a submission to the European Commission in which Portugal derides legislation that is due back before the Oireachtas next week. Officials argue that if health warnings are required on beer, wine and spirits, similar labels would have to be carried on food products including rashers and sausages. "The application of the labelling requirements can not be justified on the basis of only alcohol products, leaving out other products categorised as having cancer risks," the submission says. The detailed document goes on to argue the proposal being brought through the Dail by Health Minister Simon Harris could "distort reality" by not including the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption. It added that moderate drinking can be "associated with certain health benefits, including a protective effect against cardiovascular disease and diabetes". The Italian government has also raised concerns about the legislation. It has warned that if labels are required in Ireland it would create a barrier to trade. In addition, officials question why Ireland is focused only on cancer and not other alcohol- related diseases. The Department of Health said the legislation focused on "reducing the harms associated with alcohol consumption" and "not about addressing other products". The bill also sets out to delay the start of alcohol consumption by children and young people. It introduces minimum unit pricing that ends below-cost selling of alcohol in supermarkets and other retail outlets. Gardai seal off Sarsfield road where a serious road collision took place Picture:Arthur Carron A female pedestrian was seriously injured in a 'hit-and-run' incident in Ballyfermot last night. The incident occurred at the intersection of Sarsfield Road and Landon Road in Ballyfermot just before 9pm. A car struck a woman in her early 40s before leaving the scene. The driver, a man in his 40s, was arrested a short time later. He is currently being detained in Kilmainham Garda Station. The woman was been taken to St James Hospital and her condition is described as serious The area was sealed off last night while gardai conducted a forensic examination of the accident scene. Two units of Dublin Fire Brigade, along with an advanced paramedic team, also attended the scene. HOMELESS families face being moved out of Dublin due to demand for hotel rooms during peak tourist months, including the visit of Pope Francis in August. An influx of tourists to the city will see demand for hotel rooms spike, as more than 600,000 are due to attend events when the pontiff visits the capital. Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE) says it will pursue all alternatives for emergency accommodation as the pressure on space mounts this summer. A spokeswoman for the DRHE said it did not expect the visit to affect families already in hotels, but did not rule out it affecting those presenting as newly homeless. The DRHE says that hotels outside the capital may have to be used in such situations but its up to homeless families to find accommodation, which the DRHE will then pay for. It is understood there is an upper threshold for what can be spent by the DRHE on hotel rooms. Expand Close (stock photo of a homeless person) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (stock photo of a homeless person) The homeless executive says that emergency units can also be brought into use temporarily to help deal with major events such was the case during recent severe weather events and concerts. The DRHE closely monitors the demand for emergency accommodation and has contingency plans in place that provide additional bed capacity when required, a spokeswoman said. The DRHE actively pursues all accommodation options, which may include providing accommodation outside the Dublin region, to ensure that families are provided with emergency accommodation when needed. However, speaking to Independent.ie last night, campaigner for the homeless Fr Peter McVerry said the demand for rooms will also affect homeless families currently in hotels. Fr McVerry said that families will be told during busy summer months that they have to move out. Families who are already in hotels will be told that the hotels are pre-booked and told you have to move out, Fr McVerry said. He also criticised the self-accommodation system in operation, which means families have to source their own accommodation, saying it is an added stress for those already struggling. The campaigner added that the Department of Housing must start building social housing on a large scale and that vacant properties across the country must be bought by Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to allay the crisis. City councillor Christy Burke said he has dealt with Dublin families who have had to find accommodation in both Kildare and Louth. He added that it was regrettable that families were having to stay in hotels in any part of the country, but that for them having to travel outside of their area for accommodation only made the situation more difficult. A spokesman for the Department of Housing said that the DRHE currently has 41 units of contingency accommodation in place, with a further 30 to be added this month. The number of families in homelessness across the country is 1,712. Kerry Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae has issue a warning to the thief who stole his bike in Dublin city centre today. In a tweet this afternoon, Deputy Healy-Rae said: "A message to the thief that stole my bike outside the passport office in Dublin this morning. I am looking for you, I will find you and it will be a sorry day for you that you ever decided to mess with me and my property." Speaking to Independent.ie this afternoon, Deputy Healy Rae explained what happened. "I had a bit of business to do in the Passport Office and in the rush I forgot my lock and chain. I was in the office for some time and when I came out the bike was gone. "I have the bike a long time. I bought it with my father many years ago. I used it all the time, it was the only way to get around the city." Deputy Healy Rae confirmed he has reported the incident to the gardai but he told Independent.ie that he does not expect to see it again. "It will be like looking for a needle in a haystack," he said. It was reported last year that 12 bikes each day are stolen in Dublin. Earlier this month it was revealed that gardai are using 'bait bikes' at locations across the city to catch bicycle thieves. Bikes were deliberately left in 'hot spot' locations in the south city on 50 occasions under Operation Chain, with gardai monitoring them, ready to swoop if anyone attempted to make off with them. New figures provided to Social Democrats TD Roisin Shortall suggest that arrests were made in around a third of instances that 'bait bikes' were deployed. Now Ms Shortall has suggested the operation could be expanded to university campuses and to cities like Cork and Galway on a pilot basis. The Dublin north-west TD said: "Bike theft is a real problem for cyclists in Dublin city and other cities and yet, because it often goes unreported to gardai, it's difficult to get a proper sense of the scale of it. "Gardai's novel use of decoy bikes as a type of honey trap for thieves could be a useful deterrent," she added. She said that any such operation should be justified by a "high rate of arrests and the appropriate number of prosecutions". Ms Shortall stressed that prevention is "always better than cure" and noted the need for bike users to have good locks. She also said offices, apartment blocks and third-level institutions should have proper facilities where people can park their bikes so they are not left on the streets. Operation Chain was devised by local Garda management in the Pearse Street Garda District. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has questioned why any country would do a trade deal with the United Kingdom if they renege on promises made during the Brexit negotiations. In a clear sign of the growing frustration over a lack of progress on the Irish border, Mr Varadkar said Theresa May needs to honour the so-called backstop agreed last March. It would see Northern Ireland maintain regulations that are closely aligned with the EU in order to avoid a physical border on the island after Brexit. But Brexit negotiations ended yesterday ahead of a summit of EU leaders next week with serious divergences relating to the Irish border. EU chief Michel Barnier said a lot more work needs to be done to find a workable way of keeping the border open once Northern Ireland leaves the EU. However, it is understood there are no plans for further talks before EU leaders gather to decide the next steps in Brussels on June 28. Speaking today the Taoiseach said he will ask other European leaders to continue to stand behind Ireland. What I want all of Europe to do is stand behind Ireland and say to the UK that they have to honour the commitments they made. The UK is a country that is talking about going global, talking about making trade deals all over the world. How could anyone deal with a country that doesnt stand by its commitments, Mr Varadkar said. Expand Close Stock image (Victoria Jones/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stock image (Victoria Jones/PA) Mr Barnier and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker are due in Dublin tomorrow in what will be interpreted as a show of strength at a key moment in the negotiations. The Taoiseach indicated he will tell them that Ireland hasnt seen sufficient progress from the UK in the last couple of months. We had a good political agreement in December. We had more progress in March where they accepted there had to be a backstop as part of the Withdrawal Agreement. But since then progress has stalled, he said today. In a joint statement issued last night, the EU and UK said progress has been made in a number of areas, including customs, VAT and nuclear waste regulation. But Mr Barnier warned the UK that there will be no final withdrawal agreement in October without a deal on Ireland. Irish government sources expressed massive frustration at the development last night saying there had been weeks of nonsense from some people on the British side who should know better. We have seen swings, roundabouts and buffer zones from Westminster and then finally a customs paper that arrived far too late in the day and provoked far more questions than answers. The only assessment can be that the British have not done what they have said they would do by June and not yet delivered on the guarantees of the Prime Minister, a senior source told the Irish Independent. Carol Nolan has quit Sinn Fein after she opposed its policy on abortion, saying she no longer has a place in a party that she claims does not respect the pro-life views of members. The Offaly TD had been suspended for three months after she voted against the holding of the abortion referendum. Last night, Ms Nolan announced her resignation from the party but said she would stay on in the Dail as an Independent TD. Sinn Fein supported repealing the Eighth Amendment. Last weekend's ard fheis voted to amend party policy so that its TDs can support legislation allowing for abortion up to 12 weeks. A second motion calling for Sinn Fein TDs to have a free vote on abortion like Fine Gael and Fianna Fail was heavily rejected. Ms Nolan explained her decision to quit, saying: "I feel that as a pro-life republican woman that I no longer have a place in this party, which doesn't recognise or show genuine respect for the pro-life views of members. "It was disappointing that at the ard fheis ... the party's delegates voted against the motion to allow members to have a conscience vote on the issue of abortion." Ms Nolan said it was "unethical" to force TDs who were strongly opposed to abortion to vote against their conscience. She said TDs were responsible for the laws they enacted and "if a TD votes for abortion they are responsible for all abortions that happen in this State". She said: "I cannot and will not support abortion and for that reason I have made a decision to leave Sinn Fein." Ms Nolan told the Irish Independent she hasn't decided whether she would contest the next election as an Independent. Her resignation brings the number of Sinn Fein TDs down to 22. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said she regretted Ms Nolan's resignation, saying it was "disappointing but not surprising". "Sinn Fein made every effort to give its members space and latitude to articulate a position contrary to the party's position in the recent referendum campaign on Repeal of the Eighth Amendment. The people have spoken on this issue. The Sinn Fein ard fheis has democratically agreed the party's position to support the forthcoming legislation." A senator is calling on members of the Dail and Seanad to boycott the US Embassys Independence Day celebrations in protest over Trumps border and immigration policy. The current US Charge dAffairs Reece Smyth plans to host a celebratory party at the Us Ambassadors Residence in the Phoenix Park on July 3rd titled United We Rock. Yesterday, Labours Aodhan ORiordan held a briefing opposing the celebrations. He was joined by immigration lawyer Fiona McEntee who described the separation of families at the border as a new low for the Trump administration. Nearly 2,000 immigrant children have been separated from their parents in April and May, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Ms McEntee has been practising immigration law in the States for ten and a half years, and was based in Chicago's OHare airport for six months after President Trump's inauguration assisting detainees. But what is happening is a new level of low, she said. We are hearing direct reports of families being separated. These are families seeking asylum - many of them have travelled for upward of a month with their children and they are being separated at the border. She added; We are hearing reports that there are children in cages, they are being detained away from their parents. As a mother, as an Irish citizen, as a naturalised US citizen, as an immigration attorney I just cant sit by and say nothing, she said. Expand Close Demonstrators gather to protest against the separation of immigrant families at the border in Austin (Amanda Voisard/Austin American-Statesman via AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Demonstrators gather to protest against the separation of immigrant families at the border in Austin (Amanda Voisard/Austin American-Statesman via AP) We have a duty to speak out and use our voice. "I dont know how anyone could attend a reception in the US Embassy and drink to United We Rock knowing what is happening to these poor children. Expand Close Aodhan O Riordan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Aodhan O Riordan Aodhan ORiordan chaired the briefing and said boycotting the celebrations was a small but powerful gesture. Senator Billy Lawless who has worked extensively with undocumented Irish in the States also described the latest policy as a new low. The United States for me was always a beacon of hope for people all over the world. They set the bar for human rights and civil rights and to see what has happened in the last couple of years is quite frightening, he said. Suggesting home confinement as an incarceration alternative to avoid family separation back home | Main | "Fourth Amendment Constraints on the Technological Monitoring of Convicted Sex Offenders" June 20, 2018 Is Gov Cuomo soon to have a worse record than Prez Trump on the clemency front? The question in the title of this post is prompted by this new piece at The Appeal headlined "Cuomo The Merciless: New York's Democratic governor has granted only a trickle of commutations, fewer than many of his Democratic and Republican predecessors." Here are excerpts: In 2015, New Yorks governor, Andrew Cuomo, announced the creation of an Executive Clemency Bureau to identify people in the states prison system who might be worthy of commutation. The announcement sparked hope among the systems approximately 50,000 prisoners, their families, and advocates that they might soon rejoin their families.... Cuomo encouraged attorneys and law firms to donate pro bono hours to help incarcerated people prepare their petitions. Many heeded the call and devoted significant time and resources to helping dozens of people imprisoned across the state. But these efforts have not proved fruitful. In December 2016, Cuomo had granted only seven commutations. One was to Judith Clark, a former Weather Underground member initially sentenced to 75 years to life; her commutation allowed her to appear before the parole board immediately instead of waiting until 2056. (Clark was denied parole and remains in prison.) Another commutation granted an immediate release to Valerie Seeley, a domestic violence survivor sentenced to 19 years to life for the fatal stabbing of her abusive boyfriend in 1998, an act that she has always maintained was in self-defense. About one year later, Cuomos office announced more commutations this time, it was only to two men. He has not granted any clemencies since then. His office did not respond to The Appeals queries about the possibility of future commutations. Cuomo has, however, issued a greater number of pardons to those who have already served their time. He has granted 140 pardons to adults who were convicted of nonviolent felonies as 16- and 17-year-olds, thus expunging their felony records. He also granted pardons to 18 others who might face deportation because of a criminal record. Kathrina Szymborski oversees the pro-bono commutation efforts at the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, which has donated the equivalent of $1.5 million in pro-bono hours to clemency applicants. She and her colleagues rejoiced when one client, 42-year-old Michael Flournoy, who had served 21 years of a 25-to-50-year sentence, received clemency in December 2017. But, she told The Appeal, we have many deserving clients whose applications are still pending. Our clients are dedicated and hard-working, so they continue to gather letters of support, receive stellar job reviews, and complete rehab and educational programs. Theyre trying to be part of society and enrich their communities as best they can from where they are, some by mentoring other prisoners, others by writing articles for publication in various newspapers and magazines. We feel that theyve served their time and their further incarceration serves no purpose, so we find the lack of action on these applications disappointing. While Szymborski notes that her clients remain hopeful, Cuomos lack of action has disillusioned others. Steve Zeidman is the director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at the CUNY School of Law as well as Clarks attorney. While the clinic is working with about 25 people on clemency applications, he has received hundreds of requests for help. For so many people, clemency offered the hope that after decades of punishment their quantifiable and undeniable evidence of personal growth and transformation would be recognized, he told The Appeal, that they would be given the chance to live outside the prison walls. As I have now been told on several occasions by those who have had their hopes of clemency reduced to pipe dreams, false hope is cruel; it is worse than no hope. I am more than a bit concerned that all the recent clemency talk coming from the White House could turn out to be the source of false hope, especially as Prez Trump gets consumed by other matters. But among the many reasons I am rooting so hard for Prez Trump to keep using his clemency pen is because it should then become even easier for advocates to urge Governors to keep up the clemency pace. June 20, 2018 at 04:41 PM | Permalink Comments https://www.lawfareblog.com/trumps-corrupt-use-pardon-power "In no aspect of his presidency has Trump acted more immorally and done more damage to the rule of law and constitutional norms than in his exercise of the pardon power. He has granted only five pardons, far fewer than any modern president at a comparable stage." So I guess that what you are saying Doug is that Cuomo is going to have a worse record than everybody! Posted by: Daniel | Jun 20, 2018 4:59:10 PM Daniel: That Lawfare quote is factually off. The last three Prez granted ZERO pardons in their first two years in office. The rest of the long commentary is interesting, but that blatant factual error darkens my view of everything else they say. Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 20, 2018 8:29:13 PM Post a comment Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has paid tribute to the thousands of "unknown heroes" who were criminalised for being gay in Ireland before the ban on same-sex activity was finally lifted 25 years ago. "We cannot erase the wrong that was done to them. What we can say is that we have learned as a society from their suffering," he said. He was speaking as the Dail and Seanad offered a "sincere apology" to those who were convicted under the law that was repealed in 1993. During the debate, Mr Varadkar and other politicians remembered Declan Flynn, the young man killed in Dublin in 1982 for being gay. The Taoiseach said Mr Flynn had been "brutally attacked" by a group of men, one of whom shouted "we are going to bash a queer". "When the Oireachtas makes something a crime, some people believe they have a licence to punish those they believe are committing it," Mr Varadkar said. "These were young men who had grown up in a society which hated and feared homosexuality. They took the law into their own hands." He said that after Mr Flynn's death there were huge protests by groups who were horrified at the sentence given to his attackers, and "a movement was mobilised in Ireland". Mr Varadkar also paid tribute to long-time gay rights campaigner Senator David Norris - whose activism heavily contributed to the move to change the law in 1993. He said that so much had changed in Ireland and pointed to the marriage equality vote in 2015. Mr Varadkar said that, as a gay man, being elected Taoiseach was "something that would have been unimaginable when I was born, and would have seemed impossible even a few short years ago". Children's Minister and gay rights campaigner Katherine Zappone said the apology was "so historic". She said it would be emotional for her that the State is acknowledging the harm that was done by the law. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said the change in the law did not end discrimination, but it "did set off a chain of actions which have changed our country unquestionably for the better". Like Mr Varadkar, he paid tribute to Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, the justice minister in the Fianna Fail- Labour coalition that repealed the legislation. Mr Martin said she insisted the Dail should see it as a human-rights issue and rejected attempts by some to keep some inequality in the law. Mr Martin said there are many countries where homophobia was still promoted by governments. He singled out Russia and nations in Africa. "Commemorating progress in our own country is an empty gesture if we do not speak up for those in other countries who are suffering," he said. In the Seanad, Mr Norris said gay people had been "ashamed and terrified" under the old laws. He quipped that it was "extremely gracious of the Government to issue an apology for a bill that didn't originate in this country". He said it had been a British law, and the Irish people were "always generous, decent and compassionate". Transport chiefs are on the verge of amending plans for the MetroLink in order to significantly reduce its impact on Na Fianna GAA club. Members of the club have been fighting against proposals for the underground train since it emerged they would lose their pitches for up to six years. It was expected two tunnels would be dug under north Dublin for the 3bn metro's route from the city centre to the airport and back. Na Fianna would have been required to give up its lands to facilitate machinery. It was earmarked as one of the points where tunnel boring will begin. However, planners are moving towards a larger single tunnel which would require less excavation work. The cost implications are unclear at this stage, but the news will be welcomed by communities in the Glasnevin area who have been campaigning to save their playing pitches. Na Fianna, which has more than 2,000 young members and 380 volunteers, will still face some disruption but its main pitch would be preserved. And the impact of the works will be reduced to two years. Local Fine Gael TD Noel Rock, who met with the National Transport Authority (NTA) yesterday, said it was a welcome development. "I am satisfied that the main pitch will now be saved," he told the Irish Independent. Mr Rock said Na Fianna, the nearby Home Farm FC and schools on the Mobhi Road, will still face some disruption, but not on the scale previously feared. A spokesperson for the NTA said no final decision had yet been taken. However, they confirmed they were "veering towards a single tunnel solution". "A single tunnel would mean there would be no need for a tunnel construction site in the area of Na Fianna but we would still look to build a station in the vicinity, which could cause some disruption," the NTA said. Details of the final route will be published following a review of submissions made during a recent public consultation process. These are likely to be revealed in mid-August. It is understood that if the single tunnel option is pursued, other land may be required in the Ballymun area for a construction site that would allow the tunnel boring machines to be lowered into the ground. Mr Rock said that while there "remain outstanding issues to resolve", he is now confident that the community and NTA can work together. "I look forward to taking the Metro to work before the end of 2027," he said. The campaign run by Na Fianna was backed by a number of high-profile media and political personalities. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is a member of the club. The MetroLink, which will run from Swords to Sandyford, is also proving controversial on the southside of the city, where locals are demanding that it should go underground. The southside section will see an upgrading of the Luas Green Line along 12 stops to enable the service to travel above ground. However, residents in areas such as Ranelagh believe it will cut them off from local amenities. Meet Jen. She's a 38-year-old mum-of-two who knows a thing or two about pregnancy. Morning sickness, melasma, gestational diabetes - she's been there, done that, and she's happy to share her experiences with new mums. Jen is warm, funny and engaging, but there's something that you should know about her. She's not a real person. She's a robot. The 'Jen' chatbot is the creation of MummyPages, an Irish maternity and parenting website. 'Jen' gives mums-to-be "gestation relevant advice" through Facebook Messenger and, after going live just four months ago, the company that created her has won the 'Best Use of a Messenger Bot' award at the Digiday Media Awards Europe. Chatbots are Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs that are triggered by keywords and phrases. They store information based on customer questions and, assuming the questions are pertinent and consistent, they can become more accurate over time. "I think they're the future of social media marketing," says Laura Erskine, head of community at MummyPages. "Facebook organic exposure is on a rapid decline, so exploring Facebook Messenger chatbots is more important than ever for Irish businesses." Erskine says chatbot technology taps into the instant gratification economy. "People aren't happy to do a Google search for the answer to a question when they have to sift through pages of results," she explains. "Nowadays, they are looking for information right away and they want it to be personal and relevant." This is borne out by a survey of American consumers in which 57pc of people said they're interested in chatbots for their "instantaneity". Another survey of international decision-makers in 2016 found that 80pc of businesses plan to implement their own chatbot by 2020. Chatbots have already revolutionised customer service - in fact, you've probably conversed with one while ordering a pizza, paying a bill or using a 'live chat' function. In recent years, however, the technology has been harnessed not just for customer service, but for customer engagement too. Many of these bots are embedded within social media messaging apps, such as Patron's Bot-Tender, which rustles up bespoke cocktail recommendations based on responses to questions. Closer to home, VHI Healthcare has Vee - a Facebook Messenger chatbot that provides runners with training advice, nutritional advice and motivational messages. Vee isn't an AI chatbot so it can't learn from users. "However, we've had good learnings from the first version, which we then used to inform Vee 2.0," explains Roseanna Ellis, social and digital content specialist. "We were aware at the start that interacting with a chatbot might seem overwhelming - when you're met with a blank screen it can be hard to come up with a question to ask," she explains. "So we built Vee so that it had structured conversation paths to guide users through the conversation and ensure that they were served a good mix of content." While chatbots like Jen and Vee are designed with a single purpose in mind, other chatbot developers have unsettlingly ambitious visions. Take Replika, "an AI friend that is always there for you", and which has forged a friendship with 2.5 million users since launching in early 2017. Replika encourages users to share their innermost fears, hopes and dreams in text-based conversation. It asks questions like "What kinds of things have you been thinking about recently?"; "What's one thing you're deeply proud of?" and "If you could wake up tomorrow with one new ability or quality, what would it be?". 'Deep engagement' is one of the many buzzwords in the chatbot space. The Replika chatbot cultivates the deepest engagement of all. Replika users personalise their experience by creating a digital avatar with the name and gender of their choice. The MummyPages developers, on the other hand, chose the name Jen because they wanted their chatbot to have a girl-next-door quality. "We wanted our chatbot to feel like a human interaction so we wanted to give her a name, and a name that was friendly," explains Erskine. "By using a shortened version of a full name, it automatically started that level of trust and engagement that you would experience with a friend. A lot of mums love Jen's really easy conversational style which uses emojis and gifs alongside her sage and relevant advice." While the first wave of chatbots were coded to sound clear, concise and, well, a little robotic, chatbots 2.0 tend to have human-like traits and quirks. Their voices have unique tones and inflections, while their written communication is perfectly imperfect. Take the current crop of digital assistant chatbots, or 'super bots' as they are otherwise known. Microsoft's Cortana cracks jokes and uses local colloquialisms. Amazon's Alexa has become more assertive after both Amazon and Apple were petitioned to "reprogram their bots to push back against sexual harassment". And while we all want to "talk to a human" when we contact customer services, it won't be long before chatbot voices become so realistic that we can't tell the difference. From a customer service point of view, chatbots allow businesses to connect with customers 24/7 and escalate issues without human intervention. But they can be a double-edged sword, as Fin Murphy of customer experience consultancy, Customer Conductor, explains. "Ultimately, companies are investing in this technology to save money, but outsourcing the relationship you have with your customer when they are seeking help poses risk," he says. "It comes down to one question: do you feel valued as a customer when a company makes you engage with a chatbot rather than a human being?" Digital marketing chatbots have their own drawbacks. Companies no longer need to employ shills to sway opinion on social media - they can just use chatbots to promote a product, service or even a political candidate. And just as bots can manipulate humans, humans can manipulate bots. The controversial SimSimi app was taken offline in Ireland when it was found that children were 'teaching' it to bully their classmates by associating certain names with insults, while Microsoft's teenage chatbot 'Tay' (inset left) was shut down when malicious users taught her to become a racist troll who blamed George Bush for the 9/11 terrorist attacks and pledged allegiance to Hitler. The chatbot revolution is a learning curve but, for better or worse, the technology is rapidly evolving. Chatbots will eventually be able to mimic humans with eerily realistic responses and the global chatbot market is expected to reach $1.23b by 2025. The chatbot revolution is imminent - but are consumers ready to embrace the future? Chef Clare Smyth holds her award for World's Best Female Chef during the World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards at the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao, Spain, June 19, 2018. Reuters/Vincent West Northern Irish chef Clare Smyth has been named best female chef" in the world at the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants awards. The Antrim-born chef was given the honour at a ceremony in Bilbao on Monday night, due to her work at her debut restaurant, Core by Clare Smyth, in Notting Hill in London. Meanwhile, Italian chef Massimo Botturas Osteria Francescana was named the best restaurant in the world for a second time. While chef Joan Rocas El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain, came second and Mauro Colagrecos Mirazur restaurant in Menton, France, came third. Irish chef Clare Smyth, who in 2007 became the first and only female head chef in the UK to secure three Michelin stars. She grew up on a farm, left school at 16, studied catering at Highbury College in Portsmouth, and then quickly honed her craft in kitchens in the UK and the US. She worked at Terence Conrans Michelin House restaurant, the French Laundry in California, Per Se in New York, and Restaurant Gordon Ramsey. Expand Close Clare Smyth / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Clare Smyth She was awarded the Michelin stars at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Previously, Smyth spoke about how the increased presence of female chefs makes kitchens better places. "It makes it a much more pleasant environment to work in," she says, before adding, "but you can go too far the other way, with too many women. It's better to have a good balance, as in any working environment." She said she resisted the label of 'female chef' for a long time, wanting to be known for her talent rather than her gender. "I never wanted to be separated," she explains, "but as I've grown up I do understand the importance of having someone at the top of the industry who you can recognise yourself in, and say 'if that person can do it, I can do it'. As to why there aren't more female chefs in the industry, Clare also previously said she simply doesn't know. "The working environment is way better now, for everyone, so being a chef is a much more attractive profession - and a much more professional profession too," she says. "It's people's choice whether they want to go into it, but there's nothing to stop them doing it if they choose to." A picture is emerging that no treatment, pharmacological or psychological, is without side effects, says psychiatrist Patricia Casey. Stock photo Psychiatrists are distrusted by many. We are (wrongly) seen as purveyors of dangerous drugs for those with mental health problems. The preferred option for many is talking therapy to explore 'root causes' and allow the ventilation of emotions. So medication and psychotherapy as pitted against each other. The concerns about medication are linked, among other things, to their side effects and to the role of the global pharmaceutical industry in promoting their products. Thus, for many, psychiatrists are seen as potentially tainted by the producers of the medicines we prescribe. This thesis ignores the reality that it was these medications which allowed the unlocking of psychiatric institutions, facilitated the discharge of patients to their homes and brought about the eventual closure of most of the psychiatric hospitals on these islands. The clear separation of the medical profession from the pharmaceutical industry has rightly been encouraged. By law, conflicts of interest must be revealed when psychiatrists publish their research in learned journals. This means that grants received or talks given at conferences sponsored by drug companies must be disclosed. Medications are overseen by the Health Product Regulatory Authority (HPRA) in Ireland and the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in the US and when they are prescribed, their side effects are detailed on the packaging and should be discussed with the patient. This transparency is welcome and is now an accepted element in our work. But is the same standard applied to psychological therapies when neither the HPRA nor the FDA has any oversight of these? A recent study of financial disclosures regarding psychosocial interventions was published in JAMA Psychiatry from Stanford University, California. The lead author was psychologist Ioana Alina Cristea. Disclosures regarding financial conflicts of interest in scientific papers relating to four commercially-backed parenting skills interventions varied from 11pc to 73pc, with an average of 32pc overall. One problem is that talking therapies are seldom developed by large corporations and are not patented, so translating the standards of the pharmaceutical industry to psychosocial therapies is problematic. Expand Close Stock photo: Katarzyna Bialasiewicz / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stock photo: Katarzyna Bialasiewicz Nevertheless, some such interventions require training and this can generate cash for specific organisations or institutions. Even when there is little financial gain but a strong researcher allegiance to a particular therapy, this could influence the type of statistical analysis that is conducted and be a source of bias. Action regarding conflict of interest and therapeutic allegiance in psychological therapies is prescient, as the debate about the quality of such studies has been questioned recently. This has been highlighted in several journals and most recently in February 2018 in 'Frontiers in Psychology' by Dr Michael Hengartner from the University of Zurich. One of his conclusions is that because only studies with positive outcomes are published, allowances must be made for this, resulting in a reduction in the reported efficacy of talking therapy overall. Similarly, he suggested that studies conducted by authors who have a commitment to a particular therapy will identify greater efficacy for it. One approach to this is to make the data widely available to others for re-analysis and this has resulted in an inability to replicate the findings. He also questioned the methodological quality of some of the trials to study these interventions. Some had small samples, they used changeable outcome measures and were aware of who was receiving the treatment and its comparator. What about the side effects of psychological therapies? In the public mind, talking therapies are much safer than medication and patients adopt the attitude that they "won't do any harm so why not?". The data doesn't support this and there are two aspects to be considered: inappropriate use of therapy and emergent side effects. In the first category there is now evidence that the use of psychological therapy for normal grief may delay the healing process and single session critical incident stress debriefing following traumatic incidents has been shown to increase the risk of post-traumatic stress disorders. In the second group, representing emergent side effects, is the risk of self-harm in the early stages of therapy for child abuse, the danger of excessive dependence on the therapist and of false memories occurring in those who are suggestible. Interpersonal and family problems arise in some instances, particularly in those who become very self-focused. Roughly 5pc of participants in one study reported long-term negative effects of therapy, while another reported that up to 10pc were adversely affected. A picture is emerging that no treatment, pharmacological or psychological, is without side effects. This isn't surprising since both modalities aim to deal with serious personal symptoms and interpersonal difficulties. Similar standards to enhance transparency, minimise conflicts of interest and recognised side effects should apply to all treatments in the best interests of our patients. A modern staircase at the North County Dublin restoration and extension project undertaken by Gavin Wheatley and his team at Plus Architecture When it comes to house projects - and maybe it holds true for life too - sometimes the very thing that seems a huge obstacle turns out to be an enormous plus, even the transforming feature of a building. In the right hands, a challenge or constraint - planning restrictions, for example, or the orientation of a building - can trigger really creative solutions. This is certainly true of the impressive North County Dublin restoration and extension project undertaken by Gavin Wheatley and his team at Plus Architecture, who turned a dilapidated Victorian villa into a creatively extended contemporary family home - with breathtaking views out to sea. "We were approached in 2015 by the client, who was relocating from Scotland with her family and whose sister lives in the area," recalls Gavin. The late Victorian villa was derelict, with rain-soaked internal walls, a leaking roof, collapsing floors and very few period features remaining. "It was about to be listed as a Protected Structure, so we had to treat it as one, even though it wasn't a particularly fine example; it was enlisted more because of its age than anything else," says Gavin. Many would have viewed it as a costly and off-putting challenge, but the homeowner saw serious potential - the back of the house faced onto a beach, offering striking views over shifting sand dunes, Ireland's Eye and Lambay Island. The team set about brainstorming how to create an extension that would make the most of the scenery and the light. "In a way, having the existing building as a limiting factor there was something good to push against, to give us a starting point," says Gavin. The result is a dramatic contrast between the two eras, the elegant Victorian entrance hall, complete with a cast-iron stove, giving way to a dramatic modern extension. The sloped, undulating Siberian larch-clad extension wraps around and 'hugs' the old villa in a soft, organic way. "The shape of the new parts of the house were inspired by sand dunes, and how much the surrounding landscape shifts and changes," says Gavin. "By using a contemporary feeling in the detailing and materials, you get this beautiful contrast between the new and old." Modern family At the start of the project, the homeowner invited Gavin to visit her original house to observe how her family lived and how space was used. This was crucial to a lot of the design decisions, and meant the project reflects how the family really likes to live. For example, though the extension is roomy and contemporary, Gavin and the team avoided just creating one big, open plan space, choosing instead to have separate kitchen, dining and living areas, so that the different family members, from teenagers to parents, have their own space as needed. "It's important to build your house around what you actually do and what you think your kids are going to be doing," advises Gavin. Creative constraints Building an extension to make the most of the breathtaking sea views meant it would need to face north, which was another challenge for the team, who wanted it to be bright and airy. "We had to wrestle with that," recalls Gavin. "On the one hand, you would be looking out onto these sunshine-soaked views, but be in the shade." The solution? A series of cleverly positioned roof-lights and high-level windows that draw in light at different angles throughout the day. Each living space was positioned to make the most desirable source of natural light: the central open-plan area gives way to a kitchen to the east-west, which catches the morning light, while a separate living room across the way basks in afternoon and evening light. Upstairs, two bedrooms benefit from easterly morning light, not to mention beautiful sea views. A fresh complication arose when the local council required that any new elements be built over 4m above sea level, even though the existing house was just 3m above that level. "Initially we were a bit put off by that, and thought it was going to be challenging to have all that [level] change within the ground floor," says Gavin. But the team was able to leverage this into an opportunity. "The more we thought about it and modelled it up, it actually made a lot of sense because it lifted the ground floor of the new extension, which allowed for direct views over the dunes. Something which we thought originally might be a challenge actually turned out to be a fantastic bonus for the project." The large glass walls frame the now unrestricted sea views, adding to the sense of space and openness. Period piece The villa itself needed to be completely upgraded and re-insulated. The team removed the first floor over the hall, opening up the reception room and creating a striking entrance hall that still holds true to the property's original style. "We wanted to introduce a 'spacial' drama that wasn't there before," explains Gavin. As soon as you open the front door, you can see straight through the house to the sand dunes at the back, a bold touch that draws you in and pulls you towards the modern back extension. Picture rails and other original details were restored, and soft colours that were both Victorian in style, yet modern, were used. "We wanted to make it feel like a restored Victorian house, not completely contemporary, so that you had that contrast as you move to the extension," says Gavin. The exposed stone of the original back wall was left to highlight the difference in the age of the house as you move from one space to the next. Opposites attract Gavin is a big believer that "whatever you do should be of its time", meaning the team leaned into the contrast between old and new in a big way. The new extension is unapologetically modern, both in design and materials. It features dramatic tall ceilings, polished concrete floors, granite worktops and custom-built white-stained shelving. The hues used are muted and quiet, the greys and whites inspired by the exposed rear wall of the Victorian villa. "I'm really pleased that we achieved the same calm palette throughout," says Gavin. He credits the homeowner - who has an engineering background and even built her own 3D model of the house - with how polished and consistent the finished space is. "I can't say enough about how much work she put into it, she was so attentive to detail," he says. "She really pushed us to get the right results and find solutions, and she found a lot of solutions herself." Imports. To buy or not to buy? It's a lengthy debate which has dogged many a potential car buyer for a long time. We've all heard the horror stories about imports being written off in a previous life or clocked 'on the boat over'. Yet we can't resist a bargain. Especially if the exchange rate is in our favour. To add to that, the recent changes to the European Roadworthiness Testing Directive now stipulate that Ireland must accept roadworthiness certs from other EU countries. In simple terms, this means if you import a car, say from the UK, which had its MOT six months ago, its cert would be valid in Ireland until the vehicle is due to be tested again. That is, six or 18 months from now, depending on its age. And while you may be thinking that the UK will soon no longer be in the EU, it won't matter because this rule has already come into effect (May 2018), and the mutual recognition of certs will stand, both retrospectively and into the future, regardless. Previously, imported cars would have had to undergo an NCT before they could be registered here. So how does everyone feel about the mutual recognition of roadworthiness certs? Some people have complained that we're potentially allowing unroadworthy cars into our country. But every roadworthiness test in Europe, regardless of whether it's an NCT, MOT or TUV (equivalent in Germany), must stick to the same basic standards that have been set out by the EU. Okay, the directive does allow for more stringent testing should individual states wish to apply them. And yes, Ireland is one of those countries up there with the best of them applying higher standards. But I think we may be missing the point here. No roadworthiness test across Europe, including Ireland, is a detailed mechanical diagnostic of a car. Why? Simply Because dismantling the car is prohibited by law. This means that only the parts of your car which an MOT, NCT or TUV tester can see and get to, without so much as unscrewing a bolt, can be examined. The only way to guarantee that an imported vehicle hasn't been clocked, crashed, stolen or written off is by getting it independently inspected by a mechanic who can pull the car apart to check for these things and by carrying out a history check online. Worryingly, some people think they'll be fine if they buy a car with six months NCT without ever having it checked by a mechanic. If a pilot came on air before take-off and told us the plane hadn't been put through a full mechanical inspection, we'd be charging down the aisle quicker than he could say "doors to manual and cross check". There's no doubt that the roadworthiness test is a vital aspect of road safety in Ireland and Europe. But the sad truth is that the vast majority of motorists maintain their cars in good condition - purely to be able to pass the test. In the last five years alone, the NCT has successfully picked up more than 25,000 dangerously defective vehicles. Perhaps owners don't realise that legally it's their responsibility, and no one else's, to keep their car in a roadworthy condition. And this applies 365 days a year - not just when it's due an NCT. Buying a used vehicle is no different. Import or no import, we have a legal and moral duty - not just to ourselves but to our families as well - to make sure that any car we intend to purchase undergoes a thorough mechanical inspection before we take to the roads. I think this is something we can all agree on. Carbon taxes will be increased in a steady way to help Ireland reduce emissions and tackle climate change, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has announced. Levies on fossil fuels including petrol, diesel, home heating oil and briquettes will ramp-up over the coming years as part of profound changes in how we live our lives, he said. The Taoiseach also told a Project Ireland 2040 event on climate change, held at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin, that coal would not be used to generate electricity from 2025, and that peat would be eliminated. Both coal and peat are among the most polluting fossil fuels, and the Government will also impose a national ban on smoky coal by the end of this year. Climate change is one of the existential challenges of our generation, Mr Varadkar said. It's our job to protect our planet and make it healthy and great again. We want to hand over stewardship of our planet to our grandchildren in a much better state then we left it. The transition to a low carbon world will require profound changes in how we live our lives. We have longer to travel than other countries. It will also mean carbon pricing and increases in the carbon tax. This will happen in a steady way so as not to jeopardise jobs. The measures are among dozens needed to help Ireland reduce emissions across all sectors of the economy. The Environmental Protection Agency says we will not meet legally-binding targets on climate change, leaving the State open to hefty fines which could run into hundreds of millions of euro. Instead of reducing emissions by 20pc over 2005 levels, the EPA says they are expected to fall by just 1pc. The event at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin was attended by Climate Action Minister Denis Naughten, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and the taoiseach. It was designed to set out climate funding under the Ireland 2040 plan, but also highlight how to engage with citizens and communities, and empowering them to act through taxation and other policy choices. King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands attend the liberation day concert on the Amstel on May 05, 2018 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images) King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands are welcomed by Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg with an official welcome ceremony on May 23, 2018 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. The King And Queen Of The Netherlands are in Luxembourg on a three day state visit. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images) King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands during the official picture at the state banquet in the Grand Ducal Palace on May 23, 2018 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. The Dutch King and Queen are in Luxembourg for a three day state visit. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images) This photo relesead by Telam on June 07, 2018, shows Ines Zorreguieta, the youngest sister of Argentine-born Maxima Zorreguieta, now queen of the Netherlands, attending the baptism of Princess Ariane on October 20, 2007 in The Hague, Netherlands. Dutch Queen Maxima leaves after giving a statement about her sister Ines Zorregu during a work visit in Groningen, The Netherlands, on June 19, 2018 Dutch Queen Maxima (2L) stand during a work visit to Protonentherapiecentrum in Groningen, on June 19, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / ANP / Robin van Lonkhuijsen / Netherlands OUTROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images Dutch Queen Maxima addresses the media during a working visit to the Proton Therapy Center (Protonentherapiecentrum) in Groningen on June 19, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / ANP / Robin van Lonkhuijsen / Netherlands OUTROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images Dutch Queen Maxima gives a statement about her sister Ines Zorregu during a work visit in Groningen, The Netherlands, on June 19, 2018 Queen Maxima of the Netherlands made a tearful statement in her first royal appearance since her sister's death. Maxima (47) is originally from Argentina, before moving to The Netherlands in 2002 to marry King Willem-Alexander. He joined her as she returned to Buenos Aires earlier this month after she learning the news of her sister Ines Zorreguieta's suicide. Expand Close This photo relesead by Telam on June 07, 2018, shows Ines Zorreguieta, the youngest sister of Argentine-born Maxima Zorreguieta, now queen of the Netherlands, attending the baptism of Princess Ariane on October 20, 2007 in The Hague, Netherlands. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp This photo relesead by Telam on June 07, 2018, shows Ines Zorreguieta, the youngest sister of Argentine-born Maxima Zorreguieta, now queen of the Netherlands, attending the baptism of Princess Ariane on October 20, 2007 in The Hague, Netherlands. During her return to royal duties on Tuesday, she made a tearful statement to press, saying: "Today is my first day back at work after a difficult time. And actually, Im happy that I could pay this visit to the Proton Therapy Center in Groningen, because this place means so much to people with cancer." People who are sick, yet who hope for a cure. My dear, gifted little sister Ines was sick too. She could find no joy, and she could not be cured." "Our only comfort is that she has now at last found peace." She went to thank members of the public for their support over the last two weeks as she took a break Expand Close Dutch Queen Maxima addresses the media during a working visit to the Proton Therapy Center (Protonentherapiecentrum) in Groningen on June 19, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / ANP / Robin van Lonkhuijsen / Netherlands OUTROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dutch Queen Maxima addresses the media during a working visit to the Proton Therapy Center (Protonentherapiecentrum) in Groningen on June 19, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / ANP / Robin van Lonkhuijsen / Netherlands OUTROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images "I would like to say how very grateful we are for the countless letters, messages and tokens of sympathy that we have received," she said. "They have really helped us. Id also like to say thank you for the respect that everyone has shown my family in this very dark period. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Ines was godmother to Maxima's 11-year-old daughter Ariane and was a bridesmaid in her wedding. After news of her death was reported, a spokesperson for the palace issued a statement saying the queen is "shocked and devastated". Expand Close Dutch Queen Maxima leaves after giving a statement about her sister Ines Zorregu during a work visit in Groningen, The Netherlands, on June 19, 2018 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dutch Queen Maxima leaves after giving a statement about her sister Ines Zorregu during a work visit in Groningen, The Netherlands, on June 19, 2018 Video of the Day Argentinian Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie issued condolences, saying: "It is a great sorrow to lose a sister, especially a very beloved sister". Her father, Jorge Horacio Zorreguieta, died last year in Buenos Aires aged 89 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are being urged to walk around and meet people during their visit to Dublin. Confirmation of the royal trip was greeted with enthusiasm on Grafton Street at the heart of the Republic of Irelands capital on Tuesday. Flower sellers Tina Dempsey and Beatrice Donovan described the prince as lovely and his wife as just beautiful. Id love to see them on Grafton Street, hopefully hell come over and throw a few pounds in the box, then I can retire, said Ms Donovan. It will be a great day for the city, Id say a lot of Irish will come out to see them. Ill enjoy all the excitement, Ill not go to see them but if they come to me, Id love to get a chat with them. I could have a joke with him, hes that sort of person, I think he could take a bit of slagging. Ms Dempsey added: Hes lovely, its a great thing he is coming to Dublin, I think there will be a big turn-out for him and Meghan. It will be a great day for the city, Id say a lot of Irish will come out to see them. They seem like a lovely couple, just a normal couple, and so in love. Details of the newlyweds first official visit to Ireland were announced by Kensington Palace on Tuesday morning. Video of the Day The couple, named the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after their wedding, will be in Dublin from July 10-11, and are looking forward to experiencing Irelands rich culture, as well as meeting people who are shaping the countrys future. Jim Kearns from Dublin, who is concierge at the Brown Thomas store, was also delighted by the news of the visit. I am delighted to hear they are coming, of course, and they will be made very welcome he said. I think most people in the Republic are very respectful of the royal family. The Queens visit in 2011 went down very well and also the visit of Prince Charles last week. I think personally it is a very good thing, our two peoples moving closer together. Amy OBrien from Dublin, who works in Carrolls Irish Gift shop on Grafton Street, said she thinks the visit will be great for tourism. It is a good thing, I think there will be a great turn out of people to see them, she said. Tourists Mary and David White from Worcester welcomed the visit. I am not a big fan of the royals, but I think Meghan is lovely and Harry is his own person, Ms White said. She is beautiful and I think its great that she brings some diversity to the royal family. Meanwhile, Aidan Lynch from Dublin said while the visit is not something he is personally excited about, he thinks it will be good for the city. I am not a big fan of the royals but I have no problem with them coming here and I think there are quite a few groups of people who will really enjoy it, he said. Kensington Palace has not yet confirmed where the royal couple will go during their visit. Millions of people across the world watched the televised wedding ceremony which took place at Windsor Castle. Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, described the visit as a wonderful opportunity to showcase Dublin and Ireland to a huge audience of prospective holiday makers across Britain, adding it has the potential to deliver a major boost to Irish tourism. SCOTUSblog reviews of SCOTUS work in Rosales-Mireles and Chavez-Meza | Main | Suggesting home confinement as an incarceration alternative to avoid family separation back home June 20, 2018 Split Second Circuit panel reverses lengthy child porn sentence for second time; dissent notes "sentence is barbaric without being all that unusual" I do not tend to blog much any more about circuit opinions conducting reasonableness review because, now more than a decade since the Supreme Court ensured reasonableness review would be very deferential thanks to Rita, Gall and Kimbrough, few circuit sentencing opinions break any new ground. But though a Second Circuit panel opinion yesterday, US v. Sawyer, No. 15-2276 (2d Cir. June 19, 2018) (available here), does not break new ground, it still struck me as blogworthy for both the majority opinion and the dissent. The majority opinion in Sawyer is well summarized by the preamble to the opinion: Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (DAgostino, J.) imposing a sentence of 300 months of imprisonment for the offenses of producing child pornography and receiving child pornography. This court previously vacated as substantively unreasonable a sentence of 360 months of imprisonment for the same offenses, identifying specific deficiencies in the district courts analysis. The district court did not sufficiently address those deficiencies on remand and suggested that it would have difficulty putting aside its previously-expressed views. The key factor that appears to have driven the original panel opinion and this second reversal was the "the district courts failure to give sufficient downward weight to the effect of the severe sexual abuse Sawyer endured at home throughout his childhood." Tellingly, even at the second sentencing, the district court stressed that the guidelines called for 80 years in prison(!), suggesting no "failure to afford sufficient weight to the way [the defendant was] raised in determining [his] sentence, looking at the fact that [the original sentence] departed by 50 years from the [80 year] guideline range." In this way in this case, we can and should see how extreme guideline ranges can persistently distort a district court's sentencing decision-making even after a circuit court has concluded that the district court failed to comply with the requirements of the first time around 3553(a). Beyond noticing the impact and import of broken guidelines even in a case in which everyone agrees they should not be followed, the Sawyer case struck me as blogworthy because of a (casual?) line in the dissenting opinion by Judge Jacobs. Here is the context for the line quoted in the title to this post, with my emphasis added: In decrying the 25-year sentence, the majority opinion observes (fairly) that this case is not the most heinous or egregious on record. At the same time, however, this is not a case such as United States v. Dorvee, 616 F.3d 174 (2d Cir. 2010), or United States v. Brown, 843 F.3d 74 (2d Cir. 2016), in which decades of imprisonment were imposed solely for looking at images created by others, and in which any harm to a child was inflicted at one or more removes. This defendant was hands-on. He produced the pornography, and he used a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old to do it. For these acts, a 25-year sentence is not a shocking departure from sentences routinely imposed in federal courts for comparable offenses especially considering that the mandatory minimum is fifteen. The sentence is barbaric without being all that unusual. I appreciate the candor and yet remain stunned by Judge Jacobs stating simply that the defendant's sentence here is "barbaric" but yet not "all that unusual" and thus ought to be affirmed despite the obligation of circuit courts to review sentences for their reasonableness in light of the requirements of 3553(a). June 20, 2018 at 10:37 AM | Permalink Comments I guess it's a simple acknowledgement that Congress' penalties for these crimes are horrendously disproportionate. Use of the term "barbaric" does suggest an 8th amendment dimension, but he wouldn't get anywhere with that and knows it. Posted by: Fat Bastard | Jun 20, 2018 2:08:52 PM I guess I should say for possession/receipt/trafficking crimes. Production is a whole other kettle of fish. That is indistinguishable from child molestation and has the added culpability of recording it for posterity and potentially profit. Posted by: Fat Bastard | Jun 20, 2018 2:45:35 PM @FatBastard From the opinion, "the sexual exploitation charges arose out of approximately 30 cellphone photos taken by Sawyer of two young girls, aged 4 and 6 at the time of the offenses. The girls had close relationships with Sawyer. The photos depicted the childrens genitals. Sawyer kept the photos and there was no evidence that he took any steps to distribute them to third parties." 25 years for that? I'm just sorry but IMHO that is not a crime at all. My own mother would have been guilty of abusing me if that had been the law when I was a kid. Posted by: Daniel | Jun 20, 2018 4:52:03 PM I'm still waiting for the judge who disagrees with the guidelines for being unduly lenient. IMO that is what it will take for reasonableness review to be given any teeth, at that point we discover whether the discretion afforded district court judges is actual. Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Jun 20, 2018 5:45:39 PM Thanks for the post Doug. I saw the decision and was also perplexed by the dissent. Random ruminations, some quite exceptions, without going anywhere or any explanation as to what should follow. Posted by: Anon | Jun 20, 2018 5:48:29 PM He was producing child porn? That's a problem. Hard to say much more without details, but if he was in the presence of actual children being abused, I would not be inclined to cut him much slack. Posted by: William Jockusch | Jun 20, 2018 11:11:50 PM Fair enough, Daniel, I did not read the opinion. Figures that that satisfies the government's burden of proof for production of CP (the way those statutes have been interpreted, along with the related guidelines, is fairly shocking). Generally speaking, however, I think my statement about production vis a vis possession/receipt/trafficking holds true. The latter crimes generally are much less culpable than production, yet frequently receive very harsh treatment. Posted by: Fat Bastard | Jun 21, 2018 7:07:27 PM Post a comment Two rings made from coins by Celtic Coin Craft (Pictures courtesy of Celtic Coin Craft) Rings are usually associated with money and how much they cost, but Susanne Phillips is changing all that with her incredible efforts. Susanne, 42, from County Wexford in Ireland, set up Celtic Coin Craft in 2016, and now creates rings from all sorts of coins for a living. But it started off as a hobby. Expand Close (Pictures courtesy of Celtic Coin Craft) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (Pictures courtesy of Celtic Coin Craft) I first saw a photo of a coin ring online several years ago, Susanne told the Press Association. I was fascinated by it. I couldnt figure out how it had been made. After extensive online research I learned how these coin rings were crafted and I got some basic tools so that I could try to make one for myself. I really enjoyed the process of making the ring and spent hours in my shed making dozens more rings using a rawhide hammer and ring mandrel. Over the next year, I raided the savings to buy more specialised tools and I honed the craft. Tapping away for hours using the hammer and mandrel was replaced by a more controlled process resulting in even better rings. Expand Close (Pictures courtesy of Celtic Coin Craft) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (Pictures courtesy of Celtic Coin Craft) Susanne set the business up initially to appeal to Irish people abroad, saying: There has been so much emigration from Ireland I thought Irish ex-pats and people with Irish roots would really like to have an Irish coin ring. Meanwhile, old coins or newer commemorative coins are the usual materials for Susannes jewellery due to their silver content, but how does the process work? The first step involved in making a coin ring is to make a hole dead centre in the coin, said Susanne. I then press the coin in a die to start giving it a ring shape. The coin has to be heated (annealed) several times during the ring-making process. Once the ring starts to take shape I use a jewellers ring stretcher tool to get it to the correct size. More dies are used after this step for final shaping. The ring is then polished and a patina created if required. The patina helps the coins details stand out on the ring. Expand Close (Pictures courtesy of Celtic Coin Craft) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (Pictures courtesy of Celtic Coin Craft) The idea of having a ring made from an important year appears to have struck a chord with plenty of customers, but does Susanne have plans to diversify in the future? Currently I only make coin rings, but I hope to get into making other items from coins in the future when I get time. Expand Close (Pictures courtesy of Celtic Coin Craft) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (Pictures courtesy of Celtic Coin Craft) To see more of Susannes work, visit Celtic Coin Craft. Migrants from Pakistan in front of a railway station in Sarajevo, Bosnia (Amel Emric/AP) Leaders from a group of European Union countries, led by Germany and France, will meet on Sunday to thrash out possible solutions to a divisive row over migrants. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose own government is in crisis over the management of migrant arrivals, is expected to join the leaders of Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Spain for informal talks at European Commission headquarters in Brussels, commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said. The UN refugee agency estimates that around 40,000 people have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year, around half the number who had entered at this time in 2017. But even though arrivals are declining, the unity of the 28-nation bloc is being torn apart by a crisis of confidence. Most migrants land in Italy and Greece and those countries feel they have been abandoned by EU partners. Member states such as Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are unwilling to share the burden and refuse to accept refugee quotas. I am convening an informal working meeting on migration and asylum issues in Brussels on Sunday, in order to work with a group of Heads of State or Government of Member States interested in finding European solutions ahead of the upcoming #EUCO. #MigrationEU pic.twitter.com/qXJaghR20v Jean-Claude Juncker (@JunckerEU) June 20, 2018 The commission said Sundays meeting, just days before a full EU summit on June 28-29, is aimed at finding European solutions to the migrant challenge. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose country takes over the EUs rotating presidency on July 1, said the gathering is not about German domestic politics, its about a solution of the migration question that is long overdue. Mr Kurz said it will address issues such as how we protect the (EU) external borders, how do we prevent waving (migrants) through to central Europe. Efforts to reform the EUs asylum laws have run for two years without success, blocked mostly over the issue of which country should take responsibility for migrants and refugees and for how long. Mr Juncker said if those laws had been overhauled earlier we wouldnt find ourselves confronted with the problem that we face today. While some EU countries might be angered at being left out of Sundays talks Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called Mr Juncker to ask to take part Mr Juncker said there is no question that after Sunday we would dictate to other member states the line that should be taken on managing migration. More than one million migrants entered Europe in 2015, most fleeing war in Syria and Iraq, overwhelming Greece and Italy and exposing glaring weaknesses in asylum laws and reception capacities. But Turkey has taken in more refugees than the worlds biggest trading bloc, while Lebanon and Jordan together house some two million people. We do not have a crisis of numbers. We continue to have a crisis of political will, UNHCR Europe chief Sophie Magennis said. A teenager who named victims of her brothers sexual abuse on Facebook has been jailed in a landmark case. Sophie Turner, 19, broke the law by identifying two girls protected by lifetime anonymity in hate-filled posts. She was sentenced to 18 weeks imprisonment in a young offenders institution after being convicted for two counts of publishing the names of victims of a sexual offence and two counts of harassment. Liverpool Magistrates Court heard that Turner, of Old Swan, posted the victims names on the Facebook page of the Liverpool Echo and wrote further posts when the first was deleted. The attorney general gave permission for the prosecution to be brought, with a judge warning that laws drawn up for newspapers were being violated on social media. A spokesperson for the Attorney Generals Office said: Publishing the names of sexual assault complainants is against the law in England and Wales. Whether it is in print or online, anyone doing so can face prosecution. Turners brother Jamie, 26, of Davidson Road in Old Swan and friend Myles Bell, 23, of Makin Street in Walton, had plied two girls aged 14 and 16 with drink and drugs and abused them, sometimes filming sexual acts and threatening to release the footage if they did not comply with their demands. They used me in the most horrible and sickening way, said one of the victims at the time. The sexual abuse I went through was disgusting. I am still scared in case videos of the sexual abuse that Jamie and Myles filmed turns up. Turners brother and Bell were jailed for 12 years each after being convicted of sexual activity with a child and inciting a child into sexual activity. Following their sentencing in July, Sophie wrote Facebook posts insulting her brothers victims and accusing them of lying to gain compensation. Pascale Jones, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said she showed a callous disregard for the lifetime anonymity automatically provided to all victims of sexual offences. That right allows them to report offences to the police without fearing for their reputation or for the invasion of their privacy, she added. After she was charged she used her Facebook account again to make further derogatory comments about the victims. She said her account had been misused by someone else but was found guilty at trial. Detective Inspector Jacky Fitzpatrick, of Merseyside Police, said the naming of sex assault victims will not be tolerated under any circumstances. The naming of victims in cases such as this causes huge distress to that victim, who will have already endured a terrible experience at the hands of their attacker, she added. But it also seriously risks damaging the confidence other victims might have to come forward and report what has happened to them. I hope that todays result gives some comfort to the victims in this case, and reassures any potential victims that Merseyside Police and the courts look very seriously upon anyone who breaks the law in this way, and will use the full force of the law to ensure their anonymity is protected for life. Nearly 50 years after it vanished, Italy has opened a fresh investigation into the notorious theft of a Caravaggio masterpiece today worth 17m. A mafia turncoat has come forward with new information that could lead to the recovery of the celebrated painting, entitled 'Nativity with San Lorenzo and San Francesco', which depicts Mary gazing lovingly at the newborn baby Jesus. It hung in the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo, Sicily, until it was expertly cut from its frame on a stormy night in October 1969 by unidentified thieves using blades or box-cutters. The theft is listed by the FBI as number two on its list of the world's top 10 art crimes. For years, it was thought that the 'Nativity' might have been destroyed, possibly eaten by rats and mice after being stashed in a barn in the Sicilian countryside. According to another theory, the altarpiece was used as a bedside mat by Toto Riina, the murderous head of Cosa Nostra, who died last year at the age of 87. The National Anti-Mafia Commission now says it has gleaned new information from the "pentito", or turncoat, that suggests the stolen painting ended up in the hands of two Cosa Nostra bosses, Stefano Bontade and Gaetano Badalamenti. They then smuggled the painting to Switzerland. Rosy Bindi, the head of the commission, said that investigators had unearthed "interesting elements" that could lead to the work being traced. "We don't believe the painting was destroyed, as thought in the past," she said. Daily Telegraph, London Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] Macedonias parliament has comfortably ratified a deal with neighbouring Greece signed last weekend to end a decades-long dispute over Macedonias name. Politicians approved the bill that renames the country North Macedonia, with 69 votes in favour in the 120-member parliament. The main opposition VMRO-DPMNE party boycotted the session. The preliminary deal which will require several more steps lasting months before it can be fully implemented has angered opposition parties and hardliners in both Greece and Macedonia, who claim their respective countries have conceded too much to the other. We have not made a gift to anyone. Our language and identity is MacedonianZoran Zaev, Macedonian PM Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told politicians that Skopje and Athens have reached a dignified and acceptable agreement for both countries. We have not made a gift to anyone, Mr Zaev said during Wednesdays debate. Our language and identity is Macedonian. The dispute dates from shortly after Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece argued the name Macedonia implied territorial aspirations on its own northern province of the same name, birthplace of the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great, and on ancient Greek heritage. Mr Zaev told politicians the agreement gains Macedonia one more strategic partner in its southern neighbour, and boosts his countrys security and stability. It will also allow Macedonia to pursue its dream of joining Nato and the European Union. Until now, Greece, which is a member of both organisations, had been blocking that prospect pending a deal on the name change. But the deal has also caused a major rift between Mr Zaevs left-led government and the countrys conservative president Gjorge Ivanov, who has said he will not sign off on the parliamentary ratification, which he strongly opposes. Expand Close Macedonian PM Zoran Zeav speaks during a session for the ratification of the deal with Greece in the parliament in Skopje (Boris Grdanoski/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Macedonian PM Zoran Zeav speaks during a session for the ratification of the deal with Greece in the parliament in Skopje (Boris Grdanoski/AP) That would force parliament to repeat the ratification vote, after which Mr Ivanov would no longer be able to block the process. Mr Zaev indicated in a TV interview late on Tuesday that he will go one step further and try to use parliaments power to remove the president from office. That would force presidential elections within months. According to Macedonias constitution, a two-thirds majority of 81 votes in parliament are needed for that, which Mr Zaev would have trouble raising. Mr Ivanov on Wednesday dared Mr Zaev to go ahead with his removal. I call on Zaev to immediately initiate (the) procedure, he said in a written statement to the media. Macedonians will be called on in the autumn to vote on the deal through a referendum. If that backs the agreement, politicians will have to amend the constitution to formalise the name change. Once that is done, the deal will have to be ratified by Greeces parliament. A record 68.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to war, violence and persecution, notably in places like Myanmar and Syria, the UN said yesterday. By the end of 2017, the number was nearly three million higher than the previous year and showed a 50pc increase from the 42.7 million uprooted from their homes a decade ago, according to a report by the UN refugee agency. The current figure is equivalent to the entire population of Thailand, and the number of people forcibly displaced equates to one in every 110 people worldwide, it said. "We are at a watershed, where success in managing forced displacement globally requires a new and far more comprehensive approach so countries and communities aren't left dealing with this alone," said UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi. But around 70pc of that number are from just 10 countries, he said in Geneva ahead of the report's launch. "If there were solutions to conflicts in those 10 countries, or in some of them at least, that huge figure, instead of rising every year, could start going down," he said, calling for more political will to halt the crises driving so many from their homes. The report showed that 16.2 million people were freshly displaced last year, and included those forced to flee for the first time as well as those who had been previously displaced. This equates to 44,500 people being pushed out of their homes every day - or one every two seconds. Most people flee within their own country, and are defined as internally displaced people (IDPs). By the end of 2017, there were 40 million IDPs worldwide, down slightly from previous years, with Colombia, Syria and Democratic Republic of Congo accounting for the greatest numbers. Another 25.4 million people, more than half of them children, were registered as refugees last year. That is nearly three million more than in 2016, and "the highest known total to date", the commission said. Syria's seven-year conflict alone had, by the end of last year, pushed more than 6.3 million people out of the country, accounting for nearly one-third of the global refugee population. Another 6.2 million Syrians are internally displaced. The second largest refugee-producing country in 2017 was Afghanistan, whose refugee population grew 5pc during the year to 2.6 million people. The increase was due mainly to births and more Afghans being granted asylum in Germany. South Sudan, meanwhile, saw the largest increase last year, with the number of refugees fleeing the world's youngest nation soaring from 1.4 million at the beginning of the year to 2.4 million at the end. Mr Grandi said South Sudan was experiencing "a very bad emergency" which had apparently escaped the notice of both the government and the opposition who did not appear to be "taking seriously the desperate situation of their own people." Refugees from Myanmar more than doubled last year to 1.2 million, as a brutal army crackdown forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to pour across the border into Bangladesh. Yesterday's report also highlighted large-scale displacements in Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, and DR Congo among others. And as Israel marks 70 years of independence, there are 5.4 million Palestinians still living as refugees, it said. Despite the focus on migrant numbers arriving in Europe and the United States, 85pc of refugees are living in low- and middle-income countries such as Lebanon, Pakistan and Uganda, Mr Grandi said. Apple boss Tim Cook has slated the US decision to forcibly separate children from their parents as part of a new 'get tough' migration control policy by the Trump administration. Mr Cook, who visited Dublin and Cork, was outspoken in his criticism of the scenes depicted on US TV from migration detention centres in Texas and other US states. His comments came as he met with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin and then visited Cork to open a new unit at the firm's sprawling Hollyhill plant where Apple employ more than 5,000 people. The California-based firm employ more than 6,000 people across Ireland. The Apple boss slated the controversial US migration policy as "inhumane", "heartbreaking", "tragic" and warned that "it needs to stop." He also vowed that Apple would liaise closely with US officials in a bid to tackle the issue. "It is heartbreaking to see the images and hear the sounds of the kids," he said. Meanwhile, Microsoft has said that it is "dismayed" by the US government's policy after it was criticised for working with the national border agency. The technology giant boasted about a commercial deal with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in January, when it said it was "proud" to work with the agency. However, when the company's work with ICE began to attract more criticism on social media, an employee deleted a section of a recent blog post describing its work with ICE. The section was quickly restored, and Microsoft said deleting part of the statement was a mistake and as soon as it was noticed it was restored. The company then distanced itself from ICE's policy of separating illegal immigrant families at the US-Mexico border. Authorities believe Jose Nunez is related to the victim A sheriffs deputy in South Texas has been accused of sexually assaulting the four-year-old daughter of an undocumented immigrant. Jose Nunez, a 47-year-old detention officer with the Bexar County Sheriffs Office, is accused of threatening the young girls mother with deportation if she were to report him, authorities said. On Sunday, the Bexar County sheriff, Javier Salazar, said investigators arrested Mr Nunez on a charge of super aggravated sexual assault of a child. Mr Salazar said: The details of the case are quite frankly heartbreaking, disturbing, disgusting and infuriating all at the same time. Mr Nunez, a 10-year veteran of the Bexar County Sheriffs Office who worked at the county jail, was arrested early on Sunday while he was off-duty after the mother, who is from Guatemala, took her daughter to a local fire station to seek help. The sheriff said authorities believe Mr Nunez is related to the child victim. Mr Salazar said the young girl had been experiencing physical pain and made an outcry which sparked her mothers decision to go to the fire station. He said the little girl is now safe. The abuse was likely to have occurred for several months and maybe even years and there may have been other victims, Mr Salazar said. The mother of this little girl is an undocumented immigrant, my understanding is that this suspect utilised that to his advantage to place the mother in fear that she would be deported if she did report it, the sheriff said. Mr Salazar said the criminal charge carries a minimum 25-year sentence. He said investigators were working to make sure the mother is given protected status pending the outcome of the case, but chose not to comment on the residence status of the child. My objective is to separate this person from the agency as soon as possible, Mr Salazar said. Super aggravated sexual assault of a child happens if the victim is under the age of 14. It also occurs if there are other factors such as serious bodily injury or if a deadly weapon is present. Immigrant rights groups have argued Texas Senate Bill 4, which was passed in May last year, has fostered a feeling of fear among undocumented immigrants about approaching local law enforcement to report crimes. While the laws supporters say it is designed to protect people by enforcing laws already in place, it also allows local authorities to investigate whether a person is legally in the US. The law punishes local officials who implement policies which limit immigration enforcement or stop police from questioning the immigration status of people they detain or arrest. The Texas Senate Bill 4 has been the subject of several legal challenges, but it continues to remains in effect. Mr Nunez is due in court on Monday afternoon Ann Dowd and Elizabeth Moss as Aunt Lydia and Offred in The Handmaid's Tale The cast of "The Handmaid's Tale" joined forces with a women's rights group on Wednesday to tell real-life stories that eerily resemble the top-rating television series to promote equality for women and girls. In a two-minute film launched by Equality Now, the show's cast and others share the words of women and girls describing scenarios of sexual violence, sex trafficking and female genital mutilation. "This is not fiction. This is not 'The Handmaid's Tale,'" the film says. "The Handmaid's Tale," based on a 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, imagines a totalitarian future when fertile women are forced into sexual servitude to repopulate a world facing environmental disaster. Equality Now, with bases in New York, London and Nairobi,is a non-government organisation that says it wants to use the law to protect women's rights and end such practices as trafficking, sexual violence and child marriage. "It was a natural partnership," Yasmeen Hassan, global executive director of Equality Now, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "This is Margaret Atwood's so-called fiction but it's really not. It's a fiction that closer to reality than most people think ... We have cases on all the issues that are shown in 'The Handmaid's Tale' in real time." Stories in the Equality Now film came from women in Sierra Leone, Britain, Tanzania, Jordan, Bolivia and the United States, the group said. "After female genital mutilation, they give you a new dress. The color cloth you wear goes from purple to red," said one account in the film. In the TV series and novel, the fertile handmaids in servitude wear red, and the infertile wives wear blue "The men knew I was a child, but they didn't care. They bought me anyway," said another account. The short film was being promoted on social media, including Facebook, and brought in more than 700 new members on its first day, Equality Now said. The Emmy Award-winning TV series appears on the Hulu streaming service. Actors on the show who appear in the Equality Now film include Joseph Fiennes, Samira Wiley and Ann Dowd. The City Party Chief congratulated the staff of the Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper and highly appreciated the newspapers creativity and outstanding contribution to the introduction of guidelines and policies of the Party and the municipal government. He also underlined the significance of proactively providing information and orientation for the public by the press agency. On behalf of the Editorial Board, Editor-in-Chief of SGGP Newspaper Nguyen Tan Phong affirmed that the newspaper always follow the citys activities and guidelines, such as propagandizing the implementation of seven breakthrough programs in the resolution of the 10th congress of the city Party Committee, and the Central Resolution No.7 (12th tenure), promoting the National Assembly Resolution No. 54. On the same day, the delegation also visited the representative office of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in southern Ho Chi Minh City and HCMC Television (HTV). Secretary Nguyen Thien Nhan affirmed that the citys leaders are willing to coordinate with press agencies, including VNA to implement tasks. He hoped HTV will be further developed and play as an information channel of the Party, the People and the municipal authorities. On june 19, chairman of the People;s Committee of the city Nguyen Thanh Phong also visited the People's Army Newspaper, Vietnam People's Army Radio Television Center, and HCMC Police newspaper. Meanwhile, Vice chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen paid a visit to the representative office of the Vietnamnet newspaper in HCMC, Saigon Investment and Construction newspaper and Saigon Businessmen newspaper. Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan visits the Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper. (Photo: Sggp) Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan visits the representative office of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in southern Ho Chi Minh City. Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan visits HCMC Television. By staff writers Translated by Kim Khanh People protest at the separation of children from their parents in front of the El Paso Processing Centre, an immigration detention facility, at the Mexican border in El Paso, Texas. Photo: Getty Images The United States was last night expected to pull out of the United Nations human rights council, which it has accused of anti-Israel bias. Any suspension or withdrawal would be the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal. Expand Close President Donald Trump, King Felipe VI of Spain, Melania Trump and Queen Letizia of Spain at the White House yesterday. Photo: Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp President Donald Trump, King Felipe VI of Spain, Melania Trump and Queen Letizia of Spain at the White House yesterday. Photo: Getty Images Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, and Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, were due to address the Geneva-based organisation yesterday. Ms Haley announced last year that the US was reviewing its membership of the 47-country body. It would be the first time that a sitting member had volunteered to step aside. Libya was suspended in 2011 after a government crackdown on unarmed protesters. Washington joined the Geneva-based forum after Barack Obama became president in 2009. The council has passed more than 70 resolutions critical of Israel, 10 times as often as it has criticised Iran. The US move came as Donald Trump achieved his highest job rating since the first week of his presidency. For the first time since January 2017, he recorded an approval figure of 45pc in a weekly Gallup poll. The poll reflected a strengthening economy, falling unemployment, and the summit with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in Singapore. It was unclear how much it had been affected by a growing furore over a new "zero tolerance" policy of detaining and prosecuting illegal immigrant parents, and holding their children in separate centres. A separate Quinnipiac poll showed 66pc of Americans opposed the policy, although 55pc of Republicans supported it. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN human rights chief, has criticised the policy, calling it "unconscionable". In the past, illegal immigrant families were "caught and released" while they awaited proceedings. However, over a six-week period more than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents, and photographs have emerged of minors being held in wire mesh cages. In a secretly recorded tape of Central American children at a detention centre in Texas, they could be heard crying and pleading for their parents as a guard joked: "We have an orchestra here." Mr Trump yesterday said America was being "infested" by illegal immigrants and members of the MS-13 gang, and blamed Democrats for the crisis. Jeff Sessions, the US attorney general, dismissed comparisons to Nazi concentration camps, telling Fox News: "It's a real exaggeration, of course. In Nazi Germany, they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country." There was condemnation from all four living US former first ladies, and a host of senior Republicans including Senator John McCain. Ted Cruz, the conservative Republican senator from Texas, said he was "horrified", adding that he was introducing a bill in Congress to allow illegal immigrant families to stay together. Mr Trump was last night meeting with Republicans in Congress to discuss potential immigration bills. Before the meeting, the president said: "We want to solve this problem. I don't want children taken away from their parents. When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away." He said there were only two choices, which were "totally open borders or criminal prosecution". Mr Trump said he was asking Congress for a "third option". "Now is the best opportunity ever for Congress to change the ridiculous and obsolete laws on immigration," Mr Trump said in a tweet. "Get it done, always keeping in mind that we must have strong border security." The message came as Mr Trump was scheduled to visit Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill to lobby them on immigration legislation that would provide billions of dollars for his long-sought border wall and other security priorities. Daily Telegraph London Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] Donald Trumps administration says the UN Human Rights Council is biased against Israel (Niall Carson/PA) U.S. president Donald Trump has shocked critics by pulling out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, but why and what does it mean? What does the Human Rights Council do? It meets three times a year to examine human rights violations worldwide. It has mandated independent investigators to look at situations including Syria, North Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan. Its resolutions are not legally binding but carry moral authority. Why did the U.S. pull out? The United States accused the United Nations Human Rights Council of being "hypocritical and self-serving". U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the "disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights". She slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting U.S. efforts to reform the council. She also criticised countries which shared U.S. values and encouraged Washington to remain, but "were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo. The United States is half-way through a three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if it was not overhauled. Among reforms the United States had pushed for was to make it easier to kick out member states with egregious rights records. Currently a two-thirds majority vote by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly is needed to suspend a member state. What has the reaction been? Expand Close The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jordan's Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, delivers his statement at the Human Rights Council, in Geneva (AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jordan's Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, delivers his statement at the Human Rights Council, in Geneva (AP) Activists warn it will make advancing human rights globally even more difficult. "Given the state of human rights in today's world, the U.S. should be stepping up, not stepping back," U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, said after the announcement. Twelve rights and aid groups, including Human Rights First, Save the Children and CARE, warned the U.S. withdrawal would "make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world". Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program, said Trump's "misguided policy of isolationism only harms American interests". "The U.N. Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel," said Human Rights Watch executive director Ken Roth. The EU said Washington's decision "risks undermining the role of the U.S. as a champion and supporter of democracy on the world stage." British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was regrettable and that the council was the "best tool the international community has to address impunity." Diplomats have said the U.S. withdrawal could bolster countries such as Cuba, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan, which resist what they see as U.N. interference in sovereign issues. The move could further fuel Palestinian arguments that Washington cannot be a neutral mediator as it prepares to roll out a Middle East peace plan. Washington also relocated its embassy to Jerusalem after recognizing it as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of U.S. policy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision. What other multilateral engagements has the U.S turned it back on? It recently pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. What about the timing? Expand Close A boy holds up a sign at a Poor People's Campaign rally in Washington. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A boy holds up a sign at a Poor People's Campaign rally in Washington. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) It comes as the United States faces intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the U.S.-Mexico border and detaining children in inhumane conditions. The body has a permanent standing agenda item on suspected violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories that Washington wanted removed. The council last month voted to probe killings in Gaza and accused Israel of using excessive force. The United States and Australia cast the only "no" votes and a year ago Washington said it was reviewing its membership. The United States is the first member to withdraw from the council. South Koreas president has urged the North to show a plan for concrete steps towards denuclearisation, raising the pressure on Kim Jong Un during his visit to Beijing. The North Korean leader is on his third visit to China this year, to discuss the outcome of his summit with Donald Trump, underscoring the major improvement in relations between the communist neighbours. A report by the Korean Central News Agency said Mr Kim expressed his gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping when they met on Tuesday. KCNA said that during a banquet hosted by Mr Xi, the North Korean also said Pyongyang and Beijing are seeing their ties develop into unprecedentedly special relations. Expand Close Xi Jinping with Kim Jong Un during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing (CCTV/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Xi Jinping with Kim Jong Un during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing (CCTV/AP) At the summit with the US president in Singapore, Mr Kim pledged to work towards denuclearisation in exchange for US security guarantees. The US and South Korea suspended a major joint military exercise planned for August in what was seen as a major victory for Pyongyang and its chief allies, China and Russia. In Seoul, President Moon Jae-in urged North Korea to present far more concrete plans on how to scrap its nuclear programme and the US to take unspecified corresponding measures swiftly. Its necessary for North Korea to present far more concrete denuclearisation plans, and I think its necessary for the United States to swiftly reciprocate by coming up with comprehensive measures, he said. Expand Close Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in (Korea Summit Press Pool/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in (Korea Summit Press Pool/AP) Mr Moon, who has met Mr Kim twice in recent months, said the North Korean leader is willing to give up his nuclear programme and focus on economic development if he is provided with a reliable security guarantee. He described Mr Kim as forthright, careful and polite. South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said Seoul was monitoring Mr Kims newfound diplomatic activism and the outcome of his meetings in China. China has an important role to play on issues of peace and security on the Korean peninsula, Mr Kang said, adding that South Korea expects discussions in Beijing to help the process of denuclearisation. China backs the Norths call for a phased and synchronous approach to denuclearisation, as opposed to Washingtons demand for an instant, total and irreversible end to the Norths nuclear programme. US President Donald Trump has said he will be signing something in a little while to address the spike in the number of migrant children being separated from their families at the border. Mr Trump said during a White House meeting with members of Congress: We want to keep families together. The comments come amid news that homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has been working on executive action that would end the separation process. Mr Trump added: We want to solve this immigration problem. The effort would mark a dramatic departure for an administration that has been insisting, wrongly, that it has no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of the law and a court decision. Ms Nielsen, the president and other officials have repeatedly said the only way to end the practice is for Congress to pass new legislation, though both Democrats and some Republicans have said the president could reverse it with a simple phone call. The news in recent days has been dominated by images of children held in cages at border facilities, as well as audio recordings of young children crying for their parents. Mr Trump had tweeted earlier that he was working on something. Its the Democrats fault, they wont give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation. They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something it never ends! he wrote. The administration recently put into place a zero tolerance policy in which all unlawful border crossings are referred for prosecution a process that moves adults to the custody of the US Marshals Service and sends many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the Obama administration, such families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation. The policy had led to a spike in family separations in recent weeks, with more than 2,300 minors separated from their families at the border from May 5 through until June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security. She was called the female Amitabh Bachchan of 90s. She revived the rom-com of her times with movies like Chaalbaz, Roop Ki Rani, Choro Ka Raja and Judaai. The first female superstar of India was not just the queen of versatility but also the queen of double roles. Twitter After taking a big break, she made a comeback with English Vinglish and the audience loved her. She had also signed another movie with the same director Gauri Shinde, however her sudden death, broke our dreams of seeing her on-screen. Screengrab The actress' sudden passing away in Dubai in March left shock-waves through the nation. Every minute of her post mortem, body's return and last farewell was being watched by her fans. 4 months have gone by, her daughter Janhvi Kapoor is preparing for her debut film Dhadak. While the family is trying to cope up with the big loss, her fans still miss her amicable personality and twinkling eyes. Instagram In order to remember Sridevi for her contribution in Bollywood, BJP corporator Yogiraj Dabhadkar, who is also the chairman of the K west ward committee, wrote a letter to the city mayor where he has said, A flyover on Mogra nullah near Celebration Club at Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri west, should be named Abhinetri Sridevi Udanpool in memory of the renowned actress. Twitter If the BMC accepts his request of changing the name of the flyover, then we might soon have a flyover in Mumbai after deceased Bollywood actress Sridevi. Sridevi definitely deserves this tribute and more. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang's Regular Press Conference on June 20, 2018 2018/06/20 Q: According to reports, on June 19, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley announced at the US Department of State that the US has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council. What is your comment? A: China expresses regret regarding the US decision to quit the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The UNHRC, established on the mandate of the UN General Assembly, is an important venue for all parties to carry out human rights dialogue and cooperation and jointly promote the development of the human rights cause through exchanges and mutual learning. It is highly valued by all parties. As a devoted champion of multilateralism, China supports the concerted efforts made by the UNHRC and other mechanisms to promote and protect human rights worldwide. We will continue to work with all parties and contribute to the healthy development of the international human rights cause through constructive dialogue and cooperation. Q: The DPRK leader Kim Jong Un has, we believe, left Beijing. Do you have any details on his activities in Beijing today? Who he might have met with? Can you formally confirm that he has now left Beijing? A: If you carefully read our press release, you will find that Chairman Kim Jong Un pays a visit to China from June 19 to June 20. As to the important events during the visit, we will release relevant information in a timely manner. Q: I have another question on the DPRK. Could you give us any information on what was discussed during the visit? China says it wants to help with the DPRK's path towards denuclearization, could you give any specifics on what form that help might take? For example, would China be prepared to give the DPRK a security guarantee? In addition, what kind of financial and economic assistance might China give which does not violate the existing UN resolutions? A: Regarding Chairman Kim Jong Un's visit to China, a detailed press readout has been released which you can refer to. As for the specific questions you raised, I will give you a brief reply since we have stated our position many times. Recently, thanks to the concerted efforts of all relevant parties, the Korean Peninsula issue has been brought back to the right track of settlement through dialogue and negotiation, and the situation there is moving towards peace and stability. We hope that the DPRK and the US could earnestly implement the outcomes of the Singapore summit and forge synergy with all other relevant parties to jointly move forward the peace process of the Korean Peninsula. While remaining firmly committed to realizing denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, we have been stressing in the meantime that the DPRK's legitimate security concerns shall be taken seriously and addressed. The Korean Peninsula situation has demonstrated a positive momentum for detente, presenting an opportunity that we hope all relevant parties could act upon. All relevant parties shall continue to work to meet each other halfway and take positive measures to address the DPRK's legitimate security concerns and establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. China is ready to continue with its positive and constructive role in this regard. As for whether we are willing to offer economic assistance to the DPRK, China has been comprehensively and strictly fulfilling all DPRK-related resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and honoring its due international obligations. Meanwhile, as a friendly neighbor, China maintains normal exchanges and cooperation with the DPRK on the premise of not violating its international obligations. Q: This week, the Chinese Ambassador to India suggested that China, India and Pakistan should have a trilateral summit. I was wondering if this is China's official position? A: Both India and Pakistan are China's neighbors and friends. China stands ready to step up cooperation with all its neighboring countries, including India and Pakistan, and promote regional stability and development. We also hope that India and Pakistan can enhance mutual trust and improve their relations through dialogue and negotiation as this serves the common interests of the regional countries. Q: With regard to the US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council, the US side called the council a cesspool of political bias and accused China and other member countries of human rights abuses. What is your response? Regarding the China-US relations, will the Chinese side propose trade talks to the US? Peter Navarro, the director of the White House National Trade Council, said that the US is open to trade talks and that if a trade war broke out, China would suffer more losses than the US. What is your response? A: First of all, I will take your first question on the US withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). As I said just now, the UNHRC, established on the mandate of the UN General Assembly, is an important venue for all parties to carry out human rights dialogue and cooperation and jointly promote the development of the human rights cause through exchanges and mutual learning. It is highly valued by all parties. The US' attitude towards the UNHRC has aroused dissatisfaction from most countries around the world. The US side knows it fully well. The US pointed fingers at the human rights conditions in China and other countries. It is in total disregard of facts. It is impossible for people without prejudice to lose sight of the remarkable progress made by China in its human rights cause. As to your second question, the Chinese side has made formal responses to the tariff lists announced by the US. I only want to stress that dialogue outweighs confrontation with regard to the relevant trade issues. We always advocate that our two sides should properly resolve these issues through dialogue and negotiation. China and the US have held three rounds of trade talks and achieved some progress. During these talks, China has demonstrated full sincerity and goodwill. China won't initiate a trade war, but we are definitely not afraid of one. If someone is bent on waging a trade war, then we will resolutely uphold our legitimate and lawful rights and interests. We will fight to the finish, which we have said many times before. Q: The Yonhap news agency said that the DPRK's supreme leader Kim Jong Un visited the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences this morning. Does it mean that China will enhance its technological cooperation with the DPRK in the agriculture sector? Will China increase its food assistance to the DPRK? A: I haven't seen the report mentioned by you. As is written in the press readout released by the Chinese side yesterday, when meeting with Chairman Kim Jong Un, President Xi Jinping said that the DPRK has made the important decision to shift its focus to economic development and the DPRK's socialist cause has entered a new historical stage. We support the DPRK in its efforts to realize economic development, improve its people's livelihood, and pursue a development path that suits its national conditions. With the US leaving the United Nations Human Right Council (UNHRC) calling it "An organization that is not worthy of its name, the world has seen another US pull out after the Paris Climate Summit and Iran nuclear deal. The US left the UNHRC in wake of continuous criticism of its ally Israel for allegedly violating human rights by killing Palestinians protesters near Gaza. Haley took on the council for "Its chronic bias against Israel" and accused of overlooking Hamas role in the region plus the human right violations by countries such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights," Haley said Last month, Australia and the US were the only two countries on the council to vote against an independent investigation into the killing of Palestinians in Gaza. But what does the US pull out from UNHRC means for the world? LA Times First of all, here is a brief outline which describes UNHRC and what it does as a body. The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) started working in 2006. It keeps a check on the human right violation across the globe and advocates for the rights of a human even in the area falling under oppressive regimes. It has 47 members and it works with all the member states of the UN to better the lives of the people. The HRC has adopted 1,557 resolutions since it began meeting in 2006, addressing no fewer than 120 themes and placing governments under intense scrutiny. The themes addressed by the Council include rule of law, democracy, terrorism, human trafficking, torture, freedoms of opinion, expression, assembly and association, women's rights and gender equality, migration, persons with disabilities, and LGBT rights. Nearly half of these resolutions, 724, have focussed on country situations; nearly 80% of all resolutions have been adopted by consensus, read its introduction on the official site. Here are the member states: Africa: Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Tunisia Asia/Pacific: Australia, China, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea Europe: Belgium, Croatia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom Latin America/Caribbean: Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela Middle East: Afghanistan, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates Here what this new development would mean to the world 1. America ceding another tool of US global leadership The US has stakes in various conflict zones such Afghanistan, Iraq and even in Syria where its role is allegedly indirect, this move would give an impression that the US is against well being of humans especially those leaving in conflict zones. The US continuous support to Israel at the UN and UNHRC has brought the US to discredit at many occasions and steps like pull out of Paris Climate Change, Iran nuclear deal and now this would fuel in the impression that the US is against the solution to problems that cause human right violations. 2. Resolutions against its allies are easier to be tabled After pulling out of UNHRC, the US will only act an observer, as it has relinquished its voting power which gave it power to stand against any resolution tabled in UNHRC. It will mean that now the other members like China, Russia and others can move resolutions of human right violations against its allies in various regions. afp It will prompt the United Nations to take action against countries against who the resolution are passed at UNHRC with sanctions etc. The US, however, has the veto power in the UNSC and there it can stop the sanctions. 3. Further Fall out at the UN The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) works under lot of complexities with a major power like China, Russia and the US trying to get mileage over each other. This would further increase the trust deficit between world powers which would get reflected in various war zones where these powers have their stakes. Syria is just one example. 4. Other human right issues would take the backseat AFP Israel and Palestine dont sum up the work UNHRC as in its 12 years of existence it has done some wonderful things to bring marginalised sections of the humanity to mainstream and the US played a crucial role in making the things happen. For example in 2011, the US supported a UNHRC resolution with its full might to equat LGBT rights with human rights while more conservative members had opposed the move. However, Trump has been criticised for his anti-LGBT community statesments as the White House refused to recognise June as the LGBT Pride Month last year. The decision marks an end to two of his predecessors' tradition of officially recognising the month. The indiatimes.com privacy policy has been updated to align with the new data regulations in European Union. Please review and accept these changes below to continue using the website. We use cookies to ensure the best experience for you on our website. Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the world with an estimated 125 million people consuming it in some form or the other every year. But wait for a second, it is 'No More' illegal in Canada now. Canada has become the first G7 (Group Of Seven) nation to legalize cannabis (All the weed lovers now know where they should live). Its been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate. #PromiseKept Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 20, 2018 Canada's upper house of parliament on Tuesday approved a revised bill to legalize recreational marijuana. The Senate voted 52-29 in favour of the revised bill from the elected House of Commons, paving the way for a fully legal cannabis market within eight to 12 weeks. Legalizing the recreational use of Marijuana was actually a part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 2015 election campaign. "It's been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate," Trudeau said in a tweet. This has been done, considering that the other nations might take the same path as Canada- the first major economy to fully legalize cannabis. Canadian marijuana companies like Canopy Growth, Aphria, Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF and Aurora Cannabis have been at the center of investor frenzy surrounding attempts to legalize marijuana for recreational use nationwide. Legalization has already been delayed from the government's initially planned July launch. (Better late than never!) Here's why it is considered by some to be made legal. 1. It will help in eliminating illegal trade and related crimes Well, if it is legal, it will replace the black market production and distribution. Not only that, the trade will be populated by the the government, farmers, merchants and retails clerks, not by criminals or drug dealers. 2. According to study, marijuana addiction is rare Only 9 per cent of those who use marijuana end up being clinically dependent on it, says a report. The 'comparable rates' for tobacco, alcohol and cocaine stood at 32 per cent, 15 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. 3. It will help the government to increase revenue The government can tax marijuana. This way the government will earn huge amounts of revenue. At present, this revenue goes to the Italian and Israeli drug cartels. 4. It will create job opportunities This so-called illegal drug has actually created over 10,000 new jobs for the people in Colorado. There are a plethora of jobs that can be created by the marijuana industry and help reduce India's unemployment rate. 5. It will help locals Accept it or not, people are consuming marijuana. Making it legal would actually help the locals. These cannabis plants grow in Himachal Pradesh (Kasol, Malana- must have heard about it) and marijuana is the only source of income for many locals. The farmers are forced to sell it at very cheap price cause it is 'illegal'. Legalizing marijuana will end this 'war on drugs' targeting our own countrymen. Sitting in a Gurugram cafe, Priyanka Kalra, Umang Manchanda and Mallika Arya ordered their drinks and told the waiter to not put straws in it. Even after making a request, the waiter did not bother and served the drinks with straws. This made the trio upset over the fact that these restaurants would neither reuse these plastic straws nor will take the responsibility to make sure that it is not polluting water bodies and they decided to fight against the irrational use of plastic straws by the restaurants. This is how 'No Straws Attached' was born... While talking to Indiatimes.com, Mallika Arya said, "NSA began as a simple idea - There's this new wave of consumers refusing single-use plastic straws and we decided to take to this the next level. We decided to ask businesses to join the movement and stop keeping single-use plastic straws altogether! This ensured that the movement would get stronger from other - a consumer and business perspective." Straws are not only polluting our environment but is also killing our endangered species. Remember the video filmed in Costa Rica where an endangered turtle got a 10-12 cm plastic straw stuck in it. The video became viral and triggered marine biologists and environmentalists to campaign against the troublesome tube. Arya also told us that plastic straws are among the top 5 things found during beach cleans around the world. She said, "They're not only damaging our waterways (oceans, rivers and lakes) but are also causing immense damage to our marine life. When the turtle video went viral a few years back it really came as a shock to a lot of us. Plastic straws are used for a few minutes (sometimes even seconds and sometimes not used at all!) before they're thrown "away". There is no away - these straws are so flimsy that they are hardly ever recycled. their light weight makes them float away into waterways. There are some places that use multiple straws in ONE drink - this is absolutely outrageous!! and it needs to stop today." NSA wants people to look for alternatives that are available for plastic straws. "There are alternatives available- these can be made of bamboo, metal, glass or paper. If you absolutely require one then choose one of these. We have become so dependent single-use plastic - we really need to re-design and re-think of how we use things." It might surprise you, but this amazing campaign has been running on zero funds since last 1 year. "You don't need money in order to talk to people and spread ideas. You simply need to use the power of your voice. We have managed to grow the campaign to multiple cities - we have sign ups with restaurants in 5 countries and have volunteers based in almost 15 countries - all through the power of social media," Priyanka told us. We all should help these 3 young women to save our planet. Not only this, the government is also required to take some drastic steps. "The government needs to put a heavy tax on single-use plastic items. They need to set in laws and policies that discourage businesses from using these items. Additionally, they can give grants to individuals and organisations that are researching and creating alternatives to single-use plastics," NSA added. "Animals and birds are often not able to tell the difference between plastics and food - until its too late. We hear stories or whales and dolphins choking on plastic bags and yet we are going on using them? when will this stop? Campaigns like NSA use the straw as a symbol - we need to CUT these items of our lives immediately. We cannot continue making excuses anymore and convenience is no longer an excuse we can use. We realise that there are people who still require plastic straws for their daily activities but we urge businesses to look at alternatives. Not everyone needs a straw - but for those that do - lets ensure the options are as sustainable as possible. Our actions need to stop causing harm to our natural environment," Kalra tells us. The trio asks everyone to contribute and help save our planet. "We think everyone has a responsibility to play towards protecting the environment. This world environment day, the global theme is 'Beat Plastic Pollution' and we all really need to reflect on our own single-use plastic consumption and questions our actions. Before asking the world to make changes, we need to start making the change in our own lives. Do we really need plastic straws? Can we stop depending (unnecessarily) on single use plastics?" We all adore some or the other public figure basis their looks, skills, knowledge or personality. But how often have you fled to meet them? One obsessive fan from Punjab ran away to meet her hero Sachin Atulkar. The woman set her heart on meeting an IPS officer with chiselled looks and ran away from Hoshiyarpur district of Punjab to land in Ujjain three days ago to meet Sachin Atulkar (34), currently posted here as the Superintendent of Police. Police are trying to counsel her and send her back. Women Police Station in-charge Rekha Verma said, "She was trying to meet the SP at his office and at programmes which he attended. She is very adamant. Police finally took her to the department's One-Stop Reform Home." Throwback times....Ujjain 2017 A post shared by Sachin Atulkar (@sachinatulkar_ips) on May 20, 2018 at 1:27am PDT The woman claimed she had lost her way and reached Ujjain, but continued to insist on meeting Mr Atulkar. "The woman said she was fascinated by the ripped body and the looks of the SP after seeing his pictures on social media. We have called her parents here, but she is not ready to return with them," Ms Verma said. @sachinatulkar sir just wating for your fitness video . You inspire people like us all the time . Manish Joshi (@Im_joshiManish) June 14, 2018 She would return only after meeting Mr Atulkar, the woman, who is a post-graduate student of psychology, told police, Ms Verma said. "Police took her to Nagda railway station to put her on a Punjab-bound train, but she threatened to jump off the train. We are trying to persuade her through counsellors. We are fulfilling her food demands, pizza and other things she asks for," Ms Verma said. The woman's parents arrived here two days ago and were trying to persuade her to return, the officer said. Your only limit is You..!! A post shared by Sachin Atulkar (@sachinatulkar_ips) on Mar 20, 2018 at 7:19am PDT When contacted, Mr Atulkar said he is ready to meet anybody as part of his official duty, but in personal matters, he can't be forced to meet someone against his wishes. "When I was SP in Sagar district, I was requested by the parents of a seven-year-old boy who said he would eat only if he got my autograph. I obliged," he said. A post shared by Sachin Atulkar (@sachinatulkar_ips) on Oct 28, 2017 at 5:23am PDT Mr Atulkar, a fitness freak and a bachelor, spends 70 minutes in the gym every day. During a recent meet of IPS officials in Bhopal, he won several awards in fitness competitions. Wheat (ZW) Retesting 38.2% Fib retrace of Jul-Aug rally Tradable Patterns - Mon Oct 18, 12:00AM CDT Wheat (ZWZ21) is consolidating to start the week, digesting the bounce off last weeks weekly Doji low. Significantly, ZW is likely to edge towards triangle resistance (on the daily and weekly chart)... ZWZ21 : 738-2 (+0.58%) WEAT : 7.20 (+1.69%) Swing points and targets for Soybeans, Corn and Wheat ONE44 Analytics - Sun Oct 17, 4:24PM CDT The long term swing point (1235.00) is also now 23.6% back to the high on 8/17/21 and 38.2% back to the high on 9/16/21 adding to the importance of this level. ZSX21 : 1216-6 (-0.08%) ZCZ21 : 526-0 (unch) ZWZ21 : 738-2 (+0.58%) Bitcoin Ethereum update ONE44 Analytics - Sun Oct 17, 3:15PM CDT Educational and Actionable information using Fibonacci GBTC : 47.4100 (+5.57%) BTX21 : 63,725 (+1.84%) ^ETHUSD : 3,854.9321 (-0.70%) Halloween Kills carves out $50.4 million at box office AP - Sun Oct 17, 11:42AM CDT Halloween Kills may be available to watch at home, but the latest installment in the Michael Myers saga is making a killing at the North American box office in its first weekend in theaters. The... $SPX : 4,471.37 (+0.75%) $DOWI : 35,294.76 (+1.09%) $IUXX : 15,146.92 (+0.63%) Company behind Tether 'token' fined $41M by US regulators AP - Fri Oct 15, 6:03PM CDT The company behind a digital token called Tether has agreed to pay $41 million to settle charges that it misled investors by claiming the token was fully backed at all times by U.S. dollars and other fiat... $SPX : 4,471.37 (+0.75%) $DOWI : 35,294.76 (+1.09%) $IUXX : 15,146.92 (+0.63%) Grains rebound on demand hopes Sidwell Strategies - Fri Oct 15, 5:57PM CDT Howdy market watchers! The feeling of fall is finally here and its never felt so good! We have also been blessed with more timely rains this last week though they brought more than enough severe weather... Corn Rallies into Weekend Barchart - Fri Oct 15, 4:21PM CDT Corn futures bounced on the last trade day of the week, headed into the break on 6 1/2 to 9 cent gains. For December that limited the weeks loss to just 4 1/4 cents. December 21 is again a premium... ZCZ21 : 526-0 (unch) ZCPAUS.CM : 5.0523 (+1.79%) ZCH22 : 534-6 (unch) ZCZ21 : 526-0 (unch) Chinese Ambassador WU Peng Meets withSierra Leonean Deputy Minister of Defense Sheriff 2018/06/20 On the June 7, 2018, Chinese Ambassador WU Peng met with Sierra Leones Deputy Minister of Defense Sheriff and exchanged views with him on military cooperation between China and Sierra Leone. Ambassador WU congratulated Honorable Sheriff on his appointment as the Deputy Minister of Defense and noted that China and Sierra Leone for very long time has enjoyed a fruitful cooperation which facilitated the two sides to better understand each other and establish deeply-rooted friendship. He said China would further enhance cooperation with Sierra Leonein areas such as personnel exchanges, peacekeeping capacity building and actively support the Sierra Leonean militarys pursuit of national defense modernization under the New Direction agenda. On his side, the Deputy Minister said that China is an important partner in helping develop the Sierra Leone Military into a modern and professional force, and the Sierra Leonean side learned a lot from communications and cooperation with the Chinese side. He expressed gratitude for Chinas support and noted that the Sierra Leonean military is ready to further strengthen the friendship with the Chinese military, adding momentum for overall development of bilateral relations. The Deputy Minister also recalled the good old days of his one year stay in China and expressed his will to visit China again. The Refugee Week event resulted from Allianzs nearly three-year partnership with Settlement Services International (SSI), which bagged last year's Australian Human Rights Commission Business Award for providing meaningful and permanent employment and training for refugees and migrants. The event was opened by Stirling Hinchliffe, Queensland Minister for Multicultural Affairs, who said he was committed to building a united, harmonious, and inclusive Queensland. Our Multicultural Ambassadors Program is an important initiative in providing a platform for organisations to learn from each other, Hinchliffe said. Its great to see Allianz bring so many different groups to the table today who are leading the way in their approaches to diversity and inclusion. Donna Walker, chief technical officer at Allianz Australia, said the Refugee Week event was an important reminder to challenge stereotypes and build multicultural workforces that reflect the modern Australian landscape. Australias refugees are far from a homogenous group; they come from enormously diverse backgrounds and bring with them a wealth of skills and life experiences, Walker said. However, there are often barriers that many highly skilled refugees and migrants face when trying to seek suitable employment, including language and cultural differences, a lack of recognition by employers for their experience and education, and, quite often, unconscious bias. Also speaking at the event were AFL Queensland CEO Dean Warren, Suncorp CEO for wealth and banking David Carter, and MDA CEO Kerrin Benson. Related stories: Insurer praised for supporting new-dads Allianz announces support for Australian Steelers Every listed company in Australia is now seeing a dramatic increase in D&O liability cover, he continued. We have been told by our insurers that it is a direct result of class actions, so there is a cost to shareholders as well as on the companys and directors time. Porters comments come after the Australian Law Reform Commission suggested disclosure laws may need to be relaxed, litigation funders regulated and lawyers fees examined to tackle the problem. Ewen McKay, a management liability expert at XL Catlin, also told the news outlet that the price of D&O insurance had increased spectacularly over the past 18- to 24 months. A good result would be a 40% increase on last years premium, but we have seen some companies pay 400% more than their expiring policy, he said. According to McKay, the total value of class-action settlements from 1999 to 2016 had been about $1.6 billion with insurers contributing around $1 billion of that. Related stories: Driverless cars and why insurers may not be ready Government insurer retracts blanket refusal on redress scheme Michael Graham, Mercurien CEO and co-founder, said BetterDriver is a best-in-class telematics offer developed for Australian conditions to assist organisations and drivers in managing risk. BetterDriver measures the quality of driving across multiple parameters including braking, cornering, acceleration, speeding, length and time of journey, and specific geolocations, Graham said. The outcome we seek is fewer injuries, fewer crashes, lower costs, less downtime, reduced fuel usage, and enhanced asset utilisation. We are very excited to now be able to combine the insights from BetterDriver with an insurance offering, backed by leading motor fleet insurer Zurich. Andrew Murrie, COO and co-founder of Mercurien, said the technology will enable Australian fleet operators to assess and manage emerging risks. Australian fleet operators are constantly on the lookout for better ways to manage their fleets and with our simple, cloud-based solution, they can assess their operations from driver behaviour to tax credits, in near real-time, Murrie said. As a leading motor fleet insurer weve seen first-hand the benefits of telematics in terms of driver safety, fleet maintenance and efficiency, said Giles Crowley, head of commercial insurance, at Zurich General Insurance Australia and New Zealand. We look forward to working with Mercurien and believe their offering will complement our broader motor proposition. Zurich Mercurien Motor Fleet Insurance will be available from June 22. Related stories: Tech will change the way we drive within five years, say expert Online course for fleet safety launched Zurich offers insight on catastrophic events AF Group has a history of developing new products in response to the needs of our valued agents and policyholders, and the introduction of Fundamental Underwriters is the direct result of an opportunity identified in the marketplace, said AF Group president Lisa Corless. Corless believes the new product offering perfectly complements AF Groups workers compensation business. With more than 100 years of excellence as a specialty carrier, we are uniquely positioned to offer this coverage which is a natural fit for our organization and a great option for new customers, she explained. A release said that Fundamental Underwriters will be led by Rob Westburg, a 30-year veteran in the insurance and transportation sector. The MGU writes primary commercial auto and physical damage through Third Coast Insurance Company an A.M. Best A- non-admitted company insuring public and private fleets of 30 to 300 units. Fundamental Underwriters initial appetite is trucks plated in Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia. Currently, the brand writes over $2 million in commercial trucking premium. This is an incredible opportunity for us to build something new and broaden our product offerings, commented Fundamental Underwriters president Marguerite Dixen. The significant gap in this market will allow our expert staff to demonstrate our value through an exceptional underwriting model, first-class in-house claims and effective loss control services. Were excited to bring this product and our proven expertise to a new customer base. Related stories: Lockton names new chief digital officer Commercial auto insurance at Nationwide is about to get connected Last year, Allstate, The Allstate Foundation, affiliated agency owners and employees gave more than 47 million to support local communities across America. The insurer, in 2017, also supported over 8,800 nonprofits through its annual Giving Campaign, while the companys employees and agency force contributed nearly 260,000 volunteer hours through the Helping Hands program. In addition, The Allstate Foundation awarded over 7,735 Helping Hands grants totaling more than $7 million to non-profits last year. Allstaters care. The Civic 50 honor is a testament to the incredible passion our agency force and employees have for giving back in communities across America, commented Allstate senior vice-president of corporate responsibility Vicky Dinges. Day in and day out, our people are making a difference. Theyre helping youth learn critical life skills like persistence and confidence. Theyre working tirelessly to end domestic violence. And theyre volunteering wherever and whenever they see a need. We care deeply about being a force for good in our customers lives. In addition to its support of non-profits, Allstate also contributes to other social causes notably youth empowerment and financial empowerment for domestic violence survivors. In 2017, the company hosted Allstate Foundation Good Starts Young-sponsored programs, which allowed young leaders to donate over 3.5 million service hours and raise $5.3 million for charitable causes. The companys Allstate Foundation Purple Purse also provided support to 370,000 domestic violence survivors last year. Related stories: Allstate partnership rapidly advancing telematics in the insurance industry Allstate turns to technology again Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson and other opioid makers faced one of the first extensive reviews of their legal defenses to claims they violated consumer-protection laws and created a public nuisance with the sale of the pain killers. They lost. New York state court Judge Jerry Garguilo on Monday rejected the pharma companies requests for the lawsuits to be thrown out on a myriad of grounds, concluding lawyers for eight counties could move forward with their claims. It is at least arguable that the manufacturing defendants were in a position to anticipate or prevent the claimed injuries, Garguilo wrote in a 36-page ruling. It does not seem unfair, therefore, to hold them potentially accountable. While the ruling is based solely on New York law, it could provide a roadmap for other judges around the U.S. weighing whether states and local governments can proceed with claims that Purdue and other opioid makers understated the risks of prescription opioids and overstated their benefits. Robert Josephson, a Purdue spokesman, didnt immediately return a call and email on Tuesday seeking comment on Garguilos ruling. Andrew Wheatley, a J&J spokesman, also didnt immediately respond to an email. The decision has national significance because it rejects, in a carefully reasoned decision by a highly respected justice, each and every argument that the opioid manufacturers make in every case nationwide, Paul Hanly, a New York-based lawyer for the counties, said in an emailed statement. A federal judge in Cleveland is overseeing a consolidation of suits filed by U.S. cities and counties seeking to recoup the costs of dealing with opioid addictions and overdoses as part of a settlement similar to the 1998 Big Tobacco accord. That judge has said he wants a deal addressing the companies business practices and roots of the crisis. The manufacturers are attempting to have those cases thrown out as well. Purdue and other makers and distributors of opioids, including McKesson Corp., have been holding separate talks with state attorneys general seeking to resolve the opioid litigation. The companies are preparing to take their chances in court rather than paying billions of dollars to settle, Bloomberg News reported last month. In the New York case, the Long Island-based Garguilo concluded opioid makers main defense that the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations approval of their products bars state-court suits against them was flawed and provided no basis for dismissing the suits. He reasoned FDA approval of the safety of the synthetic painkillers doesnt mean states cant seek to protect their residents from the unlawful actions of the defendants concerning those drugs, according to the ruling. The companies also sought to persuade Garguilo the governmental entities deceptive-marketing claims also were preempted by FDA regulations dictating what manufacturers can tell doctors about their products. The judge shot that down, noting the FDA doesnt regulate marketing materials. Hanly added that Garguilos ruling only applies to opioid makers. He said the judge plans to issue a separate decision on drug distributors requests to have the counties suits dismissed. The case is In Re Opioid Litigation, Index no. 40000/2017, Supreme Court of New York, Suffolk County. Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. Topics Lawsuits USA Legislation New York Manufacturing Drugs Chinese Ambassador WU Peng Meets with Sierra Leonean Minister of Trade and Industry Bayuku Konteh 2018/06/20 On June 6, 2018, Chinese Ambassador WU Peng met with Sierra Leones Minister of Trade and Industry Bayuku Konteh. The two sides exchanged views in a friendly atmosphere on deepening China-Sierra Leone economic and trade cooperation. Ambassador Wu said that in recent years, China- Sierra Leone trade and economic relation had been flourishing and a large number of Sierra Leonean businessmen had visited China to explore business opportunities. Trade exchanges between two sides always followed the basic principles of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, advancing the wellbeing of people of both countries. The Chinese Embassy would continue to deepen cooperation with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and boost exchanges in areas such as human resources and capacity building so as to provide better service for companies in both countries. Ambassador Wu also invited Minister Konteh to attend the first China Import Expo to be held this year. He disclosed that the Chinese government had already offered preferential policies such as tariff reduction or duty exemption for Sierra Leone exporters as a way to encourage Sierra Leonean commodities be exported to China. Minister Konteh thanked China for its long time assistance to Sierra leone in various fields and said that the Ministry of Trade and Industry was ready to work closely with China under the New Direction policy to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation, which would enrich the content of the strategic partnership of comprehensive cooperation between the two countries and benefit both peoples. He thanked Ambassador WU for inviting him to attend the China Import Expo and stated Sierra Leone was sure that Chinas door would always be open to the country. He said Sierra Leonean side would also provide more favorable conditions for Chinese investors. Boston is retaining a law firm to sue pharmaceutical companies for damages from the deadly opioid epidemic. Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh announced Tuesday hes tapped Motley Rice and expects the South Carolina law firm will file litigation by the fall. The firm already represents many local governments in actions against opioid manufacturers and distributors, including Chicago, Santa Clara County and seven states. Last week, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healeys office sued Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, alleging the Connecticut company downplayed the prescription painkillers risks. Massachusetts is among roughly two dozen states, including Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas, who have filed suit against drugmakers recently. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on average, 115 people die from an opioid overdose every day. Related: Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Drugs South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb said 35 billion won ($31.5 million) worth of virtual coins were stolen by hackers, the second local exchange targeted in just over a week as cyber thieves exposed the high risks of trading the digital asset. Bithumb said in a notice on its website on Wednesday that it had stopped all trading after ascertaining some cryptocurrencies worth about 35 billion won were seized between late yesterday and early morning today. The exchange, the sixth busiest in the world according to Coinmarketcap.com, said it had stored all clients assets in safe cold wallets, which operate on platforms not directly connected to the internet. It added that the company would fully compensate customers. The Bithumb theft highlights the security risks and the weak regulation of global cryptocurrency markets. Global policymakers have warned investors to be cautious in trading the digital currency given the lack of broad regulatory oversight. In Ho, a professor at Korea Universitys Blockchain Research Institute, said the stolen coins were most likely to be from the more insecure hot wallets. Since coins in the cold wallets are not at all wired to the internet, it would have been impossible for hackers to steal those in cold wallets unless they physically broke in, said In, a blockchain expert at the research center. Bithumb did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comments, and its statement did not say whether the stolen coins were stored in its hot wallets. Mun Chong-hyun, chief analyst at ESTsecurity, said digital coins would continue to be juicy targets for hackers around the world. No security measures or regulations can 100 percent guarantee safety of virtual coins. It is held anonymously and in lightly-secured systems, which makes them an irresistible target, Mun said. On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp, bitcoin was down 1.8 percent at $6,612.92 by 0351 GMT, extending losses as a series of intrusions on cryptocurrency exchanges in recent weeks sparked concerns over security. It has fallen roughly 70 percent from its all-time peak hit around mid-December 2017. On June 11, another South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail said it was hacked. The cyber attacks come after a high-profile theft of over half a billion dollars worth of digital currency at Japans exchange Coincheck earlier this year. In January, South Korea banned the use of anonymous bank accounts for virtual coin trading to stop cryptocurrencies being used in money laundering and other crimes. But the government said it does not intend to go as far as shutting down domestic exchanges. Bithumb trades more than 37 different virtual coins, according to Coinmarketcap.com. (Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Jacqueline Wong) Related: Topics Cyber Legislation Aon plc, the London-based professional services firm, has launched an updated Thailand flood catastrophe model to improve understanding of this peril and help insurers build resilience for businesses and communities. Following the flood of 2011 that caused more than US$15 billion of insured losses, Thailands risk continues to rise with the rapid growth of people and property exposed to frequent floods, said Aon. Building upon the insights from the first flood model for Thailand launched in June 2012, the updated tool from Aons catastrophe model development team, Impact Forecasting, leverages scientific advances in hydrological, hydraulic and statistical modeling. In light of the governments significant flood protection and mitigation measures since 2011, it was also imperative to invest in a new model to capture the most up-to-date flood defense information for the most accurate flood loss evaluation. The model will support insurers that currently underwrite in Thailand plus those looking to grow into this space with insights to drive their reinsurance purchase and manage their portfolio while using the data to underwrite effectively and monitor peak accumulations. The model includes: A multi-source database of industrial estates heavily impacted during the 2011 floods which led to global supply chain disruptions to allow more accurate modelling of these risks High resolution elevation data: 10m for greater Bangkok area and 30m for rest of Thailand Data from over 200 gauging stations covering all aspects of local hydrological regimes including flood seasonality Over 700 improved vulnerability classes with many additional modifiers for construction types, number of stories, presence of basements etc Multi-sourced latest information about flood protection measures to more accurately capture the flood risk This is an exciting time for the Thai re/insurance market to play a critical role in supporting our ever-evolving economy, commented Panchit Ekaraphanich, head of Treaty in Thailand for Aons Reinsurance Solutions business. Following the 2011 floods, the industrial sector is bouncing back but with a higher awareness of the potential risks, Ekaraphanich added. The market needed a way to more accurately assess and mitigate these risks so the launch of the updated flood model from Impact Forecasting is vital to give insurers the confidence to underwrite and in turn support businesses and communities in the region. Himavant Mulugu, flood model developer at Aons Impact Forecasting team, said: Our goal has been to produce one of the most detailed and advanced models in south-east Asia that shows how data and analytics can have an impact in the market by opening up new products and possibilities. A notable feature of the model is two scenarios of the 2011 floods: the situation as was in 2011 and the situation today, taking into account new flood defenses, to enable more detailed insights and enhanced planning for insurers. Source: Aon Related: Topics Flood Underwriting New Markets Aon Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. announced on June 19 it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Thailand and Indonesia insurance businesses of Insurance Australia Group Ltd. (IAG) for approximately A$525 million (42.8 billion Yen; $390 million) in cash. The deal, which mainly involves the acquisition of IAGs 98.6 percent stake in Safety Insurance Public Company Ltd. (Safety) in Thailand, adds a large book of motor business to Tokio Marines existing insurance business in Thailand. The books are complementary, Tokio Marine said, noting that the Japanese insurers core strength in Thailand currently is commercial lines insurance. The combination vaults the Tokio Marine to the position of third largest property/casualty insurer in Thailand, and second-ranked motor insureradding gross written premiums of nearly 9.2 billion Thai Bhat ($279 million) to Tokio Marines 8.0 billion ($244 million). Tokio Marine also envisions cross-selling Tokio Marine group companies specialty insurance products through Safetys nationwide distribution channels, and utilizing Safetys expertise and infrastructure to enhance Tokio Marine Groups overall claim servicing quality and efficiency in Thailand. Tokio Marine said it will also acquire IAGs 80 percent stake in PT Asuransi Parolamas (Parolamas) in Jakarta, Indonesia, gaining a book of premiums amounting to roughly 18 billion Indonesian Rupiah (about $1.3 million). Having expanded its presence in developed markets through deals like the acquisition of Kiln in 2008 and HCC in 2015, Tokio Marine said it aspires to significantly grow its presence in Asia and other emerging markets, where the current contribution to international business profit is just 10 percent today. In a separate statement, IAG Managing Director and CEO Peter Harmer said, We believe Tokio Marine is an ideal owner given its experience in the region, and that this is a good outcome for the associated employees, customers and other stakeholders. IAG also announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its 73.07 percent stake in AAA Assurance Corp., based in Vietnam, providing no further details of that deal. All transactions are expected to conclude in the financial year ended June 30, 2019, subject to regulatory approvals or notifications, IAG said. Sources: Tokio Marine, Insurance Australia Group A version of this article first appeared in Insurance Journals sister publication, Carrier Management. Topics Mergers Canada is set to become the first Group of Seven nation to legalize recreational marijuana after a bill from Justin Trudeaus government won the backing of the upper chamber. The Senates approval in a vote Tuesday night in Ottawa clears the way for the final step a ceremonial approval from the governor general to officially make Bill C-45 law. The exact date it will take effect remains unclear, and ministers have said another 12 weeks beyond that may be needed for producers and retail stores to prepare for their first sales. Its been too easy for our kids to get marijuana and for criminals to reap the profits, the prime minister said in a Twitter message posted after the vote. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate. #PromiseKept. Trudeaus Liberals pressured the Senate to approve the bill this week before a Parliamentary recess began, allowing the government to keep a pledge for the market to open by the end of the summer. Legalization could create a market worth C$7.2 billion ($5.4 billion) and investor anticipation has already created several companies such as Canopy Growth Corp. and Aurora Cannabis Inc. with market values of more than C$1 billion. Canadas main stock index rose 0.6 percent to 16,410.16 as of 10:12 a.m. Toronto time, including as much as a 6 percent gain for Canopy Growth Corp. to a record C$45.10. The BI Canada Cannabis Competitive Peers Index climbed 2.7 percent. The Senate voted 52 to 29 in favor of a revised bill from the elected House of Commons, and there were two abstentions. The House version accepted some earlier Senate amendments, while rejecting a contentious one calling for further restrictions on people growing plants in their homes. Senator Andre Pratte said it wasnt worth creating a political crisis to hold up the legislation over home grown plants. I dont think it is of such importance to warrant an extraordinary intervention. Conservative senators also raised other concerns, such as slower U.S. border crossings, that kept the bill in the upper house for about seven months. Trudeau countered those concerns with arguments that a regulated market will strip profits from criminal gangs and reduce youth consumption, and its rare in Canadian politics for the appointed Senate to outright block laws sent from an elected government. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould cautioned that recreational use remains illegal until the law is fully implemented, and suggested Trudeau may announce the transition date at a press conference later Wednesday. She also said cabinet ministers have discussed the idea of wiping away criminal records for past minor offenses, adding her focus for now is on completing legalization. The legislation is transformative, she told reporters Wednesday. It leaves behind a failed model of prohibition. Here are some key points around legalized marijuana: Production of cannabis is regulated by the federal government, with provinces and cities given more powers over retail sales in stores that can be either private or government-owned There are tough restrictions on packaging and advertising to ensure that smoking doesnt appeal to youth Marijuana use remains illegal for people younger than 18, and no individual can possess more than the equivalent of 30 grams of dried cannabis Most importing or exporting of marijuana remains illegal Police can still write tickets for some minor infractions, a downgrade from the old system that often meant criminal charges could be filed Sales are subject to an excise tax and regular sales taxes, with excise revenue split 75-25 between the provincial and federal governments for the first two years A separate law is reworking the powers police have to check for impaired drivers Some medical use of marijuana is already legal in Canada. Related: Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. Topics Cannabis Canada Business icon Warren Buffett plans to open a new Geico Insurance service center that will bring 500 jobs to Lenexa, Kansas. The Kansas City Area Development Council said in a news release that the center will open in August and add 500 jobs over five years, starting with sales and customer service professionals for GEICO Insurance Agency. Geico is owned by Buffetts company, Berkshire Hathaway. The development council said Geico invested almost $10 million in a Lenexa office building for the center. Tim Cowden, president and CEO of the development council, told The Kansas City Star that the Geico center is the largest job creation announcement in the Kansas City are in at least a year. The Kansas City Area Development Council serves the 18-county, two-state Kansas City area by marketing the regions business and lifestyle assets to companies around the world Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Talent Kansas While 47 percent of small businesses suffered at least one cyber attack in the past year, only 35 percent of them took action following a cyber security incident to mitigate against another. Forty-four percent of small businesses that reported a cyber attack in the past year experienced two, three or four attacks. The 2018 Hiscox Small Business Cyber Risk Report also found that barely half (52 percent) of small businesses have a clear strategy around cyber security. Thats despite the fact that two-thirds of small businesses surveyed reported cyber risk as a top concern for potential business impact on their organization in the coming year. Less than a quarter (21 percent) of small businesses have a standalone cyber insurance policy, compared to 58 percent of large companies. About half of small firms blame a lack of finances for their failure to address cyber. Less than one-third (32 percent) of small businesses have simulated phishing experiments to assess employee behavior and readiness in the event of an attack. While budgeting for cyber-related resources is critical, people, processes and technology must also be incorporated to ensure cyber readiness, according to the report from the specialty insurer. Small businesses are less likely to have strategies in place to ward off attacks, detect them early if they do occur, and reduce the damage. And, they are less likely to be able to withstand the financial impact of a hack or beach, the report says. The report acknowledges that all businesses face tradeoffs when allocating limited resources, but warns that the cost of a cyber incident can be significant and it increases as a company grows. Small businesses estimated their average cost for incidents in the last 12 months to be $34,604. Among large companies (more than 1,000 employees), the annual average cost of cyber crime was $1.05 million, according to the report. When it comes to cyber security, Hiscox says there are steps that are not complex or costly that businesses can take. The insurer recommends small businesses consider the following steps as best practices: Prevent: Involve and educate employees at all levels within the business. Have a formal budgeting process in place and ensure cyber security is considered and prioritized in decision-making. Detect: Include intrusion detection and ongoing monitoring on all critical networks. Track violations (including those that are successful and thwarted), and generate alerts using both automated monitoring and manual logging. Mitigate: Create a plan for all incidents, from detection and containment to notification and assessment, with specific roles and responsibilities clearly defined. Regularly review response plans to integrate emerging threats and new best practices. Insure against financial risks with a stand-alone cyber policy or endorsement. For the survey, Hiscox commissioned Forrester Consulting to assess organizations cyber readiness. In total, 4,103 professionals responsible for their organizations cyber security were contacted (1,000 plus each from the UK, U.S., and Germany, and 500 each from Spain and the Netherlands). Respondents completed the online survey between October 12, 2017, and November 10, 2017. Related: Topics Cyber Commercial Lines Business Insurance Small Business About two dozen people have been treated for apparent carbon monoxide poisoning at a Houston food distribution center. Firefighters were summoned to the center along the citys Produce Row after workers reported experiencing nausea, headache and dizziness. Authorities say they believe exhaust from a piece of machinery running indoors was responsible for the exposure late Monday afternoon. Fire Department Deputy Chief Blake White says the ill people were taken to a hospital for treatment in hyperbaric chambers to basically get the (carbon monoxide) out of their system. Officials havent immediately identified the contractor operating the machinery and whether any criminal charges may be merited. The center cant be reopened until an industrial hygienist provides approval that its safe. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Commercial Lines Business Insurance Some passengers who were riding a Florida roller coaster when it derailed last week could have lifelong injuries, an attorney for three of the nine riders who were hospitalized said Monday. The riders suffered broken bones, concussions and possible nerve damage when the Sand Blaster roller coaster derailed last Thursday, Matt Morgan, an Orlando-based attorney, said at a news conference. Two riders fell 34 feet (10 meters) and eight others had to be pulled to safety high above the Daytona Beach Board. Nine riders in total were taken to the hospital. Our clients came to Daytona Beach with healthy bodies, looking forward to their summer vacation, Morgan said. They will leave Daytona Beach with broken bones and using walkers. Many of them had their lives changed. Morgans clients will contemplate a lawsuit if the rides insurance companies fight paying them, he said. Morgan has hired ride-safety experts to evaluate what went wrong. The ride-safety experts will dig through maintenance records, inspection records, study the history of the ride, how it was manufactured and also try to find out why restraints didnt keep the two passengers from falling to the ground, said Bill Avery, one of the ride-safety experts. Its kind of premature to come up with a final root cause, Avery said. One of the things we know, being on the coast, right next to the water with salt air, corrosion is an ongoing problem for anyone who operates under those conditions. A month before the derailment, a state inspector had found problems with the ride, and the roller coaster was ordered to be taken out of service. State inspection reports show that an inspector last month found excessive corrosion, a damaged seat, and a crack in the track. Those problems, though, were corrected by the time of a follow-up inspection Thursday, according to the reports. The ride also was shut down last year because of problems found during inspections. Morgans clients all come from Kentucky and were visiting Daytona Beach as part of a work trip. They include Amanda Bostic, one of two riders who fell. They also include a rider who was forced to hang from the ride until being rescued. As the ride started it was shaky. It didnt feel as stable as other rides we had been on, Bostic told ABCs Good Morning America on Monday. As we went around the turn, it felt like it wasnt completely attached to those tracks. Bostic said she heard screeching and soon felt like she was falling. Then the next thing I remember is coming to on the ground, she said. Morgan said Bostic bounced like a ping pong ball in between the railings of the roller coaster. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Florida The Appellate Court of Illinois has issued a decision supporting California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and the California Insurance Guarantee Associations position that Lumbermens California workers compensation deposits cant be used to reimburse overhead and administrative expenses incurred in connection with the companys liquidation. Jones and CIGA brought the case against Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. The liquidation of the carrier began in 2013. The court ruled on Tuesday. The courts ruling upholds my position that Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company must use funds reserved for workers compensation claims on actual claims-and not other expenses, Jones said in a statement. This ruling preserves financial protections for Californias workers and businesses that rely on workers compensation insurance. The Department of Insurance argued that the California Insurance Code states special deposit proceeds must be used solely for the payment of compensable workers comp claims. The department contended that general administrative expenses are not related to the payment of a specific workers comp claims, so it is improper for Lumbermens to require CIGA to pay general administrative expenses such as rent, postage, telephone, lighting, cleaning, heating and electricity with funds held in a special deposit. The court agreed and determined the special California workers compensation deposit is security for the payment of workers comp claims in California and must be used exclusively to protect policyholders from insolvent insurers by providing an asset from which to pay compensable workers compensation claims. Topics Carriers California Legislation Workers' Compensation PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c harlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot. com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog -award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com . Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog. The wife of a Maryland man who died during a rafting trip down the Roaring Fork River filed a lawsuit accusing a Colorado rafting company of negligence and fraud. The Aspen Times reports Allison Parker filed a lawsuit against Aspen Whitewater Rafting in the death of her husband, James Abromitis, who died June 15, 2016, after he was ejected from a boat two separate times. The lawsuit claims the company knowingly misrepresented and concealed the nature and danger of the water, and then engaged in grossly negligent and intentionally reckless conduct causing Abromitis to be tossed twice from the boat. Aspen Whitewater Rafting owner Jim Ingram said he didnt know about the lawsuit and referred questions to his lawyer. That lawyer did not return a phone message seeking comment. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Colorado San Francisco, Calif.-based Zenefits has named Issac Vaughn to its executive team as senior vice president of business operations. He reports to Jay Fulcher, chairman and CEO. Vaughn will work with the Zenefits customer experience, benefits solutions, business development, legal and compliance teams. Vaughn previously held a range of executive roles at cloud-based video and analytics company Ooyala. Prior to Ooyala, Vaughn was managing director of SC Investments Consulting LLC, an angel investment and consulting company. Zenefits delivers human resources, benefits and payroll services. Topics California If you are considering opening an IRA and are in your 20s, you are ahead of the pack. But be aware that the unique tax benefits of a Roth IRA may make it a better option for younger savers than a traditional IRA. A traditional IRA provides a tax deduction on contributions and tax deferral on any gains. Withdrawals are taxed based on your income tax bracket when you retire. Roth IRA contributions are not tax-deductible, but both gains and withdrawals are tax-free in retirement. Younger investors starting out in their careers tend to be in lower tax brackets and don't benefit as much from the tax deductions from contributions to a traditional IRA. What's more, with decades until retirement, you will benefit hugely from not being taxed on all the compounded earnings your savings will garner by the time you withdraw them. Key Takeaways While traditional and Roth IRAs both offer a tax-advantaged way to save for retirement, a Roth may make the most sense for 20-somethings. Withdrawals from a Roth IRA are tax-free in retirement, which is not the case with a traditional IRA. Contributions to a Roth are not tax-deductible, but they are for a traditional IRA. Because younger savers tend to be in lower tax brackets, they benefit less from tax-deductible contributions to a traditional IRA. Here's a deeper look at how each works and why a Roth IRA is a wiser choice for 20-somethings who are just starting to save for retirement. Traditional IRA Tax Benefits Although a traditional IRA is what your parents are likely to be familiar with, and maybe even what your financial advisor recommends (if you have one), there is a significant tax hit when you withdraw in retirement. Suppose that you are 23, you've been working for a couple of years and are now earning $50,000 per year. For 2020 and 2021, you can contribute up to $6,000 to an IRA (traditional, Roth, or a combination of both). Another benefit of a Roth IRA is that contributions (not investment gains) can be withdrawn free of penalty before age 59, which is not the case with a traditional IRA. If you ask your CPA, they will most likely tell you to contribute to the traditional IRA to receive the tax deduction, which will save you approximately $1,320 in federal tax due each tax year, assuming that you are in the 22% tax bracket and qualify for the full deduction. If you are not covered by an employer-sponsored retirement plan, the full contribution will be deductible regardless of other factors. If you make traditional IRA contributions, you get the tax deduction now and tax-deferred growth on the earnings. When you retire, the full amount withdrawn is taxable as ordinary income. For example, suppose that you contribute $6,000 per year to a traditional IRA until you are 63 years old (40 years of saving $6,000 = $240,000), and your traditional IRA grows to $1.6 million by the time you hit age 63 (this is possible at an 8% annual return). Assuming that all your contributions were fully deductible, you saved $52,800 in taxes over the 40 years, assuming you remain in the 22% tax bracket. However, now that you are retired, you decide to withdraw $50,000 per year from your traditional IRA. If you are still in the same tax bracket, you will pay $11,000 in federal income tax on each $50,000 withdrawal every year thereafter. Roth IRA Tax Benefits The Roth works differently. Suppose you contribute the same $6,000 per year for 40 years to a Roth IRA. You get no immediate tax deduction, but the Roth IRA still grows to $1.6 million (assuming the same 8% annual return). At age 63, you withdraw $50,000 per year. The difference now is that there is no tax due on the Roth withdrawal, because distributions made after retirement are tax-free. In this scenario, you withdraw $50,000 and keep the full amount. In this case, the Roth IRA is clearly the best and wisest long-term decision when you're in your 20s. The Bottom Line Due to the tax benefits of Roth IRAs, 20-somethings should seriously consider contributing to one. The Roth can be a wiser long-term choice, even though contributions to a traditional IRA are tax-deductible. Traditional vs. Roth vs. SEP IRA: An Overview Roth IRAs, traditional IRAs, and SEP IRAs are three types of individual retirement accounts, and they're similar in many ways. But there are some key differences in how they work, which can make one kind better for someone than another. Here are the basics, starting with the best-known and most common kind of individual retirement account: the traditional IRA. Key Takeaways Roth, traditional, and SEP IRAs can serve different purposes for different people. With a traditional IRA, you get an upfront tax break, while with a Roth your tax break comes later. If you have self-employment income, a SEP IRA will allow you to save more for retirement than either a traditional IRA or a Roth. Traditional IRAs With a traditional IRA, you can put pre-tax income into the investments of your choice, which will then grow tax-deferred until you eventually withdraw the money. Many workers also roll the funds from their 401(k) or other company retirement plans into traditional IRAs when they retire or change employers. You can take a tax deduction for your contributions to a traditional IRA, provided your income falls below certain limits and you meet the other eligibility requirements (such as not having access to a workplace retirement plan for you or your spouse). When you later withdraw money from the account, typically in retirement, it will be taxed as ordinary income. After age 72, you must begin to take the required minimum distributions (RMD) from the account each year, according to a formula based on your age at the time. The money in a traditional IRA can't grow tax-deferred forever. For many years, the RMD age was 70, but following the passage of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) in December 2019, it was raised to 72. As of 2021, traditional IRA contributions are capped at $6,000 a year, with the option of an additional $1,000 catch-up contribution if you're 50 or older, for a total of $7,000. Those figures are unchanged from 2020. If you don't have a work-place sponsored retirement plan, and/or if you think you'll be in a lower tax bracket after you retire than the one you're in now, a traditional IRA can be a good savings option. Roth IRAs Another type of individual retirement account, the Roth IRA, was introduced in 1997. It works much like a traditional IRA but in reverse. The contribution limits on Roth IRAs are the same as for traditional IRAsincluding catch-up contributionsbut you won't receive any upfront tax deduction. Instead, you'll get a tax break later, when the money you withdraw will be tax-free. For that reason, Roth IRAs are an attractive option for people who expect to be in a higher tax bracket after they retire than they are currently. Another positive feature is that, unlike traditional IRAs, Roths aren't subject to required minimum distributions during your lifetime. So, if you don't need the money in your Roth IRA for living expenses, you can simply pass it along to your heirs when the time comes. Roth IRAs have their own eligibility requirements. If your income exceeds a certain level, you won't be able to contribute to one. In 2021, for married filers who submit a joint tax return, the amount you can contribute is reduced for those who make more than $198,000 and is completely phased out if they make $208,000 or more. For single filers, the range is $125,000 to $140,000 for 2021. With a SEP IRA, there are no catch-up contributions for people aged 50 and over. SEP IRAs A simplified employee pension (SEP) IRA is a type of individual retirement account that can be opened by an employer, who might simply be a self-employed individual. The SEP IRA allows small employers to provide a basic retirement plan for themselves and their employees, if any, without the cost and complexity of a 401(k) or similar plan. Employers can take a tax deduction for their contributions, much like a traditional IRA. An advantage of the SEP IRA, if you have self-employment income to fund it, is that it has much higher contribution limits than either a traditional or Roth IRA. You can contribute up to 25% of your compensation or $58,000 (for 2021), whichever is less. As with a traditional IRA, withdrawals from a SEP IRA are taxed as ordinary income in retirement, and required minimum distribution rules apply. Individuals may be able to contribute to both a SEP and an IRA, especially if they are self-employed or have self-employment income and meet the stated income guidelines. What Is Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG)? The Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) is a grant from the Government of Canada paid directly into a beneficiary's Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). It adds 20% to the first $2,500 in contributions made into an RESP on behalf of an eligible beneficiary each year. Key Takeaways Canada Education Savings Grant is a grant from the Government of Canada paid directly into a beneficiary's Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). CESG is an incentive program designed to encourage people to save for a child's education and to lessen the financial burden of a post-secondary education. CESG adds 20% to the first $2,500 in contributions made into an RESP on behalf of an eligible beneficiary each year. Understanding Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) The Canada Education Savings Grant is an incentive program designed to encourage people to save for a child's education and to lessen the financial burden of a post-secondary education. The payment of the CESG depends on contributions made into the RESP. Money in an RESP can be used to help pay for part-time or full-time studies in an apprenticeship program, or at a CEGEP, trade school, college, or university. To gain access to the Canada Education Savings Grant, personal contributions must be made into a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). Anyone can open an RESP for a childnot just a childs parent. The CESG provides 20 cents on every dollar contributed per year, up to a maximum of $500 per year, which makes annual contributions of $2,500 eligible for matching. If a contribution cannot be made in any given year, a plan holder is allowed to make catch up contributions in future years. Contributions can be made to a CESG until the end of the calendar year in which the child turns 17. Depending on the primary caregiver's income, a child may also be eligible for an additional 10% to 20% match placed into their RESP from the Canada Education Savings Grant. CESG Eligibility Matching contributions can be made for an individual child until December 31 of the calendar year in which the child turns 17. To be eligible for CESG matching, there are a few key stipulations. To be eligible for the grant, a caregiver must contribute to a childs RESP prior to the end of the calendar year in which they turn 15 years old. The individual child must be a Canadian resident. Must have a valid Social Insurance Number. Must have a RESP account in the childs name. A request must be made to the government for the matching contributions. While the grant is intended to begin by age 15 or before, 16- or 17-year-old children can also receive CESG matching if one of the following two requirements are met: What Is a Currency Certificate? A currency certificate, like a futures contract, grants the holder the right to convert a specific amount of one currency to another at a pre-determined exchange rate until a specific expiration date. The holder of the certificate is not obligated to conclude the transaction. Currency certificates are primarily used by businesses that engage in international trade or have international branches. They serve as a hedge against unexpected and adverse changes in the value of a currency. Key Takeaways Currency certificates are primarily purchased by companies that do business with companies based abroad. The certificate is an option to buy currency at a predetermined price within a set period of time. The certificate ensures the company against losses due to currency rate fluctuations. Understanding Currency Certificates Currency certificates are useful tools for hedging against foreign exchange risk. This risk is that changes in currency rates can make it more expensive or less profitable to conduct business in another country's currency. The certificates reduce the impact of unfavorable future changes in the exchange rate for money received in one countrys currency but converted into another currency. Example of Currency Certificate Use For example, a U.S. retailer may have branches operating in Canada that do business in Canadian dollars. The company converts that revenue into U.S. dollars at regular intervals. But if the U.S. dollar weakens against the Canadian dollar, the company's revenue from its Canadian branches will get hit. Assume the U.S. dollar/Canadian dollar exchange rate is 1.25, meaning that 125 Canadian dollars can be converted into $100 U.S dollars. Or, reversing that ratio, 100 Canadian dollars can be exchanged for $80 U.S. If the U.S. dollar strengthens against the Canadian dollar, perhaps moving to an exchange rate of 1.35, then it would require 135 Canadian dollars to be converted into $100, and that 100 Canadian dollars would only be worth $74. With a currency certificate guaranteeing an exchange rate of 1.25, there would be no risk of losing money if the exchange rate moves in an unfavorable direction. Using Currency Certificates to Mitigate Risk Companies that do business internationally regularly purchase currency certificates in order to strategically manage foreign exchange risk. The company described above could forecast its Canadian sales on a monthly basis and then purchase a one-month currency certificate for that amount. If in any given month that the U.S. dollar weakens against the Canadian dollar, the certificate would be redeemed at the note's specified exchange rate to protect the companys revenue for that month. If the exchange rate remains the same or moves in the opposite direction, the certificate would not be redeemed. Currency certificates have their uses for any company that does business in a foreign currency. A company may know it owes a payment of one million Canadian dollars in 90 days. If the company purchases a currency certificate guaranteeing that amount, it protects itself from paying more than it expected because the foreign exchange rate moved in an unfavorable direction. Investopedia and our third-party partners use cookies and process personal data like unique identifiers based on your consent to store and/or access information on a device, display personalized ads and for content measurement, audience insight, and product development. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Investopedia.com, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, click below. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. List of Partners (vendors) Here are all the latest headlines this lunchtime... GET INFORMED ... IRELAND: Taoiseach accuses British government of stalling Brexit talks. IRELAND: Emergency services responding to fire at West Cork fish factory. IRELAND: Escaped prisoner suspected to have carried out sex attack in Dublin. WORLD: A man was arrested after a small blast at a London Underground station believed to have been caused by a faulty drill battery, British Transport Police (BTP) said. WORLD: Donald Trump and Republican leaders scramble for migrant children solution. BUSINESS: Ryanair has today welcomed confirmation from IATA that it remains Europe's favourite airline. ANALYSIS: The agency charged with protecting vulnerable children is not being run properly, but nobody is responsible, writes Michael Clifford. SPORT: Ireland to face New Zealand in November as autumn internationals announced. ... SOME DISTRACTION So, we raised a quarter of a million last night! And announced our plans to redevelop the #LondonIrishCentre as a world-class Irish community and cultural centre. What a few years we have ahead.#LondonIrishCentre #GlobalIreland pic.twitter.com/DvoHux11mj Gary Dunne (@GaryDunne) June 20, 2018 SHOWBIZ: Ed Sheeran performs at charity gig for Irish Centre in London. FEATURES: 'Living in direct provision is teaching us to be dependent, and weak'. FOOD: The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants 2018 have been announced heres what you need to know. The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless. The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well. By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism. By Alex Lawler Russia and Saudi Arabia are pushing Opec and its allies to raise oil output steeply from July to meet growing demand and cover supply outages in Venezuela and Libya despite opposition from several members of the producer group including Iran. Oil demand usually grows at the steepest pace in the third quarter. We could face a deficit if we dont take measures, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said. In our view, this could lead to market overheating. Novak said Russia wanted Opec and non-Opec countries to raise output by 1.5 million barrels per day, effectively wiping out existing production cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day that have helped rebalance the market in the past 18 months and lifted oil prices to $75 per barrel from a low of $27 in 2016. Opec meets on Friday to decide output policy amid calls from major consumers such as the US and China to cool down oil prices and support the global economy by producing more crude. Opecs de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, and non-member Russia have proposed gradually relaxing production cuts which have been in place since the start of 2017. Opec members Iran, Iraq, Venezuela and Algeria have opposed such a move. Three Opec sources told Reuters that a technical panel (the organisations economic commission) met on Monday to review the market outlook and forecast strong global demand for oil during the rest of 2018. If Opec and its allies continue to produce at May levels then the market could be in deficit for the next six months, a source said. Some countries including Algeria, Iran and Venezuela said they still opposed an output increase. Demand growth has surprised market watchers on the upside in the past two years, with annual rises exceeding 1.5%. Global oil consumption is expected to hit 100 million barrels per day next year. Novak said if a decision were taken this week to raise output, Opec and its allies could meet again in September to review the impact and fine-tune production policy. - Reuters Oscar-nominated actress Ruth Negga describes herself herself as a shy attention seeker last night while on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. When Colbert asked if the Ethiopian-born, Limerick-raised actress is shy, she said: "Most definitely. If you felt my heart now it's going like the clappers!" By Ann O'Loughlin Blackrock Hospital shareholder Dr Joseph Sheehan could face an application to restrict his ability to bring legal actions because of the number he has already been involved in. Mr Justice Michael Twomey said he was prepared to consider such an application, based on the evidence presented, to justify what is called an "Isaac Wunder" order against Dr Sheehan. These orders mean usually require a litigant to seek leave of the High Court before instituting further proceedings. Courts should "not hesitate" to impose such orders on litigants who are monopolising scarce court resources to pursue a private grievance, the judge said. He made the comments when dismissing Dr Sheehan's claim for fraudulent misrepresentation against financier Talos Capital which provided loans to a Sheehan-controlled company set up to buy loans from the special liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC). Dr Sheehan had issued proceedings against Talos in New York in which he also claimed misrepresentation against the firm. Talos later brought an anti-suit action against him in England, because this country had exclusive jurisdiction to deal with this aspect of his case. An English judge found Dr Sheehan to be in breach of an injunction by pursuing the New York proceedings. Mr Justice Twomey noted that in the New York case, Dr Sheehan chose not to give any evidence while, in the English case, no evidence was provided on his behalf to contradict the finding that he was in breach of a court order. Dr Sheehan has also been involved in litigation here against IBRC, the judge said. Kieran Wallace, one of the IBRC liquidators, gave evidence IBRC has been sued more times by Dr Sheehan and parties connected to him than by any others since the liquidation of IBRC began, he said. The judge said there had already been ten judgments given by the High Court and Court of Appeal in relation to what is essentially a private dispute over the ownership of Blackrock Hospital in cases that have taken up half a year of court time. It was clear to the court that, even before the Talos proceedings, Dr Sheehan and the parties he is in dispute with over Blackrock Hospital "are monopolising large periods of time of the High Court and Court of Appeal while at the same time there are large backlogs in both courts and thus other litigants are having their right of access to the courts delayed". Isaac Wunder orders act as a filter rather than a barrier to right of access to court and in practice, they are necessary in a very small percentage of litigants who engage in "never-ending vexatious litigation", many of whom are undeterred by costs orders which they can't afford to pay anyway. In the case of litigants wealthy enough to pay costs, they should not be immune from the prospect of Isaac Wunder orders, he said. Ireland has the lowest number of judges per capita in the OECD and it was important for judges to be alive to the abuse of scarce court resources, he said. The court was not proposing, at this stage, to consider of its own motion an Isaac Wunder order against Dr Sheehan, he said. No application from a third party had been made for one, but the judge was prepared to consider it if such an application was made. If it was granted it would only apply to future proceedings, not those already before the court, he said. Earlier, dealing with the substantive case, Mr Justice Twomey said Dr Sheehan had alleged that as a result of fraudulent misrepresentation, he signed a settlement agreement with Talos in relation to a guarantee he provided for a 2.4m loan by Talos to the Sheehan-controlled company, JCS. This money was for a deposit to purchase the IBRC loans. It was claimed on behalf of Dr Sheehan that at the time of the settlement agreement, it was misrepresented to him by Talos' solicitors that JCS, which was by then controlled by Talos, had not settled a claim for the return of the deposit when in fact it had done so. Talos denied the claims. The judge found there was no misrepresentation by Talos to Dr Sheehan. He also rejected a second claim by Dr Sheehan relating to a reduction of his debt by 1.7m based on an allegation of concurrent wrongdoing. Homeless families living in hotels in Dublin could be moved out during the Pope's visit. More than 600,000 tourists are expected in the capital when Pope Francis visits later this summer as part of the World Meeting of Families. However, the extra visitors are expected to put pressure on accommodation spaces in the city. Father Peter Mc Verry, who campaigns on behalf of the homeless, says it is unacceptable for families to be forced onto the streets. "You're not going to get a hotel bedroom anywhere in 100 miles of Dublin, I would imagine, when the Pope comes to visit," he said. "I think it's a frightening scenario that could easily see families living in garda stations over that period." Meanwhile, the shortage of accommodation in the city continues to affect students. 150,000 leaflets will be delivered to homes around Dublin to ask if they would rent a room to a student. DIT, which is behind the move, is reminding homeowners that tax breaks are available if they want to let out a spare bedroom. Dr Brian Gormley, the Head of Campus Life at DIT, said: "There is a shortage of rental accommodation and the Daft.ie rental survey showed that the number of available rental houses is at its lowest ever. "This is one approach we're taking, and we also have some purpose built student accommodation in the area as well." - Digital Desk By Noel Baker The Ombudsman received more than 3,000 complaints about providers of public services last year, including an increase in complaints about local authorities linked to planning and housing and 115 complaints from asylum seekers. The report, published today, also shows the number of complaints received about nursing homes has doubled. In the 2017 annual report, Ombudsman Peter Tyndall also drew attention to what he said were failures in relation to meeting the mobility needs of disabled people, claiming he would be making further representations to seek a resolution to the current, completely unacceptable, position. According to the report, 3,021 complaints were received overall last year of which 79% were closed within three months. Of the 1,542 cases that were substantively examined, 27% were fully upheld, 3% were partially upheld, assistance was provided in 14% of cases, and 56% were not upheld. According to the report: Government Departments/Offices sector is the largest source of complaints (at 31.5% compared to 38.4% in 2016), followed by Local Authorities (28.2% compared to 27.6%) and the Health and Social Care Sector (20.1% compared to 19.7%). Of the 953 complaints made against the Government Departments/Offices, 655 were against the Department of Social Protection, 87 against the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, 65 against the Revenue Commissioners and 32 against the Department of Justice and Equality. In the report, Peter Tyndall said the number of complaints remained broadly the same as 2016, but the number of systemic and own initiative investigations undertaken reached new highs. He referred to the investigation into the way in which the Department of Justice and Equality administered the Magdalene Restorative Justice Scheme covered in a previous report, leading to the announcement last April from the Justice Minister that he will implement all of the recommendations in that Opportunity Lost report. I will continue to work with the Department to avoid any further delay in implementation, said Mr Tyndall. Some 109 of the 852 Local Authority complaints were against Dublin City Council, with 72 against Cork County Council and 66 against Cork City Council. There were 538 complaints against the HSE or bodies acting on its behalf and 246 of these were about hospitals. There were 70 complaints relating to Tusla, 44 complaints against the Road Safety Authority, and 35 against the Law Society of Ireland. There were 202 complaints against educational bodies, while the number of complaints relating to private nursing homes doubled to 63. On the mobility needs of disabled people, the Ombudsman said the Motorised Transport Grant and the Mobility Allowance schemes were both discontinued when his predecessor, Emily OReilly, found that they were in breach of Equal Status legislation. The promised successor scheme is now many years overdue, he said. This problem is compounded by the fact that the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme, which provides tax concessions, has narrow and unhelpful access criteria. He said it was with a growing sense of frustration and disappointment that the bill is listed for the spring/summer session, but the head of it had not yet been published. He also referred to the low number of complaints about Part 3 of the Disability Act as very disappointing. This story originally appeared in the Irish Examiner The Taoiseach says the US has made a mistake by pulling out of the UN Human Rights Council. The US made the decision yesterday after continued criticism of its clampdown on illegal immigration which has seen thousands of children separated from their parents and held in detention centres. It has accused the UN of double standards for not taking action against other countries guilty of human rights violations. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says regardless of this, Donald Trump has made a mistake. "I think it's deeply regrettable, I have always believed in the politics of engagement and that means you are at a table with people you disagree with," he said. "I think they have a point in pointing out some of the double standards that exist but the fact that the political left around the world engage in double standards in human rights or democracy doesn't really walk off the pitch and I think it's a mistake." Meanwhile, a US-based Irish immigration lawyer is calling for a boycott of the US Embassy's 4th of July reception in protest against Donald Trump's immigration policies. The US President is facing international criticism after it emerged that children are being taken from their parents and held in cages at the Mexican border. The Irish Stand campaign is calling on Irish politicians to condemn the regime. Immigration attorney Fiona McEntee says she doesn't know how anybody could celebrate America right now. "I just don't know how anyone in all consciences could sit there with a glass of wine in their hand, cheersing, knowing what's happening over the border, the images of these kids in cages. "We want them to speak out and not participate in that kind of thing," she said. - Digital Desk Britain's plan for a temporary customs "backstop" to solve the Irish border issue is "not acceptable" and any fall-back option cannot be time-limited, the European Parliament's chief Brexit co-ordinator has told MPs in the UK. Guy Verhofstadt said the Government's position that the backstop of continuing UK alignment with the EU customs union would cease by the end of 2021 if no other solution was found left him "puzzled". Addressing MPs in London today, the former Belgian prime minister said his understanding of a backstop was "a permanent system that is there that you don't use", saying the EU would seek a deal over the key Brexit sticking point. He told MPs on the Exiting the European Union Committee: "I have never seen a backstop that is used for one year and then it disappears. "No, a backstop is a fall-back position that you have in your pocket and you hope that you have never to use it. That is a backstop, in my opinion." "That (the temporary backstop) was not in the proposal of the UK Government. I'm a little bit puzzled by the way the UK Government sees now that problem." Mr Verhofstadt was speaking at the first of two grillings by MPs in Westminster today. Yesterday, Brussels warned that serious differences remain over how to deal with the Irish border after Brexit. Advances have been made in a number of areas, such as customs, VAT and nuclear waste regulation, chief negotiator Michel Barnier said, but "a lot more work" needs to be done to meet the October deadline. Today marks a step forward in these negotiations - we have agreed a number of separation issues and the #UK has engaged on others. But we are not there yet: serious divergences remain on the backstop for NI/IE. More work clearly needed: https://t.co/w3Vw39w8Nr #Brexit Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) June 19, 2018 Mr Verhofstadt said that ending the backstop in 2021 would mean customs authorities would have to apply three different systems in three years, which was something to "avoid absolutely". He said he was looking forward to the UK Government's White Paper, due to set out the position on leaving the EU. He added: "I think that is it still possible to have for October/November an agreement on the political declaration. For that we need to speed up, certainly the negotiations in the coming months." - Digital Desk and PA When it comes to this years Stonewall Black & White Ball, almost everything is themed around 30. Compass, Floridas largest LGBT community center, is approaching its 30th anniversary. The date of the celebration is on June 30, and the cost to get in is $30. Its the seventeenth occurrence of the Ball, however, and is also meant to celebrate almost 50 years of the LGBT movements success. This years theme will be Glimmer of Pearls, and the partygoers dressed in black and white cocktail attire will be able to dance, drink, and participate in a silent auction. Around 1,500 people typically attend from around South Florida, including local leaders. The Stonewall Black and White Ball not only recognizes our collective history, but it sheds light on opportunities for our communitys future through fully inclusive social justice leadership, Compass website states. Compass has been supported throughout the years by local leaders that would later become public officials, state senators, county commissioners, state representatives, and more. To honor these people for using their power to help the LGBT community despite public scrutiny, the annual Compass Leadership Award is annually presented. This years award will go to Palm Beach County School Board Member Erica Whitfield. The annual Michael Brown Faces of the Community Award is also presented to an influential community leader who has demonstrated notable efforts toward promoting pride and a connectivity within our diverse community. This years award will go to Carole Benowitz, who is the president of the local chapter of PFLAG, a nonprofit organization that advocates for and educates people about the LGBT community. VIP tickets that include the Award Reception, Award Ceremony, and Stonewall Ball are $75. The host of this years award reception will be Virginia Sinicki, a DJ and radio personality with The KVJ Show at 97.9 WRMF. Other performances at the Ball will feature drag queens Velvet Lenore and Miss Palm Beach Pride 2018 Rianna Petrone. The VIP Award Reception begins at 7 p.m., while general admission is at 9 p.m. Tickets can only be bought online, and the event will be held at the Harriet Himmel Theatre in West Palm Beach. Vera Twomey whose eight-year-old daughter has drug resistance epilepsy has thrown her weight behind the fight for medical cannabis to be legalised in the UK. Ms Twomey's daughter Ava Barry is one of only seven people in Ireland to be granted a licence to be prescribed cannabis oil, but she now wants all those suffering chronic conditions to have access to it. Ms Twomey, from Aghabullogue in Co Cork, says the issue is "bigger than borders" after she was invited to address British MPs in Westminster as the campaign to change the law in Britain gathers momentum. Earlier this week, British Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced the UK Government would conduct a review of medical cannabis. It followed public outcry when a severely epileptic boy was admitted to hospital in a critical condition on Friday when his cannabis oil was confiscated at Heathrow. Billy Caldwell, 12, was rushed to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital having been free from seizures for almost a year when his mother Charlotte - from Caslederg in County Tyrone - began treating him with cannabis oil infused with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). While cannabis oil stripped of THC is widely available, THC-infused cannabis oil remains controversial because it is a psychoactive substance. Ms Twomey and her family lived in Holland for six months to gather clinical evidence on cannabis oil before the Government would grant Ava a licence to use the medication, and she now wants people from Britain to have the same access to it that she has. Ms Twomey told the Press Association: "Our daughter is now in a position where her seizures are completely under control, she is walking, she's speaking, she's going to school and the most important thing is she's free of pain and it's huge a privilege to see her improve daily on medical cannabis." Vera Twomey's daughter Ava Barry is one of only seven people in Ireland to be granted a licence to be prescribed #CannabisOil, but she now wants all those suffering chronic conditions to have access to it: pic.twitter.com/DVqKFUcnnq Aisling Ennis (@aislingrosennis) June 20, 2018 She added: "This is not a national issue in any sense - whether it's Great Britain or Ireland. This is a global issue. "There are thousands of people across the board in Ireland in chronic pain with things like cancer, epilepsy or multiple sclerosis that need this. "So if there are thousands in Ireland there must be millions in Britain that should possibly have an option for this." She said she hoped the Government could follow the example of the British Government as it plans a review of medical cannabis. "Nobody is suggesting that medical cannabis will work for everybody but for certain people like my daughter who ran out of options, medical cannabis has saved her life," said Ms Twomey. She said she wanted medical cannabis to be one of the first options available to critically ill patients or those in chronic pain, not a last resort. "Medical cannabis is one of the gentlest forms of medication - my daughter is coherent, she has better appetite, better sleep, better balance and she's free of pain. She's got a life and she's got a chance now," she said. When asked why there was such resistance to reform of the law, she said it was probably as much to do with pharmaceutical companies as politicians. "There's a lot of monetary value for people producing the pharmaceutical medications," she said. "The problem with medical cannabis is that it works and that's probably a serious issue for pharmaceutical companies I think, because if medical cannabis can cure or ease your condition, well you're not going to need as many pharmaceutical medications." Ms Twomey said that before switching to medical cannabis, Ava had been on 15 different tablets a day including six anti-epileptic medications but was still suffering over 29 seizures a day. She said: "The medication wasn't working, she was still having seizures, her brain was still being damaged but the pharmaceutical companies were obtaining the revenue from the tablets my daughter was taking. "Now my medicine cupboard is almost empty - and my daughter seizures are under control. "Anybody in Great Britain that has a condition like Ava's, they deserve that empty cupboard as well. "They deserve the opportunity to have that life given back to them." Ms Twomey has been an active campaigner on the issue for many years, and once set out to walk from Cork to Dublin to raise awareness of her daughter's case. PA & Digital Desk Des ODriscoll Evelyn Grant is a flute-player and presenter of Week End Drive on RTE Lyric fm. She is also musical director and conductor of the Cork Pops Orchestra, and will host a number of In Conversation events throughout the West Cork Chamber Music Festival (June 29 to July 8). Best recent book youve read: Sebastian Barrys Days Without End really moved me, not just for the beautiful use of language, but there was the vivid writing of the scenes from the civil war juxtaposed with the incredibly loving relationships. Best recent film: Martin McDonaghs Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. I will never forget the way he used the soundtrack of Renee Fleming singing The Last Rose of Summer. Best piece of music youve been listening to lately: The Lyric Feature documentary on the Irish composer Elizabeth Machoncy. I hadnt been aware of her output of string quartets. Money is no object what instrument would you buy? I would buy a top-of-the-range instrument for each of our four children all of whom are professional musicians, but who will never earn enough money through their music-making to purchase the best instrument. First ever piece of music or gig that really moved you: As a teenager, playing the flute in Schuberts Unfinished Symphony on first ever Irish Youth Orchestra course in 1970. So inspiring. You never really get over that first experience of playing symphonic music with a group of people you really like. The best gig youve ever seen: Cant pick just one but two would be Gustavo Dudamel conducting Mahler with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, or Christy Moore at the Point. TV viewing: We didnt own a TV until relatively recently. I am a current affairs junkie (but too much of that is not good for your health). I love a good court room drama, or detective show. So I have a soft spot for Lewis. And I am delighted that The Good Wife has now been followed by The Good Fight. On the homegrown front, I think Nationwide isaddictive, as is Reeling in the Years. Radio listening and/or podcasts: You couldnt do better than RTE Lyric fm! But, when I was a music student in Germany, I got hooked on The Archers on BBC Radio 4 pre-internet radio, when it was broadcast on BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Station). I never miss the Archers Omnibus! Since the Trump election, Im addicted to The Daily podcast from the New York Times. Youre curating your dream festival which three artists are on the bill, living or dead? Maria Callas (dead), Glenn Gould (dead), Uri Caine (living, thankfully) . Your best celebrity encounter: I have always loved my encounters with the wonderful flute player James Galway. I loved the inspiring classes with him as a student. Then, he joined the Cork Pops Orchestra on Patrick St with his tin-whistle for a Christmas celebration in 2005, when Cork was the European Capital of Culture, and Jimmy took part in a number of the citys big events, in the North Cathedral and with the Cork Youth Orchestra in City Hall. Of course, at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, I have the privilege of interviewing the celebrities of the music world each morning. You can portal back to any period of human cultural history or music event? Id love to have been among the invitees or in the orchestra (except there were no flutes) in Handels Messiah in Georgian Dublin in 1742. It must have been a fascinating place especially if one were part of the upper class. And, apparently, a relative on my mothers side of the family (the Roseingraves) sang a solo role in the premiere in Fishamble Street. Unsung hero: Francis Humphrysdirector of West Cork Music, whose tireless work, tenacity, determination and total passion for quality chamber music, has created in Bantry a world class festival. You are queen for a day whats your first decree? That West Cork should have a world-class chamber music performance venue. In advance of the Crosstown Drift event, Eoghan OSullivan asked some of the participating authors about what makes Cork a special place for them. Thomas Morris The first day of the snowstorm I took residence in Dan Lowreys. After eight hours of very committed imbibing, I decided it was finally time to waddle home. As I laboured my way up York Hill, I saw a man eating a bag of chips off a bonnet of a car. He waved me over and invited me to take a chip, which I duly accepted. Then, after I finished the first chip, he insisted I have another. No, no, I said. Ill go get my own. Where did you get these ones? Take my bag, he said. I cant do that, I said. Theyre your chips! Its alright, he said, Ive got a burger here. No, no, I said. Ill go get my own. Cue: one minute of REALLY intense discussion and the man telling me hed be offended if I didnt take his chips, and me then taking his chips, whilst he tucked into a burger off the bonnet of a car, whilst the snow did fall. I dont want to fall foul of the usual Dublin/Cork divide, but when I lived in Dublin: someone once robbed my chips off me; in Cork, meanwhile, someone gave me their chips. Generosity of this nature goes beyond inspiring it belongs in the realm of the holy. Thomas Morris debut collection of short stories, We Dont Know What Were Doing, is out now on Faber & Faber June Caldwell My most enduring memory of Cork is back in the early 2000s...I got it into my head itd be a stellar idea to bugger off to Cape Clear at Christmas on my own (with no money) and stay in a hostel with just a small bag of food and no one to annoy me. The journey down was long and excoriating (seriously lads, is Cork further away from Dublin than Donegal?). When the bus passed through Skibbereen I was so tempted to get off and scrap the island idea. As for the ferry ride in December, I genuinely screamed my lamps out as the ship rose high up off the waves, smashing down again...I thought I was on the Lusitania...all the hardcore seafaring locals gazing on in disgust. When I got to the island the hostel was basic and a long walk from anywhere civil that might serve a hot whiskey in a gale. I had a jar of Dolmio with some manky pasta for my Christmas dinner and on the way back to Baltimore one of the islanders who gave me a lift to Skibb admitted that they all thought I was there to have an affair. A cross between The Quiet Man and an Edna OBrien novel, so Im expecting great (exciting) things when I visit next. June Caldwells debut collection of stories is out on Apollo Alan McMonagle The first time as an adult I spoke to an early hero, Pat McCabe, was in the wings of the Triskel Arts Centre a few minutes before he was due on stage. September, 2013. I was determined to say hello to my former school teacher (St Michaels Boys NS, Longford town, many lunatic moons ago). I wanted to express my admiration, and indeed gratitude for the early spark he had kindled inside his dithering past pupil. I think I was even going to give him a line or two from his first published work, The Adventures Of Shay Mouse. I blundered over to him, and blurted out as to whether he remembered throwing me out of class for laughing at his attempts to explain the terms condensation and evaporation to the tune of Cliff Richards Congratulations. He looked at me, his eyes already taking on the appearance of glazed almonds, and said, No wonder you became a fiction writer; Im looking forward to catching up with the master this midsummer Saturday. I hope he sings for his Cork audience. Alan McMonagles debut novel, Ithica, is out on Picador Pat McCabe O yes, there are many cool things about Cork but then everyone knows that and it serves no purpose me elucidating them further much less furl them in banners of sweet honey-caramel-style words like they speak themselves lest it further inflate the absurd sense of self-worth for which all them Corkies are noted throughout the rest of the inferior world but I think I will have to make an exception for the Armoured Car, which in case you didnt know is not a car at all but a dog. When I heard it first I hadnt been anywhere near Cork City but tell me this, did you ever hear a lyric better than this: He had cast iron jaws and steel padded paws/every nail was like an iron bar/an aunt of mine did say/that hed never give in if you ran him from here to Castlebar! Ah yes, spoken by Jimmy Crowley along with Stokers Lodge and let me say this, that if Cork never produced another Murphys or English Market, what they have given to the world in Jimmy and Stokers and, as I say, this fabbo magnifico hunting dog anthem, it already has chiselled a granite jewel indomitable and which I have sung in homage to the city by the Lee, at the very least, 100000078 times at late-night lock-ins from here to Sparta right back by Constantinople and Vapariso, which is where Jimmys fleet-footed canine desperado barks his head off across the sky of all time. Pat McCabes latest novel, Heartland, is out now on New Island Lisa McInerney Galway is where I was born, but Cork is where I found my voice. I moved to the city alone, at 17, so its no surprise that its knitted into the way I write, speak, even think. Ive lived by the Lough, danced to Sir Henrys swan song, coveted the clobber in Primetime, walked from Lee Fields to Tivoli and back again, spent all-nighters putting the world to rights in Northside gaffs looking down onto the lights of the city centre. I dont think Ive ever found a place that felt more alive as Cork did to me around the turn of the millennium; its dialect and accent and characters and landscape have been running through my work since. Theres no way of extracting it now, and thats fine by me, like. Lisa McInerneys latest novel is The Blood Miracles, out on John Murray Danny Denton Too young to experience Sir Henrys nightclub in its heyday, I was just old enough to get in there a few times as a sketchy underage lad. It was a dark joy, that place: one room unfolded into another; music beat a response to all the wildness of young souls and multitudinous bodies; sweat dripped from the ceiling Once, I waved at a girl across the room. As she waved back, a massive black spider crawled across her face. She didnt even notice. That was Sir Henrys. Much later on those nights, having spent the taxi money (sorry, Mam!), Id walk the six miles home to Passage, down The Line, following in the dark the course of the River Lee. Oh, soulful river! I loved that about Passage, and about Cork; that its beauty, its vibrancy is both offbeat and natural, and yet always wondrous, and always flowing. Danny Dentons debut novel, The Earlie King and the Kid in Yellow, is out now on Granta Eoghan OSullivan will host conversations with some of the Crosstown Drift writers on Saturday night at the Crawford Art Gallery. Cormac Lally Fate brought us to Skibbereen, Co Cork. After an unsuccessful house hunt in Clonakilty, we went to Skibb. On our first day, in our first hour in the town, in the first pub we went into, we met our landlord. Just like that. I started my business here, a fledgling half pipe dream that I could someway make my art pay the bills, or at least some of them. Three years later we are still here, all four of us, part of a unique little part of the world, trying to buy our house and put down roots. So far, better than its scenery, its weather or architecture, the greatest thing about Cork, I have found, is her people. We were welcomed into the community here, we were made a part of it. The beautiful souls in the farmers market, the Gaelscoil, Levis's in Ballydehob, Connolly's of Leap, our local butchers, her musicians, poets and artists, it's thriving business, forward thinking and pure pride in the town!!. It's been the people of Cork that welcomed us and made it easy to stay. Without them, our friends and neighbours, the laughs, the cries, the people we meet on the street, this would just be another place. Another town to try and survive in. Now it is our home. It's Cork's people that inspire me, every time. Cormac Lally is a Leinster and Munster Slam Poetry champion. Catherine Kirwan Cork has an inherent drama that comes from its landscape. The rivers the thing, our living connection with history and the natural world. And what light - no two hours of the day look or feel the same. Over the past quarter century, Corcadorca Theatre Company have opened the city to me, creating fresh perspectives on familiar places. Im looking forward to seeing The Numbered this month at Fitzgeralds Park, our riverside jewel, ever more precious as we battle the ruination planned for it by OPW Drainage. The story Im reading at St Peters is set by the Lough, in the strange world of the carp fishermen who, until recently, came from far and near in search of the big one. I love Cork but, whisper it, Im originally from County Waterford - and Ill always support the Deise no matter how much it upsets my Crosstown Drift reading partner Gerry Murphy. Darkest Truth, Catherine Kirwans crime novel set in Cork, will be published in early 2019 by Arrow. Gerry Murphy 'Rush Hour' I know the pedestrian light is in your favour and you must go and go now but I want to linger just a little longer in your embrace at the corner of Washington Street and South Main Street. I want to kiss each individual hair of your head from root to tip while the lights change and change again and the city grinds to a shuddering halt and the sky tilts over to reveal teeming constellations, utterly silent, unbearably distant. Gerry Murphy's latest collection of poetry, My Life As A Stalinist, is out now via Munister Literature Society Caring for hens is relatively simple and their personalities and behaviour are elaborate, making them super therapy animals, writes Geraldine Walsh. Ive recently become a hen owner. What started out as a spur-of-the-moment decision has ended up a way of life. I finally understand how easy it is to become obsessed with your chickens. I wasnt sure how I would like being a hen owner, so sought out Erika and Gary Dunphy from Hen Friends, who cleverly rent out chickens and a coop to see if being a hen owner is for you. Little did I know that caring for my new feathered friends would mean more than fresh eggs. There is something about tending to these hens that grounds you. Their routine and care is relatively simple, but their personalities and behaviour are far more elaborate. Ive suffered anxiety and depression and can honestly say there is an unexplainable calm in keeping hens. In fact, its becoming more and more common for care homes and nursing homes to take on a few chickens. The aim is to keep isolation, loneliness and depression at bay for the residents and Erika and Gary are visiting with their coops more than ever. Hens are literally giving people a new lease of life, reducing the risk of depression, dementia and, overall, improving their quality of life and health. Gra Conway has been an avid hen owner for many years, reaping the benefits for herself and her family. She says: We decided to keep hens mainly for the eggs and in an attempt to eat more ethically. Hens are amazing for mental health and I say that as someone who has dealt with anxiety and depression. Even my husband has commented that Im better after visiting the girls. While hens are completely low maintenance you do find yourself being absorbed by them and the quirky ways they establish their pecking order. Our whole family love the girls. Our two-year-old son is nothing short of obsessed. He feeds them every day and collects the eggs each morning. I think thats one of the biggest benefits: Its teaching him responsibility, empathy, and how to be consistent. Getting up early to let them out and feed them is a great way to establish a routine and start your day with purpose and productivity, as well as a dose of fresh air. They are also a completely absorbing animal, with far more personality than you expect and I always leave the chicken run laughing! Georgina Pullein saw first-hand the therapeutic effects of caring for hens after her daughter Lily went through a traumatic time at school with bullying. Georgina says Lily, has always been into ponies and competed up and down the country in all the major shows very successfully. Fairly suddenly, she started to become withdrawn and down and her confidence in everything was suffering, including her riding. Lily started to have severe anxiety and panic attacks and we could not understand why. Eventually, we discovered the cause and, after several meetings, we placed her in another school. During this time, it was clear that her riding was not helping her and, although we tried to encourage her, it was not to be. My dad has always kept poultry and shows them and is also a poultry judge. Her interest was piqued when my mum asked her if she would try tame a fairly feisty Pekin hen that she wanted to show. Within a few weeks, Lily had the feisty Pekin following her around and sitting on the kitchen table eating bread. The little Pekin went on to show with great success and so began her love affair with the hens. Erika Dunphy from Hen Friends and Allegra Walsh with her first hen. These little birds have given her tremendous confidence and she is now one of the most successful junior exhibitors in Ireland. Showing chickens gives her such pleasure and shes made some great friends. They really are very special animals and shes even now returned to riding. It is with thanks to Dotty, Scotty, Lotty, Spotty and Zebo that got her through this tough time and we are now panic free for two years. Laura Meade, a self-confessed animal lover who comes from a farming background, says: Having worked with animals for 15 years, along with being involved with The Irish Therapy Dogs for the last five years, I know just how therapeutic animals can be and the positivity they bring to the lives of both children and adults. We had the space and figured it would be good for the kids to add three hens to our family. Despite growing up on a farm, I had never kept hens, so I was surprised at what amazing and quirky personalities they had and how they were all so individual in mannerisms and character. Everybody who calls, family or friends, enquire about Susie, Rosie and Miss Hen and love our rich tasty frittatas when we serve them up! The kids love the girls and I must say I love when I come home alone from the school run and the hens come tottering over chatting to me and I cant help but smile. Keeping hens is about more than fresh eggs. These docile, quirky and lovable birds will outwit you, make you smile and slow you down as you watch them bathe in the dirt and find the best spots for shade. As therapy animals, they will surprise you with their comforting ways. ssion and can say there is an unexplainable calm in keeping hens Because bacteria in the gut influence our emotions, Cork scientists have created a food that may alleviate anxiety and depression, says John Daly Stress affects Leaving Cert students, harried home-buyers, and job hunters. All of us, regardless of our occupations, are touched by it daily. The word has become so ubiquitous that it crops up variously as verb, noun, adjective and adverb, depending on the situation. Stress is that universal feeling people have when they are overloaded and struggling to cope with demands, ranging from finances to work, relationships to ambitions. Because bacteria in the gut influence our emotions, Cork scientists have created a food that may alleviate anxiety and depression. The Health and Safety Authority describes it as a negative state, which involves, to varying degrees, anxiety, fear, and agitation. It comes about when a demand being placed on a person by a situation, a relationship, or a specific task is not easily met or the person feels he or she cannot meet the demand properly. Help may be at hand for this scourge, however. Cork-based scientists have created a new food supplement clinically proven to reduce stress. The treatment, developed after a key component in the gut-brain axis was identified, demonstrates that what happens in the stomach can have a direct effect on the human brain. The scientific team, led by UCC professors, John Cryan and Ted Dinan, identified a bacteria in the gut that reduces stress and which can be taken in the form of a simple probiotic. The clinically tested product, called Zenflore, is supported by research on this gut-brain axis, showing how both organs interact. The gut produces 90% of the serotonin in the body. Serotonin is sometimes called the happy chemical, because it contributes to wellbeing and happiness. We have discovered that the bacteria living in our gut, the microbiota, influence our emotions, says Professor Dinan. We have shown that people who are clinically depressed have less diversity in the bacteria in their gut than people who are not depressed. The question now is how can we improve the diversity of our bacteria. Professor Ian Robertson, neuroscientist at Trinity College, Dublin, and journalist, Jennifer OConnell. It proves the theory that a healthy gut is connected to a healthy mind, says his colleague, Professor Cryan. Were talking about a paradigm shift, in relation to how we conceptualise how our brains work. In medicine, traditionally, we tended to compartmentalise systems in the body, so if youre interested in what happens in neuroscience or psychiatry, youre interested in what happens from the neck up. For so long, it has generally been perceived that anti-depressants and cognitive behavioural therapy are the mainstay of treating depression, but our work clearly shows that your microbiota is very important and that, for a more holistic management of depressive illness, we should be focussing on diet and exercise, as well. Dr Barry Kiely, CEO of Precision Biotics, part of the Alimentary Health Group, which produces the product, says: We have a long track record in gut microbiome science, which started over 17 years ago. Building on this foundation, we have developed a precision approach to specific culture selection, which means we can identify the precise bacteria for the health condition we are targeting, as with our new product, Zenflore, which targets everyday stressful situations. 616,000 people aged between 30 and 55 have suffered stress in the last 12 months in Ireland. Mild to moderate stress is pervasive, with feelings of worry the most common manifestation reported by 37% of those surveyed. Professor Ted Dinan: link between bacteria in the gut and our moods. Up to 23% experienced headaches, with 17% suffering sleep disruption, whilst others testified to fatigue, upset stomach, and aching muscles. A recent RTE documentary, Stressed, featured a diverse cast of volunteers from all walks of life, including an entrepreneur, carer, mature student, chef and teacher, all of whom agreed that the condition impacted negatively on their lives. Presenter and journalist, Jennifer OConnell, allowed herself to undergo before and after testing with Zenflore, a process that resulted in a decrease in the cortical hormone, shown to have a clear link with stress. Stress should be a temporary, manageable response to a challenging situation, not an inescapable fact of adult life, she says. There are unavoidable stresses, like bereavement, money worries, changing or losing a job, negative equity, illness, heartbreak, divorce. But stress should not be what it has become for so many of us a state in which we are permanently, uselessly floundering in a sea of cortisol and caffeine. With the research proving the theory that a healthy gut is connected to a healthy mind, the two UCC professors have collaborated on a book, The Psychobiotic Revolution, which is being heralded as a ground-breaking game changer in the field of biomedicine. Medical journal, The Lancet, declared: Overall, this is a great book that encourages you to take charge of your gut to optimise your mind and your mood. This is a book that you would reluctantly lend to friends, in the fear that they might not return it. The Guardian was similarly taken: The hope is that it may one day be possible to diagnose some brain diseases and mental health problems by analysing gut bacteria, and to treat them or at least augment the effects of drug treatments with specific bacteria. Back in 2005, when I was the United States lead negotiator at the six-party talks on North Koreas nuclear programme, I looked at the instructions I received for my first meeting, a Chinese-hosted banquet that included a North Korean delegation. If there was any toasting (not unheard of at Chinese banquets), I was not to join in. Apparently, I was expected to sit there, without touching my glass, glowering with arms folded until everyone else had placed theirs back on the table. Later, when I visited North Korea for the first time, I was instructed not to smile at my hosts. Apparently, I was expected to offer only angry stares. Donald Trump has obviously modified those instructions. In fact, with his unending praise of Kim Jong-uns leadership, his clumsy, impromptu salute of one of Kims generals, and his endorsement of all things North Korean (especially the potential for beachfront property development), Trump has all but abandoned any pretence that the US promotes a broader set of values. But while Trump may have overshot the mark, the idea that the US delegation should sit with glasses untouched during a toast also strikes the wrong tone. In September 1995, during the final month of the Bosnian War, the US delegation to peace negotiations, led by assistant secretary of state Richard Holbrooke, arrived in Belgrade for talks with Serbias dictator, Slobodan Milosevic. According to Milosevic, he could not compel the Bosnian Serbs to withdraw their heavy weapons and lift the bloody four-year siege of Sarajevo. He asked Holbrooke to meet with the Bosnian Serb leaders, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, both of whom were later convicted of committing war crimes. Holbrooke asked where they were. Over there in that villa, Milosevic replied. Can I call for them? Holbrooke hastily brought our delegation together for a quick parley. Should we meet them? he asked me. And if we do, should I shake their hands? Thinking about the hundreds of thousands of Sarajevans the many who had been murdered and those facing starvation as a result of the continuing siege I replied, Shake their hands and lets get this over with and go home. We did. The siege of Sarajevo was lifted the next day. Whether shaking a hand helps or not, negotiating while shaking a fist has little record of success. During this years Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, US vice president Mike Pence was scheduled to meet with the North Korean delegation. Perhaps to cover his back at home, Pence delivered what were then the usual tough-sounding talking points before the meeting. The North Koreans promptly cancelled, as if to ask, What would be the point? During the period I dealt with the six-party talks, I avoided adding my voice to the anti-North Korean invective. I knew that soon often every other week I would have to meet them again, and while a display of moxie might help me in Washington, it would not help at the tip of the spear, where it was my job to negotiate away the North Koreans nuclear ambitions. There is a big difference between talking tough on television talk shows and sitting across from the North Koreans. Direct diplomacy is a serious means to a serious end. Posturing from a distance is not part of it. Sometimes body language is hard to get right. As US ambassador to Iraq, the instructions I received from Washington rarely came with any commensurate sense of responsibility for the outcome. I was told that my job included helping the Iraqi opposition rid themselves of then-prime minister Nuri al-Maliki. US officials revelled in their amped-up toughness in Washington meeting rooms, like high school athletes banging on the lockers before a big game. But when they actually came out on the field and met with Maliki, they gave him no reason to believe they wanted anything but the best for him. I would sit in such meetings watching Maliki glance over at me, wondering why I had previously warned him of diminishing US government patience with his autocratic rule and dire consequences. Meanwhile, the visitors from Washington made points that were so subtle and nuanced that Maliki would have needed a decoding device to comprehend their real meaning. Any diplomat must be purposeful in a negotiation on behalf of his or her country, which means being clear-eyed about the desired outcome and the best way to achieve it. In Singapore, the issue was the North Korean nuclear weapons programme. Nothing else really mattered. Time will tell whether the North Koreans reciprocate Trumps professed affection for them. Kim gave away little, and was probably stunned when, for the first time ever, a US president accepted at face value North Koreas supposed anxiety about US joint military exercises with South Korea (which the North Koreans know to be defensive in purpose). That was too large a concession, and, one way or another, it will have to be taken back. More broadly, a framework for peace and security that includes all the directly affected parties South Korea, Japan, Russia, and China will need to be designed. Similarly, North Koreas human rights record, one of the worlds worst, will have to be taken up in the future perhaps, as I signalled during the six-party talks, as a component of eventual diplomatic relations. But, for now, the North Korean nuclear programme must be at the top of any negotiating agenda. Whether Trumps approach actually works with North Korea will depend on the diplomacy that follows the Singapore summit. Over to you, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo. Christopher R Hill, former US assistant secretary of state for East Asia, is chief advisor to the chancellor for global engagement and professor of the practice in diplomacy at the University of Denver, and the author of Outpost. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018. It is some trick, to be able to increase spending by a whopping 3.4bn in one year and still be able to claim to be prudent, writes Daniel McConnell. This is on top of similar increases in spending over the past three years. But this exactly what Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is seeking to do. Yesterday saw the publication of his summer economic statement (SES) which as he said sets out the broad framework of what Budget 2019 will look like come October. Donohoe, as finance minister, is in the kind of dream land that predecessors like Brian Lenihan and Michael Noonan could have only longed for. An economy with near full employment, growing at over 5% a year, and coffers bulging at the seams is a far cry from the dire budgets of 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 where billions in cuts were introduced. Donohoe is at pains to make it clear that he will not do anything reckless which would see the mistakes of a decade ago be repeated. Donohoe also revealed he is to forgo spending 900m in the upcoming budget allowed for under the EU fiscal rules. To spend that money, he said, would be inappropriate, given how strong the economy is growing at present. This would increase the deficit by an additional 0.3% of GDP and would represent the the wrong choice for the economy at this stage of the cycle, he said. The ministers caution is well founded. We have had a chorus of warning calls from the ESRI, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, the IMF, the EU and others about the risks to the economy overheating. Donohoe himself, in the document he published yesterday, highlighted the risk of overheating as one of the key dangers facing his otherwise rosey picture. Out of the 3.4bn increase in spending, Donohoe made clear that 2.6bn of it has already been committed. This is largely related to increase in capital spending, the public sector pay deal, and some social welfare payment increases. That leaves 800m to be fought over by ministers in the run up to the budget. Well that is, if Donohoes Dear Prudence message is to be sustained. However, if there is not an election before the budget, as is possible, then there will be one shortly afterwards. So, this is likely to be an election budget. If that is the case, Donohoe will come under severe pressure from all sides to loosen the coffers. The test will be to see how much of that 900m he is choosing not to spend is intact the morning after the budget. Donohoe is a steely operator and his friendly demeanour often belies his determination once his mind is made up. He has set his stall out as the slow and steady hand on the tiller, as opposed to the champagne-swilling free spirit that was Charlie McCreevy, who was the king of the giveaway budgets in the early 2000s. But, come the late days of September and early October, when budget kite flying will be at its peak, Donohoes steel will be severely tested. Despite all the warnings from the various economic groups, it is amazing that so many within the political system are willing to ignore them. Blinded by their short-term political obsessions about their own positions, TDs by repeatedly calling for more and more money to be spent, show they have no real regard for the countrys greater good. Even the highly cautious and prudent Paschal Donohoe will face his greatest test to ensure he does not relent to the inevitable pressure to loosen the purse strings. Lets hope he is up to the task. David Drumms meteoric rise through the world of Irish banking was attributed to a large degree to his capacity to get things done, writes Michael Clifford. Yesterday, at the lowest point of his fall, the man now known as prisoner 102640 maintained the air of a man who wanted to get things done. In particular, he wanted his sentencing hearing completed so he could move onto the next phase of his life, doing his time six years, probably out in four. He arrived at the sentencing hearing before 9am up and at em while the Courts of Criminal Justice building was still shaking itself awake. He was in dress-down mode for a banker, well-cut suit and expensive shirt but no sign of a tie. Blue collar criminals dress up going to court, those whose white collar has been felt by the law apparently dress down. Slung over his shoulder was a rucksack, carrying all that he expected he would be allowed to bring into prison. He was unaccompanied, as he had been on the day of his conviction earlier this month following a trial lasting 87 days. During the hearing, his lawyer Brendan Grehan told the court that Drumm, aged 51, would not be calling any character witnesses. He didnt want to subject his immediate or extended family to any further publicity. As such, he was facing the music on his own. Court 19, on the sixth floor of the Criminal Courts of Justice building took on the character of a time capsule for much of the hearing. The mortgage situation in the USA in 2007 got an airing again, as did the domino effect across the globe, and how it spilled into this country. The green jersey put in an appearance. There had been urging by the Central Bank to Irish banks to support each other in terms of liquidity, Mr OHiggins told the judge. Drumm looked on, arms folded, appearing almost relaxed, yet with a hint of impatience. Been there, done that, bought the green T-shirt. Those heady times were really revived when the counsels narrative turned to what was real funding and not real funding. In other words, funny money and how the masters of the universe were in stitches as they moved it around, playing their games, separated from the real world and the little people. The courtroom was full without being jam-packed. This was not a notorious murder trial. Neither did it involve a celebrity caught on the wrong side of the law. This was a banker being brought to account for crimes that occurred in the distant past, when we all lived in a different world. The urgency, the anger that the actions of bankers had evoked, has dissipated. The world has moved on but while the wheels of justice have ground slowly, their progress is required in any place that wants to call itself a democracy. At the end of his submission, Mr OHiggins said that the court ought to take account of the time the accused spent in custody, This was a reference to Drumms five months in a US penitentiary awaiting extradition last year. The accuseds counsel Brendan Grehan got to his feet. I wont be arguing with Mr OHiggins on that point, he said. In the dock, the accused managed a ghosted smile. His face though, for the most part, just asked everybody to get on with it, get the thing over. Judge OConnor needed a few hours to weigh it all up and deliver her sentence. Initially, she thought shed be ready at 2.30pm, but gradually this was put back to 4pm. During the long wait to hear his fate, Mr Drumm occasionally picked up his book, although its debatable whether he took in its contents. The book was written by BBC foreign correspondent John Simpson, and titled We Chose To Speak Of War and Strife. Maybe they did back in the days when Anglo ruled the world, but now the strife is all Mr Drumms. When the hearing finally resumed, Judge OConnor laid out a sober ruling. This court is not sentencing Mr Drumm for causing the financial crisis, she noted at one point. Nor is this court sentencing him for the recession which occurred. This offending did not cause Anglo Irish Bank to collapse. This court will sentence Mr Drumm only for two offences for which he has been convicted. That sentence was six years in prison. Once it was delivered and Judge OConnor rose, a prison officer moved over towards Mr Drumm. The former banker didnt need any further hint. He was up and out of his bench, bag slung over his shoulder and through the door en route to fix up with society. According to an African proverb, When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. The same is true for full-blown trade wars: When major economies clash, developing countries will be among the hardest hit. On June 1, the US administration imposed import tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium. The levies will affect not just China, but also Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. The European Union is expected to launch a raft of retaliatory tariffs against US exports tomorrow. American blue jeans, motorbikes, and bourbon whiskey will be targeted, trade commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, confirmed. Brussels drew up the list of products in March, when Mr Trump initially proposed the 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% on aluminium, which also target Canada, Mexico, and other US allies. Cranberries, orange juice, sweetcorn, and peanut butter are among the other goods targeted. As Malmstrom, the EU Commissioner for trade, observed at a recent event held by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), We are not in a trade war, but we could be. It is a situation that should concern everyone. We know, from history, that nobody wins in a trade war. Tariff hikes by major trading countries represent a reversal of efforts since the end of World War II to eliminate trade barriers and facilitate global commerce. Since the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade took effect, in 1947, the average value of tariffs in force around the world has declined by 85%. That is no coincidence; rather, it is the result of multilateral cooperation, and eight rounds of global trade negotiations, first under the GATT, and then under its successor, the World Trade Organisation. Tariff reductions, together with technological advances, drove the extraordinary expansion of global trade that we have witnessed in our lifetimes. In 1960, trade as share of world GDP stood at 24%; today, it is nearly 60%. The expansion of trade has fuelled economic growth, created jobs, and increased household incomes around the world. It is a key factor behind the rise of the global South, where dozens of developing countries have undergone strong economic growth and positive societal change. And it made possible one of the most remarkable achievements in human history: lifting 1bn people out of poverty in just two decades. Yet, trade expansion has not benefitted everyone equally. And in some cases, it has resulted in environmental degradation and economic displacement, with many people now left behind. These are serious and legitimate issues. But unilateralism is not the way to address them. Global challenges demand global solutions. Unfortunately, current trade actions augur a loss for everyone. In a trade war, companies across a wide range of sectors will lose profits, and workers will lose jobs. Governments will lose revenue, and consumers will have fewer product choices available. And, no matter where they are, firms, governments, and households will incur higher costs. Even worse, a global trade war might jeopardise the multilateral trading system itself. It would, no doubt, result in tariff increases greater than anything we have seen in recent history. UNCTAD research shows that average tariffs could rise from negligible levels to as high as 30% for US exporters and 35% and 40% for EU and Chinese exporters, respectively. So, even if the elephants have sufficient economic weight to withstand a trade war, they would not benefit from one. And developing countries, which played no role in starting the conflict, would be even less able to afford it. On average, tariffs applied on developing countries exports could rise from 3% to 37%. But whereas average tariffs affecting countries like Nigeria and Zambia probably would not go above 10%, those against Mexico could reach as high as 60%. Likewise, countries like Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Turkey could face average tariffs of 40%-50%. A trade war would be a severe blow to the worlds poorest countries, and to the hope of doubling least-developed countries share of global exports by 2020, under the Sustainable Development Goals. It would compromise the fragile economic recovery since the global financial crisis a decade ago, thus undercutting growth and development around the world. And it would limit the extent to which trade could be used to advance global goals. The harm caused by a full-on trade war would be felt well beyond international commerce. Todays trade climate reflects a disturbing global trend toward nationalist unilateralism. The countries that helped reshape our world for the better, through trade, are now abandoning international cooperation, and that shift may have serious implications for other areas, such as global efforts to combat climate change and ensure peace and prosperity for all. The easiest way to win a trade war is to avoid it altogether. Mukhisa Kituyi is secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018. State terrorism comes in many forms, but one of its most cruel and revolting expressions is when it is aimed at children, writes Henry Giroux. Separating children from their parents is indeed a form of terrorism and it points not only to a society that has lost its moral compass, but has also descended into such darkness that it demands both the loudest forms of moral outrage and a collective resistance aimed at eliminating the narratives, power relations and values that support it. State violence against children has a long, dark history among authoritarian regimes. Josef Stalins police took children from the parents he labelled as enemies of the people. Adolf Hitler, Francisco Franco and Augusto Pinochet all separated children from their families on a large scale as a way to punish political dissidents and those parents considered disposable. Now we can add U.S. President Donald Trump to the list of the depraved. Amnesty International has called Trumps current decision to separate children from their parents and warehouse them in cages and tents as a cruel policy that amounts to nothing short of torture. Many of the parents whose children have been taken away from them entered the country legally, unwittingly exposing what resembles a state-sanctioned policy of racial cleansing. In any democratic society, the primary index through which a society registers its own meaning, vision and politics is measured by how it treats its children, and its commitment to the ideal that a civilized society is one that does everything it can to make the future and the world a better place for youth. Abuse and terror By this measure, the Trump administration has done more than fail in its commitment to children. It has abused, terrorized and scarred them. Whats more, this policy has been ludicrously initiated and legitimized by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a notorious anti-immigrant advocate, with a Bible verse that was used historically by racists to justify slavery. Read more: The Bible's message on separating immigrant children from parents is a lot different from what Jeff Sessions thinks In the name of religion and without irony, Sessions has put into play a policy that has been a hallmark of authoritarian regimes. At the same time, Trump has justified the policy with the notorious lie that the Democrats have to change the law for the separations to stop, when in actuality the separations are the result of a policy inaugurated by Sessions under Trumps direction. Trump has written on Twitter that the Democrats are breaking up families. Yet according to the New York Times: Mr. Trump was misrepresenting his own policy. There is no law that says children must be taken from their parents if they cross the border unlawfully, and previous administrations have made exceptions for those travelling with minor children when prosecuting immigrants for illegal entry. A zero tolerance policy created by the president in April and put into effect last month by the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, allows no such exceptions, Mr. Trumps advisers say. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has actually elevated Trumps lie to a horrendous act of wilful ignorance and complicity. We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period. Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen (@SecNielsen) June 17, 2018 This is an extension of the carceral state to the most vulnerable groups, putting into play a punitive policy that signals a descent into fascism, American-style. The New Yorkers Marsha Gessen gets it right in comparing Trumps policies towards children to those used by Vladimir Putin in Russia, both of which amounts to what she calls an instrument of totalitarian terror. Both countries arrest children in order to send a powerful message to their enemies. In this case, Trumps message is designed to terrorize immigrants while shoring up his base, while Putins message is to squelch dissent in general among the larger populace. Referring to Putins reign of terror, she writes: The spectacle of children being arrested sends a stronger message than any amount of police violence against adults could do. The threat that children might be removed from their families is likely to compel parents to keep their kids at home next time and to stay home themselves. Children screaming for their parents Within the last few weeks, heart-wrenching reports, images and audio have emerged in which children, including infants, are forcibly separated from their parents, relocated to detention centres under-staffed by professional caretakers and housed in what some reporters have described as cages. The consequences of Trumps xenophobia are agonizingly clear in reports of migrant children screaming out for their parents, babies crying incessantly, infants housed with teenagers who dont know how to change diapers and shattered and traumatized families. Immigrant children are shown outside a former Job Corps site that now houses them on June 18, 2018, in Homestead, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) The Trump administration has detained more than 2,000 children, and the numbers are expected to grow exponentially in light of Trumps refusal to change the cruel policy. Whats more, the Trump administration has lost track of more than 1,500 children it first detained, and it has no plans to reunite the families it has torn apart. In some cases, it has deported parents without first uniting them with their detained children. What is equally horrifying and morally reprehensible is that previous studies, such as those done by Anna Freud and Dorothy Burlingham in the midst of the Second World War, indicated that children separated from their parents suffered both emotionally in the short run and were plagued by long-term separation anxieties. Its no wonder the American Academy of Pediatrics refers to the Trump administrations policy of separating children from their families as one of sweeping cruelty. Trump is mobilizing the fascist fervour that inevitably leads to prisons, detention centres and acts of domestic terrorism and state violence. Echoes of Nazi camps, Japanese internment prisons and the mass incarceration of Black and brown people, along with the destruction of their families, are now part of Trumps legacy. Shameless cruelty now marks the neoliberal fascism currently shaping American society. Trump is using children as hostages in his attempt to implement his racist policy of building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and to please his white supremacist base. Long history in the U.S. But lets be clear. While the caging of children has provoked a great deal of moral outrage across the ideological spectrum, the underlying logic has been largely ignored. These tactics have a long history in the United States, and in recent years have been intensified with the collapse of the social contract, expanding inequality and the increasing criminalization of a range of behaviours associated with immigrants, young people and those populations considered most vulnerable. Read more: Fascisms return and Trumps war on youth The horrible treatment of immigrant parents and children by the Trump regime signals not only a hatred of human rights, justice and democracy, it lays bare a growing fascism in the United States in which politics and power are now being used to foster disposability. White supremacists, religious fundamentalists and political extremists are now in charge. Its all a logical extension of his plans to deport 300,000 immigrants and refugees, including 200,000 Salvadorans and 86,000 Hondurans, by revoking their temporary protected status. The cruelty of this racist policy is also evident in Trumps rescinding of DACA for 800,000 so-called dreamers and the removal of temporary protected status for 248,000 refugees. Making America Great Again and America First have now morphed into an unprecedented and unapologetic act of terrorism against immigrants. While the Obama administration also locked up the families of immigrants, it eventually scaled back the practice. Christopher Baker, 3, holds a sign that reads Which baby deserves to sleep in a cage? as he attends a Poor Peoples Campaign rally with his mother in Olympia, Wash., on June 18. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Under Trump, this savage practice has accelerated and intensified. His administration has refused to consider more humane practices, such as community management of asylum-seekers. It all functions as short hand for making America white again, and signals the unwillingness of the United States to break from its past and the ghosts of a lethal authoritarianism. Trumps admiration of dictators Its also more evidence of Trumps love affair with the practices of other dictators like Putin and now Kim Jong Un. And it signals a growing consolidation of power that is matched by the use of the repressive powers of the state to brutalize and threaten those who dont fit into Trumps white nationalist vision of the United States. There is more at work here than the collapse of humanity and ethics under the Trump regime, there is also a process of dehumanization, racial cleansing and a convulsion of hatred toward those marked as disposable that echoes the darkest elements of fascisms tenets. The U.S. has now entered into a new era of racial hatred. What is happening to the children and parents of immigrants does more than reek of cruelty, it points to a country in which matters of life and death have become unmoored from the principles of justice, compassion and democracy itself. The horrors of fascisms past have now travelled from the history books to modern times. The steep path to violence and cruelty can no longer be ignored. The time has come for the American public, politicians, educators, social movements and others to make clear that resistance to the emerging fascism in the United States is not an option but a dire and urgent necessity. This article was written by Henry Giroux of McMaster University and was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article here. Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza. Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres. The Government must rule out any visit by President Trump to Ireland following barbaric treatment of migrant children. President Trumps war on migrants reached a new level in April, when he announced that illegal migrants would be arrested on criminal charges and locked up to await a court date. Figures show a total of 140 new patients being treated at the unit in the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital during 2017. That compared to 107 cases in the previous year. The 2017 figure is the highest annual total in the past 15 years. The medical director of National SATU Services, which is based in Dublins Rotunda Hospital, Dr Maeve Eogan, said increased education and awareness programmes provided by clinical nurse specialists had contributed to the increase in the Cork unit last year. The Cork SATU is staffed on a 24/7 basis by two clinical nurse specialists, four on-call forensic medical doctors, and seven on-call support nurses. Overall, the six SATUs in the Republic, which are in Dublin, Cork Waterford, Mullingar, Galway, and Letterkenny, reported a 21.5% increase in new cases last year. A total of 865 men and women attended the units after reporting being the victim of either rape or sexual assault in 2017 an additional 153 cases over 2016 levels. The latest annual SATU report shows that 68% of patients reported the incident to gardai while a further 9% availed of a new facility to have forensic evidence of their attack stored while they waited to make a decision on whether or not to report the crime. All victims of sexual assault are made aware by SATU staff that relevant samples of forensic evidence can be collected and stored for up to 12 months which can be used for any criminal investigation. Dr Eogan said around 15% of the 79 people who allowed forensic evidence to be stored subsequently reported the incident to gardai. This option provides opportunities to increase reporting of sexual crime which can only be a benefit, Dr Eogan said. According to SATU figures, half of all patients last year were attacked by a stranger or recent acquaintance. In 13% of cases, the offenders was a current or former partner or close relative. Over 80% of incidents occurred between 8pm and 8am which Dr Eogan said underpinned the need for a round-the-clock service. Figures show 43% of patients had consumed more than six standard alcoholic drinks in the 12 hours before the incident but 30% had not taken any alcohol. Around one in ten expressed concern that drugs had been used to facilitate the sexual assault on them. The average age of people attending SATUs last year was 26. Females accounted for 92% of cases. Patients were unsure if a sexual assault had occurred in 18% of incidents. They will be examining post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health problems among refugees, asylum seekers, and forcibly displaced migrants who arrive in Europe from conflict zones. These are among the traumatised groups which are the focus of the Context project (Collaborative Network for Training and Excellence in Psychotraumatology), led by the Centre for Global Health at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). The 12 PhD candidates come to the Context project with degrees or postgraduate qualifications in psychology or sociology, and each will spend half their training with partner organisations in Ireland and overseas. Some will work directly with those involved with refugees or other displaced people, such as the Danish Red Cross and Irish organisation, Spirasi, which helps torture survivors who are asylum seekers and refugees. UCC and Leiden University graduate Rachel Frost will be working with Spirasi and Dublin Rape Crisis Centre to evaluate the role of environmental factors in determining an individuals psychological response to trauma. She said such factors may be more amenable to intervention, compared to pre-migratory trauma. This alliance of academic and non-academic partners will generate knowledge that enables us to assess if we are appropriately responding to the mental health needs of some of the worlds most vulnerable populations, said Ms Frost. It is also intended that project findings will contribute to improved interventions for traumatic stress. The emphasis of the Context project is on conducting research that is of priority to the organisations and to the clients they serve, so as to ensure that research findings are translated into better procedures, policies, practices, and ultimately outcomes for vulnerable persons, said principal investigator Frederique Vallieres, a TCD psychology lecturer. The project is supported by 3.3m of EU funding from its Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) grants scheme. TCD PhD student Camila Perera, from Cuba, heads on the first of several trips to Colombia next week as part of her project aimed at developing an evidence-based protocol for Red Cross volunteers in that country and elsewhere on how to implement simplified psychological interventions. I will study how Colombian Red Cross volunteers who do not have a formal mental health qualification can be trained and supervised to provide a structured and simplified psychological intervention, she said. Ms Perera will also work with the Psychological Reference Centre of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. As well as forcibly displaced persons, some of the Context projects will focus on victims and perpetrators of childhood and gender-based violence here, in the North, and in Denmark. Almost 13m has been secured in Ireland from the MSCA Innovative Training Networks call, with two of the nine co-ordinators being in the non-academic sector, something rarely seen across the EUs Horizon 2020 research funding programme. Paul Horgan, aged 27, pleaded not guilty to the murder of his mother Marian, aged 60, at the family home at Murmont Avenue in Montenotte in Cork on November 24, 2015. A jury of nine men and three women took just over one hour to reach a unanimous verdict of guilty yesterday. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy imposed the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment on Paul Horgan. The family wept and hugged each other in court and did not present any victim impact evidence. The accused gave no visible reaction to the verdict and life sentence. In testimony, he said he could not remember the fatal incident but that during 12 months afterwards at the Central Mental Hospital thoughts were coming back to him. These thoughts included one that his intention was to set his mother free. Asked about this yesterday in the Central Criminal Court he said he had intended to set his father free afterwards and then himself. Asked what he meant by setting free, he replied that he was talking about the cruelty of life and that his life was cruel. Paul Horgan got into the witness box to give evidence on the third and final day of his trial and accepted that he killed his mother. I wanted to set her free not that I meant to kill her, he testified. But Tom Creed, prosecution senior counsel, put it to him, In order to set her free you knew it was necessary for you to intend to kill her. He replied, Yeah, I suppose so. Mr Creed repeated, In intending to set her free you intended to kill her. He replied, I suppose so. When it was put to him that it was an inescapable fact of the evidence that he had stabbed his mother he said: I did not intend to kill her. I intended to set her free because life is so cruel. My own life was cruel too. I wanted to set her free. My mother did not deserve cruelty. Paul Horgan then added he had the same intention for his father and himself. Asked about the attack on his father he said, Yeah, I am so sorry I didnt mean it at all. I dont know how it happened. When Tim OLeary, defence senior counsel, referred him to some of the witness evidence and asked how he felt about that, the accused man replied: Horrible it is hard to listen to everything. But I dont remember it, like. Mr Creed SC pointed out that while Paul Horgan was assessed in the Central Mental Hospital it was found that he was not suffering from a mental disorder. The defendant replied: I was not suffering from a serious mental disorder. However, Mr Creed disagreed and said, No, no, no, he said you were not suffering a mental disorder. Mr Creed said there was no psychiatric finding on which the defence could rely to claim diminished responsibility. It was not like my thoughts were normal, Paul Horgan said. Mr Creed referred to the defendant killing his mother, then going upstairs to put on his runners and carry two knives out of the house to follow his father from the house. Paul Horgan said: I was walking upstairs whistling a marching tune I was hearing. On the opening day of the trial Billy Horgan gave evidence of coming home from the local GAA club and seeing his son watching television and he told him not to stay up too late. The next morning he heard an argument downstairs between his son and wife and he went down to the kitchen after 7am. She was standing in the kitchen. She had her hands around her neck, a knife sticking out of her neck. She said, Help me. I put my arm around her. She fell to the floor. I said, Look what you are after doing to your mother. He didnt say a word. He looked calm. He never said anything. He looked at me as if there was something wrong with me. He just smiled. He kept smiling. He struck me with something in the head. I ended up next to Marian on the floor. I dont know how long I was there. I came around. My head was stinging (he had seven wounds to his head). Paul slipped on the blood. I got up then. I felt I had to (leave). The next time I saw him. I looked behind me. He was there with two knives clicking them like that (gestured in the witness box). He was smiling at me. He kept walking down the footpath clicking the knives. I hit the knife out of his right hand. I dont know how I got the knife out of his left hand, Bill Horgan said. Neighbour Fergus ODonoghue was walking from his front door when he noticed two figures in the porch of the Horgan house. Then he saw Paul Horgan holding his father in a head-lock. Mr ODonoghue intervened. Mr ODonoghue said Billy Horgan said to him, He killed Marian. Mr ODonoghue turned to the accused and said, What did you do? Paul replied, I killed her. The witness said; He appeared quite cool and calm at the time. He was shouting at his dad, you fat c**t. Paul kept trying to get past Mr ODonoghue to get at his dad and Mr ODonoghue had to wrestle him to the ground and hit him. Other men who arrived on the scene assisted. Garda Mark Durcan was on duty nearby and handcuffed Paul Horgan and arrested him. Questioned by Garda Durcan, Paul Horgan said he stayed up watching television for the night six or seven episodes of Family Guy and the Harry Potter film Deathly Hallows Part II. He said he could not remember arguing with his mother when she got up at around 7am, but added that he did not think he would want to remember. Asked if he would often drink two bottles of wine he replied: When things are bad, things going through my head, freaking myself out because I cannot talk to women. That is all I think about... I was drinking to forget. The jury was told Billy Horgan did not bring an assault complaint against his son. Judge Brian OCallaghan yesterday ruled that Emma ODriscoll and Jason ODonoghue, who live with their three children in a mobile home on the green area of Beechfield Estate in Fermoy, should be informed of any proceedings. The couple were not represented in court yesterday when Donnchadh McCarthy BL, on behalf of Cork County Council, said that the family had lived in a caravan on the green at the rear of Mr ODonoghues fathers house for two years. However, Mr McCarthy said the arrival of a larger mobile home on the green last week caused considerable disquiet among residents. He said the arrival of the mobile home had exacerbated relations between the family and the residents of Beechfield Estate, which has led to a stand-off. He told Judge OCallaghan that the council was seeking interim injunctions that would require the defendants to cease trespassing on the green, and to remove their mobile home and caravan, or would empower the council to do so. Mr McCarthy said there was an escalating situation in the estate where residents had maintained an all-night vigil after the arrival of the mobile home last week, and that there were concerns that the stand-off could lead to a dangerous situation. However, Judge OCallaghan noted that correspondence between the county council and the defendants has been ongoing since July 2017. He also said that he had to be conscious of the fact that there are children involved in the situation, and that given all of the circumstances he believed it was more appropriate that a notice of motion be issued to the defendants informing them of the proceedings. Mr McCarthy said that Cork County Council was very concerned that there would be a serious disturbance if the matter was not dealt with soon. The matter will come before the court again on Friday, and Judge OCallaghan ordered that Ms ODriscoll and Mr ODonoghue be issued with the notice in person. Last week Ms ODriscoll told the Irish Examiner that concerns for the health of her youngest child, a five-month-old girl, prompted the move from a smaller, damp caravan to the larger mobile home unit. Residents at Beechfield Estate have blocked in the truck used to deliver the mobile home, and say they will not allow it to leave unless the mobile home goes with it. The residents say that they are concerned that the green will be turned into a halting site. The matter was discussed at a behind-closed-doors meeting of local councillors on Monday. Published yesterday, Ombudsman Dr Niall Muldoon said the Take My Hand report gives a rare insight into the experiences of 25 young people, aged 14-17, in five of Irelands six inpatient units for children and young people, three in Dublin, one in Galway and one in Cork. While young people often spoke positively about the medical professionals who worked with them, many questioned their interpersonal skills and their inability to communicate in a child-friendly way. Some professionals were also seen as lacking in empathy, the report says. Moreover, young people found it challenging when professionals suggested that they needed to keep trying and keep working on it, even when the young people indicated that they felt it wasnt working. Some of the young people noted that they experienced similarly unhelpful approaches in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) teams they were subsequently referred to. The report says the overriding feeling among young people referred to CAMHS, was that there was a lack of clear acknowledgment of their views in the inpatient units. In relation to school staff, young people felt some teachers and counsellors lacked specialised knowledge about mental health and that sessions with the school counsellor werent always productive. One young person described their school counsellor as better suited to dealing with heartbreak rather than depression and anxiety. The issue of accessing appropriate services in a timely manner was also identified as a challenge. One young person returned to hospital because they could not access a community CAMHS service. Another young person spoke of how they had previously been placed in adult psych wards because of the lack of adolescent inpatient beds, an experience they described as traumatic. The report says young people consistently raised the issue of not having enough therapeutic treatment. Among the changes they recommended to improve mental health services were that schools should offer regular workshops and awareness days as part of a mental health education programme and that staffing levels, including in community CAMHS services, should be increased and be more consistent. This would help to reduce waiting times, increase regularity of sessions for young people and alleviate young people feeling rushed through the system.. Mr Muldoon said it was essential to put children at the centre of mental health services. The voices and views of these young people matter and it is vital that they are heard, he said. The HSE anticipates that 18,800 young people will be referred to CAMHS this year, with approximately 14,300 expected to be seen by the service. The report, published today, also shows the number of complaints received about nursing homes has doubled. In the 2017 annual report, Ombudsman Peter Tyndall also drew attention to what he said were failures in relation to meeting the mobility needs of disabled people, claiming he would be making further representations to seek a resolution to the current, completely unacceptable, position. According to the report, 3,021 complaints were received overall last year of which 79% were closed within three months. Of the 1,542 cases that were substantively examined, 27% were fully upheld, 3% were partially upheld, assistance was provided in 14% of cases, and 56% were not upheld. According to the report: Government Departments/Offices sector is the largest source of complaints (at 31.5% compared to 38.4% in 2016), followed by Local Authorities (28.2% compared to 27.6%) and the Health and Social Care Sector (20.1% compared to 19.7%). Of the 953 complaints made against the Government Departments/Offices, 655 were against the Department of Social Protection, 87 against the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, 65 against the Revenue Commissioners and 32 against the Department of Justice and Equality. In the report, Peter Tyndall said the number of complaints remained broadly the same as 2016, but the number of systemic and own initiative investigations undertaken reached new highs. He referred to the investigation into the way in which the Department of Justice and Equality administered the Magdalene Restorative Justice Scheme covered in a previous report, leading to the announcement last April from the Justice Minister that he will implement all of the recommendations in that Opportunity Lost report. I will continue to work with the Department to avoid any further delay in implementation, said Mr Tyndall. Some 109 of the 852 Local Authority complaints were against Dublin City Council, with 72 against Cork County Council and 66 against Cork City Council. There were 538 complaints against the HSE or bodies acting on its behalf and 246 of these were about hospitals. There were 70 complaints relating to Tusla, 44 complaints against the Road Safety Authority, and 35 against the Law Society of Ireland. There were 202 complaints against educational bodies, while the number of complaints relating to private nursing homes doubled to 63. On the mobility needs of disabled people, the Ombudsman said the Motorised Transport Grant and the Mobility Allowance schemes were both discontinued when his predecessor, Emily OReilly, found that they were in breach of Equal Status legislation. The promised successor scheme is now many years overdue, he said. This problem is compounded by the fact that the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme, which provides tax concessions, has narrow and unhelpful access criteria. He said it was with a growing sense of frustration and disappointment that the bill is listed for the spring/summer session, but the head of it had not yet been published. He also referred to the low number of complaints about Part 3 of the Disability Act as very disappointing. Case studies Transfer delay A man complained about a 12-day delay in arranging a transfer for his late brother from Letterkenny University Hospital to University Hospital Galway for a urology review. His brothers condition deteriorated before a transfer occurred and he later died. The man felt that not enough was done to ensure the transfer happened. In addition, his brother suffered a number of falls while he was in hospital. The family complained that they were not told about all the falls. According to the Ombudsman: It was clear that there was no agreed protocol covering the procedure for the transfer of patients between the two hospitals. The consultant had little involvement in the transfer and all dealings were by telephone which resulted in serious communication issues. The hospital group committed to addressing the issues raised. Woman warned An 18-year-old girl who was warned over leaving her rural asylum accommodation to complete her education in Dublin led the Ombudsman to ask RIA to review the case. The woman applied for asylum as a minor and started in fifth year in school in Dublin in 2016 living with her aunt, but that didnt work out. In April 2017 she was assigned to a regional direct provision accommodation centre. The manager facilitated her travelling to Dublin for school during the week then back to the centre for the weekend until she completed fifth year. She was absent from her centre on weekdays for several weeks and RIA issued her with a warning letter. The Ombudsman said RIAs decision appeared to inconsistent with its policy of keeping residents in accommodation close to other family members in the country and facilitating continuity of education. RIA granted the woman a transfer to a Dublin accommodation centre. Record failure A woman complained about a problem she was having accessing services for regular check-ups on her feet. She was diabetic and there was a risk of amputation of her toes if her feet were not checked regularly. When she contacted the Ombudsman it had been six months since her last appointment. She said she received a letter telling her that she would not be offered an appointment for the foreseeable future. The HSE said a failure to update the womans computer record after her last assessment resulted in her remaining a low-risk patient and therefore not receiving any future appointments. Following the Ombudsmans contact with the HSE, the error was noticed and her priority was updated. Clonakilty District Court heard that Stauntons Foods of Spital Cross, Timoleague, in West Cork, was behind the curve regarding its environmental responsibilities when incidents were noted on three separate dates last year. The company, which is owned by the local Barryroe Co-Op, pleaded guilty to four charges relating to three dates, with a fifth charge withdrawn. Solicitor Alan Doyle, prosecuting for the Environmental Protection Agency, said the defendants operated its factory 1km from Timoleague. He said a considerable amount of effluent had been dealt with by the factorys waste water treatment plant which in turn discharged into a stream that then runs into a branch of the Argideen River and out into part of Courtmacsherry Bay. The area is a special area of conservation under both the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive. Judge Mary Dorgan heard that water quality in the bay was poor, with factors including municipal discharge, agri run-off and industry, such as Stauntons. Pamela McDonnell of the EPA told the court a sample taken for analysis following a routine visit on February 28 last year showed the effluent entering the stream significantly exceeded the required limits. Ammonia levels were 300 times the limit as per the licence, suspended solids were seven times the limit, and nitrogen levels six times the limit. Ms McDonnell said these levels were toxic to fish and added: It would be at fish- kill level. Another sample, taken during an EPA visit on March 3 last year, showed the levels had risen again ammonia was 360 times the limit and suspended solids were 22 times the limit. The court heard that from April last year the company stopped using its waste waster treatment facility and instead arranged to tanker the effluent to an Irish Water facility in Kinsale. JC Daniel Cronin, for Stauntons, said this cost around 100,000 a month. The court also heard that the March 3 visit also uncovered an issue with rainwater run-off. Ms McDonnell said the water was not exiting at the designated point. On August 10 last the EPA again visited the facility and Ms McDonnell said inspectors noticed bloodish colour discharge near a storm water discharge point. Analysis of a water sample showed a high detergent content at a rate of 687mg per litre, when the licence specified clear rainwater. Mr Cronin said the factory was a key employer, took its responsibilities seriously and accepted they fell short at the beginning of 2017. He said since then waste water has been tankered to Kinsale and a new on-site waste water treatment plant is close to operation. Environmental consultant Michael Sweeney, retained by the company, said it could be fully operational within the next two months. Judge Dorgan fined the company 3,250 on each of the four charges and directed it pay agreed costs to the EPA of more than 10,000. US president Donald Trump, in the face of global criticism, defended the controversial practice of separating children from their parents in detention centres at the US border. In the Dail, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he would convey the Governments grave concern to the acting US Ambassador as soon as possible. We know, from dark chapters in our own history, the consequences of separating children from their parents and how that lasts with them for their entire lives, and can damage them for their entire lives, Mr Varadkar told TDs. The Taoiseach said that, like many in the house, he loved America. He said: I always am minded of the words written on the Statute of Liberty : Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses earning to breathe free. It seems to me that America, is more and more, is departing from its own values. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said it was a reprehensible policy and called for an all-party motion on the issue to be agreed. I think it is very important to give a very clear message to the US government that it is absolutely unacceptable and it should be communicated government-to-government and parliament-to-parliament, Mr Martin said. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said the practice was unconscionable and mind-boggling. The situation is revealed in a hard-hitting report by State watchdog the Health Information Quality Authority (Hiqa) in the aftermath of serious and incorrect abuse claims last year against garda whistle-blower Maurice McCabe. The 300-page report has uncovered a series of damaging problems hampering Tuslas ability to ensure vulnerable children are protected and to adequately investigate historic abuse complaints. And, while the investigation was criticised as a cop-out after it failed to blame anyone for the McCabe scandal which it emerged yesterday is now the subject of an internal Tusla HR inquiry it raised a series of concerns over Irelands child protection system. According to the report: Tusla failed to address 65 abuse cases despite concerns children were still at potential risk; Tusla closed 164 suspected child sex abuse cases despite not knowing if the matter was resolved; Defective points, such as preliminary investigations of abuse complaints, safety plans for vulnerable children and referral problems are leading to child protection concerns, and fears some abusers are being missed. At the launch of the report, Hiqa chief executive Phelim Quinn rejected Tusla claims that staff shortages are causing the problems and said it is worrying that Hiqa, as a third party, had to come in and identify 65 Tusla cases where children were at potential risk which had not been acted on. Mr Quinn said those deficits were definitely identified as a result of our audit and that as a result its very, very important Tusla immediately acts on the findings. However, despite acknowledging failings, Tusla chief executive Fred McBride insisted that the State group is doing all it can given the significant workload it is facing and serious problems with out of date regional child safety monitoring systems. Asked why Hiqa identified 65 cases where children were at potential risk which Tusla did not act on, Mr McBride said there are some gaps but stressed in the vast majority of cases we gave clear explanations as to why we did or didnt do certain things, adding the report did not say any of those children were directly harmed. Child protection campaigners, including One in Fours executive director Maeve Lewis, Childrens Rights Alliance chief executive Tanya Ward, and Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay, all welcomed the reports findings. They also backed potential plans to transfer all responsibility for investigating historic sex abuse claims from Tusla to the gardai. Speaking in the Dail amid a barrage of opposition criticism the report side-stepped the McCabe scandal concerns, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Hiqa investigation catalogues failures and enormous shortcomings, adding: We cannot make these improvements soon enough. I think its deeply regrettable. I always believe in politics of engagement and that involves sitting around the table, even with people you disagree with, he said. I think they have a point in pointing out some of the double standards that exist, the fact that people are extremely critical, for example, of Israel, and rightly so, but they turn a blind eye to the destruction of democracy in Venezuela, the absence of human rights in Cuba, and expropriation in Zimbabwe, because its being done by left-wing governments. Wednesday, June 20th, 2018 (7:36 am) - Score 8,551 Low cost UK ISP Plusnet has gone against the industry trend by testing a new range of broadband and phone bundles for one week, which are not only cheaper than usual but also come with free evening, weekend and mobile calls as standard. Previously providers have preferred to scrap their calling plans to focus on broadband. Normally customers of Plusnets standard broadband and line rental packages would not receive any free calling options (only standard call charges), but for the next week new subscribers will also be able to order bundles that enable you to call UK landline numbers starting 01, 02 and 03 or 0870/ 0845, and enjoy up to 1,000 UK mobile minutes, during evenings and on weekends. At present the change is just a test and theres a strong possibility that we might not see it return, especially since the general trend has been for consumers to switch their calls away to Mobile or VoIP instead of fixed line phones. The bundled calls add-on usually costs 4 extra per month and this charge will of course return at the end of your contract period, although it can be removed if not needed. New subscribers will also receive unlimited usage, a wireless router, phone line rental, parental controls (network-level filtering), UK-based customer support and free activation. As usual, if you need a new phone line installed at your property then theres also a 49.99 one-off installation charge. If your face grows hair, and you want it styled, or gone from there, Braun's Series 9 is an ultra premium way to wear your face the way you want it worn and shorn. Of the various shavers I've used over the years, several have been from Braun, from the most basic of portable travel shavers powered by AA batteries, through to what was my previous daily driver, the Braun Cooltec Series 3 with a ceramic strip that delivers a truly cooling feeling. Last year, I received a media release about the new Braun Series 5 shaver, which I duly wrote up in my usual style, noting that "shaving is like a ritual, for men and women, and while presumably very few women are likely to be using the new Braun Series 5 on their faces (although who knows in our modern world), its a piece of tech hundreds of millions if not billions of people use every day". Intrigued by the new features available, I inquired about a review model to try out for myself, but was instead offered the Braun Series 9 blue/black model, which promised to "distill the best of Braun" in a fusion of technology and design. This not only sounded like music to my technology loving ears and eyes, but also like ultra sharp and stylish blades to my stubble, which ranged from the 5 o'clock variety, through to "weekend wolverine" and beyond where I might have a week's worth of hair I no longer wanted to wear, meaning longer beard hairs that previous shavers never fully eliminated from under the chin and the neckline. That would force me to fiddle with the trimmer or even an old-fashioned razor, and is a bit like those dishwashing pods that never fully clean your dishes, leaving you to scrape off hardened bits that your dishwasher is supposed to eliminate for you. Of course, these are what you would have to absolutely term as first-world problems, but hey, a problem is a problem, and if there's a solution that avoids me having to reach for the literal cutting edge of a razor blade, thus needlessly extending the shaving ritual to an even longer timeframe, well, let me have at it to see if it works! So, how did the Braun Series 9 go in this regard? Let me start right off the bat by saying exceedingly well, and surpassing my expectations. The Series 9 range boasts of "SyncroSonic" smart sonic technology, which not only removed all the protruding facial hair from the surface of my skin I wanted eliminated, but also performs "10,000 microvibrations with over 40,000 cross cutting actions per minute to capture hairs". You can truly feel the smoothness of this action, which is augmented by Braun's "AutoSense technology" that it says "adapts to beard density to give you a bespoke shave". Natuarlly, Braun depicts this as delivering an experience "engineered for superior efficiency and gentleness on the skin", which again, I can personally attest to. I have also made sure to have almost a week's worth of growth so I could put the Braun Series 9 to the test, and I was very pleased to see that it handled all of that hair with absolute aplomb and I didn't have to deal with rogue hairs that previous shavers just couldn't cut! I mean, I wouldn't necessarily call it a dream come true, but after having used previous shavers that said they had this problem solved, but which for me at least they didn't solve, I could happily rate the Braun Series 9 as a cut above the competition. Of course, that is far from all, for with a series of "unique shaving elements to Braun, including a specialised golden Titanium coated trimmer", I can personally attest that Braun's claim of being "the ultimate sleek-shaving experience" is one I've been able confirm for myself, and it is a really pleasing and satisfying experience. Indeed, without a 5 o'clock shadow of a doubt, from all the close shaves I've gotten myself into, this has been, and continues to be, the best shaving experience I have ever had, and when I've tried going back to my previous older Braun Cooltec model, I really can feel the difference. Clean&Charge dock The Braun Series 9 I'm using also comes with a Clean&Charge docking station that cleans and lubricates the shaving mechanism. You don't need to clean your shaver first, but I do like to take the top of the shaver off, and tap it repeatedly into the sink, whereupon black and grey hairs that have been finely chopped emerge. I now generally clean the shaver head manually each time I use it so that the cleaning dock fluid stays cleaner for longer, and I use the tiny little included brush to clean the top of the razor that has had the cutting head removed (which is the bit I tap into the sink to get all the hair dust out from there). Braun makes note to tell you not to use the little brush on the shaver head, as its fibres can get caught in the foil, so that's why I tap it instead, but I still carefully use the brush on the underside of the shaver head to further clean it from hairy dust before Clean&Charging it. I keep the brush in the Braun travel case, a black, hardened but still soft, zippered case, which protects the button from being pressed. You can also hold the power button down for three seconds to put into, or take it out of, lock mode, so you have double protection against your shaver being accidentally turned on in your luggage. The head itself can also be fixed in one position, or by pressing a button you can have it move on an angle into 10 different positions, which is handy for shaving your upper lip up to your nostrils to get hairs that a lesser shaver could miss, and to better position the shaver head for your neck line. Previous shavers I've used haven't had this feature as far as I can remember, so this too was very welcome and I definitely enjoyed being able to make use of it. Of particular and extremely useful note is the fact the shaver head can be placed back on top of the Braun 9 forwards or backwards it's compatible either way, and it's like a Lightning or USB-C connection it doesn't matter which way you put it in, it just works. The cleaning dock is intelligent, too it can sense the level of dirtiness and can then clean the shaver head accordingly, which it does with a very pleasant lemon-y smelling clean scent. After the cleaning cycle is complete, the dock then operates a fan for approximately 40 minutes to dry everything out. There's another important thing to note with the cleaning dock if you use your Braun as a wet shaver with shaving or moisturising creams, which you can do as it is a fully wet/dry capable shaver, the dock has an image to remind you to rinse all of that away under the tap before putting your shaver in for its cleaning cycle. The Shavercheck website notes Braun's recommendation that Clean&Charge refills last two months, but has advice on how to double that lifespan or more, but with the replacement cost for a pack of two Clean&Charge refills costing $20.95, it's not a high price to pay to keep your shaver clean and fresh. You'll also need to replace the shaver head about every 18 months for it to stay sharp and feeling like new, as is the case for shavers in general. Now, as it has a cartridge within that contains liquid, you're not supposed to move the cleaning dock around it's meant to stay in your bathroom, and there is has stayed. Here's a Braun video on the Series 9 more on the Series 9's battery life is below, along with a series of special shaving tips from Braun's new global ambassador, please read on! So, what about battery life? Well, I have been on about six overseas trips in the last three months, and I have been astounded at the battery life of the Braun Series 9 shaver, far outlasting that of my older Braun Cooltec Series 3 shaver. Clearly, I'm only using the shaver once per day, although sometimes once every couple of days and on occasion, leaving things for three or more days depending on what I'm doing, but usually, I shave every day. That's a vastly lower "on" time than with my iPhone, which I, like most others, turn on 100+ times per day, but even so, I was able to shave for what seemed like several weeks, with the Braun reporting three bars out of five bars of battery life left! I considered just keeping on going until it went totally flat, but I returned home from one of these long travels and decided to put it through a cleaning dock cycle where it charged again. That was about three weeks ago, and since then, I've been in Sydney, the US, back to Sydney, back to the US, and now in Shanghai for CES Asia as I originally typed this review, and I still haven't charged it. I'm now updating this article a week later after the CES Asia trip, and the battery life is still going very, very strong. I have the travel charger with me, but I simply haven't had to use it while overseas! In a world where we're always worried about our devices going flat, the Braun Series 9 has impressed me with stunning battery life the likes of which I've never seen in a shaver. So, you can clearly see that my expectations of this shaver have well and truly been exceeded, and I can never go back to a lower model. Obviously, this top-end shaver doesn't come cheap its original RRP was $699, now listed as "starting from $599" at Braun's site, although the Shaver Shop is actually selling it for $449 on special as I type, but as with all things, you definitely get what you pay for. Braun recently announced a new global ambassador grooming expert, Dan Gregory. He is the founder and creative director of Man Made, an "award-winning grooming room in London", which he describes as part modern, part old school barbershop". Billed as a highly sought-after barber, he has "appeared in leading international publications from Italian Vogue to British GQ", and obviously has a wealth of experience and love for his craft, he is "one of the most sought-after mens grooming professionals in the industry today". Here are his "Autumn/Winter (A/W) Beard Grooming and Styling Tips" and unique insights: As winter sets in, award-winning barber, Dan Gregory "shares his top grooming tips for styling your beard, as well as the must-do practices for men who are thinking about changing up their look during the colder months". On the top three facial hair styles to master as a man: Designer stubble The short and neat beard A faded beard On the key Autumn/Winter grooming trend: The key trend this A/W will be the short and neat beard. I feel we are moving slightly away from the hipster beard and more people will be opting for a shorter, more manageable beard. On the beard vs the clean-shaven look: Whilst the clean-shaven look is a style that never goes out of fashion, there are many benefits to sporting a beard in the colder seasons. For instance, its good to keep your skin covered during the cold months. The less you shave during wintry weather the better it is for minimising irritation, and cold mornings can also make shaving feel like more of a chore. Similar to the way the clean-shaven look goes with summer fashion trends, the beard is also more fitting with the seasonal clothing options during A/W. Tips for beginners growing out a beard: You must accept that it will look untidy throughout this time. It will get itchy so use a beard oil and a brush to help straighten out the hair to stop them from itching your skin. Buy a good face scrub to clean the skin under your beard. Have an end goal. Its easier to work towards something than just growing it out for the sake of it, as you will cave much sooner. Styling tips for your beard: During A/W, the colder weather is a great excuse to grow out your beard that little bit longer. Some different styles you could try are keeping the beard longer towards the chin, keeping it fuller throughout or if you are a seasoned pro, grow it really long and blow dry it straight for a more pronounced look. Top tips for taking care of your facial hair: Keep on top of it. If you have any sharp lines dont leave them too long to grow out as its harder to find them when the beard gets longer. Keep on top of the shape every other day. Make sure you wash your beard like you would your hair. If its long enough you can even comb through some conditioner. Make sure you use a face scrub to cleanse the skin underneath. This will help keep your beard healthy and skin underneath it too. Make sure you comb or brush every day. This will help stop any tangling and maintain good growth and shape. Try not to dry you beard vigorously with a towel, pat dry or leave to dry naturally as friction from the towel can cause your beard to look unhealthy. On the must-have products for beard styling and maintenance: Braun 9-in-1 Multi Grooming Kit thanks to its clever attachments, it performs 9 different grooming and styling jobs effortlessly. Braun Series 3 electric shaver tough on beards and smooth on skin, the 3-pressure sensitive shaving elements adapt perfectly to every facial contour and shave in intuitive straight lines. So, there you have it. It will be very interesting to see what improvements will come in future models, but for now, this is unquestionably the very best shaver I have ever used, and while the cooling effect of the Series 3 Cooltec is very cool, pun intended, the Series 9 is better in every other way save for that cooling strip. Finally, here's one of the stylish ads created for the Braun Series 9: Juniper Networks is on a mission to simplify the "enormous amount of complexity" in networks that has been caused by the "cloudification of the world," executive vice-president and chief technology officer Bikash Koley has told iTWire. Juniper aims to achieve that simplification through designing network hardware and software in a way that allows network operations to be secure and automated. Automation "is very near and dear to my heart", said Koley, who previously spent 10 years running Google's production network. Adding a layer of automation doesn't work very well; rather, "you have to design and engineer your system to be automated". To that end, Juniper's Junos was the first network operating system to provide an API and fine-grained telemetry, he said. Large service providers, such as telcos and cable companies, need automation, and large cloud providers (a group that buys about 70% of their gear from Juniper) demand automation, so "automation is front and centre to what we are doing". Automation provides a way to reduce operational expenditure without reducing quality. "This is the right way to do it," he said, pointing to the way Kubernetes has become popular because it automates workloads on the assumption that humans won't be involved. Furthermore, if you expect your network to scale by one or two orders of magnitude, automation becomes an existential issue because you won't be able to expand your network staff ten- or 100-fold to keep things running. And it is important to realise that in very large networks there will always be at least one component such as a switch or a router that is broken at any given time, so you need software that can work around hardware problems. One Juniper customer is feeding telemetry from its network into a machine learning system that can predict outages and automatically reroute traffic to avoid the ill-effects with no human involvement. Reliable networks are hugely beneficial, Koley observed. While at Google, he noticed that about 70% of network outages were due to human error, and they often occurred because the person concerned was tired or having a bad day. It's very difficult to reduce these errors, so the way around them is to greatly increase automation and doing made Google's network more reliable. But switching from human-based to automatic network management requires a change in mindset, Koley warned, and that makes it very hard to achieve 100% automation in one go. So it is best to start in a small way by automating one particular aspect and then going from there. Another issue is that very few companies have engineering and operations teams of the size and skill levels of those at hyperscale businesses such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. So Juniper is building products that allow smaller though in Australian terms still relatively large organisations to build networks that can be automated to a similar degree. In addition, such organisations are saddled with legacy systems, so most of the things they can do add to the complexity rather than reducing it. "You cannot wash complexity away. You have to engineer simplicity... That is our mission." said Koley. In today's multi-cloud world, Juniper was working to provide seamless connectivity, orchestration across the whole fabric, end-to-end visibility, and security across boundaries, he claimed. This would "solve complexity by engineering simplicity". Open source vendor Red Hat has changed its licensing and in future all company projects that choose to use the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or the Lesser General Public Licence version 2 will have to include language from the GPLv3 that provides violators with time to rectify their offence. The GPLv2 and the LGPLv2 have language in them that says anyone who violates the terms of the licences immediately becomes non-compliant and does not have any means of redeeming themselves. The GPLv3 gives an offender time to come into compliance, with there being mechanisms for licence reinstatement when compliance errors were promptly fixed. Red Hat's Richard Fontana said in a blog post that the mechanisms for licence reinstatement what he called the "cure language" would be present in a file in the source code tree. "The 'automatic termination' provision in GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x is often interpreted as terminating the licence upon non-compliance without a grace period or other opportunity to correct the error in compliance," Fontana said. He pointed out that when the GPLv3 was published in 2007, the Free Software Foundation introduced a modified termination policy that included mechanisms for licence reinstatement where compliance errors were promptly fixed. At that time, any projects under GPLv2 or LGPLv2 which wanted to avail of the mechanisms for licence reinstatement were required to adopt the new licence - GPLv3. Said Fontana: "In 2016 the FSF, along with the Software Freedom Conservancy, announced the Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement partly in response to tactics being employed by one litigant in the German courts. "Among other things, the Principles call for extending GPLv3-style termination to GPLv2 works. By the end of 2017, over a hundred individual Linux kernel developers had signed on to a commitment advanced by the TAB (the Linux Foundation's technical advisory board) to extend the GPLv3 cure provisions to all users of the kernel. "Then, in a series of announcements, 10 major technology companies led by Red Hat committed to extending the GPLv3 cure provisions to all their GPLv2, LGPLv2.1 and LGPLv2.0 code." Fontana said this extension of licence termination policy was "because we consider it the right thing to do". Computers based in China are alleged to have been used to target satellite, telecommunications, defence and geospatial imaging and mapping organisations in the US and Southeast Asia in what appears to be a cyber espionage campaign, according to the American security company Symantec. In a blog post, Symantec researchers said they had used the company's targeted attack analytics (TAA) tool to track an alert at a big telco in Southeast Asia, where they found that an attacker was using PsExec to move between systems. PsExec is a legitimate Microsoft Sysinternals tool for running processes on other systems and misuse can be difficult to spot. But with the TAA tool, Symantec said it was able to spot that this was malicious use of PsExec and the aim was to install malware within the breached network. The company said it found that the malware was an updated version of a trojan known as Trojan.Rikamanu which has been associated with a group known as Thrip that it has been following for the last five years. Also used in the attack was new malware which Symantec christened Infostealer.Catchamas. The Thrip attacks were identified as coming from three computers in China, the company said, though it did not specify how it had come to this determination. Security researchers generally agree that attribution is the hardest part of their job. The satellite communications operator which was targeted and the attackers appeared to be interested in the company's operations as they infected computers running software that monitored and controlled satellites, Symantec said. In the case of the geospatial imaging and mapping company, Thrip seemed to be again interested in operations and targeted machines that were running MapXtreme GIS (Geographic Information System) software that is used for developing custom geospatial applications or integrating location-based data into other applications. Machines running Google Earth Server and Garmin imaging software were also targeted. Three telcos in Southeast Asia were also targeted by Thrip; again, the companies appeared to be the target, not their customers. Symantec did not provide any details about the defence contractor which was targeted; presumably this was an American company. The researchers said the Thrip attackers had broadened the range of tools they were using over the last five years. For the most recent wave of attacks which began last year, the group was using custom malware and common legitimate tools. In the latter category were: PsExec: Microsoft Sysinternals tool for executing processes on other systems. The tool was primarily used by the attackers to move laterally on the victims network. Microsoft Sysinternals tool for executing processes on other systems. The tool was primarily used by the attackers to move laterally on the victims network. PowerShell: Microsoft scripting tool that was used to run commands to download payloads, traverse compromised networks, and carry out reconnaissance. Microsoft scripting tool that was used to run commands to download payloads, traverse compromised networks, and carry out reconnaissance. Mimikatz: Freely available tool capable of changing privileges, exporting security certificates, and recovering Windows passwords in plaintext. Freely available tool capable of changing privileges, exporting security certificates, and recovering Windows passwords in plaintext. WinSCP: Open source FTP, SSH and SCP client used to exfiltrate data from targeted organisations. Open source FTP, SSH and SCP client used to exfiltrate data from targeted organisations. LogMeIn: Cloud-based remote access software. Its unclear whether the attackers gained unauthorised access to the victims LogMeIn accounts or whether they created their own. "From the initial alert triggered by TAA, we were able to follow a trail that eventually enabled us to see the bigger picture of a cyber espionage campaign originating from computers within China and targeting multiple organisations in the US and Southeast Asia," the researchers said. "Espionage is the groups likely motive but given its interest in compromising operational systems, it could also adopt a more aggressive, disruptive stance should it choose to do so." The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has advised that it will not be using the recruitment software services provided by PageUp People until issues around the data breach suffered by the company are sorted. In an email sent to people who have used its online recruitment system, the ABC advised users to check if there had been any "unusual activity concerning your personal information". It did not specify how one should so so. "The initial advice from PageUp was that some personal information held by them may have been compromised. As a precautionary measure the ABC suspended use of this service," the ABC said. "Based on current information, PageUp has advised that on the balance of probabilities, certain personal information relating to PageUp clients has been accessed." Several companies have stopped using PageUp People's recruitment services altogether after the breach announcement, among themand supermarket chain PageUp announced the breach on 6 June. The company, which has been in business for 21 years, claims to have "2.6 million active customer employee users in over 190 countries", according to its website. PageUp initially said the breach was due to a malware infection. But a statement on 12 June said, "Advanced methods were used to gain unauthorised access to PageUps IT systems in Australia, Singapore and the UK," indicating that whoever gained access had gone deeper into company systems than originally indicated. The ABC said that PageUp believed personal information in an online application form, "which may have included name, street address, email address and telephone number, may be affected". "Additionally, biographical details including gender, date of birth, maiden name (if applicable), nationality and whether the applicant was a local resident at the time of the application may be affected," it said. It said the broadcaster did not store financial information, tax file numbers or employment contracts on the PageUp system and the HR outfit had advised that this data was not affected. "The ABC is working with PageUp to reinstate access to the recruitment system. As soon as this is operational, we will resume advertising vacant roles," the broadcaster said. Among PageUp's Australian clients are the Commonwealth Bank. the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Telstra, NAB, Coles, Aldi, Medibank, Australia Post, Target, Reserve Bank of Australia, Officeworks, Kmart, Linfox, AMP, Asahi, Sony, Newcrest, the University of Tasmania and Lindt. PageUp People's website is hosted by Amazon and appears to run on Microsoft's IIS Web server. Microsoft employees are protesting their employer's working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the wake of the agency's separation of migrant children from their parents at the Mexico-US border. The New York Times reported that more than 100 workers had posted a letter addressed to chief executive Satya Nadella on the company's internal message board, saying in part: "We believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits." The letter pointed to a blog post where there was praise for the company's US$19.4 million contract with ICE. On Monday, Microsoft was caught changing language in this blog post, which it put up in January. Friends who work for @Microsoft, FIGHT THIS. Make the biggest noise imaginable about it. Don't fall for the "all companies take government contracts" spin. Your company has THIS contract and is *proud* of it. Resources are available to help you fight. I believe in you.? https://t.co/P19aEWR45n EricaJoy (@EricaJoy) 18 June 2018 "ICE's decision to accelerate IT modernisation using Azure Government will help them innovate faster while reducing the burden of legacy IT," the post read. "The agency is currently implementing transformative technologies for homeland security and public safety, and we're proud to support this work with our mission-critical cloud." When it was caught out, the company quickly backtracked and restored the text to its original version. The employees' letter termed the separation of children from their families "inhumane". Agreed. @BradSmi, how on earth does this align with our ethical stances w.r.t. family separation and our public stance on using AI for only ethical purposes. This seems completely antithetical to our public stances. Not Cool. Larry Osterman (@osterman) 18 June 2018 "As the people who build the technologies that Microsoft profits from, we refuse to be complicit," they wrote. "We are part of a growing movement, comprised of many across the industry who recognise the grave responsibility that those creating powerful technology have to ensure what they build is used for good, and not for harm." They asked the company to: "Cancel the existing Azure Government contract with ICE immediately. "Draft, publicise, and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Microsoft nor its contractors will work with clients who violate international human rights law. "Commit to transparency and review regarding contracts between Microsoft and government agencies, in the US and beyond." Microsoft said in a statement it was "not working with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or US Customs and Border Protection on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border, and contrary to some speculation, we are not aware of Azure or Azure services being used for this purpose". Technology conference organizers should rescind existing speaker invites and deny participation from any Microsoft employee until the company publicly reverses its business decision. Mike Maney (@the_spinmd) 18 June 2018 Last month, a dozen Google employees quit the company to protest against its involvement in a Pentagon initiative named Project Maven where Google's AI technology was being used to improve targeting by drones. Google later said that it would not renew the contract to work on Maven, but gave no assurance that it would keep out of future similar projects. The search giant is bidding to participate in a big Defence Department deal worth US$10 billion. Telstra's announcement that its plan to cut 8000 jobs by 2022 will improve customer service has been labelled as "nonsense" by the Australian Greens. The telco announced a new strategy, Telstra2022, on Wednesday morning, the key feature of which was that it would effect a net reduction of 8000 employees and contractors by 2022 and reduce two to four layers of management, leading to the cutting of one in four executive and middle management roles. Greens telecommunications spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John blamed the company's position on its privatisation. This is what happens when a companys priorities shift from service and service delivery, to profits at any cost, hen said. This is an utterly disingenuous announcement from Mr Penn; you cant cut 8000 jobs and simultaneously expect the Australian people to believe you will improve customer service." Just this week Telstra customers have seen significant service outages across the country and not for the first time this year either. Trust in the telco has hit rock bottom." Telstra's privatisation began during the first term of the Coalition Government under John Howard in November 1997, when one-third of the company was floated on the stock exchange. In March 1998, the government announced plans to sell off the remaining two-thirds in a year, but the bill failed to clear the Senate. In mid-1999 a second tranche, T2, was sold. In September 2005 the bill to sell the remainder of Telstra went through Parliament and T3 was launched in October 2006. Time and again the Coalition talk about privatising public assets and giving tax cuts to big companies and time and again the companies themselves turn out to be the only winners," said Senator Steele-John. Privatisation means workers' jobs will be the first thing to go when profits are threatened, and that is exactly what weve seen today from Telstra! If you think NBN customer service is bad now, just wait until the government sends it down the same path of privatisation as Telstra. "The Australian Greens will continue to fight to stop the same thing happening to the NBN; essential public services must stay in public hands for the public good. The successful demonstration of "the disaggregation of time-critical PON functions" means that "operators looking to quickly and cost-effectively deliver new 5G services are today a step closer to being able to do so", according to the Broadband Forum and NTT. Launched with NTT last year, we're told that the PON Abstraction Interface for Time Critical Applications project (PDF link) "looks at how software-defined networking and network functions virtualisation can be applied to Optical Line Terminals to eliminate the need for operators to rebuild an OLT from the preliminary stage of development, for example, a remake of the PON chip, which requires a large amount of investment". The Broadband Forum organisation says that "time-to-market for new offerings, including support for 5G fronthaul interfaces and services for business users, is also accelerated". The quick progress the project has made "was showcased for the first time on the last day of the Broadband Forums Q2 meeting, where NTT demonstrated two scenarios mobile and FTTH where a future OLT could be optimised with Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) software to significantly reduce latency to meet the stringent latency requirements of 5G fronthaul interfaces". "This enables dense small cells to be accommodated cost-effectively by TDM-PON. A second DBA software could also be applied to OLTs in FTTH services that require high bandwidth efficiency." Akihiro Otaka, executive manager at NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories at NTT, said: Time Critical Applications are essential to meet changing user behaviour. The demonstration we have carried out at the Broadband Forum meeting is a significant step for the project as it shows how operators can cost-effectively upgrade OLTs via a software upgrade. "Standardisation in this area is essential as it will achieve a vendor-agnostic system and ensure mass deployment which is key to realising agile and flexible next-generation broadband networks and the delivery of 5G. Following the successful demonstration, the Forum and NTT said they will "now look at whether a cooperative interface, which controls the TCAs shown in the demonstration, can be established between the Central Unit in mobile networks and an OLT. This will involve coordination with standards defining organisations such as 3GPP and CPRI and IEEE". The meeting, which took place in Osaka, Japan, last week "also saw the Forum elect a new Technical Committee chair. Lincoln Lavoie, of UNH-IOL, will take on the position and aims to further advance next-generation work within the Forum, including projects around 5G, CloudCO and User Services Platform". A joint workshop between the Forum, FSAN and ITU-T was held immediately after the Q2 meeting on 15 June. This saw "discussion around future expectations, NG-PON deployment plans, ONU certification vOLT standardisation, PON convergence and the Broadband Access Abstraction project". Broadband Forum chief executive Robin Mersh said: "Consumer demand, in regard to both quality of service and types of applications being used, is advancing at a rapid pace the speed of which is being matched by how quickly new technologies and concepts are being developed. As we hurtle towards this new era of broadband connectivity, the work we are doing within the Forum remains key, but as fixed and mobile networks converge, it is more important than ever that this work is not done in silos. "Industry-wide collaboration will ensure the interoperability we are enabling does not end at a certain point in the network but encompasses the whole architecture to create an open broadband infrastructure. More information about the PON Abstraction Interface for TCAs project is here. We can't seem to find the page you are looking for. You may have typed the address incorrectly or you may have used an outdated link. VANCOUVER, June 20, 2018 /CNW/ - Pacton Gold Inc. (TSXV: PAC, OTC: PACXF) (the "Company" or "Pacton") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding letter of intent ("LOI") to acquire 100% of the Bellary Dome ("Bellary Dome") exploration license 47/2555 from Marindi Metals Inc. (MZN:ASX) ("Marindi"). Highlights of the Bellary Dome Project: Located on the southern margin of the Hamersley Basin and surrounded by Novo Resources Ltd. (NVO:TSXV). Hosts approximately 25 km of strike extent of the basal contact between the Mt. Roe Basalt and the conformably underlying Bellary Formation with widespread fine visible gold panned across the project. Over six (6) ounces of coarse nuggets recovered from one alluvial "trap site", located directly downslope from mapped Bellary Formation conglomerate; nuggets are pitted, flattened, and elongate "watermelon seeds". Stratigraphic position of the conglomerates within the Bellary Dome Project is similar to the gold-bearing horizon at the Comet Well/Purdy's Reward Projects. Nature of nuggets recovered is very similar to those recovered by Novo Resources approximately 250 km to the north. Contains several km of Hardey Formation and more recently, work by others, has confirmed the prospectivity of the Beatons Creek Member of the Hardey Formation. Figure 1: Bellary Dome Nuggets Recovered May 2018 "The acquisition of Bellary Dome provides access to a significant strike length of highly prospective Hardy Formation and Mount Roe Basalts, where multiple flattened nuggets have been recovered proximal to the Bellary Formation conglomerate," commented Alec Pismiris, Interim President and CEO of Pacton Gold. "The property is surrounded by Novo Resources and with over six ounces of gold nuggets recovered from one alluvial trap site, that were pitted, flattened, and in the elongated "watermelon seed" shape, provides additional key priority exploration targets for Pacton." "Marindi's initial work at Bellary Dome has only just begun to highlight the potential for this to be just one part of a much larger regional gold play across the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Conglomerate-gold-focused Pacton Gold has purposefully acquired an extensive land-holding of high-value projects across the region and the Bellary Dome project would be a natural fit to that portfolio. Marindi is pleased to have the opportunity to be invested in such a dynamic and focused conglomerate gold explorer, best placed in taking the Bellary Dome conglomerate gold project forward," stated Simon Lawson, Managing Director of Marindi. Figure 2: Pilbara Regional Map About Bellary Dome ELA 47/3555 is located on the Bellary Dome, and covers approximately 25 km of the basal contact of the Mt. Roe Basalt, where it conformably overlies the Bellary Formation. The Bellary Formation is described by the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) as the lowermost unit of the Fortescue Group and comprises fine grained sediments, sandstone, interbedded conglomerate, basaltic breccia and tuff. The recent discoveries at Purdy's Reward occur in conglomeratic beds interbedded with sandstone units lying conformably below the Mt Roe Basalt and it is believed this to be the equivalent position of the Bellary Formation. Figure 3: Bellary Dome Project The prospectivity of the tenement is further highlighted by the presence of numerous alluvial gold workings, prospecting pits with gold values ranging from anomalous to 38.2g/t Au, and recent modern gold prospecting activity. The selected samples are not necessarily representative of mineralization at Bellary Dome and there are no assurances the Company will receive similar results. The Bellary Dome occurs on the southern edge of the Hamersley Basin where formations of the Lower Fortescue Group occur. Tenements neighbouring ELA 47/3555 are held by companies also conducting exploration for gold-in-conglomerate, including Novo Resources, Southern Hemisphere Resources and Hardey, whereas the majority of tenements in the Southern Pilbara remain in the hands of predominantly iron ore focused companies. ELA 47/3555 also hosts 10 km of Hardey Sandstone which sits conformably above the Mt Roe Basalt on the southern side of the ELA. This will also be assessed given the Beatons Creek conglomerate, which is associated with gold production at Nullagine in the East Pilbara, is also a member of the Hardey Sandstone. Figure 4: Bellary Dome Gold Project Stream Sediment Sampling Figure 5: Bellary Dome Project Hardy Formation and Mount Roe Basalt Figure 6: Bellary Dome Project Identified Conglomerate Horizon For location map of the Property, please see: Click Here. LOI Terms Under the terms of the LOI, which will be formalized by a definitive agreement among the parties, the Company must pay C$2,000,000 and issue 10,098,000 common shares on closing of the transaction. The Company must also pay C$1,000,000 or issue shares equal to that amount both on 12 months and 18 months after completion of the transaction. Sprott Capital Partners will receive a fee for acting as advisory with respect to the transaction in the amount of 750,000 common shares of the Company. This transaction is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. About Pacton Gold Pacton Gold (PAC: TSXV; PACXF: US) is a well-financed Canadian junior with key strategic partners focused on the exploration and development of conglomerate-hosted gold properties located in the district-scale Pilbara gold rush in Western Australia. The Company recently raised approximately $5.5 million, currently controls the third largest conglomerate-hosted gold property portfolio totaling 2,227 km2, and continues to aggressively review additional accretive acquisitions. The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Peter Caldbick, P.Geo., a director of the Company and a Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101. The qualified person has not visited the Bellary Dome site and therefore has not verified the data disclosed, including sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the information or opinions contained in the written disclosure. On Behalf of the Board of Pacton Gold Inc. Alec Pismiris Interim President & CEO This news release may contain or refer to forward-looking information based on current expectations, including, but not limited to the Company completing the proposed transaction described herein, the prospect of the Company achieving success in exploring the Bellary Dome and the impact on the Company of these events, including the effect on its share price. Forward-looking information is subject to significant risks and uncertainties, as actual results may differ materially from forecasted results. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date hereof and we assume no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances. References to other issuers with nearby projects (Novo Resources Corp.) is for information purposes only and there are no assurances the Company will achieve similar results. Neither TSX Venture Exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Spains new Socialist government is determined to remove the remains of Francisco Franco from a vast mausoleum near Madrid and turn it into a place of reconciliation for a country still coming to terms with the dictators legacy. We dont have a date yet, but the government will do it, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said late Monday during his first television interview since being sworn in on June 2 after toppling his conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy in a confidence vote. He recalled that a non-binding motion approved last year in parliament called for Francos remains to be exhumed from the massive Valley of the Fallen mausoleum some 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of Madrid and the site turned into a memorial of the victims of fascism. Spain cant allow symbols that divide Spaniards. Something that is unimaginable in Germany or Italy, countries that also suffered fascist dictatorships, should also not be imaginable in our country, Sanchez added. Earlier on Monday Socialist party spokesman Oscar Puente said the mausoleum should be transformed into a place of reconciliation, of memory, for all Spaniards, and not of apology for the dictatorship. Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist from the end of the countrys 1936-39 civil war until his death in 1975, when he was buried inside a basilica drilled into the side of a mountain at the Valley of the Fallen, one of Europes largest mass graves. Built by Francos regime between 1941 and 1959 in part by the forced labour of political prisoners in the granite mountains of the Sierra de Guadarrama, the monument holds the remains of more than 30,000 dead from both sides of the civil war, which was triggered by Francos rebellion against an elected Republican government. Franco, whose Nationalist forces defeated the Republicans in the war, dedicated the site to all the fallen of the conflict in an attempt at reconciliation, but only two graves are marked those of Franco and Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of the far-right Falangist party which supported Franco. Uncomfortable past The mausoleum features a 150-metre-tall (500-feet) stone cross and other symbols of Francos National-Catholic ideology, and is seen by many as a relic of the dictatorship. Fresh flowers can still be found on top of Francos and Riveras tombs. Many on the left are repulsed by its existence, comparing it to a monument glorifying Hitler. Others, often on the right, insist the Valley of the Fallen is an innocuous piece of history whose critics have twisted its true meaning. The Socialists included the removal of Franco and Riveras remains in a proposed law they presented in December 2017 when they were in opposition. The proposed law also called for the creation of a truth commission and for politically motivated court rulings taken during Francos dictatorship to be annulled. Sanchez unveiled it at a highly symbolic spot near the eastern port of Valencia where more than 2,000 Republican supporters are believed to have been shot dead by Francos forces. If we ignored an uncomfortable past, we cant build a comfortable future, he said at the time. Genocidal dictator Rajoys Popular Party, a successor to the Popular Alliance founded in 1976 by former Franco ministers, accuses the Socialists of needlessly raking over the past. It opposed attempts to exhume Francos remains when it was in power. The Socialist party has accustomed us to leading these cultural battles which do nothing to help coexistence, said Andrea Levy, a top Popular Part official. Centrist party Ciudadanos said it was open to moving Francos remains, while anti-establishment party Podemos, which supported the no-confidence motion that brought the Socialists to power, hailed the initiative. Top Podemos official Pablo Echenique said it was wrong for the remains of a genocidal dictator to rest in a giant mausoleum while there are tens of thousands of dead in mass graves. He was referring to the estimated 114,000 bodies of the victims of Francos forces during the civil war and the first years of his rule that are still in unmarked graves across Spain. The publicity department for the Grand Circuit has sent out its weekly recap and preview of Grand Circuit races. This Week: Ben Franklin Pace, Earl Beal Jr. Memorial, Max C. Hempt Memorial and James M. Lynch Memorial eliminations, The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Schedule of events: The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono will host four sets of stakes eliminations on Saturday (June 23). There will be three $35,000 eliminations in the Ben Franklin for older pacers; a trio of $25,000 eliminations in the Earl Beal Jr. Memorial for three-year-old trotters and the Max C. Hempt Memorial for three-year-old pacers; and two $20,000 eliminations in the James M. Lynch Memorial for three-year-old filly pacers. Last time: Last weekends Grand Circuit action was highlighted by the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup for three-year-old pacers on Saturday (June 16) at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Trained by Clyde Francis, Lather Up and driver Montrell Teague powered forward from the beginning and took no prisoners en route to a four length score in 1:48.1. "It's a sensational feeling," said co-owner and breeder Gary Iles. "To come away with a win, it doesn't get any better than this." The win was sweet redemption for trainer Francis and driver Teague after they came up just short in the 2015 edition with Wiggle It Jiggleit. Lather Up fired from Post 4 to the early lead, but was overtaken at the opening quarter (:26.3) by Done Well and driver Tim Tetrick. Teague wasted little time retaking the lead in the second quarter and had his charge showing the way through a :54.1 opening half. I definitely wanted to retake, said Teague. (Tetrick) could have went on and taken a bigger fraction for the half, but I was trying to go back to the front and back the half down as much as I could. Nutcracker Sweet and driver David Miller were first-up rounding the far turn, supplying cover for a perfectly placed second-over Stay Hungry and driver Doug McNair. Lather Up reached three-quarters in a sizzling 1:21.3 to lead into the lane. Two-hole sitter Done Well and an off-cover Stay Hungry fired their best shot in the stretch, but were no match for the 3-5 mutuel favourite. Lather Up powered home in :26.3 for his biggest victory and sixth win in as many starts this season. Done Well finished second, while Lost In Time and driver Scott Zeron rallied from eighth, placed fourth-over at three-quarters, to grab third. Stay Hungry finished fourth. Owned and bred by Gary and Barbara Iles, Lather Up now holds a career record of 10 wins in 13 starts. The victory increased his seasonal earnings to $458,165 and career earnings to $532,265. Grand Circuit Standings: In 2018, the Grand Circuit leaders in three categories (driver, trainer and owner) will once again be tracked on a points system (20-10-5 for the top three finishers in divisions/finals and 10-5-2 for the top three finishers in eliminations/legs). Winbak Farms is the sponsor for the 2018 Grand Circuit awards. Here are the leaders following the past weekend. Drivers: 1. Tim Tetrick 368; 2. Yannick Gingras 266; 3. Jordan Stratton 154; 4. Jason Bartlett 139; 5. David Miller 104.5. Trainers: 1. Ron Burke 270; 2. Jim King Jr. 146; 3. Peter Tritton 122; 4. Jimmy Takter 112; 5. Richard Banca 75. Owners: 1. Vonknoblauch Stable - 107; 2. Richard Poillucci 66; 3t. Burke Racing Stable 65.9; 3t. Weaver Bruscemi 65.9; 5. Jo Ann Looney-King 60. Looking ahead: Next weekend Grand Circuit action will be taking place at four different tracks. Pocono will have the finals for the Ben Franklin (older pacers), Earl Beal Memorial (three-year-old trotters), Max Hempt Memorial (three-year-old pacers) and James Lynch (three-year-old filly pacers); Northfield Park will host the Cleveland Trotting Classic for older trotters; Tioga Downs will offer Tompkins-Geers stakes for three-year-old colt and filly pacers; and Historic Track will feature Landmark Stakes for two and three-year-olds of both sexes and gaits. (Grand Circuit) Indiana Grand Racing & Casino in Shelbyville and Hoosier Park Racing & Casino in Anderson are set to host two of the largest, free patriotic celebrations in Indiana. Indiana Grands Star Spangled Grandeur will take place on Tuesday, July 3 and Hoosier Parks Fire It Up on the Fourth will take place on Wednesday, July 4. Both nights will feature a free performance by The Duke Boys and an over-the-top, thirty-minute fireworks show choreographed to a wide selection of classic and summer music hits. Indiana Grands family-friendly Star Spangled Grandeur on Tuesday, July 3 begins with live Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing at 2:05 p.m. Guests can visit the outdoor welcome center at the race course for free party favours and an opportunity to enter into a Backyard BBQ Blowout giveaway sponsored by Family Leisure starting at 6:00 p.m. The Duke Boys will take the outdoor stage at 8:30 p.m., and the choreographed fireworks presentation will begin at 10:00 p.m. Family activities will be available including a game truck, face painting, the worlds tallest Uncle Sam, and Peppermints for Ponies benefiting the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. A variety of outdoor food and beverage options will be available for purchase at the event. Casino gaming and additional food and beverage options will be available inside. Hoosier Parks Fire It Up on the Fourth celebration on Wednesday, July 4 will be located outdoors in The Yard, next to Hoosier Parks racetrack. The event will start with live harness racing at 6:30 p.m. and free family fun and activities beginning at 7 p.m. The Duke Boys performance will begin at approximately 9:00 p.m., following the last harness race of the evening, and the choreographed fireworks show will follow at 10 p.m. A variety of outdoor food and beverage options will be available for purchase at the event. Casino gaming and more food and beverage options will be available inside. Additionally, Club Centaur members have an opportunity to instantly win $1,000 by entering at a promotional kiosk. Light-up holiday beads are also available with ten same-day Club Centaur points earned. Both Indiana Grand and Hoosier Parks fireworks shows will be put on by Ohio-based American Fireworks and will feature 5,800 pounds of explosives with more than 1,700 shells dedicated entirely to the grand finale. Each night, the fireworks will be choreographed to a soundtrack that includes a series of hits from Green Day, Led Zeppelin, Boston, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Bruce Springsteen, REO Speedwagon, Marshmello, The Weekend, Maren Morris, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Prince, and more. Our team at Centaur Gaming has always been all in when it comes to throwing the biggest and best patriotic celebrations for our communities, and this year is no exception, said Centaur Gaming President and COO Jim Brown. Theres no better place to spend the Independence Day holiday than with Indiana Grand and Hoosier Park. The memories weve made over the years in Shelbyville and Anderson are ones we will treasure forever. The Duke Boys, based out of Evansville, Indiana, have been playing 50s and 60s rock & roll music for nearly four decades. More information about Indiana Grands Star Spangled Grandeur on Tuesday, July 3 is available at indianagrand.com. More information on Hoosier Parks Fire It Up on the Fourth on Wednesday, July 4 is available at hoosierpark.com. (Indiana Grand / Hoosier Park) 282 Shares Share When I hear pundits going on about the Medicaid work requirements, I think of my father. He has worked in the United States for twenty-four years, taking on the role of a handyman, migrant farmer, truck driver, construction roofer, dialysis patient transporter, and elder transporter. His limited English and third-grade education land him in low-paying jobs with limited hours and an oversupply of workers resulting in frequent periods of unemployment. For 17 years, these moments of turmoil were partially assuaged by Medicaid. No job or scant hours meant little to no income, and in turn, health insurance. A safety-net system provided us with a lending hand during years of trepidation. Today, several states including Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas and New Hampshire plan to implement a system that would turn its back on people like my father and deem them ineligible for Medicaid while unemployed. Its no surprise that most Democrats oppose Medicaid work provisions, citing projected public insurance losses of up to 15% state-wide. But Republicans are not entirely wrong for supporting work requirements. The provision has led some Republican lawmakers from non-expansion states to consider expanding Medicaid. The problem arises when states vow to mandate work without addressing job-related barriers. With proper mitigation strategies, low-income residents from states unwilling to previously expand Medicaid will gain health insurance, while those in expansion states will benefit from provisions addressing the difficulties of stable job attainment. To aid in doing so, the following sections outline job-related barriers. Financial limitations preclude job-seeking behaviors. Medicaid beneficiaries are ten times more likely to cite transportation barriers when compared to their privately insured counterparts. Currently, states are required to transport certain Medicaid beneficiaries under the Non-Emergency Transportation (NET) program. But states like Iowa and Indiana are beginning to utilize Section 1115 NET time-limited waivers to limit transportation services. Additionally, Indiana, Iowa and Kentucky hold rights to cut transportation services, while others look to waive NET for adults above 101-138% FPL. Under such conditions, people unable to afford housing in urban areas are less likely to find a doctor, resulting in worse health and fewer job options. Another limitation that stymies job searching is intimate partner violence (IPV). 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of IPV. Severe cases are often characterized by a controlling partner denying the victim a normal work-life balance. Compulsory 20-hour work weeks become unsustainable and would result in a loss of health insurance if work is mandated. Furthermore, since women are disproportionately affected by IPV and are more likely than men to utilize Medicaid, their coverage might heavily suffer. Some individuals are simply lackluster to find a state-mandated Medicaid qualifying job. For example, some women in my parents social circle clean homes for a living. Near minimum-wage payments sustain them and their children. They have no incentive to leave a flexible job. Work provisions ignore this area of our part-time workforce, making it prudent for legislators to revisit the 20-hour work week mandate. On top of job-searching hardships, poor dental care, language barriers, low education status and criminal records forestall employment once a Medicaid beneficiary fills out an application. Adults below 100% FPL are more likely to have dental complications than those with incomes above 200% FPL. This finding is alarming since a study found that persons with ideal smiles are more likely to earn a job than those with non-ideal teeth. In other words, people required to work for health care face prejudice and an ingrained disadvantage. Language barriers encompass another obstacle. For instance, 38% of Latinxs report Spanish-speaking predominance, suggesting that over a third of Latinxs on Medicaid might face hiring difficulties in our English-dominated economy. Arizona, a state seeking a work waiver, should be wary of losses in Latinx coverage since 54% of their nonelderly Medicaid recipients identify as Latinx. Other states pursuing work waivers with significant numbers of Latinx beneficiaries include Kansas (19%), Utah (16%), and Wisconsin (19%). Demanding work from populations with low rates of higher education is unfair because financially disadvantaged groups were not always afforded equal educational opportunities. Institutional injustices historically impaired their ability to attain education and subsequent work. Some might even find themselves in a cycle of rejection at low-level jobs. Indeed, after high school, I could not find work at local fast-food chains due to inexperience and a high supply of similarly qualified applicants. Although imperfect teeth, poor English and little education are amenable to change, a criminal record is less malleable. As of 2010, 3% of the U.S. population served time in prison, whereas 8% had a felony conviction. Removing criminal records alleviates the stigma these individuals face on the job market, but expungement is often limited to misdemeanors and juvenile offenses. Ex-convicts consequentially become some of the least desired workers. Unsurprisingly, over three-quarters of former inmates report that earning a job is nearly impossible. About two-thirds remain unemployed or underemployed 5 years after serving time. The entrenched hesitancy to hire ex-convicts urges us to rectify a work-for-health system. Even if an able-bodied Medicaid recipient is hired, job maintenance becomes a formidable challenge. As mentioned above, low-income populations find difficulties in maintaining a job. Residents in states with work provisions who face situations similar to that of my fathers will face uncertainty, joblessness and a resultant loss of health insurance. Outlining the complexity of varied job barriers aimed to expose unpromising work-provision outcomes if not enhanced by job barrier mitigation. Past mishaps and forthcoming losses in coverage necessitate analyses on the provisions detrimental effects, followed by solutions to circumvent job barriers. Research detailing job searching, job earning and job maintaining barriers is necessary if work provisions are to actualize. Ensuing revelations will urge states to help Medicaid work under the adage that good health precedes work, not under the pretense of the converse. Acknowledgment and acceptance of the former might save the programs fundamental goal of providing health care to Americas most vulnerable populations. David Velasquez is a medical student. Image credit: Shutterstock.com The star of the new book, Bodacious The Shepherd Cat didnt bother turning up for the stellar book launch on Thursday at the Book Centre in Kilkenny City. He doesnt like adulation and stayed at home minding the farm animals while the woman who wrote the book, through his eyes and with his voice, Suzanna Crampton, made the necessary apologies for the cat who has taken the online world by storm. Launching, Bodacious The Shepherd Cat, broadcaster, Helen Carroll guaranteed the audience at The Book Centre that it was the only book in which Madonna, Sean Penn, Lou Reed and the Clonmel Agricultural Show were all mentioned. She paid tribute to the ingenuity and imagination of author, Suzanna Crampton for writing such a wonderful book which she described as an ode to farming and family. It documents the winding, twisty route Suzannas life took before it brought her back to a beautiful farm in Bennettsbridge and brought a bodacious little cat into her life, Helen Carroll added. Its a really lovely read and I couldnt recommend it highly enough, she added. Bodacious tells us about life as The Shepherd Cat on Black Sheep Farm. I wasnt always called Bodacious. I must have been called something else in my kittenhood in the nearby city of Kilkenny, but its all a bit of a mystery to My Human. As far as shes concerned, I appeared one day and have never left. Its a secret I plan to keep, the book tells us. Written by Suzanna from the perspective of Bodacious the cat, this is a beautifully written memoir of Bodaciouss life on the farm and everything that entails - early mornings, frosty starts, beautiful sunrises, adventurous rare-breed Zwartbles sheep, hard work, entertaining animals, mouth-watering food, kind people and idyllic country living with its highs and lows. At the launch, Suzanna thanked her grandparents Hubert and Peggy Butler, Bennettsbridge (now deceased) and her godmother, the late PL Travers, the creator of Mary Poppins for her encouragement. Well over 150 local people turned up in Glenmore Hall on Monday night to publicly support the retention of the local post office. It is under threat since hardworking and dedicated post mistress, Kathleen Hanrahan, announced her intention to retire this year. If it closes, Glenmore would lose its heart beat, Fine Gael councillor, Fidelis Doherty told the gathering. She understands there is a tendering process to go through but she is worried about An Posts intentions following the closure of the post offices in nearby Slieverue and Tullogher. We are the last one in the area and if it closed, wed have to travel eight miles to New Ross, Wexford or nine miles to Ferrybank, Waterford for a stamp, she said. We just want An Post to know that we are here and won't tolerate the closure of our post office, she added. An Post responded by saying some postmasters who wish to retire had been offered a voluntary severance package including Kathleen Hanrahan. There will be no compulsory closures of Post Offices as a consequence of this new deal, a spokesman said. Postmasters have until July 31 to signal their intentions and An Post said there is no change to the status of the post office at Glenmore. We are aware that our postmistress in Glenmore has expressed an interest in taking up the voluntary severance package, An Post added. After the July 31 deadline, An Post said it will be in a position to address the situation and what will happen with Glenmore Post Office. SPLC Pays Millions for False Propaganda MONTGOMERY, Ala., Calif., June 20, 2018 / Standard Newswire / -- The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has agreed to pay a $3.375 million settlement as the result of a demand from Islamic reformer Maajid Nawaz and his organization, the Quilliam Foundation, for the inclusion on SPLC's now-defunct list, "Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists." The SPLC published the list of "anti-Muslim extremists" in December 2016 with the intent "to serve as a resource for journalists to identify promoters of hateful propaganda." The list was deleted in April 2018 after Nawaz obtained legal representation. The list accused Nawaz, a liberal Muslim and former Islamic extremist, of "savaging Islam." Nawaz is informed by his experience as a former member of a global terror organization and as a political prisoner in Egypt and routinely criticizes the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that gives rise to terrorism. As a result of that work, the SPLC and a coalition of partner organizations that helped create the list accused him of "savaging Islam." SPLC president Richard Cohen said in a statement on its website, "The Southern Poverty Law Center was wrong to include Maajid Nawaz and the Quilliam Foundation in our Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists. Since we published the Field Guide, we have taken the time to do more research and have consulted with human rights advocates we respect. We've found that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have made valuable and important contributions to public discourse, including by promoting pluralism and condemning both anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamist extremism. Although we may have our differences with some of the positions that Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam have taken, they are most certainly not anti-Muslim extremists. We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Mr. Nawaz, Quilliam, and our readers for the error, and we wish Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam all the best." "This settlement is another example that the Southern Poverty Law Center is incapable at monitoring the very thing it claims to track," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "No credible journalist should ever rely on the SPLC. The SPLC reeks with hateful, false, and defamatory rhetoric," said Staver. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. Urlingford Main Street is to be resurfaced in the next month as councillors say the road was in very poor condition. At this month's meeting of Castlecomer's Municipal District, Cllr Michael McCarthy asked for an update on the Council's plans to treat the road. He said it is a long street and there are constant potholes appearing which have had to be refilled numerous times at this stage. Cllr Patrick Millea also supported the agenda item and said the people of Urlingford are to say the least, annoyed. Area engineer, Philippe Beubry, told members that when he went to look at the road he discovered that the damage was far worse. A contractor has been engaged to commence the remedial works and all issues on the stretch of road will be covered, Mr Beubry said. The resurfacing will cover 4,000sq metres and the works are expected to be completed by the end of July. Cllr McCarthy added: The cooperation of the public will be necessary for the efficient completion of these works. He also welcomed the resurfacing of the road from the Junction to the National School. This road is also in bad need of repair and it will be welcomed by road users and the residents of Ard Reagh. These works will commence on Ard Read Road prior to the work on the Main Street, Cllr McCarthy said. Irish Water is going to address water discolouration in North Kilkenny which has affected hundreds of residents in the area. The water utility will carry out reservoir cleaning in July and August followed by ice-pigging on pipes as well as the refurbishing of key elements of the Clogh Water Treatment Plant to address the issue which is due to the presence of the mineral,Manganese. One resident described the water as looking like Coca Cola. Councillors were furious that officials from IW declined to attend a meeting to answer questions about water issues in the area. On Monday morning, the same day as this months meeting of Castlecomer Municipal District, IW issued a statement detailing the timeline for works. Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick described the problem which is affecting the Clogh, Moneenroe and Castlecomer areas - as horrendous. Cllr John Brennan said: The issue is going to be resolved once and for all. Cllr Maurice Shortall added: Its not just ice-pigging but reservoirs will also be cleaned. Senior Executive Officer at the Council, Michael Delahunty, said they have again written a letter asking IW to attend a public meeting of the MD. Have mosquitoes met their match? Franky Cox is out to see they have From Left, Kingstree natives Ray Tanner and Hardy Brown attend the annual Ia Drang Valley Reunion held in May. Photo Provided The Herald reports: The behaviour of a mother who secretly brought her daughter to New Zealand without the fathers knowledge was reprehensible and an egregious breach of their custody battle, according to a High Court judge. But in the best interests and welfare of the child, Justice Paul Davison ruled the daughter who now considers herself a Kiwi will not be sent back to live with her father in their homeland. So the mother kidnaps the daughter away from her father (who has sole custody) and gets away with it. This just incentivises others to do the same. The father told the Herald on Sunday he will move to New Zealand next year. All I want is to be part of my daughters life. A child needs both parents. The father is at a loss to explain why his former partner went to great lengths to cut him out of his daughters life. The courts in their home country awarded sole custody to him after the mother repeatedly refused to let him see their daughter. The ingrained resentment the mother holds against the father, now significantly impairs the mothers ability to raise her daughter with her actions, the mother wilfully and significantly disregards the interests of her daughter, the European court judgment said. So why not grant custody to the father, so long as he moves to NZ? Rewarding parents for kidnapping a child and poisoning them against the other parent is a bad idea. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More Reddit Pinterest Print Tumblr Ronald Blue Trust Offers Financial Guidance to Faith Leaders Through Partnership with ChurchSalary Tool New Church Compensation Resource Features Personal Finance Tips and Guidelines Based on Biblical Wisdom Contact: Ty Mays, 770-256-8710 ATLANTA, June 20, 2018 /Standard Newswire / -- Wealth management and trust company, Ronald Blue Trust, has partnered with Church Law & Tax, a publication of Christianity Today, to provide content for ChurchSalary. Released this month, the tool features compensation best practices and guidance on personal financial topics, including budgeting, debt management and retirement planning. Photo: Ronald Blue Trust has partnered with Church Law & Tax to provide financial guidance for faith leaders in the latest release of the ChurchSalary tool. ChurchSalary was born out of the National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders. Funded by $28 million in grants announced in December of 2015 by the Lilly Endowment, the initiative resulted from extensive nationwide research. It showed that pastors from multiple denominational groups and geographic locations were facing serious financial stresses and obstacles. ChurchSalary is designed to help alleviate some of those pressures. "We are pleased to contribute to an initiative that helps faith leaders live with clarity and confidence about money," says Nick Stonestreet, chief executive officer for Ronald Blue Trust. "Our hope is that when faith leaders are equipped with the tools and knowledge to become better stewards of their finances, they will live enriched lives and be an even greater blessing to others." A division of Thrivent Trust Company, Ronald Blue Trust provides wealth management strategies and trust services based on biblical principles. The division (and its predecessor) has been serving individuals and families with complex financial needs across generations since 1979, helping them enjoy a healthier relationship with money and be inspired to live more generously. This is the first year the Church Law & Tax editorial team sought assistance from a wealth management expert to provide personal finance resources within the ChurchSalary tool. Ronald Blue Trust has contributed a series of articles that address a variety of topics, including strategic giving, four financial decisions that may affect contentment, five methods of budgeting, and five principles of stewardship. "We are delighted to have Ronald Blue Trust's participation in our enhanced efforts to provide church staffs with information to navigate tough financial issues and create an atmosphere of healthy stewardship," says Sam Ogles, project leader for ChurchSalary. "When those employed to serve in the church are paid adequately and fairly through a culture of generosity and blessing, they're free to focus on the good work of ministry." For more information about ChurchSalary and to access the tool, visit www.ChurchSalary.com. Information about Ronald Blue Trust and additional resources are available at www.ronblue.com. About Ronald Blue Trust Ronald Blue Trust (www.ronblue.com) is a division of Thrivent Trust Company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Thrivent Financial (www.thrivent.com). Ronald Blue Trust serves individuals and families across generations with complex financial needs and helps them to enjoy a healthier relationship with money and be inspired to live more generously. Trust and investment management accounts and services offered by Ronald Blue Trust, a division of Thrivent Trust Company, are not insured by the FDIC or any other federal government agency, are not deposits or other obligations of, nor guaranteed by Thrivent Trust Company or its affiliates, and are subject to investment risk, including possible loss of the principal amount invested. Trust and investment management accounts and services are offered by Thrivent Trust Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thrivent Financial, the marketing name for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, based in Appleton, Wis., and an affiliate of Thrivent Investment Management, Inc. Neither Thrivent Investment Management, a FINRA member, nor its associated person(s) is offering any product hereby. Certain Thrivent Investment Management associated persons refer prospective clients to Thrivent Trust Company. About Christianity Today Christianity Today is a nonprofit, global media ministry centered on Beautiful Orthodoxystrengthening the church by richly communicating the breadth of the true, good, and beautiful gospel. Reaching over five million people monthly with various digital and print resources, the ministry equips Christians to renew their minds, serve the church, and create culture to the glory of God. Mr. Tan, Why did you take the booster shot early, on the first day that it was available? Were you afraid of covid? My reply here: https:... Land-locked Nepal is keen to enhance cross-border rail-road connectivity, infrastructure development, trade and tourism cooperation with China under its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has said. Oli is in China from June 19 to 24. During his visit, a host of projects under the Belt and Road Initiative as well as China's plans for an India-Nepal-China economic corridor are expected to be discussed. Ahead of his first official visit to Beijing since his re-election, Prime Minister Oli had also said that his government is fully committed to implementing the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation under the framework of the BRI signed with China two years ago. Chinese President Xi Jinping had unveiled the BRI in 2013 with an aim to link Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe with a network of land and sea routes. However, Nepals other big neighbour India has not endorsed the BRI, a pet project of Xi, as the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is part of the BRI, passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India says it cannot accept a project that ignores its core concern on sovereignty and territorial integrity. Oli however is hoping to regain momentum in the China-Nepal bilateral as there has been news that there have been disagreements on certain infrastructure projects. The authorities say the two sides developed differences on the terms of the West Seti hydroelectric project and China complained of a lack of proper working atmosphere. But, PM Oli later denied there have been disagreements but the hydro-electric project might see a downgrade in capacity to make it more cost-effective according to a report by Yubaraj Ghimire for South China Morning Post. China has undertaken a total of 15 projects in Nepal, including four hydropower plants, and the country's second international airport at Pokhara, with 14 others in the pipeline, Hong-Kong based South China Morning Post reported recently. "Prime Minister Oli will take up construction of 400-kilovolt cross-border transmission line 800km of its route will lie in China and 80km in Nepal, right up to capital Kathmandu via the Nepal-China border," the report quoted Energy Minister Barshaman Pun as saying. In Beijing, Oli will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang, and is expected to sign major infrastructure projects to further deepen bilateral ties. "Our two countries have common views on the concept of Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Transport Network. Based on this broad framework, we want to seek cooperation with China on cross-border connectivity of railway, road, transmission lines and other related areas for mutual benefit," Oli said. "China is our immediate neighbour. Our two countries share a long history of friendly relations which are multifaceted and deep rooted. "Our relations are based on the solid foundation of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence," he said, reiterating Nepal's long-standing one-China policy. Nepal will sign an MoU on constructing a railway line connecting Kerung of Tibet to Kathmandu. A feasibility study will be conducted for the railway line, which is expected to be completed within four years. The PM has vowed not to allow the use of Nepali territory in engagement of any activities against China, in an apparent reference to Tibetan refugees in Nepal whom China considers to be dangerous separatists intended to destabilising the Tibet Autonomous Region. "China has always respected Nepal's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. It has been providing valuable assistance for Nepal's development efforts. "Harmonious co-existence founded on the principle of good neighbourliness characterises our relationship. It has always been our sincere desire to maintain friendly relations with our neighbours," the prime minister said. Olis five day long visit is also seen as a balancing act as he made India his first destination for his state visit after being elected as prime minister in February this year. China has promised to provide a countermeasure to Indian influence and Nepals dependence on its southern neighbour for trade and infrastructure expertise. (With Agency inputs) (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 20, 2018 04:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Its part of a push from the White House to clear supply chain disruptions that are threatening holiday shopping season plans and slowing the nations economic recovery from the pandemic. The Hungarian parliament has passed a new law that criminalises lawyers and activists who help asylum seekers. The bill allows for the imprisonment of anybody aiding undocumented migrants. The laws called the 'Stop Soros' bill, targets rights groups, activists and NGOs, and criminalises the act of assisting migrants, allowing for the incarceration of individuals, or the banning of organisations. In addition to the bill, the parliament also passed a constitutional amendment stating that an "alien population" cannot be settled in Hungary. The vote of the 'Stop Soros' law saw 160 lawmakers vote in favour, with just 18 voting against it. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has named the legislation the "Stop Soros law", after the billionaire philanthropist it accuses of supporting Muslim migrants. The BBC reports that legal experts from the Council of Europe human rights organisation appealed for the vote to be postponed until they had submitted a review of the measures on Friday. A report by the Council's Venice Commission leaked to the BBC said the Hungarian legislation "criminalises organisational activities which are not directly related to the materialisation of the illegal migration". The UNs refugee agency said the package of laws, if passed, would deprive people who are forced to flee their homes of critical aid and services, and further inflame tense public discourse and rising xenophobic attitudes. International Human Rights Organizations have slammed the Hungarian governments action, "Criminalising essential and legitimate human rights work is a brazen attack on people seeking safe haven from persecution and those who carry out admirable work to help them. It is a new low point in an intensifying crackdown on civil society and it is something we will resist every step of the way," Amnesty International's Europe director Gauri van Gulik said in a statement. Human Rights Watch has called for Viktor Orbans Fidesz party to be expelled from the European Peoples party grouping in the European parliament if the package of laws is passed. Orbans Fidesz party won a two-thirds majority in parliament last month after campaigning almost exclusively on an anti-migrant platform. In a tragic irony, the laws were passed by the Hungarian Parliament on World Refugee Day. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 21, 2018 01:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). The owner of a Bethlehem Township animal sanctuary will allow the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to inspect his property to try to clear his name. Jahjah Melhem was charged with 31 counts of animal cruelty after the SPCA took 31 animals from the farm in December. The animals were malnourished, underweight, dehydrated and suffered from eye, ear, skin and hoof ailments, according to the citations filed by the SPCA. The organization seeks more than $7,000 to pay for emergency veterinary care provided to the animals. Melhem had resisted efforts by the SPCA to search his property without a warrant. He was due to stand trial Wednesday but the SPCA agreed to postpone the case until July now that Melhem will let them on the property. The inspection will take place in July, according to Melhem's attorney, Donald Souders. He hopes the inspection will prove that Melhem is caring for his animals in a humane way. "The farm's in good shape as are all the animals," Souders said after making the agreement in court. Melhem owns the animal sanctuary and a horse farm near it on Bethman Road in Bethlehem Township. Ex-volunteers for Melhem told lehighvalleylive.com he has more animals than he can care for and has neglected to feed some of them, allowed some to get sick and allowed some to die. Some volunteers say Melhem has abused the animals out of frustration. Melhem denies the allegations. His lawyer called the critics malcontents who are angry because Melhem asked them to stay away from the sanctuary. Souders hopes the SPCA will drop the charges once they see the farm. He also hopes their observations will convince the SPCA to increase the limit on the number of animals they'll allow Melhem to own. 31 CITATIONS The Pennsylvania SPCA made these allegations of animal cruelty: For 4047 Bethman Road: Three Malamute-type dogs had severe matting and skin irritation For 3868 Bethman Road: Three calves were very underweight and had severe diarrhea A pygmy goat was emaciated and had parasites Five goats had foot rot Two cats had untreated upper respiratory infections Two cats were emaciated A cat was underweight and severely dehydrated A cat was underweight and had ear issues Six cats had upper respiratory infections and ear issues A pig was emaciated A pig had untreated bite wounds Three bulldogs had untreated bite wounds and eye issues Another bulldog had eye issues An emu was emaciated Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. A pair had to be rescued after fleeing from Bethlehem Township police and crashing a stolen SUV into Green Pond early Wednesday morning, authorities said. Police did not identify the male and female involved. The male was arrested and sent to the Northampton County juvenile detention center, township police said. He faces charges including receiving stolen property, reckless endangerment, fleeing police and driving without a license. The female was taken to St. Luke's Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Charges against her are pending, police said in a news release. The incident began a little after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, when an officer saw a Ford SUV with its emergency lights on, parked in the westbound lane of Green Pond Road, near Green Pond Nursery. The officer pulled alongside the SUV, and saw a female in the driver's seat and a male in the passenger seat. The female said they were eating, according to police. The officer told the pair their actions were "inappropriate," and went to turn his vehicle around so he could speak to the driver face-to-face. The pair allegedly switched seats, and the male driver sped off. The officer followed, but lost sight of the SUV when it turned south on Farmersville Road. When the officer got onto Farmersville Road, he found the SUV crashed through a guardrail and into Green Pond. Nancy Run and Bethlehem Township fire companies responded, and police said the duo was removed from the SUV. The driver was arrested after officers learned the SUV was reported stolen June 18 in Allentown. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A 19-year-old Monroe County man is charged in a "sextortion" case in which he eventually sent nude photos of a New Jersey girl to her friends when she wouldn't provide him with more images, the county district attorney's office reports. Evelyn Sanchez, 52, of Paradise Township, is facing drug charges, the Monroe County District Attorney's Office says. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) And when authorities on June 12 served a search warrant at the apartment Luis Manuel Montero shared with his mother Evelyn Sanchez, 52, at 123 Willow Lane in Paradise Township, they found what would add up to more than 11 pounds of marijuana, the district attorney's office said. Sanchez, who was home and initially denied involvement with the drugs, was charged June 12 with possession with intent to deliver drugs and several related offenses and released on $25,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing Sept. 6. Montero, who was in Las Vegas when the home search happened, was arrested later that night by New Jersey State Police and Port Authority officers at Newark Liberty International Airport and could eventually face extradition to Pennsylvania to face a similar set of drug charges as well as sexual abuse of children and several related counts. He is also charged in Sussex County, New Jersey, with endangering the welfare of a child by distributing child pornography, cyber harassment, invasion of privacy and distribution of obscene material to a minor, Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie LaCarrubba said Wednesday. Procedure around the New Jersey charges will likely determine where he first goes to trial, she added. The Sussex County Prosecutor's Office and New Jersey State Police received a report in April that an unknown person was trying to coerce a 16-year-old girl to send him nude photos over Snapchat, the district attorney's office said. He already had explicit photos and videos of the girl from when she was 14, authorities added. He had in recent years contacted her anonymously with similar threats, the district attorney's office said. When the girl refused, Montero used social media to contact her friends and "direct" them to her to send more photos, the district attorney's office said. A prosecutor's office detective identified Montero through a series of subpoenas that began with Snapchat providing subscriber information and ended with PenTeleData Inc. revealing that the IP address tied to the usage on that account on specific days was registered to Sanchez in Paradise Township, the district attorney's office said. Police and the prosecutor's office then contacted Monroe County authorities in May, a news release and court papers say. A search warrant was served and detectives from the district attorney's office and the prosecutor's office along with Pennsylvania and New Jersey state troopers smelled marijuana in the home and found it packaged in "plain sight," authorities said. Further search revealed more of that drug and others, authorities said. In addition to the marijuana, investigators recovered psilocybin mushrooms, 11 sheets of shatter, a concentrated cannabis extract; as well as paraphernalia consistent with selling drugs, authorities said. Several digital devices were also seized, the district attorney's office said. Once Montero was in custody, he admitted to having nude photos and video of the girl from when she was 14, to using those images to try to get more and to sending them to the girl's friends, the district attorney's office said. "Montero, who knew the girl from having previously attended school in New Jersey, said he did it as revenge for her no longer speaking to him and for her speaking to other males," the district attorney's office said. Sanchez's attorney said Montero exerted influence over his mother when it came to the drugs. "Ms. Sanchez was a subject of a lot of coercion at the hands of her son," Corey John Kolcharno said. "... The thing is there was a lot of pressure and expectation." Sanchez is "a good mother" who has "no criminal record," he said, adding that she is "abiding by all conditions" of bail. "There are things we have to explore as the court proceedings come forward," Kolcharno said. Court papers show the Monroe County Public Defender's Office representing Montero, but that application would be made after his arraignment, which has yet to be scheduled. He does not have a private attorney in New Jersey and by default is represented by the public defender's office there, although the process has yet to reach a point where he actually has a lawyer, LaCarrubba said. Montero is being held in Sussex County Jail, record show, having already made his first appearance on the New Jersey charges, LaCarrubba said. He faces a hearing June 27 in county court there which will determine if he remains jailed in Newton, LaCarrubba said. If he stays in jail, he likely will go on trial in New Jersey before facing the Pennsylvania charges, she said. If he is freed by a Superior Court judge in New Jersey -- there is no longer bail in the Garden State; a suspect is either held or released -- the process will begin to extradite him to Pennsylvania to answer the arrest warrants in Monroe County, she said. If that's the case, he'll likely be tried first in Pennsylvania, she added. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The bishop of the Diocese of Allentown on Tuesday condemned a policy from President Trump's administration that has resulted in children being separated from their parents who illegally cross the border. Bishop Alfred Schlert is perhaps the most high-profile spiritual leader in the region to publicly wade into the debate over the policy, which has come under intense scrutiny following reports of the forced separations. Democrats and some Republicans are urging an end to the practice at the U.S.-Mexico border. Thousands of children split from their families at the U.S. southern border are being held in government-run facilities. "The nation's Catholic Bishops have condemned using the separation of families as a way to deter illegal immigration," Schlert says in a statement. "Bishops from around the country have called this practice immoral, cruel, unjust, ineffective and contrary to human decency. The forcible separation of children from their families is in direct violation of Catholic beliefs and values." The bishop, who oversees a diocese administering to some 265,000 Catholics in a five-county region that includes the entire Lehigh Valley, also called for action on other immigration issues, including finding a pathway to citizenship for the so-called Dreamers. Here's his entire statement: Reasonable people may disagree over the best ways to control illegal immigration to the United States. It is hard to disagree, however, with the growing chorus of voices from both sides of the political aisle, and from religious leaders of many faiths, that we should not be solving this problem by taking children from their parents at the border. United States immigration officials are separating children from their families under a policy in which all cases of illegal entry are referred for criminal prosecution. Children are not allowed to accompany their parents to jail, so they are separated and held in detention facilities. The nation's Catholic Bishops have condemned using the separation of families as a way to deter illegal immigration. Bishops from around the country have called this practice immoral, cruel, unjust, ineffective and contrary to human decency. The forcible separation of children from their families is in direct violation of Catholic beliefs and values. This is not a debate about whether our borders should be secure. They should be, and my brother Bishops and I believe that our government's leaders should take all reasonable steps to keep them that way. Rather, I would submit that this is a debate about human dignity, about doing the right thing for innocent children, about the sanctity of the family, and about the integrity of the moral compass of our country and its people. Remember that ours is a nation of immigrants. Few among us would be here if our parents or grandparents or great-grandparents were not afforded the chance to come to this land of opportunity in search of a better life, or to escape persecution. The Catholic Church, too, is built on a foundation of immigration. We have a long history of embracing immigrants, migrants, refugees and others in need, and proving them with pastoral care and a sense of community and belonging. Our Church has responded to Christ's call to "welcome the stranger among us." We are taught to treat the newcomer as we would treat Jesus Christ himself, were He to arrive at our nation's border in search of a better life. The news reports from our Southwestern border are heartbreaking. Imagine how these children must feel, not knowing when or if they will see their parents again. I pray that our nation's leaders will find a way to care for our national interest on illegal immigration while also treating all people with the compassion and respect they deserve as human beings. Meanwhile, as we work to find a just and humane solution to the separation crisis, we also must continue to seek effective resolution of other pressing immigration issues: the granting of political asylum for those fleeing domestic and gang-related violence; the search for a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants, called Dreamers; the tragedy of eliminating Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from certain countries, many of whom have been here for years and are productive members of our society; and the plight of Christians fleeing persecution in the Middle East. Please join me in praying for successful resolutions, and in praying that all of us, regardless of political affiliation, can open our hearts and participate in meaningful and civil public discourse on these issues. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Newark and Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C., has been removed from public ministry in the wake of allegations that he abused a teen 50 years ago while serving as a priest in the New York Archdiocese. The allegations against McCarrick, who also previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, have been deemed "credible and substantiated" by Vatican officials, McCarrick said in a statement. However, the veteran cardinal said he does not remember the incident from a half-century ago and believes he is innocent. News of McCarrick's removal came as church officials also revealed for the first time that the cardinal had previously been accused of sexual misconduct with three adults during his time in New Jersey. Two of those cases resulted in settlements for undisclosed amounts, Archdiocese of Newark officials said. Church officials said there had never been an accusation that McCarrick sexually abused a minor until the new accusation that the cardinal abused a teenager 50 years ago while working as a priest in New York. In a statement on Wednesday, McCarrick, 87, now the retired Archbishop of Washington, D.C., said he accepted his removal. "While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people," he said. McCarrick said he had been advised several months ago by the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, that an allegation of sexual abuse of a teenager from almost 50 years ago had been made against him. At that time, he was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York. "While shocked by the report, and while maintaining my innocence, I considered it essential that the charges be reported to the police, thoroughly investigated by an independent agency, and given to the Review Board of the Archdiocese of New York. I fully cooperated in the process," he said. "My sadness was deepened when I was informed that the allegations had been determined credible and substantiated." He said in obedience, he accepted the decision of The Holy See, that he no longer exercise any public ministry. "I realize this painful development will shock my many friends, family members, and people I have been honored to serve in my sixty-years as a priest," he said. However, church officials in the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen, where McCarrick had previously served as bishop, both said they were aware of past sexual misconduct allegations with adults. Cardinal Joseph Tobin, who has been Archbishop of Newark since January 2017, disclosed that allegations that McCarrick engaged in sexual misconduct with adults decades ago resulted in settlements. "This Archdiocese and the Diocese of Metuchen received three allegations of sexual misconduct with adults decades ago; two of these allegations resulted in settlements," Tobin revealed. The dates and sizes of the settlements were not disclosed. Tobin said the Archdiocese of Newark never received an accusation that McCarrick abused a minor. At the Archdiocese of Washington, where McCarrick became a cardinal, church officials said they were shocked by the sexual misconduct allegation. "While saddened and shocked, this archdiocese awaits the final outcome of the canonical process and in the meantime asks for prayers for all involved," the Archdiocese of Washington said in a statement. "At the same time, we renew our commitment to care for the victims who have suffered abuse, to prevent abuse before it occurs, and to identify and report child abuse once it has happened." His time in New Jersey McCarrick was bishop of Metuchen from 1981 to 1986, and then served as Newark's archbishop from 1986 to 2000. The Diocese of Metuchen administers Catholics in Warren County. In Metuchen, he was the shepherd of a newly formed diocese, and later would build a $13 million archdiocesan center next to the cathedral in Newark. Those who knew him said he used his connections to get Pope John Paul II to Newark in 1995. McCarrick was known to have guided more than seminarians through the ordination process, ordaining 171 in 14 years as Newark's archbishop, more than any other American bishop. While still in Newark, he was said to be looking at retirement when he turned 70. But Pope John Paul II picked him as Washington's archbishop in late 2000, and in 2001 made him a cardinal. In the Diocese of Metuchen, church officials were aware of accusations his sexual misconduct with adults. But, Metuchen officials did not receive any reports McCarrick abused minors. "This very disturbing report has prompted me to direct that the records of our diocese be re-examined, and I can report to you that there has never been any report or allegation that Cardinal McCarrick ever abused any minor during his time here in Metuchen. In the past, there have been allegations that he engaged in sexual behavior with adults," said James F. Checchio, Bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen on Wednesday. Checchio offered apologies to anyone who was victimized. "The abuse of anyone who is vulnerable is both shameful and horrific. The abuse of a minor by a priest - as is being reported in this case from New York - is an abomination and sickens and saddens us all," Checchio said in a statement. In Newark, Cardinal Tobin said he recognized that the people of the Newark Archdiocese would meet the announcement by the Archdiocese of New York of a credible and substantiated claim of abuse of a minor by Cardinal McCarrick with a range of emotions. "I am thinking particularly of those who have experienced the trauma of sexual abuse by clergy--whose lives have been impacted tragically by abuse. To those survivors, their families and loved ones, I offer my sincere apologies and my commitment of prayer and action to support you in your healing," Tobin said in a statement. For years, McCarrick was the most recognized Catholic leader in New Jersey and a leading voice on national issues for the church. "Cardinal McCarrick served this Archdiocese for almost fifteen years. No doubt many of you developed strong relationships with him and appreciate the impact of his service. Those feelings are likely hard to reconcile with the news of a credible and substantiated claim of abuse of a minor," he said. "While Cardinal McCarrick maintains his innocence and the canonical process continues, we must put first the serious nature of this matter with respect and support for the process aimed at hearing victims and finding truth." Tobin said the abuse crisis in the Church has been devastating. "We cannot undo the actions of the past, but we must continue to act with vigilance today. I renew my commitment to seek forgiveness and healing, while ensuring a safe environment for children in this Archdiocese," he said. Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. A former company director caught operating a price fixing scam in the carpet business has had his 7,500 fine increased to 45,000 after the Court of Appeal found the original penalty too lenient. Brendan Smith (40), of Greenane, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, and the company he worked for at the time, Aston Carpets and Flooring, had pleaded guilty to engaging in and implementing an anti-competitive agreement between July 2012 and April 30, 2013, contrary to the Companies Act 2002. The agreement involved Aston Carpets and another firm, Carpet Centre (Contracts) Ltd, attempting to fix prices for their products by knowingly tendering bids that were above the amount tendered by the other firm. At a sentencing hearing in the Central Criminal Court, Daniel Kenna of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission explained that the scam was exposed by David Radburn of Carpet Centre (the second party in the scam). Mr Radburn sought immunity from prosecution by revealing details of the agreement he had entered into with Smith. The scam came to an end on April 30, 2013 when gardai raided the offices of the two companies. During the raid Mr Smith was overheard calling Mr Radburn by phone and asking him to delete emails and was therefore charged with attempting to impede a prosecution. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy fined Smith 7,500 and Aston Carpets 10,000 on May 31, 2017. Smith was also handed a three-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for attempting to impede a prosecution. Smith was also disqualified from acting as a company director for five years. The maximum penalties for the offences were a fine of up to 5 million and/or ten years in prison for price fixing and up to five years imprisonment for obstructing a prosecution. The Court of Appeal found Smiths 7,500 fine to be unduly lenient, on foot of an appeal brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Smiths fine was accordingly increased to 45,000 today with six months to pay. His suspended sentence and the fine imposed on the company were unaltered. Giving judgment in the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Alan Mahon said the profits made as a result of the unlawful activity were, in the words of the sentencing judge, modest. Equally, he said the customers affected, or potentially affected, by the unlawful cartel activity were relatively few and, in general, confined to large corporations or businesses. Mr Justice Mahon said the Court of Appeal was satisfied that the fine of 7,500 imposed on Smith was not just lenient but was unduly lenient. Smith was in reality the person who orchestrated, authorised and conducted the criminal behaviour in question. In the Court of Appeals view a fine of 7,500 was unduly lenient. The fine should have reflected more closely the actual financial gain accruing from the activity which was in the region of 31,000. Mr Justice Mahon, who sat with President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice John Edwards, said the court would impose a 45,000 fine on Smith with six months to pay. Mr Justice Mahon said Smith was, for all practial purposes, in control of Aston Carpets at the time of the offences. While Smith made no identifiable personal gain, there was clearly an element of indirect gain for him in that his personal prosperity benefitted from the prosperity of the company. After parting company, the judge said Aston Carpets now faced considerable liability of having to pay a substantial fine in circumstances where its current owners and shareholders were in no way responsible for the criminal conduct in question. Mr Justice Mahon said the court was satisfied that the 10,000 fine imposed on Aston Carpets was appropriate and within the judges discretion. The undue leniency application in respect of the company was therefore dismissed. Smith suspended sentence was not interfered with and Aston Carpets fine of 10,000 remained unaltered. Giving background, Mr Justice Mahon said Smith, acting as a director and manager of Aston Carpets ltd, implemented and engaged in an anti-competitive agreement with David Radburn, the operator of another flooring company, Carpet Centre (Contract) Ltd. Smith made the initial approach, which subsequently led to the anti-competitive agreement, to Mr Radburn in early 2011. Both companies were said to be the two major carpet and flooring companies operating in the area of Dublin at the time. It was alleged that over the course of approximately two years, Aston Carpets and Carpet Centre shared tendering information with each other in relation to sixteen separate open market tenders for carpeting contracts. It was alleged that they agreed in advance which of the two companies would be given commercial advantage in relation to each particular tender. That ensured that the company nominated as the favourite for a particular contract would render a lower price for the same work than the tender from the company agreed to be the loser. In the course of this unlawful activity, the companies shared confidential and price sensitive information. The second count in respect of Smith arose from evidence that in an effort to frustrate or impede the investigation and prosecution of the anti-competitive offences, Smith avtively sought Mr Radburn to delete relevant emails. It was alleged that the parties implemented and engaged in anti-competitive agreements in relation to sixteen successfully tendered transactions, with an average contract price of 137,000. The total value of tenders won by Carpet Centre was 617,675 while the value of bids said to have been won by Aston Carpets was 758,221. Two of the largest contracts related to to the multi-national companies Pay Pal, Dell and Google. They made bids for other contracts but were unsuccessful. The practice ended on April 30, 2013 when the Commission, assisted by gardai, raided the offices of both companies. Mr Radburn was granted immunity by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in return for his co-operation in the investigation. There has been no relationship between Smith and Aston Carpets since 2014. The Downtown Portlaoise business group has paid tribute to the late Pat Miller as the backbone of the town's business community for more than four decades. Matthew Kennelly is Chairman of the group which represents traders in Portlaoise of which Pat was an active member. "We are all very saddened at Downtown Portlaoise by the news of the death of Pat Miller this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this very sad time," he said. Mr Kennelly said the businessman, who died on Wednesday after a short illness and ran Miller's Hardware for many years, has been missed. "We have all been missing Pat from the town for the past few months and now to hear this tragic turn of events, is very upsetting. "He has been the backbone of the business community here in Portlaoise town centre for over 40 years and was a respected businessman within our whole community. "He always gave generously of his time and money to whatever was asked of him, to the betterment of our town. "He will be sadly missed," concluded Mr Kennelly. Ger Mulhall of Mulhall's SuperValu and Downtown Portlaoise also paid tribute. "Pat will be sadly missed in the town and missed amongst his fellow traders. Pat always bore a smile be it hail, rain or sunshine. A pure gentleman. My thoughts are with Patsy and family," he said. READ MORE FRIEND AND FELLOW BUSINESSMAN PAYS TRIBUTE TO PAT FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS Laois native Gary Dunne and his good friend and global superstar Ed Sheeran organised a unique fundraising event at the London Irish Centre this week and raised a quarter of a million pounds. On Tuesday evening, Ed Sheeran played to an intimate crowd compared to his recent sell out stadium tour with only 400 people in the audience. The event was organised by Gary Dunne who was bron and bred in Portlaoise. He is Head of Culture at the London Irish Centre in Camden and he is a well respected musician. Speaking on RTE news on Tuesday evening, multi Grammy award winner Ed Sheeran, praised Gary for being the first person he ever saw using a loop pedal. The loop pedal that I use, Gary was the first person that I saw use a loop pedal and I got him to play a gig at my house when I was 15 and it was like if you come over my friends will all buy your CD so he came round and then he taught me how to use a loop pedal and we have been friends ever since then, Ed said. Gary who is also an accomplished musician told RTE News that he has set out to reimagine and develop a new plan for the London Irish Centre with the help of Ed Sheeran. "The community that we serve here are as diverse as the Irish are in Ireland. We deal with older Irish people who have been here since the 1950s and we deal with people who have just arrived off a Ryanair flight so it really is a broad mix," he said. The X Factor presenter, Dermot O'Leary, also performed on Tuesday night. He is a well known DJ and his parents are Irish. Speaking on RTE News he also supported the centre. "It feels like somewhere that has a great sense of its own heritage and a very proud sense of the Irish in London. It is very much looking to the future and is as inclusive as it possible could be, he said. Some tickets to the gig were given in a lottery to those who donated over 10 to the centre before Christmas while most tickets were bought via corporate sponsors with dedicated fans paying up to 500 to gain access. Gary took to Twitter after the event to say that the night raised a quarter of a million for the London Irish Centre. So, we raised a quarter of a million last night! And announced our plans to redevelop the #LondonIrishCentre as a world-class Irish community and cultural centre. What a few years we have ahead.#LondonIrishCentre #GlobalIreland pic.twitter.com/DvoHux11mj Gary Dunne (@GaryDunne) June 20, 2018. Grammy award winner Ed Sheeran is playing at the London Irish Centre tonight as part of a major fundraising initiative - @mitchefi reports. pic.twitter.com/JTjkdK3oSR RTE News (@rtenews) June 19, 2018 Ed Sheeran also has Irish roots as his 93 year old grandmother Anne "Nancy" Sheeran is from Wexford. Ed's song 'Nancy Mulligan' on his latest album, Divide, is a nod to his Irish grandparents. The Irish London Centre works with all kinds of Irish people in London from people who arrive and need advice to people who have been in London for over 50 years. The centre offers advice, embraces Irish culture, language and community. Pictured at Emo Court Drawing Room for an afternoon of Music and Poetry during the Laois Leaves Festival 2017 were Gary Dunne, and his mother Denise Curtin Dunne, Paddy Moran, Karen J Mc Donnell, Seamus Hosey and Muireann Ni Chonaill Photo by Michael Scully. The Court of Appeal has directed the retrial of a man on charges relating to the operation of a hazardous landfill site after he was acquitted by direction of a trial judge. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was acquitted on counts of holding or disposing of waste in a manner that caused or was likely to cause environmental pollution and disposing of or undertaking the recovery of waste otherwise than in accordance with a waste license. He was acquitted by direction of the trial judge Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in 2015. The Director of Public Prosecutions successfully appealed the man's acquittal in January on a point of law under Section 23 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2010. The Court of Appeal ruled itself satisfied today, Wednesday, June 20, that the mans acquittal should be quashed and that a retrial was in the interests of justice. President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham remanded the matter back to the Circuit Court for Monday next. The three-judge court heard that the trial judges ruling came down to the statutory interpretation of what a manager or officer in a company is and that a criminal statute has to be crystal clear about who it captures. The man's defence was that he was a consultant to the relevant company. Counsel for the DPP, Alex Owens SC, said the man had an expertise in environmental matters. He said the man allowed himself to be held out in environmental matters as a director of the company which managed and controlled the subsidiary company licensed to operate the landfill site. Mr Owens submitted a number of documentary exhibits which, he said, demonstrated the role the man had in the relevant company. The documents showed, Mr Owens said, that the man held himself out as a policy maker and as somebody who instructed others. He was the person with whom the Environmental Protection Agency interfaced in relation to the facility. He said the man was writing letters on behalf of the company which indicated a badge of managerial capacity. He was in effect acting as a director of the company in an executive fashion, Mr Owens said. Really, he's at the heart of it, Mr Owens said, submitting that it should have been for the jury to determine who the manager of a company is and who isnt. Qaushing the acquittal in January, Mr Justice Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards, said the trial judge was in error in focusing his attention on whether there was evidence the man had the capacity to direct the whole of the affairs of the company and the power and responsibility to decide corporate strategy. He said the real question was whether the man was functioning as a senior manager, having functional responsibility for a significant part of the company's activities and having direct responsibility for the area in controversy, namely the management of the waste site in question. Two of Ireland's finest songwriters and performers, Clive Barnes and Luan Parle will perform a double headline show at The Riverbank in Newbridge tomorrow night, June 21 as part of June Fest. The show will be opened by teenagers from local schools performing original compositions written with Luan during her recent songwriting workshops with the groups. Tickets are priced and 15 euros and can be purchased from The Riverbank Arts Centre and online at www.riverbank.ie Luan and Clive have for many years been gaining an international reputation as solo performers. For the past three years they have been performing together to sold out audiences across Ireland, US and Europe. SEE ALSO: Free self defence classes for women in Clane and Maynooth Meteor & Tatler Award winner Luan Parle has had numerous hits and accolades. Her top 10 hit single 'Ghost' spent three months in the Irish Charts and was the most played Irish single of that year. She signed her first record deal at just 12 years of age and has written and recorded with some of the worlds most successful songwriters and producers including Grammy award winning Bill Bottrell (Sheryl Crowe, Michael Jackson, Prince, Travelling Wilburys, Elton John) and Billy Steinberg (Madonna, Roy Orbison, Cyndi Lauper, The Pretenders, Whitney Houston, The Bangles, Celine Dion). Parle signed with Elton Johns Management Company Twenty First Artists and opened for Elton three nights at the London Hammersmith Apollo. Signing to Sony Records. Roll The Dice was a Luan's last EP release with 3 single releases from the EP titled 'Day Is Done', 'Roll The Dice' & You're Not Here. All single releases topped the iTunes Chart, with 'Day Is Done' peaking at no. 8 in the Irish Airplay Charts & no.35 in the overall airplay charts, reaching an audience of almost 8 million listeners. Parle released her critically acclaimed album 'Free' in 2007. To date she has released three studio albums and is currently working on her latest material due for release in 2018. Clive Barnes is highly regarded as one of the finest performers on the roots circuit and has been gaining a worldwide reputation as one of the finest songwriters and guitarists on today's scene. Having released four critically acclaimed albums of his own, he has played and recorded with some of the finest musicians on the world stage including Joe Cocker, Taj Mahal and Eric Bibb and also shared stages with Dr John, Jeff Beck, Solomon Burke, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and Gary Clark Jr to name but a few. Barnes has played numerous US, UK and European Tours and taken various awards, Including Album of the Year for Welcome to Farewell in the US magazine Acoustic Guitar'. His new album 'Get Low' is due for release early 2018. Clive will accompany Luan on stage for what promises to be a very special night of music and an opportunity to see both these performers together. Ballinamore GP, Dr Sean Bourke has severely criticised the terrible delays his patients encounter with ambulance services. In the past six months he has had two patients who had to endure extremely long delays for ambulances, despite Cavan General Hospital only being a 35 minute drive away. Also read: Ambulance service at breaking point in Leitrim A 91 year old patient of his was over six hours waiting on an ambulance and just last week a seriously ill patient had a five hour delay in getting to hospital. Dr Bourke had called the ambulance at 2.50pm on June 11 and the 69 year old lady did not arrive in hospital until almost 8pm. Dr Bourke said this patient was very sick and needed immediate hospitalisation. The lady lives alone and had no family around. When Dr Bourke heard about the issues in this case he tried to call Ambulance Control, but could not get through to speak to anyone. It is also understood an ambulance got lost on a call to Ballinamore on Saturday, June 16 that resulted in long delay. The doctor told the Leitrim Observer a lot of the time there are no local ambulances and they must wait for an ambulance from Donegal. Dr Bourke also stated for the Ballinamore area the most common wait for an ambulance to arrive is two and a half to three hours. While many in the Ballinamore area resort to driving to Cavan General Hospital rather than call an ambulance, there is a risk attached to that. If something was to happen on the journey no one is trained medically to deal with the situation. Also in Casualty, ambulances are given priority over walk ins. Helen Breen Medical Secretary at Dr Bourke's Surgery Ballinamore did say there is a different protocol for heart attacks. The surgery recently had an elderly patient who came in with severe chest pains. This information was relayed to Ambulance Control and a helicopter was issued. The wait in this case was under one hour. Cllr Caillian Ellis has asked Deputy Eamon Scanlon to highlight the ongoing problems with ambulance delay with the Minister for Health in the Dail. Speaking to the paper, yesterday, Cllr Ellis said, The only way this is going to be solved is for the HSE is to put two ambulances back into service in Carrick-on-Shannon. At the moment there is only one ambulance in service in Carrick-on-Shannon and that ambulance can be called out to an emergency in Galway or Mayo, leaving the area without ambulance cover. We are then faced with a situation that other ambulances have to come from Monaghan or Donegal to deal with emergencies here in Leitrim. The distance is simply too far and the delays are unacceptable. It is not the fault of the ambulance staff. The blame for this lies directly with the HSE and its ongoing failure to adequately staff and resource this very important service. What happened last Saturday in Ballinamore and earlier this month shows how the system has completely broken down. No one should have to wait four, five or even six hours for an ambulance to arrive in an emergency situation. Cllr Ellis said that the failure to provide adequate staffing levels is leading to incredibly high levels of stress for ambulance crews and is also endangering the lives of patients. In the case earlier this month where a woman had to wait over four hours for an ambulance to arrive to bring her to a hospital only 35 or 40 minutes down the road, that woman had a serious illness that required surgery within 24 hours of her arriving in hospital. It is not acceptable that this lady had to wait for so many hours in distress and in severe pain, he said. The HSE has got a lot to answer for, he concluded. When contacted about the issues in ambulance delay to South Leitrim, the only HSE reponse was "The National Ambulance Service cannot comment on individual cases." Two landmark degree programmes that were introduced at IT Sligo last year a BA (Hons) in English & Psychology and a BA (Hons) in Sociology & Politics are allowing students in the North West to study closer to home. As the Change of Mind deadline of July 1 closing date draws closer, IT Sligo is reminding students that it is the only Institute of Technology in the country to provide these courses. They were introduced in response to the growing demand for Humanities degrees. The three-year courses provide smaller class sizes allowing students closer attention from and more access to lecturers. Both combine practice and scholarship in imaginative and innovative ways providing opportunities to progress into many careers including public and voluntary sector, national and local government, arts management and community development. Both degrees are aligned to the Teaching Council of Ireland and are suitable foundations for postgraduate teaching qualifications. A wide range of Masters pathways are available In the BA in Sociology & Politics course, subjects covered include growing income equality, cultural differences, Brexit, Black Lives Matter, humans and technology and the age of mass migration. In the BA in English and Psychology course, areas covered include feminist novelists, educational drama, popular theatre studies, intercultural literature, child development, personality, social relationships and mental health. Dr Breda McTaggart, Head of Department of Social Sciences at IT Sligo, said, "With the Change of Mind date coming up soon, IT Sligo is urging local students to consider these courses which are providing quality education on their doorstep. We have two quality courses in the Humanities that are comparable to any available in the university sector and we have lecturers at the cutting edge of these disciplines, actively researching and publishing in their fields. "The provision of these courses provides a more accessible gateway to the study of humanities in the North West as people previously had to travel long distances to find courses like these. Now, Humanities degree opportunities are available closer to home and are delivered by a well-known and experienced lecturing team. "There is also the financial considerations as the cost of accommodation and living in Sligo is much lower that Dublin, Cork or Galway. We have small classroom sizes but fabulous facilities and top-class lecturers. We are delighted to offer this exciting opportunity in the North West region." Both programmes would appeal to students who have a curiosity about the world and its people. Read Also: World Cycling Adventure in North Leitrim A Manorhamilton man who has helped raise tens of thousands of euro for the worlds poorest people has been honoured by Irelands largest aid agency Concern Worldwide. George Hewitt (59) from Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, received an Outstanding Commitment Award at the 2018 Concern Volunteer Awards in Dublin for the fundraising work he and his family have done. The father of five, who has seven grandchildren, began collecting for Concern about 30 years ago and took over the coordination of collections for the aid agency in Manorhamilton from his mother-in-law Rose McPadden. George, who works for car parts manufacturer, MCI, said his family and friends help with collections for the annual Fast fundraising campaign and for other collections throughout the year, which has resulted in them raising close to 50,000. The Concern volunteer said the suffering of millions of people around the world due to hunger, displacement and other major problems keeps Manorhamiltons volunteers focused on raising as much funds as possible. You watch the news and you see what is going on in other parts of the world and it really gets to me, he said. Reading and seeing what is going on drives me to want to do something to help. George was highly praised by Concerns Chief Executive, Dominic MacSorley at the award ceremony, which he attended with his wife Margaret and daughter Mellissa. George supports Concern with a very positive attitude and hopes his children will take over in years to come to continue the Concern tradition in his family, said Mr MacSorley. Concerns Volunteer Awards was created five years ago to celebrate the vital contribution made by the aid agencys volunteers in Ireland which helps fund the organisations overseas work that last year alone saw 27 million of the worlds poorest people reached in 27 countries. Concern was formed by volunteers 50 years ago in 1968 as part of a major humanitarian response to the Biafran famine in Nigeria caused by civil war a milestone that is being marked this year by the organisation at a number of events around the country. More information about Concern, its history, its work and how to donate can be found on its website www.concern.net. Read Also: North West musicians collaborate in order to help 'Stop Suicide' Manorhamilton LifeStyle The best Lifestyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel Lifestyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Shaynna Blaze and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand. An enigmatic animal from the Cambrian period had an opening at one end with a circle of bristly spines. A "nude" sponge-like animal with no organs and just one orifice that lived 500,000 years ago is offering compelling new clues about a bizarre group of ancient creatures. Though it somewhat resembles a sponge, the newcomer now called Allonnia nuda belonged to the now-extinct chancelloriids. Like sponges, they lived attached to the ocean bottom, and their bodies were generally covered with spines. However, this newfound species of chancelloriid was "naked," with spines that were much smaller and revealed more of the body surface than is typical for the group, researchers reported in a new study. The findings suggest that chancelloriids followed a growth pattern similar to sponges and may have more in common with sponges than previously thought, study co-authors Peiyun Cong, a professor at Yunnan University in China, and Tom Harvey, a lecturer at the University of Leicester in the U.K., told Live Science in an email. [Cambrian Creatures Gallery: Photos of Primitive Sea Life] Tubular and spiky Animals that lived during the Cambrian period half a billion years ago are known for being a little weird. During this time of explosive diversity, many bizarre forms emerged. There were enormous, shrimp-like predators; sea creatures encased in bladed armor; filament-covered comb jellies; and eyeless swimmers with figure-8-shaped bodies. The researchers unearthed six fossil specimens of A. nuda from a site known for preserving a rich diversity of such Cambrian life the Chengjiang site in Yunan province in southern China. The fossils had symmetrical, tubular bodies that were tapered toward the bottom and had an opening at the top; tiny, upward-pointing spines studded the creature's surface, and its single orifice was circled by a beard-like ring of spikes, the study authors reported. A. nuda's tubular body was studded with spines, and doughnut-shaped scars mark where spines once grew (Image credit: Derek Siveter/Tom Harvey/Peiyun Cong) Based on the biggest specimen, which was incomplete, the researchers determined that the creature could grow as long as about 20 inches (50 centimeters). This is much bigger than its fellow chancelloriids, which typically top out at 8 inches (20 cm) long, according to the study. The scientsts soon found that the new species and the chancelloriid group had even more in common with sponges than prior studies had indicated. A. nuda's small, sparse spines offered an unprecedented view of the chancelloriid's body, emphasizing that their bodies, like sponges, were simple and hollow, with only a single opening, Cong and Harvey wrote in the email. But it also hinted at something else a ring-shaped "growth zone" at one end of the animal, where all its new spines would emerge. This body growth pattern, only known in some modern sponges, would represent a biological feature shared only by sponges and chancelloriids, suggesting more complex similarities between the two than were previously described, Cong and Harvey said. Evolutionary connections Chancelloriids and other "Cambrian oddballs" ancient animals from this period that don't fit neatly into the tree of life can be puzzling to classify, but they also provide important clues about evolutionary relationships between animal groups, Cong and Harvey told Live Science in an email. "The power of fossils is they show us direct evidence for animals that lived close in time to major transitions in evolution. It's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, with the 'odd' fossils equally important, but just more difficult to fit into place," they said. For example, two bizarre Cambrian creatures Anomalocaris and Hallucigenia, which once seemed impossible to interpret helped scientists to understand how arthropods evolved, "telling us about the early history of the group that today includes spiders, shrimps and beetles," Cong and Harvey said. "In time, the hope is that groups such as chancelloriids will be similarly important in reconstructing the earlier stages of animal evolution, which is a rather more difficult prospect," they said. The findings were published online today (June 19) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Original article on Live Science. A woman in Russia found a lump on her face that turned out to be a parasitic worm crawling under her skin. The lump first appeared under the woman's eye (Panel A), and then moved above her eye (Panel B), before migrating to her upper lip (Panel C). Doctors surgically removed the worm (Panel D). When a woman in Russia noticed a small lump under her left eye, she snapped a selfie to document the unusual bulge. Then, something even stranger happened: The lump moved. In a series of selfies, the woman tracked the mysterious lump as it moved across her face. Five days after she first noticed the lump, it migrated to above her left eye. Then, 10 days later, it moved to her upper lip. Soon after the lump's latest migration, the 32-year-old woman went to an eye doctor, who also observed a "superficial moving oblong nodule at the left upper eyelid" in other words, a lump according to a new report of the case, published today (June 20) in The New England Journal of Medicine. It turned out that the woman had an infection with a type of parasitic worm called Dirofilaria repens. These thread-like worms naturally infect dogs, cats, foxes and other wild mammals, and typically live in the tissue under the skin, according to a 2011 report of a similar case. Humans are "accidental" hosts in other words, not where the worms want to end up and once a worm gets into a human, it typically can't reproduce. [8 Awful Parasite Infections That Will Make Your Skin Crawl] The worms are spread by mosquito bites, and human cases have been reported in parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, the 2011 report said. The Russian woman said she had recently traveled to a rural area outside Moscow and was frequently bitten by mosquitoes, according to the new report. Dr. Vladimir Kartashev, a professor of medicine at the Rostov State Medical University in Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, who treated the Russian patient, said that since 1997, there have been more than 4,000 human cases of this infection in Russia and Ukraine. And human cases have been on the rise in recent years. According to a 2015 study by Kartashev and colleagues that reviewed data on Dirolaria cases in Russia and Belarus, the number of reported cases increased from eight in 1997 to nearly 200 cases in 2012. In addition, during the 16-year study period, the disease "spread" northward, with people becoming infected at higher latitudes in 2013 than in 1997. In humans, the parasitic infection usually shows up as lumps beneath the skin, and sometimes, the lumps or rather, the worms move around. According to a 2014 study of more than 200 cases of D. repens infection in Russia (which were documented over a 17-year period), doctors observed the worm moving in about 35 percent of patients. Some patients reported "a feeling of 'crawling' under the skin," that 2014 study said. As horrifying as this sounds, the treatment is relatively simple: Surgically removing the worm can cure the infection, according to the new report. Indeed, the Russian woman had the worm removed and made a full recovery, the report said. Original article on Live Science. A statue of Otzi the iceman mummy, whose body was discovered in 1991 by hikers in the Italian Alps. Days before his violent murder in the Italian Alps about 5,300 years ago, Otzi the iceman re-sharpened his tools, likely with his right hand, according to a new analysis of the cut marks on his belongings. However, that may not mean the iceman was sharpening his tools because he was anticipating a fight especially because he hadn't recently re-sharpened his dagger or other weapons, the researchers in the new analysis said. "I can't say" whether he was preparing for a fight, study co-researcher Ursula Wierer, an archaeologist at Soprintendenza Archeology, an office within the Italian ministry, told Live Science. "But I think he re-sharpened them because maybe he had some work in mind [that he wanted] to do with these modified tools." [Mummy Melodrama: Top 9 Secrets About Otzi the Iceman] There are few mummies as well-studied as Otzi the iceman. The roughly 45-year-old man sustained a head injury and an artery-piercing arrow in his shoulder when he died sometime between 3370 B.C. and 3100 B.C., during the Copper Age. Hikers discovered his preserved, frozen body in the Alps in northern Italy in 1991, and since then, scientists have intensely studied Otzi's body and belongings. Their work has revealed that Otzi had a litany of health problems, including a heart attack waiting to happen, arthritis, bad teeth, lactose intolerance and a possible case of Lyme disease. However, scientists had yet to do a deep dive into Otzi's tool kit which included a dagger, an end scraper, a borer, a flake, an antler retoucher and two arrowheads (plus the arrowhead still embedded in his shoulder) so Wierer and her colleagues stepped up to the plate. Researching such ancient, delicate items was challenging; the scientists had just a few days to examine each of the tools using high-powered microscopes and computed tomography (CT) scans, Wierer said. After that, they had a mountain of data to analyze. A possible timeline of Otzi's last days. (Image credit: 2018 Wierer et al.) As part of their exhaustive investigation, Wierer and her colleagues examined the type of chert a hard, dark rock made of silica that made up many of Otzi's tools. They found that the chert came from at least three locations: outcrops in Trentino, Italy, located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away; rocky places in southwestern Trentino, up to 47 miles (75 km) away; and possibly the Trento Plateau, situated at least 43 miles (70 km) away. Given the sheer distance between these locations and Otzi's likely home in the Vinschgau Valley located in the modern-day province of South Tyrol, Italy it's possible that Otzi or his contemporaries traded with people from different regions, Wierer said. "Maybe he did not trade himself, but he [had] some kind of contact with people who traded," Wierer said. Moreover, an analysis of the cut marks on the tools, as well as the shape of the tools themselves, indicated that Otzi's belongings incorporated features from two cultures: The arrowheads were typical of the northern Italian tradition, while the end scraper looked like blade tools from the Swiss and southern German lake dwellings of the Horgen culture, the researchers said. Other studies show that there was trade of chert daggers from northern Italy to southern Germany and to Switzerland during the Copper Age. And the copper from Otzi's ax hailed from what is present-day Tuscany in central Italy, Live Science previously reported. "I think we have to imagine that the trade at the time was already quite far-reaching for certain raw materials and certain products," Wierer said. [Album: A New Face for Otzi the Iceman Mummy] Otzi's tools, including the (a) dagger, (b) endscraper, (c) borer, (d, e) arrowheads and (f) small flake. (Image credit: 2018 Wierer et al.) Right handed Nearly all of Otzi's tools had been reworked or re-sharpened over the years, the researchers found. But two artifacts the oval-shaped end scraper, likely used for cutting plants or working animal hides, and the borer, likely used for boring holes in material such as wood had been freshly modified, likely by Otzi himself, Wierer said. The newer modifications had an opaque patina and didn't show signs of wear, she noted. In addition, it's likely that Otzi was right-handed, as shown by an analysis of wear traces on the chert tools, the researchers said. However, given that Otzi had a cut on his right hand when he died, it's unlikely that he had re-sharpened his tools in the days immediately before his death, said Albert Zink, head of the Institute for Mummy Studies at Eurac Research in Italy, who was not involved with the study. As for Otzi being right-handed, "his body is a bit more developed on the right side, so it makes perfect sense," Zink told Live Science. Zink also praised the researchers from the new study for underlining the connections Otzi had with other cultures. The study was published online today (June 20) in the journal PLOS One. Original article on Live Science. A Honduran two-year-old cries as her mother is searched near the U.S.-Mexico border by U.S. Border Patrol agents on June 12, 2018. They were detained after rafting across the Rio Grande from Mexico. Doctors and researchers alike are warning that a great deal of psychological harm can occur when young children are separated from their parents and denied comforting hugs from caregivers. The outcry from pediatric experts comes after several weeks of the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy, which has resulted in the separation of around 2,000 migrant children from their parents between April 19 and May 31, according to a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. [5 Ways to Foster Self-Compassion in Your Child] On Wednesday (June 20), President Trump signed an executive order ending the policy of child separations, which will instead lead to detaining asylum seekers together as a family (unless they find a reason that detaining a child with his or her family will pose a risk to that child). This comes after many statements issued opposing this practice of separating families, and stories written about the horrors it has inflicted on children. Even so, the thousands who were already separated from their families may already have lasting impacts from the trauma. Recently, Dr. Colleen Kraft, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), visited such a center in Texas, where young children, ages 12 and under, were held. "I was told that you couldn't comfort or hold a crying child," Kraft told "CBS This Morning." And according to NPR, a shelter employee in Arizona supposedly quit after being told to separate hugging siblings. So, how can this absence of physical touch hugs, hand-holding, comforting affect children? Not being physically held can raise stress hormones in infants, according to Lori Evans, an assistant professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health. "A lot of what we know about this is from kids raised in orphanages," she said. "If they're very young and left without touch for a while, they have a higher stress level," she said. The levels of a stress hormone like cortisol remain higher than normal, even after children are brought back to their family, she added. Other hormones, like oxytocin and vasopressin, which are really important for emotional and social bonding, are often lower in infants who don't experience physical touch, like hugs from caregivers, according to Evans. The same may hold true for older children, though not much research has focused on this age group with respect to physical comfort. "When you see little kids, they are always asking for hugs; they're hugging one another; they're sitting on laps," she said. [25 Scientific Tips For Raising Happy (& Healthy) Kids] Touch is also important in terms of "bonding" with caregivers early in life and then growing up "to have normal and good relationships with other people," said Dr. Ranna Parekh, a child psychiatrist and the director of the Division of Diversity and Health Equity at the American Psychiatric Association. The way this zero-tolerance policy was being carried out not only tore these children from the physical comfort of their parents' arms, but also left them feeling alone in the world, she said. "These are kids who had not only traumatic separation, but then they don't have access to something that would relieve that stress, which is touch [from] a caregiver," Parekh said. " I would think a caregiver [at the detention facilities] who's experienced at knowing how to provide touch is much better than having no one." (Even so, according to news accounts, those caregivers were forbidden from comforting the detained children.) The Shadow of Trauma on the Brain Doctors and psychologists agree that this traumatic situation can have long-lasting psychological effects. "Most mental, emotional and behavioral disorders have their roots in childhood and adolescence and childhood trauma has emerged as a strong risk factor for later suicidal behavior," according to a statement released today (June 20) by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. "Parents' impact on their children's well-being may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is developing rapidly and when nearly all of her or his experiences are shaped by parents and the family environment," the statement read. "I would say, at the very least, many of them are at high risk of acute stress disorder, which is something that happens within a month of time and can lead to essentially a potential precursor to PTSD," Parekh added. As adults who have experienced both positive and negative aspects of life, we know that "the world is not so black and white, we can understand gray a little bit," she said. But these are children who haven't yet experienced life, and what these traumatic separations are telling them is that the "world is not a safe place to be in." This could leave them with a more permanent image of what the world is like an image "that will incredibly impact their relationships moving forward with others and the world around them," she added. Originally published on Live Science. (BEGIN ITAL)Andrew Sean Greer is the author of "Less," one of the funniest novels in recent memory - and this year's winner of the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. It's about a heartbroken writer who accepts invitations from around the world to avoid going to his former boyfriend's wedding. During a recent appearance at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., Greer talked about the problems with categorizing novels. He said that eventually, "the idea of having a gay fiction section is going to feel like nonsense." There are readers right now, he said, "who already don't identify as gay or straight, or male or female, and I'm excited by that future." But he went on to acknowledge that we're not there yet. To celebrate Pride Month, I asked Greer what books were important to him as a young man. (END ITAL) --- These were books that meant a lot to me when I was coming out, but remember, I came out in 1989! We thought the worst thing in the world was George H.W. Bush. So forgive the male-centric list, and take it with a grain of Vogue-era Madonna: "Blue Heaven" by Joe Keenan (1988) This was the first book I ever read where being gay seemed fun. Nobody is in existential angst. Instead, it's an absurd farce by a future writer of "Frasier." The plot is about a con job on the Mafia and the Duchess, and that's what I wanted my life to be! So far, I've gotten pretty close. Thank you, Joe Keenan! "Giovanni's Room" by James Baldwin (1956) Another classic of high literary style taking on the new subject of love between men. Wonderfully depressing when listening to the Smiths after being dumped. "Tales of the City" by Armistead Maupin (1978) Speaking of which: I loaned this to my first boyfriend, who never said he loved me. He returned it long after we broke up, and I reread it maybe a year later. He had written in the margin: "I wanted to tell you here, because I am too shy, how much I love you." I still have that book. "The Portable Dorothy Parker" by Dorothy Parker (1944; revised several times) There was never anybody wittier. Her stories have not aged well, but her book and theater reviews are so cruel and funny you will gasp! Ninety years later, the plays have faded from memory, but her reviews of them are classics of taste and wit. And I needed that back then. "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1985) Books don't have to be "gay" to be inspiring - and this one is beautiful and passionate, about love lasting over decades of waiting. I learned about love from books by heterosexuals. So it doesn't surprise me when heterosexuals learn about love from us. The Shepherd's Hut By Tim Winton Farrar Straus Giroux. 267 pp. $26 --- Tim Winton's new novel hovers between a profane confession and a plea for help. A distinctly Down Under story by this most Australian writer, "The Shepherd's Hut" is almost too painful to read, but also too plaintive to put down. The narrator is Jaxie Clackton, a troubled teenage boy who lost his mother to cancer and suffered years of beatings from his drunken father. Jaxie has fantasized about killing his old man for so long that when he finds him dead in the garage, he panics: "They'll say I kicked the jack out from under the roo bar and crushed his head like a pig melon," Jaxie thinks. "It all points to me." Convinced he'll be pursued by the police, Jaxie grabs a few supplies - including a gun - and runs north toward the salt lakes of Western Australia: "Pushing. Hauling. Going." It's not a bad plan except for the high likelihood of dying somewhere over thousands of square miles of desert, "the kind of country that'd boil your insides dry in a day." But somehow Jaxie survives, and so what follows is a strange picaresque tale: Huck Finn on a moonscape. It's disappointing that Winton isn't better known in this country (Australians revere him as a "living treasure.") He's been writing for more than 35 years and been shortlisted twice for the Booker Prize. But perhaps for American readers, nothing attracts interest like actually living here, the way his fellow Australian novelists Geraldine Brooks and Peter Carey do. A movie based on his 2008 surfer novel "Breath" opened earlier this month, but the tepid reviews seem unlikely to inspire Winton mania in the United States. So be it. Winton still remains in Western Australia, where he was born, and that long experience with the place and the language is baked deep into his prose. "The Shepherd's Hut" rises out of this punishing landscape, "a place so empty a fella's thoughts come back from it as echoes." Winton dots that terrain with kurrajongs and kangaroos and abandoned mine shafts. "Everything you saw and touched out there looked like tetanus waiting to bite your arse," Jaxie says. What's even more hypnotic than this deadly territory is Jaxie's alternately proud and woeful voice, which Winton captures in a thick Australian accent spiked with slang and curses. Starving, dehydrated and often ill, the boy keeps stumbling across the arid ground as his thoughts spin back over the violence he's suffered and - sometimes - committed. "Some nights there was so much feeling in me head I was glad it couldn't get out," Jaxie says. "You could burn a skyscraper down with the what's in me." From the moment he grabs your attention, he's frightening and sympathetic, a wholly human creation by a writer who pushes hard on our ambivalence about aggressive adolescent males - these beings who are no longer children but not quite adults either. Whatever Jaxie is, he's a bracing figure of resilience, hardened by a home, a school and town all set against him. "I wasn't what everyone thought," he insists. "The thing with the teacher's car come out all wrong. And the business with the crossbow, that never ever happened." If too many contemporary novels strike you as effete and suburban, here's survivalist fiction at its rawest from a novelist who sometimes sounds as bleak as our own Cormac McCarthy. "I was sitting round starving to death," Jaxie says, before finally shooting a kangaroo and skinning it with a dull knife. But this tale of tooth and claw is deepened by Jaxie's abiding dignity. Fear of capture isn't really pushing him across these hundreds of miles so much as his determination to reach a young woman he loves. Even that chivalric quest, though, is complicated. Possibly hopeless. In fact, the tension between hope and hopelessness grows more taut in the second half of "The Shepherd's Hut." On his way north, Jaxie happens upon a corrugated iron cabin in which lives an old Irish priest named Fintan MacGillis. Jaxie would prefer to remain invisible, but he desperately needs water, and Father MacGillis desperately needs company. The relationship that develops between these two cagey outcasts is fraught with mystery and suspicion - and a degree of grudging affection that never slips into sentimentality. "He talked so ... much it was like a junkpile he chucked at you," Jaxie says. "You had to sort through all these bent up words." In the end, their words won't matter, true or not. This oasis of security in the desert is a mirage, as Jaxie always knew. The sun and the salt bleach everything away until these characters are stripped down to their essence. "What does that make me?" Jaxie asks. "Someone you won't see coming, that's what. Something you can't hardly imagine." Barbara Lynn recorded an enduring R&B hit that crossed onto the pop charts, had a song covered by one of rock 'n' roll's enduring giants and another sampled by a hip-hop icon. But even though the 76-year-old Beaumont native is known as the Empress of Gulf Coast Soul, Lynn doesn't always receive the wider attention she's earned as an inventive singer, songwriter and guitarist. That changed Wednesday when the National Endowment for the Arts announced Lynn was one of nine artists designated to receive a National Heritage Fellowship. Fellows are honored as those who carry on and contribute to art forms from their community. In Lynn's case, she was a crucial figure in a distinctive Gulf Coast R&B sound that touched on soul, blues and gospel. "It's wonderful that Miss Barbara Lynn is being honored in this way," said Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. "As well as being a brilliant guitar player Barbara has carried the torch of the Gulf Coast sound with genuine soulful sincerity." Lynn is best known for her 1962 hit "You'll Lose a Good Thing," which topped the R&B charts and reached No. 8 on the pop Top 40. Gibbons called the song "one of the most transcendent mood pieces in music history: both poignant and ominous at the same time." In 1965 her "Oh Baby (We Got a Good Thing Goin')" was covered by the Rolling Stones on their "Rolling Stones, Now!" album. And while Lynn at times showed indifference toward the music industry, her work has continued to circulate widely decades later, by a wide swath of musicians. Electronic artist Moby sampled Lynn's "I'm a Good Woman" for his 2002 song "Another Woman." And more prominently, Lil' Wayne used a sample from the same song on his 2013 track "Days and Days." The New Orleans rapper showcased Lynn's song prominently, opening his tune with Lynn's aching voice singing, "You leave your home for days and days ... " followed by the original song's blast of brass. Lynn's tale that runs through decades of popular music began with a case of dumb luck in east Texas. Self-made style The late, notorious producer Huey P. Meaux was a barber from Winnie, southwest of Beaumont, who wanted to get into the music business. He'd had some regional hits, but the country music singles he produced weren't selling. He moved into R&B and blues in the early-'60s. Somebody passed along a cassette of a singer named T-Baby Green. For a non-musician, Meaux's ears were sharp, and his attention was drawn not to Green's singing, but rather a voice that would bleed through the tape in between Green's songs. Green's demo had been taped over the original recording, and Meaux wanted to find that original singer. Turns out she was Barbara Lynn Ozen, a Beaumont teenager who'd been recommended to Meaux by swamp-pop singer Joe Barry. "I said, 'Who is this?' Her voice knocked me out," Meaux told the Chronicle. "I couldn't believe what I saw. She was 15. This girl playing great left-handed guitar. And she had one leg shorter than the other. For those reasons, nobody would sign her." Meaux told Lynn's mother if she could get Lynn to New Orleans, he could get studio time with the great producer Cosimo Matassa, whose session band included bassist Mac Rebennack, years before his reinvention as Dr. John. "I remember liking what I heard a lot," Dr. John told the Chronicle in 2013. "Though I also remember Huey did a lot of sessions and I didn't always get paid." Lynn was more forgiving of Meaux and his financial voodoo. Before he heard her voice on that tape, she hadn't really found a path to a career in music, even though she started early, as part of a singing group back in elementary school. STILL COUNTRY: Lacy J. Dalton makes music, and talks Nashville trash As a teen in the '50s she felt pulled to the guitar, which moved to the fore as R&B and early rock 'n' roll. She was self-taught, swiftly moving from ukulele to an acoustic guitar to her first electric, which she played upside down, pulling the high strings down from the top of the neck, rather than pushing them upward like right-handed players. Old footage of Lynn reveals a distinctive approach to the instrument, as she played with a thumb pick and brushed the strings with her other fingers. "As you'll notice I used my thumb as the drums," Lynn said. "I was trying to find my own style, and this is the style I came up with. I didn't have a drummer behind me, so I had to find a way to keep that beat continuously while I was playing." By high school she was playing R&B clubs around Beaumont. Her meeting with Meaux, though, turned Lynn's aspirations into a career. He recalled the first royalty check for "You'll Lose a Good Thing" as being $48,000. There was more to come: an appearance on "American Bandstand" and touring with top acts like Sam Cooke, B.B. King and Jackie Wilson. Essential sounds By 1968 Lynn should've crossed over to become a superstar. But she kept recording brilliant R&B singles that scratched the furthest reaches of the Billboard charts. Part of the problem was Meaux, who ran a formidable music empire out of Houston, but who was better at talent discovery than talent development. He was also a cunning bookkeeper. By getting Lynn to sign over her share of publishing for some of her songs, he also left her in the cold for potential income. By the 1970s, Lynn was raising children, and recorded only sporadically. She briefly lived in California in the '80s, before returning to her Beaumont home she bought with early royalties. She only released one album in the '80s, and a couple in the '90s. The last new recording she made was "Blues and Soul Situation" in 2004. But with her distinctive guitar playing and her voice still sweet, Lynn has for years been a beloved draw on the oldies circuit nationally, with a particularly fervent following in east Texas. "I grew up watching her at clubs and fairs as a kid," said Jesse Dayton, a singer-songwriter and guitarist from the same hometown. "Every band in Beaumont played 'You'll Lose a Good Thing.' She played this screaming blues and soul guitar. And what a soulful voice. Barbara's a national treasure." And the past 10 or so years have seen an uptick in recognition. In 2010 Beaumont renamed Ollie Street, where she kept that home for decades, Barbara Lynn Street. Her 1968 album "Here Is Barbara Lynn," originally released by Atlantic Records, was reissued four years ago by Light in the Attic, a prestige label that restores old, out-of-print classic recordings to vinyl. Quinn Bishop, owner of Cactus Music called that record "essential listening for fans of the genre." Still amazing The NEA Fellow designation is just the latest acknowledgment of Lynn's art. It comes with a cash award at the Sept. 26 ceremony, and she'll perform two days later at a concert for honorees in Washington, D.C. The honor, fittingly, is more about her contribution to culture than it is about cultural renown. When the NEA announced the first class of honorees in 1982, the list included Tejano legend and Houston native Lydia Mendoza. Other fellow recipients from this region include Texas City native and blues pianist Charles Brown and zydeco king Clifton Chenier, a Louisiana native who spent time in Port Arthur before settling in Houston's Frenchtown. Lynn's advocate was Sarah Rucker, who heard Lynn as a kid and then met her when Rucker worked for blues champion Clifford Antone in Austin in the 2000s. Rucker began working for Texas Folklife which is why she got a call in 2009 from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress about artists to play a show in Washington, D.C. A '90s ALT ROCKER AND A BACKYARD: Lou Barlow plays an intimate engagement "She was the first person on my list because she has this sound," Rucker said. "I don't know another artist that has that sound: She's blues, she's R&B she's soul. She's a Gulf Coast player, but not swamp pop or dance music.... I can't think of anyone more deserving. She's an icon of American music. And still an active one. Her voice and playing still sound amazing." Lynn said, "I have a few things going on, but nothing I'm at liberty to talk about just yet." Which is tantalizing, considering how long it's been since she released new music. Even if she hasn't released one of those lauded comeback albums that have become commonplace for aging musicians of note, Lynn's legacy was secured because she inspired other players, including women, to pick up a guitar. "She's just an incredibly soulful and important person and artist," Bonnie Raitt told the Chronicle last year. "She stood out because she was also a guitarist. But her music is so important to me and others." andrew.dansby@chron.com Many of us know someone affected by cancer. Unfortunately, cancer in the mammary glands (similar to breast cancer in humans) can also occur in both male and female dogs. In fact, mammary tumors are the most common type of tumor seen in intact (not spayed) female dogs. Dr. Brandan Wustefeld-Janssens, assistant professor of surgical oncology at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM), described some of the clinical signs of mammary tumors in dogs. The most common clinical finding is a firm, non-painful nodule associated with the mammary chain, Wustefeld-Janssens said. These nodules can range from very small to very large and may grow fast. Continued growth of bigger tumors can lead to the skin overlying the tumor to become thinned, which can cause the skin to ulcerate, bleed, and become infected. Tumors may also be swollen, hot, and painful to the touch. However, only about 50 percent of mammary tumors are cancerous, with a majority of these cases being carcinoma (arising from the lining of the ducts in the mammary gland), Wustefeld-Janssens said. Luckily, you can take preventative action to help lower your pups risk of developing a mammary tumor. Dr. Heather Wilson-Robles, associate professor of oncology at the CVM, said that spaying or neutering your pet before they have their first or second reproductive season is the most effective way of preventing mammary tumors in dogs. Regular checkups at the veterinarian is also a good way to protect your pet. Yearly physical examinations of both male and female animals should include careful palpation of the mammary chains, Wilson-Robles said. Any nodule should be further investigated; often, this would include some form of biopsy. We strongly recommend against a wait-and-see approachany mammary tumor that is growing rapidly or is swollen, hot, or painful should be seen by a veterinarian as soon as possible. The chances of a tumor being cancerous increases with age, so pay special attention to any abnormalities in your older pups mammary glands. If your dog does develop a tumor, surgery is the standard of care for mammary tumors. In cases where there is high risk of tumors reoccurring or spreading, radiation and chemotherapy may be used for treatment. We cant control the development of cancer, but we can learn the signs and symptoms of the disease and report any abnormalities to a veterinarian. Additionally, pet owners can help prevent mammary tumors by considering spaying and neutering their dog. Pet Talk is a service of the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University. Stories can be viewed on the Web at vetmed.tamu.edu/pettalk. Suggestions for future topics may be directed to editor@cvm.tamu.edu. Another facility intended for undocumented children is reportedly in the works for Houston as the number of children separated from their parents at the border continues to swell. Southwest Key Programs, the same contractor that operates the facility in South Texas where hundreds of undocumented children are being confined, plans to operate a new facility for children at a vacant warehouse in Houston's east downtown. The building's owner, 419 Hope Partners, confirmed to The Washington Post on Monday that Southwest Key recently signed a lease for the warehouse. The warehouse, at 419 Emancipation Ave., was previously used as a homeless shelter for women and children and most recently, from September 2017 to March 2018, as a shelter for Hurricane Harvey refugees. They slept in bunk beds in units designed for family living. "The property features individual living quarters each with a full bathroom, a commercial kitchen, an outdoor playground, a child care area, and other amenities," Hope Partners said in a statement. Southwest Key did not respond to requests for comment late Monday night seeking details, but it previously confirmed to the Houston Chronicle, which broke the news, that it planned to use the warehouse for housing immigrant children. "Over the years, we have housed many children under the age of 4 who were sent by [the federal government] to stay in our shelters without a parent, family member or guardian," Southwest Key spokeswoman Cindy Casares told the Chronicle in a statement. "While they stayed with us, we did the same thing we do for every child in our care. We worked to reunify them with family or sponsor as quickly as is safely possible." Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and other state and local officials have strongly opposed the plans for the new facility. Turner, who will have a news conference about the "proposed child immigration detention center" Tuesday afternoon, told local ABC affiliate KTRK, "I don't want in the city of Houston for us to participate in a policy that I think is morally bankrupt. This is not about party, not about Democrat or Republican, nothing about that. It's about valuing children." The mayor's spokesman, Alan Bernstein, told The Post that city permitting is still underway for Southwest Key at the warehouse and that it still must be licensed by the state as a child-care facility before it can open. About 2,000 children have been separated from their parents since the Trump administration announced its "zero-tolerance" policy in April. Under the policy, children are taken from their parents while the parents are jailed and prosecuted for illegal entry, a misdemeanor, and then taken to immigrant detention facilities to await deportation proceedings. Approximately 1,500 children are being held at the facility in Brownsville, Tex., an abandoned Walmart. The majority of children there are unaccompanied minors. The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement oversees dozens of shelters nationwide, some of which are operated by Southwest Key Programs. But as the administration continues to separate families at the border, capacity has become an issue, creating the need for more shelters. The Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that it is opening a temporary shelter in Tornillo, Texas, that is akin to a "tent city" because of the makeshift structures in which the government plans to keep the children. It has also seeking to house children on military bases. As images and audio of children crying for their parents has trickled out of the facilities, officials, lawmakers and political commentators on both sides of the aisle have broadly decried the administration's "zero tolerance" approach. - - - Editor's note: An earlier version of this story referred to the facility as a detention center. It is a shelter. Earlier versions of this article also incorrectly described conditions at shelter for immigrant children at the site of a converted Walmart in Brownsville, Texas. It is a processing facility in McAllen, Texas, not the shelter, that uses metal fencing to separate groups of detainees, including adults and children, and gives detainees mats to sleep on and large foil sheets to use as blankets. It has also been updated to reflect that the majority of children at the converted Walmart are unaccompanied minors, not children who have been separated from their parents after crossing the border. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have spoken out about the Trump administration's hard-line "zero-tolerance" immigration policy that has resulted in a sharp rise in children separated from their parents at the southern U.S. border. The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics has said it "amounts to child abuse." Church leaders have called it "immoral," with one reportedly suggesting "canonical penalties" for those involved. Former first ladies from both parties have called for it to end. And now, Corporate America's leaders are adding their voices to the growing chorus of critics denouncing the policy or calling for Congress to act. Speaking in Dublin on Tuesday morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook told the Irish Times that "it's heartbreaking to see the images and hear the sounds of the kids. Kids are the most vulnerable people in any society. I think that what's happening is inhumane, it needs to stop," he said. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg encouraged donations to the Texas Civil Rights Project, saying "we need to stop this policy right now," and made a donation of his own to another fundraiser. Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, an immigrant himself who is known for hiring refugees, tweeted that "separating a child from a mother or father is not political. It is inhumane. It is against everything this country stands for. I have seen it in other parts of the world but never thought I'd see it in the land of the free." More tech CEOs, including Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi, Twitter's Jack Dorsey and Google's Sundar Pichai weighed in with tweets, and Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky called for "an immediate end to the policy." Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein called it "tragic" while saying "it's easy to say what you would do if you didn't have to bear the consequences for what you decided." Business Roundtable immigration committee chair Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco Systems, said in a tweet that the practice was "cruel and contrary to American values." dara khosrowshahi tweeted "As a father, a citizen and an immigrant myself, the stories coming from our border break my heart. Families are the backbone of society. A policy that pulls them apart rather than building them up is immoral and just plain wrong." Observers who study the recent wave of "CEO activism," in which corporate leaders have spoken out on social issues such as gun control, gay rights or climate change, say Corporate America has been slower to respond to the current crisis than to past ones, but the "log jam" was broken on Tuesday. "It's no longer 'where are they,' it's 'what took them so long,' " said Michael Toffel, a Harvard Business School professor. "Now the risks seem lower. You have religious leaders [speaking out]. You have the first ladies on your side. How much more risk reduction can you expect?" After President Donald Trump announced his travel ban involving several mostly Muslim countries, many CEOs, particularly in the tech industry, jumped into the debate, and added their voices in rapid succession to policy decisions over transgender members of the military or protecting the "Dreamers," or immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. According to data tracked by the communications firm Weber Shandwick, 153 CEOs and companies spoke out about the travel ban early last year, and 62 companies made remarks supporting the "Dreamers" last fall. But on the issue of the separation of children and parents at the border, Leslie Gaines-Ross, Weber Shandwick's chief reputation strategist, said Tuesday morning that "I'm a bit surprised that so few companies have spoken up at this point. My immediate reaction was that all this just erupted to the surface, but it's really been in the news for six weeks." She and others point to several possible reasons the issue didn't take hold with companies as quickly, despite the attention it has received. One could be because the separation of children and families raises moral questions, and it's harder for companies to issue the kind of lawyer-scrubbed statements about corporate values like diversity, equality or sustainability that many have used before. "In this situation you're either for it or against it," Gaines-Ross said. "There's no neutral position." Another reason may be that the Trump administration's communication about the legal context -- officials have denied that the separation of families is a policy and made false claims that Democrats are to blame for the administration's separation of families -- could make speaking up more complex for corporate leaders. "It's a less simple one-liner," Toffel said. "You risk it being misinterpreted, by some who believe these misstatements, that you are advocating illegal activity. That raises the stakes." Also it is not as explicitly tied to their businesses as other issues have been. Drexel University professor Daniel Korschun said the main things that get companies to engage on political issues are whether they affect company performance or connect with stated corporate values. "Unless it hits one of those things," he said, "they're going to stay silent." Business contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement have complicated the matter for some. Microsoft faced outrage from some on social media for saying it was "proud to support" ICE's I.T. modernization in a January blog post. It followed up with a statement, which read in part: "In response to questions we want to be clear: Microsoft is not working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border, and contrary to some speculation, we are not aware of [cloud-based software] Azure or Azure services being used for this purpose." Microsoft also said "we urge the administration to change its policy and Congress to pass legislation ensuring children are no longer separated from their families." Microsoft president and chief legal officer Brad Smith, who is also the chairman and co-founder of the KIND (Kids in Need of Defense) organization, wrote a Father's Day LinkedIn post where he said "when we keep children with their parents, we not only follow in the footsteps of one of the world's oldest and most important humanitarian traditions, we help build a stronger country." Those who follow CEO activism say they expect more companies to speak out. "What's really changed in the past couple of days is it's become clear that the administration is not planning on backing down, and I think many CEOs felt compelled to enter into the discussion," Korschun said. Those who were vocal about other immigration issues, such as the travel ban or DACA, may feel they have to speak up here, too. "When a company makes a commitment to an issue, they have to remain consistent on it. They have to continue to be willing to address that issue, Korschun said. "You can't pick and choose." Former Obama administration officials warned President Donald Trump on Wednesday to learn from their mistakes and respond forcefully to Russian interference, urging him to make sure Moscow knows exactly what the U.S. will do if the Kremlin attempts to interfere in another election. "The Russians, and particularly this Kremlin, watch what we do more than what we say - so active deterrence measures would have perhaps been more effective," former assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland told the Senate Intelligence Committee. "We know that they may very well do this again, so now we need to be planning what the retaliation will be - and we need to be signaling it." Nuland spoke to the intelligence panel alongside former cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel, and both said the Obama administration's approach to countering Russia had been too fractured and too timid to compel the Kremlin to rethink its actions. The committee is planning to issue a report on the Obama administration's approach to threats posed by Russia, according to panel chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., who said Wednesday that he had requested former FBI Director James Comey and former deputy director Andrew McCabe return to the committee for open and closed-door testimony in advance of that report being issued. Nuland and Daniel warned that the Trump administration was in danger of allowing foreign efforts to influence elections proceed unchecked - exposing the United States to potential interference not just from Russia, but from China and others as well. "I think it's fair to say that all of us in the process assumed that what was done in December-January . . . would be a starting point for what the incoming administration would then build on," Nuland said, referring to sanctions imposed by the Obama administration. The Trump administration, she added, "has not launched the kind of presidentially led, whole-of-government effort that's needed." Daniel said the Obama administration's response to the Russian election threat had suffered because no one in the government "fully appreciated the scope and scale of the Russian influence operations" until well after the election was over, and technical and policy minds in the administration started comparing notes. He said the administration never managed to link experts in government with private companies whose platforms - particularly in social media - were being exploited to further Russia's campaign. "We weren't really set up then, and we aren't really set up now, to counter information operations," Daniel said. Nuland added that during the Obama era, the U.S. intelligence community's tendency was "to only look at classified information." "The integration of open-source and classified information was not happening," she said. Daniel and Nuland recommended a spectrum of policy options, from having the president convene a public-private commission to coordinate potential responses to threats, to approaching cyberattacks as the United States would any other act of war. "Concepts of proportionality and laws of war apply in cyberspace just as they do in the physical realm," Daniel said. Despite the broad national focus on Russian interference, both Nuland and Daniel were adamant that administration officials should not presume they have a full understanding of the tactics that were used or may be used. "I have too much respect for that to believe we have detected all of the activity they either did do or continue to do," Daniel said. "We know quite a bit about" the Internet Research Agency, Nuland said, referring to the online disinformation center in St. Petersburg, which has been the focus of an indictment in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe. "What we don't know is how many more of those there are, whether in Russia or other parts of the world." Few things have marked President Donald Trump's penchant for deflection, lies and deception more than his policy of separating children from parents accused of entering the country illegally. He and his people repeatedly have blamed Democrats specifically, and Congress and the law generally, for a disgraceful practice Trump could end just by giving the order. As a Washington Post's Fact Checker sub-headline said: In Orwellian fashion, the Trump administration repeatedly claims its own policy doesn't exist or was written by others. With photos and audio recordings of frightened youngsters fueling a national firestorm against him, Trump is facing pressure to back down because Republicans don't want to pay the political price. It's a story that has been marred by accusations of a cold don't-hug, don't-touch approach to dealing with traumatized children. For now, children and families will continue to suffer, as will the nation's reputation. To a lesser extent than the families to be sure, federal employees and contractors also suffer. They are trapped between a policy that is morally and ethically bankrupt and their duty to follow it. Antar Davidson (no relation to this writer) was in that predicament as an employee of a federal contractor. He quit his job as an instructor of Capoeira, the Brazilian marshal art, at Estrella del Norte, a Tucson, Arizona, shelter for migrant children run by Southwest Key Programs, an organization based in Austin. Davidson said the shelter had a policy against allowing children to hug each other. A no-touch policy is particularly harmful to children caught in a painful ordeal such as the one engendered by Trump. "There was an organization-wide policy that the kids were meant not to touch each other," he said in an interview with the Federal Insider. "It was something that was always pressed very hard on the kids - 'no touch, no touch' . . . always constantly being reminded that they weren't allowed to touch each other." That's in line with what Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told The Washington Post after she went to a South Texas detention facility: "But the first child who caught the prominent pediatrician's attention during a recent visit was anything but happy. Inside a room dedicated to toddlers was a little girl no older than 2, screaming and pounding her fists on a mat. One woman tried to give her toys and books to calm her down, but even that shelter worker seemed frustrated . . . because as much as she wanted to console the little girl, she couldn't touch, hold or pick her up to let her know everything would be all right. That was the rule, Kraft said she was told: They're not allowed to touch the children." " 'The really devastating thing was that we all knew what was going on with this child. We all knew what the problem was,' Kraft said. 'She didn't have her mother, and none of us can fix that.' " Devastated by his experience, Davidson quit Estrella del Norte last week after less than four months on the job. "I can no longer in good conscience work with Southwest Key Programs . . . " his resignation letter said. "I am feeling uneasy about the morality of many practices happening at the facility . . . the direction the organizations is taking is one I no longer want to be a part of." Cindy Casares, a Southwest Key spokesperson, said that "hugging has always been allowed at Southwest Key Programs. We hire experienced, trained staff to provide comfort and counseling and to help the children feel more comfortable." Trump's departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services or the federal Administration for Children and Families did not respond to requests for comment. Also silent was the often-vocal American Federation of Government Employees. Its Border Patrol and Immigration and Custom Enforcement units endorsed Trump's candidacy, to the consternation of the parent union that opposed him. Trump's immigration turmoil can leave federal employees and contractors in a tough spot, if they, like reasonable people, think his policy is an abomination. Their options are only bad - obey orders to take children from their parents or quit, as Davidson did. "This is a situation that federal employees find themselves in on a regular basis, perhaps not so dramatically as the current policy involving migrant children, but their responsibilities are very clear," said Bill Valdez, president of the Senior Executives Association. "If it's a lawful order they have two choices: One is to obey it or, second, to resign from public service." Seeking a transfer also is a possibility. But after refusing a boss's direction, getting a new assignment could be difficult. Orders can be questioned, Valdez added, but "you cannot refuse a direct order from a superior." Taking a stand on principle is one thing. Being jobless is another. Speaking against Trump's policy is a risk most can't afford or are unwilling to take. Many of the workers at the Southwest Key facility "are economically vulnerable," Davidson said. "They need the money . . . these people need their jobs." Auction fun supports LACADA Gayle Coulter and her daughter Sam give auctioneer Brian Rowley encouragement as he prepares to launch the live auction at Thursday nights 28th annual Taste... Officials OK marijuana grow facility LAPEER The former Thicks Glass building on West Genesee Street next to Arnolds Car Wash in Lapeer is expected to be demolished within the... Lapeer to enter contract to remove lead service lines LAPEER News of contaminated drinking water in homes in the southwest Michigan community of Benton Harbor has thrust the issue of lead water service... 1 Nicaragua unrest: Three people were shot dead in the city of Masaya, Nicaragua, while security forces and allied groups tried to regain control of the area, a human rights group reported Tuesday, the two-month anniversary of political unrest that has shaken Nicaragua. Alvaro Leiva, director of the Nicaraguan Pro-Human Rights Association, said 40 people were also wounded in the clashes in Masaya that came a day after talks on finding a solution to the countrys crisis again were suspended. Beginning early in the morning, forces allied with President Daniel Ortegas government moved to dismantle roadblocks maintained by protesters for over three weeks between Managua and Masaya, which is about 15 miles southeast of the capital. They accused the demonstrators of having kidnapped the city. More than 170 people have died since April 19 amid a heavy-handed crackdown on protests that have broadened to demand Ortegas exit. 2 Mali violence: Malian soldiers killed at least 25 civilians in the central Mopti region last week, a civic association and residents said Tuesday, as concerns rose over alleged abuses during counterterror operations in an area where extremists linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have carried out attacks. Malis government confirmed the existence of three graves discovered by residents about 4 miles from the village of Nantaka and said it would investigate. The soldiers who came to Nantaka buried the 25 men after killing them, said Ibrahim Thiokari of the Fulani association Tabital Pulaku. Human rights groups have expressed concern about increasing allegations against Malis armed forces as they carry out counterterrorism operations in the Mopti region, where the Fulani are the majority and some have been recruited by extremist groups. The vast majority of civilians reported killed in the operations have been Fulani. It was an idea conceived by senior immigration enforcement officials and U.S. border agents who had confronted the migrant crisis of 2014. By ramping up criminal prosecutions and separating families who enter the country illegally, they said, the government could stop the influx. Their idea went to top Obama administration officials at the White House and the Department of Homeland Security. Then it went into a drawer, like a blueprint for a weapon too terrible to use. The Trump administration took office willing to go deep into the government's immigration enforcement arsenal - even at the risk of triggering a political and humanitarian crisis. Now, what once was seen as an option too toxic and extreme has fractured more than 2,500 migrant families in the past two months, feeding public outrage while testing Americans' willingness to accept a government policy that inflicts child trauma. It took the alignment of four distinct personalities to dust off the idea and turn it into a legal, operational and message-driven system for family separation at the border. President Donald Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly played crucial roles in resurrecting the proposal and making it actionable. In Border Patrol terminology, it was based on the concept of "consequence delivery" - the notion that illegal acts can be deterred only if they trigger negative consequences. The idea worked its way back into the DHS tool kit soon after Trump took office. Arrests at the Mexico border had surged in the months before his inauguration. When Kelly took over the agency as Trump's first homeland security secretary, he began looking for policy options to prevent a repeat of 2014, when migrant families and underage minors overwhelmed U.S. border agents and stations. One of the initiatives that made its way to Kelly, according to current and former DHS officials, was outlined in a memo written in the aftermath of the 2014 by senior Homeland Security officials, including Thomas Homan. A former Border Patrol agent, Homan is now the soon-to-retire top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The memo warned that the United States would be vulnerable to another migrant crisis at the border because smugglers were taking advantage of laws limiting the government's ability to hold underage minors in detention. Under a 1997 agreement known as the "Flores Settlement," the government is obligated to release migrant children in its custody, either to their parents, adult relatives or a foster care program. The ruling compels U.S. officials to place children in the "least restrictive" setting possible. Those rules had become a powerful magnet for illegal migration, Homan and other DHS officials warned, as parents sent for their children by hiring smugglers or bringing their children with them to leave U.S. custody faster, they said. The memo was sent to then-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, according to current and former officials. But their recommendations - including family separations triggered by the misdemeanor offense of entering the United States illegally - were considered excessive. "As I've explained many times, separating a child from his or her parent is not something I was comfortable doing," said Johnson, in an interview Tuesday. Johnson said he did not recall specific details in the memo, but had asked for input from top officials across DHS agencies, including ICE, where Homan was then the director of Enforcement and Removal Operations. "I encouraged them to bring forth all options," said Johnson. "I would not have discouraged Tom [Homan] from suggesting something he thought was a good idea." A DHS official confirmed that Homan helped develop the policy proposal sent to Johnson. Homan's views conveyed the grievances of many senior Border Patrol agents and immigration officials, Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the agency's union, said in an interview Tuesday. "It's frustrating to agents when we know that smugglers are gaming the system," he said. "These people can cross between ports of entry because they know that it ties up our resources." "We get frustrated when smugglers dictate their terms to us," Judd said. - - - When Kelly took over at DHS in January 2017, border agents like Judd and immigration officials including Homan had a top leader who shared their view of the criminal forces driving illegal migration. Kelly was the head of U.S. Southern Command between 2012 and 2016, in charge of U.S. military operations in Central and South America. He developed a close relationship during those years with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and helped lead U.S. campaigns to discourage Central American migrants from attempting the journey. Kelly also visited shelters and spoke to families making the trip. "I think his experience convinced him that there was nothing worse than the trip up to the U.S. that these migrants were taking," said Roberta Jacobson, who retired last month as U.S. ambassador to Mexico. She was the top official for Western Hemisphere affairs at the State Department and worked closely with Kelly. Jacobson said Kelly, a four-star Marine general, was particularly disturbed by the widespread reports of women and girls being raped along the route north. Along with drug traffickers, Kelly viewed smuggling guides as "bad guy" enemy combatants, according to military and Homeland Security officials who worked with him then. "I think he truly believed that stopping undocumented immigration from Central America was right thing to do, not just for us, but for them, to save them from that horrific journey," said Jacobson. "In his view, encouraging people to come by not sending them back was worse than sending them back." CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Kelly in March 2017 if DHS was considering a family separation plan to deter illegal migration. "Yes, I am considering - in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network - I am considering exactly that," Kelly told him. "They will be well cared for as we deal with their parents." "It's more important to me," said Kelly, "to try to keep people off of this awful network." The backlash was swift. Within weeks, Kelly had changed course, saying the administration was no longer considering the idea. But that wasn't true. The pressure on Kelly was easing, lessening the urgency for drastic action. Border arrests fell to their lowest levels in more than a half-century as Trump and top administration officials promised a sweeping crackdown that would "take the gloves off" enforcement tactics. The family separation idea stayed on a back burner, and by the time Kelly moved to the White House to become chief of staff, arrests along the Mexico border were slowly rising again. Since then, the number of arrests has nearly tripled, exceeding 50,000 for each of the past three months. - - - Sessions began working through the plan's legal implications soon after he started at the Justice Department. In April 2017, he traveled to Nogales, Arizona, and promised to take a stand against violent cartels and gang members, as well as smuggling guides. Sessions directed all federal prosecutors across the country to make immigration cases a higher priority and look for opportunities to bring serious felony charges against anyone crossing the border illegally. In a three-page memo, he directed each of his U.S. attorneys to appoint a border security coordinator to oversee immigration prosecutions. He said law enforcement officials would no longer "catch and release" undocumented immigrants taken into custody at the border. Sessions' directive also set the stage for his announcement in May that the Justice Department would begin prosecuting every person who illegally crossed into the United States along the Southwest border, and that federal prosecutors would "take on as many of those cases as humanly possible until we get to 100 percent." "If you're smuggling a child, then we're going to prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you, probably, as required by law," Sessions said then. "If you don't want your child separated, then don't bring them across the border illegally. It's not our fault that somebody does that." The Justice Department's latest immigration policy and the other immigration actions Sessions has taken as attorney general do not surprise those who've followed his 20-year career as a senator from Alabama. In the Senate, Sessions vigorously opposed any efforts to change the U.S. immigration system to benefit people who were in the United States illegally. He also advocated hardening the system for legal immigration and expressed fear that people from other countries could take Americans' jobs. - - - As the furor over the separations intensifies, Kirstjen Nielsen, Kelly's handpicked choice to succeed him as homeland security secretary, has stepped forward to defend the policies, along with Miller, who insists that Trump's crackdown still enjoys broad support despite polling that indicates two-thirds of Americans want the practice to stop. Trump said Tuesday the measures need more time to work and that backing off now would send the wrong signal to smugglers - one that would encourage more lawbreaking. "When people come up, they have to know they can't get in, otherwise it's never going to stop," he said, accusing Democrats of blocking his agenda to allow illegal immigration to "infest" the country. "Politically correct or not, we have a country that needs safety and security," Trump said, insisting the United States has "one chance to get it right." Border crises have come in cycles, and Gil Kerlikowske, who was head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under Obama, said he doubted that a threat of family separation will deter many people fleeing horrific violence in Central America. "You have to have a heart of stone if you can't feel some level of compassion for these people," he said. "If people are willing to risk lives dying in the desert, or to be raped or robbed or assaulted, I'm not sure a stronger message will make a difference." EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's longtime friend and political ally on Capitol Hill is walking back his criticism of the embattled agency leader after the two met Tuesday evening. Sen. Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Pruitt's home state of Oklahoma, said he's "a little embarrassed" over telling conservative political commentator Laura Ingraham last week that the Environmental Protection Agency head may need to resign amid mounting ethics complaints. "I was beginning to have doubts about Scott Pruitt, all these accusations, but I had to find out for myself," Inhofe said in an interview Wednesday. Inhofe blamed some news media outlets -- he didn't name them but said they "hate" Pruitt -- for not providing the EPA's response to allegations Inhofe said came from disgruntled former agency employees he didn't identify. He also alleged that Pruitt is a target of a campaign bankrolled by billionaire political activist Tom Steyer. Aleigha Cavalier, a spokeswoman for NextGen America, an environmental group founded by Steyer, responded in an email that Pruitt is a "national disgrace" and should resign. Pruitt's high security costs are justified because of the "unprecedented threats" against him and his family, Inhofe said. Pruitt also repaid an intermediary for tickets to the Rose Bowl, he said. "I'm really harboring some guilty feelings because I was sucked into the same thing the public was," Inhofe said. Pruitt has been under scrutiny for months over matters including an arrangement to rent a bedroom in a Capitol Hill condo from a lobbyist for $50 a night and frequent taxpayer-funded travel to his home state of Oklahoma. He's also under fire for leaning on EPA employees to run personal errands and help secure a job for his wife. Pruitt faces more than 11 federal investigations by lawmakers, the White House and the EPA's internal watchdog involving his travel, spending, security and other matters. President Donald Trump, who has stood by Pruitt amid months of allegations, told reporters last week that he's "not happy about certain things," though he added Pruitt's done "a fantastic job" at the EPA. Inhofe later told reporters that Pruitt "may have displayed poor judgment," but said his lack of Washington experience was partly to blame. Asked if he thought the EPA administrator would keep his job, Inhofe said, "We don't have the most predictable president in America. Anything could happen." Incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner will be among four Republican candidates speaking Tuesday at a GOP event in Jacksonville. Rauner; attorney general candidate Erika Harold, state Senate candidate Steve McClure, and incumbent state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer of Jacksonville will attend and speak during the Summer Patriotic Celebration, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Gov. Duncan Mansion at 4 Duncan Place. We are excited that Governor Rauner has accepted our invitation to attend and speak at our Summer Patriotic Celebration, said Kem Wilson, president of the Republican Womens Club of Morgan County. Wilson said she was told that Rauner will speak about congressional map redistricting, progressive income tax and gun control issues. I think it is vitally important that our current Republican governor is attending and speaking at an event in Morgan County, Wilson said. This is an important event for Morgan County because this is a Republican stronghold, and we want to keep it that way. The Republican platform is our base. Rauner is running for re-election to a second term in office against Democratic Party candidate J.B. Pritzker, Libertarian Party candidate Kash Jackson and Sam McCann, a longtime intraparty opponent of Rauner who resigned from the Republican Caucus to run for governor as a member of the newly created Conservative Party. Wilson said Harold has spoken in Morgan County many times. We are looking forward to having her address some of the issues facing the Illinois attorney generals office, Wilson said. Harold is running against Democrat Kwame Raoul. The current attorney general is Democrat Lisa Madigan, who was first elected in 2002 and was re-elected in 2006, 2010, and 2014. She announced in September that she would not seek a fifth term. McClure is running unopposed for the state Senate seat that was held by McCann. Steve has conservative values that are in line with the values of many of the residents of the 50th District, Wilson said. I think he will serve us well. Incumbent Davidsmeyer also is unopposed for his 100th District House seat. C.D. Davidsmeyer truly does represent the 100th District well and has a great conservative voting record, Wilson said. We are glad that he is one of our speakers. He will give us an update on Illinois House issues. Wilson expects the four candidates, starting with Rauner, to begin speaking around 6 p.m. There is no cost to attend the event, but organizers request that those planning to attend contact Kaye Coop at 217-243-6176 to let her know. The event is expected to end around 7:30 p.m. Greg Olson can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1224, or on Twitter @JCNews_Greg. Protesters entered a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., Tuesday evening to heckle Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen. She appeared to sit quietly with her head down for more than 10 minutes listening to the protesters chanting "Shame!" and "End family separation!" Protesters, roughly 10 to 15 of them, entered MXDC Cocina Mexicana about 8 p.m. while Nielsen finished her meal with one other person. The restaurant's general manager, Thomas Genovese, told The Washington Post that Nielsen had been dining for about an hour when the heckling began. She did not come with a reservation, he said. The eatery is about two blocks east of the White House. "Secretary Nielsen!" a male protester yelled as the group approached Nielsen's table, according to live video footage posted on Facebook by Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America. "How dare you spend your evening here eating dinner as you're complicit in the separation and deportation of over 10,000 children separated from their parents? How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you're deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States? We call on you to end family separation and abolish ICE!" The secretary did not look up and did not appear to acknowledge the protesters as they began their chants of shame. At one point, she made a phone call. "If kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace!" the protesters yelled. "In a Mexican restaurant, of all places!" one said. "Have you listened to it? Do you hear the babies crying?" one said of audio leaked from an immigration facility to ProPublica in which children can be heard crying for their parents. Just a few hours earlier, Nielsen had retweeted President Trump's praise for the "fabulous job" she did at a press conference explaining the administration's policy. Trump tweeted "Homeland Security @SecNielsendid a fabulous job yesterday at the press conference explaining security at the border and for our country, while at the same time recommending changes to obsolete & nasty laws, which force family separation. We want 'heart' and security in America!" In a statement after the dinner, Department of Homeland Security Press Secretary Tyler Houlton described the protesters as people who "share her concern" about the current immigration system. "While having a work dinner tonight," he said, "the Secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protesters who share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border. The Secretary encourages all - including this group - who want to see an immigration system that works, that contributes to our economy, that protects our security, and that reflects our values to reach out to Members of Congress and seek their support to close the terrible immigration loopholes that have made our system a mess. The Secretary has been working with Members of Congress for months in search of a solution and she will continue to do so this week." On Tuesday night, Nielsen's security detail stood calmly in front of her table, and the U.S. Secret Service told The Post in a statement that no arrests were made. Witnesses standing at the bar said that the protesters remained nonviolent and were not aggressive. Brent Epperson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Alberta visiting Washington for work, said that random customers in the restaurant, including him, even started clapping along with the protesters at their tables. "A lot of people were very happy to see her shamed," Epperson told The Post, but Nielsen and her dining companion "looked a little disturbed." Spokespeople for DHS did not identify Nielsen's companion when asked by The Post. "They tried to pretend like nothing was happening, but it lasted long enough that they couldn't," Epperson said. "They were just sitting there like statues, waiting for the protest to end." Ana Navarro tweeted "Are there no Norwegian restaurants in Washington, DC?" Nielsen has become "the public face" of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" strategy that has separated more than 2,000 immigrant children from families over six weeks, even while erroneously insisting that it was not the result of a new policy, as The Post's David Nakamura and Nick Miroff reported. Neither Nielsen's security nor management at the restaurant attempted to intervene or stop the protesters. Genovese said Nielsen simply paid the check after listening to the chanting for 10 or 15 minutes, then was escorted out by Secret Service agents. The protesters left immediately afterward. "It was like mission accomplished, and then they just headed out," Genovese said. Washington The United States announced Tuesday it was leaving the United Nations' Human Rights Council, with Ambassador Nikki Haley calling it "an organization that is not worthy of its name." Haley, Trump's envoy to the U.N., said the U.S. had given the human rights body "opportunity after opportunity" to make changes. She lambasted the council for "its chronic bias against Israel" and lamented the fact that its membership includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights," Haley said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing alongside Haley at the State Department, said there was no doubt that the council once had a "noble vision." "But today we need to be honest," Pompeo said. "The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights." The announcement came just a day after the U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. But Haley cited longstanding U.S. complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. She had been threatening the pull-out since last year unless the council made changes advocated by the U.S. "Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded," Haley said. Still, she suggested the decision need not be permanent, adding that if the council did adopt reforms, "we would be happy to rejoin it." She said the withdrawal notwithstanding, the U.S. would continue to defend human rights at the United Nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the U.S. decision was "courageous," calling it "an unequivocal statement that enough is enough." The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's "America First" policy. The administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses. AL extended meeting on June 23 The Awami League (AL) will hold an extended meeting of the central committee on June 23. The meeting will be held at Ganabhaban at 11 am with the party president Sheikh Hasina in the chair, said a press release signed by AL office Secretary Dr Abdus Sobhan Golap here. The members of the party presidium, advisors, members of the central committee will take part in the meeting, it added. AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader urged all concerned to attend the meeting. BNP Standing Committee Member Barrister Moudud Ahmed speaking at a prAss conference at the party central office in the city\'s Nayapalton on Wednesday in protest against his confinement by police in Noakhali. The marker on Pompeo Coppinis simple yet powerful structure reads in part, They chose never to surrender nor retreat. Why would we consider forcing the fallen to give ground now? A District 9 neighbor summed it up perfectly when he conveyed this to me: We should honor the fallen where they fell. That was the intent of Texas in 1936, as it was the intent of Mayor Maury Maverick when he dedicated the Cenotaph in 1940. RELATED: Four proposed changes to Alamo Plaza likely to stir most debate San Antonio is defined by the Alamo, considered by most Texans to be a sacred structure in a city that would not exist as it does today without the sacrifices of a couple hundred brave volunteers. Though the volunteers never witnessed the goals they fought for, their commemoration should remain at their resting place for all to see. As a former San Antonio educator, I have taught the story of the Battle of the Alamo as a lesson of ultimate sacrifice one that took place right in our backyard. Alamo Plaza and the Alamo structure itself do not concretely honor the actions of those who became the legend that pervades so much of our culture. The Cenotaph adds the appropriate perspective to the true history of our city, and should remain as an integral component of Alamo Plaza. We should be supportive of making the Alamo and its surroundings more inviting as our city grows and evolves, but those plans should work around our standing memorials. Creating the future of San Antonio should not be done at the expense of our hallowed past. READ MORE: Meeting on Alamo plan turns heated Over the past few months, the City Council has heard from many Texans who have expressed a desire to leave the Cenotaph where it stands. If we are to determine the fate of the spirit of sacrifice, we must reconsider its relocation and instead opt to preserve and restore the memorial. If the Cenotaph must be moved for restoration, it should be returned to its current location. It is a small sacrifice we can make in our plans now to honor those who gave their lives to Texas. They stayed behind to serve as a war cry to the idea that a free and independent Texas would not be denied. As the dust settled, the fallen were simply heaved onto the pyre their ashes left to the wind. It took 100 years for Texas to physically honor the sacrifices of William Barret Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and all their brothers- and-sisters-in-arms. We can better honor them by leaving the Alamo Cenotaph where it stands today. Councilman John Courage represents District 9. The Supreme Court ruling in a case involving Ohios aggressive purging of its voter rolls sends a troubling message. The focus should be on encouraging more voters to cast ballots, not on placing obstacles to voting. Immediately after the court decision earlier this month, the Ohio secretary of state began urging other states to follow his lead and enact some of the most aggressive voter-purge laws in the country. Ohio is the only state in the country that purges a voter from the rolls after they dont cast a ballot in a single federal election cycle. This is tantamount to making voting mandatory to remain eligible to vote. Lets not go down that path. But Justice Samuel A. Alito, writing for the majority, said Ohio was not simply purging people for not voting, an act specifically prohibited by federal law. The fact that voters received a one-time notice put the state into compliance, he wrote. But this clearly violates the intent of the law, and now Congress must make the law clearer so those wanting to restrict the vote for partisan advantage cant find loopholes to exploit, as Alito effectively did here. Voters should cast ballots in every election, but laws that force them to cast a ballot by threatening their removal from the voter rolls undermine the democratic process and infringe on the fundamental right to vote. Unless we are going to break from long-standing national norms, the right to vote should also include the right not to. At the very least, voters who dont vote frequently should be given better notice and more than one opportunity to opt to stay on the rolls. The case before the Supreme Court was brought by an Akron, Ohio, software engineer and Navy veteran. The voter was dropped from the rolls in 2015 after he sat out elections in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Ohio state election officials said they sent him a notice in 2011 to confirm his eligibility to vote, but he did not respond. The disenfranchised voter said he did not remember receiving a notice a plausible occurrence familiar to anyone who receives mail. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing the minority opinion in the 5-4 ruling, lays out some of the fears that voter restrictions such as purges, poll taxes and literacy tests disproportionately affect minority and low-income voters. It is a legitimate fear. Such restrictions are arguably for the sole purpose of tamping down the vote so dominant parties remain so. The need to keep voting rolls accurate is understandable. However, culling the names of those voters who have died or moved needs to be done in a manner that doesnt infringe on the rights of legitimate voters who, for whatever reason, opt to sit out a federal election. Texas safeguards voters from being unceremoniously purged from the rolls, while keeping the voter lists updated. Texas voters who dont respond to repeated requests for address confirmations are placed on S, or suspense, status, but they are allowed to vote if they show up at the polls. They just fill out an affidavit of residency. Every two years county election departments sends out new voter cards. Voter cards are considered government documents. That means they cannot be forwarded or kept on hold by the postal service for those who have temporarily suspended their mail while out of town. Many of the cards get returned, according to Jacque Callanen, Bexar County elections administrator. Voter cards returned to the elections office get a follow-up, first-class letter, which can be forwarded to a new address. If there is no communication from the voter after 30 days after the first-class letter is sent, Texas voters get an S designation. Two years after the first card was returned, a second voter card is sent to the address on file. If there is still no contact with voters after two federal election cycles over four years, the state purges them from the rolls. But, again, if S voters go to the polls, they still get to vote if they fill out that affidavit. There are currently 162,369 voters with S designation among Bexar Countys 1,076,397 registered voters. Many of them will get purged, but it wont be for lack of Texas elections officials trying to locate them. The intent of federal voting laws was never to keep eligible voters from casting their ballots. Interpreting the laws so they can be used to effectively disenfranchise tens of thousands of American voters signals an urgent need to revisit these laws to eliminate possible loopholes. President Donald Trump exhibited a rare display of affection in a Tuesday appearance. He hugged a U.S. flag, because he apparently loves America that much. The intimate moment between man and inanimate object occurred at the end of Trump's remarks at an anniversary celebration for the National Federation of Independent Businesses. In his speech, Trump asserted his administration has two options on immigration: "Open borders" or separating migrant children from their parents. A "third option," which he said he's requesting from Congress, will allow officials to detain children and their parents together. He said, "we've got to stop separation of the families," but added, "we can't let people pour in." "Politically correct or not, we have a country that needs security, that needs safety," he said. As if to underscore his commitment to the country, Trump concluded with the flag embrace. It's not the first time Trump has snuggled up to the Old Glory on stage. According to CNN, he also hugged flags at at campaign rallies in Tampa and Derry, New Hampshire on Oct 24, 2016, and August 19,2015. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf. A file is to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) following a suspected hit and run in Newtownforbes that claimed the life of Longford man Craig McDermott at the weekend. The 32-year-old was fatally injured as he walked with another man along the main N4 at Deerpark, just outside the village shortly before midnight last Friday. ALSO READ: Funeral arrangements for Longford accident victim Craig McDermott announced A team of paramedics treated Mr McDermott at the scene but he died at Mullingars Midland Regional Hospital the following morning. A garda investigation quickly ensued when it became apparent that the car involved, an 11 registered blue Hyundai, failed to remain at the scene. ALSO READ: Update: Gardai investigating Longford hit and run fatality recover vehicle after driver comes forward It was found abandoned a short time later in the Clonguish area before being taken away for forensic and technical examinations. The alleged driver of the vehicle made contact with detectives at Longford Garda Station on Saturday morning where he was quizzed over the incident. He was later released without charge pending further inquiries. Its not known at this stage whether criminal charges will result as that decision is expected to now rest with the DPPs office in Dublin. For more on this story, see tomorrow's Longford Leader. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) will inspect 120 tyre retailers across Ireland this summer to ensure compliance with the EU Tyre Labelling Regulation. Tyre labels provide important safety and environmental information for consumers. Under the regulation, tyre retailers must: * display the label on tyres where they are visible to customers; * give customers information on the fuel efficiency, wet grip and external rolling noise of tyres before the sale is made; and * state the label values on the customer bill. SEAI is inspecting tyre retailers to assess current levels of compliance, to make retailers aware of their obligations to consumers and to guide retailers in achieving full compliance with the regulations. Retailers who continually fail to comply will face enforcement action, which could result in a fine. Tim Stokes, Programme Manager with SEAI, commented on the importance of this regulation for tyre retailers and motorists; Tyres are a drivers only contact with the road and so are one of the most important parts of any car. Its vital that motorists have reliable information regarding safety and fuel economy to allow them make an informed choice when buying tyres. Tyre retailers have an important role, as well as a legal obligation, in that regard. In attitudinal research carried out by SEAI some tyre retailers stated that they were concerned about the accuracy of labels. SEAI has been involved in EU-wide laboratory testing of tyre labels, in which compliance was found to be high. SEAI frequently monitors the accuracy of labels through a combination of technical documentation checks and laboratory testing. Where a label is found to be inaccurate, the respective tyre manufacturer concerned is obliged to rectify this, facing legal action if they fail to do so. SEAI fully supports the tyre industry and Tim Stokes explained the work that SEAI are undertaking; SEAI has already distributed leaflets to all tyre retailers informing them of their obligations. SEAI is also working with industry representatives and other stakeholders, such as the Road Safety Authority, to increase awareness of tyre labels among motorists. SEAI will continue to regularly carry out inspections to ensure tyre suppliers and distributors are compliant, helping to protect consumers and the environment. For more information on retailer obligations visit www.seai.ie Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Politics By Long Island News & PR Published: June 20 2018 All proceeds, which included an extensive raffle of donated goods, benefited the Nassau County SPCA. Mineola, NY - June 20, 2018 - Nassau County Executive Laura Curran recently hosted Just Desserts, a Mothers Day Celebration to honor six Nassau County Women of Distinction. All proceeds, which included an extensive raffle of donated goods, benefited the Nassau County SPCA. The honorees were commended for their commitment to community, family, leadership and improving the lives of others. The honorees--who were nominated by residents in their community--were: Victoria Roberts of Uniondale; Regina Rule of Manhasset; Kerry Baldinger of Merrick; Arianne Reyer of Baldwin; Heather Theissen of Wantagh; and Dr. Rachel Ruotolo of Brookville. ICC,B President off to Paris to join ICC World Council meet Business Desk : President of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), BangladeshMahbubur Rahmanleft here for Paris, Franceon Wednesdayto join ICC World Council meeting and meeting of Permanent Heads of National Committees. He will also join sideline meeting onICCand Global Alliance Trade Facilitation Project in Bangladesh. Mahbubur Rahman is expected to return Dhaka onJune 23, said a press release. ICC Bangladesh Secretary General Ataur Rahman is leading a 2l-Member ICC Bangladesh Delegation consisting officials of Bangladesh Bank, commercial banks and Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation for attending International Trade Finance Week 2018 in Vienna, Austria during20-22 June. International Chamber of Commerce (lCC) - Austria, The world business organization and RBI - Raiffeisen Bank International are hosting the event. It will be attended by 400-500 international bank experts. Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Politics By Long Island News & PR Published: June 20 2018 Federation of Organizations Senior Volunteer Recognition Luncheon honors volunteers participating in their Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion programs. Smithtown, NY - June 20, 2018 - On Friday June 8, On Friday June 8, Huntington Town Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci was honored by Federation of Organizations as Man of the Year at the organizations annual Senior Volunteer Recognition Luncheon at Stonebridge Country Club Supervisor Lupinacci recognized the Federation of Organizations for their important work in the community: Generations that follow should learn from the example you set. Your selfless work makes an enormous difference in the lives of those you serve and the reward is making our community a better place to live and improving our society, making us all better people. Federation of Organizations Senior Volunteer Recognition Luncheon honors volunteers participating in their Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion programs, which enrich the lives of senior citizens in our community by keeping them active and engaged. Federation of Organizations also collaborates with community leaders and healthcare providers to educate and motivate people to improve their health. Local News, Crime, Business & Finance, Health & Wellness, Politics By Chris Boyle Published: June 20 2018 NYS Health Commissioner recommends legalizing recreational pot; Governor Cuomo will review Commissioners report on the matter. New York, NY June 20, 2018 For New York residents, the day where they can stroll down to their local marijuana dispensary and purchase a joint or pot brownie without any fear of legal reprisals in the form of law enforcement just got a little closer this week, as Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker announced his recommendation to legalize recreational marijuana in New York State following a study commissioned in January by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. While there remains some time before his report is finalized, Dr. Zucker revealed the preliminary results at a press conference held in Brooklyn this week attended by press and representatives of the medical marijuana industry. We realized that the pros outweigh the cons, he said at the conference. The report recommends a regulated, legal marijuana program be available to adults in the State of New York. Governor Cuomo has stated that he will review the report himself, and if he approves of its findings and sets the state on the pathway to pot legalization and by all reports, he fully intends to it will represent a major departure from his previously-held statements on marijuana, which he reportedly referred to last year as a gateway drug. However, Cuomo has recently backtracked on his opposition to the drug in light of pressure from legalization advocates and the fact that several neighboring states Vermont and Massachusetts are themselves in the process of making recreational weed legal. Other states involved in the process of legalizing recreational pot include California and Colorado. In addition, Cuomos Democratic primary opponent, Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon, has expressed her full support for making weed legal, which may be another factor contributing to Cuomos change of heart as well. However, the influence of Nixons stance is likely minor in relation to other factors, as she currently does not pose much of a threat to his re-election; Nixon previously failed to qualify for the primary ballot due to lack of delegate support, and instead has stated that she will attempt to petition her way onto the Democratic primary ballot. Dr. Zuckers report is said to have involved participation from experts in public safety, public health, taxation, and economics, and covers a wide variety of issues that legal pot use would create in New York State, including the allowed age of consumption; oversight of growth, cultivation, distribution, and sales; and how to legally penalize abuses, including acts of driving under the influence of the drug. Even if Cuomo approves the measure to de-criminalize marijuana in New York State for recreational purposes and the aforementioned logistical aspects are successfully ironed out, which is yet another hurdle to clear it will still take some time to pass laws in Albany making it so; the State Legislature would need to approve, and the last day of their current session is today (June 20). They are not set to reconvene until 2019. In addition, while State Senate Democrats have expressed support for legalizing pot, Republicans who currently lead the Senate have so far indicated that they would have trepidations supporting such a measure. However, fall elections are coming up, and Democrats are only one seat shy of a Senate majority; its very possible that the face of leadership in the Senate may yet shift in the near future, paving a clear pathway to recreational marijuana legalization in New York State. However, the effects of change are already being felt- the NYPD recently announced that they would no longer arrest individuals smoking pot in public, instead opting only to issue citations; however, smoking in the vicinity of a school or playground would still warrant arrest, reports say. Czech Republic ready to invest in Bangladesh: Envoy Business Desk : Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Bangladesh Milan Hovorka on Wednesday expressed his country's readiness to invest in different sectors in Bangladesh. Hovorka, resident in New Delhi, showed the interest when State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam mentioned about Bangladesh's investment-friendly environment and invited the Czech Republic to invest in the country. During his meeting with the State Minister at the Foreign Ministry, the Ambassador lauded the impressive progress of Bangladesh in economic and other sectors, particularly the elevation of Bangladesh to the developing country status under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. State Minister for Foreign Affairs recalled with appreciation the recognition of Bangladesh by the then Czechoslovakia soon after its independence, said a press release. He also expressed satisfaction over the existing bilateral ties between the two friendly countries and noted that there were ample scopes for more bilateral interactions to utilise the potentials of the two countries, said the Foreign Ministry here. He stressed the intensive interaction both at governmental and private sector levels to explore the full potentials in economic, commercial and technical arena. The Czech Ambassador thanked the minister for the warm reception and expressed his happiness over the bilateral relations between the two countries and agreed to the need for establishing closer commercial and trade ties between the two friendly countries. They discussed the progress of the ongoing instruments and expressed their determination to follow them up to conclude and operationalise them at the soonest. Apart from the bilateral issues, both the interlocutors discussed international issues of common interest and emphasised the support of each other in multilateral fora. The second round of the presidential election in Colombia on 17 June delivered a victory for the right-wing, reactionary candidate, Ivan Duque (backed from behind-the-scenes by former-president, Alvaro Uribe), who received 54 percent of the vote (10m votes). However this was the first time in history that a candidate attacked by the ruling class as a dangerous Communist, Gustavo Petro, made it to the second round, and he received a very respectable 42 percent (8m votes). The campaign was extremely polarised and provoked a high level of political interest amongst the population. The immediate background to this election was the signing of a peace agreement between the Colombian state and the FARC guerrillas in 2016, a deal that was then defeated in a referendum in October that year and which was only finally signed in an amended form. The referendum showed the strength of the Colombian oligarchy, which was able to mobilise large layers of the population against the peace deal. This it did through a combination of intimidation, vote-buying, patronage, a hysterical campaign in the mass media and so on. The campaign of Ivan Duque, the candidate of the most reactionary section of the Colombian ruling class, was linked to paramilitarism and narco-trafficking, as well as the interests of the big cattle-ranchers. The first round of the elections on 27 May saw the emergence of two clear contenders: Duque with 39 percent and Petro with 25 percent. The bad result for Vargas Llera (7 percent), the candidate backed by incumbent president Juan Manuel Santos, showed how the whole of the right wing was gathering behind Ivan Duque in order to prevent a victory for Gustavo Petro. Thus, Santos' 'enormous success' in achieving a peace deal with the FARC did not translate to the polls. Other than the two candidates who went to the second round, the only other candidate to make it this far was the centrist Sergio Fajardo, with 23 percent of the vote, who was the candidate of a local faction of the ruling class based in the Antioquia region (the Grupo Empresarial de Antioquia). It is worth mentioning that the Maoist MOIR supported Fajardo in the first round and then (just as scandalously) called for a blank vote in the second round. Ruling class rattled Petros programme was not really left-wing in any meaningful sense of the term, but it managed to generate enthusiasm and hope amongst important layers of the workers and peasants, as well as hatred and panic amongst the ruling class. What Petro stood for was modernising Colombian capitalism, through a mild programme of agrarian reform and diversifying the economy away from a model based on the exploitation of mining and oil. These economic proposals (which did not go beyond the limits of capitalism) were combined with a series of democratic reforms, summarised in the idea of convening a Constituent Assembly. Petros programme was not left-wing in any meaningful sense, but it rattled the ruling class and enthused millions / Image: Coronades03 The campaign against him painted him as a dangerous radical and used all the classic themes of anti-Communist hysteria. His past membership in the M19 guerrilla organisation was used against him and a massive propaganda campaign was launched to promote the idea that he was a representative of Castro-Chavism, guerrillaist violence and that if elected he would embark on a wave of Chavez-style expropriations, which would sink the country into a terrible crisis like in Venezuela. This campaign of fear certainly had an impact. The only way to counteract such a campaign would have been to turn the tables back on the oligarchy and explain clearly that capitalism is responsible for the poverty, violence and inequality of Colombian society and that the only way forward would be to put the enormous wealth of the country at the service of the majority. Venezuela, of course, played an important role throughout the campaign and the ruling class made full use of the disastrous economic crisis in the neighbouring country to attack Petro. To counter this, it would have been necessary to explain that it is not socialism which has failed in Venezuela, but rather attempts to regulate capitalism. Petro's rightward turn Instead, Petro made a sharp turn to the right in the second round, by moderating his language and even abandoning some of his key promises from the first round. He actually presented his campaign commandments engraved in a piece of stone. The first two were no expropriations and no constituent assembly! This entered into direct contradiction with his main election promise of agrarian reform (which would involve the expropriation of landed estates from owners who refused to make them productive). Furthermore, he distanced himself from Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution, but not with left-wing criticism, rather by being critical from the right. Petro's 'EdStone' / Image: Twitter, petrogustavo His intention was clear: to appease the ruling class and try to counter their campaign of demonisation, as well as appeal to those who had voted for Fajardo in the first round. This, of course, did not work. The only way he was able to galvanise his support in the first round was precisely because he appeared as a radical candidate who was set to deliver fundamental change. Those who wanted to vote for a 'reasonable, moderate' candidate were always going to vote for his rival Duque. He could have increased his vote by further radicalising his message and appealing to those layers of the working class, the peasants and the poor who did not participate in the election (abstention was almost 46 percent in the second round). The campaign could be compared with that in 2006, when the Colombian ruling class put their differences to one side and backed one candidate, Uribe, for fear of allowing the centre-left PDA to win. The comparison reveals how different the situation is now. At that time Uribe managed to win with 62 percent of the vote in the first round on a turnout of 45 percent. The Polo Democratico y Alternativo candidate, Gaviria, barely got 22 percent. That was the time of the Plan Colombia, which meant a massive injection of money by US imperialism, and it was at the height of the conflict with the FARC. Those two factors are no longer in place. A significant outcome for Colombia The 8m votes for Petro are in fact very significant in the context of Colombia. They reveal how the removal of the FARC from the scene has been a positive factor from the point of view of left-wing politics. The result is also a reflection, albeit a distorted one, of the growing process of mass mobilisation that has taken place under the Santos presidency, with important movements by students, workers and peasants. Many of those who became enthusiastic about the possibility of Petro winning will of course be disappointed. However, this is not a crushing defeat. The results were certainly the best received by any candidate regarded as left-wing in decades. The election result will not have a demoralising effect on the process of struggle taking place. It is likely that it will have the opposite effect, of emboldening and encouraging the movement. This will be seen as a first step, not the last. Embed from Getty Images Ivan Duque in power is certainly bad news for the working people of Colombia. Even under Santos, who was committed to the peace process, there was a string of assassinations of social leaders (peasants, human rights defenders, trade unionists), including many former guerrillas, in a clear breach of the agreements. This will be intensified. Duque, an opponent of the accords, campaigned on the basis of amending certain aspects of them, but not completely tearing them up. Nevertheless, he will certainly carry out a policy of attacks on the workers and peasants, cuts in public spending and continued impunity for the state and the paramilitary gangs. Having seen the path towards fundamental change blocked on the electoral field, the workers, peasants and youth will now have no other alternative than confronting these policies on the streets through mass mobilisation and strikes. No future under capitalism A key task is to make a serious balance-sheet of Petros campaign and his programme. Here is a politician whose stated aim was to modernise Colombian capitalism, not to overthrow it. And still, his programme created panic amongst the ruling class and provoked an hysterical anti-Communist reaction. One conclusion must be drawn: it is not possible to modernise Colombia under capitalism. The only way to carry out the pending democratic-national tasks (including agrarian reform) is by revolutionary means and by linking them with the socialist tasks of expropriating the rotten and vicious Colombian oligarchy, whose hands are soaked with blood. At the same time, the perspective of revolution in Colombia is intimately linked to the revolutionary process in the whole of Latin America. The task of gathering the initial forces of a revolutionary Marxist tendency based on this perspective of permanent revolution, is today more urgent than ever. A story about a very unusual fruit, which offers a young boy the adventure of a lifetime, "James and the Giant Peach," will kick off the on July 9 for 16 performances through July 29. "This is Roald Dahl's first young adult novel. The famous British writer is also known for 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and 'Matilda.' The play has a nice heart to it, some exciting magical elements, and is very colorful and visually appealing. For me, I like doing shows with child heroes that you can look up to and who are smart and brave like James," said Stephen Petit, director of the Majestic Children's Theater. In the play, the resilience of an optimistic young boy is put to the test when an unfortunate series of events leads him to live with his two nasty aunts, "Sponge" and "Spiker." Life is no fun with the gruesome pair, until one day a mysterious man gives James a glowing green bag of magical things. Unfortunately, James trips and spills every last one. However, the mysterious things begin to work their magic underground, reviving an old dead tree with a peach that grows and grows... and keeps on growing until James soon finds himself entering a world of danger and discovery aboard the giant peach. Joshua True, who will be going into his senior year at Ludlow High School this fall, plays the Centipede in "James and the Giant Peach." "He is a very gruff, rough and tough character who talks in a deep voice and is very high and mighty about himself. The Centipede boasts about having the most legs of anyone in the animal kingdom, and I hope to bring an outgoing and very boisterous nature to his character," True said. Additional plays in the summer lineup include "Through the Looking Glass...and What Alice Found There," adapted by Petit and beginning July 16, and "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" beginning July 23. "'Alice in Wonderland' was the first play I adpted for Majestic Children's Theater back in 2013. 'Through the Looking Glass' takes bits and pieces from 'Alice' and was written five years later. I thought it would be cool to do 'Looking Glass' because Alice doesn't go down a rabbit hole, but this time enters through the mirror in her family's living room. It's very dreamy and trippy," Petit said. True said he is "super excited" to be playing Charlie Brown in the summer's last production. "Charlie Brown is such an iconic character and fun to play. I think I've grown up with him more than other kids my age because my father introduced me to the Peanuts comic strip when I was young and we watched all the television specials together," said True. "It's such a funny play with some very good music. I've seen it once before and I think the play has an important message about trying to be a better person," he added. Danny Eaton, founding producer of The Majestic Theater, introduced the Children's Theater to young audiences about a decade ago. "For me there are a couple aspects to our Children's Theater that are significant. First, we actually hire these young actors, who are in high school or early college, and pay them a weekly salary. For most of them, it's their first real job in the theater world where they will be getting some incredible training in a rotating repertory that offers close to 40 performances over the summer," Eaton said. "Also, for many children attending our summer theater, which is designed for kids around ages 6-10, it is the first time they will have ever seen a play on the live stage. So, you can say we are building a future audience for The Majestic. Another really neat thing is at the end of each performance, our young actors all race out to our cafe where children in the audience can get their autographs and talk with the actors," he added. True, who began acting in plays while in grammar school, is in his fifth season at the Majestic Children's Theater where he first played Pinocchio in 2014. "I had a cousin involved with the Majestic Children's Theater who introduced me to Steve. He cast me as Pinocchio and I liked it so much that I've kept on going all these years," he said. "I believe our summer theater at The Majestic offers a lighthearted place for kids to be introduced to something new other than playing on their iPads. It gives them a reason to smile and something to look forward to and to connect with other kids over their mutual love for the theater," he added. True, who began acting in plays while in grammar school, is in his fifth season at the Majestic Children's Theater where he first played Pinocchio in 2014. "I had a cousin involved with the Majestic Children's Theater who introduced me to Steve. He cast me as Pinocchio and I liked it so much that I've kept on going all these years," he said. The Republican each week will put together a slideshow of select clips and comics from the archive from the past 100 years. From the June 21, 1948 edition of The Springfield Union This week's selection of clips, headlines and comics from the past 100 years. This week we feature clips from 1928, 1948 and 1968. Fifty years ago, this week, the war in Vietnam became the longest in U.S. history. The War of Independence previously held that title as measured from the skirmish in Lexington, Mass. In 1775, to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va. In 1781. At this point, 535,000 American troops were fighting in Vietnam. This week U.S. Command reported that American troops were being moved into areas surrounding Saigon in order to block Viet Cong infiltration routes and to reduce the ongoing shelling of the South Vietnamese capital. From the June 22, 1968 edition of The Springfield Daily News Forty years earlier, President Calvin Coolidge congratulated Amelia Earhart, "America's lady Lindy," for being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. Aviation experts also hailed the fact that her flight proved a pontoon equipped aircraft could successfully fly over the ocean. From the June 19, 1928 edition of The Springfield Daily Republican On the same day, the President's son John Coolidge received his degree from Amherst College. The President and Mrs. Coolidge did not attend the ceremony as they were at the "summer White House" in Brule, Wisconsin. Calvin Coolidge graduated from Amherst thirty-three years earlier. Amherst's 107th commencement graduated 127. From the June 19, 1928 edition of The Springfield Daily Republican The pages of The Republican and its predecessors can be found online through the Newsbank Historic archive. The Historic Archive includes editions from 1824 to 1989. Pages and clips can be printed or downloaded in pdf format. SPRINGFIELD -- Families looking for free, fun activities this summer can participate in several movie nights hosted by the East Springfield Neighborhood Council in collaboration with the city. "These events are a great way for families to come together this summer and have a free night with their kids, make new friends, and strengthen our sense of community in the neighborhood," said Kathy Brown, president of the council. The council hosted a movie night during National Night Out last summer and had a great turnout. This year it's teaming up with the Springfield Parks and Recreation Department and the Springfield Department of Elder Affairs to offer movies at the new Raymond Jordan Senior Center. "The afternoon movies in the new senior center give people the opportunity to enjoy the show, and find out about all the great programs available for seniors in our area," she said. Movie lineup: - June 21, 1 p.m. - "Going in Style" at the Raymond A. Jordan Senior Center, 1476 Roosevelt Ave. - June 26, 7:30 p.m. - "Wonder" at Marshall Roy Park, 1437 Carew St.; Rain date T.B.D. - July 19, 1 p.m. - "Alive and Kicking" movie at the Raymond A. Jordan Senior Center - Aug. 7, 5:30 p.m. - 10:30 pm - National Night Out / "Jumanji" at Marshall Roy Park, 1437 Carew St.; Rain date T.B.D. - Aug. 14, 7:30 p.m. - "Black Panther" at Marshall Roy Park, 1437 Carew St.; Rain date T.B.D. The movies are sponsored by the Springfield Cultural Council, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and other community sponsors. By AMANDA JERMYN Special to The Republican It's that time of year again, time to savor the beauty of a summer night sky. While the starry skies are yours to enjoy on any clear night, there are also a number of organized stargazing activities in the area throughout the summer. When skies are clear, the Amherst Area Amateur Astronomers Association will host the following free programs during the summer: solar observing on Saturdays at 1 p.m. at Mount Pollux in Amherst; night sky observing on Saturdays at 9 p.m. at the Amherst College Wilder Observatory; and observing on Sundays at sunset at Mount Pollux. For more information on these and other events visit the group's website, amherstastronomy.org. The 36th annual Connecticut River Valley Astronomers' Conjunction will be held on the weekend of July 14 at the Northfield Mountain Recreation and Environmental Center in Northfield. The keynote address will be given by award-winning University of Massachusetts astronomer Grant Wilson on the topic, "Unveiling the Enshrouded Universe with the Large Millimeter Telescope." Other talks include "A Half Century of Astronomical Spectacles" by Richard Sanderson, retired curator of physical science at the Springfield Science Museum, and "The Next Great American Eclipse," by popular astronomy author Phil Harrington. Telescope making expert Dave Kelly will present "An Old-School Machinist's Version of the Classic Dobsonian Telescope," and there will be a "Star-Filled Tribute to Dr. Richard Scott and John Davis," featuring Lynne Scott and Ed Faits. Other activities include solar and nighttime observing, a swap table, camping at Baron's Cove on the Connecticut River, and an outdoor dinner. For more information, go online to philharrington.net/astroconjunction. This year, Stellafane, the 83rd Convention of Amateur Telescope Makers will be held from Aug. 9 through 12 on Breezy Hill in Springfield, Vermont. This annual gathering gives amateur telescope makers an opportunity to show off their creations and teach one another about telescope making. The keynote address will be given by Samuel D. Hale and Todd Mason on "The Past, Present and Future of Large Professional Telescopes." Hale is chairman and CEO of the Mount Wilson Institute and the grandson of well-known astronomer George Ellery Hale. Mason is a composer, digital animator and film maker who created the PBS documentary, "Journey to Palomar." Kristine Larsen, professor of geological sciences at Central Connecticut State University, will deliver the Shadowgram address on "Strange Scenes at Stellafane I have Known and Loved." The convention also includes several other talks, as well as a workshop on "Antique Telescopes, Observatories and Related Equipment." A key feature of the Stellafane Convention is the telescope competition, which gives amateur telescope makers a chance to compete for awards. In addition, there will be astronomy activities for children and teens. For more information, visit the website, stellafane.org. You may also want to consider attending the Rockland Astronomy Club's Summer Star Party, organized by the Northeast Astronomy Forum, at the Peppermint Park Camping Resort in Plainfield. Events are open to the public and run from Aug. 10 through 19. Come for a night or stay for all 10 days. Activities include talks, dinners, a live concert, demonstrations and stargazing, with telescopes available for dark sky observing. The Summer Star Party is sponsored by Sky & Telescope magazine, which hosts a live guided sky tour by Sky & Telescope chief editor Alan MacRobert, as well as lectures by prominent astronomers such as optical designer Alan Nagler. For more information, go online to rocklandastronomy.com/ssp. Another stargazing highlight is Arunah Hill Days at the Arunah Hill Natural Science Center in Cummington from Aug. 31 through Sept. 2. This family-oriented weekend includes stargazing, guided nature walks, geocaching, science education, and model rocket building and launching. Several large telescopes will be available for nighttime viewing, and astronomers will conduct constellation orientation talks. Specially filtered telescopes will be used during daylight hours to reveal sunspots and solar prominences. Talks include a presentation by amateur photographer John Nardacci on his night sky photography around the area, including Arunah Hill. Food will be available, and all events are open to the public. For more information visit the Arunah Hill Facebook page or contact Barry Hervieux by email to bhervieux@comcast.net. Happy stargazing, and enjoy the wonders of the night sky! Amanda Jermyn, of Longmeadow, is vice president of the Springfield Stars Club. For more information, visit the club's website, reflector.org, like them on Facebook or call 800-336-9054. Massachusetts State Police on Tuesday identified the 29-year-old woman killed Saturday in a two-car crash on Interstate 93 in Braintree as Sheikeya Davis, of Taunton. According to a state police press release, Davis was traveling southbound on the highway near Exit 5 at about 1 a.m. Saturday when she apparently lost control of her Buick Rendezvous, which crashed into a guardrail and came to rest in the right travel lane of the highway. Davis apparently got out of the car and was standing behind it when a Nissan Altima came upon the crashed vehicle, struck it and pushed the car into Davis, killing her. She was pronounced dead at the scene, while the 20-year-old driver of the Altima was transported to Boston Medical Center with serious injuries. The incident remains under investigation by the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, Crime Scene Services and State Police detectives attached to the Norfolk District Attorney's Office. HOLYOKE -- The City Council tonight at 7 faces $346,000 in proposed transfers, but with only $236,000 available in free cash, it's a bind that could jeopardize the planned $50,000 rescue of the closed Mater Dolorosa Church. Also among the proposed transfers confronting the Council at City Hall is $142,000 to fund retroactive pay increases for firefighters in a new contract. Mayor Alex B. Morse has submitted as a funding option other than free cash a proposal to tap the over $12 million stabilization, or rainy day, account for some of the transfers. But councilors in recent years have rejected using the stabilization account because they say it should be used for emergencies, not to supplement operating costs that the regular budget should pay for. Councilors' adamance against using money from the stabilization fund unless in cases of an unforeseen emergency was illustrated in December. A majority of the board refused to permit dipping into the fund, prompting a delay in the setting of the tax rate and forcing the city to do short-term borrowing and incur interest fees to keep municipal government operating. Councilor Joseph M. McGiverin, chairman of the Finance Committee, discussed the free cash bind during the Council Development and Government Relations Committee (DGR) meeting at City Hall Monday, which The Republican watched on cable television, The Council faces $346,000 in requests for free cash transfers with only $236,000 available in free cash, he said. Mayor Alex B. Morse and Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, announced May 31 an agreement had been reached for the city to buy the church at Maple and Lyman streets. Morse had begun talks with Rozanski in October to try to avoid Diocese plans to demolish the 117-year-old structure. The plan is for the city to hire a company to operate and maintain the church, which would be used to hold cultural events and banquets and possibly to house a a transition program for special needs students, officials have said. Morse reiterated his reasoning for having the city buy the church during the DGR meeting. Mater Dolorosa Church was built and paid for by Polish immigrants, who for decades attended services and embraced the building as a centerpiece, a "historic treasure in the city," Morse said. "So, to some extent, I think it's an obligation, to some extent, even a moral obligation," he said. "If not for our intervention, this church will get demolished." The Diocese owns the church at 71 Maple St. It was closed in 2011 because of declining parishioner numbers and concerns about the steeple's stability, diocese officials said, but others have said the church structure is sound and will last for years. But the deal cannot proceed unless the City Council approves the funding to execute purchase of the church. Councilor David K. Bartley, DGR committee chairman and a lawyer, has already noted the time-bind the Council faces in having to consider whether to approve the purchase of a church. It's possible that councilors opposed to using stabilization funds for some of the proposed transfers could rail at Morse for positioning them into having to choose in deciding how to use the limited free cash account between paying for firefighters' pay increases or saving a church. Councilors such as Peter R. Tallman and McGiverin have expressed concerns about the city acquiring such an old building as Mater Dolorosa Church and possibly incurring maintenance costs. Timing is tight but how tight is unclear. Officials have said the city's purchase of Mater Dolorosa Church must be completed by June 29, before the beginning of the new fiscal year July 1. But Bartley said his reading of the purchase and sale agreement between the city and the Diocese was that it was signed Monday, June 18, and that the deal's "drop-dead date" would be a month from then, July 18. Despite the at times vehement disputing by engineers and others with building expertise of the Diocese's claims that the church is unstable, and their noting that seven years after it closed the church still stands, the Diocese has never wavered from its contention about instability. That makes it hard to imagine that if the deal to the city falls through, the Diocese won't resume plans to demolish Mater Dolorosa Church. It's worth noting that negotiating with the Diocese is not easy, Bartley said. "The Diocese and its lawyers are a very frustrating group to deal with. They are a tough group. Doesn't make them bad, just means they're tough to deal with," he said. BELCHERTOWN - Brietta Brown, accused of slashing two people's throats on a bus last month in Hadley, will return to a mental health facility in Boston after deciding not to challenge a competency ruling. Initially, Brown was challenging a ruling that she was incompetent to stand trial and would have been sent to jail. But after a brief court appearance Wednesday, she changed her mind and said she would not challenge it. She will return to Eastern Hampshire District Court July 2 for a dangerousness hearing. Brown has been held at the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health facility in Boston, where she was committed at a May 4 hearing. Brown's court-appointed attorney, Alan Rubin, said he was concerned for her well-being if she was sent to jail. He told the court that Brown would not speak to him. "She's not going to have effective representation because of her condition," he said. Brown, 26, is facing two counts of attempted murder, one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and one count of disturbing the peace. She is accused in a May 2 attack on passengers on a Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus heading from Amherst to Northampton along Route 9 in Hadley. Police said she pulled out a knife and slashed two people's throats before the driver and other passengers wrestled the weapon away. The victims were treated at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton and released. The driver was also cut and had chest pains, and was also taken to the hospital, police said. Tom Picard of Amherst, who helped subdue Brown, said in a previous interview the two passengers who were slashed were lucky that "the knife wasn't very sharp." Picard said Brown repeatedly apologized for what she did and kept asking God for forgiveness. According to a Hadley police report, Brown allegedly said, "I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me. Please apologize to them for me, will they survive? I hope Allah will forgive me." Brown had been scheduled to appear in court last month for a dangerousness hearing, but that was postponed because Rubin told the court she was "not doing very well." That May 23 postponement was the second delay. SPRINGFIELD -- When Kiki Jahmelia Dee Smith steps foot this fall on the campus of Newbury College, a private school in Boston, she will be a typical college student. Not many people will know that she grew up in foster homes since the age of 3, that she played in a park where drug dealers did their daily transactions, that she saw people getting stabbed regularly and that many kids her in her neighborhood ended up in gangs or dead. Smith, 19, of Springfield, was one of 23 graduates from Phoenix Charter Academy Springfield who earned their high school diplomas during a commencement ceremony Tuesday at Springfield Technical Community College. She said although she was taken from her mother at such a young age, she always shared a bond with her and used the lessons she taught her to make it to graduation. "My mother taught me the values I will always hold in my heart: persistence, effort and responsibility. She taught me that there is dignity in a hard day's work, she taught me to always look out for my family, to never look down on anyone and to treat everyone with respect," Smith said. Smith's was not the only compelling story. Among the graduates was 23-year-old Ashley Marie Carrasquillo, a young woman who, while working as a janitor in downtown Springfield, became inspired to get her diploma after seeing students walking past her wearing their caps and gowns. Carrasquillo took the MCAS seven times before finally passing it, making her eligible to earn her high school diploma. In the fall, she will attend Springfield Technical Community College, where she will major in art with the hopes of becoming a leading tattoo artist. Dante Markquis Estrada, 19, of Springfield, was raised by a single mother. He saw his father going in and out of jail his whole life. "Due to me not having the classic American life, they try to put a cap on my success by telling me I can't do it," he said. "My back has been against the wall my whole life. I use that to motivate me, to fuel me ..." He will also attend STCC in the fall. All of the graduates have been accepted to area colleges and universities. The graduation included several student speeches as well as a keynote address from Harry E. Dumay, president of the College of Our Lady of the Elms, who grew up in Haiti and earned a scholarship at age 17 that allowed him to study abroad and changed the course of his life. Students also heard from several teachers including literature teacher and student advisor Larissa Thornton and Jacqueline Adam-Taylor, head of the school. Adam-Taylor said that graduates have exceeded the expectations of Phoenix Charter Academy Springfield. "No matter the circumstances or the odds, never doubt yourself. You are more than enough," she said. "You are perfect not because you have everything figured out, but because you are always trying to do better. Never forget that, and never forget that you are loved." All of the student speakers discussed the pride they feel in themselves and their classmates and the great respect they share. "I want to thank each of you for treating me like a human, not like at my other school where they treated me like trash," said Allan Jafed Rodriguez to his classmates. "You have all shaped me and who I am now." Smith said all of the graduates have proven everyone who doubted them wrong. "Statistics say I shouldn't be here, but statistics can't measure hearts, it can't account for the support of a loving mother, or the encouragement of a friendly teacher," she said. "It doesn't account for your spirit or your fight. Statistics say I shouldn't be here, but here I am." AMHERST -- A 25-year-old Hampton, New Hampshire man died after falling from the Lederle Graduate Research Center at UMass Amherst Tuesday night. He apparently fell from the top floor of 16-story building, according to Mary Carey, spokeswoman for the Northwestern district attorney's office. The man, whose name has not been released, was a former student at UMass Amherst. He was not enrolled there at the time of his death. UMass spokesman Ed Blaguszewski referred all questions to the district attorney's office. No foul play is suspected, the district attorney's office said. The incident remains under investigation by the UMass-Amherst Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit attached to the Northwestern district attorney's office, and the state's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In 2016, a UMass student fell from a fourth-story window in the Hasbrouck Laboratory Building. Woman, minor drown in Sylhet flood water Sylhet Bureau : A woman and a minor boy drowned in two separate drowning incidents in Kanaighat and Jakiganj upazilas respectively in the district on Tuesday. The deceased were identified as Hosne Ara, 30, daughter of Mati Mia of Dakkhin Thakurmati village in Kanaighat upazila and Mahir Ahmed, 7, son of Nurul Islam hailing Mansurpur village of Jakiganj upazila. Locals said Hosne Ara, a widow, drowned in the flood waters that have immersed a large part of the region, while trying to rescue her son from drowning around 3pm. Her bid to save her child did not end in vain though, as she embraced death even as she gave her child another chance at life. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow choked up and abruptly ended her broadcast on live television Tuesday night while speaking on a news report about babies and young children being separated from their parents and sent to "tender-age shelters" in south Texas. While broadcasting "The Rachel Maddow Show," the left-leaning anchor who splits her time between New York and Western Massachusetts cried on air while reading a new Associated Press report on the border crisis. "The AP has just broken some new news," Maddow began before stumbling through the report in tears. "This is incredible." She began to read the latest news coming out of southern Texas, where a zero-tolerance border control policy has sparked a national debate around the ethics of border security practices. President Donald Trump's administration announced the zero-tolerance policy in early May, which promised to criminally prosecute everyone who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Since then the AP reports more than 2,300 children have been forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Photos and images captured at the detention facilities in southern Texas show young children in chain-link cages, areas typically intended to house immigrants for no more than three days. Maddow began to report that officials at the border are sending babies and young children separated from their parents to three "tender age" shelters in Combes, Raymondville and Brownsville, Texas. She asked if the show could cut to a graphic, but then managed to finish her lines for the news report before handing off the show to broadcaster Lawrence O'Donnell, who hosts the 10 p.m. slot. Maddow took to Twitter to apologize for "losing it there for a moment." SPRINGFIELD - Improper disposal of smoking materials is the "most likely" cause of a three-alarm fire at a Mulberry Street condominium complex Tuesday morning that displaced 24 residents and sent three to area hospitals. Dennis Leger, aide to Commissioner Bernard J. Calvi, said the Springfield Arson & Bomb Squad continues to the fire. The blaze broke out at the 101 Mulberry St. complex, known as Mulberry House, shortly after 6 a.m. Approximately 130 residents were evacuated, including a number of residents who were rescued by aerial ladders and ground ladders. The fire began in the bedroom of unit 119, located on the first floor, Leger said. It extended throughout the unit and out a door into the hallway before it was brought under control. All 20 units on the first floor and two more on the second floor were left uninhabitable, Leger said. Leger said investigators determined the fire started in the area of an ashtray next to a bed. The Western Massachusetts Chapter of the American Red Cross is assisting those displaced. A civil lawsuit is alleging former Senate President Stan Rosenberg knew his estranged husband Bryon Hefner posed a risk to individuals at the Massachusetts Statehouse and Rosenberg and Hefner had an agreement or understanding allowing Hefner access to those individuals. The lawsuit, which names both men, was filed in Suffolk Superior Court Friday on behalf of an unnamed plaintiff who alleges Hefner grabbed his genitals without consent. The lawsuit alleges Rosenberg knew the risk Hefner posed and had "a common design or understanding" with Hefner allowing the unwanted sexual touching to happen. The suit alleges the plaintiff suffers emotional distress. Attempts to reach Rosenberg, who resigned in May, were unsuccessful. Hefner has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges including sexual assault. Hefner's lawyer didn't immediately return a request for comment. SPRINGFIELD -- A man found guilty of murder in the 1995 slaying of his wife is now reportedly being charged by Connecticut authorities with the slaying of his daughter in that state. WFSB reported Robert Honsch is being charged by New Britain police with murder in connection with the death of his 16-year-old daughter Elizabeth Honsch in 1995. In June 2017, a Hampden Superior Court jury found Honsch guilty of murder in connection with the fatal shooting of his wife, Marcia Honsch. Her body was found in Tolland State Forest in October of 1995. Honsch was sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole. Elizabeth Honsch was found behind a shopping plaza in New Britain, Connecticut in late September 1995. Both Marcia and Elizabeth Honsch were shot in the head. Robert Honsch was arrested in July 2014 in Dalton, Ohio, where investigators said he was living under an assumed name with a new wife and three children. It was in 2014 that the two women found dead in 1995 were identified as Robert Honsch's wife and daughter. Authorities arrested MBTA employee Stephen Fagerberg, charging him with allegedly stealing money from the system's fare boxes that he was tasked with repairing. Fagerberg, a 55-year-old Dedham man, works as an automated fare technician on the MBTA buses in South Boston. Attorney General Maura Healey's office said Fagerberg, who stole the money "over several months," had been under investigation since April 2018. He was arrested on Tuesday night. "Authorities conducted an undercover operation that included planting marked bills in fare collection boxes that Fagerberg serviced," Healey's office said in a release, adding that the investigation remains ongoing. "Authorities allege that the defendant deposited the marked bills into his personal bank account via a drive-up ATM." He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday in Roxbury District Court. He was released on personal recognizance, while giving up his passport. He was ordered to stay away from MBTA property. Fagerberg's next court date, a probable cause hearing, is set for Aug. 14. SPRINGFIELD - A male, shot in the Bay neighborhood Tuesday night, was taken to Baystate Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. Ryan Walsh, spokesman for Springfield police, said officers responded to a ShotSpotter activation on Burr Street at approximately 10:15 p.m. Additional information on the shooting, which occurred in the area of 70 Burr St., was not immediately available. This is a developing story. Additional information will be posted as soon as it is available. Pope Francis criticized the Trump administration's policy of separating parents from their children at the Mexican border saying it was "immoral." In an interview with Reuters, the Pope said he supported the U.S. Catholic bishops who have sharply condemned the practice. "It's not easy, but populism is not the solution," Francis told the news service. Religious leaders across the country, including in Massachusetts, have condemned the new "zero-tolerance" immigration policy introduced by United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Trump administration. Sessions said he hopes splitting kids from their parents, and prosecuting people who illegally cross the border criminally, will serve as a deterrent. More than 600 members of the United Methodist Church have issued a complaint against Sessions, a fellow church member, saying his policy violates church rules and amounts to child abuse, according to CNN. The complaint states Sessions violated the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline. This could lead to a church trial and expulsion. Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, said the government was "using children as pawns." "I cannot be silent when our country's immigration policy destroys families, traumatizes parents, and terrorizes children. The harmful and unjust policy of separating children from their parents must be ended," O'Malley wrote in a statement. SPRINGFIELD -- Residents raised concerns Tuesday about crime and public safety in the Armoury-Quadrangle area along High and School streets, urging the city, the Police Department and a meals program for the needy to do more to curb the problems. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno was among city officials listening to the concerns during a community meeting at South Congregational Church on Maple Street. The church is the site of the Open Pantry Loaves & Fishes meals program that was cited by some as one area of concern in the neighborhood. Terry Maxey, executive director of Open Pantry Community Services, said more is being done by his staff now to keep the area clean and to monitor immediately outside the meal program for problems. "Open Pantry Community Services is behind whatever we need to do to make this community safe," Maxey said, pledging to work with residents and police. Residents and property owners said the problems affecting public safety and the quality of life in the neighborhood include loitering, trespassing, panhandling, prostitution, open drug dealing, littering and public urination. While some residents said they have seen improvement in the area, they and others said much more must done. Carol Costa questioned if there might be a better area for the meals program more "off the beaten track." She praised recent efforts to crack down on the problems by Open Pantry and police. Some social activists in attendance, including representatives of Arise for Social Justice, said there must be solutions found to reduce the underlying causes of the problems, particularly poverty. The homeless should not be ignored or hidden, they said. Sarno said it was a "good, frank give-and-take discussion of getting solutions." He said efforts will continue involving police, the community, Open Pantry, and agencies that provide services. But he called for a regional effort, saying Springfield does more than its fair share to help the poor and homeless. Sarno and Geraldine McCafferty, the city's director of housing and homelessness, said they had complaints from many residents about the problems involving people who take part in the Open Pantry meals program. McCafferty asked for the meeting at the church in response to those concerns. Others participating in the Tuesday meeting were representatives of the Police Department and City Councilors Jesse Lederman and Adam Gomez. Deputy Police Chief William Cochrane said police will continue to step up efforts, and invited the residents to share their concerns during beat management meetings with police. The councilors said they will have meetings to discuss the problems and solutions. In an interview with The Republican last week for an unrelated story, the Rev. Tom Gerstenlauer of South Congregation Church said the meals program offers an important safety net in the neighborhood. "These are people who want to form relationships, who want security -- and they're hungry. A hot meal program holds a great deal of appeal in a poor neighborhood," said Gerstenlauer. SHUTESBURY -- Frustrated with what he termed an impasse with the town's Select Board over a pay increase, Fire Chief Walter Tibbetts intends to step down July 31 unless a deal is reached. If Tibbetts leaves, all 10 members of the Shutesbury Fire Department vow to walk out the door with him. "If I go, they go," Tibbetts said in a phone interview Wednesday. "If (Tibbetts) is not there, we're not there," said Fire Lt. Leonard Czerwonka in a separate interview. "If he stays, we're going to stay." The retirement of the chief and departure of all firefighters presents a nightmare scenario for this Franklin County town of 1,200. Czerwonka said he told Select Board members at a meeting last week that they better start coming to the department's weekly Thursday night drills to learn how to drive the fire trucks and to haul hoses around. "They're going to have to learn the hard way because someone is going to have to do it," he said. Select Board Chairman Michael DeChiara declined to comment because he is a member of the negotiation committee working on Tibbetts' contract. Town Administrator Rebecca Torres said she could not comment until minutes from a Tuesday night Select Board executive session are released. The Shutesbury Fire Department is a paid, on-call department, which is different from a volunteer department. Firefighters are paid a salary when they are called in for service. The department averages around 160 calls for service a year, including fires, accidents and other emergencies. Shutesbury has an annual budget of $6.4 million. The fiscal 2019 town budget appropriates $108,621 for the Fire Department. Of that, $79,721 is for salaries. The 2019 town budget calls for a 2.5 percent increase in the fire chief's salary, from the current $55,409 to $56,794. Tibbets said he has been negotiating with the Select Board since January or February, but recently talks broke down, he said. As a result, Tibbetts turned in his letter of retirement effective July 31. As a paid chief for the past 23 years, he has been around long enough to qualify for a state pension. He said the sticking point in his dispute with the town is about $5,000. Tibbetts is seeking a pay raise of just under $10,000, to bring his salary up to $65,000 per year. The Select Board has countered with a best offer of $60,000, he said. With neither side yielding, Tibbetts said he felt his only option was to submit his letter of retirement. "At that point I reached my limit," he said. A statement posted Tuesday on the Shutesbury Fire Department's Facebook page reads, in part: "Chief Tibbetts and the town officials have been in contract negotiations over the last few months. The Town of Shutesbury officials doesn't seem to share the love and respect that the townspeople and their firefighters have for him. He has been a guiding force in the safety and prevention for this town for decades. And rather than seeing him as an asset and investment they saw him as expendable." The statement ends with an appeal for residents to call the Select Board and urge them to change their minds. Chief Tibbetts and the town officials have been in contract negotiations over the last few months. The Town of... Posted by Shutesbury Fire/Emergency Management on Tuesday, June 19, 2018 Tibbetts said the pay increase he is seeking would reflect the increased responsibilities he has taken over the years. In addition to being fire chief, he's also the emergency management director, forest warden and 911 coordinator. He said the town reworked his job description recently for the first time in a dozen years and the document grew to twice its former length. His present salary, he said, is $21,000 less than the $76,489 budgeted for the town police chief. Shutesbury is interviewing candidates for a new police chief. The advertisement for the post requires the new chief to live within 35 minutes of Shutesbury. Referring to that requirement, Czerwonka said Tibbetts lives in Shutesbury, and responds to all calls at all hours every day of the week. The contract issue, based on meeting agendas posted on the town website, has been a part of the last two Select Board meetings. It was the sole item for discussion in the meeting Tuesday. Tibbetts said he is willing to meet with town officials to negotiate up until midnight on July 31. "I'm here until I'm not here," he said. "If the problem is not solved by then, then I'm not here." He said he feels for the residents of town who could find themselves without a working fire department on Aug. 1. "Whatever ramifications there are, it's not good," he said. The Shutesbury Fire Department, like most in the state, has mutual aid agreements with neighboring communities. Under mutual aid, communities will dispatch equipment and personnel to neighboring communities for help with emergencies. But if Shutesbury's fire department closes, the town may not be able to rely on help from out of town. "You have to have a fire department to request mutual aid," Tibbetts said. "If you do not, then no mutual aid." "At some point the town will have to figure out how to get coverage," he said. "And it's going to be a lot more expensive than the $5,000 they are not willing to pay me." SPRINGFIELD -- The City Council's creation of chief diversity officer in Springfield, intended to expand efforts to hire and retain minority employees and supervisors, was immediately vetoed by Mayor Domenic J. Sarno on Tuesday. Sarno, in vetoing the chief diversity officer position, said there already exists a position of equal opportunity administrator in Springfield and human resources policies that include an Affirmative Action Plan, revised in 2017 and shared with all employees on an annual basis. "In respect to the individual who currently holds this position, I will continue to support the work that has been done in the past and will continue in the future regarding diversity initiatives here in our city," Sarno said in his veto message. By law, the 13-member City Council can override mayoral vetoes with a two-thirds majority vote. Sarno, in his veto, said that in conferring with City Solicitor Edward Pikula, he is vetoing the council's action as being "not in the proper form." On Monday, the council voted 10-1 to create a city ordinance, establishing the position of chief diversity officer. The new position was intended to help attract and retain minority city employees and supervisors. Funding for the position, however, needs approval from Sarno and it was further halted, at least currently, by the veto. "We have a person already doing the job," Sarno said, referring to the city's long-term Equal Opportunity Administrator Dan M.C. Hall. "In the very near future, he will be retiring. I will announce a transition plan." Council President Orlando Ramos said that while he is not surprised with the mayor's veto, "I am very disappointed." "I intend to put it on the agenda as soon as possible for a veto override," Ramos said. Hall has worked in his position for 30 years, and said he does plan to retire soon, but a date is not yet finalized. Councilor Marcus Williams, a lead sponsor of the chief diversity officer ordinance, said he is proud that the council did its job to create the position to promote a more diverse workforce. He said he has been seeking a meeting with Sarno to directly discuss the matter. "We have to continue to push the ball on diversity," Williams said. "We did our function. Now this falls in the mayor's lap to make sure the position is funded." Under the new ordinance, the chief diversity officer would "develop, implement and monitor programs that promote diversity within the City workforce. "This will include the ongoing development and delivery of the City's diversity goals and objectives in areas of hiring, leadership and career development, diversity training, strategic planning, recruitment and retention," the ordinance states. Councilors called for the new position beginning in February, saying it would replace and be much stronger than the existing equal employment administrator position. Sarno defended current diversity efforts including Hall's work. Williams and other councilors said there is a need for more diversity among city department heads and a greater effort needed to encourage minority police officers and firefighters to take Civil Service promotion exams, among other workforce diversity efforts. Sarno has repeatedly defended current efforts. "I am very proud of my administration's proven track record of hiring the best and the brightest, and that is what the taxpayers look for and taxpayers demand," Sarno said. While opposing the ordinance, Sarno said he does intend to change the job title of the equal employment administrator and adjust the duties. Pikula, in a legal opinion submitted to Sarno, said in part that the ordinance is not in proper form "as it appears to be an attempt to confer general appropriation powers that are not included in the City Charter and in conflict with Municipal Finance statutes." The ordinance approved by the council states that a chief diversity officer would: Serve as the ombudsman for employment and diversity issues. Work with community, academic, and business organizations in order to increase diversity of employee candidate pools. Develop a career advancement plan within the City to increase diversity among candidates for advancement. Would meet twice a year with the City Council and report progress on initiatives and duties. Councilor Kateri Walsh cast the sole vote against the ordinance. In addition, Councilors Thomas Ashe and E. Henry Twiggs were absent from the meeting. In March, Hall and Human Resources Director William Mahoney said that Hall's current duties include monitoring the city's affirmative action plan's progress and ensuring a "diverse workforce." The duties also include investigation of alleged sexual harassment and discrimination complaints. Sarno and Mahoney said the city has 32 department heads including seven minorities. Some members of the council said the submitted list of department heads appeared to be inflated. In February, Sarno, responding to councilors' concerns about the racial makeup of city department heads, said: "I want the best, the brightest and the most qualified individuals. I don't give a damn about anyone's creed or skin color. I think I've proven that." Call to send Hajj pilgrims thru' Pahartali Haji Camp : HJKP Chattogram Bureau : The arrangement for sending Hajj pilgrims of Chattogram Division through Pahartali Haji camp of the port city is a long felt demand of the people of this division . It is very much difficult for the pilgrims from remote areas of this division to reach Dhaka by road or rail due to severe road congestions, lack of easy availability of rail tickets for completion of formalities at Asakona Haji Camp of Dhaka . On the other hand, if the arrangement for sending pilgrims through Pahartali haji camp, the pressure on Dhaka based Haji camp will be eased to maximum extents. Mentionable that the numbers of hajj pilgrims from Chattogram division is about 25% of the total. Moreover, there is an existing Haji Camp and International airport facilities in Chattogram and it will be wise to send hajj pilgrims of this division thru' Pahartali haji camp every year without any obstacles. The decision of sending hajj pilgrims through Pahartali Haji amp depends on cordiality and liberality of the concerned higher authority of the Ministry, sources said. This demand was placed at the meeting of the Hajj Jhatri Kaylan Parishad (HJKP)held at a posh hotel in city on Monday with its President Alhaj Ahmadul Islam Chowdhury in the chair. Secretary General of the Parishad Principal Dr Abdul Karim delivered address of welcome in the meet duly moderated by Dr Saleh Ahmed Suleman. Among others, Prof Shahdat Hossain, Muktijudda Commander Md Shahabuddin, Md Nurul Islam, Alhaj Md Sharif, Ashraf Hossain, Amanuddin Khan Abdullah and Adv Md Abdullah spoke on the occasion. Mentionable that Hajj pilgrims training program will be held at Rima Convention Hall in city on July 7 next duly arranged by the HJKP President and the Secretary General of the HJKP called upon the Hajj pilgrims of the current season to join the hajj training program and seminar in due time. LONGMEADOW - The state Attorney General's office on Wednesday announced it fined the father-and-daughter owners of a Subway restaurant $77,000 after finding they paid employees below minimum wage, and in one case illegally hired a 14-year-old girl who they did not pay at all. Shruti B. Oza and her father Bharat V. Oza, and their company, Shreeji Group of Longmeadow LLC, were cited for four intentional civil violations: child labor violations, failure to pay minimum wage, non-payment of wages, and failure to provide records for inspection. All of the violations were found at their Subway franchise at 923 Shaker Road in Longmeadow. The family's LLC is registered in West Springfield. Bharat Oza was also cited for failing to provide records for inspection in another business he owns, the Regency Inn on Riverdale Street, in West Side. "These employers took advantage of their workers, deprived them of the wages they were owed, and put a young employee in danger by asking her to work too long, too late, and without a proper work permit," said Attorney General Maura Healey. "Where we see wage theft and other violations of the state labor law, we will take action to get workers the wages they are owed and to protect them from future exploitation." The case was investigated by the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division after receiving a complaint from an employee who charged she was underpaid. The woman said that for some hours she was paid less than $11, the state's minimum wage, and for others she was not paid at all. The woman also told investigators that her 14-year-old daughter was hired to work in the restaurant without requiring her to get a work permit, and that the daughter was also not paid. In Massachusetts, children under age 14 are not allowed to hold jobs, while minors between the ages of 14 and 17 are required to have a work permit. Investigators determined the employee making the complaint has routinely paid late, beginning in 2015, was paid below minimum wage for several months in 2016, and was not paid at all in 2017. They also found her daughter was hired without a work permit, and that she was frequently required to work without supervision, at nights and for more hours per shift than allowed by law. Massachusetts labor laws forbid 14-year-old children from working more than 3 hours a day or later than 7 p.m. during the school year. Also all employees are to be paid within six days after the end of a pay period. The fine includes $19378 in restitution to the woman and her daughter, and $58,200 in penalties. Shreeji Group is appealing the decision. If the Republican-led Congress decided on occasion to do what's right, rather than simply falling in line with President Donald Trump's every whim, what would that look like? It might not be flashy, and it might not get all the headlines, at least not initially. It might even happen in a conference committee, those arcane Capitol Hill meetings at which members of the House and Senate get together to reconcile differences between bills passed in the two houses. This is possibly what we're on the verge of right now. These days, when nearly everything that comes up for a vote in Congress is viewed through a partisan lens, with most Republicans lining up on one side and most Democrats on the other, it's notable when a bill makes its way through either house with broad support. What's even more striking in our era is when GOP lawmakers buck Trump, backing a bill he opposes. On Monday, the Senate voted 85-10 to support the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes language that would forbid Chinese telecom giant ZTE from doing business in the United States. Trump had recently removed a ban on ZTE, throwing a lifeline to the telecom company. It is important to note that ZTE had been selling equipment to Iran and North Korea, violating sanctions against those nation, which, with Iraq, had been dubbed the "axis of evil" by President George W. Bush. That was long before President Trump decided to cozy up to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. And who knows what he's thinking about with Iran these days? But ZTE's sanctions violations are far from the worst of it these days. ZTE and Huawei, another Chinese telecom firm, pose a serious national security threat to our nation. We are in the process of building the next cellular network. That infrastructure, the so-called 5G network, will be the backbone of so much of what's ahead - autonomous vehicles, Internet-connected devices in homes, and elements of our nation's vital infrastructure, including the electrical grid and water systems. Do we really want companies that are in ways little more than extensions of the Chinese government playing a key role in the construction of that network? The question answers itself, or ought to. This is why the amendment to the Senate bill was potentially so consequential. Now, if only the House can get its act together and follow suit, we'll really be getting somewhere. The House has already passed its own version of the defense bill. The measure doesn't include the language on ZTE. As such, the differences between the two measures will need to be reconciled in conference before the bill can become law. It's during that process when we'll find out if the GOP-majority House will do what's right, or will once again bend to Trump's will. If it knuckles under, our next wireless network may well be built, at least in part, by companies with close ties to the Chinese government. We may not know exactly what it would look like if Congress began to stand up to Trump, but we'll eventually find out what will happen if it doesn't. And that picture isn't at all a pretty one. Bryon Hefner allegedly took "naked photos" of an elected official without his consent and distributed them to multiple people on Beacon Hill, according to a civil suit filed Friday. Former Senate President Stan Rosenberg knew his husband had the photo, according to the suit, and watched him show it to another colleague at a house party in December 2014. A former legislative aide is suing Rosenberg and Hefner saying that the former Senate President knew the risk his husband posed and still allowed him access to his political contacts. The aide, named only as John Doe, says Hefner sexually assaulted him at least three times between 2015 and 2016 including one time when Rosenberg was within the same car. At his April arraignment on, 10 criminal charges, details about the naked photo emerged, but the individual was not identified as an elected official. Hefner pleaded not guilty to all charges at that court appearance. Hefner faces four counts of disseminating nude photos of an unsuspecting person without consent. These appear to stem from a night of drinking following a political conference in December 2013. Both Hefner and Rosenberg attended the conference with other Massachusetts elected officials, according to the civil suit. "While on this trip, another elected official consumed a quantity of alcohol and awoke naked in his own hotel room bed with no memory of how he got there," lawyer Mitchell Garabedian wrote in the civil suit. Later, that person learned that Hefner had "naked photos of this elected official from this trip" on his phone. Hefner showed the photos to "multiple other people," at least two of whom identified the official. At Hefner's April arraignment, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Snook named this elected official "person number four." "He appeared proud he had those photos," Snook said, of Hefner. The new suit makes specific allegations of Rosenberg's complacency around his partner's illegal behavior. Garabedian describes a scene at the December 2014 house party that he says should've been a red flag for Rosenberg. Hefner allegedly showed the host his phone, in front of Rosenberg, and the former senator saw that person "have a negative reaction." Later, that person told Rosenberg he needed to "get rid" of Hefner. When Rosenberg asked Hefner what happened and he told the former Senate president he had shown the elected official a "picture of a naked man." At a different point, a policy advocate saw one of the photos on another person's phone and confronted Hefner about it. He "claimed that Defendant Rosenberg was aware of the photograph." The man also details times were Rosenberg and Hefner swapped inappropriate text messages sexualizing members of the Senator's staff. In March 2016, the suit states, Rosenberg "initiated sexualized text messages" with Hefner "about the spouse of another elected official." Rosenberg also texted his husband about a staffer that Hefner was "lusting over." Rosenberg and Hefner are scheduled to appear in court to face the new allegations in July. If convicted on all criminal charges, Hefner could face up to 30 years in prison. BOSTON -- Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday that he is still hopeful that a "grand bargain" can be reached to keep some of the proposed ballot questions off the ballot in November. "There's still a lot of discussions going on on that," Baker said. "It's my hope and my expectation that we'll still probably get something done on that." The Supreme Judicial Court on Monday decided that a proposed constitutional amendment raising taxes on income over $1 million cannot go forward. That decision lends a new dynamic to ongoing negotiations between business and labor groups over raising the minimum wage, mandating paid family and medical leave and lowering the state sales tax. Without additional revenue from the millionaire's tax, lowering the state sales tax would have a significant impact on the state budget. Baker, who has declined to give his personal opinion on the ballot questions, has said he hopes lawmakers can reach an agreement on the policies so they can be addressed legislatively rather than by the ballot. Participants in the negotiations have said they are close to reaching an agreement on paid family and medical leave, but not on the minimum wage or the sales tax. Any new law would have to be passed by the Legislature and signed into law before the July 3 deadline for final ballot question signatures to be turned in, in order to keep the question off the ballot. Baker said the Legislature has been the driving force behind the negotiations, although his office has been involved. "It's good for the Legislature to drive this one because if they can reach an agreement with the players that are involved, their ability to move it quickly through their body is much better that way," Baker said. "Obviously, at this point they're going to have to move quickly." Baker talked to reporters after speaking at the Massachusetts High Technology Council's annual meeting Tuesday. Coincidentally, the meeting was scheduled for the day after the SJC ruled in favor of the business group in the millionaire's tax lawsuit. Christopher Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, was the lead plaintiff in that case. Baker did not mention the court case or the ballot question in his speech, which was focused on his record on business-related issues. BOSTON -- Jana Pickard-Richardson, a Boston resident who teaches English to adult immigrants, cried when asked why she came to a protest Wednesday to support immigrant families. "Kids need to be with their parents. Families need to be together," Pickard-Richardson said. "People are fleeing really desperate situations. To take kids away is just unconscionable, it's cruel, it's on the level of the worst dictatorships that we've seen." Hundreds of people rallied Wednesday at the Massachusetts Statehouse to protest President Donald Trump's policy of separating children and parents who entered the country illegally. They also called on state lawmakers to introduce additional protections for immigrants into state law. After heart-wrenching images of young children being separated from their parents and kept in massive shelters, and even cages, resulted in a public outcry, Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to reverse his policy of separating families at the border. Under Trump's previous policy, all adults caught crossing the border were charged with crimes and detained, while the children were sent to shelters or foster families. The New York Times reported that children and their parents may now be able to be detained together, although that could run up against a court order prohibiting detaining the children. "This issue has shaken me to my core," said Laura Rotolo, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. "Doctors call it child abuse. The United Nations call it a basic violation of human rights. We call it just plain wrong." Christina Michaud, a Boston resident who teaches at an area university, came with her husband and 2-year-old daughter. "I can't believe that as a country we're actually taking children away from families," Michaud said. Illona Yukhayev of Somerville, who works in information technology, said, "This kind of cruel treatment of immigrants of people attempting to come to this country is unforgivable and we can't stand by it." Yukhayev said she wants to ensure that Massachusetts "does not condone this behavior and can protect the immigrant families." Although much of the anger at the rally was directed toward Washington, advocates from immigrants rights groups used the rally to call for leaders in the state House to include protections for immigrants in the final version of the state budget. The Massachusetts Senate passed an amendment to its version of the state budget that would prohibit a police officer from asking someone about their immigration status unless required by law. Under the Senate provisions, state and local police would not be allowed to act as federal immigration officers. A law enforcement agency that has an immigrant in custody would be required to provide the immigrant or their attorney with a copy of any detainer request the agency has related to their immigration status. Federal immigration officials could only interview someone in state custody with the person's written consent. The immigrant would have the right to request an attorney at their own expense. The state and its employees could not participate in any government registry or database that is based on religion, national origin, citizenship, race, ethnicity or other protected categories. The House did not include any of the immigration provisions in their version of the budget bill. Gov. Charlie Baker, who has line item veto power on the state budget, has said he would veto the Senate amendment. Baker, on Wednesday, said Trump's family separation policy "is cruel and inhumane and I think it should be changed." "I refuse to believe there's not a way to keep our borders secure and at the same time ensure that you don't have to separate kids from their parents, period," Baker said. But Baker reiterated his position that Massachusetts should not be a "sanctuary state" and said that "local law enforcement should be responsible for making the decisions that keep their communities safe." Baker has introduced a bill that would let local and state police hold people on federal immigration detainers for a short time only if those people have been convicted of serious crimes. Comedian and "Late Show" host Stephen Colbert took aim at Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Scott Lively this week over the Republican's controversial remarks on the LGBTQ community. Colbert, who highlighted the Springfield pastor's 2018 run to unseat incumbent GOP Gov. Charlie Baker during a Tuesday night segment called "Profiles in Discourage," questioned assertions Lively made in his 1995 book, "The Pink Swastika," that the Nazi party was controlled by militaristic, gay individuals. "That's a new one to blame on the gays," Colbert quipped, noting that Nazis sent LGBTQ individuals to "let's say 'summer camps.'" The "Late Show" host further noted that Lively reportedly wrote the book "because he wanted the world to know that when people compare him to a Nazi, because of his homophobia, they're getting their history wrong." "Wait, hold on, let me see if I've got this straight: Do you take offense to being called a Nazi because you think it makes you sound gay and you're not? That's like saying, 'Don't call me Hitler, I have a great mustache,'" he said. "Or, is it that if some Nazis were gay, that means you being called a Nazi for being anti-gay is unfair to the Nazis? I just want to get this right." Colbert jokingly added that he'd "hate to accuse Nazis of being intolerant." The "Late Show" host, however, said at least Lively acknowledges that "some of his rabid, anti-gay positions may have crossed the line" and that he's "guilty of some hyperbole." "No, I'm sorry, 'I just caught the biggest fish in history' is hyperbole. 'The Holocaust was caused by gay nazis,' is a Cards Against Humanity combo," he said. Lively's campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the segment. The Republican, who recently filed suit against Baker and the Massachusetts GOP, will square off against the incumbent governor in Massachusetts' Sept. 4 primary. The Massachusetts House passed a major health care bill late Tuesday night. "We recognize the complex factors that are driving the health care marketplace right now and view this legislation as a smart, stabilizing mechanism to ensure residents in each corner of the Commonwealth have access to quality care throughout the changes," said House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, in a statement. The bill H.4617, was named "The Honorable Peter V. Kocot Act to Enhance Access to High Quality Affordable and Transparent Healthcare in the Commonwealth," after the late Northampton Democrat who, as House chairman of the Committee on Health Care Financing, led the House's effort to craft the bill before his death in February. "Chairman Peter Kocot's vision laid the foundation for continuous improvement to the Commonwealth's nationally-leading health care infrastructure," DeLeo said. The 117-32 vote came after 11 p.m., according to the State House News Service. The News Service reported that the split was mostly along party lines, with Democrats supporting the bill and Republicans opposing it. House Majority Leader Ron Mariano, D-Quincy, said Kocot left lawmakers with an outline, and lawmakers "expanded on it and added a few pieces." The effort was led by the committee Vice Chairman Jeffrey Roy, D-Franklin, along with Mariano and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jeffrey Sanchez, D-Boston. Both the Senate and the House passed bills that are looking at, among other things, how to help community hospitals remain financially viable, how to increase the use of telemedicine, how to contain the cost of drugs, and how to avoid surprise out-of-network billing. The centerpiece of the House bill is a one-time fee on large hospitals and insurers that would provide funding for three years to community hospitals and community health centers. "It's about creating a foundation for some of these low-cost alternative health care facilities in our Gateway Cities," Mariano said. The State House News Service reported that the House reduced the planned assessments Tuesday night, adopting an amendment offered by Lowell Democrat Rep. David Nangle, that cut the original $330 million assessment on insurers and $120 million on larger hospitals to $247.5 million and $90 million, respectively. The Senate bill would limit the variation in prices that insurers are allowed to pay, to ensure that no insurer pays too far above or below the statewide average. Spiros Hatiras, CEO of Holyoke Medical Center, said he is happy with either the Senate or the House bill. "The Senate side seemed to be more of a systemic or permanent solution," Hatiras said. "The one on the House side will fix the issue for awhile and hopefully by then we'll have other things in place to continue to make sure it doesn't get back to where it is now." The House bill would eliminate out-of-network billing for emergency situations or one where a patient receives the care unknowingly, setting a specific rate that is tied to average payment rates and Medicare rates. The House bill requires the doctor's office to notify the patient of any facility fees at least five days before an appointment. The bill would prohibit a current practice in which pharmacists can be barred by contract from telling a patient if the patient would pay less by paying cash than by using their insurance. The bill aims to make it easier to use telemedicine, while better defining what qualifies as telemedicine. It would also create a program for mobile integrated health, where a paramedic can be dispatched to treat someone at home. It would require more regulation by the Department of Public Health of ambulatory surgery centers and urgent care centers. It would reauthorize the Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund, which focuses on preventing common, preventable diseases and injuries, through things like increasing healthy behaviors and promoting workplace wellness programs. "The Massachusetts approach to health reform is not about squeezing out efficiencies and cutting costs," Roy said, according to the State House News Service. "Rather it is transforming how we seek to pay for care to promote cost effective, value driven services in a way that makes the health care system more accessible and more effective for us all." Lawmakers proposed 173 amendments to the bill. Most were considered behind closed doors and withdrawn or voted on without debate. The House rejected an amendment that would have required informed consent when surgical procedures are performed on different patients at the same time. Amendments that were adopted relate to out-of-network billing procedures, a study of health equity, stroke care, hospice care, insurance coverage for disabled adults and a range of other topics. The House and Senate bills will now have to be reconciled. Sen. Jim Welch, D-West Springfield, Senate chairman of the Committee on Health Care Financing, said he thinks lawmakers will be able to agree on a final bill before the legislative session ends July 31. "There's quite a few areas in both bills that are very similar, some good ideas that we definitely need to move forward on," Welch said Tuesday, before the House vote. "There's some areas that we differ on." Gov. Charlie Baker declined to comment Tuesday on specific aspects of the bill. "There's stuff in that bill we would like to see happen. There's stuff that gives us some concern," Baker said. "I tend not to comment on this stuff until it actually gets a little clearer with respect to what it's going to look like." Facing widespread criticism over his administration's "zero tolerance" approach to immigration, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will sign an order to end the practice of separating families who enter the country illegally. Trump, following a meeting with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, told reporters he will be "signing something in a little while" to address the issue, which has garnered international attention in recent days. "I'll be doing something that's somewhat preemptive and ultimately will be matched by legislation I'm sure," he said, The Hill reported. According to White House pool reports, the president added, "We're looking to keep families together." "We're going to keep families together, but we still have to maintain toughness or our country will be overrun by people, by crime, by all of the things that we don't stand for and that we don't want," he reportedly said. "So I'm going to be signing an executive order in a little while before I go to Minnesota but, at the same time, I think you have to understand, we're keeping families together, but we have to keep our borders strong." Although the White House did not confirm why Nielsen met with Trump, various news outlets reported that the secretary is drafting an executive action for the president that directs DHS to keep families together in detention while they await immigration hearings. The Associated Press noted that it's unclear whether Trump supports the measure. Administration officials, however, offered Wednesday that the president was open to signing narrow legislation to end family separations, The Hill reported. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have introduced a series of measures aimed at ending the practice of family separations at the border. They, however, have noted that legislation is not needed to stop such a policy. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in April that the administration would take a "zero tolerance" approach to illegal immigration, directing all U.S. attorneys who serve in districts along the United States' southern border with Mexico to criminally prosecute all cases of attempted illegal entry or illegal entry that are referred by DHS. The policy reportedly led DHS to separate about 2,000 children from their parents, as children are not allowed in adult criminal detention facilities. The children were placed in the custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to reports. DHS rejected claims that it has a blanket policy to separate families at the border, stating Monday that it will separate adults and minors under certain circumstances, including: when it's unable to determine the familial relationship, when it determines a child may be at risk with the parent or legal guardian or when a parent or legal guardian is referred for criminal prosecution. The agency further noted that it only refers to the Department of Justice "those adults who violate the law by crossing the border illegally and are amenable for prosecution." President Donald Trump backed away from his administration's controversial immigration policy Wednesday, signing an executive order to stop federal officials from separating families who entered the United States illegally. The president, who recently defended the "zero tolerance" approach amid growing criticism, issued the order that directs the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to detain parents and children together while they await immigration hearings. Trump told reporters that the executive order will "keep the families together" while ensuring that the United States' strong borders. The president, however, stressed that his administration will still take a "zero tolerance" approach to immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally. "We're keeping families together and this will solve that problem," he said. "At the same time we are keeping a very powerful border and it continues to be a 'zero tolerance' -- We have zero tolerance for people that enter our country illegally." Vice President Mike Pence said he and Trump "believe it's a false choice between whether we are a country of law and order, a country with borders and a country that demonstrates the compassion and the heart of the American people." "By taking this action, the president will make it possible for us to continue to engage in enforcing the law against individuals who violate our law, come into our country illegally, but now we'll be able in that prosecution in the immediate days forward to keep families together," he said, urging Congress to take action on immigration policy, as well. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also called on federal lawmakers "to do their job." "The laws need to be changed. This is a problem that president, after president has dealt with for decades," she said. "This one is willing to stand up and fix it, we ask Congress to do their part." The executive order, entitled "Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation," requires DHS to "the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, maintain custody of alien families during the pendency of any criminal improper entry or immigration proceedings involving their members." It does not require families to be held together in instances where there's a concern that keeping the child with a parent would pose a risk to the child's welfare. The order also directs the defense secretary to take all legal measures to provide any existing facility for the housing and care of these families to construct such facilities, if needed; and requires the attorney general to request changes to the Flores settlement -- a 1997 consent decree that bars the federal government from keeping children in immigration detention for more than 20 days -- so families could be detained together "throughout the pendency" of their criminal proceedings. It further directs the AG to prioritize adjudication of cases involving detained families; and states that it is the administration's policy to "rigorously enforce our immigration laws" and to maintain family unity. "It is unfortunate that Congress' failure to act and court orders have put the administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law," the order noted. Critics of the administration's "zero tolerance" policy, however, have argued that legislative action -- or an executive order -- were not needed for the president to end the practice of separating families at the border. Several members of Massachusetts' congressional delegation urged Trump earlier this week to "pick up the phone and stop the separation of families seeking refuge in the U.S." Despite previously standing by his administration's policy -- which led to 2,000 children being separated from their parents at the southern border -- Trump told reporters Wednesday that he would act to end the controversial practice. Stressing that the White House and congressional Republicans want border security and to keep families together, the president said he planned to sign "something" to achieve both ends. He, however, urged congressional leaders to follow suit by passing legislation to address immigration-related issues. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said his chamber will vote Thursday on a bill to keep migrant families together in the custody of Homeland Security when they enter the country illegally. "The administration says it wants Congress to act and we are," he said. "Tomorrow the House will vote on legislation to keep families together. ... The bottom line is this: We are going to take action to keep families together while we enforce our immigration laws." Democrats, who spoke out against the administration's "zero tolerance" policy, also called for legislative action Wednesday. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, further urged Trump "to do the right thing" by ending the practice, as she spoke at an afternoon rally outside the Capitol. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in April that the administration would take a "zero tolerance" approach to illegal immigration, directing all U.S. attorneys who serve in districts along the United States' southern border with Mexico to criminally prosecute all cases of attempted illegal entry or illegal entry that are referred by DHS. The policy reportedly led DHS to separate thousands of children from their parents, as children are not allowed in adult criminal detention facilities. DHS rejected claims that it has a blanket policy to separate families at the border, stating Monday that it separates adults and minors under certain circumstances, including: when it's unable to determine the familial relationship, when it determines a child may be at risk with the parent or legal guardian or when a parent or legal guardian is referred for criminal prosecution. The agency further noted that it only refers to the Department of Justice "those adults who violate the law by crossing the border illegally and are amenable for prosecution." With the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" approach to immigrants entering the country illegally continuing to garner widespread outcry and pushback, one member of Massachusetts' federal delegation is looking into whether Congress can force officials to end the practice of separating children from their parents at the border. U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, pressed Government Accountability Office Comptroller Gene Dodaro this week for clarification on whether the White House's recently implemented immigration policy is a regulatory action lawmakers could overturn through the Congressional Review Act process. Arguing that the administration's practice of separating undocumented immigrant children from their parents stems from April Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security memos, the senator asked Dodaro to determine whether it constitutes a "rule" for the purposes of the CRA. Markey offered that the act's broad definition for "rule," has led GAO to establish that "agency pronouncements may be rules ... even if they are not subject to notice and comment rule-making requirements." He further contended that the "zero tolerance" policy appears to meet the CRA's criteria for a rule, arguing that it "substantially affects the obligations of non-agency parties, is generally applicable, has future effect and prescribes detailed policy." The senator urged Dodaro to "complete this evaluation as expeditiously as possible," given what he called "the profound suffering this policy is inflicting on immigrant families." Markey, who condemned the administration's policy during a recent news conference, argued that while President Donald Trump's leadership "may be devoid of humanity," Americans are not. "Congress should act now to ban family separation," he said in a statement. "There is no law that requires the separation of families. There is no court decision that mandates it. The decision to implement this barbaric policy is one the Trump administration made completely on its own." The Massachusetts Democrat recently used the CRA process to override net neutrality regulations in the Senate. The deregulatory procedure allows Congress to disapprove of and overturn regulations created by various federal agencies through simple majority votes in each chamber. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in April that the administration would take a "zero tolerance" approach to immigration, directing all U.S. attorneys who serve in districts along the United States' southern border with Mexico to criminally prosecute all cases of attempted illegal entry or illegal entry that are referred by DHS. The policy reportedly led DHS to separate about 2,000 children from their parents, as children are not allowed in adult criminal detention facilities. The children were placed in the custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to reports. DHS rejected claims that it has a blanket policy to separate families at the border, stating Monday that it will separate adults and minors under certain circumstances, including: when it's unable to determine the familial relationship, when it determines a child may be at risk with the parent or legal guardian or when a parent or legal guardian is referred for criminal prosecution. The agency further noted that it only refers to the Department of Justice "those adults who violate the law by crossing the border illegally and are amenable for prosecution." Anit-adulteration drive must be enforced Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed : Business means to maintain livelihood. Again it means to earn money and to increase productivity and changing the life pattern from lower to upper lifestyle with aristocracy and ambition. There are principles by which all business are run. If business is run on sound policy, honesty, goodwill, trust then it will earn fame and dignity. There will be the hundred percent satisfactions in it. If business deal is fine and fair it will be success oriented and people will get attracted to it. In our country, there are dishonest dealers who always want to cheat people and adopt unfair means. They are not at all afraid of any ethics, only they are inclined to doze customers and consumers. With such a malign intention they do not procure quality products, they import inputs with defects and assemble it showing externally well fascinated. Again there is a group of people who produce and procure things in a bad manner. They knowingly ignore the stores principle and maintenance code. They have their know-how, but with wrong notion they avoid preserving things balanced and perfectly. As a result, things loses its quality, life temper, gets ruined and finally all commodities are declared invalid, useless and non serviceable. Our people are not aware of food, health, environment and economic security. So, dishonest fellows take chances to be unfair, fraud and fraudulent. When the month of holly Ramadan comes the purity campaign starts. The remaining eleventh months are off from such campaign. Everywhere there is the insecurity and dishonesty starting from food to clothing item, perishable to nonperishable things. All consumable items as well as all serviceable things are made polluted and contaminated. Again some things are made poisonous by preservatives, medicine and chemicals. This is not applicable only in food item, but also it is equally applied to all items like drinks, cosmetics and clothing's also. Food is the fundamental right of all Bangladeshi citizens. If food security is not ensured the basic right will be violated from in taking of secured food. Safe food is a part and parcel of food security. So it must be ensured. Now a day's public health has been threatened for use and application of chemicals in drugs, baby food, vegetable, other protein foodstuffs like fish, meat, milk etc. Even the carbohydrates food are not escaping from such act of harassment and misdeeds. The media both from print and electronics side awareness program is on, but the dishonest people do not pay heed to it. Moreover, it is assumed that state is no so serious about it. States agencies and its mechanism seem to be casual. At times, the markets come under operation from different agencies but it is not enough. These drives may make people easy but its effectiveness remains beyond the questions in people's mind. These drives must be made more and more vigilant and dynamic. Only then, people will be satisfied. By taking adulterated food people are becoming diseased and even there are expired cases of lives also. By the reports from World food and agricultural organization (FAO) in Bangladesh 5 millions of people in every year are attacked by adulterated food, and become victims of complicated diseases. It is amazing that from 2010 to 2013, 21860 food items were taken to experiment. From this experiment 50% of the total tested commodities were found adulterated. From research, it is found that food security act is not well implemented. There are many reasons for such adulteration in food. If I do not mention, those people can easily understand where the problems are lying. There are powerful syndicates behind these activities. State is the super power and supreme authority. Who has given those syndicates to make people hostage to their hands? By research and survey from a non-government institution it is found that, local government, health department and BSTI are under-staffed to monitor the relevant sectors. At present, in 319 Pourasava and 11 city corporations are supposed to be managed by 370 sanitary Inspectors as per organogram, but there exist only 78 Inspectors. Again as per the organogram of health directorate 566 sanitary Inspectors are employed. But in consideration of works volume and scope this is not at all sufficient. On the other hand, there are only 38 Inspectors who are on duty against 68 approved post in BSTI. The manpower deficiencies of such posts in field level are creating big challenge to monitor food adulteration. Moreover, there are unfair and dishonest activities from sanitary and BSTI officers which is a great problem. These are being done bilaterally from government monitoring side and tradesman ship. This is undoubtedly a bad design and signal from the different party's like consumers, sellers and market monitoring authorities. As per pure food ordinance 1959 every districts and cities is entitled to ensure food security by code but it is not done. Even the high court verdict of 2009 is not being implemented in this regard (data and information collected from an article published in daily Sangbad, dated 11 June 2018). In our country, government is cordial but for the deficit of required manpower, budget deficit, shortage of transport and logistics and deficit of adequate training, problems of sample procurement and its maintenance are the major problems for which our officials fail to discharge their duty with responsibilities. So to stop food adulteration a comprehensive action plan should be made from state. Otherwise, our future generation will suffer from malnutrition and we lose all the vitalities of life. So the comprehensive action plan is necessary to check it and monitor it. For its correct and proper application, there is no alternative of it. To stop food adulteration concerned authorities must be more active and vigilant and campaign should not be confined to a particular month like Ramadan. It should be on for all the times. Global Refurbished Medical Devices Market Sketch Refurbished medical devices means devices which are restored to its original working condition by manufacturer or by other experts. These devices are checked and tested by the quality control department. The devices that are commonly refurbished are designed to have long-use periods. Global Refurbished Medical Devices Market is driven by an affordable alternative to expensive devices, e-marketing and poor reimbursement policies in many countries. Increasing patient population also contributed in the growth of the market. Whereas huge taxes on imported devices and lack of awareness regarding refurbished medical devices may hamper the growth of the market. Global Refurbished Medical Devices Market is expecting a luxurious growth of 10.8 % during forecasted period. To Explore More, Get PDF Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1282 . Key Players for Global Refurbished Medical Devices Market GE Healthcare (US), Stryker Corporation (US), Phillips Healthcare (Netherlands), Siemens Healthcare (Germany), Agito Medical (Denmark), DMS Topline (U.S.), Johnson & Johnson (US), First Source, Inc (U.S.), and Soma Technology (U.S.), Toshiba Medical System (Japan), Block Imaging International (US). Regional Analysis for Global Refurbished Medical Devices Market On regional basis, Global Refurbished Medical Devices Market is dominated by North America. Increasing awareness about refurbished devices and well developed healthcare sector has driven the market of North America. Europe and Asia Pacific share nearly similar type of market. But Asia Pacific Refurbished Medical Devices Market has the highest growth rate. Middle East and Africa has the least market for the refurbished medical devices. Segments for Global Refurbished Medical Devices Market Global Refurbished Medical Devices Market is segmented on the basis of diagnostic devices into X-Ray Machines, CT scanners, Ultrasound Systems, MRI machines, ECG systems, patient monitors and other. Patient monitors are sub segmented into portable patient monitoring devices and others. On the basis of therapeutic devices the market is segmented in heart-lung machines, coagulation analysers, infant incubators and warmers, defibrillators, infusion pumps and other. Get Prime Discount on Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/1282 . Some Brief Table of Contents of Report Chapter 1. Report Prologue Chapter 2. Market Introduction 2.1 Definition 2.2 Scope Of The Study 2.2.1 Research Objective 2.2.2 Assumptions 2.2.3 Limitations Chapter 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Primary Research 3.3 Secondary Research 3.4 Market Size Estimation Chapter 4. Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.2 Restrains 4.3 Opportunities 4.4 Challenges 4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators 4.6 Technology Trends & Assessment Chapter 5. Market Factor Analysis 5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis 5.1.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers TOC Continued Do You Have Specific Requirement? Ask To Our Experts@ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1282 . About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Renal dialysis is the process of removing the toxic substance like urea and creatinine from the body. During impair function of kidney caused due to acute or chronic renal diseases this method is one of the lifesaving treatment for a patient. Global renal dialysis market is driven by continuously increasing prevalence of the kidney and other associated renal diseases. Besides this increasing diabetic patient, patient suffering from hypertension has provided fuel for the growth of the market. On other hand due to high cost of treatment and complication after the treatment may restrain the growth of the market. Global Renal Dialysis Market was valued at $ 17.6 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach at $ 26.6 billion till 2023 at a CAGR of 7.1% during forecasted period 2017-2023. Get Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1409 Key Players for Global renal dialysis market Baxter International Inc. (US), Fresenius Medical Care (German), DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. (US), B.Braun Melsungen AG (Germany), Medical Care AG & Co., Gambro AB (Sweden), Nipro diagnostic Inc. (US), Diaverum Deutschland GmbH (Germany), KGaA (Germany), Covidien (Ireland), Nikkiso Co. Ltd. (Japan), Asahi Kasei Corporation (Japan), NxStage Medical, Inc. (U.S.). and many more. Segmentation Global renal dialysis market is segmented on the basis of types in primary dialysis and secondary dialysis. Primary dialysis is further sub segmented into hemodialysis, hemofiltration and peritoneal dialysis. Secondary dialysis is further sub segmented into hemodiafiltration and intestinal dialysis. On the basis of product this market is segmented as hemodialysis products and peritoneal dialysis products and on the basis of end user global renal dialysis market is segmented as hospital care and home care. Apply for Exclusive Discount @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/1409 Intended Audience Research and Development (R&D) Companies Pharmaceutical companies Dialysis equipment manufacturing companies Medical Research Laboratories Academic Medical Institutes and Universities Government and Independent Research Laboratories Contract Research Organizations (CROs) Detailed Table of Contents: 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 DEFINITION 1.2 SCOPE OF STUDY 1.2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 1.2.2 ASSUMPTIONS & LIMITATIONS 1.2.2.1 ASSUMPTIONS 1.2.2.2 LIMITATIONS 1.3 MARKET STRUCTURE: 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 RESEARCH PROCESS: 2.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH 2.3 SECONDARY RESEARCH: 3 MARKET DYNAMICS 3.1 DRIVERS 3.2 RESTRAINTS 3.3 OPPORTUNITIES 3.4 MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS 4 MARKET FACTOR ANALYSIS 4.1 PORTERS FIVE FORCES MODEL 4.2 BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS 4.3 BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS 4.4 THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS 4.5 THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES 4.6 INTENSITY OF RIVALRY 5 GLOBAL RENAL DIALYSIS MARKET, BY TYPES 5.1 PRIMARY DIALYSIS 5.1.1 HEMODIALYSIS 5.1.2 HEMOFILTRATION 5.1.3 PERITONEAL DIALYSIS. Continued Send An Enquiry @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1409 Regional Analysis On regional basis, global renal dialysis market is segmented as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa. North America has the largest market for the global renal dialysis market. Increasing patient suffering from renal diseases in North America is increasing continuously which is the major factor for the growth of the market. Europe and Asia Pacific has nearly similar market for renal dialysis but the growth rate of Asia Pacific renal dialysis market is higher. Middle East and Africa contribute the least market for the renal dialysis market. About US: Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. Contact Us: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Modernizing Medicine, a medtech company based in Florida, has developed the Electronic Medical Assistant (EMA), an EHR system which the company claims can significantly streamline clinician workflow. Cloud-based and developed by physicians, the EMA aims to intuitively adapt to each individual doctors unique style of practice and remembers their preferences. One of the features of the system is intelligence amplification (IA). The system also features a voice assistant that allows clinicians to record their speech as text to take patient notes, navigate the EHR, and make corrections using their voice. The speech recognition system is reported to be three to five times faster than typing. Modernizing Medicine claims that the system helps to reduce clicks and swipes, keystrokes, and manual documentation associated with other EHR systems, which should allow doctors to spend more time face-to-face with their patients. The system also has an inbuilt medical dictionary to recognize specialized terms and phrases and apply correct clinical formatting. The companys leadership hopes that in the future they can develop the system to the point that it can almost completely replace the touch components of the EHR, meaning that the AI system could listen to a physician-patient conversation and take patient notes and create reports independently and in real-time. Conn Hastings, Medgadget: Please give us a little background on the AI landscape in medical technologies at present. Mihai Fonoage, Modernizing Medicine: Computers cant replace the human interaction physicians have with their patients, and they also cant replace the ability to diagnose. So, while artificial intelligence (AI) may not have a place in our exam rooms, intelligence amplification (IA) certainly does. You use IA almost every day without knowing it. For example, when you start to fill out a form online, type a few characters and the form auto-populates with the rest (if you choose to accept your computers suggestion). Thats IA. In todays medical landscape, all physicians need to use EHRs. Unfortunately, not all EHRs are created equally especially the legacy systems that dont implement any form of modern technology like IA. An EHR leverages IA through adaptive learning. For example, the software automatically remembers an individual physicians preferences and presents them at the top of the list: the most common medications prescribed, the favorite plan for a diagnosis, the sutures most often used, etc. This saves time and frustration by alleviating physicians from having to search for or scroll to find what they commonly would select. Medgadget: Is the EHR a significant drain on clinician time at present? Mihai Fonoage: Many feel that EHRs drain clinician time and contribute to the rising rate of physician burnout. While this may be true in some circumstances, this cant be generalized across all EHRs. Many have poor user design and force physicians to adopt an unintuitive technology. Conversely, others put doctors at the center of the user experience during the design and development processes by means of a user-centered design approach and incorporate technology like IA, adaptive learning and voice assist. EHRs built by practicing physicians for others in their specialty help to relieve the burden of time-consuming manual reporting, enabling doctors to spend more time with their patients face-to-face and take less time documenting the visit. Additionally, with todays shift to value-based care, its imperative for physicians to have an easy-to-use system to help them meet CMS reimbursement requirements. EMA utilizes IA to automatically collect certain quality measures for value-based medicine reporting without the physician having to constantly check boxes. Medgadget: Please explain the features of the voice recognition and control system available with the Modernizing Medicine EMA EHR. Mihai Fonoage: Doctors have always loved dictating, and todays technology that utilizes voice recognition to enter data directly into the EHR can make it extremely simple for the physician. With voice recognition, the physician can talk into the EHR, eliminating the clicks, touches, and burden of manual documentation. Looking into the future, the next iteration should be able to enable voice recognition programs to collect structured data, enabling systems to make sense of a conversation during a patient visit, while having the medical knowledge to automatically (and correctly) document the appointment. No physician controls needed, yet in the background seamlessly documenting the conversation the physician and patient have. Medgadget: How does the system ensure accuracy and security in recording and transmitting clinical information? Mihai Fonoage: EMAs technology is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and hosted by Amazon Web Services, providing redundant, cloud-based electronic medical record storage. Because data is stored in the cloud, patient information would not be saved on iPads, laptops or desktops. All information is sent securely, fully encrypted, to the Cloud. Also, since upgrades & enhancements are done in the cloud for our clients, they dont need to hire staff who may or may not have the education and experience to install them manually. Medgadget: How has the system been received so far? Have clinicians found the speech recognition system useful? Mihai Fonoage: While EMA has included voice recognition for years, many of our users find that the intuitive, iPad-based technology is more efficient than voice recognition. Since practicing physicians built the system specifically with their specialtys workflow in mind, charting an office visit tends to be fairly easy. But with that being said, some physicians still love dictating and find the voice recognition extremely helpful and comforting. Medgadget: What are your plans for future developments of this system? Mihai Fonoage: Modernizing Medicine implemented IA within its EHR from its inception in 2010, and recently, our team has been working on ways we can take it even further. Were developing functionality to enable EMA to not only recognize the drugs physicians frequently prescribe to their patients, but whether or not it requires prior authorization, dramatically reducing paperwork and prescription wait time. Two more very high-impact examples for future development consideration could be medication adherence and predicting no-shows due to the structured data that we possess. The systems are being developed to do this without the physician having to touch the screen. Our main challenge in the short-term is ensuring were both innovating for our customers with technology like IA, and also ensuring we continuously update our core solutions so physicians can increase practice efficiency and improve patient outcomes. Link: Modernizing Medicine by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, June 20, 2018 Off-price retailer T.J. Maxx says actor Debra Messing is jumping on its womens-empowerment campaign, The Maxx You Project. It hopes to expand the program, launched last year, to create what its calling a shecosystem of individualists, both online and in real life. The Framingham, Mass.-based retailer based this years effort on research it commissioned, run by Serena Chen, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley. It found that 51% of women say they see themselves holding back, and filtering who they are. Conversely, individuality seems to be contagious, with 75% reporting that they are more inspired to show their true colors when they see other women do the same either in real life or online. When they are true to themselves, 96% say they are happier, 87% believe they are more successful and 89% say they feel less stressed. advertisement advertisement The effort includes one-day workshops in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta with keynote speakers, and hosted by athlete Laila Ali and blogger Mattie James. No two T.J.Maxx stores are the same, just like no two women are the same, which is why we offer a selection of merchandise as unique as she is," says Jillian Rugani, T.J.Maxxs manager of marketing, in the chains announcement. "We're proud to continue our mission to help women, at every age and every life stage, embrace their individuality. While other retailers have been limping along, T.J.Maxx parent TJX is continuing its hot streak, reporting financial results above expectations. Last month, it posted a 12% jump in net sales for the first quarter to $8.7 billion, with a 3% gain in same-store sales, driven by increases in traffic. As a result, the company, which also owns Marshalls, HomeGoods and Sierra Trading Post, raised its forecasts for the full year. We believe that the consistency of our customer traffic increases demonstrates the strength and resiliency of our business, says CEO Ernie Herman, in its release, and our ability to succeed through many types of economic and retail environments. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 19, 2018 Four Facebook users have asked a federal appeals court to restore their privacy lawsuit accusing the company of tracking them throughout the web via the "Like" button. "The legal principles involved in this case are straight-forward," counsel for the users argues in papers filed Monday with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. "Facebook was caught tracking its subscribers most intimate web-browsing (and linking the tracking to actual user identity) despite public assurances that users could avoid the tracking by logging out." The battle dates to 2011, when users alleged in a class-action complaint that Facebook violated federal and state privacy laws, as well as its own privacy policy, by collecting data about people through its social widget. The consumers said Facebook gathered data about its users whenever they visited sites with a "Like" button, even if the users were logged out of the service. advertisement advertisement The lawsuit came soon after Australian developer Nic Cubrilovic reported that Facebook was able to identify users whenever they visited sites with the "like" button. At the time, Facebook said that a "bug" allowed the company to receive data about logged-out users. The company also promised to fix the bug, and said it never retained data that tied users' IDs to the sites they visited. (Facebook's practices subsequently changed. Currently, the company intentionally collects some information from logged-out users.) U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, Calif. dismissed the lawsuit last year. He said in the ruling that Facebook didn't violate the federal wiretap law because it didn't "intercept" communications on sites with a "like" button. That law prohibits companies from intercepting electronic transmissions without the consent of at least one party. He also ruled in November that the users couldn't proceed with claims that Facebook violated its own policies, or that it violated a California privacy law. Davila also said in his ruling that the users hadn't shown that they suffered an economic injury as a result of the alleged privacy violations. The users are now asking the 9th Circuit to reverse Davila's ruling and reinstate the case. Among other arguments, they say that the "misappropriation of economically valuable personal data" is the type of economic harm that warrants a lawsuit. They also say they should have been able to proceed with claims that Facebook's alleged tracking is the type of activity that violates California's privacy laws. "Non-consensual secret tracking of web browsing history, when linked to user identity, is 'highly offensive,'" they argue. The social networking service is also facing another privacy battle in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. That matter stems from allegations that Facebook tracked users at health sites -- including ones operated by the American Cancer Society, Melanoma Research Foundation and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center -- via the "Like" widget. by Larissa Faw , June 20, 2018 One of the most intriguing bits of Cannes gossip this year is about the biggest yacht in the Jetee Albert Edouard Harbor which belongs to Snyder Communications, run by Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder. This $70 million oversized boat with its Redskins logo towers over even the largest Cannes-sponsored yachts. But no one seems to know exactly why Snyder is here. One source says he is taking "meetings" but does not have an official presence at the Festival. Cannes is largely about networking which is why it is so curious that so many shops and brands spend lots of money renting these giant boats that visitors must uncomfortably walk around in their bare feet. Props to Teak for providing flip-flops, but the layout of these yachts is not conducive to meetings, even informal ones. Usually there is a DJ playing loud music and the deck space on most of the yachts doesn't allow for wandering around, particularly since most parties hit capacity pretty early and stay that way through the night. advertisement advertisement Several yacht attendees were overheard bemoaning the homogenous crowd, though it was unclear whether they were talking about white males, young people, or the fact that nearly all worked at technology-affiliated shops. One attendee declared that he isn't sure why he traveled across the globe to just be in San Francisco. Party chatter is dominated by complaints about the lack of star power which is ironic given that Cannes organizers purposefully pared back celebrity appearances based on feedback that it was excessive in years past. It seems everyone is jockeying to attend the places few and far between where they can spot celebrities, such as MediaLink's Bon Jovi dinner and Spotify's concert featuring The Killers and Travis Scott. Twitter's brunch with Kerry Washington on Wednesday was a hot ticket as is the Palais session with Conan O'Brien and Shaquille O'Neal. by Thom Forbes @tforbes, June 20, 2018 With the expectation of Amazon entering the Rx business, CVS Pharmacy yesterday announced it will deliver prescriptions to customers homes in a day or two for $4.99. Consumers can either use the CVS Pharmacy app or phone the order in to their neighborhood pharmacy nationwide. The U.S. Postal Service will then deliver it. CVS Health runs more than 9,800 retail locations nationwide, including pharmacies inside Target stores. The company started a curbside pick-up service a few years ago, and it was already offering deliveries from about 1,600 locations, writes the APs Tom Murphy. CVS also processes more than a billion prescriptions annually as a pharmacy benefits manager, or PBM, and it provides mail-order deliver through that business. But a company representative has said the delivery service would be a faster alternative and have a wider reach than mail-order, Murphy continues. advertisement advertisement CVS executives last year said they would launch the service, but didnt say how they would handle the last-mile delivery, an expensive service that has vexed many businesses. It has chosen the Postal Service to carry out a mission that other major retailers have tasked to parcel giants like United Parcel Service Inc. or FedEx Corp. or turned over to startups, writes Sharon Terlep for the Wall Street Journal. Target Corp. last year paid $550 million to acquire grocery delivery startup Shipt Inc., in an effort to quickly expand shipping services, Terlep adds. Along with eligible prescriptions, select health care products can also be delivered through the mail. Cold and flu remedies, allergy medications, pain relief, first aid, digestive health, vitamins, baby, personal and feminine care products are among the items that can also be shipped, reports Matt Durr for Mlive. Controlled substances, medications that require refrigeration and medications paid for by Medicare B are not eligible for delivery. As it anticipated, CVS also is also expanding the same-day prescription delivery service it launched last year in New York City to Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. For $8.99, orders placed by 4 p.m. local time will be delivered by 8 p.m. Monday through Friday; on Saturday and Sunday, orders received by 11 a.m. are delivered by 4 p.m. Almost 10% of the more than $1.3 trillion in total retail sales in the first quarter of 2018 came from e-commerce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's up 16.4% from the same period in 2017, Zlati Meyer reports for USA Today. While it remains to be seen whether Amazon decides to get into the prescription-drug business, the e-commerce giant already sells over-the-counter medication, including an exclusive line called Basic Care. And Amazon could stand to put a lot of pressure on the pharmacy businesses including CVS, should it start to directly compete by delivering prescription drugs, writes Lydia Ramsey for Business Insider. Elsewhere, startups including Capsule and PillPack have set up delivery services as an alternative to picking up prescriptions at a pharmacy, either by courier or by mail, Ramsey continues. CVS is in the midst of merging with Aetna, Leia Klingel reminds us for Fox Business. CVS proposed a $69 billion mega-merger that would create a diverse healthcare company combining an insurer, retail pharmacy and pharmacy benefits manager. There have been hopes that such a business combination could lower prescription costs. Yesterday, the American Medical Association yesterday urged regulators to block the merger, however, based on evidence indicating its likely anticompetitive effects on Medicare Part D, pharmacy benefit management services, health insurance, retail pharmacy, and specialty pharmacy. The 2018 Walker Sands Future of Retail report found that 35% of consumers would use Amazon to fill prescription orders online. The top reasons given to use Amazon were the ability to ship quickly (61%) existing trust in Amazon (54%) and an easier ordering process due to Amazons access to customer information (43%). Younger consumers are more willing to use Amazon pharmaceuticals 46% of those 18-25 and 51% of those 26-35. Just 12% of those over the age of 61 were open to using the service. However, given CVS has been an established, trusted pharmacy for many years, CVS may secure the senior market before Amazon can, a Walker Sands spokesperson says in an email. Depression or major depressive disorder is a medical condition that causes a person to experience a very low mood. Sometimes, depression can be accompanied by catatonia, which is when a person does not respond to the world around them. The word catatonia comes from two Greek terms, kata, which means down, and tonas, which means tension or tone. In this article, learn about the symptoms of catatonic depression, as well as treatment options and how to cope. What is catatonic depression? Share on Pinterest A person with catatonic depression may be silent and motionless. Catatonic depression is a subtype of depression characterized by not speaking or seeming to be in a daze for a prolonged period. A person with catatonic depression does not respond to what is going on around them and may be silent and motionless. Doctors classify mental health disorders and dysfunctions using criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5). Catatonia used to be a separate subtype of schizophrenia. However, doctors now recognize that catatonia can accompany many different mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, depression, mood disorders, and personality disorders. Symptoms The most common symptoms associated with catatonia are mutism (not speaking) and stupor (the state of being in a daze). For a doctor to diagnose catatonia, the person must have at least three of the following 12 symptoms: Agitation , or anxiety or restlessness. , or anxiety or restlessness. Catalepsy , or being in a trance-like state. , or being in a trance-like state. Echolalia , or senseless repetition of the words another person says. , or senseless repetition of the words another person says. Echopraxia , or the meaningless repetition of movements another person does. , or the meaningless repetition of movements another person does. Grimacing , or making a face that looks like a person is in pain. , or making a face that looks like a person is in pain. Mutism , or the inability or refusal to speak. , or the inability or refusal to speak. Negativism , or adopting behaviors that are the opposite of their emotions. For example, feeling hungry but refusing to eat. , or adopting behaviors that are the opposite of their emotions. For example, feeling hungry but refusing to eat. Posturing , such as adopting a rigid or unnatural posture, often for extended time periods. , such as adopting a rigid or unnatural posture, often for extended time periods. Stereotypy , or ritualistic movements, such as rocking or crossing and uncrossing the legs repeatedly. , or ritualistic movements, such as rocking or crossing and uncrossing the legs repeatedly. Stupor , or decreased response to stimuli, including when people talk to the person. , or decreased response to stimuli, including when people talk to the person. Unusual mannerisms , such as irregular speech patterns or movements or staring. , such as irregular speech patterns or movements or staring. Wavy flexibility, where a person does not respond to commands and has an immobile posture. A person with catatonic depression will probably also experience classic depression symptoms, such as feeling low or sad. They may also experience a sense of hopelessness. Depression can affect a persons appetite, sleep levels, concentration, and movement. Causes Share on Pinterest The death of a loved one may put a person at risk for developing depression. Doctors do not know exactly what causes catatonic depression, though there are some theories. Some researchers believe that catatonia and depression symptoms are due to the depletion of dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain associated with mood. Depression can be due to a combination of several factors, including: changes in brain structure or functioning, which may make the brain less responsive to certain hormones a family history of depression or other mental health conditions significant life changes, such as the death of a loved one or a divorce additional medical conditions, such as problems sleeping, chronic pain, chronic illness, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder People with a history of drug and alcohol addiction are also at greater risk for depression. Diagnosis Often, a person with catatonic depression cannot respond to questions a doctor may ask them. Therefore, a doctor may begin a diagnosis by asking the persons loved ones about the symptoms. The doctor might ask when the symptoms first appeared and what makes them worse or better. A doctor will also try to rule out other medical conditions that have similar symptoms to catatonic depression. For example, a condition called neuroleptic malignant syndrome can occur if a person has an adverse reaction to antipsychotic medications. This condition has similar symptoms to catatonic depression. The doctor may also order imaging studies to ensure a person does not have a brain tumor or another condition that could cause catatonia. A doctor will also observe a persons posture, listen to any communication they may make, and watch their movements. Treatment and recovery Share on Pinterest Benzodiazepines are a common first-line treatment for catatonia. Doctors often prescribe benzodiazepines as the first-line treatment for catatonia. Benzodiazepines, such as lorazepam (Ativan), have anxiety-relieving and muscle-relaxing properties. A doctor can administer the medicine intravenously (IV) if a person is unable to take it orally. If medication is not effective, a doctor may recommend electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Doctors perform this therapy under general anesthesia, meaning a person is asleep and feels no pain during the procedure. During ECT, doctors use electrical currents to induce a seizure. Although doctors do not fully understand how ECT works, many believe that it works by resetting the brains chemistry and may help people with severe mental illness respond better to treatment. According to an article in the World Journal of Psychiatry , ECT was effective in treating 80 to 100 percent of all forms of catatonia. Doctors may also try other brain stimulation methods, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation or deep brain stimulation, to reduce catatonia symptoms. Once a persons catatonia symptoms improve, a doctor may prescribe antidepressants and psychotherapy to treat the underlying depression. Complications People with catatonia are at risk for a range of complications if they do not receive treatment. Possible complications include: blood clots contractures, or shortening of muscles or tendons decubitus ulcers dehydration malnutrition pneumonia Caring for someone with catatonic depression A person with catatonic depression requires acute psychiatric care. A loved one may need to call an inpatient psychiatric center or seek emergency medical attention to help the person get treatment as soon as possible. If a person suspects their loved one is in a catatonic state, they should contact their primary care physician or seek emergency medical attention. New research provides further evidence that glial cells do more than support and nourish neurons, which were traditionally said to be the cells responsible for brain functioning. Share on Pinterest Astrocytes do more than just support neurons (depicted here). It appears that glial cells called astrocytes so-called because they are shaped similarly to stars play an active role in memory and learning. This is according to a new study from the University of California (UC), Riverside. The team found that astrocytes which vastly outnumber neurons can manage the limited space in the brains hippocampus by pruning unwanted synapses, or the connections between neurons. The hippocampus is a small but crucial part of the brain that is important for memory and learning. In a paper that is now published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the researchers describe how they explored the mechanisms through which astrocytes regulate hippocampal circuit remodeling during learning. They found that when astrocytes produce too much of a protein called ephrin-B1, it causes memory problems in mice. As senior study author Iryna M. Ethell, who is a professor of biomedical sciences in UC Riversides School of Medicine, explains, [O]verproduction of this protein in astrocytes can lead to impaired retention of contextual memory and the ability to navigate in space. Neurons, glial cells, and synapses There are two main types of cell in the brain and spinal cord: neurons; and the more abundant glial cells, which are made up of microglias, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. Originally, it was thought that neurons were the active working units of the brain, and that the role of glial cells was to passively support and nurture them. But more and more research is showing that glial cells are far from passive and play active roles in brain and nervous system development. For instance, we know that astrocytes help to regulate the generation and function of synapses, or the spaces between the end of a neuron and the other neurons that it communicates with. Communication is by means of chemical messengers, or neurotransmitters, to carry signals across the synapses. The researchers note that previous studies have linked abnormal interactions between astrocytes and neurons to developmental and degenerative disorders of the brain. Some of these studies have also found that the abnormal interactions are linked to impairments to memory and learning. However, they did not identify the underlying mechanisms. Following their own findings, Prof. Ethell says that she and her colleagues believe that astrocytes expressing too much of ephrin-B1 can attack neurons and remove synapses. This type of synapse loss has been observed in Alzheimers, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and other neurodegenerative diseases. Astrocytes remove synapses The researchers started studying the interaction between glial cells and neurons by examining the effect of astrocytes on mouse neurons in the laboratory. They found that when they added astrocytes that produce too much ephrin-B1 to the neurons, they ate up the synapses. Removal of synapses in the brain alters the memory and learning circuits, so this finding suggests that interactions between glial cells and neurons are likely to influence memory and learning. In order to explore this further, the scientists studied the effect in live mice. When they increased the animals levels of ephrin-B1, they found that the animals could not remember behaviors that they had just learned. It could be that overproduction of ephrin-B1 can be a novel mechanism by which unwanted synapses are removed in the healthy brain, Prof. Ethell speculates. This idea is supported by the fact that increase in ephrin-B1 production by astrocytes is often observed in traumatic brain injury. But, excessive removal of synapses can cause problems and lead to neurodegeneration, continues Prof. Ethell. US quits 'biased' UN human rights council The US has pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, calling it a "cesspool of political bias". Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the UN, said it was a "hypocritical" body that "makes a mockery of human rights". Formed in 2006, the Geneva-based council has faced criticism in the past for allowing member countries with questionable human rights records. But activists said the US move could hurt efforts to monitor and address human rights abuses around the world. Announcing the decision to quit the council, Ms Haley described the council as a "hypocritical and self-serving organisation" that displayed "unending hostility towards Israel". She was speaking alongside US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who denounced the council as "a protector of human rights abusers". The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres responded to the US decision to quit the council by saying he would have "much preferred" the US to remain a member. The UN's human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein called the US withdrawal "disappointing, if not really surprising, news". Israel, meanwhile, praised the decision. This is just the latest rejection of multilateralism by the Trump administration, and will likely unsettle those who look to the United States to protect and promote human rights around the world. The United States has always had a conflicting relationship with the UN Human Rights Council. The Bush Administration decided to boycott the council when it was created in 2006 for many of the same reasons cited by the Trump administration. The then UN ambassador was John Bolton - who is currently President Trump's national security adviser and a strong critic of the UN. It wasn't until years later, in 2009, that the United States re-joined under the Obama administration. Many allies have tried to convince the United States to remain in the council. Even many who agree with Washington's long standing criticisms of the body believe the United States should actively work to reform it from within, rather than disengaging. The UN set up the council in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights, which faced widespread criticism for letting countries with poor human rights records become members. A group of 47 elected countries from different global regions serve for three-year terms on the council. The UNHRC meets three times a year, and reviews the human rights records of all UN members in a special process the council says gives countries the chance to say what they have done to improve human rights, known as the Universal Periodic Review. The council also sends out independent experts and has set up commissions of inquiry to report on human rights violations in countries including Syria, North Korea, Burundi, Myanmar and South Sudan. The decision to leave the body follows years of US criticism. The country initially refused to join the council in 2006, arguing that, like the old commission, the UNHRC had admitted nations with questionable human rights records. It only joined in 2009 under President Barack Obama, and won re-election to the council in 2012. But human rights groups voiced fresh complaints about the body in 2013, after China, Russia, Saudia Arabia, Algeria and Vietnam were elected members. This followed Israel's unprecedented boycott of one of the council's reviews, alleging unfair criticism from the body. Last year, Nikki Haley told the council it was "hard to accept" that resolutions had been passed against Israel yet none had been considered for Venezuela, where dozens of protesters had been killed during political turmoil. Israel is the only country that is subject to a permanent standing agenda item, meaning its treatment of the Palestinians is regularly scrutinised. On Tuesday, despite her harsh words for the UNHRC, Ms Haley said she wanted "to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments". Some countries and diplomats were quick to express disappointment about the US withdrawal. The UNHRC's current president, Slovenian ambassador Vojislav Suc, said the body was the only one "responding to human rights issues and situations worldwide". After the US decision to quit, he said, "it is essential that we uphold a strong and vibrant council". UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the decision was "regrettable", arguing that while reforms are needed, the UNHRC is "crucial to holding states to account". The US withdrawal follows controversy over President Trump's decision to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without raising human rights concerns. It also comes amid intense criticism of the Trump administration's policy of separating child migrants from their parents at the US-Mexico border. The UN human rights commissioner, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein called the policy "unconscionable". A number of groups criticised the move, with the American Civil Liberties Union saying the Trump administration was leading a "concerted, aggressive effort to violate basic human rights". The New York-based group Human Rights Watch called President Trump's human rights policy "one-dimensional". But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to support the measure, posting a number of tweets praising the country's "courageous decision". A recent study demonstrates how the chronic inflammation that characterizes rheumatoid arthritis affects the brain. The results may explain the cognitive symptoms described as brain fog. Share on Pinterest Using MRI (shown here), researchers examined how rheumatoid arthritis inflammation changes the brain. More than 1.3 million people in the United States live with rheumatoid arthritis. This is an autoimmune disorder in which the bodys immune system does not recognize the synovial fluid in the joints and attacks it, causing chronic inflammation. But does this chronic inflammation also affect the brain? And if so, how? This question prompted researchers co-led by Andrew Schrepf and Chelsea Kaplan, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to examine the brains of 54 people with rheumatoid arthritis. Schrepf, a research investigator at Michigan Medicines Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center, explains the motivation for the study , the results of which have now been published in the journal Nature Communications. He explains, Even though it has been assumed for a long time that the inflammation we see in blood is impacting the brain, up until this study we didnt know precisely where and how those changes in the brain were actually happening. Schrepf adds that the effects of inflammation are easier to understand when the illness is short-lived, such as in the case of the flu. But he also notes that the researchers wanted to understand what is happening in conditions where patients have inflammation for weeks, months, or years, such as in rheumatoid arthritis. International Yoga day which is celebrated on 21st of June is here again, so let's get our yoga mats, put our day to day worries on hold, join the bandwagon and do yoga. Yoga as a word originates from a Sanskrit word called Yuja which essentially means, "to join or to unite," symbolizing the union of both mind and body. This year's theme 'Yoga for Peace' aims to raise awareness about the benefits of yoga on the overall health and well-being of those practicing yoga regularly. Regular yoga practice strengthens the body and mind. Make sure you do yoga on an empty or light stomach. International Day of Yoga International Day of Yoga 2018, India Advertisement A. Standing Postures Vrksasana or Tree Pose which improves focus, balance and clears the mind Trikonasana or Triangle Pose that requires strength, flexibility and balance B. Sitting Postures Bhadrasana or Graceful Pose that relaxes the whole body and is best suited for meditation Ustrasana or Camel Posture that strengthens the back Here are a few general guidelines you need to follow to make your yoga practice safe and effective. Before the practice Make sure the area which you're going to do yoga is clean and quiet Make sure you do yoga on an empty or light stomach Get a yoga mat or folded blanket to perform yoga on Wear light and comfortable clothes Do not practice yoga when you're sick, exhausted or in a hurry. If you have a chronic disease or pain in some part of your body, consult a physician or a yoga therapist before doing yoga Yoga therapists or experts have to be consulted before doing yoga in case of pregnant mothers. During practice Perform all yoga poses slowly, in a relaxed manner Remember to perform all the asanas according to your capacity. After Practice You can take a bath or food after 20-30 minutes of practice References : Ministry of Ayush (http://yoga.ayush.gov.in/) Common Yoga Protocol (https://moayush.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/common-yoga-protocol-english_0.pdf) Source: Medindia Most preferred time of the day to practice yoga is early in the morning. If you can't make it in the morning, do it at a time when you are sufficiently relaxed and on an empty stomach. Here are some few yoga asanas you can do to feel healthy and energetic every day.Here are a few general guidelines you need to follow to make your yoga practice safe and effective.Source: Medindia The first International Day of Yoga was celebrated on June 21, 2015, at Rajpath in New Delhi, India. The event was so huge that it set two world records that day, one for the largest yoga class, featuring 35,985 people, and second for the largest number of participating nationalities (84 nations). Different countries celebrated the event too.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be celebrating the yoga day by practicing yoga asanas or yoga postures in the capital of Uttarkhand, Dehradun, India with around 60,000 people this time. Advertisement "I worked in collaboration with another scientist, to make a filterless air purifier that will clean the air and destroy PM 2.5 which is found indoors as well. In 2005 when we started, we were targeting MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria. We used AHPCO Cell (Advanced Hydrated Photocatalytic Oxidation Cell), and we could actually measure the saturation of PM 2.5 using our machine," said Ghosh.Researches are being conducted to find out the genetic effect of PM 2.5."Initially we thought this only caused pulmonary diseases, but it is entering our whole body. When PM 2.5 crosses the cut-off line, patients die due to heart attacks and other problems like digestion and infection also aggravate," he added."Researchers are trying to identify the effect on the gene due to pollution. We are doing the medication of the diseases without knowing the exact genetic effect of pollution causing a particular disease," said city-based doctor P.K. Banerjee.He said that to treat the patients of the state and know about the genetic effect, they need the data of PM 2.5 level of the entire state, adding that in Kolkata, the US Consulate maintains some data on it, while the West Bengal Pollution Control Board at times has it and, on other occasions, does not.The city's real-time Air Quality Index recorded in the last 48 hours revealed PM 2.5 level at 154, which is termed as unhealthy for the body. The safe levels of PM2.5 and PM10 are 60 and 100 microgramme/m3 respectively, and anything beyond is considered hazardous for the respiratory system.About Zika Virus, Ghose pointed out how scientists in the US used 25,000 mosquitoes and ran a trial to see if the population of 'Aedes aegypti' could be reduced. It was found that the disease-causing mosquitoes were infected with a bacterium called Wolbachia, that affects reproductive ability, leading to infertility."The scientists inserted this bacterium in the male mosquitoes which do not bite. When these males mate with wild females, which do not carry the same strain of Wolbachia, the resulting fertilized eggs don't hatch because the paternal chromosomes do not form properly," he said.An alumnus of Hare School and Calcutta University, Ghosh, who has worked along with Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources (DNES) on the application of tissue culture technology in crop development, said it could tackle deforestation."We are planting trees like Dalbergia sissoo, Ashoka tree, Albizia lebbeck, Albizia lebbeck and other fast-growing legumes, growing them quickly using gamma radiation and tissue culture," he said.Ghosh is also working on an ongoing project in collaboration with Indian scientists trying to analyze the percentage of carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur in Triphala and identifying the particular chemical responsible for reducing cancer."Currently I am also working in collaboration with other scientists on Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia). We have analyzed and found that the biochemical of the plant can reduce blood sugar," he said.Bitter gourd can act as a preventive against diabetes and Triphala against cancer.Source: IANS Ever since 'Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety' entered the 100 Crore Club, Kartik has made his way into the premier league of Bollywood celebrities. His latest achievement is hosting the upcoming IIFA Rocks event. He was also supposed to perform at the most prestigious Bollywood Award show this year, but had to back out due to an injury. We can easily say that the man is on a professional high and is keeping up very well with his new rich lad image, Kartik decided to spend it on a bag that costs way too much. Well, at least for us mere mortals. Viral Bhayani Heading out to Bangkok to attend the IIFA weekend, Kartik was seen dressed in rather minimal colors and chose to spend everything we have in our bank, on a pair of sneakers and a bag. Seen wearing a white round neck tattered T-shirt with a blue washed out jeans and black jacket, Kartik completed the look with matching black and white sneakers and a bag. Take a deep breath, because we are about to tell you the prices of these precious items. Balmain Paris Balmain Paris The Balmain Medium Cruise Backpack costs a whopping 2,150 (approx. Rs.1,69,850). Made out of black calf leather, the bag features playful American flag motifs on the sides. Add to this, the Balmain embossed high-top sneakers that cost 823 (approx. Rs.65,020). While we were still recovering from other shockingly expensive celeb looks, Kartik just beat them all with just a bag and a pair of shoes. Talk about saving up for our dream holiday, and here we have Kartik spending our entire savings on an airport look! Viral Bhayani While we are still calculating the total cost of the outfit, we can't help but acknowledge Kartik's super-easy airport look. This one is easy to replicate by keeping it minimal with a monochrome colour scheme combined with blue washed out jeans. Moral: While we can't afford a six figure bag all we can hope for is a six figure salary! JOURNALIST: We interrupt the flow of commercials and we won't be going to a news show right now, because we have the pleasure and honour of having the protagonist of recent days, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Kotzias, on the phone. N. KOTZIAS: Good morning. JOURNALIST: Good morning, Minister. N. KOTZIAS: Good morning Dimos and Spyros, and good morning to our listeners. My daughter reminded me that today is Fathers Day. Many happy returns to all fathers. JOURNALIST: To all of us. Many happy returns. Listen, Minister, I jotted down some notes last night to introduce our interview today. Ill read you two of the notes Ive written: Kotzias unfolded before a national audience the talent he has had since he was young, which only we, the Communist Youth of the 1970s and 1980s, know of. Ideological instructor. Kotzias didnt make a speech in Parliament. He gave a lecture, with irony to spare, as always, wherever necessary. That is who Nikos Kotzias is to me. N. KOTZIAS: Saturday reminded me a little of my youth and, of course, the fact that, first and foremost, I am a teacher. JOURNALIST: I remember you in Elefsina, where you came to speak to us... you havent changed a bit. N. KOTZIAS: A few added kilos. What I want to say now is this: I think the main thing all of us need to understand is that we are living in a world that is changing, and it is very important for the country to cover its back, as they say, and to have friendly relations with the north, literally. Skopje is prepared to open up to us. It loves and adores Greece. Half its population come to northern Greece every summer as tourists. At least twice a year, every citizen of this country shops in Greece. We are its biggest trade partner and we are the second largest investor there. In other words, there is a reality that we need to develop to the benefit of both peoples, so that the economies and societies of both regions can develop. And for this to happen, we had to reach an agreement. Every agreement contains a compromise and a commitment. The compromise is that, as I said in Parliament, we did not defeat them. I called on New Democracy. I said, You are asking for everything. Okay, this shows us who is a maximalist and wants to have it all. But this is what you ask for and mistakenly, even in that case when you win a war and dictate the terms of surrender to the other side. We arent at war with these people. They are a friendly country, beyond the name issue. They are friends and people and citizens, and they are welcomed by the very protesters themselves, with great pleasure, as customers and consumers throughout the year. And it is right that they are welcomed. We had to see what the main issue was for us. For us, the main thing was for the name to change and be clearly different from our Greek Macedonia. And the name we agreed on is a name that they want, that we want as a government, and that the Karamanlis government pursued in its finer moments. They shouldn't pretend its a name they've never had anything to do with. As I showed in Parliament, this was the name pursued by the Karamanlis government in its finer moments. Because in its not-so-fine moments, it accepted plain Macedonia. What was the second thing we wanted? For the name, not the adjectival reference to be for all uses, international and internal. Do you know how difficult it is for the other side and how much we should appreciate this to change its name? Not just what all of us outside the country will call it, but also what they will call themselves within their own country. And the third: For us to be certain, they need to change their Constitution. And now we have this surprising fact. The country, North Macedonia, will ratify the agreement this week. They will hold a referendum and hopefully win it. They will change their constitution, the name will be put into the Constitution, and then we will ratify. They are taking a risk because they trust that we mean what we say. JOURNALIST: I felt that, at some point towards the end, you were pleased that New Democracy took this stance, because it was as if you said the wheat separated from the chaff; that in both countries there is now a dividing line between nationalists and modernists. N. KOTZIAS: I wasnt pleased that New Democracy has been swept away by its far-right contingent. I wasn't pleased that New Democracy sacrificed the stance it brought with Karamanlis in 2008 for a compound name that includes the term Macedonia, but I was pleased because their hypocrisy was revealed as they abandoned that position. And in fact, if you remember, I said that New Democracy functions as a branch of VMRO in Athens. Because VMRO, which is New Democracys brother Party, and which is also screaming that the Zaev government conceded everything, is the Party that brought irredentism to Skopje, that put up the statues of Alexander the Great, that renamed the airport Alexander the Great Airport and that named the motorway linking Greek to Skopje Alexander the Great Motorway. This miserable climate, of the most miserable statements against Greece, which gave birth to the irredentism we wanted to stop through this agreement this Party is saying exactly what New Democracy is saying. And you will have seen that I said teasingly in Parliament, Alexis, how is it that New Democracy is accusing us of conceding everything to Skopje, while its twin brother, the anti-Greek Gruevski and it is no coincidence that he is their twin says that Zaev conceded everything to us. And here we either have two agreements and we are kidding people that it is one agreement I said this sarcastically or what do we have? We have two forces that dont want to make a compromise, because they think they can make political and other gains from bombast, nationalistic ranting and the effort to create a climate of hostility between the two peoples. JOURNALIST: Were you pleased that Karamanlis didn't make a statement against the agreement? N. KOTZIAS: Kostas Karamanlis has shown seriousness that, publicly and in Parliament, I underscored as a positive element of the countrys political scene. In fact, it is those who denigrate Konstantinos Karamanlis and Kostas Karamanlis who set the tone in New Democracy. The people from the far right, who were appointed if you remember by the imprisoned Papadopoulos as the head of the junta youth. These people are setting the tone today. And what do they want? Do they want us to violate international law? Do they want the country to impose its will on Skopje and do they think the international community will just look on? Do you think that Im exaggerating? I remind you that, at the large demonstration a couple of weeks ago in Syntagma not the much smaller one a couple of days ago the following slogan was heard for hours: Bring the guns so we can enter Skopje. Isnt that irredentism? Because some people tell me that there isnt irredentism in Greece. What is this? Bring me a gun so I can enter a foreign capital? It is irredentism and it is warmongering. JOURNALIST: I think you know first-hand that there were such plans in the 1990s. N. KOTZIAS: At that time, a portion of the Greek political leadership had plans to break up fYROM. But listen. I ask again, and Mr. Theodorakis was very right in asking: Does Greece want a much smaller, friendly and cooperating country on its northern border, or does it want this country to be under Turkish influence? Or does it want this country to break up and great Albania and great Bulgaria to be created? Because foreign policy issues are very serious and very tough, unfortunately. Is it in Greeces interests? Because this rationale, that we don't want to accept their being called what they want; we dont want one or the other, moves towards these two plans. First question: why is it in Greeces interest for this country to break up and for great Albania and great Bulgaria to be created? I wish someone would finally tell me. Because they talk without considering the consequences. JOURNALIST: You know, Mr. Kotzias, they say that even if Skopje gets into NATO now, Turkey will still be able to manage things and do whatever it wants. N. KOTZIAS: No. Allow me to tell you the second thing about Turkey. Do you know what I was told by the leadership of the Albanians of North Macedonia who are very patriotic about their country? When I saw them, and I have seen them at least 15 times for hours of discussions, they said, Nikos, please dont let the relations between the two countries be ruined, because Turks have come here and they have bought radio stations, TV stations and newspapers. They aren't promoting pro-Turkish propaganda. They are promoting propaganda for Islamic fundamentalism and they want to transform the limited and low level of Albanian nationalism in fYROM; Im not saying elsewhere into Islamic fanaticism. And I ask: is it in Greece's interest to have Islamic fundamentalism on our borders and a space where Islamist fighters are trained so they can come into Greece? Are these people in their right minds? But to go back to Turkey. Turkey is currently training the countrys elite. Turkey is training the officers of its army. JOURNALIST: That's how it is. N. KOTZIAS: And whats more, for ten years, under Gruevski, the younger generations of this friendly country grew up with the fairytale that they are the heirs of Alexander the Great and they are the heirs of ancient Greece and they have to take all of it back. And we stopped that. Its over. And rather than being pleased that Gruevski was defeated apparently because he is their brother Party the people of New Democracy are dismayed. Because they were feeding each other, each one living off of the irredentism and pseudo-ancient Hellenism of the other. This suited New Democracy. JOURNALIST: Mr. Kotzias, what has essentially bothered most people in this particular respect is perhaps the statement and Ill read it to you so you can answer people in this regard from Mr. Zaev, who, at the beginning of his speech, said, the Macedonians and the Greeks. We want you to respond on this so people can understand precisely what it means. Because, you know, theyre saying, if they say the Macedonians and the Greeks now, what will they be saying in a while? N. KOTZIAS: You tell me! I dont know. Because someone told me we gave them Thessaloniki. A state that has four old Russian helicopters, that doesn't even have a single fighter jet, ships in any case, it cant have a navy is going to come and take Thessaloniki. They make these things up to fool themselves. Now, lets go to Zaev's statement. We have to separate historical Greek and ancient Greek Macedonia from geographical Macedonia. If we dont, well get confused. Zaev calls himself a Macedonian based on the geographical position of the region where he was born and raised. Is geographical Macedonia all Greek? No. In the current reality, a small part belongs to Albania, a larger part belongs to Bulgaria, what is called Pirin Macedonia, a third belongs to North Macedonia, to that state, and the largest part, 52-53%, belongs to Greece. Three members of Borisovs cabinet, Bulgarias Prime Minister, come from Pirin Macedonia and call themselves Macedonian. Why do they say Macedonian? Not because they come from Greek Macedonia, Greek heritage and Greek history, but because they come from a part of the geographical Macedonia of the Ottoman province that went to Bulgaria. Zaev is speaking the same way. I was very strict on this point in Parliament: When did these parts (of geographical Macedonia) go to the then Yugoslavia, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and, afterwards, socialist Yugoslavia, and it broke away and became the Republic of Macedonia and Pirin Macedonia? In 1913, after the first Balkan Wars. In the Treaty of Bucharest. And what does the Treaty of Bucharest do? It grants Greece todays Greek Macedonia. Anyone who disputes the Treaty of Bucharest disputes, first of all, Greek Macedonia and the fact that we took the largest portion of geographical Macedonia. He disputes the fact that geographical Macedonia was divided up. But and this is the worst of all he also disputes international law. Because Greece bases its international position and foreign policy on taking international law seriously and implementing national law. Arent we the ones saying to Erdogan every day, these islands are Greek? Not just because we are the heirs to the history of ancient Greek civilization, because there is ancient Greek cultural heritage in Ephesus and Alikarnassos, but because it was given to us in the Treaty of Lausanne. And when do we react very sternly? When Mr. Erdogan comes and disputes the Treaty of Lausanne. Those who are bothered by the fact that geographical Macedonia was broken up, and who purposely confuse Greek Macedonia, the history of Macedonia and our Greek heritage with the geographical agreement of the Treaty of Bucharest, are disputing international law. And Greece must be the last country in the region to allow international law to be disputed. It is on international law that we base our rights, in Cyprus, in Thrace, in the Aegean, everywhere. Suddenly, just because they are in the opposition, or maybe some out of good intentions because those people exist too out of ignorance they are disputing the 1913 division of geographical Macedonia in the Treaty of Bucharest because they are bothered by what Mr. Zaev said. Let anyone who dares open the Pandoras box of the Balkans by disputing the agreements and international treaties. JOURNALIST: Mrs. Bakoyannis doesnt know all of this? Did you anticipate the stance she took during the parliamentary debate? N. KOTZIAS: On this issue, despite her passionate hostility towards me, Mrs. Bakoyannis was one of the best in New Democracy. After 2008, she adopted the position for a compound name that included the term Macedonia. She put this position together and put it on the Ministrys website, and it is still there today. Why? When we came into office, we didn't want to change anything on this part of the Ministrys website. Because if we had changed it, they would have said we were moving towards new accomplished facts. We left it because the main thing was to hold negotiations and to reach a new state of affairs via the negotiations. This line, which was Karamanlis line, which was the line adopted by Mrs. Bakoyannis, wasnt disputed even by Mr. Samaras when he was Prime Minister. He let Mr. Venizelos follow this line at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of course, today, in hindsight, Mr. Venizelos says he followed a personal line, and Mr. Avramopoulos, who was also a Minister of Foreign Affairs for New Democracy, also says he followed a personal line. What kind of government did Mr. Samaras have, where, on one of the three key foreign policy issues, the Minister of Foreign Affairs did what he liked, against the Prime Minister, supposedly in retrospect? So, Mrs. Bakoyannis, Mr. Avramopoulos and, subsequently, Mr. Venizelos who may not agree with the agreement, but who agree with its core defended the compound name including the term Macedonia, and suddenly Mrs. Bakoyannis found herself in a tight spot within New Democracy. The extreme rightists, further to the right of Samaras not Samaras with his views; further right than Samaras asked for a change of stance. And Mr. Mitsotakis pollster whispered in his ear that if the Party stops being serious and adopts the VMRO positions of Mr. Gruevski, it will win votes through the anxiety and insecurity it creates in northern Greece, and he forgot that he will lose many more votes than he gains. Because he is showing a lack of seriousness. JOURNALIST: Mr. Theodorikakos may have convinced Mr. Mitsotakis, but not Mrs. Bakoyannis. N. KOTZIAS: That's their problem. Mrs. Bakoyannis adapted, probably with difficulty, to her Partys line. I think that's why she came out and insulted me not on the last day, but on the second day of the debate in a way that does not correspond to the political culture our country must have. JOURNALIST: But in my opinion it raised the issue of the importance of, how much weight is put on, the degrees Greek politicians have. Regardless of the fact that we, coming from a particular political space, know what Kotzias is. N. KOTZIAS: I have seven degrees. JOURNALIST: For as long as I can remember, you have been more involved with academic issues than politics. N. KOTZIAS: I have international recognition. I have received four honorary doctorates from major universities in recognition of my academic work... JOURNALIST: Now even the Russians, whom you have disappointed a little. You called them a petrol station on that show ... N. KOTZIAS: I am very proud that, in the most improbable countries I visit in the world, I find students of mine from the University of Piraeus, and they are professors. I have four students in Albania, young people who are professors at the University of Albania. I have professors at the University of Armenia, the University of Georgia. I even found students of mine who are active academically in Vietnam. Female students, not males. And it is the joy of my life, as a university professor, in my capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs, to have the opportunity, during the short visits I make, to have my old students come, early in the morning or late at night, to greet their old teacher. Whatever New Democracy says, this great satisfaction of the teacher cannot be taken away by anyone. I am a university teacher who had the pleasure, and I still have it once a year, of giving a lecture; my old class, a great class, Special Topics in Greek Foreign Policy it was. I always had the pleasure of having the fullest classrooms. And this was for students finishing their course, who usually didnt attend classes. My class, Special Topics in Greek Foreign Policy, the last class students take in their final year, is attended. They fill the room, sit on the steps, on the radiators, hanging from the windows. The joy of teaching. No one can take that away from me. JOURNALIST: Mr. Kotzias, what does the teacher have to say to the people maybe they got swept up in things, maybe theyve seen things and History will show how things go later on who yesterday gathered in Pisoderi, and we had the incidents and pictures that do not do honour to the country? N. KOTZIAS: I'll say this: First of all, I saw that 100,000 people gathered in Syntagma they said there were 250,000 people. On the evening of the Hellenic Parliaments vote on the motion of no confidence in the Greek government, there were 4,000 people. I think it is great progress from 100, 120 thousand they claimed 250,000 to 4,000 people, which means that people have understood our policy and have understood that some people were playing political games. And Mr. Voutsis was told that among these people there were Golden Dawn troopers who wanted to attack and occupy Parliament, and I remind you that this has happened before in the European south. It was when the putschists seized the Parliament of the then new Republic of Spain. And their King, Juan Carlos, maintained his stance and denounced and broke the coup. And today they wanted to enter Parliament and occupy it. In Northern Greece I havent had the time yet to study the incidents the head officers told me that, together with people who believe deeply that they are right it is reasonable for there to be people with a different opinion, with their concerns, and I will explain this there were also Golden Dawn troopers with wooden clubs and iron bars. Just so were clear. Its bad for there to be incidents, for chemicals to be used. My lungs are full of chemicals, and I hate them. But it would be good if certain people didn't try to hinder the Greek state from complying with international agreements and didnt want to make the Greek state look foolish. Now Ill go to the well-intentioned people. Listen, many people abroad say to me, you have a real problem they want to take islands from you, they have occupied Cyprus with Turkey. What is your obsession with this little state respected state, but it is much smaller than us, as big as central Macedonia, our region, with a smaller population why this obsession? And I explain: first, there is the anguish a Greek feels over his history. Second, there is the anguish of some people which is wrong as to how they express it who say, the big countries oppressed us in the economic crisis, so why should we be nice to smaller countries? But I have another way of seeing it: you dont need to do to others what you didnt like being done to you. And third, they have a hostility to this archaism of Mr. Gruevski, who appeared and tried to take their heritage, history and culture, and we have to explain to them that the main enemy of this agreement is precisely this guy with his archaism, this ally of New Democracy. There is a fourth reason that doesnt have to do with international politics or inter-state politics: That in our region, throughout the region, there is a sensitivity to the name issue. Sometimes I tell foreigners: a handsome young man meets a beautiful young woman and is enamoured of her. Then they fall in love. They love each other so much that they decide to get married. Their love brings them a child; a son, lets say. I prefer daughters, but take a son as our example. JOURNALIST: May the good mothers first child be a daughter, as the saying goes. N. KOTZIAS: Lets say its a son, to make our example easier. And now, suddenly, we see this loving couple of 10 years arguing. What, my dear Spyros and my dear Dimos, are the two parents arguing about? About what to name the child. Whether hell take the name of one father-in-law or the other. And there are three or four solutions here. They can give him another name and not argue. They may be fortunate enough for both fathers-in-law to have the same name. They can agree on a compound (hyphenated) name, which is what we did; for example, Giorgos-Konstantinos, with one side of the family calling him Giorgos and the other side calling him Konstantinos, and, in the end, when the child goes to school he gets another name: Dinos, Akis or something else. The third, the compound name, is the best option, with one-sided exclamations, like Zaev made yesterday, on both sides. And the other option is divorce. Isnt that the reality in our region? This reality was the foundation of the name problem. People are sensitive to the three factors I mentioned; the real ones and a special tradition. They feel it is a problem. They ask you, What do I call it?. JOURNALIST: Now we understand why the amphitheatres fill up when you lecture at universities. Because you make yourself understood through examples. JOURNALIST: Mr. Kotzias, before we leave you, I would like you to tell us what political scene you see taking shape, if we bear in mind that there was a seismic political shift in the Independent Greeks that did some damage, with two people leaving. N. KOTZIAS: But it held. JOURNALIST: Yes, it held. What do you see happening from here on in? N. KOTZIAS: I think that the biggest losers in the parliamentary debate were Mr. Samaras and the far-right wing of New Democracy. No comma after Samaras; its the same thing. Because, in the end, what was exposed was that Mr. Samaras was the first to sign for plain Macedonia in the European bodies. The Extreme Right proved to be saying nothing other than the false words of the junta regarding Cyprus and Macedonia... JOURNALIST: I think the winner on the Right was Samaras, because the man from Kalamata got his revenge. After 28 years, he managed to make Mitsotakis two children renounce the ideological policy of their father and defend the policy of Samaras, who brought down their father. N. KOTZIAS: Quite right. Within New Democracy, Samaras won. But what did I say? In Parliament, Samaras was defeated. JOURNALIST: Thats another thing. N. KOTZIAS: Thats what Im saying. In Parliament, we won and Samaras lost. New Democracy was overwhelmingly defeated defending the Samaras line. And can I give you a piece of news before we leave? Right after the late Mitsotakis passed away regardless of any differences one might have had with him, he was a great politician and parliamentary man, in spite of the events of 1965 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposed, as it should have, to the Mitsotakis-Bakoyannis family that we hold a two-day scientific conference in his honour and discuss Mitsotakis and foreign policy. We scheduled it four times. One time, the Mitsotakis Institute couldnt make it. The second time there was a scheduling issue for Mrs. Bakoyannis and us understandable. The other two times, we were called by Mr. Mitsotakis office and told that the President didnt want a two-day conference honouring Mitsotakis to take place at this time. I wondered about it at the time. In hindsight, I understand. Because a discussion honouring Mitsotakis would force his son to acknowledge his fathers work regarding the name of Macedonia and remind him for two days of how badly his father was treated. JOURNALIST: I didn't know that. N. KOTZIAS: This is the first time Ive said it. And the Ministry of Foreign Affairs didnt hold this two-day conference. I remind you: We wanted it, we scheduled it, because Mr. Mitsotakis was a Minister of Foreign Affairs. We should honour the memory of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, especially in the case of such a strong personality who also served as Prime Minister. Unfortunately, the President of New Democracy didnt want it to happen. I dont know how else to interpret it. I guess New Democracy will issue an announcement. I hope they dont lash out at me. The fact is, we wanted to do it and it didnt happen. JOURNALIST: Thank you very much. N. KOTZIAS: Thank you. Accused should be set free unless there is good reason: SC Staff Reporter : The Appellate Division in a full verdict released last week on ad-interim bail granted to BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia by a High Court Bench said an accused person should be 'allowed to remain free unless there is good reason to keep him in confinement'. The court said that Article 11 of the Universa1 Declaration of Human Rights stipulates: 'Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.' On May 16, the short verdict of the Appellate Division was delivered by a four-judge bench chaired by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, upholding ad-interim bail granted to former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia by the High Court Division in the Zia Orphanage Trust case. The verdict says that it had been brought to the Appellate Division's notice that even in 2007 and 2008 the High Court Division granted bails to the accused sued under the Emergency Powers Rules 2007. The High Court Division granted bails on health grounds exercising its discretion, said the Appellate Division verdict. It's, therefore, clear that the High Court Division's discretion to grant bails cannot be 'taken away' by any statute, said the verdict. 'It must also be noted that where bail is granted on medical grounds, the length of period already suffered in jail is not a relevant consideration,' said the verdict. The full verdict, referring to Section 496 of the Code of the Criminal Procedure, said that bail was the right of an accused person during pendency of trial in a bailable case. Even in nonbailabe offences bails might be granted to women, children or sick or infirm persons the verdict said citing Section 496 of the Code of the Criminal Procedure. The verdict said that any appellate court might release a convict on bail during pendency of hearing his or her appeal by recording the reasons for granting bails stipulates Section 426 of Cr PC. The Appellate Division said in the verdict that even the trial court might grant bails for limited durations to convicts jailed for less than one year to allow him or her to file appeals. When convicts had been sentenced for more than one year also an appellate court would have to discretion to grant bails, said the verdict. The verdict said that such discretionary powers must be exercised judiciously. The verdict said that no court should forget while granting bails to convicts to record the reasons as Section 426 of Cr PC stipulates. If that is done, the Appellate Division would not interfere with the discretion exercised by the High Court Division, said the verdict. Certainly, the Appellate Division would 'interfere where the exercise of discretion is perverse, based on wrong appreciation of the law, misreading of evidence or is whimsical,' said the verdict. The verdict noted that the High Court Division gave four reasons for granting limited ad-interim bail to Khaleda Zia in compliance with Section 426 of the Cr PC. EU to launch counter-tariffs against US on Friday The European Union will launch a raft of retaliatory tariffs against US exports on Friday, a top official has said. The move comes after US President Donald Trump imposed steep duties on steel and aluminium earlier this month. American exports such as blue jeans, motorbikes and bourbon whiskey will be targeted, trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom confirmed. However, she said the bloc "did not want to be in this position". "The unilateral and unjustified decision of the US to impose steel and aluminium tariffs on the EU means that we are left with no other choice," she said. Brussels drew up the list of products in March when Mr Trump initially proposed the 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% on aluminium, which also target Canada, Mexico and other close US allies. Cranberries, orange juice, sweetcorn and peanut butter are among the other goods targeted. It comes amid an intensifying row over trade between the US and its partners. On Tuesday, Mr Trump threatened to impose duties on an additional $200bn (151bn) of Chinese goods after hitting $50bn of products with tariffs. He said the 10% duties would come into effect if China "refuses to change its practices". However, China accused the US of "blackmail" and said it would "fight back firmly", raising fears of a full-blown trade war. Mr Trump announced plans for tariffs on foreign steel and aluminium in March, justifying them on national security grounds. He has argued that global oversupply of steel and aluminium, driven by China, threatens American steel and aluminium producers, which are vital to the US. Since the announcement, South Korea, Argentina, Australia and Brazil have agreed to put limits on the volume of metals they can ship to the US in lieu of tariffs. However, Canada has announced it will impose retaliatory tariffs on C$16.6bn (9.5bn) worth of US exports from 1 July. And Mexico put tariffs on American products ranging from steel to pork and bourbon two weeks ago. Ms Malstrom called the EU response proportionate and in line with World Trade Organization rules. She said that counter-measures - which affect 2.8bn worth of US goods - would be removed if Washington removed its metal tariffs. EU steel and aluminium exports now facing US tariffs are worth a total of 6.4bn (5.6bn). Many of the products the EU has in its sights are specifically chosen to have maximum political effect. Bourbon whiskey is produced in Kentucky, the state of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. Orange juice is a key export for Florida, a swing state in the US elections. Meanwhile, economists have warned the US metal tariffs could lead to higher metal costs, disrupt supply chains and even get passed on to US households. Imposing the metals duties on 31 May, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross dismissed the concerns about higher costs, arguing that the effects would be minimal. And in March, Mr Trump signalled he could impose yet more retaliation if the EU raised trade barriers on US companies. Last week, the International Monetary Fund warned that the Trump administration's protectionist policies are likely to hurt the US economy and undermine the world's trade system. IMF director Christine Lagarde said a trade war would lead to "losers on both sides" and have a "serious" impact. MDCR Statement on President Trump's Zero Tolerance Policy and its Impact on Michigan Vicki Levengood - levengoodv@michigan.gov, 517-241-7978 Civil Rights June 19, 2018 Lansing, MI-The Michigan Department of Civil Rights today announced that the Department is actively engaged in assessing the impact of President Trumps zero tolerance policy and the separation of children from their parents at the US/Mexico border on the state of Michigan, and the Departments responsibilities under state law. Historically, Michigan has served as an important site for adult and family refugee resettlement and has provided foster care placement for unaccompanied immigrant children that arrive alone at international points of entry into the US. However, under this new policy, children who are being separated from their parents at the border are now being transported to Michigan for temporary foster care placement. In response to this situation, Agustin V. Arbulu, Executive Director of Michigan Department of Civil Rights released the following statement: While the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, along with people all over the nation, decry the forced separation of children from their parents taking place on our southern border, the policy is a federal issue and beyond the scope of this departments responsibilities under law. But for those children who have been separated from their parents and brought to Michigan, the Department of Civil Rights has a duty to make sure their civil rights are protected. This week, I have been in touch with various agencies and organizations working with these vulnerable children. We have received reports and are very concerned that the children arriving here are much younger than those who have been transported here in the past. Some of the children are infants as young as three months of age and are completely unable to advocate for themselves. While we commend the work of resettlement agencies in Michigan attempting to serve these children with dignity and compassion, nothing can replace the love, sense of security and care of a parent. I take very seriously our responsibility under state law to see to it that the civil rights of every person in this state, especially these vulnerable children in crisis, are protected. We will continue to monitor this situation closely to ensure the rights of these children are protected to the fullest extent. # # # HURON COUNTY A Huron Casting Inc. official confirmed the company will hire Puerto Rican workers to be housed at the former U.S. Air Force base in Port Austin Township. Matt Davis, senior vice president of Huron Casting of Pigeon, told the Tribune no firm plans have been made, but the company will try employing Puerto Ricans, and it is in the process of purchasing the former Air Force base. Were going to try it. Were going to see how it goes and hopefully we will be successful, Davis said. During Tuesday's Huron County Board of Commissioners meeting, Port Austin resident Tony Loewe expressed concerns about how the community would support a population boom in terms of ambulance, fire and police services, as well as local schools. Davis told the Tribune it will help Port Austin's economy. It will be a positive effect because theyll be paid extremely well and contribute money to the local economy," he said. "It will be a big boost. Davis was not certain how many workers will be hired, or when. Hundreds could be housed at the facility. Loewe questioned the fact that since they are not immigrants, how would the Puerto Ricans be vetted? Davis said they will be drug tested and background checked like any other employee. We will fully vet them, Davis said. He added the addition of workers would be slow at first, to see if the arrangement works. And well go from there, he added. Davis said the reason local workers cant be hired is mostly a numbers issue. But, he added, many locals cannot pass a drug test. The company is currently bringing in employees from Saginaw, he said. A couple hundred come daily by bus and personal vehicle. The sale of the Air Force base is not final, but Davis expects to close by mid July. After that, significant upgrades will need to be done. Davis told the Tribune it's not known whether the workers will have families, as its too early to tell. During Tuesday's meeting, Loewe stressed his concern was not about race. Its about bodies. Its about people. Their families will be here in no time, Loewe said. Who supports the goods and services? He claimed the Puerto Ricans would not disburse throughout the community, but would "all stay in a block due to the language barrier. Board Chairman Sami Khoury said as long as the housing meets standards, there is nothing the board of commissioners can do. Puerto Rican citizens are actually citizens of the United States, Khoury said. County Building and Zoning Director Jeff Smith told the board he has been on a property walk-through with an engineer from Huron Casting to review upgrades necessary for legal occupancy. Davis said three barracks are in decent condition, but he was unable to put a dollar figure on improvements. County officials said its ultimately up to Port Austin Township to decide how the former base is used. They (the Port Austin Township Board of Trustees) seem monumentally unconcerned, Loewe said. Davis said the idea to hire Puerto Ricans came from the companys customers who have had success with this arrangement. UN Chief for doing more for refugees UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday urged all to think about what more they can do to help the refugees around the world or the people who are internally displaced as a result of conflict or persecution. "On World Refugee Day, we must all think about what more we can we do to help. The answer begins with unity and solidarity," he said in a video message. The UN Secretary General posed a question, "What would you do if you were forced to leave your home? Today, more than 68 million people around the world are refugees or internally displaced as a result of conflict or persecution. "That is equivalent to the population of the world's 20th largest country. Last year, someone was displaced every two seconds, mostly, in poorer countries," Guterres said. He said, he is deeply concerned to see more and more situations where refugees are not receiving the protection they need and to which they are entitled. "We need to re-establish the integrity of the international refugee protection regime. In today's world, no community or country providing safe refuge to people fleeing war or persecution should be alone and unsupported. We stand together, or we fail," said the UN chief. He said a Global Compact on Refugees will be presented to the UN General Assembly this year. "It offers a way forward and recognizes the contributions that refugees make to the societies hosting them." "As long as there are wars and persecution, there will be refugees. On World Refugee Day, I ask you to remember them. Their story is one of resilience, perseverance and courage. Ours must be of solidarity, compassion and action," Guterres said. WASHINGTON -- The Navy will pursue courts-martial for two officers from the USS Fitzgerald in the wake of a deadly collision one year ago off the coast of Japan that killed seven sailors. The decision by Adm. Frank Caldwell comes despite a recommendation by a pretrial hearing officer that Lt. Natalie Combs instead be sent before a board of inquiry to determine whether she should be discharged from the Navy, according to Combs' lawyer. Cmdr. Bryce Benson, the commanding officer of the ship at the time of the June 17, 2017, collision, and Combs, the tactical action officer inside the combat information center below deck, will each face general court-martial, the Navy said in a news release. Benson will not face an original charge of negligent homicide. Charges against a third officer, Lt. Irian Woodley, the ship's surface warfare coordinator, were dismissed. Instead, Caldwell recommended Woodley be sent to a board of inquiry, where he will be required to "show cause" why he should be allowed to stay in the Navy. Caldwell was appointed consolidated disposition authority in late 2017 after the Fitzgerald collision was followed by the crash of another Navy destroyer, the USS John S. McCain. That collision killed 10 sailors in August. Part of Caldwell's authority is to decide whether to convene a court-martial, and he has ultimate discretion on who should face internal disciplinary action and who should face justice in a military courtroom. Combs and Woodley faced a joint Article 32 pretrial hearing last month. Combs' lawyer, David Sheldon, told Stars and Stripes that the hearing officer Cmdr. Anthony Johnson had recommended that both cases go before a board of inquiry to determine separation from the Navy. That board makes findings only for purposes of separation, not guilt or innocence. Sheldon issued a statement Tuesday saying his client is disappointed in the decision, but "nonetheless resolute in her belief that when the facts are fully presented, she will be exonerated." "The blame in this case is widespread," Sheldon said. "The Fitzgerald had systemic problems with its equipment and training. To single this young woman, who has served honorably and with distinction, for prosecution is very troubling in the circumstance." The Navy said it will not release Johnson's recommendations until all proceedings involving the collision are over. After handing the helm over to the officer of the deck, Benson was in his quarters when the Fitzgerald and a commercial container ship collided in the busy coastal waters off southern Japan, and he suffered multiple injuries. Caldwell referred the counts of negligent dereliction of duty resulting in death, negligent dereliction of duty and one specification of negligent hazarding of a vessel to court-martial after Benson waived his right last month to an Article 32 hearing. Combs will face charges of negligent dereliction of duty resulting in death and negligent hazarding of a vessel, the Navy said. Combs and Woodley pleaded not guilty during their preliminary hearing on May 9 that revealed severe problems with the ship's systems, along with an undermanned and overworked crew. Prosecutors portrayed the defendants as failing in their jobs -- not using the tools at their disposal properly, not trying to get faulty equipment fixed and therefore failing to see close calls in busy waters over the course of the night -- the defense argued that the ship's radars and electronic equipment never worked properly and the crew was exhausted from working 20-hour days with no time to train or do repairs. The problems were systemic, leaving the officers unaware of the other ship's approach, the defense argued. The Navy singled out Combs for her failure to communicate adequately with the deck and failing in her job of supporting the bridge to ensure it received vital information about contact with other vessels. One expert witness during the Article 32 testified that Combs had just 13 actions involving monitoring or tracking other ships on her console that night -- none in the last hour and 13 minutes, leading up to the collision, when there were many ships in the vicinity that night. Her attorney argued the Fitzgerald had faulty equipment and the Combat Information Center was unaware of any such contacts. More than 30 Veterans Service Organizations have backed Senate proposals to fund the recently passed VA Mission Act, which expands private health care options. The proposals, which are opposed by the White House, would give up to $55 billion in funding over five years. The bill, signed into law by President Donald Trump earlier this month, provided $5.2 billion in funding to keep the current Veterans Choice and Accountability Act running through next May while the Department of Veterans Affairs puts in place the VA Mission Act. The Choice program pushes some veterans to private care in lieu of care at VA hospitals or clinics, while the Mission Act aims to overhaul Choice and consolidate programs. The Mission Act also lifted restrictions on caregiver benefits for disabled veterans. The caregiver benefits program had been limited to post/9-11 veterans, but the VA Mission Act opened it to veterans of all eras. But funding for the VA Mission Act beyond next May has been left in limbo, putting the White House and Senate appropriators at odds on a plan for how to pay for it. The coalition of veterans groups has urged support for the "Complete the Mission Amendment." The amendment would "allow Congress to provide VA with sufficient resources required to implement the provisions of the VA Mission Act without triggering sequestration or requiring cuts to other VA programs, they wrote Tuesday in a letter sent to Senate leaders of both parties. That amendment was sponsored by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, vice chairman of the Committee. The problem, the veterans groups said, was that in passing the VA Mission Act Congress moved funding for it "from mandatory appropriations to a new discretionary program that must fit within overall domestic discretionary caps." "However, the current domestic discretionary budget cap for FY 2019, and the anticipated caps for FY 2020 and FY 2021, did not contemplate the new and increased costs associated with the VA Mission Act," the groups said in the letter. "As such, Congress may not have the ability to fully fund all of the programs, benefits and services that our veterans, their families and survivors have earned." The letter went to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York; Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee; and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, ranking member of SVAC. Sen. Shelby's proposed amendment to lift the caps on discretionary spending to fund the VA Mission Act has been opposed by the White House, which favors offsetting the costs of the veterans bill through cuts to other programs. In a memo circulated to Republican senators earlier this month, White House officials said Shelby's proposals were "anathema to responsible spending" and would lead to "virtually unlimited increases" in veterans' spending on private health care, the Washington Post reported. The White House memo contrasted with Trump's exuberance in signing the bill earlier this month. "There's never been anything like this in the history of the VA," Trump said at the White House ceremony where he signed the VA Mission Act, formally known as the Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Network Act. The bill is set to eventually replace the Choice Act, which was enacted in haste in 2014 in response to scandals concerning lengthy VA wait times for appointments. That law has been the target of criticism from veterans and private care doctors, who complain of late payments and delayed appointments. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. US Says it Will Pay the Family of the 10 Afghans Killed in a Failed Drone Strike and Help Them Relocate to US The VA's independent watchdog has charged that the Trump administration's acting secretary has blocked access to data on whistleblower complaints in a possible violation of the law. In an increasingly vitriolic exchange of letters, VA Inspector General Michael Missal and acting VA Secretary Peter O'Rourke have questioned each other's motives and authorities in matters relating to the implementation of the Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act. The bill, which passed last year, has been hailed by President Donald Trump as one of the signature achievements of his administration in its effort to root out poor performers at the Department of Veterans Affairs. In a June 5 letter to O'Rourke, Missal charged that his Office of the Inspector General (OIG) had been blocked for the past six months by the VA's Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection (OAWP), which was formerly headed by O'Rourke, from gaining access to records on whistleblowers. "Despite repeated assurances that these records would be made available, the OIG has not yet been provided this important information," Missal said. "Refusing to provide this information not only violates the law, but also hinders the OIG's ability to fulfil its statutory oversight function." In his June 11 reply, O'Rourke charged that Missal's demands were overreaching. He said the inspector general's "lack of cooperation" amounted to "promoting the flawed culture the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act was meant to address." "You also appear to misunderstand the independent nature of your role and operate as a completely unfettered autonomous agency," O'Rourke told Missal. O'Rourke's reply was heated. "You are reminded that [the inspector general] is loosely tethered to VA, and in your specific case as the VA inspector general, I am your immediate supervisor. You are directed to act accordingly," O'Rourke said. On June 18, Missal wrote back that he was notifying Congress of O'Rourke's refusal to give him access to the complaint database. O'Rourke did not "provide any factual or legal basis for the failure to allow my office the access to the OAWP records to which the OIG is entitled, and it is not clear why the Department is resisting our access to these records," Missal charged. "The Department's withholding access to OAWP records raises serious concerns, and your unsupported and false accusations of the OIG's lack of cooperation and substandard investigations is equally concerning," he said. Missal repeated his accusation that O'Rourke was in violation of the law on the OIG's oversight mission. "The Department has no basis to withhold the OAWP materials requested by the OIG and its continued refusal to provide this information is contrary to law," Missal said. O'Rourke's letter to Missal was an "unprecedented attack" on the inspector general in its efforts to investigate complaints by VA employees that the new leadership at the VA was "using the [accountability] bill to inappropriately retaliate against whistleblowers" who came forward with complaints that could reflect on the Trump administration, Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minnesota, said in a statement. "The letter sent from Acting Secretary O'Rourke to VA Inspector General Missal is beyond the pale, even for this administration," said Walz, the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. "In his letter, O'Rourke made an explicit attempt to intimidate the Inspector General and deter the VA Office of Inspector General from carrying out its legal duty to hold VA officials accountable to the American people and the veterans among them. This is extremely unacceptable," Walz said. In a June 1 letter to the inspector general, four Democratic senators asked Missal to investigate allegations that VA managers were using to the Accountability Act to go after employees for spurious reasons, such as moving too slowly after a workplace injury. "We have had numerous VA employees and their representatives contact our offices about the law's implementation, indicating that the authorities provided by the law are being used in an inconsistent and inappropriate manner," the senators said. "Unfortunately, VA still has not been able to provide us with data that would alleviate our concerns or demonstrate in any way that application of these authorities has been consistent, fair and appropriate," said the letter, signed by Sens. Jon Tester, D-Montana, Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. In a letter to Baldwin on June 1, O'Rourke wrote that since the bill was enacted last June through March of this year, the VA has issued "over 1,500 admonishments, over 1,600 reprimands, and over 1,400 suspensions of 14 days or less." During the first five months of 2018, the VA fired a total of 912 employees, demoted 36 and suspended 26 for 14 days or longer, according to a June 7 VA report. "The total lack of cooperation from the VA is alarming and a disservice to American veterans and taxpayers," Tester, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a separate statement. "I'm demanding the VA immediately comply with the IG's request for access to information. The VA leadership that prides itself on transparency is not above the law or exempt from independent oversight," he said. In a report Tuesday, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal workers union, charged that the Accountability Act has proven to be a "massive failure" one year after Trump signed it into law, and has been used to target low-level workers while allowing top managers to escape responsibility. "Over a year ago we said that bill would lead to frontline workers being targeted and intimidated by management seeking to cover up their own malfeasance, and a year later we are being proven right," said AFGE Legislative Director Tom Kahn. "The Accountability Act has been used to silence whistleblowers, retaliate against workers, and fire veterans." Many of the low-level jobs targeted by the act "are occupied by veterans and disabled veterans," the AFGE report said, "but managers are using the law to fire first time offenders, those missing deadlines or moving slowly after an injury -- hardly an offense that warrants immediate termination." In his letter to Missal, O'Rourke charged that the OIG's office had repeatedly failed to "demonstrate due professional care" in recent reports and was "not performing its responsibilities in a fair and objective manner." O'Rourke had been chief of staff at the VA before he was named by Trump to the interim post as acting Secretary pending Senate confirmation of the nomination of Robert Wilkie to the permanent position. Wilkie, the former Defense Department under secretary for Personnel & Readiness, was moved over to the VA as acting Secretary following the ouster of former VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin in March. Wilkie stepped down as acting secretary to avoid a potential conflict with regulations barring acting secretaries from succeeding to the permanent job. No date has yet been set by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee for Wilkie's confirmation hearing. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. The Marine Corps announced today that BAE Systems will make the service's brand-new amphibious combat vehicle, planned to replace aging tracked amphibious assault vehicles that have been in service since the 1970s. After almost three years of testing, the Corps announced it will award several contract options, worth up to $198 million, to BAE to build 30 low-rate production ACV 1.1 vehicles, John Garner, Program Executive Officer for Land Systems Marine Corps, told defense reporters. Additional contract options could raise the value of the deal to $1.2 billion. BAE, a British defense contractor, was one of two companies the Marine Corps selected in 2015 to build 16 ACV 1.1 prototypes for testing as part of a "lower-risk, incremental approach" to replacing the Corps aging amphibious assault vehicle fleet. The other company that built a prototype was Virginia-based SAIC, which teamed up with Singapore Technologies Kinetics. "Today, after a rigorous and thorough test and evaluation period of two competing prototypes, we are taking another major step in fielding that much-needed capability to our Marines," Garner said. The decision comes after the assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, James "Hondo" Geurts, made the Milestone C decision for the program to move forward yesterday, Garner said. Milestone C signifies a validation of early testing and clearance to move forward with an operational platform. ACV1.1 will bring a "modern wheeled capability with land mobility on par with modern battle tanks, along with the remarkable survivability the system has for under-body blast and also other threats," said Col. Wendell Leimbach, Program Manager for Advanced Amphibious Assault. The first low-rate initial production vehicles will be delivered to the Marine Corps by the fall of 2019, Garner said, adding that the service will conduct initial operational test and evaluation in late 2020. The 3rd Amphibious Assault Battalion on the West Coast will be the first unit equipped with the ACV 1.1, Marine Corps officials said. The Marine Corps plans to buy 204 ACV 1.1 vehicles in this first phase of the effort. Phase Two will be the development of the ACV 1.2, an upgraded amphibious platform, also made by BAE, that the Marines hope field to as a replacement for the fleet of 870 amphibious assault vehicles. BAE will make some minor improvements to the ACV 1.1 LRIP vehicles before initial delivery, but "there are no issues" in terms of major system capabilities such as survivability, Garner said. "Quite frankly, we could field the vehicle right now the way it is," Garner said. "But we will always -- as we do with any program -- continue to do improvements to it." -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. The U.S. Air Force never expected to fly aircraft such as the Cold War-era B-52 Stratofortress bomber for as long as it has, much less for another 30 years as it now plans to. So if the Air Force continues to modernize its legacy fleets in addition to buying new, more advanced equipment and planes, it will need to have more access to technical data and software often owned or operated by industry partners, experts say. "There is no real process to define what technical data requirements are in major acquisition programs," said Heather Penny, senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Penny and a pair of former top Air Force operations officials debuted their study, "Data Requirements and Rights: Time for a Reassessment," at the Air Force Association headquarters near Washington, D.C. on Monday. Related content: Although the conversation around data rights has been going for nearly 20 years, the issue has gradually become a more common problem. Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Will Roper recently told DefenseOne the Air Force could do more with 3D printed parts. But the service doesn't inherently own the rights to manufacture specific components, he said. Nor does it have a surefire way of dealing with that kind of intellectual property. Taxpayers are paying a high price as a result, he said. For example, Roper said he could 3D print new toilet seat covers for C-17 Globemaster IIIs at a cost of roughly $300 per seat. But because the manufacturer owns the rights, the service needs to rely on industry to instead produce the item at a whopping $10,000 per seat. "You'll think, 'There's no way it costs that,'" Roper told DefenseOne last month. "No, it doesn't, but you're asking a company to produce it and they're [busy] producing something else," he said. The central questions surrounding the issue of data rights are: Who has access to what? And what does the Air Force need to own in order to operate effectively? It's a dilemma the service and the Defense Department as a whole is likely to keep encountering, the authors said. "This is much bigger than aircraft," Penny said. "This is about the transition from the industrial age to the information age." The findings of the study come as the Air Force in recent months has shown interest in expanding the type of data it receives through its contracts, particularly contracts for sustainment, for additional source codes, computer software, blueprints and architecture systems in order to keep up with modernizing its fleets. And there are many moving pieces to the complex puzzle. Data rights laws have been enacted in most cases to limit dramatic increases in program lifecycle costs should the government seek to acquire data unhelpful to it in the first place. At the same time, the Air Force doesn't want to limit competition. "Firms may choose not to participate in future acquisitions, or defense primes may need to acquire small businesses in order to satisfy the government's demands for the data (thereby decreasing competition)," the study said. The Mitchell paper suggests that because the Pentagon, and particularly the Air Force, has had an inconsistent approach to how it sustains certain programs, it needs to be more transparent in its contracts going forward. "Acquiring the appropriate data rights during initial contract award is the most cost effective solution for the US government, and sets the right relationship between the contractor and the government," the study said. "No acquisition is the same, and data rights should not be treated the same across those acquisitions. [But] the Air Force must adapt their acquisition practices and workforce to address their increased need for data requirements and rights," it added. One suggestion? The experts say standing up a small cadre of Air Force data rights focused acquisition officers to act as liaisons between defense companies and the service may help programs and contracting in the long-term. "Nothing happens between the government and industry without a contract," Penny said. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214. The Marine son of a Marine Corps officer who met Chesty Puller offers his thoughts on the popular Marine Corps slogan: Good night Chesty, wherever you are. When my Parris Island Marine Corps Drill Instructor found out I shared the same birthday as Marine Corps legend Chesty Puller, he made me say Good night, Chesty, wherever you are every night to my platoon when the lights went off. The senior staff of the 7th Marines on Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Jan 10 1944. Chesty Puller is the second from the left. The slogan Good night Chesty, wherever you are is an often-used tribute of supreme respect to the late and legendary Lieutenant Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, the only Marine to receive 5 Navy Crosses (why he never earned the Medal of Honor is another contentious topic). Sharing the birthday with the most decorated Marine in the history of the Marine Corps is no small burden, especially since I am a second-generation Marine and was born on the Marine Corps airbase adjacent to Parris Island in South Carolina. Related content: Sound Off: Should Chesty Puller Finally Get the Medal of Honor? 5 Reasons Why Chesty Puller is a Marine Corps Legend My father was a young 2nd Lieutenant pilot with F-4 squadron VMFA-312 when he had the privilege of meeting Puller at a Marine Corps event. He said he was a larger-than-life figure and commanded the room when he swaggered in, even in his later years. Marine Corps F-4 Aviator, Captain Larry Brown with VMFA-312 during the Vietnam War. Through incredible fortitude and tenacity, Puller became a living legend. He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his men, humped his own pack and provisions, and when wounded, refused treatment until his enlisted men were treated. To his men, he seemed like one of them, yet he was also regarded as a battle-hardened Greek god. He shouted battle orders and stalked battlefields as though impervious to enemy fire, and inspired his men to perform acts of valor and accomplishments that astonished his superiors and other military brass. He famously put the needs of his men first and is often credited for the Marine Corps tradition of officers eating last when in the field. He displayed an abiding love for grunts, especially the junior enlisted men who did the majority of the sacrificing and dying. Though no one can agree where or how Good night Chesty, wherever you are originated, it is still used to this day among Marines. The apparel company Oscar Mike, founded by paralyzed Marine Corps veteran Noah Currier, even has a T-shirt dedicated to Puller with the 'Goodnight Chesty' graphic emblazoned on the back. And so on this occasion of his birthday, this Marine veteran salutes you Chesty, and once again shouts, "Goodnight, Chesty, wherever you are." -- Sean Mclain Brown can be reached at sean.brown@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @seanmclainbrown. Kim hails 'unity' with China in new visit The first ladies of North Korea and China joined their husbands Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping at the gathering in Beijing. AFP : Kim Jong Un concluded a two-day whirlwind visit to China Wednesday, where he declared North Korea's unstinting "friendship" with Beijing in a show of loyalty to his main ally following a landmark summit with US President Donald Trump. It was Kim's third official visit to China, designed to reassure Beijing that Pyongyang will not neglect its interests as Trump and the young autocrat move into uncharted diplomatic terrain. The performance is part of a delicate balancing act for Kim, who analysts say is seeking to play US and Chinese interests off each other while maintaining good relations with Beijing, his economic patron and diplomatic protector. China and the US both hope to see the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons. But Beijing is concerned Washington and Pyongyang might move closer at its expense, a possibility that China sees as threatening to its economic and security interests in the region. While China was not present at the June 12 summit in Singapore, it lent Kim a plane to travel to the city-state, a clear sign that it remains an influential force in the diplomatic shuffle. The Cold War-era allies, which fought side-by-side against US-led UN forces and South Korea in the 1950-1953 Korean War, have sought to repair ties strained by Pyongyang's nuclear tests and Beijing's support of subsequent UN sanctions. Kim chose Beijing for his first official foreign trip in March and met Xi again in May in the northeastern port city of Dalian. Key Select Mineral List Type Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Dana Chemical Elements Detailed Mineral List: Baryte Formula: BaSO 4 Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Birnessite Formula: (Na,Ca) 0.5 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 2 O 4 1.5H 2 O Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Bixbyite Formula: Mn3+ 2 O 3 Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Braunite Formula: Mn2+Mn3+ 6 (SiO 4 )O 8 Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Meyers, J. (2003, June) Woodie Woodie Unveiled. In MINERALS EXPLORATION SEMINAR (p. 31). Chalcophanite Formula: ZnMn4+ 3 O 7 3H 2 O Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Coronadite Formula: Pb(Mn4+ 6 Mn3+ 2 )O 16 Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Cryptomelane Formula: K(Mn4+ 7 Mn3+)O 16 Reference: Dammer, D., McDougall, I., Chivas, A.R. (1999) Timing of Weathering-Induced Alteration of Manganese Deposits in Western Australia: Evidence from K/Ar and 40Ar/39Ar Dating. Economic Geology (1999) 94:1, 87-108. Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Dolomite Formula: CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 Reference: Jones, S. (2011) Proterozoic deformation in the East Pilbara Craton and tectonic setting of fault-hosted manganese at the Woodie Woodie mine. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 58:6, 639-673. Meyers, J. (2003, June) Woodie Woodie Unveiled. In MINERALS EXPLORATION SEMINAR (p. 31). Goethite Formula: -Fe3+O(OH) Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Hematite Formula: Fe 2 O 3 Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Hollandite Formula: Ba(Mn4+ 6 Mn3+ 2 )O 16 Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Lithiophorite Formula: (Al,Li)MnO 2 (OH) 2 Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. 'Manganese Oxides' Reference: its a manganese mine-personal visit to location has confirmed Manganite Formula: Mn3+O(OH) Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Nsutite Formula: (Mn4+,Mn2+)(O,OH) 2 Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. 'Psilomelane' Formula: Mn, O Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Pyrolusite Formula: Mn4+O 2 Reference: Muskett, G.H. Tasker, E. Hobson, R.A. (1963) Australia, C.S.I.R.O. School Mines, Western Australia, Kalgoorlie, Ore-Dressing Invest., Rept. No. 724, 5 pp. Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Meyers, J. (2003, June) Woodie Woodie Unveiled. In MINERALS EXPLORATION SEMINAR (p. 31). Quartz Formula: SiO 2 Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Romanechite Formula: (Ba,H 2 O) 2 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 5 O 10 Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. Todorokite Formula: (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O Reference: Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides Birnessite 4.FL.45 (Na,Ca) 0.5 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 2 O 4 1.5H 2 O Bixbyite 4.CB.10 Mn3+ 2 O 3 Chalcophanite 4.FL.20 ZnMn4+ 3 O 7 3H 2 O Coronadite 4.DK.05a Pb(Mn4+ 6 Mn3+ 2 )O 16 Cryptomelane 4.DK.05a K(Mn4+ 7 Mn3+)O 16 Goethite 4.00. -Fe3+O(OH) Hematite 4.CB.05 Fe 2 O 3 Hollandite 4.DK.05a Ba(Mn4+ 6 Mn3+ 2 )O 16 Lithiophorite 4.FE.25 (Al,Li)MnO 2 (OH) 2 Manganite 4.FD.15 Mn3+O(OH) Nsutite 4.DB.15c (Mn4+,Mn2+)(O,OH) 2 Pyrolusite 4.DB.05 Mn4+O 2 Quartz 4.DA.05 SiO 2 Romanechite 4.DK.10 (Ba,H 2 O) 2 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 5 O 10 Todorokite 4.DK.10 (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates Dolomite 5.AB.10 CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates Baryte 7.AD.35 BaSO 4 Group 9 - Silicates Braunite 9.AG.05 Mn2+Mn3+ 6 (SiO 4 )O 8 Unclassified Minerals, Rocks, etc. 'Manganese Oxides' - 'Psilomelane' - Mn, O List of minerals arranged by Dana 8th Edition classification Group 4 - SIMPLE OXIDES A 2 X 3 Bixbyite 4.3.7.2 Mn3+ 2 O 3 Hematite 4.3.1.2 Fe 2 O 3 AX 2 Nsutite 4.4.8.1 (Mn4+,Mn2+)(O,OH) 2 Pyrolusite 4.4.1.4 Mn4+O 2 Group 6 - HYDROXIDES AND OXIDES CONTAINING HYDROXYL XO(OH) Goethite 6.1.1.2 -Fe3+O(OH) Manganite 6.1.3.1 Mn3+O(OH) Miscellaneous Lithiophorite 6.4.1.1 (Al,Li)MnO 2 (OH) 2 Group 7 - MULTIPLE OXIDES (AB) 2 X 3 Birnessite 7.5.3.1 (Na,Ca) 0.5 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 2 O 4 1.5H 2 O Braunite 7.5.1.3 Mn2+Mn3+ 6 (SiO 4 )O 8 AB 3 X 7 Chalcophanite 7.8.2.1 ZnMn4+ 3 O 7 3H 2 O Todorokite 7.8.1.1 (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O AB 8 X 16 Coronadite 7.9.1.4 Pb(Mn4+ 6 Mn3+ 2 )O 16 Cryptomelane 7.9.1.2 K(Mn4+ 7 Mn3+)O 16 Hollandite 7.9.1.1 Ba(Mn4+ 6 Mn3+ 2 )O 16 Romanechite 7.9.2.1 (Ba,H 2 O) 2 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 5 O 10 Group 14 - ANHYDROUS NORMAL CARBONATES AB(XO 3 ) 2 Dolomite 14.2.1.1 CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 Group 28 - ANHYDROUS ACID AND NORMAL SULFATES AXO 4 Baryte 28.3.1.1 BaSO 4 Group 75 - TECTOSILICATES Si Tetrahedral Frameworks Si Tetrahedral Frameworks - SiO 2 with [4] coordinated Si Quartz 75.1.3.1 SiO 2 Unclassified Minerals, Mixtures, etc. 'Manganese Oxides' - 'Psilomelane' - Mn, O List of minerals for each chemical element H Hydrogen H Todorokite (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O H Goethite -Fe3+O(OH) H Romanechite (Ba,H 2 O) 2 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 5 O 10 H Lithiophorite (Al,Li)MnO 2 (OH) 2 H Birnessite (Na,Ca) 0.5 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 2 O 4 1.5H 2 O H Nsutite (Mn4+,Mn2+)(O,OH) 2 H Chalcophanite ZnMn 3 4+O 7 3H 2 O H Manganite Mn3+O(OH) Li Lithium Li Lithiophorite (Al,Li)MnO 2 (OH) 2 C Carbon C Dolomite CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 O Oxygen O Pyrolusite Mn4+O 2 O Cryptomelane K(Mn 7 4+Mn3+)O 16 O Braunite Mn2+Mn 6 3+(SiO 4 )O 8 O Todorokite (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O O Coronadite Pb(Mn 6 4+Mn 2 3+)O 16 O Hematite Fe 2 O 3 O Goethite -Fe3+O(OH) O Bixbyite Mn 2 3+O 3 O Romanechite (Ba,H 2 O) 2 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 5 O 10 O Lithiophorite (Al,Li)MnO 2 (OH) 2 O Birnessite (Na,Ca) 0.5 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 2 O 4 1.5H 2 O O Nsutite (Mn4+,Mn2+)(O,OH) 2 O Psilomelane Mn, O O Hollandite Ba(Mn 6 4+Mn 2 3+)O 16 O Chalcophanite ZnMn 3 4+O 7 3H 2 O O Manganite Mn3+O(OH) O Quartz SiO 2 O Baryte BaSO 4 O Dolomite CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 Na Sodium Na Todorokite (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O Na Birnessite (Na,Ca) 0.5 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 2 O 4 1.5H 2 O Mg Magnesium Mg Todorokite (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O Mg Dolomite CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 Al Aluminium Al Todorokite (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O Al Lithiophorite (Al,Li)MnO 2 (OH) 2 Si Silicon Si Braunite Mn2+Mn 6 3+(SiO 4 )O 8 Si Quartz SiO 2 S Sulfur S Baryte BaSO 4 K Potassium K Cryptomelane K(Mn 7 4+Mn3+)O 16 K Todorokite (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O Ca Calcium Ca Todorokite (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O Ca Birnessite (Na,Ca) 0.5 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 2 O 4 1.5H 2 O Ca Dolomite CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 Mn Manganese Mn Pyrolusite Mn4+O 2 Mn Cryptomelane K(Mn 7 4+Mn3+)O 16 Mn Braunite Mn2+Mn 6 3+(SiO 4 )O 8 Mn Todorokite (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O Mn Coronadite Pb(Mn 6 4+Mn 2 3+)O 16 Mn Bixbyite Mn 2 3+O 3 Mn Romanechite (Ba,H 2 O) 2 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 5 O 10 Mn Lithiophorite (Al,Li)MnO 2 (OH) 2 Mn Birnessite (Na,Ca) 0.5 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 2 O 4 1.5H 2 O Mn Nsutite (Mn4+,Mn2+)(O,OH) 2 Mn Psilomelane Mn, O Mn Hollandite Ba(Mn 6 4+Mn 2 3+)O 16 Mn Chalcophanite ZnMn 3 4+O 7 3H 2 O Mn Manganite Mn3+O(OH) Fe Iron Fe Hematite Fe 2 O 3 Fe Goethite -Fe3+O(OH) Zn Zinc Zn Chalcophanite ZnMn 3 4+O 7 3H 2 O Sr Strontium Sr Todorokite (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O Ba Barium Ba Todorokite (Na,Ca,K,Ba,Sr) 1-x (Mn,Mg,Al) 6 O 12 3-4H 2 O Ba Romanechite (Ba,H 2 O) 2 (Mn4+,Mn3+) 5 O 10 Ba Hollandite Ba(Mn 6 4+Mn 2 3+)O 16 Ba Baryte BaSO 4 Pb Lead Pb Coronadite Pb(Mn 6 4+Mn 2 3+)O 16 References Sort by Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A) Dammer, D. McDougall, I. Chivas, A.R. (1999) Timing of Weathering-Induced Alteration of Manganese Deposits in Western Australia: Evidence from K/Ar and 40Ar/39Ar Dating. Economic Geology (1999) 94:1, 87-108. Jones, S. (2011) Proterozoic deformation in the East Pilbara Craton and tectonic setting of fault-hosted manganese at the Woodie Woodie mine. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 58:6, 639-673. Jones, S., McNaughton, N.J., Grguric, B. (2013) Structural controls and timing of fault-hosted manganese at Woodie Woodie, East Pilbara, Western Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, 50, 52-82. External Links Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary. Manganese was discovered here in 1950, and small scale mining took place until 1990, when large scale open pit mining of high-grade Mn ores took over.The mine is located approximately 150 kilometres south-east of Marble Bar, in the southern Gregory Ranges, the last mountain range before the Great Sandy Desert. Consolidated Minerals Ltd operates the mine as a series of open cuts running north-south along the valley floor.The company has built a bitumen road from Marble Bar to the mine through this scenic area, and is open to the public, although of course the mine is not.Manganese deposits occur as cavity fill within the Carawine Dolomite, and as sheets/lenses in the Pinjian chert breccia overlying this dolomite. The Carawine Dolomite is a member of the 2600-2450 Ma Hamersley Group, and lies in an area of carbonates, shales and minor cherts that separate the Marra Mamba and Brockman Iron Formations, that hosts mines in the Pilbara to the west. It is believed the manganese has developed by supergene processes during the paleoproterozoic period, at least partially by hydrothermal processes. The largest manganese deposit found at the mine was a pipe like body to 30 metres, and others have been fissures or form cappings on the dolomite, or chert breccia above the dolomite.The company describes itself as a boutique supplier of high grade manganese. Fifty trucks per day haul ore from the mine, 400 kilometres to Port Hedland. Estimated reserves as at June 2011 were 29.9 MT at 39.9% manganese. The company employs about 700 workers on a fly in/out basis.For those who want to drive four days to the mine from Perth, lumps of manganese can be picked up at the mine entrance, having literally fallen off the back of a truck. The company should be congratulated for preserving an oasis at the mine entrance. Key Select Mineral List Type Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Dana Chemical Elements Detailed Mineral List: Gold Formula: Au Reference: Norseman Gold PLC (2009), Prospectus, Independent Technical Report, AMC Consultants Pty Ltd, 14/05/2009 Quartz Formula: SiO 2 Reference: Norseman Gold PLC (2009), Prospectus, Independent Technical Report, AMC Consultants Pty Ltd, 14/05/2009 Gallery: List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification Group 1 - Elements Gold 1.AA.05 Au Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides Quartz 4.DA.05 SiO 2 List of minerals arranged by Dana 8th Edition classification Group 1 - NATIVE ELEMENTS AND ALLOYS Metals, other than the Platinum Group Gold 1.1.1.1 Au Group 75 - TECTOSILICATES Si Tetrahedral Frameworks Si Tetrahedral Frameworks - SiO 2 with [4] coordinated Si Quartz 75.1.3.1 SiO 2 List of minerals for each chemical element O Oxygen O Quartz SiO 2 Si Silicon Si Quartz SiO 2 Au Gold Au Gold Au References Sort by Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A) Kalgoorlie Western Argus newspaper (1906), Norseman Mining. The Lady Miller Ironstone Belt, 18/12/1906 Western Mail newspaper (Perth) (1909), Norseman, 24/04/1909 Norseman Times newspaper (1908), Lady Miller, 11/12/1908 Western Mail newspaper (1911), Mining News. Lady Miller Mine, 16/09/1911 Western Argus newspaper (Kalgoorlie) (1938), South Norseman Gold Mines, 21/06/1938 The West Australian newspaper (Perth) (1935), Lady Miller Co., 21/08/1935 News newspaper (Adelaide) (1940), Central Norseman Takes Over Lady Miller, 08/01/1940 Norseman Gold PLC (2009), Prospectus, Independent Technical Report, AMC Consultants Pty Ltd, 14/05/2009 Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary. The Lady Miller Gold Mine is approximately 6 kilometres south of Norseman. Prospectors and alluvial gold seekers worked the area in the late 1890's, in particular along two gullies called Oriental and Salvator, either side of the lease.Anthony Cox for the Lady Mary Company acquired the lease in 1905 intent on a more systematic development. The lease contained a north-south striking ironstone banded quartz outcropping reef, its full length, with high grade gold where two spurs of the outcrop met. About 1000 feet of driving was done, and limited mining. In 1908, it is reported the mine is owned by the Hampton Plains Estate, but by 1909, activity had ground to a halt as the company tried to obtain more funds. Other sources states the company was called the Lady Miller Company. Apart from a lack of funds, another problem was the battery was only recovering 60% of the gold. This was overcome in 1911 and mining resumed, but nothing was found in this regard after 1912.From 1934 to 1938, the South Norseman NL, was active on the lease and the O.K. mine nearby. Confusingly during this period there was also a Lady Miller Gold Mines NL (WA), but they were developing another lease in the area called the Veni Vidi Vici.Central Norseman Gold Mines acquired the mine early 1940. They developed an open pit, with some underground mining at the site in the 1990's. Indicated and Inferred remnant resources at the mine is 0.77 Mt at 2.3 g/t, with much of this resource under the northern section of the pit. This includes a high grade north-west plunging shoot, as part of numerous west dipping lodes. Key Select Mineral List Type Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Dana Chemical Elements Commodity List This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality. Sulfur Mineral List Pyrite 1 valid mineral. 1 valid mineral. Detailed Mineral List: Pyrite Formula: FeS 2 Reference: Fisher, N.H. (1945) Pyrite Production at the Iron King Mine, Norseman, Western Australia. Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, Department of Natural Resources, Commonwealth of Australia, Report No. 1945/59. Gallery: List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts Pyrite 2.EB.05a FeS 2 List of minerals arranged by Dana 8th Edition classification Group 2 - SULFIDES A m B n X p , with (m+n):p = 1:2 Pyrite 2.12.1.1 FeS 2 List of minerals for each chemical element S Sulfur S Pyrite FeS 2 Fe Iron Fe Pyrite FeS 2 References Sort by Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A) Broken Hill Prospecting Newsletter, February 2014. The West Australian newspaper (Perth) (1954) Man Dies in Fall Down Shaft, 12/08/1954. Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper (1949) The Pyrite Industry. Public Meeting at Norseman, 21/01/1949. Fisher, N.H. (1945) Pyrite Production at the Iron King Mine, Norseman, Western Australia. Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, Department of Natural Resources, Commonwealth of Australia, Report No. 1945/59. External Links Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary. In order to encourage the mining of pyrite for sulphuric acid used in superphosphate the Commonwealth Government of Australia introduced a subsidy via the Sulphuric Bounty Act 1954, and Pyrite Bounty Act of 1960. Two mines opened in Australia on the back of this: Bruckunga in South Australia, and the Iron King at Norseman.The mine was about 6 kilometres south of Norseman, developed by Central Norseman Gold, which operated gold mines also in the same area. Mining began in 1945, through a special government subsidy. The ore was transported to the Phoenix mill near Norseman, which had been adapted from gold to pyrite treatment. The pyrite ore was around 25% sulphur, and estimated reserves were put at 735 000 tonnes above a 25% sulphur cut-off of massive pyrite.The mine had an appalling safety record, with Robert Sweet-Baseden in 1944, Hone Anderson Roberts in 1952, and lastly Sidney George Baker (30) in 1954, all meeting their deaths at the mine, Baker falling 200 feet down the shaft.In the late 1960's, new cheaper sources of sulphur became available, mainly through the processing of sour natural gas in Canada. On 31 May 1972, the bounty was withdrawn, and the Iron King Mine closed the same day. Key Select Mineral List Type Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Dana Chemical Elements Detailed Mineral List: Gold Formula: Au Reference: http:/www.thetreasury.org.nz/Fleming/Fleming.htm Quartz Formula: SiO 2 Reference: http:/www.thetreasury.org.nz/Fleming/Fleming.htm Gallery: List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification Group 1 - Elements Gold 1.AA.05 Au Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides Quartz 4.DA.05 SiO 2 List of minerals arranged by Dana 8th Edition classification Group 1 - NATIVE ELEMENTS AND ALLOYS Metals, other than the Platinum Group Gold 1.1.1.1 Au Group 75 - TECTOSILICATES Si Tetrahedral Frameworks Si Tetrahedral Frameworks - SiO 2 with [4] coordinated Si Quartz 75.1.3.1 SiO 2 List of minerals for each chemical element O Oxygen O Quartz SiO 2 Si Silicon Si Quartz SiO 2 Au Gold Au Gold Au References Sort by Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A) Grieve, P. (2013) NI43-101 Technical report on exploration at the Wharekirauponga (WKP) Project. Hauraki Goldfield, New Zealand. Glass Earth Ltd, 30 January 2013. External Links Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality Australian Plate Tectonic Plate New Zealand North Island Island This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary. Gold was discovered here in 1895.Malcolm Fleming purchased the land and prospect in 1896. He sold the property to George Muir in 1909.In 1898, the Te Puke Gold Reefs Ltd was formed with Auckland solicitors and businessmen as directors, with mainly Auckland and local shareholders, as well as London capital. A total of 20 000 pounds was raised. The outbreak of war in South Africa caused funds to dry-up from England, and it was not until 1907, serious prospecting began under the leadership of John Hessey, although no payable ore was found. The company was liquidated in 1917.In 1961, the surface area of the reef was bulldozed, and the reef stripped for white quartz aggregate, under Auckland contractor Brian Lyall. A crushing plant was erected at the junction of the No. 3 and No. 4 roads. The quarry is now a large shallow overgrown depression on the side of the hill immediately south of No. 4 road. It is on private property.There is every likelihood some gold was in the quartz, which is now aggregate in quartz paths etc., in the local district. Mineral List Rock Types Recorded Note: this is a very new system on mindat.org and data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information! Select Rock List Type Alphabetical List Tree Diagram Regional Geology After the failure to find payable gold at the neighbouring Flemings Reef, landowner Malcom Fleming sold the property to George Muir in 1918. He employed experienced prospector, Robert Worth, who discovered another auriferous reef to the north (north of the No. 4 Road). It was named Muirs Reef. It was worked from 1920 to 1928, said to have produced 1299 kg Au and 385 kg Ag.The area is said to contain several adits and the foundations of a 10 head stamp battery, however it is on private property, and partly altered by grazing and kiwifruit production. Glass Earth Ltd explored the site 2009-2013, finding a 2 metre long high grade section of reef. It is an epithermal reef of quartz and adularia in the Coromandel andesite.4 valid minerals. This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found. Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary. References External Links JUNE 24: The Angels have requested unconditional release waivers on Graterol, per a team announcement. His release will become official in 48 hours if he clears waivers. JUNE 19: The Angels announced Tuesday that theyve acquired right-hander Deck McGuire from the Rangers in exchange for cash. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, catcher Juan Graterol has been designated for assignment. McGuire will head to Triple-A Salt Lake, per the Angels announcement. Texas claimed the 28-year-old McGuire from the Blue Jays last Friday, but he appeared in just one game with the Rangers Triple-A affiliate before being designated for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster for the return of Elvis Andrus. Now, McGuire will change organizations for the second time in a span of less than a week. A former first-round pick (11th overall by the Blue Jays in 2010), McGuire has yet to establish himself as a viable Major League arm. Prior to the 2018 season, in fact, hes posted largely unsightful numbers at the Triple-A level. However, McGuire enjoyed a strong season with the Reds Double-A club in 2017 and carried that success with him back to the Jays organization in 2018, pitching to a 3.22 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9 and a 39.7 percent ground-ball rate in 44 2/3 innings at Triple-A Buffalo. After making eight promising starts in Buffalo, the Jays summoned him to the Majors, where he was tagged for six runs on nine hits and five walks with seven strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings of relief. But the Rangers and Angels, apparently, both saw enough in his work out of the Buffalo rotation to hold some interest in seeing if the former top prospect can emerge as a late bloomer at the big league level. For the Halos, McGuire will at the very least serve as a spot start/depth option in the upper minors an important addition following injuries to Shohei Ohtani, Matt Shoemaker, J.C. Ramirez and Nick Tropeano. Graterol, meanwhile, has made just one plate appearance for the Halos this season, going 1-for-1 with a single. Hes been up and down with the club on multiple occasions dating back to 2016, however, and has now been designated for assignment by the Angels on three different occasions. The first of those instances saw Graterol bounce around the league, briefly landing with the D-backs, Reds and Blue Jays before making his way back to Anaheim. The defensively-sound backstop is a career .222/.225/.283 hitter in 103 MLB plate appearances but carries a more encouraging .290/.318/.349 slash in 449 PAs at the Triple-A level. John Cena and Ford Motor Co. have settled the lawsuit regarding the WWE star's breach of contract when he sold his ultra-rare Ford GT before owning the supercar for at least 24 months. Jalopnik reports Cena's legal team settled with Ford for an undisclosed amount, and that the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker would donate the settlement money to charity. Automotive News confirmed this news thanks to a reported email from the automaker. Late last year, Ford sued Cena, who was hand-picked for the opportunity to buy the car, after the latter failed to maintain ownership for two years when he sold the GT for about $500,000. The case went back and forth for a little bit when the 16-time WWE world champion claimed that Ford failed to restrict him from selling the 2017 Ford GT in the final contract. "I love the Ford GT and apologize to Ford, and encourage others who own the car to respect the contract," Cena said in an emailed statement to Jalopnik. "I am pleased we could resolve the matter outside of court, and that a worthy charity will benefit from one of the most iconic cars in the world." -- 2017 Ford GT -- Cena was selected from thousands of applicants for the chance to buy the highly sought-after Ford GT as the vehicles are made on a limited basis. In its initial lawsuit, Ford claimed that Cena not only made a large profit on the sale, but took "two years of ambassadorship and brand value" from the company in the process. The Dearborn-based automaker also said that because of Cena's actions, "it lost the ability to control the reputation of its brand, the integrity of the program and selection process." Cena was being sued for breach of contract, fraud, silent fraud, innocent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment. The outlet also reported -- back in May -- that Ford is suing the dealership that Cena sold the car to in Chico, California-based New Autos Inc. As it stands, the outlet reports it is unclear who ended up with Cena's Ford GT. Ford is manufacturing the cars at a low-volume facility in Markham, Ontario. The 2017 Ford GTs were first unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in 2015. The automaker said it would only produce 250 of the Ford GTs each year, so only a fraction of the reported 6,000-plus applicants received one of the $400,000-plus cars. It is rear-wheel drive, mid-engine GT is being made with carbon fiber, aluminum and other lightweight materials. The Ford GT comes equipped with a new, twin-turbo, 3.5L EcoBoost V6 that will produce more than 600 horsepower. As many as eight exterior colors are available with seven different stripe colors. WYOMING - A new license agreement with Consumers Energy will allow the city to move forward with planned improvements to the Inter Urban non-motorized bike trail that runs from 32nd Street to 50th Street. The agreement, approved by City Council on June 18, represents a 12-year commitment between Wyoming and Consumers wherein the city can make improvements to the trail as it sees fit and the energy company is assured that its utility service along the trail will not be disrupted. Bill Dooley, director of Public Works, said the license agreement was necessary because the city is looking to widen a section of the trail that follows a Consumers Energy property for a significant portion. It was a long, dragged-out process, Dooley said, but the city got money from the Federal Highway Administration through the Grand Valley Metro Council. "One of the conditions of getting that money was that Consumers Energy had to agree to give us a license for not less than 12 years," Dooley said. "We have to pay Consumers $1,000 each year for this license and it gives all kinds of conditions that they can enter in and take care of matters, and we won't disrupt their utility service, but then they'll allow us to widen the existing trail 10 feet wide from 50th Street up to 32nd Street." The annual license fee will be financed out of the Major and Local Street funds, according to city documents. Rehabilitation of the Inter Urban trail is expected to cost around $540,000. With the license in place, Dooley said the city will now be able to schedule the project for construction. "This will definitely help that part of Wyoming for bike traffic," he said. WYOMING - The city carried out its gypsy moth suppression program this year as in years past, but officials say that uncharacteristic weather patterns this spring may be the reason that some residents are still experiencing a problem with the insects. Though Hamilton Helicopters applied gypsy moth treatment spray to a predetermined treatment area on June 5, city officials say they are continuing to receive complaints from residents, especially those in the Chateau Hills neighborhood. "We have continued to receive phone calls from residents in the areas that were treated indicating that maybe the effectiveness isn't as great as we have seen in years past," City Clerk Kelli VandenBerg said. "We want to make sure that the frustrations of our residents are investigated ... so we have been in communication with our consultant." With ideal conditions and a perfect spray, the consultant informed the city it could expect to see an 80-percent suppression of the moths in the treatment area, VandenBerg said, but results were not nearly as strong this time around. "This year, if you reflect on our springtime at all, you'll recall we had an ice storm in mid-April and we had 90-degree temperatures in May," VandenBerg said. "That created some really interesting dynamics in terms of the gypsy moth larval development, tree canopy development and also some difficulties in actually identifying the spray date that was ultimately chosen. "We're not seeing the suppression efforts that we've seen in years past, but I just want to stress to residents: we are receiving your phone calls, we are documenting that information and passing it along to our consultant." VandenBerg informed City Council at its meeting on June 18 that she was waiting for a report from the consultant concerning potential treatment opportunities that affected residents may be able to look into. She said the consultant had visited the community about a week after the spray had been applied to check on some particular areas of concern. "We're hearing from a lot of residents in the Chateau area and so he did pay particular attention to that area," VandenBerg said. "I expect some details from him on treatment opportunities that residents can consider themselves at this point. "Unfortunately, due to the life cycle of the gypsy moth, we're not able to do a treatment program like the suppression spray that we did on June 5; it's just not an option at this point. But there are some other products, some things homeowners can consider based on the needs of their property." Residents may inquire further about gypsy moth suppression efforts or report the existence of the insects in their home or on their property by visiting https://bit.ly/2xQjEca. FLINT, MI -- Children play drums and wave flags of the countries of their ancestors while more than 120 residents marched through the city to celebrate Juneteenth. DeWuan Robinson, event organizer, said Juneteenth is a tradition, not just in Flint, but nationwide. The day stands as an American holiday that commemorates June 19, 1865, when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Texas and the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. "It's very important that we celebrate this for our ancestors and that we continue to teach and educate our young people," Robinson said. "We owe this to our ancestors and we owe this to ourselves." Take a look through the photos and videos below to see the parade and celebration. Jake May Rihonna Davis, 5, wanted to dress like royalty, but also in her favorite color for the Juneteenth parade and celebration at University Park on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. In a bright pink dress and tiara with matching earrings and necklace, she had the opportunity to shine, she said. "I love being black," Rihonna said. "I like to dress up because it makes me so happy. I feel so pretty." Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May ,Zebiyan Fields, 11, at center, drums alongside more than 20 kids at the front of the Juneteenth parade, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Mt. Morris resident Gina Brown shows off her Afrocentric earrings, which bear the ankh symbol during a celebration at University Park on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, in Flint. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May A young Flint girl waves the flag of Egypt as she marches along Pasadena Avenue in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Flint resident Michele Morris stands boldly as she celebrates Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at University Park in Flint. "It's an expression of freedom for all black people," she said. "It's about culture, where we came from and coming together in unity, love and peace. This is very vital for our next generation. We need to keep hope alive and celebrate, to be present in the fullness of who we are. Know your truth. Know who you are and always shine at your fullest." Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May Tabitha Marsh and some of her volunteers walk off of the parade route to meet and greet residents while celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Two kids waiting in traffic are given candy as different organizations take part in the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Flint resident Marcus, Haralson, 20, watches the Juneteenth parade along Martin Luther King Avenue on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Flint resident Tina Pryor takes in a deep breath as she dances during the Juneteenth celebration on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, at University Park in Flint. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May A Flint resident records the parade on her iPad from her driveway as more than 120 march along Martin Luther King Avenue celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May After motorcades through the 1970s, Flint resident E Hill De Loney started the Juneteenth celebrations in the city in 1990. She continues to have an impact on the annual celebration today. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit DeWuan Robinson, event organizer and Flint resident, talks about the history of Juneteenth and what it stands for nationwide. Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Flint resident E Hill De Loney, left, waves at a family who watch the parade while stuck in traffic, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Kaiti Sullivan Christopher Bell, 19, scoops up his sister, Tahlie Haugh, 7, on Monday, June 19, 2018, at the Juneteenth celebration at University Park in Flint. Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Kaiti Sullivan Mark Spight, 7, peeks through the netting on the bounce house during the Juneteenth celebration on Monday, June 19, 2018, at University Park in Flint. Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com Don't Edit Kaiti Sullivan Breanna Seaton, 14, performs the Kuugana drumming dance on Monday, June 19, 2018, at the Juneteenth celebration at University Park in Flint. The performance was taught and organized by the African American Drum and Dance Parent Association. Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com Don't Edit Kaiti Sullivan Autrece Young kisses her son, Ahmad Armour, 1, during the Juneteenth celebration on Monday, June 19, 2018, at University Park in Flint. "I haven't been to a Juneteenth in years," Young said, "But I want him to know more about our black culture". Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Lonnie Jackson, 58, of Flint, proudly wears African stones as he walks in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. "To me, it represents unity and brotherhood," Jackson said. "This stone has some value to the word's true definition, and so does Juneteenth." Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Rihonna Davis, 5 at right, rests her head on the car door as Flint resident Richard Buckley drives a convertible in the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, along Martin Luther King Avenune on Flint's north side. In the back of the vehicle, Juniper Beuthin, 7, Chania Williams, 21, and Journey Collins, 6, all swap stories between waving at residents along the route. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May Two Flint residents laugh as they enjoy the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Dai'Chane Norris, 18, dances in the back seat as she enjoys the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Families gather along most blocks between Max Brandon Park and University Park to enjoy the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit E Hill De Loney, who started Flint's celebration of Juneteenth, speaks about how and why she and others are advocates to pass knowledge on for vitality of Juneteenth celebration and remembrance of heritage. Don't Edit Jake May Flint resident Michael Colston, center, smiles as he holds onto his 19-month-old daughter Michaela Colston, left, and 10-month-old nephew Steven Warren Jr. during the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, along Martin Luther King Avenue in Flint. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May A man waves from the MTA bus at the ongoing parade celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May A woman stands along Pasadena Avenue, patiently watching as she enjoys the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Josiah Hicks, 9, of Flint, climbs a play structure at Max Brandon Park, passing time before the start of a parade to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Terria Seaton, an 18-month-old of Flint, zips down a slide at Max Brandon Park, passing time before the start of a parade to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Matt Taylor, back, drives along with the parade, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May Church-goers from Bethel United Methodist Church smile and wave during the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Flint Mayor Karen Weaver talks about how Juneteenth impacts the city, its families and describes the atmosphere it provides on Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at University Park in Flint. Don't Edit Jake May Flint resident Connie Williams shouts out with joy as she sees her church's vehicles in the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Many people were attracted to the sidewalks to watch a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May A young Flint girl waves the flag of Egypt as she marches along Pasadena Avenue in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May DeWuan Robinson, event organizer, smiles after a Flint boy ran to his car to say "I love you" aloud to the community on his megaphone on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May A family parks their car to watch the parade on Pasadena Avenue, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Zebiyan Fields, 11, right, swings with friends at Max Brandon Park before the parade, celebrating Juneteenth with his neighbors on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May A hand-crafted sign is posted on the back of a van in on display as more than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Flint boys walk along the sidewalk with the Juneteenth parade while others smile and wave at passersby along Martin Luther King Avenue on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May A Flint boy asks to use the megaphone, as he shyly says, "I love you" to the crowd during a Juneteenth celebration on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May Flint police escort by clearing traffic during the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Circuit Court Judge candidate Tabitha Marsh waves at residents along Martin Luther King Avenue during a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May A family pulled over to park and watch the Juneteenth parade along Martin Luther King Avenue on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Flint Mayor Karen Weaver smiles as she greets Lonnie Jackson at University Park, where a Juneteenth celebration takes place after a parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, in Flint. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May A Flint man pushes a stroller along as the family watches the Juneteenth parade along Martin Luther King Avenue on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May A pair of Flint boys jog alongside the Juneteenth parade on Martin Luther King Avenue on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Journey Collins, 6, left, and Juniper Beuthin, 7, right, excitedly ride alongside Chania Williams, 21, while the trio waves to passersby during the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018 along Martin Luther King Avenune on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May More than 150 people gather at University Park to enjoy performances during a Juneteenth celebration on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May More than 150 people gather at University Park to enjoy performances during a Juneteenth celebration on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Aareion Morris, 2, gives a peace sign as he smiles, enjoying the Juneteenth celebration on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, at University Park in Flint. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May More than 150 people gather at University Park to enjoy performances during a Juneteenth celebration on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May More than 150 people gather at University Park to enjoy performances during a Juneteenth celebration on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Families line the sidewalks along University Avenue to celebrate Juneteenth as the parade route pours into University Park on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, in Flint. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May DeWuan Robinson, event organizer, keeps spirits high through motivational messages during the Juneteenth parade on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Jake May Kids line up at a table to enjoy arts and crafts during a Juneteenth celebration at University Park on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com Don't Edit Don't Edit Jake May More than 120 people marched and drove in a parade from Max Brandon Park to University Park, celebrating Juneteenth on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, on Flint's north side. Jake May | MLive.com 30 Afghan soldiers killed in Taliban attack Reuters, Kabul : Taliban militants killed 30 Afghan soldiers and captured a military base in the western province of Badghis on Wednesday, the provincial governor said, their first major attack since a ceasefire for the Eid al-Fitr holiday. The three-day Taliban ceasefire ended on Sunday. Provincial governor Abdul Ghafoor Malikzai said the Taliban attacked two security posts in the early hours. Abdul Aziz Bek, head of the Badghis provincial council, said one military base was targeted, in the district of Balamerghab. "Large numbers of Taliban came from several directions," Bek said. "After hours of heavy fighting 30 Afghan security forces were killed and the Taliban captured the base." Fifteen Taliban were killed in other areas of the province overnight, he said, adding that the militants prepared their attacks and did reconnaissance of the area during their ceasefire. The Taliban said heavy fighting was continuing and that so far "tens" of soldiers had been killed. Naqibullah Amini, spokesman for the Badghis police, confirmed the death of 30 soldiers and said the Taliban killed four soldiers in separate attacks on security checkpoints in the same district. The government also called a ceasefire for the holiday and Taliban fighters headed into cities across the country over the weekend as both sides celebrated the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. ANN ARBOR, MI - Investigators believe the person or persons who killed a retired University of Michigan professor in his home last week were injured in the incident. Police investigating the death of retired chemistry professor Robert Sharp, 77, believe the killer may have suffered injuries to the face and hands, Ann Arbor Police Det. Sgt. Earle Fox said. Sharp's body was found Monday morning, June 11 in the basement of his townhouse in the 3200 block of Alpine Drive. Police said they found evidence of foul play at the scene, but have not elaborated as to the apparent cause of Sharp's death. Police were called to the home that evening to conduct a welfare check on Sharp after he failed to show up to a meeting at the condominium complex where he lived, neighbors said. Investigators believe Sharp died sometime between the night of June 10 and the morning hours of June 11. Police have declined to release any details on how Sharp died. The Ann Arbor Police Department is now offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Sharp's death. Anyone with information about Sharp's death can call the Ann Arbor Police Department tip line at 734-794-6939, Detective William Stanford at 734-323-2628 or send an e-mail to tips@a2gov.org Sharp began teaching chemistry at the University of Michigan in 1969 and served on the faculty for 39 years before his retirement in 2008. His wife Maria Sharp recently died of cancer on April 20. LANSING, MI - The state House of Representatives recently took a step toward making solar energy systems tax exempt and clearing up confusion about how Michigan communities should tax alternative energy. On June 12, the House passed by wide margins two bills that would revise the General Property Tax Act to generally make alternative energy systems tax exempt, whether they're classified as commercial, industrial or residential. Both bills - 5143 and 5680 - were introduced by Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Potterville, and now head to the Senate for consideration. The House Fiscal Agency cited a recent Tax Tribunal case involving the city of Ann Arbor and local homeowners as one reason to support legislative action to clarify how solar energy systems should be taxed. In that case, Judge Steven Lasher issued a final opinion in March that said solar energy systems do not fit the definition of the types of personal property exempt from taxation. Some Michigan cities do not tax residential solar energy systems, but the city of Ann Arbor's assessor said the systems should be taxed because state law does not specifically allow for an exemption. Mark Clevey, who filed the Tax Tribunal case against the city of Ann Arbor in May 2017, initially said he would appeal the tribunal's decision on residential systems. He later changed his mind, saying he feared the Michigan Court of Appeals might reverse a previous court decision allowing for tax exemptions on commercial solar installations. Michigan Environmental Council, a nonprofit coalition of more than 60 organizations, commended the House vote. The current property taxation system creates "confusion and uncertainty" and burdens residents with tax increases if they install an alternative energy system, said Charlotte Jameson, Michigan Environmental Council director of energy policy and legislative affairs. "By supporting bills that make necessary reforms to Michigan's solar property taxation system, the Michigan House took a critical step to ensure that residents and businesses aren't penalized for investing in clean, renewable energy," Jameson said in a statement. Michigan Environmental Council joined Alliance for Solar Choice, Michigan Farm Bureau, Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council and Michigan Agribusiness Association in testifying in support of the House bills. The Michigan Department of Treasury testified in support of House Bill 5680, which relates to residential alternative energy systems; and against House Bill 5143, which relates to the commercial and industrial use of alternative energy systems. FLINT, MI -- A Livionia man who used a fake modeling agency as a front to solicit child pornography is going to spend the next decade in prison. U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Leitman on Monday, June 18, sentenced 29-year-old Ryan M. Ulman to 125 months, or 10.4 years, in prison. Once he's served his sentence, Ulman will be on supervised release for an additional five years. Before learning his sentence, Ulman claimed his interest in the prohibited material is due to being himself the victim of childhood sexual assault. Ulman in February appeared before Leitman and pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child porn, punishable by five to 20 years in prison. In pleading, Ulman admitted that on Aug. 16, 2017, he asked a 17-year-old girl to create lewd photographs of herself and send them to him via the Internet. The girl did as Ulman requested. Ulman knew the girl was a minor at the time, according to the plea agreement. Ulman was able to convince the girl to send the photos by claiming to her that he operated a modeling agency. He also admitted that between 2014 and 2017, he obtained photographs from several women and minor girls by falsely promising them they would make money from his agency, when he in fact had no clients and kept the photographs for his personal use. To obtain photographs, he would tell his prospective "clients" that they could make up to $100,000 per year. Ulman was the owner of Instinct Entertainment LLC. In a sentencing memorandum, defense attorney Mitchell H. Nelson wrote his client's illegal behavior stems from having been repeatedly sexually assaulted by two men when he was a juvenile. "Unfortunately, Mr. Ryan Ulman became deeply ashamed of this sexual victimization, repressed his feelings and never discussed it with anyone nor sought professional help," Nelson wrote. "Instead, he attempted to self-medicate himself with the illegal use of marijuana and alcohol to hide his repulsion and shame from his family and himself. This repulsion and shame unleashed an addiction to downloading child pornography..." Ulman himself provided for the judge a year-by-year outline of how he plans to better and rehabilitate himself in prison, employing such means as enrolling in substance abuse programs, psychological counseling, sex offender treatment programs, and occupational training programs. In a letter he wrote to the judge, Ulman said he believes the abuse he experienced contributed to his mental health issues of bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety and panic disorder. "I also feel that the abuse I suffered had a subconscious role in the crimes I committed," Ulman wrote. "It is no way an excuse for what happened, and I again take full responsibility for what I have done and for those I hurt. ... What I did was wrong, and I do not want to take anything away from that." Ulman also wrote that he can "let my confidence get the best of me, and I have been told I can be rather cocky at times. I don't mean to be, but it does happen." He concluded by saying he's glad for the situation, as it "is forcing me, in a constructive way to deal with my trauma, to become sober, and to deal with what that trauma has done to me in my subconscious." Nelson also submitted numerous letters of support penned by Ulman's friends and family. Case background Ulman's crimes came to light from an FBI investigation into the Flint-based Spanish Cobras gang, specifically, allegations that members were involved in the production of methamphetamine and the sex trafficking of children. Agents ended up interviewing numerous minor victims who were addicted to heroin and meth in Owosso, FBI Special Agent Henrik Impola wrote in a criminal complaint. The interviews yielded incidental information on Ulman, whose modeling agency was linked to some of the same sex trafficking victims. "Ulman did not appear to be associated with the child prostitution operation, so after the FBI received information that Ulman was using his modeling agency to entice girls under the age of 18 to send him images of child pornography, a separate investigation was initiated," Impola wrote. Ulman was present on Sept. 18 when FBI agents executed a search warrant on his home. Upon being read his Miranda rights, Ulman said he "has a problem with child pornography, which he has been interested in for some time," Impola wrote. Ulman added he has looked at "hundreds" of such illicit images and that he prefers girls 13 and up. FLINT, MI -- Many yoga classes are focused on zen or on achieving a feeling of calmness. But Amie 'A-Bomb' Burke rejects that 'serious yogi' vibe, and instead her Sailor's Mouth Yoga class focuses on swearing, laughter and light beer. The unique class celebrates its first birthday this month and has been raising eyebrows and making people giggle all across Michigan. "And it's been popping off, getting crazy," Burke said. Burke's hour-long classes consist of typical yoga poses, renamed in wild ways. The tabletop pose is 'down on all fours' for starters. The class also practices "bring your own bottle," inspired by a snooze-worthy bend and brew class Burke attended a while back. "I realized while I was in classes that it was either super boring, or it was a yoga competition. Everybody was super serious about the whole darn thing. I just thought 'well, that's lame.' It's supposed to be fun, and something that everyone can kinda do," Burke said. This led her to try something that she hoped would be a little more creative. "I was in a bend and brew class above a brewery, and you're thinking, 'that's going to be super fun.' Well, the yoga teacher was just no fun at all. She was super serious about everything, she wouldn't let us drink beer during it, it was very strange," Burke said. As she lay in corpse pose, Burke thought about how much fun the class would be if she could drink and swear. "And then I was like, well wait a minute, I know what I'm doing, kind of. I definitely know how to swear and drink. I just combined them, and it just so happened to work out," Burke said. Burke's Wednesday night class in Flint tends to be pretty lightly attended, but her other classes in Detroit, Ferndale and Fenton frequently sell out. The affordable price point certainly draws people in, especially those new to practicing yoga. "I get mostly new people to yoga. They are sometimes intimidated by regular yoga classes. Like, they don't want to pay $10, $15 and not know what they're doing or feel weird about the situation," Burke said. Affordability takes precedence for Burke, who only charges $5 per class. "I wanted to make sure that these yoga classes were affordable because I seriously feel like -- and no baggin' on anyone else who does yoga and has gone through the training to be a certified yoga instructor -- that's awesome. For me, I feel like yoga should be for everybody," Burke said. Everybody that doesn't mind swearing and drinking, that is. "I feel like some people when they're coming to my class ... start out a little apprehensive, but by the end of it, they're super relaxed like 'man that's super fun, I'm gonna come back,'" Burke said. That proved true for Tonya Speakes of Flint, who was attending her second class and plans on being a regular. "I saw Sailor's Mouth and swearing, and hey I'm there -- and BYOB," Speakes said. "My very first yoga class and I'm 50 years old." Burke's starts her classes off with saying the F-word, making participants laugh. "They're just like 'this is socially not acceptable to say the F-word this loud.' People laugh and have a good time, and that's what I think yoga should be -- you're doing weird stretches and it's funny," Burke said. Burke hopes people come to downtown Flint, not only to experience her class but to see all that the city has to offer. "People should come out to Flint because Flint kicks ass in so many ways. There are so many cool things happening in the city of Flint, and I'm just one teeny tiny little fraction of it. You can make a whole day of it, exploring Flint," Burke said. "You're gonna have a blast swearing and getting bent." The class is held at Mainsail Collective above Cafe Rhema, which will soon be offering an exclusive beverage called 'Son of A Sailor.' Tickets are available here. OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- Before the end of summer, 353 acres of private dunes, water and forest located between Grand Haven and Ferrysburg is expected to open to the public forever. Last week the state awarded Ottawa County Parks and Recreation the first of two $4.2 million grants to purchase the former sand mining property bordering a section of the Grand River channel near Grand Haven known as "the Sag." Officials say they hope to close the purchase by Aug. 1. As part of the grant, the public must have access to the lands within 90 days of the purchase, said Ottawa County Parks Director John Scholtz. But don't expect entry drives, parking, hiking trails and bathrooms on day one, Scholtz said. That'll come later, following the public master planning process which is expected to begin early 2019. What will be there, though, is a sight to behold. "It's just a gorgeous site with beautiful dunes surrounding it and this 80-acre lake that's deep and clean and pristine with lots of fish ... that just creates quite a sight," Scholtz said. As part of the expected purchase, Ottawa County will buy about half the property with the $4.2 million grant. The Land Conservancy of West Michigan will buy the remaining portion and then lease it to the county. They'll be paid back when Ottawa County receives the second state grant later on. Much of the remainder of the overall $11 million purchase would be covered by an offer from the current property owner, Ottawa Sand Company, which has agreed to donate 25 percent of the land's value. The inactive sand mine is located along North Shore Drive, falling mostly within the city of Ferrysburg with the southern portion of the property in Grand Haven. It includes 219 acres of state-designated critical dunes, 5,585 feet of Grand River frontage and an 80-acre man-made inland lake. Scholtz said the lake was tested by environmental consultants and is "very clean" and safe for swimming. He previously said he envisions kayaking and fishing to take place there, with a possible campground built near it. At its deepest point, the lake currently without a name goes down about 50 feet, Scholtz said. The property is bordered by publicly-owned land, with North Ottawa Dunes to its north and open-space dunes property owned by the City of Grand Haven to its south. If the purchase is completed, the property would be the final piece of a 2,400-acre coastal corridor of Lake Michigan dunes that also includes P.J. Hoffmaster State Park and the Kitchel-Lindquist-Hartger Dune Preserve. Altogether, that corridor spans about six miles -- an ideal hike, Scholtz said. Joe Engel, executive director of the Land Conservancy of West Michigan, said he was glad to partner with the county in protecting "this incredible property." Following the purchase, Engel's organization plans to inventory the wildlife inhabiting the property. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Grand Rapids Brewing Company is set to release its first bottle-conditioned beer. There will be 150 bottles each of Sur La Lune and Sur Les Nuages, specialty beers packaged through the unique process of bottle conditioning. The process involves an extra blast of yeast and sugar and a second period of fermentation after the bottles are corked and caged. According to GRBC, it allows carbonation to occur naturally and causes the beer to age in a manner like wine. The pressure of the cork on the additional yeast and sugar enhances flavors, carbonation, aromatics and alcohol content, providing an all-around better summer drinking experience. "Bottle conditioned beers have more depth and character than their draft counterparts and a finer carbonation and mouthfeel, plus corks and cages are just fun and fancy," said Ernie Richards, GRBC's Brewhouse Alchemist. Sur La Lune and Sur Les Nuages will be available for $16 and $14, respectively beginning on Saturday, July 14. GRBC mug club members will have exclusive access for two hours beginning at 10 a.m., and the public can purchase them starting at noon while supplies last. Guests will be limited to one of each beer. Sur La Lune, French for "on the moon," is a golden ale that will also be available in its tap form for samples and drafts. Its companion beer, Sur Les Nuages, which is French for "on the clouds," first appeared in the 2017 Beer City Pro-Am competition as a collaboration between GRBC and award-winning homebrewer Nick Rodammer. It comes from the same base recipe as Sur La Lune, but is force-carbonated, capped and fermented solely with a special Brettanomyces yeast isolate. The result is a floral, lightly tropical, golden ale with grapefruit notes and no sourness. GRBC will continue expanding its bottle conditioned sour ale project through the summer and is tentatively planning to release Ciel De Nuit, French for "night sky," sour stout and Petit Chouette, French for "little owl", a dry-hopped oude saison, in the upcoming months. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Some of the children who have been separated from the parents at the U.S.-Mexico border are being cared for in Michigan. Children of these unauthorized immigrants, caught up in a zero-tolerance policy directed by President Trump's administration, cannot be housed with their parents in adult detention centers. They're transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be placed in foster care, with U.S. relatives or in juvenile facilities, including placement in Michigan. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights announced Tuesday the department will assess the impact of the administration's zero tolerance policy and separation of families at the border on the state of Michigan. "The policy is a federal issue and beyond the scope of this department's responsibilities under law," Executive Director of Michigan Department of Civil Rights Agustin V. Arbulu said in a statement Tuesday. "But for those children who have been separated from their parents and brought to Michigan, the Department of Civil Rights has a duty to make sure their civil rights are protected." It was in April that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the zero-tolerance policy for illegal entry into the country, which directs U.S. Attorney's Offices along the southwest border to prosecute all violations "to the extent practicable." The Detroit Free Press reported the average age of these children is 8. Michigan foster-care agencies are having difficulty handling the increasing number of children who arrive in Michigan at nighttime, the newspaper reported. Arbulu said in his statement the department has received reports that some displaced children arriving in Michigan are infants as young as 3 months old and "completely unable to advocate for themselves." "We have received reports and are very concerned that the children arriving here are much younger than those who have been transported here in the past," Arbulu said in the statement. "While we commend the work of resettlement agencies in Michigan attempting to serve these children with dignity and compassion, nothing can replace the love, sense of security and care of a parent." Sessions, and other Trump administrators, have said this family separation is a deterrent for other families considering illegal immigration. Grand Rapids-based Bethany Christian Services, a global nonprofit that provides foster care, adoption, resettlement services and other assistance, is currently assisting these displaced children, but the organization is at capacity. "Right now, we have 99 foster care beds at Bethany across the country, and we're at capacity," Dona Abbott, branch director of refugee services at Bethany Christian Services, said. "We're now recruiting new homes and we're approaching our government with the offer to provide more beds." Some of these foster homes are across Michigan, Abbott said. These children experience compounding trauma, she said. They experienced trauma in their home countries, during the journey to the U.S. and when separated from their parents at the border. U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, said in a statement Monday that automatically separating families runs counter to his and the nation's core values. "We must find a legislative solution that balances our compassion with the fact that some individuals are exploiting loopholes in our immigration system and actively trafficking children across the border," Huizenga said in the statement. I have spoken w Bethany Chr Services to get clarification on the status of separated children coming to Mich. We continue to communicate with them to stay up to date as the situation develops. This must change! https://t.co/8zmrzUvh42 Rep. Bill Huizenga (@RepHuizenga) June 20, 2018 U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, criticized the separation of families in a tweet Wednesday. This must stop NOW. Only one person has the power to do so while Congress works through legislation: @POTUS @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/1FWCuJMB1f Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 20, 2018 The American Association for Justice said in a statement Tuesday that the organization condemns the separation of children from their parents at the border. "These actions are risking the safety and well-being of innocent children. We call on the Administration to immediately halt this practice and to reunite these traumatized families," according to the statement. "This is not who we are as a nation. We can and must do better." In its offices throughout the country, Bethany Christian Services is urging families to step forward and become foster parents for these children, Abbott said. "We work with the world's most vulnerable kids, and we want to make sure that those kids have a really good family and are not traumatized," Bethany Christian Services President Chris Palusky said. To learn more about becoming a foster parent or volunteer services, visit the Bethany Christian Services website. OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- Thanks to a piece of software, the number of tissue donations coming out of Ottawa County is significantly increasing. In the past seven years, the Ottawa County Medical Examiner's Office helped Gift of Life Michigan find 13 tissue donors. In the past eight months alone, the number of donors was 16. "It's a dramatic increase," said Stephanie Sommer, funeral home and medical examiner liaison for Gift of Life Michigan. "The west side of the state seems to be very supportive of donations." The medical examiner's office predicts it will help find 224 tissue donors over the next seven years, a 16-fold increase. The reason that doesn't include organ donors is because the deaths now being reported automatically occur outside the hospital, where there is little to no means of preserving organs, Sommer said. The change came in November 2017, when David Start, Ottawa County's chief medical examiner, implemented a case management software that automatically notifies Gift of Life of viable donors, regardless of their donor status. Previously, Start's office had to call the organization every time his office wanted to make a possible donor referral. According to Gift of Life data for the period of January through May, Start's office helped connect the third-most amount of tissue donors in all of Michigan, with Kent County leading the pack and Washtenaw County next up. "We're super excited and just amazed at what a simple program can do," said Sundy Vargas, Start's administrative assistant. "We're just grateful for this program and happy to be able to make a difference in other people's lives." Tissues that can be harvested after outside-of-hospital deaths include eyes, heart valves, skin, bone, veins, nerves and cartilage. One tissue donor, Sommer said, can improve the lives of more than 75 people. In some cases, she said, tissue donations can save lives, such as burn victims. The software provides Gift of Life Michigan with information on a dead person's next of kin. Sometimes the medical examiner will tell family they might receive a call from the organization. If they decline, the medical examiner will put that in the file, Vargas said. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - An overnight standoff with a suspected barricaded gunman ended peacefully Wednesday, June 20, after police determined the man had fled the home before officers arrived. His girlfriend, described as a victim of his threats, was hiding inside the house on Dale Street NW when police entered around 7:15 a.m. Investigators are talking to her. "There are a lot of questions that are not answered," Grand Rapids police Sgt. Cathy Williams said at the scene. A witness called 911 around 12:30 a.m. to report that the man had threatened his girlfriend with a handgun. Four children, ages 2 to 13, were in the house at the time. A woman left the home with the three younger children, and police later convinced the 13-year-old to leave. The girlfriend, 34, was arrested for outstanding warrants. Her 27-year-old boyfriend is wanted as a parole absconder. Police have not determined if he has the handgun but said it was unlikely he would pose a danger to those in the neighborhood. "He does know we're looking for him," Williams said. "I don't think he'll be back anytime soon." She said that the man left before officers got to the scene. Police quickly established a perimeter but he had already slipped away. Police had tried to contact those inside for hours before setting off a device that makes a "loud boom" in an effort to distract those inside. MLive photographer Casey Sykes contributed to this story. Tough action for irregularities in GCC polls: CEC Staff Reporter : Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda said that the Commission would not tolerate any kind of unfairmeans in the Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) polls and if anyone regardless of identity tries to rig the voting and election result, proper steps, including cancellation of result, would be taken. We won't indulge irregularities in the polls. The CEC said this while talking to reporters after a meeting with the officials about maintaining law and order situation during the upcoming polls. The meeting was held at the Gazipur district administration auditorium on Wednesday. "Though 84 days have elapsed since the announcement of election schedule, the law and order situation has remained normal in Gazipur. So, the voting will be free and fair", he affirmed. Gazipur City Corporation polls will be held on June 26 while election campaign started from June 18. Gazipur City Polls Returning Officer Md Rakib Uddin, Deputy Commissioner Dr Dewan Mohammad Humayun Kabir, Superintendent of Police Md Harun-ur-Rashid and Gazipur District Election Officer Md Tarifuzzaman attended the meeting. "We have discussed the role of the RAB, the police and the district administrations in this regard. We hope the election will be acceptable and credible one and voters will be able to elect the candidates of their choice," Huda said. Replying to a query on rigging with reference to the concluded Khulna City polls, the CEC rejected the allegation saying that the Khulna City polls was fair. "Some perpetrators got the chance to rig votes in four to five polling centres, but the other centres were free from such incidents," he claimed. On the electoral atmosphere in Gazipur, Nurul Huda said, so far no such things have occurred that could put question mark on the election and deter it. About BNP's allegation of violating the electoral code, the CEC said, the party (BNP) has to be specific on the issue. "They have to pinpoint where the violation has taken place. If they do so, I can ask the magistrate and police to take actions," he said. The CEC reiterated that there will be no deployment of the army. Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) will be used at six voting centers only. Election Commissioners Mahbub Talukder, Rafiqul Islam, Kabita Khanam, Brigadier General (retd) Shahdat Hossain Chowdhury and EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed, among others, also attended the meeting. A proposal to change how Michigan draws its state legislative and Congressional districts will be on the November 2018 ballot, the Board of State Canvassers ruled Wednesday. The board approved the motion 3-0, and got a standing ovation from about 200 people who attended the meeting at the Lansing Center. "It's so hard to even put into words with how ecstatic I am," said Lija Hogan, a board member for Voters Not Politicians, the group behind the initiative. "It's been two years of hard work. It's a great day for Michigan." An opposition group still has an appeal pending before the Michigan Supreme Court to keep the proposal off the ballot, but the Supreme Court already refused to issue a stay before Wednesday's board meeting. Proposal 2 would amend the Michigan Constitution to create an independent redistricting commission. The 13-member commission would consist of five independent members, four self-declared Democrats and four self-declared Republicans. Currently, redistricting is controlled by the Republican-controlled state Legislature. But Democrats and other advocates of election reform argue the system as is benefits the party in control and amounts to political gerrymandering. Voters Not Politicians rallied thousands of volunteers across the state to drum up enough signatures for the proposal, which calls for creating an independent commission in time for the next round of redistricting after the 2020 Census. The group submitted its petitions in November with 425,000 signatures, well beyond the 315,354 needed. The petitions have been challenged by Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution, whose backers include the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. The CPMC claimed the peititons didn't list all of the sections of the state constitution that would be abrogated by the plan, and therefore shouldn't be placed on the ballot. Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution also argued Voters Not Politicians' initiative is a "massive revision" of the constitution, not an amendment. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Voters Not Politicians on June 7, and ordered the Board of State Canvassers to put the proposal on the ballot. The Michigan Supreme Court refused a request by the Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution to issue a stay before the Board of Canvassers' meeting, although the court has not issued a final ruling on the CPMC's appeal. HOUGHTON LAKE, MI - A Northern Michigan man and young woman whose bodies were found in a swamp died of hypothermia and they had been under the influence of methamphetamine when they died, according to autopsy reports. Michigan State Police released the reports on Jeff Hurley, 34, of Prudenville, and Alexandria Foust, 19, of Cadillac, according to the Associated Press. There was no foul play involved in the deaths. The two went missing Nov. 7, 2017, and their vehicle was found stuck in mud in the Dead Stream Swamp area in Missaukee County. The 11,600-acre swamp area is one of the largest northern white cedar swamps in the United States, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. According to UpNorthLive, two hunters reported finding the vehicle stuck off a two-track road last November. They told police they'd heard cries for help in the woods while they were hunting, but couldn't find anyone. Law enforcement and volunteers teamed up to search the massive area for the next four days. In addition to local and state police, tracking dogs were called in, Michigan DNR officers combed the woods and air searches were conducted. Several personal items belonging to the pair were found, including their wallets and IDs, but there was no sign of Hurley and Foust. Photo courtesy of law enforcement. Police asked deer hunters to keep an eye out for the couple last fall. On March 26, state police troopers and tracking dogs found two bodies matching the missing couple's description. EMPIRE, MI -- For many people, the Dune Climb at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is synonymous with freewheeling summer days. But this weekend, this iconic spot is the place to be to explore the magic of Michigan's summer nights. On Saturday, June 23, the Dune Climb will be the site of a Sleeping Bear Dunes summer star party, hosted by park rangers as well as astronomers from the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society. Visitors need only purchase a park entrance pass; the party itself is free and open to the public, giving people several opportunities to celebrate the night sky over the course of the evening. From 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., visitors will be invited to use a solar telescope to view the Earth's closest star: the sun. Then, from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., the focus will be the waxing moon, the evening planets of Venus and Jupiter, and other celestial bodies. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is regarded as one of Michigan's most excellent spots for stargazing; the lack of light pollution and the absence of trees or buildings along the shoreline provide wide-open, unobstructed views of the dark night sky. Visitors are encouraged to bring flashlights, binoculars, water, bug spray, beach chairs, and blankets for a more comfortable experience. The event may be cancelled if the weather does not cooperate. Visitors can find more information at the Philip A. Hart Visitors Center in Empire or online at this page. SPRING ARBOR, MI - Tom Kuntzleman didn't see a science experiment in a classroom until he was in college. Now an associate professor of chemistry at Spring Arbor University, Kuntzleman works to spare children the experience of growing up without a hands-on appreciation for science by organizing the Cougar Science Camp. "When I saw my first live science demonstration, that's what turned me on to science," Kuntzleman said. "I just want to provide opportunities for kids to interact with and see science, and if some of them have the same experience that I did, then I'm happy about it." Now in its 14th year, this year's annual week-long camp is June 18-22 on the Spring Arbor University campus. From 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each day, students from Jackson-area schools gather in Whiteman-Gibbs Science Center for fun, scientific inquiry and everything in between. On Monday, kids studied rockets and how they're powered. Tuesday's focus was on the physics and chemistry of the sun and sunlight. On Wednesday, pressure and chemistry experiments demonstrated atmospheric differences between Earth, Mercury and Venus. The magnetic field of Jupiter is the topic on Thursday, and Friday's program is on the atmospheres of Neptune, Uranus and Pluto. This year's camp set a record for attendance, with 121 kids. In addition to the children, Kuntzleman is assisted by a team of more than 40 volunteers, including other SAU professors, parents and grandparents of children involved and former campers. Taylor Furman, 9, came all the way from Texas to attend the science camp for her third year. Taylor spends every summer in Michigan with her grandmother, who volunteers at the event. "I like (science camp) because there's a lot of stuff to do and it keeps you busy," Taylor said. For Concord Middle School eighth-grader Nolan Korman, 14, the camp is an opportunity to expand his knowledge of science, and keep entertained over the summer break. "It's pretty fun - I come here just to get out of the house in the summer," Nolan said. Each day, Kuntzleman and his staff arrange large-scale lessons. After a recess, where attendees can eat snacks and watch outdoor demonstrations like water rockets and liquid nitrogen clouds, a "science scramble" session gives them the option to visit several stations, each demonstrating different scientific principles. Activities include using a Ruben's tube to observe the effect sound waves have on flames, dissecting sheep brains and eyeballs and programming miniature robots. Kuntzleman works hard to make the science lessons fun and accessible to the students. This includes "sacrificing a gummy bear for science" by dropping the small candy bear into a tube of potassium chlorate to demonstrate the volatile reaction the substance has with sugar. "I think kids should be exposed to (science) early and often," he said. GALESBURG, MI -- Former Galesburg Police Chief Martin J. Heppler is suing the city for alleged discrimination based on his age and weight. The Galesburg City Council voted 4-3 to fire Heppler on Dec. 4, 2017. The city's police chief was working as an at-will employee without a contract. At the time, former Mayor Carl Newton, who died in April, said the council decided to part with Heppler because he was not responsive to the city's needs. A civil complaint filed with Kalamazoo County's 9th Circuit Court on June 1 alleges the city violated Heppler's civil rights. He is seeking $25,000 in damages and his job returned. "It's unfortunate that we have to go this route, and it was unfortunate for what they did," Heppler said. He declined to speak further when contacted by MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette on June 20. The complaint alleges city council members made repeated comments that Heppler, 65, and his officers were "old and fat." It also alleges the city violated the Open Meetings Act by coordinating a discussion about Heppler's termination outside of an official meeting. Heppler alleges he was fired for opposing a proposed policy change "pertinent to the physical status, in particular weight, of the police department personnel." The complaint states Heppler retained legal counsel to inquire why the city was considering the policy change. Before the Dec. 4 meeting, Heppler said a third party warned he would be terminated, the complaint states. Galesburg Mayor Keith Diller declined to comment on the pending litigation. Diller was among four Galesburg City Council members who voted to terminate Heppler in December. The others were Newton, Becki Harmon, and Judy Lemon. Heppler was employed by the city's public safety department from 1991 to 2017. He served as its chief from 2015 until his termination in December 2017. While employed by the city of Galesburg, he also served as the Village of Augusta's police chief and village manager. Meeting minutes from the Dec. 4 meeting show no detail about why Heppler was fired. Newton, who died April 24, said after the meeting that Heppler was fired because of "some things that were not being responded to." Newton said the decision had nothing to do with Heppler's employment by the Village of Augusta. After Heppler was fired, he was replaced by Rick Mau, who served as Galesburg police chief before being demoted in 2014. Mau retired in January. Galesburg later dissolved its police department and negotiated a protection agreement with the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office. In April, the city of Galesburg entered an agreement to split revenue from the sale of former police firearms with Clerk Karen Bresson's family hardware store. BATTLE CREEK, MI -- Protesters held a demonstration outside the Calhoun County Jail Wednesday, which houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees under contract. Protesters want to draw attention to 30 women, separated from their families, being held at the facility, according to Raquel Owens, site director for Justice for Our Neighbors of West Michigan. The protest was scheduled to run from noon and 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 20, she said. The Calhoun County Jail, located at 161 East Michigan Avenue in Battle Creek, houses men and women ICE detainees, Sheriff Matthew Saxton said. Saxton said 30 female detainees were brought to the Battle Creek facility about a week ago after ICE enforcement activity in northern Ohio. Saxton said he did not know if any of the women are mothers, but said he assumes the majority of adults in the county jail are parents. "Everybody in the facility, local or boarded, are separated from their families," he said. Owens, a mother, said the issue is important to her for several reasons. "Just the thought of being separated from my child is heartbreaking," she said, noting media coverage of children separated from families and held in facilities at the border. "This is the reality of what's happening at our borders and it doesn't need to be happening," she said. Justice for Our Neighbors works with immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, Owens said, and they are being affected by the current ICE practices. "They are coming here for a better life and getting the welcome they don't deserve," she said. She called the practice immoral. "There are people in our community and country that support them and want them here," she said. She asks citizens to contact federal lawmakers to make a change. Saxton said the Calhoun County Jail has not housed anyone picked up at the southern border recently, and he was told by some people involved in the protest that the demonstration is to draw attention to what's happening on the southern border. Congress needs to fix the issues of legal and illegal immigration, he said. "Both sides, to me, appear to be grandstanding," he said. "They need to get together, work together and work for the people of country and solve this problem." "This problem, legal and illegal immigration, solve those issues and we won't have people breaking laws to come to our country," Saxton said. OCEANA COUNTY, MI - Festive Electric Forest attendees continued to flow into the music festival grounds Wednesday afternoon with no freeway backups. That's according to Lt. Jeff White with the Michigan State Police who said expected backups on U.S. 31 Wednesday afternoon had not happened. That's not the case for the stretch of Winston Road between U.S. 31 and Double JJ Resort where the four-day music festival is being held. Police advise motorists to avoid using U.S. 31 exit 136 (Winston Road) and exit 140 (M-20), and to find alternate routes throughout the day and night on Wednesday, June 20. Cars are searched before they enter camping areas at the festival. About 40,000 people are expected to attend Electric Forest, which begins on Thursday, June 20. White said around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday that pre-Electric Forest activities were going smoothly. "We're just very steady," he said. "The mood is very good. It was nice and cool this morning and people were festive." EGELSTON TWP., MI - A motorcyclist died as the result of a traffic crash in Muskegon County Tuesday night. The crash between a vehicle and motorcycle at Evanston Avenue and Brooks Road was reported around 9:10 p.m. June 19. Witnesses at the scene initially reported one of the vehicles was on fire. The fire was quickly extinguished. Police told dispatchers that the motorcyclist was unresponsive at the scene. A sergeant with the Michigan State Police Rockford Post confirmed Wednesday that the motorcycle driver died in the crash. He did not have information about the crash and referred questions to a trooper who was unavailable for comment. Egelston Township Fire Chief Mark Cleveland said he could not provide information about the crash, which occurred east of Muskegon. Muskegon County Sheriff K-9 Rex MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI - Healing prayers are being lifted for Muskegon County Sheriff K-9 Deputy Rex, who recently was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Rex will undergo treatment in Grand Rapids for subcutaneous hemangiosarcoma, a blood cancer, which was diagnosed Tuesday, June 19, following emergency surgery, said Muskegon County Sheriff Michael Poulin. "We don't know what the future holds for him right now," Poulin said Wednesday. Rex, a German shepherd, has worked for the sheriff's office since 2012. He and his handler, Deputy Jamie Ottinger, assist law enforcement agencies throughout the county with evidence and narcotics searches and tracking suspects, Poulin said. "Officers throughout the law enforcement community rely on his specialties," the sheriff said. Read more: Muskegon County Sheriff's Office K-9 deputy Rex pays a visit to MLive Ottinger noticed a rapidly growing lump on Rex about a week ago, and the dog underwent emergency surgery June 13, Poulin said. "Hemangiosarcoma in dogs is an aggressive, malignant tumor of blood vessel cells," according to caninecancer.com. Up to 60 percent of the subcutaneous, or hypodermal, forms of the cancer spread internally, according to the website. Poulin posted a message about Rex on the sheriff department's Facebook page Wednesday. He said he was overwhelmed by the expressions of concern. "We do appreciate the support from the community," Poulin said. SAGINAW, MI -- A new indoor marketplace that community leaders hope brings a resurgence to downtown Saginaw and provides healthy eating options for residents debuts this week. And the public got a sneak peek a couple days before the grand opening. The $22 million SVRC Marketplace, 203 S. Washington Ave., celebrates a grand opening Friday, June 22, beginning at noon. On Wednesday, June 20, the public had an opportunity to check out the new indoor market. The market opens for normal hours next week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are a variety of quaint shops and eateries featuring homemade foods, sweet treats, BBQ and ethnic cuisines. It also features two incubator kitchens, food storage and preparation areas available to vendors. When customers enter the market, they will be greeted by an attendant offering directions on how to navigate the building. The entry also features couches, tables and chairs for seating. Audra Davis, marketplace manager, said she hopes the market "brings resurgence back to the community." Davis added the city is classified as a food dessert -- an area that lacks access to affordable, nutritious food , and the one of the goals of the market to provide healthy food. "We saw a responsibility to provide that support for healthy choices and accessibility," Audra said. The Downtown Saginaw Farmers' Market, stationed under the market's outdoor pavilion, and the BlendingBowl, located inside the market, are two options that provide healthy options. Eateries on the main floor of the market focus on fresh-cooked homemade foods, such as Koshery from Egyptian Koshery, African cuisine with dishes from Nigeria and Ghana from Ekow's African Cuisine, and Middle Eastern cuisine from the Falafel Hut. Spence Brothers Construction is located on the third floor of the building. Central Michigan University Research Corp., an incubator for entrepreneurs, is set to open on the second floor in August. The basement of the market houses Westland Guidance Autism Clinic and Snapology, a kids summer camp. In July, Tom Miller Jr's latest restaurant, Miller's Tap Room and Wine Bar, opens with patio seating and a full-service food menu. 3 mayor candidates, 12 others collect BNP's nomination forms Fifteen mayoral aspirants, including three incumbent mayors, collected BNP's nomination forms on Wednesday for contesting the elections to Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barishal city polls with the party tickets. The nomination seekers bought the forms at Tk 10,000 at different times from BNP's Nayapaltan central office. Sylhet mayor Ariful Hauqe himself bought a nomination paper from party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi around 10am. BNP organising secretary Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu bought a nomination paper for Rajshahi mayor Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul while party training affairs secretary Mosharraf Hossain collected a nomination paper for Barisal mayor Ahasan Habib Kamal. Of the total 15 aspirants, only incumbent mayor Bulbul bought the party nomination paper to contest the Rajshahi city polls. Eight BNP leaders bought nomination forms to vie for mayoral post in Barishal polls while 6 others in Sylhet city ones. The eight BNP aspirants of Barisal mayoral race are current mayor Kamal, Barishal south unit BNP president Ebaidul Haque Chand, party organising secretary Bilkis Jahan Shirin, JCD leader Afroza Khanam Nasrin, BNP executive committee member Abu Naser Mohammad Rahmatullah and former student leaders Ali Haider Babu, Ziauddin Shikder and Abul Kalam Shaheen. Apart from Ariful, Sylhet city BNP president Nasim Hossain, general secretary Badruzzaman Selim, vice president and panel mayor Rejaul Hasan Kayes Lodi and city leaders Salahuddin Rimon and Abdul Quayum collected the party's nomination forms for the Sylhet city polls. The party started selling its nomination from at 10:00am and it continued till 4:00pm. After filling the nomination forms, the aspirants will have to submit those to the BNP office along with Tk 25,000 security money by 4pm on Thursday. Later, the party nomination board will interview the aspirants to pick the most suitable mayoral candidates for the three city polls on Thursday night. The elections to Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal city corporations will be held on July 30. According to the election schedule announced by the Election Commission, the deadline for the submission of nomination papers is June 28, while the dates for scrutinising those are July 1 and 2, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is July 9. BNP candidates Bulbul, and Ariful Haque and Kamal were elected mayors in Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal city polls respectively in 2013. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been accused of child abuse, immorality, racial discrimination and "dissemination of doctrines" by more than 600 members of the United Methodist Church -- his personal denomination. Sessions has been hit with a formal complaint from the church after he used the Bible to defend the Trump administration's separation of children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. This comes less than a week after Sessions defended the administration's zero-tolerance policy at the border by saying, "I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order." -- His statement from June 14 in Fort Wayne, Indiana was addressed to "church friends" who had criticized the administration's policies. Sessions was chastised by priests, pastors and other religious members, as well as making nearly all the rounds on late-night talk shows for his use of the Bible to defending separating children from their parents at the border. The letter from signed by more than 600 Methodists across the U.S. -- included hundreds with the "Rev." designation -- was dated June 18. The church cites Sessions' "leading role" as a Sunday school teaching, former delegate "and the severe and ongoing impact of several of his public, professional actions demand that we" call for some degree of accountability. "As members of the United Methodist Church, we deeply hope for a reconciling process that will help this long-time member of our connection step back from his harmful actions and work to repair the damage he is currently causing to immigrants, particularly children and families," the letter reads. " ... the misuse of Romans 13 to indicate the necessity of obedience to secular law, which is in stark contrast to Disciplinary commitments to supporting freedom of conscience and resistance to unjust laws. "He is ours, and we are his. As his denomination, we have an ethical obligation to speak boldly when one of our members is engaged in causing significant harm in matters contrary to the Discipline on the global stage." As of Wednesday, June 20, the Trump administration has set up multiple "tender age" shelters to lock infants and young children that the U.S. forcibly removed from their parents at the border. The Associated Press reports that the children have been "hysterical, crying and acting out" due to the fact they have no idea where their parents are. Since President Donald Trump and his administration implemented its zero-tolerance policy at the border, more than 2,300 children have been forcibly removed and locked up from their parents, A.P. reports. Trump said Wednesday that he would sign an order that would stop his own policy of separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border. The president referred to his own decision as "pre-emptive," even though the policy has been sharply criticized by Democrats, some Republicans and religious leaders across the U.S. since May. While Trump did not clarify what he would be signing, an official with the administration tells NBC it will be an executive order drafted by the Justice Department and Homeland Security to temporarily stop separating families. CINCINNATI -- The Detroit Tigers have recalled right-handed reliever Johnny Barbato from Triple-A Toledo. Barbato takes the spot of Drew VerHagen, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list after suffering a broken nose Tuesday night. Barbato pitched one inning Tuesday night for the Mud Hens in Georgia. He took a shuttle to the Atlanta airport at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday to catch a 7 a.m. flight to Cincinnati. He arrived at Great American Ballpark with plenty of time to spare and will be available to pitch out of the bullpen Wednesday if needed. This is Barbato's third stint with the big-league club in 2018. He's pitched in five games, giving up three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. He has a 1.59 ERA in 22 innings with Triple-A Toledo, striking out 23 and walking four. The 25-year-old Miami native was claimed off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates in January. Law soon to ensure death for drug patrons: PM Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the government is formulating an anti-narcotics law where there will be a provision of death penalty for the patrons of drug traders, drug syndicates and godfathers. "There'll be a proposal in the law to award death penalty to the patrons of drug trading, drug-syndicates and god-fathers," she said. The Prime Minister said this while replying to a tabled question of independent MP M Rustam Ali Faraiz in Parliament during the PM's question-answer session. In the present law, she said, there is a provision of death penalty as the maximum punishment for drug criminals. But, there is a less scope to take punitive actions against those from whose possessions the drugs are not recovered. "So, the masterminds of this drug business escape easily," she said. She mentioned that the government is formulating a law, titled 'Narcotics Control Act, 2018', aiming to take strong punitive measures against the patrons of drug trading, drug syndicates and godfathers. Under this new law, Hasina said, the officials of Narcotics Department will get the power to investigate money-laundering crimes to bring the patrons of drug traders or trading organisations under the purview of this law. She also said the government has a plan to form a separate court to run the proceedings of crimes under the Narcotics Control Act, 1990. The Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry is looking into the matter. The Prime Minister said the government always maintains a tough stance against drugs and drugs-related criminals. The law enforcement agencies have taken strong steps against drug smugglers, drug traders, drug addicts and drug smuggling syndicates to put up a strong resistance against the aggression of drugs in society. "Apart from the regular ones, special drives are being conducted against drug-related criminals," she said. Since May 18, 2018, huge drugs, arms and ammunition, and vehicles used to transport these have been recovered and seized during the anti-drug drive, the PM told the House. "So far, 15,333 drug-related cases have been registered in which 20,767 accused persons have been arrested and placed before court," she said. Replying to another question from Awami League MP Mostafizur Rahman Chowdhury, the Prime Minister expressed her high optimism that the government would be able to stop drug smuggling with the ongoing drive against drugs and their abuse and thus protect the youth from social degradation. She said the government has adopted 'zero tolerance' policy against drugs and for that Narcotics Control Department, Police, BGB, RAB and other law enforcement agencies are working relentlessly. The leader of the House also said some 106,536 cases were filed against 132,883 drug dealers in 2017. During the period of January to March, some 35,112 accused were arrested in 27,340 cases, Hasina said. "The lists of Yaba traders have been updated to conduct regular drives against them," she said. Yes, the decision belongs on the local level No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks Vote View Results Have a query? Got a feedback? Interested to join us? We're happy to hear from you, and there are many ways you can get in touch with us. By accessing moneycontrol.com or any of its associate/group sites, you have read, understood and agree to be legally bound by the terms of the following disclaimer and user agreement moneycontrol.com has taken due care and caution in compilation of data for its web site. 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The country, the second largest shareholder in the Beijing-headquartered lender, is already the largest borrower accounting for commitments to the tune of USD 1.2 billion of the overall USD 4.5-billion committed so far. "We have another USD 1.9 billion for Indian projects in the pipeline," vice-president and corporate secretary Danny Alexander told PTI here. He said the project pipeline includes an investment in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), the Mumbai Metro, major irrigation and flood management projects in Bengal, making of Andhra's new capital city Amravathi, and two more projects in Andhra focused on rural roads and urban water supply. The projects to which the USD 1.2 billion have been committed include a rural connectivity project in MP, Bengaluru Metro, power transmission in Tamil Nadu, rural roads in Gujarat, the power-for-all project in Andhra and a USD 150 -million investment in an infrastructure fund floated by Morgan Stanley, Alexander said. When asked if the any of these projects will get finalised at the next week's annual meeting, he replied in the negative, saying the bank's directors take a call on the lending proposals and not the governors, which include the finance ministers of all shareholder states. Alexander said the forthcoming annual meeting, which is the third in its history and the first being held in the country, will concentrate on getting the private sector to play a more active role in funding the infrastructure needs of their respective nations, adding the resources available at AIIB's command may not be sufficient to address such needs. "Infrastructure needs in India and the whole of Asia are so huge that they cannot be only met by the AIIB and by other multilateral agencies and governments," Alexander said. To achieve the same objective, the summit will be having an Asian Infrastructure Forum, where the member governments will present projects to financiers and other experts for possible deals in the future. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the meet being held on June 25-26 in the Nariman Point business district. Over 2,000 delegates from member- countries are expected to attend the two-day summit, which will have 22 seminars on dedicated topics. A minister from the Chinese finance ministry is expected to represent the largest shareholder of the AIIB, while others attending the meet will include the British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and other ministers from member countries, he said. The next annual meet of the body is set to be held in Luxemburg, Alexander said, adding non-Asian members have grown to 30, taking the overall memberships to 86 now. Seeking to dispel misperceptions that is an alternative to the Bretton Woods Institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, he said the AIIB believes in collaborating with them and working together and not replacing or competing with them. "We are a partner with the existing institutions and not trying to compete with them," Alexander said, adding a majority of its projects have World Bank or Asian Development Bank as co-financiers. The AIIB is also interested in eventually taking equity in infra projects, he said, adding the investment in the Morgan Stanley fund is a precursor to the same. With sovereign wealth funds and pension funds taking an increased interest in the country, he said the infra needs of the country are so high that it requires for infrastructure and the AIIB would like to "crowd-in" investments from other investors in projects. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Bank of Baroda is using technology to reduce cost of managing accounts while focusing on improving customer service. The third-largest public sector lender has laid out a digital roadmap that will remove the need to worry about small balances in bank accounts. The cost of managing these accounts will be offset by the efficiency of opening bank accounts, and the lender would focus on product delivery, according to CEO and Managing Director at Bank of Baroda PS Jayakumar. He added, We want to be able to anticipate what our customers want in a seamless manner. We have introduced tablets and now open almost 4 lakh accounts every month in 10-12 minutes (per account). This makes the balances in the account less relevant. Banks have been opening accounts as part of the governments financial inclusion initiative, but have failed to garner enough deposits in most accounts, which makes it costly to operate. Most banks including State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda penalise customers for non-maintenance of minimum balances. Earlier this year, SBI faced massive backlash for its high charges, so it reduced the penalty amount in March. Even as costs of managing these accounts have reduced with the help of artificial intelligence, blockchain and robotics, the penalties remain. Bank of Baroda has now collaborated with two global technology players IBM and Accenture to lay out a roadmap to scale up its businesses. At an event held in Mumbai to announce the tie-up on June 20, Jayakumar said, In technology, now we are talking about leapfrogging rather than catching up. There is rapid change of technology going on and the enormous scope of it will help us. He pointed out that the bank was working on helping farmers purchase seeds and fertilizers via an application process where the bank will interact digitally with customers. This will help [farmers] double farm income, he said. Manpower blues? When asked whether technology will help the bank reduce manpower, Jayakumar says, "No." "Technology has eliminated data entry process and these people are moved to help in sales and other supportAbout 15-20 percent of our manpower is in sales and customer servicing right now this could easily go up to 50 percent (with technology)," he said. Meanwhile, Papia Sengupta, executive director at Bank of Baroda said, there will be more re-skilling of employees. Further, professor at IIT-Bombay Deepak Pathak, who is advising the bank on technology said, In three years, the mindset of people will change. It will empower them. And as business grows, the number of people required will only increaseSince 1990s, a bank like SBI has only increased its employee base. So, the jobs will remain but the form will change. As an additional role, State Bank of India's Managing Director B Sriram has been temporarily appointed as the chief of IDBI Bank for a period of three months, the government announced on Wednesday. Sriram will take charge as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IDBI Bank, whose existing chief MK Jain was recently appointed as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Sriram as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IDBI Bank for a temporary period of three months with effect from Jain's demitting office, the order issued by the Personnel Ministry said. The appointment comes after interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal had announced that leaders would soon be appointed at headless state-owned banks. Sriram had lost the race to SBI chairmans post to Rajnish Kumar in September last year, while he was also interviewed for the RBIs deputy Governors post, which will now be occupied by Jain. Clean-up at IDBI Bank Srirams immediate task at hand would to shore up IDBI Banks capital base and manage its asset quality as nearly 28 percent of its loans have turned sour. In Q4 FY18, IDBI Bank's loss had widened to Rs 5,662.76 crore from Rs 1,524 crore in December and Rs 3,199.77 crore a year ago. Its capital adequacy ratio stood at 10.41 percent as on March end 2018 with Tier-1 ratio at 7.42 percent (almost borderline against the requirement of 7.375 percent). Gross bad loans for the bank jumped to Rs 55,588 crore as on March end, up from Rs 44,753 crore in March 31, 2017, according to the bank's latest report. For these reasons, the bank is already under prompt corrective action (PCA) imposed by the central bank. The banks board has also approved a proposal to sell Rs 21,397 crore worth of bad loans, consisting of 30 large-corporate accounts. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also probing a Rs 600-crore loan fraud case involving IDBI Bank. Sriram at SBI Sriram has been working as the MD (Corporate and Global Banking) in SBI since July 2014. He had been Managing Director of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur. He joined the countrys largest bank in 1981 as a Probationary Officer. During over three-decade-long career, he held several positions and also had a stint at SBI's Singapore office. The Banks Board Bureau has also recommended 22 general managers to be elevated as executive directors at state-run banks. The government will also need to decide on a replacement for Allahabad Bank MD & CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian, whose powers have been taken away by the government after she was named in the chargesheet relating to the Rs 14,000-crore fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB) involving diamond merchants Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi. Ananthasubramanian was the PNB MD till she was moved to Allahabad Bank, allegedly due to non-performance. The government has cleared pending GST refunds to the tune of Rs 38,062 crore to the exporters so far, an official statement said on Wednesday. "In all, Rs 21,142 crore (IGST refunds), Rs 9,923 crore (RFD-01A refund by CBIC) and Rs 6,997 crore (RFD-01A refund by states), all totalling Rs 38,062 crore has been sanctioned till June 16, 2018," CBIC said in a statement. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) had conducted a refund fortnight from May 31 to June 14, which was later extended by 2 days to June 16. During the refund fortnight, the pending refunds of integrated GST (IGST) of exporters based on shipping bill was cleared. Also those businesses making zero rated supplies or those wanting to claim input credit, and filled up Form RFD-01A were also given refunds. The CBIC said as on June 16, Rs 6,087 crore of IGST refunds has been sanctioned in the refund fortnight. Besides, RFD-01A claims worth Rs 1,548 crore were sanctioned by the centre and Rs 2,290 crore by the states during the fortnight. This is out of the Rs 9,816 crore RFD-01A refund claims received by the centre as on April 30, 2018. Thus, the total IGST and RFD-01A refund claims sanctioned by the government during the refund fortnight was Rs 9,925 crore. The government had last month said about Rs 14,000 crore of refunds of exporters were stuck due to various mismatches. The CBIC had organised the special refund drive to fast track clearances. The amount of RFD-01A refund claims disposed as on June 16, 2018, by the centre stood at Rs 10,824 crore and by the states at Rs 7,287 crore. Thus, the total amount of RFD-01A claims disposed off stands at Rs 18,111 crore so far, the CBIC added. Axita Cotton | Company received order for Indian organic raw cotton valuing $19,73,117 from Olam International, Singapore. () Despite being the largest exporter of cotton yarn, India's share has dipped to around 26 per cent in 2017 from 30 percent in 2015 for various reasons, including withdrawal of incentives, chairman of Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil) Ujwal Lahoti said on Wednesday. Exports have stagnated in the last two years, whereas Vietnam has become the second largest cotton yarn exporters in the world with a marketshare of 20 percent in 2017, chairman Lahoti told reporters. Attributing the dip to the absence of a level-playing field, high transaction cost and lower rate of export benefits, he said the fall in demand was mostly because of China. China was shifting its yarn production to Vietnam, which has become a conversion centre for Chinese cotton, following rise in labour cost, he said. India exported 603 million kgs of cotton yarn to China in 2013-14, which fell by half to 315 million kgs in 2017-18, while Vietnam's exports to China increased from 287 million kgs to 718 million kgs during the period, Lahoti said. China is importing from India only to bridge the gap in demand from supplies from its domestic spinners and imports from Vietnam, he said. However the drop in exports to China was to some extent compensated by the increase in exports to Bangladesh, Turkey, Portugal, Pakistan and Egypt, he said. Stating that Indian cotton yarn attracted 3 percent to five per cent import duty in China, supplies from Vietnam did not attract any such tariff, Lahoti urged the union commerce ministry to get zero duty benefits for Indian cotton yarn by initiating talks through fora such as APTA (Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement) and RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership). "If the tariff is corrected, our exports will get a boost," Lahoti added. IPO live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Chemicals firm Fine Organic Industries on June 19 raised Rs 180 crore from anchor investors, ahead of its initial share sale today. The company has allotted 22,99,497 equity shares to 15 anchor investors at Rs 783 per scrip, garnering Rs 180.05 crore, Fine Organic Industries said in a statement. Among the anchor investors are Goldman Sachs India, HDFC Small Cap Fund, SBI Magnum Comma Fund, DSP BlackRock Equity & Bond Fund and IDFC Equity Opportunities Fund - Series 5. The price band for the initial public offer (IPO), which will close on June 22, has been fixed at Rs 780 to Rs 783 per equity share. The offer for sale will see divestment of 25 percent of stake of 76,64,994 equity shares by the existing shareholders. At the upper end of the price band, the issue will raise a little over Rs 600 crore. Fine Organic Industries had filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to float the IPO in February. The company has manufacturing facilities near Mumbai. Tellers are seen through a cheque deposit counter at an HDFC bank branch in Mumbai November 17, 2012. At a time when lenders across the world are battling slowing growth and rising loan defaults, HDFC Bank's conservative business model and its knack for delivering returns are proving unique, and offer a lesson for its hard-pressed competitors. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash (INDIA - Tags: BUSINESS) - RTR3AKV3 live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More In recent days, careless social media handling has put many bigwigs of the Indian corporate industry in a tight spot. Airtel on Monday, by their own admission, inadvertently, acceded to the demands of a customer who sought a Hindu representative instead of a Muslim which was ridiculed by a vast majority of people on social media. It seems, before Airtel erred, HDFC Bank had also mishandled a customer on Twitter. A customer who asked the bank about its policy of making Aadhaar mandatory for opening bank accounts, the company apparently instructed its executive to do not engage the customer further and assign if ranting continues. The bank, however, deleted the tweet and apologised later. The bank admitted that the earlier tweet was inappropriate and inadvertent. Bharat Varma, who goes by the Twitter handle @BharatVarma3, in a tweet on June 15, demanded clarification from the bank: Simple query. Need to open a new savings account. Willing to submit all documents offline. Your website does NOT say Aadhaar is mandatory. It's mentioned as just one ID proof. IS AADHAAR MANDATORY? HDFC Bank apparently replied, Hi Bharat, yes, as per our Banks internal guidelines, Aadhaar Card or Aadhaar enrolment number is required at the time of opening a account. (Sic) Is this your official policy with respect to forcing aadhaar ILLEGALLY on your customers? "NS Team: Post response and do not engage customer further. If ranting, assign. -Anay" pic.twitter.com/oIxaWLg2lO June 18, 2018 In the same tweet by the bank, signed by someone named Anay, an instruction to the 'NS team' was passed, Post response and do not engage customer further. If ranting, assign. The tweet was later deleted, and only a screenshot was posted by Bharat Varma later. Moneycontrol has not seen the tweet. HDFC Bank, in the same thread, posted another response, A tweet posted in response to a customer's query earlier was inappropriate and inadvertent. It's a human error which shouldn't have happened. This doesn't reflect the Bank's commitment towards excellent service. We are extremely sorry and sincerely regret this error. A tweet posted in response to a customer's query earlier was inappropriate and inadvertent. It's a human error which shouldn't have happened. This doesn't reflect the Bank's commitment towards excellent service. We are extremely sorry and sincerely regret this error. HDFC Bank (@HDFCBank_Cares) June 15, 2018 As per Reserve Bank of Indias rules on KYC, Aadhaar is key to open a full-fledged bank account. However, even without Aadhaar, banks can open a small account which have severe restrictions on transactions and are closely monitored to ensure no foreign transactions take place. Moreover, any change in norms, however, was subject to a final decision by the Supreme Court on matters related to Aadhaar, the banking regulator had clarified. The changes made in circular were not supposed to have an immediate impact. The hearing on the validity of Aadhaar and its use for linking to various financial schemes and banks has been completed and the judgment is awaited in the Supreme Court. Bank of Maharashtras shares fell 7 percent intraday after a member of its senior management was arrested on Wednesday. The stock touched an intraday high of Rs 13.65 and an intraday low of Rs 12.60. The lenders Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Ravindra Marathe along with five others have been arrested for extending fraudulent loans to Pune-based DSK Group, police said. Besides Marathe, BoM Executive Director Rajendra Gupta, DSK chartered accountant Sunil Ghatpande and DSK VP Engineering Department Rajiv Newaskar were arrested from Pune while ex-CMD Sushil Muhnoot was arrested from Jaipur. The banks Zonal Manager Nityanand Deshpande was arrested from Ahmedabad, the police said in a statement. Marathe was arrested for allegedly misusing his power in sanctioning loans to shell companies. The bank had given loan on the same property three to four times, sources said. The arrests were made under sections 120(B), 406, 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 109 r/w 34 IPC & 13(1)(c) r/w 13(2) of the PC Act. According to a police statement, the bank officers colluded with DSKDL by misusing their power and authority with dishonest and fraudulent intention to sanction and disburse the amount of bank under the garb of loan which was siphoned off. The stock has fallen around 4 percent in the past one month, while in the past three days, it fell over 3.5 percent too. At 14:49 hrs Bank of Maharashtra was quoting at Rs 13.04, down Rs 0.47, or 3.48 percent. It touched a 52-week low of Rs 12.60. Hungry General Mills salesman Carl Smith was handed warm biscuits on a train late one evening. With the club car closed, that just didn't happen in 1930. Smith saw potential. He took the idea to a smart food expert at General Mills, and soon a breakthrough was made: "Instant" biscuits as good as homemade. What was it branded? Kolkata based biscuit maker Anmol Industries has filed the draft red herring prospectus with capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its initial public offering. The public issue consists of offer for sale of Rs 750 crore by Baijnath Choudhary & Family Trust (Rs 720.4 crore), SKG Land Developers LLP (Rs 22.5 crore), Delta Nirman LLP (Rs 4 crore), Anmol Hi-Cool LLP (Rs 2.5 crore) and Puneet Mercantiles LLP (Rs 6 lakh). Anmol Industries is a branded packaged food company focused on biscuits and cakes under flagship brand 'Anmol'. "Company has over the years leveraged its established brand presence in northern and eastern India, strategic supply chain for an extensive distribution network, diversified product portfolio and consequent value," the statement said. With six manufacturing facilities which are located at Dankuni and Panchghara in West Bengal, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, Hajipur in Bihar and Bhubaneswar in Odishawith company has an actual installed capacity of 2,94,544 MTPA for biscuits and 8,148 MTPA for cakes; and production of 1,44,430.50 MTPA for biscuits and 2,484.89 MTPA for cakes as at March 2018. The company also has established a distribution network across 17 states comprising of three depots; more than 200 super stockists, who in turn sell our products to more than 2,500 local distributors. Edelweiss Financial Services, ICICI Securities and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors are the book running lead managers to the issue. The market recouped its losses seen in the previous session, following the recovery in its global counterparts on Wednesday amid heightened fears of trade war between the world's largest two economies US and China. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC and HDFC Bank aided rally in the market. The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 260.59 points at 35,547.33 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 61.50 points to 10,772. "Stock markets in India shrugged recent weakness to trade on a positive note. In line with global cues, benchmark indices in Indian opened the day in the green and traded with strength, through the day," Abhijeet Dey, Senior Fund Manager-Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund said. "Recovery in global stocks boosted sentiment on the domestic bourses while bargain hunting at lower levels provided some stability to markets," he added. Globally markets traded higher with indices paring some of the sharp losses seen in the previous session caused by rising fears of a trade war between top two economies US and China. Japan's Nikkei, Australia's ASX 200 and South Korea's Kospi ended up 1 percent each followed by China's Shanghai Composite (up 0.31 percent) and Hong Kong's Hang Seng (up 0.77 percent). Among European markets, Britain's FTSE was trading higher by 1.2 percent while Germany's DAX and France's CAC gained 0.4 percent each at the time of writing this article. Oil prices also inched up due to a fall in US crude inventories and the loss of storage capacity in Libya. Investors also looked cautious ahead of OPEC meeting to decide production policy later in the week. Brent crude futures were at $75.57 a barrel, up 0.65 percent. Back home, the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices traded in line with frontliners, rising half a percent each despite the balanced market breadth. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Metal and Realty indices gained a percent each while FMCG lost half a percent and IT was down third of a percent. Major contributors to the Nifty's gains include Reliance Industries (up 2.33 percent), HDFC Bank (up 1.6 percent), HDFC (up 1 percent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (1.6 percent), IndusInd Bank (1.86 percent), Vedanta (1.96 percent), M&M (1.46 percent) and Yes Bank (1.57 percent). UPL was the biggest loser among Nifty50 stocks after a media report indicated that the group is in exclusive talks to acquire Platform Specialty Products' agricultural pesticides business. Oil retailers IOC, HPCL and BPCL were down 0.7-2 percent on rising crude prices in the international markets. ITC (down 0.86 percent), ONGC (1.24 percent), HCL Technologies (1 percent), L&T (0.28 percent) and Dr Reddy's Labs (1 percent) were other losers among Nifty50 stocks. InterGlobe Aviation shares fell over 7 percent after source told CNBC-TV18 that the Enforcement Directorate has summoned the top management of the carrier in a case related to violations related to foreign exchange management act (FEMA). Bank of Maharashtra cut down losses to 0.3 percent from 7 percent intraday. The lender's Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Ravindra Marathe along with five others have been arrested for extending fraudulent loans to Pune-based DSK Group, Pune police said. Unichem Labs gained 5 percent after the pharma company entered into a settlement agreement with Eli Lilly & Company and ICOS Corporation to resolve their patent litigation in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey regarding company's abbreviated new drug application for generic tadalafil (Cialis). Asian Paints Ltd live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Share price of Kansai Nerolac Paints declined 2.6 percent intraday Wednesday. The company entered into share purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire 55% in RAK Paints, Bangladesh. The company has entered into SPA to acquire 55% of the paid-up equity share capital of RAK Paints, Bangladesh for a total consideration of Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) 57.26 crore (approximately Rs 45.81 crore), which is subject to adjustments for borrowings, working capital and fixed assets as at the closing date. The acquisition would be in accordance with the Regulations issued by the Reserve Bank of India for Overseas Direct Investment (ODI). The said acquisition is likely to be completed by July 31, 2018, subject to fulfilment of conditions precedent in the share purchase agreement RAK Paints is one of the established paint companies in Bangladesh having a diverse product range encompassing decorative paints and industrial paints. At 11:38 hrs Kansai Nerolac Paints was quoting at Rs 476.30, down Rs 9.45, or 1.95 percent on the BSE. Posted by Rakesh Patil The S&P BSE Sensex rallied over 250 points on Wednesday while the Nifty50 reclaimed 10,700 levels and closed above 10,750 after two straight days of decline, despite muted global cues in the morning. The Nifty50 index closed above most of its short-term moving averages such as 20-EMA, 13-EMA, and closed just around its crucial 5-EMA placed at 10,773, helped by value buying at lower levels. Stock markets in India shrugged recent weakness to trade on a positive note. In line with global cues, benchmark indices in Indian opened the day in the green and traded with strength, through the day, Abhijeet Dey, Senior Fund Manager-Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund. Recovery in global stocks boosted sentiment on the domestic bourses while bargain hunting at lower levels provided some stability to markets. Both the benchmark Sensex and the Nifty finally closed the day with gains of 0.50 percent, he said. Sectorally, the Nifty Bank rose 1.1 percent, followed by Nifty Realty index which rose 1.10 percent, and the Metal index closed 0.99 percent higher. On the losing side, the Nifty FMCG index slipped 0.46 percent, followed by the IT index which closed 0.28 percent lower. Top Nifty gainers include names like RIL (up 2.3 percent), Vedanta (up 1.9 percent), IndusInd Bank (up 1.8 percent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.6 percent), and HDFC Bank (up 1.6 percent). Top Nifty losers include names like UPL (down 3.2 percent), IOC (down 1.9 percent), HPCL (down 1.6 percent), ONGC (down 1.2 percent), and Dr Reddys Laboratories (down 1.06 percent). Stocks in news: Bank of Maharashtra which fell 7 percent intraday after a member of its senior management was arrested managed to recoup most of its losses. The lenders Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Ravindra Marathe along with five others have been arrested for extending fraudulent loans to Pune-based DSK Group, police said. The stock closed 0.3 percent lower. Shares of InterGlobe Aviation fell 7.4 percent as investors turned cautious of summons by investigating agencies to its top management. Source told CNBC-TV18 that the Enforcement Directorate has summoned the top management of the carrier in a case related to violations related to foreign exchange management act (FEMA). Shares of Unichem Laboratories added 4.9 percent as the company entered into settlement agreement with Eli Lilly. The company has entered into a settlement agreement with Eli Lilly & Company and ICOS Corporation to resolve their patent litigation in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey regarding company's abbreviated new drug application for generic tadalafil (Cialis). Shares of Wheels India gained 7.7 percent as investors cheered the news of bonus issue in the offing. The company, in a filing to the exchanges, said that a Board meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 22, 2018. In other news/Global Update: Globally markets traded higher with indices paring some of the sharp losses seen in the previous session caused by rising fears of a trade war between top two economies US and China. Japan's Nikkei, Australia's ASX 200 and South Korea's Kospi ended up 1 percent each followed by China's Shanghai Composite (up 0.31 percent) and Hong Kong's Hang Seng (up 0.77 percent). Among European markets, Britain's FTSE was trading higher by 1.2 percent while Germany's DAX and France's CAC gained 0.4 percent each at the time of writing this article. Oil prices also inched up due to a fall in US crude inventories and the loss of storage capacity in Libya. Investors also looked cautious ahead of OPEC meeting to decide production policy later in the week. Brent crude futures were at $75.57 a barrel, up 0.65 percent. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Jaydeb Dey The Nifty ended Tuesday 0.83 percent lower at 10,710.45. It opened with a minor gap down and continued making lows before ending the session with a bearish body candle. The index found support around its 30-day exponential moving average (EMA) on the daily chart placed around 10,700 levels and ended nearer to the days low. The candle pattern, along with position of leading indicators, suggests it may once again challenge its critical support of 10,700. Successful breakdown of 10,700 may unfold next leg of down move towards 10,670 and 10,650. Hence, staying cautious below 10,700 is advised. On the flip side, 10,750 and 10,810 may continue to act as critical resistances. On the Nifty hourly chart, it ended nearer to its 200 EMA placed around 10,700 levels. The relative strength index continues making lower lows. The chart pattern suggests that a break down below 200 EMA is likely. The next downside support is placed around 10,670 and 10,650 levels. Nifty patterns on multiple timeframes show consecutive bearish candle on the daily chart. The trend is likely to remain weak below 10,750. Below 10,700, the next leg of the correction towards 10,670 and 10,650 is likely. Bank Nifty ended Tuesday 0.54 percent lower at 26,265.75. It ended the session with a bearish body candle. The index is likely to challenge its 30-EMA on the daily chart placed around 26,200. Major resistance is placed around 26,450. Below 26,200, the next support is placed around 26,100. Based on thorough technical study, the research firm recommends Canara Bank for the near term: Canara Bank | Rating: Sell | Target: Rs 251, stop loss: Rs 270, Return: 4% The stock ended the previous session with a midterm upward trend line breakdown. This down move below critical support around Rs 265 is backed by rising negative open interest. Based on the above mentioned observations, the firm recommends Canara Bank as a sell on rise for the short term downside target of Rs 251. : The author is Technical Analyst at Stewart & Mackertich Wealth Management Ltd. The views and ideas expressed above may have been suggested to the clients of Stewart & Mackertich Wealth Management Ltd. It is advised that investors/traders should consult with their Certified Experts before taking any investment decision. Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya has been announced as the 100th smart city of India. With the selection of Shillong, the total proposed investment in all 100 cities under the Smart Cities Mission is around Rs 2 lakh crore. Till date, 99 cities had been selected after four rounds of competition. With the announcement, selection of all 100 smart cities is complete under the Smart Cities Mission. Previously, 20 cities were selected in January 2016, 13 cities in May 2016, 27 cities in September 2016, 30 cities in June 2017 and nine cities in January 2018. With the selection of Shillong, the total proposed investment in the finally selected 100 cities under the Smart Cities Mission would be Rs 2,05,018 crore, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said. The Centre had announced the final list of nine smart cities in January this year and had kept the slot for the 10th city, Shillong, vacant as the city could not submit its proposal on time due to elections. Nine cities that made it to the smart cities list in January, included three from Uttar Pradesh Bareilly, Moradabad and Saharanpur, Bihar Sharif (Bihar), Erode (Tamil Nadu), Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Havelli), Daman and Diu, Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) and Kavaratti (Lakshadweep). Shillong was the 10th city to make it to the list but could not submit its proposal. The demand of the Meghalaya government all along had been that the Centre should share the burden of investment by adopting the 90:10 ratio (90 percent by the Centre and 10 percent by the state). The Centre had categorically refused to give in to the demand as the funding pattern for the smart city project is on a 50:50 basis between the Centre and the states. Now, the state has agreed to the 50:50 share pattern, sources told Moneycontrol. There is a new government there. We will wait for their proposal. All North East states wanted funding for the smart cities mission in the 90:10 ratio. We had clarified to all the states that this is not a general scheme, the structure of the scheme is 50:50 between the Centre and the state. There is no exception and there will be no exception. "This is not an AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) scheme that has a 90:10 structure or for that matter the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan where the allocation of funds is in the ratio of 90:10. We have clarified to Assam, Arunachal, Manipur and all the North Eastern states that this configuration in the funding pattern cannot change. We will give them another chance to submit their proposal, if it does not come in within the next three to four months, we will give the slot to the next state, sources in the ministry had said. In the past, Tamil Nadu had its smart cities proposals delayed on account of a leadership crisis, yet the slots had been kept vacant and submitted by them subsequently. Till date, 99 cities have been selected under the NDA governments flagship program, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015. Among the states, West Bengal has chosen not to participate in the competition to choose smart cities. Only one city from the state New Town was selected when the second list was announced in September 2016 but with the state deciding to walk out of the program soon after, there has been no progress on the ground. Smart cities are meant to change the way urban India lives, smart cities will enjoy uninterrupted power and water supplies, internet connectivity, e-governance along with quality infrastructure. The selection of smart cities is based on the scores cities get for carrying out urban reforms in areas including sanitation and governance. Cities that scored the highest have been picked for the project, to be implemented over a 10-year period. The 100 Smart Cities Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 25, 2015. Under the mission, the Centre allocates Rs 500 crore to each of the cities for implementing projects proposed by it. This amount is matched with a grant of the same amount by the respective state. Vandana.ramnani@nw18.com In an attempt to provide relief to traders and local shopkeepers from the sealing drive, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has approved amendments in Delhi's Master Plan 2021 for local shopping complexes. These will now be notified by the ministry of housing and urban affairs which will file an affidavit in the Supreme Court. How will these amendments help? These may bring to a halt the sealing drive on local shopping complexes. Commercial premises of several traders have been sealed for failing to deposit conversion charges according to provisions in Master Plan 2021. The Supreme Court had last month issued a directive to the DDA to invite fresh feedback from the public over a period of 15 days on the amendments. 1. Liquor shops, pubs, discotheques and clubs cannot be opened on any floor of buildings falling in residential areas in the city. The main concern of most resident welfare associations is to do with non-residents and unauthorised persons entering residential areas. With commercial establishments operating in residential areas, there is a huge stress on the existing infrastructure including physical, social and civic infrastructure. These changes are expected to put an end to unwanted brawls and parking issues. What this also means is that liquor vendors or clubs located on residential plots may now have to shift to notified commercial complexes. Use of upper floors for commercial activities has also been allowed. The upper floors can now be converted to commercial use after paying the applicable charges. This also means that they may now get more ground coverage and floors from the earlier three storeys to four. It is important to understand that these colonies, some of which that are almost five decades old, were planned keeping in mind infrastructure requirements then. Over time, each plot has been converted from one floor to four floors putting immense pressure on parking space, water and power usage etc. A plot that was initially designed for perhaps five to six residents per plot, now supports over 50 people working in commercial spaces that come have come up on the residential plot. Infrastructure therefore needs to be augmented. 3. Activities which are non-polluting, non-hazardous and not prohibited by law in residential areas shall be permitted post the amendments to Delhis Master Plan 2021. 4. DDA has also approved that "amount collected on account of various charges will be credited to a designated fund (escrow account) to be used exclusively for augmentation of infrastructure facilities and amenities (parking, public toilets, water supply) of capital nature". For residential facilities designed five decades ago to service 200 people per hectare, now have to service around 2000 people per hectare. Infrastructure planned for 200 people needs to be augmented for 2000. This calls for redesigning the layout plans of the colonies taking into account current density of the area and providing for additional load of power, water, parking, roads etc. All this will require money. The amount collected on charges, as per the amendments to the Master Plan 2021, will have to be deposited in a designated escrow account to be invested for improving infrastructure for that particular colony. 5. In order to promote parking, the owner of the plot will be allowed to amalgamate the plots up to minimum plot size of 1,000 sqm, to provide additional parking on the amalgamated plot. These plots shall be entitled for a rebate of 50 percent in conversion charges. In case, there is no parking facility available in the vicinity, local body concerned may declare such areas as pedestrianised shopping streets or areas. Public transport authority shall ensure last-mile connectivity to these areas. Amalgamation, in this case, refers to razing the structure and rebuilding it after providing for integrated facilities with augmented parking basement or stilts and following disaster management norms. In the event of the building being redesigned to accommodate enhanced infrastructure facilities and services, the plot shall be entitled to a 50 percent rebate. Also, if a parking facility is designed away from the complex, it is mandatory for transport authorities to ensure last mile connectivity. Key takeaways DDA approving amendments to Master Plan 2021 is not enough. It is not a means to an end. All civic agencies need to come on board and revise the layout plans of these colonies taking into account details of population and their requirements. These need to be prepared and approved by civic agencies and investments need to be set aside proportionately, says Ramesh Menon of Certes Realty, adding layout plans need to be revised before amalgamation is permitted and amenities/services are augmented. Commercial establishments generally operate until late evenings disturbing peace and tranquility of the residential colony. Once shops, bars and other commercial establishments shift to designated commercial areas, residents will not be disturbed and pollution levels including noise, smoke and waste will also be controlled. Ahmedabad 70.4 (Image: Moneycontrol) Surat Smart City has been selected for the City Award for "great momentum" in implementation of projects, especially in the categories of urban environment, transport and mobility and sustainable integrated development. Nine awards in three categories including Project Award, Innovative Idea Award and City Award have been announced under the India Smart Cities Awards, which was launched on June 25, 2017 by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister. Bhopal and Ahmedabad have been jointly honoured with the Innovative Idea award for Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) and Safe and Secure Ahmedabad (SASA) Project, respectively. The award is given to a project/idea particularly remarkable for its innovative, bottom-up and transformative approach towards achievement of sustainable integrated development, ministry of housing and urban affairs, according to a press release. The project awards are being given to most innovative and successful projects in seven categories that have been completed by April 1, 2018. The projects selected are PC Care from Pune under Governance category; Smart Place Making from Pune under Built Environment; Smart Class rooms from NDMC and Jabalpur, Smart Campus from Visakhapatnam, Lighthouse from Pune under Social Aspects category, B Nest Incubation Centre from Bhopal and Conservation of Rajasthan School of Arts from Jaipur under Culture and Economy category, Public Bike Sharing from Bhopal, Pune, Coimbatore and Waste to Energy Plant in Jabalpur under Urban environment category, Integrated Transit Management System (TMS) from Ahmedabad and Surat under Transport and Mobility category and Smart Water Management through SCADA from Ahmedabad under Water and Sanitation category. Digital payments major Paytm has appointed former RBI Deputy Governor Rama Subramaniam Gandhi as an Advisor. The firm believes that Gandhi will bring his years of knowledge and experience on payment systems, regulations, compliance and corporate governance to the company. Gandhi has more than three decades of banking experience. During these years, he worked in the areas of banking and non-banking regulation, payment and settlement systems, financial markets regulation and operations, fin tech and currency management. Also read Ex-RBI Deputy Governor Rama Gandhi joins Paytm as Advisor The 62-year-old was a member of the first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). As the former Deputy Governor of RBI, Gandhi played an important role during the government's demonetisation drive in 2016. He was a Deputy Governor at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for three years from 2014 to 2017. Gandhi has also headed two regional offices of the Reserve Bank and held a charge as the Director of the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) in Hyderabad. Gandhi had joined Reserve Bank of India in 1980, where he worked in diverse areas including currency management and information technology. He was elevated to the position of Executive Director of RBI in March 2011. As executive director he looked after internal debt management and currency management, besides the strategic and crucial area of human resource management. Gandhi has a wide exposure in financial sector as he has been a Board Member of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). He has also been a Board Member of public sector banks and development financial institutions. Gandhi was born in 1956 in Devanallur, Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu and did his post graduation in Economics from the Annamalai University. The retired Deputy Governor also holds graduate degrees in Capital Markets and Management Information System from City University of New York and the American University, respectively. A bushel of soybeans are shown on display in the Monsanto research facility in Creve Coeur, Missouri, July 28, 2014. Monsanto engineers designed a chipper to shave a tiny tissue sample off a seed to analyze the seed's genetics. If the sample is positive for desirable genetic traits, the seed is still viable so a breeder can plant it in a field test and use it in the breeding process to create more seeds of its kind. Picture taken July 28, 2014. 20 of 25 Monsanto Stand Alone Picture Package. REUTERS/Tom Gannam (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT FOOD SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AGRICULTURE) - RTR42TJN Angel Commodities' report on Soybean NCDEX Jul Soybean closed lower due to profit booking by the market participants on expectation of good sowing. However, there expectation good physical demand due to anticipation of higher domestic crushing of soybean after government increase customs duty on crude as well as refine soy oil to 35% and 45% respectively. Prices have been under pressure on forecast of normal rains and lower meal exports data from both SEA and SOPA is weighing on prices this month. Soybean acreage till last week is 56 % higher than at 50,000 ha as compared to the last year acreage according to farm ministry report. Bangladesh, one of the largest importers of soymeal from India, reduced the import duty to nil which may result into tough competition for the country from South American peers in soymeal exports to Bangladesh. Soybean futures are expected to trade sideways to down on technical corrections on expectation of higher sowing due to forecast of normal rains but expectation of improved domestic crushing demand due to hike in import duty for soft oil may support prices. For all commodities report, click here Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Read More Software exporter Tech Mahindra on Wednesday announced strategic investments in the West by setting up Makers Labs, its R&D arm, in Munich in Germany and at Plano, Dallas, in the United States. The Maker's Lab is an R&D hub for co-innovation of solutions and services of the future with customers, partner companies, research institutions, universities, and start-ups, the company said. The centres will drive co-innovation and digital transformation with customers, partners and academia by leveraging next gen technologies, CP Gurnani, head of Tech Mahindra said in a satement. The company did not disclose the investment that has gone into these centres. Maker's Lab focuses on next gen technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, IoT, augmented reality/virtual reality, and 5G network among others. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seems to be in trouble for its leader's remark supporting "Referendum 2020" an initiative being carried out by hardliner Sikhs abroad who seek a separate nation of Khalistan. AAP MLA and leader of opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira's statement drew criticism from several political parties, including Congress, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Khaira had reportedly said, "I support the Sikh Referendum 2020 movement as Sikhs have the right to demand justice against atrocities suffered by them." Chief Minister Amarinder Singh condemned Khaira for "backing secessionism" by supporting the campaign, propounded by Sikh radicals for a separate homeland. In a statement, Singh said Khaira seemed to be indulging in political antics without any sense of the history of Punjab or any realisation of the possible consequences of his statement. Other Congress leaders, including Ramanjit Singh Sikki, Harminder Singh Gill and Hardev Singh Ladi, in a joint statement, sought clarification from AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, asking him whether he subscribed to Khaira's stand. "If Kejriwal does not support Referendum 2020, then he should take immediate action against Khaira, former state minister Bikram Singh Majithia of the SAD said. This has brought back memories of last year's assembly election campaign where the AAP was accused of allegedly courting Sikh hardliners. The partys chances to win were affected after the opposition's claim projecting AAP as a close aide to Khalistani forces gained traction. AAP is the second largest party in the 117-member assembly of Punjab. It is the only other state apart from Delhi where the party has established itself as a major player. What is Referendum 2020? The Referendum 2020 is a worldwide movement asking Sikhs living across the world to build a consensus in favour of Khalistan and sign a declaration for the formation of a sovereign and independent country in India-occupied Punjab. They claim that Sikhs are the indigenous people of Punjab and have a historical homeland, are a separate religion and have the right to self-determination. The referendum also asks Sikhs to reject article 25(b)(2) of Constitution that says Sikhs are a part of Hindu religion. The move is in line with rights under article 1 of Charter of United Nations. After Mehbooba Mufti's resignation, Jammu and Kashmir Governor Narinder Nath Vohra has taken charge of the state for the fourth time. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti resigned after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled out of its alliance with the People's Democratic Party (PDP). This is the fourth time in 10 years that J&K has been placed under governor's rule. Vohra is the only UPA-appointed governor who has not been asked to resign after the NDA came to power in 2014. The 82-year-old retired IAS officer has been the state's governor since 2008 and is due to retire on June 25, 2018. However, it seems like he could be asked by the Centre to stay on as governor until the Amarnath Yatra ends in August. From February 2003, until he took over as Governor of the state, Vohra served as the Centre's interlocutor in Kashmir. Vohra has held several positions in public service. He served as the Union Home Secretary from 1993 to 1994, and as Defence Secretary in 1990. He was the Principal Secretary to Prime Minsiter IK Gujral from 1997-98. The Padma Vibhushan awardee is an alumnus of Punjab University. BMC, Mumbai live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The Bombay High Court today directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to "reconsider" the blanket permission granted by it to some private and public agencies to trim trees on their premises. A bench of Justices A S Oka and R I Chagla asked on what basis had the civic body granted such blanket permissions, without any condition for determining whether these agencies were adhering to provisions of the Trees Act and the BMC's own rules. The bench was hearing an application filed by city-based activist Zoru Bhatena, challenging BMC's decision to allow some public and private agencies like Tata Power, Reliance Energy, the Railways, and the Airport Authority of India, to trim trees on their premises for the next three years. The corporation told the bench that it had been well within its powers in granting such permission since it was not for felling of any trees, but for trimming and pruning, that was essential for the maintenance of trees. BMC's counsel, advocate Anil Sakhre, argued that under section 383 of the Municipal Act, the corporation had the power to allow trimming and pruning of trees for their maintenance, or in cases where the trees had some overgrown or damaged branches posing a danger to one's life or property. The bench, however, said even section 383 mandated that such permission could be granted to private persons or bodies only after the civic commissioner was convinced that the trees on the respective person's property required trimming. "The Act does not talk of such blanket permission without any application of mind by the civic body. Who is to determine whether the trees that such bodies are trimming actually require to be touched? "And what if in the name of trimming, they cut 90 of the 100 branches and virtually kill the tree? That will be in contravention of the Trees Act," the bench said. "This will have to be reconsidered by BMC," it said. The court also directed the petitioner to amend its plea and make the agencies that have been granted such permission, a party to the plea. The BMC, in the meanwhile, will file a rejoinder justifying the permission granted. BJP leader Ram Madhav The BJP's decision to pull out from an alliance with PDP in Jammu & Kashmir was precipitated by CM Mehbooba Mufti's stance on rising violence, the party's general secretary Ram Madhav said. In an interview with News18, Madhav dismissed the suggestion the decision to end the three-year-old alliance was opportunistic. The BJP and PDP, with 28 and 25 seats respectively, formed an unlikely alliance following J&K's assembly elections in December 2014, in which no party could reach the majority mark in 87-member house. It was a historic alliance. We do not believe in political untouchability. I agree that it was compulsion of the moment, but it was not an opportunistic alliance," Madhav said. He added that the death of the then chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's in early 2016 was the first blow. "Mufti described it as the coming together of the North and South poles," Madhav said, adding that the BJP tried its best to maintain the alliance and ensure that the government lasts its full term. "I myself put in a lot of effort... but some alliances work and some don't," Madhav, who was seen as the architect of the alliance, said. The BJP leader said due to rising violence in the valley and because Mehbooba was taking "no credible efforts" to restore peace in south Kashmir, the alliance came to a point where it became untenable. "There were attacks in towns which didnt happen earlier. We felt the need for a strong control over the situation... we wanted local body elections to be held. We had agreed to postpone them till April, but I dont see the polls being conducted in the near future either, he said. On the murder of veteran journalist and Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari, Madhav said, Policemen and journalists are being killed because of the soft approach. We dont want that soft approach. The BJP leader, however, said he didnt agree with the contention that 2018 has been the bloodiest year in the Valley. "I don't agree that 2018 was the bloodiest. Numbers show 2011-12 to be much worse than it is now." Meanwhile, speaking to Rediff.com, J&K unit president Sat Paul Sharma said, "We formed the government three years ago to bring peace in Kashmir. One important agenda of the alliance was that we wanted all the three provinces Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh to be represented equally, but that was not happening in the alliance government." "The alliance government in particular did not represent the interests of Ladakh region which has a different language and ethnicity, and we felt development did not take place in that region," he added. "Jammu and Ladakh were not given equal treatment, so we withdrew support keeping the interests of the nation in mind," Sharma said. The BJP, in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, made a sudden announcement that it had parted ways with the PDP and that it would push for Governor's Rule in the state. National party president Amit Shah had called an urgent meeting of all J&K BJP ministers in New Delhi, following which the decision was announced. Army chief General Bipin Rawat Jammu and Kashmir was brought under Governor's rule today and the state Assembly put under suspended animation, a day after the PDP-BJP government collapsed with the BJP ending the three-year-old alliance with the regional party. As Governor N N Vohra held multiple meetings in Srinagar during which security measures were discussed, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said the ongoing military operations in the Valley against terrorists would continue as earlier. Governor's rule in the state is unlikely to have any impact on ongoing military operations, he told reporters in New Delhi. It is for the fourth time that the sensitive border state was placed under Central rule in the last one decade--all under the tenure of Vohra, who was made the Governor in June 2008. This is the eighth time in the last four decades that the state was put under Governor's rule. "The President has approved imposition of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect." a Union Home Ministry spokesman said in New Delhi in the morning. An official gazette notification issued in Srinagar said the Governor Vohra has put Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly under suspended animation. The six-year term of the current Assembly ends in March, 2021. Separately, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Centre wants terrorism to end and peace to prevail in Kashmir. "Our only aim is that terrorism should end and peace should prevail in Kashmir and our government will work keeping this in mind," he told reporters in Lucknow. Singh was responding to a question about BJP's dramatic decision to pull out of the coalition with the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP. Mehbooba submitted her resignation after the BJP withdrew support. Vohra had last night recommended imposition of Governor's rule in a report sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan around the time when President Ram Nath Kovind, who is on an overseas trip, was onboard his special aircraft. The contents of the Governor's report were immediately sent to Suriname where the president was scheduled to land at 6.30 pm (3 am IST). The president after perusing the report gave his assent and the same was sent to the Union Home Ministry by 6 am (IST) following which the process of promulgating Governor's rule was prepared and sent to Srinagar. "Immediately after receiving the President of India's approval, Governor N N Vohra issued the proclamation to impose Governor's rule in the state under Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir today," a Raj Bhavan spokesman said in Srinagar. After assuming charge as the head of the state administration, Vohra held meetings with top civil administration and police officials at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar. The Governor held discussions with Chief Secretary B B Vyas and identified the major tasks which shall require to be dealt with on a strict time-bound basis, beginning from today. He was earlier accorded a ceremonial welcome and guard of honour by a police contingent as he arrived at the Civil Secretariat to take charge of the administration. Vohra chaired a meeting of top officials -- both from civil administration and police -- to gear up the state administrative machinery to function with speed, efficiency and accountability. The break-up of the PDP-BJP coalition triggered celebrations in parts of the Valley, even as some people expressed apprehension that Governor's rule might lead to lack of transparency and worsen the situation in the state. In several areas of Kashmir, including Srinagar, Kupwara and Pahalgam, people burst firecrackers after the news broke out. "This alliance was unholy. The PDP should not have joined hands with the BJP in the first place. But better late than never. We are happy that this alliance has ended," said Faizan Mir, a resident of Srinagar. However, some people felt that an elected government was any day better than the Governor's rule. "A democratically elected government is much better any day than the Governor's rule which essentially means New Delhi's direct rule in the state where now they will have absolute control over the administration and the security apparatus. "They can do anything now in the absence of a government which otherwise could built pressure on them on certain issues," said Feroz Ahmad Bhat, a resident of central Kashmir's Ganderbal. Security preparations for the annual Amarnath yatra also figured during the meetings held by the Governor. Security forces have already been asked to maintain "highest level of alertness" and "synergy," police said. The two-month long pilgrimage to the 3,880 metre high cave shrine of Amarnath will commence on June 28. As speculation mounted over what could be the exact reason for the BJP to walk out of the alliance, BJP state president Ravinder Raina said deteriorating law and order situation was the main reason so that Governor's rule can be imposed to ensure restoration of peace and normalcy in the state. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav yesterday cited the "larger national interest...the deteriorating security situation" for the party's pullout. National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah called for immediate dissolution of the state Legislative Assembly and holding of fresh elections in the state. Jammu and Kashmir was brought under governor's rule today, a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled out of its alliance with the PDP, the Home Ministry said. In a surprise move, the BJP yesterday announced withdrawal of support to the PDP, saying it has become impossible to continue in the government in view of the growing radicalism and terrorism in the state. Following the resignation of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Governor N N Vohra had recommended imposition of Central rule in his report to President Ram Nath Kovind, a copy of which was also forwarded to the Home Ministry. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) CEO and Managing Director Ravindra Marathe along with five others have been arrested for extending fraudulent loans to Pune-based DSK Group, police said. Besides Marathe, BoM Executive Director Rajendra Gupta, DSK chartered accountant Sunil Ghatpande and DSK VP Engineering Department Rajiv Newaskar were arrested from Pune while ex-CMD Sushil Muhnoot was arrested from Jaipur. The banks Zonal Manager Nityanand Deshpande was arrested from Ahmedabad, the police said in a statement. Marathe was arrested for allegedly misusing his power in sanctioning loans to shell companies. The bank had given loan on the same property three to four times, sources said. The arrests were made under sections 120(B), 406, 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 109 r/w 34 IPC & 13(1)(c) r/w 13(2) of the PC Act. According to a police statement, the bank officers colluded with DSKDL by misusing their power and authority with dishonest and fraudulent intention to sanction and disburse the amount of bank under the garb of loan which was siphoned off. Marathe was appointed as the MD and Chief Executive Officer of the bank in September 2016, while Gupta was appointed as the executive director of the bank in December 2013. In February, the Pune police had detained embattled developer DS Kulkarni and his wife in New Delhi in a cheating case after the Bombay High Court lifted an interim protection from arrest given to them. Kulkarni was also arrested for allegedly cheating investors. Kulkarni and his wife Hemanti were booked by the Pune Police for allegedly cheating over 2,500 investors to the tune of Rs 230 crore. In March, NSE and BSE had suspended trading of DS Kulkarni Developers Ltd shares following a directive from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in a case related to alleged diversion of funds. In further development, a Pune court granted seven days police custody to Marathe, Gupta, chartered accountant Ghatpande and Newaskar. The former CMD of the bank, who was arrested in Jaipur, is expected to reach Pune on June 21, when the police will produce him in court along with zonal manager Deshpande. In court, the public prosecutor alleged that the bank officials had misused their position and sanctioned Rs 60 crore loan to DSK group in two tranches. The funds were allegedly diverted by Kulkarni for renovating his home. Nonetheless, the defense lawyer argued that the loans were sanctioned after due diligence and it is unfair to say that the bank officials had misused their position. Bank of Maharashtra said in a statement, "Banks total outstanding exposure to M/s D S Kulkarni Developers Limited is to the tune of Rs 94.52 crores which is fully secured by primary and collateral securities. Recovery process like SARFAESI action has already been initiated by the bank and some of the properties are due for auction. Bank has also declared M/s DSK Developers Limited and its promoters as wilful defaulters. Loans sanctioned to firm are as per Banks lending norms." This article has been updated to incorporate latest developments. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today took a fresh swipe at ally BJP, saying it came to power at the Centre by "spreading lies". Addressing Sena workers at the 52nd foundation day of the party in suburban Goregaon, Thackeray said the BJP spread "lies" ahead of the 2014 general elections and made false promises to people to win the mandate. Shiv Sena runs the government in Maharashtra in alliance with the BJP, but their ties have remain fraught. They recently fought bypolls in Maharashtra separately. Mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his foreign tours, Thackeray said, "Modi will soon start tours to other planets." He also hit out at the BJP's decision to withdraw support to the PDP-led government in Jammu and Kashmir. "Did you need three years and the sacrifice of 600 jawans to realise that this government was useless?" Thackeray said, questioning the decision to announce ceasefire during Ramzan. If terrorism had nothing to do with religion, why such ceasefire was announced, he asked. "Does Pakistan follow a similar policy during Ganpati festival or Dussera?" the Sena chief asked. Commenting further on the BJP's break-up with the PDP, he said: "When a similar divorce took place with us (ahead of the 2014 assembly polls in Maharashtra), you did not take so much time." Sena and BJP fought the assembly elections separately, but formed alliance after the results were declared. "We never gave up on our Hindutva ideology. If we lose power, we will regain it. But will never back down on Hindutva. "The government with which you broke up today had not announced the ceasefire. It was announced by the Centre," he said. Referring to the solider who was abducted and killed by terrorists, he said: "Aurangzeb was going home for Eid, but was killed by terrorists. And you announce ceasefire for such people (terrorists)." "You have broken up with PDP, now you can crush Pakistan. We will hail you (if you manage to do it)," he said. "I have reiterated several times that we are not in favour of cow-slaughter. But our Hindutva is not restricted to saving cows. Aurangzeb may be a Muslim but he accepted death instead of surrendering to terrorists. To offer him tributes is (also) part of my Hindutva," Thackeray said. The Sena chief also opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of the Centre. Earlier in the day, his party supported the Asom Gana Parishad's stand on the issue. "If the BJP is pushing for this bill, Shiv Sena MPs will oppose it. Why should we add more issues to worry about when we already have many. Why can't the similar bill be presented for Kashmir?" he said. The Sena chief averred that the next chief minister of Maharashtra would be from his party. "General elections may be held in December, hence the monsoon session of Maharashtra legislature is being held in Nagpur (instead of Mumbai, as is the custom). If there are some schemes for Vidarbha, then Shiv Sena will support it," he said. Thackeray also slammed NCP chief Sharad Pawar, saying he was dividing Marathi people. Pawar recently stirred up controversy at a function when he said his party should prefer the 'Paagote' such as the one used by social reformer Jyotirao Phule, and not the 'Puneri Pagdi' associated with Brahmin scholars. "Wearing a Pagdi does not make you Lokmanya (Tilak) or Phule... You have aversion to Tilak's Pagdi but you wear a special fur cap for Iftar," Thackeray said. June 20, 2018 / 05:18 PM IST Governor Vohra holds meetings with top officials After assuming charge as the head of the Jammu and Kashmir government today, Governor NN Vohra held meetings with top civil administration and police officials at the Civil Secretariat. "Immediately after receiving President of India's approval, Governor NN Vohra issued the Proclamation to impose Governor's Rule in the State under section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir today," a Raj Bhawan spokesman said. The Governor held discussions with Chief Secretary BB Vyas and identified the major tasks which shall require to be dealt with on a strict time-bound basis, beginning from today. He was accorded a ceremonial welcome and guard of honour by a police contingent as he arrived at the Civil Secretariat to take charge of the administration. Vohra later chaired a meeting of top officials both from civil administration and police to gear up the state administrative machinery to function with speed, efficiency and accountability. Governor's Rule was necessitated in the state following resignation by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in the wake of BJP pulling out of the coalition government. HD Kumaraswamy Arun Dollin, a constable attached to the Hubballi Town police station in Karnataka, was shocked when he was suspended for allegedly sharing posts on social media which were against Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. As per a report by The New Indian Express, Dollin had allegedly shared a post which read, Mr CM, when you will waive farm loan, when you will resign? He was also accused of sharing another post with derogatory comments against Laxmi Hebbalkar, the newly elected Congress MLA. Then he shared a post against the former Mandya MP, Ramya and a post which hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Police Commissioner, MN Nagaraj said: Being a government servant, one cannot post such matters on social media. He has been suspended with immediate effect. However, Dollin claims to be innocent and has reportedly said that the posts were accidentally shared by his wife. As per a report by One India, Mr Kumaraswamy had said on May 28, that if he fails to deliver on the farm waiver promise, then he will resign. On May 30, he chaired a meeting with 30 farmer group leaders. During this meeting, he announced a phase-wise plan to waive off loans given to farmers within 15 days. Eventually, he claimed that the waiver will be announced shortly and will have several stipulations attached to it. In the fourth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, held on Sunday in Delhi, Mr Kumaraswamy had requested for support from the Centre. The Financial Express reported him saying, As we are ready to waive loans to free farmers from debt, I request the Central government to provide 50 per cent financial support to our initiative. While Arun Dollin is still under suspension, we are yet to hear of any action taken against him by the authorities. June 20, 2018 / 11:37 AM IST Key Highlights from Prime Minister's Address: # The Centre is working towards ensuring that the incomes of our hardworking farmers doubles by 2022 # The government announced in Budget 2018 that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) will be at least 1.5 times the input cost # The introduction of the Soil Health Card has facilitated the farmers to identify crops leading to better yield and less use of fertilisers # Farmers now have easy access to fertilizers, including 100% neem-coated urea. # He encourages farmers to use drip irrigation and organic farming. # He also promotes alternate sources of income for farmers including poultry, bee-keeping and fisheries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah Earlier this month, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah reached out to two of National Democratic Alliances (NDA) allies Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in an effort to improve souring relations. With 2019 Lok Sabha elections in sight and Opposition parties joining hands for a grand alliance to fight the ruling government, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to woo its associate parties. Asked about the saffron party's recent overtures, an SAD leader said, "The BJP has been losing bypolls in several states. That is the only reason why they are reaching out to NDA partners. Its been four years of this government but there has been no attempt to meet or discuss strategies with any NDA member. Shiv Senas mouthpiece, Saamna, called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah wilful defaulters in ally management, hours ahead of a Sena-BJP meeting in Mumbai on June 6. The editorial also went on to ask, "Why is Amit Shah meeting NDA allies after losing by-elections?" "In 2019, the Shiv Sena will fight alone," it asserted. Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidus Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has already made an exit from the NDA in March this year over the Centre's delay in granting special status to the state. Strained ties between BJP and JD(U) There is also a sense of uneasiness between JD (U) and BJP with speculations of Nitish Kumar making a U-turn. According to a JD(U) leader, Kumars problem is that the BJP remains cold to his concerns on political, administrative and governance issues, leading to serious differences between the two parties. Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi also walked out of the NDA in February this year. What are the reasons for strained ties with allies? In Maharashtra, the BJP and Shiv Sena court a similar political constituency and both need support of each other and, to a large extent, can grow only at the expense of the other. In Punjab, the BJP and the Akali Dal occupy different political spaces. While the former is no threat to the latter, the Akali Dal is unhappy with what it sees as step-motherly treatment meted out to it. What are BJPs chances in Maharashtra and Bihar? In the 2014 assembly elections, the BJP and Shiv Sena had come together for a post-poll alliance. Now it remains to be seen if Amit Shahs recent visit to Matoshree, the residence of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, would lead to a thaw in their hot-cold relationship. Both parties are aware that contesting alone would prove to be fatal if the Congress and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) come together. Seat-sharing in Bihar also would not be easy for BJP as it may need to deny tickets to sitting MPs to accommodate the JD(U). According to a report by Mint, till 2009, the BJP used to contest 15 seats while in 2014, it alone won 22 seats in the state. Convincing Ram Vilas Paswans Lok Janshakti Party and Upendra Kushwahas Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, which had contested 10 seats in 2014, would be a further challenge for the BJP, the report added. Xiaomi Mi Max 3 has been spotted with a 6.9-inch screen and 5,400mAh battery on Chinese electronics certification agency TENAA's website. Xiaomi has made quite an impact in the smartphone industry in a very short period of time. With low-budget smartphones and innovating trendsetting models, Xiaomi has made its mark in the mobile phone domain. Xiaomi had confirmed last month that they are launching the successor to phablet-size Mi Max 2, the Mi Max 3. The upcoming device, spotted by Techy Trendz, will be launched next month, its specifications were revealed in a TENAA listing. The listing showed three phones with model number M1M1804E4T, M1804E4A, and M1804E4C. Specifications of the three models is largely same. According to the listing, the Mi Max 3 will feature a 6.9-inch display with a resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels and it will weigh 221gm. Other specifications of the device involve a Qualcomms Snapdragon 636 chipset for faster processing. The phone will likely come in three different RAM/Storage combinations- 3 GB RAM with 32 GB storage, 4 GB RAM with 64 GB storage and 6 GB RAM with 128 GB storage. The smartphone will have three camera sensors in total. It will feature a dual camera mounted at the rear side of the smartphone with a 12MP sensor as the primary camera. And it will have an 8MP front camera with a flashlight on the front side. The smartphone will run Android 8.1 Oreo OS. But the most noteworthy feature of the smartphone is its beast of a battery. It will pack a huge 5400mAh battery to run its device for a long duration. It is said that the model will be available in nine colours- Black, Gray, Silver, White, Gold, Rose Gold, Pink, Red, and Blue. Donald Trump New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a political opponent of US President Donald Trump, said on Tuesday that the state would sue the Trump administration for separating children of immigrants from their parents when apprehended illegally crossing the US border. The separations and detention of children at the southern US border with Mexico have caused an uproar in the United States and condemnation abroad, fuelled by videos of children in cages and audiotape of children wailing for their parents that has been broadcast on cable networks and posted on social media. "The Trump Administration's policy to tear apart families is a moral failing and a human tragedy," Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. Cuomo said that separating parents and children at the border violated their rights under the US Constitution, US Supreme Court precedents and a 1997 legal settlement that set standards for the treatment of children detained for immigration reasons. A spokesman for the Trump administration could not immediately be reached for comment on the New York lawsuit. US officials have defended the measures as a way to secure the border and deter illegal entry. Trump, a Republican, has made a hardline stance on immigration a centrepiece of his presidency. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a "zero tolerance" policy in April that all immigrants apprehended while crossing the US-Mexico border illegally should be criminally prosecuted under the country's criminal entry statute. The policy has led to family separations because when border agents refer apprehended migrants to court for prosecution, parents are held in federal jail to await trial by a judge while the children either remain in border patrol custody or are moved into facilities managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a Department of Health and Human Services agency. Cuomo said he would direct several state agencies to begin legal action against the Trump administration on behalf of some 70 children being held in at least 10 federal shelters in New York state. Aadhaar Card In a crackdown, the Jalpaiguri police in North Bengal have arrested a Chinese national who checked into a hotel in Jalpaiguri by allegedly showing an Aadhaar card. A Nepali citizen in the alleged possession of fake ID cards and a local businessman were also arrested. As per a report by The Hindustan Times, the police have charged all three of them with forgery and cheating. The case was presented before a local court on Monday who remanded them to police custody for seven days. The report quoted Sunil Kumar Chowdhary, Siliguri Police Commissioner as saying, Ye Wang, a Chinese national, Ganesh Bhattarai of Nepal and Bipul Agarwal, a local businessman, have been booked under Foreigners Act, forgery and cheating. While Bhattarai and Agarwal were produced before the court on Monday, Wang could not be taken since he fell ill. Some unnamed senior police officials said that Wang had produced an Aadhaar card as a proof of identity at the hotel, despite having a valid Chinese passport. At the time of arrest, the police also found some other fake documents. The police are currently investigating the background of the arrested foreign nationals and the purpose of their arrival in Jalpaiguri. As per a UNI report, the special raid was carried out by a joint team of Indian Army and Central Intelligence officers. The report also claims the name of the Chinese national to be Phu Wang. Both the Chinese and Nepali citizens could not explain how they got hold of an Aadhaar card in their name. A mobile phone, laptop, and some documents were seized from Wang. Interestingly, Siliguri is the gateway to India from Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh by road. While Wang is admitted to a Siliguri hospital for sickness, the police are currently interrogating the Nepali citizen and Indian businessman. Rank 7 | Washington DC, USA | Score - 87.6 (Image: Reuters) China seeks to acquire the crown jewels of American technology through theft, forced transfer, information-harvesting and acquisition, the White House said today, a day after President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump, pursuing his 'America First' policy, has been insisting that China has been unfairly benefitting from a massive trade imbalance with the US, now estimated to be USD 376 billion. "China seeks to acquire the crown jewels of American technology, including ag-tech, through six vectors," Peter Navarro, White House Director of Trade and Industrial Policy told reporters during a conference call. These six vectors are physical theft and cyber theft; forced technology transfer, typically as a condition of access to the Chinese market; evasion of export controls; export restraints on raw materials; information-harvesting campaigns designed to acquire and exploit the openness of our economy. An acquisition of crown jewels by state-backed funds that basically, scour places like Silicon Valley, Austin, Boston and beyond, for the best of what the US have in industries like artificial intelligence, block chain technology, robotics, high-tech manufacturing and high-tech shipping, Navarro said. "These, in fact, are the Made in China 2025 industries that China, with one-fourth of the world's population, wants to control 70 per cent of the production of by 2025," he said. Collectively, these six behaviours constitute what December 2017 National Security Strategy refers to as economic aggression, he said. "Much of this behaviour is outside international norms, and it is critical, both to the interests of the United States, as well as for the integrity and proper functioning of the global economy, that China cease these kinds of behaviour, and integrate its own non-market economy into the global trading system in a way that leads to fair, balanced and reciprocal trade," Navarro said. "As President Trump has said, this nation supports free and fair trade, but it will not support fool's trade," he said. Asserting that Trump has given China every chance to change its aggressive behaviour, Navarro said there was a clear linear path that begins with candidate Trump's famous job speech in June of 2016, in which he explicitly promised to take action under Section 301 if China failed to stop its attacks on its manufacturing and innovation base. "Once President Trump took office, the next point on that linear path was the Mar-a-Lago summit, in which all of these issues related to China's trying to acquire intellectual property were addressed at that summit, and there was 100 days that followed in which China was supposed to come up with proposed structural changes to address these. They did not," he said. "There's also the special trip the president's trade team took to Beijing to discuss these matters, which resulted in no progress. The Chinese delegation then came here to the Treasury Department. Again, no progress," he said. Navarro said that none of these efforts by the president and his team had resulted in any progress on the two core issues facing the US-China relationship: the need to reduce massive trade deficit, which represents an equally massive transfer of wealth, factories and jobs to China. Also more importantly for this country's economic future and national security, China's bid to acquire the crown jewels of American technology and intellectual property by any means necessary, by the six different vectors. Actions of Trump are purely defensive in nature and are designed to defend the crown jewels of American technology from China's aggressive behaviour, he added. "We have seen in the past what has happened to our industries from China's aggressive behaviour. China's predatory resulted after China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, and many of our traditional manufacturing industries basically going to China," he said. China has more than 50 per cent global share of air conditioners, appliances, colour TV sets, computers, electronics, machine tools, microwaves, mobile phones, refrigerators, solar and wind, steel, cement. Trump will not allow China to use the same kind of unfair trade practices and illicit behaviour to capture the so-called Made In China 2025 industries, which China has said that it wants to acquire, absorb, digest and re-innovate, he said. "These are the future of the world and of America, and China cannot have 70 percent of production of these industries by 2025," he said. Asserting that the US is not backing off, Navarro said that China has much more to lose in this trade dispute than the United States. "If you simply do the numbers, we imported about USD 500 billion worth of China's exports in 2017, and we exported only USD 130 billion to China. We had initially USD 50 billion in tariffs that were very carefully targeted, simply to defend in the China 2025 industries," he said. "What the president did yesterday in announcing an additional USD 200 billion, it's clear that China does have much more to lose. What we have at stake is USD 130 billion going to China. What they have at stake is over USD 500 billion coming to us," Navarro said. He conceded that this trade dispute will lead to relatively small effects where the two economies that collectively add up to about USD 30 trillion in annual GDP. China's behaviour has created a huge structural imbalance in the world economy and lead to this massive wealth transfer to China, not just from US, but from Europe, Japan and from wherever else China is able to acquire technology from and it needs to be addressed. "If our companies are able to operate in China without fear of losing their technology, if our companies are able to operate here without the fear of Chinese cyber agents coming in and stealing the trade secrets, intellectual property and other things, this economy will be stronger, the global economy will be stronger and we will have a much better relationship," Navarro said. Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (L) at the Great Hall of the People on March 27, 2017 in Beijing, China. REUTERS/Lintao Zhang/POOL *** Local Caption *** Xi Jinping;Pushpa Kamal Dahal - RTX32VYZ China is ready to strengthen cooperation with landlocked Nepal in infrastructure connectivity and trade and investment under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping said here today while meeting with Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli. China and Nepal signed eight agreements for developing major infrastructure projects in the Himalayan nation to further deepen bilateral ties, media reports said. China has been investing heavily in Nepal in the last few years to enhance connectivity and infrastructure. "China stands ready to strengthen cooperation with Nepal in infrastructure connectivity, post-disaster reconstruction, trade and investment under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative," Xi was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency. Xi said China is committed to keep intact the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nepal, the Kathmandu Post reported. During the meeting, Xi expressed gratitude towards Nepal for maintaining the 'One China' policy and not allowing anti-China activities on Nepalese territory, it said. Oli, who arrived here yesterday on his first official visit to China since his re-election, witnessed the signing of the agreements at the Nepal Embassy. The agreements were signed between the governments and private companies of Nepal and China to develop hydropower projects, cement industries, and establish highland food parks, the Himalayan Times reported in Kathmandu. An agreement was signed between the Investment Board of Government of Nepal and Huaxin Cement Narayani Pvt Ltd under which the Chinese firm has pledged Nepalese Rs 14.4 billion (USD 130 million) of FDI to generate 3,000 metric tonnes of cement per day, the report said. Another MoU was signed to prepare a detailed feasibility study on Eastern Tarai Irrigation System in the Biring, Kamala and Kankai rivers, it said adding the two countries agreed on establishing the highland food park for varieties of fruits and vegetables with an investment of over USD 46 million, it said. They also agreed for the development of 164 MW Nepal Kaligandaki Gorge Hydropower Project which would be developed on BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) model. Furthermore, an agreement was signed for the construction of 40.27 MW Siuri Nyadi Hydropower Plant Project in EPCF (Engineering-Procurement-Construction-Finance) model, the report said. An agreement between Nepal Pashmina Industries Association and One Belt One Road International Trade Platform of CIC Mutual Trade Investment Company was signed for the sale of Nepali pashmina in China, it said, adding the purchase order from China would be between 200,000 to 500,000 pieces every year. A separate MoU on Framework Agreement for Cooperation in Marsyangdi Cascade Hydropower Project of 600 MW was also signed. The two sides also agreed for the Construction of 75 MW Trishuli Galchhi Hydropower Project in EPCF Model, the report added. During his six-day visit, Oli is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang and address a Nepal-China Business Forum and think-tanks in Beijing. Oli's visit comes after his trip to India soon after his reelection as prime minister which was followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's return visit to Kathmandu. During his brief tenure in 2016, Oli widened China-Nepal ties by signing the transit trade treaty with China to reduce the dependence of his landlocked country on India at the height of the Madhesi agitation and had sought expansion of road links through Tibet besides extension of China's railway to Nepal through the Himalayas. Greece will likely get up to 15 billion euros ($17.33 billion) for stabilisation after its third bailout programme ends in August so it does not have to borrow from the market, a senior German government official said on Tuesday. The money will be taken from unused funds made available in Greece's bailout, the official said. Germany did not consider a contribution of 1.6 billion euros from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as compulsory, the official added. Additional measures for Greece must be approved by the budget committee of Germany's Bundestag, the official said, adding that a vote on the matter by the lower house could be ruled out. In a setback to bigwigs, Pakistan's election commission on June 19 rejected the nomination papers of former prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan for the NA-53 constituency of Islamabad. The nomination papers of Abbasi and his covering candidate Sardar Mehtab Khan for NA-53 were rejected by the returning officer after the candidates failed to fill the affidavit as per the requirements, Dawn reported. According to the returning officer, Abbasi had not submitted complete tax returns with his documents either. The candidates have vowed to challenge the decision in the election tribunal today. Khan's nomination papers for the same constituency were rejected on account of being incomplete. His nomination papers were challenged earlier this month by Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party candidate Abdul Wahab Baloch, who contended that Khan did not fulfill the criterion under articles 62 and 63 on the issue of Sita White and her daughter Tyrian. Although the returning officer rejected Baloch's objections against Khan's candidature, he turned down the PTI chief's papers saying he had submitted an incomplete affidavit as approved by the Supreme Court. The officer said that Khan had not filled a column in the affidavit in which he was required to describe his performance as a Member of National Assembly (MNA). Khan had served as MNA from NA-56 Rawalpindi. There had been resentment in his constituency as he allegedly never visited it during his five-year term despite living in Banigala only a few kilometres away, the paper said. Khan is also contesting from four other cities including Karachi, Lahore, Mianawali and Bannu. His nomination were accepted from three places but rejected from Mianawali on technical grounds. All aspirants can file appeal against rejection of their nominations by June 22, and election tribunal will decide the appeals by June 27. The revised lists of candidates will be published on June 28 whereas the last date for withdrawal of candidature is June 29. The final list of contesting candidates is scheduled to be published on June 30. The United States -- facing massive controversy over immigration -- received more asylum requests than any other developed nation in 2017, overtaking Germany, the OECD said in a report published today. Asylum requests went up 26 percent in the US to 330,000, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its annual International Migration Outlook. Germany, which has been the top destination for asylum seekers in the rich nations' club since 2013, meanwhile saw a 73 percent drop in applications in 2017 to 198,000, the report said. Italy followed with 127,000 asylum requests, followed by Turkey with 124,000 and France with 91,000. In the US, 40 percent of the applications came from people leaving El Salvador, Venezuela and Guatemala. The report was released as President Donald Trump faces a cacophony of criticism over his administration's practice of separating migrant children from their parents on the US-Mexico border. Pushpays [ASX:PPH] share price dropped by 5.24% yesterday, following the news that co-founder Eliot Crowther was leaving the business and cashing in on his portion of shares. Pushpay has been in a trading halt since Monday, pending an announcement that would confirm the details of Crowthers sell-out. The software companys shares are currently valued at $3.80, down from $4.01 prior to the trading halt. Why is Pushpays co-founder cashing-out? On Monday, Pushpay announced a fully underwritten bookbuild in order to sell down all shares owned by co-founder, executive director and sales executive, Eliot Crowther. Crowther will have completely resigned from the company as of 31 July, 2018. Pushpay have specified in an announcement that Crowther is stepping down for personal reasons, to focus on his family. The sell-out was finalised yesterday, with all 24,793,798 shares held by Crowther sold at NZ$4.04 per share, making Crowther approximately NZ$100 million richer. Chris Heaslip, Pushpays CEO was pleased with the outcome, stating that, The bookbuild was well supported with bids from 19 institutional investors across New Zealand, Australia and the US. The success of the bookbuild demonstrates strong support for Pushpay and understanding of our business proposition from a global perspective. The high level of interest and support assisted in delivering a successful outcome for the Company, our existing shareholders and new shareholders. The bookbuild attracted a number of high quality institutional investors, and the support received is testament to Pushpays business proposition, execution to date and future prospects. Whats next for Pushpay? Bruce Gordon, Pushpays Independent Chairman, has stated that, The board is actively searching for an additional US-based Director and is considering suitably qualified candidates of diverse backgrounds and experience. Despite the current lapse in investors confidence, Pushpay is positive about their future and their new shareholders. They are confident that their revenue guidance of between US$20.5 million and US$22.0 million for the quarter ending 30 June 2018 remains unchanged. Regards, Dannielle Rawlings For Money Morning PS: Despite the recent fall, Pushpay has experienced huge growth since listing on the ASX in late 2016. Pushpays share price has increased by over 102% in less than 2 years. Our Analyst Sam Volkering believes that the biggest potential gains are in small-cap stocks, which is why he has written a free report in which he reveals his top small-cap picks. If youre interested in learning more check out his free report Top Three Aussie Small-cap Stocks. Montreals commercial/industrial rental real estate segment is getting pumped up by a healthy influx of Bitcoin miners and legal marijuana growers, with latest numbers from Cushman & Wakefield showing that the sectors availability rate is down to a tight 3.2% for Q1 2018. This is considerably lower than the 5.2% rate from the previous quarter and the 6.7% during Q1 2017. Demand for Montreals spaces, which observers have attributed to the citys relatively affordable electricity costs, is most starkly observable in the absorption rate. Cushman & Wakefield national director of research Stuart Barron stated that between late 2010 and late 2015, around 500,000 square feet of vacant commercial/industrial space in Montreal was leased every year. Disruptors seeking to change the way real estate is bought and sold are focusing on Arizona for their expansion. Both Purple Bricks and Home Bay have announced they are including the Grand Canyon State as they continue to grow their markets across the US. Purple Bricks has also launched in Las Vegas, Nevada while Home Bay adds a presence in Virginia. American politicians are at it again: punching OPEC. The cartel has often been a bogeyman for U.S. politicians since the first oil crisis in 1973. Now OPEC is facing a renewed political assault in Washington, directly from President Trumps Twitter account, and quietly, but potentially more dangerously, from Congress. In books and social media postings going back 30 years, Trump has repeatedly attacked the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, saying oil prices should be around $30 a barrel and arguing OPEC was stealing money from American citizens. The presidents track record is important now because U.S. lawmakers have resurrected the so-called "No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act," or NOPEC, which proposes making the cartel subject to the Sherman antitrust law, used more than a century ago to break up the oil empire of John Rockefeller. OPEC said to debate output hike of 300,000 to 600,000 B/D The bill was re-introduced in late May and cleared its first legislative hurdle last week when the House Judiciary Committee quickly sent it to floor deliberation. It would allow the U.S. government to sue OPEC for manipulating the energy market, potentially seeking billions of dollars in reparations. For OPEC, which meets later this week in Vienna to discuss oil production, the bill is a fat-tail risk. The chances that it passes are small, but if it happened the consequences would be enormous. For some, the NOPEC bill stands comparison with the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, which for the first time permitted lawsuits against Saudi Arabia over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. U.S. politicians have tried several times since 2000 to pass the NOPEC bill, but the White House opposed it -- both George W. Bush and Barack Obama threatened to use their veto. The risk for OPEC is that Trump may break with his predecessors. "Unlike past presidents, Trump is much more likely to sign it," said Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University in New York and a former Obama administration oil official. Trump, before becoming president, didnt just support the NOPEC bill, he was a cheerleader. "We can start by suing OPEC for violating antitrust laws," he wrote in his 2011 book "Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again" about the problem of high oil prices. "Currently, bringing a lawsuit against OPEC is difficult," he wrote. "The way to fix this is to make sure that Congress passes and the president signs the "No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act." Bob McNally, founder of consultant Rapidan Energy Group LLC and a former oil official at the White House under George W. Bush, said that "given President Trumps strong past support for NOPEC in his book and maverick style, NOPECs chances have never been better." OPEC officials are worried, both about the bill itself and the potential for Congressional hearings attacking the cartel. Oil boom bottleneck costs Permian investors $1 billion a day Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Irans representative at OPEC, said over the weekend that the U.S. bill was an attempt to "blackmail" the group, adding that using antitrust law is nonsense legally speaking, and we in OPEC are fighting it." In Washington, however, U.S. lawmakers, facing raising pump prices in the months before midterm elections to decide which party controls Congress, are talking equally tough. "OPEC is an international cartel whose members deliberately collude to limit crude oil production as a means to fixing prices, unfairly driving up the price of crude to satisfy the greed of oil producers," Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat lawmaker from New York, whos co-sponsoring the legislation, told the Judiciary Committee last week. Difficult Journey The bill faces a long, difficult journey before it can become law. Previous attempts have cleared the Judiciary Committee four times, and despite a veto threat by then-president George W. Bush, the bill even got approved by the House of Representatives in 2007 in a 345-72 vote, and the Senate by 70-23, only to die afterward. It remains to be seen if House leadership will bring the bill to the floor for a vote, said Brian Griffith, a spokesman for bill sponsor Representative Steve Chabot, an Ohio Republican. NOPEC doesnt necessarily require a stand-alone floor vote. A back-door route to approval would be to add it as an amendment to a larger bill that the leadership could be reluctant to stop, such as a continuing resolution. The White House has yet to signal where it stands. If Trump flip-flops, he wont be the first president to do so: Obama voted in favor of the bill as a senator in 2007, but opposed it as president. Yet Obama didnt have Trumps decades-long history of OPEC-bashing that started in its 1987 book "Trump: The Art of the Deal," where he describes how the group was responsible for the troubles American airlines suffered in the 1970s. The attacks have lately increased as oil prices rose to $80 a barrel and gasoline prices soared. "Looks like OPEC is at it again," Trump tweeted on April 20, his first comment on social media about OPEC since he became U.S. president. "Oil prices are artificially Very High!" He repeated his attack this month, saying: "Oil prices are too high, OPEC is at it again. Not good!" --With assistance from Grant Smith, Golnar Motevalli and Ari Natter. 2018 Bloomberg L.P. As we strive to be the healthiest community in Texas, we need to work on becoming the safest community, too. A few days ago, we were saddened by the loss of esteemed pediatrician, Dr. Brandey Ackerman, a devoted wife and mother of three children. Her death brings to 17 the total number of deaths on roads in Midland County since January, which outpaces the number of deaths in 2016 and 2017. How many livestock would we have to lose before we do something about it? We need to work on our city and state laws to ensure that people can enjoy the sport they love, without being afraid for their lives. I know the law has been passed banning the use of cellphones while driving. How often this law has been enforced? Driving around Midland, you cant help but notice people using their cellphone while driving. I will not be surprised if the major cause of car accidents is still distracted driving. The other issue Midland police needs to clamp down on is driving under the influence. There needs to be stricter rules for people who operate a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. We need to create separate lanes for bicycles on the streets, especially on streets most traveled by bicyclists to help provide a safe route for their favorite sport. We also need to have laws about bicycle riding around the city. Bicyclists need to wear helmets, ride in the same direction as traffic, obey speed limits and stop signs and look into their blind spots. I am suggesting creating a park where people can ride their bicycles safely, families can bring their kids for walking and playing and bring their pets and that provides a shady area for people to be able to enjoy the weather. There is no time like today to start working on this project. With all the infrastructure being built around the city, we need to make sure that young families feel welcome and able to enjoy the amenities offered in our town. Dr. Sari Nabulsi, assistant chief medical officer Midland Memorial Hospital Five people, including a man from Eagle Pass, were charged Tuesday with federal offenses in connection with a Sunday accident in Dimmit County that left five dead, according to the U. S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Texas. All five are charged with transporting undocumented immigrants and conspiracy to transport and harbor undocumented immigrants, resulting in serious bodily injury and death, according to a press release. They face potential maximum penalties of life in prison or death. The fatal accident occurred after Border Patrol agents attempted to stop and inspect three vehicles traveling in a convoy on FM 2644 between El Indio and Carrizo Springs. One of the vehicles stopped, but the other two fled. A Dimmit County sheriffs deputy joined in the pursuit, which reached 100 mph. RELATED: Congressman responds after public demands answers on migrant children: 'Where are the girls?' When the driver of a black Chevrolet Suburban, speeding east on Texas 85, lost control in Big Wells, the vehicle rolled several times and many of the passengers were ejected. Four died at the scene, and a fifth died after being taken to a San Antonio hospital. Charged were Jorge Luis Monsivais Jr., 20, of Eagle Pass; Marcial Gomez Santana, 55, a Mexican citizen; Mariela Reyna, 45, also Mexican; her son, Rudy Gomez, 21, of Hockley; and her daughter, Johana Gomez, 19, of Houston. All five remain in custody. According to the complaint, Monsivais was the driver of the Suburban that crashed, loaded with 13 undocumented immigrants. Seven of them remain hospitalized. One was released to the Border Patrol after receiving medical attention. RELATED: Mugshots: 60 nabbed in TX online child sex crime raid The driver of a 2008 Tahoe, a 17-year-old juvenile, evaded law enforcement before coming to stop. Several people absconded before Border Patrol agents detained the driver and 10 suspected undocumented immigrants, according to the press release. The juvenile driver remains in custody of Dimmit County officials. Of the 23 suspected undocumented immigrants involved, 21 were Mexican and two were Hondurans. Six are still being held as material witnesses. John MacCormack is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | JMacCormack@express-news.net | Twitter: @JohnMacCormack Currently Reading How Republicans have reacted to Trump's policy of separating migrant families Mahoning County Sheriff's Office An Ohio man who tried seduce a "teenager" he met online with Chicken Alfredo, Sprite and lube has been given a short jail term. Albert Maruna IV, 23, was ordered this week to serve seven days in the Ashtabula County lockup and another 120 days under house arrest after he was busted in a sex sting in December. Assessment, cleanup and repairs are moving forward at Michigan Technological University in the aftermath of devastating flash floods in the western Upper Peninsula produced by torrential rains over the weekend. The National Weather Service reports as much as seven inches of rain fell in the Copper Country between 11 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday, with the majority of rainfall occurring from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday. Roadways throughout the area washed out; homes and businesses were severely damaged or destroyed by mudslides, flooding and cave-ins. University property and grounds were damaged, but there are no reported injuries on campus. Michigan Tech President Glenn Mroz expressed his admiration and appreciation for the Michigan Tech community and the people of Houghton County. The outpouring of support, resources and offers to help has been humbling and comforting, Mroz says. It reminds us of what this community is made ofgrit, determination and heart. Mroz says while the photos and video footage of the damage are unsettling, the University and community are on the mend. We are transitioning from recovery to restoration, he says, noting that University personnelincluding the Incident Command Team (ICT), Facilities, and Information Technology, and many othersare working around the clock to ensure campus safety. Because many roadways in the area remain closed or compromised, University officials advise employees who feel unsafe traveling to campus to use their best judgment when determining whether to return to work. The Houghton County Office of Emergency Measures is offering local road closure updates via local media. Responding to the Storm and Aftermath Staff who work in the Administration Building gather in the Van Pelt and Opie Library for an update on building assessment progress. As the rain was still falling early Sunday morning, the ICT mobilized to coordinate response efforts. Campus was closed Sunday and Monday, re-opening today. While classes have resumed, the Administration Building, which took the brunt of flooding, remains closed for assessment. The flooding also forced cancellation of the first week of Michigan Techs Summer Youth Program, which was set to begin Sunday afternoon. Plans concerning program resumption will be announced when available. The nearly 150 University employees who work in the Administration Building met with University officials today to plan alternative work arrangements while the building remains closed. University-wide updates will be posted on mtu.edu/alert. Ways to Help, and Be Helped Huskies around the Copper Country are picking up shovels and making donations. Huskies around the nation are reaching out to ask how they can help with disaster relief efforts. If youd like to make a monetary donation, two area non-profits, Keweenaw Community Foundation and Portage Health Foundation have activated flood relief funds. The Betty Chavis Fund is a means to specifically help Michigan Tech students affected by the disaster. Donate via the Michigan Tech Giving page by selecting give now, other, and typing in "Betty Chavis Emergency Fund." The City of Houghton and Houghton County are organizing volunteer work crews. To volunteer, call 906-233-6621 or visit the Copper Country Strong 2018 volunteer information page on Facebook. Helping hands and hot showers Businesses across the area are accepting donations and providing food and beverages to aid in the recovery. One case in point: The Student Development Complex has opened locker rooms 109 and 110 to storm-displaced community members looking for free, clean, hot showers. Check in at the ID desk by the multipurpose room during current building hours to get towels and directions. No pass or ID required, although the number of folks using the facilities will be tracked. Current building hours are: - MondayFriday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. - Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. - Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, the University offers more than 125 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure. All procrastibakers do not bake alike. Procrastibaking the practice of baking something completely unnecessary, with the intention of avoiding real work is a surprisingly common habit that only recently has acquired a name. Medical students, romance writers, freelance web designers almost anyone who works at home and has a cookie sheet in the cupboard can try it. I started procrastibaking in college as a way to feel productive while also avoiding my schoolwork, said Wesley Straton, a graduate student in New York City. Baking feels like a low-stakes artistic outlet. Some procrastibakers like to make long, slow recipes that break up the entire day, returning to their spreadsheets or study guides in between steps like proofing, chilling and rising. Those who use baking as a transition into a creative state of mind are more likely to stir up a quick banana bread or pan of brownies. My personal favorite time suck is baking macarons, author Jessica Cale said. Not only does it take quite a lot of time and patience to figure out how to get them right, but it can take up to three days to complete the process. Procrastibaking also is a thriving hashtag on Instagram, where #procrastibaking posts seem to proliferate just before annual rituals of anxiety like exam weeks, Tax Day and Election Day. And on any given day, baking photos are popular on Instagram, whether they are of plain chocolate chip cookies or a pastel rainbow-stripe cake. Its clear that, for many cooks, todays telecommuting jobs combined with the comforting rituals of the kitchen and the lure of Instagram likes have made procrastibaking irresistible. I should admit that I find many ways to procrastinate, but most of them, like weeding out the sock drawer for singletons, are just not as Instagrammable, said Allison Adato, an editor at People magazine. Rachel Courville, a veterinary student at the University of Missouri in Columbia, has baking sessions alongside study sessions to prepare for weeks where we just have an inhumane amount of tests, she said. To decide what to make, I just think, What will make my future, super-stressed-out self a little happier? (The answer, she said, usually is cake.) Tim Pychyl, a psychology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, said procrastination is one of few situations in which people consistently make choices that are demonstrably bad. We make an emotional, irrational decision to do what feels good right now, instead of doing what is necessary, he said. Present self feels better, but future self gets jerked around. Procrastibaking, he added, like procrasticleaning, is an unconsciously deployed strategy that makes us feel skilled, nurturing and virtuous in the present while distracting us from the future. The kitchen gets a mighty workout in March and April, said Renee Kohlman, a freelance writer in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. (Canadian income tax filings are due April 30.) I know I should be at my desk, calculating how much I spent on internet and groceries and gas, but somehow I find myself at the counter, measuring out yeast and flour to make cinnamon buns. Best practices for procrastibaking still are being established. The fun component is essential to procrastibaking, so the content of your product should not be something that you need to make in order to meet your daily nutritional needs, Amy Sentementes wrote in an email. Sentementes, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, writes a blog about eating well as a graduate student. Baking sweet potatoes until they caramelize is a great project, she said, but its not procrastibaking. Also, any recipe that requires leaving the house to buy ingredients is not in the spirit of procrastibaking. The procrastibaker must believe that it is possible to be simultaneously working on a document, buttering pans and separating eggs. A shopping trip to buy cocoa powder destroys the fantasy that the baking is not really an interruption of the work. Thats why recipes like kitchen sink cookies, which use whatever ingredients are on hand, are ideal. Jonathan Martin, a medical student in London, said the best recipes for effective procrastibaking are those with many steps, allowing the procrastibaker to get some work done in between and sustain an illusion of efficiency. I make a few sourdough loaves, with the autolyzing, bulk proofing and then final rising steps all hours apart, he said. Another favorite is millionaires shortbread, which demands time for the layers shortbread, then caramel, then chocolate to chill between steps. Looking forward to the next step allows me to enjoy and justify the time spent, Martin said. Theres a vivid description of procrastibaking, before it had that name, in a poem by Grace Paley called The Poets Occasional Alternative (published in Begin Again, her 2000 collection). It begins: I was going to write a poem / I made a pie instead it took / about the same amount of time / of course the pie was a final / draft a poem would have some / distance to go days and weeks and / much crumpled paper. Many writers say that procrastibaking actually is part of their work, allowing them to enter a flow state that is conducive to creative thinking. Mia Hopkins, a Los Angeles writer of racy romance novels, came to procrastibaking late. When I was schoolteacher, I used to procrastinate by reading and writing romances, she said. When I started writing romance full time, I had to find a new way to procrastinate. She said procrastibaking is her way out of writers block especially pie, because it is more stimulating to the senses than other recipes. You can bake an entire cake without touching anything, she said. With a pie, you squeeze the dough, you slice the fruit, you crimp the crust. Baking helps her get out of the tangle of words in her head and into the physical world, she said, which helps with her particular line of work. More surprisingly, there are many professional bakers who procrastibake. I used to beat myself up over it, but I dont anymore, said Erin Gardner, a cake decorator in New Hampshire. I think its part of my creative process, and I just need to submit to it. Inventing stunning new ways to shape chocolate flowers and stack cake layers is an imperative for Gardner, who contributes to The Cake Blog and to American Cake Decorating magazine, and who occasionally competes on the cutthroat cake-show circuit. Being in a field where I have to be creative on demand, I think my brain needs to ride on cruise control before getting down to business, she said. So when she is procrastibaking, she sticks to the recipes she can make without thinking, like cookies, scones and brownies. Maybe Im like a professional athlete, she said. We cant just get out there on the floor and start playing and be at the top of our game. We have to warm up, stretch, do our drills. Juicy Orange Cake Yield: 10 servings Total time: 1 hour, 45 minutes For the cake: 1 cup/225 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature, plus more for the pan 3 oranges, preferably organic 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice 3 cups/375 grams all-purpose flour teaspoon baking soda teaspoon salt 2 cups/400 grams sugar 3 eggs, at room temperature 1 cup/235 milliliters buttermilk For the glaze: cup/120 milliliters fresh orange juice 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice cup/66 grams sugar Butter a deep, 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment or wax paper. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Finely grate the zest of the oranges into a bowl. Squeeze 3 Tablespoons of the juice from the oranges and add it to the zest. (Reserve remaining oranges for making glaze.) Stir in lemon juice and set aside. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter at medium speed until fluffy and light, from 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. At low speed, add a third of the dry ingredients and a third of the buttermilk, mixing until the batter is just combined. Repeat with remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk, adding in batches and mixing until just combined. Add the orange zest mixture and combine. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until just firm in the center and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are OK), about 1 to 1 hours. Start testing after 1 hour. Meanwhile, make the glaze by stirring the juices and sugar together until sugar dissolves. When the cake is done, let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. (It will still be warm.) Turn out onto a wire rack set on a sheet pan with sides. (Run a knife around the edges if it sticks at first.) Peel off the paper and use a baster or brush to spread a few spoonfuls of the glaze over the top. Let soak in before adding more. Continue until all the glaze is absorbed by the cake, including any that drips through onto the sheet pan. (Use your brush to pick it up from the pan and transfer back to the top of the cake.) Let cool at room temperature. Eat immediately or wrap well in plastic and refrigerate. Serve at room temperature or cold, in thin slices. Kitchen Sink Cookies Yield: About 18 large cookies Total time: About 1 hour, plus chilling For the toffee (optional): cup/57 grams unsalted butter ( stick) cup/100 grams sugar teaspoon kosher salt cup/110 grams toasted nuts or seeds (optional) For the cookies: 2 cups/280 grams all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more for tossing 1 teaspoon baking soda cup/170 grams unsalted butter (1 sticks), slightly softened at room temperature 1 packed cup/220 grams light or dark brown sugar cup/100 grams sugar 1 egg, at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla extract About cup/170 grams salty mix-ins, such as nuts, broken mini pretzels, corn chips or potato chips About cup/170 grams sweet mix-ins, such as toffee bits (brickle), chocolate chips or chunks, M&Ms, cutup candy bars or dried fruit Make the toffee, if youd like: Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. In a small saucepan, combine butter, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat and let bubble, whisking occasionally, until light golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn off heat and, if using, stir in nuts or seeds. Pour onto the prepared pan and let the mixture run toward the edges. If necessary, use a rubber spatula to spread mixture; it should not be more than -inch thick. Set aside to harden completely. (If weather is very hot and humid, chill in refrigerator.) Break or chop into small (about -inch) chunks. Make the cookies: In a bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together at medium speed until fluffy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg, then vanilla. In three batches, add the dry ingredients, mixing to combine each time. In a bowl, combine the sweet and salty mix-ins and toss them with teaspoon salt. Add mix-ins to dough and stir until evenly distributed. Roll dough into a log about 2 inches in diameter, wrap and chill at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats. Slice the dough log into approximately -inch-thick slices and arrange on cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Dont worry if the slices are slightly broken or misshapen; these cookies should be bumpy and rough. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. When done, the edges should be just browning and the tops should feel soft. Let cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to finish cooling. The son of a South Jacksonville woman who was stabbed to death June 13 in her home in the 1700 block of South East Street was charged Tuesday with three counts of first-degree murder. The upgraded charges were lodged against Glenn C. Van Avery, 24, of 1335 S. Diamond St. during a court appearance. He now faces three counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his mother, Ruth Van Avery, and one count of attempted murder in the stabbing of his brother, Garrick Van Avery, 22. States Attorney Gray Noll said the three counts are alternate ways of charging for first-degree murder. The charges deal with the defendants intent, Noll said. Its all based on the same course of action, so if he is convicted of first-degree murder, he will only receive one conviction for the three counts. Ruth Van Avery, 53, was found after police were called about 6:30 p.m. June 13 to a disturbance at her residence at 1725 S. East St. She was pronounced dead just before 8 p.m. An autopsy determined she had been stabbed several times, Coroner Jeff Lair said. Police found Garrick Van Avery lying in a driveway a few houses away. If convicted of first-degree murder, Glenn Van Avery could face from 20 to 60 years in the Department of Corrections. The attempted-murder charge could carry a penalty ranging from 6 to 30 years. There also is the potential for the court to add additional penalties if they believe the offenses were accompanied by exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior indicative of wanton cruelty, which could extend the sentencing range to anywhere from 20 to 100 years. Glenn Van Avery originally was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery, but Noll said the states attorneys office did not file that charge because it stemmed from the same assault of Garrick Van Avery. Glenn Van Avery is being held in the Morgan County jail in lieu of $750,000 bail, which also was increased during Tuesdays hearing. Noll asked for the increase because of the seriousness of the first-degree murder charge. His bail was originally set at $250,000, when he was arrested on charges of aggravated battery and attempted murder, Noll said. With the charge of first-degree murder, we felt there needed to be an increase. Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha. Does the NDC have one face ... The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reports that a Texas man was killed when the small airplane he was piloting crashed in on the edge of Enid in northwestern Oklahoma. The state police agency said in a news release that 52-year-old Rodney Sherry of Olton died in the crash just after 7 a.m. Tuesday, June 19. It says Sherry was the only person on board the crop-dusting aircraft when it crashed into a wheat field about a mile northwest of Enid, 75 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. OHP Lt. Kera Philippi says the plane apparently crashed after striking a guideline wire that was attached to a 400-foot-tall communications tower. Photos of the scene show the crash in a field adjacent to the Chisholm High School campus. Enid Emergency Management Director Mike Honigsberg said the plane was a single-engine, fixed-wing aircraft. KWTV Channel 9 said the plane went down in a field near Highway 45 and Garland Road. The Oklahoma City television station reports that Sherry, a Texas native, was working for Deterding Aerial Spraying of Pond Creek, Oklahoma. The owner of the plane is Jim Deterding, whose brother Andrew Deterding was piloting a crop duster for another company when he was killed after striking a radio tower in late May. The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture is now working to mediate any possible contamination from chemicals on the spray plane, the station notes, as the FAA and NTSB piece together factors that might have had a role Sherry striking the tower and its guywires. The radio tower, owned by American Tower, is not a new installation, but neighbors report a number of new smaller Mesonet towers in the area. A flashing light on the top of the tower apparently was functioning when the crash occurred. Becky DeLeon checks the security tape covering the lock and access door to the gas pumps at Molinas San Antonio Country Store every day. DeLeon, a former police officer, is looking for evidence of credit card skimmers. If the tapes broken, she immediately calls an outside company to inspect the pumps. We have a lot of customers that are real good at coming in and telling us Hey, that strip is broken, and we immediately shut (the pump) off, she said. Skimming devices, which allow criminals to steal credit card information, are a growing problem in Travis and Bexar counties, both which have stepped up their enforcement, according to local police. The San Antonio Police Department seized three skimmers from ATMs and four from pumps in 2016. So far this year, theyve found 13 skimmers at ATMs and 70 at gas stations across San Antonio. We werent looking as hard as we probably should have been last year, said Lt. Marcus Booth, the departments financial crime director. Weve pushed quite a bit harder now. ATM skimming cases are easier to investigate since most of the machines are equipped with cameras, but gas stations and drivers are more vulnerable to being scammed. Skimmers target outdated pumps, pumps along highways and pumps that are farthest from the cash register, Booth said. Finding suspects also poses a challenge. Theyre moving from town to town, and they dont live here, Booth said. It makes it difficult from an investigative standpoint. Booth said theyve been working with banks and encouraging gas station owners to update their pumps to encrypt credit card data. State Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said credit card skimming scams are growing in Texas. And the Travis County Sheriffs Office on Monday warned consumers about a surge in credit cards skimming around Austin, urging drivers to pay inside for gas. I know that takes away from the convenience of pay at the pump 100 percent, but right now that is the only way to be sure youre avoiding your card being skimmed, Capt. Craig Smith said. He said deputies recently found three skimming devices at a pump in Wells Branch, the northern portion of Travis County. Two arrests have already been made, Smith said, and deputies are still investigating those cases. Deputies have also staked out gas stations in the county in hopes of catching someone installing a skimmer but have not been successful. Authorities often dont learn about a skimming device until its too late, according to Deputy Victor Perez, a financial crime investigator with the Bexar County Sheriffs Office. Its probably a larger problem than we realize, Perez said. We normally find out about it through banks after they get fraud alerts from their customers. Buddy Reinhart, the general manager at San Antonio-based A&A Pump Co., said he gets two to three calls a month from customers about credit card skimmers. The company services gas pumps across South Texas. Theyre out there. It seems like they come in spurts, and youll see one area that gets infected more than others, Reinhart said. Skimming equipment is easy to obtain, Perez said, and so are machines to help thieves clone credit cards. Once they get your info, they can slap it on a card that looks virtually legit. It includes a chip and everything, Perez said. Ive seen counterfeit cards so accurate theres no way youd be able to tell without actually running the card. Texas Food & Fuel Association President Paul Hardin said credit card skimmers are a statewide issue but not an epidemic. Members of his organization are urged to check their pumps daily, and consumers should also look to see if the security tape on gas pumps or access doors have been tampered with. Consumers can also check the credit card reader and keypad on the outside for devices before putting their credit card into the slot to see if anything looks off, he said. Booth additionally suggests examining and tugging at the card slot to ensure its firmly attached to the machine. Even if the keypad is covered to protect privacy, Booth said, customers should still cover the pad with their free hand to make sure skimmers cameras dont catch it. Jeff Lenard, a spokesman with the National Association of Convenience Stores, said one customer falling victim to a skimmer is one too many, but he doesnt believe the use of skimmers are prevalent. It is a problem when it is a problem for a customer, but there are 40 million fill-ups every day in America and the incidence of skimming is a minuscule percentage of those transactions, Lenard said. The easiest prevention method is to pay with cash, Perez said. Besides that, Perez said customers should be proactive about guarding their information, regularly reviewing bank statements and keeping anti-virus software updated. While DeLeon said shes never found a skimmer at her store, even a rumor of one can hurt business. Would you go to a gas pump and stick your card in there if you felt like there were problems? I wouldnt, DeLeon said. Relief may be coming in the future. Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. have set a deadline of October 2020 for U.S. gasoline pumps to install chip card readers in upgrades that may cost the industry upward of $4 billion but are more difficult for thieves to crack. SAN FRANCISCO In an open letter posted to Microsofts internal message board on Tuesday, more than 100 employees protested the software-makers work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and asked the company to stop working with the agency, which has been separating migrant parents and their children at the border with Mexico. We believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits, said the letter, which was addressed to the chief executive, Satya Nadella. The letter pointed to a $19.4 million contract that Microsoft has with ICE for processing data and artificial intelligence capabilities. Calling the separation of families inhumane, the employees added: As the people who build the technologies that Microsoft profits from, we refuse to be complicit. We are part of a growing movement, comprised of many across the industry who recognize the grave responsibility that those creating powerful technology have to ensure what they build is used for good, and not for harm. The letter is part of a wave of tech workers mobilizing this week against the Trump administrations new zero tolerance policy that refers for criminal prosecution all immigrants apprehended crossing the border without authorization. The policy has resulted in about 2,000 children being separated from their migrant parents, raising a bipartisan outcry. At Silicon Valley companies including Google, Apple and Facebook, employees have in recent days circulated internal emails asking for donations to nonprofit groups that support immigrants. Many have shared information about protests in San Francisco and Washington. And some of the workers have spoken to their managers about the issue or called on internal message boards for their chief executives to respond. That helped pave the way for numerous tech chief executives to speak up on Tuesday. Apples chief, Tim Cook, in an interview with The Irish Times, called the immigration policy heartbreaking. Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, tweeted that he was a top donor to the American Civil Liberties Union and said that if there is some way for me to help these kids I will do so. Sundar Pichai of Google, Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber and Chuck Robbins of Cisco also tweeted their opposition to the policy. On Facebook, two former employees of the social network started a fundraiser on Saturday to collect $1,500 for migrants who needed legal assistance because of the new policy. By Tuesday afternoon, the effort had garnered more than $5 million from donors who included numerous tech workers, according to a spokeswoman for the fundraising drive. Among the donors were Facebooks chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, and its chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, a Facebook spokesman said. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Zuckerberg called for more donations and said the policy of splitting up immigrant children from their families needed to be stopped. Sandberg, in her own Facebook post, called the cries of the children taken from their parents unbearable and added that the practice needs to end now. The activity by tech workers is reminiscent of protests in January 2017 when many Silicon Valley employees were up in arms over an executive order from President Donald Trump that suspended immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries. At the time, Google employees held rallies to object; Amazon and Expedia were among the companies that filed in court to stop the order. (Many tech companies comprise workers who are first-generation immigrants or who grew up in immigrant families.) Since then, tech workers have watched their companies increasingly come under scrutiny for their moral and ethical behavior, with companies such as Facebook facing criticism for not sufficiently protecting user data and the rise of misinformation. Many tech employees have begun organizing against actions by their own companies in April, for example, thousands of Google employees signed a letter protesting the companys involvement in a Pentagon program that uses artificial intelligence in weaponry. On Monday, the ACLU also demanded that Amazon stop selling a facial recognition software tool, called Rekognition, to police and other government entities because it feared it could be used to unfairly target immigrants. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, publicly promoted its work with ICE in January in a blog post, citing it as an example of the success of its technology. At the same time, Microsoft has been positioning itself as techs moral leader. Nadella and Microsofts president, Brad Smith, have publicly said they want to protect user privacy and establish ethical guidelines for new technology like artificial intelligence. We need to ask ourselves not only what computers can do but what computers should do, Nadella said at Microsofts developer conference last month. Some Microsoft executives have objected to the Trump administrations new immigration policy. On Sunday, Smith penned a LinkedIn post, saying the news of migrant children being taken from their families was especially poignant. He added, When we keep children with their parents, we not only follow in the footsteps of one of the worlds oldest and most important humanitarian traditions, we help build a stronger country. Despite those sentiments, criticism of Microsofts work with ICE began to grow, especially from the companys own employees. One Microsoft engineer, Larry Osterman, tweeted on Monday to ask how working with ICE matched with the companys ethical stances. Mat Marquis, an independent developer who works with Microsoft, also said in a tweet on Monday that he no longer planned to work with the company because of its ICE contract. When he receives his last payment from Microsoft, he said, he plans to donate the money to a group providing support to families that had been separated at the border. Now the work is in finding a way to right this, as best I can, he wrote. Late on Monday, Microsoft issued a statement to address the issue. The company said that it was not working with federal agencies to separate children from their families at the border and that it was not aware of its services or products being used for that purpose. It also said it was dismayed by the immigration policy and urged that it be changed. But for many Microsoft employees, that was not satisfactory. A group of about a dozen employees began working together to draft the protest letter, in which they said the companys statement does not go far enough. The employees continued, We are providing the technical undergirding in support of an agency that is actively enforcing this inhumane policy. The letter went on to add that Microsoft should not only cancel its contract with ICE but be open to a review of its contracts with government agencies domestically and internationally, and that it should create a policy stating it would not work with those who violate international human rights law. Microsoft declined to comment on the employee letter, which was posted internally on Tuesday afternoon. Within hours, it had received more than 100 signatures. Theres a new Sunday farmers market operating on Broadway for patrons that wish to double up on their Pearl experience or avoid it entirely by traveling a few blocks north. The Boardwalk on Broadway Farmers Market will make its debut at 10 a.m. Sunday at 4001 Broadway, next to the Witte Museum. The market operated at The Rim for the past six years, but market president Jason Conrad said they were told to relocate. Management there no longer wanted the tents in the parking lot, Conrad said. We were lucky enough that one of our vendors had a space (at the Boardwalk), so we spoke with the landlord and finalized everything just the other day. RELATED: New outdoor market Four Seasons Market headed to Huebner Oaks Shopping Center The Broadway Farmers Market will feature between 16 and 18 vendors when it launches, with a minimum of two fresh produce providers on site every week. Conrad said that Fredericksburg peaches and a healthy crop of summer tomatoes will be available Sunday. Other vendors that will be on hand will offer items such as landscaping plants, skin care products, locally sourced beef, fresh gulf seafood, fermented foods, Colombian coffee, baked goods and a hearty selection of dog treats. The Cousins Maine Lobster food truck also will be parked in the lot every Sunday. The vendors are 110 percent on board (with the move), Conrad said. Theres room for us to expand down the road as needed in this space, and we plan to be here for the long haul. The Boardwalk has seen a real shakeup in its tenants lately, with Tre Trattoria leaving its longtime home there last month to relocate to the San Antonio Museum of Art and with Press Coffee announcing its move there sometime this summer. Hargroves Fine Wine & Spirits also recently opened in the shopping center just south of Hildebrand. The Broadway Farmers Market is the second new San Antonio outdoor market to open in as many weeks. The Four Seasons Market made its debut last Saturday inside the Huebner Oaks Shopping Center. With this latest move, there are now three farmers markets operating within a 5-mile stretch of Broadway, including the Alamo Heights Farmers Market at the Quarry every Sunday and the Pearl Weekend Market every Saturday and Sunday. Boardwalk on Broadway Farmers Market, 4001 Broadway. Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday. Facebook: BoardwalkOnBroadwayFarmersMarket. cblount@express-news.net | Twitter: @chuck_blount | Instagram: bbqdiver San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller has joined Catholic leaders across the country condemning the separation of children from their parents at the United States-Mexico border. The separation of families is immoral, is evil, is sinful, Garcia-Siller said at a COPS/Metro Alliance Assembly on Monday. To use children as pawns to deter people from coming is inhuman and shows the decadence that we are in, in our country. RELATED: Donations to S.A. immigrant legal aid group reach millions of dollars He added that Catholic teachings on social justice are derived from the Bible as he rallied the crowd for change. Working together we can build a better community, a more just society, where mothers and fathers can raise their families in security and safety, Garcia-Siller said. Hes among many other Catholic leaders to denounce the practice. Both the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Cardinal Daniel DiNardo (who is also archbishop of Galveston-Houston) and the conferences Committee on Migration Chairman Joe Vasquez (who is bishop of Austin) criticized the separation of families as well. Pope Francis has backed U.S. Catholic bishops in criticizing the practice and said "populism" and "creating psychosis" are not the ways to resolve the problems. "I believe that you cannot reject people who arrive," Francis said, according to Reuters. "You have to receive them, help them, look after them, accompany them and then see where to put them, but throughout all of Europe." S. M. Chavey is a staff writer for mySA.com. Read more of her stories here. | sarah.chavey@express-news.net | 210-250-3122 | Twitter: @smchavey Astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor and two colleagues from Germany and Russia blasted off to the International Space Station this month. But before the big trip, Aunon-Chancellor had another long trip: traveling about 6,800 miles to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The facility is the only place humans have been able to launch into space since the U.S.-based space shuttles were retired in 2011. But that will soon change. NASA plans to return manned space station launches to American soil. And the government agency is going to have help. NASA has paired with two companies - Boeing and SpaceX - to carry its crews into space. The companies are still working on the rockets, but they are aiming to take off at the end of the year. NASA has chosen four astronauts - all of whom have been to the space station - to fly on those missions. The astronauts will soon find out which two will go on which rocket, and they will begin special training. RECYCLED: SpaceX's latest upgrade aims to make rockets even more reusable Washington Post reporter Christian Davenport, who covers the space industry, talked with the four recently at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and asked them a few questions for KidsPost. So meet Robert Behnken, Eric Boe, Douglas Hurley and Sunita Williams. But stay tuned. We'll be checking in with them in the coming months as they prepare to take this new path to the International Space Station. --- ROBERT BEHNKEN Age: 47 Home town: St. Ann, Missouri. Family: Married to astronaut Megan McArthur, one child. Job before astronaut: Air Force mechanical engineer and flight test engineer. Space missions: Flight deck mission specialist on 2008 space shuttle mission and mission specialist on 2010 shuttle mission. ERIC BOE Age: 53 Home town: Atlanta, Georgia. Family: Married with two children. Job before astronaut: Air Force pilot and instructor. Space missions: Pilot on space shuttle missions in 2008 and 2011. DOUGLAS HURLEY Age: 51 Home town: Apalachin, New York. Family: Married to astronaut Karen Nyberg, one child. Job before astronaut: Marine Corps fighter pilot and test pilot. Space missions: Pilot on space shuttle missions in 2009 and 2011. Was on space station with record number of people (13) in 2009. SUNITA WILLIAMS Age: 52 Home town: Needham, Massachusetts. Family: Married. Job before astronaut: Navy helicopter pilot. Space missions: Flight engineer on space shuttle mission in 2006 and flight engineer and space station commander on Soyuz mission in 2012. Spent more than 322 days in space and more than 50 hours on spacewalks. ON MISSION: NASA astronauts will remain in space even if ISS is privatized Q: Do you remember Apollo or early space shuttle missions? Robert Behnken: I really have no memories of the Apollo program. ... I do remember the shuttle program pretty clearly. I do remember actually seeing a space shuttle make the transit across the country during a stopover at Scott Air Force Base, which was in Belleville, Illinois. I grew up (nearby) in St. Louis. ... My dad took me over there, and we used a telephoto lens on a camera to take some photos of a space shuttle and get to see it with my own eyes, which was a neat thing to do. Eric Boe: I was about 5 at the time when my parents came in and said, "Come watch this," and it was the moon landing in black and white. Sunita Williams: I was old enough to be in our basement with our black-and-white TV to see, you know, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon and thought, "Wow, that's really cool. That's amazing, spectacular." I was only 4 years old at the time but pretty, pretty amazing. Q: How are day-to-day things more difficult in space? Behnken: When you are in space, everything takes a different level of planning. It can be difficult to even find things that you've stuffed in a bag to do an activity with. And so whenever you march down a path in space where you think about I'm going to go do maintenance on this specific thing, I need a nice work area. I need a place to put all my stuff. I have to think about all those things before I even get started. Q: Most kids today don't remember shuttle launches. Why would the Boeing and SpaceX missions inspire them as the shuttle did in its day? Douglas Hurley: They can realize "maybe that's something I could do some day." By the time children of today are old enough to potentially be astronauts, who knows where we might be going? We might have a moon base by then. We may be already on our way to Mars. And you see with children all the time how excited they are about Mars and about the moon, and hopefully they'll be the ones that get to go do it. Boe: Being able to watch it live is always an amazing thing. ... For kids it's just one of those things that will inspire them and they'll be people just like I was when I was a little kid and I watched the moon landing. Dreaming about the opportunity . . . to go in space. Wiliams: I think that it will show people that we can do this again. You can come to Florida and see a launch. ... It's not like these grand plans from different countries like Russia and the United States. (Boeing and SpaceX) are companies that people are very used to seeing. ... I think it brings it a little bit closer to home that they are part of it. ... I really hope that these commercial crew launches really get people into the idea that they are part of space travel and space exploration. Q: What are you looking forward to most about returning to space in the space station? Behnken: You know I'm really looking forward to taking advantage again of the big open areas on board the space station. I do have some things that I don't want to share because I want to surprise my son with them, but I have some things that I want to do or have him see me do in those big areas on board the space station - you know flips and bubbles and eating M&M's like Pac-Man across the space station. I want to do all those things, but I want to do them just for my son. Boe: What I'm looking forward to most and returning to space is being in a completely different spaceship, so that'll be neat. ... And you know I've flown twice before. The first flight, (I) missed a lot of things just because you're busy doing your job . ... So second flight I picked up a lot of details. So I think the third flight not only will I get to see a new spaceship, but I'll appreciate just being able to pick up a lot of the things that I missed on the first two flights. Hurley: I think it's the sights (and) the smells looking out the cupola again. (The cupola is a large round window on the station that provides amazing views of Earth.) Hopefully this flight (I'll be) getting a little more time to actually do some of that stuff. I have no idea if that's the case, but I hope so. ... And then just being able to get this accomplished for the country. It's important. ... It has been pushing seven years now that we haven't had this launch capability in the United States. Q: Have you requested any changes or upgrades on the new spacecraft that you wish you'd had on shuttle or Soyuz? Williams: These new spacecraft have taken advantage of technology advances in the last 10, 20 years, and that's making these spacecraft smarter and probably safer and a little bit more automated, where the people inside don't have to be looking at every little thing. . . . So the situational awareness as well as the safety of these spacecraft I think is absolutely more than it was in the past, and that's because of technology advances in the last 20 years or so. So I'm thinking these spacecraft are going to be pretty awesome. Treehouses are what childhood dreams are made of and now, thanks to a few Texas resorts, these types of retreats are fun for all ages. Treehouse vacation spots are growing in popularity in Central and South Texas and the Hill Country. One resort owner calls it "camping in luxury." In Waelder, about 45 minutes east of Seguin, Monica Davis says the treehouse at her property, The Davis Ranch Retreat, is a big hit. The Davis Ranch features a bed and breakfast as well as treehouse-style lodging, which Davis says was booked every weekend until November in 2014. This year, business is looking to be the same: the treehouse is already booked until June. It's even had national attention. The Davis Ranch treehouse was featured on the Animal Planet series, Treehouse Masters as a luxurious spa in a tree. RELATED: 2 S.A. Treehouses to be on 'Treehouse Masters' Cypress Valley Canopy Tours in Spicewood is known for zip-lining tours, but once adrenaline enthusiasts have zipped their way through the canopies, they can resort in a complex of four treehouse selections. Travelers who never outgrew their childhood treehouse stage can choose to spend a night in the trees in the Lofthaven II, The Nest, Juniper or Willow. Amy Beilharz, owner of Cypress Valley, says a night in her treehouses is like camping in luxury, vacationers can be surrounded by nature but still have all the comforts of home. While quarters at The Davis Ranch Retreat and Cypress Valley are cozy, the River Road Treehouses in New Braunfels are a bit larger. River Road Account Executive Patrick OToole says the propertys six treehouses can sleep a maximum of eight people and each cabin comes equipped with everything besides groceries and toiletries, making them the perfect weekend condos. Considering some treehouses, like the ones at Cypress Valley, are built 15 to 45 feet off the ground, they cannot be constructed like ordinary cabins. Will Beilharz, founder of Cypress Valley Canopy Tours and owner of ArtisTree, the architecture company behind the nests, said his treehouses are uniquely defined. Unlike other structures that are built on stilts, treehouses designed by ArtisTree are genuine treehouses that are attached to the trees. With maintenance every five to 10 years, the rooms are built to grow with the cypresses. Beilharz says his company consults with an arborist before the construction process begins since environment is a huge factor. The treehouses at Cypress Valley are built on bald cypress trees, which are some of the strongest and long-lasting. RELATED: Texas builders go big with tiny house construction business Although ArtisTree is rooted with the cypress trees on the Beilharz family property in Spicewood, the custom treetop architecture has graced places as far as Alaska and Thailand. Amy Beilharz said people are eager to book treehouses as opposed to traditional cabins or hotel rooms because they offer a different experience. People love the enchanted nature of sleeping in a tree, she said. It inspires them. mmendoza@mysa.com Twitter: @MaddySkye The Fort Bend ISD board has approved a contract with a consulting firm to exhume century-old remains found earlier this year at a site where a technical center is being built. The contract, which is not expected to exceed $743, 380, would be with Austin-based Goshawk Environmental Consulting. The school district has used the firm's services throughout the discovery of the remains. Ninety-four graves have been found this year at the construction site, which is located at University Boulevard and Chatham. Construction was halted on the part of the site where the graves were found, but continues on other parts of the site. State District Judge John Hawkins gave the school district permission to exhume the remains during a hearing this month. Grayle James was the only board member to comment on the agenda item Monday. James wondered if money for the contract was coming from $1 million approved by board members in April. Superintendent Charles Dupre explained that the money for the contract came from an additional $1 million approved for the Texas Historical Commission to complete exploration and excavation services on the project. "The board previously approved one million dollars, so this is within the $1 million that the board approved a couple months ago," Dupre said during the board meeting, which ran past 11 p.m. The district originally contracted with a full-time archaeologist from Goshawk Environmental Consulting last year to oversee the excavation phase of the construction project. Reginald Moore, a community activist, had warned school district officials not to build within the area. Moore has long had an interest in the nearby Old Imperial Farm cemetery, and the believed the surrounding area could contain the graves of those who were part of the notorious convict leasing system, through which many African-American prisoners were contracted out for cheap labor after the end of slavery. Moore has also said he believes additional graves could still be on the construction site. At least 230 civilians have died in Libya in the chaotic, multiparty air war that has followed the ouster of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, a report has found. The study from Airwars, a London-based watchdog group, and New America, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, examined the outcome of 2,158 strikes conducted since September 2012 by at least seven local and international actors, underscoring the fraught and fractured nature of post-revolution Libya. After a NATO-led air campaign helped Libyans topple Gadhafi in 2011, the country has descended into a simmering civil conflict that included the establishment of rival Libyan governments and the rise of militant groups, including a virulent local branch of the Islamic State, that have taken advantage of ungoverned areas to grow strong. The report, which The Washington Post obtained ahead of its release this week, is the first comprehensive examination of the death toll caused by air operations in Libya's post-revolution period. Using social media accounts and other sources to assess individual incidents, researchers concluded that at least 237 and as many as 387 civilians were killed in those strikes. At least another 324 civilians were wounded in those attacks, the report found. While the civilian death toll appears to be far smaller than that caused by Western air operations against militants in Iraq and Syria, one important feature of the Libyan conflict has been its murky, mysterious nature. According to Airwars and New America, strikes have been repeatedly conducted in Libya not only by rival local factions and the United States, but also, with far less transparency, France, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. But fewer than 50 percent of reported strikes have been publicly declared, leading to questions about responsibility and accountability when civilian deaths do occur. "Not one belligerent has taken responsibility for a single civilian death in Libya since 2012, and that's a continuation of what we saw with NATO back in 2011," said Chris Woods, director of Airwars. "It's a tragedy for the Libyan people." Among Libyan actors, the report found that forces led by Khalifa Hifter, who has emerged as eastern Libya's most influential power broker, have been responsible for the largest share of civilian deaths since 2012. Backed by outside powers including Russia, Hifter has vowed to clear Libya of extremist militants who have taken root since Gadhafi's death. But Hifter has been criticized for harsh tactics and his refusal to support the Western-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) that seeks, in a rivalry to his own power, to assert authority across Libya. Hifter's self-proclaimed Libyan National Army is believed to have conducted about 1,100 strikes resulting in at least 95 civilian deaths, and potentially as many as 247, researchers found. Most of the attacks by Hifter's forces have taken place in the eastern cities of Benghazi and Derna and in the country's central oil region. The GNA, which boasts fewer air assets, has conducted about 54 strikes, probably resulting in seven to 63 deaths, the researchers said. Of the outside powers involved in post-revolution Libya, the United States has played the most significant military role. According to Airwars and New America, U.S. aircraft have conducted about 525 strikes on militants in Libya since September 2012. That included an intense four-and-a-half-month operation in 2016 to push the Islamic State out of Sirte, the coastal city that became the group's most important stronghold outside of Iraq and Syria. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has said its operations have caused no confirmed civilian casualties in Libya during that period, but Airwars and New America assessed they probably resulted in 10 to 75 noncombatant deaths. U.S. estimates of civilian casualties have been far lower than those from outside groups, partly because the U.S. military does limited follow-up after strikes occur to assess whether civilian deaths took place. Col. Mark Cheadle, an AFRICOM spokesman, said the command had not seen any credible allegations of civilian deaths linked to U.S. operations in Libya. "We have not seen any further evidence or information which would change our conclusions," he said. The difficulty the United States faces in Libya, where it relies on electronic and aerial surveillance, was visible in the disputed aftermath of a 2015 strike targeting Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a legendary Algerian militant, and a 2016 attack that the Serbian government said killed two kidnapped diplomats. In both instances, the facts of what occurred during those attacks remain disputed. The researchers said the United States has accounted for its strikes in Libya with greater, though not complete, transparency compared to other countries that have sent planes into Libya. Often, it has been difficult to determine who has been behind a particular strike in Libya, with no local factions or foreign actors taking responsibility and locals assigning blame to multiple parties. The UAE, which has been eager to ensure that Islamists do not seize control of Libya's weakened state institutions, is believed to have conducted at least 35 strikes in Libya during that period. Egypt, which shares those concerns and has seen attacks on a number of Egyptians within Libya, is believed to have conducted at least 41 strikes. "This is one of the world's forgotten wars," said Peter Bergen, a vice president of New America. "The NATO intervention didn't end the conflict; it precipitated a new phase and Libya is now an arena for proxy warfare." Researchers say the smaller civilian death toll in Libya - compared to over 6,000 in Iraq and Syria - is due to Libya's lower population density and, perhaps, poorer reporting. Mobile phone towers have been targeted in Libya's conflict, and the country lacks the kind of watchdog groups that have played an important role in the Syrian conflict. The bullet probably hit the Union soldier as he was fleeing. It may have struck his cartridge box first, which sent it tumbling through the muscle of his right buttock, broke his right leg and buried itself sideways in his thigh bone just below the hip. His buddies probably carried him as they retreated before the storm of Rebel gun and cannon fire. At the field hospital, the harried surgeons probably took a look at him and moved on to those less seriously wounded. After he died, he was laid in a shallow pit with a dead comrade and the sawed-off arms and legs of as many as 11 more soldiers cut down at the Civil War's Second Battle of Bull Run, in August 1862. On Wednesday the National Park Service is scheduled to announce that archaeologists have found the "limb pit" where the two soldiers and the amputated arms and legs were buried. The discovery, on the battlefield just north of Manassas, Virginia, is extraordinary, experts said. Nothing like it has been found before, and a century and a half after the battle, when a Park Service archaeologist examined the fallen Yankee's thigh bone, the bullet was still stuck in it. "As an archaeologist . . . it's exciting," said Brandon Bies, who brought the bone out of the pit. "As a human being, lifting the leg of an American soldier and holding the bone with the bullet that killed him, it's an emotional experience." Scientifically, it's "one in a million," he said. "But for that soldier, it wasn't a good one in a million. It was the end of his life." The two soldiers - referred to as Burial 1, with the embedded bullet, and Burial 2 - were placed side by side in the pit. The severed limbs were carefully arranged next to them, like broken tree branches, according to a photograph from the dig. Burial 1 probably went in first, because Burial 2 was partially on top of him. More for you Civil War reenactment in Virginia canceled amid worries over... The hole was about a foot deep, and over the years farm plows had carried off the skull of one man and part of the skull of the other. Anthropologists from the Smithsonian Institution have studied the injuries suffered by the two soldiers and examined the cut marks on the severed limbs made by the surgeons' saws. There were nine severed legs and two arms in all. The identities of the soldiers are not known, and their fates were probably a mystery for their families, painful and enduring. But scientific tests and circumstantial evidence show they were probably Northerners. The bullet in the leg of Burial 1 was fired from an imported British Enfield rifle musket then commonly used by Confederates, said Bies, now the superintendent of the Manassas National Battlefield Park. The Burial 1 soldier, who was probably in his 20s, stood about 5 feet 7 inches tall. No clothing was found with him. The man in Burial 2 was laid to rest in his Union coat - its four eagle-imprinted buttons were found in the pit with him. He was probably in his 30s, and only about 5-foot-5. He had been wounded by one large ball that smashed his upper right arm, a smaller one that hit him in the groin and a smaller one that struck near his right shin. Several of the rounds were found in the ground near him. The Park Service believes the men may have been hit during a doomed Union attack on Aug. 30 against Confederate forces hunkered down in an unfinished railroad cut at the top of a ridge. "It's so rare that you have a discovery like this," said Smithsonian anthropologist Kari Bruwelheide. "You have a burial feature that speaks in so many ways to the events of a battle, but also to the . . . people participating in treating the wounded." - - - The cost in lives and limbs was high. The Second Battle of Bull Run was at that point the largest battle ever in the Western Hemisphere, Bies said, and involved almost 125,000 combatants. It was fought Aug. 28 through 30, 1862, over much of the same ground as the First Battle of Bull Run a year before. And the successful Confederate attack near the end "was the largest massed infantry assault on either side of the entire American Civil War," Bies said. "It was devastating," he said. "The Union forces, they didn't stand a chance." Roughly 1,700 Union soldiers and 1,200 Confederates were killed, and a combined total of more than 14,000 were wounded. Amputation of a broken arm or leg was a common remedy, and surgeons worked feverishly with saws and knives. Smithsonian anthropologist Douglas Owsley said the surgeon would stand on the wounded man's right side. If a leg was being removed, the uninjured leg would be tied to the operating table. The soldier would be put to sleep with chloroform or ether. Medical aides might hold the soldier's hands. "It starts out with scalpels, and it's going to ultimately progress to the bone saw," Owsley said. "A good surgeon can do this in about 10 minutes or less." The result, after almost any combat, was the refuse of amputated arms, legs and feet. In one field hospital after Second Bull Run, doctors dropped limbs out a window into a grisly pile. "It was an awful sight, and one that I have never forgotten," a Union soldier remembered, according to John Hennessy, author of a book about the battle. "It had the appearance of a human slaughterhouse." For the man with the fractured leg and the embedded bullet, nothing could be done. "That surgeon is triaging and he's seeing who he can help and who he can't," Owsley said. "And he literally is going to say this man's got such a high-up injury that the only way he can deal with it is to take . . . the thigh completely off, and he just can't do it." It's not clear who buried the soldiers and the limbs, or when. But it's likely that it happened after the battle. When the Union army fled, thousands of wounded men were left on the battlefield. One of them was John Slater, an 18-year-old Union corporal from the 13th New York regiment who was hit in the throat and side during the attack on the railroad cut. Days later, he managed to stagger to a field hospital outside the house of the "Widow Dogan," he recalled years later. That was probably the Lucinda Dogan house that stands today. There, in the shade of some trees, "the surgeons were at work at their bloody but merciful trade," he recalled. He watched as doctors, using a door for an operating table, amputated the right arm of a Union soldier whose elbow had been smashed by an artillery shell. He had declined anesthesia, Slater recalled, and after the severed arm was placed in a "ghastly heap of shattered limbs," he asked to see it one more time to bid it farewell. "He placed it . . . to his lips, kissed it, and saw it no more," Slater wrote. - - - Evidence of the pit was discovered in 2014 during excavation for a utility line but was not fully examined until 2015, the Park Service said. Initially, tiny bone fragments from the utility digging were taken to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, where they were found to be human. The Smithsonian's Bruwelheide assembled pieces of what turned out to be a left thigh bone and noticed that it had been cut, as if in an amputation. Further excavation was recommended, and the pit was subsequently located. (The agency will not disclose the exact location of the site.) Additional research might reveal the two soldiers' names. But identifying the owners of the severed limbs could be easier, because many surgeons kept records of whose arms or legs they were cutting off, the Smithsonian said. Bies said that many of the men whose limbs were cut off may well have survived the war. An experienced Civil War archaeologist, Bies was assigned to legislative and congressional affairs for the Park Service at its National Capital Region headquarters in mid-October 2015 when he got a call about some sort of a discovery on the Manassas battlefield. "It wasn't so much a 'Guess what we found,' as a 'You'll never believe what we found,' " he said last week, standing under a tree on the quiet field where birds chirped and the wind rustled the leaves. He hurried through traffic to the site and found a rectangular pit partially exposing what was there. "It was humbling," he said. "You could see, standing above that as it was being uncovered, the horrific wounds, the one gentleman's leg completely obliterated." Bies used a metal detector to check for artifacts. "You didn't want to accidentally nick something," he said. As he did, he got a hit near the broken leg that he suspected might be a bullet. The team excavated around the broken leg, leaving it on a kind of pedestal of earth. Then he gently raised the bone from where it had rested since 1862. "It wasn't until it broke loose from the dirt and was lifted into the air that you could tell that the bullet was embedded in the bone," he said. "We never expected that. Never." The two soldiers will be the first burials in the new section of Arlington National Cemetery when it opens this summer. Their coffins will be built with wood from a downed tree taken from the battlefield. The Park Service said it is still deciding what to do with the limbs. WASHINGTON - Dominique Toney had to head back inside to check on her sleeping 6-month-old - but first she wanted to hear the number again. Toney, 32, stood outside the door to her apartment, a squat and sprawling Depression-era apartment complex in Washington that houses more than 1,000 mostly low-income tenants. Toney lives in a federally subsidized unit with her two children. She had just finished taking out the trash. "Nine hundred dollars?" Toney repeated, reaching for the door frame. It would mean "everything" for her children, Toney said. She would have to slash expenses. The first one: "eating." The figure represents the average annual increase in rent that the District's poorest residents would pay under Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson's proposal this spring to raise rents in federally subsidized housing across the United States. Carson's proposal, if approved by Congress, would at least triple the minimum rent that extremely low-income Americans such as Toney pay for housing. The plan raises the monthly minimum rent charged by public housing agencies from $50 to $150. It also increases the rent paid by tenants in subsidized housing from 30 percent of adjusted income to 35 percent of gross income. A recent analysis by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) showed that the nation's capital would see a larger increase in rent than any of the 50 states would experience. The proposal has drawn widespread condemnation from housing advocates. Carson has argued that rent increases will push people receiving federal housing assistance to find work. "It's our attempt to give poor people a way out of poverty," Carson said in an interview with Fox News. He later said the plan was no longer considered "urgent," but because it had not been scrapped or altered, advocates said they would continue to speak out against it. A HUD spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday that the proposal had not changed since its public release this spring. Local housing experts say the rent increase would hit District of Columbia residents particularly hard, given the high cost of living in the District amid rapid gentrification. And in a city where falling behind on rent by as little as $25 can lead to eviction, Carson's proposal probably would force many tenants into homelessness, experts said. Roughly 10,000 District households could be affected. Will Fischer, a senior policy analyst at the CBPP, said the rent hike would be higher in the District because the area has larger across-the-board incomes compared with the rest of the nation. "That increase in the share of income that they pay hits working families," Fischer said, referring to Carson's suggested five percentage-point increase in low-income tenants' share of rent. "The more they earn, the greater the rent increase. So in metropolitan areas like D.C. that are relatively high-income, that would have especially big effects." Beth Harrison, an attorney for the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, said the rent increase could prove counterproductive to achieving Carson's stated goal of encouraging employment among low-income tenants. "It's incredibly difficult for a family that has low cash income and then has to pay more towards rent to have money for transportation to do things like go out and look for a job," Harrison said. "The less cash you have at home during the month, the less you're going to be able to do things like that to change your situation." The proposal could mean some low-income tenants lose their jobs. Toney works as a home health aide and commutes to her clients. She relies on public transportation to get to work, sometimes traveling up to an hour and a half both ways. Toney said she is not sure how she will fund these trips if her rent rises. Toney and other tenants of Brookland Manor described the personal toll the plan would take. Brookland Manor resident and single mother Lakeitha Jefferson, 30, said $900 translates to three months' worth of food for her and her child. John Hill - who also lives in a federally subsidized apartment in Brookland Manor - said he, like Toney, would restrict what he spends on food. Hill, 56, mimed tightening an imaginary belt. "When you have very little cash income, even a rent increase of $900 a year can have quite an impact," Harrison said. "Things like food, transportation, other things that are necessities somehow have to be cut back. . . . What you see is that families skip meals, children skip meals." Harrison said she expects that the negative effects of the proposal will be more "severe" in the District because residents of the city pay more on average for basic necessities than most other Americans. A 2015 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that the District is the most expensive place to raise a family in the United States. Gentrification is compounding the problem in the District. In the past decade, business owners and developers have reshaped District neighborhoods with prettier and pricier homes, apartments and restaurants. The rapid-fire changes spurred a federal lawsuit in May alleging that District policies that facilitate gentrification discriminate against poor African American families that have lived here for decades. Brookland Manor is also facing gentrification: Developers are renovating the complex to include smaller, more expensive apartments. A $900 increase in annual rent would make the situation more "difficult" for many Brookland Manor tenants, said Khalid Claggett, 34, who has lived in Brookland Manor almost his entire life. "D.C.'s already one of the hardest places to live," he said. The typical American working family receiving federal rental assistance earns roughly $18,200 per year, according to the CBPP. An equivalent income number for the District is unavailable, but the CBPP's analysis of HUD data showed that, to be eligible for rental assistance in the District, families of three must earn less than $53,400 - or 80 percent of the local median income. "I think that it's hard for people to realize the extremely low incomes that we're talking about when you think of people who are on rental assistance," said Ellen Lurie Hoffman, federal policy director at the National Housing Trust. Low-income tenants unable to make rent under Carson's new guidelines could easily face eviction, meaning they could lose their federal subsidies and spiral into long-term homelessness, Harrison said. The proposal is in draft form, and to take the "next step," HUD must ask a member of Congress to formally introduce the plan as a bill, Fischer said. During remarks he delivered at the Bipartisan Policy Center on June 8, Carson appeared to back away from the plan, calling the proposal no longer "urgent" because the threat to the department's budget has been reduced. The National Housing Trust is among the groups that plan to continue working against the rent increases, Hoffman said. "There could be members of Congress who think these things are a good idea regardless of what Secretary Carson says at an event one day," she said. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Two weeks after Ethiopia made the surprise announcement it was ready to accept a nearly 20-year-old peace deal with Eritrea, the reclusive country's leader said Wednesday it would send a delegation to discuss the matter to Addis Ababa. In a nationally televised speech marking the secretive country's Martyrs' Day, President Isaias Afwerki said both peoples yearned for peace, which was now more possible in light of the changes in Ethiopia. "We will send a delegation to Addis Ababa to gauge current developments directly and in depth as well as to chart out a plan for continuous future action," he said, according to an official translation of the speech. "The Eritrean people, but also the Ethiopian people, have lost an opportunity of two generations for over half a century," he added. The move brings a glimmer of hope to solve one of the bloodiest and most intractable conflicts in the Horn of Africa between two countries closely bound by ties of language, religion and ethnicity. Eritrea, a mountainous coastal country of just 5 million, was once a province of Ethiopia. However, after it helped overthrow the communist-led government together with Ethiopian rebels in 1991, it voted for its independence in 1993. Tensions flared with its former Ethiopian allies over the border demarcation, turning into a full-scale war in 1998 over the remote town of Badme. The fighting raged for two years and claimed at least 70,000 lives in brutal, trench warfare-style fighting. A peace accord brokered in Algiers in 2000 left the fate of Badme and other regions to an international arbitration council that then decided in favor of Eritrea in 2002. Ethiopia refused to implement the decision and the two countries have remained at war since, supporting rival rebel groups and occasionally shelling each other, killing hundreds. While Ethiopia has become one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa, Eritrea has remained largely closed to the outside world with some of the harshest restrictions on freedom of the press in the world. The country also remains on a war footing with indefinite universal conscription for the military that has prompted many thousands to flee the country and seek immigration to Europe. On June 5, Ethiopia's young new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, broke with decades of policy and said he would recognize the deal, as part of string of radical domestic reforms that have stunned the country. There have been protests in Badme itself, where people told reporters that they would refuse to leave and that the decision made a mockery of the thousands who had died in the fighting. The political party for that region, the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, which is part of the governing coalition, also expressed its opposition to the decision - a rare split for Ethiopia where the politics has long had an authoritarian cast. In a question-and-answer session before parliament on Monday, Abiy came under criticism for the move and he reminded parliamentarians that he himself was part of the army that drove the Eritreans out of Badme. "I was standing in that village when we put up flag and I cried. Many of my friends who fought in that war, we had to bury," the former lieutenant colonel in the army. "I paid the price." There has been no sign of a withdrawal yet of Ethiopian forces from Badme. While acknowledging the massive losses in the war he said it was time to end it and bring jobs and prosperity to the people living along that border. Fitsum Arega, his chief of staff, tweeted after the speech that Abiy "acknowledged the suffering of countless victims. Reconciliation takes time but we need to have the strength & make daily efforts to heal the wounds. Abiy was voted in by the ruling party as prime minister in March after years of unrest by the country's main ethnic groups and has since embarked on a string of reforms and releasing prisoners in an effort to open up the politics in the country. In his speech, Eritrea's Isaias, who runs one of the most repressive regimes in Africa, acknowledged the unrest and reform in Ethiopia and linked it to the new chance for peace. "It spurred the wrath and a rebellion in the people who said 'enough is enough,'" he said "Ethiopia is now at a turning point or transition." WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump sought to stanch a public outcry over his administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy Wednesday, signing an executive order to end family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border after days of insisting he was legally unable to act. Trump's abrupt reversal, contradicting his own aides' defense of the practice, signaled a political retreat after an international backlash over images of hundreds of children being taken from their parents and held in cage-like detention facilities. But it remained highly uncertain whether the president's hastily drafted order to keep families together in federal custody while awaiting prosecution for illegal border crossings would withstand potential legal challenges. And senior administration officials said the order did not stipulate that the more than 2,300 children already separated from their parents would be immediately reunited with them. Trump implored Congress to provide a legislative solution as the House prepared to vote Thursday on a pair of Republican immigration bills amid skepticism that either could pass. And in a bid to up the pressure, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen warned lawmakers during a private briefing on Capitol Hill that the family separations could resume if they fail to act. At the same time, a senior Justice Department official told reporters that the administration had little legal recourse but to release the families after 20 days unless a judge grants an exemption to a 1997 court settlement and subsequent rulings limiting the detention of children. "We're going to have strong, very strong borders, but we're going to keep the families together," Trump said in the Oval Office before departing for a campaign rally in Duluth, Minn. "I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated." The executive order came after a day of frantic White House meetings as administration lawyers scrambled to produce a legally sound document to solve Trump's political dilemma. Trump had begun to doubt his strategy, telling Republican lawmakers privately on Tuesday night that the images of the children were a "bad issue" for the GOP. Early Wednesday, Trump surprised his aides by ordering them to write an executive order and saying he wanted to sign it before leaving for Minnesota, despite telling reporters Friday that such an order could not be done. Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House Counsel Donald McGahn pushed back, arguing that an executive order could not be written to comply with the legal limits on child detentions - an argument that Trump had championed publicly in recent days - prompting a debate among the president and his aides, according to officials with knowledge of the deliberations. Kelly urged the president to continue pressing Congress to pass a law and argued that signing an order would not solve the problem. McGahn continued to question the legality of the executive order, according to the officials. Many aides, though, including Ivanka Trump and Kellyanne Conway, urged the president to end the separations. Eventually, after a number of meetings, ideas and drafts, McGahn said the final product could be legal. The slapdash nature of the effort was apparent when the White House released an initial version of the executive order that misspelled the word "separation." Senior DHS officials went through the day with little or no knowledge of what the executive order would ask them to do, or how it would alter the policy they've been instructed to vociferously defend in public for the past several weeks. The episode left many aides puzzled over the administration's strategy in the immigration fight. "Everyone in the White House is relieved with the outcome as it stands," said one senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. "But we are all utterly confused why we went through this exercise." The outcome also failed to quell the political fight, as Democrats and immigrant rights groups said the executive order appeared to be an effort by the president to incarcerate families indefinitely. Trump's order "seeks to replace one form of child abuse with another," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement. "Instead of protecting traumatized children, the President has directed his Attorney General to pave the way for the long-term incarceration of families in prisonlike conditions." In recent days, Trump and his senior advisers had vociferously defended the administration's strategy, announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in April, to seek criminal prosecutions of all adults who illegally cross the border. Under the law, they said, federal authorities had no choice but to take away the children, who are not permitted to be held in adult jails. Trump falsely blamed Democrats for having created the family separation policy, while other top aides, including Nielsen, erroneously stated that the separations were not the result of any policy changes from the Trump administration. The president, who has been angered by a spike of illegal immigration this year driven by Central American families, had held out against the growing tide of critics under the belief that his hard-line immigration stance was a political winner with his conservative base. But the backlash from prominent Republicans, world leaders including Pope Francis, as well as private recriminations from first lady Melania Trump, prompted Trump to reverse himself. The upshot, however, was widespread uncertainty about what comes next. One senior DHS official acknowledged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has almost no ability to add detention capacity for families because its jails are already full. If Congress fails to pass an immigration bill, the government will land in essentially the same place the Obama administration was in during a similar spike of families at the border in 2014, with no place to house them. The DHS official said ICE is not planning to put children in adult detention centers as prohibited under the 1997 court settlement in Flores v. Reno, which stipulated immigrant children must be placed in the least restricted environment possible while awaiting immigration court proceedings. Any emergency shelters erected on military bases would need to be licensed, while still running the risk of violating child detention standards. The result, the DHS official said, is that absent a legislative fix, thousands of families in ICE custody will have to be released, marking a return to the "catch-and-release" system of past administrations that the Trump administration vowed to end with its zero-tolerance policy. Gene Hamilton, a senior Justice Department official, said on a conference call with reporters that unless Congress or the federal courts take action, the government can detain families for only "up to 20 days." As for the more than 2,300 children who already have been taken from their parents, top officials at the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees their supervision, were unable to say when the families would be reunited. "We keep in touch with the parents, under any circumstances, to ensure placement with relatives or if parents are released," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said. "We need to get the children out of our care as expeditiously as possible." Trump's executive order instructs DHS to keep families in custody "to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations" - language that points to the government's deficit of detention space for parents with children. ICE operates two large family detention centers in Texas and a smaller facility in Pennsylvania, with a combined capacity of about 3,000 beds. As of June 9, the three facilities had nearly 2,600 of those beds occupied, according to the latest available ICE figures. The enforcement agency already is stretched to capacity with adult detainees. The agency has had an average daily population of 41,280 detainees during the government's 2018 fiscal year, according to the latest figures, a number that exceeds what Congress has authorized DHS to spend. "It's an unqualified retreat for the president," said Muzaffar Chishti, the director of the Migration Policy Institute at the New York University School of Law. Chishti said the Trump administration faces steep odds in appealing to U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in California, whose 2015 decision in the Flores case set the 20-day limit for child detentions. Gee, appointed by President Barack Obama, is considered liberal on immigration matters, and legal experts do not expect her to oblige the administration. The Justice Department would then have to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and, perhaps, the Supreme Court. - - - The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis, Amy Goldstein, Sari Horwitz, Seung Min Kim and John Wagner contributed to this report. The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday identified the 20-year-old man who was allegedly killed, set on fire in a North Side apartment and then found dead by firefighters responding to the blaze. Jared Vargas had been missing for three days prior to being discovered Monday in the apartment unit in the 7900 block of Jones Maltsberger Road. The medical examiner's office listed his cause of death as homicidal violence but declined to detail exactly how he was killed. Ernesto Esquivel-Garcia, 20, has been charged with murder, arson and abuse of a corpse in connection to Vargas's death. RELATED: Suspect accused of killing man, burning his body in North Side apartment was on ICE detainer The official identification of Vargas marks the end to a days-long desperate and increasingly worrying search by his family. "The whole situation is a nightmare," said Gene Vargas, the victim's father. Police have released few details in the case, only saying they charged Esquivel-Garcia in Vargas's death after questioning him. But witnesses told mySA.com that sometime over the weekend Esquivel-Garcia collected all his possessions from the apartment the body was found in and moved them to a vacant apartment directly above the unit he leased. "The neighbors told me they had seen him carrying the furniture upstairs and questioned why he was moving," Vargas' aunt, Kim Chepey said. "They said he told them there was a problem with his apartment, and management had told him to move, but [management] said they had at no time spoken with him about moving apartments." On Monday night, after Esquivel-Garcia allegedly set fire to Vargas's body, witnesses said they saw him upstairs, feigning ignorance as he mingled with other neighbors watching the firefighters extinguish the blaze. Police confirmed the apartment Vargas was found in appeared vacant. Police later rounded up several witnesses, including Esquivel-Garcia, and interviewed them at police headquarters. It's unclear exactly what evidence police acquired against Esquivel-Garcia during the interviews. RELATED: San Antonio man accused in fatal 2015 stabbing was victim's lover He's being held in the jail on an immigration detainer, meaning he was possibly in the country without documentation at the time of the alleged killing. It was not clear Tuesday whether he had retained an attorney to represent him in the case. ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda could not confirm any details regarding Esquivel-Garcia's nationality. Vargas was last seen around 4 p.m. Saturday leaving his job at Bowl & Barrel at The Rim, where he had worked with Esquivel-Garcia for a brief time, according to Gene Vargas, 52. Matthew Schmertz, a spokesman for Bowl & Barrel, declined to answer questions about Vargas's and Esquivel-Garcia's employment, citing the ongoing police investigation. "We are holding [Vargas] and his family foremost in our thoughts," Schmertz said. Gene Vargas said he had tried to call his son Sunday morning to set up a Father's Day outing, but was never able to get hold of him. His ex-wife, Lori, said she hadn't heard from him either. "From there on, it took a different turn," he said. "It went from 'Where is he?', 'Why isn't he answering his phone?', to being very concerned and scared." The family researched Vargas's phone history online, as his call records were stored through the family's phone plan. They discovered his last call had been to 911, and that it originated from the address on Jones Maltsberger. After a quick search of the area, they found his car at the apartment complex. The last character of his license plate had been covered in white out, and there were obscure drawings taped to the window, one of which was an eye of providence, a pyramid with an eye atop like on a dollar bill, with the phrase "Real Siempre" and several apparent roman numerals written underneath. "We have no clue," said Gene Vargas. "Jared didn't draw. It doesn't make any sense. That's not him. He likes to keep his car clean, looking nice. It very obviously wasn't him." READ ALSO: 2 dead, 2 critically injured in wreck on far Northeast Side The family notified the authorities about their discovery and then staked out the apartment complex, waiting for any sign of Vargas. On Sunday, around 5 p.m., Chepey and a few other family members left the apartments to get food. "We were gone for one hour," she said, eyes moistening. While they were gone, Esquivel-Garcia allegedly set fire to Vargas's corpse. When Chepey and the family returned to the apartments, they saw the firefighters and knew something had gone terribly wrong. They learned a body had been discovered, but it wasn't until Wednesday, when Vargas was positively identified, that their worst fears had come true. Now, they're struggling to make sense of the violence that befell Vargas, who was a student at Northwest Vista College with plans to study cybersecurity at UTSA. "Jared was very, very affable, very sociable, very outgoing," said Gene Vargas. "He had lots of dreams, a very ambitious individual. He was a loving person. His circle of friends was large. He was well liked. He was an all-around great character." Through tears, Chepey emphasized that her family's grief and frustration was made worse by the possibility that they lost a relative to an undocumented immigrant. "He never should have been here. He never should've been allowed to get an apartment or get a job. And he shouldn't have been allowed to take someone's life," she said. But Gene Vargas had simpler regrets, wishing only that he could've had breakfast or lunch with his son, one last time, on Father's Day. "Unfortunately, that didn't happen," he said. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns A thief stole an off-duty San Francisco deputy sheriffs personal firearm that had been left unsecured in his truck last week outside a gym in Pinole, officials said Wednesday. Police have arrested a suspect, but the boosted 9mm Glock 17 semiautomatic pistol has not been recovered, authorities said. The suspect was not immediately identified, nor was the deputy. The San Francisco Sheriffs Department has opened an investigation into the matter, said Nancy Crowley, an agency spokeswoman. The sheriff considers this very concerning and immediately took steps to investigate, Crowley said of Sheriff Vicki Hennessy. The incident happened around 7:30 a.m. on June 14 when the deputy left his truck outside Anytime Fitness at 1477 Fitzgerald Drive in Pinole, officials said. The thief broke into the vehicle and stole the gun and four ammunition magazines, all of which were inside a backpack under the backseat of the truck, Crowley said. Police arrested the suspected thief the same day as the break-in but did not recover the gun or magazines, officials said. Pinole police officials did not immediately return phone calls Wednesday. State law requires that anyone transporting a firearm in a vehicle must lock it in the trunk, or in a locked container separate from the vehicles glove compartment, if the vehicle does not have a trunk. A violation is an infraction punishable by a fine up to $1,000. Police officers carrying out official duties are exempted. The theft was the latest in a series of incidents in which law enforcement officials have had firearms stolen after leaving them unsecured in vehicles. Some of the incidents have ended in tragedy. A gun taken from a San Francisco police officers personal car, while it was parked in the city, was used in the killing of Abel Esquivel Jr. in the Mission District in September 2017, authorities said. Antonio Ramos was shot in September 2015, while painting a mural in Oakland, by an attacker who used a gun stolen from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents rented car in San Francisco. In July 2015, a gun stolen from a car belonging to a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger in San Francisco was used, just days later, in the high-profile killing of Kate Steinle on Pier 14. The Chronicle reported that after the 2015 cases, some Bay Area police departments bought officers lockboxes that can be fastened to the interior of their vehicles, providing stronger security but many others did not. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors considered making it a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail for off-duty officers to leave a gun unsecured in a car. But the board ultimately voted to exempt San Francisco officers and deputies and apply the measure to everyone else, as long as the police and sheriffs departments enforced internal policies. The civil grand jury in Marin County, in a report released in May 2016, said just one police agency there had toughened policies on gun storage in vehicles since Steinles death, and that most agencies did not use lockboxes. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky NORWALK For the past 22 years, John ODonnell has spent much of his time at the college and career center at Norwalk High School. There, the longtime school counselor met with various college representatives and his students, discussing their next steps for the future. Many conversations were exchanged and life stories shared inside that room. So students, staff and the community found it fitting that the center be renamed after him in honor of his retirement. Its a wonderful recognition, ODonnell said Tuesday, after a party organized by his colleagues inside the center. I dont know that I deserve it. Spanish teacher Michelle Todeschini said ODonnell is more than deserving to have the center renamed after him, as did the rest of those who stopped by Tuesday to congratulate him. Known as a legend among staff at Norwalk High, ODonnell has often been the go-to person for many students and staff, Todeschini said. Hes been that kind of person for her, Todeschini added, as well as a mentor for the past 16 years shes been at the school. Whatever it may be, his door is always open, the Spanish teacher said, with tears in her eyes after giving ODonnell a hug. Well miss him. Hes a good one. Peter Pisacrita, a district IT specialist, agreed. Though his twin sons graduated two years ago, Pisacrita said ODonnell would still ask about them. He generally cares about the students. You just feel the love when you leave his office, Pisacrita said. ODonnell cited a variety of personal reasons, including health challenges, for his decision to retire. Through it all, ODonnells kindness, positivity and good will remained infectious in the way he carried himself and interacted with others, said Dan Sullivan, who heads the guidance department at Norwalk High. Hes an inspiration, Sullivan said. He just wants to go the extra mile, and I think he connected all of us in some way. Jackie Roberson spoke of this kind of community when reflecting on the years shes worked with ODonnell. The two have become close friends and have jokingly referred to each other as work spouses over the years. Roberson, a social worker at Norwalk High, said she admires ODonnell not only for his ability to connect with his students and their families, but also for his philanthropic efforts as the adviser of Norwalk Highs outreach club (B.R.O.W.N.) and other community organizations. I genuinely believe that if there ever is such a place as heaven, if he doesnt get in, theres no need of me ever trying, said Roberson with a laugh. Hes genuinely one of the nicest, most humble spirits Ive ever, ever had the pleasure of working with. Although those whove gotten to know ODonnell describe his long career as a legacy, he considers it more of as a privilege to have been a part of his students lives whether at Norwalk High or at the Immaculate High School in Danbury, where he worked for 15 years. They allow you a little glimpse of whats going on in their world and Ive been able to do that for over 36 years, ODonnell said. So Ive always felt it was a privilege to be part of that and try to help them the best that you can. ODonnell lives in Fairfield but said he will remain connected to Norwalk during his retirement, already planning to stop by in the fall to help counselors with college visits. My leaving is bittersweet, he said. Ill miss the people, Ill miss the staff. skim@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2568; @stephaniehnkim Kim Jong Un doesn't appear to be in a rush to dump his nuclear weapons. In talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, the North Korean leader reiterated his call for a gradual process to carry out the results of last week's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. Chinese state media cited Kim as saying that denuclearization would open up new prospects for both sides, if they could "implement the consensus of the summit step by step solidly." Kim's remarks were another sign of lingering disagreements between Washington and Pyongyang over the pace and sequence of North Korea's disarmament and sanctions relief. Trump has said Kim could only see penalties relaxed after he "completely denuclearized," while North Korean state media has previously said the U.S. president had agreed to a "step-by-step" process. Kim's China's visit -- his third since March -- reaffirmed Xi's role as a key player in U.S. efforts to ensure Trump's landmark summit Kim in Singapore leads to a more specific commitment to disarm. The statement Trump and Kim signed June 12 included no timetable for North Korea's denuclearization, and Trump told reporters that he didn't know how long it would take, "but it will be quickly." In the wake of the Singapore summit, China said the United Nations Security Council should revisit economic sanctions against the regime. Still, China believed that sanctions relief should be tied to North Korea's progress on denuclearization, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported Wednesday, citing a briefing by an unnamed Chinese official. In their talks in Beijing, Xi praised Kim for being proactive in realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. "We hope that both sides -- the DPRK and the U.S. -- can implement the outcome of the summit, and relevant parties can work together to advance the peace process on the peninsula." Xi said. "China will continue to play a constructive role." The visit illustrated how far relations between China and Kim have improved since Kim's decision earlier this year to open talks with South Korea and the U.S. Until March, Xi and Kim had not yet met, even though they had both been in power for more than five years. Kim said the two countries were now "as close and friendly as family," according to China's official Xinhua News Agency, and thanked Xi for his "affectionate care and support." China contributed the Air China Ltd. passenger jet the ferried Kim to and from the summit in Singapore. Kim was expected to return to Pyongyang later Wednesday. Meanwhile, South Korea Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told reporters Wednesday in Seoul that sanctions have cut off a "significant" part of North Korea's economy and would remain in place until denuclearization was "complete." She said she expected commitments to denuclearization and peace to proceed expeditiously. HARTFORD Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Wednesday signed a pair of bills that establish higher Greenhouse gas reduction standards, restrict some coastal development and increase the amount of clean energy coming into the state. "The time to act is now," Malloy said before signing a package of climate change and energy bills passed earlier this year by the General Assembly. "The effects of climate change, which is unquestionably man-made, can be felt in Connecticut and poses a threat to our residents," Malloy said. The new laws adopt a Greenhouse gas emissions target of 45 percent below 2001 levels by 2030 and require that future coastal projects, either undertaken by a state agency or funded by a state or federal grant or loan, take into account a projected sea rise of two feet by 2050. The new law also mandates that 40 percent of the states electricity come from renewable sources by 2030 and creates a new flat rate for solar power a move opponents say is a nod to electric companies. Under the current net metering pricing system for solar power, homeowners and businesses receive a credit on their electric bill for excess power produced by their system. Robert Klee, commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said the new laws are designed to combat climate change and create clean energy jobs. "While the current federal administration continues to deny human induced climate change as real, it is incumbent upon states to take action," Klee said. "For the sake of future generations to follow, I encourage other states to look at what we have done as a state and follow our lead," Klee said. Solar pricing A coalition of environment groups and solar industry representatives said the new solar pricing plan will hurt consumers. "Everyone deserves the choice to lower their electric bills, especially low-income and middle-class homeowners, who are most likely to lose solar access, the coalition, which includes the Connecticut Citizen Action Group and Environment Connecticut, said in a statement. [The law] is a major step backward for solar energy in Connecticut [and] jeopardizes hundreds of solar jobs and the ability of residents and businesses to generate and use their own clean power, the coalition said. The pricing plan now heads to the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority for review and rate setting. Environmental groups have said they plan to urge PURA to either reject the flat rate or set a rate that does not price middle and low-income consumers out of the solar market. Claire Coleman, a spokeswoman for the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, praised the new laws while expressing concern over changes in how solar power will be priced. "We share the concerns that sun setting of solar metering may make solar more challenging and creates a period of uncertainty," Coleman said. "We look forward to making sure Connecticut continues to offer robust net metering." But Coleman said the new laws also mark progress in battling climate change and bringing clean energy to the state. "This will make Connecticut more accountable and help end our addiction to fossil fuels and plan for sea level rise," Coleman said. State Rep. Lonnie Reed, D-Branford, said lawmakers must continue fighting for climate change reforms. "There are going to battles to come and we will continue to monitor these programs and work in a regional context," Reed said. bcummings@ctpost.com NEW HAVENThe aldermanic Public Safety Committee Tuesday again looked at additions to the city ordinance that regulates animals and pets, focusing on dogs that present a danger to the community. Members drafted a revised ordinance that includes defining a vicious or dangerous dog and puts restrictions on breeding. The language used in the revised ordinance was taken from New Britains ordinance on animals. We want more structure for the dog, committee vice-chairman Alder Brian Wingate, D-29, said. We want more structure for the owners, to understand that not everyone has a vicious animal. ... I want a safer environment in reference to dogs just roaming the street, any animal thats vicious. What were pushing here today is a start. Its a start in the right direction in terms of keeping our community safer, holding even the owners accountable, because ultimately that is a part of it. Work on an ordinance was spurred in 2016 after Jocelyn Winfrey was fatally mauled by two dogs. Wingate witnessed the attack and first suggested an ordinance that placed restrictions on keeping dogs with violent histories. The one the committee worked on Tuesday hopefully will be in memoriam to her, Wingate said. It was a horrific day, a terrible sighting, terrible situation and I think her dying like that shouldnt be thrown to the side and forgotten, he said. If I can honor her in that way, Im willing to if I can. The proposed naming of the ordinance is not just for him, he said, but for the whole community who was hurt by the attack. In the revised ordinance, dangerous or vicious dogs would be defined as animals that have attacked, bitten, or injured human beings without provocation, or dogs that present an unacceptably high risk of serious injury, even before causing harm, according to language in New Britains ordinance that the alders sought to incorporate. Where the ordinance mentions dogs that present a high risk of serious injury even before causing harm, it can refer to dogs that are snarling, showing their teeth and lunging without provocation, but Animal Control Officer Joseph Manganiello said officers would not use this language to define a dangerous dog based on its breed. I dont want to be breed-specific, he said. If anything breed-comes up Im not a fan of that. He said officers in the animal control community at large in New Haven wouldnt want breed-specific language either. According to Connecticut General Statutes, municipalities arent allowed to adopt breed-specific dog ordinances. Under the drafted revision to the ordinance, an animal control officer or whomever they designate can declare a dog as vicious or dangerous with supporting evidence and any officer can declare an animal as dangerous in an emergency situation. Committee chairman Alder Gerald Antunes, D-12, said the addition gives the city good strength in who can declare the animal as vicious. Moreover, under the proposed revision, once a dog is determined to be vicious or dangerous, it will need to be registered with animal control at the shelter as a dangerous dog; be given a microchip registered with the owner; the dog will need to be muzzled whenever its not inside; signs will need to be posted visible to the street warning people about the dog; and the animal can not be left outside unattended, even if its fenced in or tethered to the property. Manganiello said an equally important part of the ordinance is the regulations on breeding, which dont exist in any capacity in the city. The only restriction in place to control breeding lies in state statutes, which control the number of times a person is allowed to breed the same dog, he said. A lot of what we see as dangerous situations are created through breeding, Manganiello said. Not only does uncontrolled breeding create dangerous situations with the animals, but its also medically dangerous for them, he said. With the added language to the ordinance, anyone wanting to breed their dogs in the city would require a permit, even if it were only one litter. Theres quite a bit of backyard breeding for monetary gain with little experience or education behind that breeding, Manganiello said, and the addition to the ordinance will help animal control officers to control it and enforce standards for good practice. Under the ordinance, animal control officers would be allowed to inspect places that are breeding dogs to ensure its done properly, but it could also be used as evidence in denying someone a permit if they dont have an appropriate space. Antunes was careful to avoid language that would create the opportunity for selective inspections. Breeders would also be required to register each litter and microchip the puppies, which helps control over-breeding. Also included in the revision is a requirement that all licensed dogs get vaccinated for parvovirus, which is a health epidemic for dogs, Manganiello said. The revisions still need to go before the full Board of Alders and be vetted by legal counsel. Public comment will be heard at a future meeting. mdignan@hearstmediact.com President Donald Trump is facing an escalating humanitarian and political crisis at the Mexican border as migrant parents are increasingly separated from their children under his new immigration enforcement policy. But Trump and top administration officials have, at times, obfuscated the facts and sent contradicting messages on the practice of separating families that illegally enter the United States. The growing crisis has upset lawmakers in both parties and prompted GOP leaders to scramble for a legislative fix - even as Democrats and some Republicans push Trump to reverse the controversial practice on his own. Here are The Washington Post's answers to commonly asked questions about the controversy over family separation at the border: - - - Q: Is the White House required under law to separate families, as President Trump says? A: No. There is no law that requires migrant children who arrive at the border to be separated from their parents. The separation practice began in earnest when Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in early May that the departments of Justice and Homeland Security would work together to criminally prosecute everyone who crosses the border illegally - the "zero-tolerance" policy. "If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law," Sessions said in Scottsdale, Ariz., on May 7. That tactic, in effect, directly leads to migrant children being separated from their parents; kids cannot be held in criminal jails alongside their mother or father. The children are deemed "unaccompanied" and are routed through a processing system that also involves the Department of Health and Human Services. Top administration officials, including Sessions and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, have said this policy is needed to deter migrants from crossing the border illegally. But Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has denied that the zero-tolerance policy is meant to be a deterrent, although other administration officials continue to contradict her publicly. "We expect that the new policy will result in a deterrence effect," Steven Wagner, a top official at HHS's Administration for Children and Families, said on a conference call Tuesday. "We certainly hope that parents stop bringing their kids on this dangerous journey." - - - Q: Why does Trump keep blaming Democrats for family separation and calling it "their law"? A: In briefings with reporters, administration officials - including Nielsen and White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller - have referred to a 2008 anti-trafficking law as one of the root causes of the family separation practice. The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act bars unaccompanied migrant children from nations other than Mexico and Canada who show up at the border from being promptly sent back to their home countries. Instead, the law requires those children be referred to Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement, which screens children to see if they are victims of trafficking while making arrangements to put them in one of its shelters, in foster care or with a sponsor in the United States, such as a family member. But it's not a Democratic law: It was passed unanimously by both chambers of Congress and signed into law in the final days of the George W. Bush administration. Both Miller and Nielsen have also pointed to the "Flores settlement" as another genesis of the separation. The 1997 court settlement dramatically limits the detention of migrant children and calls on them to be held in the "least restrictive setting appropriate to age and special needs." Combined, administration officials say, those factors are exacerbating the family separation practice by barring families from being detained together. But again, they aren't Democratic policies and neither the Bush nor Obama administrations interpreted the 2008 anti-trafficking law or the Flores settlement as requiring family separation. - - - Q: Which migrant families are affected? Is it all undocumented immigrants or only those seeking asylum? Are families being reunited? A: Nielsen and other DHS officials have said that everyone who crosses the border illegally between ports of entry - designated locations that process people entering the country - will be a target of the "zero-tolerance" initiative. DHS statistics show that it's already having a widespread effect: 2,342 children were separated from their parents between May 5 and June 9. Wagner, the HHS official, could not provide statistics Tuesday on how many of the separated children had been reunited with their parents, noting that the policy is "relatively new." Administration officials, including Nielsen, have repeatedly stressed that people seeking asylum in the United States will not be prosecuted so long as they show up at a port of entry and don't enter the country illegally. "If an adult enters at a port of entry and claims asylum, they will not face prosecution for illegal entry," Nielsen said at a White House news briefing on Monday. - - - Q: Are migrants who are seeking asylum being turned away from ports of entry? A: The administration says no, but some appear to be, according to news reports. In a June 15 piece, NPR tracked the journey of the Berduo family, which traveled from Guatemala and arrived at an international bridge connecting to Brownsville, Tex., as they sought asylum in the United States. But the Berduo family has tried at least three times to enter the United States to claim asylum and all three times has been turned away by authorities at the border. The Post also wrote about Serbando Pineda Hernandez and his 15-year-old son, Riquelmer, who had tried at least nine times to reach the port of entry in El Paso and apply for asylum. They were similarly blocked from making their case. The stated reason is that there is no more room in U.S. Customs and Border Protection stations. DHS doesn't consider that being "turned away," however, and says the asylum seekers can return another time. But that hasn't satisfied a handful of Republican senators. Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, pressed DHS and HHS in a letter this week on whether families who request asylum at legal ports of entry were being separated. The letter cited the case of a Honduran woman who said she was separated from her 18-month-old son in February, even though she had crossed at an international bridge in Brownsville to seek asylum. She has since been reunited with her son, and her lawsuit was detailed in a May 28 op-ed column in The Washington Post. And immigration law experts say there is no legal requirement that asylum seekers come to a port of entry. Jeanne Butterfield, who was the executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association from 1993 to 2009, said immigrants have up to a year from when they left their home countries to apply for asylum, even if they've already been in the country without legal status. "You don't have to present yourself [at a port of entry[. That has never been a part of refugee and asylum law," Butterfield said. But DHS says crossing anywhere else on the border is indeed, breaking the law. - - - Q: Are the chain-linked fence cages new or were they used before Trump took office? A: Customs and Border Protection released images of migrants being processed at a center in McAllen, Texas. The photos depict people enclosed in large pens with chain-link fences for walls. Reporters who were allowed to tour the center last weekend found that as many as 20 or more young children were held in concrete-floor cages in this warehouse-like facility and given foil blankets, bottled water and food as they waited to be processed. When the migrant crisis escalated in 2014 under the Obama administration, there were similar images circulated in the news media. The Arizona Republic published a photos in June 2014 depicting immigrant children in similar cages with chain-link fences at a CBP facility in Nogales, Arizona. "The CBP agents in the building seem to be genuinely compassionate in their interactions with the children. The facility is clean and air-conditioned," wrote Michael Kiefer, a Republic reporter. "But in essence, it is a juvenile prison camp. The children, mostly of high school and junior-high-school age, are housed behind 18-foot-high chain-link fences topped with razor wire." - - - Q: What happened to the families when they crossed the border under the same circumstances during the Obama administration? A: Trump's predecessor had a different strategy when confronted with the rising numbers of migrant families at the border in the latter years of his administration. Typically, families from Central America who came to the border and sought asylum would be processed and given a "notice to appear" for a court date. They would then be released together into the United States after a brief stint in custody, said Theresa Cardinal Brown, the director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The Obama administration tried detaining families together but faced furious pushback from Democratic lawmakers and immigrants rights groups. Ultimately in 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld a ruling that expanded protections outlined in the Flores settlement, saying migrant children couldn't be detained at length - whether they came to the United States alone or with a parent. Generally, detention of children is limited to 20 days under the Flores settlement and subsequent rulings. The practice of briefly detaining families and then releasing migrants and requiring they appear before a judge is the "catch-and-release" policy that has been harshly criticized by Trump and congressional Republicans. Brown said there were cases of family separation during the Obama administration if the children were being trafficked or officials couldn't confirm that the adult was indeed the kid's parent. - - - Q: Where are the girls? A: Government officials haven't allowed the news media to capture images at immigration centers, citing privacy concerns and instead handing out government-issued photos and videos. The images released by CBP and HHS almost exclusively show boys, prompting questions about where the migrant girls were being held. Nielsen wasn't able to answer that question directly on Monday, but at a briefing with reporters on Tuesday morning, DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman said the government was working to get more footage and images of the facilities requested by news organizations. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump implored anxious House Republicans to fix the nation's immigration system but did not offer a clear path forward amid the growing uproar over his administration's decision to separate migrant families at the border. Huddling with the GOP at the Capitol on Tuesday evening, Trump stopped short of giving a full-throated endorsement to immigration legislation meant to unite the moderate and conservative wings of the House Republican conference. "He didn't really tell us what bill to vote for," said Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., saying Trump laid out his main principles on immigration and told Republicans he "wanted to take care of the kids" - a reference to the unfolding family separation crisis. Trump has repeatedly defended his immigration crackdown, including forcibly separating migrant children from their parents as they arrive at the border. But images of young children housed in metal cages have set off a nationwide outcry that has reached the White House. Trump described for Republicans how his daughter Ivanka, a senior White House adviser, told him that the images from the border of families being separated were terrible, according to multiple GOP lawmakers who attended the session. "Can we do anything to stop this?" Trump quoted her saying, according to one lawmaker. The president's reaction to his daughter's remarks, the lawmaker said, was to call it a "tough issue" and push Congress to act: "We need to figure this out," Trump said. "It's a sad situation." Despite the president's visit, there was no guarantee that the Republican-led Congress would pass any legislation on immigration, an issue that has exposed deep rifts in the GOP and threatens the party's control of Congress in November's midterm elections. The images from the border have deeply shaken both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, even as Republicans have broadly agreed with the administration's insistence that Congress hand Trump a legislative fix. Outside the meeting room, a handful of House Democrats heckled the president as he left the session. The group chanted "Stop separating the children" and "We won't go away" - although Trump appeared to ignore the protests. "Quit separating the children, Mr. President," shouted Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif. "Don't you have kids, don't you have kids?" Trump and top administration officials are unwilling - at the moment, at least - to unilaterally reverse the separation policy. The issue has roiled Republicans in the Senate, where lawmakers are drafting narrow legislation to address the issue. GOP senators are coalescing around a framework that would allow families to be detained together and would rework the docket of immigration cases so those families are sent to the front of the line of migrants waiting for a court hearing. "All of the members of the Republican conference support a plan that keeps families together while their immigration status is determined," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., after a GOP meeting earlier in the day. McConnell said he hoped the Senate could pass such a bill by the end of the week, although that timeline appeared optimistic. In the House, there are two rival bills. One is a compromise measure that would provide $25 billion for Trump's long-sought border wall, offer a pathway to citizenship to young undocumented immigrants and keep migrant families together. A competing, hard-line bill by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., would not guarantee "dreamers" a path to permanent legal residency and includes controversial enforcement measures such as the mandatory use of a worker verification program. Adding to the confusion on Capitol Hill, some House Republicans left the evening meeting with the impression that Trump was endorsing the compromise bill. "The president gave unwavering support of the compromise bill," said Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif. Several other lawmakers said Trump told Republicans that he was "1,000 percent behind you." Yet when Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., asked Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., in front of reporters whether he knew which bill Trump was promoting at the meeting - the compromise or the hard-line measure - Sensenbrenner said he did not. Inside the room, Trump acknowledged that the politics on the border issue were not good and were one reason Republicans needed to act on legislation this week, according to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. "There's a storm brewing off the coast here, and if we don't handle this in the next four or five days, this could stick all the way through November," said Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., chairman of the Republican Study Committee. "It's not a political issue. It's what's right and what's wrong." Republicans are eager to find a legislative end to the turmoil sparked by the new "zero tolerance" policy at the border - although Trump in recent days has hinted that only a broader bill that included the border wall and other enforcement measures would pass muster. The Department of Homeland Security has said 2,342 children have been separated from their parents since last month. As the numbers have mounted, stories of parents in despair and images of children held in chain-link cages have prompted a stream of Republican lawmakers to break with the president and call for him to unilaterally halt the policy while Congress pursues a solution. Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah, along with 12 other Senate Republicans, wrote to the Justice Department calling for a pause on separations until Congress can pass a legislative fix. In the House, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a prominent conservative leader, introduced another stand-alone bill intended to fix the separation policy. While Republicans scrambled to craft legislation, it was not clear whether Democrats would support the measures. Sen. Jeff Merkley, Ore., said Tuesday that he and other Democrats would object to any modification of an existing court settlement that limits the detention of migrant children held by federal authorities. Democrats, Merkley said, "are not going to try to overturn a court decision that was designed to protect kids." Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has presented her own plan that would halt family separations. All 49 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus support it. No Republicans have signed on. The immigration debate has now become consumed by the consequences of the Trump administration's border policy. Top GOP leaders have spoken out against the separations, including the head of the party's national House campaign organization. Polls released Monday by CNN and Quinnipiac University showed that Americans oppose the policy by roughly 2 to 1. More legal challenges to the administration's policy arose Tuesday, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, said his state would sue the Trump administration over the family separation practice. The American Civil Liberties Union is already pursuing a nationwide class-action lawsuit in San Diego. Meanwhile, a second Republican governor, Larry Hogan of Maryland, announced Tuesday that he would not deploy National Guard resources to the border until the Trump administration stops separating migrant children from their parents as part of its criminal prosecution efforts. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, R, acted similarly Monday. Two previous presidents - a Republican and a Democrat - operated under the same laws and court settlements, and both generally refrained from separating families at the border. Some Trump administration officials, including White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, have openly cast the separation policy as a deterrent to future illegal immigration. The two bills set for a House vote this week would both address the status of dreamers, as well as provide funding for the border wall that Trump has long demanded. According to a GOP aide familiar with new language, which was released Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security would be required to keep families together, even when a parent is charged with the misdemeanor crime of illegally entering the United States, and a 20-day cap on custody for accompanied children would be removed. The bill, the aide said, would also allow DHS to use the $7 billion appropriated in the measure for border technology to house families. The two bills differ in several ways, however. One takes a more aggressive approach to immigration enforcement - for instance, requiring employers to screen their workers for legal work status using the federal E-Verify database - and does not guarantee dreamers a path to permanent legal residency. The other, which has been written to garner more Republican votes, omits some of the hard-line measures and offers dreamers a path to permanent residency and eventual citizenship. --- The Washington Post's Sean Sullivan, Josh Dawsey, Paul Kane, Mark Berman and Erica Werner contributed to this report. --- Video Embed Code Video: President Trump said on June 19 that he wants "the legal authority to detain and promptly remove families together as a unit," not more immigration judges. (The Washington Post) Embed: --- Video Embed Code Video: President Trump said on June 19 that he wants "the legal authority to detain and promptly remove families together as a unit," not more immigration judges.(The Washington Post) Embed code: President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed the annual congressional picnic, saying that it "didn't feel exactly right" to hold the event while the White House and lawmakers remain at odds over the issue of migrant family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border. "I was just walking over to the Oval Office and I said, you know, it doesn't feel right to have a picnic for Congress when we're working on doing something very important," Trump said in remarks at the White House. "It didn't feel exactly right to me." The Edgewood Independent School District board voted Tuesday to formally hire Eduardo Hernandez as its new superintendent. Hernandez is the chief academic officer at Duncanville ISD, a small district south of Dallas. Edgewoods state-appointed board of managers named him as their sole finalist for the superintendent job on May 24. By law, the board had to wait 21 days before voting on the hire. RELATED: Ranking: Highest paid superintendents in the San Antonio area in 2017-2018 Edgewood board President Roy Richard Soto noted similarities between Duncanville, which enrolls nearly 12,800 students, and Edgewood, which has an enrollment of more than 11,000, as a factor in their decision. Hernandez will replace Emilio Castro, who resigned in March amid a sexual harassment complaint. The board has been working to stabilize the districts leadership since it was appointed by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to replace Edgewoods elected board two years ago. Morath acted to break a months-long 3-3 voting deadlock by trustees unable to agree on how to fill a board vacancy, hire a superintendent or appoint school principals. RELATED: Data: Average teacher salaries at San Antonio-area elementary schools in 2017 The new board hired Castro in 2016 on a contract set to expire in December 2019. But a female district employee later told police and the districts human resources department Castro made inappropriate physical advances on her. A Houston-based law firm that investigated the allegations for the district found the claim credible, Soto has said. But the district has declined to release the investigation results, citing client-attorney-privileged items and sensitivity for the complainant and witnesses. krista.torralva@express-news.net AUSTIN Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick frequently talk tough about illegal immigration, but they refuse to publicly support the Trump administrations zero-tolerance policy thats spurred outrage for ripping thousands of undocumented children out of the arms of their parents. Neither are they criticizing it. Texas top Republicans are making a calculated decision to hide from the humanitarian crisis, largely taking place on Texas soil, because they are afraid of upsetting their political base. The governor has tried to say as little as possible about the White House policy, making only one public comment backing Trumps argument that the childrens and parents traumatic experiences can be used as leverage for an immigration overhaul. This is horrible and this rips everyones hearts apart about whats going on, Abbott told a Dallas-area TV station. He added that Trump had offered to end the ripping apart of these families if Democrats agree to a new immigration law. Abbott declined repeated requests for comment from the Houston Chronicle. Instead, his staff forwarded the statement made last weekend to NBC TV. The governor seeks to appear loyal without attracting attention to himself. MORE: Democrats howl, Republicans become uneasy over family separations at border It shouldn't be a tightrope to do the right thing, said John Weaver, a longtime campaign strategist from Texas who has consulted for Republicans like George H.W. Bush and now Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Its disappointing that we havent heard from the governor but not surprising. Weve gone from Texas having very strong leaders to having leaders who are very calculating. Some 2,000 minors who crossed the border illegally were separated from their parents in the last six weeks due to a zero tolerance policy announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in April. Many children have since been sent to a tent camp in Tornillo and a former Walmart in Brownsville, among others, before being released to family or sent into federal foster care, unsure if or when they will reunite with their parents. Patrick never brought up the separation policy or the border when he spoke for half an hour at the Texas Republican Party convention in San Antonio on Friday. His office and campaign have not returned repeated calls for comment. Dan Patricks silence, in the face of such brutality committed on Texas soil, makes him as culpable as the administration. Morally, its as though he wrenched the children from their parents with his own hands, said Mike Collier, a Democratic businessman running against Patrick for lieutenant governor in November. The Trump administration has defended the policy and urged Congress, namely Democrats, to fix the problem. Two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the administrations decision to remove immigrant children from their parents after crossing the border, according to a poll by CNN. However, the majority of Republicans surveyed 58 percent approve of the practice. The poll surveyed 1,012 people between June 14 and 17. MORE: At a border immigration shelter: a room of infants; teen immigrants giving birth Attorney General Ken Paxton, a tea party Republican and attorney for a state with a 1,254-mile border with Mexico, backs the administrations attempt to force passage of Trumps immigration priorities. The separation of families should never be a desired outcome and my heart goes out to these children being used as pawns in a political debate. The issue is whether well have a secure border or an open-border, he said in an emailed statement Tuesday. Any changes to our immigration system to address family separation must come from Congress. House Speaker Joe Straus, often at odds with his partys conservative base, is one of the few Republicans who has pushed back against the White House. On Tuesday he lambasted the zero tolerance policy in a letter to the president, accusing him of using these scared, vulnerable children as a negotiating tool. He urged Trump to listen to faith leaders and elected officials from both parties and rescind the policy, stressing the trauma the children are going through is scientifically proven to lead to poor health outcomes, anxiety, delayed development and mental illness, worsening the many problems that already plague our immigration system. Straus is among a growing group of Republicans speaking out, including U.S. Rep. Will Hurd of San Antonio and former First Lady Laura Bush who called the policy cruel and immoral, and it breaks my heart. Hurd is in a highly competitive race against Democrat Gina Ortiz-Jones in a district that is majority Hispanic, making it necessary to denounce Trumps policy. Donald Trump Jr. pulled out of attending a fundraiser for Land Commissioner George P. Bush after his father, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, lashed out at the Trump administrations handling of the border. Children shouldnt be used as a negotiating tool, said the elder Bush, @realDonaldTrump should end his heartless policy and Congress should get an immigration deal done that provides for asylum reform, border security and path to citizenship for Dreamers. The policy has led to housing children in shelters including a tent city and a former Walmart before being entered into the foster care system. Images of children held in holding cells have spurred the outrage outside of the Republican party base on which Abbott and others rely on for support. If I were Greg Abbotts political adviser, Id say just keep your mouth shut and do something else and stay out of the limelight, stay out of the news as much as you can, said Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, a lecturer with a focus on politics and immigration at the University of Texas at Austin. Andrea Zelinski covers politics for the Houston Chronicle. Read her recent stories here. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook. Send her tips at andrea.zelinski@chron.com. andrea.zelinski@chron.com twitter.com/andreazelinski In a 6-0 vote, the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District board Tuesday censured indicted trustee Gary Inmon and issued a statement calling it the strongest possible action we are allowed. Read by board president Robert Westbrook, the statement said trustees felt it necessary to let our community and employeees know that the allegations brought forth against Mr. Inmon reflect neither the boards standard of conduct nor the districts stated mission, vision, values and belief statements. Inmon was not in attendance, having told the board beforehand that he had to work that night. He submitted a statement, which Westbrook read, that said he would honor and respect the decision to censure him and expressing his regret that SCUC has been in any way affected by these recent issues. RELATED: Ranking: Highest paid superintendents in the San Antonio area in 2017-2018 Inmon, a lawyer, was indicted by a Guadalupe County grand jury this month on three third degree felony charges misapplying fiduciary property, theft and aggravated perjury stemming from his execution of an estate in a probate case. He was arrested last Wednesday, his bail was set at $50,000 and he was released on bond the next day, according to county records. According to an inventory Inmon filed in the estate case, the assets of Elizabeth Doss of Schertz, who died in 2016, were valued at $131,456, including a $126,456 house. Guadalupe County Appraisal District records, meanwhile, show the property was sold to a rental company that year. Yet Doss beneficiaries saw none of the proceeds, the attorney of one of her stepchildren has argued in court documents. The indictment states that in 2016 Inmon intentionally and knowingly (misapplied) property that he held as a fiduciary or as a person acting in a fiduciary capacity for Doss. It also says that in 2017 he lied under oath about having given notice to members of the Doss family that they were named as beneficiaries in Doss will. RELATED: Data: Average teacher salaries at San Antonio-area elementary schools in 2017 Inmon faces other legal problems. He filed documents in the Doss case during a year-long suspension of his law license, which went into effect after the State Bar of Texas found that he had not returned a $10,000 advance payment to a former client. The suspension ended in October 2017. Unrelated to the Doss allegations, Inmon was also arrested in late 2017 on a charge of assaulting a family member and impeding breath during an altercation with his adult stepson. Inmon has said he was acting completely in self defense to protect himself and his son, then 8. He has not been indicted in that case. Four speakers at the public comment portion of Tuesdays meeting criticized Inmon. Two of them faulted the board, with the exception of trustee John Correu, for not being willing to publicly criticize Inmon during months leading up to the indictment, when his legal problems appeared in media reports. At some point, leaders have to lead, said one of them, Terrence Benson, in an interview while the board met in closed session before the censure vote. Theres just, theres no leadership from the board. Amber ONeal told the board that Inmon should resign and said the other trustees should call for him to do so if he does not on his own accord. Per SCUC ISD policies, a trustee can be removed from the board if convicted of a felony, but Westbrook had said in the wake of the indictment that the board might not reach that threshold in Inmons case. Inmon has served on the SCUC ISD board of trustees for 18 years. Last November, he was re-elected for a sixth term with more than 57 percent of the vote. Brian Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. On July 24, 2017, Stacey Mascarenas was fatally stabbed in her apartment in the 700 block of North San Marcos Street. On Wednesday, San Antonio police arrested her cousin, Benjamin Weston, in connection to her death. According to the arrest affidavit, officers responding to a report of a stabbing at an apartment complex found a 52-year-old woman with stab wounds. She told the police that she was asleep in the apartment when she woke up to Mascarenas being attacked. Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday ordered an emergency special election to fill the state senate seat vacated by the resignation of Carlos Uresti, who was found guilty of fraud earlier this year. The election to fill the seat in State Senate District 19 will take place July 31, with early voting beginning July 16. Uresti, a Democrat, announced Monday he would step down, after four months of attempts to fight back against the verdict he received in February. A jury found Uresti guilty of 11 counts of fraud. His request for a new trial was denied and his attorneys said at the time they planned to appeal. RELATED: Uresti resigns from state Senate The vacancy created by Uresti's resignation would have left much of South Texas without representation in the state senate for the rest of the year and possibly into the 2019 legislative session. "The indictment and ultimate conviction of Senator Uresti for fraud and money laundering has already left District 19 without effective representation in the Texas Senate for over a year," Abbott said in a press release. "With the 86th Legislative Session approaching, and ongoing interim legislative committee hearings, it is imperative to fill this vacancy to ensure that Senate District No. 19 is fully represented as soon as possible." Candidates who want to run for the seat must file by 5 p.m. on June 25. District 19 includes Brewster, Crockett, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Kinney, Maverick, Medina, Pecos, Real, Reeves, Terrell, Uvalde, Val Verde, and Zavala Counties and parts of Atascosa and Bexar Counties. Chase Karacostas is a staff writer for mySA.com. | Chase.Karacostas@express-news.net | Twitter: @ChaseKaracostas SEATTLE - Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan will visit the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday amid the public outcry over the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy. Mayor Durkan will join a bipartisan delegation of mayors from the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) at the Tornillo Port of Entry in Texas on Thursday. They're calling on President Trump and his administration to reverse their policy of separating children from their families. WASHINGTON - Ongoing uncertainty about families separated at the border prompted former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to cancel a weekend trip to Iowa, his first visit to the key political state while considering a campaign for the Democratic nomination for president. Castro said Wednesday he was postponing the Iowa trip to take part in a rally on Sunday in Tornillo organized by Voto Latino. Right now, its most important for me to lend a strong voice to the effort to end the presidents cruel policy of separating families. Its urgent and I look forward to being in Tornillo on Sunday, Castro said in an interview. He said he was committed, despite President Donald Trumps executive order intended to end the separation of families. RELATED: Immigration march in El Paso part of growing protests against immigrant family separations Castro, 43, was Housing and Urban Development secretary in the Obama administration. He has hinted strongly that he might run for president in 2020, and the Iowa trip was viewed as an opportunity to lay groundwork. Iowas precinct caucuses in February open the presidential election season, winnowing candidates, signaling donors where to place bets and educating voters who might have paid scant attention to possibilities in a new election season. Castro bowed out of a full schedule of events in Iowa Saturday and Sunday when he would have met party activists in three cities, raised money for Iowa Democratic candidates and gathered with members of the Latino Political Network in a state where the Hispanic population has grown to nearly 200,000, a six-fold increase since the 1990s. Castro said that he intends to reschedule his Iowa trip soon, but that he considered developments along the border more important. Personally, this strikes a chord with me, like so many other people. I have a nine-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy, and the idea that they could be somewhere alone and crying out and not knowing when theyre going to see their parents again is frightening. And thats what thousands of children are experiencing right now, he said. Castros family history also may have factored into the decision. His grandmother Victoria looms large in his upbringing, and she crossed the border from Mexico at age seven after the deaths of her parents to live with relatives in San Antonio. Castro noted that his grandmothers circumstances were different, but added: The recordings of these children crying out for their mom or dad reminds me of the story that my grandmother would tell of having to leave her mom and the fact that even in her seventies, that separation deeply affected her. His late grandmother is featured in Castros family-heavy autobiography, titled An Unlikely Journey, scheduled for release in October. Little, Brown and Co. is marketing the book as in the spirit of a young Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father, a bestseller. Writing a book has become standard procedure for modern presidential aspirants. Castro has said hell decide whether to run after the midterm elections in November and before years end. Im using this time as I support candidates across the country to understand where the country is at and to think through my vision for the country and what a campaign would look like, he said. One way the contest likely will look is crowded, with 15 to 20 potential candidates on some lists - from senior party stalwarts including former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to a host of politicians scarcely known outside of their home bases. In between are an array of other possible Democratic challengers that include: Sens. Kamala Harris of California; Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; Jeff Merkley of Oregon; and Cory Booker of New Jersey. Govs. Jerry Brown of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York often are mentioned, as is former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Then theres media mogul Oprah Winfrey and former Starbuck chief executive Howard Schultz. Democratic politicians showing up in Iowa since April reflect the lesser-knowns with whom Castro might compete. They include: U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell of California; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander; Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; and U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, who intends to begin television advertising in Iowa next week. On Saturday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is scheduled to headline a state party gathering in Iowa on Saturday. Last weekend, Castros twin brother, Joaquin, a Democratic congressman from San Antonio, traveled to Iowa to headline an event for Democrats in Urbandale, outside Des Moines. There is a lot of energy among Iowa Democrats who want to make sure that we take back the House of Representatives in November and get ready to help elect a new president in 2020, he said in an interview. Iowans welcome the budding stars of 2020 and deploy them as the talent for rallies and fundraisers. We are always happy to have people here; this is Iowa, were used to it, said Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman Tess Seger. But if people come here and ask what we can do, our answer is to help us in 2018. In 2016, Castro campaigned twice in Iowa on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but this weekend would have been his first trip this political cycle. He had intended to deliver endorsements and a few checks from his political entity, Opportunity First PAC, which had $181,000 on hand as of April 30. But the process of making friends in Iowa will have to wait. One of Castros scheduled events on Saturday was helping an organization called Flip It Iowa raise money in Iowa City for state legislative races. Flip It spokeswoman Christine Lewers said she understood Castros decision. Its a disappointment; Im not going to lie. But I get it. He did it for the right reason, she said. Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services MCALLEN Porn star Stormy Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti, made an impromptu appearance at the Catholic Charities RGVs respite center Tuesday afternoon. Thats because Avenatti, in addition to representing the woman who is suing President Donald Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen, is now also representing about 50 immigrant women and children who were separated from each other after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The celebrity lawyers commitment to representing them comes at a time of growing opposition from both sides of the political aisle to the Trump administrations zero-tolerance policy, which has upped criminal prosecutions of immigrants who enter the country illegally and resulted in the forced separation of families. RELATED: Congressman reveals where migrant girls are being held This is a complete (expletive) show of epic proportions, Avenatti said. I think the rest of the world looks at America and shakes their head, he added. He said he met with 10 mothers hes representing at a detention center outside Laredo earlier Tuesday. This is by far the worst day of my legal career, the most difficult day of my legal career, perhaps the most difficult day of my life, Avenatti said, adding he spent his day listening to mother after mother telling their story about having their children taken from them simply because they wanted to come to this country and seek a better life for them and their child. He only just started looking to represent immigrant families that have been torn apart on Sunday, according to a Tweet he issued that day calling for such clients. Its unclear whether or not Avenatti is trained in immigration law. Between May 5 and June 9, some 2,342 children were separated from 2,206 adults along the border, according to the latest Department of Homeland Security figures announced Tuesday morning. RELATED: What life inside migrant internment camps looks like Thats 4,548 parents and children who were separated from each other. If any white family in America traveled to another country and had this happen to them, this would be an international crisis, Avenatti said. The state department would be called into action, and all of America would be demanding the return of that child to that family. Avenatti recently set up a GoFundMe to crowdfund for the cost of bond for these mothers and other out-of-pocket expenses. As of Tuesday evening it had raised more than $76,000. OPPOSITION MDC-T and MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa yesterday raised alarm and literally pressed the panic baton after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) for the second day running allegedly declined to give him an electronic copy of the voters roll, claiming it was not yet ready. This came amid reports that the ruling Zanu PF party and officials at the British and American embassies had already received soft copies of the roll. We still dont have the voters roll. Our people have been told to wait 48 hours. We are struggling to understand why Zec is frustrating our attempts to access this important document, Chamisa tweeted yesterday. The previous day, Chamisa had reportedly tried in vain to obtain the roll. Zec continues to refuse to release the voters roll. Worse still, the chairperson (Priscilla Chigumba) has now shifted goal posts and says they are printing hard copies. We require an electronic copy; we have made this very clear. What are they trying to hide? he queried. Chamisas spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda last night insisted that Zec had not released the voters roll to the MDC Alliance president and other candidates in the coalition. We went there in the morning and were told to sign for the voters roll and come back and check after 48 hours, Sibanda said. But Zec acting chief elections officer, Utloile Silaigwana said all candidates who visited their offices yesterday had been issued with a copy of the voters roll and warned Chamisa against politicking over the issue. I can confirm to you that all candidates who visited our offices today have been given copies of the voters roll. Those who did not come, we did not give them, Silaigwana said. On Monday, Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba told journalists that the commission was printing copies for candidates who successfully filed their nomination papers to participate in the presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. She, however, warned that elections would be held as scheduled on July 30 regardless of concerns likely to be raised by parties over the quality of the voters roll. The Electoral Resource Centre, that took Zec to court demanding a provisional voters roll that was inspected between May 19 and 29 said they have received a copy of the voters roll, but claimed it served no purpose if it was not accompanied by the roll that was inspected. One can only pick anomalies if there is something to compare with. Zec should simply respect the court order and release the voters roll that was inspected, ERC director Tawanda Chimhini said. He said the quest for a free, fair and undisputed election should have started with political parties receiving the provisional voters roll inspected last month so that they factor in their input to be considered when making the final roll. Zec has been accused by opposition parties of deliberately delaying the release of the voters roll as part of the rigging process on behalf of the ruling Zanu PF, an allegation the commission had denied. NewsDay Breaking News via Email Loading... Related Zimbabwe Latest News - Over 500,000 Permanent Voter Cards have been collected by Ekiti state residents - This was made known by the INEC spokesman in the state - According to INEC, Ekiti has a total of 913,334 registered voters and 353,262 PVCs were yet to be collected by their owners The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has indicated that a total of 563,051 Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) have been collected by registered voters in Ekiti state, 27 days to the governorship election. Spokesman of the commission in the state, Taiwo Gbadegesin, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ado Ekiti on Monday, June 18, that the state has a total of 913,334 registered voters and that 353,262 PVCs were yet to be collected by their owners. READ ALSO: FG to build 94 ranches in 10 states, rolls out 6-point plan to permanently end herdsmen/farmers crisis (list) On preparations for the election, Gbadegesan said that INEC was 94 per cent ready, adding that it had already distributed virtually all the non-sensitive election materials to all the 16 local governments. He said the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, would visit the state on July 10, to interact with candidates and officials of the 35 political parties, as well as other stakeholders participating in the election. Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that INEC had disqualified and expunged the name of the Providence Peoples Congress (PPC)'s governorship candidate, Stephen Obasola, from the list of candidates for the July 14 Ekiti state election. The electoral body said the PPC flag bearer was technically disqualified from the race. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Obasola had emerged as governorship candidate in Ekiti through a primary supervised by INEC at the partys secretariat located at Okesa area in Ado Ekiti. Legit.ng special report on Anambra governorship election - on Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - Women from the Niger Delta region allege that Patience Jonathan is being harassed - They want President Buhari and the National Assembly to call the EFCC to order - They accuse the government of deliberate witch-hunt of the former first lady Reports says hundreds of women from the Niger Delta area of the country marched on streets in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state, on Tuesday, June 20, alleging harassment of former first lady, Patience Jonathan by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The protesters marched to the Rivers Government House urging President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly and the international community to call the EFCC to order. READ ALSO: List of powerful politicians sent to jail under Buhari administration Vanguard reports that a letter read by the leader of the group, Chief Eunice Igwe, stated: We call on President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly and the international community to call the EFCC and other security agencies to order. The mothers of Niger Delta want this obvious hatred and injustice against our daughter and mother to stop forthwith or else we will shut down the region. Enough is enough. The protesting group claimed they were not pleased that the family of former President Goodluck Jonathan was going through attacks and humiliation despite freely relinquishing power. It is on record that no former first lady has been investigated, attacked and humilated in the history of Nigeria like Dame Patience Jonathan. Why is the case of Dame Patience Jonathan different? Is it because she is from a minority ethnic group? they queried. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app The Niger Delta women lamented that the repeated attacks on Patience Jonathan amounted to a deliberate witch-hunt by the federal government. Governor Nyesom Wike, who was represented by the permanent secretary of Government House, Port Harcourt, Onyenachi Nwankwor, promised the protesters that their letter would get to the appropriate authorities. Legit.ng earlier reported that Patience Jonathan, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, January 22, lamented before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja, over the demolition of some properties linked to her foundation in Abuja, the nations capital. The properties were demolished despite a pending suit in respect of the properties before Justice John Tsoho of a Federal High Court in Abuja. Two Ex-Govs Bag Jail Terms; Good Fight Against Corruption or Political Move? | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit Former inspector general of police, Gambo Jimeta, who was reported to have died is said to be alive and kicking, according his family members. Premium Times reports that Mr Jimetas daughter, a public servant, was one of those who confirmed that her father was still alive on Wednesday afternoon. Legit.ng had earlier reported, quoting Premium Times that a former Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Gambo Jimeta, was dead. The said announcement of his death came just few hours after the demise of Zainab Nyako, ex-Adamawa first lady, was confirmed. READ ALSO: List of powerful politicians sent to jail under Buhari administration Legit.ng had also reported then that details about the death of Jimeta, who hailed from Adamawa state, are still sketchy, but he reportedly passed on at the early hours of Wednesday, June 20, in Abuja. The report had also stated that the Chief of Staff (CoS) to Governor Mohammed Jibrilla, died earlier in Makkah, Saudi Arabia on Monday, June 18. The state also lost Zainab Nyako, the wife of former governor Murtala Nyako. She will be buried in the afternoon of Wednesday, June 20 in Yola. Leadership also reports that Hajiya Zainab passed on at the Federal Medical Centre, Yola, after a brief illness. She was 63. She was reportedly rushed to the hospital after she collapsed on Tuesday, June 19, at about 4pm. PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app Zainab was survived by her husband, six children, her aged mother as well as 10 grand children. Legit.ng earlier reported that some villagers reportedly blocked the Yola-Gombe road linking Adamawa and Gombe states on Thursday, June 14. This was after troops reportedly killed one person in a raid on suspected drug dealer in Lafiya Lamurde village in Adamawa state. A combined team of National Dr*g Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives and soldiers were said to have arrested a patent medicine owner in the village on Thursday. Abiola Is The Messiah of Nigeria's Democracy; I Foresaw the Annulment - Kenny Martins | Legit.ng TV Source: Legit.ng - Ecuadors ambassador to Nigeria says his country has agreed to sign a visa-free agreement with Nigeria - The agreement would enable respective nationals to visit each others country without having to apply for a visa - The envoy was assured that the federal government would work with his country towards the implementation of the agreement Ecuador's ambassador to Nigeria, Deopoldo Rovayo, has disclosed that his country and Nigeria have agreed to sign a visa-free agreement to strengthen bilateral relations. The development was made public on Wednesday, June 20, during a courtesy visit to the permanent secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb Olukunle Bamgbose, The Punch reports. Legit.ng gathers that Rovayo said the aim of the visit was to initiate an agreement between the two countries, so that respective nationals would be able to visit each others country without having to apply for a visa. He also said it was to strengthen bilateral ties between both countries, especially in the communication sector. READ ALSO: Southern youths endorse Buhari for a second term, commend Buratai He said: The purpose of my visit was to further cement the bilateral relations between Ecuador and Nigeria. The two countries have agreed to sign an agreement to enable our citizens to visit each other without a visa. There are approximately about one thousand Nigerians living in Ecuador, and the number would continue to rise." On his part, Bamgbose pointed out that Nigeria and Ecuador are witnessing increases in trade; and stated that both countries agreed on how they could strengthen ties. He assured the Ecuadorian envoy that the federal government would work with his country towards the implementation of the non-visa agreement. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed that Nigerians may not need visas to travel to eight African countries anymore. According to the head of the ministry, Geoffrey Onyeama, the federal government was having discussions with these countries; and plans had been concluded to sign the agreement with them. Which country would you leave Nigeria for? - on Legit.ng TV: Source: Legit The UK has made no progress on the critical issue of the Irish border and failed to articulate what sort of post-Brexit arrangement it wants. The EU therefore plans to issue a warning about a so-called crash out Brexit during the European Council meetings of June 28 and 29. From Bloomberg: European Union leaders will say next week theyre concerned about the lack of progress in Brexit talks and call for member states to step up preparations in case no deal is reached, according to the first draft of their summit statement The leaders will say theyre concerned about the lack of substantial progress on the crucial issue of the Irish border. They will also warn that if theres no divorce agreement before the scheduled departure date of March 2019, there wont be a transition the grace period that businesses are counting on for the first two years after the split. The joint document shows that while some disagreements have been resolved in the areas of customs, sales tax and nuclear material, the biggest areas of dispute remain. The Financial Times account was more pointed: EU leaders are to call on member states, companies and organisations to step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit amid concerns that the UK has made no substantial progress on the Irish border, the biggest sticking point in the talks. In an unwelcome warning for Theresa May, British prime minister, the summit text says contingency planning for a hard exit in March 2019 must be accelerated. But frustration is growing in European capitals over the slow pace of negotiations on Ireland and the future relationship. It is going nowhere and it is clear to everyone, said one senior EU diplomat, who expected the talks to drag on into the winter In what he presented as a call for greater realism by London, Mr Barnier gave a speech on Tuesday in which he ruled out UK participation in the European Arrest Warrant and full access to EU law-enforcement databases. He said this was a result of the British governments red lines on issues such as the role of the European Court of Justice. They want to maintain all the benefits of the current relationship, while leaving the EU regulatory, supervision and application framework. And they try to blame us for the consequences of their choice, Mr Barnier said. Once again, we will not be drawn into this blame game. It would mean wasting time we dont have. The UK seems particularly upset at being told it will no longer be part of EU security operations. From The Times: The head of GCHQ made an unprecedented intervention in the dispute with Brussels over post-Brexit security by spelling out yesterday how British intelligence had saved European lives It is rare for the head of any of Britains three intelligence and security agencies to speak in public, particularly on such a politically charged issue. Mr [Jeremy] Flemings comments appear deliberately timed to bolster Britains argument as ministers fight back against attempts to block the country from EU security databases and prevent Britain from accessing military aspects of the EU satellite surveillance system Galileo. Asked about Mr Flemings comments, a Downing Street source said that the post-Brexit security relationship Britain was seeking was unprecedented but there were compelling reasons for Europe to agree. Our intelligence capability is pre-eminent in Europe, the source said. We are saying if you want an unconditional commitment to security then alongside that we need co-operation. The offer is there and it is in our mutual interest. The UK again and again reverts to the same argument, that the UK must get a special dealand the EU will benefit too! But the Brits simply do not want to internalize that the EU has accepted that they will take losses and have moved on. Politico provided a high level sketch of some of the consequences of a no deal Brexit. Weve covered many of these topics before, such as the fact that the sure-to-be-not-completed-on-time customs IT upgrade cant handle post-Brexit processing volumes. From Politico: CUSTOMS/PORTS What happens immediately? Customs declarations at U.K. ports balloon to 255 million per year from the current 55 million, according to government figures. As a result, long queues likely start to build up at entry points around the country. Fresh produce begins to rot as it waits for clearance and roads around major ports like Dover are gridlocked. Just in time supply chains that require rapid transport of goods break down including those for heavy industry, carmakers and producers of high-tech goods with assembly plants in the U.K. Irish producers of fresh produce also likely face delays using the U.K. land bridge to reach the Continent. Air travel is another disaster that weve discussed before: AIR TRAVEL What happens immediately? All flights between the U.K. and EU27 stop. Seriously. Barring a transition deal, the unthinkable comes true. More than 135 million passengers annually fly between a U.K. airport and an EU27 country. Thats about 370,000 passengers per day. The U.K is no longer part of the EU-U.S. open skies agreement, meaning that flights to American destinations are also grounded. Leisure and business travelers are forced to take the ferry or Channel Tunnel services between Britain and France, leading to skyrocketing demand and delays. The transport of transplant organs by scheduled flights between the U.K. and the EU27 is impossible. More detail from an April article, European Commission Warns of Effects of UKs Exit from EASA, from AIN Online. Note that the UK is now a member of the EASA through the EU: If Brussels and London fail to come to an agreement on aviation, EASAs safety certification will no longer cover British airlines, pilots, cabin crew, aircraft and aircraft part manufacturers, flight simulators, MRO facilities, airports, ANSPs, and medical attests for air traffic controllers. Type certificates issued by EASA to persons and organizations located in the United Kingdom will no longer be valid in the EU as of the withdrawal date, stated DG Move, which added that aircraft, engines, propellers, parts, and appliances will no longer be considered as certified by EASA. UK airlines will have to obtain a third-country operator license and a safety authorization from EASA if they want to fly to the bloc Not remaining part of EASA will also affect British airlines aircraft acquisitions since almost all aircraft leases and financings refer to either EASA or FAA standards of certification and recognition The UK government and its civil aviation authority (CAA) have indicated they would prefer to remain a member of EASA, though at the moment the parties have agreed to nothing In an analysis published earlier this month, CBI cautioned that divergence from EU aerospace rules would lead to a regulatory no-mans land, with no involvement in rules in either of the two key markets for aerospacethe EU and the U.S.and would significantly increase compliance costs, particularly if the UK pursued a regime differing from both the EU and the U.S. The head of the UK CAA, Andrew Haines, unequivocally stated that the country should not plan for a new independent aviation safety system, a view the industry shares. ADS Group, the trade body for British aerospace, believes that it would take 10 years for the countrys civil aviation authority to create the necessary certification infrastructure If continued membership of EASA proves unachievable, Haines has vowed, the UK should adopt the existing EASA regulatory system, rather than developing a new framework from scratch.. Still, the UK most likely will want to secure full membership in EASA, including voting rights. The EU, however, might find that politically unacceptable. Another hurdle involves the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, a prerequisite for EASA membership but a red line for May. So much for not being a rule-taker. We have not discussed the fishing industry much but Richard North has. Back to Politico: FISHERIES What happens immediately? The U.K. cuts off access to a 200-nautical-mile zone around the island, known as the exclusive economic zone. British navy patrols the maritime borders to stop EU vessels from illegally fishing in British waters. U.K. fishermen, fish processors and retailers go bankrupt from tariffs imposed by the EU on fish exports and reduced access to the EU market. Germany and Denmark also lose significant sales of fish products, as both countries are among the top five countries exporting to the U.K. EU fishermen may lose their investments in British fleets and companies depending on the rules adopted by the government. The Politico story covers more cheery topics, like medicines, financial services, and energy. The EU warning may finally lead to more realistic coverage of the consequences of a crash out Brexit. But Theresa May is spectacularly rigid, so even growing and well warranted panic are unlikely to make a difference. A Whale of an Innovation The speckle-skinned whale shark, despite growing to lengths of up to 40 feet, is among the rarest and least understood fish species. Its name in Madagascarmarokintanameans many stars. Its fitting, then, that researchers are now tracking these filter-feeding leviathans using an innovation originally designed to help NASA map the heavens.In 2002, Portland, Oregon, software programmer Jason Holmberg had a rare encounter with a whale shark while scuba diving in the Red Sea. Fascinated, Holmberg began toying with ideas to help improve methods for tracking the unusual fish. With the help of Goddard Space Flight Center astrophysicist Zaven Arzoumanian, he soon discovered a solutionthe Groth algorithm.In 1986, Princeton University physics professor Edward J. Groth, supported by the Hubble Space Telescope program, invented a pattern-matching algorithm that addressed the challenge of mapping the intimidating star fields Hubble would uncover following its launch in 1990.(To understand the magnitude of the task, type a lower-case letter o in Times New Roman, 10-point font. Now print the paper with the o and hold it at arms length. Viewed from this distance, the area inside the o is approximately equal to the area observed in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Within that space, Hubble revealed approximately 10,000 galaxies, each containing billions of stars.)While the spots on a whale sharks back are at most in the dozens, the distinctive markings identify individual sharks like a fingerprint. Working with marine biologist Brad Norman of the Australia-based nonprofit ECOCEAN, Holmberg found that tracking whale sharks by examining and comparing photos of the sharks by eye was exceedingly tedious. To improve the process, Holmberg and Arzoumanian modified the Groth algorithm for matching the spot patterns on whale sharks skins.Now the adapted algorithm helps the ECOCEAN Whale Shark Photo-Identification Library provide to essential life history and migration data on the giant fish. Everyone from professional researchers to amateur SCUBA divers contribute photos to the database, which are then sorted and matched using the NASA-derived algorithm.Were talking about an animal considered to be rare, maybe a couple of hundred documented sightings in all of history, says Holmberg. Now the library contains more than 13,000 sighting reports and 32,000 photos.In theory, the algorithm can be applied to track any animal with unique spotting that does not change as it ages. While polar bears lack of obvious spots, the algorithm has been adapted to track the animals North American populations as wellusing the unique whisker markings on their muzzles. Ecotourists in Canada have helped researchers from the University of Central Florida gather photos of the bears for the tracking process, contributing as citizen scientists, much like Holmberg has.In this way, NASAs efforts to learn more about the stars have ended up with scientists learning more about animals on Earth.Theres a groundswell of data were getting, says Holmberg, and it all goes back to the algorithm Edward Groth wrote years ago.To learn more about this NASA spinoff, read the original article from2009: http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2009/er_1.html Congratulations are in order for Sr. Kathleen O' Donnell, who is celebrating her 50th anniversary of profession as a Sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Originally of Derrycloney, New Inn, Sr Kathleen lived at Park Avenue, Cahir with her mother for about 10 years, and when she comes home to visit, every two years, she stays there. Sr. Kathleen has marked much of her 50 years with a dedication to relief of poverty, and tireless commitment to the wellbeing of others. Sr. Kathleen went to Lagganstown National School before the Convent of Mercy, Secondary School. This would be the beginning of her affiliation with Sisters, and in 1965 she entered the Order of Franciscan nuns in Mallow, Co Cork. Her first 25 years were spent on the west coast of the US where she studied in Portland, Oregon and there received her formation as a Franciscan. Following her profession as a Sister, she was assigned to teach primary school students which she did for the next 22 years. Her assignments took her to California, Wyoming and Washington State. At this point she was drawn to follow a persistent dream to work more directly with those less fortunate. This dream took her to the Caribbean Island of Antigua. Sr. Kathleen's service would eventually take her to Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, where she currently works. Of particular note is her contribution to a food aid program run by the Ministry of Caring, known as the Emmanuel Dining Room. Here she is part of a team which coordinates and manages the provision of meals to some of the least fortunate in the Wilmington community, as well as supplying a key social experience. This aid and support is a fundamental support in the lives many of the Dining Room's visitors and its continued presence is a testament to the deep rooted nature of the issues plaguing needy communities worldwide. Joining us in celebrating Sr. Kathleen's achievement are her family members, sisters Lilly, Teresa and Mary, brothers Paddy and Eddie all of whom, along with several nieces and nephews travelled to Philadelphia in May for a celebration of her Golden Jubilee. We wish Kathleen all the best in her endeavours, and good fortune in the future. The Midsummer Daydream event at the South Tipp Arts Centre in Nelson Street, Clonmel on this Saturday June 23rd is part of the national Cruinniu na nOg festival of creativity for children. Based on the stories from Shakespeares play, the centre will be transformed into fairy woods, where families will be welcomed by the mischievous elf Puck, who will help them get transformed into elves, fairies or woodland animals though youre welcome to come in costume, if you like. Louise Garcia, author of childrens book Shelliky-Booky Land, has written a new story to share with children. Catherine McVicker of Chakra Productions will present a shadow puppet play, and then offer kids the opportunity to invent one themselves. A fairy guide will then bring visitors upstairs, where Elke Wilson and Mags Rudnicka have a range of woodland-themed arts and crafts activities to suit all ages and tastes. Outside, there will be a bouncy castle, kindly sponsored by Clonmel Borough District. There will be a special session for babies and toddlers in the morning from 10am, with a session for kids and teens with sensory issues and special needs (such as those on the Autism Disorder Spectrum) from 11am to 12.15. Both of these can be booked by contacting the Arts Centre on 052-6127877 or info@southtippartscentre.ie The afternoon will be open to families from 12.30, with a last visit starting at 4.45pm. At 5.30, there will be a procession to the Main Guard where Henry Fitzgerald will host a public outdoor dance workshop under the arches with lots of energetic fun for everyone. Then its back to the Arts Centre for the Midsummer Ball a kids disco from 7pm. This event is funded by the Creative Ireland programme and Tipperary County Council. (Natural News) What is the strongest material on Earth? If you answered spider silk, you have just named the former champion, now demoted to second place. In a study published in ACS Nano, researchers reported that new nanoscale cellulose fibers have become the Superman of building materials. Many of our scientific advances pale in comparison to what nature has developed and perfected long ago. A good number of our technologies are basically copies of natural equivalents, and inferior copies at that. One of the scientific fields that is trying to catch up to natures ways is materials research. A big objective of this field is to understand the way natural materials are organized on the nanoscale level and replicate these architectures in man-made products. Researchers hope that building objects out of sturdy nanomaterials will result in the much larger object gaining a similar level of strength. A very familiar example is wood, which is still widely used as a building material to this day. Like any biological material, wood has several layers of protein-based cell walls that surround important cells. However, the cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) that comprise wood give it greater strength and stiffness than, say, a blade of grass or a leaf from the same tree. (Related: Silk fibers may become the secret ingredient in the next round of high tech natural metamaterials.) New super fibers are made from natural wood nanofibers Researchers have taken a leaf from this book, so to speak, and studied the way CNFs are organized in the cell wall layers of wood. Their intention was to artificially assemble CNFs into super fibers that shared the same strength as their nanoscale equivalent. Unfortunately, the CNFs used in these previous attempts were unable to adhere with each other. They also failed to align themselves in the proper way. These flaws undermined the structural strength of the prototype super fibers. A multi-university team led by Daniel Soderberg of Swedens KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) looked for ways to improve the adhesive property and alignment of CNFs. They decided to use flow-assisted assembly, a method that employed the electrostatic properties of special fluids to arrange nanomaterials and glue them together. Using the new assembly method, Soderberg and his fellow researchers were able to organize cellulose nanofibrils with almost-perfect accuracy. They reported that all of the super fibers they created were much stronger than earlier versions. Wood nanofibers are stronger than spider silk, and thus stronger than steel Furthermore, their strongest fibers exhibited superior strength over their equivalent alloys, glass, and metals. Best of all, the CNFs exhibited that they are stronger and eight times stiffer than the dragline silk found in spider webs at the same strength-to-weight ratio. A protein-based material spun by spiders, dragline silk is able to withstand as much tension as high-grade alloy steel. For obvious reasons, it has set the performance bar for all other biopolymers, which the new CNFs have just vaulted. The new super fibers can be used in many roles, according to the KTH researchers. For one thing, they could replace expensive metal alloys currently used in bicycles, medical implants, and vehicles. Mining metal ores, processing them into raw materials, and combining several metals to make useful alloys use up a lot of energy and resources. The prerequisite industry also generates a lot of air and water pollution. The KT-developed super fibers, in comparison, use natural and renewable materials in the form of wood fibers. They would be cheaper to make, just as durable if not more so and biodegradable to boot, making them excellent alternative materials. Read more articles about the latest developments on eco-friendly nanoscale materials at Discoveries.news. Sources include: ScienceDaily.com PubS.ACS.org (Natural News) Do you know whats in vaccines or perhaps more importantly, is it wrong to ask such a question? LearnTheRisk.org, a non-profit organization founded by an ex-Merck employee, put up a billboard in Perth, Australia, which asked one important question: Do you know whats in a vaccine? Its a simple question, yet astonishingly few people know the answer to this question. In response, the Australian Medical Association has demanded that this thought-provoking billboard be removed. The vaccine propaganda group says that even raising such a simple question is a public health risk, misleading and conspiracy theory garbage. Demanding transparency in virtually any other arena would not be met with such hostility; in fact you might even get a gold star for demanding to know whats in your food or your infants baby formula. But when it comes to vaccines, transparency is a four-letter word. Indeed, the fact that simply wanting to know whats in vaccine is seen as such a despicable, rebellious act that it requires immediate silencing should be alarming enough. Shutting down dialogue about vaccine safety concerns with insults and censorship is undoubtedly the mark of an industry that cant afford to be transparent Australian Health Minister Roger Cook publicly expressed his displeasure with the billboard, denouncing it as nasty and devious. Cook declared, This devious and nasty billboard behind us would have people believe that a reference to a U.S. website would actually provide useful information about how people can best look after their health care. Its dangerous and misleading and puts peoples lives at risk, the Health Minister continued. Perth MP John Carey has also voiced his discontent about the billboard, claiming it was spreading a deadly message.We do not want this kind of gutter rubbish being promoted in my community, he said. We know that vaccinations save lives, that is the simple reality, he added. Tell that to all the children whove been harmed and the families whove been torn apart. Children are suffering at the hands of a callous, profit-driven establishment; isnt that all we really need to know? Simple realities can handle transparency More importantly, however, is the simple fact that denying the reality that vaccines can and do harm an untold number of children everywhere is patently wrong. To use Carey and Cooks own words, its misleading to promote the idea that vaccines are 100 percent safe and its total gutter rubbish that government officials are advocating for total compliance among their citizens with zero transparency. Why are they so afraid of people asking whats in vaccines? They probably dont know whats in them either and as long as they remain ignorant, they can try to escape culpability. When people know whats in vaccines, and become aware of the damage they can cause, they arent going to be happy with their elected officials whove done everything in their power to foist inoculations upon their children. And when the curtain falls on vaccines, their industry masters arent going to be happy, either. As Natural News has reported, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife have repeatedly been called out for their ties to multinational industries including Big Pharma. Not long ago, Australia came under fire for flat-out banning unvaccinated children from early childhood programs. The country down under has been repeatedly slammed for their vaccine-pushing efforts, which have included fining parents for not vaccinating their kids. Vaccine tyranny is clearly a growing phenomenon, especially in Australia which means health freedom is more important than ever. Learn more about whats in flu shots and other vaccines at Vaccines.news. Sources for this article include: AIRCRAP.org WAToday.com Immigrant rights activists from the East Bay packed into buses early Wednesday and traveled to Sacramento with the goal of backing sanctuary policies under fire by the Trump administration. The activists, fueled by images of child detention centers where migrant children are being detained separated from their parents as they await immigration hearings, were slated to rally at 8 a.m. in defense of California's three sanctuary bills. They were then scheduled to protest at 10 a.m. outside the federal building where a sanctuary policies hearing is planned. Organizers with the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance said it is time for Californians to stand up in support of immigrant communities. No ban, no wall. Sanctuary for all! Over a hundred protesters have gathered outside of Federal Courthouse in #Sacramento to demand action on migrant families at the border. Some of these protesters are from the East Bay. Details ahead on @nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/Qpf8ZMWic7 Melissa Colorado (@melissacolorado) June 20, 2018 "I think now as Jeff Sessions challenges the different sanctuary policies we have in California, I think we as Californians have a moral duty to rise up and protect all immigrant communities amidst what's been revealed to be happening behind detention centers and the different kinds of abuses that have come into light," Juan Prieto with the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance said. An estimated 2,000 children are in the custody of the federal government, living separated from their parents. Sen. Diane Feinstein's "Keep Families Together Act" has received the support of 49 democratic senators on a bill that would bar family separations, which started with the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy in April. George H.W. Bush is set to embark on his final tour of Washington, the capital city that is remembering the 41st president's lifetime of public service that began in the Navy during World War II, ended with one term as president and was characterized throughout by what admirers say was his innate decency, generosity and kindness. A mathematician who crunched the numbers on major projects realized the United States is paying two to three times as much for transit projects as its European and Asian counterparts. It turns out San Francisco's version of the 'Big Dig' -- a pair of titanic transportation projects set to transform the region -- could also be a 'deeper dig' into the widening pockets of taxpayers. "San Francisco is not unusually expensive for America," said Paris-based mathematician and researcher Alon Levy. "It's just that America is unusually expensive for the world." Levy projects the tab for the Central Subway at just under $1 billion per mile of track. And the future extension from the Transbay Terminal to Caltrain? Levy projects the project to cost $3 billion per mile of track. Similar projects in Tokyo and Paris cost half that or less. "It absolutely rings alarm bells. And so, we need to be looking at what are they doing in Tokyo? What are they doing in Paris? And how can we model some of that and bring it back here?" Bay Area Council COO John Grubb said. The Bay Area Council is an advocacy group backed by the biggest companies in the Bay Area. Grubb said labor is more expensive here than most parts of the world. Theres uncertainty, thats just baked in because someone may be working on a project for a long time, and then because of our review process...it stops," Grubb said. "And so the borrowing costs, because of the uncertainly, is much higher. In the age of President Donald Trump and tarriffs, Grubb said "there is no question" delivery costs are going to soar even higher. Meanwhile, the Transbay Terminal opens for buses, but does not have a deadline or even planned path yet to connect to Caltrain. Phase 2, the actual extension to Caltrain, is technically "on hold" because officials still need to pin down funding. Right now, the terminal is basically a bus depot with a grand hall and bus deck across the street set to open in a couple months -- but no trains for the foreseeable future. The cost of the Transbay Terminal and Central Subway are costing taxpayers a premium. The projects are designed to make it easier to get around San Francisco Ramen lovers, rejoice! Tokyos first ramen restaurant to earn a Michelin star is expected to open this fall in downtown San Francisco, according to Eater SF. The citys Metreon shopping center at the corner of 4th Street and Mission is set to open up its doors to Tsuta. The CEO of Tsuta group North America told Eater SF that the San Francisco location will be the first of many planned locations in the U.S. Tsuta was granted as Michelin star in 2015. The restaurant is expected to sign a lease in the Bay Area next week, according to Eater SF. Another San Francisco location at the Stonestown Galleria is planned for 2020. The Radio Television Digital News Association honored NBC Bay Area with two National Edward R. Murrow Awards on Tuesday. The awards were for "Excellence in Social Media" for coverage of the Wine Country Fires" and in the "News Documentary" category for the Kicked Out series on unlawful evictions in San Francisco. The NBC Bay Area Digital Team won for Excellence in Social Media for their coverage of the North Bay wildfires. Although details were scarce the night multiple wildfires erupted in Napa and Sonoma counties, we realized pretty quickly what a powerful role social media and user-generated content would play in our coverage of the most destructive wildfire in California's history. Overnight, photos, videos and eyewitness accounts of mass evacuations posted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by North Bay residents helped us keep citizens informed as we disseminated the information through our own social media platforms. Multimedia reporters from the digital team rushed to Coffey Park the neighborhood that was burned to the ground interviewing residents on Facebook Live, Periscope as well as tweeting out live updates from the scene, then producing stories and videos with the content.[[451349103, C]] The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit won in the "News Documentary" category for their Kicked Out series. More than 10,000 people in San Francisco have been evicted from their homes over the past five years, but hundreds of those residents may have been wrongfully evicted, according to an analysis by the Unit. Landlords can legally evict their tenants for one of 16 reasons, including failure to pay rent and housing too many roommates. One of the fastest growing evictions, however, allows landlords to kick out their tenants if they, or, in some cases, their relatives, want to move into the home. Owner move-in evictions have spiked more than 150 percent in just the past five years. The Investigative Unit spent six months interviewing over 100 people all across the city to determine whether landlords or their family members are actually living in the homes they claimed to move into. The investigation revealed widespread abuse that has shocked residents, lawmakers, and even those who investigate wrongful evictions.[[469596953,C]] RTDNA announced the winners of the 2018 National Murrow Awards from more than 4,400 entries, recognizing 89 local and network radio, television and digital news organizations for 118 examples of outstanding journalism in 16 categories. Other honorees include NBC News, CBS News, KCRA-TV, Sacramento, The New York Times and NPR. The national awards will be presented October 22, 2018, at the RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala at Gotham Hall in New York City. Some critics of the forced separation of Latino children from their migrant parents say the practice is unprecedented. But it's not the first time the U.S. government has split up families, detained children or allowed others to do so. Throughout American history, during times of war and unrest, authorities have cited various reasons and laws to take children away from their parents. Here are some examples: SLAVERY Before abolition, children of black slaves were born into slavery and could be sold by owners at will. Black women could do little to stop the sale of children and often never saw them again after they were sent away. Owners also split apart parents who had no legal rights to prevent their sale. To resist, slave families regularly ran away together but faced harsh physical punishment, even death, if caught by slave hunters. Last week, both White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney Jeff Sessions cited the Bible in defending the policy of forced separation of Latino migrant children. Sessions referenced Romans 13, which urges readers "to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order." The same passage was cited before the Civil War to justify slavery, to allow slave hunters to return runaway slaves to their owners and to pull slave children away from mothers. NATIVE AMERICAN BOARDING SCHOOLS After the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, when the Army slaughtered 150 Lakota men, women and children in the last chapter of America's long Indian wars, authorities forced Native American families to send their children to government- or church-run boarding schools. The objective, as Carlisle Indian Industrial School founder Capt. Richard H. Pratt put it, was to "kill the Indian in him and save the man." At 150 or so Indian schools around the country, officials made Native American children cut their hair and outlawed all Native American languages. They forced children to adopt Christianity and attempted to "Americanize" children by introducing them to white customs and white history. Native American children returned home almost unrecognizable to their parents. Still, some children resisted the boarding school experience by setting fires to buildings, running away or taking their own lives. Others continued to speak their native language in secret. Some Navajo "code talkers," who used a code based on their native language to transmit messages in World War II, were products of military-style boarding schools as children. POVERTY During the early 1900s, states sometimes pulled children from poor families and placed them in orphanages. But reformers in the 1920s and 1930s began promoting the idea that children should not be separated from their families, according to "In the Shadow Of the Poorhouse: A Social History Of Welfare In America" by Michael B. Katz. However, local and state authorities still used poverty as a reason to take children away from Native American and black families, McClain said. Sometimes the ordered separation came over concerns about a parent's mental health. Malcolm X in his autobiography recalled welfare workers coming to take him and his siblings away as children from his struggling single mother after their father, an outspoken black preacher, was mysteriously murdered. The future civil rights leader lived in various foster homes and boarding houses. His mother, without her children, had a breakdown and was sent to a mental institution. IMMIGRATION During the Great Depression, local authorities in California and Texas participated in a mass deportation of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans whom they blamed for the economic downturn. Between 500,000 and 1 million Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans were pushed out of the country during the 1930s repatriation, as the removal is sometimes called. Some families hid children away from relatives in the U.S. to prevent them from being sent to a foreign country they had never visited, according to Francisco Balderrama, a Chicano studies professor at California State University-Los Angeles and co-author of "Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s." Many families felt they were being forced to separate from their children, who were U.S. citizens. "And many children," Balderrama said, "never saw their parents again." JAPANESE INTERNMENT CAMPS Starting in 1942, when the U.S. was at war with Japan, around 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were ordered by the U.S. government into prison camps around the country. An estimated 30,000 were children. The 1999 documentary "Children of the Camps" highlighted the trauma children faced while being detained with their grief-stricken parents. Some older children waited to turn 18 so they could volunteer to fight for the U.S. to prove their families' loyalty despite not wanting to be separated from their parents. Diaries and later interviews show many of those who went into the military did so reluctantly. Kiyoshi K. Muranaga, whose family was interned at Granada Relocation Center in Colorado, joined the U.S. Army but was killed in Italy. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton. A Bridgewater man accused of sexually assaulting and trying to abduct a jogger over the weekend, in an attack captured by surveillance video, faced a judge Tuesday from his Boston Medical Center hospital bed. Gordon Lyons, 57, was allowed to hide his face behind a hospital bed sheet as he was arraigned on charges of kidnapping, indecent assault and battery. Prosecutor David Cutshall said, The female victim stated that she was jogging on the sidewalk traveling west when a man pulled to the side of the road, ran toward her, attacked her and tried to pull her towards his vehicle.and that the male also grabbed her left breast. The 37-year-old woman was able to kick and scream and get away, as a neighbor scared the suspect off. But not before she got a photo of his distinctive orange Hyundai Sante Fe. Lyons was eventually arrested after crashing into another car on Route 24. Prosecutors say this is not the first time Lyons has faced charges of violently sexually assaulting someone. Cutshall said, The defendant is a convicted rapist as of 1978 on a Barnstable Superior Court charge of rape. Lyons defense attorney says her client has already undergone a psychiatric evaluation. Defense attorney Shannon Heingardner said, Based on my conversations with him I have some concerns about his competency. Lyons is being held without bail and will likely undergo further mental health evaluations once hes released from the hospital. Bridgewater police are asking anyone with any information about this crime, or any other similar crimes involving Lyons to call them at 508-697-0914. A New Hampshire woman says she and her boyfriend are feeling lucky to be alive after she fought off an intruder with pepper spray. The woman lives on the third floor of an apartment building at 657 Chestnut Street. Shes still so shaken from the altercation Monday morning, she asked us not to identify her. In an interview Tuesday morning, she told NBC10 Boston that since moving to this Manchester neighborhood, shes carried a bottle of pepper spray on her keychain. This little thing saved my life, she said. It was about 9 a.m. Monday when she heard her boyfriend screaming for help in their kitchen. She said he was struggling with a stranger who had barged through their back door. He was getting punched in the chest, the woman said. He was getting beat up, he is a little guy, he only weighs 120 pounds. So, she took matters into her own hands. Before calling police she grabbed her pepper spray. I just started spraying him, she said. Police say it worked. It scared the assailant off and he was located a few minutes later, shirtless covered in pepper spray, by some of our officers, said Manchester Police Lt. Brian OKeefe. They arrested 31-year-old Cleon Hoggard who they say appeared to be on drugs. The woman who fought him off is convinced that if it werent for her pepper spray, her story would have a different ending. Im just lucky I bought this, she said. I guess you could say I feel like a hero, like Wonder Woman I guess. Hoggard is facing a burglary charge and waived arraignment Tuesday. Hell face a judge at a later date. Protesters chanting "Shame!" disrupted U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's meal at a Mexican restaurant Tuesday night in Washington, D.C. Video shows more than a dozen protesters standing near Nielsen's table at MXDC Cocina Mexicana, two blocks east of the White House. As Nielsen sat silent, the demonstrators shouted "If kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace!" and "End family separation," among other slogans. The Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America posted a 10-minute video to Facebook showing the demonstration. The group was protesting the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy toward people who enter the U.S. illegally. Since the policy was announced in May, thousands of children have been separated from their parents and held by the government. The video shows Nielsen flanked by security detail and dining as protesters enter. The video does not show her respond to the protesters. "How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as youre deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States?" a man can be heard saying. "We call on you to end family separation and abolish ICE. Another video, posted on Twitter by Osita Nwanevu, shows Nielsen exiting the restaurant and heading into an SUV. DHS Secretary Nielsen just got driven out of a Mexican restaurant here on 14th Street by activists. DSA, I believe. pic.twitter.com/lTKutryXBO Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) June 20, 2018 Two officers were captured on video speaking to protesters outside the restaurant. "We got a call that all these people were surrounding someone inside a restaurant," an officer wearing a Secret Service uniform said. The Secret Service confirmed they responded to a restaurant and said no arrests were made. Tyler Q. Houlton, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, acknowledged the protesters and said Nielsen is looking for solutions to the crisis on the southern border. "The Secretary encourages all including this group who want to see an immigration system that works, that contributes to our economy, that protects our security, and that reflects our values to reach out to Member of Congress and seek their support to close the terrible immigration loopholes that have made our system a mess," Houlton said in a statement. President Donald Trump later tweeted, commending Nielsen for a press conference on Monday where she defended the zero tolerance policy. Workers in Ocean City are told they should document complaints of toplessness, but they shouldn't approach topless women - even if beachgoers request it. Nielsen "did a fabulous job yesterday at the press conference explaining security at the border and for our county," Trump said. He didn't reference the restaurant protest. The Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists defended their disruption in a statement on Facebook. "We will not stand by and let Secretary Nielsen dine in peace, while she is directing her employees to tear little girls away from their mothers and crying boys away from their fathers at our border, read the statement from Margaret McLaughlin, a member of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America steering committee. The restaurant declined to comment. Other protests over the zero tolerance policy broke out across the country on Tuesday. A crowd protesting the separation of immigrant children at the border greeted Vice President Mike Pence with boos and drumbeats as his caravan arrived at an upstate New York Republican fundraiser. Hundreds of protesters also streamed into a Philadelphia park across from a hotel where Pence was scheduled to speak. Organizers arranged about 50 pairs of children's shoes into the word "No" on the grass facing the hotel. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the offices of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Francisco, banging drums and chanting "Stop taking children!" and "The people are rising, no more compromising!" About 500 protesters in Manhattan marched to an immigrant detention center from Union Square, the Daily News reported. State police have filed charged against four teens and said charges are pending for another juvenile after vandalism at Wilcox Regional Technical High School in Meriden was discovered just hours before graduation. Seniors graduating Tuesday night were outraged after finding parts of the school vandalized with eggs and the chairs that were set up for the ceremony were knocked over the morning of the event. In an email to the school community, Principal Joyce Mowrey wrote a very small group of students thought they would disrupt our year's final celebration. Members of the senior class told NBC Connecticut that students from the junior class were responsible for the vandalism, including egging the graduation stage chairs and knocking the chairs over. In all, the vandalism caused $2,500 worth of damage, according to state police. According to the principal, the pranksters also shot a paintball gun in the area set up for the ceremony behind the school. State police have charged a 16-year-old boy, two 17-year-old boys and 18-year-old Anthony Alsonso Fuentes, of Meriden, and said they have been charged with third-degree criminal mischief and third-degree criminal mischief. Members of the senior class helped put the chairs back in order and the school, which is run by the Connecticut Department of Education, called in a professional cleaning company. The principal in the email said the students responsible for the vandalism will face consequences from State Police and the Department of Education. State police said all students involved have been suspended and are pending expulsion. A Naugatuck woman ended up in collections and watching her credit score suffer even though she said she paid her bills on time. Denise Monks has two credit cards through the same financial institution. She said she has always paid her bills online without issue. Then in March, she got hit with a late charge for one of the cards. Monks said she did not do anything differently when paying her bill and that her account information was stored online. When she called customer service, Monks learned the payment was applied to her other account. She asked if the amount could be transferred, and an agent promised to look into it. Monks said the same thing happened the next billing cycle. She continued to make payments toward the balance, but did not feel she should have to pay the late fees or interest charges. Monks said she spent hours on the phone with the bank trying to resolve the issue. When the bank sent the account to collections, Monks saw her credit score drop 100 points. I went to work the next day almost crying. Because I felt like I just couldnt straighten this out myself, she said. Monks knew she needed help and reached out to NBC Connecticut Responds. Our consumer team asked the bank to take another look at Monks situation. The company said Monks entered the wrong account number when she paid her bill. The bank transferred the payments to the correct account, and waived the late fees and interest charges calling it a goodwill gesture. The company also took the account out of collections and notified the credit bureaus. Monks does not believe she entered the incorrect account information. Once she confirmed the issue was settled, she paid both accounts in full and cut up the cards. Monks said her credit score has gone back up. Tuesday brought several developments in the race to become the next governor of Connecticut. First, late Tuesday, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim and Greenwich hedge fund manager David Stemerman, a Democrat and Republican, respectively, were certified to appear on the August 14 primary ballot. Both Ganim and Stemerman were petitioning on to the ballot through a signature collection process whereby each campaign had to collect signatures from two percent of the registered members of their parties. For Ganim, he collected more than 17,000 when he needed about 15,000, and Stemerman, it was announced, collected more than 10,000 signatures when he needed 9,000. Ganim is in the midst of a political rebirth after spending more than six years in federal prison on corruption charges stemming from his first stint as Bridgeport mayor. He said he wants the race against the endorsed Democrat, Ned Lamont, to be a wide open race filled with debates and public appearances. "This is too important for the next seven weeks to go by without debates, open frank candid discussion about me and what I feel about Connecticut and what I can bring as its next governor," Ganim said Wednesday. "The message I will be delivering to voters over the next eight weeks is simple: we need to turn the moving trucks around and once again make Connecticut the best place in the country to live, work, and raise a family," Stemerman said in a statement. The other major development of the day was that both Mark Boughton and Tim Herbst, two Republicans seeking their partys nomination, were approved for $1.35 million each for public financing for the respective campaigns. Boughton, the current mayor of Danbury, is the endorsed candidate of the Connecticut Republican Party. He said in a statement, I will continue to engage Connecticut voters and the general public with our message of fiscal restraint and common sense with a plan to re-shape our state's future.'' In the two years since a deadly dog attack in New Haven, the citys Board of Alders Public Safety Committee has been working on new rules to hold owners of dangerous dogs accountable. New Haven fire, police and EMS have already changed how they respond to dog attacks. All animal 911 calls in the city are now considered Priority 1 calls. Now, the alders are looking to make changes to how dogs are classified as dangerous based on the laws in another Connecticut city. Two years ago 53-year-old Jocelyn Winfrey died after being mauled by two dogs in an attack on Ella Grasso Boulevard. This week, the New Haven Board of Alders Public Safety Committee reviewed proposed changes to the citys ordinance that regulates animals and pets. We looked at a number of different ordinances around the state, the one that stuck out really was from New Britain, said New Haven Alders Public Safety Committee Chair Gerald Antunes. Under the New Britain law, a dog or animal that has bitten, injured or attacked a human with provocation would be deemed vicious or dangerous. This definition would not apply to dogs that were defending a person from attack. We dont want to go by breed, we want to go by the individual animal and their characteristics because any breed can be vicious or violent at any particular time, Antunes explained. In addition to registering their dogs with the Animal Control Division of New Haven police and making sure theyre micro-chipped, owners of dangerous dogs would be required to post a beware of dog sign in a highly visible manner at their homes and place a muzzle on the dog when not inside the house. Owners would also not be allowed to leave the dog unattended outside, or allow the dog access to children. Jennifer Stock, who has owned her dog Sebastian for eight months, said she thinks the regulations make sense. I know from owning Sebastian that dogs go through phases sometimes where they can become shy or aggressive but I think theres a lot owners can do to make sure that their dogs dont harm other people, Stock said. New Havens alders also want to adopt new regulations that crack down on uncontrolled breeding. The public safety chair is confident the citys corporation counsel will approve the proposed changes. There will be a public hearing on the animal issues at a later date. Newington Police are searching for a registered sex offender after they say he came to Connecticut and provided a fake address. According to police, 49-year-old Keith Alan Waters is a registered sex offender in the State of Iowa. Waters was convicted in Iowa for assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, which police say is a crime involving a child under the age of 16. When Waters came to Connecticut, officers say he provided a fake address on Main Street in Newington when he registered his information with the Connecticut State Police Sex Offender Unit. He does not reside at the address he provided and is not affiliated with the address in anyway, police say. Investigators say Waters' current location is unknown. He is described as a man who is 6'5" and weighs 220 pounds. If you have any information about Waters or his location, you're urged to call the Connecticut State Police Sex Offender Registry Unit at (860) 685-8060 or Newington Police Department at (860) 666-8445. A Windsor Locks man was killed in a crash in Bolton Tuesday. Connecticut State Police said the crash happened on Route 85 near Lyman Road just before 4 p.m. The victim, identified as 51-year-old Joel Koller, was riding his motorcycle when he collided with a pickup traveling in front of him, which had stopped for traffic. Police said it appears Koller could not stop in time to avoid the collision. Koller was taken to Manchester Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The driver of the pickup was not hurt. LifeStar responded to the scene. The crash remains under investigation. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Wednesday that Texas has been awarded over $13 million in grant funding for the rebuilding of commercial and recreational fishing industries affected by Hurricane Harvey. In the statement, Abbott's office said the governor sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in February requesting that the Department of Commerce recognize a federal fishery resources disaster along the Texas Gulf Coast. "The economic impact of Texas' commercial and recreational fishing industries is of tremendous importance to both residents and tourists alike," said Abbott. "These funds will provide coastal businesses with the additional resources they require in order to make a full recovery. I thank our federal partners and Secretary Ross for recognizing the critical role the fishing industry plays in the Lone Star State and the U.S. economy." The grants announced are part of $200 million in funds allocated by the Department of Commerce to states affected by declared fishery resources disasters. A 91-year-old North Texas woman says she was ripped off by a shady contractor. Irene Ferrari, 91, hired James Michael Winkler back in 2016 to upgrade her fireplace and her floors. But nearly two years later, she says he still owes her more than $2,000. "He said no problem. I can do it," said Ferrari. Ferrari's daughter, Tina, said Winkler told them he could start the project the second week of December. They said he signed an invoice and told them he needed half of the money up front, which came out to $2,300. But a few days before the start date, she said she got this text from Winkler saying his tools were stolen. Ferrari said she started getting nervous, so she asked him to send her a completed invoice. But she said she never got it. "I said, ya know, this is not working out for us. Let's part ways. Give us our money back. You go your way. We'll go our way. Thank you very much," she explained. In a text, Winkler agreed to give the money back and said, "please don't contact me anymore." But she said months went by and they didn't get a dime. Ferrari and her daughter went to small claims court and a judge ruled in their favor, ordering Winkler to pay the $2,300 he owed. But they said that didn't work either. They were told he didn't have assets from which they could collect, and he never paid up. "He's a crook. He's a crook. He took advantage of me," said Ferrari. "He should be in jail." The ladies filed a police report with the North Richland Hills Police Department. They said a detective followed up with them and called the contractor on their behalf. A few months later, Winkler mailed them two checks totaling $200. But as for the remaining $2,100, he said he didn't have it. So, the ladies called the NBC 5 Responds team. Winkler declined to talk on camera, but he did speak with us over the phone. He said he was robbed, and never said he wouldn't pay them back, he just "doesn't have the money today." He told us he's a small business and is still taking jobs. He said it doesn't matter if she's 30 years old or 90 years old; bottom line: he doesn't have it. "I want him to be caught," said Ferrari. "I'm not going to be satisfied until I get my money." We reached out to the North Richland Hills Police Department, and here's what they had to say: "While the case was initially determined to be a civil matter and closed unfounded, the criminal investigations division is currently reevaluating the case to explore any potential criminal charges.We will work with our crime victim's assistance coordinator to determine if any other forms of relief may be available." The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating after one of its troopers was involved in shooting in Hunt County Tuesday evening. The incident happened just after 6:30 p.m. near the intersection of Interstate 30 and Division Street in Greenville. DPS spokesperson Lonny Haschel said a trooper pulled over the driver of an SUV, 30-year-old Matthias Slaughter, for suspicion of DUI. The trooper attempted to arrest Slaughter, a Garland resident, after a field sobriety test when Haschel said Slaughter took off in the SUV and dragged the trooper. The trooper fired his weapon an unknown amount of times. A witness told NBC 5 the trooper held onto the vehicle as it went up on two wheels over the concrete highway divider. "I mean most of the time you see it on the news and other places jumping out. Not usually around here you see someone jump out try to run away from the cop too often," said James Russell, a witness who happened to be driving by at the time. The SUV crashed into the divider, Haschel said, and came to a stop about 100 yards from where Slaughter was pulled over. Slaughter jumped over the concrete divider into oncoming traffic during rush hour. The trooper followed and managed to arrest the suspect. Slaughter was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Haschel said. After he was released from the hospital, he was transported to Hunt County Hail and charged with multiple felonies, Haschel said. The trooper was also treated for non-life threatening injuries. The Hunt County Sheriff's Office said it is assisting Texas DPS in investigating the incident. The body of a small boy found washed ashore on a Galveston beach in October 2017 has been identified and his mother and her partner have been arrested, police say. Late last year, Galveston police asked for help identifying the young boy they called "Little Jacob." The boy matched no missing person reports and no one came forward to claim the child's body. On Jan. 30, police released an edited crime scene photograph of the boy hoping to generate more leads in the search for his identity. Police said the photo worked and led to hundreds of new tips - two of which believed the boy to be 4-year-old Jayden Alexander Lopez, of Houston. Investigators soon learned Jayden Lopez had not been seen since October 2017 and that he was believed to be under the care of his mother, 34-year-old Rebecca Rivera, and her partner, 31-year-old Dania Amezquita-Gomez. Using DNA, investigators were able to confirm the boy's identity and his relationship to Rivera. "We cannot adequately convey how thankful we are for the hundreds of tips received from citizens all over the nation," Galveston police said in a statement. "This is a perfect example of how police and individual citizens work together to make our communities safer. If not for the publics help, Jayden would likely have never been identified and we would never have been able to truly lay him to rest." While Lopez's cause of death remains a mystery, Galveston police said they believe Rivera and Gomez had knowledge of the boy's death and were present when his body was left on the beach. Both women were arrested and charged with felony tampering with or fabricating physical evidence; Gomez is also being held on an immigration detainer. The women are being held in the Galveston County Jail on bonds of $250,000 and $100,000, respectively. Bryan Gaines, a supervisory senior resident agent with the FBI, called the crime "appalling" at a press conference Wednesday announcing the arrests. "No one reported Jayden as missing. No one was looking for Jayden. Jayden had no advocate other than us," he said. "Someone took a beautiful, innocent child and discarded him in the ocean as if he was a piece of trash." Police said more charges may be forthcoming as the ongoing investigation unfolds. A U.S. judge said Wednesday that he was not convinced California enacted protections for immigrants in the country illegally in an effort to interfere with federal immigration enforcement potentially undercutting a key argument by the Trump administration in its lawsuit seeking to block three state laws. The laws instead appeared to be a message from the state that it didn't want to participate in federal immigration policies, U.S. Judge John Mendez said. "We're not going along anymore, we're not participating," he said about how he read the state's motives. Outside the courthouse in California's capital city, scores of people protested U.S. immigration policies. Some carried signs that said "Keep Families Together" and "Family Separation is UnAmerican," referring to the administration's "zero tolerance" policy on illegal border crossings that has separated children from their families. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday ending the separations but not the policy that prosecutes all adults caught crossing illegally. California has been a leader in opposing Trump administration policies, filing more than 50 lawsuits, mostly over immigration and environmental decisions, and notching some significant court victories. The administration has fought back, sparring with the state's Democratic leaders and criticizing their so-called sanctuary policies. It sued California in March a move that Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown described as "going to war." One of the laws the U.S. is targeting requires the state to review detention facilities where immigrants are held. Another bars law enforcement from providing release dates and personal information of people in jail, and the third bars employers from allowing immigration officials on their premises unless the officials have a warrant. California officials say their policies promote trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement. The administration says the state is allowing dangerous criminals on the street. The federal government argues in its lawsuit that the U.S. Constitution gives it pre-eminent power to regulate immigration. Justice Department attorney Chad Readler told Mendez that it was clear the laws were passed to obstruct federal immigration enforcement. "I'm not that clear and that convinced," the judge responded. Mendez, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, said he would not issue a ruling Wednesday. Mendez asked an attorney for California, Christine Chuang, why the law on detention facility inspections was necessary and whether it discriminated against federal immigration authorities. Chuang said the Legislature wanted to "shed some light on" a particular set of detention facilities. Mendez also pressed Chuang about the law barring employers from allowing immigration officials on their premises unless the officials have a warrant. "The statute really puts the employer between a rock and a hard place," he said. Federal officials say the restriction on accessing businesses eliminates a "critical enforcement tool" to fight illegal employment. The state has said the law explicitly authorizes compliance with inspections of employment records to make sure employees are allowed to work in the U.S. In challenging the third state law, the administration says it needs inmate information to safely take custody of people in the country illegally who are dangerous and need to be removed. Mendez expressed skepticism that California was required to provide inmate release dates or detain inmates at the federal government's request. "No one has agreed with this interpretation you have put forward, not one court," the judge said. "Why am I going to be the one?" The state has said there is no evidence the law is causing more dangerous immigrants to be freed. California's laws, two of which went into effect in January, follow Trump's promises to ramp up deportations. The administration has tried to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions by restricting funding if they refuse to help federal agents detain and deport immigrants. California, which this year became the second "sanctuary state," has resisted that move. In fighting the lawsuit, state officials argue the administration is trying to assume powers that have long been understood to belong to states and cannot show that the state's policies are causing harm. A 911 call from a 17-year-old girl who had just escaped what prosecutors called a torture chamber was played Wednesday during a preliminary hearing for a Southern California couple accused of starving and shackling some of their 13 children. David and Louise Turpin appeared for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday in Riverside County Superior Court. A judge is hearing testimony from law enforcement officers and considering whether there is sufficient evidence for the Turpins to stand trial. The judge will make his final decision Thursday morning on whether or not to send the case to trial. The couple has pleaded not guilty to child abuse, torture and other charges in a case that drew international attention after their 17-year-old daughter escaped the family's Perris, California, home in January and called 911. Sheriff's Det. Thomas Salisbury was the first witness to testify. He said law enforcement received two 911 audio recordings from the daughter -- the second of which was played in court. The girl can be heard struggling to tell the dispatcher the home's address in Perris. She told the dispatcher she lives in the house with 15 people and described conditions in the residence. She said three of her siblings were tied up with chains to their beds. The two chained girls had stolen candy from the kitchen that morning, she added. Louise Turpin wiped away tears as prosecutors played the call. During the court hearing, investigators also described an alleged sexual assault by David Turpin against his 17-year-old daughter -- the same one who escaped the couple's Perris home and called 911. The girl told investigators that at the age of 12, her father pulled down her pants against her will and "put her on his lap." She allegedly said she didn't like this and pulled away. She says her father told her "she better not tell" anyone what happened. The teen also claimed her father tried to forcibly kiss her on the mouth several times throughout the years. Neighbors said they rarely saw the couple's children, who range in age from 2 to 29. Authorities said the abuse was so long-running the children's growth was stunted. The house reeked of human waste, and the evidence of starvation was obvious, with the oldest of 13 siblings weighing just 82 pounds. The children were locked up as punishment, denied food and toys and allowed to do little except write in journals, prosecutors said. Children were isolated from each other and locked in different rooms in small groups. They did not have access to televisions or radios, according to investigators When asked when was the last time she had a bath, the 17-year-old daughter told the dispatcher it had been about a year earlier. The girl provided her description and located to the dispatcher so law enforcement officers could find her. Most of the Turpin children were homeschooled, but one of the older boys was allowed to attend classes at a local college. His mother would drive him there, stay outside in the hallway during the class and then take him back home as soon as the class ended, prosecutors said. After they were freed from the home, the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29, were immediately hospitalized and eventually released. The current whereabouts of the children is unknown. A spokeswoman for the county's social services department declined to discuss the case. Jack Osborn, an attorney appointed to represent the couple's seven adult children, said earlier this year they were "doing well." They have participated in music therapy programs, made crafts and world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma held a special concert for them. They communicated with their younger siblings over Skype. "They're happy, they are wanting to move forward, they do not want to dwell on the past and they want their identity to be now and going forward the things they hope to do, the dreams they have. They do not want people to think of them only as a possible victim, but as young adults setting off on their lives," he told the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper in February. The children are not expected to take the stand. David Turpin's attorney, David Macher, said he was "looking forward to the hearing," but declined to comment further. Louise Turpin's lawyer did not immediately respond to request for comment from The Associated Press. An accused child predator on the lam for years after escaping the country while on bail was captured in Maryland and extradited back to Southern California, authorities said Tuesday. Julio Alberto Anaya, 47, who was arrested back in 1999, was discovered to be living in Maryland in May, 18 years after he posted bail and fled the country, according to the Thousand Oaks Police Department. Anaya was discovered to be living as a fugitive in Maryland under a different name and using a different birth date, police said. In June, Thousand Oaks police contacted Anne Arundel County Police Department and officers surveyed Anaya before identifying him and arresting him in Severn, Maryland. He was accused of preying on five girls, ranging from 6 to 11 years old, police said. He was originally arrested on suspicion of committing lewd acts on a child under 14 in December of 1999 after months of investigation. After he was charged with 15 felony counts of lewd acts on a child, he was held on $250,000 bail, police said. In April of 2000, he posted bail and was released, before he failed to show up in court. Police said he had fled back to his home country of El Salvador. On Tuesday he was extradited back to Ventura County where he is being held without bail. He is due in court July 3. Numerous local organizations will protest against the Trump administration's immigration policy in Homestead on Saturday as part of the nationwide March to Keep Families Together. The local event will take place in Homestead on Saturday at 4 p.m. beginning at the corner of 288th Street and 137th Avenue. Organizations involved in the protest include the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Rise Up Florida and Woman's March Florida. "I have no doubt this kind of outrage and this kind of passion will lead thousands of people who will be at the Homestead facility who will be fighting to make sure their voices are heard and that these children are reunited with their families," Emma Collum, president and founder of Women's March Florida, said. "What we are seeing is cruelty," Collum added. People who wish to get involved can reach out to Women's March Florida via email at florida@womensmarch.com. What to Know Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington abused a teen decades ago while a priest in NY, Cardinal Dolan said McCarrick has been ordered by the Vatican to end his public ministry The diocese of Metuchen said it paid confidential settlements regarding McCarrick and contact with adults decades ago One of the highest-profile Catholic cardinals in America has been found to have abused a teen decades ago and has been removed from public ministry, the Archdiocese of New York said Wednesday. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, formerly a priest in New York, a bishop in New Jersey and archbishop emeritus of Washington, "is no longer to exercise publicly his priestly ministry," Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said in a statement. "The review board found the allegations credible and substantiated," Dolan's statement said. The Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey, where McCarrick, now 87, served from 1982 to 1986, said in a statement that it had no record of his abusing minors -- but that there were multiple incidents with adults. "In the past, there have been allegations that he engaged in sexual behavior with adults," Bishop James Checchio said in a statement. "This Diocese and the Archdiocese of Newark received three allegations of sexual misconduct with adults decades ago; two of these allegations resulted in settlements." McCarrick, who was elevated to the cardinalate in 2001 and served as Archbishop of Washington from that year to 2006, issued a statement accepting the Vatican's decision barring him from public ministry. "While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people," he said. Born in New York City, McCarrick attended Fordham University and later entered St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, where he earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a master's in history. He was ordained in 1958 and went on to study further in Washington, D.C., earning a master's in social sciences and a doctorate in sociology. Later, he became president of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico, stayed there a few years in the 1960s, and then returned to the Archdiocese of New York, where he served several roles until the early 1970s. Pope Paul VI appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of New York and Titular Bishop of Rusibisir in 1977, then went on to Metuchen, where he spent the early 1980s. Following that, he was promoted to the fourth Archbishop of Newark before he took on the role in Washington, D.C. In May 2006, he resigned that post because he had reached the usual age limit of 75. He remained religiously involved for years afterwards -- presiding over Sen. Kennedy's Arlington National Cemetery graveside service in 2009. McCarrick celebrates his 88th birthday next month. What to Know A 10-year-old boy vanished in the waters off Long Island Tuesday The boy had been swimming with his 11-year-old brother when the two began to struggle Tuesday evening; the older boy made it back to shore There were warning signs at every entrance that swimming wasn't allowed without lifeguards on duty; lifeguards were not on duty Tuesday The desperate search for a missing 10-year-old swimmer at a Long Island beach has been suspended after authorities' scouring of several miles to the east and west and out into the ocean turned up empty. Nassau County divers started the morning Wednesday searching the area near the jetty where the 10-year-old boy was last seen Tuesday evening, but the team eventually had to end their search because the rip current there was so intense. The boy, Ramell McRae, and his slightly older 11-year-old brother, Jaquan McRae, were in the waters at Long Beach -- where swimming was off-limits Tuesday because lifeguards were not on duty -- and got caught in the powerful rip currents, according to Long Beach Fire Commissioner Scott Kemins on scene. The older boy tried to hold on to his brother but the two were pulled apart, the fire commissioner said. The 11-year-old brother was able to make it to shore; the 10-year-old boy was not. Chopper 4 is over Long Beach, where crews were searching for missing swimmers Tuesday evening. Chopper 4 over the scene at Ocean Beach Park Tuesday showed the beach crawling with lifeguards and police vehicles. Rescuers were also out on boats and jet skis, searching the waters. A police helicopter was also in the air, aiding in the search. The Coast Guard, NYPD Aviation, Nassau County Marine and Aviation, and Wantagh, Long Beach, North Cedarhurst, Inwood and East Rockaway fire departments all searched for the boy. The search wrapped up for the day around 9 p.m. Tuesday and resumed early Wednesday before authorities ultimately called off the search. The 11-year-old brother was taken to a hospital in Oceanside, where he's in stable condition, officials said. His mother was with him. Search for Missing Boy at Long Beach The boys, who are from Hempstead, had taken the bus to the beach alone Tuesday, sources say. The Long Beach fire commissioner says it's a tragic reminder to everyone who comes to the beach. "No one should be swimming in the water while there are no lifeguards on duty, and unfortunately they did not heed the warning," said Kemins. Long Beach's beach season does not official start until Friday, when lifeguards will be out daily from 9 a.m. through 6 p.m. until Labor Day. Ramell's mother and his aunts were seen visiting the beach Monday morning; the mother was wrapped in a towel, and searchers tried to comfort her. The Long Beach chief lifeguard didn't speak with her but says he had a frank conversation with the boy's aunts. "I said they shouldn't have been down here by themselves, and they just cried, they didn't say much," said Paul Gillepsie. Long Beach resident Ilene Klein said the situation was "heartbreaking." "To think your kids went to the beach and didn't come home," she said. Lifeguards have always advised swimmers caught in a rip current not to try to swim to the shore; instead, they should swim parallel to the coast until the current eases up. Gillepsie also says it's safer to swim in the middle of the jetties. Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday he doesn't want to see children taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border but repeated the administration's position that "loopholes" in immigration laws are to blame. "The truth is our weak immigration laws have had dire consequences," Pence said at an upstate New York steel plant he toured while in the area for a Republican fundraiser. "President Trump and I will continue to work tirelessly to close these crippling loopholes, to build a wall to secure our border and to solve the crisis of illegal immigration once and for all," the vice president said at the Nucor Steel plant in Auburn before shifting his focus to praise for Republican President Donald Trump's tax and trade policies. Earlier, a crowd protesting the administration's separation of immigrant children at the border booed and beat drums as the vice president's caravan arrived at the fundraiser for Congressman John Katko. A much smaller group of Trump supporters also gathered. Hundreds of protesters Tuesday evening streamed into a Philadelphia park across from a hotel where Pence was scheduled to speak at a fundraising dinner for the Republican Governors Association. Nearly 2,000 migrant children have been separated from their families in recent weeks under a zero-tolerance policy where everyone caught crossing illegally is prosecuted. Gov. Cuomo marked the vice president's visit to New York with an open letter to Pence warning of the policy's potential to cause psychological harm and a promise to sue to stop it. "This policy makes it very clear you have forgotten what made America great," Cuomo wrote. Later Tuesday, he announced the state will sue the federal government, claiming the children were taken from their parents without due process under federal and state laws. Pence said current law limits how the administration can address people who enter the country illegally. "That's why President Trump again today called on the Congress to pass immigration reform," he said. Federal prosecutors charged five people Tuesday in a scheme to smuggle immigrants illegally after an SUV driven by one of them crashed in Texas while fleeing Border Patrol agents, killing five passengers. The crash happened Sunday after Border Patrol became suspicious of three vehicles traveling in a convoy between El Indio and Carrizo Springs, Texas, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the western district of Texas. When agents tried to make "immigration inspections," two of the three vehicles a 2007 Suburban and a 2008 Tahoe led authorities on a high speed chase. The Suburban, carrying 14 people and traveling more than 100 mph (161 kph), lost control and overturned on Texas Highway 85 as it was entering Big Wells, a town about 100 miles southwest of San Antonio. Most of the occupants were ejected. Four passengers died at the scene and another died enroute to the hospital. The names of the victims have not been released. The man driving that SUV, 20-year-old Jorge Luis Monsivais Jr., was among those charged, along with the driver of the vehicle that did not take off when agents approached, 55-year-old Marcial Gomez Santana. Two of the others charged are Santana's children. The fifth person charged was a passenger in the convoy. They are charged with transporting and conspiracy to transport and harbor "illegal aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and death." The driver of the other vehicle that tried to elude agents, a 17-year-old unidentified U.S. citizen, was detained and is in the custody of Dimmit County authorities. The teenager has not been charged by federal authorities. Prosecutors said Tuesday that nearly two dozen people believed to be in the country illegally were involved in the smuggling scheme. The incident comes amid heightened tensions over the treatment of immigrants at the southern U.S. border. The Trump administration has announced a "zero tolerance" policy toward illegal immigration that includes separation of children from their families in some cases. The policy has sparked outrage from Democrats and some Republicans. Daryl Fields, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said in an email that four of those charged made their initial court appearances on Tuesday in Del Rio, Texas, and Monsivais is expected to have an initial appearance Wednesday morning. It was not immediately clear if they have defense attorneys. A new Delaware law will give research animals a better life after they retire from the laboratories. Gov. John Carney signed a bill Wednesday afternoon that will require all research facilities that receive public funding to put retired dogs and cats up for adoption, rather than euthanizing them. The bill, which was passed unanimously by the senate in May, will make Delaware the eighth state to enact a so-called Beagle Freedom law. The laws, which are nicknamed after one of the most commonly tested on dog breeds, seek to provide new opportunities for research animals who often spend their entire time in the labs caged, with few opportunities to go outside or socialize. Other states that have passed Beagle Freedom laws include Minnesota, California, Illinois, New York, Nevada and California. Several other states including New Jersey and Massachusetts have proposed similar legislation. Senator Jack Walsh, the bills primary sponsor, will join the Governor as he signs the bill into law. He described the law as common sense. We have healthy animals that research labs dont want. We have shelters that are willing to care for them. We have families that might want to adopt them. It deifies reason that anyone would choose to euthanize instead of giving them a second lease on life, Walsh said in a statement made last May. Gail Thomssen, a proponent of the bill who brought her own retired-research Beagle, George, into the Delaware Senate Chambers to lobby state lawmakers, will also join Carney as he signs the bill. Thomssen is the philanthropy officer of the Rescue+Freedom Project, a non-profit that rescues former lab animals and tells their stories. This policy addresses a real deficiency of law and we are so proud to be able to secure homes for animals that have endured so much suffering, Thomssen said when the bill passed last May. No longer will these cats and dogs be killed once research is over. Retired lab animal adoptions will be facilitated either through private placements or through contracted arrangements with local shelters. The bill will also allow researchers to adopt animals they studied in the labs. If just one of these animals becomes a pet, all of the work that went into this bill will be worth it, Walsh said. Distraught relatives slammed Indonesia's government for not enforcing basic safety measures on passenger boats and pleaded Wednesday for a bigger search effort for at least 178 people missing since a ferry sank on a picturesque Sumatran lake early this week. The wooden vessel, overcrowded with passengers as well as dozens of motorbikes, didn't have a manifest and disaster officials have several times raised the number of people it was carrying as family members who rushed to Lake Toba in northern Sumatra provided information. Only 18 survivors have been found in bad weather within hours of the sinking Monday evening. It's possible many of the victims were still inside the sunken ferry, said North Sumatra province police chief Paulus Waterpau. "Many survivors told authorities that less than half of them had jumped into the water before the boat sank," he told The Associated Press. Suwarni, whose 20-year-old son and his girlfriend were on the ferry, criticized the search and rescue operation as slow and insufficient. "Millions of questions keep me from sleeping," she said between desperate sobs. "Why a boat for just 50 people is allowed to be loaded with almost 200 people plus dozens of motorcycles," said Suwarni, who uses one name. "What kind of government is this that can't protect their own people from unnecessary accidents? And after the accident they're not able to find the victims," she said. "I beg help to everyone to quickly find my son and his girlfriend, even if their remains, please find my son, return him to me." Divers were searching at depths of 25 meters (82 feet) and will deploy an underwater drone to 200 meters (656 feet) below the surface, Waterpau said. The 1,145-square-kilometer (440-square-mile) Lake Toba, formed out of an ancient super volcano, is a popular sightseeing destination on the island of Sumatra. It's more than 400 meters (1,312 feet) deep. The search and rescue effort involving 350 personnel and at least half a dozen boats has turned up items of clothing, bags and traces of oil from the ferry but just several victims. Hisar Turnit, a spokesman for the search and rescue agency in nearby Medan, said three deaths were confirmed after two more bodies were found on Wednesday morning. Survivor Juwita Sumbayak, from Medan, said she had crossed the lake many times on the same boat but on Monday it was terribly overcrowded because of holidays for the end of the Muslim holy month. In an interview with AP, the distraught mother wept uncontrollably and called out the names of her husband and children who she believes drowned inside the boat. She said that about 20 minutes into the journey, strong high waves caused the ferry to list to the right and take on water, sparking a panic among passengers. Then it was smacked hard by more waves and an empty small wooden boat. The ferry seemed to shake, Sumbayak said, then suddenly capsized. "Many passengers without a life jacket jumped into the deep lake, but others drowned with the boat," she said. "I jumped, I cried with fear." She saw dozens of people in the water "but nobody can help." Cellphone video released earlier in the week by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed the crew of another ferry attempting to rescue people struggling in the waters shortly after the sinking but being hampered by bad weather and rough waters. The disaster has cast a tragic pall over the holidays marking the end of Ramadan when tens of millions of Indonesians return to their hometowns. Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, with weak enforcement of safety regulations often to blame. A grief-stricken Muhaimin, 61, said he had lost eight members of his family including two sons, their wives and children. "My sons, my daughter-in-laws and my grandchildren have been the victims of greedy businessmen who just want to take advantage of the holiday season without thinking of people's safety," he said. "It would not happen if they follow the rules. But they made money over our misery." Associated Press writer Ali Kotarumalos contributed to this report. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Hotel as Vice President Mike Pence spoke amid national outrage over the separation of migrant children from their parents along the U.S.-Mexico border. Pence touched down in Philadelphia early Tuesday evening to attend a fundraiser at the Rittenhouse Hotel with Scott Wagner, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania. Outside the event, hundreds of protesters descended on Center City during the Stop Separating Families rally to oppose President Donald Trumps immigration policy. Several laid out children's shoes in solidarity with the families being torn apart at the border. The crowd chanted "City of brotherly love says no," and "Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here" during the protest. One woman also walked through the crowd for at least an hour with a speaker playing the sounds of a baby crying. Tensions began to rise later during the protest when a federal security detail car tried to move down Walnut Street. Some of the protesters blocked the car and police stepped in, leading to a confrontation, officials said. The crowd chanted, "Our streets" for about 15 minutes until police were able to move them. Police say one person was arrested during the incident. They set out childrens shoes. Protesting the seperation of kids from their parents happening at the border @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/mhMqNUCOcc Miguel Martinez-Valle (@MiguelMValle) June 19, 2018 An unapologetic Trump doubled down on his policy earlier in the day, declaring that the U.S. "will not be a migrant camp" on his watch. But images of sobbing children held in fenced cages fueled a growing chorus of condemnation from both political parties and even four former first ladies. The children are being held separately from parents who are being prosecuted under the administration's "zero-tolerance" policy for illegal border crossings. [[485964571, C]] Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro joined other attorneys general throughout the country in signing a letter opposing the practice. "The family separation policy is un-American and violates the core principles and values of our nation, Shapiro said in a statement after sending a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. President Trump has the sole authority to rescind his policy and should stop using children as leverage in political battles. Delaware Gov. John Carney also denied a request to send National Troop guards down to the border. In a series of tweets Tuesday, the Democratic governor said he "can't in good conscience send Delawareans to help" given a Trump administration policy that has torn apart families seeking asylum when attempting to cross the border. Carney's announcement was followed up by similar sentiments from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who signed an executive order in the afternoon banning state resources from being used to separate families of immigrants. Tuesday night's event benefits the Republican Governors Association, and Pence and Wagner both spoke. The association did not release details on how many people attended the private event or how much they paid to get in. Wagner is challenging the re-election bid by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who began June with a nearly 10-to-1 cash advantage after Wagner spent heavily to win a three-way Republican primary last month. Hundreds Gather to Protest Pence in Philly Amid Outrage Over Separation of Immigrant Families The fundraiser was closed to the public and media, but NBC10 covered the demonstration. Follow us for complete coverage. Local members of Congress visited an Anne Arundel County immigration detention center Tuesday to visit with migrant parents separated from their children at the border. President Donald Trump's zero tolerance policy has meant separating families and jailing hundreds in U.S. detention centers. Some of those people ended up at the Ordnance Road Correctional Center in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia and his wife were accompanied by County Executive Steve Schuh and Democratic Rep. Charles Ruppersberger Tuesday at Ordnance Road. They met with two men during their visit to the all-male facility, which is currently holding 113 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement prisoners. The group was deeply affected by the visit. It was very emotional, very difficult. We spent a long time with two fathers: a father of a 5-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son who have been separated from them respectively since mid-April and early March, Beyer said. One of the saddest parts is neither one has a lawyer, neither one has an announced date in which they will appear before a judge to have the asylum determination made. One of the men was Mario Aguilar, a Honduran seeking asylum with his 5-year--old daughter Marialita. Aguilar's mother already lives in the U.S. The father and daughter were detained after crossing the U.S. border in Texas earlier this year. He has not seen his daughter since she was taken from him. Aguilar told officials she is somewhere in the Chicago area. Marialita made contact with her family back home in Honduras, because Aguilar apparently helped her memorize a Honduran relative's phone number while they waited in detention before being separated. The foster family helped Marialita call that number and were able to alert a relative. But the foster family was not permitted to give the child's whereabouts. One of the things that makes this so very painful right now, is almost every childs first tragedy, first trauma, is separation, Beyer said. These kids aren't separated to go off to kindergarten theyre torn away for weeks and months at a time. Ruppersberger vowed Tuesday to halt the policy forcing the separation between children and families enacted by the Trump administration. We're on different committees. Im on one, appropriations, and one of the committees is homeland security, he said. I have an amendment in that I hope to get Republican support that will stop this by not providing funding for what trump wants to do. Montgomery County police are searching for leads about the death of a teenage boy after human remains were found in a Germantown, Maryland, park in early June. The death was ruled a homicide by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Human remains were found in a shallow grave in Seneca Creek Park on Black Rock Road, according to a press release. The victim is thought to have been deceased since February or March 2017. Investigators have not been able to identify the victim and are asking for the public's help. The following personal items were located on the victim: a turquoise rosary, a blue, medium-sized Old Navy jacket with a zipper and a detachable hood that attaches with snaps, a blue, boys' extra large Nautica brand striped sweater with a zipper at the neck, a white and blue striped Timberland Polo shirt, Adam Levine "The Dean" slim-fit denim jeans, waist size 30, length size 32, black, size 10 USPA sneakers, a black, size 32 Guess belt with a silver rectangular buckle, black socks and black knit gloves. Detectives believe that the victim might have been from the Hyattsville area and was between 15- and 17-years-old. It is possible that the victim was also of Hispanic descent. The investigation is ongoing, with detectives urging anyone with information about the homicide to contact the Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5070. Crime Solvers is offering a reward of up to $10,000 dollars for any information that leads to the suspect's arrest. Those who would like to remain anonymous can contact Crime Solvers of Montomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). The man who jumped a fence at the White House complex Monday afternoon told police he was on a mission from God and wanted to attack President Donald Trump, according to charging documents. Alexander Thomas Miner, 29, of Danville, California, is accused of jumping a concrete barrier with a fence on top of it that separates E Street from the Ellipse on the south side of the complex despite signs reading "Restricted Area, Do Not Enter." "We were just here taking pictures in front of the White House with tons of other people, and some guy came at me kind of from my blind spot and just very calmly walked up and looked and me and said, 'Hey, do you want to see if God's real?' and he threw a backpack down at my feet in front of me," said witness Jim Tripp, a tourist from Washington state. Miner walked toward the south fence of the White House with his hands in the air shouting, "Shoot me, shoot me!" according to charging documents. Secret Service officers yelled "stop" and "get on the ground" and took him into custody. D.C. police found no weapons or contraband in the backpack. Miner waived his Miranda right and told D.C. police he was on a mission from God and received communication from the birds and the sky, according to charging documents. He said had he not been stopped, he wanted to make it to the Oval Office where he wanted to slap or punch the president and "make him cry like a b----." He said he did not want to be shot by officers and he did not want to kill the president but that the president "needs to die," according to charging documents. Miner told police that before he jumped the fence, someone had said they didn't believe in God and were doing fine, and he responded by saying, "Do you want to see if God is real?" according to charging documents. Miner told police God was furious and Trump is the Antichrist, according to charging documents. He said Trump harassed him with campaign emails and Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama were child molesters. The Secret Service reached Miner's father in California, who said he filed a missing person report for Miner about three weeks ago, according to charging documents. He said his son was a retired Marine who went "off the deep end" and might be paranoid schizophrenic. He described his son as heavily trained, tech savvy and dangerous. "Hes got some serious conspiracy issues, paranoid issues maybe its gone from PTSD into something else," said father Lincoln Miner. "I want professional help for him to find out what's going on and I think he does too." Miner already was under investigation by police in Chesterfield County, Virginia. A woman told police there she had messaged with Miner on and off for years but had never met him until he knocked on her door about 9 a.m. June 4, charging documents said. She said there was no reason he would know where she lives. She told police she received 150-200 Facebook messages from him in less than an hour the following day. Miner is charged with a federal offense of entering and remaining on restricted grounds and a D.C. offense of attempted burglary. In U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Wednesday afternoon, Miner was placed in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons for a 30-day mental competency examination. A Massachusetts judge has ruled charges against a former Portland police officer will be dismissed in three months if she stays out of trouble. Twenty-five-year-old Zahra Abu was charged at a Jan. 13 Ja Rule concert in Worcester after police say she became unruly and refused to leave the premises. The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports Abu, Portland's first Somali police officer, resigned last week before an internal affairs investigation was completed. The judge ruled Tuesday that he found sufficient facts for guilty findings, but continued the charges for three months and placed Abu on administrative probation. The charges will be dismissed Sept. 25 if she has no further difficulties with the law. Abu could not be reached at the Portland address listed for her in Massachusetts court records. High pressure from southeast Canada brought a mostly clear sky overnight with temperatures starting out in the 40s and 50s with low humidity Wednesday morning. The same front with all the heavy thunder Monday turns back toward the north with clouds increasing Wednesday. With enough sunshine, many of us warm to 80 degrees or better once again. Clouds will thicken up and there's a chance of a shower at the Canadian border and near New York City by sunset. Another front from Canada moving into Maine will weaken as it pushes south with refreshing air. However, the wave of low pressure south of New England may generate some heavy rain from Connecticut to Cape Cod and the islands overnight into early Thursday. This is the same region that almost completely missed the action Monday, so some rainfall may be welcome. Either way, whatever happens Wednesday night, it will push out and leave us with a nice Thursday and Friday. Once again, it's low humidity and air from Canada. It's also cooler with sunshine and high temperatures tomorrow and Friday in the 70s. The old front will move back north, though, on Saturday with increasing clouds and a chance of showers by afternoon with high temperature in the 70s. We may have fog developing at the south coast by late in the day. We are on the warm and sticky side of the front Sunday with a mixture of sun and clouds high temperature in the 80s, with a few thunderstorms possible. It's not a washout of a weekend, but is a case where some towns may get appreciable rain, while other towns stay dry all together. Researchers in Vermont are closely watching a certain type of songbird, believing it could be among the first species in the state most noticeably impacted by climate change. Atop Mount Mansfield, Vermonts highest peak, researchers Wednesday continued what they see as a race against time. Im very concerned, said conservation biologist Chris Rimmer, who heads the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. He and his team set up nets around the top of Mount Mansfield, hoping to capture a small bird known as Bicknells Thrush. Its one of the most rare songbirds in eastern North America, Rimmer told NBC 10 Boston. The researchers netted several Bicknells Thrush both Tuesday and Wednesday, and said the bird is facing a serious threat. The concern at these higher elevations is climate change. Trees that do well in the cold would struggle if mountaintops keep getting warmer, Rimmer explained. And that matters to the birds, because fewer trees would mean fewer places to nest. Its happening, slowly, but surely, Rimmer said of impacts to tree growth on mountaintops. Already, the bird summers in only limited places high above northern New England, New York, and parts of Canada. The conservation biologists are banding the birds feet with ID tags to help estimate their numbers and follow their health, as well as to help track how many return to Vermont from winters in the Caribbean. This work is incredibly important, said Tom Rogers of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, noting that songbirds are part of the very identity of the outdoor world here. If we lose these species, and the woods go silent, we will have lost something incredible. Rimmer said the study will continue for years, and will likely fall to future generations of conservation biologists to fully understand how changes to the environment may impact all the species in it. Rimmer said a legion of citizen scientists is helping research Bicknells Thrush around the Northeast and Canada, by contributing observations to the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. A 15-year-old boy is facing criminal charges after leading police on a chase at speeds in excess of 100 mph through several Massachusetts towns early Wednesday morning. Massachusetts State Police said the incident began around 2:45 a.m. when the cruiser of a trooper who was stopped at a crash on Interstate 495 north in Raynham was nearly hit by a passing car. The trooper then initiated a pursuit, attempting to stop the vehicle. The suspect's vehicle, a 2007 Honda Accord, exited I-495 in Mansfield, while still speeding. The chase continued onto Chauncey Street in Mansfield and into an industrial park before turning onto Green Street around 2:50 a.m. At that time, police said they terminated the chase. Several minutes later, state troopers and Foxborough police responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash on Cedar Street. Responding officers found that the Accord that had been involved in the police chase had crashed into a utility pole, splitting the vehicle in half. "He told me, he told police, too, I stole my mom's car. I'm only 15," said a neighbor who didn't want to be identified on camera. He says the driver was in his yard screaming for help. "My back, help me, help me," the man recalled hearing the boy yell. The driver, a 15-year-old boy from Stoughton, was taken into custody and transported to Boston Medical Center with what police described as "non-incapacitating injuries." Police said they recovered a handgun at the scene. Neighbors said they were shocked to learn the teen survived after hearing the crash and seeing the aftermath. "Just a big boom, a big flash of light," neighbor Paul Turner said. "It was like thunder, like thunder happened right next to you," Foxborough resident Steve Anderson said. "The front of his car was in our yard, but the back end of the car was in our neighbor's yard," one woman said. "Just look at the car itself, completely destroyed," Turner added. "How he ever survived. Must have someone up in heaven." The teen will face criminal charges, police said, but it's unclear what those charges might be. The suspect's name is not being released because he is a juvenile. It wasn't immediately clear if the boy has an attorney. Thinking of going to Connecticut and Rhode Island, but still trying to figure out what to see? We have you covered with some great places to check out along the coast this summer: The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option. Chanting "No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here," protesters gathered at the Massachusetts State House in Boston to rally against the Trump administration's immigration policy. For Anne-Marie Badua, this issue hits close to home. She was born in Romania to a refugee woman who had escaped communism. "It's a big deal for any parent to leave their children," Badua said. "Something's happening that's forcing them to do that." The debate about immigrants and the "zero tolerance" policy makes her emotional. "Just can't imagine what the wmoen at the border have gone through and what their children have gone through," she said. Many children attended the rally as well and expressed their concern with the immigration policy. "I feel like if they're going to separate their families, their kids should at least come with them," said one child participating in the rally. "You can't just separate a kid and leave them that vulnerable." During the rally, news broke that President Donald Trump would issue an executive order ending the separation of families by detaining parents and children together, but it did not bring an end to the event. "Too little too late," said one protester. "This administration has already committed reprehensible crimes that I think are fundamentally un-American. Even getting to this point is a horrible development and we need to be pushing back." The debate over the separation of families at the border arrived at the State House on Wednesday afternoon as an estimated 2,000 people gathered in opposition to the White House's "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which included a provision to allow immigrant children to be housed in camps, away from their parents. The protesters demanded increased protections for undocumented immigrants during Wednesday's rally. One of the speakers at the rally described fleeing her native country for her safety and had to wait 28 years in the United States to finally become a naturalized citizen. "We need to stop separating our families," she told the crowd. "We're asking our legislators to just pass four amendments in order for them to show that they want to protect our families in the state of Massachusetts." Another speaker said, "Today in our Commonwealth, our legislators have refused to pass even one small provision to protect immigrants." She asked the crowd, "Is that acceptable?" and the answer was a resounding, "No!" Protesters held signs that read "Families Belong Together" and "History is Watching." The gathering temporarily shut down Beacon Street before the demonstrators funneled into the building, gathering in front of the House chamber chanting "the people united will never be divided" in English and Spanish. Organizers, including the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said they want to call attention to the family separations as well as to urge Massachusetts lawmakers to approve protections for immigrants. Once inside the State House, the protesters stood outside of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker's office and chanted "We want Baker! We want Baker! We want Baker!" Gov. Baker announced Monday that he would not send state National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border due to the presidents stance on separating families. President Trump signed an executive order later Wednesday ending the practice of separating families but said the "zero-tolerance" policy will continue. A former campaign manager for Donald Trump has created a stir by dismissing a story about a girl with Down syndrome with a sarcastic "Womp womp." Corey Lewandowski, who lives in Windham, New Hampshire, appeared Tuesday on Fox News Channel to discuss President Trump's hard-line immigration policy, which has led to the practice of taking migrant children from parents charged with entering the country illegally. Earlier Tuesday, a Mexican official said one of those children was a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome. When another Fox panelist mentioned that story, Lewandowski responded with "Womp womp." Lewandowski tweeted about the controversy on Wednesday morning, saying "Lots of Fake News Today. I mocked a liberal who attempted to politicize children as opposed to discussing the real issue which is fixing a broken immigration system." Lots of Fake News today. I mocked a liberal who attempted to politicize children as opposed to discussing the real issue which is fixing a broken immigration system. Its offenseive that the MSM doesnt want to talk about the fact these policies were started under Obama. Corey R. Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) June 20, 2018 Despite being fired from the Trump campaign in 2016, Lewandowski appears to have regained the president's approval. During an April rally in Michigan, Trump called Lewandowski on stage and praised him for not being a "pushover" or a "patsy." Partners in expanding financial planning business discuss their plans Melvin Czapalski, left, and Michael Roberts, of Protect & Invest A desire to not be the man from the Pru set Michael Roberts on a path that would eventually lead to him setting up his own company, with business partner Melvin Czapalski. The men began working together in 2009 and the following year set up the thriving financial planning business, Protect and Invest, that they run today. The 38-year-old, who was born and brought up in Wokingham, joined Prudential when he left college and it was there that he undertook his financial advisory exams. After a few years he decided he no longer wanted to be the man from the Pru and so joined Village Finance, the mortgage arm of estate agent Village Properties. It wasnt easy to get into when you had the qualifications but no experience, he says. I was only 22 years old and it took me about six months to find someone willing to give me that chance. He spent four years building his experience before moving on to a similar company and then, after 18 months there, in 2006, Michael decided the time was right to set up on his own. In this industry you have to be regulated, he explains. So the easiest way to achieve that is to attach yourself to a business that is already regulated, which is what I did at Orchard House. He was there until 2009, when he moved to the financial planning arm of accountancy firm Ross Brooke. It was here that he met Melvin for the first time. Melvin owned 50 per cent of the financial planning business, but had come to the decision that he wanted to sever the connection with Ross Brooke and gain some independence. In 2010 I bought Ross Brooke out, Melvin says. It was at that point that Michael became a director and a shareholder. We wanted to have more independence to work with other companies, but it was difficult to do that when we had the same name as one of their competitors. We still work closely with Ross Brooke to this day, though, and continued to be based in their building until the beginning of this year. Melvins career path had taken a different route to Michaels and financial planning wasnt initially what he had in mind. The 62-year-old was born in London and attended a comprehensive school in Finsbury. He moved on to Southgate Tech to finish his A-levels before studying engineering at Leeds University. His first job after graduating took him to Bracknell, when he joined Sperry Gyroscope, part of BAE. But, after four years, Melvin realised it was time to move on and try something different, so he joined an insurance company. I just wasnt a good engineer, he admits. It wasnt my forte and I was introduced to a broker in Tadley [he was working at AWE for BAE at the time] which led to the job with the insurance company. That was in 1982 and he has worked as an adviser in financial services ever since. He is a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute and Personal Finance Society and holds its diploma level qualification. Melvin, who specialises in pensions and investment planning, had been working with Ross Brooke for around five years when Michael joined the company in 2009 and the pair teamed up to take over 12 months later. We wanted to be more individual, he adds. So we decided to go out on our own and buy the accountants out and take over the firm entirely. The industry at the time was a very sales-driven environment, Michael explains, but there were a lot of changes on the horizon. Historically commission was how we were remunerated, but that was being outlawed, he adds. The industry was becoming fee-based and anyone who wanted to join had to be far more qualified than before. We were very much in favour of the changes and had already achieved the minimum requirements before the date set out though and we were already working on a fee basis. We wanted to stay ahead of things, not just meet the minimum requirements, and always maintain a high-level of professionalism. Protect and Invest became chartered in 2013 and Michael became a fellow of the Personal Finance Society; the highest level of qualification awarded by the PFS. Having been a practising financial planner since 2002, he also holds the Chartered Insurance Institutes prestigious Chartered Financial Planner title. He is also an affiliate member of STEP, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. This is highly-regarded within the industry, particularly among lawyers, and, Michael points out, not many financial planners have achieved it. When they launched Protect and Invest they made a number of changes, including updating the website and setting up an electronic back office system, making it a 21st-century business. Up until this year they had continued to rent office space off of Ross Brooke, but an opportunity to purchase the current offices arose and they moved in this January. We put the property in our pension funds, says Michael, who lives in Wokingham with his wife and two children. That is something we specialise in offering advice in too. You can use a pension fund to buy a property, which has a number of tax benefits for a business. Essentially what we do is help people live the life they want to live without running out of money. We work primarily with people about 10 years from retirement and beyond. The company now has seven members of staff working out of the new Newbury office, in Mill Court, and a second office in Wokingham, where Michael is predominantly based. Melvin, who lives in Burbage with his wife and has three children, adds: It is a big psychological thing to retire. It is about making sure the money you have accumulated over the years doesnt run out after just a few years. We help people realise what they can take out, but we do have people who struggle with the mind-set of changing from saving money to spending money. And you have to remember that you could be retired for 30 or 40 years nowadays. Looking to the business future, the men say they are keen to continue expanding their growing firm and are looking for another adviser to come on board. They also have some exciting plans in the pipeline that they say will complement their current service offering. Jake Cook takes a look at the misty plains, tall mountains, tea plantations and friendly smiles of Malawi DESCENT TO LIKOMA My small propeller plane was on nal descent. Water below as far as the eye could see, but we were nearly 400 miles from the Indian Ocean. How could I describe the colour beneath me? An almost translucent turquoise aquamarine, summed it up best. And then, suddenly, rushing up to meet our wheels, land. A village here, sandy beaches there, that absolutely wouldnt be out of place in the Caribbean, and stocky baobab trees, standing guard. We came to a halt on the tarmac. The door opened and a wave of heat poured in. A broad smile at the bottom of the fold-out stairs. Welcome to Likoma. AN AFRICAN SECRET Malawi is something of an enigma, certainly when it comes to travel. Its a secret, though, thats getting out: television network CNN named three locations there among its 26 must-visit places in Africa list recently. No other country had more. Its a landlocked nation sandwiched in a long slither between Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. As I found out, its namesake lake has beaches that could rival islands in Asia or the Pacic. Snorkelling in its clear waters, youll be blown away by the array of brightly-coloured sh. In fact, did you know that originally, many of the sh in tanks in doctors and dentists waiting rooms came directly from Lake Malawi? MISTY MOUNTAINS If you like walking, youll love Mt Mulanje and the mist-shrouded Zomba Plateau. Driving up via emerald-green tea plantations, youll reach the almost 10,000ft high mountain that locals call the Island in the Sky, with Mulanje Cedar trees that stretch over 100ft tall. Further north, the Nyika Plateau wouldnt look out of place in the Scottish Highlands, although, admittedly, youre a lot less likely to nd zebras roaming outside Inverness. At night, guides will try to lead you to the best areas to see leopard. Currently there are thought to be more than 100 of the cats here, one of the regions densest counts. And, its a top spot for ornithologists: between April and October in particular many migrating birds are passing through. WILDLIFE ROARS AGAIN If you want to see wildlife elsewhere, then the lion reintroduction programme at Majete is a success story that is denitely worth experiencing. Not much more than 10 years ago most of the wildlife had been poached out, but now it is the countrys only Big Five reserve and its recovery has been truly remarkable; more than 2,500 animals have been reintroduced, and lions are breeding with success, as are black rhino. Another reserve, Nkhotakota, has been part of the #500 Elephants relocation programme, which is backed by Prince Harry and is the largest elephant translocation in history. Elsewhere Liwonde National Park has received the countrys rst cheetah, and plans are advanced to reintroduce a pride of lions. Such is its success and momentum, that one of Africas top safari operators is opening a new luxury lodge there later this year. A LAKE TO LIKE After all the activity of hiking or a safari, the shores of Lake Malawi are a totally serene experience: imagine your alarm clock being the voices of local women singing on the beach in the morning. Picture a sea of twinkling lights in the darkness of the night as shermen bob around with lanterns on the lake after sunset. Its an incredibly romantic spot, a place to reconnect and relax, to snooze and catch up on that novel thats been gathering dust since Christmas. A dip in the lake is a must and youll be blown away by the clarity of the water and the array of fish. In fact, there are more than 800 types of cichlids here, enough to make a Sir David Attenborough out of any visitor. Theres such variety of places to stay too. Kaya Mawa on Likoma Island is an absolute slice of paradise, with bedrooms situated down by the lake, some with their own private plunge pool near the beach, oering the ultimate in seclusion. Pumulani, on the lakes southern shore, is great for the active, and for those who want to indulge in a Robinson Crusoe fantasy, rustic eco-camp Mumbo wont disappoint. Malawi Southern Explorer, 11 nights from 3,950 per person including ights & transfers. Contributed Photo / Derby Fire Department DERBY After an incident Tuesday, fire officials are reminding residents that the fire departments social media sites are not monitored 24/7. The social media site in question was the Derby Fire Department Facebook page, which is run by members of the department, said Assistant Fire Chief David Lenart. If silence speaks volumes, Republican candidates for governor published an entire series on the escalating border crisis. The normally verbose candidates were mum on the Trump administrations policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. No social media posts, no press releases and, until Hearst Connecticut Media asked, no public comments. The silence from my Republican opponents is deafening. So lets try again. Where do my fellow candidates for governor stand: with Laura Bush and the kids or with Donald Trump?, Democrat Ned Lamont tweeted Tuesday morning, referencing an Op-Ed in which former First Lady Laura Bush denounced the practice. No one answered Lamonts Tweet. Once asked, some Republican candidates issued statements. Speaking as the mayor of a large, culturally diverse urban center who has dealt with the issue of illegal immigration for more than a decade, there simply has to be a better way to uphold federal immigration laws without breaking up families, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said in an email. Westport tech entrepreneur Steve Obsitnik read a prepared statement over the phone. I fully support securing the borders, but the separation of children from their parents is unacceptable, Obsitnik said. We need to repeal the law that has enabled this. This law has been on the books for over 20 years, and we need to secure our borders using humane and pro-family methods. Pressed on what he thinks about the forced separations, Obsitnik repeated his prepared statement. Some governors, including Republicans, have pulled or withheld their National Guard support at the border until the zero tolerance policy announced by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on April 6, is revoked. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called the practice cruel, cowardly and un-American. More than 2,300 children were separated from their parents between May 5 and June 9, according to the most recent data released by the Department of Homeland Security. As a father of five these stories of separated families disturb me greatly, Greenwich hedge fund mogul David Stemerman said in an e-mailed statement. Im glad to hear there is growing bipartisan support to address this issue quickly. Im confident that a balance can be achieved between securing the border and ensuring no young children are ever separated from their parents. Former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst and Madison businessman Bob Stefanowski did not return repeated requests for comment on the issue in time for publication. Democrats were swifter in their response to the national headlines. We cannot let @realDonaldTrump @GOP policies of racism and bigotry continue every CT Trump-Republican must denounce! @CTDems join #Colorado & #Massachusetts to #resist refuse CT support of #Immigration policies separating / incarcerating children, Democrat Guy Smith tweeted Tuesday morning. kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt NEW MILFORD About 840 students in New Milford get a free or reduced lunch during the school year and just as many are on the cusp of qualifying. These lunches could be the only thing those students eat each day. For years, school board member Angela Chastain worried about what happens to those students when school is out of session. This summer, theyll continue to get a free daily meal with the fully launched Summer Lunch Bunch program. That need doesnt go away in the summer, Chastain said. Beginning July 2, registered families can pick up free lunches every weekday from 7 to 9 a.m. until Aug. 29 at the school administration building, at 50 East St. Weekend lunch packs through the Connecticut Food Pantry will be provided on Fridays to offer two days of nonperishable food, which will also be brought to daycares. Anyone in need can sign up for the program or learn more at camellascupboard .com. The lunch program is solely a community effort and not part of the End Hunger Connecticut program, which uses federal money. New Milford doesnt qualify for the program, which requires participating towns to have at least 50 percent of their students on free or reduced lunches. About 44 percent of New Milfords 3,800 students are in need, Chastain said. Shes seen the number of students on free and reduced lunches nearly double from 12 to 22 percent since she came to town in 2006. She still believes that estimate is lower than the actual number and missing families who dont know they qualify, dont speak English or might not want to participate for personal reasons. Ive felt for the past couple years, hunger in New Milford is underrepresented, Chastain said. She hopes the unemployed and underemployed families will benefit from the program. She added the 55 participants that signed up since the program opened this week is indicative of the need. The program is supported by both the town and school administrations, as well as several community organizations, including the United Way, the Youth Agency, the New Milford Clergy Association, the Northwestern Connecticut Community Culinary School and MVP-SOS. Loaves and Fishes ran a smaller-scale program with Social Services last year, providing lunches to 14 families throughout July and August. Both organizations are involved in this program and Loaves and Fishes has committed to making 25 lunches daily. Each lunch includes a sandwich, fruit, drink, a sweet treat and a salty snack. Monetary and food donations are being accepted at the Mayors Office or people can donate or purchase food online through the programs website. Lunch meat, bread and fruit are especially needed because those items spoil each week. Small employers will more easily be able to band together to buy health insurance under rules issued Tuesday by the Trump administration, but the change could raise premiums for plans sold through the Affordable Care Act's online marketplaces, analysts say. The move loosens restrictions on so-called association health plans, allowing more businesses, including sole proprietors, to join forces to buy health coverage in bulk for their workers. By effectively shifting small-business coverage into the large-group market, it exempts such plans from ACA requirements for 10 "essential" health benefits, such as mental health care and prescription drug coverage, prompting warnings of "junk insurance" from consumer advocates. Supporters say the new Labor Department rules, which the government estimated could create health plans covering as many as 11 million people, will lead to more affordable choices for some employers. When it comes to health insurance, "the regulatory burden on small businesses should certainly not be more than that on large companies," Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta told reporters Tuesday. Existing rules limit association plans to groups of employers in the same industry in the same region. The new regulations eliminate the geographical restriction for similar employers, allowing, for example, family-owned auto-repair shops in multiple states to offer one big health plan, said Christopher Condeluci, a health benefits lawyer and former Senate Finance Committee aide. The rules, to be implemented in stages into next year, also allow companies in different industries in the same region to form a group to offer coverage even if the only reason is to provide health insurance. Like other coverage under the ACA, association insurance plans will still be required to cover preexisting illnesses. Analysts warn that because these changes will likely siphon away employers with relatively healthy consumers from ACA coverage into less-expensive trade-association plans, the result could be higher costs in the online marketplaces. "If you have a group that is healthier than average, you might get a better rate from one of these plans, and your broker is going to come and say, 'Hey, I can get you a better deal,'" said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, a consulting firm. That would mean that, on balance, consumers insured through ACA small-group and individual plans could be older, sicker and more expensive, adding to years of erosion of the ACA marketplaces engineered by Republicans hostile to the law. Loosening rules for association plans would lead to 3.2 million people leaving the ACA plans by 2022 and raising premiums for those remaining in individual markets by 3.5 percent, Avalere calculated this year. America's Health Insurance Plans, the largest medical insurance trade group, issued a statement saying the regulation "may lead to higher premiums" in ACA insurance and "could result in fewer insured Americans." Unlike ACA plans, association coverage does not have to include benefits across the broad "essential" categories, including hospitalization and emergency care. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners previously warned that such plans "threaten the stability of the small group market" and "provide inadequate benefits and insufficient protection to consumers." The American Academy of Actuaries has expressed similar concerns. Business groups praised the change, proposed in draft form earlier this year. "We've been advocating for association health plans for almost 20 years, and we're pleased to see the department moving aggressively forward," said David French, senior vice president of government relations for the National Retail Federation. Association plans have been around for decades, although enrollment has been more limited since the ACA's passage. While some of the plans have worked well for their members, others have a checkered history. In April, for example, Massachusetts regulators settled with Kansas-based Unified Life Insurance Company, which agreed to pay $2.8 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in deceptive practices, such as claiming it covered services that it did not. The coverage "was sold across state lines and was issued through a third-party association," according to a release from the Massachusetts attorney general's office. A US Department of Defense commissioned study has found that there are several genetic-engineering tools that could be used to devise biological weapons in a short amount of time. The extensive 221 page report says that tools itself could appear harmless and they could be put to good use such as creating genetically engineered disease-resistant plants or make genetically engineered personalized medicines etc. However several labs and companies are working towards making synthetic-biology-enabled weapons. This latest report authored by 13 experts in the field, comes from the National Academies of Sciences and is the first that outlines national security threats from biological weapons using genetic engineering tools such as gene editing tool CRISPR. The report is titled, Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology and was published yesterday. CRISPR/Cas9 system for editing, regulating and targeting genomes. The Cas9 protein uses a gRNA (guide RNA) sequence to cut DNA at a complementary site. Molecular structure - RNA in red, DNA in yellow. Image Credit: ibreakstock / Shutterstock Gigi Gronvall, a public health researcher at Johns Hopkins and a co-author of the report says that the risk expands when synthetic biology comes into play. This report, Gronvall says, is a framework that could evaluate the extent of risk posed by these tools and their misuse. Earlier in 2016 the US intelligence community had mentioned gene editing as one of the potential biological weapons of mass destruction. D. Christian Hassell, deputy assistant secretary of defense for chemical and biological defense, who was part of this new report explains that there are quite a few varied opinions regarding this from experts. This report, he said, was commissioned to gather all the opinions from the experts in one place. He added that at present the military does not view synbio as a major threat but is gearing up to prepare for this because soon it may pose a threat. Vaccines for example, against biological weapons such as altered viruses may take time to develop and early preparation is warranted. The report outlines what could be done when synbio techniques are applied and the likelihood of populations that could be affected. Recreation and alteration of deadly viruses using genetic engineering is viewed as the greatest potential threat. Altering and making deadly bacteria more dangerous and resistant to treatment, creating harmful biochemicals at site of attack or within the body, altering human genome, altering human healthy bacterial microbiome, altering human immune systems, creating new pathogenic organisms are some of the concerns that have been expressed in the report. While some of these are of highest concern, some including creating new pathogenic organisms are of lower concern at the moment. The report says that some of these may appear to be too fantastic but with rapid advances in gene editing tools like CRISPR, it could not be entirely impossible. CRISPR could be used to modify human genomes to cause several diseases including cancer. One of the scenarios in this report is when a terrorist group wants to use these altered and engineered viruses to different parts of the world and attempt to create a pandemic. The results could be deaths of over 150 million people within a year before a suitable vaccine could be made to fight the bio-weapon. The scenario showed that the response of the populations to the epidemic of an altered microbe would be similar to that when a natural pandemic such as influenza occurs. The report was commissioned by the US military which itself remains one of the largest sponsors of synbio technologies. Experts believe that reports such as these could also trigger a bio-weapons race among nations. They explain that governments should keep a close eye on what is being achieved in this field just like they did on advances in physics and chemistry developing weapons of mass destruction during the Cold War times. The report says that those very tools that could create these bio-weapons could be used to make effective and better vaccines and medicines to fight the synbio weapons. The techniques could be used to make diagnosis of these infections easy and improve disease surveillance and quarantine to prevent its spread. A rat model found preconception binge drinking may have negative consequences on future offspring's growth, social interactions and pubertal development, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of the Endocrine Society. Binge drinking during adolescent development can have long-lasting effects in the brain, and recent data shows that these effects may directly impact first-generation offspring. These observations could have consequences for human health as more than 4.5 million Americans under the age of 21 report engaging in binge-pattern alcohol abuse. "Our animal study demonstrates that drinking large quantities of alcohol in a 'binge' fashion before pregnancy can impact future offspring," said the study's senior author, Toni Pak, Ph.D., of Loyola University Chicago in Maywood, Ill. "Importantly, this is true for drinking behaviors of both parents, not just the mother. Our previous data supports the idea that alcohol is affecting the parental sperm and eggs to induce these modifications in the offspring, but this most recent work shows the extent of those effects on social behavior, pubertal maturation, and stress hormones as the offspring grow to adulthood." Researchers found that a rat model of binge-pattern drinking during puberty had several consequences for the animals' offspring, including smaller body weight, fewer play behaviors, and decreased circulating testosterone. In addition, the parents did not pass down to the offspring any adaptive traits that allowed them to better tolerate alcohol. "By better understanding which parental preconception behaviors impact future generations, we can do more to prevent their perpetuation," Pak said. According to the latest government data, fewer people than before are smoking cigarettes. The statistics come from the annual national health survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For this survey 27,000 adults were interviewed. Image Credit: Pisit Koolplukpol / Shutterstock The report shows that around 14 percent of adult population aged over 18 years smoked cigarettes over the last year. This is a reduction by 2 percent from 2016 when 16 percent adults were smoking. These new numbers are an all time low says the report. The report covers data from 2006 to 2017 and mentions than in 2006, 21 percent of the adult population were smoking cigarettes. The numbers were even higher years before that. For example in 1965, 42 percent of adults in America were smoking cigarettes. K. Michael Cummings of the tobacco research program at Medical University of South Carolina said that there has been a consisted decline in the numbers for the past few years. He explained that this shows that the trends are in the right direction. Cigarette sales and other indicators of smoking are also on the decline he said. It was in 1964 that a report was released for the first time that connected several diseases as the direct effects of smoking. Since then millions have been spent on health campaigns to raise public awareness regarding smoking. This decrease in rates of smoking is one of the greatest successes of all those campaigns that were targeted towards educating the general public regarding harmful effects of smoking. The campaigns included cigarette taxes, smoking bans in public places as well as educational drives. According to experts like Cummings, a 14 percent still means that over 30 million American adults are smoking. Among teenagers however traditional cigarette smoking is also at an all time low at 9 percent finds this new survey. The next step would be to tackle the growing use of e-cigarettes especially among the youth and adolescents. Latest surveys from 2016 show that 3 percent adults are vaping and 13 percent of the high school students are using e-cigarettes too. While e-cigarettes have been promoted to help smokers quit smoking, the different flavors offered are often luring in youngsters into vaping. The long term harm caused by these devices is not clear at present. However experts have said that these devices are capable of causing harm just like traditional cigarettes and their use needs to stop among younger people. Federally funded campaigns are now targeting these populations educating them about the harmful effects of smoking in any form. Does going to church help people avoid struggles with opioid abuse? New research from Florida State University says no. In a new study published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, a team of researchers led by FSU Associate Professor Amy Burdette examined the correlation -- or lack thereof -- between drug use and church attendance for women who are mothers. Researchers found while religious involvement could affect a person's decision to use illegal drugs, it had no signifcant effect on women's misuse of prescription drugs, including prescription opioids. "Religious involvement matters for illegal drug use because religious communities directly condemn this behavior," Burdette said. "However, religious communities are just beginning to discuss the dangers of prescription drug abuse." Specifically, researchers found the probability of engaging in any illicit drug use was significantly lower among women who attended church at least once a week compared to those who reported attending services a couple of times a year or less. This was also true for marijuana use. Burdette's study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a survey of nearly 5,000 children born between 1998 and 2000 and mostly to unmarried parents. The study consisted of interviews with mothers and fathers at the time of their child's birth and again when children were ages 1, 3, 5, 9 and 15 years old. Burdette and her team examined the population of mothers who were primarily single and of low socioeconomic status. Burdette noted that the relationship between parental substance abuse and adverse child outcomes is well established. "Our findings regarding the effects of religious involvement on substance abuse have implications for health and well-being across generations," she said. It is estimated that prescription opioid misuse costs the United States more than $55 billion in expenditures related to health care, lost productivity and criminal justice, according to a recent report from the Analysis Group, a financial and strategy consulting firm. Overall, rates of substance abuse in the study sample were low. "That's a bit of good news," Burdette said. "Whether you're talking about prescription drug misuse or illegal substance abuse, it's somewhat rare in our sample -- it's not that most mothers are doing this." The study found about 5 percent of women reported misusing prescription drugs, with nearly 3 percent of those misusing prescription pain relievers. "Our research suggests that church leaders may want to directly address the issue of prescription drug misuse as churchgoers may not view prescription drugs in the same way that they view illegal drugs, Burdette said. "Not directly addressing the issue may lead to a high degree of moral ambiguity." Researchers from Osaka University have discovered how precancerous cells spread to normal tissue and cause cancer, which could help scientists understand the initial stages of tumor progression. Image Credit: Giovanni Cancemi / Shutterstock In multicellular tissues, cells adhere to each other, with the intestinal epithelia and skin packing cells into a hexagonal pattern and cells tightly adhering to the six cells next to them. The maintenance of bodily functions depends on this adhesion network being kept intact. During the first stage of tumor progression, precancerous cells (oncogenic mutant cells) and healthy cells compete for space in the adhesion network of healthy tissues. However, scientists have not yet been able to describe how the mutant cells selectively occupy this space. They had thought that the precancerous cells undergo cell division and multiply at a faster rate than normal cells, but this has not been verified. Now, the current study has employed computer simulation and experimental verification to assess the state of the precancerous cells in healthy multicellular tissues. In simulations used in this study, modeling is developed based on shape analogies between cells of a multicellular tissue and soap bubbles (polygons). Cells and bubbles are composed of different molecules, but they share the ability to produce physical properties such as surface tension. By incorporating biological knowledge into simulations, we were able to predict new phenomena and mechanisms. Alice Tsuboi, Lead Author As reported in the journal Current Biology, the team found that only the mutant cells selectively expanded their area without cell division after healthy cells died, occupying the space made available by apoptosis. They also found that the mutant cells expanded through rearrangement of the adhesion network in favor of mutant cell expansion. When normal cells were repeatedly removed and the adjacent cells rearranged, hundreds of cells in the tissue transformed into mutant cells within a few hours. The findings are hoped to promote understanding of the initial stage of tumor progression, where precancerous cells spread to healthy tissues and cause cancer. In addition, applications will be found for multicellular tissue research based on prediction via computer simulation and experimental verification, ranging from research into the normal development of organisms through to the development of disease. A type of highly malignant brain tumor contains a large number of cells involved in the formation of new blood vessels, helping it proliferate and spread. Targeting these cells could hinder tumor growth, according to new research published in the Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology. Astrocytomas are tumors that can be found in the brain and spinal cord and originate from a type of cell, called an astrocyte, whose main function is to insulate and to provide structure for nerve fibers. They are the most common type of tumor that originates in the brain. There are four grades of astrocytomas, ranging from least to most aggressive. Grade IV astrocytomas are highly invasive and are almost always fatal. Lower grade astrocytomas are typically found in younger people while higher grade tumors are more often found in older adults. Astrocytomas depend on new blood vessel formation to grow and spread. Researchers in Malaysia wanted to know how the numbers of 'endothelial progenitor cells' (EPCs), which play a role in new vessel formation, changed with increasing grades of astrocytoma. EPCs represent a variety of cell types that circulate in the blood and adhere to the inner linings of blood vessels. The team of scientists examined brain tissue from 22 astrocytoma patients at the Hospital of University Sains Malaysia. They found that the numbers of endothelial progenitor cells were higher in the tumors than they were in surrounding healthy tissue. They also found that the numbers of these cells inside tumor tissue increased with age and higher tumor grade. Previous research has shown that patients with grades III and IV astrocytomas who underwent radiotherapy or chemotherapy demonstrated a reduction in the numbers of circulating EPCs. People with grades III and IV astocytomas who didn't undergo treatment had higher numbers of circulating EPCs than healthy people. Other studies have also shown that significantly reducing EPCs led to impaired and delayed growth in tumors followed by a reduction in the numbers of blood vessels feeding them. The researchers conclude that their findings suggest that drugs targeting new blood vessel formation given in appropriate doses according to age and tumor grade could prevent astrocytoma growth. UH College of Optometry biomedical engineer Vijaykrishna Raghunathan has received $765,000 from the National Institutes of Health to examine an understudied part of glaucoma - the ebb and flow of aqueous humor, the liquid in the eye whose regulation controls eye pressure. His work could lead to a pharmaceutical cure for the irreversible disease. The most common form of glaucoma, called open-angle glaucoma, is typically associated with elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) due to increased resistance to outflow of the liquid through an area of tissue known as the trabecular meshwork (TM). In a healthy eye, with normal resistance to elimination, the liquid is constantly being secreted and produced. In patients with glaucoma, the resistance to these secretions are increased, and the IOP is high potentially because the liquid is not flowing out normally, but rather staying inside the eye, building pressure. It is widely accepted that outflow itself is not uniform across the TM but is highly segmental with regions of relatively high flow and low flow. Although this is well recognized, why such differences exist and what their implications in disease are is unclear. "We want to know why we have segmental outflow and that's what we are studying with the grant," he said. He previously published a paper reporting that in glaucoma the meshwork is stiffer, particularly in the low flow regions. "Increased stiffness could mean more resistance and the high flow areas may compensate by becoming softer." Add to the mix - the human TM is approximately 20-fold stiffer in glaucoma, suggesting a prominent role of TM mechanobiology. "The mechanism by which this occurs is not known, nor is it known whether these changes are a cause of elevated IOP associated with glaucoma, or whether they are a result of elevated IOP and disease," said Raghunathan, who compares the dilemma to the chicken and egg phenomenon - which came first? Raghunathan and co-principal investigator Janice Vranka of Oregon Health & Science University, are examining the mechanobiology of the TM cells, looking at how the mechanical properties of the microenvironment effects cell behavior and how that governs cell function as it pertains to segmental flow. That will lead them to understand how to lower resistance to the liquid flow and balance the pressure in the eye. "We want to strike the balance where there is some high flow, some low flow but it is maintained in homeostasis," said Raghunathan. As the leading cause of blindness worldwide, glaucoma is something Raghunathan would like to control therapeutically. He thinks he can, by improving the newest class of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration in February 2018. It's a first-in-class drug and has the potential to impact the TM," said Raghunathan. "If we understand the intrinsic differences between the high and low flow we can find a way to control the resistance therapeutically." Feeling unattractive and dissatisfied with their sexual ability - that is reality for many teenage and young adult cancer survivors. Research from Sahlgrenska Academy, Sweden, now gives a voice to a group that often has a difficult journey back to a normal life. "People in healthcare are afraid to talk about this, but you have to dare and you have to be willing, without being brusque or overly upbeat," says Maria Olsson, who holds a PhD in pediatrics from Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, and is a specialist nurse in cancer rehabilitation at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. In her dissertation, she conducted eleven focus group interviews and a web-based survey involving 540 participants, all cancer survivors aged 15-29. The interviews clearly showed that teenagers and young adults would like to have age-appropriate treatment environments. "If you're 17 years old, it isn't easy to be cared for among screaming toddlers. Meanwhile, a 25-year old may find himself in a four-bed hospital room with men in their 60s and 70s who are discussing the stock market. These patients rarely end up with someone from their own generation; they are usually scattered about," says Maria Olsson. The results from the questionnaire study showed that the young cancer survivors felt they were less attractive because of their physical scars compared with the control group. Appearance is important to many teenagers and young adults, and scars from cancer treatment should not be ignored, according to Maria Olsson. Just over four out of ten teenage boys and young men, and close to eight out of ten teenage girls and young women who survived cancer replied that they felt less attractive because of their scars. They also expressed low satisfaction about their sexual ability compared with the control group, though the study showed that this response was more for psychological reasons than due to the physiological side effects of treatment. "They feel dissatisfied with their sexuality, and they dislike their bodies and the scars that remind them of the disease and the difficulties they've experienced. That's why they need more counseling and psychological support toward the end of treatment," says Maria Olsson. At the beginning of the study, she and her colleagues encountered resistance to the possibility of asking questions about topics such as sexuality and suicidal thoughts. The funding sources, registry owners and ethics committees who were to approve the study considered the topics to be too sensitive. However, the young people disagreed. The issue of fertility was the greatest concern among the nearly ten percent of participants who were worried about something in the questionnaire, followed by recurrence of cancer. However, discussing sex was no problem; on the contrary, there was a strong need to do so, according to Maria Olsson. "You can't do that in a four-bed hospital room, but there are many other opportunities. The topic can be addressed when the side effects of treatment come up for discussion, like how the mucous membranes are affected. By asking open questions first, it becomes evident whether the patient wants to talk, and that provides a lead to bring up the topic. It's also important to show willingness to discuss the subject." New Delhi: Air India needs to spruce up through a fresh cash injection, cost cuts and non-core asset sales, analysts said on Wednesday, after the government indicated a sale of the ailing state-owned carrier had likely been shelved. Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Tuesday the government will review its plans to privatise Air India at a later date because now was not the right time to sell as oil prices were high, according to newspaper Mint. India last month failed to attract buyers for the government's 76 percent stake in the debt-laden carrier, in a blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credentials as a reformer willing to step away from running money-losing businesses. Shelving the sale could exacerbate the carrier's financial woes and hurt the government's efforts to cut debt, analysts said, adding that then the focus, at the very least, should be on improving Air India's operations to ensure it does not lose more money or market share. "Government would probably wait for the right market conditions to proceed with the stake sale and probably in the meantime, they could look at offloading some of the non-core assets," said Teresa John, economist at Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities, adding she does not expect the sale to happen before India's general elections next year. The Indian government and Air India could not be reached for comment. Air India has six subsidiaries three of which are loss-making with assets worth about $4.6 billion. It has an estimated $1.24 billion worth of real estate, including two hotels, where ownership is split among various government entities. "Air India is a classic case where the sum of parts is more valuable than the whole entity. Individual suitors are interested in different parts of Air India and they should go for a part sale," an industry source said on condition of anonymity. The national carrier operates domestic and international flights, runs a low-cost airline and also has a ground-handling business. NEEDS MONEY The decision to call off the sale is a highly disappointing reversal of the government's earlier commitment to privatising the national carrier, consultancy CAPA India said in a note. "Under continued government ownership, with no clear roadmap, Air India is likely to see its domestic and international market shares decline over time to a point where the carrier is no longer relevant," it said. Air India has been losing domestic market share to rapidly expanding lower-cost operators like InterGlobe Aviation Ltd's IndiGo and SpiceJet Ltd that are now looking to expand their international routes. Air India, which employs some 27,000 staff, said this month it was seeking a short-term loan of 10 billion rupees ($148 million) so it can continue day-to-day operations. CAPA India estimated the carrier would make losses of $1.5 billion to $2 billion over the next two years alone, adding it represented an unnecessary drain on taxpayer funds in an industry that is well-served by private operators. "There will be a need for incremental funds but it is not clear if that will come from the government or external borrowing from banks," said the industry source, adding that the airline would most likely have to take on more debt if it does not sell assets to raise money. Selling the state carrier was key to Modi's plans to help keep the fiscal deficit at 3.3 percent of GDP, a goal already under pressure from giveaways to farmers and other welfare benefits ahead of the 2019 national elections. New Delhi: Arvind Subramanian has called it quits after four illustrious years at North Block. His tenure was marked by brave additions and far-sighted changes. Subramanian took over the post on October 16, 2014 succeeding Raghuram Rajan. The post of CEA was lying vacant for over a year since Rajan left to join the Reserve Bank of India as governor in September 2013. Subramanians term was for three years, which was to end on October 16, 2017. He had got an extension of one year in September 2017, his term was to end in October this year. Fifty-nine-year-old Subramanian has brought about stark changes in the way the Economic Survey is drafted. The four surveys that he wrote were far lesser in terms of length than that of Shankar Acharya, Bimal Jalan, Ashok Lahiri or even Raghuram Rajan. When he wrote the first chapters of his maiden Economic Survey 2014-15, Subramanian wrote, As the new government presents its first full-year budget, a momentous opportunity awaits. India has reached a sweet spotrare in the history of nationsin which it could finally be launched on a double-digit medium-term growth trajectory. The pompous yet retrospective tone continued through most of the operative segments. Borrowing Prime Minister Narendra Modis call of wiping every tear from every eye, Subramanian made a prescient remark: The power of growth to lift all boats will depend critically on its employment creation potential. One senses that Subramanian was aware of the need for a detailed analysis on wide-ranging topics such as women, children, water and avenues which seldom found space in economic surveys before or even if they did, were far lesser in volume. The Twilight of the governments current term is an appropriate juncture to step back and draw broader lessons for the Indian economy going forward, the first few paragraphs of Economic Survey 2017-18 notes. He had made a candid admission that recent macroeconomic developments are a reminder that the battle for macro-economic stability is never won, that even major victories are always provisional, and that vigilance is always needed. His experimental ideology peaked when he presented the economic survey last year with a pink cover, dedicating it to women. Universal Basic Income which talks about ensuring minimal yet compulsory levels of earnings across population remains to be his most ambitious proposals. Subramanian's elder brother is V S Krishnan who is a retired Indian Revenue Service officer and a former member of the Central Board of Excise and Customs and was a key player in piloting the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill. Subramanian served as the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, both located in Washington DC. Formerly an economist at the International Monetary Fund, he is a widely cited expert on the economics of India, China, and the changing balance of global economic power. Subramanian is the author of two books, India's Turn: Understanding the Economic Transformation published in 2008, Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China's Economic Dominance published in September 2011, and co-author of Who Needs to Open the Capital Account? which was published in 2012. Subramanian attended the DAV Boys Senior Secondary School, Chennai, for his high school education. He pursued a bachelors degree in economics from St Stephen's College, Delhi. He went on to earn an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and MPhil and DPhil degrees from the University of Oxford on an Inlaks Scholarship. Subramanian was the Assistant Director in the Research Department of the IMF. He is a development economist who worked closely with RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan when both were at the IMF. He served at the GATT during the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations. He has taught at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government from 1999 to 2000. He has also taught at Johns Hopkins' School for Advanced International Studies from 2008 to 2010. He contributes frequently to the Financial Times and is a columnist in financial daily, Business Standard. Not many are aware that as a senior fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics and Center for Global Development, in March 2013, Subramanian appeared before United States House Committee on Ways and Means hearing on US-India trade relations. During his testimony, Subramanian said by discriminating against Indian companies and exporters, (US initiatives) will exert natural pressure on India to open up. The CEA is usually the go-to person for advice for the finance minister on macro-economic matters. His primary responsibilities, among others, include authoring the mid-year analysis and the Economic Survey which is presented to the Parliament a day before the Budget session. The post of the CEA carries a three-year tenure, but the government had extended the tenure by one year for Subramanian. The office of CEA is considered one of the crucial government institutions that are important for monitoring performances of various key sectors. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Perhaps that was the reason Rob Rogers, the cartoonist who worked at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was fired. He had been working there since 1993. While his cartoon-- a depiction of the current situation at the US border-- went viral on the Internet, Rogers began to have a tough time. He was fired on Thursday after, he believes, his searing portrayals of Donald Trump. In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Rogers reveals how his cartoons against Trump started getting shelved; and less and less of them got published as the paper started taking a stance that was leaning towards Trump. This was a 'dream job' for Rogers. "It makes the experience of buying a coffee or checking out at a grocery store a thrill. I go to pay and the person looks at my credit card, sees my name, asks me if Im the Rob Rogers and then tells me about a particular cartoon he or she loved, he reveals in the piece. Rogers was not just locally famous his cartoons had a much wider reach. In 1999, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has also won numerous awards for his work, which is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate. On social media, people are now coming out in support of Rogers. All agreeing on the much re-iterated fact censoring the media is a direct violation of free speech. He got fired for depicting the truth pic.twitter.com/6rqs8BTbIj Jackie Scott (@JackieScott14) June 15, 2018 Just so wrong to fire him! Where do we live? The 1st amendment is being stretched to the limit and beyond! Louise Lorenz (@lorenz_louise) June 15, 2018 In a rally organized by local Pittsburgh supporters, they held the paper accountable in this sacking and Rogers has been pleasantly surprised at the support he has received. I cant imagine during the next few years of the Trump presidency that I wont be at my drawing table most days, he said. I love what I do. Now, more than ever, I believe in the power of satire and the public dialogue that it can create. Thank you for being part of that dialogue. Rob Rogers (@Rob_Rogers) June 6, 2018 He posted his first cartoon as a syndicated cartoonist today. Here is my first cartoon as a freelance syndicated cartoonist without a staff job. This story about the immigrant children makes me ashamed to be an American. https://t.co/EQJEUosTvi #TrumpConcentrationCamps #Trump #TrumpCamps #ImmigrantChildren #Immigration pic.twitter.com/fEE5vVuOiK Rob Rogers (@Rob_Rogers) June 19, 2018 Journalists being fired is nothing new - in India as well, journalists everyday are prosecuted for doing their jobs. The recent murders of Gauri Lankesh and Shujaat Bukhari are a reflection of the hatred people have when somebody decides to speak up about current situations. Rogers' dismissal from his job is just a reminder that censorship transcends borders. Lucknow: After war of words between BJP and SP over the damaged official residence of former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, a saffron party minister has now expressed his desire to stay in the vacated bungalow. Health minister Sidharth Nath Singh has written to chief secretary in this regard, and cited space crunch at the residence presently allotted to him by the government. Singh has claimed that his official residence, 19 Gautam Palli, does not have enough space for the guests and is a huge inconvenience. The cabinet minister is now eyeing 4, Vikramaditya Marg bungalow, which was vacated by the Samajwadi Party National President and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav after orders from the apex court. Sidharth Nath Singh has asked the chief secretary to either allot him the bungalow vacated by Akhilesh or the bungalow situated at 5 Vikramaditya Marg, which vacated by Akhilesh's father and SP Patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. The letter comes after Samajwadi Party chief brought two taps to a press conference and said that BJP accused him of taking away the taps, and hence, he wants to give them these through the media. The BJP is trying to humiliate me with the help of media. I had my gym and a steel structure there. In my new house I will use it. I also know photography and the angle used to show what is to be emphasised, he said. Attacking the BJP government further over the allegations of house lifting, Akhilesh claimed that the BJP is rattled after the recent loss in the Kairana, Phulpur and Gorakhpur bypolls and that is why they are engaged in vendetta politics. I have heard people getting blind in love, but here people are getting blind in jealousy and hatred after their loss in bypolls, said Akhilesh. Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik called the incident a serious matter and wrote to CM Adityanath urging him to take action in the matter. New Delhi/Dehradun: The country is all geared up to roll out yoga mats on Thursday to mark the fourth International Day of Yoga (IDY), with Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to lead 55,000 enthusiasts in performing asanas in Dehradun. Yoga sessions will be held across the world to mark the day, picked by the United Nations to celebrate the ancient Indian practice that has spread across the globe. Indian missions abroad are also coordinating activities, officials said, to mark the UN day for which the country had lobbied hard. Five thousand yoga events will be held in India, an AYUSH ministry official said. Eight events are planned in New Delhi alone with the main one at Rajpath, where Modi showcased a series of asanas on the first Yoga Day in 2015. The biggest show in the country this time will be on the lawns of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in the lap of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand's capital Dehradun. Yoga is not just a set of exercises that keeps the body fit. It is a passport to health assurance, a key to fitness and wellness. Nor is yoga only what you practise in the morning, a statement quoting Modi said. Doing your day-to-day activities with diligence and complete awareness is a form of yoga as well, it said Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Uma Bharti, Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Shankar Prasad will be in Lucknow, Nagpur, Chennai, Rudraprayag, Hajipur and Patna respectively for Yoga Day, a BJP functionary said. Among other ministers, Ananth Kumar will be in Bengaluru, J P Nadda in Shimla, Narendra Singh Tomar in Gwalior, Piyush Goyal in Noida and Prakash Javadekar in Mumbai. Around 50,000 yoga enthusiasts including women personnel from paramilitary forces like BSF, CRPF and CISF will participate in an event at Delhi's Red Fort organised by the Brahma Kumaris. The AYUSH Ministry has launched mobile app Yoga Locator' to help people find a yoga session. The Women and Child Development Ministry is promoting #YogaFor9to5, a contest to generate awareness on the benefits of yoga for women at workplace. In Dehradun, there is a massive deployment of security personnel in and around the Forest Research Institute, building up over the last few days. Nashik-based yoga promoter Vishwas Mandalik and the Yoga Institute in Mumbai have been selected for this year's prime minister's award for outstanding contribution in the field. The selection was done from among 186 nominations received under different categories. In Lucknow, All India Muslim Personal Law Board said yoga should not be used as a political tool or linked to a particular community. "Islam lays special emphasis on physical fitness and considers things related to fitness as good. Yoga as an exercise is good, but it should not be made compulsory which may not be acceptable to people of other religions, spokesman told PTI. "The most important thing is that yoga should not be used as a political tool. But sadly this practice is going on," Sajjad Nomani said. Last year, the main Yoga Day function was in Lucknow. In 2015, the yoga event on New Delhi's Rajpath made it to the Guinness World Records with 35,985 participants performing asanas at one venue and 84 nationalities being part of it. The United Nations General Assembly in December 2014 had declared that June 21 would be observed as International Day of Yoga every year. New Delhi: The BJPs sudden decision to withdraw from an alliance with the PDP in J&K was motivated by the anger within the saffron partys core vote bank in Jammu, sources said hours after the fall of Mehbooba Mufti government on Tuesday. Vote banks core vote bank in Jammu was upset. It became difficult for the state BJP leaders to even visit their constituencies because of the strong resentment among the people of Jammu, a source told CNN-News18. Other sources claimed that a top BJP leader was heckled in his constituency. The position was taken by Mehbooba Mufti vis-a-vis the Kathua rape and murder case, and her insistence on extending the Ramzan ceasefire on an operation against militants had also not gone down well with the BJP. The Union government conceded to her demand for suspension of operations during Ramzan, but the Jammu BJP was against the move. A day after the killing of veteran journalist Shujaat Bukhari, deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta had told CNN-News18 that there was no question of extending the Ramzan ceasefire anymore. His statement came despite Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh saying a decision was yet to be taken. Udhampur MP and Minister of State in PMO Jitender Singh had said that the ceasefire was not being reciprocated to and, therefore, there was no logic in continuing with it. "If followers of Islam can resort to stone-pelting and violence in the holy month of Ramzan, the onus is then not on us to maintain peace," he had said. A narrative was gaining ground that the Army's hands have been tied because of the Ramzan ceasefire," a source said. BJP leaders reportedly told Rajnath Singh that it will prove to be a political disaster if a second attack were to take place on Amarnath yatris under the watch of the BJP-PDP government. Rajnath Singh held a high-level meeting at his residence with Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, and senior officials of the Intelligence Bureau and his ministry to assess the ground situation in the sensitive state after the governments fall. The state is currently under Governors rule for the eighth time after President Ram Nath Kovind approvals on Wednesday morning. This is the fourth time the state is going under central rule during NN Vohras tenure as Governor. New Delhi: After completing nearly four years as the Chief Economic Adviser, Arvind Subramanian called it quits before his term was to end and will be returning to the US citing "very compelling reasons". Though no last date has been fixed for his departure yet, he said he would be remitting office within the next two months. Speaking fondly about his tenure, Subramanian, called it the "the best job I ever had, not without controversies sometimes. He added, I will go back with the best of memories. I will always be committed to serving the country at all times in the future. Subramanian who is a senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, was appointed as CEA, in October 2014 for a 3-year term, but he received an extension last year. His official contract was till May 2019. He said, One thing which I wish we could have done... there was a lot of demand for creating the office of CEA in a number of states, a number of chief ministers were keen to have something like this and I wish I had more bandwidth, time and energy to kind of do this in the states as well. I hope it will happen going forward. The chief economic strategists premature exit was earlier confirmed by Arjun Jaitley in a Facebook post in which he heaped praise on the economist. "On the expiry of the three year I had requested him to continue for some more time. Even at that stage he told me that he was torn between family commitment and his current job which he considered the best and most fulfilling he has ever done," the post read. Responding to Jaitleys post, Subramanian said, "I am profoundly grateful and humbled by these extraordinarily generous words by Minister Arun Jaitley announcing my decision to return-for personal reasons-to researching and writing. He added that the CEA job was the most rewarding, fulfilling, exciting he ever had. Subramanians tenure witnessed several key economic reforms, including the roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax. Being associated with GST, economic surveys have been so gratifying. Hope youngsters who hang around me don't desert me when I leave. Addressing a question about his future plans, he responded by saying that it will be revealed in the coming days. "You will get to know what I am exactly, I will be going do, in the next few days. I cannot reveal that right now for obvious reasons. Whatever has to be done has to done through formal channel but in few days you will get to know what I will doing in the next year at least," he said. When asked about who would succeed him, he stated that the process would begin soon. (With inputs from PTI) Hyderabad: Three siblings born in Pakistan but staying in Nizamabad district of Telangana since 2004 have been granted Indian citizenship by the Indian government. The three Pakistani nationals- Mohammed Sanan, Mohammed Ruman and Mohammed Saif were handed over the Indian citizenship certificates by the Nizamabad Revenue Divisional Officer yesterday in the presence of their mother, a district administration official said. Their mother, who hails from Nizamabad, had married a Pakistani national, a distant relative, in 1988 and had migrated to Pakistan, the official said. According to the official, the couple divorced in 2004 after which the woman returned to Nizamabad the same year. Since then, her children were staying along with her on extended long term visa. The official said as per rules, any foreigner can apply for Indian citizenship after residing in the country for seven years. The woman had applied for Indian citizenship for her three children in 2016. After scrutiny, the files were forwarded to the state government which sent it to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Centre cleared their applications recently and granted them Indian citizenship. The citizenship certificates were handed over to the trio yesterday, the official said. The eldest among the three has completed BTech, officials said. Beijing: China on Wednesday distanced itself from its envoy's comments on the idea of trilateral cooperation between India, China and Pakistan under the aegis of the SCO, but underlined the importance of strengthening of dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad to improve mutual trust. Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui on Monday endorsed the idea of trilateral cooperation between India, China and Pakistan under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), saying it could "in the future" help resolve bilateral issues between New Delhi and Islamabad and help maintain peace. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, when asked about Luo's comments, said both India and Pakistan are China's friends and neighbours. "We are willing to conduct relations with all our neighbours including Pakistan and India to strengthen our cooperation for better development and stability in this region. "We also hope India, Pakistan can strengthen their dialogue to improve mutual trust in their bilateral relations. This is in the interest of the regional countries," he said. Asked whether China is distancing from Luo's remarks, Geng said "what I said represents the official position of the Chinese side". He also declined to answer a question on the Chinese Embassy erasing envoy's comments from the transcript posted on the website. The Chinese envoy to India had also said that bilateral ties between India and China can't take the strain of another Dokalam episode and emphasised the need to find a "mutually acceptable solution" on the boundary issue through a meeting of Special Representatives. Luo said "some Indian friends" had suggested trilateral cooperation comprising India, China and Pakistan under the aegis of the SCO, which was a "very constructive idea". "Security cooperation is one of the three pillars of the SCO. Some Indian friends suggested that China, India and Pakistan may have some kind of trilateral cooperation under the SCO," he said in his keynote address on 'Beyond Wuhan: How Far and Fast can China-India Relations Go' at an event organised by the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi. Responding to a question on whether a trilateral meet between the Asian neighbours will help in solving the India-Pakistan dispute, he said he personally considers it "a good and constructive idea". This is the second time China shied away from backing Luo. In May 2017, Lou offered to rename the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to accommodate India's concerns at a meeting a New Delhi. His comments on the issue was subsequently removed from the transcript posted on the website of the Chinese embassy apparently following objections from Pakistan. The Chinese envoy's remarks came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain exchanged pleasantries following a press conference by the leaders of the SCO in Qingdao last week. Reacting to Luo's remarks about a possible trilateral summit, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi said matters related to India-Pakistan ties are "purely bilateral in nature" and have "no scope for involvement of any third party". In response to queries on the comments made by Luo, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: "We have seen reports on comments made by the Chinese ambassador in this matter. We have not received any such suggestion from the Chinese government. "We consider the statement as the personal opinion of the ambassador. Matters related to India-Pakistan relations are purely bilateral in nature and have no scope for involvement of any third country." Ahmedabad: An elderly woman was allegedly thrashed and dragged out of her house by her daughter and son-in-law in Gujarat's Chhotaudepur district on Tuesday. A purported video clip of the incident, which took place in Velpur village under Sankheda taluka, around 200km from, surfaced on social media platforms, prompting the police to register an offence. In the video, a man and a woman are seen beating a frail old woman who is lying on the ground in a hut. The man tries to tie the elderly woman with a rope which she resists. Upon this, the woman's daughter drags her and the victim's son-in-law hauls her and throws her out of the hut. The video was recorded on Monday, said the Superintendent of Police in-charge of Chhotaudepur, Dharmendra Sharma. "We sent a police team to Velpur village to probe the incident after the video surfaced. The persons seen beating up the woman in the video are her daughter and son-in-law," he said. "The accused claimed the woman is mentally unstable. They said they were trying to stop her after she attacked them with a sharp-edged weapon," Sharma said. An FIR was registered against the duo at the Sankheda police station under IPC section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and further investigation was on, he added. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), government regulatory body for technical education, has recently completed its approval process for the academic year 2018-19. In a conversation with News18, AICTE Chairman Anil Saharabudhe elucidated on upcoming sectors, that maybe large attractor of jobs, the Councils future plans on making courses job oriented and more. Edited excerpts: With IT losing out on recruitments, what can be Indias next big job-provider? There is likelihood of no mass recruiters in India in the coming times. We will see small scale industries, medium enterprises, startups and individual entrepreneurs providing jobs. Large scale industries are stagnating and very few jobs will be generated from there in the recent future. The reason is a lot of automation is happening. The automobile industry, for example, has high scale of automation. Jobs will be there but the numbers will be skewed. The jobs will now be generated outside, in the ancillary units of the automotive industry, for example. Also, student startups which start from colleges can provide jobs. Slowly if that grows bigger then they can employ more people, say 2000. Why is there a sudden spike in colleges offering pharmacy? As far as pharmacy is concerned since almost all the seats in that stream were getting filled, people thought that there is a big demand in that sector and therefore they applied for more colleges this year. However, according to my analysis, this will also have the same fate as management and engineering within the next one or two. It's a matter of two years. There is a conscious effort to reduce the number of engineering colleges in India. We have asked all states to come up with their own perspective plan. The plan will contain sectors that they think are going to be more in demand and based on that they should tell us whether new colleges should be started in those subjects or not. We received these plans from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. All of them had some opinion about not starting engineering colleges. We are also going to have a national perspective plan on what would be the areas in demand in the next 10 or 20 years. According to inputs we have, Electric Automotives will be the future. How do you plan to curb brain drain? Yes, there are students who are applying abroad for specialised courses but we are trying to identify those disciplines and come up with our own colleges in India. We are also trying to attract foreign students to come in study in India in a far lesser price. Asia and Middle East students will find India as a much better, cheaper country to study in. We are doing this by two methods, one, by inculcating those courses through division of curriculum and two, by training teachers in those disciplines which are soon going to become major attractions for students. Do you think the time has come to include a compulsory skill training component across curricula? No knowledge is complete without theoretical base as well as knowledge in terms of practical use. Many times what happens is someone may be skilled but he may not know why that is happening. Also in other cases, someone may have theoretical knowledge but may not know how to apply it. So a person can only become employable and use the best of his curriculum by having both practical and theoretical knowledge. Curriculum should have enough scope for practical skills as well. What needs to be done is there needs to be a skill component introduced everywhere even at the bachelors and masters level. What are your plans to make courses more student-friendly and job oriented? We are working in a big way on student induction programme. We have made it mandatory for all colleges to conduct this programme during the first 3 weeks. All students will interact with the faculty members. There will be a variety of activities like games, sports, yoga, discussions, watching a movie, expert lecturer and also different art forms like maybe painting, music or dance. Any student who is interested in these things can do that in short modules so that holistic development of the student is brought about. You get sensitized to other students. Someone from rural areas may find difficulty with an urban English medium fellow. Someone from Hindi, Marathi, Telugu medium will find himself totally out of place, so its an effort to make them friends. They will also start helping each other. Also, with teachers being there with them for the full three weeks, he/she will become natural philosopher, guide and friend. Students will then naturally address their problems to the teachers in a friendly way. Otherwise there is only agitation now. Post implementation of this programme, they will not do patharbaji. The confidence they derive from this will also help them during job interviews. (The story is part of News18 series #onthejob. The next part will focus on how JEE exam patterns are being changed to end rote learning) New Delhi: The Supreme Court has sought an affidavit from the IRDAI on whether it was represented through a lawyer when the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) called an order passed by its member as one that virtually amounts to aiding and abetting corruption. Hearing an appeal filed by the Insurance and Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), a bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the competent authority in the regulator to file an unequivocal affidavit. We would like a detailed narration of what has transpired in the proceedings before the learned SAT is be brought on record by means of an affidavit of the Competent Authority of the Regulator, stated the Court order issued recently. The occasion for calling the affidavit arose when the IRDAIs lawyer argued that the SAT passed the order ex parte, without hearing its lawyer or issuing a formal notice. The IRDAI asked for a stay of the Tribunals order, too. But the bench, after going through the order, noted that the impugned order recorded the appearance of the SATs layer in the proceedings. However, reading the order of the learned SAT, we find that the Regulator which is respondent No.1 in the proceedings before the learned SAT had been represented by its counsel, underlined the bench, and sought a categorical affidavit from the IRDAI. The top court said that there was no question of granting a stay on the SATs order until this contention was made clear. While disposing an appeal filed by UK-based Atkins Special Risks, the SAT bench, comprising presiding officer Justice JP Devadhar and member CKG Nair, had reproached an order passed by IRDAI Member (Non-Life) PJ Joseph. It said the order passed by Joseph in the case relating to commission virtually amounts to aiding and abetting corruption in the insurance business by the regulator which cannot be tolerated SAT directed the regulator to conduct a probe by some other competent officer and pass a fresh order. In the complaint filed with IRDAI in August 2015, Atkins alleged that between 2002 and 2012 it had provided international reinsurance cover to Jagson International on annual brokerage or commission basis. Atkins accused Jagson International chairman Jagdish Gupta of demanding a cut, from 2010, in the commission it earned. In 2012, the re-insurance business of Jagson went to Marsh India Insurance Brokers, which has denied any wrongdoing or foul play in the matter. Detailing the sequence leading to the complaint to the IRDAI, the SAT order said Atkins had engaged a global investigating firm as it suspsected that illegal means were used to divert the business. In its report, the agency said kickbacks were given to Gupta. As no action was taken, on its complaint filed with IRDAI, Atkins filed a petition in the High Court in Hyderabad, which disposed it in September 2017 with a direction to IRDAI to consider the complaint filed by the firm in accordance with law. Joseph heard the appellant on November 16, 2017 and passed an order on January 9, disposing of the complaint by simply stating that the appellant has not submitted any documentary proof, material information or evidence in support of its contention. Following this, Atkins filed an appeal at SAT. According to SAT, the IRDAI order was a gross abuse of the process of law and dereliction of duty. New Delhi: When Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad appointed an expert group headed by former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna to draft a data protection law, it was thought to be an attempt by the government to allay all doubts which arose as the apex court heads a batch of cases challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar. But is it one of the firsts that a former Supreme Court judge has become the go-to man for governments belonging to different political parties for close to 26 years? It all started in 1993 when the then recently retired apex court judge was tasked to head a commission of inquiry under Justice B N Srikrishna and look into the causes of the riots that engulfed Mumbai in December 1992 and January 1993. The commission had to also find out if any group of individuals or organisation was responsible for the riots. The then 51-year-old Justice Srikrishna started examining evidences when in 1995 the terms of reference were expanded by the subsequent Shiv Sena-BJP government to include investigation into the cause of the Mumbai blasts of March 1993, too. But then again in 1996, the commission headed by the former judge was disbanded by the Sena-BJP government on the ground that it had exceeded the given time for the report and that the report would only bring back painful memories. However, this did not last long and in 1996, the commission was re-constituted after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wrote to the state government asking for the commission to be set up again. Now after more than two decades, Justice Srikrishna is still going strong as the primary choice of heading panel and commissions of importance. In 2017, the Srikrishna Committee was tasked by the government with studying issues around data security and individual privacy. The committee is to recommend a framework for securing personal data in India's increasingly digitised economy, for addressing privacy concerns, and for building safeguards against data breaches. Apart from the BJP and Congress governments, in 2010, the former Supreme Court judge was also at the forefront of choice in the then newly formed state of Telangana after N Chandrabhabu Naidu-led government after Justice Srikrishna was selected to head Committee for Consultations on the Situation in Andhra Pradesh (CCSAP), a committee to look into the demand for separate statehood for Telangana or keep the State united in the present form, Andhra Pradesh. The committee had visited all the regions of state extensively and invited people from all sections of the society to give their opinion on the statehood. It received over one lakh petitions and representations from political parties, organisations, NGOs and individuals. It also held consultations with political parties and general public and took into account the impact of recent developments on different sections of people such as women, children, students, minorities, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The report was released to the public on the internet on 6 January 2011. Justice Srikrishna even headed the one-man commission to inquire about the 19 February, 2009 Madras High Court incident where members of the bar went into an indefinite boycott of the courts alleging that the Government was not taking any action to stop the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. In his report Justice B N Srikrishna though found police excess, observed that the "circumstances facing the police on the fateful day justified use of force by the police". Now apart from heading the panel to draft the data protection law for the country, the former judge has again been appointed by the BJP-led government to carry out an independent investigation against ICICI Bank Ltd. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar. Though the former judge is interested in refugee law and human rights issues, he commands equal expertise in technology and finance related aspects. New Delhi: Day after BJP pulled out of the Jammu and Kashmir alliance and promised intensified action against militancy in the state, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the muscular policy of the government works mostly against civilians as it kills 20 civilians for every four terrorists. Speaking to News18, Azad said, They take action against four terrorists and kill 20 civilians along. Their action is more against civilians than terrorists. For instance, they killed 13 civilians in Pulwama and just one terrorist. BJP on Tuesday pulled out of its alliance with PDP blaming its alliance partner for not being able to control the situation in Kashmir. BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav made the surprise announcement on Tuesday and said, It has become untenable for the BJP to continue the alliance with PDP. Keeping in mind that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and in order to control the prevailing situation in the state, we have decided that the reins of power in the state be handed over to the governor. As the BJP put the entire blame of failing to control violence on Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP, the government put across its stand saying the security forces will now intensify its operations against militants. Lashing out at the Centre, Azad said, Saying that it will be an all-out operation, clearly shows that they plan to do a massacre. They did not say that they want to resolve the issue through talks. Even America and North Korea solved their difference through dialogue. He added, The major reason behind the condition of Kashmir is that from the day PM Modi came to power, he has always talked about action. It seems he always wants to use the gun. The Congress leader also claimed that militancy has only gone up during the NDA regime as compared to the UPA regime. Azad said, Local recruitment was at its peak during the BJP-PDP government. Maximum civilian and personnel deaths were also recorded in this time. The senior Congress leader further alleged that the idea of Kashmir has been destroyed. He said, Kashmiriyat was destroyed in the last three and half years' rule of BJP. New Delhi: A gargantuan project to map every health facility in the country was launched by the Union health minister JP Nadda, on Tuesday. The National Health Resource Repository project is a map not only of the locations of estimated 20-25 lakh healthcare facilities private and government in the country but also of how well they run, how many patients they serve and how the doctors perform. This is an ambitious programme, said Nadda, as he warned ministry officials that if their bodies and institutions didn't continuously update data to reflect changes on field, theyd find themselves out of the system entirely. The health ministry has roped in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to give technology and guidance to the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI), the ministry body that will run this project, and has partnered with the WHO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The repository starts off in Manipur, Odisha, and Rajasthan, on Tuesday. By the end of June, said the team involved in implementation, work will have started in almost all states. Through 10 pilot projects, in December 2017 and January 2018, in Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, the project team learnt they needed 4,000 people on ground to wrap data collection in five minutes. Through these 4,000 workers conducting a census of facilities on ground, the map and data set should be done by December, said the team members. This, apparently isn't soon enough for the Prime Ministers Office (PMO). At the launch, health secretary Preeti Sudan told the press the PMO wanted the work done by September. All in all, the repository will have 1500 variables performance, infrastructure, equipment, etc to pin down doctors, clinics, diagnostics laboratories, pharmacies and nursing homes in India. The NHRR will also be a key tool for the Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM). The Ayushman Bharat CEO Indu Bhushan had also told News18 in a previous conversation that the NHPM will depend on this mapping exercise for implementation and monitoring. This was confirmed by health secretary Preeti Sudan, who said the two pillars of Ayushman Bharat the NHPM and comprehensive primary care will need this map. Recently, additional health secretary Manoj Jhalani had told News18 that certain amount of data for government health facilities has already been collected. It had started nearly four years ago, as an exercise under the National Health Mission, to understand the strengths and gaps in the health system. Its existence is why, Sudan said on Tuesday, the first phase of the NHRR will focus on private facilities. The point of the data is not just to geo tag the locations of health facilities but as Jhalani had said, build layers. Which health centre can provide cardiac care or which one is well equipped for maternal care, for example. However, some of the personnel involved in NHRR implementation said the current government data did not adequately fulfil these functions. With only 10 variables, it merely provides coordinates. It does not tell which centre is running, which is not, which is not functioning up to capacity, which provides the requisite tests and diagnosis, etc. Most government data also depends on government facilities reporting themselves. The NHRR will function under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, like a census, allowing the team to go to the field and collect information. It will function in two parts. The first, line listing, will have investigators combing the streets of the country to list any health-related structure. The second, enumeration, will have another team get details through interviews of these structures, all through a paperless, tablet bases system A medical college will take about four to five days to cover through interviews, while a pharmacy will take an hour. There are, however, many obstacles. One team is sitting forcibly idle in the northeast because of the floods. An investigator in Chhattisgarh, said a team official, was picked up and held for a few days by some groups, whom the official didn't name. Elections will disrupt the work. However, to hit their December deadline, the project aims to cover 100 odd districts a month. The end game is a map of different data layers; to aid policymakers, to states to set up more facilities incorrect locations, and to citizens to know where to go for help. Washington: India today told the Trump administration that the Generalised System of Preference Programme (GSP) would enhance India's development and the pace of economic reforms, urging it not to withdraw the South Asian country from the US trade preference programme. "India, being a beneficiary developing country, the GSP benefits are integral and geared to enhance its development and the pace of economic reforms," Puneet Roy Kundal, Minister of Commerce at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC, told members of United States Trade Representative's GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee. The US Generalized System of Preferences program (GSP) provides for the preferential treatment of designated articles when imported from beneficiary developing countries. A self-initiated review by the USTR focuses on whether India is meeting the US criteria for a GSP beneficiary country, and particularly whether India provides "equitable and reasonable" market access to products from the US. The products on which India receives GSP benefits belong to sectors which employ thousands of men and women, especially in the rural areas through micro, small and medium enterprises, the senior Indian diplomat told the committee. Kundal urged the USTR to retain the GSP beneficiary status to India. "Picking out India along with a few GSP benefitting countries, for potential withdrawal of tariff preferences on the ground that India does not provide the US 'equitable and reasonable access' to its market would be inconsistent with the non-discrimination and non-reciprocal obligations under Enabling Clause," he said. Noting that a predominant share of the GSP beneficiary items exported from India are intermediaries and semi-manufactured goods, Kundal said the provision of GSP benefits to these products enables availability of cost effective and price competitive inputs to the US downstream industry. "This is helping the US industries to maintain their domestic and export competitiveness," he argued. Kundal said the rules governing the GSP under the WTO contained in the 1979 Decision on Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries (Enabling Clause) envisage non-discriminatory and non-reciprocal grant of tariff benefits. The USTR has accepted two petitions related to the same criterion. The petitions filed by the US dairy industry and the US medical device industry requested a review of India's GSP benefits, given India's alleged trade barriers affecting the US exports in these sectors. "In respect of export of dairy products from the US to India, the issue is not of market access but certification given high religious, cultural and moral sensitivities. India provides unimpeded market access to dairy products from all countries, and there are exports of these products into India," Kundal said. He said India was a progressive nation and envisages that its citizens are provided with equitable and affordable access to essential medicines and medical devices. The emphasis is on providing good quality, affordable and comprehensive healthcare to all the citizens. These values have also been enshrined in the National Health Policy, 2017, he added. Kundal denied that India has undertaken any "unnecessary or discriminatory" measures or steps to reduce access of US medical devices industry to the Indian market. "Nevertheless, to address the concerns of the stakeholders, the government think-tank NITI Aayog placed a concept note on trade margin rationalisation model for public comments and which ultimately would address the concerns," he told the USTR's GSP subcommittee. Review of the tariff preferences accorded under the criteria set out in Section 502(c)(4) of the Trade Act and any consequent action thereof would create irreparable damage for India's exports to the US and such an action will also be contrary to the objective enshrined in Section 501 of the Trade Act of 1974 and enabling provisions of the WTO, Kundal said in his oral submission. In his testimony, he argued that "dilution of GSP benefits to India would be discriminatory, arbitrary and detrimental to the development, finance and trade needs of India - a vast and diverse developing country with unique challenges". KEAM 2018 Rank List 2018 is expected to be released today at 4PM on the official website of Commissioner for Entrance Examinations, Govt. of Kerala cee.kerala.gov.in. The Rank list will be released by State Education Minister C Raveendranath and Health Minister K K Shailaja at the PRD chamber of Government Secretariat at 4PM after which it will be made available at the online portal aswell. CEE Kerala had organized Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical Entrance Exam (KEAM) 2018 Paper I for Physics and Chemistry on 23rd April 2018 and Paper-II for Mathematics on 24th April 2018 across the state for candidates seeking admissions in Undergraduate courses in Engineering, Architecture, Medical and Pharmacy in government as well as private institutions in the state of Kerala. Candidates who had appeared for the KEAM 2018 must stay tuned and know their Ranks once its released by the Commissionerate. CEE Kerala had last month released the scores of the candidates who had appeared for Engineering and Allied courses entrance exams. The admissions to these courses will be based on the Rank Lists releasing today. Admissions to Medical courses will be based on rank lists made on the basis of NEET UG 2018 scores of the candidates. New Delhi: The Centre has started work to create a national database and Aadhaar-seeded identification number system to facilitate welfare delivery to 40 crore workers in the unorganized sector, according to The Hindu. Ministry of Labour has called for tenders to design, develop and run the new Unorganised Workers Identification Number (UWIN) Platform. Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State for Labour and Employment had in December 2017 told the Rajya Sabha that the project would have an estimated cost of Rs 402.7 crore. The UWIN platform will be set up within six months of the contract being signed, and a third of the workers are expected to be registered in the first year, with the remainder to be registered in the second year. The Centre, through service providers, will create and maintain the platform and states will identify and register unorganised workers. The Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 will be used as the base for the platform, and other worker databases. Although the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the legitimacy of making Aadhaar mandatory for entitlements, the entire UWIN platform is built around Aadhaar. Those who have enrolled for Aadhaar but have failed to receive it can provisionally enroll themselves into the UWIN system with their Aadhaar Enrollment ID. However, it is only when they are able to link Aadhaar with their dataset at a later stage that they will actually be assigned a UWIN number. The only exception provided is for areas that do not have any Aadhaar coverage which must be approved by the Labour Ministry, where other government identity documents will be allowed, with an option of linking Aadhaar at a later stage. On being asked if Aadhaar will be mandatory for UWIN, a senior Labour Ministry official told The Hindu it would be the responsibility of the states to get Aadhaar made for all workers. New Delhi: Telecom giant Airtel on Wednesday said it had never agreed to the "outrageous" request from a subscriber for a non-Muslim customer service representative and vowed to "stay innocent and bereft of religious consideration". While Airtel came out with a strongly worded statement defending its actions, it emerged from Twitter timelines that Lucknow-based Pooja Singh had been contacted by Airtel representative Gaganjot in a routine manner in less than 10 minutes of Shoaib responding to her complaints of poor service. Gaganjot messaged her once on her public timelines on Twitter and thrice through private direct message (DM) offering assistance to resolve her complaint, all before she tweeted seeking a "Hindu representative" as she had "no faith in his (Shoaib's) work ethics". According to her Twitter timelines, Pooja Singh complained of poor service at 12.09 pm on June 18, which was responded to by Shoaib at 12.18 pm. Within minutes, Gaganjot responded to Pooja at 12.34 pm saying: "Hi let me check that out for you. I don't want to keep you waiting another minute! Please DM your 10 digit DTH ID along with your contact number via the link here, and we will connect with you to assist. Thank you, Gaganjot." Airtel sources said Gaganjot may have contacted Pooja in routine manner as Shoaib may have been handling different customers. This was well before Pooja made the outrageous request. Even after being contacted by Gaganjot, Pooja, whose Twitter handle declares her as a management professional, a "Proud Indian" and a "Proud Hindu", at 2.59 pm wrote: "Dear Shoaib, as you're a Muslim and I have no faith in your working ethics because Kuran may have a different version for customer service, thus requesting you to assign a Hindu representative for my request. Thanks (sic)." This message was responded to by Gaganjot at 3.25 pm saying: "Hi Pooja! As discussed, please let me know what time framework best for you so we can talk. Further, please share an alternate number so that I can assist you further with this. Thank you." Pooja, whose followers seem to have grown from over 10,500 to 15,100 since the controversy broke, was unreachable for comments. She did not even respond to a Twitter post seeking a response on the issue. Airtel in a statement on Wednesday said what has been reported of the company not standing up to bigotry is "mostly, untrue and factually incorrect." Shoaib and Gaganjot, it said, followed a dutiful course in their regular work. "When a customer writes in and one advisor is busy, the query gets assigned to the next available advisor automatically. Which is exactly what happened with Shoaib and Gaganjot." Airtel said a customer made "an outrageous request of preferring to talk to someone of a particular religious identity" but the two service executives continued to dedicatedly work towards ensuring a solution to the complaint. "The fact that Shoaib wasn't logged in and that Gaganjot took up the case got read as 'bowing down to bigotry'. The fact that Gaganjot didn't check his colleague's religious identity before taking up the case got read as 'heeding to a discriminatory request'." "We did not and we repeat, we DID NOT change the advisor because of the unfathomable request from the said customer," the firm said. "At Airtel, we never have and never will succumb to differentiating on the basis of religion, ethnicity or caste." Stating that it will continue to train its representatives to see the world without the filters of bias, Airtel said it will "strongly resist" attempts to check religious identities of its service representatives before attending to complaints. "We promise you that we will try our best to let them stay innocent and bereft of religious considerations," it said. Pooja has been retweeting tweets supporting her. "I am overwhelmed with the kind of support I got from you all and really thankful to you from bottom of my heart. What I said was my personal choice as per my past experience and it was not a publicity stunt by anyway," she said in a statement posted on her Twitter account yesterday. She also received a lot of hate tweets for her bigotry. To this, she responded: "I simply made a request to change representative from Muslim to Hindu as my experience in past was not good and that's my right as well. After that, the kind of abuses I'm facing are beyond imagination and that in itself proves that I was right at very first place." Lucknow: A 45-year-old man was allegedly lynched over suspicion of cattle theft in Hapur districts Pilakhuwa, triggering tension in the area. We have arrested two people and booked 25 others in connection with Qasim's death and injuring 65-year-old Samiuddin. Heavy police force has also been deployed in the area to avoid any toward incident or clashes, a police officer said. According to reports, the duo was warding off a buffalo and a calf that had wandered into Qasims field. However, the local residents mistook them for cow thieves and brutally assaulted them. While Qasim succumbed to injuries, Samiuddin is still battling for life at a hospital as his condition is stated to be critical. A video of the incident has also surfaced in which a severely injured Qasim is seen asking for water from the mob surrounding him before he finally drops unconscious to the ground. However, the police have not acknowledged the video evidence, and termed the matter an "incident of road rage". Two motorcycles collided in Hapur, following which the two sides indulged in a quarrel, polices official statement read. The family of the deceased has given us a written complaint stating that the fight and consequent thrashing started after a motorcycle accidentally hit Qasim and his friend. While one person was killed, another one has sustained injuries. An FIR has been registered against 25 unknown people under IPCs sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 302 (murder), while two men have been identified and arrested, said Hapur Superintendent of Police Sankalp Sharma. Senior police officials have been rushed to the spot as tension prevails in the area. New Delhi: Taking a jibe at previous Congress governments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the countrys farmers were largely left to their own devices and their benefits gradually scaled back. PM Modi is interacting with farmers across the country and addressing their concerns through the NaMo app. The credit for the serving the country with food goes to our farmers. But with time, the benefits to the farmers started declining and eventually they were left on their own: PM @narendramodi Watch LIVE at https://t.co/SIduOpNDPS #KisanKiBaatPMKeSaath BJP LIVE (@BJPLive) June 20, 2018 "For the first time, the Prime Minister is going to have a direct dialogue with farmers across the country, in which various initiatives related to doubling the income of farmers by 2022 will also be discussed," Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh said on Wednesday. The programme is being broadcast directly by Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Common Service Centres (CSC), Doordarshan, DD Kissan and Aakashvaani from all over the country. Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Gajendra Singh Shekhawat described the initiative as "historical". He urged the farmers across the country to ensure their participation in the event by visiting Krishi Vigyan Kendras and CCSs. New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhis latest tweet on the outgoing Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanians resignation has raised questions on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliances governance. Gandhi, in his tweet, questions whether Arun Jaitley is the ex-finance minister and if Piyush Goyal, filling in due to Jaitleys ill-health, has the keys to the Indian Economy. Ex ? FM is locked in his room, breaking news on FaceBook. BJP Treasurer has the keys to the Indian Economy. The brightest flee the sinking ship, as the invisible hand of the RSS steers it onto the rocks. Meanwhile, Captain DeMo is fast asleep. Its crazy out there ! (sic), tweeted Gandhi. Earlier, Subramanian submitted his resignation as the CEA citing personal reasons. The veteran economist was due to retire in October 2018. Piyush Goyal was handed the charge of the Finance Ministry in May 2018 after Arun Jaitley had to undergo a surgery and is still recuperating from it. Taking a jibe at the CEAs exit, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy tweeted, Goodbye. Nothing can be in India more pressing than what beckons him in US. A wake up call for AS: Piyush holds Finance portfolio not Jaitley. So hand your quitting letter at the proper place or you may get charged for desertion from your duty post (sic). Subramanian Swamy had earlier questioned the status of Piyush Goyal as an interim Union Finance Minister, asserting that there is no such provision. He first raised the issue in a tweet on June 18, in response to comments made by Manish Tewari of the Congress. The website of the Prime Ministers office says Piyush Goyal is the Finance Minister, and Jaitley is Minister Without Portfolio. However, the Finance Ministrys website says Jaitley is the Finance Minister, said Swamy. RSS-backed Swadeshi Jagran Manchs chief Ashwini Mahajan also criticised the CEA asking the Modi government to select a predecessor who thinks about India-oriented problems. As CEA Arvind Subramanian resigns citing personal reasons, will move to US, @swadeshimanch requests @narendramodi ji to see that next incumbent should be one who has faith in farmers, workers and entrepreneurs of Bharat and is not on sabbatical, he tweeted. New Delhi: Terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir had continued with their activities during Ramzan, necessitating suspension of the ceasefire by the Centre, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said here on Wednesday. Governor's rule in the state is unlikely to have any impact on ongoing military operations, the Army chief said. Operations in the Valley would continue as earlier, Rawat told reporters on the sidelines of an event here. "Operations were being carried out earlier as well. Then we saw a phase of suspension of operations because we wanted people to get a chance to offer their prayers during Ramzan without any kind of problem. Despite that, terrorists continued with their activity, which is why the suspension of operations was cancelled," he said. Action that was being taken earlier would continue, Rawat asserted. Referring to the imposition of Governor's rule in the state after the BJP pulled out of its alliance with the PDP, he said, "We don't think there will be any impact. We don't have any kind of political interference." There has, he said, never been any kind of restriction on the force on how it should conduct its work. The security forces have very strict rules of engagement and "take action" in accordance with them, Rawat said. The ceasefire announced by the Centre for the month of Ramzan was revoked on Sunday. Aurangzeb, an Army Jawan, was killed by terrorists and journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead two days ahead of Eid. On Wednesday, Jammu and Kashmir was placed under Governor's rule for the fourth time in the last one decade after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as chief minister. Mumbai: A special court here on Wednesday ordered arrest of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya for his alleged involvement in a case of money laundering and cheating a consortium of banks of over Rs 6,000 crore. Special Judge M S Azmi of anti-money laundering court issued a non-bailable warrant for Mallya's arrest, taking cognisance of a fresh charge sheet filed against him and others by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court also issued summons to Mallya's firms, Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) and United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL), before adjourning the hearing in the case to July 30. The agency has filed the charge sheet, also known as prosecution complaint, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, naming Mallya, his firms KFA and UBHL besides others. The ED had last year filed its first charge sheet against Mallya, now in London, in the alleged Rs 900-crore IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case. The fresh charge sheet revolves around the complaint received from State Bank of India (SBI) on behalf of the consortium of banks for causing loss of Rs 6,027 crore to them by not keeping repayment commitments of the loans taken during 2005-10. Italy's Osteria Francescana was crowned the world's best restaurant for the second time on Tuesday by an influential list compiled by British trade magazine Restaurant, beating out top eateries in Spain and France. Run by chef Massimo Bottura, the restaurant in Modena, Italy, overtook last year's winner, New York's Eleven Madison Park, in the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards, which were handed out in Bilbao in Spain's northern Basque Country, famous for its avant-garde haute cuisine. Osteria Francescana first won the award in 2016. Spain's El Celler de Can Roca, which took the top honour in 2013 and 2015, came in second while third place went to Mirazur in southern France. Restaurant magazine launched the awards in 2002 and they are now as coveted by restaurants as Michelin stars, although the methodology used to select the best restaurants has faced criticism, especially from several French chefs who say it is unclear. There are no criteria for putting a restaurant on the list, which is based on an anonymous poll of more than 1,000 chefs, restaurant owners, food critics and other industry insiders from around the world. Each member gets 10 votes and at least four of those votes have to go to restaurants outside their region. The winner has been in Spain seven times, the most of any country. In addition to El Celler de Can Roca's two wins, ground-breaking Spanish chef Ferran Adria's El Bulli, which he closed in 2011, took the prize a record five times. This year was the first time the ceremony was held in Spain. The event has been held before in London, New York and Melbourne. The top five restaurants were: 1. Osteria Francescana (Modena, Italy) *Also named best restaurant in Europe* 2. El Celler de Can Roca (Girona, Spain) 3. Mirazur (Menton, France) 4. Eleven Madison Park (New York City) *Also named best restaurant in North America* 5. Gaggan (Bangkok) *Also named best restaurant in Asia* Canada is set to become the latest of only a few countries around the world to legalise cannabis for recreational use after its lawmakers passed a bill Monday giving their go-ahead. Many countries have decriminalised the use and possession of cannabis, abandoning prison sentences for consumers, but only a handful have gone as far as legalising its cultivation and use. Here are places where cannabis, also known as marijuana or pot, is already allowed for recreational or medical reasons. Latin America - Uruguay became in 2013 the first country in the world to legalise the production, distribution and consumption of marijuana. Under Uruguayan law, citizens and residents can buy up to 40 grams (1.4 ounces) of pot a month from pharmacies, grow it themselves at home, or join cannabis clubs where members tend to the plants together. The government has licensed two private companies to produce and distribute marijuana. - Several other Latin American countries have legalised cannabis for medical reasons: Chile in 2015, Colombia in 2016 and Argentina, Mexico and Peru in 2017. Europe - The Netherlands in general, and Amsterdam in particular, have tolerated the sale and use of marijuana in iconic coffee shops since 1976. That year the Dutch decriminalised the sale of small amounts of cannabis -- less than five grams -- and allowed each person to legally grow five plants for personal use. Dutch coffee shops generate hundreds of millions of euros annually through the sale of marijuana and in major hubs such as Amsterdam they have proven a draw for tourists. In recent years, however, politicians have pushed back against these tolerant policies. Since 2012 a controversial law applied in three southern provinces has banned the sale to non-residents and tourists. The capital, The Hague, banned cannabis from the city centre in April this year. In 2017 the Netherlands took a step closer to regulating the wholesale cultivation of cannabis after lawmakers passed a bill to back legal growing and sale of the soft drug under government control. - Spanish law allows for the private production and consumption of cannabis by adults, though its sale is still illegal. - The Czech Republic imposes only fines on people in possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana or who have only five plants at home. - Several other European countries have legalised cannabis for medical reasons including Austria, Britain, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia. North America - US federal law prohibits the cultivation, sale and use of marijuana. However, eight states and the capital Washington D.C. have legalised marijuana for recreational use, with the last to date, California, becoming on January 1, 2018 the biggest legal market in the world. Twenty-nine states and the capital have legalised marijuana for medical use. The presence of ultra-conservatives in the administration of Donald Trump has stoked fears of a step backwards for the growing trade, projected to reach $23 billion by 2020. - Canada effectively legalised cannabis for medical use nearly two decades ago and on June 18, 2018 lawmakers passed a bill that would allow its free recreational consumption, making it the first G7 member to do so. The legislation, which must still pass the Senate, is likely to come into effect in September and will limit personal possession to 30 grams. After a Muslim cleric from Karnataka caused a fracas by stating cows would be slaughtered during Bakrid, popular lyricist and activist Javed Akhtar sought his immediate arrest. The noted writer Tweeted out, slamming the comments as irresponsible and outrageous. Secularism doesnt mean ignoring or tolerating minority communalism . This irresponsible and outrageous cleric Tanveer Hashim should immediately be arrested for trying to create communal tension in Bengaluru . Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) June 19, 2018 The cleric, Tanveer Peera Hashim, reportedly made his remarks during his sermon on the occasion of a Ramzan prayer being held in Vijayapura in north Karnataka a few days ago. Let me bring to your notice, in two months time there will be Bakrid. In the name of cow, this satan (devil) will do a mischief. I am telling you (the minister) this beforehand so as to ensure that with the cow another sacrifice does not happen, Hashim said, while addressing the crowd in Urdu; Health and Family Welfare Minister Shivanand Patil was also present among the listeners. The volatile remarks sparked a row as the act of cow slaughter is banned in Karnataka. The cleric heads the Hashim Pir Dargah at Vijayapura, and his speech has since gone viral. The recent rift in the Kerala unit of Congress over the gifting of a Rajya Sabha seat to ally Kerala Congress (Mani) was seen as an obvious opportunity for the BJP. But a deadlock with the RSS over a new state unit chief may hurt the saffron partys chances of cashing in. Trouble in the ranks started on May 25 when the Rashtrapati Bhavan issued a notification announcing the appointment of Kummanam Rajasekharan as the Governor of Mizoram. Rajasekharan, an RSS pracharak who was made the Kerala BJP chief, was reportedly in no mood to leave the state and the Sangh, and had to be persuaded by the partys central leadership to accept the constitutional post. Since then, the BJP has been trying to find his replacement with no luck since the RSS insists on having a say in the suggestion. The RSS insistence stems from the factionalism and power vacuum witnessed by the Kerala BJP in 2015 when the partys central leadership asked the Sangh to mediate. The RSS stepped in and installed Rajasekharan as the state unit chief on the condition that he would be allowed to complete his two-year term. With a foot in the door, the RSS now wants the BJP to pick a leader acceptable to the Sangh as well, a tough ask considering there is no consensus on a handful of faces that fit the bill. This would have been a relatively easy task in the days of the Jan Sangh when the political arm and parent organisations worked in sync. But after the Janatha Party split, the BJP took a different political route. Though Jan Sangh leaders like O Rajagopal, K Raman Pillai and KG Marar continued to be the BJPs face in Kerala in mid-90s, ties between the Sangh and the BJP continued to fade. The decisions taken by the BJP became more political than ideological, which irked the Sangh. The differences became apparent in 2007 when PK Krishnadas was elected as the state unit president and a senior leader like K Raman Pillai quit the party in protest. After Krishnadas tenure, the decision to promote V Muraleedharan, a full-time ABVP member, to the post had also raised eyebrows. As Muraledharan demitted the office in 2015, former Yuva Morcha president MT Ramesh emerged as a strong contender. Amit Shah, who had just taken over party reins, even consulted some Malayalee journalists in Delhi to get a clear picture, but factionalism had set in and the RSS stepped in to make Kummanam Rajasekharan, who was not even a BJP member, the president of its Kerala unit. This time around, the RSS is playing hardball. The burden of convincing the Sangh lies with the BJPs central leadership, which has been unable to do so. A handful of names, the preferiti, are discussed in the media, with no formal announcement yet. The central leadership came in for criticism at a meeting of the state leadership on Tuesday in the presence of national secretary (organisation), BL Santhosh and national secretary in-charge of Kerala H Raja. State BJP leaders close to the Sangh accused the central leadership of handing down a punishment transfer to Kummanam Rajasekharan in the form of Mizoram governorship. Some even demanded that Rajasekharan be re-instated as the state BJP chief. H Raja tried to pacify the leaders, assuring that the deadlock would be broken in the coming days. But the RSS is not ready to give in to any unilateral decision by the BJP leadership. The political scenario in Kerala is currently tilted in favour of the BJP. The Congress is busy battling a rebellion over the Rajya Sabha seat. Many of its leaders have openly challenged the PCC leadership and the high command in Delhi. The discontent which started with the defeat in Chengannur bypoll loss has grown, with the Upper House seat offer to Kerala Congress, a Christian-dominated party, being the last straw. The move was perceived as a form of minority appeasement. The rift widened amid fears that the IUML and the Kerala Congress could now flex muscles in the alliance. The BJP could have used this opportunity to expand its base in the state among Hindu voters. Instead, it has its own problems to deal with. The lack of a strong voice in Kerala BJP is not only costing the party, but could prove to be an advantage for the CPI(M). As each day complicates the stalemate between the BJP and the Sangh, the mess to be inherited by Rajasekharans successor gets bigger. (The author is a freelance writer based in Kochi. Views are personal.) The BJP has dumped alliance partner PDP after escalation of tensions with Pakistan in the aftermath of surgical strikes, skirmishes on borders and deteriorating law and order situation in the Jammu and Kashmir leading to killings of senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari and rifleman Aurangzeb. In the last three years of this alliance government, there has been unprecedented loss of lives of civilians and security personnel, and human rights violations, be it the Kathua rape case or the brutal suppression of militancy. Unfortunately, the agenda of the alliance between the BJP and the PDP, which was formed despite ideological differences between the parties, has not been implemented in letter and spirit. For instance, providing opportunities for quality education, healthcare and employment to remove prolonged alienation among youth was relegated to lower importance. And, no worthwhile effort was made to resolve political disputes by engaging major stakeholders, namely Pakistan and separatist leaders. Instead, people suffered grievous losses due to frequent skirmishes on the Line of Control, stone pelting and shutdowns in the Valley. The tall promises made by the alliance government to bring peace and development has thus been unfulfilled. A non-performing government of strange bedfellows, who reluctantly formed a political alliance after prolonged discussion, has been doomed, mainly because of differences in the states priorities and approaches to deal with them. While the BJP has always favoured abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, the PDP has maintained that this provision, which guarantees greater autonomy to the state, must stay without erosion of the accepted principles. Moreover, the PDP insisted on reaching out to separatist leaders as well as Pakistan for ending militancy and restoring durable peace and tranquillity in the state. Against this, the BJP merely provided lip service and resorted to muscular and militaristic approach and used brutal force to suppress uprisings led by the youth. This has hardly helped to suppress the mass movement in abating militancy in the state. Realising that there is a deep sense of victimhood in the Kashmir Valley and people are yearning for peace to lead a life of dignity and honour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech said that the Kashmir problem could be solved only by embracing Kashmir and not by gaali or goli (abuses or bullets). Yet, no headway has been made in this regard. Now that the alliance government is gone, the muscular approach of handling Kashmir must also go and more humane and democratic strategies should be evolved to address all issues raised by the people of J&K. We venture herein below to outline the measures that ought to be taken to restore peace. Under Governors rule, a concerted effort must be made to address the issue of human rights violations due to which people have hugely suffered. Use of pellet guns, which has blinded and crippled a large number of youths, must be discontinued. Those who are displaced from the border and LoC areas must also be duly taken care of on humanitarian grounds. There is urgent need for applying healing touch to all those who have suffered due to insurgency and militancy. It would then be possible to conduct pending elections of Panchyats and parliamentary polls as well. Secondly, while it seems unlikely that the BJP government, which is committed to abrogate Article 370, will reach out to Pakistan to engage in a meaningful dialogue process, it is possible for the state administration under Governors rule to mend fences with the separatist leaders, particularly in matters of promoting welfare and development of the state. Moreover, the success of forthcoming Amarnath Yatra largely depends on the support of local people. With reduction in the anger of youth, peaceful culmination of this pilgrimage will greatly contribute to promoting peace process in the state. Thirdly, it is an accepted fact now that prolonged use of brutal force by security forces is no solution to the complex political problem of the state. Army chiefs and other security-related experts have also acknowledged the fact that security forces are not meant to fighting youth who exercise their democratic rights. Yet, the political leadership across parties issue contradictory statements on the plans and processes of dealing with Kashmir problems. There is, therefore, a need to change the diagonally opposite narratives of the BJP at the Centre and other mainstream parties in the state. Hopefully, there will be convergence of views to deal with all the contentious issues through democratic process. In effect, militancy and stone-pelting will substantially decline to attain normalcy in the state. Fourthly, in the recent past, Pakistans politicians and officials from the army have debated as to why and how it allowed the establishment of terror infrastructure and why did they sponsor terror attack in Mumbai in 2008, and at others places, namely at Pathankot and Uri. In my view, there is growing realisation in Pakistan about its wrong policy on Kashmir that results in frequent ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC). Fifth, the fall of unpopular and corrupt government such as the BJP-PDP alliance, provides an opportunity for the Governors office to implement various confidence building measures (CBMs) as suggested by various expert committees from time to time. Unfortunately, the promises made thus far for implementation of CBMs have been unfulfilled. The policy of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas has also remained a distant dream for Kashmiris. Therefore, this is the time to implement PM Modis policy of embracing Kashmiris, rather than abusing them, to deal with their problems. Sixth, it is unthinkable to conduct day-to-day business and social life without internet services, which are frequently disconnected due to different reasons. Internet services must be regularly maintained and assured to allow for optimum use of information and communication technologies for socioeconomic progress. Seventh, India is a vibrant democratic country with secular credentials. In such a multi-cultural and diverse society, democratic means of resolution of contentious issues is considered the best socio-political option. A prolonged imposition of draconian laws, namely Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) and Public Safety Act (PSA) is indeed negation of democratic rights of people. As a gesture of goodwill, these laws must be withdrawn to win the hearts and minds of people. The imposition of these laws have done more harm than good in our attempts to address victimhood of Kashmiris, who have never enjoyed equal rights as compared to the rest of Indian citizens. These laws must be revoked to embrace the people of J&K. Eighth, the implementation of central schemes that cater for educational and health services, rural roads, electricity and water supply, and other essential services are hardly effectively implemented due to rampant corruption, lack of accountability of concerned officials and lack of regular functioning of democratic institutions, such as, Panchayats, and human rights and information commissions. It is the poorest of the poor who suffer the most. Therefore, implementation of all the central schemes must be enforced. And, the details of achievements in this regard must be put in public domain. Ninth, the grievances of displaced and migrant persons, particularly Kashmiri Pandits must be addressed as per their aspirations. And, they must be taken on board to address the Kashmir issue. Tenth, all the districts of J&K widely differ in terms of geo-climatic and ethnic compositions. The aspirations of these regions for equitable development must be addressed as per the recommendations made in the Interlocutors Report entitled A New Compact with the People of J&K in 2011. Finally, there is speculation that the BJP has dumped the PDP with a selfish motive of putting the entire blame of misgovernance on Mehbooba Mufti and to polarise forthcoming elections on communal lines. While the BJP may succeed in doing so, it has surely missed the opportunity to win the hearts of Kashmiris, which was expected from a powerful central government under Narendra Modi who spoke of embracing Kashmiris. The question is are Kashmiris with us? (The author is a former CIC, UGC member and interlocutor on J&K. Views are personal.) New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal may have ended his sit-in at Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijals house but the protest has left the Aam Aadmi Party chief unwell. According to sources, Kejriwal had higher blood sugar levels than normal, which forced him to rest on his first day back from the sit-in. The sources said he is likely to return to work on Thursday. Kejriwal was scheduled to hold a confidence-building meeting with senior IAS officers to ensure that the truce between the AAP government and the bureaucracy lasts. Owing to Kejriwals poor health, these meetings were cancelled. Punjab AAP leader and leader of opposition in the Punjab Assembly Sukhpal Singh Khaira had also sought a meeting with the Delhi CM but Kejriwal was miffed with the Punjab leader's recent statements and refused to meet him. After the Delhi deadlock ended, it was work as usual in Delhi Secretariat on Wednesday. Power minister Satyendar Jain, who was with Kejriwal during the sit-in, held two meetings which were attended by all IAS officers concerned. The Delhi deadlock, between the AAP government on one hand and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and bureaucracy on the other, finally came to an end on Tuesday. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai, who had been protesting at the LG's residence, finally left the premises. This came after the IAS Association had responded positively to Kejriwal's olive branch on Monday, assuring them of their safety and urging them to come back. On Tuesday, the LG issued a press release asking the CM to meet IAS officers at the Secretariat. "Honble LG stated that he was glad that Honble CM had tweeted an appeal to the officers assuring them of safety and security in their interactions with the elected government. Honble LG observed that he has been informed that the officers have also welcomed the appeal and they are awaiting Honble CMs presence in the Secretariat to hold discussions. As such, Honble LG requested Honble CM to urgently meet the officers in the Secretariat so that apprehensions and concerns of both sides can be suitably addressed through dialogue in the best interest of the people of Delhi," a Raj Niwas press release said on Tuesday. New Delhi: The BJP-PDP alliance, which was carefully crafted in 2015, has come to an abrupt end, sending Jammu and Kashmir into yet another stint of Governors Rule. The man who announced the break-up was, ironically, one of the architects of that historic alliance BJPs Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Ram Madhav. Speaking to CNN-News18, Madhav explains why the BJP pulled the plug on the Mehbooba Mufti government and the way forward. Edited excerpts: Would you agree with your opponents today that this was a historical blunder? No, this was a historical alliance. We do not believe in political untouchability. Ideologies are black and white, but politics in democracy has many shades. It is multi-layered and multi-coloured. If you succeed in managing these colours, you can create a nice rainbow. Let me end the metaphor there because rainbows naturally have a very short life. We attempted a historical alliance because that was the compulsion of the moment. We wanted to respect the mandate given by the people and that's why we formed the alliance. I myself put in a lot of effort into it. It was not an easy alliance, I've said so in the past as well. My entire party, right up to the Prime Minister had invested heavily in the alliance, hoping that it would deliver goods to the people. I can tell you that in three years we achieved many things, but reached a point where we had to take the unfortunate and sorry decision yesterday. I won't call it unfortunate, but I will certainly call it sorry. How do you respond to the charge that this was an opportunistic alliance and that it also ended on an opportunistic note? You were looking at elections then and you are looking elections in 2019... Naturally, I deny that allegation. First of all, as I said, this was kind of an experimental alliance because, as Mufti (Mohammed Sayeed) sahab used to say, it was a coming together of the North and South poles. We stood apart as ideologies, but such things have happened in the past as well the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal experiment or, for that matter, when VP Singh's government was formed with BJP and Left support. It only shows the maturity of our democracy. We can work together. We are not enemies. But for such experiments to succeed, both sides have to have extreme perseverance and extreme commitment to the common good. If parties start thinking what is my interest, what should I do, trouble begins. In this particular case, I don't want to indulge in blame game, but we reached a situation where we started feeling that perhaps between the larger national interest and local political interest, our partner is weighing more on the local side. That's where we had to take a call. For a national party like the BJP, which is committed to national integrity and sovereignty, we had to take a stand. Having said that, together we tried to do many good things for the state. You have quoted Mufti Mohammed Sayeed as saying that this was a North Pole-South Pole experiment. Did it really work? Who between the PDP and BJP gained? No alliance is easy. Some work and some dont. Why do you think our government fell in 1999? Was Jayalalithaa our ideological adversary? No. Real politics and not an ideological decision dictated her to pull out. In this case, what finally led us to come out is nothing opportunistic. We extended full support in the last three years. Be it the PM or the Home Minister, we extended full support to the alliance. But we reached a point where we felt that continuance of the BJP in the government was untenable. Also, let me tell you, Jammu and Kashmir needs Governors Rule, for some period at least. What was the moment in the last three years when the alliance came under maximum pressure? This was an alliance that weathered the violence post Burhan Wanis killing, the difference of opinion over Article 370 and the fallout of the Kathua rape and murder... This was, as everyone cited, an unusual alliance. Today, some people say I told you so. But they don't realise that had we not formed the government then, the people of Jammu would have thought that having given 25 seats if BJP couldn't come to power why should we ever vote for them. So there was a compulsion for us and there was a political opportunity. It started off on a rocky note. You remember the initial statements of Mufti sahib. There was a lot of controversy, but the alliance went on. We tried to learn from each other and started working together well. There were instances of strong dissent on both sides. In 11 months time, Mufti sahab passed away. That was the first major setback for the alliance. Mehbooba ji took her time, thus giving a feeling to the other side that she was not fully on board with the alliance. Then we together formed the government. There were occasions when we had a difference of opinion and difficult situations, but I can tell you we handled it with political maturity. Mehbooba ji has shown political maturity in handling situations. On Burhan Wani and the subsequent violence (after his killing) and on many other occasions, there was larger consensus. We could run it (the alliance). In the last one-and-a-half months, we saw noticeable deterioration in the security situation and a certain amount of political posturing. It may be right for the PDP to insist no, no, no even after dozens of deaths in the Valley. During the month of Ramzan and the suspension of operations, there was no reciprocation from the militants, terrorists actually I dont want to give them respect by calling them militants and separatists like the Hurriyat. There was no response from them. Political activists in the Valley were not playing any role even after the suspension of operations from the governments side. Then there was the insistence that you talk to Pakistan and extend the suspension of operations, despite the daylight killing of somebody like Shujaat Bukhari, a respected journalist who was one of the saner voices in the Valley. Still it was expected that suspension of operations should continue. We felt that there was a growing mismatch. A few weeks ago, you had gone on record to say that this government in Jammu and Kashmir is stable. So did the events of the last one-and-a-half months lead to the end of alliance We tried our best to maintain the alliance and ensure that the government lasts its full term. That's the reason why many of us were not fully on board when the Prime Minister and Home Minister decided to suspend operations on the request of Mehbooba Mufti. We said fair enough, let us give that also a chance. But as I said, innocent policemen were being killed, there were attacks in cities and towns where no terrorist dared to enter earlier. We felt that there was a need for strong government and strong control over the situation. That's when we took this decision. Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was seen as adding political heft that was needed for the alliance to hold. Would you say that Mehbooba Mufti was inexperienced in handling complex issues and situations? She is not at all inexperienced. She has more than 20 years of active political experience. She has a clear idea about where she and the PDP stand when it comes to Jammu Kashmir and the rest of the country. You have seen her taking a very good nationalist stance on many issues in the last three years. Standing on the floor of the Assembly, she took a very firm stand against terrorism and against killings in the Valley. Its another matter that her political approach is different from ours, which she termed as a masculine approach. We disagree with her usage of this term. Not controlling the killing of innocent policemen and journalists like Bhukari is a soft approach. I'm sorry, we don't want that kind of soft approach. What did the alliance really achieve? You have said that terrorism and radicalisation have risen and the fundamental rights of the citizens of the Valley are in danger. And 2018 has been the bloodiest year in the Valley in the last decade... I don't agree with the conclusion that 2018 has been the bloodiest year because 2011-12 had seen much more serious violence where 15,000 civilians were injured and 120 were killed. This year, around 60 terrorists were killed and two dozen civilians... but it's not about the numbers, let me make it very clear. I am repeating that in the last three years, on the civilian front and on the development front, we tried to do so many things as far as the BJP and the central government is concerned. They have extended a package of Rs 80,000 crore for the development of the state, of which close to Rs 25,000 crore has already been dispersed in the state. In all the three regions, it has led to a good amount of developmental activity. In a state like Jammu and Kashmir, besides developmental activity, strong political activity and activism is also needed. We wanted local body elections to be held, but that could not take place. Mere development is not enough. Did Mehbooba Mufti not display that political activism? No, I am not blaming any particular individual. I am making a general observation. One can deduce from it. In the Kashmir Valley, for example, we announced a month-long suspension of operations. It was a gesture of goodwill, not a sign of any weakness. We were on a strong wicket before that. We were neutralising terrorists on a regular basis, still we decided that during the holy month of Ramzan, we should give the people some kind of peace. Let them observe the month piously and let us hope some reciprocation happens. For that reciprocation to happen, let the political activists take responsibility. But neither did political activists show any interest in reaching out to people nor was there any response. Would you say then that you read the situation wrongly? Let's not forget that your alliance has been functioning for the last three years. Why didn't we see this kind of ceasefire last year or the year before that? Why this year? Why now has no answer. Honestly speaking, for anything I do you can say why are you doing it now. That is not the question. The issue is we were in hot pursuit of the terrorists. There was a strong suggestion from Mehbooba Mufti and her party that let us try it out, let's unilaterally show a gesture of goodwill. This gesture has gone down very well with the people of the Valley and on that issue I agree with Mehbooba ji. She said yesterday that the peace has given a lot of relief to the people of the Valley. At the same time, for that to sustain, there should be active political engagement. But that doesn't happen if we are not able to engage with the groups that are out to create unrest in the Valley. How can we continue? Did that gesture not go down well with the people of Jammu? It's not about the people of Jammu. When innocents get killed, when policemen get killed, when regular attacks happen on army and CRPF convoys, and security forces are seen as not doing anything in retaliation, naturally a bad impression is created in the rest of the country. You must remember that we took that risk in order to try out a big goodwill gesture. We knew that in the rest of the country, the optics will be bad. Yet we took that risk. But when there is no reciprocation and the demand is for extension, that's when we felt that there is a mismatch. In an interview to CNN-News18, former army chief Bikram Singh said that there was trust deficit between the Army and the Mehbooba Mufti government and that perhaps hampered security operations on ground. Why did the Centre or the BJP not play an active role in ensuring that the trust deficit is bridged? Mehbooba Mufti as the CM had the unified command. The core command of Army in Srinagar, the police, the paramilitary forces and the Intelligence are members of this unified command. In the last three years, there was no occasion when any of those people came back to the government, at least not to my knowledge. Maybe General (Retd) Bikram had more information than me. But in the last three years, as far as the Army or other forces are concerned, the effort was to follow the guidelines given by the government in Srinagar. Elections in Mufti Mohammad Sayeeds constituency Anantnag could not be held in the last two years. In fact, it was finally scrapped for the first time in 25 years. If you look at the polling percentage in the Srinagar bypolls, it was less than 10%. Would you say and do you think that mainstream political space in Kashmir has withered in the last three to four years No credible efforts have been made, especially in south Kashmir, by the political establishment to restore space for mainstream political activity. I personally feel that it is very unfortunate on our part to not hold elections in Anantnag. In its wisdom, the Election Commission decided not to hold elections... We have repeatedly asked the state government and even suggested a timeline on local body elections. But Mehbooba had a different opinion. She felt it would give rise to violence in the state. Somewhere, we lacked the political will. We agreed to postpone them till March-April, but now we do not see the polls being held in near future. BJP leaders at the Centre and in Jammu and Kashmir have talked about scrapping Article 370. But you went quiet because Mehbooba Mufti clearly put her foot down. How important is that issue for you? I have always maintained that the future of Article 370 should be decided by the Indian Parliament not the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. We stated it very categorically in our Agenda of Alliance that we hold a different opinion on Article 370. The BJP has one view and the PDP has a different view. It is first a matter for the Government of India and Parliament, and later for Jammu and Kashmir. You had talked about setting up colonies for Kashmiri Pandits, but it was put on the backburner. Perhaps the PDP was not in agreement? No, not really. When Mufti sahib was the CM, we sat together and listed names of important Pandit leaders. We held one meeting in Delhi. It was a very good discussion and lot of suggestions were made. The second meeting had to take place in Jammu and Srinagar, but Mufti sahib passed away. Afterwards, Mehbooba ji took up her own initiative to engage with the Pandits to take the process of rehabilitation and resettlement forward. To actually take Pandits back to the Valley is a noble initiative that needs to wait for some time given the security situation. This does not mean that we are neglecting the issue. Hundreds of Pandits have been employed to create colonies in a number of towns in the Valley. They will stay there and go about their jobs, but they are unable to do so because of the security situation. It is not as easy as it seems sitting in TV studios. Yet our committee is there. We have held meetings with them. Its Governors rule now and he (Governor NN Vohra) will continue to strike to rehabilitate Kashmiri Pandits. What do you think the three achievement of this three-year coalition government are? Working together for three years, we at least have common understanding on tackling terrorism in the Valley. On the development front, credit goes to BJP ministers who have delivered their best. Despite the difficult situation, especially in south Kashmir, we have been able to do a lot. Overall, in three years, except on major security front, we did not give any reason for fighting on daily basis. The BJP-PDP common minimum programme says the coalition government will facilitate sustained dialogues with all stakeholders irrespective of their ideological views. It was said the BJP had a very muscular approach. You had said it clearly that there is no question of talking with the Hurriyat or with the separatists. Why was it mentioned on the common minimum programme? The Home Minister is on record for stating repeatedly that we are ready to engage with all sections that are ready for engagement with us. We have appointed an interlocutor and he is engaging with different sections. On the Hurriyat front, let me tell you that there was enough progress on bringing the Hurriyat leadership to the negotiation table. I wont say anything beyond that, but developments in the last two weeks have pushed us back to square one. We will see how it progresses. In the common minimum programme, we said that we are willing to engage with all sections of the society, but essentially this was about state government. The common minimum programme is a document of the state government. We came together to form the state government. It (the government) was willing to talk to anybody who, Hurriyat or no Hurriyat, were living in the state. They have every right to talk to the state government. As far as the Centre is concerned, interlocutor is still there. He is there to continue his efforts to engage. We have pulled out of the government, but our approach is multi-pronged. We will pursue the terrorists till the last of them is neutralised. Did you really follow alliance dharma? Because you did not inform your ally Mehbooba Mufti that you would be walking out of the alliance. She was completely unaware. These are internal matters. I should not be discussing these things in front of the camera. I did try to reach out to her before we actually sent out the fax message to the honourable Governor. We could not talk before we sent it out. By the time we could talk to each other, the letter had already gone, but its not breaking of any coalition dharma. We decided to part ways and sent that message to the honourable Governor. We did try, but could not reach out to her (Mehbooba). Was it a pre-emptive strike because you had foreseen that Mehbooba Mufti was also losing her core constituency in Kashmir and would inevitably walk out of the alliance before elections? I was one of the people involved in building this alliance. This decision was not driven by politics. It was taken in the larger interest of the people of Kashmir, of India; in the interest of our commitment to national integrity, determination to curb terrorism and protect basic fundamental rights of the people in Kashmir Valley. Are you saddened by the decision of your party? At some level, yes. I am definitely sad that the alliance could not last, but am also happy that it lasted for three years. No one in the Valley, including the PDP, seems to be mourning. They are happy and breathing a sigh of relief... I don't know... for people to react the way they have. There could be several reasons. New Delhi: BJPs Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Ram Madhav on Wednesday blamed the break-up of the partys alliance with the PDP on the soft approach of the Mehbooba Mufti government over violence in the Valley. In an interview to CNN-News18 hours after the imposition of Governors Rule in Jammu and Kashmir, Madhav said the death of Mehboobas father and then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January 2016 was the first blow to the alliance. In 11 months time, Mufti sahab passed away and that was the first setback for the alliance. Mehboobaji took her time, thus giving the impression to the opposition that she was not fully on board, he said. It was a historic alliance. We do not believe in political untouchability. I agree that it was compulsion of the moment, but it was not an opportunistic alliance. Mufti sahib described it as the coming together of the North and South poles... We tried our best to maintain this alliance and ensure that the government lasts its full term. I myself put in a lot of effort... but some alliances work and some dont, Madhav said. The BJP leader added that even pulling out of the tie-up was not an opportunistic decision. There is nothing opportunistic about leaving this alliance. It came to a point where it became untenable. There were attacks in towns which didnt happen earlier. We felt the need for a strong control over the situation. Referring to the killing of veteran journalist Shujaat Bhukari, Madhav said, Policemen and journalists are being killed because of the soft approach. We dont want that soft approach. The BJP leader, however, said he didnt agree with the contention that 2018 has been the bloodiest year in the Valley. Madhav said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti made no credible efforts to restore peace in south Kashmir. We wanted local body elections to be held. We had agreed to postpoll them till April, but I dont see the polls being conducted in the near future either. The BJP stunned Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday afternoon after it pulled out of the three-year-old ruling coalition with the PDP in the state and called for Governor's rule. The announcement was made by Ram Madhav that the BJP was withdrawing support to the coalition government which had been wracked by bitter political feuds and worsening security challenges. Srinagar: National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah today called for immediate dissolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and holding of fresh elections in the state. In a surprise move, the BJP on Tuesday pulled out of the three-year-old ruling coalition with the PDP in the state that was placed under Governor's rule on Wednesday. "The J&K state assembly should be dissolved immediately & fresh elections should take place as soon as appropriate. The former DCM has admitted that BJP can't be trusted not to horse trade for Govt formation (sic)," Omar tweeted. The former chief minister was reacting to BJP leader and former deputy chief minister (DCM) Kavinder Gupta's reported statement that his party was "working on something". "I don't think a new government will be formed anytime soon. Uncertainties are there, but we are working on something and people will get to know about it," Gupta had reportedly said. The NC leader claimed that Gupta's statement hinted at the BJP's attempts to break other parties to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir. "What do you mean 'we are working on something'? The only 'something' would be to break other parties & make up the numbers to form a BJP Govt. Has the former DCM inadvertently spilled the beans?" Omar asked on Twitter. On a news report about Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh not being kept in the loop about the BJP's decision to pull out of the government, Omar tweeted, "If this story is true & @HMOIndia didn't know about the impending demise of the BJP-PDP alliance then the fact that it caught me & my colleagues by surprise is really no big deal." New Delhi: Coalition governments in Kashmir have always been unstable. Since 1947, of the five coalition governments that the state witnessed, only the National Conference-Congress alliance from 2009 to 2015 lasted a full term. The other four collapsed mid-way, triggering long spells of violence, instability and democratic vacuum. With a history of central government interventions, unstable coalition government formations are not new to the sensitive state. One of the very first coalition governments formed in Jammu and Kashmir was in 1982. After the death of his father Sheikh Abdullah, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah won the elections and got a clear majority. However, the Congress engineered few defections in NC and toppled the Farooq government. His brother-in-law Ghulam Ahmad Shah was propped up as the Chief Minister with the backing of Congress. However, his government was dismissed on March 12, 1986, by the then Governor Jagmohan following communal riots in south Kashmir. In 1987, the National Conference headed by Farooq Abdullah formed a government with support from the Congress. The 1987 elections were widely reported to be have been rigged. The phase also saw the beginning of militancy in the state, which led to violence on large scale. The NC-Congress coalition lasted till 1990 before it was dismissed by the central government. The state was then placed under Governors rule, which lasted for six years until the next elections in 1996. Jammu and Kashmir saw its third coalition government in 2002 when the newly formed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and the Congress came together. Even though the NC emerged as the single largest party in the state, it was the PDP-Congress alliance that formed the government with a three-year rotational chief minister formula tried out for the first time. Sayeed was CM for the first three years from 2002 to 2005, while Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress took control for the remaining period. The coalition, however, collapsed after the PDP pulled out in 2008 over the allotment of Kashmir land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. In 2008, the fourth coalition government of Jammu and Kashmir began this time with the NC-led by Farooq Abdullahs son Omar Abdullah in an alliance with the Congress. The Congress was the kingmaker after the party bagged 17 seats in the state. It was in a position to ally with either the PDP, which had 21 seats, or NC, which had 28 seats. The Congress, however, ditched its previous coalition partner and backed Omar Abdullah, who at 39 became the youngest CM of the state. This government lasted its full term of six years before the state delivered a region-based split verdict in the Assembly elections held in 2015. Majority of voters from the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley voted for the PDP which won 28 seats, while the Hindu-dominated Jammu region opted for the BJP with 25 seats. NC was limited 15 seats and the Congress bagged 12 seats. This fractured mandated paved way for the fifth and the most controversial coalition government in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The PDP and the BJP formed a coalition of two parties that were ideologically poles apart but brought together by a hung House. A common minimum programme with a focus on development was drawn up as the basis of this unusual alliance. The two stitched up a power-sharing pact but cracks surfaced soon after. This coalition lasted three years when the BJP opted out of the alliance citing the deteriorating law and order situation in the state leading to killings of acclaimed journalist Shujaat Bukhari. New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday blamed "pressure groups" in Jammu and Kashmir for stalling his party's efforts for an equitable growth in all three regions of the state and cited worsening law and order situation in the Valley for its decision to walk out of the PDP-led government. In his first comments following the break-up of the PDP-BJP alliance on Tuesday, he also claimed that the decision to withdraw support was not taken keeping in mind the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. If that was the case, then it would have been done six months later, Shah said told Zee News in an interview. He said that there was little development on the efforts to provide relief and rehabilitation to Kashmiri Pandits and those who had arrived in the state from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, among other issues, despite funds being sent to the state government. "But these things did not see progress. How long we could have waited. I don't think that Mehbooba Mufti's intentions were not there but various kinds of pressure groups had cropped up who broke the dream of a balanced development," the BJP chief said. "The balance in development which should have been there among the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh did not happen and there was also this (worsening) law and order situation," he said, citing the reasons behind his party's decision. He defended the BJP's decision to join hands with the PDP in 2015, saying the fractured mandate did not give any other option. "Not doing an experiment thinking that it will not succeed is not progressive politics," he said. People were happy when the BJP joined hands with the PDP to form the government and they are happy now over the decision to withdraw support, he said. The BJP's stand on Kashmir remains what it always was but the alliance was formed on the agenda of development, he said. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, a key leader behind the alliance, said there was a feeling that "between the larger national interest and local political interest, our partner is weighing more on the local side. That's where we had to take a call". "For a national party like the BJP, which is committed to national integrity and sovereignty, we had to take a stand. Having said that, together we tried to do many good things for the state," he told News18. Madhav said that the BJP tried its best to maintain the alliance and ensure that the government lasts its full term. "That's the reason why many of us were not fully on board when the prime minister and the home minister decided to suspend operations on the request of Mehbooba Mufti. We said, fair enough, let us give that also a chance," he said. But innocent policemen were being killed and there were attacks in cities and towns where no terrorist dared to enter earlier, Madhav said. "We felt that there was a need for a strong government and a strong control over the situation. That's when we took this decision," he said. New Delhi: Senior AAP Punjab leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira bore the wrath of AAP's top leadership on Wednesday after he was lambasted by Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia and ignored by party chief Arvind Kejriwal following his alleged comments supporting the Punjab Referendum 2020. Khaira, the leader of opposition in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, met Sisodia at the latter's residence in Delhi on Wednesday. Speaking to News18 after the meeting, Khaira said he clarified his position on the Punjab Referendum 2020. Last week, Khaira had allegedly said: "I support the Sikh referendum 2020 movement as Sikhs have the right to demand justice against atrocities suffered by them." Manish Sisodia later came out with a statement making it clear to Khaira to clean up his act. "I met Sukhpal Khaira today and made it clear to him that the party cannot even think about a referendum, let alone support it," he said. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had criticised Khaira for supporting the referendum. Talking to News18, Khaira said, "I had a positive meeting with the honourable deputy CM. We discussed several issues. I told him we supported CM Arvind Kejriwals stand against the L-G. I also clarified my position on Referendum 2020." Khaira had also sought a meeting with the Delhi CM but Kejriwal was miffed with the Punjab leader's statement and refused to meet him. Furthermore, after nine days of being on dharna at Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijals residence, sources said Kejriwal had fallen ill with low blood sugar levels. Punjab CM and Congress leader Amarinder Singh had accused the AAP of sympathising with separatist Khalistani elements after Khaira's statement. The AAP clarified its position, distancing itself from Khaira and said it was a party that believed firmly in the Constitution and did not directly or indirectly support Referendum 2020, which was reportedly floated by Canada-based pro-Khalistani outfits. I dare Captain Amarinder Singh, Sukhbir Badal and Shwet Malik to produce even a shred of evidence that I support the 2020 Referendum, he said. Khaira said he was not a coward if he wanted to support the Referendum then he would have called a full-fledged press conference. He further challenged both Captain Amarinder Singh and the Badal family to examine their own anti-national role in promoting extremism in Punjab. Khaira said he was amused by the double standards of Congress and Akali leaders who never utter a word against the oft-repeated demand for a Hindu Rashtra. The said demand has been made by top BJP, RSS, VHP leaders repeatedly that amount to an act of sedition, a statement from Khairas office read. Bengaluru: An economic offences court has issued a notice to high-profile Karnataka minister and Congress crisis manager DK Shivakumar in a year-old income tax case. Notices have also been sent to his elderly mother and his brother DK Suresh, who is an MP. Water Resources and Medical Education Minister Shivakumar, who played a key role in installing the JD(S)Congress government in Karnataka just a month ago, has called it a political vendetta by the BJP high command in New Delhi. According to his close aides, Shivakumar, his mother and his brother have been asked to appear before a court in person along with four other accused in the case. During the high-voltage Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat last year, Shivakumar had sheltered over 40 Congress MLAs from the state at a Bengaluru resort. The I-T department had raided his house and his friends houses and business establishments in Bengaluru, Mysore, Hassan and New Delhi. Around Rs 5 crore in cash was recovered at a house in New Delhi. Accused number four in the case, Anjaneya, allegedly told the Income Tax officials that Rs 12 lakh found at his house was Shivakumars. Based on the recovery, the I-T department charged him with money laundering acts. He is already out on bail in one of the cases. The timing of the court notice has triggered widespread speculation in Karnataka. Speaking to News18, Shivakumar said he was being targeted for his daring politics and personal charisma. I dont know why they are harassing me like this. Only me. I have never done anything wrong and have full faith in the judiciary. We will face it, he said. He also threatened that he may have to make a secret diary public, which, he claimed, could expose BJP leaders and other bigwigs in Karnataka and outside. His brother and Congress MP from Bengaluru (Rural) DK Suresh said the BJP was taking revenge on them for fighting for the Congress party. We are hugely popular. The BJP is scared of us and harassing us. We will give them a fitting reply one day, he said. Congress MLC CM Lingappa accused the BJP of targeting Shivakumar for his courage and conviction. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah also described the latest developments as vendetta politics by the BJP. Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who is reportedly worried over the fall out of the notice, has held talks with Shivakumar about his legal battle. The latter is in constant touch with top Congress leader and Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal, claim his aides. Former BJP MLA Belur Gopalakrishna, who recently joined the Congress, has demanded an income tax raid on Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappas close confidante and MP Shobha Karandlaje. Yeddyurappa has kept his ill-gotten wealth at her house. If the I-T department is not acting under pressure from the BJP, it should raid her house. What is now happening is pure vengeance, he said. Microsoft has announced the acquisition of Flipgrid, a video-based social learning platform for pre-kindergarten to PhD-level educators, students and families. Flipgrid is a tool used to help students define, share and respect the diversity of their voices; teachers assign homework, students respond by recording short video messages. This is believed to strengthen emotional skills beyond the traditional curricula -- "skills the company's recent research says will be required in 30 to 40 percent of the fastest-growing occupations" according to the company announcement. Since its creation in 2015, Flipgrid has raised $17 million in venture funding and has been sold on a subscription basis. Now Microsoft will offer the service to schools for free, like it has done with Office 365 Education software, so customers who've purchased a subscription will receive a prorated refund. Also read: Amazon Alexa Helps NASA Get Smarter By joining forces, the companies aim to further their vision for education. The purchase of the Minneapolis-based educational software startup will increase Microsoft's presence in classrooms, a space that is also of interest to Google and Apple. And although a fairly new company, Flipgrid is no stranger to schools with over 20 million users in 180 countries. Joey Taralson, VP of user engagement at the startup, told Business Insider that "the potential to make Flipgrid free was actually a large factor in the decision to sell" and to get to the next level it would require "the backing of someone like Microsoft." Watch: Asus Zenfone Max Pro (M1) Review | A Top Choice Around The 10K Mark Ottawa, Canada: Canada is set to become the first G7 country to legalise cannabis after lawmakers on Monday passed a bill that would allow free consumption of the mind-altering drug. Passed by 205 votes to 82 in the House of Commons, the legislation must still pass the Senate which could delay, but not block it and receive royal assent by the governor general before becoming law, likely by September. Legalising weed was a 2015 campaign promise of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has acknowledged smoking a joint with friends "five or six times" including since being elected as an MP. The Liberal government's point man on the pot file, Bill Blair, said at the weekend it was "probably looking at a date of implementation somewhere toward the beginning of September, perhaps mid-September." Uruguay approved the recreational usage of marijuana five years ago and nine US states and the capital Washington have done so too, but Canada will be the first G7 country to take the step. An initial July 1 target was set for ending the pot prohibition that dates back to 1923, although it was effectively legalised for medical use nearly two decades ago. Despite setbacks, Trudeau has insisted his government would move to legalise the production, sale and consumption of the psychoactive drug before facing the electorate again in 2019. Last week, the government rejected 13 out of 46 amendments to the bill proposed by the Senate after several months of study, with Trudeau's health minister rising to defend home cultivation of cannabis and branded pot swag. "Canadians are allowed to make beer at home, or wine," Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said at the time. "It is already possible for Canadians to grow cannabis for medical purposes and we absolutely believe the legislation should be consistent when it comes to recreational cannabis." The government, she said, would follow its expert panel's recommendation to allow at-home cultivation of up to four pot plants for personal use. As for the proposed advertising restrictions, she said the bill already contains limits such as a requirement for plain packaging. CANNABIS TRENDSETTER? Once the law is enacted, Canadians over the age of 18 (19 in some regions) will be able to buy a gram of pot for about Can$10 or less, from a patchwork of authorised private and public retail stores or by mail order, with each province and territory responsible for setting up distribution. Personal possession will be limited to 30 grams (one ounce). Statistics Canada has estimated that the market will be worth Can$5.7 billion ($4.5 billion US), based on last year's consumption data. Finance Minister Bill Morneau estimated the cannabis tax haul will be about Can$400 million, but Ottawa has agreed to retain only 25 percent of these monies, with the rest going into provincial government coffers. In an interview with AFP last month, Trudeau said the world was closely watching Canada's pot plans and predicted other countries might follow suit. "There is a lot of interest from our allies in what we're doing," he said. "They recognise that Canada is being daring... and recognise that the current regime (of prohibition) does not work, that it's not preventing young people from having easy access to cannabis." The prime minister argued that creating a regulated market would take the drug out of the hands of crime groups and "better protect communities and children." Yet he added the allies he spoke with ahead of a recent G7 summit in Quebec "are interested in seeing how things go... before they try it," without specifying which nations. Beijing: China is ready to bolster its ties with landlocked Nepal in infrastructure connectivity, trade and investment under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping on Wednesday assured Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Chinese firms signed deals worth about USD 700 million to build various projects in Nepal. China and Nepal signed eight key agreements for developing major infrastructure projects in the Himalayan nation to further deepen the bilateral ties, Nepal's Foreign Ministry said. President Xi congratulated Nepal for achieving political stability and outlining economic development priorities and assured China's full support and cooperation in realising Nepal's development goals, the statement said. China has been investing heavily in Nepal in the last few years to enhance connectivity and infrastructure. "China stands ready to strengthen cooperation with Nepal in infrastructure connectivity, post-disaster reconstruction, trade and investment under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative," Xi was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency. Xi said China was committed to keep intact the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nepal, the Kathmandu Post reported. During the meeting, Xi expressed gratitude towards Nepal for maintaining the 'One China' policy and not allowing anti-China activities on Nepalese territory, it said. Oli, who arrived here on Tuesday on his first official visit to China since his re-election, witnessed the signing of the agreements at the Nepal Embassy. The agreements were signed between the governments and private companies of Nepal and China to develop hydropower projects, cement industries, and establish highland food parks, the statement said. The total value of the agreements, mostly infrastructure projects, comes to about USD 700 million. An agreement was signed between the Investment Board of Government of Nepal and Huaxin Cement Narayani Pvt Ltd under which the Chinese firm has pledged Nepalese Rs 14.4 billion (USD 130 million) of FDI to generate 3,000 metric tonnes of cement per day, it said. Another MoU was signed to prepare a detailed feasibility study on Eastern Tarai Irrigation System in the Biring, Kamala and Kankai rivers, it said, adding the two nations agreed on establishing the highland food park for varieties of fruits and vegetables with an investment of over USD 46 million. The two countries also agreed for the development of 164 MW Nepal Kaligandaki Gorge Hydropower Project which would be developed on BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) model. An agreement for the construction of 40.27 MW Siuri Nyadi Hydropower Plant Project in EPCF (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Finance) model was also signed at the embassy. An agreement between Nepal Pashmina Industries Association and One Belt One Road International Trade Platform of CIC Mutual Trade Investment Company was signed for the sale of Nepali pashmina in China, it said, adding the purchase order from China would be between 200,000 to 500,000 pieces every year. A separate MoU on Framework Agreement for Cooperation in Marsyangdi Cascade Hydropower Project of 600 MW was also signed. The two sides also agreed for the Construction of 75 MW Trishuli Galchhi Hydropower Project in EPCF Model, the statement said. During his six-day visit, Oli is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang tomorrow. During his brief tenure in 2016, Oli widened China-Nepal ties by signing the transit trade treaty with China to reduce the dependence of his landlocked country on India at the height of the Madhesi agitation. He had sought expansion of road links through Tibet besides extension of China's railway to Nepal through the Himalayas. Agua Dulce: Authorities have seized more than 550 guns at two Southern California homes and made one arrest after getting a tip that a convicted felon was storing an arsenal. Sixty-year-old Manuel Fernandez was arrested last week after Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies and state and federal investigators raided his Agua Dulce home. Officials on Monday said the searchers found 432 rifles and handguns, then returned later and found 91 more hidden weapons. #LASD Investigation Leads to the Seizure of 553 Firearms in Unincorporated Los Angeles County Area of Agua Dulce @ATFHQ @CADOJOSA https://t.co/wi5s964fgx pic.twitter.com/EwIpbS1a71 LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) June 19, 2018 Finally, 30 guns were seized at another home believed linked to an associate of Fernandez who hasnt returned to the home. Fernandez was booked on suspicion of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition and illegally possessing an assault rifle and large-capacity magazines. Hes free on bond. A call to his listed phone number rang unanswered Monday. London: Pope Francis and British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday led global condemnation against the Trump administration's controversial policy of separating children from migrant parents at America's border with Mexico. Pictures of dozens of children sleeping in cages and audio of children crying for their parents have emerged in recent days, triggering widespread criticism. It comes after a "zero-tolerance" crackdown on illegal immigration was brought in by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions. US immigration officials say 2,342 children were separated from 2,206 parents between May 5 and June 9. Reacting to the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, Pope Francis said he supported US Catholic bishops who said it was "immoral" and "contrary to our Catholic values." "I am on the side of the bishops' conference," Francis said. Prime Minister May said holding children "in what appear to be cages [is] deeply disturbing" and "wrong". Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the US practice of separating migrant children from parents caught crossing the US-Mexico border illegally is "wrong." "What's going on in the United States is wrong," he told reporters. "I can't imagine what the families living through this are enduring. Obviously this is not the way we do things in Canada," Trudeau said. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray Caso said the practice was "cruel and inhuman", and clearly violated human rights. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who in the past has praised Trump's policy of curbing immigration, told French TV that she disagreed with splitting children from parents. The Republican-controlled Congress is under pressure to change President Trump's policy. Republicans are also scrambling to draft a new immigration bill to address the growing outcry. President Trump told a group of House Republicans he would back any bill they passed, a White House spokesman said. The president made clear that separating parents and children was "certainly not an attractive thing and does look bad", Representative Tom Cole said. However, Trump insists it is necessary to stop illegal border crossings. On Tuesday, he said: "When you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally - which should happen - you have to take the children away." Under the "zero-tolerance" approach unveiled in May, all undocumented border crossers are criminally charged and jailed. Migrant children cannot be held with their parents, and are kept in separate facilities maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under previous US administrations, undocumented immigrants caught crossing the border for the first time tended to be issued with court summonses. But the Trump administration points out that most of those migrants never showed up for court. Washington: The United States withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday, condemning the "hypocrisy" of its members and its alleged "unrelenting bias" against Israel. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, came to Washington to announce the decision alongside President Donald Trump's top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Both insisted the United States would remain a leading champion of human rights, but for many, the decision will reflect Trump's general hostility to the world body and to multilateral diplomacy in general. The announcement came after the top UN human rights official criticised Washington for separating migrant children from their parents who are seeking asylum after crossing into the country from Mexico. But Haley and Pompeo stressed the decision had been made after a long year of efforts to shame the council into reform and to remove member states that themselves commit abuses. "These reforms were needed in order to make the council a serious advocate for human rights," Haley said. "For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded." The Geneva-based body was established in 2006 to promote and protect human rights worldwide, but its pronouncements and reports have often clashed with US priorities. In particular, the council's focus on Israeli behavior towards Palestinians in the territory it occupies on the West Bank and in Gaza has infuriated Washington. But, as Haley stressed, Washington also believes it comes up short on criticizing even flagrant abuses by US opponents like Venezuela and Cuba. "Countries have colluded with each other to undermine the current method of selecting members," Pompeo said. "And the council's continued and well-documented bias against Israel is unconscionable," he said. "Since its creation, the council has adopted more resolutions condemning Israel than against the rest of the world combined." Haley, who issued a warning a year ago that Washington would make good on its threat to leave the council if reforms were not carried through, used even starker language. "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights," she said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he regretted Washington's decision, adding: "The UN's human rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide." On Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein a Jordanian had rebuked Trump over the US practice of splitting up migrant families detained on the Mexican border. "The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable," he said. The UN Refugee Agency said in its annual Global Trends report that 68.5 million people globally were evacuated in the end of 2017 New Delhi : UN refugee agency revealed that close to 7,000 people from India have filed applications for asylum in the US last year. The agency also mentioned that America was the largest recipient of new asylum requests in 2017. The UN Refugee Agency said in its annual Global Trends report that 68.5 million people globally were evacuated in the end of 2017. Among them were 16.2 million people who became emigrant during 2017. Also, around 44,500 people being displaced each day, or a person becoming displaced every two seconds. The possible reasons that forced displacement to a new high in 2017 were wars, other violence and persecution led by the crisis in Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan's war, and the flight into Bangladesh from Myanmar of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees. Overwhelmingly it is developing countries that are most affected, it said. Meanwhile, the increasing trend of asylum states that people originating from the north of Central America also continued. Salvadorans made up the largest nationality of applicants with 49,500 claims, almost half again as much as the 33,600 submitted in 2016. Asylum declared for Venezuelans increased by 63 per cent to 29,900, reflecting the challenging conditions in the country. Other nationalities from which there were more than 5,000 claims in 2017 were Mexico (26,100), China (17,400), Haiti (8,600) and India (7,400). Altogether claims were received from nationals from 168 countries, the report said. According to the report, there were 197,146 refugees at the end of 2017 in India and 10,519 asylum seekers with awaiting cases. There are about 40,391 asylum seekers from India at the end of last year, the report said. However, it is for the first time since 2013 that Syria was not the most common country of origin for new asylum-seekers. The highest numbers of asylum claims filed by individuals were from nationals of Afghanistan who submitted 124,900 claims in 80 different countries. As in 2016, Turkey received the most claims with 67,400 registered, replacing Germany, which received 16,400 claims compared with 127,000 in 2016. In contrast to 2016, Greece was the third most common recipient of claims from Afghans with 7,500, followed by France (6,600) and India (4,500). Refugees originating from Myanmar represented the fourth-largest population group by country of origin, more than doubling in number from less than half a million to 1.2 million by the end of 2017. The majority of refugees from Myanmar at the end of the year were entertained by Bangladesh (932,200). Other countries with sizable populations of Myanmar refugees were Thailand (100,000), Malaysia (98,000) and India (18,100). The report said that refugees who have left their countries to escape conflict and persecution accounted for 25.4 million of the 68.5 million. This is 2.9 million more than in 2016, also the biggest increase UNHCR has seen in a single year. Those seeking asylum awaiting for the outcome of their claims to refugee status as of 31 December 2017, meanwhile rose by around 300,000 to 3.1 million. People displaced inside their own country accounted for 40 million of the total, slightly fewer than the 40.3 million in 2016. "We are at a watershed, where success in managing forced displacement globally requires a new and far more comprehensive approach so that countries and communities aren't left dealing with this alone," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. "But there is reason for some hope. Fourteen countries are already pioneering a new blueprint for responding to refugee situations and in a matter of months a new Global Compact on Refugees will be ready for adoption by the United Nations General Assembly." Sorry! This content is not available in your region A budding nutrition franchise is one of the original tenants at a new plaza in Brookfield. Foundation Rx has opened at 540 Federal Road, at the entrance to the new Oak Meadows townhouse development. Foundation Rx opened last month and offers vitamins, supplements and other products for healthy living. You dont even have to be an athlete. If your doctor suggests you take something for health, well have it for you, said Erik Padilla, an owning partner with Foundation Rx. Were here to help out people and lead them in the right direction. Thats why we are successful. We dont just sell, sell, sell. We want to talk with you and get to know you so we can help you more. Padilla, 25, said the store sells at wholesale prices because the business partners consider the internet its main competition. Retail sales of vitamins and nutritional supplements has grown steadily over the last 12 years and reached $36.1 billion in 2017, according to the statistics portal website Statista. Retail chain Vitamin World, however, declared bankruptcy last year and closed several locations, including those in Danbury and Trumbull. The fitness industry is really big, Padilla said. Other Foundation Rx stores are in Meriden, Orange and Carmel, N.Y. The original location, formerly known as Docs Nutrition Depot, is in Carmel and was founded by Danbury resident Anthony Bisignano. The business partners changed the name and logo of the business to better reflect evolving demographics of fitness. The former logo featured a bodybuilder. We had to go with the new look because we want everyone to feel comfortable coming in, Bisignano said. Its not just for bodybuilders, but for everyone. Its a lifestyle store. Bisignano has been in the nutrition industry for 23 years. Padilla started working for Bisignano in Carmel five years ago. Padilla, who attended a community college and then City University of New York, worked up to store manager and now owning partner with Bisignano and Ray OConnell. Padilla will manage the Brookfield store. I just got this opportunity. I never thought Id be a business owner, but Im good at this and enjoy it. I also love working out, so I thought why not, Padilla said. Ive learned a lot from Anthony from just being around him and hearing him talk about it. Padilla and Bisignano said growing Foundation Rx into a big franchise is the long-term goal of the owners. Bisignano said they hope to have 15 locations by the end of 2019. We want to take over the Northeast, Padilla said. We want everyone to know Foundation Rx." Bisignano added: Theyll all have a clean, comfortable feel with reasonable pricing and an appreciation for customers. Its hard to find that now, but we all live this. A post shared by FoundationRX_Danbury (@foundationrx_danbury) on May 14, 2018 at 9:18am PDT Padilla said he hopes to add low-carb and healthy pre-made meals to the Brookfield location soon. Foundation Rx offers the meals at its Carmel store. Bisignano said the partners were attracted to the new plaza because of its proximity to several gyms and busy retail corridors. I had a good feeling about it, he said. Its an up-and-coming area. It will do fantastic. Its a matter of people getting to know us and where we are. Foundation Rx will hold a grand opening event in August. The First Bite, a catering business that recently opened in the plaza, will hold a grand opening event at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Foundation Rx may be reached at 203-740-9200. The writer may be reached at cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338 H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media The New Milford Board of Education will meet Thursday to determine how to cut their budget proposal by more than $1 million. The $63 million schools budget was approved by voters, along with a $39 million town budget during Tuesdays referendum. The schools budget is $200,000 more than the current year. NORWALK A Watertown entity has submitted to the Norwalk Department of Planning and Zoning a plan to open a medical marijuana dispensary on Connecticut Avenue. Healthport, LLC of 122 Curtiss Lane, Watertown, has proposed opening the dispensary the first such in Norwalk within 3,000 square feet of space on the first floor of the building at 495 Connecticut Ave. The space will include a locked vestibule where patients must sign in before gaining entry into the main floor area for appointments, consultations, purchase of product and other services, wrote Elizabeth Suchy, the attorney representing Healthport on the development application. The first floor also includes the dispensary area, locked storage for the product stock, and facility offices. Patients cannot simply present themselves unannounced or without appointment to obtain to their allotted amount of product. The property is next to the former banquet center Chatham Manor, across the street from the Kohls department store and along a stretch of Connecticut Avenue that is home to retail and restaurants. The Norwalk Zoning Commission tentatively will begin reviewing the dispensary plan on July 12 and, at some point, schedule a public hearing. More News Calls for more medical marijuana sites grow as New York expands eligibility The nearest medical marijuana dispensaries are currently located in Bethel and Milford. The Connecticut Avenue plan marks the first such application to come before the Norwalk Zoning Commission since it approved in September 2017 a zoning regulation permitting medical marijuana dispensaries in limited areas of the city. Those areas are Business No. 1 zones, on the south side of Connecticut Avenue, as well as along a short stretch of New Canaan Avenue. The property at 495 Connecticut Ave. is zoned Business No. 1 and is home to a two-story commercial structure built in 1978. A nail salon and gold dealership occupy the first floor; a dentists office and one residential unit are located above, according to Suchy. In 2012, state lawmakers approved a law permitting the sale of medical marijuana at licensed dispensaries subject to regulation by the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection. At present, Healthport is not among the nine medical marijuana dispensaries licensed by the department but that could change. The department initially approved six dispensary facility licenses, expanded that to nine in January 2016 and received additional applications in April, said DCP spokeswoman Lora Rae Anderson. Whenever there is need for expansion, which we determine based on patient need, we can issue a request for applications, Anderson said. This last January, we put out another RFA for anywhere from three to 10 dispensaries statewide. Those applications are currently in review. Anderson said the department hopes to make a decision by this fall. At that time, the names of the applicants will be released, she said. A patient may register for a medical marijuana certificate if he or she lives in Connecticut and is being treated for a debilitating medical condition by a Connecticut-licensed physician. For adults, such conditions include cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Crohns disease and a terminal illness requiring end-of-life care, according to the DCP website. This is one of the most highly regulated industries in Connecticut, Suchy said. If approved by the commission and then the State Department of Consumer Protection, this dispensary will serve patients in this area who will benefit greatly from prescribed medical marijuana to help them deal with symptoms of many debilitating conditions. Before adopting the zoning regulation allowing medical marijuana dispensaries, the Norwalk Zoning Commission held a public hearing at which people weighed in for and against such facilities. Angela DiMecco, owner of Compassionate Care Center of Connecticut, a licensed medical marijuana dispensary facility in Bethel, told the commission that the center has worked mostly with Norwalk patients and seen cancer patients survive with medical marijuana use. At the time, she was considering relocating her business to Norwalk. We have patients that travel to us based upon our service and knowledge, DAmico said Tuesday. I hope that whatever new dispensaries open have the knowledge and expertise that we have. Ginger Katz and Larry Katz, who founded the nonprofit organization Courage to Speak to convince young people to remain drug-free after the death of their son in 1996, spoke against permitting medical marijuana dispensaries. She reiterated her concerns Tuesday upon learning that a plan had been submitted for Connecticut Avenue. We hope that were not sending the incorrect message, Ginger Katz said. Ive seen it not done properly in states where there wasnt planning for education and it just popped into a town, and kids are getting confused. They think its medical and its OK to use. On June 14, after passionate input from residents, the Westport Planning and Zoning Commission approved a plan for a medical marijuana dispensary at 1460 Post Road East but rejected applications for dispensaries at four other locations. This appeared in Wednesday's Washington Post. - - - President Donald Trump has blown hot and cold about various foreign leaders. Kim Jong Un of North Korea, for example, has mutated from "Little Rocket Man" to someone with whom the president has "great chemistry." Yet there are two figures about whom Trump has been fairly consistent: President Vladimir Putin of Russia is the recipient of Trump's warmth and understanding, and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is the target of his criticism and contempt. No tendency of Trump better demonstrates his underlying ideology and intentions than his disparate treatment of Moscow's reactionary despot and Berlin's liberal democrat. Now Trump may be going beyond the equivalent of heckling Merkel to more direct and even less appropriate intervention in the internal politics of her country. Merkel has recently been involved in a policy and power struggle over migration with her interior minister, who doubles as the head of a Bavarian conservative party belonging to her governing coalition. The interior minister favors turning away certain asylum seekers; Merkel objects that there needs to be a unified European approach. Her government risked falling over the issue, until the two agreed to a two-week cease-fire, at which point Trump weighed in with a tweet: "The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition. Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!" Forget the factual errors in these claims, including Merkel's continuing popularity among half of Germans, according to polls. It is extraordinary for an American president to egg on the internal adversaries of a fellow NATO member, and it can only convince Merkel and other Western leaders that the U.S. presidency has been captured by someone intent on dealing with them in bad faith. Equally troubling, Trump is simultaneously reaching out to the populist right in Europe. He held a phone call with Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, in which both "agreed on the need for strong national borders," as an official White House summary put it; the past two U.S. presidents had shunned Orban due to his illiberal governance and coziness with Moscow. Trump's other new best friend in Europe is Italy, whose freshly installed right-left populist coalition voiced support for Trump'scall to re-admit Russia to the Group of Seven and has begun turning away boats filled with desperate migrants from Africa. "Nowhere is it written in stone that the transatlantic bond will always thrive," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Tuesday. The 70-year-old transatlantic alliance, with all the political and economic benefits it has provided, needs constant maintenance. If it's cared for in good faith, Stoltenberg's warning won't materialize. At the moment, however, what the West is getting from the president of its most powerful member is constant disparagement; worse, he's not angry at other leaders because they aren't upholding the alliance's core values and purposes, but because they are. Venezuela has begun to proactively shut-in oil production to cope with nearly replete terminal storage. This will further accelerate an output decline and bring them closer to 1 million barrels per day or even less. According to energy ministry official data communicated to Opec, Venezuela produced 1.533mn b/d of crude in May, up by 28,000 b/d from 1.505mn b/d in April. However, this May statistic was a lie. Average production cited by secondary sources published by Opec report Venezuelas May output at 1.392mn b/d, down by 42,500 b/d from 1.434mn b/d in April. Argus estimates May production at around 1.45mn b/d. Output in early June has dropped to 1.1 to 1.2 million barrels per day, according to three PdV officials. PDVSA is contractually obligated to supply 1.495 million b/d to those customers in June, but only has 694,000 b/d available for export. The New York Times reports that oil workers are fleeing their jobs in Venezuela but are taking vital equipment with them. Desperate oil workers and thieves are stripping the oil company of vital equipment, vehicles, pumps and copper wiring, carrying off whatever they can to make money. The Venezuelan government and its oil company are in default on more than $50 billion in bonds after failing to make interest payments since late last year. China has refused to continue lending Venezuela money in return for future payments in oil. World courts have ruled that ConocoPhillips could seize Venezuelan shipments at refineries and export terminals in several Dutch Caribbean islands. Previously analysts had talked about Venezuela falling to 1 million barrels per day by the end of 2018. This now appears optimistic for Venezuela. Venezuela could fall to zero oil production before the end of 2018. Dropping below 1 million barrels per day seems certain in July. The implosion and collapse of Venezuela oil production could be nearly complete by August or September. If stolen parts and equipment cannot be repaired fast enough, then there will be even less money to keep workers or to fix things. In March, 2018, Nextbigfuture predicted that the Venezuelan Maduro government would be overthrown in a military coup by the end of 2018. North Korea has terrible but stable conditions. Venezuela conditions continue to worsen at an unsustainable level. The rapid collapse of the Venezuelan oil industry is in line with that prediction. The military needs to be paid off and if there is no money they cannot be paid off. There is scientific analysis for the risk of a military coup. Economic growth is a key factor. A Venezuela without oil in 2018 would have nearly -50% GDP growth in 2018. Some GDP at the beginning of the year and then heading to zero without oil. Without money the food and the medical crisis both become worse. So if there is a successful military coup, then the new leaders would need to cut some deal with foreign powers to the oil industry fixed and to get basic food and medicine worked out. SOURCES- New York Times, Argus Media, Penn State, Oilprice.com The rock python had just killed and eaten a goat, but perhaps more troubling, the reptile had crushed and consumed its meal within shouting distance of a school. Something had to be done. So worried residents in Jalpaiguri, a city in northeast India, called Sanjay Dutta, the local forest ranger, according to Reuters. As onlookers stared, Dutta corralled the 18-foot snake with an animal-control pole, then used thick gloves to grab the snake's head and pick it up. Crisis averted. All Dutta had to do was put it into a sack for quick transport back to the wild, perhaps to the banks of the nearby Teesta River, where it wouldn't pose a threat to humans. Instead, Dutta draped the snake around his neck. It was time for a celebratory selfie. Some residents hoisted smartphones, motioning for others to cram in closer to the forest ranger and the beast he'd captured. One man smoked what may have been a celebratory cigarette. A child sat on a man's shoulders, craning to get into the picture. And through it all, the rock python remained a rock python. Suddenly perched on the very vulnerable neck area of a mammal, the snake made a few efforts to wrap itself around the man. Dutta batted the snake's body away, at one point holding the powerful reptile at bay while he smiled for the camera. But moments later, he was clearly in distress. The snake managed to wrap one coil completely around Dutta's neck. Meanwhile, the reptile had jerked its tail free of a man assisting the forest ranger, further entangling Dutta. Scared residents who, moments earlier, had crammed in for a photo screamed and sprinted away. "It's okay," Dutta screamed, according to the Sun. "It's all okay." Clearly it was not. As he walked away from the crowd, the python tightened its grip. Dutta resisted the urge to panic or struggle, movements that would just make the snake more aggressive. "I was not scared for even a moment," Dutta told Agence France-Presse. "Because had I panicked, it could have been fatal." It wasn't. With a little help, Dutta managed to free himself. The end of the video shows him walking away, shaken but breathing. He and an assistant kept a firm grip on the powerful snake. But Dutta's experience was a brief insight into deadly perils Indians face everyday. Not from pythons - from selfies. As The Washington Post's Annie Gowen reported, about half of the world's selfie-related deaths occurred in India, as smartphone-enabled humans ignore the dangers around them in search of the perfect shot. Gowen wrote: "In 2015, Indians taking selfies died while posing in front of an oncoming train, in a boat that tipped over at a picnic, on a cliff that gave way and crumbled into a 60-foot ravine and on the slippery edge of a scenic river canal. Also, in September, a Japanese tourist trying to take a selfie fell down steps at the Taj Mahal, suffering fatal head injuries. "Mumbai police said this week that they had identified more than a dozen 'no-selfie zones' around India's largest city after three young girls were swept out into the Arabian Sea while taking selfies in a rocky part of the Bandra area (on Jan. 9). One of the young women is presumed to have drowned, as did a man who jumped in to save them. Other nations and cities have also made an effort to alert people to the dangers of selfies. Russia, for example, created a series of posters to advise people about places where it is probably not a good idea to snap a selfie. The poster shows images of clearly doomed stick figures taking pictures while jumping in front of oncoming trains, dangling off roofs and, in one case, falling down a flight of stairs. One stick figure snaps a selfie while brandishing a gun. Another has scaled power lines for a picture. "We tried visually, in the form of pictograms, to depict the most traumatic cases of creating selfies," the Ministry of Internal Russian Affairs said in a news release. There is no image of a stick figure snapping a photo while being crushed by a rock python - and no need for one, thanks to Dutta's escape. He was not seriously harmed by his too-close encounter with the reptile - and apparently was unfazed by its sudden aggression. Afterward, he released the reptile into the wild. But he didn't have a sack to carry the snake in, so he simply put it in his car. HAMDEN The Legislative Council approved a concessions agreement Monday with Local 2687, which represents Hamden firefighters, moving the community closer to balancing its budget for the 2019 fiscal year. As part of the package, the Fire Department agreed to $864,835 in givebacks running through the 2022 fiscal year, including $590,423 in the 2019 fiscal year. This includes forgoing six paid holidays in the 2019 fiscal year at a savings to the town of $374,640. Pay for the other seven holidays will be provided in a lump sum on July 1, 2018. As part of the agreement, the current collective bargaining agreement between the town and the firefighters will be extended for two years, with a 2 percent wage increase for the 2021 fiscal year and a 2.25 percent increase for 2022. The town also agreed there will be no layoff of firefighters in the 2019 fiscal year. The percentage of firefighter contributions to the Hamden Employees Retirement Plan will rise by 0.5 percent; a 2 percent wage increase will be delayed by nearly one year to June 30, 2019; another due July 1, 2019, will be divided into two, one percent installments one paid that day, another Jan. 1, 2020. The CBA will also be amended so that employees covered under the Hamden Employees Retirement Act or the Connecticut Municipal Employees Retirement System will be eligible to be paid for up to 97 sick days upon their retirement at a rate of 12 hours a day. Mayor Curt B. Leng said this was a clarification, indicating that firefighters in both pension plans were eligible for this arrangement. Previously, parts of the CBA had referenced retirement in general, while other parts specifically referenced those in the town program. Personnel Director Ken Kelley indicated the employees in the state program were considered eligible before the change in the MOA, he said. I am very appreciative of our hard-working Hamden firefighters for being leaders, understanding what the reduction in revenues has meant to our town and being part of the solution, Leng said Tuesday, describing the agreement as a very generous concession package. Council members approved the agreement 10-3 Monday, as members thanked the department for coming to the table and some voiced concerns about limiting future costs. Majority Leader Cory OBrien, who, along with council members Eric Annes and Harry Gagliardi, voted against the proposal, said he could not support locking in raises for the department for the next two years given the financial pressure on the community. We just passed a significant mill rate increase, and I cannot follow that up immediately with a contract extension with raises for two years, said OBrien. Annes thanked the department for coming to the table in good faith, but said he did not believe the agreement worked in the short run and the long run. OBrien and Annes pointed to their support for fully funding the town pension as rationale for their decision, noting an emphasis on paying, rather than potentially deferring further expenses. Council President Michael McGarry said that although he was also concerned about future expenses facing the community, the next contract with the firefighters would likely include raises, and the town is facing a shortfall. The 2019 budget approved by the council and Leng requires $1.5 million in concessions from town unions to balance. Minority leader Marjorie Bonadies supported the agreement, noting the department was under no obligation to provide concessions. Its the only (concession) weve gotten, said Bonadies. I think a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, in this particular instance. Kurt Vogt, president of Local 2687, did not immediately respond for a request for comment Tuesday. Leng said the town planned to obtain further givebacks to reach the required $1.5 million total. We will negotiate additional concessions to achieve the $1.5 million, because the alternative would be harmful and costly lay offs and key service reductions, said Leng. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com The new avocados rolling out to Costco stores in the Midwest this week don't look like the future of fresh produce. But they're quietly testing technology that could more than double the shelf life of vegetables and fruits. That technology, developed by the Goleta-based start-up Apeel Sciences, consists of an invisible, plant-based film that reinforces the avocados' own skin. The company hopes to expand to stores nationwide - as well as to a range of other produce, from nectarines to asparagus. Experts say the product, which has quadrupled shelf life in a lab setting, has the potential to make foods less perishable - with huge boons for consumers, the environment and the food industry. Fresh fruit and vegetables account for more than 40 percent of wasted food in the United States, according to the food waste coalition ReFED. Apeel and other companies are working on technologies that could help slash those figures, and enable produce to travel farther and with less refrigeration, improving quality, selection and carbon footprint. "Already, we're able to bring avocados to places that didn't have access to top-quality before, or that often ran out," said James Rogers, Apeel's chief executive. "It's so rewarding to me personally to bring this fruit to places that wouldn't normally have that access." Apeel works much like the skins and peels on many types of produce. Made from cellular material extracted from plants, the semipermeable film adheres to the outside of the avocado and slows the rate at which it loses water and carbon dioxide and absorbs oxygen. Fresh produce spoils as it respires, which is why packers and distributors chill produce or spray it with coats of wax. Unlike wax, Apeel is designed to optimize water and oxygen exchange, boosting quality and shelf life, Rogers said. Consumers won't pay more for Apeel produce, he added, because retailers who use it save money by reducing their losses from spoilage. "The way we're set up, it's more expensive for them not to use the product," Rogers said. Few dispute the notion that waste represents an enormous cost to the food industry. According to ReFED, the U.S. wastes roughly 63 million tons of food each year, 40 percent of that in grocery stores and restaurants. ReFED estimates that reducing fruit and vegetable waste would represent an $18.2-billion opportunity for retailers. Extending shelf life, experts say, could also avoid wasting water and fertilizer on food that consumers will never eat. "The opportunity for Apeel is in addressing the 42 percent of overall waste that's fruits and vegetables," said Chris Cochrane, the director of ReFED. "And that could be incredibly significant." Down the line, Apeel's technology could have other benefits: improving the selection of fresh produce or reducing the need for refrigeration. The company has experimented with a film for tomatoes, which are typically picked and shipped long before ripeness to arrive fresh at stores. A longer shelf-life could mean they remain on the vine, absorbing flavor and nutrients, far longer. Apeel has received significant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a film for cassava, a staple crop in Africa. Many African countries lack reliable, refrigerated supply chains, which causes them to lose large portions of their harvests. In a news release announcing the grant, the Gates Foundation said Apeel could "protect crops from bacteria, fungi, and insects; reduce crop destruction; and possibly extend the foods' shelf life without refrigeration." Rogers has argued that Apeel can help address hunger and increase farmers' profits. The company is currently awaiting regulatory approval in Nigeria and Kenya. Closer to home, he said, Apeel will let farmers ship niche products - such as finger limes - to more distant and profitable markets. Experts said Apeel's promises have potential, even if it's too early to evaluate them. "I think we'll have to wait and see if all these things pan out," said Kathleen Merrigan, the head of the Food Institute at George Washington University and the former deputy secretary of agriculture under the Obama administration. "But we know that all Americans need to increase their fruit and vegetable intake. Anything that makes that supply chain more efficient and cost effective is great." For now, Apeel is focused on shipping its avocados to more stores - and expanding the range of fruits and vegetables that use its technology. Within the year, Rogers said, he hopes to have Apeel avocados in Costco stores nationally. The company has also developed skins for strawberries, bananas, mangoes, peaches, pears, nectarines, green beans, citrus fruits and asparagus. It expects citrus and asparagus will be the next Apeel products on the market. Dozens of other companies are working on their own "shelf life extension solutions" - though none with the quite the funding of Apeel. According to Crunchbase, the company has received $40 million from Andreessen Horowitz and DBL Partners, as well as the Rockefeller and Gates Foundations. One promising initiative called FreshPaper uses sheets of treated paper, placed in salad bags and produce bins, to inhibit bacterial and fungal growth, ReFED's Cochrane said. And a Canadian company has developed a spray for retailers to extend the shelf life of produce, said Carol Culhane, a food technology consultant. "It's become a bit of a movement," Culhane said. "We're getting to a turning point - so many companies are beginning to say 'we need to do something about this.'" Belligerent Crowd triggers Multi Jurisdictional Police Response On Sunday June 17, 2018 at approximately 3:55pm Pleasantville Patrol Units responded to Kings Food Market at 141 North Main Street for the report of a disturbance with a male down possibly having a seizure. Patrol units responded, arrived on location and requested EMS respond within 28 seconds of the initial police dispatch. Patrol immediately made contact with the victim and ascertained that he had a seizure and was bleeding from the mouth. Patrolman Ledden began to interact and assess the victim placing him in the recovery position to await EMS. Pleasantville Communications acknowledged this information and subsequently, within approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds, advised that Absecon EMS and AtlantiCare Paramedics were responding. Upon the officers arrival a group of 8 adults, 7 males and 1 female were surrounding the victim with some attempting to render aid and others clearly distraught. At that time the officers requested that bystanders step back to allow them to attend to the victim and the majority of the bystanders complied. Several males did not comply and immediately became belligerent toward the officers and were ordered from the area with the assistance of K-9 Sergeant Brandon Stocks and his K9 partner. At that time Sgt. Stocks requested additional Pleasantville units respond to the scene. The initial non-compliant males moved to the north side of the parking lot and continued to verbally berate the officers and incite other bystanders to join the crowd. At this point the crowd had grown on both sides of the scene, continued to become more agitated and the Pleasantville officers, of which there were only 6 working, were quickly outnumbered 2 to 1 by the crowd. A request for additional officers was made by Pleasantville Communications and units from Absecon and Egg Harbor Township responded to the scene to assist with crowd control and scene safety. At one point during the incident several additional male subjects and a female approached the area of the victim and also began to verbally berate the officers with a male at one point attempting to physically interfere with care of the victim. Sergeant Stocks requested the ETA of EMS several times during the incident and requested an expedited response. The crowd throughout the incident is verbally belligerent to all of the officers and continuously attempts to taunt the officers into a confrontation coming within inches of several officers. All of the officers exercised professionalism and restraint. Minimal force was used including the presence of the K9, minimal physical contact and an indirect burst of Oleoresin Capsicum spray used to back up the group interfering with the care of the patient. In addition, though several violations occurred which clearly rose to the level that exposed the actors to arrest, officers exercised discretion to avoid worsening the situation. The ambulance arrived approximately 13 minutes into the incident and the officers then carried the victim to the ambulance to expedite and secure his removal from the scene. The Pleasantville Police Department wishes to thank the Egg Harbor Township and Absecon Police Departments for their assistance. See below quote from Chief Sean Riggin: We, the officers and staff of the Pleasantville Police Department, take our duty to protect and serve our community as a sacred trust. We will not allow our officers to ignore this trust, ever. And, on June 17, Fathers Day, our officers did exactly what we expect them to do and upheld that trust. They kept an angry group at bay, without arresting or fighting an unnecessarily hostile crowd, and then disregarded their own safety to carry the patient to the ambulance while a hostile stood by and berated police without cause. In the coming days we will work with the Citys EMS provided to review and evaluate the contract and ensure Pleasantvilles residents are afforded the care they deserve. But today, I stand proudly behind my officers who were confronted by a crowd who seemed eager to engage in a confrontation with police over an issue the officers cannot control, ambulance response time. Im disappointed that all the hard work of these officers to engage in our community is thrown aside by a few reckless individuals who seemed determined to fight police or start a riot. The officers did a professional job in spite of the actions of several who sought to create a dangerous and chaotic environment and I am proud of them. Starbucks said Tuesday it plans to close about 150 poorly performing locations next year. It hasn't announced which Starbucks will close yet but said they will be company-owned stores in urban areas that have multiple nearby locations, the company said in a statement. Most of the new locations it opens will be in underserved markets. In a typical year, Starbucks shutters about 50 stores. Starbucks said it expects sales to increase just 1-percent in the third quarter of 2018. That's their lowest quarterly growth since 2009, Bloomberg.com reported. Last month, Starbucks closed 8,000 locations for a day while employees underwent anti-bias training weeks after two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia location while waiting for friends. As of late 2017, there were 261 Starbucks in New Jersey among 28,916 worldwide. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Rutgers University will take over management and operations of the Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office, a move expected to open pipeline of talent to one of the most understaffed professions in the state and country. Under a new five-year contract, Rutgers University Medical School will staff the office with at least two board-certified pathologists, one of whom will be the chief medical examiner for the county. In addition, the office will serve as training grounds for the school's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. The partnership is the first of its kind in New Jersey. "Our physicians will serve Bergen County, families mourning the untimely loss of loved ones, and victims of violent crime with professionalism, compassion, and excellent skill in forensic pathology," said Robert L. Johnson, dean of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. "In addition, the benefit of a teaching site for our residency program will enhance our ability to produce highly-skilled physician graduates." The partnership is the latest change to the state medical examiner system following an 18-month NJ Advance Media investigation. The investigation, published in December, revealed that more than 40 years of neglect had turned a critical function of state government into a national disgrace, detailing cases of mishandled bodies, bungled criminal cases and families left grieving without answers. As a result of the investigation, the state system is on the brink of massive reform. The state Legislature is working through the final details of the overhaul, which Gov. Phil Murphy has promised to sign on passage. Bergen County, the state's most populous, has long had one of the most admired medical examiner offices in the state. The partnership with Rutgers is likely to further that reputation. Experts say partnerships with university systems are generally coveted, and serve as the backbone for some of the best medical examiner systems in the country. "This exciting new partnership will not only enhance (our) services but also provide vital research that will greatly improve overall population health management," said County Executive James J. Tedesco III in a statement. Stephen Stirling may be reached at sstirling@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @sstirling. Find him on Facebook. Global sukuk issuance reached $44.2 billion during the first half of 2018, as against $52.2 billion recorded during same period of 2017 marking a fall of 15.3 per cent, said S&P Global Ratings in a new report. This drop was even more pronounced for foreign currency sukuk issuance at 45 per cent. We believe that this is due to the absence of major issuances from the GCC countries seen in 2017, said S&P Global Ratings head of Islamic Finance, Mohamed Damak. In the second half of 2018, we expect sukuk issuance volumes will continue to be slowed by the global tightening of liquidity conditions as well as by lower financing needs of some GCC countries as a result of oil prices stabilizing at higher levels, he added. The sharp increase in geopolitical risks in the Middle East will also likely weigh on investors' appetite. Meanwhile, inherent challenges related to the sukuk market continue to drag on expansion of this market, S&P said in the report. That said, we think that Malaysia will continue to support market growth, owning to its strong market foundations and government support for Islamic finance. Overall, we maintain our expectations for volume of issuance at $70 billion-$80 billion in 2018, said Damak. TradeArabia News Service For 146 straight shows on Broadway, Bruce Springsteen has stuck to a script, playing basically the same set each night at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York. But on Tuesday night, the New Jersey rock legend veered off that script to denounce the "senior people in government" who have enacted immigration policies that have led to thousands of children being separated from their families, according to the Guardian. He reportedly called the detainment and separation of more than 2,000 children over the past six weeks "inhumane." Springsteen, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, said the administration, which has cited Bible verses to justify its actions, had "blasphemed in suggesting that they had a duty to separate families." After his remarks, Springsteen added a new song to his set list, playing "The Ghost of Tom Joad," a song that Pitchfork notes includes the lyrics: "Wherever somebody's fighting for a place to stand/Or a decent job or a helping hand/Wherever somebody's struggling to be free/Look in their eyes, Ma, and you'll see me." Springsteen adds The Ghost of Tom Joad to his Broadway show tonight in protest at the inhumane treatment at US Borders. First set change for 146 shows. Greasy Lake (@GreasyLake) June 20, 2018 Springsteen on Broadway" kicked off in October 2017 and was first announced as an eight-week run. The show was extended several times and now is planned to run until about Christmas of this year. Tickets for the show are now selling for more than $500 on sites such as StubHub. Springsteen took time out of his stint on Broadway earlier this week for a quick set at the reopening celebration of the legendary Asbury Lanes. This was also noticeably different from his tamed Broadway performance. NJ Advance Media music critic Bobby Olivier wrote: "It felt as though Springsteen was unleashing all that he's required himself to rein in during his last nine months at the Walter Kerr Theatre." Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook. . The state agency that regulates police officer training has temporarily restricted course offerings at Essex County's only public safety academy, raising concerns among the law enforcement community over the future of the academy. After a new class of 70 police recruits begins its six-month training in July, Essex County College's Public Safety Academy will not be allowed to offer additional certified police courses, according to state officials. The New Jersey Police Training Commission limited the academy's classes last week after the college slashed an administrative position without a viable plan to transition those duties to someone else, records show. The college must submit an acceptable plan by Wednesday or risk losing the academy's certification, according to a letter from the commission obtained by NJ Advance Media. "I'm down to bare bones here," Rocco Miscia, director of Essex County College's Public Safety Academy, told NJ Advance Media. "I went from the highest county academy, as far as enrollment, and now I'm limited to one class." Essex County College's Public Safety Academy in Cedar Grove. (Google maps) Faced with financial pressure, Essex County College eliminated the academy's associate director position earlier this year, along with more than 30 other positions across the college, saving $2.75 milion. The college was under close watch by its accrediting agency for its strained finances. College president Anthony Munroe said he wanted to "ensure efficient operations" at the institution and would respond appropriately to any questions by the commission. He said the academy remained certified and would offer its basic police training course through the end of December. He declined to comment further. In a letter to the commission in May, Munroe said the college was losing $1 million a year to support the academy and has, in the past, been able to operate without an associate director. The Cedar Grove academy graduates about 300 recruits a year, training corrections officers, school resource officers and new police recruits, among others. "This is critical for law enforcement in Essex County," said Fairfield Police Chief Anthony Manna, who also represents the Association of Chiefs of Police of Essex County on the academy's advisory board. He said the academy will not be able to offer courses already planned later this year for school resource officers, corrections officers and community policing. "We are in a holding pattern," Miscia said. "Passaic and Ocean (counties) wanted to send correction recruits here, I had to tell them those classes are suspended." On June 12, the Police Training Commission's administrator, John Cunningham, wrote to the college that its administrative oversight plan in light of staff changes was concerning and "does not demonstrate consistent leadership in the absence of the director." Paul Costello, the academy's former associate director, was the only other full-time administrator, along with the director, Miscia said. That means there's no one properly trained to oversee the academy when Miscia is unavailable, he said. Costello, who worked as the associate director for six years, said the academy and its advisory board were never consulted them about the planned layoffs. "There was no consultation, no heads up, no input from (Miscia) or anyone else that I know of and what the consequences and downside would be," he said. The commission has banned the academy from advertising future courses and capped enrollment for the six-month class that begins July 13 at 112 recruits. Active courses, however, can continue. A spokesman for the commission said the academy's certification and plan would be discussed at the Aug. 1 meeting. If the commission revokes the academy's certification, it won't be able to offer basic police training. Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. Viola T. Disbrow's career in Jersey City government spanned nearly three decades and nine different mayors, an uncommon feat still lauded by her former bosses. Throughout her 26 years as an administrative assistant in City Hall, she was known for her trustworthiness, loyalty, and work ethic. Disbrow died Sunday at her home in Little Egg Harbor Township. She was 82. "I had the great fortune of working with Viola for many years," said Robert Byrne, City Clerk of Jersey City. "She was a classy woman, a hard worker, and a constant in the Jersey City government." Disbrow's career in City Hall began in 1977 under Mayor Thomas F.X. Smith and when Gerald McCann was elected mayor in 1981, Disbrow was kept on staff. "You never get rid of good workers," McCann said following the news of Disbrow's death. "Usually when a new mayor is elected into office, the current administration is swept under the rug. Viola was a tremendous worker when I first started out as a councilman and she always had a smile on her face. If there were ever any trials or tribulations going on in her life, we never knew because she was always smiling." Born and raised in Jersey City, Disbrow called it home until moving to Kearny in 1994. After she retired from City Hall in 2005, she moved to Little Egg Harbor Township. Disbrow also served as a member of the Italian American Society of Jersey City. Former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, who served from 1992 to 2001, called her "a very gracious and conscientious woman." "When putting a spotlight on an organization that was being recognized for their work, she would learn everything she possibly could about them. She always went the extra mile and it meant a lot everyone," Schundler said. "She was a genuinely nice person, and that's something that's tremendously underrated." Disbrow is survived by her husband of 54 years, Vincent; daughter Lori, and sons Vincent, Joseph, Carmine, and Thomas; and nine grandchildren. Visitation will be held Wednesday at the Thiele-Reid Family Funeral Home at 585 Belgrove Drive in Kearny from 4 to 8 p.m. A funeral Mass will be said Thursday at 10 a.m. at St. Stephen's Church in Kearny. "She was a good mother and grandmother," said former Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who served in that capacity from 2004 to 2013. "She was a pleasant worker and that fact that she lasted all the years she did in her position is truly impressive." HOBOKEN Mayor Ravi Bhalla was censured by the New Jersey Supreme Court last week after a disciplinary board chided him for not setting aside over $6,000 for a former employee's retirement account between 2008 and 2009. The June 13 action came six months after the board said the facts of the case "clearly and convincingly" establish that Bhalla acted unethically and violated three rules of professional conduct. The board voted 4-3 to recommend censure instead of a three-month suspension of Bhalla's law license. The disciplinary board said that Bhalla's actions would have warranted a reprimand had he not been admonished in 2010 for record-keeping violations and for paying a client and himself from a check that had not cleared, actions deemed "improper," according to its 15-page December decision. The board found that a censure was due because of Bhalla's "nonchalance" regarding the employee's missing retirement contributions, the decision says. "This matter amounts to an oversight by a small business owner that was immediately rectified once made aware of it," Bhalla told The Jersey Journal. The timing is not optimal for Bhalla, who is the subject of a critical vote at Wednesday's Hoboken council meeting. The nine-member council, which has been hostile to the mayor, is scheduled to adopt an ordinance that would require Bhalla offer extensive and regular details about his part-time gig working for law firm Lavery, Selvaggi, Abromitis & Cohen. The censure stems from a dispute involving the private practice Bhalla, a Democrat, ran before he joined the council in 2009. The details are spelled out in the disciplinary board's December decision. Attorney Alexander Bentsen worked for Bhalla in 2008 and 2009. Bentsen, who made a $60,000 salary, asked Bhalla to withhold 10 percent of his gross income to be deposited in an IRA account at UBS Financial Services, with Bhalla matching Bentsen's contributions by up to 3 percent, the decision says. But Bhalla did not make the required deposits, leaving Bentsen's IRA underfunded by $6,208 for the two years, according to the December decision. Bhalla also failed to remit Bentsen's 2008 Social Security withholding taxes, totaling $4,000, until 2013 or 2014, the decision says. The mayor told the disciplinary board that he thought the payroll company he had hired took care of the funds intended for the employee's IRA account, according to the decision. Bhalla did not take any steps to remedy Bentsen's financial situation until he was interviewed by the Office of Attorney Ethics seven years after the issue arose, the decision says. Lawyers in New Jersey can be punished in five ways. The least serious action is admonition, followed by reprimand, censure, suspension and disbarment. "Ravi Bhalla accepts, but respectfully disagrees with the ruling," said Bhalla spokesman Rob Horowitz. "This was an inadvertent payroll mistake, resulting in the underpayment of an employer match on an IRA retirement program more than 10 years ago when Mr. Bhalla operated his own small law firm. The employee never informed Mr. Bhalla and then waited seven years and filed an ethics complaint. As soon as Mr. Bhalla realized there was an underpayment, he immediately paid the amount due." Bentsen made "numerous requests" to rectify the matter, according to the December decision. Wednesday's council action involves a proposed rewrite of the city code that would require the mayor to submit quarterly reports on any outside employment listing all income and a list of all clients and or contracts. Brian J. Aloia, Hoboken's corporation counsel, recommended to the council in a six-page memo that it not adopt the ordinance, calling the change "invalid and unenforceable." Bhalla's critics on the council there are seven have said they believe the mayor's part-time job with the Lavery firm raises potential conflict-of-interest issues. Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. To enforce President Trump's zero tolerance policy at the U.S. borders, Attorney General Sessions quoted St. Paul's Letter to the Romans, Chapter 13: "Obey the laws of the government because God ordained them for the purpose of order." And Joseph Cardinal Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, responded to Sessions by stating boldly and rhetorically, "What did Satan do when he wished to tempt Jesus? He quoted Sacred Scripture." Tobin has been the most forceful of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy condemning Trump's immigration policies, saying "the Bible can be grossly misused." Imam Mohammad Al-Hayek Imam Mohammad Al-Hayek of the North Hudson Islamic Center in Union City also condemned "the misemployment of the word of God in the Bible." Surely, the mistreatment and incarceration of children have caused a firestorm. The government has separated more than 2,300 children from their parents since early May with about another 10,000 already in foster homes or other settings. It has been reported that toddlers are mixed in with adolescents in cage-like settings that are lit 24 hours a day. They sleep with Mylar blankets. They may get only two hours of sunlight and only two phone calls a week. Many parents do not even know where their children are. Lutheran Pastor Birgit Solano, herself a German immigrant, recounted a recent episode with her 18-year-old daughter being detained for four hours in Detroit en route home from Germany. "We could not reach her and did not know where she was," said Solano, who has pastored Good Shepherd Church in Weehawken since 1995. Rev. Birgit Solano She has brought the ACLU in to advise her mostly Hispanic congregation about their rights and said many fear being ripped from their families. "These policies negate the very core values of the faith traditions we represent," Newark's Episcopal Bishop Mark Beckwith, president of the Council of Religious Leaders in New Jersey, said in a statement today. "This unprecedented policy traumatizes the child and parent." Yet, FOX News host Laura Ingraham compared the treatment to "summer camp." And about a third of the American people allegedly support this approach. In its editorial "Shameful and Shameless," Commonweal Magazine, a Catholic journal of opinion, quoted Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, saying the children could suffer irreparable harm. Al-Hayek called the policy "cruel and immoral." He and his wife immigrated to the U.S. from Jordan 20 years ago and he finds this "contrary to American values." Rabbi Aaron Katz of Congregation B'nai Jacob in Jersey City sent an e-mail to his congregation reminding them about a July 1938 meeting of 32 nations in Evian, France, "to discuss the humanitarian disaster (happening in Germany) that everyone knew" but no one wanted to help because it was not their problem. "This is a flashback to history in Germany when people were told to take a shower and did not return," Solano said. Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin Different border groups are planning a national Day of Protest for Saturday, June 30. "It is a protest against the American heart," concluded Commonweal, which could not believe this is happening in 2018. In America Magazine, Jesuit Father James Martin suggested that people call legislators, inform themselves, help organizations, advocate and pray. The Rev. Dorothy Patterson of Wallace Temple in Bayonne brought this up at the Rotary luncheon this past week. "We have to do something," she said. Tobin convinced his fellow U.S. bishops earlier this month to send a delegation to inspect the border camps. Asked if he planned to be among the group, Tobin said, "I certainly hope to be." And Katz advised: "Love the stranger because once you were a stranger." EDITOR'S NOTE: The Rev. Alexander Santora is the pastor of Our Lady of Grace and St. Joseph, 400 Willow Ave., Hoboken, 07030, FAX: 201-659-5833; Email: padrealex@yahoo.com; Twitter: @padrehoboken. Facebook conversation ... ET Ignatian Spirituality with representatives of border groups and the Diocese of El Paso, Texas, at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, June 21, at facebook.com/Ignatian Solidarity. EDITOR'S NOTE: Interested in the marijuana business industry? NJ Cannabis Insider is a new premium intelligence briefing that features exclusive weekly content geared toward entrepreneurs, lawyers and realtors. View a sample issue. A long-awaited report on marijuana will recommend that New York legalizes the drug, the state's top health official said Monday. While the report has not yet been finalized, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said its authors reached their conclusion after a thorough review of the legal, medical and social implications of legalization. "We looked at the pros, we looked at the cons," Zucker told reporters at an appearance in Brooklyn. "When we were done we realized that the pros outweighed the cons." Zucker's boss, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has long expressed concerns about legalization, last year calling marijuana a "gateway drug." He has since softened his stance and ordered the legalization study earlier this year amid pressure from legalization supporters, including his Democratic primary opponent, "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon. Do not count on legal weed in the Big Apple just yet, however. Lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn for the year this week, suggesting it will be 2019 at the earliest before legalization is considered in Albany. The growing list of states that have moved to legalize recreational marijuana use includes California, Colorado and two of New York's neighbors, Vermont and Massachusetts. Meantime, New Jersey lawmakers are weighing a bill that would bring recreational marijuana to the state while expanding the medical marijuana program. Several Democrats including Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Nixon have said any legalization effort in New York must be accompanied by proposals to expunge the criminal records of thousands of people arrested for possessing small amounts of the drug dating back decades. Individuals on all sides of the marijuana debate said they wanted to hear more about what Cuomo's administration plans to propose. John Coppola, the executive director of the New York Association of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers said legalization must incorporate efforts to prevent underage abuse and educate the public about the risks of addiction and misuse. "Their plan must incorporate all of the public health implications of legalization and how negative implications might be mitigated," he said. Cuomo's political opponents dismissed the announcement as a diversion. Zucker's remarks, announced shortly before his appearance, came on the same day as the start of a federal corruption trial of a former Cuomo economic development insider and that former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner announced she would challenge Cuomo as an independent in November. "There are serious questions to be answered about marijuana; they should be answered by serious people without a political agenda," said Katy Delgado, the spokeswoman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro. "The only thing this governor cares about is his political career." New York has a medical marijuana program allowing patients with certain qualifying conditions to use non-smokable forms of pot. On Monday, Zucker said health officials were planning to expand the program to include anyone who has received a prescription for opioids. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Newark and Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C., has been removed from public ministry in the wake of allegations he abused a teen 50 years ago while serving as a priest in New York. McCarrick, who accepted the Vatican's decision, is one of the highest-ranking American leaders in the Catholic Church to be removed from ministry over sex abuse charges. The allegations against him have been deemed "credible and substantiated" by church officials, McCarrick acknowledged in a statement. However, the veteran cardinal said he does not remember the incident from a half-century ago, and believes he is innocent. News of McCarrick's removal came as church officials in New Jersey separately revealed for the first time that the cardinal had previously been accused of sexual misconduct with three adults during his time in the state. Two of those cases resulted in secret legal settlements with undisclosed terms, according to the Archdiocese of Newark. Church officials said there had never been an accusation that McCarrick sexually abused a minor until the new accusation that the cardinal abused a teenager 50 years ago while working as a priest in New York. Pope John Paul II embraces Archbishop Theodore McCarrick in Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark in 1995. (Amanda Brown | Star-Ledger file photo) The shocking removal of McCarrick came in a statement on Wednesday, when the 87-year-old retired Archbishop of Washington, D.C., said he accepted that he must step away from public ministry. "While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people," he said. McCarrick said he had been advised several months ago by the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, that an allegation of sexual abuse of a teenager from almost 50 years ago had been made against him. At that time, he was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York. "While shocked by the report, and while maintaining my innocence, I considered it essential that the charges be reported to the police, thoroughly investigated by an independent agency, and given to the Review Board of the Archdiocese of New York. I fully cooperated in the process," he said. "My sadness was deepened when I was informed that the allegations had been determined credible and substantiated." He said in obedience, he accepted the decision of The Holy See, that he no longer exercise any public ministry. "I realize this painful development will shock my many friends, family members, and people I have been honored to serve in my sixty-years as a priest," he said. Due to the statute of limitations on sexual abuse prosecution in New York, it is unlikely prosecutors would consider pursuing criminal charges against McCarrick. Church officials in the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen, where McCarrick had previously served as bishop, said they were aware of past sexual misconduct allegations with adults. Cardinal Joseph Tobin, who has been Archbishop of Newark since January 2017, disclosed that allegations that McCarrick engaged in sexual misconduct with adults decades ago resulted in legal settlements. "This Archdiocese and the Diocese of Metuchen received three allegations of sexual misconduct with adults decades ago; two of these allegations resulted in settlements," Tobin revealed. The dates and of the settlements were not disclosed. Church officials also did not say if the settlements involved payments to the victims. Tobin said the Archdiocese of Newark never received an accusation that McCarrick abused a minor. At the Archdiocese of Washington, where McCarrick became a cardinal, church officials said they were shocked by the sexual misconduct allegation. "While saddened and shocked, this archdiocese awaits the final outcome of the canonical process and in the meantime asks for prayers for all involved," the Archdiocese of Washington said in a statement. "At the same time, we renew our commitment to care for the victims who have suffered abuse, to prevent abuse before it occurs, and to identify and report child abuse once it has happened." Mark Crawford, New Jersey state director of the priest-abuse victims group SNAP, said he was disappointed to hear there were past accusations of sexual misconduct against McCarrick and settlements involving adults that were not revealed until now, despite the church's promises to be more transparent. "We've been told it. We've been promised. Clearly this is not the case," Crawford said of the Catholic church's pledges to reform how it handles sexual misconduct by priests. McCarrick was bishop of Metuchen from 1981 to 1986, and then served as Newark's archbishop from 1986 to 2000. In Metuchen, he was the shepherd of a newly formed diocese. Later, he would build a $13 million archdiocesan center next to the cathedral in Newark. Those who knew him said he used his connections to get Pope John Paul II to Newark in 1995. McCarrick was known to have guided more than seminarians through the ordination process, ordaining 171 in 14 years as Newark's archbishop, more than any other American bishop. While still in Newark, he was said to be looking at retirement when he turned 70. But Pope John Paul II picked him as Washington's archbishop in late 2000, and in 2001 made him a cardinal. In the Diocese of Metuchen, church officials were aware of accusations his sexual misconduct with adults. But, Metuchen officials did not receive any reports McCarrick abused minors. "This very disturbing report has prompted me to direct that the records of our diocese be re-examined, and I can report to you that there has never been any report or allegation that Cardinal McCarrick ever abused any minor during his time here in Metuchen. In the past, there have been allegations that he engaged in sexual behavior with adults," said James F. Checchio, Bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen on Wednesday. Checchio offered apologies to anyone who was victimized. "The abuse of anyone who is vulnerable is both shameful and horrific. The abuse of a minor by a priest - as is being reported in this case from New York - is an abomination and sickens and saddens us all," Checchio said in a statement. In Newark, Cardinal Tobin said he recognized that the people of the Newark Archdiocese would meet the announcement by the Archdiocese of New York of a credible and substantiated claim of abuse of a minor by Cardinal McCarrick with a range of emotions. "I am thinking particularly of those who have experienced the trauma of sexual abuse by clergy--whose lives have been impacted tragically by abuse. To those survivors, their families and loved ones, I offer my sincere apologies and my commitment of prayer and action to support you in your healing," Tobin said in a statement. For years, McCarrick was the most recognized Catholic leader in New Jersey and a leading voice on national issues for the church. "Cardinal McCarrick served this archdiocese for almost fifteen years. No doubt many of you developed strong relationships with him and appreciate the impact of his service. Those feelings are likely hard to reconcile with the news of a credible and substantiated claim of abuse of a minor," he said. "While Cardinal McCarrick maintains his innocence and the canonical process continues, we must put first the serious nature of this matter with respect and support for the process aimed at hearing victims and finding truth." Tobin said the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has been devastating. "We cannot undo the actions of the past, but we must continue to act with vigilance today. I renew my commitment to seek forgiveness and healing, while ensuring a safe environment for children in this archdiocese," he said. Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. A Marshalls employee who confronted suspected shoplifters trying to flee the Deptford Township store June 9 told a dispatcher that one of them was wanted on a warrant for manslaughter. The incident ended with a township police officer shooting into a moving SUV, killing the driver as she allegedly tried to run him down with her vehicle. The phone call is part of a redacted set of audio files released by Gloucester County on Monday afternoon in response to an Open Public Records Act requests. The phone call answers the lingering question of how police learned one of the suspects was possibly a killer, but it doesn't explain where the store employee got this information. LaShanda Anderson, 36, of Philadelphia, was shot to death after she allegedly tried to run down a police officer with her vehicle. (Facebook) No records have been revealed to show that any of the three were wanted on a warrant for manslaughter or homicide. The trio were known to Marshalls' personnel from previous thefts, according to prosecutors. When reached for comment Monday about the Marshalls employee's call to the dispatcher, a spokeswoman said the company had no comment. "We continue to cooperate with law enforcement, but beyond that, as this is an active police matter, it would be inappropriate to comment further," she said. Two men and a woman allegedly tried to steal more than $3,400 in merchandise by concealing it in a suitcase and leaving the store. The loss prevention employee called 911 to ask for police help and to provide descriptions of suspects trying to steal items. During that call, he claims one is wanted, but doesn't elaborate. "One has a warrant for manslaughter," he tells the dispatcher. "I'm gonna need help stopping them." The dispatcher tells him she has two officers on the way. "How do you know they're wanted for homicide," the dispatcher asks him, but she doesn't get an answer. The dispatcher tries to learn more as the employee apparently begins chasing the suspects. Although the Marshalls' loss protection worker doesn't say which of the three has a warrant, the dispatcher assumes it's the man. "He's advising me the male is wanted for homicide, but he's not cooperating with me," the dispatcher tells responding officers. "Where are they? I have two cops in the parking lot," the dispatcher asks the Marshalls worker. Shouting can be heard as the employee apparently struggles with the shoplifters. "I see them. I'm pulling up," an officer tells the dispatcher. From there, the recording seems to pick up audio of an officer giving orders. "She just struck my arm with the vehicle," an officer yells. Seconds later, someone yells, "Shots fired, shots fired." One of the officers, Sgt. Kevin A. Clements, fired three rounds and two struck LaShanda Anderson, 36, of Philadelphia, as police say she drove toward the officer. Also in the vehicle was Chanel Barnes, 38, of Philadelphia, who was charged with shoplifting. The third member of the group, Raoul Gadson, 43, was arrested days later in Philadelphia on charges of assault and robbery. The Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the fatal shooting. "The investigation of this incident is being conducted in accordance with stringent guidelines promulgated by the NJ Attorney General's Office," Prosecutor Charles Fiore said in a statement released Monday. "This office will release its findings to the public at the appropriate time, but not, obviously, before the completion of its investigation, which involves additional witness interviews and the analysis of forensic evidence. "I can assure you that our review will be thorough, impartial and consistent with the Attorney General's guidelines." Clements, 41, is a 19-year police veteran. He remains on administrative leave while the investigation continues. Anderson, Barnes and Gadson have criminal records. Anderson's extensive criminal history included an attempted murder charge in 2015 following a shooting at a Philadelphia laundromat. Records show the attempted murder and weapons charges against her were dismissed after a mistrial. She received probation in that case after pleading guilty to possessing a criminal instrument. Anderson was also wanted by Delaware police following thefts from Marshalls stores in that state last year. 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. Multiple charges are pending against a Roselle man living with approximately 41 dogs in what police say were unsanitary and inhumane conditions. Inside the Thompson Street home of Evelio J. Calderon, 40, police say they found dogs who had been locked inside and forced to relieve themselves indoors. Evelio J. Calderon, 40, "Those dogs hadn't seen the light of day in a long time," said Matt Stanton, spokesman for Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). "It's a classic hoarder case that happens across the state around this time of year when things warm up." An anonymous caller informed SPCA through their hot line about seven dogs possibly living in Caldron's home in June. When he was questioned, Caldron admitted to having 15 dogs, and that number eventually totaled to 41 upon further investigation of Calderon's home according to SPCA. Two dogs were suffering from shock and taken to local veterinarians for immediate emergency treatment. The rest were treated on site for injuries such as open sores, malnourishment, joint problem and eye issues according to police. Dogs ranged from puppies to seniors, according to Stanton, including a variety of sizes and breeds such as pit-bull mixes, jack russell terrier mixes, and chow sheppard mixes. Four shelters across the state are currently housing the dogs including St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison, The Last Resort Animal Rescue in West Milford, and the Edison and Montclair municipal animal shelters. According to public records, Calderon had been living in his Roselle home since 2009. Calderon also has been listed as a sex-offender in New Jersey since 1995 for sexually assaulting juvenile males with physical force and weapons. Union County Prosecutor's Office said they would decide on Calderon's charges after the dogs' veterinarian reports came back. Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ladytiamoyo. Find NJ.com on Facebook In December of 2016, an eighth grader at St. Joseph Grade School in Toms River was already having a tough time dealing with racist, bullying behavior from his classmates, according to his parents. When his grandmother died, he became more distraught. His caucasian classmates called him the n-word and monkey, and made other racist comments, sometimes eliciting laughter from those in earshot, the suit said. When the boy suggested in a social media group chat that he was thinking of hurting himself, his bullies did not lay off or apologize, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf Tuesday. "A group of approximately 11 classmates began bullying [him] and, during school hours, encouraging him to kill himself," the lawsuit claims. "Certain classmates, during school hours, walked by [him] and made a cutting motion on their wrist as if they were committing suicide with a razor blade." The boy did not kill himself, but eventually left the school when the bullying only intensified, according to the suit. Parents Michael Lombardo and Jane Mason claim in their civil complaint in federal court Tuesday that teachers and administrators refused to prevent or punish the racism and bullying, which one teacher acknowledged was "relentless." It's a shocking allegation in a time when awareness of teen suicide has schools and parents taking bullying claims more seriously. But the claims are not unfamiliar, either. Also on Tuesday, the parents of a Rockaway 12-year-old who killed herself in 2017 filed suit, claiming her classmates cyber-bullied her, including teasing her about when she would end her life. On behalf of their son, Lombardo and Mason are suing a teacher, a guidance counselor, two administrators, St. Joseph's Parish and it's head pastor, Rev. G. Scott Shaffer, as well as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Trenton. In a statement Tuesday, the school said it could not comment on ongoing litigation. Messages left for Shaffer, the other staff members and the spokeswoman for the archdiocese were not returned Tuesday. In their lawsuit, Lombardo and Mason state that their son, who is identified only by his initials, was the only African American in his seventh grade class when he started attending St. Joseph in 2015. The harassment ratcheted up in the end of 2016, when they mocked him about his comment about self-harm, the suit says. It also claims that on the same day, the boy suggested in the group chat that they all go to a trampoline park -- but his invitation was met first with silence and then teasing, and repeated comments about no one wanting to hang out with him. In another incident, his parents said, the boy was harassed by his classmates who claimed he was lying about having a girlfriend, as she did not go to the school. He reported the harassment to his parents and they asked the school to intervene, but his parents said they got limited reassurances from administrators, and virtually no action. Lombardo and Mason said in the suit that they had a March 24, 2017 meeting with guidance counselor Divina Roche -- who had previously warned them about their son's comments about self-harm -- and then-Principal Michelle Williams. Roche acknowledged that she had witnessed the boy being bullied, as had other teachers, and described one incident as "relentless," the suit said. The parents said Roche blamed the boy for the bullying and said their "hands were tied" because he would not tell on his classmates. "Williams' and Roche's solution to end the harassment was for [the boy] to tell the abusive classmates 'you're funny,' when they harassed him," the complaint states. In a later meeting, Roche told the parents that she had told the students accused of bullying to stop talking to the boy completely, and teacher Christopher Tobin said he told his entire class to not communicate with the boy in person and on social media. "In short, Tobin encouraged his class to make [him,] a child clearly being bullied and abused and the only African American child under his care and supervision, to feel invisible, isolated and worthless," the suit says. There was one incident that resulted in punishment, according to the lawuit. On May 2, 2017, the complaint claims, the boy "found a note in his desk saying the 'KKK is coming 4 u" with a drawing of a Klansman wearing a white hooded robe." He showed it to Tobin, who reported it to Roche, and two students were identified as the authors, the suit said. They received suspensions of one day and three days respectively, and the boy was called a snitch by several classmates, his parents claimed. They withdrew him from the school a week later. The lawsuit said the boy was denied his right to a safe, welcoming school environment and suffered from psychological and racial abuse, causing his parents to incur medical and other costs for their son. They are seeking damages for suffering, negligence and breach of contract, among other claims. Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Oak Hill Advisors and Varde Partners said they have entered into an agreement to acquire a $1 billion portfolio of shipping loans from Deutsche Bank. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018 pending regulatory approvals. Oak Hill Advisors is a leading independent investment firm with approximately $33 billion of capital under management. OHA has over 25 years of experience investing in a variety of asset classes, including performing and non-performing corporate credit, shipping, real estate, aviation and structured products as well as private equity. Varde Partners is a $13 billion global alternative investment firm that employs a value-based approach to investing across a broad array of geographies, segments and asset types, including real estate, corporate credit, mortgages, specialty finance, real assets and infrastructure. This represents the second sale of shipping loan portfolios from European banks that Varde and OHA have acquired together, said a top official. "We view this investment as part of our long-term commitment to provide alternative capital to the shipping industry as traditional participants reduce their exposure and change tack following a challenging period for the sector as a whole," remarked Stephen Seymour, the managing director at Varde responsible for the firm's investments in the transportation sector. "We are pleased to partner with OHA again as we continue to find compelling investment opportunities as banks divest out of legacy loan portfolios," stated Seymour. With over 40 loans secured against 70 vessels, the loan portfolio has underlying exposure to a diversified pool of shipping sectors and borrowers, he added. Alexis Atteslis, the portfolio manager and managing director at OHA, said: "We believe the structural changes in the shipping finance industry present an opportunity for flexible capital providers, and we are uniquely positioned given our platform, expertise and relationships in the sector to underwrite and manage these investments." "We are excited to be a partner to the banks, high caliber shipowners and borrowers, as we continue to expand our global shipping and transportation business," stated Atteslis, who also heads the firm's shipping investment activities. A major investment player focusing on North America and European maarkets, OHA manages multi-strategy and single strategy credit funds, distressed funds, collateralized loan obligations, other customized mandates and a business development company. OHA employs more than 300 people globally and is headquartered in New York, with other key offices in London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Sydney and Fort Worth, Texas.-TradeArabia News Service Wall Township officials agreed to a $1.25 million settlement of a lawsuit by a former employee who charged that coworkers and superiors taunted him with anti-Semitic slurs and Nazi propaganda, "on a near-daily basis." The settlement stems from a suit filed in October 2015 by Brandon Jacobs, a tax and utility clerk who began working for the township in 1999 and later went on disability. Jacobs is Jewish. The suit, filed in state Superior Court in Monmouth County, named the township as a defendant, asserting that the township improperly permitted a hostile work environment to persist, causing distress and economic harm to Jacobs. The Township Committee authorized the settlement by resolution at its May 23rd meeting. The resolution does not address the allegations in the suit, and several Wall officials said they were advised by the township attorney not to comment on the case. The resolution authorizing the settlement specifies that the township will pay $625,000, or half the settlement amount, while the township's insurer will pay the other half. When Jacobs was working as the chief steward for Wall's township works department, the suit alleged township employee referred to him as "Cheap Jeward," while another called him a "f***ing Jew," and a third told him he had "killed Jesus." One employee, the suit said, placed "Nazi propaganda" in Jacobs' work area. "Supervisory employees were present when anti-Semitic comments were made to Plaintiff and they routinely made such comments themselves," the suit states. By failing to address the situation, the suit said, the township caused Jacobs to suffer severe distress and eventually to go on disability leave, which "caused Plaintiff to suffer significant economic losses, and will continue to do so in the future." The resolution states that the settlement's purpose was to "avoid further litigation expenses," based on a recommendation by the township attorney, Sean T. Kean. Reached by phone late Tuesday afternoon, Kean declined address allegations in the suit. Kean, a Republican state assemblyman for the 30th Legislative District, also declined to supply a copy of the township's answer to the suit's initial complaint. Committeeman Kevin Orender, who serves as deputy mayor, declined to comment on the suit, other than to say that the allegations predated his and most other committee members' tenure. But by approving the settlement, Orender said, "we did what was in the best interest of the township." Ravi Sattiraju, the lawyer representing Jacobs, declined to comment. The settlement has drawn criticism. A Facebook post on the Wall Township History and News page stated that, "the Township Committee hid the details of this settlement from the public," and otherwise lacked transparency on the settlement. Does anyone know what this is about? Must have had a good case for the town to settle. The town must have thought they... Posted by Wall Township History and News on Wednesday, June 13, 2018 And during the public portion of , resident Betsy Cross blasted the settlement as "outrageous," and demanded that someone be held responsible for the work environment described in the suit. "Now our taxes are going up because of a settlement," Cross told officials. Township Administrator Jeff Bertrand said Tuesday that he had been instructed by Kean not to talk about the case, or about Jacobs' employment history with Wall. But Bertrand rejected any assertion that the township tried to hide the settlement, noting that the resolution had been listed on the online agenda for the May 23rd meeting. Bertrand also reiterated that the decision to settle the case was not an admission that the township was at fault. He also said the settlement was recommended not only by Kean, but also by lawyers for the township's insurer. "When all is said and done it all comes down to a business decision," Bertrand said. Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook By Eliana Pintor Marin There has been a lot of speculation about the legislative budget process and the Legislature's negotiations with the governor's office. New Jersey residents should know that the Assembly Budget Committee, which I chair, has been working diligently to draft a budget that minimizes their burden while honoring our Democratic priorities. This process included 42 legislative hearings throughout the state over a period of three months. Former Gov. Chris Christie left behind a structural budget deficit of more than $8 billion. We have seen a record 11 credit downgrades in the last eight years. Property taxes have increased more than 30 percent, an abysmal record high for New Jersey, and 75 percent of school districts receive less in school aid than in 2010. There is a lot that needs fixing, and we have done our best to come up with both short-term and long-term solutions to our financial woes. We have taken a thorough look at our spending and crafted a budget we believe will reduce the cost of government without sacrificing important services. We believe this budget is a good start to turning back the clock on the last eight years. It is an important first step and we have made specific budget cuts and determine new budget priorities, where appropriate. Our budget proposal supports Gov. Phil Murphy on many key programs, initiatives and priorities. Our budget provides tax relief to the working-class by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, and establishing a Child and Dependent Tax Credit to help families with the rising cost of child care. Our budget also increase the property tax deduction from $10,000 to $15,000 annually, which will help New Jersey homeowners affected by President Trump's tax reform law. We also want to restore the Homestead Rebate, one of the most critical property-tax relief programs for seniors and working families. Our budget provides a $283 million increase for school funding, and $57 million for pre-k expansion. It adds to this investment in education by bringing parity to the school funding formula, which has for far too long unfairly benefitted some school districts at the expense of others. Our budget also supports the governor's proposed $167 million increase to NJ Transit, and $700 million for the state's pension obligations, as well as revenues derived from marijuana expansion, AirBnB and ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft. Our plans mostly differs from the governor's on: 1) How to raise the revenue, and; 2) How to balance tax relief with funding worthy, but costly initiatives. Murphy is proposing a $37.4 billion budget with $1.5 billion in new taxes on New Jerseyans. New Jersey homeowners are already paying some of the highest property taxes in the nation. More tax increases will only add to the existing burden on our working families. Our budget provides for a full year's property tax credit to help ease the burden on seniors and working families. We oppose raising the sales tax back to 7 cents for the same reason. In place of the tax on New Jerseyans, we are proposing an increase in the Corporate Business Tax, which would help raise an estimated $800 million annually. This tax would impact multi-national corporations - many of which are headquartered outside our state -- and many others who benefitted from the Trump tax plan to the tune of almost $3 billion. This is a sustainable and predictable revenue source. We believe in making college education more affordable, but we also have to be mindful of our fiscal reality. That is why we are supporting a pilot program for free community college. The governor proposed $55 million in increased taxes on e-cigarettes and cigars which would have crippled small businesses. Instead, we took a more nuanced approach and delivered a more modest impact on these businesses. Murphy's proposed budget diverts $46 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. We are redirecting $15 million of that back to the trust fund because building new affordable housing is an absolute priority in New Jersey. Our budget also restores and adds new legislative priorities such as charity care, re-entry services, funding for cancer research, autism and Court appointed Special Advocates for Children; and provides additional funding for local transportation projects that will help improve roadways and neighborhoods in the state. The Legislature's budget is very much aligned with the priorities of the governor. But we have to learn to live within our means while providing for our residents. In the Assembly, we will pass a budget that protects the interest of taxpayers, and puts New Jersey on a stronger fiscal footing than in previous years. Eliana Pintor Marin, D-Essex, is chairwoman of the Assembly Budget Committee. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen's continued defense of separating families at the U.S.-Mexican border is prompting calls for her resignation. The charge was led on Monday by California Senator Kamala Harris, who issued a statement and tweeted a petition for Nielsen to resign over her role in the Trump's administration zero-tolerance immigration policy that has separated over 2,000 migrant children from their families. "She's not equipped to do the job the way it needs to be done," Harris, a Democrat, told MSNBC. "It's gotta stop. Full stop." At least 10 members of Congress say Nielsen should quit as her agency enforces the administration's zero tolerance policy, which has resulted in more than 2,000 children being separated from their parents at the U.S. border since April. Many are crossing the border to seek asylum. The calls came as ProPublica released audio of children crying inside one detention facility as a Border Patrol agent jokes, "Well, we have an orchestra over here." Children are heard repeating calls for their parents. On Monday, Nielsen told reporters repeatedly that the department is no longer tolerating loopholes in the law, which "create a functionally open border. Apprehension without detention and removal is not border security," she said. Many critics point out that it is not a law, but just a policy than can easily be reversed. Do you think she should resign? Vote in our informal and unscientific poll and tell us why in the comments. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. A wild robbery played out in front of surveillance cameras in a Wayne jewelry store Tuesday by a couple who brought everything they needed - and then some, according to police. Marc Niedle, 30, and Emily K. Lopazanski, 34, burst into Massola Jewelers on Preakness Avenue about 11:15 a.m. and announced a holdup, according to police Capt. Laurence W. Martin. As Niedle pointed a shotgun at the owner and his son, Lopazanski is seen in a surveillance photo near jewelry in a lighted case. The exact sequence of events remain unclear, but at some point the robbers began struggling with the business owners. During the struggle, Lopazanski sprayed the owner and son in the face with a can of Mace, police said. Niedle then fled the store, leaving Lopazanski fighting with the owner and his son. Marc Niedle and Emily K. Lopazanski are charged with robbery. (Wayne PD) The fight soon spilled outside onto the sidewalk where police found all three. The owner and his son were suffering from exposure of a chemical irritant - Mace - to their eyes and were treated by members of the Wayne Memorial Volunteer First Aid Squad, the captain said. As an officer handcuffed Lopazanski, he found several zip-ties in the pocket of her sweatshirt that police allege were to be used as temporary handcuffs. Detectives later arrested Niedle at Terminal C in Newark Airport as he waited to board a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, police said. Public records show Niedle lived in that area of Florida as recently as 2015. Niedle, who now lives in Mountainside, and Lopazanski, of Fords, were both charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, robbery with injuries, and weapons possession. Niedle was also charged with conspiracy, police said. Police were not saying if Niedle got away with anything from the store. The couple was held pending a court hearing. The store was open on Wednesday, but the owners did not return a call seeking comment. Police said they would not be releasing video of the robbery to the public anytime soon. "The video is of evidentiary high value and we are holding onto it for further examination and investigation," Martin said in an email. A woman police allege is Emily K. Lopazanski can be seen near the counter as accused accomplice Marc Niedle waves a shotgun, cops said. (Wayne PD) Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez said President Donald Trump "has broken with the basic standards of decency" in separating children from their parents when they cross the U.S. border seeking refuge from violence in their home countries. Menendez, the son of immigrants who rose to become the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered a fiery speech on the Senate floor, ending with the taped cries of youngsters taken away from their parents. "President Trump is lying to the American people when he says that family separation is the law of the land," Menendez said. "He is lying when he says Democrats put a law on the books mandating children be terrorized in this way." "The criminalizing of asylum seekers is in fact a newly-unveiled policy," he said. "This policy of persecuting families fleeing for their lives comes straight from the white nationalist fringe." Trump has faced bipartisan criticism for his policy, which he falsely blamed on Democrats. He said the policy would end as part of legislation he is championing to fully fund a border wall that he promised Mexico would pay for and to impose stringent requirements on future immigration, including making it harder for legal U.S. residents to bring in their relatives. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has defended the policy as a way to keep immigrants from entering the country illegally. "Hopefully, people will get the message," he said on the Fox News Channel. Menendez argued the situation in the refugees' home country was so dire that nothing would deter them. "How do you deter a mother trying to protect her son from the brutality of forced servitude?" Menendez said. "How do you deter a father trying to protect his daughter from being raped and tortured?" he asked. "How do you deter a family so fearful for their safety that they are willing to embark on a perilous journey and travel thousands of miles to reach the United States?" U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., also spoke on the Senate floor, accusing Trump of "assaulting the values, the common decency of our country." "The forced separation of children and families was not an unintended consequence of the Trump administration policy," Booker said. "It was and is a purposeful decision, done with full consciousness of the impact on families and of children." "This moment really is a moment of moral reckoning in the United States of America," he said. "It is a low point." Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Stuck in an impasse with lawmakers over New Jersey's state budget, Gov. Phil Murphy is playing hardball with school funding reform. Murphy said Wednesday that he and his fellow Democrats who control the state Legislature have made "tremendous progress" in recent months on a plan to "modernize" the controversial formula New Jersey uses to dole out state aid to public schools. But Murphy also drew a line in the sand: He will agree to the school funding fix only if top lawmakers agree to a state budget with tax increases that last longer than a couple of years. "Until we have an agreement on sound, sustainable revenues, we cannot have an agreement on school funding," Murphy said during a news conference at the state Department of Education in Trenton. If lawmakers don't reach a budget deal by June 30, New Jersey could suffer its second-straight government shutdown. "By the way, it's 'school funding,'" Murphy said Wednesday. "I think we've got the 'school' part reasonably well-machined. It's the 'funding' part, it's the ultimate half-the-loaf. We've got a very nice looking half-a-loaf. We need a whole loaf to make this work." "As governor, I cannot commit this state to a new school funding formula without knowing that we will be able to keep the promise beyond the 2019-20 school year," he concluded. With 10 days until the budget deadline, Murphy says he and lawmakers have made tremendous progress on updating N.J.s school funding formula, but only his budget and not the Legislatures has the sustainable revenue (tax hikes) needed. pic.twitter.com/03Zgr29XiI Brent Johnson (@johnsb01) June 20, 2018 Murphy's comments appeared to catch state Senate President Stephen Sweeney by surprise and came a day after Sweeney's school funding reform plan was approved by both the state Senate and Assembly budget committees. The proposal would begin the process of resetting school aid -- and after seven years, every district should receive 100 percent of exactly what the formula says they should. "I actually thought we had an agreement," Sweeney, D-Gloucester, told NJ Advance Media shortly after Murphy's news conference. "I really think we have an agreement on school funding. A lot of the changes we did yesterday were based on him." Sweeney warned earlier this month that he's willing to shut down state government again to get his school funding plan. The state shut down last year amid a similar budget dispute between former Gov. Chris Christie and lawmakers over school funding, among other matters. While Murphy and lawmakers largely agree on what changes ought to be made to the funding formula, they don't agree on what taxes to raise to get the extra necessary cash. Murphy is pushing his first state budget proposal since succeeding Republican Christie in January, and that blueprint includes $283 million more in school aid. To help pay for that and other initiatives, he wants to raise the income tax on residents with more than $1 million in income and boost the sales tax from 6.625 percent to 7 percent. But legislative Democrats aren't playing ball. They have crafted their own, alternative budget that includes another $65 million for school funding -- on top of Murphy's increase. Instead of the millionaires tax and sales tax increase, their budget hikes taxes on New Jersey's very largest businesses for two years. The Senate and Assembly are slated to pass their budget Thursday, sending it to the governor, who has already threatened a veto. Murphy said he's open to negotiations, but "the price of admission" is agreeing to "sustainable revenues." He once again referred to his tax plan as a "no-brainer." "This is not turning the Queen Mary around in the Panama Canal," Murphy said. Sweeney stressed Thursday that two years of an $805 million corporate tax hike gives leaders two years to "fix problems with spending." Sweeney added that lawmakers are "willing to continue to find a solution." "We want a solution," he said. NJ Advance Media staff writer Matt Arco contributed to this report. Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Three dozen New Jersey school districts may be required by law to raise taxes under a school funding reform bill passed by state legislative budget committees Tuesday. State Senate President Stephen Sweeney's major push to overhaul the funding formula was praised by lawmakers from both parties as taking on fixes that were long overdue. Broadly, the bill creates winners and losers, with some districts who've received less money than the formula says they should collecting new dollars that will come both from new spending and from those districts receiving more than they should under the formula. The funding formula takes into account a district's enrollment, demographics and its ability to pay for schools through local taxes. But clauses tacked onto the formula allowed some districts to hold onto aid despite falling enrollment, while preventing aid from keeping up with the needs of growing districts. "We put some language in there that we were supposed to remove, and it got difficult to remove over time," said state Senate Budget Chairman Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen. The bill (S2) would eliminate the so-called growth caps and adjustment aid, and begin the process of resetting school aid. The shift would take place over seven years, after which every district should receive 100 percent of exactly what the formula says they should. Districts that are underfunded include those both big and small, urban and suburban. Currently, some districts receive as little as 20 percent of what they're owed. The budget committees on Tuesday approved new provisions that protect some districts from losing money lawmakers don't think could or should be recouped through local taxes and that require others that aren't generating enough locally to increase their property taxes by 2 percent each year. "We're telling local districts ... that you're not going to use the state as a piggybank so that we pay everything and you don't have to," Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said. "We're talking about districts that have been overfunded. They can undertax locally because they get our money. Our money is leaving." In the coming school year, overfunded districts would lose no more than $3.5 million -- for a total of $60 million, while underfunded districts would gain no more than that amount. Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. New Jersey public workers could see cuts to their health care and pensions, motorists could travel on more toll roads and towns could be forced to consolidate if lawmakers embrace recommendations being considered by a high-powered group formed by the state's most powerful legislator. Those are just a handful of the nearly 60 suggestions in a draft document obtained by NJ Advance Media that could be released in the coming months by a panel of tax experts and lawmakers state Senate President Stephen Sweeney convened earlier this year to examine New Jersey's state and local tax structure. The Economic and Fiscal Policy Working Group, which held its discussions in private, grew out of Republican-led federal tax reform that hit high-cost states like New Jersey particularly hard. The panel was also tasked to look at everything from how the state funds its schools to bolstering New Jersey's underfunded pension system. A spokesman for Sweeney, D-Gloucester, downplayed the suggestions detailed in the four-page document, saying the group has yet to make its final recommendations and that some items may be removed once the group concludes its findings. But many of the items, if implemented, could affect everyday life for many New Jerseyans. Among the recommendations would be to move public workers to 401K-style retirement benefits instead of a pension, raise the retirement age of some state employees from 65 to 67, cap pensionable salary for nearly all government workers and further reduce health care benefits public workers. Another suggestion is for the state to require municipalities with less than 5,000 people to merge with an adjacent town. If implemented, that would force nearly 200 of the state's 565 municipalities to merge, according to 2010 U.S. Census population data. Also, it recommends to consolidate collective bargaining from the local level to the state for any state-funded benefit, which could affect, among others, New Jersey's teachers. To boost the state's ailing pension system, the panel suggests more "interstate tolls near the state line" where permitted by the federal government and charge motorists to travel on high-occupancy toll lanes, or "HOT lanes," on the NJ Turnpike and other highways. HOT lanes would need to be installed and any revenue earned from them -- and new toll booths -- would go to fund the pension system. A Sweeney spokesman, Richard McGrath, downplayed the specifics of the draft document. "The commission, which is comprised of a broad and diverse group of accomplished members, is still in the midst of its work," McGrath said in a statement. "We expect them to develop a wide range of ideas and recommendations to address the state's economic and fiscal challenges," he said. "We want to hear their ideas, but the committee is still working and has not reached the stage of actually making recommendations and we certainly haven't made any decisions on which suggestions will be used for potential policy proposals." Sweeney, meanwhile, has talked about the panel for months and said he looks forward to the release of the findings. "I'm putting a lot of stock into it, because, from sitting in the meetings, I think there's a lot of obvious things that can be done to correct problems," Sweeney said Monday at the Statehouse when asked about the panel. "But they're big things and they're difficult things," he said. "But they're worthwhile to explore and move forward on." More than a dozen experts and lawmakers weighed in on the recommendations. Missing from the group was any representative from Gov. Phil Murphy's administration. Sweeney is at odds with Murphy, a fellow Democrat, over ongoing budget negotiations. Hetty Rosenstein, director of Communications Workers of America, the largest union for state employees, slammed some of the pension and health care recommendations. She likened it to a repeat of the 2011 overhaul for public workers under then-Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, and Sweeney. State workers will be asked to share more of the burden while the state fails to live up to its end, Rosenstein said. "It amounts to a handful of concessions from people who have made enormous concessions over the last 10 years -- people who have made the most concessions in the last 10 years," she said. "This is not real," Rosenstein said. "Steve Sweeney has been coming up with this same tired stuff. At the end of the day, you've got to put the money (into the pension). If you put the money in, the fact is that this is a very modest pension." Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. Three years ago, an intoxicated Linden cop turned the wrong way onto a Staten Island highway, causing a crash that killed two of his companions and critically injured a third. The officer, Pedro Abad, is now serving a sentence of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide. The survivor - former Linden police officer Patrik Kudlac - and the families of the two men who died - Linden officer Frank Viggiano and Linden resident Joseph Rodriguez - are still living with the repercussions. Kudlac and the estates of Viggiano and Rodriguez in October resolved what may have been the last outstanding legal issue in the case when they settled a lawsuit against Abad and the two bars where he drank before the ill-fated crash, according to Kudlac's attorney, David L. Wikstrom. The three parties received a total of $2,085,000, including $1 million from Curves in Staten Island, New York, and $750,000 from Central Park in Roselle, Wikstrom said in a statement. He said another $300,000 came from Abad's insurer and an uninsured motorist policy paid $35,000. The "dram shop" lawsuit, which was the result of a consolidation of three original lawsuits from the victims, alleged negligence against Abad and that Curves and Central Park had served him while he was visibly drunk. Abad's blood-alcohol content was three times the legal limit on March 20, 2015, when he drove the wrong way on the West Shore Expressway and crashed into a tractor-trailer, authorities have said. Curves shut down after the fatal crash. Another strip club, called Xcess Gentleman's Club, now stands in its place. The former managers of Curves could not be reached for comment on the settlement. Curves' attorney in the lawsuit, Steven J. Weiderhorn, did not respond to a phone call. Central Park in recent years has served more than one off-duty police officer who later caused a fatal crash. Elizabeth officer Romulo Meneses-Alvarez this month pleaded guilty to causing a fatal crash with a motorcyclist while driving drunk on Halloween night. He admitted in court that he had been drinking at Central Park beforehand, his lawyer, Joshua McMahon, previously said. An attorney for Central Park could not be reached for comment. The bar's manager, Susan Todaro, did not respond to phone calls. Kudlac, who was 23 at the time of the crash, and the families of Viggiano and Rodriguez, both 28, could not be reached. At Abad's sentencing last June in New York City Criminal Court in Kings County, Rodriguez's sister said the loss of her brother still haunted her and her father. "I hate you," the sister, Roseann Rodriguez, told Abad at the time. "I don't feel bad for you. I actually hope you die before it comes time for you to be released." Viggiano's sister, Kathleen Viggiano, said at the sentencing that her brother was smart and often tried to help other people. "I can only hope Pedro can live with the knowledge he killed two men and that will be a prison sentence in itself," she said. Staff reporter Jessica Remo contributed to this report. Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Press release English Swedish 15 October 1997 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with one half to Professor Paul D. Boyer, University of California, Los Angeles, USA, and Dr. John E. Walker, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom for their elucidation of the enzymatic mechanism underlying the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and with one half to Professor Jens C. Skou, Aarhus University, Denmark for the first discovery of an ion-transporting enzyme, Na + , K + -ATPase. The three laureates have performed pioneering work on enzymes that participate in the conversion of the high-energy compound adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Paul D. Boyer and John E. Walker receive half the prize for their work on how the enzyme ATP synthase catalyses the formation of ATP. Boyer and his co-workers have proposed, on the basis of biochemical data, a mechanism for how ATP is formed from adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and inorganic phosphate. Walker and his co-workers have established the structure of the enzyme and verified the mechanism proposed by Boyer. Jens C. Skou receives his half of the prize for the discovery of the enzyme sodium, potassium-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase (Na + , K + -ATPase). This enzyme maintains the balance of sodium and potassium ions in the living cell. Both enzymes are bound to membranes in the cell and linked with the transport of ions through these but for different reasons. ATP the universal energy carrier in the living cell The German chemist Karl Lohmann discovered ATP in 1929. Its structure was clarified some years later and in 1948 the Scottish Nobel laureate of 1957 Alexander Todd synthesised ATP chemically. An important role was that played by the 1953 Nobel laureate in Medicine Fritz Lipmann when he during the years 1939-41 showed that ATP is the universal carrier of chemical energy in the cell and coined the expression energy-rich phosphate bonds. ATP functions as a carrier of energy in all living organisms from bacteria and fungi to plants and animals including humans. ATP captures the chemical energy released by the combustion of nutrients and transfers it to reactions that require energy, e.g. the building up of cell components, muscle contraction, transmission of nerve messages and many other functions. ATP has been termed the cells energy currency. Adenosine tri phosphate (A T P) consists of the nucleoside adenosine linked to three phosphate groups. On removal of the outermost phosphate group, adenosine di phosphate (A D P) is formed while at the same time the energy released can be employed for other reactions. Conversely, with the help of energy, an inorganic phosphate group can be bound to ADP and form ATP. Considerable quantities of ATP are formed and consumed. At rest, an adult converts daily a quantity of ATP corresponding to about one half body-weight, and during hard work the quantity can rise to almost a ton. Most of the ATP synthesis is carried out by the enzyme ATP synthase. At rest Na + , K + -ATPase uses up a third of all ATP formed. ATP synthase an exceptional molecular machine During the 1940s and 1950s it was clarified that the bulk of ATP is formed in cell respiration in the mitochondria and photosynthesis in the chloroplasts of plants. In 1960 the American scientist Efraim Racker and co-workers isolated, from mitochondria, the enzyme F o F 1 ATPase which we now call ATP synthase. The enzyme can be divided into an F 1 part containing the catalytic center and the F o part coupling the F 1 part to the membrane. The same enzyme exists in chloroplasts and bacteria. In 1961 Peter Mitchell presented what is termed the chemiosmotic hypothesis for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1978. He showed that cell respiration leads to a difference in hydrogen ion concentration (pH) inside and outside the mitochondrial membrane, and that a stream of hydrogen ions drives the formation of ATP. The same applies to the chloroplast membrane. The coupling of ATP synthase to hydrogen ion transport takes place via the F o part. Paul D. Boyer began his studies of ATP formation in the early 1950s and is still highly active as a scientist. His chief interest has been to find out by isotope techniques how ATP synthase functions and particularly how it uses energy to create new ATP. His work has been crowned with unusual success in the past few years. ATP synthase has a mode of function that is unusual for enzymes, and this required much time and extensive studies to establish. John E. Walker made his first studies of ATP synthase at the beginning of the 1980s. His starting point was that a detailed chemical and structural knowledge of an enzyme is required to understand in detail how it functions. He therefore determined the amino acid sequences in the constituent protein units. During the 1990s he has collaborated with crystallographers to clarify the three-dimensional structure of ATP synthase. So far, the structure of the enzymes F 1 part has been established. Walkers work complements Boyers in a remarkable manner and further studies based on this structure demonstrate the correctness of the mechanism proposed by Boyer. As mentioned above, ATP synthase (Fig. 1) consists of a membrane-bound part, F o , which transports hydrogen ions, and a protruding part (F 1 ) which can be released from the membrane. (The terms are historical, and F 1 stands for factor 1 and F o for oligomycin-sensitive factor). Each F o part consists of three types of subunits in differing numbers, the proteins a (1), b (2) and c (9-12). The F 1 part consists of five subunits, alpha, beta, gamma, delta and epsilon. While there are three each of alpha and beta, there is only one unit of each of the others. It has been shown that it is on the beta units where the synthesis of ATP occurs. The analysis of the amino acid sequences that Walker and co-workers did at the beginning of the 1980s showed that subunits gamma, delta and epsilon are not symmetrical, a feature of importance for our understanding of how ATP synthase functions. The most detailed studies of ATP synthase concern the F 1 part and how it functions. Boyer and co-workers clarified that the enzyme functions in a very particular way. They found that, as opposed to the view generally held, the step requiring energy was not the synthesis of ATP from ADP and inorganic phosphate, but that energy was required to bind ADP and the phosphate to the enzyme and to release ATP. Nevertheless an energy surplus was stored in the ATP. In this respect ATP synthase differs from the majority of all enzymes, which bind and release substrates and products spontaneously, but for which the overall catalytic reaction requires energy. A further observation was that despite the asymmetrical character of F 1 , there is only one way for the enzyme to react. But how then can the three beta subunits function in the same way if they have different couplings to subunits gamma, delta and epsilon? Boyer found the answer to this question by clarifying that gamma, delta and epsilon rotate in a cylinder formed of alternating alpha and beta subunits. This rotation induces structural changes in beta which lead to differences in bonding ability during a cyclical course (see Figure 2). This mechanism is called Boyers Binding Change Mechanism. Boyer also proposed that this rotation is driven by the above-mentioned hydrogen ion flow through the membrane. Boyer has called ATP synthase a molecular machine. It may be compared to a water-driven hammer minting coins. The F o part is the wheel, the flow of protons is the waterfall and the structural changes in F 1 lead to three coins in the ATP currency being minted for each turn of the wheel. Walker clarified the structural conditions of the enzymes molecular machinery and thereby verified Boyers mechanism. The crystallographic structure of the F 1 part of ATP synthase from cows, determined chiefly in collaboration with the Dutchman J.P. Abrahams and the Englishman A. Leslie, shows partly that the alpha and beta subunits are related in terms of structure and evolution and partly that they have clearly differing structures and therefore differing abilities to bind ADP and ATP. The gamma subunit is placed as an asymmetrical axle in the cylinder formed by the three alpha and the three beta subunits and has unique contacts with the beta units and forces their active surfaces to assume different three-dimensional structures. These results can be interpreted according to Boyers mechanism to mean that the enzyme functions through rotation of the gamma subunits. It has been difficult to demonstrate this rotation experimentally but several groups have now succeeded. Wolfgang Junge in Germany used spectroscopic techniques and the American scientist Richard Cross chemical cross-bonding. Recently a Japanese group under Masasuke Yoshida succeeded in visualising the rotation in the F 1 part of ATP synthase. They attached a fibre of the muscle protein actin to the gamma subunit, and the beta units were attached to the substratum. Depending on the ATP concentration in the surrounding liquid it was possible to show under a microscope how the actin fibre rotated at increasing speed with increasing ATP concentration. Na+, K+-ATPase, the first molecular pump to be discovered It was known as early as the 1920s that the ion composition within living cells is different from that in the surroundings. Within the cells the sodium concentration is lower and the potassium concentration higher than in the liquid outside. Through the work of the Englishmen Richard Keynes and Alan Hodgkin at the beginning of the 1950s (Hodgkin received the Nobel Prize in 1963) it was known that when a nerve is stimulated sodium ions pour into the nerve cell. The difference in concentration is restored by sodium being transported out once again. That this transport required ATP was probable since the transport could be inhibited in the living cell by inhibiting the formation of ATP. With this as the starting point Jens C. Skou searched for an ATP-degrading enzyme in the nerve membrane that could be associated with ion transport. In 1957 he published the first article on an ATPase, which was activated by sodium and potassium ions (Na + , K + -ATPase). He was the first to describe an enzyme that can promote directed (vectored) transport of substances through a cell membrane, a fundamental property of all living cells. Numerous enzymes have since been demonstrated to have essentially similar functions. Skou used as experimental material finely ground crab nerve membranes. The ATP-degrading enzyme found in the preparation required the presence of magnesium ions and was stimulated with increasing quantities of sodium ions up to a certain limit. Above this Skou was able to obtain further stimulation if he added small quantities of potassium ions. An indication that the enzyme was coupled to the ion pump was that maximal stimulation was obtained at the concentrations of sodium and potassium that normally occur in the nerve. In his further studies of the enzyme mechanism Skou showed that sodium ions and potassium ions bind with high affinity to different places in the enzyme. In addition he showed that the phosphate group separated from ATP also binds to ATPase. This is described as a phosphorylation of the enzyme. The enzyme is dependent on sodium ions when it is phosphorylated and on potassium ions when it is dephosphorylated. Substances known to inhibit sodium/potassium transport are certain digitalis alkaloids, e.g. oubain, and Skou showed that oubain interferes in the enzymes activation by sodium. The picture that slowly emerged from Skous and others work is that the enzyme consists of two subunits, alpha and beta. The first carries the enzymes activity and the other presumably stabilises the structure. The enzyme molecules are located in the cell membrane, often in twos, and expose surfaces to the outside as well as the inside. Three sodium ions and ATP bind to the interior surface. A phosphate is then transferred from ATP to an amino acid in the enzyme, aspartic acid, whereupon the ADP is liberated and the enzyme changes form so that the sodium ions are transported to the outside. Here they are released and two potassium ions attach instead. When the phosphorus that is bound to the enzyme is removed the potassium ions are transported into the cell and when new ATP binds to the enzyme they are rejected. As a result of the action of the Na + , K + -ATPase, the cell keeps a high concentration of potassium in its inside. As the cell membrane is rather permeable for potassium ions, a few of these potassium ions leak out, leaving unpermeable, negative charges on the inside of the cell. Therefore, the inside of the cell membrane becomes electrically negatively charged, as compared to the outside. This difference in potential across the membrane is necessary for a nerve stimulation to propagate along a nerve fibre or a muscle cell. This is why a shortage of nourishment or oxygen in the brain rapidly leads to unconsciousness since the ATP formation ceases and the ion pump stops. The pump is also important for maintaining cell volume. If the pump stops, the cell swells. The difference in sodium concentration between the interior and the exterior is the driving force in the uptake of important nutrients necessary to the cell, e.g. glucose and amino acids. It can also be used for transport of other ions through the cell membrane. Thus sodium ions that enter can be exchanged for calcium ions that exit. Following the discovery of Na + , K + -ATPase other ion pumps have been discovered with similar structures and functions. Examples are Ca 2+ >-ATPase in skeletal muscle, which participates in the control of muscle contraction and H + , K + -ATPase which produces hydrochloric acid in the stomach. It is the latter enzyme that is specifically inhibited in modern treatment of stomach ulcers. Corresponding enzymes are also found in lower organisms, for example in yeast where an H + -ATPase secretes hydrogen ions formed during fermentation. As a common name these enzymes are nowadays termed P-type ATPases since they are phosphorylated during the course of the reaction. Further reading Paul D. Boyer and John E. Walker Boyer, P.D., The binding change mechanism for ATP synthase Some probabilities and possibilities, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (1993) 1140, 215-250. Abrahams, J.P., Leslie, A.G., Lutter, R., and Walker J.E., Structure at 2.8 A resolution of F 1 -ATPase from bovine heart mitochondria, Nature (1994) 370, 621-628. Boyer, P.D., The ATP synthase a splendid molecular machine, Annual Review in Biochemistry (1997) 66, 717-749. Jens C. Skou Skou, J.C., The influence of some cations on an adenosine triphosphatase from peripheral nerves, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (1957) 23, 394-401. Skou, J.C., and Esmann, M., The Na, K-ATPase, Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes (1992) 24, 249-261. Lingrel, J.B., Na-K-ATPase: Isoform Structure, Function, and Expression, Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes (1992) 24, 263-270. Moller, J.V., Juul, B., and le Maire, M., Structural organization, ion transport, and energy transduction of P-type ATPases, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (1996) 1286, 1-51. Lutsenko, S. and Kaplan, J.H., Organization of P-type ATPases: Significance of structural diversity, Biochemistry (1996) 34, 15607-15613. Professor Paul D. Boyer was born 1918 in Provo, Utah, USA. Ph.D. in Biochemistry 1943, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. From 1963 to 1989 he was Professor of Chemistry at Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and from 1965 to 1983 Director of the Molecular Biology Institute, UCLA. Since 1990 he has been Professor Emeritus at Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA. Boyer has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1970. He received an honorary doctorate from Stockholm University in 1974 and in 1989 he was awarded the Rose Award of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Professor Paul D. Boyer Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of California Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA Dr. John E. Walker was born 1941 in Halifax, Great Britain. He received M.A. and Dr.Phil. at Oxford University, Great Britain. Since 1982 Walker has been Senior Scientist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, Great Britain. He was elected to the Royal Society, London, in 1995. Dr. John E. Walker Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology Hills Road Cambridge, CB2 2QH UK Professor Jens C. Skou was born 1918 in Denmark. He received his medical training at Copenhagen University. In 1954 Skou received his doctoral degree at Aarhus University, where he became Professor of Physiology in 1963. He was appointed Professor of Biophysics in 1977 at the same university. Skou is a member of the Danish Academy of Sciences. Professor Jens C. Skou Aarhus University Nordre Ringgade DK-8000 Aarhus Denmark To cite this section MLA style: Press release. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Mon. 18 Oct 2021. Latitude Consultancy, a leading British company in the investment migration industry, has announced its plans for a merger with RIF Trust Investments, a Dubai-based citizenship-by-investment leader in the GCC region. The merger will expand Latitudes international network to the ever-important Gulf region and will combine RIF Trusts leading sales force in Dubai with Latitudes unrivalled experience in the Investment Migration industry. The transaction is expected to complete by early July. Eric Major, the founding partner and CEO of Latitude, said: "We are proud to be the first firm in our growing industry to complete a merger and we expect to play a leading role in the months ahead in driving further consolidation in our industry." "Beyond the market success witnessed by RIF Trust over the years, what excites me the most about this merger is the people we are bringing together. Like Latitude, RIF Trust has a great organizational culture driven by David and Mimouns positive can-do attitude. It is this corporate ethos that is going to make us very successful in the years to come," observed Major. RIF Trust CEO Mimoun Assraoui said: "Since our inception over four years ago, our goal has been to work consistently and steadily towards creating the most successful firm in the industry, and now with this merger, we are well on our way to achieving that goal. The depth and experience of Latitudes senior management combined with our strong sales culture is sure to bring great results." The Investment Migration industry is expected to see further consolidation in the months ahead, as fragmented and varied-size players explore the merits of joining forces in an ever-growing competitive marketplace, he noted. A specialist in residency and citizenship-by-investment, RIF Trust prides itself on excellence in service, efficiency in processing and transparency in pricing. The firm has won a number of awards for its leadership position in the Gulf Region, including most recently from the Prime Minister of St Kitts & Nevis for submitting the most applications under the Hurricane Relief Fund. RIF Trust inspires its clients to look into the future with optimism, to aspire to a world with no borders and to embrace a new bridge to this world, he added. David Regueiro, COO of RIF Trust, confirmed that both firms will continue to operate under their existing brands until the end of this year. RIF Trust has been operating in the UAE for over 4 years and has developed a strong brand and market awareness, so we agreed to maintain the RIF name until we complete a rebranding at some point in the new year, he added.-TradeArabia News Service The Times-Picayune is marking the tricentennial of New Orleans with its ongoing 300 for 300 project, running through 2018 and highlighting 300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans, featuring original artwork commissioned by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune with Where Y'Art gallery. Today: ballerina Suzanne Douvillier. The icon: Suzanne Douvillier. The legacy: Long before it was the birthplace of jazz, and even before it built its famed French Opera House, New Orleans was the epicenter of American dance, thanks to Suzanne Douvillier -- also known as Madam Placide -- a French ballerina, choreographer and pantomimist who is recognized as the first celebrity ballet dancer in the United States. After building her name by bouncing around in New York; Philadelphia; Boston; and Charleston, South Carolina, she and husband Louis Douvillier in 1799 settled in New Orleans, where she became a fixture on the local performance scene. In addition to being a dancer, she was a barrier breaker, as she is believed to be the country's first female choreographer, first female scene-painter and the first woman to perform on-stage as a man. The artist: D. Lammie Hanson. The quote: "She was tall and commanding in her bearing ... and went through the scene with exquisite grace and ease." -- actor and theater manager Noah Miller Ludlow, on Suzanne Douvillier's final performance, in 1818 in New Orleans Explore more of D. Lammie Hanson's work online at WhereYart.net and in person at the Where Y'Art gallery, 1901 Royal St. She was born Suzanne Theodore Vaillande in Dole, France, in 1778. Source: The Times-Picayune archives; staff research More on 300 for 300: A video of a Saturday night (June 16) "brawl" on Bourbon Street shows New Orleans Police Department officers "getting whaled on from behind" as they try to arrest the instigators, NOPD Commander Nicholas Gernon said. Gernon, the commander of NOPD's 8 District, which polices the French Quarter and Central Business District, said Wednesday of the brawl and apprehensions that followed shows officers implementing de-escalation techniques they've been trained to use. Video of the fight, which resulted in a brief hospitalization of one of the officers whose hip was injured, also provides, Gernon said, "a good example of what (officers) face and how they deal with it." The video was taken from a nearby business' surveillance camera. See the videos here and here. The fight, which occurred around 11:20 p.m. among a large crowd that appeared to fill the 500 block of Bourbon Street where it occurred, led to the arrest of five people, including one person who was booked on weapons charges. That man, Alejandro Ford, 26, can be seen in the video, Gernon said, pulling a gun from his waistband and then later putting it back there as officers sought to get the situation under control. Four others face battery of an officer and other charges. "This is what constitutional policing in the 21st century looks like," said NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison. "After being kicked, after being head-butted, thrown against the ground and becoming aware that a weapon was drawn in this confrontation, these officers still had the presence of mind to realize their training to a positive end." Gernon and NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison showed reporters video of the brawl and arrests Wednesday during a press conference at the city's Real Time Crime Center. The facility is where NOPD accesses footage from the city's crime cameras as well as footage from some businesses and private residences that allow the city access to the footage. One of the arrested men, David Wilson, 26, of Pascagoula, Miss., was Tased by one of the NOPD Mounted Division officers. Mounted Division officers patrol on horseback. Gernon said the officer shocked Wilson with a stun gun as Wilson resisted arrest, after the officer or officers, "felt that he was a threat." Wilson was taken to a hospital "as a precautionary measure," because he had been shocked, but was medically cleared and taken to jail, Gernon said. None of the other people who were arrested were injured, Gernon said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The officers who were punched, kicked in the groin and "head-butted," according to an arrest warrant, suffered "bumps and bruises," and "cuts," Gernon said, in addition to the hip injury of one officer that required an x-ray. All the officers there that night, Gernon said, were able to return to work the following evening. The five people who were arrested were from Mississippi and Florida and came to Bourbon Street together on a party bus that night, Gernon said. The fight originated inside a bar in the 500 block, The Swamp on Bourbon Street, and staff there made them leave before the brawl spilled into the street, the commander said. At one point, two officers in NOPD's Mounted Division arrive on horseback to the scene, scattering the crowd slightly, to back up the officers already on scene. Watch the video and press conference below. Patriceia Casher, of Altamonte Springs, Fla., was booked on suspicion of battery of a police officer, resisting a police officer with force and disturbing the peace. An Orleans Parish magistrate commissioner on Sunday (June 17) found probable cause to hold her, though she did not appear at a court hearing that day. According to court records, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office did not transfer her to court because she refused to take a tuberculosis test. Orleans Magistrate Commissioner Albert Thibodeaux set her bond at $5,100 the following day. An Orleans Public Defender's Office attorney was appointed to represent her while she was incarcerated, records show, but Casher had been released from jail sometime before Tuesday afternoon. Wilson, of Pascagoula, Miss, was booked on charges including obstruction of justice, battery of a police officer and resisting a policing officer. He was initially accused of resisting a police officer with force, but Orleans Parish Commissioner Robert Blackburn on Sunday found no probable cause for that charge, instead finding probable cause for resisting a police officer, a similar but less-serious offense. Blackburn set his bond at $5,000, and it appears he has also since been released from jail. It was not clear if he had hired an attorney. Ford, also of Altamonte Spring, Fla., was booked on the weapons charges, and Blackburn on Sunday found probable cause to hold him. Blackburn set his bond at $20,000. Court records indicate he bonded out sometime before Tuesday afternoon. In addition to the 27-year-old man from Pascagoula, Miss., who was arrested on a municipal charge of battery of a police officer, a 31-year-old Pascagoula man was also arrested on the municipal charge of battery of a police officer. A review of the surveillance video revealed the 31-year-old man punched McKoan as McKoan helped Berry handcuff Casher, the warrant states. Commander Gernon lauded the Eight District's efforts to remove illegal guns from the streets in 2018. According to NOPD records, 97 illegal guns have been seized so far this year, compared to 75 at this time the previous year. In all of 2016, he said, the Eighth District seized 99. Staff writer Emily Lane contributed to this report. Two New Orleans police officers were punched with closed fists and kicked in the groin Saturday night (June 16) after one of the officers tried to break up a "brawl" on Bourbon Street, an arrest warrant states. Another officer responding to the scene in the 500 block of the famed thoroughfare was also head-butted during the melee, according to the warrant. The officers were injured but as of this week were in "good condition," NOPD said on Wednesday (June 20). Five people were arrested as a result of what the warrant referred to as a "disturbance," including four people who were booked on suspicion of battery of a police officer. The fifth person was booked with illegal use of a weapon and possession of a firearm in an alcohol beverage outlet, court records show. The warrant says video of the incident shows that person, Alejandro Ford, 26, of Florida, took a gun from his waistband, "within the large crowd," before putting it back in his waistband at some point during the disturbance. A third officer, a member of NOPD's horse mounted patrol, caught up with one of the accused attackers and used a Taser on him, the warrant says. That man, David Wilson, 26, of Mississippi, was taken to a hospital before jail for "a medical check" related to being shocked with a stun gun. According to the warrant, a 26-year-old Florida woman "started causing a disturbance" in the 500 block of Bourbon Street, between St. Louis and Toulouse streets, when NOPD Officers Lee Berry and Matthew McKoan "attempted to intervene." In a press advisory sent Wednesday, NOPD referred to the disturbance as a "brawl." The officers tried to "separate the combative parties," at which time Berry was "knocked to the ground by the crowd," according to the warrant. When he got up, the 26-year-old woman who police claim started the disturbance, Patriceia Casher, "started striking Officer Berry with her closed fist." Another man, a 27-year-old who was later arrested on a municipal charge of battery of an officer, also started hitting Berry with a closed fist, the warrant states. Berry "regained his footing," the warrant says, and placed Casher in handcuffs, "at which time Ms. Casher kicked Officer Berry and Officer McKoan in the groin area." Berry, the warrant states, was still getting punched by Stallworth. As McKoan helped Berry place Casher in handcuffs, David Wilson "started pushing Officer McKoan" to try to free Casher and also struck him "with a head-butt type contact," the warrant states. NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison and Nicholas Gernon, commander of NOPD's 8th District, which polices the French Quarter and CBD, were expected to address reporters about the Bourbon Street Brawl" at the City of New Orleans' Real Time Crime Center, 517 N. Rampart St. The facility is where NOPD accesses footage from the city's crime cameras as well as footage from some businesses and private residences that allow the city access to the footage. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Officers Christopher Eymard and Patrick Schneider, who the warrant describes as "mounted officers," arrived at the scene at some point and used a stun gun to arrest Wilson, the warrant says. "Eymard stated he attempted to stop Mr. Wilson from fleeing the scene after he observed Mr. Wilson attempting to strike Officer McKoan. Officer Eymard gave verbal commands to Wilson so stop before yelling the command, 'Taser Taser, Taser," and discharging his Taser," the warrant states. After Wilson was shocked with a Taser, officers handcuffed him "without further incident." The warrant states NOPD Sgt. Sam Dupre viewed surveillance from a nearby business that captured the disturbance as well as images of Ford pulling the gun from his waistband. Ford was at some point inside a nearby bar while in possession of the concealed gun, the warrant says police learned. Casher, of Altamonte Springs, Fla., was booked on suspicion of battery of a police officer, resisting a police officer with force and disturbing the peace. An Orleans Parish magistrate commissioner on Sunday (June 17) found probable cause to hold her, though she did not appear at a court hearing that day. According to court records, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office did not transfer her to court because she refused to take a tuberculosis test. Orleans Magistrate Commissioner Albert Thibodeaux set her bond at $5,100 the following day. An Orleans Public Defender's Office attorney was appointed to represent her while she was incarcerated, records show, but Casher had been released from jail sometime before Tuesday afternoon. Wilson, of Pascagoula, Miss, was booked on charges including obstruction of justice, battery of a police officer and resisting a policing officer. He was initially accused of resisting a police officer with force, but Orleans Parish Commissioner Robert Blackburn found no probable cause for that charge, instead finding probable cause for resisting a police officer, a similar but less-serious offense. Blackburn set his bond at $5,000, and it appears he has also since been released from jail. It was not clear if he had hired an attorney. Ford, also of Altamonte Spring, Fla., was booked on the weapons charges, and Blackburn on Sunday found probable cause to hold him. Blackburn set his bond at $20,000. Court records indicate he bonded out sometime before Tuesday afternoon. In addition to the 27-year-old man from Pascagoula, Miss., who was arrested on a municipal charge of battery of a police officer, a 31-year-old Pascagoula man was also arrested on the municipal charge of battery of a police officer. A review of the surveillance video revealed the 31-year-old man punched McKoan as McKoan helped Berry handcuff Casher, the warrant states. A Jefferson Parish woman filed a lawsuit Sunday (June 17) claiming a Walmart store in Lake Charles disciplined her -- and ultimately fired her -- due to her pregnancy, according to federal court records and the woman's attorney. The suit, filed against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Walmart Louisiana LLC, alleges the company violated several federal laws and a state law, costing Juanita Fischer both her regular paycheck and health insurance while she was pregnant with her first child. Fischer is represented by William Most, a civil-rights attorney based in New Orleans. Both federal and state laws prohibit discrimination against employees due to pregnancy. Federal law also requires reasonable accommodations be made for employees with pregnancy-related limitations. The suit seeks compensatory, punitive and other relief for Fischer's firing, which she says led her to file for bankruptcy. Randy Hargrove, a Walmart company spokesman, said Tuesday (June 19) that Fischer's firing was not related to her pregnancy, and that the company plans to defend itself. "We deny Ms. Fischer's allegations," Hargrove said. "Her departure from the company had nothing to do with her pregnancy. Ms. Fischer's termination was due to poor job performance and failing to show up for work, which she never disputed." According to the lawsuit, Fischer worked in the store's deli department for a year, from August 2014 to August 2015, without receiving any disciplinary actions for job performance or attendance. Instead, she received positive reviews and a merit raise, the suit states. However, after telling her managers that she was pregnant, she received her first disciplinary action just a few days later, according to the suit. The reprimand: failing to take out the trash, a mistake she and other employees had made in the past without discipline, Fischer contends. Walmart also refused to accommodate her pregnancy-related medical needs and failed to inform her of her rights under the Family Medical Leave Act, including family leave, the suit alleges. Though other employees missed work without reprimand, Fischer received another disciplinary action in October 2015 after she missed work due to pregnancy-related conditions, according to the lawsuit. Fischer's pregnancy "was unusually medically complicated, and she had to seek care due to severe nausea, abnormal bleeding, and a potential miscarriage," the suit states. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up As a result, Fischer asked for accommodations - to be transferred from the deli to a department requiring less strenuous work, or to not have to close the deli alone, or to merely have access to a stool for some tasks. Walmart denied every request, the suit claims. "She was told that Walmart does not accommodate pregnancy," according to the suit. In January 2016, Fischer was closing the deli alone when she slipped and hit her stomach on a sink, her lawsuit claims. "She was in pain and terrified of a miscarriage, but finished her shift before going to the emergency room because she was afraid she would be fired for taking more time away from work," the suit states. Fischer was fired two days later, "supposedly for her absences," according to the lawsuit. A week after Walmart fired her, the company approved her request for leave. When she showed the documentation to her former manager, in hopes of regaining her job, he told her to reapply "after you have your baby," the lawsuit alleges. "Walmart's lack of accommodations caused Juanita severe emotional distress, as she worried about the health of her pregnancy and how the work might affect her baby," according to the lawsuit. The lack of accommodations also led to the attendance and job performance issues the company claims as the reason for her firing, the lawsuit claims. In addition, Walmart rehired her, for a different store, after she was no longer pregnant, but without the benefits or merit raises she had previously accrued, the suit states. The lawsuit claims that in punishing and firing Fischer, Walmart violated the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and Americans With Disabilities Act, and the Louisiana Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Hargrove said he couldn't comment on Fischer's claims that she had received positive job performance reviews prior to disclosing her pregnancy, because of the pending lawsuit, but reiterated her dismissal was due to poor job performance and not showing up for work. "Walmart is a good place for women to work and our pregnancy policy is best in class and goes well beyond federal and most state laws," Hargrove said. NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune reporter Littice Bacon-Blood contributed to this report. A man was injured early Wednesday (June 20) in a shooting in Harvey, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. His condition was not immediately available. The shooting happened in the 1000 block of Tallow Tree Lane (map), authorities said. JPSO reported the shooting at 4:35 a.m. Wednesday, but it wasn't immediately clear when it happened. JPSO said the man's injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, but did not release any additional details about the man, including his age. Authorities ask anyone with information about this crime to contact Crimestoppers at 504.822.1111. --- Carlie Kollath Wells is a morning reporter at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Have an early-bird tip? Send it to her: cwells@nola.com or Twitter @carlie_kollath. A Louisiana State Police trooper was jailed Tuesday night on allegations that he raped a 16-year-old girl, court records show. Leander Journee, 36, was arrested Tuesday (June 19) and booked into the Orleans Parish Justice Center with third-degree rape. A warrant for Journee's arrest indicates he and the 16-year-old girl knew each other. According to the 16-year-old, she and Journee were playfully wrestling over a cell phone inside of a Gentilly home off of Leon C. Simon Boulevard on June 11, when the incident became sexual. Journee then raped the 16-year-old and left the residence, the warrant states. The girl then informed her friend of the rape, and the friend told the girl's mother. Booking documents list Journee's employer as the Louisiana State Police in New Orleans. "Immediately upon being notified of the serious allegations, the department placed him on administrative leave and recovered all State Police property," stated Colonel Kevin Reeves, Louisiana State Police Superintendent. The NOPD's Special Victims Section Child Abuse Unit was contacted on June 13 about an aggravated rape that had occurred on June 11 involving the 16-year-old girl, according to an NOPD press release. Authorities spoke with the 16-year-old's mother, who said her daughter had confirmed to her that she was raped by Journee. Detectives then confirmed the allegations with the victim, according to court documents. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Court records indicate Orleans Parish Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell "preset" Journee's bond at $25,000. He had bailed out as of late Wednesday morning (June 20). He briefly appeared in court Wednesday morning (June 20). He was issued a stay away order and ordered to go to counseling services. Check back with NOLA.com for updates. Anyone with additional information on this incident is asked to contact NOPD Child Abuse Division detectives at 504-658-5267. Reporters Emily Lane and Marie Simoneaux contributed to this story. Al Seer Marine, a key manufacturer of unmanned surface vessel (USV) based in the UAE, has signed a co-operation agreement with Iceland-based company Rafnar to develop products using its revolutionary technology, OK Hull and sell them under Abu Dhabi license. Rafnar began as a research and development company for the unique OK Hull, a hull platform that ensures endurance, comfort and safety for mariners in the harshest of environments by reducing wave slamming impacts by up to 95 per cent. The company now sells its own premium vessels and provides licensing opportunities for their OK Hull technology to vessel builders. The initial goal of this collaboration is to convert Rafnars famous Embla RHIB platform into a manned and USV in turn making it the most stable USV platform of its size in the world. Embla earned its reputation in the industry when it crossed the North Atlantic from Iceland to Gothenburg unsupported, tackling up to 6-metre waves over a 1,357 nautical mile distance. Rafnar and Al Seer Marine have both developed their individual proprietary technologies and seen multiple opportunities in working together. Al Seer Marine are seeking to further strengthen its product portfolio through the application of Rafnars OK Hull and in the process of developing the worlds most stable USV. The cooperation agreement was signed at the Al Seer Marine Headquarters in Abu Dhabi in the presence of Al Seer Marine executives including Russell Bartlett, Operations Manager and Lee Drinkwater, Head of Business Development & Strategy, and Rafnar officials including Bjorn Jonsson, Managing Director and Karl Birgir Bjornsson, Director of Business Development. While the partnership focuses primarily on offering future USV platforms with the groundbreaking Rafnar OK Hull technology, the companies also agreed to a cooperation for the production of Rafnar vessels, with Al Seer Marine agreeing to subcontract builds for Rafnar in Abu Dhabi under the Al Seer Marine licence, said the officials of the Abu Dhabi group. Drinkwater pointed out that Al Seer Marine was looking forward to a long-standing collaboration with the marine industry disruptors Rafnar. "We are excited to be able to unman Rafnars Embla, a great starting point. Adding the OK hull to our portfolio of vessels ensures we deliver the most stable seakeeping platforms for the most extreme marine environments," he noted. On his part, Rafnar' Jonsson dubbed this cooperation as "an excellent example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts." A homegrown brand established in Abu Dhabi, Al Seer Marine aims to be one of the premier, non-export controlled maritime solutions provider in the world. With this strategic partnership, Al Seer Marine will be able to further develop and strengthen manufacturing innovations and technically advanced solutions for all types of maritime tasks.-TradeArabia News Service An associate professor of philosophy at the University of New Orleans has been awarded a three-year, $1.8 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to study entrepreneurship patterns in urban communities, to support prospective entrepreneurs across the southeastern United States. Chris Surprenant, a professor and UNO's honors program director, plans to work with academics from historically black colleges, including Dillard University, Jackson State University, Southern University Law Center and Morehouse College, to conduct research with a specific focus on black communities, according to a UNO news release Wednesday (June 20). Surprenant said in a released statement that entrepreneurship matters because "it's one of the best ways for people to escape poverty." Social scientists studying entrepreneurial outcomes among racial and ethnic groups often conclude black Americans are less successful entrepreneurs in comparison to their non-black peers, Surprenant said. He added that scientists also often conclude that only small percentages of black Americans are involved in entrepreneurism. However, Surprenant argues these statistics may not tell the whole story of entrepreneurism in the black community. Entrepreneurism in these communities often includes activities like selling homemade food, fixing cars, reselling goods and watching other people's children. Surprenant stated there is a lack of research focused on understanding how often these activities occur and where future opportunities may lie as a result. "The challenge is trying to understand and document what is going on, both the obstacles and successes, in a way that would make possible outside investment, either from public or private sources," Surprenant stated. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up UNO said Surprenant will also work with the Pelican Institute and Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture to collaborate with policy professionals who specialize in studying free markets and community. Surprenant stated he is excited to work with "a great coalition of people" on this project. The Templeton Foundation was established in 1987 by investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton to support interdisciplinary research in areas such as science, individual freedom and markets, and genetics. Previous research funded by the Foundation includes work to understand how global religious populations will change in the next three decades, as well as research to understand the nature of black holes, according to the Foundation's website. . . . . . . . Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles. The state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority on Tuesday threatened possible legal action if the Plaquemines Parish Council continued to block soil borings from being taken at the West Bank location of the proposed $1.3 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion near Myrtle Grove. The Plaquemines Council also acts as the Plaquemines Parish Levee Board. As such, coastal authorities argue, it is required to comply with Gov. John Bel Edwards' 2016 executive order requiring all state agencies to "administer their duties in a manner consistent with the Coastal Master Plan and public interest to the maximum extent possible." CPRA board chairman Johnny Bradberry and executive director Michael Ellis made their arguments in a letter dated Tuesday (June 19) and sent to all nine members of the parish council. The board has scheduled an executive session at its Wednesday meeting in Baton Rouge to discuss the letter, the borings and the potential for legal action. The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. in the LaBelle Room of the LaSalle Building, 617 N. Third St., Baton Rouge. The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion would move up to 75,000 cubic feet per second of sediment-laden water through a channel from the Mississippi River into the upper Barataria Bay, to both build new wetlands in open water and to "nourish" existing wetlands with its sediment and the nutrients carried by the river. A second $696 million Mid-Breton diversion would move up to 35,000 cubic feet per second of sediment and water from the river's east bank near Bertrandville into Breton Sound. That diversion is several years behind Mid-Barataria in both the design and permitting processes. State officials have said the Mid-Barataria diversion would operate when the river flow is above 450,00 cubic feet per second, and at its highest capacity only during major flood years when the flow reaches more than 1 million cubic feet per second. Fishermen who oppose the diversion contend that its freshwater and sediment will destroy oyster beds and change the timing and location of shrimp and fish, reducing their financial livelihood. State officials have agreed there will be some such changes, but say that without the diversion, much larger areas of wetlands will disappear over the next 50 years and longer, the effects of which will be as bad or worse on fishery resources. Earlier this month, Plaquemines Parish President Amos Cormier held a news conference with fishermen who oppose the diversion, and said a 2014 parish ordinance prevents him from bringing any permits to the parish council regarding the construction, development or implementation of sediment diversion projects. He said that ordinance would have to be repealed before permits allowing the soil borings could be considered, and that no such measure had been introduced or considered by the council. In an email response Tuesday to a request for comment on the CPRA letter, Cormier pointed out that the agency contains no members who live in or represent Plaquemines. He also repeated his concern that the diversion is an experimental project that holds the same potential of causing harmful algae blooms as the Bonnet Carre Spillway, and that it could become a second Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. The MR-GO, now closed, was a 36-foot-deep navigation channel from the Gulf of Mexico to downtown New Orleans. He also said the state failed to take into account several scientific studies that he said raise questions about the ability of the diversion to create land as promised. One is a 2014 Army Corps of Engineers report on the history of crevasses near Fort St. Philip, which is on the east bank of the Mississippi. Another is a study questioning whether freshwater marshes, such as those likely to be created by the diversion, have the strength to withstand hurricane storm surges. "Simply put, CPRA's model is flawed because when good empirical data is excluded, bad results follow," Cormier said. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Cormier said he planned to address the CPRA board at Wednesday's meeting. In its letter, the CPRA said the borings are needed as part of a comprehensive environmental impact study being conducted by the corps and the state to detail the effects of the proposed diversion. The study is part of a lengthy federal permitting process that had just been cut by about two years through actions taken by Congress to limit part of the environmental review, and other actions taken by the Trump administration to speed the corps permitting process. The borings also would be used in designing the proposed diversion, and would be done within 1,500 feet of the Mississippi River levee in the parish. In May, Bradberry said continued delays by the parish could result in additional costs of about $400,000 a month. "Such arbitrary and capricious actions continue to cause irreparable harm to the coastal area and the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the state of Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish and nearby parishes," Coastal Authority officials wrote in the letter. The letter also points to Louisiana Supreme Court's 2003 "Avenal" ruling that concluded the public's need for coastal restoration outweighed the millions of dollars of damage to oysters allegedly caused by the Caernarvon Freshwater Diversion. In that ruling, the Supreme Court found: "The public resource at issue is our very coastline, the loss of which is occurring at an alarming rate. The risks involved are not just environmental, but involve the health, safety, and welfare of our people, as coastal erosion removes an important barrier between large populations and ever-threatening hurricanes and storms." The letter said that last week, the CPRA had submitted a memorandum of understanding that it asked the parish to sign, and was awaiting a response. But if the letters of no objection are not issued by June 29, "this correspondence serves as notice that the state through CPRA will pursue all legal remedies available to enforce the police powers of the state ..." to get the parish to comply with the master plan. Also on Tuesday, the CPRA announced it hired Archer Western-Alberici Joint Venture as a "construction management at-risk" firm to oversee the pre-construction phase of the project, valued at $13.8 million. Once the diversion's design is complete, the state will negotiate a guaranteed maximum price for construction with the joint venture. The joint design and construction process is an updated version of how the corps hired firms -- including the two that make up the joint venture -- to design and build major pieces of the New Orleans area levee system. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the diversion would operate at maximum capacity when the Mississippi River flow reached 400,000 to 600,000 cubic feet per second. The diversion would be operated when the river flow reaches 450,000 cfs, and at maximum capacity when the flow reaches more than 1 million cfs. Louisiana coastal restoration officials Wednesday (June 20) gave Plaquemines Parish nine days to issue a local permit that's delaying the planning of proposed Mississippi River diversion, or face a lawsuit from the state. The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority board authorized its staff to take legal action against Plaquemines Parish President Amos Cormier, the parish council and the parish government if they don't agree to allow soil borings to be taken to support the environmental review of the proposed Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion by June 29. The authority board approved the resolution by a 13-1 vote. St. Bernard Parish President Guy McInnis voted against. The resolution says the state may also withhold funding for other projects in the parish if local officials continue to block coastal Master Plan projects. The coastal authority may also ask a judge to declare that no parish can unilaterally block Master Plan projects. The vote came after Cormier submitted copies of two scientific studies to the board that he says show the diversion will cause more damage than good. One is a 2014 Army Corps of Engineers report on the history of crevasses near Fort St. Philip, on the east bank of the Mississippi. Another is a study questioning whether freshwater marshes, such as those likely to be created by the diversion, have the strength to withstand hurricane storm surges. Both those issues were considered by a national committee of scientists and engineers convened by the Water Institute of the Gulf on behalf of the coastal authority to review key issues involving the diversion, and neither were determined to be significant enough to block the diversion plan. State officials have said the diversion will be carefully designed and operated to reduce the chance of it causing the kind of erosion that an uncontrolled crevasse through the Mississippi River's levee banks would have. They point to other studies about the effectiveness of fresh marshes to withstand hurricanes and other erosion issues that disagree with the study Cormier submitted. Coastal authority Chairman Johnny Bradberry said the soil borings are necessary for the state and the Army Corps of Engineers to complete an environmental study of the effectiveness of the diversion, and to help design it. King Milling, a member of the authority and chairman of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Coastal Protection, Restoration and Conservation, said the project may very well have detrimental effects, but its benefits in long-term land building will outweigh the harm. The board had adjourned into an hour-long executive session to discuss the legal issues involving the parish's refusal to issue letters of no objection that would allow the boring work to move forward. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up On re-convening, Bradberry read a resolution outlining how the authority would move forward in getting the parish to act. "We are making a commitment and declaration that we will continue to work with the parish in trying to resolve the issues," Bradberry said. Wednesday's action followed multiple efforts to get the parish to approve the borings during the past six months, including attempting to get the parish to enter into a memorandum of agreement outlining the views of both sides about the environmental issues involving the diversion. The resolution also threatens court action if the parish obstructs other work involving the Mid-Batararia diversion or other coastal Master Plan projects proposed in Plaquemines. The Mid-Barataria diversion would move up to 75,000 cubic feet per second of sediment-laden water through a channel from the Mississippi River near Myrtle Grove on the West Bank into upper Barataria Bay, to both build new wetlands in open water and to "nourish" existing wetlands with sediment and nutrients carried by the river. A second, $696 million Mid-Breton diversion would move up to 35,000 cubic feet per second of sediment and water from the river's east bank near Bertrandville into Breton Sound. That diversion is several years behind Mid-Barataria in both the design and permitting processes. State officials have said the Mid-Barataria diversion would operate when the river flow is above 450,000 cubic feet per second, and at its highest capacity only during major flood years, when the flow reaches more than 1 million cubic feet per second. Fishermen who oppose the diversion contend its freshwater and sediment will destroy oyster beds and change the timing and location of shrimp and fish, reducing their financial livelihood. State officials have agreed there will be some such changes, but say that without the diversion, much larger areas of wetlands will disappear over the next 50 years and longer, the effects of which will be as bad or worse on fishery resources. Read a copy of the resolution approved by the authority: What if your house flooded twice a month, every month? That's the rate of flooding, termed "chronic inundation," a recent analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) says more than 300,000 coastal homes should expect by 2045 due to sea level rise. In Louisiana, already the example for flood resilience, chronic inundation is expected to affect 41,000 homes, 99,000 people and $36 million in property tax revenue. The analysis combined housing data from the real estate website Zillow with rates of sea level rise estimated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine the value and number of properties that would be vulnerable by 2045 and 2100. Louisiana trails Florida, New Jersey and New York for states with the most to lose. But with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) already stretched thin during the 2017 hurricane season, flooding anywhere could become a national concern. The forces behind chronic inundation don't need a hurricane to precipitate entry to a home. Most of the flooding anticipated by the UCS report will be due to the slow but steady creep of sea level rise toward the front doors of 1.2 million homes nationwide by 2100. Some of these beach-side homes are second properties, or belong to wealthier individuals with the means to relocate. In Louisiana, this is generally not the case. A story from The Advocate details that up to 33% of the residents likely to be evicted from their homes by rising seas in some parishes already live in poverty. The associated loss of property taxes from abandoned homes may then further cripple these regions' abilities to recover and rebuild damaged infrastructure. Terrebonne Parish stands to lose the most -- 10,015 homes out of 36,000 are expected to flood twice monthly by 2045. Despite the gloomy prediction, the Union of Concerned Scientists expressed hope that flooding could be minimized and as many as 85% of at-risk homes could be saved if the United States resumes its commitment to the Paris climate accord goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions. See which New Orleans restaurants had the most critical health code violations in 2017 Question No. 1 for pretty much anyone who goes to see "Won't You Be My Neighbor?," director Morgan Neville's documentary on Fred Rogers, almost assuredly will be the same: Was he really like that? Was the real-life Mister Rogers, perhaps the most unlikely superstar in TV history, anything at all like the on-screen Mister Rogers, who -- in his so-kind-as-to-be-a-little-weird way -- provided a soft, non-threatening place for children to explore their emotions, address their fears and learn about life for more than 30 years? The answer -- arrived at early on, through archival interviews with Fred Rogers himself, as well as new interviews with his widow, his children, his fellow cast members and his TV crew of mischief-making ex-hippies -- is, without question, yes. He was uncommonly kind, uncommonly gentle and uncommonly plugged into the psyche of children. The second question raised by Neville's surprisingly moving film is a little deeper. It isn't asked directly, but it's hovering there throughout, and it's even more important than the first. It is this: What kind of a world do we live in that someone who exhibits a genuine interest in what children are feeling, who shows an honest interest in our most vulnerable citizens, is branded a weirdo -- and, in many cases, reduced to a punchline? Turns out, it's precisely what we laughed at that made him such a singular, important figure in 20th century America. He felt old-fashioned, behind the times. But in reality he was far ahead of his time. Fred Rogers dared to make a case that all children are precious and that there might be more productive ways to entertain and educate them than with popguns and pies in the face. More importantly, he decided to do something about it. So, he left seminary school (among one of the many things we learn in Neville's film: Rogers was a Presbyterian minister, although he didn't advertise the fact so his show could speak to children of all creeds) and crafted a program he thought might get the job done. There were puppets. There was make-believe. And there was discussion, gentle but honest, of emotions. He included the good emotions, but, vitally, he didn't' shy from the scarier ones, like anger or of the fears associated with such real-life horrors as the Vietnam War and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. He didn't know a thing about TV, mind you. But that didn't matter. He sure knew children. He also had a keen memory of his own childhood and all the attendant fears that kept him up at night. Remember that Daniel the Striped Tiger puppet? The timid, easily frightened one? That was Mister Rogers. To be clear: All the puppets on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" were created by and voiced by Rogers (who also wrote every word of each of his 912 episodes). But, as Neville teaches us, Daniel really was Rogers' voice -- his heart and his soul. But even if Fred Rogers was a softie, that didn't mean he was a pushover. Easily the most memorable scene in "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" involves his 1969 testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee determined to cut funding for public television by $20 million. "All right, Rogers, you've got the floor," was the extent of his gruff welcome from Sen. John O. Pastore, an apparently skeptical Democrat from Rhode Island. Six minutes later, after Mister Rogers did his Mister Rogers thing, Pastore was playing much nicer with the others. "I think it's wonderful," a smiling Pastore told Rogers after hearing about his work. "Looks like you just earned the $20 million." Neville has done something wonderful, too. The Oscar-winning director of 2013's Oscar-winning documentary "20 Feet From Stardom" not only shares Rogers' largely untold story, but, at least to this "Mister Rogers" veteran, he does so in a surprisingly tender and moving way. After seeing it, I felt more connected with and more grateful to Fred Rogers than I ever had. I also found myself missing him more than I ever thought I would. I teared up, and because of him I'm not afraid to tell you that. I imagine I'm not alone. Right now, as I type this, the United States government is separating incoming immigrants from their children at the border with Mexico. It's part of a strategy intended to dissuade other asylum-seekers -- other poor, tired, huddled masses -- from heading northward, but it's an exceptionally cruel one. Now, as far as I'm concerned, everyone should go see "Won't You Be My Neighbor" -- but those government officials probably need to see it the most. They'll learn things, about people, about children. They'll also get a look at what true Christian charity means. And, most of all, they'll also be reminded something that Mister Rogers has been saying since 1968: that children -- all children -- are precious. ____________ WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? 5 stars, out of 5 Snapshot: A documentary profile of the life and career of children's TV host Fred Rogers, who for more than three decades hosted the PBS show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." What works: In addition to offering an intimate, insightful look into what made Mister Rogers tick, it serves as an important reminder of the value of children and of the importance of the work of a man who dedicated his life to being there for them. What doesn't: Nothing of note. Cast : Rogers, Joanne Rogers, Yo-Yo Ma, Francois Clemons, Joe Negri, David Newell. Director: Morgan Neville. MPAA rating: PG-13, for some thematic elements and language. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. Where : Find New Orleans showtimes. A 10-year-old Mexican girl with Down syndrome is among the thousands of children who have been separated from their parents at the southern border after the U.S. started enforcing a "zero tolerance" policy that requires adults to be prosecuted for crossing into the U.S. illegally. Mexican officials said Tuesday (June 19) the girl and her brother were sent to a detention center in McAllen, Texas, while their mother was taken to a facility an hour away in Brownsville after they attempted to cross the border. The children's father, a legal US resident, is working with the Mexican consulate to get them released, Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray told CNN. He said he is aware of about 21 Mexican children who have been separated from their parents as a result of the zero tolerance policy. All but seven of these children have returned to Mexico. The National Down Syndrome Society said in a post on its Facebook page that they are working with the appropriate authorities to ensure the girl receives all of the resources necessary to "help comfort her until she can be reunited with her father and eventually her whole family, where she belongs." During an appearance Tuesday on Fox News, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski mocked the story. "Womp, Womp," he responded after Democratic National Committee adviser Zac Petkanas mentioned the girl. The Hill reported Wednesday morning that Lewandowski is refusing to apologize for mocking the story. "An apology? I owe an apology to the children whose parents are putting them in a position that is forcing them to be separated?" he said during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News. He later Tweeted that he was mocking Petkanas and not the young girl. The practice of separating children from their parents after crossing the U.S. border illegally was started recently by the Trump administration. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced May 7 that the Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of border enforcement, would refer any immigrant caught crossing without legal documents to the Department of Justice, to be prosecuted for a crime in federal court. Children are not allowed to be detained. So under the new policy, they have to be separated from their parents. According to the Marshall Project, since at least the administration of President George W. Bush, federal officials have used prosecution as an extra punishment in limited regions of the border. The policy was applied strategically depending on the flow of migrants at different border points. Maria Clark writes about immigration, health, doctors, patients and healthcare in Louisiana for NOLA.com | The Times Picayune and NOLA Mundo. Reach her at mclark@nola.com or 504.258.5306. Or follow her on Twitter at @MariaPClark1 . Protesters chanted "shame, shame, shame" at Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen as she dined at a Mexican restaurant in Washington D.C. on Tuesday (Jan. 19). The protesters from the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America confronted Neilsen at the MXDC Cocina Mexicana, a restaurant located near the White House, according to several outlets. In a video the group posted on their Facebook page a protester can be heard asking Nielsen, "How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you are deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States?" Osita Nwanevu, a staff writer at Slate posted a separate video on his Twitter feed showing Nielsen being led out of the restaurant by her security staff shortly after. According to CNN, the secretary had been sitting at the back of the restaurant and had a security detail at the time of the protest. Protesters chanted, "if kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace." Nielsen left the restaurant about 10 minutes after the protesters arrived. The group wrote on their page "the irony isn't lost on us that this is a Mexican restaurant. Nielsen has led the program to tear apart families." The Trump administration has come under fire recently for upholding a "zero tolerance" policy that prosecutes adults who have crossed the border illegally. Children are not allowed to be held in detention centers, so the policy has resulted in about 2,000 children being separated from their parents. On Monday Nielsen addressed the National Sheriffs' Association at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, along with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The attorney general told the audience that before Trump took office in 2017, the U.S. had sent a bad message by not prosecuting undocumented adults who were caught entering the U.S. with children at illegal crosspoints. He said the policy resulted in the number of such immigrants rising from 14,000 to 75,000 in four years. Nielsen blamed Congress in her speech. "There has been much outcry, consternation and frankly misinformation from many in the press, in Congress and advocacy groups over the last few weeks that we... are intentionally doing things that are unhumanitarian, that are cruel, immoral and disgraceful," she said. "We are doing none of those things." Maria Clark writes about immigration, health, doctors, patients and healthcare in Louisiana for NOLA.com | The Times Picayune and NOLA Mundo. Reach her at mclark@nola.com or 504.258.5306. Or follow her on Twitter at @MariaPClark1 . Peter Strasser is President Donald Trump's pick to be U.S. attorney in New Orleans, the top federal law enforcement for 13 southeast Louisiana parishes, the White House said Wednesday (June 20). If confirmed by the Senate, Strasser will succeed Duane Evans, who has been holding the position on an interim basis since March 10, 2017. Strasser previously served as assistant U.S. attorney for Louisiana's Eastern District. He is currently a partner at the Chaffe McCall law firm in New Orleans. He is a retired Navy Reserve captain who served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. Notably Strasser was a member of the team that successfully prosecuted former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards for extortion and racketeering. He also led the fraud and organized crime sections for the Eastern District U.S. attorney's office. In 1995, Strasser prosecuted Jefferson Parish Council Chairman Bob Evans on bank fraud charges. Evans was acquitted at trial. After his leaving the U.S. attorney's office, he spent time as a Justice Department legal adviser in Pakistan, Malawi, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and as Balkans and Caucasus anti-corruption adviser to the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, . According to his biography on the Chaffe McCall website, Strasser works in the firm's government investigations, white-collar criminal defense section and international law sections. "Mr. Strasser is a sound choice for U.S. attorney of the Eastern District," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. "He has a wealth of legal experience and can smoothly transition into the job. I look forward to hearing Mr. Strasser's testimony during the nominations hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee." "Strasser is an excellent pick for this position and he will serve Louisiana and our country well," Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said. "His extensive experience, including years spent as an assistant U.S. attorney in New Orleans, should ensure a smooth transition and I look forward to voting for his confirmation." Evans was elevated from first assistant U.S. attorney when Kenneth Polite Jr., appointed by President Barack Obama, resigned as part of the change in presidential administrations. Strasser's pending nomination comes almost seven months after he physically clashed with a federal prosecutor in a New Orleans courtroom. He was representing Damian "AD" Barnes, one of 10 members of the 39ers gang facing racketeering and murder charges connected to their illegal drug enterprise based in Central City. The New Orleans Advocate reported that Strasser poked or pushed Assistant U.S. Attorney Myles Ranier in the chest. Marshals in the courtroom quickly intervened, and the two lawyers apologized to one another, according to the report. The U.S. attorney for the Eastern District has jurisdiction in Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne and Washington parishes. It can be a high-profile appointment, especially as U.S. attorneys often are called upon to prosecute political corruption that local authorities can't or won't pursue. . . . . . . . Drew Broach covers Jefferson Parish politics and Louisiana interests in Congress, plus other odds and ends, for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: dbroach@nola.com. Facebook: Drew Broach TP. Twitter: drewbroach1. Google+: Drew Broach. The chief minister of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, has resigned after the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) quit a coalition with her party, reported BBC. The BJP said the three-year alliance with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) had become "untenable" in the wake of increasing violence. The PDP's decision to ally with the BJP had been seen as controversial. Its time in power was marked by rising violence in the Kashmir valley, stated the report. Influential Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari was killed by unidentified gunmen as he was leaving his office in Srinagar last week. Bukhari's death was cited as one of the reasons for the BJP pulling out of the alliance. The BJP and PDP alliance was an uneasy one even at the best of times, with the two being very unlikely coalition partners on paper. Since its formation in 1951, the BJP has maintained a hardline stance on the Kashmir issue and has stood for the repeal of Article 370 of India's constitution which grants special autonomous status to the state. In sharp contrast to the BJP, the PDP has been seen as a pro-Kashmir party. When the alliance was forged between then PDP leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and the BJP, many of the party's supporters saw it as a betrayal of its people and backers, said the BBC report. This uneasiness marked the entire three years the coalition was in power. It saw increased violence and protests against Indian rule, with civilians often clashing with security forces. The two parties disagreed over how to handle the situation. While the PDP called for more restraint, the BJP advocated a more hardline approach. The BJP gave two main reasons for quitting the alliance: the deteriorating law and order situation in Indian-administered Kashmir, and the lack of development in other parts of the state. The state will be put under governor's rule unless another coalition forms the government or fresh elections are called. Forming a government will require the support of 44 of the 89 legislators in the state assembly. In the wake of a deadly crash on a traffic-choked stretch of Interstate 12 in the Covington area last month, St. Tammany Parish and state officials say they will seek a federal grant that could jumpstart a highway widening project. St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister and Shawn Wilson, secretary of the state Department of Transportation and Development, both expressed support this week in applying for a federal BUILD grant of up to $25 million. Brister on Tuesday (June 19) said the parish has agreed to be a co-applicant with the state for the grant. She also is advocating for additional money proposed for Louisiana highways in the federal transportation funding bill to be directed to the I-12 widening project and offered U.S. Sen. John Kennedy her assistance in securing the extra money. Kennedy, R-La., last week announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee had added an additional $74 million for Louisiana road and transportation projects to the funding bill, which will move to the Senate floor for consideration. The total for Louisiana in that bill is $814 million, Kennedy said. The state has previously announced a plan to add lanes to I-12 roughly from just west of Louisiana 21 to Louisiana 59. The area includes the stretch between Louisiana 21 and the Tchefuncte River, where a confluence of bridges, on- and off-ramps and busy retail developments on the north and south side of the highway combine to form a chronic traffic snarl. Four people died of injuries they suffered during a series of crashes at the Louisiana 21 overpass on I-12 on May 26 after an 18-wheeler struck the back of another vehicle that had slowed due to traffic congestion in the eastbound lanes. Wilson said Monday that he has directed the state highway department to study whether the widening project could be further broken into smaller segments so that work could begin more quickly as money is available. The total expansion, which is now broken into two separate projects, is estimated to cost $90 million to $120 million. The scheduled start date is not until 2023. St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up But Wilson said the department is now studying whether it can perhaps break out a third segment that would cost in the $25 million range and be covered by the federal grant being sought. "I have to be able to convince and demonstrate to the feds'' it will be a worthy project, Wilson said Monday (June 18). Wilson, who has met with Brister since the May 26 crash, said he has committed to St. Tammany Parish that the state will do everything it can to help win the grant. "I've talked to the U.S. Department of Transportation,'' he said. "I'm confident they're interested in it.'' Wilson, like Gov. John Bel Edwards, said a gasoline tax proposed in 2017 would have provided money to speed the start of numerous highway projects, including the I-12 widening in St. Tammany Parish. That tax didn't make it out of the Legislature. In the short term, the state will likely install some type of "queue detection'' system to better alert motorists to slowed or stopped traffic ahead. Brister, in her news release Tuesday, referenced a letter she sent to Kennedy offering any help she can provide to secure the additional highway funding. "I am willing to do everything from contacting your fellow congressional leaders to launching a grassroots advocacy campaign for funding to testifying before a federal committee on the need for transportation funding.'' Recently, a Mandeville homeowner awoke to find a gator in his pool. Now, WVUE Fox 8 reports, residents in neighborhoods south of Slidell say they have noticed a big uptick in alligator sightings. Residents of Eden Isles, Clipper Estates and Lakeshore Estates say they're seeing more alligators, some as big as 8 feet. And the gators, they told Fox 8's Rob Masson, don't seem to be scared of people. "These gators . . . they're not afraid of you at all,'' Jay Jenkins said. Some of the residents said they used to call the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office to handle nuisance alligators, but according to the report the Sheriff's Office no longer has a nuisance alligator person and advises residents to call the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Of course, alligators are no stranger to south Louisiana. Fox 8's report about an increase in sightings in the Slidell area follows a recent NOLA.com story about a Mandeville homeowner who looked up from his morning coffee to find a gator in his pool. The exercise is as old as the Republic, but the first thing you need to understand about redistricting is that hot-water cornbread is as ubiquitous in north Louisiana as etouffee is in the south, says Rick Gallot, the Ruston Democratic representat Hertz UAE, a part of the Al-Futtaim Automotive Group, has launched a one-month-long lease promotion exclusively for five new Toyota models. The promotion offers individual and corporate customers a cost effective single stop solution to enjoy the benefits of driving a Toyota car. Hertz UAE is a 360-degree mobility solutions provider offering a value-based customer experience enabled by the highest quality of professionally maintained vehicles and service products supported by an empowered and engaged workforce. The month-long scheme offers the new Toyota Rush at Dh1,470; Toyota Rav 4 at Dh1,680; Toyota Fortuner at Dh2,268, Toyota Prado at Dh2,583 and Toyota Land Cruiser at Dh3,759. All these rates are per month, inclusive of VAT; and are based on 48 months and 20,000 kilometres per annum. On the promotion, Declan McCluskey, the managing director of Hertz UAE, said: "We are glad to announce the one-month-long lease promotion for brand new Toyota car models. As part of this exciting promotion, we have partnered with Al Futtaim Motors to offer value-based leasing options on the latest Toyota models." "Being the world's best-known international car rental brand, Hertz enjoys a strong market share in the UAEs car leasing business," stated McCluskey. "We work hard to ensure the highest levels of customer satisfaction at par with global standards. We have adopted an innovative approach to doing business by offering an outstanding experience to our customers, he added.-TradeArabia News Service Managing Editor Having lived and worked in Indy on and off since 1977, and currently living in Carmel, I've seen the city change a great deal. I love covering the arts in all its forms, and the places where the arts and broader cultural issues intersect. Viewed of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The 2018 Hyundai Ioniq, Hyundai Motors innovative model that offers three electrified powertrains, was awarded the Womens World Car of the Year (WWCOTY) Supreme Award at a ceremony at the Busan International Motor Show in South Korea. The Supreme Award is the top honour awarded annually by 25 of the most respected female automotive journalists from around the world who vote in the WWCOTY competition. This year, the Hyundai Ioniq was a standout, said the WWCOTY jurors, calling the Ioniq a clear winner among more than 400 initial contenders. Ioniq was also recognised as the winner of the Green Car category. The Ioniq is the first eco-focused vehicle platform in the world to offer hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric models. Hyundais approach for the Ioniq line delivers an uncompromising design and driving experience coupled with the latest in safety and convenience technologies, making it an appealing choice for a wide range of buyers. For the awards competition, all three Ioniq variants were considered and treated as one car for voting purposes. We are honoured to be present at the Busan International Motor Show to present this special trophy commemorating Ioniqs Supreme Award and Green Car category award, said Sandy Myhre, CEO, Womens World Car of the Year. Having passed our rigorous test and being picked from a democratic voting process, Ioniq really stood out as a clear winner. Ioniqs aerodynamic body lines assist airflow and benefit its overall efficiency as an eco-friendly vehicle, said Peter Schreyer, president and chief design officer of Hyundai Motor. Earning the Supreme Award from the judges of the Womens World Car of the Year serves as yet another proof of IONIQs outstanding design that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also purpose-built. It is particularly satisfying to see Ioniq win an award that is so global in its outlook, said Mike Song, Hyundais head of operations for Africa and the Middle East. With judges from every continent, this award offers further proof that Hyundai is setting the pace of innovation for the auto industry across all international markets, and in all segments. - TradeArabia News Service UAE-based Lamprell, a major provider of fabrication, engineering and contracting services, said it will join hands with Asyad Holdings to set up a joint venture company in the kingdom as part of its regional expansion strategy. A key player in the kingdom, Asyad Holdings brings significant regional knowledge and forms part of a group of companies managing a diversified portfolio of businesses, including working on major projects in Saudi Arabia. The establishment of Lamprell Saudi Arabia is core to the Emirati group's growth strategy where its primary focus to date has been the investment into the joint venture between Saudi Aramco, Bahri and Hyundai Heavy Industries to develop a major maritime yard in the Arabian Gulf, known as International Maritime Industries. It comes in line with the firm's investment plans for Saudi Arabia and its aim to boost presence in the kingdom. Lamprell said it was also pursuing other opportunities to gain a stronger foothold in Saudi Arabia. Among other things, one objective is to qualify as a contractor to Saudi Aramco on their long-term agreement (LTA) programme. The LTA programme is where contractors undertake offshore engineering, procurement, construction and installation projects in the oil and gas sector. A key component of all LTA projects is Saudi Aramco's In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) programme, which is designed to encourage and increase local investment by the LTA contractors. Unveiling its new strategy in Saudi Arabia, Lamprell said it is taking steps to achieve IKTVA commitments by developing its in-Kingdom capabilities and by partnering with strong local businesses. A key component of its plans to reach the IKTVA goal is through the formation of Lamprell Saudi Arabia, said a senior official. "We are uniquely positioned to build our business in Saudi Arabia with the complementary opportunities of investment in the International Maritime Industries yard and our LTA bid to Saudi Aramco," remarked Christopher McDonald, the chief executive of Lamprell. "We are committed to developing our local capabilities and we are looking to realise these opportunities by aligning with strong partners in-Kingdom. We are therefore pleased to gain the support from Saudi investors, both as a major shareholder through Blofeld Investment Management and as our local partner in our Saudi joint venture," noted McDonald. According to him, the region has some of the strongest fundamentals in the oil sector and has demonstrated resilient production throughout the market downturn with an exceptional growth strategy going forward. Lamprell said Blofeld Investment Management, a private family fund based in Saudi Arabia, has increased its shareholding in the company to 10.08 per cent. The key investment by Blofeld, a company owned by the same investor from Saudi Arabia which owns Asyad Holdings, and partnership with major Saudi businesses will help boost the company's strategic exposure in the region, said the top official. "Much of Lamprell's effort over the past two years focused on building a presence in the region and we are pleased to see our strategy supported by local partners," he added.-TradeArabia News Service As Greece prepares to emerge from one of the regions most wrenching economic periods, its creditors are drawing up plans to ensure it is never a problem for the rest of Europe again. European Union officials will unveil a blueprint in Brussels on Thursday to help the beleaguered country stand on its own once it comes off its third financial bailout in August. They have heralded Greeces revival, and pointed to the closing of its bailout as a symbolic end to a ruinous financial crisis. Although European leaders are marking the countrys apparent success, new problems are lurking elsewhere in the region, putting pressure on Greeces still fragile economy. Britain is plowing ahead with its withdrawal from the European Union. A trade war with the United States appears in the offing. The election of an anti-austerity government in Italy has revived fears about the euro, and jittery financial markets are again starting to target the currency unions weakest links. The eurozone is most definitely not out of danger, said Simon Tilford, chief economist for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in London. European governments still have not agreed to reforms that would insulate the eurozone economy if a new crisis arises, whether in Italy, Greece or over other issues like trade. If the recovery peters out or there is shock of some kind, he said, the outlook will be much darker. As a chorus of corporate leaders condemned the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents, the White House on Tuesday got some surprising sympathy from a past critic: the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd C. Blankfein. Mr. Blankfein described the situation on the United States southern border as heart-rendering. At a New York Economic Club lunch on Tuesday, however, he said, Its easy to criticize and its easy to say what you would do if you didnt have to bear the consequences of what you decided. Mr. Blankfeins measured view of the Trump administrations policy was at odds with those of other corporate chief executives, some of whom expressed outrage on Tuesday. I think that whats happening is inhumane, it needs to stop, said Timothy D. Cook, Apples chief executive. Ubers chief, Dara Khosrowshahi, called the policy just plain wrong. The Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives that Mr. Blankfein once co-chaired, described the separation of children from their parents as cruel and contrary to American values. Michael D. Cohen, President Trumps longtime personal fixer, has lined up a new lawyer, according to people familiar with the matter. The lawyer, Guy Petrillo, once held a senior role in the same federal prosecutors office that has been investigating Mr. Cohen for months. Mr. Cohens decision to hire Mr. Petrillo, who ran the criminal division of the United States attorneys office in Manhattan, comes as that offices inquiry into Mr. Cohen is nearing a critical phase. For nearly two months, lawyers for Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump have been working with a court-appointed special master in reviewing a vast trove of documents and data files seized from Mr. Cohen in April in a series of raids on his office, apartment and hotel room. The review is scheduled to end next week, which would move prosecutors closer to deciding whether to file criminal charges. It is a common practice for people facing scrutiny by prosecutors to hire lawyers who once worked in the offices investigating them. By bringing on Mr. Petrillo, Mr. Cohen will now have an advocate who is well positioned to help him navigate any negotiations with the prosecutors who have spent the past several months looking into his business dealings, including hush-money payments that he made to women who claim they had affairs with Mr. Trump. Those negotiations may eventually include the question of whether Mr. Cohen strikes a deal to cooperate with the government in a separate inquiry by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into ties between Mr. Trump, his associates and Russia. For the past few weeks, Mr. Cohen had been in discussions with Mr. Petrillo, who was consulting with him even before he was officially retained, one of the people familiar with the matter said. But Mr. Petrillo is not expected to take control of the case until after the document review is finished. The judge, Kimba M. Wood, who is presiding in the matter, has set a tentative deadline of June 25 for the review to be complete. Once, in his days as New Yorks chief federal prosecutor and later as the citys mayor, Rudolph W. Giuliani was a master of releasing damaging leaks aimed at the kneecaps of opponents. Sometimes, they were true. Now Mr. Giuliani works the other end of the information slurry, and he has had a hard time keeping his stories straight, one day boasting of his inside sources, then denying that they exist. At a Senate hearing this week in Washington, Democrats took turns at the microphone to ask about the furies that depending on which version of Mr. Giuliani you believe ran from the F.B.I. office in New York to Mr. Giuliani during the closing weeks of the 2016 presidential election. One Democratic senator asked the F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray, if the pipeline was still running. With North Korea, there are two unique complications: It already has an arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles, including an ICBM that can reach the United States, and the locations of many its nuclear sites are unknown, making verification hard if not impossible. And since Mr. Trump has denounced the Iran deal, with its uniquely intrusive inspections and strict requirements for significantly reducing nuclear fuel and other nuclear-related components, as the worst ever, he has set quite a high bar for an accord with North Korea. In fact, he says he is insisting on complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization, presumably meaning eliminating all of North Koreas atomic weapons and production facilities. That outcome would be an extraordinary achievement. But Mr. Trump has been known to underdeliver on his grander promises, and no nation with a nuclear program this advanced has ever disarmed so completely. So what would a more plausible yet still positive deal look like? SCOPE: In the Iran deal, Tehran agreed to strict controls on its nuclear program in exchange for economic benefits sanctions relief. Mr. Trump could seek a broader deal with North Korea by offering wider benefits, not just sanctions relief but also security guarantees and full diplomatic relations. This would allow the administration to pursue curbs on North Koreas missiles, chemical and biological weapons and technology exports, too. The president has said of Kim Jong-un, I will guarantee his safety. That is a ridiculous commitment no president could keep, or want to, since it would have the United States protecting one of the worlds worst human rights abusers. Instead, the administration could promise not to try to overthrow Mr. Kim and could reiterate the pledge the United States made in the 1994 Agreed Framework, to work toward peace on the Korean Peninsula. In exchange, North Korea would curb those other weapons and perhaps resolve the fate of South Korean and Japanese citizens North Korea has abducted. A peace treaty to resolve the Korean War 65 years after an armistice was signed could be considered, if it wouldnt bog down the nuclear negotiations. SHORT-TERM GOALS: Mr. Trump thinks he can snap his fingers and get North Korea to eliminate all its nuclear weapons and facilities. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says to expect major disarmament by the end of the presidents first term. Some experts have estimated it could take up to 15 years to fully denuclearize. Many say its unrealistic to expect it all. No matter how likely or how drawn out such a grand goal would be, some steps can be taken quickly. As a start, the two sides should agree on a framework for sustained, high-level negotiations, including a definition of denuclearization using the 1992 South-North Joint Declaration as a model. In that agreement the two Koreas committed to limiting nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and not to test, manufacture, receive, store, deploy or use nuclear weapons or nuclear reprocessing and uranium enrichment facilities. North Korea should make its temporary freeze on nuclear and missile testing permanent and allow international inspectors to verify the destruction of the test sites the government claims to have blown up. It could even sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Fissile material production should also be frozen. Even if the process ended there, Mr. Trump would achieve something constructive. When asking New Yorkers for their vote, most candidates would begin by showing up. Not Representative Joseph Crowley. No, Mr. Crowley, a 10-term Democratic congressman who reportedly has ambitions of serving as House speaker, chose to skip a debate Monday night with his primary challenger, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He sent a surrogate instead, former City Councilwoman Annabel Palma. This is the second primary debate in which Mr. Crowley was a no-show. A spokeswoman for Mr. Crowley said he had scheduling conflicts that wouldnt allow him to attend the two debates, inevitably leaving voters to wonder what are we, chopped liver? Image Joseph Crowley sent a surrogate, former City Councilwoman Annabel Palma, left, to debate his primary challenger, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Credit... Sheikh Musa Drammeh/Parkchester Times Indeed, the snubs should be galling not only to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Mr. Crowleys constituents in New Yorks 14th Congressional District, in Queens and the Bronx, but also to anyone who cares about the democratic process. If a woman goes inside the familys home during her period, three things will happen. A tiger will come; the house will catch on fire; and the head of the house will get sick. RUNCHO, a farmer in Nepal, explaining a deeply entrenched superstition in his part of the country that leads to women being banished from their homes during menstruation. Councilman Harry Griffin also said that the city needed to address other issues first. Mr. Griffin abruptly ended his comments after the crowd interrupted him when he said he would not support the resolution. The resolution acknowledged that fundamental to the economy of colonial and antebellum Charleston was slave labor, Charleston prospering as it did due to the expertise, ingenuity and hard labor of enslaved Africans who were forced to endure inhumane working conditions that produced wealth for many, but which was denied to them. Before the vote, dozens of people spoke in favor of the resolution. Some warned it should not be a last step, but one toward equality in the form of opportunities for black entrepreneurs and racial equity training. [If there have been divisions in your community over an event or an emblem, wed like to hear from you.] In passing a resolution apologizing for slavery, Charleston, which draws several million visitors a year and is known for its cobblestone streets and antebellum mansions, joins several states and cities that have approved similar measures. Among them are Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Macon, Ga., and Annapolis, Md. The vote on Tuesday came on the anniversary of Juneteenth, a holiday tied to an 1865 announcement about the end of slavery. It also came two days after the third anniversary of the killing of nine black parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston by Dylann Roof. In an op-ed piece published in The Post and Courier of Charleston on Monday, members of the Social Justice Racial Equity Collaborative, a group formed to address social inequality in the city, said the idea to seek a statement from the Council about slavery began a year ago. The group feels adoption of the resolution will allow the city and country a healing moment. InterContinental Abu Dhabi has appointed a full management team to head each of its six award-winning restaurants. Six young, dedicated personalities will embody the culinary concepts and support the ever-evolving high expectations of our guests. Circo Lorenzo Monaco Originating from Rome and having built a passionate career in Italy, Monaco will be the emblem of traditional Italian lifestyle, synonymous with the Circo experience. Circo offers cuisine centred around Tuscany yet celebrating Italy, served with flare in a lively setting. Monaco is supported by Chef Andrea Pastore from Puglia, South Italy, to offer a truly authentic dining experience, only at Circo. Chamas Churrascaria Marcus Felipe Main Veiguinha A global citizen hailing from Portugal, Felipe welcomes guests with an impressive array of languages. His energy, charm and effervescent personality shine through the whole team to bring you a wonderful experience of both food and service in the colourful carnival style that is Brazil. Chef Wanderson from Brazil brings the real Churrascaria experience to life at Chamas, using his special meat marination that gives the delicious and authentic taste. Belgian Cafe Peter Van Den Berg Den Berg joins the city's leading hangout amongst locals, expats, and tourists. His experience originally in South Africa and then around the world combined with his interest in brewing hops make him the perfect person to advise guests on their beer selection! His attentive care through the entire team will bring to life guests' time in The Belgian Cafe. Cho Gao Marina Walk Tomy Irawan Irawan presents an adventurous Pan-Asian journey, infused with authentic Indonesian flavour from his home country of Indonesia. He brings a unique blend of energy and Chi balance to the restaurant allowing guests to really enjoy the incredible cocktails and creative cuisine and yet leave with a zen-like inner calm. Irawan is supported by Chef Luthfi, who presents the most scrumptious dishes from across Asia. Fishmarket Ahmed Ibrahim Ibrahim heads up the illustrious Fishmarket, the hotel's legendary seafood market-style restaurant. Bringing an unsurpassed depth of experience of over 18 years of remarkable hospitality, he will almost certainly assure a memorable meal at Fishmarket, offering wonderful views across the beach and Gulf of Arabia. Byblos Sur Mer Elias El Ghazal Lebanese El Ghazal showcases true Arabian hospitality. A prominent personality in the Abu Dhabi dining scene, El Ghazal achieved number one Trip Advisor status for Byblos Sur Mer in 2015 and 2016 and consistently maintained a top five position over the last three years for the best Lebanese restaurant in town. The many awards and accolades speak for themselves and position Byblos Sur Mer as the benchmark as lead by Elias and supported by our acclaimed Chef Raed, guaranteeing a very special and authentic dining experience. Neil Houghton, general manager for InterContinental Abu Dhabi, said: I am absolutely delighted to work alongside these restaurateurs and count myself very fortunate to have such experienced and professional leaders for all the restaurants at InterContinental Abu Dhabi. I am confident whatever the guest's mood, that one of these award-winning restaurants combined with the talents of the kitchen teams and the guidance from each of the managers will leave them having tasted wonderful food and received attentive care from the entire team. New menus are being launched in the coming months and the team want to share their passion for food and the joie de vivre, the joy of life with guests soon! - TradeArabia News Service President Trump and top administration officials have continued to defend their practice of breaking up families who arrive at the border in the face of bipartisan outcry, criticism from the United Nations and a lawsuit. Theyve denied the existence of a policy and that they were the first to enforce it, pointed to surges in illegal immigration and fraud, trotted out decades-old court cases and human trafficking laws, blamed Democrats and even cited the Bible. Here are their defenses, fact-checked. what was said We have to get the Democrats to go ahead and work with us. Because as a result of Democrat-supported loopholes in our federal laws, most illegal immigrant families and minors from Central America who arrive unlawfully at the border cannot be detained together or removed together, only released. These are crippling loopholes that cause family separation, which we dont want. Mr. Trump, in remarks on Tuesday to the National Federation of Independent Business False. Mr. Trump is again wrongly claiming that Democrats are responsible for loopholes that necessitate breaking apart families at the border. what was said There was a story two days ago, in a major newspaper, talking about people living in Canada, coming into the United States, and smuggling things back into Canada because the tariffs are so massive. The tariffs to get common items back into Canada are so high that they have to smuggle them in. They buy shoes, then they wear them. They scuff them up. They make them sound old or look old. President Trump, speaking on Tuesday to the National Federation of Independent Business. the facts This requires context. Mr. Trump is almost certainly referring to and distorting an opinion piece by Isabel Vincent, a Canadian journalist, that was published last week in The New York Post about how she and her relatives skirted duties by sneaking jeans, shoes and other goods across the border from the United States. Ms. Vincent described how her nephew hid two pairs of expensive Italian shoes in his backpack to ferry them to a designer based in Toronto. She wrote that an acquaintance removed the price tags and made new outdoor equipment look dusty to smuggle in what he simply couldnt find in Canada. While Ms. Vincent is probably neither the first nor last person to have smuggled cheaper or rare goods into Canada (as a few Twitter users have admitted) the vignette does nothing to bolster Mr. Trumps current dispute with Canada over renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he has long denounced as unfair to the United States. Under Nafta, Canada does not impose tariffs on footwear made in the United States. Nor does the United States tax shoes imported from Canada. WASHINGTON Just last month, Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, drafted a resignation letter after being berated by President Trump over what he saw as her tepid support for his tough immigration policies, according to two people familiar with the episode. She never sent it. This week, confronted by images of children in cages after they had been separated from their families at the Southwest border, Ms. Nielsen served as a shield for the Trump administration against global criticism for its hard-line attempts to discourage illegal immigration. Smiling as she took the White House lectern on Monday, Ms. Nielsen read from a script defending Mr. Trumps zero tolerance policy, which has separated 2,300 children from their parents yet failed to reduce the number of families trying to cross the border. She falsely said that Mr. Trumps family separation strategy was not administration policy, wrongly insisting it was the result of legal loopholes that only Congress can fix. Asked whether images of young children packed into detention centers and an audiotape of them keening for their parents were intended or unintended consequences of the administrations decision making, Ms. Nielsen replied: They reflect the focus of those who post such pictures and narratives. The narratives we dont see are the narratives of the crime. TAPACHULA, Mexico Elid Turcios sees only dangerous potentially disastrous options for his family. They cannot return to Honduras, where he says gang members murdered his parents, nor do they feel safe in Mexico. But he has heard that ahead lies the new threat that the United States will prosecute him and his wife. My son and wife are the only thing I have, Mr. Turcios said gloomily on Wednesday. Even so, the question is not whether to forge ahead and enter the United States, he said, but how best to do it. I want to get to the border, he said. Because what else can we do? As the Trump administrations zero tolerance policy for illegal entry to the United States dominates debate in Washington and draws international attention and condemnation, it is also sowing turmoil and confusion on the long migrant trail through Central America and Mexico. Word has spread among the migrants by word of mouth, social media and the snippets of news coverage people are able to collect along the way that the end of the road could be profoundly different for this wave than for many who went before them. OTTAWA Canadas Senate passed legislation on Tuesday that will make the country the first major economy to legalize recreational marijuana use. The bill, which was approved by the House of Commons on Monday, goes next to the governor-general, the representative of Queen Elizabeth, as a formality. Once it is formally approved, the legislation is expected to create a multibillion dollar industry, with Canada joining Uruguay in allowing its citizens on a national level to use marijuana without fear of arrest. Weve just witnessed a historic vote for Canada, the end of 90 years of prohibition, said Tony Dean, the senator who sponsored the bill in the chamber. There remain significant concerns about the social and health effects of marijuana. Now we can start to tackle some of the harms of cannabis, Mr. Dean said. We can start to be proactive in public education. Well see the end of criminalization and we can start addressing Canadas $7 billion illegal market. The Epic, the tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washingtons big debut on the national stage three years ago, worked partly because it functioned as a provocation an act of extravagant ambition. Jazz loses a lot of young people with its fixation on history and esoterica. The Epic, though historically rooted, provided the opportunity for another kind of buy-in. It was reaching up, not back, soaring toward some other galaxy, suggesting that late-Obama progressivism could use a strong hit of transcendental thinking to make its optimism real. What Mr. Washington captured was music that seemed like it should have been unrecordable: It had an orchestra; a choir; not one jazz combo but effectively two (double bass, double drums, keyboard and organ as well as piano, plus a line of horns). Listening to all those textures and harmonies crushed against each other and compressed into a studio mix, you thought, This would be immeasurably cool live. (You werent wrong.) But The Epic let a listener understand all that, then tried to deliver something stupendous anyway. And you inevitably adopted its ambition, agreed to dream big along with it. It worked. This week Mr. Washington releases his follow-up, a double album titled Heaven and Earth. Like its predecessor (and last years Harmony of Difference EP, composed for a commission at the Whitney Biennial), its about a big concept this time, the interplay between human consciousness and collective action and its got the full orchestra and choir. Mr. Washington and the band started working on it in 2016, during a manic year of touring, playing the Epic material onstage almost every night. One mammoth album became another. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep and lets us get paid to watch comedy. If youre interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox. Youre Allowed to Leave Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday that, try as she might, theres only one way for Sarah Huckabee Sanders to separate herself from the Trump administrations new hard-line immigration policies: Quit. According to a CNN reporter, Sanders, the White House press secretary, preferred not to do the daily press briefing because she didnt want to answer questions about a widely criticized new policy separating migrant children from their parents. Aliens in America debuted on the CW in 2007, when comedies were in a weird place. That was the fall when Cavemen also debuted on ABC, when Two and a Half Men was still dominating the CBS comedy lineup, when Entourage was still being nominated for Emmys, when Desperate Housewives was competing as a comedy. Not long, and yet very long ago. So a sitcom about a Muslim Pakistani exchange student who finds himself living with a white, nominally Christian family in Wisconsin airing on a network that was only a year old did not make the impression it perhaps could have. Aliens aired just 18 episodes. Absolutely skip the first three, where the show is at its most expository and labored, and just know this: Justin (Dan Byrd), our narrator, is a high school dorkus whose social life is so crummy that his mother, Franny (Amy Pietz), agrees to house a foreign exchange student, Raja (Adhir Kalyan), in the hopes that Justin will make a friend and gain some social footing. It sort of works. Justin remains at the very bottom of the social ladder, but he and Raja are instantly and sweetly best friends. The show is often called a fish out of water story, but thats not quite right. Theres no water, or maybe no fish: No one here is totally comfortable, and none of the characters find their environment completely suitable. Franny is frustrated by her familys indifference to her (sometimes smothering) efforts. Her husband, Gary (Scott Patterson), loses his job and, with it, his identity. Their daughter, Claire (Lindsey Shaw), thrives on the cutthroat popularity game, but she also craves more meaningful validation. Justin refers to himself as an alien, having no idea how to fit in better. The truth is, the lives of the Garcias were not much like my own. I arrived in the United States when I was 3, so I could not relate to the traumas of being a new immigrant; I did not remember enough of the old country to truly yearn for it as they did. But I relished and latched on to everything I recognized: Spanish words or phrases specific to Dominican slang (antojo; jamona; Ute que sabe); the fact that everyone had a nickname (Lolo; Mundin); and that the parents were called Mami and Papi instead of Mom and Dad. The girls, like cousins of mine who came to America later than I did, were placed in a grade below their age group to make up for their lack of English. Carla, the eldest, wears her hair in a tubie, using her head as a large roller, and when Yolanda returns to the Dominican Republic, her aunts lament that she and her sister get lost in the United States, which is to say that they stay away and dont come home. The Garcia girls lived in a household where the rules were as strict as for Island girls, but there was no island to make up the difference, their parents worried they were going to lose their girls to America. This latter fear, especially, loomed over my childhood that I would become too brave, too free or too loose. I was threatened with island confinement if I stepped out of line, a threat the Garcia girls mother followed through on when she found a bag of marijuana behind her daughters dresser. When the Papi in the book, ready for a night out, turns to the girls and says, in a show of charming arrogance, A handsome man, your Papi, he could have been my father, feeling himself after a fresh haircut. Garcia Girls depicted, also, the troubling aspects of my community, specifically the ingrained colorism. Sandra is the most beautiful sister because of her blue eyes and peaches and ice cream skin, while Sofia, the youngest, was considered the plain one, with her tall, big-boned body and large-featured face; Sofia brought good blood into the family by marrying a German with fair Nordic looks. The maids were all brown or black-black and from the country, campesinas who, in many ways, were iterations of me. Alvarez rendered my reality a little more tangible by putting it in words, but more than validation, the book proved to be premonition. Yos fear that she would never find someone who would understand my peculiar mix of Catholicism and agnosticism, Hispanic and American styles, would arise for me in college, when my upbringing became a marker of difference. As an adult, I returned to my little island, finding, like Yo, what she has been missing all these years without really knowing that she has been missing it. Alvarezs novels were an alternate education. Through the Garcia girls, I learned about feminism, and my feelings of injustice, which had always been dismissed as childhood naivete, were reaffirmed. I checked out more titles by Alvarez: In the Time of the Butterflies, a lyrical work of historical fiction based on the story of the Mirabal sisters, revolutionary heroes who had opposed and fought against Trujillo, only to be brutally tortured and murdered by him; and In the Name of Salome, told from the dual perspectives of the famed Dominican poet, Salome Urena, and her daughter, Camila, a queer writer. WONDERLAND Poems By Matthew Dickman 74 pp. W. W. Norton & Company. $26.95. My first thought about the poems in Matthew Dickmans new collection, Wonderland, was: Why doesnt every poet write this way? That doesnt mean that I want every poet to write irregular lines about his or her childhood, just that I wish others wrote with Dickmans clarity and ability to engage. A friend who lives in another country said recently that I am still baffled by America. I cannot understand why there is such a love affair in the country with a joyless obfuscatory poetry that wears out its welcome, for most of us, ultra-rapidly. (Somewhat earlier, Nietzsche said, Poets muddy the water to make it seem deep.) Im not sure Americans do feel that way about most poetry any more than Brits were in love with beans and toast at one point in their culinary history. Its just that beans and toast were what they had till something better came along. Dickmans poems are that something, and they have been since his debut collection, All-American Poem, appeared in 2008, the same year hundreds of American poets kicked themselves for not having come up with that title first. There and in the several books since, Dickman looked back from time to time at his younger days. Wonderland, though, is devoted almost entirely to an early adolescent self, one old enough to skateboard and get into fistfights and think about girls. Remember when you were not a child and not yet an adult and your parents didnt understand you and sexual intimacy was real but it was something that happened in the next town over, not yours? All you had were the kids you hung with. In Teenage Riot, the first poem in Wonderland, a strange man attacks one boy in the poets gang without provocation, so another boy stabs him, and the man sits down, right there on the asphalt, / right in the middle of his new consciousness, / kind of looking around. Image Life can be that simple. It can be that strange: You do something stupid, somebody else does something stupider, and the next thing you know, a door opens into your new consciousness, and you dont know whether youre in this world or some other. We grow and age that way, and as we do, the ratio between the elements in that template changes, but the elements themselves stay the same: surprise, pain, wonder. And then poetry, if you write or read the stuff, because, for all our advances, a poem is still the most efficient machine, not to explain our experiences, but to organize them and allow them to be at least partially understood. Sharjah-based lowcost carrier Air Arabia swung between gains and losses after the airline disclosed exposure to funds managed by Abraaj Group, the Dubai-based private equity firm thats battling creditors, said a report. The shares fell as much as 3.8 per cent in Dubai before rising 2.9 per cent. Trading volume was at about six times the 30-day average. The stock declined 7.1 per cent on Monday, reported Bloomberg. Air Arabia said on Monday a team of experts is "actively engaged with all stakeholders and creditors involved with the matter to protect its investments, without providing financial details. Abraajs founder Arif Naqvi is a board member at the UAE-based dudget airline. Abraaj, once one of the developing worlds most influential investors, last week filed for a court-supervised restructuring as it fights allegations of misused funds. The move comes less than five months after some of its investors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, commissioned an audit to investigate the alleged mismanagement of money in Abraajs healthcare fund, said the Bloomberg report. Since then, the company, which once managed almost $14 billion for institutions and supranational agencies, has faced growing concerns about its viability, it stated. Kuwaits Public Institution for Social Security earlier this month filed a petition for the liquidation and winding up of Abraaj Holdings after it defaulted on a $100 million loan. A second creditor, Auctus Fund also filed a petition in the Cayman Islands. Both the virtues and the defects of her immersion in the world of pop culture are on display here. The virtues offer satisfying recreational reading with moments of deep engagement. The defects tend to anesthetize the reader to the nature, provenance and consequences of chronic mental illness. Thus, while engrossing, thanks to its larger-than-life subject, the book misses an opportunity to consummate the promise of its subtitle. Image Mary Pilon Credit... Julie Goldstone Koch When Pilon writes about Halls aspirations as an Olympic athlete, the book is absorbing and empathetic. Hall emerges as a kind of American/Athenian ideal, a man of superb intellectual and physical gifts. He is the son of two medical doctors and is a 1991 graduate of Brown University with honors degrees in mathematics and French literature. His powers of mind and body persist even as each is under attack. In the midst of his competitive sailing career, Hall manages to rebuild his elite athletes body after each of two separate and unrelated operations for testicular cancer: the first in 1990, when he was 21; the second in the Christmas season of 1992, after which his weight dropped. Hall competed in the worlds most demanding nautical races, including the 2004 Olympics and three Americas Cup events, over a 29-year stretch. He left competitive sailing in 2013 after surviving the tragic capsizing of the high-speed catamaran Artemis on San Francisco Bay during a test run for the Americas Cup. A crewmate, Andrew Simpson, who was known as Bart, was killed. Hall now lives with his wife, Amanda, in Auckland, New Zealand. He never realized his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. Pilon is a paragon of dogged research. Shes best in reconstructing (via hundreds of hours of interviews) the intertwined life struggles of Hall, his steadfast sweetheart and eventual wife, his vexed parents and some denizens of the competitive sailing world. Her attempts to reach Halls inner world display levels of empathy that touch the heart, even though they are not always successful. She offers insights into the engineering, construction and navigation of the fast-evolving catamarans themselves: technological, corporate-financed marvels equipped with winglike foils that make the entire vessel fly above the water. LONDON Fears of a Chinese takeover of companies important to national security have felled deals around the world both big and small. Now even the sale of a minor airplane parts maker is being closely examined for serious risks. In delaying the proposed takeover of the parts maker, Northern Aerospace, by a rival owned by a Chinese conglomerate, British government officials appear worried that even a small supplier to Airbus and Boeing could have important national security implications. It is the latest instance of countries around the world showing skepticism about Chinese money. Lawmakers in Washington are battling with President Trump over whether to lift penalties on ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company whose phones were barred for sale on American military bases. And in Australia, lawmakers are considering whether to block Huawei, Chinas biggest telecom company, from contracts to upgrade that countrys wireless networks to the next-generation 5G standard. Governments from the United States to Germany worry that China will effectively buy up the technologies it needs to create state-funded Chinese giants that would rival those from America and Europe. VIENNA A meeting of major oil producers here in the Austrian capital has been dedicated to the theme of cooperation for a sustainable future. Soon after proceedings kicked off on Wednesday, though, the political tensions between them were laid bare. For months, the worlds main exporters of crude, including Iran, Iraq, Russia and Saudi Arabia, have worked together to curb their output to bolster oil prices. The uneasy coordination among several longtime rivals has helped sharply increase oil prices and slash what had been enormous supplies of unsold crude piling up in storage. But faced with angry broadsides from President Trump, who is seeking cooperation from Saudi Arabia to force gasoline prices lower ahead of midterm elections in the United States, that cooperation now looks to be fraying. At a conference arranged by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries grouping in Vienna, Irans oil minister delivered blunt remarks arguing that it was Washington and not OPEC that was to blame for the high oil prices Mr. Trump has railed against. Christina Bernsteins check finally arrived last week: $7,440 from Equifax for her trouble. She was one of more than 145 million Americans whose financial information was exposed in the companys huge data breach last year. Most got an apology and free credit monitoring from the consumer data clearinghouse, but Ms. Bernstein and a few others found a way to get compensated for their aggravation: Take the corporate giant to small claims court. Many who try dont succeed, but a few have reached confidential settlements and others, like Ms. Bernstein, have prevailed, even if their victories were bittersweet. Im happy to get the money, but its not really over because I know my information has been leaked and you can never put it back, said Ms. Bernstein, a small-business owner in San Francisco. It was that frustration and sense of helplessness after the breach, as well as the companys response, that first motivated many to pursue Equifax in local court. Traditional automakers have faced increasing pressure in recent years from changed driving habits, the swift development of technology and emerging rivals from Silicon Valley. So to avoid being left behind, some are teaming up. Volkswagen and Ford, two of the worlds biggest carmakers, have announced that they are exploring a strategic alliance, possibly joining forces for an array of projects like the development of vans. Markets and customer demand are changing at an incredible speed, Thomas Sedran, Volkswagens head of strategy, said in a statement released Tuesday evening. To adapt to the challenging environment, it is of utmost importance to gain flexibility through alliances. The deal does not involve any financial commitment from either company, for now. But it raises the specter of some form of a tie-up as the two companies face a series of issues. In March, BMW and Daimler, two longtime rival German automakers, said they would merge their car-sharing businesses. Sara Hart Weir, the president of the National Down Syndrome Society, said that the separation of the girl from her mother was a very serious matter and that we expect all individuals to work together and find solutions and put any political rhetoric aside to help this young girl. Our hearts and prayers go out to this child and her family during this unprecedented and trying time, Ms. Weir said Wednesday morning. N.D.S.S. will work with the appropriate agencies to ensure she receives all the resources from us that she needs to help comfort her until she can be reunited with her father and eventually her whole family, where she belongs. Customs and Border Protection said that it came into contact with the girl, four of her siblings and her mother on June 3, when they were stopped in a car. The driver of the car was a United States citizen who was trying to smuggle the family into the country, the department said. Three of the children, who are United States citizens, were released to an aunt. The 10-year-old girl and a sibling were placed into the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services. While the mother told the authorities she was in the country illegally, Customs and Border Protection said she had not been charged with a crime. The mother was not prosecuted, but is instead being held as a material witness to support the prosecution of the smuggler, which precipitated the separation of the two other children, both Mexican citizens, the department said in a statement. This smuggler has a criminal history including a flight, escape, aiding and abetting making it important that we prosecute. The foreign minister of Mexico, Luis Videgaray, discussed the girls situation at a news conference in Mexico City on Tuesday and called the Trump administrations separation policy cruel and inhumane. He said that the girl and her brother were sent to a facility in McAllen, Tex., while their mother was moved to Brownsville, about 60 miles away. Walmart said it was surprised and deeply disturbed to learn that one of its former Texas stores was being used to house migrant children who had been separated from their parents. We sold the building in 2016 to a developer and had no knowledge then of its intended use today, the giant retailer said in a Twitter post last week. But real estate records pointed to the potential use. A Walmart executive signed a document that indicated the buyer was purchasing the property with a $4.5 million loan from a nonprofit that runs shelters for migrant children. The nonprofit, Southwest Key Programs, now leases the roughly 200,000-square-foot building in Brownsville, Tex., that houses nearly 1,500 migrant children, many of whom have crossed the border seeking refuge alone or with their families. When Walmart sold the building, Southwest Key was relatively unknown, even though for decades it had been running shelters for migrant children, as well as a juvenile justice program. The shelters have only recently provoked intense criticism after they began housing increasing numbers of children who had been separated from their parents as part of an aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration by President Trump. Theyre just not calling it that. The issue at hand revolves around air-conditioners. In 2017, at a United Nations summit in Kigali, Rwanda, President Barack Obamas administration agreed with 196 other countries to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, an extremely potent greenhouse gas used in air-conditioners, refrigerators and foams. The pact was an amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol meant to protect the ozone layer. Experts say the policy could have a surprisingly large climate impact. With countries like China and India installing millions of new air-conditioners, HFC emissions were expected to skyrocket this century. Reducing the use of these chemicals could help avoid up to 0.44 degrees Celsius of warming by centurys end. Given that the worlds nations are trying to limit total warming below two degrees, thats a significant chunk. But for the United States to fully participate in these efforts, the Kigali amendment needs to be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate. Mr. Trump has not decided whether to submit the treaty for approval. On the surface, it would seem Mr. Trump would have no interest. Hes been rolling back most Obama-era climate policies. Why should this one be any different? But in this case, dozens of American manufacturers have been pressing Mr. Trump to move forward. Companies like Honeywell, Dow Chemical and Johnson Controls are well positioned to produce next-generation air-conditioners and alternatives to HFCs, and they dont want to lose out on a budding global market. There is little doubt that Dr. Gawande will be able to outline what he has said he believes are the systems failings. Tapping Atul Gawande to head the new venture is a very positive sign, said Brian Marcotte, the chief executive of the National Business Group on Health, which represents large employers. He is a thought leader, thinks outside the box, and is passionate about fixing what ails our health care system. Dr. Gawande is a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School and a practicing surgeon at Brigham and Womens Hospital. This work will take time but must be done, Dr. Gawande said in a statement. The system is broken, and better is possible. He declined to be interviewed. He is also the executive director for Ariadne Labs, a joint project by Brigham and Womens and Harvard to further the adoption of measures that aim to improve patient safety, like surgical checklists. In a letter to friends and colleagues, Dr. Gawande said his role as chief executive will not require me to leave Ariadne Labs, Brigham Health, or Harvard. My plan is to transition from executive director of Ariadne to chairman, while remaining a surgeon on staff at the Brigham and professor at Harvard. I will also continue to write, including for The New Yorker magazine. His articles, while influential, have not been immune to criticism. His 2009 New Yorker piece, The Cost Conundrum, which looked at unnecessary care in McAllen, Texas, by comparing spending patterns around the nation, was required reading in the Obama White House. But McAllen was a hot spot of medical fraud, and subsequent studies showed that the places identified as low-cost under Medicare could actually be high cost for those who are privately insured. Dr. Gawande was chosen for the position after leaders at Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan interviewed many professionals, Mr. Buffett said. The companies seemed to struggle publicly to find an executive, with prominent leaders like David T. Feinberg, the chief executive of Geisinger Health System, the innovative group in Pennsylvania, saying they were not taking the job. Times Insider delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how news, features and opinion come together at The New York Times. On June 3, Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala erupted, sending burning lava, rocks and gas surging down the slopes toward the communities at the volcanos base. The village of San Miguel Los Lotes was swallowed by the volcanos pyroclastic flow a current of gases, sand, ash, rocks and tree trunks. More than 150 people are dead and 197 are still missing, many of whom are believed to be entombed in the debris left in the disasters wake. Cellphone video shot by bystanders and local news media on the scene captured the pyroclastic flow rapidly engulfing the landscape. I work on a team that focuses on immersive storytelling using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). My colleagues and I recognized an opportunity to convey the scale of this natural disaster in a new way, to bring our readers closer to the story by placing them at the scene and allowing them to examine it as if they were there. You can split a hairy, brown coconut in two with a machete, if youve got one lying around. The force of a well-aimed throw against concrete will sometimes do the trick. At close range, you can clobber away at it using the blunt side of a cleaver and plenty of muscle, and it will, eventually, fracture all the way around the middle so that you can get to the sweet-smelling water inside and the firm, fatty meat. On a recent Friday morning in her kitchen in Brooklyn, Von Diaz was going to use an electric drill to break in, but when she realized its battery was dead, she improvised. She balanced a coconut in the groove of her kitchen sink and chiseled the top with a screwdriver and a hammer. This worked, too. After puncturing it in its three dark eyes and saving the cloudy water that dribbled out, Diaz bashed the shell wide open. When Diaz was a child, her family moved from Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, to Atlanta. She writes about the experience in her cookbook published this year, Coconuts and Collards, not just in the stories that introduce each chapter but also in the recipes themselves, which are coded with her familys movements, over generations, from the Caribbean to the American South and back again. Diaz remembers how when shed visit her grandmother in Puerto Rico, she would sit next to her in the carport with a spoon, eating store-bought tembleque a popular coconut pudding right out of the aluminum container. Her grandmother bred show dogs and designed extravagant dresses. She was a big, bright, loving character in Diazs life. But Diaz didnt realize how much of a recipe hoarder she was until after her death, when she inherited her grandmothers collection the magazines, newspaper cuttings and books, including a beat-up copy of Cocina Criolla, a classic Puerto Rican cookbook by Carmen Aboy Valldejuli, filled with bookmarks and penciled notes in the margins. That book, which Diaz keeps on a bookshelf in her kitchen, protected inside a freezer bag, would become the point of departure for her own cookbook, filled with stories about her Tata and other women in her family. In it, there was a recipe for homemade tembleque. Step 1: Crack a coconut. From The New York Times Magazine, this is Behind the Cover. Im Gail Bichler, design director. And Im Jake Silverstein, editor in chief. The cover story this week is about how the Heritage Foundation, which is a conservative think tank, has been staffing up a large number of vacancies in the federal government since Trump took office. We were drawn to Ian Daviss work. We thought he would be great for this because the thing that was unusual was the large number of people they were getting in place. Heritage became a kind of one-stop shop for vacancies under Trump. I really liked the idea of having people surrounding the White House, using that building as a symbol of the government. But should it be on grass? Should it be totally decontextualized? Its a piece of fine art thats so stripped down that every single decision is critically important. When you have a group of people gathered around something, its very hard to show intent. We added some people actively entering the building and some other people actively joining the crowd. A lot of our covers are very targeted in terms of what they say. This one is definitely more ambiguous. Its not entirely clear whether the individuals are being drawn to the government or taking it over. Every few weeks, I wake up clammy from a dream in which I have failed to prepare myself for calamity. A frequent one has me flying down the freeway on cruise control when, out of nowhere, I decide to crawl into the back seat to grab something. I realize my mistake only as I feel the car begin to drift toward the median, but when I try to return to the front seat, my legs go limp. I always wake up before the crash. These nightmares, Ive come to believe, stem from my fear of that which I cannot control: earthquakes, drunken drivers, antibiotic-resistant superbugs. In my waking life, I fixate on what I can control, even when that means courting absurd fantasies: If I memorize the flight attendants safety demonstration, I tell myself, I can survive if the plane goes down. So, a few years ago, when I learned about International Asteroid Day a holiday on June 30 meant to teach humans about the hazards of planet-destroying space rocks I felt a flame of dread in my gut. I had always thought that fearing asteroids was a bit like fearing serial killers: They exist, sure, but the odds of encountering one are so low. But theyre not zero; far from it. Reading around, I learned that the chances of being killed by a meteorite a fragment of an asteroid are lower than being killed by lightning, but higher than being killed by a shark. NASA says it knows of no asteroids that pose a serious risk to Earth in the next 100 years, though there is a one in 714 chance of an impact in 2185. There is also a conspiracy theory circulating online that NASA is covering up a likely collision in 2019, apparently in an effort to stop global panic. NASA says the closest that rock, 2002 NT7, will come to Earth is about 38 million miles. But were it to hit Earth, it would supposedly do so at a speed of 17 miles per second and with a force 30 million times that of Little Boy, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Its nearly impossible to fathom figures so large, but the geological record offers a way of wrapping your mind around them. The asteroid that ended the dinosaurs struck like a pebble in a pond, landing with such force that it essentially liquefied the surface of the Earth at the point of impact. Within seconds, it had torn a hole more than 100 miles wide. The spewed rock climbed to a height as tall as Mount Everest before coming to rest. In 1908, an asteroid the size of a modest office building released the energy of hundreds of Little Boys over central Siberia, in what would come to be known as the Tunguska Event. The impact incinerated 800 square miles of forest and the reindeer within it and left enough dust in the atmosphere that, for several nights afterward, people in Europe could read newspapers until midnight. The Cayuga welfare agency has received the majority of the children separated from their parents at the border, said Bitta Mostofi, the citys commissioner of immigrant affairs. She said that Cayuga currently serves 600 unaccompanied minors (including those who did not come with parents), and that it planned to add 300 more spaces over the summer. Cayuga Centers, which has several locations, did not return repeated requests for comment. The children have been separated from their parents at the southern border as part of the federal governments zero tolerance policy, in which adults were being prosecuted for entering the country illegally, and their children were taken from them and placed into custody separately. More than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents in the last two months. But it was unclear how Mr. Trumps executive order ending the separation policy would affect the chaotic situation for the children in New York. Jose Xavier Orochena was outside Cayuga on Wednesday. He is the lawyer for Yeni Gonzalez, an immigrant from Guatemala whose three children are being held at one of their centers, he said. Ms. Gonzalez fled gang violence in Guatemala with her three children, Mr. Orochena said. After they arrived in McAllen, Tex., over a month ago, the children were taken from her and sent to New York, Mr. Orochena said. She is being held in Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. Mr. Orochena said that the children and their mother have communicated by phone. On a recent morning, a steer head weighing two tons dangled from a nylon strap over the playground in Chelsea Waterside Park, on 11th Avenue between 22nd and 24th Streets. Carved out of limestone and measuring four feet from below its neck to the crown of its horned head, the bovine bust, suspended from the boom of the truck that had transported it there, was inched closer to a pedestal in a fountain area of the playground, which is scheduled to reopen next month after an extensive renovation. The bust swayed as onlookers held their breath. It rotated slightly. The expression on the sculpture was as placid as always, making it seem like just another day for the cow head. After all, the swaying steer and its identical twin, both of which were relocating to the playground, have been on the move for decades. As it was reported in The Times in 2014, the bovine busts, along with two ram heads with long, curling horns, began life as facade ornaments for the New York Butchers Dressed Meat Company. The building was completed in 1919 on 11th Avenue between 39th and 40th Streets. It was demolished in 1991 to make way for an office building, but right before the wrecking ball came, the sculptures were plucked from the facade. New York is getting closer to legal marijuana. On July 13, the state Health Department issued a report recommending legalization of the drug, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo suggested that it was not a question of if, but when legalization would happen in New York. The move followed a change in policy in New York City. In June, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would hand out tickets to some people caught smoking pot instead of arresting them. But before New Yorkers break out their gummies and vape pens, heres an explainer on whats changing and when. How illegal is marijuana in New York City, really? Despite what you might smell on the streets, its still illegal. Marijuana possession and use in most cases are still outlawed under both federal and state law. The new policy, which will go into effect in September, will provide six weeks of paid parental at full salary to all parents. Teachers who give birth will be able to use sick time, as well, for up to 12 weeks of paid leave for a vaginal delivery and 14 weeks of leave for a cesarean section. Mr. de Blasio announced the agreement at City Hall, alongside teachers and elected officials. Some held babies or toddlers in their arms. The most important job for all of us who become parents is that of mom or dad, Mr. de Blasio said. Thats why paid parental leave makes so much sense. Its always made sense but it makes even more sense in the 21st century when people are working so hard, such long hours, and struggling to make ends meet. Its a fundamental matter of fairness. The deal comes after pressure from the United Federation of Teachers, a group that has been a political ally of Mr. de Blasio and has a membership that is 77 percent female. The policy applies to the unions 120,000 members, which include social workers, guidance counselors and teachers. A petition by members demanding that the union negotiate for paid leave got tens of thousands of signatures last year. The city said it would contribute $51 million a year to the union to help fund the new benefit, and estimated that 4,000 people a year would take the leave. To help cover the cost, the city will extend the unions contract by two and a half months, which would delay raises for its employees. The middle school desegregation plan is the first of its kind to cover an entire district, and it grew out of months of meetings with parents, schools and community leaders. Parents and diversity activists across the city have criticized the academic screening process used in the most selective middle schools and high schools to admit top students, leaving other schools filled with struggling students. The demand, and the effort to be admitted to high-performing middle schools has driven a chasm between largely white and Asian and affluent families and economically struggling black and Latino families, said Kimberly Watkins, president of the District 3 community education council, a parent advisory group. She added that the recalibration of the middle school admissions system was a first step toward meaningful change in our long-term District 3 segregation problem. But the effort has also drawn a backlash from some white, middle-class parents captured in a video shot by NY1 that went viral who contend that it is unfair when there are not enough seats for all the qualified applicants at high-performing middle schools and could lower the quality of education. Other parents and school leaders have said that the plan does not go far enough to address the deeply rooted causes of segregation, and it does not help struggling schools. The plan was chosen over three other options, which all aimed to give priority to low performing students but used different criteria. District school leaders initially unveiled a plan to focus on students who scored a 1 or 2 the lowest grade on a 1-to-4 scale on state standardized English and math tests, but that was later rejected because of concerns that it could violate state education law, which prohibits student placements based solely on state test scores. A call for response to the office of Seaview Estates, which is also the address for St. Marks Hamilton LLC and Oxford Realty Group LLC, the defendants in the other lawsuit, was not immediately returned. Advocates for affordable housing and low-income residents have long criticized the city for not aggressively enforcing the law requiring most landlords to accept vouchers. They say the lax enforcement has allowed landlords to flout the requirements and that that has undermined the citys efforts to reduce homelessness. About 77,000 people are homeless in New York City, according to the most recent estimates available from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homelessness began to balloon in 2011 after that state, citing a budget crunch, pulled funding from a rental assistance program called Advantage. The city, under then-Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, decided the city alone could not fund the program. Landlords, stuck with renters who could not afford their apartments in 2011, were wary when Mayor Bill de Blasio began introducing a new set of vouchers mostly funded by the city in 2014. The de Blasio administration has used vouchers and legal assistance for tenants facing eviction as its primary tools to combat homelessness. The administration plans to open 90 shelters over five years to accommodate the homeless. On its worst days, about 60,000 people about 40 percent of them children are in the system that uses traditional shelters, hotel rooms and private apartments. The city wants to stop using hotels and apartments, which are costly and make it more difficult to get services to people so they can move out of the shelter system. But the city has been slow to open the new shelters. The city offers substantial incentives to brokers and landlords. Brokers can earn a commission equivalent to 15 percent of the annual rent. Landlords can now receive a $3,500 bonus for every apartment rented to a voucher recipient, up from $1,000 offered four years ago. Landlords can also receive a months rent to hold an apartment while the city conducts a safety inspection, and the city pays the first year of rent in advance. Kazuo Kashio, a marketing virtuoso whose family company, Casio Computer, popularized the pocket calculator, the shock-resistant wristwatch and the preview screen on digital cameras, died on Monday at a hospital in Tokyo. He was 89. The cause was pneumonia, the company said. Mr. Kashio, who headed the company for nearly three decades, was credited as the salesman who turned Casios innovative mini-calculator into a universal device and revamped the image of the wristwatch, moving from elegant to utilitarian, when Casio introduced its rugged, knobby G-Shock in 1983. The company turned out its 100 millionth G-Shock last August. Mr. Kashio and his three brothers transformed Casio from a homegrown backyard machine shop into a global company, with $3 billion in annual sales of digital watches and cameras, calculators, electronic keyboards and other musical instruments, and high-speed printers. Casio Computer was born as Kashio Manufacturing in 1946 in the rubble of post-World War II Japan, when Kazuo Kahios older brother Tadao conjured a finger-ring cigarette holder that would allow the wearer to smoke down to the filterless butt in tobacco-starved Japan. Established in the 1820s, Key West is an exotic city located at the tip of Florida. Approximately 90 miles from Cuba, the city is the southernmost point in the continental United States. Offering recreational activities, museums and beautiful scenery, Key West has plenty of attractions to keep children busy. Train/Trolley Tours Kids will enjoy riding the rails of Key West on the Conch Tour Train (conchtourtrain.com), which has been offering trips around the city since the late 1950s. The 90-minute tour takes riders through 400 years of the city's vibrant history. Along the way, engineers provide a narrative of Key West's architecture, natural wonders and historical shops. Offered year-round, the tour makes three stops along the way, allowing opportunities to explore the sites of Key West. Tours typically include a map of Key West along with coupons for area attractions. The tour, rated a "must see" by AAA's Florida Tour Book, takes its name for a native of Key West, who is known as a conch. Another fun way for children to tour Key West is on a trolley. Old Town Trolley Tours (trolleytours.com/key-west) also offers 90-minute tours of the city. Along the way, conductors provide colorful details of approximately 100 points of interest. The trolley makes 12 stops, and riders can get off at any of them. Wildlife Children can learn about nature in Key West. The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory (keywestbutterfly.com) offers approximately 50 butterfly species as well as exotic birds from around the world in a climate-controlled environment. A short film details the life of the butterfly and also offers information about the creatures. A wall-size map of the world details the country of origins of various butterflies. During a visit to the conservatory, children can watch live caterpillars munch on leaves. At the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center (floridakeys.noaa.gov), children can explore more than 6,000 square feet of interactive displays focusing on land and underwater plants and animals. Highlights include a 2,500-gallon tank that provides a visual of coral reef life and an exhibit about underwater exploration. Strange and Supernatural Older children can explore more than 500 exhibits of oddities on two floors at the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum (ripleyskeywest.com). The 8,000-square-foot museum includes displays focusing on amazing acts and stunts. It also offers displays about well-known Key West resident Ernest Hemingway. At night, older kids also can take a walking expedition of haunted Key West locations with The Original Ghost Tours of Key West (hauntedtours.com), which has experience in haunted tours since the mid-1990s. Ninety-minute tours depart nightly, no matter what the weather is like. During the half-mile trek, visitors stroll through Old Key West. Stops include St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the alleged location of paranormal activities, and the East Martello Museum, home of a doll that is believed to be possessed. To add to the eerie experience, tours are led by caped guides who use old-fashioned lanterns. The governments broad argument had been that the system works. Our banks are the best run, the most prudentially supervised and the most well capitalized in the world, as the former prime minister and Liberal Party doyen John Howard put it. Mr. Morrison and the conservatives capitulated in the end, mainly because some members from the junior coalition partner, the Nationals, threatened to vote against the government and support the commission. This has left the government unable to claim credit for this moment, instead having to apologize for the obstructionism that delayed it. Its now clear that the countrys main financial regulator, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, has been completely ineffective thanks to its tendency to seek enforceable undertakings from the biggest corporations, in which offending companies devise their own punishments instead of facing civil or criminal proceedings. One probable reason for this is whats known as regulatory capture: The agency has become dominated by staff members who come from the industry it is regulating. We placed too much faith in the efficient market hypothesis and in light-touch regulation, admitted Prof. Ian Harper, who helped design the current financial system at former Prime Minister Howards request. And though coalition politicians may not like that confession, its a fair assessment of how conservative ideology got in the way of effective and fair governance. In 2014, the coalition slashed the securities regulators funding by almost $90 million over four years, eliminating some 200 jobs. As the calls for the royal commission gathered momentum, the Turnbull government quickly returned some of those funds, but that only underscored how the government had refused to acknowledge the state of the banking system. Ultimately, this story is about not only the banks collective reputation but also the collapse of the governments trickle-down economic worldview. Australia is now in a sustained period of wage stagnation that it has not seen outside of a recession. The fact that productivity and profits are rising, and that unemployment is falling, makes this even more confounding for the trickle-down economic creed. As former leaders of our parties in the United States Senate, we know what it takes to achieve a bipartisan breakthrough in Congress. For all the talk of discord in Washington, we see the possibility of finding common ground on a divisive issue. As surprising as it may sound, climate change offers a chance for both parties to come together and deliver a victory and cash dividends to the American people. Climate change is one of the great challenges of our generation. The politics of the issue have been divisive for decades and a new approach is needed to address this urgent problem. Both Democrats and Republicans can find that solution. America has always come together at moments of crisis or opportunity, from the shadows of economic depression and world war to the promise of the technology revolution and our rise to global energy dominance. America now must marshal its political will to lead on climate as well. There is only one lever powerful enough to solve this problem at the required scale and speed. Congress should approve legislation to place a meaningful fee on carbon-dioxide emissions that ripples through all sectors of our economy, and return the revenues it generates to the American people in the form of cash payments. We must set it high enough to encourage a turn to cleaner energy sources and accelerate our transition to a low-carbon future. If America leads on carbon pricing, the rest of the world will follow. I dont see much reason to hope that the Trump administration will play this role. Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, seems more focused on using federal dollars to lift the profits of private education companies, regardless of how well or ill they serve students. Outside the administration, though, some policy experts are starting to have intriguing conversations about the future of federal higher-education policy. The latest example comes from the Center for American Progress, the liberal research and advocacy group, which on Wednesday is set to release a new higher-education proposal. It focuses on those two big problems: lack of resources and lack of accountability. The proposal calls for roughly doubling federal financial aid, an increase of $60 billion a year. (Thats less than one-fourth of the annual cost of the Trump tax cut, as Ben Miller, a former Education Department official who helped write the proposal, told me.) The bulk of that money would increase financial aid by up to $10,000 a year for a low- or middle-income student. This money would effectively help cover student living costs, which often run close to $15,000 a year. Those costs mostly room and board are a major burden even for students who receive enough financial aid to cover much of their tuition bill. In fact some higher-education experts believe the recent attention on free college has been problematic, because it has obscured the fact that tuition isnt the main issue for many lower-income families. The second part of the new proposal would require colleges to meet performance benchmarks in exchange for the infusion of new federal spending. These benchmarks would include graduation rates and post-college employment and would vary based on degree of difficulty. A college that enrolled mostly low-income students wouldnt be expected to have the same results as an elite college. Over the long term, colleges that failed to meet the benchmarks could lose funding, as is already the case in some states, including Florida and Indiana. EDIRNE, Turkey Turkey will vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24. I am one of six candidates running for president. I am running from my prison cell. I am writing from a maximum-security prison in Edirne, a city in northwestern Turkey, near the border with Bulgaria. I was arrested one year and eight months ago while I was a member of the Turkish parliament and the co-chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, known as the H.D.P., for which six million people voted in the last election. My jailers chose to imprison me here because Edirne is far from my home, family and friends in the southeastern Kurdish region of the country. My cellmate is, like me, an elected member of the parliament. For the past few months, we have been hearing the nearly unremitting noise of construction. A large new prison is being built next door. A state of emergency was imposed on Turkey after the failed coup attempt in 2016, and existing prisons are stretched beyond their limits. The right to free expression and assembly has been cast aside, and the number of ordinary people incarcerated is growing by the day. It is well known among prison reformers that the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, a private prison, is a cesspool of violence and sexual abuse. The horrific conditions there have long been out in the open, thanks in large part to a class-action lawsuit brought in 2013 on behalf of the prisoners, on which a judge will rule any day now. In April, the prison reached a new level of notoriety after a video was released of an inmate being beaten unconscious by other prisoners. The video runs nearly 30 minutes before corrections officers casually enter the frame negligence made more appalling by the fact that an officer had filmed the attack. Given the prisons track record, it would seem like a foregone conclusion that an audit of its efforts to stop rape among prisoners as well as that perpetrated by staff members would turn up scores of problems. It didnt. In 2015, an auditor assessed whether the facility complied with the Prison Rape Elimination Acts standards a set of strong federal regulations aimed at ensuring safe ways to report abuse behind bars and improving medical and mental health care in prisons, among other provisions. The picture he painted was at odds with the reality there. To the Editor: Re Trump Retreating After Border Policy Outcry (nytimes.com, June 20): Well done, resistance. The protesters, the media that told the stories of the children, the politicians, medical professionals and celebrities who spoke out, the many who donated money to organizations that support immigrant families, and the Americans who took to social media let President Trump know what we want America to look like. And he backed down. The people spoke, and the people were heard. HENRIETTA ATKIN, OAK PARK, ILL. To the Editor: My wifes family is Honduran. Several of her family members have been murdered. One was a cousin who witnessed people breaking into a store and was killed on the spot, along with the store owner. Another cousin was gunned down over a personal dispute, along with his teenage son, who was shot in the head just because he happened to be standing next to his father. What exactly is the crime that parents leaving conditions like these are committing when seeking asylum here in a desperate attempt to save their childrens lives? Why are so many Americans branding such people as criminals and leeches? ART SALUK, PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. To the Editor: I am puzzled by the presss frequent failure to distinguish between asylum seekers and illegal entrants into the United States. While I do not advocate the inhumane treatment of any migrants, whatever their circumstances, it is troubling that The New York Times has not been more vigilant in calling attention to the presidents and the attorney generals consistent attempts to confuse the issue by referring to all who cross the border as lawbreakers who deserve whatever harsh treatment they receive. Yes, the world would be a better place if there were no trade barriers at all. But the United States should abolish its barriers even if China, Canada or others do not abolish theirs. As the economist and Times Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman explained in an academic journal, The economists case for free trade is essentially a unilateral case: A country serves its own interests by pursuing free trade regardless of what other countries may do. Mr. Krugman also lamented that economists must deal with a world that does not understand or accept that case for unilateral free trade. That becomes clearer by the day: Now so-called free traders seem to believe that the presidents $50 billion of tariffs on imports from China is part of a brilliant strategy to get the Chinese to open their markets to American exports. Similarly, they applaud Mr. Trump for starting a trade war with G-7 countries toward the goal of a tariff-free G-7. Even if Canada never removes its 270 percent tariffs on our dairy products, Americans would gain if Uncle Sam, regardless of Ottawas trade policies, unilaterally removed not only the steel and aluminum tariffs it just slapped on Americans who buy Canadian metal but also ended all tariffs on imports from Canada. Dont forget that Canadas dairy tariffs are paid by Canadian consumers. It defies logic for an American president to punish American consumers in order to prompt Justin Trudeau to be kinder to Canadians. We also know that an increase in imports from Canada will expand our exports to our northern neighbor. By contrast, protectionist policies like those supported by the Trump administration may lead to more, not fewer, protectionist policies abroad tariff hikes that have been historically ineffective. Finally, the case for low trade barriers is not simply theoretical. Its currently on display in several places in the world, including Singapore, the Netherlands and New Zealand. Hong Kong is a case worth highlighting. Thanks to its history of free trade under British rule and current special status in China, its widely regarded as one of the least restrictive economies in the world. Among the policies that have fueled its growth is unilateral free trade. Far from suffering from its free-trade stance, Hong Kongs economy has experienced multiple periods of rapid growth. In 1950 its average per capita income was about one-third the average United States income, but by 2017 it was slightly higher. In 1960 life expectancy in Hong Kong was three years lower than in the United States, whereas by 2017 it was five years longer. Sure, other free-market policies contributed to this economic success story, but at the very least unilateral free trade hasnt stopped Hong Kongs transformation into one of the richest economies in the world. President Trump should take a page from Hong Kong. As that territorys experience demonstrates, and as economists have long argued, lowering trade barriers regardless of other governments trade policies fuels domestic economic growth. So if Mr. Trump insists on acting unilaterally, he should cut rather than raise tariffs. In the preface to her 1968 collection of essays, Men in Dark Times, Hannah Arendt wrote: Even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination. Today, in our own dark time, Arendts work is being read with a new urgency, precisely because it provides such illumination. Born in Germany in 1906, Arendt studied with prominent philosophers of her time, but fled the country in 1933, living for a time in Paris, and later, in the United States. She is best known for her major works, including The Human Condition, On Violence, Truth and Politics, The Origins of Totalitarianism and especially Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, which grew out of her coverage of the trial of the Nazi Adolf Eichmann for The New Yorker. She was remarkably perceptive about some of the deepest problems, perplexities and dangerous tendencies in modern political life, many of them still with us today. When she speaks of dark times and warns of the exhortations, moral and otherwise, that under the pretext of upholding old truths degrade all truth in meaningless triviality we can hear not only a critique of the horrors of 20th-century totalitarianism, but also a warning about forces pervading the politics of the United States and Europe today. Arendt was one of the first major political thinkers to warn that the ever-increasing numbers of stateless persons and refugees would continue to be an intractable problem. One of Arendts early articles, the 1943 essay We Refugees, based on her personal experiences of statelessness, raises fundamental questions. In it, she graphically describes what it means to lose ones home, ones language and ones occupation, and concludes with a more general claim about the political consequences of the new mass phenomenon the creation of masses of people forced to leave their homes and their country: Refugees driven from country to county represent the new vanguard of their peoples The comity of European peoples went to pieces when, and because, it allowed its weakest member to be excluded and persecuted. Federal criminal prosecutions of migrants have skyrocketed, and the volume of cases has prompted rapid-fire hearings in which multiple defendants in one instance, 40 people are brought into the courtroom at once. Republicans in the House and the Senate voiced their intention to halt the practice of separating families at the border but clashed over how to proceed. Tune in, and tell us what you think. Email us at thedaily@nytimes.com. Tweet me at @mikiebarb. And if youre interested in advertising with The Daily, write to us at thedaily-ads@nytimes.com. How do I listen? If you dont see an audio player on this page or to subscribe to The Daily for free, follow the instructions below. From your mobile device: You can listen and subscribe to The Daily from any podcast player. If youre reading this from an iPhone or other Apple mobile device, tap this link to listen in Apple Podcasts. If youre on an Android device, tap this link to listen in Stitcher or this link to listen in RadioPublic. A vacation doesnt start when your plane takes off or the train leaves the station. The real beginning of a vacation is when youre huddled over a computer with your travel partner, agonizing over which flight to book, where to stay, what your budget will look like, all the while lamenting the jet lag youre going to endure. Its that string of conversations and decisions that really kicks thing off. (And in fact, all of that anticipation is likely to be better than the actual vacation.) Couples who travel together are more satisfied with the quality of their relationships, and they enjoy improved romance after the trip is concluded, according to a study by the U.S. Travel Association. Taking a break from work and the stresses of daily life is a fantastic way to recharge a couples spark, but some 30 percent of couples have never embarked on a couples-only vacation, according to Travelocity. Whether youve been globe-trotting with your longtime sweetheart, or youre booking plane tickets for two for the first time, here are some key ways to make sure your adventure is nothing but smooth sailing. Shorter getaways are best When it comes to romantic trips, shorter is better, according to Dr. Angela M. Durko, assistant professor at Texas A&M Universitys department of recreation, park and tourism sciences. She said a drop in vacation satisfaction usually occurs after about six days. So if youre going on a romantic getaway, book it for under a week. By Imran Inamdar, TwoCircles.net On May 24, TwoCircles.net published a story which showed a unique attempt to bring a smile to the faces of Dalit and Adivasi children during Ramadan. Since that day, the phone of Subhan Ali, the man behind the mission, has not stopped ringing. Even though Ramadan is over, he is still getting phone calls from people who are eager to donate. Ali says, Our target was to provide new clothes to 10,000 Dalit and Adivasi children but we never thought it would be achievable. But after your news report, we have received so much media coverage and support from people. We have already provided clothes to about 3,000 people and we are confident we will meet our target. Since the beginning of Ramadan, the volunteers working with Subhan Ali have nearly covered 20 districts till date. This activity will be running next 10 to 15 days in parts of Maharashtra, with the highest activity visible around Pune. We will achieve the target of ten thousand Inshallah, Ali added. Support TwoCircles According to Ali, taking care and providing timely assistance to marginalised section is humanity. Our religion Islam and beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) taught us the same, he added. Ali thanked Twocircles.net for covering their initiative in the beginning and taking it to national and international level. It really helped us to publicise and convincing Muslim social workers. I received a number of calls from Marathi media houses and other parts of the country, he said. A. Latif Shaikh, a volunteer from Nasik, told Twocircles.net that they visited an Adivasi village to distribute clothes among their children. It was really a memorable experiencethe Adivasi people were surprised and asked about our generosity. We replied that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) taught us that Muslims should share the happiness of Eid with downtrodden by gifting or feeding them, he said. A social activist Mohsin Shaikh from Buldana District informed that conducting these kind activities is the need of the hour. We should display the true picture of Islam by taking part in such noble causes. Marginalised people are our countrymen and sharing the joyousness of special days like Eid-ul-Fitr is our responsibility, he added. Rifkahs mother had baked Eid cookies, filled with date jam, two days before. On the night before Eid, the electricity usually goes out since everyone is using their ovens to cook for the celebrations, Rifkah said. Similarly, her mother went to have her henna done ahead of time. The girl who does her henna is booked up the day before. Others had waited, and Zanzibars henna salons, based out of peoples homes, were filled with women sitting perfectly still while the ink on their outstretched arms and legs dried. The barbershops were also full, with men getting fresh cuts and shaves. Music blasting from the inside of one barbershop declared, in Swahili, Lets fast and then well celebrate Eid! Other Zanzibaris were scrambling to get their outfits ready. You have to buy a new dress for Eid, Rifkah said as she led the way toward the Darajani Market, the central shopping district, on one of the last nights before Eid. Within the warren of brightly lit stalls, women pawed through piles of handbags, jewel-toned velvety scrunchies, glittery necklaces and lacy red bras. I bought my Eid outfit two weeks ago, Rifkah said with a laugh. You pay too much money if you wait until the last minute. Still, she took the opportunity to buy a pair of jeans to wear beneath her abaya; for young Zanzibaris, Eid nights can end in a trip to the dance club. This was Andy Warhols Factory, Studio 54 and the Algonquin Round Table all rolled into one, said Brad Vogel. The 70 or so people gathered on Broadway just north of Bleecker Street looked confused and a little skeptical about the empty storefront. This was the place. Not in this building here, but under your feet, Mr. Vogel said. He was explaining the history of Pfaffs, a German beer cellar that opened in 1859 at 647 Broadway and counted Walt Whitman among its bohemian regulars who sought the company of other men. While Mr. Vogel a lanky, 34-year-old attorney and poet with a commanding voice who serves as the executive director of The New York Preservation Archive Project spun tales of this forgotten nightspot, a young man in a pink tank top and navy shorts stenciled the words Gay Bar Was Here with blue chalk on the sidewalk. In this series for T, Emily Spivack, the author of Worn Stories, interviews creative types about their most prized possessions. The Kenyan-born, Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist Wangechi Mutu explores gender, race and cultural identity through collage, sculpture, drawing and performance. Her work is included in multiple shows this summer, including Multiply, Identify, Her at the ICP Museum in New York, N.Y.; Chaos and Awe at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, Tenn. and Road to Justice at MAXXI in Rome. Here, Mutu explains how a sculptural piece of furniture made by a friend has altered her home and influenced her work. My first proper piece of furniture is a dresser made for me by my friend Patrick Weder, a carpenter-slash-furniture maker who Ive always considered to be an artist. Patrick had been making these objects and furnishings but not really taking himself too seriously. They were exquisite. I remember thinking, When I have enough money, I need to get one of these because theyre astonishing. For the past five years, the hottest thing in artificial intelligence has been a branch known as deep learning. The grandly named statistical technique, put simply, gives computers a way to learn by processing vast amounts of data. Thanks to deep learning, computers can easily identify faces and recognize spoken words, making other forms of humanlike intelligence suddenly seem within reach. Companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft have poured money into deep learning. Start-ups pursuing everything from cancer cures to back-office automation trumpet their deep learning expertise. And the technologys perception and pattern-matching abilities are being applied to improve progress in fields such as drug discovery and self-driving cars. But now some scientists are asking whether deep learning is really so deep after all. In recent conversations, online comments and a few lengthy essays, a growing number of A.I. experts are warning that the infatuation with deep learning may well breed myopia and overinvestment now and disillusionment later. There is no real intelligence there, said Michael I. Jordan, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of an essay published in April intended to temper the lofty expectations surrounding A.I. And I think that trusting these brute force algorithms too much is a faith misplaced. New York City is unique because it had a thriving yellow taxi industry for decades before Uber arrived in 2011. Now, a lot of people have switched to Uber, and that has decimated the taxi business. Six professional drivers who owned taxis or drove for car services have killed themselves in recent months. Friends say they were hopeless over losing their livelihoods. But for New Yorkers, Uber and Lyft are a cheap and easy travel option, especially outside Manhattans core where taxis are less common. After a series of controversies at Uber, some people are reconsidering the ethics of using the app. Uber drivers also complain about making low wages after the company takes its cut. Im glad Uber began to offer a tipping option last year. I rarely have cash, but I tip my drivers a few dollars in the app. How much do you rely on Uber or Lyft for your job? I take the subway if I can. Its still usually the quickest way to get around because street congestion keeps getting worse. I use Uber for work sometimes, but more often for personal trips. When I take my son outside our neighborhood, its easier to use Uber since the subway is not exactly stroller-friendly. Fewer than one-fourth of stations have elevators. Is technology solving any of the headaches of transportation, like delayed subway trains, inaccurate bus schedules and never-ending city traffic? Technology is helping. Hopefully, it will help even more in the coming years. Elected officials in New York are considering congestion pricing, a proposal to toll drivers in Manhattan that would raise money for the transit system while reducing traffic. London and Stockholm have already embraced the idea. Over the last decade, the technology has advanced so that you can use sensors and cameras to charge drivers higher tolls at busy periods during the day. Im not saying Americas cities are turning into dystopian technocapitalist hellscapes in which corporations operate every essential service and pull every civic string. But lets take a tour of recent news from the metropolises. In Seattle, the City Council decided last week to undo its plan to impose a $275-per-employee tax on local businesses, a measure it had approved unanimously last month as a way to address the citys homelessness and housing-affordability crisis. Why the retreat? Many of the citys businesses balked at the tax, including Amazon and no one needed to remind Seattleites that Amazon is very publicly looking for a second city to plant its glass balls. So, the Council caved. The mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, announced that he had tapped the Boring Company, Elon Musks second side-hustle, to build a high-speed transportation tunnel from OHare International Airport to the city center. Boring said it would fully pay for the tunnel, using no public funds, but it is also very likely to hold a long-term lease to the project, capturing all revenue from the private system. Youve heard of the app-powered electric scooters that descended like locusts on some American cities last spring. The start-ups that run them made a bold bet: Deploy now; worry about legal niceties later. The bet is paying off. Officials in San Francisco, Austin, Tex., and Santa Monica, Calif., have rushed plans for legalization. Bird, the most ambitious of the scooter start-ups, is now raising money at a $2 billion valuation, just weeks after raising money at a $1 billion valuation. In Mary Page Marlowe, a play by Tracy Letts that tracks seven decades in an Ohio womans life, the title character is many things: a baby, a girl, a wife, a lover, a mother, a divorcee, a retiree. Shes also many people. In the Second Stage Theater production, which is now in previews and opens July 12, Mary Page is played by six actresses. Well, six actresses and one creepily lifelike baby doll. On a recent weekday evening, rehearsal wrapped and the cast rushed into the green room to celebrate a couple of birthdays. Then the various Mary Pages shuffled back into the upstairs rehearsal space, balancing plates of cake, glasses of water and, in the case of Tatiana Maslany, who plays Mary Page at 27 and 36, half an avocado. I missed lunch, she said. Ms. Maslany, who played at least 11 roles on the TV clone drama Orphan Black, and is finding it a pleasant change to share just one, was joined by Mia Sinclair Jenness, who plays Mary Page at 12; Emma Geer, who plays her at 19; Susan Pourfar, who plays her at 40 and 44; Kellie Overbey, the sole blond Mary, who plays her at 50; Blair Brown, who plays her at 59, 63 and 69; and the director, Lila Neugebauer. The creepy baby stayed in its crib. (There are other actors, too. And other characters. But these are the only Mary Pages.) The borough of Bantam has long been viewed as a traditionally blue-collar area among the rolling hills of picturesque Litchfield County in northwest Connecticut. Lately, though, Bantam has evolved into a compelling destination of its own; a place that offers everything any true gourmand needs, from artisanal yogurt and tasty bread to handcrafted charcuterie. Recently, its foodie stature has grown with the popularity of A Mano, an always-packed coffee shop that is the latest venture from two Manolo Blahnik executives who, in the mid-90s, revived an old dairy farm in Litchfield, then began turning industrial buildings in Bantam into ambitious food spots. The joke now is that Bantam is such a lively culinary destination that some longtime residents refer to the classy town of Litchfield as East Bantam. Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Heres the sign-up.) With the United States in the grip of a crisis over immigration, the experience of California in the 1990s offers some historical context. That was when California was experiencing, in the words of Manuel Pastor, a sociologist at the University of Southern California, its own Trump moment: a time of rapid demographic change with an influx of Latinos, and a Republican-led effort to deny services to undocumented immigrants and ban bilingual education. One kind of signal of California having its own Trump moment is demographic change in California between 1980 and 2000 is the demographic change the United States is going through between 2000 and 2050, Mr. Pastor said. Mr. Pastor recently wrote a book on President Trump and California, State of Resistance, and in an interview talked about how Californias dysfunction in the 1990s presaged what is happening now. A judge in South Carolina this week excoriated the Federal Bureau of Investigation, describing in a court order a parade of errors and a series of abysmally poor policy choices that allowed Dylann S. Roof to unlawfully buy the gun that he used to kill nine African-American people in a Charleston church in 2015. Still, the judge, Richard M. Gergel of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, ultimately granted the governments motion to dismiss about 15 lawsuits filed against it, which had alleged negligent management of criminal databases and performance of background checks. Indeed, while the judge noted in an opinion dated on Monday that the lawsuits had uncovered glaring weaknesses in the background check system, he ruled that any failures on the part of federal employees were a function of distinct policy choices, and as such the government could claim immunity under a provision that seeks to stop courts from second-guessing what he called even really bad policy choices. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is operated by the F.B.I., had demonstrated in a variety of ways that it was hopelessly stuck in 1995, Judge Gergel wrote. Still, he added later, the victims of this tragedy had no legal remedy. The complaint was just the latest example of how widespread criticism of the family separations has been. Congressional Republicans had moved to end the practice. Conservative religious leaders voiced opposition. The four living former first ladies condemned the policy, and even Melania Trump, the current one, seemed critical of the practice in a statement. This weeks complaint from 639 members of the United Methodist Church states that they were reticent to bring the complaint against Mr. Sessions, but that it was necessitated by his leadership roles inside the church, including as a Sunday school teacher. It outlines four chargeable offenses against Mr. Sessions as prescribed by Methodist church law. In addition to child abuse, the complaint also seeks charges of immorality for the separations, racial discrimination for indicating that the federal government would back away from monitoring troubled police departments, and Dissemination of doctrines contrary to the standards of doctrine of the United Methodist Church after Mr. Sessions used the Bible to defend the zero tolerance policy. The United Methodist Church has more than seven million members in the United States and more than 44,000 clergy members. The Rev. William B. Lawrence, a professor emeritus of American church history at Southern Methodist Universitys Perkins School of Theology and ordained minister in the United Methodist Church, said complaints are treated the same by the church whether filed by one individual or hundreds. Mr. Lawrence said complaints are filed regularly. He said it was significant that many members of the church from across the country had signed on to the complaint against Mr. Sessions, which included people from California, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Washington and other states. Mr. Lawrence said though the complaint process could lead to termination of Mr. Sessionss membership, the church is so many steps removed from that hypothetical outcome. Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, got an earful while she was eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington on Tuesday night. With tensions continuing to escalate over the Trump administrations zero tolerance immigration policy that separates children from their families after illegal crossings at the border, a group of protesters confronted her. If kids dont eat in peace, you dont eat in peace, the protesters shouted, according to video footage of the encounter that they posted on social media. WASHINGTON Long one of President Trumps most ardent defenders, the evangelist Franklin Graham voiced strenuous dissent this week about the practice of separating families at the border, even calling it disgraceful. His comments, along with other criticism from the evangelical community, raised the possibility that the presidents support from conservative Christians might erode as outrage mounted over the Trump administrations zero-tolerance immigration policy. But if evangelical leaders were pained by the sight of children being taken from their parents, they did not directly fault Mr. Trump. Instead, many blamed Congress and past administrations, Republican and Democrat, and emphasized that Mr. Trump called family separation horrible in a tweet and that he wanted a legislative fix for immigration. And though it is too early to know the electoral consequences of the policy, few conservative Christian political leaders have been concerned that Mr. Trump will lose support among their ranks, which represent one of his most important voting blocs. This is not the administrations fault, Mr. Graham said in an interview on Monday, while reiterating his stance against family separation. I dont point the finger at Trump. But Mr. Bloomberg began linking himself more closely with Democrats after Mr. Trump was nominated for president, giving a speech at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia endorsing Hillary Clinton. He has repeatedly rebuked Mr. Trump since the inauguration, calling the Republican tax-cut law a trillion-dollar blunder and becoming a United Nations envoy on climate after Mr. Trump announced plans to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement on emissions. [Heres whats coming up next on the primary calendar.] Mr. Bloombergs political team is in frequent contact with Democratic leaders, including some he has relationships from his time as mayor, and with liberal-leaning advocacy groups like Emilys List that he is likely to collaborate with in the 2018 campaign. He has conferred regularly with Representative Joseph Crowley, of Queens, who is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, as well as Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a 39-year-old military veteran who has emerged as a leading critic of Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader. Mr. Bloomberg is said to be intrigued by a list of candidates Mr. Moulton has endorsed, many of them also veterans. Especially in these marginal suburban districts, hes someone whose resources and credibility can help candidates in tough races, Mr. Moulton said, adding that Mr. Bloomberg would likely be cautious about where to deploy his operation: There are places where you want to go in very obviously, and other places where you want to do work behind the scenes. Mr. Crowley said in an interview that Mr. Bloomberg had expressed dismay to him about Republican lawmakers refusal to challenge Mr. Trump. He recognizes the threat of this presidency, Mr. Crowley said. Mr. Bloomberg will likely support Republicans in a few races for governor this year, and he donated $5,400 in April to Representative Dan Donovan, a Staten Island Republican battling a primary challenge from Michael Grimm, a former congressman who was jailed for tax evasion. Beyond that, Mr. Bloomberg is expected to spend little or nothing on Republicans at the federal level, his advisers said. Mr. Bloombergs partisan loyalties have shifted repeatedly over the years: He was a registered Democrat before switching parties to be elected mayor in 2001, and hosted the Republican convention in New York in 2004 before leaving that party to become an independent three years later. He twice made serious preparations to run for president as an independent, in 2008 and 2016, but both times ultimately decided against it. This child separation policy is connected to the worst abuses of humanity in our history, Mr. Schmidt said, reflecting the larger outpouring of anger over the administrations zero-tolerance policy, which has included immigrants seeking asylum. It is connected by the same evil that separated families during slavery and dislocated tribes and broke up Native American families, Mr. Schmidt said. It is immoral and must be repudiated. He also accused several officials of being complicit in enabling the presidents policies, including Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security; Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader; and Speaker Paul D. Ryan. Save for a few governors, Mr. Schmidt said, the Republican Party is now filled with feckless cowards. He said that the few who deserved to be spared that label included Govs. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Larry Hogan of Maryland and John Kasich of Ohio. As a result, Mr. Schmidt called for a Democratic wave in the midterms, describing that party as the only one remaining that stands for what is right and decent. WASHINGTON Washington moves slowly except in times of crisis political crisis that is. Beleaguered Republican members of Congress breathed a momentary sigh of relief on Wednesday after President Trump suddenly relented and took steps to stop the separation of immigrant children from their parents after they illegally entered the country along the southern border. With the midterm elections less than six months away, Republicans trying to hold their majorities in the House and Senate were desperate for quick action that would bring an end to heartbreaking images of crying toddlers who had been taken from stunned parents. They were well aware that the situation was inciting public outrage at a level that threatened to oust some Republican lawmakers from their congressional seats come November. America is better than this inhumane, anti-family zero-tolerance policy, the office of Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the senior Republican in the Senate, declared again in a tweet on Wednesday morning, hours before the president announced his retreat. But Republicans are not out of the woods yet. The presidents grudging executive order, which took a shot at Congress for its failure to act, is likely to be only a temporary respite in the standoff over immigration. Congress is still struggling to resolve myriad issues, including the fate of undocumented immigrants brought into the country as children, as well as Mr. Trumps demand for $25 billion to build a wall along the southwestern border, with the House facing a series of difficult votes Thursday on the immigration question. WASHINGTON Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Wednesday that the House would press ahead with a vote on a broad immigration bill that includes language to curb the Trump administrations practice of separating families on the border. We dont think families should be separated, period, Mr. Ryan said. Weve seen the videos, heard the audio. But doubts persisted about the bills chances of passage when it comes up for a vote on Thursday, and Senate Republicans were pursuing a different strategy. In that chamber, lawmakers were working to develop narrow legislation that would address the issue of separating families on the border. For now, at least, Mr. Ryan declined to entertain the possibility of considering a narrower measure aimed at stopping the separation of migrant families. The event was part of a heightened fund-raising push by America First Action. That group and an affiliated nonprofit, America First Policies, want to raise $100 million to advance Mr. Trumps agenda and help congressional candidates allied with him before a midterm election season expected to be difficult for Republicans. But through mid-May, America First Action had raised $11.3 million, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. (The total for America First Policies remains shielded by tax laws, but the group said it had raised about $25 million through the end of last year.) Mr. Trump has attended a handful of events this spring, including gatherings at two Washington residences and at a home in Virginia. Sensitive to campaign finance rules barring federal officials from soliciting donations greater than $5,400, the White House has been careful to call these events gatherings with supporters, not fund-raisers, although they have a similar effect. The event this week felt like a conference, with several panels geared toward foreign policy, America First messaging and a healthy disdain for the news media. You guys are genuinely out of touch, said Ms. Owens, who also serves as a communications director for the conservative group Turning Point USA, after speaking on the media panel. I feel like Im talking to someone who actually thinks everyone else is an idiot, she said to this reporter. Panelists, including Ms. Owens, did not pay to attend. Beyond media criticism, what lessons could donors expect to glean? It was a question put to Mr. Spicer, who was passing out business cards in the lobby and inviting people to his book release party July 24! in between panels. His answer: proximity to the president. WASHINGTON President Trump plans to propose a reorganization of the federal government as early as Thursday that includes a possible merger of the Education and Labor Departments, coupled with a reshuffling of other domestic agencies to make them easier to cut or revamp, according to administration officials briefed on the proposal. The plan, which will most likely face significant opposition in Congress from Democrats and some Republicans, includes relocating many social safety net programs into a new megadepartment, which would replace the Department of Health and Human Services and possibly include the word welfare in its title. Mr. Trump and his budget director, Mick Mulvaney, the architect of the plan, have sought to redefine as welfare subsistence benefit programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and housing aid. It is part of a rebranding effort, championed by conservative think tanks and House Republicans, to link them to unpopular direct-cash assistance programs that have traditionally been called welfare. They have been using the word welfare because it is pejorative, said Elaine Waxman, a senior fellow in the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan Washington think tank. The programs you can call welfare are actually very small in comparison to SNAP, which is an income support necessary to help families, workers and millions of kids. WASHINGTON President Trump urged Republican lawmakers on Wednesday not to scuttle his administrations efforts to help the Chinese telecom firm ZTE, warning them that his reprieve for the company was part of a broader geopolitical negotiating strategy. Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers met at the White House to discuss the fate of the company, which had been banned by the Commerce Department from buying American products this year as punishment for violating American sanctions. The administration has since lifted that ban at Mr. Trumps request and over the objections of lawmakers, who voted Monday to reinstate the penalties on ZTE. Mr. Trump ordered his Commerce Department to water down the penalties, which would have put ZTE out of business, after President Xi Jinping of China personally lobbied him to reconsider. The deal helped defuse tensions with Mr. Xi, whom the president has relied on to help pave the way for discussions with North Koreas leader, Kim Jong-un. China and the United States are also locked in a contentious dispute over trade, with both countries threatening tariffs on billions of dollars of each others goods. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, suggested on Wednesday that lawmakers would be willing to compromise with the president to avoid undercutting his leverage in talks with China and North Korea. The ZTE penalty was tucked into a large military policy bill that passed this week in the Senate and still must be reconciled with the House bill, which did not include the penalty. That gives lawmakers and the White House a chance to either jettison the penalty or make it more palatable to Beijing. Richard Sipe, a former priest who studies sexual abuse among the clergy, said in an interview that he was a professor at St. Marys Seminary in Baltimore in the early 1980s when he first heard reports from young men in the Metuchen diocese in New Jersey, which Bishop McCarrick led from 1981 to 1986. They were from seminarians who were invited to the bishop to go to his summer place on the Jersey Shore, where he had sex with these priests, he said. In his defense, he told them he didnt like to sleep alone. Over the years, Mr. Sipe said, he collected dozens of similar testimonies. The news amounts to a sudden fall for the retired archbishop. The allegations against Cardinal McCarrick of sexually abusing a minor are beyond the statute of limitations in New York State, so he cannot be criminally prosecuted. He could face further punishment by the Vatican, including being ordered to spend the rest of his life in prayer and penance, or could be dismissed from the priesthood entirely. For now, in accordance with child protection protocol, he has been barred from contact with young people in the Archdiocese of Washington, where he resides in a retirement home, according to Edward McFadden, secretary of communications for the archdiocese. Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York, said in his statement that the allegation was turned over to law enforcement officials and then thoroughly investigated by an independent forensic agency. He said that Cardinal McCarrick cooperated. The results of the investigation were then given to the sexual abuse review board of the archdiocese, made up of experts on sexual abuse, parents, a priest and a nun. The review board found the allegations credible and substantiated, Cardinal Dolan said in his statement. This archdiocese, while saddened and shocked, asks prayers for all involved, and renews its apology to all victims abused by priests. Mr. Noaker said that his client had testified personally in April before the archdiocesan panel and had earlier this year submitted his allegations to the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program. The program has paid out $55 million to victims since it was set up two years ago to resolve sexual abuse claims and to compensate survivors out of court. MASAYA, Nicaragua It is the most irregular of armies. Armed only with homemade mortars, their features hidden behind scarves and ski masks, the fighters of Masaya crouched behind the barricades they built to protect the streets of their rebellious city. Shots rang out, answered by the dull thud of improvised explosives, as the volunteers tried on Tuesday to hold off the advance of paramilitary forces and police officers toward the city center. As the assailants broke through each barricade, the defenders sprinted back through the empty streets, past families watching from doorways, poised to bolt inside at the first sign of danger. But in the end, the resistance was no match for the firepower and men sent by the government of President Daniel Ortega on Tuesday to rescue the police commander who had been assigned to quell Masaya, only to be held hostage for weeks at police headquarters. A day that began to the ringing of church bells, sounded to alert Masayas citizens, ended with at least four dead and more than 30 injured, but the town remained defiant. Violence had resumed before the Bala Murghab attack. Late Monday, the Taliban attacked security forces in the Dasht e Archi district of Kunduz Province. At least eight soldiers and two local police officers were killed. Afghan commanders described a sense of confusion, saying the Taliban were taking advantage of the defensive position in which security forces remained because of the governments cease-fire extension. We are not really clear whether this is a truce or not. There is no energy left in the police or in the army the government is neither leaving the area to the Taliban, nor letting us take it, said Qumandan Jama, who leads a local police unit in Dasht e Archi. While the government is willing to continue holding its fire, the insurgents have no apparent plans to respond in kind. Violence is expected to rise as Taliban leaders try to reassert control over their rank and file. They were surprised by the enthusiasm that foot soldiers showed for a sense of normalcy during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr, when the two cease-fires overlapped for three days. The fighters openly celebrated the relatively peaceful interlude visiting cities, stopping for ice cream and posing for selfies despite orders to stay in their trenches. While cease-fires overlap offered new hope for the Afghan peace process, officials and diplomats say the road ahead remains bumpy until the Taliban can be brought to the negotiating table. The insurgents, in their statements, have insisted on talking to the Americans directly, and on the withdrawal of foreign troops. The United States has shown more flexibility on both those issues in recent months, as patience in the Trump administration seems to be running out with the lack of progress toward talks. President Trump was reluctantly persuaded last year to increase the number of American troops in Afghanistan, and to base any withdrawal on progress on the ground rather than an arbitrary deadline. Ten months later, as the administrations strategy goes up for a review, there is little progress to speak of. BEIJING Propaganda departments in China and North Korea were in full swing on Wednesday as Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, concluded a two-day tour of China that painted the once-reclusive autocrat as a forward-looking leader. After meeting with President Xi Jinping and briefing him on the summit meeting with President Trump in Singapore last week, the North Korean leader was portrayed in the Chinese state media as eager to learn how to turn a developing nation into a global superpower. In North Korea, a propaganda machine that for decades turned out anti-American slogans and that denigrated South Koreans struck a new conciliatory tone, publishing posters this week that heralded unity on the Korean Peninsula. A focus on development Before his plane took off in the late afternoon, Mr. Kim made on the spot inspections of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and a subsidiary of the Beijing Infrastructure Investment Company on his second day in the capital. WELLINGTON, New Zealand Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand whose youth and surprise rise to power have made her a global celebrity, traveled on Thursday morning to an Auckland hospital where she was expected to give birth to her first child, her office said in a statement. Ms. Ardern, 37, would be the first world leader in almost three decades to give birth while in office, and her pregnancy has prompted a national conversation about working mothers. Before her election last year, she told an interviewer that it was unacceptable to quiz women about whether they intended to have children. When she announced her pregnancy in January, Ms. Ardern said she would not be the first woman to multitask, nor the first to work and have a baby. Once her child is born, Ms. Ardern will take six weeks of parental leave. When she returns to work, her partner, Clarke Gayford, who hosts a television show about fishing, will become a stay-at-home father. Collectively, the moves reinforce efforts by Mr. Orban to create a more illiberal and homogeneous society since regaining power in 2010. He has undermined the countrys checks and balances, gamed the electoral system, appointed loyalists to key positions in the judiciary, and eroded the independence of the news media. To maintain public support for these measures, he has presented himself as the countrys only competent bulwark against external threats like migrants, Mr. Soros and the European Union, whose officials provide Hungary with crucial subsidies but who have been critical of his governance. Although few migrants have tried to enter Hungary since the peak of the European migration crisis in 2015, Mr. Orbans influence over most Hungarian media outlets has helped him convince many voters that migration remains a persistent challenge to the fabric of Hungarian society giving him a mandate to enforce anti-migrant measures. The Stop Soros legislation on aiding migrants has been condemned by global agencies and rights groups, including, among others, the United Nations, which also criticized Mr. Orban for his efforts to crack down on the homeless within the same legislative package, and Amnesty International. It is a bitter irony that as the world marks World Refugee Day, the Hungarian Parliament voted today to introduce a law that targets organizations and individuals who support asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants, said Amnesty Internationals Europe director, Gauri van Gulik. Criminalizing essential and legitimate human rights work is a brazen attack on people seeking safe haven from persecution and those who carry out admirable work to help them, she said. It is a new low point in an intensifying crackdown on civil society and it is something we will resist every step of the way. Patrick Gaspard, president of Mr. Soross Open Society Foundations, said: Migration is clearly being used by the Hungarian government as a political diversion. The ultimate objective is to intimidate civil society and muzzle independent critics, including those who receive some of their funding from Open Society. We will continue to fund their important work at this difficult time, and do what we can to support Hungarys courageous rights defenders. They argue that Francis is sowing confusion and leading the church astray with his inclusive interpretation of the gospel. Francis told Reuters that their public campaigning against him was not ecclesial, but we all make mistakes and added that he was praying for them. The pope seems far from chastened by their resistance. Just this week, the Vatican adopted for the first time the term L.G.B.T. because, as Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri explained at a news conference, it wanted to use the language of young people. We dont want to be closed in on ourselves, he said. In the interview with Reuters, conducted on Sunday but published on Wednesday, Francis added that he also wanted to install more women in high-ranking positions in the Vatican bureaucracy because they resolved conflicts better. He added, however, that he did not want this to lead to masculinism in a skirt. He also disappointed conservatives and some of his critics in the Roman Curia, the body that governs the Vatican, by saying he had no intention of retiring. Right now, I am not even thinking about it, he said. He said he felt in good health, apart from some leg pain associated with a back condition. The pope also said that he remained optimistic about striking a historic deal with China over the appointment of bishops there, and that he could accept the resignation of more Chilean bishops following a clerical sex abuse scandal that threatened the reputation of his pontificate. Francis is loath to directly criticize world leaders, especially the American president, after once suggesting while Mr. Trump was a candidate that his enthusiasm for wall building rendered him not Christian. President Trump will meet Queen Elizabeth II during his long-delayed first trip to Britain next month, the United States ambassador to Britain said on Wednesday, an encounter that could reignite furor among British critics who oppose his deeply divisive policies and his polarizing personality. The ambassador, Robert Wood Johnson, announced the planned encounter in an interview with Sky News, the British broadcaster. He said while the details were still being worked out, they include a meeting with the monarch. Yes, yes, I mean, he has to see the head of state, Mr. Johnson said. Putting his foot on British soil, its Job 1, its very important, very symbolic. Meeting Her Majesty is the most important thing, because shes the head of state, and from then on, itll be what the president wants to do. Mr. Trump is said to have described his mother, a native of Scotland, as a big fan of the queen, according to The Sunday Times of London. Taking into account the missing records, the report said, there were probably at least another 200 patients similarly affected but whose clinical notes were not found. The patients were often given heroin through a syringe driver, also called an infusion pump, a device that can deliver a steady supply of medication, usually intravenously, over a long period of time. Many were given opioids not only unnecessarily and in dangerous dosages, but in dangerous combinations with sedatives. A large number of cases involved one doctor, Jane Barton, who the report said had established a pattern that was followed by others. A disciplinary panel investigating a small number of those cases censured Dr. Barton in 2009, and although she retired, she was not prohibited from practicing medicine. Dr. Barton did not speak to the news media on Wednesday. It was not clear whether the authorities would pursue criminal charges against her, as some families of her patients have demanded. Nurses began to complain about the inappropriate use of heroin in the hospital in 1991, but administrators consistently overrode their concerns, the report said. Family members began to object a few years later, and fought for years to be heard. A series of investigations that followed were either limited in scope or largely ignored. If people had listened to the relatives and nurses, many of those deaths would not have happened, Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, said in Parliament, apologizing on behalf of the government. One nurse at the hospital, Pauline Spilka, told investigators that despite her experience in elderly care, she had never heard of a syringe driver before working at the War Memorial Hospital. She learned later that it was a device that delivers a constant dosage of pain relief for seriously ill patients. In attacks on Jan. 13, Jan. 22 and Feb. 1, the draft said, government forces fired chemical agents, most probably chlorine, into a residential part of eastern Ghoutas Douma neighborhood, near a sports stadium, roughly 800 yards from the front lines, between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Some witnesses described a slow-acting agent that smelled like chlorine, the draft said, and they had sufficient time to rouse the victims, obtain wet cloths to serve as makeshift face masks, and evacuate the affected areas. In the Jan. 22 and Feb. 1 attacks, the draft said, the commission had evidence identifying the bomb delivery devices as surface-to-surface industrially produced Iranian artillery rockets, only known to have been used by Government forces and, rarely, affiliated militias. In relation to the munitions used on 22 January and 1 February, the Commission obtained and assessed material evidence including metadata analysis, and identified a surface-to-surface craft-produced rocket (IRAM). While IRAMs have been employed by a range of actors across Syria, the particular design of observed during these two attacks is only known to have been used by Government forces and rarely, affiliated militias. Specifically, IRAMs documented were built around industrially-produced Iranian artillery rockets known to have been supplied to Syrian Government forces. The draft said that the eastern Ghouta attacks had followed a pattern previously documented by the Commission concerning the use of chemical weapons by Government forces, and that none of them had suggested the involvement of armed groups. Thirty-one people, including 11 children, were sickened in the first three attacks, but none died. Two other episodes of possible chlorine use, on Feb. 25 and March 7, caused more extensive casualties, killing two children, including an infant, and injuring 18 civilians. The worst was yet to come, following the collapse of negotiations between Russian military officials and an insurgent group, Jaish al-Islam, to evacuate the Douma neighborhood and end the siege. On April 7, the draft said, an improvised explosive delivered from the air hit a multistory residential building roughly 200 yards from the Rif Damascus Hospital, the last functioning hospital in Douma. The draft described the explosive as a single industrial gas cylinder with fins that struck the top-floor balcony and appeared to have rapidly released large amounts of a substance into the interior space of the residential apartment building. Positions and physical symptoms displayed by victims of the attack support witness claims that the agent acted rapidly, the draft stated, and likely indicate that a high concentration of the chemical sank downwards. Based on witness statements and material evidence received and analyzed by the Commission, the draft stated, the dead showed an array of symptoms consistent with exposure to a choking agent, including signs of foaming at the mouth and nose, blue skin indicating impaired blood circulation, meiosis (constriction of the pupils), as well as some cases of dilated (wide open) pupils. Immigration is reshaping societies around the globe. Barriers erected by wealthier nations have been unable to keep out those from the global South typically poor, and often desperate who come searching for work and a better life. While immigrants have often delivered economic benefits to the countries taking them in, they have also shaken the prevailing order and upended the politics of the industrialized world where the native-born often exaggerate both their numbers and their needs. Share of population who are immigrants 0 10% 20% 5% 15% 40% 100% Canada 22% Russia 8% U.S. 15% U.K. 13% China 0.1% Germany 15% Libya 12% France 12% India 0.4% Switz. 30% U.A.E. 88% French Guiana 40% Austr. 29% Lowest-income countries are shown with a stripe pattern. Share of population who are immigrants 0 10% 20% 5% 15% 40% 100% Russia 8% U.K. 13% Canada 22% Germany 15% Kazakh. 20% France 12% Switzerland 30% U.S. 15% Italy 10% China 0.1% Spain 13% Libya 12% Saudi India 0.4% Arabia 37% U.A.E. 88% French Guiana 40% Equatorial Guinea 18% Australia 29% Lowest-income countries are shown with a stripe pattern. Share of population who are immigrants 0 10% 20% 5% 15% 40% 100% Russia 8% Canada 22% U.K. 13% Germany 15% Kazakh. 20% France 12% Switz. 30% Italy 10% U.S. 15% Spain 13% China 0.1% Libya 12% Saudi Arabia India 0.4% 37% U.A.E. 88% French Guiana 40% Equatorial Guinea 18% Lowest-income countries are shown with a stripe pattern. Australia 29% Donald J. Trumps promise to build a wall to keep Mexicans and Central Americans from crossing the United States southern border was central to his successful campaign for the presidency. Antipathy toward immigrants is spreading through Europe, fueling Britons desire to leave the European Union, upending Italys political establishment and giving the populist Hungarian government of Viktor Orban a fourth term. Fear of immigrants takes different forms. Immigration from the Middle East and North Africa has led to calls in Europe to prevent its so-called Islamization. In the United States, despite a long history of cultural, religious and ethnic mixing, several studies have concluded that alongside their anger over lost jobs and stagnant wages, many of the non-Hispanic white voters who tipped the presidency to Mr. Trump were motivated by fears that they were losing demographic ground to other groups. While it is far from a consensus, on both sides of the Atlantic the proposition that immigration amounts to a large-scale threat is gaining ground on the right of the political spectrum. People perceive there are more immigrants than there really are A study based on surveys in the United States and a variety of European countries by the economists Alberto Alesina, Armando Miano and Stefanie Stantcheva found that people across the board vastly overstate their immigrant populations. Actual Perception of share of population who are immigrants share of population who are immigrants United States Avg. in each country Britain Germany France Sweden Italy 0 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% Actual Perception of share of population who are immigrants share of population who are immigrants United States Average in each country Britain Germany France Sweden Italy 0 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% Note: For the United States, the number of actual immigrants includes estimates of the illegal immigrant population | Source: Immigration and Redistribution, 2018. Alberto Alesina, Armando Miano and Stefanie Stantcheva (Harvard University) The overestimates are largest among particular groups: the least educated, workers in low-skill occupations with lots of immigrants, and those on the political right. They overstate the share of immigrants who are Muslim and understate the share of Christians. They underestimate immigrants education and overestimate both their poverty rate and their dependence on welfare. Almost a quarter of French respondents, as well as nearly one in five Swedes and about one in seven Americans, think the average immigrant gets twice as much government aid as native residents do. In no country is this true. Actual Perception of share of immigrants who are unemployed share of immigrants who are unemployed Italy Germany France Sweden Britain United States 0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Actual Perception of share of immigrants who are unemployed share of immigrants who are unemployed Italy Germany France Sweden Britain United States 0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% People who are against immigration generate a sense of crisis, Professor Alesina said. They create a sense that This is a huge problem; we need a wall. Share of respondents who think the average immigrant gets twice as much government aid as natives do France Sweden Italy United States Britain Germany 0 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% Share of respondents who think the average immigrant gets twice as much government aid as natives do France Sweden Italy United States Britain Germany 0 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% In any event, the sentiment is eroding support for Europes social democratic model as well as for the United States more limited social safety net. Just making people think about immigrants generates a strongly negative reaction in terms of redistribution, Professors Alesina, Miano and Stantcheva write. This raises a fundamental question. If immigration from the South continues apace, will support for the liberal market democracies with robust social safety nets, which have prevailed in northern countries since the middle of the 20th century, hold in the 21st? The flow of migration varies around the world MIGRATION IN 1990 IN MILLIONS NORTH AMERICA EUROPE 28 1 6 1 within the continent 13 4 10 8 2 35 4 2 LATIN AMERICA ASIA 1 13 AFRICA OCEANIA MIGRATION IN 1990 IN MILLIONS 1 within the continent 28 EUROPE NORTH AMERICA 6 1 13 4 10 8 2 LATIN AMERICA ASIA 35 4 2 1 AFRICA OCEANIA 13 MIGRATION IN 1990 IN MILLIONS 1 within the continent 28 EUROPE NORTH AMERICA 6 1 13 4 10 8 2 LATIN AMERICA ASIA 35 4 2 1 AFRICA OCEANIA 13 MIGRATION IN 1990 IN MILLIONS 1.0 within the continent 27.9 NORTH AMERICA 6.2 EUROPE 1.1 13.4 4.4 10.0 8.1 1.8 LATIN AMERICA 4.0 35.4 ASIA 1.8 1.1 AFRICA OCEANIA 13.4 MIGRATION IN 1990 IN MILLIONS 1.0 within the continent 27.9 NORTH AMERICA 6.2 EUROPE 1.1 13.4 4.4 10.0 8.1 1.8 LATIN AMERICA 4.0 35.4 ASIA 1.8 1.1 AFRICA OCEANIA 13.4 Largest diaspora populations in 1990 in millions Russia Germany 1. 12.7 11. 3.3 Afghanistan Kazakhstan 2. 6.7 12. 3.0 India Turkey 3. 6.7 13. 2.5 Ukraine Mozambique 4. 5.5 14. 2.2 Bangladesh Philippines 5. 5.5 15. 2.0 Mexico Portugal 6. 4.4 16. 1.9 China Palestine 7. 4.2 17. 1.8 Britain Belarus 8. 3.8 18. 1.8 Italy United States 9. 3.4 19. 1.7 Pakistan Ethiopia 10. 3.3 20. 1.7 Largest diaspora populations in 1990 in millions Russia Mexico Germany Portugal 1. 12.7 6. 4.4 11. 3.3 16. 1.9 Afghanistan China Kazakhstan Palestine 2. 6.7 7. 4.2 12. 3.0 17. 1.8 India Britain Turkey Belarus 3. 6.7 8. 3.8 13. 2.5 18. 1.8 Ukraine Italy Mozambique United States 4. 5.5 9. 3.4 14. 2.2 19. 1.7 Bangladesh Pakistan Philippines Ethiopia 5. 5.5 10. 3.3 15. 2.0 20. 1.7 Largest diaspora populations in 1990 in millions Russia Mexico Germany Portugal Indonesia 1. 12.7 6. 4.4 11. 3.3 16. 1.9 21. 1.6 Afghanistan China Kazakhstan Palestine Azerbaijan 2. 6.7 7. 4.2 12. 3.0 17. 1.8 22. 1.6 India Britain Turkey Belarus South Korea 3. 6.7 8. 3.8 13. 2.5 18. 1.8 23. 1.6 Ukraine Italy Mozambique United States Morocco 4. 5.5 9. 3.4 14. 2.2 19. 1.7 24. 1.6 Bangladesh Pakistan Philippines Ethiopia Poland 5. 5.5 10. 3.3 15. 2.0 20. 1.7 25. 1.5 Largest diaspora populations in 1990 in millions Russia Mexico Germany Portugal Indonesia Iraq 1. 12.7 6. 4.4 11. 3.3 16. 1.9 21. 1.6 26. 1.5 Afghanistan China Kazakhstan Palestine Azerbaijan Spain 2. 6.7 7. 4.2 12. 3.0 17. 1.8 22. 1.6 27. 1.4 India Britain Turkey Belarus South Korea Uzbekistan 3. 6.7 8. 3.8 13. 2.5 18. 1.8 23. 1.6 28. 1.4 Ukraine Italy Mozambique United States Morocco Egypt 4. 5.5 9. 3.4 14. 2.2 19. 1.7 24. 1.6 29. 1.3 Bangladesh Pakistan Philippines Ethiopia Poland El Salvador 5. 5.5 10. 3.3 15. 2.0 20. 1.7 25. 1.5 30. 1.2 Largest diaspora populations in 1990 in millions Russia Mexico Germany Portugal Indonesia Iraq 1. 12.7 6. 4.4 11. 3.3 16. 1.9 21. 1.6 26. 1.5 Afghanistan China Kazakhstan Palestine Azerbaijan Spain 2. 6.7 7. 4.2 12. 3.0 17. 1.8 22. 1.6 27. 1.4 India Britain Turkey Belarus South Korea Uzbekistan 3. 6.7 8. 3.8 13. 2.5 18. 1.8 23. 1.6 28. 1.4 Ukraine Italy Mozambique United States Morocco Egypt 4. 5.5 9. 3.4 14. 2.2 19. 1.7 24. 1.6 29. 1.3 Bangladesh Pakistan Philippines Ethiopia Poland El Salvador 5. 5.5 10. 3.3 15. 2.0 20. 1.7 25. 1.5 30. 1.2 Note: Immigration flows from unknown origins not shown. | Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division Immigration is unlikely to slow down. All over the world, migration has grown sharply over the last quarter-century. In 1990, fewer than seven million Indians lived abroad, according to calculations from the United Nations. By last year, nearly 17 million lived outside of India. The Mexican diaspora increased to 13 million from 4.4 million over the period. Chinas rose to 10 million from 4.2 million. Most migrants from poor countries never make it to the United States or Western Europe, instead moving to other developing countries nearby. A little over half of emigrants from Africa settle in other African countries, while 60 percent of Asian migrants relocate elsewhere in Asia. Migration increased the most from Latin America MIGRATION IN 2017 IN MILLIONS NORTH AMERICA EUROPE 8 41 1 1 17 within the continent 21 26 1 5 7 9 3 6 63 3 LATIN AMERICA ASIA 4 3 1 19 1 AFRICA OCEANIA MIGRATION IN 2017 IN MILLIONS 8 41 1 1 NORTH AMERICA EUROPE 17 within the continent 21 26 1 5 7 9 3 LATIN AMERICA 6 63 ASIA 3 4 3 1 AFRICA OCEANIA 19 1 MIGRATION IN 2017 IN MILLIONS 1.2 within the continent 7.6 41.0 1.0 17.2 NORTH AMERICA EUROPE 4.6 20.5 9.3 2.6 26.4 1.4 7.1 1.3 LATIN AMERICA 6.1 63.3 ASIA 4.4 3.1 1.0 3.2 OCEANIA AFRICA 19.4 1.1 MIGRATION IN 2017 IN MILLIONS 1.2 within the continent 7.6 41.0 1.0 17.2 NORTH AMERICA EUROPE 4.6 20.5 9.3 2.6 26.4 1.4 7.1 1.3 LATIN AMERICA 63.3 6.1 ASIA 4.4 3.1 1.0 3.2 OCEANIA AFRICA 19.4 1.1 MIGRATION IN 2017 IN MILLIONS 1.2 within the continent 7.6 41.0 1.0 17.2 NORTH AMERICA EUROPE 4.6 20.5 9.3 2.6 26.4 1.4 7.1 1.3 LATIN AMERICA 6.1 63.3 ASIA 4.4 3.1 1.0 3.2 OCEANIA AFRICA 19.4 1.1 Largest diaspora populations in 2017 in millions India Afghanistan 1. 16.6 11. 4.8 Mexico Poland 2. 13.0 12. 4.7 Russia Indonesia 3. 10.6 13. 4.2 China Germany 4. 10.0 14. 4.2 Bangladesh Kazakhstan 5. 7.5 15. 4.1 Syria Palestine 6. 6.9 16. 3.8 Pakistan Romania 7. 6.0 17. 3.6 Ukraine Turkey 8. 5.9 18. 3.4 Philippines Egypt 9. 5.7 19. 3.4 Britain Italy 10. 4.9 20. 3.0 Largest diaspora populations in 2017 in millions India Syria Afghanistan Palestine 1. 16.6 6. 6.9 11. 4.8 16. 3.8 Mexico Pakistan Poland Romania 2. 13.0 7. 6.0 12. 4.7 17. 3.6 Russia Ukraine Indonesia Turkey 3. 10.6 8. 5.9 13. 4.2 18. 3.4 China Philippines Germany Egypt 4. 10.0 9. 5.7 14. 4.2 19. 3.4 Bangladesh Britain Kazakhstan Italy 5. 7.5 10. 4.9 15. 4.1 20. 3.0 Largest diaspora populations in 2017 in millions India Syria Afghanistan Palestine United States 1. 16.6 6. 6.9 11. 4.8 16. 3.8 21. 3.0 Mexico Pakistan Poland Romania Morocco 2. 13.0 7. 6.0 12. 4.7 17. 3.6 22. 2.9 Russia Ukraine Indonesia Turkey Myanmar 3. 10.6 8. 5.9 13. 4.2 18. 3.4 23. 2.9 China Philippines Germany Egypt Colombia 4. 10.0 9. 5.7 14. 4.2 19. 3.4 24. 2.7 Bangladesh Britain Kazakhstan Italy Vietnam 5. 7.5 10. 4.9 15. 4.1 20. 3.0 25. 2.7 Largest diaspora populations in 2017 in millions India Syria Afghanistan Palestine United States South Korea 2.5 1. 16.6 6. 6.9 11. 4.8 16. 3.8 21. 3.0 26. Mexico Pakistan Poland Romania Morocco Portugal 2. 13.0 7. 6.0 12. 4.7 17. 3.6 22. 2.9 27. 2.3 Russia Ukraine Indonesia Turkey Myanmar France 3. 10.6 8. 5.9 13. 4.2 18. 3.4 23. 2.9 28. 2.2 China Philippines Germany Egypt Colombia Uzbekistan 4. 10.0 9. 5.7 14. 4.2 19. 3.4 24. 2.7 29. 2.0 Bangladesh Britain Kazakhstan Italy Vietnam Somalia 5. 7.5 10. 4.9 15. 4.1 20. 3.0 25. 2.7 30. 2.0 Largest diaspora populations in 2017 in millions India Syria Afghanistan Palestine United States South Korea 2.5 1. 16.6 6. 6.9 11. 4.8 16. 3.8 21. 3.0 26. Mexico Pakistan Poland Romania Morocco Portugal 2. 13.0 7. 6.0 12. 4.7 17. 3.6 22. 2.9 27. 2.3 Russia Ukraine Indonesia Turkey Myanmar France 3. 10.6 8. 5.9 13. 4.2 18. 3.4 23. 2.9 28. 2.2 China Philippines Germany Egypt Colombia Uzbekistan 4. 10.0 9. 5.7 14. 4.2 19. 3.4 24. 2.7 29. 2.0 Bangladesh Britain Kazakhstan Italy Vietnam Somalia 5. 7.5 10. 4.9 15. 4.1 20. 3.0 25. 2.7 30. 2.0 Note: Immigration flows from unknown origins not shown. | Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division Immigrant populations have risen sharply in most advanced nations 11.6% More developed regions 7.2% Share of population who are immigrants World avg. 3.4% 2.9% 1.8% 1.7% Less developed regions 90 95 00 05 10 17 11.6% More developed regions 7.2% Share of population who are immigrants 3.4% World avg. 2.9% Less developed regions 1.8% 1.7% 90 95 00 05 10 17 Source: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division The economic pressures pushing migrants from their homes are unlikely to abate soon. But the patterns of migration from the poor South of people seeking a better life in the rich North are likely to change. Economic and other forces are driving immigration While instability in Central America continues to drive people north, the vast traffic of low-skilled immigrants into the United States across the southern border has slowed. The demographic bulge of Mexican men in their teens and early 20s who flocked illegally to the United States from the 1990s until the Great Recession has petered out, in part a consequence of declining Mexican fertility since the 1970s. Today, Mexicans are older, on average. Fewer are willing to take the risk. And Mexicos economy is in better shape than in the 1980s and 1990s, when repeated crises drove many Mexicans from their homes. There were fewer undocumented immigrants living in the United States in 2016 than in 2007. Apprehensions along the border with Mexico plummeted last year to their lowest level since 1971. Things may change if, say, Mr. Trump decides to leave the North American Free Trade Agreement, setting off another economic crisis in Mexico. Still, the United States seems more likely to suffer from a lack of immigrants than from a continued surge. 30 % Australia Switzerland 25 Israel New Zealand 20 Canada Ireland Foreign- born share of population Estonia Austria Belgium Spain Sweden Latvia United States Germany France Britain Norway Netherlands Slovenia 10 Italy Denmark Russia Portugal Greece Czech Republic Lithuania 5 Hungary Finland Chile Japan Korea Mexico Poland 0 $10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 G.D.P. per person 30 % Australia Switzerland 25 Israel New Zealand 20 Canada Foreign-born share of population Ireland Estonia Austria Belgium 15 Spain Sweden Latvia United States Germany France Britain Norway Netherlands Slovenia 10 Italy Denmark Russia Portugal Greece Czech Republic Lithuania 5 Hungary Finland Chile Japan Korea Bulgaria Mexico Slovak Republic Romania Poland 0 $5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000 45,000 G.D.P. per person 30 % Australia Switzerland 25 Israel New Zealand 20 Canada Foreign-born share of population Ireland Estonia Austria Belgium 15 Spain Sweden Latvia United States Germany France Britain Norway Netherlands Slovenia 10 Italy Denmark Russia Portugal Greece Czech Republic Lithuania 5 Hungary Finland Chile Japan Korea Bulgaria Mexico Slovak Republic Romania Poland 0 $5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000 45,000 G.D.P. per person 30 % Australia Switzerland 25 Israel New Zealand Canada 20 Ireland Estonia Austria Belgium 15 Spain Sweden Latvia United States Foreign-born share of population Germany France Britain Norway Netherlands Slovenia 10 Italy Denmark Russia Portugal Greece Czech Republic Lithuania 5 Hungary Finland Chile Japan Korea Bulgaria Mexico Slovak Republic Romania Poland 0 $5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000 45,000 G.D.P. per person Source: Gordon Hanson and Craig McIntosh (University of California, San Diego) Although immigration into the United States might have passed its high-water mark, other parts of the rich world Europe, notably are likely to experience more immigration than they have before. Consider Africa. As Gordon Hanson and Craig McIntosh of the University of California, San Diego, have noted, immigration across the Mediterranean may soon come to look like the vast flows of people who in the 1990s streamed across the Rio Grande. The number of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa jumped 25 percent over the first decade of this century and surged 31 percent from 2010 to 2017, according to the Pew Research Center. Persistently high fertility rates across Africa have produced a demographic bulge of young people eager to make a better life across the Mediterranean. Demand for immigrant labor will probably rise in Europe as its population ages. The number of working-age people is already shrinking in many countries. Whats more, migration from many poor African countries is likely to keep rising even as their economies develop: They will remain poor enough for many of their people to crave a better life elsewhere but will become rich enough for more of them to afford the journey. Migration peaks in lower-income countries Research by Michael Clemens of the Center for Global Development finds that incomes per capita in the countries with the largest diaspora populations range roughly from $7,000 to $20,000. Some big African countries -- like Nigeria -- have entered that range. 0.15 migrants per national population 2010 0.12 2000 1990 0.09 More migrants 0.06 0.03 0 $500 $5,000 $50,000 Wealthier countries 0.15 migrants per national population 2010 0.12 2000 1990 0.09 More migrants 0.06 0.03 0 $500 $5,000 $50,000 Wealthier countries Notes: Emigrant stocks are the number of people born in each country residing outside that country, divided by national population. Wealth is measured in G.D.P. per person, in 2005 purchasing-power parity U.S. dollars, plotted logarithmically. | Source: Michael A. Clemens (Center for Global Development) Then there is the wild card, which could well intensify patterns of migration everywhere: climate change. Global warming is driving migration Rising average temperatures are already pushing people from their homes in many middle-income countries, according to research by Cristina Cattaneo and Giovanni Peri, increasing migration from rural areas to urban centers and across borders to other nations. As warming continues in the coming decades, it will probably push people from agricultural areas to urban areas and from the global South to the richer global North. +0.06 El Salvador Trinidad & Tobago Fiji Cape Verde Nicaragua +0.04 Sao Tome and Principe Romania Comoros Guatemala Dominican Republic Bulgaria +0.02 Haiti Poland Honduras Swaziland Ecuador Sierra Leone TRENDLINE Ivory Coast Peru Bolivia Philippines Iraq South Africa Thailand Mauritania Indonesia Sri Lanka Change in migration Pakistan Solomon Islands India Egypt Mongolia Zimbabwe Colombia Iran Venezuela Papua New Guinea China Syria Senegal Angola Cameroon Congo Costa Rica Saudi Arabia Lebanon Vanuatu Kenya Morocco Uruguay Guinea Djibouti Bhutan Paraguay Botswana Samoa Panama 0.02 Turkey Tunisia Bangladesh Algeria 0.04 Logarithmic scales Belize 0.06 0.2 0 +0.2 +0.4 +0.6 +0.8 +1.0 +1.2 Change in average temperature St.Vincent & Grenadines +0.08 +0.06 El Salvador Trinidad & Tobago Fiji Cape Verde Nicaragua +0.04 Sao Tome and Principe Romania Comoros Guatemala Dominican Republic Bulgaria +0.02 Haiti Poland Honduras TRENDLINE Swaziland Ecuador Sierra Leone Ivory Coast Peru Bolivia Philippines Iraq South Africa Thailand Mauritania Change in migration Indonesia Sri Lanka Pakistan Solomon Islands India Egypt Mongolia 0 Zimbabwe Colombia Iran Venezuela Papua New Guinea China Syria Senegal Angola Cameroon Congo Costa Rica Saudi Arabia Lebanon Vanuatu Kenya Morocco Uruguay Guinea Djibouti Bhutan Paraguay Botswana Samoa Panama 0.02 Turkey Tunisia Bangladesh Algeria 0.04 Logarithmic scales Belize 0.06 0.2 0 +0.2 +0.4 +0.6 +0.8 +1.0 +1.2 Change in average temperature St.Vincent & Grenadines +0.08 +0.06 El Salvador Trinidad & Tobago Fiji Cape Verde Nicaragua +0.04 Sao Tome and Principe Romania Comoros Guatemala Dominican Republic Bulgaria +0.02 Haiti Poland Honduras TRENDLINE Swaziland Ecuador Sierra Leone Ivory Coast Peru Bolivia Philippines Iraq South Africa Thailand Mauritania Change in migration Indonesia Sri Lanka Pakistan Solomon Islands India Egypt Mongolia 0 Zimbabwe Colombia Iran Venezuela Papua New Guinea China Syria Senegal Angola Cameroon Congo Costa Rica Saudi Arabia Lebanon Vanuatu Kenya Morocco Uruguay Guinea Djibouti Bhutan Paraguay Botswana Samoa Panama 0.02 Turkey Tunisia Bangladesh Algeria 0.04 Logarithmic scales Belize 0.06 0.2 0 +0.2 +0.4 +0.6 +0.8 +1.0 +1.2 Change in average temperature St.Vincent & Grenadines +0.08 +0.06 El Salvador Trinidad & Tobago Fiji Cape Verde Nicaragua +0.04 Sao Tome and Principe Romania Comoros Guatemala Dominican Republic Bulgaria +0.02 Haiti Poland Honduras TRENDLINE Swaziland Ecuador Sierra Leone Ivory Coast Peru Bolivia Philippines Iraq South Africa Thailand Mauritania Change in migration Indonesia Sri Lanka Pakistan Solomon Islands India Egypt Mongolia 0 Zimbabwe Colombia Iran Venezuela Papua New Guinea China Syria Senegal Angola Cameroon Congo Costa Rica Saudi Arabia Lebanon Vanuatu Kenya Morocco Uruguay Guinea Djibouti Bhutan Paraguay Botswana Samoa Panama 0.02 Turkey Tunisia Bangladesh Algeria 0.04 Logarithmic scales Belize 0.06 0.2 0 +0.2 +0.4 +0.6 +0.8 +1.0 +1.2 Change in average temperature Notes: The horizontal axis records the natural logarithm of the average temperatures between 2000 and 1981 minus the natural logarithm of the average temperatures between 1960 and 1980. The vertical axis records the difference between the natural logarithms of the average emigration rates between 1990 and 2000 and the emigration rates between 1970 and 1980. | Source: Cristina Cattaneo (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)) and Giovanni Peri (University of California, Davis) How will the Norths political systems respond to the challenge? Alongside studies suggesting that ethnic diversity can reduce trust and support for social insurance, there is a body of scholarship suggesting that direct contact between people of different ethnicities, nationalities and cultures can breed trust: Its easier to fear an abstract immigrant you have never seen than one who lives down the block, sends children to the same school as yours and shops at the same store. The research by Professors Stantcheva, Miano and Alesina suggests that Americans who know an immigrant have more positive perceptions about immigrants work ethic, education, dependence on welfare and other behavior. Across the countries in their study, people exposed to positive images of immigrants -- say, about their strong commitment to work -- become much less negative in general about immigration. Natives views can also be manipulated in a negative direction, though, something currently reflected in the politics of many countries. Professor Stantcheva argues that negative portrayals of immigrants in the media could help explain the biased and erroneous views about immigrants behavior. And as Professor Alesina notes, Anti-immigration parties foster these misperceptions in a variety of ways strategically to gain support for their anti-immigration stands. But there are already plenty of walls, and they have done little to stop immigration. If rich countries want fewer immigrants, their best shot might be to help poor countries become rich, so that fewer people feel the urge to leave. That would include helping them adapt to climate change, and simply opening up their own markets to developing countries exports. If you want to have fewer immigrants, you would want poorer countries to take advantage of trade, Professor Alesina said. The idea that because there is too much immigration you should restrict trade makes no sense. Whats more, as Mr. Clemens argues, rich countries should probably start writing new rules and creating new institutions to manage the large immigration flows of the future. They could work to promote new destinations and develop mutually beneficial forms of migration (say, varieties of temporary work visas). They could establish mechanisms to assist vulnerable native-born people, whose jobs might be at stake. The inquiry will also present an opportunity to look at the extent of gender inequality in Australian workplaces and how the law needs to be applied and modified, including the time period allowed for complaints to be filed with the AHRC. Currently the AHRC can terminate a sexual harassment complaint if it is made more than six months after the harassment has occurred - this doesnt occur in every instance, but the reality is that the older a claim is the less likely it is to be accepted and dealt with, adds Bornstein. He is also urging the Commission to consider scrapping the $100,000 limit for sexual harassment damages in NSW. Global firm takes major step in US expansion plan White & Case has opened a new office in Chicago as part of its 2020 strategy to grow in the United States. The new office is headed by partner Jason Zakia who is head of the firms disputes practice for the Americas. He will relocate from the Miami office to drive the new locations growth. [June 20, 2018] Fuze CEO Colin Doherty Recognized as Best CEO for Women by Comparably Fuze, the leading cloud-based communications solution provider for the modern global enterprise, today announced it has been recognized with three Comparably 2018 Culture Awards, including the naming of CEO Colin Doherty as a top leader for female employees. "At Fuze, we are dedicated to creating an inclusive workforce that provides unique and lasting opportunities for all employees," said Doherty. "I'm humbled to receive this honor, especially knowing it comes directly from our female employees at Fuze. As the company continues to grow and expand its workforce globally, we are focused on implementing policies, benefits, and programs that hold universal appeal. These programs have the added benefit of being attractive to professional women in technology." One of these benefits is Fuze's Work from Anywhere policy. Fuze's culture and policies, as a core tenet, offer flexibility and choice. The company encourages employees to be open and communicate with their peers and managers on the schedule that works best for them, and drives productivity and success for their team overall. Comparably, one of the fastest growing compensation, culture, and career mnitoring sites in the U.S., compiled its ranking from sentiment ratings provided by employees who anonymously rated their employers on Comparably.com between May 23, 2017, and May 23, 2018. With a 95 rating among women, and a 90 rating overall, Doherty ranks among the top 5 percent of large Boston-based CEOs. "2018 is the year in which women across the country stood up and spoke out against gender discrimination, pay inequality, and harassment in the workplace," said Jason Nazar, Comparably CEO. "Comparably's Best CEOs for Women awards recognize Fuze CEO, Colin Doherty as the best of the best ranked by Fuze's female employees. Colin and the Fuze leadership foster a culture that supports and encourages women, and we hope it will motivate other leaders to do the same." Fuze recently launched the Fuze Women's Network, an internal committee comprised of women and men to advocate for issues of importance to women, create opportunities for professional development, build mentorships across the company, and fuel networking opportunities for employees across the company. In addition to Doherty's Best CEO for Women recognition, Fuze also received awards for Best Company for Managers and Best Company for Professional Development. The company offers various training opportunities and bootcamps for sales, support, development, and more. All employees are encouraged to meet regularly with their managers. Fuze's Quarterly Conversations program is cited by employees as being helpful in providing feedback and enhancing career development. These work culture recognitions also come on the heels of Fuze's recent naming to Inc. Magazine's 2018 Best Places to Work ranking last month. Learn more about Fuze's company culture and explore opportunities to become a Fuzer here. About Fuze Fuze is a global, cloud-based unified communications platform that empowers productivity and delivers insights across the enterprise by enabling simplified business voice communications, flexible video conferencing, and always-on collaboration. Formerly ThinkingPhones, Fuze allows the modern, mobile workforce to seamlessly communicate anytime, anywhere, across any device. Headquartered in Boston, MA, Fuze has additional locations including New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Ottawa, London, Amsterdam, Aveiro (Portugal), Paris, Munich, Zurich, Copenhagen, and Sydney. For more information, visit www.fuze.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005625/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] No one will accept if MGR is misrepresented: G K Vasan Acts of cruelty against, last thing that can be justified: Madras HC Chennai oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer Condemning the practice of subjecting women to cruelty under the guise of ceremonies, the Madras High Court today observed that such acts can never be justified even if it had been followed for a very long time. "No one has the right to force another person into any act in the name of a ceremony, which by its nature causes pain and suffering and results in cruelty to a person. Such acts can never be justified even if it had been followed for a very long time," Justice N Anand Venkatesh said. The judge said a ceremony which affects the dignity of a person and which on the face of it is inhuman, offends Article 21 of the Constitution. He said a strong message must be sent to society that cruel acts in the name of ceremony would not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely by courts. The judge stated this while modifying the July 2010 order of the principal sessions judge, Dharmapuri, sentencing four women who subjected the victim to cruelty, to one year imprisonment. He directed that the sentence be set off against the period already undergone by them in prison. The prosecution case was that the four women forcibly took the young woman to a dam late at night on February 12, 2001,removed her clothes, tonsured her head and burnt her tongue with a red hot needle. Her 'thali' was removed, but t was however, tied again by her husband, who was present.All this was done on the charge that she was possessed by an evil spirit,the prosecution said. Following a complaint from the victim and her father, a case was registered on February 17. The trial court awarded the sentence, which was confirmed by the sessions court in 2010. The judge took into consideration the passage of 17 years from the date of occurrence of the crime and age of the accused and modified the sentence. He directed them to each deposit a compensation of Rs 15,000 before the Judicial Magistrate II in Dharmapuri within eight weeks, enabling the victim to withdraw the amount. Maharashtras model green village fought against drought by planting trees on special occasions Feature oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Mumbai, June 20: Back in 2003, retired school teacher PT Shinde changed the fate of his village in Maharashtra's Pune by encouraging his fellow residents to plant trees on special occasions. Today, Ranmala, a village in Khed taluka, which was earlier drought prone has become water sufficient, thanks to more than two lakh saplings being planted in and around the village in the last 15 years. From births to deaths in families, villagers under the guidance of Shinde have been ritualistically planting trees, most of which are fruit bearing, and turning the whole of Ranmala into a green abode. Now, as the Maharashtra government is all set to embark on its massive tree plantation drive, beginning from July 1 to 31 where 13 crore saplings will be planted across the state, it is the Ranmala model that the administration has decided to adopt, reported The Times of India. Speaking to the English daily, principal secretary of the forest department, Vikas Kharge, said, "We visited the village and found this idea was working very well. If there was a birth in anyone's house, they would be gifted a sapling--'Janm Vruksha' (birth tree) and the family was expected to take care of the sapling as they would the baby. Similarly, for a death in a family, a 'Smruti Vruksha' (tree of remembrance), 'Maherichi Zhadi' or 'Shubh Mangal Vruksha' (auspicious tree) for weddings and 'Anand Vruksha' for special occasions would be given." The recognition by the state government is a big morale boost for the villagers of Ranmala. Shinde told The Times of India that the village has received several awards for its model, but the state government adopting the model has been its greatest achievement and villagers are extremely proud of their contribution. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 6:52 [IST] AIIMS topper wants to serve home town, become a cardiologist India oi-Vikas By Vikas Eliza Bansal (17) from Punjab's Sangrur district, who topped the prestigious AIIMS MBBS exam this year, wants to serve her hometown Lehragaga which faces a shortage of doctors, her family said today. Bansal bagged the All India Rank (AIR) 1 in the AIIMS MBBS exam, the results for which were declared yesterday. "Eliza wants to be a cardiologist and serve in Lehragaga", said Vijay Kumar, the teen's proud father. Our area is considered backward as there are no qualified doctors here, he added. Kumar, who is an economics teacher at a government school in Sangrur, said his daughter spent seven to eight hours studying every day. "Eliza stayed away from social media and used her mobile only for study purposes," he said. The AIIMS results were a huge leap for Bansal who had secured the 196th position in this year's National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). She scored a perfect 100 percentile in biology and physics, 99.94 percentile in chemistry and 97.87 percentile in general knowledge in the AIIMS test. Two other students from Punjab were among the top four. Bathinda's Ramneek Kaur Mahal and Mohali's Manraj Singh Sra bagged AIR 2 and AIR 4 respectively. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh congratulated the three students on Twitter today. "My heartiest congratulations to Sangrur girl Eliza for topping #AIIMSMBBSResult2018, and to the Ramneek & Manraj for taking the 2nd & 4th spot. You've all done Punjab proud. Best wishes for the future & hope to see you become great doctors in the service of mankind," the chief minister tweeted. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 7:50 [IST] Faceless terror in J&K: The message is to drive people from other states out As BJP dumps PDP, jokes highlight the sad reality of Jammu and Kashmir India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Srinagar, June 20: "Nobody cares about Jammu and Kashmir," rued a 20-year-old Kashmiri student doing her engineering from a college in Bengaluru, Karnataka. She does not want her name to be published. The youngster has a reason to remain an anonymous voice from Kashmir. "Talk about Kashmir's ground realities; you will be labelled as an anti-national, a terrorist or a Naxalite and what not. We are none. We are Kashmiris who have been suffering because of decades of proxy war and a couple of real wars between India and Pakistan," she said, while lamenting over the collapse of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alliance government in her home state on Tuesday. The computer engineering student, who aspires to start her own tech company in her home city, Srinagar, said the latest political development indicates the uncertainty in the Valley. "We hope the Governor's rule brings some normalcy and peace in the state which has seen heightened violence in the last couple of years under the BJP-PDP government. But we do want the elections to be held soon to have a democratically elected government in the state," she added. While the Kashmiri student expressed the angst of her people, users of social media with a good dose of humour and sarcasm highlighted the sad reality of Jammu and Kashmir which has been reduced to a pawn at the hands of "political masters" in Delhi. Here we bring you some humourous tweets exposing the BJP's high-handedness while dealing with the sensitive issue of Jammu and Kashmir: BJP during Demonetisation (Nov 2016 ) - Demonetisation has broken the back of terrorism. BJP today ( 19 June 2018 ) - We have decided to pull out of the alliance because terrorism has increased in the valley. BJP just exposed two of its failures.#BJPDumpsPDP #BhagodiBJP Abhishek Dhakre (@DhakreAbhishek) June 19, 2018 Neither PDP nor GDP, only my DP is under control. #BJPdumpsPDP Narendra Modi (@LolendraModi_) June 19, 2018 Hahaha, Abdullah ji has a shawl & anyway who uses shawls in summer https://t.co/2dq2dujEhb Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) June 19, 2018 Ghar se nikalte hi .. kuch door chalte hi !!! #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/MpMd5QXqJv Aye Himan (@4mlvodka) June 19, 2018 Life of a Bhakt 3 years ago BJP aligning with PDP Bhakt :- Masterstroke by Modi ji 3 years later After #BJPDumpsPDP Bhakt :- Masterstroke by Modi ji Atul (@secular_arrow) June 19, 2018 For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 8:22 [IST] BJP to organise its first big rally in Purulia where TMC workers allegedly killed two BJP workers India oi-Vinod By Vinod New Delhi: West Bengal seems to be the new destination for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from where the party is not only expecting to make a major breakthrough but also working hard to create an environment in which the party is able to won the bigger chunk of Lok Sabha seats in the next Parliamentary elections. The party has chalked out a strategy and it is working as per the strategy and in one such initials plans the BJP is organising a rally on June 28 in Purulia which will be addressed by national BJP president Amit Shah. Purulia is the same place where party's two workers were allegedly killed by the Trinamool Congress workers. BJP sources said that the party President has two-days extensive tour plan in the state from June 26 to June 28, 2018. On June 27, Amit Shah will participate in the Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay anniversary celebration in the morning with intellectuals. The party president will have a meeting with the workers of the IT cell to take stock of the situation its role and responsibility before the Lok Sabha elections. The party president also has plans to visit Tarapeeth on June 28 morning after that he will have meeting with the booth workers in the Purulia district of West Bengal which will be selected randomnly. After this the party president will address a rally in the district. The PM will also address a rally in the state very soon. Party sources said that the party leaders like Dilip Ghosh, Rahul Sinha, Mukul Roy and one former MLA are meeting booth-level workers daily. They are covering five booths every day. Party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya told OneIndia that the party was working very hard and it had set up a target to win 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the next Lok Sabha elections. And the party is confidence of winning that much seats as it is progressing in the right direction at the moment. Sources said that expansion of the party is happening in the West Bengal. The role of BJP leader Mukul Roy has been very important in this expansion plan and he must be given his due credit for helping the BJP to win as many as 7000 Panchayat seats. "One more thing I would like to state that had there been a free and fair elections in West Bengal, the BJP would have won at least 20-25 thousand seats in the panchayat polls," said the source. Sources said that priority of the party is to make workers at every booth and the party has been successful in covering around 65 per cent polling booth so far out of the total 77000 poling booths in the state. Disenchanted Congress, TMC and Left Front workers are deserting their respective political party to join hands with the BJP. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 19:04 [IST] Charbagh Hotel fire accident: FIR registered against owners & workers of hotel India oi-Madhuri An FIR has been registered on Wednesday against the owners & workers of SSJ International & Virat Hotels where at least five people were killed and while 5 people were injured. The fire started around 4.30am from a short circuit in an air-conditioner in the basement of SSJ International Hotel and gradually engulfed its frontage. Some commuters informed police and fire department. In an hour, the fire spread to other floors causing panic among the guests. Within minutes, the flames spread to the adjacent Viraat International hotel. Police said that in all there were 70 occupants in both the hotels. SSJ International had 30 occupants while 40 guests were staying in Viraat International. Police also said that all the deceased and injured were staying in SSJ hotel. A case has been registered under section IPC 285,337,338 & 304. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed sorrow over the loss of lives in the fire. "The chief minister has directed officials to ensure proper medical care for the injured," a spokesperson said, adding, "He has announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the family members of each of the deceased, and Rs 50,000 for each of the grievously injured." For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 9:27 [IST] No love for those who do not love cows: Bhupendrasinh Chudasama Gau rakshaks hit again: UP Muslim man lynched over cow slaughter rumour, video goes viral India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Lucknow, June 20: A few days after two men were lynched in Assam's Karbi Anglong district on suspicion of being child lifters, on Monday gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes) allegedly brutally beat up two Muslim men in Uttar Pradesh. While one of the victims has succumbed to his injuries, the second one is undergoing treatment at a hospital. The brutal incident took place in Hapur's Pilakhuwa village, which is around 70 kms away from the national capital. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media, highlighting the horror of mob lynching spreading across India like a wild fire. 2 persons were attacked by Cow Terrorists in Hapur, UP . Someone "claimed" that they were carrying cattle (Not slaughtering) and Cow Terrorists attacked them . One man Qasim (45yo), succumbed . One more achievement of Modi GauVernment @Uppolice pic.twitter.com/0L1EArai0j Md Asif Khan (@imMAK02) June 19, 2018 The victims have been identified as Qasim (45) and Samayuddin (65). Qasim is the one who is dead. The police told NDTV that the two men were brutally thrashed after an argument with some bike-borne men from the neighbouring village. However, the English daily, The Indian Express, reported that the families of the victims and the two alleged attackers, who have been arrested, claimed the assault was related to cattle smuggling. Several incidents of killings over cow smuggling or beef eating have been reported from various parts of the country in the last few years. In 2015, a mob attacked the house of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh on suspicion of storing beef in his refrigerator. Akhlaq was badly beaten by the Hindu mob leading to his death. His family, like those of others killed by cow vigilantes, is still waiting for justice. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 13:44 [IST] Faceless terror in J&K: The message is to drive people from other states out How BJP by blaming PDP for the mess has exposed its own failures in Jammu and Kashmir India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Srinagar, June 20: The moment the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) joined hands to form the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir in 2015 after the Assembly election results in the terror-ravaged state threw up a fractured mandate, critics called it an "unholy alliance". Back then when the BJP decided to be a part of the coalition government with the PDP, which is diametrically opposite to its core ideology, supporters of the saffron party hailed the "friendship" as a "masterstroke" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah. Now, on Tuesday when all of a sudden the BJP decided to pull the rug from under former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's feet, supporters of the saffron party once again termed the step as a "masterstroke" by its political masters in Delhi. In between 2015 and 2018--a good three years--Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed an unprecedented rise in terror-related activities, deaths of army personnel and civilians and stone pelting incidents, especially after the killing of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, the commander of Hizbul Mujahideen in July 2016. A few months after Wani's killing, in September 2016, the BJP regime at the Centre decided to conduct surgical strikes against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir. The hawkish Kashmir policy of the Modi government yielded no results. The surgical strikes, which the BJP government tried to portray as one of its biggest achievements to foil Pakistan's continuous policy of sending terrorists to the Valley, proved to be a dud bomb. According to an RTI reply, between January 2012 to February 2018, 1,563 terrorist attacks took place in the Valley, in which 132 civilians died. According to the ministry of home affairs data, the highest number of terrorist attacks, 342, took place in 2017 in which 213 terrorists were killed, followed by 322 attacks in 2016 and 222 in 2014. The highest number of civilian deaths took place in 2017 when 40 residents died in violence-related incidents, followed by 28 deaths in 2014 and 17 in 2015. The security forces also endured heavy losses in Kashmir as between May 2014 (since the Modi government came to power in Delhi) to May 2017, casualty of army personnel increased by 72 per cent, according to data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal. As the Modi government always remained adamant to follow what they called "Doval doctrine" (named after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and which stresses on taking a hard stand on Kashmir to eliminate terror activities totally), the figures are a reminder that "muscular policy"--as said by Mufti after she lost her coveted CM chair--won't work in Kashmir. Those who have been studying and understanding the Kashmir issue said talks with all the stakeholders, including local Kashmiris, separatists and Pakistan, can't be stopped if India is serious about solving the Kashmir cauldron. The situation in the Valley went out of control in the recent times when the Centre decided to announce ceasefire during the holy month of Ramzan. The ceasefire of army operations proved counterproductive as terrorist attacks and killings in the Valley increased multifold. On the eve of Eid, noted journalist Shujaat Bukhari was killed by unidentified gunmen near his office in Srinagar recently. The assassination of Bukhari proved to be the death knell for any hope of peace and normalcy in the Valley. Before the "divorce" between the BJP and the PDP, Union home minister Rajnath Singh announced the abrogation of the Ramzan ceasefire and restarting of army operations in the Valley. On Tuesday, at a press meet in the national capital where the BJP announced that its alliance with the PDP became "untenable", actually it unknowingly exposed its own failures in Kashmir. In the entire press meet, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav, the "architect" behind the "unholy alliance", blamed only Mufti and the PDP for the mess in the state, forgetting that his own party was also a "partner in crime" in the Valley. From the very beginning the BJP had no concrete Kashmir policy. Most of it was based on jingoism and anti-Pakistan stand. But to run a government, the BJP needs sensitivity and empathy towards the local people, which its leaders badly lack, especially when it comes to Kashmir as they see the Valley through the prism of Pakistan. While its "Hindutva" agenda helped the saffron party to spread its roots in Jammu, mostly dominated by Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits, in the Valley, the BJP was always looked upon with suspicion because of its history of being anti-Muslim and anti-minority party. The BJP did talk about its now "infamous" vikas (development) mantra in Kashmir too. But on the ground there was hardly any development in the state, thanks to regular violence and curfews. The Modi government's policy of giving total control to the army and refusing to talk with various stakeholders were also something that choked the Valley. While Mufti was accused of being soft on stone pelters, separatists and Pakistanis, the BJP's machoism also flopped in Kashmir. The precarious alliance was always doomed to collapse, but it was the BJP which first announced the divorce giving it once again a moral high ground in front of its core Hindu voters in Jammu and the rest of the country. As the Lok Sabha polls are scheduled next year, the BJP is trying hard to depict itself blemish-free from its "Kashmir misadventure" which is nothing but misuse of the Valley and violence to score political brownie points. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 11:39 [IST] It has been the best job I ever had, says Arvind Subramanian, calls Jaitley best boss ever India oi-Vikas By Vikas Terming his job as the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) as "rewarding and fulfilling", Arvind Subramanian on Wednesday said that he shared an excellent rapport with Arun Jaitley, calling the Finance Minister "best boss ever". Jaitley earlier in the day informed in a Facebook post that Arvind Subramanian wants to step down from the post of CEA, on account of pressing family commitments. Jaitley further wrote that he had no option but to agree with Subramanian's decison as the "reasons were personal but extremely important for him". "It has been the best job I ever had or will ever have. It was enriching and exciting. I will go back with the happiest best memories of this tenure. I will always be committed to serving the country in future," said the outgoing CEA. Arvind Subramanian quits as Economic Advisor, Jaitley accepts resignation Subramanian also said that his last day in office has not been decided yet. He further dubbed GST as a "monumental achievement", adding, "I am proud to be associated with it." "Soon the process will be started for choosing my successor, let us see how it turns out," he further said. Subramanian took over the post on October 16, 2014 succeeding Raghuram Rajan. The post of CEA was lying vacant for over a year since Rajan left to join the Reserve Bank of India as governor in September 2013. Subramanian's term was for three years, which was to end on October 16, 2017. He had got an extension of one year in September 2017, his term was to end in October this year. In a 'Thank You' post on his Facebook page, Jaitley informed about Subramanian's decision to go back to the United States on account family commitments and added that he had no option but to agree with Subramanian. Jaitley also thanked Subramanian for his contribution to macro economic management of Indian economy. "Personally I will miss his dynamism, energy, intellectual ability and ideas. He would walk into my room - at times several times a day, addressing me as "Minister" to give either the good news or otherwise. Needless to say his departure will be missed by me. But I know that his heart is very much here. I am sure he will keep sending advice and analysis wherever he is," Jaitley wrote. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 16:49 [IST] Possibility of holding J&K Panchayat polls in September being explored says Govt Amarnath Yatra may be restricted to 30 days Meet the first woman CJ of J&K High Court Civic polls in Jammu and Kashmir to be held in September this year J&K: Governor meets senior administration officers, security forces in Srinagar India oi-Madhuri Governor of Jammu & Kashmir NN Vohra held a meeting with senior administration officers & security forces in Srinagar on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind approved the imposition of Governor's rule in the state with immediate effect. The move comes within 24 hours of the breakdown of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - People's Democratic Party (PDP) alliance in the state. On Tuesday evening, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav announced that the party is pulling out of the alliance with Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP. Later, Mufti and her team of ministers submitted their resignation to Governor NN Vohra. Following this, Governor Vohra forwarded his report to President Kovind for the imposition of Governor's rule under Section 92 of the Constitution of J&K. Faceless terror in J&K: The message is to drive people from other states out J&K: President approves imposition of Governors rule with immediate effect India oi-Madhuri President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday has approved imposition of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect. Under the provision of Section 92 of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, Governor's rule is imposed for six months, but only after the consent of the President of India. The Constitution of India grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir among Indian states, and it is the only state in India to have a separate Constitution and regulations specific to it. The President's rule in other states of India is imposed under Article 356 of the Constitution of India. Under the Governor's rule, the State Assembly is either kept in suspended animation or dissolved. If it is not possible to restore the state machinery before the expiry of the six-month period, the provision is extended. The Governor's rule was imposed on the state for the first time in March 1977, when the Congress withdrew support to National Conference (NC) government led by the late Sheikh Abdullah. Article 370 of the Constitution of India states that Parliament of India and the Union Government jurisdiction extends over limited matters with respect to State of Jammu and Kashmir, and in all other matters not specifically vested in federal governments, actions have to be supported by state legislature. The Government of India can declare emergency in Jammu and Kashmir and impose Governor's rule in certain conditions. Matters related to defence, foreign relations, communication and finance of Jammu and Kashmir are under jurisdiction of the Constitution of India. (with PTI inputs) J&K course correction: BJP needs to also think beyond a muscle policy India oi-Vicky Nanjappa The BJP has pulled out of the coalition with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir. There is plenty of course correction involved and the BJP would be hoping to fix it. While on one hand the law and order situation would need to be brought under control, on the other the BJP would also have in mind its core vote bank in the state which had backed it to the hilt in the previous elections. OneIndia caught up with Professor Arvind Dhar, Vice Chancellor, NIILM University, Haryana to discuss the issue. A Kashmir Pandit refugee, Prof. Dhar says that the immediate worry for the BJP should be on how it would have cater to the people of Jammu. There has been a total failure on part of the BJP-PDP government in catering the sensitivities of the Jammu Province . For example, a strike in Nowshera for nearly 60 days, which is a Hindu dominated Tehsil( bordering POK) in Rajori district. Revenue, administration and police officers were removed and replaced with Kashmiri Muslims as a result of which the strike broke out, and the BJP MLAs etc were not seen on the ground. A collapse: Prof. Dhar further says that the government tried to sideline the IPS officers. The state also failed to control the bureaucracy. The issue relating to the rehabilitation of Kashmiri pandits was put into cold storage by state government. As a result of this core issues such as jobs and accommodation were not addressed. To make the matters worse the encroachment of Kashmri pandit properties became rampant as the existing laws were deliberately made redundant. When Dr. Farooq Abdullah was the chief minister, he had come up with a law that sought to protect the properties of Kashmiri migrants. The law known as the Kashmiri Migrant Properties Distress Sale Act was a beneficial one. Under it, each district was to have a nodal officer which would cater to the needs of the people. However since Mehbooba came to power, the cells catering to such issues have disappeared. In the many areas of Srinagar and Budgam, these cells are non-operational. The Kashmiri Pandits: Prof. Dhar also points towards the allocation of funds for the Kashmiri Pandit shrines. There was a fund allocation of nearly Rs 50 crore for these shrines, but since Mehbooba came to power, this has stopped. Instead encroachments have gone up in almost all such shrines, he says. During the previous regimes, the disputes relating to the Kashmiri Pandits were treated on high priority. Now no one seems to respond. I can quote my own case where on certain issues, I have got no response at all, he says. Even the CM Grievance portal is not responsive and so are the numerous RTIs and petitions sent to various authorities. With regard to the jobs in the Jammu province, I would like to ask how many from Jammu got central and state government jobs. A large chunk of it has gone to the people of Kashmir. Mehbooba made sure that her people or those close to the PDP benefited. Out here I would want to point out that the PDP stood for its people, but am afraid to say that the BJP did not. The BJP should have at least stood up for the people of Jammu. Instead, over the years, I have seen encroachments increasing in the Jammu region and this has not been controlled. Forest lands and even the river bank of Tawi is being fast encroached and the officials always looked the other way during this regime. What BJP should do: The important thing for the BJP is to keep in mind that Jammu was not taken care off in last three years and its time BJP looks after the Province of Jammu. The BJP needs to keep in mind that the Congress will go all out here and will ride on the fact that it has its good-will intact, as during these years, even if defeated, the ex MLAs were on the ground with the people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should stand up and work on the policy so that Jammu and Ladakh gets its due. Let him make temporary regional councils for Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh, a demand of BJP & BJS c\for long so that each province has autonomy of its own The government also needs to make its stand on Article 370 clear. It is a key issue and the stand needs to be clear on that, Professor Dhar also adds. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee's time, he had spoken of the need for a Sharda Peet University. It was to be a Kashmir Pandit minority university. A paper was prepared, the issue was studied and even land was identified in Kupwara District, Even Farooq Abdullah said that such a university should be created. However with the Congress coming to power in 2004, the issue went into the cold storage. The BJP could make efforts to revive this and also drive across the point that Kashmir is not only about Muslims, but also about Kashmiri pandits. Course correction on law and order is extremely crucial. Mehbooba doled out compensation to terrorists and stone pelters. Now it is time for the BJP to show spine and do the course correction through the Governor, there should be an overhaul of the police system and indiscipline in the force need to be nipped from the bud. Time will tell if BJP is serious with its intentions. BJP should always ponder if they have done justice to the mandate which they got in 2014 and again in 2015. They got support of 55% of population and 75% of land mass of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The state is not only Kashmir but 75% of the land mass is inhabited by core nationalists and its time they are rewarded, Prof Dhar also says. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 17:28 [IST] PM Modi must make statement in Parliament, clarify whether snooping was done: Chidambaram on Pegasus row Chidambaram on India giving 2.5 crore Covid jabs: 'Why did we have to wait until the PMs birthday?' J&K: Chidambaram expresses concerns over return of the muscle policy India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said it was "a relief" that the "opportunistic" PDP-BJP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir collapsed today, and expressed hope that "the muscular, militaristic policy does not come back under the guise of Governor's Rule". Chidambaram, a senior Congress leader, said in a series of tweets, "The long-awaited break of the PDP-BJP coalition will be welcomed by all those who despaired that Kashmir may have been lost forever. The muscular, militaristic policy was a disaster from Day One. It is a relief that the opportunistic coalition has collapsed." "Let us hope and pray that the muscular, militaristic policy does not come back under the guise of governor's rule," he said, adding, "Who the next Governor will be is crucial. A hawk as Governor will make the situation worse." The three-year Jammu and Kashmir government, wracked by bitter political feuds and worsening security challenges, collapsed today with the BJP pulling out of its alliance with the PDP setting the stage for yet another round of governor's rule. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav made the surprise announcement after the party high command summoned its Jammu and Kashmir ministers for emergency consultations in New Delhi. A few hours later, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti submitted her resignation to Governor N N Vohra amid a swirl of political activity in Srinagar and New Delhi. Terrorism, violence and radicalism have risen and the fundamental rights of citizens, including right to life and free speech, are in danger, the BJP leader said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 9:34 [IST] Faceless terror in J&K: The message is to drive people from other states out J&K: 'Governor's rule will not affect our operations', says Army chief General Bipin Rawat India oi-Madhuri Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said that the imposition of Governor's rule in the valley will not affect the security operations in any way. Speaking to media,'' Rawat said,''We only stopped our operations during Ramzan. But, we saw what happened. The imposing of Governor's rule will not affect our operations. Our operations will go on like they used to. We don't face any political interference.'' Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind had approved imposition of Governor's rule in Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect on Wednesday, 20 June. The three-year government in the state collapsed on Tuesday, 19 June after the BJP snapped ties with PDP in the state. Jammu and Kashmir cannot be treated as "enemy territory," Mehbooba Mufti said at a press conference after submitting her resignation from the post of J&K CM following the BJP's move to pull out of the alliance on Tuesday. Faceless terror in J&K: The message is to drive people from other states out Just 6 LS seats, but J&K situation impacts political discourse in country India oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer Growing restlessness in a section of traditional BJP voters in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere may have been a key reason behind the party's decision to pull out of the coalition government in the state today, BJP sources said. Party leaders in the state's Jammu division said their core support was growing unhappy and the cadre dispirited over what is being seen as the PDP-BJP government's inability to deliver on the saffron party's two main planks -- development and crushing terrorism in Kashmir. Analysts said a likely spell of governor's rule in the state will allow the central government to take tough measures against terrorism, which may provide the ruling BJP a plank in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. "It seems their (BJP's) image is going down on the issue of Kashmir. This is a kind of rebuilding of their image and they will hope to retrieve some ground," said Manindra Nath Thakur, an associate professor with the Centre for Political Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. The BJP wants to bring some normalcy there before the elections and tell its support base that it means business on the issue of security, he said. Even the recent rape and murder of a minor girl from a nomadic Muslim tribe in Kathua underlined the growing mistrust between the two parties with regional BJP leaders joining protests against the state police probe, which was strongly backed by the PDP. At his press conference where he announced that the party was pulling out of the coalition government headed by Mehbooba Mufti, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav flagged the deterioration in the security situation as one of the reasons for the decision. "The security scenario has deteriorated causing serious concern about the protection of basic fundamental rights of life, free speech, etc," he said. "The daylight murder of a respected editor like Shujaat Bukhari in the heart of Srinagar city is an indicator to the deterioration of the situation and the extent of radicalization," he said. For the BJP, Jammu and Kashmir is a matter of great national importance also, he said, adding there was a grave concern in the country over the security situation in the state. National integration is paramount for the BJP and it cannot compromise on that question, he said. He also claimed that resentment in the state's Jammu and Ladakh regions has been growing over the lack of development and also because of a "perceptible sense of discrimination" felt there. The BJP members in the state government have strived their best to serve the people in the state including those in the regions of Jammu and Ladakh, he said. But the BJP ministers faced a situation where the government as a whole has been lacklustre in dealing with the needs of the people of these regions, he added. Jammu and Kashmir has only six Lok Sabha seats and the BJP's influence is limited to the two seats in Jammu and, to some extent, the one seat in Ladakh. But the situation in the state has an impact on the political discourse elsewhere in the country. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 6:06 [IST] Faceless terror in J&K: The message is to drive people from other states out Like Mufti, Yashwant Sinha rejects Centres muscular policy on Kashmir; supports talks with Pak India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff New Delhi, June 20: On Tuesday, when the BJP-PDP alliance government ended in Jammu and Kashmir, former Union minister Yashwant Sinha spoke against the Centre's "muscular policy" on Kashmir at an event in the national capital. Just hours after the BJP dumped the PDP in the terror-ravaged state, former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also stated that muscular policy won't work as it is not an "enemy" territory. In his fierce attack against the ruling BJP, the former party leader said a "muscular policy" on Kashmir is a brainless one as muscles do not have brain. Speaking at an event to launch a book, written jointly by former chiefs of intelligence agencies of India and Pakistan--AS Dulat and Asad Durrani respectively besides author Aditya Sinha--he suggested India must talk to Pakistan in order to resolve the Kashmir issue. Referring to recent media reports, Sinha said Indian media says Pakistani Rangers are pleading for mercy now. "And the next day the Rangers started bombarding and shelling and all. And so much damage had been done to that entire area. What is this 'moonhtod Jawab' (befitting reply)? And with all due respect, a muscular policy is bound to be a brainless policy because muscles don't have brain," he said. The Border Security Force (BSF) on Sunday said that the Pakistan Rangers had "pleaded" with them to stop firing along the International Border (IB) after being pounded with heavy artillery that also left a trooper dead across the border. Sinha said Pakistan has to be brought in (to resolve Kashmir issue). "There are voices coming from deep state, now not only in the media but I am aware they are also one on one, which I would say are quiet friendly and they create a hope. Now, we should respond to those overtures from the deep state in Pakistan in a positive way so that if we can find a way through minefield we should discover that way," he said. Sinha, who has been actively involved in resolving issue of militancy and stone pelting among others in Kashmir, said dialogue should begin at two levels. "The problem is we rush into the summit. Summit raises euphoria and when that euphoria is not met there is a disappointment and that is regarded as a failure. So let us not begin at the summit level. There are a whole lot of levels including that of spy masters," he suggested. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who also attended the event, emphasised on ways to finding solution to the 70-year-old problem. "Ek taraf se to wo maar rahe hain, dusre taraf se aap mar rahe hain, bataiye ham jaye to jaye kahan (from one side they are killing us and from another side you are killing us. Tell us where do we go?)," Abdullah asked. He said "nothing has moved forward" in resolving the crises. "I recommend one (thing). The time has come. Let us forget the past. Let us forget the past bitterness and let us learn that we have to live with Pakistan," Abdullah said. Both Sinha and Abdullah released the book, "The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace", along with former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former vice president Hamid Ansari, Sinha, Congress leader Kapil Sibal, Dulat and a few others at a function organised in the national capital. On Wednesday, Governor's rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir after President Ramnath Kovind gave his approval for it. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 12:49 [IST] Madhya Pradesh to hold quiz on Ramayana: Check what winners will get MP: Fire at a cardboard factory in Gwalior India oi-Vikas By Vikas A fire is said to have broken out at a cardboard making factory in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. Several fire tenders have been rushed to the spot to douse flames, said reports. There has been no report of any casuality so far. Yesterday, at least five people were killed and 35 people rescued after a fire broke out in SSJ International hotel in Lucknow's Charbagh area. A preliminary inquiry indicated that a short circuit may have caused the fire. Earlier this month, a massive fire broke out at Beaumonde Towers in South Mumbai. More than 95 residents were safely evacuated from the highrise. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 15:09 [IST] Nirmala Sitharaman meets Aurangzebs family, says slain jawan an inspiration for entire nation India oi-Madhuri Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met the family of Sepoy Aurangzeb in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Wednesday. Aurangzeb was abducted from Pulwama by terrorists and later his bullet-ridden body was recovered on June 14. Speaking to ANI, Sitharaman said,''I came to meet martyr's family. I have spent some time here. One message I can take back from here is that here's a family, here's a martyr, who stands out as an inspiration for entire nation.'' Her visit comes two days after Army chief Bipin Rawat met Aurangzeb's family in Salani village and assured them that his "supreme sacrifice" would not go in vain. Aurangzeb was abducted and killed by militants last week in Pulwama district of South Kashmir while he was on his way home to celebrate Eid. Aurangzeb's father Mohammad Haneef gave a 72-hour deadline to the government and Army to avenge his son's killing. "Those involved in his killing should be killed within 72 hours. I urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take stern action and not show weakness with regard to Kashmir, and clean up all those bad people," he had said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 12:40 [IST] Mysuru gang-rape case: HD Kumaraswamy says 'follow what was done in Hyderabad' No rift, all alright says Kumaraswamy on alliance with Congress in Karnataka India oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer Refuting reports of differences between the Congress and JDS on presenting a full fledged state budget, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said he planned to table a new budget in the first or second week of July. "It is a personal suggestion of Siddaramaiah and it would be considered for discussion at the ministerial meeting to be held in the next two days to prepare for the budget presentation," Kumaraswamy said at a meet-the-press programme here. Former Chief Minister and Chairman of the Congress-JDS coordination committee Siddaramaiah had last week expressed his strong reservations over presenting a new full fledged budget, saying there was no need for such an exercise. Siddaramaiah had said he had already tabled the budget as chief minister a few months ago. Kumaraswamy had, however, strongly pushed for a new budget and took up the issue with Congress president Rahul Gandhi during his meeting with him in New Delhi yesterday and later said he had got the go-ahead from him. He said the coalition government planned to present its first budget in the first or second week of July. Kumraswamy also assured farmers of his government's commitment to waive farm loans in a "scientific way." "I am going to call a meeting with all nationalised banks to chart out the modalities to waive loans of farmers," he said. Kumaraswamy is expected to make an announcement on the farm loan-waiver scheme in the budget. He also said he has sought 50 per cent Central assistance for waiving the farm loans. "In Karnataka, about 85 lakh farmers have outstanding debts on account of agricultural loans from banks. Owing to the recurring drought, the farmers are even more severely distressed. I request the government of India to provide 50 per cent support to our loan-waiver scheme," he said. He also said the government would work towards a scheme to ensure that farmers get the loan without any difficulty and role of middlemen, who siphon off some money, is removed. Kumaraswamy also sought to allay the popular fears that the government would face financial crunch to take up other developmental works if it waives a huge sum of Rs 53,000 crore farm loan. According to the reports, the Congress is wary of the implications of farm loan waiver and officials have informed Kumaraswamy about tough times ahead in implementing it. The farm loan waiver was one of the major promises JDS had made in its election manifesto during the recent assembly polls. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 6:17 [IST] BJD not to hold rallies, campaign meets for May 13 Pipili by- polls: Patnaik More than 1,000 govt schools in Odisha will be transformed with modern facilities: CM Now Naveen Patnaik seeks special status for Odisha India oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff Nitish Kumar and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu, Naveen Patnaik too has once again raised the demand of special category status for Odisha, citing its backwardness and high percentage of ST and SC population. Though Patnaik did not attend the 4th Governing Council Meeting of the Niti Ayog held at New Delhi on Sunday, he apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the state's demands including that of special category status for it through a letter. The letter dated June 16 was made available to the media yesterday. Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu had vociferously reiterated demand for special category status for their state at the meeting of NITI Ayog chaired by the Prime Minister. Bringing back the demand for special category status by Patnaik is being seen politically as a potent weapon for the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ahead of the ensuing Odisha assembly and the general elections in 2019. Patnaik, in the letter, has pitched for the special category status citing high percentage of ST and SC population in Odisha. "With high percentage of population belonging to the Schedule Tribes and Scheduled Castes and the state facing frequent natural calamities, Odisha deserves to be accorded 'special category status' to fast-track its ongoing development and may be treated at par with North-Eastern and Himalayan states for the sharing pattern of Centrally Sponsored Schemes," Patnaik said in the letter. The demand for a special category status for Odisha is almost four decades old. It began in 1979 when Nilamani Routray was heading the Janata Party govenrment in Odisha. Non-Congress parties, mostly Janata Dal and its modified version - the Biju Janata Dal (now ruling the state), continued to make demand for the special category status for Odisha. The subsequent Central governments, however, have been rejecting Odisha's demand. According to former state Finance Minister Panchanan Kanungo, Odisha's demand was partly fulfilled when A B Vajpyee was the Prime Minister. The Centre had then provided for special allocation for the poverty prone KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) region. Like provision for the SCS states, the Centre was providing funds in the ratio of 90:10 ratio under Centrally Sponsored Schemes for the KBK region. This facility, however, was withdrawn after the fall of the Vajpeyee government, Kanungo said. Patnaik, during his 18-year tenure as the chief minister of Odisha, has dashed several letters to the prime ministers beginning from Vajpayee till Narendra Modi to accord Special Category Status to Odisha. Apart from passing an unanimous resolution favouring SCS for Odisha in the assembly, the BJD government has also undertaken a massive signature campaign in Odisha to further intensify its demand. The signature of about one crore people (of the state's 4.11 crore population) was sent to erstwhile President Pranab Mukherjee seeking his intervention. In a bid to make the signature campaign non-political, Patnaik had invited freedom fighter Purushottam Nayak to put the first signature on the memorandum. Nayak was followed by another ageing freedom fighter Bhabani Patnaik (92). Patnaik's signature came only at third place. Besides these measures, the ruling BJD had also organised a public meeting in the national capital to mount pressure on the then UPA government in 2013 and ahead of the 2014 general elections, seeking SCS for Odisha. Former Minister and BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra said, "Odisha satisfies all conditions to be a special category state except that it has no international border with any country. No positive step appear to have been taken by the Government of India so far. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 8:50 [IST] Rajasthan: Train services continue undeterred despite sandstorms India oi-Vikas By Vikas Thanks to the unwavering commitment of the Indian Railways' gangmen that train continue to is desrt areas of Rajasthan despite sandstorms. The railway tracks kept getting buried under sand due to severe storms in western Rajasthan but the railways' gangmen cleared them repeatedly so that the trains could ply without hinderance. North Western Railways' PR Tarun Jain said that tracks on Jodhpur-Jaisalmer and Barmer- Munabav sections kept getting under sand. The sandstorms are affecting tracks for close to a week now, but the service was never halted due to commited work by India Railways' workers. When the sand covers the track, it becomes impossible for train to ply on it. It requires copnstant vigilance and timely action to ensure that whenever sand covers the track, it is cleared before the train approaches. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal hailed the work of gangmen and tweeted that Indian Railways is committed to providing services to the commuters. "Despite sandstorms, the railways' services were un affected. The credit for this goes to the hard work of employees. Team railways is committed to providing services to travellers," Goyal tweeted. It has to be noted that the gangmen worked under extereme heat to clear the tracks. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 9:37 [IST] Ram Madhav: Has the Kashmir policy worked? India oi-Vikas By Vikas Whether matters related to Kashmir or the North East, Ram Madhav can be seen at the helm of affairs, wading through contentious issues and making key decisions for the BJP. But yesterday, when he addressed the press conference to announce that the BJP would withdraw support from Mehbooba Mufti-led government, questions were asked on Madhav's handling of the Kashmir issue in the last three years. It was Madhav who was at the helm of affairs when the BJP formed the government in alliance with the PDP after a carefully drafted common minimum programme. And it was Madhav who had to face the media after announcing that the alliance did not work out. It is not yet clearly known as to who and at what level exactly the decision was taken to snap ties with the PDP, but it was Madhav who was asked to make it public. If Madhav was instrumental in forging the alliance with PDP, then to what extent does the onus lie on him now that the government has collapsed? It is clear that the entire blame of the alliance collapsing cannot be put on the PDP, if so then who in the BJP be held accountable for the current political situation in the state. Kashmir matters apart, Madhav's work in the North East has greatly benefitted the BJP. During elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya, he was involved in carefullly planning the strategies which require in-depth understanding of the demographics of that part of the country. Considering the rest of nation, the politics of the North East is all together a different ball game, but Madhav seems to have understood it way better than other BJP leaders. With Madhav at helm, BJP did make significant in-roads in the North East where the saffron party had no presence before 2014. He was also part of the BJP strategy to get on board erstwhile Congress strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is credited with bringing the saffron party to power in Assam. As per reports, Madhav also helped in the process leading to the Naga accord with NSCN. Madhav is a keen China watcher and has also written a book on the subject. Within internal matters of the BJP, Madhav is a key link between the BJP and RSS. He has brilliant understanding of the internal dynamics of BJP and RSS. His ability to work with BJP while keeping the RSS line intact is what makes him a leader who commands respect both within the party and sangh. Ram Madhav's background: Ram madhav is a former member of the National Executive of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and has authored several books. His latest is 'Uneasy Neighbours: India and China after Fifty Years of the War'. Madhav was born in Amalapuram in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on 22 August 1964. Primarily a student of engineering, he earned his Diploma in Electrical Engineering from Andhra Pradesh. He has a post-graduate degree in Political Science from the University of Mysore. Madhav's association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh began as a teenager. He volunteered to be a full-time worker for RSS in 1981. He was assigned to several key positions in the organization. He was the editor of Bharatiya Pragna, a monthly magazine in English published by Pragna Bharati, and associate editor of Jagriti, a Telugu weekly. He worked as a journalist for over 20 years with RSS sponsored publications and authored more than twelve books. He served as the national spokesperson of the RSS from 2003-2014. Madhav was seconded to the BJP and appointed as one of its national general secretaries in 2014. SC leaves it to EC to decide on 'pressure cooker' symbol to Dinakaran's party RK Nagar by-polls: Madras HC upholds TTV Dinakaran's win, says,'leaders victory is valid' India oi-Madhuri The Madras High Court on Wednesday upheld TTV Dinakaran's win in the RK Nagar by-polls. The court said that the leader's victory is valid. The petitioner had sought a court direction to the EC to suspend the bypoll results and to restrain sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran from functioning as the MLA of the constituency, following allegations of money distribution in the run-up to the byelection. The results of the bypoll were declared on 24 December. The petitioner had alleged that Dhinakaran, who contested as an independent candidate in the 21 December byelection, had won it by indulging in electoral malpractices. The ECI had said it had seized around Rs 30 lakh meant to have been distributed to the constituency voters, the petitioner claimed. He also submitted that he had not received a response so far from the ECI with regard to his 29 December representation on the issue. Dhinakaran, who made his debut in the state Assembly on Monday, has denied charges of money distribution during the hustings. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 11:59 [IST] Silence, pause, resign: Mehboobas reaction after BJP pull out in J&K India oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer There was silence, a pause and then came the decision to resign. This was Mehbooba Mufti's reaction after the BJP decided to pull out of the PDP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti's tenure as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister came to an abrupt end on Tuesday with a call from governor N N Vohra, who informed her that the BJP had pulled out of its alliance with the PDP , officials said. It was a working day just as any other for Mehbooba, who was in her office in the civil secretariat when chief secretary BB Vyas received the phone call that signalled the end of her maiden tenure as chief minister, they said. The governor asked Vyas where the chief minister was and asked him to immediately arrange a call with her, they said. This was minutes before BJP general secretary Ram Madhav addressed a press conference in the national capital around 2pm to announce the decision. Vyas duly arranged the call. The governor, according to officials in the know of developments, informed Mehbooba about the BJP's decision, which was conveyed to him in a letter sent by BJP state president Ravinder Raina along with the resignation letters of the BJP ministers. Mehbooba, 59, listened to the news in silence, and after a pause said there was no need for talks with the BJP and she would be submitting her resignation, the officials said. Soon after, Madhav made his announcement in Delhi, ending the uneasy, often fractious alliance between the BJP and the PDP and setting the stage for another round of governor's rule. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 6:10 [IST] Normalcy has been restored in Thoothukudi, says District Collector Vedanta's plant in Tuticorin: NGT will decide the matter, says SC Sterlite Vedanta moves Madras HC seeking to provide minimum manpower for factory maintenance India oi-Madhuri Sterlite Copper's parent firm Vedanta Limited on Wednesday has approached Madras High Court asking government, district administration and pollution control board to provide minimum manpower & electricity for factory maintenance. The plea stated that they need power supply & access of authorised personnel to rectify the leakage of Sulphuric acid. The government ordered the permanent closure of the plant after 13 people participating in a protest against its operations were killed in police firing on May 22 and May 23. For more than two decades, activists in Thoothukudi have accused Sterlite of contaminating the region's air and water resources and causing breathing disorders, skin diseases, heart conditions and cancer. Since February, there were large-scale protests against the company's copper smelter, which had the capacity to produce 4.38 lakh tonnes of anodes per annum, or 1,200 tonnes per day. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 13:13 [IST] Afghanistan: Incoming allied forces chief wants Pak as part of solution International oi-Shubham By Shubham US President Donald Trump has blasted Pakistan time and again accusing it of not doing enough to rein in terrorists taking shelter in its territory and fighting the Afghan forces and the western troops stationed there but Lieutenant General Austin Miller, the incoming head of the allied forces in Afghanistan, has reiterated "high expectations" from Islamabad which he wants to be "a part of the solution" both diplomatically and in terms of security, Bloomberg reported. Fifty-seven-year-old war veteran Miller, who is Trump's nominee to lead the allied forces in a war which will turn 17 this October, said the toughest challenge to bring Afghanistan back to shape has been the Pakistan-based sanctuaries that cover the militants taking on the coalition. Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, June 19, Miller said Pakistan's actions remained "contradictory" although he sympathised with Islamabad for making "many sacrifices" and said "its security forces have fought bravely", the report said. He added that Pakistan's counter-terrorism actions against anti-Pakistan militants were yet to be transformed into solid action against the Afghan Taliban or Haqqani Network taking refuge on its soil. Last August, Trump was heavily critical of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan saying the US could not afford to overlook the fact that Pakistan was providing safe haven to the terrorists. Besides committing 4,000 more troops for Afghanistan, Trump also suggested that India should play a bigger role in the Afghanistan problem - a declaration which made Pakistan nervous, Bloomberg added. Miller, who played a leading role in Operation Black Hawk Down in Somalia in 1993, said the focus of the military actions in Afghanistan in 2018 will be on securing credible elections. He hoped that from 2019 onwards, the forces' improved capacity will be able to force the Taliban to come to negotiation. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 10:52 [IST] Will come back to haunt you: Jaishankar in veiled reference to Pakistan China says no to envoy's idea of India-Pak-China trilateral coop on SCO sidelines: report International oi-Shubham By Shubham Even though China's top leadership backed the idea of India and Pakistan joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ahead of the 18th summit of the grouping earlier, Beijing on Wednesday, June 20, distanced itself from the remarks made by its ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui, backing a trilateral cooperation between India, Pakistan and China on the sidelines of the SCO, PTI reported. It, however, emphasised on the importance of strengthening dialogue between India and Pakistan to improve their mutual trust. On Monday, June 18, Luo backed the idea of trilateral engagement between India, China and Pakistan under the aegis of the SCO saying it could help settle bilateral issues between New Delhi and Islamabad and help maintain tranquillity. A Chinese state-run media had also opined recently that the two South Asian neighbours address their problems under the Shanghai Spirit. However, China's distancing from its envoy's idea clearly demonstrates that it has little interest in digging deep into the two nations' bilateral issues. When asked about Luo's remarks, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said both India and Pakistan are Beijing's friends and neighbours, adding: "We are willing to conduct relations with all our neighbours including Pakistan and India to strengthen our cooperation for better development and stability in this region," the PTI report added. Geng hoped that India and Pakistan can work on their dialogue to improve the mutual trust in their bilateral ties. It also said that expressed the official position of the Chinese side, the PTI report added. The ministry spokesperson refused to reply when asked on the Chinese embassy deleting the envoy's remarks from the transcripts on the website, the PTI report added. Kim Jong-un meets Xi Jinping for 3rd time; both sides reaffirm friendship International oi-Shubham By Shubham North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday, June 19 - the third time inside three months - where the latter hailed Kim's summit with US President Donald Trump exactly a year ago on June 12 and expressed hope that Pyongyang and Washington will be successful in implementing the results of their historic meeting in Singapore. At the end of the first ever summit between a North Korean leader and a sitting US president, the two sides inked agreements on complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and setting up a peace mechanism for the region. Xi said the visit by Kim showed the seriousness North Korea attaches to the strategic communication between the two old allies, China Global Television Network (CGTN) said. Kim's earlier two visits - in March end and early May - were more secret affairs but the third was confirmed prior to the visit which meant Kim has grown in confidence to engage with the international community openly and more often. Xi also said that the three meetings that took place between him and Kim showed the direction in which the relations between the two countries and their two parties progressed and opened a new chapter in the development of the Beijing-Pyongyang ties, CGTN report added. "No matter the changes in the international and regional situation, China's ruling party's and government's resolute position on being dedicated to consolidating and developing China-DPRK relations will not change," Xi was quoted by CGTN as said. "The Chinese people's friendship for the DPRK people will not change, and China's support for socialist DPRK will not change." The Chinese president was pleased that North Korea decided to promote economic reforms and also offered to help it. The North Korean director, who a few months back was a terror for the international community because of his stubborn nuclear ambitions, thanked the Chinese side and backed to promote the bilateral relations between the two to the next level, the report added. Kim told Xi that he was thankful to China for promoting the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and playing an important role in safeguarding the region's peace and stability. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 6:53 [IST] Explained: What you should know about the first phase of Malabar Exercise 2020 With USS Nimitz, INS Vikramaditya, 2nd phase of power packed Malabar exercise to kick off Second phase of Malabar exercise from Oct 12-15, US to deploy nuclear-powered aircraft Malabar 2018: Tri-lateral exercise concludes International oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff The trilateral maritime exercise Malabar 2018 involving the naval forces of India, Japan and the US was conducted off the coast of Guam from June 7 to June 16, according to a statement from the US Navy Commander Task Force 70 Public Affairs. Initiated in 1992 as an exercise between the US and Indian Navy, Malabar 2018 is the 22nd rendition of the exercise and included the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), a regular participant since 2015. The exercise accomplished maritime inter-operability training objectives among the three maritime forces, emphasising high-end war fighting skills, maritime superiority, and power projection, the statement said. This is the first year that Malabar was conducted in the Guam operation area. The two-phase exercise took place ashore in Guam and underway in the Philippine Sea, it added. The United States, Japan and India have a range of common security interests that include maritime security, counter terrorism, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief. By doing so, they bolster the shared vision laid out by their respective governments to contribute to overall peace and security in the region, he statement added. UK-India Week 2018: Indian students are going everywhere but not to the UK, says Dinesh Patnaik UK-India Week 2018: 'Dont expect Modi to end corruption overnight,' says Suhel Seth International oi-Chennabasaveshwar By Chennabasaveshwar The 5th Annual UK-India Leadership Conclave has commenced at De Vere Latimer Estate Latimer, Buckinghamshire. The conclave has been hailed as a landmark event for growing and developing the UK and India's strategic relationship. The two-day Leadership Conclave will focus on the growing need for innovation and adaptation in bilateral relations, staging a wide variety of dynamic discussions and symposia, from unmissable VIP keynote addresses to invaluable informal networking opportunities. Drawing on his extensive experience in the UK-India business and political corridor, India Inc. Founder & Chief Executive, Manoj Ladwa will set the scene for this year's Leadership Conclave. His Excellency YK Sinha, India's High Commissioner to the UK will deliver the Opening Address. Throughout the day, business leaders and politicians will discuss crucial issues affecting the global business and political atmosphere. Following the opening address, a Special Address by Rt Hon Sir Vince Cable MP, leader of the Liberal Democrats and one of the most respected anti-Brexit voices in the UK, will offer his insights into the opportunity for greater collaboration between the UK and India. Lord Marland, Commonwealth Enterprise & Investment Council and Indian origin businessman and philanthropist Suhel Seth will debate: How can government and businesses work in tandem to clamp down on global corruption? Are mature democracies like the UK doing enough or simply preaching to others? Also, Economist and vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog, Dr. Rajiv Kumar will engage in a candid conversation with delegates on four years of the PM Narendra Modi government, the current trajectory of the Indian economy, and how the Indian government's policies and approach to governance are transforming India. Stay tuned for LIVE updates: India, US have 'one mind, one approach: US Deputy State Secretary on Afghanistan Hope India, US will be able to resolve differences over S-400 deal: Sherman US pulls out of UN Human Rights Council, cites bias against Israel International oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer The United States has announced that it is leaving the United Nations Human Rights Council. Making the announcement, Ambassador, Nikki Haley called it an organisation that is not worthy of its name. Haley lambasted the council for its chronic bias against Israel. She also said that its membership includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights," Haley said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing alongside Haley at the State Department, said there was no doubt that the council once had a "noble vision". But today we need to be honest," Pompeo said. "The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights." Haley however suggested that the decision need not be a permanent one. She said that if the council did adopt reforms, the US would be happy to rejoin it. She said the withdrawal notwithstanding, the US would continue to defend human rights at the United Nations. US Senate passes bill to strengthen defence ties with India International oi-Shubham By Shubham The US Senate on Tuesday, June 19, passed a defence bill worth $716 billion seeking to strengthen Washington's defence ties with New Delhi.The US designated India as a "Major Defence Partner" in 2016 and it permitted the latter to buy advanced and sensitive technologies from the former. The bill, named National Defence Authorisation Act, 2019, was passed by the senate with 85 votes for it as against 10 against it. Senate Armed Services Committee chairperson John McCain said the legislation continued the US's reform agenda and helped in positioning the defence department and the joint force to carry out the National Defense Strategy by means of restoring readiness, rebuilding capacity and modernising capabilities. The bill, besides cementing its defence partnership with India, also proposed sanctions on Turkey, a member of the Nato, if it bought S-400 air defence system from Russia, which the US targets under its CAATSA law. This move is, however, significant since India too concluded negotiations with Russia over buying the same air defence system, irrespective of the US's opposition. The bill also reimposed penalties on ZTE, the Chinese telecom giant which the Donald Trump administration had given a relief recently. The company's operations received a setback in the recent past after Washington barred American firms from carrying out any transaction with it owing to its alleged dealings with Iran and North Korea. The bill though is yet to cover some distance before becoming a law. The US House of Representatives has passed a different version of the bill and it will be seen now whether the Senate and the House agree on a single version. If they do, the two houses will vote separately again on the bill and it will be sent to President Trump for his approval. Businessman in Kolkata shot at after his car was stopped by 18 men Nothing wrong in four CMs backing Kejriwal says CPI(M) Kolkata oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer The CPI(M) said there was nothing wrong in Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan joining his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee to rally behind Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and said any "attack on democratic rights" should be defended at any cost. The two chief ministers from opposing political camps -- the CPI(M) and the TMC -- along with their Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka counterparts had on Saturday extended support to Kejriwal, who has been protesting at the lieutenant governor's office in Delhi since June 11 demanding that the "strike" by IAS officers be called off. "The Left is always consistent regarding its views and policies on democracy, secularism and federal polity. Any attack on people's rights must be defended at any cost. There is nothing wrong in four chief ministers rallying behind another the Delhi chief minister," CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty told PTI. Another senior CPI(M) leader said it would be unfair to draw any conclusion from the Delhi meet of the chief ministers as the party had been consistent in its fight against the saffron party. "We have a policy against the BJP. We have been the most consistent political party in India in terms of our fight against the BJP and the RSS," he said. Asked about the reaction of the CPI(M) cadres to the meet, given the fact that the party had engaged in a slugfest with the TMC during the recent panchayat polls, Chakraborty said, "It is true that we are fighting against the TMC in Bengal. But the situation in Delhi was different and whatever the Kerala chief minister did was in consultation with party leadership." Meanwhile, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee alleged that Kejriwal has been "victimised" by the BJP. "Our party supremo Mamata Banerjee has been fighting against the BJP and its policies. We feel all opposition forces should unite to counter the BJP," he said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 7:43 [IST] Members of farmers' body detained in Lucknow for trying to burn effigies of PM Modi, Shah Siddharth Nath Singh wants bungalows which were previously alloted to Akhilesh, Mulayam Lucknow oi-Vikas By Vikas Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh has set his eyes on government bungalows vacated by Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav, and written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Principal Secretary seeking allotment. Singh has written that he is facing a 'lot of inconvenience' in the current bungalow alloted to him 'becasue of the space crunch'. "We face a lot of inconvenience because of the space crunch. I request allotment of bungalow number 4 at Vikramaditya Marg previously allotted to Akhilesh or bungalow number 5 right next to him which was occupied by his father and former UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav," a letter by Siddharth Nath Singh read. Former Uttar Pradesh CM and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav vacated his official residence on June 2, complying with the orders of the Supreme Court. [Akhilesh Yadav vacates official residence, moves to Sultanpur Road bungalow] The UP government had served notice to Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav and four other former chief ministers earlier in May, asking them to vacate their official homes in 15 days as ordered by the Supreme Court. The top court had cancelled changes to the law that enabled former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh to live in official homes for life, saying that these were "based on irrelevant and legally unacceptable considerations, unsupported by any constitutional sanctity." For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 10:30 [IST] How to Book Sabarimala Virtual Q Tickets Online 2021? Know Date, Price and Other Details Extortion: Two arrested in Delhi New Delhi oi-Staff By Oneindia Staff Writer Two men were arrested for allegedly extorting money on the pretext of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding, police said. The accused, identified as Susheel Tripathi (25) and Md Danish (32), used to act as middlemen between NGOs and corporate houses to facilitate money transfer of the CSR funds, the police said. The accused had abducted two men -- Hari Om and Kuldeep --who were freelance agents of various companies and used to facilitate CSR funds. Tripathi and Danish demanded Rs eight lakh for their release, the police said. A friend of the victims filed a complaint with the police and both the accused were arrested. A country made pistol and two live cartridges were recovered from Danish, the officer said. During interrogation, the accused revealed that due to unemployment and in order to lead a luxury life, they committed the crime. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 7:31 [IST] How to Book Sabarimala Virtual Q Tickets Online 2021? Know Date, Price and Other Details Man acquitted of sexual assault charge after victim completely damages case New Delhi oi-Oneindia Staff By Oneindia Staff A man, accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl, has been acquitted by a Delhi court which said the complainant "totally damaged" the prosecution's case by changing her stand during cross-examination. Additional Sessions Judge Pritam Singh absolved the man of the offences of penetrative sexual assault under sections 4 and 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act after the girl deposed that she lodged a false case as the man had a quarrel with her uncle. "Prosecution Witness-1 (girl), who is the most important witness in the present case, has totally damaged the prosecution case by deposing that the accused had not done any wrong act to her and she made a complaint to the police as she was upset over the quarrel between her mama (uncle) and the accused. "Hence, the prosecution has failed to prove the charge under section 4 and 8 of POCSO Act, against the accused," the judge said. According to the complaint lodged by the girl, she had visited the house of the accused in south-west Delhi with her maternal uncle and stayed there for a few days. On the night of December 8, 2017, when she went to the washroom, the man caught hold of her and sexually assaulted her, the complaint alleged, adding that she informed her uncle the next day and an FIR was lodged. However, in her cross examination, the girl deposed that a quarrel broke out between her uncle and the accused because of which she was upset and she dialled the police control room. She further denied all the allegations levelled by her against the accused before the court. The court dispensed with the statement of the accused under the CrPC as no incriminating evidence came on record against him. "Accordingly, the accused is acquitted of the offences under section 4 and 8 of POCSO Act," it said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 8:55 [IST] It is targeted killing: MEA condemns terrorist attack on civilians in Srinagar Chhattisgarh Bureaucrat BVR Subrahmanyam appointed J&K chief secretary Srinagar oi-Deepika By Deepika Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra has appointed BVR Subrahmanyam as the new Chief Secretary of the state. Retired IPS officer Vijay Kumar and BB Vyas appointed as Advisors to the Governor- news agency ANI reports. The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet approved the name of Subrahmanyam, who is presently posted as additional chief secretary (Home) in Chhattisgarh, placing his services at the disposal of the government of J & K. Subrahmanyam worked as PS to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during UPA-I and had spent nearly a decade in the PMO. He also worked in the World Bank in Washington DC on deputation for almost three years. He again served in the PMO till March 2015 before returning to Chhattisgarh. The Governor's rule has been imposed in J & K a day after the coalition partner BJP snapped ties with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) followed by the resignation of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday. Distraught relatives slammed Indonesias government for not enforcing basic safety measures on passenger boats and pleaded Wednesday for a bigger search effort for more than 190 people presumed drowned after a ferry sank on a picturesque Sumatran lake early this week. The wooden vessel, overcrowded with passengers as well as dozens of motorbikes, didnt have a manifest and disaster officials have several times raised the number of people it was carrying as family members who rushed to Lake Toba in northern Sumatra provided information. The boat was five times over its passenger capacity of 43 and equipped with only 45 life jackets, Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi and National Search and Rescue Agency chief Muhammad Syaugi told a news conference. The latest information is that 192 people are missing, Syaugi said. Only 18 survivors have been found in bad weather within hours of the sinking Monday evening, which according to Syaugi occurred in waters at least 300 meters (984 feet) deep but only half a kilometer (0.3 mile) from an island thats popular with visitors to the lake. Its possible many of the victims were still inside the sunken ferry, said North Sumatra province police chief Paulus Waterpau. Many survivors told authorities that less than half of them had jumped into the water before the boat sank, he told The Associated Press. Suwarni, whose 20-year-old son and his girlfriend were on the ferry, criticized the search and rescue operation as slow and insufficient. Millions of questions keep me from sleeping, said Suwarni, who uses one name, between desperate sobs. What kind of government is this that cant protect their own people from unnecessary accidents? And after the accident theyre not able to find the victims, she said. I beg help to everyone to quickly find my son and his girlfriend, even if their remains, please find my son, return him to me. Several dozen divers were searching at depths of up to 50 meters (82 feet), and an underwater drone was deployed to 200 meters (656 feet) below the surface, Syaugi said. More sophisticated underwater search methods require large ships that arent available on the lake, he said. The 1,145-square kilometer (440-square mile) Lake Toba, formed out of an ancient super volcano, is a popular sightseeing destination on the island of Sumatra and one of 10 stunning natural attractions in Indonesia that the government aims to develop as magnets for international tourists. The search involving 350 personnel and at least half a dozen boats has turned up items of clothing, bags and traces of oil from the ferry but just several victims. Syaugi said four deaths were confirmed after three more bodies were found on Wednesday 3-5 kilometers (2-3 miles) from where the ferry sank. He defended the search effort, which could continue for another 10 days, by saying that the agency, police, military and other personnel have been working all out and non-stop. Survivor Juwita Sumbayak, from Medan, said she had crossed the lake many times on the same boat but on Monday it was terribly overcrowded because of holidays for the end of the Muslim holy month. In an interview, the distraught mother wept uncontrollably and called out the names of her husband and children who she believes drowned inside the boat. She said that about 20 minutes into the journey, strong high waves caused the ferry to list to the right and take on water, sparking a panic among passengers. Then it was smacked hard by more waves and an empty small wooden boat. The ferry seemed to shake, Sumbayak said, then suddenly capsized. Many passengers without a life jacket jumped into the deep lake, but others drowned with the boat, she said. I jumped, I cried with fear. She saw dozens of people in the water but nobody can help. Another survivor, Riko Saputra, said the motorcycles packed on one side of the boat contributed to its listing. He said he was in the water for about an hour before being rescued and believed he only survived by holding onto a helmet that provided some flotation. Cellphone video released earlier in the week by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed the crew of another ferry attempting to rescue people struggling in the waters shortly after the sinking but being hampered by bad weather and rough waters. The disaster has cast a tragic pall over the holidays marking the end of Ramadan when tens of millions of Indonesians return to their hometowns. Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, with weak enforcement of safety regulations often to blame. Sumadi, the transport minister, said following the disaster all 40 commercial boat operators on Lake Toba are being audited by the government and suspended from sailing until they show safety standards are met. A grief-stricken Muhaimin, 61, said he had lost eight members of his family including two sons, their wives and children. My sons, my daughter-in-laws and my grandchildren have been the victims of greedy businessmen who just want to take advantage of the holiday season without thinking of peoples safety, he said. It would not happen if they follow the rules. But they made money over our misery. (Source: ABC News) Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. Street Art In Limerick City (Image by infomatique) Details DMCA The most pressing issue concerning minors today is the wrenching of children from their parents seeking asylum at the border between Mexico and the United States. One infant was grabbed from her mother while nursing. Others are being caged or forced to live in tents within a former Walmart warehouse. The tragedy is crucial, rising far above most every other issue, though human suffering in devastating ways throughout the world is ongoing. My focus today is teenagers and the right to vote and participate in politics. There is a precedent from the second half of the nineteenth century: voting as a rite of passage at age 21 for young adults anyway, and enthusiastic youth active in the political process (see Jon Grinspan, The Virgin Vote (University of North Carolina Press, 2016). Politicians running for office courted these first-time voters avidly, inspiring them to participate as well. My takeoff was an article in yesterday's Detroit Free Press on Democrats in Michigan's state legislature proposing to lower the voting age to 16 for both state and federal elections. Here is what must happen: "[Changing] the state constitution . . . would require a supermajority in the House and the Senate, which is unlikely in the Republican-controlled Legislature, and a vote of the people. To change the U.S. Constitution, Congress would have to pass the change and send it back to the states for ratification. The last time the voting age was changed--from 21 to 18--was 1971." Now, in that both houses of the Michigan legislature weigh heavily GOP (27-10 in the senate, 63-46 in the house), there's probably not a chance it will be passed, but if the word is spread, perhaps more liberal state legislatures will act on it. In Washington, DC, USA Today reports that 7 out of 13 members of the council, a majority, favor granting both the federal and local vote to youth as young as 16 years. Because our nation's capital is the bluest "district" (not state) in the country, the measure may send these youngsters to the polls by the 2020 election. Councilman Charles Allen introduced the bill inspired by the huge turnout for the March for Our Lives rally, which attracted hundreds of thousands to the streets in nearly 800 cities all over the county. Seventeen year olds in many states can vote in federal primaries and caucuses. Registration is possible as early as age 16 in 14 states; in four more the age is 17. Overseas, some South American countries have a minimum voting age of 16, along with Austria and the Isle of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey. In Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro, youth ages 16-18 can vote if they are employed. At least 20 allow youth under age 18 to vote. (stats from Wikipedia and Vox) The history of this trend is beyond the scope of this article--perhaps it could occupy a book and perhaps that book needs to be written. But much of this development is recent. In their six-step "Ohio Plan" that will clean up the entire election system, which includes paying college students $15 to work at the polls, Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman showed insight and creative thinking (see their 2016 Free Press book THE STRIP & FLIP SELECTION OF 2016: Five Jim Crows & Electronic Election Theft). (In the midst of writing this article, I saw a news flash that Trump plans an executive order to stop separating the families seeking asylum at this country's border.) A further consideration is that car accidents are the number one cause of death among teenagers, and suicide is number two in this country. Is it too far-fetched to suggest/hope/dream that schools across the country place more emphasis on civics study in junior high school and high school, along with associated internships and other relevant activities after school hours? Lowering the voting age might get some youth "out of trouble and into democracy." Back to the proposed legislation in Michigan, HB 6183 and SB 1064, in that the partisan ratios in the state legislature are 27-10 in the senate, 63-46, favoring the GOP, the District of Columbia is more likely to send 16 year olds to the polls in 2020 than the Frontier State. In Chicago, youth are being recruited as poll workers; and the organization Let America Vote uses youth interns. The Voting Rights Alliance devotes much energy to training youth to become tomorrow's leaders. Even in DC, though, it appears that the federal Constitution must be amended for our 16 year olds to vote at the federal level. The local prospect is far more optimistic. But there are other ways to get youth even younger than 16 as well as older involved in political processes in this country. And I'm not necessarily predicting that a Democratic utopia will result, though college students trend blue as voters and as a result form one of the focus groups the GOP is expending huge efforts to thwart. Only half of millennials (aged 18-29) voted in 2016, as opposed to 58 percent of the country over all. Fifty-five percent voted Democratic and 37 percent Republican. Back to other ways to get youth involved. Young people, notably of college age, moved mountains in the late 1960s, inspired perhaps by the youth cult JFK introduced when he took office in 1961, and motivated further by his brother-in-law Sargent Shriver with his creation of the Peace Corps, Job Corps, Head Start, and other programs. Did this combat self-destructiveness among youth back then? I would guess yes, not having done the research, which might contribute well to the book I pondered above. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From Smirking Chimp A powerful economic incentive continues to drive the nuclear arms race. After the Singapore Summit, the stock values of all major defense contractors -- including Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and General Dynamics -- declined. Given his allegiance to boosting corporate profits, it's no surprise that Donald Trump is counterbalancing the effects of the Singapore Summit's steps toward denuclearization with a Nuclear Posture Review that steers the US toward developing leaner and meaner nukes and lowers the threshold for using them. The United States has allocated $1.7 trillion to streamline our nuclear arsenal, despite having agreed in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 to work toward nuclear disarmament. Meanwhile, the US maintains a stockpile of 7,000 nuclear weapons, some 900 of them on "hair trigger alert," according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. "If weapons are used they need to be replaced," Brand McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network has argued. "That makes war a growth story for these stocks, and one of the big potential growth stories recently has been North Korea. What the agreement does, at least for a while, is take military conflict off the table." Moreover, economic incentives surrounding conventional weapons also cut against the promise of peace on the Korean Peninsula. Eric Sirotkin, founder of Lawyers for Demilitarization and Peace in Korea, has pointed out that South Korea is one of the largest importers of conventional weapons from the United States. If North and South Korea achieve "a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula," as envisioned by the agreement between Trump and Kim Jong Un, the market for US weapons could dry up, according to Sirotkin. Even so, US defense spending will continue to increase, according to Bloomberg Intelligence aerospace expert George Ferguson. "If North Korea turns from a pariah state to being welcomed in the world community, there are still enough trouble spots that require strong defense spending, supporting revenue and profit growth at prime defense contractors." The US Lags Behind on Denuclearization Last year, more than 120 countries approved the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which requires ratifying countries "never under any circumstances to develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices." It also prohibits the transfer of, use of, or threat to use nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices. Since the treaty opened for signature on September 20, 2017, 58 countries have signed and 10 have ratified it. Fifty countries must ratify the treaty for it to enter into force, hopefully in 2019. The five original nuclear-armed nations -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- boycotted the treaty negotiations and the voting. North Korea, Israel, Pakistan and India, which also have nuclear weapons, refrained from participating in the final vote. During negotiations, in October 2016, North Korea had voted for the treaty. In advance of the Singapore Summit, dozens of Korean American organizations and allies signed a statement of unity, which says: "Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula means not only eliminating North Korea's nuclear weapons but also denuclearizing the land, air, and seas of the entire peninsula. This is not North Korea's obligation alone. South Korea and the United States, which has in the past introduced and deployed close to one thousand tactical nuclear weapons in the southern half of the peninsula, also need to take concrete steps to create a nuclear-free peninsula." Prospects for Denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. It's tempting to view the current crisis over separating migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border as an example of a bureaucracy run amok, or even as made-for-media power politics between Congress and the President. Unfortunately, at its core it is neither of those, but rather something much more sinister: the first stirrings of out and out tyranny. Tyrannical rule often begins this way, as something that looks like a mistake--perhaps over-excited law enforcement people or confused bureaucrats or even inter party conflict. That's the way it was in Argentina in the 1970s, when young people began mysteriously disappearing in night-time arrests by paramilitary and secret police. By the early 1980s, as the total of disappearances approached 30,000, it became clear that the disappearances were no mistake. We've seen another example of exploding tyranny in Turkey, following a 2016 coup attempt. At first, it seemed like the usual response to a failed coup, with generals and high-level government officials being arrested. But as the months went by, and the detentions and arrests expanded from 10,000 to 20,000 and eventually to more than 100,000 this year--including university professors, journalists, and judges--it became clear that something much more than a response to a coup attempt was occurring. Unfortunately, America's sudden fixation on separating migrant children from their parents bears similar hallmarks of tyranny. Key among these qualities are lots of seeming confusion and double talk by government officials, and finger pointing about the origination and rationale for the heavy-handed policies. A major goal of the confusion is to promote secrecy. If you listen closely to reports from NPR and CNN, you learn that reporters don't know such basics as how many centers there are to house children separated from their parents. Even prominent politicians seem unable to extract significant amounts of information. Reporters and politicians were allowed a short tour of one facility in Texas--which you figure has to be the most attractive facility since it is being used as a model--and that became the main source of reporting, since no one was allowed into other centers. Some reporters characterized the model center housing young children as a bunch of "cages." More important, parents of children taken away have little information. NPR reported: "According to the Texas Civil Rights Project, which has been able to speak with detained adults, multiple parents reported that they were separated from their children and not given any information about where their children would go. The organization also says that in some cases, the children were taken away under the pretense that they would be getting a bath." The secrecy also makes it difficult for Americans to fully appreciate the horror being visited on migrant families. So we have to rely on isolated snippets to get a sense of the trauma for the children and parents. In today's connected world, we can likely expect the first-hand accounts to gradually become public, such as one recording of ten Central American children sobbing just after being separated from their parents. Then there is this account in the New Yorker magazine, of a mother from Honduras who was separated from her five-year-old son six weeks ago. They still haven't seen each other, and she's frantic she'll be deported without him: "On the afternoon of their second day in detention, two male agents entered the cell. 'They didn't say anything,' Rivera told me. 'They just walked over and grabbed Jairo. It felt like my son was stuck to me. He clung to me, cried and screamed. They had to pull him away.' She pleaded with the agents to tell her what was going on. The other women in the cell were too stunned to speak, Rivera told me. In the next few hours, the agents started taking other children, too." The contradictory and confusing explanations offered by officials overseeing the entire child-separation horror are also designed to suggest that no one is responsible for the outrage. That helps communicate that the events are somehow blips, exceptions, not part of any larger goal. The President has been the master of the double talk going on, seeming to change his tune by the day and hour. At several points he has blamed Democrats for somehow having "signed" something that has forced his hand, making the family separations mandatory. Except there is nothing except the policy of his own attorney general, which Trump presumably approved. Then on Monday the White House, in a press release, followed yet another path: "The harshest family separation policy is that too many Americans have been permanently separated from loved ones because of crime spilling across our border." The statement then referred to examples of American citizens who have been victimized by crime from migrants. The larger message inherent in the immigration tyranny is that it could be more widely applied to American citizens regarded as enemies--journalists, university professors, opposition politicians"..the list is endless. That larger message becomes clearer by the day in the refusal of the administration to back down in the face of widespread domestic criticism and even international condemnation. Certainly putting law enforcement people through the repeated heartbreaking exercise of breaking up families and imprisoning children will serve to harden them for the real work that could be coming up before long. Is there anything the majority horrified by the forcible separation of families at the border can do to counter the tyranny? One obvious remedy would be for two-thirds of the U.S. House and Senate to pass legislation prohibiting the practice. Such a majority would override a Presidential veto. Another action has already begun by governors-- at least five have committed to not sending National Guard troops from their states to the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump in April said he planned to deploy 2,000-4,000 National Guard troops at the border. Then there is the upcoming mid-term election in November. The stakes will be very high. Tyrannical rule, once launched, isn't easily repulsed. Quicklink Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them. To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here. Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. Michael Sherrard, Executive Director of Faithful America, the "largest and fastest-growing online community of Christians putting faith into action for social justice" is inviting ethical and moral people of all persuasions to sign a petition encouraging Catholic bishops to investigate the treatment of refugee children: "At last week's meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops, Cardinal Joseph Tobin publicly urged that a delegation be dispatched as a 'sign of our pastoral concern and protest against the hardening of the American heart.' Cardinal Tobin's suggestion was well received and referred to committee. But with the crisis at the border deepening and the Trump administration in chaos, there's no time to waste. By following the pope's example of showing personal solidarity with migrants, the bishops can make headlines and help pressure the Trump administration to roll back its "zero tolerance" policy that's putting these children in detention." Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. (This is a reprint from NewsBred) Congress leader Digvijay Singh's attempt to create the bogey of Hindu terrorism and dragging Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh into it is nothing new. In his classic book, The Men Who Killed Gandhi, celebrated writer Manohar Malgonkar, mentions how Veer Savarkar--who in the author's words was to Hindu Mahasabha what Gandhi was to Congress--was wrongly implicated in the Gandhi murder trial in 1948-49. Malgonkar dropped more than a hint that it was the work of government of the day, or in other words Congress. (Below are excerpts from the book. The texts in italics are my own; the one in bold letters are the exact page numbers and quotes in the book:) From page 281-285: Why were the police so anxious to implicate Savarkar? Was it merely that, having failed in their proper function to arrest Nathuram before he killed Gandhi, they were making a bid to save face by raising the bogey of some sensational plot which involved a big leader who, providentially happened to be in bad odour with the government of the day? Or was the government itself, or some powerful group in it, using the police agency to destroy a rival political organization or at least to destroy a fiercely uncompromising opposition stalwart? Whatever it was, Savarkar himself was so conscious of these currents, so convinced that the authorities were determined to take him to court as an accomplice of Nathuram, that when five days after Gandhi's murder, a police party entered his house he went forward to meet it and asked: "So you've come to arrest me for Gandhi's murder?" Savarkar being made an accused in the Gandhi murder trial may well have been an act of political vendetta. Of course Badge (Digambar Badge, a weapon supplier and conspirator who turned into a police approver)"was most insistent to me (the author) that he had been forced to tell lies, and that his pardon and future stipend by the police department in Bombay depended upon his backing the official version of the case and in particular that, he never saw Savarkar talking to (Narayan) Apte, and never heard him telling them: "Yeshaswai houn ya (Earn glory)." Many years later on 16 June, 1983, the Poona newspaper Kal edited by S.R. Date, published a report on the subject, which was later reprinted in a volume published by the Savarkar Memorial Committee on February 16, 1989. I quote excerpts from it. It purports to repeat something that Savarkar's counsel at the trial, L.B (Annasahen) Bhopatkar, a Poona lawyer, had revealed to his friends after he returned to Poona from Delhi in January 1949, after the Red Fort trial was over, and Savarkar found 'not guilty.' While in the Delhi for the trial, Bhopatkar had been put up in the Hindu Mahasabha office, Bhopatkar had found it a little puzzling that while specific charges had been made against all the other accused, there was no specific charges against the client. He was pondering about his defence strategy when one morning he was told that he was wanted on the telephone, so he went up to the room in which the telephone was kept, picked up the receiver and identified himself. His caller was Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, who merely said: 'Please meet me this evening at the sixth milestone on the Mathura road.' But before Bhopatkar could say anything more, put down the receiver. That evening, when Bhopatkar had himself driven to the place indicated, he found Ambedkar already waiting. He motioned to Bhopatkar to get into his car which he, Ambedkar himself, was driving. A few minutes later he stopped the car and told Bhopatkar: There is no real charge against your client, quite worthless evidence has been concocted. Several members of the cabinet were strongly against it (against implicating Savarkar), but to no avail. Sardar Patel could not go against these orders. But, take it from me, there just is no case. 'You will win.' Who"Jawaharlal Nehru?...But why? They had arrested Savarkar even though they did not possess sufficient evident to do so. To be sure, the mass of papers seized from his house had yielded scores of letters from Nathuram and half a dozen from Apte, but these were disappointingly innocuous. All that they did was to establish the fact that Nathuram and Apte knew Savarkar and held him in great esteem. But this in itself was not enough to satisfy a magistrate that a prima facie case existed so that he could issue a warrant. This, however, was no more than a technicality (sic), and they got overe it by arresting him under the Prevention Detention Act--one of the most malignant practice of legislation with which the British had armed themselves while they ruled India. Even though Indian politicians of all shades of opinion had persistently condemned the British for this Act, the Congress had been in no hurry to repeal it after the British had gone. Under its provision, Savarkar was initially held as a 'detenu.' After that they proceeded to build up evidence against him that would enable them to change his detention into arrest, with what could be called 'retrospective effect.' Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. If you're just catching up, Fancy Bear was outed this past week and those Ukrainian hackers are going to cause a lot of legal problems for their supporters in the US if journalists remember their job is to protect the public as a 4th estate. If they don't, we'll get there without them. In the end, you could say Fancy Bear was caught because they confessed to every step involved that identified them and by disseminating evidence further incriminated themselves. They confessed and RUH8 took credit everywhere they could including RFE/RL. The Australian Sunday Morning Herald noted Fancy Bear looked like a Ukrainian adventure. In Information Operations (IO) the second you take credit for it, "it" stops working. Eventually, most often sooner than later, someone is going to notice. So, a good rule of thumb for those aspiring to be the Doctor Evil of the hacking and the IO world is to remember: loose lips sink ships. And to the chagrin of hacking masters everywhere, physics governs sinking ships. Common knowledge tells us Fancy Bear is Russian FSB and GRU. You know that. Everyone knows that. My response is Fancy Bear was rogue Russian FSB and GRU Intel to the degree you count Shaltai Boltai (Humpty Dumpty) as part of the group CyberHunta along with the Ukrainian DNC and RNC hackers RUH8, Trinity, and Falcons Flame. These hackers work with InformNapalm, EuroMaidanPress, the US and Canadian Ukrainian Diasporas, StopFake, the Atlantic Council, Michael D. Weiss and InterpreterMag, NATO COE Latvia, and you are starting to get the picture aren't you? What does Eliot Higgins have to say about it? Does he know the Ukrainian hackers he and Bellingcat work with are Fancy Bear? If the Atlantic Council hackers are Fancy Bear will it ruin Ukraine, Higgins, and the Atlantic Council because they provide the Intel? The following Twitter string was in reaction to the Fancy Bear expose article I just published. All stop. Game over. No one will care Fancy Bear is the Ukrainian hackers who changed the geopolitical landscape of East-West relations in 2016. Or that these hackers work with and for Higgins, Bellingcat, and the Atlantic Council. "So the help of the USA" I don't know, why would we need it? We have all the talent and special means for this. And I don't think that the USA or any NATO country would make such sharp movements in international politics." We have no Need of CIA Help Ukrainian Hackers of #Surkov Leaks No one will care the Ukrainian Fancy Bear hackers testimony for the US Senate generates tons of graft money to steal for the failing state of Ukraine. Why put em' in jail when you can give them tax dollars instead? "1. Alexander Usovsky, a Belarusian living in Poland, received more than 100,000 US dollars from Russia in order to finance anti-Ukrainian nationalist groups in Poland and to set Poles against Ukrainians. Usovsky's correspondence with the Russian MP and director of the Institute of CIS countries, Konstantin Zatulin, who provided this funding, was revealed by the Ukrainian groups CyberHunta and Cyber Alliance. Usovsky coordinated his anti-Ukrainian actions with..."- Statement of Mustafa Nayyem and Svitlana Zalishchuk Members of the Parliament of Ukraine before the Subcommittee on Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs of the Senate Committee on Appropriations March 29, 2017 No one will care Ukrainian Fancy Bear hackers are strictly political operatives working for Ukrainian Intel provided a lion's share of information about MH17 and interfered with the 2016 US presidential election on behalf of Petr Poroshenko to throw a lot of dirt in the air. "Sednit -- also known as APT28, Fancy Bear, and Sofacy -- has been operating since 2004. The cyber-mob has reportedly infiltrated machines operated by targets as diverse as the DNC, the German parliament, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign boss John Podesta, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the French TV network TV5Monde."- US DNC hackers blew through SIXzero-days vulns last year alone Most targets were individuals with Gmail addresses Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. This piece was reprinted by OpEdNews with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source. From Caitlin Johnstone Website As I write this, demonstrations around the world are taking place in protest of WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange's arbitrary detention and silencing by the US-centralized power establishment that has been actively pursuing his destruction for over a decade. The demonstrations will be well-attended, but not a fraction as well-attended as they should be. They will receive international attention, but not a fraction as much attention as they should. This is because the manipulators and smear merchants who have made their careers paving the way for oligarchic agendas have been successful in killing off sympathy for the plight of Assange. As we discussed yesterday, sympathy is key for getting narratives to take hold in public consciousness. This is why western corporate media will circulate pictures of dead children all day long when it's in the interests of advancing longstanding imperialist agendas, but never when those children were killed by western weapons. If you can tug at someone's heart strings while telling them a story, the story you tell them will slide right in with minimal scrutiny. And it works the other way, too: if you can prevent someone's heart strings from being plucked while hearing about a legitimately heartbreaking story, you can prevent that story from taking hold. Kill all sympathy for a dissident journalist and you kill all belief in his side of the story. And Assange's side of the story is indeed devastating to the preferred narrative of the US-centralized empire. A journalist (yes, journalist, per definition) who publishes 100 percent authentic documents exposing the inner mechanics of power structures all over the world, who was forced to seek political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in order to avoid extradition by the same government which brutalized Chelsea Manning, is on its face a highly sympathetic story. And it does tremendous damage to the narrative that America and its close network of allies are freedom-loving democracies whose systems of government are nothing like those naughty, oppressive regimes they seek to topple. So they smear him. As often as possible, using whatever they can, they smear his reputation. Because if they can kill all sympathy for him and his outlet, it's as good for their agendas as actually killing him. The smears work because the social engineers know how to manipulate people. In America, for example, people are herded into two isolated ideological holding pens and encouraged to identify as much as possible with whichever pen they're in so that narratives can be slipped into their consciousness in a smooth, streamlined way. Are you in the "R" pen and upset about the hand you've been dealt? You should blame the "D" pen, and those foreigners who are of no strategic consequence to your rulers. Are you in the "D" pen and upset about the hand you've been dealt? You should blame the "R" pen, and those Russians whose downfall would advance the longstanding geopolitical agendas of your rulers. In the same way, those in the "R" pen were fed narratives against Julian Assange in 2010, which they lapped up because believing them was easier than believing that the pen they're so tightly identified with had enabled the evils revealed in WikiLeaks releases about US war crimes. And in exactly the same way, those in the "D" pen were fed narratives against Julian Assange in 2016, which they lapped up because believing them was easier than believing that the pen they're so tightly identified with is pervasively corrupt. By enforcing a strong sense of identification with a particular ideological tribe, they ensure that the psychological discomfort known as cognitive dissonance will arise from any revelation which can be spun as detrimental to that tribe. They then create a narrative which alleviates that discomfort, and that narrative always damages the reputation of the enemies of the power establishment. It's a snake oil cure for an ailment that they deliberately caused. Nobody actually thinks that Julian Assange is a Russian agent, or a rapist, or a "hostile non-state intelligence service," or any of the other absurd smears I've seen circulating about him throughout all political sectors of the US-centralized empire. Those are not ideas that anyone has taken on board because they sincerely believe there's enough evidence for them to outweigh the undeniable fact that many extremely powerful and influential people stand to benefit from tarnishing his reputation on false pretenses. At best, they're just fairy tales people tell themselves because they're easier than believing that their favorite country/political party persecutes journalists for telling the truth and is as corrupt and evil as the various WikiLeaks publications of their communications would indicate. At worst, it's a fairy tale they are deliberately seeding into public consciousness so that people will believe lies instead of truth. People find all sorts of ways to wiggle their way around the cognitive dissonance that unedited, authentic documents can create in them when it challenges their deeply treasured identity structures. People who present themselves as anti-establishment progressives often say things like "Well, you can be critical of Assange and still support WikiLeaks for providing a valuable service." And sure, that may be technically true, but it's never actually true for the people who say it: look at their writings and social media posts and you won't see them aggressively defending WikiLeaks, you'll only see them smearing Assange as often as they can get away with. They're just trying to retain their anti-establishment cred (another treasured identity structure) while promulgating smear campaigns which advance the agendas of the CIA and the State Department. They pay lip service to the image they're trying to convey, but their actions tell you where they really stand. People who disrupt dominant narratives will always be attacked and vilified, because those narratives often form the building blocks of people's identity structures, their egos. An ego is just a collection of believed "I" stories; they typically include believed ideas about really basic things like "I am this body," but they also include a bunch of other "I" stories like "I am a Democrat" or "I am a patriotic American" as well. Attacking dominant narratives on a large scale will cause intense cognitive dissonance in everyone who has a lot of identity wrapped up in the power structure which is weakened by that attack, to such an extent that it can feel as though you yourself are being personally attacked. The way Democrats have talked about Assange since 2016, you get the distinct impression they feel like he may as well have walked up and stabbed them. As this webcomic from The Oatmeal brilliantly explains, the brain is hardwired to protect strongly valued belief systems in the same way it's hardwired to make sure the body protects itself from a physical attack. This serves a useful function in that it gives us a cognitive strategy for making sense of the world that isn't blown to pieces every time you encounter a new idea, but it can also be malformed in a way which does not accurately represent reality. When that happens, it really is worthwhile to tough it out through the brain's distress signals of cognitive dissonance and consciously restructure your sense-making apparatus in a way that accommodates a more accurate perspective. This is the invitation whenever you're looking at a WikiLeaks drop which challenges your existing worldview. It's just raw information sitting there, and you can choose to believe a story which allows you to comfortably dismiss it, or you can stick it out through the psychological discomfort and allow it to restructure your worldview. You have defense mechanisms in place to prevent random bits of information from tearing apart your sense-making apparatus that haven't been properly audited for reliability, but a publishing outlet with a 100 percent perfect record for releasing authentic documents is as reliable a source of information as you will ever find. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. After (Image by faul) Details DMCA I KNEW this would happen! After its pro-GOP decision in the case Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, I awaited a pro-Democratic decision on a case attacking Democratic gerrymandering in Maryland, Benisek v. Lamone. According to the New York Post, "[T]he court in an unsigned opinion decided not to immediately block a Democrat-drawn US House of Representatives district challenged by Republican voters, but allowed the case to proceed." According to the New York Times: "In a brief unsigned opinion, the court said the challengers had waited too long to seek an injunction blocking the district, which was drawn in 2011." The Ohio decision validated its practice of purging voters from registration lists if they don't vote for three consecutive federal elections. Anyway, the Wisconsin gerrymandering case Gill v. Whitford was also undecided, instead referred back to a trial court "to allow the plaintiffs to try again to prove that their voting power had been directly affected by the way state lawmakers drew voting districts for the State Assembly," again, according to the Times. Another case questioning the validity of gerrymandering, this time in North Carolina, is on schedule for SCOTUS's fall term. Will Justice Kennedy still be there to decide that? If so, will he finally make up his mind? A decision he wrote in 2004 considered both sides of the issue but left it at that. There was, he wrote, no "workable standard" for determining the constitutionality involved. But my main point is that the Maryland decision works in favor of Democrats and the Ohio decision definitely benefits the GOP. But Ohio Republicans will benefit more, since their swing state will lean more Republican, while things in Maryland will stay the same, ceteris paribus. And the electoral votes are 18 versus 10, respectively, if the status quo in these two instances persists into election 2020. I knew, though, that there would be some kind of nod in the direction of the blue party. Some birdseed, some scant leftovers, a crust of bread. SOURCES; click here click here click here Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. The commentary: Personally, I think the whole rotten corrupted GMO thing is slowly blowing up in the faces of these Canadian wheat farmers; under these circumstances, they will grow increasingly furious at how they have been lied to over decades by Monsanto, now subsumed into Bayer. Will they and their government be angry enough to dump the agribusiness GMO takeover and revert to the prior 8000 year history of agriculture by getting rid of Bayer? We'll see, eh? The news: South Korea followed Japan's lead on Monday, June 18th. Canada is one of the world's largest wheat exporters and is South Korea's No. 3 wheat supplier after the U.S. and Australia. A few Roundup Ready wheat plants discovered in southern Alberta in 2017 have caused another country to ban Canadian wheat imports. On Friday, June 15th, Japan banned Canadian wheat imports after it was announced genetically modified wheat plants were discovered along an access road in Southern Alberta. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency "proved" there's no genetically modified wheat in commercial production in Canada. The Canadian Grain Commission has also confirmed there's no trace of the unapproved trait in any Canadian wheat shipments. Genetically modified wheat is not approved in any country. see also: click here >>>>>>>>>>> A different more analytical spin from coverage in the Ukraine, another large wheat exporter This all stems from Canada's own admission, when the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on June 14 released a statement indicating it has discovered genetically modified wheat in southern Alberta. "The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has recently completed testing of a few wheat plants found on an access road in Alberta that survived a spraying treatment for weeds. When the CFIA was notified of this finding, CFIA scientists conducted tests to determine why the wheat survived. The CFIA's tests confirmed that the wheat found was genetically modified and herbicide-tolerant. Since GM wheat is not authorized in Canada, the CFIA worked collaboratively with partners at all levels to gather as much complete, accurate and credible information about this discovery as possible." The CFIA said it was notified of the GM wheat by the government of Alberta on Jan. 31. By Feb. 12, the CFIA's Ottawa Genotyping/Botany Laboratory had received samples of wheat seeds from Alberta and began conducting DNA-based analyses. Following the analysis, the CFIA narrowed the wheat line down to two possible companies before ultimately determining on April 8 that the Alberta wheat sample was a match for a Monsanto GM wheat line that was used in multiple confined research field trials in the late 1990s and early 2000s in both Canada and the United States. The locations of the confined research field trials were approximately 200 miles or more removed from the GM wheat plants found in Alberta, the CFIA said. The CFIA noted that no evidence was present to suggest that the GM wheat was present anywhere other than the isolated site where it was discovered. In addition, Health Canada has concluded that the finding does not pose a food safety risk. please see also: click here >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From the Edmonton Journal, by CLARE CLANCY Updated: June 18, 2018 Ottawa has confirmed that both countries had launched a temporary suspension of Canadian wheat. "South Korea is a much smaller buyer of Canadian wheat, but they still are a customer," said Alberta Wheat Commission chairman Kevin Bender. "We'd like to get this corrected as quickly as we can." Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. From Mike Malloy Website Three former First Ladies (Image by georgewbush-whitehouse...) Details DMCA First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me. Martin Niemoller (1892-1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Are we the good Germans now? Ignoring the warnings around us that fascism is creeping thru our windows, ripping away everything our nation used to stand for. Watching and hearing what is happening to these poor children on the border is a horror we haven't entertained since the national shame of the Japanese internment camps. There is a little outrage, but most members of Congress are silent. And polled Republicans favor this policy by 20 points. If that doesn't give you the shivers nothing will. Case in point, tonight Laura Ingraham on Fox "news" pulled a hurricane Katrina quote out of her ass and actually said these kids were better off in cages then they were before, and that it was like going "to camp." Yeah, a concentration camp. Listen to this audio released today from Propublica and ask yourself, do these kids sound like happy campers? There is no Biblical law that advocates child torture, no matter what Jeff Sessions or Sarah Huckabee say. These are crimes against humanity. Talk about a special place in hell...it's not reserved for Justin Trudeau, trust me. 2,000 children have been locked in cages in the last six weeks. 20,000 are expected by August. There aren't enough social workers in these centers to take care of these kids. The HHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen flip-flopped all over the podium, stating first that children weren't being separated from their parents, then later explaining why the separation was necessary. All the former First Ladies came out yesterday with statements condemning this inhumane treatment of children. Even Melania. Do you ever remember a time when this happened before? When all the living First Ladies spoke out against the current president's policies? That should tell you something. Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too. See original here Outrage is growing over the Trump administration's separation of children from their parents along the U.S.-Mexico border. On Monday, ProPublica released audio from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, in which children estimated to be between the ages of 4 and 10 years old are heard crying "Mama" and "Papi" after being separated from their parents. In another part of the audio, a Border Patrol agent is heard joking, in Spanish, "Well, we have an orchestra here. What's missing is a conductor." Video footage released by the U.S. Border Patrol Monday shows migrant children in concrete-floored chain link cages, in an old warehouse in McAllen, Texas. A new Quinnipiac Poll shows roughly two-thirds of U.S. voters oppose separating children from their parents at the border. About 7 percent of Democratic voters support the Trump policy, while 55 percent of Republicans support it. We speak with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Democratic congress member from Washington state. She has just helped announce a march on Washington and cities nationwide on June 30 against family separation. She is vice ranking member of the House Budget Committee and vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. On June 9 she visited a detention center in her home state and spoke with some of the 200 asylum-seekers held at the Sea-Tac Bureau of Prisons facility. This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, Democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. JUAN GONZALEZ: And I'm Juan Gonza'lez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Outrage continues to grow over the Trump administration's separation of children from their parents along the U.S.-Mexico border. On Monday, the news outlet ProPublica released audio from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in which children, estimated to be between the ages of four and 10 years old, are heard crying "mama'" and "papa'" after being separated from their parents. A warning, the audio is disturbing. CHILD: [crying] Papa'! Papa'! WORKERS: [Spanish] CHILDREN: [crying] [Spanish] CHILD: [crying] Papa'! Papa'! AMY GOODMAN: In part of the audio, a Border Patrol agent is heard joking in Spanish, "Well, we have an orchestra here. What's missing is a conductor." Video footage released by the U.S. Border Patrol Monday shows migrant children in concrete-floored chain link cages, in an old warehouse in McAllen, Texas. JUAN GONZALEZ: A new Quinnipiac Poll shows roughly two-thirds of U.S. voters oppose separating children from their parents at the border. About seven percent of Democratic voters support the Trump policy, while 55 percent of Republicans support it. Ahead of today's meeting with Republicans to discuss compromise legislation on a hard-line immigration bill, President Trump continued to blame Democrats for his policy that has led to the separation of at least 2,000 children in recent weeks. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. It won't be. You look at what is happening in Europe. You look at what is happening in other places. We can't allow that to happen to the United States. Not on my watch. If the Democrats would sit down instead of obstructing, we could have something done very quickly. Good for the children, good for the country, good for the world. It could take place quickly. We could have an immigration bill. AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, during a White House press briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the administration was only strictly enforcing immigration law. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Global Floating Solar Panels Market Forecast 2018-2025 Sharp, Canadian Solar, SunPower, REC Solar, Solarworld Floating Solar Panels Market https://tinyurl.com/ydh2vhel https://www.qyresearchstore.com/report/global-floating-solar-panels-market-1837 https://www.qyresearchstore.com/ Recently added detailed market study "Global Floating Solar Panels Market" examines the performance of the Floating Solar Panels market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Floating Solar Panels market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Floating Solar Panels market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Floating Solar Panels Market 2018 report includes Floating Solar Panels market Revenue, market Share, Floating Solar Panels industry volume, market Trends, Floating Solar Panels Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Floating Solar Panels Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Floating Solar Panels manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Market Forecast Report on Top Manufacturers companies are Kyocera, Hanwha Solar One, Sharp, Canadian Solar, SunPower, REC Solar, Solarworld, Panasonic/Sanyo, Renesola, JA Solar, Motech, Gintech, LDK Solar, GCL Poly, Suntech, Yingli Solar, Trina Solar.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Floating Solar Panels Market By Application are Residential, CommercialFloating Solar Panels Market By Type are Monocrystalline Solar Panel, Polycrystalline Solar Panel, Standard Non-Crystal Solar PanelFurther, the Floating Solar Panels report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Floating Solar Panels industry, Floating Solar Panels industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Floating Solar Panels Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Floating Solar Panels research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Floating Solar Panels market revenue worldwide.Finally, Floating Solar Panels market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QYResearchStore.com" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.com Global Tyre Bead Wire Market Forecast 2018-2025 Rajratan, Heico Wire Group, TATA Steel, WireCo WorldGroup Tyre Bead Wire Market https://www.qyresearchstore.com/report/global-tyre-bead-wire-market-1860 https://www.qyresearchstore.com/ Recently added detailed market study "Global Tyre Bead Wire Market" examines the performance of the Tyre Bead Wire market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Tyre Bead Wire market state and the competitive landscape globally. 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It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Market Forecast Report on Top Manufacturers companies are Bekaert, Kiswire, Rajratan, Heico Wire Group, TATA Steel, WireCo WorldGroup, Shandong Daye, Xingda, Snton, Xinglun, GUIZHOU Wire Rope, King Industrial, Shanghai Metal Corporation (SMC).To Get Sample Report Click Here: https://tinyurl.com/y78vxlwgTyre Bead Wire Market By Application are Car Radial Tire, Truck Radial Tire, OthersTyre Bead Wire Market By Type are Up to 1.00mm, 1.00mm-2.00mm, Above 2.00mmFurther, the Tyre Bead Wire report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Tyre Bead Wire industry, Tyre Bead Wire industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Tyre Bead Wire Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Tyre Bead Wire research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Tyre Bead Wire market revenue worldwide.Finally, Tyre Bead Wire market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QYResearchStore.com" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.com Global Refined Cotton Market Forecast 2018-2025 Yingte, Jinqiu Cotton, Huian, Tailida, Hanguang Jiaye Refined Cotton Market https://tinyurl.com/ycojwefv https://www.qyresearchstore.com/report/global-refined-cotton-market-2078 https://www.qyresearchstore.com/ Recently added detailed market study "Global Refined Cotton Market" examines the performance of the Refined Cotton market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Refined Cotton market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Refined Cotton market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Refined Cotton Market 2018 report includes Refined Cotton market Revenue, market Share, Refined Cotton industry volume, market Trends, Refined Cotton Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Refined Cotton Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Refined Cotton manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Market Forecast Report on Top Manufacturers companies are Buckeye (Georgia-Pacific), Jin Hanjiang, Manas Xiangyun, Xinjiang Guangda Shanhe, Guangrao Fuli, Hubei Golden, Xinjiang Su Nok, Yaohua, Yingte, Jinqiu Cotton, Huian, Tailida, Hanguang Jiaye, Guangyang, Snow Dragon.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Refined Cotton Market By Application are Food, Medicine, Chemistry, Oil Drilling and Metallurgical IndustryRefined Cotton Market By Type are X series Refined Cotton, M series Refined Cotton, C series Refined CottonFurther, the Refined Cotton report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Refined Cotton industry, Refined Cotton industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Refined Cotton Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Refined Cotton research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Refined Cotton market revenue worldwide.Finally, Refined Cotton market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QYResearchStore.com" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.com Global Transmission Oil Pump Market Forecast 2018-2025 Mahle, Hunan Oil Pump, Chang Zheng Power Machine Fitting Transmission Oil Pump Market https://www.qyresearchstore.com/report/global-transmission-oil-pump-market-2086 https://www.qyresearchstore.com/ Recently added detailed market study "Global Transmission Oil Pump Market" examines the performance of the Transmission Oil Pump market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Transmission Oil Pump market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Transmission Oil Pump market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Transmission Oil Pump Market 2018 report includes Transmission Oil Pump market Revenue, market Share, Transmission Oil Pump industry volume, market Trends, Transmission Oil Pump Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Transmission Oil Pump Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Transmission Oil Pump manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Market Forecast Report on Top Manufacturers companies are Powertrain (STACKPOLE), TRW, Magna, Nidec, Bosch Rexroth, Tsang Yow, Shenglong Group, SHW, Pierburg (KSPG), Toyo Advanced Technologies, Mahle, Hunan Oil Pump, Chang Zheng Power Machine Fitting, Fuxin Dare Automotive Parts.To Get Sample Report Click Here: https://tinyurl.com/y9btqkwkTransmission Oil Pump Market By Application are Passenger Vehicle, Commercial VehicleTransmission Oil Pump Market By Type are Fixed displacement pump, Variable displacement pumpFurther, the Transmission Oil Pump report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Transmission Oil Pump industry, Transmission Oil Pump industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Transmission Oil Pump Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Transmission Oil Pump research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Transmission Oil Pump market revenue worldwide.Finally, Transmission Oil Pump market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QYResearchStore.com" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.com Global Plastic Waste Management Market Forecast 2018-2025 Covanta Holding, Remondis, Parc, Kayama, Shirai, New COOP Tianbao Plastic Waste Management Market https://www.qyresearchstore.com/report/global-plastic-waste-management-market-2135 https://www.qyresearchstore.com/ Recently added detailed market study "Global Plastic Waste Management Market" examines the performance of the Plastic Waste Management market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Plastic Waste Management market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Plastic Waste Management market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Plastic Waste Management Market 2018 report includes Plastic Waste Management market Revenue, market Share, Plastic Waste Management industry volume, market Trends, Plastic Waste Management Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Plastic Waste Management Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Plastic Waste Management manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Market Forecast Report on Top Manufacturers companies are Veolia Environnement, Suez Environnement, Waste Management, Republic Services, Stericycle, Clean Harbors, ADS Waste Holdings, Progressive Waste Solutions, Covanta Holding, Remondis, Parc, Kayama, Shirai, New COOP Tianbao, China Recyling Development, Luhai, Vanden, Fuhai Lantian, Shanghai Qihu.To Get Sample Report Click Here: https://tinyurl.com/y9gm6bjxPlastic Waste Management Market By Application are Plastic Waste, Heat Energy Generation, Recycled Plastics, OthersPlastic Waste Management Market By Type are Landfill, Recycle, IncinerationFurther, the Plastic Waste Management report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Plastic Waste Management industry, Plastic Waste Management industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Plastic Waste Management Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Plastic Waste Management research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Plastic Waste Management market revenue worldwide.Finally, Plastic Waste Management market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QYResearchStore.com" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.com Shelf-stable Food Packaging Market 2018 Global Key Players - FFP Packaging, RPC, Amcor, SIG Combiblog Obeikan, Tetra Pak, Rexam, Bemis, Mondi and Others https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4955 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/ambient-food-packaging-market-4955 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/press-release/ambient-food-packaging-market Ambient Food Packaging Market Report by Packaging Type (Rigid Packaging and Flexible Packaging), By Material Type (Metal, Glass, and Plastic) and By Region - Global Forecast to 2023.Ambient Food also known as Shelf-stable Food is food of a type that can be safely stored at room temperature in a sealed container.Global Shelf-stable Food Packaging Market expected to grow at ~ 6% CAGR during 2018-2023Get Sample Report @Market ScenarioAmbient food packaging refers to packaging a food product in pasteurized and sterilized packs to increase its shelf life. Ambient food packing has become a trend in the food packaging industry and ambient food products are preferred by majority of the customers over others. Increasing demand for having more empty space in chill cabinets calls for the adoption of the food packaging methods that can offer a better shelf life to the product even without a refrigerator.Ambient food packaging bestows longer shelf life to the food product as compared to the usual packaging method, thus, enabling storage of products at room temperature. Additionally, it involves the use of high barrier sheets, which assure aspects such as safety of the food stored inside, consumer convenience, and attractive design, are taken care of. All these supporting factors have led to the increased demand for ambient food packaging among food manufacturers, globally. Manufacturers determine the extrinsic and intrinsic properties of the food products that affect its quality and safety. These include manufacturing process, ingredients used, packaging type and storage conditions. Two major processes for ambient food packaging are sterilization and pasteurization. Increasing competition for chill cabinet space signifies rise in demand of food packaging, which improves shelf life. The use of sustainable packaging products is a trend in the ambient food packaging market, which increases the demand for sustainable packaging materials.Different food packaging and preservation processes are used to increase product shelf life. Increasing the products acidity, decreasing its water content and using air tight envelope can increase the products shelf life without changing its texture and taste.Key PlayersThe key players of global ambient food packaging market are FFP Packaging Solutions Ltd. (U.K), RPC Group (U.K), Amcor Limited (Australia), SIG Combiblog Obeikan (Switzerland), Tetra Pak (India), Rexam (U.K), Bemis (U.S.), Mondi (South Africa), Ampac (U.S), Dupont (U.S.), Excelsior Technologies (India) and KM Packaging (UK).Market SegmentationGlobal ambient food packaging market has been segmented based on packaging type, material type and by region. Based on packaging type the market has been as rigid packaging and flexible packaging. Flexible packaging is the largest packaging type segment in the market as it provides enhanced safety in product transportation and is easy to handle. Based on the material the market is segmented as metal, glass, and plastic. Plastic is an important material of the packaged food supply chain. Plastic ambient food packaging is the effective method for packaging bulky products and perishable food as it offers enhanced safety.Consumers expect ambient food packaging materials that are environment-friendly and sustainable. Vendors are investing in R&D to develop food packaging materials that can be recycled and have the traditional capabilities of friction, moisture, and heat resistance. A new innovative technology developed by the Western Reserve University Lab, AeroClay technology, helps in turning clay and other ingredients into a versatile material that is sturdy, eco-friendly, and temperature-resistant. It can be used as an insulated packaging material, and can keep products fresh for longer, which is the basic requirement for ambient food products. However, high level of processing required in case of ambient food packaging ultimately adds to the overall cost of packaging product. This poses a potential threat for growth of the global ambient food packaging market.The global ambient food packaging market is expected to grow at ~ 6% CAGR during the forecast period.Browse Complete Report@Global Ambient Food Packaging MarketThe global ambient food packaging market is expected to witness phenomenal growth during the forecast period. This is due to the considerably growing demand from food packaging Industries. Governments, across regions have set regulations to reduce packaging wastage, which drives the demand for environment friendly packaging materials such as recyclable ambient food packaging. The significant growth in e-Commerce has also augmented the growth of ambient food packaging. North America was the dominant market with a market share of more than 35% in 2016, while, Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market in the forecast period. This is attributed to growing demand for packaging of fruits & vegetable, meat, dairy products and others in emerging economies such as India and China.Table of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Scope of the Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Definition2.2.2 Research Objective2.2.3 Assumptions2.2.4 Limitations2.3 Research Process2.3.1 Primary Research2.3.2 Secondary Research2.4 Market Size Estimation2.5 Forecast Model3 Market Landscape3.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis3.1.1 Threat of New Entrants3.1.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers3.1.3 Threat of Substitutes3.1.4 Segment Rivalry3.1.5 Bargaining Power of Buyers3.2 Value Chain/supply Chain Analysis4 Market Dynamics4.1 Introduction4.2 Market Drivers4.3 Market Restraints4.4 Market Opportunities4.5 Market TrendsContinues..Ask for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports.Press Release Available @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Market Research FutureMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Vision Care Products Market size and Key Trends in terms of volume and value 2015-2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-822 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-822 www.futuremarketinsights.com The eye is the most amazing and complex structure in the body. The two eyes provide about half the total sensory input from entire body into the brain. Eyes are sensitive to trauma, infection or inflammation that may end up in blindness.The vision care products market is driven by the increase in the number of patients suffering from eye disorders like myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and presbyopia. Myopia is the most common disorders and it affects 1.6 billion people around the globe, whereas presbyopia is found in about one billion people globally. The prevalence of hyperopia increase in the elderly. Around 50% of people aged above 65 years in the US have hyperopic conditions.Vision Care Products Market: Drivers and RestraintsPresently, vision care products global market is driven by the aging population, rising incidence and prevalence of eye disorders like myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and presbyopia, technological advancement in healthcare industry.With the increase in the disposable income levels and health consciousness among general population, vision care products are being widely adopted. Also, lifestyle side effects emerging from increased usage of computer, television viewing have contributed towards the growth of vision care products at a global level. Various promotional campaign by the key players to capture the market share in the emerging countries.However, availability of counterfeit products in the market and large number of local players in this market act as a barriers for the growth of this market.Request to Sample Report -Vision Care Products Market: SegmentationVision care products global market is segmented into following segmentation:Spectacle lensesSingle Vision Spectacle LensesDigital lensesProgressive LensesContact lensesSoft contact lensesRigid gas permeable lensesDisposable contact lensesCleaning and disinfecting solutionsVision Care Products Market: OverviewWith rapid technological advancement, aging population, and increase in the prevalence of eye disorders around the globe, the vision care products market is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR in the forecasted period (2015-2025).Vision Care Products Market: Region-wise OutlookDepending on geographic region, global vision care products market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa.Asia Pacific is emerging as dominating markets for vision care products market due to their high healthcare awareness and augmented disposable income. Amongst the Asian countries, India and china are more promising due to large population pool and increased number of hospitals.Request Report TOC @Vision Care Products Market: Key playersSome of the key participating players in global vision care products market are Alcon, Inc., SEIKO OPTICAL PRODUCTS CO., LTD., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Essilor International, CIBA Vision Corporation, Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, CooperVision, Inc., ZEISS Group, HOYA CORPORATION and others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite : Soda Ash Significant Growth Foreseen by Market During 2016 - 2023 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/soda-ash-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=8515 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Soda ash is an essential raw material used in the manufacture of glass, chemicals, detergents, and various industrial products. It is an anhydrous white powder or granular material that is available in three grades: light, medium, and dense. These grades offer similar chemical properties, but differ in physical characteristics such as bulk density and particle size and shape (which affect the flow characteristics and angle of repose). Soda ash is synthetically produced from salt and limestone through the Solvay process. It is also extracted from ashes of many plants growing in sodium-rich soils in the Middle East, Spain, and Scotland.Read Report Overview @Soda ash is extensively used in the manufacture of glass. As per the U.S. Geological Survey, around 30% of soda ash shipments in the U.S. are utilized for glass production. Additionally, the chemical processing industry accounts for significant demand for soda ash. Soda ash is used in the manufacture of sodium silicate, chrome chemicals, photographic chemicals, sodium bicarbonate, etc. Furthermore, soda ash acts as an organic builder in soaps & detergents formulations. Other applications of soda ash include water treatment, wherein it controls pH levels, thus softening water. Furthermore, soda ash is widely used in papermaking. Glass is expected to be the largest application sector in the soda ash market during the forecast period with the flat glass sub-segment dominating the glass sector.Growth in the household detergents market in Europe is likely to drive the soda ash market in the near future. Additionally, increasing demand for soda ash in the construction & building materials industry coupled with rising number of water treatment projects is anticipated to fuel the demand for soda ash during the forecast period. However, competition from substitute products such as caustic soda and sodium silicate may act as a restraining factor in the expansion of the sodium silicate market. Rising necessity of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) in regions such as Europe due to energy conservation policies, high fuel prices, and technological development may open avenues for the growth of the soda ash market in the near future.Value chain of the soda ash market encompasses raw materials used in the production of soda ash, manufacturers of soda ash, distribution channels, applications, and end-user industries that directly or indirectly consume soda ash.Request to view Sample Report:Asia Pacific was the largest market for soda ash in 2014 owing to the presence of a significant number of manufacturers in the region, particularly in China. The U.S. ranks second in the production of soda ash. However, China largely produces soda ash through the Solvay process, which is energy intensive, whereas soda ash manufactured in the U.S. is in its natural form. Consequently, soda ash produced in the U.S. can be exported globally with competitive pricing. Furthermore, Asia Pacific is projected to witness the fastest growth over the next few years due to increasing usage of soda ash in the existing large-scale textile and pulp & paper industries, particularly in China and India. Europe follows Asia Pacific. Soda ash is increasingly used in water treatment and other miscellaneous applications such as flue gas desulfurization in the region.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Automotive Brake Friction Materials Market Forecast 2018-2023 ITT, Robert Bosch, ICER BRAKES Automotive Brake Friction Materials Market Demand and Growth 2018 To 2023 https://tinyurl.com/y77vvygm http://www.9dimenresearchstore.com/report/global-automotive-brake-friction-materials-market-10101 http://9dimenresearchstore.com/ A market study "Global Automotive Brake Friction Materials Market" examines the performance of the Automotive Brake Friction Materials market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Automotive Brake Friction Materials market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Automotive Brake Friction Materials market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Automotive Brake Friction Materials Market 2018 report includes Automotive Brake Friction Materials market Revenue, market Share, Automotive Brake Friction Materials industry volume, market Trends, Automotive Brake Friction Materials Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Automotive Brake Friction Materials Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Automotive Brake Friction Materials Market 2018 :1. Akebono Brake2. Robert Bosch3. Carlisle4. ITT5. Nisshinbo Holdings6. ABS Friction7. Bendix Commercial Vehicles Systems8. Brembo9. BREMSKERL REIBBELAGWERKE Emmerling10. Fras-le11. GAMA12. ICER BRAKESAutomotive Brake Friction Materials Market : By ApplicationPassenger CarCommercial VehicleAutomotive Brake Friction Materials Market : By TypeAsbestos Friction MaterialNo Asbestos Friction MaterialFirstly, the report covers the top Automotive Brake Friction Materials manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Automotive Brake Friction Materials report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Automotive Brake Friction Materials industry, Automotive Brake Friction Materials industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Automotive Brake Friction Materials Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Automotive Brake Friction Materials research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Automotive Brake Friction Materials market revenue worldwide.Finally, Automotive Brake Friction Materials market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us9Dimen Research Store is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@9dimenresearchstore.comWeb: Deep Learning Systems Market - Growth, Demand and Key Players to 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=23561 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/deep-learning-systems-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=23561 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Deep learning is one of the machine learning algorithms which use many layers of nonlinear processing units primarily for the data extraction and transformation. The deep learning algorithms are basically based on distributed representations.Obtain Brochure For Latest Technology Advancements @Deep learning systems primarily develop a deep domain insight and transfer the required information to the end-users in usable way. For example, deep learning system has its huge applications in the banking and financial sector as it primarily helps bank employees to extend their work capabilities and allow banking institutions to focus more on customer interaction than the conventional transaction-based approach.Obtain Report Details @Moreover, the deep learning software offers solutions on the basis on analyzing clients background and history and provides evidence and contextual based reasoning for any problems.Download TOC @With the increasing research and development activities the end use area of deep learning systems are expanding which includes defense and aerospace, healthcare, oil and gas, telecommunication and information technology, retail, banking and financial sector, automotive, industrial among others.About UsTransparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals.Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories.Contact UsState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesUSA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Ongoing Market Research Report Offers a Roadmap For Expansion of Sulphuric Acid Market During 2015 - 2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-999 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-999 www.futuremarketinsights.com Sulfuric acid is a diprotic acid that exhibits different variety of properties depending upon its concentration. Sulphuric acid has the biggest output of any chemical in the world. Sulphuric acid is majorly used in the manufacture of chemicals to make sulfate salts, pigments, dyes, nitric acid, sulfate salts, and others. It also serves as the electrolyte in the lead acid storage battery.Sulphuric acid is widely used in the production of phosphate fertilizers. Sulphuric acid is a complex market that involves the chemistry of product supply and demand. There is variation in pricing of Sulphuric acid between regions depending upon the regulations and concentrations. There are four stages in the manufacturing of sulphuric acid that includes extraction of sulphur, conversion of Sulphur into sulphur dioxide, then converting sulphur dioxide to sulphur trioxide, and final conversion of sulphur trioxide to sulphuric acid.Request For Report Sample@Sulphuric acid is used to wash impurities out of gasoline and other refinery products in petroleum refining. Sulphuric acid is also used as catalyst and dehydrating agent in petrochemical process and organic chemical manufacturing. The global sulphuric acid market is segmented on the basis of manufacturing process, application, and region. Manufacturing process includes Lead Chamber Process, Contact Process, Wet Sulfuric Acid Process, and Others. Applications include Phosphate Fertilizers, Chemical Manufacturing, Agricultural Chemistry, Electrolyte In Lead-Acid Storage Battery, Metal Processing, and Others.Global Sulphuric Acid Market: DriversThe Global Sulphuric Acid Market is mainly driven by the growing demand for Sulphur based fertilizers. Rising demand for sulphuric acid in the oil & gas industry and waste water treatment is expected to drive the sulphuric acid market for the forecasted period.Global Sulphuric Acid: RestraintsRestraints for the global sulphuric acid market include stringent government regulations that are restricting its use, and high raw material prices. Some of the reasons that are hampering the growth of this market include effects on human health such as skin irritation, eyes irritation, skin sensitiveness and others.Global Sulphuric Acid Market: SegmentationGlobal Sulphuric Acid market is segmented by: application, manufacturing process, and by region.By Application:Phosphate FertilizersChemical ManufacturingAgricultural ChemistryElectrolyte In Lead-Acid Storage BatteryMetal ProcessingOthersBy Manufacturing Process:Lead Chamber ProcessContact ProcessWet Sulfuric Acid ProcessOthersSulphuric Acids By Region:North AmericaLatin AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeJapanAsia pacific (APEJ)Middle East & Africa (MEA)Global Sulphuric Acid: Region-wise OutlookThe global Sulphuric Acid is projected to witness a moderate growth from 2015 to 2025. According to FMIs forecast, the market in Asia-Pacific is expected to show the fastest CAGR for the forecasted period due to increasing demand for consumer products from countries such as Japan, China, and India.Europe and North America are leading markets of global Sulphuric Acid. Latin America market is also expected to grow due to rapid industrialization. Due to the prevalence of base metal smelters in Japan and South Korea, these regions have significant sources of sulphuric acid traded in the market.Global Sulphuric Acid Market: Competitive LandscapeKey players in the global Sulphuric Acid market are doing product innovations, expansions and mergers and acquisitions in order to expand their geographic reach. Companies in this market are focusing on finding newer applications for Sulphuric Acids in order to increase their shares in the market.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Sulphuric Acid Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players of the global Sulphuric Acid market are Tampa Electric, Chemtrade Refinery, The Mosaic, Lucite International, Climax Molybdenum, Valero Energy, Solvay, DuPont, Akzonobel N.V., BASF and others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Ammonium Phosphates Market Dynamics, Segments, Size and Demand, 2016-2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1469 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1469 www.futuremarketinsights.com Ammonium phosphates are salts of ammonium and phosphoric acid. They are produced as ortho- (solid) forms and/or polyphosphate (fluid) forms by a reaction between ammonia and phosphoric acid. The solid form is the dominant type. Ammonium phosphates are highly unstable and are usually produced in long chain molecules to increase stability. Ammonium phosphates find application in fertilizers, flame retardants, food additives and emulsifiers. Ammonium phosphates are commercially available as mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP), di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and ammonium polyphosphate. Mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP) and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) are the commonly used types.Request for sample Report:Ammonium phosphates are primarily used for fertilizer applications and account for more than three quarters of the market volume. They are extensively used as a source for nitrogen as well as phosphorus. Both these nutrients are essential for proper growth of the crops. Ammonium phosphates deliver nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient to the soil in an absorbable form for the plant roots. The increasing demand for better yield from the limited amount of arable land area to provide food for the rapidly growing world population is expected to drive the ammonium phosphates market. However, harmful effects of over fertilization on the environment as well as the health of flora and fauna are expected to hamper the market growth. Development of formulations for efficient techniques such as fertigation and drip irrigation that utilize minimal quantities of inorganic fertilizers are expected to act as prospective market opportunities for further growth.Ammonium Phosphates Market: Drivers and RestraintsVarious industrial application of ammonium phosphates including fire control and flame-retardant applications are increasing globally at significant growth rate. However, there is a constant debate over the harmful effects of over fertilization with inorganic fertilizers. The excessive fertilization due to pressure on farmers to enhance yield from the limited amount of land is affecting the farm soil adversely. It is causing ground water poisoning and ocean dead zones. The Gulf of Mexico ocean dead zone is a prominent example of the adverse effects of leaching of fertilizers into water bodies. Furthermore, over fertilization leaves the soil unsuitable for farming and devoid of other micronutrients. It becomes toxic for the other organisms that contribute in minute ways to add nutrition to the soil.Ammonium Phosphates Market: SegmentationThe market for ammonium phosphates can be segmented on the basis of product types into three key segments as, mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP), di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and ammonium polyphosphate. Mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP) and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) are completely used in fertilizers. Ammonium polyphosphate while being utilized mostly by fertilizer industry also goes into flame retardant formulations and food additives.Ammonium Phosphates Market: Region-wise OutlookIn terms of geography, Asia Pacific is the largest consumer as well as producer of ammonium phosphate. Major agricultural economies including China, India, Pakistan and other South East Asian countries are the major consumers of fertilizers including ammonium phosphates. In North America, the U.S. is the major market. Corn and Soybean are the major crops that use inorganic fertilizers in the region. Mexico is another major market for ammonium phosphate fertilizers. Latin America is an extensive consumer of inorganic fertilizers for its large corn crops where Brazil is the largest consumer in the region followed by Argentina. While Middle East & Africa and Europe is expected to register steady growth.Ammonium Phosphates Market: Key PlayersOn global level the market is dominated by few players due to consolidation and acquisitions over the long life cycle of the fertilizer market. However, owing to the huge potential of the market it is partly fragmented with large number of local small and medium sized players who offer low cost generic formulations to the farmers. Key players in ammonium phosphates market include PotashCorp, Yara International, Mosaic Co., ICL, Haifa Chemical and Coromandel among many others.Visit For Table of Contents:ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature.CONTACT:FUTURE MARKET INSIGHTS616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Nanoelectronics Material and Equipment Market Opportunities, Size, Share, Trends, Technological Advancements, Competitive Analysis, Growth and Demand by 2023 https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/nanoelectronics-material-and-equipment-market/report-sample https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/nanoelectronics-material-and-equipment-market www.psmarketresearch.com Evolving circuit miniaturization technologies and improvement in the higher volume manufacturing have boosted the nanoelectronics material and equipment market. The increased use of nanoelectronics devices in carbon nanotube backlights, field emission display, and transmission film are expected to increase the market penetration of the nanoelectronics material and equipment market, during the forecast period. The growing use of nanoelectronics material, along with equipment for extreme ultra-violet lithography, and nano imprint is expected to lay new market opportunities in the coming years.Request for a free sample copy of this research report @Based on the end users, the global nanoelectronics material and equipment market can be segmented, as displays, semiconductors, hard-disk storage, electromechanical systems, and optoelectronics and sensors. On the basis of product, the nanoelectronics material and equipment market can be segmented, as nanomaterial, and nanotools and equipment. Fusibility of nanoelectronics in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry has tremendously increased over the years. This is expected to play a critical role in disease diagnosis, and drug development market, during the forecast period. The semiconductor industry has been reported as the largest end user segment of the nanoelectronics material and equipment market. The segment is expected to retain its market dominance over the next five years, owing to the wide scale adoption of nanotechnology in hard disk drive, and display devices.North America accounted for the largest nanoelectronics material and equipment market. It was followed by Europe. The market dominance of the developed region is attributed to the high demand of nanoelectronics material and equipment from the pharmaceuticals industry. The intensive research and development activity for drug development in this region has increased market penetration of the nanoelectronics material and equipment market in the region. Asia-pacific is expected to show higher growth, during the forecast years. Country wise, the U.S., Canada, Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Japan, China, India, and Brazil are the major divisions of the nanoelectronics material and equipment market.Explore report description @Some of the competitors in the nanoelectronics material and equipment market are Buhler PARTEC GmbH, STMicroelectronics, Robert Bosch GmbH, Intel Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V, Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Siemens AG, Everspin Technologies Inc., and Infineon Technologies AG.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide market research reports, industry reports, business intelligence and research based consulting services across a range of industries.With the help of our professional corporate relations with various companies, our market research offers the most accurate market forecasting. Our analysts and consultants interact with leading companies of the concerned domain to substantiate every single data presented in our publication. Our research assists our client in identifying new and different windows of opportunity and frame informed and customized strategies for expansion in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb: Organic Hair Care Market Will Reflect Significant Growth Prospects during 2017-2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/14794 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/14794 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/14794 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Global Organic Hair Care Market: OverviewIn the current generation of fast pace living style, the prevailing consumer outlook towards adoption of organic products is evident. This one key aspect is taken in the account by most of the organic products manufacturers. Moreover, the organic word itself increasing the point of sale probability of the product. The organic hair care products are derived or produced using natural ingredients such as gandhak, neem, bhringraj aso called as Eclipta erecta, ritha etc. The properties of these ingredients nourishes the scalp with no side effects.The organic hair care products are available with variety of specifications specially produced for different type of hair such as dry scalp, normal and oily scalp. Among the organic hair care product type such as shampoos & conditioners, oils & serums and styling, former one hold majority of the share in the global organic hair care market owing to its widely usage. Further, anti-dandruff organic oils are expected to gain high pace over the forecast period. The global atmospheric and seasonal changes affects the hair growth to larger extent which is one of the major reason driving the consumption of organic hair care products.Request to Sample of Report @Global Organic Hair Care Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe organic hair care market is primarily driven by the increasing demand for natural ingredients based products since they are potentially healthy for hair. The transition from chemical to organic product use is robust owing to its post use benefits and refreshing properties. Moreover, the demand for sulphate free hair products is expected to boost the global organic hair care market. The growing personal care industry is also one of the factor responsible for growth of organic hair care market. Among the various trends in the hair care industry, use of botanical ingredients is one of the major trend adopted by most of the organic hair care product manufacturers.However, the organic based products are quite expensive compared to the chemical one owing to its high manufacturing process costs coupled with extraction costs of herbals or organic oils. These process costs is thus reflected on the finished organic hair care product. This reduction in the cost range is one such challenge for the organic hair care manufacturer.Global Organic Hair Care Market: Region wise OutlookThe global organic hair care market is divided into seven regions, namely North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan and Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America holds the major share in the global organic hair care market in terms of production of organic hair care products and presence of companies such as Bentley Labs (GB), Onesta Hair Car etc. The Organic hair care market in Western Europe is expected to expand at substantial growth rate. The organic hair care market in Latin America is robust owing to the growing personal care industry in the region. The APEJ organic hair care market is capitalizing on the opportunity of new product lines mostly for younger population. This is owing to the some of the current factors revolving in the market such as high spending on cosmetics, increasing brand loyalty, low price sensitive consumers.Request Report for Table of Contents @Global Organic Hair Care Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players identified in the global Organic hair care s market includes : Kao Corporation, Aveda Corporation, The Colgate-Palmolive Company, The Hain Celestial Group, Inc, Avalon Natural Products, Inc., Estee Lauder Companies Inc., Bentley Labs (GB), Onesta Hair Care, Bio Veda Action Research Pvt. Ltd., LAKME COSMETICS S.L. (Hindustan Unilever), Giovanni Cosmetics, Inc.Request to Report Methodology @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Modified PEEK 2018 Global Industry Key Players - Victrex , Solvay , Evonik , ZYPEEK , Kingfa Market Analysis And Forecast To 2025 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2720374-global-modified-peek-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2720374-global-modified-peek-market-research-report-2018 Global Modified PEEK MarketThis report studies the global Modified PEEK market status and forecast, categorizes the global Modified PEEK market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).Request a Sample Report @The major manufacturers covered in this reportVictrexSolvayEvonikZYPEEKKingfaJUSEP...Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanOther Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa)The regional scope of the study is as follows:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoGlass Fiber Reinforced PEEKCarbon Fiber Reinforced PEEKOthersOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingElectronicsEnergy / IndustrialTransportMedicalOthersThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Modified PEEK capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Modified PEEK manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Modified PEEK are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersModified PEEK ManufacturersModified PEEK Distributors/Traders/WholesalersModified PEEK Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsAvailable CustomizationsWith the given market data, Researcher offers customizations according to the company's specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:Regional and country-level analysis of the Modified PEEK market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.Table of Contents-Key Points CoveredGlobal Modified PEEK Market Research Report 20181 Modified PEEK Market Overview7 Global Modified PEEK Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Victrex7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Modified PEEK Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Victrex Modified PEEK Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Solvay7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Modified PEEK Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Solvay Modified PEEK Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Evonik7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Modified PEEK Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Evonik Modified PEEK Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business OverviewContinued..Complete Report Details @Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Still Images Market To Hold a High Potential for Growth by 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/14290 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/14290 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Global Still Images Market Introduction:Still image is any static image. Still image application programming interface (API) is a standardized interface that is utilized for obtaining computerized still images from devices including still image digital camera, handheld scanner, and flatbed scanner. Still images are predominantly used on social media sites, magazines, newspapers, and other media sources. Still images market reports a wide range of applications, particularly in the advertisement industry to make their content more impactful and leap forward the chaos in web-based advertising. Visual communications are effective as it enhances social media efforts, express ideas quickly, provide engaging user experience. Still images market register significant growth rate, owing to rising social media adoption and increasing use of visual content in the advertisements. North America still images market is expected to contribute for major revenue share, attributed to the upsurge in online marketing.Request for Report Sample:Global Still Images Market Dynamics:The growth of the global still images market is driven by easier integration of images on social media and increasing use of visual content in communications as a marketing strategy. Moreover, increasing advertisement industry and increasing popularity of social media also fueling the global still images market. The advantages of still images in marketing and brand determination are crucial, which is fueling the demand for global still images market across the industries. However, lack of legal regulations and appropriate licensing and declining in the rate of return per image are restraining the still images market across the globe. Major factor trending the global still images market include the adoption of visual content in advertising of a brand and evaluation of the business model. The company operates in the still images market can increase its share through collaboration with end-use industries.Request for Report TOC:Global Still Images Market Segmentation:The global still images market is segmented on the basis of license model type, and region. Based on license model type, the global still images market is further classified into rights-managed still images (RM) and royalty free still images (RF). Among which, rights-managed still images (RM) segment dominated the global still images market with more than 2/3rd of market share, owing to its popularity among industry professionals and its consideration in industry norms. The rights-managed still images (RM) segment also expected to register relatively high CAGR, attributed to an inclination toward rights-managed still images, due to the chances of duplication of images for advertisements by various vendors.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA,Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Bariatric Surgery Devices Market Segments, Opportunity, Growth and Forecast By End-use Industry 2015-2025 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-451 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-451 www.futuremarketinsights.com Market OverviewUndertaking a bariatric surgery has become relatively necessary for the majority of the global population, especially the obese and the overweight demographic. The fact that obesity is one of the most prevalent and endangering health disorders has increased the awareness about bariatric surgery and devices. The demand for bariatric surgery devices has registered a considerable surge by the virtue of growing preference for less-invasive bariatric surgeries. Additionally, the rising expenditure on weight loss procedures has promoted the sales of bariatric surgery devices at the individual level. Regional government initiatives are also influencing the growth of the global market for bariatric surgery devices.Demand for Bariatric Surgery Devices: Drivers & RestraintsThe high occurrence of obesity cases is regarded as the primary driver of the global bariatric surgery devices market. The growing awareness among the obsess population is expected to fuel the demand for bariatric surgery devices. Apart from that, the other factors driving the growth of the bariatric surgery devices market include,Availability of surgeons specialised in bariatric surgical techniquesSince bariatric surgeries are gaining demand, the existing as well as the new medical surgeons are developing and qualifying their surgical skills accordingly. As a result, the demand for bariatric surgery devices is experience a positive impact.Prevention of weight-related risksIncidence of diabetes, hypertension, gastric reflux disorders and blood pressure complications are at a higher risks among obese patients. As the surgeries intend on preventing occurrence of such diseases, the demand for bariatric surgery devices has surged extensively.Request to Sample Report -Less-incisive methodsBariatric surgeries such as the sleeve gastrectomy require lower incision, which helps the patients adopt the surgeries without apprehension. This results more consumption of bariatric surgery devices by hospitals and weight-loss clinics.However, the implications arriving post-surgery are posing to be the major challenge in the global market for bariatric surgery devices. Since the surgical procedures are operated on the stomach and the intestines of the patient, there is a high risk of acquiring infections. Gastrointestinal ulcers, internal bleeding, small bowel obstruction, gastric band slippage, and hernias are some of the common implications that lower the use of bariatric surgery devices.Market Segmentation & Regional OutlookThe global market for bariatric surgery devices can be segmented on the basis the type of bariatric surgery and the device used.Based on the different kinds of bariatric surgery procedures, the market is classified into,Gastric Bypass SurgerySleeve Gastrectomy SurgeryGastric Banding SurgeryOthersBy device-type, the global market is further segmented into,Stapling DevicesGastric BandsGastric BalloonsBased on the regional segmentation, North America is expected to lead the global bariatric surgery devices market on the account of the high obesity levels in the US and Canada. Subsequently, the higher risks of diabetes and blood pressure disorders are equally inciting the demand for bariatric surgery devices. Asia Pacific & Japan are anticipated to expand at a remarkable CAGR, owing to the rising expenditure on weight-loss treatments in APEJ countries.Request Report TOC @Key PlayersJohnson & Johnson, Covidien Plc, Cousin Biotech, and Pare Surgical, Inc., among others are the some of the key companies in the global bariatric surgery devices market. Pharmaceutical and medical devices leaders such as Medtronic has launched flagship devices for sleeve gastrectomy, indicating the positive expansion of the global market. The government funding is also playing a major role in providing manufacturers with the capital required to produce enhanced devices for bariatric surgeries.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite : IP Telephony Market to reach by growing at 9 % CAGR during the forecast period 2018-2023 by Trending Key players: Ascom Holding, Avaya, Cisco, Gigaset, LG, Mitel https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5695 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/IP-telephony-market-5695 Market Highlights:IP telephony market is not just growing, it is accelerating. IP telephony is slowly becoming an integral part of day to day operations in modern day organizations. IP telephony provides better connectivity and mobility, along with significant cost savings on phone calls. IP phone systems transmit data over internet and can help the users to communicate from practically anywhere in presence of internet connectivity. Moreover, ease of installation and configuration are other factors driving the growth of IP telephony market. IP phones are not restricted by physical phone connections and are increasingly being deployed in small as well as large enterprises.Major factors driving the growth of IP Telephony Market are the growth of e-commerce industry and growing dependence of enterprises on web-based solutions and services. In addition, growing demand for mobile IP telephony solutions is expected to drive the growth of global IP telephony market. Ascom Holding AG, Avaya Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Gigaset Communications, LG Electronics Inc., Mitel Networks Corporation, and Panasonic Corporation are few major players in the global IP telephony market. Increasing adoption of IP telephony solutions in IT and telecommunication industry vertical is fuelling the market growth. This is owing to the increase in demand for efficient call management and reduced call costs.Get Sample Report @The organization size segment comprises of SMEs and large enterprises. However, large enterprises sub-segment is expected to hold the largest market share of the global IP telephony market. This is owing to considerable shift of companies towards adoption of voice over IP applications to reduce the costs of operations. Furthermore, the SMEs sub-segment is expected to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. IP telephony provides better scalability and cost benefits over traditional calling features.The North America region holds the largest share of the global market, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific region. The U.S. and Canada are dominating the North America market due to rising technological enhancements and growing adoption of IP telephony solutions in the region. Moreover, the North America region has a well-established infrastructure, which allows faster implementation of advanced technologies. Additionally, the growing adoption of IP telephony solutions across different industry verticals such as BFSI, healthcare, and retail, among others is another major factor driving the growth of the IP telephony market in the region.The Global IP Telephony Market Is Expected To Grow At A CAGR Of Approximately 9% During The Forecast Period Of 2018-2023.Key Players: Ascom Holding AG (Switzerland), Avaya Inc. (U.S.), Cisco Systems, Inc. (U.S.), Gigaset Communications (Germany), LG Electronics Inc. (South Korea), Mitel Networks Corporation (Canada), Panasonic Corporation (Japan), Polycom Inc. (U.S.), Yealink Inc. (China), NEC Corporation (Japan), Grandstream Networks, Inc. (U.S.).Segments:The global IP telephony market is segmented by component, organization size, connectivity, and vertical. Based on the component, the market is segmented into hardware, softphones, and services. The hardware segment is further classified into IP desktop phones, audio conference phones, and DECT phones. The services segment is further classified into managed services and professional services. Based on the organization size, the market is segmented into SMEs and large enterprises. Based on vertical, the market is segmented into BFSI, healthcare, manufacturing, IT & telecommunication, retail, government, and others.Regional Analysis:The global IP telephony market is studied in Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World. North America is estimated to account for the largest share of the market, whereas Asia Pacific is projected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. The growth of the market in North America is attributed to technological advancements and increased adoption of IP telephony applications across various industry verticals, such as BFSI, healthcare, retail, and IT & telecommunication among others.Access Report Details @Intended Audience: Technology Investors Research/Consultancy Firms Government Bodies Consulting Service Providers Technology Providers System Integrators Service Providers Cloud Platform Providers Mobile Application Developers Communication Service Providers (CSPs)Table of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Scope of the Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets StructureContinued...List of TablesTable 1 Global IP Telephony Market: By Region, 2017-2023Table 2 North America IP Telephony Market: By Country, 2017-2023Table 3 Europe IP Telephony Market: By Country, 2017-2023Continued...List of FiguresFigure 1 Global IP Telephony Market SegmentationFigure 2 Forecast MethodologyFigure 3 Five Forces Analysis of Global IP Telephony MarketContinued...About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +91 841 198 5042Mail: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Automotive Sensors Market 2018 Global Leaders: TRW Automotive, Avago Technologies, Bosch Sensortech GmBH, Delphi Automotive LLP, Denso, Infineon Technologies, Micronas Semiconductor, GE Measurement & Control Solutions https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/959 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/automotive-sensors-market-959 Market Research Future published a research report on Global Automotive Sensors Market Research Report - Forecast 2011 To 2021 Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2021.Automotive Sensors Market Global Market - OverviewA sensor is a mechanical device which detects and responds to various types of inputs from the physical environment. In automotive there are several crucial areas where sensors play very vital role. Various types of automotive sensors such as pressure, temperature, motion, and position sensors are deployed at various stages in any vehicle are responds at different stages when they detect any inputs. Today sensors have become very important component of any industry due to the wide range of benefits and services it offers. Sensors are making the products more safe and secure and also provides full operational details. In automotive sensors are deployed at various areas such as chassis, power train, and body system which helps the user to gain access to the operational efficiency and the respective areas making the vehicle more safe and secure for the driver. Also, emerging concepts of platooning and autonomous driving is also driving the market of automotive sensors.Autonomous vehicles are highly integrated with sensors and other technologies such as Lidar and Radars. Technological advancement and heavy investment in the industry by the key players and increasing number of start-ups in the field is also creating huge demand for the automotive sensors.Get Sample of Report @Industry NewsApril 13, 2018 Lidar which is one of the newest entrants in this market has ensured the market of the fact that it can mass produce a large number of automotive sensors at an effective price. This development is supposed to work in the favor of the market as the price is a major concern for the market as of right now.Key PlayersThe key players profiled and analyzed in this market research report are Analog Devices Inc., Avago Technologies, Bosch Sensortech GmBH, Bourns Inc., Delphi Automotive LLP, Denso Corporation, GE Measurement & Control Solutions, Infineon Technologies, Micronas Semiconductor Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Sensata Technologies, TRW Automotive Inc., and Vishay Intertechnology.In-depth Segmental AnalysisThe worldwide market for automotive sensors has been segmented into three equal divisions. All of these have particular sub-segments and they have been enlisted below: Vehicle types Heavy vehicle, low end, medium end, electrical vehicles, passenger car and high end vehicles. Passenger cars amount for the maximum number of shares with approximately 76%. Augmentation of infrastructure in countries across the globe, rise in the purchasing power of consumers and need for secure vehicles help this division in domination. Sensor Types Temperature sensors, NOx sensors, pressure sensors, image sensors, position sensors, O2 sensors, inertial sensors and speed sensors. Position sensors account for the largest market share in regards to this segment. The increased production of cars can be held responsible for the growth of this market. By technology Nano-Electro-Mechanical-Systems and Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems.Comprehensive Regional AnalysisThe automotive sensors market has a made a reputation for it across the globe over the years. The major regions where its presence can be predominantly felt are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World.The research report by Market Research Future states that Asia Pacific governs the market region-wise. It is because of the presence of countries like Japan, China and India. Population explosion, rise in annual income of the consumers, and infrastructure development tend to boost the expansion of the market in these regions.Europe comes second in line after APAC, the development in this area is majorly driven by the higher demand for proficient and safe vehicles. It is anticipated that the European market will tread forward at an impressive CAGR during the projection period.Get Complete Report @Intended Audience Automotive sensors companies Automotive sensors providers Technical universities System integrators Managed Security Service Providers Professional service providers Research and development companies Market research and consulting firms Solution providers Technology standards organizations Technology investors System IntegratorsAbout Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Tomato Paste Market to Register a Healthy CAGR for the Forecast Period, 2017-2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=29756 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/tomato-paste-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Tomato is one of the major vegetable crop grown worldwide. Tomato paste is a concentrated long shelf life product used as an important food ingredient worldwide. As per Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2011, the global tomato production was approximately 130 million tons with China and Europe as leading tomato producing regions currently. Other major tomato producers across the globe are India, U.S. and Turkey. Tomato paste is prepared by removing skin, pulp of tomatoes to create tomato juice which is then concentrated generally by evaporation method in order to obtain a thick paste. Tomato paste market is expected to witness significant market growth during the forecast period owing to its widespread application in food industry.Request to view Sample Report:Increasing demand for organic tomato paste is expected to uplift the global market revenues of tomatoes globally in the coming years. The global tomato paste market is segmented into, product type, packaging type, area of application, sales channels and by region. By product type, the global tomato paste market is segmented on the basis of dry matter content into, single concentrate, double concentrate and triple concentrate. Double concentrate is the most common type of tomato paste currently available in the market. By packaging type the global tomato paste market is segmented into, cans, carton packaging, bottles and pouches. Cans are the preferred mode of packaging for tomato paste due to its convenient packing and to increase the shelf life of the tomato paste based products. By application the global tomato paste market is segmented into, industrial, household and commercial applications. In industrial application the tomato paste is widely used in making sauces, and in finished products such as, pizzas, soups jams and others. By sales channels the global tomato paste market is segmented into, hypermarkets/supermarkets, convenience stores, E-commerce and pother retail formats.Growing demand for convenience food products, shift towards organic and clean label products and growing consumption of tomato paste is expected to fuel the market revenue growth of tomato Paste market over the forecast period. Furthermore, growing demand for fresh tomatoes has contributed towards its escalating production across the globe. For example, in the U.S., California is the leading producer of tomato paste with fresh tomatoes production taking place across all the states in the region. Domestic tomato producers have recognized limited market opportunity in the global tomato business hence, a number of new greenhouse/hydroponic operations have come online in several States over the past few years which will further accelerate the tomato paste market growth in terms of value and value both.Read Report Overview @Some of the key players offering Tomato Paste include; Conagra Brands, Del Monte Foods, Inc., Olam Spices & Vegetables Inc., Los Gatos Tomatos, Cento Fine Foods, Muir Glen Organic, Vigo Importing Co., PANOS brands, Bionaturae, LLC and others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: World Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Market 2018 - Novartis, TESARO, Amgen World Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Market https://bit.ly/2ljenR3 https://bit.ly/2M7WAb3 www.apexmarketreports.com Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Market across the World, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Market from view of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries. The research report analyses and provides the historical data along with current performance of the World PP Pipe industry, and estimates the future trend of Cancer Supportive Care Medicine on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares Cancer Supportive Care Medicine performance both in terms of volume and revenue.The market research report explores the Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Market. The research report studies the entire value chain from raw material to end user industries. The report also shares import/export statistics along with production and consumption for all major regions and countries. Moreover, the research study classifies the Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Cancer Supportive Care Medicine. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportAmgenHelsinn HealthcareJohnson &JohnsonMerckF. Hoffmann-La RocheGlaxoSmithKlineHeron TherapeuticsKyowa Hakko KirinNovartisTESAROTeva Pharmaceutical IndustriesThe competitive landscape of the World market for Cancer Supportive Care Medicine is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Markets production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Market Worldly.Inquire Before Buying @The World Cancer Supportive Care Medicine Market 2018 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Cancer Supportive Care Medicine production volume, data pertaining to demand and Cancer Supportive Care Medicine supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Cancer Supportive Care Medicine along with detailed manufacturing sources. The report also shares list of major raw material manufacturers along with their manufacturing locations. Detailed raw material price trend analysis along with manufacturing cost analysis is also incorporated into the report. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, SWOT analysis and market attractiveness analysis has been implemented in the research study to present a comprehensive, detailed study of the industry for Cancer Supportive Care Medicine across the world.About UsApex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite - Market Research on Shisha tobacco Market 2017 and Analysis to 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=29786 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/shisha-tobacco-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Shisha also known as water pipe tobacco, argileh, maassel, hookah, or narghile in different region globally is a consumed for its relaxing and energizing effect. The shisha tobacco is molasses syrupy form of tobacco consumed through a water pipe or hookah and comes in different flavors. The shisha tobacco is consumed traditionally in Middle-East and southern region of Asia-Pacific. The shisha tobacco market is gaining popularity in North America and Europe region due to increased themed based cafe culture. The shisha tobacco market is expected to get driven over the forecast period resulted by the fact that it comes in different flavors which attract a large part of the youth population towards it.Request to view Sample Report:Europe is expected to dominate the global shisha tobacco market over the forecast period followed by North America. Strong demand is anticipated from Middle-East and Africa region and Asia-Pacific region due to the presence of a traditional market for shisha tobacco. Latin America shisha tobacco market is also expected to grow significantly over the forecast period due to penetration of cafe culture in the region.The shisha tobacco market is expected to drive by the advent of theme cafes targeting young population. Also on a recent survey done by FDA shows 78% of the shisha tobacco user prefers it because of the attractive flavor offering which is absent in other tobacco related products. Internet of things has also increased use of shisha tobacco in the household.Read Report Overview @The shisha tobacco market is expected to get restraint by the strict regulation produced by the regulatory authority in different regions due to the presence of carcinogens in the products over the forecast period.The global player for the Shisha Tobacco market are Fumari Hookah, Haze Tobacco, LLC., Tangiers Tobacco Ltd., Al Fakher Tobacco Trading, Starbuzz Tobacco Inc., Nakhla Tobacco, Social Smoke GmbH, Alchemist Tobacco Co., Afzal Shisha (Soex India Pvt. Ltd), and Argelini Corp.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Cold Brew Coffee Market 2023 by Key Product - Arabica, Robusta, Others ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011922938/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00011922938/discount http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00011922938/buy/3500 This report provides a detailed analysis of the market, including its dynamics, structure, characteristics, main players, growth and demand drivers, etc. As a Detailed Analysis report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinion in Cold Brew Coffee industry.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringNestleTing Hsin International GroupThe Coca-Cola CompanyUCC Ueshima CoffeeStarbucks CorporationillycaffeLuigi LavazzaCoffee Roasting Company SchreyoggDunkin' DonutLa ColombeLucky JackBlack & BoldCalifia FarmsRequest a Sample on Cold Brew Coffee Market atThe study objectives of this report are:To study and forecast the market size of Cold Brew Coffee in global market.To analyze the global key players, SWOT analysis, value and global market share for top players.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, end use and region.To analyze and compare the market status and forecast between China and major regions, namely, United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Rest of World.To analyze the global key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoArabicaRobustaOthersBy Application, the market can be split intoHypermarkets/SupermarketsIndependent Coffee ShopsSpecialty Coffee ShopsRetail StoresOnline RetailOthersBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaCheck Discount on Cold Brew Coffee Market atTable of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Cold Brew Coffee2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Cold Brew Coffee3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Cold Brew Coffee4 Global Cold Brew Coffee Overall Market Overview5 Cold Brew Coffee Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2013-2018E Cold Brew Coffee Segment Market Analysis-by Type7 Global 2013-2018E Cold Brew Coffee Segment Market Analysis-by Application8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Cold Brew Coffee8.1 Nestle8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Nestle 2017 Cold Brew Coffee Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Nestle 2017 Cold Brew Coffee Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Ting Hsin International Group8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Ting Hsin International Group 2017 Cold Brew Coffee Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Ting Hsin International Group 2017 Cold Brew Coffee Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 The Coca-Cola Company8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 The Coca-Cola Company 2017 Cold Brew Coffee Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 The Coca-Cola Company 2017 Cold Brew Coffee Business Region Distribution Analysis9 Development Trend of Analysis of Cold Brew Coffee Market10 Cold Brew Coffee Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Cold Brew Coffee12 Conclusion of the Global Cold Brew Coffee Market Professional Survey Report 2018Purchase Complete Report atContact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Global Medical Headlamp Market 2018 - BFW, Coolview, Cuda Surgical, Alltion Global Medical Headlamp Market https://bit.ly/2tlwVnu https://bit.ly/2I55uDy www.apexmarketreports.com Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the Medical Headlamp Market across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of Medical Headlamp Market from view of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries. The research report analyses and provides the historical data along with current performance of the global PP Pipe industry, and estimates the future trend of Medical Headlamp on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares Medical Headlamp performance both in terms of volume and revenue.The market research report explores the Medical Headlamp Market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of Medical Headlamp Market. The research report studies the entire value chain from raw material to end user industries. The report also shares import/export statistics along with production and consumption for all major regions and countries. Moreover, the research study classifies the Medical Headlamp Market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Medical Headlamp. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Medical Headlamp Market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportAdmetec Solutions LtdAlltionATMOS MedizinTechnikBFWCoolviewCuda SurgicalDenMat HoldingsDRE MedicalEnova IlluminationFaromed MedizintechnikHogiesLuxtelThe competitive landscape of the global market for Medical Headlamp is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Medical Headlamp Markets production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Medical Headlamp Market globally.Inquire Before Buying @The Global Medical Headlamp Market 2018 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Medical Headlamp production volume, data pertaining to demand and Medical Headlamp supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Medical Headlamp along with detailed manufacturing sources. The report also shares list of major raw material manufacturers along with their manufacturing locations. Detailed raw material price trend analysis along with manufacturing cost analysis is also incorporated into the report. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, SWOT analysis and market attractiveness analysis has been implemented in the research study to present a comprehensive, detailed study of the industry for Medical Headlamp across the world.About UsApex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite - LED Lights Market - Imasen Electric, Texas Instruments, Nichia, GE, Cree, Cooper ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00012090132/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/global-led-lights-market-research-report-2018-2025 http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00012090132/buy/2900 LED light bulb is a type of solid state lighting device that fits in the standard screw-in connections but uses light emitting diodes to produce light. LED bulbs use a semiconductor device that emits visible light when an electric current is passed through it. This property is known as electroluminescence.Request a Sample atThe lamps product type segment is expected to reach a value of nearly US$ 22,640 Mn in the year 2025.The global LED Lights market is valued at xx million US$ in 2017 and will reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportOSRAMHELLAKoitoStanleyPhilipsValeoImasen ElectricTexas InstrumentsNichiaGECreeCooperEPISTARMagneti MarelliHyundai MobisGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoLampsLuminariesOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales) , market share and growth rate for each application, includingResidentialOfficeIndustrialShopHospitalityOutdoorOthersComplete report on LED Lights Market is now available atKey Point from Table of Contents:1 LED Lights Market Overview2 Global LED Lights Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global LED Lights Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global LED Lights Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global LED Lights Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global LED Lights Market Analysis by Application7 Global LED Lights Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 LED Lights Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global LED Lights Market Forecast (2018-2025)13 Research Findings and ConclusionOrder a copy of Global LED Lights Market atReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Bluetooth 4.0 Market Will Reflect Significant Growth Prospects during 2016-2026 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12853 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/12853 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Bluetooth 4.0 and 4+ series are the latest technologies that are specialized in low power consumption and fast and strong connectivity. Bluetooth 4.0s updated version i.e. Wireless electronic accessories and appcessories are the recent trend in the global consumer electronic market. Bluetooth 4 series provides a user-friendly platform where consumers can experience a strong wireless accessibility. The recent product trend in the global Bluetooth market includes Bluetooth Speakers enabled with Bluetooth 4+ series. Many of the key players including companies like JBL Incorporated and Sony Corporation have recently launched innovative products in the Bluetooth speaker market. World Bluetooth enabled devices market was valued around US$ 2.2 bn and US$ 3.5 bn in the year 2012 and 2015 respectively and it is estimated to grow around US$ 4.0bn by the end of 2016.Bluetooth 4.0 Market Segmentation:On the basis of type of device, Bluetooth 4.0 market is segmented into Bluetooth smart devices, and Bluetooth smart ready devices. Both the markets are anticipated to grow at a significant rate owing to have technological advancement.Request Sample Report @On the basis of application Bluetooth 4.0 market is segmented into Automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare, building & retail, Wearable Electronics. Consumer electronics segment is sub-segmented into smart phone, headset, speaker, headphone, tablet, laptop and smart TV. Building and retail segment is sub segmented into smart locks, smart homes, and beacons. Wearable electronics segment is sub segmented into consumer wearable devices includes smart glasses, smart watches, wearable cameras, 3D motion tracker, and activity trackers, and medical wearable devices includes holter monitors, wearable injectors, heart rate monitors, sleep apnea monitors, multiparameter monitors, continuous glucose monitors. Automotive segment includes speakers, adopters and receivers. In the Healthcare segment Bluetooth 4+ technology is used in blood pressure monitors, blood sugar monitors, and cholesterol monitors.Geographically, Bluetooth 4.0 market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia pacific excluding japan, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Japan. North America, Western Europe and Japan are the matured market in terms of revenue generation, while Latin America and Asia Pacific excluding Japan are the fastest growing market. Geographically North African countries, GCC countries and developing countries in Asia Pacific are the opportunity for the global Bluetooth 4.0 market to increase the revenue.Bluetooth 4.0 market Dynamics:Bluetooth 4.0 market is driven by growing number of smartphones and Bluetooth enabled accessories around the world. Since, Bluetooth 4 series requires low power with technological advancement, it gain the popularity among the consumers worldwide. Global Bluetooth smartphones sale is anticipated to grow by around 30 percent during the next five to six forecast years. Moreover increasing application in consumer electronics, healthcare and automobile are surging the growth of global Bluetooth 4.0 market. However, Bluetooth 4.0 still has low data streaming capacity which is a growth restraining factor in the global Bluetooth 4.0 market. Also, virtual wifi is a great competitor that can handle huge data with a strong connectivity, this is another factor that is playing as a demand growth restrain.Request to View TOC @Bluetooth 4.0 market Key Players:Some of the key players in the global Bluetooth 4.0 market are Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, Silicon Laboratories, Broadcom Corporation, Dialog Semiconductor PLC, CSR plc, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Dialog Semiconductor PLC, MediaTek Inc., Texas Instruments Inc.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Retailing Market In Austria Market Trends, Segmentation, Analysis Forecast Report | Euromonitor International - 2022 Retailing In Austria, Retailing Market In Austria, Retailing Market Growth In Austria, Presses Release In Austria, Retailing Manu https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/946415-retailing-in-austria https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/946415-retailing-in-austria http://www.wiseguyreports.com Description :Improving consumer sentiment due to increasing economic growth, decreasing unemployment and likely also some minor positive effects from a tax reform in 2016 has led to good growth in retailing in Austria in 2017. The country remained characterised by very high density of retail space while the number of outlets decreased significantly but overall selling space fell only marginally. At the same time, new openings of shopping centres or retail parks have become relatively rare.Euromonitor Internationals Retailing in Austria report offers insight into key trends and developments driving the industry. The report examines all retail channels to provide sector insight. Channels include hypermarkets, supermarkets, discounters, convenience stores, mixed retailers, health and beauty retailers, clothing and footwear retailers, furniture and furnishing stores, DIY and hardware stores, durable goods retailers, leisure and personal goods retailers. There are profiles of leading retailers, with analysis of their performance and the challenges they face. There is also analysis of non-store retailing: vending; homeshopping; internet retailing; direct selling, as available.Request For sample Report @Product coverage: Non-Store Retailing, Store-based Retailing.Data coverage: market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares, brand shares and distribution data.Why buy this report?* Get a detailed picture of the Retailing market;* Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change;* Understand the competitive environment, the markets major players and leading brands;* Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop.Euromonitor International has over 40 years experience of publishing market research reports, business reference books and online information systems. With offices in London, Chicago, Singapore, Shanghai, Vilnius, Dubai, Cape Town, Santiago, Sydney, Tokyo and Bangalore and a network of over 800 analysts worldwide, Euromonitor International has a unique capability to develop reliable information resources to help drive informed strategic planning.Complete Report Details @Table Of ContentRetailing Registers Best Performance for A Long TimeStore-based Retailing Still Under PressureAll Eyes on Food and Drink Internet RetailingHigh Level of Concentration in Grocery Retailing Shapes Competitive LandscapeForecast Remains PrudentOperating EnvironmentInformal RetailingOpening HoursSummary 1 Standard Opening Hours by Channel Type 2017Physical Retail LandscapeCash and CarryTable 1 Cash and Carry Value Sales 2012-2017SeasonalityPayments and DeliveryEmerging Business ModelsMarket DataTable 2 Sales in Retailing by Store-based vs Non-Store: Value 2012-2017Table 3 Sales in Retailing by Store-based vs Non-Store: % Value Growth 2012-2017Table 4 Sales in Store-based Retailing by Channel: Value 2012-2017Table 5 Sales in Store-based Retailing by Channel: % Value Growth 2012-2017Table 6 Store-based Retailing Outlets by Channel: Units 2012-2017Table 7 Store-based Retailing Outlets by Channel: % Unit Growth 2012-2017Table 8 Sales in Non-Store Retailing by Channel: Value 2012-2017Table 9 Sales in Non-Store Retailing by Channel: % Value Growth 2012-2017Table 10 Grocery Retailers: Value Sales, Outlets and Selling Space 2012-2017Table 11 Grocery Retailers: Value Sales, Outlets and Selling Space: % Growth 2012-2017Table 12 Sales in Grocery Retailers by Channel: Value 2012-2017Table 13 Sales in Grocery Retailers by Channel: % Value Growth 2012-2017Table 14 Grocery Retailers Outlets by Channel: Units 2012-2017Table 15 Grocery Retailers Outlets by Channel: % Unit Growth 2012-2017Table 16 Non-Grocery Specialists: Value Sales, Outlets and Selling Space 2012-2017Table 17 Non-Grocery Specialists: Value Sales, Outlets and Selling Space: % Growth 2012-2017Table 18 Sales in Non-Grocery Specialists by Channel: Value 2012-2017Table 19 Sales in Non-Grocery Specialists by Channel: % Value Growth 2012-2017Table 20 Non-Grocery Specialists Outlets by Channel: Units 2012-2017Table 21 Non-Grocery Specialists Outlets by Channel: % Unit Growth 2012-2017Table 22 Mixed Retailers: Value Sales, Outlets and Selling Space 2012-2017Table 23 Mixed Retailers: Value Sales, Outlets and Selling Space: % Growth 2012-2017Table 24 Sales in Mixed Retailers by Channel: Value 2012-2017Table 25 Sales in Mixed Retailers by Channel: % Value Growth 2012-2017Table 26 Mixed Retailers Outlets by Channel: Units 2012-2017Table 27 Mixed Retailers Outlets by Channel: % Unit Growth 2012-2017Table 28 Retailing GBO Company Shares: % Value 2013-2017Table 29 Retailing GBN Brand Shares: % Value 2014-2017Table 30 Store-based Retailing GBO Company Shares: % Value 2013-2017Table 31 Store-based Retailing GBN Brand Shares: % Value 2014-2017Table 32 Store-based Retailing LBN Brand Shares: Outlets 2014-2017Table 33 Non-Store Retailing GBO Company Shares: % Value 2013-2017Table 34 Non-Store Retailing GBN Brand Shares: % Value 2014-2017Table 35 Grocery Retailers GBO Company Shares: % Value 2013-2017Continued.CONTACT US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. Human Identification Market to 2025 - QIAGEN, Flinn, IntegenX, Roche, LGC, New England Biolabs, Promega ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00012089859/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/global-human-identification-market-research-report-2018-2025 http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00012089859/buy/2900 Human identification falls under forensic science, which helps in identifying persons by using traces left out during accidents, or a crime scene. Human identification basically focuses on detection of ridges present on fingers of the suspect. Various other samples are also included for human identification, such as blood, skin, and DNA.Request a Sample atOn the basis of technique, polymerase chain reaction will continue to be sought after for human identification.The major manufacturers covered in this reportThermo FischerGEMerckBio-RadQIAGENFlinnIntegenXRocheLGCNew England BiolabsPromegaGeographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoCapillary ElectrophoresisPolymerase Chain ReactionNext Generation SequencingRapid DNA AnalysisOthersOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales) , market share and growth rate for each application, includingForensic LaboratoriesHospitalsContract Research OrganizationsResearch InstitutesOthersComplete report on Human Identification Market is now available atKey Point from Table of Contents:1 Human Identification Market Overview2 Global Human Identification Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Human Identification Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Human Identification Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Human Identification Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Human Identification Market Analysis by Application7 Global Human Identification Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Human Identification Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Human Identification Market Forecast (2018-2025)13 Research Findings and ConclusionOrder a copy of Global Human Identification Market atReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Cloud Access Security Broker Market to Witness Robust Expansion throughout the Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13090 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13090 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com The cloud access security broker market is growing significantly due to the rising adoption of cloud based applications. There has been rise in the usage of cloud based applications in various businesses as these are less costly and can be accessed on real time basis. Cloud access security broker solutions are used to provide data security, compliance management, network management, and other monitoring and controlling solutions to cloud based applications. These solutions are also used for data leakage prevention and cloud data encryption.The cloud access security brokers are the solutions that are cloud based and on-premises based solutions used to combine and implement enterprise security policies such as single sign-on service, authentication, credential mapping, encryption, tokenization, malware detection, device profiling and others.Enterprises at all level, are adopting cloud computing technology for certain benefits such as cost cutting, but security is a big challenge that faced by these enterprises while implementing cloud based business applications. Large enterprises are continuously adopting cloud access security broker platform and this trend will increase in next five years with the adoption by small and medium enterprises.Request Sample Report @Software Defined Security Market: Drivers and ChallengesThe major factor driving the adoption of cloud access security brokers is the rising concern among enterprises for the security of cloud based applications. Many organizations are moving towards the adoption of cloud technology, due to which they are in a need of strong network security, data security and threat management solutions that can be easily managed, identify threat, customized and provides security without control of any physically-oriented elements such as hardware. Other driving factor for cloud access security brokers is increasing demand for real-time security.The key challenge in the cloud access security broker market is the limited awareness of CASB solutions for cloud based environment. This approach is still in its introductory phase due to which many organizations do not know about its benefits and usage. There are limited number of companies that are using cloud access security broker solution for threat management, compliance management and for visibility of data. Moreover, there are very less number of vendors providing cloud access security brokering solutions due to which it is not cost-effective.Cloud Access Security Brokers Market: SegmentationSegmentation on the basis of Service model:Infrastructure as a servicePlatform as a serviceSoftware as a serviceSegmentation on the basis of applications:Threat DetectionCompliance ManagementData ProtectionData encryptionControl and monitoring servicesData loss preventionKey Contracts:In September 2016, Oracle acquired Palerra, a cloud access security broker. This acquisition will help Oracle to expand its identity cloud services with Palerra to provide cloud security automation platform to the clients.In June 2016, VMWare has partnered with five cloud access security brokers named as Blue Coat Systems, CloudLock, Netskope, Palo Alto, and SkyHigh networks. The integration of these five companies will help VMWare to provide collaborative solution for mobile, cloud security and secure digital workspaces from cloud.Request to View TOC @In February 2016, Sookasa, cloud access security broker has entered into the partnership with Microsoft Office 365. This partnership will allow enterprises to identify security risk and help those enforcing data loss prevention policies on Office 365 platform, Microsoft OneDrive and Outlook.In Cloud access security broker market there are many vendors some of them are Palo Alto networks, Oracle, SKyhigh networks, Blue Coat systems, Cloud Lock, Netskope, CipherCloud and othersABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: IoT in Supply Chain Management Market Size, Share - Industry Trend and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1443085 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1443085/iot-in-supply-chain-management-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1443085 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ The report analyzes and presents an overview of "IoT in Supply Chain Management Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" worldwide.The objectives of this study are as follows:To define, describe, and forecast the "IoT in Supply Chain Management" market by type, application, component, delivery model, end user, and regionTo provide detailed information regarding major factors influencing market growth (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges)To analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the overall marketTo analyze opportunities in the market for stakeholders and provide details of the competitive landscape for market leadersTo forecast the market size of market segments with respect to the four key regions: North America, Europe, Asia, and the Rest of the World (RoW)To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their product portfolios, market positions, and core competenciesGet Sample Copy of this report @Supply chain management (SCM) is a foundational business process that impacts almost every enterprise. For a manufacturer, it means moving parts into factory for production and finished products to the point of sale. This usually involves a third party logistics (3PL) companies. Their role is to manage ways through which resources are outsourced wherever required. This can sometimes insert inefficiency and lack of visibility to process, which is removed by the development of Internet of Things (IoT) that continuously changes the way supply chains are managed. IoT is a way through which massive amount of data is coupled with new communication options. This collaboration of sensors, communication devices, servers, analytics engines, and decision-making aids connects the physical and information worlds more closely.Sensors are used since a long time to monitor the process which starts from manufacturing of products and ends with the delivery to their point of sale. But using those sensors to intelligently connect people, data, things and process, is where IoT comes into application. With the IoT, sensors embedded equipments can communicate data about various parameters such as temperature and utilization, which can be used to process workflow and can result in optimizing supply chain performance. This is a leading trend of IoT in supply chain management market.IoT opens up various use cases for supply chain management that includes asset tracking and fleet management. Asset tracking can be based on RFID tags which provides real time data about the whereabouts of product in warehouse. Impact of IoT in fleet management is based on factors such as weather and traffic congestion increases availability and efficiency of the asset.Management of supply chains through IoT, facilitates design of more optimized supply chain which provides solutions such as demand planning, risk diagnosis and logistics assessment. Collaboration of sensors with intelligence, allows proactive warning of risk in supply chain. Emergence of sensors and increasing requirement of managing supply chains are the factors driving the growth of IoT supply chain management market. Declining prices of IoT sensors is also expected to trigger market growth. Manufacturers are focusing more on close connectivity in their supply chain network, is responsible for driving IoT in supply chain management market. Smartphones are increasingly used by supply chain managers to access information. Their reduced prices and increased functionalities has surged adoption of IoT in supply chain management.View Full Report @Installation of IoT devices, requirement of skilled personnel for installation and maintenance are some key restraint hindering the growth of the market. Security is another factor that is expected to restrain market growth over the forecast years.The global market for IoT in supply chain management is segmented on the basis of product, mode of transport and end use vertical. The product segment can be further classified as hardware, software and solution. Hardware segment is further categorized into sensors, cameras, screen/display, networking hardware (antennas, routers, hub, RFID, NFC), positioning hardware and others. Software segment is further categorized into fleet management and tracking. However, on the basis of end use vertical, market can be segmented into food &beverage, healthcare & life sciences, manufacturing, retail & wholesale, transportation& logistics and others. Based on solution, it can be segmented into transportation management, Inventory &warehouse management support service, demand planning & forecasting solution and others. Further, mode of transport for supply chain management can be segmented into roadways, airways, railways and marine.North America is expected to dominate the market for IoT in supply chain management during the forecast period. The increasing adoption of smart connected devices and the technological advancements support the growth of IoT in supply chain management market.Some of the key vendor in the IoT in supply chain management market includes. Alcatel-Lucent AT&T, Cisco Systems, IBM Corporation, Intel Corporation, Cubic Corporation, Siemens AG, Thales SA, TomTom NV, TransCore, LP, Verizon Communications , Denso Corporation, Garmin Ltd , Hitachi Ltd and Iteris Inc..The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout UsMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Smart Water Management Market : Industry Size, Share, Growth, Forecasts 2018 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1815474 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1815474/global-smart-water-management-research-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1815474/global-smart-water-management-research-market-research-reports/toc https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ Latest industry research report on: Global Smart Water Management Market : Industry Size, Share, Research, Reviews, Analysis, Strategies, Demand, Growth, Segmentation, Parameters, ForecastsThis report studies the global Smart Water Management market status and forecast, categorizes the global Smart Water Management market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in United States, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan and other regions.Request Sample Copy of the Report @A smart meter is usually an electronic device that records consumption of electric energy in intervals of an hour or less and communicates that information at least daily back to the utility for monitoring and billing. Smart meters enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system. Unlike home energy monitors, smart meters can gather data for remote reporting. Such an advanced metering infrastructure differs from traditional automatic meter reading in that it enables two-way communications with the meter.With the development of network technology, especially the rise of the Internet of things technology, new technology related to the smart water meter (terminal) emerges in an endless stream, mainly including: wireless or wired network technology, network communication protocol and routing technology, network access technology, data security and reliability technology, data acquisition and management technology, automatic meter reading and selling water management system technology, etc.The global Smart Water Management market is valued at 1950 million US$ in 2017 and will reach 4450 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 12.5% during 2018-2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportSensusItronElster (Honeywell)Diehl Stiftung & Co. KGLandis+GyrRoper Industries(Neptune)SiemensKamstrupJiangxisanchuanSuntront Tech Co., LtdBadger Meter IncIskraemecoArad Group(Master Meter)Huizhong Instrumentation Co., LtdZennerNingbo Water MeterGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringUnited StatesEUChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanWe can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoAMR MetersAMI MetersOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingResidential UseCommerical UseIndustrial UseComplete Report Details @The study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Smart Water Management capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Smart Water Management manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Smart Water Management are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersSmart Water Management ManufacturersSmart Water Management Distributors/Traders/WholesalersSmart Water Management Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsAvailable CustomizationsWith the given market data, QYResearch offers customizations according to the company's specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:Regional and country-level analysis of the Smart Water Management market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.Request For TOC Report @Table of ContentsGlobal Smart Water Management Market Research Report 20181 Smart Water Management Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Smart Water Management1.2 Smart Water Management Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Smart Water Management Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Smart Water Management Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 AMR Meters1.2.4 AMI Meters1.3 Global Smart Water Management Segment by Application1.3.1 Smart Water Management Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Residential Use1.3.3 Commerical Use1.3.4 Industrial Use1.4 Global Smart Water Management Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Smart Water Management Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 United States Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 EU Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 South Korea Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Smart Water Management (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Smart Water Management Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Smart Water Management Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Smart Water Management Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Smart Water Management Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Smart Water Management Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Smart Water Management Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Smart Water Management Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Smart Water Management Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Smart Water Management Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Smart Water Management Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Smart Water Management Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Smart Water Management Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz This is the note I wrote to send to my synagogue community this week. I'm sharing it here in case it also speaks to those who are not part of my local community but are part of my broader online community. Many of you who have spoken with me this week have described your despair at current policy of stripping children from parents in order to deter immigration. You've spoken to me about your shock and heartbreak, about the emotional and spiritual impact of that news recording of children crying out for parents they may never see again, about the known traumatic impacts of separating young children from their caregivers. Recent public discourse has included the suggestion that immigrants are "infesting" our country -- language which should deeply trouble us as Jews: it's the language the Nazi party used to justify what we now know as the Holocaust, and it's also the language Pharaoh used in Torah to describe our spiritual ancestors before setting the enslavement of the Israelites in motion. I know that many of you are troubled by this language too. Like many of you, I am descended from immigrants who came here seeking asylum from state-sponsored persecution, which gives me an extra sense of connection with today's refugees. Like many of you, I have been gutted to imagine what those children are going through -- and to imagine the anguish their parents now face. Like many of you, I have felt sometimes paralyzed by the enormity of the injustice currently on display. I am writing to you today to urge you not to give in to that paralysis or to its psycho-spiritual sibling despair. The need is too great. The work of creating a more just world is work in which all of us are obligated as human beings and as Jews. The call to "love the stranger, for [we] were strangers in the land of Egypt" is repeated in Torah no fewer than 36 times. Separating parents from children is the very opposite of showing love. The ADL recently sent Jeff Sessions a letter, co-signed by 26 American Jewish organizations, arguing that taking children away from parents is unconscionable and that as Jews we understand the plight of immigrants fleeing danger and seeking asylum. On this, every branch of Judaism -- the Reform movement, the Conservative movement, the Reconstructing Judaism movement, and the Orthodox movement --- is in agreement. Bend the Arc, a Jewish organization that works toward creating a more just world, has established a petition declaring a state of moral emergency. As of this writing, more than 14,000 people have signed it. Here's a secular petition as well. Signing a petition doesn't "do" much, but it can break the personal sense of powerlessness. Reaching out to elected officials is another small act that can begin to create change. There is a custom of giving tzedakah before Shabbat in order to prime the pump for blessing to flow into the world over Shabbes and in the week to come. My tzedakah donation this week will go to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), a Texas-based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing immigrant families and refugees (including children) with affordable legal assistance. Another possible place to direct your tzedakah this week is the Young Center for Immigrant Childrens Rights, which advocates for the safety and well-being of unaccompanied kids arriving in the United States. The organization recently announced a project specifically dedicated to helping children separated from their parents at the border. You can learn more about the program's efforts and how to donate here. I believe that as human beings and as Jews we are called to speak and work and act against injustice wherever it arises. Separating parents from children is injustice. Please do what you can to encourage our government to end this inhumane policy now. And please take care of yourself emotionally and spiritually as you work to better the world. For some of us that means taking a Shabbat respite from the news, or entering into spiritual practice to replenish our hearts and souls for the work to come. Creating a more just world is fundamental to who we are as Jews -- and it's work that calls us also to self-care, so that we can be here to keep doing the work in all the tomorrows to come. Blessings to all -- Rabbi Rachel Cross-posted to my From the Rabbi blog. Synthetic Monitoring Market Poised to Expand at a Robust Pace Over 2017 2027 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13249 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13249 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Synthetic monitoring market is growing significantly due to increasing site monitoring services and end to end performance services. Usage of Synthetic monitoring help users in testing web, non-web, mobile, streaming and other cloud based applications before production to ensure performance.Synthetic monitoring which is also called as proactive monitoring are used to create behavioral scripts to stimulate the steps which end-user will take on website. This is done with the help of web browser emulations.Synthetic monitoring is used to measure service level agreement, to understand the performance impact of third parties, benchmarking the performance, quantifying the performance and to attain mature APM competencies.Synthetic Monitoring Market: Drivers and ChallengesThe major factor driving the adoption of modern technologies such as software as a service, and other used for used for monitoring static backend systems. Synthetic monitoring is used at various stages of application development such as launch of new application, or website to third party component updates. Moreover, with the rising demand for rich user experience, companies are using synthetic monitoring for providing rich user experience on third party components such as web analytics, social networking, search engine optimization and others.The key challenge for Synthetic monitoring is to implement or to manage its solution. It is quite challenging to manage synthetic monitoring solutions due to high cost of implementation, false positives and incorrect alerts, lack of real-time monitoring, difficulty for post implementation management and emulator based monitoring.Request Sample Report @Synthetic monitoring Market: SegmentationSegmentation on the basis of monitoring applications:SaaS application monitoringWeb application monitoringAPI monitoringMobile apps monitoringKey Contracts:In May 2016, iTrinegy, an application risk management provider has entered into the partnership with Tricentis. This partnership will help iTrinegy in providing joint market solution for enterprises to test mobile app behavior and network deployment cycle.In March 2016, Rigor, a synthetic monitoring solution provider has entered into the partnership with Soasta, Real user monitoring technology provider. This partnership will allow Rigor to integrate with Soastas digital performance monitoring and optimization platform with their mPulse product.In Synthetic monitoring market there are many vendors some of them are Dell, Dynatrace, Microsoft, HPE, IBM, Riverbed technology, CA technology and othersRegional OverviewPresently, North America is holding the largest market share for synthetic monitoring market due to high adoption of digital technologies among individual. The adoption of software as a service model platform is also impacting the market for synthetic monitoring in a positive manner. Companies such as IBM is also working towards the development of synthetic monitoring platforms with the partnerships and acquisitions in this market to enhance market opportunities.In Europe region, the market for synthetic monitoring is witnessing high growth rate due to the increasing demand for testing mobile base apps and monitoring website.The Asia Pacific region is following the Europe region in synthetic monitoring market. This market is expected to have the highest growth rate in coming years due to the adoption of API monitoring services and SaaS based servicesRequest to View TOC @ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: DIY Retailing in UK Likely to Witness Growth with Digitization and Enhanced Supply Chain Management https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1805977 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/diy-retailing-uk-may-2018-report.html The DIY retailing in UK is expected to witness traction with new opportunities lurking in the market. With end-user preferences transitioning from specialists to non-specialists activities, there is a surge in end-user spending pattern on DIY retailing in UK. In its recently added report titled, DIY Retailing - UK - May 2018', Market Research Hub (MRH) collates the impact of recent trends and developments on the growth of DIY retailing in UK.Virtual Reality Lends a New Dimension to DIY Retailing in UKTo enhance end-user experience in DIY, DIY retailers in UK are pacing up to sync with end-user preferences and convenience. To derive maximum sales, DIY retailing in UK are offering improved services for online customers who prefer virtual stores to physical ones. Also, retail stores in DIY retailing in UK are introducing novel features such as interactive demonstration and workshops in their retail outlets to address consumer queries on DIY activities. DIY retailers in UK are concentrating efforts to start new stores to target maximum customers.Click here for Free Sample Report@A recent report disclosed B&Qs latest distribution center to be operational in Swindon. This new development is expected to increase product availability for both on premise and digital demands. Further, leading home design platform, Houzz has recently launched Houzz Shop in UK. This new store is aimed to provide home design solutions to several end-users, enabling them to choose from a wide variety of products designed by experts. Additionally, Houzz has also introduced View in My Room tool to its app to enhance end-to-end experience of customers in selection, trial, and purchase of Houzz products. Significant information presented in the report gives a clear understanding about the market definition and the components prevailing in DIY retailing in UK. Thoroughly evaluated data presented in the report gives an overview of the components and their effect on the growth of DIY retailing in UK. Additionally, the report also summarizes the recent trends and developments that remain explicit in DIY retailing in UK and their corresponding impact on the purchase preferences of end-users. Readers can cues from these insights to formulate effective marketing strategies that are growth oriented.Browse Full Report with TOC@Along with entailing the factors that influence customers purchase decisions, the report also gives veritable perspectives on the impact of marketing strategies implemented by leading market players in DIY retailing in UK. Market players can gauge the effective deals and discounted rate offerings that leading players are implementing to retain end-user interests. Readers can carry out effective analysis of these insights to formulate informed investment decisions.Leading Players in DIY Retailing in UKThoroughly examined data on DIY retailing in UK compiled in the report gives readers an understanding about the factors that create a lasting brand image amongst the end-users. Some of the leading players in DIY retailing in UK include, B&Q, Houzz, Screwfix among others.About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports of different sector like Retail market research and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of industry reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.com Tomato Paste Market Size & Share - Industry Trend and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1443106 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1443106/tomato-paste-global-industry-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1443106 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ The report analyzes and presents an overview of "Tomato Paste Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" worldwide.The objectives of this study are as follows:To define, describe, and forecast the "Tomato Paste" market by type, application, component, delivery model, end user, and regionTo provide detailed information regarding major factors influencing market growth (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges)To analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the overall marketTo analyze opportunities in the market for stakeholders and provide details of the competitive landscape for market leadersTo forecast the market size of market segments with respect to the four key regions: North America, Europe, Asia, and the Rest of the World (RoW)To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their product portfolios, market positions, and core competenciesGet Sample Copy of this report @Tomato Paste Market Introduction:Tomato is one of the major vegetable crop grown worldwide. Tomato paste is a concentrated long shelf life product used as an important food ingredient worldwide. As per Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2011, the global tomato production was approximately 130 million tons with China and Europe as leading tomato producing regions currently. Other major tomato producers across the globe are India, U.S. and Turkey. Tomato paste is prepared by removing skin, pulp of tomatoes to create tomato juice which is then concentrated generally by evaporation method in order to obtain a thick paste. Tomato paste market is expected to witness significant market growth during the forecast period owing to its widespread application in food industry.Tomato Paste Market Segmentation:Increasing demand for organic tomato paste is expected to uplift the global market revenues of tomatoes globally in the coming years. The global tomato paste market is segmented into, product type, packaging type, area of application, sales channels and by region. By product type, the global tomato paste market is segmented on the basis of dry matter content into, single concentrate, double concentrate and triple concentrate. Double concentrate is the most common type of tomato paste currently available in the market. By packaging type the global tomato paste market is segmented into, cans, carton packaging, bottles and pouches. Cans are the preferred mode of packaging for tomato paste due to its convenient packing and to increase the shelf life of the tomato paste based products. By application the global tomato paste market is segmented into, industrial, household and commercial applications. In industrial application the tomato paste is widely used in making sauces, and in finished products such as, pizzas, soups jams and others. By sales channels the global tomato paste market is segmented into, hypermarkets/supermarkets, convenience stores, E-commerce and pother retail formats.View Full Report @Tomato Paste Market Regional Outlook:On the basis of region the global tomato paste market is segmented into, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East and Africa. North America and Western Europe are expected to account for significant revenue shares in the global tomato paste market over the forecast period. In European countries tomato is one of the most important vegetable consumed accounting for an approximate share of 19% as the largest fresh vegetable crop. Per capita tomato consumption is high in countries such as, Germany, Spain and France. Household use of tomato is increasing in countries such as China, India, Africa and U.S. where consumers use it for making several recipes thus, contributing towards escalating market revenues of tomato over the forecast period. Tomato paste manufactured in China enjoys great popularity in the world market because of its high quality. Also, growing manufacturers efforts to increase their tomato production capabilities is expected to fuel the tomato paste market growth over the forecast period.Tomato Paste Market Drivers and TrendsGrowing demand for convenience food products, shift towards organic and clean label products and growing consumption of tomato paste is expected to fuel the market revenue growth of tomato Paste market over the forecast period. Furthermore, growing demand for fresh tomatoes has contributed towards its escalating production across the globe. For example, in the U.S., California is the leading producer of tomato paste with fresh tomatoes production taking place across all the states in the region. Domestic tomato producers have recognized limited market opportunity in the global tomato business hence, a number of new greenhouse/hydroponic operations have come online in several States over the past few years which will further accelerate the tomato paste market growth in terms of value and value both.Tomato Paste Market Key Players:Some of the key players offering Tomato Paste include; Conagra Brands, Del Monte Foods, Inc., Olam Spices & Vegetables Inc., Los Gatos Tomatos, Cento Fine Foods, Muir Glen Organic, Vigo Importing Co., PANOS brands, Bionaturae, LLC and others.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout UsMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Wireless Fire Detection Systems Market: Industry Size, Share, Growth, Forecasts 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1443101 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1443101/wireless-fire-detection-systems-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1443101 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ The report analyzes and presents an overview of "Wireless Fire Detection Systems Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" worldwide.The objectives of this study are as follows:To define, describe, and forecast the "Wireless Fire Detection Systems" market by type, application, component, delivery model, end user, and regionTo provide detailed information regarding major factors influencing market growth (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges)To analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the overall marketTo analyze opportunities in the market for stakeholders and provide details of the competitive landscape for market leadersTo forecast the market size of market segments with respect to the four key regions: North America, Europe, Asia, and the Rest of the World (RoW)To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their product portfolios, market positions, and core competenciesGet Sample Copy of this report @The current wireless fire detection industry is oriented towards mixed wireless and wired systems. It is a common way of upgrading or extending installations or installing new systems without impacting the hard wiring running throughout the building. Star network is the common wireless fire system which involves multiple wireless devices in direct communication with either a repeater or a central wireless gateway.Increasing emphasis on design and aesthetics and the ease involved in these systems is anticipated to drive the industry over the forecast period. Improvements in existing government mandates and regulations regarding fire protection systems is the major factor supporting the industry. However, lack of acceptance in the industry owing to low reliability perception and high maintenance cost is expected to act as a restraining factor for the wireless fire detection systems industry.The declining prices of IR systems is expected to drive the wireless fire detection systems market demand over the forecast timeline. Increasing local and regional suppliers has led the industry to be competitive thereby drastic decline in prices of the sensors used in these systems. These industry players are supplying IR sensors with high customization levels which is comparatively cheaper as compared to global suppliers. Improvement in miniaturization and costs has increased the adoption of IR sensors in fire detection systems market which are highly sensitive to the radiations. These sensors are used to detect the inflammable gases both outdoors and indoors of the plants and facilities enabling the fire-fighters to carry their fire rescue operations efficiently.Increasing adoption of wireless systems in safety systems is also expected to fuel the market growth as the wireless communication eases the communication between field devices and control stations, allowing remote access. These field devices are often placed in hostile environment such as subsea in oil & gas industry. These communication systems have reduced the cabling costs and other overhead expenses. These detection systems with wireless connections can be used to directly transmit vital statistics for giving command for any critical issue by the top management. Emergence of government compliant wireless fire detection systems has increased the adoption of wireless instrumentation needs for critical safety applications.View Full Report @Several technologies for detecting and sensing fire presence are available in the industry including heat detectors, smoke detectors, multi sensor detectors and gas detectors. Integration of sensor and detector technologies within a single detector is the latest trend in the industry which results in lowered costs and greater efficiency. The robust growth in utilities, infrastructure, and facilities is increasing the need for adoption of advanced detectors and sensors globally.The global wireless fire detection systems market can be segmented by product into sensors, call points, input/output modules and call points. By type, the industry can be classified into fully wireless and hybrid systems. New and existing installations segments the industry by installation type. By application, the industry can be segmented into commercial, residential, manufacturing, and government.North America is expected to dominate the wireless fire detection systems market over the forecast timeline. Europe is expected to grow with the highest CAGR from 2017 to 2025. This industry growth is catered by presence of numerous wireless fire detection system manufacturers in this region. Moreover, stringent government mandates for installation of smoke alarms and smoke detectors in homes from European countries such as France, UK, and Germany is anticipated to support the wireless fire detection industry growth.The prominent industry participants of wireless fire detection systems market are Detectomat Gmbh, Ceasefire Industries Pvt. Ltd, Electro Detectors Ltd, Ems Wireless Fire & Security Ltd, Eurofyre Ltd, Hochiki Corporation, Halma Plc, Johnson Controls, Honeywell International Inc, Napco Security Technologies Inc, Siemens AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Tyco International Plc, Sterling Safety Systems, United Technologies and Zeta Alarm Systems.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout UsMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Barite Market Competitive Analysis with Growth Forecast Till 2024 https://bit.ly/2tp23Sv https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/barite-market https://bit.ly/2lmrq4s https://www.gminsights.com http://algosonline.com/news Key industry share contributors of barite market size are Spectrum Chemical Mfg. Corp., New Riverside Ochre, Halliburton, Excalibar Minerals, Ashapura Group of Industries, Barium & Chemicals, Inc and Deutsche Baryt Industries.Barite Market size is expected to surpass USD 4.1 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Rapidly growing oil & gas industry primarily in the U.S. owing to excess availability of shale reserves along with changing industry dynamics to increase dependency on alternative energy sources has pushed barite market size in the past few years. This is prospective to continue owing to strong need to meet energy demand in several industries including transportation, power, etc. which will subsequently generate ample growth avenues for barite market size by 2024.In addition, positive growth indicators in the pharmaceuticals industry primarily in Asia Pacific will complement barite market size by 2024, owing to improving healthcare standards and rising geriatric population. This is due to widespread product applications in diagnosis and as fillers in plasters.Request for a sample of this report @Sturdy growth in paints & coatings industry owing to rapid industrialization and urbanization in Asia Pacific will propel barite market size by 2024. White & off-white barite is majorly used to prepare pigments in the paints industry. Rapidly growing construction industry primarily in China and India due to mounting population and improving socio-economic factors will be driving paints & coatings demand across end user business such as automobile.Inadequate geographical barite occurrence along with high transportation cost may hinder barite market size by 2024. Furthermore, easy accessibility to existing alternatives including hematite, ilmenite, etc. which are also used as weighing agent in the energy sector is likely to hamper barite market size by 2024.Browse key industry insights spread across 172 pages with 219 market data tables & 14 figures & charts from the report, Barite Market Size By Grade (Upto Grade 3.9, Grade 4.0, Grade 4.1, Grade 4.2, Grade 4.3, Grades Above 4.3), By Color (White & off white, Grey, Brown), By Application (Oil & Drilling, Paints & Coatings, Pharmaceuticals, Rubber & Plastics, Textiles, Adhesives), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, China, India, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, GCC), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 2024 in detail along with the table of contents:Upto grade 3.9 barite market size is probable to attain CAGR over 3% by 2024. It is lower grade and is formed by 50/50 ratio of product and other alternative weighing material such as ilmenite and hematite. Grade 4.2 is projected to grow at a CAGR near to 4% by 2024, as it is widely used in the oil & drilling industry owing to its excellent rheological properties, which makes it desirable as a weighing agent. They are premium quality grades and are found beneath the earth surface. However, grade 4.2 is gradually being replaced by grade 4.1 in the oil & drilling industry as it possesses similar attributes and is cost effective compared to grade 4.2. This replacement is also due to increasing transportation issues related with grade 4.2.Grey barite market size is estimated to attain CAGR of over 4% owing to its extensive application in oil & drilling industry by 2024. It helps in cooling the drill bit and subsequently suspend the rock bits by increasing the hydrostatic pressure which compensates for high-pressure zones experienced during drilling. White & off-white barite grades will experience average industry growth as it is used in paints & coating, cosmetics and rubber applications.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Rising population in the Asia Pacific along with progressive consumer lifestyles is driving automobile industry which in turn will propel rubber industry over the projected timespan. This tendency is expected to make noteworthy contribution to rubber & plastics segment of barite market size by 2024. Furthermore, rapid pace of oil & drilling industry due to the U.S. shale boom will also contribute towards the product market size by 2024. North America is likely to witness CAGR of over 4.5% over the projected time spell.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Baby Food & Drink Sales Market Along with Key Drivers, Major Manufacturers, Business Insights, Trends and Forecast 2025 ReportsWeb http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00012079094/sample http://www.reportsweb.com/global-baby-food-and-drink-sales-market-report-2018 http://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00012079094/discount http://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00012079094/buy/4000 ReportsWeb.com has announced the addition of the Global Baby Food & Drink Sales Market Report 2018 report detailed insights about the aspects responsible for augmenting as well as restraining market growth and analyses the market potential for each geographical region based on the growth rate, macroeconomic parameters, consumer buying patterns, and market demand and supply scenarios.This report studies the global Baby Food & Drink market status and forecast, categorizes the global Baby Food & Drink market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America).Baby food is any soft, easily consumed food, other than breastmilk or infant formula, which is made specifically for babies. The food comes in multiple varieties and tastes. Most infant formula is made with cow's milk, but it has been modified and supplemented with additional nutrients. As a result, the formula is more nutritious and easier for the baby to digest than cow's milk. Other formula options include soy-based formulas and hypoallergenic (or protein hydrolysate and amino acid-based) formulas.Increasing incidences of malnutrition among children has spurred the global demand for nutritional baby foods. The overall food and beverage industry has witnessed a steady rise in the production of baby foods over the past few years. Parents with traditional approach towards providing nutrition to their babies are shifting to baby foods.However, companies producing baby foods are being strictly regulated by global bodies that check the quality of these products. Moreover, with developments in production of baby foods, companies are facing challenges in remaining cost-effective.The major players covered in this reportMead JohnsonNestleDanoneAbbottFrieslandCampinaHeinzBellamyTopferHiPPPerrigoArlaHolleFonterraWestland DairyPinnacleMeijiYiliBiostimeYashiliFeiheBrightdairyBeingmateWondersonSynutraWissunHain CelestialPlum OrganicsDGCAusnutria Dairy Corporation (Hyproca)Get FREE sample of report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoInfant FormulaBaby CerealsBaby SnacksBottled & Canned Baby FoodOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, including0-6 Months6-12 Months>12 MonthsBrowse Complete Report @The study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Baby Food & Drink Sales Equipment sales, value, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025) ;To analyze the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, to study the sales, value and market share of top players in these regions.Focuses on the key Baby Food & Drink Sales Equipment players, to study the sales, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Ask for Discount on Report @Table of ContentGlobal Baby Food & Drink Sales Market Report 20181 Contact Image Sensor Market Overview2 Global Contact Image Sensor Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application3 United States Contact Image Sensor (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4 Europe Contact Image Sensor (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5 China Contact Image Sensor (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6 Japan Contact Image Sensor (Volume, Value and Sales Price)7 Southeast Asia Contact Image Sensor (Volume, Value and Sales Price)8 India Contact Image Sensor (Volume, Value and Sales Price)9 Global Baby Food & Drink Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data9.1 Mead Johnson9.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.1.2 Baby Food & Drink Product Category, Application and Specification9.1.2.1 Product A9.1.2.2 Product B9.1.3 Mead Johnson Baby Food & Drink Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)9.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.2 Nestle9.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.2.2 Baby Food & Drink Product Category, Application and Specification9.2.2.1 Product A9.2.2.2 Product B9.2.3 Nestle Baby Food & Drink Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)9.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.3 Danone9.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.3.2 Baby Food & Drink Product Category, Application and Specification9.3.2.1 Product A9.3.2.2 Product B9.3.3 Danone Baby Food & Drink Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)9.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview11 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers12 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders13 Market Effect Factors Analysis14 Global Contact Image Sensor Market Forecast (2018-2025)Place Direct Purchase order For Complete report @ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiOrganization: ReportsWebEmail: sales@reportsweb.comPhone: +1-646-491-9876505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028 Global Meat-Free Foods Market 2018 - Brecks, Gardein, VBites Foods, Beyond Meat Global Meat-Free Foods Market https://bit.ly/2yqxfap https://bit.ly/2I2thnD www.apexmarketreports.com Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the Meat-Free Foods Market across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of Meat-Free Foods Market from view of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries. The research report analyses and provides the historical data along with current performance of the global PP Pipe industry, and estimates the future trend of Meat-Free Foods on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares Meat-Free Foods performance both in terms of volume and revenue.The market research report explores the Meat-Free Foods Market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of Meat-Free Foods Market. The research report studies the entire value chain from raw material to end user industries. The report also shares import/export statistics along with production and consumption for all major regions and countries. Moreover, the research study classifies the Meat-Free Foods Market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Meat-Free Foods. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Meat-Free Foods Market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportBrecksGardeinVBites FoodsBeyond MeatMarlow FoodsClearspringLightlife FoodsBOCAAldiHain CelestialFry Group FoodsCedar Lake FoodsAtlantic Natural FoodsBean SupremeButler FoodsFantastic World FoodsField RoastDragonfly FoodsThe competitive landscape of the global market for Meat-Free Foods is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Meat-Free Foods Markets production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Meat-Free Foods Market globally.Inquire Before Buying @The Global Meat-Free Foods Market 2018 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Meat-Free Foods production volume, data pertaining to demand and Meat-Free Foods supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Meat-Free Foods along with detailed manufacturing sources. The report also shares list of major raw material manufacturers along with their manufacturing locations. Detailed raw material price trend analysis along with manufacturing cost analysis is also incorporated into the report. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, SWOT analysis and market attractiveness analysis has been implemented in the research study to present a comprehensive, detailed study of the industry for Meat-Free Foods across the world.About UsApex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite - Food Texturants Market: Worldwide Industry Analysis, Business Opportunity and Forecast 2018 to 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5083 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/food-texturants-market-5083 Market Overview:Food texturants are food additives used for providing texture and mouthfeel to the food dishes. The texture of the food products should be appealing enough to grab the attention of the consumers. The texture is one of the delivery mechanisms for taste. Rising number of ingredients used in the production process of any food products is creasting a need for food texturants in the market. The common food texturants include hydrocolloids, gums, stabilizers and others. They are widely used in various industries such as bakery and confectionery, dairy and frozen desserts, beverages, oil and fats, sweet and savory snacks, meat products, and others.Food texturants are primarily extracted from a natural substance and used as a direct additive in products to provide the required physical appearance to the food products. Increasing inclination towards processed foods in developed countries is driving the market for food texturants. Consumers are constantly looking for new and satisfying sensory eating and drinking experiences which is influencing the food manufacturers for increasing the demand for food texturants.Receive a Sample Report @Growing demand for processed meat and seafood is adding fuel to the growth of food texturants market. Moreover, new processing techniques used for product development have also perpetually raised the market for food texturants. However, few stringent laws and regulations may restrain the growth of the market during the estimated period. Nevertheless, all these factors are projected to contribute to the estimated CAGR of 6.3% of food texturants market during the forecast period 2017-2023.Major Key Players:The major players in the Food Texturants Market,Cargill Incorporated (U.S.)DuPont Nutrition & Health (Denmark)AJINOMOTO (Japan)Archer Daniels Midland Company (U.S.)Kerry Group PLC (Ireland)INGREDION INCORPORATED (U.S.) andTate & Lyle PLC. (U.K.)Downstream Analysis:Based on the type, food texturants market is segmented into hydrocolloids, gums, stabilizers, and others. Among all, hydrocolloids are projected to dominate the market in which starches are projected to gain substantial growth based on its easy availability, optimum functionality, and relatively low price in the market. Moreover, xanthan gum is gaining popularity in salad dressings, chocolate milk, bakery fillings, puddings and other foods to add texture.On the basis of application, food texturants market is segmented into bakery and confectionery, dairy and frozen desserts, beverages, oil and fats, sweet and savory snacks, meat products, and others. Among all, the bakery and confectionery segment is dominating the market followed by the dairy and frozen desserts market. In bakery and confectionery, texturants are gaining popularity to assist with uniform distribution and suspension of fruit or other inclusions such as nuts and chocolate chips.Access Report Details @Regional Analysis:Food Texturants Market is segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world (RoW). Europe is dominating the market followed by North America. High inclination towards processed foods in developed countries such as Canada and the U.S. is driving the food texturants market in North America. Germany and the U.K. are the major contributors to food texturants market, in Europe.The Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market over the forecast period owing to changing lifestyle and consumption pattern in developing countries such as China and India. Moreover, Latin American, the Middle East, and African countries are projected to witness an increased demand for texturants during the estimated period.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com The Syrian government is ready to provide the necessary infrastructure to establish a base for the permanent deployment of the Iranian armed forces. Such a conclusion can be drawn from a recent statement made by the Syrian President Bashar Assad in interview with Iranian channel al-Alam News. Assad reaffirmed the desire of the republic's leadership to support the strategic partnership between Damascus and Tehran, saying that it is not going to break ties with Iran in the future, despite the possible problems associated with the presence of Iranian armed forces in Syria. Iran makes no secret of the presence in Syria of both volunteers and special forces specializing in conducting operations abroad, including the well-known Quds Force unit. The picture of Tehran's participation in the support of Bashar al-Assad becomes even more ambitious considering the fact that the members of the Supreme Command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), brigadiers Hossein Hamedani and Hamid Mokhtarband, as well as Major General Farshad Hasanzadeh, died during the years of civil confrontation in Syria. Tehran's interest in maintaining the current regime in Syria is due to several reasons. First, Tehran has welcomed the Syrian position on regional issues over the past 40 years, stressing that the Islamic Republic and Syria have a special view of "Middle Eastern affairs", opposing the efforts of the United States and Israel in the Middle East, primarily in Palestine. Second, both countries regularly held bilateral meetings at a high diplomatic level, discussing the Kurdish problem. Syria is the only republic with which Tehran is ready to consult on the Kurdish issue, urgent for it as well. Finally, the preservation of unified Syria is a matter of Iran's security, because the war and the subsequent "reconstruction" of Iraq forced Iran to make enormous efforts to ensure its own security on the Iran-Iraq border. The war on the near line of defence (that is how Iraq was traditionally perceived by the Iranians) defined Syria as a link between Iran and friendly to it Lebanon. Against this background, the destruction of unified Syria would mean a final weakening of Tehran's positions in the entire Middle East. But why is Iran in no hurry to establish its own military base in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, especially since Damascus is ready provide active assistance? The current format of Iran's presence in Syria allows Tehran to resolve strategic issues, avoiding political responsibility. It is obvious that "young officers", including volunteers,get the hands-on experience in Syria in battlefield situations. The war showed the Syrian army's fighting capacity, its reliability, and Tehran expects to achieve such results, not fighting on its territory. The special operations in the south of Syria allow Iran to "test" the defenses of its enemy Israel, thereby obtaining the necessary intelligence. The words that the Iranians are ready to fight for Syria to the end are not unreasonable. Their involvement in the conflict has been gradual and started long before Russia's full-scale intervention. It was advisors and veterans of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war that helped Damascus to transfer the country's economy to military rails, as the republic was cut off from the oil fields captured by terrorists - one of the primary sources of Syria's income. By the way, the sale of cheap oil produced by terrorists inflicted a significant blow not only on the income of Syria, but also Iran, also an oil and gas exporter. By establishing control over the fields, Iran simultaneously restores the balance of sales and extraction of resources, simultaneously providing material and technical (including fuel) support to the Syrian leadership, thereby denying responsibility for its financing. As for the Iran-Israel confrontation, the issue of establishing a military base is not very popular in geopolitical terms. Tehran does not hide its desire to destroy the Jewish state. The relations between Syria and Israel are also far from ideal, however Damascus does not seek a feud with Tel Aviv. Nevertheless, the creation of an Iranian military base in Syria can dramatically complicate relations between neighboring republics, thus the West will receive a basis for accusing Damascus and Tehran of preparing a possible war with Israel, thereby providing Tel Aviv carte blanche to continue anti-Iran rhetoric with all its consequences. This concerns, among other things, Israel's nuclear program, as well as special operations against Islamic organizations, friendly to Iran and Syria, including Lebanese Hezbollah. Finally, the Iranian military base in Syria under current conditions would be a convenient target for Israel's military aircraft, which violates Syrian airspace from time to time, launching missile and bomb strikes, without bearing any responsibility. Given such circumstances, Iran will not risk by investing in it, because in the case of an air raid it may lose an impressive continent of its own troops, since only modern air defense systems can protect such a base, which Iran does not have, and those available (Russia's S-300) are guarding Iranian nuclear facilities. Therefore, most likely, Tehran will limit itself to the current "semi-legal" presence in Syria. Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Market Research Report 2018 : Textronics, Milliken, Toray Industries, Peratech, DuPont, Clothing+, https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1800114 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-intelligent-fabrics-and-textiles-market-research-report-2018-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketsizeinfo.blogspot.in/ Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles market status and forecast, categorizes the global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).The global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles market is valued at xx million US$ in 2017 and is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportTextronicsMillikenToray IndustriesPeratechDuPontClothing+Outlastd3o labSchoeller Textiles AGTexas InstrumentsExo2Vista Medical Ltd.Ohmatex ApSInteractive Wear AGTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanOther Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa)The regional scope of the study is as follows:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPassive Smart Fabrics and TextilesActive Smart Fabrics and TextilesUltra-Smart Fabrics and TextilesOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingMilitary UsesCivil UsesHealthcare UsesOtherThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersIntelligent Fabrics and Textiles ManufacturersIntelligent Fabrics and Textiles Distributors/Traders/WholesalersIntelligent Fabrics and Textiles Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsTable of ContentsGlobal Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Market Research Report 20181 Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles1.2 Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Passive Smart Fabrics and Textiles1.2.4 Active Smart Fabrics and Textiles1.2.5 Ultra-Smart Fabrics and Textiles1.3 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Segment by Application1.3.1 Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Military Uses1.3.3 Civil Uses1.3.4 Healthcare Uses1.3.5 Other1.4 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @2 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Intelligent Fabrics and Textiles Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)Continue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @ Global Cable Assembly Market Overview, Segments, Leading Player, Application & Forecast to 2025 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1833532 https://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/global-cable-assembly-market-research-report-2018-report.html The market for Cable Assembly is growing with the expansion of this Industry Sector Worldwide. Market Research Hub (MRH) has added a new report titled Global Cable Assembly Market Research Report 2018 which offer details about the current trends and analysis, as well as scope for the near future. This research study also covers information about the production, consumption and market share based on different active regions. Furthermore, an anticipated growth at a double-digit CAGR for the Cable Assembly sector is highlighted in the report which indicates a prosperous future.Request Free Sample Report:This report studies the global Cable Assembly market status and forecast, categorizes the global Cable Assembly market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).A cable assembly can be created using a number of different casings straps, cable ties, cable lacing, sleeves, electrical tape, conduit, braiding, a weave of extruded string, or a combination of the these materials but the purpose is always to increase the efficiency of the products.Cable assemblies are designed according to geometric and electrical requirements, which are translated into a diagram that is used in the preparation and assembly of the harness. First the wires are cut to the desired length followed by a marking process (either manual or automated) for identification purposes. Next, the wires are stripped to expose their metal cores and assembled together with any extra terminals or connectors housings required. The bundle is then clamped onto a form board or assembly fixture. This finished mass is fitted with any protective sleeves, conduit, or extruded yarn. The entire process is usually completed by hand because of the intricate processing required at various stages of production, such as routing the wires through sleeves, taping, crimping terminals onto wires, inserting one sleeve into another, and fastening the strands with tape, clamps, or cable ties.The leading manufactures mainly are RF Cable Assembly, 3 M, TE Connectivity, Molex and Minnesota Wire. RF Cable Assembly is the largest manufacturer; its revenue of global market exceeds 13% in 2016. The next is 3 M and TE Connectivity.There are mainly three type product of Cable Assembly market: Data cable assembly, High speed cable assembly and Conventional cable assembly. Data cable assembly accounts the largest proportion.Geographically, the global Cable Assembly market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and Middle East and Africa.The Asia-Pacific held the largest share in the global Cable Assembly products market, its revenue of global market exceeds 43.33% in 2016. The next is Europe and North America.The global Cable Assembly market is valued at 17000 million US$ in 2017 and will reach 22100 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 3.3% during 2018-2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportRF Cable Assembly3MTE ConnectivityMolexMinnesota WireAmphenol DC ElectronicsEpecCMAFCIWL Gore & AssociatesSamtecTPC Wire & CableTimes Microwave SystemsCarrio CablingFischer Connectors SATMBActronixMicro-CoaxSmiths MicrowaveWalker Component GroupGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOther Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa)We can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoData cable assemblyHigh Speed Cable AssemblyConventional Cable AssemblyOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingCommunicationsMedical EquipmentMachineAutomotiveBrowse Full Report with TOC:Table of Content:Global Cable Assembly Market Research Report 20181 Cable Assembly Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Cable Assembly1.2 Cable Assembly Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Cable Assembly Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Cable Assembly Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Data cable assembly1.2.4 High Speed Cable Assembly1.2.5 Conventional Cable Assembly1.3 Global Cable Assembly Segment by Application1.3.1 Cable Assembly Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Communications1.3.3 Medical Equipment1.3.4 Machine1.3.5 Automotive1.4 Global Cable Assembly Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Cable Assembly Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 26 Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Cable Assembly (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Cable Assembly Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Cable Assembly Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Cable Assembly Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Cable Assembly Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Cable Assembly Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Cable Assembly Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Cable Assembly Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Cable Assembly Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Cable Assembly Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Cable Assembly Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Cable Assembly Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Cable Assembly Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion.. @@ ContinuedAbout Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of chemical market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.com Inhalation Anesthesia Market 2017-2024 | United States Industry Report By Product and Region https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/704 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/704 Inhalation Anesthesia Market size is set to exceed USD 1.6 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Rising number of geriatric population coupled with increasing number of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular, neurological, and respiratory disorders and introduction of advanced anesthesia will offer lucrative growth opportunities for the inhalation anesthesia market growth.Increasing number of emergency surgeries driving the count of hospital admissions coupled with favorable private and public insurance will drive the inhalation anesthesia market. Growing investment in healthcare infrastructure development in emerging economies and increasing adoption of universal health coverage resulting in demand among public as well as private healthcare setups will propel the business growth.Request sample copy of this report @Increasing number of surgeries performed in ambulatory surgical centers will stimulate business growth over the forecast years. Growing adoption of inhalation anesthesia for globally rising prevalence of cataract surgeries, enhanced access to healthcare treatments, and rise in disposable income will fuel the industry growth.Adverse side effects during recovery, procedure or surgery, or wearing off anesthesia coupled with effect like intraoperative discomfort, hypotension, post-lumbar-puncture headache, and potential for neurologic and cardiac toxicity from anesthetics may hamper the inhalation anesthesia market growth.Sevoflurane segment accounted for the highest revenue share in 2016 and will grow at a significant rate over the forecast period owing to growing use in both maintenance and induction. Isoflurane segment will grow at a significant rate pertaining to associated factors like systemic vessels expand and potentiates activities of muscle relaxants, preferred for neurosurgery, and sustained cardiac outputs will boost the business growth.Maintenance accounted for highest revenue share of the application segment in 2016 and will grow at a significant rate over the forecast period owing to factors like safety of airway as nearly all patients that are anesthetized by means of these products are intubated. Increasing use in patients with low oxygen carrying capacities such as the patients with respirational dysfunction or anemia will fuel the segment growth in the coming years.U.S. market was valued over USD 488 million in 2016 and will grow significantly over the coming years. Rising number of plastic surgeries and substantially increasing adoption rate of the process will drive the business growth in U.S. Furthermore, presence of associations that aids in maintaining the standards of anesthesiology will fuel the industry growth in the country.Make Inquiry about this report @Germany accounted for highest revenue share in the region, owing to increasing chronic conditions associated with elderly population coupled with adoption rate of inhalation anesthesia. Growing prevalence of cancers and cardiovascular disorders accounting for approximately 66% of overall deaths in Germany will drive the industry growth over the forecast years.China will grow at a significant rate owing to its growing research studies in the business and high prevalence of lung cancer occurred due to pollution. Increasing use of sevoflurane and desflurane in general anesthesia pertaining to superiority of awakening afterwards surgical procedure as compared to traditional inhaled anesthetics will drive the industry growth in the country. Presence of organizations and associations offering platform for research and findings for anesthesia and mounting occurrence of chronic conditions will fuel the business growth in India.Brazil is projected to grow at a substantial rate over the forecast period. Increasing prevalence of chronic conditions coupled with high adoption of inhalation anesthesia technique as compared to intravenous anesthesia (AVT) will stimulate business expansion in the country.Some of the companies operating in market are Abbott, Baxter International, Piramal, Lunan Pharmaceutical, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Halocarbon Products. Introduction of novel product and growing focus on geographical expansion will propel the industry growth. Key industry players will endeavor to reinforce their position in this competitive market by implementing these strategies.Inhalation anesthesia market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD million from 2013 to 2024, for the following segments:Inhalation anesthesia market by producto Sevofluraneo Desfluraneo IsofluraneInhalation anesthesia market by applicationo Inductiono MaintenanceThe above information is provided for the following regions and countries: North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo Germanyo UKo Italyo Franceo Spain Asia Pacifico Chinao Indiao Australia Latin Americao Brazilo Mexico Middle East and Africao South Africao Saudi Arabiao UAEGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.com Global Multi-Touch Displays Market Research Report 2018 : Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, Fujitsu, 3M, Planar, Philips, Atmel Corporation, https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1800049 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-multi-touch-displays-market-research-report-2018-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketsizeinfo.blogspot.in/ Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Multi-Touch Displays Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Multi-Touch Displays market status and forecast, categorizes the global Multi-Touch Displays market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in United States, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan and other regions.The global Multi-Touch Displays market is valued at xx million US$ in 2017 and is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportLenovoPanasonicSamsungFujitsu3MPlanarPhilipsAtmel CorporationFreescaleWintek CorporationLG DisplayArestechSynaptics IncorporatedAmerican Industrial SystemsDISPLAX Interactive SystemsMicrosoft CorporationBaanto InternationalTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanOther RegionsThe regional scope of the study is as follows:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoResistive Multi-touch TypeCapacitive Multi-touch TypeOthersOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingGamingRetailIndustrialOthersThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Multi-Touch Displays capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Multi-Touch Displays manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Multi-Touch Displays are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersMulti-Touch Displays ManufacturersMulti-Touch Displays Distributors/Traders/WholesalersMulti-Touch Displays Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsTable of ContentsGlobal Multi-Touch Displays Market Research Report 20181 Multi-Touch Displays Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Multi-Touch Displays1.2 Multi-Touch Displays Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Multi-Touch Displays Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Multi-Touch Displays Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Resistive Multi-touch Type1.2.4 Capacitive Multi-touch Type1.2.5 Others1.3 Global Multi-Touch Displays Segment by Application1.3.1 Multi-Touch Displays Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Gaming1.3.3 Retail1.3.4 Industrial1.3.5 Others1.4 Global Multi-Touch Displays Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Multi-Touch Displays Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 United States Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 South Korea Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Multi-Touch Displays (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Multi-Touch Displays Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Multi-Touch Displays Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @2 Global Multi-Touch Displays Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Multi-Touch Displays Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Multi-Touch Displays Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Multi-Touch Displays Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Multi-Touch Displays Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Multi-Touch Displays Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Multi-Touch Displays Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Multi-Touch Displays Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Multi-Touch Displays Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Multi-Touch Displays Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Multi-Touch Displays Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Multi-Touch Displays Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Multi-Touch Displays Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Multi-Touch Displays Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Multi-Touch Displays Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 United States Multi-Touch Displays Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Multi-Touch Displays Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Multi-Touch Displays Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)Continue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @ Dental Cements Market to reach a valuation of US$ 1,178.5 Mn by the end of 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=20585 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/dental-cement-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=20585 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=20585 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Global Dental Cement Market : SnapshotDental Cements are used as restorative dental materials for the placement of bridges, crowns, implants and other dental caries. The global dental cement market was valued approximately US$ 784.5 Mn in 2016 and is anticipated to register CAGR of over 4.8% from 2017 to 2025 to reach value of approximately US$ 1,178.5 Mn by 2025. Dental Materials such as glass ionomers, zinc oxide eugenol and zinc phosphate are likely to fuel the growth of the global dental cement market from 2017 to 2025.Request Brochure of Report:Dental Cements are materials which having wide application in the orthodontics, restorative and other dental applications. The common application of dental cements are temporary restoration of teeth, cavity linings, sedation, insulation and also for cementing during fixation of prosthodontics. The dental cements have unique properties such as non irritant, prevent leakage, high tensile strength, chemical and thermal resistance, low thickness and resistance. The global dental cement market is segmented according to product type, material type, end users and geography. In terms of product type the global dental cement market is segmented into temporary cements and permanent cement. According to material type the global dental cements market is segmented into glass ionomers, zinc oxide eugenol, zinc phosphate, polycarboxylate, composite resins and others. By end users the global dental cements market is classified into hospitals, dental clinics, dental ambulatory surgical center and dental research and academic centers. by geography the dental cements market is further segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa.Read Report Overview:By Product type the global dental cements market is classified into temporary cements and permanent cements. The permanent cements dominate the global dental cements market by product type. Permanent cements are used for long term cement in cast restoration of inlays, crowns, bridges, laminate veneers and orthodontic fixation. The temporary cements are used as provisional coverage until the time a cast is prepared.According to material type the global dental cements market is segmented into glass ionomers, zinc oxide eugenol, zinc phosphate, polycarboxylate, composite resins and others. The glass ionomers are further segmented into traditional glass ionomers, metal modified glass ionomers, light cure glass ionomers and hybrid or resin modified glass ionomers. In glass ionomers segment the hybrid or resin modified glass ionomers dominates the glass ionomers segments. Over all according to the material type the glass ionomers segment dominates the global dental cements market. The advantages associated with glass ionomers such as high fluoride release, low chemical bond to tooth, low thickness and others are important factors which contribute for the growth of the glass ionomers segment. Rest other segments such as zinc oxide eugenol, zinc phosphate and others contribute significantly for the growth of the global dental cements market.Request Sample of Report:By end users the global dental cements market is segmented into hospitals, dental clinics, dental ambulatory surgical centers and dental academic and research institutes. The hospital segment highly contributes for the growth of the global dental cement market, since in majority of the countries hospitals have well developed infrastructure with all facilities. The dental clinics are highly present in few countries of Asia Pacific and hence Asia Pacific contributes highly of the growth of the dental clinics in terms of end users. The dental ambulatory surgical centers and dental academic and research institutes contribute significantly for the growth of global dental cements market.The global dental cement market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa by geography. The North America dominates the global dental cements market. The well-developed infrastructure of hospitals, insurance policies and constant research and development are the factors which drive the growth of the market in North America. Europe is the second largest region, in terms of revenue contributing for the growth for the market. Further Asia Pacific is expected to contribute highly for the growth global dental cement market due to rising medical tourism in the regions has attracted many individuals to avail dental treatment in this region. Latin America and Middle East & Africa contribute significantly for the growth of the market due to rising healthcare infrastructure, increase in the disposable income and also rising awareness regarding aesthetic looks.Request For Discount On This Report:Major players operating in the global dental cements market are 3M, Danaher Corporation, Dentsply Sirona, Ivoclar Vivadent AG, SHOFU Dental GmbH, BISCO, Inc., SDI Limited, DMG Chemisch-Pharmazeutische Fabrik GmbH, FGM Produtos Odontologicos, Medental International, Inc. and others. These players are adopting organic and in-organic growth strategies to expand their product offerings, strengthen their geographical reach, increase customer base and garner market share.About us:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Neonatal Intensive Care Market Outlook and Growth Forecast for the Period 2017-2025 MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/4255 https://www.mrrse.com/neonatal-intensive-care-market https://www.mrrse.com/ Presently, the growing occurrence of premature births across the world is becoming a key factor which is creating demand for proper neonatal intensive care. Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has freshly broadcasted a study titled Neonatal Intensive Care Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 2025 which analyses the historical trends in the neonatal intensive care market and offers a detailed forecast for the period 2017-2025.Request for a free sample copy of this research report @Newborn babies with medical disorders such as heart problems, infections or birth defects are also be concerned in the NICU. It has been analyzed that growing number of applications of neonatal medical care equipment and devices has been envisioned to augment the demand for neonatal intensive care. According to the report key findings, the global neonatal intensive care market to expand at a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period of 2017-2025. In 2017, the market had been valued at a US$5.9 bn, which could attain a valuation of US$9.0 bn until the end of 2027, finds the study.Research InclusionThis 227-page intelligent study provides clear overview of the market by highlighting key drivers, trends and factors associated with the market and helping in market expansion throughout the given forecast tenure. For a clear understanding, the report majorly focuses on some of the prime regions including the Middle East and Africa (MEA), Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and Latin America. For each regional segment, the market size for future years has been analyzed which is based on revenue and market development between 2017 and 2026. Moreover, the market has been analyzed on the basis of segments such as product type, end-user and regions.On the basis of geography, analysts predict that emerging regions such as the Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa undergoing a rising occurrence of epidemics causing gestation problems such as preterm birth, which as a result displays maximum opportunities in the worldwide neonatal intensive care market. The report also adds that North America could take the leading position in the market due to the rise in government funding and improving responsiveness about childcare in the region.Browse the entire report in detail @On the basis of product type segmentation, the world neonatal intensive care market could be categorized into catheters, phototherapy equipment, respiratory devices, neonatal monitoring devices, convertible warmers and incubators, incubators, and infant warmers. Amongst, the respiratory devices segment estimated to continue its dominance until the end of the forecast period.For its readers, the report also examines competition landscape in the global market of neonatal intensive care and profiles some of the key players operating in the market along with details such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, and recent developments. They are Becton, Dickinson and Company, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Utah Medical Products Inc, C. R. Bard, Inc., Cook Medical, Medtronic plc., Teleflex Incorporated, AngioDynamics, Inc., Vygon (UK) Ltd., and Smiths Group plc.About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State Street Suite 700Albany, NY 12207 (United States)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite: Latest Research: Potassium Sorbate Market Focusing on Size, Share, Growth, Trends, Key Players and Forecast to 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=13142 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/potassium-sorbate-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Market Dynamics of Potassium Sorbate Market:Increasing demand of processed food is one of the major driver behind the rising demand of potassium sorbate in global market. This driver is influencing food manufacturing companies to offer the products which has longer shelf life as it is used as preservative in their products. On the other side in terms of trends, mostly the potassium sorbate is gaining importance because of increase in consumption of baked food, processed fruits, vegetables and fast food products.. Excessive consumption of potassium sorbate causes health problems such as nutritional deficiencies, problems of vomiting, diarrhea etc. which may restrain the market growth in the near future.Potassium sorbate is a kind of salt or chemical that has wide applications in food and beverages as a preservative, as a chemical for industrial purpose and as a type of solution in personal care products. Demand of potassium sorbate in market is primarily increased in food industry where it has greater demand in preprocessed food. In terms of its functionality it is used as a preservative to avoid the food from spoilage as it prime function is to prevent food and beverages from growth of fungus, microbes, mold, yeast etc. The reason behind its excessive usage in food industry is because it does not make any effect in terms of taste, color and smell of food and protect the food from decomposition, which is driving the market growth in the near future.Request For Report Brochure For Latest Industry Insights @Market Segmentation of Potassium Sorbate Market:Potassium sorbate market is segmented on two different basis which includes types and application. As per the types it includes granule, powder and liquid form. Among these segments, granules segment contributes the largest market share. Market segment on the basis of application includes food & beverages, pharmaceutical products, personal care and industrial usage. Further the food & beverage segment is sub-segmented into bakery, dairy products, canned foods carbonated beverages, non-carbonated beverages & powdered mixes. Major demand of potassium sorbate is from the side of food processing industry followed by pharmaceutical and cosmetic sector.On analyzing the demand of potassium sorbate, it is observed that highest percentage of its application is in canned fruit and vegetable products, canned meat, desserts and from dairy sector which includes products like cheese, ice-cream, yogurt etc. Results of pie chart show that majority of share in market of potassium is from food & beverage industry. It is due to increasing demand of processed food products among growing population in emerging economies of world. On the other side, potassium sorbate is also gaining demand in wine industry where it is used in fermentation process and it also used as a stabilizer in beverage industry to prevent the drinks from secondary fermentation and reinfection. Similarly in personal care products it is used in shampoo, lotion, cream etc. It is also used in industrial coatings to prevent the industrial products from fungus, yeast, mold etc.Regional Outlook of Potassium Sorbate:On the basis of geographical market segment, it is segmented into seven different regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia-Pacific region, Japan and Middle East and Africa. Asia-Pacific region is expected to be lucrative market. China is expected to account for major share in terms of volume contribution. On the other side in terms of consumption, U.S. is expected to be the largest consumer of potassium sorbate in the world followed by European region.Obtain Report Details @Key Market Players in Potassium Sorbate Market:Major players in Potassium Sorbate are APAC Chemical Corporation, FBC Industries, Inc., Parchem fine & specialty chemicals, WANGLONG CHEMICALS, Sorbic International PLC, Jinneng Science and Technology Company Limited, ICIS, TENGZHOU AOLONGCHEMICAL CO., LTD. and Lubon Industry Co., Ltd.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is leader in analytics, research, and advisory services for Fortune 500 companies, scores of high potential startups, and financial institutions. Our success stories have proven why we are a preeminent provider of cutting-edge syndicated and customized research services. Leverage the best of our seasoned research analysts who hold a keen interest and enviable expertise of almost 4 million hours in global, regional, and local market intelligence.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany, NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: U.S. Nutraceuticals Market to Amass Revenues More Than US$102.6 bn Through 2017-2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=22325 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/us-nutraceuticals-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The U.S. nutraceuticals market has been foreseen in a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) to witness mergers and acquisitions focused upon as an overall approach taken to secure a strong position in the industry. This strategy has been expected to bode well for players looking to improve their market share and branch out their product portfolio. With a view to reflect current trends of the market, a number of manufacturers could reposition their brands or launch new products in the industry. Offering a product with enhanced functional properties and in multiple flavors has been anticipated to come out as a key differentiation strategy of the market.Request For Report Brochure For Latest Industry Insights @TMR foretells the U.S. nutraceuticals market to expand to a whopping US$102.6 bn by the end of 2024, rising at a 5.30% CAGR during the completion of the forecast tenure 2016-2024. In 2017, the market had held a valuation of US$71.1 bn. In terms of product, functional foods have been predicted to exhibit their prominence in the market while being valued at a US$38.2 bn by the final forecast year.Demand Surges with Shift in Focus from Treatment to Daily Preventative MeasuresOne of the important trends observed in the U.S. nutraceuticals market is offering ready-to-eat and more convenient products. Top players such as Amway Enterprises, Herbalife International, and General Mills, Inc. could make their presence known in the market.The U.S. nutraceuticals market has been prognosticated to gain from the proactive attitude of consumers toward preventive healthcare. Nutraceuticals could find an increased adoption because of their beneficial approach to prevent long and short-term diseases. Rising population of baby boomers in the U.S. could bring in ample of demand in the market owing to their need of safer and healthier food products. The launch of new functional foods adding more functionality to traditional food products has been projected to increase the demand for nutraceuticals and also create new product categories.Obtain Report Details @Market Saturation and Stable Revenue of Key Products Interfere with GrowthThe relatively stable revenue of key products such as iodized salt, fortified wheat, and supplements and their mature status in the industry could be among primary factors arresting the growth of the U.S. nutraceuticals market. False health claims and negative publicity of certain products have also been forecast to hinder market growth in the coming years. Another factor that could drop the demand for nutraceuticals is the use of artificial favoring agents and preservatives and extensive processing techniques.However, the escalating popularity of multicultural cuisine as a result of the growing demand for a range of different food options has been prophesied to set the tone for a valuable growth in the U.S. nutraceuticals market. This could be particularly true in areas where the spending power is high. Furthermore, the rising preference for on-the-go foods to catch up with busy work schedules has been envisaged to create rewarding opportunities in the market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is leader in analytics, research, and advisory services for Fortune 500 companies, scores of high potential startups, and financial institutions. Our success stories have proven why we are a preeminent provider of cutting-edge syndicated and customized research services. Leverage the best of our seasoned research analysts who hold a keen interest and enviable expertise of almost 4 million hours in global, regional, and local market intelligence.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany, NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Industrial Motor Market Analysis: Demand, Research, Survey and Industry Forecast to 2026 https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=355 https://www.factmr.com/report/355/industrial-motor-market https://www.factmr.com/checkout/355/S https://www.factmr.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/factmr/ The market for Industrial Motor Market has been undergoing a transitional phase over the recent past. The continual advancements in technologies and the swift increase in infrastructural development projects have influenced the demand for Industrial Motor Market substantially over the past few years. The swift rise in urbanization and the significant increase in the disposable income of people are likely to maintain the demand pace of Industrial Motor Market in the near future. The augmenting interest of investors, government funding, and the rising trend of automation are also projected to reflect positively on this market in the years to come.Request Sample Report @As per the new study by Fact.MR, the global market for industrial motor is likely to experience slow growth during 2017-2026. By 2026 end, the global market for industrial motor is projected to bring in US$ 14,959.1 million revenue. Stringent regulations on energy conservation and rising prices of electricity are driving the demand for energy-efficient industrial motor. However, the high cost of industrial motor as compared to the conventional motor, and high cost of installation are some of the factors hampering the global market for industrial motor.6 Forecast Highlights on Global Industrial Motor Market1- Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) is expected to be the largest region in the global industrial motor market during the forecast period 2017-2026. Owing to the rapid infrastructure development and industrialization in the countries such as India and China, APEJ is anticipated to witness the growth.2- North America and Europe are also expected to witness the growth in the global industrial motor market. New oil reserves in North America is driving the demand for industrial motor in oil and gas industry. Also, stringent government regulation in the region for saving energy and electricity is driving the demand for energy-efficient industrial motor.3- IE2 industrial motor is expected to witness the highest growth in the global industrial motor market. By the end of 2026, IE2 is estimated to surpass US$ 4,800 million revenue.4- Pumps and Fans are expected to account for nearly half of the revenue share by the end of 2017. Pumps and fans are estimated to surpass US$ 7,600 million revenue by the end of 2026.5- Among various motors, DC Brushless is expected to be the largest type of industrial motor. Between 2017 and 2026, DC Brushless motor is estimated to surpass US$ 1,900 million incremental opportunity.6- Commercial HVAC is expected to emerge as the biggest end user in the global industrial motor market. Commercial HVAC is anticipated to surpass US$ 4,400 million revenue towards the end of 2026.Browse Full Report with TOC @Table of Contents:Global Economic OutlookGlobal Industrial Motor Market - Executive SummaryGlobal Industrial Motor Market Overview3.1. Introduction3.1.1. Global Industrial Motor Market Taxonomy3.1.2. Global Industrial Motor Market Definition3.2. Global Industrial Motor Market Size (US$ Mn) and Forecast, 2012-20263.2.1. Global Industrial Motor Market Y-o-Y Growth3.3. Global Industrial Motor Market Dynamics3.4. Supply Chain3.5. Cost Structure3.6. Global MEPS Timeline3.7. Service Provider List3.8. Product Lifecycle Analysis3.9. Key Participants Market Presence (Intensity Map) By RegionGlobal Industrial Motor Market Analysis and Forecast 2012-20264.1. Global Industrial Motor Market Size and Forecast By Efficiency, 2012-20264.1.1. IE1 Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region4.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.1.2. IE2 Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region4.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.1.3. IE3 Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2026Continued..Buy this Report @Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Follow Us on Linkedin: Automotive Glass Market 2018 Global Industry Players Nippon Sheet Glass, Vitro, Xinyi, Guardian, Fuyao Glass, Asahi Glass, Central Glass Analysis to 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2045 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/automotive-glass-market-2045 Automotive Glass Market Analysis Research Report 2018 provides comprehensive information on Global Automotive Glass Industry Size, Share, and Growth, Trends analysis with forecast to 2023. Global Automotive Glass Market is segmented by type (Tempered glass, Laminated glass), vehicle type (Passenger car, Light commercial vehicle, Heavy Commercial vehicle), By Application (Windscreen, Sidelite, Backlite, Sunroof) and Region.Automotive Glass Global Market Overview:Automotive glass is the component of vehicle that contributes to the safety and stiffness. Automotive glass includes different components such as windscreen, side and rear windows, and roof of the vehicle with glass panel. The main property of automotive glass is to provide a clear vision of the road and the nearby objects. Mainly two types of automotive glasses are used in automobile that includes tempered safety glass and laminated safety glass.Automotive Glass Key Players Analyzed In Report:Nippon Sheet Glass Co. Ltd (Japan), Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V. (Mexico), Xinyi Glass Holdings Limited (Hong Kong), Guardian Industries Corp (U.S.), Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co. Ltd (China), Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. (Japan), Central Glass Co. Ltd (Tokyo), Saint Global S.A. (Paris), Olimpia Auto Glass Inc.( Turkey), Shatterprufe (South Africa).Get Sample Copy of Report on Automotive Glass Market 2018 spread across 98 Pages, Profiling Key Companies and Supported with Tables and Figures atGrowing Demand for Automotive Glass:The growth of automotive industry leads to the increased demand for automotive glass market. Rising production and sales of vehicles are likely to result in increased usage of the automotive glass. Factors such as the growing demand for luxury and value added features such as electronically switch abled smart glasses and other are some of the factors driving the automotive glass market. Additionally, benefits such as thermal comfort and noise reduction offered by these will enhance automotive glass market. Moreover, the rising need for weight reduction in cars, is expected to fuel the demand for ultra-thin & tough windshield glasses for sophisticated vehicle models.Restraints in Automotive Glass:However, several manufacturers face various difficulties in getting NOC from these departments. Moreover, the manufacturers need to obtain these certificate to sell or export their products to other countries such as USs DOT, Chinas CCC, Brazils INMETRO, Japans JAS, Indias RTO and among others. Therefore, owing to this factors, the market has faced various challenges that could obstruct the market growth.Market Segmentation:The scope of global automotive glass market is segmented into three major segments which are explained below:By Glass Type:Tempered GlassLaminated GlassBy Vehicle Type:Passenger CarLight Commercial VehicleHeavy Commercial VehicleBy Application:WindscreenSideliteBackliteSunroofAccess More Report Details at:Regional Analysis:Geographically, Asia-Pacific is a major revenue generator of the global automotive glass market, where China, Japan and India are considered the prominent countries for the market, owing to the growing population, huge exports, rapid urbanization and technological advancements. Moreover, the rising preference for gorilla glass for high end premium vehicles, will create an opportunity for the specialized automotive market to meet the standard for the glass. North America is the second leading market of automotive glass market and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.19% during the forecast period.Target Audience:OrganizationsManufacturerResearch Institute / Education InstitutePotential InvestorsAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Company Name: Market Research FutureAddress: Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers, Pune - 411028Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comPhone: +1 646 845 9312 Electricity prices for socially unsecured categories of consumers will be reduced in Armenia, the press office of Tashir Group reported. "After negotiating with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Tashir Group has decided to lower the price by 10 drams per one KWh for socially unsecured people who consume less than 250 KWh a month," the statement says. According to the press release, the difference will be subsidized by Tashir Group. In accordance with the Public Services Regulatory Commissions decision, the electric power price for Armenias population was lowered from 46.2 drams to 44.98 drams per one KWh, ARKA reported. "For socially unsecured consumers the following prices were set: 40 drams for daytime consumption and 30 drams for nighttime consumption," the company says in its press release. Global Activated Carbon Market Analysis Report : Key Trends, Opportunities, Players and Forecast to 2023 https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/activated-carbon-market/report-sample https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/activated-carbon-market https://www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/chemicals-and-materials https://www.psmarketresearch.co Some of the major factors driving the growth of the global activated carbon market are the increasing demand of activated carbon for air purification and water purification, and increasing food and beverage industries compliance for activated carbon.Request sample copy of report here :The powdered activated carbon product segment leads the global activated carbon market, whereas granular activated carbon product segment is anticipated to grow with the fastest rate in the global activated carbon market.The water treatment application segment is the fastest growing segment in the global activated carbon market. The major factors behind the fastest growth of the water treatment application segment are increasing concern and awareness regarding the purity of water, and strict government norms for the treatment of industrial effluent.Explore more about Global Activated Carbon Market at:Activated carbon refers to the processed carbon having small pores and increased surface area. The high surface area of the activated carbon is utilized for the adsorption of chemical impurities. Activated carbon has several applications in sewage treatment, water treatment, medicine, gas purification, and metal purification and extraction.Geographically, Asia-Pacific dominates the global activated carbon market, owing to high consumption of activated carbon for water and gas purification in the region, and high growth of food and beverage industries.Browse Related Market Research Reports at:The key players operating in the global activated carbon market are Carbon Resources LLC, Advanced Emissions Solutions Inc., Kureha Corporation, Donau Chemie AG, Clarimex, Haycarb PLC, CarboTech AC GmbH, Arkema Group, Kuraray Chemical Co. Ltd., WestRock Company, Siemens AG, Osaka Gas Chemicals Group, Cabot Corporation, and Veolia.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: Steam Autoclaves Market Opportunity Assessment, Market Challenges, Key vendor analysis, Vendor landscape by 2024 https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/500 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/500 Steam Autoclaves Market size will exceed USD 3 billion by 2024; as per a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Rising incidences of nosocomial infections coupled with soaring number of surgical procedures will drive steam autoclaves market growth over the forecast timeframe. Enhanced efficiency of steam sterilization owing to improved penetration power, and higher temperature, leading to elimination of microorganisms will increase adoption rate.Growing Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) floor framework adoption by hospitals and other healthcare establishments for scrutinizing the increasing rate of hospital acquired infections will propel growth. The adoption of CSSD framework also ensures sterilization of all medical supplies and equipment used in hospitals, fueling steam autoclaves market growth.Request sample copy of this report @Growing requirement for managing the increasing medical and bio-hazardous waste generated by pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceutical companies along with healthcare setting such as hospitals, life science facilities will accelerate market growth.However, high costs associated with large capacity and specialized autoclaves might hinder market growth. Dearth of appropriate implementation of sterilization guidelines established by regulatory authorities such as U.S. FDA, CE will restrain growth. Furthermore, scarcity of standard disinfection and sterilization guidelines in developing countries of Latin America and Asia Pacific such as China should obstruct industry expansion.Table top steam autoclaves market is prophesied to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. Less space requirement and higher convenience in operation will drive table top steam autoclaves market over the coming years.High pressure steam autoclaves market will witness significant growth owing to its ability of handling all type of bulk sterilization requirements coupled with robust construction. Increasing demand for bulk sterilization in medicine, agriculture, and pharmaceutical sectors will favor business growth.Make Inquiry about this report @Increasing demand for portable autoclaves will stimulate growth of floor standing autoclaves market over the coming years. Big interior chamber allowing disinfection of high sterilization requiring goods along with low charging height will augment adoption rate.Laboratory steam autoclaves market is foreseen to witness lucrative growth over the forecast timeframe. The increasing amount of waste emitted from pharmaceutical companies and healthcare facilities such as clinics resulting in rising demand for optimal waste management of biohazardous and medical waste will drive laboratory steam autoclave market over the coming years.Germany steam autoclaves market will witness significant growth over the coming years due to rapid technological advancements and rising funding in biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industry in the country. Well established healthcare infrastructure, rising healthcare spending will positively impact industry growth.Mexico steam autoclaves market will manifest robust growth attributed to the growing incidence of nosocomial infections. Healthcare infrastructure development along with geographical proximity to U.S. will propel industry growth.Few notable industry players include, Priorclave, Nuve, Astell Scientific, Steris, Dental X, LTE Scientific, Medisafe International, Panasonic Healthcare, Zhermack, and Melag. The industry participants are consolidating their market position by focusing on development of low-cost, high capacity steam autoclave to satisfy consumer demand.Steam autoclaves market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD million from 2013 to 2024, for the following segments:Steam autoclaves market, by configurationo Table top steam autoclaveso Vertical steam autoclaveso Horizontal steam autoclaveso Floor standing steam autoclaveso High pressure steam autoclavesSteam autoclaves market, by applicationo Medical steam autoclaveso Hospital steam autoclaveso Clinical steam autoclaveso Medical waste management steam autoclaveso Dental steam autoclaveso Laboratory steam autoclaveso Pharmaceuticalo Biohazardous waste managementThe above information is provided for the following regions and countries: North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo Germanyo UKo Italyo Franceo Spaino Italyo Switzerland Asia Pacifico Chinao Japan Latin Americao Brazilo Mexico Middle East and Africao South AfricaGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.com Automotive Rain Sensors Market: 2018 Global Key Players, Size, Share, Trends, And Key Country Forecast To 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4646 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/automotive-rain-sensors-market-4646 Automotive Rain Sensors Market Analysis Research Report 2018 provides comprehensive information on Global Automotive Rain Sensors Industry Size, Share, and Growth, Trends analysis with forecast to 2023. Global Automotive Rain Sensors Market is segmented by Channel Type (Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Aftermarket), Vehicle Type (Passenger, Light Commercial and Heavy Commercial) and Region.Automotive Rain Sensors Global Market Overview:The automotive rain sensors are one of the fastest growing sectors in automotive industry, especially in OEM (original equipment manufacturing) section. Rain sensors on board luxury cars. The rain sensors used in automobile are designed to be small and are usually fitted behind the cars front window. The sound rain sensors are being extensively deployed in the automobiles. These sensors detect the sound of the dropping rain. The sensor detects the vibration which is being generated when the rain hits on the surface of the automotive.Get Sample Copy of Report on Automotive Rain Sensors Market 2018 spread across 111 Pages, Profiling Key Companies and Supported with Tables and Figures atAutomotive Rain Sensors Key Players Analyzed In Report:Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. (Germany), Denso Corporation (Japan), Pacific Industrial Co. Ltd (Japan), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Valeo S.A. (France), TRW Automotive (U.S), Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (Japan), Vishay Intertechnology (U.S), Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (Japan), Melexis Microelectronic Systems (Belgium) and The Kostal Group (Germany).Growing Demand for Automotive Rain Sensors:The growing automotive industry and increasing demand for driver safety & comfort in automobiles, with growing adoption of electrical systems has fueled the demand of sensors in automobiles. These are expected to drive the rain sensor market during the forecast period. Improvement in the technological advancement, rise in production of vehicles, and increase in demand for luxury features are the key factors that drive the automotive rain sensor market. Implementation of automotive rain sensors is driven by the rise in usage of advanced electrical features in vehicles. Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are incorporating the rain sensing wiper technology in vehicles due to increasing demand. Previously, automotive rain sensors were a supplementary comfort feature. However, their demand has increased due to the rise in the number of road accidents, across the world. The overall cost of vehicles has increased due to the integration of advanced electrical feature, which acts as a restraint to the automotive rain sensor market.Restraints in Automotive Rain Sensors:However, their demand has increased due to the rise in the number of road accidents, across the world. The overall cost of vehicles has increased due to the integration of advanced electrical feature, which acts as a restraint to the automotive rain sensor market.Market Segmentation:The Automotive Rain Sensors Market can be segmented in to two key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation by Channel Type - Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and AftermarketSegmentation by Vehicle Type - Passenger, Light Commercial and Heavy CommercialSegmentation by Regions: North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Regional Analysis:North America is projected to be the largest market for automotive rain sensors market, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. Germany leads the European market and China and Japan leads the Asia Pacific market. In North America, the current market for this product is small as compared with the European market. In North America, the product will trickle down from the luxury car segment to the common family vehicle segment as the technology improves and the product becomes better known, thereby driving the growth of the market. The aftermarket for automotive rain sensors is also gaining traction in the North America region.The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow in the automotive rain sensors market owing to the rapid technological advancements and the rise in the disposable income of the people in the region. Increasing disposable income and launches of new car models by original equipment manufacturers is also contributing towards the growth of the market. The nations such as China and India account for a major chunk of the global vehicle production.Target Audience:OrganizationsManufacturerResearch Institute / Education InstitutePotential InvestorsAccess More Report Details at:Major Table of Content:1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology2.1 Scope Of The Study2.1.1 Definition2.1.2 Research Objective2.1.3 Assumptions2.1.4 Limitations2.2 Research Process2.2.1 Primary Research2.2.2 Secondary Research2.3 Market Size Estimation2.4 Forecast Model3 Market Dynamics3.1 Market Drivers3.2 Market Inhibitors3.3 Supply/Value Chain Analysis3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis4 Global Automotive Rain Sensors Market, By Channel Type4.1 Introduction4.2 Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)4.3 Aftermarket5 Global Automotive Rain Sensors Market, By Vehicle Type5.1 Introduction5.2 Passenger5.3 Light Commercial5.3 Heavy CommercialContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Company Name: Market Research FutureAddress: Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers, Pune - 411028Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comPhone: +1 646 845 9312 Universal 3D Concrete Printing Market by Concrete Type, Application, End-Use by Region Top Key Player with the Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1992 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1992 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/3d-concrete-printing-market-1992 Market research future published a cooked research report on Global 3D Concrete Printing Market that contains the information from 2017 to 2023. Global 3D concrete printing market is expected to grow with the CAGR of approximately 14.05% from 2017 to 2023.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 85 market data tables and figures spread in 135 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Global 3D Concrete Printing Market Information from 2017 to 2023"Receive Sample Copy@3D concrete printing is an advanced and innovative method used in construction to design building components with the help of 3D concrete printers. The printing of buildings has a lot of advantages when compared to traditional construction methods. Increasing FDI in construction in emerging nations driving the growth of the market. According to United States Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP), FDI was valued at USD 1.76 trillion in 2015. This accounted for a 38% increase compared with 2014. Such flow of FDI in the construction sector across the globe has ultimately resulted in the growth of the 3D concrete printing market. Additionally, rapid industrialization and urbanization in the emerging economies such as China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, and Mexico also impacted positively on the growth of the market. However, mobility is the factor that may hamper the growth of the market.Ask for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports. Dus Architects (The Netherlands) Winsun Global (China) Skanska AB (Sweden) Cybe Construction (The Netherlands) Foster + Partners (London) Sika AG (Switzerland) HeidelbergCement AG (Germany) LafargeHolcim Ltd (Switzerland), Balfour Beatty (U.S.) Apis Cor (Russian Federation).Ask Question to our Expertise Researcher @North America region dominates the global 3D concrete printing marketOn the basis of region, the global 3D concrete printing market is segmented as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World (ROW). North America accounted for the largest market share of 35.63% in 2016, with a market value of USD 10.0 million and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.20% during the forecast period. Growing consumer preference for green buildings and sustained investments in commercial real estate are the factors driving the growth of the market in North America region.Europe is the second largest market for the global 3D concrete printing. Increasing up gradation of the existing infrastructure, rising environmental concerns and the growing interest in sustainable construction, are the factors driving the growth of the market in European region. Europe accounted for the market share of 29.4% in 2016, with a market value of USD 82 million. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to be the fastest growing region for the 3D concrete printing. It accounted for a market value of USD 6.0 million in 2016; it is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.51%.This research report provides insights, on various levels of analysis such as industry analysis, market share analysis leading market players and their profiles. This report also helps in studying the target segments by providing views on emerging & high-growth segments and market conclusion. Together the market data comprise and discuss with the basic assessments on the competitive scenarios & strategies, of the 3D concrete printing market, including the high-growth regions, countries and their political, economic and technological environments. Furthermore the project report also provides the views over the historical market values as well as, pricing and cost analysis of the same.Access Full Report@About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Life Re-Insurance Market Segments, Opportunity, Growth and Forecast By End-use Industry 2018-2022 https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=78299 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=78299 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=78299 www.researchnreports.com The report titled Life Re-Insurance Market Segments, Opportunity, Growth and Forecast By End-use Industry 2017-2022 provides an in-depth analysis of the Global Life Re-insurance. It is a comprehensive guide to the market size and growth prospects. The report assesses the trends of life re-insurance segment globally. The report covers specific insights on the market size, penetration, drivers, developments and future outlook of the life re-insurance globally and in the key regions where the market is established and growing. Also, the key opportunities, the factors driving growth of the market and challenges being faced by the players in the industry are outlined and analyzed in the forecast period (2017-22). The report also considers market environment factors, details industry structure, evaluates market share and further, key players of the industry like Swiss Re, SCOR and Hannover Re and Munich Re are profiled.Life Re-Insurance Market is a highly competitive sector and it is critically important to the viability of the life insurance industry. It is an essential tool that allows life insurance companies to spread their risk and provide dynamic valuable products and services to the consumers. Reinsurance is sometimes used for tax mitigation and other reasons. A company that purchases reinsurance pays a premium to the reinsurance company, who in exchange would pay a share of the claims incurred by the purchasing company. Almost all insurance companies have a reinsurance program. The ultimate goal of that program is to reduce their exposure to loss by passing part of the risk of loss to a reinsurer or a group of reinsurers.Get Sample Copy of this Report @The Life Re-Insurance Market is growing steadily and it holds immense business potential with the rapid pace of innovation and wider acceptance. The business of life reinsurance spans the globe and taps the worlds largest and most sophisticated financial institutions. The growth of the life reinsurance market is driven by a number of factors that include product diversification, growth in developing countries and technological advancements. Acknowledging these factors, it could be said that the life reinsurance business will certainly gain importance in the years to come.While in some countries like the US, UK and Canada, the demand for life reinsurance will continue to grow, the demand for the same in developing countries is likely to witness slow growth phase. As the recessionary period is giving way to sustained economic recovery, new life contracts are being signed and consolidation patterns are reshaping the supply side of the market globally. Growing customers, investment banks and private equity funds are restructuring the Life Re-Insurance Market thereby creating new allies and partnerMarket industry, focusing on the main regionsNorth AmericaUSUKEuropeAsiaEmerging MarketsMENAThis report focuses on the top players in global market, likeSwiss ReSCORMunich ReHannover ReEnquiry before Buying:In addition, market attractiveness according to country, end-user, and other criteria is also provided, allowing the reader to gauge the most promising or profitable areas for investments. The report also provides a detailed overview of the competitive landscape, wherein detailed business profiles of some of the key companies in the market are included. The intensity of competition in the market, threat of new players, entry barriers for new players, and areas of improvement based on previous data about popular strategies observed in the past few years are also examined in detail.Table of Content:Global Life Re-Insurance Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1: Life Re-Insurance 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: AppendixFor Discount Click Here:Also in this report, the competitive landscape of the market has been presented. In this section, the prominent players operating in Life Re-Insurance have been presented. The research study is a compilation of primary and secondary research, which allows the readers and players to have a strong understanding of the overall market.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(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr, Houston, TX, Pin - 77064,Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com,Website: Corporate Online Language Learning Market in China to Expand at a CAGR of 21.58% during the period 2017-2021 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1180475 https://www.researchmoz.us/corporate-online-language-learning-market-in-china-2017-2021-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/corporate-online-language-learning-market-in-china-2017-2021-report.html https://marketinfo247.wordpress.com/ Albany, NY, 20th June : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Corporate Online Language Learning Market in China 2017-2021" globally.Online language learning comprises digital content and products that facilitate the learning of languages through ICT tools, which include mobile apps, activities, e-books, games, videos, audio clips, digital software, learning lab equipment, and online language training.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The online platform is interactive, allows real-time feedback, and enhances learning processes, as it involves different formats of learning. Among the many languages learned in China, English has emerged as the most preferred language to learn, followed by Japanese and other languages.Technavios analysts forecast the corporate online language learning market in China to grow at a CAGR of 21.58% during the period 2017-2021.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the corporate online language learning market in China for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of digital foreign language learning products and services provided by the language learning institutions and online language learning service providers.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEAView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Technavio's report, Corporate Online Language Learning Market in China 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendorsEF Education FirstHills LearningLinguatronicsRosetta StoneOther prominent vendorsBerlitzinlingua InternationaliTutorGroupLearnCubeOKpandaTransparent LanguageMarket driverCross-border communicationsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeHigh competition from traditional language trainersFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendVirtual business platformFor a full, detailed list, view our reportBrowse Report @Key questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?ResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. Nachiket Ghumare,ResearchMoz,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States,Tel: +1-518-621-2074,USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948,Email: sales@researchmoz.us,Follow me on : Future Energy East Africa celebrates 20 years in Nairobi in September with focus on regional access to energy 'Private sector can play a significant role in providing basic energy access' http://www.future-energy-eastafrica.com Were not only celebrating 20 years of gathering energy experts in the East African region says Future Energy East Africa event director Claire OConnell, but along with our longstanding partners, we are celebrating the accomplishments of the power industry and looking forward to continue improving access to energy for all, from mini-grid to utility scale. Access to energy and the speed at which the region is achieving this is a strong theme of the 20th edition of the Future Energy East Africa conference and exhibition, formerly known as EAPIC or the East African Power Industry Convention, which returns to the KICC in Nairobi from 12-13 September.Targets very ambitiousThe energy sector in the region, and in particular the renewable energy sector, is very much in flux says Wim Jonker Klunne, Lead Coordinator for EEP Africa (the Energy and Environment Partnership covering Southern and East Africa) and a Future Energy East Africa advisory board member.He adds: I do see a very clear increase in the attention to renewable energy and in particular on the possible role for the private sector in this. In the region most governments have set targets for universal access to energy. But we all know that, to say the least, these targets are very ambitious. If providing energy access will be based on extending the national grid only, I really doubt whether those deadlines will be met.However, very positively, Wim Jonker Klunne continues, we do see the first signs of discussions between government and private sector on how they, together, can advance this access to energy. From EEP Africa we have supported more than 200 projects in Southern and East Africa that proves that the private sector can play a significant role in providing basic energy access.Leading energy forumA firm favourite and a fixture on the regions power calendar for the last 20 years, Future Energy East Africa will once again host many of the regions leading energy decision makers from 12-13 September 2018. This leading energy forum comprises a high-level, strategic conference focusing on energy access, finance, renewables and transmission & distribution with session titles that include:- Panel discussion with East Africas decision makers: What is the energy access road map for each East African country?- Alternative energy solutions: An integrated approach - Grid and off-grid electrification- How commercial investors get comfortable with the risk and economics of mini-grid companies across Africa- Embracing digital disruption what have we learnt from the digital utility shift?- Changing the investment paradigm through a creditworthy intermediary off taker- Tariff models that encourage economic growth and private sector participationFuture Energy East Africas expo will feature some 80 leading global and local technology and services providers, including several country pavilions, as well as free, technical workshops for visitors. Co-located is the invitation-only Utility CEO Forum: East Africa, which will provide a unique, private meeting and discussion space for utility leaders in the region.Future Energy East Africa is recognised as a distinctive gathering of stakeholders within the power value chain which includes governments, power generation companies, transmission and distribution companies, off takers, developers, investors, equipment manufacturers and providers, technology providers, EPCs, legal and consulting firms all with a shared goal of supporting the on-going implementation of finding lasting solutions to East Africas energy challenges.Future Energy East Africa dates and location:Strategic conference: 12-13 September 2018Venue: KICC, Nairobi, KenyaFuture Energy East Africa is organised by Spintelligent, a multi-award-winning Cape Town-based exhibition and conference producer across the continent in the infrastructure, real estate, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Other well-known events by Spintelligent include African Utility Week, Future Energy Nigeria (formerly WAPIC), Agritech Expo Zambia, Kenya Mining Forum, Nigeria Mining Week and DRC Mining Week. Spintelligent is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group.Senior Communications Manager: Annemarie RoodbolTelephone: +27 21 700 3558Email: annemarie.roodbol@spintelligent.comWebsite:Postal address: PO Box 321, Steenberg, 7947, South Africa Endobronchial Ultrasound Biopsy Market to Exceed US$ 702.1 Mn by 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=25982 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/endobronchial-ultrasound-biopsy-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=25982 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Endobronchial Ultrasound Biopsy Market - SnapshotPulmonary bronchoscopy and critical care medicines have witnessed substantial improvements in advancements in endoscopic techniques over the last few years. Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) is one such technique that has modernized the pulmonologists ability to sample (biopsy) and visualize the structure around the tracheobronchial tree. The EBUS and endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS TBNA) are relatively new techniques and are effective procedures to evaluate pulmonary nodules, and diagnose lung infections and stages of lung cancer. Additionally, endobronchial ultrasound biopsy is also used to identify other diseases such as tuberculosis and chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder, which can affect the lungs and other respiratory organs. For example, masses in the chest and enlarged lymph nodes, among others.Request Sample of Report:Since its introduction in the early 1980s, the endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has gained acceptance in the rapidly growing fields of gastroenterology and pulmonology. In endoscopic ultrasound, the physician inserts a special bronchoscope through patients mouth into the trachea, which further advances into the two main airways (bronchi) in the lungs. The bronchoscope is fitted with a fine gauge aspiration needle and ultrasound processor. An ultrasound monitor shows real-time images of the blood vessels, airways, lungs, and neighboring lymph nodes. The physician inserts the needle through the bronchial walls to get a sample of cells of the mediastinal lymph nodes. The biopsy samples can be studied to diagnose lung cancer and other diseases. Specimens or samples collected during the biopsy are examined using histological and cytological studies of the respective organ. It is a minimally invasive technique to collect tissue samples for biopsy. These techniques are extensively utilized as they do not cause much discomfort to the patients and in most cases, do not require surgery. Selection of bronchoscope depends on the application and the condition of the organ. In 2016, the global endobronchial ultrasound biopsy market was worth US$ 469.5 Mn and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 4.6% from 2017 to 2025.Read Report Overview:The global endobronchial ultrasound biopsy market is estimated to expand at a rapid pace in the near future. Rise in geriatric population with increasing incidence of diseases that require endoscopic ultrasound procedures, large patient pool with respiratory disorders, and increase in demand for minimally invasive procedures are some drivers of this market. However, cost of medical devices and lack reimbursement policies in developing countries are likely to restrain the market.The endobronchial ultrasound biopsy market is segmented based on product, application, end-user, and region. In terms of product, the global endobronchial ultrasound market is divided into biopsy forceps, cytology brushes, transbronchial aspirational needles, spray catheters, biopsy needles, and others. The transbronchial aspirational needles segment is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period, due to technological advancements and extensive usage of these needles in gastroenterology and pulmonology. Based on application, the market is classified into cancer diagnosis, infection diagnosis, and others. The cancer diagnosis segment is anticipated to dominate the market during the forecast period. In terms of end-user, the market is segregated into hospitals, cancer specialty clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, diagnostic centers, and others. The hospitals segment is expected to expand at a considerable growth rate during the forecast period, due to increase in the number of government and private hospitals and rise in the number of endoscopic ultrasound procedures performed.Request Brochure of Report:Geographically, the endobronchial ultrasound biopsy market is categorized into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is estimated to dominate the global market during the forecast period. Increase in incidences of lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases is projected to fuel the market in the region during the forecast period. The market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at a substantial growth rate during the forecast period, due to increase in health care expenditure in the region. Moreover, low manufacturing cost in China and India has increased production facilities in these countries, thus attracting pharmaceutical and biotechnological giants from across the world.Key players operating in the endobronchial ultrasound biopsy market include Olympus Corporation, Medtronic, Cook Medical, CONMED Corporation, Medi-globe, Veran Medical Technologies, and Boston Scientific Corporation. These leaders have established their stand in the market and enjoy brand loyalty among customers.About us:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Iran has rejected a plan by Russia and Saudi Arabia to increase oil production at a meeting of the OPEC oil cartel this week in response to consumer disgruntlement with rising prices. "I dont believe at this meeting we can reach agreement," Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said. Moscow and Riyadh have proposed reversing most of a 1.8-million-barrels-a-day cut in production that OPEC and other major producers agreed to in 2016 amid recent calls by the United States, China, and other major oil-consuming countries for relief from rising pump prices. But Iran has signaled its opposition along with Iraq, Algeria, and Venezuela, three other influential OPEC members. Zanganeh cited recent demands for a production increase from U.S. President Donald Trump as a reason to oppose it. According to Zanganeh, Trump has "created difficulty for the oil market" by imposing sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, leading to lower production and higher prices. "And now he expects OPEC to change something for better prices. That is not fair. OPEC is an independent organization, not an organization to receive instruction from President Trump.... OPEC is not part of the Department of Energy of the United States," RFE/RL cited the minister as saying. OPEC will meet on June 22 to review the agreement and plans to meet the next day with Russia and other non-OPEC producers that joined the agreement in 2016. Smart Meters Market Burgeoning Industrial Needs 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2447 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2447 https://www.tmrresearch.com/smart-meters-market Global Smart Meters Market: OverviewSmart meters are electronic devices that keep track of electric energy, gas, and water consumption in uniform time intervals and sends the information digitally to utility for monitoring and billing. They have been designed to better understand energy usage and ensure accurate energy bills. Besides this, they are also effective in controlling the levels of radioactive emissions in the eco-system. Smart meters are used for electricity, gas, and water and can be deployed across residential, industrial, and commercial sectors. These meters use technologies such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and automatic meter reading (AMR).Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Smart Meters Market: Key TrendsGovernment policies are playing a vital role in the growth of the global smart meters market. The ever-rising demand for energy in form of electricity is compelling governments worldwide to pay attention to not just its production and transmission but also keep a check on losses due to theft and leakage. This is promoting the installations of smart meters across the globe. In addition, the growing emphasis on energy and water conservation is augmenting the market. The global smart meters market is also supported by the increasing deployment of smart grid. Furthermore, the rising awareness regarding environment conservation is stoking the growth of the global market.On the flip side, the lack of awareness among consumers is limiting the widespread adoption of smart meters. Moreover, the high cost of installation makes end users less willing to switch to these meters from traditional meters, thereby hampering the growth prospects of the market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Smart Meters Market: Market PotentialThe majority of key players in the global smart meters market are enjoying the encouraging policies by governments in several parts of the world to set up smart meters. For instance, with the digitization of the Energy Turnaround Act in July 2016 in Germany, the legislation established guidelines for initial smart meter rollout, which is set to begin in 2017. These guidelines lay the foundation for a new phase in Energiewende. Similarly, in the U.K. in July 2016, British Gas decided to offer free daytime electricity for one day per weekend to over 2 million customers who had smart meters deployed. Such initiatives encourage people around the world to deploy smart meters, thereby boosting the sales.Global Smart Meters Market: Geographical SegmentationThe North America market for smart meters is a highly lucrative marketplace for global participants. Continuous efforts by governments to improve the infrastructure pertaining to electricity, water, and gas supply along with deployment of devices that monitor and prevent their leakage are escalating the growth of the region. Governments in several parts of the U.S., and Mexico are rolling out smart meters at subsidized prices, which in turn is encouraging the growth of the market in North America.Asia Pacific, on the other hand, is an emerging market. The robust growth of the industrial sector and the pressing need for reliable systems to address growing electricity and water scarcity are driving the region. Besides this, the increasing investments in repairing and upgrading aging infrastructure and the booming concept of smart city are supplementing the growth of APAC.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Smart Meters Market: Competition ScenarioThe high capital investment and technical acumen required for the manufacturing and distribution of smart meters is restricting new players from venturing into the global smart meters market. However, government regulations and strategic partnerships could help new players in overcoming high entry barriers. To deal with the high competitive rivalry, players are resorting to strategies such as product innovation and mergers and acquisitions. Some of the key companies operating in the global smart meters market are Itron Inc., Kamstrup A/S, Holley Metering Ltd., Landis+Gyr, Honeywell International Inc., and Toshiba Corporation.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Global Drywall & Gypsum Board Market: Expert Research on Current Scenario, Market Analysis, Product Analysis & Regional Analysis from 2018 To 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5280 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/drywall-and-gypsum-board-market-5280 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/5280 Global Drywall and Gypsum Board Market - OverviewThe global drywall and gypsum board market is growing with the moderate pace; chiefly due to the upsurge in the global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. The global drywall and gypsum board market is booming and expected to gain eminence over the forecast period. The market is forecasted to establish a decent growth by 2023, exceeding its previous growth records in with a remarkable CAGR during the anticipated period.The recent trend in the construction industry shows a substantial rise in the residential construction, and industrial construction expansion. This recent trend has induced the demand in the drywall and gypsum board industry by deviating into a fresh application of drywall and gypsum board rather than just meeting the commercial needs. Furthermore the infrastructural development in growing countries of India, Myanmar, and Indonesia has fuelled the market growth.The market is expected to continue with the similar trends during the forecast period. The major driving factors are accumulative FDI in construction in Asia-Pacific region, and supportive government regulations to boost construction and infrastructure development. The FDI inflows in Asia-pacific region has led to more construction projects and real-estate development. This is backed by the FDI in retail which has further pushed the number of retail outlets in the region. This has induced the demand for drywall and gypsum board in the region.Get Sample Copy @The governments have been endorsing their construction sector to bring development in the country. The emerging nations are particularly bringing several reforms to lift their infrastructure growth and also the real-estate market. Such growth is expected to augment the market growth of drywall and gypsum board.Global Drywall and Gypsum Board Market - Competitive AnalysisThe market for drywall and gypsum has witnessed competition not only from the bigger players in the global market but also from regional and country level players. The small and mid-sized players have observed intense competition from the global players especially in the Asia Pacific market.In March 2018, China National Building Material began gypsum wallboard plant project in Tanzania. The project is a part of its contribution in the governments One bet, one road strategy.In 2018, Novotroitsk Soda Plant started the production of gypsum at its unit in Volga district in the Orenburg region. An investment of USD 39.3 million, was made in the plant. The plant is expected to produce 143,000 t annually when it touches full production capacity by 2021. It is also expected to also create 165 jobs when operational.In March 2018, Lafarge Canada transforms the old Kamloops cement plant to agricultural gypsum producing unit. Lafarge Canada filed an application under the Environmental Management Act to release emissions from gypsum granulator at its plant at Kamloops. The company is expected to produce agricultural gypsum and dry pumice for concrete applications on the site.In 2018, USG rejected an offer made by Knauf (Germany) to buy all of its shares for USD 42 per share in cash or around USD 5.9 billion in total. USG, however described the offer as not required and also that the offer undervalued the company.Access Report Details @Global Drywall and Gypsum Board Market - SegmentsGlobal Drywall and Gypsum Board Market is segmented in to 4 Key dynamics for an easy grasp and enhanced understanding.Segmentation by Product : Comprises Wallboard, Ceiling Board, Pre-Decorated Board, and OthersSegmentation by End-user : Comprises - Residential and Non-residentialSegmentation by Regions : Comprises Geographical regions - NorthAmerica, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Ask for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports. USG Zawawi Drywall LLC SFZ (Oman) Knauf Middle East (Dubai) Gypsemna Co. LLC (Dubai) Global Mining Co. LLC (Oman) Gulf Gypsum Co. (Qatar) National Gypsum Co. (U.S.), Etex Group (Belgium) Lafarge Group (France) Saint - Gobain Gyproc India Ltd (India) Taishan Gypsum Co. (China)This research report provides insights, on various levels of analysis such as industry analysis, and market share analysis for the leading players along with their profiles. It also helps in studying the target segments by providing views on emerging & high-growth segments. The market data comprises the basic assessment of the competitive scenarios & strategies in the global construction lift market, including high-growth regions and/or countries, and political, & economic environments. The project report, further, provides views on both the historical market values and pricing & cost analysis.Global Drywall and Gypsum Board Market - Regional AnalysisThe Asia-Pacific region dominated the global drywall and gypsum board market in 2016. It is also predicted to be the fastest growing region for the drywall and gypsum board. Rising urbanization, rapid industrialization, and advancement in spending capacity are the factors driving the growth of the market in Asia-Pacific region. China is one of the leading markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Growing industrialization and increased population, fuel the demand of residential construction.Moreover, the issuing of constructive policies by the Chinese government helped in lowering the proportion of down payment for second house loans. This has helped the recovery of commercial hand residential construction market. This was backed by the rising demand for environment friendly & sustainable construction and various type of government support. This has fuelled the demand of drywall and gypsum board market in the region.Ask Query @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Surgical Sutures Market Transformation in healthcare devices 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2450 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2450 https://www.tmrresearch.com/surgical-sutures-market Global Surgical Sutures Market: OverviewSurgical sutures are medical tools used to stitch open wounds and close the surgical incision. The growing awareness regarding healthcare, especially in low- and middle-income countries is impacting the global market for surgical sutures. On the basis of product, the global surgical sutures market can be bifurcated into non-automated sutures and automated suturing devices. Non-automated sutures can be absorbable and non-absorbable. Similarly, automated devices are disposable and reusable. Based on applications, the market can be segmented into general surgeries, cardiovascular surgeries, orthopedic surgeries, gynecology surgeries, and ophthalmic surgeries.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Surgical Sutures Market: Key TrendsThe growing prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disorders, and diabetes is leading to the rising number of surgical procedures worldwide. This factor is, thereby, creating a staggering volume of demand for surgical sutures. The increasing focus on research and development activities is facilitating the launch of advanced sutures, which in turn is also working in favor of the market. Besides this, expenditure on the majority of surgical sutures is covered under insurance policies, therefore, the presence of favorable reimbursement scenario is stoking the growth of the market.On the flip side, the growing preference for minimally invasive surgical procedures is creating a dent in the global demand for surgical sutures. Moreover, the lack of proper sterilization systems in healthcare organizations and presence of a number of substitute wound care management products are impeding the growth of the market.Global Surgical Sutures Market: Market PotentialTo ensure maximum profit, market players are focusing towards the development of innovative and safe sutures. For instance, in September 2016, Mellon Medical unveiled a precision-suturing instrument, Switch, which allows surgeons to suture tubular and layered structures about twice as fast as the traditional technique at reduced risk of complications. This is expected to allow enhanced patient outcome and reduced costs. The international market launch of this instrument is anticipated to happen by 2018. The advent of such suturing devices is likely to work in favor of the global surgical sutures market. The adoption in robotics in suturing procedures is also poised to open new avenues for market players.Request TOC of the Report @Global Surgical Sutures Market: Geographical SegmentationGeographically, North America will account for a large chunk in the revenue pie of the global surgical sutures market. The expanding pool of patients suffering from lifestyle disorders, rapidly growing geriatric population, and conducive healthcare reforms are contributing to the growth of the region. The domicile of a large number of key players also provides a competitive edge to North America over other regions.Asia Pacific is expected to witness healthy growth during the forecast period. Large population base, rising consumer spending on healthcare, and booming medical tourism sector are rendering the region highly opportunistic. The growth of the region can also be attributed to the growing number of people undergoing surgical procedures and improving healthcare infrastructure.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Surgical Sutures Market: Competitive ScenarioKey companies are primarily focusing towards developing absorbable and anti-bacterial sutures, which will help them in enhancing their visibility in the global surgical sutures market. Several players are looking upon mergers and acquisitions as key growth strategies to expand their product portfolio. The market features high competitive rivalry among players in terms of pricing. Some of the prominent participants in the global market are Lotus Surgicals Pvt. Ltd., B. Braun Melsungen AG, Ethicon Inc., DemeTECH Corporation, Medtronic Plc., Smith & Nephew Plc., Sutures India Pvt. Ltd., CP Medical, Boston Scientific Corporation, and Teleflex Medical OEM.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) Market - Emerging Advancements In Growth 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2453 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2453 https://www.tmrresearch.com/terrestrial-trunked-radio-market Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) Market: OverviewThe rising demand for higher level of encryption for voice to meet the security needs for public safety organizations is boosting the global terrestrial trunked radio (TETRA) market. The ability of terrestrial trunked radios to transfer data quickly as compared to the mobile communications earlier is also boosting their demand. Terrestrial trunked radio is a private, digital mobile radiotechnology, finding its application in medical, transport, security, and fire services. As all communications via terrestrial trunked radio are private and secure, they are increasingly being adopted. As vendors operating in the terrestrial trunked radio market are putting all their efforts towards realizing a secure, reliable, and efficient communication method so as to fulfill the needs of consumers, the market is witnessing a growth.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The demand for TETRA is also forecasted to increase in the coming years on account of the growing penetration of professional mobile radio (PMR) organizations. The growing usage of TETRA networks in the military and defense applications will further the growth of the market. Additionally, the high demand for consumer electronics will also help in furthering the growth of the global terrestrial trunked radio market.Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) Market: Key TrendsThe rising need for mission critical communication and radio communication devices to shift from analog to digital will create a heightened demand for the deployment of terrestrial trunked radio worldwide. The use of terrestrial trunked radio for supporting the disaster relief and next generation public protection communications infrastructure will also push the market towards growth. In addition to this, the increasing need for efficient communication for home security and also for emergency medical services will ensure a growth of the TETRA market in the coming years. However, the installation cost of TETRA networks is very high and can pose a challenge for the growth of the market.Request TOC of the Report @Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) Market: Market PotentialThe military and defense sector is the largest applications segment for the TETRA market. Portable radios with inbuilt TETRA are catering to the needs of critical communication needs in the military and defense sector, which require seamless operation.Companies such as Hytera Communications Corporation Limited, have developed PT580H Plus, which has tamper proof protection, making the device more secure. The data stored in the radio is thus protected from security attacks. Such innovations in the industry are likely to boost the adoption rates and thus drive the market for terrestrial trunked radio in the future.Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of geography, the global terrestrial trunked radio market is segmented into Asia Pacific, Latin America, North America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Of these, Asia Pacific is projected to hold key shares in the market on account of the growing acceptance of TETRA networks and a rise in the focus on critical communication operations. North America is expected to be second leading regional segment. Europe is expected to be one of the lucrative markets for TETRA on account of high adoption of these networks for both commercial and public applications. Moreover, the presence of a large number of established vendors is also proving to be beneficial for the growth of the market in the region.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) Market: Competitive LandscapeThe key players operating in the Terrestrial Trunked Radio market includes Motorola Solutions, Inc. (The U.S), Simoco Group (U.K), Hytera Communications Corporation Limited (The U.S), Airbus Defense and Space Corporation (France), Bitea Limited (U.K), Rohill Engineering B.V. (Netherlands), Sepura PLC (UK), and Cellular Systems A/S (Denmark).About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Global Skin Lightening Products Market Research Report 2018 : Hawknad Manufacturing, L'Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Shiseido, Vaseline, https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1799870 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-skin-lightening-products-market-research-report-2018-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketsizeinfo.blogspot.in/ Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Skin Lightening Products Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Skin Lightening Products market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Skin Lightening Products in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Skin Lightening Products market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingHawknad ManufacturingL'OrealProcter & GambleShiseidoVaselineArzoyiTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Makari De SuisseASDM Beverly HillsMarie FranceKojie sanSENVIEBrowne Drug Co.On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSerumCreamLotionMaskOthersOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingPharmacySpeciality OutletHypermarket/SupermarketBeauty SalonOnline StoresOthersTable of ContentsGlobal Skin Lightening Products Market Research Report 20181 Skin Lightening Products Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Skin Lightening Products1.2 Skin Lightening Products Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Skin Lightening Products Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Skin Lightening Products Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Serum1.2.4 Cream1.2.5 Lotion1.2.6 Mask1.2.7 Others1.3 Global Skin Lightening Products Segment by Application1.3.1 Skin Lightening Products Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Pharmacy1.3.3 Speciality Outlet1.3.4 Hypermarket/Supermarket1.3.5 Beauty Salon1.3.6 Online Stores1.3.7 Others1.4 Global Skin Lightening Products Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Skin Lightening Products Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Skin Lightening Products (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Skin Lightening Products Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Skin Lightening Products Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @2 Global Skin Lightening Products Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Skin Lightening Products Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Skin Lightening Products Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Skin Lightening Products Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Skin Lightening Products Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Skin Lightening Products Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Skin Lightening Products Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Skin Lightening Products Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Skin Lightening Products Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Skin Lightening Products Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Skin Lightening Products Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Skin Lightening Products Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Skin Lightening Products Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Skin Lightening Products Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Skin Lightening Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Skin Lightening Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Skin Lightening Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Skin Lightening Products Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)Continue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @ Life Science Reagents Market is Projected to be Worth US$ 67.00 Bn by 2026 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1162 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/life-sciences-reagents-analytical-reagents.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1162 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=1162 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Life Science Reagents Market - SnapshotThe global life science reagents market is witnessing strong growth due to high prevalence and rise in incidence of chronic, acute, and infectious diseases across the globe. The market was valued at US$ 35.00 Bn in 2017 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 7.0% from 2018 to 2026 to reach US$ 67.00 Bn by 2026. The global market is driven by technological advancements in the life science and health care industries, rapidly growing biopharmaceutical industry, and large geriatric population requiring frequent clinical diagnostic tests.Request Brochure of Report:Life science reagents are an integral part of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life science, and health care industries. These reagents have broad applications in in vitro diagnostics for the diagnosis of various chronic as well as infectious diseases, prediction of disease course, framing the treatment, and monitoring the effectiveness of the therapy. These reagents are widely used in the life science industry for isolation, separation, purification, and up to a certain extent amplification of the biological as well as chemical molecules from the tests samples.Read Report Overview:High prevalence and rise in incidence rate of chronic and infectious diseases across the globe are projected to be the key drivers of the global life science reagents market during the forecast period. The emergence and outbreak of various infectious diseases have created challenges as well as new opportunities for researchers to develop new diagnostic tools and tests for early diagnosis and prevention of these diseases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of October 2017, around 71 million people across the world were estimated to have hepatitis C infection. The WHO also stated that 36.7 million people were affected with HIV across the globe. Various chronic diseases such as chronic respiratory diseases (CRD), diabetes, chronic kidney diseases (CKD), cancer, stroke, and neurological disorders are the leading causes of disability and mortality across the globe. Demand for life science reagents largely depends on the growth of the life science and health care industries. Rapid growth of the life science industry has been observed in the emerging markets. This is projected to be one of the key drivers of the life science reagents market. Biopharmaceuticals is one of the fastest growing segments in the pharmaceutical industry, expanding at a CAGR of 8%, nearly double that of the overall pharmaceutical industry. Wide applications of life science reagents in the biopharmaceutical industry for the development of various biomarkers, production of biologic drugs, drug discovery, and therapeutic drug monitoring are factors likely to drive demand for life science reagents during the forecast period.Request Sample of Report:Development of tests for diagnosis of viral structural changes and new viral epidemics present significant opportunities in the global life science reagents market during the forecast period. For instance, in April 2017, Siemens Healthineers received an advance sum of US$ 8.9 Mn to develop immunoassays for Zika virus from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Moreover, economic development coupled with rise in disposable income and increase in awareness are gradually shifting attention of the leading health care institutions toward countries in Asia Pacific and Latin America. Moreover, increased investments by the leading private players in the health care and life science industries in countries such as Brazil, India, China, and South Korea owing to favorable regulatory policies represents a potential business opportunity in these regions.Request For Discount On This Report:The global life science reagents market has been segmented based on product, end-user, and region. In terms of product, the global market has been classified into chromatography reagents, molecular diagnostic reagents, immunoassay reagents, clinical chemistry reagents, flow cytometry reagents, cell & tissue culture reagents, hematology & hemostasis reagents, microbiology reagents, and others. The others segment includes electrophoresis reagents, investigational markers, and histology & cytology reagents. The immunoassay reagents segment dominated the global life science reagents market, accounting for over 30% share in 2017. The segment is projected to expand at a moderate growth rate during the forecast period. However, the segment is poised to lose market share by 2026. The microbiology reagents segment is projected to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The segment is projected to gain market share by the end of 2026.In terms of end-user, the global life science reagents market has been divided into hospitals & diagnostics laboratories, commercial & contract research manufacturers, academic & research institutes, and others. The others segment includes blood banks and forensic laboratories. The hospitals & diagnostic laboratories segment accounted for leading share of the global market and the segment is projected to continue to dominate the market during the forecast period. Rapidly increasing number of health care institutions in the emerging countries, large test volume for various diseases, and expansion of laboratory services has contributed to the dominant share of the segment in 2017. The commercial & contract research manufacturers segment held the second largest share of the global life science reagents market in 2017.Geographically, the global life science reagents market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America accounted for the largest share of the global life science reagents market, accounting for 35% share in 2017. Europe held the second largest share of the global market in 2017. Well-established health care infrastructure, rapidly increasing geriatric population, and large base of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries has led to dominant shares of North America and Europe. The market in Asia Pacific is projected to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to rise in foreign direct investment in the life science industry, rapidly increasing number of hospitals and diagnostic laboratories in the region, and large patient population with chronic and infectious diseases.The global life science reagents market is fragmented, with large number of companies accounting for majority share in respective regions. Major players operating in the global market include F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Danaher Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, and Siemens Healthineers. Manufacturers are adopting strategies of mergers & acquisitions with parallel companies to strengthen their product portfolio and geographic reach. Other prominent players operating in the global market include Becton, Dickinson and Company, Agilent Technologies Inc., Waters Corporation, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, bioMerieux SA, Sysmex Corporation, and DiaSorin S.p.A.About us:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Smart Locker System Market Research Report 2018 : Mondern Office Systems, Bradford Systems, Ricoh USA, Nuwco, American Locker, https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1799934 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-smart-locker-system-market-research-report-2018-report.html/toc http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketsizeinfo.blogspot.in/ Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Smart Locker System Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Smart Locker System market status and forecast, categorizes the global Smart Locker System market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa.The global Smart Locker System market is valued at xx million US$ in 2017 and will reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportMondern Office SystemsBradford SystemsRicoh USANuwcoAmerican LockerTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Geographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaWe can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPasswords LockersUltimate Control LockersSelf Service Intelligent Charging LockersOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingGovernment OfficesPolice StationsAirportsPower StationsDistribution CentersCommercial OrganizationsOtherThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Smart Locker System sales, value, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025).Focuses on the key Smart Locker System manufacturers, to study the sales, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Smart Locker System are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersSmart Locker System ManufacturersSmart Locker System Distributors/Traders/WholesalersSmart Locker System Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsTable of ContentsGlobal Smart Locker System Market Research Report 20181 Smart Locker System Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Smart Locker System1.2 Smart Locker System Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Smart Locker System Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Smart Locker System Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Passwords Lockers1.2.4 Ultimate Control Lockers1.2.5 Self Service Intelligent Charging Lockers1.3 Global Smart Locker System Segment by Application1.3.1 Smart Locker System Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Government Offices1.3.3 Police Stations1.3.4 Airports1.3.5 Power Stations1.3.6 Distribution Centers1.3.7 Commercial Organizations1.3.8 Other1.4 Global Smart Locker System Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Smart Locker System Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Smart Locker System (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Smart Locker System Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Smart Locker System Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Smart Locker System Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Smart Locker System Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Smart Locker System Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Smart Locker System Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Smart Locker System Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Smart Locker System Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Smart Locker System Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Smart Locker System Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Smart Locker System Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Smart Locker System Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @3 Global Smart Locker System Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Smart Locker System Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Smart Locker System Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Smart Locker System Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Smart Locker System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Smart Locker System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Smart Locker System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Smart Locker System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 Japan Smart Locker System Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)Continue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @ Market Scope of Virtual Pipelines Market in Global Industry 2025; LSI Corporation, Cobey Energy And CNG Services https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1800284 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-virtual-pipelines-market-size-status-and-forecast-2025-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/global-virtual-pipelines-market-size-status-and-forecast-2025-report.html https://marketinfo247.wordpress.com/ Albany, NY, 20th June : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Global Virtual Pipelines Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025" globally.This report studies the global Virtual Pipelines market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global Virtual Pipelines market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @This report focuses on the global top players, coveredLSI CorporationCobey EnergyCNG ServicesGE Oil & GasGas MalaysiaGalileo TechnologiesPentagon Energy LLCLightSail EnergyCimarron CompositesXpress Natural Gas LLCNG Advantage LLCCompass Natural GasBroadwind Energy, Inc.REV LNGMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoHardwareSoftwareServiceMarket segment by Application, Virtual Pipelines can be split intoIndustrialTransportationCommercialResidentialThe study objectives of this report are:To study and forecast the market size of Virtual Pipelines in global market.To analyze the global key players, SWOT analysis, value and global market share for top players.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, end use and region.To analyze and compare the market status and forecast between China and major regions, namely, United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Rest of World.To analyze the global key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Virtual Pipelines are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersVirtual Pipelines ManufacturersVirtual Pipelines Distributors/Traders/WholesalersVirtual Pipelines Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsBrowse Report @Available CustomizationsWith the given market data, QYResearch offers customizations according to the company's specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:Regional and country-level analysis of the Virtual Pipelines market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.ResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. Nachiket Ghumare,ResearchMoz,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States,Tel: +1-518-621-2074,USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948,Email: sales@researchmoz.us,Follow me on : Global Food Safety Testing Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 : SGS SA, ALS Limited, TV SD, AsureQuality Qyresearchreports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1832873&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-food-safety-testing-market-size-status-and-forecast-2025.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Food Safety Testing Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Food Safety Testing market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global Food Safety Testing market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.The rapid segment is estimated to account for the larger share in the food safety testing market, in terms of value, in 2017. Multifunctional testing options that offer time-efficient and flexible testing to its end users form a key driver fueling the growth of rapid technologies.The pathogen segment is estimated to account for the largest market share in the food safety testing market in 2017. Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, and Campylobacter are the major pathogens responsible for food contamination and toxicity. They account for major contaminants found in food and account for major number of food safety testing. Increasing incidences of foodborne illness, globally, due to pathogen outbreaks is driving the pathogen segment.Interpret a Competitive Outlook Analysis with Free Sample Report:In 2017, the global Food Safety Testing market size was 12900 million US$ and it is expected to reach 23200 million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of 7.6% during 2018-2025.This report focuses on the global top players, coveredSGS SAEurofins ScientificIntertek GroupBureau VeritasALS LimitedMerieux NutriSciencesTV SDTV Nord GroupAsureQualityMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaKey StakeholdersFood Safety Testing ManufacturersFood Safety Testing Distributors/Traders/WholesalersFood Safety Testing Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsThe publication includes an executive summary, scope of the market, definition, and market figures. It also provides a detailed explanation of the competitive landscape present in the global Food Safety Testing market. With the help of Porters five forces analysis the report determines threat to new entrants, opportunities for the existing players, and the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers. Research and development activities, business and marketing strategies, and mergers and acquisition plans of leading players have been discussed in detail in this research report. The objective outlook of the global Food Safety Testing market allows the readers to make well-thought out opinions about what should be the next move for the investors.To Browse a Complete Report with TOC Visit @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Food Safety Testing1.1 Food Safety Testing Market Overview1.1.1 Food Safety Testing Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Food Safety Testing Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.3 Food Safety Testing Market by Type1.4 Food Safety Testing Market by End Users/Application2 Global Food Safety Testing Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Food Safety Testing Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in FutureList of Tables and FiguresFigure Global Food Safety Testing Market Size (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2013-2018)Table Global Food Safety Testing Revenue (Million USD) Comparison by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Global Food Safety Testing Market Share by Regions (2013-2018)Figure United States Food Safety Testing Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Europe Food Safety Testing Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure China Food Safety Testing Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Japan Food Safety Testing Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web: Blood Group Typing Market - Prominent Trends 2017-2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2471 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2471 https://www.tmrresearch.com/blood-group-typing-market Global Blood Group Typing Market: OverviewBlood group typing consists of various methods and techniques that are used to detect the group of blood. The correct and reliable grouping of blood is vital to fulfil a variety of clinical ends, especially for safe blood transfusion and in organ donation processes. In recent years, there have been marked developments in the conventional detection methods. Constant technological advancements in microarray, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and other assay-based techniques have improved detection methods. As a result, the market has seen the advent of high-throughput devices that enable clinicians in multiplexed and quantitative detection of various blood group antigens. Advanced methods such as quantum dots (QDs) and magnetic beads in assays improve identification and enhance clinical safety of blood transfusion.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Blood Group Typing Market: Key TrendsThe rising number of blood donations and increasing number of patients needing transfusion due to accidents and trauma are the primary factors driving the blood group typing market. The growing demand for blood group typing for pregnancy and prenatal testing has boosted the market. Blood typing is also crucial to detect the condition of hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN) in pregnant women, thereby stimulating the demand for such tests. Increasing application of blood group typing in forensic sciences is further expected to catalyze the market growth.The advent of novel molecular diagnostic tools that help in reliable and rapid identification of group in a large blood samples is expected to provide abundant opportunities to market players. For instance, the molecular genotyping of ABO blood groups in large populations can be accomplished with the help of these methods.Request TOC of the Report @Global Blood Group Typing Market: Market PotentialA recent clinical study published in International Journal of Nanomedicine reveals that scientists have developed a novel multiplexed method for the identification of ABO blood groups. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, a prominent military institution of higher learning in China. Researchers conducting the study, quantified blood group A and B antigens with QD fluorescence assay (QFA). The assay integrates the traditional QD labeling with magnetic beads to make high throughput and quantitative method for rapid detection of antigens present in the ABO blood groups of fairly large volume populations. The scientists evaluated the efficacy of the method by testing the blood samples for 791 people and they confirmed that the accuracy was 100%; in addition, they asserted that when the conditions were optimized, even detection in weak samples produced satisfactory results.An estimate by the researchers states that the multiplexed detection can be completed within the short span of 35 minutes with over 105 RBCs (red blood cells). This study holds marked significance for blood transfusion safety. The findings of the study show promising prospect for the blood group typing market, since the testing process can be used to devise an effective clinical strategy to improvise on the identification methods for ABO blood groups.Global Blood Group Typing Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, North America is a prominent market for blood group typing devices and consumables. The regional market is expected to witness substantial growth in the coming years. The growth of the market is attributed to the constant technological advancements in PCR and assays for blood grouping leading to the design of cost-effective and novel blood-grouping platforms.Meanwhile, Asia Pacific is expected to provide lucrative avenues over the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. The impressive pace of growth of the Asia Pacific market for blood group typing is driven by some promising clinical studies in high throughput devices, increasing healthcare spending, and the growing number of blood transfusions.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Blood Group Typing Market: Competitive AnalysisSeveral players are making innovations in their offerings and using advanced technologies to discover novel methods for blood group typing. Key companies operating in the blood group typing market are Novacyt Group, Day medical SA, Rapid Labs, Quotient, Ltd., AXO Science, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Inc. Immucor, Inc., and Grifols, S.A.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Russia is concerned about the fact that more than one-third of judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) have been elected without the participation of Russian lawmakers because of the crisis in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland. "The number of petitions against Russia sent to the ECHR has dropped more than three times over the past five years. Since no one and nothing in this world is perfect, we would like the court itself to improve its effectiveness and, most importantly, to comply with the subsidiarity principle its work is based on," the minister stressed. "We cannot but be concerned about the fact that, because of the PACE crisis, more than one-third of the judges at the ECHR have been elected without the participation of a delegation of Russian lawmakers. That makes your efforts and efforts by all those who want to overcome that crisis relying on the underlying principles of the Council of Europe all the more important," TASS cited Lavrov as saying. Geotextiles and Geomembranes Market Is Increasing Rapidly in Worldwide, by 2025 QyResearchReports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1572764&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-geotextiles-and-geomembranes-market-research-report-2018.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Geotextiles and Geomembranes to its huge collection of research reports.This business intelligence publication on the global Geotextiles and Geomembranes market is an analytics assessment that has been prepared to aid to the strategic decision making of the vendors connected to the value chain of the market. The report aspires to aid its targeted audiences in detecting the specific lucrative avenues and hence gain ground over their competitors. The report covers the analysis and forecasts the market on a country, regional, and global level. To complete a thorough study, the report has included historic data on how the demand has evolved in the recent past and how it will formulate during the forecast period based on revenue. The study provides a decisive view of the market for Geotextiles and Geomembranes by carefully segmenting into significant aspects such as product type, application, end users, component, and whichever applicable, and regions. The analysis of the global market as well as each of the segments have been based on current trends and future potential, and the figurative estimations has been provided.Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingDupontGSE HoldingAGRUSolmaxJUTAFirestoneCarlisleSotrafa...Get Free Sample Report of the Research Study at:Table of ContentsGlobal Geotextiles and Geomembranes Market Research Report 20181 Geotextiles and Geomembranes Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Geotextiles and Geomembranes1.2 Geotextiles and Geomembranes Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 HDPE1.2.4 LLDPE1.2.5 PVC1.2.6 FPP1.3 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Segment by Application1.3.1 Geotextiles and Geomembranes Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Water Management1.3.3 Waste Management1.3.4 Mining1.3.5 Tunnel Liners & Civil Engineering2 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Geotextiles and Geomembranes Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Geotextiles and Geomembranes Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Geotextiles and Geomembranes Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Geotextiles and Geomembranes Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionRead Complete Table of Content of the Report at:3 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Geotextiles and Geomembranes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Geotextiles and Geomembranes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Geotextiles and Geomembranes Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global Geotextiles and Geomembranes Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 North America Geotextiles and Geomembranes Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 Europe Geotextiles and Geomembranes Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 China Geotextiles and Geomembranes Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 Japan Geotextiles and Geomembranes Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)...About Us: QYResearchReports delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Global Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 : Aerohive, Aruba, Cisco, D-Link, TP-Link Qyresearchreports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1832856&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-gigabit-wi-fi-access-point-market-size-status-and-forecast-2025.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.The growing penetration of technological devices across the globe has triggered the use of advanced electronic equipment. Proliferating government ingenuities to promote industrialisation and digitalisation in developing economies is the regional development opportunity for thegigabit Wi-Fi access point market. The speedy rise in data traffic in several emerging economies such as India is the optimistic opportunity for internet service providers and device providers to extract business prospects from such nations.Enter your information below to receive a free sample copy of this report @The deployment of gigabit Wi-Fi access points is expected to rise in the commercial and industrial sectors in the coming years.In 2017, the global Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025.This report focuses on the global top players, coveredAerohiveArubaCiscoD-LinkRuckus.TP-LinkZebraFortinetNetgearMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaKey StakeholdersGigabit Wi-Fi Access Point ManufacturersGigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Distributors/Traders/WholesalersGigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsThe report on the global market for Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point also goes on to study its regional distribution by segmenting it geographically into Europe, North America, South America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. It tries to unravel the potential of the market in each region.Last but not the least, our research study presents crucial information on the competitive dynamics in the global market for Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point. To do so, it banks upon important analytical tools such as Porters Five Forces Analysis and SWOT Analysis.Access the Report and full TOC @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point1.1 Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Overview1.1.1 Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.3 Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market by Type1.4 Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market by End Users/Application2 Global Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in FutureList of Tables and FiguresFigure Global Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Size (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2013-2018)Table Global Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Revenue (Million USD) Comparison by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Global Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Share by Regions (2013-2018)Figure United States Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Europe Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure China Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Japan Gigabit Wi-Fi Access Point Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web: Global Apple Cider Vinegar Market Investigation & Industry Evolution till 2026 https://www.mrrse.com/sample/16363 https://www.mrrse.com/apple-cider-vinegar-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/16363 https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ To Understand the Apple Cider Vinegar Market Industry Status worldwide, MRRSE has included the latest Forecast report titled Global Apple Cider Vinegar Market Investigation & Industry Evolution till 2026, to its vast database. This study offers data about the prime regions operating in the Apple Cider Vinegar Market, along with their production, consumption, revenue and market share details. Further, the intelligent report also anticipates that the market would grow at a constructive CAGR until 2026.Apply for sample report @MRRSE offers an eight-year forecast for the global apple cider vinegar market between 2018 and 2026. In a recently released report by the company, the global apple cider vinegar market is expected to register a CAGR of 5.7% during the forecast period. The primary objective of the report is to offer insights on the advancements and opportunity in the apple cider vinegar market. The study demonstrates market dynamics that are expected to influence the current challenges and future status of the global apple cider vinegar market over the forecast period. This report also offer updates on trends, drivers, restraints, value forecasts, and opportunities for manufacturers operating in the global and regional apple cider vinegar market.Apple cider vinegar is simply a liquid vinegar that is made from apple juice. It is prepared by two fermentation processes. In the first process, bacteria and yeast are added to the apple juice to start the alcoholic fermentation process, and turn the sugar into alcohol. In the second process, the alcohol is converted into vinegar by adding acetic acid. It is used for various applications, and also in the management of various health conditions such as diabetes, weight loss, skin care, hair problems, low blood sugar levels, and many more.Key Segments Covered in Market ReportTypeNatureFormEnd UseDistribution ChannelRegionBrowse for complete report @By type, the apple cider vinegar market is segmented into filtered and unfiltered. The unfiltered type segment is likely to be the most attractive segment in the forecast period owing to presence of mother in the product which stands of proteins, enzymes, and friendly bacteria that give the product a murky appearance. On the basis of form, the apple cider vinegar market can be segmented into powder, tablets, capsules, and liquid. The liquid segment is estimated to account for a significant revenue share of 87.6% in 2017 and is expected to register significant growth rate during the forecast period.By nature, the apple cider vinegar market is segmented into organic and conventional. The organic apple cider vinegar segment is likely to be the most attractive segment in the forecast period. Furthermore, on the basis of distribution channel, the apple cider vinegar market is segmented into direct and indirect. Indirect segment is further sub-segmented into store-based retailing and e-Retailers. Amongst these sub-segments, the store-based retailing is anticipated to occupy the largest market share of 80.4% in 2017. The e-Retails sub-segment is expected to register high growth rate during the forecast period.The report includes market share of each segment according to the region with analysis towards market trends respectively. A section of the report highlights apple cider vinegar demand. It also provides a market outlook for 20182026 and sets the forecast within the context of the apple cider vinegar ecosystem, including the new product developments as well as product offerings in the global apple cider vinegar market.Enquire about this report @This study discusses key trends contributing to growth of the global apple cider vinegar market, as well as analyses the degree to which drivers are influencing the global market.About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207 (United States)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Loan Origination Software Market | Trends by Key Players Ellie Mae, Calyx Software, FICS, Fiserv Loan Origination Software Market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/869084-global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa-loan-origination-software-market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/869084-global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa-loan-origination-software-market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=869084 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/869084-global-north-america-europe-and-asia-pacific-south-america-middle-east-and-africa-loan-origination-software-market https://www.linkedin.com/company/13388569/ https://www.facebook.com/htfmarketintelligence/ https://twitter.com/htfmarketreport https://plus.google.com/u/0/+NidhiBhawsar-SEO_Expert?rel=author The qualitative research study conducted by HTF MI titled Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Loan Origination Software Market 2017 Forecast to 2022 provides primary Data, surveys, Scope of the Product and vendor briefings. The market dynamic forces have been determined after conducting a detailed study of the Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Loan Origination Software market. The study provides forecasts for Loan Origination Software investments till 2022.If you are involved in the Loan Origination Software industry or intend to be, then this study will provide you comprehensive outlook. It offers a consequential analysis of the Loan Origination Software company, key tactics followed by leading manufactures and trending segments.Get the inside scoop of the Sample report @:This report studies the Loan Origination Software market. Loan Origination Software manages lending tasks including origination, underwriting, closing and documentation for contract servicers, title companies, credit unions, government agencies and private lenders.The research study is segmented by Types [On-demand (Cloud) & On-premise] as well as Key Applications [Banks, Credit Unions, Mortgage Lenders & Brokers & Others] with historical and projected market share along with the growth rate, revenue figures and gross profit margin in tabular format which makes easy to understand product/service differences, market concentration rate and product distribution for past 5 years.Major geographical regions like North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.) & Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) and leading players such as Ellie Mae, Calyx Software, FICS, Fiserv, Byte Software, PCLender, LLC, Mortgage Builder Software, Mortgage Cadence (Accenture), Wipro, Tavant Tech, D+H Corp, Lending QB, Black Knight, ISGN Corp, Pegasystems, Juris Technologies, SPARK, Axcess Consulting Group, Turnkey Lender & VSC involved in this report. The report gives a clear idea about the growth factors, reasons for deterioration of Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Loan Origination Software in recent years and different opportunities and strategies to expand market.Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement.Each player highlighted in the research study contains companies Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors, in-depth business overview, geographic footprint and contact information. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to SWOT Analysis.Buy this research @Reasons to Buy:- What will be the market size in 2022 and at what rate will it grow?- What growth potential do Loan Origination Software market have?- Procure strategically important competitor information, analysis, and insights to formulate effective R&D strategies.- Recognize emerging players with potentially strong product portfolio and create effective counter-strategies to gain competitive advantage.- Classify potential new clients or partners in the target demographic.- Plan mergers and acquisitions meritoriously by identifying key players and its most promising contributions.- New Development and identify prospective partners with the most attractive projects to enhance and expand business potential and scope.- Influential factors that are thriving demand and constraints in the market.To add, value to product and services research report comprises of valuable insights with distinguishable traits that influence consumers behavior and demand. The report offers a measurable and verifiable method made towards analysis of market concentration, new entrants and the technological trends in future.Some of the key questions answered in this report:- Detailed Overview of Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Loan Origination Software market helps deliver clients and businesses making strategies.- Influential factors that are thriving demand and constraints in the market.- What is the market concentration? Is it fragmented or highly concentrated?- What trends, challenges and barriers will impact the development and sizing of Loan Origination Software market?- SWOT Analysis of each key player mentioned along with its company profile.- What growth momentum or acceleration market carries during the forecast period?- Which region is going to tap highest market share in future?- What Application/end-user category or Product Type may see incremental growth prospects?- What focused approach and constraints are holding the market tight?Any Query or Specific Requirement? Ask to our Expert @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Loan Origination Software marketChapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Loan Origination Software, Applications of Loan Origination Software, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of , Capacity and Commercial Production Rate, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, Export & Import, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.) & Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa), Loan Origination Software Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Loan Origination Software Segment Market Analysis (by Application [Banks, Credit Unions, Mortgage Lenders & Brokers & Others]) & Type [On-demand (Cloud) & On-premise] Major Manufacturers Analysis of Loan Origination Software;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [On-demand (Cloud) & On-premise], Market Trend by Application Banks, Credit Unions, Mortgage Lenders & Brokers & Others;Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Loan Origination Software;Chapter 12, to describe Loan Origination Software Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Loan Origination Software sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.About Author:HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact US :Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA 08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.comConnect with us at Firewall as a Service Market Global Key Players: Barracuda Networks, Check Point Software Technologies, Cato Networks, Cisco Systems, Fortinet, Forcepoint https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/6019 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/firewall-as-a-service-market-6019 Market Highlights:Organizations use firewall solutions to protect end-to-end web application and database of customer information and business. With the implementation of various firewall services, it has become easier for the organization to control the data traffic. Organizations using conventional firewall services are less flexible in coping with peak load and high user traffic as compared to next generation firewall which provide users more flexibility to manage virtual cloud environment.Increasing incidents of attacks such as DDOS, Malware & Cyberthreats, and adoption of cloud services the market for Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) is estimated to bring rapid growth to the market. The key challenge in Firewall as a Service market is vulnerability to cyber-attacks. Also, lack of skilled resources to manage the next generation firewall is also a major challenge which may hamper the growth of Firewall as a Service market.Request a Sample Report @Major Key Players:The prominent players in the market of Firewall as a service are Barracuda Networks (US), Check Point Software Technologies (Israel), Cato Networks (Israel),Cisco Systems (US), Fortinet (US), Forcepoint (US), Juniper Networks (US), WatchGuard (US), and Zscaler (US), Palo Alto Networks (US).Other Players in the market include Sophos (UK), Sangfor Technologies(China), H3C(China), Hillstone Network(US). Mergers and acquisitions among the key players are changing the market structure. For instance, Intel Security sold its firewall business to Raytheon/Websense sand renamed as Forcepoint become a cybersecurity super power.The prominent players keep innovating and investing in research and development to present a cost-effective offerings.The Global Firewall as a Service Market is projected to reach USD 1.98 billion at a CAGR of over 23.01% by the end of the forecast period 2017-2023.Regional Analysis:The geographical analysis of global firewall as a service market is done for regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world. Among these regions, the market is mostly dominated by North America during the forecasted year. The major growth driver in this region are, increase in investment in cybersecurity companies by the corporate investors. Also, increase in initiatives by government to enhance the security of customer information and increasing need to prevent cyber-attacks is also expected to drive the market growth.For instance, On January 5, 2017, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has released executive order on strengthening the cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure with mission is to protect cyberspace information and infrastructure, build capabilities to prevent and respond to cyberattacks. North America has the presence of major sustainable and well-established organizations, who invest in R&D activities, hence contributing to the development of security technology. Asia Pacific is expected to grow in forecast region due to rapid digitalization, the presence of SMEs and large Enterprises, and increasing adoption of cloud services. To defend their network against threats, SMEs are ready to use customized security applications. APAC region aims to be the fastest growing market due to increasing investment in cloud infrastructure.Segmentation: By Solution, market is segmented into Advanced Threat Protection, Traffic Control and Monitoring, Next-generation Firewall, Network Security, Identity Management, Managed services, and others. By Services Model, the market is segmented into Software as a service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a service (PaaS). By Deployment model, the market is segmented into Public, Private, and Hybrid cloud. By Organizational size, the market is segmented into small & medium sized enterprise and large enterprise. By Verticals, the market is divided into BFSI, Education, Energy & Utilities, Government, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Retail, IT & Telecom, and others.Access Report Details @Intended Audience: IT Security Engineers IT Network Engineers Technical Vendors Government agencies Network solution providers Independent software vendors Research organizations and consulting firms System integrators Information Technology (IT) security agencies Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) Research organizations and consulting companiesTable of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Scope of the Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets StructureContinued.List of TablesTable 1 Firewall as a Service Market: By Region, 2018-2023Table 2 North America Firewall as a Service Market: By Country, 2018-2023Table 3 Europe Firewall as a Service Market: By Country, 2018-2023Continued.List of FiguresFigure 1 Global Firewall as a Service Market SegmentationFigure 2 Forecast MethodologyFigure 3 Porters Five Forces Analysis of Global Firewall as a Service MarketContinued.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Antidote Market to Make Great Impact in Near Future by 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12439 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/12439 The use of Antidotes is since the early history of medicine. Antidote is agent that counters the effects of poison or over dosage by another drug. It helps in neutralizing the dangerous effects of a poison in body and has scientific approaches that have been taken to assess the therapeutic value of antidotes. Most important development are related to the role of antidotes in the management of poisoning cases that have incurred in past few years. Various studies for instances, toxicodynamic and toxicokinetic is expected to help in improving the approach taken for the development and evaluation of antidotes. In addition due to increasing global concern for the effectiveness of antidotes has resulted in the exchange of knowledge, scientific information and clinical experience between health care professionals and scientists from different parts of the world.The evolution of antidotal therapy has been characterized with the help of new antidotes such as monoclonal antibodies, also by accurate scientific approach for the effectiveness and the complications that may occur, by novel applications of existing pharmaceuticals, and by increased cooperation and collaboration at global level.Request Sample Report @According to the World Health Organization (WHO) it is projected per year there more than 5 Mn people globally are bitten by snakes, out of which around 100,000 develop severe sequelae. In India mortality is around 30,000 and in the U.S. it was around 50,000 cases of bites out of which 7,000 cases were by venomous snakes. Some key factors such as rising awareness and studies that are conducted for development in identifying toxins in venom bites that by government and companies for better knowledge of these drugs and antidotes is likely to drive the growth of antidote market over forecast period. Identification of snakes is highly important so as to know whether it is snake- specific anti-venoms which are less hazardous as compared to polyvalent anti-venoms. However antidote market has some restraints such as low product of anti-venoms due to rising prices of anti-venoms repressed demand resulting the treatment has declined significantly or even disappeared in some areas is expected to hinder the growth of the antidote market.The global antidote market is segmented on the basis of antidote type, route of administration, and regional presence:Segmentation based on Antidote Type:Chemical AntidotesPhysical AntidotesPharmacological AntidotesSegmentation based on Route of Administration:OrallyCapsules/TabletsSyrupInjectableRise in the incidence of snake bites is expected to boost the antidote market over the forecast period. In addition with better awareness among general population, significance of this condition and better understanding of these antidotes is expected to drive the antidote market during the forecast period.Geographically the antidote market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and MEA region.MEA followed by Asia Pacific is dominating the antidote market as high number of cases found in these regions. According to WHO in Africa there are around 1 Mn snake bites annually with 50,000 in need of treatment, 25,000 deaths and another 25,000 permanent disabilities. This is majorly due to poor reliable reporting system in these regions and failure to report the injury to health care facilities, these numbers are uncertain. In Asia Pacific region the antidote market is expected to deliver significant growth owing to high population density and extensive agricultural activities, this is expected to boost the demand for antidote market over the forecast period. However unsatisfactory market growth in the region such as Latin America owing to lack of functional snake bite control programs and snake bite management is unsatisfactory in this region. North America and Europe is expected to deliver healthy growth due to increasing knowledge of snake venoms' composition, sufficient product of anti-venoms and better knowledge of clinical features of envenoming.Request to View TOC @Some of the companies in the Antidote market are Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc, AstraZeneca, Novartis International AG, Eli Lilly and Company.Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: himanshu.t@persistencemarketresearch.com Global Iron Oxide Market 2018 Status and Outlook by Key Drivers : LANXESS, Huntsman, Cathay, Alabama Qyresearchreports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1832784&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-iron-oxide-market-research-report-2018.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Iron Oxide Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Iron Oxide market status and forecast, categorizes the global Iron Oxide market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).Iron oxides are chemical compounds bounded together by molecules of iron and oxygen. Iron oxides are produced by natural as well as synthetic methods. Synthetically produced iron oxides are more preferred, as they offer enhanced properties and high purity in comparison to naturally produced iron oxide. Iron oxides are widely used in construction, paints and coatings, plastics and pulp & paper industries.For free sample of this report, fill the form @Among applications, construction industry segment is expected to account for largest market share in the global iron oxide market throughout the forecast period.The global Iron Oxide market is valued at xx million US$ in 2017 and will reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportLANXESSHuntsmanCathayAlabamaDeqing HuayuanTODA KOGYOJiangsu YuxingHunan Three-ringGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOther Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa)This report analyzes the global Iron Oxide market by in a global sense looking at the industrialized chain of the market. This is required to in like way help in passing on correct data and information on compound parts of the market, for instance, material identifying with frameworks for the directing body in the standard and global strata, transport and transmission structure, objectives, and enlightenments behind premium got for the contributed mean.This is hence a thorough provide details regarding the global Iron Oxide market by coordinating a watchful examination of the past market impacts and basic events occurred in the global business. This is an essential progress to get an unmistakable photograph of the present vender scene and the components that may impact it. The Iron Oxide market encounters examination at different layers-starting from fundamental research to wide discretionary and tertiary see of the business. This empowers the peruser to increment convincing data concerning the market and help them settle on business decisions effectively.Interested in report: Please follow the below link to meet your requirements:Table of Contents1 Iron Oxide Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Iron Oxide1.2 Iron Oxide Segment by Type (Product Category)1.3 Global Iron Oxide Segment by Application1.4 Global Iron Oxide Market by Region (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Iron Oxide (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Iron Oxide Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Iron Oxide Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Iron Oxide Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Iron Oxide Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Iron Oxide Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Iron Oxide Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Iron Oxide Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Iron Oxide Market Competitive Situation and TrendsList of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Iron OxideFigure Global Iron Oxide Production (K MT) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2013-2025)Figure Global Iron Oxide Production Market Share by Types (Product Category) in 2017Figure North America Iron Oxide Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Europe Iron Oxide Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure China Iron Oxide Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Japan Iron Oxide Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Southeast Asia Iron Oxide Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web: Technological Advancements Of Superyachts Market in Global Industry 2017-2022; Robust Growth Represented by a CAGR of 7.26% https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1107691 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-superyachts-market-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/global-superyachts-market-report.html https://marketinfo247.wordpress.com/ Albany, NY, 20th June : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Global Superyachts Market: Analysis By Type (Motor, Sailing, Open, Expedition, Sport Fishing), By Region, By Country: Opportunities and Forecast (2017-2022) - By Region (North America, Europe, Middle East, APAC, ROW), By Country (U.S., Canada, Italy, Netherlands, U.K, U.A.E, Japan, China)" globally.A comprehensive research report created through extensive primary research (inputs from industry experts, companies, stakeholders) and secondary research, the report aims to present the analysis of Global Superyachts Market on the basis of Type (Motor, Sailing, Open, Sport Fishing, Expedition), By Region (North America, Europe, Middle East, APAC and ROW) and By Country (U.S., Canada, Italy, Netherlands, U.K, U.A.E, Japan, China)Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Over the recent years, the global superyachts industry has been growing rapidly as the Ultra-High and High Net Worth Individual Population is increasing. Globally, the growth in the luxury yachts market is driven by rising trend of maritime tourism and recreational activities.According to Azoth Analytics research report, Global Superyachts Market: Analysis By Type (Motor, Sailing, Open, Expedition, Sport Fishing), By Region, By Country: Opportunities and Forecast (2017-2022) - By Region (North America, Europe, Middle East, APAC, ROW), By Country (U.S., Canada, Italy, Netherlands, U.K, U.A.E, Japan, China), global market is projected to display a robust growth represented by a CAGR of 7.26% during 2017 2022, chiefly driven by rising number of ultra-wealthy clientele.Among the vessels, motor currently dominates the global superyachts market but the long ranger expedition vessels are anticipated to witness maximum growth in forecasted period. Among the regions, APAC is predicted to advance at the highest rate, mainly driven by increase in ultra-high and high net worth population in the regionThe report titled, Global Superyachts Market: Analysis By Type (Motor, Sailing, Open, Expedition, Sport Fishing), By Region, By Country: Opportunities and Forecast (2017-2022) - By Region (North America, Europe, Middle East, APAC, ROW), By Country (U.S., Canada, Italy, Netherlands, U.K, U.A.E, Japan, China), has covered and analysed the potential of Global Superyachts Market and provides statistics and information on market size, shares and growth factors. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyses the emerging trends along with major drivers, challenges and opportunities in the global superyacht market. Additionally, the report also highlights market entry strategies for various companies across the globe.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Scope of the ReportGlobal Market(Actual Period: 2012-2016, Forecast Period: 2017-2022) Total Superyachts Market Superyachts Market By Type - Motor Superyachts Market, Sailing Superyachts Market, Open Superyachts Market, Sport Fishing Superyachts Market, Expedition Superyachts MarketRegional Markets N. America, Europe, Middle East, APAC, RoW(Actual Period: 2012-2016, Forecast Period: 2017-2022) Total Superyachts Market Superyachts Market By Type - Motor Superyachts Market, Sailing Superyachts Market, Open Superyachts Market, Sport Fishing Superyachts Market, Expedition Superyachts MarketCountry Analysis - US, Canada, UK, Italy, Netherlands, U.A.E, Japan, China(Actual Period: 2012-2016, Forecast Period: 2017-2022) Total Superyachts Market Superyachts Market By Type - Motor Superyachts Market, Sailing Superyachts Market, Open Superyachts Market, Sport Fishing Superyachts Market, Expedition Superyachts MarketOther Report Highlights Market Dynamics Trends, Drivers, Challenges Pricing Analysis Policy and Regulation Company Analysis Azimut Benetti, Ferretti Group, Sanlorenzo spa, Heesen, Lurssen, Feadship, Princess Yachts, Amels, Sunseeker Yachts, Oceanco.Browse Report @Customization of the ReportThe report could be customized according to the clients specific research requirements. No additional cost will be required to pay for limited additional research.ResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. Nachiket Ghumare,ResearchMoz,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States,Tel: +1-518-621-2074,USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948,Email: sales@researchmoz.us,Follow me on : Hospital Lighting Market - Rising Awareness & Demand 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2480 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2480 https://www.tmrresearch.com/hospital-lighting-market Global Hospital Lighting Market: OverviewLighting in healthcare plays a critical role not only in enhancing the patient experience but also in improving the healthcare staffs ability of catering to the various levels of care required by the patients. As a result, the global market for hospital lighting is likely to reach new heights.Request Sample Copy of the Report @By application, the global hospital lighting market can be segmented into dentistry, operating room, doctors offices, kitchen, maternity ward, patient rooms, laboratory, library, bathrooms, first aid ward, corridors and staircases, and waiting areas. Based on technology, the LED, CFL, florescent, and renewable energy. By product, the global market for hospital lighting systems can be segmented into surgical lights, surface-mounted lights, and troffers.Global Hospital Lighting Market: Key TrendsSince good illumination ensures the safety of patients, allows smoother operation of activities, creates an amiable environment, and promotes a sense of well-being among the patients, the global healthcare lighting market holds vast potential for growth. The LED lighting is expected to emerge as the leading segment by technology, thanks to the growing deployment of LED based fixtures across various parts of hospitals.The florescent lighting systems are also gaining traction. They are being increasingly installed across hospitals by virtue of their relatively lower costs and power saving capabilities. By product, troffers are likely to claim the largest share in the global market for hospital lighting. By application, the patients wards segment might represent the largest share in the global market for hospital lighting.Request TOC of the Report @Global Hospital Lighting Market: Market PotentialEnhancement of user experience is increasingly being acknowledged by some leading hospitals. For instance, the new Beacon Childrens Hospital in South Bend (US), features a two-story atrium that has pleasant, soft-green lights. These firefly lights give a splendid appearance to the entire ambience of the hospital. The nature and healing theme of the hospital is designed to aid patients recover faster. With a forest mural, interactive games, and tree sculptures along with these lights, the hospital aims at boosting interaction between fellow patients, staff, family, and the physical space itself. The hospital welcomed its first patients in May 2017.The global market for hospital lighting has been witnessing collaborations, partnerships, and mergers. For instance, an emerging non-profit, Market Driven Community Corporation (MDCC) made an announcement in April 2017 pertaining to its signing a contract for installing LED lighting systems at Rochester General Hospital (New York, US).Global Hospital Lighting Market: Regional OutlookThe global market for hospital lighting can be segmented into Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and North America. North America currently holds the dominant position in the global market for hospital lighting. Beneficial government initiatives and technological advancements in the area of lighting solutions have been the key factors driving the growth of the market.The countries such as India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan are witnessing an increase in the number of hospitals. This can create significant opportunities for the growth of the market. The expanding healthcare infrastructure in Asia Pacific and growing preference for efficient lighting solutions in the region have also been accelerating the expansion of the hospital lighting market in the region. The Middle East and Africa and Latin America are also bursting forth with opportunities.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Hospital Lighting Market: Competitive AnalysisKoninklijke Philips N.V., Acuity Brands Lighting Inc., KLS Martin Group, Eaton Corporation PLC, Hubbell Incorporated, General Electric Company, Cree Inc., Zumtobel Group AG, and Trilux Lighting Ltd are some of the leading companies operating in the global market for hospital lighting.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Herbicides Market 2018 Flourishes with International Prestigious Players | BASF SE, The Dow Chemical Company, Monsanto Company, FMC Corporation, Bayer AG https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4853 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/herbicides-market-4853 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com Market Scenario:Herbicides help in improving agricultural productivity by killing unwanted herbs and weeds in the plantation. Increasing population and growing demand for food has led to the need for high agricultural productivity which is driving the growth of the herbicides market. Moreover, limited availability of cultivable land is boosting the demand for herbicides to increase farm productivity.Growing acceptance of modern farming is adding fuel to the growth of herbicides market. Owing to the improved efficiency of crops through herbicides, major players are investing in research and development which is further boosting the growth of global herbicides market. However, hazards associated with synthetic herbicides have led to several stringent regulations on the use of herbicides which may hamper the growth of herbicides market. Nevertheless, all these factors are projected to contribute to the estimated CAGR of 5.9% of herbicides market during the forecast period 2017-2023.Receive a Sample Report@Key Players:Some of the key players profiled in the global herbicides market are BASF SE (Germany), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Monsanto Company (U.S.), FMC Corporation (U.S.), Bayer AG (Germany), Agrium Inc (Canada), PI Industries (India)Key Findings:Bio based herbicides are expected to offer huge growth opportunity in North America and Europe.Synthetically produced herbicides are gaining popularity globally owing to low cost and higher efficiencyIntended Audience:Herbicides manufacturersFood IndustryAgriculture IndustryTraders, importers and exportersSegments:Herbicides market is segmented on the basis of active ingredients such as Glyphosate, 2, 4-D, Atrazine, Dicamba, Diquat, Acetochlor, and others. Among them 2, 4-D is the first chemical herbicide discovered and remains one of the most commonly used herbicides owing to its low cost and effective usage. However, Glyphosate is the fastest growing segment. RoundUp, which is the most used herbicide globally contains active ingredient glyphosate.Based on the type, herbicides market is segmented into pre-plant, pre-emergent, and post- emergent herbicides. The post-emergent herbicide is further segmented into selective and non-selective herbicides. Among all, post emergent herbicide is the fastest growing segment.On the basis of method of application, herbicides market is segmented into soil and foliar. Foliar applied herbicides are dominating the market and is expected to grow substantially over the forecast period.Based on the application of herbicides, the market is segmented into oilseeds & pulses, cereals & grains, fruits & vegetables, and others. Among all, cereals & grains are dominating the market. However, fruits and vegetables are expected to witness substantial growth over the forecast period.Access Report Details @Regional Analysis:The global herbicides market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and rest of the world (RoW). Asia Pacific dominates the market and is projected to witness substantial growth over the estimated period. India and China which are two of the largest countries in terms of population are majorly contributing the growth of herbicides in this region.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.WantStats Research and Media Pvt. Ltd.Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India The preventive measure of arrest to be applied against the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union Chairman, NA Republican Party of Armenia Faction MP Manvel Grigoryan. The Yerevan court arrested Grigoryan for two months, News.am the reported. Earlier Armenia's National Assembly has approved with 77 votes for and 3 against Prosecutor General Artur Davtyans petition to place Grigoryan under arrest. The national security service officers searched the territories belonging to Grigoryan and found guns and armament. They also found a collection of expensive cars and a private zoo there. Emerging Evolution Of Metallurgical Coal Market in Global Industry 2017-2025| Indika Energy, Rio Tinto, Arch Coal Inc And BHP Billiton https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1409410 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=1409410 https://www.researchmoz.us/metallurgical-coal-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html https://marketinfo247.wordpress.com/ Albany, NY, 20th June : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Metallurgical Coal Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" globally.Metallurgical coal, also known as coking coal, is a low sulfur, low ash, and low phosphorus grade of coal. It is used to produce high-grade coke, which is an important reactant for manufacturing of primary steel in the blast furnace process.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Metallurgical coal can be easily distinguished from thermal coal due to its caking ability and carbon content. Metallurgical coal produces a strong, low-density coke, when it is heated in the absence of air, which softens on heating, and the volatile components, present in the coal, evaporate and flow out through pores. The resulting coke swells upon cooling and becomes larger in volume.Demand for metallurgical coal is coupled the demand for steel. On an average, about 630 kg of coke is required to produce 1 ton of steel. Metallurgical coal is a vital reactant in the traditional basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steelmaking process. As such, its re-pricing is affecting steelmaking economics globally. Moreover, developing economies such as India, China, and Indonesia have substantially contributed in the rising demand for metallurgical coal across the globe. China is the largest producer and consumer of coking coal across the globe and produced about 804 million metric tons in 2015. Prices for metallurgical coal opened at US$ 78 per metric ton in January, 2016 and rose up to US$ 307 per metric ton by the end of 2016. This increase in price is primarily due to supply deficit, as demand for metallurgical coal has been stable. Therefore, to sustain the required supply of metallurgical coal, companies across the globe are reopening a few closed mines. Furthermore, current producers will now have to compete with new metallurgical coal suppliers across the globe, who had previously exited from the market owing to the low prices of metallurgical coal but have re-entered the market with the expectation that coal prices will stabilize. Therefore, the metallurgical coal market is anticipated to expand in the coming years.The metallurgical coal market can be segmented based on coal grade and region. In terms of coal grade, the market can be divided into hard coking coals (HCC), semi-soft coking coal (SSCC), and pulverized coal injection (PCI) coal. Hard coking coals cost higher as compared to semi-soft coking coals as they have better coking properties. Pulverized injection coal is not categorized as a coking coal; however, it is used as a source of energy in the steel making process.Make An Enquiry About TOC with tables & Figures @Based on region, the metallurgical coal market can be segregated into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. Asia Pacific dominated the market in 2016 and this trend is anticipated to continue during the forecast period. China dominated the global metallurgical coal market in 2016. Most of the coal mining companies in China are controlled by the government. Falling demand of metallurgical coal since 2012 till 2014 has resulted in the drop in its prices. As a result, in February, 2015, the Government of China implemented a top-down approach to decrease the congestion in the domestic coal mining industry. It ordered its coal mining companies to reduce their annual production by 9% or 500 million metric tons (MMTs), between 2019 and 2022. Furthermore, the government transferred 500 MMTs of coal mining capacity from smaller coal mining companies to larger coal mining companies to consolidate the production. However, due to the increase in coal prices, government of China has relaxed some rules in its supply reduction policy. This is anticipated to increase the demand for metallurgical coal during the forecast period.Key players operating in the global metallurgical coal market include Indika Energy, Rio Tinto, Arch Coal Inc., BHP Billiton, Teck, Xstrata, and Anglo America.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Browse Report @Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. Nachiket Ghumare,ResearchMoz,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States,Tel: +1-518-621-2074,USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948,Email: sales@researchmoz.us,Follow me on : Vehicle Anti-Theft Market 2018 Global Industry Key Players, Share, Size - Continental, Bosch, Tokai Rika, Delphi Analysis to 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2036 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/vehicle-anti-theft-market-2036 Vehicle Anti-Theft Market Analysis Research Report 2018 provides comprehensive information on Global Vehicle Anti-Theft Market Size, Share, and Growth, Trends analysis with forecast to 2023. Global Vehicle Anti-Theft Industry is segmented by product (Immobilizer, Steering lock, Central locking, alarm), technology (GPS, GSM, RTLS, Face detection system, automotive biometric technology), vehicle type (Passenger car, Commercial vehicle) and Region.Vehicle Anti-Theft Global Market Overview:Vehicle Anti-Theft Key Players Analyzed In Report:Continental AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Tokai Rika, Ltd., Lear Corporation, Johnson Electric, Delphi Automotive LLP, ZF-TRW, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, and VOXX International Corp.Get Sample Copy of Report on Global Vehicle Anti-Theft Market 2018 spread across 110 Pages, Profiling Key Companies and Supported with Tables and Figures atGrowing Demand for Vehicle Anti-Theft:The different factors that are responsible for the growth of the vehicle anti-theft market are sophisticated security system, alert message to mobile phone and rising awareness about vehicle anti-theft devices. Other factors such as safety and convenience of end user and also provide advance systems such as car security camera, steering lock are expected to drive the market in future. Additionally, high demand from customers and high purchasing power has upped demand for vehicles and boosted the market for anti-theft vehicle systems.There have been various government initiative taken in order to provide the vehicle safety to the people. There are various Auto theft prevention authorities developed to address the issue of theft. In approximately 11 states, the legislatures have created auto theft prevention authorities to overcome auto theft. The growing development of auto theft prevention authority is expected to increase the demand for anti-theft system in the vehicle in order prevent for stealing.Restraints in Vehicle Anti-Theft:However, the rising production cost makes these features unaffordable for consumers and hamper the market of vehicle anti-theft system.Market Segmentation:The global vehicle anti-theft market is segmented in to 3 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation by Product: Comprises Immobilizer, Steering lock, Central locking, Alarm.Segmentation by Technology: Comprises GPS, GSM, RTLS, Face Detection System, And Automotive Biometric Technology.Segmentation by Vehicle Type: Comprises Passenger car, Commercial vehicleSegmentation by Regions: Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Regional Analysis:Vehicle Anti-Theft market is application driven, and systems are gaining popularity across the end user and technologies like such as GPS, RTLS, and Automotive Biometric Technology which is referred as one of the major driving factors for market. Asia pacific is estimated to account for the largest share, in terms of value, of the Vehicle Anti-Theft System Market. This can be mainly attributed to the rising vehicle production and the increasing installation of safety features in passenger cars, commercial vehicles.Asia Pacific is followed by North America and Europe. Increasing installation of safety features and rising vehicle production and the presence of manufacturers such as Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Fiat in the region are driving the market of vehicle anti-theft. Additionally, high demand from customers and high purchasing power has upped demand for vehicles and boosted the market for anti-theft vehicle systems.Target Audience:OrganizationsManufacturerResearch Institute / Education InstitutePotential InvestorsAccess More Report Details at:Major Table of Content:1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market Landscape4.1 Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants4.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers4.1.3 Threat Of Substitutes4.1.4 Segment Rivalry4.2 Value Chain Of Global Vehicle Anti-Theft Market5 Industry Overview Of Global Vehicle Anti-Theft Market5.1 Introduction5.2 Growth Drivers5.3 Impact Analysis5.4 Market Challenges5.5 Impact Analysis6 Market Trends6.1 Introduction6.2 Growth Trends6.3 Impact AnalysisContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Company Name: Market Research FutureAddress: Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers, Pune - 411028Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comPhone: +1 646 845 9312 Mammography Market Transforming Growth Failures 2017-2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2483 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2483 https://www.tmrresearch.com/mammography-market Global Mammography Market: OverviewThe global mammography market is growing at a significant pace, owing to the increasing cancer cases worldwide. The key players in the market, government organizations, and NGOs are making notable efforts to create an awareness and offer treatment to patients, which is expected to enhance the growth of the market in the near future. Thus, the market is likely to register a strong growth rate in the forecast period.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Mammography Market: Key TrendsThe high prevalence of breast cancer worldwide and the rising number of innovations concerning screening and diagnostics are estimated to offer lucrative opportunities for key players operating in the market. The improving healthcare facilities in the developing economies are projected to supplement the markets growth in the coming years. Furthermore, governments across the globe are making efforts to provide treatments at low cost in order to reach a large number of audience in the near future.Global Mammography Market: Market PotentialTechnological advancements in the healthcare sector and the emergence of innovative devices and effective therapeutics are the key factors projected to fuel the growth of the global mammography market throughout the forecast period. In addition to this, the rising number of cancer cases across the globe is expected to accelerate the growth of the overall market in the near future.Request TOC of the Report @On the other hand, the lack of awareness among patients in several developing economies and the high cost of treatment are estimated to curb the growth of the global mammography market in the next few years. Nonetheless, the use of digital mammography devices is predicted to generate promising growth opportunities for the key players in the market.Global Mammography Market: Regional OutlookIn the previous years, the North America market for mammography held a major share of the global market and is estimated to retain its position over the forecast period. The rising number of breast cancer cases and the increasing women population are the key factors anticipated to encourage the development of the North America market in the coming years. In addition, the availability of advanced therapeutics and healthcare infrastructure are predicted to accelerate the markets growth in the near future.On the other hand, the development of the economy and the rising popularity of medical tourism are projected to augment the growth of the Asia Pacific market in the next few years. The increasing contribution from China and India and the rising awareness among patients are predicted to supplement the markets growth in the forecast period. Moreover, the favorable government initiatives and the enhancement of the healthcare sector are likely to contribute towards the growth of the Asia Pacific market in the near future.Global Mammography Market: Competitive AnalysisThe global market is projected to grow progressive throughout the forecast period. The rising emphasis of the leading players on introducing new therapeutics and devices to offer enhanced products to patients is likely to encourage the growth of the overall market in the coming years. As a result, several new players are predicted to participate in the market in order to create a brand name across the globe.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Some of the leading players operating in the mammography market across the globe are I.M.S. Srl, GE Healthcare, Hologic, Planmed Oy, Phillips Healthcare, Fujifilm, Siemens Healthcare, Mindray Medical International Limited, Toshiba Medical Systems, and Metaltronica. The research study provides a detailed overview of the competitive landscape and throws light on the key strategies and policies that have been adopted by them in order to sustain in the global market.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com High-resolution Melting Analysis Market - Health Threats Snapshot 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2486 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2486 https://www.tmrresearch.com/high-resolution-melting-analysis-market High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: SnapshotThe global market for high-resolution melting analysis is gaining momentum on account of the advancements in molecular biology. High-resolution melting analysis involves the microscopic study of double-stranded DNA samples to successively detect polymorphisms, epigenetics, and mutations. The study involves the amplification of the region where the mutational analysis needs to be carried out and generation of multiple copies of that region in the sample tube. The applications of high-resolution melting analysis in molecular biology are expansive, which is expected to play to the advantage of the market. TMR Research throws light on several market forces that are expected to contribute to the growth of the market over the coming. Moreover, a multifaceted approach to understand the knit and grit of the market was followed during research and analysis.Request Sample Copy of the Report @One of the most important applications of point high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis is the detection of point mutation. The conventional method of SNP typing is expensive and time-consuming which shifts the focus on HRM analysis. Testing of zygotes has also emerged as an important application of HRM analysis, which is propelling demand within the global market. Apart from the above-mentioned applications, intercalating dyes used for the transition of double-standard DNAs to single-stranded ones are another key area that is projected to contribute to the growth of the market.Genetic testing centers have been specifically very successful in North America which has given an impetus to the market. On the other hand, prominence of academic Institutes and research centers in Europe has also contributed to the growth of the regional market.Global High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: OverviewHigh resolution melting analysis is a powerful and strong methodology in molecular biology for the purpose of detecting epigenetic differences, polymorphisms, and mutations in double-stranded DNA samples. It was first discovered and developed by the Idaho Technology and University of Utah. High resolution melting analysis has several advantages over genotyping technologies such as cost effectiveness, it is powerful and fast as compared to genotyping technologies, and it is comparatively simple. Based on products and services, the global high-resolution melting analysis market can be segmented into software and services, consumables and reagents, and instruments. In terms of application, it can be segmented into epigenetics, pathogen identification, species identification, mutation scanning, and SNP genotyping.Request TOC of the Report @The global market for high-resolution melting analysis is likely to have a fruitful future owing to ongoing research and developments in this field sponsored by several leading companies operating in this particular field. For instance, FDA in the U.S. approves many treatments which are made for addressing a specific genomic profile or genetic makeup of the tumor of the patient.Global High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe prime factors that are boosting the growth of the market comprise the growing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, COPD, chronic diseases such as cancer, and other different infectious diseases. The prime benefits associated with high-resolution melting analysis are optimization of therapies, patient compliance, drug safety, cost savings on several treatments, and disease diagnosis. In return, these are also expected to propel the demand for DNA testing services. Moreover, rising awareness pertaining to the applications of high resolution melting analysis technologies for HLA typing, mutation discovery, and DNA mapping are additional aspects that are anticipated to propel the growth of the high-resolution melting analysis market during the forecast period. High resolution melting analysis is a technology employed for assessing melting curve plots of amplified gene. This particular technology is basically used for gene mutation scanning, microbial species identification, methylation profiling, and other different diagnostics based on PCR. Thus, mutation scanning and other applications are likely to gain prominence over time owing to rising prevalence of advancements in technology of molecular biology, genetic disorders, and growing awareness pertaining to SNP typing.Global High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: Market PotentialGrowing government budget provision for research and development in the field of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and applied life sciences is a crucial factor heightening the demand for numerous diagnostic techniques and tools. For instance, in 2015, the Obama led administration announced the introduction of the Precision Medicine Initiative with a huge investment of US$216 mn in the Presidents budget of 2016. This initiative is further expected to have positive impact on the growth of the high resolution melting analysis market.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: Regional OverviewRegion-wise, the market can be segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Rest of the World. North America is expected to perform extremely owing to factors such as robust adoption of advanced technology in healthcare, numerous genetic testing centers, strong biotech and pharmaceutical industry, prevalence many academic universities, and high prevalence of diseases. Asia Pacific has also been identified as one of the potential regions where the market can grow steadily owing to dynamics such as rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as HIV, COPD, and cancer, growing cases of genetic disorders, and rising private and public expenditure on genetic testing and molecular diagnostic.Global High-resolution Melting Analysis Market: Competitive LandscapeThe top drawer companies operating in the market are Thermo Fisher Scientific, Kapa Biosystems, Idaho Technology Corporation, and Roche Molecular Systems.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com "Virtual Team" How to Manage People Effectively in Multiple Locations VIRTUAL TEAM https://www.edupliance.com/webinar/virtual-team%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-how-to-manage-people-effectively-in-multiple-locations?utm_source=openpr&utm_medium=openpr.com www.edupliance.com Edupliance announces webinar titled, "Virtual Team" How to Manage People Effectively in Multiple Locations Attendees will understand how to more effectively boost productivity at every location. The event goes LIVE on Monday, June 25, from 01:00 PM to 02:30 PM, EST / 10 AM to 11:30 AM PST.In this webinar expert speaker, Chris DeVany will examine off-site management challenges and solutions with peers practice techniques for getting poorly performing locations up-to-speed and determine what the pros did right and wrong in real-world case studies and much more.The 90-minute webinar will be conducted by Chris DeVany is the founder and president of Pinnacle Performance Improvement Worldwide, a firm which focuses on management and organization development. Pinnacles clients include such organizations as Microsoft, Visa International, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Sprint, American Counseling Association, Aviva Insurance, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Hospital Corporation of America, Schlumberger, Morgan Stanley, Boston Scientific, US HealthCare and over 500 other organizations in 22 countries.Webinar attendees will learn:Maintain Order While Managing Long-Distance How to give multiple locations a business road map thatll keep them headed in the right direction How to create crystal-clear procedures that off-site staff will follow to the letterStay In Touch and Control No Matter What How to keep your finger on the pulse of off-site action without making employees feel like Big Brother is watching What responsibilities you must shoulder alone . . . and when you can safely share the load with off-siteEstablish Quality-Minded Teams You Can Rely On How to structure teams so theyll pull together . . . no matter which site theyre from How to ease resentment at a satellite location when a home-office employee is chosen for a promotion Troubleshoot Off-Site Problems like A Pro How often you should be visiting each site . . . any less and youre begging for trouble Phone or face-to-face? The best way to approach a site problem without alienating anyoneTo register for the webinar, visitEdupliance is an online information provider which offers webinars (Live and On-Demand), DVDs and downloadable resources that cover concurrent topics pertaining to various industries. With an expert panel of guest speakers, Edupliance brings state-of-the-art virtual technology solutions and industry-leading training sessions that are easy to learn, easily accessible and cater to people with varied interests. Edupliance is privately held and located in Hillsboro, Oregon.For more information, visitMedia Inquiriessupport@edupliance.com101, 4660, NE Belknap Court, Hillsboro, Oregon 97124 Mri Guided Focused Ultrasound Devices Market 1q Registering a Strong Growth by 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12727 Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound is a non-invasive treatment that combines two tools, focused magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound. The beam of ultrasound focused on targeted sites and penetrates through the soft tissues and, using MRI for monitoring guidance. The ultrasound beam causes an increase in temperature at target tissue and resulting in necrosis of tissue, while the surrounding structure is not disturbed by the beam. The associated MRI to provide guidance also provide imaging that provides temperature map to confirm the therapeutic effect of the ablation treatment and allows real time adjustments of treatment parameters.The increasing demand for minimally invasive methods will drive the market for MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Devices. The system has several advantages such as the possibility of retreatment, alternative therapy after radiotherapy and surgery over traditional therapy and increasing awareness about the treatment option in developed countries will fuel the market for MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Devices. MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound system offers fast recovery time and also has low complication rate as compared to surgery.The market for MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Devices is segmented as device type, application, end user and geography. The device type market is further segmented by two type such as focused ultrasound device and magnetic resonance imaging. These are the two different devices which are used together to and forms MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound system. By Application the market of MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Devices is segmented as Cancer (Brain Tumor, Breast cancer, Prostate cancer, Bone metastases, liver cancer, kidney cancer and pancreatic cancer, etc.), uterine fibroids, Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, etc. The increasing prevalence of cancer globally will drive the market for MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Devices in the forecast period. MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound system is incision-less, noninvasive method used to treat abnormal benign growths in a womans uterus known as fibroid tumors or fibroids. Uterine fibroids are one of the most common disorders of the uterus and mainly seen in women. The patient with essential tremor and not responding for medication MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery is the best option of treatment for them.By End User, the MRI-Guided Focused ultrasound devices market is segmented in hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, diagnostic centers and clinics. Hospitals segment hold the largest share in MRI-Guided Focused ultrasound devices Market due to the availability of facilities are good in hospitals. After hospitals, Ambulatory surgical centers governs the market growth of MRI-Guided Focused ultrasound devices.Recent conferences and workshops and rise in the number of surgeries performed by focused ultrasound surgery demonstrate that the technology is viable and is likely to see substantial development in the near future. MRI-guided focused ultrasound surgery was also named by many published medical agencies as one of top twenty most important invention and would be most useful in near future.Geographically North America hold largest market share in overall MRI-Guided Focused ultrasound devices market was owing to increasing demand for non-invasive method and high product approval in the region for treatment. The market of Europe for MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound devices will grow in forecast period due to the availability of devices in the region and awareness about system among people. The market in Asia Pacific will be smaller than North America and Europe due to less new product penetration in the region. The Latin America and the Middle East & Africa will less contribute in growth of MRI-Guided Focused ultrasound devices market.In July 2016, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved first MRI-guided focused ultrasound device ExAblate Neuro to treat essential tremor. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, several million Americans, usually those over age 40, are affected by the condition. ExAblate Neuro uses magnetic resonance images taken during the procedure to deliver focused ultrasound to destroy brain tissue in a tiny area thought to be responsible for causing tremors. InSightec Ltd is the company which developed the system. In 2012, United States F.D.A. approved the MRI-Guided Focused ultrasound devices to initiate phase one study.Request Sample Report @Some of the major market players in MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Devices Market globally include Koninklijke Philips N.V., Toshiba Corporation, Siemens AG, Hitachi Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Esaote S.p.A., Mindray Medical International Ltd., and Analogic Corporation.Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: himanshu.t@persistencemarketresearch.com Ophthalmic Lasers Market Size, Growth, Trends and 2024 Forecast Report https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=20864 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ophthalmic-lasers-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=20864 www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Ophthalmic Lasers Market: OverviewOne of the key factors responsible for driving the growth of the global ophthalmic lasers market is the increasing number of patients suffering from numerous eye diseases across the world. There are study reports that show the rate of occurring partial or full blindness has considerably increased over the period and could still double to its current volume by 2020. This growth is mainly down to the diseases such as cataract, glaucoma, and diabetes.Request A Sample-The increasing awareness about the benefits of timely diagnosis and productive medical care such as laser operation could avoid occurrence of these conditions is also helping to drive the growth of the global ophthalmic lasers market. Moreover, increasing awareness among people about the effectiveness of the treatment methods that are available is also projected to fuel the market growth in coming years.The global ophthalmic lasers market stood at overall valuation of US$0.97 bn in the year 2015. This valuation is estimated to reach to a figure of US$1.44 bn by the end of the given forecast period of 2016 to 2024. This growth over the course of the mentioned forecast period is expected to be achieved at a healthy CAGR of 4.60%.Ophthalmic Clinics to Lead End User Segment due to Increasing Preference to Visit Specialists for TreatmentAmbulatory surgical centers, hospitals, and ophthalmic clinics have emerged as the important end users of the ophthalmic laser surgeries. With an outstanding rate of expansion, the ophthalmic clinics have been stated as the leading contributing segment to the overall revenue generation of the global ophthalmic lasers market.View Report-The demand for ophthalmic lasers from this sector is expected to remain on the rise at a great pace compare to the other segments thanks to the growing preference for visiting the specialists for laser treatment procedures. Hospitals and other ambulatory surgical centers are also projected to experience a steady growth in requirement of ophthalmic lasers in the coming years.North America to Remain Dominant Market Owing to Strong Healthcare and Regulatory StructureDepending on geographical regions, the global market for ophthalmic lasers can be classified into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. Owing to the widespread presence of prominent market players, North America has been the leading regional segment for the global ophthalmic lasers market accounting for over 40% of market share in the year 2016.Over the coming years of the aforementioned forecast period, the key focus of the prominent players in the market is expected to be on the research and development activities and ensuring the availability of world class healthcare infrastructure and regulatory systems for avoiding the delay of product approval to support the North American market continue its dominance.The ophthalmic lasers market in Asia Pacific is expected to witness a substantial growth rate which will be more the growth rate of the other geographical regions. This high growth rate of the ophthalmic lasers market in Asia Pacific is due to a large population base. Emerging economies such as China is projected to be the most promising domestic market for ophthalmic laser in the region of Asia Pacific.Request For Discount-Some of the key players in the market include names such as Ellex Medical Lasers Ltd., Lumenis Ltd., Novartis AG, IRIDEX Corp, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Ziemer Ophthalmic Systems AG, Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, and NIDEK Co. Ltd. among others.About us:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Offshore Decommissioning Market - Ensuring Enormous Opportunities 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2489 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2489 https://www.tmrresearch.com/offshore-decommissioning-market Global Offshore Decommissioning Market: OverviewOffshore decommissioning is the process of disassembling offshore oil platforms, which also includes burying the holes drilled into the ground for exploration and extraction purposes. Mature oil platforms can have an adverse impact on the surrounding environment, which necessitates their removal. The global offshore decommissioning market is likely to remain a key sector of the global oil and gas industry in the coming years, as the latter is likely to emphasize increasingly on offshore petroleum extraction. Well plugging and abandonment is likely to remain the key segment of the global offshore decommissioning market in the coming years, with the extensive scale of the operation key in ensuring a steady dominant share for the segment in the global market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Offshore Decommissioning Market: Key TrendsThe global offshore decommissioning market is likely to exhibit steady growth in the coming years due to the rising number of mature oilfields, which no longer remain commercially viable. The high number of aging platforms in shallow water is also likely to remain a key driver for the global offshore decommissioning market in the coming years.On the other hand, the high cost of offshore decommissioning projects could hinder the growth of the global offshore decommissioning market. Due to the large scale of offshore oil and gas platforms, significant expenditure needs to be dedicated for effective offshore decommissioning projects. Since the expenses go toward removing a nonfunctional asset rather than expanding the existing capacity, many players in the global oil and gas industry have remained reluctant about offshore decommissioning. The technology required to carry out offshore decommissioning efficiently are also lacking in several regions, as is systemic support from the regulatory framework. This is also likely to restrain the global offshore decommissioning market in the coming years.Request TOC of the Report @The rising use of techniques to maximize and prolong the viability of oilfields is also likely to restrain the growth of the global offshore decommissioning market in the coming years. Refilling and other techniques can help extend the operational lifespan of oilfield by a few years, and result in further profits for the oil and gas operator. This remains a key challenge for the offshore decommissioning market in the coming years, as offshore decommissioning remains unprofitable both economically as well as logistically compared to these techniques.Global Offshore Decommissioning Market: Market PotentialOil and gas operations in the North Sea are likely to be vital to the global offshore decommissioning market in the coming years. The U.K. and Norway are among the leading oil producers operating in the North Sea and are likely to remain among the key consumers of offshore decommissioning technology in the coming years. As a result, Europe is likely to be the leading regional offshore decommissioning market over the coming years.Global Offshore Decommissioning Market: Geographical DynamicsFollowing Europe, North America is also likely to retain a significant share in the global offshore decommissioning market due primarily to the rising role of the U.S. in the global oil and gas sector. The U.S. has traditionally been a major player in the oil and gas industry and is a leading operator of offshore oilfields at present. The rising prominence of Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia in the global oil and gas sector is also likely to drive the Asia Pacific market for offshore decommissioning in the coming years.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Offshore Decommissioning Market: Competitive DynamicsThe leading players in the global offshore decommissioning market include AF Gruppen ASA, Amec Foster Wheeler Plc, John Wood Group Plc, Ramboll Group, Aker Solutions ASA, and Tetra Technologies Inc.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Armenia's Special Investigative Service searched a private house of the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union Chairman, NA Republican Party of Armenia Faction MP Manvel Grigoryan in occupied territories of Azerbaijan near Ara Ler today. The Special Investigative Service said that large amounts of underwear and clothing, medication, field rations as well as other food, also canned meat, cigarettes, meant for Armenian servicemen, also gasoline and a large number of cartridges for 7.62 and 5.45 mm automatic rifles were discovered, ARKA reported. The Special Investigative Service said the search of the home was backed by information received as a result of joint activities of the Special Investigation Service and the National Security Service. It was also noted that Manvel Grigoryan's relative was detained as part of the criminal case against the MP. Global Airway and Anesthesia Devices Consumption Market 2018-2023 - Research By Markets 2018-2023 Global Airway and Anesthesia Devices Consumption Market Report https://www.researchbymarkets.com/sample-request/22348 https://www.researchbymarkets.com/report/2018-2023-global-airway-and-anesthesia-devices-consumption-market-report-22348.html https://www.researchbymarkets.com/inquiry/22348 https://www.researchbymarkets.com/category/medical-devices https://www.researchbymarkets.com/aboutus This report covers the present scenario (with the base year being 2017) and the growth prospects of global "Airway and Anesthesia Devices Market" for 2018-2023.Anesthesia equipment is often used by medical professionals during surgical procedures to help prevent a patient from feeling pain and relax surrounding muscles. Oftentimes, anesthesia can make a patient drowsy or even unconscious, both of which are completely normal reactions to the medicine. During the procedure, an anesthesiologist will monitor the patient's vitals to ensure their well-being, and also regulate the amount of anesthesia being administered. However, doing both simultaneously can be difficult if a facility's monitoring equipment is outdated or not user-friendly.REQUEST FOR SAMPLE PAGES OF THIS REPORT:The global airway and anesthesia devices market are expected to witness substantial growth over the forecast period on account of the increasing air pollution and respiratory problems among people. The airway devices market is expected to grow considerably as the used in surgeries to pump oxygen and anesthetic gases in the patient's body to keep him sedated and at the same time maintaining the rate of breathing. The anesthesia devices market is expected to grow substantially owing to increasing rate of surgeries with increasing rate of population. A huge geriatric population base is prone to health related problems such as cardiac disorders and respiratory diseases which act a major driver for the growth of the airway and anesthesia devices market. In North American market the airway and anesthesia market is expected to grow substantially owing to the increasing geriatric population and high standard of living. Asia Pacific market is expected to grow over the period owing to the increasing population and rising consumer disposable incomes. In countries such as India and Japan governments have shown their interest and have taken initiatives to provide a better healthcare and medical facilities for the people.VIEW TOC AND LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES:Over the next five years, it is projected that Airway and Anesthesia Devices will register a xx% CAGR in terms of revenue, reach US$ xx million by 2023, from US$ xx million in 2017.This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares, and growth opportunities of Airway and Anesthesia Devices market by product type, application, key manufacturers and key regions.To calculate the market size, research considers value and volume generated from the sales of the following segments:Segmentation by product type:Anesthesia MonitorsAnesthesia MachinesAnesthesia MasksAnesthesia AccessoriesSegmentation by application:AnesthesiaEmergency MedicineThis report also splits the market by region:AmericasUnited StatesCanadaMexicoBrazilAPACChinaJapanKoreaSoutheast AsiaIndiaAustraliaEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalyRussiaSpainMiddle East & AfricaEgyptSouth AfricaIsraelTurkeyGCC CountriesThe report also presents the market competition landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendor/manufacturers in the market. The key manufacturers covered in this report:GE Healthcare and CovidienDraegerwerkFischer & PaykelResMed, Getinge GroupTeleflexPhilips HealthcareCareFusion CorpIntersurgicalSmiths MedicalMeditronicIn addition, this report discusses the key drivers influencing market growth, opportunities, the challenges and the risks faced by key manufacturers and the market as a whole. It also analyzes key emerging trends and their impact on present and future development.INQUIRE MORE ABOUT THIS REPORT:Research objectivesTo study and analyze the global Airway and Anesthesia Devices consumption (value & volume) by key regions/countries, product type and application, history data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2023.To understand the structure of Airway and Anesthesia Devices market by identifying its various subsegments.Focuses on the key global Airway and Anesthesia Devices manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.To analyze the Airway and Anesthesia Devices with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).To project the consumption of Airway and Anesthesia Devices submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Find more reports under the Medical Devices category:Contact Us:Research By MarketsMs. Lia Seth | Client Relations DirectorEmail: enquiry@researchbymarkets.comAbout Us:Research By Markets is an online Market Research Report Repository.Our repository contains reports segmented by Geography and Industry. We cover all major Industry Verticals - Information Technology, Semiconductor, Electronics, Manufacturing, Food & Beverages, Telecommunications, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Automotive, BioTechnology, Energy & Power, Banking and many more.Research By MarketsE-3, Ganga Homes,Behind Bank Of India,Viman Nagar,Pune 411 014.Maharashtra, India Oilfield Communications Market Scope Framework 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2492 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2492 https://www.tmrresearch.com/oilfield-communications-market Global Oilfield Communications Market: SnapshotOilfield communications need seamless wireless networks that can offer connectivity across long distances and in difficult conditions. They provide speedy broadband connectivity that helps to run numerous applications simultaneously. In this manner they help to achieve operational efficiency. The market for oilfield communications has made impressive strides over the past few decades due to improving technologies and large number of oilfields being discovered.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The billion dollar market is expected to make healthy progress over the next couple of years too because of the discovery and development of offshore subsea oilfields and continued progress in technology. The mounting cybersecurity threats and addition of various departments to the industry is also expected to offer avenues of growth to the market.Among the various geographic regions across which the market for oilfield communications is spread, North America is contributing the most to its growth. This is because the continent is a major producer of oil and gas and is a technology leader too. Many of the big companies focused on improving digital communication are domiciled in the region and hence are driving the market considerably.The developing economies across the world too are playing a key role in generating demand. Many of the savvy players, as a result, have now shifted their gaze to towards them in order to make a killing.Request TOC of the Report @Overall the market for oilfield communication is highly competitive owing to the surging number of players pulling out all stops to progress. They are seen focusing on cutting edge research and development to build more sophisticated technologies. To that end they are pouring money into building state-of-the-art research facilities and hiring high-skilled employees to come up with effective communication and cyber-security solutions. This will enable the market to clock steady growth over the course of next few years.Global Oilfield Communications Market: OverviewThe global market for oilfield communication is expected to grow at a strong pace in the next few years. A substantial rise in the number of oil fields across the globe is projected to encourage the growth of the overall market in the next few years. Moreover, the rising emphasis on development and adoption of new and effective communication techniques are anticipated to benefit the key players in the market across the globe.Global Oilfield Communications Market: Key TrendsThe increasing vulnerabilities to cybersecurity threats for the oil and gas industry are anticipated to augment global oilfield communications market in the coming years. Moreover, the integration of several departments in the industry is likely to offer potential opportunities for growth in the next few years. On the flip side, the stringent regulatory framework and the rising risk of inadequate data security and asset security are projected to curtail the growth of the global oilfield communications market in the near future.Global Oilfield Communications Market: Market PotentialThe discovery and development of new subsea oilfields are the key factors that are anticipated to encourage the growth of the global oilfield communications market throughout the forecast period. In addition, the growing demand for advanced and cost-effective solutions in the overall oil and gas industry is predicted to supplement the growth of the market in the coming years. The research and development activities and the emergence of new techniques are some of the other aspects that are projected to fuel the growth of the market in the near future. However, the security of information is expected to act as a key challenge for the key players in the global market.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Oilfield Communications Market: Regional OutlookThe global oilfield communications market has been classified on the basis of geography in order to provide a clear understanding for readers and market players. Among the regional segmentation, North America is anticipated to witness a high level of growth in the next few years. This region is considered as one of the major oil and gas producers across the globe, owing to which the market is estimated to encourage the growth of the market in the coming years. In addition, the rising focus of key players on enhancing their digital communication solutions is predicted to supplement the development of the market in the near future.Furthermore, the oilfield communications market is estimated to experience a healthy growth in several emerging nations across the globe. The rising focus of the leading players on untapped markets is predicted to generate promising opportunities for key players operating in the oilfield communications market over the forecast period.Global Oilfield Communications Market: Competitive AnalysisThe global market for oilfield communications is fairly competitive in nature and is predicted to witness substantial growth throughout the forecast period. The increasing number of players in the market is estimated to enhance the competitive landscape of the market over the next few years. In addition, the growing focus on research and development activities and innovations are predicted to contribute towards the overall development of the market in the near future.Some of the prominent players operating in the oilfield communications market across the globe are Siemens AG, Rad Data Communications, Inc., Airspan Networks, Inc., Commtel Networks Pvt. Ltd., Inmarsat PLC, Baker Hughes Incorporated, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Alcatel-Lucent S.A., Rignet, Inc., Speedcast International Limited, Tait Communications, Hughes Network Systems LLC, Commscope, Inc., ABB Ltd., and Ceragon Networks Ltd. Detailed profiles of the mentioned players have been included in the scope of the research report.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Market In-Depth Analysis by QYResearchReports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1832857&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-environment-testing-inspection-and-certification-market-size-status-and-forecast-2025.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 to its huge collection of research reports.The global market for Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification has been witnessing a continued alteration in the pattern of the demand for Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification.This report focuses on the global top players, coveredSGS SAIntertekBureau VeritasYaraALSAssure QualityExovaSCSRJ HillsAPALTUV NordEurofinsGEDanaherAgrolabSAICawood ScientificFREE | Request Sample is Available at:The research report also assists the companies functional in the global Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification market in understanding the existing market trends and, thus, shaping their businesses accordingly. It further evaluates the previous and the existing performance of this market and makes future projections on the basis of these assessments. It also assesses the global market from the perspective of the current market chain by utilizing the data related to import and export and the sales dynamics of the products available in this market across the world.Table of ContentsGlobal Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification1.1 Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Market Overview1.1.1 Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.3 Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Market by Type1.3.1 Testing1.3.2 Inspection1.3.3 Certification2 Global Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 SGS SA3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2 Intertek3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3 Bureau Veritas3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Environment Testing, Inspection, and Certification Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.4 Yara3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business OverviewView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Chemical Licensing Market Expecting Worldwide Growth by 2025: Johnson Matthey, Mitsubishi Chemical, Sumitomo, ExxonMobil https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1832872&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-chemical-licensing-market-size-status-and-forecast-2025.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Chemical Licensing Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 to its huge collection of research reports.The C2 derivatives segment is estimated to be the largest type segment of the chemical licensing market in 2017. Manufacturing C2 derivatives includes the use of technologies and processes such as polymerization, chlorination, and oxidation. A range of C2 derivatives are produced using technologies licensed major companies. Polyethylene and EDC-PVC manufacturing technologies are in high demand in the market due to their multiple applications; this demand is a major factor driving growth in the C2 derivatives segment of the chemical licensing market.In 2017, the global Chemical Licensing market size was 10700 million US$ and it is expected to reach 16000 million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of 5.2% during 2018-2025.This report focuses on the global top players, coveredJohnson MattheyMitsubishi ChemicalSumitomoExxonMobilShellChevron Phillips ChemicalEastman ChemicalFREE | Request Sample is Available at:The cross-sectional analysis of the regional markets helps in ascertaining the factors that will determine their trajectory. Furthermore, researchers have also studied the political situations in the global Chemical Licensing market to understand its impact on the sales. It discusses the emerging trends in the global Chemical Licensing market and offers an insightful perspective on how it could be a lucrative opportunity. Additionally, it also offers interesting suggestions about way to deal with entry barriers for the new entrants.With the help of Porters five forces analysis researchers have determined the intensity of the competitive rivalry present in the global market. It also assesses the financial outlook of the companies, their expansion plans, and their market positioning.Table of ContentsGlobal Chemical Licensing Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Chemical Licensing1.1 Chemical Licensing Market Overview1.1.1 Chemical Licensing Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Chemical Licensing Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.3 Chemical Licensing Market by Type1.3.1 C1 derivatives1.3.2 C2 derivatives1.3.3 C3 derivatives1.3.4 C4 derivatives1.4 Chemical Licensing Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Oil & Gas1.4.2 Chemical2 Global Chemical Licensing Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Chemical Licensing Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Johnson Matthey3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Chemical Licensing Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2 Mitsubishi Chemical3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Chemical Licensing Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3 Sumitomo3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business OverviewView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Motorcycle Seats Market Comprehensive Analysis, Trends and Future Forecast 2018-2022 http://bit.ly/2M3IjMm http://bit.ly/2tnNhvN https://www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/automotive http://www.radiantinsights.com/ The most common motorcycle seat is the dual-seat or bench-seat. It allows both the rider and passenger to be seated on a single seat. Motorcycle seats are generally made up of three main parts, which are the baseplate, foam, and the cover.Radiant Insights, Inc's analysts forecast the global motorcycle seats market to grow at a CAGR of 5.81% during the period 2018-2022.Download Free Sample Report @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global motorcycle seats market for 2018-2022. To calculate the market size, the report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: Americas APAC EMEABrowse Full Research Report with TOC @Radiant Insights, Inc's report, Global Motorcycle Seats Market 2018-2022, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors Autofit Harita Fehrer NAD, S.L. Varroc GroupMarket driver Increasing congestion and overcrowding in cities For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Potential risks of heated seats For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Integration of advanced heated seats in heavy-duty cruisers For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2022 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space?Explore all Report of this category @About Radiant InsightsRadiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. It assists and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decisions making process. The Organization has a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions.Media Contact:Company Name: Radiant Insights, IncContact Person: Michelle ThorasPhone: (415) 349-0054Toll Free: 1-888-928-9744Address: 201 Spear Street 1100, Suite 3036,City: San Francisco; State: California; Country: United StatesEmail: sales@radiantinsights.comwebsite: Starch Derivatives Market Rising At A CAGR Of 5.90% Between 2015 2021 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/506436 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/506436/starch-derivatives-by-product-maltodextrin-market-research-reports/toc http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ "The Latest Research Report Starch Derivatives Market - Global Industry Analysis, Trend, Size, Share and Forecast 2015 - 2021 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"The global starch derivatives market is expected to witness steady growth during the forecast period. Increasing usage of starch derivatives in industrial application is propelling the growth of the starch derivatives market. The starch derivatives market is categorized by product type into maltodextrin, glucose syrup, cyclodextrin, hydrolysates, and modified starch. Based on application, the starch derivatives market is segmented into food and beverages, feed, cosmetics, paper and pharmaceuticals among others including industrial applications and bio-ethanol.Glucose syrup holds a major share of the market, whereas maltodextrin experienced the highest growth in the market in terms of revenue in 2014. The demand for glucose syrup is expected to grow at a higher rate as compared to other product segments due to its increasing applications in various industries such as feeds,pharmaceuticals, paper, and cosmetics in developing countries. It is often used as flavor enhancer, volume-adding agent, texture agent, and inhibitor of sugar from crystallizing in drinks.Furthermore, increasing health consciousness and growing demand for natural sweetener is driving the demand for starch derivatives globally. Increasing demand for convenience food and beverages in various countries such as China, Germany, India, the U.S., Brazil, and Saudi Arabia is one of the key factors propelling the growth of the starch derivatives market. In the past few decades, several developments have taken place in the starch derivatives industry, which has experienced a shift from conventional food products to time-saving food containing starch derivatives in the convenience and processed food category.Get Sample Copy of this report @Globally, demand for starch derivatives is governed by the performance functionality and quality of the products. In addition, growing demand for starch derivatives in the pharmaceuticals industry is one of the key factors supporting the growth of the market significantly. Increasing research and development expenditure coupled with fluctuation in raw material prices is likely to restrict the expansion of the starch derivatives market. However, this market is expected to grow in the next few years due to rising consumption of starch derivatives in various emerging countries and increasing application of starch derivatives in different sectors such as food and beverage, paper, animal feed and pharmaceutical among others. The research report covers drivers, restraints and opportunities of the starch derivatives market. The research study features present market trends and provides the forecast from 2015 to 2021. The report also covered the current market scenario for starch derivatives and highlighted its future market trends that are likely to affect the demand for starch derivatives. By geography, the market has been bifurcated into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). The present market size and forecast until 2021 are covered in the report.In 2014, Asia Pacific held the largest share of the starch derivatives market followed by Europe, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW). Asia Pacific is the largest as well as the fastest growing regional market due to rising demand for starch derivatives in India and China. Moreover, Asia Pacific is expected to maintain its leading position during the forecast period. The rise in demand for starch based food and beverages, and increasing application in pharmaceutical sector in India and China is expected to drive the growth of the starch derivatives market in Asia Pacific. Therefore, food and beverage manufacturers are focusing on producing starch based products to meet the consumers need in Asia Pacific.The research study also analyzes different factors inhibiting and influencing the growth of the starch derivatives market. The analysis of market attractiveness provided in the report features key investing areas in the starch derivatives industry. Furthermore, the report will help starch derivatives manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors understand the present and future trends in this market and formulate their business strategies accordingly.Request For TOC Report @Table of ContentsChapter 1Preface1.1 Report Description1.2 Market Segmentation1.3 Research Scope1.4 Research MethodologyChapter 2 Executive Summary2.1 Starch Derivatives Market2.2 Global Starch Derivatives Market: SnapshotChapter 3 Global Starch Derivatives Market: Market Overview3.1 Introduction3.2 Key Trends Analysis3.3 Market Dynamics3.3.1 Global Starch Derivatives Market Drivers3.3.2 Global Starch Derivatives Market Restraints3.3.3 Global Starch Derivatives Market - Opportunities3.4 Market Attractiveness Analysis, by Products, 20143.5 Major players operating in the Global Starch Derivatives MarketChapter 4 Global Starch Derivatives Market: By Product Type4.1 By Product Type: Product Type Segmentation Tree4.2 Maltodextrin Starch Derivatives Market, 20142021: Revenue Forecast (USD Billion)4.3 Cyclodextrin Starch Derivatives Market, 2014-2021: Revenue Forecast (USD Billion)4.4 Glucose Syrup Starch Derivatives Market, 2014-2021: Revenue Forecast (USD Billion)4.5 Hydrolysates Starch Derivatives Market, 2014-2021: Revenue Forecast (USDBillion)4.6 Modified Starch Derivatives Market, 2014-2021: Revenue Forecast (USD Billion)Chapter 5 Global Starch Derivatives Market: By Application Type5.1 By Application: Segmentation Tree5.2 Overview5.3 Food & Beverages Application Segment, 2014-2021: Revenue Forecast (USD Billion)5.4 Feed Application Segment, 2014-2021: Revenue Forecast (USD Billion)5.5 Paper Application Segment, 2014-2021: Revenue Forecast (USD Billion)5.6 Cosmetics Application Segment, 2014-2021: Revenue Forecast (USD Billion)5.7 Pharmaceuticals Application Segment, 2014-2021: Revenue Forecast (USD Billion)5.8 Others Application Segment, 2014-2021: Revenue Forecast (USD Billion)About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Diamond Tools Market Analysis 2018 Forecasts To 2023 : Bosun, Saint Gobain, Hebei XMF Tools, Gangyan Diamond, Bosch Global Diamond Tools Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3239275-global-diamond-tools-market-analysis-2012-2017-and-forecast-2018-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3239275-global-diamond-tools-market-analysis-2012-2017-and-forecast-2018-2023 Global Diamond Tools MarketDescription:-Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Global Diamond Tools Market 2018: Global Analysis, Industry Size, Share, Trends, Application Analysis and Growth Opportunities Forecast to 2023 To Its Research DatabaseThe global Diamond Tools market will reach xxx Million USD in 2017. The report begins from overview of Industry Chain structure, and describes industry environment, then analyses market size and forecast of Diamond Tools by product, region and application, in addition, this report introduces market competition situation among the companies and company profile, besides, market price analysis and value chain features are covered in this report.Product Type Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Major Vendors of Product Type etc.):Abrasives TypeDiamond Sawing ToolsDiamond Drilling ToolsDiamond Cutting ToolsVendors Coverage (Sales Revenue, Price, Gross Margin, Main Products etc.):Asahi Diamond IndustrialHusqvarna ABTyrolitEhwaHiltiICS, BlountBosunSaint GobainDiscoHebei XMF ToolsGangyan DiamondReliable Diamond ToolMakitaBoschShibuya CompanySyntec Diamond ToolsOX Group InternationalNanjing Sanchao Advanced MaterialsMK Diamond ProductsLackmondMetabo Power ToolsBillon Power Diamond ToolsRequest a sample copy @Application Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Different Demand Market by Region, Main Consumer Profile etc.):Stone Processing IndustryTransportation IndustryGeological Prospecting IndustryMachiningRegion Coverage (Regional Output, Demand & Forecast by Countries etc.):North AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East & AfricaTable of Content1 Industry Overview1.1 Diamond Tools Industry1.1.1 Overview1.1.2 Development of Diamond Tools1.2 Market Segment1.2.1 Upstream1.2.2 Downstream1.3 Cost Analysis2 Industry Environment2.1 Policy2.2 Economics2.3 Sociology2.4 Technology3 Diamond Tools Market by Type3.1 Segment Overview3.1.1 Abrasives Type3.1.2 Diamond Sawing Tools3.1.3 Diamond Drilling Tools3.1.4 Diamond Cutting Tools3.2 Market Size3.3 Market Forecast4 Major Companies List4.1 Asahi Diamond Industrial (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.2 Husqvarna AB (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.3 Tyrolit (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.4 Ehwa (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.5 Hilti (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.6 ICS, Blount (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.7 Bosun (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.8 Saint Gobain (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.9 Disco (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.10 Hebei XMF Tools (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.11 Gangyan Diamond (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.12 Reliable Diamond Tool (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.13 Makita (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.14 Bosch (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.15 Shibuya Company (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.16 Syntec Diamond Tools (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.17 OX Group International (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.18 Nanjing Sanchao Advanced Materials (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.19 MK Diamond Products (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.20 Lackmond (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.21 Metabo Power Tools (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.22 Billon Power Diamond Tools (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)5 Market Competition5.1 Vendors Competition5.2 Regional Market by Vendors6 Market Demand6.1 Demand Situation6.1.1 Demand in Stone Processing Industry6.1.2 Demand in Transportation Industry6.1.3 Demand in Geological Prospecting Industry6.1.4 Demand in Machining6.2 Regional Demand Comparison6.3 Demand Forecast7 Region Operation7.1 Regional Output7.2 Regional Market7.3 by Region7.3.1 North America7.3.1.1 Overview7.3.1.2 by Country (U.S., Canada, Mexico)7.3.2 Europe7.3.2.1 Overview7.3.2.2 by Country (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc.)7.3.3 Asia-Pacific7.3.3.1 Overview7.3.3.2 by Country (China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia etc.)7.3.4 South America7.3.4.1 Overview7.3.4.2 by Country (Brazil, Argentina etc.)7.3.5 Middle East & Africa7.3.5.1 Overview7.3.5.2 by Country (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc.)7.4 Regional Forecast8 Marketing & Price8.1 Price and Margin8.1.1 Price Trends8.1.2 Factors of Price Change8.1.3 Manufacturers Gross Margin Analysis8.2 Value Chain8.3 Marketing Channel9 Research Conclusion Table Upstream Segment of Diamond ToolsBrowse full Report @About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Contact Us:Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltdsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Maharashtra, Pune 411028 Global Smart Card Market Analysis & Evolving Opportunities Studied for the Period Until 2024 MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/694 https://www.mrrse.com/smart-card https://www.mrrse.com/ In order to study the various trends and patterns prevailing in the overall market for Smart Cards, Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has included a new report titled Smart Cards Market to its wide online database. This research assessment offers a clear insight about the influential factors that are expected to transform the global market in the near future. Readers can access the regional as well as segment-wise analysis for acquiring precise information about the global market structure.Request for a free sample copy of this research report @The research report states that the introduction of high-end SIMs in terms of LTE providers and NFC capabilities is one of the biggest opportunities for the global smart card market players According to the research study, in 2014, the global smart card market was worth US$7.2 bn and is anticipated to reach a value of US$14.2 bn by the end of 2023. The market is projected to exhibit a progressive 7.40% CAGR between 2016 and 2023.On the basis of type, the global smart card market has been categorized into dual-interface smart cards, hybrid smart cards, contactless smart cards, and contact smart cards. Among these, the contactless smart cards segment offers a platform for the addition of new applications to facilitate enhanced secure identity verification and access control systems. In 2014, the contactless smart card segment held an 18.6% share in the overall market and is projected to exhibit a substantial 11.50% CAGR between 2016 and 2023.On the basis of geography, the global smart card market has been classified into the Middle East and Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Europe. In 2014, in terms of revenue, the Asia Pacific market dominated the global market, holding a 47.4% share in the overall smart card market, and is expected to exhibit a 7.90% CAGR between 2016 and 2023. The growing adoption of cellular SIM cards in Asia Pacific is the major factor responsible for the rapid growth of the smart card market in Asia Pacific.Browse the entire report in detail @In addition, the rising adoption of e-IDs for transportation and government applications and increased adoption of EMV cards in the banking and finance industry are the other factors driving the Asia Pacific smart card market. Furthermore, the Middle East and Africa and Latin America smart card markets are projected to witness substantial growth in the next few years, owing to the rising adoption of SIM cards and several government initiatives for issuing personal identification cards.The research report further analyzes the major players operating in the global smart card market, focusing on their profiles, product portfolio, business strategies, and financial overview. The study also provides a SWOT analysis of these players for determining the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats faced by them while operating in the global market. Some of the prominent players operating in the global smart card market are INSIDE Secure, Ingenico Corp. (Delaware), Oberthur Technologies, Atos SE (Societas Europaea), Gemalto NV, NXP Semiconductors, Texas Instruments, Inc., Infineon Technologies AG, American Express Co., and Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) GmbH.About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State Street Suite 700Albany, NY 12207 (United States)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite: Thrombectomy Devices Market Strengthening Growth By 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1190 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1190 https://www.tmrresearch.com/thrombectomy-devices-market Global Thrombectomy Devices Market: OverviewThrombectomy devices are used in surgeries to remove blood clots formed in situ within blood vessels. These devices are available in various types, including mechanical devices, basket/brush retrievers, stent retrievers, aspiration devices, ultrasonic devices, coil retrievers, and hydrodynamic devices. They are used to remove thrombus, which can happen anywhere within the vascular system of a human body and therefore, find their application in the cardiovascular system, peripheral vascular system, and neurovascular system. The end users of these devices, include ambulatory surgical centers, hospitals and surgical centers, academic institutes, and research laboratories.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Thrombectomy Devices Market: Key TrendsThe rapidly growing geriatric population is fuelling the global demand for thrombectomy devices since aged people are highly susceptible to venous thromboembolism (VTE). Moreover, the rising occurrence of peripheral artery disease, acute myocardial infarction, and deep vein thrombosis, owing to the unhealthy and sedentary lifestyles is escalating the development of the global market for thrombectomy devices. The increasing government and consumer expenditure on the healthcare sector coupled with the presence of favorable medical reimbursement scenario is also stoking the growth of the market. Besides this, the spiraling demand for minimally invasive thrombectomy procedures is augmenting the market.On the flip side, stringent regulations pertaining to the approval and manufacturing of thrombectomy devices is hampering the growth of the global market. Moreover, patients, particularly in developing and less developed nations, are less aware about thrombectomy, which in turn negatively impacts the growth of the market. The lack of skilled and well-trained surgeons is also inhibiting the growth of the global thrombectomy devices market.Global Thrombectomy Devices Market: Market PotentialThe global medical devices industry and its affiliated markets are largely influenced by government actions. Thus, favorable government policies are playing an instrumental role in the development of the global thrombectomy devices market. To put this in perspective, the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) is taking efforts to make mechanical thrombectomy more widely available to patients. In April 2017, the NHS decided to invest hefty sums in the development of an advanced treatment for strokes. With this intervention, nearly 8,000 people per year are expected to benefit from this treatment. The development of such treatments is likely to translate into the greater uptake of thrombectomy devices.Request TOC of the Report @Global Thrombectomy Devices Market: Geographical SegmentationThe key regions analyzed in the report are Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. North America will command a substantial share in the global market throughout the forecast period. The growing popularity of technologically advanced thrombectomy products among surgeons and the availability of favorable reimbursement policies, especially in the U.S. are contributing to the growth of the region. Besides this, the presence of advanced healthcare infrastructure and the rising number of clinical trials are supplementing the market in North America.Asia Pacific will be an emerging market for thrombectomy devices. The widening base of target patient population, growing healthcare expenditure, and increasing awareness regarding novel devices among surgeons are stoking the growth of the region. In addition, the growth of the region can be attributed to the rising localized manufacturing and strengthening of distribution channels.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Thrombectomy Devices Market: Competitive LandscapeThe majority of key players in the global thrombectomy devices market are looking upon mergers and acquisitions as viable strategies to expand their product portfolio. They are paying high attention to technological advancements and product upgradation to stay relevant in this highly competitive arena. Some of the key global participants in the global market are Stryker Corporation, Medtronic Plc, Boston Scientific Corporation, Penumbra Inc., Teleflex Incorporated, AngioDynamics Inc., The Spectranetics Corporation, Johnson and Johnson Inc., Terumo Corporation, and Vascular Solutions Inc.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Transcatheter heart valve market is anticipated to US$ 7 Billion by 2024 https://www.renub.com/transcatheter-heart-valve-replacement-market-p.php https://www.renub.com/contactus.php www.renub.com Access full Research:Get Free Customization in This ReportAs per Renub Research analysis Transcatheter heart valve market is anticipated to reach nearly US$ 7 Billion by 2024. This report covers market dynamics and competitive analysis of leading industry players. Transcatheter heart valve is the latest technology that has varieties of advantages over traditional surgical procedure. It is less invasive, simple procedure and has less mortality rate over conventional surgical methods. Transcatheter mitral valve replacement is very recent technology and it is gaining prominence since its getting fast approvals from various governments globally. The replacement of mitral heart valve is quite complex procedure due to its complex structure and position. So Transcatheter Mitral Heart Valve is creating a big market by replacing the traditional technique to change mitral valve.Rising ageing population and prevalence of heart valve disease is major growth drivers for Transcatheter Heart Valve market. In addition people mostly prefer less invasive technique, so adoption of Transcatheter Heart Valve rapid pace of growth will further boost the market. High cost of Transcatheter Heart Valve and several risk associated with procedure will hinder the market growth.Request a free sample copy of the report:Renub Research latest study report Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacement Market, Patient Numbers, by Position (Transcather Mitral Valve Replacement and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement), Heart Valve Type (Mechanical & Tissue Heart) Countries (United States, Germany, China, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, India and Brazil) Companies (Edward lifeScience Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, St Jude Medical Inc., Medtronics Inc) provides a detailed and comprehensive insight of the Transcatheter Heart Valve Market.This report studies the Global Transcatheter Heart Valve Market and Volume from 2 view points by Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) and Transcatheter Mitral Valve Market (TMVR). Both these segments are further studied by Mechanical Heart Valves and Tissues Heart Valves by countries. The report provides a complete analysis of the key Growth Drivers and Challenges, market, and their projections for the upcoming years (2024).By Position Market & Patient Numbers Aortic Valve Replacement Mitral Valve ReplacementBy Material Market & Patient Numbers TAVR & TMVR Mechanical Heart Valves Tissues Heart Valves (Biological)By Region - Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Market United States Germany China France Italy Japan Spain United Kingdom India BrazilTranscatheter Mitral Valve Replacement Market by Region Europe United StatesTranscatheter Heart Valve Replacement Volume by Position Aortic Valve Replacement Mitral Valve ReplacementScope of the Report Heart Valve Market & Volume: We have segmented the market & volume into two part Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Market (TAVR) and Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement Market (TMVR). Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Market & Patient Numbers: The report covers 10 countries: United States, Germany, China, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, India and Brazil. All the countries market has been studied by two types of Heart valves Mechanical Heart Valves and Tissues Heart Valves. Global Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement Market & Patient Numbers: The report covers 2 regions: Europe and United States. All the countries market has been studied by two types of Heart valves Mechanical Heart Valves and Tissues Heart Valves. Global Transcatheter Heart Valve Market Share Analysis by Position: We have mentioned market share by TAVR and TMVR. Key Growth Drivers & Challenges: It studies the multi-dimensional factors which helps global Transcatheter Heart Valve Market to grow. The report also covers key challenges that will hinder the market growth. Companies Analysis: Four companies their overview of the company and their business strategies.Contact UsRajat GuptaSr. Marketing ManagerEmail: info@renub.comPhone: +1-678-302-0700Web:Renub Research is a leading Market Research and Information Analysis Company with centers at Noida India and Roswell USA. We have long-term experience especially in international Business-to-Business Researches, Surveys, Business and Consulting. Throughout the years we have acquired expertise in most market sectors, including Information Technology (IT), Telecoms, Life Sciences, Medical & Pharmaceuticals, Financial Services (Banking, Insurance, Reinsurance, M&A, etc.), Energy, Chemicals, Automotive, Retail, FMCG, Consumer Goods, Logistics, Governmental, Social, and Others.Our core team is comprised of an experienced people holding graduate, post graduate and Ph.D. degrees in Finance, Marketing, Human Resource, Bio-Technology, Medicine, Information Technology, Environmental Science and many more. Our research help make the business decisions: on strategy, organization, operations, technology, mergers & acquisitions etc. We support many blue chip companies by providing them findings and perspectives across a wide range of markets. Our research reports offer a blend of information insight, analysis and forecasting that is essential in today's ultra-competitive markets.225 Kristie Ln, Roswell, GA 30076, United States OPEC+ countries have so far failed to reach consensus on the issue of easing oil output quotas, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar Alluaibi said. "We have not considered the increase yet," the minister said, adding that the issue will be addressed during the meeting. OPEC nations will meet in Vienna on June 22. 11 non-member nations, including Russia, will join them the following day to discuss increasing oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh may take part in the OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committees meeting on June 21 in order to discuss the easing of quotas under the oil production cut deal, two sources participating in the talks said. "We plan to invite Iran and a number of other counties that are not JMMC members. Thus we may discuss the issue on Friday instead of Saturday," one of the sources said. Another source confirmed that Zanganeh expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak ahead the main OPEC+ meeting set to be held on June 22-23, TASS reported. Zanganeh earlier said that he would leave Vienna on Friday and would not participate in the OPEC+ meeting on June 23, when a decision on increasing oil production is expected to be made. Iran is one of the countries opposing the easing of quotas under the oil cut deal, which was initiated by Russia and Saudi Arabia, who call for increasing oil production for 1.5 mln barrel per day in the third quarter of 2018. The two countries point to the risk of oil shortages as a result of decreasing oil production in Venezuela and possible US sanctions against Iran. Global Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Market: Players to Win High Profit Margins with 100% Recyclable PET Packaging, predicts TMR https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=415 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=415 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=415 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global polyethylene terephthalate (PET) market is witnessing significant growth in its valuation, thanks to the increasing trend of replacing conventional glass packaging with PET packaging. The enhanced recyclability of PET is also driving this market substantially. Going forward, polyethylene terephthalate is experiencing a high demand in developing economies, which is likely to boost this market remarkably in the near future. However, the market may be hampered to some extent over the next few years due to the volatility in prices of crude oil and the increasing implementation of strict government norms and regulations regarding the application of polyethylene terephthalate.The global polyethylene terephthalate (PET) market was worth US$23.73 bn in 2015. Rising at a 5.80% CAGR between 2016 and 2024, the markets opportunity is expected to reach US$39.16 bn by the end of 2024. The high demand for packaged food is likely to create lucrative opportunities for the market players over the forthcoming years.Request Sample @Beverage Packaging to Remain Key Contributing Application SegmentPolyethylene terephthalate is predominantly utilized in beverage packaging, films, food packaging, and various other applications, such as cosmetic bottles and household products. The demand for polyethylene terephthalate is greater in the beverage packaging segment and is expected to remain so over the next few years due to its extensive usage in the manufacturing of water bottles, soft drink bottles, juice bottles, and bottles for liquid dairy products.Films are another prominent application area of polyethylene terephthalate. In this segment, it is used for the production of boil-in bags and lids of yogurt and the packaging of frozen meat, snacks, and jars. In food packaging, polyethylene terephthalate is utilized to manufacture egg trays, trays for vegetable packaging, biscuit packing, and microwave safe packaging.Request Brochure @Leadership to Remain With Asia Pacific through 2024Regionally, the worldwide market for Polyethylene terephthalate has been classified into Asia Pacific, North America, the Middle East and Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Asia Pacific, among these, dominated the overall market with a share of more than 35% in 2015 due to the busy lifestyle and the rising disposable income of consumers hailing from the middle class in Asian economies. The regional market is likely to remain on top over the forthcoming years, thanks to the lucrative opportunities it will be offering to market players. In Asia Pacific, China is likely to take the lead and closely followed by India, Japan and ASEAN countries in the near future.Amongst other regional markets, the Middle East and Africa is anticipated to witness a significant rise in its market share, thanks to the increasing footfall of tourists in the Middle East, surging consumption of packaged food and beverages, advancements in the retail infrastructure and the growth of the formal retail in Africa. The Latin America market for polyethylene terephthalate is projected to be driven by the soaring demand for soft drinks and packaged drinking water in the region, whereas, the markets in Europe and North America are predicted to exhibit sluggish growth in the years to come due to maturation.Request for Customisation @The global polyethylene terephthalate market is highly fragmented and competitive in nature. Far Eastern New Century, SK Chemicals, Neo Group, Octal, M&G Chemicals, DAK Americas, Egyptian Indian Polyester Co., Jiangsu Sanfanxiang Group Co., Reliance Industries Ltd., Dhunseri Petrochem Ltd., and Indorama Ventures Public Co. are some of leading players in this market.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companyas exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRas experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRas data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Automotive Power Electronics Market 2018 Global Industry Key Players Analysis: Infineon, Texas Instruments, ON Semiconductor, Renessa Electronics Forecast To 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5013 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/automotive-power-electronics-market-5013 Automotive Power Electronics Market Analysis Research Report 2018 provides comprehensive information on Global Automotive Power Electronics Market Size, Share, and Growth, Trends analysis with forecast to 2023. Global Automotive Power Electronics Industry is segmented by product (Immobilizer, Steering lock, Central locking, alarm), technology (GPS, GSM, RTLS, Face detection system, automotive biometric technology), vehicle type (Passenger car, Commercial vehicle) and Region.Automotive Power Electronics Global Market Overview:Automotive Power Electronics Key Players Analyzed In Report: Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), Texas Instruments Inc. (U.S.), ON Semiconductor Corp. (U.S.), Renessa Electronics Corp. (Japan), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (Japan), Maxim Products Inc. (U.S.), NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Netherlands), Qualcomm Ins. (U.S.), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), and Vishay Intertechnology Inc. (U.S.).Get Sample Copy of Report at:Growing Demand for Automotive Power Electronics:The factors that are responsible for the growth of automotive electronics market are increased demand of the advance technology in vehicles, growing environment concern leading to increased use of electric vehicles, and increase in safety of the electronics control panel in vehicles. The advancement in technology such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), electronic stability control (ESC), and electronic control unit (ECU) have been emerging in the electric vehicles, which require power electronics for the protection of the system. This advancement in the technology have resulted in the increase use of power electronics in the vehicles. The increase in use of power electronics in electric vehicles have resulted in the growth of the market during the forecast period. The growing environmental concern due to the pollution have resulted in growing demand for electric vehicles. The growing demand for electric vehicles have resulted in the increase use of power electronics, which will drive the market in the future. The market is expected to reach USD 5.5 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 5.12%.Restraints in Automotive Power Electronics:However, the rising production cost makes these features unaffordable for consumers and hamper the market of Automotive Power Electronics system.Market Segmentation:The automotive power electronics market has been segmented based on component, application, vehicle type, and region. On the basis of component, the market has been segmented as MCU, Power IC, and Sensor. The sensor segment is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period because it is the key component in the electric vehicles. Sensors are mainly used in ADAS technology, electronic stability control (ESC), and electronic control unit (ECU), which are the key technologies used in electric vehicles. Based on applications, the market has been segmented as body electronics, chassis & powertrain, infotainment & telematics, and safety & security system. The body electronics segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period due to growing government regulations and initiative for the adoption of smart transportation solution with advance safety features. On the basis of vehicle type, passenger car segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period due to rapidly increasing sales of electric cars.Regional Analysis:On the basis of region, the market is segmented as North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. North America region is expected to dominate the power electronics in automotive market because in North America, U.S. has spent the highest in the battery operated electric vehicle. Asia Pacific is expected to have the highest market share during the forecast period due to increased adoption of advance technology in electric vehicles. This will result in growing demand of power electronics, which is expected to result in the growth of the market during the forecast period. In Europe, countries such as U.K., Germany, France, and Italy have made considerable effort for the development of technology in automotive industry. This development in technology has resulted in the growth of the market during the forecast period.Target Audience:OrganizationsManufacturerResearch Institute / Education InstitutePotential InvestorsAccess More Report Details at:Major Table of Content:1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market Landscape4.1 Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants4.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers4.1.3 Threat Of Substitutes4.1.4 Segment Rivalry4.2 Value Chain Of Global Automotive Power Electronics Market5 Industry Overview Of Global Automotive Power Electronics Market5.1 Introduction5.2 Growth Drivers5.3 Impact Analysis5.4 Market Challenges5.5 Impact Analysis6 Market Trends6.1 Introduction6.2 Growth Trends6.3 Impact AnalysisContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Company Name: Market Research FutureAddress: Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers, Pune - 411028Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comPhone: +1 646 845 9312 Home Textile Market Opportunities in Key Application Sectors by 2025 https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1829900&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-home-textile-market-research-report-2018.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Home Textile Market Research Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.Home Textile is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands. Textiles are formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or pressing fibres together.China is the largest supplier of Home Textile, with a production value market share nearly 28.96% and sales revenue market share nearly 22.19% in 2015. That is to say, there will be exports in China, while North America region is the largest consumption region.FREE | Request Sample is Available at:Developing economies such as China and India continue to be the major exporters while developed economies such as US and Europe continued to be the major importers of Home Textile.The second place is North America, with the production value market share of 19.58% and sales revenue market share of 30.76% in 2015. Europe is another important market of Home Textile, enjoying 15.87% production value market share and 27.79% sales revenue market share in 2015.The Home Textiles product basically includes terry towels, bed sheets, top of the beds, curtains, pillows cases, rugs, carpets etc used for home furnishings. Bedding is the largest segment of home textiles with a production value market share of 38.37% in 2015.Table of ContentsGlobal Home Textile Market Research Report 20181 Home Textile Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Home Textile1.2 Home Textile Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Home Textile Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Home Textile Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Bedding1.2.4 Curtain & Blind1.2.5 Carpet1.2.6 Towel1.2.7 Kitchen Linen1.2.8 Blanket2 Global Home Textile Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Home Textile Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Home Textile Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Home Textile Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Home Textile Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Home Textile Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3 Global Home Textile Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Home Textile Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Bug Tracking Software Market Detailed Survey On Growth By Professionals 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2510 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2510 https://www.tmrresearch.com/bug-tracking-software-market Global Bug Tracking Software Market: SnapshotA bug tracking system is a software application which detects the error in the software program. It is also known as a type of issue tracking segment can also be labelled as a type of issue tracking segment. Even though the excel sheets serves the same purpose of tracking or recording of emails to reports, for extremely complicated projects which include various test cycles and more number of people it needs a more effective and sophisticated process, where bug tracking software comes in picture. This requirement leads to the rise in demand for bug tracking software or say defect management tools in coming years.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The global market for bug tracking software is anticipated to register a significant growth in upcoming years, due to various advantages of alike software. For an instance, adequate bug tracking system helps the firms to have a tab of errors which crop up often and as a result, the programmer and testers can solve the recurring issues in less time. Along with this, the tab of errors help the software engineer to concentrate mainly on the most crucial issues on time, so that it reduce the possible threat that can be caused by the bug.There are various such factors supporting the growth rate of bug tracking software market. Another one of them is the open source which can be installed and upgraded on a computer with much of a hassle and is quite cost-effective as well. There are various open sources that are free and can be picked up from online websites. Nevertheless, most of them have a restricted usage and feature set and support. A significant trend is a notable shift towards the cloud based bug tracking software for agile and smooth running of the applications. Various platforms such as Microsoft Azure and Google Drive are stimulating the growth of cloud-based solutions from the on-premises software models.Request TOC of the Report @Global Bug Tracking Software Market: OverviewA software application program to uncover bugs in software development projects is known as a bug tracking software. It can also be labelled as a type of issue tracking segment. While excel sheets can serve the same function of recording or tracking and emails to report, massive and dauntingly complicated scale of the projects involving numerous test cycles and a large number of people makes it imperative to leverage a much sophisticated and effective mechanism. This has led to the emergence of different bug tracking software or defect management tools over the years in the market.Global Bug Tracking Software Market: Key TrendsThe global market for bug tracking software will likely clock steady growth in the foreseeable future on account of the many benefits of such a software. For example, proper bug tracking allows companies to keep a tab of the bugs that arise frequently and thus makes it easier to sort recurring issues. Further, the records also enable software developers to focus only on the most pressing issues well in time so that they do not escalate into a substantial threat.Another factor that will stoke the markets growth is the fact that bug tracking software are open source that can be installed and upgraded without much hassle and in a cost effective manner. Free or open source solutions, however, mostly have a limited feature set and/or support. A noticeable trend in the market has been the shift toward cloud-based bug tracking software for seamless and agile applications. Several platforms like Google Drive and Microsoft Azure are encouraging uptake of cloud-based solutions from the on-premises software models.Global Bug Tracking Software Market: Market PotentialThe global market for bug tracking software is dynamic in nature with both tech juggernauts and savvy startups focused on innovating better products. Some of this years bestselling bug trackers are Zoho Projects by Zoho, CaseCamp.com, QuickBase, MantisBT, Axosoft, BugZilla, etc. MantisBT and Bugzilla, among them, are free or open source solutions that cost-conscious business entities are increasingly leveraging to slash expenses.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @At present, there are not many differentiated products in the market. Astute players are already tapping into the opportunity by funneling money into development of differentiated and effective products. This will likely intensify competition in the near future in the market.The cloud-based deployment model accounts for a substantial chunk of bug tracking software market since it can be seamlessly accessed using a web browser. It does not require investments in hardware and results in less human effort factors that are contributing to its popularity.Global Bug Tracking Software Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the key segments of the global bug tracking software market are Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and the Rest of the World. North America, is a key market due to the rise in investments in software testing activities in the U.S. and Canada. A large concentration of software testing companies is also spurring the market in the continent.Global Bug Tracking Software Market: Competitive AnalysisIn order to assess the competition prevailing in the global market for bug tracking software, the report profiles prominent players such as IBM, Atlassian, JetBrains, and Zoho Corporation. On account of the presence of both large-sized and smaller players in the market, the competitive landscape is fragmented and might heat up in the upcoming years.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Travel Insurance Market (2017-2021) is Expected to be US$ 66.0 Bn Travel Insurance Market https://marketresearch.biz/report/travel-insurance-market/request-sample/ https://marketresearch.biz/report/travel-insurance-market/ https://marketresearch.biz http://chollywood.info/ MarketResearch.biz announces publication of its most recently generated research report titled, "Global Travel Insurance Market", which offers a holistic view of the global travel insurance market through systematic segmentation that covers every aspect of the target market. The first five-year cumulative revenue (2017-2021) is projected to be US$ 66.0 Bn, which is expected to increase significantly over the latter part of the five-year forecast period.Travel insurance plans are designed to cover costs and losses and reduce the risks associated with unexpected events encountered while traveling. It is a useful method to protect those traveling domestically or abroad.Request for Free Sample Report Here:Global Travel Insurance Market: Market DynamicsRising tourism is a major factor driving growth of the global travel insurance market. In addition, increasing business travelers is another factor further fueling growth of the global travel insurance market. Moreover, increasing terrorist attacks globally is further boosting demand for travel insurance in the global market.A major factor restraining growth of the global travel insurance market is low penetration in some underdeveloped and developing countries, owing to lack of awareness in these countries. Changing travel pattern across the globe coupled with increasing disposable income are expected to create opportunities for major service and policy providers in the global market over the forecast period.A current trend in the market is that people are taking more frequent but shorter breaks instead of just one traditional summer holiday. Rising popularity of such breaks coupled with continuously reducing air fares is expected to boost demand for multi-trip policies to cover several trips a year. This factor is expected to create lucrative opportunities for key players in the market.Global Travel Insurance Market: Market ForecastThe comprehensive research report comprises a complete forecast of the global travel insurance market based on factors affecting the market and their impact in the foreseeable future. According to the forecast projections, revenue from the global travel insurance market is expected to expand at a moderate CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period.Global Travel Insurance Market: Segmental SnapshotThe market report has been segmented on the basis of type, application, and region/country. The types segment includes single trip, annual multi-trip, and long stay. The application segment includes senior citizens, education travelers, backpackers, business travelers, and family travelers. The regions/countries covered in the analysis are North America, Europe, China, Japan, Middle East & Africa, India, South America, and Rest of the World.By type: The annual multi-trip segment accounted for highest revenue share contribution as compared to other type segment, and is expected to maintain its dominance over the forecast period. The annual multi-trip segment is expected to register a CAGR of over 5.0% between 2017 and 2026.By application: The business travelers segment accounted for highest revenue share in the global market in 2017, and is projected to continue contributing the highest revenue share as compared to that of other application segments by 2026. The business travelers segment is projected to register highest CAGR of over 5% during the forecast period.By region/country: The China travel insurance market is expected to register highest CAGR of over 5.0% in terms of revenue during the forecast period. The market in Europe accounted for major revenue share in the global travel insurance market in 2016, and is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period.Browse Complete Report's Table of Content Here:Global Travel Insurance Market: Competitive AnalysisThe research report on the global travel insurance market includes profiles of some of major companies such as CSA Travel Protection, USI Affinity, Seven Corners Inc., TravelSafe Insurance, MH Ross, Allianz Global Assistance, Travel Insured International, AXA, American International Group, Inc., Insure & Go Insurance Services Limited, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, Travelex Group, Tokio Marine HCC Medical Insurance Services Group, Aviva plc, American Express Company, Munich RE, Groupama, MAPFRE ASSISTANCE, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc., Ping An Insurance Company of China, Ltd., and Starr Companies.The Global Travel Insurance Market: Global Industry, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2017-2026 report has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. This report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global travel insurance market for 2017-2026.MarketResearch.biz is a specialized market research, analytics, and solutions company, offering strategic and tactical support to clients for making well-informed business decisions. We are a team of dedicated and impassioned individuals, who believe strongly in giving our very best to what we do and we never back down from any challenge. MarketResearch.biz offers services such as data mining, information management, and revenue enhancement solutions and suggestions. We cater to industries, individuals, and organizations across the globe, and deliver our offerings in the shortest possible turnaround time.Contact Us:Lawrence JohnPrudour Pvt. Ltd.420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 300New York City, NY 10170,United StatesEmail ID: inquiry@marketresearch.bizTel: +1-347-826-1876Website:Referral Website: Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Market Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1689678&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-solid-surface-and-other-cast-polymers-market-research-report-2018.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Market Research Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.Global Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingCosentinoCaesarstoneDirescoCompacHanwha L&CLG HausysDuPontKurarayLotte Advanced MaterialsCimstoneAristech SurfacesAgglonordStone ItalianaTechnistoneEOS SurfacesCalifornia Crafted MarbleGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The research report also assists the companies functional in the global Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers market in understanding the existing market trends and, thus, shaping their businesses accordingly. It further evaluates the previous and the existing performance of this market and makes future projections on the basis of these assessments. It also assesses the global market from the perspective of the current market chain by utilizing the data related to import and export and the sales dynamics of the products available in this market across the world.Table of ContentsGlobal Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Market Research Report 20181 Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers1.2 Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Engineered Composites1.2.4 Solid Surface1.2.5 Engineered Stone1.3 Global Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Segment by Application2 Global Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Solid Surface & Other Cast Polymers Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Global Endoscopic Ultrasound Needles Market Expected to Expand at a CAGR of 4.4% till 2025 https://www.mrrse.com/sample/4767 https://www.mrrse.com/endoscopic-ultrasound-needles-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/4767 https://www.mrrse.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ To Understand the Endoscopic Ultrasound Needles Market Industry Status worldwide, MRRSE has included the latest Forecast report titled Global Endoscopic Ultrasound Needles Market Growth Overview and Predictions on Size, Share and Trend Through 2025, to its vast database. This study offers data about the prime regions operating in the Endoscopic Ultrasound Needles Market, along with their production, consumption, revenue and market share details. Further, the intelligent report also anticipates that the market would grow at a constructive CAGR until 2025.Request sample report @This report on the endoscopic ultrasound needles market analyzes the current and future scenario of the global market. Rise in geriatric population, high prevalence of gastrointestinal tract-related cancers, and growing patient preference for minimally invasive surgeries are major drivers for the global endoscopic ultrasound needles market.The report comprises an elaborate executive summary, which includes a market snapshot that provides information about various segments of the market. It also provides information and data analysis of the global market with respect to segments based on product, application, end-user, and geography. A detailed qualitative analysis of drivers and restraints for the market and opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. In addition, the section comprises competition matrix and company profiles along with business overview to understand the competition landscape of the market. This section of the report also provides market attractiveness analysis, by geography, and market share analysis, by key players, thereby presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competition scenario in the global endoscopic ultrasound needles market.Global Endoscopic Ultrasound Needles Market: Key SegmentsThe global endoscopic ultrasound needles market can be segmented based on product, application, end-user, and geography. In terms of product, the market can be divided into aspiration needles (EUS-FNA) and biopsy needles (EUS-FNB). The aspiration needles segment is likely to account for a leading share of the global EUS needles market during the forecast period, owing to wide usage of these needles in the fields of pulmonology and gastroenterology. Based on application, the endoscopic ultrasound needles market can be segmented into bronchial EUS needles and enteral EUS needles. Increasing adoption of EUS needles in gastroenterology is likely to fuel the enteral EUS needles segment in the next few years. Based on end-user, the market can be segmented into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and specialty clinics. The market size and forecast for each of these segments have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year.Browse complete report @Geographically, the global endoscopic ultrasound needles market has been categorized into five major regions and key countries in the respective region: North America (the U.S., Canada), Europe (the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (India, China, Australia & New Zealand, and Rest of Asia Pacific), Japan, Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, and Rest of Latin America), and Middle East & Africa (South Africa, GCC, and Rest of Middle East & Africa). The market size and forecast for each of these regions and countries therein have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year. The research study also covers the competition scenario in these regions.Companies mentioned in ReportThe report also profiles major players operating in the global endoscopic ultrasound needles market in terms of various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, and recent developments. Major players operating in the global endoscopic ultrasound needles market are Olympus Corporation, Medtronic, Cook Medical, CONMED Corporation, Medi-globe, ACE Medical Devices Pvt. Ltd., Boston Scientific Corporation, and ACE Medical Devices Pvt. Ltd.The global endoscopic ultrasound needles market has been segmented as given below:Global Endoscopic Ultrasound Needles Market, by Product, 20152025Aspiration needles (EUS-FNA)Biopsy needles (EUS-FNB)Global Endoscopic Ultrasound Needles Market, by Application, 20152025Bronchial needlesEnteral needlesGlobal Endoscopic Ultrasound Needles Market, by End-user, 20152025HospitalsAmbulatory surgical centersSpecialty clinicsEnquire about this report @The EUS procedure is performed for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Selection of the EUS endoscope depends on the application and the organ. EUS-guided needles are used for collection of specimens from organs such as the pancreas, the liver, and the lymph nodes for cytological and histological studies.About MRRSEMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207 (United States)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At: Automotive PCB Market 2018 Global Industry Key Players, Size, and Share: CMK, Chin Poon, Meiko, Tripod Analysis Forecast To 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5419 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/automotive-pcb-market-5419 Automotive PCB Market Analysis Research Report 2018 provides comprehensive information on Global Automotive PCB Market Size, Share, and Growth, Trends analysis with forecast to 2023. Global Automotive PCB Industry is segmented by Type (Single-sided, Double-sided, and Multi-layer), Autonomous Driving (Autonomous Vehicles, Conventional Vehicles, and Semi-Autonomous Vehicles), Application (ADAS, Body & Comfort, Infotainment Components, Powertrain Components, and Others), Vehicle Type ( Passenger Car and Commercial Vehicle), and region.Automotive PCB Global Market Overview:Automotive PCB Key Players Analyzed In Report:CMK (Japan), Chin Poon Industrial (Taiwan), Meiko Electronics (Japan), Nippon Mektron (Japan), KCE Electronics (Thailand), TTM Technologies (U.S.), Daeduck Electronics (South Korea), Tripod Technology (Taiwan), NOK (Japan), AT&S (Austria), Unitech (India), WUS (Taiwan), Kyoden (Japan), ELNA (Japan), and Shirai (China).Get Sample Copy of Report at:Growing Demand for Automotive PCB:In the technology driven automotive industry, there has been an increase in the use of electronics and electrical components, which will result in growing use of PCB in vehicles. This will result in the growth of the market during the forecast period. The factors that are responsible for the growth of automotive PCB market are increased use of electronic components in the vehicle, innovation in the technology, increase in sales of new vehicle, and others.The increase use of electronic components such as in infotainment systems, advance driver assistance system, and powertrain in the vehicles will result in the increased use of PCBs. The increased use of electronics components in the vehicle will drive the PCB market in future. Innovation in technology such as multi-layer PCB has the ability to provide much higher component density, which will drive the market in future. The increase in sales of new vehicles will result in growing demand for electronics and electrical components in the vehicle, which will drive the market in future.Restraints in Automotive PCB:However, the rising production cost makes these features unaffordable for consumers and hamper the market of Automotive PCB system.Market Segmentation:The automotive PCB market has been segmented based on type, autonomous driving, application, and vehicle type. On the basis of type, the market has been segmented as single-sided, double-sided, and multi-layer. Multi-layer segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period because it allows higher component density as compared to other types of PCBs. The growing popularity of multilayer PCBs due to the adoption of surface mount technology, is expected to drive this segment in future. Based on autonomous driving, the market is segmented as autonomous vehicles, conventional vehicles, and semi-autonomous vehicles. The autonomous vehicle is expected to drive the market in future due to increase in the technology installed in the autonomous vehicles. On the basis of application, the market has been segmented as ADAS, body & comfort, infotainment components, powertrain components, and others. The ADAS system is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period due to increased need for safety and stringent government regulations.Regional Analysis:On the basis of region, the market is segmented as North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period due to increase in the production of passenger and commercial vehicles in the emerging countries such as India, China, and Japan. In Asia Pacific, there has been an increase in preference for installation of high end technology in the vehicle. The increased preference of the customers in the vehicle, will result in growing demand for the usage of PCBs. This growing demand for PCBs, will drive the market in future. North America is expected to be the second largest market that is expected to grow during the forecast period due to the increase in demand for high end passenger cars. The growing demand for high end passenger cars will require increased installation of PCBs in the vehicle. This will drive the market in future. Europe is expected to be the third largest market that is expected to grow during the forecast period. In Europe, there has been a growing demand for safety in the vehicles. The growing demand for safety will result in increased installation of electrical and electronic components in the vehicle. This will result in the growth of the market in future.Target Audience:OrganizationsManufacturerResearch Institute / Education InstitutePotential InvestorsAccess More Report Details at:Major Table of Content:1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market Landscape4.1 Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants4.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers4.1.3 Threat Of Substitutes4.1.4 Segment Rivalry4.2 Value Chain Of Global Automotive PCB Market5 Industry Overview Of Global Automotive PCB Market5.1 Introduction5.2 Growth Drivers5.3 Impact Analysis5.4 Market Challenges5.5 Impact Analysis6 Market Trends6.1 Introduction6.2 Growth Trends6.3 Impact AnalysisContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Company Name: Market Research FutureAddress: Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers, Pune - 411028Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comPhone: +1 646 845 9312 Global Autonomous Emergency Braking Market Forecast Analysis 2018-2025 Daimler AG, Toyota Motor, Delphi, Bosch Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) Market http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-autonomous-emergency-braking-aeb-market-12610#request-sample http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-autonomous-emergency-braking-aeb-market-12610 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A detailed market study on "Global Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) Market" examines the performance of the Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) Market 2018 report includes Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) market Revenue, market Share, Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) industry volume, market Trends, Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Request Sample Copy of Report:Leading Manufacturers Companies Analysis are Bosch, Continental, Denso, Delphi, Magna International, Autoliv, Volvo, Tesla Inc, Daimler AG, ZF TRW, WABCO, Toyota Motor, Audi AG, BMW Group, Honda Motor, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) Automotive, Volkswagen Group, Ford Motor.Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) Market Segmented Based on Application - Passenger Vehicles, Commercial Vehicles.Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) Market Segmented Based on Type - Forward Collision Warning, Dynamic Brake Support, Crash Imminent Braking.Further, the Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) industry, Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) market revenue worldwide.Finally, Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Global Crane and Hoist Market 2018-2025 Top Player Analysis - Cargotec, Tadano, Konecranes, Ingersoll Rand Crane and Hoist Market http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-crane-hoist-sales-market-12603#request-sample http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-crane-hoist-sales-market-12603 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A detailed market study on "Global Crane and Hoist Market" examines the performance of the Crane and Hoist market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Crane and Hoist market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Crane and Hoist market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Crane and Hoist Market 2018 report includes Crane and Hoist market Revenue, market Share, Crane and Hoist industry volume, market Trends, Crane and Hoist Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Crane and Hoist Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Crane and Hoist manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Request Sample Copy of Report:Leading Manufacturers Companies Analysis are Konecranes (Finland), Cargotec (Finland), Terex (US), Tadano (Japan), Komatsu (Japan), Liebherr (Switzerland), Ingersoll Rand (Ireland), Mammoet (Netherlands), ZPMC (China), Kito (Japan), XCMG (China), Palfinger (Austria), Manitowoc (US), Zoomlion (China), Columbus McKinnon (US).Crane and Hoist Market Segmented Based on Application - Aerospace and Defense, Automotive & Railway, Mining, Construction, Marine, Shipping & Material Handling, Energy & Power, Other.Crane and Hoist Market Segmented Based on Type - Mobile Crane, Fixed Crane.Further, the Crane and Hoist report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Crane and Hoist industry, Crane and Hoist industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Crane and Hoist Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Crane and Hoist research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Crane and Hoist market revenue worldwide.Finally, Crane and Hoist market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Russia has issued a request to join the consultations between the United States and the European Union in the World Trade Organization (WTO) in an official letter. The request, dated June 15, says that Russia is willing to join the consultations as a third party, because "the measures at issue are applied to the imports of steel and aluminium products from the Russian Federation." "The application by the United States of the challenged measures has significant detrimental effect on Russia's trade interests," TASS cited the statement as saying. WTO Member governments have direct access to the dispute settlement system either as parties or as third parties. The third party status confers a right to a delegation to attend talks, listen and present its point of view but it is not the party to the dispute as such. If a third party is willing to join the dispute settlement case as a full-fledged member, it should approach the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. The United States introduced new duties for steel and aluminum products amounting to 25% for steel and 10% for aluminum. Russia earlier said it can dispute the US decision in the WTO, notified the Organization about possible retaliation measures in connection with duties and made an offer to the EU to jointly undertake measures for protection of Russian and European business in connection with new tariffs. Industrial Access Control Market 2018 Segmentation, Application, Technology and Analysis Report Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3515 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/industrial-access-control-market-3515 Industrial Access Control Market is expected to grow at USD$ ~1.03 Billion by 2023, at 10.8% of CAGR between 2017 and 2023. The study indicates that the industrial access control solutions that scale up to the business and grow with the goals. The customized, fully-integrated industrial security solutions by Industrial Access Control market has marked up for the future growth. Industrial Access Control Market Access Type (Physical Access, Electronic Access, Logical Access, Network Access), By Services, By End-User (Automotive and aerospace, Utilities, Hospitals, Government and defense) - Forecast 2023Market Highlights:The study reveals that Industrial Access Control is trending in North America region. The rising need for a high level of data and identity security in corporate firms will lead to the growth of this market. In recent times, the need for access control solutions like biometrics and smart cards has increased owing to the recent rise in the number of terrorist attacks and criminal activities. The most corporate employees use their mobile devices to access company data, the demand for access control solutions will increase significantly as these devices are highly vulnerable to attacks.Get Sample Report @The study indicates that electronic access control systems offer smart ways to access various commercial and industrial facilities, which are further provided as a solutions which is integrated as a range of electronic access control devices, locks and systems. The various management tools also help to control the access of offices, facilities and operations. Industrial access control market offers the complete support in the layout, installation and assessment of these systems.The Industrial Access Control Market is growing rapidly over 10.8% of CAGR and is expected to reach at USD $~1.03 Billion by the end of forecast period.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 30 market data tables and figures spread over 100 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on The Industrial Access Control Market Research Report -Forecast to 2023.Industrial Access Control Market Segmentation:The Industrial Access Control Market has been segmented on the basis of Access type, end -users and region. The Industrial Access Control market is highly centralized by owing to the presence of many small regional suppliers and large multinational vendors. In the forecast period, the established Industrial Access Control vendors is expected to acquire smaller vendors to expand their product and services portfolio and will boost the market shares. The market is also characterized by the presence of numerous well-diversified international and regional vendors.Major Key players:The prominent players in the Industrial Access Control Market Morpho SA (France), NEC Corporation (Japan); ASSA ABLOY AB (Sweden), dorma+kaba Holding AG (Switzerland), 3M Company (US), Allegion Plc (Ireland), Honeywell Security Group (U.S), Napco Security Technologies Inc.(U.S), Keyscan Inc. (U.S) and Johnson Controls International Plc (Ireland) among others.Market Research Analysis:On geographic basis, Industrial Access Control market is studied in different regions as Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of world. It has been observed that North America region is leading with largest market share growth in the Industrial Access Control market. In this market, Europe is to be estimated to be the largest market for Industrial Access Control solutions during the forecast period. The increasing security concerns will lead to the high demand for Industrial Access Control among the government and BFSI sectors. Moreover, with the increasing implementation of stringent regulations by the government to ensure security access, the market for Industrial Access Control solution will have a positive outlook in APAC region.Get Sample Report @Table of Contents1 Market Introduction1.1 Introduction1.2 Scope of Study1.2.1 Research Objective1.2.2 Assumptions1.2.3 Limitations1.3 Market Structure1.3.1 Global Industrial Access Control Market: By Access Type1.3.2 Global Industrial Access Control Market: By Service1.3.3 Global Industrial Access Control Market: By End User1.3.4 Global Industrial Access Control Market: By Region2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Service2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research2.4 Forecast ModelContinues...List of TablesTable 1 Industrial Access Control Market, By Access TypeTable 2 Industrial Access Control Market, By ServiceTable 3 Industrial Access Control Market, By End-UserContinues...List of FiguresFigure 1 Research MethodologyFigure 2 Industrial Access Control Market: By Access Type (%)Figure 3 Industrial Access Control Market: By Service (%)Continues...About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +91 841 198 5042Mail: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Interventional Oncology Market - Niche Demand Assumptions 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2375 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2375 https://www.tmrresearch.com/interventional-oncology-market Global Interventional Oncology Market: SnapshotThe increasing demand for minimally invasive (MI) procedures is driving the growth of the global market for interventional oncology. The growing awareness about the benefits of MI surgeries, such as reduced risk of infection, minimal complications, shorter hospital stay, lesser pain, and a faster recovery time when compared to the conventional open surgeries, are encouraging patients and surgeons to opt for MI surgeries, resulting in the high growth of this market. The global interventional oncology market will continue to be driven by these factors over the coming years.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The increasing incorporation of image-guided solutions in interventional oncology procedures, thanks to the improvement these solutions provide in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer-related issues, is also expected to supplement the growth prospects of this market in the near future.The presence of a number of local and international vendors characterizes the business landscape of the worldwide market for interventional oncology, which is highly competitive and diversified. Technological advancements and constant introduction of new products are likely to intensify the competitive environment in the market. The leading players are focusing aggressively on expanding their product portfolios.Request TOC of the Report @Global Interventional Oncology Market: OverviewInterventional oncology, a subspecialty of interventional radiology, finds application in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and cancer-related problems. It is an image-guided, minimally-invasive technique conducted by trained experts. Most procedures are either outpatient or require an overnight stay in the hospital. Recovery time is also minimal. Some of the popular procedures used are intra-arterial therapies, ablative therapies, pain palliation, and neoadjuvant (pre-operative) procedures.A report by TMR research studies the global market for oncology intervention in details by factoring in current and historical data. It presents a qualitative analysis of the growth drivers and restraints and also projects it growth trajectory in the future.Global Interventional Oncology Market: Key TrendsFanning growth in the global interventional oncology market is the increasing instances of liver, lung, stomach, colorectal, and breast cancer worldwide. This has upped demand for minimally invasive procedures to treat or eliminate cancerous cells. On account of their targeted nature that cause little damage to adjacent tissues and organs, cause little complications, and result in a shorter recovery time, minimally invasive techniques in interventional oncology has stolen a march over alternative cancer treatments such as conventional surgeries, systematic chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, and systematic chemotherapy.Additionally, the rising combination of image-guided solutions with interventional oncology procedures will also likely stoke the global market for interventional oncology in the next couple of years.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Interventional Oncology Market: Market PotentialThe global market for interventional oncology is primed for healthy growth in the foreseeable future. A growing thrust on pairing up interventional oncology drugs with device-based interventional oncology procedures could make the procedure mainstream soon. This would likely provide a major fillip to the market.Depending upon procedure and analysis, the global market for interventional oncology can be segmented into ablation and embolization. Of the two, the interventional oncology embolization segment holds a leading share in the market and would continue doing so in the near future. This is because of the rising need for minimally invasive procedures in the treatment of cancer, uptake of embolization procedures by hospitals and ASCs, and direct selling of embolization products, namely DC Bead, Bead Block, and DC Bead M1.Global Interventional Oncology Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the key segments of the market are the Americas, Asia Pacific, and the Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Among them, the Americas hold a leading position and will continue doing so in the upcoming years as well on account of the rising instances of cancer, increasing application of minimally invasive procedures, technological progress such as robotic navigation systems, and effective medical reimbursement policies. Increasing support from the government and other organizations for research and developmental activities is also expected to bode well for the market in the region.Global Smart Plug Market: Competitive AnalysisThe global market for interventional oncology is highly competitive and diversified because of the presence of numerous regional and international vendors worldwide. The market is highly dynamic on account of rapid technological advancements and unveiling of new products from time to time. All of these are also serving to intensify the competition in the market. Many savvy vendors are leveraging advanced technologies to improve their product portfolio, bring out innovative products, and enhance patient satisfaction. This has helped them outsmart new entrants. Some of the key players profiled in the report are Boston Scientific, Medtronic, BTG, TERUMO, and Merit Medical.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Global Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers Market Forecast 2018-2025 TRF, Frigate, FLSmidth, Flexicon Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers Market http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-hydraulic-drive-car-dumpers-sales-market-12604#request-sample http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-hydraulic-drive-car-dumpers-sales-market-12604 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A detailed market study on "Global Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers Market" examines the performance of the Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers Market 2018 report includes Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers market Revenue, market Share, Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers industry volume, market Trends, Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Request Sample Copy of Report:Leading Manufacturers Companies Analysis are Elecon Engineering Company, Flexicon, Frigate, SCHADE Lagertechnik, TRF, FLSmidth, Heyl & Patterson, Metso, ThyssenKrupp.Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers Market Segmented Based on Application - Construction, Coal Sector, Water Conservancy Industry, Iron Ore Sector, Other.Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers Market Segmented Based on Type - Single Bridge Car Dumpers, Double Bridge Car Dumpers, Other.Further, the Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers industry, Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers market revenue worldwide.Finally, Hydraulic Drive Car Dumpers market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Global Electron Microscopy Market Size, Share, Development and Demand Forecast to 2025 https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/485185/global-electron-microscopy-market https://www.qyresearch.com/request-discount/form/485185/global-electron-microscopy-market www.qyresearch.com This report studies the Electron Microscopy market size (value and volume) by players, regions, product types and end industries, history data 2013-2017 and forecast data 2018-2025; This report also studies the global market competition landscape, market drivers and trends, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.The global Electron Microscopy market was million US$ in 2017 and is expected to million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of between 2018 and 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report@Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share and growth Rate of Electron Microscopy in these regions, from 2013 to 2025, coveringNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam)South America (Brazil etc.)Middle East and Africa (Egypt and GCC Countries)The various contributors involved in the value chain of the product include manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, intermediaries, and customers. The key manufacturers in this market includeBio-Rad LaboratoriesBruker CorporationCarl Zeiss AGDanaher CorporationDanish Micro EngineeringFEI Co.Hitachi High-Technologies CorporationJeol LtdNikon CorporationOlympus CorporationLeica Microsystems GmbHBy the product type, the market is primarily split intoTransmission Electron MicroscopeScanning Electron MicroscopeOthersBy the end users/application, this report covers the following segmentsBiology and Life SciencesSemiconductor and Data StorageMaterials ResearchIndustryOthersThis report includes the estimation of market size for value (million USD) and volume (K Units). Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of Electron Microscopy market, to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets in the overall market. Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources.Ask for Discount on Research Report@For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersRaw material suppliersDistributors/traders/wholesalers/suppliersRegulatory bodies, including government agencies and NGOCommercial research & development (R&D) institutionsImporters and exportersGovernment organizations, research organizations, and consulting firmsTrade associations and industry bodiesEnd-use industriesAbout Us:QYResearch always pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business. Through years of effort and supports from huge number of customer supports, QYResearch consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch has become the brand of quality assurance in consulting industry.Contact USQY Research, INC.17890 Castleton,Suite 218,City of industry, CA 91748 ?USA: +1 626 295 2442Email ? enquiry@qyrsearch.comWeb ?For other region, contact number given below+86 108 294 5717 Beijing+86 208 665 5165 Guangzhou+86 215 160 1757 Shanghai+852 3062 8839 HK+1 613 366 5094 Canada+81 903 800 9273 Japan+49 176 813 78371Germany+44 203 734 8135 UK+33 172 813 308 France+55 613 181 0478 Brazil+91 114 046 9822 India Global Rotor Centrifugal Crusher Market 2018 - Metso, BHS Sonthofen, Silmisa Maquinaria and Other Players Analysis Rotor Centrifugal Crusher Market http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-rotor-centrifugal-crusher-sales-market-12446#request-sample http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-rotor-centrifugal-crusher-sales-market-12446 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A detailed market study on "Global Rotor Centrifugal Crusher Market" examines the performance of the Rotor Centrifugal Crusher market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Rotor Centrifugal Crusher market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Rotor Centrifugal Crusher market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Rotor Centrifugal Crusher Market 2018 report includes Rotor Centrifugal Crusher market Revenue, market Share, Rotor Centrifugal Crusher industry volume, market Trends, Rotor Centrifugal Crusher Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Rotor Centrifugal Crusher Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Rotor Centrifugal Crusher manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Request Sample Copy of Report:Leading Manufacturers Companies Analysis are BHS Sonthofen, DSMAC Group, FLSmidth, Metso, SANME (Shanghai SANME Minning Machinery), Pallmann Maschinenfabrik, Silmisa Maquinaria, Zhengzhou Dingsheng Engineering Technology, Henan Liming Road & Bridge Heavy Industry.Rotor Centrifugal Crusher Market Segmented Based on Application - Mining & Metallurgical Industry, Construction Industry, Water Treatment, Other.Rotor Centrifugal Crusher Market Segmented Based on Type - Rock on Rock Rotor Centrifugal Crusher, Rock on Iron Rotor Centrifugal Crusher, Rock on Anvil Rotor Centrifugal Crusher.Further, the Rotor Centrifugal Crusher report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Rotor Centrifugal Crusher industry, Rotor Centrifugal Crusher industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Rotor Centrifugal Crusher Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Rotor Centrifugal Crusher research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Rotor Centrifugal Crusher market revenue worldwide.Finally, Rotor Centrifugal Crusher market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Global Halal Cosmetics Market Worth 22.5 billion USD by 2026, at a CAGR of 6.0% https://bit.ly/2tbsMmO https://bit.ly/2M5pQyY https://bit.ly/2lk2vhD The global halal cosmetics market is anticipated to reach USD 22.56 billion by 2026 according to a new study published by Polaris Market Research. The market growth is primarily due to increase in Muslim populations and their purchasing power. This has created a surge in demand for halal cosmetics. Increasing demand has also compelled market players to engage in new product development.Halal cosmetics are expected to be produced, packaged, stored, and distributed as per Islamic teachings. Moreover, these products are considered to be safe, clean, and high quality. The significant growth in Muslim populations across the globe is expected to offer immense opportunities to personal care and halal cosmetics industry. In addition, the rapidly accelerating economic power of Islamic countries is anticipated to largely influence them to spend additional money on beauty and personal products.Get Sample Copy of this Market Report Study @Currently, consumers are exhibiting growing interest in halal cosmetics and personal care. This is primarily due to the increasing consumer awareness about the importance of personal hygiene and improving lifestyles as a result of increasing disposable income. Halal cosmetics being different from conventional cosmetics are gaining popularity, as these cosmetics do not contain alcohol, porcine-by products and their derivatives. Basically, they do not contain contents or ingredients that are against Islamic beliefs.The growing issues over the environmental and health hazards are also responsible for such as significant impact on the cosmetic industry. Some of the health hazards such as distortion, breast cancer, and abnormalities pertaining to genital are usually blamed to occur as a result of excessive usage of cosmetics products comprising nano-particle ingredients. The increasing in number of such events has promoted consumer awareness about the substance of beauty products, thus, driving demands for halal personal care and cosmetic goods.Get full summary of this report @Asia Pacific is anticipated to dominate the global halal cosmetics market, owing to the presence of emerging nations such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Pakistan. These nations have significant population that follow Islamic beliefs.The list of key companies that are operating in the market include Ivy Beauty Corporation Sdn Bhd, Mena Cosmetics, MMA Bio Lab Sdn Bhd, The Halal Cosmetics Company, Talent Cosmetic Co., Ltd., PHB Ethical Beauty, Saaf SkinCare, One Pure, Sampure Minerals, Amara Cosmetics, Wardah Cosmetics, Inika, Clara International, Prolab, and IBA Halal Care. These players are observed engaging in activities aimed at the development of new products.Do Inquiry Before Purchasing This Report @Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities.Polaris Market Research30 Wall Street8th FloorNew York City, NY 10005United StatesContact Person: Mr. Neelneel@polarismarketresearch.com+1-646-568-9980 Global Hydraulic Dock Leveler Market Forecast 2018-2025 Pentalift, Blue Giant, Rite-Hite, Kelley Hydraulic Dock Leveler Market http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-hydraulic-dock-leveler-sales-market-12439#request-sample http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-hydraulic-dock-leveler-sales-market-12439 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A detailed market study on "Global Hydraulic Dock Leveler Market" examines the performance of the Hydraulic Dock Leveler market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Hydraulic Dock Leveler market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Hydraulic Dock Leveler market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Hydraulic Dock Leveler Market 2018 report includes Hydraulic Dock Leveler market Revenue, market Share, Hydraulic Dock Leveler industry volume, market Trends, Hydraulic Dock Leveler Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Hydraulic Dock Leveler Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Hydraulic Dock Leveler manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Request Sample Copy of Report:Leading Manufacturers Companies Analysis are Rite-Hite, Pentalift, Nordock, Blue Giant, McGuire, Kelley, Poweramp, Beacon, Nova, Niuli, Perma Tech.Hydraulic Dock Leveler Market Segmented Based on Application - Harbor, Warehouse, Others.Hydraulic Dock Leveler Market Segmented Based on Type - Mobile Hydraulic Dock Leveler, Fixed Hydraulic Dock Leveler.Further, the Hydraulic Dock Leveler report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Hydraulic Dock Leveler industry, Hydraulic Dock Leveler industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Hydraulic Dock Leveler Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Hydraulic Dock Leveler research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Hydraulic Dock Leveler market revenue worldwide.Finally, Hydraulic Dock Leveler market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Global Oilfield Drilling Fluid Market Forecast 2018-2025 Halliburton, Schlumberger, BASF, Dow Oilfield Drilling Fluid Market http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-oilfield-drilling-fluid-market-12389#request-sample http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-oilfield-drilling-fluid-market-12389 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A detailed market study on "Global Oilfield Drilling Fluid Market" examines the performance of the Oilfield Drilling Fluid market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Oilfield Drilling Fluid market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Oilfield Drilling Fluid market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Oilfield Drilling Fluid Market 2018 report includes Oilfield Drilling Fluid market Revenue, market Share, Oilfield Drilling Fluid industry volume, market Trends, Oilfield Drilling Fluid Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Oilfield Drilling Fluid Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Oilfield Drilling Fluid manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Request Sample Copy of Report:Leading Manufacturers Companies Analysis are BASF, GENERAL ELECTRIC, Halliburton, Newpark Resources, Schlumberger, Dow, Nalco Champion, Baker Hughes, Chevron Phillips, CESTC, Newpark Resources, Clariant, Lubrizol, Calumet, Ashland.Oilfield Drilling Fluid Market Segmented Based on Application - Onshore, Offshore.Oilfield Drilling Fluid Market Segmented Based on Type - Water-based Fluids, Oil-based Fluids, Synthetic-based Fluids, Others.Further, the Oilfield Drilling Fluid report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Oilfield Drilling Fluid industry, Oilfield Drilling Fluid industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Oilfield Drilling Fluid Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Oilfield Drilling Fluid research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Oilfield Drilling Fluid market revenue worldwide.Finally, Oilfield Drilling Fluid market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Global Breast Coil Market Forecast 2018-2025 Hitachi, Philips, Toshiba, GE, Invivo and Other Players Analysis Breast Coil Market 2018 http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-breast-coil-market-12226#request-sample http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-breast-coil-market-12226 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A detailed market study on "Global Breast Coil Market" examines the performance of the Breast Coil market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Breast Coil market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Breast Coil market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Breast Coil Market 2018 report includes Breast Coil market Revenue, market Share, Breast Coil industry volume, market Trends, Breast Coil Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Breast Coil Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Breast Coil manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Request Sample Copy of Report:Leading Manufacturers Companies Analysis are GE, Hitachi, Toshiba, Philips, Siemens Healthineers, Invivo, Noras, Others.Breast Coil Market Segmented Based on Application - Clinical, Research Laboratories, Others.Breast Coil Market Segmented Based on Type - Less Than 8 Channels, 8-16 Channels, Others.Further, the Breast Coil report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Breast Coil industry, Breast Coil industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Breast Coil Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Breast Coil research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Breast Coil market revenue worldwide.Finally, Breast Coil market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Orthopedic Software Global Market 2018: Key Players Quality Systems, Inc., Merge Healthcare Inc., Medstrat, Inc., Mckesson Corporation https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2361654-orthopedic-software-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2361654-orthopedic-software-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2361654 https://www.wiseguyreports.com Orthopedic Software IndustryDescriptionWiseguyreports.Com Adds Orthopedic Software -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2023 To Its Research Databaseglobal Orthopedic Software Market is accounted for $250.9 million in 2016 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% to reach $385.7 million by 2023. Factors such as rise in style oriented diseases, adoption of minimally invasive surgeries, huge population of elderly patients, enhancement in R&D and technological advancement and enhancing incidence and prevalence rate of arthritis and osteoporosis are driving the market growth. However, emerging economies which have poor healthcare insurance policies and high cost of surgeries are likely to hinder the market growth. Further, emergence of 3d printing technology, increasing awareness about orthopaedic diseases and emerging economies would provide ample opportunity for the market growth.Evolving reimbursement trends are hitting orthopedic practices particularly hard. In addition, orthopedic physicians tend to have a higher daily patient volume than most other practices, averaging 30 patients per day. Orthopedic providers can take advantage of specialty-specific EHR clinical templates. A robust EHR solution can provide easy access to X-rays and images with cloud-based storage solutions, as well as interfaces to PACS systems within hospitals and from other providers.North America is witnessed to be the largest orthopedic software market due to extensive technological advancements in the region. Countries such as the U.S. and Canada have been endowing eHealth and mHealth as well as advanced visualization systems in their healthcare system.Europe is the second largest market owing to enhanced digitization and rise in geriatric population prone to knee ailments. Asia Pacific is expected to be an opportunistic market owing to China, Japan and India as the most developing countries in the region.In addition, the Asia Pacific region is prevailing with higher incidence of bone disorders and lifestyle related knee, spine and cervical ailments. However, the lack of expertise by orthopedic physicians as well as medical staff regarding software usage and cost of installing the software for hospitals and clinics is likely to impede the market growth.Some of the key players in global Orthopedic Software market are Quality Systems, Inc. (Nextgen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC.), Merge Healthcare Inc., Medstrat, Inc., Mckesson Corporation, Materialise NV, Healthfusion Inc., Greenway Health, GE Healthcare, Curemd and Brainlab AG.Request for Sample Report @Delivery Modes Covered: Web Based Solutions On-Premise Solutions Cloud-Based SolutionsProducts Covered: Orthopedic Revenue Cycle Management Orthopedic Practice Management Orthopedic Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) Orthopedic Electronic Health Record (EHR) Digital Templating/Pre-Operative Planning SoftwareApplications Covered: Fracture & Limb Deformity Management Joint Replacement Orthopedic Surgery Pediatric AssessmentEnd Users Covered: Independent Orthopaedic Clinics Hospitals Surgery Centers Other End Userso Research Centerso Nursing HomesRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo Franceo Italyo UKo Spaino Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando Rest of Asia Pacific Rest of the Worldo Middle Easto Brazilo Argentinao South Africao EgyptLeave a Query @What our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsTable of Content1 Executive Summary2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities3.5 Threats3.6 Product Analysis3.7 End User Analysis3.8 Application Analysis3.9 Emerging Markets3.10 Futuristic Market Scenario....10 Key Developments10.1 Agreements, Partnerships, Collaborations and Joint Ventures10.2 Acquisitions & Mergers10.3 New Product Launch10.4 Expansions10.5 Other Key Strategies11 Company Profiling11.1 Quality Systems, Inc. (Nextgen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC.)11.2 Merge Healthcare Inc.11.3 Medstrat, Inc.11.4 Mckesson Corporation11.5 Materialise NV11.6 Healthfusion Inc.11.7 Greenway Health11.8 GE Healthcare11.9 Curemd11.10 Brainlab AGBuy Now @Continued...Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (Us) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (Uk)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdPune 411028Maharashtra, GlobalPh: +91 841 198 5042 The United States would like to have stronger relations with Russia, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said. "Overall, I can tell the United States government would certainly prefer to have a stronger relationship with the Russian government," she told reporters. At the same time, Nauert declined to comment on the possible meeting of the presidents of Russia and US, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. On Friday, Trump said it was possible that he will meet the Russian president this summer. Global Pneumatic Linear Cylinders Market 2018 Top Players Analysis - Festo, Mesto, SMC, AirTAC, Norgren Pneumatic Linear Cylinders Market 2018 http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-pneumatic-linear-cylinders-sales-market-12182#request-sample http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-pneumatic-linear-cylinders-sales-market-12182 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A detailed market study on "Global Pneumatic Linear Cylinders Market" examines the performance of the Pneumatic Linear Cylinders market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Pneumatic Linear Cylinders market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Pneumatic Linear Cylinders market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Pneumatic Linear Cylinders Market 2018 report includes Pneumatic Linear Cylinders market Revenue, market Share, Pneumatic Linear Cylinders industry volume, market Trends, Pneumatic Linear Cylinders Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Pneumatic Linear Cylinders Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Pneumatic Linear Cylinders manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Request Sample Copy of Report:Leading Manufacturers Companies Analysis are SMC, Festo, Parker, AirTAC, Mesto, Tolomatic, Norgren, Aventics, CKD, KOGANEI, CHELIC, PHD, Kollmorgen, Greenco & Duramaster, Matara, Fabco-Air.Pneumatic Linear Cylinders Market Segmented Based on Application - Pneumatic Tools, Automotive, Others.Pneumatic Linear Cylinders Market Segmented Based on Type - Film Type Cylinders, Piston Type Cylinders, Shifting Fork Type Cylinders, Gear Rack Type Cylinders.Further, the Pneumatic Linear Cylinders report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Pneumatic Linear Cylinders industry, Pneumatic Linear Cylinders industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Pneumatic Linear Cylinders Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Pneumatic Linear Cylinders research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Pneumatic Linear Cylinders market revenue worldwide.Finally, Pneumatic Linear Cylinders market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Nutritional Bar Market to Develop Rapidly at CAGR of about 4.9% by 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4867 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/nutritional-bar-market-4867 Market Overview:Nutritional bars are handful collection of low sugar, high protein, high level of omega-3 and less additives. Increasing population of health conscious individuals is propelling the market growth of nutritional bars. Moreover, the trend of consuming nutritional bars as snacks between the meals is gaining popularity among all age groups which is driving the market of nutritional bars.Nutritional bars are the best substitute of proper meal for individuals who require quick energy. Nutrition bar contains most of the carbohydrates such as fructose, sucrose, dextrose and others in appropriate ratios. The commonly known nutritional bars include protein bars, meal-replacement bars, snacks bars, whole food bars, and others. Moreover, in order to enhance the taste of the bars, manufacturers add various flavors to the product including chocolates, fruits, peanut butter, savory, spices and others. The high nutritional value of the product is driving the nutritional bars market.Increasing number of working population followed by hectic lifestyle of consumers is adding fuel to the growth of the nutritional bars market. However, there are large number of product substitutes available in the market which may have a negative impact on the market growth of nutritional bars. Nevertheless, all these factors are projected to contribute to the estimated CAGR of 4.9% of nutritional bars market during the forecast period 2017-2023.Receive Sample Report Here @Competitive Analysis:The major players in the nutritional bars marketClif Bar & Company. (U.S.)General Mills Inc. (U.S.)Kellogg Co. (U.S.)Kashi Company (U.S.)Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. (U.S.)Quaker Oats Company (U.S.) andMars Incorporated (U.S.)Downstream Analysis:Nutritional bars market is segmented on the basis of type such as protein bars, meal-replacement bars, snacks bars, whole food bars, and others. Among all, protein bars is dominating the market followed by meal replacement bars. Protein bars are rich in protein content which is driving the growth of this segment.On the basis of flavors, nutritional bars are segmented such as chocolates, fruits, peanut butter, savory, spices and others. Chocolate flavor is dominating the market followed by peanut butter. However, fruits segments is expected to have a steady growth over the forecast period.Based on the distribution channel, nutritional bars are segmented such as store based and non-store based. However, nutritional bars are mainly sold through grocery wholesalers, retail stores and food service providers.Regional Analysis:The global food bar market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and rest of the world (RoW). Asia Pacific is dominating the market for nutritional bars and is expected to be the fastest growing market over the forecast period. In Asia Pacific, India and China are the major contributors to the nutritional bars market. Increasing health awareness among the growing population is driving the growth of nutritional bars in this market.In North America, the U.S. holds the major share of nutritional bars market. Moreover, busy work life is driving the nutritional bars market in the European market. Additionally, continuous innovations will positively impact the market in rest of the worldAccess Report Details @The Global Nutritional Bar Market is segmented under the following regionsNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaMexicoEuropeGermanyFranceItalySpainU.KRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaAustraliaJapanRest of Asia PacificRest of the worldBrazilArgentinaSouth AfricaOthersAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com E-clinical Solutions Market Outlook, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts to 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/e-clinical-solutions-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=25508 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=25508 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com E-clinical is a term used in a clinical study with reference to electronic applications which are web-based tools employed to capture live data from clinical trials for faster and better execution. Additionally, e-clinical solutions aid efficient planning, tracking, and execution of this data from different geographic areas. Furthermore, they also improve relationships within departments such as site coordinators of medical affairs and clinical investigators. E-clinical solutions refer to a technology which helps accelerate the process of clinical development and aggregate & standardize the collected data for analysis at an individual patient level as well as for cross trail views. The use of e-clinical solutions has simplified the acquisition of analytics and clinical research data. Device & drug tracking, integrated eCRF note changing, real-time notifications, real-time reporting, and configurable report building are a few important features of e-clinical solutions.View Report:The global e-clinical solutions market is expected to expand substantially due to the increasing operational costs & regulatory requirements related to clinical research studies, the rising acceptance of software solutions during clinical trials, and the surge in R&D expenditure in pharmaceutical companies. In addition, e-clinical solutions in Asia Pacific are on the rise owing to the growing number of clinical trials especially across developing countries. Developing markets including India, China, Korea, and Taiwan have become good destinations for the outsourcing of clinical trials due to the low service costs and presence of a large population. However, concerns over patient data privacy and the lack of skilled research professionals are hampering the implementation of e-clinical solution. On the other hand, high operational costs associated with e-clinical solutions are constraining the e-clinical solutions market.The e-clinical solutions market is segmented by product into the following categories: clinical analytics platforms, Electronic Data Capture (EDC), Clinical Data Management Systems (CDMS), safety solutions, Randomization & Trial Supply Management (RTSM), Electronic Clinical Outcome Assessment (ECOA), clinical data integration platforms, Clinical Trial Management Systems (CTMS), and electronic Trial Master File (eTMF). EDC and CDMS hold a large market share, whereas ECOA is likely to witness a high growth rate during the forecast period. On the basis of delivery mode, this market is segregated into three groups: web-based, cloud-based solutions, and on-premise. Furthermore, the market is divided based on clinical trial phase into the following segments: phase I, phase II, phase III, and phase IV. Finally, in terms of end-user application, the market is classified into the following divisions: medical device manufacturers, contract research organizations, hospitals, consulting service companies, pharmaceutical & biotechnology industries, and others.Request a Brochure of the Report @Geographically, E-Clinical Solutions market is distributed over North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominated this market because of the increasing number of clinical trials conducted in the region, rising investment in R&D resulting in the development of new products, growing prevalence of lifestyle diseases, and increasing government support for clinical trials. However, Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a rapid rate during the forecast period on account of the increasing number of R&D projects and the regions developing economic status.Key players operating in this market include Parexel International Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Merge Health Incorporated, Datatrak International, Inc., BioClinica, CRF Health, ERT, E-Clinical Solutions, OmniComm Systems Inc, and Medidata Solution, Inc. In order to gain a competitive advantage in the industry, these players are actively involved in organic and inorganic growth strategies. Collaborations, partnerships, agreements, and new product launches are some of the important strategies followed by them.Enquiry for Discount on this Report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Variable Displacement Pumps Market Forecast 2018-2025 Parker, Oilgear, Bosch Rexroth, Danfoss Variable Displacement Pumps Market http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-variable-displacement-pumps-market-11919#request-sample http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-variable-displacement-pumps-market-11919 www.qymarketstudy.com/ A detailed market study on "Global Variable Displacement Pumps Market" examines the performance of the Variable Displacement Pumps market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Variable Displacement Pumps market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Variable Displacement Pumps market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Variable Displacement Pumps Market 2018 report includes Variable Displacement Pumps market Revenue, market Share, Variable Displacement Pumps industry volume, market Trends, Variable Displacement Pumps Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Variable Displacement Pumps Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Firstly, the report covers the top Variable Displacement Pumps manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Request Sample Copy of Report:Leading Manufacturers Companies Analysis are Bosch Rexroth, Parker, Kawasaki, Eaton, Danfoss, Oilgear, HAWE, Yuken, Casappa, Linde Hydraulics (Weichai), Moog, ASADA, Li Yuan, Huade, Shaoyang Victor Hydraulics, Saikesi, Henyuan Hydraulic.Variable Displacement Pumps Market Segmented Based on Application - Chemical Processing, Metal, Oil and Gas, Mining, Other.Variable Displacement Pumps Market Segmented Based on Type - Variable Displacement Piston Pump, Variable Displacement Vane Pump.Further, the Variable Displacement Pumps report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Variable Displacement Pumps industry, Variable Displacement Pumps industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Variable Displacement Pumps Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Variable Displacement Pumps research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Variable Displacement Pumps market revenue worldwide.Finally, Variable Displacement Pumps market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com Mass Spectroscopy Market 2023: Healthcare Industry Demand, Growth, Analysis & Forecast https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/mass-spectroscopy-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4313 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=4313 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Mass Spectroscopy Market: SnapshotThe prosperity of the global mass spectroscopy market, which is projected for a healthy CAGR during the forecast period of 2015 to 2023, can be attributed to a number of factors such as growing food safety concerns, new international GMP and GDP certification for pharmaceutical excipients, advent of miniaturized mass spectrometers and hybrid mass spectrometers, other technological advancements, and increasing government investments in a number of developed countries. On the other hand, the global mass spectroscopy market is anticipated to face hindrances from a few factors such as high cost of equipment and the lack of skilled professionals. Nevertheless, the vendors operating in the global mass spectroscopy market are expected to gain new expansion opportunities in a number of emerging economies, especially in Asia Pacific, as well as from new product launches and growing usage of mass spectroscopy in proteomics.View Report:Application-wise, the global mass spectroscopy market can be segmented into pharmaceuticals, industrial chemistry, biotechnology, environment testing, food and beverages, and others. This report also gauges the potential of mass spectroscopy in every important geographical region, as well as profiles a number of leading vendors in order to represent the competitive landscape. The report has been developed by a group of professional market research analysts of the healthcare domain, aspiring to serve as a reliable business document for its targeted audiences. This report provides quantitative and qualitative estimations regarding the future of the global mass spectroscopy market, depending on various factors mentioned above.Global Mass Spectroscopy Market: OverviewThe global mass spectroscopy market is poised to rake in a healthy share of the revenue pie with the robust growth of the healthcare sector worldwide. Mass spectroscopy is useful in tracing the distribution of various biomolecules directly from the tissue sample. In addition, it enables testing of multiple diseases and customization of screening programs according to a specific population. Other than healthcare, it finds applications in industries such as food and beverage, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical. Some of the technologies used in mass spectroscopy are matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI), gas and liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry, quadrupole mass spectroscopy, and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS).The research report is an outcome of an in-depth analysis of the dynamics and competitive scenario of the global mass spectroscopy market. It sheds light on the trends influencing the market at both global and regional levels.Request a Brochure of the Report @Global Mass Spectroscopy Market: Drivers and RestraintsRapid technological advancements are boosting the scope of applications and subsequently the base of end users of mass spectroscopy, thereby augmenting the global market. Moreover, the rising concerns regarding the safety of food products and drugs as a result of growing incidences of related complications are stimulating the demand for analytical methods. This factor is, therefore, stoking the growth of the global mass spectroscopy market.The increasing research and development activities in fields, including drug development, biomarkers, molecular biology, gene expression studies, and proteomics are also providing a significant momentum to the market. On the other hand, rapid technological advancements are trimming the life cycle of existing products, which is hindering the growth of the global mass spectroscopy market. Furthermore, the high price of devices is limiting the widespread adoption of mass spectroscopy. However, to maximize their revenue generation, market players are expected to tap the immense potential of emerging countries.Global Mass Spectroscopy Market: Geographical SegmentationThe key regions analyzed in the report are Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and Europe. North America and Europe are anticipated to be major revenue contributors throughout the forecast period. The growth of these regions can be attributed to the presence of a large number of academic and research institutes and the growing investments by governments in the biomedical and biotechnology sectors. In North America, the U.S. will be at the forefront of growth, owing to the domicile of a raft of key participants.However, there is a gradual shift in focus of key players towards emerging countries, owing to their improving economic conditions. Asia Pacific is estimated to register a noteworthy CAGR during the same period. The growth of the region is largely supplemented by increasing funds allocated by governments for research activities and increasing investments by global players in the countries such as India and China. In Latin America, Brazil will be a sight of high growth rate due to the robust growth of end-user industries.Enquiry for Discount on this Report @Global Mass Spectroscopy Market: Competitive LandscapeThe degree of competition in the global mass spectroscopy market is anticipated to remain high throughout the forecast period. In order to differentiate their offerings, players are pouring sizeable funds into research and development of novel technologies. Mergers and alliances are looked upon as viable strategies by the majority of participants to expand their shares in the market. Some of the prominent companies operating in the global mass spectroscopy market are PerkinElmer, Dani Instruments S.P.A., Waters Corporation, Shimadzu Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Agilent Technologies, Kore Technologies Ltd., Danaher Corporation, Bruker Corporation, and Leco Corporation among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Flavor Enhancer Market: global Survey, Trends, Outlook, Overview and 2023 Forecast https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4870 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/flavor-enhancer-market-4870 Market Overview:Flavor Enhancer, the most widely used food additives radically enhances the natural flavor of ingredients when added to food or beverages. It is used in commercial food preparation as well as in domestic cooking. They are added to food and beverages explicitly to make them flavourful. Flavor Enhancer plays an essential role in stimulating the taste & aroma lost during the processing period to suit the palates of the consumer. Augmented demand from the burgeoning food & beverages industry defines the growth landscape of the market globally escorting it to the ascended heights.Burgeoning Food & Beverages industry all over the world, predominantly drives the global Flavor Enhancer market. Clean label trend has evolved beyond ingredients and indicates that the food is made by using natural colors and flavors. The increasing consumer awareness about health & wellness and their growing interest to adopt natural flavors instead of artificial ones has been supporting the growth of this market. Expansion of distribution channels is expected to influence the market growth during the review period.Factors, such as growing population, growing urbanization along with the improving economic conditions worldwide that increase consumers purchasing power positively impact the market growth. Changing lifestyle and inclination towards conventional food are boosting the market growth. Substantial investments transpired in R&D to bring novelties & betterment to the products, in turn, pay off well by increasing the demand, sale & eventually, its market size. Recent much-appreciated innovation is the introduction of sodium reducing Flavor Enhancer which fostered the market growth to an extent, especially in the US and China.On the other hand, these Flavor Enhancers, artificial or natural need to meet the desired specifications of the product as stipulated by regulation. There are a set of regulations according to the respective regulatory body for the use of these products in different foods across the globe. The same factor is anticipated to restrict the market growth.Receive a Sample Report @In addition to the Clean Label, other trends of the market observed during the analysis include, terms that signify ingredients or foods that are good to be consumed, are creating quite a buzz for F&B manufacturers. Another trend is gluten-free Flavor Enhancers (mainly in the US market). While, non-MSG flavor is an emerging trend in Europe.Competitive Analysis:The global Flavor Enhancer market appears to be fiercely competitive and fragmented with many well-established players having the global presence. Brand reinforcement, mergers & acquisitions, and innovation remain the popular trends for the key players in the market.Tate & Lyle PLC (UK), Cargill Inc. (US), DuPont Nutrition & Health (US), Corbion N.V. (The Netherlands), Ajinomoto Co, Inc. (Japan), Sensient Technologies (US), and Innova Flavors (US) are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Flavor Enhancer Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.Industry/ Innovations/ Related News:April 20, 2018 Imbibe (US), a global provider of flavor enhancing technology introduced a line of clean-label flavor NonSense, a natural flavor that blocks/ masks flavors for food and beverages especially, off-notes or the perception of unwanted taste. The development is expected to bring huge success of the company's first proprietary ingredient Sweet Sense.Market Segments:The Flavor Enhancer market can be segmented into 5 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;By Types: Comprises Natural & Artificial.By Ingredients: Acidulant, Glutamate, Yeast Extract, and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Proteins, among others.By Forms: Liquid, & Powder, among others.By Applications : Beverages, Bakery & Confectionary, Dairy & Frozen Desserts Products, Meat Products, Savoury & Snacks and other.By Region: North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Segment Natural Flavor Enhancer is a prominent segment on the basis of Types. The segment is estimated to be the major revenue pocket for the global Flavor Enhancer market owing to their wide uptake encouraged by their popularity among consumers and side effects caused due to the artificial flavor.Segment Glutamate by Ingredients accounts for the largest segment in the global market while Segment Yeast Extract is expected to grow substantially over the forecasted period.Segment Powdered Form is projected to be the fastest growing segment over the forecast period followed by the segment Beverage Industry.Access Report Details @Regional Analysis:Continuing with its dominance, North-America market for Flavor Enhancer is expected to surge, witnessing the high consumption of the product. Growing further, over its previous growth records by 2023 the region is expected to create a larger revenue pocket in the global market. Factors such as high disposal income, the presence of large food enthusiasts & connoisseurs populace influence the regional market growth positively.Whereas the second largest market for Flavor Enhancer Europe is surging owing to the contributions from the countries such as the UK, France, Italy & Germany. The growth attributes to the high per capita income coupled with the continuous R&D efforts transpired in the regional market to bring novelties.While attributing to the resurging economy in some of the APAC countries like India & China, the Asia-Pacific market for Flavor Enhancer is witnessing exponential growth. Increasing consumption of the product in developing countries is another key factor driving the regional market.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Levulinic Acid Market Competitive Analysis with Growth Forecast Till 2024 https://bit.ly/2yqEyPn https://bit.ly/2ytaxhK https://bit.ly/2I5UmGG https://www.gminsights.com http://algosonline.com/news Levulinic Acid Market size will witness healthy growth with developments in the agriculture and biofuel industry. It is a type of keto acid, manufactured from degraded cellulose and precursor to biofuels. Its naturally occurring form is Delta-amino levulinic acid (DALA) and it finds usage as herbicide in lawns and is useful for grain crops. It is also used as a plant growth stimulator. It can be used as a potential replacement of petroleum products reducing amount of greenhouse emissions. In most cases microorganism Rhodobacter is used in its production. Leluvinic acid also used in cigarettes for binding nicotine to neutral receptors.The consumption of levulinic acid is increasing in both cosmetic and pharmaceutical markets. Even today sulfuric acid is used as herbicides to kill weeds, but it is not fully desirable because of its corrosive nature. This gives chances to DALA to establish itself as safe herbicide alternative. Indian Government is betting big on green fuel, particularly biofuel with first and second-generation biofuel plants already commissioned.Other Asia Pacific countries are also looking for green alternatives as WHO reports regularly warn about growing pollution across the whole world. In North America and Europe green alternatives get tax reliefs and escape from some of the stringent industrial clauses. It is expected that Germany will lead the market in Europe. Global focus on smart agriculture and alternative to fossil fuel is an important driver of levulinic acid market. Its derivation from waste biomass leads to a significant saving on raw material costs. The industry possibilities are endless and near future will be shaped by technology which can make leluvinic acid products cheap and more efficient.Request for an in-depth table of contents of this report @The physical properties of levulinic acids lead low yields which hurts economies of scale. High equipment costs make mass production a very costly affair. Vinyl acetates and cellulose acetates are upcoming substitutes produced and available at cheaper rates. Setting appropriate conditions for production of levulinic acid from waste biomass is a daunting task and not easily achievable. Separating the reaction products and obtaining levulinic acid is another tough task. Many Asia Pacific nations impose education cess and countervailing duties on the levulinic acid market, leading to increasing product costs, hence posing hindrances in the market growth.The segmentation of levulinic acid market can be done based on application such as usage in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, food additives, tobacco and cosmetics. It can also be segmented according to the method of production. It can be produced from glucose or biomass waste. Levulinic acid is mostly produced from carbohydrates in presence of mineral acids such as hydrochloric acid at temperature 140-200 degree Celsius. The geographical segmentation is useful to study regional demand for levulinic acid in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa.Make an Inquiry for purchasing this report @North America is a key consumer of levulinic acid as the U.S. is one of the largest production grounds for biofuels. Most companies in North America imports levulinic acid from Chinese manufacturers. Levulinic acid is sold in Asia Pacific through bulk chemical suppliers and finds increased usage in oil & gas and paints & coatings industry. Biofuel is an upcoming industry in Asia Pacific and levulinic acid can expect lot of demand from this sector. In Europe levulinic acid is mostly used as raw material for other chemical industries.The ideal location for levulinic acid production factory is near glucose/sugar manufacturing facilities for easy access to raw materials. Global companies in levulinic acid production are Biofine International, Avantium, Simagchen Corporation, GF Biochemical Ltd, etc. GF Biochemical Ltd is largest producer of levulinic acid in the world. Levulinic acid industry players mostly rely on strategic partnerships for supply to the end-user companies.Browse Full Report @About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: DDI Market - Environmental Threat Impact On Growth 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2414 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2414 https://www.tmrresearch.com/ddi-market Global DDI Market: SnapshotThe global DDI is registering a significant rise in its valuation, thanks to the rising penetration of Internet across the world. The rapidly rising demand for DDI (DNS, DHCP, and IP address management) across various enterprises is boosting the global market, substantially. Moreover, the continual technological advancements are projected to increase the application of DDI in a number of industry sectors in the near future. The increasing trend of cloud technology is likely to support the growth of this market over the next few years.Request Sample Copy of the Report @North America has been leading the worldwide market for DDI with the high awareness level among consumers regarding its benefits. The early availability of advanced technologies in this region, owing to the presence of a number of prominent players, is boosting the growth of the North America market for DDI at present. In the years to come, the technological advancements is expected to ensure the dominance of this regional market. Asia Pacific, on the other hand, is anticipated to offer ample promising opportunities to global vendors over the forthcoming years. The widening array of working population and the emergent technology hubs is likely to support this regional market in the years to come. With the augmenting advancements and adoption of cloud-based solutions and services and the increasing investments in the IT and telecommunication sector are projected to boost the growth of the Asia Pacific market for DDI over the next few years.Global DDI Market: OverviewA DDI (DNS, DHCP, and IP address management) solution is a mandatory solution for enterprises that keep adding new IP addresses to their network constantly. The addition of new IP addresses might be through business strategies such as acquisitions, mergers, or simply market dominance. Earlier, the assigning and management of IP addresses was comparatively easy as compared to the present scenario where limitless snowballing of IP-connected devices can be observed. Due to the launch of IPv6 protocol, innumerable IP addresses have sprouted and are still emerging, highlighting the need for DDI solutions.By format, the global DDI market can be segmented into open source solutions, cloud-based solutions, hardware-based solutions, and software solutions. By application, the market can be categorized into network security, network automation, data center transformation, and virtualization.Request TOC of the Report @Global DDI Market: Key TrendsThe increasing adoption of cloud computing across numerous sectors, growing concerns about security and privacy of data, and rising need for streamlining IP address management are responsible for the growth of the global DDI market. The switch from IPv4 to IPv6 Internet protocol has also been driving the global market for DDI.The emergence of the trend of e-learning across schools, universities, and several educational institutes owing to its convenience and effectiveness, has also been propelling growth. The integrated services segment is likely to contribute a significant amount of revenue to the overall market, driven by growing demand for tools for configuring, automating, administrating, and integrating IP addresses.Global DDI Market: Market PotentialInfoblox Inc., a leading network company counted among the cream of the crop in the competitive landscape of the global DDI market, announced the launch of the latest version of its software NIOS 8.0 for DDI in November 2016. The new release is highly flexible, possessing elastic scaling capability. It is therefore apt at adding or reducing DDI capacity as per the needs of a network. The company has also been focusing on the addition of new appliances to its product portfolio. These advanced appliances offer up to 50% performance enhancements over the existing appliances.Similarly, in January 2017, the company announced the release of its Infoblox Active Trust Cloud. The new service has been developed to meet the needs of enterprises having a mobile workforce as well as increasing number of branch offices across the globe. These enterprises often have to face security and privacy concerns. The solution offers protection to on and off premise devices and prevention of DNS-based data exfiltration. Not only does the solution allow quick investigation of threats, it also stops device communication with command-and-control servers automatically.Global DDI Market: Regional OutlookBy geography, the global DDI market can be segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and Europe. North America, by virtue of high deployment of IoT across the region, can emerge as the leading segment. The necessity of compliance with the conducive regulatory frameworks of the government in Europe and North America have been aiding the expansion of the DDI market in these regions.The DDI market in Asia Pacific promises considerable growth opportunities. Owing to the presence of a high consumer base, extensive penetration of internet and smartphones across the region, and large scale industrialization, the DDI market in Asia Pacific will gain momentum over the next few years.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global DDI Market: Competitive AnalysisSeveral market players are expanding their presence via heavy investments in research and development. Infoblox Inc., Nokia Corporation, BT Diamond IP, SolarWinds, Microsoft Corporation, PC Network, Cisco Systems, Inc., Incognito Software Systems, Alcatel-Lucent, BT Diamond, and ApplianSys Limited are some of the leading companies operating in the global DDI market.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Engine Filter Market Growth by Manufacturers and Forecast to 2023 Engine Filter Market Aanalysis by 2025 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1211342-global-engine-filter-market-6 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1211342 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1211342-global-engine-filter-market-6 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/request-discount/1211342-global-engine-filter-market-6 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1211342-global-engine-filter-market-6 HTF MI recently introduced study Global Engine Filter Market Analysis 2012-2017 and Forecast 2018-2023 with in-depth focused approach on qualitative research, describing product Scope and elaborating industry insights and outlook to 2022. The market Study is putting a lot of emphasis on macro-economic issues, influencing factors and key market trends and drivers gearing up and are changing the dynamics of Global Engine Filter market.Access Sample Copy @:The Global Engine Filter Market research study is designed especially for business strategists, industry executives, marketing, sales and product managers & consultants highlighting the value drivers that may provides a competitive advantage to a business, giving an upper hand in the industry. What differentiation strategist should bring in its product or services understanding the competitors move and consumer behavior to make it more appealing? The report offers a measurable and verifiable method with in-depth analysis of market concentration, new entrants and the technological advancement and market trends in future. Some of the key vendors driving the market are Mann-Hummel, Mahle, DENSO, Cummins, Fram, Donaldson, Sogefi, Freudenberg, Clarcor, Bengbu Jinwei, BOSCH, UFI Group, Yonghua Group, Zhejiang Universe Filter, AC Delco, YBM, TORA Group, APEC KOREA, Guangzhou Yifeng, Okyia Auto, Bengbu Phoenix & Kenlee.With the four countries the adoption of standards, automotive engine optimization from all aspects of development, in order to achieve a higher level of emissions. The use of engine filters is particularly important. Engine use of oil, fuel and air three filters on the quality of the main plant a top priority. Particles include things such as dust, powder, pollen, mold, fibers, germs etc. It uses a physical and or chemical process with fibrous pleated paper, foam, cotton, ionizers, activated charcoal, absorbents, chemicals, catalysts. In this report Engine Filter define as filters for automotive engine include Air Filter, Oil Filter and Fuel Filter for Engine.The global Engine Filter market will reach xxx Million USD in 2018 and CAGR xx% 2018-2023. The report begins from overview of Industry Chain structure, and describes industry environment, then analyses market size and forecast of Engine Filter by product, region and application, in addition, this report introduces market competition situation among the vendors and company profile, besides, market price analysis and value chain features areBuy this research report @Further to get in-depth view of Market competitive landscape and Size, The Global Engine Filter market study is segmented by Application/ end users [Passenger Cars & Commercial Vehicles], products type [Air Filter, Oil Filter & Fuel Filter]. Geographically, this report study is segmented into several key Regions such as North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico), Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc.), Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia etc.), South America (Brazil, Argentina etc.) & Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc.) with revenue, value drivers and growth rate of Engine Filter to achieve a competitive edge, value proposition and market dominance in lucrative regions across the globe.Some of the key questions answered in this report:- Detailed Overview of Engine Filter market will help deliver clients and businesses making strategies.- Influencing factors that thriving demand and latest trend running in the market- What is the market concentration? Is it fragmented or highly concentrated?- What trends, challenges and barriers will impact the development and sizing of Global Engine Filter market- SWOT Analysis of each defined key players along with its profile and Porters five forces tool mechanism to compliment the same.- What growth momentum or acceleration market carries during the forecast period?- Which region may tap highest market share in coming era?- Which application/end-user category or Product Type may seek incremental growth prospects?- What would be the market share of key countries like United States, France, Germany, UK, China, and Australia & Japan etc.?- What focused approach and constraints are holding the Engine Filter market tight?Make Inquiry before purchase @Check for discount @Chapter 1 is related to Executive summary to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Global Engine Filter market, Applications such as Passenger Cars & Commercial Vehicles, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, about objective of the report.Chapter 3, to display Research Methodology used for the report, Comprehensive analysis, using market research tools such as Porters and SWOT analysisChapter 4 , to show the Overall Market Analysis, segmentation analysis, characteristics;Chapter 5, 6 and 7, to show the Market size, share and forecast; Five forces analysis (bargaining Power of buyers/suppliers), Threats to new entrants and market condition;Chapter 8 and 9, to show analysis by regional segmentation North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico), Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc.), Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia etc.), South America (Brazil, Argentina etc.) & Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc.), comparison, leading countries and opportunities; Regional Marketing Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis.Chapter 10, focus on identifying the key industry influencer's, consumer behavior, marketing channels, Industry experts and strategic decision makers overview;Chapter 11 and 12, Market Trend Analysis, Drivers, Challenges by consumer behavior and demand.Chapter 13 and 14, describe about the vendor landscape (classification and Market Positioning)Chapter 15, deals with Engine Filter Market sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Early buyers will receive 10% customization in this research study. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road, Edison, NJ USA - 08837sales@htfmarketreport.comPh: +1 (206) 317 1218 Pentagon spokesman Mike Andrews said that Turkey will receive its first F-35 fighters on Thursday during a ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas, despite opposition from the US Congress. "Lockheed Martin will hold a rollout ceremony for Turkey this Thursday in Fort Worth, and the two jets will follow-on to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona at a later date," CNN cited the spokesman as saying. "Turkish F-35 pilots and maintainers have arrived at Luke Air Force Base and will begin flight academics soon," Andrews added. Andrews said the Department of Defense "does not comment on proposed legislation," adding that "Turkey is a close, key NATO ally, and has been an international participant with the F-35 program since 2002." On June 18, the US Senate had sought to block Turkey from receiving the stealth warplanes through language in the National Defense Authorization Act amid a deterioration of the US-Turkey relationship. Demand Analysis of Global Aerospace Composite Resins Market 2018 Analysis Including Key Players- Hexcel, Yokohama, ACP Composites, Arkema https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1803485 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-aerospace-composite-resins-market-professional-survey-report-2018-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/global-aerospace-composite-resins-market-professional-survey-report-2018-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketreserch1.blogspot.com Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Aerospace Composite Resins Market Professional Survey Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Aerospace Composite Resins market status and forecast, categorizes the global Aerospace Composite Resins market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia and other regions (Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).The global Aerospace Composite Resins market is valued at xx million US$ in 2017 and is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major manufacturers covered in this report3MHexcelACP CompositesSolvayYokohamaArkemaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanIndiaSoutheast AsiaOther regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)The regional scope of the study is as follows:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoType IType IIBy Application, the market can be split intoApplication 1Application 2View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @The study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Aerospace Composite Resins capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Aerospace Composite Resins manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Browse Report @In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Aerospace Composite Resins are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersAerospace Composite Resins ManufacturersAerospace Composite Resins Distributors/Traders/WholesalersAerospace Composite Resins Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsAvailable CustomizationsWith the given market data, QYResearch offers customizations according to the company's specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:Regional and country-level analysis of the Aerospace Composite Resins market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at: Electronic Toll Collection Market - Upcoming Challenges For New Entrants 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2417 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2417 https://www.tmrresearch.com/electronic-toll-collection-market Global Electronic Toll Collection Market: OverviewElectronic toll collection (TEC) systems are devices that enable the central management of toll operations via a single integrated solution. Eliminating delay on highways and roadways, the system ensures that toll payment is made electronically in a hassle-free manner.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The global electronic toll collection system market can be segmented by application, region, product type, and technology. By product type, the global market for electronic toll collection can be segmented into antennae, treadles, transponders, weigh-in-motion devices, film storage devices, cameras, communication systems, and scanning devices. By technology, the market can be categorized into global positioning system (GPS), dedicated short range communications (DSRC), radio-frequency identification, and global navigation satellite system (GNSS).Global Electronic Toll Collection Market: Key TrendsAs these systems eliminate manual operations by toll receivers and payers, the demand for electronic toll collection is likely to witness an upsurge. Cashless transactions offered by electronic toll collection systems do not only save travel time, but also minimizes traffic congestion near toll collection booths across roads and highways. Electronic toll collection systems offer cost-efficient solutions that are faster too. The need for multiple toll plazas is ruled out owing to the installation of electronic toll collection systems, saving additional costs. However, high dependence on government funding and high installation costs of these devices might restrain the growth of the market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Electronic Toll Collection Market: Market PotentialA number of emerging economies are increasingly addressing the need to adopt time and cost efficient electronic toll collection systems throughout the major cities. For instance, in India, the National Payments Corporation of India has been encouraging several highways to install electronic toll collection systems with a view to increase digital payments across the country, supporting the cashless economy initiative of the government.Nearly 14-16% of the toll collection in the country has been converted into electronic mediums, with the transaction number rising up to 7 million per month, reported the National Electronic Toll Collection in April 2017. The availability of advanced, easy, and convenient digital platforms for payment such as BharatQR and Samsung Pay has eliminated the waiting time required for card swipes.Similarly, in April 2017, the Transport Minister of Vietnam ordered swift installations of electronic toll collection equipment across the major highways of the country. Malaysia is another nation which has been promoting the adoption of electronic toll collection systems via its PLUS highways that offer cashless, fully electronic payments. Features such as Touch n Go Card, PlusMiles Card, and SmartTag have enabled smooth transactions, ensuring that 600 vehicles can pass through a TnG lane per hour, compared to 180 vehicles per hour that previously paid manually.Global Electronic Toll Collection Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the global market for electronic toll collection market can be segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. North America is expected to advance at a rapid pace due to the growing demand for safe, efficient, and secure toll collection infrastructure. The growing demand for electronic toll collection systems in Asia Pacific can be attributed to favorable government policies, growing investments in infrastructural development, and increasing adoption of automation across several regions. Singapore, India, Malaysia, China, and Thailand are expected to represent a large slice of revenue of the overall market.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Electronic Toll Collection Market: Competitive AnalysisCubic Transportation Systems, Inc., 3M, EFKON AG, Kapsch TrafficCom, Xerox Corporation, Q-Free, Toll Collect GmbH, TransCore, Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co., Ltd., Transurban Limited, VaaaN, Raytheon Company, and Schneider Electric SE are some of the leading companies operating in the global electronic toll collection market.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Veterinary Diagnostics Market Fragmented Techniques 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2420 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2420 https://www.tmrresearch.com/veterinary-diagnostics-market Global Veterinary Diagnostics Market: OverviewProvision of diagnostic medical testing to detect the presence of toxins, infectious agents, and causes of diseases is crucial in the control and prevention of infectious diseases. Advanced diagnostic capabilities are especially of high importance, partially because animals cannot express what is wrong with them. A wide range of tests on urine, blood, sampled tissue, and feces are made available by veterinary diagnostics centers.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The global veterinary diagnostics market can be segmented by technology, region, product, animal type, and end user. By technology, the market can be categorized into immunodiagnostics, molecular diagnostics, clinical biochemistry, hematology, and urinalysis.Global Veterinary Diagnostics Market: Key TrendsAs the number of pet owners worldwide has been multiplying rapidly, the demand for veterinary diagnostics is expected to soar. Veterinary diagnostics is used in the diagnosis and treatment of different medical conditions such as allergies, bacteria, fertility issues, diabetes, and viruses that affect cats, dogs, and other pets as well as cows, pigs, bullocks, sheep, poultry, and goats.Cancer, anemia, rabies, canine adenovirus type-1, tapeworm, heartworm, roundworm, and diseases of the endocrine function are also tested using veterinary diagnostics. Recent advancements in technology offer low cost, speedy, and highly sensitive testing capacities. Easy usage, handling, transportation, and storage, and elimination of the need for refrigeration promises considerable growth of the market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Veterinary Diagnostics Market: Market PotentialOutbreak of cattle diseases worldwide has been necessitating the adoption of veterinary diagnostics on a global scale. For instance, in April 2017, the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory reported that five beef cattle herds across three counties were tested positive for Trichomoniasis, an extremely contagious, sexually transmitted disease.Similarly, Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries (MALF) has undertaken a program to control and prevent livestock diseases in the region. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States (FAO) funded consumables and equipment to Tanzania for the same.Furthermore, a number of organizations and agencies have been addressing the issue of zoonotic diseases and the threat posed by them to human health. For instance, The Asean Sectoral Working Group on Livestock (ASWGL), in a meeting conducted on 27 April, 2017, stated its initiatives addressing the socio-economic impact of animal diseases. It has been formulating, developing, and implementing strategic mechanism and frameworks both at the regional and national levels.The market for veterinary diagnostics has been witnessing a number of product launches, acquisitions, collaborations, and mergers. For instance, in April 2017, Calbiotech group of companies, a prominent manufacturer and developer of immunoassays was acquired by Erba Diagnostics Mannheim.Global Veterinary Diagnostics Market: Regional OutlookBy geography, the global veterinary diagnostics market can be segmented into Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, North America, and Europe. Of these, North America emerged as the leading segment of the global veterinary diagnostics market, thanks to the augmenting demand for animal-derived food products such as diary and meat. The veterinary diagnostics market in Asia Pacific is also advancing at a steady pace. The growing spending on animal healthcare, increasing animal population, and rising concerns and awareness pertaining to zoonotic diseases has been fuelling the market for veterinary diagnostics in Asia Pacific.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Veterinary Diagnostics Market: Competitive LandscapeThe global market for veterinary diagnostics is highly fragmented in terms of competition. Neogen Corporation, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc, Heska Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., URIT Medical Electronics Co., Ltd., Abaxis, Inc., Randox Laboratories Ltd., IDVet, QIAGEN N.V., Mindray Medical International Limited, Eurolyser Diagnostica GmbH, BPC Biosed srl, Zoetis, Inc., and Virbac are some of the leading companies operating in the global market for veterinary diagnostics.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Integrated Passive Devices Market Changing Industry Lifestyle 2025 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2435 https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2435 https://www.tmrresearch.com/integrated-passive-devices-market Global Integrated Passive Devices Market: OverviewIntegrated passive devices are gaining popularity due to soaring needs for further reduction in size and cost and increment in functionality in handheld devices. These devices enable miniaturization of devices by combining different functional blocks, including couplers, impedance matching devices, harmonic filters, and baluns, and integrating them into one semiconductor chip. There are primarily three types of integrated passive devices, which are electrostatic discharge (ESD), electromagnetic interference (EMI), and radio frequency (RF). They find application in LED lighting, data converters, and EMI/RFI filtering. The report provides a 360-degree view of the global integrated passive devices market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Integrated Passive Devices Market: Key TrendsThe rising adoption of integrated passive devices in consumer electronics is one of the primary forces behind the remarkable growth of the global integrated passive devices market. Integrated passive devices are being increasingly acknowledged due to their ability to reduce costs and interconnection complexities in electronic devices and enhancing yield, reliability, and tolerance. The increasing integration of these devices with RF modules is also working in favor of the market.On the flip side, the higher cost of these devices as compared to discrete component is restricting the global integrated passive devices market from realizing its utmost potential. Moreover, the longer product design cycle due to the RF tuning of these devices is negatively impacting the growth of the market.Global Integrated Passive Devices Market: Market PotentialA raft of players are bonking on mergers and acquisitions to strengthen their product portfolio and enhance their visibility in the global integrated passive devices market. A case in point is Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd., (Murata), which in October 2016 announced the acquisition of IPDiA. The acquisition will help the former in stepping up its game in the market and also strengthen its business within the sectors such as automotive, communication, and medical. Moreover, it will facilitate them in manufacturing leading edge integrated passive devices. The introduction of such devices is likely to revolutionize the global integrated passive devices market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Integrated Passive Devices Market: Geographical SegmentationThe key regions reviewed in the report are North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Europe will represent a substantial share in the global arena. A large number of integrated passive devices manufacturers are headquartered in the region. Moreover, the early adoption of novel technologies and strong demand for wearable devices and consumer electronics are creating fertile ground for the growth of the integrated passive devices market in the region.Asia Pacific is a highly promising market. The rapid development in the telecommunication infrastructure and rising demand for consumer electronics and communication devices are supplementing the growth of the region. Emerging countries such as South Korea, India, and China will be the sights of high growth rate in the region.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Integrated Passive Devices Market: Competitive LandscapeThe majority of large players in the global integrated passive devices market are investing sizeable funds in research and development activities to introduce advanced and innovative products, which will help them in staying ahead in the market. Companies are also focusing towards mergers and acquisitions to expand and diversify their product portfolio. Some of the prominent global participants in the market are On Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies AG, Stats ChipPAC, Amkor Technology Inc., Murata-IPDiA, STMicroelectronics, Onchip Devices, and AFSC.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com Future Growth of Global Drone Logistics Market 2025 Analysis Including Key Players- Infinium Robotics, Altitude Angel, Skysense https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1803132 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-drone-logistics-market-sizestatus-and-forecast-2025-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/global-drone-logistics-market-sizestatus-and-forecast-2025-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketreserch1.blogspot.com Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Drone Logistics Market Size,Status and Forecast 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Drone Logistics market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global Drone Logistics market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.This report focuses on the global top players, coveredPINC SolutionsCANA AdvisorsDrone Delivery CanadaDronescanHardis GroupInfinium RoboticsMatternetTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Workhorse GroupSkycartSkysenseZiplineFlirteyFlytrexAltitude AngelAirmapSkyward IoMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoFreight DronesPassenger DronesAmbulance DronesMarket segment by Application, Drone Logistics can be split intoMilitaryCommercialView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @The study objectives of this report are:To study and forecast the market size of Drone Logistics in global market.To analyze the global key players, SWOT analysis, value and global market share for top players.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, end use and region.To analyze and compare the market status and forecast between China and major regions, namely, United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Rest of World.To analyze the global key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Drone Logistics are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Browse Report @Key StakeholdersDrone Logistics ManufacturersDrone Logistics Distributors/Traders/WholesalersDrone Logistics Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsAvailable CustomizationsWith the given market data, QYResearch offers customizations according to the company's specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:Regional and country-level analysis of the Drone Logistics market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.Table of ContentsGlobal Drone Logistics Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Drone Logistics1.1 Drone Logistics Market Overview1.1.1 Drone Logistics Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Drone Logistics Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 Europe1.2.3 China1.2.4 Japan1.2.5 Southeast Asia1.2.6 India2 Global Drone Logistics Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Drone Logistics Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 PINC Solutions3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Drone Logistics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2 CANA Advisors3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business OverviewAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at: Remote Monitoring & Control : Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2018 to 2025 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3065892-global-remote-monitoring-control-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3065892-global-remote-monitoring-control-market-research-report-2018 In this report, the global Remote Monitoring & Control market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Remote Monitoring & Control in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaRequest a Sample Report @Global Remote Monitoring & Control market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingEmerson Electric Co. (US)Honeywell International Inc.(US)Schneider Electric SE (France)ABB Ltd. (Switzerland)Rockwell Automation, Inc.(US)Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Japan)Endress+Hauser AG (Switzerland)General Electric Co. (US)Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.(Japan)On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPressure TransmitterTemperature TransmitterHumidity TransmitterLevel TransmitterFlowmeterOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingOil & GasMetals & MiningChemicalsPulp & PaperPowerFood & BeveragesWater and WastewaterPharmaceuticalsOthersIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal Remote Monitoring & Control Market Research Report 20181 Remote Monitoring & Control Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Remote Monitoring & Control1.2 Remote Monitoring & Control Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Pressure Transmitter1.2.4 Temperature Transmitter1.2.5 Humidity Transmitter1.2.6 Level Transmitter1.2.7 Flowmeter1.3 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Segment by Application1.3.1 Remote Monitoring & Control Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Oil & Gas1.3.3 Metals & Mining1.3.4 Chemicals1.3.5 Pulp & Paper1.3.6 Power1.3.7 Food & Beverages1.3.8 Water and Wastewater1.3.9 Pharmaceuticals1.3.10 Others1.4 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Remote Monitoring & Control (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Remote Monitoring & Control Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Remote Monitoring & Control Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Remote Monitoring & Control Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Remote Monitoring & Control Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 Japan Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.9 Southeast Asia Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.10 India Remote Monitoring & Control Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 North America Remote Monitoring & Control Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 Europe Remote Monitoring & Control Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 China Remote Monitoring & Control Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 Japan Remote Monitoring & Control Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.6 Southeast Asia Remote Monitoring & Control Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.7 India Remote Monitoring & Control Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)5 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global Remote Monitoring & Control Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)ContinuedAccess Complete Report @Contact Us:Norah TrentPartner Relations & Marketing ManagerSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Anesthesia & Critical Care Equipment Market 2018 Global Analysis By Key Players Abbott Laboratories, ACON Laboratories, Alcon, Alere, Allergan, Aurobindo Pharma, Axis-Shield, Baxter, Bayer Anesthesia & Critical Care Equipment Industry https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3242482-the-top-100-distributors-of-anesthesia-critical-care https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3242482-the-top-100-distributors-of-anesthesia-critical-care WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On Anesthesia & Critical Care Equipment Market 2018 Global Analysis By Key Players Abbott Laboratories, ACON Laboratories, Alcon, Alere, Allergan, Aurobindo Pharma, Axis-Shield, Baxter, Bayer.These are just a tiny sample of the 1,000's of facts to be found in The Top 100 Distributors Of Anesthesia & Critical Care Equipment, Devices & Disposables Worldwide.This unique and comprehensive report identifies and profiles the top 100 distributors of anesthesia and critical care equipment, devices and disposables worldwide. These major companies have a deep knowledge of their respective marketplaces and partner with both established and up-and-coming manufacturers worldwide to bring their innovative, high quality products to customers right across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Thanks to years of experience and personal relationships with both Government and privately-owned hospitals, they are well positioned to test and introduce new products and technologies. They are always looking for new suppliers and new products.Profile information for each company in The Top 100 Distributors Of Anesthesia & Critical Care Equipment, Devices & Disposables Worldwidetypically includes:- Company Contact Information - Address, Telephone and Fax Numbers, Email and Website Addresses- Key Company Decision Makers - From CEO and Main Board, to Key Senior Managers- Specialised fields such as Company Description, Manufacturers Represented, Countries Served, Year Established, Number of Employees and Ownership.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comReport Target Market:1) ManufacturersThis report is essential for manufacturers of anesthesia and critical care equipment, devices and disposables wishing to expand internationally and looking to identify, evaluate and contact the 100 leading distributors for their products worldwide.2) DistributorsUsage: competitive analysis and strategic partner/alliance identification.3) Venture & Development Capital CompaniesThe Top 100 Distributors Of Anesthesia & Critical Care Equipment, Devices & Disposables Worldwide is of great value to venture and development capital companies looking for new opportunities for investment.4) Industry AssociationsThis report is also ideal for industry associations to identify new member companies.Note: Most people will be aware of some of the major distributors of anesthesia and critical care equipment, devices and disposables such as Bay State Anesthesia, Inc. but this exciting new report looks at all 100 of the top distributors worldwide - companies like:- FGL S.A. de C.V. - Founded in 1975, FGL S.A. de C.V. distributes devices and equipment for anesthesia in Mexico. The Company has a portfolio of 1,200 products including anesthesia kits, breathings bags, breathings circuits, cannulas, connectors, endobronchial tubes, endotracheal tubes, esophageal stethoscopes, facemasks, intubation stylets and laryngoscopes. The Company currently represents numerous leading brands e.g. Ambu A/S, Molecular Products Group Ltd, Prodol Meditec, Smiths Medical etc.. FGL S.A. de C.V. has branches in Monterrey, Guadalajara and Merida, ensuring nationwide coverage. The Company has 56 employees and is led by Francisco Garcia Lara, Operations Director.Report data field structure is as follows:- Company Name- Address- Telephone- Fax- Email- Website- Parent Company- Year Established- Number of Employees- Key Executives- Company Description- Manufacturers Represented- Countries Served- Location Status- OwnershipComplete Report Details @It is one of the worlds leading companies in life sciences publishing. It has a large portfolio of best-selling reports spanning diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices. Its customers include most of the worlds major companies in these sectors e.g. Abbott Laboratories, ACON Laboratories, Alcon, Alere, Allergan, Aurobindo Pharma, Axis-Shield, Baxter, Bayer, B. Braun, BD, Biomerieux, Biomet, Boditech Med, Boehringer Ingelheim, CareFusion, Covance, Covidien, C.R. Bard, Edwards Lifesciences, EKF Diagnostics, Fresenius, Fujifilm, GE Healthcare, Genzyme, HemoCue, Intuitive Surgical, Ipsen, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Merit Medical Systems, Millipore, Molnlycke Health Care, Novartis, Paul Hartmann, Philips Medical, Qiagen, Quidel, Siemens Healthineers, Smith & Nephew, Synthes, Teleflex, Teva, Tosoh, Zentiva etc.. Research Facts also counts many multinational financial services, law and management consulting firms such as Bain & Company, McKinsey & Company, PWC and The Boston Consulting Group among its customers.Researcher currently has customers in over forty countries across the globe e.g. Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Finland, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Netherlands, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.The reports help you make informed decisions about the markets and organisations that affect your business.- Learn more about your target markets and target companies- Top level research on all the major players in a market- See which organisations dominate your major markets- Get detailed information on particular organisationsContinuedFor more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. Survey Report : Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Market 2018 Analysis Including Key Players- Yokogawa, Honeywell, Schneider Electric https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1802787 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-enterprise-pipeline-management-solutions-market-research-report-2018-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/global-enterprise-pipeline-management-solutions-market-research-report-2018-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketreserch1.blogspot.com Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingEmersonGERockwell AutomationSchneider ElectricYokogawaCiscoHCL TechnologiesHoneywellSAPWiproOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoMetallicNon-MetallicOther PipesOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingSmall and Medium EnterprisesLarge EnterprisesView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Table of ContentsGlobal Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Market Research Report 20181 Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions1.2 Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Metallic1.2.4 Non-Metallic1.2.5 Other Pipes1.3 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Segment by Application1.3.1 Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Small and Medium Enterprises1.3.3 Large Enterprises2 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product TypeBrowse Report @3 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 North America Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 Europe Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 China Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 Japan Enterprise Pipeline Management Solutions Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at: The Top 100 Distributors of Medical & Surgical Equipment, Devices, Instruments & Consumables Worldwide Medical & Surgical Equipment Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3242483-the-top-100-distributors-of-medical-surgical-equipment https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3242483-the-top-100-distributors-of-medical-surgical-equipment WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On The Top 100 Distributors of Medical & Surgical Equipment, Devices, Instruments & Consumables Worldwide.These are just a tiny sample of the 1,000's of facts to be found in The Top 100 Distributors of Medical & Surgical Equipment, Devices, Instruments & Consumables Worldwide.This unique and comprehensive report, identifies and profiles the top 100 distributors of medical and surgical equipment, devices, instruments and consumables worldwide. These major companies have a deep knowledge of their respective marketplaces and partner with both established and up-and-coming manufacturers worldwide to bring their high quality, innovative and value-added healthcare products to customers right across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Thanks to years of experience and personal relationships with both Government and privately-owned facilities, they are well positioned to test and introduce new products and technologies. They are always looking for new suppliers and new products across all specialties.Profile information for each company in The Top 100 Distributors of Medical & Surgical Equipment, Devices, Instruments & Consumables Worldwide typically includes:- Company Contact Information - Address, Telephone and Fax Numbers, Email and Website Addresses- Key Company Decision Makers - From CEO and Main Board, to Key Senior Managers- Specialised fields such as Company Description, Manufacturers Represented, Countries Served, Year Established, Number of Employees and Ownership.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comReport Target Market:1) ManufacturersThis report is essential for manufacturers of medical and surgical equipment, devices, instruments and consumables wishing to expand internationally and looking to identify, evaluate and contact the 100 leading distributors for their products worldwide.2) DistributorsUsage: competitive analysis and strategic partner/alliance identification.3) Venture & Development Capital CompaniesThe Top 100 Distributors of Medical & Surgical Equipment, Devices, Instruments & Consumables Worldwide is of great value to venture and development capital companies looking for new opportunities for investment.4) Industry AssociationsThis report is also ideal for industry associations to identify new member companies.Note: Most people will be aware of some of the major distributors of medical and surgical equipment, devices, instruments and consumables worldwide such as Chindex Medical, CAN-med Healthcare, Tawada Healthcare, Tecmed Africa and The Vingmed Group but this exciting new report looks at all 100 of the top distributors worldwide - companies like:- Century Medical, Inc. - Founded in 1974, Century Medical, Inc. has over 40 years experience successfully introducing new medical devices and technologies to the Japanese healthcare community. The Company has partnerships with 40+ foreign medical device manufacturers across a wide range of specialties e.g. Abbott, Hologic, Integra LifeSciences, Medtronic, Vygon etc.. Century Medical, Inc. is headquartered in Tokyo and has branch offices in Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Nagoya, Omiya, Osaka, Sapporo and Sendai, ensuring full nationwide coverage. The Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Corporation. Century Medical, Inc. has 389 employees and is led by Takahiko Motani, President & Chief Executive Officer.- IDS Medical Systems - IDS Medical Systems is a leading medical supply chain solutions company in Asia. The Company operates across numerous specialties e.g. Aesthetic Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine, Critical Care, Diagnostic Imaging, Emergency Care, Endoscopy, Hospital Beds & Furniture, Infection Control, OBGY & Perinatal, Primary Care, Wound Care etc.. IDS Medical Systems represents over 200 global medical brands such as Ansell, Biotronik, Hamilton Medical, Hill-Rom, Philips, Smiths Medical, Teleflex etc.. The Company currently operates successfully in eight countries: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Its customers include Government and private hospitals, day surgery centres, specialist and primary care clinics, laboratories and nursing homes. IDS Medical Systems is a member of Fung Investments. Ben Chang, Chief Executive Officer heads up the Companys senior management team.Report data field structure is as follows:- Company Name- Address- Telephone- Fax- Email- Website- Parent Company- Year Established- Number of Employees- Key Executives- Company Description- Manufacturers Represented- Countries Served- Location Status- OwnershipComplete Report Details @it is one of the worlds leading companies in life sciences publishing. It has a large portfolio of best-selling reports spanning diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices. Its customers include most of the worlds major companies in these sectors e.g. Abbott Laboratories, ACON Laboratories, Alcon, Alere, Allergan, Aurobindo Pharma, Axis-Shield, Baxter, Bayer, B. Braun, BD, Biomerieux, Biomet, Boditech Med, Boehringer Ingelheim, CareFusion, Covance, Covidien, C.R. Bard, Edwards Lifesciences, EKF Diagnostics, Fresenius, Fujifilm, GE Healthcare, Genzyme, HemoCue, Intuitive Surgical, Ipsen, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Merit Medical Systems, Millipore, Molnlycke Health Care, Novartis, Paul Hartmann, Philips Medical, Qiagen, Quidel, Siemens Healthineers, Smith & Nephew, Synthes, Teleflex, Teva, Tosoh, Zentiva etc.. Research Facts also counts many multinational financial services, law and management consulting firms such as Bain & Company, McKinsey & Company, PWC and The Boston Consulting Group among its customers.Researcher currently has customers in over forty countries across the globe e.g. Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Finland, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Netherlands, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.The reports help you make informed decisions about the markets and organisations that affect your business.- Learn more about your target markets and target companies- Top level research on all the major players in a market- See which organisations dominate your major markets- Get detailed information on particular organisationsContinuedFor more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. Vital Signs Monitoring Market Forecasting To Make USD 6,696.59 Million With Top Players Across Globe Like KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS, Medtronic, GE, Welch Allyn, A&D Medical, Contec Medical, Masimo and Many More Global Vital Signs Monitoring Market https://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-vital-signs-monitoring-devices-market https://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-vital-signs-monitoring-devices-market https://databridgemarketresearch.com/inquire-before-buying/?dbmr=global-vital-signs-monitoring-devices-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com The Global Vital Signs Monitoring Market is accounted to reach USD 6,696.59 million by 2024 from USD 4,125.00 million in 2016, at a CAGR of 6.5% in the forecast period 2017 to 2024.Get Sample PDF of This Research Report:The key market players for Global Vital Signs Monitoring Market are listed below: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V. Medtronic GE Healthcare Welch Allyn, Inc., A&D Medical, Contec Medical Systems, Masimo Corporation Mindray Medical International Limited, Nihon Kohden, Omron Healthcare, Inc., Smiths Medical, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, CAS Medical Systems, Inc., Spacelabs Healthcare, Inc., Boston Scientific, Nonin Medical, Natus Medical, Hicks Thermometers (India) Limited, Halma plc.The vital signs monitoring market is segmented into 3 types, namely blood pressure monitoring, pulse oximeter and temperature monitoring.Blood pressure monitoring devices on the basis of product type are further segmented into aneroid BP monitors, automated BP monitors, ambulatory BP monitors and BP monitor device accessories. BP monitor device accessories are further segmented into, bulb and valve, tubing connectors, AC adapters and cuffs, rechargeable batteries and others.Pulse oximeter on the basis of product type is sub segmented into tabletop/bedside pulse oximeter, fingertip pulse oximeter, handheld pulse oximeter, wrist worn pulse oximeter, pediatric pulse oximeter, and pulse oximeter device accessories. Pulse oximeter device accessories consist of adapter, finger probe; flex wrap probe, compatible sensors and othersOn the basis of portability, the global vital signs monitoring market is segmented into portable and standalone devices.On the basis of end-user, this market is segmented into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, home healthcare, clinics, diagnostic centers and others.On the basis of distribution channel, the global vital signs monitoring market is segmented into hospital pharmacy, pharmacy stores, online websites, and others.North America Industry SegmentationNorth-America Vital Signs Monitoring Market is expected to reach USD 2,880.87 million by 2024 from USD 1,786.13 million in 2016, at a CAGR of 6.4% in the forecast period 2017 to 2024.The major factors driving the growth of vital signs monitoring market are increasing elderly population, rising demand for health monitoring devices for patients for home care settings and rising incidences of hypertension.Based on geography, the North-America Vital Signs Monitoring market is segmented into geographical regions, such as, U.S., Canada, MexicoEurope Industry SegmentationThe Europe Vital Signs Monitoring Market is accounted to reach USD 1,673.90 million by 2024 from USD 1,014.75 million in 2016, at a CAGR of 6.7% in the forecast period 2017 to 2024.The major factors driving the growth of Europe vital signs monitoring market are rising elderly population.Based on geography, the Europe Vital Signs Monitoring market is segmented into geographical regions, such as, Germany, France, United kingdom, Italy, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Rest of EuropeSpeak to Research Analyst for Regional Customization or Other Query:Asia-Pacific Industry SegmentationAPAC Vital Signs Monitoring Market is expected to reach USD 1,344.87 million by 2024 from USD 759.00 million in 2016, at a CAGR of 7.7% in the forecast period 2017 to 2024.The major factors driving the growth of vital signs monitoring market are technological development, increased medical tourism and rapidly changing lifestyle.Based on geography, the APAC Vital Signs Monitoring market is segmented into geographical regions, such as, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines Rest of APACTable Of Content1. Introduction1.1. Objectives Of The Study1.2. Market Definition1.3. Overview Of Global Vital Signs Monitoring Market1.4. Currency And Pricing1.5. Limitation1.6. Markets Covered2. Market Segmentation2.1. Markets Covered2.2. Geographic Scope2.3. Years Considered For The Study2.4. Currency And Pricing2.5. Research Methodology2.6. Primary Interviews With Key Opinion Leaders2.7. Secondary Sources2.1. Assumptions3. Executive SummaryContinueWant Full Report? Enquire Here:About UsData Bridge adepts in creating satisfied clients who reckon upon our services and rely on our hard work with certitude. Get Customization and Discount on Report by emailing sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com . We are content with our glorious 99.9 % client satisfying rate.Contact UsData Bridge Market ResearchToll Free: +1-888-387-2818Mail: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com A group of US senators will visit Russia soon, Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Leonid Slutsky confirmed. According to him, State Duma members are ready to meet with American senators during their planned visit to Moscow. "We know that a group of US senators plan to visit Moscow," TASS cited Slutsky as saying The deputy recalled that meetings with both the Republicans, the Democrats, members of the House of Representatives and senators are planned on the sidelines of the summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Berlin in July. A source in parliament told Interfax that the visit will start on June 30. "They will arrive in Russia on June 30, they will spend two days in St. Petersburg. They will arrive in Moscow on July 3-4," he said. Earlier, head of Russias Federation Council International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev confirmed that a group of US senators representing the Republican Party plans to visit Russia in early July. Initially, the Washington Post reported that US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman is working to arrange a visit by a group of US Republican senators to Russia to hold consultations with Russian officials and explore the possibility of ironing out relations between the two countries. According to the report, Huntsman is one of the few members of the Trump administration who strongly support cooperation between Moscow and Washington. The US ambassador plans to organize the visit of Senators Richard Shelby (Alabama), John Neely Kennedy (Louisiana) and John Hoeven (North Dakota). The director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Yuri Rogulev, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, the visit of senators to St. Petersburg and Moscow will be an important event in the process of establishing the Russian-US dialogue. "All political contacts between Russia and the United States have been interrupted lately and economic ties have been shut down. Only regular contacts in the military sphere have remained. Which is why Ambassador Huntsman decided to fulfill his diplomatic mission and organize a visit of US politicians to Russia," he said. "In any case, it would be a breakthrough in our relations. And we must give credit to the US Ambassador if the senators really come here. Now we do not have any dialogue. The agenda of the talks is not even as important as the fact itself. I think that each side will ask a lot of questions: visits were stopped for more than 4 years, our letters to the US were not answered, our politicians and experts were not accepted, they did not come here as well, although the Russian side invited them many times. If it happens, it will be a stage of recovery political dialogue," Yuri Rogulev stressed. The director of the Institute of Political Studies Sergei Markov, noted the desire of a number of US power groups to improve relations with Russia. "There is a group of US senators which do not face early elections, who believe that the relations between Russia and the United States have worsened much more than most American people and authorities expected - which threatens to reduce US security. So they are thinking about ways to improve Russian-US relations," he said in the first place. "Senators want to visit Russia in order to understand the motivation system of Russia. It is worth mentioning that the Russian side also wants to improve relations with the US. In addition, the visit of the senators can be related to the preparation of the Putin-Trump meeting: the congressmen are becoming an important resource for the president. If they are allowed to hold at least a short meeting with Vladimir Putin, it will sharply raise their ratings in the US," Sergei Markov underlined. "The US embassy feels that it has to do something to improve relations with Russia, because if the process develops just the same, it can reach a point where the embassy will simply be closed. Jon Huntsman does not want to leave Russia as failed diplomat. If he succeeds in improving Russian-US relations, he will be considered a great diplomat. In general, this visit will be part of the diplomatic work necessary for the real increase in the level of ties between our countries," the political scientist concluded. Liquid Crystal Epoxy Resin Market Key Players Classification, Positioning, Market Size 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/liquid-crystal-epoxy-resin-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=37559 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global market for epoxy resins banks on the multifarious applications of epoxy resins across several industrial, commercial, and residential uses. The epoxy resins having low molecular composition are pre-polymers and the ones with high molecular weight are polymers.Read Report Overview @These resins can be categorized into two grades namely, liquid grades and solid grades. The liquid crystal epoxy resins are synthesized from amines, hydrates or low molecular weight epoxy monomers. The polymers exhibit several vital characteristics including thermal and mechanical properties. They also possess the properties of thermostat materials and liquid crystals. The aforementioned factors make crystal epoxy resins immensely useful for a number of applications in several industries.The global market for crystal epoxy resins can be segmented based on application, region, and the type of monometer. The sub-segments within these categories play an important role in deciding the overall performance of the market. This is because the wide range of applications of these resins makes the scope of the market extremely expansive.Transparency Market Research (TMR) has elucidated several factors that contribute to the progress of the market. The researchers of the report analyzed primary, secondary, and tertiary data in order to get an insight into the microscopic aspects of the market. Further, an employable methodology was used to understand the trends and opportunities that are expected to surface in the market. To quantify the growth of the market, the report gives figures with regards to the market value in terms of revenue, market share, growth rate, and regional market share.The market for epoxy resins is driven by a variety of factors most of which revolve around the vital qualities of these reins. The traditional epoxy resins lack chemical, mechanical, and thermal properties and hence, the epoxy resins spur in popularity due to the presence of these properties. Moreover, the mechanical strength of these resins also makes them popular across several industrial longitudes. Other important properties that propel demand within the market include fracture toughness, easy processing, and low shrinkage.The aforementioned qualities are not useful for high impact strength applications, which could hamper the growth of the market to a certain extent. However, the applications of these resins are expected to keep soaring the demand within the market. Furthermore, the automobile sector is gradually witnessing a greater application of these resins which provides tremendous opportunities to market players.The global market for epoxy resins can be segmented into Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. The market in Asia Pacific is expected to hold lucrative business opportunities on account of the solid base for manufacturing of epoxy resins in China. Even India, Taiwan, and Japan are expected to make substantial contributions to the growth of the market in the coming years. The market in Europe and North America is usually more affluent during summers when there is high demand, and stays on the low side during winters. The Middle East and Africa and Latin America are expected to witness feeble growth.Request to view Sample Report:The established players in the market are Henkel AG & Co., Huntsman International LLC, Toray Industries Inc., and DIC Corporation. These players are expected to form strategic alliances with regional or local players in order to gain a larger market share, Moreover, core research and development is expected to be the watchword of firms wanting to sustain in the market.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) Film Market to Witness Exponential Growth by 2024 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/polymer-dispersed-liquid-crystal-film-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=37625 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film contains micrometer-sized droplets of liquid crystal dispersed in a polymeric matrix, and are potentially useful for electro-optic and solar applications, as they can be switched electrically from light-scattering state to a transparent state. PDLC films are also known as smart materials and are widely employed in portable computers, ultra-fast phase modulators, calculators, switchable glass, digital clocks, cell phones, gas pumps, large area shutters for architectural windows, watches, etc. PDLC films possess excellent electro-optical properties and are capable of scattering high and different amounts of an impinging light beam intensity on the event of application of external electric field.Read Report Overview @The polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film market can be segregated based on processing technique, product, and technology type. Based on processing technique, the market can be further split into encapsulation and phase separation. Encapsulation is the conventional technique for processing PDLC films, and it is manufactured by mixing and heating liquid crystal and polymer with water. This processing technique produces droplets of various sizes. Phase separation, in recent years, has expanded its market share in the polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) market, as more homogeneous and desired configuration of the film can be obtained through this technique. The phase separation segment can be further sub-segmented into polymerization-induced phase separation (PIPS), thermally-induced phase separation (TIPS), and solvent-induced phase separation (SIPS). Based on product, the market can be segmented into laminated PDLC and self-adhesive PDLC film. Laminated PDLC film is manufactured by encapsulation process and is widely utilized for new construction as well as renovation projects. Laminated PDLC film possess interlayer adhesive and contains coatings of indium tin oxide, while the self-adhesive film is employed for retrofit applications and can be easily applied to the respective surface.Demand for self-adhesive films is expected to rise significantly during the forecast period, as they are capable of changing their transparency in response to an electrical impulse. Self-adhesive films are commercially available in the form of a roll and can be applied to existing windows as per desired size. In terms of technology type, the market can be classified into scattering PDLCs, nano-PDLCs, and polymer network liquid crystals. Scattering PDLC is the most common type of PDLC technology where concentration of polymer within the liquid crystal is roughly within 30% to 50%, while in nano-PDLC, the concentration is approximately to 60% to 80%, and in polymer network liquid crystals the concentration is 1% to 10%.Rising demand for smart materials, typically in the building & construction industry, is driving the PDLC market. Additionally, key features of these films such as low absorption, high speed binary operations, high extinction ratio, and high thermal performance are also propelling the demand for PDLC films. These films keep the insides of the house cool in summer, and according to the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), PDLC film application in building smart glass is likely to save up to 8% of a building's total energy consumption. PDLC films are expensive as compared to their counterparts, and they are likely to start degrading after five to six years of deployment and hence, also require heavy maintenance. This is anticipated to restrain the PDLC film market. However, continuous research activities to increase the durability of the film are expected to provide lucrative opportunities to manufacturers during the forecast period.Geographically the market is segmented into five regions such as North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. In terms of consumption, Asia Pacific is the leading region due to significant expansion of the automotive industry and robust foreign direct investment in various sectors such as consumer electronics and the building &construction industry of the region. North America follows Asia Pacific, in terms of consumption of PDLC films, due to their increasing applications in marine, power generation, and aviation industries. The PDLC film market in Europe is also expanding at a moderate pace due to the rising prominence of green energy initiatives, such as eco-friendly & green buildings in the region. Middle East & Africa and Latin America are witnessing growth at a sluggish pace, as compared to mature regions, due to low product awareness.Request to view Sample Report:Key players operating in the PDLC film market include Qingdao QY Liquid Crystal Co., Ltd., Polytronix, Inc., DMDisplay CO. LTD, and IRISFILM Corp.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Phenoxyethanol Preservatives Market to Witness Comprehensive Growth by 2020 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=4450 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4450 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global phenoxyethanol preservatives market features a moderate degree of fragmentation wherein top four players held nearly 50% of the market in 2013. The remaining 50% market share is distributed among various small-sized players that mainly operate in regional markets.Request to view sample of this report at:Prominent companies to name in the global phenoxyethanol preservatives market are BASF SE, Galaxy Surfactants Ltd., Symrise, Clariant Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company, Jiangsu Jiafeng Chemical Co. Ltd., Jinan Haohua Industry Co. Ltd., and Haihang Industry Co. Ltd.According to a market intelligence study by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global phenoxyethanol preservatives market stood at a valuation of US$95.8 mn in 2013 and is expected to rise at a steady 5.9% CAGR over the forecast period between 2014 and 2020. At this pace, the markets valuation is likely to be worth US$143.2 mn by the end of 2020. Of the two product types, phenoxyethanol P5 is the leading one in the phenoxyethanol preservatives market. Going ahead, the phenoxyethanol P5 segment is anticipated to rise at a significant pace due to lower free phenol content. Vis-a-vis volume, pharmaceuticals is anticipated to display rapid growth over other application segments in the phenoxyethanol preservatives market. Phenoxyethanol preservatives are widely used in pharmaceutical vaccines such as tetanus, diphtheria, polio, hepatitis B, pertussis, and Haemophilus influenza. However, home and personal care holds the leading share in the phenoxyethanol preservatives market.Request to view PDF Brochure of this report at:On the basis of geography, Asia Pacific stood as the leading consumer of phenoxyethanol preservatives in 2013. Vis-a-vis volume, the region held more than 40% of the overall market in 2013. The growth of this region is spurred by extensive demand for phenoxyethanol preservatives in China.Widespread Use in Cosmetics Fuels GrowthThe global phenoxyethanol preservatives market is rising at a substantial pace mainly because of healthy demand for phenoxyethanol preservatives from manufacturers of cosmetic products along with rising adoption of phenoxyethanol-based blends. Phenoxyethanol preservatives find extensive use in personal care products up to a maximum concentration of 5% w/w. Phenoxyethanol preservatives find extensive application in home and personal care products due to their antibacterial properties.At present, spending on discretionary products such as color cosmetics and eye make-up is on the rise owing to rising per capita income and large number of sales channels for these products. With the growing demand for cosmetics at a rapid pace, the phenoxyethanol preservatives market is anticipated to receive a fillip through 2020, adds the report.Availability of Cost-effective Substitutes Crimps GrowthOn the flip side, shift in preference for plant-based and organic cosmetic products over synthetic ones is likely to slow the growth of phenoxyethanol preservatives market in the forthcoming years. In addition, availability of a large number of substitute products such as iodopropynyl butylcarbamate, parabens, isothiazoline, and formaldehyde & formaldehyde-donor which are cost-effective is hampering the markets growth. Nevertheless, demand for phenoxyethanol preservatives for wipes and tissues is anticipated to provide ample opportunities to the phenoxyethanol preservatives market.The review presented here is based on the findings of a TMR report, titled Phenoxyethanol Preservatives Market (Products Phenoxyethanol P5 and Phenoxyethanol P25; and Applications Home and Personal Care (Cosmetics, Perfumes, Detergents, and Ointments), Pharmaceuticals, Dyes and Inks, Metalworking Fluids, Chemical Intermediates, and Jet Fuel Additives) Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 2020.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Maritime Anti - Piracy Systems Global Market 2018: Key Players BAE Systems, A.ST.I.M, ST Electronics, Sentient Vision system, SAFRAN Group https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2361643-maritime-anti-piracy-systems-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2361643-maritime-anti-piracy-systems-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2361643 https://www.wiseguyreports.com Maritime Anti - Piracy Systems IndustryDescriptionWiseguyreports.Com Adds Maritime Anti - Piracy Systems -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2023 To Its Research DatabaseGlobal Maritime Anti-Piracy Systems market is expected to grow from $XX million in 2016 to reach $XX million by 2023 with a CAGR of XX%. Some of the key factors influencing the market growth include increasing installation of scanjet anti-piracy solutions, need to build up maritime security and emergence of smart anti-piracy system. However, challenges associated with carrying firearms on ships are hindering the market growth.The lethal anti- piracy segment amongst products had a steady growth during the forecast period. Lethal anti- piracy segment includes guns & rifles and are used in cases where the crew has the need to defend themselves from a potentially lethal attack from pirates. With piracy acts reappearing in the recent years, defense agencies across the globe will focus on procuring more weapons. This will contribute to the growth of this market segment during the forecast period. Europe, Middle East and Africa will be the key revenue contributors to the market. Countries in the European Union (EU) have extended their support for anti-piracy missions through multiple programs.The naval forces mainly operate in the Southern Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, and the Somali Coastal territory. In addition, the Nigerian government has been making efforts to reinforce the maritime sector for economic growth. Nigeria is looking to implement an anti-piracy law that will decrease the actions of pirates and other maritime offenders in the country.Some of the key players in global Maritime Anti-Piracy Systems market include BAE Systems, A.ST.I.M, ST Electronics, Sentient Vision system, SAFRAN Group, Monitor Systems, LRAD, Guardian Maritime and CONTROP Precision Technologies.Request for Sample Report @Products Covered: Non-lethal Anti-Piracy Weapons Lethal Anti- PiracyRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo UKo Italyo Franceo Spaino Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando South Koreao Rest of Asia Pacific South Americao Argentinao Brazilo Chileo Rest of South America Middle East & Africao Saudi Arabiao UAEo Qataro South Africao Rest of Middle East & AfricaLeave a Query @What our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsTable of Content1 Executive Summary2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities3.5 Threats3.6 Product Analysis3.7 Emerging Markets3.8 Futuristic Market Scenario.....7 Key Developments7.1 Agreements, Partnerships, Collaborations and Joint Ventures7.2 Acquisitions & Mergers7.3 New Product Launch7.4 Expansions7.5 Other Key Strategies8 Company Profiling8.1 BAE Systems8.2 A.ST.I.M8.3 ST Electronics8.4 Sentient Vision system8.5 SAFRAN Group8.6 Monitor Systems8.7 LRAD8.8 Guardian Maritime8.9 CONTROP Precision TechnologiesBuy Now @Continued...Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (Us) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (Uk)841 198 5042About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdPune 411028Maharashtra, GlobalPh: +91 841 198 5042 Out-patient Pharmacy Automation in the US 2018 Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.17% and Forecast to 2022 Out-patient Pharmacy Automation in the US Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3236282-out-patient-pharmacy-automation-market-in-the-us-2018-2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3236282-out-patient-pharmacy-automation-market-in-the-us-2018-2022 WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On Out-patient Pharmacy Automation in the US 2018 Global Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.17% and Forecast to 2022.The analysts forecast the out-patient pharmacy automation market in the US to grow at a CAGR of 4.17% during the period 2018-2022.Out-patient pharmacy automation systems are a series of automated computer-controlled workflow processes, that minimize errors during pharmacy processes such as packaging and dispensing. This technology is provided to patients that attend a clinic/hospital for treatment without being admitted to the facility, to ensure patient safety.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comCovered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the out-patient pharmacy automation market in the US. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of automated medicated dispensing systems, automated packaging and labelling systems, table-top counters, automated compounding systems, and automated storage and retrieval systems.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: Americas APAC EMEAThe report, out-patient pharmacy automation market in the US 2018-2022, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors Baxter BD Capsa Healthcare Cerner Koninklijke Philips OMNICELLMarket driver Rising medication errors For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge Inability of small-scale and medium-scale hospital and clinic to fully adopt automated solutions For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Increasing adoption of automation in healthcare For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2022 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Complete Report Details @Table Of Contents Major Key PointsPART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORTPART 03: RESEARCH METHODOLOGYPART 04: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market ecosystem Market characteristics Market segmentation analysisPART 05: MARKET SIZING Market definition Market sizing 2017 Market size and forecast 2017-2022PART 06: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market conditionPART 07: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY APPLICATION Segmentation by application Comparison by application Automatic pill dispensing systems Packaging and labeling systems Others Market opportunity by applicationPART 08: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPEPART 09: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY END-USER Segmentation by end-user Comparison by end-user Hospitals Clinics Market opportunity by end-userPART 10: DECISION FRAMEWORKPART 11: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers Market challengesPART 12: MARKET TRENDS Increasing adoption of automation in healthcare Product innovation in pharmacy automationPART 13: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Overview Landscape disruptionPART 14: VENDOR ANALYSIS Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors Baxter BD Capsa Healthcare Cerner Koninklijke Philips OMNICELLContinuedFor more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Market: Moving Towards a Brighter Future QyResearchReports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1828819&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-corrosion-protective-coatings-and-acid-proof-lining-sales-market-report-2018.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining to its huge collection of research reports.The international market for Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining has been researched on with every detail in the publication with increased emphasis on various significant factors such as growth drivers, restraints and market opportunities. Each of the elements that pertain to the shaping of the market dynamics that has been analyzed and studied in detail by the research analysts, so as to offer the best and most evaluative and exhaustive study to the report buyers. The snapshot or the executive summary that has been provided in the market intelligence study has been designed in such a way so as to give a quick overview of the market for receiving information on the go. This could help readers with hands-on data needed to make quick decisions anytime during their growth journey in the market.This report studies the global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining market status and forecast, categorizes the global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America).For more info, get sample report for FREE here:Corrosion protective coatings and acid proof linings are used to protect surfaces against corrosion due to chemical or electrochemical reactions. Corrosion protective coatings are widely used in various end-user industries, such as marine, oil & gas, power generation, transportation vehicles, chemicals, mining & metallurgy, and water treatment.Polymer coatings segment is projected to expand at a CAGR of 4.9% over the forecast period. Epoxy and polyurethane are expected to be the most preferred polymer coatings, primarily because of their multi-functionality, technical superiority, ease in availability and application.The major players covered in this reportCapeHertelStonCorKaeferREMA TIP TOPKCCStonCorAnticorrosionAl GurgInecoThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining sales, value, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);To analyze the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, to study the sales, value and market share of top players in these regions.Focuses on the key Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining players, to study the sales, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market.Read Complete Table of Content of the Report at:Table of ContentsGlobal Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales Market Report 20181 Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining1.2 Classification of Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining by Product Category1.2.1 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Ceramic & Carbon Brick Lining1.2.4 Tile lining1.2.5 Thermoplastic lining1.3 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.1 Marine Industry1.3.2 Oil & Gas Industry1.3.3 Chemicals Industry1.3.4 Mining & Metallurgy Industry1.3.5 Water Treatment2 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.2 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.3.2 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Revenue and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.4 Global Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining (Volume) by Application3 United States Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales and Value (2013-2018)3.1.1 United States Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.2 United States Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.3 United States Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)3.2 United States Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)3.3 United States Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)3.4 United States Corrosion Protective Coatings & Acid Proof Lining Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)...About Us: QYResearchReports delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Hydrate Inhibitors Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2018-2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/555 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/hydrate-inhibitors-market-555 Hydrate Inhibitors are used to prevent or reduce gas hydrate formation. Gas Hydrates are formed in offshore production systems under low temperature and high pressure conditions. The hydrates block the pipelines, drill strings, BOPs, by forming plugs and cause flow assurance issues. Hydrate inhibitors are used where mechanical methods such as insulated flow line and active heating are not feasible options.Request For Sample Copy of this Research Report :Subsea equipment such as pipelines, risers, Christmas trees, jumpers and manifolds are exposed to low temperatures at the seabed. For example, North Sea seabed temperatures are 32-40OF which are ideal for hydrate formation. Remediation measures such as pigging, depressurization of pipelines, jetting, solvent addition, heating are expensive and leads to increase in non-productive time. Hence, technical and economic advantages over other inhibition methods have resulted in a booming hydrate inhibitor market.Thermodynamic inhibitors on addition shift the thermodynamic equilibrium and disrupting hydrate formation. Methanol and MEG are most commonly used. MEG can be regenerated and is more cost effective. Methanol though cheaper on volume basis cannot be regenerated and is not environment friendly as well.Low Dosage Hydrate Inhibitors are used when large concentrations of thermodynamic inhibitors are required, making their use uneconomical. They do not disturb thermodynamic equilibrium, instead affect the hydrate growth. Anti-Agglomeration Agents prevent the agglomeration of hydrate crystals by disrupting hydrate growth process and transportable slurry is formed. These inhibitors are typically used below a 50% water cut level. Kinetic Inhibitors prevent nucleation, so the produced fluid is transported further to downstream before hydrate formation.Hydrate Inhibitors Market OutlookNorth America is the largest market for hydrate inhibitors. This is primarily due to extreme high pressures and 40OF temperature in the Gulf of Mexico which is a large oil producing zone. Wells in Alaska also require the use of hydrate inhibitors. Kaikias deep-water in the Gulf of Mexico is currently in Appraisal Phase and will be commissioned by 2020.Middle East and Africa is also showing a significant growth in hydrate inhibitors market due to the substantial number of hydrate threatened wells. Saudi Arabia controls the worlds largest offshore oil field and Qatar is the largest producer of LNG in the world. The largest gas field in the world is also present in this region.Europe is the next largest market with conditions conducive to hydrate formation present in oil fields of North Sea and Russia. With increased exploration and drilling in the Arctic where sub-zero temperatures are the norm, hydrate inhibition shows vital performance which will drive the hydrate inhibitors market.Asia Pacific market is expected to augment market growth in the near future, as exploration in the offshore regions of Bay of Bengal, South China Sea and Indian Ocean gains momentum. The emerging countries of this region such as India, China, Indonesia are highly dependent on oil imports from Middle East, ramped up exploration activity is due to a need to become energy independent. In June 2017, Reliance and BP sanctioned further development in KG Basin with an investment of US$ 6 billion.Latin America is projected to witness an increase in hydrate inhibitor market as oil production moves to deep and ultra-deep-water zones due to depletion of onshore reserves. Exploiting the reserves of Santos basin off the coast of Brazil will require hydrate inhibition due to low temperatures on the Atlantic seabed. This will boost hydrate inhibitors market in the region. Chile and Argentina are expected to follow suit in exploiting offshore reserves.The environmental concerns regarding methanol, which is a toxic chemical, have led to development of newer hydrate inhibition methods such as Low Dosage Hydrate Inhibitors and use of MEG instead of Methanol. This switch has had environmental, technical and economic perks. Major players in the hydrate inhibitor market are Ashland, Halliburton, NALCO (ECOLAB COMPANY), Woodview Technology, BASF, NEFTECHIM Technologies, JSC Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat, Clariant Chemicals, GasHydrate LLC, Evonik, Ecolab, ClariantOilServices, Yara International, Stella Mar, LEWAFor More Information:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Major Insights on Global Linear Alpha Olefin Market 2017 - 2025 Analysis Including Key Players- Royal Dutch Shell plc, Sasol Limited https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1409400 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=1409400 https://www.researchmoz.us/linear-alpha-olefin-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketreserch1.blogspot.com Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Linear Alpha Olefin Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Linear alpha olefin are alkenes that have a terminal double bond between the first and second carbon atom. The double bond between the first and the second carbon atom makes these olefins useful in a large number of applications. Linear alpha olefins are used to manufacture products such as polymers (LLDPE and HPDE), synthetic lubricants, synthetic acids, oilfield chemicals, detergent intermediates, and additives. Traditionally, linear alpha olefins have been manufactured by oligomerization of ethylene and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Of late, companies such as Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, Sasol Limited, and The Dow Chemical Company have developed new processes for manufacturing linear alpha olefin.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key factors driving the linear alpha olefin market include increasing demand for poly alpha olefins in the automotive industry and rising demand for polyethylene in the packaging industry. Demand for linear alpha olefin is expected to increase due to the growth in the demand for LLDPE in packaging and construction industries. This is prompting companies to increase the production of linear alpha olefin. Additionally, easy availability of raw materials is anticipated to boost the demand for linear alpha olefin in the near future.The global linear alpha olefin market is witnessing technological advancements. Companies are constantly striving to develop new and better linear alpha olefin. Development of new manufacturing process of linear alpha olefin and applications is estimated to propel the linear alpha olefin market. However, implementation of stringent environmental regulations and volatility in prices of raw materials are projected to adversely affect market growth.Based on type, the linear alpha olefin market can be classified into 1-Butene, 1-Hexene, 1-Octene, 1-Decene, 1-Dodecene, 1-Tetradecene, 1-Hexadecene, and others. 1-Hexene is the most commonly used type of linear alpha olefin. It is used as co-monomer due to its excellent chemical properties.Make An Enquiry @Linear alpha olefin is employed in a wide range of applications due to their chemical properties. Based on application, the market can be segmented into detergent alcohol, synthetic lubricant, low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), and others. The low-density polyethylene (LDPE) segment accounted for significant share of the linear alpha olefin in 2016 owing to the high demand for these linear alpha olefins in the global plastics industry.In terms of geography, the linear alpha olefin market can be divided into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Middle East & Africa. North America is anticipated to constitute key share of the market during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is estimated to be a rapidly growing region of the linear alpha olefin market, owing to the increase in demand in the automotive industry in the region. Middle East & Africa is also likely to be an attractive region of the linear alpha olefin market during the forecast period due to the rise in demand in the packaging industry in the region.Prominent players operating in the global linear alpha olefin market include Royal Dutch Shell plc, Sasol Limited, Qatar Chemical Company Ltd (Q-Chem), Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, and The Dow Chemical Company.Browse Report @The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at: Home Theater Audio Systems Market to Surpass Revenues Worth US$ 15,000 Mn by 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/16801 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/16801 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Multi-room audio systems, which enable to play songs through mobile application, are expected to pave huge opportunities for home theatre audio systems manufacturers. Integration of home audio systems with wearable devices have compelled manufacturers in developing smart and networked speakers. Global sales of home theatre audio systems will account for revenues worth US$ 9,954 Mn in 2017, according to a report by Persistence Market Research (PMR). PMRs report projects the global home theatre audio systems market to register 5% CAGR through 2025. Global sales of home theatre audio systems are estimated to reach nearly US$ 15,000 Mn in revenues by 2025-end.To Get Sample Copy of Report Visit at:Key Takeaways from Findings of PMRs Report on Global Home Theatre Audio Systems MarketLow-range home theatre audio systems will remain sought after, based on price range. Sales of premium home theatre audio systems will register fastest growth in the market. In addition, revenues from sales of mid-range home theatre audio systems will remain comparatively higher than that of premium home theatre audio systems.Un-organized retail stores will remain the most lucrative sales channel for home theatre audio systems, expanding at the highest CAGR through 2025. Sales of home theatre audio systems in organized sales channel will account for revenues worth US$ 5,909.2 Mn by 2025-end.By technology, Bluetooth home theatre audio systems will remain dominant in the market, followed by Wi-Fi. In addition, sales of Wi-Fi and NFC home theatre audio systems are estimated to exhibit parallel expansion at 4.8% CAGR through 2025.More than 40 Mn units of 9.1 channel & above home theatre audio systems are expected to be sold by 2025-end, based on channel type. In terms of volume, sales of 6.1 channel home theatre audio systems will comparatively lower than other channel type segments in the market.North America will continue to be dominant in the global home theatre audio systems market, with sales poised to reach US$ 4,748.8 Mn by 2025-end. Asia-Pacific (APAC) will remain the second largest market for home theatre audio systems, closely followed by Europe. However, sales in Europe will exhibit a comparatively higher CAGR than APAC through 2025.Increasing Adoption of Wireless Home Theatre Audio Systems to Drive Market Growth in North AmericaIncreasing adoption of wireless home theatre audio systems equipped with features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is expected to drive growth of the market in North America. Audio industry in the region has been witnessing a rise in technological advancements, transforming the fashion in which music is played and appreciated. This is further expected to fuel demand for home theatre audio systems in North America. However, increasing risk of subsequent hearing loss, resulting from prolonged exposure to music with noise levels over 85 decibels, is likely to inhibit growth of the market in this region.Increasing Government Support for In-house Manufacturing to Influence Growth of the Market in APACGovernments in Asia Pacific countries are providing necessary support for in-house manufacturing through various schemes, for example Make in India scheme by the Indian government. This has further led towards reduction in manufacturing costs, thereby prices of products. The home theatre audio systems market in APAC is expected to be highly influenced by such initiatives of governments. In addition, increasing population, especially in India and China, is further expected to impact adoption of home theatre audio systems in these regions.However, confined living spaces in APAC countries, owing to ever-growing population, has resulted into disturbance to neighbors caused by high frequency of home theatre audio systems, particularly in urban areas. This has led people living in urban areas to adopt personal hearing devices such as earphones, or, Bluetooth speakers. These factors are expected to restrain growth of the home theatre audio systems market in APAC.Access Report with Table of Contents @Key market players identified in PMRs report include Bose Corporation, Harman International Industries, Yamaha Corporation, Sony Corporation, Intex Technologies (India) Ltd, LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics, Pioneer Corporation, VOXX International Corp, Sound United LLC, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Bowers & Wilkins, Pioneer Corporation, Bang & Olufsen, Braven LC, Sonos.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Major Insights on Global Lithium Market 2017 - 2025 Analysis Including Key Players- Albemarle Corporation, SQM, FMC,and Sichuan Tianqi Lithium Industries https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1409401 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=1409401 https://www.researchmoz.us/lithium-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketreserch1.blogspot.com Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Lithium Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Lithium is the lightest element in the periodic table and reacts immediately when exposed to air and water. Lithium exhibits properties such as high coefficient of thermal expansion, viscosity, and electrochemical potential. Lithium has a wide range of applications in various end-user industries such as industrial, consumer electronics, electric vehicles, energy storage, and medical. Lithium does not occur in its elemental form due to its high reactivity. Products made of lithium are resistant to thermal shock and have high mechanical strength. Lithium is commonly found in continental brines, hard rock minerals, and clay.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The global lithium market is driven by the demand for lithium-ion batteries in grid connected storage. Lithium-ion batteries can store a significant amount of power, and the stored power can be supplied to the grid when it is required. Another major driver for the global lithium market is the low emission of carbon. Usage of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles helps reduce global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the vehicles. Devices such as laptops, calculators, cameras, mobile phones, activity monitors, etc., require enhanced performance of the batteries, and batteries based on lithium can perform better in this regard. Military applications are witnessing a rise in demand for lithium batteries. However, the high cost of batteries based on lithium are acting as a hindrance to the expansion of global lithium market.Based on the type, the global lithium market can be classified into metal, compounds, and alloys. Compounds include carbonate, chloride, and hydroxide. Based on end-user application, the global lithium market can be segregated into batteries, glass and glass ceramics, automotive parts, greases, metallurgy, polymers, air treatment, aluminum smelting, and alloys. Lithium is utilized for the production of glass ceramics, as lithium can provide additional durability. Lithium can lower firing temperatures and thermal expansion and increases the strength of ceramic bodies, including heat-proof ceramic cookware. Lithium-ion batteries are employed in the electric cars and hybrid cars.Make An Enquiry @The global lithium market expanded at a robust pace in 2016. This trend is expected to continue during the forecast period. In terms of geography, the global lithium market can be segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. Asia Pacific is considered as a prominent market for lithium compounds. Rising demand for new energy storage applications in vehicles, grid connected energy storage, and the increasing demand for personal devices are propelling the expansion of lithium market in the region. North America, is another key market for lithium due to the existence of a strong market for rechargeable batteries in the region.A strong military sector, which demands the application of rechargeable batteries, is anticipated to propel the expansion of the lithium market in the region. Expanding semiconductor industry in Europe is driving the lithium market in the region. In Europe, most large car manufacturers are launching models that integrate the lithium-ion battery technology. Latin America presents lucrative growth opportunities for the lithium market, due to the presence of a large number of mineral reserves in the region. In Middle East & Africa, the lithium market is in the nascent stage, and is expected to have significant growth opportunities due to the strong demand for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices in the region.Browse Report @Moderate degree of competition exists in the lithium market. Albemarle Corporation, SQM, FMC, and Sichuan Tianqi Lithium Industries are major manufacturers operating in the global lithium marketThe report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at: US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced the United States is quitting the UN Human Rights Council. She stressed that this move does not mean "a retreat from human rights commitments." "As we said we would do a year ago, If we did not see any progress, the United States is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council," she said. "For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded. Human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the council," Haley said. "The worlds most inhumane regimes continue to escape scrutiny, and the council continues politicizing and scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in their ranks," she continued. The US diplomat described the UN HRC as "a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights." "Even as we end our membership in the Human Rights Council, we will keep trying to strengthen the entire framework of the UN engagement in human rights issues. And we will continue to strongly advocate a reform of the UN Human Rights Council. Should it become reformed, we would be happy to rejoin it," the US diplomat added. The US diplomat also accused a number of nations of impeding the UN Human Rights Council reform. "When we made it clear we would strongly pursue council reform, these countries came out of the woodwork to oppose it. Russia, China, Cuba, and Egypt all attempted to undermine our reform efforts this past year," TASS cited her as saying.. Among other reasons for the US withdrawal, Haley named "chronic bias against Israel," its key ally. US Secretary of Stake Michael Pompeo, who was also present during the announcement, described the HRC activities as "an exercise in shameless hypocrisy. Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market | Key Vendors Profile | Tremendous Growth | Top Regional Analysis and Forecasts Till 2023 By Market Research Future Glaucoma Treatment Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2962 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/2962 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/2962 Market research future published a half-cooked research report on Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market. The Asia Pacific Glaucoma Treatment market is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~ 7.5 % during the period 2017 to 2023.Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market Highlights:Glaucoma is the buildup of pressure due to accumulation of eye fluids which may result in permanent blindness due to damage to the eye nerve endings. In fact glaucoma is the second most reason after cataracts causing permanent blindness. Open angle glaucoma (OAG) is the most common type of glaucoma followed by closed angle glaucoma (CAG) and these two account for greater than 50% of glaucoma cases. Other types of glaucoma are pigmentary glaucoma, pseudoexfoliation glaucoma and normal-tension glaucoma.Get Exclusive Sample Report @Taking all factors into consideration, we expect the Asia Pacific glaucoma treatment market to reach around $ 888.94 million in 2023 from $576.0 million in 2017, by the end of the forecast period at a CAGR of ~ 7.5 %. While the glaucoma drug market will grow by a flat CAGR of 2.1% the glaucoma surgery market is poised for an explosive CAGR of 18.5 %.Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market Scenario:Glaucoma is a disease characterized by fluid builds up in the front part of your eye which results in damages to the eyes optic nerve which may lead to blindness if left untreated. Open angle glaucoma (OAG) is the most common type of glaucoma followed by closed angle glaucoma (CAG) and these two account for greater than 50% of glaucoma cases.The market constraints are excellent efficacy and efficiency of present drugs especially prostaglandin analogs and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, which has set the bar for a new therapy extremely high and the loss of patent protection on the major drugs used to treat glaucoma.Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market Regional Analysis:The healthcare sector of Asia Pacific varies immensely by countries. However the Asia Pacific region has lower public sector expenditure and most treatments involve out of pocket expenditure. Further the eye care has been a neglected segment especially in the poor countries of Asia Pacific region. Japan and South Korea are the leading markets while China will be the fastest growing due to rising healthcare expenditure and faster economic growth.Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market has been segmented on the basis of disease indication which comprises Closed Angle Glaucoma (CAG), open angle glaucoma (OAG), secondary glaucoma, congenital glaucoma and other. On the basis of drug class; market is segmented into prostaglandin analogs (PGAS), alpha agonist, beta blockers, cholinergic drugs, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, and others.Get Discount @Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market Intended Audience:Glaucoma Diagnostics Manufacturers and SuppliersGlaucoma Drugs Manufacturers and SuppliersPrivate Research LaboratoriesResearch and Development (R&D) CompaniesMarket Research and Consulting Service ProvidersGovernment Research LaboratoriesContract Manufacturing OrganizationsKey Players for Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market:Some of the key players in this market are: Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., Allergan, Merck & Co., Ocular Therapeutix Inc, pSivida Corp, Icon Bioscience Inc, Amorphex Therapeutics LLC., Ellex, Quantel, Lumenis, and Lightmed among others.Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market Segments:Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market has been segmented on the basis of disease indication which comprises Closed Angle Glaucoma (CAG), open angle glaucoma (OAG), secondary glaucoma, congenital glaucoma and other. On the basis of drug class; market is segmented into prostaglandin analogs (PGAS), alpha agonist, beta blockers, cholinergic drugs, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, and others. On the basis of surgery; market is segmented into laser iridotomy, laser trabeculoplasty, aqueous shunt surgery and peripheral iridectomy. On the basis of end users; market is segmented into hospitals and home users.Major TOC For Asia-Pacific Glaucoma Treatment Market Research Report - Forecast to 2023:Table Of Contents1 Introduction1.1 Definition1.2 Scope Of Study1.3 Research Objective1.4 Assumptions & Limitations1.5 Market Structure:2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Process2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research3 Market Dynamics3.1 Drivers3.2 Restraints3.3 Opportunities3.4 Challenges3.5 Macroeconomic Indicators4 Market Factor Analysis4.1 Porters Five Forces Model4.1.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers4.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Customer4.1.3 Intensity Of Competitors4.1.4 Threat Of New EntrantsTOC Continue.!Ask Questions to Expertise @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@Marketresearchfuture.com Global Machine Safety Market Automotive Segment is Estimated to be valued at more than US$ 600 Mn by 2027 Market Research Reports Search Engine https://www.mrrse.com/sample/4511 https://www.mrrse.com/machine-safety-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/4511 https://www.mrrse.com/ An insightful study, titled Machine Safety Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012 2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017 2027) has been freshly broadcasted to the vast research repository of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE). This 356 page research study provides detailed comprehensions and forecasts future growth of the global market with an in-depth study of the factors impacting revenue growth throughout the mentioned forecast period. Further, a deep analysis on the major players from diverse regions is also present in the report.View Sample Report @Increasing accidents at workplaces are turning out to be the major threats for the industrial reputation of companies. Due to fatal injuries to the employees working near machines, industries are focussing on implementing machine safety measures. With the implementation of machine safety equipment, industries are focusing on delivering security to the employees as well as maintaining the safety of the machinery. Hence, increasing accidents at workplaces in developed countries are expected to drive the growth of the machine safety market over the forecast period.Increasing government regulations on industries for delivering workplace occupational health to the workers is resulting in the increased importance and deployment of machine safety equipment at workplaces. These factors are resulting in the increasing importance of workplace occupational health for the employees, consequently these regulations are boosting the growth of the global machine safety market.Emerging economies in APEJ such as India and China are witnessing a drift towards rapid urbanisation and rising consumer disposable incomes. Owing to this, the demand for machine safety products such as emergency stop controls, pressure sensing safety sensors, and other machine safety devices have suddenly increased and thus the growth of the market is also expected to increase in various end use industries.With nearly 20% market share, automotive segment is projected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period. In terms of value, the automotive segment is projected to be the most attractive one in the global machine safety market during the forecast period. In 2017, the automotive segment is estimated to be valued at more than US$ 600 Mn, and is expected to witness steady growth in terms of revenue throughout the forecast period.Visit on the Below Link to Get a Sample of Report @Worker safety regulations in the United States are enforced through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). On the other hand, The Canada Labour Code (CLC) governs, among other items, occupational safety and health in federal works, undertakings and businesses including employment on ships, trains and aircraft while in operation, and employment in the oil and gas industry in Canada Lands. In Latin America machines, movable parts and safeguarding equipment shall be inspected regularly, maintained and repaired properly. It is mandatory in Mexico to train the employees about Health and Safety Documentation that is required in the workplace, and a description and format for the necessary preventive measures to ensure a safe work place.The regulatory standards which address safety and occupational health in Brazil, known as NRs (Normas Regulamentadoras), are mandatory for public and private companies, public institutions of direct and indirect administration, as well as government organizations having employees under the Labor Laws Consolidation. European directives are crystal clear and the fundamental principal of the European community is the protection of the health of its citizens, both in the private and in the professional sphere. In accordance with the treaty on the functioning of the European Union, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union have passed various directives with the aim of achieving free movement of goods and protecting its citizens.Any Query? Ask to Our Expert @About Market Research Reports Search EngineMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY 12207(United State)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559(toll free no)Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite: Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Coatings Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2018-25 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/572 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/original-equipment-manufacturer-oem-coatings-market-572 Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) coatings are applied on substrates for decoration and protection purposes. These coatings prevent corrosion, and wear and tear of the substrate. Twenty first century OEM coatings are 100m thick. They are designed to provide dust, moisture, and UV-resistance. The lifespan of the automobiles increase on application of OEM coats. Initially, automobile coats were metallic (lead, chromium and heavy metals), however, due to increased awareness about their toxic tendencies, the market shifted to application of water based paints.Request For Sample Copy of this Research Report :The major drivers fueling growth of this market are improved life and performance of products on application of OEM coatings and the increased automobile production in both developed and emerging markets. The major challenges faced by this market include the instability in raw material prices, and environmental concern regarding VOCs that have resulted in a declining solvent-based coating market in favor of water-based and powder coatings.The coatings applied are of two types, liquid and powder coatings. Powder coatings offer better durability and have the environmental advantage of not possessing any solvents or VOCs. Water-based coatings market is ever increasing in favor of solvent based coatings. Radiation cured coatings employ UV light instead of heat, which eliminates waste streams commonly seen in solvent coatings.The largest end user is the automobile industry, followed by furniture, and aerospace industries. In addition, metal is the most coated substrate due to automobile industrys market share.OEM Coatings Market OutlookAsia Pacific is the largest market for OEM coatings. The market is driven by strong performance of automobile and furniture industries. The rise in personal transportation and transit of consumer goods and raw materials have boosted all segments of the automotive industry. According to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), in 2016, sales of cars stood at 28.03 million and 3 million in China and India, respectively. Furniture industry growth is a result of a flourishing residential construction, which is the result of shift in the population, from rural to urban settlements.North America and Europe also presented sturdy vehicle sales, with the U.S. being the second largest cars market, after China. Furthermore, the presence of luxury car makers in these regions, has resulted in a high value coatings market, despite the low volume of coatings used. The solvent-based coatings market is in decline with powder and water-based coatings as preferred alternativesLatin American markets have witnessed a slowdown in the automobile industry. Political turmoil in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela has contributed to this slowdown. Uncertainty in Mexico regarding renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has caused panic amongst manufacturers who have access to the lucrative U.S. market. Despite this, Mexico has overtaken Brazil in recent years and continues to be a major automobile manufacturing and consumer market.The GCC countries have witnessed burgeoning growth in the construction industry, thus augmenting growth of the furniture industry. The large scale construction projects are partly state-funded and are a result of a vision to make the countries less dependent on hydrocarbons revenue. The planned privatization of Saudi Aramco is projected to bring in billions of dollars, which the government plans to invest in other sectors including construction.In June, 2017, PPG Industries Inc. opened its new paints and coatings manufacture plant in Lipetsk, Russia. The plant is projected to consolidate PPGs market position in the Asian, Middle East, and European markets. Major players in the OEM coatings market are Axalta Coating Systems, BASF SE, PPG Industries Inc., Nippon Paint, Kansai Paint, Akzo Nobel, Sherwin Williams Company, Bayer AG, KCC Paint, and Arkema SA.For More Information:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Global IT Operation Management Industry Applications, Key Developments and Forecast 2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2449287-global-it-operation-management-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2449287-global-it-operation-management-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022 This report studies the global IT Operation Management market, analyzes and researches the IT Operation Management development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeKaseyaIBMBMCCACompuwareAvocentLandeskStonesoftBOCO Inter-TelecomBeijing Teamsun Technology Co., LtdZhejiang SunwaveRequest a Sample Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, IT Operation Management can be split intoEquipment ManagementResource ManagementData ManagementBusiness ManagementOtherMarket segment by Application, IT Operation Management can be split intoTelecom IndustryGovernmentFinance IndustryOtherIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal IT Operation Management Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of IT Operation Management1.1 IT Operation Management Market Overview1.1.1 IT Operation Management Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global IT Operation Management Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 IT Operation Management Market by Type1.3.1 Equipment Management1.3.2 Resource Management1.3.3 Data Management1.3.4 Business Management1.3.5 Other1.4 IT Operation Management Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Telecom Industry1.4.2 Government1.4.3 Finance Industry1.4.4 Other2 Global IT Operation Management Competition Analysis by Players2.1 IT Operation Management Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Kaseya3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 IT Operation Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 IBM3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 IT Operation Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 BMC3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 IT Operation Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 CA3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 IT Operation Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Compuware3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 IT Operation Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Avocent3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 IT Operation Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Landesk3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 IT Operation Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Stonesoft3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 IT Operation Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 BOCO Inter-Telecom3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 IT Operation Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Beijing Teamsun Technology Co., Ltd3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 IT Operation Management Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Zhejiang Sunwave4 Global IT Operation Management Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global IT Operation Management Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global IT Operation Management Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of IT Operation Management in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of IT Operation Management5 United States IT Operation Management Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States IT Operation Management Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States IT Operation Management Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)ContinuedMake an enquiry of this Report @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India Exclusive Research Report of Global Tobacco Packaging Market Business Opportunities, Current Trends, Market Challenges 2018 - 2023 https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1830537 https://www.researchmoz.us/global-tobacco-packaging-market-2018-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023-report.html/toc https://www.researchmoz.us/global-tobacco-packaging-market-2018-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023-report.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG https://marketreserch1.blogspot.com Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Tobacco Packaging Market 2018 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.Tobacco packaging demands premium quality with flavor barrier properties, easy printing, and handling. To prevent tobacco from deterioration, aroma transmission, and bacteria by sustaining a microclimate is choice of the right quality of packaging is paramount. Tobacco flexible packaging is available in a variety of forms to cater for various packaging needs. Some examples of these forms include, shrink sleeves, stand-up pouches, and three sided seal bags. By far and away the most significant is the flip top pack. This kind of packaging protects the cigarettes from damage and is most popular in western markets.The next most significant is soft pack, which is essentially a pack of paper construction, which offers minimal to the cigarette, but is less expensive to produce. Laminate structures of compostable films are used to produce pouches widely used by the Roll Your Own (RYO) tobacco. For primary packaging laminating materials, including bi-axially oriented polypropylene (BOPP), PE, PVDC lacquer, metalized films, polyester & nylon are employed.Flexible packaginghas witnessed an increased adoption, owing to the flexibility in production, improved barrier properties, and cost effectiveness in nature.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Tobacco Packaging in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.The worldwide market for Tobacco Packaging is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly xx% over the next five years, will reach xx million US$ in 2023, from xx million US$ in 2017, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversAmcorInternational PaperITCPhillip Morris InternationalBemisBritish American TobaccoMondiNovelisPackaging Corporation of AmericaReynolds GroupSiegwerkSonocoWestRockView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversCartons MaterialFilm MaterialMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoCigarette FactoryPackaging PlantOtherBrowse Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Tobacco Packaging market.Chapter 1, to describe Tobacco Packaging Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Tobacco Packaging, with sales, revenue, and price of Tobacco Packaging, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Tobacco Packaging, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Tobacco Packaging market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Tobacco Packaging sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceTable of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Tobacco Packaging Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Cartons Material1.2.2 Film Material1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Cigarette Factory1.3.2 Packaging Plant1.3.3 Other1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Amcor2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Tobacco Packaging Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Product A2.1.2.2 Product B2.1.3 Amcor Tobacco Packaging Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 International Paper2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Tobacco Packaging Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Product AAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at: HR Mobile BI 2018 Global Market Challenge, Driver, Trends & Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/statistical-reports/enquiry/3392 The Mobile BI Market statistical report, published by Market Research Future contains succinct information on the Mobile BI market. The various factors driving the Mobile BI market has been identified as growing the need of BYOD in the organization, need of real time reporting and data analysis and growing market of Internet of Things.North America is dominating the market of HR Mobile Bi Market, By Region with market value of USD 117.9 million in the year 2016 which is expected to reach at USD 344.3 million by the end of year 2022 with 19.55% of CAGR. North America has also emerged as fastest growing market followed by Europe, Asia Pacific and Europe.North America is dominating the market HR Mobile Bi Market, By Region with market value of USD 117.9 million in the year 2016Table of Contents1. Info graphics InformationList of TablesTable 1 HR Mobile Bi Market, By Region, 2016-2022 (USD Million)Table 2 HR Mobile BI Market share (%), By Region (2016-2022)List of FiguresFigure 1 HR Mobile Bi Market, By Region, 2016-2022 (USD Million)Figure 2 HR Mobile BI Market share, By Region, 2016-2022 (%)(Get our exclusive statistical reports at $299 only, for details, cordially enquire)Enquire now:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Office No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Perimeter Security Global Market 2018: Key Players Anixter International, Axis Communications AB, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd. https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2361659-perimeter-security-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/2361659-perimeter-security-global-market-outlook-2017-2023 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=2361659 https://www.wiseguyreports.com Perimeter Security IndustryDescriptionWiseguyreports.Com Adds Perimeter Security -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2023 To Its Research DatabaseGlobal Perimeter Security market is expected to grow from $95.26 billion in 2016 to reach $224.89 billion by 2023 with a CAGR of 13.0%. Factors such as rising number of perimeter intrusions, increasing urban infrastructure across the globe, strict government rules and rising technological advancement in perimeter security are fueling the market growth. However, high investment cost & maintenance requirements, lack of technical expertise and awareness are restricting the market. In addition, development of next-generation integrated systems provides ample of opportunities for the market growth.Perimeter security as systems and technologies protect people and assets within a facility and its grounds by blocking unauthorised physical intrusions across the perimeter. Perimeter security systems use covert technology to create an unseen wall of protection around property, ready to alert to the presence of an intruder at the very earliest opportunity. In the future, perimeter security could become part of a connected technology system, which is able to profile specific locations, and match the skills and competencies of manpower required for each area.Residential, Educational, and Religious Buildings segment is anticipated to register highest CAGR attributed to the rate of theft and robbery is rising globally, security is becoming a main concern for individuals and residential complexes, such as private residential buildings. Such concerns are increasing the command for security solutions, which include biometrics-based electronic locks and sensor-based intruder alarm systems. Thus, the growing need for safety and security of people, and the personal belongings is driving the growth of this market.North America registered the largest market share during the forecast period owing to the growing security need due to rising terrorist actions and criminal activities. Furthermore, strict government rules for safety and security and technological improvements are expected to fuel the growth of the market in this region.Some of the key players in global Perimeter Security market include Anixter International, Axis Communications AB, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd., Honeywell International Inc., Senstar Corporation, Puretech Systems, Inc., Cias Elettronica, Fiber Sensys, Inc., Johnson Controls International PLC, Rbtec Perimeter Security Systems, Southwest Microwave, Inc., United Technologies Corporation, Dahua Technology Co., Ltd., Bosch Security Systems and Advanced perimeter systems ltd.Request for Sample Report @Components Covered: Systemso Video Surveillance Systemso Access Control Systemso Alarms and Notification Systemso Perimeter Intrusion Detection Systemso Other Systems Serviceso Managed Serviceso Professional ServicesEnd Users Covered: Infrastructure Military and Defense Commercial and Services Residential, Educational, and Religious Buildings Hospitality Transportation Industrial Government BFSI ManufacturingRegions Covered: North Americao USo Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo UKo Italyo Franceo Spaino Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando South Koreao Rest of Asia Pacific South Americao Argentinao Brazilo Chileo Rest of South America Middle East & Africao Saudi Arabiao UAEo Qataro South Africao Rest of Middle East & AfricaLeave a Query @What our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsTable of Content1 Executive Summary2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities3.5 Threats3.6 End User Analysis3.7 Emerging Markets....8 Key Developments8.1 Agreements, Partnerships, Collaborations and Joint Ventures8.2 Acquisitions & Mergers8.3 New Product Launch8.4 Expansions8.5 Other Key Strategies9 Company Profiling9.1 Anixter International9.2 Axis Communications AB9.3 Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd.9.4 Honeywell International Inc.9.5 Senstar Corporation9.6 Puretech Systems, Inc.9.7 Cias Elettronica9.8 Fiber Sensys, Inc.9.9 Johnson Controls International PLC9.10 Rbtec Perimeter Security Systems9.11 Southwest Microwave, Inc.9.12 United Technologies Corporation9.13 Dahua Technology Co., Ltd.9.14 Bosch Security Systems9.15 Advanced perimeter systems ltdBuy Now @Continued...Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (Us) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (Uk)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdPune 411028Maharashtra, GlobalPh: +91 841 198 5042 Global Back Massager Market Split by Product Types, with Sales, Revenue, Price, Market Share Analysis During the Forecast Year 2023 http://orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/2129168 http://orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-back-massager-market-analysis-2012-2017-and-forecast-2018-2023 http://orbisresearch.com/contacts/enquiry-before-buying/2129168 DescriptionAccording to the Global Back Massager report, the market is expected to reach the value of $XX million at the end of the forecast period of 2018 2023, showing good progress, rising at a CAGR of XX%. The Global Back Massager report covers a detailed analysis of the Back Massager including the various parameters on which the Back Massager is analyzed such as the product, applications, regions, competition, and many others. The Global Back Massager report from 99 Strategy is prepared keeping in mind the key requirements of the customer, which is to empower them with the information to take on the market.Get a Free sample of Global Back Massager Market report atEach product is analyzed in depth across all parameters which include the market size by value and volume, trends in the market for a particular product, and which is the product with the largest share in the market and which is the fastest growing product, among others.Gain Full Access of Global Back Massager Market with complete TOC atFor providing the customer with the best view of the competition to handle, the Global Back Massager report provides an in-depth view of the top players in the Back Massager.The report includes a detailed company profile of the players along with their product portfolio and recent developments in the Back Massager. The players information is a handy tool for the customers to understand which are the current trends that are being followed in the Back Massager.The fastest growing and the leading applications are covered in the report along with the value and volume statistics to elucidate the market trends.Do Inquiry Before Accessing Global Back Massager Market Report atA vast portion of the Global Back Massager report covers the regional analysis of the Back Massager. The performance of the market in different regions across the globe holds significance for the customer for their plans of growth and expansion. As many players across the globe are forming partnerships and acquiring other companies in specific regions to gain a foothold in the Back Massager, the regional market analysis comes handy here for the customer to realize maximum gains through planned expansions in lucrative regions.Region Coverage (Regional Production, Demand & Forecast by Countries etc.):North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico)Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc.)Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia etc.)South America (Brazil, Argentina etc.)Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc.)The Global Back Massager report further provides a detailed analysis of the Back Massager through a SWOT analysis, price analysis, marketing channels, and value chain. The horde of data and statistics has been provided to compliment the information in the report through tables and charts for easy consumption of the customer. Anyone looking to garner information about the Back Massager for commercial or academic purposes, the Global Back Massager report presented by Orbis Research is a great value buy.For any enquires before buying, connect with us @ enquiry@orbisresearch.comOrbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019For more information contact sales@orbisresearch.com Industry Insights of Organic Tobacco Market Trends, and Outlook 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1434 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/organic-tobacco-market-1434 North America is expected to be the largest market in terms of revenue share, over the forecast period owing to growing consumer preference towards organic tobacco products instead of quitting tobacco completely is fueling growth of the market. This is also attributed to increasing smoking population. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 15 of every 100 U.S. adults smoked cigarettes and accounted for 36.5 million adult cigarette smoking population in U.S. in 2015. Furthermore, companies in North America are engaged in helping farmers to grow organic tobacco. Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company (SFNTC), promotes sustainable farming and provide US$ 190,000 as fund to farmers to grow wheat in rotation with organic tobacco in North Carolina in 2011.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region in global organic tobacco due to its increasing consumption and its applications such as cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos. According to World Health Organization (WHO), India accounted for 84% of the worlds consumption of smokeless tobacco in 2015. Furthermore, the smoke from organic tobacco is considered as environmentally friendly, which is propelling growth of market.Additionally, the manufacturers in North America are focused on launching new organic tobacco products which are less harmful as compared to tobacco products. For instance, in October 2017, Japan Tobacco Inc. launched Natural American Spirit Organic Leaf One which is an additive-free tobacco leaf and was organically cultivated, accredited by USDA with its strict standards.Organic tobacco manufacturers are adopting various strategies such as partnerships and research & development, to sustain their market positions. For instance, in 2015, Japan Tobacco Inc., acquired Natural American Spirit brand name, which includes Reynolds American Inc. (RAI)s nine subsidiariesOrganic tobacco is processed and grown without using any chemicals or preservatives. These are surrounded with sunflower plants as trap crop for beneficial insects such as bugs. Organic tobacco products are available in various forms such as cigarette and organic flavored tobacco. The anti-tobacco activists claim that organic tobacco helps to quit smoking habit, as it does not contain ammonia, pesticides and bleach as that of tobacco is one of the key factor burgeoning growth of market. Organic tobacco products always possess United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) certification.However, the high cost of organic tobacco is expected to hinder market growth.According to United States, Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average cost of conventional tobacco was US$ 4.11 per kg and that of organic tobacco was US$ 7.67 per kg in 2016, which is restraining the growth of the market. Furthermore, organic tobacco contains harmful substances such as carbon monoxide, heavy metal and tar leading to diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which may have negative impact on the growth of this market. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in America, nearly 15.7 million was diagnosed with COPD in 2014.Among applications, cigarettes segment accounted for the largest market share in terms of revenue. The increasing consumption of cigarettes in emerging economies such as China and India, is expected to propel the growth of this segment. According to The World Health Organization, nearly 5.6 trillion cigarettes were consumed in 2013. China and Russia are the countries consuming cigarette owing to high smoking prevalence and high smoking intensity.Get More Information @Some of the major market players operating in the global organic tobacco market include Reynolds American, Inc., Mother Earth Tobacco, Seke S.A., Vape Organics, Hestia Tobacco LLC, R. J., and Quinnington Organic Tobacco Company Pty.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Quantower trading platform connects to cTrader API Dnipro, Ukraine, 18 June 2018: Quantower LLC announced that it has finished the development and deploy of an integration with cTrader open API.The new integration widens the list of connections, available in Quantower trading platform. This is the fifth official integration of Quantower, but the first one, that grants an access to more than one broker simultaneously. Many of the worlds leading Forex and CFD brokers are using cTrader technology, and now their traders can use the Quantower platform as their trading application.Previously, Quantower trading platform was connected with several Forex brokers and digital-asset exchanges (Crypto-exchanges), so the process of integration with cTrader API wasnt complicated, thanks to the good documentation and support of API developers. We have developed the Quantower application from scratch, using the fully-modular approach. This allows us to create each new functionality or integration in short terms. said Alexey Bogdan, the Head of Quantower development and co-founder. cTrader API is well-documented and easy to use. Our developers have spent less than one month to finish and deploy this integration. And now we are pleased to give it to our users.While cTrader is a fully-functional modern trading application with a lot of great functionality for professional traders, Quantower terminal focuses on advanced analysis facilities, and provide tools that really can raise the power of trading decisions. We are really pleased that Quantower has completed their integration with cTrader using our Open API. said Panagiotis Charalampous, Head of Community Management at cTrader. This integration increases the trading choices of traders owning a cTrader account and enables cTrader brokers to expand their offering by providing more added value services to their clients.Quantower has a lot of functionalities for charting, order execution and analytics as well as very flexible user workspace management. New features and enhancements are released on a weekly basis. The team of Quantower works in tight connection with the Focus groups of traders of a various level and market prefer; this allows to get the multi-dimensional point of view on any feature.About Quantower.Quantower is a multi-asset, broker-neutral trading platform that helps to make smart and confident decisions. A wide set of professional features, in addition to the constantly growing list of supported brokers and data providers, turns Quantower into the universal and powerful instrument for various asset classes and trading strategies. Quantower was founded in 2017 by the team of FinTech experts, with headquarters in Dnipro, Ukraine.Contact Quantower: info@quantower.comAbout cTradercTrader, developed by Spotware, provides brokers with a complete technology solution for operating their business and offers a wide range of trading methods for their clients including manual trading and charting from all screens and devices, copy trading, automated trading, FIX API trading, Open API trading.Contact Spotware: marketing@spotware.comQuantower LLCGlinki str., 2Dnipro, Ukraine 49000 Candidate for Georgia's Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has presented the governmental program Freedom, fast development, prosperity. In his speech Bakhtadze talked about how his new government sees the development of Georgia in various directions, including in the economic field. Bakhtadze said that inclusive economic growth is the priority of the government's economic policy. "This means the involvement of society in the development of economy. Yes, we have a good economic growth rate, but it lacks the component of inclusivity. In the development of the countrys economy the private sector takes the leading role and its role should be increased even more. For this reason it is important to further improve the business environment," Agenda.ge cited Bakhtadze as saying. He proposed to annul tax arrears of the period from before January 1, 2013, implement reform on VAT returns in 2018, which is expected to result in additional surplus capital for the country. Bakhtadze also offered to create a single, digital format system, make the tax and customs codes simpler for entrepreneurs; create new tax regimes to support multinational companies establish regional offices in Georgia and get the most preferential tax system. According to the new system, foreign investors will be able to register their companies online in Georgia, open bank accounts in Georgias banking system and also manage their companies online; commercial courts will be established in the common judicial system, which will be specialised in reviewing commercial and tax cases. From July 1, 2018 a preferential tax regime will come into force for small businesses in Georgia which will reduce turnover tax for small entrepreneurs by five times. In addition, while in the past small businesses were defined as businesses with a turnover of up to 100,000 GEL, from now on those with a turnover of up to 500,000 GEL will also qualify as small businesses. Furthermore, as Bakhtadze announced, capital market reform, pension reform, the development of the public-private partnership system and a responsible lending system are also planned. Clientless Remote Support Software Market 2025 : Business Overview, Top Key Players- Bomgar, Cisco WebEx, LogMeIn, TeamViewer, NTRglobal, Rsupport Clientless Remote Support Software https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/request-sample/993901 https://www.qyresearchgroups.com/check-discount/993901 The report Clientless Remote Support Software Market by Manufacturers highlights the essential market dynamics of Clientless Remote Support Software sector. The efficiency of this segment has been studied deeply along with the noteworthy challenges and forthcoming growth opportunities and prospective. The report focuses in decision making abilities and supports to make effective counter strategies in order to achieve competitive advantage. Current market scenario of the segment and forecasts of the market situation have also been bounded in this market report.This report focuses on the top players in global market, like Bomgar Cisco WebEx LogMeIn TeamViewer NTRglobal Rsupport F5 Networks, Inc Citrix Systems SimpleHelp TechinlineGet your Sample Report Copy @The detailed report of Global Clientless Remote Support Software Market evaluated by skilled experts is segmented into Application and Product. The Global Clientless Remote Support Software Market is anticipated to witness considerable development in the following years from 2018-2025.Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Enterprise SMBMarket segment by Application, Clientless Remote Support Software can be split into IT Industry Government Education OtherMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers United States Europe China Japan Southeast Asia IndiaGet the best Discount in the market here @We at QY Research Groups provide the most upgraded and beneficial data to enhance your knowledge about the ongoing trends in the market, drivers, restraints and leading players in the market.Scope of the Report:This report studies the global Clientless Remote Support Software market status and forecast, categorizes the global Clientless Remote Support Software market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on Global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:+1-888-236-2744Room B1510, Shiji Kemao Building,No.66 Zhongguancun East Road,Haidian District, Beijing,100190, China Automotive Snow Chain Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/612 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/automotive-snow-chain-market-612 Automotive snow chain includes the external attachments to the vehicle tires that enhance the traction of the vehicles when navigating through snow or ice. These are available in a wide variety of materials such as steel, polyurethane, fabric and rubber, each offering very specific properties such as high affordability, driving smoothness, traction, ease of installation, durability, maximum travel speeds and robustness.Request For Sample Copy of this Research Report :Advanced vehicle technologies such as stability and traction control in conjunction with automotive snow chains have enhanced passenger safetyU.S., Canada, Russia, and few countries in North Europe are faced with extreme low temperatures and excessive snowfall during winters. This necessitates use of wheel enhance to increase vehicle traction on these roads. These wheel enhancements complement advanced stability and traction control systems integrated in vehicles targeted for these regions. This creates a highly conducive environment for growth of the automotive snow chain market.In June 2017, Michelin Lifestyle Limited introduced Michelin Easy Gripa next generation composite product that provides enhanced performance and is featured with lesser installation and removal time. The product features also include quieter driving with no damage to the road surfaces. Certain vendors have introduced reflective light vision in these products to provide better visibility in the snowy and dark weather conditions.Players in this market are constantly focusing on R&D to introduce advanced products in order to sustain in this highly competitive marketAutomatic snow chains is expected to present considerable growth opportunitiesAutomatic snow chain system allows the user to install snow chains by flipping a switch from inside the automotive that activates solenoid, which influences the positioning of these to contact the tire. Owing to the continuous movement of the vehicle, the material covers the entirety of the tires to provide traction. Along with time saving, these equipment also enhances the costs savings through low maintenance in conjunction with advanced safety of the user in weather extremities, is projected to garner large consumer inclination towards adoption of these systems.Varying regulations by country and states creates a major hurdle for market playersMost states in the U.S. has varying regulations for the utilization of these tire enhancements. There are some states such as Florida, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Washington, D.C., and Vermont who has no restrictions on their use. Some countries such as France, Germany, Hungary, and the Netherlands have prohibited the usage of studded tires. Some countries have regulations permitting their use only during certain months of the year. This is expected to be a major growth barrier for the industry. Usage of metal studded enhancements causes substantial damage to the roads as well as vehicles. This dissuades consumers for opting for these. Speed limitations and excessive efforts to tow the vehicle in case of breakdown are some other challenges that may hinder the industry growth prospects.Canada has witnesses few of the largest snowfall volumes in the world, especially in regions such as Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Alberta. This positions the country as a highly lucrative market for automotive snow chains. North America and Europe are expected to remain the major stakeholders of the market products over the forecast period.The market is characterized by the presence of multiple players with comparable market shares. Prominent players in the automotive snow chain market include Pewag, RUD Chain, Thule Group (Thule Snow Chains), APV Safety Products, MOOSE UTILITY DIVISION, Autoliv, Maggi Group, BABAC, Peerless Industrial Group, MICHELIN, Spikes Spider, Lianyi Rubber Components Co., Chainco, Ottinger, Gowin, Laclede Chain Manufacturing Company, Hangzhou Felice chain Co. Ltd, and Trygg.For More Information:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Agricultural Adjuvants Market: key Insight and Market Trends 2025 https://bit.ly/2lmTkgE https://bit.ly/2M6twAF https://www.gminsights.com http://algosonline.com/news Global Agricultural Adjuvants Market size will witness a prominent growth during the forecast timespan. Agricultural adjuvants are used to improve effectiveness of herbicides, fungicides insecticides and other crop protection agents that help in mitigating pest problems.The growing demand for precision farming is one of the prime factors driving product demand in the coming years. The agricultural chemicals costs have seen a substantial rise in past few years. Also, there is constant pressure on farmers to increase farm yield, which ultimately call for an improved and alternative solution such as agricultural adjuvants. The product market has witnessed impressive growth in recent times and is likely to follow the same trend over the forecast period due to increasing usage of advanced technologies for farming practices and ease of product application.Request for an in-depth table of contents of this report @It is an environment friendly solution to tackle pests and diseases in crops. However, price fluctuations in agricultural adjuvants market shall remain a major challenge over the forecast duration. The product market also faces substitution threat from alternatives such as genetically modified seeds, which are more efficient in terms of pest protection and yield.Based on the type of agricultural adjuvants, the market can be classified into activator, utility and others. Activators has a large variety of surfactants and oil adjuvants. Activator adjuvants, led by activator surfactants, accounted for than half of the agricultural adjuvants market share in 2016. This product segment also comprises of ammonium fertilizers and oils. Surfactants primarily minimizes surface tension between leaf surface and spray droplets. It includes cationic, anionic and non-ionic surfactants. The oil concentrates are made of petroleum-based oils, which improves herbicide penetration and minimizes surface tension. Utility adjuvants consists of buffering agents, wetting agents, anti-foam agents, water conditioners and drift control agents. Utility adjuvants will be the fastest growing product segment over the next few years. Other agricultural adjuvants include emulsifying agents, foliar nutrients, wetting powders, etc.Make an Inquiry for purchasing this report @The agricultural adjuvants market, based on application, can be segmented into herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. Other application includes crop control, bio-stimulants, fertilizers, etc. The product application in crop protection through insecticides segment led the overall agricultural adjuvants market in 2016 and shall continue to witness same growth in the near future due to growing popularity of biodegradable products and chemicals in agriculture to mitigate problems of crop disease and pest attacks. Activator adjuvants are generally used to improve post-emergence herbicide performance. It increases herbicide activity, absorption into plant cells and decreases herbicide photo-degradation.North America held the largest share of the global agricultural adjuvants market in 2016, in terms of both, consumption and production. This can be attributed to growing popularity of precision farming and increasing adoption of eco-friendly chemicals for agricultural practices, especially in the U.S. High-technology equipment coupled with growing presence of multinational agricultural firms in Europe shall be propelling agricultural adjuvants demand in this region over the next few years. Asia Pacific is also likely to experience prominent product market growth in the coming years owing to rising awareness among farmers regarding side effects of using synthetic chemicals as pesticides and increasing government support in terms of subsidy for promoting usage of environment friendly products for farming practices. Asia Pacific countries including India are agriculture driven economies and largely depend on farming output for feeding growing population. In addition, reducing percentage of arable land has increased demand for cost effective and soil & land friendly products. This shall accelerate agricultural adjuvants market size in the forecast timeframe.The prominent market share contributors operational in the agricultural adjuvants industry are Solvay, Evonik Industries AG, Clariant Corporation, Akzo Nobel, Brandt Consolidated Inc., Huntsman Corporation and The Dow Corning Group. Other companies include Momentive Performance Materials, Wilbur-Elis Company and Lamberti SPA. The agricultural adjuvants market is highly competitive, with presence of vast number of giant multinational manufacturers. The product manufacturers are constantly investing in research & development activities to improve their product offering and reach to each possible consumer type across the globe. Adjuvant production has become very sophisticated as companies are launching environment friendly substitutes to existing products. Companies including BASF and Dow AgroSciences are introducing innovative products with the help of improved technology to reduce drift.About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog: Global Flat Panel Display Equipments Market 2018 Status & Forecast by Key Players : Manz, Tokyo Electron, JTEKT Qyresearchreports https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1833073&type=S https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-flat-panel-display-equipments-market-professional-survey-report-2018.htm/toc http://www.qyresearchreports.com Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Flat Panel Display Equipments Market Professional Survey Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies Flat Panel Display Equipments in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.The exhaustive report displayed here offers various distinctive parameters that influence the global Flat Panel Display Equipments market. It considers current patterns and any foreseen expectations with respect to the market, remembering the present market atmosphere. The essential purpose for the introduction of this report is to offer its perusers with an apparatus to comprehend and prevail upon the dynamic powers at play in the market. The report is s consequence of broad examination of the driving elements, showcase restricting variables, the different market expectations and division. The report offers a focused division of the global Flat Panel Display Equipments market based on sort, application and topography.Get Free Report Sample and Customization:This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringApplied MaterialsManzTokyo ElectronULVAC TechnologiesJTEKTLasertecSoleras Advanced Coatings...On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoAMOLEDLCDOtherBy Application, the market can be split intoAutomotiveConsumer ElectronicsOtherBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaThis report dissects the global Flat Panel Display Equipments market by in a global sense examining the industrialized chain of the market. This is required to in like path help in passing on exact information and data on compound parts of the market, for example, material relating to systems for the overseeing body in the standard and global strata, transport and transmission structure, goals, and illuminations behind premium got for the contributed mean.This is subsequently an exhaustive report on the global Flat Panel Display Equipments market by directing a careful investigation of the past market impacts and critical occurrences happened in the global business. This is a basic advance to pick up an unmistakable photo of the current seller scene and the elements that may influence it. The Flat Panel Display Equipments market experiences investigation at various layers-beginning from essential research to broad optional and tertiary see of the business. This enables the peruser to increase conclusive information with respect to the market and help them settle on business choices successfully.Browse full table of contents and description of report @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Flat Panel Display Equipments1.1 Definition and Specifications of Flat Panel Display Equipments1.1.1 Definition of Flat Panel Display Equipments1.1.2 Specifications of Flat Panel Display Equipments1.2 Classification of Flat Panel Display Equipments1.3 Applications of Flat Panel Display Equipments1.4 Market Segment by Regions2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Flat Panel Display Equipments2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Flat Panel Display Equipments2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Flat Panel Display Equipments2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Flat Panel Display Equipments3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Flat Panel Display Equipments3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Flat Panel Display Equipments Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Flat Panel Display Equipments Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Flat Panel Display Equipments Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Flat Panel Display Equipments Major Manufacturers in 2017List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Flat Panel Display EquipmentsTable Product Specifications of Flat Panel Display EquipmentsTable Classification of Flat Panel Display EquipmentsFigure Global Production Market Share of Flat Panel Display Equipments by Type in 2017Figure North America Flat Panel Display Equipments Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2025)Figure China Flat Panel Display Equipments Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2025)Figure Europe Flat Panel Display Equipments Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2025)Figure Southeast Asia Flat Panel Display Equipments Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2025)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web: Automotive Mudguards Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/621 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/automotive-mudguards-market-621 Automotive mudguards, also known as fenders, are parts of automobiles that frames the wheel and prevent the sand, rocks, mud, liquids or any other forms of dust from getting sprayed into by the wheels of the vehicle in the air or on vehicles and pedestrians. These are standard fixtures that can also be customized based on the consumer requirement in aftermarket and attached externally. Commonly used materials include steel, aluminum, ABS plastics, PE and carbon fibers.Request For Sample Copy of this Research Report :Increasing demands for automobiles, specifically green mobility will provide considerable growth opportunity for the automotive mudguards marketIncreasing consumer concerns regarding global warming, increasing investments in advancement of electric & hybrid vehicles and advanced engines to reduce emissions, regulatory amendments such as EPA in U.S. and European emission standards in EU are expected to drive the demands for better fuel efficiency vehicles. Various peripheral components of the vehicle influence the fuel efficiency of the vehicle. These factors inadvertently are projected to majorly contribute to the automotive mudguards market growth over the forecast period.China and countries in Western Europe are increasingly encouraging the electric and hybrid vehicle purchases to regulate the fuel emissions and optimize their environmental impacts through government incentive plans, tax exemptions and dedicated parking spaces among the few other initiatives to encourage ownerships of these vehicles. In conjunction with the high growth market for these vehicles, increasing sales figures of other conventional vehicles is expected to provide potential growth prospects over the next few years. According to Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs dAutomobiles (OICA), international sales of vehicles witnessed an increase of around 4.65%, accounting for a Y-o-Y increase of over 93 million units in 2016.Utilization of natural fibers in the manufacturing is expected to drive the demand growthIncreased usage of natural fibers in the manufacturing processes is a major trend gaining traction in the industry. These natural fiber polymer composites are environment-friendly, lightweight, and bio-degradable. Moreover, according to our research, incorporation of natural fibers can reduce over 25% of the vehicle weights in comparison to other glass reinforced fibers. These enhanced features are expected to provide large growth potential to the automotive mudguards market.Passenger cars are expected to dominate the industry segment demands over the forecast periodPassenger car segment dominated the overall automotive mudguards market share in 2016, and is expected to continue its dominance over the next few years. Its growth can be attributed to large inclination of consumers towards owning cars, proliferation of commercial usage of automobiles such as car sharing and cab aggregators, and the pre-existing large consumer base across the globe. Moreover, large presence of aftermarket players that offer custom-made solutions to enhance the vehicle aesthetics and performance, will also continue to contribute to the industry growth.Asia Pacific will continue its dominance in the automotive mudguards marketAsia Pacific held the largest industry share in 2016 and is expected to continue its dominance, primarily owing to the presence of the worlds largest automobile market, China and the fastest growing automotive market in India. Growing employment opportunities have led to substantial per capita income and the affording capability of the population in the region. Moreover, increased spending on road infrastructure and manufacturing activities in the region will drive the growth of commercial and passenger vehicle demands. This will provide the required boost to the industry growth. Increased inclination of consumers towards high-end automobile solutions and decreasing price of gasoline will present considerable opportunities in the developed economies, such as U.S., Canada, UK, Germany and France.Industry presence is characterized by established presence of major players with moderate competition among them. Chief players in the automotive mudguard market include MrMudguard, Rhino Manufacturing, FeatherWing, KN Rubber, Jonesco, KWIK PFYT mud flaps, FIEM Industries, and Sant Manufacturers.For More Information:Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comContact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Global Mobile POS Systems Market 2018 - Ingenico, Izettle, Intuit, Payleven, PayPal, Adyen, CHARGE Anywhere Mobile POS Systems Market Statistics www.marketdeeper.com/request-for-sample-report-12691.html www.marketdeeper.com/global-mobile-pos-systems-market-research-report-2018-12691.html www.marketdeeper.com/inquiry-for-buying-report-12691.html Mobile POS Systems Markets Outlook 2018Mobile POS Systems MarketThe report firstly introduced the Mobile POS Systems market basics: definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain overview; industry policies and plans; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures and so on. Then it analyzed the worlds main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, capacity utilization, supply, demand and industry growth rate etc. At the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.Get Exclusive Free Sample Report @Overview of the report: The report begins with a market overview and moves on to cover the growth prospects of the Mobile POS Systems markets. Global Mobile POS Systems industry 2017 is a comprehensive, professional report delivering market research data that is relevant for new market entrants or established players. Key strategies of the companies operating in the markets and their impact analysis have been included in the report. Furthermore, a business overview, revenue share, and SWOT analysis of the leading players in the Mobile POS Systems markets is available in the report.Markets Status: Combining the data integration and analysis capabilities with the relevant findings, the report has predicted strong future growth of the Mobile POS Systems markets in all its geographical and product segments. In addition to this, several significant variables that will shape the Mobile POS Systems industry and regression models to determine the future direction of the markets have been employed to create the report.Top Manufacturers in Mobile POS Systems Markets:SquareIngenicoIzettleIntuitPaylevenPayPalAdyenCHARGE AnywhereVeriFone IncPAXThe current environment of the global Mobile POS Systems industry and the key trends shaping the market are presented in the report. Insightful predictions for the Mobile POS Systems markets for the coming few years have also been included in the report. These predictions feature important inputs from leading industry experts and take into account every statistical detail regarding the Mobile POS Systems markets.Statistical forecasts in the research study are available for the total Mobile POS Systems markets along with its key segments. The key segments, their growth prospects, and the new opportunities they present to market players have been mentioned in the report. Moreover, the impact analysis of the latest mergers and acquisition and joint ventures has been included in the report. The report also provides valuable proposals for new project development that can help companies optimize their operations and revenue structure.Access Complete Research Report @Table of ContentGlobal Mobile POS Systems markets have following parts to displayPart 1: Definition, Specifications and Classification of Mobile POS Systems , Applications of Mobile POS Systems , Market Segment by Regions;Part 2: Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Part 3: Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Mobile POS Systems , Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Part 4: Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Part 5 & 6: Regional Market Analysis that includes United States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia, Mobile POS Systems Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Part 7: The Mobile POS Systems Segment Markets Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Mobile POS Systems ;Part 9: Markets Trend Analysis, Regional Markets Trend, Market Trend by Product Type: Card Reader, Chip-and-PIN Reader, Markets Trend by Application: Retail, Restaurant, Hospitality Industry, Other ;Part 10: Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Part 11: The Consumers Analysis of Global Mobile POS Systems ;Part 12: Mobile POS Systems Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Part 13, 14 and 15: Mobile POS Systems sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion.Inquiry to get customization & check discounts @A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Mobile POS Systems market has been provided in the report. Detailed information about the key segments of the market and their growth prospects are available in the report. The detailed analysis of their sub-segments is also available in the report. The revenue forecasts and volume shares along with market estimates are available in the report.Market Deeper is a well-versed platform that offers precisely crafted market reports. With the integration of expert teams efficiency and reliable data sources, we produce some finest reports of infinite industries and companies. We make reports that cover critical business parameters such as production rate, manufacturing trends, supply chain management, and expansion of distribution network.Our aim is to deliver detailed picture of the market trends and forecasts for precise business executions.3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,Tel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Premium Cosmetics Market - Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2018 - 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1447 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/premium-cosmetics-market-1447 Premium cosmetics are manufactured by utilizing certain specialty ingredients. These cosmetics are usually accompanied with some value addition such as organic ingredients including essential oils, plant extracts, microalgae, and pearl extracts. These products usually cost higher than other ingredients and thus are responsible for the high price of premium cosmetics. Premium products are made using organic ingredients such as essential oils, plant extracts, microalgae, and pearl extracts, which usually cost higher than other ingredients.Increasing beauty consciousness among the populace in emerging economies is boosting growth of the premium cosmetics market. Increasing inclination of males towards overall body care coupled with social trends related to beauty and cosmetics, is also fueling market growth. According to Coherent Market Insights, the mens grooming products sector is expected to witness significant growth, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.91% over 2018 and 2025. A major challenges faced by the premium cosmetics market include strict regulations regarding chemical ingredients used in premium cosmetics.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @Among distribution channels, the online segment is expected to garner significant traction over the forecast period. Growing online retail around the world is responsible for growth of this segment. According to India Brand Equity Foundation Report (IBEF), in 2016, over 62% of young consumers in major economies prefer online stores for buying beauty & grooming products. Moreover, ease of access and reliable services of giant online retail stores such as Alibaba Group (China), Amazon Inc. (U.S.), and Flipkart (India) play a major role in growth of the online segment.Among product type, the skin care segment is expected to hold the largest market share over the forecast period. Leading market player such as LOreal S.A. generated 37% of its annual revenue in 2017 from its skincare segment. The company has identified the segment as a high growth segment and launched multiple products to boost its sales. Multifunctional products, which incorporate the properties of different products such as skincare, make-up into one are gaining significant traction. For example, Diors lip care product Color Reviver Lip Balm is designed to serve as both lipstick and lip gloss. Such products have piqued consumer interest and are projected to be a major driving factor for the premium cosmetics market.Global Premium Cosmetics Market Outlook:North America is expected to account for the largest market share in the global premium cosmetics market during the forecast period (2018-2025). The market in the region is supported by stringent regulations imposed on the use of harmful chemicals in cosmetics. For instance, various regulatory bodies such as United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are restricting the use of harmful chemicals in cosmetic products. For example, chemicals such as formaldehyde and hydroquinone which are banned in few countries around the world.View More Information @In Asia Pacific, a thriving retail sector will boost the market for premium cosmetics. According to Indian and Chinese government sources, the retail sector in India and China was valued at US$ 950 billion and US$ 11 trillion, respectively in 2017. Furthermore, growing urbanization in emerging economies in the region is expected to boost the market for premium cosmetics in the region. According to LOreal, China recorded US$ 77 spending per capita per person on cosmetics in 2016 with US$ 71 by consumers aged 1418 years and US$ 85 by consumers aged 1924 years. Increasing number of company are seeking investments in these countries due to high growth potential, this in turn, is increasing growth of the market for premium cosmetics in the region. For instance, LOreals invested in an acquisition of Magic Holdings International Ltd., in China in 2013, while it invested over US$ 150 million in India since 2011. In 2016, Coty Inc. completed a merger with the Specialty Beauty business of Procter & Gamble Company.Major players operating in the premium cosmetics market include LOreal S.A., Avon Products Inc., The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), Unilever plc, Oriflame Holding A.G., Revlon Inc., The Estee Lauder Companies Inc., Shiseido Company Ltd., and Coty Inc.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Low Harmonic Drives Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20182026 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/630 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/low-harmonic-drives-market-630 The current in an ideal AC power grid is pure sinusoidal wave, however, in reality the current contains harmonics of multiple orders that reduce the efficiency and usability of the electric energy. Low harmonic drives are the systems that are used to reduce the harmonic distortions introduced in the supply lines and provide power outputs that are relatively safer for general and critical applications.Request For Sample Copy of this Research Report :Simplicity of deployment and high level of harmonic reduction over multi pulse solutions is expected to garner high adoption ratesIndustry participants that provide these solutions provide factory tested integrated solutions that do not require additional hardware or costs, which enhances the simplicity of installations. Moreover, these are compact and do not require additional power wiring and contribute to significant space savings in the space where they are installed. These systems do not require additional dedicated transformers and are featured with low losses, unity power factor, robust performance, high overall efficiency. These factors are expected to provide high traction to the low harmonic drives market over the forecast period.Growing demand for efficient power utilization and reduce the losses with the increasing energy supply demands is anticipated to provide solid growth prospects to the industry growthRequirement to reduce the electrical power consumption costs, organizations and industry participants are increasingly investing in efficient industrial products and equipment that different motors, pumps, compressors, and fans. These requirements to limit the consumption without compromising the energy efficiency are expected to present considerable growth prospects for the low harmonic drive market. Furthermore, requirements to meet the distinct regional stringent regulatory compliances relating to efficient power consumptions will provide the traction to the industry growth. For instance, National People's Congress (NPC) the 12-5 Plan in China, EPA Power Sector Regulations in U.S. and Electricity Industry Act 2010 in New Zealand are among the few directives that are in place to regulate the electricity consumption. However, high switching costs for end users is expected to be the only challenge that will negatively impact to overall adoption rates over the forecast period.Oil & Gas end use industry segment dominated the overall low harmonic drive market end use in 2016Annexation of oil exploration activities such as shale related and offshore explorations are expected to garner high utilizations over the next few years. Moreover, increasing focus on generation of renewable energy will present considerable growth prospects for the industry participants over the long run.High utilization of gasoline in conjunction with low prices of pumps and relaxation in diesel and gasoline taxes in the Europe is anticipated to present considerable growth opportunities for the industry participants in the region. Presence of large number of hydrocarbons in Russia will add up to the overall industry demand, will help the region dominate the overall industry demands over the forecast period. Moreover, increased demands for manufacturing activities in Asia Pacific region is expected to present considerable growth landscape.Chief players in the low harmonic drive market include ABB, Danfoss, Eaton, Rockwell and Schneider Electric. Industry presence is moderately consolidated with several regional players competing with the multinational players. Participants are expected to adopt M&A, and innovative product launches for the propagation of their market shares over the next few years. For instance, in July 2017, Schneider Electric introduced Altivar ATV980 & ATV680 Drives which was featured as the worlds first three level low harmonic drive.For More Information:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Global Metal Cans Market is expected to rise at a CAGR of 4.8% 2017 to 2026 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-6372 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-6372 www.futuremarketinsights.com The global metal cans market is expected to foresee substantial growth in the coming years owing to the rising use of these can in the packaging of food and beverages, mainly in the packaging of non-aerated and aerated beverages. The rise the portfolio of personal products is expected to naturally augment the global metal cans market. The demand for metal cans is rising subsequently owing to the fact that they are completely recyclable without losing the sturdiness and quality of the product. The demand from consumers for lightweight packaging and the rising awareness pertaining to the use of packaging materials that are non-carcinogenic, are further expected to propel the demand for metal cans. The new research report on metal cans published by Future Market Insights (FMI) provides a comprehensive overview of the global market and presents a trajectory of the market in terms of historical, present, and future forecast. The report also offers an outlook of the competitive landscape of the market along with presenting insights on the basis of the product portfolio, strategies, mergers, acquisitions, and other important aspects pertaining to them. A segmental overview along with regions has also been provided in the report.According to FMI, the global metal cans market is expected to rise at a CAGR of 4.8% 2017 to 2026. The market is expected to cross a valuation of US$101, 993 Mn by the end of the forecast period.Request to Sample Report @Segmental Insight on the Global Metal Cans MarketOn the basis of region, the global metal cans market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific except Japan, and the Middle East and Africa. Amongst these, Asia Pacific except Japan (APEJ) is expected to lead the global market by the end of the forecast period with a valuation of over US27, 456 Mn. This growth can be attributed to the rising population in the region and the growing urgency to cater to their increasing needs. The setting up of new manufacturing units in the region is also expected to be one of the triggering factors for the market in the region. North America and Europe are expected to closely follow APEJ and also have a neck to neck competition. However, these regions are expected to exhibit a sluggish growth rate as compared to APEJ.Based on the basis of material type, the global market for metal cans has been classified into aluminium, steel, and tin. Among these three, aluminium is going to emerge as the most popular metal used in packaging over the coming years.On the basis of fabrication type, the market has been bifurcated into two piece can and three piece can. Two piece can is projected to exhibit a higher CAGR as compared to the other and also emerge dominant by 2026 end.In terms of application, the market has been segmented into alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages, processed dairy food products, other processed food products, edible oil, medicinal tablets and syrups, personal care and cosmetic products, and industrial chemicals. Among all these, alcoholic beverages will foresee a growing application of metal as compared to the other application areas and is also expected to lead the market by the end of the forecast period.Based on end user, the market has been segmented into, food and beverages, pharmaceutical industry, consumer goods, and chemical. The leading end user among these is likely to be the food and beverages industry by the end of the forecast period.Competitor LandscapeThe entry of new players in the market among personal care and food and beverage products is expected to intensify the competition in the years to come. Moreover, the present and new players focus of innovative packaging is likely to be a lucrative strategy to capitalize on. The companies operating in the market are Rexam PLC, Silgan Containers LLC, Independent Can Company, Crown Holdings, Inc., and SKS Bottle & Packaging, Inc., among others.Request Report TOC @ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite : A Global Vendor of Connected Car Services, Bright Box, Expands its US Presence with Zurich Insurance North America www.remoto.com www.bright-box.com Bright Box, a global vendor of connected vehicle services, today announced the official opening of its brand new office in Schaumburg, IL, with Zurich North America, to expand its operations unit.The opening of the new office signifies the importance of dealerships growing interest in the new innovations Bright Box is delivering as part of Zurich Insurance Group. The Schaumburg Bright Box team plan to provide unique, integrated connectivity platforms for dealerships and to offer full support for its US customers and partners.Bright Box has been developing connectivity software for dealerships for about ten years and has analyzed the experiences of two million users of its mobile apps. Today Bright Box is the global vendor of a Connected Car platform named Remoto, which includes all the necessary components: a Telematic Control Unit (TCU) or OBD dongle to be installed in the vehicle, a web-based control panel, and a customer app for the vehicle's owner to control and track it remotely. The app allows users to follow up on the latest news and promotions, contact the dealer instantly regarding any problems, sign up for services and maintenance, book a test drive at a convenient time, or receive personalized offers from dealerships. And all this is far from being a complete list of the systems functionality, combined with remote car control. As a result, users of the full version of the solution have access to the following features: vehicle tracking, remote car control, driving behavior, points of interest, wi-fi, vehicle self-health checkup, mobile payments, vehicle security, turn off location tracking.The company intends to offer the US automotive market unique Customer Retention Services functionality for both dealers and users, who will receive a comprehensive, targeted, and customizable solution. Remoto has already been successfully deployed by several automakers, including Infiniti, KIA, Nissan, Toyota, Honda and about 1900 dealerships.At the end of last year, Bright Box was acquired by Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich). Todays opening of the new office in Schaumburg, IL is a clear indication of how important this operations unit is, to offer full support for its US customers and partners. We are very excited to start US expansion to further strengthen our customer deployments and relationships, said Alex Dimchenko, CSO at Bright Box.Bright Box (100% owned by Zurich Insurance Group) is a global corporation that is specialized in solutions and platforms in the connected car sector. Bright Box provides a turn-key connected car platform Remoto () that links drivers to their cars, and the vehicles to car manufacturers (OEMs), dealerships and 3rd party service providers. We sell our product to OEMs, National Sales companies and large dealership groups. The Remoto solution has already been successfully deployed by several automakers, including Honda, Infiniti, Kia, Toyota, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Nissan. Moreover, it is being trialled by many vehicle manufacturers around the world, from Europe through to the Middle East and Asia.Bright Box was declared one of the top five vendors in the Connected Car market from 2017 to 2021 by Technavio, and one of the top 300 companies in the Internet of Things field according to Berg Insight.Lana MolchanovaHead of PRBright Boxp: +7 965 155 26 67 m: +7 906 064 12 82e: svva@bright-box.com w: Cable Car & Ropeways Market - Global Trends and Forecast to 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1476 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/cable-car-and-ropeways-market-1476 Cable transportation systems includes cables, to travel from one end to another, especially at high altitudes places. Ropeways are generally used as a public transportation systems for carrying goods & passengers in cities as well as in mountain areas. Global cable car & ropeway market is expected to witness moderate growth during the forecast period. This market growth is attributed to increasing adoption of cable cars & ropeways in tourism industry to attract more customer base, introduction of cable cars in public transport, steady growth of material handling industry where ropeways & cable cars are used for transit, and introduction of technologically advanced products by key market players. For instance, in 2016, Government of India launched an initiative to develop cable cars at four locations in Karnataka, to promote tourism activities. However, high costs associated with these airlifts and stringent safety & security norms such as EU cableway directive 2000/9/EC, which relates to installations designed to carry a person, may hamper the market growth.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @Constant technological advancements is one of the major factors for growth of cable cars and ropeways market. For instance, The Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group offers tricable gondola detachable (TGD) ropeways that combines the advantages of reversible aerial tramway and gondola lift. Furthermore, detachable installations have gained significant traction across end users, owing to its ability to detach the vehicle in the station from rope, which enables higher speed on the line and lower speed at station. This makes boarding and de-boarding of passengers convenient, comfortable, and safer.Innovation in cable cars & ropeway technology and designs is expected to boost the market growthKey market players in the global cable car & ropeway industry are focusing on upgrading the technology and designs of their products. The primary factor for this continuous innovation is complete satisfaction of customers in terms of safety, comfort, and security of the transit. For instance, SigmaCabins, a France-based company and provider of carriers for ropeway transport, offers a variety of designs, shapes, and curves on cable cars that adapts to the surrounding environment and are comfortable for the travelers. Furthermore, LEITNER, a global provider of cable cars & ropeways, launched new 8-seater 'Jufen' chairlift in January 2018, which incorporates latest generation ropeway technology to provide greater transport capacity and comfort.Airlifts as a mode of public transitCable cars or airlifts can be alternative solution for growing traffic congestions across cities, worldwide. Rising population and growing per capita spending on automotive industry has led to excessive traffic congestions and increasing pollution levels. Therefore, cableways of transit can offer effective alternative solution to reduce traffic congestion and also aid in reducing pollution. Furthermore, it can offer benefits such as cost-effective transportation.However, implementation of this is a challenge, owing to a variety of geographical economic constraints. Cable cars have been implemented as a public transit mode in several countries such as Colombia, Bolivia, Hong Kong, and Turkey; however, is still not widely accepted. Also, factors such as high costs of cable cars & related services and safety & security concerns are major challenging factors for growth of the market.Cable car & ropeway market in material handlingRopeway conveyors is a type of gondola lift, which is specifically designed to transport goods through containers. These type of gondola lifts are majorly used in mining industry, where materials are transferred over long distance. The adoption of such conveyors have increased in the recent past in material handling industry, owing to their benefits over conventional conveyors such as reduced downtime and minimized recurring failures. Furthermore, availability of variety of ropeways such as monocable, bicable/tricable, & others from local as well as international vendors has increased the adoption of ropeway conveyors at a considerable rate.Get More Information @Some of the key players operating in the global cable car & ropeway industry include Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group, Leitner S.p.A., POMA Group, Bartholet Maschinenbau AG (BMF), Nippon Cable Co., Ltd., Damodar Ropeways & Infra Ltd., Bullwheel International Cable Car Corp., Vergokan, Dubrovnik cable cars, and Kreischberg: Cableways.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Global Smart Lighting Market Expected to Witness Steady Growth in terms of Revenue Throughout the Forecast Period till 2025 Market Research Reports Search Engine https://www.mrrse.com/sample/4387 https://www.mrrse.com/smart-lighting-market-report https://www.mrrse.com/ According to the findings presented in this report, companies operating in the Global Smart Lighting Market are entering into key business partnerships as these help in increasing business revenue. New innovations in lighting solutions are enabling smart lighting providers to leverage new business opportunities across the globe. North America and Europe were the dominant markets in 2016 in terms of revenue in the smart lighting market, while Asia Pacific is expected to dominate in terms of CAGR during the forecast period. North America is projected to be a key market in the global smart lighting market the increasing adoption of better lighting infrastructure is a driving factor for the growth of the smart lighting market in this region. Focusing on energy efficient technology is a key factor driving the adoption of smart lighting.Request Sample Report @Government organizations in different countries are taking several steps to develop smart cities and installation of smart lighting is one of the significant programs that is being undertaken. Rapid urbanization, development of smart buildings and government initiatives in smart city projects are some of the top factors driving demand for various smart lighting products such as lighting control, fixture and others. In 2017, the lighting control segment was valued at more than US$ 3,400 Mn, and is expected to witness steady growth in terms of revenue throughout the forecast period.One of the major reasons behind the growth of the global smart lighting market is the increasing application of color changing LED in several sectors such as industrial, healthcare, and commercial. To provide a relaxing environment to the patients while conducting various seminars with the help of soothing light effects, sound and color changing lights, several hospitals across the globe are installing LED lighting solutions. For instance, Hillerod Hospital in Denmark has installed might and sound in the maternity ward to help pregnant women so that they can be more comfortable and relaxed.In the APAC region, governments in countries like India and China are focusing on the smart city program. In this program old and outdated infrastructure including old incandescent bulbs are replaced with innovative technology such as connected and embedded lighting fixtures. An increase in smart city spending is creating a positive impact on the global market for smart lighting. In April 2017 for instance, the Indian government announced plans to invest in the smart cities initiative. The government has already allocated over US$ 2.3 Bn for this project in the last two budgets.Leading players located in North America are focusing on acquiring government contracts associated with street lighting, architecture/monument lighting, and other lighting projects. The objective behind obtaining government contracts is to get bulk business. Besides, the success of one project may germinate the high possibility of extracting more lighting contracts from the government. All the aforementioned factors are acting in favor of the global smart lighting market revenue growth.Browse Full Report with TOC @Tier-1 smart lighting vendors currently account for around 40% of the overall market. Tier-1 vendors are the largest and most experienced in the industry, and have a wide range of product portfolios and significant regional coverage across the globe. Some of the vendors in this category include Royal Philips NV, OSRAM Licht AG., Honeywell international, and Schneider Electric SE. Tier-2 & Tier-3 smart lighting vendors currently hold just under 34% and 27% market share respectively.About Market Research Reports Search EngineMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.State Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY 12207(United State)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559(toll free no)Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite: Hybrid Electric Jet Market - Global Industry Insights, and Forecast till 2026 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1510 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/hybrid-electric-jet-market-1510 The hybrid electric jets are the aircrafts powered with the electric motors. The electricity is supplied through several methods such as batteries, solar cells, ultra capacitors, fuel cells, and power beaming. Electrified hybrid aircrafts are cleaner as compared to conventional models. The aviation industry is focused in reducing the fuel use and carbon emissions by manufacturing lightweight plane, efficient engines, and airlines using the biofuel blends for better traffic flow management. For instance, according to Coherent Market Insights analysis, the aviation produces around 2% of the worlds carbon emissions. Therefore, to reduce the emissions, many of the companies such as Zunum Aero, JetBlue Technology are planning for the low-carbon flying future.Hybrid Electric Jet Market Key Driving FactorDecrease in the green gas emissions is the major factor driving growth of the global hybrid electric jet marketDecreasing the green gas emissions such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and among others is the major factor driving growth of the global hybrid electric jet market. The jets using conventional motors results in green gas emissions, which is the major environmental concerns. For instance, according to the Europe Aviation Safety Agency (ESEA), utilization of electric engines in the jet is expected to reduce 75% of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and 90% of Nitrous Oxide (NOx) along with reduction in the noise levels to 65% by 2050. Furthermore, according to the Flightpath 2050 plan, the European Commission aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60%, nitrogen oxide pollution by 90%, and noise reduction of 75%. Moreover, apart from the environmental benefits, a hybrid electric jets could benefit in saving the carriers money on the fuel costs. Also, it reduces the noise pollution, as they are quieter and also enables the carriers to fly more at night especially in airports close to city centers, which in turn is positively influencing growth of the market.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @Hybrid Electric Jet Market RestraintMajor factor restraining growth of the market is increasing cost of operations such as cost of the lithium-ion battery packs in the electric engines.Global Hybrid Electric Jet Market: Regional InsightsOn basis of region, the global hybrid electric jet market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. Europe is expected to exhibit the highest growth in the market during the forecast period, owing to the presence of large number of manufacturers such as Airbus SE, Rolls Royce, Siemens AG, Boeing, and EasyJet. Europe is projected to retain its dominance in market over the forecast period, owing to increasing number of manufactures, collaboration, and partnerships. For instance, in November 2017, the European manufacturers Airbus SE, Rolls Royce, and Siemens AG collaborated to build a hybrid electric plane called E-FAN X, which will be based on the modified 100-seat British Aerospace 146 (BAe146) regional aircraft. This modification includes replacement of the conventional motor with the two megawatt electric motor. Moreover, the Airbus will be responsible for integrating the engines with flight controls, Rolls Royce will improve the turbo-shaft engine with the two megawatt generator, and power electronics. Moreover, the generator and power electronic systems will be integrated to reduce the weight of the aircraft. Siemens will be responsible for delivering the power distribution network. The turbine powering the generator will operate on the jet fuel, which will provide the power for electric engine. Moreover, any excess power from the generator will be stored in banks of batteries with the stored energy to be used during take-off and landing. Furthermore, in September 2017, EasyJet, a major European carrier, started working with U.S. startup Wright Electric to build an all-electric airliner within a decade.Get More Information @Key companiesThe major players operating in the hybrid electric jet market include Zunum Aero, Boeing HorizonX, Uber Technologies Inc, JetBlue Technology, Siemens AG, Airbus SE, Rolls Royce, Lilium, EasyJet Ltd., and Wright Electric.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Future Scope of Boric Acid Market | Top Key Companys (Borax, Ricca Chemical, Etimine, Promega, Quiborax, Inkabor, Eti Maden) | Global Foreseen till 2025 Boric Acid Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/88971 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/88971/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/88971 Global Boric Acid Market Research Report 2018 report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.Global Boric Acid Market Overview:The report spread across 101 pages is an overview of the Global Boric Acid Market Research Report 2018. The Global Boric Acid Market is projected to grow at a healthy growth rate from 2018 to 2025 according to new research. The study focuses on market trends, leading players, supply chain trends, technological innovations, key developments, and future strategies.Available Exclusive Sample Copy of this Report @The Global Boric Acid Market is growing continuously and expected to grow healthy CAGR by Forecast year 2025. The global demand for insulation materials drives the boric acid market with increase in demand for residential and commercial applications. In addition, rise in building and construction owing to increase in macro-economic factors such as increase in per capita income has triggered the growth of the boric acid market. Furthermore, the rise in demand for boric acid in fiberglass insulation has majorly boosted the market growth, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years.The market for global boric acid is segmented into applications, which include glass and fiberglass, medical, personal care, flame-retardants, wood preservatives, pest control, nutritional supplements, and others. Based on end use, the report includes the fiberglass industry, building & construction, ceramics, pharmaceuticals and others.The growing demand for borate and boron products in the oil and gas sector as a viscosity and Ph modifier is likely to offer the Boric Acid Market with growth opportunities. Furthermore, increase in demand for consumer electronics and glazed ceramics are projected to boost the demand for boric acid. However, the use of boric acid in personal care items is restricted under the European regulations, which have classified it under the category of a carcinogenic compound and this is likely to hinder the market growth.Purchase this report online with 101 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on Global Boric Acid Market Research Report 2018 @Major Key Players:1 Borax2 Ricca Chemical3 Etimine USA4 Promega Corporation5 Quiborax6 Minera Santa Rita SRL (MSR)7 Southern Agricultural Insecticides8 Inkabor9 Eti Maden10 Sociedad Industrial Tierra S.A and More..On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into -1 Medical Grade2 Industrial Grade and OthersGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, covering: North America, Europe, China, Japan and Other Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa).Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @This study answers to the below key questions:1 What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be?2 What are the key market trends?3 What are the challenges to market growth?4 Who are the key players in this market?5 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key players?In the end, this report covers data and information on capacity and production overview, production, market share analysis, sales overview, supply, sales, and shortage, import, export and consumption as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin of Boric Acid Market.Major Points in Table of Contents:Global Boric Acid Market Report 20181 Boric Acid Market Overview2 Global Boric Acid Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Boric Acid Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Boric Acid Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Boric Acid Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Boric Acid Market Analysis by Application7 Global Boric Acid Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Boric Acid Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Boric Acid Market Forecast (2018-2025)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixAbout usBusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940 Plot Seeders Market Industry Insights and Forecast 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1524 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/plot-seeders-market-1524 A plot seeder is a machine that is used for planting seeds in straight rows or in lines by properly drilling or dibbling the soil, which in turn, helps in enhancing the yield of the land and also helps farmers in activities such as such as weeding, nutrient application, or harvesting. Plot seeder plays an important role by helping the farmers in terms minimizing the wastage of seeds and also increases crop yielding and harvesting. The machine also helps in decreasing the turnaround time required for seedling. Major factors driving growth of the plot seeder market are increasing adoption of technology driven agriculture equipment and increasing demand for food, due to growing population. Furthermore, plot seeder also has an advantage over other types of seeder equipment, as these can plant the seed in multiple rows in short time by distributing them evenly and accurately. Hence, this is another factor propelling growth of the market.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @Increasing demand for advanced products in the agriculture sector is one of the major driving factors for growth of the marketRising population base worldwide has led to increasing demand for crop yields and food products. Therefore, demand for better and efficient agriculture equipment has also increased. Furthermore, farmers are adopting new technologies, in order to increasing the yield of crops without wastage of seed. Moreover, demand for higher quality food products is increasing, which has forced farmers towards adoption of new technology for farming. This, in turn, helps in increasing the production of food along with the more variety, consistency, and year-round availability. At the same time, governments are also encouraging farmers to adopt new technologies as it help in conserving natural resources and limit environmental pressures. Therefore, technological advancement will positively help in increasing agricultural productivity and promoting agriculture development in all countries.Lack of awareness among farmers in emerging countries is one of the key challenges for growth of the marketFarmers in emerging economies such as India and Indonesia still rely on conventional farming techniques, as they are do not have the knowledge about the new techniques. Another reason for low or no adoption of these technologies is that the cost associated with techniques is very high, which is not affordable. Moreover, economic uncertainties in some of the regions and decrease in agriculture output, due to utilization of conventional techniques in farming is expected to hamper growth of the market.Plot Seeder Market: Regional InsightsOn the basis of region, the global plot seeder market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. North America is expected to account for the dominant position in the market during the forecasted period. Maximization of crop productivity by adopting new techniques such as crop sensors, air spray seeder, robots, and many more, rising demand of agriculture production, growing concern for increasing productivity of farmers are some of the factors that will help in fuelling growth of the plot seeder market in this particular region For instance, according to the United States Food and Agriculture Organization, the global cereal consumption was 38 million tonnes in 2016 and was increased by 1.5% in 2017. Moreover, the U.S. government also started supporting the farmers in terms of providing the facility of loans, rental facility that helps them to purchase new equipment, which would increase production of crops by minimizing wastage of seeds. This will be another factor for the increase in adoption of plot seeder machine Moreover, government authorities are also conducting training programs for famers, in order to increase awareness about benefits of using advanced technology in farming For instance, in February 2015, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had invested approximately US$ 18 million for conducting training programs for farmers.Asia Pacific is expected to exhibit high growth during the forecasted period. This owing to increasing population in countries such as India and China, where high percentage of population focuses on farming to earn their livelihood. Factors such as high rate of adoption of new technologies so that the productivity of farm operations can be improved and costs can be cut down, booming economy and rise in food demand is expected to drive this industrys growth in the region. Therefore, strong economic growth in emerging economies such as China, India, and the Middle Eastern is projected to further drive demand for plot seeder in the agriculture sector.Get More Information @Global Plot Seeder Market: Competitive InsightsKey players operating in the global plot seeder market are Almaco, APV Technische Produkte GmbH, Blount International, Woods Equipment, Duro France, Inc., Haldrup Gmbh, Jaulent Industrie, Land Pride, Novag, Wintersteiger AG, and Zurn Harvesting GmbH & Co. KG.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com World Shoulder Anatomical Model Market 2018 - 3B Scientific, Creaplast World Shoulder Anatomical Model Market https://bit.ly/2MG19u4 https://bit.ly/2I4jxJG www.apexmarketreports.com Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the Shoulder Anatomical Model Market across the World, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of Shoulder Anatomical Model Market from view of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries. The research report analyses and provides the historical data along with current performance of the World PP Pipe industry, and estimates the future trend of Shoulder Anatomical Model on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares Shoulder Anatomical Model performance both in terms of volume and revenue.The market research report explores the Shoulder Anatomical Model Market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of Shoulder Anatomical Model Market. The research report studies the entire value chain from raw material to end user industries. The report also shares import/export statistics along with production and consumption for all major regions and countries. Moreover, the research study classifies the Shoulder Anatomical Model Market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Shoulder Anatomical Model. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Shoulder Anatomical Model Market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This Report3B ScientificAltay ScientificCreaplastDenoyer-GeppertEducational + Scientific ProductsErler-Zimmer AnatomiemodelleFysiomedGPI AnatomicalsNascoRUDIGER - ANATOMIESOMSOXincheng Scientific IndustriesYUAN TECHNOLOGY LIMITEDThe competitive landscape of the World market for Shoulder Anatomical Model is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Shoulder Anatomical Model Markets production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Shoulder Anatomical Model Market Worldly.Inquire Before Buying @The World Shoulder Anatomical Model Market 2018 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Shoulder Anatomical Model production volume, data pertaining to demand and Shoulder Anatomical Model supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Shoulder Anatomical Model along with detailed manufacturing sources. The report also shares list of major raw material manufacturers along with their manufacturing locations. Detailed raw material price trend analysis along with manufacturing cost analysis is also incorporated into the report. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, SWOT analysis and market attractiveness analysis has been implemented in the research study to present a comprehensive, detailed study of the industry for Shoulder Anatomical Model across the world.About UsApex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite - Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready Market 2018 Global Leaders Analysis: Dialog Semiconductor PLC, Fanstel Corporation, Microchip Technology Inc., Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Nordic Semiconductor Asa "Global Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready Market Trends and Forecast to 2024" http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-bluetooth-smart-smart-ready-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-bluetooth-smart-smart-ready-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-bluetooth-smart-smart-ready-market/ Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready Market are highly fragmented and is based on new product launches and clinical results of products. Hence the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, clinical trials, market initiatives, high expense on research and development, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of flow cytometry market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and South America.Get Free Sample Report Visit @Global Analysis of Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready Market:The Global Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready Market accounted to USD 4.7 billion in 2016 growing at a CAGR of 3.0% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.Global Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready Market Company Analysis: AferoInc, Avi-On Labs Inc. Avnet Inc. Bluegiga Technologies Broadcom Corporation Cassia Networks Inc. Ceva Inc. Cypress Semiconductor Corporation Dialog Semiconductor PLC Fanstel Corporation Microchip Technology Inc. Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Nordic Semiconductor Asa Panasonic Corporation Qualcomm Incorporated Renesas Electronics Corporation Rfsister Rohm Semiconductor Samsung Corporation Texas Instruments Incorporated Toshiba Corporation Among others.In 2017, Qualcomm Incorporated introduced support for the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) mesh networking standard with the new Qualcomm Bluetooth mesh, a SIG mesh implementation and evolution of CSRmesh connectivity.Market Definition:Bluetooth Smart is a revolutionary concept in the entire mobile connectivity industry. The central idea behind this technology is that it connects Bluetooth enabled devices to interact with each other. Currently, wireless sensors are embedded in most of the electronic gadgets and consumer wearable products. The latest trend in this market is developing Bluetooth technology leads to high efficiency of Bluetooth devices and application of these devices in the wearable device will leads the market in future. There is need of Bluetooth smart for several applications like Automotive and aerospace, Consumer Electronics, Healthcare, Transportation, Government and defense, Others will create a huge market for the Bluetooth smart.This report consists of below pages: No of pages: 350 No of Figures: 60 No of Tables: 220Speak to Analyst about the Global Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready Market Visit @Global Segmentation of Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready Market:On the basis of technology the Bluetooth smart and smart ready market is segmented into: Bluetooth Smart Bluetooth Smart Ready Bluetooth 5.0.The Bluetooth 5.0 market is expected to grow in the forecasted period.On the basis of device the Bluetooth smart and smart ready market is segmented into: Smartphones Tablets Desktops Wearable devicesThe wearable market is expected to grow in the forecasted period.On the basis of application the Bluetooth smart and smart ready market is segmented into: Automotive and Aerospace Consumer Electronics Healthcare Transportation Government And Defense OthersThe consumer electronics market is expected to grow in the forecasted period.On the basis of geography, Bluetooth smart and smart ready market report covers data points for 28 countries across multiple geographies such as: North America South America Europe Asia-Pacific Middle East & AfricaSome of the major countries covered in this report are U.S., Canada, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Brazil among others. In 2017, North America is expected to dominate the market.Major Market Drivers and Restraints: Increasing trends in the IOT Technology Increase Applications of Smart Wireless Sensors Low Power Consumption and Cost-Efficient Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready Devices Growth of Wearable Devices and Accessories Low Data Streaming CapacityView Full Report Visit @About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Data Bridge adepts in creating satisfied clients who reckon upon our services and rely on our hard work with certitude. Get 10% Discount on Report by emailing sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com . We are content with our glorious 99.9 % client satisfying rate.Contact:Sopan GedamData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software: Market Shares, Strategies, Analysis and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2018 to 2025 Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3204510-global-building-information-modeling-bim-extraction-software-market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3204510-global-building-information-modeling-bim-extraction-software-market Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025 reports to its database.Executive SummaryThis report studies the global Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.This report focuses on the global top players, coveredAutodeskAVEVA GroupBentley SystemsFARO TechnologiesTekla CorporationSafe SoftwareVectorworksMicrosoft CorporationSynchro SoftwareNemetschek GroupPointCabGexcelAssemble SystemsSierraSoftInnovayaClearEdge3DLeicaGeo-PlusTechnodigit SARLTrimbleMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoOn Premise SoftwareCloud-based SoftwareMarket segment by Application, Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software can be split intoWater and WastewaterRail Transit and AviationEnergy Generation FacilitiesRoads, Bridges, and HighwaysHouses and ApartmentsFactories and WarehousesEducational Institutes and Commercial SpacesGovernment BuildingsDams and OthersRequest Sample Report @The study objectives of this report are:To study and forecast the market size of Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software in global market.To analyze the global key players, SWOT analysis, value and global market share for top players.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, end use and region.To analyze and compare the market status and forecast between China and major regions, namely, United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Rest of World.To analyze the global key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software are as follows:History Year: 2013-2017Base Year: 2017Estimated Year: 2018Forecast Year 2018 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Key StakeholdersBuilding Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software ManufacturersBuilding Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Distributors/Traders/WholesalersBuilding Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsAvailable CustomizationsWith the given market data, We offers customizations according to the company's specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:Regional and country-level analysis of the Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.Table of ContentsGlobal Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software2 Global Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles4 Global Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2018)5 United States Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Development Status and Outlook6 Europe Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Development Status and Outlook7 China Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Development Status and Outlook8 Japan Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Development Status and Outlook9 Southeast Asia Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Development Status and Outlook10 India Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2018-2025)12 Building Information Modeling (BIM) Extraction Software Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors Analysis14 Research Finding/Conclusion15 AppendixContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042 Mobility on Demand Market Size 2024- Hertz Corporation, Car2Go, Didi Chuxing, DriveNow GmbH & Co. KG, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1091025/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/1091025/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/car-sharing-market-size-by-business-model-round-trip-one-way-by-application-business-private-industry-analysis-report-regional-outlook-u-s-canada-germany-uk-france-turkey-russia-china-india-japan-south-korea-brazil-mexico-growth-potential-price-trends-competitive-market-share-forecast-2016-2024/?utm_source=RR-PSR https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/blog MarketStudyReport.com Adds New Mobility on Demand Market 2018 2024 research report providing information and data By Service, By Business Model, By Application, Industry Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast spreading across 400 Pages with table and figures in it.Mobility on Demand Market Research Report for the period of 2018-2024 that shows the growth of the market is rising at a 10% CAGR to 2024.Mobility on Demand Market is projected to surpass USD 200 billion by 2024. The development of travel & tourism industry is expected to be one of the major drivers of the industry. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, in 2016, the direct contribution of this sector to GDP was USD 2,306.0 billion, that is approximately 3.1% of the total GDP. Transport forms a vital component of the travel industry for the sustainable growth of the sector. Using mobile technologies, travelers are seeking more freedom of movement, demanding advanced mobility solutions such as car rental services and positively impacting the mobility on demand market.Furthermore, several tourism & hospitality companies are offering services such as car rental and ride-hailing. For instance, Active African Vacations Ltd. has partnered with Self Drive Uganda to provide car rental services to the tourists.Request a sample of this premium report at:The smart cities initiatives by the governments of various countries including the U.S., Spain, Ireland, India, Singapore, and Sweden are expected to speed up the mobility on demand market expansion. The governments are providing incentives to the people to share rides while commuting and converting the existing public fleet of vehicles to electric vehicles. For instance, under the smart city project, the Vienna Model Region is developing e-mobility on demand to integrate the transportation system with the e-car sharing model effectively.The legalization of ride-hailing services, such as Uber and Grab, by the government of Malaysia will drive the mobility on demand market growth in the region. The government of Malaysia has made amendments to the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (CVLB) Act and Land Public Transport Act to allow the ride-hailing operators to work as an intermediary. The intermediary business license will allow these operators to facilitate transactions and booking of these services.Growing concerns regarding the privacy and security of the customer data are expected to challenge the mobility on demand market growth. The penetration of smartphones and increasing internet usage is encouraging the users to use applications that open loopholes for cyber threats.The mobility on demand market in business applications is poised to grow at a significant pace as these services help the corporate organizations to reduce the dependency on private fleets. Also, these services allow the organizations to significantly reduce fleet-related costs and optimize the fleet management. Companies such as Omoove and Ubeeqo provide these services to the corporations that are tailored according to their specific requirements.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:The Germany mobility on demand market is expected to grow over the next six years due to the stringent regulations imposed on taxi drivers such as the obligation to operate taxi service and obligation to set rates. Increasing environmental consciousness and openness to innovations among the consumers are expected to drive industry growth. Several automobile companies in the country are entering the mobility on demand market to regain the declining positions due to the reduction in car ownership. For instance, BMW Group entered the industry by forming a subsidiary, DriveNow, which is a car sharing company.Some of the vendors in the mobility on demand market include Avis Budget Group, Hertz Corporation, Car2Go, Didi Chuxing, DriveNow GmbH & Co. KG, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. The industry is characterized by the presence of several global & regional players and common strategies adopted by the players include mergers & acquisitions and partnerships. For instance, in March 2018, Daimler AG acquired the European car sharing platform, Car2Go by acquiring a major share from Europcar, a car rental company. In March 2017, Fox Rent-A-Car announced the acquisition of cloud-based P2P car sharing platform, JustShareIt.Table of Content:Chapter 1 Methodology & ScopeChapter 2 Executive SummaryChapter 3 Mobility on Demand Industry InsightsChapter 4 Mobility on Demand Market, By ServiceChapter 5 Mobility on Demand Market, By ApplicationChapter 6 Mobility on Demand Market, By RegionChapter 7 Company ProfilesRelated Report:Car Sharing Market Size By Model (P2P, Station-Based, Free-Floating), By Business Model (Round Trip, One Way), By Application (Business, Private), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018 2024Car Sharing Market is projected to surpass USD 11 billion by 2024. Increasing initiatives by the government to increase the usage of these services are expected to be one of the major factors driving the car sharing market growth. In July 2017, the ministry of transport of China drafted a policy to provide incentives to the users of these services, such as preferential parking slots & rates. Increasing government support is encouraging the implementation of these services with the traditional transportation modes.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Industry News: news.marketsizeforecasters.comBlog: Mobile Continuous Glucose Monitoring System Market Trend 2016 - 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11563 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11563 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Glucose is a form of sugar that is absorbed through food and is utilized by the body for producing energy. The body produces insulin to regulate glucose in the blood, however when the production of insulin in the body is hampered the glucose level in the blood becomes unregulated causing diabetes. Globally it has been witnessed that the disease burden of diabetes has been increasing at an accelerated rate during the past few decades. According to the WHOs 2014 estimates,nearly 422 million people have diabetes. Diabetes increases the risk of causing several complications in the body like heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, slow healing of wounds causing sepsis and leg amputations, nerve damage and vision loss, due to these severe risks, diabetic patients are required to monitor their blood glucose levels regularly.Request Sample Report@The traditional glucose monitoring techniques usually are make use of small incision on the finger to remove blood for screening the glucose level however diabetic patients may suffer from fluctuating glucose levels throughout the day and may require to inject insulin as the level of glucose in the blood increases, this requires continuous blood glucose monitoring systems. Continuous blood glucose monitoring systems are generally made up of two key components: a sensor that is placed under the skin which monitor the glucose levels and a transmitter which sends the data to a display device which may be smart phones of personal computers. These systems enable the patients or doctors to access blood glucose data constantly and even remotely.The increasing incidence and prevalence rate of diabetes is mainly expected to boost the demand for continuous glucose monitoring systems. According to WHO the prevalence rate of diabetes has almost doubled in past few decades and is estimated to account up to nearly 8.5% of the global adult population.The increasing number of diabetic patients are expected to increase demand for continuous glucose monitoring systems. In recent years the internet and smartphone penetration has increased rapidly in the emerging countries like China, India and Latin American Countries, which is making it easier for the medical device manufacturers to introduce personal healthcare products based on the internet platform that can be easily accessed by the patients via smartphones.Technological developments like integration of smart watches into continuous glucose monitoring systems by companies like Apple, Inc. and others trying for the same is expected to increase the adoption rate of the continuous glucose monitoring systems and boost the overall demand for continuous glucose monitoring systems market. Moreover companies like Dexcom, Inc. are trying to manufacture products with capability of transmitting data to other devices and systems like integration of data into EMR (Electronic Medical Records) which is expected to significantly boost mobile continuous glucose monitoring system market.However the stringent regulatory policies like PMA (Premarket Approval) from FDA may decelerate the entry of new technology in the mobile continuous monitoring system market. Also the price of continuous glucose monitoring systems are comparatively higher than the conventional glucose monitoring devices which in turn is expected to hamper continuous glucose monitoring system market. Some other factors restraining the market growth are weak reimbursement policies, fierce competition among existing players and entry of several new players in the continuous mobile glucose monitoring system market.The mobile continuous glucose monitoring systems market in segment into following typesBy Product TypeDeviceSensorTransmitterDisplaySoftwareMobile ApplicationsBy Distribution ChannelRetail PharmaciesOnline PharmaciesBy TechnologyInvasiveNon-invasive (Exfoliation)As the diabetic patient pool is increasing rapidly the mobile continuous glucose monitoring systems market is expected to witness healthy CAGR over the forecast period.Geographically, mobile continuous glucose monitoring systems market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East and Africa (MEA). Geographically North America and Europe are expected to be the leading markets for mobile continuous glucose monitoring systems. Several companies have established distribution network in the U.S. and Europe which is expected to boost the growth of mobile continuous glucose monitoring systems market. Also the Medicare provides coverage for several mobile continuous glucose systems in the U.S.which in turn is expected to increase adoption rate of the continuous mobile monitoring systems. Asia Pacific is expected to be next promising market for the mobile continuous glucose monitoring systems due to high diabetic population and increasing per capita healthcare spending. China and India are some of the leading countries in prevalence rate of diabetes also companies gain operational leverage due to low labor and raw materials cost in these countries which is expected to significantly boost the mobile continuous glucose monitoring systems market in this region.Request Report for TOC @Latin America is expected to be next key market after APAC due to due to increasing adoption rate of the mobile continuous glucose monitoring systems mainly due to strong promotional and distribution strategies of the manufacturers. MEA region is expected to follow up after Latin America due to increasing standards in healthcare and rising incidence of diabetes.Some key players in the mobile continuous glucose monitoring systems market are Dexcom, Inc., Insulet Corporation, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Panasonic Healthcare Corporation, Echo Therapeutics, Inc., Medtronic, LifeScan, Inc. Roche Diagnostics, Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. and GlySens Incorporated.About USTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Data Center Rack & Enclosure Market Outlook 2024 - Schneider Electric SE, Oracle Corporation, Legrand, IBM Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, Eaton Corporation, Dell https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1130979/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/1130979/ https://businessinvestor24.com/author/partha@marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/data-center-infrastructure-market/?utm_source=RR-PSR https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/blog MarketStudyReport.com Adds New Data Center Rack & Enclosure Market 2018 2024 research report providing information and data By Component, By Application, Industry Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast spreading across 320 Pages with table and figures in it.Data Center Rack & Enclosure Market Research Report for the period of 2018-2024 that shows the growth of the market is rising at a 10% CAGR to 2024.Data Center Rack & Enclosure Market is anticipated to surpass USD 5 billion by 2024. This growth can be credited to the rise in the adoption of cloud computing and IoT technology. The growing need and requirement for IoT technology in networking and connectivity include big data generation, transmission, and storage, which require mega or hyperscale data centers. The networking components and solutions need to be placed and located in proper racks and should be safe and secured from external disturbances such as water sources and electrical effects. To secure the infrastructure from the external effects, they are protected by placing in the cabinets. These cabinets provide several advantages such as security, wiring, cable managing, and stability, thereby driving the demand for the data center rack & enclosure market.Request a sample of this premium report at:Growing deployment of the infrastructure across the several regions is driving the demand for the data center rack & enclosure market. The industry is witnessing a growing requirement for cabinets that can hold the electrical equipment and the connecting devices. These facilities are expanding with the growing amount of data generation and storage requirements. To combat this demand, companies operating in the data center rack & enclosure market are developing racks with the maximum height, width, and depth. For instance, Microsoft Corporation developed a custom rack design that consists of 57 rack units and is utilized in housing or holding several components of mega or hyperscale facilities. In addition, in November 2017, Schneider Electric SA announced the launch of HyperPod, a cabinet that has been designed to implement IT infrastructure in increments of eight to 12 racks. Such initiatives from several companies are providing an impetus to the data center rack & enclosure market growth.In the data center rack & enclosure market, hardware solutions accounted for the majority of the industry share. The need for heat and cable management in mega or hyperscale facilities is increasing the demand for effective and efficient cooling systems that require innovative solutions, which will account for the proper airflow management. Corridors in these racks provide a mix of hot and cold air, which secure it from short circuits. The solution to this problem is providing doors, blank panels, thermal seals, and plinth that allow the proper flow of cold air in the systems and equipment.Growing demand for the infrastructure in the IT & telecom sector is driving the data center rack & enclosure market. The need to store a large amount of data generated and transmitted is creating a high demand and requirement for the storage centers. The storage systems vary in size depending on the workflow and data storage in the industry. With increasing adoption of IoT for various processes in the IT & telecom sector, the data center rack & enclosure market is anticipated to witness a high growth. IoT deployments will generate large amounts of data that need to be processed and analyzed in real time. As network connections are spread out across a large geographical and virtual space, the demand for cabinets will witness an exponential rise, driving the data center rack & enclosure market growth.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:In 2017, Europe accounted for over 28% of the data center rack & enclosure market. Growing demand and importance of the infrastructure for networking and data storage in this region has forced the companies to develop several innovative facilities that will benefit the rack providers by generating high availability and providing technological advancements in their offerings, which will best suit the demand of the consumers. Several technological advancements by the manufacturers, such as enhanced cooling system, airflow management, sophisticated connectivity, and high security in data center rack & enclosure market, have revolutionized the industry and requirements of customers.Key players operating in data center rack & enclosure market include Fujitsu Ltd., Vertiv Co., Schneider Electric SE, Oracle Corporation, Legrand, IBM Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, Eaton Corporation, Dell, Inc., Delta Power Solutions, Dataracks, Conteg, AFCO Systems, Rittal Corp., Tripp Lite, and Pentair, Inc., among others. These players are competing based on the requirements of the consumers for data transmission and storage capacity.They are developing new cabinets, which can hold several networking equipment by increasing the rack unit size. Airflow management and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are the techniques, which are monitored by these manufacturers for improving the cooling features of the enclosures. The several strategies adopted in the data center rack & enclosure market include new product development and product differentiation to differentiate their offerings from customers.Table of Content:Chapter 1 Methodology & ScopeChapter 2 Executive SummaryChapter 3 Data Center Rack & Enclosure Industry InsightsChapter 4 Data Center Rack & Enclosure Market, By ComponentChapter 5 Data Center Rack & Enclosure Market, By ApplicationChapter 6 Data Center Rack & Enclosure Market, By RegionChapter 7 Company ProfilesChapter 8. Consumer ProfilesMore Report At:Related Report:Data Center Infrastructure Market Size By Product (Cooling, Power, UPS, IT Racks & Enclosures, LV/MV Distribution, Networking Equipment, DCIM), By Component (Hardware, Software, Services), By Application (BFSI, Colocation, Energy, Government, Healthcare, Manufacturing, IT & Telecom), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018 - 2024Data Center Infrastructure market is expected to exceed USD 90 billion by 2024. The growth can be attributed to the rising trend of cloud computing and virtualization. The rise in the demand for cloud storage has resulted in a global increase in the number of data centers. The growing reliance of end users on online transactions has led to a fast rise in the amount of data generated, driving the data center infrastructure market.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Industry News: news.marketsizeforecasters.comBlog: Microgrid as a Service Market 2018 Global Leaders Analysis: ABB, General, Siemens, Eaton, Schneider, Duke, Northern, Exelon, NRG, Spirae https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1874 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/microgrid-as-a-service-market-1874 Key PlayersThe prominent players in the market of Microgrid as a service are- ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), General Electric (U.S.), Siemens AG (Germany), Eaton Corp. PLC (Ireland), Schneider Electric SE (France), Duke Energy Corporation (U.S.), Northern Power Systems Corp. (U.S.) Exelon Corp. (U.S.), NRG Energy, Inc. (U.S.), Spirae, Inc. (U.S.) among others.Get Sample of Report @Market Scenario:Microgrid as a Service (MaaS) is a cloud based service which enables third party to produce and manage the electricity. Microgrids efficiently creates a plan for managing the local energy generation and delivery avoiding disruption in power. It majorly focuses on the distribution, generation, and energy storage from renewable sources thereby managing the demand for electricity. Also, it offers an affordable solution reaching at remote locations offering a platform to various industry verticals including residential, utilities, and commercials to produce and manage the own electricity. Recently, in March 2015, SolarCity Corporation launched Microgrid as a Service solution named Gridlogic which offers electricity to communities at an affordable rate with advance power backup for emergency services. The factors driving the growth of Microgrid as a Service is due to increasing demand for monitoring, control, and optimization of distributed energy. Also, demand from remote locations for microgrids which supports regular and controllable clean energy is expected to drive the growth of MaaS market.Hence, the market for Microgrid as a service (MaaS) is expected to grow at ~16% CAGR (2016-2022).However, the technical difficulties, adaptability in integrating new energy resources due to the large grid infrastructure are the main restraining factors for Microgrid as a Service Market.Study Objectives of Microgrid as a service Market:To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global Microgrid as a service MarketTo provide insights about factors affecting the market growthTo analyze the Microgrid as a service market based on various factors- supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc.To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW)To provide country level analysis of the Market with respect to the current market size and future prospectiveTo provide country level analysis of the Market for segment by Grid type, Service Type, Industry and sub-segments.To provide strategic profiling of key players in the Market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the marketTo track and analyze competitive developments such as Joint Ventures, Strategic Alliances, Mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Microgrid as a service Market.Segments:Global Microgrid as a service Market has been segmented on the Basis of Grid type, Service type, and industry. Grid Type has been identified as Grid connected and remote/Islanded. Services Type are Software as a Service, Monitoring & Control Service, and Operation & Maintenance Service while Industry includes Manufacturing, Residential & Commercial, Military, and Utility.Get complete Report @Regional Analysis:Asia-Pacific is dominating the market of Microgrid as a service Market due to the increasing rural electrification programs by developing countries such as china, japan and India. The rising demand of renewal energy for electricity generation in is also supporting the Microgrid as a service market in this region. North America is showing major growth in Microgrid as a service Market are increased production rates, high quality power, and safe industrial operations. The United States Department of Energy is also encouraging the development and deployment of Microgrids. Europe is expected to register healthy growth in the Microgrid as a service Market due to the increasing requirement of improved electricity infrastructure and government initiates for renewal energy.Intended AudienceMicrogrid system and service providersSmart grid software developersSolar photovoltaic companiesGovernment organizationsEducation and research organizationsUtility Service providesAbout Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Waterproofing Admixture Market Set Explosive Growth to 2022 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/315 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/waterproofing-admixture-market-315 Waterproofing admixture reduces the permeability of concrete hence making it waterproof. Waterproofing admixture consists of water-repellent or hydrophobic chemicals that are derived from soaps, vegetable oils, fatty acids and petroleum. These materials when mixed with concrete form a water-repellent layer alongside pores in the concrete, thus increasing the water resistance. Integral waterproofing offers various advantages increased durability during backfill, resistance to delamination, and decomposition. The demand for waterproofing admixtures is from new construction and also from maintenance and repair activities.As compared to the conventional waterproofing systems, crystalline waterproofing admixture offer various advantages such as easy handling and transportation, easy use in powdered or crystalline form and comparatively cheap. Waterproofing admixtures have various applications such as foundations, water tanks, underground vaults, sewage and water treatment plants, water reservoirs, precast components, secondary containment structures, tunnel and subway systems, parking structures and swimming pools. High versatility and wide application of the product creates a highly conducive environment for growth of the waterproofing admixture market.Request for Sample Copy of this Report :Crystalline waterproofing admixtures are hydrophilic in nature and occur in a dry and powdered form. Crystalline systems prevent concrete damage by using available water to grow crystals within concrete, effectually closing off conduits for moisture. Crystalline waterproofing admixtures block water from all directions making the concrete itself a water barrier. On demolition the concrete can be recycled completely as no VOCs are used in manufacturing. Hydrophobic admixtures are available in liquid form and contain oil, stearates, hydrocarbons, and other long-chain derivatives of fatty acids. Waterproofing admixtures provide various advantages such as reduced penetration of water and other liquids, sealing against hairline cracks, resistance for positive and negative side hydrostatic pressure, and protection against industrial and sewage wastes. Crystalline admixtures are self-healing that enables them to automatically seal cracks of concrete structures up to half a millimeter wide. This makes admixtures valuable on large concrete pours, as waterproofing of cold joints is facilitated with no additional treatment.Waterproofing Admixture Market Outlook Increasing Demand for Durable and Waterproof Materials Expected to Boost DemandIncreasing demand for waterproof products in the construction industry is one of the major factors boosting the growth of waterproofing admixture market. Asia Pacific is one of the major contributors in the market. This mainly attributed to the rapidly growing urbanization and modern infrastructural needs in the emerging economies such as India and China in the region. In 2016, the construction industry in China exhibited a growth of 17% which was greater than 5% as compared to 2015. According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF)part of the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of Indiathe Indian construction industry is expected to grow to US$ 5 billion by 2022. From April 2000 to March 2016 the infrastructure and construction development in India received foreign direct investment valued at US$ 25.19 billion. This trend is expected to be followed over the forecast period (20162024).High initial price is one of the restraining factors for the waterproofing admixture market globally. Mergers and acquisitions, developing innovative portfolio are some of the key strategies adopted by the top players in the global waterproofing admixture industry. BASF has developed new admixture sureTEC (Super Retention Technology) that enables concrete manufacturers to gain control over workability between the batching manufacturing plant and the engagement site for more than two hours in hot weather. In 2016, BASF signed an agreement with Henkel to acquire Henkels Western European business of waterproofing and tiling. Some of the companies operating in the global waterproofing admixture market are Dow Corning Corporation, Mapei S.p.A, RPM International, Sika A.G., BASF SE, W.R. Grace, Wacker Chemie A.G, Xypex Chemical Corporation, Fosroc International, Evonik A.G., and Pidilite Industries.For More Information :About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Genomic Medicine Market Detailed Analytical Overview by 2016 - 2026 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11323 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11323 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com The National Human Genome Research Institute defines genomic medicine as "an emerging medical discipline that involves using genomic information about an individual as part of their clinical care (e.g., for diagnostic or therapeutic decision-making) and the health outcomes and policy implications of that clinical use."Genomic medicine is a type of precision medicine in which genomics, epigenomics and other related data is used to accurately aid in individual disease diagnosis. Genomic medicine has novel applications in the fields of oncology, pharmacology, rare and undiagnosed diseases, and infectious disease. Genomic medicine paves way for personalized medicine into clinics and has immense potential to reach the physicians and patients. Genomic medicine has been used for advanced sequencing in cancer pharmacogenomics, rare disorder diagnosis and for tracking of outbreaks of infectious diseases.Request Sample Report@Genomic Medicine Market: Drivers & RestraintsBacked by government investments in precision medicine initiatives such as a multimillion dollar investment by President Obama in January 2015 which aims to improve how to treat and prevent a disease by laying emphasis on its genetic makeup is expected to boost the market growth. Clinical validity and utility of genomic medicine tests is a major issue witnessed in the global market. Also, lack of awareness among healthcare professionals, sluggish adoption of genome medicine, fluctuating regulatory landscape are the factors which could hamper growth of the global genomic medicine market.Genomic Medicine Market: SegmentationThe global genomic medicine market is classified on the basis of application type, end use and region.Based on application, the global genomic medicine market is segmented into the following:OncologyCardiologyPediatricsEndocrinologyRespiratory MedicineRare Genetic DisordersInfectious DiseasesOther ApplicationsBased on end use, the global genomic medicine market is segmented into the following:HospitalsClinicsAcademic InstitutionsResearch InstitutionsGenomic Medicine Market: OverviewGenomic medicine is gaining momentum with expanding applications ranging from risk assessment and diagnosis in healthy individuals to genome-based treatment for patients with complicated disorders. Oncology is a major application of genomics medicine during cancer screening process as diagnostics for genetic and genomic markers. Oncology segment is expected to account for a major share in the global genomic medicine market. Genomic medicine is increasingly being used not only for research purpose but also in clinical applications. In clinical applications, genomic medicine will potentially enhance patient care.Genomic Medicine Market: Region wise OverviewGeographically, global Genomic Medicine market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Middle East and Africa (MEA). Owing to the presence of large number of academic as well as research institutions in the U.S. which are working on genomic medicine to discover next-generation genomic medicines, North America region is projected to lead the global genomic market in terms of value during the forecast period. Also, the presence of several universities offering educational programs coupled with opportunities in scientific research of genomic medicine in the North America and Europe is expected to have positive impact on the regional markets. The genomic medicine concept still in its nascent stage is yet to receive an impetus from the emerging market which are anticipated to hold smaller shares in the global market.Request Report for TOC @Genomic Medicine Market: Key PlayersThe key research institutes in global genomic medicine market are BioMed Central Ltd., Cleveland Clinic, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, The Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, Center for Genomic Medicine to name a few. The focus of the top players will be on the identification of effective drug candidates particularly in cancer treatment based on the molecular structure of tumors.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Cyazofamid Market Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2018-2026 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/sample/143636 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/discount/143636 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/market-insights/cyazofamid-market https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com https://www.industrychronicle.com Worldwide Market Reports added Latest Research Report titled Cyazofamid Market Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2018-2026 to its Large Report database.Cyazofamid is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)approved common name for 4-chloro-2-cyano-N, N-dimethyl-5-p-tolylimidazole-1-sulfonamide. It belongs to the chemical class Cyanoimidazole and is used in production of pesticides. It is used for preventing diseases caused by oomycete fungi. Cyazofamid has biochemical mode of action, which operates by inhibiting any stage of fungal development. Furthermore, it has limited systemic activity, which makes it protectant fungicide to be applied by ground or aerial spray. The product controls early and late blight on tomatoes and potatoes and downy mildew on cucurbit vegetables.Request for Sample Copy of Research Report:It was first produced and developed by ISK Biosciences Corporation Concord, Ohio in the U.S. According to ISK Biosciences Corporation registered manufacturing, end-use product of the chemical is Ranman 400SC, which is a suspension concentrate with 34.5% active ingredient. Ranman provides good to very good control of downy mildew with protectant, antisporulant, and perhaps limited post-infection activity, with high risk of disease resistance development. It represents a new class of chemistry for use in grapes. For better results, it should be used in a rotational program with other downy mildew fungicides. Increasing incidences of fungal diseases on crops such as tomato, carrot, potato, lettuce, cucurbit, and peas is driving growth of the global cyazofamid market, owing its efficiency in preventing fungal crop diseases.According to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), technical grade cyazofamid has acute to moderate toxicity in oral, dermal, and inhalation tests. It can cause eye and skin irritation, leading to several allergies. This toxic nature of the chemical used in pesticides is estimated to be a major factor restraining growth of global cyazofamid market, as it possess severe health risk. Also, according to EPA, cyazofamid may be carcinogenic, as indicated in the rat and the mouse carcinogenicity studies. It is classified as not likely to be carcinogenic to humans based on the lack of evidence of carcinogenicity in both rats and mouse.Request for Discount @Cyazofamid has applications in downy mildew, oomycetes diseases, and others. North America is leading region in the global cyazofamid market, followed by Asia Pacific due to presence of major manufacturers in this region. Manufacturers operating in global cyazofamid market include Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha and Rudong Zhongyi.Browse more detail information about Cyazofamid Market Report at :** If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About WMRWorldwide Market Reports is your one-stop repository of detailed and in-depth market research reports compiled by an extensive list of publishers from across the globe. We offer reports across virtually all domains and an exhaustive list of sub-domains under the sun. The in-depth market analysis by some of the most vastly experienced analysts provide our diverse range of clients from across all industries with vital decision making insights to plan and align their market strategies in line with current market trends. Worldwide Market Researchs well-researched inputs that encompass domains ranging from IT to healthcare enable our prized clients to capitalize upon key growth opportunities and shield against credible threats prevalent in the market in the current scenario and those expected in the near future.Contact Us:Mr. ShahWorldwide Market Reports1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154,U.STel: +1 415 871 0703Email:sales@worldwidemarketreports.comVisit our website for more details:Visit our new website for latest News: Telepsychiatry Market Outlook 2023- American Telepsychiatrists, Iris Telehealth, JSA Health, Advanced Telemed Services, FasPsych, Genoa, Encounter Telehealth https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1153355/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/1153355/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/2018-2023-global-telepsychiatry-market-report-status-and-outlook/?utm_source=RR-PSR https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/blog MarketStudyReport.com present the report on Global Telepsychiatry Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, forecast to 2023 evaluates the growth trends of the industry through historical study and estimates future prospects based on comprehensive research. The report extensively provides the market share, growth, trends and forecasts for the period 2018-2023.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the global Telepsychiatry market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.The global Telepsychiatry market is valued at 72 million in 2017 and is expected to reach 200 million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of 23.0% between 2017 and 2023.Telepsychiatry is a branch of telemedicine defined by the electronic delivery of psychiatric services to patients. This typically includes providing psychiatric assessments, therapeutic services, and medication management via telecommunication technology, most commonly videoconferencing.Request Sample of this premium report at:By leveraging the power of technology, telepsychiatry makes behavioral healthcare more accessible to patients, rather than patients having to overcome barriers, like time and cost of travel, to access the care they need. Forensic telepsychiatry is the use of a remote psychiatrist or nurse practitioner for psychiatry in a prison or correctional facility, including psychiatric assessment, medication consultation, suicide watch, pre-parole evaluations and more. Telepsychiatry can deliver significant cost savings to correctional facilities by eliminating the need for prisoners to be escorted to off-site appointments and psychiatric interventions.The US is the largest telepsychiatry market at present; followed by the EU this is because they have the required technology in place already and also the required funding from the government or private sector. Given the right reimbursement environment, telepsychiatry has the potential to expand exponentially. Once the financial incentives are properly aligned to maximize population level health outcomes, telepsychiatry will undoubtedly flourish.At present, the market is developing rapidly and the key players include InSight Telepsychiatry, American Telepsychiatrists, Iris Telehealth, JSA Health, Advanced Telemed Services, FasPsych, Genoa, Encounter Telehealth, Arcadian Telepsychiatry, InnovaTel and etc.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers:InSight Telepsychiatry, American Telepsychiatrists, Iris Telehealth, JSA Health, Advanced Telemed Services, FasPsych, Genoa, Encounter Telehealth, Arcadian Telepsychiatry, InnovaTel.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Southeast Asia regions.North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Telepsychiatry.Europe also play important roles in global market, with market size of xx million in 2017 and will be xx million in 2023, with a CAGR of xx%.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa).Market Segment by Type, covers:Routine TelepsychiatryForensic TelepsychiatryCrisis TelepsychiatryIn-home TelepsychiatryMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into:AdultsTeenagersGeriatric PopulationsRelated Report:2018-2023 Global Telepsychiatry Market Report (Status and Outlook)The Report studies the present scenario (with the base year being 2017) and the growth prospects of global Telepsychiatry market for 2018-2023.Telepsychiatry will register a 23.0% CAGR in terms of revenue, reach US$ 200 million by 2023, from US$ 72 million in 2017.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog:Industry News: news.marketsizeforecasters.com Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) Market predicts rise in demand by 2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/327 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/polyphenylene-sulfide-pps-market-327 Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) is a semi-crystalline, high temperature engineering plastic, which is widely accepted across various industries for its remarkable features such as high mechanical strength, high temperature and chemical resistance. These properties of PPS make it an appropriate alternative of choice for various metals and thermosets. The demand for PPS has significantly increased in across applications such as automotive components, filter bag in coal boilers, and electrical & electronic products. Polyphenylene sulfide or PPS can be bought in diverse forms and grades, including fibers, films, coatings, filaments and compounds. Unfilled PPS resin holds the ability to be melt spun as well as melt blown, so as to offer fabrics and fibers that have applications in flame-resistant clothing, filtration media and conveyor belts. Various reinforcing materials such as glass fibers help in reinforcing polyphenylene sulfide to enhance its thermal and mechanical properties. PPS is generally applied in injection molding processes and can even be turned into films and coatings. These versatile properties make PPS a preferred choice for diverse applications across various industries.Request for Sample Copy of this Report :Key players focusing on organic growth strategies to ensure sustainable growth in the polyphenylene sulfide marketVarious leading companies in the global polyphenylene sulfide market have been launching new products with more advanced features to increase the application area and in turn enhance market presence of the players. For instance, DIC introduced impact modified PPS, an elastomer-modified PPS, which possessed features such as elongation, improved strength, excellent performance even under high temperature and humidity, and low flash level. Apart from this, a few key companies are expanding their production facilities in order to cater to growing demand for PPS. For instance, in April 2014, Celanese Corporation, a specialty materials company, announced the expansion of its Nanjing, China manufacturing facility. The company added a new PPS compounding unit to the facility, which helps in replacement of thermo sets and metals in certain applications like aerospace, automotive and electronics. The PPS market is expected to witness increasing competition over the near future with emergence of various local players focusing on capitalizing on lucrative growth opportunities on offer in the market.Polyphenylene Sulfide Market Outlook Increased consumption of PPS in high-temperature applications driving market growthOwing to its properties such as superior performance, PPS finds wide application in high-temperature processes. This factor is projected to notably drive the market growth over the forecast period. Besides, the recyclable nature of PPS, along with its ability to increase fuel economy and cut emission levels, is expected to further increase its demand, globally. The products wide usage in different automotive components, such as transmission components, switches, coolant systems, and pistons, is also likely to drive the global polyphenylene sulfide market growth in the near future.Asia-Pacific market for polyphenylene sulfide is expected to witness the fastest growth, during 2016-2024. This growth can be owed to increased demand from emerging markets in the region, including India and China. On the contrary, factors such as easy availability of substitutes, such as PEEK and PEI, and price volatility of raw materials are projected to inhibit global market growth over the near future.The key players operating in the global polyphenylene sulfide market are Tosoh Corp., DIC Corp., Toray Industries Inc., Kureha Corp., Solvay SA, China Lumena New Materials Corp., Lion Idemitsu Composites Co. Ltd., FORTRAN Industries LLC, Initz Co. Ltd. and Zhejiang NHU Special Materials, among others.For More Information :About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Nanoencapsulation for Food Products Market Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2018-2026 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/sample/193214 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/discount/193214 https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/market-insights/nanoencapsulation-for-food-products-market https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com https://www.industrychronicle.com Worldwide Market Reports added Latest Research Report titled Nanoencapsulation for Food Products Market Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2018-2026 to its Large Report database.Nanoencapsulation is a process of coating of various substances within another material at sizes on the nano scale. The protection and controlled release of bioactive compounds at the right time and the right place can be implemented by encapsulation. Particle encapsulation has applications in the food industry, which encapsulates particles in a protective layer, covering, or containment material to protect a sensitive ingredient or nucleus from adverse reactions. This consists of encapsulating small particle cores in a protective layer to preserve organoleptic and physico-chemical properties of the original products. Also, it improves the palatability of volatile odorous ingredients.Request for Sample Copy of Research Report:Increasing advances in food industry in order to increase shelf life of food using Nanoencapsulation technology is a major factor driving growth of the nanoencapsulation for food products market. Nanoencapsulation of bioactive compounds in food products has various advantages for targeted site-specific delivery and efficient absorption through cells, which is fueling growth of the nanoencapsulation for food products market. However, researches in the application of nanotechnology in the food industry is limited, as only a few studies have explored the nanoencapsulation technology, which is restraining growth of the nanoencapsulation for food products market.Request for Discount @Key Developments of Nanoencapsulation for Food Products MarketMarket players are engaged in developing food grade structures at nanoscale to improve safety and quality of foods. Development of innovative food products with unique properties can is providing opportunity for growth of the nanoencapsulation for food products market. For instance, in April 2018,according to scientific study, industrialists, scientists, and researchers are focused on meeting the needs of food industry with the help of nanotechnology; examining their effects on nutrition level, efficient nutritional delivery, longer shelf life, and good mechanical properties. Furthermore, recent developments in nanoencapsulation include providing safe therapeutics to patients, protect active ingredients during drug delivery, increase bioavailability of drugs, and development of stable functional food. Market players have opportunities in use of biodegradable carriers such as chitosan and starch in the pharmaceutical sector, flavor and fragrance masking in the food & beverage sectors, and cosmetic textiles and transdermal delivery in the personal care sectors. Major players operating in nanoencapsulation for food products market include Aquanova AG, Frutarom Industries Ltd, Southwest Research Institute, and Thies Technology.Browse more detail information about Nanoencapsulation for Food Products Market Report at:** If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About WMRWorldwide Market Reports is your one-stop repository of detailed and in-depth market research reports compiled by an extensive list of publishers from across the globe. We offer reports across virtually all domains and an exhaustive list of sub-domains under the sun. The in-depth market analysis by some of the most vastly experienced analysts provide our diverse range of clients from across all industries with vital decision making insights to plan and align their market strategies in line with current market trends. Worldwide Market Researchs well-researched inputs that encompass domains ranging from IT to healthcare enable our prized clients to capitalize upon key growth opportunities and shield against credible threats prevalent in the market in the current scenario and those expected in the near future.Contact Us:Mr. ShahWorldwide Market Reports1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154,U.STel: +1 415 871 0703Email:sales@worldwidemarketreports.comVisit our website for more details:Visit our new website for latest News: Incontinence Products Market Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2016 - 2022 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/8935 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/8935 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Incontinence or Incontinent may refer to the involuntary excretion of bowel contents or urine. Difficulties with using the toilet, accidents and incontinence, can all be problems for people with dementia, particularly as the condition progresses. According to a report published by WHO, 5% to 7% of the worlds population is suffering from incontinence. These problems can be upsetting for people and for those around them. Today a variety of products are available in the market, which can provide practical solutions to those people suffering from such ailments. Some of these are Protective Underwear & Briefs, Pads & Liners, Overnight diapers, Tab Style Diapers, skin care products to name a few.Incontinence products are a part of personal care segment, which is growing at a faster pace. This is due to the rise in aging population, increasing awareness and acceptance of incontinence products. Product innovations to customize the products is also driving the incontinence care industry. The WHO report projects that in almost every country the proportion of people aged over 60 years is growing faster than any other age group, as a result of both longer life expectancy and declining fertility rates. Also the rise in the population of diabetic Mellitus patients worldwide provides a good platform for this market. However, there are some bigger challenges faced by this industry like the threat of alternates and substitutes and the threat from low-cost manufacturers.Request Sample Report@The incontinence products market can be segmented based on product type, into, external & internal. External products include; absorbent products, hand wash, gloves, body wash, barrier cream, repair cream, hand held urinals, bed pads, shampoo caps, whereas, internal products include; tampons, disposable urethral Inserts, pessaries. Based on raw material used- plastic, cotton fabric, super absorbents, cotton fiber, latex, others (water proof materials).In terms distributional channel, the market is segmented into institutional & homecare and retail trade. Out of which institutional & homecare is estimated to be the major end-users, accounting approximately 60% of the global market for incontinence products and the retail market owns remaining 40% of the market.Geographically, the incontinence products market is segmented into seven regions which are ; North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), and Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Japan. Among all the regions, Western Europe is the highest contributor in term of revenue in global incontinence products market followed by Asia Pacific, North America & it is expected that in near future, Asia Pacific is going to lead this market.Japan, having the highest proportion of elderly citizens could be a big market for this segment. The ever growing population of China will drive the demand for healthcare products, consequently resulting in the growth of the incontinence market in country. Saudi Arab, Kiribati, Kuwait, Bahrain are worlds leading diabetic prevalent nation. These countries also have a good market potential for incontinence products.Request Report for TOC @Some of the key players across the value chain dominating this market are Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA, Unicharm Corporation, HARTMANN GROUP, ONTEX International N.V., Hypermarcas SA, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, First Quality Enterprises Inc., Pro Descart Industria e Comercio Ltd, Coloplast A/S, C. R. Bard Inc., B. Braun Melsungen AG, Covidien plc and Medline Industries Inc, etc.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Automotive Radar Sensors Market to Observe Strong Development of 18.9% CAGR by 2026 | Global Key Players Autoliv, Continental, Delphi Automotive, DENSO, HELLA, InnoSenT, Robert Bosch GmbH Automotive Radar Sensors Market https://www.marketprognosis.com/sample-request/14125 https://www.marketprognosis.com/buyReport/14125 https://www.marketprognosis.com/enquiry/14125 https://marketprognosis.com Marketprognosis.com Publish a New Market Research Report On Automotive Radar Sensors - Global Market Outlook (2017-2026) which contains global key players survey information and forecast to 2026.Overview of the Global Automotive Radar Sensors Market:The Global Automotive radar sensors Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.9% during the forecast period. Increase in number of RADAR sensors used per vehicle, rising government regulations for vehicle safety and increase in adoption of ADAS technology by OEMS and increased demand for premium segment vehicles are some of the key driving factors. However, the high cost of radar sensors and the corresponding technology is one of the key restraints of the market.Automotive radars are driver assistance systems that use sensors to detect the speed and range of objects in proximity of the vehicle. It is a core sensor (range, speed) of driver assistance systems: long range (LRR) for Adaptive Cruise Control, medium range (MRR) for cross traffic alert and lane change assist, short-range (SRR) for parking aid, obstacle/pedestrian detection. A key component of ADAS is radar systems that constantly sense the distance between vehicles in real-time, improving driving efficiency and safety.Get a Sample Copy of this Report @Based on Application, Intelligent Parking Assistant segment is held significant during the growth of the forecast period. Vehicle equipped with the intelligent parking assist system(IPAS) in-dash screen and button controls, the car can steer itself into a parking space with little input from the user. It has several outstanding characteristics, such as intelligent prompts for parking dynamic track, reading the data of original parking, giving reference to the car exact position itself.Regionally, North America estimated to be the largest market, by value, for automotive radar systems owing to the safety regulations in the region. Increased awareness towards safety features has also fueled the demand in the region.Purchase this report online with 176 Pages, Top Key Players Analysis and List of Tables & Figure @Major Key Players:1 Autoliv2 Continental3 Delphi Automotive4 DENSO5 HELLA6 InnoSenT7 NXP Semiconductors8 Robert Bosch and More.Market Segment by Ranges:1 Long range (77 GHz)2 Medium range (76-77 GHz)3 Short range (24 GHz)Market Segment by Vehicles:1 Commercial Vehicle2 Economic Passenger Vehicle3 Luxury Passenger Vehicle4 Mid-Priced Passenger VehicleAny Query? Ask to our Expert @This study answers to the below key questions:1 What will the market size be in 2026 and what will the growth rate be?2 What are the key market trends?3 What is driving this market?4 What are the challenges to market growth?5 Who are the key vendors in this market space?6 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?7 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?In the end, this report covers data and information on capacity and production overview, production, market share analysis, sales overview, supply, sales, and shortage, import, export and consumption as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin of Automotive Radar Sensors Market.About us:We at Market Prognosis believe in giving a crystal clear view of market dynamics for achieving success in todays complex and competitive marketplace through our quantitative & qualitative research methods.We help our clients identify the best market insights and analysis required for their business thus enabling them to take strategic and intelligent decision.We believe in delivering actionable insights for your business growth and success.Contact us:Market PrognosisPlot. No: 435, Sadanand Chs, B-Cabin Road,Ambernath (E). 421501India.sales@marketprognosis.com+1 973 241 5193 Content Security Market Plying for Significant Growth During 2017-2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/21412 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/21412 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Content Security market is improving at a progressive growth rate due to increasing need for securing data being accessed by various users. The demand for content security is also increasing due to rising issues of data hacking and unauthorized access to confidential content. Moreover with the introduction of Digital Rights Management solutions the awareness of content security has increased. Digital Rights Management helps in determining how content can be used or shared or which device can be used to access data and other. Another factor which has increased the usage of content security policy is the increasing piracy issues. There has been many cases wherein due to piracy publishers and movies producers have to bear million dollar loss. This has encouraged the authorities to introduce new laws for protection of copyrighted materials.Content Security includes content security policy which is a security standard which has been introduced to prevent cross site scripting and to reduce content injection attacks. This security standard restricts the sources of content uploaded by the user and allow only site operators. This Content security policy help users to provide security from various attacks by increasing difficulties for attackers to inject data or exfiltration of data.Request Sample Report @Content Security Market: Drivers and ChallengesThe major factor driving the adoption of Content Security is the advantages of this content security policy such as restricting the domains from which content can be loaded, the server can specify which protocols are allowed to be used. A server can specify that all content must be loaded using HTTPS. A complete data transmission security strategy includes not only enforcing HTTPS for data transfer, but also marking all cookies with the secure flag and providing automatic redirects from HTTP pages to their HTTPS counterparts.CSP appears to have a rather limited deployment as yet and, more crucially, existing policies exhibit a number of weaknesses and misconfiguration errors. Moreover, content security policies are not regularly updated to ban insecure practices and remove unintended security violations. We argue that many of these problems can be fixed by better exploiting the monitoring facilities of CSP, while other issues deserve additional research, being more rooted into the CSP design.Content Security Market: SegmentationContent Security can be segmented on the basis of solutions such as anti-malware, DLP, Encryption, Messaging security and web security.Content Security can also be segmented on the basis of its end-users such as small businesses, medium businesses and large businesses.Competition DashboardRecent DevelopmentIn March, 2017GigaTrust a content security provider has launched anyone-to-anyone content security cloud service. This will help GigaCloud to providers secure email and document collaboration services anytime, anywhere, on virtually any device and any platform with real-time data analytics, reporting and administrative toolsSeptember 2016, Google has launched developer tools, CSP Evaluator and CSP Mitigator by shoring up web application defenses to make it harder to execute those malicious scripts. The new tools help developers craft and deploy strict Content Security Policy rules, which defines what content should and can be loaded by a browser, to restrict scripts allowed to execute on the page.Request to View TOC @Key PlayersIn Content Security market there are many players some of them are Google, Cartesian, Cyberroam, MDN, Xerox, PRONET S.A. and others.ABOUT US:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.CONTACT:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: CiMi.CON Evolution USA Transforming Intelligence into business value http://competitive-intelligence.us/ Interesting to meet all players of CI, fruitful discussions and space for socializing thats what European attendees loved about this years CiMi.CON in Berlin.After this ongoing success in Europe, the leading platform on Corporate Intelligence is now moving to North America. The CiMi.CON Evolution USA 2018 is a two-day conference that combines an insightful programme about the practical value and impact of CI with interactive networking sessions.Keynote speaker Roger Yoder (NetApp) and Matthew Bocian (Continental) share their experiences on Competitive and Market Intelligence. 150+ experts and decision-makers from across all sectors discuss real-world use cases for business development and innovation & growth strategies.Key Topics Transforming Competitive and Market Intelligence into Business Value: Smart strategies to proof your value and to show that CMI matters Competitive and Market Intelligence in the Digital Era Monitoring and analyzing new competitive disruptions: How can competitive intelligence cope with completely changing landscapes? Competitive Intelligence and Big Data: Implementing an infrastructure that makes data analysis possible Stakeholder Management: How to set up and lead an effective and successful CI-unit for a global company? Rethinking the technology strategy for efficient CMI: Determine which new technologies and methods will drive intelligence forward to the next stage of development Competitive and Market Intelligence as crucial fuel for Innovation: Is innovation possible without CMI? Assess the market potential for new growth areas: Decide which pain points and opportunities you should focus on nowWhats in for you?By being part of the CiMi.CON Evolution USA not only will you engage with your peers and possible future business partners, but you will also: Gain an insight on how to develop and integrate a full-scale CI unit in your enterprise. Find efficient solutions to your most pressing challenges. Take away tips and tricks of the effective and engaging stakeholder Management.Get your spot for this interactive event on Corporate Intelligence in North America.For further information about the programme, speakers and to register for the event visit:we.CONECT Global Leaders is a leading business information company, developing and providing digital business information, senior-level B2B events, business communities & supporting event technology at the interface between real live business, digital transformation & future technologies & challenges.Leveraging our expertise and strong relationships with key experts across the globe, we create events, content, and communities that deliver mindblowing ideas, innovations & opportunities to make your business growth.Reichenberger Str. 124, 10999 Berlin GERMANY Nuclear Cardiology Market Detailed Analytical Overview by 2021 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/5486 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/5486 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Nuclear imaging in cardiac disorders aids in accurate diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases and blockages in blood flow. Nuclear imaging is a technique for producing images of various body parts utilizing radioactive materials. This technique has applications in diagnosis of various cardiovascular diseases such as angina, aneurysm, atherosclerosis, stroke, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure. Accurate diagnosis of such chronic diseases is essential to plan precise and cost-effective therapeutic module.The nuclear cardiology market is focused mainly on three major segments namely, radiology devices, picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) and radiology information systems (RIS) and radiopharmaceuticals. Gamma cameras and positron emission tomography scanners are major imaging devices used in cardiac procedures.Request to Sample Report @SPECT imaging has been the mainstream modality for nuclear cardiology procedures performed worldwide. Radiopharmaceuticals such as nitrogen-13, rubidium-82, fluorine-18, oxygen-15 and other radioisotopes are used in the nuclear imaging process. PACS is an emerging and promising technology in nuclear imaging sector with its potential benefits over other imaging technologies.Geographically, this market is categorized into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. Better capacities to handle new and highly advanced technologies have kept North America ahead of the other regions in terms of the nuclear cardiology market. However, catering to the untapped opportunities in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions will drive these regions at a faster growth rate.Aging population and rising cardiovascular incidences are the major driving factors for the nuclear cardiology market. Besides, the demand for graying equipment in the established diagnostic facilities will provide with demand for new equipment with improve patient outcomes and reduced radiation exposure. In addition, new cost effective technologies such as PET and PACS imaging equipment will lead to growth in the demand for nuclear cardiology devices.Request Report for TOC @Some of the major players in this market include 3mensio Medical Imaging BV, Bracco Diagnostics, Inc., GE Healthcare, Shimadzu Corporation, Siemens Healthcare, Astellas Pharma US, Inc., Philips Healthcare, Covidien plc, Positron Corporation, Fujifilm Medical Systems USA, Inc. and UltraSPECT, Ltd.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Virtual Visits Promotes Enhanced Services in the US Telehealth Market | Arizton https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/us-telehealth-market-size-share-growth-analysis-2023 https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/us-telehealth-market-size-share-growth-analysis-2023 https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/us-telehealth-market-size-share-growth-analysis-2023 Audio visits, chat consultations, and video visits are the major sub-segments that contribute to the growth of the virtual visits segment in the US telehealth marketAriztons recent market research report on the US telehealth market identifies Medtronic, Honeywell Life Care Solutions, Teladoc, American Well, BioTelemetry, GlobalMedia Group, AMD Global Telemedicine, and Philips Healthcare as the leading vendors that are likely to dominate the market during the forecast period. This research report provides a detailed analysis of market segmentation by modality (mHealth, remote patient monitoring, and virtual health), by component (services, hardware, and software), and by end-users (healthcare providers, patient and individuals, employer and government organizations, and payers).The US telehealth market is estimated to reach values of more than $13 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of approximately 27% during 2018-2023.Request for your free sample today!The US telehealth market is divided into three major segments that consist of modality, component, and geography.Virtual visits segment to grow at an impressive CAGR in the US telehealth market during forecast periodThe US telehealth market by modality is categorized into mHealth, remote patient monitoring, and virtual health.The virtual visit segment dominated a significant market share in 2017, growing at a CAGR of around 21% during the forecast period.Audio visits, chat consultations, and video visits form the major sub-segments that contribute to the growth of the virtual visits segment in the US market. Factors such as payment models, reimbursement policies, and security concerns are impacting the growth of this segment in the US market. The demand for virtual visits is driven by the growing requirement for enhanced healthcare services at the patients doorstep while curtailing costs in the US market. Virtual visit services leverage laptops, tablets, smartphones, and desktops to provide services to the patient convenience and access to doctors at any hour of the day in the US market. The implementation of interactive-audio consulting services and assistance through email or online chats and text through telecommunication devices will revolutionize this segment in the US telehealth market. The leading insurance service providers are expanding their coverages to include these services in the US market to reach a maximum number of consumers.Patients & individuals segment to grow at the fastest CAGR in the US telehealth market during forecast periodThe end-user segment in the US telehealth market is segmented into healthcare providers, patient and individuals, employer and government organizations, and payers.Patients and individuals were the second largest contributor in 2017, growing at a CAGR of around 33% during the forecast period.The growing demand for convenient and cost saving self-care and home care treatment options is one of the primary factors boosting the demand for telehealth services in this end-user segment in the US market. The introduction of direct-to-consumer (DTC) telehealth services that offer real-time services that are easily accessible and cost-efficient without comprising on patient care and satisfaction will result in the evolution of the US market over the next few years. The leading players are investing in the development of integrated DTC patient portals to attract new consumers and gain a larger the US telehealth market share. The government agencies in major states such as Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina are easing their restriction on out-of-state providers who offered Doctor on Demand services to many victims in the region. Such initiatives will propel the development of the US telehealth market.Request for your free sample today!Hardware segment to grow at a significant CAGR in the US telehealth market during forecast periodThe US telehealth market by components is divided into services, hardware, and software. Hardware segment occupied a considerable market share in 2017, growing at a CAGR of around 24% during the forecast period. The growing prevalence of chronic diseases is propelling the demand for wearable devices, connected medical devices, and remote patient monitoring systems in the US market. The introduction of mobile sensors, wearable physiological monitors, health and wellness activity trackers, and telehealth-based tablets will augment the growth of this segment in the US market during the forecast period. These devices are designed to provide continuous monitoring, collect detailed real-time longitudinal data, and help in educating and empowering individuals to take control of their health. Such benefits will boost the demand for these products in the US telehealth market. The launch of connectivity features of medical imaging equipment is offering new revenue streams for equipment manufacturers, service providers, and hospitals in the US market.The other prominent players in the US telehealth market include A&D Company, Abbott, AgaMatrix, AirStrip Technologies, AliveCor, AT & T, Athenahealth, Biotricity, BIOTRONIK, Boston Scientific, Carena, Celtic Healthcare, CHI Health, edgeMED Healthcare, eVisit, GE Healthcare, iHealth Lab, IMDSOFT, INOVA, Integrity Urgent Care, InTouch health, iSelectMD, Jawbone, Masimo, MDLIVE, MedSpring, MeMD, Mercy Virtual, meVisit, OMRON Healthcare, PlushCare, Qualcomm Life, Ringadoc/MedXCom, Spacelabs Healthcare, Specialists on Call, THA Group, Vidyo, Virtuwell, VSee, and Zipnosis.The complete overview of the latest market research report on US telehealth market by Arizton is now available.The report also offers a detailed study of major trends, drivers, challenges, and also provides the market size and forecast for major geographical regions and key countries.Order a report:About AriztonArizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services.We offer comprehensive market research reports on industries such as consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare and life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals and materials, IT and media, logistics and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts.Arizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports.Arizton Advisory & IntelligenceChicago, Illinois, 60605Mail: enquiry@arizton.comCall: +1-312-465-7864 Ambulance Drone Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/ambulance-drone-market-39 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/39 Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), also known as drones, are the most exciting topic in discussion today. This new technology is believed to revolutionize various industries by enabling faster delivery, reach, and monitoring (GPS). The U.S. military is already using drones as GPS or surveillance system to track its troops movements and weapon facilities to launch attacks on terrorist organizations. With increasing research and development activities pertaining to drones, the governments and regulatory authorities in various countries are endeavoring to commercialize this new technology. Currently available drones are classified based on the purpose as camera, toy, and racing drones. Drones can be used in food delivery, product delivery, traffic monitoring, rescue operations, army activities, and delivery of goods within a selected area and many such activities.Browse Full Report:Ambulance Drones Market Multiple Applications in HealthcareDrones hold the potential to transform the delivery of healthcare services. Drones can be especially useful in emergency situations. Applications include dropping of emergency equipment and medicines, conducting search and rescue operations, responding to natural disasters, collection of blood and tissue samples, and reaching out to remote locations for medical help. Drones are already operating in countries such as the U.S., Haiti, and some parts of Europe. Emerging economies are yet to commercialize the technology. Effective implementation of the technology would spur growth of the ambulance drones market.Research in the Ambulance Drones MarketDrones can also find application in ambulance services. Ambulance drone design developed by Argodesign, Texas (U.S.) in 2015 provides a speedy emergency support in rural areas and provides quick medical aid during major traffic accident sites that are otherwise inaccessible by road. These drones are equipped with essential instruments for quick treatment at the site of traffic accidents. These drones are about the size of a compact car and do not need a pilot on location to depart. Due to its small size it can land safely on a street. The vehicle can accommodate one patient and is steered via GPS and controlled remotely.Alec Momont, a student at the Technical University of Delft, developed a prototype of a compact drone that has a small storage space in it. The drone was developed to provide essential supplies to the people on spot and also advanced life support. The first drone contained an automated external defibrillator. This small ambulance drone is not affected by the current road infrastructures and can fly at a speed of 60 miles per hour. It transport a defibrillator to a patient within 12 sq. km. zone within a minute. The drone tracks the emergency mobile calls and uses GPS to navigate to the patient site. However, there are certain things such as steering mechanism and legal issues which needs to be cleared off for a smooth transitioning of the ambulance drones market.Request a sample copy of this report@Ambulance Drones Market plagued with regulatory issuesThere are many legal and infrastructure issues that need to be tackled before full scale commercialization of ambulance drones. Clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), regulatory authorities, medical authorities, and defining the flight levels are essential to prevent any hindrances during flight operations. Extensive tests need to be conducted to provide complete assurance of the safe and efficient operations of all related processes of ambulance drone. Moreover, risks that need to be considered include the loss or damage to any component while in transit and avoidance of collisions between drones. Regulatory and environmental clearance would pave way for rampant growth of the global ambulance drones market.The global ambulance drones market is expected to see its first product being commercialized by 2020. A push up to this new technology would enable for a faster and cheaper method of healthcare emergency service delivery during emergency situations.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.1001 4th Ave,, #3200, Seattle, WA 98154#3200 Bluetooth Speaker Market in APAC to Grow at the Fastest CAGR by 2023 | Arizton https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/bluetooth-speaker-market-size-share-growth-analysis https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/bluetooth-speaker-market-size-share-growth-analysis https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/bluetooth-speaker-market-size-share-growth-analysis The global Bluetooth speaker market is expected to reach revenues of more than $8 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of over 10% during 2018-2023.Ariztons recent market research report on the global Bluetooth speaker market identifies Bose, HARMAN International (Samsung), BEATS Electronics (Apple), and Sony as the leading vendors that are likely to dominate the market during the forecast period. This research report provides detailed analysis of market segmentation by product (traditional speaker, waterproof speaker, and rugged speaker), by price range (low-end, mid-range, and premium), by end-user type (residential users and commercial users), by portability (fixed and portable), and by geography (APAC, Europe, North America, Latin America, and MEA).Request for a sample Of Bluetooth Speaker Report!The global Bluetooth speaker market is divided into five major segments that include by products, price range, end-users, portability, and geography.APAC to grow at the fastest CAGR in the global Bluetooth speaker market during forecast periodThe global bluetooth speaker market by geography is segmented into APAC, Europe, North America, Latin America, and MEA. APAC is the fastest growing region in the market, at a CAGR of around 10% during the forecast period. The increasing proliferation of low-end bluetooth speakers is one of the major contributing factors in the growth of the APAC region in the market.Countries such as Australia, China, South Korea, and Japan are the largest revenue generators in the APAC market.The improvement in the quality of life and increase in per capita income is attributing to the rising demand in the APAC bluetooth speaker market. Urbanization in China and India is shifting the consumer's preferences and boosting the demand for these wireless speakers in the APAC market. The availability of budgeted smartphones and decent Internet connections will help vendors launch new product models in the APAC market. The implementation of advanced and autonomous products and solutions in the home and office spaces will revolutionize the APAC market during the forecast period.Rugged speaker to grow at an impressive CAGR in the global Bluetooth speaker market during forecast periodThe product type segment in the global Bluetooth speaker market is classified into traditional speaker, waterproof speaker, and rugged speaker. The rugged speaker segment dominated a considerable market share in 2017, growing at a CAGR of over 14% during the forecast period. These speakers are designed with dust protection, weather resistance, and water-resistant properties. Bluetooth speakers with a rating of IP67, IP68, and IP69K usually fall under this category and is gaining immense popularity in the global market. The increasing popularity and worldwide demand for these products will boost sales in the global Bluetooth speaker market. Rugged models are shock-proof, dustproof, water-proof, and weather-resistant and are sold across developed countries across the market. These models are primarily designed for rough use and can function well in the outdoors perfectly. The primary end-users of the rugged speaker in the global market consists of mostly leisure travelers and solo travelers.Request for your free sample today!Online stores to grow at a significant CAGR in the global Bluetooth speaker market during forecast periodThe global Bluetooth speaker market by distribution channel is segmented into retail and online channels. The online channel occupied almost half of the market share in 2017, growing at a CAGR of more than 11% during the forecast period. The emergence of online OEMs e-commerce portals and online direct-to-consumer stores is attributing to the growth of this segment in the global market.Leading players such as Amazon, eBay, Best Buy, Alibaba, and JD.com are some of the largest revenues generators in the online store segment in the global Bluetooth speaker market.The vendors are promoting the concept and use of Bluetooth devices and technology by leveraging social media to reach a wide group of end-users in the global market. The ease-of-accessibility and convenience afforded by these online channels are augmenting the development of this segment in the global market.The other prominent players operating in the global Bluetooth speaker market consists of Altec Lansing, ANKER Innovations, Artis, AOMAIS, Axess, Bang & Olufsen, Boat Lifestyle, Braven, Creative Technology, DOSS, D&M Holdings (Denon), Edifier, Forcovr (Shenzhen Guowei Security), The House of Marley, iBall, iClever, ION Audio, JAM Audio, JONTER, KitSound by Kondor, Klipsch Group, Koninklijke Philips, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Logitech, Micromax, Monster Cable Products, Mpow, Onkyo & Pioneer, Panasonic, Photive, Plantronics, Rock Space (RENQING TECHNOLOGY), Samsung Electronics, SHARKK, Sharp, Skullcandy, SoundBot, Supersonic, TAGG, TIBO, Tribitaudio, VicTsing, Yamaha, and Zebronics.The complete overview of the latest market research report on global Bluetooth speaker market by Arizton is now available.The report also offers a detailed study of major trends, drivers, challenges, and also provides the market size and forecast for major geographical regions and key countries.Order a report:About AriztonArizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services.We offer comprehensive market research reports on industries such as consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare and life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals and materials, IT and media, logistics and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts.Arizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports.Arizton Advisory & IntelligenceChicago, Illinois, 60605Mail: enquiry@arizton.comCall: +1-312-465-7864 Oil Field Chemicals Market 2018 Size, Industry Growth, Trends and Analysis Research Report https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1755 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/1755 Market Highlights:-Increasing demand for oil and gas is expected to result in a rise in demand for the Oil Field Chemicals market. In recent times the oil and gas has been experiencing a significant downturn due to the continuous fall in the prices. These changes in the supply and demand dynamics is expected to induce a rise in the number of oil wells thus resulting in boosting the Oil Field Chemicals market. Increasing demand for oil and gas is also expected to fuel the demand in the Oil Field Chemicals market.Growth segments of drilling fluids along with stimulation chemicals will boost the development of the market to a great extent. Applications in the drilling, production, cementing markets are expected to fuel the expansion of the market in the forecast period. The demand for oil field chemicals has benefitted the cost related to the production of oil from novel sources which is considerably higher than the renewal of old sources. Specialized technologies available in the sector have increased the demand for the oil field chemicals market at a continual pace during the forecast period.Industry Top Key Players:- Oil Field Chemicals market are BASF SE Lubrizol Corporation AkzoNobel N.V. The Dow Chemical Company Schlumberger, Halliburton Kemira Oyj ClariantSample report for more information @Industry Segments:-The market for oilfield chemicals has been segmented into the segments of materials, application and fluid type. The segmentation on the basis of material segments the market into commodity vehicles, specialty chemicals, and polymers. The application based segmentation of the market comprises of drilling fluid chemicals, production chemicals, and stimulation fluid additives. Finally, on the basis of the fluid type, the market has been segmented into completion, drilling, and stimulation.TABLE OF CONTENTS:-1. REPORT PROLOGUE2.1.2. SCOPE OF THE STUDY1. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE2.3.3. MARKET STRUCTURE4. MARKET SEGMENTATION3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY1. RESEARCH PROCESS2. PRIMARY RESEARCH3. SECONDARY RESEARCH4. MARKET SIZE ESTIMATION5. FORECAST MODEL4. MARKET DYNAMICS1. DRIVERS & OPPURTUNITIES2. CHALLENGES & RESTRAINTS3. VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS4. PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSISIndustry Updates:-April 2018 SCF Partners have recently collected $800 million for a new fund, which is one of a small but rising number of private-equity firms looking for capitalizing on the nascent recovery in the oil field-services sector. The firms current portfolio comprises of Rockwater Energy Solutions Inc. which deals in oil field chemicals that had merged last year with publicly traded Select Energy Services Inc. The merger was part of an all-stock deal. The joint companys water-related services have been using the Select name, but Rockwater's chemicals business unit is using the Rockwater brand name.Enquiry For This Report @Regional Analysis of Oil Field Chemicals:-North America is the leading region for this market mainly due to the increased exploration activities in USA and Canada. The increasing exploration activities in this region have in turn resulted in an increase in the Oilfield Chemicals market. Although there exists political instability in the Middle East, this region is expected to register high growth rate in the forecast period due to increasing trend of deep water exploration and working in high temperatures which require much more expensive Oilfield Chemicals.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact: -Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com TRANSCATHETER HEART VALVE MARKET TO REACH US$ 7 BILLION BY 2024 END | COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS OF LEADING INDUSTRY PLAYERS Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacement https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1830726 https://www.researchmoz.us/transcatheter-heart-valve-replacement-market-patient-numbers-by-position-tmvr-tavr-by-valve-type-mechanical-tissue-countries-companies-report.html/toc Press Release - 20 June 2018Research and Development News --. .Latest Update "Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacement Market, Patient Numbers, by Position (TMVR, TAVR), by Valve Type (Mechanical & Tissue), Countries & Companies" with Industries Survey | Global Current Growth and Future.' '- Transcatheter heart valve market is anticipated to reach nearly US$ 7 Billion by 2024. This report covers market dynamics and competitive analysis of leading industry players. Transcatheter heart valve is the latest technology that has varieties of advantages over traditional surgical procedure. It is less invasive, simple procedure and has less mortality rate over conventional surgical methods. Transcatheter mitral valve replacement is very recent technology and it is gaining prominence since its getting fast approvals from various governments globally. The replacement of mitral heart valve is quite complex procedure due to its complex structure and position. So Transcatheter Mitral Heart Valve is creating a big market by replacing the traditional technique to change mitral valve.. . Get Sample Report_' 'Rising ageing population and prevalence of heart valve disease is major growth drivers for Transcatheter Heart Valve market. In addition people mostly prefer less invasive technique, so adoption of Transcatheter Heart Valve rapid pace of growth will further boost the market. High cost of Transcatheter Heart Valve and several risk associated with procedure will hinder the market growth.Renub Research latest study report Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacement Market, Patient Numbers, by Position (Transcather Mitral Valve Replacement and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement), Heart Valve Type (Mechanical & Tissue Heart) Countries (United States, Germany, China, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, India and Brazil) Companies (Edward lifeScience Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, St Jude Medical Inc., Medtronics Inc) provides a detailed and comprehensive insight of the Transcatheter Heart Valve Market.This report studies the Global Transcatheter Heart Valve Market and Volume from 2 view points by Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) and Transcatheter Mitral Valve Market (TMVR). Both these segments are further studied by Mechanical Heart Valves and Tissues Heart Valves by countries. The report provides a complete analysis of the key Growth Drivers and Challenges, market, and their projections for the upcoming years (2024).- By Position Market & Patient NumbersAortic Valve ReplacementMitral Valve Replacement- By Material Market & Patient Numbers TAVR & TMVRMechanical Heart ValvesTissues Heart Valves (Biological)- By Region - Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement MarketUnited StatesGermanyChinaFranceItalyJapanSpainUnited KingdomIndiaBrazil- Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement Market by RegionEuropeUnited States- Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacement Volume by PositionAortic Valve ReplacementMitral Valve Replacement. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' '- Scope of the ReportHeart Valve Market & Volume: We have segmented the market & volume into two part Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Market (TAVR) and Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement Market (TMVR).Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Market & Patient Numbers: The report covers 10 countries: United States, Germany, China, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, India and Brazil. All the countries market has been studied by two types of Heart valves Mechanical Heart Valves and Tissues Heart Valves.Global Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement Market & Patient Numbers: The report covers 2 regions: Europe and United States. All the countries market has been studied by two types of Heart valves Mechanical Heart Valves and Tissues Heart Valves.Global Transcatheter Heart Valve Market Share Analysis by Position: We have mentioned market share by TAVR and TMVR.Key Growth Drivers & Challenges: It studies the multi-dimensional factors which helps global Transcatheter Heart Valve Market to grow. The report also covers key challenges that will hinder the market growth.Companies Analysis: Four companies their overview of the company and their business strategies.Continue.....ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074 HCM CITY Viet Nams cassava exports to Japan surged in the first four months of the year to 10,100 tonnes worth US$2.42 million. These represented increases of 379.4 per cent and 263.8 per cent year-on-year. But figures from the General Department of Customs show that the countrys overall cassava exports declined by 26.7 per cent to 1.09 million tonnes though their value remained virtually unchanged at $369 million. This was because the average export price was 37.3 per cent up at $338 per tonne though in Japan it fell by almost a fourth to $239. China remained the biggest importer buying more than 980,000 tonnes though its imports were down 26 per cent. Exports to Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan saw declines both in terms of quantity and value. VNS SURVEY REPORT OF CONSTRUCTION IN INDONESIA 5.94% CAGR FROM 2018-22 TO INVEST IDR4.8 QUADRILLION (US$360.6 BILLION) - KEY TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES TO 2022 Construction https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1830521 https://www.researchmoz.us/construction-in-indonesia-key-trends-and-opportunities-to-2022-report.html/toc Press Release - 20 June 2018Research and Development News --. .Latest Update "Construction in Indonesia - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2022" with Industries Survey | Global Current Growth and Future.' '- SummaryThe Indonesian construction industry is expected to continue to grow over the forecast period (2018-2022). Government investments in transport infrastructure, energy and utilities construction and residential buildings will contribute to this growth. Moreover, the National Development Program 2025 and National Affordable Housing Program will also support industry growth.. . Get Sample Report_' 'In January 2018, the government announced a plan to spend IDR105.4 trillion (US$7.6 billion) to build 17 toll road projects Under the National Strategic Project by the end of 2019. Moreover, under the third phase (2015-2019) of the National Development Program 2025, the government plans to invest IDR4.8 quadrillion (US$360.6 billion) on the development of transport and other infrastructure by the end of 2019. The government is also intending to introduce a Limited Concession Scheme (LCS) for private partners to finance large infrastructure construction projects.The industrys output value in real terms is expected to record a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.94% over the forecast period, compared to 6.33% during the review period (2013-2017).- - - Timetrics Construction in Indonesia - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2022 report provides detailed market analysis, information and insights into the Indonesian construction industry, including - -- The Indonesian construction industry's growth prospects by market, project type and construction activity- Critical insight into the impact of industry trends and issues, as well as an analysis of key risks and opportunities in the Indonesian construction industry- Analysis of the mega-project pipeline, focusing on development stages and participants, in addition to listings of major projects in the pipeline.- - - Key Highlights - - -- Timetric expects the infrastructure construction market to retain its leading position over the forecast period, with a share of 36.0% of the industrys total value in 2022, driven by investments in transport infrastructure projects. In the 2018 budget, the government increased its investment on infrastructure development by 4.4%, increasing from IDR387.7 trillion (US$29.0 billion) in 2017 to IDR404.0 trillion (US$29.9 billion) in 2018. Through this, the government plans to build 856.0km of new road, 781.0km of irrigation channels, 8,761.0km of new bridges and 639.0km of new railway lines across the country.- In March 2018, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources approved Rencana Umum Penyediaan Tenaga Listrik (RUPTL) 2018-2027, a ten-year electricity supply business plan. According to RUPTL, electricity demand in the country is projected to increase by 8.6% annually, going from 216.8TWh in 2016 to 457.0TWh in 2025. PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), the state-owned power company, estimates that IDR2.0 quadrillion (US$153.7 billion) in capital investment will be required to develop the countrys electricity system by 2027.- Timetric expects the residential construction market output to record a forecast-period CAGR of 8.41% in nominal terms, driven by the governments plans to build affordable houses for low- and middle-income households. The government plans to build one million social houses with an investment of IDR66.8 trillion (US$5.0 billion) by 2019. In addition, the government is providing subsidies to low- and middle-income people to buy houses. In 2017, the government announced plans to provide IRD14.6 trillion (US$1.1 trillion) of subsidies to low income families.- Under the National Energy Policy, the government aims to increase the share of renewable energy in the total energy mix from 12.6% in 2017 to 23% in 2025, 25% by 2030 and 31.0% by 2050. Accordingly, the government plans to increase the countrys geothermal power generation capacity from 1.8GW in 2017 to 5.0GW by 2025. Moreover, the government plans to build 16 wind power plants by 2024.- The total construction project pipeline in Indonesia, as tracked by the Construction Intelligence Center (CIC) and including all mega projects with a value above US$25 million, stands at IDR8.5 quadrillion (US$634.4 billion). The pipeline, which includes all projects from pre-planning to execution, has a relatively healthy balance, with 47.7% of the pipeline value being in projects in the pre-planning and planning stages as of May 2018.- - - Scope- - -This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the construction industry in Indonesia. It provides -- Historical (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2022) valuations of the construction industry in Indonesia, featuring details of key growth drivers.- Segmentation by sector (commercial, industrial, infrastructure, energy and utilities, institutional and residential) and by sub-sector- Analysis of the mega-project pipeline, including breakdowns by development stage across all sectors, and projected spending on projects in the existing pipeline.- Listings of major projects, in addition to details of leading contractors and consultants.. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' '- Table of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Construction Outlook: At-a-glance3 Latest News and Indicators4 Key Drivers and Risks4.1 Economic Performance4.2 Political Environment4.3 Demographics4.4 Risk Profile5 Construction Outlook5.1 All Construction5.1.1 Outlook5.1.2 Project analytics5.2 Commercial Construction5.2.1 Outlook5.2.2 Project analytics5.3 Industrial Construction5.3.1 Outlook5.3.2 Project analytics5.4 Infrastructure Construction5.4.1 Outlook5.4.2 Project analytics5.5 Energy and Utilities Construction5.5.1 Outlook5.5.2 Project analytics5.6 Institutional Construction5.6.1 Outlook5.6.2 Project analytics5.7 Residential Construction5.7.1 Outlook5.7.2 Project analytics6 Key Industry Participants6.1 Contractors6.2 Consultants7 Appendix7.1 What is this Report About?7.2 Definitions7.3 About Timetric7.4 About The Construction Intelligence Center7.5 DisclaimerList of TablesTable 1: Indonesia, Key Economic IndicatorsTable 2: Indonesia, Construction Output Value (nominal, IDR Billion)Table 3: Indonesia, Construction Output Value (nominal, US$ Million)Table 4: Indonesia, Top Commercial Construction Projects by ValueTable 5: Indonesia, Top Industrial Construction Projects by ValueTable 6: Indonesia, Top Infrastructure Construction Projects by ValueTable 7: Indonesia, Top Energy and Utilities Construction Projects by ValueTable 8: Indonesia, Top Institutional Construction Projects by ValueTable 9: Indonesia, Top Residential and Mixed-Use Construction Projects by ValueTable 10: Indonesia, Key ContractorsTable 11: Indonesia, Key ConsultantsTable 12: Timetric Construction Market DefinitionsTable 13: Construction Risk Index Ratings and ScoresList of TablesFigure 1: Key Markets, Construction Output Growth Matrix and Risk MatrixFigure 2: Indonesia, Construction Projects Pipeline by Sector (IDR Trillion)Figure 3: Indonesia, House Prices IndexFigure 4: Indonesia, Commercial buildings demand indexFigure 5: Indonesia, Risk Comparison, Q1 2018Figure 6: Indonesia, Risk Comparison ReviewFigure 7: Indonesia, Construction Output Value (Real, US$ billion, 2017 prices and exchange rate)Figure 8: Indonesia, Construction Output Value, Growth MatrixFigure 9: Indonesia, Construction Output Value, by Sector (IDR trillion), 2013-2022Figure 10: Indonesia, Construction Projects Pipeline, Projected Annual Spending by Stage (IDR trillion), 2017-2022Figure 11: Indonesia, Construction Projects Pipeline, Value by Stage (IDR trillion)Figure 12: Indonesia, Commercial Construction Output by Project Type (IDR trillion), 2013-2022Figure 13: Indonesia, Commercial Construction Projects Pipeline, Value by Stage (IDR trillion)Figure 14: Indonesia, Commercial Construction Projects Pipeline, Projected Annual Spending by Stage (IDR trillion)Figure 15: Indonesia, Industrial Construction Output by Project Type (IDR trillion), 2013-2022Figure 16: Indonesia, Industrial Construction Projects Pipeline, Value by Stage (IDR trillion)Figure 17: Indonesia, Industrial Construction Projects Pipeline, Projected Annual Spending by Stage (IDR trillion)Figure 18: Indonesia, Infrastructure Construction Output by Project Type (IDR trillion), 2013-2022Figure 19: Indonesia, Infrastructure Construction Projects Pipeline, Value by Stage (IDR trillion)Figure 20: Indonesia, Infrastructure Construction Projects Pipeline, Projected Annual Spending by Stage (IDR trillion)Continue.....ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074 GLOBAL CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES MARKET - Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025 Contraceptive Devices https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1429475 https://www.researchmoz.us/contraceptive-devices-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html#table-of-content Press Release - 20 June 2018Research and Development News --. .Latest Update "Contraceptive Devices Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" with Industries Survey | Global Current Growth and Future.' 'Contraception is deliberate use of artificial methods or other techniques to prevent pregnancy as a consequence of sexual intercourse. Contraceptive devices are intended to prevent conception. These devices also help to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections. Various awareness initiatives taken by market players is a major factor propelling the global contraceptive devices market. Bayer HealthCare, a major player in the contraceptives market, in collaboration with 11 NGOs, organizes the World Contraception Day every year on September 26 to spread awareness about contraceptive methods, enabling young people to take the right decision about their reproductive health.. . Get Sample Report_' 'The global contraceptive devices market is expected to grow substantially due to factors such as high incidence rate of unintended pregnancies, unmet contraceptive needs, rise in awareness initiatives by governments and NGOs, and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. A high percentage of population belonging to the sexually active age group in Asia (India and China) coupled with increase in disposable incomes of consumers belonging to such economies is likely to offer significant opportunities in the contraceptive devices market. However, side effects associated with the use of contraceptive devices inducing people to opt for natural and permanent contraceptive methods, and rise in prevalence of infertility among women and aging population hamper the growth of the global contraceptive devices market.Based on type, the global contraceptive devices market can be segmented into male contraceptive devices and female contraceptive devices. Male contraceptive devices comprise male condoms. Female contraceptives include female condoms, contraceptive vaginal rings, contraceptive diaphragms, contraceptive sponges, sub-dermal contraceptive implants, intrauterine devices, and non-surgical permanent contraceptive devices. Male condoms dominate the male contraceptive devices segment due to almost universal adoption facilitated by ease of use and lowest prices. Non-surgical permanent contraceptive devices is projected to be the fastest growing sub-segment of the female contraceptives segment. Growing popularity among women who prefer to obtain permanent contraception without painful surgeries is the major factor propelling the non-surgical permanent contraceptive devices sub-segment. Based on end-user, the global contraceptive devices market can be divided into hospitals, clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, and home care.Geographically, the global contraceptive devices market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. North America dominates the global market due to high incidence rate of unplanned pregnancies, implementation of the Affordable Care Act in the U.S., and high usage of contraceptive devices in this region. Favorable reimbursement policies for contraceptives by large insurance firms for all federal employees (U.S.) and their dependents has contributed significantly to the growth of the contraceptive devices market in North America. The contraceptive devices market in Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. Strong economic growth in India and China, high population, rise in disposable income, increase in awareness about contraceptives and its advantages for preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections are expected to accelerate the growth of the market in the region during the forecast period.Key players operating in the global contraceptive devices market include Bayer HealthCare AG, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, Medisafe Distribution, Inc., Actavis, Inc., Medicines360, Pace Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cooper Surgical, Inc., Mayer Laboratories, Inc., Church & Dwight, Co., Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Reckitt Benckiser plc, and Pfizer, Inc. These players focus on creating various awareness programs and providing contraceptives at cost effective prices to increase market share and sustain in the highly competitive market.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.- The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysis- The regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' '- Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketContinue.....ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Nutrigenomics Market 16.8% Estimated To Reach USD 17,313.5 Million by 2023; Metagenics, Inc (US), Genomix Nutrition, Inc. (US), Nutrigenomix (US) and Others Nutrigenomics Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4009 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/nutrigenomics-market-4009 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/4009 The World Nutrigenomics Market is growing at a tremendous pace. The market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 16.8% during the forecast period and is estimated to reach USD 17,313.5 million by 2023.Business Synopsis of Global Nutrigenomics Market:Neutrigenomics is the study of interaction of nutrient and genes. It studies the effect of food and their constituents on the genes. The major factors contributing for the growth of the market are rising diabetic and obese population, increasing applications in dermatology, and increasing demand for the advanced diagnostic methods. According to the International Diabetes Federation (2016), 420 million adults were suffering from diabetes which is expected to reach 625 million by 2040. Further, as per the World Health Organization (2014), more than 600 million adults were obese and 1.9 billion adults, were overweight. Moreover, increasing healthcare expenditure, and government support for research & development has fueled the market growth. However, high cost of treatment and need of well qualified physicians may restrain the growth of market.Premium Sample Report Available @Nutrigenomics Market Segmentation:Understanding the global nutrigenomics market involves delving into the various market segments so as to accurately predict growth. This market has been segmented on the basis of products, techniques and application.On the basis of products, the market has been segmented into reagents & kits and services.On the basis of techniques, the market has been segmented into saliva, buccal swab, blood and others.On the basis of application the market has been segmented into obesity, diabetes, anti-aging and chronic diseases. Obesity is the largest market segment owing to sedimentary lifestyles, unhealthy food choices. Certain medical conditions that casue obesity may also be treated with nutrigenomics.Nutrigenomics Market Key Players:Analysis of key players in this market provides an understanding of strategies used so as to influence growth. The competitive landscape of the nutrigenomics market includes major players such as Cura Integrative Medicine, NutraGene, XCODE Life Science Pvt. Ltd., Nutrigenomix, WellGen Inc. and, Genomix Nutrition Inc.,Latest Nutrigenomics Market News:Hong Kong based Prenetics has just acquired UK company, DNAFit for USD $10 million. Prenetics primarily serves the Asian market and provides pharmacogenomics, nutrigenomics, cancer and reproductive health tests. UKs DNAFit, is a company promoting wellness genetics, they offer services that are designed based on genetic profiles obtained from the consumer. The aquisiton marks Prenetics inaugral move into the global market.Browse Complete Report @Global Nutrigenomics Market Regional Analysis:A regional assessment of the global market includes the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East & Africa.The Americas currently have the largest regional market segment, largely owing to the region's inclusion of developed economies such as U.S. and Canada. These countries have swiftly adopted the latest technolgy and have a high occurence of patients suffering from lifestyle diseases such as diabetes. This region also has a high percentage of obesity. The market carries a wide scope in this region due to these factors and the region is expected to hold it's lead during the forecast period.Europe follows closely behind the Americas, due to a similar growth pattern. A strong adopton of technology, a well developed healthcare & medical research sector and a prevelance of lifestyle diseases has made this the second largest regional market segment globally. Europe is expected to grow at 17% CAGR during the forecast period.Asia Pacific is projected to grow rapidly during 2017 - 2023, this is owing to the increasing awareness of health and treatments, increased spending on healthcare and a demand for holistic treatments. APAC's nutrigenomics market share is expected to grow at 17.1 CAGR during the forecast period.Middle East and Africa are expected to witness restrained growth due to the presence of the African continent where malnutrition and poverty are commonplace. However, growth is expected for the Middle East due to the developed countried in this area such as Qatar and U.A.E experienceing a rise in obesity and lifestyle diseases.MAJOR TABLE OF CONTENTS1 REPORT PROLOGUE2 INTRODUCTION2.1 Scope Of Study2.2 Research Objective2.3 Assumptions & Limitations2.3.1 Assumptions2.3.2 Limitations2.4 Market Structure3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3.1 Market Size Estimation3.1.1 Market Share Analysis3.2 Market Pricing Approach4 MARKET DYNAMICS4.1 Drivers4.1.1 Increased Applications In Dermatology4.1.2 Increased Applications In Diagnosis Of Metabolic And Genetic Diseases4.1.3 Increased Application In Food And BeveragesTOC Continued!Ask To Expert @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Functional 3D Printed Tissue Market Growth, Trends and Demands Research Report and Forecast 2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/functional-3d-printed-market-51 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/51 Advancement in 3D printing technology has widely reshaped the industry dynamics along various verticals ranging from automation to healthcare. 3D printed organs are the next generation organ transplantation technology reshaping the overall healthcare industry. This million dollar industry is growing at a robust double digit growth rate creating new market opportunities for medical players. Demand for organ transplants has increased in last five years. As per the estimates of U.S. National Kidney Foundation, there are nearly 121 thousand people waiting for lifesaving organ transplants. Of these, 80% are kidney transplant seekers. More than 650 thousand transplants have occurred in the U.S. in last 28 years. However, the numbers are in sharp contrast to actual demand and there is huge gap between supply and demand of organs. Only 2% of cases are met with organ transplants. Increasing demand has led to high impetus on development of technology to artificially build lifesaving organs. As a result, many companies in collaboration with R&D institutes are engaged in development of 3D printed organs.Access Full Summary at:3D bioprinting is set to revolutionize the healthcare industry in coming years and will be widely used for transplantation of several tissues including vascular grafts, tracheal splints, heart tissue, etc. Early entrants in the market will give added advantage to players and will help in excelling business revenue to a larger extent.Market Dynamics:Demand for functional 3d printed tissue is expected to grow at a robust rate owing to high demand for lifesaving organ coupled with changing healthcare macroeconomics. Many university labs such as Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Harvard scientist in collaboration with leading medical device companies are carrying out projects to develop lab-grown tissue to meet the growing demand of millions seeking for organ transplantation. Advent of 3d printing technology has bridged the gap to a great extent. The market is further driven by growing consumer base and increasing healthcare expenditure.Though the market is positive, the industry is currently undergoing through some challenges namely high cost incurred on research and development outcomes along with regulatory pressures. The technology will take at least 7 years to fully commercialize resulting in high operating cost. As such, funding from government bodies could ease out the industry pressure.Segment Analysis:By application, the functional 3d printed tissue is segmented into organ transplants, dental and biosensors. Organ transplant application segment is expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period with over 65% of the market by end of forecast period.Regional Analysis:Among regions, North America and Europe are expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period. Moreover, North America is expected to grow at a fastest rate owing to high spending on R&D and presence of leading companies in the region. Moreover, the region accounts for highest number of organ transplant surgeries carried out in last five years highest worldwide.Request a sample copy @As per the initial study carried out by CA, North America and Europe are expected to account for over 85% of overall functional 3d printed tissue market. Healthcare providers are seeking this technology to manage the growing demand for organ transplant in the country. Growth in these regions is expected to be further driven by macroeconomic factors. The region as a whole spends over 5% of its GDP on research and GDP. Moreover, healthcare spending is highest in this region with North America accounting for 16.7% and Europe 10% of overall GDP in 2015.Asia Pacific is expected to be driven by Australia and Japan. According to Organdonor, donation rate in Australia is nearly 17 per million populations. The country is pioneer in the field of 3d bioprinting research. Griffith Universitys Menzies Institute in support with National Health and Medical Research Council is taking step towards creation of 3d printed tissue and bones. Moreover, the initiative taken by Australian government towards setting up of US$ 2.7 Mn bioprinting center will boost the overall market in near future. Market in the region is expected to commercialize in next 15 years. The region is at nascent stage and will take years to commercialize. Most of the projects are expected to be at preliminary stage till the forecast period.Competition Landscape:Some key players engaged in the market are Aspect Biosystems, BioBots TeVido, Organovo, Cyfuse Biomedical, 3Dynamics Systems, Luxexcel Group, Stratasys, EnvisionTEC, etc.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.1001 4th Ave,, #3200, Seattle, WA 98154#3200 Feed Enzymes Market | Growth Worth is CAGR of about 9.2% | Application | Insight | Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5130 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/feed-enzymes-market-5130 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com Market Scenario:The global feed enzymes market is projected to propel by increasing awareness regarding available health benefits to farm animals from the feed enzymes. Increased awareness about the feed enzymes has raised the bar of feed quality, which, in turn, has increased the share of global feed enzyme market. The global feed enzymes market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.2% during the forecast period 2017-2023.With the growing consumer awareness and their increasing interest in healthy lifestyle, the demand for feed enzymes has increased to great extent. In addition to the changing lifestyle, the growing demand for feed enzymes, rising meat consumption, quality feed, industrialization of livestock, and the prevention of diseases in livestock are expected to drive the global feed enzymes market.Receive a Sample Report @Key Players:Some of the key players profiled in the feed enzymes market: BASF SE (Germany), E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S.), Associated British Foods plc (U.K), Koninklijke DSM N.V. (the Netherlands), Behn Meyer Holding AG (Germany), Adisseo France SAS (France), Azelis Holding S.A. (Belgium), Novus International, Inc. (U.S.), Rossari Biotech Ltd. (India), and Alltech, Inc. (U.S.)Segments:The feed enzymes market is segmented into type, livestock, and form.On the basis of the type, it is segmented into protease, phytase, and others. Among all, the phytase enzyme segment is dominating the market followed by whey protease enzyme owing to the presence of phosphorus content that is helpful in improving animal metabolism as well as reproduction.On the basis of the livestock, it is segmented into swine, poultry, ruminants, aquatic animals, and others. Among all, the poultry segment is dominating the market. These additives are used for the processing of ruminant feed plays an important role in terms of improving animal health, digestibility, maximum utilization of nutrients, and minimizing the environmental impact.On the basis of the form, it is segmented into dry, liquid, and others. The dry form segment is dominating the market due to its ease of handling and good thermal stability.ACCESS REPORT DETAILS @Regional Analysis:The global feed enzymes market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world (RoW). The North American region is dominating the feed enzymes market followed by the Asia Pacific owing to rising population followed by increasing consumption of poultry and meat products in developing regions. Moreover, China is the major exporter of poultry and meat, which, in turn, drives the market of feed enzymes in the Asia Pacific region.Key players in the feed enzymes market are largely located in North America and Europe. Key players following strategies of merger and acquisition with small players to expand their business in other regions due to increasing demand for feed enzymes in the animal feed industry.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.WantStats Research and Media Pvt. Ltd.Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India Chemical Surface Treatments Market 2018 Global Emerging Trend Analysis | Industry Top Key Players: Atotech, NOF CORPORATION, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, chemetall, Nihon Parkerizing Co.,Ltd. "Global Chemical Surface Treatments Market Trends and Forecast to 2025" http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-chemical-surface-treatments-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-chemical-surface-treatments-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-chemical-surface-treatments-market/ The global chemical surface treatments market is highly fragmented and the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of chemical surface treatments market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and South America.Get Free Sample Copy of this Report @Market Analysis:The global chemical surface treatments market is expected to reach USD 17.49 billion by 2025, from USD 11.23 billion in 2017 growing at a CAGR of 5.7%during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The upcoming market report contains data for historic years 2015 & 2016, the base year of calculation is 2017 and the forecast period is 2018 to 2025.Major Market Competitors/Players: Platform Specialty Products Corporation Atotech NOF CORPORATION Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Chemetall Nihon Parkerizing Co.,Ltd. PPG Industries, Inc NIPPONPAINT.Co.,Ltd The Dow Chemical Company Advanced Chemical Company Coral Houghton International Inc. McGean-Rohco Inc. Chemetall A Brite Company Coventya International Uyemura & CO.,LTD. Grauer & Weil India Ltd. Industrial Metal Plating Inc. Metal Finishing Technologies, LLC. RASCHIG GmbH. The Sherwin-Williams Company Wuhan Jadechem International Trade Co.,Ltd Aequs AkzoNobel N.V. Elementis plc Among others.Major Market Drivers and Restraints: Growing automotive industry Increasing demand for durable and wear-resistant products Increasing losses due to corrosion Stringent government regulationsScope of the Report:The global chemical surface treatments market is segmented based on type, base material, end-use industry, and by geography. Based on type, the global chemical surface treatments market is segmented into cleaners, plating chemicals, conversion coatings and others. The others market segment is sub segmented into proprietary additives, inhibitors, paint strippers, detackifiers, and conditioners. On the basis of base material, the global chemical surface treatments market is classified into metals, plastics and others. The others market segment is sub segmented into glass and wood. Based on end-use industry, the global chemical surface treatments market is segmented into transportation, construction, general industry, industrial machinery, packaging, and others. The others market segment is sub segmented into electrical & electronics and medical devices. Based on geography the global chemical surface treatments market report covers data points for 28 countries across multiple geographies namely North America & South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and, Middle East & Africa. Some of the major countries covered in this report are U.S., Canada, Germany, France, U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and, Brazil among others.For Any Query Speak to Expert @This report consists of below pages: No of pages: 350 No of Figures: 60 No of Tables: 220Market Definition:This market report defines the market trends and forecast the upcoming opportunities and threats of the chemical surface treatments market in the next 8 years. Chemical surface treatments are mainly used for the improvement in the performance of the metal and alloy corrosion. It can be observed that the metals resist corrosion in the best way if they are clean and smooth and the chemical treatments have common feature that they cleans up the whole surface of the steel. Surface modification and coatings are used for purposes of adhesion, wettability, biocompatibility, scratch and abrasion resistance, chemical resistance, barrier properties, and more. Chemical surface treatments are segregated into four categories pickling, passivation, use of chelating agents and electro polishing. In March 2017, Nippon Paint Holdings (a Japanese paint and paint products manufacturing and surface treatments company) has acquired Dunn-Edwards Corporation. The Osaka, Japan-based Nippon Paint will maintain the Dunn-Edwards brand and its premium range of paints. Nippon Paint is re-counted as the worlds fourth largest paint company in sales. Dunn-Edwards is a California-based supplier of paint products used in home interiors and construction projects. Nippon Paint expects that by expanding into the U.S.s booming architectural paint market through Dunn-Edwards it can bump up sales in the countries other than Japan. This merger has provided Nippon Paint with a platform for growth throughout the United States, driving the chemical surface treatments market in the coming times.Frequently Asked Questions: What will the market size be in 2025? What are the key factors driving the global market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key players in the market? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key players? What will be the growth rate in 2025? Which strategies are used by top players in the Global Chemical Surface Treatments Market?View Full Report @About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Data Bridge adepts in creating satisfied clients who reckon upon our services and rely on our hard work with certitude. Get 10% Discount on Report by emailing sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com . We are content with our glorious 99.9 % client satisfying rate.Contact:Sopan GedamData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com World's first Hosted Staking Platform to be launched on July 9 2018 Hashkon is a new blockchain based cryptocurrency, launching its ICO on its website Hashkon.com in July of this year.Hashkon is based on a "Hosted Staking" concept, which although recognized in the crypto world, it is not usually the focal point of a platform. Hashkon is taking "Hosted Staking" to the next level of trust, with reasonable returns.Similar ICOs focus on the concept of lending and trading. Hashkon, on the other hand, has taken on the challenge to come up with a different concept to assure that an ICO investment doesnt mean that you are always at risk of losing something.With the ICO launch, Hashkon will provide its investors 6 million coins of the 28 million maximum supply. Hashkon claims that it solves legal regulations issues imposed by governments by adopting a new feature that is compliant/safe and beyond the gambit of annoying, meddling government agencies.Hashkon is pioneering three "World's First" features in ICO history:Withdrawal Trust: Hashkon has the worlds first Withdrawal Trust feature, giving investors the freedom to withdraw from the ICO and get their money back instantly anytime during the ICO (a nominal fee applies).Lock-in Free Plan: This feature is also a big advantage for investors investing in Hashkon as they can withdraw their funds without any mandatory lock-in period (except initial 7 days) unlike similar staking platforms. Investors are allowed to withdraw their staked funds at any time with even the lowest deposits eligible for withdrawals whenever needed (a nominal fee applies).Daily Payouts Regardless of Deposit Size: Hashkon offers daily payments to its members regardless of the size of the deposit. This means that users with even the lowest deposits are eligible to withdraw their daily bonus whenever needed (after first 7 days).Hashkon offers up to a 55% Monthly Bonus under the Platinum Plan.Hashkon will launch its ICO, offering 1.2 million coins per round in five rounds on the 9th of July 8 AM Eastern Time (GMT-4).Early investors can purchase HSKN coins during Round 1 at the lowest price of $0.15; Round 2 at $0.19; Round 3 at $0.24; Round 4 at $0.29; and Round 5 at $0.34.All ICO Rounds will be awarded additional bonus coins. Round 1 investors will receive 30% bonus coins, Round 2 receive 25%, Round 3 receive 20%, Round 4 receive 10%, and in Round 5, the final one, investors will receive a 5% bonus.Inquiring about his new ICO launch, Brian Kendrick, Hashkons CEO, informed us that investors can receive their Hosted Staking bonuses in their desired cryptocurrency.As of now, Hashkon allows their investors to receive their bonus in Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), or Hashkon (HSKN) coins. We are working to add more coins to our platform in the near future, stated Mr. Kendrick. He also indicated that complete details can be found on the Hashkon.com website.As stated by Mr. Kendrick, Hashkon has relied on aggressive but practical marketing strategies to create Brand awareness. Their strategy includes allocating 20% of total ICO profits to marketing.Hashkon Inc, the parent company behind Hashkon (cryptocurrency), launching its ICO on 9th July 2018. People can stake HSKN coins (along with BTC/LTC) through this platform and withdraw their coins at any time.Hashkon Inc,2967 Dundas St. W. #654Toronto Ontario M6P 1Z2CANADA Global 5G chipset Market growth rate of more than 49% over the forecast period 2017-2025 https://www.acquiremarketresearch.com/sample-request/32420 https://www.acquiremarketresearch.com/discount-request/32420 https://www.acquiremarketresearch.com/enquire-before/32420 Global 5G chipset Market to reach USD 14.5 billion by 2025. Global 5G chipset Market valued approximately USD 0.4 billion in 2016 is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 49% over the forecast period 2017-2025. Key factors which gives growth to the 5G chipset market are demand for high-speed internet and broad network coverage with reduced latency and power consumption. Moreover, increasing M2M/IoT connections and increasing demand for mobile data services are propelling the market growth.Companies Mentioned are qualcomm technologies, intel, nokia, Samsung electronics, Xilinx, IBM, Qorvo, Infineon technologies, anokiwave, broadcome, analog devices, caviumGet Free Sample Copy of this Report@The Global 5G chipset market consists of different international, regional, and local vendors. The market competition is foreseen to grow higher with the rise in technological innovation and M&A activities in the future. Moreover, many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new vendor entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.Global 5G chipset Sales (K Units) by Application (2016-2022)Market Segment by Application 2012 2016 2022 Market Share (%)2022 CGAR (%) (2016-2022)Enterprise xx xx xx xx% xx%Government xx xx xx xx% xx%Others xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx 100% xx%Primary sources are mainly industry experts from core and related industries, and suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, service providers, and organizations related to all segments of the industrys supply chain. The bottom-up approach was used to estimate the global market size of 5G chipset based on end-use industry and region, in terms of value. With the data triangulation procedure and validation of data through primary interviews, the exact values of the overall parent market, and individual market sizes were determined and confirmed in this studyEarly buyers will avail 20% Discount and Customization On This Premium Report@The research provides answers to the following key questions:1. What will be the market size and the growth rate in 2022?2. What are the key factors driving the global 5G chipset market?3. Who are the key market players and what are their strategies in the global 5G chipset market?4. Trending factors influencing the market shares of the North America, Europe, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, India.5. What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global 5G chipset market?6. What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth?7. What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global 5G chipset market?8. What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the global 5G chipset market?This independent 109 page report guarantees you will remain better informed than your competition. With over 170 tables and figures examining the 5G chipset market, the report gives you a visual, one-stop breakdown of the leading products, submarkets and market leaders market revenue forecasts as well as analysis to 2022.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Storage Area Network Switch in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringMarket Segmentby Regions 2012 2016 2022 Share (%) CAGR (2016-2022)United States xx xx xx xx% xx%EU xx xx xx xx% xx %China xx xx xx xx% xx %Japan xx xx xx xx% xx%South Korea xx xx xx xx% xx %Taiwan xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx xx% xx%The report provides a basic overview of the 5G chipset industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. And development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information. Whats more, the 5G chipset industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.For more enquiry @The research includes historic data from 2012 to 2016 and forecasts until 2022 which makes the reports an invaluable resource for industry executives, marketing, sales and product managers, consultants, analysts, and other people looking for key industry data in readily accessible documents with clearly presented tables and graphs. The report will make detailed analysis mainly on above questions and in-depth research on the development environment, market size, development trend, operation situation and future development trend of 5G chipset on the basis of stating current situation of the industry in 2017 so as to make comprehensive organization and judgment on the competition situation and development trend of 5G chipset Market and assist manufacturers and investment organization to better grasp the development course of 5G chipset Market.The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to a SWOT analysis of the key vendors.There are 15 chapters to deeply display the global 5G chipset market.Chapter 1, to describe 5G chipset Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of 5G chipset, with sales, revenue, and price of 5G chipset, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of 5G chipset, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7,8and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, 5G chipset market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe 5G chipset sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and dataAbout Acquire Market Research :Acquire Market Research is a shrine of world-class research reports from around the world and we offer you only the best in the Industry when it comes to research. At Acquire, every data need will be catered to and met with a powerful world of choices."We understand the integral role data plays in the growth of business empires."Simplified information that applied right from day to day lives to complex decisions is what a good research methodology proves to be. At Acquire Market Research we constantly strive for innovation in the techniques and the quality of analysis that goes into our data, because we are aware of the cascading impact that right and wrong information can have on a global level from overall businesses to people.We help you get access to exclusive quality data that specializes in Industry analysis, forecasts and trends covering all verticals. We believe in this competitive global scenario, the right data helps businesses excel and keep adrift with the ever- changing markets.Contact Us:555 Madison Avenue,5th Floor, Manhattan,New York, 10022 USAPhone No.: +1 (800) 663-5579Email ID:sales@acquiremarketresearch.com Bariatric Surgery Devices Market 2018-2023 Global Prominent Key Players: Medtronic, Ethicon, Intuitive Surgical, Apollo Endosurgery, ReShape Lifesciences and Aspire Bariatrics Bariatric Surgery Devices Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/6107 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/check-discount/6107 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/6107 Market ScenarioThe bariatric surgery devices market is expected to register a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period reaching almost 2200 USD million. Bariatric surgery is a procedure used for weight loss in which stomach size is reduced either by using a gastric band, by cutting a small portion of the stomach, or by resecting small intestine into the stomach. The global bariatric surgery devices market is majorly driven by increasing technical advanced devices, increasing number of regulatory approvals, rising cases of obesity, the high prevalence of diseases related to obesity and growing penetration of key market players. Furthermore, raising awareness of healthcare, favorable reimbursement policies, increasing innovations in research and development of medical devices, as well as rising average income of individuals are fueling the market growth. However, factors such as complicated and costly surgical procedures are likely to hamper the growth of the market. Lack of proper health care infrastructure, as well as awareness regarding diseases associated with obesity in middle-income countries, are also a major challenge to the market growth.Get Sample Copy @Market SegmentationThe global bariatric surgery devices market is segmented on the basis of devices, procedure types, and end-user. According to the product, the market is segmented into assisting devices, implantable devices, and others. The assisting device type is further segmented into suturing devices, stapling devices, incision closure devices, trocars, and others. Implantable devices are segmented into gastric bands, gastric balloons, electrical stimulation devices, and gastric emptying devices.Considering the procedure, the market is segmented into sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, revision bariatric surgery, non-invasive bariatric surgery, adjustable gastric banding, mini-gastric bypass, biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch, and gastric bypass.On account of end-user, the market is segmented into bariatric surgery clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, hospital pharmacies, and others.Based on region the market is segmented into Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. The American region is segmented into North America and South America. Similarly, Europe is segmented into Western Europe and Eastern Europe.Report with Discount Available @Global Bariatric Surgery Devices Market SegmentationGlobal Bariatric Surgery Devices Market, by Device type:Assisting Devices Type, Suturing Devices, Stapling Devices, Incision Closure Devices, Trocars, Implantable Devices Type, Gastric Bands, Gastric Balloons, Electrical Stimulation Devices, Gastric Emptying Devices, Others;lobal Bariatric Surgery Devices Market, by Procedure: Sleeve Gastrectomy, Gastric Bypass, Revision Bariatric Surgery, Non-Invasive Bariatric Surgery, Adjustable Gastric Banding, Mini-Gastric Bypass, Biliopancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch, Gastric Bypass;Global Bariatric Surgery Devices Market, by End-user: Hospital & Clinics, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Hospital Pharmacies, Others;Global Bariatric Surgery Devices Market, by Region: North America: U.S., Canada; South America: Europe: Western Europe, Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Spain, Rest of Western Europe, Eastern Europe; Asia Pacific: Japan, China, India, Australia, Republic of Korea, Rest of Asia Pacific; Middle East and Africa: United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Rest of the Middle East & AfricaMarket Players:Medtronic, Ethicon, Intuitive Surgical, Apollo Endosurgery, ReShape Lifesciences, Aspire Bariatrics, EnteroMedics, Inc., Mediflex Surgical Products, TransEnterix, Inc., Agency for Medical InnovationSend An Enquiry @Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India HCM City The Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang received pledges for investments worth nearly VN123 trillion (US$5.4 billion) in 47 projects at an investment conference on Tuesday with a focus on renewable energy, high-tech agriculture and tourism services. Im delighted to witness the huge investment of $5.4 billion, which will soon come to the province, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the conference. He expressed the belief that in the coming decade Soc Trang would expand its economy to achieve middle-income status. We should have strong belief to act aggressively to make Soc Trang move forward. He suggested three development trends for the province: high-tech agriculture adapted to climate change, clean seafood production and processing targeting high-class markets and eco-tourism linked with clean and smart agricultural models. With respect to tourism he pointed to the cultural advantages the province has in terms of language, religion, beliefs, cuisine, and festivals. Soc Trang Province must develop a new belief and inspiration for its residents and the national and international business community. He instructed local authorities to pay attention to human resources and education, saying they hold the key to sustainable development. We must stop thinking on the basis of borders. It is necessary to have inter-regional thinking to take advantage of all available resources. He called for creating a co-operation model between farmers, authorities, investors, banks, scientists, and distributors, and for the province to develop value chains and quality standards for agricultural products. Let us work together with national and international distributors, like supermarkets, to promote sales and increase the value of high-tech agricultural products. He said the province must also improve its business environment to become more attractive to local and foreign investors. Authorities and industries must work together to cope with climate change. He called on local authorities to create the most favourable conditions for investors, balance the need for investors profits with social welfare and not offer too many incentives to investors while depriving locals of benefits brought by development. I would like all investors and enterprises to actively undertake corporate social responsibility. Incentives should be paid back by contributing to society. Soc Trang in Khmer means Treasure Land, and he expressed the belief that in future the province would be a place where investors find their treasure. Participants were updated on Soc Trangs investment incentives, other investment-related information and the list of projects seeking investment. New place for investors Since 2016 investment in Soc Trang has grown thanks to administrative reform by the local government. It has set up a taskforce to resolve all difficulties faced by investors. The province has winds averaging speeds of 6-6.2 metres per second, which offer enormous potential for generating wind power. Like most other places in the tropical country, its solar power potential is also huge. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has approved 22 locations for wind power development in the province with 35,740 hectares, where plants can be put up with a total capacity of 1,470MW. Soc Trang also boasts great agricultural potential thanks to its fertile soil and excellent climate. Agriculture, with many key items, contributes significantly to the local economy. Its rice output last year topped 2.11 million tonnes, with speciality varieties accounting for almost half. It has more than 74,000 hectares of aquaculture lands, 50,000 hectares of have been set aside for brackish-water shrimp breeding, mostly along the coast. Its fisheries exports were worth $570 million last year. Livestock farming has been growing strongly, with a dairy cow-breeding programme in 2013-2020 proving efficient and expanding to many districts and towns. There are 9,720 cows which provide 2,880 tonnes of milk a year. Soc Trang also has strengths in the maritime economy with ports and shipping services being major segments. It has in place a master plan to develop its coastal economy through 2020 with a vision to 2030. The province is seeking the Governments approval to build a deep-water port and hopes to involve investors with deep pockets in the project. It plans to prioritise connectivity between its ports, urban areas, industrial parks, and tourism sites along the Hau River, while developing sectors like aquaculture, beach tourism and energy. With aquaculture being a major pillar of its economy, the province plans to pilot an irrigation model for specialised shrimp farming in Tran e District and Vinh Chau town. To develop tourism, the province has joined hands with Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province to operate a speedboat to Con ao Island. It has sought investment in many eco-tourism sites like Ho Be in Vinh Chau Disrict and Mo O in Tran e District. The investment conference was attended by Party and State leaders, officials from ministries, localities, international organisations, foreign diplomatic agencies in Viet Nam, trade and investment promotion organisations, finance and credit institutions, economic associations and groups, and local and foreign companies. -- VNS Cell Analysis Instruments Market to Record Sturdy Growth by 2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2296 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/cell-analysis-instruments-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Cell analysis is defined as the study of cells isolated from tissues in multi-cellular organisms and uni-cellular organisms. Cell analysis is a natural step in the reductionist approach to study genetical as well as phonotypical characteristics of the organism. The average response of the cells in cell culture or tissue is considered as response of the entire cell in the sample. Therefore, the effect of cell number on cell behavior is often ignored due to difficulties in monitoring such phenomena. For example dynamic study of single living cell helps in understanding the interconnecting molecular events which are continuously taking place in the cell. Cell analysis is a basically done for cell identification, cell proliferation, cell viability, cell signaling, single cell analysis, cell counting and quality control, cell structure study and cell interaction.The Cell Analysis Instruments Market is increasing at faster pace from recent years due to increasing hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, research and development institutions and educational institutes. Cell analysis instruments provide accuracy in results of cell imaging and analysis system which helps in reducing the time period and cost involved in drug delivery and other research and development activities. Significant technological innovations and continuous improvement in market of cell analysis instruments is also major reason for increasing market.Request to View Brochure of Report -The global cell analysis market by instrument is dominated by Europe followed by North America. The major factors which are driving the growth of cell analysis market by instrument in increasing incidence of cancer disease, chronic and infectious disease, funding by corporate and government sectors in research and development, improved image analysis products and enhanced informatics solution. Market of Asia-Pacific is also growing at faster pace for cell analysis market by instruments due to the growing interest of government bodies towards healthcare sector in countries such as India, China, Malaysia and Japan.The major key players in the market include Agilent Technologies, Inc, Danaher Corporation, Merck KGAA, Perkinelmer, Inc., Sigma-Adrich Corporation, Thermo-Fischer Scientific, Inc., Promega Corporation, Olympus Corporation, GE Healthcare and Beckton, Dickinson and Company.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Adenovirus Diagnostic Market is Set to Record Exponential Growth by 2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1456 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/adenovirus-diagnostic-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Adenoviruses are major causes of febrile illness among children. They can infect the membranes of respiratory tract, intestines, eyes and urinary tract causing pharyngitis, pneumonia and gastroenteritis, bronchiolitis, hemorrhagic cystitis and conjunctivitis. There are 57 types of adenoviruses known to infect human beings, classified into seven categories from A to G on the basis of genome size and composition. Human Adenovirus A, B and C cause respiratory infection while HAdV B & D cause conjunctivitis. Children are more susceptible to adenovirus infections than adults and aging population.Late winter, early summer and spring are the most common time for this infection to occur. Adenoviruses are one of the major causes of respiratory infections among children and cause of diarrhea. As these infections are not specific, so they cannot be diagnosed on the basis of clinical symptoms only. A number of diagnostic methods used to confirm the presence of adenovirus infection include viral culture, polymerase chain reaction assays and antigen based assays. Others emerging technologies such as monoclonal antibodies, liposomes, flow cytometry, chromatography and gel microdroplets are of vital use in diagnosis of adenovirus infection.Request to View Brochure of Report -The diagnostic tests for adenovirus infections are generally conducted at hospitals, private diagnostic laboratories, small clinics and public health laboratories. A study conducted by Barcelona Center for International Health Research and University of Bacelona on children suffering from pneumonia suggests that adenovirus is the second most respiratory virus causing pneumonia. Although the Adenovirus Diagnostics Market is considered to be mature, it may grow in emerging markets where a large number of children infected with adenovirus are under served. Geographically, North America represents the largest market as hospitals and private diagnostics laboratories in United States and Canada offer a broad portfolio of tests to determine the presence of adenovirus and due to reimbursement policy covering adenovirus diagnostics.Some of the key players operating in this market are Affymetrix, Becton Dickinson, Roche, Bio-Rad, Gen-Probe, Novartis AG, Qiagen, Diasorin, Abbott and bioMerieux.View Report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Market by Manufacturers,Types,Regions and Applications Research Report Forecast to 2022 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2820877-global-continuous-shot-blasting-machine-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2820877-global-continuous-shot-blasting-machine-market-research-report-2018 WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Market by Manufacturers,Types,Regions and Applications Research Report Forecast to 2022.This report studies the global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine market status and forecast, categorizes the global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China, and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).The global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine market is valued at million US$ in 2017 and will reach million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of during 2018-2025.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThe major manufacturers covered in this reportWheelabratorRoslerSintoPangbornAgtosGoffSiaproKaitaiQingdao ZhujiQingdao HuangheLongfaRuidaFengteTaiyuanGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaWe can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoHanger TypeTumblast MachineContinuous Through-feedRotary TableOthersOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingAutomotiveAerospaceShipbuildingFoundryOthersComplete Report Details @Table Of Contents Major Key PointsGlobal Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Market Research Report 20181 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Continuous Shot Blasting Machine1.2 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Hanger Type1.2.4 Tumblast Machine1.2.5 Continuous Through-feed1.2.6 Rotary Table1.2.7 Others1.3 Global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Segment by Application1.3.1 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Automotive1.3.3 Aerospace1.3.4 Shipbuilding1.3.5 Foundry1.3.6 Others1.4 Global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Continuous Shot Blasting Machine (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)7 Global Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Wheelabrator7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Wheelabrator Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Rosler7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Rosler Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Sinto7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Sinto Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Pangborn7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Pangborn Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Agtos7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Agtos Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Goff7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Goff Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Siapro7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Siapro Continuous Shot Blasting Machine Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business OverviewContinuedFor more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. Power Rental Market SWOT, Demand, Supply and Consumption, ROI 2019 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1763 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/power-rental-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ The featured report from Transparency Market Research, titled Power Rental Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2012 - 2019, offers a 360-degree view of the market. According to this report, the global power rental market will soar at a 16.2% CAGR during the forecast period from 2013 to 2019. In 2012, the global power rental market was worth US$7.28 billion and by 2019, the market is expected to be worth US$20.64 billion.Request Sample Report @The global power rental market is driven by the rising grid instability due to the aging of conventional grids. Furthermore, the alternating power spikes will also augment the markets growth. The global power rental market will also benefit from the rising awareness about curtailing the energy demand during peak hours. Other factors that will fuel the global power rental market include the rising preference to renting power instead of buying it.On the contrary, accelerating environmental concerns, along with limited product differentiation, will suppress the global power rental market. Moreover, the market will be challenged by the rising focus of nations on renewable energy and payment issues in developing and underdeveloped nations.Application-wise, the global power rental market is segmented into peak shaving, standby, and continuous power. The peak shaving market is expected to witness a CAGR of 16.8% during the forecasting horizon. According to end use, the global power rental market is divided into events, industrial, construction, oil, gas, and mining, and government and utilities.Read Report Overview @Geography-wise, the global power rental market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World (RoW). In 2012, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) market collectively held more than 31% of the overall power rental market. Saudi Arabia in the MEA power rental market is expected to demonstrate high growth in the coming years. The expanding infrastructure, rising construction activities, and the high demand for electricity in remote areas are together driving the Saudi Arabia power rental market. Generators are either used for prime or standby purposes in Saudi Arabia and are completely dependent on grid connectivity.In the same year, the Asia Pacific power rental market held a share of 19% in the global market. The Asia Pacific power rental market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.8% during the forecasting horizon. The rising industrialization and urbanization in Asia Pacific is expected to drive the demand for power rental in this region.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Fall Detection System Market worth CAGR of 4.5% | Major Player Are Medical Guardian LLP, LifeFone, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Intel Corporation, VitalConnect http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-fall-detection-system-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-fall-detection-system-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/inquire-before-buying/?dbmr=global-fall-detection-system-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-fall-detection-system-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-innovation-management-market/ Global Fall Detection System Industry 2017 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Global Fall Detection System industry. The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Global Fall Detection System analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.Global Fall Detection System Market is expected to reach USD 479.55 Million by 2025 from USD 341.17 Million in 2017, growing at a CAGR of 4.5% in the forecast period 2018 to 2025. The new market report contains data for historic years 2016, the base year of calculation is 2017 and the forecast period is 2018 to 2025.For In depth Information Get Free Sample Copy of this Report@Global Fall Detection System Market, By Product Type (Automatic Fall Detection System, Manual Fall Detection System), By Algorithm (Simple Threshold, Machine Learning), By Component (Accelerometers & Gyroscopes, Unimodal/Bimodal Sensors, Multimodal Sensors), By System (Wearable Systems {Watches, Clip-On, Necklace}, Non-Wearable Systems {Camera, Wall Sensors, Floor Sensors}, In-Home Landline System, In-Home Cellular Systems), End-User (Home Care Settings, Hospitals and Senior Assisted Living Facilities, Lone Workers, Others), By Geography (North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa)- Industry Trends and Forecast to 2025Complete report on Global Fall Detection System Market Research Report 2017-2024 spread across 350 Pages, profiling Top companies and supports with tables and figuresKey Questions Answered in Global Fall Detection System Market Report:-Our Report offers:- What will the market growth rate, Overview and Analysis by Type of Global Fall Detection System Market in 2025? What are the key factors driving, Analysis by Applications and Countries Global Fall Detection System Market? What are Dynamics, This Overview Includes Analysis of Scope, and price analysis of top Vendors Profiles of Global Fall Detection System Market? Who are Opportunities, Risk and Driving Force of Global Fall Detection System Market? Who are the opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in Global Fall Detection System Market? Business Overview by Type, Applications, Gross Margin and Market Share What are the Global Fall Detection System Market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Market?Market Definition: Global fall Detection System MarketFall detection system is the system used in alerting emergence in the incident of fall. Fall detection system such as automatic fall detection system and manual fall detection system are used in such detection. Such devices have the potential to diminish some of the adverse consequences of a fall. It has its application in hospitals, nursing, senior assisted living facilities, lone workers, and others. Increased demand for multimodal technology is the major driver for the growth of fall detection system market. On the other side low practicality of the technology among elders somewhere hinders the market.Request for Detailed TOC:Major Market Drivers and Restraints: Regulatory changes in the US with the implementation of PPACA Pressure to reduce rising healthcare costs Shift to ICD-10 coding standards and upcoming ICD-11 Loss of revenue due to billing errors Consolidation increasing in the healthcare industry Rising need for structured processes and documentations Hidden costs of outsourcing Fear of losing visibility and control over the business processTop Key Players: Medical Guardian LLP LifeFone Koninklijke Philips N.V. Intel Corporation VitalConnect Blue Willow Systems LifeCall Williamson Corporation Life Assure Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd Semtech Corporation Connect America Tunstall Bay Alarm Medical MobileHelp Mytrex, Inc. AlertOne Services, LLC MariCare among others.Key Drivers: Global Fall Detection System Market Low acceptance of technology among elder population is the factor which may hinder the growth of this market. Rising geriatric population and implementation of machine learning approach to detect fall are some of the factors which will drive the market in future.Inquire Before Buying @Key Factors: Global Fall Detection System Market Some of the key factors driving the market for global fall detection system are ability to assist in case of fall, growth in enhanced medical alert services. Increased demand of wearable technology based fall detection system and growth in demand of smart phones are the other factor which will drive the demand of global fall detection system market. The major factors driving the growth of market are ability to assist in case of fall, growth in enhanced medical alert services, increased demand of wearable technology based fall detection system and growth in demand of smart phones. On the other hand, low acceptance of technology among elder population may hinder the growth of the market.Customize report of "Global Fall Detection System Market" as per customers requirement also available.Company Share Analysis: Global Fall Detection System MarketThe report for global fall detection system market include detailed vendor level analysis for market shares in 2016 for Global, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South America specifically. Also impact and development analysis of key vendors is registered in the market and factored on the basis of Vendor Positioning Grid Analysis which measures the vendors strengths and opportunities against present market challenges, measure providers ability to identify or satisfy present market needs, map providers market vision to current and upcoming market dynamics among others. The report also measures technology life line curve and market time line to analyze and do more affective investments.Market Segmentations:Global Fall Detection System Market is segmented on the basis of Product Type Algorithm Component System End User GeographyMarket Segmentations in Details:On the basis of Product Type into two notable segments; automatic fall detection system and manual fall detection system.On the basis of Algorithm into two notable segments; machine learning and simple threshold.on the basis of Component into three notable segments; accelerometers andgyroscope, multimodal sensor and unimodal or bimodal sensor.on the basis of System, the global fall detection system market is segmented into four notable segments; wearable, non-wearable, in-home cellular system and in-home landline system.on the basis of End User into four notable segments; home care setting, hospital and senior assisted living facilities, lone worker and others.On the basis of Geography, North America South America Europe Asia-Pacific Middle East & AfricaKey Points: Global Fall Detection System Market Accelerometers and Gyroscope market is growing with the highest CAGR Automatic fall detection system is driving the market with highest market share. Wearable segment is dominating the fall detection system marketSpeak to Author of the report @Other ReportGlobal Innovation Management Market Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Global Innovation Management Market, By Geography; Type (Software, Services); Organization Size (Large Enterprises, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)); Deployment Model (On-premises, Cloud); Application (Product Research & Development Platforms, Marketing, Design, Idea Platforms, Collective Intelligence & Prediction Platforms, Human Resource & Freelancers Platforms); Vertical (Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, IT, Media & Communication Technology, Aerospace & Defense, Public Sector & Education, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Retail & Consumer Goods, Automotive & Manufacturing, Transportation & Logistics) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Report Access:About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com Global Information Security Consulting Market Growth, Opportunities , Industry Applications, Analysis And Forecast To 2025 - IBM Corporation, Wipro Limited, BAE Systems. KPMG, Accenture http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-information-security-consulting-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-information-security-consulting-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-information-security-consulting-market/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-information-security-consulting-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/geotechnical-instrumentation-monitoring-market/ Global Information Security Consulting Industry 2018 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Global Information Security Consulting industry. The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Global Information Security Consulting analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.The Global Information Security Consulting Market accounted for USD 15.85 billion in 2016 growing at a CAGR of 10.65% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic year 2014, 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.For In depth Information Get Free Sample Copy of this Report@Complete report on Global Information Security Consulting Market Research Report 2017-2024 spread across 350 Pages, profiling Top companies and supports with tables and figuresMarket Definition: Global Information Security Consulting MarketThe information security consulting helps in protection of the organization by providing expertise and experience that lack internally. The services comprises of including security engineering, management, assessment, and compliance provided by certified consultants. The growing network complexities, growing trends of IoT among others are some of the drivers for the growth of this market whereas the budget constraints are the restraining factor for this market.Global Information Security Consulting Market, By Geography, Security Type (Network Security, Application Security, Database Security, Endpoint Security), Organization Size (SMEs, Large Enterprises), Vertical (Aerospace & Defense, Government & Public Utilities, BFSI, IT & Telecom, Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Key Questions Answered in Global Information Security Consulting Market Report:-Our Report offers:- What will the market growth rate, Overview and Analysis by Type of Global Information Security Consulting Market in 2024? What are the key factors driving, Analysis by Applications and Countries Global Information Security Consulting Market? What are Dynamics, This Overview Includes Analysis of Scope, and price analysis of top Vendors Profiles of Global Information Security Consulting Market? Who are Opportunities, Risk and Driving Force of Global Information Security Consulting Market? Who are the opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in Global Information Security Consulting Market? Business Overview by Type, Applications, Gross Margin and Market Share What are the Global Information Security Consulting Market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Market?Request for Detailed TOC:Major Market Drivers: Growing Network Complexities Increased Sophistication in Attacking Growing Trends of IoT Budget Constraints Growing Cyber-Attacks On Business NetworkTop Key Players: IBM Corporation Wipro Limited Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP BAE Systems. KPMG Accenture Ernst & Young Global Limited Atos SE Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. Optiv Security Inc. SecureWorks, Inc. among others.For more insightful information visit@Customize report of "Global Information Security Consulting Market" as per customers requirement also available.Company Share Analysis: Global Information Security Consulting MarketThe report for information security consulting market include detailed vendor level analysis for market shares in 2016 for Global, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South America specifically. Also impact and development analysis of key vendors is registered in the market and factored on the basis of Vendor Positioning Grid Analysis which measures the vendors strengths and opportunities against present market challenges, measure providers ability to identify or satisfy present market needs, map providers market vision to current and upcoming market dynamics among others. The report also measures technology life line curve and market time line to analyze and do more affective investments.Market Segmentations:Global Information Security Consulting Market is segmented on the basis of Security Type Organization Size Vertical GeographyMarket Segmentations in Details:On the basis of Security Type into network security, application security, database security and endpoint security.On the basis of Organization Size, the global information security consulting market is segmented into small & medium enterprises and large enterprises.On the basis of Vertical, the global information security consulting market is segmented into aerospace & defense, government & public utilities, BFSI, IT & telecom, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and others.On the basis of Geography, North America South America Europe Asia-Pacific Middle East & AfricaSpeak to Author of the report @Other ReportGlobal Geotechnical Instrumentation & Monitoring Market Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Global Geotechnical Instrumentation & Monitoring Market, By Geography; Offering (Hardware, Software, Services); Structure (Tunnels Bridges, Buildings Utilities, Dams); Technology (Wired Networking Technology, Wireless Technology); Application (Pore Water Pressure, Soil Stresses, Lateral Deformation, Vertical Deformation), End-Users (Building, Infrastructure, Energy, Power, Oil, Gas, Mining) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Report Access:About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com Artificial Intelligence Market: Industry Outlook, Growth Prospects and Key Opportunities https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/artificial-intelligence-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4674 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=4674 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Artificial Intelligence Market: SnapshotGlobally, there is a wave of artificial intelligence across various industries, especially consumer electronics and healthcare. The wave is likely to continue in the years to come with the expanding base of applications of the technology. The global market for artificial intelligence is expected to witness phenomenal growth over the coming years as organizations worldwide have started capitalizing on the benefits of such disruptive technologies for effective positioning of their offerings and customer reach. In addition, the increasing It spending by enterprises across the globe for better advancements in their services and products.According to a study by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global market for artificial intelligence is estimated to post an impressive 36.1% CAGR between 2016 and 2024, rising to a valuation of US$3,061.35 bn by the end of 2024 from US$126.14 bn in 2015. The upward growth of the market is, however, hampered by the low upfront investments. The majority of companies operating in the market are facing difficulties in accumulating funds for early stage research and development of prototypes and their underlying technologies. The dearth of personnel with adequate technical knowledge is also restricting the market from realizing its full potential.Read Report OverviewExpert Systems to Lead Revenue Generation through 2024On the basis of type, the report segments the global artificial intelligence market into digital assistance system, expert system, embedded system, automated robotic system, and artificial neural network. The expert system segment was at the forefront of growth in 2015, representing 44% of the overall market revenue and is poised to maintain its dominance until 2024. The growth of the segment can be attributed to the rising implementation of artificial intelligence across various sectors such as process control, monitoring, diagnosis, design, planning, and scheduling.Digital assistance is estimated to be the most promising segment in terms of revenue during the review period. The proliferation of portable computing devices such as tablets and smartphones is the primary factor propelling the growth of the segment. Based on application, deep learning held the lions share of 21.6% in the global market in terms of value in 2015, closely trailed by smart robots. The demand for artificial intelligence in image recognition is likely to rise at a noteworthy rate over the forecast horizon.An exclusive brochure of this reportDomicile of a Raft of Leading Players to Fuel North Americas DominanceNorth America was the major revenue contributor in 2015, accounting for approximately 38.0% of the overall market. The domicile of a large number of the leading technology firms enables early introduction and high acceptance of artificial intelligence in the region. Moreover, high government funding is playing a pivotal role in the technological development of artificial intelligence in the region. The widening scope of applications the technology in various verticals, including media and advertising, retail, BFSI, consumer electronics, and automotive are also contributing the market in North America. Owing to these factors, the region is expected to retain its leadership through 2024.Request For Custom ResearchOn the other hand, the Middle East and Africa is anticipated to exhibit a remarkable CAGR of 38.2% during the forecast period, which is higher than any other region. Rapid technological innovations, including robotic automation and increasing implementation of concepts such as smart cities are boosting the adoption of artificial intelligence in the region. Ongoing infrastructure projects such development of new airports are rendering the market in MEA highly opportunistic.Some of the prominent participants in the global artificial intelligence market are Nuance Communications, MicroStrategy Inc., QlikTech International AB, Google Inc., IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Brighterion Inc., Next IT Corporation, IntelliResponse Systems Inc., and eGain Corporation.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: SCADA Market: Quantitative Market Analysis, Current and Future Trends https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/global-scada-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12179 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=12179 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Transparency Market Research (TMR) observes the global SCADA market for water and wastewater management to be fairly consolidated with a few well-entrenched players that hold the leading market share. Expansion of product portfolio and expanding outreach to serve a large customer base is what key players in this market are vying for competitive gains.ABB Ltd., Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Schneider Electric, Rockwell Automation Inc., Emerson Electric Co., Eaton Corporation, Tesco Controls Inc., Honeywell International Inc., SCADAware, and Parasyn are to name the key companies that operate in the global SCADA market for water and wastewater management.Read Report OverviewInvestments for the development of water and wastewater infrastructure is in general on the rise, observes a TMR analyst. Driven by this and a few other factors, the global SCADA market for water and wastewater management is predicted to reach US$2,172.1 mn by the end of 2025 from US$1,267.4 mn in 2015 at a moderate CAGR of 5.6% therein. Among the key component segments, services held more than 55% market share in the SCADA market for water and wastewater management in 2016. The industrial segment is likely to dominate among the key end-users expanding at a CAGR of 6% between 2015 and 2025. Geography-wise, in 2016, North America led with more than 33% of the global SCADA market for water and wastewater management in 2016.SCADA System Enables Efficient Wastewater Management, which is Fueling its DemandAmong the key growth drivers of the global SCADA market for water and wastewater management, the increasing investment in water and wastewater infrastructure is a prominent one. Apart from this, increasing complexities in maintenance and management of water and wastewater facilities are also exhibiting the demand for SCADA for wastewater management. At present, SCADA systems are extensively used in water and wastewater management sectors due to its capability to obtain data from remote devices such as valves and pumps and offer remote control from a host software platform.The increasing efficiency in wastewater management using SCADA system is also anticipated to fuel the growth of SCADA market for water and wastewater management. This, along with initiatives undertaken by several governments and a comprehensive regulatory framework for monitoring and controlling water and wastewater services is promoting the use of SCADA. For example, workers at the Mid Halton Waste Water Treatment Plant in Canada have employed SCADA system to significantly increase flexibility, improve efficiency, and reduce expenses at the facility.PDF Brochure For Future AdvancementsIn developing economies, the adoption of SCADA system is on the rise in order to provide more effective and efficient maintenance and management of water and wastewater.Further, the growing practices of adoption of new and advanced technologies in the industrial sector are also acting in favor of the SCADA market for water and wastewater management. This is because SCADA system allows access to the plant from anywhere in the world in real-time. This allows the management and decision makers to make data driven decisions for improving plant processes. For instance, the chemical industry is adopting SCADA system so as to efficiently control certain processes or components of the chemical plant.A Custom ReportHigh Cost of Equipment Limits GrowthOn the flip side, however, design complexities and lack of awareness is a key factor posing a hindrance to the markets growth. Further, the high installation cost of equipment used for water treatment is also restraining the markets growth. Nevertheless, rapid adoption of advanced electronics and communication technologies in emerging economies is likely to open growth avenues for the global SCADA market for water and wastewater treatment.The review presented is based on the findings of a TMR report, titled SCADA Market for Water & Wastewater Management (Component - Hardware (Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Remote Terminal Units (RTU), Network infrastructure, and IT ), Software (On-premise and Cloud-based) and Services; End User - Residential (Government and Private) and Industrial (Chemical, Food & Beverages, and Pharmaceutical)) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2015 - 2025.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Smart Home Digital Assistant (Voice) Market: Rising Allocations On analysis And Innovation https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/smart-home-digital-assistant-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=29222 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=29222 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A digital assistant (virtual assistant) is an application program which can complete electronic tasks for the user by understanding the natural language. Earlier, such tasks included reading text, taking dictation, reading email or text messages aloud, placing calls and reminding the user about the appointments.The advanced digital assistants are programmed with machine learning, voice recognition technology and artificial intelligence. The artificial intelligence (AI) programming uses sophisticated algorithms to recognize the input data and improvise in predicting the end-users needs when the user interacts with the digital assistant. Technological advancements in smart home digital assistant industry will be more advanced with cognitive computing technologies enabling digital assistant to understand and perform complex tasks.Read Report OverviewThe expansion of AI enabled services from various companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Samsung Electronics is expected to support the industry growth over the forecast timeline. The digital assistants with voice as a user-interface (UI) are increasingly penetrating in smart homes via integration with connected set top boxes, smart speakers, streaming media devices and smart TVs. The consumer electronics manufacturers are increasingly adopting voice assistants to differentiate their products, attract customers to their platforms by providing a smarter experience.Many home appliance manufacturers have already started to integrate Google Assistants and Amazon Alexa within their connected appliances. Currently these appliances are likely to be assistant-enabled and are expected to be embedded with AI-based technology for numerous range of appliances such as smart wall ovens, smart fridges, smart coffee machines and robotic vacuum cleaners.Voice control is quite crucial in smart home environment as almost all electronic devices can be controlled through voice commands, effectively reducing the continuous management need of various mobile applications. The virtual assistant software acts as a brain for each device by typically combining recognition and application programming interfaces (APIs). These smart home virtual assistant features always-on microphones which are voice-controlled.PDF Brochure For Future AdvancementsThe voice-controlled smart home virtual assistant speakers listens to every sound within their hearing range. After hearing its wake word, the speaker awakes into action and sends recording of the command to its cloud servers. The command is translated into the action in the server and sent back with necessary action. The processing is entirely dependent on the network connection and can be instantaneous or may take few seconds for response.Balancing user privacy concerns, capturing user data to ensure compelling experience is the major key challenge for digital assistant providers. The cost implications of adding AI-enabled services, ensuring sufficient developer support and service integrations are the potential growth opportunities for smart home digital assistant market.Request For Custom ResearchThe U.S. households are quickly adopting the digital voice assistants as compared to other consumer electronics in North America region. The voice-based and voice control technologies has experienced strong uptick in the consumer electronics segment. Continuous improvements in natural language processing and machine learning paired with prevalence of portable devices have supported the advancements in voice interfaces. The North America is expected to continue its dominance over the forecast timeline owing to its early adoption of the digital assistant technology. Europe and Asia Pacific region is expected to have quickest CAGR growth owing to rising disposable income and urbanization of smart homes in these regions.Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Siri and Microsoft Cortana are some of the industry participants in smart home digital assistant market. The rivalry between the technology giants is intensifying as more companies combine their voice assistant software with speaker-style hands-free hardware. Amazon has significantly tapped the market share by launching its Echo speaker and Alexa assistant in the niche market. However, the company is expected to face significant technological and cost pressures from its competitors such as Google, Samsung, Apple and other big industry competitors.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Digital Photography Market: Worldwide Industry Analysis and New Market Opportunities Explored https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/digital-photography-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=483 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=483 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Global Digital Photography Market: OverviewDigital photography refers to a form of photography that uses devices containing arrays of light sensitive sensors to capture pictures focused by a lens. The captured pictures are in digital format and are stored as a computer file, which can be further processed for color corrections and resizing for viewing, publishing, or printing. Professional photographer apart, digital photography has been adopted by many amateur snapshot photographers in the recent times as it helps them with the convenience of sending images by email or uploading them on the World Wide Web. This extended demand from amateur photographers in the past decade is reflecting on the global digital photography market, which was estimated at US$82.6 bn in 2016, is projected for a healthy growth rate during the forecast period of 2016 to 2024.The digital photography market includes complimentary products such as cameras, interchangeable lenses, storage cards, printers, photo editing software, camera cell phones, and digital photo frames. Collectively, the market for these complimentary products was valued at US$ 68.5bn, which makes it a highly lucrative opportunities for the players.Read Comprehensive Overview of ReportThis report on global digital photography market is comprehensive study of the market in its current scenario and based on prominent factors that are expected to influence the growth rate, figurative future has been evaluated. Another key aspect of the report is its section on company profiles which includes data on manufacturing base, capacity, product portfolio, marketing strategies, and other key developments.Global Digital Photography Market: Trends and OpportunitiesIn the recent past, digital media has revolutionized the face of digital photography with the emergence of photo sharing sites, networking sites, and blogging sites. This incremented participation of vast populations on the Internet is rated as the primary factor that is extending the demand in the global market for digital photography. Moreover, the key players in this market are constantly innovating and introducing new products to catch the attention of the consumers.PDF Brochure For Future AdvancementsFor example, wireless cameras are expected to witness a surge in demand in the mature markets of the U.S., Japan, Europe, and other emerging economies in Asia Pacific. Digital and video cameras are expected to soon evolve into network devices, which will create new opportunities for the wireless operators and film suppliers. With digital cameras accessing personal computers and the Internet via wireless data connection, new levels of convenience for the consumers.The report observes that networking sites are constantly innovating their photo sharing section, which gives their consumers a rich and enhanced visual experience. This factor is expected to prompt a surge in demand for digital photography products, especially in the urban population across the globe. Additionally, digital photography finds applications in several industries such as medical, surgeries, automobiles, and manufacturing. Conversely, these digital photography complimentary products are expensive, sophisticated, and requires professional knowledge to operate. This factor is anticipated to hinder the growth rate of the market during the forecast period.Download TOCThe global market for digital photography can be segmented on the basis of products, application and geography. By products, the market can be divided into processing equipment, interchangeable lenses, and camera smartphones. By application, the market can be divided into photography software and photo processing.Global Digital Photography Market: Region-wise OutlookGeographically, North America and Europe contribute to the maximum demand in the global market, which is a reflection of high purchasing potential of the populations in those region, particularly in the countries of the U.S., the U.K., Canada, France, and Germany. However, with the exponential rise of the social media in the emerging economies in Asia Pacific, which has vastly populated countries such as India and India, are projected for a robust growth rate during the forecast period.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: HA NOI South Korea will enforce the Positive List System (PLS) to strengthen the safety management of whole imported agricultural products, including those from Viet Nam , as of January 1, 2019. The information was released at the conference, which was jointly held by Viet Nam s ministries of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) and the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Ha Noi yesterday. The conference aimed to introduce Vietnamese exporters to its new management system of pesticide residue listing for imported agricultural products and help them minimise risks when they export agricultural products to South Korea . Deputy Head of the MoITs Department of the Asia-Africa Market Le An Hai said South Korea had applied a new management mechanism on the list of pesticides in oilseeds and tropical fruits. Therefore, if the pesticide residue had not been registered for the maximum residue limit (MRLs), the products would be applied at the default level of 0.01ppm. Hai said although this regulation was generally applied for all countries, it would limit the number and types of pesticides used in disease control in Viet Nam and directly affect the export of key products of Viet Nam such as coffee, peanuts, cashew nuts and tropical fruits. Nguyen Quoc Toan, acting director of MARDs Agricultural Market Processing and Development, said although Viet Nam s agricultural products had great export potential, the direct exports of fruit to markets such as South Korea , Japan , Taiwan and Europe would only grow if the products met technical standards in production and preservation. This is the key point for fruit in particular and agricultural products in general to increase in volume and export value, said Toan. Lee Soon-Ho, a representative from the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, took a closer look at South Korea s import of safe agricultural products from its main trading partners, including Viet Nam , in order to show types of fruit that Viet Nam needed to pay special attention to on pesticide residues when exporting to Korea . He also warned Vietnamese businesses of 370 pesticide categories that would be subject to in-depth inspections at the designated port of entry in Korea , in which nearly 140 units had not registered safety standards on pesticide residues in this market. Therefore, Vietnamese exporters need to pay close attention to the fact that only products with safe standards of residue will be allowed to enter South Korea . Vietnamese producers and exporters should review their export products and then send registration dossiers on safety standards on residues to the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Statistics from MoIT show that over the past 25 years, since the establishment of diplomatic relations, bilateral trade between Vietnam and South Korea has grown significantly. In 2017, the two-way trade turnover reached US$61.5 billion, 123 times more than in 1992 when diplomatic relations were established, accounting for 14.4 per cent of Vietnams total export and import to the world. Marine Big Data Market: Key Players and Production Information analysis https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/marine-big-data-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=35177 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=35177 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Considering big data analytics in the marine sector is an upcoming technology, the global marine big data market is poised to witness a highly competitive environment. As the market is at a booming phase, Transparency Market Research (TMR) forecasts strong growth for in a new study. In order to emerge at fore, a majority of the market players are focusing on product differentiation, said a lead TMR analyst.In consequence of the same, companies are in keen on adding innovative functions to the products they offer, he added. Besides this, the market players are keen on strategic collaborations through partnerships. This would help companies operating in the global marine big data market strengthen their foothold. TMR has identified Intertrust Technologies Corporation, Splunk, Inc., Teradata, BigOceanData, Datameer Inc., among others as some of the leading companies operating in the global marine big data market.Read Report OverviewImpacted by strategies adopted by the key market players and various other factors, the global marine big data market is forecast to expand at a robust 21.5% CAGR between 2017 and 2025. At this pace, the markets valuation will reach US$3,240.5 mn by the end of 2025. Based on component, service segment held larger share in the global marine big data market as compared to software packages as the former offers better affordability. Regionally, Asia Pacific held lead in the global marine big data market as the region boasts the presence of large shipping corporations in South Korea, China, Singapore, and Japan.Technological Advancements in Marine Sector Push Demand for Marine Big DataShipping is highly regulated and responsible nearly 3% of carbon emissions reported globally. Considering the high dependence of global trade, the shipping industry accounts for a significantly large share of the commercial demand. In the coming years, the industry is likely to navigate through various twists and turns and bear effects of climate change, upcoming regulations, technological advancements, and energy shortages. Also several technological developments are on card for the marine sectors on account of the advent of proliferation of the sensor technology. Against this backdrop, experts are of the opinion that the marine sector is likely to develop at a rapid pace in the coming years. This will in turn create lucrative prospects for the global marine big data markets growth.For More Professional and Technical Industry InsightsShip intelligence will emerge as a driving future shaping lucrative prospects for the industry. A staggering volume of data is generated on a daily basis in marine sector. Furthermore, this data is generated from diverse sources and in diverse formats. Big data has therefore emerged as a key solution as it helps discovering correlations between various measurable or unmeasurable criteria. Results thus obtained enables determination of hidden trends and patterns.Information Provided by Marine Big Data Considered Indispensable for Marine SectorMarine big data provides forecasts regarding unforeseen hazards be it regarding climate or ecology and helps in decision-making. In addition, marine big data also provides valuable temporal and spatial information, besides data on water attributes such as density, salinity, temperature, and velocity. All these factors will help in growth of the global marine big data market in the coming years. As future of ship intelligence traverses beyond ultra-monitoring and nanotech, the market will welcome a fresh burst of opportunities. Experts are of opinion that in the coming years, bridges will focus on analyzing high level data to efficiently manage navigation and propulsions.A Custom ReportThis review is based on a TMR report, titled Marine Big Data Market (Component Software (Data Analytics, Data Collection Data Discovery & Visualization, and Data Management), Services (Consulting, System Integration and Operation, and Maintenance); Application Renewable Energy, Oil & Gas, Fishery, Whale Watching, Marine Protected Area, Dredging, Harbor, and Offshore Construction; Data Source Environmental, Oceanographic, Geological Data, and Economic) Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2017 2025.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Telecom Service Order Management Service Market Analysis, Market Size, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts, 2018 To 2023 http://www.qyreports.com/request-sample/?report-id=80495 http://www.qyreports.com/ask-for-discount/?report-id=80495 http://qyreports.com/enquiry-before-buying?report-id=80495 www.qyreports.com The telecom order management market report aims at estimating the market size and the growth potential of the telecom order management market across different segments: components (solutions and services), network types, deployment types, and regions. The primary objective of the report is to provide a detailed analysis of the major factors (drivers, restraints, opportunities, industry-specific challenges, and recent developments) influencing the market growth, analyze the market opportunities for stakeholders, and offer details of the competitive landscape to the market leaders.The Telecom Service Order Management Service market is in its nascent stage, and QY Reports analyst predicts the market to grow CAGR at a rate of +10% during the forecast period.This statistical survey report on Global Telecom Service Order Management Service Market is a comprehensive study of industry, the latest contours, industry development, drivers and redemption. It provides market forecasts over the next few years. This includes a break-through of innovation, an analysis of Porter's five forces analysis, and an analysis of the gradual profile of an evenly-chosen industry competitor. The report also analyzes the trivial and full-fledged factors identified in the market as new and potential candidates, along with systematic and valuable value chain exploration.Get Sample Copy Of this Report @Major Key suppliers of the market:Cerillion (UK), Cognizant (US), Ericsson (Sweden), IBM (US), Oracle (US), ChikPea (US), Comarch (Poland), Fujitsu (Japan), Intellibuzz (India), Mphasis (India), Neustar (US), and Pegasystems (US).The initial section provides an industry overview of the Telecom Service Order Management Service market. This part of the study includes market specifications and definitions. In addition, the type of machine is described in detail. Market applications are discussed in the next study. The dynamics that affect the development of the global market, such as drivers, challenges, opportunities and trends, are detailed in this Survey Report.The competitive landscape of the global Telecom Service Order Management Service market is discussed in the report, including the player's market share. This report introduces leading companies in the global marketplace for in-depth research into market challenges and challenges. The report also considers approaches that major companies are implementing to maintain support for the industry. Business synopses and financial overview of each company were reviewed.Get Reasonable Discount on This Premium Report @Based on geographical areas, the world Telecom Service Order Management Service markets are broadly divided into Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific. The world market is still in exploration in most areas, but it has the promising potential to grow steadily over the next few years. The major players investing in this market are in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, India, China and some Asia Pacific countries. As a result, Asia Pacific, North America and Western Europe are expected to account for more than half of the total market share over the next few years.At the end of the report, a manufacturer is announced who is responsible for increasing sales in the Telecom Service Order Management Service market. These manufacturers have been analyzed in terms of manufacturing base, basic information and competitors. In addition, the technology and product types introduced by each manufacturer are also an important part of this section of the report.To get more information, Ask for Sample PDF illustration with TOC, Tables, Figures and Charts @Table of Content:Global Telecom Service Order Management Service Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 Telecom Service Order Management Service Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market ForecastChapter 13 AppendixAbout QYReports:We at, QYReports , a leading market research report publisher 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 include prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SME's 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 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.Contact:QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.com Plastic Waste Management Market Excellent Tends On Clean Harbors, ADS Waste Holdings, Progressive Waste Solutions and Covanta Holding Plastic Waste Management Market, Plastic Waste Management Market Study, Plastic Waste Management Market Size, Plastic Waste Manage https://bit.ly/2JVEhsK https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/1154969/ https://empowerednews.net/author/gminsights/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-expansion-tank-market-professional-survey-report-2018/utm_source=RR&utm_medium=DC https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ http://reports.algosonline.com/ The Plastic Waste Management Report consists of all the basic information regarding the Plastic Waste Management market. The all-inclusive report will aid users to understand the market current trends, industry growth drivers, share, analysis, size, production, forecast trends, supply, sales, demands, and many other aspects. The analysis was accomplished using an objective amalgamation of primary and secondary data including contributions from major participants in the market. The global Plastic Waste Management report is an essential reserve of data, primarily for the industry administrators.The worldwide market for Plastic Waste Management is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 4.3% over the next five years, will reach 34900 million US$ in 2023, from 27100 million US$ in 2017, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.Plastic waste management is a collective term for various approaches and strategies used to recycle plastic materials that would otherwise be dumped into landfills, or bodies of water, or otherwise contaminate the environment. The idea behind this type of waste management is to utilize those discarded materials to manufacture new plastic products without the need to actually generate additional plastic materials. Doing so can help lower production costs as well as protect the environment.This report focuses on the top Manufacturers and players in global market are given bellow:-Veolia Environnement, Suez Environnement, Waste Management, Republic Services, Stericycle, Clean Harbors, ADS Waste Holdings, Progressive Waste Solutions and Covanta HoldingRequest a Sample on standard prices of this premium Plastic Waste Management Market Research Report@Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversLandfillRecycleIncinerationMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoPlastic WasteHeat Energy GenerationRecycled PlasticsOthersRequest a Discount on standard prices of this premium Plastic Waste Management Market Research Report@There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Plastic Waste Management market.Chapter 1, to describe Plastic Waste Management Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Plastic Waste Management, with sales, revenue, and price of Plastic Waste Management, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Plastic Waste Management, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Plastic Waste Management market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Plastic Waste Management sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceMore Report At:Related Report:Global Expansion Tank Market Professional Survey Report 2018This report studies Expansion Tank in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2023.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:More Report at: I am Cuban and arrived unaccompanied by an adult to the U.S. on June 27, 1961. I was one of 14,000 children received by Operation Pedro Pan in Miami, Florida. I watched Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a mother herself, asked by a journalist, "You're a parent of young children. Don't you have any empathy for what they go through?" She purposely ignored him. My memories as a 10-year-old flooded my thoughts. Even with preparation, understanding and brotherly support, that separation affects my 67-year-old self. A line has been crossed. Children have become weapons of this administration. They have taken the children from the poorest and most abused people. Parents who have risked everything to bring their children to our borders to find some normalcy and safety are being subjected to the worst punishment. Their crime: trying to protect their children from situations in their countries they cannot control. When I see the children housed in the hundreds without their parents, my whole being cries, "This is a sin, it is immoral." Although Attorney General Jeff Sessions quotes the Bible, I ask him to refer to Mark 10:13-16: "Let the little children come to me! Do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." The 10-year-old in me remembers crying for my parents every night. -- Cristina George, Wilsonville By Dwight C. Holton Today, more than 80 former United States Attorneys from all over the nation called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to end the "Zero Tolerance" policy of tearing families apart at our nation's borders. My former colleagues and I -- who served under both Republican and Democratic presidents alike -- have been horrified by the images and stories of children separated from their moms and dads. But we also object to the policy because it is dangerous, expensive and inconsistent with the values of the Department of Justice we served. This policy can end right now and Attorney General Sessions should act without delay. The story of families arriving at the border is a universal story of humanity: Parents willing to face all odds to protect their children. Every administration for decades has grappled with the complexities inherent in families illegally crossing our borders. Until now, every administration has chosen a path that has balanced the need for effective enforcement and deterrence with humanity and compassion. Now, the balance is gone. Instead, U.S. Attorneys have been ordered to arrest and charge every single immigrant who arrives where without inspection -- even those seeking asylum. The crime is a misdemeanor, a lower level crime. But the consequences are breathtaking. Children, apparently including infants and toddlers, are separated from their parents and detained at a tent city, a refashioned Wal-Mart or other detention facilities in cities like Chicago, thousands of miles away from their parents. The law does not require the separation of families. We didn't do it on my watch, nor did the Bush and Reagan U.S. Attorneys on their watch before me. Nor did hundreds of other U.S. Attorneys from past administrations across this nation. This purely up to Attorney General Sessions and Secretary Nielsen. When I served as your U.S. Attorney, we only took steps to separate children from their parents with extraordinary caution. And only after an evaluation of the specific circumstances of a particular case. By contrast, the current Zero Tolerance policy has produced a tragic and unsustainable result, resulting in the separation and detention of thousands of children in just a few weeks. Traumatizing children by separating them from their parents as a deterrent for adult conduct is bad enough. But as a former U.S. Attorney, I'm also worried about the impact on the priorities of our prosecutors. Every minute a prosecutor spends prosecuting misdemeanor illegal entry cases is time he or she does not spend investigating more significant crimes like gang and drug violence, human trafficking, terrorism or public corruption. Under the Zero Tolerance policy, firearms cases, financial fraud cases, environmental dumping and pollution cases all take a back seat to these lesser, weaker misdemeanor cases. The combination of unnecessary child trauma and dangerous national security impact is exacerbated by the crushing expense of arresting and detaining every "illegal entry" misdemeanor defendant. At a time when the federal deficit is blooming and there's no relief in sight, the Zero Tolerance policy will hit taxpayers in the wallet over and over again: We pay for the detention, we pay for the prosecutors, we pay for the defense lawyers, the judges, the immigration agents. The costs goes on and on, all for a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of six months in jail. None of this is necessary. The fact is that this is a miserable, dangerous, costly policy that the Attorney General could end with a phone call. Effective leadership and the integrity of the world's leading law enforcement agency require nothing less. Dwight C. Holton served as a federal prosecutor from 1996-2012, and U.S. Attorney for Oregon from 2010-2011. Share your opinion Submit your essay of 800 words or less on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonian.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification. By Linda Kirk A photo of a cow ten times bigger than life will greet every tourist who enters the new visitors' center at the Tillamook Cheese factory when it opens today. With more than a million annual visitors traveling to Tillamook, Oregon to view cheesemakers at work, the cheese factory needed more space. When her photo is installed above the entrance, this cow will seem to say, "On the farm, I make the milk. Here, they make the cheese. Come on in and look around." That's a welcoming stance for a cow ambassador. One finishing touch is a polished nametag attached to a neck chain. But what name should be printed on the nametag? She can't be Tillie the Cow. That name belongs to Tillamook's first cow ambassador, a rubbery squeeze toy that's been sold periodically at the cheese factory since the 1950s. The colossal new cow needs her own name. Back when Tillie the Cow was Tillamook's only cow ambassador, guides led free walking tours through the plant. In the summer of 1968, I had a brief career as a cheese guide. It started with a phone call from Anita Beeler, the visitors' center supervisor. She said the factory was swamped with tourists. "We pay $1.25 an hour. Could you start work tomorrow?" My first assignment was cutting cheese cube samples for hungry customers. After work, I studied a brochure that described how Tillamook cheddar was made. I wrote key facts on a note card that fit in the slant pocket of my new white Dacron uniform. At the end of the first week, I was allowed to take a group of tourists through the plant. I stopped by a vat where paddles were stirring heated milk. I took a deep breath and spoke loudly into the bullhorn, "Bacteria culture, coloring, and rennet are added to the milk. Color is extracted from annatto seeds. Rennet causes the milk to coagulate." If anyone asked about rennet, I was ready to say that the factory used rennet made from the stomachs of veal calves. If no one asked, I would not elaborate on rennet. I led my group to the last vat. "Here," I said, "the cheesemakers are flipping the curds." Two cheesemakers, working on opposite sides of the vat, leaned far over the vat's walls. They wore white shirts, white pants, soda jerks' white paper hats and brown rubber boots. They reached both hands to the bottom of the vat and, muscles straining, lifted warm, heavy, slippery, unwieldy slabs of solidified curds, and then flipped them over. Their moves made the tourists stop and stare. Possibly, the tourists were staring at the sweat that fell from the men's foreheads into the slabbed cheese curds. The room was hot. Sun beamed in through the window, while vats heated thousands of gallons of milk to 100 degrees. The work was hard. Sweating was unavoidable. I raised my bullhorn, "Salt is added to every vat of cheese. It flavors the cheese, helps release whey, and also stops the action of the bacterial starter." Later in the tour, we looked through windows into the packaging room where women were cutting and wrapping cheese after wax was stripped from 40-pound cheese blocks. In the cold-storage room, I pointed to shelves of cheese wheels and two-pound rectangular baby loaves. "Here we age the cheese from 60 days for mild cheddar to nine months for sharp. Cheese inspectors regularly take random core samples and taste the samples to monitor the cheese." "I want that job," called out a male voice. We all laughed. When that first tour ended, I returned to the sales room. I couldn't have guessed then that after more than five decades of tours, the practice would cease and an upstairs viewing room and ground floor restaurant would be built. I had no idea that the size of the visitors' center would grow to 38,500 square feet in 2018, and that the new entrance would be dominated by a photo of a cow. A cow with no name. Maybe Tillamook dairy farmers are already thinking of a good name for their over-sized cow ambassador. Still, it can't hurt to have one more name suggestion. How about Winnie the Moo? -- Linda Kirk now lives in Coos County, another of Oregon's cheesemaking hubs. For a longer article about being a cheese guide, as well as instructions for guides, visit www.cheesewar.info. Share your opinion Submit your essay of 800 words or less on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonian.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification. BANDON Authorities say a man has been arrested after a dog was caught and killed last week in an illegal trap south of Coos Bay. The World reports 57-year-old Monte Callaway of Bandon has been arrested by Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division. Oregon State Police Trooper Brian Koell says authorities responded to a call on June 11 reporting that the family dog was found dead in a trap on the neighbor's property. When police contacted Callaway, troopers say they found that a trap had been used illegally. Callaway remains in Coos County Jail on an animal abuse charge and other charges related to illegal trapping. Koell says the type of trap Callaway allegedly set is usually used to trap beaver. It wasn't immediately known if Callaway has a lawyer. --The Associated Press A 22-year-old Corvallis man was indicted Wednesday, accused of threatening to shoot classmates at Oregon State University in a series of threatening Twitter messages posted in late February. Christopher Adam Strahan is charged with one count of making threatening communications. Christopher Strahan He's been in federal custody since March 27, when he was arrested on a warrant based on a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene. He was then detained as a flight risk and danger to the community. The investigation began on Feb. 27 after OSU's public safety director was alerted about threatening posts from a Twitter account called, "Hard Belly Dorm,'' according to FBI Special Agent Timothy Suttles. "Oregon State University campus going to get shot up and who will be to blame,'' was one of the messages. Another read, "You (expletive) are past spent, you (expletive) are going to die in class.'' A third said, "I'm creating gta missions to better train for shooting up OSU.'' OSU sought the identification of the Twitter user and obtained Strahan's email address. Oregon State Police Det. Johnathan Wolfenbarger viewed Strahan's Twitter profile and informed the school that he was familiar with Strahan, who was the target of an investigation a year earlier for similar threats, according to the federal complaint. In March 2017, he was convicted of second-degree disorderly conduct for similar threats made to OSU on Twitter the month before, and sentenced to 20 days in jail. He also was civilly committed to the Oregon State Hospital for up to six months, the FBI agent wrote in the complaint. This year, on the same day OSU learned of the Twitter threats, Corvallis police separately received a 911 call from someone who provided an address of the person they believed made the threats. Police went to the address, and stopped Strahan as he arrived in a car. "I know what this is about,'' Strahan told police, according to the complaint. Police initially arrested Strahan on a first-degree disorderly conduct allegation and took him to the Benton County jail. They also received Strahan's consent to search his residence, and no weapons were found, according to the complaint. Strahan is scheduled to be arraigned on the one-count federal indictment at 1:30 p.m. next Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Eugene. Strahan was a student at the university, but hasn't been affiliated with the school since March 2017, according to Steve Clark, a school spokesman. -- Maxine Bernstein mbernstein@oregonian.com 503-221-8212 @maxoregonian Martin Shain, left, a Seattle based energy consultant, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud. The charges were connected with a scheme in which he bribed Energy Department manager Joe Colello, right, to help him earn lucrative commissions by brokering state energy tax credits. The Oregonian By Ted Sickinger The Oregonian/OregonLive A Seattle energy consultant pleaded guilty Wednesday to tax evasion and fraud charges in connection with a tax credit brokering scheme he masterminded with the help of an Oregon Department of Energy manager. Martin Shain pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland to one count each of tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Hes scheduled for sentencing Sept. 25 to accommodate a medical procedure. Prosecutors have recommended a 46-month sentence. Shain also is slated to be sentenced on state charges next month. He pleaded guilty to tax evasion May 15 in Marion County Circuit Court. He also pleaded no contest to charges of forgery, bribery, racketeering and grand theft, acknowledging the state has enough evidence to convict him of those charges, too. His agreement with state prosecutors included a recommended sentence of 48 to 60 months, to be served concurrently with his federal sentence. In the end, he could end up spending less time in jail than Joe Colello, the Energy Department employee who accepted more than $300,000 in bribes from Shain to help facilitate the sale of state tax credits. Those deals netted Shain $1.34 million in commissions over a three-year period starting in mid-2012. He failed to report the income or pay taxes on it, and took steps to conceal it, prosecutors said. Colello drew a five-year term for his role in the scheme. Don't Edit In this August 2011 image, Martin Shain (left), attends a groundbreaking with then-Gov. John Kitzhaber and Oregon Tech President Chris Maples at the The Oregon Institute of Technoilogy. He has since pleaded no contest to charges that he submitted two forged documents to improperly obtain $12 million in state tax credits for a series of university solar projects, including the array at Oregon Tech. (Courtesy Oregon Tech) Shain faces a potential fine of $250,000 and a maximum sentence of five years on each of the federal charges. His state plea agreement also included $2.2 million in restitution. That includes $1.3 million in commissions that Colello was ordered to jointly repay with Shain to the towns, transit agencies, universities and private companies that hired Shain to sell their tax credits. Until 2015, Colello oversaw the sale of state energy tax credits at the Department of Energy. State rules allowed the original recipients of the credits to sell them to a third party at a discount, and it was Colello's job to match sellers with buyers and process the transactions for a small fee. Sellers also could use outside brokers to find buyers and complete the deals. In 2012, Shain set up a company in his mothers name to start brokering credits, then arranged his scheme with Colello. Using his insider knowledge, Colello steered Shain to public agencies and companies looking to sell their credits. Once Shain had secured a brokerage contract, Colello would then tap his list of buyers and complete the deals, crediting Shain with finding buyers who had actually gone directly to the state looking for available credits. Don't Edit Martin Shain bribed Energy Department manager Joe Colello to help him sell tax credits for Wilsonville's transit agency along with 10 other clients, earning $1.3 million in commissions on the deals between 2012 and 2015. (Courtesy Wilsonville) From 2012 to 2015, Shain's brokerage company earned $1.3 million in commissions from 11 clients. In turn, prosecutors say, Shain sent approximately 58 cashier's checks to Colello or his girlfriend totaling more than $300,000. The kickbacks scheme came to light after The Oregonian/OregonLive published an investigation showing the state had improperly awarded the $12 million in tax credits to a series of university solar projects based on forged documents. Shain was the state's consultant on those projects, responsible for obtaining the tax credits. With Colello's assistance, he also sold the tax credits for the solar projects, which brought in the largest portion of the illicit commissions earned. - Ted Sickinger tsickinger@oregonian.com 503-221-8505; @tedsickinger U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement closed its Southwest Portland office after demonstrators protesting the Trump administration's immigration policy converged on the facility Tuesday afternoon. "ICE operations at this location have been temporarily halted due to security concerns," said agency spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell on Wednesday morning. President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy caused an international frenzy of protest. The policy led to the separation of immigrant children from their parents, which Trump officials admit was a tactic intended to discourage border crossings by illegal immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the agency charged with enforcing the country's immigration laws. It is the agency that sent 123 immigration detainees to the Federal Correctional Institute at Sheridan. Protesters gathered at the agency's Southwest Macadam Boulevard offices on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler vowed that he would not get involved trying to break up the demonstration. After blaming the policy on Democrats in Congress for more than a week, Trump reversed course on Wednesday and signed an executive order he said would end the family separations. The new order leaves unchanged the zero-tolerance approach which refers virtually all border crossers for criminal prosecution even if they request asylum. So in effect families may remain together behind bars. Will the dramatic change in course end the Occupation-style protest at the agency's Portland office? That's not yet clear. Immigration groups said they won't accept the "replacement of one vile policy with another." "Massive outrage over Trump's inhumane family separation policy put Trump and his Republican lapdogs on the defensive," said Nicole Regalado, campaign manager for Credo, a major funder of various immigrant groups. "CREDO and our allies will build on that momentum to demand that Republicans in Congress and the Trump regime abolish ICE and stop criminally prosecuting immigrants and detaining families." -- Jeff Manning and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh BINH DUONG The VNTT Company and NTT Viet Nam Corporation signed a business cooperation contract on June 19 to work together in building a smart city in Viet Nam. Southern Binh Duong Province-based VNTT, founded in 2008, is a subordinate business of the Becamex IDC Corp. and currently owns one of the three most modern and biggest data centres in Viet Nam. Meanwhile, NTT Viet Nam Corporation is an affiliate company of the NTT Group of Japan, a leading telecommunications and IT company in Japan. The newly-signed contract covers business cooperation in building, developing, and operating cloud Wi-Fi networks and cloud-based value added services. The agreement is based on a memorandum of understanding signed by Becamex IDC and the NTT Group with the aim of collaborating to study the feasibility of developing smart cities in Viet Nam, especially in Binh Duong New City. After the project is carried out, the two sides will continue through a Smart Education model pilot project in Binh Duong Province. The Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, Tran Thanh Liem, said at the contract signing that the agreement is part of efforts to implement the provinces smart city building plan. The contract also affects fields that Binh Duong is interested in and wants to develop to meet demand from the general public, businesses, and investors, he said. Liem asked Becamex IDC and the NTT Group to promote their affiliates efforts to carry out the contract. He also requested local authorities to support VNTT and NTT Viet Nam in implementing the agreement. VNS Local immigration lawyers have traveled to Sheridan three times in hopes of meeting with the 123 immigrants detained there. On Monday, they were turned away for the third time by federal officials, they said. As the debate over the Trump administration's hard-nosed immigration policies continues to rage, the Oregon lawyers say they want to ensure the immigrants get the due process they are promised by the U.S. Constitution. But, they claim, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel changed their minds and refused them access. The 123 would-be immigrants have been held largely incommunicado at the Federal Correctional Institution at Sheridan for upwards of a month. As many as six of the 123 are husbands and fathers who have no idea where their spouses and children are, the lawyers said. As part of the administration's efforts to discourage immigrants, it has been separating children from their immigrant parents and detaining the children -- at least 2,000 of them -- in different federal facilities. As a result of the new policy, immigration has blown up into one of the Trump administration's greatest challenges. Critics have pounced on the separation policy, calling it inhumane and out of step with the country's values. Trump said Tuesday that he doesn't want to divide families but said his hand has been forced by a federal legal code full of loopholes. "As a result of these loopholes, about half a million illegal family units have been released into this country since 2014 at unbelievably great taxpayer expense," Trump said. Here in Oregon, human rights and religious groups have staged protests. More than 1,200 people gathered in Sheridan on Monday evening at a vigil conducted at a park adjacent to the prison. Between 40 and 50 people gathered at the ICE building in Southwest Portland by 3 p.m. Tuesday. Around that time, an ice cream truck from Fifty Licks pulled in front of the building on Bancroft Street, offering free cones to demonstrators. More than three dozen people occupied the space, with another handful stationed in a grass lot ICE shares with Tesla. Hanna Tashjian, 25, was one of five or six folks who'd camped out on the Willamette Shore Trolley tracks adjacent to the building for the previous two nights. She said the occupation was the result of a brainstorming session composed of the remaining members of earlier protests. When one person suggested staging an occupation of the building and barring vehicles from entering and exiting the property, Tashjian was the first to volunteer. "I'm not really worried about the consequences," she said. "Ultimately, any consequences I incur are minimal, comparatively." Many protesters, like Mary Ann Warner, 33, have their phone numbers written in black ink across their forearms, in case they are arrested. Warner arrived around 1:30 p.m. and brought her daughter to teach her about participating in democracy. Warner said her mother, who is now a U.S. citizen, was deported to Mexico when Warner was 9 months old. "It hits home for me. I have kids," Warner said. "It's horrifying to think that if I tried to take my children somewhere safe, they might be split up from me." Meanwhile, few outsiders have gained access to the Sheridan detention center where the immigrants are being held. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., led a delegation of Oregon congress members into the facility on Saturday. Detainees are being held three to a cell. Bunks and a toilet are the only amenities. They told the visiting politicians they get one to two hours a day outside the cell and have been unable to meet with lawyers. Some claimed to be suffering from untreated injuries, including two who said they had bullet wounds. Immigration lawyers have pressed federal officials for access to the detainees, so far without much success. All or nearly all requested asylum at the border, according to Mat dos Santos, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. Ian Philabaum, one of the leaders of the group calling itself the Sheridan Pro Bono Project, said the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is violating the U.S. Constitution when it blocks detainees' ability to confer with a lawyer. "Access to counsel is a due process right that is afforded to all people in circumstances like this," Philabaum said. "ICE is not following its own standards." The lawyers are concerned that the immigrants will simply be deported before they get legal representation. Part of the problem is Sheridan itself. It lacks sufficient space to accommodate the required lawyer meetings, dos Santos said. But there also seems to be differences with Immigration and Customs Enforcement over whether to allow the meetings. "This was the third time we had coordinated with ICE," Philabaum said, only to have the agency change its mind and renege on the promised meeting time. "It appears that they are experiencing some communications snafus," he added. Carissa Cutrell, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an email, "ICE is currently coordinating with the BOP and working to ensure that detainees have appropriate access to their legal representatives. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities are governed by BOP standards, and the inmate handbook applies to ICE detainees currently housed at these facilities." Elsewhere, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and the Department of Justice are considering getting involved in the immigration fight. Rosenblum issued a public plea for information from anyone with information on children forcibly separated from immigrant parents. "Right now, we have very limited information about who is impacted by the Trump administration's cruel decision to separate children from their families," Rosenblum said. "We do not know where these children are going, and we do not know the full extent of who is being impacted." -- Jeff Manning Eder Campuzano and Anna Spoerre contributed to this story. A key Republican critic of the controversial state tax law Oregon Democrats passed earlier this year has filed a lawsuit asking a court to overturn it. Sen. Brian Boquist of Dallas filed the lawsuit Tuesday against House Speaker Tina Kotek, Senate President Peter Courtney, Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon Department of Revenue in Oregon Tax Court, following through on a statement he made back in February during the legislative session. Hanging in the balance is a quarter-billion dollars in tax revenue the state expects to collect in the current two-year budget, and more in future cycles. Boquist is representing himself in the lawsuit. He wrote in an email that he consulted "plenty of arm chair lawyers with opinions but do not have a spare half million around for a law firm." He's hoping some other taxpayers who can afford lawyers join the lawsuit. "If not, it is like a committee or floor debate except I have to convince judges instead." Democrats pushed through the law, Senate Bill 1528, in response to the federal tax overhaul Congress passed last year. Oregon generally copies federal tax law. That meant the state would copy a new federal tax deduction for certain businesses including partnerships and S corporations, giving the businesses the same break on their state taxes. People who draw income from those businesses already pay lower state tax rates than wage earners in Oregon thanks to a 2013 law, and Democrats in the Legislature argued these businesses did not deserve a second state tax break. One of Boquist's central arguments is that Democrats passed the law without the three-fifths supermajority necessary to raise revenue. Republicans described Senate Bill 1528 as a tax hike because businesses would have automatically received the new state tax deduction if lawmakers had done nothing. Boquist says he has standing to bring the lawsuit as a taxpayer with income from North Indian Creek Ranch, ammunition maker Powder Creek Cartridge Company and air transport company International Charter Incorporated. The businesses are respectively a sole proprietorship, partnership and S corporation, according to Boquist. "Whatever the outcome, my case will be the most important court case on 'revenue' decided by the court in the 21st century," Boquist wrote in the lawsuit. -- Hillary Borrud; Twitter: @hborrud; 503-294-4034 Everton Bailey Jr. | The Oregonian/OregonLive (From left) Danya, Zava and Jerry Rosen appear during a news conference on June 19, 2018 in Portland seeking clues on the killing of relative Barak Rosen, 30. Rosen was found dead two days earlier shot several times on a Portland track at Grant High School's temporary campus. Portland police say they've found no suspects. Everton Bailey Jr. The Oregonian | OregonLive The family of a 30-year-old man found fatally shot Sunday on a Portland track at Grant High School's temporary campus made a public plea Tuesday to anyone with more information on the killing to come forward. The father, mother and sister of Barak Rosen, 30, took part in a news conference at the Portland Police Bureau's precinct in downtown Portland, calling his death senseless and asking anyone who heard gunshots or noticed anything suspicious to contact police. No arrests have been made in Rosen's death, and police said Tuesday that no suspects have been identified. A reward of up to $2,500 is being offered by Crime Stoppers of Oregon for any information that leads to an arrest. Don't Edit Everton Bailey Jr. | The Oregonian/OregonLive A picture of Barak Rosen, 30, is shown during a news conference in Portland on June 19, 2018. Rosen was found dead two days earlier shot several times on a Portland track at Grant High Schools temporary campus. Portland police say theyve found no suspects. "To me, that was a cowardly act. [Barak] was the nicest guy, he didn't deserve that," said Jerry Rosen, Barak's father. "The killer deserves the full extent of the prosecution by law in this state. We hope that that happens, but it can only happen if somebody steps forward." Jerry and wife Zava Rosen flew in from their home in Indio, California, for the news conference, and sister Danya Rosen came from Chicago. Another sister lives in Irvine, California. Barak Rosen moved to Portland in December and grew up in La Verne, California. Rosen's body was discovered a little before 4:45 a.m. Sunday on the former Marshall High School campus in Southeast Portland, which is the current temporary site for Grant High School while its campus undergoes a renovation. Don't Edit Everton Bailey Jr. | The Oregonian/OregonLive (From left) Danya, Zava and Jerry Rosen appear during a news conference on June 19, 2018 in Portland seeking clues on the killing of relative Barak Rosen, 30. Rosen was found dead two days earlier shot several times on a Portland track at Grant High Schools temporary campus. Portland police say theyve found no suspects. Rosen was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived in an apartment near the campus. The shooting apparently occurred on the campus, according to police. There was a report of a shooting in the area around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, police said. It's not yet clear if the earlier report of gunfire is related to Rosen's death. Rosen had a full-time job and enjoyed hiking, mountain bike riding and other outdoor activities, his family said. He called every Sunday, and texted and video chatted with them frequently, they said. Don't Edit "He was looking forward to starting new opportunities in Portland," Danya Rosen said. Portland police ask anyone with more information on Rosen's death to contact Detective Mark Slater at 503-823-9319 or Mark.Slater@portlandoregon.gov. -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com 503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey UPDATE: June 20, 5:40 p.m.: The person has died from their injuries, Portland Fire and Rescue says. Updated: June 20, 9:11 a.m. A person set themself on fire Tuesday afternoon in a downtown Portland park across from the Multnomah County Courthouse after reading a manifesto about homelessness and mental health. Witnesses gave conflicting statements about the gender of the person. "It was just like those monks," said Scot Baughman, who was sitting in a park bench shortly after the incident. Baughman, a process server, was in the park at Southwest 4th Avenue and Main Street when the self-immolation occurred. He was the first person to attempt to put out the fire. Donna Maxey, who was also in Lownsdale Square at the time, said she saw it unfold. She noticed a person enter the park, on crutches and barely able to walk, wearing a red scarf around their neck. They "sat down and her papers were blowing away," Maxey said. They "sat there for a while looking at [their] papers." The person "was reading a statement about homelessness and mental health issues," Maxey said. At that point, both Maxey and Baughman said, the person started to scream. Then, said Maxey, they "got out a gallon bottle and poured what looked like dirty water over [their] head. "I thought maybe [they were] really hot," Maxey said. "All of a sudden I saw blue lighter." Baughman was walking through the park, he said, when the victim "stood up, completely engulfed in flame. He said his first impulse was to take a picture, but instead he ran to the person, took his shirt off and used it to try to stop the flames. But, said Baughman, the flames "would just not go out." Maxey said another woman called 911. As Baughman tried to put the fire out, a sheriff arrived to help. But the person's head was still on fire. "Finally, they came over with a fire extinguisher," Baughman said, and were able to put the flames out. The victim "just had a tank top and shorts on," Baughman said. The burned clothes made it look like the person "had nylons on," he added. Baughman said it appeared the majority of the victim's body was burned. The person was alive, he said, when taken by ambulance to a hospital. The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said a sheriff's deputy provided assistance during the incident but provided no further details. The Portland Police Bureau said Portland Fire and Rescue was the lead investigative agency on the immolation case. Portland Fire and Rescue did not immediately respond to request for comment. -- Lizzy Acker 503-221-8052 lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker A 54-year-old physician gave up her medical license and pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor after admitting to injecting patients at her home with wrinkle-reducing drugs Botox and Juvederm that she got from overseas. Prosecutors will recommend that Brenda Roberts be sentenced to six months of probation. Roberts voluntarily surrendered her license after she came under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Food & Drug Administration. She pleaded guilty to receipt and delivery in interstate commerce of misbranded drugs and devices. The U.S. Attorney's Office has initiated a separate case against Roberts in civil court for allegedly buying and distributing another drug, Phentermine, often used for weight loss. Roberts is expected to face a fine in that case, according to the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration investigation found that Roberts was operating a "rogue online pharmacy'' at her Troutdale home where she distributed controlled substances to customers throughout the United States, according to a search warrant affidavit. She ordered and stored Lorazepam, Temazepam, Hydrocodone and Tramadol to administer to patients after treating them with Botox injections, she told an investigator, according to the affidavit. The health care provider Allergan closed her account in 2008 when it realized Roberts was using a residential address to receive the drugs. The company prohibits shipments to residences. Once Roberts was cut off from the Allergan source, she bought the drugs on the internet from websites overseas, such as unitedpharmacies.com, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna Maddux. The products weren't counterfeit but not approved for sale in the United States, Maddux said. Roberts administered the drugs at "Botox parties she had in her home,'' Maddux said. There are no indications that anyone was harmed from the drugs, the prosecutor noted. On Nov. 16, 2016, investigators rifled through garbage from Roberts' Troutdale home in what's called a "trash pull'' and found an empty Botox vial that wasn't approved by the Food & Drug Administration for use in the United States but manufactured for and distributed in France, Gibraltar, Great Britain, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Spain. A search of Roberts' home in April 2017 also uncovered files that indicated her injection of Botox to patients. Roberts had a medical spa business called Inspir Medispa until 2009, and then began administering the injections in her home to patients. It was "an entrepreneurial sideline'' to her professional full-time family physician practice, her defense lawyer Tiffany Harris said. Roberts and her lawyer asked that her initial appearance, plea and sentencing all take place Tuesday, but U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown said she needed more time before issuing a sentence. The maximum sentence for the offense is one year, a $100,000 fine and a year of supervised release. Roberts, who remains out of custody, must continue to attend her Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and not use alcohol as she awaits sentencing, the judge ordered. -- Maxine Bernstein mbernstein@oregonian.com 503-221-8212 @maxoregonian Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler lambasted the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in a series of tweets Wednesday and announced he will not have city police break up a protest at the federal agency's Southwest Portland field office. Protesters have for days demonstrated at the field office, heckling agency workers and erecting dozens of tents around the building off Southwest Macadam Boulevard. The protesters have rebuked the agency for carrying out the Trump administration's zero tolerance immigration policy, which resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents after illegal border crossings. The protests prompted the agency to temporarily close the field office. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is the federal agency that enforces immigration laws. It sent more than 120 adults detained at the southern U.S. border to the federal prison in Sheridan. Their imprisonment and isolation prompted outrage from Oregon politicians and concerns from legal advocates. In response to growing bipartisan pressure and public backlash, President Trump signed sign an executive order ending the family separations Wednesday, backing off the hard-line policy he had vehemently supported. Wheeler applauded Trump for rethinking the child-removal policy in his tweets. But he also cast the policy as "an abomination" and "un-American." He also criticized a Trump-appointed head of the immigration agency who said mayors of sanctuary cities should be subject to arrest. Oregon is a so-called "sanctuary state" because state law bars most cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials. Portland has also declared itself a sanctuary city. The policy being enacted by the federal government around the separation of very small children from their parents is an abomination. It is unamerican. Im glad to see the President seems to be reconsidering this very ill-conceived policy and I hope that happens forthwith (1/4) Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) June 20, 2018 I drove by the demonstration yesterday, it seemed to be very peaceful and I was pleased to see that. I want to be very clear I do not want the @PortlandPolice to be engaged or sucked into a conflict, particularly from a federal agency that I believe is on the wrong track (2/4) Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) June 20, 2018 that has not fully lived American values of inclusion and is also an agency where the former head suggested that people who lead cities that are sanctuary cities like this one should be arrested. (3/4) Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) June 20, 2018 If they are looking for a bailout from this mayor, they are looking in the wrong place. -TW (4/4) Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) June 20, 2018 Wheeler wrote that he drove by the demonstration at the field office yesterday and remarked that it "seemed to be very peaceful." The mayor tweeted he wants to avoid the city's police being "sucked into a conflict" with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, adding that if the agency is "looking for a bailout from this mayor, they are looking in the wrong place." The tweets were signed "TW," meaning Wheeler dictated them himself. During a brief interview at City Hall, Wheeler said he does not believe the immigration agency has asked for city help removing protesters now at its building. Wheeler's siding with the demonstrators is a change from his position on a similar protest last year, where Portland police officers removed protesters from the same Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office. Asked why he had police break up last year's protest but not the one ongoing, Wheeler said, "I'm not engaged in every action or every tactic." -- Gordon R. Friedman 503-221-8209 WASHINGTON -- Bowing to pressure from anxious allies, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday ending the process of separating children from families after they are detained crossing the U.S. border illegally. It was a dramatic turnaround for Trump, who has been insisting, wrongly, that his administration had no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of federal law and a court decision. The news in recent days has been dominated by searing images of children held in cages at border facilities, as well as audio recordings of young children crying for their parents -- images that have sparked fury, question of morality and concern from Republicans about a negative impact on their races in November's midterm elections. Until Wednesday, the president, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other officials had repeatedly argued the only way to end the practice was for Congress to pass new legislation, while Democrats said he could do it with his signature alone. That's what he did on Wednesday. "We're going to have strong, very strong borders, but we're going to keep the families together," said Trump who said he didn't like the "sight" or "feeling" of children separated from their parents. He said his order would not end the "zero-tolerance" policy that criminally prosecutes all adults caught crossing the border illegally. The order aims to keep families together while they are in custody, expedite their cases, and ask the Department of Defense to help house families. Trump's order did not mollify Trump's Congressional critics. "Locking families in cages together instead of locking children in cages without their parents marks a minor move from total inhumanity to moral bankruptcy," Sen. Ron Wyden said. "Children don't belong behind bars. Trump has made his underlying goals clear: to terrorize innocent refugee families and use them as political pawns to propel a racist agenda. This humanitarian crisis is not over." Justice Department lawyers had been working to find a legal workaround for a previous class-action settlement that set policies for the treatment and release of unaccompanied children who are caught at the border. Still, Trump's order is likely to create a new set of problems involving length of detention of families, and may spark a fresh court fight. Also playing a role in his turnaround: First lady Melania Trump. One White House official said Mrs. Trump had been making her opinion known to the president for some time that she felt he needed to do all he could to help families stay together, whether by working with Congress or acting on his own. Nielsen traveled to Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon to brief lawmakers. And members on the fence over pending immigration legislation headed to the White House to meet with Trump. Trump had tweeted earlier Wednesday, "It's the Democrats fault, they won't give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation. They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something - it never ends!" The administration recently put into place a "zero tolerance" policy in which all unlawful border crossings are referred for prosecution -- a process that moves adults to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and sends many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the Obama administration, such families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation. The policy had led to a spike in family separations in recent weeks, with more than 2,300 minors were separated from their families at the border from May 5 through June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Two people close to Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen said early Wednesday that she was the driving force behind the plan to keep families together after they are detained crossing the border illegally. One of the people said Nielsen, who had become the face of the administration's policy, had little faith that Congress would act to fix the separation issue and felt compelled to act. Nielsen was heckled at a restaurant Tuesday evening and has faced protesters at her home. But others pushed back on the idea that Homeland Security had led the rollback. One official said it was the Justice Department that generated the legal strategy that is codified in the working executive order, and disputed the notion that Homeland Security was involved in drawing up the document. Planning at the Justice Department had been underway over the past several days to provide the president with options on the growing crisis, said the official, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the effort before its official announcement. The person said Trump called the Justice Department Wednesday morning asking for the draft order. The official did not know what prompted Trump to change course. The Flores settlement, named for a teenage girl who brought the case in the 1980s, requires the government to release children from custody and to their parents, adult relatives or other caretakers, in order of preference. If those options are exhausted, authorities must find the "least restrictive" setting for the child who arrived without parents. In 2015, a federal judge in Los Angeles expanded the terms of the settlement, ruling that it applies to children who are caught with their parents as well as to those who come to the U.S. alone. Other recent rulings, upheld on appeal, affirm the children's rights to a bond hearing and require better conditions at the Border Patrol's short-term holding facilities. In 2016, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that child migrants who came to the border with parents and were held in custody must be released. The decision did not state parents must be released. Neither, though, did it require parents to be kept in detention, apart from their children. --The Associated Press The informational Q&A on Facebook Live hosted by two State Department bureaucrats expounding on the intricacies of traveling with children overseas would have hardly made a splash in any other year, perhaps. But coming as it did in the midst of an emotional week riven by a heated discussion about the practice of separating children from parents who cross the border illegally and placing them in detention centers, the State Departments' #FamilyTravelHacks Q&A did not quite go as planned. "Ask us your questions in the comments discussion section of this event or in the comments of the live video," The State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs requested, saying that "Carl and Kim from Passport Services" would share lots of tips for family travel, "and we'll do our best to answer them!" But the questioning Tuesday quickly took an unexpected turn. "What tips do you have to beat the heat for toddlers imprisoned in a concentration camp in Texas in 100+ degree heat?" wrote Matt Schneider. "And what type of baby pajamas will go best with a tin foil blanket?" Then Ryan Healy: "What's the best course of action in the event my kids and I ever got separated? Say, at a border? Who should I call in a case like that? I know, it's extremely unlikely but you never know!" Tony Kiritsis: "Why does it take so long to process an infant's passport, but it takes so little time to process a child into a cage?" Kristy Dallas Alley: "How do I know when it's the right time to take my children and flee before we are put in the camps?" Theresa Rowe: "What paperwork do I need to carry at all times to prove my children are mine and to make sure we are reunited when the U.S. government separates us? How long can I expect to wait for their return?" Simone Farber: "This is astonishingly tone deaf given current events." Mary Wilcox: "Do the concentration camps allow for lactose intolerant children? Should I put it on a medalert bracelet" Rebecca Lynn: "Should I buy Velcro shoes for my children now so that way I don't have to remove their shoelaces when you decide to shove them in cages?" Charlette Presnell Kremer: "What are some tips for getting enough sleep when traveling if the wails of terrified toddlers keeps me awake?" Huong Lam: "Are the cages fully enclosed, even on top? My 2 yr old is getting really good at climbing chain link fences and this worries me." Stephanie Bateson: "I don't want my kids to be put in a cage if they get separated from me whilst on holiday . . . Should I reconsider traveling to the U.S.?" Beth Erickson: "What should we do if our children are forcibly separated from us by armed law enforcement?" Carl and Kim pushed on, doling out practical information about applying for passports with the alacrity of workers with solid hourly pay rates and overtime policies, appearing to monitor the comments popping up on the live feed without answering any questions related to family separations, which have little to do with the State Department. "The Facebook Q&A session is simply part of an ongoing public awareness campaign with tips and reminders for U.S. citizens applying for their U.S. passports - the targeted audience is young parents applying for their child's first U.S. passport," read a statement emailed by the State Department. "Our goal is to share practical tips for getting a U.S. passport for U.S. citizens and their families to prepare for summer vacations." Nonetheless, the Guardian theorized that the comments were taking a toll on Carl. "While Kim seemed totally unperturbed by the poor timing of the live stream, Carl appeared to be affected by the constant comments about children being taken from their parents," its reporter wrote. "By the end of the session, his every other word was 'um' and he kept repeating the fact he was 'potentially driving across the border' into Canada for a family vacation soon." The responses were a reflection of the intense emotional charge on social media generated by the practice of separating children from their parents, a result of the Trump administration's new hard-line immigration practice. Images of, reports on and reactions to the practice have animated the digital realm in recent weeks. And it was a reminder perhaps of the pitfalls of a poorly conceived or timed social media campaign. Asking for crowd input represents a particular risk. In 2014, for example, the NYPD asked people to share reflections of the department on social media along with the hashtag #MyNYPD. Instead, many people posted pictures that seemed to depict police overreach and brutality. Another State Department social media campaign, also the Bureau of Consular Affairs, was widely ridiculed in 2016 as the Department sought to educate people about the perils of overseas travel during Spring Break. "Not a '10' in the U. S.? Then not a 10 overseas," read one of the campaign's tweets. "Beware of being lured into buying expensive drinks or worse - being robbed. #springbreakingbadly." The tweet was later deleted. -- The Washington Post Prepping your wallet for a trip to see Mickey Mouse is no walk in the park. There will be tickets, souvenirs and food to buy. So to make your visit to California's Disneyland more of a fairy tale and less of a financial nightmare, try these seven ways to save money. While the tips below focus on the Anaheim park, visitors to other Disney properties will find some ideas for cutting costs, too. 1. Rely on reviews Before you step foot in the park, brush up on Disneyland's best offerings by going online. You'll find many bloggers who write reviews about the newest attractions, says Casey Starnes, owner of the Disneyland Daily blog. The blogs will help you decide what, and what not, to spend money on. For example, with a little research you can decide which dining packages are worth the splurge. It may also help you decide which rides are worth waiting in line for, maximizing the money you spent on your ticket. 2. Get a discounted ticket You don't always have to pay full price for a ticket. Disneyland offers specially priced tickets to active and retired U.S. military personnel, for example. Other visitors can search for discounts through organizations like AAA. Be careful to avoid illegitimate sellers, though. Scammers on Craigslist and other websites have been known to deliver fake tickets. Before buying, check out a seller through online reviews or look for accreditation such as from the Better Business Bureau. 3. Don't be a Sleeping Beauty If you want to get the most bang for your buck, wake up early. You can hit up rides before the crowds set in. "I always tell people that Disneyland vacations are not for sleeping in," says Jessica Sanders, founder of The Happiest Blog on Earth and author of "Disneyland on Any Budget: Money Saving Tips From The Happiest Blog on Earth." Sanders recommends lining up at the gate an hour before opening so you can take your first ride within minutes of entry. "I typically get in 10 or more attractions during the first two hours of my day, even during the summer." 4. Skip a meal To save money -- and feel less stuffed as you're walking around -- eat two big meals instead of three, Starnes says. Try a mid-morning brunch, snacks during the afternoon and a big dinner in the evening. "Disneyland is known for snacks, and they're much more affordable than meals," she says. 5. Use Disney gift cards Another clever way to stay on budget? Gift cards. If you know you can afford to spend $25 on souvenirs or $50 on food, buy a Disney gift card for that amount. Cards can be purchased online, at the resort or at a Disney store and redeemed at many places in the park. "We have a gift card with that set amount on there, and then when it's gone, we're done spending on that particular thing," Sanders says. "So you don't have to keep track in your head or go way over budget because most people aren't keeping track of every receipt and everything they're spending while they're on vacation." 6. Pick the right souvenirs When you buy something, choose wisely. For souvenirs, Starnes recommends selecting items that will stand the test of time. So consider a coffee mug over a toy. Or pick a commemorative photo book instead of a shirt that your child will outgrow. 7. Perfect your strategy These tips won't expire when the clock strikes midnight -- and they don't only apply to summer visits. Reuse and refine them each time you visit Disneyland. "It's almost like competitive vacationing," Starnes says. "Every time you come, you want to do more and more. You want to do better than your previous visit and you learn more every time you visit." The article 7 Ways to Save at Disneyland -- No Magic Required originally appeared on NerdWallet. JERUSALEM Viet Nam and Israel made progress during the fifth round of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries in Jerusalem City. Goods trade, rules of origin, customs, technical barriers to trade, service trade, trade safeguards, investment, governments purchase and other legal and institutional issues were tabled at the fifth round. In the spirit of transparency, the two sides made headway in major negotiation fields, such as goods and service trade, and agreed to make greater efforts to complete the negotiations soon in line with directions of the leaders of the two countries. Viet Nam and Israel have enjoyed increasing bilateral trade in the past few years. In 2017, the bilateral trade reached US$1.06 billion, of which Viet Nam exported $713 million worth of products to Israel and imported $347 million worth of goods from the Middle Eastern country. The FTA is expected to further boost trade and investment between the two countries as well as bring substantial benefits to enterprises, labourers and citizens of both the nations. Viet Nam and Israel officially launched FTA negotiations on December 2, 2015. The next round of talks will be held in Viet Nam at the end of this year as agreed by the two sides. VNS Three northern Michigan men plan to paddleboard across Lake Superior the largest, coldest and most dangerous of the Great Lakes in July. Joe Lorenz, Kwin Morris and Jeff Guy, all in their early 30s, will attempt the feat, which has never been done before. (Inclement conditions) can pick up like crazy out there in a matter of seconds, Morris stated in a press release issued Wednesday. Lake Superior is known for its 38-plus-foot waves, fog that has brought down freighters, and water temperatures in the 30s. Were working on a route where we cross over the site of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and we can stop and give respect to all of the shipwrecks and sailors that have gone down, Morris said. The journey will begin from Sinclair Cove, Ontario, near centuries-old pictographs of paddlers painted on the cliffs by the Ojibwe. The men plan to finish up at Whitefish Point in Michigans Upper Peninsula, the site of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. Morris and the two other paddleboarders are co-founders of Stand Up for Great Lakes, a non-profit organization set up to protect the Great Lakes and educate others about freshwater resources. The trio's goal is to raise more than $10,000 for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. Each paddleboarder, dressed in a dry suit, will carry all of his supplies on his own paddleboard, including food, extra clothes and straws that filter drinking water from the lake. They will pass through shipping lanes in the dark. We have a weather window between July 9 and 20th, says Corey Adkins, an award-winning documentary director of photojournalism at 9 & 10 News, a CBS affiliate in northern Michigan. He will film the paddleboarders journey from the safer (and drier) position aboard a boat. The crossing itself will only take between 24-32 hours, but we need that weather window. The trio's first crossing was Lake Michigan in 2015, a 60-mile and 23-hour journey in 37-degree water. They raised $10,000 for the Great Lakes Alliance. In June 2017 they crossed Lake Huron and raised $7,000 for Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The 90-mile paddle journey took more than 28 hours to complete. The trio has taken precautions, such as having a boat follow them with an emergency medical technician on it. The first trip (on Lake Michigan) was a lot of unknown, says Scott Lorenz, Joes father. But they planned it out thoroughly. Their success has given us as family and parents much more confidence. Their paddleboarding journeys are an incredible accomplishment. For more information or to make a donation, visit their website at www.StandUpForGreatLakes.com Follow their updates on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/standupforgreatlakes/ Midland Ford Lincoln is hosting "Mustang Night" this Thursday evening and a pig roast on Friday as part of its 2018 Summer Giving fundraising campaign. The annual campaign, from June 4 to July 7, will benefit the Midland County Emergency Food Pantry Network. "I do not want to be the big looking glass of civilization but just the little pocket mirror of everyday life." -- Peter Altenberg Turning corners in our lives is an everyday occurrence. We go to the supermarket, turning various corners to get to where we want to go. We go to the movies, another set of corners to turn in a different part of town. We go out to eat and more corners to turn. Turn right. Turn left. Turn here. Turn there. Don't go too far or you'll miss the corner. Corners in our lives are everywhere. But what about the corners that mark our lives as we grow up and grow older? The corners that will change what we are doing? Change where we will live the rest of our lives? Change the people we meet? Change our career (Should I? Shouldn't I?)? Go to college? Get married? Have children? Buy that new house or stay where we are? Turning corners changes our lives. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes for the worse. How do we know until we turn that corner? Childhood is filled with corners. They may look small to someone else but when you're 5 years old, a corner can seem really big. Corners are everywhere. If I use up my favorite pink crayon, will I get a new box of crayons? When we go to the movies, I sit on Dad's lap and Jean sits on Mom's lap and when a scary part comes on the movie screen, Dad puts his cap over my face so I can't see the scary part and I can smell the shampoo and Brilliantine on his cap. I turn a big corner when I sit in a seat and not on Dad's lap. Junior high is a big corner to turn. Now you aren't in the same room with the same kids you have been with all through grade school. Now the kids from all the elementary schools are suddenly thrown together and you meet new kids you didn't know existed. You don't stay in one room all day. Now you go to separate rooms for each class. Mr. Benfer, who teaches algebra, is a corner all by himself. One morning we go to assembly and we hear President Roosevelt talking on the radio. Our country is at war with a country we only know from our geography books, Japan. We have air raid drills and we sit on the floor in the hallways, our arms over our heads to protect us from the cement blocks and wooden timbers if a bomb hits our junior high building. Because everyone knows that Japan has Midland marked as a target because The Dow Chemical Co. is in our small town. Senior high is next and we enter a new corner of the world. We have study hall in the cafeteria because there are too many to put in the regular study halls. There is a boy with blue eyes and blond hair and one day he takes a book I'm reading and I chase him all the way outside and we both come back to the cafeteria, breathless but happy. He likes me! I like him! Graduation is life changing. Some go to work at Dow. Some get engaged to marry the boy they dated in high school. A few of us leave for college. Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant is so far away, I only come home on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. M-20 is a gravel road. Then life seems to go faster for some reason. We get married and that's the corner that will be the rest of our life. Only that doesn't always happen. My sister worked with a young woman who planned to take the afternoon off one day because it was her three-month wedding anniversary and she and her husband (both 19) were going out for dinner. It never happened because about 11 o'clock there was an explosion where her husband worked and that evening she is planning a funeral instead of celebrating their anniversary. Some marriages last. Girls and boys you went to school with celebrate 50 years of marriage. A good friend is married 67 years. Who could imagine being married all that time? Some marriages end. Divorce is a corner that you don't think you will live through. A corner we never thought about when we were 16 comes upon us suddenly. We are the older generation. The generation that remembers when everything of importance happened on Main Street. When a date meant a movie at the Frolic Theatre and a dish of ice cream at Smith Dairy. We remember a small town where everyone knew everyone else. When kids played under the streetlights at night. When your mother sent you to the grocery story and as an enticement, gave you an empty milk bottle which was good for a nickel when returned, and you could have that nickel to buy whatever you wanted at the grocery store. We lived in an age where few of us were sophisticated. Someone told me about the time a cousin visited him and stayed overnight. They went to a movie at the Frolic and when the lights came on and the movie was over, his cousin whispered to him, "Let's wait until the actors come out from behind the curtains." Corners continue to change our lives. We lose people we love. We don't become world famous as we dreamed we would when we were 10 and 11. When everyone would know our name. When we would be rich. When nobody could tell us what to do. We didn't know that growing up meant there would always be people telling us what to do in one way or another. At work. At home. In the family. And then we turn a corner and we find ourselves strangely contented. We don't have to have everyone's approval to be happy. We turn a corner and find out a piece at a time that a few good friends are all we need. Brothers and sisters we once fought with now become closer than we ever imagined. "I love you." "I love you, too." "I'm so glad you came to see me." "It feels good having you here." After awhile, if we're lucky (and blest) we come where we always wanted to be. Home. Virginia Florey is a freelance writer from Midland. Three Pocket Mirror books are now available. "Childhood - The Distant Land," "One Foot In Eden" and "We Were Young Together" are available on Amazon, Kindle or by contacting ginnyflorey@gmail.com HA NOI Trade Remedies Authority of Viet Nam, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), has started receiving dossiers for the first review of anti-dumping duties on some H-shaped steel products imported from China. The dossiers must be completed and submitted directly to the investigating agency before 5pm on August 21, 2018, at 25 Ngo Quyen Street, Hoan Kiem District, Ha Noi. On August 21, 2017, the ministry promulgated Decision 3283/Q-BCT on imposing anti-dumping duties on H-shaped steel products imported from China with HS code of 7216.33.00, 7228.70.10 and 7228.70.90. According to Article 82 of Law No. 05/2017/QH14 on the management of foreign trade operations, after one year from the date of issue of the decision on imposition of anti-dumping measures, MoIT may decide to review the measures at the request of one or multiple interested parties and the evidence provided by them. Article 58 of Decree 10/2018/N-CP stimulates that within 60 days prior to the end of one year from the date of issuance of the decision on the imposition of official anti-dumping and countervailing measures or the latest decision on the results of the review of anti-dumping and countervailing measures, the concerned parties may submit the dossiers for review, except in cases where the submission deadline is less than nine months before the time limit for MoIT to decide whether to carry out the final review of anti-dumping or countervailing measures. Therefore, concerned parties have the right to file a request for a review under the guidelines. The scope of the proposed review includes, but is not limited to, the following: scope of goods subject to anti-dumping measures, the dumping margin is applicable to one or more foreign enterprises and the injury of the domestic industry. At the end of the review period, based on the findings of the investigation, Trade Remedies Authority will propose to MoIT one of the following options: continue applying anti-dumping measures in accordance with the current regulations; adjust anti-dumping measures in line with the results of the review; or terminate the application of anti-dumping measures. The implementation of procedures related to the review process will not impede the effective application of anti-dumping measures. VNS A boy is in hot water after he broke a statue displayed at Kansas City's community center and the mom is putting the blame on the center after she received a bill for $132,000. Aphrodite di Kansas City Surveillance video from the incident shows the 5-year-old Troy climbing on the statue and hugging it before it fell on him and on the floor. The piece of art, called Aphrodite di Kansas City, was on display at the community center as a loan from artist Bill Lyons, who is now asking for reimbursement of the broken piece. Lyons said it took him two years to complete the statue which is made of small pieces of glass and unfortunately, cannot be fixed. He wants the mother, Sarah Goodman, held accountable for the damages and is seeking a payment of $132,000. "I want to be reimbursed for the amount of time that I spent on it and for what I think it is worth," Lyons tells KMBC news. Sean Reilly, a spokesperson for the city, said the sculpture was not an interactive piece and should not have been touched in the first place. He said the boy clearly climbed on the sculpture and that the broken art needs to be publicly financed. Negligent Mom However, Goodman is placing the blame on the community center and not on her son. She says the fragile piece of art had "absolutely no business" being in the center. "I cannot believe they allowed something so dangerous to be where kids play," Goodman says. The mom also points out the lack of extra protection that could have prevented the incident. She says that the sculpture was not in a Plexiglass, was not protected or held down, nor was it in a separate room. Instead, it was in the main walkway without a "Do Not Touch" sign or a barricade to prevent people from touching it. The mom mentions that the CCTV footage does not tell the entire story of what happened. She says that she was just right around the corner when the incident happened. Goodman adds that her kids are well-supervised and well-behaved. However, she admits that Troy may have hugged the sculpture because he is a "loving, sweet nice boy." Goodman says she also saw the sculpture on the ground and at the time thought that it did not appear badly damaged. Goodman is letting her insurance company settle the payment for the broken artwork. She also insists that she is not a negligent mother and that her children are well-behaved. James Van Der Beek gets candid about welcoming another brood to the growing family with a graphic photo of his new child still attached to her placenta. Home Birth The Dawson's Creek alum welcomed daughter Gwendolyn on June 15 via home birth and only recently shared some private details about her birth. In an Instagram post on Monday, Van Der Beek shared a photo taken shortly after the baby's birth. The actor cautioned that the image is graphic and may not suit those who are squeamish. The actor was not joking. The photo shows Van Der Beek on the floor chest-naked as he cradles baby Gwendolyn to his chest. The newborn is still attached to her umbilical cord. One detail that can't be missed is the baby's placenta placed in a metal bowl near the actor's feet. "Placenta in a mixing bowl (I warned you)," Van Der Beek captioned the photo. The photo depicts a scene right after childbirth. There is an old towel crumpled on the floor, plastic sheeting underneath old bedsheets, and an unused green vomit bag on the bed. The inflatable birthing tub is also in the room and Van Der Beek's only son dressed in Spider-Man pajamas was there to welcome his little sister. The Pose actor said that his wife, Kimberly, was in the shower when the photo was taken. Everything went smoothly with the home birth. "Happy, healthy baby. Happy, healthy mom in her own shower right after giving birth," the actor wrote alongside the image. Reactions Fans of home birth and the actor and his family were quick to comment on the post. They congratulated the couple on the birth of their new bundle of joy. Commentators appreciated that Van Der Beek shared a glimpse at Gwendolyn's home birth. "Absolutely love this raw photo. It's so beautiful - what a wonderful experience for your older babies to share with you," one user wrote. "Wow your wife is Super Woman...that is amazing," another commented. Van Der Beek later shared a beautiful photo of Kimberly cradling Gwendolyn to make up for the graphic image he shared. The actor announced the birth of Gwendolyn with photos of the kids and his wife fawning over the little girl. The 41-year old is already a proud father to three daughters, Olivia, 7, Annabel Leah, 4, and Emilia, 2. He has one son, 6-year old Joshua. Gwendolyn is the fourth daughter and fifth child. In a press conference Monday, a reporter asked the head of the Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen why the government has only released images of boys separated from their families and detained in cages at the border. Nielsen passed the buck to the Department of Health and Human Services, and when pressed further she said Ill look into it. Nielsen said she hadnt seen the images. Heres a video that the Border Patrol, an agency under Nielsens leadership, recently released. Here are some of the still photos, which were included in a handout the Border Patrol distributed this week. The question hangs, though: Where are the girls and babies? The reason we havent seen pictures of the girls is likely because the government doesnt want to rip our already broken hearts out of our chests, set them on fire, and throw them into a barren winter field, where we will chase after them, use them them to light torches, then replace them burning in our chests and dismantle this heartless and strange system from the ground up. Perhaps theres another reason: In 2015 Federal Court of Appeals ruled it unconstitutional to detain women and children as a deterrent. But even though we dont have these photos, the long history of abuse from Border Patrol and ICE agents offers an idea of what the detention of women and babies might look like. This piece will explore what happens when we take girls and toddlers from their parents, and why the dangers young women face in emigrating here are particularly severe. This should make it pretty clear why a court might find this revolting and unconstitutional. News broke last night about what were doing to the tender age children (more or less under 13) we now, thanks to new Trump policies, separate from their parents. Its now being reported that we send separated babies and other young children to at least three tender age shelters in south Texas. The government now plans to open a fourth such shelter. In other words, were detaining babies. In relatively good news, these facilities are staffed with people who have experience handling young children. Trumps policy created a surge of unaccompanied minors, so the shelters and staff we had in place werent prepared to take in all the toddlers and babies (some breastfeeding) we took out of the care of their parents. In the words of South Texas pediatrician Marsha Griffin, The shelters arent the problem. Its taking kids from their parents thats the problem. But there are of course problems: Michelle Brane, director of the migrant rights and justice program at the Womens Refugee Commission, told AP that there is no model for how you house tons of little children in cots institutionally in our country. We dont do orphanages, our child welfare has recognized that is an inappropriate setting for little children. Officials arent certain how, when, or if migrant parents and children will be reunited, and its possible theyll never see each other. The White House says families are only apart for five to ten days, but John Sandweg said separations can be permanent. The system can process parents quickly from detention to deportation, but children get processed more slowly. Why? Because for some reason kids are a lower priority. You could easily end up in a situation where the gap between a parents deportation and a childs deportation is years. Whos John Sandweg? The acting director of ICE from 2013 to 2014 And if parents dont have access to legal representation back in their home country, the prognosis is even worse. Eventually children who cant find homes with relatives here will be put up for adoption. One father was separated from his four-month-old. The father got deported, and now, four months later, he Skypes with his infant. But its not a recent problem. In April the New York Times reported that immigration officials have already taken more than 100 children younger than four away from their parents. Since October. Half a year before Trumps policy that breaks up families went into effect. Thats Trumps problem. But these families often face bigger problems of their own. The debate is about compassion. Policy and partisanship cover the human stories that drive immigration, and those stories are horrific, particularly for women. These women face a world of threats virtually unknown to most of us in the United States. We arent turning greedy people away. Were returning desperate, hunted people to their hunters. Girls come to the U.S. border fleeing violence, rape, human trafficking, and threats so horrific they choose to risk their lives on the trip. Many come from Mexico, a country mythologized in the United States for its gang violence and human trafficking. But a great many women also come from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, all three of which are among the top ten nations by murder rate worldwide. El Salvador and Honduras are consistently one and two. Tarah Demant, senior director at Amnesty International USA, said many women who try to travel to the U.S. from that region take birth control expecting to be raped along the journey. According to Demant, Its worth the risk of almost certain sexual violence for them to reach what they think is a safe place. Those women show up to our border asking our compassion. If we deny them asylum, which Trump is trying his damndest to do, theyd get deported. Back home. First we have to clear up the difference between federal immigrant detention centers and long-term shelters. Press reports and photos came out about both at the same time, so its easy to confuse them as being the same thing. Even though theyre part of the same system, theyre not the same, conditions arent the same, they dont employ the same type of people, and they dont perform the same functions. Those are critical differences. Heres how kids would go through that system. When a family crosses into the U.S. illegally, theyre detained by DHS. Theyre then taken to Border Patrol detention centers for intake and screening. The parents are arrested and (most often) put in the custody of U.S. Marshals. We cant put kids in jail with their parents, so we put the children in separate detention facilities. Its been our long-standing policy to put unaccompanied minors who show up at our border into shelters, where they wait while the system tries to find them a home. But then this April, Trump changed what was previously a discretionary prosecution policy to a mandatory policy: DHS must prosecute all parents who cross. Mom and dad go to jail, which makes their kids unaccompanied by default. For decades we didnt do this, because its revolting. Instead we held families together in detention centers and per court order released them after at the most 20 days. They later came back to immigration court to hear their fate. Trump calls this catch and release, which is how you talk about fish, not people. At a rally in West Virginia he said these families are supposed to come back within two or three years for a court case, but nobody ever comes back. This is a lie. In 2017 about two-thirds of them came back, and many won their release. But under Trumps new zero-tolerance policy, DHS separates kids from their parents during intake and screening. After that theyre separated by gender and held for up to 72 hours, which is when DHS typically puts them in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (part of the Department of Health and Human Services). ORR places the kids in shelters, most of whichthough not allare non-profits contracted by HHS. This is the same process unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers went through for years. According to a source who works for one of these contracted organizations, girls and boys are never roomed together. (Shelters have rooms, not cages.) Babies and toddlers reportedly have their own areas within these shelters, sometimes even a separate wing or building. But the babies and toddlers thing is new: After all, babies dont typically show up unaccompanied at the border claiming asylum. Their parents bring them, and Trumps new policy means babies have to be taken away, too. Shelters have little to no experience handling children this young, so theyve had to adapt on the fly, a predictably messy challenge. As for whos looking after these kids, all or nearly all of these contracted shelters are non-government entities, and federal government employees dont work there. Shelter employees, it seems, are by and large good people who originally signed up to help disadvantaged asylum-seekers. Now theyre caught in the middle of a shitstorm. Many of these contracted shelters are licensed for single-gender use, but some are mixed. None of them have been prepared to take in an influx of infants and toddlers. For a familiar example, take Casa Padre, the former Walmart that made headlines last week, partly because it featured what appeared to be a Trump propaganda mural. Other reporting mentioned, however, that Casa Padre has murals dedicated to many presidents, and it apparently also features murals dedicated to famous minority progressive figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Casa Padre isnt a government-run detention center such as the one in McAllen, Texas, where those photos of boys in cages were taken. Its a non-governmental, not-for-profit contracted shelter. That particular shelter, run by the Southwest Key non-profit organization, was originally built to house unaccompanied minorssometimes including girlswho sought asylum on their own while ORR tried to find homes for them. In recent years weve seen a surge of unaccompanied minors fleeing increased gang violence and threats of human trafficking to seek asylum in the United States. Many believe, justifiably, that the Obama administrations policies exacerbated the seriousness of this issue. But it often takes a long time to process an unaccompanied minor through the system and into a permanent home. Thats why Casa Padre, a temporary home where children work with case workers to reunite with their families or find a permanent home, is literally the size of a Walmart. Today, however, Casa Padre also has to account for the additional influx of unaccompanied minors that Trumps new policy just created, and its simply running out of space. The shelter went from housing 500 kids in April to its capacity of nearly 1500 today. As a result of overcrowding in all shelters, which in turn is a direct result of Trumps new policy, HHS has decided to put kids in tent cities. The first of these campsa 450-bed compoundhas been built in Tornillo, Texas, where summer is in full swing and temperatures have already hit triple digits. So yes, there appears to be a vast difference, then, between the types of facilities the government runscagesand the types of facilities like those of Southwest Key. That said, Southwest Key, which runs 26 facilities nationwide and 17 in Texas, has received fully half the money the government has allocated to organizations housing unaccompanied immigrant minors this year. The non-profit has a $1.5 billion government contract this year. To date in 2018 the group has received double the amount they received in all of last year. The organizations CEO, Juan Sanchez, made more than $1.5 million in 2016. Last year, Texas state health inspectors cited Southwest Key for dozens of violations, including instances of inadequate supervision and failure to provide timely medical care. A Southwest Key employee told CNN in reference to being asked to carry out an ethically dubious order, And [I] basically realized that being in Southwest Key despite the good I was doing, would mean that I had basically come up to doing things I felt were morally wrong. However, that quote might also serve to remind us that the employees who choose to work in these facilities are generally there to do good by these children. And we need these people right now to handle this crisis. The Trump administrations new policies have put good-hearted workers in a tough spot: Be complicit, or walk away from the people they want to help. Along these lines, its hard to see whether any boycott, economic action, or political pressure applied directly to these organizations will do much good in the greater sense: We need these organizations in the short term, because theyre the only ones equipped to take care of these kids. This means theres a sort of double-hostage scenario here. These nonprofits have a distinct political advantage: They can condemn the administrations policy as one that stops them from doing their jobs. The only recourse the administration seems to have at its disposal would be to cut funding (out of, for example, the $1.5 billion that Southwest Key just received), but to do so would be practically suicide. No one else can handle the waves of unaccompanied children that Trump has washed on their doorstep. Heres a salient comparison between the position of these providers and the position of the government, courtesy the United Nations: What went largely unreported in the presss coverage of Casa Padre, is that the Southwest Key organization, which operates some 26 facilities, was recently recognized by the UN Council on Human Rights for providing excellent support to unaccompanied children. Compare that with what the HRC said this Monday about the U.S. government and its new immigration policy: The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable. Coincidence: Yesterday the United States announced that it is leaving the Human Rights Council. So its the government detention centers, not the long-term shelters, which pose the biggest threat to girls and babies. Whats going on there? When we pull back and look at how ICE and Border Patrol have treated women and children, it looks bleak. Earlier this year a Honduran woman came to the Texas border with her 18-month-old son. According to the New York Times, she told border officials that the two of them escaped their home through a cloud of tear gas and needed protection from the political violence there. In sworn testimony to a federal court, the woman said the agents told her to put her son in the back seat of a government vehicle. Then they drove away. This happened February 20, two months before Trump enacted the new prosecution and separation policy. Months before that, the Border Patrol separated a four-month-old from its father. The father was deported, and now he Skypes with his infant, today eight months old. And remember that the Times reported a trove of data it got from ORR that showed more than 700 instances where immigration officials took childrenincluding more than 100 children younger than fouraway from their parents, before the new policy. As for the current crop of horrors, in April the Border Patrol took 18-month-old from its mother. Representative Joaquin Castro reported seeing an 8-month-old boy in detention. One woman alleged that agents took her baby from her while she was breastfeeding, and when she resisted they arrested her. A teenage girl at the McAllen government detention facility told reporters she had to care for a toddler she didnt know, because the toddlers aunt was kept in a separate part of the facility. She couldnt find the aunt, and had to show other people in her cage how to change a diaper. And we dont seem to be equipped with resourcesincluding brainsin the cases where we cant separate. This March a 15-year-old indigenous Guatemalan girl reportedly had to stay in a male-only facility with her father, and reported the only privacy she got was when she showered. The lack of resources in our immigration agencies extends from brains to hearts. The ACLU and Human Rights Watch have accused detention guards of several instances of sexual and physical abuse against women. Guards have also been accused of conducting unlawful strip searches. And again, many if not most of these women have been traumatized before, or are escaping potentially traumatic scenarios. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee conducted a study in 2015 that found immigrants were at high risk of re-experiencing past traumas while they were detained, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Detention centers arent friendly spaces. Theyre not safe. Theres no professional psychological support. The staff is overwhelmingly male, which beyond the physical threat complicates things further. For instance, many women are ashamed to ask male guard for menstruation products. If we could see the emotions, the shock, the trauma, and the fear in the faces of these girlsor the babies were not at all equipped to care forthe pitchforks would be whetted, torches gassed and lit. Its hypocritical and fundamentally stupid that Trumps policy punishes the very peoplewomen and childrenwho would be victims to the human traffickers and smugglers the administration is claiming it wants to deter on national security grounds. Turns out its not only stupid, it might be unconstitutional. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals addressed specifically this in its 2015 decision in RILR vs. Johnson. That ruling read in part that DHS cannot detain Central American mothers and children with the aim of deterring potential future immigrants such detention violates the Fifth Amendment. We have Trump officials on record calling the new policy a deterrent. In 2017 Jeff Sessions instructed border states and any appropriate agency to develop a set of guidelines for prosecuting such violations. These guidelines should aim to accomplish the goal of deterring first-time improper entrants. The reason he changed the new policy in April was because he wasnt satisfied with their efforts to deter. And in an interview on Fox News, Sessions, when pressed by Laura Ingraham on whether the administrations new policy was intended as a deterrent, said, I see that the fact that no one was being prosecuted for this was a factor in a fivefold increase in four years in this kind of illegal immigration. So, yes, hopefully people will get the message and come through the border at the port of entry and not break across the border unlawfully. Also, the acting assistant secretary of HHS, Steven Wagner, explicitly called attention to the deterrence effect in a call transcript from CNBC reporter Christina Wilkie. And John Kelly told NPR last month it was intended as a deterrent. He said the same thing a year ago. The administration will no doubt argue that our national security outweighs this concern, citing MS-13 or whatever. But the court denied Obama this argument in 2015: ...neither those being detained nor those being deterred are certain wrongdoers, but rather individuals who may have legitimate claims to asylum in this country. The Court, moreover, is rendering no judgment on the Executives authority to use other means at its disposal to deter mass immigration. But when its chosen vehicle demands significant deprivation of liberty, it cannot be justified by mere lip service. Over the weekend, the New York Times published an extensive and well-reported profile of the thinking behind the heinous immigration policy being orchestrated from the White House. It included plenty of quotes from an interview with JV white nationalist, and Senior Trump adviser, Stephen Miller. AdWeeks tech editor reported that they declined to use the interview for a podcast with the reporters of the story at the urging of the White House. The NYT spoke to Stephen Miller on the record with audio and they spiked it because the White House were not comfortable using the audiowhen they found out his voice was going to be on a podcast they were not happy about it. So they asked us not to use it. Josh Sternberg (@joshsternberg) June 19, 2018 This was the explanation from one of the reporters at the NYT, Julie Davis. Actually @shearm & I interviewed Miller WH before last for our piece on the evolution of the family separation tactic, & after the fact, The Daily decided to do an episode based on that conversation. WH would not allow audio to be used. Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) June 19, 2018 The Times quickly followed with a statement. The New York Times has issued a statement on why it complied with a White House request not to use audio of its Stephen Miller interview on "The Daily" podcast. pic.twitter.com/Lzo3qVHVg6 ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) June 19, 2018 So Stephen Miller agreed to do an on-the-record interview, and some audio portions of that clip were not played because the White House objected to using the interview in that manner, even though they consented to a recorded interview. Former writer for the NYT, and the creator of FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver, put it bluntly. This is rather explicit acknowledgement by the NYT that it's willing to make sacrifices to preserve its access to senior people within the White House. Is that access worth it? Maybethey get a lot of scoops! But let's not pretend there aren't trade-offs. https://t.co/VJe4jrQixX Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 19, 2018 It's impossible to state one way or the other whether this is a good decision, because you and I do not know what the Times gets out of acquiescing to this petty request. We can get an idea of what Stephen Miller and the White House receive out of it: avoiding bad press. It's one thing to read stories about evil, it's another thing to hear the horror. If you combine what was likely a flippant tone of voice by Miller (since he revels in playing the troll) with the heartbreaking audio clips from inside America's child concentration camps, you can create a pretty effective piece of emotional persuasion. Stephen Miller and the rest of his racist cronies in the White House don't want you to feel sorry for these kids that they are actively separating from their parents. They can't win the battle on an empathetic level. They can only accomplish their final solution using fear. By refusing to broadcast an on-the-record audio clip that the White House didn't want released, the New York Times aided this agenda in a very small way. That does not mean it was their intent nor an endorsement of the policythat's just the impact of their actions. I can't imagine trying to accurately report from the inner workings of the Trump reality show that is our nation's capital. Any kind of reporting on those in power requires trade-offs, but getting an accurate read of whether those sacrifices are worth it must be impossibly difficult given that federal policy can change in the span of one Fox & Friends segment. But let's be clear: they're ceding ground to a man who deserves to be prosecuted at the Hague for crimes against humanity. Whatever access they get in return is unknowable for those of us who don't enjoy that kind of access, but it better be worth it. The New York Times has done vital reporting in the Age of Trump, and sometimes their reporters get hit unfairly for how they treat our manchild-in-chief. This is not one of those times. It's understandable for the White House to object over an interview where the production of it was not completely clear, but that doesn't change the fact that they agreed to have their words documented. How they are documented is secondary to the importance of the story, and besides, it's not like this would be unprecedented. You think Mitt Romney would have tried to stop outlets from running his infamous 47% remark if he had the chance? Public officials should be publicly accountable for their words in public. The Times is backing away from that principle hereever so slightly. This is straight up ridiculous. How many (good!) stories have been published from hot mics picking up remarks by political actors who didn't even know they were being recorded before or after their formal interviews. https://t.co/7oAvlCaf7b southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 19, 2018 At the end of the day, this comes down to trust. The New York Times is not as trusted by the public as it once was. This is partially thanks to its sometimes ridiculous opinion page where facts are published that would never see the light of day in any of their other sections that truly value the concept of journalism. Its also due to their sometimes-cozy relationship with Trumpalthough that issue has far from a black and white answer given the instability and pettiness of our president. However, the seemingly thousands of profiles of Trump voters where the NYT allows them to spew falsehoods and white nationalism, combined with its Truth ad campaign make the Times brand look more like a marketing shtick than an actual governing principle. If the New York Times were not hemorrhaging our respect in plenty of other areas, perhaps they get the benefit of the doubt on this one. After all, they published a lot of heinous Stephen Miller quotes this weekend. The issue at the heart of this is presenting it as text or audio. The propagandists in the White House dont want the audio out, which should be reason enough to get the audio out. Access journalism has become a dirty word in our modern age, and its because of instances like thiswhere were told that journalists monitoring those in power must abide by wishes of the powers that be in order to gain some amorphous and indescribable advantage. This is very much an ends justify the means argument put forth by the Times in order to ever-so-slightly advance the Trump administrations agenda, and all we can do is hope that its worth it in the long run. Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling. A Maryland shopping center owner is probably not a member of Ollie's Army. 6711 Glen Burnie Retail LLC, the landlord of the Centre at Glen Burnie is objecting to an auction won by Ollie's Bargain Outlet. Ollie's placed the highest bid on a Toys R Us lease in Glen Burnie, Maryland but, the owner of the Centre at Glen Burnie is attempting to block Ollie's from taking over the lease. Ollie's was the highest bidder for the 47,676-square-foot lease at 6711 Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie, Maryland. The lease expires on May 31, 2019 and has five more five-year options. As the winning bidder of the lease, Ollie's won the right to take over the lease as is, and is responsible for any money owed to the landlord which in this case is $78,821.57. However, the mall owner claimed this week in court documents filed in The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Richmond Division that as the landlord of the property it has the right to "recapture the premises" and terminate the sublease. Just last week Toys R Us which is currently holding liquidation sales at all of its U.S. stores attempted to auction off more than 200 of its leases. A portion of those leases received qualified bids. A hearing is set on June 25 to approve the auctions. Ollie's placed bids on 12 leases. The court announced last week that Ollie's placed the highest bid on five of those leases. The results of some of the auctions have not been announced yet, and Ollie's was the sole bidder on one of the leases where the results have not been announced. Ollie's was also the back-up bidder for three other leases. An official from Ollie's could not be reached for comment. Community members gather for the Jubilee Day downtown Mechanicsburg on June 15, 2017. File photo. Jubilee Day 2018 You aren't a true central Pennsylvanian unless you've attended Jubilee Day. The one-day event fills the streets of Mechanicsburg and is marking its 90th anniversary this year. It takes place from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 21. Here's everything you need to know to plan your visit: Don't Edit Children partake in carnival rides during Jubilee Day downtown Mechanicsburg on June 15, 2017. File photo. What is Jubilee Day? It is the largest, longest running one day street fair on the east coast. According to organizers, it attracts 70,000 people. For many people, Jubilee Day is somewhat of a reunion day devoted to meeting up with friends and relatives. Don't Edit Community members gather for the Jubilee Day downtown Mechanicsburg on June 15, 2017. File photo. Where is it held? It is held on Main Street from York Street to Walnut Street and on Market Street from Simpson Street to Strawberry Avenue. Don't Edit Children partake in carnival rides during Jubilee Day downtown Mechanicsburg on June 15, 2017. File photo. Where can I park? You can park on surrounding streets, but they will fill up quickly. It's probably better to take advantage of free parkig and shuttle service, available from Mechanicsburg High School at 500 S. Broad St. and Immanuel Alliance Church at 800 S. Market St. Shuttles run for a continuous loop from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. The shuttles drop you off at South Market Street. Don't Edit Seventy thousand people are expected at the 2016 Jubilee Day on Main St. in downtown Mechanicsburg, Pa., June 16. File photo by Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com What are the rules? Pets, bicycles and skateboards are not welcome on the Jubilee Day festival route. Don't Edit Don't Edit Kayelyn Feeling, 11, of Ohio, paints a ceramic deer with her grandfather during Jubilee Day downtown Mechanicsburg on June 15, 2017. File photo. What is there to do? There is no shortage of food at Jubilee Day. Vendors sell a variety of concessions from pizza and milkshakes to barbecue and crab cakes. Other vendors sell crafts and jewelry while businesses set up booths. There are carnival rides and a children's section with a petting zoo. Don't Edit Children partake in carnival rides during Jubilee Day downtown Mechanicsburg on June 15, 2017. File photo. What is the entertainment? PA Lottery Stage 10 a.m.: Trez Music Rock (rock/jazz) Noon: Opening ceremony 12:30 p.m.: Jazz Me Band (jazz/rhythm & blues) 2:30 p.m. Alex Allegra (country pop) 4:30 p.m. The Goods (bluegrass/country gospel) 6:30 p.m. Bushmaster featuring Gary Brown (blues/blues rock/Indie rock) UPMC Pinnacle Stage 10:30 a.m.: Five Star (rock) Noon: West Shore Academy of Martial Arts demonstration 1 p.m. Lost Love Horizon (rock/pop/country/classic and current) 3 p.m. Afternoon Sun (Indie/alternative) 5 p.m. JR Wolf (Indie/blues/reggae) 7 p.m. Reminisce (oldies/Motown dance band) Don't Edit Lilly Weibley, 4, of Marysville, celebrates after hitting a balloon with a dart during Jubilee Day downtown Mechanicsburg on June 15, 2017. File photo. For more PennLive Life & Culture stories: HCM City Mytel, the Viettel-owned mobile operator in Myanmar, has signed up more than a million subscribers in just 10 days since it officially began operations. There are several reasons for this achievement, including the fact the company had set up the most extensive telecom infrastructure in Myanmar even before starting operations. It has laid 30,000km of fibre-optic cable, or 50 per cent of the countrys total cable infrastructure, covering 80 per cent of the population. It is the only mobile network to provide 4G services nation-wide covering 300 out of 330 towns while the next biggest competitor only covers 185. Mytel has set up a nation-wide distribution system with 50 stores and 50,000 sales agents, 70 per cent of them in rural and remote areas. The company is also offering very attractive promotions to mark its inauguration. Nguyen Thanh Nam, Mytels general director, said while Myanmar has experienced rapid economic growth, mobile phone penetration in the country has remained low, creating huge opportunities for the telecom sector, especially Viettel. We are targeting two to three million customers in Myanmar in 2018. Mytel began operations on June 9. Myanmar is Viettels 10th foreign market and its largest in terms of population (53 million). Myanmar is also Viettels market with the highest economic growth rate, which was 7 per cent last year. But it is also a very competitive market: telecom services are already used by 90 per cent of the population, calling and data tariffs are cheap, and there is fierce competition from international networks like Norways Telenor, the 13th worlds biggest, and Qatars Ooredoo, the leading network in the Middle East. As of Mytels opening, Viettel Groups registered foreign investment is over US$2 billion. VNS Charges have been filed in connection with a homicide that happened in York County in April. Lleland Grant Wade, 32, no fixed address, faces charges of criminal homicide and conspiracy. Aaron Wollman, 25, of Denver, was found around 7 a.m. on April 16 at Bare and Furnace roads in Lower Chanceford Township with apparent gunshot wounds. Wollman died of multiple gunshot wounds, said Pamela Gay, York County coroner. An arrest warrant was issued for Wade on April 18, and officers tracked him to a hotel room at Days Inn on Eastbrook Road. The Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team responded, and Wade was taken into custody without incident. Kevin Michael Galvin, 56, is also facing homicide charges in connection with the incident. Reports indicate Wade and Galvin lured Wollman to a drug buy and then killed him in retaliation for sexually assaulting women. CARLISLE BARRACKS - Leon Chief Elk of the Blackfeet Nation learned of his ancestor George Ell's final resting place here more than 20 years ago. Chief Elk's brother, while in Pennsylvania as a graduate student at Penn State, took a tour of the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School grounds here, and chanced upon his gravestone. The family has known ever since they wanted to bring George Ell home; it just took some time, Chief Elk said here Wednesday, to learn who exactly they needed to speak with about doing that. But as this moment of exploration, exhumation and, now, repatriation approached this spring, Chief Elk also felt strangely conflicted. He described an inner anxiety about disturbing the remains of an ancestor, a stirring that he attributed in part Wednesday to his tribe's deeply held respect for the dead. That anxiety bubbled into near terror this week, he allowed, right up until the disinterment itself. And then - as his great-grandfather's brother's remains were uncovered, the moment of truth arrived. "It went from sheer terror, even when they were opening the grave, to... It was love when I got to carry him from where he was buried into the tent where they were cleaning him," Chief Elk said, his voice catching at the memory. "I took his head, and me and my cousin held him between us, and we cried. "For me, it was tears of joy, of happiness, because he's going home," Chief Elk continued. "...George Ell will be buried next to his mother after 129 years, and that's better than never." Ell was one of more than 8,000 students to have passed through the school that was the main tenant of Carlisle Barracks from 1879 through 1918. It was part of a chain of boarding schools opened and operated as part of a government-led program aimed at assimilating Native Americans into the majority society. It's legacy here remains ever complicated, from the historic exploits of Jim Thorpe and the other athletes, to founder Richard Pratt's belief that the school - in its mission - had to eradicate everything about its students that was Indian. George Ell, according to student information cards, arrived at the school in March 1890, at age 17. His father, identified in school records as Louis Ell, was Leon Chief Elk's great-great grandfather. George Ell died in April 1891, a little over a year after his arrival at Carlisle, in what a school article from the time attributed to complications from a burst blood-vessel in his lungs. The same publication that reported George Ell's death - "Indian Helper" - also stated that his friends paid for his tombstone out of love for the boy. As is the case with so many of the 180 former students who were buried at the barracks, in a small cemetery fronting Claremont Road, it was not clear why Ell's remains were not claimed at the time. This summer, however, he is part of a group of four former students who, hopefully, are going home at last. Teams from the Army's National Military Cemeteries unit are conducting the disinterments over the next two weeks. Along with Ell, the Army has plans to disinter Little Plume, also known as Hayes Vanderbilt of the Northern Arapaho; Herbert Little Hawk, also known as Herbert J. Littlehawk, of the Oglala Sioux; and Her Pipe Woman, also known as Dora Brave Bull, of the Standing Rock Sioux. Some hope the emotions surrounding the newfound interest in repatriation of the students buried here can provide a healing moment for those who see the school's legacy as a symbol of institutional genocide. Chief Elk and his family members declined Wednesday to opine on that search for deeper meanings. For them, this was simply about freeing an ancestor who had been trapped in time. "I'd rather move forward, because that means peace for him," Chief Elk said. "Out of respect for him, we just move forward." In truth, this has probably been way too personal and too busy of an experience for broader conclusions, starting from the family's receipt upon their arrival in Carlisle of the first photo they'd ever seen of George Ell. Chief Elk kept it displayed on his phone as he spoke to reporters Wednesday morning. "We had no idea what he looked like," he explained. "We could look at each other and say: 'He probably looked like that.' But we didn't" really know. So the photograph, for him was a "piece of gold." "My first night here, I slept maybe two broken hours, becase I kept getting up and looking at my grandpa," Chief Elk said, using the family's new nickname for George Ell. "I mean, you can't make stuff like this up." Home for Ell from now on will be the Blackfeet Nation Reservation in northwest Montana. The tribe has about 15,500 enrolled members, roughly half of whom live on or near the reservation. When their ancestor arrives there, Chief Elk said, he will get a traditional burial in the family cemetery, followed by a feed. And for generations of his family, there will be a newfound peace. In the years since the family learned of George El's whereabouts, Chief Elk said Wednesday, his mind kept wandering back to his great-great-grandmother, a woman named Cutting Woman. "In my mind all I could think about was his mother... and her pain when she lost him, and his pain when he died, because when we're that age we always want our Moms, you know? "So that's what my driving force was.... It was to return him to his mother." That home-going, he stressed, does bring peace, and he encouraged all other families of Carlisle students to explore the disinterment process if they have any interest in bringing their own ancestors home. "They need to contact the Army. It's just as simply as that," Chief Elk said. "I'm still amazed how easy this was." Two Pennsylvania police officers did their best to keep Robert T. Jeffers from driving while drunk. They even gave him bus fare for a trip home when they determined he was intoxicated following an argument at his girlfriend's house. Jeffers turned the key and drove anyway. A state Superior Court panel just upheld the DUI conviction, 6-month probation term and $300 fine the Delaware County man received as a consequence. Judge Mary Jane Bowes wrote in the state court opinion how Jeffers, 46, refused to take advantage of the charity shown by Aldan Borough police officers Joseph Spina and Adam Zahner in July 2016. The cops gave the visibly intoxicated Jeffers bus fare after he couldn't get any friends to drive him home. They moved his car out of his girlfriend's driveway. They watched as Jeffers walked toward the bus stop. Moments later, Spina, back on patrol, drove by the house of Jeffers' girlfriend again and "saw (Jeffers) enter his vehicle and proceed to drive," Bowes wrote. Jeffers was so irate when Spina pulled him over the officer decided it was too risky to give Jeffers a field sobriety test, Bowes noted. At the hospital, Jeffers refused to provide a blood sample for intoxication testing. A county judge convicted Jeffers of DUI during a non-jury trial last year. That verdict was based on the officers' testimony. Jeffers argued on appeal to the state court that his conviction was unjustified because no testing was done to determine his blood-alcohol level. Given Jeffers' refusal to submit to testing, the officers' testimony about his intoxication was enough to back the county judge's verdict, Bowes found. Deputy District Attorney Katie Adam didn't hold back Wednesday morning as a Dauphin County judge prepared to sentence a Steelton couple for starving and physically abusing their kids. The prosecutor had her chance to speak after lawyers for Christina and Joseph Shore called witnesses who testified that the pair are remorseful, have been taking parenting classes and deeply miss their six children. "This is not about one incident of punishment," Adam told Judge Deborah E. Curcillo. "These are children who were regularly punished by the withholding of food." "These children were tortured for years," she added. When Adam finished, Curcillo sentenced Christina Shore, 36, to 5 years of intermediate punishment, with the first 3 months in county prison, the next 3 months on house arrest and the rest of the time on probation. She imposed an identical sentence on Shore's 35-year-old husband. Steelton police arrested the Shores in September 2016 after their 11-year-old son, their oldest child, showed up at school with a bump on his head, scrapes on his arms and a badly bruised behind. Investigators said the boy told them his father beat him with a cane for stealing food, while his mother pulled his hair. The Shores pleaded guilty to felony child endangerment and simple assault charges last month. They had no sentencing deals. Jane Folk, a former county Children and Youth Services worker who handled the Shore case, told Curcillo all six children are together in foster care and are thriving. Folk said her agency had been involved with the family since 2012, and its Berks County counterpart had dealt with issues involving the Shores for four years before that. "The referrals started with lack of nutrition and lack of weight gain," she said. "That escalated into physical abuse." Court proceedings are being mounted to terminate the couple's parental rights, Folk said. Christina Shore's lawyer, Gerard Mangieri, called Pamela Haddad, executive director of the Samara parental training organization, to testify. Haddad said the Shores have been working hard to become better parents. "After they were charged with beating their kids," Curcillo observed. "They have strong bonds with their children," Haddad continued. During visitations "they run to their mom," she said. Public Defender Elizabeth Close said Joseph Shore is "extremely remorseful" for the abuse he inflicted. She said he didn't do it out of meanness, but because of "lack of resources and a disciplinary action that went too far." "This absolutely did not come from a place of malice," Mangieri agreed. "This came from a lack of understanding, a lack of resources." He said the 11-year-old was beaten by his parents for stealing food to give to a bully at school. That theft caused disruption for the family because "the parents had specific plans on meals and how to feed the children," Mangieri said. "She should have made better decisions," he said of Christina Shore. "But she never meant to harm her children." Christina Shore tried to speak to Curcillo but was sobbing so hard her words were unintelligible. Joseph Shore said nothing. The German owner of Phoenix Contact in Dauphin County said it wants savings realized under the recent Republican-led tax reform to be shared locally. That led to the offer by Phoenix and also pledge substantial support toward addressing any security vulnerabilities within Middletown Area School District, according to Jack Nehlig, the president of Phoenix. Nehlig was present on Tuesday night as the school board received a preliminary report on the study. Brian Krause of Vulnerability Solutions Group, which did the study, said he expects to give the school board a final report in July or August. However, Krause, a retired state trooper who spent part of his career doing assessments, gave a positive assessment of existing security at Middletown schools, saying it's "beyond many of the districts I've seen." In interviews following the presentation, Krause and Nehlig said it would be inappropriate for them to go into further details of the report's findings or what security upgrades it will recommend. They also stressed there may be disagreement over what steps to take, and they don't know what recommendations the school board will accept or authorize. Because of that, it's too early to say whether recommended upgrades will be in place before the start of the upcoming school year. Nehlig told the board Phoenix has 29 employees with children or grandchildren attending Middletown, which has five schools and about 2,300 students. He said Phoenix is a "neighbor" of the district, and while it pays local taxes, "we can do better. We stand ready." Although Phoenix can't offer an unlimited amount, "I told them to come to me with their needs and we will find a way to fund those needs," he said in an interview. Nehlig made the security-related offer as a result of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla. that has led to a national debate about how best to secure schools and protect students against armed intruders and other threats. He said the cut in the corporate tax rate, which lowered it from 35 percent to 21 percent, has resulted in significant savings for Phoenix. He said he hopes what's happening in Middletown will give other businesses and districts ideas for funding important upgrades that may have been impossible under tight school budgets. Gov. Tom Wolf has joined a growing chorus of governors who say they will not send their state's National Guard troops to the U.S. -Mexico border because they object to the adminstration's policy of separating children from their parents at the border. Wolf's tweet followed decisions by seven governors, including Democrats Andrew Cuomo of New York and John Carney of Delaware, and Republicans Larry Hogan of Maryland and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts to reject requests to send troops to aid in securing the border, according to multiple news reports. "While PA proudly sent troops to TX, FL and Puerto Rico for disaster relief and I believe we need to protect our borders from real threats, I oppose state resources being used to further Pres. Trump's policy of separating young children from their parents," Wolf tweeted Tuesday. While PA proudly sent troops to TX, FL and Puerto Rico for disaster relief and I believe we need to protect our borders from real threats, I oppose state resources being used to further Pres. Trump's policy of separating young children from their parents. https://t.co/2SmqPMgnwz Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) June 20, 2018 His spokesman told The York Daily Record that Pennsylvania does not have any National Guard troops on the border and hasn't received any request for troops. Delaware Gov. John Carney did receive a request, and rejected it, according to The Associated Press. Under normal circumstances, we wouldnt hesitate to answer the call. But given what we know about the policies currently in effect at the border, I cant in good conscience send Delawareans to help with that mission. Governor John Carney (@JohnCarneyDE) June 19, 2018 Hogan, of Maryland, said he is recalling troops over the issue. Until this policy of separating children from their families has been rescinded, Maryland will not deploy any National Guard resources to the border. Earlier this morning, I ordered our 4 crewmembers & helicopter to immediately return from where they were stationed in New Mexico. https://t.co/TEfkUXF7ZN Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) June 19, 2018 And New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to file a lawsuit over the controversy, saying the Trump administration is violating the constitutional rights of children and their families. By Tabitha Ssonko In 2018, there are a few sad facts about education funding in our state. Disproportionate numbers of school districts where black and brown students are in the majority are severely underfunded. Too many of Pennsylvania's school districts are overly reliant on local funding to support the myriad of services students require to succeed. Students are graduating from high school with fewer opportunities to access, the "American Dream." Education is supposed to be the great equalizer in our country. All children are supposed to have access to quality education and the support services required to assist students in their learning pursuits. Sixty-four years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court determined unanimously that the "separate but equal" policies of many states were unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Yet in 2018, we are still struggling to make sure that all of the commonwealth's children receive full, fair and equitable access to education through proper funding. Graduation season just ended in our state. This time of celebration and excitement is not necessarily the reality for many seniors. While some graduates are preparing to purchase and outfit dorm rooms, attend orientation, and begin working out with their new team. Still other students are struggling to find jobs, assist parents in supporting their households, and could never imagine they would be able to attend college. As a pastor, I celebrate and commiserate with students during this time of year. I celebrate with those who overcome many obstacles to achieve graduation. Even more, I commiserate with students who are graduating without the basic tools that come from quality education. I struggle as I listen to parents whose children have completed another school year with unfulfilled IEPs. I struggle as I seek to help parents and students alike navigate a structure that seems to be organized against them. I also pastor teachers and administrators, who see the structural problems in our funding system, who go above and beyond to meet the needs of their students, and are discouraged. I, too, hear about the struggle of teachers who use their own money to buy supplies for their classrooms, and who engage parents to offer the proper support to see children succeed. I offer this, because all too often in this discussion, the people at the bottom are the ones who receive the blame. Children, teachers, and parents, are all victimized by this funding structure, and also blamed for not doing enough to change the structure. How can they change this structure that has exhibited a persistent pattern of racial and economic bias against them? These are not grandiose claims, in research completed by POWER Interfaith Network and the Education Law Center, they identified systemic statewide patterns of racial and economic inequality in how state basic education funding is distributed to Pennsylvania's 500 school districts. Even further, as of September 28, 2017, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in William Penn School District, et al. v. Pennsylvania Dept. of Education, et al. that the suit must be heard in Commonwealth court, opening a decades long court battle over school funding. This case filed in 2014 on behalf of parents, school districts, and statewide organizations is in response to the failure of the state legislature to adequately fund public education and provide students with the resources they need to succeed academically. We need answers for this crisis. As a person of faith, I rely heavily on connection to a higher authority. Prayer, is that active connection, which offers direction as I consider steps to help those in my community who continue to suffer because of the decisions of those in control of resources. Prayer is the vehicle that calls me into action, and reminds me of the great responsibility I have to exercise inner gifts in order to create beloved community. In this moment, I call out to my brothers and sisters who hold fast to their faith traditions, who are as overwhelmed by the needs of our faith bodies here in Central Pennsylvania and desire great change for our children. Our children deserve better, and they deserve it now. We need to pray, meditate, and get connected with the Divine, not just to wait on movement, but to see how we can bring about the change we desire for education access and funding in this state. We can meet with legislators and other officials to hear their words, but we must also discern past the rhetoric and buzz words that keep us isolated in our normal patterns of life. For this reason, all are invited to join POWER and other groups in Harrisburg this Wednesday, June 20, as we join together for the dignity and success of all children in the commonwealth. We urge our lawmakers to get behind legislation (HB2501) providing for 100 percent fair school fund as we work with all who believe in 100 percent full, fair and equitable funding for our children. The Rev. Tabitha Ssonko is senior pastor of Monumental AME Church in Lebanon, Pa. Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., thought reports of children being brutally separated from their parents at the United States' southern border with Mexico were "greatly exaggerated." After being made the subject of withering criticism, Toomey found the forced separations and warehousing of migrant children "heartbreaking" and he credited President Donald Trump for at least signing an executive order ending the practice, for now. "Separating children from parents who enter the country illegally is heartbreaking and President Trump is right to stop the practice," Toomey said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. Trump doesn't deserve credit from Toomey, which came after nearly immediate, introspection, or any other Republican. The president's executive order, cleaning up his own mess, now only means that children and their families will be detained together - perhaps indefinitely - as their immigration status is adjudicated. Thus giving the president credit for the executive order is kind of like confronting a child who's spilled his own milk and then asks for a pat on the head for cleaning up after himself. As I wrote earlier this week, Trump and his lieutenants have been flailing to justify the policy, offering conflicting answers and even transparently cynical biblical justification for the forced separation policy. As recently as this morning, Trump was not backing off from his policy, tweeting that "the Fake News is not mentioning the safety and security of our Country when talking about illegal immigration. Our immigration laws are the weakest and worst anywhere in the world, and the Dems will do anything not to change them & to obstruct-want open borders which means crime!" Trump may have bowed to overwhelming national, international and spiritual pressure as he ended a policy, instituted by his own administration (Not Congress, not Democrats) that was both politically disastrous and morally odious. But the administration is still pursuing its zero-tolerance policy of criminally prosecuting as many illegal border-crossers as it can as Congress works to cobble together an immigration reform package that probably doesn't have the votes to pass. The pivot, which could result in entire families being detained in military facilities, "[calls] up some of the worst moments in our nation's history," Adanjesus Marin, director of the advocacy group, Make the Road PA, said in a statement. "Families belong together, free from the fear and trauma these bars and cages create." That's because the executive order directs the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security to keep families in custody "to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations," The Washington Post reported, adding that's "language that points to the government's deficit of detention space for parents with children." As The Post notes, ICE operates two, large family detention centers in Texas, and a smaller one in Pennsylvania, which have a combined capacity of about 3,000 beds. As of June 9, "the three facilities had nearly 2,600 of those beds occupied, according to the latest available ICE figures." The added wrinkle is that court cases limit how long children can be kept in custody. So while Trump may have solved an immediate political problem - the policy was hideous news for Republicans running in this fall's mid-term elections - it also leaves a slew of unanswered questions in its wake. The implications of those questions could be resolved in the coming days, or things could just get worse. And with this president, the latter is more often the outcome. It seems almost too easy to say it, but the 2018-19 state budget set for a vote in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Wednesday does have all the elements of an election-year budget. And why not? This is 2018 after all. In a few short months, your television and computer screens will be flooded with advertisements urging a vote for this gubernatorial candidate, that senator or this state lawmaker. That's going to be a big, partisan fight all on its own. So there seemed to be a shared interest at the Capitol this spring in universal disarmament when it came to the state budget, and you could see evidence of that throughout the $32.7 billion general appropriations bill unveiled Tuesday. The bill is the agreed-to product of quiet negotiations between the Wolf Administration, Senate and House leaders. "You roll the dice if you want to go down the path of an extended budget battle in an election year, because neither side really knows who's going to come out looking like the bad guy," explained Muhlenberg College political science professor Christopher Borick. "I saw nothing in here (the budget plan) that would indicate that the governor or the legislature wanted a really down and dirty battle this year." There are small wins for all sides - Gov. Tom Wolf and his Democratic allies in the legislature get about $200 million in new funding for k-12 public education, not including the annual rise in pension costs. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County, celebrated a 3 percent boost in funding for Penn State, based in his district, and other state-related institutions. The Penn State boost, Corman said, may come with the added good news of a tuition freeze for all state-resident undergrads. Penn State University President Eric Barron later confirmed that plan, via email. "That's good news for parents who are A, saving, or B, paying big tuition bills," Corman said Tuesday. "There are many things in this budget that I'm happy about, but that would be right there at the top." House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny County, won a $25 million increase in his beloved Earned Income Tax Credit program, which invites businesses to create private school scholarships in exchange for a tax credit. And Turzai got Wolf to give, again, on the severance tax on natural gas production from the Marcellus Shale. Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, saw agreement to create a new $60 million account dedicated to ramping up security at school buildings. "That's a huge, bipartisan effort, and I was happy to propose it and lead it," Scarnati said. And, for the taxpayers among us, no increases in taxes or fees. This year, they're even agreeing on how to fight, it appears. For example, legislative Republicans are making a fresh run preparing at imposing work / work search requirements on able-bodied adults receiving medical assistance. Wolf has steadfastly opposed this move. But rather than stick this issue in a Human Services code bill and risk a veto that also stymies other, smaller reforms - as happened last year - it appears the work requirement will hit Wolf's desk in a stand-alone bill this summer. Everybody still gets to make their point, but a lot less collateral policy damage. "This is the definition of an election year budget," said John O'Connell, a lobbyist with Emerald Strategies. "Make it quick and painless, get yourself a couple of talking points, and off you go." "That's what they did." Even people who helped blow up the severance tax train last year were speaking kindly, preliminarily at least, about the plans their leaders presented them on Tuesday. "I've seen worse budgets by far," said Rep. Dan Moul, R-Adams County, a leader of the so-called Common Sense caucus of fiscal conservatives who insisted on the use of reserve funds to balance the budget last year. Moul said he is awaiting more information on contents of the budgetary codes bills that give more shape to some of the fiscal lines, but he added it would be hard to vote against a plan that doesn't raise taxes and truly limits new spending. That last part remained one of the big open questions Tuesday night. Budget negotiators initially claimed a 1.7 percent spending increase, but that was based on projections of actual general fund spending for the soon-to-end, 2017-18 fiscal year. When matched against the enacted budget from last October, however, the spending increase exceeded 2.2 percent. Even more confusing, it was not totally clear Tuesday how much spending is being moved off-line to artificially deflate the proposed $32.7 billion bottom line. It was clear from House Democratic Appropriations staff briefings, however, that hundreds of millions of dollars of annual human service costs are set to be funded with a collection of one-time revenue sources. They include funds from an anticipated settlement of a dispute over multi-state tobacco settlement payments; $350 million in surplus collections from a now-defunct tax on managed care organizations; and the transfer of a $200 million surplus from a state-created medical malpractice insurance program. That was something that Wolf railed about in years past. But Democrats and Republicans said Tuesday they were comfortable with this plan because: A) Most of the one-time money is already in hand, and; B) Strong revenue projections for 2018-19 are leading to expectations that tax base growth will cover anticipated costs - wherever they're budgeted - by 2019-20. The state's Independent Fiscal Office has projected tax revenue growth of 4.0 percent for the new fiscal year, which starts July 1, creating a total revenue pie of $33.9 billion. IFO bases the growth on higher disposable incomes due to the federal tax cut, and greater wage growth owing to a tighter labor market. And the budget-builders are taking it. "Our projections show that if we stay within current spending trends...there won't be a need for a revenue conversation like we had last year, even with some of the one-time items that are in here" said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Pat Browne, R-Lehigh County. And that, dear readers, is the last essential ingredient for an election year budget: Good, old-fashioned optimism. About the only dissonant chord Tuesday was that struck from former state Sen. Scott Wagner, the York County Republican who is opposing Wolf in the race for governor. For Wagner, this is also an election year budget - but in an altogether different way. "We have to take on big issues - eliminating property taxes, investing in classrooms, trimming wasteful spending and regulations and a real commitment to school safety - unfortunately this budget does none of that," the GOP candidate said in an emailed statement. "... I have a simple message for Pennsylvania - I'll be a governor that prioritizes your paychecks, your schools, and your future. Help is on the way." The bill is expected to get a House vote on Wednesday. Corman said the Senate could follow suit as early as Friday. Spectators filled the seats and lined the walls of the majority caucus room in the Capitol Tuesday morning because the House Judiciary Committee considered a number of gun safety bills in which all five considered were passed- a momentous victory for firearm legislation in the ongoing war on gun violence. It's been years since a firearm legislation bill touched the floor, largely because Pennsylvania is a pro-gun rights state. The recent string of gun violence and mass shootings have shifted the motion in the legislature. Only halfway through the year, there have already been over 130 mass shootings with more than 26,000 incidents involving a gun, not including around 22,000 suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit corporation tracking gun violence from thousands of sources. Shira Goodman, executive director with the leading gun violence prevention organization CeaseFirePA, highlights Parkland and the activism following it as well as the upcoming elections as triggers that pushed a shift in legislature. "This is the first time in years, strong bills to save lives will reach the House Floor," she said. "I think it's really significant. Just giving the committee a chance to vote on these bills, some of which have been filed every year, for years. This is what they're supposed to do: debate things and vote them up and down or not." House Judiciary Committee Majority Chairman Ron Marsico, R-Dauphin, launched a series of hearings in April in regard to gun laws with the hope "to build bipartisan consensus for an effective legislative strategy." He invited all representatives to attend and outline their proposals, ideas and bills at the hearings, where 37 members offered input. Advocacy groups shared their concerns and feedback the following month, when members expressed their desire to address mental health and the combination of firearms and domestic violence. The five considered bills passed with bipartisan support Tuesday, and the committee is scheduled to review the remaining four bills Wednesday. All bills in the package seek to provide tools to quickly, but temporarily, remove firearms from those people a judge finds to be dangerous, says Marsico. House Bill 2060, which mirrors a bill that just came out of the Senate, requires an individual under a Protection From Abuse (PFA) order or convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence to turn in his or her firearm to either law enforcement or a licensed gun dealer. The individual must do so within 24 hours of a PFA order or conviction. It's prime sponsor Rep. Marguerite Quinn, R-Bucks, introduced it as a domestic violence bill with a firearms component. "Every 16 hours in the United States, someone is fatally shot by their intimidate partner," she said. "And, that someone is typically a woman. And, that someone is five times more likely to be killed when guns are present in a domestic situation." Rep. Dan Miller, D-Allegheny, said legislators need to do more when it comes to domestic violence, even referencing his childhood when he was around it. "Those scars are deep; those threats are impactful," he said. "Anytime that you have someone who has access to a weapon in conjunction with those threats, the numbers show what they show." The committee adopted an amendment allowing a 10-year waiting period to return those relinquished firearms. If an individual violates terms of the agreement, he or she is no longer eligible to have those firearms returned. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America supported taking guns out of the hands of those with final PFAs because "they have shown they use violence to control a situation in their home," said Deb Marteslo, the organization's state leader. "To have a gun in a situation like that with an already violent person is asking for a tragedy," Marteslo said. "Our focus is finding those people, identifying them and making sure they don't have access to guns." They also support the extreme risk protection bill that allows family or household members and police to petition the court to temporarily take away guns from someone who is suspected of having the potential to commit suicide or a serious bodily injury to another. Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery, framed this bill around suicide prevention. Effective in 10 other states, it not only takes away someone's firearm, but it also temporarily suspends their right to possess or purchase one for up to three months but no longer than a year. The court can issue the temporary order and schedule a hearing, simply schedule the hearing for a later date or dismiss the matter, entirely. "We can start saving lives right now," Stephens said. However, Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Allegheny, spoke in opposition because he said the bill was "rushed through." He said legislators have a duty and obligation to do a thorough job vetting each piece of legislation, making sure it's the best. "We spend a lot of time in Harrisburg, as I learned, correcting mistakes and unintended consequences," Saccone said. "Sometimes even just a word or two that we should've caught but we pushed it through; we rushed it through." He said he voted against the bill not because issues don't exist, but because there are remedies that can correct problems with the bill now instead of later. Stephens responded by denying that the bill is rushed, but has taken months to come together. Miller also responded in support of the bill, suggesting that solutions to problems can be recommended on the House floor through amendments. "There are a number of amendments out there that people are prepared to put on, but we could have voted tomorrow [Wednesday]," Saccone said. "We could have satisfied a lot of the concerns from other members. Why couldn't have we waited 24 hours? That amendment that we voted on, we added it yesterday. What's one more day? Can't we do it right?" Offering a different perspective than the long-lasting debate of the bill, Rep. Dom Costa, D-Allegheny, spoke as a 28-year law enforcement veteran. Costa was a crisis negotiator, and he said he would have cherished a bill like this as would law enforcement now. He recalled times were if this bill would have been in effect, people would still be living today. "I spoke with a gentleman on the phone one night, trying to talk him down, after he killed his girlfriend in a relationship," Costa said. "His family had asked that he not have guns. He said that someone should have taken the guns from him. He killed himself as I spoke with him on the phone." House Bill 273 allows individuals to temporarily place themselves on a no-buy list of firearms. House Bill 2275 aligns with federal laws, saying prior conviction offenses that prohibit the possession, transfer or use of firearms will include the attempt, conspiracy or solicitation to commit those same crimes. The core purposes of House Bill 2463 include removing the prohibition on people subjected to an emergency involuntary mental health treatment and providing a procedure for the reinstatement of firearm rights to those who lost that privilege due to mental health issues. Goodman said looking at data will prove these bills work in other states and save lives. In regard to the Second Amendment right to bear arms, she said it's like others in that it can't be approached with an absolutist view. "At some point, are you going to sacrifice more lives because you don't want to seek any limits on this right?" she said. "Or, are you willing to say the right to have firearms is just like our other rights, subject to balancing, subject to reasonable regulation, subject to reasonable restrictions that keep the public safe?" HA NOI The southern province of Vinh Long on Tuesday unveiled a construction master plan covering the period from 2018 to 2030 and with a vision to 2050. The Deputy Director of the provincial Construction Department, Tran Hoai Hiep, said the plan aimed to establish Vinh Long as a centre of service, industry, and hi-tech agriculture through equitable and sustainable development. Hiep said the projects under the master plan would be built in accordance with the projects of the adjusted construction plan for the Cuu Long Mekong Delta, which is expected to become an important road and railway transport hub for the delta and a logistical centre in the urban economic region between Cuu Long Delta, HCM City, and Phnom Penh. Vinh Long is set to become a hub for paddies and orchards and a centre of hi-tech agriculture, supporting other hi-tech industries in the delta. It is also expected to be a vocational training and biological science research centre as well as a trade and tourism destination. The provinces economic growth rate is predicted to reach 7 per cent by 2030, with an average Gross Regional Domestic Product per capita of US$4,000. VNS The House Judiciary Committee passed three more gun control bills Wednesday, including one that will ban another offensive weapon- bump stock devices. The committee passed twin bills to require Pennsylvania courts and mental health providers to send relevant mental health data to the Pennsylvania State Police within 72 hours, reducing the timeline from seven days. One amends the Mental Health Procedures Act while the other amends the Uniform Firearms Act so that the language is consistent in both documents. Only one vote decided the fate of the other two bills, regarding the banned list of weapons and background checks for long guns or rifles. House Bill 1872 adds to the list of prohibited offensive weapons by banning parts that will accelerate the rate of fire of a semi-automatic firearm. Termed as accelerated trigger activator or bump stock, those parts will join the current law that forbids bombs, grenades, machine guns and others. The parts, when attached to a gun, became a machine gun, a banned offensive weapon. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Montgomery, recalled the October 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas, where one gunman opened fire at a concert, leaving 58 dead and over 800 injured. She said these parts alter a firearm to act as a machine gun. "Up to 800 rounds in a minute can be sprayed into an unsuspecting crowd, and we saw that in Las Vegas," she said. "And, no one needs that device." The bill, if and when enacted, would not apply to people already in possession of those parts. Firearms Owners Against Crime, founded by Kim Stolfer, is a registered political action committee who defends the right to bear arms and is against the bill, referred to by Stolfer as a travesty. "Where do you stop with banning things you don't think citizens should have?" Stolfer said. "Because if being misused is the guide post with which you act in the legislature, you are dooming us to banning everything because somebody, somewhere soon will misuse every item we have in our homes." He calls legislators ignorant of the terms in the law, which he said is further reaching and causes unintended consequences. Stolfer referred to an inconsistent use of terms, including saying multi-burst trigger activators in the bill memo, changing it to accelerated trigger activator and interchanging it with bump stock. He calls both multi-burst and accelerated trigger activators made up terms not found in the firearms glossary of terms. However, Dean accounts the language of the bill to data and information from a number of experts. The bump stock, which the bill seeks to ban, is the use of a recoil to fire shots rapidly in succession in order to stimulate the rate of fire. Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington enacted laws to prohibit bump stock devices and more than 20 other states either have considered or are considering bump stock bans, says the National Conference of State Legislatures. Stolfer noted other problems as ambiguity with definitions to an acceleration of the rate of fire. Dean said the language is clear, though, which defines the acceleration of the rate of fire to that of a machine gun. But, of all problems, Stolfer said the greatest is that there is no benefit. "Can't I use a gallon of gas to do the same thing in Parkland and kill a lot more kids?" Stolfer said, after calling it a rhetorical debate that has no merit. "We don't look at what a person can do wrong; it's the criminal act we hold them accountable for. We have lost sight of what it means to be just in this country." Dean says the bill would prevent events like the Las Vegas mass shooting, quoting law enforcement veteran Rep. Dom Costa, D-Allegheny, who said no police officer wants a civilian to be carrying the equivalent of a machine gun. "Do you want civilians using bump stock in society?" Dean asked of critics who she said are deflecting the issue by stressing over semantics. Of the series of gun safety bills discussed Tuesday and Wednesday, House Bill 1400 was the only bill that failed to come out of committee. It asked for the private sale of long guns to be subject to the same background requirements for the private sale of handguns. Legislation on firearms also won a battle in the war on gun violence Tuesday when the House Judiciary Committee passed five gun safety bills. In the continuing war, several groups say they aren't anti-gun, but are wounded by gun violence and call for a change. Mothers in Charge, Inc., a non-profit organization acting as the voice for victims of violence-mostly homicide, was founded by Dorothy Johnson-Speight after losing her 24-year old son Khaaliq, who was shot repeatedly following a dispute over a parking spot. Other grieving mothers, like Lisa Burhannan, the Harrisburg chapter coordinator, joined after the decision to turn her anger around instead of letting her son's death take her into a deep hole of depression. Burhannan said nine years ago, on June 21, 2009, police chased her son and his friend into an alleyway after a vehicle pursuit where they considered them armed and dangerous. According to Burhannan, the police said her son committed suicide, but she thinks police murdered him. "He hadn't even lived the best years of his life," she said. "It's heartbreaking. I deal with it every day. There's never no closure, but you learn how to deal with it." The organization believes in the gun rights of responsible gun owners, rash, irresponsible individuals make it hard for everyone, says Burhannan. In losing a child to gun violence, she said "it could have been avoided." The proposed 2018-19 state budget that increases education spending from preschool to higher education and requires no increase taxes or fees easily passed the state House of Representatives on Wednesday. The 188-10 vote to pass the $32.7 billion spending plan allows the bill to move to the Senate which is expected to vote on it on Friday. Gov. Tom Wolf has signaled he will sign it into law when it reaches his desk. The increase in spending is $560 million or 1.7 percent over this year's nearly $32 billion budget, but is nearly $300 million less than Wolf proposed in February. "This is a fiscally responsible budget that provides for the needs of the citizens of this commonwealth without increasing taxes," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, R-York County. After hailing the bi-partisan cooperation in arriving at a budget agreement, he said, "We have a budget we can all agree to is a good budget for the citizens of Pennsylvania." House Democratic Appropriations Committee Chairman Joe Markosek of Allegheny County, who is retiring at the end of the session after 35 years of service, agreed there were good elements in the budget and chose not to focus on what it didn't include as two of his fellow Democrats did. Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware County, voiced concerns about insufficient environmental funding. Rep. Mark Longietti, D-Mercer County, was critical of its failure to beef up marketing funding to attract tourists. However, Markosek forewarned about fiscal challenges that lie ahead in the 2019-20 budget. "Let's keep the good vibes going this year, you'll need them moving forward without me," he said."Let's go get this budget done." The House passage of the spending bill is a key step in the state budget approval process but there is a series of budget-related bills that are considered the operating manual for the budget that have yet to be finalized and passed before lawmakers' summer break begins. Still, reaching an agreement on a spending plan in the third week of June has not been been an unaccomplished feat in recent years. Some say it's been a couple of decades since that last occurred. Whether its election year-it is, a more positive revenue picture, or simply fatigue from past year's budget battles, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle voiced satisfaction with what some have described as an education budget includes. It provides for a $100 million increase in basic education, to an amount now topping $6 billion. It includes a $25 million increase in the popular Educational Improvement and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit programs, pushing that funding for private school scholarships to $210 million. And it includes $70 million for school safety initiatives. It also contains $30 million in new funds for vocational education programs, for a total of $92 million; $20 million more for pre-k programs, for a total of $192.3 million; $5 million more for Head Start, for a total of $59.2 million, and an additional $15 million for special education costs, for a total of $1.13 billion. It also includes a 3.3 percent increase for the State System of Higher Education, for a total of $468.1 million, and a 3 percent increase for Penn State ($260.1 million), Pitt ($151.4 million), Temple ($155.1 million), Lincoln, ($14.9 million), support community colleges' operating budgets ($239.1 million); and Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology ($14.7 million). Beyond education, it includes $4.5 million for home visits and other supports to families whose lives have been impacted by opioid addiction,$3 million for combating the spotted lanternfly, funding for three state police cadet classes, money to reduce the waiting list for individuals with intellectual disabilities and low-income families awaiting subsidized child care services, and a $25 million deposit into the state's Rainy Day Fund, among other highlights. This post was updated at 10:11 p.m. to correct a mistake in the votes cast by House members representing Cumberland Valley School District. Rep. Dawn Keefer, R-Dillsburg, was a yes vote, Tuesday. The Pennsylvania state House has given a quick and speedy approval to a bill that would require school districts and other public entities to get court approval of any taking of preserved lands. The bill, introduced last month in response to pending issues in Montgomery and Cumberland counties, passed 179-18 Tuesday, and now moves to the state Senate for further action. It was not immediately clear if that chamber will take up the bill before the looming summer recess. Specifically, House Bill 2468 would force school districts and other governmental agencies eyeing land subject to private conservation easements to win prior court approval before starting condemnation proceedings. As part of that process, the bill states, a judge must find "there is no reasonable and prudent alternative... for the project" besides the targeted tract. That's a marked changed from the status quo, in which public takings generally go forward, and then the burden is on the holder of the easements to fight a rear-guard action to block it. Easements are a relatively common land preservation tool, imposed to protect specific tracts from development that would erase or threaten a variety of open space benefits. Some worry the strength of that tool is now being threatened statewide by the recent actions of two Pennsylvania school districts that have moved on protected estates for school construction or expansion projects. The projects that are driving the debate include, locally, Cumberland Valley School District's condemnation of the old McCormick Farm property off Carlisle Pike in Silver Spring Township. Cumberland Valley has said it would like to develop a new and larger middle school on the site, to help keep up with surging student enrollments. That taking is currently being challenged in Cumberland County courts by Natural Lands, the holder of the no-development easement, though the district insists language in the property's deed gives its eminent domain powers primacy over the easement. An evidentiary hearing in the Cumberland Valley case is set for Aug. 6. Meanwhile, in Montgomery County, Lower Merion School District has raised public concerns over its consideration of taking a portion of Stoneleigh, a 42-acre estate in Villanova that is owned outright by Natural Lands. Lower Merion, facing the same kind of growth pressures as Cumberland Valley, is considering taking at least a 6.9-acre portion of that estate, which the suburban Philly district is eyeing for playing field space, and maybe more. Interestingly, the state lawmakers who represent portions of Cumberland Valley were split on the bill. Reps. Steve Bloom, R-Carlisle, voted no on the bill Tuesday. Rep. Greg Rothman, R-Camp Hill, abstained because of his real estate firm's representation of the current owner of the McCormick Farm. And Rep. Dawn Keefer, R-Dillsburg, was in favor. Bloom said via email that he voted against the bill because he was concerned about creating two tiers of land-owner. "I am concerned... that if this bill is enacted, more private unrestricted residential and commercial property will be taken by eminent domain, because of these new special legal privileges being given only to landowners who have entered into voluntary conservation easements," he said. How would you like Cadillac health care benefits for you and your spouse in retirement for as little as $75 a month? Become a state legislator. You can get them for a little less than $150 a month as a judge. As Pennsylvanians struggle to pay for health care in work and retirement, they are also paying for this little-known luxury perk for a state representative or judge who has been in office at least 10 years, or senator who has served at least 8 years. At a cost of about 1 percent of their final salaries, lawmakers and judges are eligible to receive lifetime health and prescription benefits for themselves, their spouses and their children up to age 26. They also will enjoy dental and vision insurance. Many also will get long-term care insurance as part of their post-employment benefit package. It's a retirement health benefits package that most private sector workers can only dream about. Most private sector workers today are stuck paying for the full cost of health insurance upon retirement, according to a 2017 Kaiser Family Foundation report. It found 25 percent of large private and public sector firms employing at least 200 people offer retiree health benefits to their workers -- down from 32 percent in 2007 and 40 percent in 1999. Among them, the share of public firms offering retiree benefits amounted to 67 percent while the percentage of private for-profit firms was 11 percent and private not-for-profit firms is 19 percent. So employer-provided retirement health benefits are increasingly becoming one of the perks reserved for elected officials and other public servants, with taxpayers footing the bill. Steve Herzenberg, executive director of the Keystone Research Center, a liberal-leaning policy center, said those retirement benefits are part of public sector employees' compensation, and make up for the lower salaries those employees earn compared with their counterparts in the private sector. Nonetheless, he added, "As we get richer as a state and older, retiree health care and prescription drug coverage should be improving for all workers," public and private. The cost to provide the health insurance and other non-pension benefits to retirees from the three governmental branches added up to $828.5 million in 2017, according to financial statements and actuarial reports available for the three governmental branches. Not all of that came out of taxpayers' pockets. Employees and retirees contribute 1 or 3 percent of salary, final year's salary or the average of three highest years of salary, depending on which governmental branch they work or retired from. Dave Fillman, executive director of AFSCME Council 13, the largest of the state employee unions, said providing health benefits to state government retirees is a nice benefit and one that he considers to be very important. "There's no doubt about the pressing costs when it comes to health care especially for state employees who've retired and haven't had a cost of living increase in 16 years," he said. "We're one of the few states that doesn't give out automatic COLAs, so that sort of helps. As with the two statewide public pension systems, the promised retirement health and other benefits offered to current and retired state government workers aren't fully funded. While not near as high as the debt the pension systems owe to current and former employees -- a figure approaching $72 billion according to the unofficial pension clock in the Capitol East Wing Rotunda -- the unfunded liability for non-pension retirement benefits owed to current and former state government employees is still staggering. Lebanon County Republican Rep. Frank Ryan, a certified public accountant, said his rough estimate of the cost of providing retirement benefits to retirees and current employees with vested retirement rights totals about $45 billion. But more about that later. What non-pension benefit do retirees get? The retirement package of non-pension benefits provided varies across state government in many ways - from how many years of service are required to be eligible for benefits to how much they must pay for them. House members, along with their spouses and children up to age 26, become eligible for retirement health benefits after 10 years of legislative service while House staffers, who are eligible for retirement health care, prescription, vision and dental insurance for themselves only, must have 25 years of commonwealth service with at least half of that in the House and/or Senate. The contribution rate that staffers and lawmakers pay is 1 percent of their final year's salary. Senators must complete eight years of service to be eligible for retiree health and long-term care benefits for themselves, their spouses and children up to age 26. For Senate staffers to be eligible for retiree health benefits, including medical, prescription, vision and dental insurances, they must have 20 years of commonwealth service with the last five being in the Senate and be at least 60 years old or have 30 years of commonwealth service with 20 of them in the Senate, including the last five years. The contribution rate that staffers and senators pay is 1 percent of their final year's salary. Judges and Supreme Court justices and judiciary staffers, their spouses and children up to age 26 can receive retirement medical, dental, vision, and prescription coverage. To qualify, judges and justices must have 10 years of commonwealth service and magisterial district judges must have 10 years of commonwealth service if retiring at age 60 or 18 years of service if retiring at a younger age. Staffers in the judicial branch are eligible for the same retiree benefits as judges, except they must have 15 years of service if retiring at age 60 or later or 25 years of commonwealth service if retiring at a younger age. The cost-sharing for this branch is 1 percent of their gross pension annuity. Judges were eligible to receive long-term care insurance as well but that benefit stopped being available to new judges that came on the bench after Jan. 1, 2012. The executive branch provides no distinction between the retiree benefits that the governor and lieutenant governor receive from those of other executive branch employees. All non-state police retirees, along with their spouse and dependents, are eligible for prescription and medical coverage once they have 25 years of commonwealth service, 20 years of service and reach the superannuation age where they can retire without a pension reduction, penalty, or after five years with a disability retirement. They can receive the retiree medical coverage for whatever contribution rate was in effect at the time of their retirement, which currently is 3 percent of their final average salary used to calculate pension benefits. Earlier retirees pay less. State police retirees can qualify for retirement health benefits after 25 years of services and reaching superannuation age or after 20 to 24 years with at least 10 years of state police service, or by a disability retirement. Those retirees, along with their spouse and dependents, receive dental coverage as well as prescription and medical coverage but unlike any other state employee, are not required to contribute anything toward the cost of that coverage beyond what the medical plan requires as far as co-pays and deductibles. Of all those various packages, one thing that strikes actuary and business consultant Rick Dreyfuss is the contribution-free package that is provided to retired state police troopers. "You'd be hard-pressed to find a Fortune 200 or 500 company providing retirement medical benefits as generous," he said. Providing long-term care insurance to lawmakers and judges and their spouses falls into that category as well. But that benefit is being phased out because insurance companies no longer offer group long-term care insurance. After the company that the House and Senate had been using to provide that insurance coverage went into receivership, House Chief Clerk Dave Reddecliff said a nationwide search to find a replacement turned up empty. So House members and senators taking office after March 1, 2017, and judges who took office after Jan. 1, 2012, no longer have long-term care insurance as part of their benefits package. Cost concerns While there is no move afoot to push state government to look more like the private sector in eliminating future retiree health benefits altogether, one representative is trying to get them to contribute more toward the cost of their health insurance. Rep. Frank Farry, R-Bucks County, has legislation that would start increasing lawmakers' contribution rate to an unspecified percentage of the cost of their health insurance plan's premium or 1 percent of their salary, which is greater. Then starting with the next legislative session, the contribution rate would go to 5 percent of the premium and increase by 3 percent in each of the next five two-year legislative sessions. He prefers that it be based on the premium rather than salary, because a lawmaker with coverage for a family should pay more than a single person, he said. The bill has sat idle in the House State Government Committee for more than a year. That's not surprising, though. Farry introduced the same bill in each of the past four sessions only to see all of them die due to inaction. Despite that, he is determined to keep this issue alive in hopes that his colleagues might join in wanting to pay more for their health benefits. "I think it's the responsible thing to do and it should be a reasonable percentage like the working folks we represent are paying," Farry said. Reps. Frank Ryan, Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York County, and Jared Solomon, D-Philadelphia, are the only lawmakers in the state House and Senate who currently don't accept the benefits offered to them. Neither does Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and his GOP gubernatorial opponent, former Sen. Scott Wagner of York County, didn't accept them either. Ryan said he doesn't take them for a couple reasons. One, he is over 65 years of age and has Medicare and pays for his supplemental insurance and Medicare Part B out of pocket. He admits, though, "if I were 45, I don't know if I could do the same thing." The other reason is he wants to send a message about the need to get the costs of operating state government down because he is of the belief the commonwealth is on the verge of bankruptcy. Ryan worries greatly about the state's ability to afford all the debt it has taken on and the cost of providing the all the retirement benefits promised to state government employees. "What my fear is if we go into a recession in the next two years, the financial solutions available to the commonwealth will be problematic," he said. "There comes a point in time when doing financial turnaround of an insolvent entity that we all have to get realistic about the impact that will have on our communities. This will make it that much more difficult for the state to remain solvent." He and Richard Dreyfuss, an actuary and business consultant, believe the commonwealth soon needs to start setting money aside to pay down the unfunded liabilities associated with retirement benefits provided to state government employees. There has been little effort made to begin to do so including in the 2018-19 proposed budget, according to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Pat Browne, R-Lehigh County. All branches operate their retiree benefit plans on a pay-as-you-go basis rather than pre-funding them so they are paid for by the time a state employee retires. That would result in a higher upfront cost, Dreyfuss said, but the state would not find itself staring at a massive debt owed to current employees and retirees for post-employment benefits. "That should be concerning to taxpayers now and in the future who are going to have to help underwrite this cost that is ever increasing," Dreyfuss said. *The story was updated to remove the reference to senators' getting life insurance as a retirement benefit. In a state that didn't experience a mass school shooting incident this year like the ones in Parkland, Fla., or Santa Fe, N.M., Pennsylvania lawmakers are counting their blessings and taking proactive steps to keep it that way. The proposed $32.7 billion agreed-to state budget that is teed up for a House vote on Wednesday and possible Senate vote on Friday invests heavily in school safety. It includes $60 million to fund public school and community safety measures and increasing funding for school safety grants by $1.5 million, to $10 million. These grants are available to public and parochial schools to use to hire school police or resources officers or buy safety equipment. "I'm certainly pleased," said Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, who championed the effort to create the school safety grants in 2013 in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting. "My colleagues are pleased that we're addressing this at this point," he added. "It's a program that will be utilized well with really local control. That's what we really want to design this program for - local school districts making decisions about what they'd like to do for safety upgrades to their buildings." Both Senate and House Republican leaders referred to this investment in school safety as not likely to be a one-time thing. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County, said Senate Republicans plan to hold a series of public hearings over the summer with plans on taking action on school safety measures in the fall after receiving some feedback. "This obviously is a beginning," Corman said, after Scarnati noted that Florida is investing $400 million into school safety this year. "Sixty million dollars is not a drop in the bucket but at the same time, it's a beginning and we're looking to accomplish more in the future." The plan for distributing the money remains a work in progress but House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana County, said he anticipates every school district will receive a share. "Our vision is something similar to how we do it with volunteer fire companies," he said. "They fill out an application, say how they are going to use the money from a list of choices and then, they get those dollars." Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa of Allegheny County said they wanted to give school districts flexibility to decide how best to use the money. From discussions with the other legislative leaders, he understands there will be a variety of ways the money can be used from installing metal detectors to hiring counselors as well as using it to address community safety, a priority for his caucus. "Combining the two I think allows for resources to make their way into communities and our schools to do much better in terms of addressing whether it be school violence or community violence issues," Costa said. A spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association said they are encouraged that state officials recognized the need to make students safe. "Targeted resources at multiple school safety strategies is needed and appreciated," said spokesman John Callahan. Deb Marteslo, a Pennsylvania state leader of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said with school violence on the increase, her organization is pleased lawmakers recognize it as a problem. "I think schools need money to fortify their buildings to make them safer," she said. "However, what has always been our way of looking at this is that you can harden up a target and a perpetrator who wants to cause damage will move to a softer target." That's why her group advocates keeping guns out of the hands of those who are a danger to others, Marteslo said. Funding for the $60 million grant program will come from all three governmental branches and be placed in a restricted fund specifically for school and community safety initiatives.The House and Senate contributing $15 million each from funds they received from a Supreme Court decision overturning Gov. Tom Corbett's veto of the 2014-15 fiscal code; $15 million from the executive branch, and redirecting $15 million of fees from the courts. Reed said it's up to future legislators to decide whether to make additional deposits in that fund. "We wanted to get the ball started. Obviously school safety is a huge issue across the nation right now," he said. Reed added, "I don't think it's an issue going away in the future." Yes, 21 species, although some haven't been seen for a while Pennsylvania is home to 21 species of snakes, according to the official list of snakes of Pennsylvania. Of course, some of those species havent been seen in the state for several decades, and others occur only in small parts of the state. Some play prominently in the outdoor lore of the state, like the overly feared northern copperhead. Others most of us have never heard of, like the mountain earthsnake and the eastern wormsnake. Heres a bit about each of Pennsylvanias 21 snake species. Compiled by Marcus Schneck/mschneck@pennlive.com Don't Edit Timber rattlesnake Venomous. The timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) is the most commonly encountered venomous snake in Pennsylvania. It is found near rock outcroppings, crevices and ledges in upland forests across most of Pennsylvania. The adult is 35-60 inches in length. It is a heavy-bodied species with two distinct color patterns: yellow phase (light) and black phase (dark). It is camouflaged with a yellow-brown to dark brown background and a pattern of dark brown to black, V-shaped bands and blotches. The tail is solid brown to black. The head is large, flat and triangular. Pupils are vertically elliptical. In Pennsylvania, the timber rattlesnake is a candidate species for possible listing as threatened. Don't Edit Northern copperhead Venomous. The northern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen), when disturbed or cornered, can be aggressive in its self-defense. It is generally found near rocks, ledges and rock slides in deciduous forests, fields and clearings across most of Pennsylvania. The adult is 24-36 inches in length. It is camouflaged with a background of light tan to gray-brown with wide, darker brown to red-brown bands that are broader along the sides and narrower across the back. The head is large, flat and triangular. Pupils are vertically elliptical. Juveniles have a bright green to yellow tail In Pennsylvania, the copperhead is a species of special concern, possibly en route to being listed as threatened. Don't Edit Eastern massasauga rattlesnake Venomous. The eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) is a little-known rattlesnake with limited distribution in Pennsylvania (Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Lawrence, Mercer and Venango counties) and wider distribution in Ohio and farther west. It inhabits wetlands, wet meadows and prairies. The adult is 18-40 inches in length. It is a thick-bodied, stocky species that, unlike most rattlesnakes, has nine enlarged scales on the top of its head. It is brownish gray with rounded, darker blotches. It is federally listed as threatened and, in Pennsylvania, as endangered. Don't Edit Eastern garter snake The eastern garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) is one of the most common snakes across all of Pennsylvania. It is found in nearly all habitats, from forests and talus slopes to backyards everywhere, but usually near water. The adult is 20-28 inches in length. Green to dark brown with stripes and spots between them on the upper body. The belly is white or cream with two rows of black and/or red spots. Don't Edit Don't Edit Shorthead garter snake The shorthead garter snake (Thamnophis brachystoma) is much less widespread than its cousin, the eastern gartersnake. It is confined to the northwestern quarter of Pennsylvania, in habitat ranging from old fields to dense forests, but generally near water. The adult is 18-26 inches in length. The shorthead garter snake lacks the spots between the stipes of the eastern gartersnake. It is a species of special concern in Pennsylvania. Don't Edit Northern ring-necked snake The northern ring-necked snake (Diadophis punctatus edwardsii) is a small, thin snake found in hardwood forests, old fields and grassy areas throughout Pennsylvania. The adult is 12-15 inches in length. The upper body is dark gray to olive brown. The belly is bright orange or yellow. The snake gets its name from an orange ring around its neck. Don't Edit Eastern milksnake The eastern milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum Triangulum) occupies a wide range of habits, including backyards, across Pennsylvania. It is a common and abundant species, often mistakenly identified as a copperhead, from which it can be distinguished by the V-, U- or Y-shaped blotch on the back of its head. The adult is 24-52 inches in length. The background of the upper body range from gray to brown to red, with large, squarish blotches or bands of light to reddish brown, bordered by a thin, black line. The belly is checkered in black and white. Don't Edit Eastern hog-nosed snake The eastern hog-nosed snake (Heterodon platirhinos) is known for its penchant, when threatened, to suck in air and spread the skin around its head and neck (like a cobra) or to play dead, rolling onto its back and opening its mouth. It lives in fields and open forests across the eastern two-thirds of Pennsylvania. The adult is 20-33 inches in length. It is a thick-bodied species with a pointed, upturned nose scale that gives it the name of hognose. The upper body is gray to dark brown with brown blotches. The belly is white to tan. It is a species of special concern in Pennsylvania. Don't Edit Northern watersnake The northern watersnake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon) is one of the most aggressive snakes in Pennsylvania. It is abundant along and in streams, rivers, ponds and lakes across Pennsylvania. The adult is 24-55 inches in length. It is a medium-sized, heavy-bodied species with strongly keeled scales. The upper body is tan to gray with brown to reddish brown saddles and blotches. The belly is cream to yellowish brown to red patterned boldly with reddish brown to brown crescent-shaped blotches. Don't Edit Don't Edit Northern black racer The northern black racer (Coluber constrictor constrictor) is a fast-moving snake that will readily climb shrubs and trees. It also will strike and bite when threatened. A common and abundant species, it inhabits meadows, farmlands and open wooded areas across most of Pennsylvania. The adult is 36 60 inches in length. It is a slender species with large, smooth scales. The upper body is shiny black to bluish black, and the belly is dark gray to black, but with a white chin. Don't Edit Eastern rat snake The eastern rat snake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) is the largest species of snake in Pennsylvania. Also known as the black rat snake, it is common and abundant in meadows, ag areas and open wooded areas across Pennsylvania. The adult is 40-100 inches in length. The upper body is black to dull brown with a trace of black blotches. The belly is white to yellowish white with a dark checkerboard pattern. The chin, throat and scales around the mouth are white. Don't Edit Northern rough greensnake The northern rough greensnake (Opheodrys aestivus) is rarely found on the ground. It tends to stay mostly in shrubs or trees in wetlands and wet meadows, and along streams, rivers and lakes. It has been documented in Chester, Lancaster and York counties. The adult is 22-32 inches in length. Its a long, slender species with large eyes. The upper body is light green. The belly is cream to yellowish green. It is listed as endangered in Pennsylvania. Don't Edit Smooth greensnake The smooth greensnake (Opheodrys vernalis) is generally found in grassy and weedy habitats across most of Pennsylvania, except for the southeastern corner of the state. The adult is 14-20 inches in length. It is a long, thin species with a long, tapered tail and smooth scales. The upper body is bright green. The belly is white to yellowish white. It is a species of special concern in Pennsylvania. Don't Edit Queensnake The queensnake (Regina septemvittata) has a more specific prey base mostly crayfish than most snake species. It is found along or in streams, rivers, pond and small lakes with healthy populations of crayfish in southern and western Pennsylvania. The adult is 14-23 inches in length. The upper body is tan to greenish or dark brown with a yellow stripe on the lower side. The belly is yellow with four brown stripes. It is a species of special concern in Pennsylvania. Don't Edit Don't Edit Northern brown snake The northern brown snake (Storeria dekayi dekayi) is found across Pennsylvania in habitats ranging from forests to grasslands to vacant lots. It is an abundant species. The adult is 9-13 inches in length. The upper body is gray to brown with a lighter light bordered by black dots along its back. The belly is pale brown to pink bordered by black dots on the edges. Don't Edit Northern red-bellied snake Closely related to the northern brown snake, the northern red-bellied snake (Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata) is found in forests and fields, and on the edges of wetland areas and streams. It is abundant across Pennsylvania, although it is rarely spotted because it spends most of its life underground. The adult is 8-16 inches in length. The upper body is gray, yellow, tan or brown with a broad stripe down the center or 4-5 faint stripes. The belly is usually bright red, but also may be yellow or orange Don't Edit Eastern wormsnake The eastern wormsnake (Carphophis amoenus) is a short, stocky snake with a small, blunt head indistinct from the body. As its name implies, the wormsnake resembles an earthworm. It is found mostly in Central Pennsylvania, where it inhabits forests and fields near streams and wetlands. The adult is 4-9 inches in length. It is gray to brown and patternless on its back, over a pink to light brown or gray belly. It is a species of special concern in Pennsylvania. Don't Edit Kirtland's snake The Kirtlands snake (Clonophis kirtlandii) has not been documented for more than 60 years in Pennsylvania, where it last inhabited wetlands and wet meadows in Allegheny, Beaver and Butler counties. It is semi-aquatic, although it spends most of its life underground. The adult is 14-25 inches in length. The upper body of the snake is reddish-brown background with four rows of dark brown to black alternating blotches. The belly is bright red to orange. The Kirtland's is a fossorial species and spend most of their lives underground. It is listed as an endangered species in Pennsylvania. Don't Edit F&{'jG The ribbon snake (Thamnophis sauritus) is found in a wide range of wet habitats across most of Pennsylvania, although it is far from a common species. The adult is 20- 34 inches in length. The snake has three, yellow stripes along its back and two strips on its side, all across a black to reddish brown background. The belly is white to yellow. It is a species of special concern in Pennsylvania. Don't Edit Don't Edit Mountain earthsnake The mountain earthsnake (Virginia pulchra) occurs in northwestern Pennsylvania. It is primarily a species of the forest, where it lives mostly underground. The adult is 7-13 inches in length. Its upper body is gray to reddish brown with small black dots. Its belly is white or yellow, often with a pink border. It is a species of special concern in Pennsylvania. Don't Edit Eastern smooth earthsnake The eastern smooth earthsnake (Virginia valeriae valeriae) occurs in forests and fields bordering forests in southeastern Pennsylvania, although it has not been documented in the state for several years.. It lives most of its life underground. The adult is 7-13 inches in length. The snakes upper body is dark gray to dark brown, sometimes with four rows of black spots. The belly and chin are white. It is a species of special concern in Pennsylvania. Don't Edit More information Here's some additional information about snakes in Pennsylvania: How not to die of snakebite in Pennsylvania. Giant snakes in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania man dies after being bitten by rattlesnake. Health official: 'It is sobering even one child has been directly impacted by COVID-19' HA NOI Viet Nams Debt and Asset Trading Corporation (DATC) has targeted to settle VN3 trillion (US$131.6 million) worth of debts and assets in 2018, the highest since 2015. The Ministry of Finances debt trader expects to earn a four-year high revenue of VN2.5 trillion this year. However, its after-tax profit is projected at a modest VN350 billion, down by 12 per cent against 2017. In 2018, DATC will restructure the debts of some major State-owned enterprises, including Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC), Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), Vietnam Northern Food Corporation and some other corporations. According to DATC, an inadequate legal framework for debt trading activity has restricted the companys efforts in supporting more companies in restructuring their debt purchase. Meanwhile, entanglement in divestiture by selling interest in whole lots, accompanied with debt (its specific characteristic), has not been resolved, negatively affecting the divestment progress. By the end of 2017, DATC managed debts worth nearly VN20.6 trillion, accounting for 78 per cent of the total assets. Its charter capital was VN6 trillion. Last year, it reported a total revenue of VN2.44 trillion and a net profit of nearly VN317 billion. Viet Nam has two State debt trading companies, DATC and the Viet Nam Asset Management Company (VAMC). While VAMC is responsible for handling bad debts of commercial banks and financial institutions, DATC has focused on settlements of bad debt owned by State-owned enterprises in the pre- and post-equitisation processes. VNS Tennessee Enduro // Windrock Bike Park June 17, 2018 Rider's meeting at the crack of 9 AM. Neko giving the rundown of what's to come. Local ripper, Chris Grice, ready to throw down Adam Robbins Former US National DH Champ, Gerrit Beytagh, came out of retirement to get in the mix at The Rock Gus Michaels Despite being in the woods, the tracks were high speed. Ride The Rock The transfer to Stages 2 & 3 had an aid station to keep riders going in the 95 degree heat just before the final climb to the top. Richie Rude railing the berms just before the finish on Stage 4. Cory Rimmer Richie Rude hanging it out on the hip of Stage 4 The fifth and final stage of the day got a shuttle back to the very top of the mountain to ride something new. By this point, there was no monkeying around. The Downhill Southeast's very own, Mickey Denoncourt, about to drop into Stage 5. Industry Nine was a sponsor of the event. Wheel builder, Hiram Stelzig, couldn't pass up the opportunity to race. Knoxville local and Wind Rock original, Doug Fergusson. 0% Loaded prev 1/6 next Admiring the hard work he put in this spring, Sean Leader looks down the steepest section of the day that was purpose built and kept under wraps just for this event. Richie Rollin Coal Full drift into the corner after the chute. Susan moments before getting taken out by the loose off-chamber roots All smiles, even when things get sideways. And then once you're through the off chamber roots... You roll into this... After the riders finished there were much needed popcicles at the finish area. Proud parents getting the U21 podium shots. They probably got to see just how badass their kids are. Doug Fergusson taking the Master's win on his home turf. Pro Women's podium. Pro Men's Podium In the mountains just West of Knoxville, Tennessee, Windrock Bike Park hosted the Tennessee Enduro, which was the 3rd EWS qualifier event of the year in the United States, and delivered with a five stage event descending over 6k vertical feet. The park is approaching its second anniversary and has already made a name for itself as one of the best places in the country for year-round lift (shuttle) access riding. Just this year alone, the park has attracted some of the top names, in both downhill and enduro, like Danny Hart, Myriam Nicole, Charlie Harrison, Sam Hill, and the entire Santa Cruz Syndicate & CRC/Nuke Proof teams. Park owners Sean Leader & Neko Mulally have continued to put their hands on everything in the park to make it the best possible place for both downhill and enduro alike - at the end of the day, they just wanna ride cool stuff too. The tracks chosen and built for this weekend were anything but short of a taste of what an EWS round would be like.The first stage shuttled riders to the top and sent them down the infamous Windmill, descending over 2,000 feet for breakfast.Cornering ability was a big factor this weekend.The bottom part of Stage 4 fed into the flowy, fast, fun stuff. Easy access made this section the most popular spectating spot of the day.Stage five dropped elevation very quickly. To give you some perspective...For full results visit The Downhill Southeast's page Another successful event at Windrock Bike Park. Huge thanks to everyone who was involved, especially Sean Leader & Neko Mulally for not only putting on this event but getting Windrock to where it is. Written by Karen Hastings Updated Jan 17, 2021 We may earn a commission from affiliate links ( ) Deep in equatorial South America, French Guiana (also known as "Guyane") is a department of France bordering Brazil, Suriname, and the Atlantic. It's a land where old abuts new in striking incongruity. Dense rainforests shelter centuries-old indigenous villages, while rockets zoom overhead, launched from the country's lucrative Space Centre. The capital, Cayenne, is a melting pot of French, Asian, African, and Brazilian cultures, and if you visit during Carnival, between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, you can join in the celebrations with parades every weekend. Eco-tourism prevails in the country's largely unspoiled wilderness, which is home to an astounding diversity of wildlife. Along the coast, nature lovers can explore bird-rich marshes, where caimans lurk, and Atlantic beaches, where turtles nest in droves. Inland, vast savanna stretches to lushly cloaked mountains, and rivers slice through steamy jungle. Traveling through this pricey French outpost can be challenging (especially for those who don't speak French), as the country lacks a well-developed tourist infrastructure. Less experienced travelers will benefit from using a tour company. Intrepid travelers will welcome the adventure. Learn about the best places to visit in this country of contrasts with our list of the top attractions in French Guiana. Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues. Machu Picchu | Photo Copyright: Lana Law Perched high upon a ridge, 300 meters above the Urubamba River, the majestic Inca City of Machu Picchu is one of the most dramatic settings of a ruined city anywhere in the world. Almost as impressive as the ruins themselves is the spectacular backdrop of steep, lush, and often cloud-shrouded mountains. Standing near the caretaker's hut, looking out over Machu Picchu, the jungle-covered mountains, and the river far below, you can imagine why the Incas chose this place to build their city. Hiram Bingham came across Machu Picchu in 1911 and believed until his death that it was the "Lost City of the Incas," first documented by Spanish soldiers in the 1500s. However, historians believe the real lost city of the Incas was at Espiritu Pampa, a ruin Bingham knew of but discounted as being insignificant. The journey is also part of the experience of visiting Machu Picchu, whether it's by hiking the Inca Trail or seeing the route by train. In either case, it's impossible not to be inspired by the scenery. Trains leave from Cusco, Ollantaytambo, or Urubamba to Aguas Calientes. From Aguas Calientes, the town below Machu Picchu, a bus takes you up to Machu Picchu, about a 20-minute drive along a harrowing switchback road. It is possible to walk up this road to the site, but this is a long, uphill climb and not recommended. As of January 2020, new admission rules are in place for Machu Pichu. You must tour with a guide, you must follow a set tour route, and you must enter the park at a designated time. The high season is June to August, but the two months on either side of this also see decent weather and can be a good time to visit with fewer crowds. Accommodation: Where to Stay in Machu Picchu Written by Brad Lane Jun 8, 2020 We may earn a commission from affiliate links ( ) Set in the adventure-rich state of Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park sits high on the horizon and attracts visitors from around the world. Spread throughout the different vantage points of this iconic alpine landscape, scenic campgrounds can be found waiting for you to spend the night. Split between concessionaire campgrounds within park boundaries, US Forest Service campgrounds in the surrounding national forests, and backcountry camping zones for backpacking, the campgrounds near Grand Teton National Park provide easy access to the impressive peaks. Whether you pitch a tent in the Jenny Lake campground, or plug into a spot at the Gros Ventre Campground, all campgrounds near Grand Teton National Park are in bear country, and campers need to take proper precautions. Pick the best place to stay with our list of the top campgrounds in Grand Teton National Park. See also: Where to Stay near Grand Teton National Park Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues. 588 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Ari Melber preemptively called out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells BS on immigration before showing the Kentucky Senators claims. Video: Melber said before playing a clip of Mitch McConnell claiming that Senate Republicans want to keep families together, Were learning that it is now up to 13 members of the Senate Republican caucus formally asking attorney general Jeff sessions to stop it, to stop separating these families at the border until at least they can figure out an alternative. Today Mitch Mcconnell at least claims on the record hes against separating families for any future legislation. Remember, before I show you this, Republicans control the house and senate right now. They could pass a bill tonight actually doing what Mitch Mcconnell is talking about, actually stopping this if they wanted. House and Senate Republicans could break with Trump if they wanted McConnell was full of it. All it would take is 17 Senate Republicans supporting the Feinstein bill to provide a veto-proof majority. If Paul Ryan would allow a vote in the House, and Republicans would grow a spine in the Senate, this policy could be brought to an end with legislation that could survive a Trump veto. If Senate Republicans were to grow a backbone and defy Trump, it is likely that the White House would change the policy before they could suffer such a humiliating defeat. If Republicans really want to keep families together at the border, they need to do something about it. Empty words with no action arent going to cut it, and Ari Melber was right to preemptively call out Mitch McConnells BS because what he was trying to sell as blaming the Democrats is actually nothing more than a Republican majority that is afraid to stand up to an out of control president. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. By Jose Luis Gonzalez and Anthony Esposito CIUDAD JUAREZ/TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) Epigmenio Centeno had hoped to cross the Mexican border into the United States in the coming months, but he and his wife have shelved their plans for fear of being separated from their two sons under U.S. President Donald Trumps zero tolerance immigration policy. The familys quandary mirrors life-changing decisions being made all the way from Central America to the Mexico-U.S. border, as migrant families en route to the United States take pause to consider whether losing sight of their children is worse than the violence back home. A postal courier from El Salvador, Centeno, 40, began his journey north with his family more than a year ago, when he found himself targeted in a brutal territorial battle between Central Americas two most violent gangs, MS-13 and Calle 18. The family spent months seeking Mexican refugee status, a step taken by more and more Central Americans heading north, to allow them to avoid extortion or deportation while they gather resources to make the next move into the United States. The four then slowly made their way up to Ciudad Juarez, where they eventually planned to cross into the United States, hand themselves into U.S border patrol and ask for asylum. But after seeing news reports of wailing children in cages, Centeno said he now planned to stay longer in Mexico, taking a low-paying job in the kitchen of a seafood restaurant rather than risk losing his children indefinitely. You leave with the intention of going to the United States, where you can improve your life and that of your sons, he said, flanked by his two boys, Axel, 9, and Steven, 3. But as things stand today, its difficult, because if you get caught, they take your kids away. I think Im going to stay here, in Mexico, and establish myself. CRUEL AND INHUMANE A rebound in the number of Central American migrants most fleeing incessant gang violence in their impoverished homelands being detained on the southern border prompted the Trump administration to implement the zero tolerance policy. That policy, announced in April, directed that all immigrants apprehended while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally should be criminally prosecuted. Parents referred by border agents for prosecution are held in federal jails, while their children are moved into border shelter facilities under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a Department of Health and Human Services agency. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday that 2,342 children had been separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border between May 5 and June 9. The policy has sparked condemnation from Democrats, some of Trumps fellow Republicans, U.N. officials, medical professionals and rights activists. If more migrants like Centeno choose to stay in Mexico, it could present a new immigration challenge for a country already struggling with a dizzying 11-fold rise in asylum applications from 2013 to 2017. I cant risk that they take my girls away from me, said Reina Esmeralda, who left El Salvador with her two daughters, and was in the southern Mexican town of Ixtepec, not far from the Guatemalan border. Id rather find work here than risk going further and have them taken from me. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray on Tuesday called the separations cruel and inhumane and urged the U.S. government to reconsider the practice. He also said Mexico would be working closely with the Central American governments to address the situation. The indirect effect of this Trump policy, which Im sure they were aware of, and dont even care, is handing the problem to Mexico, said Gustavo Mohar, a former Mexican immigration official. CANT STAY BACK THERE But others within sight of their goal after grueling journeys from Central America said they were unwilling to give up and return to the horrors they had left behind. In the border town of Tijuana, a dozen migrant families interviewed by Reuters said they would try their luck, despite the risks. Josue Mendez and his girlfriend, Carmen Palma, said they left San Salvador with their three children after Palma was pressured by a gang member into becoming his sexual partner. Mendez, who has already been deported from the United States, said he was advised by other migrants in the Mexican city of Hermosillo that he should apply for asylum at the border gate to minimize chances his family would be split under the new policy. Our plan was to cross to the other side and wait for border patrol, he said, in a migrant shelter in Tijuana, as the family prepared to apply. They explained to us that it doesnt work like that anymore, and that it was better to sign up and wait here. So thats what weve done. Vanessa Bonilla also prepared to apply for U.S. asylum, having traveled with her three young children from Honduras. Despite the risks, she was convinced it was better than returning to the gangs she said killed the father of her children and were now threatening her. I cant stay back there, she said. I cant stay in Honduras. (Reporting by Jose Luis Gonzalez and Anthony Esposito; Additional reporting by Jose Cortes in Ixtepec, Mexico, and Gabriel Stargardter in Mexico City; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Peter Cooney) 733 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard According to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Bible justifies ripping migrant children from their parents arms. Last week Sessions cited apostle Pauls clear and wise command when defending the administrations new practice. Sessions also said that the Trump administration policy of separating families is not unusual or unjustified. Sessions is a lifelong practicing Methodist, but he has upset and alienated many other members of the Methodist church who are now striking back at him over his anti-immigrant policies and his cruel enforcement of immigration laws. On Tuesday a group of Methodists took steps whereby they seek to formally charge the Attorney General with child abuse. More than 600 United Methodist clergy and church members have signed a letter saying they want to bring formal church charges against Sessions for his role in the Justice Departments zero tolerance immigration policy and the cruel practice of separating children from their parents. Sessions is a member of the Ashland Place United Methodist Church in Mobile, Alabama. The church members and clergy are charging him with child abuse, immorality, racial discrimination and dissemination of doctrines contrary to the established standards of doctrines of the United Methodist Church. While other individuals and areas of the federal government are implicated in each of these examples, Mr. Sessionsas a long-term United Methodist in a tremendously powerful, public positionis particularly accountable to us, his church, the letter read. As his denomination, we have an ethical obligation to speak boldly when one of our members is engaged in causing significant harm in matters contrary to the Discipline on the global stage. The Reverend David Wright organized the effort to charge Sessions, and he said that these types of charges are very, very rare. A week ago, I couldnt have imagined doing this, Wright said. The letter, signed by 639 United Methodist clergy and laity members, said the child abuse charge was for separating thousands of young children from their parents and holding thousands of children in mass incarceration facilities. The letter also referred to Sessionss use of a Bible verse from Romans 13 last week to justify his cruel policy of separating families, saying it was in stark contrast to supporting freedom of conscience and resistance to unjust laws. The United Methodist Church called the Trump administration policy antithetical to the teachings of Christ. Wright also added that the goal of the letter asking for charges is simply to start a dialogue with him. Were hoping for a change in Mr. Sessionss heart, Wright said. That he will not only step back and stop the things hes doing with his social and political power that are causing such significant harm but that he would then use his power to bring repair, bring healing and reunite families. Well, we hope that Mr. Sessions will have a change of heart also, but were not holding our breath while we wait for this to happen. 317 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard While Republican senators work on legislation that would keep migrant families together while they are undergoing prosecution for illegal immigration, Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer of New York said that it was up to President Trump to fix the problem. There are so many obstacles to legislation and when the president can do it with his own pen, it makes no sense, Schumer told reporters. Legislation is not the way to go here when its so easy for the president to sign it. Schumer posted a tweet expressing his views on the matter: You and not the law are responsible for this family separation policy, @realDonaldTrump. GOP Senators and members of your own administration have confirmed this. You could reverse this terrible practice in a few minutes- but you refuse to lift a finger. https://t.co/goVSkJoGVk Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 20, 2018 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had previously announced that he wants to pass a new bill that would keep immigrant families together after they have been detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. I support, and all of the senators of the Republican conference support, a plan that keeps families together, McConnell told reporters on Tuesday. But Schumer quickly dismissed the prospect of a legislative proposal from Republicans to keep immigrant families together. He said that President Trump could fix the problem very easily with a flick of his pen. Through his comments, Schumer made clear that he and other Democrats intend to fully keep the focus on the president and his policies. The president can change it with his pen, Schumer said. Republicans will try to add additional poison-pill provisions to any immigration bill that comes to the Senate floor. Unacceptable additions have bogged down every piece of legislation weve done, he added. Without legislation to stop whats going on with families at the border, there will be no end to the continual stream of photos and videos and even audio recordings of the trauma that occurs every time a child is forcefully taken from his or her parents. While Trump is refusing to back down from his zero tolerance policy, Schumers opposition means there wont be a quick legislative fix. Its not clear that Republicans are serious about passing legislation anyway. Many Democrats in Congress are happy to continue keeping pressure on Trump instead of assuming responsibility for the humanitarian crisis themselves. But some observers believe that Schumer and other Democrats will change their attitudes about attempting to pass legislation if the crisis continues for a long period of time. When asked about this Schumer responded by saying, Lets hope we never get to that. Lets hope the president does the right thing and solves the problem, which he can do. Thats the simple, easiest and most likely way this will happen. Trump and his administration employees have claimed that Congress is responsible for the crisis and must pass legislation in order to stop Trumps policies. For example, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen incorrectly told reporters Congress alone can fix it. And McConnell is now calling for new legislation to solve the crisis also. We need to fix the problem and it requires a legislative solution, he said. The American people must be confused by these kinds of statements. Since Republicans control the presidency and both houses of Congress, it is unclear why they are blaming Democrats for the border crisis. If Mitch McConnell wants a legislative fix, as Senate Majority Leader, he has the power to get it done. Whats really going on is that the Republicans are trying to shift the blame for a problem that they created. They are also tying to shift responsibility to Democrats when it is up to them to fix the problem. The majority of the American people will see right through this sham, however, and hold Republicans accountable in Novembers midterm elections. Its been an entire decade since Analog Africa released African Scream Contest, arguably one of the labels most mind-blowing compilations and certainly one of its most raucous, traveling to the tiny nation of Benin for some truly gigantic sounds. On new release African Scream Contest 2, label founder Samy Ben Redjeb takes us right back to Benin for more Vodoun-inspired African funk. The trip isnt quite as groundbreaking the second time around, but the music is still intense, turning mainstream world music preconceptions of Afrofunk on their heads. The album opens perfectly, with Les Sympathics de Porto Novo ripping into a psychedelic guitar opening that would give Hendrix chills before a blast of horns paves the way for peak disco dance beats and ecstatic shouts. The transcendently raw A Min We Vo Nou We lasts six minutes before coming to a sharp stop. If the titular scream contest were an actual event, this track would win it, hands down, but there isnt much competition on the screaming front. Instead, the rest of African Scream Contest 2 is populated by cool, lower-key grooves that zigzag from one tone to another. The Melody Aces Asaw Fofor brings with it an old-school vibe, with simple guitar riffs and prominent saxophone notes behind Ignace de Souzas nightclub crooning. Stanislas Tohons Dja Dja Dja goes in a very different direction, with a quick, tropical melody and colorful horn solos that are all about getting the crowd and the band moving. Elias Akidiri and Sunny Blacks Band take the album back to hypnotic with midtempo Lenfance, where we do get a couple of those promised screams at unpredictable moments. Picoby Band DAbomeys Me Adomina, too, adds in some spirited howls and impassioned wolf whistles between a slinky bassline and come-hither guitar lines that wind outside the imagined box. With Antoine Dougbes Nounignon Ma Klon Midji comes funkier percussion; the tracks call-and-response vocals and straightforward beats make it one of the more accessible pop tracks on the album, for better or for worse. It leads into Beninois superstar group Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonous Moulon Devia, a wholly electrified funk track glittering with synths and organs. There are no screams to be heard here, but the Orchestres undeniable knack for rich and catchy crowd-pleasers still turns it into an album highlight. There are a couple of standout tracks on the second half of the album. Super Borgou de Parakous Baba LOke BaWagbe is assuredly one of them, with heavy opening sounds and joyful yells punctuating lines sung by the whole group. The band is one Analog Africa has dedicated a full album to before; the song featured here is one that shows why. Super Borgous energy is infectious, and its ability to swing between whimsical and weighty makes for a dynamic experience. Lokonon Andre et Les Volcans weave one of the albums most exciting polyrhythmic tapestries on Glenon Ho Akue, a sometimes dissonant and always fascinating number. Analog Africa releases never really go wrong; there isnt a truly boring track on African Scream Contest 2. There are, though, some that dont quite measure up to the rest, and this inconsistency is what makes the sequel unable to measure up to its predecessor fully. Perhaps thats unfair; African Scream Contest set a high bar as one of the labels freshest collections at the time and still holds up today. This new installment is solid, fun, and deserving of a listen on its own merits. Writer Nguyen Xuan Thuy has become popular recently with his fiction Sat Thu Online (Online Killer), which has since been adapted into a television series of the same name. The series was aired on Viet Nam National Televisions channel 3 earlier this year. The book won first prize at a writing contest launched by the Viet Nam Writers Association and the Ministry of Public Security in 2010. Some 20 years ago Thuy was a soldier on the Truong Sa (Spartly) Islands, although he showed writing ability when he was a high school student in the northern province of Phu Tho . He is currently a sub-editor at the Van Nghe Quan oi (Military Literature and Arts) magazine, and deputy-head of the Young Writers Department at the Viet Nam Writers Association. Hoang Lan Anh interviews Thuy before the 6th Literature Age 20 writing contest for young authors. The contests winners will be announced in September. You are a member of the Viet Nam Writers Association and take charge of young writers. How do the young writers perform? The young writers now are more independent in thinking and creativity. They are more intelligent and make informed choices to develop their writing ability. They are also more up to date with international literature than previous generations. The winners of awards like Literature Age 20; the Military Literature and Arts Short Story Award; the Literature and Arts Newspaper Short Story Award, and many others are well deserved. I believe these winners are deeply attached to literature and will be more creative in the future. Do the young writers make popular works like the generations before them? Young people are always promising to make changes and develop literature. I was very interested in the creativity of the young writers of my time. I think that young writers are always welcomed by readers. The young writers at present seem to be not as enthusiastic as the older generations, however. Do you agree that a successful writer not only writes books for his readers, but also finds ways to reach new audiences? In the beginning a writer usually writes about what he has in his mind. After that he needs to write for his readers, and then he will write something to attract and win new readers hearts. Many young writers are active in reaching new readers. They use a variety of methods to do this. Firstly, they produce works which bear the stamp of their nature. After that they begin working in public relations; advertising and making good use of the internet to connect with readers. Young writers like Minh Nhat, Hong Sakura, and Ang Gao have a great number of readers. They have hundreds of fans at their book signing events. But to become a literature phenomenon is difficult even for established writers, not just young ones. I highly appreciated young writers such as Huynh Trong Khang and ao Quoc Minh, whose creativity is recognised and awarded by the Ha Noi Writers Association. It seems that many works by young writers lack unusual elements to attract readers. What do you think? Works by Ha Thuy Nguyen and o Nhat Phi, the winners of the 5th Literature Age 20 contest, have many unusual elements, but it is not popular. I dont think that unusual elements are the only criteria to assess the works of the young writers. Drifting from the norm is important depending on the style of the writer. There needs to be a distinction between unusual writing styles and unusual content. It is easy to write unusual things in mystery fiction, detective fiction, horror or adventure books. I want to say that unusual styles in literature mean that the writing is unique and distinctive, to impress not only the readers but the profession as well. The young writers have not done this. Do the young writers prefer to write short stories or longer fiction works? Many young writers are popular with their fiction works. For example, writer Nguyen Binh wrote the long story Cuoc Chien Voi Hanh Tinh Phantom (A Fight with Phantom Planet) in five volumes. Writing short stories or longer fiction is a personal choice. -- VNS Hailing from San Francisco, Fine Points will release their sophomore LP later this summer. Produced by Grammy-winning Jason Carmer (Third Eye Blind, Billy Idol, Merle Haggard) and titled Take Shape the record features The Fang for which the band recently completed a video. Shot entirely on VHS and with a budget that wouldnt get most bands breakfast at a fast food joint, the clip is an ode to filmmaking in its most naively ambitious form. Inspired by memories of crafting homemade Halloween costumes and the kitsch/excitement/shameless product placement of Saturday morning cartoons, the members of Fine Points traveled back in time to their wild-eyed youth. Like the best horror (or horror) clips, the campiness of the quality, the way that ambition exceeds execution, the childlike wonder of the storyline and the reminder of all that lurks beneath the calm of suburban life, The Fang is as memorable for what it doesnt do as what it does. The song itself, the band members note, is an ode to a lost friend and serves as an epitaph of magnified courage in the face of oppression or difficult odds. Christopher Bonanos impeccably researched biography of Weegee is also a history of newspaper photography and of the growth of New York City through the middle years of the 20th century. Weegee was already making photographs and trying to figure out how to make photography his career when the first tabloid, the New York Daily News, began in 1919 with the intent of making its mark by visually representing the news. Bonanos offers a lively history of the early years of news photography, rich with anecdotes that create Weegees persona. Weegee himself relates the story of leaving a World Series game and bribing the subway conductor to let him use the motormans booth as a darkroom. While other photographers boarded the subway with negatives, Weegee already had developed photos when the subway reached his stop. Bonanos makes clear early on, however, that Weegee is not always a reliable narrator: his bravado and exaggeration are key to the identity of the impoverished Jewish immigrant, Arthur Fellig, who grew up to call himself Weegee the Famous. Much of Weegees success is tied to his unusual workday, in which insomnia had its benefits. In the late 30s, Weegee was often able to have an exclusive or make the first photographs at a crime scene or other newsworthy event because he usually spent the night roaming New York City with an ear to the ground. He developed a familiar relationship with many members of organized crime syndicates, as they frequently found themselves at the same scenes. Another means of access for Weegee was his casual and friendly relationship with the police. Bonanos explains that Weegee, along with crime reporters, would hang around the police station, waiting for news to break. He befriended the officers and would bring them coffee or doughnuts, sometimes even traveling to a crime scene whether a murder, an armed robbery, or a car crash along with the police. Later, when he bought his first new car, he became the first civilian photographer to have a permit for a police radio. Perhaps those old acquaintances had a bigger payoff for Weegee. Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) After years of making such graphic and vivid photographs, Weegee began to shoot two sets of photos at a crime scene: the manicured and the visceral, since different news outlets had different needs. In changing his approach, Weegee began to realize that the photograph that communicated the most emotionally often was not the scene itself but its impact on others. For example, in 1937 Weegee photographed Frank Tapedino, who had been struck by a passing car, then snapped his sobbing daughter who had witnessed her fathers injury from their apartment window above the street. The photos ran side by side, giving Weegee a powerful statement that ran in newspapers across the country. Bonanos traces Weegees development as a photographer as he thinks more about the composition of his images and their emotional impact. Running alongside this artistic growth is the transformation of an introverted, shy immigrant into a bold self-promoter who answered the phone as the fabulous Weegee and called himself Weegee the Famous. His efforts included a good bit of grandstanding and myth-making as well. One of the more difficult issues in that myth-making is the question of capturing reality versus creating it. Weegee admits posing a photo of a homeless man admiring the goods in a shop window at the Ritz-Carlton the photo was included in his first exhibition, at the Photo League in 1941. Whether a news photograph is primarily intended to be documentary or artistic continues to be an engaged debate. Bonanos asks the reader to consider the line between truth and art, and whether that line actually exists. When a slice of life photo turns out to be pre-arranged, the fervor is not about the quality of the image but about whether audiences feel angry for having been duped. One of Weegees best-known photographs, The Critic, also turns out to be staged: socialites Mrs. George Washington Kavanaugh and Elizabeth Wharton Drexel, having emerged from their limousine, are striding in to opening night at the Metropolitan Opera, only to be confronted by a drunken, shabbily dressed woman who leers at them. Weegees assistant and fellow photographer, Louis Liotta, admitted later that they found the woman at Weegees familiar hangout, Sammys Bowery Follies, where they provided her with a good bit of wine and brought her with them to shoot at the Met. Bonanos effectively argues that the staged photographs might be forgivable because they are reworkings of situations that Weegee had experienced and photographed in the past. If the truth of human nature is best demonstrated in a prearranged circumstance, does that make it any less true? World War II marked a transition in Weegees photographs, but only a slight one: the same slice-of-life images that were, following Prohibition and the Depression, more prominent in his oeuvre, were put to service as documents of life during wartime. GIs at a dance, window signs displaying rationed goods, and a rally in Times Square were among his common themes. The artistic rendering of the everyday as news enabled Weegee to make memorable, meaningful photographs.Yet another transition during the war years was equally significant for Weegee. Beaumont Newhall, the photography curator for the Museum of Modern Art, was called to service in the Navy and his wife, Nancy Newhall, stepped up in his absence. She organized the first curated show of news photography, which toured the nation following its stand at MOMA. Four of Weegees photographs were in the show, giving him a role in the expanded perspective of news photographs as works of art. Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) Photo: Bert Brandt and Edward Jerry / Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) The publication of his book Naked City in 1945 finally made him Weegee the Famous. Magazines, with higher cultural capital and financial capital as well, came calling, and Weegee published photographs in Seventeen and Vogue, along with Look and Life. His professional path continued to take new turns, as he went from still images to experimenting with motion pictures and later using darkroom techniques to create distorted images of portraits hed made. Although Weegee was notoriously self-promoting, he did not play a role in the rights to his books title being sold for a feature film about life in New York City, 1948s The Naked City (Jules Dassin). After serving as a consultant for the film, which was shot on location, Weegee decided to try his luck as a filmmaker and moved to Los Angeles. This was not a successful endeavor. The last two decades of Weegees life took some unfavorable turns, yet Bonanos is never uncharitable in the telling. In writing about the style and stories that Weegee included in the memoir he began drafting late in life, Bonanos captures the essence of the character portrayed throughout Flash: He is at once gentle and crude, at once sensitive and crass. As a reader, I always rooted for the gentle and sensitive over the crude and crass. Weegees lesser qualities usually triumphed, leaving me wondering whether this throws a shadow over how we perceive the quality of his photographs. While the persona Arthur Fellig created overwhelmed his essential self, Weegee remains an important figure in the history of photography and an influence on generations to follow. Photo: Matthew Mottel / Credit: International Center for Photography (courtesy of Henry Holt and Company) You are the owner of this article. The Wood Brothers wouldn't have been formed if it hadn't been for Oliver and his younger brother of 4 years Chris reuniting over a decade after they first played together as teenagers. 6 Cuban dishes you can get in Charleston that are more than just rice and beans Chubby Fish restaurant that plans on opening their doors on the corner of Bogard and Coming Streets is setting all the last minute details so A state plan released Wednesday proposes for the first time a number of ways to seal the gaps in the web of services opioid users might currently fall through. The "Opioid Emergency Response Plan" was the result of work by the Opioid Emergency Response Team, which was created by Gov. Henry McMaster in December when he first declared the problem a public health emergency. "There's a silent hurricane going, and it's getting worse," McMaster said at the time. The team met monthly for the following six months. The result is a plan that marks the first of its kind in this state to formalize the effort to prevent opioid overdoses, which claimed 616 lives in 2016. Organizations involved include a number of state agencies and health authorities, ranging from the Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services to BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. The recommendations are wide-ranging. There are four sections: The first on physician and public education, the second on prevention and response, the third on treatment and recovery, and the final on law enforcement approaches. The health insurer, for example, is supposed to share some of their data. The Medical University of South Carolina should work on increasing the availability of treatment in emergency departments across the state. The Department of Education should be training its staff on how to use naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses. And tens more recommendations are listed. McMaster also indicated that the plan could be revised if need be. "This plan is a living, breathing document that we will add to and amend as we encounter new issues and achieve successes," he said in a statement. Though it tackles a much different issue, a release from the governor's office said this plan is not unlike other emergency plans developed by the S.C. Emergency Management Division. The news also came with a note about new data from the state's drug agency, which is now sharing county-level information about the crisis, including the number of overdose deaths per year and the amount of prescriptions dispensed. COLUMBIA Five of the children separated from their parents at the Mexican border under the Trump administration's controversial zero-tolerance approach to illegal crossings are being fostered by South Carolina families. The children, ages 7 to 11, have been placed in foster homes over the last month through Lutheran Services Carolinas, a Christian relief organization authorized by the federal government to provide transitional care. They represent a fraction of the migrant children affected by a policy that is drawing mounting criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. Over six weeks in April and May, nearly 2,000 children were separated from their parents under the zero-tolerance policy announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. The process moves adults to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and sends many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Images of children being held at border facilities in cages and an audio recording of a young child pleading for his "Papa" have sparked public outcry nationwide. Rebecca Gibson, who coordinates the Columbia-based Christian relief program, said the children they place are among the luckiest. For five days a week, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., they receive educational and therapy services and even go on field trips. On nights and weekends, they are with their foster families. "We try to make it a loving environment and make kids comfortable because they have been through a lot. Apart from the trauma of being separated from their families, they've experienced trauma in their home countries, and that's why they're coming to the U.S.," Gibson said. The nonprofit can serve a maximum of just eight children at a time, largely due to a lack of available licensed foster families living within an hour's drive of Columbia. Normally, the children arrive within 24 to 36 hours of being caught at the border. Whenever the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement calls to ask if the group can take a child, it has just one hour to respond before federal officials look elsewhere. How many similar programs exist nationwide is unknown. Messages left with the federal resettlement office were not immediately returned. The program, which began taking children last September, was designed as an alternative to detention centers for children arriving at the border alone. "We are the least restrictive environment children can be in" while their cases are being resolved, Gibson said. So far the Columbia program has reunited 24 children with family members or friends, either in their home country or the United States. On average, that has taken about a month, following background checks and interviews. It's expected to take longer for children taken from their parents at the border. Detained parents aren't told where their children are sent. The group's first priority when children arrive is to find their mom or dad "so the kids can speak to their parent and the parent can have peace of mind knowing where their child is located," Gibson said. On Monday, Gov. Henry McMaster dismissed criticism of the zero-tolerance policy, saying there will be "harsh remedies" as the nation works to secure its borders. But he supports the children's placement in South Carolina foster homes, his office told The Post and Courier on Tuesday. "The governor believes that these children who have been put into harm's way by their parents who chose to illegally cross the border with them should have a safe, temporary place to stay until the appropriate legal processes are resolved, spokesman Brian Symmes said. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington are scrambling to find a way to end the forced separations. The House is expected to vote this week on immigration proposals. South Carolina's two Republican U.S. senators broached the matter via Twitter on Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said he stands behind Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen who Democrats have called on to resign amid the growing pressure on the Trump administration for its zero-toleration stance. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott also issued tweets where he said he disagrees with the practice of family separation but recognized what has become a historically difficult problem to address. "I do not support a policy of categorically separating children from their parents at the border," Scott said. "Without a doubt, we must secure our border, eliminate loopholes that encourage illegal immigration, and resist attempts to return to 'catch and release.' ... Congress needs to come together to find a path forward. We can and must do better." Scott's statement came after Graham tweeted his support for how the DHS leader is handling the matter. "I strongly stand behind @DHSGov Secretary Nielsen and her effort to solve a long-standing problem," Graham tweeted. "She is hard-working, incredibly smart, and passionate. She is the right person at the right time. Her resignation would only serve to make this problem more difficult to solve." At least 10 Democratic lawmakers have called on Nielsen to resign. South Carolina's former U.S. attorney, Bill Nettles, was among 70 former U.S. attorneys signing a letter Tuesday to Sessions calling for the policy's end. Nettles, like most of the co-signers, was appointed under President Barack Obama. Beyond lacking compassion, they argued, the policy also squanders Justice Department resources on a crime that has a maximum punishment of six months in jail. Nettles said he prosecuted illegal entry cases typically only after the undocumented immigrant had committed another crime. He called it a moral, not a political, issue. "Is there ever a way well look back on this and say, 'This is something as an American Im proud of?" he said. The Associated Press and Schuyler Kropf contributed to this report. Nina Cano teared up at a rally on Wednesday when she described the types of situations that force mothers and children to seek asylum in the United States: abusive fathers, drug cartels, gangs that require extortion fees from parents to keep their children alive. Cano knows these stories because the immigration attorney has heard them from the mothers themselves. "People believe these people had a choice to cross into this country," Cano said. "The only choice is to survive with your children. That's why these women are here. That's why these kids are here." A crowd of a few dozen protesters gathered at the U.S. Customhouse on East Bay Street in the midst of a migrant child crisis unfolding at the United States-Mexico border. Over six weeks in April and May, nearly 2,000 children were separated from their parents under the zero-tolerance policy announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. The Lutheran Services Carolinas, a Christian relief organization authorized by the federal government to provide transitional care, told The Post and Courier on Tuesday that it had resettled five of these children during the last month. The children, ages 7 to 11, are living with foster families in South Carolina. On Wednesday, the Charleston group waved signs that included biblical messages, "Give me your tired, your poor. We'll put them in cages." Young children waved signs, too, "Families belong together." Ana Karen Castellanos asked her Christian and Republican friends who say they care about family values to support measures that would keep families together. She led the crowd in a chant: "This is a family issue." Mose Miller, 13, protested alongside his older brother and his mother. He said he cannot imagine what his peers at the border are going through. "That would tear me apart," he said. Can, who works in Charleston, said she hoped to educate the crowd on what is "illegal" and what's not. It is legal, for example, for asylum seekers to cross the border and into another country. These people are entitled, she added, to a U.S. asylum process. Asylum court can be a sometimes months-long verification process. Because the system is so overburdened, families and unaccompanied children are overpopulating the border. One of Cano's clients is a Charleston resident who is in the process to obtain lawful status in the United States. The woman learned her son had been trying to escape his abusive father in Mexico. Her son was found Tuesday by a border patrol agent in Arizona. He was deported to Mexico and was not granted an admission in the United States even though the child feared returning to his father. The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina called on Gov. Henry McMaster on Wednesday to remove the state's members of the National Guard from the U.S.-Mexico border. Governors in other Republican states, such as Maryland and Massachusetts, have already done so, ACLU of S.C. Executive Director Shaundra Scott said. "Children, crying for their moms and dads, are being torn from their parents' arms," she said. "These are not actions that are reflective of what South Carolina nor the United States of America represent." According to the rally's Facebook event, a second rally at the Customhouse has been scheduled at 10:30 a.m. June 30. U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford paused to look at his notes while speaking with supporters as he conceded the primary race to state Rep. Katie Arrington in Tuesday's S.C. Republican primary. File/Wade Spees/Staff HA NOI Czech journalist Pavel Herman has released a book titled Viet Nam Past, Present and Future, expressing the authors view on the countrys history, culture, people, and landscapes. In the first part of the book, Viet Nam Hidden Charm, Herman introduces the countrys basic characteristics such as its natural features, climate, political system, and economy, and also touches on the topics of culture and religion. Herman writes that the Viet Nam Central Communist Party has taken a leadership role in the cause of protecting, building, and developing the country. He also expresses admiration for the personality and revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh, who the Vietnamese have nicknamed Uncle Ho. The next chapter, called Viet Nam Country of Sea and Island, consists of the authors research on the countrys sea and island features, as well as their importance in the sea strategy of Viet Nam. He notes that the Communist Party and Viet Nam as a state take great care of its sea strategy to turn the country into a strong nation that efficiently takes advantage of its aquatic resources to boost the economy while securing its maritime territory. In the book, Herman also uses legal and historical evidence, including dozens of ancient maps, to confirm that the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes belong to Viet Nam. With regard to conflicts in the East Sea, Herman writes that even as the area has been a hotly-contested area in the global map, the construction of man-made islands and militarisation of the area by China violated international law and increased tensions in the region, posing a serious harm to peace and stability in the East Sea. Herman also writes that because ensuring peace, stability, safety, and free maritime and air traffic over the East Sea is extremely important, the nations involved in territorial disputes in the area should solve conflicts through peaceful means based on international law. In a chapter titled, Viet Nam Renewal, Integration and Development, Herman writes that the Viet Nam Communist Party made the right choice in implementing the renewal policy since 1986. In more than 30 years of applying the renewal policy, Viet Nam has realised many important achievements in economic development, improving peoples lives, ensuring social security, and enhancing the legal system, Herman writes. This is an important foundation for Viet Nam to implement policies on multi-orientation, diversifying international relations, and integration." The author also claims that Viet Nam has gained prestige and boosted its position in world politics. Herman notes the long diplomatic relationship between Viet Nam and the Czech Republic, which has strengthened over the past decades as a result of visits by high-ranking leaders, enhanced economic and trade relations, and significant co-operations in culture and education. Herman also writes about his appreciation for the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic, describing them as eager to learn and hardworking. Doing research on the socialist model in Viet Nam and comparing it with previous and present models in other countries is an interesting topic especially because Viet Nam has succeeded in applying the renewal policy, Herman told a Vietnam News Agency reporter. In addition to that, I also wanted to provide Czech audiences with a multi-angled view on the on-going conflict in the East Sea. VNS Abigail Darlington is a local government reporter focusing primarily on the City of Charleston. She previously covered local arts & entertainment, technology, innovation, tourism and retail for the Post and Courier. Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations. Columbia/Myrtle Beach Managing Editor Andy Shain runs The Post and Courier's newsrooms based in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. He was editor of Free Times and has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Charlotte, Columbia and Myrtle Beach. COLUMBIA Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin will lead a bipartisan delegation of mayors to the Mexican border to call for an end of what he termed the federal government's "inhumane" and "shameful" separation of migrant children from their families. "It's a tragedy that's happening here," he said. "If it were happening anywhere else in the world, we'd be determining here in the U.S. if we should send troops to enforce American values." The group of 10 mayors from across the country, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and El Paso, Texas, Mayor Dee Margo, will arrive at the U.S. border crossing in Tornillo, Texas, on Thursday morning. They've also asked the federal government's permission to visit with children being held in detention but haven't heard back, Benjamin said. Over the past two months, the U.S. has separated at least 1,900 children from parents who were attempting to enter the country with their families illegally. The separations came in response to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session's call for a "zero tolerance" border policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for prosecution. Benjamin is the latest S.C. politician to address the nationally contentious issue. Gov. Henry McMaster has already backed the Trump administration's work, saying Monday, "When someone breaks the law, they dont take their children with them wherever they go." Sign up for updates! Get the latest political news from The Post and Courier in your inbox. Email Sign Up! McMaster last month sent a nine-member crew and an S.C. Army National Guard helicopter to Texas to bolster the federal effort cracking down on border crossings. McMaster faces a primary runoff election Tuesday against businessman John Warren. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are stumping for McMaster in South Carolina in the coming days. As for Benjamin, his visit to the border Thursday is his most high-profile dispute with the Trump administration early in his tenure as head of the national mayors group. The group, which confers with U.S. lawmakers on issues affecting American cities, is bipartisan, but Benjamin, a Democrat, rarely hesitates to express his criticisms of Trump. "It's important that the tone of our discussion always be honest and frank and that we're finding ways to work together," Benjamin said. "But we're speaking about issues that affect the human condition and affect these children for the balance of their lives." Last week, at its first annual meeting with Benjamin at the helm, the U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously passed a resolution opposed to family separation. Jamie Lovegrove is a political reporter covering the South Carolina Statehouse, congressional delegation and campaigns. He previously covered Texas politics in Washington for The Dallas Morning News and in Austin for the Texas Tribune. Political Reporter Caitlin Byrd is a political reporter at The Post and Courier and author of the Palmetto Politics newsletter. Before moving to Charleston in 2016, her byline appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times. To date, Byrd has won 17 awards for her work. Increasing prevalence of glaucoma worldwide is propelling growth of the market. According to the Glaucoma research Foundation, glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Betaxolol Market PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 13:44:58 Press Information Coherent Market Insights 1001 4th Ave, #3200 Seattle, WA 98154 Mr.Shah CEO 2067016702 email https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ # 614 Words 1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154CEO2067016702 Betaxolol is a racemic mixture and beta-adrenergic receptor inhibitor used to treat patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. It was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1989, as an oral tablet. Betaxolol is used either alone or in combination with other medicines to lower down the pressure within the heart or eye. In the heart, Betaxolol decreases the cardiac contractility and rate selectively by actively binding and blocking beta-1 adrenergic receptors. This leads to reduction in cardiac output and lowers blood pressure. Topical applications in the eye reduces aqueous humor secretion and lowers the Intraocular Pressure (IOP) resulting in low risk of optic nerve damage and loss of vision in patients. Betaxolol further inhibits the release of renin, a hormone secreted by the kidneys that causes constriction of blood vessels.Browse Full Report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/betaxolol-market-1781 Betaxolol Market DriversIncreasing prevalence of glaucoma worldwide is propelling growth of the market. According to the Glaucoma research Foundation, glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Around 10% of the glaucoma patients who receive proper treatment still experience a loss of vision. Around 64.3 million people were estimated to be suffering from glaucoma worldwide, in 2013. Furthermore, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the prevalence of glaucoma is high in Africa and Latin America. Patients who fail to respond to medications, undergo trabeculectomy surgery. - 50 patients per million of the population. Although treatment available for pulmonary arterial hypertension is limited, beta-adrenergic receptor inhibitor, Prostacyclin and prostacyclin analogs, phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors are available to decrease symptoms, slow down disease progression, and improve the quality of life.Betaxolol Market RestraintStringent regulatory approvals to ensure the safety of drugs and patent expiry of betaxolol drugs such as Betoptic S and Betoptic Liq, are major challenge for growth of the market, as the generic versions of these drugs are sold at 70% to 80% lower prices as compared to the branded drugs.Request Sample Copy Of This Report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1781 Betaxolol Market - Regional AnalysisGeographically, global betaxolol market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. North America holds the maximum share for ocular surgery, owing to high prevalence of diabetes and eye related disorders among the populace in the region. According to National Federation of the blind, 2014, around 1.3 million people were legally blind in the U.S. and estimated that over 75,000 people in the U.S. are expected to suffer from blindness or visual impairment annually. Furthermore, Asia Pacific betaxolol market is expected to witness significant growth owing to the presence of generic key players such as Lupin Ltd. And Cipla Ltd. especially in India, which are engaged in manufacturing the generics of betaxolol to retain the market share in the region.The market players operating in betaxolol market include Novartis AG, Genix Pharma (Pvt.) Ltd., East West Pharma, Hetero Healthcare Ltd. (GenX), Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Jawa Pharmaceuticals (INDIA) Pvt. Ltd., DAL Medical Services Company Ltd, Sentiss Pharma Pvt. Ltd., Humanwell Healthcare Group, and PuraCap Pharmaceutical LLC.Request TOC of the Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1781 Betaxolol Market TaxonomyBy Dosage Form: Tablets, Suspension,.By Disease Indication: Glaucoma, Ocular Hypertension,.By Distribution Channel: Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies, Online Pharmacies,.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@ coherentmarketinsights.com Visit our news Website: https://www.coherenttimes.org PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 04:13:42 Press Information Published by ACN Newswire +65 6304 8926 e-mail https://www.acnnewswire.com/ # 590 Words ACN Newswire+65 6304 8926 Targeting cells involved in blood vessel formation could prevent the growth of the most common type of brain tumour.Selangor, Malaysia - (ACN Newswire) - A type of highly malignant brain tumour contains a large number of cells involved in the formation of new blood vessels, helping it proliferate and spread. Targeting these cells could hinder tumour growth, according to new research published in the Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology.Astrocytomas are tumours that can be found in the brain and spinal cord and originate from a type of cell, called an astrocyte, whose main function is to insulate and to provide structure for nerve fibres. They are the most common type of tumour that originates in the brain. There are four grades of astrocytomas, ranging from least to most aggressive. Grade IV astrocytomas are highly invasive and are almost always fatal. Lower grade astrocytomas are typically found in younger people while higher grade tumours are more often found in older adults.Astrocytomas depend on new blood vessel formation to grow and spread. Researchers in Malaysia wanted to know how the numbers of 'endothelial progenitor cells' (EPCs), which play a role in new vessel formation, changed with increasing grades of astrocytoma. EPCs represent a variety of cell types that circulate in the blood and adhere to the inner linings of blood vessels.The team of scientists examined brain tissue from 22 astrocytoma patients at the Hospital of University Sains Malaysia. They found that the numbers of endothelial progenitor cells were higher in the tumours than they were in surrounding healthy tissue. They also found that the numbers of these cells inside tumour tissue increased with age and higher tumour grade.Previous research has shown that patients with grades III and IV astrocytomas who underwent radiotherapy or chemotherapy demonstrated a reduction in the numbers of circulating EPCs. People with grades III and IV astocytomas who didn't undergo treatment had higher numbers of circulating EPCs than healthy people.Other studies have also shown that significantly reducing EPCs led to impaired and delayed growth in tumours followed by a reduction in the numbers of blood vessels feeding them.The researchers conclude that their findings suggest that drugs targeting new blood vessel formation given in appropriate doses according to age and tumour grade could prevent astrocytoma growth.For more information, contactPriscilla Das, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Email: daspriscilla@ yahoo.com; pd12_psk038@ student.usm.my About Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology (JST)Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology (JST) is published by Universiti Putra Malaysia in English and is open to authors around the world regardless of nationality. Currently, it is published twice a year in January and July. Other Pertanika series include Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science (JTAS), and Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities (JSSH). Website: http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/ Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology aims to provide a forum for high quality research related to science and engineering research. Areas relevant to the scope of the journal include: bioinformatics, bioscience, biotechnology and bio-molecular sciences, chemistry, computer science, ecology, engineering, engineering design, environmental control and management, mathematics and statistics, medicine and health sciences, nanotechnology, physics, safety and emergency management, and related fields of study.Research paper: https://bit.ly/2trEA3N For more information about the journal, contact:The Chief Executive Editor (UPM Journals), Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (R&I), IDEA Tower 2, UPM-MDTC Technology Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia, Phone: +603 8947 1622 | +6016 217 4050, Email: nayan@ upm.my Distributed for Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology by ResearchSEA. HCM CITY President Tran ai Quang cleared up citizens concerns over the controversial draft Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units and the cybersecurity law in yesterdays meeting with voters in HCM City s Districts 1, 3 and 4. Regarding the draft Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units, President Quang said that this is a major policy of the Party in many tenures with the target of building breakthrough institutions with outstanding incentives that are competitive enough to attract investment, on par with the region and the world. This will in turn help to create motivation for the growth of special units as well as economic zones and the entire country, boosting economic development and ensuring sovereign independence, defence and security. It is an important bill which institutionalises the Partys policy and realises the 2013 Constitutions regulations on special administrative economic units formed by the National Assembly, the State leader said. However, this is a complicated law, he said, adding that many of its regulations on mechanisms and policies have breakthroughs not only in the apparatus organisation but also in development orientations in the context of international integration and the developing regional and international situation. The President agreed with voters opinions, saying that the draft law should be considered carefully before it is submitted to the National Assembly for approval. For the Law on Cybersecurity, he stressed that the promulgation of the law is to meet demands for cybersecurity in ensuring national security, maintaining social order and safety, and fighting and preventing plots of hostile and reactionary forces who make use of the cyberspace to infringe upon national security, sabotage the national unity, incite demonstrations and disturb order on cyberspace. The law also aims to stop, respond to and address consequences of cyber-attacks, terrorism and wars, as well as protect important information on national security and eliminate those who conduct cyber espionage, and post secret information on cyberspace. The State leader affirmed that the law, once becoming effective on January 1, 2019, will help create a legal foundation to meet the need for cybersecurity in protecting national security and ensuring social order and safety. Mentioning cases of social disturbance, property destruction and resistance to on-duty officers in several localities some days ago as extreme protesters took to the streets to oppose the two said bills, President Quang expressed his agreement with voters opinions on punishments imposed by relevant agencies. He stressed the necessity to intensify disseminations to help the public understand more about the Party and States policies related to the draft Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units so that they are not incited by evil-doers and opportunists, and do not conduct extremist acts or legal violations. Regarding the fight against corruption, President Quang affirmed the Party and States consistent policy of combating corruption crimes while also considering the responsibility of Party Committees and heads of agencies where corruption occurs and those involved in corruption. Economic cases must be considered carefully and handled in line with the Partys regulations and the States laws, he added. VNS PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 12:00:20 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 391 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for EVITRADE Health Systems Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - EVITRADE Health Systems Corp. (CSE:EVA). has issued a press release with the following headline:Canada on Track as First G7 Nation to Federally Legalize CannabisTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on EVITRADE Health Systems Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/EVITRADE Health Systems Corp.Source: EVITRADE Health Systems Corp. (CSE: EVA, OTCQB: AXHLF)Date: June 20, 2018Time: 6:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of EVITRADE Health Systems Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.) PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 04:02:01 New executive appointments strengthen companys influence and presence across fast-growing region Ciena Adds Leadership and Expertise in Asia Pacific Press Contact: Ciena Corporation Jamie Moody, +1 410-865-8570 pr@ciena.com or Investor Contact: Ciena Corporation Gregg Lampf, 877-243-6273 ir@ciena.com Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) recently appointed Dion Leung as Regional Managing Director of Asia, where he leads the companys strategy and execution in the regions emerging markets. Based in Singapore, Dion reports directly to Rick Seeto, Cienas Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ). Dion joined Ciena from Coriant, where he was Vice President of Business Development in Asia and responsible for identifying and cultivating opportunities in the region for the companys connectivity solutions. Prior to that, he led sales and development of Tellabs optical business in Asia and the U.S. Dion holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta. Asias emerging markets present many opportunities for Ciena as network operators look to transform their networks to meet rapid growth and future demand, driven by continued wireless evolution, the Internet of Things (IoT) and increasing user consumption of digital and cloud content. Ciena has brought on new regional experts who boast a wealth of experience in Asias emerging markets: Wong Kian Soon, based in Malaysia, was recently appointed Sales Engineering Manager for North Asia supporting Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Thailand and Vietnam in addition to Malaysia. With more than 15 years of network architecture design experience, he is responsible for positioning Cienas industry-leading converged packet-optical, packet networking and automation software portfolios with customers in these countries. KokChen Lim joins as a new Sales Engineer also based in Malaysia. He helps identify sales opportunities in both Malaysia and Singapore, two important emerging markets for Ciena in the region. Ngoc Vu Duc, a new Sales Engineer based in Vietnam, works with the local team to position Cienas world-class solutions to operators looking for expansion and transformation of their networks. Executive Comment: Digital transformation occurring across Asia is forcing network operators to re-think how they architect their networks. Particularly in emerging markets, operators have unique needs that must be addressed to make their networks more intelligent and programmable. Ciena continues to expand our reach and influence in the region with local leaders and experts who can guide customers toward implementing adaptive networks that are capable of supporting current and future capacity demands. - Rick Seeto, Vice President and General Manager of APJ, Ciena Ciena currently serves more than 1,300 customers worldwide and operates in more than ten countries across the APJ region. Ciena serves a number of leading operators in the region, including Telstra (with Ericsson), DOCOMO PACIFIC, SK Telecom and KDDI. About Ciena Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a network strategy and technology company. We translate best-in-class technology into value through a high-touch, consultative business model with a relentless drive to create exceptional experiences measured by outcomes. For updates on Ciena, follow us on Twitter @Ciena, LinkedIn, the Ciena Insights blog, or visit www.ciena.com. Note to Ciena Investors You are encouraged to review the Investors section of our website, where we routinely post press releases, SEC filings, recent news, financial results, and other announcements. From time to time we exclusively post material information to this website along with other disclosure channels that we use. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations, forecasts, information and assumptions. These statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those stated or implied, because of risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in our most recent annual or quarterly report filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies and can be identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619005 PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 05:01:07 Leading Robotic Process Automation services company and official UiPath partner unlocks the full potential of automation for organisations of all sizes, from the global corporation to the sole trader CiGen Releases RPA Robots for Hire: Fleet of Software Robots to be Deployed at Short Notice for Small and Medium Businesses CiGen Leigh Pullen / Daniel Pullen, +61 3 8618 6969 contact@cigen.com.au https://www.cigen.com.au/ Twitter LinkedIn CiGen licences and manages its own fleet of RPA software robots which can be deployed and scaled at short notice to serve as the digital extension to your workforce. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619006 CiGen licences and manages RPA Robots for Hire, its own fleet of software robots which can be deployed and scaled at short notice to serve as the digital extension to your workforce. (Graphic: Business Wire) Enterprise grade RPA platforms can be impractical for small and medium businesses due to budget and personnel constraints. RPA Robots for Hire was born out of the belief that the benefits of automation should be enjoyed by organisations of all sizes. RPA Robots for Hire is right for your company if you are: Seeking to minimise manual, time consuming, repetitive tasks Looking to extend business capability without increasing headcount Limited resources are being hindered by back office processing requirements Falling behind on time sensitive or SLA related operations Unexpected spike in data entry/data conversion CiGens RPA Robots for Hire highlights include: Significantly cheaper compared to an FTE No software investment required Instant email notification of task completion or unexpected scenarios Tasks can be executed 24 x 7 x 365 No RPA knowledge/learning required No interference with your day-to-day operations Win back time to focus on growing your business No technology infrastructure to build/maintain If you upgrade to a full Enterprise installation with CiGen, we will transfer all automation workflows at no charge How does the RPA Robots for Hire work? 1. CiGen will work with you to scope your processes 2. CiGen will design, build, test and harden the automation workflows on our server infrastructure 3. CiGens software robots take care of the rest, based on the schedule that you provide 4. Pay per process, per month basis Supporting quotes Lencia Fruit Juices started using CiGens RPA Robots for Hire in 2017 and has since expanded the service to incorporate several processes: Tracking and upload of proof of delivery documentation to their cloud based ERP application Processing of payments and credits in payments gateway Goods delivery processing and manifest documentation in customer portal Lencias Director, Paul Plunkett, stated We have been working with the CiGen team and their RPA Robots for Hire service for a while now. The primary benefits to our business are the high degree of accuracy and processing speed, improved turnaround of payments and most importantly, our staff winning back time to focus on business growth. About CiGen CiGen, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia has been at the forefront of Robotic Process Automation in the Asia-Pacific region since 2015. We are a boutique, pure-play RPA and Intelligent Automation specialist. We partner with organisations to help them actualise the benefits of process automation, achieve rapid ROI and cultivate a flexible operational environment for their future growth. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619006 CiGen Releases RPA Robots for Hire: Fleet of Software Robots to be Deployed at Short Notice for Small and Medium Businesses PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 13:04:02 MONTREAL, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced today that Delta Air Lines, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia (Delta Air Lines) has signed a firm purchase agreement for 20 CRJ900 aircraft - becoming the launch operator of the new ATMOSPHERE cabin for CRJ Series regional jets. Based on the list price for the CRJ900 aircraft, the firm order is valued at approximately US$961 million. "We are thrilled that Delta continues to select the CRJ Series as the airline looks into the future growth of its regional operations," said Fred Cromer, president, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. "Together with Delta, we have driven the development of regional aviation in the U.S., and we are looking forward to further enhancing regional air travel with the launch of the new ATMOSPHERE cabin with our long-standing and esteemed customer." The new CRJ900 aircraft with ATMOSPHERE cabin will fly under the Delta Connection brand in a comfortable two-class regional jet configuration with 70 seats. Delta Air Lines will take delivery of the world's first ATMOSPHERE cabin CRJ900 aircraft in late 2018. Including the order form Delta Air Lines announced today, Bombardier has recorded firm orders for 1953 CRJ Series aircraft. About the ATMOSPHERE Cabin The new ATMOSPHERE cabin sets new standards of passenger experience in the regional jet market segment. Key features of the new interior are comprised of larger passenger living space, wheel-first roller bag capability, more spacious lavatory, increased cabin connectivity options, all integrated in a contemporary design and material choices. In fact, the ATMOSPHERE cabin design allows each passenger to carry and store an "oversized" roller bag within the aircraft cabin bins which minimizes the need to check bags at the counter or the gate. To learn more: DiscoverAtmosphere.com About Bombardier With over 69,500 employees across four business segments, Bombardier is a global leader in the transportation industry, creating innovative and game-changing planes and trains. Our products and services provide world-class transportation experiences that set new standards in passenger comfort, energy efficiency, reliability and safety. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Bombardier has production and engineering sites in 28 countries across the segments of Transportation, Business Aircraft, Commercial Aircraft and Aerostructures and Engineering Services. Bombardier shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, Bombardier posted revenues of $16.2 billion US. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier Notes to Editors Images of CRJ900 in Delta's livery, as well as pictures of the new ATMOSPHERE cabin are posted with this news release at www.bombardier.com. The CRJ900 aircraft backgrounder is available in the BCA Media Hub For information about Delta, visit: www.delta.com Follow @BBD_Aircraft on Twitter to receive the latest news and updates from Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. To receive our press releases, please visit the RSS Feed section of Bombardier's Website. Bombardier, Atmosphere, CRJ900 and CRJ Series are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. For Information Nathalie Siphengphet Bombardier Commercial Aircraft +1 416-375-3030 nathalie.siphengphet@aero.bombardier.com www.bombardier.com Two photos accompanying this announcement are available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ff620384-13bd-438a-b8ae-43e03359d897 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/eb54620f-10c2-472c-a3c9-66dd88bc5734 This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Bombardier Aerospace via Globenewswire PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 10:02:03 The community, created to advance customer-led innovation, will utilize insight to develop deeper customer relationships and inform product development Dickies Workwear collaborates with Vision Critical to launch Dickies Ambassadors in the U.K. Media Inquiries For Vision Critical Kate Gundry VisionCritical@pluckpr.com Dickies Workwear, a global leader in performance workwear, and Vision Critical, a leading customer intelligence software provider, today announced the launch of Dickies Ambassadors in the United Kingdom, along with plans to expand into France and Germany in the coming months. Designed to enable customer-centric decisions in its product design and marketing campaigns, Dickies Ambassadors is a secure, online insight community that current and potential customers are invited to join to engage in ongoing conversations with the brand. The community operates on the Vision Critical Sparq 3 customer intelligence platform. One of our core values at Dickies is a focus on constant innovation to exceed customer expectations. This innovative nature has allowed us to remain the global leader in performance workwear and has led to successes outside of our original offerings and ranges, said James Whitaker, Marketing Director for Dickies. Dickies has seen tremendous growth across Europe over the past three years, and we know that with the right insight, we can continue on an upward trajectory. The Dickies Ambassadors community is a key initiative to fuel that growth and innovation with constant dialogue and interaction with consumers, and were eager to get it off the ground. The Vision Critical Sparq 3 platform enables Dickies to build stronger relationships with customers, going beyond traditional market research to gain deeper insight in a more collaborative approach to product development and marketing. Built for scalability across regions and brands, the platform offers Dickies the flexibility to expand the community across other markets in future, while maintaining a personalized approach that offers real value back to community members and drives member loyalty. Truly innovative companies build innovation into every facet of their operations, from supply chain, to product development, to marketing and customer experience, said Tyler Douglas, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer for Vision Critical. Dickies determination to build stronger relationships with customers and drive innovation through customer insight is a key indicator of the companys commitment to its core values, and were excited to see the results of this customer-centred collaboration. Those who wish to join the Dickies Ambassadors are invited to register here. About Dickies Workwear First launched in the US in 1922, Dickies Workwear has built a global reputation for quality and performance, marrying innovation, comfort and protection. Using the best of both modern and traditional construction techniques, the Dickies range is made to last, while meeting the changing demands of its customers. The company offers an extensive range of workwear including coveralls, trousers, shirts, jackets, fleeces and bodywarmers. Plus a wide selection of high performance products, including foul weather protection, high visibility garments and flame retardant items. www.dickiesworkwear.com About Vision Critical Vision Critical provides customer relationship intelligence software that improves customer relationships to grow customer lifetime value. Designed for todays always-on, social and mobile savvy customer, Vision Criticals technology helps large, customer-centric enterprises discover what their customers want so they can deliver what they need. Unlike traditional customer research, which is slow, expensive and gathers dust on a shelf, Vision Criticals customer intelligence platform replaces static data and cumbersome reports with real-time actionable customer intelligence that companies need to build better products, deliver better services and achieve better business outcomes. Hundreds of high-performance organizations use Vision Criticals technology. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/visioncritical. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005 @DickiesStore advances customer customer-led innovation, deepens customer relationships & informs product development with #Sparq platform from @visioncritical #CustomerInsight PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-19 23:50:18 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 393 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Doubleview Capital Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Doubleview Capital Corp. (TSX Venture:DBV). has issued a press release with the following headline:Doubleview and Hudbay Sign Definitive Option Agreement to Advance the Hat Copper-Gold Porphyry ProjectTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Doubleview Capital Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Doubleview Capital Corp.Source: Doubleview Capital Corp. (TSX Venture: DBV, OTC Pink: DBLVF, FWB: 1D4, WKN: A1W038)Date: June 19, 2018Time: 5:49 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Doubleview Capital Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.) PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 04:11:01 Free Admission to World-Class Magic Wonderland Fujikyu Highland from July 14th A-biz Co., Ltd. Yoshie Tsukamoto, +81-90-5972-8207 tsukamoto@a-biz.co.jp From July 14th, 2018, visitors to Fujikyu Highland Park (hereinafter referred to as Fujikyu Highland) will be exempted from the admission fee of 1,500 yen (approximately RMB 86). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619006 Free Admission to Fujikyu Highland from July 14th (Photo: Business Wire) Located in Yamanashi prefecture, Japan and next to Mount Fuji and Fuji Five Lakes, Fujikyu Highland is a perfect destination that adds more fun to your visit to Mount Fuji. After the ticket exemption, visitors only need to pay for the Freepass or tickets for individual rides in the park. For those who want to enjoy all the amusement rides in the park, they can buy the full-day Freepass to access all the rides. From this summer on, you can have dinner or buy gifts for your friends and relatives in the park during your visit to Mount Fuji. For visitors who simply want to experience the amusement rides, the ticket exemption policy also makes it possible for them to enjoy free admission to the park for sight-seeing and having fun. Visitors using WeChat can use the Official Account of Fujikyu Group in WeChat (Account name: fujikyugroup) or the corresponding WeChat app to pay for the Freepass via WeChat Pay. In terms of facilities in the park, this time Fujikyu Highland will update a number of popular amusement rides such as the large-scale popular haunted house Labyrinth of Fear. In addition, it will organize a time-limited (August 1 to September 17) activity concerning the popular anime LoveLive! Sunshine!!. Two amusement rides in the Thomas Land, which is loved by children, will also open in July. In addition, Starbucks Fujikyu, which is expected to open on July 20, will be a good place for you to take a break. Although the ticket price adjustment is accompanied by the price change of some amusement rides, the prices of the adult Freepass and afternoon Freepass remain unchanged. The price for a whole-year Freepass has been reduced to 1/3 of the original price. For more information about the Fujikyu Highland, please click the link below to visit Fujikyus official website in English for more details. http://www.fujiq.jp/en/ Company profile Company name: Fuji Kyuko Co., Ltd. The original source-language text of this announcement is the official, authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and should be cross-referenced with the source-language text, which is the only version of the text intended to have legal effect. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619006 PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 18:21:34 Press Information Published by ACN Newswire +65 6304 8926 e-mail https://www.acnnewswire.com/ # 1117 Words ACN Newswire+65 6304 8926 HONG KONG, June 20, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - The HKTDC Export Index for the second quarter of 2018 (2Q18) climbed to a 29-quarter high and indicated positive sentiment among local exporters for the first time in 12 months, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) announced today. The 2Q18 reading stood at 54.1, up from 49.4 in 1Q18. The results suggest that Hong Kong exports are likely to sustain their growth momentum over the near term. However, exporters' optimism is laced with caution, given the current trade issues between the Chinese mainland and the United States. HKTDC economists forecast Hong Kong exports to grow six per cent in 2018.The HKTDC Export Index monitors the current export performance of Hong Kong traders and gauges their near-term prospects. Readings above and below 50 indicate positive and negative sentiment respectively.Among major sectors, the indices for electronics and machinery performed exceptionally well, reaching 55.2 and 54.9 respectively in 2Q18, their highest levels since early 2013. Toys continued its uptrend seen in the last two quarters, rising to 53.2. Clothing, while staying in contractionary territory, also showed signs of improvement in 2Q18 with a 17-quarter high reading of 43.6. Meanwhile, prospects appeared relatively less strong for timepieces (49) and jewellery (41.3), which posted lower readings than in 1Q18."Overall, Hong Kong exporters have shown a strong reversal in sentiment," HKTDC Director of Research Nicholas Kwan said at today's press conference. "Despite the mixed performances across sectors, exporters were generally positive about the outlook for major export markets." Further confirming the improving overall export sentiment, the Trade Value Index (54.6), Procurement Index (57.3) and Employment Index (53.2) all stayed above the watershed of 50.Exporters cautiously optimistic about global marketsThe European Union returned into expansionary territory for the first time since 2011, outperforming other major markets with the highest reading of 54 in 2Q18, up from 49.1 in 1Q18. Close behind was the Chinese mainland, with its reading rising further to a 29-quarter high of 53.8. Similarly, exporters showed strong confidence in the Japan (51.3) and US (51.2) markets, with both indices at their highest in recent years.HKTDC Economist Doris Fung noted that exporters' optimism was laced with caution, given the current trade issues between China and the US. The 2Q18 survey revealed that about half of the respondents (55.4%) remained confident that the trade dispute would not have any impact on their exports, whereas 35.8 per cent expected it to have a slightly negative impact.According to the survey results, any impact of the Sino-US trade friction has yet to materialise. More than 70 per cent of respondents (77.4%) said the dispute has not affected their exports so far, while about one-fifth of the exporters believed they would have achieved better performances if the trade dispute had not occurred.Continued export growth in early 2018Meanwhile, Hong Kong's total exports grew by 9.3 per cent year-on-year in the Jan-April 2018 period, following an eight per cent growth for the whole of 2017. As regards traditional markets, exports to the US (+8.5%) and EU (+10.2%) increased strongly while the growth of exports to Japan (+5.3%) moderated in the first four months of 2018."Following a strong rebound in 2017, Hong Kong's total exports continued to perform well in the first four months of 2018 given the solid and broad-based recovery in the world economy. Both private consumption and business investment in developed markets have continued to support growth," Ms Fung noted.Georgia: a potential trading partnerIn view of the new business opportunities arising from the Belt and Road Initiative, Georgia, an economy in the Caucasian region of Eurasia participating in the Initiative, is becoming more important as Hong Kong's potential trading partner, according to a recent HKTDC Research study. Louis Chan, Assistant Principal Economist (Global Research), HKTDC, said Georgia, with its strategic location at the crossroads between China and Europe and its being an open, business-friendly country in the region, can bring business opportunities for Hong Kong."Georgia's GDP [gross domestic product] has grown at an average annual rate of almost six per cent in the past two decades, thanks to its business-friendly environment, liberal trade policy as well as low corruption and crime rates," said Mr Chan. The country has free trade agreements (FTAs) with the Chinese mainland (effective since 1 Jan 2018), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members, European Union (EU) countries and Turkey, while it also enjoys Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) preferential treatment by Canada, Japan and the US. Mr Chan added that with the upcoming conclusion of a Hong Kong-Georgia FTA, the country would present further opportunities for Hong Kong businesses as an export market and a logistics hub.In 2017, the CIS, EU, and Turkey accounted for 75 per cent of Georgia's trade, while the Chinese mainland was fast gaining a foothold, accounting for 9.2 per cent of its imports and 7.6 per cent of its exports, according to statistics from the National Statistics Office of Georgia.During a recent trip to Georgia, HKTDC Research found that the country's four-point reform plan -- which covers mainly energy, roads, agriculture and municipal and regional infrastructure -- is key to its transformation from a transit hub into a logistics and industrial centre, which will in turn support the development of start-ups and start-up financing mechanisms. The Anaklia Deep Sea Port construction, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway project and the expansion of the country's East-West highway are some of the milestones of Georgia's international connectivity enhancement efforts."Businesses in the country are ready to export their unique fashion items, food and wine. Hong Kong businesses are advised to capitalise on Georgia's potential as a trading partner and an investment destination," said Mr Chan.ReferenceHKTDC Research website: http://research.hktdc.com/ 2018 Mid-Year Export Review: https://bit.ly/2K178rQ Hong Kong Export Index 2Q18: https://bit.ly/2yqIsYr Photo Download: https://bit.ly/2takmMs About HKTDCEstablished in 1966, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body dedicated to creating opportunities for Hong Kong's businesses. With more than 40 offices globally, including 13 on the Chinese mainland, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China, Asia and the world. With more than 50 years of experience, the HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in international markets, while providing business insights and information via trade publications, research reports and digital channels including the media room. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus . Follow us on Google+, Twitter @hktdc, LinkedIn.- Google+: https://plus.google.com/+hktdc - Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hktdc - LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hong-kong-trade-development-council Contact:HKTDC's Communication and Public Affairs DepartmentAngel Tang, Tel: +852 2584 4544, Email: angel.hc.tang@hktdc.org Beatrice Lam, Tel: +852 2584 4049, Email: beatrice.hy.lam@hktdc.org PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 12:33:01 Hotelsclick.com launches Amazon Pay and becomes the first OTA in Italy to offer this service Hotelsclick.com: You Can Pay the Hotel with Amazon Pay Hotelsclick.com Cristiana Doni, +390418877780 cristiana.doni@netstorming.net Hotelsclick.com, the Italy-based online booking for hotels, has integrated Amazon Pay into its payment methods, becoming one of the first OTA in Europe offering this service. Besides traditional payment methods, such as credit cards (included Amex) and Paypal, users that book a hotel on Hotelsclick.com and hold an Amazon account can choose Amazon Pay to complete the reservation: they only need to enter their Amazon username and password during the checkout process on Hotelsclick.com and the transaction will be carried out quick and safe. As a matter of fact, making an online reservation will be more and more easy thanks to Amazon Pay. Users will no longer need to enter multiple password or other payment details: all information will be automatically taken from their Amazon account. We are very proud to bring Amazon Pay to our users who visit us on their PCs and mobile. Customers experience is our main concern: adding Amazon Pay we are confident we can consistently improve it, making bookings more and more easy, quick and safe, said Hotelsclick.com CEO, Nicola Rizzardini. Soon, customers can use Amazon Pay also on our app. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005 PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 13:02:02 iTeos Therapeutics Completes $75 Million Series B Financing Oversubscribed financing round led by new U.S. investor MPM Capital Proceeds to support accelerated development of innovative next-generation immuno-oncology pipeline into the clinic and the companys expansion into the U.S. Gosselies, Belgium June 20, 2018 iTeos Therapeutics SA, a biotechnology company developing novel cancer immunotherapies, today announced the completion of an oversubscribed $75 million (64 million) Series B financing led by MPM Capital, with participation from additional new investors HBM Partners, 6 Dimensions Capital and Curative Ventures. All existing investors also participated in this financing round including Fund +, VIVES II and SRIW, as well as SFPI. This oversubscribed financing underscores the enormous potential of our innovative next-generation immuno-oncology pipeline and confirms the confidence in our leadership team to deliver value for patients and investors. We plan to continue to rapidly advance our promising therapies into the clinic and to design additional therapeutic candidates based on our industry leading drug discovery and early clinical development expertise, said Michel Detheux, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of iTeos. We are grateful for the continued support of our existing investors and look forward to welcoming the new investors who participated in this Series B financing. We are confident their guidance will prove invaluable as we continue our growth. Proceeds from this financing will support the advancement of several promising best-in-class immuno-oncology programs within iTeos unique pipeline into the clinic. This financing will also support the companys expansion into its new U.S.-based offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Specifically, the funding will enable iTeos to move EOS100850, an adenosine A 2A antagonist, into the clinic in 2018 and toward clinical proof-of-concept, and EOS884448, an anti-TIGIT antibody, into the clinic in 2019. The Companys development pipeline also includes additional drug candidates targeting the tumor microenvironment. We believe iTeos is a strong investment opportunity with several promising immuno-oncology drugs in its pipeline that have significant clinical advantages over competitive drug candidates, said Dr. Gadicke, Co-founder and Managing Director of MPM. Michel and his team have an excellent track record of discovering new ways to fight cancer and strategically growing the operations. MPM is very excited to be involved as the company expands into the U.S. and continues its evolution. Ansbert Gadicke, M.D., Co-founder and Managing Director of MPM; Christiana Bardon M.D., Managing Director of the UBS Oncology Impact Fund managed by MPM; and Priyanka Belawat, Ph.D. Investment Advisor at HBM Partners will join the iTeos Board of Directors. About iTeos Therapeutics iTeos Therapeutics is a privately-held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to extending and improving the lives of cancer patients by designing and developing next generation immunotherapies. The Company is advancing EOS100850, an insurmountable and non-brain penetrant adenosine A 2A receptor antagonist, into a Phase I trial in the second half of 2018. A second program for its human ADCC-enabling anti-TIGIT antibody (EOS884448) is expected to enter the clinic in 2019. Based in Gosselies, Belgium, iTeos Therapeutics was founded out of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and the de Duve Institute (Universite Catholique de Louvain) in 2011, with funds from the LICR, Fund+, VIVES II-Louvain Technology Fund, private investors and the Walloon Region of Belgium and the European Fund for Economic and Regional Development (FEDER). For more information, please visit www.iteostherapeutics.com. About MPM Capital MPM Capital is a venture firm founding and investing in early-stage life sciences companies that seek to cure major diseases by translating scientific innovations into positive clinical outcomes. MPMs portfolio of companies aims to revolutionize the face of medicine across multiple areas including cancer, neuroscience, metabolic disorders and regenerative medicine. With its experienced and dedicated investment team, executive partners and entrepreneurs and its medical and scientific advisory board, MPM is powering novel medical breakthroughs that transform patients lives. MPM is investing in iTeos from its BV2014 and BV2018 funds as well as the UBS Oncology Impact Fund managed by MPM, which invests in both public and private equities. For more information, please visit www.mpmcapital.com. For further information, please contact: Michel Detheux, CEO iTeos Therapeutics info@iteostherapeutics.com Amber Fennell, Mathew Neal, Sukaina Virji, Hendrik Thys Consilium Strategic Communications +44 203 709 5700 iteos@consilium-comms.com Sarah McCabe Stern Investor Relations, Inc. + 1 212 362 1200 sarah@sternir.com Liz Doherty MPM Capital +1 617 425 9275 ldoherty@mpmcapital.com HCM CITY HCM City has earmarked 665ha of land by 2020 to upgrade existing hospitals and build new facilities so that they can cope with the relentless overcrowding, according to its Department of Health. The Tan Kien Hospital Cluster in the outlying district of Binh Chanh gets 74ha now instead of the originally proposed 54ha. It will have the 1,000-beds City Paediatrics Hospital, which opened this month and planned new facilities of the Blood Transfusion Haematology Hospital with 300 beds, Binh Dan Hospital with 300 beds, the Forensic Medicine Centre, and Pham Ngoc Thach Medical University. The departments head, Nguyen Tan Binh, told tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper that basic construction of the cluster is expected to be completed by 2020 though progress is slow because of problems related to land compensation and acquisition. Besides treatment, the hospitals in the cluster would also provide training for personnel from hospitals in the city and the southern region, he added. Dr Tran Vinh Hung, Director of Binh Dan Hospital, said that with the increasing needs of patients, building a new facility at the hospitals District 10 complex would be difficult. It is a speciality hospital that does a lot of research into advanced techniques in treatment and also trains doctors from hospitals in the city and the southern region. The cluster would help the hospital achieve this, Hung said. Dr Phu Chi Dung, director of the Blood Transfusion Haematology Hospital, said patients would benefit greatly from the cluster, with his hospital too seeking to develop advanced techniques in the new facility. Several hospitals like the Heart Institute and Institute of Malariology and Parasitology are upgrading and building new facilities also at other locations. The Oncology Hospital, for instance, is building a facility in District 9 and will open it in December. Moreover, the city has upgraded hospitals in the citys all districts and 322 health stations in wards and communes. HCM City attracts among the largest investment in the country from the private sector, and has more than 40 private hospitals and 200 general clinics. The department is also assisting private health establishments especially with improving their human resources through beneficial new policies like allowing doctors at public hospitals to work part-time for them. It publishes the ratings of these hospitals on its website to help people choose. Last year the city had 40 beds and 17 doctors per 10,000 population. The number of patients going to hospitals in the city increased last year to more than 42 million, accounting for 26.2 per cent of the countrys total number. VNS PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 05:41:02 Kanmo Group Taps GenieTech for Retail Omnichannel Solutions Rollout Genie Technologies, Inc. Leylord Marcelino Leylord.marcelino@gti.com.ph https://www.gti.com.ph/contact-us/ Kanmo Group, a leader in retail distribution in Indonesia, recently tapped Genie Technologies, Inc. (GenieTech) to roll out its omnichannel solutions in a bid to provide outstanding retail experiences to customers. This project, aims to bolster Kanmo Retails productivity by upgrading its current platform, integrating retail tools and application using Retail Pro Prism which gives control and flexibility in tailoring the product to fit the unique business needs, processes, and brand. Bhavin Patel, Kanmo Groups Omnichannel Director, said that the company recognizes the booming e-commerce market in Southeast Asia. This development urges online retail companies like Kanmo to build an omnichannel that puts seamless customer experience at the center, whether online or offline. To truly yield from our omnichannel strategy, the group has to look just beyond engaging customers through offline and online means. When you look at the customer behavior in Southeast Asia, you will know that people love creating 'basket' online. However, they still prefer doing the actual purchase in physical stores instead, added Bhavin. We want to enable our customers to walk in stores where they can collect and check out the basket they created by communicating with either a salesperson or through a POS system that runs in real time. With the capabilities of Retail Pro Prism, Kanmo Groups current platform will be replenished to have a real-time interface with customers, as well as with employees, helping them to react instantly to business needs. It also enables an immediate access to precise data across the enterprise, necessary for improving decision making. GenieTech, our implementing partner for this project, fully understands our perspective. They know how we work and understands our expectations. added Bhavin. This project is headed by June Alcarioto, GenieTechs IT Director. Bhavin concluded, As a business, this project is dedicated to bringing more convenience and better experience to our customers. Fortunately, we delivered the upgrade within six to seven months, as opposed to the usual process that generally takes about five years. And, having GenieTech and other partners, helped us in this endeavor, has made it right for our customers. Commenting on the successful rollout, Mahesh Gopinath, GenieTechs Chief Operations Officer, said, Our team is more than excited for this project. We look forward to supporting Kanmo Groups vision and digital journey through this partnership. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619006 Kanmo Group, a leader in retail distribution in Indonesia, recently tapped Genie Technologies, Inc. (GenieTech) to roll out its omnichannel solutions in a bid to provide outstanding retail experiences to customers. PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 14:04:01 IRVINE, Calif., June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kofax, a leading supplier of software to automate and digitally transform information intensive processes, today announced the addition of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and other capabilities in its Kapow(TM) 10.3 Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software. Kapow, the #originalbot, automates and digitally transforms a wide range of human and information intensive processes across front and back office operations. It allows users to develop and deploy smart robots that mimic human actions while driving continuous improvement using AI and machine learning. Kapow robots interact seamlessly across desktop software, traditional enterprise and browser based systems and web sites, aggregating data, transforming it into actionable information, triggering responses, and communicating with other applications. Kapow 10.3 leverages AI and machine learning to automate human and information intensive processes using market leading capture and RPA technologies, and to build smarter robots in support of an organization's digital transformation objectives. It also adds capabilities to accelerate robot development and deployment, including: Intelligent screen automation to support Citrix based applications and other similarly remote desktop environments: Kapow "learns" the application image and identifies user interface (UI) elements such as labels and buttons, resulting in significantly faster robot development. An enhanced and embedded browser engine for building robots that access browser based systems and websites: Kapow supports rapid robot development and deployment, and now handles more complex automation requirements. Expanded support for attended robots designed for user monitoring and interaction: Attended robots can be triggered by the user, desktop commands or other events, and are ideal for automating service desk, help desk and other call center activities. With hundreds of thousands of Kapow software robots deployed at more than 600 enterprise customers, BPO providers and shared service centers around the world, Kofax has enabled exceptional improvements in operational efficiency, responsiveness and cost savings. Kapow's automation capabilities are leveraged across a wide range of use cases in banking, insurance, manufacturing, retail, logistics, government and other vertical markets. Kofax offers Kapow as both a standalone RPA software product and as part of a complete digital transformation platform named Kofax TotalAgility that encompasses multichannel capture, process automation, customer communications management, electronic signature, mobile and analytics capabilities. Supporting Quotes "AMN Healthcare implemented the Kapow RPA solution in order to achieve ambitious cost savings and efficiency goals," said Jeff Stratton, PMP, CPA, Senior Project Manager, AMN Healthcare. "Deploying Kapow has allowed our business users to redirect a significant amount of time toward activities with higher value. We have also uncovered opportunities for hard dollar savings as well and are in the process of replacing outsourced services with Kapow solutions." "Our partnership with Kofax has empowered us to continually be at the forefront of the business process automation market. Every iteration of the software brings more sophisticated functionality that allows us to solve more problems," said Frank DeGeorge, CTO and Partner, Impact Networking, LLC. "Partnering with Kofax gives us a competitive edge. The machine learning and Citrix-friendly features of Kapow 10.3 are exactly what our clients need to achieve their comprehensive digital transformation goals." "By incorporating machine learning and AI technology, we've further differentiated Kapow in the marketplace," said Reynolds C. Bish, Chief Executive Officer of Kofax. "And Kapow 10.3 adds game changing capabilities that deliver unprecedented efficiency in developing more complex robots. Combined with the breadth of our portfolio, Kofax is the only vendor that can truly provide a complete, unified digital transformation platform." Supporting Resources The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Robotic Process Automation Solution eBook Kofax Kapow Technical Product Overview white paper Robotic Process Automation in the Real World: How 3 Companies are Innovating with RPA webinar About Kofax Kofax is a leading supplier of software and solutions to automate and digitally transform human and information intensive processes across front and back office operations. These can dramatically improve customer engagement, greatly reduce operating costs, mitigate compliance risk and increase competitiveness, growth and profitability. Its broad range of software and solutions can be deployed in the cloud or on premise, and include robotic process automation, business process management, multichannel capture and other critically important capabilities. These provide a rapid return on investment to over 20,000 Kofax customers in financial services, insurance, government, healthcare, supply chain, business process outsourcing and other markets. Kofax delivers its software and solutions through its direct sales and services organization and more than 650 indirect channel partners in more than 60 countries throughout the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit kofax.com. 2018 Kofax, Inc. Kofax and Kofax TotalAgility are registered trademarks, and Kofax Kapow is a trademark of Kofax Limited. Source: KOFAX Media Contact: Sylvia Chansler Sr. Manager, Public Relations +1 (949) 783-1476 sylvia.chansler@kofax.com PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 15:00:20 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 379 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Lithoquest Diamonds Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Lithoquest Diamonds Inc. (TSX Venture:LDI). has issued a press release with the following headline:Lithoquest Diamonds Commences North Kimberley 2018 Field ProgramTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Lithoquest Diamonds Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Lithoquest Diamonds Inc.Source: Lithoquest Diamonds Inc. (TSX Venture: LDI)Date: June 20, 2018Time: 9:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Lithoquest Diamonds Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.) PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 14:07:02 New Experience Browser and Data Science Workbench provide digital business leaders with unprecedented AI transparency, extensibility & control RichRelevance Launches Xen AI: The First Open AI for Experience Personalisation Rich Relevance Sam Faulkner RichRelevance@threepipe.co.uk 02070252702 RichRelevance, the global leader in Experience Personalisation, today announced RichRelevance Xen AI, the next generation of open and explainable artificial intelligence (AI) focused on experience personalisation. The culmination of more than ten years of AI and machine learning innovation, Xen AI delivers several breakthrough capabilities that allow digital leaders to perfectly blend human expertise and machine intelligence to deliver differentiated experiences at global scale - with confidence and control. Xen AI delivers on our vision to help companies grow their business by turning every digital interaction into a personalized, memorable experience, said Carl Theobald, president and CEO of RichRelevance. This is one of the most important and exciting launches in our company history and reinforces our commitment to continuous innovation. With Xen AI, our clients now have the worlds most transparent, impactful personalisation available in the market today. RichRelevance Xen AI: Shining a Light on Your Business AI augmentation, the combination of human and artificial intelligence where both complement each other, is expected to create $2.9 trillion of business value by 2021 (Gartner, 2017). However, most personalisation AI solutions today are black box - architected for automation, not augmentation - and do not provide visibility into how they arrived at a particular outcome. These black box solutions tend to be simplistic, and do not meet the needs of enterprises who require business controls, visibility and extensibility in order to achieve the best outcomes from AI. Xen AI opens the black box with the debut of the industry-first Experience Browser, Data Science Workbench and Experience Optimizer to provide transparency in decisioning, extensibility of algorithms and a balance of automation and business control. Xen AI features more than 300 strategies to help business leaders detect and respond to unlimited digital signals in real time, using a full spectrum of algorithms and multi-context AI to deliver mass personalisation at scale. The Experience Browser: Unprecedented AI Transparency An industry first, the Experience Browser provides business users instant visibility into the performance that Xen AI is driving, and full transparency about why and how this optimal experience was chosen for a given individual. Unlike traditional tools, the innovative Experience Browser UI overlays right on top of customers websites providing valuable insights in context with where the personalized experiences are being displayed. The intuitive visual overlay allows the user to audit AI decisions with a single click, including profile, recommendation summary, segment, rules, and strategy evaluation. Key features include: Inspect dynamic segments & user graph for individuals based on their behavior Visibility into strategies that drive every decision on every placement Rule selection evaluation segment, context, type, etc. Overall placement performance attribution, views, clicks, revenue, etc. Deep links to Experience Insights for drill down real-time reporting and analytics Content performance rankings and more Business users can make adjustments and changes based on insight on the user graph data available to the AI, as well as easily identify outdated, broken or ineffectual rules that are getting in the way of business outcomes and the overall customer experience. Xen AI also features the industry-leading Experience Optimizer, which leverages predictive strategies to dynamically assemble individualized experiences in real-time, while providing transparency in its decisioning. The Experience Optimizer continuously tests and determines the best-performing strategies for a given individual and context, while limiting AI decisioning with guardrails, i.e. business and brand rules as defined by business users. This balance of transparency and manual controls in Xen AI enables customers to automate the mundane and bring back creativity into business. The Experience Browser enables us to easily understand how AI works without needing a data scientist to decode it, said Allan Bo Christiansen, Digital Business Developer at ATEA. With just a few clicks we can understand purchase intent drivers, analyze segments, have insight as to why certain strategies were picked instead of others and proactively manage our customer experience across the entire journey. Were able to make educated decisions and take action in real time based on data not just instincts. The Data Science Workbench: Unprecedented AI Extensibility With the new Data Science Workbench, RichRelevance provides a full lifecycle management system that allows data scientists and marketing technologists to deploy, test and iterate their own experience personalisation insights and strategies. The Data Science Workbench (DSW) enables RichRelevance clients and partners to leverage and extend their own data science, bring in data from any source, and incorporate custom models and strategies. DSW Modules include: Model Builder: Leverage RichRelevances big data store of user behavior to create new models, micro-segmented decisioning, business rules that combine marketing and commerce domains Model Importer: Bring offline analysis to life online; improve the testing and explainability of existing algorithms by bringing a clients own work into Xen AI Strategy Publisher: Leverage one of the worlds most advanced AI stacks to deploy and run strategies at scale RichRelevances new Data Science Workbench helps us leverage our data and insights to easily build strategies that are unique to our business without requiring a sophisticated data science team, said Donna Holt, Senior Product Manager Ecommerce at Office Depot. Together with RichRelevance, weve been able to deploy custom algorithms that drive even greater customer engagement, satisfaction and revenues. About RichRelevance RichRelevance is the global leader in experience personalisation, driving digital growth and brand loyalty for more than 200 of the worlds largest B2C and B2B brands and retailers. RichRelevance leverages advanced AI technologies to bridge the experience gap between marketing and commerce to help digital marketing leaders stage memorable experiences that speak to individuals at scale, in real time, and across the customer lifecycle. Headquartered in San Francisco, RichRelevance serves clients in 42 countries from 9 offices around the globe. For more information, visit www.richrelevance.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005 PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 04:25:01 New RM5 vSAS Series Brings Improved Performance, Reliability and Capacity at a Price Point that Enables SATA Replacement in Servers Toshiba Memory Corporation to Deliver Value SAS SSDs Targeting SATA Applications Media Inquiries: Toshiba Memory Corporation Koji Takahata, +81-3-3457-3822 Sales Strategic Planning Division Toshiba Memory Corporation, the world leader in memory solutions, today unveiled a new, game-changing category of SAS SSDs expected to replace SATA SSDs in server applications. The RM5 12Gbit/s value SAS (vSAS) series features capacity, performance, reliability, manageability and data security advantages at a price that obsoletes SATA SSDs. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619006 Toshiba Memory Corporation: The RM5 value SAS (vSAS) SSD series (Photo: Business Wire) A homogeneous SAS environment has long been the gold standard for enterprise server and storage systems. With vertical integration expertise in flash technology, firmware and controller design, Toshiba Memory Corporation leveraged its leading position as the worlds leading[1] SAS SSD line optimizing RM5 to close the cost gap with SATA and usher in a new class of SSDs. SATA simply cannot compete with SAS, falling well short in terms of performance, robustness, and encryption options. Designed with affordability and server applications in mind, Toshiba Memory Corporations RM5 vSAS series seeks to provide a cost effective and much higher performing solution to overcome the bottlenecks that are inherent with SATA today. Where SATA drives often use SAS expanders to scale out, the RM5 enables the use of native SAS from end-to-end, eliminating the need for protocol translation to SATA. Customers can now take full advantage of SASs richer feature set and realize performance throughput superiority over SATA. Featuring Toshiba Memory Corporations BiCS FLASH TLC (3-bit-per-cell) 3D flash memory, the RM5 series will initially be available in capacities up to 7.68TB[2] with a single 12Gbit/s port, SFF-8639 connector and in a 2.5 form factor. Sample shipments to OEM customers start today in limited quantities, and Toshiba Memory Corporation will gradually increase shipments from the third calendar quarter of 2018. The RM5 series will be exhibited at HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise) Discover in Las Vegas, U.S.A. until June 21, in the Toshiba Memory America booth #196. *All company names, product names, and service names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Notes [1] SAS unit shipments, IDC Worldwide Solid State Storage Quarterly Update: Summary CY 1Q1 May 2018 [2] Definition of capacity: Toshiba Memory Corporation defines a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte (TB) as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1GB = 230 bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes, 1TB = 240 bytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, such as Microsoft Operating System and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary. Customer Inquiries: Sales Planning Division Tel: +81-3-3457-3355 https://business.toshiba-memory.com/en-apac/contac Information in this document, including product prices and specifications, content of services and contact information, is correct on the date of the announcement but is subject to change without prior notice. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619006 PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 15:09:01 Yourtyres.co.uk expands its tuning range to include Lexani tyres in the requested sizes of 18-22 inches. Benefit for customers of Yourtyres.co.uk: The online shop is one of the few providers through which products by the popular American brand can be purchased. The expanded product range of Yourtyres.co.uk, together with the fair purchasing conditions, provides great flexibility for dealers and garages and thus enables them to easily tap into new customer groups. Yourtyres.co.uk: New Sizes of Lexani Tyres Available in the Tuning Range insignis Agentur fur Kommunikation GmbH (GPRA) Henning Jahns Tel: +49-511-132214-14 Fax: +49-511-132214-99 delticom@insignis.de or Delticom AG Anne Lena Peters Tel: +49-511-93634-8909 Fax: +49-511-93634-8301 anne.lena.peters@delti.com Yourtyres.co.uk expands its product range of the renowned American tuning brand Lexani. From now on, various dimensions are also available in the popular sizes of 18-22 inches, which enables Yourtyres.co.uk to meet the tuning trend towards ever wider tyres. The new dimensions are particularly interesting for SUVs, a vehicle segment that has been growing for years. The online shop offers Lexanis summer, winter and all-season ranges of Performance, Off-Road and Passenger models. An expanded tuning offer is in line with our aim of offering our dealer customers a tyre range as comprehensive as possible, explains Andreas Faulstich, Head of B2B at Delticom. This enables them to respond quickly and easily to more enquiries, especially more specific ones, and thus tap into new customer groups. Yourtyres.co.uk manages to provide this flexibility for garages and dealers thanks to high availability in its own warehouses, short delivery times and attractive prices. Yourtyres.co.uk relies on a trading model based on partnership, which does not incur any additional costs for dealers and workshops: for example, there are no contract or order fees and no minimum purchase quantities. Of course, a wide tyre also needs matching rims that are of high quality, and not just visually. At Yourtyres.co.uk there is a wide range of aluminium and steel rims. And if customers want tyres, rims (and TPMS) to all be fitted at the same time, Yourtyres.co.uk has proven complete wheel expertise and can also supply complete wheels in large quantities. About Yourtyres.co.uk Yourtyres.co.uk is the exclusive online store from Delticom AG for workshops, retailers, wholesalers, tyre fitters/service stations and car accessories. With over 15 years expertise in the online tyre business, the Yourtyres.co.uk specialist B2B team offers its clients a spectacular range of car and motorbike tyres of all brands and dimensions for all types of vehicles, tyres for light trucks, trucks and buses, custom tyres, complete wheel sets, car spare parts and accessories, engine oil and batteries. In addition to favourable purchasing conditions, retail clients benefit from the online shops time-saving tyre search function, high availability, reliable delivery thanks to in-house warehouses, as well as a simple registration process with no hidden costs - from the very first tyre. Information about the company: www.delti.com Tyre tests: www.tyretest.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180620005 PR-Inside.com: 2018-06-20 22:05:29 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 391 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for ZincX Resources Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - ZincX Resources Corp. (TSX Venture:ZNX). has issued a press release with the following headline:ZincX Announces Positive Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Cardiac Creek (Akie Property) Zinc-Lead-Silver DepositTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on ZincX Resources Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/ZincX Resources Corp.Source: ZincX Resources Corp. (TSX Venture: ZNX, ISIN: A0RAQJ, WKN: CA98959V1067)Date: June 20, 2018Time: 4:05 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of ZincX Resources Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.) South Sudans rebel leader, Riek Machar, arrived in Ethiopia on Wednesday for a meeting with South Sudans President, Salva Kiir, as part of talks to negotiate an end to a five-year-old civil war, a rebel spokesman and an Ethiopian official said. Yes, I can confirm to you that our chairman has arrived in Addis Ababa airport this morning, rebel spokesman, Lam Paul Gabriel said, referring to Machar, who had been held under house arrest in South Africa since late 2016 after fleeing South Sudan. An Ethiopian Government official also confirmed Machars arrival and said he would meet Ethiopias Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, before his talks with Kiir. Riek Machar has arrived, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Meles Alem, said. Kiir and Machar are due to meet later on Wednesday. It will be the first meeting between the two since a peace deal between the government and Machars rebel group fell apart in August 2016. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the civil war that broke out in late 2013 when troops loyal to Machar, the former Vice President of South Sudan, launched a rebellion against the government. All sides in the now complex and multi-faceted war stand accused by the United Nations and other bodies of committing atrocities against civilians. (Reuters//NAN) The National Hospital Abuja, on Wednesday celebrated 13 years of providing uninterrupted In Vitro Fertilisation Services (IVF) to Nigerians. Speaking at the ceremony, the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Jaf Momoh, said the management was honoured to mark 13 years of successes in making families happy. Represented by Olaomi Olowole, the Director Clinical Services, Mr Momoh added that the achievements were greatly attributed to a sustained and successive IVF management centre. He said a lot of pregnancies had been achieved at the IVF centre which had served as encouragement to lots of women, couples, families and Nigeria at large. He said the event was aimed at celebrating the pioneer members of staff and the patients for the achievements recorded over the years. The centre commenced operation in 2006 and almost everyone who worked from inception, is here today to celebrate the 13 years of its existence, this shows that we can achieve a lot as a people in harmony. We are also celebrating the joy that the centre has provided for so many families, and so many babies have been delivered over the years, the first baby delivered is now 13 years and she is doing very well even academically. However we are saying that IVF children are not defective children they are normal children who can attain their full potentials as normal human beings, he said. Mr Momoh decried the negative perception and stigmatisation of children delivered through the IVF process, saying that it was a technology and knowledge given by God that should be appreciated by everyone. He said the hospital has provided the fertility treatment at subsidised rate over the years in line with the policy of the Federal Government to make healthcare services affordable to all Nigerians. Also speaking Rais Ibraheem, the Coordinator, IVF Centre at the hospital, said the centre had achieved great successes since its inception adding that it was focused on sustainability and provision of services. The centre is funded by government with adequate standard practice that is in accordance with world practices, we are not focused on making profit but providing services to Nigerians at an affordable rate. The leadership of non-teaching staff of Nigerian universities has fixed a meeting for July 4 to decide its next line of action following the failure of the federal government to implement the agreement it entered with the workers over three months ago. The unions- Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) went on a comprehensive and indefinite strike action on December 4, 2017 over the sharing of N23 billion the government released to the universities as earned allowances. The workers suspended the strike on March 15 after an agreement with the government. Although the unions gave the government five weeks to implement the agreement, this has not been done 13 weeks later. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the government said it will look for N8 billion within five weeks to pay the striking workers. The development in the past few weeks is disheartening and very disappointing and what it has continued to show to us as non-teaching staffers in the university is that this government is very insincere, very irresponsible when it comes to honouring agreements, Abdussobur Salaam, the spokesperson for SSANU told PREMIUM TIMES in a phone interview. Mr Salaam said it is sad that the government does not respect court judgements adding that none of the terms of MOU with respect to government taking action has been implemented. Our members in the staff schools are still out of jobs, as we speak, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife is about to implement the disengagement of the staff in the University staff school which is in gross contravention of the court ruling of the National Industrial Court of December 5, 2016 and also in gross contravention of our agreement that was signed in February this year, which is disheartening, he said. Mr Salaam said that Nigerian government has failed the unions again and as such we may be forced to take some decisions. At the end of the day, N8 billion was agreed upon which includes settling those academic staffers who are left out in University of Ilorin and University of Nigeria, Nsukka for the earned allowances payment. But as I speak to you, the government has already paid those academic staff, leaving out the main people that they had an agreement with, he said. You can be sure that if by the time we have our NEC meeting and nothing has been done, the unions will go every length to ensure that government respects its agreements. An agreement freely entered into must binding and that is our position. Similarly Godfrey Ugwu, NASUs deputy president said the three unions have been having consultations with the government but nothing has been done. According to Mr Ugwu, all the branch leaders of the unions have been invited to the meeting in Abuja on July 4 to make a final decision on the matter. That is why we are calling the meeting so that the decision will be effective, we will tell them all the things we have done and what government has done, then well take a decision on that. Also, Sani Sulaiman, the national president of NAAT said the unions will decide if they will embark on strike or not after the July 4 NEC meeting. Although we are expecting a letter to give us update of what is happening, the truth is that the workers are interested in their money coming out as promised. The minister of labour is (was) meant to organise a meeting of stakeholders on May 29 on how the money can be paid but up till now we have not heard anything from him. Efforts to get a reaction from the spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Samson Olowokere, were unsuccessful as he did not respond to calls and text messages put across to him. Thuy Giang HA NOI Its been three months since the last time inh Van Tinh, 52, has had that pleasure of puffing on a traditional Vietnamese pipe that has become as familiar as an everyday meal for him over the last quarter of a century. Now he suffers from body-shaking coughs and ominous wheezing from the depths of his battered lungs. At the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology Centre at Bach Mai Hospital in Ha Noi, Tinh struggled to get his words out. After surgery to remove a tumour from his lungs, he went through painful chemotherapy sessions, and its difficult to believe the haggard-looking man is only in his early 50s: Tinh said he is scared of smoking now, but hes still addicted. Tinhs wife has been taking care of him for months ever since he was admitted to hospital in mid-March. She is reluctant to allow anyone to meet Tinh, given his almost bed-ridden condition. In recent days, he has hardly been able to hold anything down. But Tinh is still determined to get his message out to people as a wake-up call for those still smoking Tinh said he used to work as a carpenter near his home in Kim Bang District in the northern province of Ha Nam. Everyday, Id leave packs of cigarettes and tobacco on the veranda for the workers. It gradually became a habit, a bad one, he said. He regularly smoked 10-15 cigarettes a day, but then at around the age of 40, he switched to Vietnamese pipe tobacco (thuoc lao). Earlier this year, he started to experience lung complaints and a malignant tumour was discovered in his lungs. He underwent surgery a month ago. After being admitted to hospital, the doctors told me to give up smoking. Now lying here in hospital, Im scared of cigarettes. I know, even if I survive this treatment, my health will never be the same. I regret it now. I have made it a personal mission to tell my children and grandchildren not to smoke. Dr Nguyen The Thu from Bach Mai Hospital said that they had removed part of Tinhs left lung. Thu stressed that smokers like Tinh ran higher risks of lung cancer, and grimmer prognoses than other individuals with lung cancer caused by other factors. Determination In the respiratory centre at Bach Mai Hospital, Le Hong Khanh, 62, was admitted after a pneumonia-like inflammation and water on the lungs were discovered. The cause of the problem was smoking. Dr Pham Thi Le Quyen said the patient went for an examination following two weeks of fever, coughing and chest pains that showed no signs of dying down. Long-term smoking causes damage to the linings of the respiratory tract, leading to inflammation and increased mucus secretion, said Dr. Quyen. After two weeks of treatment and a course of strong antibiotics, Khanhs condition has improved and he is about to be discharged. Dr Quyen warned that if Khanh did not give up smoking immediately, he could contract cancer or heart disease. Khanh said he worked out at sea, so due to the cold weather and frequent night shifts, he often smoked to warm himself up. Khanh insisted that it was the first time he had experienced problems during his 30 years as a smoker, but said he was determined to kick the habit. Since the day I was hospitalised, I have not had or wanted to have a cigarette. Staff members at the office for stop-smoking consultation are talking to smokers who wish to give up smoking. VNA/VNS Photo Thuy Giang 18,000 calls According to surveys, nearly half (45.3 per cent) of Vietnamese male adults are smokers, translating to over 20 million smokers in the country, while the rate in female adults hovers around a negligible 1.2 per cent. The World Health Organisation said that about 7 million deaths a year are due to smoking-related diseases. In Viet Nam, 40,000 die from smoking every year, and the figure is forecast to reach up to 70,000 by 2030. Phan Thu Phuong, deputy director of Bach Mais Respiratory Centre, said that due to the growing number of people who wanted to quit smoking, the establishment of the centre was assigned to Bach Mai Hospital by the health ministry and the Viet Nam Tobacco Control Fund in 2015. A free hotline and consultancy service have been set up at the hospital with 15 members of staff available day and night to advise people how to quit smoking. Over four years, the centre has received 18,000 calls from smokers who have seen the harmful affects of smoking and want to give up, Dr Phuong said. The hospital also wants to collect information from smokers, including their smoking history, and their reasons for smoking and for giving up smoking, to compile a basic health profile for each caller. Rather than just waiting for calls, the hospital can now contact people who have called the hotline to invite them to anti-smoking campaigns. According to Phuong, each smoker participating in the programme received 7-11 phone calls during the quitting process, including a last call 1 year after the regime started. A successful regime means that former smokers do not smoke for a year. So far, 120 smokers have successfully made it, Dr Phuong said. Risks of e-cigarettes Along with the fight against conventional cigarettes, health experts have also engaged in another uphill battle against the rising use of e-cigarettes, which many people believe are less harmful. Most people use electronic cigarettes to try to quit or reduce smoking. However, the main component of e-cigarettes is still nicotine. The WHO says there is currently no evidence to say for sure that electronic cigarettes are safe. A 2015 survey on smoking among adolescents showed that up to 60 per cent of students started smoking very early in life (7-13 years old). A health ministry study consolidated this figure by showing smokers are getting alarmingly younger, with 21 per cent of young males (16-24 years old) smoking. 17 per cent of male students said they had smoked before the age of 10, while 10.3 per cent of male students and 4 per cent of female students said they thought they would smoke in the future. Multiple studies have pointed to the harm nearly 200 toxic chemical components in cigarettes can cause, but for patients like Tinh and Khanh, the true realisation only came after their health deteriorated beyond repair. For time being, Tinhs greatest wish aside from getting better is for other people to quit while they can before its too late. VNS The comment by the defence minister, Mansur Dan-Ali, that anti-grazing laws by some state governments are responsible for the farmers/herders clashes, has been described as his personal view by Audu Ogbeh, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Mr. Dan-Ali, in January, while briefing state house correspondents at the end of a meeting of security chiefs with President Muhammadu Buhari, said the decision of some states to enact laws to stop open grazing triggered the violence. He said, Whatever crisis that happened at any time, there has to be remote and immediate causes. What are the remote causes of this farmers/herders crisis? Since Independence, we know there used to be a route whereby these cattle rearers use. Cattle rearers are all over the nation, you go to Bayelsa, you see them, you go to Ogun, you see them. If those routes are blocked, what happens? These people are Nigerians, its just like you going to block river or shoreline, does that make sense to you? These are the remote causes. But what are the immediate causes? It is the grazing law. These people are Nigerians, we must learn to live together with each other, that is basic. Communities and other people must learn how to accept foreigners within their enclave, finish! The minister expressed a similar stance in June, calling on affected states to suspend the implementation of the laws. His comment has since been condemned by many Nigerians\ including the Senate and the House of Representatives. A fellow minister, on Tuesday, however, asked Nigerians not to consider Mr Dan-Alis views as that of the federal government. The minister of agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, spoke on Tuesday at the presentation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan; a plan put in place by the federal government to permanently resolve the herders-farmers crises and improve meat and milk production. PREMIUM TIMES published details of the plan, put in place by the National Economic Council. At the event, Mr Ogbeh said the defense ministers statement was his personal view. As for the ministers opinion, it is his view, the agriculture minister said of Mr Dan-Alis comment. Mr Ogbeh was responding to a journalists question on whether the livestock plan, focused on transforming cattle rearing from being nomadic to ranching, was implementable considering Mr Dan-Alis expressed views. Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali. [Photo credit: Guardian Nigeria] The agriculture minister said government was determined to implement the new plan. Cows cannot continue to roam the way they did in the past, he said, promising to engage Mr Dan-Ali not to express such views in future. He said the plan is evidence-based and NEC which adopted it is headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. NEC is chaired by the vice president. The vice president is more powerful than any minister, he said. Benue, Taraba and Ekiti are some of the states where the anti-open grazing law has taken effect. Mr Ogbeh described the laws as desperate attempts to resolve the incessant violence; and not causes of the violence. Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development The laws were enacted after several states suffered deadly violence often blamed on herdsmen. Hundreds of Nigerians were killed early January in some of these clashes in Benue and Taraba states. Also at the presentation of the government plan in Abuja, the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, described the defence ministers comments as casting the government in bad light. Benue Governor, Samuel Ortom He needs to apologise to Nigerians, Mr Ortom said while defending his states anti-open grazing law. We have challenged anyone with a better option to put it on the table, he said of the state law. The governor, however, said like any other law, it was still possible to amend controversial parts of the Benue law. The criminal trial of Peter Nwaoboshi, a Peoples Democratic Party senator, began Wednesday at the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court with the prosecution presenting two witnesses. Mr Nwaoboshi (PDP, Delta North) is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and money laundering instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The senator, who was detained for days by the EFCC, is currently out on bail after Mohammed Idris, the trial judge, released him on self-recognisance. The lawmaker was charged with two counts alongside two firms Golden Touch Construction Project Limited and Suiming Electricals Limited. Count one of the charge accused the senator and Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd of fraudulently acquiring a property known as Guinea House situated at Marine Road, Apapa in Lagos, between May and June 2014, at a cost N805 million. The charge stated that the defendants ought to have known that N322 million out of the purchase price formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act under the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act. Count two of the charge accused Suiming Electricals of aiding Mr Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Projects Ltd to commit money laundering. Prince Kpokpogiri, the prosecutions first witness, said he wrote a petition to the EFCC after he received an anonymous call and some documents at his office in Asaba, Delta State. He said he was subsequently invited by the EFCC to Abuja to come and adopt the petition. The witness said he runs a nongovernmental organisation, Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum, as well as a real estate firm, P.K Aro Multiservices Nigeria Limited. During cross examination, the witness said his petition did not contain a list of the firms Board of Directors because it was not mandatory. He also said it was not his duty to investigate the contents of his petition before forwarding to the EFCC. I only investigated by going through the documents. I did not contact the defendants because it is the work of the EFCC. Anthony Idigbe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, accused the witness of being an agent of the EFCC. I also put it to you that apart from the fact that you did not investigate the documents, you did not also take any step to verify the facts stated in the petition, Mr Idigbe said. While giving his evidence, Murtala Abubakar, the prosecutions second witness, said Suiming Electricals Limited, the third defendant, applied for a loan at the Nigerian Export Import Bank in December 2013, and it was approved in April 2014. Mr Abubakar, the head of Enterprise Risk Management unit at the bank, said Mr Nwaoboshi was a former board member of the bank. He also said that while the meeting to take a decision on the loan request was being held, Mr Nwaoboshi indicated his interest in the transaction and was recused from the deliberation. The senator is a director at Bildeberg, a holding company which has the majority shareholding in Suiming Electricals Nigeria Limited. Mr Abubakar said the EFCC made five requests to the bank on Suiming Electricals, starting from June 2017, in respect of the loan transaction granted to the company. He further stated that the company met all the banks conditions before the loan was disbursed. The witness said although the third defendant had repaid over 1 billion of the loan, it is still a non-performing one. The loan facility is for five years, Mr Abubakar said. There is a difference between paying and performing. When we give a loan, we give you a payment plan. When you are supposed to be paying 1 million quarterly but you are paying 200,000, you are paying but you are not performing. The EFCC requested for an adjournment to enable it assemble its remaining four witnesses and the judge fixed July 2nd and 3rd for continuation of trial. President Muhammadu Buhari has accused the National Assembly of tampering with the 2018 budget sent to them by cutting essential projects and inserting non-essential ones. Mr Buhari stated this while signing the 2018 budget into law. I am concerned about some of the changes that the National Assembly has made to the budget proposals that I presented, he said. Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute, he added. Read the presidents full speech below. SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE SIGNING INTO LAW, THE 2018 APPROPRIATION BILL, PRESIDENTIAL VILLA, ABUJA WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2018 PROTOCOLS I would like to thank the leadership of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as all the Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members, for passing the 2018 Appropriation Bill, after seven months. 2. When I submitted the 2018 Budget proposals to the National Assembly on 7th November 2017, I had hoped that the usual legislative review process would be quick, so as to move Nigeria towards a predictable January-December financial year. The importance of this predictability cannot be overemphasized. 3. While the Federal Governments budget represents less than 10% of aggregate yearly expenditures in the economy, it has a very significant accelerator effect on the financial plans of other tiers of government, and even more importantly, the private sector, which mostly operates on a January-December financial year. 4. Notwithstanding the delay this year, I am determined to continue to work with the National Assembly towards improving the budgeting process and restoring our country to the January-December fiscal cycle. 5. I note, with pleasure, that the National Assembly is working on the enactment of an Organic Budget Law, so as to improve the efficiency of the nations budgetary process. 6. As I mentioned during the presentation of the 2018 Appropriation Bill, we intend to use the 2018 Budget to consolidate the achievements of previous budgets and deliver on Nigerias Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020. 7. It is in this regard that I am concerned about some of the changes that the National Assembly has made to the budget proposals that I presented. The logic behind the Constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is that, it is the Executive that knows and defines its policies and projects. 8. Unfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me. The National Assembly made cuts amounting to 347 billion Naira in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to 578 billion Naira. 9. Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute. 10. Furthermore, many of these new projects introduced by the National Assembly have been added to the budgets of most MDAs with no consideration for institutional capacity to execute them or the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required. 11. As it is, some of these projects relate to matters that are the responsibility of the States and Local Governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be unduly burdened. 12. Such examples of projects from which cuts were made are as follows: a. The provisions for some nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as Counter-part funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project were cut by an aggregate of 11.5 billion Naira. b. Similarly, provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, were cut by a total of 7.5 billion Naira. c. The provision for Rehabilitation and Additional Security Measures for the United Nations Building by the FCT, Abuja was cut by 3.9 billion Naira from 4 billion Naira to 100 million Naira; this will make it impossible for the Federal Government of Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to the United Nations on this project. d. The provisions for various Strategic Interventions in the health sector such as the upgrade of some tertiary health institutions, transport and storage of vaccines through the cold chain supply system, provision of anti-retroviral drugs for persons on treatment, establishment of chemotherapy centres and procurement of dialysis consumables were cut by an aggregate amount of 7.45 billion Naira. e. The provision for security infrastructure in the 104 Unity Schools across the country were cut by 3 billion Naira at a time when securing our students against acts of terrorism ought to be a major concern of government. f. The provision for the Federal Governments National Housing Programme was cut by 8.7 billion Naira. g. At a time when we are working with Labour to address compensation-related issues, a total of 5 billion Naira was cut from the provisions for Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage Adjustment. h. The provisions for Export Expansion Grant (EEG) and Special Economic Zones/Industrial Parks, which are key industrialization initiatives of this Administration, were cut by a total of 14.5 billion Naira. i. The provision for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport was cut from 2 billion Naira to 500 million Naira which will further delay the completion of this critical project. j. The Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State, a key strategic initiative of the Federal Government, was cut from 5 billion Naira to 3.4 billion Naira. k. About seventy (70) new road projects have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. In doing so, the National Assembly applied some of the additional funds expected from the upward review of the oil price benchmark to the Ministrys vote. Regrettably, however, in order to make provision for some of the new roads, the amounts allocated to some strategic major roads have been cut by the National Assembly. 13. Another area of concern is the increase by the National Assembly of the provisions for Statutory Transfers by an aggregate of 73.96 billion Naira. Most of these increases are for recurrent expenditure at a time we are trying to keep down the cost of governance. 14. An example of this increase is the budget of the National Assembly itself which has increased by 14.5 billion Naira, from 125 billion Naira to 139.5 billion Naira without any discussion with the Executive. 15. Notwithstanding the above stated observations, I have decided to sign the 2018 Budget in order not to further slowdown the pace of recovery of our economy, which has doubtlessly been affected by the delay in passing the budget. 16. However, it is my intention to seek to remedy some of the most critical of these issues through a supplementary and/or amendment budget which I hope the National Assembly will be able to expeditiously consider. 17. I am pleased with the success recorded in the implementation of the 2017 Budget. A total sum of 1.5 trillion Naira has been released for the implementation of capital projects during the 2017 fiscal year. In response to this and other policy measures implemented, we have observed significant improvement in the performance of the Nigerian economy. 18. To achieve the laudable objectives of the 2018 Budget, we will work very hard to generate the revenues required to finance our projects and programmes. The positive global oil market outlook, as well as continuing improvement in non-oil revenues, make us optimistic about our ability to finance the budget. 19. However, being a deficit budget, the Borrowing Plan will be forwarded to the National Assembly shortly. I crave the indulgence of the National Assembly for a speedy consideration and approval of the Plan. 20. The 2018 Budget I have just signed into law provides for aggregate expenditures of 9.12 trillion Naira, which is 22.6% higher than the 2017 Appropriation. Further details of the approved budget will be provided by the Minister of Budget and National Planning. 21. I thank the Ministers of Budget and National Planning, the Budget Office of the Federation, and everyone who worked tirelessly and sacrificed so much to bring us to this day. However, the job is only partly done. 22. I am sure you will remain committed to advancing our Change Agenda, not only in the preparation of the national budget but also in ensuring its effective implementation. I thank you and may God bless Nigeria. Three days to the national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a chairmanship aspirant, Osereimhen Osunbor, has withdrawn from the race. Mr Osunbor, a former Edo State governor, in a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, said this was done out of respect for President Muhammadu Buhari. In his statement, he also endorsed another former Edo governor, Adams Oshiomhole, for the chairmanship. Mr Osunbor is the second aspirant withdrawing from the chairmanship and endorsing Mr Oshiomhole who has the support of President Buhari and top leaders of the party. The first aspirant to withdraw was Ibrahim Emokpaire, an American based member of the party. He said he made this decision after extensive discussions and consultations with party members and his family, friends and associates. In his statement, Mr Osunbor said he withdrew to avoid unduly prolonging the voting exercise during the national convention,In the interest of a rancour-free national convention and to ease the work of the National Convention Committee and in the overall interest of our party the All Progressives Congress. I have decided to withdraw from the race and also endorse Adams Oshiomhole, he said. He appreciated and called for the understanding of those who expressed support for his candidature, and may feel disappointed by this development. With this withdrawal, it appears only one contender, Clement Ebri of Cross River, remains to challenge for the chairmanship with Mr Oshiomhole expected to easily win the race. The Federal Government says it will commence the voluntary repatriation of over 91,000 Nigerian refugees from Cameroon in July. Sadiya Farouk, the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, disclosed this on Wednesday at the occasion to commemorate the 2018 World Refugees Day in Abuja. She said the Federal Government, Cameroon and UNHCR had signed a Tripartite Agreement in March 2, 2017, which inaugurated the Tripartite Commission with an advanced Technical Working Group (TWG) to ensure the modality for their return. According to her, President Muhammadu Buhari in his efforts to address the plight of refugees has commenced robust interventions geared toward a safe and voluntary return of refugees and IDPs to their abode. Tripartite Agreement was aimed at the voluntary repatriation of over 91,000 Nigerians refugees from Cameroon. Let me state here that the TWG has concluded concrete operational modalities and support measures, including setting the timetable and procedures to ensure the safe, dignified, voluntary return and sustainable reintegration of Nigerian refugees from Cameroon. All things being equal, the voluntary repatriation should commence in July, 2018, she said. She further said that Nigeria hosted 1960 urban refugees, 809 Asylum seekers persons from Africa, Middle East, Asia and Europe respectively. Jose Antonio-Canhandula, Country Representative, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Nigeria, said Nigeria has more Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) than refugees in the country. He urged all humanitarian partners to find durable solutions to put an end to human want, stating that human beings should not be eternally dependent on humanitarian assistance. In Nigeria, where we have (more) IDPs than refugees, in both situations, humanitarian assistance is like running on the same spot, we need to keep in mind, even if we are running on the same spot. The best is that human beings should not be eternally dependent on humanitarian assistance, we need to integrate durable solutions to our collective strategy; we need to put an end to human want. However, Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who was represented by Glory Ahmed, Deputy Director Parastatals, said that the year has been characterised by an influx of Cameroonian refugees. He said that over 22,000 refugees were registered so far by UNHCR with 1.7 million Nigerians internally displaced by the insurgency. Mr Mustapha said that government was committed to the responsive and accountable delivery of service by ensuring effective security of lives of the refugees, Asylum seekers and IDPs. He, however, commended the state government and all humanitarian partners for their commitment and structural support arrangement for the refugees in the country. Halima Ahmed, Commissioner for Finance, ECOWAS Commission said that addressing the plight of refugees, IDPs and other vulnerable groups were part of the major concern of ECOWAS commission. The ECOWAS Commission is committed to preventing causes of displacement through our various political and diplomatic processes as well as mitigating and alleviating the sufferings of our displaced populations in the ECOWAS space. In responding to these situations, the ECOWAS Commission has provided assistance to displaced population in the North East of Nigeria by sending food items worth one million dollars and supporting the rehabilitation of Nigerian refugees and IDPs with $700,00. She, however, encouraged the refugees and other displaced population in the region that they were not alone and their situation was not unnoticed. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has warned against the killing of five men convicted of culpable homicide by a high court in Yola, the Adamawa State capital. Reports say the convicted men namely; Alex Amos, Alheri Phanuel, Holy Boniface, Jerry Gideon and Jari Sabagi who are all Christians, were charged to court for killing a Fulani herdsmen, Adamu Buba, in a reprisal attack. The court presided by Justice Abdul-Azeez Waziri sentenced the convicted men to death by hanging for the alleged offence and called on interested parties to appeal the judgement within 90 days from its ruling. According to the statement, the court found the culprits guilty of willfully and intentionally attacking three herdsmen, killing one of them whom they (the culprits) had thrown into a river. The incident reportedly occurred on June 1, 2017. Although PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately authenticate the date and details of the said judgement, a report from an online platform, the Nigerian Voice, said the deceased herdsman however died after falling into an ocean, while fleeing from the young men and their community members. The report further said the men decided to take the law into their hands, two years after the herdsmen killed 48 members of their community in 2016. In the statement by the Christian association, its President, Samson Ayokunle, noted that CAN is not in support of jungle justice, but condemned the failure of security operatives to apprehend killers of Christian victims in various parts of the country. Citing the case of a Christian preacher, Eunice Elisha, who was killed two years ago in Kubwa, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, the statement condemned the failure of security forces to apprehend the killers of Mrs Elisha. The statement further noted the decision of the Kano State authorities to release the killers of another woman, Bridget Agbahime, in Kano state, describing the situation as regretful. The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on the Federal Government to caution the Adamawa State Government against hasty implementation of the death sentence passed on five Christian youths alleged to have killed a Fulani herdsman. While CAN is not supporting jungle justice or any criminality, but we note with regret how hundreds of our members in Southern Kaduna, Benue, Taraba, Plateau states in the North-central geo-political zones, and a state like Enugu in the South, have been killed and are still being killed on a daily basis by some criminals parading themselves as Fulani herdsmen, but are yet to be apprehended. Despite the outrage that has trailed the killings of Christians in Nigeria, it is disheartening that none of the killers has been brought to justice. We are shocked at the speed of light deployed by security and judicial officers in sentencing the alleged killers of the herdsman in Adamawa state. Why did the court discharge the alleged killers of Madam Bridget Agbahime on the orders of the Kano State Government? Why have security officials not arrested those behind the killings of Christians in Southern Kaduna, while those arrested for the murder of Mrs. Eunice Elisha Olawale in Kubwa, Abuja, have been set free by the Nigeria Police? In view of the above, we are asking President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the death sentence passed on these Christian youths in Adamawa. We have called on our legal team to secure and study the text of the judgment with a view to preventing a miscarriage of justice and a future re-occurrence, the statement said. CAN also reacted, in its statement, to what it described as information suggesting that government planned to recruit rehabilitated terrorists into the security agencies. The association called on government to clarify the rumours and desist from recruiting former terrorists into security agencies The U.S. on Tuesday withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday accusing it of a chronic bias against Israel. U.S. envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, who announced her countrys decision in Washington, slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting U.S. efforts to reform the council. She also criticised countries which shared U.S. values and encouraged Washington to remain but were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo. The U.S. is half-way through a three-year term on the main U.N. rights body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if the 47-member Geneva-based body was not overhauled. Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights, said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of Congo. Ms Haley also said the disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council was motivated by political bias, not by human rights. Washingtons withdrawal is the latest U.S. rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. (Reuters/NAN) The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) says it has concluded plans to resume its posgraduate foreign scholarship to qualified indigent youth in the Niger Delta. Ibitoye Abosede, NDDCs director of corporate communications, announced this in a statement in Port Harcourt on Wednesday. He stated that the governing board and management of the company had met and approved the commencement of the 2018 award process worth about 30,000 U.S. dollars per annum. He noted that the programme was cancelled earlier to allow the commission to carry out comprehensive restructuring of the scheme. He said that NDDC regrets the cancellation of the inconclusive 2017 award process and the inconveniences suffered by students who applied for the scholarship. To this end, all outstanding tuition for recipients of the scholarship have been cleared. This is to provide a fresh start and a seamless process. However, any student who has proof of non-receipt of payment should feel free to contact the commission immediately. Mr Abosede explained that the scheme covered disciplines in engineering, medical sciences, computer science technology, geosciences, environmental sciences, agriculture, environment, oil and gas law and project management. He added that advertisement for the scholarship would be published in national media and the commissions website. Established in 2010, the scholarship is designed to produce top level professionals with technical manpower, capacity and expertise to compete in oil and gas industry and in other sectors. So far, 1,409 students have benefited from the program, including Charles Igwe, whose unique redesign of the Turcot Interchange road saved the Montreal Area Municipality (Canada) over one billion dollars. Mr Igwe is a Ph.D student of Construction Engineering at Concordia University in Canada. Similarly, Ubong Peters won a global three-minute thesis competition. The NDDC spokesman, therefore, urged interested and qualified candidates to take advantage of the opportunity to apply for the foreign scholarship. (NAN) The President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Samson Ayokunle, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to restrain his aide, Lauretta Onochie on her use of vulgar words abuse and unprintable names against others. The CAN president made the call in a statement signed by Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant, Media & Communications to the CAN President, on Wednesday in Abuja. Mr Oladeji quoted the CAN president as saying that the leadership of CAN frowned at the use of vulgar languages on the social media by the presidential aide on her Twitter account. Onochie had twitted, Prime Minister Theresa May, a Christian, is in a mosque doing what humans go to do in a place of worship. She knows that her God is the same one also called Allah. CAN of worms, Heres a great lesson in love and godliness, not hatred & anger! He said the leadership of CAN decided not to dignify her with a response, thinking she may not be speaking for President Buhari. However, the failure of the Presidency calling her to order is capable of making the leadership believe that she is expressing the mind of the Presidency. Onochie, from all indications, shares a lot of things in common with Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal. She is also like Eliab, who was not ready to stand up against Goliath, who had defied the God of Israel, but was burning with anger at David who would not allow Goliath to continue insulting God and His people. Instead of asking CAN leadership to borrow a leaf from the British Prime Minister, Onochie should have directed her advice to her principal to emulate his British counterpart. British Prime Minister gives all the citizens under her watch a sense of belonging and adequate security, irrespective of their religious, ethnic and political persuasions, he added. He asked her to learn from the likes of Moses, Esther, Daniel and the other three Hebrew children. They sacrificed their conveniences and risked their influential opportunities to defend the interest of Gods people against the imperial orders. Mr Ayokunle said the problems of people like Ms Onochie in the corridors of power is that the truth cannot be buried forever, especially in todays world where no government has monopoly of the media with the emergence of the global technological communication, especially the social media. He said the world is aware of how Christians are allegedly being killed on a daily basis, while the security agencies seem to be looking elsewhere. The CAN president, however, stressed the need for her to address these failures by the government, its principal officers were justifying the crime with excuses; forgetting that the primary function of any serious government is the protection of lives and property of the citizens. He, however, counselled the presidential aide to employ decorum in performing her duties. Ayokunle restated that CAN would never cease to speak truth to power, irrespective of the utterances by Ms Onochie. (NAN) The federal government has presented a plan to permanently solve the farmers-herders conflicts in Nigeria which has claimed the lives of thousands over the years. Hundreds of people have been killed in 2018 alone in violence involving nomadic herdsmen in states like Benue, Plateau, and Kaduna. Aside the loss of lives, the federal government has said that Nigeria loses about $14 billion (5.04 trillion) annually to the conflicts. The presentation of the plan was made by the technical adviser to the National Economic Council (NEC), Andrew Kwasari, on Tuesday in Abuja. The presentation event was attended by several public officials including the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh; and the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom. Mr Kwasaris presentation showed that the plan stemmed from meetings and recommendations by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and the National Economic Council in 2017. The economic council is headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and includes all state governors as well as some ministers as members. The governments new plan is tagged The National Livestock Transformation Plan. It is built on six key pillars: economic investment, conflict resolution, law and order, humanitarian relief, information education and strategic communication; and cross-cutting issues. According to the plan, the economic investment pillar would support and strengthen the development of market-driven ranches in seven pilot states for improved livestock productivity through breed (genetic) improvement and pasture production, in addition to efficient land and water productivity. The government also said it would rebuild social capital at the community level to promote mutual trust, confidence building and consolidate the peace process, with regards to the conflict resolution pillar. The plan also showed that the law and order pillar would support the strengthening of legal frameworks for improving livestock production, peace and harmony. The fourth pillar, humanitarian relief will focus on rebuilding and reconstructing of common facilities worship places, markets and individual homes that have been destroyed. The fifth pillar would aid information, education and strategic communication on the development of grazing reserves in the frontline states, and mitigate the consequences of these conflicts such as wanton loss of lives, destruction of properties, including schools and facilities. The cross-cutting issues pillar identifies various cross-cutting issues necessary to realise the objectives of the programme, which include monitoring and evaluation; and research to contribute evidence base in programme implementation; as well as gender mainstreaming, the plan showed. Ten key states were identified as the frontline states to receive pilot interventions in line with the recommendations of the FMARD and NEC livestock conference. The states include: Adamawa, Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba and Zamfara. The plan would include creation of large ranches in each of these states. A Ranch Design Plan has also been proposed in models of various sizes clustered in 94 locations in the 10 pilot states. The government intends to transition pastoralism to ranching in order to reduce the struggle for common resources, Mr Kwasari stated in his presentation of the plan. In terms of size, the proposed ranch size models are: Cluster 30, 60, 150 and 300 cows ranch models in a location within the donated gazetted grazing reserves; and a minimum 1000 cows breeder ranch in 7 of the 10 pilot states. The well equipped ranches will, however, not come cheap. Total spending over the 10 year period is slightly in excess of N179 billion, the expert said. FGN-States funding is meant for the first 3yrs in the pilot phase, totaling about N70billion. Some of the benefits of the plan include Expected milk output to be in excess of 200million litres by the 2nd year of the project (but the first year of productivity. Expected milk output of 700m ltrs of milk by the 4th year of the project. Speaking on the plan, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh said: we want to bring this crisis to an end. We will begin action in a matter of days. He said nomadic herding was not sustainable and Nigeria must adopt ranching. He added that there has been a strong partnership between the federal and state governments; a view also espoused by Mr Ortom whose Benue State has witnessed some of the most violent crisis involving nomadic herdsmen. Mr Ortom, however, argued that apart from implementing the new plan, the federal government must ensure that perpetrators of previous killings in the state are arrested and prosecuted. HA NOI The Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and ManpowerGroup have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to prepare the Vietnamese workforce for the digital age. The MoU, which was signed on Wednesday, aims to provide strategic expertise in the period from 2019 to 2021 to help Viet Nam develop a skilled workforce and effective regulatory frameworks for the digital age. The MoU was signed by Simon Matthews, Country Manager of ManpowerGroup Vietnam, Thailand, and the Middle East, and Doan Mau Diep, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. In a rapidly changing world of work, upskilling people for the jobs of the future and developing effective legal frameworks is critical to success for people, companies, and governments alike, Matthews said. We are delighted to partner with MOLISA to develop and execute a strategic plan to create Vietnams workforce of tomorrow and help people continue to access meaningful employment and companies find the talent they need to succeed in the digital age. This is the fourth MoU between ManpowerGroup and MOLISA. Under the MoU, ManpowerGroup will develop skilled talent by improving the knowledge and professional experience of the local workforce to enable them to adapt to automation and digitisation. It will also promote the development of womens roles and enhance their leadership skills under Industry 4.0. ManpowerGroup has also agreed to raise awareness about trends, employment and human resource development, and international commitments in the context of international integration and the industrial revolution 4.0. It will also provide information, analyses, and orientations on the labour market, as well as support to improve the market infrastructure. ManpowerGroup is also expected to share the experiences of international markets, and enhance Viet Nams efforts to collaborate with other countries on labour, employment, and human resource development. VNS The Indigenous People of Biafra has announced resumption of plans to hold a referendum towards the peaceful restoration of the defunct Republic of Biafra. IPOB said it has printed 40 million ballot papers to be used in the first phase of the referendum by Biafrans to determine their readiness to opt out of Nigeria. According to Punch Newspaper, IPOB spokesperson, Emma Powerful, in a statement on Tuesday, said the first phase of the three-stage referendum would take place in 2018 although he did not disclose the date for the planned plebiscite. He said the ballot papers would be distributed to all adults in every clan and village in Biafraland. We the Indigenous People of Biafra wish to bring to the attention of the world that plans are at advanced stages in preparation for the first in our three-stage referendum process towards the peaceful, non-violent restoration of the nation of Biafra. Our decision to hold the first of the three plebiscites later this year has vindicated IPOBs resilience in sticking to the principle of non-violent agitation for Biafra in the face of government brutality and treachery from enemies within. Efforts geared towards this first referendum is gathering unstoppable momentum with dates for the exercise to be announced imminently. Forty million ballot papers are being printed and readied for distribution to every clan and village in Biafraland for all adults over the age of 18 to express their preference, the statement read partly. Also in the statement, IPOB cited occasions where the Nigerian government had, in the past, conducted a referendum for some sections of the country. On 11th February, 1961, Nigeria conducted a referendum for the people of Southern Cameroon to determine whether they wished to be part of Nigeria or merge with Francophone northern Cameroon. This referendum resulted in the peaceful secession of the then NCNC-controlled Anglophone Cameroon from Nigeria. In other words, they voted to leave Nigeria for good. That was democracy in action, not war. Again, on the 13th of July, 1963, Nigeria conducted another referendum which led to the creation of the defunct Mid-West Region from the supposedly Yoruba-dominated Western Region. The old Mid-Western Region comprised parts of todays Delta and Edo states.Referendum has been used in Nigeria before to resolve a seemingly intractable issue, IPOB added. The secessionist group noted that its mission is to restore Biafra sovereignty via a democratic process and through the instrumentality of a three-stage referendum, the first of which will be held in the coming weeks. IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, has been at the vanguard of the call for an independent Biafra Republic from the Nigerian state through referendum. Mr. Kanu, who is facing charges of treasonable felony at the Federal High Court in Abuja, had threatened to boycott elections in Anambra last November if government fails to set a date for referendum. Clashes occurred between IPOB members and soldiers when the military commenced an operation in the south east states last September. Since then, Mr Kanus whereabouts has remained unknown. While the Federal Government proscribed IPOB and labelled it a terrorist organization in the wake of the clash, the U.S. government, however, said it does not see IPOB as a terrorist organisation, a position described as unfortunate by the Nigerian government. Workers of the three Colleges of Education in Kwara have started an indefinite industrial action. The workers have accused the state government of failing to meet their five-point demands. A week ago, the workers under the aegis of Committee of Unions of Tertiary Institutions (CUTI) of Colleges of Education in Kwara, issued three days warning to the government. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that academic activities have been paralysed in the institutions located in Ilorin, Oro and Lafiagi. Abdulhammed Yusuf, Secretary, Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education in the state, told NAN on Wednesday in Ilorin that the union presented a five-point demand which the government allegedly failed to honour. He said the demands include the release of funds for accreditation of courses, payment of backlog of salaries, 30 per cent salary increment, promotion and payment of promotion benefits that accrued since 2013. In the last three years or so, there is hardly any year that we have not gone on strike. In fact, it seems the government is not ready to do anything except we go on strike. Last month, it was with some efforts before the government paid us May 2017 salary, as it is, the government still owes us the salary of June and July 2017 here in College of Education, Ilorin, Mr Yusuf said. The union leader also said the government was paying lip service to the issue of accreditation of courses run by the schools. We have many demands on the ground for the government; apart from salary, there is an issue of accreditation. Most of the courses in the colleges have not been accredited, it means the students are just coming in running programmes that are not accredited. The implication is that they will carry worthless certificates around if eventually, they finish here without accreditation. In order to prevent this, we make it one of our cardinal points that government must address, they must accredit all these courses so that the students will not suffer. Invariably, if the courses are not accredited, after sometimes, the news will soon spread that courses being run by tertiary institutions in Kwara are not accredited, which means people will start withdrawing their children from the colleges, he said. On the demand for salary increment, Mr Yusuf explained that Kwara was the only state still paying 70 per cent of the approved salary scale for staff of the colleges. Reacting, Muideen Akorede, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed on Media and Communications, said the government was yet to receive official notice on the strike. We are yet to receive official notification of the strike. However, we hope the lecturers and workers will continue to employ dialogue with the government on these matters as strikes dont solve problems, Mr Akorede told NAN. The Police in Delta have dragged a lawyer, Bernard Oyabevwe, before an Effurun Magistrates Court in Delta, for allegedly assaulting two policemen on duty. The Warri-based lawyer, who appeared before Chief Magistrate H O Ikeh, is standing trial on a three-count charge of assault, breach of peace and malicious damage of police uniform. Mr Oyabevwe, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. According to the charge sheet, the defendant assaulted officers, Collins Imade and Renner Festus on June 5 at Police A Division, Warri while performing their lawful duties. He was also alleged to have prevented the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) team of detectives led by Uneke Chika from inviting his client, one Onosa, to the EFCC office in Benin. According to the charge, the offences contravened sections 249(e), 356(2) and 451 of the Criminal Code Cap C21 Vol. 1 Laws of Delta, Nigeria 2006. When the matter was called, counsel to the police, Vincent Orawemene, said the police was not given adequate notice on the transfer of the case from Warri Magistrates Court to Effurrun. There is a proper procedure to transfer case from one jurisdiction to another, so the matter should be referred back to Warri Magistrates Court, he argued. Counsel to the defendant, Godwin Odjesa, however, argued that a judge in a judicial jurisdiction could transfer a matter from one jurisdiction to another. Justice Akpere is a most senior judge, she has done the needful by transferring the matter. It was done in the interest of justice and fair hearing, so the matter should continue, he urged the court. The magistrate has adjourned the matter till July 10, for continuation of hearing. The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday refused to stop the Babatunde Balogun led executive committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from participating in the National Convention of the party, slated for this Saturday in Abuja. Justice Binta Nyako, who declined to stop the Balogun group said that the principle of fair hearing will be breached since only one person instituted the court action against hundreds of thousands others. Delivering ruling in an ex-parte motion filed by an aggrieved contestant in the May 12, 2018 Lagos APC congress, Bunmi Church, Mrs Nyako said that it will be unfair to stop the Balogun faction in view of the limited time to the convention slated for June 23 in Abuja. In declining to grant the ex-parte motion, the judge held that the plaintiff was just one out of 1,885 aspirants who vied for positions during the congress. Justice Nyako said that the plaintiff did not help himself in his claim that he was prevented from participating at the state congress, adding that it is a law that anyone who did not participate in an election cannot challenge the outcome of that election. The court held that, Mr Church, having not participated in the May 12 Lagos State APC congresses, cannot use the ex-parte application to challenge the outcome of the congress. Besides, Justice Nyako said that several hundred others who participated in the congress will be denied fair hearing if the application is granted because they were not brought before the court to defend themselves by the applicant (Church), who instituted the court action in his personal capacity. As a way out, Justice Nyako ordered that the Originating Summons filed by the plaintiff/applicant, through his counsel, Akin Olujimi, will be given accelerated hearing. However, Justice Babatunde Quadri, who read the ruling on behalf of Justice Nyako, who was said to have been bereaved however did not give a definite date for the hearing of the Originating Summons but said that Mrs Nyako will fix a convenient date for her to hear the matter. Dozens of residents of Surulere, Ogunlowi, and Alagbole communities in the Ojodu Berger area of Lagos Wednesday marched to the head office of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company to protest the unavailability of electricity in their homes since October 2017. The protesters accused the electricity company of failing to replace their damaged electricity transformer despite the residents fulfilling their condition of paying all outstanding bills which amounted to over 3 million. Last year, October 14, 2017, precisely, our transformer developed a fault and we came to lodge a complaint, said Arisekola Azeez, a leader in one of the communities. We met with Engineer Adumo of Akute station, they sent their technicians but in the process of fixing the transformer, a mistake occurred and this led to the explosion of the transformer. They came to carry the spoilt transformer on October 30. However, we were told to pay all outstanding bills before theyd give us another transformer, they also added that their new policy is 1+1 matrix, so anyone owing would pay twice the amount. Mr Azeez said each house contributed according to what they were owing and more than 3 million was paid. After payment, we proceeded to Jankara where we were referred to Engineer Ayeni. In April, 2018, they brought a transformer whose power is below the one they carried from us. They gave us a smoking 300KVA transformer but they took a 500KVA transformer. Aderounmu Nureen, another leader in one of the communities, said the new transformer spoilt the same day it was installed. The power of the transformer was too low to serve five communities, Mr Nureen said. After two weeks, they fixed the transformer again but it started smoking after only few hours. Since that time, weve not been given transformer. The communities have been in total darkness since October. The residents carried placards and chanted songs outside the electricity firms office for almost an hour. Ayeni Akinola, a staff of the company, who addressed the angry crowd said the issue of damaged transformer ought to be resolved with the firms business manager. Lagos residents protest eight months of power outage Right now, I have called the H.N.O, the Network Operating Officer and he told me that he has made a request for your transformer and has raised the issue to the management. For me, Ill do a follow-up and I assure you that as soon as I get inside, I will discuss with the business manager. When asked why the company had not solved the communities need for the past nine months, Mr Ayeni replied that, Not only yourcommunity needs transformer and only few people can repair transformer perfectly. As soon as they finish repairing it, itll be brought back to you. Work is ongoing and youll get your transformer. Lagos residents protest eight months of power outage According to Mr Ayeni, the energy supplied to their customers from the national grid are paid for by the company. We pay for every quantrum of electricity we consume on daily basis, therefore, if customers do not pay, we are the ones that pay for it, he said. Also, we have a lot of transformers and we give out transformers every week but we have many business units and many areas to cover, so, we are working hard to provide electricity here at Ikeja electricity distributing company.